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2005 CES/T.H.E. Show
On the morning of the first day of this year’s
Consumer Electronics Show and T.H.E. Show, I
was terrified that I would never make out of
Midway Airport in Chicago because of a
snowstorm that dumped nearly a foot of snow
over most of the Midwest. So I arrived at the
airport two hours early and was lucky enough
to not only make it out of the airport, but to
actually ended up on a flight that got me into
Las Vegas an hour early. Courtenay Osborne,
Mike Wright, and myself, decided to save a few
bucks and bunk up together at the Hotel San
Remo. After all, when you’re in “the city that
never sleeps” you don’t spend much time in
your room anyway.
So here I was having escaped the blowing
blizzard that engulfed Chicago and ready to
bask in the warm sun-filled skies of Las
Vegas. But there was no sun-filled sky. There
was no warmth. Instead, to my and most
everyone else’s amazement, there was … snow.
That’s right, @#$%&* snow! Granted, the snow
only lasted for a few minutes but the rest of
the day was no bargain either, a steady rain
and temps in the 30s. Thankfully there was
plenty of great music and good company to make
this year’s festivities still enjoyable
despite the bad weather.
There were many great rooms to see during the
weekend but rather than try to tell you about
each and every one, I’ll tell you about a few
rooms that were noteworthy and finally I’ll
give you my Ten Outstanding Sounds of The
Show.
Small Speakers
 
For starters,
there were a number of small speaker systems
that really got my attention. The
Opera Audio
Consonance Eric-1, Spendor S5e (top
left $1799) and Mobile
Fidelity OML-1 (right $999) imaged like
crazy and made me appreciate some of the great
things that can be had in a reasonably priced
and sized loudspeaker. The same could be said
for excellent subwoofer maker, TBI, who
introduced their new Majestic Diamond Embedded
Transmission Line speaker system. The
EMB-1A ($200) combined with their
Magellan Sub ($1250) to create both a
two-channel and multi-channel home
entertainment system. Jan Plummer’s excellent
subs could be found in a number of other rooms
as well, meaning that even their
contemporaries are discovering what a gem this
company is.
Another somewhat more interesting encounter
that I had with a small speaker came as I was
making my way through the hallways of the St.
Tropez Resort, which of course was the home of
T.H.E. Show and located right next door to
Alexis Park. I was deep in thought
contemplating which venue’s free lunch I
wanted to partake of when I heard a voice say,
“I’ve got 97db efficient speakers in here.”
I was a little startled at first because the
last time I heard a proposition like that was
when I was on vacation in Amsterdam and what
the guy was offering then would have gotten me
 arrested,
especially in Georgia. Luckily this time the
guy was the very amiable Steve Cox of
Cox Audio Systems
and what he had to offer was a chance to hear
his 97db efficient
SM-081 Loudspeaker ( right $2900).
The SM-081 is extremely fast and detailed and
handles percussion about as taut as you could
ask of any speaker. But what was really
impressive was the demo Steve gave me of his
diminutive SM-052
bookshelf speaker and a subwoofer
in a test of just how loud his systems can
play music without losing coherency. Though
the system could play I couldn’t help think of
how the poor folks in his adjoining room must
have felt during their demo.
A speaker that was small in stature but big in
all other ways was the
Ars Aures Do ($3,000). The fit-n-finish
of this speaker and all the others from this
Italian company are first-rate. Particularly
fine sounding was the
Sensorial
($12,000) whose sound I have enjoyed at
previous shows. Mike Wright was particularly
smitten with this design and expects to get it
in for a review soon.
Exciting Discoveries
There were
also a couple of rooms where I found what I
would call the Most Exciting Discoveries at
the show. The first is the affordable and very
musical components from
Berendsen Audio
of Germany (above). These true high-end
components had a very nice synergy with the
equally exciting Von
Schweikert Audio VR4jr.
One of my favorite accessory makers is
Golden Sound.
This year they were showing off a couple of
really cool items that I hope to try out in my
own system. The first was the
Ultra Tweeter
($400/pair), which is said to open up the
frequency band and allow the speakers to
perform more efficiently. The second accessory
and by far the most eyebrow raising was the
Golden Sound Intelligent
Chip ($16). According to Golden
Sound’s Allen Chang, all you have to do is set
this 1” x 1 ˝” wafer atop your CD player and
play the disc that you want to “upgrade” for
2-4 seconds, remove the chip and place it back
in its case. That’s it! To add to the mystery,
Allen says that you can only use the chip 10
times then it can be thrown away. If you want
to know more you’ll have to contact Golden
Sound
yourself.
Another exciting discovery was a neat little
tubed integrated/headphone amp from
Grommes
called the PHI-26
($995). It sounded mind-blowingly good driving
a pair of Joseph Audio RM25s. And as good as
it sounded with speakers it is even better as
a headphone amp. Folks, the size and sound of
true high-end quality is coming in packages
that are getting increasingly smaller and
cheaper. This is good stuff.
 The
SOTA turntable (photo left) was featured atop
Brightstar's
new IsoRock SM
Reference anti-vibration platform
($650) that was designed specifically for the
SOTA Mellennia turntable (although it also
fits many other larger components).
The Outstanding Sound at the Shows
So as you can
see there were a lot of great things to see
and hear at this year’s events, but the
question that most people always want to know
is what rooms did I think were the most
outstanding. So here they are, in no
particular order, my ten choices for Best
Sound at the Show:
VAC/Scientific
Fidelity: Kevin Hayes was
showing off his extreme statement on the
integrated amplifier the 110 watt/channel
Phi-Beta ($19K). Paired with a prototype of
the Scientific Fidelity Style-Lust
loudspeakers, presented one of the most
holographic images I’ve ever heard at a show.
The speaker is a two-way design that could be
very at home in a modern art museum or even
the set of Blade Runner. Despite their size
and angular shape they simply disappeared when
fed by the Phi Beta. Unfortunately, the
speaker is not in production yet and I fear I
may not again have the chance to enjoy this
experience. Elsewhere in the VAC room were the
new Auricle Preamp ($2,495) a class-A triode
design with MM phono and remote control and
Auricle Musicbloc 70/watt monobloc amps
($2,495/ea).
 Messenger:
Those of you who are familiar with the Dali
Model 5 loudspeaker already know what a
difficult speaker it can be to get maximum
performance from if not paired with the right
electronics. This was not a problem for Bruce
Wulach’s legendary Messenger preamp ($25,000)
and a pre-production (enclosed in wooden
crates) version of his monoblock amplifiers
got stunning results from the Dali speakers. A
huge and very well focused soundstage brought
a new realism to Barbara Morrison’s “Don’t Go
To Strangers” from her CD, I Know How To Do
It. The Messenger knows how to do it too.
Black Diamond
Racing/Thor/Discovery/Sota:
Fortunately, there was a lot of analog to be
heard at both CES and T.H.E. SHOW but none of
it was better than what I found in the room
which featured a SOTA
Millennia turntable ($7,750),
Thor
TPA-60 mono amps ($17,490),
TA1000 mkII line
stage,
TA3000 mkII phono preamp,
Discovery Cables,
and the wonderful new
Credo S100 loudspeakers ($7,000) which
are also available through Discovery.
Contributing greatly to the overall sound of
this system were Black
Diamond Racing isolation products
which were used throughout the room including
the BDR-2 amp
stands ($1,900) made especially for the
Thor amplifiers. I made repeat visits to this
room and enjoyed every piece of tube-sweetened
vinyl that I heard. Discovery Cable's Joseph
De Phillips and the rest of the folks in this
room were very accommodating - often going
back-and-forth between digital and analog
sources - and pleasant to be around. By the
way, SOTA's Donna and Kirk Bodinet (Bodinet,
pictured above, next to the Millennia)
informed me that a SOTA turntable is making a
recurring appearance on the hit Fox medical
drama "House" (Tuesdays at 9pm/8pm CST).
 Escalante Design:
I first heard this Provo, Utah-based company’s
first loudspeaker, the
Pinyon ($6,450), at Alexis Park last year and
remembered noting, “Excellent imaging, but
needs a little more bass.” This year the Pinyons are back but this time they’ve brought
a friend along, the Uinta subwoofer ($3,490).
Frankly folks, I couldn’t find any real fault
with this system. You get the Pinyon’s
pinpoint and lifelike imaging coupled with the
Uinta’s ability to provide a massive and
realistic sounding musical foundation. Both of
these pieces are the brainchild of thoughtful
yet demanding perfectionist, Tierry Budge. As
an added bonus, I got to hear a first
recording of company owner, Matthew Waldron’s
rock/funk band Hoodooh. The band rocks and so
do these speakers.
 Coda/Legacy:
Ever see a six-foot tall speaker disappear? I
did. It was the Legacy Audio Whispers being
driven by Coda Technologies electronics.
Remember Coda? Years ago these guys were
producing world-class amplifiers then suddenly
faded into the abyss of OEM projects for a
number of other high-end companies. But now
they’re back and ready to hit stride with
great products like the
S1 mono amplifiers
($7,900/pr) and 05r FET Control Buffer
($3,350). They also used Jena Labs cables and
power condtioners, Cardas cables, and Tyler
Acoustics Linbrook Monitors. Very nice indeed.
Argento Vitus
Audio:
This Danish company made a big splash at last
year’s CES only to sort of fade from the U.S.
audio landscape in the months that followed,
but this year Hans-Ole Vitus and his
stunningly built components are back, and I
suspect will soon claim their place on the
consciousness of U.S. audiophiles. To my
knowledge there are no audio components in
existence more beautifully built than the
Argento cables and
Vitus Audio
equipment. The
two companies are now combined as Argento
Vitus Audio. This system powered a pair of
Avalon Acoustics Eidolon Diamond loudspeakers
to near perfection. Vitus achieved this level
of performance despite the fact that for the
second consecutive year, his equipment was
handled by U.S. Customs agents with all of the
care of a pride of lions over fresh kill.
Though extremely expensive one look inside and
one good listen and you’ll know where the
money went.
 Tyler
Acoustics/Jolida: Ty Lashbrook
continues to amaze me with his lovingly
crafted cabinets stuffed with the highest
quality drivers at shockingly affordable
prices. Maybe it’s because of his personal,
down-to-earth touch and his joy for woodwork.
However he does it I’m glad that he does. This
year he showed a couple of rooms worth of his
high-value loudspeaker line, but his main
system featured the awesome Woodmere towers
being driven by the gorgeous looking (and
sounding) Jolida “Musical Envoy”
200 watt tube
mono amps. The drool factor was high in this
room.
 Penaudio/Portal:
Sami Pentilla, the designer of the Penaudio
loudspeakers from Finland, is usually most
comfortable hanging back at U.S. shows and
allowing his designs to speak for themselves.
This year, the new Serenade ($9,000) had a lot
to say. This design goes one step beyond the
achievements of Penaudio’s
Chara and Charisma
system that I reviewed last year. Its
enclosure is taller than the Chara/Charisma
system and the full musical performance was
seamless and nicely detailed. Coupled with the
Portal Audio Palladin mono amps ($3,500/pair),
the sound from this system was worthy of many
repeat visits.
 deHaviland/PranaWire:
This was the most memorable sound at the show
for me. Using a 50-year-old
Ampex 351-2
reel-to-reel tape recorder, Kara Chaffee
played a selection of classical music reels
(she found on ebay no less!) that through a
system featuring the GM70 50/watt
triode mono amps ($8,995), Mercury preamp ($3,495), and
the Nola Speakers’ Viper
was simply
breathtaking. Bear in that I’m not really a
classical music enthusiast, but when any music
is reproduced like this it will be enjoyed. I
had to leave to keep from getting spoiled.
Virtual
Dynamics/Luminance:
 Virtual
Dynamics Chief, Rick Schulz
introduced
the very fast and detailed
Luminance Audio
Threshold amplifier. Bolstered by
a system including the
Linn CD12, Virtual Dynamics cables, and
Ascendo
System E loudspeakers, the sound
from this room was extremely open and
detailed. Priced at $3000 this amp is a flat
out steal! Stay tuned for more
on this amp. It could be a serious giant
killer.
That’s it for now. I’ll offer up another
report soon and tell you all about some really
great analog rigs, big speakers, and some
really cool people. Stay Tuned.
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