C is for cyclops. Or Cabasse if you're talking quad-concentric statement speakers.

Cayin showed wood-enclosed electronics and this Turtle-branded pair of 845 SET integrated and a top-loading CDP which I'd first seen at the Warsaw show two years ago. Its organizer Adam Mokrzycki [lower left] invited me again this year. Alas, his show is in November as is the GuangZhou show in mainland China to which I've already committed. If these events turn out to not overlap, I might just do a twofer.

Live music. You can tell from far 'n' right away that it's live. No system can do that yet. Sniff.


Cessaro had its speakers in their own upstairs exhibit and TruLife Audio's downstairs one. Sitting off-axis in the latter -- i.e. nearly in front of the right speaker -- I noticed a peculiar warbling effect smack in the upper midrange when a Romanian vocalist let it rip on one of my own CDs. The deep horn throat appeared to suffer a narrow-band turbulence that happened to coincide with this singer's power zone. Sticking a spare acoustic resonator Henk carries around deep into the horn's throat minimized the effect. Franck Tchang likely would advocate a very thin hole bored through the thick wooden waveguide to equalize the air pressure in the compression area.

The smallest Cessaro model above was the result of a custom commission of Audio Exotics customers whose small Hong Kong flats weren't conducive to the bigger models.

The aforementioned Allnic electronics provided electrons and Thomas Woschnick of TW-Acoustics the spun vinyl in the main Cessaro room.

Thomas Woschnick's personal Cessaro setup can be seen on his photo of it below.

The scuttlebutt at my ears had referenced the Cessaros as "Avantgarde killers" so I was naturally curious. Based on the smaller models I heard at the show -- the big 4-ways above have the potential for being true statements -- I'm still undecided.

US journalists covering the event with ever bigger cameras included Clement Perry of StereoTimes [above]; Doug Schneider and Jeff Fritz of the SoundStage Network; Michael Fremer of Stereophile; and Steve Rochlin of EnjoyTheMusic.

Including 'actor' in his professional bio, Danny Kaye wasn't shy to ham it up and give us a Maori-style "I'll eat your heart out" greeting. Well, "lick your ice cream" or "suck your milk shake" was perhaps more the intended method acting.

Darren of Avatar Acoustics, having retired from the AirForce but still flying Delta, meanwhile grew a moustache and was shopping for ear rings next. "Now you need a tattoo", I advised him. Darren didn't seem convinced he had to go that far.

Matthias, head designer for Avantgarde Acoustic, calculated air flow displacement on the spot for a crotch rocket parked in front of the entry. "I could easily modify the fairing to get this thing airborne." Matthias does hold a patent on a one-way hot air balloon.

Another very sharp cookie is Aleksandar Radisavljevic of Raal Ribbon. While presently in the raw driver business -- Edwin van der Kley of Siltech is very impressed and far from the only one -- Aleksandar has his sights set on his own speakers. They will include omni ribbons, a concentric 24-driver midrange array and 2 x 15" active woofers. Fellow manufacturers alert: Raal is very flexible, capable and willing to accommodate custom requests based on their core competency of ribbon drivers. If you need something special like a 110dB ribbon, Aleksandar is your man. Some people are so smart, they shine. This gent is one of 'em. As is his friend, Rainer Weber of RWA Akustik [left] who told me that Dragan of Solaja Audio has launched a monster preamplifier that uses a relay-switched, remote-controlled TVC input, a single voltage-gain tube and a handful of tube regulators, including a 2A3 shunt regulator. Rainer is a chief acoustical engineer at Siemens in Regensburg. And loudspeaker designer who uses Raal ribbons and Audio Technology mid/woofers. There's a story here.

Another gent who makes really good parts is Frederik Carǿe of Duelund Audio. In my reports on Ocellia and PHY, I've chronicled the French government-funded research on MDI or micro discharge interface distortion and the concomitant necessity to avoid plastics in the audio signal path.


Duelund Audio would agree and the photos that follow aren't of cigarettes, batteries or ice hockey pucks but capacitors and resistors which follow uncompromised implementations of similar thinking to the French. Frederik reached deep into his bag and chuckled that these particular units had never been shown to the public before. One company I remember that presently uses his parts is loudspeaker/electronics firm Tidal of Germany. He mentioned more but that Cyprus-induced laissez-faire habit took its toll. Again. Of course one could take notes. But for me, it interferes with just going with the flow of people and impressions and opportunities that encourage a less organized, more improvisational tact. So much for excuses. Truth is, I'm getting older.