Jason Victor Serinus

Von Schweikert Endeavor E-5 MKII Speakers, Grand Prix Audio Rack, MasterBuilt Cabling and AC Management, Esoteric Grandioso Series PIX Transport, D1X Monoblock DAC, N-03T Network Audio Transport, G1 Rubidium Master Clock, C1 Linestage Preamp, Etc.
T.H.E. Show 2019
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 11, 2019  |  15 comments
I don’t know about you, but I find the design of Esoteric’s Grandioso series enclosures quite attractive. In Long Beach, they also sounded great. Paired with Von Schweikert Endeavor E-5 MKII Speakers ($40,000/pair), an entire SUV full of Grandioso gear (including multiple outboard power supplies) impressed as exceptionally lively, solid, and musical.
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Pro-Ject RPM 10 Turntable, Sumiko Songbird MC Cartridge, VTL TP-2.5i Phono Stage and VTL TL-5.5 Series II Line Stage, Meridian 218 Zone Controller, Vandersteen M5- HPA Monoblocks and Vandersteen Quatro Loudspeakers, AudioQuest Cabling
T.H.E. Show 2019
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 11, 2019  |  1 comments
It always helps to end 7.5 hours of show coverage on a high note. That was certainly the case in the Audio Concepts room, where the midrange sounded gorgeous on a recording of Beethoven’s Paris Trio
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Alaia Audio Ekahi Loudspeaker, Verito 1 integrated Amplifier
T.H.E. Show 2019
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 11, 2019  |  2 comments
Please join me in giving a hearty shout out to newcomer Alaia Audio, whose exhibit proved that all is not parched in the state of Arizona.
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TW-Acustic Raven GT II Turntable, Charisma and Miyajima Cartridges, Horning Aristotle Ellipse PM65 Speakers, Tron-Electric Atlantic Integrated SE amp and Convergence Signature Preamps, Silent Running Audio Scuttle and Ohio XL, etc.
T.H.E. Show 2019
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 11, 2019  |  1 comments
Jeffrey Catalano has come cross-country to exhibit. I missed him at the last show. I simply must go to the High Water Sound room.
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Arion Apollo Loudspeakers, LS-200 Linestage, 2A3 Tube Amplifiers, and HS-500 Hybrid Mono Amplifiers; EMM DA2 DAC; Wolf Alpha 3 Music Server; VPI HW-4 turntable, etc.
T.H.E. Show 2019
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 10, 2019  |  10 comments
An intriguing system from MK Audio LLC of Charlotte, NC, brought to the fore Arion Audio’s nearly full-range AMT line-array Apollo System loudspeaker ($24,900/pair). The Apollos, which were paired with active subwoofers, claim an astounding 105dB sensitivity—sensitive enough to work with Triode Labs' 2A3 3.5W vacuum tube amplifiers (no price supplied). At least I think I was hearing the 2A3s, because also in the rack were Arion Audio’s LS-500 hybrid Class D amplifiers ($6995/pair). Preamplification was the company’s LS-200 hybrid line-stage ($3995).
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CAD 1543 DAC Mk II, Audio Transport, Ground Controls, & Cabling; Aesthetix Mimas Integrated, Boenicke W8 SE speakers, Bibacord Interconnects, HRX SXR Rack
T.H.E. Show 2019
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 10, 2019  |  1 comments
After trying more than once to get into the CAD room at Munich High End, I ended up hearing a significantly smaller version of their system in Long Beach. This time, the hybrid integrated amplifier was the excellent Aesthetix Mimas ($7000 without optional modules), which I’ve reviewed for the August issue of Stereophile, and the speakers the diminutive Swiss Boenicke W8 SE ($12,500).
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EleKit TU-8600R integrated amplifier, Sparkler Audio S503 Spiral CD Player/Transport, AER Excenter Loudspeakers
T.H.E. Show 2019
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 10, 2019  |  4 comments
You’re going to need to indulge me a bit, because, due to some communication difficulties, I’m not totally confident of some prices and components in this room. If I understood correctly, the handmade-in-Japan, 1-bit Sparkler Audio S503 CD Player/Transport costs $1650, and the build-it-yourself EleKit TU-8600R integrated amplifier, also from Japan, goes for $1785.
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Evolution Acoustics Exact Maestoso Loudspeaker and Cabling, Dartzeel NHB Stereo Amp and Preamp, Wave Kinetics NVS turntable, Merging NADAC, Durand Tonearm
T.H.E. Show 2019
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 10, 2019  |  5 comments
See that weird looking thing? It’s the outboard crossover to end all outboard crossovers, and it belongs to the relatively slim Evolution Acoustics Exact Series Maestoso 3-way loudspeaker system ($18,900). Heading an impressive and hardly bargain system from Blue Light Audio of Portland and The Audio Association of Anaheim Hills, the Maestoso made one of its first show appearances since I covered its debut at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest—was it three years ago?
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Bowers & Wilkins 800D3 Speakers and DB1 Subwoofers, McIntosh C1100 Preamp, Aurender A30 Server, Solid Tech Racks, Synergistic Research AC Conditioner
T.H.E. Show 2019
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 09, 2019  |  5 comments
When I entered my penultimate Scott Walker Audio room, Kevin Wolff of Bowers & Wilkins was playing outtakes from a 1989 recording by Branford Marsalis. The sound of Marsalis's sax was so distinctive and, to my ears, beautiful that I began to smile. (Trumpet was another instrument whose sound this system conveyed with perfection.) As Kevin segued into a 16/44.1 file of Thomas Dolby's "I Scare Myself," I scribbled in my notebook, "This is a system that reminds you of what the high end is all about."
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Gryphon Pandora Preamplifier, Magico S5 MkII Speakers, Sonorus Reel-to-Reel Deck, Acoustic Signature Storm Turntable, Synergistic Research cables, Artesiana Racks
T.H.E. Show 2019
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 09, 2019  |  21 comments
Oh boy, was soundstaging excitingly three-dimensional in the Scott Walker room that headlined Gryphon electronics. Listening to 15ips tapes played on a Sonorus reel-to-reel deck ($19,500) by Philip O'Hanlon, of Gryphon distributor On a Higher Note, the extraordinary depth on Sarah Vaughan's "When Your Lover Has Gone" certainly seized my attention.

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