Show report:CES Las Vegas 2009 pt3 | |  | < Previous page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Peachtree Audio Nova
Newcomer Peachtree is looking to bring style to hybrid amplifiers in an attempt to woo the computer audio fraternity into discovering the delights of valve sound. Its Nova kicks out 80 watts for $1200 while the Decco model produces half the power for $800. Both have rosewood veneered casework USB inputs and onboard DACs.
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Well Tempered Amadeus
Bill Firebaugh presented the latest version of his legendary Well Tempered turntable. Amadeus ($2,850 inc arm) has a 13in acrylic platter for increased inertia and drive is via a 0.004inch diameter polyester thread. The arm is distinguished by a bearing that hangs on two threads and consists of a golf ball in silicone fluid.
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PrimaLuna II series
Italian electronics maker Prima Luna introduced mkII versions of its valve-powered components. Changes include greater self protection across the board, auto biasing that's adaptive to the tube and the music, and the use of 12AU7 rather than 12AX7 triodes for lower distortion. Output transformers have been upgraded and the remote is now metal. The Prologue Eight Mk2 CD player has a valve powered clock aptly named SuperTubeClock.
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Conrad-Johnson GAT
US valve specialist C-J has a new flagship preamplifier called GAT, a name that stands for Grand Advanced Triode but which was also the name of well regarded employee of the firm who has now passed away. Limited to 250 units GAT ($20,000) replaces the ART preamp and is a quasi dual mono design with a discrete solid state power supply.
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McCormack LD-2/DNA-250
McCormack is the non valve side of Conrad-Johnson and it has replaced its existing range with the LD-2 preamplifier ($2,495 for the line version) which has a Burr Brown discrete analogue volume control and improved power supplies over the LD-1 it replaces. There are two power amps which place the power supplies right next to the output transistors - the DNA-250 stereo and the DNA-750 monoblock. The DP-2 CD player ($3,495) has 24/192 DACs and a discrete analogue output stage.
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Audio Research CD8 Reference
C-J's main competitor on the US tube scene is Audio Research which unleashed the CD8 Reference ($9,995) CD player at CES. This uses 24/192 converters and a single 6550C triode output stage, it also has the same power supply regulation as the company's Reference 3 preamp.
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