CAS 2011

The Finite Elemente Soundboard ($995) is available in six lacquer finishes and a lovely walnut, and comes with wall brackets for easy mounting. You can hang it anywhere, just as you would a shelf. In fact, the Soundboard is a shelf&#151a shelf that sings. There are four down-firing speakers, two front-firing speakers, a top-panel iPod charging dock, and line and USB inputs for use with televisions and computers.

We ported an iPhone and listened for a moment to a track off of Norah Jones’ Come Away with Me. The sound was surprisingly good and detailed. I think the Soundboard would look great in guest rooms or offices.

The smallest Audio Vision room held the smallest system:

Bel Canto e.One CD 2 CD player ($2995), Bel Canto C5i integrated amp/DAC ($1995), Bel Canto e.One 1000 MkII monoblock power amplifiers ($6000/pair), Bel Canto e.One DAC3.5VB ($4945), Anthony Gallo 3.5 Reference loudspeakers ($5999/pair), Clearaudio Concept turntable ($1400) with Clearaudio Aurum Beta Wood cartridge ($575), Cardas Clear Light speaker cable ($1039/2m pair) and interconnects ($692/1m pair), and Quadraspire Q4 Evo equipment rack.

In the much smaller Music Lovers/Musical Surroundings room, we heard a sound very different from what we heard in the previous, massive ballroom.

Too often I’m more impressed by a system’s high price than by its high performance. But, in the case of this MBL system, the $260,000 price tag seemed completely understandable. I’m also fascinated by how a system’s sound can be transported from room to room, show to show, across oceans and states. The MBL system I heard at the California Audio Show sounded a lot like the MBL system I heard at the Munich High End Show&#151a good thing, indeed.

From left: Barbara Lamb Hall, Melanie Berzon, and Sybil Bolivar of San Mateo’s listener-supported KCSM, 91.1FM. Not only is KCSM one of Sam Tellig’s favorite spots on the FM dial, it’s one of the last all-jazz stations in the world.

There are other examples: Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, Iron & Wine’s Our Endless Numbered Days, Feist’s Let it Die, Fleet Foxes’ self-titled debut, and the XX’s XX come to mind. All of these albums were darlings of the indie pop scene and embraced by audiophiles. (What the?)

When the hell did Wilson Audio’s Peter McGrath become so hip? Has the old dude been subscribing to The Wire, hanging out in Greenpoint, going to noise-rock shows in abandoned warehouses?

McGrath used a system comprising Wilson Audio Sasha loudspeakers, gorgeous D’Agostino Momentum monoblock amplifiers, Sooloos Control 15, dCS Debussy DAC, Transparent Audio cables, and ASC Tube Traps to demo music from Pan Sonic to James Blake to Nicolas Jaar.

Nicolas Jaar? Peter McGrath? What the hell? Where am I?