Garth Leerer, the president of Musical Surroundings, assembled a top-notch system for this show. There is a whole lot of gear going on in this room. Fortunately, however, because Musical Surroundings is practically our neighbor, we have a really good idea of how this room sounds—it’s fabulous.
Stars of the Show
This is the US Show debut of the Analog Manufaktur Germany’s (AMG) “super” version of their famous Viella turntable, the AMG Viella Forte 12 Turbo Engraved turntable. Forte means strong, and this turntable uses new thicker materials and machining technics.
Although not listed below in the system, the DS Audio ION-001 Ionizer is also being used in this room. This is the world-premier for the ION-001. It is a high-power device, equipped with a total of 4 ionizers, 2 each for positive and negative ions. We can’t wait to review this brand new product, which has been designed to eliminate surface static electricity from vinyl records simply by turning it on and sitting it next to your turntable. It also has a specialized power supply controller to suppress excess ozone and prevent unwanted oxidation. And, since it is “fan less” there’s no noise.
DS Audio has proven over the years that they know how to think outside the box and design new products that push the boundaries for what audio gear can deliver. We interviewed Tetsuaki Aoyagi, president of DS Audio, at RMAF last year.
System with Prices
AMG Viella Forte 12 Turbo Engraved turntable ($32,000)
Clearaudio Jubilee MC cartridge ($6,000)
Boulder 1110 Preamplifier ($21,000)
Boulder 1160 Stereo Amplifier ($28,000)
Boulder 2108 Phono Preamplifier ($52,000)
Boulder 2120 D/A Converter ($65,000)
Vienna Acoustics Liszt loudspeakers, rosewood finish ($18,798)
Nordost Valhalla cabling
Nordost QB8 Power Base line conditioner ($1,599)
HRS VXR equipment stands with M3X platforms
