Congratulations, Vinh!
From "Day Two with Herb" by Herb Reichert / Stereophile.
"I always enjoy visiting Vinh Vu, president of Gingko Audio and Danacable. He plays music I like, always gets good sound, and helps me understand the sometimes-unusual lineup of products he demonstrates. This year was no exception.
The $9000 Made in America Gingko Audio ClaraVU 7 Mk.3 modular speaker system consists of a top-mounted monitor speaker with a 6.5" paper cone bass-midrange plus a 1" slightly horn-loaded silk dome tweeter, combined with a horn-loaded ribbon super-tweeter that Vinh Vu said crosses over at 20kHz. "But Vinh, my ears cross over at 10kHz!"
The bottom (bass) cabinets feature compound-loaded 6.5" cones, and stack neatly and handsomely below the monitor cabinets. Impedance is nominally 10 ohms with a specified minimum of 8 ohms. Sensitivity is 85db/1W/1m.
The $6500/pair Triode Corp of Japan TRX-P3M amplifiers employ parallel single-ended 300B tubes, which Vinh says put out 20Wpc, and I believe these handsome-looking monoblocks were the core reason every recording sounded so pure and unaffected. The longer I listened, the more I felt these amps were generating some form of distilled magic. Therefore, curiosity roused, I asked for a review sample.
The preamp was the Wells Audio Commander ($4000); the DAC was the Denafrips Terminator—a $4500 ladder DAC that I have heard a few times and also rouses my curiosity. The refined-sounding Gingko room system also included a $1700 Gen. III Salk Stream Player and, of course, Danacable's Sapphire and Diamond cabling.
Vu's system had one more very intriguing (to me) product: Under the speakers were Gingko Audio ARCHs—compact layered-wood vibrational-control devices shaped like automotive leaf springs. They come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses and look like they might actually work better than pointy spikes, pliant silicone, or hard roller-ball bearings. There was a lot to study and think about in Vinh Vu's room."
