The 2022 Capital Audio Fest | Alan Taffel and Andrew Quint
by TAS Staff Nov 30th, 2022
The 2022 Capital Audio Fest | Alan Taffel and Andrew Quint
by TAS Staff Nov 30th, 2022
Alan Taffel: A Dozen Aspirational New Products
At any given show, you can almost always count on the prolific folks at Nola to introduce a new speaker, each with an ever-longer name. CAF 2022 was no exception. The Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 ($150k) sits in the middle of the Reference series, which spans a huge price range of $29k–$500k. The latest model sports two dynamic woofers, four dynamic midrange units, and four ribbon tweeters. Of course, this being Nola, the mid- and high-frequency drivers are mounted on an open baffle. At CAF, driven by VAC electronics and a J.Sikora ’table with a DS Audio cart, the sound was rich, open, and extraordinarily spacious. Although the individual woofers aren’t large, together they produced thunderous bass despite Nola’s enormous room. The speaker wasn’t even intimidated by organ pedal notes. Nola claims the model works well in smaller spaces, too." - Alan Taffel