Thursday, December 4, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Home Entertainment Magazine has published a review of the Loiminchay Audio Chagall floorstanding loudspeaker ($48,500/pair). These are striking in appearance (photo) and specs. Reviewer Steve Guttenberg notes:
…the ultra-lightweight, yet super-hard 1-inch diamond tweeter’s response reaches 40 kilohertz to produce unrivaled texture and nuance in the upper frequencies. … All internal wiring is pure silver. The cabinet’s insides are stuffed with lamb’s wool from Australia.
Lambs wool? OK. On the sound, he liked them on jazz and vocals but not so much on hard rock:
…ferocious guitar and drums workouts came through loud and clear, but the Chagall’s bass didn’t have the control and impact I’d expect. … I doubt it was the Chagalls running out of steam, methinks Mr. Chu’s 50 watt tube amplifiers were the prime culprits. I gather he’s not a rock and roller.
Check out the full review, then see Steve’s blog, The Audiophiliac (tell me that word doesn’t give you shivers!).
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
DAGOGO has published its December issue, which includes the most expensive pair of speakers I’ve ever heard of, as well as a couple of other components with cost-no-object price tags:
Read the reviews, then answer this question: Is it possible to assemble a system that costs over half a million US dollars? If so, please leave a comment with the components and their prices. I’m playing the lottery and need to plan ahead.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
SoundStage! Network, a collection of audio! web! sites!, has published a flurry of new reviews. Among them:
There are more but they weren’t given permanent URLs, so I can’t link to them here. If you are the owner of a big web site and you don’t understand why it’s important to give permanent URLs to your content, send me an email. I’d be happy to explain it (again).
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Audio Video Revolution, aka AVRev.com, has reviewed the Acoustic Zen Adagio floorstanding loudspeakers ($4,300). After 200+ hours of break-in, reviewer Brian Kahn concluded:
The Adagio speakers are very revealing yet musical speakers. I found them to be only ribbon tweeter-based speakers under $10,000 that I really enjoyed. Unless your listening habits tend towards bass-heavy music at loud volumes, these speakers deserve a close listen for anyone shopping in the $4,000 to$10,000 price range.
Read the entire review.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Audiophile Audition, a site that focuses primarily on hi-res music, has reviewed the Marantz TT-15S1 turntable ($1,600). This is a nice looking unit (photo) featuring an “acrylic turntable including arm and cartridge (manufactured by Clearaudio for Marantz).”
Once he got it assembled, reviewer Brian Bloom thought the turntable sounded quite good:
The sound of this turntable leans toward clarity rather than warmth. Background noise was low and imaging and focus was as good as you’d expect on this record. This table offers better dynamics and focus in comparison with cheaper tables. There is a bigger image and less flattening of the soundstage, with a more fleshed out sound.
Read the entire review, then tell me if you think the recent “vinyl resurgence” is a real or media-made phenomenon. I’m betting on the latter.
TNT-Audio has published a review of the positively German Abacus Rieder 60-120B power amp (EUR 790) and 6-2RC preamp (EUR 660). Reviewer Maarten van Casteren thought the power amp was a good value but exhibited a certain amount of listener fatigue:
This is not to say that it is without flaws, and the most serious problem is a slight tendency to induce fatigue after a few hours of listening. Some people are more concerned with this than others, but for me this is important. On the other hand, I don’t think there are many power amps in this price range that do much better in this respect, and if they do you pay for it with a less engaging sound.
Maarten’s take on the preamp was less positive, describing it as “somewhat restrained, choked even.” His conclusion?
I’m more impressed with the power amp than with the preamp. Not that there’s anything deeply wrong with the pre: it actually works very well and sounds about as good as you would expect at the price, but the power amp simply is better value.
Read the entire review, then check out the manufacturer’s comments at the end. I’m not sure what Abacus’ Karl-Heinz Sonder is trying to say, but it would certainly be easier to figure out if a real translater was involved.
Positive Feedback Online has published three new equipment reviews:
The Argentum review is by Robert H. Levi, who must have both the best luck in the world (to get so many REVOLUTIONARY BREAKTHROUGH products to review) and the best ears in the world (to hear such dramatic differences between them). Wow!
Hi-Fi World has published its January issue, which includes a “Supertest” of standmount loudspeakers. Nine bookshelf speakers were included in the shootout, including models from:
- Q-Acoustics
- Wharfedale
- Monitor Audio
- Quad
- Kef
- Usher
- Mordaunt Short
- B&W
The new issue also includes reviews of the following electronics:
- Icon Audio MB845 tube monoblock power amps
- Roksan K2 integrated amplifier
- World Design WD Pre3 tube preamplifier
Unfortunately, Hi-Fi World doesn’t publish its content on web pages, so you have to deal with their wacky, psuedo-PDF thing. You can download the latest issue, subscribe to the electronic edition, or just wait until they enter the 21st century and publish web pages…
Friday, November 28, 2008
