Capital Audiofest (CAF) 2016 Show Report
Care Audio, MAD, And Linear Tube Audio
Report By Kemper Holt

  New Jersey retailer Care Audio is run by Sunil Lekhi, who combines components from many sources to make beautiful music in Rockville. Sunil used a pair of Linear Tube Audio products that are licensed from David Berning as the heart of a system. They drove me Mad, no, that drove a pair of MAD speakers. Made across the pond in the UK, My Audio Design Grand MS Maestro Supreme speakers ($11,000 per pair) feature proprietary MAD SFC Coaxial drivers, point-to-point hand wired crossovers, and MAD ESA Diamond Silver capacitors.

LTA's microZOTL 2.0 headphone amplifier ($1695) was used as a preamp driving a LTA ZOTL40 power amplifier ($5800). This amp uses EL-34 output tubes and David's remarkable ZOTL technology to get the clarity that emerges when the output transformer is eliminated. Output power is a very usable 40 Watts per channel. A Lumin T1 Streamer and DAC ($4999) provided the music, and WyWires Diamond cables held it all together. I have to point out that once again in a great sounding room, Resolution Acoustics tuned the space with their new and more affordable Foundation Series room treatments providing a balance hard to achieve in a hotel room.

The system looked elegant, simple, and sounded luxurious. I heard Rebecca Pidgeon's version of "Spanish Harlem", the double bass was tight without any boom. Her angelic voice floated dead center while the piano and guitar were clear in their own space with percussion deep behind Rebecca's vocals. I was very impressed with the MAD speakers, and David Berning's designs from LTA lent to the high level of transparency and detail available. This system, as a whole, was musically right on and very enjoyable!

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