$300k+ Megasystem from Halcro, XLO, and Music Giants
October 23rd, 2006 — By Robert Harley
The show’s most ambitious system had to be the room put together by Halcro, Music Giants, and XLO Electric. Occupying the show’s largest room (34’ x 60’), the system included Wilson Audio MAXX 2 loudspeakers ($48k) driven by two pairs of bridged Halcro dm88 power amplifiers ($86k), and a Halcro dm10 preamp ($18k). Two Talon Thunderbird passive subs ($22k) helped out in the bass (as if the MAXX 2s needed it), driven by two Halcro dm38 amplifiers ($19k). Crossover duties (between the MAXX2s and the subwoofers) were handled by a Pass Labs XRV1 ($6k). The entire system was connected with $115k worth of XLO’s reference-quality Signal Delivery System cabling comprising all of XLO’s Limited Edition cables. A Rives Audio PARC room equalizer ($3k) fixed some of the room-induced bass problems, and a Wadia 521 DAC ($6k) provided digital-to-analog conversion. Total system price: $322,400.
The source for this cost-no-object system was . . . downloaded music! A tablet PC on a WiFi network accessed music files stored on a computer that had been downloaded from Music Giants. Music Giants is the only company offering full CD-quality, uncompressed downloads. With this system, you could access through the tablet PC a huge music library with uncompromised sound quality and have it reproduced at the highest level. The system’s intent was not only to show off the sound quality of Halcro electronics and XLO cables, but that downloaded music doesn’t always equate to mediocre sound. For the record, the file format was Windows Media Audio (WMA) lossless.
The companies putting on this display proved their point—no one who heard it could dismiss downloaded music, or music accessed from a server, as “low-fi.� The system produced a massive soundstage (much larger than I get from my MAXX 2s), stunning dynamics, unbelievable bass extension and power, and resolution without being analytical.
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Now this was a fun room to visit. I hit it several times each day, though the first two days were limited seating presentations and I had to get a ticket. It was worth it to hear the system uninterupted by people shuffling in and out and conversation. Each time the music being played was very different and totally not the tired old demo standards that you usually hear at these shows and that you would never ever in a million years actually listen to at home. You know - a perfectly exquisite recording of chanting tribesman accompanied by a solo sitar recorded in the rocks above sacred tribal burial grounds… or wailing choral music and strident stringed instruments that never should have survived the 16th century. This demo material was real music - Beatles, Sting, modern orchestral recordings. And the digital source didn’t ruin it as it frequently does for me. Like Mr. Harley said, the soundstage was huge - wide and deep but with lifesized presentations of instruments and voices. The Halco -XLO - Wilson combination was really great. The best I’ve heard the Wilson’s sound anywhere. The people running the demo gave plenty of time for questions and their answers were honest and made sense even to how they struggled with the acoustic problems of an echoey room that big - one of the problems I have at home.
Comment by Dave Ribsky November 3rd, 2006 @ 11:12 amDon’t forget to add the cost of the goon standing watch…
Comment by Roger Vance November 5th, 2006 @ 4:24 pm