CAS7 Richard Austen Reports, Part 2

I came to Room 5203 quite late on Sunday afternoon and I wished I had come earlier and listened longer but I missed all of Friday. I think it’s important to try and listen to rooms for about 30 minutes or longer and run through at least 4-5 different tracks of different albums to get a true picture of what a system can offer. I also think it is important for rooms to continue to offer a quality CD player because reviewers and audiophiles want to bring their own music and with iffy internet connections there is no guarantee you will be able to get the desired source disc or track. And unfortunately this room had no CD player. However, this room has one of the finest, sanely priced turntables in the industry in the $7,200 Merril Williams Audio Real 101.2. So part of me understands why they don’t bother with CD or digital.

I requested big band and was provided big band and this system gave me big band and at big levels. I was pleased. Sitting in the first row, it was too much blare but moving back just one row was trans-formative. The drivers gelled nicely and horns were well spread but most of all, I enjoyed this set-up. At previous shows I felt the Cary amps were too under-powered for the Marten speakers and it was a rather dull experience. Zesto Amplifiers have big drive and I think enough delicacy and tone to be an exciting proposition for people who want to leave solid state for tube amplifiers but are afraid of losing drive. I don’t think that will happen with Zesto. These are powerful KT88s and while I am not the biggest fan of this output tube, Zesto appears to have ameliorated some of my complaints.