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2006 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest
 Darren
O'neill of Audio Limits showed the WAM
Engineering Flex loudspeaker sporting the Eben
ribbon tweeter. Quite impressive build quality
and with an exquisite finish. The Flex comes
equipped with its own outboard EQ and custom
built self-powered bass amplifier (photo
left). Red Rock's Renaissance pure triode,
Class-A mono amplifiers ($39,750) did some
part time duty while the outrageously priced
FM Acoustics 611 ($76k) and FM 245 pre
($23,500) did most of the work. All cabling
was Pure Silver Connection (about $20k). The
sonics were absolutely glorious, keeping the
tradition (and my fondest memories) of FM
Acoustics' excellence strong and palpable.
New Jersey's Lee
Landes of Landes Audio, US importer of the
Italian Ars Aures loudspeakers paired once
again with the Joe Fratus' super-musical Art
Audio amplifiers. I've always expressed my
admiration for the synergy that comes from
this pairing of electronics and it's good to
see that powerful sonic bond hasn't broken. Landes, who also spent many years as a
chiropractor, got the chance to give both Bill
Wells and myself the adjustment our aging
physics so desperately needed with a quick tug
and pull.
Speaking of
synergy....
Escalante's top
of the line Freemont loudspeakers - vying for
the title of Worlds Largest Mini-Monitor
- has found its soul-mate with BK Butler's
"thermionically" powered Monad mono
amplifiers. Imagine life without ever having
to replace its 300-B tube? I find it amazing
and have formally asked for a review sample.
Finally, a tube amp you never have to turn
off...sigh.
A Monster
Sound....literally?
The 200-watt
Amber Wave Audio 304TL amplifier ($42k) had
most folks I spoke to waxing poetic on the
sound reproduced in this room. At nearly 3
feet wide, 2 feet deep and 200 lbs per side,
most would qualify these as behemoths.
Extensive research reveals these are the very
tubes used to bring dead things back to life
(photo above). So if your system doesn't sound
alive and kicking.....
He's done it
again! Intuitive Design's Dale Pitcher,
formally of Essence Design and one of my
favorite speaker designers (his $65k - $85k
Denali took my breath away some years back)
has resurfaced. This time, however Pitcher
introduced an incredibly affordable
loudspeaker in the Intuitive Design Delta
Summit loudspeakers ($4,850). Employing much
of the technology utilized in the Denali
series; mass loading of transducer elements,
vibration control, mechanical grounding paths
and mucho granite exterior surfaces. Intuitive
Design loudspeakers are based on wool-damped
transmission-line enclosures using 1st order
Butterworth filters. Designed to sound their
best when placed on their Path stands (photo
above $1,485 also granite sided). This is one
impressive sounding loudspeaker in the $5k
region and I bet would give many higher priced
designs fits. Pitcher showed a less expensive
model in the standard Summit that he says
retails for $3,485 that looks identical to the
Delta minus a hi-rez filter network. All I can
say is the sound of this room was certainly
worth a series of sleepless nights.
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