The new Focus Audio Master II speaker ($23,000
per pair) was eye-catching to the extreme and sounded very sweet and inviting driven by PS
Audio electronics. The speaker is shipped in one piece -- no assembly required. [www.focusaudio.com]
Verity Audio's new Sarastro ($30,000 per pair)
sits in price between the well-known Parsifal and Lohengren in the Verity speaker lineup.
Marc Mickelson saw pieces of a new
Conrad-Johnson line-stage preamp during his factory tour last summer. At CES, the ACT2
($12.000) is in its full glory. Conrad-Johnson expects to begin shipping the new preamp by
April.
The two-piece Von Schweikert Audio VR-4jr
($3995 per pair) looks to offer amazing value for its price. It sounded darned good too! [www.vonschweikertaudio.com]
Clearaudio's new Emotion turntable comes with
a Clearaudio Satisfy tonearm and a moving-magnet cartridge for $1000. The turntable
features a standalone motor, while the tonearm has a novel magnetic antiskating
adjustment, which is shown in the close-up. Doug Schneider had this to say about the
package: "If a $1000 CD player looked this good, everyone would buy it."
