In the StereoPlus
& Design room a rack full of McIntosh
gear, topped off with a Marantz
TT15S1 turntable ($1800CDN) was driving one of two sets of Totem
Acoustics Element Fire loudspeakers. With music playing at a
reasonable volume the stand mounted monitors (88dB sensitivity, 40Hz-22kHz)
were drawing only a few amps as seen on the McIntosh MCP 1500 power amp meter.
Graphics on the walls were even more spectacular than the music, which was
certainly very good, as it always is with Totem speakers. Totem seems to have
pulled out of the Montreal show as neither Vince Bruzzese nor his son was
anywhere in sight, preferring to let a local dealer present their line. With
so many large audio shows all over the world today, it is probably more cost
effective for a manufacturer to support local dealers’ participation in the
show than to ship their own gear all over the planet themselves. This would
certainly be a plus for the brick and mortar dealers, too. The Totem-designed
7" Torrent driver used in the Fire is run without a crossover, yielding
remarkable transparency. A new, slightly smaller stand mounted monitor, the
Ember, with a new 6" Torrent driver and a different tweeter has recently
been introduced. And for those who need to maximize their floor space, there
is the wall mountable Tribe series with a 4" Torrent driver in the top two
models of the series. My personal favorite is the Tribe III, which exhibits a
holographic soundstage even when only one speaker is driven with a monaural
source. On a minor note, I noticed an unusual record clamp made of clear
plastic on the Marantz turntable. It certainly looked affordable, but I have
no idea how effective it might be.
I think it was
at this point I had a panic attack when I realized I did not have my small
briefcase in my hand, not that there was much more than a couple of garage
sale LPs, a compilation CD and a Clif bar in it, but that realization
triggered a sprint down the hall and a room-by-room check until, thankfully, I
found it. Phew! Sentimental value, of course, but also lunch.
The Grant
Fidelity room had been anticipated with unusually high enthusiasm
this year because I had just completed a review of the PureAudioProject
Trio 15TB open baffle speakers and I was hoping the April edition would be on
line in time for the show. (Click here for
review.) Well, that didn’t happen, but the room was exciting
anyway, with the speakers being shown with brilliant blue plastic baffles (in
honor of this show in Quebec?) They were stunning with the window light
shining in from behind. Any fear of how they might sound with plastic baffles
(instead of the German Oak on my review sample) was quickly dismissed with
music coming from a Consonance
Droplet top loading CD player (a unique combination of aluminum and plywood
chassis in an organic kidney-shaped design). In place of the Psvane 845
monoblocks shown in Toronto last fall, the new Psvane
Audio Reference TS845 integrated SET amp putting out 25 wpc in
Class A with the Psvane 845 tube ($3550US) made the Trio sound remarkably
similar to what I experienced at home with my Coincident integrated amp
running the same 845 tube. The review was pretty much a rave, given the
extraordinary transparency, focus and dynamics of the speaker, but Ze'ev
Schlik (designer of the speaker) told me they are working on extenders for the
feet to increase stability as I suggested. Also on the floor of the room were
alternate full-range drivers for the Trio, a Heil AMT (in front) and BeymaTPL/150H
(behind), which come with their own crossovers and will obviously change the
sound of the speaker. The underlying concept of the speaker design is DIY,
which allows you to modify and create a sound to your own liking. Just as at
the TAVES, this room ranked as one of the Best
Rooms at the show, and here again, both the amps and the speakers
were "sold to a very nice person." Three other items deserved attention in
this room—first, the Psvane Audio CT5 integrated KT120 amp ($1399US) on
silent display (shown here with KT150 tubes, an upcharge), looked to be very
well made and certainly an affordable way to get involved with tube gear.
Rachel Zhang says the KT150 gives a warmer sound and the shape of the tube
will promote longer tube life and quieter operation. Second, on silent display
was the smaller PureAudioProject Trio10 Timeless Morel ($3750US) using 10"
Morel woofers specially designed for this open baffle speaker and probably
more appropriate for small to medium size rooms.
The third "item" was the presence of Norbert
Mundorf of Mundorf capacitor fame, seen above with Rachel. Norbert
has been living in China for the past five years and now speaks Chinese as
well as English... and of course, German. Although it was not on display here,
I was given a brochure of the new MA30 monitor kits designed in collaboration
with Accuton, celebrating the 30th anniversary of both Mundorf and
Accuton who have been mutually collaborating over all these years. It combines
the least expensive Mundorf AMT air-motion tweeter with the least expensive
Accuton ceramic mid-woofer along with a crossover laden with Mundorf parts.
WBT binding posts are a suggested upgrade to this kit speaker which is offered
in Standard Edition and Special Edition. The kit is designed to offer maximum
performance at a modest cost in an easily built configuration. I learned that
as a young man Norbert raced touring cars in Europe. Perhaps an Alfa GTA or
Porsche 911? It was certainly a pleasure to chat with him, if only briefly.
Across the hall
in the Son Ideal suite one room
featured a lineup of Harbeth
monitors along one wall and Rega
turntables on another. The music came from the larger room where a Rega rig
combined with small Harbeth P3ESR stand mounted monitors that were undersized
for the room, but at least gave visitors a chance to hear this well regarded
speaker. I don’t know if other Harbeth models rotated through this rig
during the weekend, but that would have been a cool game plan for anyone
considering this famous brand. More work for the presenters, perhaps, but hey,
they looked like healthy young dudes. The Rega RP8 turntable with separate
power supply was playing very nicely with a cartridge I didn’t recognize. Taking
turns with vinyl was the high-value Rega Saturn R top loading CD player with
optical, coaxial and USB digital inputs. It looked like the Rega Elicit R
integrated amplifier with 105 wpc and a mm phono stage powering the system,
assisted by an Aria outboard phono stage with completely separate phono stages
for moving magnet and moving coil cartridges. Good sound in this room, but I
recall being more in love with the Rega gear when it was driving a larger
Harbeth in this room here last year... or was it TAVES?
---> Next Page.
High-Performance Audio Reviews
