Prices listed in CA$.

The Hearken / Northstar demo was dispensing some sweet vinyl sound from a turntable setup that included a Reed Muse 1 turntable ($20,000) / Reed 3P tonearm ($7210) / Hana Black cartridge ($14,000).

The turntable was feeding a Linnenberg PS30 phono stage ($25,000), a Trafomatic EOS+ KT150-tube amplifier ($16,000), a Trafomatic Lara preamp ($16,300), and a pair of Ilumnia Magister Novus speakers ($55,000/pair) that uses a cone that floats in its own electromagnetic suspension. Bass reinforcement was delivered by a Sound/Kaos D12 subwoofer ($8900) that matched well with the speakers, sonically and visually. Cabling was by MasterBuilt and Yeti Acoustics—the latter also providing power conditioning—while cable risers were from Synergistic Research. Equipment racks were supplied by HRS, and grounding devices by CAD. The demo also served as the global launch of the I/K Audio Model 9 record clamp ($6,900).

Items that weren’t playing when I passed by included an Antipodes Oladra music server/streamer ($39,995) and a Rockna Wavedream Reference Signature DAC ($35,995).

On the LP cuts I heard, instrumental tone was mesmerizing—such as that of the piano notes, which plunked colorfully in patterns that were easy to follow. A saxophone solo delivered vivid timbre and waves of breathy, shredded note texture. Transparency was excellent, as were instrument separation and imaging.