March Newsletter CES – A special report by Tom Haleas Here are my general impressions of the recent CES 2005 event (including T.H.E. SHOW) in Las Vegas: Where has all the vinyl gone? Vinyl has been the hot commodity the past several shows. Yet this year, nary a room featured a turntable and I cannot remember more than one or two rooms actually playing the beloved LP. Ironically, there was no new digital format to steal the thunder away from good ol' analog - most rooms featured the trusty 16 bit CD upsampled to reveal its true glory. Perhaps manufacturers believe digital recording and decoding technology has developed to the point where most consumers, even audiophile consumers, will be satisfied with CD sound, especially considering that LPs are a pain to clean and even play. I mean who really misses fiddling around with VTA for five minutes before an LP can be properly played? There will always be a small niche of vinyl junkies out there, but I believe we will not be seeing a new onslaught of turntables, tonearms and cartridges as we have the past 5 or so years. Average Sound. Yes, most show rooms sounded downright average, certainly worse I suspect than the sound most of us get in our homes. Yet there were several notable exceptions. Most TBLS members raved about the Cabasse room (Jim Maher talked about this room in the last newsletter), which featured a pair of speakers that looked (as my son commented when he saw a photo) like Dinosaur eyeballs. The speakers were powered by gorgeous Art Audio amplification, the output tubes encircled by beautiful blue lit glass chimneys. Also contributing heavily to the glorious sound was a massive powered Cabasse subwoofer, sporting a woofer larger than a monster truck wheel. I also liked the Ars Audes room, in which Art Audio (again) monoblock amplifiers powered Ars Audes Mini Sensorial loudspeakers, an elegantly designed standmounted Italian speaker sporting two 5" woofers in a D'Appolito configuration. The sound was liquid, yet dynamic and very 'real' sounding. Fab Audio, a Canadian company which specializes in high efficiency dynamic speaker designs, got very good sound out of its small "Brat" loudspeakers. Ditto ACI, with its new Sapphire speakers sporting Scan Speak drivers driven by the acclaimed budget Prima Luna tube amp. I couldn't believe the bass coming out of the small Sapphires - powerful and defined - thanks to the awesome 5.5" Scan Speak mid/woofer. Best Demo. Without any doubt, the best demo was at the YG Acoustics room at Alexis Park. Luring tired eared attendees into the room was an attractive lady of perhaps Eastern European descent. Once inside, the President/founder of YG Acoustics (an Israeli company with a manufacturing plant in Colorado), whose name sounded very Russian and who looked like a 20 year old prodigy from some banned nuclear physics lab in Siberia, described why his speakers were the finest at the Show (as perhaps they should be at $50k plus). Sporting Scan Speak drivers and Swiss aluminum enclosures, these Israeli built speakers with an integrated powered sub indeed sounded very good, if perhaps a touch dry (perhaps because of the Accuphase electronics). The demo consisted of 6 or so tracks of various music, with the YG President very eloquently giving a little insight into the music and what listeners should be hearing in each track. At the end, everyone received a CD containing these same 6 tracks to take to other rooms for comparison purposes. Very nicely and professionally done! Others should be so prepared. Average Sound, Great Time. It's fun just getting away from the normal responsibilities of life for a few days. Forget the CES Show; just add Las Vegas and some fun TBLS members to the equation, and it's a great few days. From the Indian food on Thursday night to the Cirque Show 'Zumanity' on Friday night (at least a few minutes of it) to the bar band at the lovely San Remo (playing several of their long forgotten hits from the 70's), even the lousy rooms at the San Remo couldn't dampen the fun it seemed everyone had. President's Corner Let's begin by thanking Mike Knapp and his family for hosting the February meeting, and for arranging the March meeting. Mike has done a wonderful job of integrating his audio system with his home theater set-up, and has created a great environment for music or movies. Thanks also to John and Kim Santamaria and their family for hosting the Executive Committee meeting; John has wonderful new Cary Audio equipment, and a sonically-challenged listening room; it will be interesting to see how everything develops. I hope everyone will make an effort to attend the next few meetings-they should be very exciting. Mike's friend, Kevin Holt, is taking the brave step of inviting us to his home for what sounds like a very entertaining and interesting evening. We follow that up with a visit to the home of the legendary Jim Maher, who at last count had five fully-functioning audio systems at his house. Word is that there is a great deal of activity at Jim's house to make everything ready. We have been very fortunate recently to have several new attendees at our meetings; thanks to all who remember and make the effort to invite people to our meetings. Like it or not, if you're not growing, you're dying. Speaking of meetings, an important reminder: TBLS meetings are almost always held on the first Tuesday of every month; changes occur only occasionally, when a holiday falls on the first Tuesday, and would cause a lack of attendance. We will try to get the newsletter out further in advance of the meeting; however, please reserve the first Tuesday of the month for TBLS meetings. There is a new Indian food restaurant in Clearwater (disclosure: the owner is a friend of mine); in my opinion, the food is wonderful. I would like to suggest that we hold our next Executive Committee meeting there, or if that is objectionable, we go there on a different night as a group. I know we have many members who love Indian food, and I believe you would truly enjoy going there. Let's discuss this at the March meeting, and confirm the date for this. Please apply gentle pressure (call them and encourage them to come) to the people who sometimes miss meetings with unexcused absences; the more people, usually the more interesting the meeting. See everyone soon, Peter Fiskio phone 813-805-6514 email: pfiskio1@tampabay.rr.com