CES 2012 – Constellation Audio


Constellation Audio electronics driving Tidal’s Contriva speakers.

It took a little while for me to realize here that these were Tidal speakers and not Venture speakers. This allowed for an interesting mental exercise where the sound I heard was being compared in my head to the typical sound of systems with Venture speakers [e.g. laid back, etc. But see review of room with new statement Venture speakers – it appears that they may be moving Venture to a more [midi-]dynamic sound].

I thought these had much more color, more separation, more dynamics than the typical Venture sound, And when I learned they were Tidal speakers, not Venture speakers, I *still* thought they had more of this than the previous Tidal speaker-fronted systems I have heard, as well [I’ve only head about 5 to 7, I think, so still learning about these speakers].

These were one of the few rooms at the show that had any kind of musical engagement for me [along with Verity / Lamm, Kondo / Kondo, Franco Serblin/ Air Tight, Von Schweikert / Audio Power Labs, and… ]. I am in a rush always at these shows, and sometimes my attention is completed dominated by conversation, but it is not like I was in any less rush in these rooms either [except the Franco Serblin ‘Accordo’ speaker-fronted system], not that I did not enjoy several other rooms [Magico/ Luixman, Venture / Venture, and…].

Come to think of it, I’ve enjoyed several of Constellation Audio’s rooms in the past as well. Not enough to rave about them yet – but then again, raving is not really my overriding personal characteristic [if you knew me better, trust me, you would agree 🙂 makes me wonder if I would really fit in as a member of the press after all… ;-)]


Constellation amplifier and Tidal loudspeakers


Constellation ‘Centaur’ stereo amplifier


Constellation ‘Centaur’ stereo amplifier


Constellation ‘Centaur’ stereo amplifier


Tidal ‘Contriva’ loudspeaker


Tidal’s Contriva loudspeaker


Tidal’s Contriva speaker


Tidal’s Contriva speaker bottom part


Constellation’s Virgo line stage on Harmonic Resolution System’s (HRS) SXR equipment rack


Constellation’s Virgo line stage


Constellation Audio’s Cygnus Media Player


Constellation Audio’s Cygnus Media Player


Constellation Audio’s power supplies


Constellation Audio ‘Hercules’ and ‘Centaur’ amplifiers