Art Dudley

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Triangle and Hegel
SSI 2014
Art Dudley  |  Mar 30, 2014  |  0 comments
I have found that, under show conditions, some of the sweetest sounds often come from the smallest systems; so it was in the room sponsored by distributor VMAX, where a Hegel H80 integrated amplifier with onboard D/A and five digital inputs, including USB ($2000) drove a lovely pair of Triangle 30th Anniversary Comete loudspeakers ($1800/pair), with a Hegel CDP-2A CD player ($2600) used as a transport.
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Monitor Audio and Cyrus
SSI 2014
Art Dudley  |  Mar 30, 2014  |  0 comments
Ontario-based Kevro International, which distributes Monitor Audio loudspeakers and British-built Cyrus electronics in the US and Canada, demonstrated a system using a pair of Monitor Silver 10 loudspeakers ($2700/pair in gloss finish) and a stack of Cyrus amplification and digital components (total price approximately $12,000). Apart from lacking a bit of bass weight—surprisingly, given the speakers' size and the sheer amount of bass-driver real estate), the sound was smooth, spacious, and open, with very good melodic flow and momentum.
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The magic Chord
SSI 2014
Art Dudley  |  Mar 29, 2014  |  0 comments
In addition to AudioQuest cabling, the demo system put together by Montreal retailer Audioville comprised a pair of KEF Blade loudspeakers ($30,000), stirred into action by Chord electronics: the SPM5000 amplifier ($25,000), CPA3000 preamplifier ($10,000), and DSX1000 DAC/streamer ($13,000). The sound, as noted in Steve Silberman's demonstration, was explicit without being relentless about it: Music flowed naturally, and with decent color and very good impact, especially at the louder end of the spectrum.
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Into the Ethernet with AudioQuest
SSI 2014
Art Dudley  |  Mar 29, 2014  |  0 comments
AudioQuest also announced their entry into the world of Ethernet cables, with a line that includes nine distinct models; seen here is the Audioquest Cinnamon Ethernet cable, priced at $69 for a 1.5-meter length. "USB won't go away," said the company's Steve Silberman, "But Ethernet will continue to grow.
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Man down!
SSI 2014
Art Dudley  |  Mar 29, 2014  |  0 comments
It only looks as though Steve Silberman of Audioquest is trying to ignore a corpse behind the loudspeakers; in actual fact he's explaining the finer points of JRiver playback software—a topic in which he is remarkably conversant—while a colleague works on their system's cabling.
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Spin baby
SSI 2014
Art Dudley  |  Mar 29, 2014  |  0 comments
Here's a closer look at one of Plurison's customized Regas. The face motif, according to Michel Plante, plays on the idea that an LP has two "faces" (French for "sides"), and the notion that music itself has many faces. Exact prices were not immediately available, but the plan is to sell each of the silk-screened Regas for 15% above the normal price; all of that premium will go directly to the artists who created the designs.
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Art for Art's sake from Rega
SSI 2014
Art Dudley  |  Mar 29, 2014  |  3 comments
Plurison, which distributes the products of Rega Research throughout Canada, sponsored a press breakfast in which they unveiled a series of Rega turntables that had been transformed by the Quebec artist Zilon (seen above). On display were three RP1s and three RP3s, the plinths and platter hubs of which were painted using Molotow oil-based markers; 100 copies of each of these six originals will be made—by means of silk-screening—and sold, with more designs to follow.
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Skech (which rhymes with peach)
SSI 2014
Art Dudley  |  Mar 29, 2014  |  0 comments
The family-owned electronics chain Son X Plus sponsored a number of exhibits at SSI, including this active display of Skech wireless headphones, in a rainbow of colors. I gave them a brief try—not the pink ones—and was mildly impressed at the progress being made in Bluetooth audio.
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SSI 2014—a Suitable Beginning
SSI 2014
Art Dudley  |  Mar 28, 2014  |  6 comments
Here’s the trick to show reporting: accomplish as much as possible ahead-of-time. Thus my decision, while riding the Amtrak train from Albany, NY to Montreal for this year’s Salon Son et Image, to write about the journey itself, and to illustrate my post with a photo of something I’d seen along the way.
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The restaurant at the beginning of the universe
SSI 2014
Art Dudley  |  Mar 28, 2014  |  0 comments
I’ve reported from Salon Son et Image almost every year since joining Stereophile in 2003, and as much as I enjoy the show itself, my favorite part remains the evening before the opening day. That’s when, in accordance with an informal tradition, members of the industry and the press gather together at the Hilton Bonaventure’s hotel bar—which also happens to serve the best food of any hotel bar in my experience—to shake the dust of the town from our boots, as it were. Pictured here, from left to right, are Peter McGrath (Wilson Audio), Mike Manousselis (Dynaudio), Lionel Goodfield (Simaudio), Keith Pray (publisher, Stereophile), Philip O’Hanlon (On a Higher Note), and Costa Koulisakis (Simaudio).
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