Inside CAF 2025 Luxury Hi-Fi Show Part 1 — Capital Audiofest's Top Floors With 84 Rooms
New trends you need to know about, the latest audio gear, and not to be missed rooms!
Capital Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

ModWright Instruments
Dan Wright upped his game with the new KWA 300 Reference solid state stereo amp, seen front and center. We're talking high power (300W @ 8 Ohms / 550W @ 4 Ohms), and high current, not to overlook the very handsome design and build quality.

Everything on the rack, except for the top shelves, is ModWright. Note the LS 300 Balanced Line Stage with tubes protruding from the top, below the Clarus power conditioner on the right side.

I love the Pure Fidelity turntable from John Stratton in Vancouver, BC, in the blue finish, fitted with one of the Savant arms. And it was actually playing, unlike so many turntables at the show.

The new Clarus Concerto Mk II power conditioner had nothing to hide with its clear top and top-shelf location.

I love the Alta Adam speaker in gloss black, rather than the bowed veneer wood finish. Trees just don't grow curved like that…at least not most of them. This was the best I've ever heard from this speaker over the years.

YG Acoustics And Burmester
Here was yet another very fine-sounding YG speaker, the Summit from their more affordable Peaks series, driven by the all-in-one Burmester 232 modular integrated amp. This simple (but not inexpensive) rig was the first of many at the show, demonstrating a trend toward minimalism. Whether you're downsizing from a more elaborate setup or stepping up to the high end world of loudspeakers from headphones, this seems to be an enticing pathway that is available at a wide range of price points.

I'm a bit confused as the amp looks black in my room photo, but the close-up looks to be painted in a deep, rich red. Some of the rooms at the show had pretty funky lighting, but I see on the price list below that they offer bespoke, optional custom painting. Perhaps it was the power of suggestion that caused me to tweak the photo into this $3k extra cost paint job. The deep red is certainly seductive, though the Burmester brand seems to come and go in the U.S. Maybe this new U.S. distributor will have some staying power and able to carry out warranty repairs too?

La Dolce Audio
ABX Audiophiles is a YouTuber reviewer who apparently donates all his proceeds to youth organizations in the hopes of fostering new talent. The website claims they are getting close to $16k now. I sure hope he has a day job.

The room seems to be comprised of gear ABX has reviewed.

The speaker certainly had its own design language, reminiscent of vintage Voice of the Theater speakers.

Open baffle woofers and an external crossover.

La Dolce Audio out of California is a boutique manufacturer with a pair of low-power amps and a passive "headphone adapter that transforms any amplifier into a high-performance headphone amp." That's an OPPO disc player on the floor on the right.

---> Next Page.