this year there was the
second edition of the Gran Galà dell'Alta Fedeltà held
in Padova and organized by the italian record label called Fonè
(that is, Giulio Cesare Ricci). Here you can find a short report only
of some of the systems presented.
Mrs
Fonè and her limited-edition Japan-pressed vinyls.
An
many others, also the McIntosh system was fed by hi-rez
“liquid” music.
Klimo
was alternating his Tafelrunde 4-arms turntable with a Naim music
server.
The
very tall Brodmann speakers
driven by the digital amp from NuForce.
The
Klimo Tafelrounde Reference with 4 arms and the top-of-the-line
4-boxes Klimo preamp.
The
NuForce amp monoblocks were driving also the Wilson-Benesh
speakers in the MadForMusic
room..
The
tube-based preamp was from Einstein, while the analogue source
was an old Thorens turntable. Each component was placed above 3
good French feet and the resulting sound was good.
Labtek
has modded the very popular Oppo BDP-93 universal player adding
also a tube output stage.
I
was very well impressed by the Goldenote
room. I spoke almost one hour with engineer Maurizio Aterini about
their products and so discovered that their top solid-state amps
(like the 9 kE Demidoff Silver) uses a T (LCL) rectifying filter in
each rail of each channel, for a total of 8 filter coils! I also
discovered that their famous Stibbert CD-player reached already the
fifth version since its first introduction. Very interesting also
their new Blacknote line. I
would never said that the DSA integrated amp that I was just
listening was a digital amp. Maurizio told me that the trick
is in the output stage, that is a proprietary active (BJT)
low-pass filter instead than the usual passive LC low pass
filter. Of course, you don't need its 150W when using the 3-ways 96dB
XS-96 speakers shown above (12.5 kE). Also their turntable line
(starting form 790 Euro for the cheapest base, arm and MM cartridge)
seems very well engineered.
The
Goldenote Stibbert CD-player (3.5 kE), the Blacknote DSA150
(4.7kE) digital amp and the Goldenote Bellaggio turntable (5 kE).
The
Blacknote CDP500 player (6 kE) seems to have at least a very nice
power supply.
The
expensive MSB – VAC – Tidal system was sounding good,
even if below my -high- expectation.
The
power amp was the famous VAC PHI 300.1, with the two-boxes
Signature MKII preamp and the 3-boxes MSB Platinum IV digital
source.
Audionautes
was showing his own system but I was not the only one who was
perceiving many troubles.
The
Armonia speakers – BFA amp and Faber's Cables was expected
to be the best sound of the show, since it was voted by
StereoMojo as the best sound of the last RMAF (Denver 2010). When
I was there (first day) it was not so much better than some of
the other best rooms...
The
Armonia mid-high frequency driver seen by back: its sound is
extremely transparent and revealing, even if I have found its
dispersion not to be very large. Note the FaberSix power
distributor on the down-left side.
The
beauty and the beast: the beauty was the Beyond Frontiers
Audio tube-based preamp and Sanken-based power stage amp,
including a 24 bit 196kHz digital input (all that for about
10kE), while the beast was a cheap Yamaha player here used only
as transport. This cheap Yamaha was probably the origin of the
trouble I was listening during the strongest choir passages. The
day after Fabrizio Baretta (Faber's Cables) replaced it with his
own Krell KPS 20i transport and he told me that the sound became
really the best of the show, but -unfortunately- I was no more
there...
You
can say what you like, but not that italian guys don't know how to
build nice speakers. The Sigma Eclipse 2.3 “Orchestra”
are really beautiful!
The
Heil tweeter is responsible for the very airy sound.
The
nice integrated SET amp called “Single” can produce
50W from a 805 tube. From the Serbian company NAT at about 5 kE.
Attilio
Caccamo, from Tektron,
can seduce everyone who like NOS tubes. Me too!
The
Tektron room used Van Medevoort digital sources and
Cantico high efficiency speakers.
The
Tektron AI24 parallel SET integrated amp (3 kE with normal tubes)
mounted four Sylvanya 6550, two ECC32 (instead than 6SN7) and two
5R4GA NOS tubes.
Where
my money is gone? Most of it probably went to Catania (Tektron) and
another part went to Verbania, where there is the Italian distributor
of many good classical music labels (Jupiter
Classic, thanks Mauro for your suggestions). I can't really
understand why my wife does not like my hi-fi tours...
Two
3-holes 3-getters Tung-Sol 6550 matched by Tektron.
These
two beauties were made in UK by Mullard in 1963 and 1965
respectively. NOS-NIB from Tektron.
