SFAS’s “Lavish” Audio Day in Wine Country
A Report by Events Council Member, David Hicks
Say the word “Lavish,” and if you’re like me, you think of some the words synonyms like: luxurious, extravagant, opulent. Translate this to the audiophile world and you might envision amplification electronics with thick handcrafted aluminum faceplates and high five figure price tags, or six figure turntables like Michael Fremer’s Continuum Criterion with its Copperhead tonearm- or speakers costing close to or more than six figures that require you to build a dedicated listening room addition onto your house in order to appreciate their capabilities.
But on Saturday November 15th in Healdsburg California, Lavish Hi-Fi’s Craig Allison, (http://lavishhifi.com/), our host for the day, along with Michael Vamos (the owner of Audio Skies in L.A. and the U.S. distributer of Larsen Speakers) pointed a group of about 40 SFAS members in a different direction, a direction that would lavish the music on us from a Hi-Fi system that wouldn’t require you to take out a second mortgage. Yes, Craig will say you need good equipment to get good sound, but spending money alone won’t do the job. You need the advice of a “Hi-Fi expert.” Craig is just such a man and it says so on his business card, though if reading that doesn’t convince you, spending a few minutes talking with Craig will.
I know from talking with many of the other attendees who drove between 50-100 miles to be at Lavish Hi-Fi, the main draw for the day was the Larsen 8 Speaker. Larsen designed the speakers to stand flush up against a wall- not to be placed 3 to 6 feet away from the walls like most high end speakers. (http://www.larsenhifi.com/en/larsen8.htm) Contemplate the idea that you can place your speakers up against a wall, have bass that extends down to 23Hz, and hear a soundstage that’s big, wide, and focused, and not bothered by furniture placement even when the furniture is placed in between the speakers and you start to get an idea of how easily these speakers could fit into any living room environment.
The most common comment I heard people at the event mention in reference to the speakers, apart from comments about the attributes of their sound quality, was mention of their compact size. Perhaps that’s why Craig instructed us all to close our eyes when he started playing music. These speakers transcend what you might normally expect to hear from a smaller “box” speaker. The Larsen 8’s filled the room with sound thanks to the speakers’ unique directional placement in the cabinets.
Of course the speakers don’t play by themselves; power was delivered by a marvelous Arcam integrated amp, which as Craig pointed out was absent of the high cost “bling” some other manufacturers place on the front of their equipment, saving you added cosmetic expense while still delivering superb sound. An excellent Pear Audio Turntable and the much lauded Auralic Vega DAC fronted the analog and digital end of playback, with the digital coming from both an Arcam CD player and computer based files.
As for the music, we listened to everything from Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances (computer based file) to Keith Richard’s Favorites on vinyl, to Aaron Neville on CD, and Craig’s own Bourgeois Blues Band, with the music often eliciting applause from those in attendance at the end of the track. In between the morning series of digital tracks and the afternoons’ vinyl session, the SFAS members were presented with a catered lunch and wine break on what was a perfect California Autumn day. After lunch we continued to listen to a wide range of musical genres, now on vinyl, with the musical highlight of the day saved for last when Craig brought out a copy of the UHQR LP of Sgt. Peppers.
Listening to “A Day In The Life” was a perfect way to end a day at Lavish Hi-Fi.
I recommend going to Lavish Hi-Fi’s web site and looking Craig Allison up with an online search engine to gain a fuller appreciation of his background, musical talents, and knowledge of Hi-Fi gear. Or better yet make a journey to Lavish Hi-Fi to meet Craig in person, listen to his equipment and his music and hear what you may be missing in your own system.
4 thoughts on “SFAS Audio Day in Wine Country Review”
craigallison says:
November 18, 2014 at 5:36 pm Edit
Thank You all so much.
Craig
Reply
danrubin says:
November 19, 2014 at 7:19 pm Edit
My roundtrip drive time from Redwood City was 4.5 hours and I had absolutely no regrets about it. I had a terrific time.
Craig was an extraordinarily generous and gracious host and the lunch was splendid, and “very” Healdsburg. Thanks also to Michael Vamos. A suggestion to both Craig and Michael: I would have liked more info about the products we were hearing, including the Larsens and the Pear Audio gear, but also the Arcam integrated, which is a very interesting product. What makes these things special, as well as the basics about efficiency, power output, price, and so forth. Just my $.02.
I think the music selections were better than usual for demos of this kind and showcased a good variety of genres. The recordings of Craig’s band were exceptional (compression sure does ruin sound, doesn’t it?) and the Sgt. Pepper’s finale was…wow!
Let’s do it again!
Dan Rubin
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craigallison says:
November 19, 2014 at 8:04 pm Edit
Thanks so much Dan; it was a pleasure meeting you and the group was wonderful and deserved my best message and demonstrations. As a performer, I approached it as a gig; complete preparation to give the very best show. The other thing I didn’t get into was the difference between how a dealer in an urban market works compared to (we) outer territory dealers. I already know that I give time, energy and accurate info well beyond the norm; I always have. Hopefully a few of the group will be motivated to become clients. Do stay in touch; any way I can help the SFAS, I certainly will.
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anomaly7 says:
November 19, 2014 at 9:49 pm Edit
Craig was nice enough to get back to me with the list of equipment we heard last Saturday and the related prices.
Arcam A-49 Integrated Amplifier: $5750.00
Arcam Universal Player UP-411 $1999.00
Auralic Vega DAC $3495.00
Larsen Model 8 Speaker $6990.00
In addition to the major components, Craig mentioned
That he also ,made sure that AC quality was tops using the Audience adept response ar6-tss AC conditioner. All components, including the AC conditioner, were mechanically isolated; a must anytime top performance is desired. Golden Sound Pads and cones were used, inexpensive and universally effective. Final cable loom was made on basis of comparative evaluation of balanced vs. unbalanced cables. Speaker wire was Straightwire Expressivo, unbalanced interconnects were Audience au-24SE.”