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Vapor Audio: Anything but Vaporware
Doing the honors were Vapor Audio’s Joule Black loudspeakers ($8995/pair with stands), pictured beside the smaller Vapor Audio Cirrus Black loudspeakers ($3995/pair). Completing the system, and equally responsible for the sound, were BMC M2 monoblock amps ($7990/each), BMC BDCD1.1 belt-drive CD transport ($4990), and BMC DAC1 preamp ($5690); Antipodes Music Server ($2500), a VortexBox based design that operates headless, and uses an external battery power supply for the USB output to truncate computer power supply noise to the DAC; HB Cable Design PowerStar Horizon power distributor ($3995) and Stage III cabling; and racking from HiFi Racks UK (approx. $1000).
Source : stereophile[dot]com
Nordost & Raidho
Other than its cabinet which is made in China, every component of the very attractive Raidho speaker is manufactured in the company’s Denmark facility. Rather than place emphasis on the cabinet, Raidho decided to concentrate on the parts of a loudspeaker “that really matter,” specifically the drive units and how they interact with one another.
Listening to Johnny Cash’s rendition of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt,” I was moved by the system’s ability to present a space, and then to expand that space—it was like filling a balloon with air or taking a slow, deep breath.
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For more on Raidho's technology, see Jason Victor Serinus' report on the Raidho 2.1.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
Big Sound in Pikes Peak
The system:
Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64 Ultimate digital music player ($27,950), Leonardo Model 8 ribbon-planar loudspeaker ($65,000/pair), Audio Power Labs (“My Tubes Are Bigger Than Yours”) 833TNT monoblock power amplifier ($175,000/pair), Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One 5.0 power conditioner ($5500), and loudspeaker cables, interconnects, and power cords from Klee Acoustics, Kaplan Cable, and Extreme Audio.
The gong-shaped thing in the center of the system is HighEnd Novum’s Premium Passive Multivocal Resonator (PMR), reviewed by Sam Tellig in our May 2012 issue. According to Sam, the PMR added vibrancy to his system.
It was too dark in Pikes Peak for me to tell.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
Odyssey Audio
Odyssey’s Klaus Bunge turned out the lights and played Johnny Cash’s heartbreaking version of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” and the system presented good drama and scale and communicated a very fine sense of space around Cash’s tired, frayed voice. The system also seemed highly resolving, helping me decide that there was too much reverb on Cash’s voice—I would have preferred it to be drier and more honest.
Next up was Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust,” which on this occasion struck me as being one of the most tragic and disturbing songs ever written.
Afterward, Bunge gave credit to the GIK Acoustics room treatments: “I’ve been doing these shows for 18 years, and this is the first time we’ve gotten a hotel room completely under control.”
GIK Scopus Traps ($149 each) “frequency range limiters,” for treating low-end frequencies without damaging highs; Soffit Traps broadband bass traps ($189 each); and Q7d diffusors for taming early reflections ($349 each) were employed.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
Paragon Sight and Sound
The Doshi Audio equipment was relatively new to me. The Jhor 160 monoblock is rated to deliver 160W into 6 ohms; it uses KT120 output tubes and a 26-lb custom output transformer built by Sowter. The handsome Alaap tubed line stage has four inputs and a 31-position transformer volume control.
Wilson’s MAXX 3 seemed pleased. I thought the sound was a bit bottom-heavy at times, but with a very fine midrange and clean, delicate highs. Even at very high volumes and during complex passages of music, the amps had no problem driving the big MAXX 3s, the system showing off stable imaging and producing no signs of distortion.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
Blackbird Audio/Gallery & Colleen Cardas Imports: "Yulunga!"
This system struck me as offering a relaxed, well-controlled sound, with a fine sense of momentum and flow. I happily sat back and nodded my head to the music.
And do you know that creepy, moody Dead Can Dance track—the one with the shaker that comes flying from the left-channel speaker with crazy presence and realism? It’s called “Yulunga,” right?
Well, through the Colleen Cardas system, "Yulunga" wasn’t quite as large or enveloping as I’ve heard it elsewhere, but the vocals sounded lovely, and that crazy, creepy shaker was way more alive than ever before. Whoa!
Source : stereophile[dot]com
Being and Dreaming with MBL
But, here, in the MBL suite, just as in the Wilson/VTL suite, the sound of music was so compelling that I was easily able to ignore those aspects that are beyond my appreciation and reach. It was easy to forget the system altogether, and simply focus on the music. In fact, it wasn’t so much about forgetting the system or focusing on the music as it was about simply being—being as music happened around me.
And, while I certainly enjoyed the precision, transparency, and scale of MBL’s Reference Line, I was even more impressed by the excellent combination of detail and warmth presented by MBL’s smaller, less expensive Corona Line, pictured here. Listening to the XX’s “Basic Space,” it struck me that this would make a perfect system for some perfect Manhattan loft. And, though I’ll never know about that for sure, it’s fun to dream.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
