Part 7: Rooms 301 To 325 On The Third Floor
Thrilling stereo systems on the third floor.
Capital Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

323  High Water Sound
Jeff Catalano always has one of the best-dressed rooms at shows with at least a hundred LPs leaning against the wall along the side. It's always an analog-only presentation which is why he usually qualifies at one of the best-sounding rooms, too. It is a "must-hear" destination even if you can't afford its higher-end lines.

I was surprised to see the new racks at this show were from Codia Acoustic Design. While the Stage 5000S series is very handsome and shows evidence of constrained layer damping, they are also more masculine and lack the designer elegance of the Stage 3000 Diagon I use in my rig. Perhaps the 5000 offers some gold touches and alternate colors for the shelves to dress it up even further. I'll have to look into that. On the top shelves, between the turntable, power supply (left), and phono stage on the right, you get a glimpse of the resonators Codia implants on their upper models to quell internal vibrations. They are low enough that components with feet (or when using footers), easily clear them.

On the middle level were the Zeiler Audio PR-01 Preamp ($38k) on the right, and the PA-01 Amplifier ($38k) from Switzerland with very clean, intentionally designed lines and demarcation.

The top level was all TW Acoustic with their Raven LS-3 Copper turntable and separate power supply ($24k) equipped with the Raven 12" tonearm ($6.5k) fitted with a Fuuga cartridge ($10k), and the Raven 10.5" tonearm ($6k) fitted with a Miyajima Infinity Mono cartridge ($3,745). Jeff has no qualms about spinning old mono or reissued mono LPs. On the right of the turntable is the Raven Phono ($25k). The fancy record clamp was from Dalby Audio Design in the UK as were the cables and some of the footers used here.

On the lower left was another Add-PowrSorcer and what was probably a power supply for the phono stage on the right. Both were on a black shelf directly on the floor, supported by special footers from Stein Music of Germany.

The speaker was the Opus 1 SE from Cessaro Horn Acoustics ($55k) along with a pair of Opus subs ($25k each). I seem to recall hearing these speakers in the High Water room before. They are located on the lower east side of Manhattan, just south of the Brooklyn Bridge.

325  Gestalt Audio
Gestalt Audio is a retailer in the heart of Nashville, TN and if you didn't know better, you would think they were the twin brothers of High Water Sound in Brooklyn, They carry many of the same lines and present almost equal high-quality sound at CAF each year. Gestalt is also the exclusive U.S.A. importer of Cinnamon Audio, a bespoke new manufacturer in Portugal. Gestalt is one of five dealers for them on the entire planet. Hearken Audio in Ontario, Canada is another if you're reading this from across the little pond from me and this is where I first encountered Cinnamon. Hearken was using the Cinnamon Galle DAC at the Toronto Audiofest back in October and that room sounded mighty fine, too.

The speaker was the Ellipticum open baffle from Cinnamon, one of two open baffle designs they make. The Ellipticum features an AMT tweeter with a horn mounted to it which limits dispersion to the floor and ceiling. With efficiency rated at 97dB/W/m and a 10 Ohm resistance, we are talking 2A3 SET amplifier territory here. The woofer is active with a 250 Watt DSP-controlled amplifier. Having seen a photo earlier, I was surprised to find in real life that it is only 41" tall so it will fit in modest size rooms as well as play in much larger ones. Just because it was painted in Porsche British Racing Green doesn't mean you have to keep it in your garage. As I've said earlier, green is the "in" color this year. It is also available in 47 wood veneers.

The backbone of the loudspeaker is aluminum but the front baffle pieces are plywood. The thin tan layer between the silver aluminum and the green baffle is cork to dampen vibrations. At $30k it is a good bit more than say a Wilson SabrinaX, but it gives you a unique conversation piece as well as opening up the door for SET tube amplifiers and that can make all the difference. The music here was excellent with transparency, air, and resolution attainable from box speakers typically at much higher prices.

Their other speaker, the Cassia, is similarly styled at 57" tall and features a pair of powered 15" woofers for bass down to 22Hz and use in even larger rooms.

The components were laid out on a long table, smorgasbord-style which makes swapping cables a good bit easier if you can't walk behind a rack. At the far end was a TW Acoustic Raven GT2 turntable on an SRA platform. Next to the turntable a SW1X Audio Design Amp V integrated Class A SET amp ($22.5k) put out 6 Wpc using 300B tubes.

The TW Acoustic turntable ($12.5k) was equipped with a Primary Control FCL tonearm ($30k) fitted with a Fuuga MC cartridge ($10k). A Dalby Audio Design record clamp decorated the LP.

The matching components on the right end of the table were the Cinnamon Galle Phono with the power supply on the right and the phono control on the left. These were housed in sand-cast aluminum chassis with a circular brass insert and a veneered wood panel on the back for the cable connections. Again, you can choose your veneer. The Galle Phono runs $30k.

I noticed the flat copper Sternklang Inc. speaker cable from Japan running to the speakers. Hijiri cabling, also from Japan, was used elsewhere. Surprisingly, the AC power cords running to the Cinnamon speakers looked very generic.

Part 8 Is Coming Soon!
That finishes up the sleeping rooms at Capital Audiofest. In Part 8 I'll start on the big rooms. I was hoping to finish before Christmas, but it looks like I'm too far behind at this point. Keep checking back between now and New Year's Eve for Part 8 and then for Part 9 and the Best Rooms nominations in the first week of January. I'm sure your lives are getting as complex as mine as we close out the year.

Happy Holidays, and good music to all.

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