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2006 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest
Yes, I'm a
native New Yorker...
Jeff Catolano's
High Water Sound (located in Lower Manhattan),
caters to those with eclectic tastes, took
Rocky Mountain by storm with his latest
arrivals from abroad. The vertically loaded
horns in Aspara Acoustic's HL1 (108 dB
sensitive!) had me hanging around longer than
usual. The horn is connected to a 2"
compression driver with a titanium diaphragm
while a 12" paper woofer completes the
package. Looking more than dressed for the
occasion was Thomas Woschnick's TW Acustic
turntable (photo top left, $15k w/three motor
assembly, $10k w/one). Cabling and AC line
taming was by way of Clarity Cable and my oh
my, what a line conditioner. The sheer looks
of this thing had me peering behind this rig
for a good while. Of the many things I admired
in this room, the LOOK of this setup literally
matched its sonics! Catalano has a knack for
the visual and this was quite a treat for the
ears and eyes. Lush, romantic and ease were
the catch phrases floating around this room
the entire weekend.
Color me
bad......
Sound Matters
is Azzolina Audio's mantra. Their Gran Sfera
Speaker system composed of their Alto Horn
employs the services of a very sophisticated
Lowther 55 series driver that boasts a
whopping efficiency of 105 dB! Crossover point
is a very critical 200 Hz by which the bottom
section, called the Basso Horn, is called into
action. I'll be the first to admit, I've never
been a big fan of horns. It's nothing to do
with their sound. It's their size, rather
width that ultimately has me looking elsewhere
(my DALI Megalines would never be mistaken for
small). The sound of this room was very
impressive to say the least via Azzolina
electronics, Audio Magic cabling and AC
conditioning.
R2D2, C3PO I
want you to meet your aunt Harriet....
 Peter
Bizelwicz of Symposium Rollerblocks unveiled
his newest invention in the Panorama Planar
Magnetic loudspeaker ($60k). More than a
decade of work, multitudes of dynamic/planar
concepts, trails/errors and ideals bought
Bizelwicz to a series of firsts with this
four-way quasi point-source design. Using
proprietary ribbon-type planar magnetic
drivers along with a aperiodic
transmission-line bass enclosure (photo left)
gives the Panorama a unique sound quality.
Unique implies the Panorama's 93-94 dB
efficiency: HUGE for a planar transducer. The
sound of this room was deep, open and wide as
I expected from a huge planar. But the level
of delicacy was super impressive considering
how unfamiliar I was to the electronics. My
hopes are to have a second listen since
Bizelwicz's here in NY. Intriguing design and
great sound.
Good Kharma....
 GTT
Audio's Kharma Room displayed their Midi
Exquisite MkIIs ($75k) loudspeakers and Enigma
cables ($8k per meter) strapped to a pair of
MBL 9008a mono amps ($40k). These were
digitally driven by the MBL 6010D pre ($19k)
and 1621a/1611e combo ($42.5) transport/dac to
exquisite proportions I might add. The room
was among the best I heard at the show and was
the first that I've heard that featured both
the Midi Exquisite and MBL electronics in the
same room. Very impressive dynamics and a
wonderful sense of full-bodied-ness enveloped
this listener on every CD I threw at this
system. Bill Parrish is quite experienced when
it comes to getting the best possible sound
from less than ideal situations such as hotel
rooms. It was blatantly obvious that by taking
down the photos and ceiling lamps located in
this space added to the excellence in sonics.
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