Newport served as the venue to premiere the?Merrill Audio?Christine Reference?preamp ($12,400), a gorgeous hand-built component that uses hand-routed PCB layout and traces, silver-plated copper with Teflon jacketing for the internal wiring, and offers four balanced inputs, and an external power supply. Joining Christine were Merrill?s?Veritas?monoblocks, its?Jens Ref?phonostage,?VPI?Avenger?table,?Equi=Core?power cord conditioners, and the?German Physiks?superb omni-loudspeaker, the?HRS-130. This was an exceptional sounding system?open, transparent, and effortless as the best omni speakers tend to be when driven by high-quality electronics and sources.