Art Dudley

In one of the rooms sponsored by Audio Pathways, the always-impressive yet consistently difficult-to-photograph-in-the-dark Raidho Acoustics C1.1 loudspeakers ($CAD18,000/pair) sounded excellent with a slightly-less-photo-phobic Jeff Rowland Continuum S2 integrated amp ($10,500), set up with Transparent cabling.

Retailer AudioShop and distributor Audio Associé demonstrated a pleasantly impactful system built around a pair of Cabasse Riga loudspeakers ($18,000 /pair, including the Cabasse subwoofer), with a brace of electronics from my upstate New York neighbors McIntosh: the MCD1000 SACD/CD player ($10,000), C2500 tube preamp ($6500), and the beautiful McIntosh 275 power amp ($6500), all plugged into the company's MPC1500 AC power conditioner ($5000).

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.

Seen in the same room as the Hegel-Triangle system was a frustratingly silent display: one of a pair of brand-new, full-range electrostatic loudspeakers from the Dutch company Essence. Apparently its mate suffered a bit of rough handling, and the people of VMAX decided, commendably, not to trust its high-voltage circuitry before giving the speaker a thorough check-up. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for this $4000/pair beauty, the stators of which are created from acrylic using a 3D printer.