This room featured some of Musical Surroundings own gear as well as gear they import like Fosgate.

In this room they were running the AMG turntable through a Fosgate photo preamp into Aesthetix electronics and using a Magico Q1 speaker. This was all sitting on a HRS SXR rack. There were several things on static display, as we’ll see below. I did not spend much energy listening here – sometimes I just space out I guess.

This room used two 4-shelf HRS SXR racks instead of a side-by-side (double-wide). Not sure why.

A couple of shots of the Magico Q1 monitor (stand-mounted) speaker

A few more shots of the AMG (Analog Manufaktur Germany. Used to be Benz-AMG) turntable which we saw in the last room as well

Anyone else think the LPs on the AMG turntables in these rooms look kind of dirty?

The Fosgate Signature phono stage

The Aesthetix Pandora USB DAC. Guess they used this when not playing the turntable.

Aesthetix Rhea phono stage. Seems redundant given the Fosgate phono stage. Backup I guess.

The Aesthetix Calypso linestage.

On static display they had an all black AMG turntable. I like this look.

This is what the AMG plinth looks like with nothing on it. Very solid looking metal construction.

I think this is the AMG motor, a belt [the belt must be hidden underneath the platter during use] and what may be an arm pod.

The Fosgate Signature phono stage on static display

The Fosgate Signature Tube Headphone amp on static display

Musical Surroundings Phenomena II and NovaPhenomena Phono preamp on static display

Musical Surroundings Supernova II preamplifier on static display

The Musical Surroundings Fozgometer.

So… I guess this is used to determine if a mono source has an image directly between the two speakers like it is supposed to [instead of using one’s ears]?

OK.

The show reports kind of take on a life of their own, and this one is shaping up thus:

I will post about a weeks worth of photos and commentary here on the blog. I think I will try to keep the multiple-angle shots down to a low roar here on the blog [I tried to provide complete coverage of as many components as possible for the Gallery Database – when you are interested in a specific component, you want to see ALL the angles!].

I will then cross-post that weeks worth of photos and commentary in the Gallery version of the show report with its more impressive full-window-sized photos as well as an index so that a person can actually find specific rooms without having to use Google.

Then I will resume the show reportage here on the blog for another week… and so on and so forth.

Make sense?

Comments? Suggestions?

I am putting up the report for each room in the order that I encountered it at the show. First floor 29, then some of 30, then up to 34 and 35, then, I think, part of THE Show, the rest of 30 – and finally with the last of THE Show [essentially the long hallway on floor 4].

I did miss a few rooms: Avantgarde, Soundlab, Golden Ear, Harmon, and a couple others not as well known. Hopefully they are all that I missed – maybe 6-8 rooms. VTL did not let me in their room – either because they were talking super secret business [with their door still ajar] or whatever. A couple of other rooms had their doors locked [sometimes this happens by accident, sometimes because I got there right at closing, sometimes because they just didn’t make it to the show] – I went back to a few of these and did get photos of Chapman and another whose name does not immediately come to mind.

Musical Surroundings is the distributor (importer) for Aesthetix and AMG.

This system was more musical – the notes more harmonically rich and a little more natural bloom on the dynamics of the notes – than most Aesthetix / Vandersteen systems I have heard, most of which had a Clearaudio turntable instead of this AMG turntable. Whether the AMG turntable is more musical, or the cartridge it was using is more musical, or they retubed the Aesthetix in such a way as to be more musical, I don’t know.

The AMG turntable appeared in several rooms [and I think beyond just the other Musical Surroundings rooms].

The AMG turntable

The AMG turntable

The AMG turntable

The HRS SXR equipment rack, full of equipment. HRS had their racks in 14 rooms at CES this year.

The new Vandersteen 5a Carbon speakers

The new Vandersteen 5a Carbon speakers

Aesthetix preamp

Aesthetix Romulus CD Player

Aesthetix Atlas amplifier

They had a couple of open chassis on static display. I tried to photograph the front, then the innards. Not sure what this one is.. perhaps a phono stage.

The Aesthetix Callisto Eclipse preamp also had an open chassis…

The Aesthetix Callisto Eclipse preamp ‘s electronic guts…