CES 2008 and the parallel show run from January 7-10th, with a special press day on the 6th (Day Zero, we call it). Click to visit each of UHF's live reports. The report will appear early the next day, if not before.

CES Preview

Day 0 (Jan.6th)

Day 1 (Jan.7th)

Day 2 (Jan.8th)

Day 3 (Jan.9th)

Day 4 (Jan.10th)

     It began happening probably a couple of decades back. some high end audio exhibitors, convinced that CES was designed around the bigger mass-market players, shifted their products to alternative shows, held at the same time as CES but not affiliated with it. Of course CES considers these shows parasites, but apart from shouting (and occasionally getting the show's shuttle drivers arrested for "trespassing"), not much can be done.
     That alternative high end show has long been at the St. Tropez, right next door to Alexis Park, where CES's own high end show happened to be. With CES gone (to the Venetian, right on the strip), T.H.E.Show has also taken over Alexis Park. Actually it had been renamed Alevis Villa, as you can see from our original Vegas Preview, but as you can also see from this photograph taken today, the times they are a-changin' back!
     Most of the show, nonetheless, was in the St. Tropez, though significantly the record companies, which had once occupied the Parthenon ballroom (Reference Recordings, Classic Records, M-A, etc.) were back in the Parthenon, lost to CES. Adding a second hotel hasn't doubled the attendence, though.
     We spent a little time listening to Roger Sanders' eponymous hybrid electrostatic speakers. If his name rings a bell, it's because he has been involved in a number of electrostatic speaker designs over the ast four decades, most recently Innersound. The 10A speakers cost $13,000, which may seem like a lot until you realize that the price includes the amplifiers and the necessary electronic crossovers. There was some flattening of the stereo image, as there commonly is with panel speakers, but the actual image was unshakably strong, as was the tonal plausibility, even on voices. Note that unlike, say, Martin-Logan electrostatics, Sanders' panels are not curved. He prefers to make them directional, to avoid exciting room resonances unnecessarily with side splatter.
     High end shows are full of large and expensive tube monoblock amplifiers, such as the Cyber 800 from Consonance, at right. It uses four EL34 tubes in push-pull, and its stainless steel and piano black finish suggest a price well into five digits. Not so...a pair of these amplifiers is just $3995. The amplifiers were in a system with a Merrill-Scilla turntable and a pair of unusual speakers with opposing woofers at top and bottom. We took advantage of the turntable's presence to listen to Jennifer Warnes' Famous Blue Raincoat, whose 20th anniversary this is -- the LP's, not Jennifer's. Always a pleasure!
     Jadis distributor Pierre Gabriel was at the St. Tropez, with new versions of Jadis tube amplifiers featuring (at last!) remote control. They were demonstrated with Pierre Gabriel's own Presence II speakers, much seen in the company's early years.
     A full set of Halcro gear (CD player, preamp, floorstanding monoblocks) was driving large Acoustic Zen speakers. And we mean large, rather too large for most rooms, but sounding very fine nonetheless. But then Halcro products are not meant for studio apartments either!
     We've heard the Rethm speakers before. Usually they are single-driver horns of extraordinary efficiency and, shall we say, unusual aesthetics. The new Rethm Saadhana speaker, at left, is cut mostly from the same cloth, though the full-range driver you can see at the front is supplemented by a downward-firing powered bass module from 70 Hz down. Like its brandmates it has high efficiency, some 98 dB in this case, which allowed the pair to be driven to very high levels by the diminutive Red Wine amplifier. The Rethms sound extraordinary, even though the narrowness of the room forced their placement rather too close to the side walls. They're $7850 a pair.
     Granite Audio was sharing a room, this time, contributing its 770 preamp (yes, in a granite case), and a tube modification to a Soundquest CD player. The rest of the gear was from China's JAS: the Bravo tube monoblocks and the Orsus speakers. The speakers had none of the shrillness that had been our only real criticism when we had reviewed them, thanks to an updated tweeter.
     Also without the expected overdone top end were the Reference 3a Grand Veenas, which had been less impressive in Montreal in April. They were the same speakers with the same electronics. Reference 3a's Tash Goka suggested that a few more hundred hours of run-in time had made all the difference. We'll be listening again.
     We were glad to see Japan's Almarro back with new monoblocks, like the one at right. It's the A340, which will cost $5K for a pair. It runs in push-pull, in pure class A. In a corner, but not plsying, was the tiny and inexpensive Almarro tube amp that had grabbed our attention at CES years ago.
     Qutech also had monoblocks in the same price range, accompanied by speakers and a CD player of the same brand. We noted that on voices the system sounded highly plausible, and that's always a tough test.
     There was a good number of turntables present (and playing) as there usually is. Among the most impressive was the one at Soundsmith, no doubt because of its strain gauge cartridge. This non-magnetic pickup uses the principle behind many weight scales, and it has been done right. The other links in the chain were all from Soundsmith as well. This was one of the truly good rooms.
     We listened to the big Harbeth 40.1 speakers, and talked with designer Alan Shaw (he wil be profiled in a later issue. Harbeths, unlike most other speakers, use relatively thin and resonant enclosures. Do they produce euphonious distortion? Shaw shrugs. "No one makes a perfect speaker," he says. Our initial conclusion: it "shouldn't" sound this good, but it does.
     Now here was a sign that grabbed our attention. What was this all about?
     A reporter from the Wall Street Journal was setting about determining how golden our ears are He set up a system with nearly everything hidden by paper including the cables, with the remote control in the subject's hand, alowing him to switch between...well, what? We do know the answer, but we have promised not to reveal it until after CES.
     On to Day 3, which will take place at "the zoo," the Las Vegas Convention Centre, as well as the adjoining Hilton. We expect have a report on line early Thursday morning, Pacific time. See you then.
     

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