Innholdsfortegnelse for May - June 2015 i Australian HiFi

YG Acoustics’ Carmel 2 has a thicker baffle, improved resonance damping, new drivers and a new crossover, but as with the original Carmel design, every cabinet panel is made from in-house milled, aircraft-grade aluminium billet. Although the Carmel 2 has ‘new’ drivers, they’re not strictly ‘new’ as such, since YG Acoustics has fitted the ‘ForgeCore’ tweeters and ‘BilletCore’ cones that it’s been using for some time, but only one models higher-up in YG Acoustics’ range. (The original Carmel used tweeters and midbass drivers sourced from Danish manufacturer ScanSpeak). The new cabinets and drivers obviously necessitated a new crossover network, which uses a topology YG says is ‘DualCoherent’ because according to Yoav Geva, of YG, ‘it simultaneously minimises non-linearity in both the frequency and time/phase domains.’ Geva told Australian Hi-Fi Magazine…

Award-winning Australian loudspeaker manufacturer Legend Acoustics has released Version 8 of its monitor bookshelf/stand-mount loudspeaker, the Kurre. Dr Rod Crawford, Legend’s designer chief, told Australian Hi-Fi that the changes included new drivers and crossover plus a change to a sealed cabinet design. The new bass/midrange driver has an aluminium alloy cone that’s been strengthened by ribbing that also pushes the cone break-up frequency well beyond the crossover point. According to Crawford, this means the upper midrange, often a weakness of two-way loudspeakers, is totally free of breakup distortion. ‘This makes the sound quality crystal-clear yet also naturally warm and open,’ he said. ‘The new low-distortion drivers are combined seamlessly using very high-quality crossovers to produce an especially flat frequency response—within 2dB over most of its frequency range—and within 1dB over…

Sony has added new models to its ZX series headphone line-up, two of which incorporate Bluetooth, so you can send your music wirelessly to the headphones from any NFC-enabled music device. The top-line MDR-ZX770BN ($279.95) also incorporates active noise-cancelling, so you can almost eliminate background noises when travelling on buses, trains or aeroplanes… and so you can use them when flying, Sony includes an aeroplane headphone adaptor. The headphone earpieces are designed to swivel, making it easy to stow the headphones when travelling, and the inbuilt rechargeable battery is claimed to give a music playback time of 13 hours even when the noise-cancelling circuitry is switched on. ‘The earpieces have high-quality 40mm neodymium drivers and beat response control for superior audio quality, so you can now enjoy rich bass and…

Auralic has released two new DACs that incorporate headphone amplifiers, SD card readers, Android phone players and also function as stands on which you can store your headphones when you’re not using them. Auralic says its new Gemini 1000 ($1,399) and Gemini 2000 ($2,499) DACs combine technology derived from its Vega Digital Audio Processor and Taurus MkII balanced headphone amplifier. The Geminis support all current formats including WAV, AIF and AIFF and all sample rates/ word lengths up to 384/24 (192/24 over Toslink) with full DSD support. ‘With its multi-use capabilities, the Auralic Gemini contains functions that are normally handled by multiple devices and systems,’ said George Poutakidis, of BusiSoft, which distributes Auralic in Australia. ‘Containing some impressive features, the Gemini serves as a headphone stand, headphone amplifier, multiple-input DAC,…

ADL (Alpha Design Labs) a sister brand of Tokyo-based Furutech, has released its second pair of headphones, which use completely new drivers designed and developed from scratch in collaboration with engineers from Furutech. The H128 is a dynamic closed-back circumaural headphone. Its diaphragms offer both high noise attenuation and low distortion, and feature high quality PEEK film and lightweight coils made with copper-coated special aluminium alloy wire. The diaphragms are driven by 40mm high-resolution extra-large high-flux neodymium magnets fitted with alignment rings designed to ensure phase coherence at ultra-high frequencies. ‘With the H128s, ADL’s engineers wanted to take the performance of the existing H118 model one step further,’ said David Eleftheriadis of Reference Audio Visual, which distributes both ADL and Furutech in Australia, ‘and they’ve done has been to retain…

Bose’s QuietComfort QC25 noise-cancelling headphones now come in two versions: one for iPod, iPad and iPhone models, and a newly available version for most Samsung Galaxy smartphones/tablets and Android devices. Both models have an in-line microphone and remote control to make it easier to take calls and control your music. According to Bose, its QuietComfort 25 headphones cancel more noise than any other Bose consumer headphone in history—especially at low frequencies—and have less circuit ‘hiss’ than conventional active noise-cancelling headphones. Their Active EQ circuit also delivers a smoother frequency response than any other Bose headphones, along with deep, detailed bass thanks to Bose’s TriPort technology. ‘These improvements can be heard and felt: every recording is reproduced more naturally, regardless of genre,’ said Sean Garrett, vice president of the Bose Noise…

LABORATORY TEST RESULTS Figure 1 shows the frequency response of the SVS SB 13-Ultra with the crossover set to bypass (black trace), at minimum (blue trace) and at maximum. The most extended response is in bypass mode, as you’d expect (because it bypasses the low pass filter), and extends from 26Hz to 422Hz ±3dB. However, this extension comes at the expense of some linearity, because the smoothest response was returned when the crossover was set at maximum (125Hz), which resulted in an overall frequency response of 24Hz to 160Hz ±3dB. On this trace, look particularly closely at the incredible smoothness of the response between 35Hz and 125Hz, where it’s close to ±1dB. If you have large, floor-standing speakers that allow you to use the lowest setting of the crossover control…

David Graebener, one of the pioneers in the field of planar magnetic loudspeakers, died on January 3rd, 2015 after a two-year battle with Metastatic Melanoma. Graebener’s first foray into planar magnetics was when he and James Croft developed the transducers used in the original Carver Amazing speaker. He later formed Bohlender-Graebener Corp. (now BG Radia) with Tom Bohlender, along with some help from Doug Clifford, the drummer from Creedence Clearwater Revival. He was also executive vice president of Wisdom Audio and the owner of Advanced Transducer Engineering. He and James Croft also co-founded Solution Matrix, which developed TV loudspeaker systems for Harman/JBL and Philips, truck cabin noise-cancellation systems for Paccar, and a line of loudspeakers for Rockford-Fosgate. Acting as a consultant, Graebener completed design work for Boeing, American Technology Corp.,…

Joseph Tawadros | Permission to Evaporate | ABC 481 0917 The wonder of Joseph Tawadros’s 11th album is that he has created not just new pictures, but new colours with which to paint them. On Bluegrass Nikriz and Dreaming Hermit, for instance, his oud’s usual brooding mellowness is supplanted by a banjo-like twang. His compositional range also continues to expand, without experimentation negating beauty. The prayer-like title track and Last Candle immediately swell the canon of Tawadros’s finest works. Again he recorded in New York, this time taking pianist Matt McMahon with him as well as his percussionist brother, James. The guests are bassist Christian McBride and electric guitarist Mike Stern, whose long, crying notes are sometimes so ephemeral as to seem to be dreamed rather than played. All five…

Now in its fourth incarnation, Exposure’s 3010S2-D 110-watt per channel integrated amplifier now offers plug-in MM or MC phono stages or a DAC. Like its predecessor, the 3010S2-D comes with six line-level inputs, but one of these is now a direct AV input to enable integration within a surround sound system, plus a pre-amp output. There is now also the possibility to fit an optional MM or MC phono stage, or a plug-in DAC. The latter is capable of up to 192/24 bit PCM and DSD 64, and comes with two inputs: USB and BNC, with auto-switching between them. The preamplifier has a new circuit board with all discrete components rather than integrated circuits, while the power amp has a fast bipolar transistor output stage for dynamic and vivid performance.…

Magico has released its new S-7 three-way, floor standing loudspeakers, which incorporate new tweeters, new midrange drivers and new bass drivers derived from the M-Project loudspeaker. Although it’s a part of Magico’s S-Series, the S-7 towers over the other models in the S-Series range. Its 1.42-metre-high acoustic suspension enclosures have curved aluminium side panels that are machined in-house at Magico from 12mm-thick aluminium extrusions and braced internally to minimise resonances. The S-7 uses three new 254mm-diameter aluminium-coned bass drivers with a claimed linear excursion of 15mm. ‘The basket, spider and voice-coil design of the new bass drivers in the S-7 follow similar design principles as the bass drivers used in the M-Project loudspeaker,’ said Boris Granovsky, of Absolute HiEnd, which distributes Magico in Australia. ‘They have extremely powerful magnets, ultra-stiff…

Germany loudspeaker manufacturer Elac has introduced a family of wireless active loudspeakers as part of its Air-X system. The system consists of active loudspeakers each equipped with an Air-X AMP amplifier unit, and the Air-X BASE base station, which can be purchased separately. The BASE acts as the central control unit to which you connect your various digital and analogue sources for lossless 24-bit/48kHz conversion and r.f. transmission via Elac’s 2.4GHz ‘KleerNet’ to the active speakers. The Air-X AMP is Class A/B design which Elac rates with a power output of 225-watts into 4 . Integral DSP functions allow you to make adjustments to bass and treble and invoke a loudness contour if desired. For those who don’t want or require wireless connectivity, both balanced and unbalanced analogue inputs are…

French manufacturer Focal has appointed N. A. Distributors as its new Australian distributor for home audio products. N.A. Distributors, which has branches in Australia and New Zealand, is owned and operated by Chris Murphy and Debbie Stanton (pictured below). The two have been the sole Australian/NZ distributor for Naim for many years, so following the merger of Naim and Focal in 2011, industry analysts predicted that the two companies would consolidate their worldwide distribution arrangements. ‘The merger in 2011 of Naim and Focal, two major players in the global audio market, created an industry powerhouse,’ said Gerard Chretien, Managing Director of Focal. ‘This has driven the strategic pairing of the two brands under one distribution umbrella in larger markets worldwide, a strategy that makes sound business sense.’ Murphy told Australian…

Audio Research has upgraded its Reference Series amplifiers to use the new KT-150 output valve, so the Reference 250SE (250-watts per channel), Reference 150SE (150-watts per channel) and Reference 75SE (75-watts per channel) all now use KT-150s. ‘But not satisfied with merely changing output tubes, Audio Research decided to also include substantial performance upgrades in the Reference amplifiers to coincide with the changeover to the KT150,’ said Philip Sawyer, of Synergy Audio Visual which distributes Audio Research in Australia. ‘The resulting active and passive parts changes in the SE amplifiers have resulted in dramatic sonic improvements. Simply put, the new SE versions are better in every way: purity and lack of grain, resolution, micro- and macro-dynamics, separation and instrumental focus, phase and time coherence, and greatly improved bass weight, authority…

Harbeth’s range of loudspeakers is now available in Australia from Melbourne-based distributor Audio Magic. ‘Our goal,’ said Aleksandar Maksimovic, of Audio Magic, ‘is to offer audiophiles the best price-quality ratio from brands with several decades of tradition and reputation, so we’re thrilled to be appointed by Harbeth to look after the growing band of Harbeth customers in Australia.’ Founded in 1977 by Dudley Harwood, a senior engineer in the BBC’s Research Department, Harbeth’s success was partly due to Harwood discovering and patenting the use of polypropylene as a cone material, then using it on the company’s first design, the Harbeth HL Monitor. Later, Harwood developed the ‘Radial’ cone, which is now a feature on all Harbeth loudspeakers, from the tiny P3ESR right up to the Monitor 40.1. Audio Magic recently…

SENNHEISER URBANITE XL HEADPHONES Brand: Sennheiser Model: Urbanite XL Category: Headphones RRP: $399.95 Warranty: Two Years Distributor: Sennheiser Australia Address: Unit 3, 31 Gibbes Street Chatswood NSW 2067 1800 648 628 (02) 9910 6700 en-au.sennheiser.com • Superbly comfortable• Glorious sound• Detachable cables• Foldable • Weight• Bass emphasis• Button ID Right out of the box I loved the look and the build of Sennheiser’s Urbanite XLs, with their strong stainless-steel hinges and aluminium sliders, their comfy velour earpads, and their colours of olive, black, ‘denim’, ‘sand’ and one whose colour is called ‘Nation’ but turned out to be a curious blend of black, red and blue. I initially imagined these might be colours representing the East Frisian flag, were Sennheiser’s Wedemark German headquarters not rather to the South-East of this. Despite further enquiries, it remains a mystery. The…

Jimi: All Is By My Side 2013 Director: John Ridley Starring: André Benjamin, Hayley Atwell, Imogen Poots, Ruth Negga, Andrew Buckley, Burn Gorman, Tom Dunlea, and Noel Redding It must be hard making a movie about a rock star’s early years when you’re denied the ability to use his music. I applaud writer/director John Ridley’s integrity in refusing to allow Jimi Hendrix’s estate’s insistence on ‘full participation in the film’s production’ (says the Internet Movie Database). Hagiographies generally don’t make for riveting viewing. That said, it seems clear that Ridley himself took quite a few liberties with the Hendrix story. As always, rely on dramatic interpretations of the lives of real people not at all, and give due emphasis to the word ‘based’ in the opening disclaimer: ‘This movie is…

Class-A Audio has announced the availability of Extrema’s extensive range of audio and AV racks. Extrema manufactures racks in four different styles: Classic, Radiance, Profile, and Evolution, with varying models and shelving configurations available in each of the styles. Pricing starts at $495. ‘Extrema’s Evolution series is particularly distinctive, due to the harmony of the geometrical relationships of the various parts of the racks, along with the chromatic contrast between the surfaces and the overall finishes,’ said a spokesperson for Class-A Audio. According to Extrema, Evolution Series racks are capable of supporting shelf loads of up to 70kg per shelf, and the shelves can be positioned at distances of 210mm, 210mm and 330mm and in any order you like. The model AF14 measures 640×560×940mm (WDH) with a width between pillars…

Sennheiser’s Urbanite headphone range has won a gold award at the International iF Design Award Competition. The award citation from the international jury of judges released said of the Sennheiser Urbanite Range: ‘A ‘feast for the ears’ that has all eyes upon it: the optimal technical performance of Sennheiser’s Urbanite headphones is rounded off with a minimalistic, accentuated design. The high-quality materials including textile elements, the individual colour scheme and the robust urban style combined with perfect craftsmanship as well as technical innovation constitute the special charm of this product.’ Sennheiser also received an ‘iF Label’ for other models in its 2015 range, the new wireless headphone models RS175, RS185 and RS195 and the in-ear CX1.00, CX2.00, CX3.00 and CX5.00. Oliver Berger, Global Design Manager at Sennheiser said: ‘We are…

Sol Republic has announced a partnership deal Tiger Woods. According to Geoff Matthews, of Convoy International, which distributes Sol Republic in Australia, Tiger Woods and Sol Republic will be working together to create new products based on their shared philosophy that ‘if it sounds better, it feels better.’ ‘Music is a huge part of my life and my training; it inspires me to work harder, stay focused and get better every day,’ said Woods. ‘It’s exciting to find a brand that cares about music the way that I do, and I’m ready to work with Sol Republic on bringing that passion to life.’ Other celebrities and sportspeople that have partnered with Sol Republic include Steve Aoki, Michael Phelps, Julian Wilson, and Australian electronic music duo, Peking Duk. ‘Athletes of all…

INCORPORATING THE AUSTRALIAN AUDIO & AV SHOW 2015 Occupying the new Hall 5 at the Sydney Show Ground Exhibition Centre, NEW-TECH is a new show featuring interactive exhibits, high-end audio sound lounges, home cinema demonstrations, amd wider technologies including digital photo imaging, satellite navigation, mobile/in-car entertainment, eco-friendly & leisure technologies. The NEW-TECH show is aimed at all the family and for all ages, and is organised by The Chester Group. It also incorporates the Australian Audio & AV Show, which our regular readers will know well. This year’s NEW-TECH will bring the best of that show together with wider areas of technology and a more interactive experience. NextMedia is media partner to the event, and we will be providing more details of exhibitors, events and more in the lead-up to…

The latest addition to GoldenEar’s Triton Series is the Triton Five Tower, a 112cm-tall floor-standing design that is bristling with drivers, sporting four 203mm diameter passive bass radiators, two 152mm diameter bass/midrange drivers and a folded ribbon tweeter. Golden Ear specifies the frequency range as extending from 26Hz to 35kHz. ‘The new Triton Five is an attractively sized, passive speaker that includes a number of high-end refinements and a unique cabinet shape,’ said Nigel Ng, of Kedcorp, which distributes Golden Ear in Australia. ‘It’s a step up from the Triton Seven Tower and absolutely perfect for use in two-channel systems of the highest quality, as well as in complete multi-channel surround music and home theatre systems.’ Available next month, the Golden Ear Triton Five will retail at $2,999 per pair.…

Arcam has released a full-featured soundbar that can be used as a Bluetooth streamer and also wirelessly connected to a matching subwoofer. The aluminium chassis of the Arcam Solo Bar has six high-quality drive units and a total of 100-watts of onboard power. There are two 100mm diameter bass/midrange drivers and one tweeter per channel, with the low-frequency drivers powered by a 40-watt per channel amplifier and the tweeters by a 20-watt per channel amplifier. The tweeters are angled by 5 degrees to create a greater dispersion of high frequencies into the room. System connections include four CEC-enabled 4K pass-through HDMI terminals, as well as digital coaxial and optical inputs and analogue 3.5mm line inputs. Apt-X Bluetooth is also fitted, so you can stream music to the bar from your…

LABORATORY TEST REPORT The level of performance exhibited by the NAD C 546BEE in Newport Test Labs’ series of tests was exemplary right across the board, starting with the frequency response, which was just 0.2dB down at 8Hz and 0.3dB down at 20kHz. More conventionally stated, the C 546BEE’s frequency response was 20Hz to 20kHz ±0.15dB (also see Graph 11). Separation between the left and right channels was equally good, with Newport Test Labs measuring it at more than 100dB at low and midrange frequencies and at 91dB at 20kHz. As such, the channel separation is superior to that of many stereo amplifiers, which is extraordinary. Inter-channel phase was excellent, just 0.01° at midrange frequencies and barely different at the frequency extremes (0.02° at 20Hz and 0.23° at 20kHz). Channel…