News

T+A adds tubes and analog to SACD: German high-end manufacturer T+A has announced its new, tubed, $9500 D10 SACD/CD player. The D10 incorporates many of the same components found in the company's SACD 1245R, including the disc mechanism and DAC However, the D10 contains two more powerful power supply sections, a toroidal transformer with a secondary switching section for its digital parts, and a high-voltage mains section with 100,000µF of reservoir capacity for its analog tube stage.

The D10 boasts eight D/A converters, four per channel, in symmetrical push-pull mode. T+A's American distributor Stirling Trayle says they are completely de-coupled "galvanically and optically," and feature T+A's "characteristic oversampling and noise shaping circuits."

The first thing most people will notice about the D10 are its tubes, which stand proud of the unit's top-plate. These comprise the unit's analog output and filter stage. The D10's preamplifier employs 12AX7 LPS double triodes, while the output stage features high-current ECC 99 double triodes. An added benefit, T+A claims, is that this architecture keeps the D10's output resistance below 100 ohms.

Genesis upgrades the 501: Genesis Advanced Technologies recently unveiled the $15,000/pair Genesis 5.2, the latest iteration of its 5-series loudspeakers.

"Recent improvements in computer modeling for crossover networks allowed Genesis to take the G501 to the next step," said Arnie Nudell, Genesis' chief scientist. "We started out with a software-generated model, then developed it from there. After months of listening and tweaking, we finally got the G5.2 ready. It even necessitated developing new components for the crossover."

Complete specifications for the G5.2 loudspeaker are not currently available from www.genesisloudspeakers.com, but the company promises they will be posted there soon. John Atkinson will be reviewing the G5.2 later in the year.

LAT International's new cables: LAT International has just introduced five new cables: the AC-2 MK II power cord ($234/6'), IC-300 Signature analog interconnect ($324/1m), DI-30 Signature digital cable ($199/1m), and two speaker cables, the SS-1000 MK II ($407/8') and SS-800 MK II ($432/8').

LAT's newest offerings benefit from an improved weaving geometry, made possible by a planetary cabler weaving machine, which, the company claims, "allows engineers more freedom in designing more complex and more effective weaving geometries, [while] also producing a much more accurate and consistent weaving geometry."

Additional selling points: PTFE (Teflon) insulation that is "modified during the wire manufacturing process," allowing for "substantial reduction of the waveform charge back into the metal conductor."

LAT's explanation: "All insulations covering a metal wire will absorb a portion of the current as it flows through the metal wire. That waveform will discharge back into the metal wire, although it is delayed by a small fraction of time. This discharge back smears the real-time waveform that is passing through, resulting in small but very discernible distortion."

NHT Pro's school loan: You want better surround-sound mixes? Start at the source—at least, that's what NHT Pro seems to be saying. In a move that it claims "illustrates our commitment to support of the professional audio industry and related educational efforts in particular." NHT Pro Audio loaned a 5.1-channel reference quality A-20/C-20/B-20 professional monitor system to the Audio Engineering Society’s NY Chapter for exclusive use in the group’s monthly listening sessions, held in conjunction with the New School University’s Jazz & Contemporary Music Program.

The system will be used for the local AES chapter's popular program, which features some of the audio industry's leading producers and engineers, who visit to explain how they achieved some of their best-known accomplishments.

"The Audio Engineering Society’s New York chapter is led by some of NHT’s best friends in the business, especially [producer] Elliot Mazer, who goes out of his way to make their events informative and flat-out fun," said Don Bassey, product manager of NHT Pro Audio. "We especially appreciate the way in which this group reaches out to audio engineering students via the New School’s exemplary jazz program, so we’re more than happy to support their efforts with a loan of one of our most popular products."

And if it means that the next generation of engineers knows what real "music in the round" sounds like, so much the better.