What follows are some my impressions of CES 2003. These are just quick listening impressions, and not the result of critical assessment. First off some generic "lessons learned" from my first visit to CES, followed by some more specific impressions and intriguing products.
Lessons Learned.
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1. Few rooms are musical. This was a bit of a surprise to me. Whether because of system setup, component matching, room acoustics or characteristics of the components themselves, I would guess that only about 10% -20% were playing natural sounding, effortless music free of a subliminal sense of electro-mechanical artificiality. This effect isn't due to components per se, as much as to synergy between all of the variables. There were components I heard at HE 2002 in NY that didn't sound as good here at CES, and vice versa, but absolute comparisons are elusive since the systems weren't exactly duplicated.
Another caveat is that I didn't hear many large-scale orchestral pieces, and so I wouldn't extrapolate too freely from demos that featured the smaller scale demands of jazz and acoustic music. This is particularly an issue with a lot of the tube equipment I heard - sounds great on small scale, but what about the large scale, dynamic stuff?
I found that I was not listening in audiophile terms like sound staging, image depth, frequency extension and bass response so much as in terms of: Is this system making what sounds like natural, seamless, unforced music?
2. You can be happy without statement products. Well, good news and bad news here. Giant statement speakers in the $30,000+ range require, it seems, a purpose-built room for them to really deliver the goods, and even then I feel normal-sized rooms with quality speakers are, on average, a better bet to deliver musical satisfaction.
That said, some of my favorite rooms were using amplification costing up to almost $50,000.
And I found a $2300 speaker cable and $8,000 CD/SACD player were quite
good, and an interesting $14,000 speaker. At the other extreme, the
$1500 and under speaker category is ably represented.
Listening Impressions:
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Following are some of my favorite sounds of the show, in no particular order:
1. One of the most musically natural rooms, a room to which I returned to a couple of times in order to check my listening impression, was KR/HMS/Ars Aures. The sound in this room had, for the most part, that effortless, seamless natural presentation that is now one of my most important criteria for judging the merits of a musical reproduction. At first I though the speakers were the weak link in this chain, but subsequent listening caused me to reserve, if not reverse judgment on the Ars Aures Sol (about $14,000). This tall (just over 59"), heavy (264 lbs each) floorstander is 92db sensitive into 4 ohms, and uses the ScanSpeak Revelator tweeter. The amplifier was the Kronzilla, whose very large tubes might distract from the underlying excellence of this amp.
I was most impressed by the Lindemann D680 CD/SACD player, and it is the first time (including NY HE 2002) that I was truly impressed with SACD. CD reproduction was first rate, roughly comparable to SACD on lesser players, with a natural, continuous fabric with sensitive nuance and expressiveness.
The distributor estimated that the HMS Grand Finale cables contributed about 20% of the final sound. What I heard was echoed in the reviewer's comments in the vendor literature, with comments alluding to the natural, organic sound quality of these cables. I was certainly intrigued, and consider these a viable alternative to Valhalla, albeit possibly without the sense of speed and transparency of Valhalla, but on the other hand presenting a realistic sound that highlights music vice "sound".
2. Chesky/Magnan. This revised version of the Chesky speaker first shown at NY HE 2002 is much improved, as I was not particularly impressed the first time out. But this time, with extensive revisions and a top of the line tweeter, the music was flowing and Chesky achieved high levels of transparency and musicality, aided by fine Magnan Reference speaker cables.
3. Silverline. Shown was the new Bolero, a three-way retailing for about $8,000. Excellent sound, and in my opinion Silverline is one of the few manufacturers that maintains a consistent, enviable quality of musical excellence across the line. My sense is that this speaker is more neutral and less sweet than the Sonatina. My memory of the La Folia from NY is a little hazy, but I think the Bolero offers much of the same sound quality in a smaller package, though maybe not quite as seamless top to bottom. All three speakers I find engaging, and I wonder, as a fan of the classic Spendors, how I would find them over the long term.
4. WAVAC/In Cognito. First-rate musical sound. Pity about the price of the amps, monoblocks which were an astounding $47,000 each.
5. Audio note/Ongaku Japan. Analog, tubes, excellent.
6. Herron/Joseph Audio. Although I was not totally convinced by the set-up and room acoustics, the essential quality of this system revealed itself in clear, transparent, and dynamic musical terms. A winner.
7. LAMM/Kharma. This refers to the room playing the larger Kharma speakers. One of the best sounds in show.
8. EAR/Yoshino. This room also makes my top sound list.
9. Best budget speakers under $1000. In no particular order I was impressed with the Kirksaetter (driven by Monarchy Audio amplification), Spendor and Von Schweikert.
In addition to my top sound list, here is a list of most intriguing products:
1. The Lindeman 680 CD/SACD player. The product #1 on my current "want" list. The HMS Cables are, likewise, on my "really would like an extended audition" list.
2. The Medea 24/192 DAC. I was extremely impressed with this DAC, and it rocketed to #1 on my list until I heard the Lindemann CD player Nevertheless, the Lindemann and the Medea functions don't overlap completely.
3. Chesky speaker. A little bit different than the mainstream.
4. Eichmann bullet plugs. I am going to keep my eye and ear on these. I didn't get to hear Eichmann's own line of interconnects and speaker cables (which will be modestly priced), but another manufacturer is already using them and they strike me as a potential advance in the troublesome area of connections.
5. The Electronluv power amps. Don't know about the sound, but an industrial art tour-de-force. My first impression of their Buck Rogers styling was "Who are they kidding?", but I couldn't stop looking, and eventually listening. Paired with Cain & Cain speakers, a real alternative for the horn-averse like myself.
6. Florence Audio. A room whose sound drew me from the hallway. Tube amps that deserved longer auditioning than I could give them. Who are these guys?
7. Polk. Yes, Polk, who was showing the LS15i so favorably reviewed by Anthony Cordesman. My take? An easy recommendation to friends. While I am not sure about the vertical dispersion capability of this speaker, when sitting down it is excellent: clear, engaging, and without obvious vices. The speaker is a departure of sorts for Polk in that they outsourced the tweeter. With Polk's considerable economies of scale and engineering resources, one wonders what they could produce using the same cabinet with even higher-grade components and engineering for under $3k.
8. Usher speakers. Maybe a bit bass heavy, difficult to factor out room acoustics, promising.
9. Piega speakers. The ribbon tweeters in these speakers are special. These speakers make the "need further evaluation list".
10. Gradient Revolution. Open, dynamic.
11. Verity. The smaller model on display sounded excellent.
12. Sugden/Dynaudio Audience 25. Sugden was demoing their small "rack" system. I thought the sound was very good.
A number of rooms disappointed, too, particularly those rooms where I had heard the components at other times and places previously, but when combined in the particular room lost some magic in the translation. One of these is worth mentioning, Nordost/Valhalla, because of a peculiar reason. While I think the cable demonstration worked as well here as it did at the NY show, at NY I felt the system sounded much better. Well, it could have been the size of the room (larger vs. small), speakers (Verity speakers in NY), or amplification. But I had a nagging feeling that it could have also been due significantly to the rack - the Aavik rack was used in NY. I hope my intuition is wrong on this one, as the Aavik rack is quite expensive.
Another lesson learned is that I remain a Spendor classic fan and feel that the SP-100 remains competitive with the very finest. Also, I remain a fan of Birdland Audio and feel that significantly better CD replay might only occur at the price level of the Lindemann or Medea. I'm far more satisfied with my home system after going to this show than I thought I would be, but much work remains to be done.
Favorite Sound
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My overall favorite sound of the show was the KR/Lindemann/HMS/Ars Aures room, though I wouldn't say absolutely this was the best sound since I didn't listen long enough or critically enough in most rooms to make that kind of judgment, and certainly not as critically as I listened to the speakers in NY at HE2002.
