Ah, Las Vegas in January. Stereo Times contributor extraordinaire Mike Wright and I just barely got out of Chicago ahead of a major snow storm on the first day of the 2010 CES/T.H.E. Show. So we were happier than normal to be walking the halls of the Venetian hotel, checking out the latest and greatest that the high-end audio industry had to offer.

 


My time in Vegas actually had a dual purpose, obviously I had to cover the shows but I was also there to meet with clients of mine from Chicago who were in town for another business conference. So while I didn’t get to spend as much time at the show as I would have liked, spending an afternoon playing a round of golf with good friend Pat Linko of steel products manufacturer Funk-Linko (is that a cool name for a company or what) at the beautiful Bali Hai golf course wasn’t a bad way to go either.

 

Sexy, dark and handsome. While Stereo Times publisher Clement Perry would say that that’s an apt description of… himself, I think it’s a better description of Dynaudio’s massive new Consequence Ultimate Edition loudspeakers ($70,000/pr). They anchored a system that was powered by the Octave Jubilee preamp ($35,000) and Phono Module phonostage (TBA), and Octave Jubilee monoblock amps ($70,000/pr). The digital front-end components were the Wadia 922 Mono Decoding Computer, 931 Digital Controller, and 971 CD Transport. The analog setup was a Clearaudio turntable, tonearm, and cartridge. The system was wired with Tara Labs Zero Gold interconnects, Omega Gold speaker cables and Gold power cords. Most of the components sat on a Stillpoints ESS equipment rack accept for the gigantic Jubilee mono amps which sat on the carpeted floor.

The sound from this room was phenomenal. Power, finesse, speed, detail, warmth and best of all, musicality. I asked Dynaudio USA’s Mike Manouselis to play “Embrace” from Al DiMeola’s Kiss My Axe [Mesa/Blue Moon Recordings] because of its dynamics and thunderous bass slams. The big Consequence speakers handled it brilliantly. The Octave’s natural tube characteristics were there too, with wonderful spacial imaging and airiness around the musicians. This room was definitely among the “Best of Show” rooms.
 

 

My opinion is that high-end electronics doesn’t get any better than those from Vitus Audio. The awesome Marten Design Momento loudspeakers ($165,000/pr) were being driven to perfection by the Vitus Audio amplification and front end duty was carried out by the SCD-010 CD player and the Bergmann Sindre air bearing turntable/tonearm combination which fed Vitus’ new SP-101 phonostage. Easily among the Best of Show rooms and in a class by itself when it comes to just sheer physical beauty. Classic Vitus.
 

 

After spending time listening to one overpriced system after another, here’s a system that hit all the check marks for me. Dan Wright used a bridged pair of his magnificently built and excellent sounding ModWright Instruments KWA 150 amps ($6,000/ea) to drive the lovely Audiomachina Maestro loudspeakers ($49,000/pr). Fronting this system was a ModWright modified Oppo cd player ($1,450) and Slim Devices Transporter ($3,500) and a ModWright LS 36.5 preamp ($9,000 w/PS 36.5 power supply). That’s a complete system for around $75K that sounded better than many of the $100k+ systems that were there. Well done Dan!

 

Once again, the folks from Laufer Teknik had a real winner on their hands with the brilliant Behold Gentle integrated amp ($15,000 to $30,000 depending on options) and Ascendo C8 loudspeakers ($9,800/pr). Small system, with great flexibility and big, beautiful sound.