The Listening Room/Fidelity Imports/Titan Audio/Michell Engineering/Soul Note/Perlisten/Innuos/AudioQuest
The Listening Room and Perlisten Audio's Erik Wiederhotlz assembled a fine-sounding room, its front end including the revised Michell Orbe SE Turntable with an inverted, oil-circulating main bearing, freestanding motor, and massive platter ($6999 w/o tonearm; $8495 w/Technoarm 2), Innuos Statement Music Sever and Streamer, Soul Note D2 DAC ($8999), Soul Note E2 MM/MC Phono Equalizer ($8999), and Soul Note S3 SACD player ($19,999). Amplification consisted of more Soul Note!
The Vinyl Revivers/Black Ice/Klipsch/Ortofon/Pro-Ject/Audio Desk System
Black Ice amplification joined with Klipsch speakers and a Pro-Ject turntable to create a high-octane rig that played contemporary pop, rock, and blues like Stevie Ray Vaughan riffing with '90s German techno.
The Voice That Is/Vinnie Rossi/Tidal Audio/Critical Mass Systems/Siltech
Literally everything in this room, except Doug White of The Voice That Is and Vinnie Rossi, was new.
This room gets my vote for the most beautiful looking system of the show. A stunner.
VAC/Von Schweikert/Kronos/Esoteric/Aurender/Hana/Ultra Q
When I walked into the Potomac room, a large VAC/Von Schweikert system was playing vintage Steely Dan tunes (Gaucho era) via vinyl into the sprawling spacewhat's not to love? While one exhibitor poked me in the ribs for criticizing their choice of Michael Jackson's Thriller at last year's event, the Yacht Rock flowing out of the mighty Potomac room suited me perfectly. And it sounded fantastic.
Voxativ Acoustic Technologies
The Berlin-made electronics and loudspeakers in the Voxativ room were impressive and riveting, moving air like a freight train from their handmade full-range drivers, modular, three-section floorstanders, and 30Wpc SET integrated amplifier.