Room 244 at T.H.E. Show will blow your mind
$10,000 is not a small amount of money. But $10,000 for a really cool car? Cheap!
Once you get over the mental block of an audio system costing anywhere near $10,000, it starts to make way more sense than a fun car (versus the essential vehicle for family or work). Relative to a car, an audio system barely depreciates. You can use and enjoy it more often and for longer periods. It doesn't have large ongoing costs. And it's far less likely to be scratched, dented, and smashed by someone staring at their phone.
One of the greatest advantages of owning a performance-focused stereo rig, perhaps underestimated by people who have only small Bluetooth speakers, is that audio systems bring people together and tie in spaces in the way of a kettle grill at a summer barbecue or a roaring fire on a cold night.
Why specifically $10,000? That's very roughly the border between a really good high-fidelity system and true high-end territory. That's the budget at which a saleperson can greatly minimize compromises and give you a cohesive system you can grow with for many years. It's at this price where, if you're careful, you can put together components that will, in Kevin Deal's words, "knock the snot out" of far more expensive, less synergistic systems.
Our "Bonkers" Setup
Waiting for you today and tomorrow in Room 244 at T.H.E. Show in Costa Mesa is our $10,000 system (ask about a show special version that is under $10,000) that the Upscale team has described as "bonkers" in terms of the sound quality you get for the price.
The source is the Eversolo DMP-A8 streaming DAC ($1,980), feeding a Musical Fidelity A1 integrated amp ($1,779), which drives a pair of Fyne Audio F502SP loudspeakers ($6,499/pr). An AudioQuest PowerQuest 707 ($1,200) power conditioner supplies good, clean, dynamic electricity to the system.
Eversolo is one of our newest brands. This proudly Chinese company's streaming DACs offer, a startling level of features, usability, and sound for the money. The DMP-A8 offers RCA and XLR analog inputs and outputs, Bluetooth, various digital inputs and outputs including ARC and I2S, and volume control. As with many of the newest digital components, it uses a toroidal transformer for the analog circuits and a high-quality switching supply that supplies the speed needed for square wave generation in digital circuits.
The Musical Fidelity A1 is an unequivocal house favorite at Upscale. This class-A amp was released in 1985 and made waves for being an absolute beast when it came to driving some of the most challenging speakers of that time. Musical Fidelity continues the magic by reviving this pure class-A design and expertly laid out discrete symmetrical circuitry, with the newest components and power-supply design.
The Fyne Audio F502SP is a UK-built "special production" model using two 8" mid-bass drivers and a 25 mm magnesium dome tweeter. The SP models use Fyne’s flagship BassTrax Tractrix bass porting system from the F700 and flagship F1 models. With many crossover components and circuit architecture trickled down from the premium F700 loudspeakers, F500SP models use low-loss laminated core inductors, high-grade polypropylene capacitors, and Van Den Hul Matched Crystal silver-plated OFC wiring enhanced by Fyne's Cryo-Lite process.
If you're local, it's time to roll out of bed and come listen with us in Costa Mesa. If not, catch you at the next audio show, or make plans to be in SoCal this time next year!
Kevin says, "Here, let me turn that up for you" as he and the team set up for T.H.E. Show this weekend.
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Come meet Kevin and the Upscale team at T.H.E. Show at Costa Mesa Hilton, and listen with us to some of the most exciting audio brands in the world!