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Celebrating 29 Years Of Service To Music Lovers |
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Moving Down to the Lower Floor of the Best Western
The Gramophone Distribution Company sponsored two adjacent rooms (7144, 7146) at the end of the long hallway. In the first I heard a very interesting comparison of two floorstanding ATC monitors — the SCM40P passive speaker ($7650) and the SCM40A active speaker ($14,000) with built-in amplifier, whose heat sinks could be plainly seen on the back side of the speakers. The sound was very good with either speaker, but in direct comparison the active speaker had more presence, as if the musicians were right in the room. The system included a Melco Audio N1A Music Server ($2800), a Moon 280D Streaming DAC, 260D CD transport, the ATC CA2 preamp ($2950) and SIA2-150 integrated amp both pictured above. Cables were by Nordost and electricity was cleaned by an Audience Adept Response power conditioner. While the source was merely switched between the CA2 preamp to drive the active speaker and the SiA2-150 integrated to drive the passive speakers, the systems were balanced for identical volume and in most respects the sound was identical. The active speaker exhibited more tonal color and had more presence in the room, as I said. It was a real treat to hear this comparison. ATC also builds studio monitors and that's where the concept of actively driven speakers flourishes. They are a harder sell to audiophiles who like to design their own systems and have the power amp as a variable to play with. Active speakers allow for either more floor space or one less shelf necessary on your equipment rack. While they eliminate the need for speaker cables, they require the addition of power cords, at least one of which would have been used on an amplifier if you were using passive speakers. So while there are some space and financial gains in using powered speakers, the big story is in the improved sound. And since ATC also makes electronics, they get their active speakers right in a big way.
In the other Gramophone room (7144) there was a Melco Audio N1Zh Music Server($5500), a Chord Hugo TT DAC along with the new Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista CD Player ($11,995) and Nu-vista 800 Integrated amp ($13,995) driving a Marten Design Mingus Quintet loudspeaker ($60,000) in gloss walnut that had a very sophisticated look. Cables were by Luna Cables, a Canadian company that has gotten some good press recently. And once again, there was an Audience Adept Response power conditioner. I like the idea of the metal grilles across the midrange and tweeter of this speaker. It is visually integrated with the design and removes the need for a grill cloth. Sensitivity of the Mingus Quintet is 87dB and it is rated as 6 Ohms with a 3.4 Ohm minimum. Frequency range is very wide at 24Hz to 100kHz. My experience with this and other Marten Design speakers is the tweeter is quite focused and prominent, more like what you would expect from a studio monitor. Careful auditioning with an amplifier similar to your own would be my best advice. Workmanship is second to none with Marten.
TriCell Enterprises had a cluster of five rooms at this end of the hall. In 7136 I found the hard working Jeff Joseph demonstrating his entry level Profile floorstander that goes for $7400 CDN. It is flat from 39Hz to 20 kHz and is rated at 8 Ohms with a 6 Ohm minimum making it tube friendly, but no sensitivity was given. While the bass didn't go super deep, it was very taut. A wide bar with spikes at the ends was used at the front of the speaker to enhance stability. I heard a hi-rez (192kHz/24-bit) recording of Nina Simone singing "Little Girl Blue" from her first album (1957) and recently released by Chad Kassem of Acoustic Sounds. Acoustic Sounds, selling LPs and hi-rez downloads, now, is no small operation, employing about a hundred people out in Kansas. The rig here included a Gold Note DS-1000 streamer, a Wells Audio Majestic integrated amplifier with 150 wpc and costing about $4850 CDN, depending on the options, and Cardas Audio Clear speaker cables, a brand Jeff typically uses with his speakers.
On silent display at that moment was a Gold Note Giglio turntable with a B-5.1 arm and dustcover ($5850 for all) and the new Gold Note Vasari Red mm cartridge ($350) that some people most likely heard, given that there was also a Gold Note PH-7 mm/mc phono stage with its separate PSU-7 power supply also in the rack. The HRS record clamp also did not escape my notice. Joseph speakers are always very listenable and this more affordable model should attract the attention of more people to the brand. This is at least the second time I've heard a Wells Audio amplifier and both times they have impressed me. A Wells Audio Looking Glass power conditioner ($2250 CDN) lurked behind the audio racks. A drum cut showed the excellent timbre of the speakers and the fine control of the Wells amp. There was not a lot of visual "wow" factor here but the music sounded very, very good indeed. On display here (and maybe sampled by some visitors) was the Wells Audio Milo, a headphone amplifier ($2250 CDN) for the Ergo AMT electrostatic headphones ($1850 CDN). Kudos to Greg McLean for helping me identify the gear.
In the next Tri-Cell room (3179) I found a beautiful double acrylic chassis TransRotor turntable with free magnetic drive, equipped with a gorgeous 12" Reed 3Q wood tonearm with a $900 Gold Note Red 1.8 high output moving coil cartridge matched against a silver Gold Note CD player ($6200). The Reed tonearm is a design-it-yourself product with a lot of options available on custom order. A black Aesthetix Janus preamp was on one side of the HRS SXR equipment rack while a Thoress preamp with three phono inputs capable of driving long interconnects was on the other side. One of these was driving a huge, black Acoustic Arts power amp on a stand in front of the HRS equipment rack. Unfortunately when they set up the HRS stand they put a non-suspended shelf under the turntable and the suspended HRS shelf intended for the turntable at the bottom of the rack with the power supply on it. In spite of this snafu, Ry Cooder still sounded pretty good. Neil Young sounded even better. Both were heard through the awesome and imposing Acapella Atlas loudspeaker ($118,000 CDN) with the open and very transparent midrange playing through the large blue horns seen above. The driver below the blue horns is their famous TW 1 ion tweeter that moves air by exciting it, without a membrane of any kind. With 8 Ohm impedance and about 93dB sensitivity, this amp could have been driven by a much smaller amp, like with tubes even.
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High-Performance Audio Reviews
