CES 2007

Acoustic Dreams...

The Fetherling gang - a family of savvy iso rack designers and importers behind the name Acoustic Dreams - were at it again with their unique blend of high end products. The setup this year featured the impressive Blue Pearl turntable out of Norway ($82K). What's most impressive aside from the sonics is the build quality of this super heavy weight vinyl rig. The Blue Pear is made of granite impregnated with Cobalt while the 105 lbs. platter assembly employs opposing magnets for both vertical suspension and damping. The arm used was the Graham Phantom with a Dynavector XV-1s cartridge. Resting on the Acoustic Dreams 4-tier iso rack ($6k) is the new Ayon Spheris preamplifier ($24k with phono). Of course these were driven by the Ayon Classic mono amplifiers ($18,500) powering the wonderful sounding Lumen White Silver Flame loudspeakers ($28,500).  The thing I most love about setups such as these is: the designers and importers are on the same page and understands the importance of synergy. This insures they're going to be here the following year with the same gear minus. WE, hopefully at some point, during our busy travels, hectic schedules and our constant need to explore, will stop and pause to smell the roses and hear something special. Over and again that something special has been the Acoustic Dreams setup.            

Empirical Audio

Empirical Audio's Steve Nugent, audio guru Arnie Balgavis and I got into a neat discussion on the merits of computer based audio. Nugent wasn't aware that he was speaking with the only two folks on the planet who has thus far reviewed the Nova Physics Memory player. Nugent, like many who also asked me the same questions, somehow thinks the MPs inherent qualities can be duplicated with a smart idea and a hard-drive. That is, until myself, Arnie and Dennis Parham, who's also a proud MP owner finished discussing the ins and outs of the MP and its incredible abilities. I think Nugent agrees that something special at work. Hopefully, he'll have the chance to audition a unit for himself. Until then.... 

The Epiphany Audio and Classe Audio put on a very nice showing. The Epiphany 12-12 Plus loudspeaker ($19,900) which employs proprietary mid/bass drivers and BG planar tweeters with an efficiency rated 95 dB had me circling them since you all know my affinity for planar based loudspeakers. The new but slightly smaller Epiphany 8-4, ($16,900) uses custom made Vifa mid/bass drivers and four mysterious planar tweeters that the manufacturers cannot name due to privacy issues. Overall, the sound was smooth, cohesive and linear as one would expect from a line source. I spoke with designer Ken Gates and he's quite adamant as to what line arrays such as his designs are capable of compared to dynamic designs. He didn't realize he was preaching to the choir. Amen?

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