John Marks of Stereophile was
diggin' the vibes in the Joseph Audio / Manley Labs room.
The Totem Acoustics room always appears to enjoy a wonderfully decorative feel. Audiophiles naturally enjoy music, and yes, the Totem room always seem to deliver the goods. Seen here is their Mani-2 Signature ($4,595) that
reproduces music down to below 30Hz with a pair of 6.5-inch drivers. One of them is mounted inside the cabinet for a pistonic-like effect, thereby enhancing output while also reducing distortion.
WAVAC new MD-300Bm monoblock single-ended triode design
has an ultra-wide frequency response from 20Hz to 75kHz with the aid of Tango-based transformers. Western Electric WE-300B standard output, WAVAC's patented Inverted Interstage Transformer Coupled (IITC) circuit, no capacitors in signal path, ground lift switch, and 10mm thick top plate are but a few of the features that insure ultra quiet operation.
Sound Fusion had some fantastic visually striking loudspeakers with their Ariel
monitor ($9,000) with built in 50-watt per driver amplifier (or same without amplification $7,000).
In the middle (dark wood) is the Nova ($10,000) and then the active version to
the right called the Hyperion ($13,000). All prices include the matching stand and all models also feature a ribbon tweeter that reproduces music up to 60kHz. ScanSpeak midrange and woofer units round out the driver compliment. As for the cool lookin' woofer...
$4,000 and includes built-in 350-watt amplifier. Remote control junkies take not as you can adjust the volume and crossover frequency from the comfort of your listening chair.
Coming up with an interesting twist on decoupling is Gershman Acoustic with their new Black Swan ($30,000) where the tweeter and midrange cabinet are totally separate and you slide in the woofer cabinet inside. Each has their own feet so you can easily move the units as needed for perfect time alignment. A 1-inch soft dome and 5-inch ScanSpeak drivers reproduce the upper range while a 12-inch driver.
See our review of the company's Cameleon loudspeaker by clicking
here.
Yes, turntables are alive and well at the show. Here we have Sound
Engineering's SE-1 ($12,500) with DaVincini tonearm ($6,200). The turntable can be
purchased for $1,500 less if you do not desire the flywheel (middle round section in
top photo). The motor is DC powered from an outboard power supply. Cocobolo wood platter has eight weights connected underneath to insure speed stability more than to reduce resonance.
conrad-johnson's new ACT2 tubed preamplifier ($13,500) has five inputs, a theater bypass, and it uses new Teflon capacitors developed by the company to achieve the best in signal transparency. It
has a quad of 6N30P tubes for amplification duties. Enjoy the Music.com™'s
review of the 17LS preamplifier can be seen
here while our review of their MV60 amplifier can be seen
here.
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High-Performance Audio Reviews
