Audio Federation Sights & Sounds Copyright © 2004 Audio Federation, Inc. The 2004 CES and T.H.E. Show Reports High-end Home Audio Conferences Las Vegas, Nevada January 2004

This is a highly opinionated review - this is what we heard, at a show, in a hotel room, from a hastily set up system.

This show report emphasizes the rooms that either sounded the best or exhibited very high-end equipment, the tip-top state-of-the-art. If we had time, we would have loved to visit each and every room and spend the time to play our test CDs and chat with the exhibitors. But because time is so limited compared to the large number of exhibits, we decided to sample the icing (yum!) and leave the cake for another time. This approach is fraught with the peril of missing something significant -- not being exhibitors (who usually just want to go home after the 4 grueling days), we wish that CES lasted long enough for us to hear every room.

We are dealers for Acapella Audio Arts, Accustic Arts, Acoustic Dreams, Audio Aero, Audio Note U.K., Edge Electronics, HRS (Harmonic Resolution Systems), Lamm Industries, Loricraft, Lyra, Magic Diamond Blue, Marten Design, Nordost, RixRax, Shunyata Research, Sound Lab, and Walker Audio.. We do try to be as honest (and some may say ruthless) as always regarding our reporting about the sound of these lines at the conferences, whether they sounded fantastic or completely sucked, but we must necessarily hold back (some :-) on our exuberance, or perhaps even disappointment, in the name of good taste, when referring to these lines or their direct competitors.

Another year, another CES... The quality of the rooms this year was high, not too many with runaway ear-bleeding treble (though there were some problems at the other end of the frequency spectrum), but no room stood out head-and shoulders above the others. The theme for us this year were: 'real sound' versus 'nice sound' and the fuller sound of larger speakers versus the ease of taming the bass of smaller speakers There were many rooms that had 'nice' sound this year - not too bright, melodic, somewhat PRaTly, timbre pretty good, pleasant to listen to... but many times the music did not sound like it came from real musical instruments.

Often this was because the note envelope - the shape of the magnitude of each frequency of a note as it springs into being, swells, and decays - has been altered so much it is almost unrecognizable as originating from a real, physical musical instrument at one time.

This, sometimes unpleasant, sometimes melodic, result may be the result of the notes being smoothed out in order to prevent any brightness from occurring by a component or speaker; the notes being compressed because of design limitations; because the note's leading edges (and sometimes trailing edges) have been emphasized to enhance the sense of massive amounts of detail which has a tendency to impress potential buyers; because the notes are jangled up and mixed up with other notes due to design limitations; or the intentional sacrificing of micro-dynamics in order to achieve, perhaps by accident, the 'wall of sound' that some people prefer to hear in order to maximize average decibel output.

Note that all of these goals that result in this homogenization of music into sound are laudable in some circles and appeal to particular audiences who do buy audio equipment. To each their own.

Another theme for us this year had to do with the size of the speakers. Our preference is for lots of body and fullness and real-sized soundstages - and this can be achieved by speakers with sizes, for us, as small as the Coltrane and Watt/Puppy - but rarely smaller. But fitting big speakers into hotel-room sized rooms can be quite difficult. Many rooms this year had bass that was boomy, uncontrolled, and difficult to listen to (the only one we reviewed here was the room with the big Wavacs - their midrange being quite impressive). Many exhibitors were able to tame their speakers and produce reasonable bass texture, control and slam. But the question remains: should exhibitors be encouraged to use smaller speakers, ones perhaps more suitable to the sizes of the rooms?  Maybe, but not by us. We like the big sound.

Lamm / Damoka Room: Lamm / Weiss Medea / CEC / Wilson Audio

Lamm M1.2 Reference monoblock hybrid amplifiers, L2 reference preamplifier, Weiss Medea DAC, CEC transport, Wilson Watt/Puppy 7 speakers

Nice, controlled, dynamic (micro and macro), deep soundstage (if perhaps a little recessed). A little dry in the upper-midrange. Controlled yet musical, the Wilsons sounded good but, typically, without that 'ease/warmth' that other speakers have. The system was set up so that either a pair of the new M1.2 Reference 100 watt monoblocks or a pair of the new M2.2 200 watt monoblocks could be used. Overall, we probably prefer the ML1.1's on the Wilson Watt/Puppy 7's. Then again, we are personally willing to sacrifice some bass detail and texture for a more melodic midrange - and in particular to try to address the harshness of that Wilson upper midrange.

Here we see both open amplifier chassis	On display were two open M2.2 amplifiers, one right side up and one upside down - in this way both the top side and under side electronics were visible.

The Hovland / Wilson Room

Sweet and detailed in the lower midrange and lots of air, the Radia was able to show off its pure, lovingly detailed musicality. Unfortunately, the midrange was somewhat dry and scratchy, it sounding as if the Radia was not able to over-power the tendency of the tipped-up midrange of these speakers to overwhelm the rest of the music. This system may also have been a little weak in the bass - or perhaps it was just the desire for a more fuller, relaxed sound - which is so hard to get with the Wilsons.

Joule Electra / Joseph Audio / Elrod Power Systems Room

Very engrossing and enchanting, but the Josephs still have that very apparent metallic midrange tinge that especially shows up in music that contains instruments like banjo and guitar. The bass was very present and forceful, but slightly uncontrolled and somewhat distracting - perhaps due to room issues, and the old Audio Aero Capitole MK I that was used does not excel in the bass control category either. The note envelopes were not always perfect, leaning toward the romantic side - and the top-to-bottom frequency response was definitely not flat. But...we gave this room Favorite of Show.

We heard some vinyl and one of our test CDs - and there is an special enchantment to this system.

Globe Audio Marketing Room: Audio Aero / Wilson Benesch

The Wilson Benesch speakers are not our cup of tea, usually sounding flat and lacking both macro and micro dynamics and harmonic richness - but this system was engrossing and full-bodied with a the slightest touch of warmth and lushness. The prototype Audio Aero Prestige appears to have more detail and micro-dynamics than the Capitole MK II, even on redbook CDs. Overall - the sound was very nice and straining at the limitations of the speakers.

The speakers were set up in a small, darkened, oddly-shaped room in a 5-channel configuration. The 5-channel demo CDs were actually quite nice, augmenting rather than distracting from the (essentially 2-channel) music presentation - creating a deeper, more solid soundstage when enabled, collapsing the soundstage in both width and especially depth when disabled.

The prototype Prestige is more lively than the EMMLabs or even the Audio Note DAC4.1x/CDT-2 - with more analog-like micro- and midi-dynamics (always the Audio Aero CD player's forte). The Audio Aero Capitole amps helped generate a very solid image/soundstage and added their own special slightly golden lushness.

We didn't get to hear this (these) amps...

Marten Design / EAR Room #1

Sony CD player, EAR electronics, Marten Design Alto Coltrane speaker

Marten Design / EAR Room #2

MSB, Marten Design Mingus speaker, MSB CD player
 

These speakers are very similar in sonic signature to their bigger bothers, the carbon-fiber enclosure speakers. Albeit with less fullness and body and less authority up and down the frequency band, the musicality and attention to the details of musical nuances always showed through with these speakers.

Oskar Heil Room

Oskar Heil Kithara hybrid speakers, various small tube amps, various CD players
 

Von Schweikert Room: Von Schweikert / VAC

Very big sound with good imaging, soundstaging depth, and macro dynamics. The speakers themselves are attractive and come apart in 3 pieces and the overall weight of each is a mighty 1100 lbs or so. Though possessing lots of authority vis-à-vis macro-dynamics, this system was missing the last word in micro-dynamics and so did not quite sound like  the sound of real instruments. Also missing some finesse and, though the soundstage was engrossing, did not draw us into the music as well as perhaps it might have.

Our listening session was primarily vinyl-based. We apparently missed a demonstration of live musicians in the room who were recorded and played back through the system. It takes guts to put one's system to a test, in public, like this. Kudos to the Von Schweikert team.

Audio Note U.K.

Musical yet accurate, detailed yet romantic, classical music played effortlessly with no collapsing of the soundstage nor rendering of detail into a wall of sound. We thought, however, that this system lacked the fullness and macro-dynamics that a midsize or large speaker would bring.

This was one of a surprising large number of systems that used hotel furniture as equipment racks. There was even someone using a cardboard box as a platform for an Audio Aero CD player (don't worry, we won't say who :-). Not sure if this says something about the cost of equipment racks, the size and weight of equipment racks, lack of planning, or just about the overall confusion and chaos that sets in when trying to setup a complete (and good sounding!) system in one day (and night). Or perhaps the exhibitor is just making a statement (as seems to be the case in this instance vis-à-vis Audio Note U.K.).

These furniture and floor based systems were quite common at the T.H.E. Show at the St. Tropez as well. Did we notice a real problem? No.... but there is little doubt that the sound could have been improved in these rooms with some attention to vibration control.

The Beautiful glow of the Ongaku

Acoustic Dreams Room: Lumenwhite / Ayon / DCS / VYGER

This is the best we have heard the Lumenwhites sound. Very pure and detailed, with plenty of PRaT. THE DCS digital source equipment was almost able to keep up with the VYGER turntable and ASR phono stage - the DCS was detailed, musical, good dynamics up and down the scale, a nice pure sound though not as pure as the EMMLabs but with more finesse. Quite impressive and definitely a step up from the previous generation.

The larger Ayons seemed to have no trouble driving the Lumenwhite Whiteflame speakers and the mysterious Millennium preamplifier (one of a handful in existence) seemed to do a fine job of letting the music through (of which it is rumored we will hear more about in the future).

Enjoyable, though not quite as engrossing as the Audio Aero room or the Joule Electra /Joseph room and the slightest bit hard sounding during massed transients.

Various pictures of the VYGER turntable from Italy and distributed and supported by Acoustic Dreams. The gold color is picked up from the reflection of the goldish carpet - the turntable in actuality is a silverish color.

We did not get to hear the Ayon speaker system this year.

Tenor Room: Tenor / Kharma / EMMlabs

Nice sound, open, solid, pure, but missing a little of the air and detail in the bass like most Kharma speakers and some of the magic of the same system we heard at the Stereophile Show in San Francisco. Even so, this system was easily a contender for Favorite of Show

Tenor was way in the back at the Alexis Park but we stopped there first anyway. Tenor (along with Kharma and EMMlabs) has been setting the bar high at high-end audio shows lately - and we wanted to get our 'ears tuned' from the get go.

The Tenor 300 watt hybrid 300HP monoblock amplifiers are out of the prototype stage and now available.

The EMMLabs DCC2 transport you see here was a prototype. Also used was the EMMLabs DCC2 DAC and Shunyata Hyrda-8.

GTT Audio Room: Lamm / Kharma

Detailed and dynamic, a nice solid performer, up and down the audiophile checklist within the limitations imposed on the system by the size and character of the Kharma 2-way speakers. Missing some air and that fullness/completes of the lower midrange that comes from having a woofer. No collapsing of the soundstage on large orchestral pieces.

The M1.2's really open up the Kharmas -- the soundstage was broad and deep, no collapsing ever, somewhat more neutral than the same system using Lamm ML2's or Lamm ML1.1's, but not as buoyantly musical either.

And the bluish panels of the Kharmas weren't none too shabby either :-)

Gilmore room #1

Lack of soundstage depth, collapsing on loud/complex passages into a harsh wall of sound, harsh midrange, less micro and macro dynamics than most systems. The fit and finish of the speakers was also less than what we were expecting.

After the massive advertising campaign we were expecting to hear something that, though perhaps a little rough (being so new), would have been impressive in some manner or form - so this was a disappointing room.

Gilmore room #2

Better than room #1, we did not listen long enough to determine the relative quality of this rooms sound vis-à-vis the other rooms at CES
 

A truly impressive array of Atma-sphere amplification behemoths.

Epiphany / Audio Aero / Orpheus

Weighing in at around 50 lbs, these around $3,500 granite encased largish monitor speakers had a fullness and depth of soundstage and macro-dynamics that was impressive for their size and price. Tonally accurate, the system had a wide sweet spot.

We heard this system driven by an Audio Aero Capitole MK II with 4 hours, yes, hours, on it, graciously loaned to Epiphany by Globe Audio Marketing/Audio Aero, along with a 40 watt Orpheus amplifier, also loaned to them by Globe Audio Marketing/Orpheus. This is because the day before a different CD player that they were using, of an unspecified brand, had blown, taking the previous amplifier and much of the speaker circuitry with it. So, with all this, the newly rebuilt speakers were sounding quite good - and a true bargain at their price.

Gearing their appearance to fit many modern decors, the lack of resonance of these solid granite speakers with a conventional 6 inch driver plus tweeter apparently goes a long way towards remedying the ills of most speaker designs. Here we can see the lovely blue flecked granite used for the sides of the speaker and the elegant piano black granite used for the speaker top.

MBL Room: Reference system

A smooth sound, macro-dynamics and authority in spades, missing a touch of micro-dynamics and the 'sharp edges' that some notes require to sound 'real'. This was another odd-sized room, quite small, and the system was positioned on top of a hot tub and sharing the room with a curtained-off shower.

The lights were off and the system was illuminated with a couple of glowing red lights. There were about 3 chairs, and standing room for 2 or 3 behind them, situated about 5 feet in front of the speakers. It was played loud, yet the purity of the sound was such that it probably could have been played even louder without stressing our ears. Very atmospheric, in a somewhat 'late sixties meets the future' kind of way.
 

MBL Room: Small system

This system had a smooth sound, detailed, pleasant to listen to with good soundstaging and large sweet spot.

Audio Note Kondo

We felt the smallish, monitor speakers used once again limited the body and dynamics and even the warmth of the sound in this room.

JM Reynoud / ASR

These monitor speakers are slightly sweet, evidencing tons of inner detail and finesse. Like with most monitor speakers, bass and fullness are not in evidence but the music was enjoyable and seductive.

Almarro Room #1 (small speaker system)

Pleasant and musical with lots of 6C33C tube flavor. While missing the air and bass dexterity (and overall finesse and authority) of the more expensive systems - this system is still able to communicate more of the music than most other systems costing 10 times as much. Using cheap cables and OEM Belden power cords, and an apparently un-modded inexpensive CD player, Almarro appears to be making a statement about what can be done with an extremely small budget (certainly with respect to the rest of the systems at CES). Again, because of the relatively low price of this entire system (~$4K) and because it is holding its own against the big boys, those on a budget should have a listen.

Almarro Room #2 (large speaker system)

Lack of top to bottom integration and compressed dynamics led us to prefer room #1

Musical Surroundings Room: Acapella / Clearaudio

Nice sound, big, real, timbre pure and clean, harmonically rich and enjoyable to listen to. Missing the last word in macro dynamics and authority. This is the first time we have heard the Clearaudio amps, and their being solid-state and all, we were pleasantly surprised that they were quite musical and smooth.

We liked the green horn color for the Acapella Violons - it being the cheerful type of green versus the gloomy forest type or hygienic hospital type. Hermann Winters of Acapella was on hand to answer any questions.

tmh Audio Room: Wavac / Talon

Detailed with lots of finese, good timbre and open and musical. Just on the warm side of neutral. Lack of bass control was evident on these relatively hard to drive speakers.

tmh Audio room: Wavac / ESP

$350K amps anyone? Wavac introduced their new SH-833 150 watt, 8 piece monoblock amplifiers.

Above 1000 Hz this system had a dynamic that reproduced piano better than anything yet heard by this reviewer. The Marten Design Coltranes paired with the Edge Signature One monoblocks produces a very convincing piano (and guitar) forcefully sucking the listener into the reality of the original recording session. The big Wavac seemed to do this one step better, with somewhat more harmonic richness and slightly more accurate leading edge of the note envelope.

Chapter / Talon / HRS

We liked the sound of this system, coming to believe as we do that the Talons are best driven by high quality solid-state amplification. The sound was detailed and pure, bass was well controlled. There was, however, some slight lack of involvement with this system.

Walker / Viva / Zingali / Silent Source

An amazing amount of detail, especially with large orchestral scores, that was not matched elsewhere at CES. Good soundstaging and macro-dynamics, missing some overall finesse and evidencing some compression and 'beamyness' in the midrange of the speakers. To say the $13K speakers had a hard time keeping up with the almost $100K system would be stating the obvious - but for all that they hung in there like troopers.

The Walker Audio turntable handles the massive amounts of information during big band and orchestral pieces with aplomb. The Zingali did a good job at keeping up with this aspect of the music, not collapsing the soundstage during climatic pieces. Here we see the Walker 'table on top of the Walker rack, along with their motor controller and phono stage. Also seen is the Viva preamp.

The Walker Audio Velocitor, used to filter the power.

A Viva monoblock amplifier

Alon, ASL

Introducing the new $45K Alon Proteus speakers. We liked the big. open, relaxed nature of the sound of this system. Lack of inner detail and micro-dynamics and bass control made this system, which was often played WAY TOO LOUD, not very engrossing. Pretty sound (but not as pretty as the Accuphase room) but somewhat 'blurry' and not very real.

Axiss room #1: Accuphase, Transroter

Sweetness and light sounding nothing like real instruments but very pretty sounds none the less. We met the nice gentlemen from Accuphase / Japan and have to admit that the overall visual aesthetic was very impressive. They are introducing a new preamplifier that has taken the volume control completely out of the signal path (putting a servo-controlled(?) device in the path instead). Something new for the rest of the industry to look into.

Audiopax, Zanden

Very nice, very refined. Audiopax now has speakers, apparently, and the system sounded very good. Very attractive as well. We did not get to spin a disk in this room, unfortunately, but what we heard made us want to hear more next year. We liked this sound.
 

Kuzma / Tom Evans / Lowther

Nicely detailed and involving midrange and highs - missing upper bass, bass control and bass detail.

Mantra

Dynamic and uncompressed, but lacking finesse and collapsing the soundstage on complex passages. Always aware that the sound was created by large PA-type horns. They may be on to something here... but perhaps have a ways to go yet.

Edge Room

The speakers are similar in appearance to the Pipedreams speakers, and the sound in this room had similar sonic characteristics to other systems that may have Pipedreams-style speakers: nice big sound, lots of macro-dynamics and bass authority, but with a lack of the inner detail and micro-dynamics that is needed to make music involving and to invoke other emotions in addition to the adrenaline-based ones..

There were three systems set up in this, one of the large rooms at the San Remo - one with tall speakers, one with medium high speakers, and one with short (around 4 feet or so) speakers.

The electronics in the room ranged from the Edge Signature One monoblocks and Edge Signature One preamplifier, to a system powered by the new Edge G3 integrated amplifier (very musical yet neutral, detailed yet smoothly continuous, ...and with knobs that glow in a discrete bluish color).

tmh Audio room: Soundlab / Vitus

Nicely detailed and open sound, good soundstaging, both macro and micro-dynamics quite good. Control of the speakers was excellent, and the separation between notes contributed to a very low noise floor. There was a little harshness in the midrange and brightness in the treble which  gave the overall sound a solidstate' and 'digital' character. There was also a slight lack of inner detail which contributed to an overall lack of involvement.

These giant amps certainly look like they can control any speaker. Driven by an Electrocompaniet CD player.

Merlin Room: Merlin / CAT / Audio Aero

The Merlins are one of the most musical and all-round safe bets in their price range. In this system the CAT JL-2 amps seemed to have gobs of control and authority over these speakers, but compared to the more expensive competition this system had a lack of finesse and a somewhat boxy/hollow sound. Also appeared to be missing some midrange frequencies and some air as well.

Favorites of Show

Some of the questions we ask ourselves when we listen is: could we live with this? How much do we want to take this system home with us? But the main question we ask ourselves is: are we enjoying this? Does the sound seduce us into staying in the room longer than we really should have? Note that this type of ranks 'merely' competent systems (like the GTT Audio Lamm / Kharma room, the Marten Design / EAR room, and the Tenor / Kharma room) behind more musical (and lush) rooms like the Joule Electra / Joseph Audio room and Audio Aero room.

A few thoughts about why the Joule Electra / Joseph Audio room made our Favorite of Show list: in the past we have been frank about what we thought about the overall lack of musicality and other severe problems in the Joseph Audio rooms of past shows, as well as intrinsic problems with the speakers themselves. Our opinions have not changed - but this particular system, this year, was of a whole that actually worked together to get the most out of the individual components. Each of the pieces have weaknesses that could cripple an entire system, but here the weaknesses played off each other, like jazz musicians, and so this system worked. Kudos to the people who set up the room.


Big speaker systems


Musical Surroundings: Acapella / Clearaudio room
GTT Audio: Lamm / Kharma room
Acoustic Dreams: Lumenwhite / AYON / DCS / VYGER / ASR room
Marten Design / EAR / Jorma Design room
MBL (reference system) room
Lamm / Wilson / Weiss Medea / CEC room
Audiopax / Zanden room
Wavac / Talon room
Tenor / Kharma room
Talon / Charter room
Joule Electra / Joseph Audio / Elrod Power Systems room


Small speaker systems

Audio Aero room
Oskar Heil room
Intuitive Design room
JMR room
MBL (small system) room
Almarro room (small system) room

 

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