The Lamm-Wilson summit in NYC!

Posted by: Breuninger at 1:01 pm, October 11th, 2010

What do Vladimir Lamm (Lamm Industries), Peter McGrath (Wilson Audio), John Atkinson, Art Dudley, and Peter Breuninger, have in common? We all met up at last week’s Innovative Audio event in the heart of New York City.

 
 
Elliot Fishkin, Innovative’s President and Founder hosted a Lamm-Wilson summit meeting featuring three rooms for three wallets. The big room featured the Wilson Alexandria X2 Series 2 with the Lamm ML3 siggies. A Lamm L2 Reference preamp was sourced by a Lamm LP2 Phono Stage/Linn Sondek LP12 or Meridian 808.3 CD Player.

 
 
The room was vacated for a private demo and Vladimir and Peter took turns playing their favorite tracks. The sound was huge and the spatial presentation was off-the-charts. Vladimir played a track from the excellent Yuhudi Menuhin in Memoriam DG CD. Folks, this is fiddle playing at the highest level and I cannot convey in words the extent to which this system recreated that violin in space. It was spooky real. Adding to the effect was the room itself. It’s got a floating floor built separate from the walls and ceiling. McGrath then spun a kickass Tom Jones track off his new Praise and Blame CD. I can’t believe that dude is 70 years old and still belts’em out like that. Again, holographic, you are right there at the center seat.

 
 
The next system featured the Sasha W/P, Lamm M1.2 Reference Pure Class A amplifier, the Lamm LL2.1 pre and Spectral Studio Reference CD Player or Berkley D/A playing an HD drive. This is the system that McGrath played the Mahler on. The sense of scale and realism was the best I’ve ever heard on a Wilson product. This was my first encounter with the Sasha and it’s in a different league than the Watt Puppy. McGrath said he has a pair of these M1.2 Lamm amps driving his Maxx IIIs. I know why.
 
The last system featured the Wilson Sophia 3, Lamm M2.2 highly biased class A/AB amps, Spectral DMC 15SS preamp and a Meridian Sooloos MS 600 music server. The track I heard showcased the extraordinary bass impact of these lower cost Wilsons. The scuttlebutt during the show was that these tidy size speakers are at the efficient frontier of price-performance for Wilson. Do yourself a favor and go hear a pair of these speakers.
 
These events are must attends if you wish to hear what’s at the cutting edge. My traveling mate, Robert Grossman, from the Philadelphia Orchestra, blabbed all the way back to Philadelphia about the sound and how cool the seminar was. Hope to see you at the next one!
 
Notes:
The real heros of the event were Scott Haggart, Chris Forman, and Bruce Deegan. These Innovative Audio experts set the systems up and are the touch points for the customers.  The list of equipment by room and prices are as follows:
 

Room 3 (the big room)

Meridian 808.3 Signature Reference CD Player w/ Sooloos ID40 Card ($19,995)
Note: Transparent REFERENCE MM Interconnect (Voiced for source to preamp connection) 

Linn SONDEK LP12 incl. KEEL Sub-chassis, TRAMPOLIN/2 Base, EKOS SE Tonearm, AKIVA MC Cartridge, and RADIKAL Power Supply ($18,770)
 
LAMM LP2 Dual Mono Pure Vacuum Tube Phono Preamp ($7,290)
Note: Transparent OPUS MM Interconnect (Voiced for source to preamp connection)

LAMM L2 Reference Hybrid Line Level Preamp ($15,175)
Note: Transparent REFERENCE MM Interconnect (Voiced for line level preamp to power amp connection)

 LAMM ML3 Signature Single-ended Tube Amp w/ Separate Power Supply ($139,290/pair)
Note: Transparent REFERENCE MM Speaker Cable (Voiced for power amp to speaker connection)

Transparent Cable, total value ($53,125)

Wilson Audio Alexandia X-2 Series 2 Speaker System ($158,000/pair)

 
Room 4  (the mid room)
 
Peter McGrath's Apple Mac w/ Amarra 2.0 via Firewire to Weiss INT-202 Format Converter (Firewire to AES/EBU ($N/A)

Berkeley Auduo Design Alpha DAC ($4,995)

Spectral SDR4000PRO Studio Reference CD Player/Processor ($17,500)

LAMM LL2.1 Line Level Vacuum Tube Line Level Preamp ($5,990)

LAMM M1.2 Reference Hybrid Mono Amp ($22,290/pair)

Transparent REFERENCE Interconnects/Speaker Cable, total value ($12,895)

Wilson Audio Sasha W/P Speaker System ($26,900/pair)
 

Room 5 (the small room)
 
Meridian MS600 Sooloos Media Source ($3,500)
 
Spectral DMC15SS Line Level Preamp ($5,000)
 
Transparent MusicLink ULTRA Interconnects/Speaker Cable, total value ($6,825)
 
LAMM M2.2 Hybrid Mono Amp ($21,690/pair)
 
Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3 Speaker System ($16,700/pair)