Two retail titans sponsored side-by-side rooms at the show this year. In
the Holland Suite, sponsored by Sound by Singer, I was treated
to the Focal.JMlab Alto loudspeaker ($18.5K) driven by Pathos InPower
monoblocks ($$13K). The front end was the Clearaudio Master Solution
turntable ($5K) with a Benz Ebony cartridge feeding an Aesthetics
Rhea phono stage and the Pathos two-box preamplifier ($6.5K). (A Pathos
IntheGroove phono stage ($2K) was on silent display). This was a very musical
and easy to listen to rig. And of course, following the Montreal show, the
sound of the Focal.JMlab line was very familiar. I also noticed the HRS
rack upon which rested the Clearaudio turntable as well as the phono stage and
preamplifier and again, the HRS Analog Disk record clamp. A couple of guys who
looked like they were regular listeners of Mountain Stage on NPR and really
knew their music well, treated us all to some good bluegrass music from an LP
they brought along. I seemed to be starting off the second day with another of
the Best Rooms. Focal.JMlab's statement Grande Utopia Be is reviewed here
and their Mezzo Utopia here.
The Audio Connection room next door in the Harlem Suite just
edged out the previous room with a little more definition in the soundstage.
Now don't get me wrong; they were both excellent, but the Vandersteen 5A
loudspeakers ($15.5K) seemed to present a little more air and definition than
the JM Labs Altos. The difference could have been in the phono cartridge, for
that matter, or something in between. Richard Vandersteen, like Bobby Palkovic
mentioned earlier, is another who has consistently refined his few models over
the years rather than jumping to completely redesigned models. The results
here, like last year, culminate in another Best Room. The rest of the
team here included a Clearaudio Master Reference turntable [I was told,
but it was listed as a Maximum Solution ($12K)], this time on its matching
stand, the new Graham tonearm ($3900), and a cartridge that none of the
hosts or other audiophiles in the room could identify. (As we refine our
hearing, one of the side effects seems to be that audiophiles slowly become as
blind as bats — or at least very nearsighted). I see that a Clearaudio
Goldfinger ($8K) was listed on the room sheet — no wonder no one recognized
it! The Clearaudio also sported a record clamping ring ($900) around the
perimeter of the LP, as in the previous room. The preamplifier was the Aesthetics
Calisto Signature ($11K) with the Io Signature phono stage ($9K). The
Vandesteens were driven by the Pathos InPower monoblocks at $13K.
Again, an HRS rack ($6-9K) was used for the preamplifier and possibly
the amplifier stands were also from HRS. Other visitors to this room may have
heard CDs played on a Wadia 861 CD player. And like several of the big
rigs, this one used Kubala-Sosna cables. And say… were those
same flowers they used between the loudspeakers last year? Silk!
Moving next door to the Mid-Town Suite I found Jeff Joseph and Eve
Anna Manley very successfully teamed up once again. Jeff was showing his new Joseph
Audio RM 55LV for $12.5K, which is a single cabinet loudspeaker featuring
the midrange and tweeter from his $20K Pearl with only a single bass driver. Manley
Neo 250 monoblocks drove the loudspeakers. But ever the showman, this
year Jeff downplayed the M&Ms and wowed us with three channel recording
technology dug out of a vault somewhere. For this they used a McCormack
multi-format disc player and a center channel two-box loudspeaker combination
that looked like the top of a Pearl sitting on a horizontally positioned
cabinet with just two bass drivers. To handle the signal, a Manley Skipjack
and a hastily concocted Manley Ghidorah were used. Now, don't everybody dive
for your Costeau dictionaries at once. The results had such a solid center
channel that the presentation begged the question: Are we headed back to mono
again? As for Manley Labs reviews, we have many including their Neo-Classic 300Bamplifier, Neo-Classic 250
monoblocks, Shrimp
preamplifier, Snapper
power amplifier, Steelhead
MM/MC phonostage, Stingray
integrated amplifier, and Mahi
monoblocks.
Totally delightful was the superb monaural recording of Stan Freberg's
spoof of Harry Belafonte's famous calypso rendition of Day O. This is
another of the perennial Best Rooms at the show.
Eve Anna is shown here with the Skipjack (a $900 comparator with a remote
switch on the end of a long cord that will allow you to compare different
components or cables) and the new Manley Prawn, a preamplifier with balanced
and unbalanced inputs, a home theater processor bypass, mute, dimmer (fader)
and sleep (stand-by) mode. Remote control is by RF so you don't have to point
it at the preamplifier. A little three inch tall antenna picks up the signal.
There was also a button labeled "insert" which challenged my imagination.
Release of this unit has been delayed, perhaps in the pursuit of perfection or
the inclusion of more features, but it should come in at about $6K.
Moving next door to the Hudson Suite, making it four great rooms in
a row, was a replay of last year's combination of Simaudio electronics,
Analysis Plus cables and the Devore Fidelity Silverback
loudspeaker ($14K) that has gained outstanding press coverage over the past
year. There is nothing visually unique about these loudspeakers, but when you
close your eyes, the music is all there, very precise, neutral and easy to
listen to. Developed in Brooklyn, NY, where space is at a premium, the
Silverbacks have a relatively small footprint, which may be helpful to many.
The Simaudio components looked very attractive in a handsome Pagode
rack from Germany, which looked deceptively simple. Closer inspection revealed
a high degree of technology and more complexity. The Pagode racks range from
about $3K to over $10K, depending on the number of shelves. Add this to the
growing list of Best Rooms.
Next door in the New York Suite filled with mostly silent displays,
I compared the Sennheiser HD 595 headphones ($289) with the HD 650
($550). If I never heard the difference, I could live happily ever after with
either model, but the HD 650 is definitely superior with a larger sense of
space that goes way beyond the boundary of my skull. The folks at Kimber
Kable showed me their GQ-Mini mini to RCA cables that are available in all
copper at $75, copper and silver, and all silver for $360, for feeding your
computer or iPod MP3 signals to your high-end audio rig. Also, the Kimber
Select series of interconnects now come standard with the WBT NextGen rca
connectors.
Next door, in the Lincoln Suite, Isomike had set up a very high
quality surround sound playback rig to demonstrate recordings made with their
product. Isomike is a high-tech sound absorption panel that is
manufactured from a variety of materials, including a layer of stuff that is
carved out to look like a giant waffle. These large (say 8 foot) panels are
then hung between microphones suspended (or flown) above an audience or in a
recording venue, effectively isolating the left, right, front and rear
channels from each other. The recordings I heard using this technique
recreated the ambience of being there without the gimmickry of being in
the middle of the orchestra or theater stage. As a lover of live performance
recordings, I found this extremely fascinating. The contribution of the rear
channels was relatively low in volume, but high in subtly placing me in the
space of the recording. As I sat listening to the music in surround, I thought
back to the introduction of stereo and reminisced on the gestalt experience of
finally getting it. Looking back I realized that I had to push past
that gestalt and ignore the effect before I could enjoy the music
presented in stereo. The record industry helped us along by slowly fading out
monaural records, but all my early Dylan LPs are mono. I was a late adapter,
in spite of the fact that that technological transition was relatively swift.
Not only was there no format war with the introduction of stereo, but stereo
LPs were backward compatible with my cheap monaural equipment. Back at home,
after the show, I played a CD given to me that was recorded with the Isomike,
and the recording quality was superb. A second CD has a series of comparative
tests that I will explore after I finish this show report. For now, I can say
that any recording engineer working in either stereo or surround would be wise
to investigate Isomike baffles. The 4-channel source in this room was a Genex
GX9000 DSD recorder and for 2-channel, a Tascam DV-RA1000 High
Definition digital disc recorder was used. Huge Pass Labs X350.5 stereo
amplifiers were used for each channel — one for high frequencies, and one
channel for low frequencies — of the TAD Model One loudspeakers. An emm
Labs DAC and Switchman handled the line level signals.
In the next corner of the long hall a home theater presentation was taking
place and we were invited to sit in the special recliners with built-in
speakers and vibration technology developed by BodySound Technologies.
These recliners (about $2750) seemed to be more successful than most
variations I've tried, but for the most part, I think the motion is over-done
and distracts from the visual experience. I still prefer the subtle effect I
experienced some years ago at Montreal where a tubular Bazooka car subwoofer
was simply placed up against the back rail of a sofa, allowing slight
transmission of vibration at moments of high impact in the music or movie.
Sometimes, less is more. But if you need more, a new electric reclining
version will be out in October.
At the Polk room I was told of a new long narrow loudspeaker with
built in surround decoding and built-in amplification that reproduces the
surround sound experience from the single unit, which mounts directly below a
wall, then mounted flat screen TV. This would be similar to the concept I saw
demonstrated by Mirage in Montreal. Could this be a new movement in
development? The Polk version should be ready before Christmas.
Third Floor Bull Pen
The Bull Pen, as I call it, is a hall filled with small booths, mostly with
silent displays and often selling goods right over the counter. This is the
place to purchase CDs, LPs, cables and whatnots. There were several of
companies marketing audio racks, which I reported on last year. But by and
large, the Bull Pen was not as full of vendors this year, but there were some
very interesting ones, nonetheless. I met Rory Rall from Benchmark Media
Systems in nearby Syracuse, NY. Their DAC-1fell into the hands of Dick
Olsher here at Enjoy The Music.com™, although I lobbied heavily for the
opportunity. Truth be known, it fell into the right hands. Even in the noisy
hall I was extremely impressed with what I heard through the headphone output
of the DAC-1 being fed by a cheap DVD player — and this was familiar music
from my compilation CD. At less than $1K, this is a bargain, as Stereophile
proclaims, giving it a Class A rating with $$$. I'm hoping to get my hands on
one to compare with some other tweaks I will be performing on my elderly Muse
DAC in an effort to bring it up to date.
Last year I noted the high quality (for what it is) of the ZVOX and
it has since garnered numerous accolades from a wide variety of publications.
This year they have expanded their line considerably with the addition of a
silver version and an entirely new entity called the Porta-Party. This new
version is about 2/3rds the size of the original with a curved front, with a
volume control. It comes with an array of supporting paraphernalia including a
battery charger, cables and a canvas bag with external pockets for an iPod,
Mini-iPod and portable LCD TV. A shoulder strap enables easy transportation
from the car to the beach where you can party for 4 to 6 hours, depending on
playback volume.
In the summer of 2003, after visiting my friend John Barnes at Audio
Unlimited in Denver, Linda and I steered toward Salina Kansas with hopes of
meeting with Chad Kassem of Acoustic Sounds and chronicler of old blues
musicians. Landing at his Blues Heaven Studio in the old church district of
Salina on a Sunday, we failed to connect with Chad, and proceeded to Plan B,
dinner at The Mill restaurant in Iowa City, where itinerant musicians often
perform, and Plan C, a visit to the Harley Davidson factory the next day in
Milwaukee, just weeks before their 100th Anniversary Birthday Bash.
Well, I finally met Chad at his Acoustic Sounds booth where customers were
flipping through tables full of the audiophile records for which he is famous.
We had an interesting conversation and I really liked his unassuming demeanor.
Twenty paces after leaving his booth, I doubled back to tell him that I would
be sure to mention his annual Blues Festival Weekend on October 15th
and 16th. While not the same draw as Woodstock, this is the
place to be if you love the blues. Expect me when you see me, Chad.
Just hand me a camcorder!
Second Floor — A Little Of Everything
At one end of the Second Floor, XM Satellite Radio sponsored a Digital
Music Lounge and a Live Music Stage. I spend only a passing few minutes there,
being pressed for time. While many journalists have the luxury of four days at
the show, I was limited this year to just Saturday and Sunday, with miles to
go before I sleep.
At the other end of the Second Floor there was a row of small rooms
configured with removable walls. The room of primary interest to me was the Belkin
room, which featured three items of interest. First, there was a
transmitter/receiver rig for sending audio and video signals up to 350 feet to
a second system. This could be the next best thing for listening to music
while you change the oil in your car. Their demonstration only spanned about
20' wirelessly, but looked and sounded pretty good.
The second item was really big news for video. Their
RazorVision video interconnects with an in-line box about the size of my hand,
come in a wide variety and combination of terminations including Component,
HDMI, DVI and Standard Definition. Through the magic of split screen, they
were able to demonstrate its effect on high definition video projection in
only a moderately darkened end of the room. And you can do this at home, too.
One button on the box controls the built-in split screen selection, and
another button controls the Low/Medium/High level of visual enhancement.
Forget any comparison to the effect of high end audio cables. The improvement
wrought by this device on the three-dimensionality of the image and the color
saturation was an order of magnitude. At $249, this is a Must Have item
for anyone who watches significant amounts of video.
The third item of interest was a rack full of beefy looking power
conditioners, all with thick audiophile faceplates, at prices far below the
more esoteric brands. Whether they measure up remains to be heard.
In the Gramercy B room Jeffrey Poor from Balanced Audio
Technology orchestrated a spectacular demonstration of the JM Labs
Nova Utopia BE loudspeaker driven by BAT electronics, connected with Shunyata
Research cables. The rig, configured on an HRS component rack was
topped off with an Avid Acutus turntable ($12K plus arm &
cartridge). Below it were a BAT D5 SE CD player ($6K), VK 51 SE preamplifier
($8500) and a VK P10 phono stage ($4500). Four VK 600 SE tube monoblocks ($8K
each) were on individual stands on the floor bi-amplifying the Novas ($37.5K).
Jeffrey treated the audience to five songs with a very knowledgeable
introduction to each one. First, we heard an original out-take of a Buddy
Holly song burned to CD from the master tape. Second, a live version of an
Allison Krauss song. Third, a George Faber cut from the "Faber Blues" album
that Jeffrey produced. It was a real treat to hear some music with the Hammond
B3 organ in the mix again. Fourth, from the "Casino Royale" LP, Dusty
Springfield singing The Look of Love. And finally, my favorite, a Buddy
Holly song, Fade Away, recorded live by the Rolling Stones from their
LP (and CD) "Stripped". This system was easily one of the Best Rooms at
the show, and Jeffrey's presentation was punctuated with modest applause at
the end. Balanced Audio Technology VK-D5SE CD player is reviewed here.
But for all the splendor and grandeur of the big rig, there was also great
fanfare for the more common man. Set up to the side, and activated between the
formal presentations, was another great sounding rig comprised of the very
handsome JM Labs 927 Be loudspeakers ($6K) from their Electra series driven by
the BAT VK-55 stereo amplifier ($4K) that was on silent display last year.
They were also using the BAT VK-31 preamplifier ($4K) and again, the D5 SE CD
player ($6K). In a smaller room, this would have been an outstanding rig in
its own right.
In a room that seemed to be sponsored by AIX Records, a music video
presentation with surround sound was taking place. Banners proclaimed MLP
Lossless (recording technology), Piega (the loudspeakers from
Switzerland), and Audience (power line conditioners). The video of the
live recording in 96/24/5.1 surround of My Boy Lollipop, Ernest Ranglin
with Alana Davis singing was particularly engaging for me, having been around
when the song first came out in the early days of Rock. Another selection was
a conceptual piece where a group of outstanding musicians were instructed to
take a piece of classical music, stretch it out to an ungodly length and
improvise as they went. We're talking serious Hearts of Space music here in
5.1 surround. I had to tear myself out of the seat to make it to the next
scheduled presentation in the Sound by Singer room in Murray Hill A.
I was hoping to meet up with Chris Sommovigo of Stereovox and
importer of the Peak-Consult loudspeakers in the Sound by Singer room
where the Peak-Consult Empress was being driven by a VTL vertical
amplifier, VTL preamplifier and the new dCS all-in-one CD player
($13K). I suspect the large room, divided into two sections was to blame for
this presentation not being as good as the presentation with the Empress up in
1041. The equipment was certainly all first-rate. We were herded to the back
part of the room where the larger Peak-Consults with dual woofers were driven
by VTL monoblocks and preamplifier, but here, the dCS digital separates were
employed. Here again, while the sound was certainly very good, I think the
room probably kept it from being truly great. VTL TL 5.5 preamplifier is
reviewed here
while their statement TL-7.5 Reference preamplifier is reviewed here.
Since everybody else will probably show you the new dCS CD player with full
light, here's my photo of what it looks like under typical listening room
conditions.
Moving on to Nassau A, I encountered the incredible Kaleidescape
digital server which will store about 600 movies in its 4.4 terabyte capacity.
And of course these can be clustered. One of their clients in LA has seven
servers with 3500 movies at his (or her?) fingertips. When the server becomes
available in late September with the ability to store music, one server will
hold 6000 to 7000 CDs, or more than enough room for my entire LP collection,
should I live long enough to load it. CDs and DVDs, fortunately, load much
faster than real time. The title display screen was equally amazing with the
ability to sort by title, genre, actor, and cover art, pulling up visual
references to similar movies to the one you have selected.
In Nassau B I was treated to Luminance amplifiers boasting
the world's fastest amplifier with 350 volts/mu rise time and 200 watts per
channel, driving Avatar Acoustics Ascendo System M-S loudspeakers with
a ribbon tweeter in a separate, shallow box. This particular version of this
model had a huge polished stainless steel structure that looked beefy enough
to hoist the motor out of your car. Its function was to suspend the tweeter
module in perfect time alignment above the mid-woofer unit. The large
mid-woofer box contained a sealed enclosure for the 8" midrange driver and a
front-ported chamber for an internally mounted 11" driver. The System M-S
(with stand) is $36K, and the System M (without stand) is $31K. Either model
can be single, bi, or tri-wired. This rig easily filled the large room with
sweet, holographic music that ranks among the Best Rooms at the show.
Had the doors been closed, the noise floor would have been substantially
lowered. The Luminance monoblocks are designed by Steve Kaiser who is the "K"
in the original B&K company that still builds amplifiers in Buffalo, New
York. The Luminance monoblocks were prototypes that will sell for $8K. A
stereo version is in production, presumably at half the power, for $4K. My
notes leave some uncertainty about the connection between Luminance and
Virtual Dynamics, which a brief search of the web did not clarify. In any
case, judging from the music in this room, it could be a very good amplifier.
Sliding into the Gibson Suite I indulged myself in a $56K home
theater presentation with Anthem electronics and Paradigm
Signature series loudspeakers. The Sharp XV-Z12000U video projector
($11K) and Stewart Firehawk screen ($2K) provided excellent visuals to
complement the excellent audio. Unfortunately, there is just too much
collateral damage in films for my taste these days. Couldn't they have shown
us something from the Discovery Channel? Or how about some high def scenes
from the Tour de France shot from a helmet cam?
Outlaw Audio showed a working model of their Model 1070 Surround
Receiver that will be available by mid-summer. It features seven channels of
65 watts, DVI video switching and all kinds of Dolby and DTS decoding for less
than $1000.
Damoka showed again this year presenting old audio equipment that
they scavenge from across the country. In speaking with a representative I
learned that they do not do restoration work on these pieces,
but merely seek out equipment that is still in exceptional condition. After
the show, a customer came into my store and told me that he had just sold his
23 year-old Klipschorns on eBay for more than he originally paid. And the
buyer drove up from New York City to pick them up! Hmm.
Bösendorfer showed with Art Audio in the Bryant Suite
where I heard piano music superbly reproduced and was able to compare it with
a live performance on a Bösendorfer piano. The pianist was one of the
students of the host who was pulled in from the hallway to perform
spontaneously. This particular piano is one of six limited editions created in
celebration of Bösendorfer's 175th anniversary. It is a replica of
"The Emperor of Japan" model commissioned in 1869 by Austria's Kaiser Franz
Joseph as a gift to Japan. The loudspeakers have an uncanny ability to
reproduce the sound of a piano, but female vocal seemed a bit blurred by the
outside sounding boards on the loudspeaker. I heard the VC 7 model in high
polish Burl Birch veneer finish ($25K) but the loudspeaker is also available
in Piano finish ($22K) and Satin black (($17K). The VC 7 is fairly efficient
at 91dB, but presents a 4-ohm load to the amplifier, which was no problem for
the Art Audio monoblocks. I had an interesting conversation with Joe Fratus of
Art Audio and David Gill of Gill Audio, two companies that work very closely
with each other. Joe spoke passionately of how his transformers are hand wound
by old craftsmen specifically for each type of tube used. Two of the
Adagio T-100 monoblocks (60 watts each) were used. This amp uses the T-100
tube from KR, which is similar to the 845. The amp is single ended with zero
feedback. What looks to be chrome plating is actually hand polished surgical
stainless steel, which should never tarnish. The glass chimney for the tubes
is specially designed with Pyrex mixed in and is not hot on the top edge. The
Gill DAC ($6K) is an all-tube design, and the Art Audio tube line stage
($4500). This was a beautiful ensemble of equipment. And a wonderful note on
which to end the show. Naturally you want to see reviews and we have Art
Audio's Gill Signature
amplifier and their top range Vinyl Reference MM/MC
phonostage.
So,
what do I end up with, Steven... fifteen or so Best Rooms? A lot of
people could be very happy with any one of them. But that doesn't matter, as
there was something in practically every room that I could admire or covet. I
don't have insider knowledge of how the dollars are flowing in high end audio,
but judging from what I saw and heard in New York, analog is alive and well,
and there is plenty of exciting high quality product available. So as you can
see there are many ways to enjoy the music. And after back-to-back shows in
Montreal and New York, I think I'm going to kick back and listen to a case of
LPs.
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High-Performance Audio Reviews
