With a large cup
of straight black coffee and a couple of granola bars under my belt I went for
a spin with the Spin Clean LP
washer. At least I listened in while the presenter extolled its virtues to
interested attendees. At $80 for the basic kit, $125 for the kit with more
cleaner, a second set of brushes and more drying cloths, this makes a lot of
sense for someone amassing dozens of LPs from garage sales. If the forecast
calls for thousands, you might consider a vacuum type machine. The rollers and
brushes secure the LP in the vertical position — all you need to do is spin
it three times in each direction with your fingers at the outer edge. The
fluid is non-alcoholic and reportedly gloms on to the grit and causes it to
sink. I was impressed by the flakes of dirt at the bottom of the trough that
had built up from just the previous day's demonstration. It makes me wonder
what might be growing inside the black box of my VPI. Oh... and it also has a
terrific S/N ratio!
It was a real treat to see one of 13 pair of Les
Paul commemorative Thiel
speakers painted with the signature sunburst theme at the Les Paul factory.
The rig included a Classe Moon CD
player, Oracle Paris turntable in
red, Moon integrated amp, all strung together with Van
den Hul (VdH) cables.
Unfortunately, the hosts had not arrived from breakfast, yet, so I didn't
get to hear it. On silent display in the room was the red Moon 30th
Anniversary integrated which looked much more appealing in normal room light
than last year when it was showcased with glaring spotlights. The matching CD
player was shown in gloss black, which was also visually very appealing.
Jeff Joseph
had a terrific presentation with Red Book music files on his computer feeding Moon
CD player and integrated amplifier driving his new 2.5 way
Perspective floorstanding loudspeakers. Cabling was probably Cardas Clear, since he uses Cardas internally. They feature
trickle-down technology with the tweeter from his Pearl and modified versions
of the 5.5" midrange drivers used as the two woofers here. And of course he
continues to use his patented asymmetrical Infinite Slope technology in the
crossovers to achieve outstanding transparency and focus. Running flat from 35
Hz to 20 kHz, the Perspective seemed to plunge even deeper than that—with
clarity. It is available in four veneers and piano gloss black. At $11,800 for
the pair here, it was not only a great value, but also one of the very Best
Rooms at the show. At this hour in the morning I was the only
visitor and had an unhampered listening opportunity.
A 47Labs CD
player, Shindo preamp, Fi 5 watt per channel amplifier with a 421A tube combined to
drive Voxativ Ampeggio
loudspeakers in one of the finest sounding, but esoteric rooms at the show.
The Ampeggio boasts 101dB/W/m efficiency with their full-range single driver,
built in-house by Voxativ with cabinets by Schimmel,
the German piano manufacturer. They come in gloss black or gloss white and
cost $29,750. Fit and finish were outstanding, as you would expect, and so was
the music — transparent and dynamic with the superb continuity from 38 Hz to
20 kHz — an exceptional range from a single driver design. With an impedance
of 10 Ohms, it begs for a high quality, low power (though not necessarily flea
power) tube amplifier to exploit its virtues. This was the finest single
driver speaker I've heard and one of the Best
Rooms at the show, for sure, but the Fun/$ ratio will depend on
your listening skill and musical taste. If you are intrigued by the single
driver concept I suggest you start with a much more affordable example to give
you an appreciation of what the Voxativ can do. While it is not a loudspeaker
for the majority, hopefully exposure to this room will inspire more than a few
to explore the single driver genre. A modest sound bite of a Bruce Springsteen
ballad was emotionally very moving for me here, and was not unlike the DeVore
Fidelity Orangutan heard earlier.
Driving a pair of Verity
Audio Sarastro loudspeakers were the Dionysos preamp ($22,000 and
Spartacus monoblocks ($44,000) from Thrax of
Bulgaria. Parts, of course, are sourced from around the world including the Emission
Labs 520B tubes and the Japanese Tamradio
output transformers in these monoblocks. The digital front end included a Weiss
Medea DAC. This was a very good sounding room with top components, though it
was my first exposure to Thrax.
Back in the real world I heard Castle
Knight V ($1300) speakers with an Audiolab
8200 CD player ($999), Prima Luna
PL-1 amp (on sale for $1400), so for $3700 plus cables I could bop to Take 5
all day long with one of the most affordable rigs at the show.
This year I had another opportunity to hear the Gradient
Helsinki 1.5, a speaker that ranks right up there with Cabasse in
contemporary design. I also had the pleasure of meeting its designer, Jorma Salmi, which explains why the Helsinki was so perfectly
dialed in. Electronics were by Resolution
Audio. Total system price of this rig was $14,000, with the show
system on sale for $9495, a terrific bargain from SimpliFi Audio. In their neighboring room I heard the Gradient
Revolution and then some. The "then some" included an active crossover and
a pair of stacked open baffle subwoofers ($6995/pr). The Revolution itself is
available for $7995 passive, or $11,995 active. The system looks like two
floorstanding speakers with two taller pairs of bass modules, stacked.
Gradient is also building closer ties with DSPeaker,
also of Finland, whose Anti-Mode 8033 automatic subwoofer correction device
has been very well reviewed at $595. Also available now is a stereo version
with stereo inputs, but dual mono outputs. Look for more
innovation from these two companies, as I mentioned last year.
In a room that was supposed to have a much larger pair of
loudspeakers that were damaged or didn't arrive on time (for at least the
first two days), Gemme Audio fronted their entry level Tonic G5 floorstanders
($1395) with a heavy duty bastion of Parasound electronics including their
Halo JC2 BP preamp and JC 1 monoblocks ($5299, ea). A Hanss T-60 turntable
($6500) at the front end on top and a Unison Research Unico CDE player ($5000)
with vacuum tubes below filled out the rack. A Halo series CD 1 CD player is
due this summer from Parasound. With upstream components like this, the
little Gemme had nowhere to hide, and it didn't have to. This is a great
speaker company from top to bottom. Also at the
affordable end in this room was a white Pro-ject 1.3 Genie turntable with a
black S-shaped arm, freestanding motor and white drive belt for $499.
Using an iPad as a source, the signal was run Wi-Fi to a
Micromega AS-400 unit ($4800) with a Class D amp that was driving Focal
speakers. Simple and elegant.
For $16,000 you can get this wall mounted unit from Divialet
about the size of a small painting with inputs across the floor-facing edge.
Imagine 240 watts per channel; Class D. Volume is controlled in the digital
domain. But the trick here is the amp section is fronted by a Class A single
watt amp and the Class D amp is slaved to that first watt, so they claim you
are really listening to the Class A signal. In the preamp section there is
both an A to D converter and a DAC. It comes with a very cool remote control,
and can also be used on a horizontal surface if it would clash with the
artwork on your walls. Feeling the pressure of time, I didn't stick around
for a more lucid explanation of this unit, but if you're into really
high-tech, this might be fun to check out further.
In a room that really rocked
a tall stack of Advance Acoustic electronics
drove a pair of red Totem Wind
speakers with more gusto than I've ever heard them. A pair of monoblocks
with large blue meters was to blame. What made it listenable was probably the
Advance DAC with 24 bit/384 kHz resolution. The electronics are of French
design with manufacture in China to make them affordable. The BIS cables that connected everything were made right there in
Quebec. MCM Acoustique, an audio
video retailer in Quebec put this heart pounding room together.
At the Grant Audio
room I was treated to the new Hedo line, an entry level series from JungSon
Audio, one of the premier brands from China. With most of the money
spent on the electronics inside, rather than the chassis, how would you like a
CD player for $975, an integrated amp for $1550, a preamp for $1050 or an 80
wpc Class A stereo amp for $1300? Not that the chassis are shabby, mind you.
Unfortunately, these were not in action, having just arrived in time for the
show.
Also of note at Grant Audio was the Shengya
CD 3.5 balanced tube top-loading CD player for $2200 that was stacked on a
matching CV-1 tube balanced preamp, also for $2200. The matching PSM-100 Class
A 100 watt monoblocks were $2400. For those seeking computer based systems,
Consonance has their D-Linear interface that can run Wi-Fi with a build in DAC
for $1250, or output the digital signal to a better DAC with coax, optical and
balanced inputs and balanced outputs that may also accept Wi-Fi judging from
the rabbit ears, for $1050. Also looking very mean and powerful was a Shuguang
S-200 MK preamp and S 845 MK monoblocks for $3100/pr with their
black bottle 300B tubes driving an 845 tube for 25 watts. Amy told me that
Shuguang and KR are now the only companies making the 845 tubes. For entry
level, Shuguang has an I-25 EL34 based integrated with 25 wpc for $785 with
the Treasure (black bottle) tubes and toggle between a USB input on the side
or an RCA input on the rear, also shown above. Every year the Grant room is
like walking into a candy store full of affordable goodies, available mail
order direct.
At the Nordost Cable exhibit I took note of their jumper
cables, regularly $205 on sale for $180 a set. They are now offering a variety
of cone footers in aluminum, ceramic coated aluminum, ceramic coated bronze,
and ceramic coated titanium at show prices of $80 to $420 each
cone to fine tune your rig to the nth degree.
Once again www.head-fi.org
commandeered a room where local members feverishly set up their headphone rigs
for visitors to sample. This year again I had a delightful, but short
listening session. I wanted to compare two different headphones the host was
presenting, but another visitor walked off with the other pair to listen at
another station. The system was comprised of a Yamaha
DVD player, TC Electronic
Desktop Konnekt 24D (DAC?) feeding an Apex
Peak/Volcano headphone amp with what looked like a black bottle
tube from China. Very nice!
In my final sweep I stumbled into a room with the large Eggleston
Andra loudspeakers being driven by Chapter electronics
from England that I had somehow missed on earlier go-around.
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High-Performance Audio Reviews
