Capital Audiofest 2023 Show Report / Chronicles Part 1
The 8th Floor Part A
Show Report By Rick Becker

Room 808 DarTZeel America
In an adjacent room, DarTZeel separates drove Stenheim Alumine Five SE speakers (~$73,500), also from Switzerland. This was a particularly good combination as I've sometimes felt the Stenheim speakers were too precise and demanding for long-term listening. Nagra is another brand of electronics that I've also felt worked well with Stenheim speakers.

Superb build quality comes with all DarTZeel, but you have to love the gold and red signature color scheme as seen in the preamp above.

Room 809 Fern & Roby
This is a room where I always get a good musical vibe. The Fern & Roby rig produces music that has limitations but invites you to simply enjoy your music by turning off your critical audiophile brain. The sealed speakers work with a single full-range driver that speaks with one voice. It's a boutique brand with unique products of uncompromising quality and design.

The digital front end was the Weiss DAC501 ($9645) which features user-adjustable processing that I wasn't aware of. It was paired with a Roon Nucleus with 2 TB SSD storage ($2959). The larger speaker here with 94dB/W/m efficiency was The Raven III ($8500) which looked very nice with a clear finish on the solid ash cabinet. And Black Cat Cables (another boutique brand) were used to connect the system.

The amp with the very attractive wood face was the new "Amp NO. 2" integrated amp ($8500) with 25 Wpc in Class AB. It has both balanced and single-ended inputs along with a built-in phono stage and a subwoofer output. Sure, you can buy less expensive gear than Fern & Roby (as well as more expensive gear) but finding high-quality gear with a personality that you can relate to is rare. And that is what Chris Hildebrand, the guy at the left in the photo above, and his team is all about. Well, in addition to using recycled and sustainable materials.

I also saw the nifty wood coasters with diagrams of vacuum tubes wood-burned into them. They are featured within this year's Enjoy the Music.com Great Audiophile Gift 2023.

Room 812 Treehaus Audiolab
It was just two years ago, in 2021 when my audio buddy Tom and I braved the lingering danger of... and stormed CAF on opening day. I ventured into the Treehaus room on a whim and was awe-struck by what I found. My review of Rich Pinto's Phantom of Luxury speakers with restored vintage field-coil drivers on an open baffle with a live edge on a slab of solid wood appeared in the February issue three months later. Over the past two years, it's been fun to watch him grow and his work mature.

Rich had sent me photos beforehand of the speakers he planned to show at CAF, but seeing them in person made me realize he had risen to a whole new level of craftsmanship. This is world-class creativity — and audiophile equivalent to the work of Wendell Castle and the most creative manufacturers I've seen at the International Home Furnishings show in High Point, NC, which I used to attend in a previous lifetime.

This particular set used a modern woofer rather than the rare vintage Atelier Rullit rebuilt German theater driver that was in the speaker I reviewed, and I think it sounded better for it. Open baffle speakers sound different than box speakers and full-range field-coil drivers sound different than typical full-range dynamic drivers. Factor in the Rullit driver and you have a sound that is very fast, very present, and slightly different than you could imagine without hearing them. Combine the listening experience with the visual presentation and you've entered the realm of the extraordinary.

Treehaus also makes the power supply for the field-coil drivers as well as the tube preamp and power amp seen above. The use of acid-etched faceplates and wood knobs is their signature style which sets them apart from everyone else. The long, low table for the equipment is also from Treehaus as well as the wood-slab diffusion panel on the wall. Each unique board is offset from the black panel behind it by another black strip of wood making it even more three-dimensional. On the table at the side was a series of wood samples of his more standard finishes.

As it was presented here, this rig should be featured in an issue of the Robb Report. I don't know what the price of the speaker is, but I know that if you buy into a successful artist's work early in their career, you've likely scored a real bargain. From what I've seen of his work so far, Rich Pinto is headed in that direction.

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