The Home Entertainment Show 2004
Consumer Electronics Show 2004

     

  Page 5

FAL Co. Ltd. of Tokyo was showing  a new flat loudspeaker with a rather unusual “air motion transformer” driver.  I think that this speaker holds a lot of promise, but under show conditions it was impossible to evaluate, and struck me as being quite compromised by the room.

 

Roy Hall of Music Hall, who imports some astoundingly good equipment (like my Shanling CD player, the MMF turntables, the Epos loudspeakers, and many more) was showing off a new line.

 

Larry Hitch  of Madisound, who supplies a wide variety of excellent loudspeaker drivers, was showing off a labyrynthine loudspeaker enclosure.

 

Dr. Poh S. Hsu of Hsu Research was exhibiting a system consisting of six loudspeakers and a subwoofer with an 8-inch driver that reportedly reproduces 16 Hz, all for $800.  Hsu has always been known for making high-quality cost-effective subwoofers.  I have heard them used to great effect in an ultra-high-end personal system.

Lamm Industries Inc. exhibited their M1.2 Reference amplifiers and L2 Reference preamplifier with Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy loudspeakers.  The amplifier is a hybrid tube/solid-state design.  Lamm electronics are generally regarded as among the very best in the industry, so I was expecting great things from this room.  The system did sound nice and smooth, but did not quite make it into my “Sweet Sixteen.”  Chalk that up to the vagaries of show conditions.

 

Kimber Kable had an eye-catching exhibit that allowed me to show off the macro properties of my Canon G3.

 

The gracious H. H. Morch was exhibiting his highly regarded line of tonearms, and was kind enough to set his exhibit back up for a last-minute photograph.

Randy Bankert of O.S. Services has made some changes to the lineup of products that he represents.  I was especially taken with the Revolver RW-33 loudspeaker, which is a shielded 90 dB efficient design by Michael Jewill (who has designed loudspeakers for Mordaunt-Short, Epos, and Heybrook in the past ... a not inconsiderable resume).  The Revolver shows great potential for pairing with tubed amplifiers of moderate output.

 

Victor Tiscareno and Byron Collett, two of the most technically astute people in this field, announced that they are leaving Red Rose Music and going back out on their own.  Previously, they developed a wide variety of excellent products under the Audio Prism label.  Could that moniker be returning?  Time will tell.

 

Peter Clark of Redpoint Audio Design was exhibiting a new turntable, without the faceted platter that we saw at VSAC.

 

John Ulrick of Spectron, he of switching amp fame, was exhibiting his latest products.

 

The folks at Acoutic Dreams, in one of the nice big ballroom rooms at the San Remo, were once again showcasing the stunning V.Y.G.E.R. turntable.  Unfortunately, its phono cartridge had decided to die, so we could not evaluate the sound of this system, which was one of our favorites last year.

 

Jim Ricketts of tmh Audio and Yuzuru Ito of Wavac were demonstrating some truly impressive four-piece Wavac HE-833 amplifiers, not unlike the glowing beauties that I got to spend some time with at David Robinson’s home last September.  The sound through the Firebird loudspeakers was gorgeous.

 

Luke Manley of VTL Amplifiers was exhibiting his TL 7.5 Reference Line Preamplifier, among other products.  I have always enjoyed Luke’s products, and a pair of VTL Deluxe 300 tubed monoblocks has been happily ensconced in my reference system for the last several years.  These amplifiers really make my loudspeakers sing.  I was also mightily impressed in a past show with his IT-85 integrated amplifier.  The fact that VTL does not appear in my “Sweet Sixteen” lineup may just be due to the fact that I got sidetracked and didn’t have time to properly listen this year.  I’ll try to make that up to you next year, Luke.

 

Until next year!

 

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