Innholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2022 i Sound + Image

news Denon ♦ Marantz It's extremely hard not to directly compare AV receivers from the two Sound United brands Denon and Marantz when both are released near-simultaneously and clearly share so much in terms of facilities, layout and development. Witness, for example, the back panels shown below, the range of technologies supported, and the identical HEOS modules which bring streaming and multiroom operations across the range. So what's different? Obviously the features and power ratings rise as you go through each individual range, but if you ask the brands themselves, they'll point to the implementa-tion of different amplification technologies, and the many points of tuning made through the brands’ (separate) tuning processes. Marantz has further differentiated (currently) by announcing its premium processor and power amp separates, the AV 10 and AMP…

news JBL IFA in Berlin is always a launch pad for Harman and the latest JBL gear in particular: this year was no exception, with new Tour One M2 headphones and Tour PRO 2 True Wireless buds (due in Australia Q2 2023), a raft of new JBL soundbars, and new additions to the brand's growing set of PartyBox speakers. Party PartyBox Big sound, a light show and wireless microphone accessories? — little wonder the PartyBox range is finding favour. Among the latest Australian releases is the $399 PartyBox Encore Essential (pictured above), roughly a 30cm cube which has a quoted six hours of battery life to keep its twin tweeters and 5.25-inch woofer pumping and its built-in light show flashing wherever you go — it also has IPX4 splashproof protection. If…

news Custom installation There's a new Bluesound look to the Powernode ‘Edge’, a cut-back take on the standard Powernode zone amplifier (see review p38) from the Canadian streaming and multiroom platform. The Edge adds an angled glass top panel with a volume slider, presets and proximity sensor, and can be wallmounted (see right) as a hideaway zone player, bringing all the streaming abilities of BluOS but with more basic functionality aimed at entry-level two-channel customers and those seeking an easy distributed audio soluion. Key differences are its 40W of HybridDigital power compared to 80W in the full Powernode, only one combo optical/analogue input instead of two, and no wired headphone output, though outward Bluetooth is still provided for wireless headphone use. And there's still HDMI ARC and USB-A, with Ethernet and…

smart amps group test ▼ REVIEWED THIS ISSUE ▼ UNDER $3000 Bluesound POWERNODE Denon PMA-900HNE NAD C 700 $3000-$5000 Arcam SA30 Marantz CLASSIC 40n Cambridge EVO 150 OVER $5000 Electrocompaniet ECI 6 DX MKII The rise of streaming music has changed the way that a hi-fi system can be put together. If you don't have CDs, and for some odd reason you don't have a turntable, then the traditional source component becomes a thing of the past. All you need is a way to play your streaming music to a pair of speakers. The budget way to do that is a wireless speaker: play music on your phone, send it to a wireless speaker via Bluetooth. But apologies, that's just not hi-fi. Bluetooth is (with one single third-party codec exception)…

smart amps group test NAD has become adept at ‘smart’ amplifiers, having been an early player in the new breed of amps designed for streaming as much as playing music from connected sources, and almost unique in offering such a large fullcolour display that dominates the front fascia. In this development it has been rather usefully assisted by Bluesound, its sister company under Lenbrook, with its wireless streaming and multiroom platform BluOS. So while the first amp in our round-up, the Bluesound Powernode, benefits from NAD's amplification expertise, here the favour is returned, with this smart amplifier right in the middle of NAD's current range getting all the smarts and app control of BluOS. Hence the full description favoured by NAD, which calls this the C 700 ‘BluOS Streaming Amplifier’.…

smart amps group test Regular readers will recognise the Evo 150: its combination of skills allowed it to walk away with our 2022 Sound+Image Award for Best Amplifier $2000-5000, the judges opining that “Smart outside and smart inside, the Evo 150 delivers a thoroughly modern set of inputs, along with app-controlled streaming and solid Hypex Ncore power.” Build & facilities The short time since those awards hasn't dulled our enthusiasm. The Evo 150 is a real looker of an amp, with those side-cheeks user-switchable between classic wood finish and more modern sculptured black, while the front offers a 17cm full-colour LCD panel and a luxurious two-section knob with a fluidly-rotating forward section which controls the volume, and a milled outer wheel at the back which clicks around for input selection…

shop talk Audio Connection Sydney hi-fi destination store Audio Connection is celebrating a “years-in-the-making” full redesign. The whole store in Sydney's Leichhardt has been transformed — its top floor in particular, from a large open space to a series of dedicated rooms, adding to those already on the ground floor, thereby providing more opportunities to discover and audition its wide range of audio and AV in relaxed surroundings conducive to a full appreciation of the level of music such wonders are able to deliver. We asked Audio Connection Director Nigel Ng what had been the overarching goal of the redevelopment. “We had various rooms but none of them had a bespoke purpose, so we wanted to make sure each room had a real function,” he tells us. “It's a good…

Bill Nelson may not be rock's greatest chameleon, but he remains an artist who valued change in his work. He began his career with the wafting solo guitar of Northern Dream, morphed into Be-Bop Deluxe for some extraordinary post-glam prog rock with snappy tunes, and then tired of his own band just in time for punk. Bill Nelson's Red Noise were influenced by early XTC, had synths, dressed like Mao and had a fantastic retro-future modernism all their own. With brilliant singles like Revolt Into Style and Furniture Music they deserved more success, but fizzled out after their excellent debut album ‘Sound On Sound’, which was probably one of the best and most radical direction shifts made by any 70s rock act. Nelson would continue as a producer (his work…

music & movies Originally a track on Blue Öyster Cult's ‘Agents Of Fortune’ album in 1976, (Don't Fear) The Reaper reached No.12 in the US, and also took the band into the UK Top 20 for the first (and last) time. BÖC's biggest ever hit was born when guitarist/vocalist Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser sat down in 1976 to write songs for the East Coast group's fourth studio album. They had just returned from their first European tour, and were enjoying life as a big album-selling act. Having a hit single would make life all the more comfortable. Roeser had already invested in a TEAC four-track tape recorder — then state-of-the-art technology, and an important acquisition. It completely changed the way that Blue Öyster Cult wrote songs,” Roeser says now. “We…

news Sennheiser Hearing ◆ Rega Consumer products branded as Sennheiser now come not from the German family-owned business but from Sonova, headquartered in Stäfa, Switzerland, a group specialising in hearing care. The group operates in four sectors: hearing instruments, audiology, consumer hearing, and cochlear implants, with brands including Phonak, Unitron, AudioNova and Advanced Bionics. Now that Sonova has fully taken over Sennheiser's consumer electronics business (“under license” its website says), it is increasingly representing the brand's consumer gear as ‘Sennheiser Hearing’. From recent product updates Sonova has seemed to be carrying on business as usual. We had been wondering if the long-mooted plan for a junior Ambeo soundbar would be scuppered by the takeover, but clearly this is not the case, with the announcement of the new Ambeo Soundbar Plus, priced…

Yamaha is extending its budget soundbar range with the SR-C30A, priced at a surprisingly low $399 despite combining its compact soundbar with a separate wireless subwoofer. The sub can either stand vertically at 36cm high, or be lain sideways; it ports to the front and appears to fire to the right, so positioning will be pretty versatile, including relatively hideaway locations. Of course, you may prefer to have it all on display, especially as Yamaha has taken a wild punt on producing a gorgeous-looking red version of both bar and subwoofer, as well as the standard black. Notwithstanding the retailer saying that “you put the red one in the window and the black one goes out the door”, this is a pleasingly radical departure. The compact soundbar is 60cm wide…

Releases at the recent CEDIA Expo in the US included new architectural speakers from JBL and KEF. Pictured below is the JBL Stage 280CSA in-ceiling loudspeaker from the new Stage Architectural Series; it features an 8-inch polycellulose cone woofer and 25mm aluminium-dome tweeter with an acoustic lens waveguide, all positioned at a 15-degree angle to the square chassis. KEF meanwhile, debuted the three-way KEF Ci250RRM-THX (pictured right), the first architectural speaker with Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT). It combines a 10-inch woofer with a 100mm 12th-gen Uni-Q mid/treble unit, also introducing Cavity Radiation Control with absorptive foam designed to eliminate midrange distortion, while the MAT technology should bring new clarity to the treble. Local prices and availability to be confirmed.…

audiovisual 4K UST projector Ultra-short-throw projection is one of those technologies that brings certain attractive advantages while simultaneously presenting less desirable traits. And this is particularly true of those UST projectors which seem to be offering a replacement for a TV. So in terms of advantages, the Xgimi Aura sits right next to your wall shining upwards, instead of requiring a ceiling mount at the back of the room, or an awkward position on a table in the middle of the room. It has a built-in Android TV interface with streaming services, so it provides its own entertainment sources, in theory without requiring anything else plugged in. And it has its own sound built in as well, here a four-speaker system tuned by Harman-Kardon with Dolby and DTS audio support.…

smart amps group test The first in our group of streaming and smart amplifiers comes from a brand which was early into the post-Sonos streaming space. Under the spotlight here is the fourth-generation Bluesound Powernode, which succeeded the Powernode 2i from 2018, and returned to the original suffix-less name as it did so. There is also the newly-announced Powernode Edge (see News p22), a lower-powered version aimed partly at the installation market, partly for lesser rooms in a home of Bluesound-compatible products — which includes some NAD amps, such as the C 700 in this group. The BluOS app links together these Bluesound and other products with their common operating system and smart stuff. Multiroom was always fundamental to Bluesound, with the Powernode being the eco-system's compact solution for creating…

smart amps group test A ream's reputation was built on amplifiers, and particularly this breed of high-quality midrange integrated amplifier. Indeed products from Arcam remain instantly recognisable, so that while this recent range had a pleasing spruce-up updating the aesthetics, someone transported from the 1990s and familiar with the company's then-‘alpha’ range of products would have no trouble spotting the latest SA models, which are part of Arcam's HDA range. But alongside this continuity there has been significant change. This range was Arcam's first under the ownership of Harman, itself then only recently acquired by Samsung. US-based Harman staff seemed delighted with the acquisition, seeing Arcam as not only providing a useful midrange electronics brand below the relative heights of Harman's Lexicon and Mark Levinson, but also bringing access to…

smart amps group test Electrocompaniet calls the ECI 6 DX Mkll an integrated amp/DAC/ streamer — so a single box that has it all! In this it can be compared directly with the Norwegian company's ECI 6 Mk II (without the DX), which has neither streaming abilities nor digital inputs, being a pure analogue and potentially fully-balanced integrated amplifier that built on its own predecessor with an even better power supply and revised Class-A preamplifier module. And that's an amp which costs nearly $10,000. You can start with that and upgrade later, or you can go the full DX amp/DAC/streamer from the start, raising the price to $11,945, which seems a reasonable addition for adding in full app-controlled smarts and networking — especially when you consider that the standalone ECM…

The former entry area was masked from the street by giant blue Audio Connection stickers, and the front doors opened into a large and occasionally chaotic space with staff at desks seated directly opposite the entrance. Now this space has been divided by some gorgeous custom joinery into two separate spaces where stylish display speakers greet the visitor; on our visit these included the stunning Forza floorstanders from Estonian brand Estelon (above, centre), freshly arrived and awaiting run-in. To the side is a corridor down which cased displays go into more depth on key brands. “This is a bit of a pet project for me,” says Nigel Ng. “The entry area is now quite fun — there's a lot to stuff to show and tell, like brand stories for, say,…

The movie Daleks made their on-screen debut in episode three of TV story The Chase, after three props were hired to the BBC. Their bigger bases were removed. Ten days before the first film came out, Roberta Tovey released a tie-in novelty single, “Who's Who”. The costs of making the Daleks for the second film were apparently shared with stage play The Curse Of The Daleks, which also used the props. While Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD was shooting in Shepperton's Studio B, Casino Royale (starring David Niven) was filming in Studio A. The Dalek spaceship model was later reused in the 1969 British sci-fi film The Body Stealers.…

The long-held tradition in hi-fi system building is to mix and match equipment: you can combine the strengths of different brands in a system which thereby achieves the best possible value for money. But there's much also to be said for single-brand systems — their components will be designed to work together, they will likely operate under a single system control, and they can provide a good aesthetic match into the bargain. All the more so when a package is supplied at a good price, under the sum of its individual parts, and with all the cables included. That's the deal behind the Rega System One, which launched earlier in the year in Rega's UK homeland, and which is now available in Australia as well. It's no surprise to find…

Not only is REL's new $17,999 No.32 subwoofer the greatest Reference sub the company has ever made, with 1000W power and a 15-inch pure carbon-fibre driver, you can also stack them three (or in exceptionally tall rooms, five) high while retaining individual crossover and gain control of each sub in the array (using a delightfully-designed REL Reference Remote Control). A floor-integrity warning, though; they weigh 85kg each. And we're not sure where to put your main speakers. The distributors will tell you: www.synergyaudio.com…

news Lorean ♦ Kyron It's enough of a surprise to discover that the time-travel classic car marque De Lorean is making a comeback; a new all-electric ‘Alpha5’ was officially unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in California in August, along with concepts for Alpha 2, 3 and 4 models. But eyebrows were raised still higher among the audio industry when it was further announced that there will be a partnership “to develop thrilling in-car sound for a new generation of electric vehicles” between the makers of the Alpha5 and… drum roll… the UK's Cambridge Audio, which provided track-side tunes at the Californian launch event. There's little information as yet on what system Cambridge will be providing for the De Loreans, which aren't expected to go on sale until at least…

audio-visual home cinema SOUND+IMAGE PRESENTS WORLD-CLASS AUSTRALIAN HOME CINEMAS The owners of this Western Australian home, Darren and Sabrina, had a long-held dream of installing a state-of-the art home cinema. When the house was built, some 15 years ago, they had included a dedicated cinema room within a sunken double brick construction usefully located at the back of the house, away from all the bedrooms — and the neighbours. But for a decade and a half this blank canvas — with white walls, a large open window and a concrete step ready for raised seating — sat empty and unused, save as an extra storage area of the home. The reason, as anyone who has been through a home build or big reno will know, was that some things just…

audiovisual 4K media player Here's Something we don't see enough of — an audio-visual source. As the world tilts ever more towards the streaming platforms, traditional dedicated sources are drying up in the world of video. A smart TV or a media player stick is all you need for Netflix et al, while we see regular stories on the decline or death of optical discs. Consequently new Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray players are very thin on the ground, and we can't remember when we last tested a new PVR. So the arrival of the Zidoo Neo S was quite the excitement. It originally came to us for assessment with regard to the recently-announced EISA Awards 2022-2023, in which it went on to gather votes from enough judges to earn it…

smart amps group test The smart stuff in Denon's amplifier here comes primarily from the inclusion of the HEOS wireless and multiroom streaming platform, which was one of the first to appear, along with Bluesound from the previous review, as part of the post-Sonos streaming revolution. The HEOS platform is no surprise — it has appeared in a good many previous Denon and Marantz products (see the Model 40n later in this group for another), as well as those which were initially branded to HEOS itself. The surprise here, then, is that Denon is saying that this is the first time HEOS has been incorporated into something it considers to be a ‘pure hi-fi amplifier. So Denon's goal for the PMA-900HNE is clearly defined — it's an upper mid-range hi-fi…

smart amps group test The president of Marantz and Classé, Joel Sietsema, said something odd about the Model 40n at its launch. “I strongly believe you don't have to be an audiophile to enjoy rich, warm sound,” he said, seemingly indicating that this is not so much an audiophile product as one to please the masses. He says they've balanced the 40n's sound against “added simplicity, gorgeous design, modern upgrades, and power.” Yet at $4499, the Model 40n is clearly not exactly mass-market. So we suspect Sietsema is more comparing the design goals of the 40n directly to those of the recent and still current Marantz Model 30. The Model 30 is supposedly a higher-level Marantz amplifier, although it is not wildly higher in price — just $500 more —…

The Beatles may have been “more popular than Jesus” by 1966, but in 1964 the Daleks were providing some stiff competition. Their appearance in Doctor Who's second adventure captured the public imagination, launching a wave of merchandising. So the time was ripe for someone savvy to place them — as the eventual trailer excitedly declared — “in colour on the big screen, closer than ever before!” Alert to the money-spinning potential of the craze, producer Joe Vegoda secured the rights to the Daleks’ TV debut from the BBC. Milton Subotsky — co-founder of Amicus, the British studio behind anthology horrors like Dr Terror's House Of Horrors — set about compressing Terry Nation's scripts into a screenplay, turning the Doctor into a “brilliant science professor” (played in avuncular fashion by Peter…

SLEEVE DESIGN CLASSIC ALBUMS King Crimson In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969, art by Barry Godber) If album covers are the poor man's art collection then Barry Godber's painting is the equivalent of Munch's ‘The Scream': it's an ideal complement to single 21 st Century Schizoid Man, and a comment on the end of the 60s dream. Led Zeppelin /// (1970, art by Zacron) Zeppelin's most evocative record was also their best dressed. ‘III’ came wrapped in a spinningwheel cover modelled on an old crop-rotation chart and had two Aleister Crowley quotations etched into the inner vinyl groove. A devilish reference, then, but God was in the detail. Uriah Heep Look At Yourself (1971, art by Douglas Maxwell Ltd) The cover of Uriah Heep's third album reflected (ouch!) their status as…

There's a genuine attempt here to swerve the stuffily reverential, which sometimes results in heart-breaking beauty and sometimes in misfires. Producer/musician Larry Klein masterminds, assembling off-the-chart tasteful musicians such as guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins. The backdrops are thus exquisitely deft. The guest vocalists (including Gregory Porter, David Gray, Norah Jones and James Taylor) clearly adore Cohen's songs, and some just go for it — Sarah McLachlan on Hallelujah and Mavis Staples on If It Be Your Will don't hold back. Peter Gabriel on Here It Is and Iggy Pop on You Want It Darker both affect a Cohen impersonation — if Cohen sang even lower (Iggy pretty much does spoken-word). It's a bit weird… minor falls, major lifts.…