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Clearaudio booth. Some of the most beautifully
made turntables in the world.
Dynaudio
Evidence Master loudspeakers ($92k) driven by
Dynaudio's seldom seen, ultra-expensive,
battery-driven Arbiter pre ($100k) and mono
amps ($100k). Digital playback was via an
Esoteric double-stack and the sound was quite
impressive. Our own Greg Petan owns a pair of
the Evidence Masters and I'm sure he'd enjoy
this setup as well.
German
loudspeaker maker Fischer & Fischer show their
new dipole prototype that appeared as a
departure from their usual boxy designs.
Driven by Audio Flight electronics, I was
smitten by the complete openness this system
conveyed. Initially, I had concerns regarding
the glass dividers on each loudspeaker but was
somewhat amazed that I didn't detect any
glassy or etched sound. Impressive indeed.
Audio
dignitaries PS Audio's Paul McGowan (left) and
George Bischoff of Nova Physics Group, makers
of the worlds first high-end Memory Player.
Most impressive
loudspeaker design at High End 2007!
Modesty gets him
EVERYWHERE. Why I would want someone with
these credentials to build me a loudspeaker.
Podium
loudspeaker designer Shelly Katz's short bio
reads....Multifaceted musician Shelley Katz
was born in Montreal and won his first
national competition at the age of six,
beginning his professional career with
appearances at Expo '67 and for CBC. After
studying at the Conservatoire de Musique in
Montreal, he completed his Bachelor and Master
of Music degrees as a scholarship student at
the Julliard School in New York. Concerts
across North America including appearances at
Carnegie Recital Hall followed his graduation.
Katz then moved to Europe where he continued
to perform as a soloist, conducted in opera
houses, and developed concert and recording
relationships with some of the world's leading
singers, including Nicolai Gedda, Dame Gwyneth
Jones, and Katia Ricciarelli. From a position
as Assistant Music director in Mainz, Germany,
Katz moved to England where he completed a
multi-disciplinary PhD. His performance career
has taken him throughout the world, from the
Santury Hall in Tokyo to the Musikverein in
Vienna, from the San Giorgio festival in
Venice to the Wigmore Hall in London. Recent
recordings include his acclaimed rendition of
the Goldberg Variations, and a recording of
Schumann's Dichterliebe with Jochen Kowalski.
Currently, together with the outstanding
Canadian Lyric-Coloratura Diana Gilchrist,
Katz is one of the 'Musicians in Residence' at
the English campus of Queen's University in
Herstmonceux.
Visit the Podium
website at
http://www.podiumsound.co.uk/homepage.html
After extensive
listening and studying this loudspeaker, not
to mention using my most familiar music, I
began to understand some of the concept
behind the flat panel Podium 1 loudspeaker
($9k). This driver-less, ribbon-less,
box-less, and crossover-less panel loudspeaker
possessed a certain right-ness to the human
voice that had me second guessing my own
music. Katz then allowed me to participate in
an experiment that involved his Podium Model 1
loudspeakers flanked over my left and right
shoulders like a set of gigantic Stax
headphones. And you know, that's precisely
what they sounded like. The Podium 1
loudspeaker created a certain sonic portrait
that's unique even among panel designs because
of its faithfulness to sounding closer to
real-life. This auspicious first showing was
in many ways the highlight of this years show.
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