LEMAY AUDIO
The Lemay Audio room sported some of the most beautiful equipment at the show and, no doubt, some of the most expensive as well. I also found Francois Lemay, the proprietor and founder, a kind and gracious gentleman, with a fabulous aesthetic.
The Lemay system was composed of the Baetis Reference X4 Streamer, Tenor Audio Line 1 Preamplifier, Tenor Audio 175S 20th Anniversary Stereo Amplifier, the iFi Audio Diablo (of all things from a price perspective!), the Dayton Wright Hommage 7 Electrostatic Speakers and the Fidelium Speaker and Interconnect cables. The system, in total, was well above $400k and on its way to $500k!
The descriptors that came to me first with regard to the Lemay Audio system were natural, beautiful, articulate, and incredibly immersive. One had but to enter the room to not want to leave it. The various descriptive statements that followed were incredible depth of soundstage, a delicious and almost edible tone, timbre, and texture that helped to establish a reach out and touch palpability. No doubt, the Baetis Reference X4 streamer brought, as I have come to know these past weeks, via its little brother the Baetis Revolution X4 (currently under review at AKRMedia), its mix of exceptionally well resolved, refined, and natural streams to the system, perhaps, despite the iFi Diablo (at one 17th its price!), which provided unbounded music. A Best of Show room without doubt.