Proof: A picture's worth more than a thousand words          

      
Andy Singer of Sound By Singer looks as if he's either in a deep state of audio-meditation or dead (in the top photo standing next to Zanden Audio's Yamada San). One thing's certain, the sound of the room, which featured dCS digital gear and VTL pre and amplification driving the Escalante Design Freemont loudspeakers was, alive and kicking. The new look on the dCS gear is very attractive I must add.

Resembling 12 miniature jet-engines on some strange assembly is the Scaena line-array loudspeaker ($44k). Shown here for the first time is a more humane, scaled down version of their reference $75k-seven-foot-tall-double-stacked-woofer ensemble that debuted at CES earlier this year. These are no ordinary enclosures as they're built from ceramic for guaranteed minimization of cabinet resonances. The name Scaena is derived from Latin and translates into theater, stage, art and entertainment; exactly what I heard from this wonderful setup. Everyone knows I'm a complete sucker for ribbon/line array combos and the Scaena's uniquely styled enclosure had me circling it like a middleweight prize fighter sizing up his next opponent. Silversmith Audio top of the line Palladium cabling was used throughout to give the sound a sumptuous glow that was very impressive indeed.

From the looks of Scaena's unique individual ceramic enclosures versus the somewhat typical 4-drivers-in-a-box enclosures used to make the DALI Megalines (photo right my listening room), I'm inclined to think the Scaena produces far less cabinet colorations. On the other hand, the Megalines uses an open baffle (7-foot, 7-inch tall ) dipole ribbon which gives it an extraordinarily feel to the music. The Scaena does not. Oh well, it will have to come down to my getting the big ones here for a real heavyweight prize fight.  

Notice the amplifiers? Yes, we both chose the same Behold BPA768 stereo amplifiers ($45k ea) from the Germany. Expensive as hell but the best amplifiers I've heard to date period, no exceptions (don't give yourself a wedgie, I've not heard everything). The DALIs must be bi-amplified which requires two of these behemoths (oh, I'm NOT complaining). Behold uses proprietary cables to link from the BPA768 amps to the Behold preamplifier. That makes it a mandatory purchase, so add another $30k to your total purchase (if you want ultra-sophisticated room correction software and a digital crossover capabilities right from the preamp toss in another $10k. C'mon, I know you got it!).

Talk about double trouble; the same folks that make the Scaena loudspeaker also make the Nova Physics Memory Player. There's George Bischoff at the helm while music's aristocrat himself Gerry Gladstein, former Chairman of Fi Magazine, listens intently. Both Gerry and I thought the sound of this room was stellar and among the best of the show. I'm not going to rehash on the Memory Player's virtues again but if you've not heard about this product by now, you might want to read these articles here , here and here

When I walked into this room the first thing I noticed was how good the music sounded. Seriously, it simply had a certain feel to it that immediately grabbed me and forced me pay closer attention to the music. It was a number of massed-voices from Reference Recordings wonderfully recorded selections including my favorites in John Rutter's Requiem and the Turtle Creek Chorale Testament. Only when the music stopped did I recognize it was the Magico V3 loudspeaker ($22,800) I was hearing. The new Spectral CD player ($15k) via all VAC amplification and MIT cabling wasn't shabby in the least. Now I understand what all the hype is about with regard to the Magicos. The sound was incredibly lucid, well balanced, and most importantly musical.

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