News

Audio manufacturers love to make big announcements at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas (which runs January 8–11, 2004), and the upcoming show is no exception. In addition to Fried Products' aggressive relaunch (see related story), several other companies are heading in new directions.

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL), known to audiophiles around the world for its meticulous re-releases of select vinyl, CD, and now SACD discs, has decided to take some of what the company has learned from several decades of pushing audio systems to their limits and apply it to the real world of loudspeaker design.

At the upcoming CES, MFSL will debut the "Original Master Loudspeaker," which the company says was initially designed for use in its mastering facilities. After years of tweaking its in-house systems to help with its disc business, MFLS says it came to the realization that those R&D efforts had yielded a "promising price/performance value ideally suited for the home entertainment, pro audio, and audiophile hardware markets."

The results are the OML-1 Monitor, slated for retail at $1500/pair, and the OML-2 Tower, which will sell for $3000/pair. MFSL says the new models use proprietary, custom-made drivers, crossovers, cabinets, and hardware to achieve "superior dispersion characteristics, spectacular imaging and depth, extended dynamic range, natural tonality, and extremely accurate frequency response at an incredible value-oriented price."

The new speakers will be distributed through Music Direct.

The company isn't well known to today's audiophiles, but Grommes-Precision has been in the game for over 58 years. Lead by chief engineer and audiophile Al Hart, the company's consumer brand, Grommes, began with monoblock tube amplifiers. The company added preamplifiers, integrated amplifiers, stereo amplifiers, and tuners to the lineup and grew substantially, prompting a move in 1952 to Franklin Park, IL, just outside of Chicago.

By 1955, Life Magazine declared Grommes one of the best buys in high fidelity as a result of the success of its 55PG amplifier and the LJ-3 "Little Jewel" tube amplifier kit. Over time, the company's "Little Genie" and "Little Jewel" build-it-yourself tube amplifier kits became huge hits in the US, inspiring many fledgling audio designers.

That was then. For the last three decades, Grommes has focused on the commercial and industrial audio markets with private labeling, custom audio applications, and audio outsourcing. But now the company says it is ready to jump back into the consumer market with the reopening of Grommes Hifi, its home audio division.

The company reports that its first product will be an updated version of its popular model 260A monoblock from 1957. According to Grommes, the new amplifier, now called the "model 360," retains the solid design of the original, but has no global feedback and accepts a true balanced input. The 360 is rated at 60W and should start shipping in January 2004 with a retail price of $1490 each.

Grommes says that its future releases will include a passive line stage preamplifier, a headphone amplifier, an integrated amplifier, and a phono preamp—the last three being tube-based.

Certainly not a stranger to today's audiophiles, loudspeaker manufacturer Paradigm has announced it will unveil its most advanced high-end offering to date at CES. The company says it will be debuting its Signature Series "top-of-the-line" speakers under the Paradigm Reference banner.

Included in the series are two bookshelf/stand-mounted models, a floorstanding model, two center channels, and a surround/rear speaker featuring the company's proprietary ADP (adapted dipole) technology. Rounding out the group will be a servo-powered subwoofer. Prices will be revealed at the show.