Jerry, give us a brief recounting on how Audio Magic got started.
Audio Magic started when I managed a stereo shoppe. I was a really big TARA Labs fan at the time. It seemed that... well, I was replacing cables in my system and they came out with new designs every few months. You can't imagine how much money I spent on cables, changing them out for the next-better thing on a routine basis like an addict. After doing this three or four times, I thought: You know, with my electronics background, I should give this a shot. Audio had been my passion forever so I made up a set, took it home, played it, thought it wonderful, brought it back to the shop where it was a huge success, and started selling 'em.
Just like that?
Just like that. Ditto for the Stealth. I had gone through the PS Audio 300 and 600 Power Plants and thought they made some worthwhile improvements in my rig. Then I came across the Sound Application CF-X and was knocked flat on my back. I couldn't get rid of the Power Plants quickly enough and eventually ended up with three CF-Xs, to the tune of $4,200 each. Not exactly chump change [giggles].
So you decided to try your hand with power line conditioners. I detect a pattern here. Tell us about the new-for-2004 Eclipse, Jerry.
The Eclipse currently only exists in raw prototype form - one single unit, in the chassis of the new Kukama DAC. As you can see, it uses two power cords to separate the twin-duplex left digital bank and the quadruple-duplex right banks of low-level and high-level analogue circuits.

Each duplex is hard-isolated from the others, and the internal filtering is steps beyond even our new Matrix. The military has declassified a material used in the Stealth fighters that is extremely effective at filtering into the GHz range. I liberally coat the insides of the Eclipse chassis with multiple layers of this compound. Additionally, a second compound active to 300MHz is employed. In conjunction with our 6-AWG hyper-pure solid silver wiring, Shakti technology and proprietary filtering, this will be the quietest conditioner of them all.
And your Grand Illusion system is the testing ground, I assume?
Everything we make gets ambushed down here. If it doesn't cut the mustard with my firing squad and capitulates? Back to the drawing board it goes [chuckles]. As you have heard, this system is so fine-tuned and can so easily be calibrated for different voicings that it's truly become my laboratory. It tells me everything I need to know whenever I insert a new component or change the slightest of parameters.
When do you expect to go ballistic - er, ecliptic?
It's far too early to tell. We just received our first batch of custom boards for the Kukama DAC. My friend and designer Henry Lamb is putting the first production units together as we speak. Between that and our new Clairvoyant cables, we have our hands full. Remember, we're a purely handcrafting outfit. Unlike the big boys with machine-populated boards and assembly lines, our circuit boards for the DAC are assembled one at a time, with each part inserted by hand, not machine. Our cables are handcrafted right here, by Mandy and myself. It's why we keep things small. It affords us the necessary attention to detail, and it's what we enjoy doing.
Before I consider the design final, the prototype will travel 'round the country to some of my trusted beta testers for feedback on how it interacts in a variety of systems with experienced ears. I may well go through multiple iterations until I'm happy with it. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking CES 2004.
Have you done much listening to it already?
[Smirks] Not really. I'm not done breaking it in. As you saw, all our upscale cables and Stealth conditioners get plugged into the audiodharma CableCooker v2.5 before we ship them out. Both the Eclipse and the first production Kukama you took the board picture of need a few more days of electron aerobics before I'll put them into the big rig. The DAC that's in there now still uses prototype boards. [Smiles.] Henry promised the new boards to sound even better. I've already come up with a trick to improve things yet further. [Grins suggestively.]
Knowing you, I dare not ask, Jerry. What wacky thing did you dream up this time?
[Cracks up at my mock-disapproving visage.] Well, for a change, this one is all Henry's fault. We've experimented extensively with cryogenics and use it in many applications. A second step in advanced cryogenics is annealing, multiple hot-cold cycles that take the subjected material through opposing temperature extremes for molecular realignment and stabilization.

While fine-tuning the unique current-to-voltage conversion stage of our DAC, Henry had experimented with a low-level oven. He placed critical circuit parts inside it for some mild toasting. When things sounded noticeably better afterwards, he put the DAC on the bench and noted that a few key parts had changed their values due to the heat exposure. He replaced the original parts with new ones whose values were identical to the post-roast. Bingo. Thinking about this concept, I've tested my prototype DAC and found that it sounded best when all the innards were kept at a stable temperature in excess of normal operating heat. So I've placed a light bulb inside to maintain a constant ambient temperature. Of course this is purely for my own personal use. But it works.
You're not telling me your system down here sounds better with those green lights bleeding through the Hartleys, are you? [I just had to pull this inveterate tweak's leg.] But joking aside, at the rate you're going, should we expect more electronics from Audio Magic?
Funny you should ask. Henry has an amplifier circuit for a 20-watt single-ended solid-state monoblock that actually predates the DAC. The Kukama came into existence due to my frustration with state-of-the-art units I had through here, from Altis to Kora, Dodson to Gill, BAT to MSB. One day I shipped my ancient EAD to Henry, hoping his after-market mod would turn it into something useful. It ended up exceeding my wildest expectations. I sold off all my other DACs. In the process, I actually re-acquired my old CEC belt-drive transport. Not only was the serial number the same, the box that it shipped in still had my name on it. [Laughs.]

Anyway, parts of the DAC architecture are actually based on this amplifier circuit. Now that our first joint project has launched, I've haunted Henry with the idea to bring his amplifier idea to market. As the DAC is extremely analogue sounding, so this amp, according to Henry, sounds very much like a tube amp.

For the next CES, I'm also thinking about introducing our own speaker, using a special version of the Hartley 10-inch woofer, the Raven ribbon tweeter and our 4-inch SEAS mid, all with active networks and independent gain controls tri-amped by our new monos. This speaker project will likely not go into production at all. Still, I'm tired of making great sound as we did at the last CES and have people attribute the results to someone else's speakers or electronics. As you've seen, my personal DAC has its own passive linestage circuit built. The only system stage not Audio Magic will then be the transport.
I hear you. Cable guys at tradeshows might as well take off their label markings entirely, that's how much of a difference it makes. Or, turn off the music and have long-legged cheerleaders hand out free drinks, pens and baseball caps with your company name emblazoned on all of 'em instead.

How else to telegraph that the overall sound visitors enjoyed in your suite was affected by the wiring and power conditioning used behind the scenes? Even a DAC remains a relatively invisible contributor still. Amplifiers and speakers however? Now you're talking. Groovy, baby. It's silly but the way it works.

Exactly. Now, most audiophiles sneer at active speakers. However, I believe it's the only way to get truly uncompromised results, the only way to fully adapt a speaker to its environment. As you've seen, I managed to adjust what you perceived as a mild mid-bass prominence by simply turning down the attenuators on the PSE amps driving the 18-inch woofers.

For the benefit of our readers, let me inject here that after listening to a few tunes I'd brought with me, Jerry solicited my feedback. I felt the system sounded absolutely stunning. My only criticism? A small prominence in the midbass - or, conversely, a subtle hollowing-out effect in the midband. No problem, quipped Jerry. Following him to the equipment rack, I watched him back off the rear-mounted attenuators of two of the PSE amps by a click or two. Presto. He agreed with me that the subsequent tonal balance was preferable and confessed that, of late, he had experimented with the midbass settings and hadn't entirely decided on final adjustments yet.