CES Show Report

Sunday

  Continuing the music scene from today's THE Show report, Harmonix keeps the vibes at bay with their tuning devices. Reducing unwanted resonances is said to improve the music reproduction abilities of audiophile equipment.

 

AAD (American Acoustic Development), who specializes in high value for the dollar loudspeakers, has gotten all warm and cozy with their new T833M monoblock amplifier ($50,000) that employs the 833 output tube. Triode... over 100 watts... you know the deal. So here we have another one of those probably crazy good amplifiers for the jet set.

 

Speaking of the jet set, Avantgarde Acoustic has done it again with their new Meta Duo hornspeakers ($70,000). They use the innovative Avantgarde Acoustic Trio 18-Ohm drivers for the midrange and tweeter and mate them with a stacked pair of self-powered bass horns (1,000 watts). If you love high sensitivity, fast dynamics, and plenty of bass support this may be your dream come true.

 

Pass Labs, you know 'em and odds are you'll love 'em. Their new 250.5 further extends the performance of the previous 250. Improvements include single-ended 'Class A' bias on the first few watts, higher speed rectification, and the biggie is the change from the old metal can transistors to the same device in plastic.

 

It is a conspiracy i tell ya'! Manley Labs and Coincident loudspeakers are in cahoots! This is the seventh year running for these two companies sharing a room. This year's setup includes the Manley Labs Steelhead phono and Snapper amplifiers while the loudspeakers are the Coincidence Super Eclipse III. So how did it reproduce music? This rooms rocks along and like previous years, is always a welcome relief.

 

conrad-johnson is planning to unleash their new LPM142 monoblock amplifier ($12,000) in a few months. The main advantage is the cj Teflon capacitors while the circuits, naturally, are evolutionary. Teflon has a lower dielectric memory that, in turn, allow for fast and cleaner transients over the previous polypropylene part.