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2005 CES/THE Show – Part
Deux
Big Speakers!
Let’s face it. Nothing gets the
Neanderthal gene pumped up more than a nice,
beefy, bass-pulsing, chest-thumping,
sidewalk-cracking, relationship-killing pair
of speakers. Of course it would be even nicer
if they also reproduced music in a realistic
manner. Fortunately, most of the behemoths I
heard during the CES/Show weekend did just
that. Here are just some of my favorites:
 Let’s
face it; Usher Audio produces some of the
biggest bargains in high-end audio. I couldn’t
count the number of times people gasped at the
prices of this beautiful line of speakers from
Taiwan. This year they’ve upgraded their
popular “Dancer Series” loudspeakers with
Beryllium Oxide (BeO) drivers, and all I can
say is WOW! I reviewed the wonderful AC10
loudspeaker more than a year ago and this year
I’m hopeful of getting my paws on the new BE10
or BE20 (no price yet). But at this show it
was the 8871 mkII speakers ($9,660), which
were blowing away the large groups of
show-goers that were constantly gathering in
the Usher room. I also got the added thrill of
meeting Dr. Joseph D’Appolito himself. I
couldn’t help but tell him how great I thought
it was that he would participate in the design
of such wonderful and affordable speakers. He
told me that what was even better was that he
gets them for free. What a cool guy!
Viola Audio Labs
(photo above) features the designs of Tom
Colangelo and Paul Jayson, part of the brain
trust behind the legendary Cello electronics
company that made statement products during
most of the 90’s and was headed by Mark
Levinson. But for the past couple of years
Viola has been something of an enigma in the
US while being considerably more active and
visible overseas. This is unfortunate because
they produce a spectacular line of stunningly
beautiful and outrageously well-built
components. Their Allegro Reference Monitors
and Basso Passive Subwoofer sounded as huge as
they looked being driven by the elegantly
styled, Symphony stereo power amplifier and
Cadenza preamplifier. Also in the room were
their awe-inspiring statement products, the
two-box Bravo stereo amplifier and two-box
Spirito preamplifier. I won’t bother telling
you the prices because this stuff falls into
the “if you have to ask the price, you can’t
afford it” category. Should you be fortunate
enough to see and hear this gear in person,
you’ll know how much it costs.
 Wisdom
Audio (right) has long been one of my favorite
loudspeaker companies and it was a pleasure to
visit their room once again. Over in the T.H.E.
Show’s Golden Section, a special part of the
show adjacent to the St Tropez rooms, they
were featuring the new “Neo Series” NS-87i
in-wall speakers and NS-50i in-wall center
channel speaker, and 7-B subwoofer, in a home
theater system that was showing a very nice
DVD of a Diana Krall concert. In another
system, the M-50s were being used with Edge
Electronics’ excellent “G” Series components.
But as I am partial to the affordable end of
most high-end companies, one of my favorite
sounds at the show came from the Wisdom NS-27s
being mated with the Edge G3 integrated amp
and a Pioneer CD player.
The Duevel speaker line features
omni-directional tweeter/midrange drivers atop
beautifully veneered cabinets. Their new
top-of-the-line Jupiter loudspeakers ($26,700)
were powered by a Pluto Audio analog rig, the
VRS Audio Systems hard-drive server and the
great VAC Phi Beta Integrated. The sound was
absolutely holographic though the high traffic
in this room did not allow me the best chance
to really get into them. Look for a review
this year.
Focus Audio
demonstrated their stunning looking and
sounding Master Three loudspeaker ($19,200) at
Alexis Park this year. The Master Three
features much of the same technology and
physical appearance of its big brother the
Master Two but at a lower price and more
manageable size, though at nearly six feet
tall and almost 200 lbs they are still
formidable.
 The
Pierre Gabriel Grand Master loudspeakers
($50,000) must be seen and heard to be
believed. At six feet and 1,000 lbs/pair they
are huge, well-built, and drop-dead gorgeous
yet shockingly detailed. These aren’t just
speakers that are big for the sake of being
big, they are designed to cover as much of the
musical spectrum as is accurately possible.
Under show conditions this can be tough but
bolstered by Jadis electronics and Pierre
Gabriel Signature cables that tube magic,
characterized by lots of detail and imaging,
also has believable scale and weight through
this speaker. Excellent!
There were many more big loveable and
wonderful sounding speakers that deserve
mention as well such as designs from: Pearl
Audio, Rockport Technologies, Epiphany Audio,
Von Schweikert Audio, ESP and PBN Montana.
You’d better believe that we’ll be seeking to
review many of these in the future.
So that’s it for me this year. Time to sift
through all of the business cards, notations,
and literature. I would like to thanks all of
the great people who made this year’s show so
enjoyable in spite of the weather. I’m already
looking forward to next year and hope to tell
you more about some exciting new companies and
new things from some exciting old companies.
Until then, peace!
Dave Thomas
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