CES 2008: TAS’s Paul Seydor Looks at Mid-Priced Loudspeakers at This Year’s CES
January 23rd, 2008 — By The Absolute SoundPaul Seydor’s Best of Show
Best Sounds: The Quad (2905 ESL) and Harbeth (Monitor 40) rooms were islands of respite in a cacophonous tempest. Must musically enjoyable experience: the whole of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia over Vivid Audio’s Giya G 1 speakers ($54,000), imported by Philip O’Hanlon’s company On a Higher Note, despite what struck me as a room compromised low end–though at one demonstration bass was so powerful it dislodged recessed lights from the ceiling (see photo)!
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Which gives the TAD Reference One ($60,000) top honors. Playing The Tape Project’s open reel reissue of Reference Recordings’s Tutti, the TAD presented one of the most completely persuasive facsimiles of a symphony orchestra I’ve heard from a sound system. Voices and smaller groups were equally convincing, with unsurpassed tonal truth and beauty. For me, this was the sonic Everest of the show, indeed, of many a show.
Greatest Bargains: Two in my category, one not. Quad’s 2805 and Harbeth’s Monitor 40 offer state of the art performance at prices not inexpensive but eminently fair. There are turntable setups passing the $100k mark that pale beside A.J. Conti’s Basis 2200/Vector combination. Peerless performance and precision make its $10,800 price a bargain.
Most Surprising: The persistence of two channel and vinyl.
Most Important Trend: DSP used in speaker systems (e.g., Salagar, Emerald Physics).
Most Significant New Product: Peter Lyngdorf’s “Room Perfect� DSP available by itself, the RP 1 ($3800).
Greatest Technological Breakthrough: Must have missed it.
