CES 2010

[gpol]

Απάντηση: Re: CES 2010

Tidal + Ypsilon

Visiting one of Aaudio Imports' rooms gave me another opportunity to hear Tidal loudspeakers from Germany. I initially encountered an extremely imposing pair of these speakers on the first day of the show, paired with BAlabo electronics and Echole cabling. Now before me was a smaller pair of the Tidal speakers, either the Contriva Diacera SE ($73,500/pair) or Piano Cera ($28,400/pair). (The equipment sheet listed both models).

The rest of the system consisted of Bergmann of Denmark's Sindre Airbearing Turntable ($21,000); Ypsilon of Greece CDT100 CD transport/CD player ($26,000), DAC100 tube DAC ($29,000), VPS100 tube phono stage ($26,000), MC10 step-up transformer ($2800), PST100 MKII tube preamp ($37,000), and Aelius push-pull hybrid mono amps ($34,000/pair). Cabling was by Stage III, custom hand-built in LA with carbon-fiber castings. (The speaker cables are the most expensive, at $19,800 for a 3m pair).

Having finally gotten through all that, I can actually talk about the sound. Playing an LP of Johnny Hartmann, clearly the favorite male vocalist for demos at CES 2010, singing "Easy Living," the system sounded rich and delicious. The midrange was simply wonderful. I wondered, however, why the piano was so tinkly, lacking the same warmth I had heard on the piano accompanying Hartmann on the VTL/TAD system. Was it the recording? I was determined to find out. Thanks to Bob Kehn of Oakland's Audio Image, who I was sitting beside me, I was able to borrow the Reference Recordings disc of Nojima Plays Liszt. Listening to this disc, which I know well, there was a brightness in the high treble that suggests that Tidal speakers need more room to breathe than the small rooms in the Venetian allow. Beyond that, the rest of the range was glorious.

Του τυπου απο το Stereophile το διαμαντενιο tweeter του Tidal Contriva Diacera του ξυριζε. Ο Jonathan Valin του Absolute Sound στο forum του avguide.com αναφερει οτι ακουσε το Tidal Sunray που εχει το ιδιο tweeter και του φανηκε "σκοτεινο". Βγαλε μετα ακρη.....

Εδω ειναι τα σχολια του...

Yes, I did hear the $170k Tidal Sunrays with BAlabo electronics. It's an intriguing speaker--a high-pass-filtered, three-driver (two 7" Accuton black-ceramic mid/woofs and a 1.2" Accuton black-diamond tweeter) two-way with bass modules on top and bottom housing four 9" Accuton black-ceramic woofers. The main modules play from 40Hz-60kHz; the ported, side-firing woofers augment the mains in the bass. Just as aesthetic objects, the Sunrays are very beautiful.

Sonically, the results were mostly positive. On cuts from "Came So Far," the speakers sounded a little dark but very beautiful, with gorgeous harmonics on the guitar (although that tweeter called a little attention to itself on fortes). Center focus was a bit off, as if there were a phase issue somewhere in the system. "Keys to the Highway" sounded very detailed and lovely, but Guitar Gabriel's gravelly voice was not as realistic as I've heard it sound. However, the speaker did a bang-up job on my tough Mario Lanza disc, with superb reproduction of dynamics. It also pulled off a pretty good disappearing act for a large speaker.

Jon

 

[petkef]

Ξυρίζει το Tidal αλλα οι Υψιλον δεν εχουν καμία επίδραση σε αυτο ε;

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Και η αναφορά του Stereophile στα Mag 1.7...

I finished my first day at THE Show, at the Flamingo hotel. (It's wonderful that CES and THE Show are now within easy walking distance.) Over the years, Magnepan has built some of the best-sounding speakers I've heard, and most often ones that perform at the level of speakers several times their price. The MG 1.6 is one of the High End's true classics and has always been one of its most spectacular bargains. One of Magnepan's demo systems was the brand-new MG 1.7. It's physically identical to the 1.6 but rather than planar-magnetic drivers for the bass and tweeter, the 1.7 use Magnepan's "Quasi-Ribbon." Both planar-magnetic and quasi-ribbon drivers are lightweight diaphragms onto which a conducting element is attached, but in the case of the planar-magnetic, the element is wire. In the quasi-ribbon, it's a very fine ribbon, or foil. The latter is lighter and covers more area, so the performance approaches that of a ribbon, where the conducting elementis the diaphragm. The 1.7s sounded truly spectacular and at just $2000/pair, destined to be another winner for Magnepan.

Nearly unnoticed at the other end of the room were the mini-Maggies that JA wrote about in our 2009 CES report, finally ready to be shipped. These are essentially miniature MG3.6s, with a true ribbon tweeter and quasi-ribbon midrange and bass drivers, combined with a Magnepan woofer/subwoofer module to create a very compact three-piece system. I listened to both as a computer speaker and as a satellite/subwoofer system in a normal room layout. It works beautifully in both applications and will likely be priced in the $2k/pair region as well, which makes for an interesting question; in a smallish listening room like mine, which is the better approach, the quasi-ribbon 1.7 or the mini-Maggie 3-piece system? Different form factors, different technologies, same price, same application. Which would I recommend or buy, and why? Maybe JA will agree that it's an interesting question too.

Jason Serinus Comments: As Magnepan's Wendell Diller began playing an excerpt from Pierre Boulez's recording of Mahler No.3 on a multi-channel SACD sampler, the huge soundstage and all-enveloping sense of air produced by the system which used the new MG1.7s at the front for Left and Right, a Magnepan center channel, and Magnepan's motorized, hinged speakers for the rear, were something very, very special. (Source was an Esoteric SACD player and amplification was the Bryston SP2 driving 7BSST2s.) Although there was some brittleness to the sound, the surround presentation was gripping.

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Το Blade της KEF...

"Go and hear the KEF Concept Blade Loudspeaker," encouraged John Atkinson, "it’s their current statement on the state of loudspeaker art." For reasons unclear, KEF selected a hard-to-find Hilton Hotel suite for their exhibit, far away from the high-end exhibits in the Venetian Hotel. But when I whispered the word "Blade," I was ushered into a dark room where the set of twin loudspeakers, looking like aircraft wings, were standing. The cabinet curvature eliminates cabinet resonances, I was told. The KEF engineer explained that the company had not set a price on the Blade because they regarded it like a concept car, a one-off, handbuilt test model.

At the front of its cabinet, the Blade employs a 10th-generation Uni-Q coaxial driver array, using an injected-molded midrange and a tube-loaded titanium-dome tweeter (positioned at the center of the midrange driver) that has a tangerine-shaped waveguide that functions over 7 octaves without breakup. On the Blade's sides it employs four 10” low-frequency drivers, bonded in pairs symmetrically arranged around the Uni-Q to create both a "single apparent source" that allows for Force Canceling Technology to prevent exciting cabinet walls. The cabinet structure uses resin-impregnated, woven carbon-fiber over a balsa wood core, similar to the cone material Richard Vandersteen developed for his Model Seven loudspeaker. The outboard crossover is hard-wired with air-cored inductors and plastic-film capacitors, all set in a circular container with a glass top..

Driven by an Audio Research DSi200 Integrated MOSFET switching amplifier, the Blade loudspeakers delivered extremely detailed, articulated music, with a dynamic range and clarity that exceeded other the other high-end loudspeaker presentations I had heard at this year's CES. The loudspeaker seemed to be coasting at all volume levels.

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Ολοκληρωμένος Class-D από την Audio Research...
Το κακό γι'αυτούς είναι ότι στα ίδια χρήματα υπάρχει ο (πραγματικά) ψηφιακός NAD που μπορεί να χάνει από όνομα αλλά από ουσία δεν υπάρχει σύγκριση...

Elsewhere in this report, Brian Damkroger writes about the new Audio Research DS-450 class-D power amplifier. However, I was more taken by the Minnesotan company's $5995 DSI200 integrated amplifier, which offers 200Wpc into 8 ohms, compared with the larger amplifier's 410W, and had its top off. (This is Las Vegas, after all.) The 93%-efficient class-D outputstage was developed in-house and is coupled with a hefty linear power supply.

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Sonneteer Morpheus Music Server

One of the companies I continue to enjoy seeing every CES is Sonneteer. Their proprietors are always amazingly perky a couple days into a grueling show, and their products are consistently interesting.

Building on the Morpheus line introduced last CES, this year Sonneteer has launched the Morpheus Music Server at around $4,000. Included are two 1.5TB drives that can either be used as a mirrored pair or, for the more adventurous, 3TB of straight storage. A slot on the front makes it easy to rip CDs and their metadata, and users can add new servers as the need arises.

The company says it is taking orders now, with product shipping in March.

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Νέοι Jeff Rowland. Τάξη ΑΒ με διακοπτικό τροφοδοτικό.

Walking into the Jeff Rowland Design Group room is like walking into a dreamscape of audio bling. To look at a Rowland faceplate is like gazing into the face of God...well, maybe that's overstating it a bit. Whoever set up the Rowland room knows how great their gear looks and even set up floor to ceiling poles full of lights, strategically aimed to heighten their hypnotic, 3-D look.

On display were the new Jeff Rowland 925 monoblock amplifiers. Touting a switch-mode power supply, the 925 puts out 400W in class-AB. The 925 amp will be out in four to five months and will sell for $48,000/pair. If I could wear one on my finger or around my neck, I would.

 

[costas EAR]

Απάντηση: CES 2010

όντως τα άτιμα τα Jeff Rowland είναι πανέμορφα. αλλά 50 χιλιάρικα, ούτε για αστείο δε θα έδινα για ενισχυτικά, όσα κι αν μου περίσσευαν...


το ένα βήμα το κάναν (διακοπτική τροφοδοσία). άντε να κάνουν και το επόμενο (διακοπτικά στάδια ενίσχυσης) μπας και πέσει το συνολικό βάρος του ενισχυτή στο 1 κιλό, (λόγω πρόσοψης).

Από την άλλη, η Audio Research μένει να ανακαλύψει τα διακοπτικά τροφοδοτικά. Που θα πάει, θα τα βρει. Οπότε επίσης το συνολικό βάρος των ενισχυτικών της θα πέσει στο 1 κιλό (κι αυτοί χρησιμοποιούν βαρύ σασί...)

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Είχε ICEPower πριν ο Jeff Rowland αλλά δε μπορούσε να δικαιολογήσει με τίποτα την εξωφρενική διαφορά τιμών που είχε με αντίστοιχες λύσεις του ανταγωνισμού.

 

[deleted user 10898]

Είχε ICEPower πριν ο Jeff Rowland αλλά δε μπορούσε να δικαιολογήσει με τίποτα την εξωφρενική διαφορά τιμών που είχε με αντίστοιχες λύσεις του ανταγωνισμού.

και εφτιαξε κατι που παιζει χειροτερα?

 

[deleted user 10898]

Ξυρίζει το Tidal αλλα οι Υψιλον δεν εχουν καμία επίδραση σε αυτο ε;

Dac λαμπατο, pro μετασχηματιστες/λαμπατο gain stage, phono λαμπατο, ενισχυτης υβριδικος = λαμπα/Push Pull... ε εαν καταφεραν και αυτο το συστημα ξυριζει... αστα να πανε...

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

και εφτιαξε κατι που παιζει χειροτερα?

Δεν έχει σημασία αν παίζει καλύτερα ή χειρότερα, αρκεί να διαφέρει από τα φθηνά. :126:

 

[petkef]

και εφτιαξε κατι που παιζει χειροτερα?

Το ξέρεις χωρίς να το χεις ακούσει;
Αν ναι τοτε να κανουμε παρέα γιατι συμφωνώ. :116:

 

[deleted user 10898]

Το ξέρεις χωρίς να το χεις ακούσει;
Αν ναι τοτε να κανουμε παρέα γιατι συμφωνώ. :116:

να σε πω εγω νομιζω οτι θα παιζει καλυτερα... αλλα που να το πω εδω μεσα... χιχι

 

[Costas Coyias]

Απάντηση: Re: CES 2010

και εφτιαξε κατι που παιζει χειροτερα?

Ναι.

 

[sp502]

Απάντηση: Re: CES 2010

Δεν έχει σημασία αν παίζει καλύτερα ή χειρότερα, αρκεί να διαφέρει από τα φθηνά. :126:

Ο 1ος νόμος του HiEnd...

 

[gpol]

Απάντηση: Re: CES 2010

Ξυρίζει το Tidal αλλα οι Υψιλον δεν εχουν καμία επίδραση σε αυτο ε;

ε, καταλαβαινεις τωρα....
τι να σου πει τωρα ο ανθρωπος, οτι φταινε οι ενισχυτες η η πηγη η τα καλωδια?
Οχι αυτος ειναι τοσο μαγκας που καταλαβε αμεσως οτι φταινε τα ηχεια...

 

[oppohellas]

CES 2010 : Εκτος απο τα χιλιαδες γκατζετακια και νεες τεχνολογιες στη κυριως εκθεση, υπαρχει και το Venetian Hotel, στο Las Vegas που φιλοξενει το Hi-End της CES.

Αφηστε λοιπον τη κουβεντα και χαζεψτε περιπου 400 φωτο απο τη φετινη εκθεση.
Θυμιζει λιγο ( μονο λιγο ) τη δικια μας εκθεση.



Link....
( μπορει να μην ανοιγει η σελιδα ολες τις ωρες, μαλλον λογω υπερφορτωσης )

 

[Κώστας Φ.]

Εκείνο το Blade-άκι της KEF άρεσε και στον Harley..

I heard the Concept Blade (in the sweet spot) for about 15 minutes with a variety of music. The system driving it was an Audio Research integrated amplifier and CD player. The sound was simply stunning. The Concept Blade had a harmonic richness, coherence, and continuousness that made it sound like a single transducer rather than a less-than-seamless amalgam of disparate drivers. It also disappeared as a sound source, not just spatially but in the extremely low levels of coloration. The music just existed in space with an ease and grace that was remarkable. Moreover, the Blade’s dynamics were exemplary---fast, effortless, and clean with no trace of etch. Finally, the bass had outstanding resolution of texture and pitch, along with a tremendous rendering of macro and micro dynamics.

One can’t fully judge a loudspeaker under such conditions and brief auditioning, but from what I heard, the KEF Concept Blade appears to be The Best Loudspeaker Money Can’t Buy.

avguide.com

 

[skaloumbakas]

Απάντηση: CES 2010

Είναι ομορφο το άτιμο! Και με υψηλό WAF, I believe...

Αν το είχα, θα παντρευόμουνα... :138: