The Consumer Electronics Show is set to start and as usual, there is controversy, and a fair measure of dissent on the part of some exhibitors, particularly those on the fringes of the High End, who feel that the sheer size of the show places them at a costly disadvantage. The practice of setting up demos in nearby hotels is strongly discouraged by CES organizers who don't want the show to be fragmented even more than it already is, but that same group make it difficult for startups to make their presence felt at the show, which continues to orient itself toward the mid-fi segment of the market.

      Although CES continues to survive and flourish despite grumbling about irrelevance, alternatives to the Show have not gained an eminent place in the market, although Stereophile had a run of successful shows in Chicago in the past. Locally, there is a set of consumer electronics shows in Toronto that take place in the late summer, and Montreal's spring show shows signs of becoming one of the most important shows in the North American market, although its aim is to serve its own flourishing high end manufacturing scene.

      Nevertheless, there are always a few products slated for release that garner pre-show attention. Two products that come to mind are the Savoy from Eggleston Works, and deHavilland Electric's new single ended amplifier that aims to cut into Cary's single ended product line, although perhaps not as aggressively as Antique Sound Labs, which has to have the best deal around in mid-power single ended amplifiers.

      Eggleston's Savoy demo is heavily pre-booked, so casual passersby may not have the opportunity to hear what may be the best dynamic driver based monitor loudspeaker that is priced below $40,000 USD. The Savoy is a descendant of the IVY reference, which was developed with the assistance of (and ultimately for) Bob Ludwig of Gateway Mastering Studio. It is described as an isobaric design, which means that everything to do with the cabinet architecture is balanced: Drivers are aligned for proper time domain performance, and the cabinet itself is braced and, yes, balanced for equal density. Although not unique in this respect, the Savoy may well be one of the few loudspeakers available where so much science went into attaining a quantifiable result.

      Single ended amplifiers seem exotic, but they are actually basic, and usually overpriced. Cary Audio gets plenty of positive press, and yes, their amplifiers sound special, but so what? There is nothing inherently special about their designs, and even the most recent CAD 805C, which boasts a combination of transformer and capacitive coupling isn't breaking any new ground, since this arrangement has been used for decades in just about any topology that you care to name, including the very first solid state amplifiers that used transformers.

      So, it is nice to see some new arrivals on the scene that are prepared to give Cary a run for the money. deHavilland may be just such a company. Their $3995 USD Aries proposes to offer similar performance specifications to the Cary 1610 SE at one tenth the price. No, you won't get the sexy tuning eye indicator that Cary has practically trademarked, but if you want an indication of how hard the tubes are working, you can always watch the output tube, which should shimmer whenever you ask it to swing volts in excess of its rated output.

      Eggleston's Savoy can be heard at the Alexis Park Resort Suite, room 1403, while deHavilland's Aries can be heard at the St. Tropez in room 1006.

Charles McRobert