T.H.E. Show Newport 2011

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Positive Feedback Online
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 06, 2011  |  1 comments
The good folks from PFO had a "Hospitality Suite" mainly manned and womanned by Dave and Carol Clark. "Hospitable" is an understatement. Serving refreshments and lots of great stories of the many, many concerts they’ve attended and the music they love, Dave and Carol Clark are some nice people.

What was even nicer about the PFO Hospitality suite, in a hi-fi sense, is it also housed a system that was part of a project Dave Clark organized for the school where he teaches—Zu Audio donated a pair of unfinished Soul Superfly cabinets and Dave’s students finished 'em. I think they did a great job. They also got to listen to a cool hi-fi that included the Bel Canto C5i DAC/integrated amp, Nordost Purple Flare cabling, XLO/Ultra Power AC Power Strip, Wadia 171t, Oppo BDP-85SE universal player, and Pure Music Software.

I hate to repeat myself (not really) but if you want to attract younger people into our hobby you’re going to have to do more than talk. Bravo Mr. Clark for just doing it!

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Precision Audio Video—Venture V.B.V.A.—Weiss Engineering
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Precision Audio Video is both a retailer and the US distributor for Venture and Weiss products. They were exhibiting the Venture Encore Loudspeakers ($46,000/pair), Venture V100A+ Reference monoblock amplifiers ($60,000/pair), Venture VP100 Reference full-function preamplifier ($28,000), Venture VP100P phono preamplifier ($26,000)—"which provides substantial higher quality for the vinyl analogue play back—a Spiral Groove SG1 turntable, with a Spiral Groove tonearm and London Decca cartridge. The Weiss Jason CD Transport ($24,000) fed a Weiss Medea DAC ($20,000) and all cabling was from Venture.

We listened to Eric Clapton’s "Tears in Heaven" unplugged on vinyl and the very nice guy from Precision A/V kept asking his associate to turn it up. One of the issues with demoing hi-fi in a huge ballroom is that it's difficult, or damn near impossible, to energize the room and fully engage the listener.

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Precision Transducer Engineering
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 04, 2011  |  0 comments
The self-powered (three 130W amplifiers) Phoenix loudspeakers ($5400/pair) from Precision Transducer Engineering (PTE) aren’t for sissies. Especially when they’re used in conjunction with a powered subwoofer strapped to a 400W class-A/B amp of its own. In a tiny hotel room. New electronics from Townshend Audio were also in use, including the Glastonbury Pre 1 preamplifier ($13,000) and the Glastonbury CD Universal Player ($16,000). Vinyl was handled by a SpJ La Luce Turntable. I was actually enjoying my time in the PTE room until someone decided to see how far they could flex the walls and ceiling with soundwaves.

PTE also makes a larger loudspeaker, The Statement ($44,000/pair), which they were going to play later in the day but I didn’t make it back in time. Okay, I admit it—I didn't go back because I was afraid.

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
RSL Speaker Systems
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 04, 2011  |  0 comments
RSL Speaker Systems is a direct-sales only company, started by speaker designer Howard Rodgers, the head honcho of 1980s retailer/speaker manufacturer Rogersound Labs. RSL was showing the CG Stereo System speakers ($1250/pair including a Speedwoofer 10 subwoofer, stands optional) that use its "patented Compression Guide Technology," which appears to be concerned with eliminating cabinet resonance and helps make a subwoofer speedy. RSL refers to this system as a "2.1 approach" (sub/satellite) and they believe that this configuration allows for optimum placement/room integration. In fact, the subwoofer we were hearing was not the one we were seeing—the Speedwoofer 10 (also available separately for $750) up front was on static display while the one in-use was hidden under a table on the opposite wall. RSL was using the PrimaLuna ProLogue Two integrated amp ($1999), which delivers 40Wpc from a quad of KT-88s, and the Acoustic Research CD5 ($5995).
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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Sanders Sound System
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Speaker designer Roger Sanders has been at this for a long time and he has a very specific idea/vision that is illustrated in his system and direct-sales approach. It is also illustrated in the room setup which you can't really see in this photo but in addition to that single chair sitting fairly close to the Model 10 electrostatic speakers, there was a single row of chairs, not side to side, but one behind the other.

The configuration we’re looking at and to which I listened was the Model 10c which includes a digital electronic crossover and the Magtech monoblock amplifiers (1600W into an 8 ohm load) for a system price of $13,000. Cables are from Sanders Sound as well, which I believe are included in the system price since there was no pricing information on the sort-of informative brochure I picked up in the room. I say "sort-of" because it doesn't include any information on the source we listened to and I neglected to make a note of it. . .

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Scott Walker Audio—Solos Audio—SonicCraft—Magico
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Yorba Linda, CA-based retailer Scott Walker Audio was responsible for "audio equipment, room set-up & tuning." Solos Audio is the sole distributor for SonicCraft solid-state amplifiers. The setup: Magico V2 loudspeakers ($19,500/pair), SonicCraft Signature stereo amplifier ($3450), which puts out 25Wpc in pure class-A, SonicCraft Opus preamplifier ($3450), Esoteric K-03 CD/SACD player ($13,000), Esoteric G-03X Master Clock ($5000), Synergistic Research cables and power cords, and the Synergistic Acoustic ART Room Treatment System ($3150).

I noted "rock-solid" imaging and a crazy level of micro-detail. "If Dianna Krall had even the merest hint of a cold, you’d know it," read my notes.

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
SimpliFi Audio
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 07, 2011  |  0 comments
San Diego-based retailer SimpliFi Audio was showing the Gradient Revolution Active loudspeaker ($11,995/pair) with the Gradient Revolution SW-D dipole subwoofer ($6995/pair), much to the chagrin of their neighbors, especially when playing organ music into the nether regions at I-think-I'm-going-to-be-sick levels. Also in use was a pair of the DSPeaker Anti-Mode 8033G ($595/each one per subwoofer) a digital room-correction device, "the cure for boomy bass." From what I heard, it works.

When I was in the room, SimpliFi was showing the Gradients with a "$500 Fosgate amplifier" and DNM $12/ft speaker wire to show that you don't need to be spendy to get flat response to 20Hz. The RA Opus 21 CDP/DAC/preamp ($3500) was being fed its music files from a laptop.

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Sonist Loudspeakers
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 06, 2011  |  0 comments
In an approach that's similar in some respects to the Tonian Acoustics TL-S1, the Sonist Concerto 4 ($5895/pair) marries dual, proprietary, 8" treated-paper–cone woofers to a Fountek NeoCD2.0 ribbon tweeter for a claimed frequency range of 27Hz–40kHz and 97dB sensitivity.

While Sonist had a few tube amplifiers on hand, we listened to the Audion Sterling Silver EL34 Anniversary integrated amp ($3499), the Wyred for Sound Sonos sample-rate converter ($890), which converts i2S into 96kHz, up-sampled S/PDIF, and a Wyred for Sound 32-bit DAC ($1499). The DAC has a defeatable 32-bit volume control, 2 coax inputs, 2 Toslink inputs, 1 AES/EBU input, 1 balanced i2S input via HDMI cable, and a 24-bit/192kHz asynchronous USB input. All cabling was the Cable Research Lab Bronze Series.

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Sonorus Audio
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 06, 2011  |  2 comments
Sonorus Audio was playing a complete Sonorus system during my visit—the Sonorus ATR10 Analog Tape Reproducer ($10,000), which is a reconditioned and modified Revox PR99, Sonorus VPA 11 line preamplifier and OTL headphone amp, Sonorus ESL06 200Wpc High Voltage OTL tube amplifier (driving the electrostatic speakers), an OTL09 120Wpc OTL amplifier (driving the woofers), the ESL06 full-range electrostatic loudspeakers, and a Definitive Technology BP20 "used as back-pressure compensation woofers for the ESL06s." The system price for the preamp, OTL amps, and loudspeakers is $100,000.

We listened to Pink Floyd on open-reel tape and it soundd appropriately ethereal and spacey. My one issue with this room was the heat—my guess is those OTL amps were due some degree of blame. If you live in an igloo you may want to look elsewhere.

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Sony—Kimber—IsoMike
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 07, 2011  |  4 comments
Kal Rubinson reviews the Sony SS-AR-1 loudspeaker ($27,000/pair) in the July 2011 Stereophile, due to hit newsstands next week, so I’d highly recommend reading his review if you want to know about these wonderful-sounding speakers. In addition to the Sony SS-AR1s, equipment in this room included Pass Labs X350.5 monoblocks, Sonoma 32 DSD multitrack recorder and editor, EMM Labs CDSD, EMM Labs DAC6SE, EMM Labs Switchman 3, with cable from Kimber Kable. System price, with two pairs of the Sony SS-AR1s, was $263,220.

We listened to a gospel track and the sound was expansive and detailed, with pinpoint imagining and all in all offered a truly moving performance. In this case, the Sonys seemed to enjoy this large ballroom, which makes me wonder what they'd be like in a normal listening room.

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Sunny’s Home Theater and Music Systems (Room 1)
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 06, 2011  |  1 comments
Covina, CA-based retailer Sunny's put one of their best feet forward with a pair of Wilson Audio Sashas ($27,700/pair), coupled to Boulder electronics that included the 2060 Stereo Power Amplifier ($46,000), 2010 preamplifier ($46,000), 1008 phono preamplifier ($12,000), and 1021 disc player ($27,700). Everything sat on a Finite Elemente Pagoda Signature rack and was cabled with Transparent Opus wire.

While I was in-room we listened to vinyl spinning on the Spiral Groove SG1.1 turntable ($20,000) and there was a lot of musical slam.

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Sunny’s Home Theater and Music Systems (Room 2)
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 06, 2011  |  1 comments
Sunny's mere-mortal room included two setups; Octave Audio V80 tube integrated amp ($9950), T+A Music Receiver ($3800), and the Dynaudio DM3/7 loudspeakers ($2000/pair). There was also a desktop system which consisted of the Naim Uniti ($2450) and a pair of Dynaudio Focus 100 active loudspeakers ($2400/pair).

I took a few minutes to speak to Sunil Merchant, President of Sunny's . . .

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NewsT.H.E. Show Newport 2011
T.H.E. Newport Beach Show 2011
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 01, 2011  |  4 comments
With well over 115 individual exhibits and hundreds of high-end audio and home theater brands making music just steps away from a wine show, auto show, a cigar show, and live jazz, T.H.E. Show: Newport promises to raise the bar for consumer audio shows in Southern California.

Scheduled for next Friday through Sunday, June 3–5, in the Newport Hilton, adjacent to Orange County's John Wayne International Airport, T.H.E. Show: Newport is the brainchild of Bob Levi, President of the successful Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society, and Richard Beers, President of T.H.E. Show. Levi came up with the idea, selling Beers on the notion of a new show that would open the audiophile fiefdom to the area's 24 million inhabitants. Beers in turn summoned forth over a decade of knowledge on show organization, and provided the infrastructure to make the event possible. . .

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
T.H.E. Newport Beach Show 2011—Summing Up
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Have you seen the film The Mole People? In brief, a few hapless archaeologists accidentally find a race of Sumerian albinos living deep underground. At first the Sumerian albinos believe the hapless archaeologists are Gods because they have a flashlight and sunlight, which kills your average Sumerian albino who lives deep underground—it literally burns them up. They are worshiped as Gods. But eventually they realize the hapless archaeologists are not Gods and what tips them off is the fact that the archaeologists show emotion and pain. Sumerian albinos living deep underground do not.

I spoke to Richard Beers, T.H.E. Show’s President about attendance at the first ever T.H.E. Show Newport Beach and he scientifically deduced over 4000. This estimate was based on the fact that he’d ordered over 4000 lanyards, the thing every attendee uses to hang their badge around their neck, and they were nearly gone on Saturday afternoon. I heard people talking even higher numbers but I’ve got no way to verify their enthusiasm.

In any event, this event was a complete, 100%, slam-dunk. . .

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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
The Audio Salon
Michael Lavorgna  |  Jun 07, 2011  |  1 comments
LA retailer The Audio Salon was showing an impressive sounding system—Magico Q5 loudspeakers ($59,950/pair), Spectral DMA 360 Series II monoblock amplifiers ($20,000/pair), Spectral DMC 30 SS Series II preamplifier ($10,000), and the Spectral SDR 4000SL CD Player ($19,000). Cable was from MIT and acoustic design was by Art Noxon of ASC. (From Maier Shadi of The Audio Salon: "The Audio Salon built a hidden, non-parallel, zig-zagged wall, and frame system behind the curtains for the acoustical treatments. Over 120 lengths of 8' 2x4's made up the 16 huge 6' x 8' hidden walls.")

The room was very dark, the Q5s were set up very far apart and the California Guitar Trio's version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" from their CD California Guitar Trio Rocks the West rocked my expectations, and I kept expecting (and kind of hoping) Freddie Mercury or his voice, would peer out from behind the curtain.

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