Lamm 2.2 amps, Verity Audio Lohengrin speakers: Verity Audio’s revised Lohengrin IIS speakers bi-amped with the new Lamm ML 2.2 mono amps were producing a sound which was liquid, authoritative, detailed and coherent. I have always been impressed with the Verity Audio speakers, particularly the Parsifals.
Constellation Cyprus DAC, Virgo II preamp and Centaur mono blocks electronics, Magico Q-7 speakers, MIT cables:a combination that has forced me to re-examine some fundamental conceptions about the Magico speakers. Clearly, the two worked exceptionally well together. The sound was clear, very detailed and dynamic, essentially lacking in distortion. In particular, the top end was airy and delicate. Bass was tight and well controlled. Cymbals were very nice with excellent decay. This exhibitor was only playing canned music so it was impossible to play the Liszt.
Magico S5 speakers, Soulution 501 mono blocks and 520 preamplifier: again, I have harbored some misconceptions about the Soulution electronics. They have always struck me as clean, exceedingly fast and highly detailed, but lean in the upper bass and lower midrange, analytical rather than musical. In this particular set up, the Soulution electronics coupled with the S5 were everything that one could ask, high resolution, superb depth and imaging, harmonically accurate on the Liszt, excellent decay of the triangle. Certainly one of my three best at show candidates. The 500 series electronics are a newer, less expensive line of products that intend to capture a very high percentage of the performance of the 700 series at about half the price. The amps, while class AB, use a switch mode power supply to deliver high power in a smaller less expensive package. Soulution appears to have wildly successful in doing so.
Soulution left a lasting impression of detail and balance across the very bright but never harsh sounding Liszt Piano Concerto as well as all the other pieces played. Cyril explained at length how his new mid-level amps, drawing on state of the art solid state electronics with massive processing power enabled him to achieve a game changing breakthrough in applying negative feedback across the full frequency spectrum in virtually real time so as to almost eliminate arrival time delay. Whatever the explanation, there was no question that this room achieved extraordinary detail without sacrificing harmonic richness and drove the Magico S5 speakers exceedingly well. I should perhaps note that the more forgiving S5 may have been a canny choice in this instance.
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