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Heavy Metal!

Ypsilon Electronics was a new name to me, so I wasn't sure what Jon Iverson and I would see when we entered its room. Whatever we expected, it wasn't the ginormous hybrid SET-100 monoblock amplifiers ($69,000/pair).

Ypsilon believes that single-ended is better, so the 120W SET-100 is a hybrid single-ended power amplifier. It uses 8830 tubes in the input stage.

Ypsilon has been in business in Greece for about 15 years, but this is the first time it has shown its wares in the US. The $69,000 price actually, was quoted as "€53,000, tax included." Shipping is not, presumably.…

Infinity's Responsible Sound

It seemed that I'd been walking for days when I finally made it to the Infinity suite at the Las Vegas Hilton. Around the Convention Center, into barbeques and onto concert stages, across a parade of shuttle buses, by a dude playing Guitar Center solos while plugged into a Volkswagon, over a skywalk, through a glowing, buzzing, smoking casino (of course), and aboard a crowded elevator, I finally made it. Made it! To Infinity's "Responsible Sound" exhibit.

I had my fingers crossed, hoping to see and hear some finished project, some Green Speaker with Organic Sound,…

PBN's Montana Master Reference

In my opinion, the relation between speaker size and performance tends to be a curvilinear one: performance improves with size up to a point (assuming good design), but when speakers are really big they’re often disappointing, sounding merely "impressive" but not natural. I’m always delighted, therefore, to find an exception to this rule, and that was the case with the PBN Audio Montana Master Reference speakers at the outboarding THE Show at the San Tropez Resort. These speakers are 84" tall, weigh 500 lbs, and feature two 18” subwoofers, two 10" woofers, two 5.25" midrange units, and…

Simaudio's Lionel Goodfield—Over the Moon

Canadian manufacturer Simaudio is on a roll, with product introductions at just about every CES and Home Entertainment Show. This time, it was the Moon P5.3 preamplifier ($3500), with numerous "trickle-down" design features from the flagship Moon P7 and P8, and the Moon W5.3 amplifier (150Wpc, $4800). I managed to catch VP Marketing Lionel Goodfield with a less-serious-than-usual expression by telling him to imagine that they got a letter from Best Buy, saying that they want to carry the high-end Simaudio brand in all their stores and will pay full retail price just to have this…

Jonathan Scull—Demagnetize <I>This</I>

Erstwhile Stereophile scribe Jonathan Scull, now firmly established in the worlds of public relations and marketing, conducted an in-room presentation of new Furutech products including an LP flattener, an LP demagnetizer and, with especial relish shown in the picture, an LP degausser. Also, shown were some beautiful AC receptacles and <$100 power cords with various connectors. Beautiful stuff.

Affordable Avalons

Every CES has its impressive, cost-no-object audio systems, but one of the better sounds I heard at the Show, in terms of superb vocal articulation and an excellent overall balance, came fron a relatively affordable system in the Avalon suite in the Aladdin Hotel. Based on the Colorado company's new NP2.0 two-way towers ($1995/pair), which feature two Kevlar-cone woofers and Avalon's proprietary composite-dome tweeter, driven by an Ayre Acoustics AX7 integrated amp and a Cary CD306 player, the system showed that you don't have to drop megabux on a system to get musically satisfying…

Ambience from Australia

The Australian Ambience Reference 1800 ribbon hybrid loudspeakers ($13,995) use ribbons of their own design, combined with a vented bass section. The cabinet is sleek, with a narrowing toward the top. I quite enjoyed listening to these speakers, and, ever on the lookout for a cost-effective components, I was impressed by the fact that they were being driven by relatively inexpensive Vincent electronics (SAT-1 preamp, $1495, SAT-100 monoblock power amps, $2495/pair). Designer Tony Moore was on hand to demo the speakers.

Dynaudio Gets High-End Sound from the iPod

At the Las Vegas Convention Center, Dynaudio was showing—and playing—its new self-powered MC15 mini speakers. In three setups, they were connected to a laptop, a gaming console and an iPod dock, each setup clearly indicating that its high quality sound was an improvement over the usual powered computer speakers. Sporting a 6" woofer, an Esotec soft-dome tweeter (with 1st-order crossover at 1.5kHz), and a pair of 50W amps, this $1299/pair package, including elegant table mount, would be even more suitable as the basis of a deskop system with a good disc player.

Opera Loudspeaker's Linea Classica

A lovely line of Italian loudspeakers. It's no wonder Sam Tellig is such a fan. The speakers almost ask to be touched.

All three models of the Linea Classica — the Prima, Seconda, and Quinta — feature cabinets constructed from MDF, with delicately curved side panels dressed in real wood veneers and lacquer finish. The tops and rears of each cabinet are finished in the softest, smoothest leather. I found this most impressive.

Unison Research's Alessandro Bovo caught me admiring the small Prima ($1119.99/pr, matching stands add $449.99/pr). "It's very pretty," I admitted…

Unison Research Preludio

The 14Wpc Unison Research Preludio ($2995) is stunning, but may not be the best choice for rock music.