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Craig’s Show Report Part 2
Although the rooms that were mentioned in the
first part of my show report had very good
presentation, the rooms I’m going to tell you
about now demonstrated even more remarkable
sound and deserve the designation, “Best
Rooms” that I heard at the shows. But once
again bear in mind that due to the separation
of the two high-end venues, there were a lot
of other rooms at both locations that I didn’t
get a chance to visit.
Bel Canto
 If
I were passing out individual honors for the
best sounding room with the most affordable
electronics, the award would easily go to Bel
Canto Design. Founder and lead designer, John
Stronzer was using his e.One Ref 1000
monoblocks ($3,990/pr), Pre3 preamp
($1,995.00), and CD-1 CD player ($4,995).
Cables were also by Bel Canto and to complete
the presentation he was using a pair of TAD
driver based Pioneer S-1EX loudspeakers
($9,000.00). This was one of the more musical
rooms that I encountered where the total price
of the electronics was in the ten thousand
dollar price range. Dynamics were compelling
with a liquid midrange and the upper
frequencies had excellent extension. Just goes
to show that you don’t need to take out a home
equity loan to own high quality high-end audio
electronics.
Halcro/Vivid
 The
Halcro/Vivid Audio/ Crystal Cable room was
another outstanding place to listen to music.
The Halcro DM38 Stereo amp ($19,490) and DM10
preamp ($17,490) were connected to the Vivid
Audio B1 loudspeakers ($14,000). All of the
cabling was the Crystal Cable Ultra series.
This was a really nice sounding room that was
constantly packed with attendees. The music
was rich, with vocals having a lifelike
presence, and the soundstage was deep and
wide. An interesting feature of the Crystal
Cable speaker cables are the detachable links.
On each end of the cables is a screw-on
attachment similar to a detachable head shell
on a tonearm. This allows the user to change
from spades to bananas without sending the
cable back to be re-terminated. According to
Mrs. Gabi van der Kley, the founder and CEO of
Crystal Cable, this enhancement will not
affect the cable sonically and doesn’t have
any measurable effects. Collectively all of
the components in this room sounded fantastic
but I hope to bring you some more details
about the Crystal Cables in the near future.
Esoteric
 Some
great new sounding products could be found at
the Esoteric suite. There were two rooms on
display: In the smaller room Esoteric was
demonstrating their new set of entry level
components the SA-10 SACD/CD player
($3,500.00) and the AI-10 class D integrated
amp with A/D converter and Master Clock
Generator ($4,000.00). Also in the same room
Esoteric introduced their own set of
loudspeakers, the floor standing MG-20
($9,200.00) and the book shelf MG-10
($5,500.00). The new loudspeakers are designed
by Esoteric and manufactured jointly with
Tannoy Ltd. of the U.K. Esoteric is the first
to use an all-magnesium driver. The sound
coming from this room was clean, transparent
and musical. In the larger room Esoteric was
showing off the upgraded X-01 Limited
($14,100.00) and UX-3 Special Edition
($8,600.00) CD players along with their
top-of-the-line P-01 ($25,000.00) and D-01
mono-block D/A converter. Using the Wilson
Audio Sophia II the sound was very liquid and
captivating.
Respons
 It
was good to see the return of Respons
Loudspeakers from Gothenburg, Sweden. I first
remember hearing the Respons Grand during the
old Summer CES in Chicago back in the 1980’s
with the Jeff Rowland Design Group model
Seven’s. This year at T.H.E. Show, they demoed
a new edition to their loudspeaker line, the
Grand D ($26,000.00). All electronics were
Audio Research Reference series; Reference 210
monoblocks ($20,000.00), Reference 3 vacuum
tube preamplifier ($9,995.00) and Reference 7
vacuum tube CD player ($9,995.00). Cabling was
provided by Transparent Audio Marketing and
the speaker was sitting on Sonic Design
damping feet. Vocals were portrayed with
palpable presence and the overall presentation
sounded very natural. Bass was powerful and
the Grand Ds excelled on selections that
called for a transition from soft to loud
passages. Hopefully the Respons Grand’s will
make a permanent return to U.S. shores because
this was one spectacular sounding display.
Vitus Audio
Another favorite suite and one of the best
sounding rooms at the Venetian was the Vitus
Audio room. They used a red book only CD
player, the SCD-010 ($12,000 - $15,000)
connected to the Vitus SS-010 25 watt Class-A
integrated amplifier ($12,000 - $15,000). The
speakers were the Focus Audio Master 2.5
($18,590) speakers. These are three-way jet
black beauties that weigh 150 pounds apiece
and have a frequency range of 20Hz – 25kHz.
Cabling is the excellent sounding Vitus
Andromeda. One of the keys to the amplifiers’
success is the huge transformer. The sound is
very detailed without a hint of brightness,
all the while being very relaxed and tube like
in the midrange but with a solid low end that
was tight and powerful despite the low
wattage.
Genesis
 Gary
Koh of Genesis Advanced Technologies was all
smiles with his new generation of series 5
loudspeaker, the Genesis Advanced Technologies
5.3 ($16,000). A major design feature was
incorporated into the loudspeakers that allows
for the use of moderate power, inexpensive,
tube amplifiers by raising the impedance
levels. He was using his own set of Genesis
Advanced Technologies M60 monoblocks
($3,995/pr). The other components consisted of
a FM Acoustics 255 preamplifier ($38,000.00)
and a modified Esoteric DV-50 by Allen Wright.
Everything sat nice and neat on a Spectral
furniture rack from Germany courtesy of Brian
Tucker of ProAudio of Barrington, Illinois.
Interconnects were provided by FM Acoustics
and the speaker cables were also from Genesis.
These are also some of the more flexible and
accommodating loudspeakers because the Genesis
Advanced Technologies 5.3 comes supplied with
an internal amplifier for the bass modules
which allows the user to use his or her choice
of amplification for the midrange and tweeter
drivers. I was all smiles too because I played
a number of discs in the room and I was amazed
at the performance. I stopped back twice to
confirm what I heard the first time and in my
book this was just a notch away from the best
room at the show. The high end performance
produced from these loudspeakers was the best
that I heard at the show. The midrange and
bass performance was also astonishing and an
added bonus allows the owner to adjust the
sound levels of the midrange and tweeter
drivers. The music filled the room and I was
totally enamored by the sound. The GAT 5.3’s
are one of best buys in high end audio.
Isophon
But if I had to choose an absolute “best sound
at the show,” in my opinion it would be heard
coming from the Isophon suite. This was also
the most expensive room on my list. Last year,
the Cassiano’s ($25,000.00) received quite a
bit of positive publicity, but this year we
were introduced to its bigger brother, the
Arabba ($50,000.00). All the drivers are
sourced from Accuton including the diamond
tweeter. Amplification and source components
are from the same vendor, Western Electric.
The amps were the Western Electric Type 97-A
300b tube monoblocks ($85,000.00 per pair) and
the dual mono Type 117-B ($12,000.00) tube
preamp with separate power supply. The CD
player was the Western Electric Type 203-c
with a tube output stage ($3,750.00). FISCH
Audiotechnik power cords and power strips were
also used. Listening to music in the Isophon
room was like sitting in the second row of my
favorite jazz club and hearing a
straight-ahead jazz quartet. The sound was so
three-dimensional it was like being engulfed
by a lifelike wave of streaming music. Nothing
can replace the emotional experience like
being at a live event, but this is certainly a
worthy substitute.
There were also a number of rooms that I
didn’t get a chance to hear in detail that
deserve to be mentioned like the Nagra/ Verity
Audio suite and the Magico Loudspeakers room.
But all in all it was a good show and I can’t
wait until next year.
Craig Fitzpatrick
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