Capital Audio Fest 2024 is less than a week away, so we are previewing the rooms and vendors that will be at the show to help you plan your trip as there is a ton to see in a short amount of time.

Show Details:

• Date: November 8th – 10th, 2024
  • Friday   10:00AM – 6:00PM
  • Saturday   10:00AM – 6:00PM
  • Sunday   10:00AM – 4:00PM
• Location: 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852
  • Capital Audio Fest is held at the Hilton Rockville in Rockville, MD. This beautiful venue is conveniently located next to a metro station, providing quick access to Washington DC. With over 35,000 square feet of flexible conference space, the Hilton Rockville offers plenty of room for exhibitors and attendees to explore the latest  audio products and technology.
    • Hilton is already fully booked
    • The Even Hotel has availability as of today (9-27-2024)
• Parking at Hilton Hotel is tough! So…..
• Consider parking for FREE at Metro on Saturday and Sunday.
• Consider parking behind Matchbox across the street in the Congressional Plaza lot.
• CAF has two nights of great live music.
• Purchase your tickets online beforehand.
• Great Guest Seminars on all three days!
• Many new vendors!
• Students are FREE!

Tickets

https://www.capitalaudiofest.com/event-details/capital-audiofest2024

Exhibitors:

https://www.capitalaudiofest.com/exhibitors2024

For more information: https://hifichicken.com/capital-audiofest-2024-rooms-and-events

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Playback Distribution – Room 657, 623, 619

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Audience to Debut New Flagship frontRow Reserve Cables – Room 703

At the upcoming Capital Audiofest 2024, Audience will feature the world premiere of its new top-of-the-line frontRow Reserve cables. Audience will be exhibiting at Capital Audiofest in Room 703 at the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville hotel, Rockville, Maryland from November 8 – 10, 2024.

The new frontRow Reserve cables include a full line of balanced and RCA interconnects, speaker cables, phono, headphone, USB, and power cord AC cords. The frontRow Reserve series builds on the performance of the existing frontRow line with the addition of silver conductors that work in conjunction with copper conductors in a cable construction that provides superior conductivity. The conductors are treated with Audience’s proprietary EHVP extreme high-voltage process, which applies high voltages in specific combinations in order to align the crystalline structure of the various metals used in the cables and facilitate more efficient signal transfer and better sound.

Frontrow Reserve cables also incorporate the addition of naturally-sourced crystal minerals and RF sleeves to damp any unwanted EMI (electromagnetic interference). The frontRow Reserve powerChord also is improved with a more complex and effective shielding and grounding geometry, and a stainless steel rather than aluminum connector housing.

The frontRow Reserve cables also incorporate the company’s MORRE (Musically Optimized Reduction of Resistive Energies) technologies to deliver extraordinary musical accuracy. MORRE optimizes every aspect of the cables’ design, including cable geometries, metallurgy, connectors, shielding, and other aspects.

Audience’s ClairAudient 1+1 V5 is a bi-pole design that is compact, yet delivers expansive sound. Winner of numerous accolades including a 2025 Editors’ Choice Award from The Absolute Sound, a hi-fi+ Hall of Fame award, an Enjoy the Music Best of 2024 award and an Audiophile Heaven Hall of Fame award, the 1+1 V5 features two proprietary full-range drivers in a crossover-less design, along with two side-firing passive radiators. It’s striking in appearance, with a high-gloss black multi-angled enclosure accented by rosewood sides. The sound is remarkably coherent and natural, with superlative resolution and imaging, a natural tonal balance throughout its range, and volume and bass performance that bely the speaker’s modest size.

The new frontRow Reserve cables and 1+1V5 loudspeakers will be demonstrated at Capital Audiofest in an ultra-high-end system that includes the new eXpression DAC from Exemplar Audio. The eXpression features a Class A tube output stage, dual ESS Sabre ES9038PRO Hyperstream II D/A converters and other refinements. It’s compatible with a wide variety of PCM, DSD and other formats and offers Bluetooth 5.1 capability. Additional components in the system include an Audience adeptResponse aR6-T4 power conditioner, Sony UBPX-1100ES universal 4K Blu-ray player with SACD, Atma-Sphere MP-3 Mk 3.3 balanced vacuum tube line stage, and Atma-Sphere Class D 100-watt monoblock amplifiers.

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Eastern Bay Sound – Room 644

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Altec Lansing – Room 644

Reference Series 

Super high quality, no compromise. The cost will be no object for these products and will be enormously out of reach for most. Altec will be working with the best minds in the business, leveraging lab-tested precision sound and proprietary technology to create a state-of-the-art Planar Magnetic speaker system with open baffle subwoofers. They will have an open baffle lineup, acoustic suspension line, studio monitors, amplifiers, pre-amplifiers, DACS and more.   

Voice of The Theatre (VOTT) Series

Altec’s historical products reinvented with updated aesthetics and some technological advancements. Their “heritage” line will bring back the very same drivers and dividing networks Altec used previously. Enclosures will be reminiscent of old in some cases and completely different in others. This series will also bring back the world famous 604E Super Deluxe and many similar systems that Altec fans know by name and still collect to this day. 

Iconic Series

This category will combine classic methods and materials with new technology to build a bridge from the past to the future. The lineup will be built with some of the qualities that made Altec’s classic sound great, like high-efficiency drivers, Alnico magnets, and Class A amplifier architecture. It will also incorporate music streamers, a mobile device interface, whole-house networking, and home theater capabilities. The aim is to bring Hi-Fi to audiophiles and a new generation at an attainable price point. Altec will focus on what makes for the best listening experience and use high-quality components, superior build quality, and great finishes. The idea here is to fill the void between high-end Hi-Fi and consumer products one might purchase from Best Buy. 

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Cinnamon Audio, Gestalt Audio – Room 325, 653

visit rooms 325 and 653 at Capital Audiofest for the premier of a few new products that I think are very special: The Galle DAC, NT (network transport), Phono preamplifier, and Ellipticum loudspeakers by Cinnamon of Portugal.

Cinnamon offers a unique blend of old world craftsmanship (the sand cast aluminum and bronze chassis are art) with cutting edge technology. Their tagline is Made to Matter, and I think it shows.

A short description of the Galle DAC from the designer:
A Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) is composed of three crucial elements: an input stage, a digital-to-analog conversion stage, and an output stage. Traditionally, DACs have relied on off-the-shelf chips from …
… engine operates as a self-sufficient voltage source, eliminating the need for a traditional analog output stage. This represents an unprecedentedly short signal path and the result defies expectations.

The Ellipticum is the most compact loudspeaker in the Cinnamon line. The set I’m bringing is finished in authentic Porsche Racing Green Metallic.

A short description from the designer:
The Ellipticum loudspeakers deliver music in a way that is incompatible with their scale. They are capable of extraordinary detail and dynamics, but never lose track of the goal: respect for the art, pleasure …
… for the low frequencies. At the same time, they are the traditional loudspeakers you expect, as all the complexity is tucked away. You can use your amplifier knowing it will be the happiest it has ever been.

97dB/1 watt/1 meter, 10 ohms.

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MC AUDIOTECH, Linear Tube Audio, Wolf Servers, AgentPUR Cables, – Room 309

MC AUDIOTECH exhibiting theTL-8 Loudspeakers – a $15,000 marvel
See Us in Room #309

We are partnering with 
Linear Tube Audio, 
Wolf Servers and
ArgentPUR Cables.
We will exhibit a compact high performancesystem with The LTA Z40I+ Integrated Amp.

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House of Sound, Focal, Synergistic Research – Montgomery Room

Our second room at Capital Audiofest is going to have a few surprises, but to start, we’ve started packing today to bring something really cool to Rockville! Join us with Focal and Synergistic Research to hear our special edition Grande Utopias in a room dedicated to them!

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Rosso Fiorentino, Norma, Turnbull, Audio Thesis – Room 321

Rosso Fiorentino Arno40 – this is the first new model since the Elba was introduced almost a decade ago.  It is also the first of a complete line of speakers that include multi-channel solutions such as a center channel and our first ever subwoofer.  At the moment the 40 is ready for order as we wrap up pre-production on the other models.  The retail price of this is $15,000.  Other important news is that the Reference line (Fiesole and Volterra) has been discontinued.  The ARNO40 will be on display in room 814, along with the next two Norma products.

Norma IPA-80 – Norma is another brand that doesn’t release new products frequently.  The IPA-80 inks out another 10 watts over the previous IPA-70 with a new transformer.  The result is a stereo integrated that offers the majority of the larger brother, the IPA-140 dual mono integrated, offers at a much lower price of $5,700.

Norma DAC2 – Along with the DS2 CD player/DAC combo, the DAC2 implements the brand new proprietary A-DAC technology developed in house at Norma.  The result is a sound that far outpaces what the previous chip-based technology had.  Sound is cleaner and crisper with a much lower noise floor but retains the musicality Norma is known for.  The DAC2 retails at $6,500 and the DS2 at $7,100.

Perhaps the biggest announcement is the global launch of Turnbull Audio.  After 15 years of research and advancements in cable design, Turnbull Audio is proud to deliver a product bearing the Turnbull Shield. While Capital Audio Fest represents our first public demonstration of the Prestige audio cables, the product has already been creating waves in the industry.  We are working with three premier dealers (The Voice That Is, Hi-End Theater and Audio, and Audio-Ultra), and have multiple manufacturers desiring partnerships.  Come experience our collaboration with T+A and Rosso Fiorentino in room 321, as well as what The Voice That Is has put together with Turnbull Audio and Tidal in the Wilson room!