After the Consumer Electronics Show, journalists often sit email one another and compare notes, to find the best picture, the best sound and the best demonstration overall. And one name kept coming up as the best sounding demonstration in Vegas. Strangely, the best demonstration of the show wasn’t at the show at all. It was in a hotel far from the main drag and even some distance from the Home Entertainment Show off-shoot. It was by Cabasse, and it was so good, it deserves its own separate report.
As they say in England, Cabasse ‘went for it,’ delivering the definitive answer to the stereo/multichannel divide. The company had its mighty and impressive La Sphère speaker system for the main left and right speakers, coupled with the Karissima centre speaker, four Baltic Evolution speakers for surround and the epic Saturn 55 for low frequencies, in the 7.1 system to beat all others. The distinctive La Sphère – the world’s first and only four-way coaxial loudspeaker – was first shown at last year’s CES and just sounds better and better.
Christophe Cabasse posing with his creations
Playing a combination of beautifully-recorded stereo and multichannel classical music and relatively subtle home theatre moments, the system had the dynamic scale and power of large scale US hi-fi, but with the speed and transparency normally associated with the best in European high-end. Forever dubbed the ‘eyeball’ by those who place style over substance, these speakers may look distinctive, but sound like a little slice of heaven. It you wanted the best in stereo and the best in multichannel, it was in the same room and it was thanks to Cabasse.
Big room, big system, big sound. Brilliant!