Consumer Electronics Show 2004

Thursday Page 2

  Nearfield Acoustics was paired up with a host of Burmester gear. The Pipedreams Reference Hemisphere Model 18 ($65,000, including a pair of subwoofers) whose enclosure is thermo-formed unibody constructed. Advantages are that a sheet of material can be bent and completely made as a single piece. This provides high rigidity to reduce resonance distortion.

 

MuRata's new subwoofers have been added to their already amazing ES024 minimonitors. The yet to be named subwoofer has a 4.5-inch driver. Overall frequency response is from 50Hz to 30kHz.

 

In the Seas room was their Klippel Measuring System that employs a laser to precision track the movement of a cone driver. This aids in designing a low distortion, ultra-precision driver.

 

In the Sanibel Sound room was a Meridian 800/861 front end mated to Northstar monoblock amplifiers ($2,500 per unit), Fisch Powerbar ($720 for six outlet version), Piega C-8 Limited Edition mains ($16,499 per pair, five used), and Piega P-Sub 1 ($3,595) with all wiring sourced from Cardas.

AIX Records music label was used in the Sanibel Sound room. Their philosophy is to make new recording with the highest of fidelity and offer them in the DVD-Audio format. AIX produces a very wide range of music from longstanding favorites like Willie Nelson to new faces. Every recording is taken from absolutely live performances, no cut and paste multi-track editing here.

 

Al Stewart performed live, acoustically during the Thursday evening CES party. Expect an interview with Al Stewart in the February edition of the Enjoy the Music.com Review Magazine.

 

Click here for Friday's coverage.