Publisher Profile
CAS

2012 CAS Coverage, Part VIII

Soundscape/MartinLogan, Angel City Audio/Melody/WyWire, Dared, Audio Note UK, Sonist/deHavilland, Music First Audio, Win Analog/Florence Audio, Burwell & Sons/Pass Labs/Esoteric/JIB-Germany, Loggie Audio/YG Acoustics/Esoteric/Ypsilon/Bryston/Stage III

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Audio Note UK’s system was sounding lush and rich in a system that consisted of TT Two Deluxe turntable ($3,650), Arm Three V2 tonearm ($2,100), I0I Phono Cartridge ($4,250), Meishu Phono Silver Signature 9 wpc Class A integrated amplifier ($20,600), and the E/SPe HE speakers ($10,250) on the dedicated stands. The system suffered quite a bit with the boomy room acoustics, but other than that the signature Audio Note qualities emerged nicely.

Audio Note UK

Once again the Sonist speakers make an appearance. This time with the deHavilland amplifier that was graciously hosted by talented engineer, Kara Chafee. This room was sounding particularly good which was comprised of the 845-G Monoblocks ($8995/pr.), 222 Vacuum tube Magnetic Tape Playback Preamplifier, and of course, the Ampex/deHavilland reel-to-reel as source. The sound was natural, tonally rich, and quite nice to liststen to for extended periods of time.

Sonist - deHavilland

Sonist - deHavilland

Music First Audio was touting their “best preamplifier ever made” in their room. The Music First Audio preamplifier was mated to Rogers LS3/5a’s, a Bel Canto DAC, an open reel that was not playing when I was there, and connections courtesy of Radio Shack. That said, let’s just say that with zip cords and cheapo interconnects, I really couldn’t honestly say I have heard the best this system was offering.

Music First Audio

Win Analog had their huge tube amps glowing in their room their mighty 100 watt pure class A S Series 833 monoblocks were paired with their tubed Z Series preamplifier, Florence Audio DAC, and Vincent Audio transport.

Win Analog

Speakers were Florence Audio mini monitors sitting atop Target stands and speaker cables were WinAnalog. These speakers were unfamiliar to me but sounded spacious and holographic as is the hallmark of a well-designed satellite speaker.

Florence Audio

Florence Audio

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