In electronica land, I smelled the roses and a good place to start was the Berendsen line from Germany distributed by Sedrick Harris of Acoustic Partners [below] who is supported by retailer Randall Marder of Colorado Audiophile Sound & Design in Elizabeth/CO. The famous Gamut CD player during Ole's days was manufactured in Sven Berendsen's facility which OEMs for a number of firms. The firm's own CDP 1 SE of those days has since been discontinued because their replacement $1,995 CDP 1 outperforms it at a lesser price.

The full Berendsen line includes the $1,495 PRE1, its $1,795 SE version, the $3,295 Central 22 HighEnd preamp, the $459 Central 12 and $1,795 Analog 1 phono stages, the $1,995 IPA 80 integrated, the $1,495 CDP 2 "entry-level" player and the $2,395/2,995 STA 150/SE power amplifier. Black or silver fascias are standard.

Sedrick showed with Dali and Nola speakers and Déja Vu tube and Cruz digital amps. The former amplifiers are designed by Vu Hoang of the famous McLean/VA dealership Déja Vu. It might interest you to know that Vu is literally and genetically miswired to receive visual and odiferous data while he listens. This is a rare but acknowledged 'extra-sensory' gift apparently triggered by unusual nerve connections which cause a listener thus endowed to see and smell things as prompted by auditory inputs. I've observed Vu set up speakers at shows and in his shop. He explained how rather than relying on tape measures or complex mathematical formulae, he simply listens/sees/smells. The results are spookily fast and accurate but not repeatable in this fashion unless you too were similarly - er, rewired. What a rare constellation that an audio retailer/ designer could use such a gift in direct and practical ways.


Back on terra firma, the Cruz amplifier is a further development of Audio Physic's digital monos by the same former Siemens engineer who secured the rights and now offers his next-generation designs under his own banner. Extremely high power and high-current, this Cruz amplifier is expensive ($13,500) but a distinct and new chink in the digital amplifier armor. If I understood Sedrick Harris correctly, this technology will be exclusive to Cruz once Audio Physic sells through its remaining inventory. More important for the audiophile of average means is the Berendsen CDP I which, from various anecdotal  'evidence', I have reason to believe might be a giant killer that should be on your books if you're in the market for a high-performance one-box player.


While we're still in the affordable realm, Richard Kohlruss of VMax Services showed the country's first and only IR remote Unison Research Unico SE ($2,499/2,599 without/with phono) that's been beefed up to 140wpc and sports a massive new capacitor bank

The Unico series has grown to 15 models and now spans the gamut from CD and tuner sources to 6 hybrid integrateds, 2 preamps, three hybrid amps and two solid-state integrateds. The all-tube line is up to 16 models and more are coming. Richard's Audio Analogue line has expanded as well, with the new Paganini 24/192 ($1,899) and Puccini Settanta 70-watt MM/MC phono integrated ($1,899) shown above. The French Triangle speaker line has been completely revamped and even the entry-level models now sport the new horn-loaded tweeter and new Bordeaux, Champagne or Cognac finishes.


Yoshihiro and Takashi Muramatsu of Almarro showed their 8 x 6550 A50125A integrated amplifier ($2,950) with the $1,200 - $1,500 M0A speakers our own Jeff-San currently has in-house. The parallel push-pull amp sports two 5687 drivers, three inputs and 125/250w stereo/mono power to be yet another true value proposition from the house of Almarro that thus far hasn't failed to make truly excellent yet utterly unfussy sound at tradeshows.

Brit importer Bluebird Music and Bend/OR dealer Hi-Fi Logic collaborated on a Chord/Croft/Living Voice exhibit that combined the Chord Dac-64 ($3,495) and Chord BLU transport [(7,795) with the Croft Absolute 1 tube preamp ($9,795) and the matching Twinstar III hybrid amp ($7,795) to drive the famous Living Voice OBX-RII ($8,295) that our man Edward Barker in England uses for his personal reference.

This exhibit captured my sane alter ego's attention and had me request the Croft combo for review on the spot. Cleanly styled, of modest size, with no external thermionic evidence whatsoever, these electronics completely avoided transistor behavior yet clearly had plenty of drive and headroom to power real-world speakers - hence my interest. With about $2,000 in Chord cabling, this -- like the Almarro exhibit -- was a room without any treatments, cable lifters, power conditioners or any of the other voodoo that you do - well, not just you but all of us deeply into tweak optimizations. While I won't deny tweaks for one moment (I've got plenty myself), it's a breath of fresh air to see non-Voodoo exhibits at shows whose very raison d'être is to spread good audiophile vibes to the general populace and not alienate newcomers with super-complex esoteric setups that just wouldn't work in regular living rooms. Kudos to our friends from Japan and the UK for demonstrating how good sound and simplicity can coexist without any audible issues.