CES 2009 and the parallel show run from January 8-11th, with a special press day on the 7th (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.7th)

Day 1 (Jan.8th)

Day 2 (Jan.9th)

Day 3 (Jan.10th)

Day 4 (Jan.11th)

     Those exhibits are at the Venetian Tower, upscale digs that are right on the famous (infamous?) Vegas Strip. This is where the true high end stuff is (mostly) located, and this is where our visit began.
     "It loks bad," said someone in the elevator, "it's too easy to get into the restaurants." Indeed, we had complained about the lack of hot water at our hotel, and we had been told we had to let it run a lont time, because "the rooms all around you are empty." Even so there were plenty of exhibitors.We shall see about the visitors.
     Audience was there with a very good-sounding system. The Wavemaster WM1 preamplifier, shown at left, can be either active or passive. In passive mode it uses a multi-tapped transformer rather than the usual troublesome potentiometer. The tall speakers sported 16 small proprietary full-range drivers. None of this gear is cheap, certainly. The WM1, still in prototype form, will cost at least $10,000, and possibly more. The speakers are some $33K, and that's not counting th optional $9K subwoofer. Of course at thos prices you could and should expect very good performance. It delivers very smooth highs, good depth and a vast soundfield.
     Oh...did we mention the class D monoblocks? Ka ching!
     We first ran across Lafleur speakers at he Montreal show, where they were perfectly placed in the press lounge. That was the X-1, a stand-mounted two-way speaker with a body of wood laminates. Now he company was at CES with the X-2, which adds one more woofer. The unusually stiff (and handsome) bdy comes at a cost, and hat cost is $17K. Matched to Moon components, the Lafleurs sounded gorgeous. On the horizon is a a two-part speaker, with a two-way top matched to a dual woofer base. We have not yet heard it.
     We became acquainted with a new brand, Herald, whose logo sports a red maple leaf. Yes, the large Herald active loudspeakers are built in the Toronto area. They cost some $12K, but that includes he electronic crossover. Biamplification is of course mandatory. The sound was powerful, lively and vast. The recording we hard, by the way, was from French chansonnier Michel Jonasz. His recording was all the rage some years back, but this was only the first of perhaps four times we would hear it at CES in a single day.
     Ready for the world's most expensive iPod dock?
     Actually we don't know whether it's the most expensive, but Chord gear has never been cheap, and this Chord Indigo preamplifier is not a downmarket product. The dock aside, it has a USB input for a computer, and yes, it does get a digital signal out of the iPod. The secret? Call Apple's licensing office.
     But wait a minute...we founf an even more expensive iPod dock, the one from SE2 Labs. This gigantic 55 kg unit is a preamplifier, but get a load of what else is aboard: a Bryston video sound processor, a Wii game module, a Blu-ray player, an Apple TV, and of course the iPod dock already mentioned. If one module becomes obsolete, swap it out for a new one. The monster costs from $30K to $46K, depending on the options, and even so it is cheaper than the sum of its separate parts. Isn't that the definition of synergy?
     We enjoyed time spent with the Tri amlifiers from Triode Corporation of Japan. The system was driving Acoustic Zen Crescendo speakers and sounding magnificent. The amplifier at right is not the one we heard, but it's the most colorful. So sue us! The brand is an interesting one on the basis of our brief experience.
     Tenor was showing a prototype preamplifier, complete with a hybrid phoo stage (did we tell you that analog is on its way back?) Of course the demo used pair of Tenor's big monolocks, along with large speakers, the Hansen Emperors. The turntable was the Continuum Criterion...yes, the one with the odd tone arm. We listened to one of the old Sheffield direct-cut LPs of the Harry James big band. Cold it have been smoother? Perhaps, but the lifelike character of the msic is what dominated big time.
     One of the rising stars of Canadian audio is Gemme Acoustics, whose Katana speakr is on our short list for UHF No. 87. However it came to CES with the Phenix, which consists of tiny stand-mounted two way speakers with a large woofer cabinet that recalls the old JBL Paragons. We think the styline needs work, but what we heard emerging was music, and no two ways about it. The impact of the low frequencies went beyond what you'll hear with conventional speakers. And an old LP of Janos Starker playing Bach's suites for unaccompanied cellos was sheer heaven.
     Oh yes...LPs. The source was the Gabriel turntable above, from Italy's Angelis Labor...literally the workshop of th angels. The platter is magnetically suspended, with its tone arm made in one of Ferrari's shops. Minimum cost is $19,200 Euro, and as shown, with four tone arms, it's closer to $44K. The pickup s cstom-made by EMT, with a tungsten body.
     As is we known, we love offbeat speakers. So how about the Raal Requisite, from Serbia, which looks like one of those woodburning fireplaces you can buy for your patio? We laughed...until we heard them.
     The Raals are omindirectional speakrs. The plumb base has five 38 cm woofers mounted in an open cast bronze ball. The "chimney" contains 18 7,5 cm midrange drivers and 15 ribbon tweeters, all arranged to splash sound over 360 degrees. They cost lik a Porscehe 911, unfortunately. The sound? It's kind of like driving a Porscehe, and that's good.
     The people from Escalante keep lending out their speakers for other people's rooms, while they themselves stay home. Their wonderful Escalante speakers were in the room of the Autrian amplifier company Ayon. What we listened to however was the smaller Pinyon speakers, driven by a CD player and electronics rom Ayon. The lifelike dynamics kept us in or seats for a while.
     Also lively was the sound of the DeVore Fidelity speakers, which were keeping good company with a an all-Nagra tube system. A bit of tweaking might have improved the refinement, but the lifelike sound was seductive.
     VTL was there with some of its usual (excellent) products, but some ones as well. Notably, the new TP6.5 phono preamp was sounding good, The demo began with the familiar TL6.5 preamp, but there's a new all-tbe TL5,5 at half the price.
     We enjoyed the large and handsome Nola Baby Grand Reference speakers, with their rosewood finish and the open baffl for the Raven ribbons and the midrange drivers. Audio Research provided the rest of the chain. Gorgeous!
     Also enjoyable was the Zanden electronics, driving Cessera horn speakers, shhown in detail at right. Oddly enough, the Zanden preamp includes not only the usual RIAA equlization curve but also four others, including FFRR and Teldec. The company had brought sveral older Archiv and Decca LPs, to demonstrate that they sounded better with a setting other than the usual curve. Interesting,,,and indeed disturbing.
     We are always happy to see the Rethm horn speakers, certainly the most handsome of all horn speakers. The model demonstrated was the Saadhana, which has an additional self-powered bass module that fills in the bottom end from about 70 Hz down. The demonstration was done with analog, but fell just a little short of the way we know these superb speakers can sound. Chalk it up to, perhaps, incomplete break-in.
     You'll recall that recently we reviewed an economy amplifier and CD player from Simaudio. Now the company has reached down even further with the CD-.5 and i-.5 amplifier. Minor shortcuts have been taken to bring the price down to $1200 each.
     Also interesting is the nw Moon CD-3.3, which has a feature we've long advocated: a digital input. We weren't keen on reviewing more CD players, but this one is a little different.
     One of the best rooms was that of Wisdom Audio, which was showing its in-wall cone-ribbon speakers. These are fully enclosed, and we think we can say this is the best in-wall system we have yet heard.
     The long day ended with the ShowStoppers event, another of those parties with free food and drink and a chance to meet exhibitors who want good press.
     We'll tell you more in our next issue, but for now we'll tell you about one product, Edirol's R-09HR hand-held recorder, shown at right, along with its own remote control. This dimunutive unit ($399 street price) includes stereo microphones, and 24/96 recording capability. Add a memory card and a pair of AA cells, and you're good to go.
     Tomorrow we're off to T.H.E. Show at Alexis Park. Oh yes, and a press conference with PS Audio and Reference Recordings which promises to produce big news. We will be there.
     This is a fracion of what we sa and hard ovr a long, gratifying day, but that's what we have a print magazine for.
     See you tomorrow.

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