I joke sometimes at Home Entertainment Shows, as I regard the crowds jostling one another to enter rooms, paw through bins of records, or get the good seats at the musical events, that "these are <I>my</I> people." The thing is, it's <I>true</I>. I do the same things.
I'm a guy who loves traditions: I attribute it to growing up in Virginia, a state that reveres tradition, my wife claims it's just OCD. Whatever—I have made it a tradition at every HE Show I can remember to visit Luke Manley's VTL room at the last minute on the last day because it always lets me leave on a high note. Manley did not disappoint this year in the room he shared with dealer Brooks Berdan, the "king of analog."
Jon Iverson wrote about <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/he2006/060306bard2/">Bard's wireless system</A>, but I think it worth emphasizing that, although Bard has a USB dongle that will transfer music from your computer to other systems, many audiophiles might be even more thrilled by the Bard One ($850), which inserts between your preamp and power amp and broadcasts to a nearby system, where it plugs into that preamp's line inputs. It's small and unobtrusive and sounded very good at HE2006, I hope to get my mitts on a sample and write about it further.
Other <I>Stereophile</I> writers, most specifically <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/he2006/060406sonics/">Jason Victor Serinus</A>, have mentioned how good the Immedia room sounded and they are absolutely right: It sounded wonderful. I heard it twice and both times I was tremendously impressed with how relaxed and natural it sounded at moderate loudness levels. Many demonstrations rely on loudness to generate excitement, but Immedia's Allen Perkins let his system just bloom naturally.
Jon Iverson <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/he2006/060106ciaclose/">already posted</A> a picture of Channel Island's D•400 amp ($4000/pair) and PCC•1 remote control passive preamp ($895), but he didn't mention how freaking powerful the combo sounded driving the Von Schweikert VR-5 ($18,000/pair). CIA's Dusty Vawter switched over to his also powerful-sounding D•200s and handed me a D•400—holy moly! The thing weighs a ton! The 0.25" side panels are all heatsink, which made me wonder, has Vawter produced a class-AB amp to join his class-D designs?
Red Dragon's Leviathan Series monoblock amplifiers deliver 500W into 8 ohms for $5995/pair. Driving Acoustic Zen Adagio loudspeakers, they sure sounded sweet—and powerful! They're packed with cool stuff, such as Neutrik silver XLR inputs and Cardas solid-copper binding posts, not to mention ERS paper, which is "employed at key locations to absorb and diffuse unwanted EMI."
I wandered into the ModWright/Red Dragon/Acoustic Zen/Golden Sounds room expecting good sound because Dan Wright's stuff <I>always</I> delivers, but I was wowed by the system's synergy.
Take this one seriously, kids! Here's more hot poop on the <A HREF="http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat051606.html">Section 115 Reform Act of 2006 (SIRA)</A>, courtesy of IPac. Don't let this stand—the only way Congress will oppose this is if it hears that its constituents don't want it, otherwise they'll suspect we won't even notice. Make some noise!
The (insert adjective here) recording and entertainment lobbies have sneakily maneuvered to have language inserted in <A HREF="http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat051606.html">
Section 115 Reform Act (SIRA)</A>, which is being considered by the House Judiciary Committee, that will destroy fair use as we know it. The language is vague but it appears to require licenses from copyright holders for "every digital copy made in the transmission of digital media—including cached copies on servers or on your hard drive, and even temporary copies in RAM," according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
Remind you of anybody? Heck yes, just about everybody!