AXPONA 2022

When I've visited the Zesto Audio room at different hi-fi shows in recent years, I've noticed that sometimes they've shown their tubed electronics driving modern loudspeakers from Lumen White, for instance. Other times, it's been vintage classics, such as Tannoys. At AXPONA, they chose very old-school Tannoy Kensington GR loudspeakers ($18,000/pair), which of course, showed quite different sound characteristics from, say, Lumen Whites.

The analog source was a Dr. Feickert Analogue Blackbird Deluxe turntable (above) bearing two 9.8" Tri-Planar VII-U2 tonearms ($6900 each), each with an MC cartridge mounted. One was fitted with a Benz-Micro Gullwing SLR cartridge ($3600), the other with an Ortofon Cadenza Black ($2879), which is the one I heard. Those tiny signals were picked up by the new Zesto Andro Téssera Reference tubed phono stage ($19,900), which fed the Zesto Leto Ultra II preamplifier ($11,900) leading into the new Zesto Bia 200 Select class-A stereo power amplifier ($15,900, below) ahead of the Tannoy Kensington speakers. The 100W Bia 200 Select allows you to select bias settings for different tube configurations. We listened with it in the middle setting (KT120, KT150, and KT170).

Cardas Audio cables (Beyond and Clear Beyond) connected the whole system, and Cardas' Nautilus power strip was in place ($1500). Stillpoints supplied the racks, stands, and oak acoustic panels. Whew! This was a full-blown classic audiophile setup.

A listen to the first couple of cuts on the modern folky Bonny Light Horseman's self-titled LP sounded full-bodied, even fleshy on both vocals and (acoustic) instruments: high-strung guitar, viola, upright bass. Anaïs Mitchell's voice seemed to come from a real person, almost one in the room. Midrange was the focus here. Treble stayed smooth, avoided peakiness. This system also seemed to serve jazz well: Zesto's president/founder/designer George Counnas spun cuts from the excellent Concord Jazz LA4 Just Friends direct-to-disc LP.

If I'd had more time, I'd have been curious to hear some heavier music—rock 'n' roll or synth-driven pop or even EDM, say. But that's not what this is built for; I enjoyed what I chose from my heavy bag o' LPs. And I didn't want to disturb the peaceful, easy feeling in there (not that they were playing The Eagles).