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ISSUE
25
may/june
HE 2006 - Part 2, page 2
by Dave and Carol Clark
The GutWire guys (Alex and Herbert) with the whole GutWire line-up... happy and doing well...
The man behind the Belkin Pure Av cables... http://www.pureav.com interesting stuff from one of the real BIG boys...
The Belkin room showed with the Softone transport and DAC... interesting (and yet very affordable) stuff from Japan.
The Belkin room... what was really cool (and way more exhibitors need to do this... so TAKE NOTE)... they had a free bar in the afternoon with beer, wine, and the hard stuff! Now these guys know how to exhibit!
The new Onkyo loudspeaker... nice an cute...and it sounded decent as well...
Yeah... I said they were small...
The Hyperion HPS-968 loudspeakers with the line of Hyperion electronics...
...like this amplifier...
The new HPS-968 loudspeakers... sounded rather good.
And then there was the new guys featuring new products that went way outside the boundaries... Balzano Villetri ...very nicely done, but not something that is... like, well box-like. Which is no doubt the idea... they sounded okay when we were there.
The Einstein, Wavac (Covenant Audio), Isoclean, Acapella, and Accustic Arts room was a pretty sight. Love the look and finish of the gear... as good as it gets.
Wavac amplifiers are oh so nice to look at...
The Wavac amps, preamp, and Accustic Arts electronics...
The Kubala-Sosna, Chord, Neat, and Exposure room (Bluebird Music) sounded very nice. Fast, dynamic, clean...
...a top view of the top-firing tweeters on the Neat Ultimatum M7 loudspeakers...
...a front view of the front-firing woofers (and tweeter) on the Neat M7s...
...sitting to the sides of Chord electronics. This stuff is way too cool to be audio...
All the Chord stuff lights up blue inside...
A Chord system stacked like a cord of wood... in their own stand...
Steve standing tall with the killer Neat Motive One which was paired with Exposure electronics; total system price was under $4k and this one was KILLER for what it was... small and affordable and it made music... big music too!
Barry Kohen of Bright Star hamming it up... got to eat!
The Lipinski room showed the same speakers that moved everyone at CES... except this time they were powered with their own amps hidden inside the stands. A cool idea. Not sure as to the sonics as the room was too crowded to sit and listen.
...their amp from the front... well really the rear!
Josh Ray (Sonic Flare) and Larry Cox (PFO) corner an attendee (actually a friend of Josh's and one who, it is reported, has a fantastic system...)
KEF showed with Bryston. A very Bryston/KEF sort of sound... nice...
The humongous LA Audio room featured the top-o-the-line Raidho Eben X5 loudspeakers with VTL, Acoustic Signature tables, Bel Canto electronics, and Nordost cabling. Lars and Joe where in good form for Nordost... great guys who are a joy to be around.
Another great guy... Luke Manley with the big VTL Siegfried 800-watt monos...
The X5... is big... and this room needed a bit speakers... unfortunately the bass was a tad slow and too ponderous for the him track―it lacked pace and really did not rock as I had hoped it would... the woofers feature their own amplifiers. I do have the smaller X3s on the way for a review. These smaller Ebens really did rock at past shows... so the fun is on the way! VTL also showed the new TL7.5 preamp and phono stage...