I visited this room twice, the second time with Neli.

Franco Serblin was speaker designer at Sonus Faber and is now designing his own line speakers.

The first time I heard the just the Ktema speakers. The room seating was setup very strangely [see below. one seat in the sweet spot and one couch perched sideways, usually blocking access to the area behind the sweet spot. This made seating for 3 people, 2 of which were facing sideways to the system, one of which had their view and hearing blocked], making it very hard to listen w/o standing up, usually in front of someone else. So it was crowded. I did manage to force my way into the back and take the photo below.

The Ktema speakers sounded good, but I could not decide, in the time I had there, if it was the old Sonus Faber ‘sweetness with balls’ sound, the later Sonus Faber ‘sweet and polite’ sound, or something new. So I wanted to get back there. This was about 10am on the 2nd day.

When we did get back there, the last hour or so on the last day, it was mostly empty except for some German guy from Axiss, I think, who chatted up Neli for a half-hour or so – which gave me a long time to listen – this time to the Franco Serblin ACCORDO monitor speakers.

The Accordo speakers sound quite full, and I was surprised, when I got up close to take photos, that these were playing and not the Ktema. Neli didn’t believe me so SHE had to walk to the front too. These days this shouldn’t be all that surprising – many monitor speakers are sounding more full-range these days – but compared to the old Sonus Faber Electa and Extrema [we’ve lived with both], these give one more a feeling of full-range satisfaction.

Albert Porter wandered in and when I asked him what he thought of these, I think he was surprised that it was the monitors playing too – but overall he thought he did not like this kind of harmonic presentation. I never could find out what he meant. The Air Tight sound does have somewhat dull-sounding harmonics – but the monoblocks drove the speakers well, and the harmonics were even top to bottom and in good proportion to each other. And the tonality was close-enough to real that any differences did not bother me – and I am pretty sensitive to atonal sound, though I do not have ‘perfect pitch’ or anything. When we ended up in the Robert Lighton / Audio Note room, the harmonic colors were certainly more vivid – like the difference between, say, colors on a day when it is very humid and a day where the sun is bright with no humidity [I was going to say the different between the color of flowers on a cloudy day versus a sunny day – but think that is a little too stark. It is somewhere in-between these two lousy metaphors].

I think these speakers, now, are a cross between the old ‘ballsy’ Sonus Faber and the sweet and lovely detailed Sonus Faber designs, taking the best from both. I think these walk the middle line of having a good deal of pep but at the same time being more linear and well-behaved. Some a good amount of resolution, but not really focusing on it as intensely as, say, the Guarneri is.

That said, I would love to be able to hear these on an amp that is more likely to be used with these guys. Have no idea how hard they are to drive – Sonus Faber was all over the place [the Lamm ML2 18n watt SET works great on the Stradivarius, and nothing in this galaxy can truly drive the Extremas]. I can say that this was the best I have heard Air Tight sound.

Took a lot of photos, being there twice and all. The speakers, especially the Ktema, is strangely hard to photograph and not all that photogenic while still being quite fun to look at all the same.

We see here the crazy seating here in this room.

A more quiet time.

The only two Franco Serblin speakers at this point, the Ktema and Accordo.

The Franco Serblin Ktema ‘Proscenium’ loudspeaker [most people seem to drop the ‘Proscenium’].

The Franco Serblin Ktema loudspeaker

The Franco Serblin Ktema loudspeaker

The Franco Serblin loudspeakers

The Franco Serblin loudspeakers

The Franco Serblin Ktema loudspeaker

The Franco Serblin Ktema loudspeaker bottom, spikes

The Franco Serblin Ktema loudspeaker directly from the front, easy to see what the front really looks like.

The Franco Serblin Accordo monitor loudspeaker

The Franco Serblin Accordo monitor loudspeaker

Franco Serblin’s Accordo monitor loudspeaker

Franco Serblin’s Accordo monitor loudspeaker

Franco Serblin’s Accordo monitor loudspeaker

Franco Serblin’s Accordo monitor loudspeaker. The monitor speaker is rear ported.

Franco Serblin’s Accordo monitor loudspeaker closeup. Looks like it is signed by Franco Serblin on the top there, and you can see how the ‘strings’ are threaded to make the speaker front ‘cover’.

Franco Serblin’s Accordo monitor loudspeaker

Franco Serblin’s Accordo monitor loudspeaker directly from the front, makes it easier to see the drivers.

Air Tight ATM 3011 monoblock amplifier

Air Tight ATM 3011 monoblock amplifier

Air Tight ATM 3011 monoblock amplifier

Air Tight ATM 3011 monoblock amplifier

Air Tight ATM 300 amplifier

Air Tight ATC 2 preamplifier

Air Tight ATC 2 preamplifier

Accuphase DD6000 CD player

Several Transrotor turntables were on static display. This is the Transrotor ‘Fat Bob’ Plus TMD turntable

Transrotor ‘Fat Bob’ Plus TMD turntable

Transrotor Dark Star Reference turntable

Transrotor Dark Star Reference turntable

Transrotor Zet 3 turntable

Transrotor Zet 3 turntable

Unknown Transrotor turntable

Unknown Transrotor turntable

Air Tight PC-1 Supreme cartridfge

Air Tight PC-1 Supreme cartridfge

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I had forgotten I stopped by here in the middle of the 2nd day – and shot the backs of the speakers and the particular turntable they were using.

The rear of the Franco Serblin Ktema speaker

Rear of the Franco Serblin ‘Accordo’ monitor speaker. Looks like there is a second port near the bottom of the speaker that is covered/stuffed with something.

Rears of the Ktema and Accordo loudspeakers

The TAOC equipment rack in this room [the platforms look like those from Finite Elemente but the support structure does not. See comments]

The Transrotor Fat Bob turntable being played here sometimes

The Transrotor Fat Bob turntable

The morning walk from the Flamingo to the Venetian is along the Las Vegas ‘Strip’. It is between 40 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The skies are always flawlessly blue.

Not many people out

Caesar’s Palace is on the other side of the street .

Not many people drinking yet (a good sign).

They make the sidewalk take a little [100 yard] loop back away from the road and through a lot of vendors and other places they hope we will spend money at.

As we exit the loop, there are a cluster of the ubiquitous palm trees on the Strip. That is the Mirage’s sign over on the left behind the trees.

McDonalds, Las Vegas Strip-style. Apparently the busiest place at around 10am on the strip (not a good sign).

And here we are at the moving walkway that takes us to the Venetian proper. That is Treasure Island over there on the left.

Exiting the Venetian at the end of the first day of the show.

Too bad the blog is in reverse order like this.

Just imagine looking through all 40 rooms or so to this point and then entering this fantasy world of light and color and partying people [although we do have to transition to the outside by traversing the casino – another world not much related to reality].

Not sure whether to port the show up to this point to the Gallery / Database now, as planned, or continue on and fish the show report here on the blog. The blog is somewhat easier for humans and search engines to find.

I also feel burnout looming… looming… and I want to make sure to get at least one full version before that happens.

As I read other reports [OK, just Stereophile’s and JV’s (boy, what a mixed up report this is this year – from Marc Michelsonish (who must be on crack and listening to things from his villa on Pluto) room reviews to somewhat distressed angst over the Magico room – haven’t read the review but did read the comments – long story…)] I feel the temptation to post some kind of summary.

Summary: nothing was fantastic but a lot was very much worth listening to and investigating – and hardly any of them were the same as those that were interesting last year.

Hmmmm, for some reason that did not satisfy the itch. 🙂

OK, the interesting [in a good way] rooms this year were YG Acoustics/Tenor, YG Acoustics/Krell, Magico/Luxman(!), Venture(!)/Venture, Ktema/Air Tight(!), Von Schweikert(!)/Audio Power Labs, Kondo/Kondo, and… to a minor degree the big Magico/mystery amps room [only because despite the extreme problems with the sound here this was the only Magico system ever, from the Magico Mini onward, that sounded RELAXED and not stifled and constipated and under-powered. Big and open Magico has until now been an oxymoron] and to a lesser extent, the big Sonus Faber/? system [usually you pay more, a lot more, and get LESS colored, but there is no rule it has to be that way, now is there?]

I do really want to post summaries at the end of the report, and not in the middle, otherwise they will just get lost.