Part 8: Capital Audiofest 2024 Large Rooms Part 1
Lovely sounds at CAF 2024's large exhibit rooms.
Capital Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

Regency   Audio Research, McGary, NOLA, And Nordost
I have no doubt the NOLA Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 speakers ($150k) are great speakers, but I just didn't get a musical impression in this room to validate the claim. The Regency room is among the largest at the show and the hosts try to use most of that space to present their speaker. Compared to the Arion room just above, the NOLAs are spread much farther apart and the seating is much further away from the speakers. The listening triangle was centered on the front wall and the room was close to square. Without curtains to dampen (even slightly) reflections off the side and rear wall, this room reminds me of my high school gym, acoustically speaking.

Here's a look from the front left corner to give you an idea of how the room is laid out.

The speaker has been modified with a new crossover, improved bass drivers, more internal volume, and separate ports for each bass driver. The midrange drivers are also new, and with the ribbon tweeters, are mounted on the open baffle upper half of the speaker. The base of the speaker includes two layers with spikes going into the floor from the lower layer and ball bearings isolating the two layers providing additional isolation from the floor and room, much like a giant version of Symposium Acoustic Rollerballs. The crossover is all hand-wired with premium parts and the fit and finish are superb. The 3.5-way speaker now boasts 91dB efficiency into 8 Ohms, making it a candidate for some interesting tube power amplifiers. It was shown in Piano Gloss Black and is also available in Piano Santos Rosewood which was shown last year, as well as optional finishes.

The NOLAs were driven by McGary MA1 tube monoblocks ($25k/pr). A Thrax Dionysos preamp and Maximinus Mk2S streamer, and a 432 DAC were in the rack along with what looked like an Audio Research preamp on top. A Torus power conditioner was on the bottom shelf and possibly a Nordost power strip was along the back wall. I've heard Eric Clapton's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" sound much better than I heard here. And it was not because of the equipment.

I had seen a press release about these luxury portable audio amulets on display in the hall, but I couldn't relate to them.

They were quite eye-catching in person and might make a sweet gift for your significant other, but I wouldn't call it fine jewelry with the Klipsch name emblazoned on it.

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