LATEST ADDITIONS

These space-age model K1 speakers from Vivid Audio of South Africa will stop traffic in your listening room. At $20,000/pair in a variety of finishes like the Copper shown here, they may alswo put a stop on your bank account. But for a mere $13,500 you can have the smaller B1, which won't go as low but should leave room in the budget for your choice of subwoofers (Vivid does not yet make one). The setup, like most of those I saw on the first day, was strictly 2-channel. But Vivid also makes the matching, 4-way, C1 center channel for $6500. A smaller center is also available, and smaller stand-mounters are said to be in development for surrounds.

Electricity Practically runs through Kevin Post's veins.

At the Classic press event, Michael Fremer correctly identified "Leeds" as the venue where the jam from the side long version of "My Generation," from the album "Live at Leeds" was played thus winning the test pressing. There was one guy from Italy there that might not have been able to guess that. However, Michael managed to guess before the needle hit the mystery groove. A clear case of "I can name that tune in no notes" if I ever saw one.

It's not often I get a chance to have Dave Wilson himself conduct a demonstration of his latest creation. In this case, it's the Wilson Watt Puppy VIII. That's more incarnations than a Rocky movie, but after 14,000 pairs sold, the Watt Puppy is an icon that some love and some don't. I found the pair I heard many generations ago (I want to say 1998) too incisive and too insistent. The new VIII are much more inviting without losing a bit of the detail I remember as that speaker's forte. Dave himself seems to have mellowed. With top of the line Audio Research electronics, he kept the music down to realistic – not bombastic – levels. New are the tweeter, taken from their much larger Maxx speakers, new M3 cabinet material (a carefully prepared laminate product more than 10 times the cost of more typical MDF) and a 20 lb weight reduction (which of course translates to better gas mileage). A five song demo, starting with the a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and culminating in Art Garfunkle syrupy version of the song made famous by Johnny Mathis, "I've only got eyes for you," left me wishing we could practically review the speakers in a home theater environment. Better yet, seek them out and have a listen for yourself. They were simply wonderful.