Leslie Brooks was tucked into one corner of the Classic Audio Reproduction speaker room, surrounded by an assortment of tape accessories. Among them were his own new brand of 7- and 10-inch precision cut metal reels in a variety of colors for $60. Additional tape goodies included silicone reel spacers ($8/pair), AEG to NAB Hub adapters ($40), Revox style NAB Hub Adaptors ($60/pair) and more.
Audio Video Artistry/Burmester
Master Artist Audio Masterpiece Tower speakers, $65K, Burmester 909 monoblock amplifiers, $80K, Burmester 077 preamplifier, $65K, Burmester 175 turntable, $65K, Burmester 111 streamer, $55K, Kimber Kable cables
Christian Rogers, long time owner of Audio Video Artistry in Memphis, demonstrated a slightly smaller version of the Master Artist Audio speakers (first shown at AXPONA) fronted by an all Burmester system. Two additional Master Artist Audio speaker models were showcased in the two adjoining rooms. The Masterpiece Towers with their RAAL ribbons and Accuton 7-inch midrange and 8-inch woofers filled the room with sound, were oh so easy on the ears and grain-free. On the other hand, the sound could just have been a little more resolving. I kept thinking a little better cartridge might have done the trick.
Audience AV
Audience ClairAudient Bellare speakers, $36K, Atma-Sphere Class D monoblock amplifiers, $6100, Atma-Sphere MP-1 vacuum tube balanced linestage, $7850, Herron Audio phonostage, $3650, SOTA Sapphire VII turntable, $6050, Origin Live Enterprise tonearm, $6860, Sony UBPX-1100ES disc player, $700, Exemplar Audio eXpression DUAL ES9028PRO DAC with outboard power supply, $5500, Audience Panzerholz Pz6 equipment rack, $24K, Audience FrontRow Reserve cables
Audience introduced their upcoming ClairAudient Bellare wide-bander speakers at this year's Capital Audiofest. Audience's new baby—and big, no massive step up in their speaker product line—uses multiple, identical high resolution 3-inch high-excursion drivers to cover the range above 120 Hz and self-powered mid and woofers driven by 300 wpc amplifiers and DSP. Expected release in Q1 2026. The sound here was a little lean; as if something in the system hadn't broken-in yet.
Blink Highnd Audio
Borresen M3 speakers, $60K, Aavik P-880 amplifiers, $75K, Aavik C-880 control amplifier, $75K, Aavik P-880, $75K, Aavik SD-880 streamer/DAC, $75K, Aavik R-880 phonostage, $74K, Thuono TH-400 turntable, $60K, Ansuz Gold Signature cables
Blink Audio up Boston way (and Matterhorn Audio Group) journeyed down to Rockville with a few new products of note including the stunning looking, oversized platter, belt drive Thuono turntable (first sighted at last years' CAF) from Italy and Ansuz cables. (I think they ended up using the My Sonic Labs Signature Gold cartridge). The sound here was not unlike the issue experienced with widely spaced speakers in a huge room: if you weren't sitting dead center everything was off to one side or the other. I was curious since the Thuono table piqued my interest last year in the Grandinote room. The room's sound was fast, clean, and detailed, though somewhat lean and a smidge compressed.
