Julie Mullins

The IAG Room: Mission 770 loudspeakers, Luxman L-507Z integrated amplifier, Lumin U2 Mini, P1, L1, Luxman D-10X CD player/DAC, Vintage Thorens TD124 turntable
Munich 2022News
Julie Mullins  |  May 27, 2022  |  6 comments
I went into a room looking for Lumin's latest components and found a broad range of gear, both classic and modern. The recently relaunched Mission 770 speakers demo'd in this room represent a prime example of heritage speaker revival. Behind this exhibit was International Audio Group (IAG), the company behind Mission and other British brands, such as Wharfedale, Castle, and Quad, as well as Luxman. Peter Comeau, IAG's director of acoustic design, gave me the download on the Mission 770 redux. He mentioned that he and John Atkinson had listened to 770 prototypes in 1978. (JA will be reviewing the new 770 in a future issue of Stereophile.) Comeau owned an original pair of the Mission 770s, so he knows all about them: "We used a lot of the same concepts but everything is now up to date to make them suitable for modern sources."
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Hegel Reference H30A Reference power amplifier, P30A preamplifier, KEF Reference 5 Meta loudspeakers, and Nordost cabling
Munich 2022News
Julie Mullins  |  May 26, 2022  |  4 comments
My first stop in the Munich High End venue's huge halls, or Halles, was a treat—and not only because the Hegel folks had a box of Norwegian chocolate hearts to taste. Hegel introduced a couple of new analog components, the Hegel Reference H30A Reference power amplifier and the P30A preamplifier, which supersedes the P30 preamp. Hegel CEO, founder, and lead designer Bent Holter (right) was on-hand along with Anders Ertzeid "VP of This and That" (aka VP Sales and Marketing, left) to share details. The amp and preamp are both analog designs—the A stands for analog.
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Ortofon MC Diamond Cartridge, Audiovector R11 Arreté loudspeakers, TechDAS Air Force V Premium turntable, SME V tonearm, Einstein and Mark Levinson amplification
Munich 2022News
Julie Mullins  |  May 26, 2022  |  0 comments
In the US market it isn't every day you see big, shiny red speakers—cars, yes—but less often flagship floorstanders. Here, a pair of tall, Danish flagships, the Audiovector R11 Arreté Titanium speakers clad in red enclosures graced the room. A model above the Audiovector R8 Arreté that Jim Austin reviewed, they use the company's Quasi Dual Drive Avantgarde Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeters.
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Dynaudio's Focus Series of Wireless Loudspeakers
Munich 2022News
Julie Mullins  |  May 25, 2022  |  5 comments
Danish audio company Dynaudio launched a new trio of Focus wireless speakers in Munich. The company's show presence encompassed a larger-than-average-sized room, with another off to the side. There, Dynaudio Technical Trainer Otto Jorgensen (below) gave a presentation on the new Focus active speaker series: the 3-way Focus 50 floorstander ($11,000, presumably for a pair), the 2.5-way Focus 30 floorstander ($8250/pair), and the 2-way Focus 10 stand-mounted speaker ($5500/pair). This series supersedes the previous Focus XD speaker line.
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Chario Aviator Amelia loudspeaker
Floor Loudspeaker Reviews
Julie Mullins  |  May 20, 2022  |  5 comments
Great hi-fi can give you goosebumps. And it relates to another source of horripilation: live music, and its recordings. I've also always been a live music junkie—ever since I was a kid.

I was fortunate to have grown up attending the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops Orchestra's "LolliPops" children's concerts. I'd seen some tepid live acts as a kid (ie, Donny and Marie). But nothing prepared me for my first rock concert. It, um, rocked my world.

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Re-Tales #21: Much a-tube about nothing?
Re-Tales
Julie Mullins  |  May 19, 2022  |  12 comments
Unless you live under a rock, you've followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine. You know something about sanctions against Russia and Russia's responses to those sanctions. If, in addition to not living under a rock, you're a tube-audio aficionado or electric guitar nut, you may have thought about a likely consequence of that war that's far less momentous than the destruction and carnage we see on TV: Will I be able to get new tubes for my amplifier? Especially those lovely Russia-made tubes.
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Re-Tales #20: You never forget your first gorilla
Re-Tales
Julie Mullins  |  May 04, 2022  |  16 comments
You never forget your first time. Ask any audiophile about that first moment hearing music through a good hi-fi system—how it rocked their world and changed their life. Maybe it was at a friend's parents' house when they were a kid. Often, though, it was the first time they found themselves in a hi-fi dealership, back in the day.
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MoFi Distribution, Part 4: Wharfedale, BAT, MoFi x Fender
AXPONA 2022New ProductsNews
Julie Mullins  |  May 01, 2022  |  First Published: May 02, 2022  |  1 comments

The MoFi Distribution classic gear fun continued in Suite 346, with two pairs of Wharfedale Heritage Linton speakers ($1799/pair), stacked, with the one on top inverted so that the two tweeters were in the middle. One Wharfedale Linton stand ($399/pair) supported each side's stack.

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Bending Wave USA: Göbel Audio, CH Precision, Wadax
AXPONA 2022News
Julie Mullins  |  May 01, 2022  |  6 comments

A large, almost loft-style suite on the 16th floor housed a big, all-out system presented by Bending Wave USA, the Florida-based distributor/dealer for Germany's Göbel Audio (among other brands); their name nods to Göbel Audio's bending wave drivers.

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Verdant Audio: Wilson Benesch, Canor, Weiss, Antipodes, AVM, Puritan
AXPONA 2022New ProductsNews
Julie Mullins  |  May 01, 2022  |  First Published: May 02, 2022  |  0 comments

Dealer/distributor Verdant Audio's room included a few important debuts, including the new Wilson Benesch Geometry Discovery IIIZ standmount loudspeaker ($31,000).

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