"From the very beginning, we had a vision to shape TAVES as more of a Consumer Electronics Show rather than just another audio show," show co-owner and Canada HiFi publisher Suave…
search
For some, the Toronto Audio Video Entertainment Show (TAVES 2013) is the show of the future. For others, it may signal a possible decline in the supremacy of two-channel audio. Either way, just two weeks after RMAF in Denver, with hardly any space between Stereophile's comprehensive coverage of that major two-channel show, TAVES 2013 takes place November 1–3 in the classy King Edward Hotel in downtown Toronto.
Colleen Cardas strongly urged me to try the Callas loudspeaker from Opera Loudspeakers (whose products she also distributes in the US), which she claimed was an ideal match for the Unison S6 amplifier I reviewed last August. In my experience, the stand-mounted Callas ($5000/pair) is unique among loudspeakers in being the logical contrapositive (inverted and flipped, so to speak) of the usual D'Appolito driver array of midrange-tweeter-midrange (MTM).
In the well-known D'Appolito array, one tweeter is partnered with two midrange drivers, one each above and below it. Opera's two-way Callas…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: two 1" dome tweeters, one magnesium-cone woofer, three rear-firing dome tweeters. Crossover frequencies: "around 1500Hz," front drivers; 2kHz, rear tweeters. Frequency range: 32Hz–25kHz. Sensitivity of 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms.
Dimensions: 14.8" (376mm) H by 9" (229mm) W by 13.4" (340mm) D. Weight: about 57 lbs (26kg) each.
Serial numbers of review samples: .
Price: $5000/pair.
Manufacturer: Opera Loudspeakers, A.R.I.A. Advanced Research in Audio, via…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
John Marks was impressed by the Callas stand-mounted loudspeaker from Italian manufacturer Opera Loudspeakers. The Callas is unusual in that it has tweeters mounted above and below its single SEAS magnesium-cone woofer. The conventional wisdom is that the higher the frequency, the closer together you need to position drive-units covering the same passband if you want to avoid unwanted off-axis lobing. Not only does the Callas break that rule, it also has three rear-firing tweeters mounted vertically in-line on its rear panel, below a pair of reflex ports.
…
Much ink has been spilled, and rightly so, on the topic of the LP's recent and apparently durable resurrection as a playback medium. The corpse may not be quite as lively after death as before, but it is nonetheless arguably more Lazarus than Lavoisier (the latter having managed nothing more than to wink at the crowd following his time on the guillotine—as he boasted, in life, that he would do).
I am no less set in my ways. After 15 years of owning and loving a Linn LP12 turntable, and thereafter hearing the unsubtle improvement in musical drive and force offered by such vintage players…
As for build quality, I could find nothing to fault and a lot to praise. The tonearm exhibited very low friction in both planes, with neither binding nor excessive play. Downforce calibration was reasonably accurate, and the required spindle-to-pivot distance was accurately set at 214mm. Even more impressive was the quality of machining evident in the turntable itself; neither the motor pulley nor the platter—which is said to be diamond-lapped—exhibited even the slightest wobble or runout error. The platter in particular was astonishingly well made: It ran so true that, when wiped clean of…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-speed, belt-driven turntable with integrated tonearm. Motor: AC synchronous. Speeds: 331/3, 45rpm. Speed adjustment: ±4%. Wow and flutter: 0.04%. Tonearm effective length: 9" (229mm). Overhang: 15mm. Offset angle: 22°. Cartridge mass range: 4–12gm. Range of tonearm height adjustment: 39–60mm.
Dimensions: 18.3" (465mm) W by 7.7" (195mm) H (including dustcover) by 15.4" (390mm) D. Weight: 51 lbs (23kg).
Serial Number of Unit Reviewed: F10600089.
Price: $6400. Approximate number of dealers: 30.
Manufacturer: Luxman Corporation, 1-3-…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301 turntable; EMT 997 tonearm; EMT OFD 25 and TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads; Denon 103, Ortofon Cadenza Red, Miyajima Premium BE mono cartridges.
Digital Sources: AudioQuest DragonFly, Meridian Explorer, Wavelength Proton USB DACs; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.11.0, Decibel v.1.2.11; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2 step-up transformer, Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne, Fi 421A.
Loudspeakers: Altec Valencia, DeVore Fidelity…
I was introduced to audiophilia by my friend Gary Gustavsen. Although I'd known Gary since I was 13, I didn't discover his passion for music until that day in high school physics lab when I blurted out an obscure line from the Doors' "The Soft Parade," and Gary bounced back immediately with the next line. It turns out I shared my friend's passions for the Doors and Frank Zappa, but not for Mahler. Before long, Gary was dragging me to every audio store in our area to listen to potential speakers for his first high-end audio system. At the beginning of each trip he'd say, "Right now I'm partial…
When I listened to well-recorded singers, the Aon 2's lower midrange had a warm richness that made it sound like a much larger speaker. Melody Gardot has a somewhat thick, husky voice to begin with, and on The Absence (CD, Decca B0016816) she uses a microphone that tends to emphasize the lower region of her voice. Through the GoldenEars she sounded rich, holographic, and silky throughout her range on all tracks.
The Aon 2's low-end extension and naturalness through the midbass also suggested a larger, more expensive speaker. I always enjoy listening to bassist Chuck Israels's many solos…