Lone Star Audio Fest 2019

Joshua Miles JWM Acoustics

Joshua Miles consistently brings excellent sound to the shows where JWM Acoustics presents. For LSAF 2019 he took that excellence to a new level with upgrades to every aspect of the demo system. The first hint of what Joshua had in store for us came during setup days when he was carefully moving massive five-foot long heavy slabs of walnut from his van to the room. These were the shelves for the newly introduced JWM Acoustics Jonathan Base equipment rack upon which the system was literally based.

JWM Acoustics Jonathan Base equipment rack

Left to their own devices the thick solid walnut slabs are too resonant for high-end audio use so Joshua has devised an elaborate yet hidden clamping system that both fixes legs to shelves and damps vibrations. The result as we have come to expect from Joshua Miles is high technical performance presented as a simple elegant form. With solid wood live edge tables so popular Joshua's artistic plus technical talents are perfect for bringing the look to high end audio.

Sources and preamplification sited on the rack begin with the turntables with both a reasonable and entirely unreasonable options. The reasonable option is the JWM Acoustics KAREN 6 SE Turntable powered by KAREN Control supply in stunning blue dyed LBL laminate. Amazing value at $2,400. The entirely unreasonable and entirely lust worthy phono option was the KODO The Beat Turntable. Cartridges featured were the Etsuro Urushi Bordeaux cartridge for Karen 6 SE and Top Wing Red Sparrow cartridge mounted on KODO.

JWM Acoustics KAREN 6 SE, Karen Control on lower shelf

KODO The Beat

Phono preamplification courtesy Allnic Audio H-7000 Phono Stage. For digital we enjoyed the Believe High Fidelity Music Server feeding its digits to the Aries Cerat Kasandra II Ladder DAC. The Kasandra II is a sight to behold and a sound to hear, a DAC built on such an enormous power supply its size and 125 pound shipping weight exceeds most power amplifiers. Line level and power amplification by Absolare including the Single-Ended triode Preamplifier, Passion Integrated Amplifier, and Purifier Power Conditioner. The cable loom included Echoles Obsession and Signature Interconnects, Obsession Power Cables; Douglas Connection Alpha 10 Main Leads, and JWM Acoustics hardwood Cable Cradles.

JWM Acoustics

All that technology serves ALYSON AML-SE loudspeaker JWM Acoustics new star making her debut at LSAF 2019 splendidly finished in black walnut and black lacquer. ALYSON AML-SE loudspeaker priced at $14,000 pair, ALYSON AML II at $8000 pair remains available. In discussions with Joshua he expressed dedication to and enthusiasm for the ALYSON AML platform in both its II and SE levels. The SE version is more than an incremental polishing of the well-received II. Rather the SE rethinks the trend to attempt revoking the laws of physics to make the enclosure as inert as a lump of lead. As a luthier does Joshua began re-voicing the design changing the mix of materials and build details in the SE enclosure to include a higher proportion of the tone wood Paulownia. The layered baffle board upon which the drivers are mounted is reformulated, crossover re-voiced to the new goal with higher quality components. Internal wiring is changed to Echoles Obsession. The changes all aimed at the goal of adding to the AML II's technically excellent sound a good measure of the dynamic expressiveness of large format studio monitors while retaining the ALYSON AML's décor friendly architecture. Mile's dedication to and talents brought to bear on the task were illustrated when he casually described removing the voice coils and coil formers off the already customized Scan Speak Illuminator woofers used in AML's and gluing on the former type and coil configuration more aligned with the SE vision.

The result is ALYSON AML-SE sounds intensely musical. The beautiful tonality, wide bandwidth, and low distortion the AML II's reputation is based on remain. New traits include even more visceral dynamics and upon further study an organic natural real tonal resolution that brings out the material quality of the instruments and individuals being reproduced. My initial reaction was to catalog the traits from the audiophile lexicon the demo system and ALYSON AML-SE were excelling at. Five stars, 9 ½ or 10 out of 10; whatever scale you prefer for the logical, technical, quantifiable characteristics of a high-end Hi-Fi speaker we can devise the AML-SE aced it. That opinion was formed by the first 10% of my time listening to the AML-SE. The expert and artistic blending of all that technical excellence quickly leads to forgetting about the Hi-Fi and simply melting into the music and emotional communications from the musician and composer presented to the listener.

ALYSON AML-SE

Gunawan 'Gunny' Surya Sonner Audio

Sonner Audio's Gunawan 'Gunny' Surya in partnership with dealer Derek 'Skip' Skipworth's Audio Thesis presented a very refined demo system that included Sonner Allegro Unum 2-way stand mount speakers, Norma IPA-140B integrated amplifier, and North Star Design Blue Diamond CD Player/DAC.

Sitting down for a demo the immediate impression is of an expansive transparent sound with pleasing warmth. The warmth of the Allegro Unum goes against expectations for a metal coned design driven by a wide bandwidth solid state amplifier. The skill evident in the way it is balanced lets the natural warmth of music show through. The other skill set Unum brings is very fast yet critically damped rise and settling times, they start and stop on the proverbial dime. On classic Elvis and ZZ Top Americana blues rock the PRaT (pace, rhythm, and timing) is spot on. Working together the Unum and Norma put us in Sun Records' studio conjuring the young Elvis while also revealing then perfectly tracking the upright bass behind The King driving the song.

Norma IPA-140B

Imaging is a specialty of the time aligned Unum, regardless of the track demo'ed they throw a sound field that blossoms out filling the room. Most of our systems will on occasion image beyond the edges of our speakers, i.e. left of the left speaker and right of the right speaker. With the Sonner Allegro Unum that was the default presentation as the air and space of the venue fill the room. This was not some parlor trick or affectation. The recording's room acoustic was just there in a space populated by the performers.

Sonner Allegro Unum

Minimalism in design is an appealing trait. The Sonner Allegro Unum with Norma IPA-140B system assembled by Surya and Skipworth was an exemplar of minimalism applied to high end Hi-Fi. The sound we usually associate with racks of boxes and big towers or columns all from just three sleek boxes. There was also a synergy or rightness to the sound I am not adequately describing. Very memorable, well worth seeking out.

Derek Skipworth Audio Thesis

Audio Thesis' second room system stared the Usher SD-500 monitor. Derek is very excited with this product as it features the Usher Diamond tweeters along with a new 5" woofer and impressive build quality at an attractive $2,000/pair price point.

The electronics on display included the Norma HS-IPA1 half sized integrated ($3,000 base, +$750 with DAC) and Modwright preamp and power amp amplification courtesy of LSAF regular Darryl Gaston. And therein hangs a tale of "golden ears" fooled. Auditioning this room after hours with the fun crew that congregates in Skip's rooms the Usher SD-500 monitor was rocking the house (actually hotel). Sophisticated and powerful the SD-500 monitor was doing that "where's the subwoofer" trick good mini-monitors pull when partnered with a hefty power amp that feeds them plenty of current and keeps the drivers under control during large excursions. I pointed at the Modwright preamp and power amp set and opined "little speaker, big amplifier makes a good pairing." Smiling ear to ear Skip informed me it was the shoebox sized Norma HS-IPA1 integrated coaxing all that sound out of the SD-500s. Post show a little 'net research shows the HS-IPA1's wide bandwidth amplification section capable of 2 x 75 W RMS / 8 Ohm - 150 W RMS / 4 Ohm and 2 x 24 A continuous output current (100 A peak per channel). Ok, that explains that.

LSAF 2019 and Derek Skipworth's Audio Thesis continues his multiyear run of showing systems with outstanding price to performance to cool factor ratios. The system featuring Usher SD-500 monitor and Norma HS-IPA1 bring diamond tweeters, high resolution digital inputs and analog with esoteric 1 MHz amplifiers in stunning enclosures for middle class money. Not cheap but when so many audio shows feature room after room showing $100k+ systems this system offers great sound and very high pride of ownership the middle class can afford.