Cable "maven" Caelin Gabriel joined allegiance with Essence electronics prodigy Dale Pitcher. The room was alive and kicking serious AC venom by way of five Shunyata PowerSnakes King Cobras AC Cords ($2330 ea.) and two Hydra Line Conditioners ($2495 ea.). Gabriel debuted his new reference caliber prototype interconnects ($500) matrix speaker cables ($1995 per 8 ft.) and Taipan power cord ($649 photo), projected to hit the stores next month. Knowing how good Shunyata designed products can improve sound still did not prepare me for the incredible synergy heard when teamed with Dale Pitcher's Essence Electronics and Intuitive Design loudspeakers. This room sounded absolutely faaaaantastic! The electronics and speakers consisted of the Essence Jasper Line Stage preamplifier ($15000) and Essence Emerald Amplifiers ($16000), strapped to a pair of Intuitive Design Denali speakers ($35000). These massive beasts tip the scale at over 600 lbs. per side, with no less than 36 MIB Aurios Bearings floating the individual cabinets per side. The rest of the system was comprised of Sony's 777, used exclusively as a transport, coupled to the high-performance Dodson D to A converter ($6500)

This was one room that I found myself thinking of returning to when away for more than one hour. The sound was addictive and enchanting. The Denali's bass articulation, weight and impact, even at incredibly high SPLs, was the best I've ever heard coming from a pair of 6 ½" bass drivers per side. If I hadn't heard it for myself, I would never believed that a loudspeaker could evince this level of dynamic prowess without losing total control, or worse, possibly damaging the drivers. The Denali loudspeaker isn't anywhere near affordable with a list price of $35000, but then, very few electronic components capable of bringing me this close to audio nirvana are. In conjunction with the other electronics in the room, and all those Aurios Bearings used throughout, this system proved to be an absolute sonic wonder.