Down Under Audio Is All Set for the Newport Show!

We are all set and ready to go for Down Under Audio and the Newport Show! As I've mentioned repeatedly, we will be in Room 1011 and 1012 at the Hotel Irvine from June 3-5. In Room 1011 we will be featuring Axis and REDGUM Audio, and in Room 1012 we will have PureAudio, Brigadiers Audio, Furutech, The Wand and Les Davis Audio.

First up, we will feature PureAudio amplification from New Zealand. Gary Morrison will be there to introduce the the new version of the Duo stereo power amplifier. Gary has changed the design slightly so that this huge pure Class A amplifier runs cooler, and as a result of these mods he feels that the overall sound of the amp is sweeter than ever before. We will also have the Control preamplifier and the Vinyl phono preamplifier in the system.

The system will be fully wired with Furutech, including the Lineflux interconnects, Speakerflux speaker cables, Alpha power cords and the Furutech power conditioner.

Speakers, which I've mentioned, are the finalized versions of the Brigadiers Audio BA2 monitors. I had the honor of sitting with Brad Serhan, David Allen and Morris Swift of Brigadiers to finalize the design in Sydney, so I'm very proud of the result. Both Brad and Morris will be at the show to answer your questions.

Ian Robinson and Lindy Gerber of REDGUM Audio will be manning Room 1011 with the entire Black Series Line of integrated amplifiers including the RGi35ENR (65wpc), RGi60ENR (125wpc) and the RGi120ENR (175wpc). REDGUM manufacturers wonderful high-current amplifiers for hard-to-drive loudspeakers, but they will also be bringing one of their highly regarded CD players, the RGCD5ENR. Best of all, they will be giving away an RGi35ENR to a lucky attendee!

John Reilly of Axis VoiceBox won't be able to make the show, but his incredible little monitors will. They are the perfect sonic match for REDGUM and this will be the first time US audiophiles can hear the combination in all its glory--although Dan Muzquiz of Blackbird Audio Gallery has had both REDGUM and Axis available for demo for a few weeks.

Les Davis Audio's 3D² constrained layer dampers are now in production! We will be performing demonstration so that everyone can hear the sonic differences these affordable devices can make in almost any system! Les Davis himself will be there to show you how they work.

Simon Brown and his The Wand tonearm will make the trip from New Zealand as well. I can't wait to hear this tonearm--despite its modest price it features some truly amazing engineering and can be used with even the most impressive analog rigs!

Speaking of impressive analog rigs, we will be featuring the Audio Union Helix Turntable Designed By Mark Doehmann. I first auditioned this Aussie-designed 'table back in October at RMAF and I'm still haunted by the realistic sound and the incredible design. The Audio Union people demonstrated it for me--they shook the plinth while the record was playing and it didn't skip a beat!

Dan Muzquiz of Blackbird Audio Gallery will also be jumping back and forth between his room with Bob Clarke (Profundo) and these two rooms, and he'll answer any questions you have about auditioning these wonderful components here in the US.

So please stop by! We'll all be available to chat with you, and to listen to great tunes with some of the finest gear in the world.

Brigadiers Audio Debut at the Newport Show!

"All right Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

If you've been following this blog you'll know I went to Sydney last summer and worked with my mates Brad Serhan and David Allen to perfect an already freakishly good two-way monitor called, at the time, the Compact. I had them playing at my house for the first six months of 2015, and then I packed them up and spent 20 hours at 35,000 feet in order to return them and offer my opinions. I spent the next three weeks with Brad, David and their partner Morris Swift and sat in a big comfy chair while they played around with resistor values, speaker positioning and other strange design rituals. By the time I returned to the US, the newly-christened Brigadiers BA2 monitors were performing at an incredibly high level of fidelity.

I started off this Down Under Audio project of mine right here in this blog with the somewhat lofty and delusional title "In Search of the Perfect Two-Way." I'm not going to be all sappy and say this speaker is it--as Judy Spotheim of SpJ Turntables told me, there is no such animal as a perfect two-way--but I did give the brigadiers my blessing with the declaration that I could buy the BA2s and be happy for the rest of my life with them.

Since I left Australia last September, Brad and David and Morris have continued to work hard to make the BA2 and its bigger brother, the BA1 floorstanding loudspeaker, a commercial product. They've tweaked it even further to get as close to sonic perfection as they could, and then started demonstrating these two models to dealers all over Australia. Within weeks they nabbed several dealers, who in turn found homes for all the existing stock. I didn't hear from Brad and David for many weeks--they were too busy building speakers and filling orders.

Now that the Newport Show is quickly approaching, the BA2 is ready for its debut in the US. Colleen and I will be pairing the BA2 with our favorite amplifiers from PureAudio of New Zealand. We'll be using a high-quality analog rig (TBA) as well as cables and power management from Furutech, as part of our Down Under Audio presentation. You'll be able to hear the Brigadiers Audio/PureAudio/Furutech combo in Room 1012 at the show, right next door to the Axis VoiceBox S and REDGUM Audio room we'll also be hosting.

Again, the whole idea of Down Under Audio is this: Australia and New Zealand have always had a lively and active audio industry that has offered some great brands over the years. We're talking Plinius, Duntech, Whatmough, Orpheus, Perraux, Continuum, Halcro and more. But aside from one or two of those brands, Down Under Audio has kept a very low profile over the last decade or so. While in Sydney I heard great system after great system in dealers such as Len Wallis Audio and Knox Audio. In the last couple of years, I've heard plenty of stellar products from Australia and New Zealand such as the Axis VoiceBox S loudspeaker, the REDGUM Audio RGi35ENR integrated amplifier, the Audio Union Helix turntable, The Wand tonearm, the Antipodes music server and, of course, the amazing amplifier line from Gary Morrison and Ross Stevens of PureAudio.

If I accomplish anything in the audio industry, I want it to be this. All of this gear is phenomenal. I know I represent much of it and it's my job to promote it and market it and sell it. But here's the thing. I've got a birthday coming up, number 54, and as David Allen said to me back in Sydney, "Let's face it, we're not getting any younger." The context of this comment was that most of us have been in the audio industry for a very long time, and it's time to do something special. We're not talking about making a bunch of money and retiring to our own tropical paradises, because we should have picked a different market segment to do that in. No, we just want to do something of value, something truly good and worthwhile. Quite frankly, I'm all in.

So come to room 1012 at the Newport Show and listen to these wonderful speakers. A lot of good people are putting their hearts and souls into these products. Sure, that can be said for most of the rooms at any hi-fi show. We all believe in the magic of putting beautiful music into people's lives. But I've been into audio since 1975, when I used money from a paper route to buy a Kenwood receiver, AR loudspeakers, a Dual turntable and a Shure V-15 Type III cartridge and I was deliriously happy. And turning people on to sound production of this caliber also makes me deliriously happy as well.

See you at the show!

The Wand Tonearm at the 2016 Newport Show

I'm proud to announce that we will be using The Wand Tonearm as part of our Down Under Audio exhibit rooms at the 2016 Newport Show which will be held in Southern California from June 3-5. The Wand Tonearm comes from New Zealand and is designed by Simon Brown of Design Build Listen Audio Components. Simon and his tonearm received the highest recommendation from fellow Kiwi Gary Morrison of PureAudio--one of the brands we represent at Colleen Cardas Imports. That says a lot, since Gary's amplifiers are among the finest I've heard and feature amazing engineering and design.

The Wand Tonearm is a unipivot that is available in 9.5", 10.3" and 12" lengths. It's designed to work with most cartridges and most turntables--everything from the Technics SL1200 to a Linn LP12 to more exotic turntables (hint, hint). It's considered an ideal match with the Denon 103 (one of my favorites) and the Ortofon 2M line, but it can also be used with expensive cartridges such as Lyra, Dynavector and even my beloved Transfiguration. Its distinctive extra-thick carbon fiber arm tube was designed for maximum rigidity and is much stiffer than more traditional arms.

The most amazing aspect of The Wand Tonearm is its cost. Simon sells the basic Classic model direct from the website, and the Plus version through retailers. The price of the 9.5" Classic arms starts at just NZ$705, which as of this writing is just under $500. You'll have to pay for shipping from New Zealand, and you may have to spend a little extra on a custom armboard, but you'll still be paying less than a grand for an extremely well-made tonearm that has been garnering some impressive reviews and awards.

You can see and hear The Wand Tonearm in Room 1012 at the Newport Show. For more details on the show, check out the website.

Down Under Audio

I know what you're thinking. All this talk about Australia has to lead to something. Well, it does.

For the better part of the last year I've been planning to do an audio show in the US where I feature a lot of the high-end audio products I've been discussing here and in other places. While I worked with Brad Serhan, David Allen and Morris Swift on the final design of the Brigadiers Audio speakers, I spent the entire time bugging everyone to finalize production by June 2016. That, of course, is when the Newport Show takes place in Southern California.

As soon as we returned from the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas in early January, Colleen and I have been working overtime to bring together a consortium of manufacturers from both Australia and New Zealand to feature their gear at the show. And that was the beginning of "Down Under Audio," the theme of the two rooms we will promote at the show, which will be held on June 3-5.

The first choices were obviously PureAudio, Axis and REDGUM Audio--the three "Down Under" brands that we already represent at Colleen Cardas Imports. John Reilly (Axis) and Ian Robinson (REDGUM) quickly came on board--they manufacture from the same factory and their products obviously mate well together. From the swiftness of their actions, it became quite obvious to me that they've done this all before. So Room 1011 at the Newport Show will be an all Axis/REDGUM room. Of course we will be featuring the Axis VoiceBox S loudspeakers, but everything else will be REDGUM since this Australian company known for its high-current amplifiers also makes digital sources, cables and even equipment racks. John and Ian are all ready to go.

Of course Colleen and I wanted to spotlight PureAudio from New Zealand in the other room. We've represented the line since 2012; this brand has always been close to my heart and I really want people to know about it. The most exciting thing for me about including PureAudio is that I finally get to meet Gary Morrison in person. We've been Skyping for years, but I've never been able to shake his hand. I've met everyone else in person--John Reilly, Ian Robinson, Brad Serhan, David Allen, Morris Swift--but not Gary.

That, of course, brings up all the other brands we're featuring. But here's the deal--I'm going to have to hold up my promotion of those products for different reasons. One manufacturer is busy getting his legal doo-dads in order for trademarking and patenting and whatever else he needs to do, so mum's the word for a few more weeks. We're still working with another manufacturer on all the fine details, so I don't want to jeopardize this involvement because it will be awesome if it happens as planned.

One more manufacturer is involved, and I want to wait just a little bit to announce it because this is a really cool product that's been in production for a while. I've just recently been introduced to it, and it's the kind of product I love--great performance, solid engineering, amazingly low price. I want to give this company its own separate place in the sun.

But I'm not worried about announcing the US debut of the Brigadiers Audio BA2 bookshelf speakers. These are obviously the two-way monitor speakers that prompted me to go to Sydney and work with Brad, David and Morris. You know how I kept talking about the perfect 2-way speaker? In its final production form, I believe it's as close to perfect as it gets. This two-way stand-mounted monitor has evolved into something unusually impressive and satisfying for its size, and I left Sydney last September thinking it was absolutely amazing in every way.

We talked about bringing the BA1 floorstanders instead, but I think the excellence of the BA2s will act as sort of a lead-in for those speakers. I'll bring a pair of those into the US sometime this year, and I'll probably drag them around the country for a while and have people listen to them. Or maybe I'll keep them to myself. Mine! Mine! Mine!

So that's the scoop for now. Room 1011 will feature Axis and REDGUM Audio, and next door in Room 1012 we'll have PureAudio, Brigadiers Audio, Furutech and a few surprises to be announced. I'll keep everyone updated, and I hope to see everyone at the show!

CCI at the Upcoming 2015 T.H.E. Show

I've been training myself not to say "the Newport Show" anymore. It's the Irvine Show, because it's being held at the Irvine Hotel in Irvine, California from May 29-31. Even when it was called the Newport Show, it wasn't really in Newport Beach--it was located in that weird part of Orange County by the John Wayne Airport where Irvine, Santa Ana and Costa Mesa come together. As someone who grew up in Orange County, I know where Newport Beach is, and where it isn't.

That said, Colleen and I will be at The Home Entertainment Show (T.H.E) next week. We'll be found in room 1015, supporting Sweet Spot High-End Audio, our Unison Research, Opera and Axis dealer in Phoenix. We'll be debuting the brand new PureAudio Duo stereo power amplifier, a brand new amplifier from Gary Morrison and Ross Stevens. This amp isn't quite a svelte as the PureAudio Reference monoblocks--it's sort of those two monoblocks in one much larger chassis. It also offers 100wpc pure Class A power, more than the 65wpc of the Reference. I haven't even listened to it yet--it was sent directly to Leif Swanson of Endeavor Audio Engineering so he could start breaking it in with his amazing new flagship, the E-5. That's the basic set-up in the photo above.

Even with a $600 CD player used as a temporary source, Leif told me that he could easily demo this system at the show. Fortunately, we're getting top-of-the-line digital playback from Berkeley Audio. I'm also bringing the PureAudio Control preamplifier and the Vinyl phono preamplifier to the show. Our analog source will be an Oracle Delphi Mk. VI turntable with Oracle arm and cartridge. I'm bringing some vinyl as well, so I'll be playing DJ when the Berkeley gear isn't playing.

Please feel free to stop by and say hello during the show. Even though our room, at this point, is still an unknown variable, I feel confident that this will be the finest system we've ever shown in the four-year history of Colleen Cardas Imports.

PureAudio Vinyl Preamplifier in the House!

A package arrived at the doorstep of CCI today from halfway around the world--New Zealand to be exact. We've just received the PureAudio Vinyl Preamplifier, a phono preamp, for evaluation. PureAudio is the new company from Gary Morrison and Ross Stevens who are best known for their years with Plinius. During Gary's tenure at Plinius he designed some of their most legendary products such as the 8150 and 8200 integrated amplifiers and the SB-300 amplifier. Gary was responsible for the "Plinius" sound from 1987 to 2004, and Ross worked closely with him from 2000 to 2004.

PureAudio takes a slightly different approach than Plinius--everything they make (a pair of monoblocks, a preamplifier and the Vinyl) runs on pure Class A and features impressive and innovative construction techniques. The strikingly beautiful chasses are non-magnetic, and made from aluminum and steel mesh. The Vinyl may look small in these pics, but it is a heavy, substantial beast.

Within a few minutes, I had the Vinyl hooked up and playing music. My only reservation is that the small light on the front panel only stays on for the 30 seconds it takes to warm up, then it turns off. It's a soft white light that glows hypnotically, and I wouldn't mind seeing it stay on. Fortunately, you can remove the Vinyl's cover and adjust a clip on the jumper marked "Light ON." I may just do that.

I'm not going to make any judgments after just a couple of hours of listening, but suffice it to say that the Vinyl extracts an amazing amount of information from the grooves of my LPs. The last time I heard this much detail, delivered with this much ease, was with a phono preamp with a price in the five-figure range. I'm very excited to play with a phono preamp that offers this high level of performance. Price in the US has not been set since there is currently no distribution here, but I'm estimating it at somewhere between $4000 and $6000. (The New Zealand price is NZ$4195.) At the higher price, it might be a class leader; at the lower price it will be a game-changer. I'm going to listen for a few weeks, and hopefully I'll have more info before I have to send it on to the next lucky audiophile.