Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

A report from the By Allan Linton-Smith Sydney Audio & AV Show Big speakers, bigger amplifiers and fancy video projectors . . . Sydney has not had a hifi show for about 20 years so we had to visit the “Australian Audio & AV Show”, held in late October 2012 in the Sheraton on the Park hotel. Three floors were taken up with a dazzling array of audio and visual goodies representing much of the world’s best. M ost exhibits were shown in typical hotel rooms emptied of all the normal furniture but even so, space was at a premium. The aim of the hotel-based show was to allow manufacturers to demonstrate every imaginable hi-fi product available in “normal” room surroundings. Potential customers were even invited to bring along their own CD. As with the Melbourne Show in 2011, the majority of demonstrations were very well presented with at least two large areas arranged as theatres to demonstrate the latest AV technology. The sources of music were LP, CD, MP3, DVD or Blu-Ray. Kyron Audio A major attraction at the show was from Kyron Audio who demonstrated their GAIA dipole loudspeaker system described as a “3-way, DSP-controlled Active Dipole”. As the photo shows, this large system has no baffling of the drivers at all – which is pretty baffling! Obviously, they are using some pretty fancy digital signal processing to get reasonable bass from such a setup! Kyron is an Australian company based in Melbourne. For about 20  Silicon Chip $160,000 (yes, you read that right!) you get a pair of loudspeakers and associated amplifiers (we were told it was class D) with a total output of 5,000 watts (yep, five kilowatts!). Each speaker “tower” weighs in at around 200kg! The preamplifier accepts a number of inputs and has six digitally controlled analog channels with remote control of input selection. The digital sound processing is by DEQX and is described as having “high definition speaker correction with linear phase crossovers and advanced room measurement and correction”. The speakers are really a doubledipole arrangement and disperse the sound in a “figure 8” pattern with six 12-inch long throw woofers for the bass. Overall the sound had an “airy” and open quality but with a remarkably deep open bass, given the lack of speaker baffling. On the other hand, a conventional speaker with so many Just the look of the Kyron Audio GAIA dipole speaker is enough to attract attention. So’s the price tag – you’re going to need extremely deep pockets and an understanding spouse! siliconchip.com.au large drivers could be expected to be far more punchy. Whether you like the sound or not, it has to be said that it looks very unusual. The other question which must be asked is “who has a lazy hundred and sixty grand to spend on a hifi system?” Not this little black duck, that’s for sure! For more information, contact the designers: Lee Gray and Leon Suter; info<at>kyronaudio.com.au JBL’s big guns Speaking of more conventional speakers, we were very impressed with JBL’s new S4700s which are fairly big units with a 15-inch dual coil woofer, large midrange compression driver horn and horn tweeter similar to their older “big butt” tweeters. The 3-inch dual coils for the woofers are claimed to preserve linearity at high cone excursions. Heaven knows how loud such systems must be at high cone excursions – it was loud enough at the demonstration but we could not perceive any cone movement! Furthermore, they were being driven by a Harmon Kardon amplifier putting out only 20 watts. JBL are renowned for their high efficiency and high sound levels and this big 15-inch system was certainly impressive. They were very popular with the ladies too because of their appearance. The cost? Just a modest $12,000 for a pair! The agents, CONVOY INTERNATIONAL (www.e-hifi.com.au) also demonstrated the superb range of B&W speakers and we were fortunate to be able to audition the legendary 800 series speaker. Some people think these systems look a bit like Daleks but we wonder if they are suffering from some strange visual displacement. To us, but the sound was superb as you would expect from these high end units. JBL brought out the big guns – their new S7400 speaker system with 15-inch dual coil woofer, large midrange compression driver horn and horn tweeter. By the way, this photo was not taken at the Sydney show. to lie down and die! Or more likely, companies refuse to stop selling valve amplifiers. Whatever. ICON AUDIO presented their range of valve amplifiers and they were pushing their MB845 MK II Super Mono Blocks. These put out 110W RMS from a class-A circuit running 845B dual triode output valves which, according to the designer David Shaw, are a more powerful version of the famous 300B. Each mono block amplifier weighs in at 35kg and THD is quoted as 0.14% at 8W. The driver valves are the wellknow 6SN7s which the designer has paralleled to obtain a 90 volt swing. Valve amplifier aficionados were in raptures. The price for a pair of these un- V-vvvvalves Valves just refuse While we’ve never agreed with them, many audiophiles believe “valve sound” is something to strive for! Here’s ICON AUDIO’s $3500 MB845 class-A monoblocks with 110W output. siliconchip.com.au believable mono blocks is around $7,000 but Icon’s smaller integrated amplifiers are more affordable, the ST20PP 15W+15W EL34 push-pull stereo amplifier is only $880. They have an extensive range of amplifiers and matching loudspeakers with prices ranging from budget to top end. For more info contact David Shaw, sales<at>iconaudio.com Yamaha theatre sound systems Yamaha did not disappoint with their new Avantage series which offers five new amplifiers, from the RXA3020 150W x 9 channels down to the RXA-A720 90WX 7- channel unit. All have discrete transistor power amplifiers and use conventional power transformers (no switch-mode power supplies here) and all have Dolby TrueHD/DTS HD Master Audio with D/A and A/D conversion of 192kHz/24-bit and ultra-low jitter PLL. These units also have the ability to offer up to 43 surround programs and in true Yamaha style have introduced what they call “front presence dialogue lift” which we would understand uses an additional centre speaker above the screen to adjust voices to the centre of the screen. Yamaha have the BD-A1020 BluRay Player which, with a myriad of January 2013  21 VAF’s new VAF DC-X35 system will handle up to 200W but are also suited to lower power amplifiers with a 95dB/W/1m sensitivity. how it might perform on a sunny day although Epson includes some little shades which may help. It has six hours of (rechargeable) battery life and 1GB internal storage. Currently it is selling for US$699. It could be great, especially for use during long flights or train trips etc. For more info contact: Westan Australai Pty Ltd. sales<at>westan.com.au Sennheiser headphones features, includes Wi-Fi, plays SACDs and boasts 110dB signal-to-noise ratio. VAF loudspeakers We were fortunate to meet up with Philip Vafiadis who gave us a personal demonstration of his new VAF DC-X35 loudspeaker which represents the 6th evolution of his famous and poplar DC-X range. The DC-X35 speakers have an advantage that they are relatively small (20cm wide,1.2m high and 35cm deep) and quite sensitive at 95dB/W<at>1m which make them well suited to Class A amplifiers as well as lower powered valve amps, although they are rated to handle up to 200W on program material. For more info contact vaf<at>vaf. com.au Epson 3D DLP Westan Australia demonstrated the latest from EPSON including their latest 3D DLP technology for ultrasmooth 1080p reproduction, 2,000 ANSI lumens and contrast ratios up to 200,000! The EPSON TW9100W home theatre projector boasts wire connection too, which is a bonus. But even more impressive was Epson’s Moverio BT-100. Epson claims that it is the world’s first Androidbased, see-through wearable display. It looked like a stout pair of sunglasses attached to a little wire and a little smart phone sized box controller. It comes with two small earpieces and the wiring is cleverly integrated into the frame. Wearing these glasses is a really novel experience. Two little screens come into focus in front of your eyes and occupy about a half of your normal viewing area – but not really widescreen. Epson maintain that it is the same as watching an 80-inch screen but they don’t specify the distance. The “micro projection” allows you to view movies, games, apps etc and with 3D floating images too! It also connects to Wi-Fi so you can view emails and websites while still having lunch with your clients! They will never know. Well, maybe they will! In addition, you can still see a dark-tinted view of the world while watching the image which brought up a few jokes about driving, watching the girlfriend in the shower etc. We only viewed it in a fairly dark room so we don’t know Sennheiser demonstrated their wide range of high-end headphones. Outstanding in the medium price range were the HD650s which are priced under $1,000. Above those are the HD700s which have a specified frequency response of 15Hz - 40kHz (-3dB) and a maximum sound pressure level of 105dB. Sennheiser describe them as “open circumaural dynamic stereo headphones”. They look like two little loudspeakers for your shelllikes.... At the top of the range are the handmade state-of-the-art HD800s which have an extraordinary claimed frequency response of 6Hz-51kHz. They have received numerous awards and critical acclaim. AAV’s 10kW sound system AUDIO ACTIVE AUSTRALIA (www.audioactive.com.au) presented a huge array of audio visual equipment in the “Times on the Park” reception area which is almost a cinema-sized room. It was certainly the biggest and boldest presentation of the show with a 10,000 watt sound system, starting with a Primare BD32 reference BluRay player, an Anthem D2V reference A/V processor and five Anthem M1 1,000W class-D amplifiers feeding Paradigm speakers and a Paridigm subwoofer. The projector was a Sim2 Lumis 3D-S HD projector combined with a Left: Epson’s TW9100W home theatre projector. Right: Sennheiser HD650s “medium price” headphones – rrp is $799.00 (!) 22  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au The Premare BD32 reference BluRay player – AAV had this feeding an Anthem D2V reverence A/V processor and five Anthem M1 1kW class D amplifiers. It needed a large room! has been responsible for most of the Marantz gear for last two decades. Also on show was the Jamo R909 Dipolar loudspeaker which have two 15-inch drivers in an open-backed design plus a textile tweeter. Again, it was remarkable for the amount of bass it could deliver! Yet more valves... Jamo R900 Dipolar loudspeaker with two 15-inch drivers in an open-back cabinet. This is the red one! Xeit Optic Anamorphic 2.35:1 Cinema Lens designed in Australia. The whole experience was better than a cinema which demonstrates what the best home cinema can achieve – at a price! The setup was priced at $162,824 but with a show promotion of 15% off, including all ancillaries and system installation and calibration. Audio Active do have more affordable systems though and can supply the Sim2 Lumis projector combined with smaller amplifiers and speakers for less than $15,000. Another valve approach was demonstrated by AUDIO SALON from Bulleen in Victoria (www.audiosalon. com.au) They describe themselves as boutique handmade equipment suppliers, specialising in single-ended valve amplifiers and efficient single drivers. We listened to their Voxativ Ampeggio loudspeakers single drivers (with triple white cones) driven by a SILKMinute single-ended valve amplifier which uses a 300B triode output and 6SN7 driver. Even people who are antivalve were impressed by this demo. According to Audio Salon, “Voxa- tiv’s Inès Adler single speaker driver is able to push engineering to an incredible level to achieve what was once thought impossible with a single driver – deep bass.” “We are talking bass that can surpass the resolution of the best dynamic speakers and being coherent makes it one of the best speakers ever made. Together with the collaboration with Schimmel Pianos, a new back loaded horn speaker was born – Ampeggio. Made with the finest selected tonewood, this speaker is probably the last word in resolution, transparency and coherence.” Regardless of that, we had to admit that it did sound pretty good.. Drop into Audio Salon if you want to hear what the best “valve sound” can do for your ears! Overall, the show was a big success and a significant improvement over the same show in Melbourne last year. Well done to the Chester Group for organising it. SC Marantz & Jamo QUALIFI (www.qualifi.com.au) demonstrated the current range of Marantz & Jamo products and we were delighted to meet up with legendary Marantz designer Ken Ishiwata who siliconchip.com.au You either love the styling or hate it . . . Onkyo’s M5000R audio power amplifier is big, with big 1980’s style power meters and 80W per channel output (8Ω). The “AWRAT” is Onkyo’s proprietary Advanced Wide Range Amplifier Technology. January 2013  23