Cayin was showing the stunningly retro SP 105i table radio, which had me drooling. Nobody here knew what US importer Sze Leung was going to sell them for, but having seen the show sample, it's not what I thought I remembered, obviously. Importer VAS is still trying to determine a price, I've now been told.
What do you expect from me after 20 hours of travel and only four of sleep? I'm going to bed before dinner and promise I'll actually blog about hi-fi tomorrow.
When I checked in late last night, I noticed the cribs lined up along the halls of my corridor, but all I thought was, "What a child friendly country." Nor did I think much about all the Caucasian couples I saw carrying Asian infants amidst all the audiophiles thronging the halls.
"Tannoy is updating its line without abandoning its strengths," the suave Tannoy rep explained to me. "Listen to this recording of Salvatore Accardo. It's an old analog recording and it may be a tad too warm, but you could listen to it for hours."
The $2000 (USD) Prestige ST-200 super-tweeter has a vapor-deposited gold 25mm dome driver that has a -6dB downpoint at 54kHz (and only -18dB@100kHz). The two drop-in connectors on top establish crossover (14kHz, 16kHz, abd 18kHz) and sensitivity (89.5dB, 90.5dB, 92dB, 93.5dB, and 95dB). It integrated so seamlessly with the Glenair that I was initially convinced I was hearing only the concentric driver.
My hotel keeps cases of Going Home Barbie (ie Barbie holding an obviously Asian baby Krissy) by the hospitality desk on each floor as departure gifts for new families with young girls.
Amazing how changing scale changes perception. The sound I found small and forced became far bigger and more open when I discovered the speakers cost one-twentieth of what I initially had thought.
I'm a lummox of an American and I have to admit I get confused when dealing with multiple currencies. On this trip, I've been juggling USD, HK dollars, and RMB—and that really makes the going rough. So when I asked Peter Chang how much this Audio Art Jasmine Model 3A integrated amplifier (9Wpc) would cost in the US, I was sure he'd gotten confused too, when he said $42,000.
K. E. Lee's $8000/pair Calix Academy Jr. Phoenix loudspeakers are far smaller than the Phoenix Grand Signatures Paul Bolin reviewed, but tiny they ain't. Still, they looked a lot more manageable than those behemoths, which I helped JA wrestle into their shipping crates.
This one's for Stephen Mejias. GuangZhou Hi-Fi 2006 is seriously into booth babes. I could almost do a series on that subject alone. You may talk among yourselves.