Tyler Acoustics put together an impressive sounding room that featured their Tyler Acoustics Linbrook System II ($3500). I too have a pair of these very musical delights and find them to be among the few affordable reference-caliber loudspeakers. Here they are being driven by an all Coda setup that again was featuring Crystal Cable throughout. CD Player was the Jolida JD100. Once again, here's high-end sound done on a modest budget. Hats off to another excellent sounding room.      

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The Von Schweikert  Audio Larkspur suite featured once again the formidable VR9 loudspeaker ($60k) driven by a pair of vertically bi-amped dartZeel amplifiers ($18k ea) and new preamplifier ($?). EMM Labs dac and transport were providing all the digital wizardry and I must say the sound was quite good compliments of Jena Labs cabling as usual. I didn't get the chance to sit and listen here as much as I would have due to fact there was much to see that I had not  yet heard. Being familiar with this setup didn't get me as excited as the visitors seeing these electronics for the first time. The time I did have to sit was as impressive as the first. The sound was dynamic, warm and inviting in the way only the VR9s can recreate.

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Rusty Taub of Audiotion LLC, featured the VR4 SR loudspeaker ($8k) in a dark cherry veneer driven by Kevin Hayes' VAC Music Block amplifiers. Digital as well as analogue was all Oracle electronics. Oracle's CD2000 Transport ($7k) and 1000 DAC/pre ($7k) were put to good use next to an Oracle Delphi MkV 'table with SME-345 tonearm and Dynavector XX2 Cartridge. Notice AC noise was kept far away thanks to the Audience AdeptResponse AC Conditioner. All cabling was via Analysis Plus. I remember asking Rusty specifically whether the music was analogue because it sounded rich in overtones; something that only the best of the best in digital affords. His response was "yes, it is vinyl." The old boy can still hear! No one with common sense would qualify this room as affordable, but considering the other VR9 setup, you'd have to assume this is the affordable option (though the VR4jr is half the price). I still enjoyed the sound emanating from this room into the hallway right up to the listening chair.

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Robert Lee of Acoustic Zen smiles proudly next to his newest product in the Adagio loudspeaker ($3700). Employing a Kapton ribbon tweeter (don't let the look fool you) and dual 6 1/2" Underhung drivers, Lee informs this loudspeaker is up, running and ready for audiophiles of the world on a budget. A full fledge of Edge amplifiers were chosen to bring out the best in Lee's design and they did not disappoint. I look forward to having a pair in for review in the not too distant future. 

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Jeff Catalano of High Water Sound, located in New York City is one of those rare type personalities in that he intuitively has the ear for matching the right components together. If you think that's easy, go to any local audio salon, then go and visit High Water Sound. An audiophile who chooses to show his passion through exquisite components and careful matching is what Catalano is all about. Rare indeed.

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Came into this room to cool off and almost caught a heart attack!! Eminent Technology, the company known the world over for their planar loudspeakers introduced their TRW 17 Infrasonic Woofer ($12K). For this reviewer, the TRW has to be the most innovative product these ears have heard and eyes have seen in a very, very long time. Okay, to really know more you've got to visit their website at http://www.eminent-tech.com/main.html. It's a known fact that in order to produce anything audible (on a consistent level) below 20 Hz requires tons of amperage, power and one hell of a subwoofer. Moreover, most will not argue that to hear anything below, say 16 Hz is virtually impossible. Well, to date, I've not heard anything produce the effects heard as well as felt in this room using this propeller-type invention. I'm convinced, as well as everyone else in the room who took the time to sit through a demonstration, that this is perhaps the most impressive low-end I've ever heard. Will something like this work in a true two-channel setup? Dunno. I think the better question is, how much music exists out there that features octaves below 15 Hz, excepting classical music using those big pipe organs?

Issues? Yeah, I got a few.    Namely space. This propeller-type sub needs plenty of it. Perhaps a closet or a room unused would prove adequate. The photo right shows the demo unit was in an adjacent room with a enclosure built around it leading to the room where I, along with maybe a half-dozen others, sat and listened in total amazement. The room's walls, pictures and window literally shook for as long as test tones played. I'm not talking of the type tones that sounded boomy, distorted or even fake. These tones sounded like what a Talon Firebird only hints at for a fraction of a second, if at all on some of those movie soundtracks like the 5th Element and Braveheart. All I can say is this is one of those subs that French audiophile Jean Yves needs to experiment with. He's both the money, the room and the equipment to benefit from such a device. Hands down, the most impressive demo at the show. Who would have thought a music lover like me would be so taken by something like this. Presently, I'm cleaning out one of my closets....

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