Sound By Singer‘s Andrew Singer put on a double-feature at the NYAV Show. On the center-right stage was a demo by Verity and VAC that played to a standing-room-only crowd — unless you waited in line. Like many of the rooms in this particular corner of the show, this was a very highly-trafficked room, with show-goers coming in with expectant looks and leaving with a glazed look of wonder.
This was my first opportunity to spend time with the $30,000 Verity Amadis loudspeaker. Verity is something of an odd-duck when it comes to design. The upper cabinet, which contains a traditional tweeter+mid-range driver array, is oriented at the listener. The bass cabinet, separated from the top in a Watt/Puppy arrangement and specifically isolated in the Amadis with a damped aluminum plate that houses the bass-reflex loaded woofer, points at the front wall. Like I said, unusual.
The finish on the speaker is quite fine, with the veneer of furniture-grade. I’m only guessing here, but I’m thinking this particular speaker and design will have an unusually high level of WAF. It’s terrifically elegant.
VAC’s founder Kevin Hayes was on hand to demonstrate the isolation built-in to his $39,000 Statement 450S stereo amp, which is actually two separate chassis, with the vulnerable tube chassis “floating” on its base. And when I say “demonstrate”, I mean “shove with significant force”. Seeing the top plate slide around is if on a bed of jelly (actually ball-bearings, in a similar arrangement to what the Rollerblocks from Symposium offer) was unnerving. More than one audience member gasped. Okay, maybe that was just me.
Tunes came courtesy of the $17,000 top-of-the-line MPS-5 from Playback Designs.
Sitting in the middle of the HRS rack was the $19,000 VAC Statement Mk.IIA preamp. Black chassis. Big chromed knobs. Yeah. It’s pretty hot looking; not sure my pic, below, captures it’s in-person sex appeal adequately.
I was very happy with the sound in this room. The bass was dialed in, the imaging was precise and the extension pure and grainless. No complaints from yours truly, other than I wanted a seat, and once I had it, I was loathe to relinquish it.
Honestly? I didn’t take a lot of notes in here. I was distracted, you see. There was this beautiful music playing ….
