RMAF 2007
Saturday Page 2

  Steve McCormak's SMe Audio had their VRE-1 fully active/passive balance preamplifier ($6800) has an external power supply to keep the analog stage away from noise-causing electrical transformers. Lundahl and Jensen coupling capacitors, discrete wideband JFET circuit, and zero feedback are just some of the design highlights.

Why yes Apogee loudspeakers, which went out of business around 1998, is a brand that has a cult following to this day. Well kids, they are now once again manufacturing loudspeakers! And yes, they are upgrading the floor mounts to solve the dreaded falling forward problem original units suffered from. GRAZ ribbons will be employed in these new units.

Standing at 59 inches, the NSR Sonic Research model D1 Concerto Reference ($32,950/pr) that have a sensually curved acoustic projection lens (not a horn). To make a long story short, the correlated frequency spectrum it resonates and re-resonates it to its 'natural spectrum' according to head designer John Tabernacki. Driver compliment is... a lot. This is an extremely complex loudspeaker so see their website for all the details.

Audio Space had a plethora of integrated tube amplifiers and the LS3/5 kit loudspeakers (reviewed here). This is really a great value of the dollar gear, and building kits is way cooler than just buying mystery boxes you had no hand in creating. Audio Space 6M-300Bpp 300B push-pull monoblocks review is located here.

Rau Research and Development makes high-end sound with high-end visual design. Their Becky 34 monoblock takes advantage of rectangular side highlights and base pieces. Very interesting 40 watter.

Consonance chose the RMAF or the American launch of the Mini Dropplet CD player/transport ($2500) with 8x oversampling. Special feature of the American version versus the rest of the market is volume control and piano black lacquer finish. Also in the picture are the Cyber 300B PSE monoblock amplifier ($7200/pr) and Lammhorn loudspeakers ($9500/pr). Having e-mailed one of the head designers and reviewing the Consonance Cyber 211 monoblock tube amplifier was an honor. These 211-based amplifiers are amazing!.

     

And for $44,000/pr you too can have one of the coolest tube amplifiers at the RMAF 2007. You also a heck of a power supply to run these transmitter tubes. Bring a friend, as each 200-watt Class A monoblock weights 200 lbs. Company Amber Wave Audio expects about 6000 hours of play from these output tubes. Tube compliment is 304TL (bright), 3B28 Xenon rectifiers (blue glow), then a 6SN7, 6BL7 and 5V4.

 

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