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Over in the other corner also in the proven 45° setup, AMR's new CD-777 and AM-777 CDP/integrated amplifier combo powered a pair of Daluso Dutch Statement speakers to once again manage a persuasive musical envelope in this very large space.

During the show we had various encounters with readers of our site. Most were pleasing, with some personal kudos occasionally even embarrassing. Those we spoke to like the style and format of 6moons. English also seems no problem for Dutchies to get a grip on. Some even admitted how it improved their language skills. Of course there were negative reactions too. The audio scene after all is known for its skeptics, cynics and know-it-alls. We even met two who claimed to be golden ears; one who never reads on-line magazines on principle, the other attacking us for not comparing the right equipment. His heavily modified XXX was so much better than the YYY we positively reviewed that we really ought to have compared the two. If you say so.

Time to attend the first presentation. Ted Denney III of Synergistic Research who was announced with his resonators and more sadly did not show so Edwin van der Kley agreed to fill the spot on the spot. The room was filled to capacity as Edwin improvised a Q&A session. One question was why Euro power cords arrive at such strange lengths. The answer was twofold. For one, lengths like 1.5 and 1.8 meters derive from US measures like 5 and 6 feet. Two, dealers don't want to stock all manner of lengths which probably won't sell for a long while. On why certain power cables sound better than others, Edwin explained that when current runs 'through' a cable, the magnetic field created extends no less than 1 meter all around it. All electronic components (including other cables) within a 1-meter radius are exposed. With a simple demonstration of the field surrounding the power cord of his laptop, Edwin demonstrated the noise which unshielded cables radiate.


The solution is to comprehensively shield the cable to avoid not incoming but outgoing noise. At the Siltech lab, more than two dozens shielded cables of renowned makes were tested. None of them was found to be 100% effectively shielded. Then of course the question arose why certain cable makes are so expensive. Edwin cited material purity. Percentile purity leads to greater silence and blacker backgrounds. Using gold and silver for cables, a high degree of material purity becomes possible. When copper reaches equivalent purity levels indicated by the number of 9s, the price of 99.99999% pure copper approaches that for silver and gold of the equivalent purity. Another argument for costlier base materials is life expectancy. Copper eventually oxidizes and its sound quality deteriorates. Silver and gold either oxidize in a benign fashion (silver oxide is a terrific conductor) or not at all. Edwin concluded his presentation with the free advice to avoid placing any equipment within 1 meter of a power cord. This includes in-wall power distribution lines. Move your equipment away from all of these noise sources.

Back at the active displays, we entered the Musical Reality room to encounter the new KR Audio VA 880 integrated amplifier and Von Schweikert's Unifield 2 loudspeaker model. The new KR amplifier is the first push-pull design for the Czechs. According to designer Marek Gencev, his switching technology is so fast and efficient that it overcomes all negative associations and performs like a single-ended amp.


As usual for KR, the hybrid circuit uses MOSFET drivers and transistors for the input stages. Valves show up only in the output stage, which here is specified at 70wpc generated by two pairs of KR's own KT88s.


Von Schweikert's latest 3-way loudspeaker meanwhile is housed in a single cabinet measuring 42.5 x 25 x 30cm, i.e. small for him. Internal space is even more cramped as the enclosure walls are no less than 7.5cm thick and made from MDF with internal rubber, stone (!) and felt layers. The combination in this room sounded as though a much bigger system was playing. While retired by now, former KR and Von Schweikert distributor Niko de Graaf assisted the current distributor in his renowned role as DJ, alternating this year between digital on an Eera machine and analogue over a TW Acustic Raven One deck.

The adjacent room launched another premier by way of PS Audio's PerfectWave Transport and matching DAC. The transport reads CD or DVD media and in 3-minute batches, buffers the extracted data without clock information into memory. PS Audio calls their memory buffer Digital Lens. Afterwards the signal is reclocked and handed over to a competitor's DAC via S/PDIF or their own PerfectWave DAC via I²S over HDMI. This PerfectWave converter is no mere DAC as it doubles as music server for a Network Accessible Storage (NAS) device, computer or wireless network. Just like the Transport, the PerfectWave DAC incorporates a Digital Lens for use with sources other than the matching PS Audio Transport. Another feature of the PerfectWave DAC is its ability to upsample any input sample rate but this is optional, not fixed.

In any event, the PerfectWave duo was still a beta version but the digital decoding technology already worked well. With all its possibilities and features, the embedded technology begs for an in-depth review. As soon as a set becomes available, we shall sharpen our pens. Analogue was by TW Acustic with their big 3-motor Raven AC and new TWA Raven Phono stage. Amplification was by Metronome and Acoustic System Int.'sTango R the loudspeaker of choice. Due to the presence of ASI's Franck Tchang, the room was more a demo room for his acoustic treatments than a pure listening room.