Impressions of CES 2006

Roy Harris

They traveled a distance and may have overcome some resistance to hear and see the best of CES and to give their ears a test. The attraction was magnetic, but to cover the show, one had to be peripatetic.

Exhibits are located on several floors. To see them all, one has to open and close many doors. Products catered to every taste, including tube and solid state, active and passive, panels and cones, modern, vintage and accessories too. From the "tres cher" to the economical, the price differential was astronomical. CES is a like a store open for about 34 hours, containing a large selection of expensive "stuff". One doesn't know in advance whether gems or junk will be found.

The products mentioned below are a representative sample of the many new and interesting offerings for 2006.

Jeff Rowland showed a prototype 100 watt amp, Model 102 stereo amp, priced at $1490. Diminutive in size, it uses ice power technology-- high frequency analog modulation. Bel Canto introduced 3 new products, a DAC, line stage preamp and phono preamp. The 24/192 DAC ECD-1 is priced at $5000. The Pre 3, a 2 channel solid state line stage is priced at $2000, while the Phono 3 is expected to sell for under $2000. Quad introduced 2 electrostatic speakers, models 2905 and 2805, priced at $11,500 and $9000, respectively. The 2905 was demonstrated with the Quad solid state amp and CD player. Ayre showed a prototype 300 watt monoblock, solid state amplifier, model MXR, with linear power supply and zero feedback, priced at $15,000. Wadia unveiled a prototype class a 100 watt monoblock amp, price yet to be determined.

Muse introduced an all format CD player, the Polyhymnia, priced at $4900.

Pipe Dreams displayed and demonstrated an all-new product line of speakers. Prices start at $4000 for a small monitor using a proprietary variable aperture transducer tweeter. Information and description of each model is available on their website www.pipedreams.com. Cabasse, the French speaker company displayed and demonstrated its flagship products--the Kara Evolution ($30,000) and La Sphere ($75,000), which incorporate 3-way and 4-way coaxial drivers, respectively. The latter includes a 4-way active processor.

There was a new David Berning line stage preamp, the TSP-20, priced at $10,500, which featured a tube switching power supply and a microprocessor, not in the signal path, to switch between discrete resistors which are in the signal path.

Magnepan demonstrated a concept-prototype left and right center channel, which could be motorized and mounted flush or at 90 degree angles to each other. This version was configured with quasi-ribbon drivers.

Finally, dCS introduced a new DAC and transport, both priced at $11,995. The transport, the T8e, accepts CD and SACD formats. The DAC 8e is a 24/192 and DSD DAC.

This year I had a wish list. I sought products of a special kind. I had no idea what I would find. I promise not to be unkind to the manufacturers whose designs did not satisfy my needs.

Here is my wish list:

Cables that create the illusion of the sound of real instruments.
Tube amps and preamps that sound like they indeed have tubes in them.
Cd players and DACs that don't sound "digital".
Cone speakers that don't sound like cones, but rather more like panel designs.
New full range panel speakers.
Accessories that enhance the enjoyment of listening to music.

Read on and see if I got lucky.

In general, I experienced unbalanced sound having additive and subtractive colorations, and highly flawed stereo systems not worth the advertised MSRP, in this humble writer's opinion. Typical colorations observed were boom and sizzle--too much treble energy and/or undercontrolled and obtrusive bass frequencies, often in combination with an underemphasis of lower midrange frequencies. I asked manufacturers how they voiced their designs. The response was usually "neutral, not harsh, irritating or bright". While well intentioned, the gap between intention and realization was obvious. One can speculate as to the reasons and consider the usual suspects: the room; break-in; equipment mismatch; shipping mishaps and last minute substitutions for expected components. If break-in is a significant impediment to good sound, why not have equipment broken-in before coming to CES? I suspect that most products "alleged" to be neutral are audibly colored by addition rather than subtraction. When such products are combined, the results are often unpleasant, a word I would use to characterize much of what I heard at the show. I also believe that the performance of many tube designs is negatively impacted by the presence of current production tubes.

There were four products which met the requirements of my wish list. Two were accessories, one was a cable and one was an inexpensive speaker. I will discuss the accessories now and the other products will be mentioned thereafter.

The EAT Cool Damper ($30) is an antidote to tube resonances generated by aluminum and glass. This product, a tube damper, looks like a heat sink. It comes with material to insert inside the grooves which help fit the damper to a variety of 12 volt, 6 volt, and other tubes whose diameters range from 19.5 to 22 mm. Application of this product is said to reduce the operating temperature of glass by 10%, which extends tube life. I had the opportunity to compare the sound of a stereo system with and without the tube dampers. I heard less noise and a reduction in treble energy when the tube dampers were in the system. If you want more information, visit www.euroaudioteam.com.

Another accessory, primarily of interest to headphone users is the Smyth Research LLC SVS Realiser 6.1 processor. This interface between CD player and preamp attempts to simulate the sound of speakers using head phones. A prototype, pre-production version attempted to emulate the sound of a 6 channel speaker system. Although there was a slight loss in fidelity, a comparison between headphone and speaker output was remarkably close.

As you read reports of the CES in other publications [and in this one -- Ed], you will notice reviewers citing the components of numerous manufacturers and describing the sound in many rooms. I have not followed their example. Here is my explanation for taking a different approach: As the price of components and stereo systems increases, I become less tolerant of defects. Performance relative to price is a criterion I use when evaluating stereo systems. I will accept "errors" in low to moderately priced equipment, but will not accept them when designs become pricey. As an example, I will accept restricted bass frequency response in a $1000 speaker system but this condition is unacceptable for speakers exceeding $4000. Within the range $1000 to $4000, I expect increases in bass extension. I have not mentioned many stereo systems I encountered because their sound quality did not meet my standards of performance relative to price.

The following represent, to my ears, the best speakers at their price points, within the range $750 to $14,990.

I less than $1000

The Raw Acoustics FR ($750), a 4.5 inch paper cone with copper phase plug, flat to 70 HZ, was powered by an Exodus class d solid state 100 watt solid state amp ($750), and Stan Warren's Superphon Revision 3 line stage ($2000). The CD player was the Ah Tjoeb 4000 ($749) and the Exodus Cable interconnect and speaker cable cost $500. The total cost of this stereo system is under $5000. Except for the lack of bass response, there is little to criticize, given its price. Coherency, balance and resolution without an edge are the strong points of this speaker.

II $5000 - $10,000

A The Neat Ultimatum MFS ($7000) was part of a stereo system which included the Chord DAC 64 and Blu transport, $3900 and $7995, respectively, the Chord CPM 3300 220 watt integrated amp ($11,900), Kubala Sosna interconnect and speaker cable and Foundation Research LC-1 power cords. The sound was balanced, detailed and punchy. Although this was a well executed match of cones and solid state, tubes might have provided more body and more life-like instrumental timbre.

B Sunny Cable Technology Model 2 ($9000), a three way system containing a 15 inch bass driver, a 6 inch midrange cone and a one inch silk dome tweeter, was matched with components modified by Sunny himself, except for the CX 7 transport. An Ayre V1 E amp, a Sonic frontiers tube preamp and DAC and Sunny Cable Technology model 1000 cables comprised the rest of the stereo system. The cost of the cable was about $20,000. Dimensionality--soundstage width, depth, ambience retrieval--was best at both venues, the Alexis Park and St. Tropez [home of 'THE Show', and not associated in any way with CES-Ed]. The sound was very vivid but slightly cool of neutral. I believe the key to the overall performance was the cable design, which is based upon the principal of time accuracy, where all frequencies arrive at the ear simultaneously.

III $10,000 - $15,000

A The Quad 2905 (11500), the new flagship speaker was part of an all-Quad system whose components included the Quad 909 amp ($1350) and 99 CDP2 CD player. Cables were furnished by Monster Cable. A classic electrostatic sound--boxless and coherent—it had some surprising dynamic range. Not surprising was cymbals not sounding harmonically bleached.

B Analysis Audio Omega full range ribbon speaker system ($14,990) was accompanied by a tube amp, tube preamp and tube CD player. Components included Antique Sound Labs AQ 1009 845 mono blocks ($5600), Ray Samuels Audio Stealth tube preamp line stage ($2495) and an Audio Research Reference CD7 ($8995). Silver interconnect and speaker cable was provided by HGA, and power cords, the Golden Goddess ($1250 each), was provided by Jack Bybee. The total cost of this stereo system exceeded $40,000. Balanced, coherent, articulate, boxless, dynamics rivaling some cone designs are adjectives appropriate to use as descriptors of this stereo system. A touch of silver was also evident in that the presentation was a bit on the cool side. Although a "richer" sounding copper cable would have been preferred by this humble writer, spectral balance is a matter of taste at this level of performance.

My vote for the best sound of CES 2006 is the Sunny Cable Technology stereo system.

Conclusion

I had a wish list, but few wishes were granted. Tube products did not sound like they contained tubes, possibly because of tube selection, parts used and circuits relatively insensitive to tube type. While some CD players and DACs were not objectionable, none disguised the digital nature of the sound they produced. No cable designer I spoke to voices his products to have a sound. Yet, they do, and what I heard at CES did not sound warm. Neither were they adept at portraying the sound of instruments in a realistic manner, with one exception, the Sunny Cable Technology cables. There were no new panel designs. This type of speaker is not a big seller, is a challenge to drive and set up properly and for some, aesthetically offensive. I heard no cone speaker system that sounded like a dipole. One design, within its range, was as coherent as a panel but would not fool me into believing it was a planar design.

I did find an accessory which I thought could improve the sound of a tube-based stereo system, namely the EAT Cool Damper. Another accessory, the SVS 6.1 Realiser, did an excellent job of emulating a speaker system through the medium of headphones. Both products are worthy of auditioning.
There are two other products, already mentioned, namely the Raw Acoustics FR single driver speaker and Sunny Cable Technology cables, which are also worth auditioning.

The four designs, mentioned above, are products of special merit. Next year, I look forward to innovations in cable design, especially the use of gold, silver and copper. I hope there is a movement away from strict neutrality, with an acceptance of some level of subtractive coloration, to recreate to a greater extent, the sound of instruments.