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Vegas 08: Acoustic Plan Super System
Award time. The Acoustic Plan system, featuring Acoustic Plan's Veena speakers ($28k), Sarod preamp ($13000), Santor power amp ($11000) and Vadi CD player ($TBA) was one of the most impressive and talked about demos at the show. Shooting the breeze with one big name reviewer, I was told I had to check out that "open baffle thing with lowther drivers." I'm glad I followed his advice. Alas, great sound comes with a steep price tag.
SOUND
The sound style falls into the Emotional category, leaning towards the Smooth group. The sound from the Lowther drivers and hybrid amps was warm and friendly with the signature non-fatiguing dynamics the Emotional and Smooth fans love.
The entire presentation was seamless from top to bottom and not at all what one would expect from a Lowther-based system of this kind. While there were plenty of the traits that single driver fans desire, serious work has gone into taming the white cone's issues and handling music in all genres. The sound was fast and detailed and offered that signature musical midrange. The tube hybrid amplification and mechanical qualities of the drivers did a fine job of compensating for the nastiness in some of my torture tracks without sacrificing clarity and detail.
Naturally, the entire system -- from Acoustic Plan Veena speakers to CD players and amps -- works together harmoniously. Component synergy exists and the Acoustic Plan system will have people rethinking a life component-swapping madness.
TECH TALK
The slim Veena speakers are open baffles featuring 6" Lowther drivers, the hallmark of emotional systems, combined with four 10" powered woofers (a passive version is also available). The active system runs at 96dB while the passive version drops to 88dB, both with an 8 ohm impedance. The bass can be adjusted, though it's not as customizable as a full-blown sub (and nowhere near a DSP system). No frequency specs are listed, but the dipole-radiating subs reach low enough to be highly satisfying. The bass was also of a smooth, fast quality unique to dipole systems. A smaller speaker called the "Avarta" is also available and features double 10" woofers and the same 6" Lowther.
The Santor amp is a hybrid system with 50 MOS-FET watts and tubes in the signal path. The preamp and CD player are both tube-based and feature some of the classiest chassis construction around.
Big pics next page...
| Permalink | Show Superstars , Shows and Expos , Systems , Systems $50k-$100k , Vegas 08 | Posted by Josh Ray on Jan 12 '08
RMAF 07: Sonicweld $99k Super System
Paging Kanye West: Your new speakers are here. At $99k, the Sonicweld system has enough polished aluminum to out-bling Bugatti. And with active x-over, room correction and amazing sound, the Sonicweld system was the best Precise-type room at the show.
Being the nosey guy I am, I asked everyone I ran into what their favorite room was. Sonicweld came up a number of times usually accompanied with arm waving and copious gushing. Taste is subjective, of course, but the Sonicweld's Precise-type sound was simply seductive. The speed of the 2" midrange array was incredibly fast with class-leading definition between notes. The sound wasn't too cool or sharp or etched, just perfectly flat and amazingly revealing. Those who like their sound colored, look elsewhere. But for those with a love of absolute accuracy (and have a recording contract at Aftermath), put Sonicweld at the top of your list.
Sonicweld is located in Utah (along with 50% of the other high-end speaker manufacturers) and sells direct with in-home installation and optimization. $99k is steep, but the man behind Sonicweld Josh Heiner revealed there's a new system in the works. Once he's finished milling his current backorder of super systems, he's going to get down to a sub $10k system for the rest of us.
TECH TALK
The speakers are 4-ways with a silk dome tweeter, six 2" titanium midrange drivers and six 4" aluminum woofers. Double outboard 12" subs are in separate enclosures. Unusual for Precise-type speakers, the titanium drivers run wide-range while the six woofers are bipoles firing forward and backward. All drivers feature individual ICEpower amplification controlled by a DEQX digital crossover and room correction unit. And that's just the beginning, check out their website for all the tech that goes into these amazing speakers.
COMMENTS (2) | Permalink | RMAF 07 , Show Superstars , Shows and Expos , Speakers $20k and up , Systems , Systems $50k-$100k | Posted by Josh Ray on Nov 19 '07
