Pioneer’s TAD (Technical Audio Devices) demonstrated
the Compact Reference stand-mounted loudspeaker ($30,000 per pair) to wonderful effect in
a large suite in the Venetian Towers. The silky-smooth Coincident Source Technology
beryllium midrange-tweeter module is something to hear -- this is a high-tech driver if
there ever was one. But what was obvious to all those in attendance was that all the
technology was in the service of music. The soundstage was wall-to-wall, and the sound
never anything less than pristinely clean.
Playing back high-resolution audio files (the
reel-to-reel tape machine and the Bel Canto disc player were not demonstrated during our
visit) over a music server built by Chris Connaker of Computer Audiophile and
feeding a Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC, the sound had huge dynamic range and tremendous
clarity. The Pass Labs XA100.5 mono amplifiers drove the Compact Reference speakers to
levels that a stand-mounted speaker seemingly would not be able to produce.
All in all, this was a sound we would be happy
to live with forever.
