Soundscape Audio & Video inhabited the San Bruno suite on the third floor, turning this from an average hotel suite into a miniature approximation of an excellent hi-fi showroom, with four systems on display. The main system — and the one in use when I visited — consisted of the Martin Logan CLX ART speakers ($25,495/pair), Martin Logan Dynamo 1500X subwoofer ($1,595), and a full complement of Parasound: Halo JC monoblocks ($9,000/pair), Halo JC 2 BP preamp ($4,500), Halo JC 3 phono stage ($2,350) and Halo CD 1 CD player ($4,500). A Technics SP-10 MK II with a Mico Acoustics QDE-1e cartridge provided analog sound. Nordost Tyr2 cables were used throughout. The other three systems also made use of Martin Logan speakers and Parasound gear at less expensive price points.
I learned that the pair of CLX ART intended for demonstration purposes was damaged in shipping, so unfortunately the speakers on display here were brand new and not broken in. As a result, the sound was a bit dry and congested and, well, they sounded very much like my vintage Martin Logan Quests do for the first couple days I pull them out of storage.
Such vagaries notwithstanding, I was very impressed with Marc Silver and the other folks from Soundscape. Marc provided me with the most detailed and useful cut sheet I’ve ever received from an exhibitor. This room was busy all day, every day during the show, with people examining the clearly priced and labeled wares for sale, asking questions, and receiving gracious answers and demonstrations of the various equipment. If this is any indication of what it’s like to shop at Soundscape, it’s no wonder they’ve been in business for nearly forty years.
Hi this is Marc (owner of Soundscape). I chose the SP-10 MKII simply because I wanted to play with it more before it got sold. I’ve been selling HiFi for over 45 years and am vintage myself. As for the Infinity Black Widow, there are very few modern arms that can compare to it and most sell for more than my asking price for the entire table system. I wanted a cartridge that would compliment the arm. Considering it’s extreme low mass I wanted an extremely high compliant cartridge, so I pulled a QDC-1e out of my collection of vintage NOS cartridges (yes some of us hoard stuff) and set the entire system up. The results speak for themselves. I sounded better than a lot of $30,000 turntable systems out there.
Micro Acoustics cartridge!??? Discontinued for years, no? Was that the Infinity Black widow tonearm??? If this is so, it would be very interesting to hear the front end, vintage at that, on the more modern Martin Logans, etc gear ….