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RMAF 07: RL Acoustic + Opera $19k Super System
RL Acoustique partnered with Opera Consonance for an absolutely fantastic Emotional-style room. So good, in fact, their $19,200 system gets my vote for the top Emotional system at the show. The sound was warm and smooth like a world-class Emotional system should be. But the RL Lamhorns ($9500/pair) were also amazingly fast without a lot of the bizarre frequency anomalies that typically turn people away from single driver speakers.
The new Consonance Mini Droplet CD Player ($2500) includes integrated volume and remote while their monoblock amps are the Consonance Cyber 300B ($7200/pair). If you've never seen any of the Cyber series amps up close, just know they're absolutely gorgeous. For the style conscious, the Droplet/Cyber combo is an instant conversation starter (the good kind of conversation).
TECH TALK
The RL Acoustique Lamhorns champion the AER MK-1 driver. German AER has made a name for itself in DIY circles as the better-than-Lowther alternative, offering multiple magnet configurations and, interestingly, a field-coil driver. The Opera Cyber amps feature 300B tubes in Single Ended Parallel configuration. The entire Cyber line offers different amps for many flavors of the best tubes out there: 845/211, 300B (in SET, parallel and push/pull configs), and EL34.
| Permalink | Amplifiers $6k to 10k , Disc players $2 to $5k , RMAF 07 , Show Superstars , Shows and Expos , Speakers $5k-10k , Systems , Systems $10k-$20k | Posted by Josh Ray on Oct 31 '07
HE2006: MBL's Babies
This little MBL system uses mere mortal speaker drivers instead of their omnis. Alas, this was a non playing demo. With the big 101s casting their spell, it's really no surprise. Shown above are the $3250 MBL 311 E speakers, $7480 7008 integrated and $8400 1531 CD player.
Pictured below is the new line of entry-level components: $4700 model 7006 integrated, $3600 4006 preamplifier, $3500 8006 B power amp and the 1431 CD player (no list price). Thoroughly confused by the numbering system yet? Me too.
| Permalink | Acoustic Treatment , Disc players $2 to $5k , Disc players $5k to 10k , Integrated Amp $3k to 6k , Integrated Amp $6k to 10k , Shows and Expos , Speakers $2k-5k | Posted by Josh Ray on Jun 07 '06
Vegas - Eventus and Audia
Two Italian companies Eventus and Audia showed their pricey goods at CES. Eventus makes loudspeakers with a unique layered construction and, like any self-respecting Italian company, uses drop-dead gorgeous finishes.
The speakers shown are the Metis bookshelves with a price of $5000 to $7000. The 3-way floor model Phobos goes for $12k and the Nebula statement speaker is $50k (shown on the next page). Audia's components are between $4000 and $7000 per component.
| Permalink | Amplifiers $3k to 6k , Disc players $2 to $5k , Pre-Amps $2k to 8k , Speakers $10k-20k , Speakers $20k and up , Speakers $5k-10k | Posted by Josh Ray on Jan 12 '06
Muse Polyhymnia's Remote Control of Pain
This is by no means a slam on the audio quality of the $4900 Muse Polyhymnia Universal Player -- it may sound awesome, who knows -- but I must take a moment and draw your attention to the remote control. Lord in heaven, I count 64 identical buttons on there. So either the buttons are normal size and the remote is a two feet long and weighs eight pounds or it's a normal sized remote but needs special tools to read and depress the buttons on the damn thing.
Being the annoying iPod/audiophile cheerleader I am, I must say this remote should never, ever, ever be put into production, let alone grace an advertising shot. Any non-audiophile who sees this will run for the hills and those audiophiles who have thumbs bigger than a Tic-Tac will hit the "next track" button along with a dozen other buttons in the immediate vicinity.
Go to the next page to see Muse's "Remote-1," a sane remote compared to the "Remote-2" above. Insanity via 6Moons.
Permalink | | Posted to Disc players $2 to $5k
Marantz DV9500 Universal Disc Player
While the $2099 Marantz DV 9500 doesn't look terribly different from any other DVD player out there, it sure packs a load of features, including this choice review:
"The fact is that the Marantz DV9500 is a better-sounding and looking player than players that had cost five times more just a few years back."
The Marantz has some tough competition in this price arena, including our previous post on the Arcam DiVa DV79. But five times more??? Either the industry moves damn fast (which is possible) or the Marantz is just that good...or the reviewer is over-zealous. In any case, the review goes into excellent depth and explains all the pros and cons (few cons).
Marantz DV9500 Review [Audio Video Review]
Marantz Home
Permalink | | Posted to Disc players $2 to $5k
Canary Audio CD-100 CD Player
Canary audio brings the tube love to CD playing with their new CD-100. Based on Sony CD guts, Canary includes Hovland MusiCaps and an epoxy-laden transformer to reduce vibration. Also included is Sony's latest DAC and true balanced XLR outputs. Price runs $2795.
Canary Audio [via 6Moons]
Permalink | | Posted to Disc players $2 to $5k
Consonance Droplet CDP 5.0 CD Player
6Moons Srajan reviews the Consonance Droplet CDP 5.0 CD player and likes what he hears:
"If $3,000 is within your budget -- and especially if you've always wanted tubes but exposed power tubes don't appeal and even a preamp is low on your list of must-haves -- the Consonance Droplet CDP 5.0 is one of those creations you must face to feel good about having done due diligence on your needs and what would best satisfy them."
Meaning, the Droplet is an excellent player with only a few little issues which, as the followup posted in the review informs us, have already been fixed prior to US release.
Consonance Droplet CDP CD Player [6Moons]
Consonance Home
Permalink | | Posted to Disc players $2 to $5k
Escient Fireball E2-300 HDD Music Server
The Escient Fireball E2 is a 300gb music server - put a CD in, rip a digital copy, push a button and high-quality music comes out anywhere in your house. The price is $3,999 and allows for multiple recording options from regular 128 kb/s mp3s to FLAC (FLAC = CD quality at half the hard drive space). Check out the review for all the goods.
Escient E2-300 Review [Audio/Video Revolution]
Escient Product Page
Permalink | | Posted to Disc players $2 to $5k
