In a fourth Focal
room was a modest stand mounted monitor driven by an NAD
integrated and CD player. Are you picking up on the "Moderately
Priced" theme, yet?
An Ayre CD player,
Accuphase control center and a Rotel RB 1090 power amplifier were unlikely bedfellows driving Solen
loudspeakers with what appeared to be an external crossover sitting atop the
floorstanding speakers. It sounded pretty good, though.
But what really caught my attention were the pyramid shaped monitors sitting
on the floor from Tetra Speakers.
I looked around for my friend Adrian Butts, but he was not to be seen. Like
most Tetras, these were not only unusual in shape, but also in finish. They
would make an awesome diorama with a pair of Nagra pyramid shaped monoblocks.
Just add the miniature camels and invite some tourists! I like it when someone
steps out of the box like this.
A Dr.
Feickert’s new Blackbird turntable with slots for adjusting
tonearm distances was seen in the next room, but the source in use was an AMR
cd player. A KR Audio
Kronzilla SX integrated amp (50wpc, triode mode) with the huge
1610 tubes was driving a pair of TEO
loudspeakers with external crossovers that they have been working on for 17
years that they still have not released. Both the crossover box and the
circuit board inside are tuned to 2 Hz. Teo is also the maker of Liquid
Cables that impressed me so much last year and I had the pleasure
of meeting Brian Kurtz who is
their Man in Texas with whom I’ve been emailing for the past year as these
expensive cables have undergone refinement. I was hoping to meet Ken Hotte,
inventor of the liquid cables again this year, but our paths did not cross.
The liquid metal used in the cables is said to cost $20K per gallon — much
more expensive than gasoline. Unfortunately, the room was packed with people
and there were too many conversations going on to get a good fix on the sound
here. Oops, forgot to photograph this room.
Leema Acoustics from
Wales
in
England
presented a pair of small stand mounted Xero monitors that belied their size.
They are bi-wireable and sounded very competitive at $1400. The whole rig
priced out at $17K featuring their Antila cd player and Tuscana II integrated
amplifier from their top series. They make lesser priced models as well. This
is not a fly-by-night company, having been in business for 12 years, and could
very well be the Big Discovery of the show this year. If I were a Solid State
guy I would be jumping all over them for review samples — very nice design,
too. Damn! Where did my camera go?
Well, I found my camera to take this shot of the Triangle
speakers. That’s the Duetto on the stand. They have drifted into
landscape that borders on Bling…or is that decorative technology? The source
was a computer that fed a Hegel DAC
via Toslink cable. A Hegel preamp and power amp completed the system. I
would certainly suggest you give them a more critical listen based on their
previous track record.
Let’s see here... Clearaudio
turntable, VTL 5.5 Mk II preamp
($8K with phono, $6K as line stage), Pathos
CD player and integrated amplifier, VTL power amp. This must be one of the two
smaller rooms hosted by Coup de Foudre.
Very nice sound here with the Avalon
Indra speakers in a more modest system than they’ve presented in the past,
but they have a larger room on the lowest floor which probably holds their big
guns. Sweet music here, nonetheless, with lots of air.
When I was greeted in the hall by Bill
Parish of GTT Audio
and Joe Kubala of Kubala-Sosna
Research I knew I was not only among friends, but also in the High
Rent and High Quality Audio district. In one of their rooms was the smaller YG
Acoustics Kipod speaker ($38K). Sources were a V.Y.G.E.R.
turntable with an SME 312 tonearm
and a TEAC or Esoteric CD player. The V.Y.G.E.R. turntable is a suspended
turntable despite its solid look. The Veloce
battery powered preamp was coupled with a $3000 phono stage as an upgrade,
bringing the price to $18K. The phono stage uses battery power from the
preamp. The Veloce monoblocks driving the YGA are $12K. At one point they were
playing an LP from Classic Records
that uses a special vinyl formulation and is pressed on one side only,
providing outstanding sound. Harry Pearson is said to be reviewing the preamp
and that things are looking very good for Veloce. This was one of the Best
Rooms at the show.
Across the hall Bill Parish had set up a modest mbl
system with the World Premier of their new entry level speaker, the model126
in satin white ($12,500 including stands). This replaces a $17K speaker and
yet reportedly goes 6Hz deeper and is more linear. With mbl’s unique
omni-directional tweeter and midrange it produced a spacious sound throughout
the room. The mbl electronics were from their Reference line, so the term "modest" is relative in this case. In previous years I’ve seen a spread
of mbl gear on the floor that resembled a small city. The monoblocks shown
here, for example, were the model 9007 at $36K for the pair. This room, too,
was one of the Best Rooms, as it
usually is for mbl. Bill Parish of GTT Audio and Video is the new mbl
distributor for
North America
.
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