Ascendo/Virtual Dynamics/CAT
The Ascendo room was put together by Darren
Censullo of the Avatar Acoustics, new and
proud distributor of Ascendo loudspeakers. The
room sounded outstanding, dynamic, three
dimensional and was able to reproduce a
realistic, richly detailed soundstage of the
full orchestral music and, yes, it was music
to my ears with a luscious midrange to lust
for. It gave me a sense of the live concert
experience.
 The
Ascendo System M ($45K with a Chrome stand and
black lacquer finish) was paired with a
humongous pair of the CAT JL-3 monoblocks
(photo left, $30K) along with the CAT Ultimate
Pre ($7K) and the Combak Reimyo CDP777 CD
Player ($14K). All cabling was by Rick Schultz
using Virtual Dynamic’s new top- of- the line
Revelation Series cables with speed of light
technology. These cables are really
remarkable. They were dynamic, with tremendous
power and speed and an organic sound. Lastly,
the room was tuned by the Acoustic System guru
himself, Franck Tchang using his his Acoustic
Resonators. The overall effect of Mr. Tchang’s
magic was to raise the musical bar. He did
with a lot of doubting Thomas' in the room at
that. He actually had one of his Silver
Resonators at the back of the room and,
playing a joke on a show attendee, actually
took it on and off the wall, causing this
listener to comment the "stage continues to
get deeper, then wider. Then come back. Why"
Luminance Audio/Virtual
Dynamics/Sistrum/Acoustic Systems
 The
Luminance Audio Threshold amplifier ($3K)
driving the Ascendo System E ($12,500) and the
Linn CD12 was hosting all CDs while a Reimyo
CAT-777 preamplifier controlled the output.
All cabling was Rick Schulz’s (photo left) VD
Master Series cables incorporating a Balanced
Interconnect ($2,200/Mt), Speaker Cables
($2,200/8Ft) and Power cord ($2,200/5Ft). The
Sistrum Isolation 4-tier platform ($3K) was
used. And again, Acoustic System’s resident
sound magician Franck Tchang tuned the room
with a cache of his Acoustic Resonators. This
time however, after one demonstration, Rick
Schultz became a believer of his Resonator
technology.
This room produced absolutely stellar sound. I
have never heard the System E sound this good,
especially under show conditions in a small
space, and this wasn't my first time hearing
this little brother to my reference System Z.
The system sounded fast and super transparent
yet very intimate and musical. Not an easy
feat. A friend of mine owns a pair of the
System E and they sound very good but not as
good as what I experienced in the Luminance
Audio room. Without having to drop names, the
electronics my buddy owns costs 4 times the
asking price of this Luminance Threshold
amplifier. Luminance is a new amplifier
company co-founded by Rick Schulz of Virtual
Dynamics and Steve Kaiser and Mike Tseng. The
newly designed Luminance Audio (rated at 150/w
per channel sounded more powerful than its
rated power). It incorporates Rick Schulz’s
revolutionary Speed of Light Technology. Its
inherent nature is one that is fast. No, make
that Super-fast. Boasting a slew rate of 250
volts per microseconds says Schultz, which is
astonishing when compared to even the fastest
solid state designs.
Von Schweikert Audio/DarTZeel/EMM Labs/Jena
Labs
The Von Schweikert Audio new VR-9SE ($60K)
loudspeaker is a scaled down version of their
flagship $125K VR-11SE. The sound of this
space gave me an invitation to sit and enjoy.
And enjoy I did. The dynamics, the openness
the sound-field, in association with a very
natural ebb and flow to the music was just
what I expected from Albert Von Schweikert
high-ticket products. I got it in spades! The
loudspeaker produced a deep bass which was
full-bodied but simultaneously very well
controlled and superbly tight. On first blush,
I found this mini-VR11SE as beautifully made
two-piece stacking system. Thank your lucky
stars it is a two-piece because its total
weight is close to 400 lbs.
 A
good part of this heft comes from the woofer
section which houses twin 9” Excel
magnesium-coned front-firing woofers that
handle midbass down to 40 Hz. A 15” rear
firing powered subwoofer covers down to 10 Hz
with built in 1,000-watt Class D amplifier.
For the midrange, it uses 1 –7” midrange
driver and lower treble range is handled by a
1-1.5” Dual Ring Revelator, while the upper
range is managed by a 5” aluminum foil ribbon
up to 100 Khz. It uses a 5” ribbon rear-firing
Ambience Retrieval driver. The Swiss DarTZeel
($13K/each) 100-watt amplifier drove the
VR9-SE, in vertical bi-amp mode. The
impressive multi-channel EMM Labs Switchman
preamp ($8K) and SACD transport/DAC ($16K
combo) and the attractive Silent Running Audio
Isolation Rack ($10K) support the electronics.
Finally, Jena Labs woven copper cables were
used.
Despite poor weather, low attendance and a lack of
warm desert sun, Vegas is still the ultimate CES. The sound made all of us forget the rain
outside and I didn’t even have time to loose
money at the blackjack tables!
Key Kim
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