Capital Audio Fest Notes

I didn’t see a show thread yet so figured I’d start one.  Not sure if this is the right place but, if it’s not, feel free to move it…or combine if I missed another one. 

I was there all day Friday and a few hours on Saturday.  You could easily get around in a day. The layout was simple and fairly logical.  Rooms were rarely seatless (every seat filled). Most patrons and dealers/manufacturers were in a good mood. I visited multiple rooms more than twice just to go back and compare and be sure I heard assorted music as occasionally you’ll walk in and someone just put on some female vocal/oboe/finger cymbal track that I despise. These were my favorite rooms. Feel free to ask about anything at the show except turntables as I know nothing about them and didn’t see what was on display. Most rooms did have them but played them only occasionally. I assume they want people to be able to play tracks they want to hear and the variety Qobuz offers is best for that. For reference my current system is Ayre KX-R preamp, Ayre AX-5 as an amp or integrated, Ayre V-5xe, Lumin U1 Mini, MHDT Balanced Pagoda, Teac NT-505, Bricasti M3 (borrowed from our resident DAC expert @verdantaudio) and Salk Encore speakers with the Audio Technology midrange from the 9.5. 

Black Ice Audio

F100 Monoblocks using KT170 tubes

Fusion F360 preamp

11 year old Vienna speakers

Some small rear speakers for soundstage tweaking using the F360

This room sounded great. I know they were using the rears to pull the soundstage a little forward and make it fuller and it worked great.  I loved the sound of this room. They used the same front speakers at the Tampa show before COVID and I thought they were great there. You knew you were listening to tubes but there was nothing slow, soft or boomy about it. Jerrod, the CEO, is always enjoyable to talk to.

CommandAV

Gryphon Diablo 300

QLN Prestige Five

I love these speakers. Something just sounds right about them.  Not too detailed but not rolled off. They only make 3 models and the standmount was in my favorite room (see below). Dynamic, huge soundstage, great imaging. Probably spent more time in here than any other room as it was near the entrance and fairly decent size so there was plenty of room most of the time. The CommandAV people were super nice (I believe his name was George) allowing people to put on whatever they wanted.

Bache Audio

Bache Speakers

AB Audio (stands for Alexus/Bache, bad idea for trying to Google) Class D integrated

This room just made music.  So enjoyable to listen to with no exaggeration of any frequencies. I heard the floorstanding Urban-002 and the standmount Sonata-EX. I couldn’t believe when I sat down on Saturday (3rd visit I believe) and saw the Sonata’s were playing. I don’t think I’ve heard a speaker sound this good for the price.  The amp/speaker combo was like $4500 on show special. They will be super easy to setup and can be 6 inches from the wall or way out according to Greg, the owner. I may get a pair just because. They’re that inline with my tastes. I would bet sound of the amps may not matter as much with these as other speakers (just a guess). Harbeths are similar in that amps don’t matter quite as much.  It’s all going to sound good it’s just a matter of what flavor you’re looking for.

Amped America

Amped AMP2400 I think. But they only list 2 on their website.

AQ (Acoustique Quality) Passion25

I’ve never head of either of these brands.  They had Unison (think Unico) stuff around but it was never on when I was in there. Not sure there was any one thing that stood out. They just sounded how I like. Maybe a little tubey, maybe a little solid statey. Great imaging, soundstage, texture. The electronics were less than $5k while the speakers I think were about that or less. This room was a great value room that I could easily live with. I will say the racing stripe on the speakers are not my taste but my 19 year old son thought they looked really cool (sporty is the word I would use).

AGD

AGD Audion or Grande Vivace

Ocean Way Eureka (I think) Speakers

I loved this room in Tampa and I loved it here.  There something about the sound that grabs me.  It’s not like any of the other rooms. You want to listen to see how good everything sounds. It may sound so good and different that I spend more time listening to how good it sounds rather than actually listening to the music. Just a thought but maybe that’s why I’ve been afraid to pull the trigger to try them. 

Salk

McGary SA1e

Salk no-name speakers with dual Purifi Woofers

Jim Salk made these speakers before the show but hasn’t named them.  He’s taking orders as far as I know. I have the Encores which are big speakers. These are much smaller but dig deep with tight, tight bass. I would buy these if I didn’t have the Encores. About the same price.  I’ve never heard McGary amps before.  I may actually buy one now. Two of my favorite rooms were playing them. Great combo of stereotypical (no pun intended) tube and solid state sound. Any music will be listenable but not plush or euphonic. Supposedly they put out 35 watts and they were driving 87 dB (I think) speakers easily.

Favorite room:

Dr Vinyl

McGary SA1e

Bakert Labs Rhythm 1.3 preamp

QLN Prestige One

This room was, to no surprise, an all vinyl room.  Jose (Dr Vinyl) is incredibly friendly and excited about audio. The QLN’s were incredible, especially for their size, and price for that matter. The disappeared, didn’t lean in one direction tone-wise and had bass that didn’t need a sub. I asked to play some rock after hear way too little at the show.  He threw on an original pressing of Led Zeppelin II, “Whole Lotta Love”. We had left a room the previous day due to how bad this track sounded on another system (can’t remember which). In this room, it sounded exactly like you’d want Zeppelin to sound, Rock, blues, ragged and raw. I could have brought the whole system home on the spot, except the crazy looking and, I assume, expensive turntable and live happily ever after. It’s not that I didn’t like the turntable it’s probably just way, way more than I would currently spend on vinyl. 

There were plenty of other good ones. Honorable mention to Volti and TAD. I spent some time talking to Mark O’Brien from Rogue. He’s a really friendly and approachable guy. They have a new Stereo 100 Dark (Stereo 100 with better parts) out. It sounded great paired with B&W’s new 504 speakers. Anyone looking for a powerful tube amp under $5k should take a look.

Oh, the Von Schweikert über expensive room was outstanding but a little above my credit card limits. The Ultra 11 (I think) are huge but can sound delicate and small or orchestral huge depending on the music.  Really impressive what they can do. Cost no object I don’t think I’ve heard better. 

I’ll update if I realize I’ve forgotten something. Feel free to fill in models or anything else if I got something wrong. I look forward to the next show.