The Capital Audiofest 2022 Fab Five
My selection of the Top Five best sounds of CAF 2022
Capital Audiofest 2022 Show Report By Greg Weaver

Best Of CAF 2022 Number Three
The Twinbrook Room – United Home Audio / High End by Oz
This room included the same partners as last year, but... with some changes to the hardware lineup, including decidedly different loudspeakers. "Oz" Turan, of "High End by Oz," had told me at last July's Pacific Audio Fest 2022 that he was going to be importing the Lansche Audio brand from Germany, the company that features the proprietary Corona plasma tweeter.

Sources
- Kalista Dreamplay X Transport ($68,800)
- Thrax Audio Maximinus Silver DAC ($38,500)
- United Home Audio Super Deck ($89,900)

Electronics
- Thrax Audio Libra 300B Tube Preamplifier with OPS ($67,500)
- Thrax Audio Spartacus 300B 50w Triode Class A ($97,500/pr/) two pairs used to bi-amp

Loudspeakers
- Lansche No. 7.2 in Macassar ebony ($90,000/pr.) 

Cables/Ancillaries
- Hemingway Cables Z-Core and Creation 5 Series ($3,400-$39,000)
- Hifistay Mythology Racks ($6,250 per shelf)

I will admit to being very curious to learn what Lansche had come up with over the past fifteen years or so, as I had not heard any of their speakers since 2008 when they introduced the $100,000 a pair Lansche No. 8 at T.H.E. Show 2022 coincident with CES. And I had also heard the smaller No. 4.1 at T.H.E. Show the previous year.

Back then, I had to admit to the near astonishing potential revealed with the use of this stunning, ion plasma tweeter. At that point, instead of using a mass-laden membrane, the Corona ion plasma driver uses air directly excited by a visible arc of light, which is used as the sound transmission medium. Lansche says it can reproduce an audible spectrum from 1.5 kHz to 150kHz, and that it can perform better than either the human ear can detect, or many amplifiers are capable. This remarkably disparate level of performance between the plasma and more conventional dynamic drivers just couldn't be overcome. It was clear that the rest of the speaker's driver compliment was noticeably outdistanced by its performance.

Well, I can tell you that the march of time has allowed them to address and overcome that previous driver integration incongruity and that they have made enormous strides forward in mating the performance of the two dissimilar driver classes. Wow!

This pairing of sources, especially when Greg Beron had threaded up one of his Master Tapes on his superlative multi-chassis United Home Audio Super Deck, electronics, and the new Lansche No. 7.2, was simply exquisite. And with an all-in system price of nearly nine-hundred thousand dollars, one has every reason to expect this kind of magical performance. This is the most engaging presentation from these partners in memory, and simply completely outdistanced what they had achieved in this same twenty-five by twenty-six-foot room at last year's event.

Interestingly enough, though Oz had planned to use two pairs, or four, of the Thrax Audio Spartacus 300B 50-Watt triode Class A amplifiers to bi-amplify the No. 7.2s, the load on the hotel power system during show hours was simply too heavy, causing them to shut down. As such, he could only use this stellar bi-amplification option in his after-hours presentations, and with sterling results!

This system really impressed. Its seductive tonality was rich, full-bodied, and so remarkably authentic. It had dynamics, texture, detail, definition, resolution, transparency to sources, staging, imaging, and palpability. From macrodynamic punch to microdynamic air and shimmer, this system just delivered. Outstanding room, guys. I don't know how you are going to top this performance, but I'm looking forward to hearing your attempts!

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