Legacy
Audio was showing their large Whisper XD
loudspeaker driven by an Ayon amp
and CD player. As large as they were, the speakers did not over-power the room
because of a Xilica Audio Design
DSP box with algorithms specifically designed for the Legacy Whisper.
(Algorithms for other speakers are available). The 15" bass drivers, both
the top and bottom pairs, are concentrically mounted in an open baffle design.
This gives them more of a cardioid projection pattern that helps keep the
energy off the walls and hence a cleaner sound. Unfortunately, I forgot to
photograph this rig.
Vienna Acoustics
loudspeakers rarely disappoint me and this room was no exception. The small
floorstanding Mozart Grand, Symphony Edition, stands about a yard high (1
meter-ish) on unique spikes that spread the footprint for additional
stability. Incorporating some trickle-down drivers from the model above it,
this 2.5 way speaker comes in at about $3500. Fine fit and finish coupled with
luscious veneers make this a very eye appealing speaker. The Ayre
Acoustics DX-5 A/V Engine ($3500) plays back virtually all digital
and video formats and was used as the source. An Ayre AX-7e integrated
amplifier ($3500), which has been very favorably reviewed, provided the
amplification. For little more than ten grand, this was a very musical solid
state rig. The laptop was equipped with Amarra
software, but I didn't get the specifics on this. Computer archiving is the "in" thing at the present time, but it suffers some vulnerability. I mean,
like who is going to steal a turntable?
Codell Audio
put together a very nice rig with a SqueezeBox
front end coupled to a Peachtree
Audio Nova DAC/amp to drive a Dynaudio
Excite X32 small 2-way floorstander with dual woofers that's
available in four real wood veneers as well as gloss white and gloss black.
The entire rig was about $4000, total. You could park this sweet little set in
virtually any décor at any level of sophistication. Unfortunately, my snobby
little Canon pocket camera couldn't keep its lens off the more elegant
stand-mounted Confidence C1 Signature when I snapped the photo. It was just
too hard to resist the beautiful dark curly maple veneer. This was the first
model of Dynaudio's forthcoming Confidence Signature series which features
these special veneers. The same speakers will be available in the standard
Dynaudio veneers as the Confidence II Series. The C1 Series II runs from
$7500 to $8300 depending on the finish and it sounded very good to my ears. Michael
Manousselis, Dynaudio Director of Sales and Marketing for North
America, was a familiar and friendly face once again.
On a second visit to the Codell Audio room I heard the
Dynaudio C1 Signature with a Naim
rig that featured their new NDX network player for $5495. This seems to be a "must have" component for the major electronics companies.
T plus A (T+A)
from Germany put the entire rig on a pedestal in the form of their new age
all-in-one receiver with a built-in CD player as well as USB inputs on the
back side. It will also perform wireless streaming; give you internet radio
and high quality FM reception and put out 160 watts into 4 Ohms, 94 watts into
8 Ohms. Power comes not from Ice power, but from their proprietary design. The
receiver combines the features and power of other E-Series components into a
single chassis for $4200 for the person who wants their music to be heard and
their equipment to be noticed, but not dominate a room.
Visiting my friends at the AuDIYo
rooms I turned up a number of gems, as usual. First was this Furutech
GT40 from the Alpha Design Labs that
is both a USB DAC with a phono stage. (Want to digitize your LPs?). It also
has a built-in headphone amp with adjustable volume. At $495 it seems a real
bargain and it has already garnered numerous awards, but check the specs to be
sure it is compatible with your other equipment.
Next to the GT40 was a TubeMagic
Audio Systems IAM96 integrated amplifier looking very handsome with
wood side panels. It puts out 20 watts pure Class A per channel in ultralinear
push-pull with minimum feedback and auto-bias. I use TubeMagic Canada
monoblocks from the same designer in my reference rig so I had great
expectation of how this new model would perform. I actually heard it twice in
adjacent rooms. In one, it drove the Klaro
Audio Summus speakers to a level that surpassed my experience with
this speaker last year. These slim towers with a second side-firing woofer
near the floor were very impressive being tube friendly at 8 Ohms. They run
$3295 in the basic black finish and $4495 in piano gloss black. Next door the
TubeMagic were driving a pair of Zu
speakers which are very tube
friendly. The front end was a highly modified tube CD player from China. This
was a rare opportunity to hear a Zu speaker as they are sold factory direct
and not promoted by any dealers. It was a very dynamic and transparent sound
that was a lot of fun to listen to, reminding me of the large JBL speakers in
my younger days, but with better focus and more transparency.
Recently released in France was the Cabasse
Pacific 3 SA which has a more conventional box design that the
spherical and other creative enclosures that Cabasse is known for. The active
version of this speaker is $23,000 while the passive design is $15,000. The
Riga system displayed here at Montreal includes an active subwoofer and two
monitors that have coincident drivers in a sphere, as shown in the photo. That
sphere is also available with a wall mount bracket. The Santorin 30 subwoofer
covers the range below the Riga from 20 Hz to 95 Hz, and is comprised of
trickle down technology from the awesome (and I do not use that word casually)
flagship loudspeaker, La Sphere, which was seen here a year or two ago. The
trio heard here goes for about $17,000. Strangely, Cabasse, which is the most
elegant modern style loudspeaker manufacturer in the world, was paired off
with McIntosh electronics, which
are a classic "old school" design that has achieved cult status. I've
heard both companies sound better with other partners, but this room at least
hinted at the greatness of each brand.
Next up was Beyond
Frontiers Audio (BFA),
a company founded in 2009 by former senior designers at Sonic Frontiers. Zdenko
Zivkovic has not stood still in these intervening years. His Tulip
Stereo Integrated Amplifier w/DAC on display here had a supporting cast of
audio greats that included Hanson
Emperor loudspeakers, Kubala-Sosna
cables, HRS damping devices and
shelves and an Acoustic Arts top
loading CD transport. It is designed in Canada and assembled in Serbia using
premium parts and creative engineering. At 180 wpc into 8 Ohm and 360 wpc into
4 Ohm, this massive amplifier is said to be capable of driving speakers down
to 2 Ohms. Like me, you're probably thinking this is solid state technology,
but it sure didn't sound like it. In truth, it is a hybrid design with tubes
providing the gain and bipolar transistors providing the current with no
feedback in the amplifier stages. It is also remote controlled with their
proprietary patented protocol. That's good, because in room light (or less)
the buttons on the black face were virtually obscured (It's also available
in silver). I didn't see the aluminum remote, but I expect you will have to
have an LED flashlight to read it if you listen in the dark. Fit and finish
are in the league with the best gear out there, though it is tastefully devoid
of bling. Before I was aware this was a hybrid design, I was saying to myself
this is the first solid state amp I've heard that really sounds like tube
gear — except that it was totally tight from top to bottom. Part of that
equation must be due to the built-in DAC that resamples everything to
24-bit/192kHz. At $17,000 it is up there in the big league with Boulder and
DartZeel, but amplifiers from these two companies have not grabbed my soul the
way I heard the music in this room. Considering that it appears to be a world
class preamp, power amp and DAC, and will save you a small bundle normally
spent on cables, this seems to have real value. This was easily one of the
very Best Rooms at the show, and
the one I kept dreaming of on the long drive home.
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High-Performance Audio Reviews
