All Newport 2016 reports are in – Black Series confirmed as a taste tempter!

With “three flavors”* of power in our Newport Show room, it took only one Serving Suggestion to set itself as the taste tempter – playing for 99.9% of Show time (while feeding Axis Voicebox Monitor speakers) was the Black Signature Series RGi35ENR integrated.

Such was its full-bodied satisfaction as the amplifier on demo, it left the remaining models standing around awaiting their turn to be added as mere condiments. (But no one seemed to need them!)

At what moment a potential reviewer walks in the door is in the lap of The Gods as much as what track is playing. The chances that they have any personal reference to that particular track are even slimmer. Still, everything clicked when Sasha Matson of Stereophile strolled in. (His thoughts about the REDGUM-Axis room are at the end of the report.)

No palette cleansers are required to move from the earthy tones noted by Sasha on to the “Mind Tricks” of Part-Time Audiophile’s Rafe Arnott*. What begins as “well… unassuming” builds simply as all the musical flavours come together into a dish of “digital done right”.

So with all ingredients deemed to be in balance, the next port of call is the reality of the market place. Will the appeal of this amp arrive as dead-in-the-water or have the potential of “a killer product at its price point”? At US$2500, Steve Lefkowicz of Positive Feedback proposes the latter.

And now a word about our sponsor: Colleen Cardas Imports. We thank Colleen and Marc for the invitation to be presented, along with Axis, as one of their “Down Under Audio”-themed rooms. Their second room, featuring five other manufacturers from Australia and New Zealand, was delighted to receive a Part-Time Audiophile Best Room Award and a Positive Feedback Audio Oasis Award!

So where does this weary distributor go in the midst of all the pressures of a four day Show? REDGUM’s modest “Room 1011 was an oasis for me” … “constantly amusing me with their quirky and humorous music selections.” writes Marc Phillips as The Vinyl Anachronist. It officially might be work, but what fun it is, too, … thanks to all at Newport 2016!