STEREOMOJO SPECIAL REPORT
CES & T.H.E SHOW 2008
Part 6
I was sitting outside the lady's room in the Venetian casino waiting for Linda to exit. The way casinos are designed is that anywhere you need to go, you HAVE to walk through the casino. Need to get to a meeting room? Walk through the casino. Need to get a cab? Walk through the casino. They hope they can tempt you to gamble.
While I was waiting for Linda, the only seat available was in front of a slot machine. Suddenly the lady pictured above walks up and asks me if I want a cocktail. I said, "No thank you m'am, why do you ask?" She tried to stifle a giggle as she told me that the casino gives free drinks to people who are gambling.
Hmm. So people who are trying to calculate odds and beat the house in games of chance are given free booze, presumably not to help them focus and concentrate.
It occurred to me that maybe that is exactly what high-end audio dealers should do. Everyone is lamenting the death of the brick & mortar audio store. You walk into a high-end store and the salesmen ply you with booze as you try to make a multi-thousand dollar buying decision. Or better yet, have the drinks served by scantily clad silicon enhanced waitresses. That would help combat people buying off the internet. Yeah...that's the ticket....
A TALE OF TWO TABLES
If anyone needed final proof that turntables are making a big comeback, this is it. Many companies that never before made them have entered the turntable fray and here are two more. The table on the left is from Charles Hanson's Ayre company in conjunction with DPS. Ayre's "Der Platen Spieler" utilizes a sandwich type plinth to control resonance and vibration. There's acrylic and cork along with special bushings and other materials. The platter is acrylic only about an inch thick.The bearing is a fluid-based design with a tungsten shaft. A record clamp is included along with the ubiquitous modified Rega 250 arm. No price is yet set.
On the right and looking rather similar is a table with perhaps a bit more credibility and pedigree since it from genius tonearm designer Frank Schroeder. I had a very interesting but off the record conversation with Frank about his arms and some rather personal issues. One thing I did ask him was if he thought people who have put money down to order one of his arms that takes almost two years to receive would question how he has the time to start a new endeavor with the table."I build each arm personally", he replied with his very congenial smile. "So, it takes a lot of my time. I'd like to find more help with that area, but I just can't find anyone I can trust to do the work as well as I can. The new table, on the other hand, is my design but I don't personally make them, so that does not infringe on my time to make the arms". Makes sense. Artemis Labs is the manufacturer new turntable which incorporates a multilayered plinth made of bamboo, a 15-pound platter fashioned from aircraft aluminum, and a massive bearing. If you look at the left rear of the table, you will see a very unique belt system that uses a self-tensioning reel-to-reel capstan-type tensioner which is said to improve contact with the platter for steadier speed and less micro vibrations. Price is around six grand which does not include an arm or cart.
MAGNETIC PERSONALITIES
While we're on the subject of turntables, one design featured we are seeing increasingly is the use of opposing magnets used to float platters on a cushion of air. Clearaudio uses ceramic magnetic bearing (CMB) technology, so does the top Project and even the new (ugly) McIntosh. Jochen Rake of TransRotor (pictured here with his $150,000 Artus machine) has been using such a scheme for years. Magnets or no, the table weighs one-quarter TON!
The sad thing about Transrotor is that it makes a very large line of table from entry level to the very expensive, but it's US importer only wants to sell the big dollar stuff and not the other 14 or so models in the Transrotor catalogue, such as the little beaut pictured below.
Walking into the Kondo room was weird; it was like walking into a funeral parlor or a church service. Everyone was hushed and almost reverent. Intimidating. Very strange. I felt as if we were imposing, but listen to the system we did. When I asked how much the total system sold for, I was told "about $350,000." Yowza. You could buy a condo for the price of the Kondo. I'd like to say this megabuck system was the best sound we heard at the show. It was certainly one of the most costly. I'd like to say that, but in all honesty I cannot. Yes, there was lots of very musical midrange and tube glow, but the soundstage was very narrow and not that impressive. There was some high-mid beaming as well. Sitting just to my right, Linda said she could only hear the right channel. I leaned over just a bit and she was, of course, correct. I could understand this if the speakers were electrostats, but they are not. All in all, we were impressed, but not $350,000 impressed. The table you see (check out that huge motor system) was $55,000 which is not all that out of line compared to others we seen. Maybe Kondo is just better at things other than speakers.
The contrast between the HSU room and the Kondo could not be more stark. These HB-1 speakers sell for $125 each. They employ a 6.5" paper cone woofer and a horn loaded tweeter for a 92db efficiency. When we walked into this room, everyone was smiling and having a great time. Dr. Hsu had a surround system complete with flat screen going, but we asked if we could hear the system in two-channel only. He was thrilled that we asked. There was a Hsu prototype sub in the system as well. Hsu is famous their over achieving subs, so that was fine. I handed him our Stereomojo demo/evaluation CD.The sound we heard was very dynamic, fast and rhythmic with a hugh soundstage. It was very much a full range presentation. Most of all, the sound was clean and tons of fun to which to listen. It was involving and immersive. It drew you in to the music. Yes, more than the Kondo system did. And there was no tiny sweetspot.
Classical, jazz, vocals - everything sounded good. Emotional and expressive. Amazing at this price.
The good Doctor told us the HB-1 Mk2 will be out in March with a huge price leap - all the way to $200!! Shocking.The speakers will be improved and come with exotic wood cabinets such as rosewood and others. Magnetic grills so there will be no velcro or holes. Hsu goes uptown!
On a sidenote, halfway through our Stereomojo disk, Dr. Hsu said it was the best disk he'd ever heard and asked if he could have a copy. This is a scene that was repeated in virtually every room in which we played the disk. I always bring a few copies for special folks, but I was clean out, so he asked if he could rip mine to his laptop. I grinned and said ok, but only if he would send us the new speakers for review. He said he would be happy to anyway. Now, we don't usually "do" speakers at this low a price point, but when we find what we consider be an extraordinary value that you should know about, we jump all over it. Consider us jumped.
This is Frank Kuzma and he makes turntables, arms and cartridges. He's our kinda guy. His big news is a new arm called the Four Point.
It's the unipivot you see on the right.
The heart of the new construction is a 4 point bearing he showed us. The first set of two points allows vertical movement. The second set of two points allows horizontal movement. All four points have minimal friction and zero play in all playing directions thus ensuring the cartridge platform and the cartridge itself move with very low friction and minimal vibration across the record. The whole construction is mounted on a rigid VTA tower which allows VTA adjustment on-the-fly.
The armwand looks like a one piece affair, but he surprised us by pulling out the headshell. "The special connection (see pic) I use is virtually just as rigid as a solid tube arm", he said.
Another unique feature is that arm is BI-WIRED.There are 8 wires running to the cartridge. "One set of 4 wires runs from the cartridge pins to the termination box and further along into a 1.4 m long tonearm cable with silver Eichmann bullet connectors in one unbroken length. The second set of 4 wires runs from the same cartridge pins to the termination box to female Cardas RCA connectors, thus allowing use of any RCA plugged tonearm cable from termination box to phono preamp input. This gives so called biwiring on this tonearm and a lot of flexibility."
The new Kuzma Four Point arm will cost about $2,000 per point, or for you math challenged, about $8,000.
This is Eunice Kron, widow of the famous Riccardo Kron who made some of the world's best audiophile tubes and amps under the KR Audio banner. Thankfully, Eunice has continued his legacy. She's such a nice and gracious lady. It was an honor to meet her.
On display were the aptly named "Kronzilla" monoblocks as well as the integrated you see in the center.The 'zilla's come in several flavors, but they all use the monster sized T1610 tubes, made by KR. As you can imagine - check that - you cannot imagine the power and dynamics these beasts produce. Outstanding sonics.
At a price though. These range from about $12k up to around $20k for a mono pair.
Still cheaper than many big tube amps.
This is Susan Wilson and Charles Harrison, distributors of KR in the US. Also very congenial folks.
I mentioned that I had a pair of the KR 300b's that will be included in a our - ready for an announcement? - special 5 way 300B tube shootout. There will be the KR, the Sophia, the EAT, the Shuguang and a pair of generic Chinese OEMs. All 300B's. Know anyone other major publication that has ever done that?
We don't either.
Hopefully, we can get an KR amp or two for review as well. They list some 15 different amps in their catalogue.
Talk to us, Charles!
The new bolder (not Boulder) look of Aesthetix.You won't likely see any reviews of Aesthtix Amps, phono pre's or Clearaudio tables here, though it's not for our lack of trying. Distributor of Garth Leerer of Musical Surroundings has never been very cooperative, which is difficult to understand. From what many distributors and manufacturers have told us, the main job of a distributor is to get as much exposure to the public and visibility as possible for their products, and to get dealers to sell them in their shops. That can be through advertising and displaying at shows, but that is very expensive. And in the case of CES, consumers are not even allowed to attend. It's for industry people and press only.
A handful of distributors hold the view that only print mags like TAS or Stereophile are worthy of reviews.
That's fine. We don't tell people how to run their businesses. But many of our readers have told us they don't read those publications for one reason or another, so those who limit their products to them are missing some important audiophiles. Another advantage web publications have is that the reviews are always accessible, whereas most people trash their print mags once they have read them. So if the reader sees a review in the January issue but decides in October that he wants to buy a table, he has to scramble to find a review - especially since tables in particular are not sitting in stores in most non-major cities, buyers have to depend on reviews to help them make a decision, at least for what to audition if they can. Many print pubs charge for an online review, so that's not readily available.
All it costs for a distributor to provide a review sample is shipping, and people are more likey to pay attention and remember a review than a small ad in a print mag. Web mags are growing in readership, or at least I now we are, very fast. Some are gaining in enfluence as well. Just like the New York Times and network news, readership and viewership (thus advertising) is plummeting.print mags, espcially audio type, are folding, too. TAS' Perfect Vision print mag just went belly up and mergaed with an online publication.
Look at a stock chart for the New York Times.
Ouch. And that's during a Presidential election year.
AMAZON
More purchases are being made on the net every day. It's much easier and convenient for a buyer to read an online review or two and then click a couple of times and have the product on the way. Not so much with a print mag. So why do 3 or 4 distributors still eschew publications like Stereomojo? Don't know, but Musical Surroundings is probably very successful in what they do, so the argument is likely academic. But there is more than one way to come by a Clearaudio table, even if we need to just go out and buy one. We've purchased products for review before. That hurts the companies though because when we turn it around right away, they will have a used current model table on the market which is never good. There's usually several current models on Audiogon and Ebay anyway. Sometimes dealers we know are friendly. Or overseas contacts, too. We much prefer to work with distributors rather than go around them. We're glad the vast majority of distributors feel the same way. Enough editorializing. Let's move on!
This is a CD player by the other British company that designs and makes their products right in merry 'ole England.
Talk Electronics is not as well know in the States as some others, but they are well known to savvy audiophiles. Three of our staff reviewers own Talk CD players.
This is the model 3.1se. We appreciate Talk's attempts to make their models upgradeable, as is this one. If you have an older model, you can upgrade to the newer one.
The Talk is an upsampler. The technology comprises two main parts - interpolation and up-sampling. Interpolation is the re-description of 16 bits of data into 24 bits - 8 bits are 'added' to the combination. Up-sampling is effectively a massive increase in the number of times a particular data 'word' is described per second - this increase goes from 44.1kHz to 192kHz. As a result, each data 'word' has approximately five times the amount of information or detail and results in much greater accuracy than a normal CD player relying on conventional technology. In the application of this technology in the Thunder 3.1se, there is a massive memory buffer in the middle which allows for the input and output to be asynchronous. Therefore as a result what goes in, in terms of speed and pitch, comes out the same.
We have an exclusive news item here!
This CD player is soon to be upgraded to the 3.3. It's a big upgrade, so the 3.2 model number is essentially bypassed. The new Talk CD will feature two DAC's and other upgrades as well as a facelift.
Kevin Edwards of Talk and Carl James of USA HIFI are working with us to provide review samples of not only the new CD player, but the current 3.1se as well. Our Clark Hertz will have THREE models of the Talk CD to compare.
Talk also makes a more budget minded line named Saxon which we will also be getting for review.
Kevin and Carl - thanks so much for the great communication. You are a pleasure with which to work .