Page 5
Report By Rick Becker
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The next room proved equally interesting, thought at a significantly higher
price point.
Art Audio was using their new Carissa stereo tube amplifier on a Symposium
Acoustic shelf to drive Cabasse loudspeakers ($8K/pr) augmented
with a pair of Cabasse subwoofers ($2K each). The Carissa goes for $4K
US in standard form, or $4,500 with chrome and the KR tube upgrade.
My suggestion is that you go all the way here — you will love the amplifier and be
looking at it for a long time to come…and the KR tubes have a world class
reputation. The Cabasse has its own commanding presence with its
distinctive contemporary design, which will either look great with the
Picassos on your wall, or clash terribly with your Renoirs. What fit
beautifully into the system was the Gill Audio DAC and pre-amplifier.
Art Audio and Gill Audio work very closely with each other and the synergy and
excellence of this room was very evident. Here, too, was one of the
highlights of the show for me.
Art Audio & Cabasse Loudspeaker
The absolute highlight of the show, for me, came in the large banquet room
featuring live jazz with a female vocalist. The piano used for the event
was a $65K Bösendorfer 175th Anniversary model, and while not a
true concert grand at 5' 8", its quality and sound were impressive.
For the uninitiated, like me, the Austrian Bösendorfer from Viennais
considered to be the finest piano in the world. My friend Art Shapiro,
who is more than initiated in the art of the piano, tells me
their largest pianos have 99 keys, the last few hidden under a lid, which are
designed to resonate and add body to the very low end. The idea here at the
show was to record the jazz group and then play the recording back through Bösendorfer
loudspeakers, which, while equally impressive in quality and sound, were
considerably less expensive than the piano — somewhere around a third of the
price. Unfortunately, the recording equipment did not arrive for the
show, so we only listened to a recording of piano music. It was
painfully obvious that venue of the recorded music had vastly superior
acoustics to this carpeted banquet room. It was also perfectly obvious
that the Bösendorfer loudspeakers had the finest reproduction of piano music
that I have ever heard. Seeing the quality of the piano in the same room
as the loudspeakers, I was impressed, but not surprised. They obviously
knew what they were doing when they built these beauties.
Undoubtedly, the large Italian Graaf OTL tube amplifier in a
matching piano black finish on the floor between the loudspeakers had much to
do with the transparency and control of the music, as did the dCs digital
front end, but an examination of the loudspeaker revealed at least some of
their secrets. Not only were there side-firing drivers in addition to
the front facing ones, but also there was a sounding board offset on the outer
side of each speaker that created a resonance that interacts with the
resonance of the main cabinet. Presumably this works in much the same
manner that the lid of the piano interacts with the body of the piano and the
sound coming directly from the strings. Many loudspeaker designers have
carefully utilized the resonance of the cabinet to tune the loudspeaker to
their desired signature, just as many designers have sought the most inert
cabinet possible. Aside from the possibility that a few of the rare and
prototypical designs that I have seen over the past decade might have used a
similar technique, this is the first time that I have seen an offset sounding
board. Unfortunately, I was pressed for time and did not think to ask
them to play some electric guitar music. Hopefully, I will have a second
chance — perhaps at the New York show. And I'll have to bring a
Jerry Lee Lewis CD. If you love piano music and ever have the
opportunity to hear these loudspeakers, even if it means traveling great
distance, you simply must go. And there is even more good news.
This is not a one model effort by Bösendorfer. There are less expensive
models — down to about $7K for a small floorstander, as well as surround
sound possibilities. The old Porsche line comes to mind here:
Accept no substitute!
175th Anniversary Bösendorfer Piano
Bösendorfer Loudspeaker With Graaf Amplifier
Vince Bruzzese, founder of Totem Acoustics, finally figured out a
way to enjoy the show and save his voice at the same time. He turned
artistic control of his room over to his lovely assistant to create a sonic
environment that embodied the spiritual and ideological goal of his company
— connecting with music to enrich the soul, or, as we water it down on this
website: enjoy the music. The result of her effort (she insists that it
was the entire Totem Team effort, and doesn't want to be named) was an
environment in which the physical equipment was taken out of the equation,
leaving visitors to connect directly with the music and the surround sound
home theater experiences that were presented. Now, others have attempted
to do this by presenting music and film in the dark, but Totem took a
different tact by creating an environment defined by parachute cloth and the
silhouettes projected on it. Shadows of Indian totems and branches
created a natural cave-like experience with sufficient light to allow visitors
to walk about the environment without stumbling over the short tree trunks and
stones that were randomly placed to hold literature.
It was impossible
to enter this space without being made aware that the real focus of this hobby
is the music, and that the equipment is merely a means to that end. Of
course, it was no small coincidence that there was a pair of Totem Winds, two
pair of Lynks surround loudspeakers (switchable from bi-pole to di-pole,
$850/pr US), and possibly a Thunder subwoofer ($1,500 US) hidden behind the
parachute cloth, all to excellent effect. The experience for Linda took
on added meaning for her work, in which she has been challenged to
inexpensively create a spirituality center for the 73 churches she serves.
And for me, it took me back to my graduate school days in film school at the
University of Iowa where I worked on a major multimedia project that was
seminal in the foundation of the Center for the New Performing Arts there.
Of course, that was several decades ago. Totem has certainly expanded
the envelope of what is possible at an audio show. And as for Vince? I've never seen him so relaxed and enjoying the show so much.
I had an enjoyable listen to the new JM Labs Diva loudspeaker driven
by Classe's new CAP-2100 putting out 100 wpc ($6900 CN). Classe's new CDP 100 CD player ($5K CN) was used as a transport for a dCs
Purcell converter. A Clearaudio Maximum Solution turntable graced
the top of the Solidtech rack, but was idle at the time. It was
getting near the end of the show and room noise from conversations precluded a
critical listen. The new Classe gear has trick windows that give you
access to all kinds of information you didn't know you couldn't live
without. With its curved front corners, the design looked a little
derivative of recent Plinius components and the windows seem influenced by
home theater gear. Divas were everywhere at the show!
Out in the hallway, it was difficult to miss the ACCO acoustic
panels. These fiberglass panels covered with a rayon-like cloth are big
business for institutional use, but could serve equally well in home listening
rooms or home theaters. They certainly reminded me of the old adage that
the room is your most important component.
Sliding over to the Audioville room, which typically does not fare
well, acoustically, I found this room no better than previous years. The
main rig was comprised of outstanding products, but the room was jammed with a
huge number of other components, with loudspeakers lining virtually an entire
wall. It was another example of a vendor wanting to display all their
wares, turning the listening room into a virtual showroom. The
loudspeakers were the Living Voice Avatar OBX (external crossover)
looking like a power amplifier on the floor beside them, which have received
critical acclaim ($10,8K CN). The Chord DAC 64 and transport held
reign at the top of the rack, the new conrad-johnson ACT 2 was tucked
down under in the shadow of the shelves. This was the first show where
this preamplifier has been on active display, I was told. The c-j
Premiere 140 power amplifier that debuted in this space a year ago powered the
Living Voice loudspeakers. While the system did not sound bad, I left
knowing that the music probably could have had a lot more life.
Chord & conrad-johnson
Sliding into a large room filled with smaller vendors' booths filled with
various wares, the Gang of Four that I had met at the cocktail party the night
before immediately pounced upon me. This energetic band of young men is
destined to make their mark in the Canadian audio scene. Their most
important line in their view is their role as Canadian distributor for Dact
parts. They also distribute a variety of parts for DIYers interested in
modifying their components or building their own cables, including some really
cool cable sheathing. Before I knew what was happening, they had me
lined up for a photo shoot! Hopefully, I will be able to sneak some
feedback to readers into one of my reviews, about how good their silver wire
works in interconnects they asked me to make up with the very nice locking
RCAs they sell. In the mean time, check them out at AUDIYO.com. This
tip alone, could make reading this lengthy report worthwhile.
Gang Of Four With Rick Becker
BTW, is any of your equipment sick or in need of modification? Page
the doctor at audiodoctor007.com. Hopefully,
they have a bi-lingual nurse to help you out if you don't speak French.
And not to be missed in the hallways was Pixman — a walking video
sandwich board, soon to be seen on the high peaks of the Adirondacks
advertising Canadian beer!
You laugh now!
Pixman
Sony was at Montreal in force again this year, and somehow their
display seemed to make a lot more sense to me than in the past. While
they had a few complete home theater set-ups on active display — replete
with sofas for Linda to relax and regroup — the grouping of the various TV
technologies gave me a nearly complete survey of the main forces at work in
the conversion of home to home theater. (Lcos technology
was not present, nor was the higher end of video projectors).
Nonetheless, Sony has most of the major bases covered in a wide variety of
sizes, appropriate to each technology. Perhaps the cohesiveness of their
presentation is due to my own increased interest and the homework and reading
I've done over the past year. I have to admit that I am being sucked
into the lure of big screen something or other. What keeps me
from spending any money in this direction is the recognition of rapidly
falling prices. The thought of something being 30% less expensive next
year keeps my wallet in my pocket. I also simply do not watch very much
TV or film.
On a tip from another exhibitor, I wandered down the long hall on the main
floor of the Delta Hotel to another banquet room far from the maddening
crowds, and discovered where they've been hiding all the good stuff.
Well, some of it anyway... like the Avid turntables. The new Avid
Volvere Sequel (~$7K) from England featured a number of mechanical upgrades
over the original. It was playing through a Manley Steelhead
phono stage, Manley Shrimp preamplifier, Manley Mahi monoblocks — like my
very own! — into the Audes Blues loudspeakers from Estonia that I keep
raving about. Wake up, you guys!!! Here again was one of the
handful of best rooms at the show. Of course it helped that it was at
the quiet end of the hotel, I suppose. On silent display was the
more affordable Avid Diva turntable ($3K CN) which, like all Avids, is a
suspended turntable. (See what I said about all those Divas running
around)?
Audes Blues System
Avid Diva Turntable
There were lots of other goodies in this room. For example, the Threshold
prototype 5 x 100 watt multi-channel integrated amplifier with a slash of dark
Corian across its faceplate. It makes me wonder why this material
hasn't been used for entire faceplates before.
Threshold Amp with Corian Slash
Likewise, Jeff Rowland is re-inventing himself with the diminutive,
but exquisite 201 monoblock amplifier that puts out 250 watts into 8 ohms, 500
into four. Also on display was his Synergy pre-amplifier with separate
power supply.
Rowland Amplifier
By this time, rooms were being torn down and packed up for the return trips
to many different lands. In one such room that I normally visit much
earlier every year, a rack of YBA equipment was powering JM Labs
Utopia loudspeakers as the workpeople scurried about with boxes and large
blocks of Styrofoam. This should have sounded pretty good by any normal
stretch of the imagination, but it really — dare I use the word? On
closer inspection, one of the workpeople had plugged their MP3 player
into the system!
Is nothing sacred!?
So that is mostly the good news from Montreal this year. I'm sure I
missed a gem here or there; I only work the show for two days. But what
about The Bad and The Ugly that I mentioned at the start, you ask?
The Bad
As I've said before, the weather always plays a role in my adventures to
Montreal. When I first started coming to the Festival du Son et Image, it was
held in early March. And it was always winter. Then they moved it
to the last weekend in March, right in the middle of the Sweet Sixteen round
of the College Basketball National Championship playoffs, and it was still
winter. This year they moved it back another week, right on top
of the Final Four round, and while it was fairly mild over the weekend, winter
caught up with Linda and me on the drive home.
We took the 401, the Canadian equivalent to our Interstate highways, along
the St. Lawrence Seaway toward the Thousand Islands where we would cross over
into New York State. The crosswinds came out of the north at about 30
mph and the temperature dropped rapidly. What had been a wet surface
turned to ice and the rear wheels lost grip on a straight stretch of road.
I was able to keep the car on the road, fishtailing a bit, as we slowed down,
but we slid onto the shoulder, hit the guide wires and the Tracker flipped
when the wheels dug into the soft shoulder. We came to rest upside down,
and miraculously, neither of us was even scratched. Nor did the airbags
deploy. The tractor-trailer that was behind us was able to avoid us as
we slowed down. A family in a van that had been on a ski-weekend,
provided us with shelter while we waited for help. We were sure to
impress upon their children the importance of wearing a seat belt. When
an ambulance arrived, we quickly signed off when they realized we were not the
accident to which they had been called. In fact, we were not alone in
our misfortune that evening. The tow truck that removed our vehicle
worked through the night. We were one of four roll-overs and two others
he pulled out of the wasteland. In the morning there was only
about five inches of snow on the ground, but it was the sudden drop in
temperature and the absence of salt trucks, coupled with the fast pace of
traffic that led to the misfortune. As we continued home in a rented car
later that morning, the tow trucks were still pulling cars out of the median.
As mixed as my emotions were, I was grateful to be alive, and thankful to my
higher power that no one else was injured. And thankful for our world
class angels!
Likewise, it has been an exhausting pleasure to put this report together
amidst the chaos of buying another car. A reviewer's job is never as
easy as it might seem from the outside. We shuffle around equipment and
listen to a little music, sure, but it's dancing with the devil that's the
hard part.
The Ugly
The Silver Bullet
See you in New York, G-d willing, with my next Tracker, and safe journey,
Space Fans, wherever you are.
Back to main Montréal 2004
show page.
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year's show coverage.
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