Capital AudioFest Chronicles 2022
Fine music on the 5th floor Part A.
Show Report By By Rick Becker

Room 501 MosArt
I didn't get the full story in Room 501 sponsored by MosArt Furniture because, well, this is an audio show. The cabinet housing the gear caught my eye with its spalted wood, but the doors only swung straight out, leaving the components in the shadow, making photography difficult. I grabbed a shot of the leg of it to show the circular cork foot and the rectangular spalted wood band that was a decorative touch. Let's just say the piece was cleverly disguised with the audio gear and ignore for a moment that I come from a furniture industry background.

MosArt, Inc. specializes in fine furniture made by Bruce M. Schuettinger in nearby New Market, MD, just east of Frederick, MD, north of Rockville. He specializes in mosaic design and has all kinds of furniture industry accreditations, none more impressive than a Pinnacle Award in 2019 from the International Society of Furniture Designers. His specialty seems to be in the creation of mosaic pieces, hence the name "MosArt". But he also lists "MosArt Audio" on his website. The large audio cabinet seen at the show ranges from $18k to $25k, while the small turntable platform ranges from $600 to $800, though show pricing offered discounts. Hopefully, I'll get to meet Bruce the next time around.

Room 504 Black Ice Audio
Jarred Dunkerson of Black Ice was in when I visited and this year he was running his Black Ice gear with Klipsch Forte IV speakers, a popular speaker among entry-level audiophiles who are likely to aspire to the Black Ice gear. Last year I was particularly impressed with the Fusion F360 preamp which has controls for the spatial imaging of the soundscape. The Foz Phono Stage below it has individual adjustments for left and right channels as well as a bypass.

His new introduction was the black Aries headphone amp with built-in DAC projected to be $2500 to $3k, with two phone jacks that will appear early next year. On the top left side of the rack was a prototype of a new server that will be a little further out. I wouldn't be afraid to mate this modestly priced gear with more expensive speakers such as those I heard last year. Keep this company on your radar if your funds are limited.

Room 505 Dr. Vinyl
The music here took a serious step upward with McGary tube amplification driving an Usher ML 801 speaker. But as their name suggests, Dr. Vinyl is an expert with vinyl and the Reed Muse 3c turntable, equipped with a Tru-Glider arm with a Nasotec headshell, DS Audio cartridge, and DS Audio ES 001 Stabilizer.

The Nasotec 203A1 headshell from Korea is tricked-out in that it swivels and keeps the cartridge perfectly aligned as it traverses the grooved area of the record, even if the hole is not perfectly centered. In this case, an off-center hole was not a problem because the DS Audio ES 001 Stabilizer is a toy that allows the LP to be perfectly centered. I watched the guy do it and it is not rocket science, so Kim Jong Un need not be worried.

This is the first time I've seen a large Usher floorstander in a while and it was very attractive, both physically and acoustically. Dr. Vinyl is also noted for his expert turntable setup service that uses using the complex, but amazing, AnalogMagik audio setup system. If you're spending thousands of dollars on your analog front end, this would be well worth the added expense. I wish he were closer to me.

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