In the Duevel demo cabin, we are welcomed by Anette Duevel who informs us that fellow Dutchie Eddie Driessen is also 'in'. Eddie is the man behind the Pluto turntable. The production of these turntables is extremely limited and the waiting list long. Playing is the Pluto A10 Carbon wherein carbon fiber is used extensively. Amplification is by VAC and the Duevel Bella Luna is the loudspeaker on active duty. Besides this setup, a more modest second system alternately plays the room. This is built around the new Duevel Planets omni. With a going price of € 600, Markus Duevel offers a loudspeaker with the same aural signature as his bigger models. A short demonstration gives a taste of what this speaker proponent of the KISS principle is capable of.
The Grosso is on demo in the room - the red horns and the improved bass handling are evident. Powered by the One Pre and One Power amplifiers, the new Duo design sounds very capable. Even Armin Krauss' favorite Oompah music played on a TW Raven turntable sounds good (for Oompah that is). Other music even sounds great. Coming soon is the 17-ohm Duo Mezzo that uses the bottom part of the Primo, the short basshorn with two 12-inch hornloaded bass drivers equalized with the ADRIC circuit to reach 18Hz. The top of the Duo range is the Primo with four 12-inch bass drivers.
The Trio range has changed as well. The Short Horn and Sub231 subwoofers can now be combined with the Trio plus of course the Basshorns. Probably the biggest attention getters were the miniature Avantgarde speakers. These are designed to help dealers show models that aren't displayed on the floor.
Dutch brand Kharma demoed their top model, the Grand Exquisite powered by the new Kharma MP350 power amplifier. The Grand Exquisite is named fittingly. The thing is huge but due to its stylized violin shape, it seems smaller than it is. Every time we pass this room, it is full. Charles van Oostrum gets all this attention not just for his colossi but also for the Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable system. We have to say, this $100,000+ turntable in combination with the MP350 and Grand Exquisite did sound absolutely fantastic. The attention for this room is well deserved. A nice design detail for the turntable is to see the bottom part of the platter turning inside the plinth as part of the bearing system. Now that Charles is distributing this turntable, we might get a chance to listen to it in a quieter environment. Charles?
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