How much “big” should you hear from “small”? – our Newport report

T.H.E. eternal Show quandary – how to stand out amongst 9 floors of Audio rooms and almost 350 brand names on offer!? Try the upside-down logic of the “Down Under Audio” rooms – by recalibrating expectations about how much “big” you should hear from “small”.

Formulated by our distributor, Colleen Cardas Imports, the reverse logic of this concept certainly hit the spot when a REDGUM Black Series RGi35ENR integrated amplifier (from Melbourne) was paired with its Sydney cousin, Axis Voicebox S Reference Mini Monitors.

Listeners were doubly taken aback by the power* of the amplifier when they realised that the second REDGUM on the table was only a static display. (i.e. The need for a pair of Monoblocks was seen so often in other display rooms that this became quite a reasonable presumption.)

You could hear the next thought process … “So if it is only one amp, how can those tiny speakers be sounding like there is a full orchestra playing with chorus singing fortissimo here in the room!?” We could tell you but then we’d have to kill you. **

Our thanks to all visitors to our room, and their appreciative silence between curious questions. It was also very pleasing to see the next generation of Audiophiles spending more time in the room than was needed to just fill in an Entry Form to our Prize Give-Away of a Black Series RGi35ENR.

Even more delightful was to discover that the winner was a young lady (pictured) from this up-and-coming generation. What a great “first” amplifier!!

* 65WRMS into 8, but around 75WRMS into the 5ohms of the Voicebox S
** Ah, so that’s why it was the Verdi Requiem playing! Such glorious doom and gloom!!!