Stereophile Show -- Home Entertainment 2007 Hi-Fi and Home Theater Event

Report By Rick Becker
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The Magico Mini loudspeaker ($26.4K) has received outstanding reviews in the press, but I was completely unprepared for what I experienced in their room. Unlike the name "Mini" suggests these are large, substantial stand mounted monitors. The plywood sides and black face integrate perfectly with the dedicated stands in a style that would be most at home in a contemporary setting. You might be able to get by with them in a mountain lodge in Telluride if there was a lot of split firewood stacked nearby. I didn't think to ask about optional finishes that might let you squeeze it into a traditional home. While the exposed plywood edges suggest a rough surface, the cabinet is actually filled, sanded and finished to perfection in Europe. As beautiful and relaxing as it is to look at, listening to music through it is even more pleasurable. I took a seat next to Kevin Hayes who's VAC (Valve Amplification Company) Phi Beta integrated amplifier ($22K) with MM & MC phono stage was powering the system (at least that is what it looked like between the legs of all the people standing around). Kevin explained to me that a third party at the 2007 CES show suggested that he get a set of amplifiers over to the Magico room, located at another building. Through much effort, the transport was completed and the result was one of the most spectacular combinations at that show. I could now hear why. Had it not been for the buzz that the larger floorstanding Magico not only sounded better, but cost less at $22.8K, I might say that I could live happily ever after with this rig. The floor stander, however, lacks the visual interest of the Mini with its slight tilt backward and the fluid integration with its stand.

Not to be overlooked here is the commonalty of premium rigs I've heard over the years in New York shows powered by VAC electronics. The first rig I recall and most memorable was the Pipedreams driven by VAC monoblocks that produced music on a grand scale, even in a small room. The second one was the Von Schweikert VR4-jr driven by the Phi Beta integrated amplifier. And now, the Magico. Kevin is so soft-spoken, unpretentious and such a gentleman that he didn't even brief me on his electronics that were largely blocked from my view. It doesn't matter; the continuity of successful presentations speaks for itself. In each case the emotional connection with the music was unequivocal. Unfortunately, demand for his least expensive products has dwindled and they are now discontinued. Audiophiles seeking to get involved with tubes have migrated toward less expensive Chinese goods on the first go-around, and are willing to bite the bullet for his expensive models when they are ready to upgrade. Who am I to argue? Perhaps the new Alpha integrated model seen earlier will satisfy those who cannot manage the complete leap.

  

After being told that finishing of the Magico cabinets required that they be sent to Europe, I walked into the room across the hall to find what looked like the same loudspeaker cabinet technology in a much larger horn loaded design. The room, 1401, was not identified in the program, and the flyer put out by the distributor, Montague Luxuries in Wyckoff, NJ, was only moderately helpful. The name Lominchay seems to be the brand name and Mandarin Supreme seems to be the loudspeaker model. In natural finish, like the Magico, it goes for $80K, or $96K with an external digital crossover. In two-tone with black lacquer, it is $98K, or $114K with the digital crossover. Patrick Chu, the young man hosting the room was very enthusiastic about his presentation and he explained how the speaker was designed and manufactured with CAD/CAM technology. I marveled at the sculptural 19” horn with a 1” driver, and I was told there was a downward firing woofer in addition to the forward facing one visible here. Given the size, I was a bit surprised that it was only 92dB/W/m efficient, but it was being driven very nicely in this large room by original Marantz 9 monoblocks putting out 35 watts each. Still, I wondered how it might sound with a more modern amplifier. At the other end of the long room was a second system with Nagra tube monoblocks and two additional models both sporting cabinets of horizontally layered plywood like the Mandarin Supreme. One was a stand-mounted monitor of predictable shape and the other pair was a mid-tweeter monitor sitting on a bass module. This latter model had more sculptural lines and ceramic drivers indicating that it was probably pricy.

Jeff Joseph, know in the past for his trickery, amended his ways with a controlled low-buck presentation of his Joseph Audio RM7xl monitors ($2300/pr) powered by a bel canto amplifier ($2200) that was fed wav files from a laptop. He followed up with a finer rig with the RM33LE ($10.5 in cherry, as shown). The electronics, again, were bel canto e.One series featuring 1000 watt Class D amplifiers and Cardas Golden Cross wiring. The comparison aptly displayed the law of diminishing returns, which is to say that while the little rig sounded great for the price, the big rig sounded even better for a lot more money. This phenomenon is not unique to Joseph Audio, certainly. Still, in comparison with the flagship Pearl model, from which this loudspeaker soaks up trickle down technology, including the identical tweeter, it is a very good value. Unfortunately, I slipped into the room at the last moment and had to stand far to one side which precluded an accurate assessment of the larger loudspeaker. Even far off-axis, the music was focused, but the soundstage was skewed toward the nearest loudspeaker, of course. If the past predicts the future, it is probably very good if you can sit somewhere between the two, and it should also sound very good with high power tube amplification. I noted the interesting reverse-chevron design at the base of the 33LE upon which the spikes were placed.

There were a lot of interesting and very good rooms on the 14^th Floor. Down the hall from Joseph/bel canto was a very nicely appointed room with plants and drapery to address room reflections. Richard Vandersteen's Model 5A Signature loudspeakers were being driven by Audio Research tube components, a combination that frequently appears at shows. An upper end Clearaudio turntable was playing when I visited and the music was transparent, dynamic and inviting, as tubes and vinyl typically are. It is Vandersteen's phase correct designs with minimum baffles that help out in the transparency department. I talked with him in the hall and he shared that this Signature version of the 5 was wrapped in carbon fiber to add rigidity to the cabinet without adding much mass. It was difficult and expensive, and he    wasn't convinced the gain was worth the cost. Having watched his products evolve over the past fifteen or more years, he seems to be one of the most practical and consumer conscious designers in audioland, eschewing change for the sake of change. After the show I put him in touch with Peter Hornbeck who makes 12-pound canoes out of carbon fiber up in the Adirondacks. Maybe two fine minds will rub together and come up with something…like a loudspeaker you can paddle.  Also of interest here on silent display was a $2500 Clearaudio Performance turntable with a carbon fiber Satisfy arm and sandwich plinth of MDF between layers of synthetic marble. The table boasts a ceramic magnetic bearing and magnetic anti-skating. Choose black or white — a very clean design either way.

The Haniwa room garnered a lot of attention for its large, spherical horn loudspeakers. I took the photo from the side to give you an idea of the sculptural form involved in this intricate design, as well as how it might look in your own room. The lower ball is actually a curved sealed chamber like a sea shell that forms an infinite baffle with no parallel surfaces for the back wave of the bass driver. The story, however, goes much deeper. Dr. Tetsuo Kubo took a systems approach to the entire audio system, feeling that a collection of components from different manufacturers with different priorities compromises the overall reproduction of the music. The Haniwa system begins with their phono cartridge, mounted on a Marantz turntable in this instance, and maintains phase control with a special equalizer for the RIAA curve, converts the signal to 24-bit/192kHz and all signal processing thereafter is in the digital domain, maintaining minimal phase shift throughout. The loudspeaker was CAD/CAM designed as you might expect, paying special attention to varying the thickness of the horns to control inner vibrations. The HSP3W10 shown here was in the middle of the line with a 10” cone woofer, 3” compression driver and a pure magnesium ring tweeter at a price of $50K/pr. An optional beryllium driver brings up the price another $5K/pr. The digital control amplifier and digital channel divider were each $10K. And surprisingly, the system uses tube amplifiers with 30 watt push-pull amps for the low frequency drivers and 5 watt amps with a single EL34 tube for the mid/high drivers all at $3K each. The other loudspeakers in the system range from $30K to $60K and are available in white, blue or as seen here, in black. A microphone off to the side of the room had been used to record frequency response of test signals and the resulting in-room response curve I saw in the computer was amazingly flat.

 

TAD stands for Technical Audio Devices and this company has been using beryllium drivers of its own manufacture in the pro-audio market for thirty years, including the 165mm midrange driver used here in their Model 2. At more than 6”, it is the largest in existence, I'm told, being manufactured using a vapor deposition technique. The 3-way vented design incorporates a coincident midrange cone and dome high frequency driver, both made from beryllium. The curved walls of the cabinet have no parallel surfaces and the thickness varies to counter the backpressure from the drivers without generating additional resonances. There was a lot of buzz about the flagship Model 2 with several reviewers calling this room the Best-in-Show. The room certainly sounded very good to me, too, but I was quite overwhelmed by the visual appearance. The rig needed a much larger room, and I thought the staging with massive racks was way overdone. I couldn't tell where the amp-stand left off and the monoblock began, for example. And you will probably need hefty amplifiers for these loudspeakers. In spite of the nominal 8 Ohms and 90dB/W/m sensitivity, the impedance dips to a minimum of 3.2 Ohms. Fifty watts minimum is recommended. The dramatic spotlights on the set also raised the room temperature to unreasonable levels when the door was closed. On my final sweep I revisited the room and it sounded every bit as good as the first time. At that point, John Marks burst onto the scene with a couple of folks I had met earlier who had come to gather ideas for the new William Ralston Listening Library and Archive at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. John selected a cut from the Eric Whitacre CD of choral music that he recently lauded in Stereophile. Unfortunately, it was over 8 minutes long and with the door closed for the duration, the heat built up, snipping my award for the Hottest Room away from Totem Acoustics. Add to that a photographer who danced about the room taking photos, and you have a much less than ideal listening situation. The music was about as good as it gets, assuming you like choral music. I kept my Break of Reality CD in my briefcase, waved goodbye to John and headed for a cooler room. But before I take you there, let me mention that a Weiss transport was feeding the MSB Platinum Reference CD III player that was being used as a DAC only. The 200-watt MSB monoblocks ($15K each?) seemed to be doing an excellent job with the TAD loudspeakers and were aesthetically intriguing with their vertically ribbed cylindrical shape. The rig was transparent, dynamic, focused and emotionally moving, but we sure had to work hard to enjoy the music under those conditions. Next time, gentlemen, use LEDs, please.

  

It was cooler in the nearby Dynaudio room where their new Confidence CD1 stand mounted monitor was connected, as usual, to Simaudio Moon electronics with Cardas cabling. The music had the familiar Dynaudio sound, being tight, focused and transparent. Emotionally, it leaves me a little cold, but it certainly must appeal to a lot of people as this is one of the most successful companies in the industry. The C1, at $6500, seemed to produce as large a sound as its floorstanding brethren which should have an appeal for many with smaller rooms. The large Moon monoblocks certainly contributed the control and gusto necessary to accomplish this feat with sensitivity rated at 86dB/W/m and impedance at 4 Ohms for the C1. Close your eyes and you will almost think you are listening to the Confidence C4 ($18K). Open them and you have the epitome of Danish Modern styling.

  

The Laufer Teknik room (1416) was yet another room with Behold amplification ($45K) — used as monoblocks in this case, and the Nova Physics Memory Player ($10.5K). Music was played through the esteemed Ascendo M-S loudspeakers ($45K) that allow micro adjustment of the mid/hf ribbon driver in relation to the bass module to keep them in phase for your particular listening position. A couple of other goodies in this expensive rig included a Sunny The Box, a beautiful power conditioner wrapped in gorgeous maple burl veneer ($10K), and the Halcyonics Micro 40 Active Isolation Platform ($8.5K). All totaled, the room came to about $150K. I listened to a cut from Lafayette Gilchrist 3 that sounded very good here.

 

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