Part 2: Capital Audiofest 2024 Rooms 833 To 861
Enjoying great gear and music on floor 8.
Capital Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

855 Luxury Audio Group
Aldo Fillippeli of Luxury Audio Group put on an outstanding presentation with top brands at every position. I first heard streamed music through a Taiko Extreme Server (€28k) running into what was likely a Vitus Audio RD-101 Mk.II Reference Series DAC and SIA-030 Signature Series Integrated Amplifier – the Vitus gear from Denmark are all styled the same. They were driving the Estelon speakers from Estonia which I have loved from Day 1. Connections were all made with Crystal Cable Art Series wiring.

I also heard very nice music from the Sonorus tape deck. This was an elegant presentation with superior sound quality.

857 JanZen Audio
I ran into David JanZen in another room, but he wasn't present to give me the run-down on his own room. I've praised this speaker many times before. It is modest in size, has a unique form factor, tilted back on its base for time alignment. Not only is there a D'Apolito sort of configuration with woofers above and below the dual electrostatic panels, but adjustable side-firing full-range can be adjusted to create just the right amount of air and space without resorting to a di-pole design. The Valentina P8 is available as a tube-friendly passive model (from $9,250) or an active A8 version (from $12,7500. Wood specie and finish options will vary the price and allow you to match your décor.

This speaker has been a personal favorite for years and is a real value in this price range as it is only sold factory-direct. Note they can be placed fairly close to the front wall and still produce a holographic soundstage.

The Valentina A8-SE (~$15k) active model shown here includes three NCORE amplifiers – one each for the woofers, electrostatics, and omni-directional drivers, totaling 1100 Watts RMS in each speaker. Efficiency is rated at 92dB so they will play very loud and will rarely use all that power. A remote control lets you adjust volume, mute, input selection, dispersion pattern, and on/standby. This is quite a package.

859 Chesky Audio
It is rare to discover new talent at audio shows, much less young talent, but Lucca Chesky comes from a musical family (Yes, that one.) and is learning the ropes from his father. With relatively affordable Mytek gear sitting on modest platforms on the floor and cables all around, Lucca was premiering his LC1 bookshelf monitor. At $500/pr you might not expect much but take a look at what you get on the banner below.

I wish I had taken a closer look at the "tessellation diffraction control" around the tweeter. There was a row of attentive listeners in the room that I didn't want to interrupt.

It's great to see a young entrepreneur entering the field. I would expect the price of these speakers to go up after he's built a few dozen. He is already back-ordered and was given a Best Rooms Award by one of my colleagues here at Enjoy the Music.com.

861 Kimber Kable And Grandinote
It was a pleasure to see Max Magri of Grandinote at this show. We had connected previously at Axpona shows and I've admired the sound of his amps and speakers at the Montreal show in previous years. Heard here was the Mach 8XL speaker ($31,600), a two-way with a single horn compression tweeter and eight unfiltered, un-equalized mid-woofers. With 98dB/W/m efficiency, it is very tube-friendly and easily driven by the Grandinote amp. The music here was excellent but I suspect many people will want to add subwoofers to realize a full bass.

Max has patented a unique "Magnetosolid technology" based on tube design concepts but it is all-solid-state. This was the first time I've seen his new Solo integrated amp ($20k) with 60 Wpc in Class A. There is a 9" display with a VU meter, spectrum analyzer, and more. The display is adjustable for both color and brightness. The Solo is available with either the Celio pre-phono stage (at $23,600) or Volta DAC streamer internal expansion boards (at $25,300). I had two inputs each in RCA and XLR, as well as dual output transformers. At 75 pounds, this amp qualifies as a small beast.

The Thuono Audio Th350 turntable (16,800 Euro) with TH10 tonearm (5,200 Euro) was impressive with its substantial, 13.75" over-size platter comprised of aluminum and synthetic material and its multi-layer construction of aluminum and black Marquinia marble. It seemed to have a very deep bearing. The DC motor drive incorporates an additional flywheel for added speed stability and it is embedded in more of that Marquinia marble. The plinth itself has a magnetic suspension. There is a separate power supply and a magnetic screw-down record clamp. A leather mat raises the LP slightly to facilitate lifting it off the platter. Without tonearm and power supply, it weighs in at 99 lbs. It comes from Thiene, Italy, a small town about 30 miles northwest of Venice. Very attractive. This is the middle model from Thuono with one above and one below it.

The cables were from the Kimber Kable Select series and I noticed a PK 14 Palladian power cord for source components ($1690) from their Summit series, so apparently this was premium wiring.

More Capital Audiofest 2024 Coverage Coming Soon!
That brings the 8th Floor to a close. I'll start on the 7th Floor in Part 3. Keep checking back daily for more CAF 2024 show coverage and as always... enjoy the music.

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