And so. Let’s head off to somewhere exotic next.

It’s fair to say that VPI had a very strong presence at the show. As well as taking ownership of three rooms, their turntables could be found in use by many of the other vendors and manufacturers, in particular their VPI HW 40 – 40th Anniversary Direct Drive Turntable was bordering on ubiquitous.

Let’s start out here:

VPI Industries / KEF / Krell / Nordost

Tucked away down at the far end of the hallway I might have missed this room altogether were it not for the hoards of people streaming in and out (late Saturday, after noon).

Walking in here felt like it must feel walking onto a set from the Transformers movie. I mean, when have you ever walked into a room featuring Krell amps and barely even noticed them? 

Let’s get right to it and show you what y’all missed:

It’s a real shame about this room because the gear looked OK but sounded just terrible. OK, I’m full of it. I guess it pretty much sounded as it looked, at least when compensating (mentally) for the less than optimal room and arrangement.

I’d have to say that the stand-out impression of KEF’s flagship speaker – the Muon, was it’s bass extension and quality. I know, with a list of $225,000 for the speakers alone, they should do it all, bass included. But there was something perhaps even unique about the way in which they reproduced those lower octaves. It wasn’t the slam or sheer depth, necessarily, but perhaps simply the tonal quality of those lowest notes that other lesser mortals can’t quite match.

After taking the much sought-after spot in the center of the seating arrangement I was treated to the expected experience of having live performers unfold before my eyes. Vocals were just sumptuous and the sense of space enveloping each performer/instrument in the soundscape was pretty impressive. We were treated to a digitized from tape Frank Sinatra performance from I believe the early 1960’s, and Frank really did appear to come back to life between the two chrome monoliths. “I’m A Fool To Want You” was the track I heard, and I genuinely believe that the irony was lost on all but a few of us in the room. 

One could niggle over minor details but I’m sure most could be explained away by the room and its obvious limitations.

It would be easy to remain slack-jawed at the visual statement these speakers make, but lets not forget about the launch of VPI’s statement turntable – Vanquish – comfortable and quite at home in the company of the illustrious KEF Muon. The Vanquish, with its magnetic drive system, is VPI’s new assault on the very pinnacle of the high-end turntable market, and if looks alone are anything to go on, it’s going to be a hard act for anyone to follow.

The personal baby of VPI founder Harry Weisfeld, buy a new Vanquish and Harry will throw in one of VPI’s latest hi-res 3-D printed Fatboy tonearms, so add a needle and you’re set to go.

I should also say that Mr. Weisfeld seems like quite a nice fellow. He spoke with an air of modesty about his new baby, unlike the representative from KEF who happily hogged the limelight and dripped out the superlatives like a broken faucet. I bumped into Mr. Weisfeld a few times over the weekend as he appeared to be doing the rounds and stopping by to visit his dealers.

Anyway, also new and along for the vanquishing, the Vanquish Phono Stage and the Vanquish Stand. All in all this ‘package’ is a spectacular statement of what a money-no-object design can accomplish; an R&D project no doubt fueled by the strong sales from VPI’s lesser models; several of which could be found fronting various systems at the show.

Tipping the scales at somewhere around the $120K mark, sightings of the Vanquish are going to be few and far between, for this poor reviewer at least. For those of you wanting more information, you may have to wait a while as at the time of writing this report the new Vanquish has not yet made an appearance on VPI’s own website. Perhaps a small oversight on their part 🙂