by Rafe Arnott
Von Gaylord Audio was showing off a complete system at Newport Beach this year, from DAC to speakers, to cabling, Von Gaylord represented with their top-notch tube-amplifier designs and weighty, heavy-duty construction.
The Return of the Legend MK II three-way speakers ($18,995 pair, stands $795 pair) were producing a very surprising amount of bass for a design with limited cabinet volume.
Power was being supplied by the massive and squat Uni Earth MK II mono blocks – 150lbs!!! – ($16,995 pair) which utilize four KT-120 vacuum power tubes to pump out 180 watts into either 8 or 4 ohms.
A Uni Digital MK II DAC ($12,995) was feeding the Uni Preamp MKII, which operates in pure Class-A mode and comes with a separate power supply ($15,995).
A mix of Von Gaylord cabling, from AC cords ($1,595), speakers cable ($4,995), and interconnects ($4,000 approx.) took care of connectivity.
Ray Leung of Von Gaylord was spinning a bunch of little silver discs through a Vecteur D-2 CD player and the sound was clean and authoritative, with the 3-way standmount Legends easily pressurizing the room and displaying a knack for disappearing rather quickly once you had yourself positioned properly (Leung had them very slightly toed-in).
This setup once again confirmed my thoughts that pairing well-done solid state, dual-mono designs with tubed amplification can create convincing sound staging and add that touch of warmth that solid state can sometimes lack.
