The Lawrence
Audio room featuring a cello-shaped speaker, aptly named Cello,
with dual ribbon drivers on front and a rear-firing ribbon tweeter on the
back, attracted a lot of visitors. The Cello is a beautifully made speaker and
has lots of technology spelled out on the flyer. The room was very carefully
arranged, but I didn't feel the music was really getting outside of the box
with this design. The electronics were all from Bryston, but I heard them
sound a lot better with Bryston's own speakers for a lot less money than the
$18,000 asking price for this design from Taiwan. I know the airiness and
soundstaging that rear-firing tweeters can bring to a speaker from my exposure
to Vandersteen and Von Schweikert models, but I didn't hear it here. I was
perplexed, to say the least.
The ultra-modern Cabasse
monitors, complemented with their TSA-500 subwoofer were a visual
contradiction to the classic McIntosh stack
with which it was mated. That stack included the MT5 turntable, MCD 1100
SACD/CD player and C2500 tube preamp. Indications were that the music was
sourced at 44.1 and 96 kHz from a music server elsewhere in the room. If you want to
do tube gear with Cabasse, might I suggest some Zesto for visual continuity?
Nonetheless, the sound was certainly respectable from the coaxial drivers in
the Cabasse and the green lights on the 275 power amp tubes were very trick,
indeed.
It has been, I think, a year since I first
heard the Leedh speaker and the
novelty of the design has been integrated with my long exposure to
contemporary 20th century art. It answers the question "Why be
norml?" and moves on to deliver outstanding sound quality. If you don't
already know, the little black cylinder down by the floor is the subwoofer
(and not included in the $28,000CDN price of the speaker). That is a Trans
Rotor turntable (~$5700?) with a handsome LP weight on top with a
special modified cartridge from O2A,
who also makes the cables in this rig. A Lua
Reference No. 7 tube preamp from Germany was next to it. Below the preamp was
a Lua Appassionato Mk III CD player with tube output and Lua tube monoblocks
on the floor, but I think the AVM solid
state SA8.2 stereo amp (250 wpc/8 Ohms) was driving the Leedh at the time. On
silent display was a $5k system with an AVM all-in-one unit combined with an Aurelia
Aniara two-way monitor from Finland.
The Magico
line of speakers is certainly a hot ticket in the upper echelon and I was very
interested to hear the S3 model which is in the sweet spot of their lineup. It
was driven by Ayre electronics
from the new twenty series
including the preamp and monoblocks. This series is all new inside, though it
looks very similar to previous models. Digital files came from a laptop into dCS
Puccini digital gear. A Shunyata
Talos conditioner filtered the electricity and their Anaconda cable was used
in the rig. The fast jazz I heard was precise but overall I felt it was kind
of dry. Being a tube guy and analog lover, that's probably a predictable
conclusion, but there were other solid state rigs at the show that moved me
more... some more expensive, for sure, and some less. I was also kind of cool
toward the brown metallic finish of the S3, but I could probably learn to love
it over time.
Retailer Son
Ideal put on quite a display of British goods in a two room suite.
In the silent room they showcased their $5000 rig composed of Rega
Apollo CD player, Rega Brio R integrated amp, a Rega RP1 turntable with Ortofon
Red mm cartridge, and Harbeth
P3ESR monitors with a very nice wood veneer. I wish I could have heard this
one sing. On a shelf at the side of the room was a lineup of all but the RP10
turntables. Not to worry, though, as the RP10 was playing in the big rig in
the other room. I listened in on the pitch the host was giving to a visitor
and he said the RP6 is the real value in the line. Sure, the RP8 is better,
but if you want "better" you should save up for the RP10 to make it a
really significant upgrade. So he said.
I slid into the adjacent room where we were
treated to very enjoyable music coming from the large Harbeth
40.1 stand mounted monitors ($12,500). I love this speaker, except for the
kit-like appearance of the front baffle with a couple dozen screws visible
when listening without the grill cloth. For me, this mandates listening in the
dark. The front ends included the Rega RP10
turntable shown in skeletal form with its separate power supply on the shelf
below, along with the Rega Aria phono stage. A Rega Saturn R CD/DAC provided
the digital front end. It includes not only USB, but two coax and two optical
digital inputs as well as a direct digital output if you wish to use a
different DAC elsewhere in your rig. The amplifier was the Pathos
TT Mk III hybrid (~$8500) with tube input and solid state power
stages that put out 35 wpc in Class A. The music was tonally rich and
emotionally inviting but on the warm side — the kind of rig you could listen
to all night long without strain whether from the digital or analog front end.
I've consistently loved these three brands over the years and although
I've never owned anything from any of them, I think they've subliminally
modified my DNA.
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High-Performance Audio Reviews
