A lot of photos should be forthcoming…. After a few glitches with getting the crates from downstairs to our room [they st6arted arriving about 1pm], setup went well.

The fact that the material of the left wall is different from that of the right, the fact that there is a huge (HUGH) buffet thing along one wall, does not make for a perfect sounding room. The long wall is an option, but seating is so awkward in those kinds of setups at shows – everyone having to walk in front of the listeners, and everyone being nearfield… Don’t get me wrong, these speakers make great super-sized headphones, but… 🙂

Acapella Cellini High loudspeakers and LaMusika integrate amplifier; Audio Note CDT-Five transport and Fifth Element DAC and its Fifth Force power supply – all on HRS’s SXR equipment rack with M3X platforms and Nimbus.

What we are taking to the Chicago Axpona 2018 high-end-audio show:

Acapella Cellini High loudspeakers
Acapella Audio Arts has been building loudspeakers and audio electronics in Germany for almost 40 years. The inventor of spherical horns, Acapella recently introduced a new hyperspherical midrange horn, provides improved integration and ease of placement in listening rooms. The Cellini High offers Acapella’s extraordinarily open and transparent sound in a more compact home loudspeaker.
67 inches tall. 265 lbs. Sensitivity: 91 dB. Impedance: 8 ohms. Minimum amp power: 15 watts. Bass drivers: 2 x 10 inch (1 isobaric). Horn loaded midrange. Acapella’s incomparable TW1s ION (plasma) tweeter.

Acapella LaMusika integrated amplifier
Musical and authoritative hybrid integrated amplifier. Voltage amplification with Valve (E182CC) first gain stage and MOSFET output stage. Transformer coupled balanced inputs. Compact size facilitates optimally short signal paths.

Audio Note UK CDT Five transport
Level Five redbook CD transport. Valve digital output stage with valve rectified power supply. Custom output transformer. Rigid aluminium chassis with top loading in-house modified Philips CD Pro2LF mechanism mounted on sprung ub-chassis (suspension derived from TT Three Reference). Audio Note PALLAS used for internal digital signal transfer.

Audio Note UK Fifth Element DAC with Fifth Force external power supply
Audio Note’s flagship level 5 digital to analogue converter. Valve input buffer (matched to the CDT Five). Custom, individually adjusted, all silver wired I/V interface transformer (similar to the S9 stepup). Transformer coupled balanced outputs. Valve regulated power supply in separate chassis, with better mains transformers and many other improvements.

Cabling from Acapella and Audio Note UK
Acapella’s LaMusika Reference interconnect, loudspeaker and power cables. Solid silver conductors. Ceramic insulated. Audio Note’s Pallas low capacitance digital interconnect. Developed for small-signal applications. Palladium plated silver foil in air dielectric. Audio Note’s SOOTTO (silver) and ISIS (copper) power cables. Three 50-strand high purity conductors per cable.

HRS SXR equipment stand with M3x Isolation Bases
Harmonic Resolution Systems machined aluminum equipment stand frame designed for optimum isolation base perfomance. Reference level M3x bases are optimized for individual electronics. Frame leveling system with locking feature for stability. Unlimited expandability