Salon Son & Image Report 2011
Montreal High-End Audio Show

Part 3 -- Report By Rick Becker

What we have here is the Roksan Xerxes20plus turntable ($4880) with a Tabriz tonearm ($2200) and a power supply at either $750 for the basic one or $1770 for the one in use. Oh, and don't forget the cartridge — a Shiraz at $4500. Of course you can substitute their more affordable Nima tonearm and a less expensive cartridge. The tonearm is attached to the suspended sub-platter in the plinth, and then there is another suspension between the stained wood plinth (that is not really as red as in the photo) and the black plinth barely visible beneath it. Music was coming from a stand mounted Roksan K2 TR-5 monitor with a ribbon tweeter and 130mm woofer ($1980) that sounded very nice. The driving force was a new Caspian amplifier ($2700). As always, Roksan puts out a very respectable system.

 

LaFleur Audio is showing real staying power with their finely crafted stand mounted monitors. I heard this 2.5-way model driven by a sweet rig comprised of a modest Clearaudio turntable with a Musical Surroundings Nova Phonomena phono stage. He was very bullish on the little Luxman D-N100 CD player, and I'm always bullish on the Pathos hybrid integrated amplifier he was using. The speaker is $17,500 with the standard tweeter without the dispersion dome, but the one playing with the ring tweeter was $18,500.

 

I was intrigued by this open baffle speaker with an 8" full-range driver on top that crosses over at 70 Hz to a pair of woofers — one forward facing, the other rearward facing. The $6300 price includes the pair of amplifiers for the woofers seen behind the speaker on the floor. A separate amplifier of your choosing is needed for the full range drivers. A server was serving as the source for the rig.

 

  

From Scandinavia comes this Amphion Argon 3 monitor, about $3000. A Hegel DAC with USB inputs, and optical as well as coax inputs was about $2000. Outputs were balanced XLR only. Most interesting was a Tangent black cube stereo radio designed by Jacob Jensen (who also designed a piece for Bang & Olufsen) that lit up when you moved your hand over it to reveal the touch controls. You can stick an iPod in a slot on top, a CD into a slot in the front, and there are speakers facing outward on each side — all for $600. The cube is about 6" or 7" on each side and can be wall mounted or used as a table radio. Very cool.

 

In another of the Coup de Foudre rooms, John DeVore made the trip up from New York City to support his new O/96 loudspeaker, the first in his new Orangutan series, a ground up effort in a new direction from his highly acclaimed Gibbon Series and Silverback model. Where most speakers strive for a minimum front baffle, this DeVore Fidelity two-way sports a broad fascia with a luxurious book matched veneer. The box behind the baffle is always a glossy dark stain, allowing him the economy of production in batches, but the front baffle can be ordered in a variety of veneers to suit your décor. This also gives the speaker a very retro look that blended very nicely with the Leben tube integrated amplifier and the analog front end of the system, not to overlook the complimentary décor provided by the padded headboard, lamp and flowers. The music was detailed, but warm and very inviting, suggesting all night listening sessions, and hinting at the sound of vintage Klipsch, Altec and Tannoy speakers of the ‘60s and ‘70s. With its 96 dB sensitivity it was very open and dynamic. But the 0/96 is not about playing music loud — it is about emotional connection with the music and letting it take you back to the point in time of the recording. It is not about absolute sound, but rather absolute listening enjoyment, which is very much a trait of John's earlier work. In this special way, this was one of the Best Rooms at the show and my visit here was way too short.

 

Atoll, from France, gave us the North American premier of their new CD400 CD player ($5900) which was designed to mate with their new IN400 integrated amplifier ($5400). My photo without flash revealed an orange backlighting around the control knobs of the amplifier and horizontal curved ribs of the top loading CD player. Sculpturally, this was a very unique combination. The CD player boasts a suspended drive unit and a 125dB S/N ratio. It has both coax and optical digital inputs and outputs in addition to its balanced analog output. The integrated amplifier continues the horizontal aluminum rib theme for both structural rigidity and heat dissipation. Using MOS-FET transistors it puts out 160 watts into 8 Ohms and 300 watts into 4 Ohms with S/N ratio of 100dB. Unfortunately, I did not get to hear these pieces in the Audio d'Occasion room, probably because they were playing the Cambridge kit below.

 

The Cambridge Audio Minx line up is comprised of both single (Min 10) and double (Min20) cube speakers shown here, and three subwoofers — small medium and large. Combine them for a sub/sat stereo rig, or a 5.1 surround set-up. The cubes are available with a Minx table stand, a pivoting wall mount and a minimalist adjustable floor stand. The surround rig I heard with the Min20 was $1800 with the medium sub and $1500 with the small sub. Powered by a Cambridge Audio surround receiver, this was a pretty decent system with a minimal visual footprint. The opera they were playing on Blu-ray disc was not my cup of tea, so it was difficult for me to get a grip on the quality of the sound, but nonetheless, it was pretty impressive. The flat drivers of these small cubical speakers use a honeycomb sandwich membrane that give it their wide frequency response of 130 Hz  to 20 kHz. The subs augment the output of the active drivers with passive radiators.

 

In a room that presented a very precise musical sound Trigon combined their CD player with their Energy integrated amplifier (100 watts into 4 Ohms; 70 watts into 8 Ohms, dual mono construction) to drive Audio Physics' new Tempo 25 ($6500) loudspeaker. This speaker uses new drivers that have a ceramic coating deposited on the aluminum cone that eliminates the ringing. Tapping on the midrange cone gave a sound akin to tapping of a drum skin rather than metal. This technology is also used on the tweeter and side-firing woofer. Additionally, dual baskets are used on the midrange, the outer being cast aluminum and the inner being a plastic polymer that does not transmit the ring of the aluminum basket. Silicone is used in the surrounds of the midrange for additional damping.

Also of interest, when many midrange drivers have a cone in the center, the phase plug here is flat and the cylinder that supports it contains neodymium magnets as part of the motor. These technologies allow them to lower the distortion by an order of magnitude I was told. And judging by the openness, transparency and speed of the music, I'm inclined to believe them. Nordost ribbon speaker cable no doubt contributed. Let me not forget to mention the fine veneer on the Tempo.

 

In the Verity Audio room the music was excellent, as usual, with their speakers being driven by Nagra's new 300B stereo tube integrated amplifier ($18,000) where a sophisticated solid state input stage is used to drive the 300B output stage in a polarized push-pull Class A configuration to a luscious 20 watts per channel. A power amp only version is also claimed to exist. But the real story here did not materialize in time for the show. Nearing completion is a statement loudspeaker ensemble projected to cost $325,000. Tall floorstanding speakers including an upper module for midrange and tweeter and a bass module with four front firing drivers comprise the main speaker, while tall subwoofer towers are implemented in the corners of the room to augment the bass. This room perennially earns Best Room recognition, but I can hardly wait until next year!

 

At Musical Fidelity I saw the M6500i integrated amplifier with 500 watts per channel with dual mono construction ($6999). The volume control is a digitally switched stepped attenuator with ˝ dB steps. The really intriguing box was the new M1 Clic, their universal music controller that also acts as a pre-amp if you wish. With both analog and digital inputs you can bridge your "old school" rig with the modern internet age/music server technology. Plug in your memory stick, iPod, or choose Ethernet or wireless access to the web. Then with either the fixed or variable outputs, use it as a source component, or drive your amplifier or active speakers directly. All this for about $2000.

 

  

Falling squarely in the realm of Surreal Audio and begging to be driven by a pair of Blue Circle Pumps was the Specimen Products Little Horn Speakers ($2100) driven here by a small Specimen tube amplifier ($2450) largely unseen on the lower shelf of the equipment rack. It puts out 8 watts per channel with pentode tubes wired as triodes. What's most unexpected is that the designer, Ian Schneller, is more renown as a guitar builder and luthier in Chicago. The pearl finish of the inside of the horn and candy apple blue of the outside were exceptional, making the speakers look more like large hand blown Christmas tree ornaments or flowers. The speaker uses a full range Fostex driver. Speaking of the equipment rack, the shelves were sheets of foamy blown aluminum that looks a lot like lava. A small square of this material is seen beneath the Little Horn speaker and on the face of the custom speaker stands. With an endlessly random web of aluminum, no vibrations pass through it. I'd love to have a slab of this stuff to cut up and play with, for sure. On another pedestal between the speakers was a pair of veneered cubes with this same aluminum material on the front side. I was told these were 25 watt monoblocks. I didn't get a chance to hear them and I have no idea what the gauge is on the top of one of the amps.

By this time the Press Day exhibitors were locking their doors and heading for the cocktail party in honor of retail sales consultants. An awards ceremony ensued presenting Lifetime Achievement Awards for contributions to the consumer audio video industry. Michel Plante and Sarah Tremblay, organizers of Salon Son & Image made the presentations. Seen here from left to right: Michel Plante, Michel Plante with Gerald Rejskind, editor of UHF Magazine, and Vince Bruzzese of Totem Acoustics with Sarah Tremblay.

 

  

With wisps of vapor rising from the motionless rooftop pool, I turned in my second ticket for another beer and retired for the evening. It was a long day for all involved, with another yet to come.

 

Click here for Salon Son & Image 2011 page 4 show page.