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January 19, 2012 by Michael

CES 2012 – Morel

Morel makes speaker drivers and speakers which show off their drivers.

This view is very much what one sees when coming into the room. The stuff in the foreground, in this has the Fat Lady speaker, and then a system usually up against the far window in the ‘sunken livingroom’ part of the hotel room.

The Morel speaker system

The Morel ‘Octave Signature’ loudspeaker

The equipment rack for the Morel system

Unknown component by Densen

B-475 SuperLeggera CD player by Densen

Power supply for the Densen b-475 Superleggera CD player

Morel drivers on display

Morel ‘Fat Lady’ speaker

Morel ‘Ultimo’ subwoofer driver

More Morel drivers.

January 19, 2012 by Michael

CES 2012 – Manley

Eva Manley and the system in this room. This is the best shot of the system that I took. Eva was behind the system changing something or other for most of the time I was here, and afterwards I did not feel comfortable barging ahead and taking closeups.

I think this is the first room where some cool visual effects were being achieved by sunlight shining in through various things hung over the windows. OK – so I’m a sucker for visual effects.

I did get some shots of the Manley gear on static display….

The Manley Stingray II integrated amplifier

The Manley 250 Tube Monoblock Amplifier

The Manley Steelhead RC Phono Stage

The Manley ‘neo classic’ SE PP 300B amp.

The Manley 300B RC preamp

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January 19, 2012 by Michael

CES 2012 – Silverline Audio

Always nice smiles in the Silverline room…

Silverline loudspeakers

Manley Mahi amplifier

Another shot of the Manley Mahi amplifier

The Silverline Ecstasy CD player

Another shot of the Silverline room

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January 19, 2012 by Michael

CES 2012 – Half-way through day one

…and finished with the first wing on floor 29 in the Venetian Tower.

There are 3 wings per floor and more or less 2 floors to do [that would be 6 wings total for those w/o calculators handy ;-)].

Plus THE Show, which is about one third to one forth the size of CES proper.

I was able to do almost exactly 2 wings per day.

Don’t know about you, but I’m psyched.

Progress is being made…

Seeing some good stuff and getting to more good stuff….

Yeah, man.

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January 19, 2012July 18, 2014 by Michael

CES 2012 – Harmonic Resolution Systems

HRS introduced an upgrade to their SXR equipment rack, called the SXR Signature and showed off their prototype of a new inexpensive rack, the RXR The HRS SXR Signature rack [metal] and prototype RXR rack [wood sides]. The HRS SXR Signature adds very solid and heavy ‘struts’ to the plain SXR rack. There are two for every shelf. There are also miner changes to the coupler/washers as well to increase the firmness and stability of the rack – especially those assembled in the field as well as over the course of long periods of heavy use. A better photo of the new SXR Signature struts unobstructed by the top shelf. The underneath view of a new HRS SXR Signature strut The HRS SXR Signature (left), inexpensive RXR prototype (right) and top shelf (M3X) on the floor in the foreground. The prototype of a new inexpensive rack from Harmonic Resolution Systems: the RXR. The prototype of a new inexpensive rack from Harmonic Resolution Systems: the RXR. The prototype inexpensive RXR rack from HRS has adjustable shelves like the old top-of-the-line HRS MXR racks The top view of the prototype of a new inexpensive rack from Harmonic Resolution Systems: the RXR.

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January 19, 2012 by Michael

CES 2012 – International Rectifier

I am not sure what International Rectifier is up to… they manufacture electrical components. Are they going to supply turnkey sub-component assemblies to our industry? Are they entering the fray itself and going to sell components? Will they have a dealer network?

Or are they just showing manufacturers how they can use their electrical components to build consumer electronics devices?

Why didn’t I ask these questions when I was there? Probably because back in the day, as an investor in IRF, I would not have approved of them entering the consumer electronics field, and can hardly believe they would do so – so I will just assume the latter is the case.

The had Revel Salon 2 speakers up front.

.. and a equipment rack with goodies on the side.

Close up of the Revel Salon2 speaker

The Revel Salon 2 loudspeaker

The International Rectifier powIRaudio component

The colorful Thorens TD 309 turntable

An International Rectifier Class D amplifier

An International Rectifier… unidentified audio object. 🙂

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January 19, 2012 by Michael

CES 2012 – Pass Labs

This is what you will see entering the Pass Labs room every year at this show. So we’ll start here.

It is only this year that I finally realized these are all different amps – they just use the same chassis so they look the same except for the designation of the front dial.

This is the rear of the stack of Pass Labs amps that are stacked in the entry hall. Sorry about the top amp having a blurry back panel – but they all look somewhat similar to each other….

This is the main system they had set up this year. It is usually played so quietly [when it is played] and the talk in the room so … plentiful… that it is hard to get a sense of these speakers. Good, solid looking speakers though [no, I am being serious. I like the look]. This room is mostly about the cool gear on static display, IMHO.

This year they are using Pass L:abs Xs 150 amps.

Close up of the Pass Labs Xs 150 amp’s meter. Not sure what it means when the needle is in slightly negative territory there…

The Pass Labs SR-2 speaker

The Pass Labs SR-2 loudspeaker

In the back of the room is the front end, and this year they had this colorful Denon DP 6000 turntable.

The demo system used the Pass Labs X 25 or X 30 preamp [not sure which they were using in this photo].

The Marantz SA 7s1 C player and control box for the Pass Labs XP 30 preamp

On static display they had the 2-box Pass Labs XP-25 linestage…

… and also on static display they had the 3-box Pass Labs XP-30 linestage

Also on static display is the older, bigger Pass Labs SR-1 speaker

Here we can see the Pass Labs SR-1 and SR-2 loudspeakers next to each other

A stack of two Xs-300 Pass Labs amps.

A side view of the stack of two Xs-300 Pass Labs amps.

The Pass Labs Int 30A integrated and X 250.5 amps.

A lot of big iron [aluminum] in this room!

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January 19, 2012 by Michael

CES 2012 – Chord, Peak Consult, Van Den Hul, Jadis

We were very interested in this room because of the $110K Peak consult ‘Kepheus’ speakers.

The first time I was here they were playing something unfamiliar and I spent most of my time talking with Jay Rein, the distributor, about the state of the industry. Jay thinks that the traditional tried-and-proven approach the best dealers have used for decades will have their day once again and that dealers will once again thrive [I hope I am paraphrasing correctly, Jay]. My counter position was that there should be some way [but how? that is what I want to talk about!] for the best dealers to keep their ethics and yet at the same time they should be able to leverage the internet their benefit: specifically leverage people’s growing comfort with socializing, reading about things they want to buy, and then buying things on the internet [i.e. join the party, instead of fearing it as somehow inherently corrupting].

The second time I came here, I came with Neli and our Radiohead test CD.

Our conclusion was that this system did not show the Peak Consult at their best. With this level of speaker, one looks for the system to sound extraordinary in some way, and hopefully in many ways. But in terms of detail, dynamics, harmonics, linearity, etc. this was not the case. We’ve heard most of these components sound good in other systems – so not going to pick on anything in particular here – just will try and be patient until the next show :-).

The Peak Consult ‘Kepheus’ speaker

The Peak Consult ‘Kepheus’ loudspeaker

The Peak Consult ‘Kepheus’ speaker drivers up close

The Peak Consult ‘Kepheus’ speaker drivers up close and personal

The rear of the Peak Consult ‘Kepheus’ speaker. Looks to be double ported. That is Neli smiling at the front of the loudspeaker, the guy staffing the room, and my very old pair of hiking shoes. 🙂 These speakers are shorter than I had expected and quite deep.

The Peak Consult ‘Princess V’ speakers. We’ve heard these a lot at previous shows.

The equipment rack for this system.

The Jadis Orphee 1 CD player

Jadis’s Orphee 1 CD player

The Chord CPA-5000 Reference Preamplifier

There were two of the Chord SPM-1400b amplifiers on this rack, presumably one per channel

The Van Den Hul selection of cables

This small system was in the upper landing area of the room.

The Jadis JPL preamplifier

The Jadis DA7 power amplifier

Spender A5 loudspeakers

The Chordette devices are quite small. When we came back the second time, Neli put some business cards next to the devices to show just how petite they are.

The Chord QBD76 DAC [not sure if it is the HD DAC]

The Chord QBD76 DAC very close up show of the window

Chordette Gem, Scamp and 2 High Stand. When we came back the magenta Chordettes had replaces the QBD76 DAC

More shots of the Chordette

The Chord Chordette…

The screen of the Chordette indicates some of the features it provides…

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January 18, 2012 by Michael

CES 2012 – Ayon, Audio Block, AVM, Legacy Audio

This room featured a couple of product lines that are new [to me]. AVM is one of them. And Block Audio [below] the other.

Legacy Whisper XD and, in black, the Focus SE

The Legacy Whisper XD speaker

Legacy Whisper XD and, in black, the Focus SE

The AVM CD 3.2 player and AVM PA 3.2 preamp

The AVM eco amplifier and MA 3.2

The AVM eco amplifier

The Ayon C Player

The Ayon S3 Media Server

The cool looking Ayon Triton amplifier

Another shot of Ayon’s Triton amplifier

This system was setup on the landing. It features mostly Block Audio components.

The Block Audio CD player and tuner

The Block Audio VR 100 receiver

The Block Audio P-100 preamp

Block Audio’s PS-100 turntable

And, finally, a nice AVM monitor speaker.

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January 18, 2012 by Michael

CES 2012 – Sceana speakers, Silver Circle, Critical Mass Systems

When I first visited this room – the door was locked.

I did come back 3.5 days later – the last half-hour of the show…

I did not get to hear this system much. It was on for a few seconds and then there was some joke telling [not by me – I am terrible at it – and no, don’t remember the jokes, either. See, I doubly bad at this].

Neli heard this room. Neli [and I, small town boy that I am] grew up in such a way that our faces largely reveal what we are thinking. So maybe I should mention each system she heard and then QUICK take her photo. That way you can immediately recognize the Wow, or WTF, or Confusion, or Boredom, or Horr-IF-ic, or OMG or whatever she thought of the room without me having to translate for her and write something.

No, of course she would never let me do such a thing. But it entertains me just thinking about it 🙂

The Sceana subwoofers were down the landing in the main part of the room

Not sure oif the call these Sceana subwoofers ‘depth charges’ anymore. There is very little info on their website.

The back of the Sceana line-array speakers

The side-view of the Sceana speakers

A close-up of the base of the Sceana line-array speaker.

The Silver Circle Audio ‘Pure Power One 0.5’ power conditioner

The Conrad-Johnson ART amplifier

Close-up of the Conrad-Johnson ART amplifier. A little too dusty to see the tube there clearly – and the glass might also be causing some refraction preventing us to see clearly as well.

The had 3 Nordost ‘Quantum’ boxes in this system [one was up on the equipment rack], with lots of Nordost Odin power cords, interconnects and speaker cables.