As I said this year I want to cover the show a little differently. I‘ve posted some pictures of turntable eye candy and a thought piece, I called the blessings and curses of Audio Shows. Now it’s time to get to my six favorite rooms starting with the two best modern sounding rooms. Then in […]  read more…

This year I want to cover the show a little differently. I’ll post some pictures and my usual turntable eye candy pictures. I’ll also give you an article about my six favorite rooms divided into the two best modern sounding rooms, the two best vintage sounding rooms, and the two best rooms that bridged the […]  read more…

Last year was the first audio show for Gordon Burwell and his sons to bring their custom built speakers to the audiophile world. While the cabinets were exceptional and many of us would drool over the vintage Altec drivers, the speakers still seemed to be a work in progress to me. Both Gordon Sr. and […]  read more…

Acoustic Zen and Triode Corporation Room Robert Lee of Acoustic Zen makes wonderful speakers in San Diego, California. I should probably also mention that Mr. Lee is one of the nicest hosts around, and a true gentleman.He was showing his Crescendo loudspeakers ($16,000/pair), which use a slightly horn-loaded ribbon tweeter, two 5″ midrange drivers, and […]  read more…

Ok, I’m kidding, but I couldn’t not mention that the “New England Lobster Market & Eatery” was by far the best lobster I have eaten outside of Maine. I understand they supply lobster to many of the seafood restaurants in the Bay Area. Whatever they were doing, it was GREAT!!!! Best Audio System At CAS […]  read more…

The Duette Series 2s were in a great room on the second floor. I should mention one of the best things about this show was the great size of the rooms on the first and second floor as well as the corner rooms on the third floor. This was not a room I expected to […]  read more…

The Fritz Speakers and WyWires room was a revelation. I heard several other reviewers say the same thing. My best description of this room was it is what I would consider an incredible price for a true high end system. There were several rooms at the show that had outstanding sound for the money. One […]  read more…

This was the first time I attended the California Audio Show, now in its fourth year. It was also my first time organizing a section of the show and I am thankful for all the people who helped me to make the event a major success. The HeadMasters vendors who were present there made for […]  read more…

Blue Coast Records Cookie Marenco was doing a live recording utilizing the Sonora DSD Recording system developed by Sony. The recordings featured Steve McQuarry on Yamaha Grand Piano and Ted Burik using an acoustic bass. The 8-channel recording was done with the EMM Meitner A-D/D-A converter, Korg 2000 mixer and the Sony AR1 speakers . […]  read more…

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Acapella Van Schweikert Speakers & Raven MSR Audio Note Audioengine Music First Audio Salk Signature Sound      read more…

These last few rooms also stood out to me as being some of the better rooms at CAS. Bob Hodas Acoustical Analysis/Focal This was one of the best sounding rooms at CAS and certainly the quietest room there, due to Bob’s acoustic treatments. Piper Payne brought her masterising system to the show and was there […]  read more…

Audio Space is distributed by GINI Systems of Pomona, CA. They were showing the Audio Space Reference 3.1 300B-21W integrated amp with MM phono ($4,290), the CDP-8A tubed CD player ($1,290), and the DAC-US ($3,000). This was being played by the LS-3/5A monitor loudspeaker ($1,790/pair) which I reviewed, but now they were sitting atop the […]  read more…

Soundscape Audio and Video of Santa Rosa were showing MartinLogan speakers paired with Vincent Audio gear. This to me took a bit of mental adjustment. Seeing the MartinLogan name to me is all about electrostatics. Having been an owner of ML electrostatic speakers from the period of 1987 until just this past May, it was […]  read more…

The Eficion/Plinius Room was hosted by the ever-gracious Peigen Jiang. As you may recall, it was a year ago at CAS 2011 when I first heard the exquisite sound of the Eficion F300 and subsequently fell in love with them. This year, the room was a bit more challenging. The F300’s did not sound anywhere […]  read more…

CAS 2012: The Third Installment of what has quickly become a Classic Having already been to the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show as well as the 2012 Audio Expo (AXPONA), I decided to take a different approach to this year’s CAS. I had already heard the big systems in the ballroom and I knew that quite […]  read more…

MBL I must admit that I wasn’t all that excited about auditioning MBL. I prefer high-efficiency speakers and single-ended tube amplifiers, which is the antithesis of low 80-dB sensitive speakers and 1000-watt amplifiers. And I have not generally liked the sound of omni-directional speakers though their design promise makes a lot of sense. MBL had […]  read more…

Top Five Rooms There were many fine rooms at this year’s CAS, but five really stood out to me. I’m listing these in alphabetical order, not in order of which was best. If there had to be one “Best in Show” I would have needed more time in each room than was possible. Acoustic Zen/Triode […]  read more…

This was the third California Audio Show and I think to say the best. It was well attended and all the dealers I talked with seemed to be pleased. This is a local dealer based show and in the Bay Area that means you get to hear lots of great equipment. If you entered the […]  read more…

The 3rd annual California Audio Show was held in San Francisco, and this was my first time covering this event and first time to the wonderful San Francisco. Before diving into the rooms, I wish to caution readers that findings here should be viewed with caution as many exhibitors were heavily impeded with regards to […]  read more…

2012 California Audio Show’s Turntable Eye Candy For all you vinyl lovers, I always try to bring you pictures of the turntables. This year, there were some very special sounding vinyl systems; so here it goes. Audio Note TT Two Deluxe (Exhibit: Audio Note UK, Room 202) This is the new two motor version of […]  read more…

The second California Audio Show by Dagogo has come and gone with great success. This year the show was held close to the San Francisco International airport which, from what I over heard, was very convenient for both attendees and manufacturer/distributors. The show was spread across all five floors of the hotel and all the […]  read more…

The first two segments of my show report (Part V, Part IX)considered rooms which were assigned to me for coverage. I now turn my attention to systems which inspired or surprised me. Size and price of the system was not the ultimate determinant of which were the most worthy of comment. When you walk out […]  read more…

There are systems you never forget for good reasons, and there are systems you never forget for other reasons. The Music Lovers Audio/Musical Surroundings room I’ll never forget for one reason, it had the most stretched soundstage I’ve heard at a show from a non-panel speaker setup; the only system I recall sounding wider was […]  read more…

Music Lovers/Musical Surroundings (Redwood Room) System included Ayre DX-5 Universal A/V Engine, K-5xe preamplifier, and V-5xe power amp; Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3 speakers; Clearaudio Ovation Turntable, Concept MC Turntable, Talisman v2 Gold Cartridge; Fosgate Signature Vacuum Tube Phono PreAmp; Tesla Series cables, power cell, Acoustic ART and Galileo Cables; and Grand Prix Audio Core […]  read more…

Last year at this time, I was one of the intrepid audiophiles that attended the first ever California Audio Show. It was a nice show with a number of flaws not unusual for an inaugural show. The hotel was perhaps the main problem. This year’s CAS was held at a new venue with much improved […]  read more…

The Loggie Audio room was making some fine sounds with the ever-compelling Acapella High-Violoncello II speakers, fed by Ypsilon hybrid monoblocks, Ypsilon valve preamplifier and phono stage, Bergmann Magne Turntable, Lyra Titan I cartridge, and cabled throughout using the superb Stage III line of cables. This system was big, bold, dynamic, and engaging as I […]  read more…

The exhibit of Audio Image Ltd. of Emeryville, CA. Now this was a room that was well attended and sounded better every day. It was a good debut for the new Audio Research mono blocks, and the Magico Q3 were sounding as good as I have ever heard them. Cables were all MIT: Oracle MA […]  read more…

The Sony Dream Machine sitting on the nightstand in my room was the first piece of audio equipment to meet my gaze as I checked into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Burlingame, CA. For a split second the temptation seized me to play one of my demo discs, but I came to my senses. I […]  read more…

Amarra:: Sonic Studio My favorite wake-up call at the show was Amarra:: Sonic Studio. Early (way too early) Friday morning, their room across the hall from mine was blasting Cat Stevens. The guys from Sonic Studio were enthusiastically showing their new feature-rich Amarra software accompanied by a pair of Focal speakers, Parasound Halo power amplifier, […]  read more…