So how was the show? Last year's show was pretty awful. This year's show was very good for many reasons. Just look at the smile on the face of Acoustic Sounds' Chad Kassem.
It was a hectic show for me. I had agreed to do two events each Friday and Saturday in conjunction with Colleen Murphy's Classic Album Sundays in a room featuring a Spiral Groove SG 1.1 turntable and Centroid arm, VTL Reference electronics including a pair of big Siegfried mono blocks and a pair of Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX 3 loudspeakers.
Best sound at the show? It wasn't close and it wasn't fair. The best sound was, without a doubt, in the MBL room where MBL importer Jeremy Bryan demonstrated why he's among the best and most meticulous/fanatical set-up guys in the business.
Does this look like a $5995 phono preamplifier? It looks far more costly to me. Canadian manufacturer Coincident Technology sells this new two-box tube-based phono preamp direct to consumers for $5995.
This modestly sized, unassuming looking little jewel was in use in the Audio Arts room, fed by a Jan Aalerts cartridge mounted in the Simon Yorke S-10.
New York City based Atocha Design displayed a gorgeous looking, superbly crafted retro-cabinet designed to hold components and store records or other lesser media. All of the company's cabinetry is hand-crafted in the U.S.A. by a master cabinetmaker.
The Ikeda Sound Labs KAI MC cartridge mounted on an Ikeda tone arm, itself mounted on a chrome-y looking Triangle Art Signature turntable appeared at the New York Audio Show.
The latest turntable from Simon Yorke, the S-10 is a battery powered design that appears to be a seriously refined and updated edition of the S-7 that was my reference for nearly a decade.