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

Madison   VAC And Gershman Acoustics
The Gershman rooms at the Canadian shows in Montreal and Toronto are consistent winners of Best Rooms Awards but in smaller rooms at US shows the acoustic beauty of their speakers has fallen short of that excellence. I've encouraged Eli and Ofra to go for a larger room and here, at last, they had done so. The Black Swan 30th Anniversary speaker ($90k) is one of the best, but it wasn't reaching the exalted level I hear from the Black Swan in Montreal where it is typically driven by Eon Art amps and Oracle turntables.

The Madison room is close to cubical which is always a challenge and the noise level of the room itself was poor. I would also question whether the new VPI Shyla cartridge had been fully broken in. If you liked what you heard in this room at all, you will love the music when this speaker is properly placed in a decent room. I know this from many exposures to the Black Swan over the years. Come to the Montreal show in March if you don't believe me.

I doubled back late on Sunday when classical orchestral music was being played and the music was sounding even better. Maybe Eli had tweaked the system overnight? Or maybe the room next door was quiet? Or maybe I was more rested?

Ofra insisted I take a photo with the wood grille on. Surprisingly, adding the grille takes very little away from the sound quality. I also love the Black Swan in piano black, which gives it a more formal, elegant look with the way light plays upon its many surfaces. The polished copper footers are new with the 30^th Anniversary version – another example of speaker manufacturers moving away from spikes.

The VPI turntable fitted with their new Shyla cartridge has been well documented at this show. Beneath it on the VPI rack was a VAC Master preamplifier.

Further down was an Infigo Audio Method 4 DAC with digital volume control and the power supply for the VAC Master Preamplifier, perhaps not an ideal stacking choice. Not shown here were the large VAC monoblocks driving the Black Swans.

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