Audio Federation - HE 2006 - Stereophile's Home Entertainment Show

SHOW REPORT
Home Entertainment Show
The Stereophile High-end Audio Show
Los Angeles, California
June 1st-4th, 2006

The 'Dailies'
Day 2 (Two)

* Denotes a product carried by Audio Federation

Home Store Rate My HiFi
Guide
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The new Metronome Technologie 'Gaia' turntable with a Graham Phantom arm in the Lamm* / Wilson room. Such a nicely balanced system. Add this turntable to the list of about 10 to 20 other turntables that really sound pretty good.

The Dynaudio / Simaudio Moon room. A big sound that sometimes sounds enjoyable and impressive but doesn't really sound much like the real notes on the CD

The Zu Cables and Loudspeakers room with Audiopax amplifiers and ModWright preamplifier, with the new Blu faceplate. Interesting sound with a definite 'character' that makes for easy listening. Need to listen more....maybe to something more familiar....that Kid A LP off to the left of our picture there....:-)

The 'untreated by Rives' room. Two rooms. Identical systems. One treated. One not. Well.... the treated one sounds better (though looks worse), especially at really, really loud volumes - as the notes don't bounce around the heavily dampened room whapping one in the head a few dozen times. Ugh. Those Rockport speakers go louddddddd. oh, Gryphon electronics, Kubala-Sosna cables, and HRS* MXR equipment rack.

The 'treated by Rives' room.

The Ferguson-Hill FH007 speakers, desktop-sized, IPod-driven.

The (yet another!) Wilson room driven by all Ayre electronics. Legenberg cables, by Capativa Technology.

The EarthQuake room.

The Dynaudio, XLH, Original, Critical Mass Systems, Jena Labs room.

The Focus Audio Master 3 loudspeakers driven by Vitus Audio amplification and the Aurum Acoustics Integris CD player

Cain & Cain speakers driven by Almarro electronics.

Verity Audio Parsifal loudspeakers driven by Nagra electronics and sources (CD, and hard-disk recorder) with Audion preamplification.

The Peak Consult 'Incognito X' loudspeakers, with David Berning amplification and Continuum turntable with Koetsu Onyx and Manley phono stage.

The Rethm loudspeakers room. A little too much midrange energy and too, too loud for my taste.

The Odyssey room - the speakers are not playing, by the way, just the paintings on the wall.

The JAS speakers with Esoteric source and NuForce amplifications.

The IsoMike room with B&W 800N loudspeakers and Pass Labs amplification driven by Emm Labs* digital equipment playing wonderfully nurtured music from a hard-drive recorder. Best we ever heard the IsoMike room sound, and this room was competitive with the best rooms at the show, even though the limitations of the speakers, amps, and cabinetry could be heard muddying up the works during complex passages.

The Nola speakers, Plinius and Antique Sound Lab amplifiers, two Kuzma turntables (one with the Airline linear tonearm), Plinius CD player and Pre, ASR phono stage. Good soundstage depth and presence, but.... characteristic lack of inner detail and the treble was punishing on CDs.

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