New York Show Equipment Review

Hi Folks:

As I have stated in years past, it always feels like a reunion whenever I attend one of these shows. There is such an overwhelming sense of belonging to a unique group of people who take the time and the investment of money and research to create fascinating works of electronic art and the muse to which it serves; the music.

I have never seen the innards of the Waldorf Astoria before. And that was a treat. It's an interesting Art-Deco landmark because it combines that motif with clearly classical ideas in the hallways and in the rooms themselves. You don't get to typically see a Japanned highboy just standing in the hallway of just any hotel. The public areas shine like I have never seen them in recent years and that was an awesome feeling. A true bonus and apropos location.

I was on a mission this time. In the sense that I did not want to visit everywhere. I clearly limited my choices to the ones that interested me the most. That organizing truly paid off with my strong belief in the "less is more" mentality. Sometimes. Here then are my top rooms and thoughts on the equipment within:

Scaena - This was the number one reason why I wanted to attend this show. Waiting almost five years to hear them again was well worth it. I don't know how they do it. I have never been a fan of line array designs because although they play loud from floor to ceiling, there is a disjointedness in the sound of the music. All bravado but no inner sound stage detail the way that the best dynamic floor standing speakers do. And hardly enough width and depth in the sound. These speakers truly smoke my own stereotype. They look like Bauhaus works of art. I love the fact that each midrange driver is in it's own separate high mass enclosure. They combine both dynamic and ribbon technology and a separate sub-woofer. And the materials they use to build these things are very expensive according to the chief engineer that I met in the room. I played Bing and The Beach Boys. If speakers can't get vocals right, you should walk out immediately. I could have stayed all day and played my music collection on these, they just sounded that good to me. There is a direct lineage with the Nearfield Acoustics Pipedream's. The same team worked on these with newer generation technology. I urge you to hear these at least once. It was also nice to have them hooked up to CJ's flagship GAT amps and pre amp. All tube. Big fan. The Kronos turntable wasn't embarrassing either. You'll hear more about it I'm sure.

Woo Audio - They take headphone amps to high art. They love tubes. There built like tanks. They know what they are doing. And they sound fantastic with Stax and my personal favorite, AKG. I compared an EL34 based standard model with their souped up edition with the same Steely Dan selection. There was a whole other level of resolution.

Sony: The AR 2 rocked. Built well. I expected them to sound good but found them even better than expected. They got the midrange right. The Pass Labs X600's were another bonus but I think these speakers deserve tubes to shine even more. I would like to now hear the AR 1. My speaker voicing of choice is what I call " harmonically rich studio monitor". The Sony's fit that criteria.

VPI - Harry Weisfeld and son demoed their new turntable at a price point below the Scout. Wow! Zippy. Punchy and musical. You can look at all the turntables in the hobby, but no company that I have ever encountered delivers the combined engineering, build quality and sound of Harry's work at a relatively low price. He gets better and better for lower and lower money. This new table will be well reviewed. Trust me. Michael Frehmer was in the room playing his beat up test pressing of Diamonds On The Souls of Her Shoes and he was enjoying it. My timing was good.

TW Acoustic - Their flagship turntable called the Black Knight is one of the best that I have ever seen or heard. The Room contained a tall horn speaker made of beautiful wood. The sound was not too my taste but when the host played a mono Red Grange Prestige in pristine condition, that got my attention right quick. I want to hear this table again. It sounded that good. One of the few cost no object designs that I would actually consider owning. Worth a look into the company.

Kef Blade and Chord Amplifiers - The best KEF speaker I have ever heard. And I knew it within seconds. I was very skeptical. I expected them to not sound good. All look and no sound. I stand fully corrected. I knew and heard KEF years before I knew other favorite speakers existed and I know their house sound very well; forward midrange, peaky treble, ok bass. This is a MAJOR leap forward in coherence, speed, bandwidth and even musicality. I also had the pleasure of shaking hands with the chief designer of Chord solid state amplifiers. To cut to the chase, one of the richest and most musical sounding solid state amps I have ever heard. Almost too rich sounding. Incredible.

Best:

D.H.
CT Audio Society
www.ctaudio.org