General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ General Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Two very different points of view.

Posted by driver8 (A) on April 23, 2007 at 10:22:50

In Reply to: It seems Jonathan Valin doesn't think much of the $100k Caliburn... posted by howard on April 23, 2007 at 09:10:02:

Valin:
"Another letdown, for the second year running, was the $100k+ Continuum Caliburn record player and Cobra arm (equipped with Lyra Olympus cartridge)
To be fair, the system that the Continuum was feeding wasn’t to my taste: $80k German-Physiks PQS-402 loudspeakers (which use two Walsh-like drivers and a sub tower), powered by Boulder electronics. Nonetheless, I tried my damndest to “listen through” to the turntable itself. I first asked to hear some chamber music and was told not just that they didn’t have any but that didn’t know what chamber music meant. We’re into AC/DC, said the guy running the turntable. Not an auspicious start.
I persevered and found a record that I know by heart sitting in a pile of jazz and rock–Joan Baez’s Farewell Angelina in the excellent Cisco repressing. I listened closely to several tracks and–just like the year before–came away wondering what the fuss was about. Baez’s voice is like a piece of Dale Chihuly glass, filled with delicate little tremolos and ripples of color. Through the Caliburn these nuances were uniformly coarsened and damped down. Oh, everything was there all right, but nothing there was right. Even Baez’s guitar lost the full glory of its tone colors and the delicacy of her touch.
Thinking that it had to be the speakers and the electronics that were the problems, I moved to a different room where Continuum was showing its new cheaper record player, the Criterion and Copperhead arm, with Peak Consult speakers. Though the sound was better here–livelier, albeit brighter–it still wasn’t close to world-class."

Stereomojo:
"And finally…
The Continuum Caliburn. Not the best looking table. Not even the most expensive table. It’s only about $100,000. Made in Australia. Australia! With the Cobra arm system, it was running through Boulder amps and the German Physiks model 402 loudspeaker. The cart was a Lyra Titan I believe. I have never been a big fan of omni-directional style speakers and these featured two large DDD drivers in each speaker delivering an omni-directional, full-range (180Hz to ultrasonics) presentation while the large cabinets that stood behind them were handling the low end. I have simply not heard anything like this system.
When we entered the room, we were greeted warmly by Rich O’Neil. He did not ask what we’d like to hear, but rather said “Let me play something special for you - Louis Armstrong singing St. James Infirmary”.
Louis Armstrong? Did he even record anything in stereo? And is that the best they can come up with for a vocal? I was a bit chagrinned, but sat down gracefully expecting to be underwhelmed. I have never been an Armstrong fan. He played a great trumpet, but his guttural, gravelly voice and short, choppy phrasing never did anything for me. I just hoped they were not going to play “Hello Dolly” by mistake.
He cued up the Cobra arm. The music started. Dead quiet pressing. Hey, it’s stereo. That’s when the magic started. If I told you that Mr. Armstrong was “in the room”, it would be no big deal. Lots of systems can achieve that illusion. No, what I was hearing was much more than that – I was witnessing genius. Louis was telling the story in a way that was compelling and ravishing. Spellbinding. His phrasing and articulation was astounding. Moving. Engrossing. I forgot that I was listening to a turntable, speakers or any other contraption. I forgot my aching feet and lack of sleep. I forgot I was at CES. I was only hearing the mastery of a great artist delivering a great song. I was transfixed.
Like I said, I’ve never heard anything like it, not at CES, not at Rocky Mountain Fest, because it was much more than just “hearing”. It was a sensory odyssey. Now, was it the Caliburn, Lyra, the Boulders or the German Physiks that garners the credit? That I cannot say. Obviously, if the table was generating the sound I was hearing, there had to be something pretty wonderful happening. What I can say is this system MORE than deserves an award.
We gladly present our MAXIMUM MOJO AWARD to

Continuum Caliburn, Lyra, Boulder and German Physiks
For BEST SOUND AT CES 007"

Audio is kinda subjective I guess.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Amplified Parts

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---