Come join Laurence Borden of Distinctive Stereo, Gary Koh and myself on Friday night at 6 pm in the Frederick room as we have fun doing some tape vs. LP comparisons using the Revox B77 Mk. III machine. We'll have on hand material from Horch House, Analog Tone Factory, Rhino, 2XHD and Analogue Productions! A don't miss event for analog lovers!
For those of you attending Capital Audio Fest 2025, please don't be shy about posting your insights and photographs in this thread on WBF, no need to start multiple ones.
And if you are going to post elsewhere, ie. Facebook and/or Instagram, how about everyone employing a common hashtag to make things more convenient all the way around for your respective audiences/followers: #CAF2025
@gestalt is showing a couple of rooms, on 325 there is an analog-only setup, with a piano black Cinnamon Cassia up front, and our Galle Phono Stage & Balanced SUT on signal duties.
Room 718: GT Audio Works' new 4-way planar, WestminsterLab Rei amplifiers, Lampizator Genya, Small Green Computer server, and the Trafomatic Audio Tara 30a balanced single-ended preamplifier.
A tip of the hat to Greg Takash for getting his new flagship four-way planars to play beautifully in that small room. The subs extend response below 50 cycles and are dioples. Remarkable execution, GT!
@gestalt is showing a couple of rooms, on 325 there is an analog-only setup, with a piano black Cinnamon Cassia up front, and our Galle Phono Stage & Balanced SUT on signal duties.
I visited practically every room at the show. Here is my list of rooms that stood out in some ways, or were otherwise, shall we say extraordinary.
Jay Truitt of 20/20 Evolution System of Potomac MD and his gracious wife presented the new Kharma Midi Signature, priced at $330 000. The speakers filled a huge conference room with ease, fronted by SW1X dac and driven by Conrad Johnson tube amplifiers. These for sure were one of the highlights of the show. I requested Ceciia Bartoli singing Salieri, first track, which on most systems sounds with sibilants and with varying degree of harshness.. This time I heard an almost live Bartoli, with slightly "golden glowish" sound, with no sibilants and as though she was there in the flesh. This year's set up of 20/20 Evo Systems to me for sure was much better than the last year. Too bad the prices for Kharma speakers have been going up to stratospheric levels last 4 -5 years.
Ever affable Coiln of the Gestalt Audio presented the new Cinnamon Cassia ($54 000) speakers from Spain.These were driven with fantastic single ended SW1X tube amplifiers from the UK. The speakers were of high-efficiency open-baffle type and had a modern industrial design, that along with Cinnamon's amazing sounding dacs and phono preamps could be exhibited at the MOMA. Colin (along with Jeff Catalano of the High Water Sound) sets himself apart by playing one musical gem after another, from his vast cache of LPs, so much so, that once you sit down and music begins to flow its hard to get up and leave. This set up was truly one of the best musically enchanting. Highly recommended!
The Voice That Is had their exhibit of smaller Tidal speakers from Germany. Paired with a pair of subwoofers from REL and Tidal's own amplifiers and dac, this particular system to my ears sounded more coherent, and musically alive than their larger set ups in the years past at the CAF. The REL subs were very well integrated and the whole soundstage just breathed, and floated in and around the room. Another superb set up!
The Audio Note UK premiered their new speakers, Sogon. They used field coil design and did not look different from model shown last year, aside from 2 boxes of external crossovers, and have had major modification done inside, according to the company's rep. The price for these was $150 000. Whether or not these Sogons sound warrants such a premium over their last year's $ 65 000 filed coil model is a matter for debate, however the sound was astonishingly musical yet again.
Acoustic Arts from Germany , Franco Serblin from Italy and Moonriver from Sweden were presented by ever-elegant Mr O'Hanlon from On a Higher Note distributor company. The finish of the speakers was exquisite and these new Franco Serblin sounded simply...aristocratic. Highly recommend you check these Franco Serblin speakers, if you just wish to relax and enjoy your music collection!
Totem's smaller floorstanders had excellent imaging and dynamics that belied their size. For smaller to medium rooms these speakers definitely worth looking into and their price is quite reasonable for the performance offered.
