Sun & Sound with Shunyata at Florida Intl. Audio Expo ‘23
And nearly an ALTAIRA-induced riot. The accolades keep piling on for Shunyata Research’s new grounding system.
It was a rare pleasure to travel to Florida over the weekend to spend time with Caelin and Richard from Shunyata Research at the Florida International Audio Expo 2023. With convenient direct flights between Gatwick and Tampa, I came away thinking this regional gem is as relevant to UK visitors as the locals, not to mention a great way to grab some sun during the cold winter months! I certainly wasn't the only international visitor - it’s catching on (as the “international” in the show name suggests), and for good reason.
Just the right kind of busy, bustling with energy, but never overwhelming or crowded like a Munich, the show was well attended with just shy of 80 rooms. Shunyata Research’s local dealer Suncoast Audio had two of these, the smaller of which turned out to be an absolute showstopper.
This modest room quickly became the talk of the show when the ALTAIRA Grounding System demos started rolling. In addition Shunyata Research provided the Typhon T2 power distributor, feeding the Denali, and some of their more affordable Venom-X range cables to really demonstrate the full effect of the ALTAIRA. The system also featured amplification from Hegel, panel speakers from Clarisys, a digital source from Lumin, and an Aurender server.
“In the Suncoast Audio room, one could hear before and after demonstrations of the Shunyata Altaira grounding system that RH praised so highly in a recent TAS cover story. Despite such fanfare, one always approaches such accessories with a healthy skepticism. But in this case any skepticism was misplaced. The Altaira is the real deal.”
Alan Taffel, The Absolute Sound • Best Demo
Shunyata’s ALTAIRA demo was simple enough: plug it in, remove it, plug it back in. But the difference in sound sent shockwaves through the room. If you caught our recent ALTAIRA UK Launch at KJ West One, this was no different, just on a larger scale and demonstrating that our KJ demo was no one-off.
As anyone in the room can attest to, when the ALTAIRA is plugged in you can hear only two things: 1. music, and 2. the cracking of your own neck as you shake your head in disbelief. Alan Taffel continues to describe the dramatic difference: “As demoed on an excellent system, removing the Altaira rendered the sound muddy, spatially flat, and dynamically constrained. Putting it in restored these qualities, and also dramatically increased bass articulation”.
Tom Gibbs at positive-feedback.com described it as follows:
“The Clarisys Minuet loudspeakers were great, but the Shunyata Altaira chassis grounding demo almost caused an uproar!
“…most of the hubbub on the 9th floor revolved around the Shunyata Altaira chassis ground demonstration. I caught this demo last year, and it was nothing short of astonishing. Shunyata has made significant improvements to the Altaira in the time since then. The room was always packed, and it was simply amazing how many vocal outbursts came from guys in the room who left shaking their heads—it's an astonishing device to say the least!”
Caelin Gabriel Q&A
As a somewhat reclusive scientist-tinkerer, it was a rare treat to have Caelin answering some visitor questions between demos. He’s a real fountain of knowledge and I learned a lot being around him for the weekend. This exchange alone was worth the trip:
First Look: OMEGA Speaker Cables
Last but not least, the show gave the world its first look at Shunyata’s new Omega range speaker cables, pictured here with the innovative, super effective and functional Möbius cable suspension system:
A fantastic show, and definitely in my calendar again for 2024.
Hope to see you there!
Guillaume