Positive Feedback ISSUE 4
december/january 2003

CES 2003 - A quick look at what was good and, well, not so good, page 4.

Red Rose Music showed everything but the kitchen sink! Really cool electronics and speakers. The look and feel were second to none! Sounded pretty good, and with respect to audiophile prices, very reasonable too! (www.redrosemusic.com) Below is the new table! Go analog!!

One of the more exciting speakers to hear were the new Marten Design (www.martendesign.com) Coltrane speakers ($40,0000) being shown in the E.A.R. room (www.ear-usa.com). Using the E.A.R. 312 preamplifier ($18,000) and M100 amplifiers ($35,000) the sound was fast, transparent and as full range as a hotel room would allow—talk about clarity and dynamics! Holly visceral Batman! We will be reviewing the little Monk in the next month or so! Also in evidence were a plethora of Shakti products—the Hallograph (review in the works), Stones, and Onlines (www.shakti-innovations.com).

E.A.R. USA also introduced the new 324 solid-state phono-stage. This is the new "flagship" phono-stage from E.A.R. and has about as many user configurable settings as one could ever hope for! It was also being used in the audioexcellence az (www.audioexcellenceaz.com) room, as well as the MoFi room, both being at the San Remo.

Oh, and the new Townshend table ($18,000) was shown too with the Helios arm. More on this later as we have a review piece coming in soon.

The KR Audio room was nice (http://kraudio.com). Using the Lindemann D680 CD player, KR preamp and Kronzilla amplifier, HMS Gran Finale cables, and Ars Auris speakers, the sound was warm and inviting.

Shown with his new statement cables, the Clairvoyant speaker cable ($4200/6ft pair), is Jerry Ramsey (www.audio-magic.com). Audio Magic uses only the best silver, but the room sounded so sweet and smooth—not like the bright silver one can easily find out there in cable-land. The room sounded very good using Green Mountain speakers and Conrad-Johnsen electronics. What really set the room apart was not only the new cables, but the new Audio Magic DAC! Coming in at under $3K this DAC may be the one to be beat at any price. We have the cables here, so more to come! Pictured below is Jerry's daughter Mandy, who is responsible for building just about anything Audio Magic sells!