This room featured the Lotus Group’s Granada loudspeakers being bi-amped with the big Audio Power Labs TNT-833 amps and the smaller WAVAC MD-805m amps. The larger WAVAC amps that were originally planned for this system developed some kind of issue during shipping, I think.

I was happy to see the Audio Power Labs here, having just come from the room that featured them on the smaller Tidal ‘piano’ speakers. I really was anxious to hear the Granada speakers pushed closer to their audiophile limits than I had previously heard them - those being systems with the speakers driven by the Pass Labs amps and later the Musical Fidelity amps.

Unfortunately something was not quite right here.

The sound was dull, notes kind of slurring together; atonal, notes not ringing free [which these speakers can do really well] and the color was more pastelish than vivid [which these speakers can also do well]; and dynamically compressed, specifically in the midi-dynamic region, with micro-dynamics not really happening either.

I only heard the system driven by the CD player, even tho I came back here a few times - but Neli heard it later with the Hanss turntable and said it sounded much better. They may have made other changes to the front end as well.

Trying to capture the glow of the vacuum tubes of the Wavac and Audio Power Labs.

Lotus Group ‘Granada’ loudspeaker

Lotus Group ‘Granada’ loudspeaker rear drivers

Audio Power Labs ‘TNT-833′ amplifier

Audio Power Labs ‘TNT-833′ amplifier

Audio Power Labs ‘TNT-833′ amplifier from above

Audio Power Labs ‘TNT-833′ amplifier rear

The WAVAC MD-805m amplifier from above

The WAVAC MD-805m amplifier from above

The WAVAC MD-805m amplifier from above

The WAVAC MD-805m amplifier from above

The whole system from behind. Lots of Pranawire cables!

Some unidentified stuff in these Pranawire power cords and Acoustic Revive power distributor

More Paranawire power cables, Oyaide and Furutech plugs, and Acoustic Revive power distributor

The Hanss T-60 turntable

The Hanss T-60 turntable

The Lyra Olympos cartridge

EAR Acute CD player

WAVAC LCR-X2 phono equalizer preamplifier

WAVAC PR-T1 line preamplifier

Loricraft PRC4 record cleaner

Loricraft PRC4 record cleaner

This room featured the smallish Tidal ‘Piano’ speakers on the Audio Power Labs TVT-833 amplifiers with the Nova Physics ‘Memory Player’ as source.

I thought this room was pretty good, and for my money it was the best sounding room at THE Show part of CES.

It had good dynamics up and down the frequency spectrum, good harmonics, good separation, notes weren’t mushed together during complex passages - everything you are supposed to have if you want to start sounding like music. There wasn’t a ton of subtle detail, so no drug like aspects here - and of course we could wish for a larger speaker in a room this size. But still, pretty good. This was one of 3 rooms that used Audio Power Labs amps at these shows - this and another of which,with the Von Schweikert speakers I thought were in the top 10.

The Tidal ‘Piano’ loudspeaker

The Tidal ‘Piano’ loudspeaker rear

The Tidal ‘Piano’ loudspeaker rear binding posts

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier close up of the 833 tube

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier rear

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier feet

The Nova Physics Memory Player

The 833 tube

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier circuit element of some sort

The Audio Power Labs’ TNT-833 amplifier chassis without any electronics or tubes

PBN featured their statement Master Reference speakers here on their Olympia AX amps.

The PBN Audio ‘Olympia AX’ amplifier with a striking paint job

The PBN Audio ‘Master Reference’ and ‘EPS-2′ speakers.

The PBN Audio ‘Master Reference’ and ‘EPS-2′ speakers.

The equipment rack in this room

The Cary 306 CD / SACD player

Not sure which turntable

Ortofon 70 cartridge

PBN Audio’s Master Reference speaker with rainbow sparkle finish

PBN Audio’s EB-SA1 amplifier with open chassis [sorry for the fuzziness]

Quintessence Acoustics speakers on PBN amplifier and electronics.

Quintessence Acoustics Shadow V speakers

Quintessence Acoustics Shadow V speakers

Quintessence Acoustics Shadow V speaker

Not sure which turntable

PBN’s Olympia PX phono preamplifier

PBN’s Olympia 1 preamplifier

PBN’s Olympia MPS power supply

Cary 303T CD / SACD player

TASCAM UHA-HQ reel-to-reel table players

TASCAM UHA-HQ reel-to-reel table player

TASCAM UHA-HQ reel-to-reel table player

Quintessence Acoustics Shadow speakers

They had a piano back behind these large VMPS speakers, though I did not hear the back and forth demonstration.

But I didn’t really have to, these speakers did piano quite well. I was fortunate enough to hear a cut with piano in it while I was here and it was quite good. Especially the dynamic aspects of the piano keys. Even the decay was good - especially considering a real piano would have all that carpet, people and chairs to dampen the sound quite a bit.

Funny how the mind, seeing the piano, immediately jumps to the conclusion that the piano must be playing all the piano parts of the composition [so some of this is kind of a neat optical / aural illusion ].

Unfortunately, this system disproved that old audiophile tale that all a system has to do is get piano right and everything will follow from that. On other, modestly complex passages, the sound was uneven and confused - in harmonics, dynamics, resolution, … some notes were muddied with others, or became uncharacteristically prominent etc.

Ampzilla should make some other things.. like giant ‘powerzilla’ power cords… [or maybe call them ‘amperezilla’ .. ]

The VMPS Ribbon loudspeakers

The VMPS Ribbon loudspeaker ribbon, close-up

The VMPS Ribbon loudspeaker side view

The VMPS Ribbon loudspeaker rear view

The bevy of Ampzilla amps

An Ampzilla amplifier with open chassis

A Spread Spectrum ‘Trinaural Processor’ with open chassis

This is the first time we have been able to photograph the Acapella / Einstein room in about 7 years, having gotten into a spat with the previous distributor over what constitutes good business ethics [with respect to the distributor / dealer relationship - a relationship which our industry is handling badly and which you will see a good deal more about it on the blog in the future], causing us to avoid, by mutual consent, going into their exhibit rooms.

We were the largest dealer of Acapella in the U.S. for several years, and it is good to hear them again [although, it also seems like just yesterday we were listening to them all the time - middle age does have its time-scoping benefits].

The Violin VI speakers here are a good deal more efficient than the Violin II speakers were many years ago. In a room this size we would have recommended a top-of-the-line 400 watt solid state amplifier [which was about $30K, back in the good old days of 7 years ago when top solid state amps didn’t all cost upwards of $100K] .

Here in this room they used a 60 watt OTL tube amp.

Almost worked, too. But there was some struggling in the bass at the volumes they tried to play it here, however.

It *is* a really, really large room, although horn speakers like these are easily capable of filling it with sound without any muss or fuss.

The Acapella ‘Violin Mk VI’ loudspeakers and Einstein electronics

The Acapella ‘Violin Mk VI’ loudspeaker

The Acapella ‘Violin Mk VI’ loudspeaker

The Acapella ‘Violin Mk VI’ loudspeaker rear

The Acapella ‘Violin Mk VI’ loudspeaker ion tweeter rear

Einstein ‘The Final Cut’ OTL amplifiers

Einstein ‘The Final Cut’ OTL amplifiers

Einstein ‘The Final Cut’ OTL amplifiers

Einstein ‘The Final Cut’ OTL amplifiers

Einstein ‘The Final Cut’ OTL amplifier back panel

Einstein ‘The Source’ CD player

Einstein ‘Octopus’ power distributor

Einstein ‘The Tube’ linestage preamplifier

Einstein ‘The Tube’ linestage preamplifier

Einstein ‘The Tube’ Mk IV linestage preamplifier

Ugh. Finally. Day 3 is a full day. Day 4, the last day, was a lot more mellow, so we are close to being 2/3 done with this report, even though we are only 1/2 done, timewise.

The THE Show music vendor area in down on the 1st floor, where we will spend the morning. This is where most of the big systems were this year.

THE Show serves lunch down here. Have never partaken myself, so all I know ism that it beings a lot of people downstairs which the exhibitors down there appreciate - even though there was always a steady stream of people coming through all the rooms down here - the traffic being comparable to typical rooms at the Venetian [though sometimes at the Venetian you will get a mad rush where everyone wants to be in the same room at the same time]

Stein Music had their Harmonizers assisting the system in this room, a set of 6, I think, black boxes with little blue lights in them that affected the sound in the room.

After a demonstration with the Harmonizers on, then off, then on again, I felt that they made the system less ‘open sounding’ and adding a little dampening down to the dynamics. This is a similar effect to many power conditioners out there and many people seem to like this considering the overwhelming success of these kinds of devices. It makes the music more accessible, easier for the brain to parse, to grok, I sometimes think, perhaps because it is delivered in a more familiar package.

The speaker with a Blue Magic Diamond tweak on top

The speaker with a Blue Magic Diamond tweak on top, close-up

Stein Music tweaks on the ceiling

The Stein Music H2 Harmonizer system

The Stein Music H2 Harmonizer system

Smart Audio component of some sort [there is nothing at smartaudio.net]

Smart Audio component of some sort

The hallways are near empty - it is essentially 6:30pm. I will do one more room on the 4th floor and call it a day.

This poster lists all of the exhibitors at THE Show this year

Various forms of entertainment are available in the evenings.

We did not partake of the entertainment provided by THE Show this year.

This room sounded very Enjoyable. Big and open, sufficient harmonics and separation - although the dynamics was somewhat ‘evened out’ so perhaps it would never stray out of Enjoyability to be Real or Impressive. There was a certain even-handedness across the midrange - which I personally think is essential is one is going to call something ‘high-end’ audio - unlike many other systems, it didn’t just collapse into a mush at some freq., it didn’t get a lot more harmonics/resolution/dynamics that what it was supposed to have at some frequencies and a lot less at others, etc. etc.

Not saying it was great - but I wouldn’t have minded just collapsing into a chair and joining the other people here.

Kings Audio loudspeakers and Jadis amplifier and AMR CD player

Kings Audio’s King III speaker

Kings Audio’s King III speaker rear

Kings Audio’s Queen III speaker and Prince III speaker

Kings Audio’s Queen III speaker and Prince III speaker rears

Kings Audio’s Queen III speaker rear

Kings Audio’s Hummingbird II super tweeter

AMR CD-777 CD player

Jadis JPL preamplifier

Consonance preamp

Consonance USB DAC

Jadis amplifier