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

Charney Audio (Continued)
Like Treehaus, Charney is adept at building tube amps. On the top shelf was their preamp with a separate power supply and chromed, engraved faceplates.

This was the Special Edition of the preamp with wood circuit boards, though point-to-point wiring was employed.

The tube amp on the shelf below featured Western Electric 300B tubes delivering 8 Wpc, which was practically a muscle amp, given the very high sensitivity. The Lumaca speaker might sound even better with a three Watt 2A3 amp.

I had a nice chat in the room with Koby Koranteng (left) and Jason Wong, previously pictured above. Outside, I met Brian Charney, who pulled this incredible system together. Given the complexity and attention to detail of this rig, I expect his Harley is quite the machine, too.

While the room here sounded good, I expect it is capable of much better sound in a larger room. Given the boutique nature of this company, smaller rooms are to be expected at shows. It was a treat that we were able to hear it at all. These guys are all young enough that they should be around for years to come. I hope so!

Volti Audio
Greg Volti was able to create an excellent presentation of his flagship Vittoria horn speakers (if you could sit in the sweet spot or at least between the speakers.) I was surprised how comfortable these speakers seemed, both acoustically and physically in this small room, though with their 105dB/W/m sensitivity, they could obviously play loud in a much larger room if necessary. Their key is to sound good in a wide range of room sizes and acoustic volumes. It seems they might, as they were very enjoyable in this small room at low to moderate volume.

FOr smaller rooms, be sure to read Enjoy the Music.com's world premiere review of the Volti Audio Lucera hybrid horn / bass-reflex loudspeaker. Don't miss reading our Volti Audio Razz LE Loudspeaker review too.

The styling of this three-way fully horn-loaded speaker strikes me as a modern interpretation of vintage horn loudspeakers from the 1950s and 1960s. It suggests the Klipsch corner-horns, yet it need not be in a corner. With its fine African Padauk lacquered finish, graceful curves, and crisp edges, it fits right in with mid-century modern décor, and would not be out of place in a more modern or more traditional setting. That's a delicate balancing act to achieve.

I'm not sure what this doobie is... possibly a sensor for a remote control?

Greg (on right) was busy with a customer, and I rarely interrupt, so I didn't get a chance to say hello.

Phew, That's A Lot Of CAF 2025 Coverage...
...With much more coming soon!
That's a wrap on the 6th Floor and for Part 1. I'll catch a zip-line down to the 3rd Floor (which is the ground level at the hotel) and cover the final hallway of sleeping rooms before moving on to the large rooms and the Atrium in Part 2.

Part 2 will complete my report—hopefully by mid-December. There's more coverage from other Enjoy the Music.com reviewers coming soon as well, so be sure to see those.

In the meantime, kick back, and let your curiosity lead you down any rabbit holes you discovered within my Capital Audiofest 2025 audiophile event coverage. As always, in the end what really matters is that you...

Enjoy the music!

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