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Actually
the night before, a view from the walkway between New York, New York and
Excalibur. |
RBH's cost-no-object line, Status Acoustics, offers the Titus in
their line of loudspeakers, the left in marble, the right in gloss
black. The pair retails for $30,000. Colin commented that the
bass extension "breathes" pedal notes. Brian Florian
uttered the mantra, "They image like bastards," (his way of
saying they are terrific.) RBH's
Signature series, set up for 5.1 playback, waited behind. |
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The
Antique Sound Lab MG SI-15DT stereo, single-ended, integrated amp ($599)
features 12AX7s driving KT-88s. In
the setup I (JS) heard, it was set in triode mode for 5 wonderful watts
per channel output. This amp
was driving Reference 3A MM De Capo speakers to produce some of the best
sound I heard at the show. Really.
A review of this
amp was published this week in Secrets. |
deHavilland
proudly demonstrated its new Aries-845 monoblock amplifiers with some very
nice speakers from Buggtussel. The
Aries-845 DHT is driven by a 300B! Very
cool. It produces 25 wpc of
single-ended power. Yes, we
have a pair lined up for review. You
are going to want to hear more about these. |
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A
new, as-yet-unnamed, stand-mounted speaker was being demo'd by Galante
Audio, purveyors of fine, high-efficiency coaxial driver speakers.
This new model is rated at 96 dB/2.83V/M sensitivity and will
retail for somewhere between $1,800 and $2,400 when it ships in the early
2nd Qtr. of this year. |
A
company from Hungary, Greenwave Audio, showed its GWA 4 speaker.
This is their top of the line model, yet it sells for an affordable
$3,000. I (JS) was impressed
by the speaker's soundstaging capability. |
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The
new Stargate amplifier from Joule Electra is transformer coupled, Class A
biased and capable of 40 wpc out of its Russian 6C33 output tubes.
As expected from Joule Electra, the sound was enchanting driving
Merlin TSMs. We hope to have
an amplifier from Joule to report on later this year. |
The
new importer of Singapore-based Loth-X equipment is Joe Roberts – yes,
that Joe Roberts of Sound Practices fame.
It was a thrill to speak with him about the Loth-X lineup.
We've arranged to review a pair of these new ION FS-1 speakers
– 96 db, single driver, and best of all … $1,900 pair.
This will be fun. |
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EveAnna
Manley continues her re-design of the Manley amplifier lineup with the
new, Neo Classic 300B single ended / push pull (you choose) monoblock
amps. As usual, the room
rocked as these amps drove Coincident speakers to convincing levels.
Plus, Manley has a new phono preamp ready for release in a few
months – we're planning to have the inside scoop for you on that one. |
The
Merlin TSM Millennium paired up with the Joule Electra Stargate for a
wonderful, musical demonstration. Judging
by what we heard, there is a lot of performance packed in this $2,500
monitor speaker. |
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Paired
with the Antique Sound Lab amp pictured at the beginning of this page, the
Reference 3A MM De Capo speakers stunned us with their open, dynamic sound
to earn our regard as some of the best sound at the show.
At 92 dB/2.83V/M sensitivity and a simple cap crossover, these
babies were effortless being driven by 5 wpc.
We will be reviewing a pair together with the ASL amp. |
Our
final best of show commendation goes to Vince Christian's E6 Studio
Deluxe speakers ($3,500) and B12WP bass module ($2,500) that were teamed
up with electronics by Birdland Audio, including their intriguing Odeon
Lite DAC. We literally could have
sat and listened in this room all day – the sound was exceptional. |
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The
new Vandersteen Reference Monitor ($6,495) stylistically breaks tradition
with other Vandersteen designs, but regardless of what it looks like the
sound is what matters most, and it was simply super when we stopped by for
a listen. This is an
impressive new design from Mr. Vandersteen indeed. |
Gordon
Rankin of Wavelength Audio always has good sound at CES, and this year was
no different. The power amp
on active display was the Triton Signature New Century Edition
single-ended (natch!) 300B amps. Wavelength
continues to push the envelope with their designs, but at the heart they
are as classic as can be. |
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Avant
Garde displayed the Solo, designed for Home Theater applications, which is
self-powered. They were demonstrated with Duos as mains, and this
delivered a superb HT experience. |
Balanced
Audio Technology (BAT) is poised to enter the Home Theater market with two
products, including the VK-AV10 preamp/processor with tube based output stage.
Right beside is their beefy multi-channel amp -- the VK-6200. This
amp is modular and can be purchased with two to six channels of
amplification. If it's fully loaded, bring a friend to move it -- it
tops out at over 150 lbs. |
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Bryston's
6B amplifier (3x250w) is nearly ready to sell. The modular
construction includes top access to the rail fuses, so you don't have to
remove an amplifier module to replace them.
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Cinematrix
may be releasing their own line of players in the US. MSB Technology
will soon be expanding installation of the Cinematrix modification to most
DVD players . |
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GW
Labs was displaying this 75wpc stereo tube amplifier along with Eminent
Technology's LFT-14R which we'll have pictures of later. |
This
is a conglomerate of several new introductions from NAD/PSB - the Alpha
Intro line of speakers at top left, the Silver Series Preamp/Processor and
multi-channel amplifier at top right, CD/CD-R/CD-RW and receiver are all
pictured. |
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