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The Perfect Finish
Traditionally, speakers have always been finished in some sort of wood veneer. Historically, this dates back to the days when speakers were large, boxy and thus had to resemble some sort of furniture piece in order to fit into the decor of the home. As the years went by however, loudspeaker manufacturers quickly realized that offering finishes other than veneer was becoming a viable option for more consumers. 
| Permalink | Speakers $10k-20k , Speakers $2k-5k , Speakers $5k-10k , Writer: Danny Kaey | Posted by Danny Kaey on Feb 10 '08
Vegas 08: Devore Fidelity and Vegas After Hours
Save the best for last, I'm told. I'm glad I did. By the time I arrived at Devore's monkey house, CES show-goers were already heading for the airport with hangovers and broken eardrums leaving me plenty of quiet time to listen to my demo disc on Devore's big Silverback speakers.
The night before, John (Devore), John (Halpern of Shindo, EMT, Leben), John (Hughes of VRS), Mike Lavorgna (6Moons) and I partied at the "Not For Sale" mini-rave among other hip hi-fi manufacturers, dealers and journalists. The NFS guys are weekend alcohol alchemists, crafting liquor from a variety of exotic ingredients (the active element in absinth being one).
John (one of the three, don't exactly remember) put a small plastic shot glass filled with glowing liquid in my hand and said, "Yo, you gotta try this!" I was about to knock it back like the good post frat boy I am, but they were like, "No, man, sip it." I later found out another main ingredient was Everclear. Upon reflection, either that little shot was liquid plutonium or John, John, John and Mike are the funniest people in hi-fi. Or both.
Check out Jon's (Iverson of Stereophile) great shots (2, 3) of the NFS room complete with trippy FX lighting. Sadly, I wasn't able to grab a pic of the hot tub filled with beer, wine and hard alcohol on ice. Next year I'll make sure I bring my camera and stay conscious long enough to snap some shots. Who said audiophiles are boring? Vegas After Hours is what hi-fi is all about.
As for the sound in the Devore room, well, it was one of the most enjoyable at the show. The sound falls roughly into the Smooth group -- absolutely zero harsh, etched, nasty notes while offering worlds of bass and attack. Power to the Devore Silverback Reference speakers ($15k) was provided by a beefy Ayre amp rather than low watt tubes of years past.
Where the show's euro Intense-style speakers have a cooler presentation and sharper dynamics, the Devore's sound was warmer and far more friendly. Compared to Refined-type speakers, the Devores offered a more lively midrange, especially on vocals. It's just a different style, one that I particularly like. It's up to you, of course, what kind of sound you prefer, but now I finally understand why Devore speakers are often called "high performance everyday speakers." There are only a handful of speakers that, to my ears, are designed with a lifestyle in mind -- Devore's are clearly designed with a love of the good life.
Check out our Devore gallery for more pics of the big system and the new Gibbon 5 LCR speakers featuring coax drivers using the same woofer from the Gibbon 8. The 5.1, with their double ports, are said to put out bass equal to the bigger 8. Pictured above are the Gibbon Nines next to the Gibbon Super 8.
COMMENTS (1) | Permalink | Show Superstars , Speakers $10k-20k , Speakers $5k-10k , Vegas 08 | Posted by Josh Ray on Jan 14 '08
SonicFlare Top Speakers of 2007
Sports cars have nothing on hi-fi. Each year, hi-fi manufacturers create new speakers and components with more space-age tech and bling than Bugatti. To show you what hi-fi is all about, we decided to present our Top Speakers of 2007 with their corresponding super car identities. After all, racy looks and extreme performance is what hi-fi is all about.
We chose these loudspeakers based on the buzz they received over the course of 2007. While there were many new and exciting prototype products this year, the loudspeakers on our list are all commercially available and showing up in rock star and hi-fi fan's living rooms everywhere.
Hi-fi, like sports cars, is made up of numerous fantastic speakers, each with their own unique strengths. So if you’re new to the glorious world of hi-fi, forget plastic speakers and find out what “sports cars for your living room” is all about.
COMMENTS (4) | Permalink | Articles , Speakers $10k-20k , Speakers $20k and up , Speakers $2k-5k , Speakers $5k-10k | Posted by Josh Ray on Dec 22 '07
RMAF 07: Acoustic Zen
Another room that received a lot of great attention was Acoustic Zen. Their new $12k Crescendo is gunning to replace the very best speakers from other Refined-type companies like Wilson and Genesis. All drivers are custom creations featuring an unusual short coil/long gap magnet structure. Like the less expensive and wildly popular Adagios, the Crescendos feature transmission-line bass loading and massive cabinets.
Halco provided the components. It's hard to say how each piece sounded, but the overall sound was definitely Refined and some of the very best at the show. If the comments at the show are any indication, expect to see people saying, "I replaced my far more expensive XYZ speakers with Acoustic Zen!"
Permalink | Comments (2) | Posted to RMAF 07 | Show Superstars | Shows and Expos | Speakers $10k-20k
Vegas07 Pro Driver Roundup
Vegas '07 is the year pro drivers became legit in the American hifi subculture. Companies like Eminence, TAD, JBL, B&C, Hemp Acoustics (above) and others are creeping into the space where Scan Speak, SEAS, Peerless, Vifa and others once reigned. Eminence is the largest manufacturer of raw drivers in the world, but rarely provide pulp for the audiophile crowd. Zu really began the trend, working with Eminence for a number of their parts. But until now, pro drivers have remained the pariahs of hifi.
So what's the deal with pro drivers versus typical cones?
1. Low excursion: Typically, a pro driver will feature multiple mini surrounds, as seen in the picture above. Low excursion = snap and attack. Most hifi drivers are made with monster excursion and massive rubber surrounds. While the bass is deeper, the driver is mechanically slower peak to peak. As Adam from Zu says, "it's just physics."
2. High efficiency: While standard drivers have sensitivity in the 80s and low 90s, pro drivers are high 90s and into the triple digits. There are many high-eff drivers from Lowther, Fostex and others, but there is one big difference...
3. High power handling: Made for blowing the gray matter out of musicians and their fans, pro drivers can handle just ungodly amounts of juice. It's not uncommon for pro amps to be rated in the 1000s of watts, despite the high speaker efficiency. Lowther, Fostex and others are made for tiny watts and don't produce the SPLs of the pro guys.
4. Bass: The boom is an interesting issue with pro drivers. A 15" will typically be rated in the 50Fs range, while a similar hifi driver will be down in the teens. An 8" driver in a hifi setup can produce solid bass into the 20s while an 8" pro is considered a midrange driver. There are many ways to get deep bass from the pro gear, but with the low excursion, the thrubbing lows of the hifi world aren't typical.
5. Highs: Pro drivers are typically mated with a compression tweeter which, like their bass brethren, wail until your rims fall off. Crossovers typically happen in the 1.5k range, though guys like Zu and others take their crossover way, way up. This means that a 10-15" driver has to produce really clear midrange way higher than a similarly sized hifi driver would ever dream. That's why "full-spectrum" 2 ways are far more common in pro equipment than in hifi.
So are pro drivers better than their hifi kin? Up for debate, but there's no denying that there's a shift in the hifi market and more pro-based speakers are on the way. Keep reading for pics of the numerous companies showing pro-derrived speakers at Vegas07...
Permalink | Comments (1) | Posted to Speakers $10k-20k | Speakers $20k and up | Speakers $2k-5k | Speakers $5k-10k
Verity Audio Holiday Tour by Sandy Greene
Every holiday season my family travels up to Quebec City to visit with my wife’s family. This was the second year in a row I paid a visit to Verity Audio. Verity Audio manufactures some of the most physically beautiful and beautifully musical speakers I have seen and heard.
Last time up I had a tour of their facilities and listened to a couple of their models in their amazing listening/testing room. This year I was hoping to hear their new Rienzi model. The Rienzi slots second into their line above the Tamino’s, which I reviewed (and loved) last year. The Rienzi’s use the same two drivers that the Tamino does (midrange/woofer and tweeter), but breaks the cabinet in two like all the other models up the Verity line, and adds a woofer to an either forward-firing or rear-firing bass cabinet. Unfortunately their new Rienzi was just packed up to go to CES. I look forward to a review of the Rienzis for SonicFlare.com sometime next year.
Keep reading for all the details...
Permalink | | Posted to Articles | Speakers $10k-20k | Writer: Sandy Greene
Notes from ATC World: “Dogs and Cats Living Together”
For all you discerning audio aficionados, SonicFlare essayist JB sidesteps individual component reviews on his path towards complete system synergy. Read his adventures with two legendary brands the US scene has all but forgotten: ATC and YBA.
Also, check out JB's previous coverage of the HE2006 show.
Permalink | Comments (17) | Posted to Pre-Amps $2k to 8k | Speakers $10k-20k | Speakers $20k and up | Speakers $5k-10k
Von Schweikert's New Clothing
Von Schweikert Audio, to everyone's great relief, has changed its name. No more misspellings, Von Schweikert is now known as V Speakers.
Along with the new name, V's entire speaker line is getting a new identity. The legendary VR-4 JR MKIIs are now simply called the "Virtues" and run $5695. The $995 VR-1s now go under the name "Victory." Above, the smaller $75,000 VR-9 SEs are now the "Valiant" while the big $150,000 VR-11 shall forever be called "Vanquish." Seeing a trend here? The VR-7s probably have the best name: "Vast." I'm surprised there's no "Vendetta." Shame.
The new "Valiant" speakers (VR-10 MKII) are surely some of the largest speakers in the world. At $85,000, that gives V a total of five speakers above $20k which, I believe, is a record for a speaker company. Double towers per side, the bass block has four 15" woofers with 1000 watts covering 10Hz up to 60Hz. The $65,000 more expensive Vanquish doesn't go the double tower route but uses an identical main stack. So why more expensive? The drivers in the VR-10 are similar but cheaper. So instead of the Seas 8" magnesium driver (retail $177.45 at Madisound), the Valiant uses the Seas 8" aluminum ($73.85). Add 'em up, throw in an upgraded crossover, electronics, cabling and, viola, there's your $65,000.
Also new from V Speakers is online purchasing. Strangely, the www.vspeakers.com site doesn't have a shopping cart. Instead, www.higherfi.com, the eBay of ridiculously expensive speakers, is handling transactions. Regarding online vs. retail and protecting retailer margins, the V Speakers site says this:
"V" speakers by Von Schweikert Audio are available for purchase either online or at our dealers. Both our online and dealer prices are the same.
But a little trip to the Higher-Fi site reveals a 30% price drop. Why?
The 30% discount shown assumes you will donate a working component (speakers, cd player, receiver, etc) to the charity of your choice or send it in to us so we can donate it for you. This is part of our "Share The Music" campaign to provide music to those less fortunate, please support our program.
Wow.
Permalink | Comments (20) | Posted to Speakers $10k-20k | Speakers $1k-2k | Speakers $20k and up | Speakers $2k-5k | Speakers $5k-10k
Talon Audio Back in Action
Talon Audio is back in action after disappearing off the radar screen and sending speculation through the audio world. Talon's previous website hadn't been updated since April 2004 which, in and of itself, isn't anything bizarre in audio. But given that it went black for the last 6 months, well, people started wondering just what was up in the house of ceramics.
Talon's new site has one very interesting detail under the brand name: "A Rives Audio Company." Rives is that acoustic treatment and room optimization company who recently demoed at HE2006 with two different rooms: one with treatment and one without. At HE2006, they paired up with Gryphon and Ultimate A/V (the retail store) while at CES Rives was with Talon. Seems Rives is now doing 40 acoustic treatment projects a month, so their literature claims.
Talon Audio came flying into the audio scene with colorful cabinets and ceramic drivers and were one of the first companies (along with Kharma) to use the wildly expensive Accuton ceramic and diamond drivers now seen in dozens of speakers. In fact, at CES this year, the number of speakers with Accuton drivers was a running joke and could have made for a great drinking game.
Talon also champions the folded transmission line cabinet, putting out big bass from smallish cabinets. When Talon's Raven and Firebird speakers came out, there was lots of talk of Talon vs Wilson. As with any new speaker in the $20k+ range, comparisons against Wilson are expected. And like Wilson, Talon polarized the industry with people either gushing about crisp sonics or screaming about bloody ears.
Of course, the biggest problem with being "the next hot thing" in audio is there's always someone after you. Not much press about Talon in the last few years or new products (other than diamond tweeters available as a $10k option), so we'll see just what Rives can do with Talon in their little audio family.
Correction: The number of Rives acoustical engineering projects is 40 a month, not year. To clarify, Rives provides acoustic engineering and design services and does not manufacturer or sell acoustic treatment products.
Permalink | | Posted to Speakers $10k-20k | Speakers $20k and up
New Genesis 5.3 Loudspeakers
A press release landed in the mail and it seems Genesis Advanced Technologies is releasing the third generation of their keystone product, the Series 5. Genesis is a company that aims to be a top American brand and the new 5.3 is their assault on the Wilson WATT/Puppy 8 but with a $11k price reduction ($16K instead of the Wilson's $27k). How much of an assault? Here's straight from their press release:
Despite all the improvements, the latest version of the Genesis 5 maintains the same price as the previous version at $16,000. It should be noted that the original 5-series was released at $14,500 in 1995. Our popular competitor was at the same price then, but now, their latest version costs over 50% more than our latest version...
Genesis also wants to separate themselves out from the W brand by touting all in-house built drivers. Titanium for the mids, aluminum for the lows and unusual circular ribbbons for the tweeters. Genesis packs in a rear-firing subwoofer with 500 watt amps as well as rear firing tweeters for a total range of 16Hz to 36kHz. If you can't beat them with marketing, beat them with features.
Genesis has also been getting regular press for their Series 6 products which, in my opinion, are some of the nicest looking speakers in audio. Active bass sections with a arsenal of drivers, the reviews all tend to identify the Series 6 speakers as fairly tweaky and difficult to set up. They say the speakers can sound great if you put in the time to tame the dozens of drivers and room reflections.
Stereophile reviewed the previous 5.2 version way back in February of this year, so it's pretty surprising to see a new version land so quickly. The Genesis 5.2s were featured on the cover of the magazine with what some believed to be prototype midrange drivers. See if you can identify the driver issue in the photo on the next page and go read Stereophile for the full review.
More pictures and full text of press release after the jump.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Posted to Speakers $10k-20k
Sound Fusion Speakers
It's always fun to see non-audio companies get the hi-fi itch and jump into the wild waters of super sound. MuRata, makers of expensive add-on super tweeters, is a side project of a larger Japanese industrial company making such products as a bicycle-riding gyroscopic robot known as Murata Boy. Super tweeters and robots, makes sense in a weird Japanese kinda way.
Sound Fusion is the offspring of Global Wood Concepts, a multi-billion dollar Canadian furniture corporation. Big corporate parent company? This isn't necessarily a bad thing, of course. It means that whoever is actually in control of the speaker division has greater access to expensive industrial tools and a theoretically much larger piggy bank.
While Sound Fusion touts the furniture making tech that goes into the cabinet and crossover design, what really sets Sound Fusion apart, in my opinion, is their push for active speakers. In case you don't know, active speakers put the amplification inside of the speaker. Usually this means the manufacturer is able to choose the best amp for the job and place the amplification after the crossover which has all kinds of tech benefits. Many speaker manufacturers will admit that active speakers is the way to go but with hi-fi being what it is, audiophiles won't have anything to do with active speaks.
Sound Fusion uses NuForce amps in their $18k Hyperion speakers (shown) and the Ariels (Hyperions sans bass base). Positive Feedback has a review of the passive $10k Nova speakers and says they have, "fine detail, tremendous transient speed, and responsive dynamics." In real speak, the Sound Fusions aspire to audio laser status. SoundStage dropped by the Sound Fusion listening room and had similar thoughts about the Hyperions, comparing their level of resolution to that of the TAD super speakers. Interesting.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Posted to Speakers $10k-20k | Speakers $5k-10k
Manger Audio
That is no normal tweeter there. In fact, it's not a tweeter at all, but a full range driver known as Manger. What makes Manger drivers different is that a single flat membrane covers 80Hz to 40kHz with the star shaped pancake vibrating at different frequencies in different areas. Manger drivers fall into that category of conceptual technology that is supposedly possible but is damn hard to actually pull off. Manger pulled it off a few years ago and now the German Manger is primed to jump into the US market (again) through TMH Audio.
The speaker shown is one of Manger's own speakers, though Manger also sells its MST driver to the DIY scene and boutique speaker companies like Overkill Audio whose speakers start at $10k. Shown is the Zerobox 109 with a Scanspeak 8" driver flushing out the bass. Frequency range is 40Hz-25kHz. Price is $7500. Manger also makes the $16k Swing and Subsonic combo shown on the next page. Stylin'.
The whole idea of a single point source driver is to create a unified, coherent sound stage and image in ways traditional tweeter/woofer combos are theoretically not able to. The downside of Manger drivers is said to be that listening position and placement is more difficult. People usually say that Mangers can sound amazing, but that you've gotta put in the time to make them shine. Also that the Manger sound is described more for easy listening jazz and classical over rock and Ludacris/Fiddy duets. Ah well, can't have everything.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Posted to Speakers $10k-20k | Speakers $5k-10k
HE2006: After the Ball is Over: Part 3
Permalink | Comments (2) | Posted to Shows and Expos | Speakers $10k-20k | Speakers $5k-10k
HE2006: After the Ball is Over: Part 2
Permalink | Comments (4) | Posted to Shows and Expos | Speakers $10k-20k | Speakers $20k and up
HE2006: Rockport, Gryphon, Rives
I just came up with a new way to test a speaker's cabinet construction. I call it the "knuckle rap test." And the highest mark you can get is "bruised knuckles." If you hear anyone else using this test, know they stole it from me.
This is a round-about way of saying the new $13,500 Rockport Mira speakers are NFL linebackers. But that's Rockport's thing, as seen in their famous earthquake-proof Sirius turntable. At the show, retailer Ultimate Audio Video showed the Rockports with the Gryphon Mikado CD player and Diablo integrated for a Darth Vader-worthy setup.
Interestingly, there were two identical rooms with this system. The only difference was one room was treated by Rives acoustic design and the other was, how shall we say, attractive. The idea was you'd go from the untreated room into the treated one and "wow" at the difference. There was a difference, of course, but I couldn't help thinking how I would rather spend my time listening to killer equipment than acoustic panels.
Permalink | | Posted to Shows and Expos | Speakers $10k-20k
