HE 2006

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HE 2006
Sonics & Immedia
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 04, 2006  |  2 comments
The Immedia room proved an isle of sanity amidst the clamor. As I entered, the folks were playing Analogue Productions’ HQ-180 pressing of Chet. Heard through Joachim Gerhard’s somewhat diminutive, 90 lb Sonics Allegria speakers ($15,000/pair, shown above with Immedia’s Allen Perkins), the trumpet sounded far bigger and lifelike than speakers this size “should” make it sound. Equally impressive were the amazing depth, height, and width of the soundstage. No small part of the credit is due Perkins’ Spiral Groove SGI turntable ($20,000), Immedia RPM tonearm ($2995), Lyra Skala cartridge ($2500, a replacement for Lyra’s Helicon), the Lyra Connoisseur 4-2LSE preamp ($25,000), and Ayre V5XE 150 Wpc amp ($4500).
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HE 2006
Bardaudio Wireless Amplifier
Jon Iverson  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  First Published: Jun 04, 2006  |  0 comments
Sonneteer/Bardaudio also makes a wireless receiver that houses a 25Wpc stereo amplifier. The Bardthree amp/receiver comes in several varieties, priced $1,225-1,350, and can be used to stream full-bandwidth tunes to another room, or to a set of rear channels in a hard-to-wire spot.
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HE 2006
Bardaudio Wireless Wonders
Jon Iverson  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  First Published: Jun 04, 2006  |  1 comments
Sonneteer/Bardaudio's Haider Bahrani holds the $425 Bardone TX wireless audio transmitter. This device can broadcast an uncompressed CD stream wirelessly up to 50 meters (164 feet).
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HE 2006
Right Place, Right Time
Fred Manteghian  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  First Published: Jun 04, 2006  |  2 comments
Dr. John brought down the house Saturday night at HE 2006, where the crowd brought him back for an encore.
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HE 2006
Use a Transistor . . .
Jon Iverson  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  0 comments
. . . Go To Jail. An appropriate license plate parked out front of the Sheraton at HE2006.
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HE 2006
Coolest Tunes @ the Show
Stephen Mejias  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  0 comments
Elina Lamm spinning discs in the very smooth Lamm Industries suite. It gets my vote for Most Comforting Music at the Show.
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HE 2006
Fun with Nico in the Totem Room
Stephen Mejias  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  0 comments
I could barely make my way into the Totem room. The crowd stretched out into the hall. When I finally found some space, I made sure to have some fun.
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HE 2006
Very Neat Motives
Stephen Mejias  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  0 comments
Bluebird Music's Jay Rein, with the very cute Neat Motive loudspeaker ($1995/pair) in the foreground.
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HE 2006
Enjoyable Music, Affordable Price
Stephen Mejias  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  0 comments
"At first, we didn't want to sell these speakers," admitted Jay Rein of the adorable Neat Motives. "I mean, who needs another nineteen hundred dollar speaker?"
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HE 2006
Lovely Ladies of the Press Room
Stephen Mejias  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  0 comments
Jenna Russo, Lucette Nicoll, and Erika Pearson (L to R) keep the press room stocked with coffee and cookies so that we can keep working hard.
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HE 2006
Aperion's Intimus 533-T Towers
Wes Phillips  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  1 comments
Direct-marketer Aperion Audio was demonstrating its new $750/pair 533-T tower loudspeaker, built around two 5.25" mid/bass drivers and a 1" silk-dome tweeter. Aperion's cabinets employ 1" MDF and internal bracing, so they're extremely rigid. Aperion not only offers 30-day in-home auditions, but they pay return shipping if you choose not to buy—and they even offer a one year trade-up policy that refunds 100% of the cost of a speaker if you buy a better speaker from them.
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HE 2006
AAA Audio
Wes Phillips  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  0 comments
Ping Gong, AAA Audio's energetic director, shyly told me he had brought "something special" to the show. Knowing AAA's penchant for high-value, low-cost hi-fi, I expected something modest, but impressive. What he had brought was just flat-out impressive.
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HE 2006
Fred von Lohmann Freedom Fighter
Wes Phillips  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  1 comments
For me, the highlight of HE2006 so far was sitting on the podium next to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's senior intellectual property attorney Fred Von Lohmann as he analyzed the threat restrictive digital rights management (DRM) poses to innovation of precisely the sort so beloved by us audiophiles.
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HE 2006
Liquid Cooled!
Wes Phillips  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  1 comments
Bob Reina stopped me in the halls and asked, "Have you heard the water-cooled triodes?" Huh? Turns out the $59,000/pair Von Gaylord Audio Uni Signature Editions monoblock power amplifiers use exterior transmission-grade tubes submerged in an oil coolant, I presume and you can really see the thermal motion of the coolant, so I'm guessing the tubes run hot.
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HE 2006
New Babies for VTL's Luke & Bea Manley
Robert Deutsch  |  Jun 03, 2006  |  1 comments
VTL announced a major upgrade to their TL-7.5 Reference Linestage Preamplifier (current gain technology, with dramatically lower noise floor), which is now the TL-7.5 Series II. They also have an upgraded version of the MB-450 monoblocks and a new 250Wpc MB-185. Pictured: VTL’s Bea Lam with the system that featured the TL-7.5/MB-450 combo driving Wilson Sophia 2s. Lovely sound.
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