Viva Las Vegas
Dudes! We're in Las Vegas. This town is bananas, all sex and smoke and blurry light, gambling and booze and deep fried foods.
Stephen Mejias
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Raunchy Sounds in the Music Hall Suite
Whenever I run into <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/092407leland/">my audiophile doppelganger</a>, Music Hall's Leland Leard, I'm sure to ask him about what's new in his playlist.
The Black & White Album
Imani Coppola's <i>The Black & White Album</i> was playing strong in the Music Hall suite. Imani sings:
Bellari's VP530
Bellari's pretty little boxes remind me of my guitar effects pedals. And maybe that's why I find them so attractive.
Shanling's STP-10
Shanling seems to have erected a shrine to the holy iPod with its new STP-10 stereo vacuum tube amplifier ($900).
Make Your iPod Smile
The Shanling STP-10, with the lights on. This hefty little toy is built like a tank, and made to make your iPod smile.
Hansen Audio's Prince
It was midday at the Venetian and show traffic was intense when I squeezed into the Hansen Audio suite. Despite noise from the outer hall and chatter in the back of the room, the several listeners seemed swept away by Natalie Merchant's voice. Her warm wishes were followed by Aaron Neville's "Goodnight," a blanket of voices with impressive clarity seeming to wrap around the entire room.
At the Las Vegas Hilton
While Day 1 at the Venetian was all hustle and bustle, the atmosphere at the Las Vegas Hilton was something different, was almost contemplative. Navigating the Venetian halls was an exercise in agility. I found myself weaving in and out of massive traffic with a skill perhaps common only to a weary New Yorker, making quick and random stops to chat friends and colleagues. But when I arrived at the Hilton, the silence—as we like to say—was palpable.
KEF Tradition
Musical Fidelity products are now a part of the KEF tradition.
KEF's Reference
KEF would begin their multi-room demo with their small, but surprisingly room-filling, KHT home theater range and work their way up from there. The stunning KEF Muons would be the great and final attraction of the KEF event, and they were all I was looking forward to, really. However, the highlight of the show turned out to be the brilliant sound of the Reference 201/2 stand-mounted speakers ($6000/pair). I was instantly reminded of the remarkable performance of the much larger Reference 207/2s, which I recently experienced in JA's listening room and which are now gracing our February cover. The music brought forth was captivating, seductive, gorgeous.