A tour of the rooms at VTV this year in Los Angeles, which is only part of the full show report is up on the web:
The Vacuum Tube Valley Show Report 2006 Day 1
Only a few exhibitors that I am familiar with are there this year: Audio Note, DeHaviland, Jumping Cactus…
Audio Note U.K. Ongaku 211-tube based SET integrated amplifier
The System: Marten Coltrane speakers, Lamm ML2.1 amplifiers, Jorma Prime speaker cable, HRS MXR equipment rack. Also Lamm L2 preamplifier, Audio Note CDT-Two and DAC 4.1x Balanced. Nordost and Shunyata cabling.
We mentioned how amazing this was sounding in our review of the Jorma ‘Prime’ interconnects.
What does does amazing mean?
Here is what amazing means:
The Coltrane speakers are so freakin revealing… The Jorma Prime cables are slightly more forward than their No. 1 and even the Valhalla, and this new effect was already taking hold. Now, with HRS’s MXR rack [we set it up yesterday, much more on this later :-)] in place of the Acoustic Dreams, the system sound is even more ‘present’.
We kind of take it for a given that the Coltrane speakers are a little laid back – given the highest quality, completely neutral components up front. But maybe not…
Witb these two new, admittedly over the top, additions to the system… the sound is much more of a engulfing, in the room type of experience.
Our good Canadian friend, Dave H., [you there Dave? Missed you in Monteal] used to talk about how he wanted the sound to come to him, to not have to focus on listening to what was being played, to have the sound ‘take control’ [my words] as it were.
The system was already subtley sinister in the way it would sneak up on a person and make one stop mid sentence, whether one wanted to or not, as the music Took Control.
But now, …
It is hard to move, much more hard to get up.
It is like ‘if I miss this next note, my life will have been worthless and empty’… ‘I must hear this next note!’
I think this house is going to be much more quiet now… because if we start playing any music, we aren’t going to get ANYTHING done.
[Though I am much more disclipined than Neli, and this system is on the same floor as her office. She, she is doomed. So if you can’t get her on the tele as easily as you could before today, you’ll know exactly why!]
And the new Audio Note CDT-Three transport just arrived. We are doomed! 
Well, THAT was a long title – let’s see how the Blog software handles it…
One variation of this little dance goes like this:
We loved our Audio Note CDT2 transport. Paired with the Audio Note 4.1x Balanced DAC there was not the slightest digital etch or hardness to the sound – and whatever slight imperfections that it did have, well, it did not detract from it being definitively state-of-the-art nor did it impact our enjoyment of the music in any way.
Then we met another transport, the CDT3.
“Hi transport” we say with low expectations dripping from our test CDs. Yes, it was an enjoyable time we spent together, it was certainly a very nice transport and was admittadly better in everyway – though in some ways it was more better than others ways where it was only slightly better, it was especially better in the areas of PRaT, harmonic content and continuousness/flow/momentum – we were glad to have met it.
[The CDT2 is slightly more dynamic in the midi-dynamic range – or perhaps it is just that the note envelopes rise faster and decay faster – so I could see some people who would like this more aggressive sound, less analog and less continuous sound better].
But it wasn’t like we were going to abandon our long time partner, the CDT2. The CDT2 was our first Audio Note transport and we owed it some loyalty. Right?
Or is this just loyalty to our emotional investment in our belief that this is a really good transport and sufficiently good for us to be able to enjoy it unconditionally, forever.
Well, now it has been a month since we have heard the CDT3 and …. we miss it terribly. The CDT2 now sounds old and irritable. We now see freckles on our CDT2 that seem to grow louder each day.
Well, you all know how this dance finishes. We hope our CDT3 will be able to move in any day now – and though we still love our CDT2 terribly, we think it will be happier with a more appreciative audiophile.
Been there? Done that? Rinse and Repeat?
People who have been in this hobby for a long time know enough to ask before hand…
“Do I dare to listen to this thing?”
Funny thing is, we almost always say, with trepidation in every fiber of our being….
“Ok….”
