The Gentleman Loudspeaker
Issue
Six
DeVore Gibbon Nine
EDITOR’S COLUMN It is a given that this event draws a nice crowd, Hifi shows have for years, been a top drawer for consumers and hobbyists alike. Shows are also a barometer of the state of health of the industry. The show starts this weekend. How would the turnout be like? 2009 has been a tough year – the near economic meltdown (and we are not out of it yet) of the world economy coupled by a weak market means spending will be limited. I believe the crowd will show up to support the hifi industry. High end will always have its attraction – listening, touching or merely gawking at some pretty exotic gear is well worth the price of admission. It is said high end products do exceptionally well during an economic downturn, consumers will always appreciate quality when they see it. I hope to see some new players participating in the coming show. The crowd that throngs the narrow corridors of the hotel during those 3 days should exceed the number of visitors they get in their showroom for the next 362 days. This alone makes for a worthwhile effort.
Marques of Distinction
• Live Concert by Chang An & Xu Le (from RFS Co Ltd) • A free copy of “International Sound & Sight Exhibition 2009” test disc with every ticket purchased • First-ever demo of true 192kHz / 24bit high definition recording • The most advanced analogue & digital equipment • Full HD flat-screen TVs, projectors & home theatre systems • Seminars and talks conducted by manufacturers & experts • Special promotional discounts • Daily lucky draw with attractive prizes • For updates, please visit www.avmagazine.com
Date
:
6 - 8 Nov 2009
Time
:
11.00am - 7.00pm
Ticket
:
S$15
Venue
:
Parkroyal on Kitchener Road
Address
:
181 Kitchener Road Singapore 208533 Farrer Park MRT Station (North East Line)
Sound & Sight Fantasy
Clementi Central Post Office PO Box 67 Singapore 911203. Tel / Fax: 6467 5116 Website: www.avmagazine.com Email: avmagazine@avmagazine.com
白LOGO poster2009_10_13.indd
1
2009-10-14
11:04:53
Published by MODAVI Private Limited
Editor Terence Wong terence@mod-avi.com
Sales and Marketing Wong Ng Lai Leng laileng@mod-avi.com
Graphic Nainty Nine
Marques of Distinction
The title Marques of Distinction, its associated logos or devices and the contents of this magazine is the sole property of MODAVI Private Limited. Reproduction in whole or part of, is strictly prohibited. MODAVI Private Limited is not responsible for any omissions, errors, misrepresentation or any loss that arise through the use of the information provided herein. We are also not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or other materials sent to us for the purpose of publication or otherwise. We reserve the right to edit all relevant materials. MODAVI Private Limited retains ownership of all materials published and no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the publishers.
Contents
In this Issue
10 Alga Horn
05
DeVore Gibbon Nine
privilege 12 The of High End
and 17 Rock Roll system
and 24 Aluminium glowing glass
31 SITEX 2009 Marques of Distinction
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DeVore Gibbon Marques of Distinction
NINE
When I first set eyes on DeVore’s speakers, its simple lines belie a depth of speaker design and engineering many will missed just by looking at this box speaker. The Gibbon NINE (USD6500) is the top model in the Gibbon series with a high-end model the Silverback Reference flying the flag. The NINE looks simple yet purposeful, think of it as the Twiggy of the hifi loudspeaker fraternity, flat chested and all. You cannot blame John DeVore of not trying to dress up his loudspeaker, because I can tell you this, he put his money where its worth. The NINE is a compact metre high loudspeaker built along the lines of traditional loudspeakers. DeVore calls this a two and a half way loudspeaker – each speaker has a side-firing woofer. The 3/4 –inch soft dome tweeter and 6.5-inch woofer (with phase plug) are front mounted like all normal box speakers with the tweeter mounted offset – away from the side the second woofer is mounted. Should you have the woofers firing inwards and tweeters on the outside or woofers firing on the outside with tweeters on the inside? It’s down to the room – do you want to excite the room or not? I would suppose in smaller rooms to have the woofers firing inwards would elicit a tighter and more defined bass. The use of two 6.5-inch bass units suggests the NINE will not plumb the depths the way of say, a 12-incher would have.
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DeVore’s use of dual 6.5 inch drive units is to have one drive unit firing towards the listener while the side firing unit adds room reinforcement through the use of boundary amplification. In other words, the room will augment the lower frequencies. The benefits of such a configuration is to retain the speed and ‘snap’ that a smaller woofer can provide yet achieve extension equivalent of a larger front firing bass unit. Side firing woofers remind me of Audio Physic, the imaging wonder speaker, in fact the NINE had certain resemblance to the Audio Physic Virgo. The speaker is a ported design and has two rear ports – each port tuned for each bass drive unit. The drive units are sourced from SEAS so they are dependable and of good quality. The crossover is purported to be something proprietary but nothing much can be gleaned from their literature because there is none whatsoever. I suppose Mr DeVore regards a sales brochure tells nothing about what his speakers can do, hence not worthy of his time to create one. Instead the speakers are made for one reason, to create a satisfying musical experience. The speaker designer also made up our mind for us regard biwiring, there is only one pair of terminals so you should get one great pair of speaker cables instead of two pair of so-so quality. The common design element for DeVore speakers is the benign load making low powered tube amplifiers a
suitable match. Mr DeVore himself runs 300B amplifiers in his speaker development. Grilles are supplied and seem non-invasive as fabric stretched over a metal frame and held by magnets embedded on the front of the speaker under the veneer covering. Big spiked feet makes it easy to adjust and is much more stable than small spikes so favoured by many speaker manufacturers. And... that’s it. No frills, just sound. Placement makes or breaks a speaker and this hold even truer for the NINE. The NINE is in my opinion, a near field speaker, meaning it is tuned to sound its best when the listener is closer to the speaker than the distance between the two speakers. Near field speakers have the advantage of being able to sound good in smaller rooms, in fact, it is said the DeVore’s are designed to sound good in small New York apartments. That is also where DeVore is based – Brooklyn, NY City. Seated nearer to the speakers also mean the room interaction with the sound from the speakers are minimized to a great extent as you hear more direct sound from the speaker than reflected sound off the side walls, ceilings and floors. The NINE is one speaker that will take a little time to grow on you. It wouldn’t attract you to it on first glance, it certainly wouldn’t sell on the basis of looks alone. If it were a suit, it would be a Burberry sport jacket instead of an Armani suit. If it were to only fall back on its one trick up its sleeve – it would have to sound so good, that you are actually pleased that the speaker designer had put something of quality into the cabinet instead of resorting to ‘make-up’ to appeal to the musically ignorant.
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I dropped a Norah Jones CD into the player and with a solid-state amplifier – an ATC SIA2-150. With 150 watts on tap, the NINEs didn’t sound too happy. It sounded coarse though with great clarity. Next we hitched up a small tube integrated – Audio Space EL34 6I-RZ. On triode mode with 16 watts per channel, the NINEs sounded more comfortable, in fact pretty good. Let’s start with the bass end. If you like loads of bass, the NINEs will not suit. The NINEs is somewhat polite and gentlemanly in this respect. What it had going for is good control, a fair extension (DeVore claims down to 32 hz) and excellent bass tonality for a box this size
is pretty good by my books. It will sound good in the sort of rooms we have here – long and narrow living rooms, don’t worry, even if you need to fire across the shorter width of the room instead of down the length. It will do just fine. The midrange and high frequency performance must be mentioned together. The reason is simple – they sound so well integrated that I am hard pressed to look for the parts that sticks up only to be knocked down like the proverbial nail. The NINEs resolve information much like a high definition bookshelf but with an extended bass response. Think of all the great bookshelf speakers – the LS 3/5A, ProAc Tablette and Response One series, the old AE-1, Totem Model One et el, (sorry if I missed out your favourite) and you know what I mean. If you are strapped for budget, there is the bookshelf DeVore Gibbon 3XL would also fit in the same mold as these super mini monitors, loses out perhaps half an octave of bass extension. The key strength in the NINE is its ability to render micro dynamics – the ability to define subtle nuances that lesser speakers would otherwise gloss over. So you start to hear more from each disc, even familiar ones. What is even more impressive is this ability is spread across a wider spectrum than most speakers. I explain if you lost me here, most speakers have some ability
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to resolve minutiae of information – it is just the relative bandwidth it is able to do so. Some speakers have a very detailed midband but as it plumb the lower frequencies, it gets muddy; in other words, it loses its ability to resolve information as the speaker looses its grip on the proceedings. The better the speaker, the better its ability to resolve a wider range of frequencies. The NINEs are outstanding in that respect – it has the ability to render micro dynamics all the way down to the lowest frequencies it can reach. That said, the NINEs had a simple winning formula – it sound fantastic in the sort of environment we have here, small apartments needing speakers with nearfield attributes. In its own way, some would liked the idea that it is something of a ‘modernised’ LS 3/5A with better bass extension which is of course nonsense, it is a modern speaker with attributes that do not have any remnants of a legacy. Only time will tell if it would go down the annals of a classic loudspeaker. For me all I can wish for is the NINEs to come in a nicer suit... DeVore is distributed by: Audio88 No 1 Coleman Street #03-40 The Adelphi Singapore 179803 Tel: 6333 5515 URL: www.audio88.net
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Listen.... .... hear the sound of our love, passion, sincerity, and dedication that we bring to our art.
www.feastrexsingapore.com
simplest yet most complex loudHorn loudspeakers are perhaps the cover dspeakers use multiple drivers to speakers ever. Where typical lou drive ally work around a single full range usu n hor ge, ran cy uen freq full the multiple a crossover network to blend the unit. Where typical speakers use the low losure as a ‘crossover ’ to extend enc the use ns hor er, eth tog ers driv e too big be pretty exotic, and mostly a littl frequencies. The enclosures can for smaller rooms. ge new design utilising a single full ran Enter the new Alga Horn - an all the rear k loaded horn design – meaning Feastrex drive unit in a curved bac n and then through precise calculatio n hor the ds loa r ake spe the of wave the phase as the sound travels through of the length of the horn, invert the s drive unit when the sound exits. Thi the of ve wa t fron the tch ma to n hor r and s the low frequency of the speake form of loading effectively extend . t make horn speakers so famous adds that all illusive ‘presence’ tha
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Alga Horn
Typical back loaded horn requires a lot of length for the lowest frequencies to invert its phase. By using the smaller Feastrex NF5 drive unit means the length of the horn is significantly shorter than say, Feastrex larger 9-inch unit and allow the speaker to be relatively compact. I suppose the success of the NF5 in this compact horn will possibly lead to the larger horn using the 9-inch driver. A full review of the Alga Horn will be conducted in a later issue. Specifications: • Feastrex NF5” Naturflux Alnico single driver • Back loaded horn design cabinet with curved horn to prevent standing waves and thus, reduce boxiness of typical BLH designs • Frequency response 50Hz to 20kHz • OFC internal wiring
More on Festrex’s Naturflux: Feastrex’s original patent-pending Naturflux magnetic circuit is an immediately obvious innovation in magnetic circuit technology and represents an incredible value. Not only do Naturflux drivers achieve excellent gap flux density that flux is extremely stable and able to be put to optimum use. The sound is amazingly natural
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and effortless: the music simply flows out as naturally and easily as a river meanders across the plains seeking the ocean. Asking magnetic flux to negotiate the sharp, 90degree bends in a conventional magnetic circuit is like asking water to flow around a sharp right-angle curve. It can be done, but it’s not happy doing so, and inefficiencies result. Sharp bends affect magnetic flux and water pipes similarly: resistance increases with pressure and as a result flow volume falls off. (In the case of water pipes, the right angle pipe will actually get hot under a high enough flow rate). Where previous designs fought against the natural behaviour of magnetic flux, the Naturflux magnetic circuit accommodates flux behaviour and uses it more effectively. The Naturflux design demonstrates the importance of voice coil gap flux stability and strength in high fidelity sound reproduction. http://www.feastrex.com
Alga Horn
Once again,
horns rule the earth! AURAL DESIGNS PTE LTD
1 Coleman Street #03-11 The Adelphi Singapore 179803 Phone: +65 6339 0134 Fax: +65 6234 0134 Email: ADesigns@singnet.com.sg www.aural-designs.com
The Privilege of
High End
Fabien Tallant, Strategic Manager for Orpheus Lab speaks to MOD By any standards, Orpheus Lab is a very young company and remarkably, gained success in a very short period of time. Perhaps they are just lucky? Perhaps it has something to do with the way Swiss does things with their watch industry – focus on quality, luxury and desirability. Hence, all things Swiss is by necessity, expensive by any standards. Strategic Manager for Orpheus Lab, Mr Fabien Tallant, was in town recently, enroute to this region just after the Tokyo HiFi show to meet with the audio press and the local distributor, High End Research. As usual, I took the opportunity to unruffle a couple of feathers, if possible...
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MOD – How does Orpheus come about in such a short time and achieved so much success in the market? FT – Orpheus is not just a high-end hifi company that most people know of. There is actually a bigger organization behind Orpheus that provides all the resources; talent and engineering know how to create the finished product. Compare to many hifi companies, Orpheus itself has some of the best engineers in numeric and software development. Yet, this alone will not allow Orpheus to bring a product into the market in the shortest possible time. Especially in digital technologies, things move relatively fast. Orpheus is part of a company called Confectionic Sarl, started by my father, Philippe Tallant. The military and also the European space agency come to us for specific solutions to their needs so you have an idea what sort of specialization we do. Orpheus Lab, as part of Confectionic and we also own a company called ABC PCB, a high end circuit board design company take on unique projects and provide solutions with our technical expertise. Each of these companies has its own specialization and we structure our companies in such a way that enable us to tap on the resources of each company to work on a project. For instance, when Orpheus need to develop say, a CD player, Orpheus engineers will work on the
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algorithms, we then bring in some engineers from ABC to help with the circuit board design and Confectionic’s engineers will be brought in to work on the industrial design and manufacture of the final product. In the age of globalization, we need this flexibility so that the products can be designed and produced quickly. This enables us to be efficient, to respond quickly to technological developments faster than most companies ever could! MOD – How did Orpheus started? FT – Back in 2002, a small group of engineers left Goldmund (another Swiss high end audio company) and started on their own. These engineers are numeric engineers; their specialization is with digital technologies. They developed the algorithms for reconstructing the digital waveform into analogue signal. This means the technology they developed is able to address the changing landscape of digital. The ‘ANAGRAM’ module you see in our DACs is the result of this technology developed by these engineers and available to no other manufacturer. MOD – The Orpheus line of products, comes in slim compact chassis, so small ...
FT – We developed what is now called the ‘Classic’ line originally for the European market. The slim design is well accepted, as we are selling sound, not equipment. You buy Orpheus because you love music and the Orpheus system – CD transport, DAC, preamp and poweramp produce best sound for the music lover. We recognize consumers in the Far East have different expectations so now we developed from the ‘Classic’ line, the high-end ‘Privilege’ line and the ultimate ‘Heritage’ line. Mr Heeb, one of our numeric engineers, was primarily responsible for the advanced algorithms in the Heritage DAC and that stands as the benchmark of the ultimate in digital performance. In our opinion, this is the best DAC ever, period! And we’ve got the Stereo Sound 2006 COTY award for our Heritage DAC! It upsamples to 768kHz, the highest ever. The Privilege and Heritage line will comprise a disc transport, a DAC, a preamplifier and power amplifiers. The Privilege line is developed from the Classic line, the performance will be somewhere between that of the Classic and the Heritage. The DAC for instance, upsamples to 384 kHz, half that of the Heritage DAC. MOD – Upsampling, is there a threshold where it does not make any difference anymore? FT – There will never be enough! Higher upsampling means more detail, more dynamics, and better sound. We are not limited by technical capability, we are only limited by down to earth factors such as cost and capabilities of existing technology such as components. We can, if we want to, to design our
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product with no consideration of cost, however, no one will be able to buy (afford) them! MOD – The new products (Privilege monobloc amplifiers) are a departure from the Classic line ... FT – CNC machined from a solid block of aluminum weighing some 105 Kg! We do it because it adds tremendous stability, reduces noise and improved performance in ways we could never imagined possible. You can say the Privilege mono amplifier is a natural evolution from the Classic mono amplifier. The matching preamplifier (not in the store yet) is already in production together with the 384 kHz DAC. The DAC will also have a USB input, we recognize the emerging formats will be constantly evolving, the DAC is designed to accommodate current and future audio formats. The transport is currently under development and we hope to have the product soon, possibly by end of this year or early next year. The complete system assembled, is a huge evolution from the Classic series, better in every respect. After the Privilege series is completed, we will work on the Heritage line. We already have some ideas we can put into the designs, but it will take more time. We make our products for a discerning customer, not mass production. Every Orpheus product is 100% Swiss made. In doing so we give our customers value – the most efficient technology available. MOD – Thank You, Mr Tallant! We look forward to review the complete Privilege system once it lands in Singapore!
Orpheus Privilege Series
Pre and Power amplifier
The Privilege series represents the next level in the evolution of the Orpheus line of high end electronics. Orpheus offers a preamplifier, power amplifier, CD transport and Digital to Analogue converter. The complete system offers a synergy which push the envelope of audio performance, just like the original classic series had done so for the last few years.
With high quiescent current, Orpheus amplifiers combine the speed and authoritative deep bass of the most powerful transistor designs with the midrange glow, smooth high frequencies and overall musical warmth of the finest tube designs. Housing this level of power and performance in such an elegant low-profile enclosure optimizes the ultra-short signal path.
The construction of the Privilege series heralds a new standard in offering quality and performance. Standard across this range is the mono-bloc all aluminum construction. Milled from a single bloc of aluminum weighing some 100 Kg, the result is a chassis that offers structural as well as sonic stability. Orpheus Privilege series demonstrated the possibility to merge creative mechanics design with advance audio technologies.
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Preamplifier Features • Intuitive menu-based operation • Independent input level setting for each channel • 100-step volume control in 0.5 dB increments • 20-step relative level adjustment for each input in 0.5 dB increments • User-selectable input names up to 10 characters • Optical Incr. Encoder for a new intuitive control • Channel balance control • Bypass option • 4 trigger outputs each adjustable • USB port • Highest quality analog stage with audiophile components.
Poweramplifier
Digital to Analogue converter
Features
Orpheus Privilege A/D converter builds upon the success of Orpheus One SE and pushes the limits even further for pure audiophile. Based on outstanding digital and analogue worlds, Orpheus Privilege A/D converter is the perfect bridge between the two worlds.
• 350 W Amplifier Mono • 1050VA total power supply transformers instead of 350VA • Single-ended phono inputs and balanced XLR inputs • Dual speaker terminals for bi-wiring (Three M monoblock) • Efficient heat dissipation via internal chassis-coupled heatsinks • Sleek, slim-line brushed aluminium face plate mounted to nonresonant heavy-gauge black powder-coated steel chassis with no visible screws • Bridge amplifier topology on the load • PowerLoop technology for a constant output power mode on the output stage • Symetrical path from the single stage to the output stage • regulated power supplies for both input and output stages • Capacitor mutliplier with an electronic equivalence of 2 Farads per power supply rail.
Features • Exclusive 24-bit/384 kHz digital to analogue conversion • Latest generation upsampling technology for enhanced digital audio playback, especially for the CD medium • Phase inversion via remote or front panel • Digital inputs: AES/EBU, 2 x coaxial, 2 x BNC, TOSLink • Analogue outputs: single-ended phono and balanced XLR • Optical Incr. Encoder for a new intuitive control • USB port • User-adjustable display lighting (100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, OFF) • In Night Mode, the display remains off, but illuminates briefly to confirm a command • Physical controler with an optical rotary encoder and a push function • User-selectable input names up to 10 characters • Highest quality analog stage with audiophile components.
The CD transport will be available in January 2010. High End Research 317 Outram Road #01-46/47, Holiday Inn Atrium Shopping Centre, Singapore 169075 Tel: 6735 1718 / 6736 1718 Fax: 6732 1684
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Orpheus Heritage DAC Orpheus
Heritage
DAC
represents
the
State-of-the-Art-Digital to Analogue conversion - an innovative two box constructions developed and build with the highest mechanical quality, oversized power supply and highest quality master clock provide unequalled sense of rhythm and “foot tapping” effect. An Innovative phase aligned analogue stage allows for ultrafast transient response and perfect stereo imaging. The full dual mono construction brings silence
absolute
channel
separation
and
operation
HIGH END RESEARCH
317 Outram Road #01-46/47, Holiday Inn Atrium Shopping Centre, Singapore 169075 Tel: 6735 1718 / 6736 1718 Fax: 6732 1684
Rock and Roll system A serious case of rock addiction
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It is easy to sell gear to an audiophile – setup the system to sound good on the audiophile ‘standards’ and wait for them to show up! Once in a while, you have this young guy turning up for an audition. Then in the middle of it all, he whips out his AC/DC album and you can almost see the sales guy face turning pale. Pop rock LPs is the mainstay for many music lovers and mostly playback on fairly basic systems, after all, the better the system, the more it shows up the flaws of the recording. And pop recordings are notorious for being pretty... erm... tough on a system. So does that mean for pop rock music, getting good sound from good system is mutually exclusive? Proof is in this setup.
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Belting out seventies rock tracks – Herbie Hancock, Journey and ...gasp.. Kylie Minogue (Gotta get ya outta my head) and you know we have someone who loves music – vinyl to be exact. In a small bedroom is the oasis for this rock n roll fan, is a fairly ambitious setup – the massive Kuzma turntable, the equally massive Karan Acoustics monoblocs and the awesome Focal Utopia Scala loudspeaker serves up a delectable dish of rock and roll. Starting with the turntable, the aforementioned Kuzma partners with a Triplanar tonearm and a Benz Micro LP cartridge provides a massive platform for the black spinners to show its best. There is always something about massive heavyweights like the Kuzma – utmost stability, deep
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rich bass, dark and silent background, wide dynamic range, superb depth portrayal ... I can go on but you get the message. The phono stage plays a big part in getting the signal equalized and amplified to a level the preamp could comfortably manage. Walker Audio, famous for their Proscenium Gold turntable offers a reference phono stage which comes encased in a nice wood casing, very retro. Amplification is a mix of east and the west, the Japanese Marantz SC-7S2 preamp driving the Karan KA M650 monobloc amplifiers from Yugoslavia. Why not Karan’s matching preamplifier? It had something about system synergy – in the context of the personal preference, music genre and the system matching, the Marantz works
better. The 650 watter Karan amplifier is a power house in two very black, very menancing chassis...geez, it looks powerful just ... sitting there. But of course in this instance, it has a bit of work in its hands – powering the Focal Utopia Scala loudspeaker. The Scala is the third model from the top and stands proudly as the smallest floorstander in the Utopia series. The Scala isn’t your ‘lifestyle’ compact tower. It has girth and depth and demands attention, in the nicest possible way. You would be impressed with the very high quality finishing on the Utopia series that stands out from the more pedestrian Focal range. Oh by the way, we don’t call them JM Lab anymore; they are now known as Focal. Just a name change, the stuff they make is as good as ever. Next, cabling. However mighty the components, nothing lets out, not even a whimper without the almighty cabling to string them up. A top tier system demands top tier cables and here we have NBS Black label interconnects and speaker cables to do the honours.
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System Configuration • Kuzma Reference turntable • Triplanar tonearm • Benz Micro LP cartridge • Walker Audio Reference Phono Stage • Marantz SA-7S1 SACD player • Marantz SC-7S2 preamplifier • Karan Acoustic KA M650 mono power amplifier • Focal Utopia Scala • NBS Black Label interconnects and speaker cables • Audioquest Sky interconnect (phono to preamp)
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Jay Audio 161 Lavender Street #01-10 Lavender Place Singapore 338750 Tel: 6292 2773, 6755 0646 Fax: 6292 2373, 6756 0996 www.jayaudio.com
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Aluminum and glowing glass
YG Acoustics and Audio Space anodized magic! Marques of Distinction
As far as I remember, brushed aluminum (black anodised or bare aluminum) face plate has been the classic finish for electronics for a long time. Never, have I ever come across any hifi system with so extensive the use of aluminum as this setup. The YG Acoustics Anat Reference speakers stood out as the most prominent component in this set up – each speaker comprises two modules – the smaller full range module comprises the dual midbass and tweeter, which sits on the bass module. Both modules are fabricated from slabs of aluminum, quite a departure from the mdf board used for almost all speakers. The cabinet is utterly devoid of features, there isn’t even a protective grille over the Scanspeak Revelator drive units but that’s what an audiophile would have wanted anyway. Driving the Anat Reference is a pair of Goldmund Telos 400
Marques of Distinction
Marques of Distinction
monoblocs. This Swiss made all aluminum wonder represents the latest in amplifier technology. Like other Telos models in the range, the 400 offers an optional unique Digital to Analogue converter as an input which allows the signal from the CD player or digital preamplifier to remain in the digital domain all the way till it reaches the final amplification stage. If necessary, signal processing can be applied for room correction. In this instance, the Telos 400 function as a normal analogue amplifier, sans all the digital bits. The Audio Space Reference 2S preamplifier sticks up like a pogo stick in a skateboard race. Amidst the acres of brushed aluminum, the chrome top and glowing glass tubes looked positively retro. But of course, with all that cold aluminum, the Audio Space adds a sense of warmth and sunshine. Finally, the digital bits come from Wadia 381 integrated CD player. The YG is a full range speaker and placed in this small room, I was expecting problems of the acoustic kind. I told myself ‘no way it’s going to work in this room!’ Whatever concerns I may have dispelled the moment the system fired up, the bass end was extended and controlled, the midrange never displayed any form of colouration and the high frequencies sweet and extended. The close to wall placement never did contribute any problem whatsoever. The width of the room did limit the staging spread but otherwise nothing too serious. The Anat Reference
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is indeed quite an achievement, showing its capabilities despite being handicapped by the room. Impressive. System Configuration: • Wadia 381 CD player • Audio Space Reference 2S preamp • Goldmund Telos 400 monobloc power amplifiers • YG Acoustic Anat Reference loudspeakers
Audio88 No 1 Coleman Street #03-40 The Adelphi Singapore 179803 Tel: 6333 5515 URL: www.audio88.net
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With the pick-up in the economy, organisers of SITEX are confident that the demand for consumer electronics will remain strong at this year’s show. Said Mr Chandran Nair, Deputy General Manager of SingExhibitions which manages SITEX, “The booth space was completely sold out two months ahead of the show. To meet the demand for more space, we have extended the exhibition area to Foyer 2 which is adjacent to the main exhibition halls. We are also pleased to welcome 35 new exhibitors including 2 first-time foreign companies from Estonia and Hong Kong.” Among the 35 fresh faces are Allbright Technology, Album Stories, Axioo, EUBIQ, Foresight Marketing, Lau International, M1, Manda International (Hong Kong), Microsoft, TravelSIM (Estonia), Trek2000, Yarraa Inc, Pericom and Waliwastokm. SITEX show organiser Ms Ho Se Mun, Executive Director of the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) added, “IT enthusiasts can expect to see a wide array of the latest and most sought-after digital hardware and software - be it animation, gaming, mobile communications, smart home, education, sports electronics – from leading brands such as Asus, Acer, Lenovo, LG, Linksys, HP, M1, Microsoft, Samsung, Seagate, Sony, Starhub and Toshiba. A galore of year-end festive discounts and bundle deals will be offered by the retailers to get the cash tills ringing.” A new Travel Tech segment catered to Singaporeans’ penchant for travelling will offer visitors a multitude of gadgets to choose from for that overseas trip. The organisers are confident to tip last year’s record of 826,000 visitors and $45 million in sales revenue.
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Travel Tech (Halls 5 & 6) - NEW segment! This new segment features gadgets that are not only packed with performance but also extremely portable for that out-of-town trip. Gizmos and solutions offered by exhibitors include:
• Navigation phones - Garmin-ASUS nüvifone(tm) • Digital photo albums - Photo Solutions, Album Stories • MP3 players - Aigo, Apple • Travel SIM cards - TravelSIM • GPS travel loggers - Asia Radio • Travel adaptors - Uniross travel plugs • Digital cameras - Canon, Casio, FujiFilm, Nikon, Samsung, Sony, Olympus, ORDRO • Road navigators - Garmin, Holux, TIBO, VITAS , SpeedNavi SQ, Marbella • Netbooks - ASUS, Axioo, Corbell (MSI), HP, Kohjinsha, Samsung, Toshiba • Camcorders - ORDRO • Noise-cancelling earphones - Aceline (JVC), Plantronics • Capsule speakers • Internet radios - Orange Communications • Language software - Cylon, DEZ • PDAs - Acer, Samsung, HTC, HP IPAQ • Bluetooth - i-Tech, Phillips • $2,000 cash + Samsung 46” LCD TV worth $3,599 or • $2,000 cash + Sony 40” LCD TV worth $2,399 or • $2,000 cash + JVC HDD Camcorder worth $1,699 or • $2,000 cash + LG Blu Ray Player worth $1,699
For the first time, the organisers will be holding an “All I Want For X’mas” Lucky Draw to reward customers for their purchases. Visitors can redeem their lucky draw coupons outside Hall 5. For every $100 accumulated in a single receipt, visitorswill receive a lucky draw coupon which entitles them a chance to win any one of the following 8 prizes:
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• $2,000 cash + Olympus DSR Camera worth $1,048 or • $2,000 cash + $800 Osim cash vouchers or • $2,000 cash + Sony Digital Camera worth $699 or • $2,000 cash + Samsung Net Book worth $599
The organisers will continue its efforts to build a loyal fan base of female shoppers by organising the highly successful “Ladies Go Tech Lucky Dip”. Ladies who accumulate a minimum of $200 in a single receipt will be entitled to a chance at the Lucky Dip. Visitors can redeem their prizes outside Hall 5. Attractive prizes include: • G-Cube’s Notebook Skins (25 sets worth $35 each) • Holux 5” GPS (3 sets worth $359) • Pat Says Now Laptop Sleeves (10 sets worth $59 each) • Sony Cybershot Digital Camera (2 sets worth $649 each) • Zumreed SFit Headphones (5 sets worth $79 each).
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• eWaste Recycling (Entrance of Hall 6)
Electronic items which are not accepted by Cash Converters can be discarded in the eWaste Recycling Bins. Proceeds from the recycling will be donated to the Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD). • Paper Recycling On-the-Go (Entrance of
Hall 6)
Visitors can also exchange their quality electronic products for instant cash to finance their new purchases. Items traded at the Cash Converters booth must be in working condition and include Computers (Pentium IV and above), Notebooks/Laptops (Pentium IV and above), PDAs, Handphones, Printers, Digital Cameras, Digital Video Cameras, LCD Monitors/TVs, MP3/ MP4 Players, Portable DVD Players, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PSP and Play Stations, and Nintendo.
Visitors at large-scale consumer exhibitions often leave behind large amounts of trash which could otherwise be recycled. Added Mr Nair, “As event organisers, one of our key priorities is to offer a clean and pleasant environment for our visitors. We would like to encourage visitors to discard any unwanted brochures and flyers, not on the floor, but into designated paper recycling bins placed at the entrance of the halls”. Visitors will be doing this for a good cause as proceeds from the recycling will be donated to the Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD).
Established since 1988, SITEX is organised by Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) and managed by SingExhibitions.
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