[jcoat007]

and tell the gentleman behind the counter that I am just here to drool.  I was in California on business/pleasure this past weekend and the business part was over.  I had nothing better to do but walk into an audio store and kick some tires.  

The name of the store was Audio Video Today and was located at 14306 Beach Blvd in Westminster, CA.  They had several rooms of gear, and a lot of very nice brands.  He had Steely Dan blasting in a multi-channel room, but none of the two-channel rooms had anything fired up.  

Right up front in the lobby area of the store was an impressive rack of Classe equipment.  He had three pairs of speakers carefully arranged and toed-in in front of that rack.  I asked to hear the Sonus Faber Amati Homage speakers.  He asked if I was in the market for speakers.  I told him I might be if I heard something that I could not live without.  He was trying to size-me-up a little, but that's OK.  

He did try and qualify the audition as something that would not be a serious/critical evaluation of the speakers/equipment b/c the speakers need to warm up for 15 minutes and the amps needed at least an hour to get to their peak.  

Here is what we were listening to:

Classe CA-M400 monoblocks
Classe CDP-100
McCormack RLP-1
Audience I/C's
Audioquest Speakers Cables (not sure which model)
Sonus Faber Amati Homage

So after he qualifies this audition, and I'm thinking this isn't going to sound too good, he fires up a cd and from seemingly somewhere in the room music just appears in front of us.  I almost asked if he could turn on the Sonus Fabers because I was sure the music was coming from somewhere else.  But after a few seconds I remembered that he had just hooked the speaker cables up to them, so I knew they were the speakers we were listening to.  But the music was just in the room, like it appeared from nowhere, like it was just there and not actually emanating from the system in front of me.  

I have never heard a system like this.  I have never heard a system that so totally disappeared and produced music in such a way as to make you think there is no system at all.  I was absolutely floored.  Just to make sure I was not imagining it, I gave up the center seat to my father-in-law who was with me, and his jaw hit the floor as soon as he sat down.  

We only listened to two songs, but it was enough.  I told the dealer that I had never heard a system like that before.  He said the secret was actually a new product that he was evaluating.  It was a power conditioner by Audience.  He claimed that if you took the power conditioner out of the system, you would lose about 50% of the magic.  I did not ask him to take it out so we could compare because we had a whole bunch of nothing to do that day, and I was not seriously going to buy this $3,800 unit.  But if what he says is true, I urge those of you with more money than I to audition this unit.  

You can find info on it here:  http://www.audience-av.com/power.htm

We ended up just talking about audio stuff for a while, and he was a really knowledgeable guy.  If you are ever in Orange County with nothing better to do, drop in and listen to that system in the front of the store.

[DARTH AUDIO]

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue18/adeptresponse.htm

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue17/ces05gw.htm

[Jon L]

14 Lbs weight and $3,800, along with what little information is available from Audience, I will blindly guess what this unit is about.  

If it sounds as good as people say, it would not be because of some revolutionary technology.  It would be because they use very high quality parts, cleanly executed, with their nice AU24 internal wiring.  I'll bet what they have is nice quality AC outlets wired with the nice wire (cryogenic everything), with simple filtering using their Auricaps.  Each outlet likely has its own Auricap filter and nicely isolated from each other.  

The "power factor correction" sounds fancy but is no big deal and can be achieved with a few IC chips.  14 Lb means there's no huge transformers like BPT and likely no current limiting.  They probably also heavy extra heavy filtering and isolation for their digital outlets.  I'll even bet they paid attention to chassis/parts damping/resonance...

More power to them if all that effort produced a superior product, but I'm waiting for somebody to post an interior picture to see what I'm getting for my $3,800

[gary]

There's a much cheaper means of reaching the same end... take the a/c power out of your system altogether. With the Clari-T amp (or possibly one of the other amps that can be driven by an SLA batter), battery powered NOS dac and some high efficiency speakers the result is pure magic. And you can build an entire system for much less than the cost of that power conditioner.

Gary

[lcrim]

gary:
what battery powered source would you recommend?

[DARTH AUDIO]

Hey Gary, I think I'll stay with my tube gear.. This Class T,D stuff just doen't have the richness and emotion I enjoy. This quote from the Positive Feedback review of the Clar-T mirrors my thoughts even though I haven't heard this version of "Digital". But if it works for you all the better. Enjoy your system.

"I am certain that running the Clari-T direct accounts for its overly sterile sound in my system. I confess to being very spoiled by tubes and their undeniable richness. For those of you who don't share this tendency, and who value resolution and detail, the Clari-T may be just the ticket. I'm not completely sure where this amp fits in the audiophile market, except as part of a budget system".

I will audition this power conditioner. Money is NO object when it comes to audio    

Gary(Darth)

[gary]

gary:
what battery powered source would you recommend?

I've got a Scott Nixon DacKit, it sounds wonderful to my ears. The only other options I really know of are the Monica (being discussed here in the digital domain), the Ack 2, and the 47 Labs dac. I haven't heard any of those unfortunately.

Hey Gary, I think I'll stay with my tube gear.. This Class T,D stuff just doen't have the richness and emotion I enjoy. This quote from the Positive Feedback review of the Clar-T mirrors my thoughts even though I haven't heard this version of "Digital". But if it works for you all the better. Enjoy your system.

Well, suffice it to say I'm much happier with what I'm hearing in my system than either of the positive feedback reviewers. To me, the Clari-T represents detail, control, purity, and an utter absence of the coloration and distortion that tubes provide. Don't get me wrong, tubes can sound damn good and I certainly understand why someone would prefer them to this amp. This is the sound for me though.

I have heard some speakers sound sterile when driven by the Clari-T, and admittedly the synergy with my speakers (Bastanis Prometheus) is far better than with any others I've heard it paired with. Although it sounded pretty freakin' amazing driving the Omega Hemp speakers at the show in Montreal last month (as many a French Canadian could attest to, if they were here).

Gary

[lcrim]

Gary:
The DACs you discuss still need a digital input from something (transport?)and that something would need to be battery driven as well to keep this system from avoiding any "contamination" from the power grid or save you from buying power conditioning to clean up this "contamination."

[gary]

Gary:
The DACs you discuss still need a digital input from something (transport?)and that something would need to be battery driven as well to keep this system from avoiding any "contamination" from the power grid or save you from buying power conditioning to clean up this "contamination."

That's true Larry, although I'm pretty certain that the transport is a distant third behind the amp & dac when it comes to the gains you get by running from batteries. Nonetheless, I plan to have a battery-powered transport in my system as soon as I can (unfortunately they're not so easy to come by).

Gary

[miklorsmith]

Put a good tube preamp in front of it.  Mine sounds beautiful enough to make me weep.  When run direct from the CDP, it does sound like the reviewers describe, as it's NOT a true integrated amp and does NOT do its own impedance matching.

Shame on the reviewers for not accounting for this in the reviews!  For that matter, Vinnie probably should have sent a volume-less version of the amp to disallow such stupidity.

The first guy, who has speakers that would work with it, admits to not even trying the pre?!?!  The second guy has, what?  82 db efficient speakers!?!?  Man, this smells like southern justice, a la "My Cousin Vinny".  

NEVER FEAR - Srajan has been apprised of the pre issue and will be reviewing with at least two separate speakers rated at over 100 db.  Your appeal will be to a FAIR judiciary, Mr. Rossi.  We apologize for your mistreatment.

[DeadFish]

Hey miklorsmith, is that what you are running, Clari-T and tubed pre?
I'm sorry we never got around to putting my Clarinet pre in front of your ClariT when you were here, Gary.  
Since you were here, Gary, I found out the hum that I had thought to be in my pre was actually in the el84 amp that I knew was damaged.
In front of some VTL's and in front of my stock Sonic Impact, it sounded quite 'not there'.  
Now I know I need an amp and the ClariT is sounding even more delicious....

DF

[guest1632]

and tell the gentleman behind the counter that I am just here to drool.  I was in California on business/pleasure this past weekend and the business part was over.  I had nothing better to do but walk into an audio store and kick some tires.  

The name of the store was Audio Video Today and was located at 14306 Beach Blvd in Westminster, CA.  They had several rooms of gear, and a lot of very nice brands.  He had Steely Dan blasting in a multi-channel room, but none of the two-channel rooms had anything f ...

Hi, Well, that does bring back memories. Was that Steve. He's pretty knowledteable. It's been many years since I've visited that store. Differenct ownership  it used to be called Audio Today. They had to go in to the HT stuff because the highend market in Orange County was shrinking. Unfortunately, at the last time I saw them, they would go through a lot of stuff, so you never know what you might find there from day to day. Now that might have changed since my last visit there. Glad to hear your time there was enjoyable.

Ray

[Russtafarian]

I worked at Audio Video Today briefly in the 80's while in grad school.  I wandered into this store when it first opened in 1978 and got my first taste of quality audio there.  They set me up with my first serious rig shortly thereafter.  (NAD 3020 integrated and DCM Time Windows).  

Craig Plott, the original owner sold the store to Dan Jordan in the late '80s.  They've had their ups and downs over the years.  Dan has really tried to strike a good balance between making money in custom home theater while still taking care of his audiophile customers.  Steve Shaheen, the blind stereo salesman (and a damn good one at that), hasn't been there for years.  

As an alumn of the store, I'm glad to hear they presented a nice musical experience for you.

[guest1632]

I worked at Audio Video Today briefly in the 80's while in grad school.  I wandered into this store when it first opened in 1978 and got my first taste of quality audio there.  They set me up with my first serious rig shortly thereafter.  (NAD 3020 integrated and DCM Time Windows).  

Craig Plott, the original owner sold the store to Dan Jordan in the late '80s.  They've had their ups and downs over the years.  Dan has really tried to strike a good balance between making money in custom home theater while ...

Hi, Well, those are names I haven't heard in awhile. There is a slight possiblility you and I might have met. I used to hang out there a lot in the early days, and not so much after Dan took over. I was the other blind guy that was there too. Didn't work there on a paid basis, just hung out there and now forgot the other name of the store, where Mike Moffett was there selling his modified dynaco gear. Anyway, I'm glad to see that Audio Video today still lives on. Yes, Steve was good, and he knew his stuff, but he was burned out for audio the last time I saw him.

Ray

[PhilNYC]

I will audition this power conditioner. ...

FYI - anyone planning on attending HE2005, I'll have this Audience power conditioner in my demo room.  As you may know, Thursday after regular show hours will be a gathering of the AC NY Audio Rave in my demo room...would be more than happy to do a "with/without" comparison of the unit for anyone who wants to come....

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=18472

[miklorsmith]

I'm running a Modwright SWL 9.0SE with the Clari-T.  It is emotional, nuanced, and detailed.  I want for nothing.  Except for the dual-mono Clari-T I just ordered.  

I had a guy over a while back.  I was running my tubed CDP straight into the amp and thought it was great.  We plugged his Decware integrated amp into the same setup and it was so much deeper harmonically and I was feeling a bit "naked" with the amp I thought was so special.  By comparison, it was threadbare.  All the parts were there but not of body and soul, just a withered skeleton (by comparison).

Then I plugged in the pre.  The difference is the prototypical "night and day".  This kept the love of the Decware and added the punch and detail of the Clari-T.  I think the lack of impedance matching in the amp will lead some listeners without coincident harmony to write off the amp as the PF reviewers have done.