CES 2007

Vitus Audio and Canada's Focus Audio gave a very special sonic presentation that came as no surprise (as I write this, our own Greg Petan actually has the bigger setup in his home. Read his comments on the Vitus mono amps here). Shown is the Vitus SS-010 stereo amplifier ($25k) strapped via the remarkable Vitus series cables to the Focus Audio Master 2.5 loudspeakers ($17,500). The sound was wonderfully inviting, non-fatiguing and non-etched without a hint of euphonic colorations thanks in a large part to the Vitus Audio SCD-010. This Danish company's head engineer Hans Ole Vitus, gives me the impression they enjoy over-building their electronics just to see the look on your face. The SCD-010 was no exception as it weighs in at a whopping 90 lbs. and, as with all Vitus products employs flush-mounted rear connections. Serious indeed! 

Hey, don't shoot the messenger.

Yes, it's exactly what you think it is: An iPod system plugged into an MSB digital stack. Well, I ran out the room after taking this photo. I was afraid of how good it might sound. I still shudder when I think of the day when my son comes up to my listening room with a set of adapters in one hand, an iPod in the other, and a funny look on his face.
 

Bolzano Villetri debuted their new BG 700 Bellagio series of omni-directional loudspeakers. The sound was as good as when I last heard them in my downstairs home theater setup, and were quite nice sounding driven by the newest line of Chapter Audio electronics (price to be announced) that included their Protagonist and Prologue Universal disc players (photo left). What I found very interesting was Bolzano's model 750 monitor/surround loudspeakers ($1,600, photo left with US importer Victor Rakovich). Its small footprint allows for easy use in tight situations while its sonic character gives it a much bigger sound. Let me be clear, this is one of the finer sounding and least expensive loudspeakers available on the market and this demo was another clear illustration of why I love this odd but most musical transducer. Heck, I purchased my review sample!

Tact Audio unveiled the new Tact Audio 2.2 MINI ($2,900 photo above left) which is essentially an all digital version of the bigger and more expensive ($6k) 2.2 XP minus analogue inputs. Tact's head honcho Radimir Bozovic loves tech talk as the above photo captures him in action. Tact and Soundlabs put on quite a nice demo that featured Tact Audio's newer 2.2 XP Dynamic Room Correction preamplifier using a fully digital Cross-Talk cancellation software. Using a Soundlab Ambiopole ESL as well as Tact's own MH1 loudspeaker to demonstrate how damaging Cross talk is to stereo playback despite what we may believe otherwise. Master of ceremonies was none other than Mr. Ambiophonics himself, Ralph glasgal (photo far right).  His website http://www.ambiophonics.org/files/RACE/RGRM-RACE.pdf discusses the phenomena of Cross Talk in depth. I'll say the previous demos I heard left a lot to be desired while the one here shows some obvious improvements in the software. One amazing thing about Cross Talk removal: it does make the sound appear to come from way beyond the speakers physical boundaries in a way stereo simply has not. That said, I find utterly strange to have my loudspeakers so close in proximity which is the only way to engage Cross Talk Cancellation properly. Choose your poison.

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