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

Report By Rick Becker
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DCM presented two pairs of loudspeakers driven by what looked to be a modest Jolida JD102B integrated amplifier with a Jolida JD100 CD player at the front end. I haven't heard much about this brand in recent years, but it was certainly one of the big names in the early wave of Chinese imports. The 801 tube integrated amplifier dressed in black with polished brass accents on silent display picks up those styling cues from Jadis, but brings it to you in a more contemporary looking and affordable package. The TFE 200 DCM loudspeaker at $1000 is the flagship of this entry-level line that easily lets you get your foot in the high-end door.

The Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy 8 won me over in a very big way in the extraordinary Coupdefoudre room at the Montreal show as I reported earlier. Here in New York in room 1421 I heard it in combination with BAT electronics, Shunyata Research cables and power filtration and yet another Stillpoints rack. The Watt/Puppy 8 again put on an excellent performance, but in this smaller room about 1/10^th the size and without the room treatments present in Montreal, it didn't match the Canadian experience.  None of what I just said should take away from the knowledgeable presentation of outstanding recordings by Jeffrey Poor and others from BAT. With the lights off, Frank Sinatra was right there. Rather, take this gear home, put it in a larger room, acoustically treat it to tone down resonances and reflections, and it will get even better. I thought this room was noticeably better than the Watt/Puppy 8 experience I had at the start of the show in the Lamm room where the loudspeakers were pushed back into the corners. The curtain in this photo concealed some storage area behind the loudspeakers that meant they were actually farther out into this small room than was apparent. Of course, the big problem with this room was that every seat was taken and all those bodies over-damped the room.

I had every intention of doing better justice to the Mark and Daniel loudspeakers than I did in Montreal, but once again, I fell short. I found the room empty so I slipped my CD into a Plinius CD 101 CD player that rocked as I touched it, indicating it was probably on Symposium Rollerblocks…a good sign! The signal went into a Plinius 9200 integrated amplifier (200wpc) that drove the Mark and Daniel Aragon Monitor with the Omni-Harmonizer Super Tweeter unit on top. The monitor itself is designed to function from 36Hz to 22 kHz with an 8” bass driver and a very high-tech ribbon tweeter. The Super Tweeter is a $900 option in white to match the composite white marble molded cabinet which has an additional inner lining of mdf to add warmth to the sound. Optional colors raise the price. The Aragons were stand mounted, which is to say they lacked the supplementary Bass Extender Foot-stand that further lowers bass response down to 28Hz. Nonetheless, in this quiet moment alone with them, it was easy to experience the quality that justifies the rave buzz about these white knights. They need lots of power, hence the Plinius amplifier, and I'd pay the extra bucks for black to make them visually disappear when listening in low light levels — unless you want to raise the “Look-at-me” factor with one of the spiffy optional colors. I have the price of $7500 scribbled on the literature, but I don't recall if that included the Bass Extender. And damn if I didn't forget to take a better photo! No matter — I'm sure you are going to read great things about them in the future.

At the end of the hallway in the Audio Doctor room I came across the large floorstanding Usher Be-10 3-way loudspeakers ($14.4K) that had impressed me at Montreal. Another Nova Physics Memory Player was present, feeding its signal to the DAC in the Audio Aero Prestige CD player. (The Memory Player will eventually be offered with its own DAC, but most of them require an outboard DAC at this point in time). The orange anodized NuForce Ref 9SE II power amplifier is reportedly 20 dB quieter than its predecessor, and matches the Ref. 9 two-box preamplifier in use here. Mike Latvis' HRS Harmonic Resonance Systems vibration control devices on top of everything (as well as under the Audio Aero CD player) were working their magic. Another possible and highly likely contributor was the Audience Adept Response power conditioner that had been seen in several other rooms as well. This $3800 unit recently received a rave review in Stereophile. A small black box on the floor in front of the Audience, and an even smaller gold-faced box to the right of the stand in the photo went un-noticed at the time.  Transparent and dynamic were the key words in this room, as I came away with yet another favorable impression of Usher loudspeakers.

 

The Booths

What would an audio show be without booths to spend the loose change in your pockets? Well, the number of vendors in this category seemed to be down somewhat, possibly due to requirements for vendors' license and collection of NYS sales tax. One entrepreneurial vendor set his table up directly in front of the elevators and snagged me over to his demonstration. It was one of the most convincing displays of smoke & mirrors that I've seen. He had a power strip hooked up to the house current and amplified the line noise with a little amplifier/speaker unit. He then proceeded to plug in his Noise Destroyer into the power strip. Silence, as if he had unplugged the power strip altogether. He had already sold out three boxes and only had a couple left for the demonstration. David Chesky, wearing very colorful spectacles, wooed a sample away from him and reported back to the distributor on Monday that it really worked in his system back home.  Hopefully the promise of a review sample will come true and I will be able to perform more rigorous trials on both audio and video rigs. This product may well be fanfare for the common man.

The Earmax tube headphone amplifier is an item I've mentioned in previous years, and here it was shown in gold and piano black Anniversary trim. It sounded great when the connection was good, but it had obviously suffered some rough handling at the show — probably from people trying to walk off with it. I can't say I'd blame them for trying.

Other toys I checked out included Ohno continuous cast power cables ($400) from Twisted Pair Designs where I met the owner, Arthur Almstead and his booth mate who was displaying wares from Cable Research Lab. Rather than a business card, I received a computer disc with the whole CRL story of this rather expensive line which deals factory direct with a 30 day guarantee.

 

So Many Products, So Little Time
I returned to the Press Room to thank Lucette Nicole for the excellent and smooth running operation she administered, but the room was in tear-down mode and Lucette was off organizing the Grand Evacuation, no doubt. I took my cue and packed up my cache of cameras and brochures in the lobby before heading for the Lincoln Tunnel and the frontier beyond. As I hiked across Manhattan to retrieve my Tracker, I lamented not seeing my friend Bill Parish. I don't normally mention products and vendors who are not present, but I learned afterward that Bill had hit one of those large potholes in life and had to pull out of the show at the last minute. I can assure you he will be back with his Kharmas and other fine lines, and I for one will be glad to see him again.

A lot of reviewers and attendees place high priority on identifying the top room at shows. I typically prefer to select a bunch of Best Rooms in order to cut the presenters some slack for luck of the draw in room variations and the quality of the music that I might have heard during my brief visit. I certainly didn't listen to a favorite piece of music in every room — rather it was only a small fraction where I pulled out a disc. I'm also aware that my personal bias toward tube gear and analog playback makes the playing field somewhat tilted as well. So here, in the approximate order I visited them, are my selections. Rest assured that many others were very close behind. And keep in mind that I missed a few rooms, too.

Merlin Music Systems, Ars Sonum, 1604
Zu Cable and Loudspeakers, 1607
KEF, Chord Electronics, 1414
The Soundsmith Corporation, 1542
Aurum Acoustics, 1515
MBL of America, Uris Room
Aperion Audio, Wintergarden room, (for exceptional value)
Cabasse, Bel Canto Design, 1409
Magico, VAC (Valve Amplification Co.), 1408
TAD Home Audio (Pioneer), MSB, 1413
BAT (Balanced Audio Tech.), Wilson Audio, Shunyata Research, 1421

Keeping in mind that very few of us walk into a store and buy a complete rig all at once, I'd like to offer a list of interesting new products that sufficiently impressed me to recommend further investigation. The rooms where I found them might not have been among the Best Rooms, and their target audience might be anywhere along the continuum of wealth of people who enjoy listening to music. Again, in the approximate order discovered with their approximate price, I'd like to suggest the following Components for Further Investigation.

Ars Sonum Filarmonia tube integrated amplifier, $4000
Gershman Acoustics Sonogram loudspeakers, $2700/pr
Mozart Violin Concertos, Thorsen w/Trondheim Solistene 
[DXD (Digital eXtreme Definition) CD & SACD, 2L38]
Audioengine A2 loudspeakers, $200/pr
ModWright 36.5 Line Stage, $6000
Hyperion A45 tube monoblocks, $4500/pr
Proclaim loudspeakers, $26,000/pr
Zu Druid Mk IV loudspeakers, $3400/pr
VAC Alpha tube integrated amplifier w/phono, $10,000
Scaena loudspeaker, (Expensive)
Nova Physics Memory Player, $10,400
Omaha Audio OD-300B stereo tube amplifier, $1400
Soundsmith Straingauge cartridge and phono stage (Expensive)
VAS Stereo Control Center (Expensive)
SUBstage 200 Flatmatic Stealth Subwoofer, $400
EAT Cool Valve tubes, $35 each
Usher BE-718 monitor loudspeakers, about $2500
Clearaudio Performance turntable, $2500
Mark and Daniel loudspeakers, from $1800
Noise Destroyer, $250

As I finish writing, it is three weeks to the day from the close of the show. During that time I drove to Baltimore twice to bring my mother-in-law to town so she could see her newest great granddaughter who was visiting from Chicago. We had four generations under one roof for a few days, and three generations for more than a week. I'm starting to get the hang of this multi-tasking skill, converting our home office into a bedroom long after midnight. I hope the wait has been worth it, and that you have found a few bits of information that will move your life and your musical pleasure forward. Now, I think I'll drift into the listening room for an hour with Hearts of Space.

Safe journey, People of Music, wherever you are.

 

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