A few impressions from the CES/THE Shows

Art, WRT the Rethms, what subwoofer? I was in the Rethm room on two separate occasions, and there was no subwoofer on either. To be sure, a subwoofer would have been a necessity in order to achieve anything resembling neutral tonality. I've never listened to the Rethms before, so I don't have experience to know how they might have sounded in a different room, but I don't know when in my memory I have ever heard such a skewed tonal balance. For me, this was the most frustrating speaker at the show. It did so many things exceedingly well--transparent, open, dynamic, and probably as close to "live" sounding as anything this side of $50K or more. If I could have been convinced that a subwoofer would have cured all its tonality issues, I would have bought a pair on the spot.

I felt the same way about the Vandersteen Quatros a few years back when they were first shown, at least until we asked them to turn up the volume.

Richard for some reason likes to keep the volume relatively low during the show. When asked to push it, though, he certainly will let his speakers speak out and shine a bit more. And even given my Vandersteen loyalty, I'll gladly admit that they ARE somewhat tame at low volumes.

Have you listened to any Sonus Faber's? I've never heard any myself but everything you describe screams of what Ive read about the Sonus Faber designs. I recall some stereophile measurements showing a nice hump in the region you're talking about. They are often praised for sweetness up top too.

I would be interested in more comments about the Quatro's. Also what was that Ayre unit sitting between the two ARC amps in the Quatro room? Line conditioner maybe?

This was a fantastic show IMO . Great weather , good kharma everywhere and some excellent sound to boot. Running into old friends and meeting new ones is really the highlight so let me start there. Jonathan Tinn and Mike lavigne are often spotted together and its a geat treat to hang out with them for a while . There is so much incredible energy between them thats its impossible not to get caught up in it. Ed Meitner was often spotted and always had a moment to spare for the wannabes like me .David Chesky was seen everywhere and was always kind enough to stop and talk . Without people like him pushing the envelope , we would have nothing but hardware and lousy recordings . Craig Oxford was forthcoming about new exciting developments in the Nearfield Pipedream line and I for one find him stimulating to talk to . Mike Verreto , importer for ESP was a treat to get to know as he has some new products that were as good sounding as they looked. Tor and Lew at CJ are always the best , and Gentleman Mike Kelly was as usual gracious and kind from Aerial Acoustics . There were some incrediible products this year with the Von Gaylord liquid cooled tube amp at near 60 k the most unusual . Swedish Solutions plastered your ears back with some outrageous dynamics with their 250 k speakers that didnt quite look like 250k speakers. Burmester as usual had a sound to die for and I saw their electronics in another room I really was taken with... The Audio Physics room . The Scorpio was being shown and I was floored by its lifelike soundstage , clarity and accurate midrange presentation . This speaker is a winner for them . The Esoteric room was showing the beautiful 20 t speaker from Aerial Acoustics and it was so smooth you could listen for hours on end . I personally loved the MBL room . I will own a pair of these one day. The 101 E Radialstrahler is one of those products you love or hate but cannot dismiss as it produces effortless dynamics and a soundfield to get lost in . Personally , i fell for the TAD speaker they were showing this year . Not sure the model but at 40 k , I saw it as a bargin . Saving the beat for last , there were 3 rooms I could write a check for. Once again its Jonathan and Darren duking it out at the Alexis for top honors in my view. Darren and Bonnie controlled several rooms and while he was relentless in expressing enthusiasm and knowledge { the guy is brilliant }, Bonnie is cool , dishing out great hot chocolate. All of their rooms were meticously set up and they sounded that way. The Ascendo CAT Reimyo room was simply gorgeous sounding and easily some one of the best sound I have ever heard .Explosive dynamics yet intimate with lifelike, uncolored timbre. Top end extension was natural and the dimensionality was phenomenal . In another of his rooms I was floored by the Karan solid state amps . This is something you must hear to appreciate, it has an iron grip on the bass region and was liquid from the upper midrange on up. Worth a look if you ask me. One of the biggest surprises of the show was Frank TChang of Acoustic Systems. Frank is a Chineese acoustical engineer living in Paris with a name like... well Frank. What a combination ! He was showing [to great effect ] , a block of wood with a tiny cup on top . The cups come in various metals and do different things to some degree. The product was called a Resonator. He effortlessly manipulated the soundfield and soundstage by simply repositioning the cup. It widened , closed , deepened and moved forward the soundstage with the slightest change in position . It was atounding and has my vote for tweak of the .... century! Way to go Frank!! JTinns Von Schweikert VR 9, DarTZeel, Meitner room was once again at the top of the class this year. Its what we go to Vegas for. Jonathan carries only the finest gear and what i like most is he just lives for this stuff. His room was small but the system blew the walls away and was deep, rich in harmonic texture but transparent as hell. Air and decay was world class and the system was completely free of grain . I was blown away. He was also showing a new turntable for 16 k that took my breath. I may have to spring for this one. Last but far from least at THe Show at the San Tropez was the debut of Alex Peychev of APl and his proprietary system consisting of his own design of speakers , hybrid amp , cables and most importantly , his NWO -1. This is an Esoteric UX 1 that is gutted and rebulit with 10 dacs per channel and dual tube output stage. The sound was open , extended , cohesive and had a wonderful midrange. It was as linear a sound as I have ever experienced . The room stayed packed from sun up to sun down . I wasnt the only one who thought so. Great show , see ya next year!!

Out of curiosity: do either of you gents have any experience hearing the Linkwitz Orions? Very dynamic, very coherent active dipoles. Siegfried Linkwitz is an avid classical music listener. These might fit your bill.