Pursuing the Ultimate Music Experiences

This should have been an interesting system but whether it was because the WideaLab’s Aurender S10, probably the weak link in the system, just wasn’t able to bring out the best of the first rate components in this room – or whatever – I don’t know.

But…

YG Acoustics Anat III Studio loudspeakers

YG Acoustics Anat III Studio loudspeakers

Vitus MP P201 CD player

Vitus MP P201 CD player

Vitus MP P201 CD player

Vitus RI-100 amplifier

Vitus RI-100 amplifier

WideaLab’s Aurender S10 was playing in this room

Tripoint’s Troy, a passive EMI/RFI filter

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

The dCS room featured the Wilson Sasha speakers on VTL amplifiers and preamp. Did not spend time listening here.

dCS digital with laptop on HRS SXR equipment rack

dCS digital with laptop on HRS SXR equipment rack

VTL Signature monoblock amplifier

Wilson Audio’s Sasha loudspeaker

Wilson Audio Sasha loudspeaker

dCS Paganini CD/SACD transport

dCS Paganini CD/SACD transport

dCS Debussy DAC

dCS Puccini U Clock

VTL’s TL 5.5 Series II Signature preamplifier

dCS Scarlatti Clock

dCS Scarlatti DAC with open chassis

dCS Scarlatti DAC with open chassis [closer view]

dCS Paganini digital stack

Basis just had their ‘Inspiration’ turntable on static display.

Basis ‘Inspiration’ turntable

Basis ‘Inspiration’ turntable specification

Basis ‘Inspiration’ turntable

Basis ‘Inspiration’ turntable

Basis ‘Inspiration’ turntable

Basis ‘Inspiration’ turntable from the rear

Not the best photo of the Basis Inspiration turntables’ power supply and vacuum system boxes.

The Estelon room – driven by Concert Fidelity electronics and a Palmer turntable.

The sound here did not really call attention to itself – by which I mean it was well-balanced and its character was hard to clarify.

Sometimes I think I hear a reticence between the upper mids and upper bass – but I heard none of that here.

It wasn’t emotionally engaging like the Kondo / Kondo room or the Verity / Lamm room. It wasn’t adolescent and punchy like the Magico / Luxman room. It was kind of charming and fun like the Ktema / Air Tight. It wasn’t big with good separation like the big Venture / Venture.

It just … was. The ceramic driver handling in these speakers is done well. The box resonance has been minimized. The Concert Fidelity amps performed very well for solid-state amps.

But… I find myself wanting more of something…

The Estelon model XA Diamond speakers

The Estelon model XA Diamond speakers

The Estelon model XA Diamond loudspeaker

The Estelon model XA Diamond speaker from above

The Estelon model XA Diamond speaker drivers with diamond tweeter

Concert Fidelity ZL 120 monoblock amplifier

Concert Fidelity ZL 120 monoblock amplifier

The Palmer 2.5 turntable

The Palmer 2.5 turntable

The Palmer 2.5 turntable

The Palmer 2.5 turntable

Unknown CD player

Unknown CD player

Concert Fidelity CF-080LSX preamp

Bricasti Design M Dac

The Stillpoints ESS equipment rack in this room

The Stillpoints ESS equipment rack in this room

Estelon model XC stand mounted loudspeakers

Estelon model X Centro center speaker

The Accuphase room with all Accuphase on Focal speakers.

A closer photo of the system.

The Focal ‘Scala Utopia’ loudspeaker

The Focal ‘Scala Utopia’ loudspeaker

The Accuphase M-6000 power amplifier

The Accuphase M-6000 monoblock power amplifier

The Accuphase M-6000 amplifier. I love meters. The way they look.

The Accuphase C-3800 preamplifier

The Accuphase DC-901 digital processor

Accuphase DD-900 CD / SACD transport

This room had a few cable displays – no music. I think this was the primary display.

We talked about the sound of this room with the Souluion electronics on the Magico Q3 speakers in a recent comment, and I don’t want to belabor the problems the sound here had.

Let’s play detective.

2 years ago the Soulution on the big YG Acoustics at RMAF sounded much better than this. It still had a lot of problems if you are looking to listen to music on the things, but better. They used what I think is an inferior digital source at that show [not a CD player].

1 year ago, the same system, with Tenor amps. Same source. Slightly more harmonic color, slightly more rounder notes, but largely the same issues.

This CES. The Tenor again on the big YG Acoustics – this time with a CD player as a source. Much, much better. A system worth listening to more fully to find out all that it can and cannot do.

This CES. The Luxman on the Magico Q3. To my ears it was the epitome of this kind of Gee Whiz sound. Tight. Controlled. Dynamic. Punchy. With enough harmonics and correctness so that one can at least recognize what song is playing [this is in reference to the future discussion here of the Q7 system this CES. Think the speakers could be really great, actually, I really liked them – but the sound was completely whack].

OK fellow detectives, what does this all mean?

It means it takes a whole system to sound good. And just one component or accessory or incorrect positioning to muck it up.

[and it means Bill should bring a real source commensurate in quality with everything else he brings o the shows at RMAF ;-)].

So, in a very serious sense, I point out the systems that had serious problems at these shows so that, not to denigrate any particular product [though good detectives (and dealers and distributors and audiophiles) can find patterns in the sound of multiple rooms with the same product], but so that if you read a review of this room somewhere that said that the sound in these rooms was Awesome, you can put that reviewer onto a list of people who … uh… let’s say: have a completely different agenda than ours 🙂

Magico Q3 loudspeaker

Magico Q3 loudspeaker

Soulution 540 CD / SACD player

Soulution 540 CD / SACD player

Soulution 540 CD / SACD player

Soulution 590 USB Converter

Soulution 590 USB Converter

Soulution 590 USB Converter

Soulution 501 monoblock amplifier

The list of components in this room. I amj unsure if I got the 590 USB converter right above, as being 2 pieces, or if this list is missing a component.