Axpona Jacksonville Part Three

SHOW
by Neil Gader
Aug 16, 2012

Please check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4.

Summoning an audible gasp were the Audio Power Labs 833TNT monoblocks ($175k). Engineered and built in Columbus Ohio, nothing adequately describes what it’s like to be in the presence of these 160lb, zero negative feedback designs which generate 200 watts per side. And, owing to their ambient heat output they really need to be seen and experienced up close and personal to be appreciated. Majestic in its hand polished art-deco aluminum housing, the tube towers showcase a pair of 833Cs (1940’s era radio valves). The 833 TNT is in fact the only 833C push-pull in the world today according to APL. In concert with Laufer Teknik’s The Memory Player 64 ($25k) driving Tidal Contriva Diacera SE speakers $58k the sonics were airy, quick, with a pleasant warmth factor. In spite of the massive scale of the amps, ponderous was not part of this system’s finesse-fueled vocabulary.

One of the show’s true highlights was the debut of the new Carver Amazing Line Source. An eight-foot tall line source the Amazing deploys 13 ribbons and 22 midbass drivers per side in a breadstick-thin extruded aluminum enclosure. Powerful and delicately tactile, although not quite full range in the bass, the sound was transient quick, clean and micro-graduated dynamically from the softest scratch of a rosined bow to the full thrum of a piano soundboard. This speaker shows a helluva lot of potential at $22k. Designed for biamping they were powered by a pair of Carver’s Black Beauty 305s per side with the Purity Audio Ultra GT line stage handling the preamplifier duties. Disc transport was courtesy of AMR. Cabling; Analysis-Plus all the way. But BobCarver.com isn’t finished–be on the lookout for the all new Silver Seven 900W (another gasp) monoblocks later this year. These amps should really light up the new Amazings.

Tags: AXPONA

By Neil Gader

My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.