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"I'm not done," Lew Johnson said. "I showed you our high-aspiration products, now here's one more from the heart: the ET250S is a more realistically priced product at $7500 for 250Wpc. At the heart of the amp is a single-ended triode amplifier that supplies the voltage gain. A high-current buffer stage couples that to the speaker load. That architecture gives you tube grace and finesse, but deliver all the brute force you need for any loudspeaker. We'll ship them in February."
"Here's something a little different for us," CJ's Lew Johnson continued his tour. "The $10,000 TEA1 triode equalization amplifier embodies our current understanding of the state-of-the-art in phono stage design. It's a zero loop feedback design with two tube gain stages and a passive equalization network. We put a high-current buffer stage isolates the unit from cable and other loading elements."
Anything else?
"Well, yes. It has two inputs—high gain and low gain with adjustable resistive and capacitive loading."
Lew Johnson pointed at the LP275M ($12,500). "This is something CJ hasn't done in a while: a high output tube monoblock. We use four pairs of 6550s to obtain 275W with our proprietary translinear transformers. We can configure it for 2, 4, 8, or 16 Ohm loads (standard is 4 Ohm). Like our most recent designs, we're using metal foil resistors and Teflon CJD capacitors. We'll be shipping them by February."
"Basically, we're just having too much fun," Conrad-Johnson's Lew Johnson told me. "We're introducing three new state-of-the-art products. Well, the ART Series 3 is more new and improved.
"As you know, we introduced the ART preamp in a limited edition of 250. When we upgraded it to the Art Series 2, we stayed within that number. We recently discovered we still had the metal work for the last 30 unfulfilled ARTs. Not only that, but Bill Conrad and I had I had a few ideas about improving it. As it turned out, we replaced almost everything except the metal work, which makes it a lot…
We walked in to the room and spotted a pair of floorstanding speakers. Stevie Ray Vaughan filled the room, so we assumed the floorstanders were channelling him. "Oh no, you're listening to those."
Those? They were tiny.The $3950/pair Trenner & Friedl ART Ivory minimonitors have Corian baffles and Zebrawood-veneered enclosures. The enclosure is vented and the speakers are rated from 48Hz–40kHz.
We listened to more SRV. Yup, those little guys flat-out rocked!
Bel Canto's John Stronczer made a bold decision to demonstrate exclusively with a music server streaming Music Giants. He ran the output from his laptop to the $2495 e.One DAC3 digital-to-analog processor and then directly to a pair of e.One REF1000 1000W monoblocks ($1995 each).
No preamp?
"This is how I listen at home most of the time," Stronczer said. "Actually, our newest product was designed to solve a problem I've been running into—the e.One DAC3 sounds so good, I've almost stopped listening to LPs, so I had to design the PHONO3 analog-to-digital phono section to give…
Zanden's Kazutoshi Yamada builds amplifiers like Medieval villages built cathedrals: To glorify the quintessence. Jon Iverson and I were lured into his room because his Model 9600s were so . . . shiny (hey, we're guys, we're not complicated). Then we heard 'em driving the Ascendo System Z-F3 loudspeakers. Wowsers.
The 60W monoblocks (approximately $45,000/pair) are built around the KR 845 tube. "It's an extraordinary tube," said Yamada. "It's so good, I simply had to design a new amplifier to take advantage of it."
VAS Audio's Sze Leung is the most consistently up audiophile we know—he's always raving about his latest listening session or discovery. "This one's incredible," he exclaimed, pointing to the 80Wpc Cayin H-80A Class-A tube hybrid integrated amplifier (approximately $4000)."
What makes it special?
"I'm a tube guy, but I like power too. The H-80A has 12AX7 input tubes feeding a MOSFET output stage. It sounds sweet, but it'll drive just about any load. It's rated from 10Hz–40kHz."
"Try to pick it up!" Leung reached into a drawer and pulled out a weight-lifting belt. "…
GamuT doesn't rent a display room at one of the hotels, instead they figure the best way to show off home loudspeakers is in a home. So they rent a palatial pad in the Las Vegas suburbs, invite us over for dinner (they fly in a Danish cook and assistant) and then we retire to the living room to check out the speakers and electronics.
In a perfect world, CES's high end audio sector would take over a small neighborhood every year, and we'd just caravan from house to house.