Aren't they just beautiful? What's more, they sounded just as good as they look. Absolutely gorgeous tonality on Jonathan Horwich's International Phonograph recording of Jeremy Kahn's "The Shadow of Your Smile" distinguished this pairing of Merrill Audio's made-in-New-Jersey Veritas class-D monoblock amplifiers ($12,000/pair) and made-in-Mexico Sadurni horn loudspeakers, which are sold with their hard-to-see companion subwoofers ($40,000/pair for all three).
The amplifiers output 700W into 4 ohms. Abetted by Anap X1 copper speaker cable ($499 up to 3m) and Anap X1 interconnects ($499 up to 3m), the system threw a remarkably transparent, wonderfully deep soundstage distinguished by seductively lovely warmth and lots of color. Although it was hard to smile through Hugh Masekela's "Coal Train," with its indictment of racial and economic oppression, the warmth of the system carried me through. I'd be tempted to write something like "tube warmth in the best and most musical sense of the term," except that the amps were solid-state class-D.
This was the first room I visited at the show, and its beautiful, non-fatiguing sound stayed with me throughout the day. Here's hoping I have time to return for a second listen on the last day of the show.
