Part 5: Rooms 601 To 633 At CAF 2024
More rooms, and more magical music!
Capital Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

628 Supreme Acoustic Systems
I've warned you about the influx of green speakers and this room was certainly fit for an Irishman. Supreme Acoustic Systems partnered with Axiss Audio in this room, hence the Air Tight amplifiers. The combination made very satisfying music. The speaker here was the Hailey 3.1 ($41.7k).

The center rack was from Music Tools ($1370 ea. level) while the racks for the monoblocks were from HiFiStay ($1,870 ea.) which we saw earlier in the show. On the center shelf was the Air Tight ATC-7 Line Control Preamplifier ($35k) and sitting on the floor on special footers was the matching ATE-3611 Reference Phono Amplifier ($35k). Hidden somewhere was an Air Tight ATH-2 Reference Step-Up Transformer ($7k).

This was a higher-line Bergmann turntable, the Galder & Odin Signature ($43.6k in black/SS as shown or $55k in black/gold.) Note what appears to be a separate housing on the right for the motor for the belt drive. The tonearm appears to be cantilevered over that motor housing.

An Air Tight Opus 1 cartridge ($16k) was fitted to the Bergmann turntable.

The arms of this X-design HiFiStay amp stand appear to be one-size-fits-all with only the supports for the feet of the amp retracting toward the center of the stand. I wouldn't want to be dancing in the dark around those stands. As I look at the Hifistay rack in the next room, it appears that the same size X member is used on the component racks.

630 Supreme Acoustic Systems
This rig appears more minimal because it featured the YG Vantage 3 Live S, a total system with an active DSP program ($71.5k). The Bergmann Audio Modi turntable with Thor tonearm with its linear tracking and air bearing system ranges in price around $13k, depending on which of several finishes you select. The box on the floor beneath the rack contains the air pump and reservoir as well as the power supply for the turntable. Some folks might not be aware the air supply is not only for the air-bearing tonearm but also for the air-supported platter. Relieving much of the weight of the platter eliminates most of the noise from the bearing. Bergmann turntables come from Denmark and I was surprised to learn the company was founded back in 2008. I thought they had been around for a lot longer than that.

The YG controller for the system was on the middle shelf. It supports analog (including phono) and digital and has Roon Ready streaming inputs. The 2-level Hifistay X-frame rack was $3,300.

I was fascinated by the beautifully machined horn for the tweeter. The tweeter was trickle-down technology with its honeycomb lattice from the XV flagship which Bill Parish debuted at GTT Audio back in 2016. This was probably the best sounding of all the rooms with YG speakers at the show and I suspect the DSP built into the Vantage 3 Live system is a big part of the reason why. It turned the small sleeping room at the hotel into a listening room almost as spacious as my large listening room at home.

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