Audio Federation

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!

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.