Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

Here's a setup that displayed sonic excellence thanks in a large part to the behold Gentile Integrated amplifier's "Room Correction" software. Laufer Teknik's gadget connoisseur and wizard Tommy Moore (above), was caught hard at work 'dialing in' this otherwise typical [read: BAD] sounding hotel room using the Gentile's parametric EQ features. What I enjoyed most about this setup was its familiarity to what I have at home. The results of 'smoothing out' the room's rough edges usually spell much better bass detail, articulation, speed and tautness. Room Correction has its detractors, but has been catching on over the years and quite readily. As I have always lamented "pick you poison... we're all gonna die from something!" There's nothing I love more than a well balanced sound from an unlikely source like that of a hotel room or my own dedicated one. Bravo to the "man behind the curtain" for pulling another great magic act.

Featured in this setup was the Ascendo C8 loudspeakers ($10k), Nova Physics Memory Player ($11.5k transport only), Esoteric's D60 Universal Player ($6k) resting on a Silencer platform from Halcyonics ($11k). AC line conditioning and cabling was by way of Bybee Super Effect products.

Here's a setup that was worth far more than the admission price! It was very hard to remain convinced these German made Kaiser GmbH Kawero loudspeakers ($50k), replete with dual rear-firing 10" woofers, were solely responsible for reproducing a soundstage so vast and spectacular. The huge space certainly helped but then again, I've witnessed many more similarly sized loudspeakers fail miserably at "lighting up" a room in the way these remarkable transducers displayed. As we already know, a loudspeaker system can never play itself so pardon me for being so enamored by this impressive loudspeaker system but equal praise must go out to the Master Sound 845 monos ($10k). These amps proved that 50-watts matched to a 92 dB efficient loudspeaker is more than adequate (I've 600-watts per side strapped to a 97 dB horns. I've been known for being slightly power-noid). The other co-stars to this wonderful sounding setup was  Louis Motek  of Lithuania and his arsenal of LessLoss products which included his new Firewall AC conditioner ($5k), Dynamic Filter AC cords ($750 ea) and his 2004 Mk II D/A converter ($5k) slaved (using its internal clock sync) to a CEC transport. Easily one of the most impressive sounds at this year's RMAF!