From the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2008

We had a terrific Rocky Mountain Audio Fest this year. I can't tell you how many people said they thought it was the best sounding room at the show. It had to be the most affordable best sounding room.

Kara Chaffee from deHavilland brought her new prototype 50A amplifiers, a modern version of the original 50A amplifiers that Fischer introduced in 1954. In my opinion these amplifiers will become classics, sooner than later.

The Wilson benesch speakers again were astonishing. Kara chose to play the Curves, retail price of $9,950, to match the sonics of her 50A amplifiers. The sound was relaxed, extremely involving and had the ability to recreate the nuances of music.

Don't miss the sale on the demo Wilson benesch speakers from the show. See our demo-used section for that. We also have a fine Audia Flight CD Two player for sale and a number of power cables and interconnects. Email us for specifics .

My Top Ten Rooms of Attainable Audio at the RMAF - in No Particular Order and for No Particular Reason? by John Zurekhttp://positive-feedback.com

DeHavilland Electronics with Wilson Benesch speakers. The room we revisited the most. Sound to die for.

Nice photo of one of the Prototype 50A's. The production models will have real binding posts and will have a very finished look. Kara has a very complete vision for these amplifiers. Quad owners should take note. More info at www.dehavillandhifi.com

From the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2007

Air and Heart

Posted Tue Oct 16, 2007, 10:42 AM ET  By Jason Victor Serinus

Kara Chaffee has every reason to smile even wider than she's smiling here. Her DeHavilland GM-70 50W SET monoblocks ($11,000/pair) and Ultraverve remote preamp ($2995) were creating one of the most wondrous, air-filled soundstages I have heard. "We aim at the heart of the music," she told me after I had spent a while listening to some of my favorite CDs.

The DeHavilland Electronics were paired with the Wilson Benesch Trinity integrated, stand-mounted, two-way monitor ($10,450/pair) mated with the W-B Torus infrasonic generator ($5950) and Torus Amp ($4350), Gamut CD player ($4000), and Kubala-Sosna Eagles speaker wire and interconnects. With the darker presentation common to most SETs, DeHavilland has achieved something very, very special.

Our room sounded cleaner and more focused than in previous years thanks to the Kubala-Sosna Cables. Extraneous noise was kept out just leaving a nice clean presentation, one that I have not heard previously.

Kara Chaffee was there and smiling over the incredible life like presentation of her GM-70's and UltraVerve Preamplifier. If you came looking for the "audiophile sound" you were in the wrong room. This was totally about music.

Craig Milnes was also at the show this year. He is the incredible speaker designer and owner of Wilson Benesch. You can hear his presentation on speaker design on the video below and more on the Wilson benesch page.

Craig Milnes Video Trinity Speakers

Click here to view presentation

POSITIVE FEEDBACK ONLINE - ISSUE 33

by Adam Goldfine

By now I assume most of our readers are familiar with the usage of exotic materials, especially carbon fiber, pioneered by British manufacturer, Wilson Benesch. Known for its incredible weight to strength ratio and superior damping characteristics, carbon fiber has found its way into many sophisticated applications from Formula 1 race cars to jet fighters and bombers. As explained by WB designer Craig Milnes the fibers can even be aligned to direct resonances where you want them (and away from where you don't). And in Wilson Benesch speakers they do just that essentially shunting whatever resonances do develop within the speakers to a physical ground resulting in extremely low cabinet coloration and improved dynamics. I'm not a physicist, but as an owner of the A.C.T. loudspeakers I can say the cabinets are remarkably inert and the sound is about as uncolored and dynamic as it gets. And their bass performance far exceeds what one might expect given their relatively small size.

New in the WB line up is the Trinity, a three way, stand mounted (the crossover is in the stands) monitor utilizing the carbon fiber based Advanced Composite Technology found in other WB designs. It is a ported design featuring a 7" mid-bass unit, a 25mm soft dome tweeter and a .75" super tweeter. Frequency response is specified as 46 Hz to 80 kHz +/- 2dB, the ultra-sonic performance being a big part of the raison d'etre of the Trinity. I could go on about the technology involved in this speaker but the technical description is six pages long and can be found at www.wilson-benesch.com . But be forewarned, these guys are at the cutting edge of materials research and utilization and some of this stuff will make your head spin.

The Trinity was designed to pair with WB's new Torus Infrasonic Generator to create a full range system. And that is how we heard it at the show. Driven by deHavilland Electric Amplifier Company, www.dehavillandhifi.com , tube electronics the Trinity provided the rich, dynamic and exceptionally musical sound Wilson Benesch has become known for. They have that startling real quality I mentioned in the YG Acoustics section above and that I've come to expect from my A.C.T. speakers. Bass from the Torus was deep, fast and well defined. (I was assured a Torus would be heading my way for review before long.) At $10,450/pair for the Trinity you are getting cutting edge loudspeaker technology and state of the art sound.

Rocky Mt 2007: Wilson Benesch Trinity Shines at RMAF

October 18th, 2007 - By The Absolute Sound

By Neil Gader
With the glitter of the carbon fiber cabinet catching the light, even from a distance I knew I was looking at a spanking new W-B speaker.

Ricki Lee Jones was singing "A Case of You," and the sound was what I'd come to expect from larger WB offerings-sublimely undistorted, smooth and detailed with resolution right down to the softest levels.

It integrated beautifully with the Torus subwoofer-hardly a surprise. The Trinity is no more than about eighteen inches tall but it's a three-way with an even more unique twist.

Beyond the midbass driver and soft dome tweeter, WB has added a third element it calls The Sphere and hence the Trinity name.

The Sphere is a super-tweeter dome of gold and ceramic designed to fill in the upper harmonics beyond 20kHz. (actually this super tweeter goes all the way up to 100kHz) jr.

The precision ground steel and aluminum alloy stands also reveal more WB innovation.

It bolts into the cabinet structure of the Trinity and houses the hand built crossover allowing the Rhodium plated terminals to conveniently reside at the base of the stand.

Augmented by DeHaviland's tubed electronics and Gamut digital playback, this was one of the most highly resolved small systems at RMAF.