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Because Art Dudley is writing a Follow-Up review to Michael Fremer's take on the Audio Technica AT-ART1000 direct-power stereo MC phono cartridge ($4999), I shall replace lots of words with this blow-up of a cartridge whose coils sit at the tip of the cantilever, right over its diamond stylus. I'd love to tell you how it sounded, but by the time I took my photo of this system, which included components from VPI, Sonus Faber, Jeff Rowland Design Group, Grand Prix Audio, Audience, and Gik Acoustics, it was 6:01.
Emotiva's new DR series (as shown in the above photo) is a configurable amplifier that can go from one to three channels. "These are capable of up to 600 watts per amp module," says the company's Damon Steele. "However due to how the power supply works, as you add more modules the power drops a bit. So with two in the chassis, they run at 550 watts each. If you do three, you get 440 watts per channel."
The configurations start out at $1,200 for the DR1 monoblock version, the DR2 is $1,600 for two channels and $2,000 gets you the DR3 three channel version. The modules are being built now…
Gorgeous metalwork award goes to Tom Vu's Triangle Art display and especially the Master Reference Turntable ($39,900) seen in the photo above. Vu is based in Memphis TN, and said that the show marks the debut of the Master Reference Turntable's little brother, the Maestro (shown below), which retails for $7,500 and is available now.
Also new at the show is the TA 260 Stereo Power Amplifier, retailing at $19,998, which provides 500 watts per channel of class AB solid state sound. "The first 100 watts will be class A, and everything after that is class AB," says Vu who also notes…
Arcam's Scott Campbell was running through the new lineup of HDA products starting with the Integrated Amps. "This is the start of our new 2-channel range. The Player and SA10 are each $1,000 and the SA20 is $1,300. Both amplifiers are new for us since this is the first time we've put digital inputs on the back. We've taken our experience with how to tackle digital noise in our AV receivers and put that knowledge into how to do that properly in a two-channel amplifier."
Campbell goes on to explain that they use Sabre DACs in both integrated amps for the multiple digital inputs, and while…
Rune Skov, sales director for Dantax Radio, manufacturer of Raidho, directed me over to the XT-5, explaining that it is the latest addition to their extensive line of speakers. "And as you can see, it is a type of a line source because we are using multiple drivers. In the X series we normally use ceramic drivers, but for the XT series we are using titanium drivers instead."
"But," Skov continues, "it is a ceramic/aluminum sandwich driver that we put into an accelerator at the Technological Institute in Denmark, where we then bombard a block of titanium with an ion stream which then…
There was a brief back and forth as to whether they wanted to release information on the new cables (seen above in prototype form), but eventually Ray Kimber said yes. Kimber's Lonny Gould described these as "a carbon-infused eight wire cable." No pricing or release dates are set yet.
Apparently Kimber Kable has had problems with knock-off unauthorized competition, so Gould points out how they are able to braid the eight strands together for both conductors in a single loom and then split them off in a special weave right up to the connectors (as seen in the photo), which the counter-fit…
Swiss audio company Nagra won an Innovation Honoree award this year for their ingenious motorized volume control design in the tubed HD Preamp. René Laflamme, based in Montreal himself, describes the product: "The preamp is two channels of mono in a single chassis. There are two Super Cap capacitor power supplies, two independent circuits, and each channel has a single triode input stage featuring a NOS (new old stock) Mullard tube hand-selected by Nagra."
The award however is for the volume control design, "where you select a particular transformer tap with one of the volume controls…
Paul Jayson, president of Viola Audio Laboratories, New Haven, CT was on hand to demo the company's new Chorale Integrated Amplifier. Price is still to be determined, says Jayson, "but we are looking at around $19,000, and plan on shipping in March."
The amp section puts out 125 watts per channel into 8 ohms, 250 into 4 ohms, and the preamp section is controlled by an iOS or Android remote app. "We have a two option slots for a phono section or DAC. We're also working on a new DAC that would slide in with DSD, streaming and AirPlay," explains Jayson. The additional slide-in boards will be…
"The 5 Series stared with Arnie Nudell in 1993 and the Genesis V," says Gary Koh, from Seattle's Genesis Advanced Technologies. "Then there was the G500 and then the G501, G5.2, G5.3 . . . Now I've given up numbers and we have the Genesis Maestro." Retail price is $30,000 a pair and they are available now.
"Arnie designed half of the 5.3, but this is the first of the series that is entirely my design," adds Koh. "A lot of customers have been coming back saying they want a little more this, a little more that. So I've gone back to the four woofers of the original Genesis V. Even though…
HiFiMan had two new products on display this year: one for the budget-minded, and one not.
First, for the entry level, is the new Sundara planar headphone which will retail for $499. Josselin Marvie from HiFiMan explains that "We spent some time designing this headphone to be more reliable and comfortable, so we have a new headband design which is more lightweight as well. We also have new cups, and everything has been redesigned to make the headphone last longer."
Inside is also a new diaphragm that is 80% thinner than the older versions, "which results in a wider frequency…