Old Forge Audio

Old Forge Audio’s first Chord Electronics shipment has arrived and I couldn’t be happier or more pleased with my initial listening impressions.

The Qutest is a fairly straightforward DAC, offering USB, optical and SP/dif inputs, four filter options and a pair of unbalanced RCA output jacks. The sound quality is smooth, detailed, extended in bass and treble response and quite dynamic. Taken together with its size and price, it offers outstanding value for money. No wonder it’s so popular!

The DAVE is a bit of a Swiss Army knife, except, unlike the knife, it’s outstanding in all of its functions. It can operate as a DAC, DAC+digital pre-amp or headphone amp. So far, I’ve listened to it solely as a DAC, fed by the Innuos Zen music server and Luna Cables’ Mauve USB cable. Output via Mauve RCA interconnects.

The sound quality is at once highly detailed and extremely unforced and natural. Dynamics and authority, in the bass particularly, can be rather startling at first.

A shout out to Vinnie Rossi’s L2 Signature pre-amp and mono amps, Sound Kaos Wave 42 speakers, Luna Red speaker cables and SGR Symphony III rack, which complete this particular system.

More to come . . .

The current system set-up in the front demo room:
SoundKaos Wave 42 loudspeakers, Garrard 401 ‘table in Vinylista plinth with GrooveMaster II arm and SPU A cartridge, Wand Plus 9.5″ arm and EMT Lime cartridge, Vinnie Rossi L2 Signature pre-amp with phono and DAC modules installed, Vinnie Rossi L2 Mono amplifiers, AcousticPlan power supply and CD transport, Pure Audio Reference Mono amplifiers. Luna Cables throughout, except Acapella speaker cable.

As of today, July 22, 2019, I’m proud to say that Old Forge Audio is among the select handful of authorized Vinnie Rossi dealers in the U.S. We have the L2 Signature pre-amp on demo, just for starters.

The first thing you’ll notice, besides the sleek industrial design, is that there are two wire mesh chimneys protruding from the top. They protect the pair of 300Bs, (or other DHT – directly heated triodes.) Our demo model is complete with optional phono (3 inputs!!) and DAC modules installed. It provides remote control of input selection, volume, balance, mc cartridge load (x2, separately stored), phase and display.

Call, text or email to set up a listening session at a time convenient for you!

Old Forge Audio will exhibit in Room 5220 at the Oakland Hilton July 26-28. We’ll be demoing the following system:

• Wand 14-4 turntable with Wand Plus 12″ tonearm
• Pure Audio Vinyl and Little Vinyl phono stages
• Pure Audio One 100.3 integrated amplifier
• SoundKaos VOX 3f standpoint 3-way monitors
• Luna Cables used throughout – AC cords, interconnects, speaker cable

The VOX 3f has never appeared at a show in the U.S. before, and the Wand turntable and arm will be making their West Coast debut in Oakland.

Everyone is encouraged to come listen, of course, and dealers are encouraged to stop by to discuss adding Wand, Pure Audio and Luna Cables to the brands they represent.

Old Forge’s first Sound|Kaos speakers – VOX 3f – arrived the week of July 8th.

This 3-way, stand-mount, solid wood speaker, shown in oiled/waxed solid walnut. Measures W168 x D 240 x H 360mm. Frequency response is 35hz-35khz with 89dB/w/m sensitivity and a nominal 8 ohm impedance.

“How?!”, you ask? It utilizes a front-firing 4″ Tangband “b”How?!”, you ask? It utilizes a front-firing 4″ Tangband widebander, a pair of 5″ side-firing carbon fiber woofers and a top-mounted Raal ribbon tweeter with a customized transformer to avoid resistors in the crossover. The woofers are low-passed at 200hz, the wideband midrange rolls off naturally at the bottom and hands off to the ribbon via a single capacitor at 7khz.

These have proven to be shockingly good at the Forge and are now en route to Room 5220 at the California Audio Show in Oakland July 26-28.