Part 3: Capital Audiofest 2024 Rooms 702 to 733
Impressive stereo systems on the 7th floor at CAF 2024.
Capital Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

723  Audio Group Denmark
Peter Hansen has traditionally shown Audio Group Denmark in larger rooms but this year they added two sleeping rooms to showcase a less expensive and a smaller rig. I often have trouble finding the sweet spot in their large room presentations where the speakers are set very wide apart and toed in at a sharp angle. In this room, with the speakers aligned on the short wall with a modest toe-in, I heard better sound even as I walked around taking photos.

Using the Forte 1 streaming amp from their ‘entry-level' Axxess line to drive the L3 floorstanding speakers ($5,500), I was impressed with the sound quality for such a reasonable price from this company. An Ansuz X-TC3 power conditioner was used here, along with Ansuz 3rd-generation cables.

Using the same basic design form as their more advanced models they simplified construction to achieve a very good value. Rather than expensive curved sides they use flat sides which still avoid parallel surfaces. The front baffle was a separate attached piece rather than fully integrated with the cabinet. Rear porting out the narrow back was retained and special vibration-absorbing footers made a contribution. A black satin finish replaces the expensive piano gloss black on more expensive models. Nonetheless, the music got out of the box just like the big brothers.

725  Next Level HiFi
The sound quality took a significant step up here with an upgrade to Borresen speakers and an Aavik Unity amplifier. They reverted to their favorite wide-separation with the speakers but it was easy to find the sweet spot as there was only a single row of chairs against the opposite wall. I noticed the speakers, all the electronics, and even the stand itself were on Audio Group Denmark's special footers. That is the Aavik U188 All-in-One player that gives this rig a more minimalist look which is a significant trend in the industry. Next Level HiFi is a major dealer for Ansuz, Aavik, and Borresen in Chicago.

These were the new C1 monitors in two-tone with white ($16,500, including stands) that sounded very good by any standard but were surpassed by the top-line Borresen M1 monitor that I have heard previously at almost twice the price.

726  M101
M101 is a cable manufacturer that last year showed their top-line cable that was housed in a Noguchi-like white sock – a very time-consuming, hence expensive construction. This year they went with one of their more affordable series and it still sounded pretty good. They also did away with the battery power supplies they had used in the two previous years. But take a look at the illuminating moon-shot cable risers used this year in place of the minimalist Millercarbon coat-hanger ones in the past.

This was almost the shift I was hoping for with Paradigm Persona speakers. Instead of Anthem electronics, they went with a PS Audio integrated amp that was more of a lateral move. The speakers were placed on a black Townshend vibration-absorbing platform which should have been a plus, but then they used a solid pine wood platform that appeared to be suspended on additional footers that were themselves placed on white square pads of some sort. This appeared to be an attempt at multiple-density filtering, but I'm not sure if they needed to go beyond the initial Townshend platforms which have a good reputation. I'm still hopeful that someday the Paradigm speakers will be shown some top-shelf brands of electronics.

The M101 cables used here included the:
Flare power cable, $449, 2m.
Flare speaker cable, $899, 2m.
Flare LAN cable, $799, 1.5m.
And their IO Power Distributor, $4,499.

728  Amped America
Amped showed their preamp and model 2400 Class D power amp driving Acoustique Quality floor standers in an affordable rig. Unfortunately, the sophisticated tonearm on this otherwise non-descript stealth black turntable was lifted. Wireworld cables were used in this rig.

730  Wire World Cable Technology
In this next room, a rainbow of Wireworld cables was on display. Clever little LED lights made them pop. The only other person in the room was a customer.

733 Evolution AV
Evolution AV works by appointment only in McLean, VA, carrying a lot of well-known brands in stereo audio and home theater, my Backert Labs preamp among them. T+A from Germany is one of their upper-tier brands and they showed. The speaker was the Solitaire S 430, the most basic of their flagship Solitaire S series, though hardly basic. I didn't catch the price of the speaker here, but it is pricey and fitted with a high-technology tweeter.

Following the trend, they drove the speakers with the T+A  R 2500 R Multi-Source Receiver ($18,880) that even sports a slot to feed it CDs. Lou Reed was taking a "Walk on the Wild Side" and sounding excellent when I visited. The unit features a dual-mono output stage with 250 Wpc. My goodness, was that a "Tone" button illuminated below the volume control? Is it "Back to the 1970s," again?

Capital Audiofest 2024 Show Report Part 4 Coming Soon
That's it for the first half of the 7th Floor. Hopefully, I'll get the second half out before the storm hits for Thanksgiving. Be grateful.

---> Onward to Part 4 of Rick Becker's Capital Audiofest 2024 Show Report.

---> Back to the main Capital Audiofest 2024 show report homepage.