The Mind Behind The Machine In the article, “Designing the PiTracer”, Junji detailed his R&D process in the early 90’s, in search of an ultimate CD transport design that would yield superior data retrieval rate with the most uncontaminated signal relay. Having background in circuit simplification and mechanical /structural refinement (see Flatfish Review), one of […]

by: Constantine Soo and Laurence Borden This Page (P to W): PORTAL AUDIO, PALADIN, PANACHE, PENAUDIO, WADIA PRAME, JADIS SILVERLINE AUDIO, METRONOME TECHNOLOGIE THORE AUDIO TETRA, BIRDLAND AUDIO, KUBALA-SOSNA TOTEM, ACCUPHASE VONSCHWEIKERT, ORACLE AUDIO, VAC WISDOM AUDIO, HALCRO PENAUDIO CHARISMA 2-WAY SPEAKER $2,995/PAIR ON CHARA BASS UNIT $2,500/PAIR PANACHE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER $1,795 WADIA $861 CD […]

by: Constantine Soo and Laurence Borden This Page (K to O): KHARMA, LAMM INDUSTRIES LINN MARTEN DESIGN, BRINKMANN MBL MUSIC HALL, EPOS NOLA, CONROAD JOHNSON ODYSSEY, SYMPHONIC LINE KHARMA EXQUISITE REFERENCE MIDI 1A LAMM INDUSTRIES ML2.1 MONOBLOCKS WALKER AUDIO PROSCENIUM TURNTABLE $24,200 LINN KISTO SYSTEM CONTROLLOER $12,995 *A true system controller solution, not just an […]

Foreword The increasingly popular application of minimonitors as main speakers in a home theatre is understandably wife-decreed in many cases, with the exception of readers who own very large family room fitting for a pair of the largest Apogees and the likes. But minimonitors used to rule the industry. A reign of the minimonitors took […]

Foreword Digital audio has been garnering the highest visibility among other equipment of a complete audio system for two decades, and progression of that segment of the consumer electronics industry has also been attracting talents from a wide range of disciplines. To this day, manufacturers continue to advance their understanding of every aspect of digital […]

The Technology Home to some of the most resourceful electronics conglomerates, Asia has also been the test market of newly developed consumer technologies before they are introduced to the American consumer. Amidst the excitement generated by the emergence of the high-resolution formats, one of the most anticipated and visible development in high-end audio is JVC’s […]

Introduction Working in 1986 as Audio Innovation’s Technical Director, David Chessell, with the now-defunct company’s founding member, Erik Andersson, claimed to have produced the first triode amplifier in Europe the same year. The partnership continued into the following year with David founding the Audion name and making Erik his Chief Designer. In 1992, when Chinese […]

by: Yoshi Segoshi Tokyo, 1968. I was 17. Flower Power and Existentialism, “Beggers Banquet” and “White Album”, Antonioni and Jean-Luc Godard, “Students’ Movement. But for me, it was mostly a season of Jazz. It was the time of rebellion and the time of change, at least it still was in Tokyo. Coltrane had passed away […]

January 9, 2004, Las Vegas, Nevada 47 Laboratory’s proprietor and his U.S. distributor, namely Junji Kimura and Yoshi Segoshi, took my wife and I out to dinner at the end of a day of their CES exhibit at St. Tropez Resort. All large restaurants were full so we doubled back and dined at a small […]

All artists featured in Linn’s Linn Records 2001 sampler (Linn AKP 175) display serious, world class talents that any record label can be proud of. For a hardware manufacturer to have such an entrepreneurial presence in the music business is not only a rarity and a blessing to audiophiles and music lovers alike, this integration […]

In the past two decades, numerous readings of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition and Night On Bald Mountain by other conductors and ensembles were inevitably compared to the Telarc/Maazel accomplishment. Some groups provided greater insights in many passages; but ultimately they failed to distinguish themselves significantly from one another. Most importantly, none of them could […]

It is hard to accept any other Four Seasons after having lived with Berlin Philharmonic’s version with its massive string section. I, like any classical music admirer worth his salt, bought my first copy of the quintessential piece the moment it was available on CD in 1984. The fact that I was fortunate enough to […]

At our first meeting at the 2004 Las Vegas CES, Mr. Kazuo Kiuchi of Combak Corporation and Mr. Nizar Akhrass of May Audio Marketing, Combak’s U.S. exclusive distributor, generously agreed to a DAGOGO world-premiere Review on the company’s $17k CAT-777 preamplifier and the matching, $27k PAT-777 300B stereo power amplifier. Kazuo Kiuchi At my insistent […]

by: Constantine Soo and Laurence Borden This Page (E to I): EPIPHANY AUDIO, EMMLABS, TENOR AUDIO GERSHMANN ACOUSTICS, AUDIO AERO, LINAR AUDIO GOLDMUND HYPERION INNERSOUND EPIPHANY 12-12 LINE ARRAY $14,900 PAIR E CUBE $6,490 TENOR AUDIO LINESTAGE PROTOTYPE EMMLAB DIGITAL FRONT END TENOR AUDIO 300HP HYBRID POWER AMP GERSHMANN ACOUSTIC OPERA SAUVAGE $19,995 PAIR AUDIO […]

by: Constantine Soo and Laurence Borden This page (A to D): Audiopax Blue Circle, Focus Audio, Resolution Audio Chord, Living Voice Damoka, Lamm Industries, EMT, Micro DeVore Fidelity AUDIOPAX REFERENCE 100 SPEAKERS MODEL 88 MONOBLOCKS MODEL 5 LINESTAGE [A] RESOLUTION AUDIO OPUS 21 2-BOX CD PLAYER $3,500 [B] BLUE CIRCLE BC103 SOLID-STATE PREAMP $3,495 [C] […]

LVCC booth 16862 South Hall 1&2 / Alexis Park room 1103 Specifications: Type: 3-way, bass reflex Drivers: 4PI tweeter, 37 mm dome midrange, 180 mm twin woofers Crossover Frequency: 200/1k/4k Hz Frequency Range: 28 – 50k Hz Sensitivity: 89 dB/m/w Normal Impedance: 4 Ohm, 3.3 Ohm/150 Hz (minimum) Power Handling: 200W normal, 250W peak Recommended […]

Alexis Park Suite 1753 & 1762 Equipment: SOURCE: dCS SACD WAVAC PR-T1 transformer-coupled linestage $30,000 WAVAC HE-833v1.3 150 Wpc SET amplifier $69,000/pair WAVAC MD-805 55 Wpc SET monoblocks $19,000/pair WAVAC MD-811 15 Wpc SET monoblocks $5,000/pair Vitus Audio Signature SM-100 monoblocks 100 Wpc Class A $45,000/pair Vitus Audio RP-100 phono (top) $19,000 RL-100 linestage (bottom) […]

Eyris Dual-Concentric & Digitial Eyris Demo Wadia monoblock DACs and Controller Thiel 2.4 Audio Note Ongaku Audio Note TT3

LOCATION A: Alexis Park Room 2008 – Two-room Suite Equipment List: Primary Preamplifier Audion Premier 1.0 Anniversary Edition preamplifier $3,195 Room #1 Audion Golden Dream Level 6 300B PSE 25 watt monoblocks $14,995 2nd Rethm single-driver floorstander $6,500/pair LOCATION B: St. Tropez Hotel Room 1103 – Two-room Suite Primary analog front end: Amazon Model Two […]

Alexis Park AP2453 (Bldg 24, Room 53) Major Expansion for MFSL in 2004 Las Vegas, Nevada – With several new and innovative product lines debuting at CES, 2004 is already full steam ahead for Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab of Sebastopol, CA. Drawing upon critical insight derived from several decades of practical application and achievement within […]

LVCC South Hall, booth #16486 Introducing: New Home Cinema Series Multichannel Preamp/Processor And 5-Channel Amplifier Designer Looks – Optimized Circuitry Robust Build “ High-End Sound, Reasonable Cost” A Man With History Richard Marsh, the man behind Marsh Sound Design, has spent years investigating the complex highways and byways of audio circuit design. His extensive background […]

Bellagio Suite 34055 New Products Preview: Jan 8 – 10, 4pm to 6pm The unique 3-K Driver Array is a precision machined die-cast component housing an optimized and acoustically matched grouping of the mid-range, high-frequency and super high-frequency drive units. It is designed and manufactured to ensure an exceptionally wide horizontal and vertical dispersion, precise […]

Alexis Park Room 1756 Informal Press Event Fri Jan 9th 4 to 6pm With Drinks And Hors D’oeuvres First Show Outing of the Mighty 200Wpc VZN-220 Rite of Passage OTL Monoblock Amplifiers All-Tube LA-150 Line Stage Preamplifier All-Tube OPS-2 phono stage -With- Elrod Power Systems Power Cables, Interconnects & Speaker Cables Joseph Audio Pearl Speaker […]

Alexis Park Room 190B Press and Friends Invited To An Informal Event Thursday Jan. 8th 5:30 to 7:30 Drinks and Food Will Be Served Celebrating: *2 New Innovative Products *Our 3 Year Winning Streak *Publication Of An Independent Peer-Reviewed AES Research Paper By Dr. David Rich & Brandon Cochenour Regarding Infinate Slope Crossovers (Infinate Slope […]

Bellagio Suite (From left to right) Constantine Soo, Michel Reverchon of Goldmund and John Fairchild (Importer) Memesis Series SRP2.3, SRDVD NEW EIDOS 720 DLP VIDEO PROJECTOR (MSRP TBA) With the Eidos 720 projector, Goldmund shows how its “Mechanical Grounding” construction principle can improve the Video picture quality in both stability and sharpness. Using the latest […]

Alexis Park Suite 1651 Combak Corporation’s Managing Director, Mr. Kazuo Kiuchi Equipment List CDP-777 CD Transport/Player $17,000 *Extended K2 Processing *176.4kHz 24bit 4 times oversampling yielding 705.6kHz Debut CAT-777 Vacuum Tube Control $17,000 *Single-ended no negative feedback *Output tubes 12AU7(x 2) & 12BH7A (x 2) *Rectifier 6x4WA(x 2) *Solderless wiring, non-magnetic Carbon resistors, InFiniCap film […]

St. Tropez Hotel Main System 4704 PITrace CD transport $25,000 with optional, 2nd 4700 power supply for seperate motor drive and laser pick up operations. Total MSRP = $26,800 4705-G Gemini Progression DAC $3,500 with two 4799 power supply ($1,800 each) for dual mono operations Total MSRP = $7,100 4706 Gaincard Amplifier with two “S” […]

January 25, 2004 A stretch of US 1 in Maine is called the Coastal Route. When Lee and I drive south to Camden, we have the option of taking Route 1 or going inland. Both have their attractions, and we are aesthetes, no use denying it. We relish what pleases the eye and deplore the […]

On November 1, 2003, I auditioned a Goldmund system driving a pair of speakers identical to the $20,000 Audio Note AN-E SEC Silvers I reviewed in February, 2003. Joe Cutrufelli of JC Audio recently became Goldmund of Switzerland’s Northern California dealer, and invited my wife and me to his place for a private auditioning of […]

BACKGROUND The HE 2003 Show that was co-sponsored by Stereophile in June included a semi-horn speaker system from Italy, the Royal Device Laura Studio Mk II with Miranda Horn. Royal Device is a trademark of the Italian speaker company, Aliante s.r.l. that offers eight special, 2-way high-end horn loudspeakers under the RD name, ranging from […]