I listened to two tracks: a file of the beautifully recorded "Volver," from the…
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On the top floor of the Schaumburg Hotel, retailer GTT Audio assembled an alluring system from many of its top brands. Including three premieres—Kronos Reference Phono stage ($45,000), Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC ($13,400), and YG Acoustics Vantage loudspeakers ($32,800/pair)—the system displayed a finely graded range of colors within a cool color palette. How this particular assemblage of components will sound once its speakers have been broken-in for far more than 48 hours is something I'm eager to find out.
In the inner sanctum, as it were, of distributor Axiss Audio, I discovered what I believe were three premieres: Soulution's 525 preamp ($26,500) and 311 power amp ($12,000), and Piega 511 speakers ($15,000). In a brief listen, this system's notably drier, straight ahead, and detailed presentation was distinguished by a smooth midrange core that brought pleasure on both a pop track and Carolyn Sampson's perfume-scented recording of Fauré's "Les Roses d'Ispahan." Contributing to the system's strengths were Soulution's 560 DAC with Leedh upgrade ($40,000), Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 and Silver…
No less a personage than Jim Austin suggested that I check out all the new products in the T+A Elektroakustik room, presented by retailer Lone Star Audio. Given that every single T+A product was brand new and pressed into service just 48 hours earlier, and that exhibitors are prohibited from running systems at break-in volumes (if at all) at night, the fact that my brief listening session left such a positive impression makes me eager to hear how everything will sound after it settles in.
Regardless of the lack of break-in, the system did an extremely fine job of capturing bass. The top…
Distributor Axiss Audio's main system, built around Air Tight's ATM-3211 211-tube based monoblocks ($72,000/pair), premiere ATM-2Plus KT-88-based stereo power amplifier ($TBD), ATC-5 tube-based preamplifier with phono equalizer ($9500), ATH-3 step-up transformer ($3000), premiere PC-1 Coda cartridge ($8500), and Opus cartridge ($15,000) took pride of place in an all-analog system whose bottom line was tube warmth for days. That warmth sounded beautiful—absolutely gorgeous—and just right for a track from Chet Baker's LP Chet, played through the premiere outing of Piega MLS 3 speakers ($55,000/…
The smallest model in ELAC's Carina series, the BS243.4 ($1200/pair) represents a departure from Andrew Jones' other designs that feature a concentric tweeter/midrange driver in that it combines a folded ribbon HF unit with a 5.25" aluminum-cone woofer. A reflex design, its port fires downward from the bottom of the enclosure with a slot formed between the base and a plate underneath it. This should make the speaker easier to place in a room where it can't be used well away from the wall behind it.
Driven by an Audio Alchemy DDP-2 preamp/DAC/streamer ($2499) and DPA-2 amplifier ($1499),…
The first of the two ELAC rooms I visited featured the Navis ARF-51 powered tower speaker ($4000/pair). This design from Andrew Jones, shown in my photo, features a coaxial tweeter/midrange unit and three woofers. Level controls allow the balance to be optimized—up to ±1dB for the coaxial unit, up to ±4dB for the woofers.
With source a Discovery server ($1099) and an Audio Alchemy DDP-2 D/A preamplifier, with AudioQuest Monsoon power cables and AudioQuest Water interconnects, the ARF-51s playing Count Basie's 88 Basie Street sounded rich with clean, clear high frequencies. Despite the…
Ever since Magnepan's Wendell Diller married this beautiful former Soviet spy (aka Agent G), he's been doing everything on the down low, hush-hush, totally covert. (Though I must say he does look good in dark glasses.)
This year at AXPONA he has a secret room, at the end of an obscure hall, with no signage. Agent G watches the door from a distance, and you must knock the secret knock to enter.
Once inside, it looks just like any other well-turned-out AXPONA room, but the sounds I heard from this new secret speaker were not like any other sounds I experienced at AXPONA. Think…
I admit up front I've been behind the curve in understanding/appreciating the EgglestonWorks house sound. I'm a slow learner, but whenever I finally get something—I've got it. Today, in the room sponsored by retailer Tenacious Sound (with stores in Syracuse, NY, Augusta, GA, Jacksonville, FL, and, soon, Louisville, KY), during the world premiere of EgglestonWorks' very beautiful Nico Evo standmounted speakers, I realized why so many people love this brand: They are super well-crafted, and they seem to do everything very well. They play tidy and well-sorted, but with a wild, super dynamic side…
The new (world premiere) Laufer Teknik The Note loudspeakers ($29,950/pair) are very hard to photograph because they are very thin line arrays comprised of 48 little metal drivers each in a 87"-tall, 2.5" deep, 2"-wide aluminum enclosure that's heated—it is warm to the touch. They disappeared into space while I listened. Their soundstage went out through the wall behind them while the $1600 SVS SP-4000 subwoofer pushed tight bass down through the floor to the basement. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor rattled the walls, but I couldn't "see" the speakers. Think: Skinny speakers make giant…
New, Compact, and Classic from Luxman: NeoClassico SQ-N150 Integrated Amplifier and D-N150 CD Player
If you're after an elegant classic look and a compact form factor, you'd be hard-pressed to do much better than the Luxman NeoClassic series, including the SQ-N150 integrated amplifier ($2795) and the D-N150 CD player ($2595). Both are new, and both are now shipping.
The SQ-N150 utilizes four EL84 tubes and 2 ECC83 tubes, all from JJ Electronics. It's a 10W push-pull design with three line inputs, plus an input into a MM/MC phono stage. It has a headphone output, and it utilizes a standard Luxman remote control, either the one included with the D-N150 CD player or the optional RA-25…