The Evolution Acoustics/darTZeel/Wave Kinetics/Durand/Analog Audio room, orchestrated by Jonathan Tinn, was the first room I visited on Thursday. Kevin Malgram was there fine-tuning the system. Leslie Brooks, of Analog Audio Inc., was busy calibrating an Ampex ATR-102 so he could play his master tapes.
The system set up by this team in a large room last year at the Irvine Hotel won my Best of Show, so I was expecting another state-of-the-art performance. I was not disappointed, but I was surprised.
Expecting to see again the large and impressive Evolution Acoustics MM3EXACT speakers, I was surprised to see a brand new speaker making its debut: the EXACT Series Maestoso (price to be determined). The Maestoso is a very thin, medium height floor-stander, with an M-T-M module on top and a line source of small woofer drivers below. The tweeter is an air motion tweeter.
The crossover for the speaker is the most amazing-looking crossover I have ever seen. It is a large box about two feet square, with two levels of circuits boards on which were affixed a beautiful collection (if such things ever can be considered beautiful) of capacitors and inductors. (Kevin removed the side panels of the crossover boxes so the elaborate innards were visible.)
Kevin mentioned the design of the speaker has been on-going for several years. Kevin said the tweeter is a special air motion tweeter made to his specifications. Each small driver in the long column of six drivers has 32mm of maximum excursion. Kevin said these little woofer drivers could be used as full range drivers because they are low in distortion up to 20 kHz. Kevin believes that by distributing the low-frequency load of the speaker over many small drivers he is achieving the low frequency extension of a 10 inch woofer, but with lower distortion. Kevin attributed the low-frequency extension of the speaker of -3dB at 25 Hz and of -6dB at 15 Hz to the cabinet's transmission line design. I found this design intriguing and innovative. It is consistent with my general theoretical personal preference (although I am the first to agree that implementation is at least as important as design) of using a vertical line array of smaller drivers, rather than one or two 12 inch or 15 inch drivers, to generate low frequencies.
Tantalizingly, Kevin suggested that the next model in this range will double up the vertical in-line woofer array and create a complete M-T-M speaker, with the AMT in the middle of the speaker, a midrange driver above and below the AMT, six woofer drivers above the upper midrange driver and six woofer drivers below the midrange driver. (This is the same concept utilized by Rockport Technologies when Andy doubles up the woofer driver complement on an Altair II to create a d'appolito configuration Arrakis.)
Associated components included darTZeel NHB-458 monoblock amplifiers ($170,000); the NHB-18NS Preamplifier with built-in phonostage ($40,000); the Wave Kinetics NVS direct drive turntable ($45,000); the Durand Tonearms Kairos tonearm ($6,450); and the Ortofon MC-Anna cartridge ($9,000).
If you covered my eyes and sat me down to listen I never would have suspected that so much transparent, dynamic, believable sound was coming from such thin, medium-height, floor-standing speakers. The stunning-looking crossovers must be contributing to the purity and naturalness of the sound. This speaker is one to watch. I will be fascinated to hear its taller brother in the future. That tall system, which could provide the height and thus the scale which I value, coupled with a pair of subwoofers (my personal preference; Kevin suggested no such thing) could be a near state-of-the-art Evolution Acoustics option for people whose rooms cannot accommodate MM3s or MM7s.
On Friday morning, when I returned to the room with my wife, Leslie played his tape of Simon & Garfunkel Live in Central Park. Leslie told us that this tape was the exact physical tape sent by the recording company to Paul Simon. It never reached Paul Simon’s hands, and, somehow, Leslie “Tape Sherlock” Brooks acquired possession of it. It is, indeed, a fantastic live recording! Anyone who is participating in the resurgence of reel-to-reel tape should get to know Leslie and his fantastic library of low-generation master tape copies available for purchase.
The system set up by this team in a large room last year at the Irvine Hotel won my Best of Show, so I was expecting another state-of-the-art performance. I was not disappointed, but I was surprised.
Expecting to see again the large and impressive Evolution Acoustics MM3EXACT speakers, I was surprised to see a brand new speaker making its debut: the EXACT Series Maestoso (price to be determined). The Maestoso is a very thin, medium height floor-stander, with an M-T-M module on top and a line source of small woofer drivers below. The tweeter is an air motion tweeter.
The crossover for the speaker is the most amazing-looking crossover I have ever seen. It is a large box about two feet square, with two levels of circuits boards on which were affixed a beautiful collection (if such things ever can be considered beautiful) of capacitors and inductors. (Kevin removed the side panels of the crossover boxes so the elaborate innards were visible.)
Kevin mentioned the design of the speaker has been on-going for several years. Kevin said the tweeter is a special air motion tweeter made to his specifications. Each small driver in the long column of six drivers has 32mm of maximum excursion. Kevin said these little woofer drivers could be used as full range drivers because they are low in distortion up to 20 kHz. Kevin believes that by distributing the low-frequency load of the speaker over many small drivers he is achieving the low frequency extension of a 10 inch woofer, but with lower distortion. Kevin attributed the low-frequency extension of the speaker of -3dB at 25 Hz and of -6dB at 15 Hz to the cabinet's transmission line design. I found this design intriguing and innovative. It is consistent with my general theoretical personal preference (although I am the first to agree that implementation is at least as important as design) of using a vertical line array of smaller drivers, rather than one or two 12 inch or 15 inch drivers, to generate low frequencies.
Tantalizingly, Kevin suggested that the next model in this range will double up the vertical in-line woofer array and create a complete M-T-M speaker, with the AMT in the middle of the speaker, a midrange driver above and below the AMT, six woofer drivers above the upper midrange driver and six woofer drivers below the midrange driver. (This is the same concept utilized by Rockport Technologies when Andy doubles up the woofer driver complement on an Altair II to create a d'appolito configuration Arrakis.)
Associated components included darTZeel NHB-458 monoblock amplifiers ($170,000); the NHB-18NS Preamplifier with built-in phonostage ($40,000); the Wave Kinetics NVS direct drive turntable ($45,000); the Durand Tonearms Kairos tonearm ($6,450); and the Ortofon MC-Anna cartridge ($9,000).
If you covered my eyes and sat me down to listen I never would have suspected that so much transparent, dynamic, believable sound was coming from such thin, medium-height, floor-standing speakers. The stunning-looking crossovers must be contributing to the purity and naturalness of the sound. This speaker is one to watch. I will be fascinated to hear its taller brother in the future. That tall system, which could provide the height and thus the scale which I value, coupled with a pair of subwoofers (my personal preference; Kevin suggested no such thing) could be a near state-of-the-art Evolution Acoustics option for people whose rooms cannot accommodate MM3s or MM7s.
On Friday morning, when I returned to the room with my wife, Leslie played his tape of Simon & Garfunkel Live in Central Park. Leslie told us that this tape was the exact physical tape sent by the recording company to Paul Simon. It never reached Paul Simon’s hands, and, somehow, Leslie “Tape Sherlock” Brooks acquired possession of it. It is, indeed, a fantastic live recording! Anyone who is participating in the resurgence of reel-to-reel tape should get to know Leslie and his fantastic library of low-generation master tape copies available for purchase.
