For some months, Carl Marchisotto, the president of NOLA speakers, had been asking me to come and check out the latest revision of his Baby Grand Reference Gold 5 loudspeakers, which sit in the middle of NOLA's Reference Gold lineup. In fact, he was pretty darn insistent. I was the one who kept stalling; life kept getting in the way. I had heard and been very impressed with the speakers at Capital Audiofest 2025, but Carl was emphatic that I had to hear his latest upgrade.
Full disclosure: Carl has been a friend of mine for decades. I owned a pair of Alon 2 speakers until I pretty much wore them out after more than 30 years. I started my high-end audio life with a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10s, which Carl had a hand in improving from their original configuration by implementing mirror-imaged drivers. I’ve heard and liked many of his other speakers. So, when Carl was so enthusiastic about his latest improvement, which consisted of upgraded midrange drivers and crossovers, I took him very seriously.
Finally I got the chance to stop by his Long Island facility. The gear he used was the same as what he had at Capital Audiofest 2025, so, even though the listening room was different, at least I had something of a reference in what might have changed in the sound of the speakers. The associated equipment included an Audio Research Reference CD 8 CD player, VAC Essence line stage preamp, Western Electric 97A mono amps, and Nordost cabling.
Carl began by playing a couple of cuts from Eric Clapton’s The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions, and the sound was immediately impressive in its scale and weight and fantastic dynamics. But Carl was just suckering me in.
The next thing he played was a Clark Terry album, Live at the Village Gate, and I was not prepared for the reproduction of this recording to sound so amazingly like a live performance. Terry’s trumpet had a presence that was spooky. The drums were uncanny in their dynamic impact. The bass really did sound like a physical instrument playing in the room, as did the sax, and, well, everything. Carl and I simply listened in silence and let the CD play on. There’s a part during "Keep, Keep, Keep on Keepin' On" where the band members all sing along, and…you know that “startle” factor when you hear something from a system and your brain momentarily “jumps,” thinking it’s real? That’s what happened when I heard those voices.
Then Carl played the Reference Recordings disc of the Appalachian Spring Suite with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, and I entered that zone where I truly forgot where I was and sat there practically, or maybe literally, hypnotized by the music. Tonal balance? Just right for this listener. Dynamic impact? You should have been there. Imaging and staging? It felt like you could just walk into this field of sound and sit among the musicians. The sound had that natural quality that made you forget you were listening to a “stereo system” and instead experiencing an audio time machine. It was so relaxing I almost started to drift off…and believe me, that’s a compliment. (How many times has an audio system put you on edge?)
No wonder Carl was so excited about this upgrade. Naturally he didn’t want to give away any trade secrets and I wasn’t going to pry – well, OK, I kinda did – but he did say the new midrange drivers and crossover were a result of asking his driver supplier to work with him on some ideas; taking advantage of improvements in materials; and just trying things, and having some good luck in the process.
I noted Carl’s preference for tubes. He feels that tubes, and especially tubes with simpler design elements like the 300B triode power tubes in the Western Electric amps, are the way to go. Less interference in the paths of the electrons, he opines. He’s long been a proponent of baffle-less enclosures for the midrange and tweeters, for a more spacious presentation. He is a fan of alnico magnets. Decades of speaker design experience doesn’t hurt.
Look, the system I heard isn’t cheap…the Western Electric amps alone go for $125,000 per pair, and the Baby Grand Reference Gold 5 are $150,000 per pair, but in light of their level of performance, I have to consider the Baby Grand Reference Gold 5 a good value. I mean, we’re at the point where there are speakers that cost more than a million dollars a pair now. And though it’s an ultimately unfair judgment because I’ve only heard other $100,000-plus speakers at audio shows, some of them haven’t really done it for me.
Carl and I talked about a number of other things, one of which is that he bemoans the state of a lot of the audio reviewing that’s out there. There are too many hot takes by inexperienced reviewers designed simply to get eyeballs and clicks, and fewer extensive, product evaluations by veteran audio writers. Internet audio forums can be a morass of uninformed opinions (how many more times am I going to read some “expert” going on and on about how people who think cables make a difference are delusional?), and downright nastiness.
When I think about the predicament of consumers, especially younger people seeking audio knowledge in the midst of all this, I get frustrated.
So it got me to thinking:
Audio reviewers and writers have a serious responsibility.
That responsibility is to eliminate confusion.
Our job, which is more important than ever, is to provide enlightenment. Of course, audiophiles will never agree on everything, but as industry professionals, we must report from a position of honesty and continually endeavor to seek the truth. We must be open-minded, willing to admit when we’re wrong, and be strong in our convictions when we believe we are, or simply are, right. If someone turns to us for advice, we need to give them honesty, not obfuscation.
I’ve always tried to be a purveyor of knowledge and reason in our audio corner of the world, and more than ever, in a world where sometimes it seems like reality itself can be malleable, I feel like it is my mission.
And all is not gloom and doom. The fact is that high-performance audio at its best, whether it’s a modestly priced DAC or turntable or an expensive speaker or amplifier, can profoundly enrich our lives by connecting us to the music we love. I’ve always been enthusiastic about that. Why wouldn’t I be? And that’s the truth.
Header image by Kristen Marchisotto.
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