Vandersteen at CES 2015. Vandy 7 speakers, Audio Research electronics, HRS SXR equipment rack
 
The CES 2015: Acapella / Audio Federation room setup consists of a pair of Acapella Cellini speakers with red horns [standard $40,600, high version $56K using today’s historical (9-year) low Euro to USD conversion rate] and Acapella LaMusika integrated amplifier (starting at $91K. As shown: $102K)
So here we are, Sunday, room 30-225 in the Venetian Tower. Putting the HRS SXR rack in place ($5K, $13,680 fully loaded with M3x Isolation Bases). Leveling it [Neli likes doing this. Mike does not :-)]. Centering it. [And deciding whether to center it within the room, center it w/r to the center of the window, or some compromise, like centered between the speakers which may not be equidistant between the walls given that gigantico hutch there on the right side. Making sure the rack is far enough from the wall for the large Acapella LaMusika amp’s power cords have some space.
Anybody else notice the new carpet this year? Whoo Hoo! :-/
Added the Audio Note DAC 5 Signature ($98,250) up on the HRS Nimbus/Coupler footers (about $350 for a set of 3) and HRS M3X Isolation Base (about $2,800 in this 19×21 inch configuration).
Added the Audio Note CDT-Five Transport ($54,000).
Initial configuration is a Nordost Odin power cord ($11K) on the transport, a NVS Sound Silver Inspire power cord ($5430) on the DAC, an Audio Note ‘Brown’ PALLAS interconnect ($2428) between the two acting as a digital cable, and Acapella interconnect and speaker cables ($varies) on the amp and speakers.
CES 2015: Preshow [in the featured photo, I see where the Luxor is, and the MGM Grand, and maybe the Trump tower, but I could be convinced that the Venetian is actually a little to the left or right from where I positioned the pin there :-)]
Now that THE SHOW is no longer having their ‘appendage’ show in the Flamingo hotel and casino here at CES this year, focusing on the much more successful Newport Beach show, it no longer makes sense for us to stay at the Flamingo.
Arriving at 1am to have to stand in line for 45 minutes to an hour at the Flamingo main checkin? [This is the AVERAGE wait, even in the middle of the year when there is not a CES happening]. Uh. No thanks.
So we are staying out in Henderson Nevada, a suburb of sorts of Las Vegas. So far it has been faster to get to the Venetian from here than it was to walk from the Flamingo [and warmer too :-)]. We’ll see what happens on a weekday[ :-} ].
This is your average exhibit room at this point. Some crates and some empty space. And chairs. Five chairs. And a sofa.
That is the HRS SXR rack in the foreground, and the crates for the Acapella Cellini speaker base units. Our room is 30-225, with the High Performance Audio exhibits in the Venetian Tower.
So empty. So peaceful… If you look hard you can see the small white signs above the doorways. It looks like there may be more exhibits here this year [than the measly two+ floors last year], perhaps a few people coming over from the THE SHOW to the much more posh and expensive Venetian. There have been predictions of a lot fewer attendees… but we’ll see, won’t we, starting tomorrow! 🙂
