Cabasse loudspeakers are definitely a case of form following function, but that still fails to capture the full eyeballyness of their big loudspeakers, in this case, the $160k L’Ocean. Yeah. Not one Mike Wazowski, but two? Yikes. This active speaker is a concentric/coaxial type design, so I get where the notion for “big round sphere” might have sprung from, but … yeah. Nuh uh.
The Esoteric gear in here was very impressive, and if it wasn’t for the … striking … look of the Cabasse speakers sitting at either end of the rack, I’d have been completely captivated. New-to-me was the K-07, a CD/SACD player with an integral DAC and external digital inputs, including 24bit/192kHz support over asynchronous USB. In fact, there was a ton of Esoteric gear in the rack:
- Esoteric P-02/D-02 CD/SACD transport/DAC separates: $47k for the pair
- Esoteric K-05 SACD/DAC combo: $8,299
- Esoteric K-07 SACD/DAC combo: $5,899
- Esoteric C-03 preamplifier: $11,000
- Esoteric E-03 phono preamplifier: $5,500
- VPI Scoutmaster II (not playing)
… which makes total sense, since they were the room sponsor. Ahem. Anyway, also on hand was a preamp from Integra Home Theater and a pair of pieces from M2Tech.
But, truth be told, I’m still have nightmares about the loudspeakers. Eek.
Are you watching your home theater, or is your home theater watching you?