Floor
-2
Sirio
room- Sonus faber
Sonus
faber were celebrating their 20th anniversary, showing their
most critically acclaimed and successful products.
Almost
hidden, this Cremona in the new grey ash finish was really
captivating.
For
the sake of the celebration, the system didn’t feature new
products: it was composed of the Musica integrated amp and
of a pair of Cremona Auditor standmounts, source was a Marantz
CD17Mk2 (thanks again, Ken…). The sound? Well, fashion changes,
as do tastes and priorities; the fascinating class of the
Sonus faber sound stands, even changing the general framework.
A credible and captivating soundstage, as always. The showgoers
agree and Sonus faber wins, for the second time in a row,
the Top Award as the best sounding audio room, with a system
costing up to 25 times less than some of the competing ones…
Or
1 room - Nu.Arc.
The
2 channel system was reasonably priced (and reasonably sounding),
but I think it was there just to draw the attention on the
excellent products distributed by Nu.Arc (Lector, Electrocompaniet,
Musical Fidelity…), of which here are some sightings:
the
nice "lifestyle" Magnat DVD player:
the
Musical Fidelity SACD player (playing in my room as I prepare
this report…)
the
Magnat speakers which were providing the soundtrack
Or
2 room- Audio Natali
The
winner of my personal "caution to the wind" competition.
You must be really brave to put the X1-Grand SLAMM in one
of the notoriously tough rooms of the Quark hotel; you must
know your products really well to be able to pull out a
result which doesn’t disappoint. The distributor has demonstrated,
in the past, to be one of the few who have understood how
to make music in these rooms. I personally thank the demonstrator
for the records choice (Mahler and Moussorgski while I was
in the room).
The
rest of the system was top-level, also: Krell FPB750Mcx,
Audio Research Reference Phono and Reference Mk2 Line preamp,
Audio Research CD3 and Krell SACD Standard, Oracle/Koetsu.
This
was surely one of the best sounding systems at the show
(there were some room induced limitations, but the almost
infinite abilities of the system were obvious; dynamic range,
ability to reproduce extremely high levels without shouting
– while I was in the room, an injudicious choice of volume
level caused a huge bang, but the Wilson giants seemed unflapped
–, the soundstage reproduction, even the ability to be sharp
when needed: my dear readers, live music isn’t always sweet
and nice, not even music played with acoustic instruments).
The
Krell SACD Standard is a really interesting product, seemingly
far from the commonplace idea of the Krell family sound,
as the systems which featured this player were refined and
grainless.
The Martin Logan Clarity
hybrid ELS speakers, review coming soon…
Or
3 room - Absolute Sound
Burmester:
audio sculpture galore. The system was almost an entry level
one for this very high-end German manufacturer, and it included
some interesting new products.
The
first one: the Rondò line standmount speakers, named
022, a small system featuring a ribbon tweeter which was
almost full range, filling a room which wasn’t certainly
small – someone was taking the 909 monster power amp, parked
on a corner, for the non-existing subwoofer… The speakers
are even semi-affordable (about 2500 Euro, but the optional
stands cost 2200 Euro…)
The
second one, the 033 DVD player, a CD player featuring a
DVD transport and a video section. Sharing most of its audio
components with the 001 CD player, it upsamples to 24/96
without uing the ubiquitous Crystal chip, it sports digital
inputs, a digital output to an external decoder (only stereo
analogue outputs are provided) and a complete Faroudja based
video section.
And
then there were the usual wonders (this is one of the power
amps).
Or
4 room - Dynaudio
An
impressive row of Dynaudio speakers…
And
an impressive Chord pre-power combo...
Or
5 room- PFG
Much
to my disappointment, it’s quite impossible to appreciate
the refined, clean Monitor Audio sound at these shows… you
really have to try them in your room.
Beta
room- Audiogamma
The
flagship system for this distributor, as usual at the Top
Audio & Video show, featuring Jadis and Rowland sources
and amplification, VPI turntable, Benz cartridge, was driving
B&W Nautilus 800 speakers. The outcome was one of the
best I have heard in this room.
The
rest of the room was a showcase for the latest VPI, B&W
and Rotel products.
Rotel
RSP1098: the baby Levinson 40? A wonderful Levinson-style
back-lit display...
The
VPI Aries Scout, Harry Weisfeld’s promising entry level
turntable system
The
full B&W 70x line, replacing the CDM line between the
60x and the flagship Nautilus 80x speakers.
Del 2 room - Relco Audio
The
Italian-Chinese-German connection, again. The Italian ribbon
speakers sounded promising, partnered with Vincent products,
which are made in China German designs, with an impressive
perceived quality/price ratio
As
we were saying, about Vincent products...
Del3
room - PFA2
Good
news: this veteran distributor is back, and back are Conrad-Johnson,
McCormack and Magnepan. A McCormack/CJ/Magnepan system was
featured in the room.
Del 5 room - Acustica Applicata/Sound And Music
A
painstaking room optimisation, of course courtesy of the
DAAD room treatment system, an outstanding system and software
quality were the reasons of the excellent sound of this
room, certainly one of the best at the show.
The
stars were, no doubt about it, the Avalon Mixing Monitor
speakers, the ideal follow-up to the Avalon Monitor, are
manufactured by a sister company of Avalon Acoustics, founded
by Neil Patel to provide speakers to the studio market,
and are distributed in Italy by Acustica Applicata; Avalon
Studio Products, in turn, distributes the DAAD devices in
U.S.A.
The rest
of the system was composed by a Basis 2001 turntable (reviewed
on our Issue 5) equipped with a Graham 2.2 tonearm and a
Dynavector DRT XV1 cartridge, a Dynavecor PHA100 headamp,
a Phonomena phono preamp, a Krell SACD Standard digital
source, Spectral DMA30S/DMA150S2 amplification.
The system gave a precise idea of what quality high fidelity
is about; it was sweet and forceful, perfectly balanced,
fast and dynamic and threw a great soundstage, detached
from the loudspeakers, wide and deep.
Really
interesting stands from Acustica Applicata, which double
as room treatments…
Del 6 room - Ultrasound
Ultrasound
was back with a sounding exhibit, after years of statical
exhibitions; a pair of standard speakers were alternated
with a pair of "Multipole" speakers, driven by
a full Ultrasound stack, which included a DVD based on some
consumer product modified beyond recognition.
All
of those who have experienced Ultrasound products know what
to expect; if you don’t have, you really have to try it
yourself, as these are love/hate products – some can’t do
without them, some just can’t accept them…
Alfa room - Zingali
In
the two channel part of the room, the Ouverture .3 speakers
were driven by a Pass Aleph power amp and by a passive preamp
which seemed to be part of the stand on the top of which
there was a Sony SCD-777ES SACD player (I appreciate the
bravery of using a digital player with embedded 30 seconds
pause between discs, as I have one…). This was my first
acquaintance with a Zingali speaker system, and I enjoyed
it; this isn’t the kind of spectacular sound you’d expect
from a hybrid horn loaded system – it is refined and almost
restrained, instead.
A
wonderful showcase of Omniray horn finishes:
