In January of 2004 we participated in the biggest consumer electronics show in the world (at that time) CES (Consumer Electronics Show), held at Alexis Park in Las Vegas. We took a suite at the show in cooperation with Argento Audio (Denmark) who provided the cabling, and Sound Lab (USA) who provided speakers for the suite.
This was our first big international show, and one of the most exciting and challenging moments in our history. It was a learning curve for us with everything from shipping to customs issues being thrown our way. Some parts of our shipment didn’t arrive, including our RL-100 line Stage but we managed to get something arranged and pulled off showcasing our SM-100 (predecessor to the current SM-103) in fine style.
Aside from the hiccups, CES 2004 was a massive success for us, resulting in us landing our first three international partners.
The Sound Lab Ultimate One speakers filled the room with a deep bass we had never heard from any electrostatic speakers before. Many visitors to the room asked us where we had hidden the subs, but there were none. Yes, the speakers were massive in size for the relatively small room, but the overall sound never felt limited by this.
The Argento Audio cables used throughout, provided perfect connections for the full system. As usual, they really shone doing what they do best – being invisible.
Our SM-100 had no issue driving the Sound Labs to the max, which is no mean feat for these huge speakers. Many reviewers have called them the “solid state amp killer” stating that they required at least 500-750W to be able to “shine” and for the amplifier not to break down.
There were several visitors who simply refused to believe that the SM-100 was “only” 100WRMS class A in 8Ω and suggested this was clearly not a solid-state amplifier but had to be a tube amplifier. This shows just how rigid and over exaggerated our power supply for this amp was – a deliberate design choice from the start.
Have a read of the sixmoons.com review of our room at CES 2004 for an unbiased take on the set up.
The latest version of the SM-100, now called the SM-103, has been vastly improved since its introduction in 2004 with 18 years of optimisation and fine tuning from the Vitus Audio team.
We get just as many goosebumps showcasing the SM-103 now as we did the SM-100 back in 2004.
