In Support of Equipment Supports

"I am Pichet!"

Pichet is a distributor and importer from Thailand who always comes to visit Colleen and me in our room at CES. The quote above is how he always announces his arrival. I'm not going to ask why his business card says Chen Paul with PICHET scrawled along the top in block letters--it just reminds me too much of that scene in Barton Fink where Chet the hotel clerk hands his business card to the titular guest, and it just says CHET in, mysteriously, the same handwriting as Pichet.

That's not to say Pichet isn't legitimate in any way. He's very well known in the audio industry. Colleen's known him forever. He represents such brands as Wilson Benesch, Usher, LAMM, Hansen Audio, Playback Designs and more. He's the real deal. But he is truly a salesman in the best sense of the word, and he's usually visiting us to see if we're interested in any of his products. I'm not talking about Wilson Benesch or LAMM, brands I'd normally jump at, but the stuff coming from the other direction--the Far East--and I'm still a little skittish on that subject. But he's insistent, and he likes to tell me to keep things and get back to him later. I once bought a new car I didn't need in the same exact way.

To his credit he brought a small two-way bookshelf speaker that was actually made in Denmark. It was well-made and attractive...for a two-way bookshelf. (You know I keeeed. I love two-way monitors and think they're beautiful.) We didn't have a chance to listen to it, mostly because there was only the one, but I'd welcome an audition some day. But then he gave me a little acrylic box packed with these four little equipment supports.

You know, equipment supports. Footers. Thingies you stick underneath your components. Whatever you want to call them. I haven't really used them in years. Back in the '90s I used the Black Diamond Racing cones under all my gear, but I got out of the habit of sticking them under all those heavy boxes when I became an audio reviewer because I was always swapping things in and out, something that continues to this day--albeit for a different reason. Most of the electronic components I represent already have substantial support feet that were designed specifically for the product. So I don't think about it much these days. Just ensure you're using a decent equipment rack and you'll probably be fine, according to me.

Probably. But then there's these things, Pichet's little footers. They're nicely machined and shiny, but as Pichet says, they're not insanely expensive for what they are. In fact, they're downright cheap. I think he said "Something like $80 for a set of four, that's all!" Then he mentioned another equipment support manufacturer who "charges $1000 for basically the same thing!" Now I'm not going to say that these little metal pucks, which retail for a mere $20 each (same as a single Black Diamond Racing cone back in the '90s) outperform something that costs $250 per puck. But I will say that for $80, these look really nice.

So I placed them under my Unison Research Unico CDE CD player, where I thought it would do the most good--I've always heard the biggest differences when placing footers or vibration control devices under source components like CD players and turntables. And while I'm far from the tweakiest audiophile on the planet, I did hear a rather subtle difference almost immediately. The sound was slightly more relaxed and organized, and the soundstage expanded in the rear. (That's what she said.)

You've probably noticed that I haven't mentioned the manufacturer or even the brand name of these footers. That's because I'm supposed to call Pichet if I "like what I hear." Then I can get "more information." For now, I do have a few clues. First of all, it says Tombo Audio Products on the acrylic case. I also have Pichet's website address, which is www.audiocomgroup.com. His company's name is ACG, for the record.

But I do like these. So for now, I'm going to leave these in place under the CDE.

Joseph Audio's New Speakers at the 2014 CES

It's no secret that Jeff Joseph has discovered how to get a small speaker to sound like a really big speaker. Have you heard the Joseph Audio Pulsar? Have you ever heard a two-way bookshelf speaker do this nice of an impression of a floorstanding three-way tower before? Neither have I. Back at the New York Audio Show last spring, CCI lent a Unison Research Unico 50 integrated amplifier to the Joseph Audio/Channel D room. I walked in toward the end of the show and listened to a few demo cuts from Jeff--who has an absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of good music--and it was simply a breathtaking system with an expansive sound that broke down the physical dimensions of the room.

The Pulsars are expensive--$7700 per pair--but after a minute of listening you'll understand why. There are only a couple of two-way stand-mounted monitors that I enjoy more than the Pulsars; one is from Magico and costs $27K/pair and the other is from TAD and costs $37K/pair. I like the Pulsars a lot.

That's why I made a couple of special trips to the Joseph Audio room during CES--because I wanted to hear the Pulsars in action. I was surprised, however, to learn that Jeff was debuting two new speakers at CES--the $3700 Prism and the $7000 Profile. These new models don't look quite as opulent as his premium line (Pulsar, Perspective and Pearl3), but they have clean yet subtle angles that are very attractive.

Just as I approached a system that featured the small, stand-mounted Prism, someone told me--either Jeff or dealer Shayne Tenace--that the deep bass and huge soundstage of the Prism was going to remind me of the Pulsar. It did. While it's become an audiophile cliche to talk about mini-monitors that "defy physics" by creating extraordinary amounts of bass, the Prism could be the next bellwether for this type of thinking--all for a price slightly less than half the cost of the Pulsar. And while I suspect the Pulsar outdoes its little brother in terms of sheer size, it was almost shocking to hear the Prism create deep, tuneful bass that could instantly put a big smile on my face.

Of course the main event was centered around the Joseph Audio flagship, the Pearl3. The system was quite extraordinary--big Bel Canto Black monoblocks and other electronics, a Brinkmann turntable and arm (thanks, Colleen, for telling Andrea Brinkmann that she reminds me of my first wife), the Soundsmith Hyperion cartridge and Cardas Audio Clear cables. I'm shaking my head slowly because I wish I had spent more time in that room, listening to LPs on a completely mind-blowing audio system.

CCI's Adventures at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show

Did I say "adventures"? To tell you the truth, it was a fairly quiet CES for Colleen Cardas Imports. My theory is that CES keeps getting larger and larger--as in number of square feet someone has to cover to see it all--yet attendance seems about the same. That makes it appear much quieter than it really was--everyone is too spread out. I said the same thing about the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest last October. These shows keep getting bigger and bigger, but the same number of people keep showing up year after year. It's not necessarily a bad thing. CES can be such a stressful show because it's a trade show that's not open to the public and everyone is there to do business. The 2014 CES, therefore, was mellow compared to years past. But I wouldn't mind seeing a little more excitement next year, when they start holding CES on the weekends once more. That's been one of the criticisms of CES during the last couple of years--they switched the show to mid-week and a lot of people can't get away from their day jobs.

Oh yeah...there was some bad weather that may have affected the 2014 CES. That "polar vortex" wound up delaying something like 18,000 flights the day before the show started, so a lot of exhibitors had to work through the night to get ready for day 1.

Despite all this, Colleen and I were very pleased with the way our system turned out. We debuted two new products in the Unison Research/Opera Loudspeakers/Furutech room: the new Unison Research Triode 25 amplifier ($3495) and the new Opera Quinta SE loudspeakers ($6995/pair). Our digital source was the Unison Research Unico CD player and all the cables and power management was by Furutech. It was another simple system that only took a couple of hours to set up correctly. Once we had everything hooked up and playing music, we were quite proud of the results. For about $15K without cables, the overall sound was quite amazing.

I know--I'm expected to say that. I'm a company man. But I love the way this system played tunes. The Quinta SEs go very deep in the bass, and although the Triode 25 only has 22wpc in triode mode, the bass filled the fairly large room with ease. I had the pleasure of breaking the system in for a couple of weeks prior to the show, and it was the system I installed back at home after we returned. The Quinta SEs, which were serial number 001, have already been sold but I get to listen to them for another month or so. These speakers make me have happy feelings.

So what is the Opera Quinta SE? First, its arrival was a bit of a surprise--we had no idea Opera was working on this model. It's basically an Opera Quinta--for all intents and purposes it looks the same--but it sports a new SEAS midrange/bass driver that's formed out of woven polypropylene. It looks a lot like a carbon fiber cone but it sounds smoother.

The Quinta SE, as you can see in this photo of the back panel, is ported. The regular Quinta has a sealed enclosure. The standard Quinta can reach down to 30 Hz, so the SE version may dig down and retrieve another couple of Hertz. After hearing deep bass on familiar recordings that I've never heard before, I'd say that spec is just about right.

The Unison Triode 25 integrated amplifier was also an unexpected treat. Unlike most Unison Research tube amps, which are mostly single-eneded parallel Class A designs, the Triode 25 is a push-pull Class AB design that can switch from triode (22epc) to pentode (45wpc) with a flick of the switch. First of all, I wound up leaving the 25 in triode mode for most of the show because it sounded so darned good that way. (Pentode mode allowed more extension at the frequency extremes, but it flattened out soundstage depth a little.) That said, the Triode 25 comes close to the sound of the S6--my personal favorite in the Unison Research line-up--for almost $2000 less. I really love this little amp and I'm planning on holding onto it for a while more as well.

Once again I have to make the excuse that I was stuck in my room for the entire show, so I didn't get out and listen to a lot of other gear. (I did venture into the Joseph Audio room a couple of times, which I'll report in the next blog entry.) But I did visit the T.H.E. Show at the Flamingo to check on another one of our brands--My Audio Design from the UK. Timothy Jung, founder and designer for MAD, was showing his gorgeous Grand MM monitor speakers ($8200/pair without stands) in a system that included Burmester and SOTA, and he was getting a powerful, authoritative sound out of his fairly large stand-mounted monitors. At one point Timothy really cranked up the volume on the system and my head started to spin, but the MMs didn't fail to reproduce the accurate sound levels of a live rock performance. I'm just getting old.

Last year I reported on one of my pet peeves at trade shows--fear of sitting in the "sweet spot" chair in order to appear polite. At this CES I found something new to grumble about. Here's the scenario: a person walks into the room saddled with all sorts of photographic equipment--tripods, cameras, maybe even an assistant. They snap a few quick photographs and then quickly exit a room. Okay, that's not so strange considering all of the international press that covers CES. But at this CES, it happened every few minutes all day long for the entire show. None of these people asked questions about the equipment they were shooting. They didn't stop for a second to listen to the music. These people were on a mission--to photograph EVERYTHING at CES.

Ordinarily this wouldn't bother me, but I'm seeing a trend on audio discussion forums. Someone will mention a particular trade show, and then someone else will say, "Hey, let me post some of my pics from the rooms at the show!" Then that person posts page after page of photos of all the gear. On one forum I saw a guy post forty-eight pages of photos. Of course the other posters would ask questions like "Wow, those Magico speakers look amazing! How did they sound?" Unfortunately, the shutterbug doesn't have a clue and made some sort of lame excuse for not offering an opinion on the sound quality. This person doesn't remember because this person wasn't listening.

To all the shutterbugs, I must say that you're doing it wrong. Sure this gear is beautiful and it deserves to be photographed. But your hi-rez digital photography only scratches the surface. Set your camera down for a minute and listen for a change. You'll have more fun.

CCI at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show

It's time once again for the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. This is always a frantic time of year for people in the industry--we've just gotten through the holidays and now we have to pack up all our gear and head to Vegas for the most important trade event of the year. As I've said before, CES has a very different feel than other audio shows because it's not open to the public. The people coming into my room are there to do business, not to sit and listen to music all day. Still, we're always proud of the systems we assemble at CES. Since we're always at CES to represent Unison Research and Opera--it's their room and not ours, per se--we're usually introducing some cool new gear. We also get to hang out with Bartolomeo Nasta of Unison/Opera, one of our favorite people in the whole world.

Here's the press release I sent out to everyone:

"CCI, Unison Research, Opera Loudspeakers and Furutech are excited to announce our system for the upcoming 2014 Consumer Electronics Show. We will be debuting the Unison Research Triode 25 integrated amplifier ($3495) and the Opera Quinta SE loudspeakers ($6995/pair) along with the Unison Research Unico CDE CD player ($4495), with all cabling and power management by Furutech. The Triode 25 is the new tubed integrated slotted between the Simply Italy and S6; it is rated 22wpc in triode and 45wpc in pentode. The Quinta SE is a ported version of the Quinta with upgraded drivers. We will be featuring this system in Room 29-110 of the Venetian on January 7-10. We hope to see you there!"

I've been listening to this system in my home for the last three or four days and I'm pretty excited about the sound. The new Quinta SE is delivering the deepest bass I've heard in this large room, and the Triode 25 is a beautiful little jewel of an amp. I'm looking forward to spending more time with this gear after the show, but I think most of it's already sold.

At any rate, the CES is being held January 7-10, so if you're attending please stop by Room 29-110 and say hello to Colleen, Bart and me!