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CES 2004 Part Six
Clement Perry
 Talon Audio was EVERYWHERE this year. A good
sign. Mike Farnsworth and Team Talon has
really made an impact with their new line of
eye catching loudspeaker designs. The Firebird
(above $40,000 with Diamond tweeter) is
Talon’s new statement loudspeaker. Team Talon,
from its beginning, when I first named them as
my reference, has pursued the dream of
progressing the technology of loudspeakers.
The Firebird, which our own Greg Petan has in
for review, sports sonic capabilities that
clearly makes it superior to the Talon Khorus MkII.
The first of which is their new enclosure
design. Talon was first known for using dual
woofers in a modified transmission line
enclosure. They now use a single woofer in a
smaller and more advanced enclosure and yield
much improved performance. The reason why the
results are so much better Talon says
"is
because the THD (total harmonic distortion) is
so much lower along with an improved impedance
response. Lower THD will offer greater power
handling and the improved impedance response
will improve the speakers low frequency
response." Talon has also introduced a new
crossover circuit. Talon prefers this new
circuit since it offer steeper slopes with
less phase shift than 6 dB circuits. The
steeper slopes are varied to match the
woofer/midrange/tweeter implementation. These
steep slopes are also advantageous for ceramic
drivers. This circuit also offers “Common Mode
Rejection” which lowers noise in the circuit.
This is why Talon refers to their crossover as
CMRC or Common Mode Rejection Circuit. Unique
to the Firebird is the impedance drains
mounted on both sides. Inserted with a
dovetail joint are ˝” thick panels that cover
almost the entirety of the side panel. By
mounting these plates to the side of the
Firebird an impedance drain is created to pull
standing waves away from the main body. Also
included are mechanical dampening plates that
are strategically located to reduce cabinet
wall various wall vibrations.
Talon Audio Hawk (right $9,000) shown with
matching stands (Machined Aluminum and sand
filled @l $2,200) Talon Audio Thunderbird
Subwoofer was one serious looking product
($11,000) powered by a Crown K-2 amplifier).
Electrocompaniet's AW400 mono amps ($8000/pr),
EC 4.7 Preamp ($3000), EMC 1-UP CD Player R
($5500) were used in conjunction with, and
again, Rives PARC Room Correction ($2950),
HRS
4 shelf isolation rack ($7950). All cabling
was by Synergistic Research while AC Power
Conditioning was handled by Bybee Research
 The
Talon Audio Firebird Diamond’s retail price of
$40000 may be too rich for your blood but
equipped with Chapter Audio III+'s amplifier
(rated at 300wpc and $11000) and Chapter Audio
Preface preamplifier ($9000), the sound
was very, very musical. The sound coming from
these two large speakers seemed to disappear
when the music started. Same usual suspects
were used in the front-end:
Electrocompaniet EMC 1-UP CD Player, Rives PARC Room Correction. HRS 4 shelf isolation
rack retail excepting cables. Cabling used
exclusively for this room was by Elrod Power
Cords. Power Conditioning was by Sound
Application.
 Talon
Audio had a huge display in the San Remo
(right) that featured three Talon Audio
Cinemas ($6,500), a pair of Talon Audio
Thunderbirds ($11,000). Electronics featured
Gryphon's fabulous Antileon Stereo ($24,000),
three Gryphon Encore stereo amplifiers
($14,000), Gryphon's Sonata Allegro preamp
($14,000). The Gryphon Mikado CD Player
($12,000) was also in-house and sounded as
beautiful as I remember it in my listening
room (stay tuned for review). The ubiquitous
Rives PARC Room Correction ($2950) was also
used in yet another outstanding setup.
Synergistic Research Resolution Reference with
v. 2 Active shielding cabling was used
throughout. Power Conditioning was all
Balanced Power Technologies, featuring their BPT 3.5 Signature Line Conditioner. Equipment
rack used was HRS 4 shelf isolation rack
($7950)
English speaker designer
Derek Wilson has taken the Manger
driver and Talon Audio's Firebird woofer
technology and combined them to make a
loudspeaker named the Ovation
($40,000). He and originally met in at
the Frankfurt Show last spring, and he seemed
like a fellow who was possessed with making
his own version of a world class loudspeaker.
He showed me many photos of this design and,
personally, I thought it was some achievement
to build your own loudspeaker using world
famous drivers and Talon Audio's technology
being the big fan I am of their subs. I simply
wondered aloud how it could potentially sound.
Well, I finally got that chance to hear them
for myself. Using familiar electronics in the
Electrocompaniet amplifiers, pre and
EMC CD player, I must say that Overkill Audio
has something worthy in their first offering.
The sound was fast as lightening, and at the
same time, had some of the deepest and
tightest bass I heard at the show. Overall, I
would say the sound was a bit too forward for
my liking but it did impress everyone in the
room on most of the material I pulled out of
my CD collection. I requested a review sample
and will report my findings.
One of most exciting
products witnessed at this year's CES event
was the return of the ESP Concert Grands.
Shown above in the tmh Audio room
strapped to WAVAC amplifiers was
quite inviting sonically but not nearly as
inviting as it was in the Critical Mass
Audio setup. Can't explain it either but
there was a big difference between the two
rooms using the same loudspeakers with
Japanese tube electronics. The sound in the
tmh room was nice, real nice, yet I got the
immediate impression the speakers begged for
some needed breathing room. Perhaps burn-in
had something to do with their sound as well.
But listening to this setup
(right) had me literally pulling out all my
CD's and locking the door for what seemed like
hours of uninterrupted listening sessions.
This also should explain why this photo is
dark. My apologies but the room lights were
turned low and we all forgot to get them back
on when the session was over. The sound of
this room easily earned "Best Sound" for its
sheer musicality especially when one considers
the price of all electronics which were:
Alex Peychev-modified Philips SACD 1000
player (modification price $1,850 Alex's
website is www.aplhifi.com). You may not know
it unless you were in the room, but we were
playing Redbook almost exclusively, and the
sound was such that we never felt the urge to
play SACD's. The player has a tube output
stage. I understand from Alex that our own
Todd Mitchell has a review sample. So stay
tuned for an exclusive!
A Concert Fidelity preamp, the CF-040
($6,000) was used during the intense listening
session. Designer Masataka Tsuda (from
Japan) uses an extremely simple and refined
circuit, and he claims that the sound of the
best tube equipment should be the sound of the
tubes themselves (i.e., the better--purer and
simpler--the circuit, the more difference a
tube swap will make, which makes intuitive
sense). [Starting out with an Electro-Harmonix
12AU7, and switching to a set of NOS
Mullards, made everybody's jaw drop at the
difference.]
Power amps were also Concert Fidelity's 6B4G
parallel push-pull monoblocks ($14,000 per
pair with extremely low margins--these amps
are too expensive to produce, and if Mr. Tsuda
had name recognition, they would have to sell
for $20,000 or more I'm told). The same thing
happened with this amp when Mike Veretto,
owner of Critical Mass got some NOS
Sylvania tubes for the gain/driver stage
in place of the Electro-Harmonix 6SN7's.
This swap was done Friday night I'm told, and
I believe I arrived the next day. I'm told the
differences were not subtle. The amps use a
special circuit configuration in order to get
60 watts out of what is essentially the same
tube as a 2A3. I don't know how Mr. Tsuda does
this, and he probably wouldn't want to divulge
his secrets anyway, but the sound is much more
powerful than any 2A3-based amp, while
retaining a very high purity quotient.
Cabling and power conditioning were all by
Concert Fidelity, except for one interconnect
lent by Alex Peychev. "I would hope
that Mr. Tsuda attempts to market these,
but he has not figured out how to wind the
cables efficiently yet. They should be
sellable within six months" says Veretto - who
intends to price them very reasonably, not
because they aren't among the best he's heard
(Veretto uses them--"those were my personal
cables" he claims). "Besides, he correctly
asserts, I think it's unethical to charge too
much for cables."
Speakers were, of course, the ESP Concert
Grands, back after a six-year absence
(price: $25,000). They have all new drivers,
crossovers, wiring, and a new isobaric woofer
configuration. The box is still essentially
the same, and is built like the proverbial
brick you-know-what! Sean has been designing
for over twenty years, starting out on the
Beveridge electrostatics, and is a
perfectionist with an extremely deep knowledge
of speaker design, but he is first and
foremost a music lover who goes to live
concerts two or three times a week and enjoys
talking about music more than audio. Speaking
with him makes me appreciate just how speaker
design is as much art as science.
Stay tuned for more CES
coverage!
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