The Soundsmith and VPI Room
Soundsmith’s demo room hasn’t changed in years. They again featured their Dragonfly ($1999) (outside) and Monarch ($2995) (inside) loudspeakers, which I reviewed here.
The centerpiece was the VPI TNT HR-X turntable and JMW 12.7 tonearm (together, $12,000) sporting the new Hyperion moving-iron cartridge with cactus cantilever ($7000). A second unidentified arm held Soundsmith’s unique Strain Gauge cartridge.
The Strain Gauge cartridge requires its own specialized preamp, which in this case came packaged in the SG-810 Strain Gauge preamplifer, which also has a panoply of line level inputs as well ($14,999 including cartridge).
The speakers were powered by HE-150 stereo amplifiers shown in both a natural wood and black finish ($6999 each).
Introduced at AXPONA in New York in April, VPI had on display its new entry-level Traveler turntable ($1299). It is belt driven with an aluminum platter covered in some type of high-tech, military-grade fabric, and comes with a 10″ gimbaled tonearm resting on sapphire bearings. I will have one in for review next month.
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