Occupying the largest third floor room was Voss Luxury Audio (website), a company local to my home in Southern California, but that I was entirely unfamiliar with. Apparently this room came together a bit last-minute, but color-me-surprised because it was making magic. While the room was a bit too large and the imaging wasn’t particularly strong because of that, the harmonic structure of this system was my favorite of all of the show rooms. I’ve heard “LS3/5a type” speakers before and never been a huge fan, but the Graham Audio BBC LS5/8 with 12-inch woofers seem to have a certain something to them.
Words and Photos by Grover Neville
I have never-however, heard an exhibit room with the degree of upper mid-range clarity and a supremely musical transfer curve of this Voss powered system. Whatever was going on in the Voss/Graham room was harmonically delicious and really sucked me into the music, with qualities arresting-ly like the very best tube amplifiers I have heard. The prices of the electronics far outstripped the rest of the system, but I was so musically compelled in this room that I came back multiple times to get a listen.
A David Oistrakh’s Violin Fantasie (and some catchy rock tunes I missed the name of) were sounding great both times I stopped in for another listen. There was a Revox PR99 reel-to-reel spinning away, though the system even sounded delightful from the digital playback components. I tend to like R2R DACs, but despite the source, all forms of playback had that same magical mid-range quality I mentioned above, so while I wanted to take a closer inspection, I suspect the downstream electronics had something to do with it.
I’ve heard Graham Audio speakers sound cool, but never quite this cool, and I’ll for sure be making a trip to listen to some more Voss equipment when I get the chance. The audiophile (and locavore) in me have both their interests piqued, and I hope to have more to report back on soon regarding these expensive and intriguing electronics. Voss water not included.
Voss Electronics
- Voss Vitra Reference Linestage – $50,000 USD
- Voss Steve Keiser Design Magnum Opus Stereo Amplifier – $80,000 USD
Sources
- Revox PR99 Tape Machine – (price not listed)
- R2R DAC – (model and price not listed)
Speakers
- Graham LS5 Loudspeaker – $16,000/pr USD
Cables
- Gryphon Speaker Cable – $20,000/pr USD
Accessories
- Audience Power Conditioner – $6,000 USD
- Artesania Audio Rack – (price not listed)
Photos continue below, and more T.H.E. SHOW 2021 coverage can be found HERE.
About The Author
Grover Neville, Contributor
Grover is a recent transplant to Los Angeles, CA, and a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied music, creative writing, and how to wear skinny jeans. After graduating Grover pursued a freelance career in audio, doing professional research in the fields of Auditory Cognition, Psychoacoustics, and Experimental Hydrophone Design.
Before moving to Los Angeles, Grover worked and lived in Chicago, Illinois as a mixing and mastering engineer, working in genres such as Avant-garde Classical music and Jazz. As a recent transplant to L.A., Grover now works in the music, video game, and film industries.
He is also actively pursuing a career as an independent musician, composer, and producer. Grover wrote for Innerfidelity and Audiostream, before finding his forever-home at Part-Time Audiophile.
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