Critics` Show Reviews - Chapman Audio Systems

Critics’ Show Reviews
T.H.E. Show Las Vegas 2014
“Over at T.H.E. Show, Chapman Audio is building some surprisingly impressive
speakers, and their flagship model, the T-9 MKII ($19,995/pr) definitely deserves more
attention than it has received.”
T.H.E. Show Newport 2013
Chapman & Wells Audio Fall in Love
By John Atkinson • Posted: Jun 10, 2013
Speaker manufacturer Chapman was demming the T-8 Mk.II ($9995/pair) with the 120Wpc Innamorata solid-state
amplifier from a Californian company new to me, Wells Audio. The hefty three-way T-8 (it weighs 100 lbs) combines
a 10” polyaminate-fiber cone woofer with a 5.5” midrange unit and a 1” silk-dome tweeter. Frequency response is
specified as 28Hz–30kHz, ±3dB, sensitivity as 89dB/W/m, and Chapman claims it specifies all the drivers to within
±.025dB. The Innamorata is heavily biased into class-A and features Jack Bybee’s “Music Rails” to lower its
noisefloor. According to Wells, “innamorata” is Italian for “to cause to fall in love” and the sound in this room, wired
with Dana cables, was indeed seductive.
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T.H.E. Show at Newport Beach 2013: Part 7, Kirsten’s Notes
Posted on June 17, 2013 by Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenney
Chapman and Wells Audio
Chapman T-8 MK II Loudspeakers ($9,995) and Wells Audio Inamorata Stereo Amplifier ($6,000) — this is
the room that told me to sit down and shut up. When I first walked in, they were playing some kind of a
cappella version of “The Boxer” by Simon & Garfunkel, which was nifty enough. But this was followed by Ben
Folds’ version of “Golden Slumbers,” which was just fantastic. This room had me frantically making “WAIT
JUST A MINUTE I HAVE TO LISTEN” hand motions at Mal.
“Chapman’s T-7 floorstander ($12/pr.) offered a similarly neutral, fatigue-free sound that invites and rewards
long term listening (and boasts greater resolution). Initially there was little that you’d call “impressive” until
you soon became aware you weren’t listening for sound, you were listening to the music and didn’t want to
leave.”
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T.H.E. Show at Newport Beach 2013: Part 7, Kirsten’s Notes
Posted on June 17, 2013 by Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenney
Chapman Loudspeakers with Cary amplification and MIT Cables
I had already had a come-to-Jesus moment with the Chapman/Wells room at the Atrium, so it
probably isn’t too surprising that I was sonically dragged into their Hilton room as well. I walked up
to the door and realized they were blasting Florence & the Machine’s “Dog Days are Over,” the kind of
song that’ll have you driving at about 90 in a 35 if you’re not careful (You don’t know it? Go look it up
on YouTube. I’ll wait.). “Oh, YEAH,” I said, grinning. “This is a terrible recording,” said the exhibitor.
“I was about to put on something else.” “No! This is fine! I love this song!” I yelped. Accordingly, the
volume went up.
It’s true, it’s not a terribly good recording — it suffers from many of the ills of modern popular
recordings — but I didn’t care one whit. The Chapman T-7’s had plenty of oomf to carry that song past
11.
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electronic
HOUSE
Slideshow: Amazing Audio Rooms from T.H.E. Show 2013
Slide 7
The $12K/pair Chapman T-7 floorstanders provided some great realism when the company’s John Gilmour popped on
Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City,” with the stereo effects in full force during the powerful song’s police bust “scene”
that’s engulfed by the street sounds of New York City. Cary Audio’s tube amplifiers and an Audible Illusions preamplifier
handled the heavy lifting electronically. Patricia Barber’s “Lord, Let It Rain” further showcased the T-7’s ability to shine
with lead female and choir vocals.
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T.H.E. Show - Newport 2012
Chapman—Cary—Light Harmonic—MIT
By Stephen Mejias • Posted: Jun 7, 2012
Inconspicuous but attractive, the Chapman T-8 Mk.II loudspeaker ($9995/pair) holds a 1” silk-dome tweeter,
5.5” midrange unit, and a 10” woofer beneath its black grille cloth.
The T-8 seemed to partner well with Cary’s CAD 211 Founder’s Edition amplifiers ($20,000/pair), SLP-05
preamp, and CD306 disc player. Also on hand was Light Harmonic’s distinctive DaVinci DAC. Cables were
from MIT. We listened to an organ piece and I noted impressive bass: relatively taut, well-controlled, and wellextended.
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T.H.E. Show - Newport 2012
Chapman, Cary, Light Harmonic, MIT
Posted on June 25, 2012 by Part-Time Audiophile
What do I know? Not much, apparently. For example, I’ve never heard of Chapman speakers. Which is my
oversight, obviously, since they’ve been building speakers since 1965! This is exactly why I love audio shows. I
just never know what I’m going to run across.
Take for a handy example, the $9,995 T-8 MkII that Chapman was showing on Saturday and Sunday at
Newport. This is a hand-built, USA-made speaker that is 4ohms (nominal), 89dB sensitivity, and has a F2 of
28Hz. They’re robust — they’re 4′ tall, and each one weighs 100lbs. Solid? Um, yeah. The look is old-school,
with a sock covering all the drivers — very reminiscent of a Vandersteen, actually (or vice versa, given that
Chapman has been building these speakers for 10 years longer). Did I mention that the new T-8 is time-aligned?
Interestingly, the speakers are “compression line” (a clever cross between transmission line and acoustical
suspension), an approach which gives exceptionally good back pressure — this adds significantly greater
woofer control and extension, both mechanically and electrically, and makes the speakers very easy to drive
loud, with great finesse and musicality.
The speakers were run by a whole suite of Cary Audio electronics, including a monster pair of $20,000 CAD
211 Founder’s Edition amplifiers. These amps have a pretty unusual tube complement:

1 ea – 6CA7 Current Source Tube

1 ea – 6SL7 Input Tube

2 ea – 300B Driver Stage Tubes

2 ea – 845 Output Tubes
They’re rated between 70wpc and 150wpc (moving from Class A to Class B).
In front of these is an $8,000 SLP-05 preamplifier. It’s class A output design, with a cinema bypass input, a tape
monitor loop, a balanced stereo input, three RCA stereo inputs, and one balanced and two pairs of RCA
preamplifier outputs.
Music came courtesy of the $20,000 DaVinci DAC from Light Harmonic. I’ve written a bit about this DAC at
prior shows, and it’s really quite a techno tour-de-force. In case you missed it, this is a non-oversampling, nonupsampling, non-noise shaping, zero negative feedback, 32bit/384kHz asynchronous USB 2.0-compliant, tripleclocked digital-to-analog converter that bears more than a little resemblance to the offspring of Darth Vader and
a Cylon. Apologies for the geek-foul of mixing my sci-fi universes, but if you ever lay your retinas on one of
these bad-boys, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. If you’re a sci-fi geek. If not, well, you’ve probably
already stopped reading by now anyway, so I suppose it doesn’t really matter.
Cables came courtesy of MIT, including Matrix-120 Super Hi Def speaker cables and Oracle MA Rev II
interconnects.
The sound in this room was elegant and extended and I very impressed with the bass performance — deep,
defined and punchy. A mid-range “roundness” played with appreciable sparkle and detail. I remember taking
notes on the music we were playing in this room — sadly, lost — but what I can remember was grinning a lot.
A lovely sounding room.
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The music emanating from the Chapman/MIT/Cary Audio room drew me in like a moth to a flame. Once inside,
I sat down and listen to several musical selections and was impressed with the smooth, warm and organic
sound. While not new to RMAF, the Chapman T-8 three-way floor standing loudspeaker is a relatively new
model that has been making its way around the audio show circuit this year. With 89 dB sensitivity @ at a
nominal 4 ohms, the Chapman T-8 should be an easy match for the vast majority of solid state and tube
amplifiers.
Comments by Bruce Brisson from MIT Cables at RMAF 2011
:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRHuJdz2-SE&feature=related
“We have shared, I think 3 or 4 trade shows now with Stu at Chapman Audio and Stuart brings a very fine
speaker that has, I think 20, 30 years of research behind it to the show that sells at a very good cost. In my
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opinion its one of the finer speakers at any price point, and the sound I think that we got at the trade show here
today proved that.”
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Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2011
Coverage by Jim Clements
This was the system in the Cary Audio Design room. Cary has always made quality equipment and the sound in their
room was downright gorgeous. Kudos especially to the Chapman T-8 loudspeakers. They have a nice finish but with a
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utilitarian bent. Let me tell you, though, their sound quality was nothing short of fantastic. Full, rich textures, clean and
airy response in the treble with a solid foundation in the bass.
March 2011
2011 CES Show Report III:
Naim Audio, Dan D'Agostino System, Boulder, Peak Consult, Soulsonic, Solos
Audio, Chapman Audio Systems, EARO High Definition Audio, Ayon
Audio/Legacy Audio
By Doug Schroeder
Chapman Audio
Chapman Audio speakers hold a special place in my heart as they were one of the first
audiophile speakers I auditioned at a high end dealer as a younger man. I have owned two
pairs of T-7 and one pair of T-77 speakers through the years. Stewart Jones keeps refining a
good design, in my demo the T-8 ($9,000) along with the Cary Audio CD306 SACD Player
($8,000), Cary SLP-05 Preamplifier ($8,000) and CAD 211 Founder’s Edition Amplifier
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($20,000/pr), and MIT Oracle Matrix HD speaker cabling ($22,000) sang beautifully. Many
people know of Vandersteen speakers, but many more should be aware of Chapman Audio
speakers; the former are laid back, but the latter are more vibrant.
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California Audio Show July 15, 16, 17
Submitted by spinnerbait70 on Wed, 07/20/2011 - 03:49. Joined: 09/17/2008 .:. Offline .:. Comments: 3
1st show impressions
This was my first show and I was excited to check out some of the equipment I
have been reading about for the past couple years. Let me say that I know the rooms
didn’t allow for the best set ups but I was a little disappointed. A few observations
follow:
1. The big Wilson’s were more than 20 feet apart and close to the back wall which made for a
bad presentation.
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2. The Magico’s in the lobby were definitely closed in. I actually came back to this room 3
times because I thought the source material might have been at fault. Every time though, the
soundstage was shallow, small, and basically there wasn’t one.
3. I felt the music, in most rooms was being played too soft. no dynamics
There were a couple bright spots for me.
1. The Von Gaylord room had great sound
2. The Salk Sound room was minimalistic but the Salk speakers were very resolving and
smooth. Jim Salk got it right.
3. The Chapman T-8 speakers imaged like crazy and I felt had the most natural sounding voices
I have ever heard.
All in all it was definately worth the hour and half drive. I am more convinced than ever that
DIY speakers will be my next upgrade so I will be able to taylor the sound to my listening
room.
Brad
Excerpt from
In Reply to: RE: California Audio Show - did anybody else go? posted by Chris from Lafayette on July 18, 2011 at
21:43:51
I heard quite a few speaker systems that acquitted themselves very well, but highly unlikely any of them in the class of
the mbl. I purposefully did not listen to the Wilsons, because I have heard them so many times in the past. Among the
floor standers that stood out were the Magico Q3s, Q5s, Sony SS-AR1 and probably my favorite (and a favorite of many
attendees based on the numbers that hung out in the room) was a large Lumen White design. But if you factor in room
difficulty the nod might just have to go to the Sony that sounded great under very trying conditions. The others floor
standers I mentioned; cost considerably north of the Sony’s $26,000, and all had spacious rooms to strut their stuff. A
dark horse for a 1/3 of the Sony price was the Chapman T-7. Again I have factored in difficult room handicap.
Robert C. Lang
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T.H.E. Show Newport 2011
Manufacturer’s Comment: Correction – these were the T-8 speakers being demonstrated rather
than the T-7 speakers.
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MIT – Cary – Chapman
By Michael Lavorgna – Posted: Jun 6, 2011
The MIT room was featuring Cary electronics and the Chapman T-8 loudspeakers ($9000/pair), which are sold
factory-direct. Chapman is new to me; the T-8 is a 89dB-sensitive, 4 ohm speaker with a claimed frequency
response of 28Hz-20kHz (± 2dB). It uses a side-firing 10” polylaminate fiber-cone woofer, a 5 ½” midrange
driver with butyl surround, and a 1” soft-dome tweeter. Cabling included the MIT Oracle Matrix HD Speaker
Interface ($21,999) and the Oracle MA-X Rev. 2 Proline Balanced Interconnect ($12,999). I noted that there
was “nice room dispersion” and “definitely no harshness.”
Manufacturer’s Comment: Chapman speakers are only sold factory-direct when there is not an
authorized Chapman dealer established in the geographic location of the customer.
2010 Manchester High Fidelity Show
Manchester, England
See T-8 5-star review in the April 2010 issue of Hi-Fi World
http://chapmanaudiosystems.com/speakers/Chapman_T8_review.pdf
Chapman greatly appreciates the kind comments from all of the above publications.
Recent Chapman Show Activity
2014
T.H.E. Show Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV
Equipment: DH Labs cable, Audible Illusions Pre-amp, Quicksilver power amps,
Chapman T-5 Speakers
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2013
T.H.E. Show Newport
Newport, California
Equipment: MIT Cable, Cary Electronics, Chapman T7 Speakers, Modulus Pre-Amp
2012
T.H.E. Show Newport
Newport, California
Equipment: MIT Cable, Cary Electronics, Chapman T8 Speakers, Light Harmonic
2012
T.H.E. Show Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Equipment: MIT Cable, Cary Electronics, Chapman T8 Speakers
2011
Rocky Mountain AudioFest
Denver, Colorado
Equipment: MIT Cable, Cary Electronics, Chapman T8 Speakers
2011
California Audio Show
San Francisco, California
Equipment: Neko Audio, Cary Electronics, MIT Cable, Parasound JC1 Amps,
Chapman T8 Speakers
2011
T.H.E. Show Newport
Newport, California
Equipment: Cary Electronics, MIT Cable, Chapman T8 Speakers
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2011
T.H.E. Show Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Equipment: Cary Electronics, MIT Cable, Chapman T8 Speakers
2010
Rocky Mountain AudioFest
Denver, Colorado
Equipment: Electrocompaniet Electronics, MIT Cable, Chapman T8 Speakers
2010
The Manchester High Fidelity Show
Manchester, England
Equipment: Spectral Electronics, MIT Cable, Chapman T8 Speakers
2009
Rocky Mountain AudioFest
Denver, Colorado
Equipment: MacIntosh Electronics, MIT Cable, Chapman T8 Speakers
The Chapman five star rating system judges each show based on our overall impression of that show,
and the estimated value to us, our dealers and customers.
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