January 9, 2003, CES officially begins and I arrived in Las Vegas in one piece, thank God. The town looked alive and kicking from the Boeing 737 I swooped into town on. From the large crowds, especially the 60-minute taxi wait at the airport, I knew this show was going to be different from last year's dismal attendance due to the events of September 11, 2001.

Making it to my hotel room at the San Remo, which incidentally was to be where T.H.E. Show was being held, took all of a 15-minute taxi ride, a fraction of the time waiting for one. Once in the lobby with all the craps and roulette tables on display, I couldn't help but test my luck at the Blackjack table. I won $100.00 in less than 15-minutes.

CES hadn't felt this good in years, thanks to all those manufacturers that showed up this year with what seemed like a new commitment to excellence. Without question almost all rooms sounded good. Some sounded very good, while a few sounded absolutely incredible. Okay, shall I take you through some of the rooms that sounded very good?

By late evening I found myself lounging at the bar ordering double shots of Pepsi with my boys Jim Merod, Greg Weaver, Leon Rivken and Oliver Solomon of Delve Audio. Sitting right next to us was the gang of the Australian importers of the Danish DALI loudspeaker, who by the way, introduced their Euphonia line of loudspeakers this year. They sounded so good and created such buzz, I believe they were the surprise of the entire CES. From left to right: a partial view of the Euphonia CS4 model center channel, a single RS3 rear speaker, their reference floor stander in the MS5, the ultra reference DALI Megaline and the less intimidating floor standing loudspeaker in the MS4 model. Their reference $45,000 Megaline is a magnificent transducer of the highest order, but its price and size may thwart a potential purchaser who, like me, doesn't have either to space or the, ahem, cash. The MS5 ($12,000) or the 2-way MS4 ($7,500) in particular, once heard, could make you quite a happy camper. With an all Audio Research setup leading the way via copious runs of Scot Davenport's Wasatch Cable cables, the MS4's sound, which by the way, uses that fancy looking patented DALI planar tweeter plus a 1" soft-dome (which designates it as a 2.5 way), was so impressive I personally wanted to get the other speakers out of the room to really get an idea of just how good a loudspeaker it really was. Dynamic, effortless, rich and full-bodied were just some of the adjectives I'd use to describe its sound each time someone mentioned the room. Very rarely do you hear so many comments this positive on the sound of one loudspeaker.

Acoustic Dreams

My, my what long legs you have! This Vyger Indian Signature turntable had a lot of us gasping with its looks as well as sonics. Muddy Water's Folk Singer sounded delightfully pure in that analogue-ish way that made me think of a way I could upgrade to something like this, minus the $36,000 sticker price. Guess that's why they call it the Signature.

The Vyger Signature played through this rig was something most of us can only dream of having. The rack system is made by the Lumen White importer Bruce Featherling and has a striking appearance. Here was a sound that was luscious as all get-out, yet detailed to the nth degree. This system was comprised of the Lumen White loudspeaker strapped to a pair of Viac amplifiers. The digital front end was provided by dCS while preamplification was via the Hovland HP-100.

The Damoka Room @ The Show

Damoka's David Karmeli room featured what only can be described as a blast from the past. The enormous Siemens Bionor open baffled horn loudspeakers (circa 1960) which, by the way were in mint condition, measured an amazing 6 feet high and a staggering 8 feet wide. While they took up most of the listening wall, they literally disappeared once the lights were set low, the gawkers got seated and the music started. After spending time in Tokyo covering the 2000 Singapore Show, I saw plenty of rooms sporting this very same type setup with a sound that was nothing like I've heard repeated here in the US. Single ended triodes and large horn-loaded loudspeakers are as common over there as Corn Flakes are here.

This system's analogue front end consisted of The American Sound Turntable weighing in at over 440 lb., featuring two SME 3012 tonearms, one using the Shelter 901 cartridge while the other was equipped with the vintage Autofon SEU Mono. The phono stage featured the Lamm LP2 ($6,900) which digital was fronted by the CEC TL-0 ($17,900) for the first day, until it broke from shipping. It fed zeros and ones into the new highly touted Weiss Medea dac ($10,000). The preamp was the Lamm L2 ($13,690) while all amplification was the Lamm ML2's $29,900). All cabling was by Strerovox.

Needless to say, physically, the sound of this room was purposely designed for discerning audiophiles who would not contemplate such a grand setup for themselves, but musically, fully appreciate it. This is art at its zenith. The sound was at once liquid and fluid. As big as this setup, it reproduced violin as delicate and harmonically truthful, with proper size, as one could ask. Congratulations to David Karmeli for reminding all of us what this is all about…the music.

Speaking of large… the Avantgarde room featured four Basshorns ($10,000 ea) centered between a pair of Avantgarde Trios ($28,000). The sound was impressive while a bit intimidating when one considers the size and space requirements for a system like this. That said, once I got myself into a good seat and put on my blues sampler, the sound took me hostage with its expansiveness and ease of flow.

The static display of the Avantgarde Solo shown here made me think of the possibilities after hearing its bigger brother.

Gordon Rankin's Wavelength Napoleon New Century Edition 300B amplifiers ($20,000), shown strapped to a pair 3^RD ReTHM paper-cone, super-efficient loudspeakers ($4,100). This setup seemed more apropos for a room of my size. And the sound, though not powerful enough for my tastes, sounded delightful in the areas of tone, harmonics and transparency, the very thing SE devices and efficient loudspeakers are famous for.

Zanden Audio showed up debuting their newest amplifier in the 75-watt Zanden Model 9500 ($30,000), which, in my opinion, looked drop dead gorgeous with its 845 tube recessed behind its slick chrome finish and visible only through its sexy circular window. The sound heard through the Ascendo System M, a huge German-made, three-way loudspeaker (about $25,000) sported an impressive top-end but I think overall, it was too much for this room's small boundaries. The speaker was screaming for room to breathe so it could come alive. I'm a big fan of the Zanden sound and can tell you there are very few amplifiers I've heard that can reproduce midrange better. My only wish is that the Talons were more sensitive a load to drive the Model 7000's 12-watts I've in-house. These 75-watt babies might just do the trick…except their asking price is a little more than this reviewer can afford. Guess that's why God invented the age-old art of dreaming.

A real-world work of art came out of the SLS room using my favorite amplifier, the Bel Canto. Here are three S8R's used in a SACD surround demo that was very impressive sounding. More impressive than the sound of this true studio monitor, employing its own proprietary 5" ribbon and 8" woofer, was its price at $2,100 a pair. In my opinion that's a lot of loudspeaker for the money.

Tweaker's Delight

Mr.Kiuchi, the man behind Harmonix resonance control and Combak Corp fame, stands proudly beside his newest arsenal of electronics called Reimyo. These mega sophisticated components were music to my ears, but if I were forced to single out any one component, I think their Bravo loudspeakers were quite special, and something therefore to watch out for. Designed for the small listening space when purchased without their optional subwoofer, this mini-monitor ($5,000), whose design is based on the closed box principle, using a proprietary Point-Source coaxial driver, really shone through the vigorous demonstrations using all my favorite CD's. I was duly impressed but now my hunch was "such glorious sound wasn't coming out of these loudspeakers alone."

With that, my attention quickly turned to an amazingly attractive Reimyo CDP-777 CD player staring at me. At $15,000, it isn't cheap but I'd be damned if this were just another CD player. Built like a cross between the formidable Sony SCD1 and one of those huge Accuphase players, with the capability of upsampling standard redbook 16/44 up to 176.4 kHz. Hey, marketing guys can claim to build a machine that upsampled upsamplers but the proof…you know it, is always in how it sounds. And this digital dynamo had me reeling over its ability to play everything I threw at it, regardless of the complexity, with such liquidity and ease it made you take notice this was not ordinary CD sound, no matter the upsampling rate. Of course, the room's small dimensions couldn't sustain all the low-end notes, but that's to be expected. Still, I personally felt this could have been one of the best sounds at the show, particularly when you take the room's small size into consideration. Of course it didn't hurt either that the system was being driven with the Reimyo PAT-777 ($27,000), boasting the world's first single-ended design using a SE 300B OUTPUT tube. I don't know if that's a world first but I can tell you the room was certainly world class.

tmh Audio

The tmh audio room looked quite familiar, as they used the very same Sistrum Rack I do and the Sony SCD1 Super Audio CD Player. This Sony, I'm told, was in a modified form. Isolated nicely was the new WAVAC "transformer coupled" line stage preamplifier. Smart is what I was thinking right from the git-go. That said, the debut of their new line of Peak Consult Incognito monitors wasn't usual in the least. This alluring 92-pound two-way featured an ultra-customized Revelator tweeter and Audio Technology midbass driver while its innards boast Vishay resistors, Mundorf Supreme Caps and X-coil inductors. All the marketing hype aside, I liked the Incognito's effortlessness and its ability for the music to come from a space rather than a place (which is terribly difficult under showroom conditions). Imagine what these might sound like when carefully setup over a period of many weeks? Any mini-monitor priced at $11,000 that doesn't do low bass is too expensive in my book. I've got to admit that what they do well, which is disappear against a vast and deep stage, especially when strapped to those heavenly WAVAC 805 monos ($15,000), make them highly desirable.

Two new hot items were unveiled to the press in Meadowlark Audio's suite. Meadowlark Audio's sexy and curvaceous Blue Heron 2 ($12,000), that I reported while on my field trip back in November, looked better than I remembered, while designers Mark O'Brien and Phil Koch kept the press anxiously awaiting Rogue Audio's new Zeus amplifier ($5,995).

Rated at 250 watts in ultralinear and 170 watts in triode, this huge amplifier drove the Blue Heron 2's with aplomb. I think the Rogue Zeus amplifier, based on its dexterity and power, could very well be one of the best deals going in audio today. In terms of price per pound…most certainly! Showing with Avid's Acutus turntable ($10,000)

The sound took on further dimensions of harmonics sounding right. Now with the system composed of all Acoustic Zen cabling, how could anyone really fault this room's sonics.