Las Vegas: Soliloquy WCES 2001

For Soliloquy, the 2001 WCES marked the beginning of a new era in loudspeaker design and manufacturing. The most common perception of Soliloquy, reflected in the numerous reviews our products, is one of solid value and outstanding performance in our price/product range. Before the 2001 WCES we had not developed and introduced the kind of "Mercedes" statement product that, while still in the relatively affordable sector, goes beyond solid and outstanding and has even jaded reviewers take notice and suffer an accelerated pulse. Would our new Model 6.5 make the impact we hoped for?

The simple and clear answer is, YES! SoundStage! magazine had seven writers visit our room at different times and as part of their individual show coverage assignments. When it came time to poll for Best Sound of Show, our room was voted one of this year's eleven Stand-Out Rooms. The SoundStage! comments mirror that of most who listened to the Model 6.5's. The impressive performance of the Soliloquy Model 6.5 with the Cary Audio new V12 amplifier system delivered statement-caliber goose bumps without costing statement-caliber bank rolls. In fact, foreign distributors, when asked to guess the retail price, volunteered prices from $10-15K for the 6.5s and were shocked when $5,995 turned out to be final retail. This seemed especially relevant because the 2001 WCES, reversed the downscaling trend of previous years and saw a sudden saturation of new "cost-no-object" loudspeaker designs in the high five figures.

In the words of one showgoer: "When I asked the price for as loudspeaker in one suite, I got a very laconic 44 for an answer. Outrageously enough, the sales guy meant 44-thousand, not 44-hundred. This casual inflation of what we're expected to consider normal is really pretty arrogant and irrelevant to the average music lover at large."

We happen to concur. $6,000 is a lot of money to spend on a pair of loudspeakers. In fact, it's double the price of our previous top model, the 6.3. To feel justified in making such a leap, we needed to deliver sonic and visual performance that make an appreciable and demonstrable difference. In short, a difference well worth the money. From the number of dealers and competitors that came into our room we got the distinct impression that the word-of-mouth in the hallways of the Alexis Park hotel was very favorable on our behalf. Jonathan Scull of Stereophile paid a visit, humored us by listening to a track of French salsa, and had very complementary things to say about the Model 6.5. Stereophile Contributing Editor Larry Greenhill stopped by later to cover our unusual German equipment rack for the magazine's show report. We managed to talk him into evaluating our new 6.5s on the quick while he gathered notes and pictures on the rack. Twenty minutes and plenty of scribbled notes and foot taps later, he left for other "must-visit" destinations on his list. He seemed to really enjoy his protracted stay and wasn't afraid to test the 6.5's dynamic output abilities. Our thanks to the Stereophile staff for taking the time to 'check up' on us.

Our sincere thanks also go to the manufacturers who loaned their equipment. Cary Digital's CD-306, Cary Audio's remote-controlled SLP 98 pre and CAD 280SE power amplifier, nicknamed "V12" and outfitted in Jaguar automotive lacquer, were the core electronic components. As last year, all cabling including power was compliments of Analysis Plus. Powerline conditioning was once again handled by dual Sound Application CF-Xs, one for digital, one for analogue. Vistek Inc. furnished enough Aurios Media Isolation Bearings to mechanically isolate each component including the speakers. In order to work properly, these devices have to be seated absolutely level. Having to contend with flexing and carpeted hotel flooring, we shimmed granite tiles under the speakers to provide a hard and level surface, then used four MIBs instead of "spike protectors" to prevent the loudspeakers from 'mechanically talking with' the room. The increase in overall transparency, especially bass resolution and freedom from room-induced smearing and boom, was a major boon to demonstrate the 6.5s excellent bass extension and control in a less-than-optimal environment. Lastly, Immedia Sound's Allen Perkins made one of his Spider by Finite Elemente equipment racks available to help us not only position the gear properly but also augment the kind of functional-yet-elegant look our own products go after. Aftermarket granite tiles were used again to serve as base for the Aurios. In the case of the preamp, the 'drag' of the interconnects mandated creating a 'sandwich' of two granite tiles with Aurios bearings inbetween.

In our static display room, we created a cutaway cabinet of the Model 5.3. This allowed show goers an inside look of what's "in there!" Those new to our brand were amazed that we can offer this kind of build quality for the prices we charge. Some even commented that their own more expensive house brands didn't offer this type of heft or fit-and-finish.

Our second CES agenda this year was to demonstrate Soliloquy products in an active multi-channel environment. We have designed our entire line around dual application for both music and theater but never demonstrated the second aspect during a trade show. The CES' dedicated home theater venue and destination of choice for multi-channel is the Hilton Hotel. Unfortunately, the cost of attendance there is rather prohibitive for smaller companies.

If you present a two-channel exhibit in the Alexis Park (which is the appropriate venue) and home theater at the Hilton, manpower becomes yet another limiting factor. You may realize that you don't have enough heads to man all the exhibits you'd like to host simultaneously. Here, our friends at Cary Audio came to the rescue. They offered to staff a joint home theater exhibit. All we had to do was make our speakers available. This allowed us to show off a pair of 6.2s as front speakers, a pair of 5.0s for rear and a C-3 and S-10 together in full surround mode while Cary Audio gained the appropriate context to premiere their new solid-state home theater components. By taking a separate suite directly across from our own 2-channel exhibit and two doors down from Cary's music room, this immediate proximity made it easy to send show goers back and forth between these three locations. If anyone still had doubts how well Soliloquy does multi-channel, the expert demonstrations by the Cary team put an end to them.

Because the Alexis Park is predominantly used for high-end, two-channel exhibits, the general atmosphere, when compared to the Hilton, is one of greater 'civility' - no noise pollution of multiple 18" subwoofers competing for SPL records across the hall. This makes for more realistic home theater demonstrations. They can be held at lower levels that preserve the delicacy of complex soundtracks rather than deteriorate into the sizzle-and-boom fests that are unfortunately quite common over at the Hilton.

Our last goal for this year's show was to also have a presence at the neighboring T.H.E. Show. It takes place in the adjacent St. Tropez hotel and is an "outboard" gathering of high-end exhibitors that attracts many new companies. Teaming up again with Joe Fratus of Art Audio, we borrowed his new 6wpc PX-25 amplifier, a new remote-controlled preamp marketed by him and Resolution Audio's new CD55 CD player, with all cabling provided by Robert Lee's new Acoustic Zen cable company and power line conditioning, couldn't you guess, by two Sound Application CF-X. A stunning equipment rack was on loan from RixRax, a Canadian custom stand manufacturer whom we weren't familiar with before but who, based on the craftmanship of the product, certainly deserves to be discovered in earnest. The folks at Art Audio who manned this exhibit reported phenomenal audience response to this 6.2-anchored system. Multiple reviews for the new PX-25 amplifier are in fact forthcoming based on our joint demonstration. It also gave those of our dealers who hadn't yet heard a pair of 6.2 an opportunity to do so in an optimized two-channel setting.

One last point of interest: As our dealers and many of our customers already know, famous British speaker designer Phil Jones is our design consultant. Phil's own company, AAD, had a major theater exhibit at the Hilton Hotel, and our staff assisted with the display. The 24 hours cable network TechTV, from amongst 300 entries, awarded the AAD E-series LifeStyle system, at $949 retail for a complete 5.1 active-sub system, Best-of-CES in the audio category. To learn more about this company and its products, visit www.aadsound.com.