CES 2007

Page 2

Over at CES one of the rooms that caught me off guard was the presentation by the LSA Group. I was drawn into the room because the music sounded so good from the hallways and I was really surprised when I entered the room and found out that this wonderful presentation was coming from a pair of LSA-1 bookshelf speakers ($1,000.00 for the standard pair and $2,000.00 for the signature version). This was a fairly large room and the loudspeakers didn’t have any trouble filling the room with beautiful music. One of the things that the LSA model 1 and it’s bigger brother the model 2’s will do is reproduce music without any noticeable colorations, and the high frequency extension, detail, and clarity are superb. The LSA Group recently purchased DK Design and they were using a “statement” version of the VS-1 integrated amp that retails for ($9,000.00).

         

Over at the Margules room some very good performances could be heard coming through the Orpheus loudspeakers ($6,870.00) powered by his own amplifier the 60 watt per channel U280sc ($3,390.00), and there own preamp the SF220 ($2,600.00). Mr. Margules’ loudspeakers use the Accuton drivers from Germany. The sound and the presentation was very engaging. I listened to a number of selections and was highly impressed by the midrange purity and relaxed presentation. I was enjoying the music so much that I didn’t realize that 35 minutes had elapsed and I hadn’t even taken any notes. Again, this was a very good sounding room and I look forward to bringing you some more in-depth information about the Margules line of products.

       

The gear at LA Audio of Taiwan might be inexpensive but that didn’t stop them from delivering big on the sound. The jewels of this setup were a set of 211 based tube monoblocks. The P-88 generates 24 wpc and the cost for the pair is ($4200.00). A matching preamp, the C-88R is only ($2500.00). The front end was a McCormack UDP-1. They have there own loudspeakers but if you take a look at their product list it is definitely favoring electronics. Speakers were the Omicron Coherence Stage ($19,500.00). The sound coming from this room far surpassed the price of the electronics. Piano pieces were excellent and I was moved by the performance. I expect to hear more good things from LA Audio.

It was good to see the folks from Revolver. They made the journey all the way from the U.K. and they were demonstrating their top-of-the-line loudspeaker the Cygenis ($12,000.00). Electronics were the gorgeous looking Italian made Nightingale Gala 300B tube integrated amplifier with separate tube power supply ($16,400.00). The Cygneis is a very attractive three-way system that has a range of 30Hz to 30 KHz. It has a custom designed aluminum dome tweeter, a five inch glass fiber midrange and a ten inch woofer. Each one of the drivers has substantial magnets and the crossovers are hand built with point-to-point wiring. The cabinetry is first rate and I really only need one word to describe the way that music is portrayed on these speakers and that is with soul. These are great looking speakers that don’t take up a lot of space but will fill the room with a lively musical presentation.

 

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