Readers with really long memories may recall the ESS Heil speakers, which had a tweeter whose working principle was described in ads as being like squeezing a cherry pit. Oskar Heil was undoubtedly a gifted inventor, and the Heil "Air Motion Transformer" principle is gathering new adherents. Elsewhere in this show report blog, I discuss the products from Adam Professional Audio, whose Accelerated Ribbon Technology is a variant of the Air Motion Transformer principle. Speakers from the Chinese company, Mark & Daniel, fall in the same category. They call their drivers "Directly Responding Emitter by Air Motion Structure" (DREAMS). The pair of Mark & Daniel Aragon Monitors (CN$5500), mounted on Aragon stands ($1900), which act as bass extenders. They sounded quite good, driven by the new Audio Oasis AMP-D1 amplifier (100Wpc, class-D, Made in Canada, CN$1495).

I have to admit that Monitor Audio has been one of those companies whose products I've just taken for granted. I went into the Monitor Audio room at FSI more-or-less from a sense of duty, but was almost literally stopped in my tracks. What's this? A new speaker that doesn't have the conservative look that I associate with Monitor Audio, and sound that was arrestingly lifelike. The speaker was the Platinum 300 ($8995&mdash;all prices in this report per pair), the top of the Platinum range that will be available in May 2007. It uses a ceramic-coated aluminum-magnesium ribbon tweeter, honeycomb-sandwiched midrange and bass drivers, in an enclosure made of a cast anti-resonance composite material. The claim bandwidth is 28Hz&ndash;100kHz. (I <I>could</I> hear a small peak at 45kHz, and another one at 82kHz.) If I remember correctly&mdash;I wrote this info down but can't find it&mdash;the source was a Simaudio CD player and the amplification was courtesy Linar Audio.

Adam Professional Audio is a German company that makes loudspeakers aimed at, as the name suggests, the professional market; their list of users include Abbey Road Studios and Lincoln Center. They're now poised to enter home audio. They had several of their speakers on display, but the only ones actually playing were in a large home theater demo room. The demonstration piece was the "chase" scene from the latest James Bond movie, <I>Casino Royale</I>, and all I can say about the sound was that it was loud. (Putting on my ultimateavmag.com hat, I can also say that the projector's color saturation was set too high.) However, reading the product literature, it's clear that the speakers represent a formidable amount of technology. The tweeter and midrange driver are based on the Air Motion Transformer principle developed by the late Oskar Heil, called Accelerated Ribbon Technology (A.R.T.) in Adam's implementation. (Klaus Heinz, Adam's chief engineer, worked with Heil.) The woofers have a honeycomb-structure diaphragm. The Adam Tensor Betas that served as the front L and R speakers use two 11" woofers and a 7" one, plus two midrange units and a tweeter. Powered with B&O ICE module. class-D amplifiers, a pair of Beta Tensors cost $60,000. There are two other speakers in the Tensor series, all semi- or fully active, the prices varying from $30k to $80k.

Aurum Acoustics is one of the Canadian audio success stories. Located in Newfoundland, well away from the Toronto-Montreal technology axis, they've succeeded in breaking into the heady world of ultra-high-end audio with an unusual product: an integrated CD player/amplifier/loudspeaker combination. The price is $32,000, with extras like an isolation rack, special power cables, etc., adding another $4k or so. It's a "turnkey" system, and it works. Designer Derrick Moss has to be given a lot of credit for creating the synergy among the different components of the Aurum Acoustics system. In true audiophile fashion, he continues to tweak the system; the most recent tweaks were some internal changes in the mid/high amplifier, and the use of Crystal Cable for internal wiring. The system at FSI sounded great, particularly when playing Ray Charles' version of "Over the Rainbow."

"Documentary-maker Tim Samuels has been all over Britain recruiting isolated and lonely old people - those who can't leave their flats or who are stuck in rubbish care homes. The finale of the show is this group of lonely old people coming together to stick it back to the society that's cast them aside - by forming a rock troupe and trying to storm into the pop charts."
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If I were to tell you that four months into 2007, I already had a nomination for the year's best-sounding record, you might think me daring. If I told you that it features bandoneon&mdash;a chromatic accordion&mdash;and cello, you'd probably think me barking mad.

The website www.appleinsider.com revealed on <A HREF="http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/04/12/apple_inc_scores_trademar… 12</A> that it had discovered filings with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) showing that record label Apple Corps had granted computer manufacturer Apple, Inc. far more than the right to use the word "Apple" in conjunction with music in February's trademark settlement.

Recently, on the <I>Stereophile</I> <A HREF="http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/ubbthreads.php">Web forum</A>, reader Natal commented on Robert J. Reina's review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/107creek">Creek Audio Destiny</A> integrated amplifier in the January 2007 issue: "Maybe it's just me but I've never found any piece of electronic equipment sexy."

Recently, on the <I>Stereophile</I> <A HREF="http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/ubbthreads.php">Web forum</A>, reader Natal commented on Robert J. Reina's review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/107creek">Creek Audio Destiny</A> integrated amplifier in the January 2007 issue: "Maybe it's just me but I've never found any piece of electronic equipment sexy."