Capital Audiofest 2023 Show Report / Chronicles Part 6
The 6th Floor Part B
Show Report By Rick Becker

Room 645 JansZen Audio
Three rooms in a row is unheard of at a show. At least David Janszen arranged to notify us. I hope all is well with him. I mentioned his very fine hybrid floorstanding speakers in the Theoretica Applied Physics room (749) in Part 4 of these Chronicles.

Room 648 Overture (Deleware)
The MSB DAC seen here was on an HRS (Harmonic Resolution Systems) rack to further enhance the resolution, as were the MSB M205 monoblocks ($59k). The pricing was a bit confusing, but I expect the total cost of these racks to be north of $25k.

The three units comprising the DAC here were the Reference DAC, which also acts as a preamp ($54.4k), the Reference Digital Director ($24.5k) which is an upgrade to the DAC, and the Reference Power Base, which comes with the DAC.

The MSB DAC seen here was on an HRS (Harmonic Resolution Systems) rack to further enhance the resolution, as were the MSB M205 monoblocks ($59k). The pricing was a bit confusing, but I expect the total cost of these racks to be north of $25k.

The three units comprising the DAC here were the Reference DAC, which also acts as a preamp ($54.4k), the Reference Digital Director ($24.5k) which is an upgrade to the DAC, and the Reference Power Base, which comes with the DAC.

The Acoustic Signature Montana NEO turntable ($34k), equipped with an Acoustic Signature TA 7000 Neo 12" arm, which had a Van den Hul Crimson Stradivarius cartridge ($5595) mounted but didn't look like it was getting much play in this room. The phono preamplifier was the new Van den Hul Grail EX which will be priced about $20k to $30k.

Room 649  Fidelis Distribution
Fidelis Distribution put together a fine-sounding room featuring Harbeth Super HL 5+XD speakers ($8k) that put forth the classic BBC British sound with a superb midrange. The Harbeths were on Ton Träger stands. On the left rack was a Pure Fidelity Harmony turntable ($10k) with what looked like their Illustrious SE Tonearm. Below that in silver was the Pure Fidelity power supply for the turntable on top of a Lab 12 Melto 2 fully adjustable remote-controlled tube phono preamp ($4490). Who else makes one of those? And on the bottom shelf, with a Shakti stone atop it, was a Lab 12 Gordian power conditioner with readouts for voltage, amperage, frequency (59.934Hz in this case), and Watts (204.6W for the entire system at the instant I clicked my camera). Again, who else does this?

On the right rack was a Lab 12 Pre 1 remote-controlled Class A tube preamp sitting atop an Ideon Audio Absolute Stream streamer in white. Below that was a Lab 12 DAC1 non-oversampling DAC with a tube output stage ($3290). On the bottom shelf was the Lab 12 Suono power amp with Class A single-ended power at 25 Wpc derived from Tung-Sol KT150 tubes from Russia, if that's where you want to send some of your money. The Suono also can be flipped into Ultralinear mode if you wish. The Lab 12 gear comes from Athens, Greece. The cables used here were from Argent Pur which are said to work exceptionally well with Harbeth speakers, improving both the treble and bass.

Suite 650  Overture (Deleware)
Overture, a retailer out of Wilmington, DE, had a second room with Sonus Faber Soneto V speakers ($5k) driven by a Technics SU-R1000 integrated amp ($5k). On top of the rack was a Technics SL1200 G-S turntable ($4300) equipped with a Soundsmith MIMC Star phono cartridge ($2k). Below was a Technics SL-G700M2 CD / SACD player ($3500). On the bottom shelf, in black, was an Aurender ACS 100 streamer with a built-in drive ($3500).

Surprisingly, that was an HRS (Harmonic Resolution Systems) rack ($7700) in wood with four rack shelf inserts totaling $2100 — quite a different look for this company which is renowned for its very high-end machined metal racks.

A Clarus CPB-6 power conditioner ($2k) accommodated Clarus Aqus CAP power cables at $550 each. The Clarus CASP 10' speaker cables were $3240 and the Aqua MkII CAB 1m XLR interconnect was $1050 while the phono, digital coax cable and USB cables were all under $1k each. The total cost of the room was $52k. It adds up quickly.

On silent display was this McIntosh ML1 Mk II stand-mounted speaker which was available for a private listening session on Saturday night for the first 25 people to sign up. With its beautiful woodwork, it is a perfect example of back-to-the-future styling that showed signs of being resurrected at a few points at the show.

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