Sunny Components, the high-end audio dealer in Covina, CA, sponsored four rooms at T.H.E. Show. One of their rooms featured Audience, Bryston, EgglestonWorks, and Technics. Since it was just a couple of doors down the hall from our sleeping room, we found ourselves stopping by throughout the weekend.
Lenny Mayeux of Audience, an exceptional room host, was really excited to tell us about the EgglestonWorks speakers. Note, Lenny works for Audience, the company that supplied the cables in the room, not the speakers. When I think of EgglestonWorks, I think of much larger speakers than the Emma EVOlutions they were showing. I’m with Lenny though, the speakers were sounding really special in this room.
The System
The folks at Sunny Components did a good job of putting together this system. The electronics in this system were all from Bryston They were using a BP17-3 preamp that sells for $4,495 the MM/MC phonostage adds $1,750 and the MPS-2 power supply runs an additional $1,865. The power amp was Bryston’s 7B3 amplifier for $6,695. The Bryston gear was amplifying a pair of EgglestonWorks Emma EVOlution speakers at $5,495.
The source was a Bryston BDP-3 digital player that sells for $3,995 and a Technics SL-1200G turntable for $3,995. The cables were the Audience frontRow cables I recently reviewed. Audience was also using their new forte V8 Power AC platform in this room, which we wanted to bring home with us to review, but it wouldn’t fit in our luggage.
The Sound
Over the years I have thought of Bryston gear as very good to exceptional transistor gear, but it always sounded like transistor gear. This system played back recorded music more to my taste than any system with Bryston amplification that I have heard. It had good tone and timbre. It allowed music to easily get out of the speakers and into the room. Most of all, it was emotionally involving like live music.
So, obviously, Bryston equipment has improved since the last time I have given it a serious listen. Also, I’m sure having just reviewed the Audience frontRow cables, they had a great deal to do with the sound I heard. Still, what impressed me most were the EgglestonWorks Emma EVOlution speakers. There were plenty of speakers at T.H.E. Show that cost two or three times as much as these speakers that did not deliver this kind of sound, and they were driven by much more expensive gear.
Note: To see our complete coverage of T.H.E. Show 2019, click here.