Home  Hi-Fi Audio Reviews  |  Audiophile Shows  |  Partner Mags  Music News       

  High-End High-Performance Audiophile Review Magazine & Hi-Fi Audio Equipment Reviews

  High-Performance Audio Reviews
  Music News, Show Reports, And More!

  Celebrating 29 Years Of Service To Music Lovers

 

 

 

Capital Audiofest (CAF) 2016 Show Report
Capital Audiofest (CAF) 2016 Show Report
Fern & Roby Plus Luminous Audio Technology
Report By Kemper Holt

 

  Chris Hildebrand's method of relieving stress from his industrial design and manufacturing firm, Tektonics, was to start making furniture. He named the offshoot Fern & Roby after his two grandmothers, and audio equipment followed tables and desks. Chris, and his wife Sara, work with sustainable materials, seen in the Beam speaker ($6500 per pair) made from reclaimed, including nail holes, structural beams, and the cast iron plinth of the Tredegar turntable ($8500) consists of mostly recycled material.

 

 

Their new turntable, the Montrose ($4950) continues in that direction having the plinth and platter made from Richlite, a paper and resin material made from mostly recycled cardboard and paper. Included with the buy in is a Fern & Roby Unipivot tonearm, three years in development, and a Denon DL103R cartridge, nice package.

 

 

New as well is the "Maverick" Phono Preamplifier ($925) that includes different daughter boards for matching the output of MM and MC cartridges, and jumpers for loading.

 

 

The last new introduction are the Rockett DiPole subwoofers ($6500 per pair), which is an open baffle design from the fertile mind of Ralph Hellmer using two drivers firing in opposition to each other increasing efficiency and eliminating any box resonances. Ralph used this technique in his Fifth Row speaker which used three pairs of opposed woofers per channel resulting in superb low bass, quick enough to mate with the wide band full range driver. The pair of Rocketts added a solid foundation to the Beams with good impact and no overhang on a plucked upright bass.

 

 

The system I heard on Friday had the Montrose turntable package, Maverick phono stage, F & R Integrated amp used as a line stage, a Sumo "The Nine" amp, Beams and a pair of Rockett subs. I had just come from a mega buck room where The Who's Who's Next was played, the imaging was out of whack. I saw the same album here and had them spin it up. Now I got Roger focused front and center, Pete windmilling, John's rhythmic bass lines, and Keith bashing the skins with more precision than usual. I sat and listened to most of side two, forgetting about the show and immersing myself in the music and memories of 1971, good times. A telltale sign you're having a good time is catching yourself singing along with the music, guilty, "Don't get fooled again, no, no".

 

 

I also listened to some "Tango" acoustic guitar on a second front end source, the Tredegar TT, Schroeder Reference SQ arm ($7500), F & R Magnolia cartridge ($4850) in a partnership with Soundsmith's Peter Lederman, and Luminous Audio Technology's superb Arion phono stage ($6800). The nylon strings were rendered with oodles of detail, as I could hear finger movement on them and my toe was a tapping.

 

 

---> Back to CAF 2016 show report homepage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     
 

Quick Links


Premium Audio Review Magazine
High-End Audiophile Equipment Reviews

 

Equipment Review Archives
Turntables, Cartridges, Etc
Digital Source
Do It Yourself (DIY)
Preamplifiers
Amplifiers
Cables, Wires, Etc
Loudspeakers/ Monitors
Headphones, IEMs, Tweaks, Etc
Superior Audio Gear Reviews

 

 


Show Reports
HIGH END Munich 2024
AXPONA 2024 Show Report
Montreal Audiofest 2024 Report

Southwest Audio Fest 2024
Florida Intl. Audio Expo 2024
Capital Audiofest 2023 Report
Toronto Audiofest 2023 Report
UK Audio Show 2023 Report
Pacific Audio Fest 2023 Report
T.H.E. Show 2023 Report
Australian Hi-Fi Show 2023 Report
...More Show Reports

 

Videos
Our Featured Videos

 


Industry & Music News

High-Performance Audio & Music News

 

Partner Print Magazines
audioXpress
Australian Hi-Fi Magazine
hi-fi+ Magazine
Sound Practices
VALVE Magazine

 

For The Press & Industry
About Us
Press Releases
Official Site Graphics

 

 

 

     

Home   |   Hi-Fi Audio Reviews   |   News   |   Press Releases   |   About Us   |   Contact Us

 

All contents copyright©  1995 - 2024  Enjoy the Music.com®
May not be copied or reproduced without permission.  All rights reserved.