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American Sound of Canada chose from their considerable catalogue and led with the Vienna Acoustics The Music loudspeaker partnered with Esoteric electronics. The Music allows the user to make fine calibrated adjustments of the toe-in of the coaxial head unit independent from f the rest. Despite the imposing visual size of this complex beauty, the technology worked to remove itself from the aural picture. Expansive and non-intrusive, it served the music with the power a large speaker can bring yet maintained the intimacy and soundstaging prowess of a small monitor. This was another location to spend considerable time in.


Patrick Butler


Another showing of the terrific muRata super tweeter.



Coherent Speakers proved to be a real gem. The speakers offer a distinctive and elegantly attractive non-boxy enclosure that's internally heavily braced with Baltic birch ply. The heart of the design is a large coaxial driver which combines high efficiency with high power handling. Like the top competition these speakers removed themselves from the sonic equation yet firmly established the emotional connection. This deserved and garnered a fair bit of attention. It was a first-time encounter for me but hopefully more is to come.



Audio Eden brought some wonderful components. The Brinkmann turntable and EMT cartridge were on hand as was Mrs. Brinkmann. An Accustic Arts CD player held up the digital front end all to serve a Unico integrated and a pair of Chario 2-way Sonnet monitors. The system locked into the room with elegance, authenticity and remarkable naturalness. In a separate room Audio Eden created another musical environment based on a pair of Tannoy Prestige loudspeakers around a Moon/Jadis/Brinkmann setup. Vintage in appearance, this system was all about walking away from the hifi and relearning the simple art of musical enjoyment.






Audioscape made a good showing of its diverse lineup with turntables from the Dual end of the spectrum to the massive Nottingham on the other. The well regarded Prima Luna line of tube equipment was on display as well as the diminutive little Miniwatt, which for a short time was powering a pair of Ushers with audacity.


A fair sampling of the Usher speakers was on hand with the Mini Dancer 2-D putting in an extremely convincing performance powered by the delightful Mystère tube integrated from the PrimaLuna/Melody collaboration. This was a room dedicated to demonstrating the tantalizing abilities of components within the reach of the audiophile who is refined of ear but limited in depth of wallet. In the same room the head of JPS labs Joe Skubinsky and his lovely wife were on hand to promote their highly regarded audio cables.