Part 9: Capital Audiofest 2024 Large Rooms Part 2
Extensive CAF 2024 coverage of the large exhibit rooms.
Capital Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

Monroe  20/20 Evolution Systems
By most measures, and my previous experiences in the 20/20 Evolution Systems room, this should have been a top contender for Best Rooms at the show. I used to run Kharma Ceramique speakers as my reference, so the $300k Kharma Enigma Veyron 4D should have taken me to audiophile heaven. They were driven by conrad-johnson ART-108A Class A tube monoblocks hot-rodded by truitt physics (Sorry, I couldn't type "physics" upside-down.) that were so expensive you had to Ask for Pricing. Cabling was the world debut of the Siltech Cables Master Crown series, also Ask for Pricing.

There is no doubt Kharma speakers should be world-class. They have been around for more than a couple of decades now and they command premium prices. Bill Parish stopped importing them when the Euro took a jump and they became less competitive in the USA market. They all but disappeared in the U.S. but now have three dealers in the States and there are three more in Ontario, Canada. The entry-level Elegance series that they usually present are aspirational for most audiophiles. And the Enigma Veyron flagship series is truly for the oligarchy. It was a real treat to finally see one. Fit and finish are superb but sound quality, as always, is contingent upon the rest of the rig and the room itself.

Likewise, the Artesania Audio rack was full of outstanding gear. On the left was LampizatOr's flagship Horizon DAC 360 ($60k), the first upgrade of the Horizon since its introduction three years ago. Below it was a T+A PDT 3100HV reference CD/SACD transport ($23,450) and further down was the matching SD 3100 HV Reference Streaming DAC ($36,390). Both were turned off.

On the carpet below was the motor control unit for the tw-acoustic Raven Black Night, their reference turntable with a copper platter and copper top on the 3-motor drive unit. The motor control unit has two power supplies – one to charge the batteries that will drive the turntable for up to 20 hours and one to drive the turntable directly when the batteries are exhausted. Sorry, I didn't think to note the cartridge.

Below the turntable was the conrad-johnson ART Phono ($28k) and ART-88 Preamplifier, Limited Edition ($28.5k). A Taiko Music Server with Truitt Physics capacitors and silver wiring was said to be in the system, possibly on the bottom right shelf behind the LPs.

I listened to two pieces of music here. The first seemed to be a demonstration cut with a drum kit and xylophone, lacking a rhythm instrument. The soundscaping was very precise but abstract, perhaps intentionally created at the mixing board. It was very transparent and highly resolved with cutting attack and very little decay. The second cut was a familiar song by Rickie Lee Jones, "Danny's All-Star Joint" that was also very highly resolved, but seemed to be a faster PRAT, as if it were from a different take or a remastered version. Both cuts seemed to be on the cool, steely side, bringing to mind selection A2 on the jukebox at dinner the night before – that Duke Ellington tune, "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)"

Lincoln  High End by OZ, House of Stereo, And Viva Audio
High End by Oz, an importer out of Norwalk, CT usually puts on a very good room at Capital and he mixes up the brands to give a fresh look year over year. The room was co-sponsored by House of Stereo, a major retailer in Jacksonville, FL, who also sponsored the Montgomery Room off the Atrium which I will come to further below. The orange and blue banners told the story here and made quite an impression. Stenheim speakers were not among my favorites when first introduced years ago, but more recently I've heard some favorable combinations of speakers and amps that have brought me around.

The model here was the Alumine 5 Se ($76.5k), but don't be scared off as the new Two.Five at $23.5k is most of the same sound quality at less than a third of the price. Still, there are those for whom bigger is better or truly need the larger model. Like Kharma, you can get up into oligarchy territory with their flagship model at $¾M but Stenheim doesn't leave the masses of audiophiles ignored. (There are masses of us, aren't there? We just don't all come to the same show, right?)

With sensitivity rated at 94dB/W/m, the Alumine 5 SE can easily be driven by lower powered tube amps and it did very well here with the Viva amp. I heard another song from the same album as the previous room, Rickie Lee Jones' "Last Chance Texaco" which was liquid, warm, holographic, inviting, and tugged hard at my heart. I also liked the way Oz didn't try and hide the S.I.N. Audio PC Ten Ghost power cord ($10.5k) running into the AC outlet in the middle of the floor. It fed the system through the S.I.N. Audio PSD 10 Unlimited Power Distributor ($23.5k) tucked under the Hifistay audio rack. I saw Hifistay racks earlier in the show and I expect we will be hearing a lot more about this South Korean company that specializes in vibration control with a variety of racks and footers.

The large tube amp driving the Stenheim speakers was the Viva AudioSolista SET power amp ($30k) working in Class A with zero negative feedback, using a quartet of 845 triode tubes and point-to-point hand wiring. Interestingly, the R&D comes from Italy, while they have an agreement with the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, evidence of European cooperation and interdependence.

On the rack on the right was the matching Viva Linea Preamplifier with an outboard power supply ($32.5k). On the left rack was a Viva Numerica DAC with tubes ($26k) with a Wolf Audio Music Server Alpha 3 SX ($10.5k). Albedo Silver Metamorphosis Mk II and Signature Silver cables ran from $10k to $32.5k and Albedo Silver power cords, Gravity II and Gravity I were $9,250 to $13k. Albedo developed their own smelting process with a protective argon coat that prevents the silver from oxidizing, plus it is drawn as a monocrystal wire.

The music here had that swing.

---> Next Page.