stereophile.com n August2019 25
sterophilr.ecpm(€110,000/pair) was presented in Mu-
nich in a color, “Ocean Mystery,” that
would be perfect on a high-end sports
car driving down the Pacific Coast
Highway. The Forza is a four-way
sealed box about five and a half feet
tall; its four drivers—aluminum-sand-
wich custom woofer and midwoofer,
ceramic midrange, and diamond
tweeter—together manage a frequency
response of 25-60,000Hz. Paired with
a Kronos Pro turntable (€37,600) with
SCPS-1 power supply (€13,500), Black
Beauty tonearm (€8400), and ZYX
Universe 3 cartridge (€8100)—plus
racks, cables, and tweaks—it “nailed the
great expanse and natural timbres of
the Budapest Symphony Orchestra,”
Jason noted.- The impressive-looking—and
-sounding—FinkTeam WM-4 speakers
(€65,000/pair) were fed signals, alter-
nately, from a MacBook Pro running
Audirvana Plus in iTunes integrated
mode and a Studer A807 reel-to-reel.
Sitting beside the speaker is Classé’s
Delta 300W Mono amp ($10,999/
each). Also in the system: the com-
pany’s forthcoming Delta stereo Pre
preamp/DAC ($9,999). Connections
were made with AudioQuest cabling.- “Lovely, smooth sound, fine
timbres, and a very large soundstage
in the nearfield were the hallmarks of
a system dominated by Vitus Audio’s
‘hardly broken in’ SIA-030 Signature
integrated amplifier (€35,000),” Jason
wrote. The SIA-030 has a 22kW trans-
former and claims 400,000 microfarads
capacitance. It can operate in either
30Wpc class-A or 200Wpc class-AB
mode and has a volume control that
adjusts by 0.5dB steps using just one
resistor in series with the signal.
positively breathtaking.”
- “Having heard at previous shows
the pairing of Aavik electronics, Bør-
resen loudspeakers, and Ansuz cabling,
I’ve been trying to find language
adequate to describe the quality of
its earth-rooted bass and midrange.
There’s a very special, aged-in-wood
component to its bass sound that I find
fascinating,” Jason wrote.
The system featured the Børre-
sen 05 loudspeakers with Darkz T2
Supreme resonance control (€100,000/
pair), Aavik C-300 control ampli-
fier with DAC and two phono stages
(€36,000), and Aavik M-300 300W
class-A mono amplifiers (€84,000/
pair). Connections were made via
Ansuz’s forthcoming PowerBox D-TC
supreme active cables (€12,000) and
the also-new TC supreme power cable
(€36,000/3 meters). Support was pro-
vided by the new Darkz T2 Supreme
Titanium Rack Medium with black
ash shelves (€13,440 per shelf). - Seen on passive display: Aavik’s
handsome new P-150 300Wpc stereo
amplifier (€14,000) and C-150 pream-
plifier with optional DAC and phono
stage (€12,000 and up). - Also on passive display, Cary
showed its new DMS-600 ($6995)
and DMS-550 Network Audio Play-
ers, which utilize AKM DAC chips.
Especially photogenic, though, was this
SLI-100 integrated amplifier ($5995),
which uses four KT-150 output tubes
to produce a specified 100Wpc. Com-
pared to the older SLI-80, the SLI-100
gains power but loses some flexibility:
The older amplifier allows audiophiles
who are so-inclined to roll the sup-
plied Electro-Harmonix KT-88s. Ken
Micallef will review the Cary amp in a
forthcoming issue. - These attractive tonearms—Thales’s
collection in a variety of finishes—were
prominently displayed in the window
of a corner room at the MOC. - The Estelon Forza loudspeaker
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