Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 1 - 2018 i Audio Esoterica

The new McIntosh XRT2.1K line-array loudspeakers are 2.1 metres high and between them boast an almost alarming driver count of 162, each speaker having six 203mm-diameter bass drivers, two 165mm low midrange drivers, 28 upper mid-range drivers of 55mm diameter, and a staggering 45 of the 19mm tweeters. (Our Thiele-Small parameter calculator just melted.) The bass and low-mid drivers were specifically created for the XRT2.1K, their honeycomb cones manufactured from a combination of nano-carbon-fibres and Nomex - “amazing low-frequency extension”, promises McIntosh of these extremely stiff yet lightweight diaphragms combined with their very long throw design. Find out more: www.synergyaudio.com…

“As grandiose as Verdi... as innovative as Aida”, promises Sonus faber of its new creation, delivering unique technologies including a Damped Apex Dome tweeter, a Stealth Ultraflex System to purify the rear-firing bass reflex port, a Zero Vibration Transmission suspension to isolate the speaker from the floor - and an internal vibration-killing Tuned Mass Damper structure similar to that used in skyscrapers, using anti-phase oscillation and kinetic-thermal conversion to ‘ground’ unwanted energy. More information from www.synergyaudio.com…

We’ve heard of RMS watts, we’ve heard of Peak watts, and we’ve heard of Continuous watts, but we’ve never heard of Lucky watts, which is what Moon’s flagship monobloc power amplifier is claimed to be able to deliver 888 of. At least it’s rated with a power output of 888-watts into 8Ω loads. Into 4Ω loads it’s rated at 1776 watts. And here in Australia, because our mains supply is 230 volts (kinda), Moon says the Moon 888 is able to deliver 3550 watts into a 2Ω load. AN EXERCISE IN ENGINEERING The Moon 888 is the amplifier you get when you ask your team of electronics engineers to build the best 888-watt amplifier possible, and give them carte blanche, so they don’t have to worry about how large it…

Of all the companies in the world that manufacture high-end audio equipment, Yamaha is the only one that also manufactures the instruments that are used to make the music that is played using that equipment. Indeed this famous Japanese manufacturer started out making musical instruments (with reed organs in 1887 and following on with upright pianos in 1890). It didn’t start manufacturing electronics until 1954… the same year it also established the Yamaha Music School, a now world-wide programme that teaches children to play musical instruments. Yamaha certainly has a vested interest in teaching children to play musical instruments, because it is not just the world’s largest manufacturer of musical instruments, it makes the finest pianos in the world — under its own name and under the ‘Bösendorfer’ name as…

Dan D’Agostino has gone over to the dark side! Yep, his new Progression Preamplifier and matching Progression Stereo Power amplifier are finished in lustrous, shiny black… plus the pre-amplifier actually has a ‘Dark Mode’. OK, so a silver finish is available as an option, and so is grey, plus custom finishes are available to special order, but once you’ve seen this pair (well actually not a pair, but a trio, because the preamplifier has a separate power supply) you wouldn’t even consider the alternatives. (Though if Dan ever brings out one finished like his top-line Momentum amplifiers, we’d have to give that one some serious thought!) A good part of what makes the black finish look so good is the copper-coloured trimming on both the Progression Preamplifier and the Stereo…

Eye candy. Those two words pretty much describe McIntosh’s new MA9000 integrated amplifier. It’s the best-looking amplifier we’ve seen in quite a while. When you see one in the flesh, you’ll be even more impressed, because there’s plenty of it: the MA9000 is the largest integrated amplifier McIntosh has ever built, and if you know McIntosh, that’s saying something! And to ensure that form follows function, the MA9000 is also the most powerful integrated amplifier McIntosh has ever built, being rated at 300 watts per channel which, thanks to McIntosh using the same autoformer technology it uses for its valve amplifiers, it can deliver into 8Ω, 4Ω or 2Ω loads. But the MA9000 has another feature that’s also a first for McIntosh. The on-board DAC is modular, so should any…

In the 1930s, James Hilton’s novel ‘Lost Horizons’ became America’s first ever mass-market paperback, its tale of a lost Himalayan kingdom finding millions of readers, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, who later named his Presidential country retreat (now known as Camp David) after the book’s mythical land - Shangri-La. Well, mass market is definitely not a term that could be applied to this remarkable product from HIFIMAN. Quite the opposite: we believe the Shangri-La currently qualifies as the world’s most expensive headphone system, challenging Sennheiser’s HE 1, successor to the Orpheus, which was previously reviewed in these pages. The Australian price for the Shangri-La is $77,999. The Sennheiser is priced here only in Euros, so it changes every day, but as we write it’s a few grand cheaper. Let’s not quibble.…

It’s hard to imagine a company more solidly founded on technology and design than the UK’s Meridian. Even before it began, founders Bob Stuart and Alan Boothroyd had delivered a design legend in the unique and colourful Lecson knobless preamp and cylindrical amplifier, going on to set up Meridian Audio and enjoy 40 years of successful products underpinned as much by a stream of tech breakthroughs and patents in signal processing as in the hardware itself. Meridian Lossless Packing became the standard compression method on DVD-Audio content and within Dolby TrueHD, while the more recent MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) platform for “folding” high-res audio into smaller file sizes also originated with Meridian before being spun out to ‘MQA Inc’ for global licensing. Most recently of all, the company’s 218 Zone…

ULF KAEMPFER of Loewe Technologies GmbH speaks to Audio Esoterica’s Jez Ford regarding what makes Loewe different, and why the company has adopted OLED for its latest premium models. Audio Esoterica: What do you feel makes a Loewe different to other TVs? Ulf Kaempfer: At Loewe we have a history like no other TV in the world. We invented TV, we have been renowned as having the very best tuners and processors. Our dedication to quality has never changed in nearly 100 years... and we are 100% made in Germany. No other brand can claim this. AE: What were the design and technical goals for the bild 9 and 7 series? How was Bodo Sperlein involved? UK: Bodo is our special designer, we believe in him and we know whatever he touches…

We’ve always found it interesting that Canton, which is a German company, should use an Italian word to name its penultimate speaker range. That penultimate range is called the ‘Vento’ Series, and in Italian, ‘Vento’ means wind. But when you look at the speakers in Canton’s Vento Series, from the smallest stand-mount model (Vento 826) to the largest floor-stander (Vento 896 DC) you can see why Canton chose that name, because all the cabinets are very Italianate in their styling… and by Italianate, we mean ‘curvy’. Unlike many manufacturers, which curve the walls of their cabinets by cutting dozens of grooves on the inner surface and then ‘concertinaing’ the panel into a curve, Canton uses six layers of laminate, each one of which is individually pressure-moulded into the curve required,…

What is it with the French? As a nation they celebrate their joie de vivre, and in hi-fi there is certainly a soupçon of vive la difference to their creations, a penchant for that je ne sais quoi which lifts their products above the crowd. French loudspeaker companies famously favour the sphere as an acoustic enclosure, and more recently French audio electronics companies have delivered wild levels of innovation, notably Devialet’s sleek Expert amplifiers and rather less sleek (some might say bonkers) Phantom active speakers. From a first glance at the new M-One, you might think that Micromega has been watching this development closely — there’s a certain déjà vu in the company’s choice of a wide flat amplifier chassis. Mais au contraire — the M-One diverges from Devialet’s offerings…