Continuing on with our coverage...
In this report, all photos by Dave Clark, words by Carol Clark, except those in parentheses, which are by Dave Clark who will do his best to be nice.
Nordost, CH Precision, YG Acoustics, VPI Industries, and dCS.
Philip O'Hanlon with On a Higher Note once again had a fabulous sounding room. Tweak Studio, Gryphon Audio Designs, Graham Audio, and Artesania Audio.
Beautiful Gryphon loudspeaker.
Axiss Audio with a wonderful sounding room including: Apex Audio, Critical Mass Systems, Soloution, Air Tight, Piega, Reed, and Transrotor.
You don't say? Arturo Manzano of Axiss Audio.
The Audio Company with two world show debuts. From Von Schweikert Audio the Ultra 9 loudspeakers, and from VAC the Statement 450i iQ. Quite an impressive sound! Also in the room Esoteric transport and DAC, Masterbuilt Audio cables and interconnects, Critical Mass Systems rack, and Kronos turntable.
The Statement 450i iQ integrated amplifier is quite stunning!
Damon Von Schweikert promised we could come back and play David Bowie records, sadly we weren't able to get back up there. (One room where we were asked to play whatever we wanted.)
Zu Audio did not disappoint. With Sean Casey a little banged up from a dirt bike accident, his son took over the DJ role, and as usual the sound was stunning! (Another room where we were asked to play whatever we wanted, but with the Zu Audio room... they are always playing music we like.)
The main system in the Zu room. MoFi UltraDeck turntable. Pass XP-17 phono stage, XP-12 preamplifer, XA-25 amplifier. Zu Druid loudspeakers and cables.
Sean Casey demonstrates the proper usage of a walker!
PS Audio had interesting loudspeakers in their room. From their October 2018 newsletter: Over the last decade of Infinity Systems founder Arnie Nudell's life, he tirelessly tuned and tweaked a single pair of speakers: his reference system. His magnum opus. The two speaker columns began life as a future Genesis Technologies product but that was before Arnie had left the company and attempted to retire from audio. Over many years of changes, this speaker pair became his obsession and renewed his love of audio and lust to get back into the game.
PS Audio BHK and DirectStream products, Synergistic Research cabling.
We also got to meet Bascom H. King, designer of the BHK line. (This picture from Carol's iPhone.)
Joseph Audio Perspective loudspeakers. Doshi Hybrid stereo amplifier, line stage preamplifier, V 3.0 tape stage. Cardas Clear Beyond speaker cables, interconnects, and power cables. Aurender A10 streaming Qobuz.
The Joseph Audio room is always a standout. (Jeff played some Yello for us... way nice and we did not need to ask, he knew! Got to love the guy besides his speakers and room are always stunningly good.)
We had a great time in the Rethm room. They agreed to let us browse through Tidal, and I found the Notwist. It was magical listening to my favorite track, "Noah," through this system. Wow!
Pitch Perfect Audio and Tone Imports had a phenomenal room, including Meyer Tonapparate Yonna loudspeakers. We got to listen to the K&D Sessions in here, sounded great! (While this room had digital, we stuck with the vinyl offerings. As Carol said, the K&D Sessions worked rather well.)
Meyer Tonapparate also offers furniture like this equipment rack, beautifully crafted. Amplification by Riviera Labs, AFM-50, APL-01, and AIC-10 integrated. Neumann WV2a phono preamplifier. Cabling by Auditorium.
Verdier La Platine turntable with EMT tonearm.
German Physiks loudspeakers. Also in the room Accustic Arts, van Den Hul, VPI Industries, Stillpoints.
PBN Audio and Liberty Audio.
Mojo Audio, Mr. Speakers, Sparkos Labs.
Vimberg Mino loudspeakers, TIDAL Audio Preos preamplifier, mono amplifier, and cables. TW-Acustic Raven AC-1 turntable. Antipodes DX Gen 3 music server. Also in the room Skogrand, Dynamic Design, and Stillpoints.
Close up of the electronics on a Stillpoints rack.
In this room, Bob Clarke offered us a glass of outstanding wine, and we listened to our favorite UNKLE track, "Farewell" from The Road, Part 1. Produced chills down our spines, as usual. (We asked and they played. As soon as the UNKLE track started, the room became dead quiet and everyone sat in attention to the music—all new to everyone there... except Carol and me. A person sitting next to me had his phone out and was searching for who it was via SoundHound or something like that... this is what it should be about at shows. Sharing music and opening minds to something new. Comments afterwards was that the UNKLE track was wonderful music and sounded really great.)
Bel Canto Design. Nice talking to the Bel Canto guys about their products and choices in design.
