But then, as if to say "I'll see your four-module system and raise you a neutron star," were the Exotica Grand Reference ($125,000) from Alón by Acarian Systems: two pairs of 7' towers powered by Audio Valve tube electronics. Alón designer Carl Marchisotto's two rear towers are passive sub-woofers housing four 12" drivers apiece, each in its own ported enclosure, simply to handle frequencies from 16 to 45Hz. (A variable low-pass filter rolls off at 40Hz.) Damn! The main front towers feature line arrays of nine 4" ribbon tweeters and six 5.5" midrange cones in an open-baffle configuration, bookended above and below by pairs of 8" magnesium-dome woofers, each pair in its own sealed enclosure. The speed, soundstaging, linearity, frequency extension, and inner detail were beyond belief, with a deep, open midrange you could drive an SUV through. But the most striking aspect of these aural megaliths was their pure musicality. No Attack of the Fifty-Foot Woman or 10' snare drums for Carl - everything was true to scale, making for an utterly involving dynamic presentation that, while vividly lifelike, was never grossly exaggerated or larger than life.

[...]

Then I heard the Alón Exotica Grand Reference.

There's a lesson in there somewhere. - Chip Stern

For a sound that was amazingly close to concert hall, there was the luxurious Alón room. A friend in the industry whom I respect said he heard so much bass provided by the combination of Alón Exotica Grand Reference speakers, AudioValve Challenger 400 monoblocks, Krell 300 power amps (for the subwoofer towers), Millennium line stage, and Metronome CD transport and DAC that he didn't go in the room. But when I was there, I heard John Rutter's magnificent Requiem, rendered by the Turtle Creek Chorale and the Women's Chorus of Dallas conducted by Timothy Seelig (Reference RR57-CD), so there was no bass to fret about. The glorious voices had the presence of a mid-hall seat at, say, New York's Avery Fisher Hall, with so much air and transparency. Music and nothing but.

[...]

- Zan Stewart