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Consumer Electronics Show – 2006
Bill Wells
 As
the plane touched down for my arrival in Las
Vegas for this year’s CES, a bright, sun-filed
sky and slightly cool but quickly warming
temperatures greeted me. Quite a departure
from the gray, overcast skies of Minnesota
that I had just left a few hours ago so I felt
energized and ready to go. Only thing I needed
to do was wait for the arrival of our
illustrious editor, Dave Thomas and
Jazz/equipment reporter Craig Fitzpatrick,
whose planes would be arriving hopefully
within an hour or so of my arrival. With a bit
of time on my hands, decided to grab a quick
breakfast while still at the LV airport and by
the time I was done, it was time to head down
to baggage claim, retrieve my luggage and head
over to where the other’s luggage would be.
Once we were all assembled and with it still
being relatively early, we were able to grab a
quick cab and head off to the hotel where we
would drop off our luggage. By now, the sun’s
rays were warming up nicely and the stage was
being set for a wonderful visit. This was my
first time back to CES for a number of years
so I was anxious to get started. First stop
was registration and that process actually
went very smoothly with only a minor
correction to my badge.
Our first stop
was the Audes exhibit. There they had two
separate rooms with a number of different
speakers from their speaker line.
 The
main room featured the Audes Excellence 5
speakers, $5,000 retail, powered by Balanced
Audio Technologies electronics including their
top of the line VK51SE line stage, VK55 stereo
tube amplifier and VKCD5SE CD player. Speakers
sport a slim profile, are very attractive with
a nice finish and feature European
handcraftsmanship. Cardas connectors are used
for single wiring. Sound was good overall and
with it being so early in the first day, they
were still tweaking the room to get the best
possible sound.
In their second room (photo left), the Audes
Excellence 1 speakers ($1,499 retail) were
mated with Roksan electronics. The sound in
this room was also very good with the speakers
providing a very revealing and clear midrange.
Additionally, the midbass reproduction was
good and speakers were open and smooth
overall.
 Next
stop was the Cary suite where they had their
electronics mated to a pair of the Dynaudio
Confidence C4 loudspeakers. Specifically, the
Cary 306 preamp and 306 SACD player were on
the front end of this very good sounding
exhibit. In particular, the sound was full,
dynamic, open, clear, detailed and smooth with
a very natural tonal balance along with
excellent sound staging and good depth.
Playing one of my favorite recordings, Ray
Brown’s Soular Energy, the highs were
extended, airy and sweet, piano was clear with
solid impact and the bass was powerful, deep
and detailed. Overall a very good showing for
Cary that came as no surprise.
 Seeing
a sign pointing to the Audio Research suite
caused me to alter my direction and soon I
found myself immersed in sound that was
absolutely captivating. In this room, ARC had
assembled a very serious system of tube
electronics including their highly acclaimed
REF 3 line-stage preamplifier ($9,995), REF
210 mono block amplifiers ($19,990 pr.), brand
new REF CD7 one-box digital player ($8,995)
and new PH7 phono stage ($5,995). These
components were coupled to VPI Super
Scoutmaster Signature turntable with the JMW 9
Signature tone arm and Dynavector DRT XV-1S
cartridge. Speakers were the Wilson Audio
Sophia Series 2 with cabling by Shunyata
(interconnects and power cords) and Cardas
(speaker cables). Along with this, Richard
Gray Power Company products for used for AC
line conditioning.
The sound in this room was absolutely
gorgeous, very musical with a richness that
was wonderfully delicious. There was a
cohesiveness and tonal correctness to the
sound, along with an organic quality that made
you feel a part of the music yet everything
was smooth, delicate, light, open and airy.
The midrange and highs were clear and
expressive. Playing everything from vocals to
jazz to R & B, the sound never failed to
impress. Clearly one of the most outstanding
sounds at the show.
 Having
a long fascination of planar type speakers, I
trotted over for a quick visit at the Analysis
Audio suite. Here they were featuring the
Omega speaker which is a full range
planar-ribbon loudspeaker retailing at
$14,990. With its’ Apogee like look, the sound
was excellent, good balance, open, expressive
with great mids, good upper bass (body),
detail and natural decay with cymbals and
similar percussive instruments. As with many
speakers of this type, there was a noticeable
sweet spot where the sound really came
together. Speakers were connected with a
variety of different HGA cables to either the
tweeters or bass panels. Electronics used were
the Ray Samuels Audio Stealth tube
preamplifier ($2495), Emmeline XR-10B phono
stage ($4500), Antigue Sound Labs AQ1009 mono
tube amplifiers ($5600 pr.) along with Bybee
Power Golden Goddess power cords, ($1250).
Digital playback was provided by the new Audio
Research REF CD7 tube CD player and analog
duties were covered by a VPI Super Scoutmaster
Signature turntable. Equipment was housed in
an MK Audio equipment rack.
 Next
stop was at the Cerious Technologies suite.
This is a relatively new company based in
Lansing, MI. They were using a pair of their
Model 2.2 loudspeakers that are comprised of
their satellites ($3800) along with a
self-powered subwoofer ($4000). Electronics
used were an HCAT preamp along with an
Electrocompanient 75 watt amplifier. Sonically
the presentation was very good and listening
to the superb Milt Jackson on vibes was very
lifelike and highly musical. This is a company
the is serious (no pun intended) about getting
the music right and I would expect to hear
more from them in the future.
Stopping by the WAVAC suite took me in a
totally different direction. Sound was superb
but this suite had to be one of the more
costly rooms I visited. Unfortunately, the
room was a bit too small to fully appreciate
all the wonderful gear assembled however I was
able to get a handle of its overall
performance. System consisted of speakers by
Venture ($87,000), WAVAC mono block amps
($47,000 pr.) and all connected by various
types of Prana Wires (Joseph Cohen designs).
Analog playback duties came via the new and
very expensive Continuum Caliburn turntable
along with its companion Cobra tone arm
($65,000 for both). Included in this display
was the Castellon stand for the table that
provides a totally complete look ($24,999).
This is a very serious product from Australia.
What I heard was a crystal clear, very
neutral, linear, open sound with transients
that were dead on. Bass was good but due to
the room size, the sound in this region wasn’t
able to fully open up. For the most part, felt
like the speakers needed a bit more room to
the sidewalls. However listening to voice and
piano the sound was killer. Midrange was
gorgeous and highs were fast and precise. Very
obvious see-thru quality with great
transparency although not cold. Musical colors
were all there. Sound overall was pure and
very musical.
 A
surprise for me occurred when I stuck my head
in the Berning suite. This system consisted of
the Peak Consult Empress speakers powered by a
combination of Berning electronics. These
included his Micro Z headphone amp used as a
preamp. At $750 for this unit I was stunned.
This was connected to his Zero-Hysteresis (ZH)
270 stereo tube amplifier that produces 70
watts per channel and was used from 200 hertz
down. Cost for this amp is $4,995. For driving
the top section of the speakers, the Berning
Ziefried OTL amp was in place. This mighty
10-watt amp drove the stink out of these
speakers and was used from 200 cycles up. The
cost for this amp is $5,750. Overall – the
sound in this suite rocked. It could easily be
as delicate as you could imagine. On the other
hand, throw some solid jazz or hard-hitting. R
& B and you’d be surprised. Very dynamic, good
extension on top and bottom, open, deep and
clear soundstage. Wow – what a surprise.
Over at the Bosendorfer suite, this room was
laid out in a most elegant manner. As you
walked in, the first thing you notice is the
heavily jewel-laden piano. With this type of
visual impact, your expectation was gorgeous
sound is right at hand. Featured in their
system was the flagship Bosendorfer VC7
loudspeakers ($21,000). These are tall,
slender speakers with a outstanding piano
black finish. Powered by Art Audio monoblocks
mated to a Gill line stage, digital playback
duties came from the Einstein The Player and
all components connected via new and very
expensive cables from Dynamic Design. Overall
the sound was warm, full and very musical.
Initially the room was a bit over damped but
as time progressed, much of the draping was
removed and the sound opened up significantly.
These speakers are really quite good and I’m
hoping to get a pair in for review sometime in
the near future. Also would love to secure
those wonderful cables from Dynamic Designs to
get a better handle on their overall
capability.
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