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At last week's Home Entertainment Expo, more commonly referred to as Stereophile Show, the world's fines makers of audio gear wowed attendees with the best sounding gear available anywhere. Turn out was strong by manufacturers, press and audiophiles alike. Sprawling across four floors of the lavish Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, the show covered aspects of audio from auto sound to home theater. But the undeniable center if interest was, you guessed it, TWO CHANNEL STEREO. Two birds of a feather; companies who take pride in offering top performance AND super high value, ROGUE AUDIO and MEADOWLARK AUDIO teamed up to present an unfair sonic advantage! AVID turntables from Britain sent the combination over the top with an analog front end that was second to none! When word got out that Meadowlark Audio not only had a surprise product introduction that was among the top performers at the show, but that the new beauty would sell for an unbelievable $995/ pr. the line outside room 729 formed waaaaay down the hall. The planets have aligned - a freshly inspired design, a brawny, new manufacturing facility in Northern New York and a major advance in transmission line design called BASSIC - combined elegantly in the new SWIFT. In true Meadowlark style we have firmly put our best foot forward, not with a megabuck flagship, but with an absolutely gorgeous, amazingly high performance speaker that ANYONE CAN BUY!!! Show press reports: dorkus.org (#35, 36 & 37) "Amazing!", Wes Phillips "Swift, it's a gift!", Ken Kessler |
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Seen above are the Blue Herons veneered in exquisite Fiddleback Anigre and dyed blue! Demonstrations were alternated with the slender Swift. |
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Now there's a head end! DCS digital fed by an ARCAM FMJ23 as transport, a pair of ROGUE AUDIO Magnum 120 Monos and Ninety Nine preamp. The monos produce 120W in ultralinear mode and 70W in the triode mode, which we used exclusively. Who says triode tube amps don't have bass? The ingeniously designed amps could dish it out with the best of 'em! Air, liquidity, naturalness, extension, clout, resolve, weight and huge, huge dynamics - this rig had it all!!! There was little doubt why so many of Mark O'Brien's customers stopped by to shake his hand and pat him on the back. www.rogueaudio.com Among wire companies, few have the kind of engineering acumen you will find at JPS Labs whose excellent interconnect, speaker cable and power cords brought our whole rig together. www.jpslabs.com Clean power in Manhattan can be a bit of a problem but a wonderful balanced power conditioner from Equitech did the trick. |
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Above, the wonderful Tempest Magnum Integrated and Rogue Audio designer, Mark O'Brien. |
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Saving your nickels for that ultimate turntable? Think you have it all picked out? Well think again! The AVID Acutus, shown here by designer Conrad Mas, is quietly setting the new standard for analog playback. We spun vinyl most of the time to the delight of the many New York analog fans. |
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Meadowlark Audio designer Pat McGinty shows off the new Swift alongside a fancifully dyed pair of Blue Herons. Be sure to visit our "New Product - SWIFT" page (coming soon) for full details on this spectacular new speaker. |
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