Montreal 2001 Show Goodies!
by Rick
Becker
In another room, show goers were treated to a very rare opportunity to hear the Vandersteen Model 5 speaker. My friend Dale, at the Stereo Shoppe in Selinsgrove, PA, had warned me that these speakers were incredibly dynamic and transparent. Unfortunately, he only shows these by appointment at his home, and I've never passed through at a convenient time to audition them. Very few Vandersteen dealers carry this $10,000 model. At the show, it was powered by McCormack's new DNA-225 amp with a Meridian 596 CD/DVD player at the front end. Initially, I was disappointed in that the speaker is smaller that I imagined it must
be (their ads have no visual size reference). They are about the size of an Aerial 10T, but I expected them to be at least afoot taller. The sound, however, was big, and every bit as good as it was hyped to be. I suppose this is as much credit to McCormack as it is to Vandersteen, but something in me wants to some day hear these speakers with another amp...say with tubes.
The Gradient Revolution was a speaker in Stereophile's Recommended Components list many years ago, and it resurfaced in its latest form in an all GamuT system (CD player,
$3,995; C-2 R remote control line stage, $3,595; D-200 dual mono stereo power amp,
$7,995 CD, presumably with their own XLR balanced cabling). The sound was very refined and the Gradient deserves renewed attention, especially since it is one of very few fine speakers designed to be placed close to a wall.
The Vertige yp02-2 speaker featured dual forward facing tweeters, two woofers, with different crossover points, and two rear facing passive
radiators ($5,000 CD, www.jazzorama.com). This system had a very tight focus. An Arcam 9 CD player fed a Bryston preamp, which fed a Sinoide power amp. It is nice to see Sinoide back again this year, as this was an amp that intrigued me show or two ago. The room was busy, so I guess others liked the system, too.
Revelation Audio is a speaker company I've mentioned before--specifically, their Lyra slim tower speakers. On static display, they showed stand mounted monitors at $700 and
$1,500 CD, with single wire connectors. But it was their $1,600 CD Antares with its top mounted, sloped tweeter, bi-wired, configuration that really caught me ear. I believe it was a Unison Research Mystery 2 preamp
($2,000 CD) and Smart 845 monoblocks ($5,000 CD each) that drove the system.
I heard very nice sound at real world prices coming from Soliloquy 5.3 speakers powered by Talk Electronics.
One of the most unusual and visually intriguing speakers was the Mt. Everest planar magnetic speaker from Michael J. Yee of Meadow Song Labs. The upper portion of this 75" high speaker featured the planar magnetic mid-tweeter surrounded by an acoustically inert clear acrylic panel to insure dipole radiation. The black box at the bottom of the speaker housed a 12" acoustic suspension woofer powered by a 100 wpc Bryston built amplifier. The crossover was a built-in custom Bryston unit. Tube gear from Audio Aero powered the system.
RL Acoustiques was showing their Lamhorn 1.8 again this year, but with the relatively inexpensive German AER drivers, perhaps in anticipation of the contracting economy. At $6500 US, it represents considerable savings over the same speaker with the Reps R-1 driver at $10,000 US. Nonetheless, you will still need some discretionary funds for a subwoofer with this speaker.
One way of adding value, as well as undermining your own economy, is to import your speaker cabinets from China. Of course, in this industry, just about everything comes from everywhere. Call it cross- pollination, if you will. The impressive Kinima Hi G1 speaker from Zetag is an example. This $1200 speaker sported a very pretty cabinet of olive wood. Apparently, in China you can still use some production techniques that are unavailable in more environmentally concerned nations. Sanding in alcohol was mentioned, but I'm not familiar with this technique.
www.zetagcorp.com.
I also was impressed by the Avatar OBX-R speaker from Britain. Powered by Chord electronics, I was drawn into some impressive sounding music by Dire Straits. Its 94 db sensitivity and 6 ohm impedance should also insure compatibility with tube amps. At $8795 CD, however, it is in some very competitive territory.
Jean Marie Reynaud's Evolution 3 loudspeaker at $3,294 CD was making very nice music powered by an Audio Sterling integrated tube amp. The top mounted tweeter reminded me of the deer alerts people use on their car bumpers to preserve their incomes and their lives.
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