CAF 2024: Playback Distribution to Debut 7 New Products in 3 Rooms - Twittering Machines

With the Capital Audiofest just days away—November 8-10—the itch for the new gets itchier.

Playback Distribution is ready to scratch that itch with 7 new products making their debut at CAF 2024.

The new Esprit Amelia Speakers (starts at $20,000/pair) from France combine an AMT (Air Motion Transformer) Tweeter and 8″ Alnico Magnet Woofer in a Bass Reflex design offering a claimed 40-30000 Hz frequency response with a 4 Ohm impedance and 90dB sensitivity.

Woof! The new Esoteric F-01 Integrated Amplifier ($18,000) offers 300 Watts of pure Class A power into 9 Ohms and 60W into 4 while housing a headphone amp, a dual mono phonostage preamp (MM/MC), 3-Band Balanced Tone Control (Treble / Middle / Bass), dual monaural power supplies for all stages of the power rectification and smoothing circuits, and much more.

Java HiFi’s Carbon Double Shot Integrated Amplifier ($16,995) is wrapped in, you guessed it, a 9mm carbon fibre outer case and offers 400 Watts of output power into 8 Ohms and doubles down into 4. The Carbon Double Shot shares a similar LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) preamp stage and GaN FET-based (Gallium Nitrade) power amp stage with its little brother the Single Shot Integrated I reviewed back in October 2023.

The new Vienna Acoustics Mozart SE Signature (starts at $7495) is a three-way design with a 1.1” Vienna Acoustics’ Hand Coated Silk Dome tweeter, a 6” Vienna Acoustics’ Spidercone X3P driver midrange driver, and a 6” Vienna Acoustics’ X3P woofer. Frequency response is rated at 30Hz – 22kHz with a 4 Ohm impedance and 90dB sensitivity. The recently reviewed Vienna Acsoutics Bach Ultimates use similar drivers albeit in a smaller 2-way design and they’ll be at CAF as well so you can check my work with your own ears.

The new PMC active twenty5 22i speakers ($6999/pair) pack 2x 100W of amplification in each speaker along with a PMC 6.5” / 170mm long-throw g-weave™ cone with cast alloy chassis low frequency driver and a PMC/SEAS®, 19mm twenty5i series, SONOMEX™ fabric soft dome, Ferrofluid cooled, with 34mm surround and dispersion grille high frequency driver. Inputs include balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA per side while the active twenty5 22i have a claimed frequency response of 39Hz – 25kHz.

The new TEAC UD-507 USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier/Preamp ($2099.99) packs a lot of functionality in one package as its name spells out.

Advance Paris is a company that’s new to me and their MyConnect 250 ($4299) is a streaming integrated amp w/phono (MM/MC), headphone amp, DAC, more ins and outs than a train station plus 3 speaker zones while offering 190 Watts of power into 8 Ohms and 280W into 4. Packed!

I recommend a visit to Playback Distribution three Rooms 619, 623, and 657 at CAF 2024 to see and hear all of this newness as well as a visit to the Playback Distribution website for more info.