Yes, it snowed
     Actually, we thought it would. No matter when the Festival takes place -- and it has been held anywhere from early March to mid-April -- it snows. Big storm last year. A smaller one, with westter snow this year.
     Is the show smaller this year? We have as yet no idea, but the rooms were spread out more, which made the whole show seem less noisy. Crowds were sparse on Thursday, which is for trade only, rather large on Friday.
     Here's a speaker that struck our eyes (and ears too), though it was by no means the biggest speaker at the show. It's the Focal Dôme, intended for...well, nearly anything you want. Want a pair next to your computer? How about five of them in your compact home theatre system. This miniature two-way system ($700 a pair) is in a solid aluminum pivoting shell, and can be mounted a lot of ways. Optional stands are available, as is a subwoofer that is an exceptional match. Neat!
     Speaking of aluminum, a large room was dedicated to the curvy solid aluminum KEF Muon, which can be seen in our CES report in the current issue. It's huge, with a price that digs rather deep into six digits, but it kept visitors in their seats. The source was an interesting one: a standard iPod with uncompressed WAV music, sitting on the Wadiya iTransport, the only device yet shown that can pull a digital signal out of an unmodified iPod. The result was often electrifying, because if there's one thing the Muons do well it's dynamics!
     We spent a few minutes listening to a dCS Scarlatti player, with Nipper speakers. We enjoyed the vast soundfield, though there was more than a touch of harshness from what was identifiably a Class D amplifier. Should we embarass the amplifier's designer by naming him? In another room, another dCS player, the Scarlatti, plus a VAC amp, was driving a pair of Gershman Black Swan speakers to much better effect.
     Much cleaner and better all around was a pair of Kharma speakers, driven by new Tenor hybrid monoblocks, the 350M's (the model name hints at the rated power). The amplifiers were driven by the Tenor preamplifier, at left, which is so new it has as yet no name. An Audio Aero player was the source...there were several of them at the show.
     You'll recall that the BC Acoustique A3 loudspeaker was on the cover of UHF No. 82. We saw and heard the larger A4 at the show, accompanied by a CD player and amplifier from Orelle. The A4 really is much larger, though that might not be evident from photographs. Its compression tweeter is the same as that of the A3, and it sounded just as smooth and natural.
     By the way, the A3's were in our garage/storage space when a winter storm brought the roof down. They survived.
     We spent a few minutes with a new speaker from Vienna Acoustics, called simply "The Music." It's large (that's it at right), with a pivoting top section. It is suggested that you position the main cabinets for optimum bass performance, and then turn the top (which contains the midrange and tweeter) to face the listener. This $25K speaker was smooth and untiring, especially with an SME turntable providing the music.
     Totem was showing "The One," the anniversary version of the Model One, as well as its slim Tribe 3 speaker, designed to fit alongside and underneath a video screen. However, elsewhere Audiyo was running a pair of Totem Mani-2 speakers with Lamm tube electronics and the familiar CEC belt-driven CD player. Nice.
     Rather interesting was a pair of German Avant Garde horn speakers, the Duo Mezzo. What was unusual was that they were driven by monoblocks and a battery-driven preamplifier from the same designer. The midrange was very clean, at least until the amplifiers ran out of breath, but horn-driven woofers can hardly reproduce any bass if they are pulled way out into the room, as these were. The speakers have potential, though.
     There seems to be no shortage of new large tube amplifiers, as we are reminded at every show. Check out the Audio Research Reference 610, at left. "610" is also the rated power, and the number seems an odd one. The top holds sixteen 6550 output tubes, with two other tubes in the role of drivers and buffers. The source was vinyl, and the considerable muscle of the monoblocks was flowing to large Sonus Faber speakers. Why do those speakers always seem so restful when so many others wear us down?
     Another tube amplifier we enjoyed hearing again was the Audio Space Reference 3.1, reviewed in UHF No. 81. It too had the advantage of vinyl, from a German Scheu turntable whose picture can be found a little further on. With a pair of Harbeth's smallest speakers, the result was as warm as it was delightful.
     Less familiar was this monoblock, from a company billing itself Tubemagic Canada. As the name implies, the products are made in Canada, not overseas. The room was a little too crowded to allow much of an evaluation, unfortunately. The amplifier shown will cost $6000 a pair.
     Remember that series of ELAC speakers with Heil tweeters? There's an entirely new series, now, with the Heil tweeter joined by woofers with cones of what seem to be hammered aluminum. That's about what we know of them. A brief listen caught our attention, however, and we will follow up on this.
     We expect to borrow a Linn Klimax DS after the show. The "DS" does not stand for "digital server," as some assume, because in fact the device piggybacks on the hard disc, computer and router that may already be in your home. What it does is turn the digital signal into something a high-quality system can use. In the meantime, we also lent an ear to the Linn Sneaky DS, shown at left. It does much the same thing, but also includes a preamplifier and a stereo power amp. The price will be a mere $1995. A premininary listen suggests that this could be one of the big bargains of the new era.
     Ready for a couple of turntables?
     We have already mentioned the Scheu turntable. This, at right, is the Premiere. Though its huge slab of acrylic suggests Clearaudio, Scheu is a distinct German company. Rather more unusual is the transparent acrylic tone arm. Can it really work? It's not the product of conventional design, and that's for sure.
     We did see a Clearaudio turntable, a new model called the Performance, which was at the ELAC room. The electronics were from Hovland.
     Did McIntosh ever make a turntable? Well, it does now, and it's an unusual one. As you can see, this $8000 table (including arm and MC cartridge) has the same shiny front panel and blue-green meter as other Mac components, lest you wonder about its identity. What does the meter indicate? Why, platter speed, of course. It too has a large translucent acrylic platter, with green lighting from below. A pair of 1200-watt McIntosh monoblocks was driving a pair of Revel Ultima2 speakers. These speakers seem ready for anything, but along came John Marks, producer of the organ CD Pipes Rhode Island, reviewed in our current issue. He asked for track 10, and managed to overwhelm both amp and speakers!
     A year ago, the new Reference 3a Grand Venna speakers left us cold. Had they been sufficiently broken in? We listened to them this time, and found them hugely improved, with the great smoothness and natural tone we had hoped for. The Grand Veenas were accompanied by another new model, the Episodes ($5500, shown at right). This model is intended to fit in the range between the Veena and the Grand Veena, but one of them had suffered a mishap earlier in the day, and was limping along with a replacement tweeter hastily substituted. The results were what you would expect, and we will defer judgement.
     The record company Fidelio, which has long been the producer of the official show CD, was playing some of its master recordings alongside the final production CD. Of course the CD suffered from the comparison (with large Verity speakers driven by Nagra electronics). Fidelio says it will shortly be offering high-definition music for download. We'll look forward to that.
     By the time the show closed, at nine in the evening, the snow on the ground had melted, though flakes were still flying. But there's sunshine ahead, or so we are told.
     The Festival continues Saturday and Sunday, and we'll be there until, they come and throw us out.

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