The B minor's sensitivity, calculated using a noise signal and B-weighting, was exactly to specification at 86dB/W/m. Its impedance magnitude and phase, measured with the Audio Precision System One, are shown in fig.1. The minimum impedance is 4.9 ohms at 210Hz, while the woofer tuning is revealed by the 23 ohm peak at 32Hz. The HF control was set to its maximum for this measurement; reducing the tweeter level increased the…
Like candy to an audiophile baby, Capital Audiofest 2023 is officially in full blast mode, a phantasmagorical thrill ride for listeners of all ages, and this age. The venue as in 2022 is the Hilton Twinbrook Rockville, Maryland.
Led as always by owner/organizer, vintage-oriented audiophile, and former construction foreman Gary Gill, Capital Audiofest 2023 has seen a 33% increase in bookings, to 120 rooms and 40 booths, compared to last year's 90 and 30. Gill says the number of international vendors and manufacturers represented has increased as well. The price of admission remain…
Presenting the new GoldenEar T66 floorstanding speakers ($6900/pair in Gloss Black, $7200/pair in Santa Barbara Red), Ken Forsythe (AudioQuest), aided and abetted by Chet Pelkowski and Chris Volk (both from GoldenEar), got down and dirty, and insisted I join in. I did!
Whether streaming pianist Paul Novotny’s take on "My Favorite Things" or an epic version of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" performed by a practically out-of-body Sara Bareilles, this system cast a massive soundstage that seemed to take over the floor.
Adding up to $42,000, the system included an Aesthetix…
In room 801, David Cope of Old Forge Audio, in conjunction with Phonographe Distribution, played a joyous-sounding system that included my and Herb Reichert's current favorite loudspeaker, the Heretic AD614 ($7290/pair); "AD" is a tribute to former Stereophile columnist and Deputy Editor Art Dudley. These speakers, which are manufactured in Canada, play with physicality, wholeness, jump, and speed that's rare among the many speakers I’ve heard through the years. The Heretic AD614 is pure and natural without exaggerating frequency extremes.
The Heretics found expression in a…
Gryphon’s highly anticipated Diablo 333 Integrated Amplifier will make its North American dealer debut on Thursday 16 November, 11am–6pm, at The Sound Environment in Omaha, Nebraska. Anthony Chiarella, Gryphon's North American director of sales and marketing, will present the amplifier and be available to answer questions and discuss the Gryphon brand. Appointments are recommended. After 6pm, The Sound Environment will host an official presentation, with all invited. For more information or to book an appointment, please contact Charlie Santmire by email at info@soundenvironment.com or by…
I have yet to hear a pair of Joseph Audio speakers I didn't marvel at. That includes the small-in-size but huge-of-sound Pulsar2 Graphene standmounts ($9999/pair) in a room commanded by Rogue Audio. I left the room saying "Crazy! Crazy" to Rogue’s Nick Fitzsimmons and Bill Magerman, but before then I sat in dumbstruck silence.
This room featured a number of debuts including Rogue Audio’s RP-5 v2 preamplifier ($3995); this was matched with Rogue’s DragoN Monoblocks ($5995/pair; review forthcoming). The new version of the Cronus Dark Integrated amplifier ($4495) includes 25% more…
A dependable first stop for any show attendee, Jeffrey Catalano’s High Water Sound room got down to business and quick. Offering a similar system to last year's but with new Cessaro Horn Acoustics’ Wagner II Horn Speakers ($65,000/pair), the system had considerable jump and force paired to a liquid midrange and absolutely clean, nearly medicinal, certainly soul-enriching highs.
Playing an OG copy of Joe Henderson and Alice Coltrane’s The Elements, the various instruments were beautifully layered both horizontally and vertically, in a miraculously deep stage that stretched all the…
Can you judge an exhibitor's products by the music he plays? Perhaps not, but when I walk into a room playing "Hotel California," that mad percussion ditty "Music for Bang, Baa-Room and Harp," 90s grunge (footnote 1), or God No! Jazz at the Pawnshop, it's all I can do to stay put and not scream.
Treehaus Audiolab’s Richard Pinto has the good taste to not play absolute drek and the astute inner vibrations to play music that sounds good, is well-recorded, interesting, and thoughtful. I heard Fleet Foxes from the hallway. As I entered Pinto’s room, he continued with St. Vincent’s…
The Hear This room included products from Von Schweikert Audio, WestminsterLab, Lampizator, Small Green Computer, Sonore, and MasterBuilt.
Streaming varied music from Ipad—Yoyo Ma covering "Ava Maria," Creed’s "Arms Wide Open," Donny Hathaway’s "The Ghetto,"—the sound was crisp with strong leading edges and air, air, air.
Source components included a Lampizator Horizon ($49,000), Small Green Computer sonicTransporter i9 Optical (Gen3)($2999), and a Sonore Signature Rendu SE optical ($4950).
Amplification was WestminsterLab Class A Monoblock Amplifiers ($32,900/…
Ampsandsound is perhaps best known for his amplifiers made to drive either headphones or loudspeakers. (See for example Herb Reichert's Gramophone Dreams #47.) At this show, however, Ampsandsound manufacturer/designer Justin Weber was showing his Arches monoblocks ($50,000/pair), which put out up to 65W each with KT-88 tubes or 85W each with KT-150 tubes.
The other components in the system were the bold-and-black Ampsandsound Yellowstone Preamplifier ($35,000), a VPI Avenger Direct turntable ($36,000), and an Aurender A20 Music Server ($14,000). Loudspeakers were the Acora QRC-1…