CES '99 version 2.0
By H. Richard Weiner

Previously, in Bound For Sound: After delivering half of his report on the 1999 Las Vegas Consumer electronics Show, the reviewer fell into clutches of the Alphabet Gang. There is no music with HMO, PPO, IPO, and HCFA around--only the sound of paper filing into tall mounds. Finally, the reviewer escaped to conclude his account.

OLD FRIENDS

Yes, I know that audio is a business. I understand that we all have to eat, and that selling audio gear is not always a perfectly honorable, idealistic, high-minded under-taking, even if making music is as pure a human endeavor as we shall encounter on this planet. Thus, I was not surprised when manufactures eyed my journalist's badge, calculated the god I could do them, and measured their responses accordingly. After all, it's only business.
There are exceptions. Bob Crump greeted me just as warmly as he did last year at CES, and just as he did twenty-five years ago when we first met. He didn't mention that he was introducing a preamp, so I will. The C.T.C. Blowtorch is an all-out assault on the limits of preamp technology. The unit has an impressive background: John Curl, who designed the original Mark Levinson preamp, the legendary Vendetta head amp, the Dennesen preamp, the Symmetry crossover, and much of the Parasound product line, designed the circuit; Carl Thompson, who has worked with Curl before on many products, designed the circuit board to have remarkably short signal paths; and Bob, who was responsible for selection of passive components, and is well known to BFS readers as the TG Audio products designer.
Brian Cheney, who builds the VMPS Special Ribbon Edition FF3 speakers in the display, didn't press on me details of his speaker, we talked about Bach's violin partitas.

I found this to be one of the best sounds at the show. For a brand-new preamp to sound this good is highly admirable, even it comes from three veteran designers. For a very large speaker to sound this good in a room this small is an achievement almost no one else could claim. We sat on a sofa and listened to a Stan Rodger's "Harris and the Mare," and the reproduction was so clear, so natural that I was satisfied with the illusion; it was better than a live performance in most coffee shops. After the song, we didn't get down to the technical details, we talked about the music.

It has been many years since I've heard a loudspeaker from VMPS. What is remembered is that their speakers used a whole bunch of dynamic drivers. Things have certainly changed. Now, leaf mid-ranges run top to almost bottom of this 6'tall marvel. There looked to be a 6-8" ribbon tweeter situated between two either 10 or 12" woofers (didn't note because of the music). Now, over the years others and myself have noticed that when it's dry in Vegas, electrostats, planars, and leaf like things sound dry-it's the weather. There was a tiny teech of dry on the VMPS, but still not like the stats had. Amplifying the righteous ribbons was the Bear Labs Symphony for $14K. You'll know when you see one because smack dab in the middle of the front panel is this extremely cool back lit green California bear. The preamplifier was the Blowtorch by C.T.C., i.e., John Curl, Carl Thompson, Bob Crump. Starting at $8.5K, the Blowtorch can be fitted for your desires. Balanced operation is another $1.5K. Do you need an updated Vendetta phone stage? Give'em an extra $5K. The Blowtorch is a two-box affair; one box is the power supply, the other a control section. Both are constructed of two billets of shot blasted aluminum. Demonstrating all this was the absolutely jolliest man in hi-fi, Bob Crump. Bob is one of those guys you wish lived next door. Well, maybe one door over so the noise you're making doesn't interfere with his and vice versa. He's a true crazy, happy with life, kinda guy. Along with the editor, Bob is a mutual friend of Big Jim. Anyway, VMPS is direct sales so the speakers at the show retail for $6,800 PER PAIR. Regardless of price "Best of Show."

That's it. For once, I don't have anything else to say. Except. . . bye.