An Audience Adept Response aR6-T4 power conditioner ($6900), Audience FrontRow Reserve HP PowerChord ($7600), Audience…
search
San Marcos, California's Audience AV and old friend Ralph Karsten of Atma-Sphere bought a fresh system to T.H.E. Show. The setup included an Exemplar Audio eXpression DUAL ES9028PRO DAC with outboard power supply ($5500) and a Sony UPBX-1100ES Disc Player ($700). Karsten's Atma-Sphere MP-1 Vacuum Tube Balanced Line Stage ($7850) and Class-D Monoblock Amplifiers ($6100/pair) drove a pair of Audience ClairAudient Bellare Loudspeakers in a debut ($36,000/pair).
Verdant Audio's Scott Bierfelt and Linn business development manager Rachel Mackenzie presented a fine-sounding room comprised of Linn components.
Before the show, Bierfelt wrote via e-mail, "The intent, since this is NYC and space is at a premium, is to take a lifestyle system but one without compromise. For digital streaming, you need one box (Klimax DSM) and two speakers that are modest in size. Yet this is an elite DAC and superb speakers that will perform as well as any $145,000 system and can fit in almost any NYC apartment."
Considering that many of the Hilton…
Sharp lines and sculptural forms defined Room 219, presented by Supreme Acoustic Systems, calming my frantic mind immediately upon arrival. Soulnote's Yhusuke Iwashashi and Hideki Kato were perfect hosts, settling my reporter's brain with placid expressions.
A Bergmann Thor linear-tracking tonearm mounted on a Modi air-bearing turntable ($18,100) bore a Hana Umami Red MC cartridge ($3950). The Hana cart was attached to a Soulnote E-2 VER2 phono equalizer ($9910), and the whole analog playback system sat on an eSseCi Design Relaxa 850 platform ($1925).
There was digitally…
"New Life Audio—Good For The Soul" adorned the entrance to Queens, New York, dealer New Life Audio Solutions's room. Owner Shawn Mathew's smiling countenance and gentle personality made me feel welcome.
A Rockna Audio Wavedream Reference Signature DAC ($27,000) and a Lumin U2X digital transport/streamer ($11,000) fed signal to a Trafomatic Audio Tara 30A class-A preamplifier ($80,000), coupled to WestminsterLab Rei bridged monoblocks ($35,000/pair), driving Von Schweikert Audio ULTRA.seven Foundation loudspeakers ($195,000/pair). MasterBuilt Audio cables and Solidsteel racks…
Vinh Vu, my first friend in this audiophile thing, has been a busy bee since we met in the 1990s. With his company Gingko Audio, he's marketed his unique isolation platform, Danacable, and the Sextet Modular Speaker System, among other products that have stood the test of time.
Vu's latest idea is of the DIY variety. His MooVu Speaker Kit ($499 plus cabinet cost) consists of four custom 6.5" woofers, two 1" soft-dome tweeters, two crossover boards, OFC copper wirings, and instructions. Cabinets in Redwood, Jujube Wood, and Brown Maple are sold separately by Iwistao Minimart for $350/pair…
Succasunna, New Jersey's Orchard Audio didn't come to play. Joined by Kimber Kable and Soundfield Audio, Orchard got down to business, but quick. "We are an audio company that provides an immersive listening experience by offering top-quality DACs, streamers, and amplifiers," its website states.
The system included Orchard Audio owner/designer Leonid Ayzenshtat's PecanPi+ Streamer Premium ($1500) and Soundfield Audio 1212C active speakers ($16,000/pair). Kimber Kable Hero XLR interconnects ($562/pair), Kimber Kable speaker cables, and Kimber Kable PK10 Ascent power cables ($710/ea.)…
Robert Lighton's custom rig included his prototype turntable with a rosewood armboard and customized 10" Audio Note tonearm with a Miyajima Madake MC cartridge. An Audio Note S9 step-up transformer ($28,000) and M9 phono preamp ($185,000) did the analog business. An Audio Note CD 4.1x ($16,000) made music from shiny silver discs. Finally, an Audio Note Gaku-On amplifier ($330,000) drove Lighton's speakers. Audio Note Sogon interconnects and speaker cable provided the connectivity. A Furman power conditioner worked silently.
"This is the first showing of my RL 12 speaker system ($…
High Water Sound's Jeffrey Catalano is renowned for assembling fantastic-sounding systems, room after room, year after year. Just as compelling as his sonic assemblages is his exceptional taste in music on vinyl. He did it again at T.H.E. Show NYC 2025, where he was joined by Colin King’s Gestalt Audio of Nashville..
The records Jeffrey brought spanned a cosmos of sound: jazz, ambient, space-age travel-rama epics, and down-and-dirty blues. Titles included Casimir Liberski ReTRio's The Z Suites, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio's Cold As Weiss, Širom's In the Wind of Night, Hard‑Fallen…
Sharing one of two HiFi Loft rooms with owner Jason Tavares, 2WA Group (led by Walters Schofield and Swanbon) showcased a system built around SPL components and Falcon Acoustics speakers.
The system included the SPL Director Mk.2 preamplifier/DAC ($4700) and the Performer s800 stereo amplifier ($4350). Speakers were Herb's beloved Falcon Acoustics Gold Badge LS3/5a in Burl Walnut ($4850/pair), plus Falcon Acoustics F50 S/E in European Walnut ($2490/pair).
ArgentPur cables provided connectivity, including Athene RCA ($1400), Heracles RCA ($1900), Amen RCA ($2400), Athene…
Was it something in the air, something in the water? Cosmically inspired by the stars and the moon? Or maybe the devil was finally claiming his own as rock music in all its variants was unassailably ascendant.
A more temporal reason why 1975 was such a rich year for music is that by the middle 1970s, audio engineers had mastered the arts of recording on multiple channels and cutting and editing tape. Even more crucially, the profit motive still existed in music. Back when people bought vinyl LPs by the binful, it was still possible for musicians (and by extension record labels) to get…