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Milan Analogue!
Ok, so you just saw the above photos and are drewling all over yourself. Shame on you! Well, i did the same thing when i walked into the room and saw this turntable so we are in the same gang my friend. What we have here is a extremely high precision, very heavy (over 50kg), 2-4Hz resonant frequency, super-duper turntable with that great air floating linear tonearm. On the picture immediately above you can see the air pressure gauge to the far right and VTA can be easily adjusted by turning the top part of that piece. Any attempt to really describe this turntable would be feeble at best. Seeing is believing! Funny thing is, it is kinda reasonably priced at a low, low K-Mart Blue Light special today for only 39,000,000 Lira (table and arm). For more information please see the V.Y.G.E.R. website by clicking here.
Not resting on their laurels, Clearaudio was showing not just one, but two new turntable at the Milan show! Seen above is their new top of the line Master Reference turntable that also shows their new TQ1 tonearm. The usual, for Clearaudio. high precision linear tracking arm uses all silver wire and should sell here in the US for $5,000. The turntable has three resonant layers (1 motor, 1 bearing, 1 tonearm), can be used with up to three tonearms(!) and uses three motors (just like my personal reference VOYD turntable). The usual ultra-precision inverted bearing is used and this puppy weighs in at around 50kg! Not sure of the retail pricing of this unit, but it look very, very interesting my friend. Hmmm.. three tonearms you say?
Clearaudio was also showing their new rock bottom prices Solution turntable too! This turntable is for those with, um, champagne tastes but on a beer budget. As usual for Clearaudio, the motor is on a separate place using a brass block here. Easy and fast setup is promised and the tonearm is optional. The motor is a synchronous-type with its own integrated servo electronics for speed stability and accuracy. Of course the usual inverted bearing is used too. An acrylic platter help to round out this turntable (pun intended) and retail list here in the USA is estimated at $1,500 (tonearm extra).
The highly regarded Italian manufacturer, Analogue Audio, were showing many of their units at the show. Seen above is their Puccini Special Edition integrated amplifier (1,350,000 Lira) . This all solid-state unit has five inputs including a one for tape, and also an input for MM/MC phono stage duties. Special 0 .1% tolerance metal-film resistors are used in the crucial parts of the circuit while polypropylene and polystyrene capacitors are also employed (1% tolerance used in the phono stage!). In fact this unit also uses separate power transformers for each of the two channels! Power output is rated at 50wpc @ 8ohms with an 80db channel separation. Italy has many great manufacturers i wish i was able to enjoy here in America.
Using an outboard power supply, the R.A.F. M1stereo power amplifier uses four PCL82 per channel in push-pull configuration to produce 18wpc. Solid-state bridge rectification s used by the way. Input sensitivity is 1v so it should be very easy to "drive" this unit to full power output by virtually any preamplifier (including those passive preamplifiers). Frequency response is claimed as 10Hz - 40kHz (-1db) and it retails here for 2,6000,000 Lira.
Most folks don't even know this, but Sonus Faber makes a small, beautifully solid walnut covered front panel integrated amplifier! With six line inputs, buffered record output, error corrected mosfet output stage, 50wpc (two channel) and WBT gold plated speaker posts this baby would probably perfectly match the look and feel of their highly acclaimed speakers. Sold here in Italy she goes for 4,850,000 Lira.
The folks at Nightingale had a wide variety of tube units at the show and were being used in quite a few rooms too. Seen above this their 30wpc stereo integrated preamplifier/amplifier unit. With four inputs, a tape loop, and optional MM phono stage, this was one beautiful unit (the photo above does it no justice visually). The ADM-30 (6,4000,000 Lira) uses four E88CC for the preamplifier, two two E82CC for phase inversion, and eight 6L6 tubes for power output duties. Auto-biasing of the tubes insure an easy, low maintenance for its owner. There is no input/output negative feedback used, a stand-by function keeps the tube filaments heated while not in full use, and the circuitry is strictly pure dual mono (note the two power and two output transformers on the back on the chassis.
The Italian company Master Sound makes many various tube units. Seen above is their Master Sound Reference 845 (14,580,000 Lira) integrated tube amplifier which uses, what else, the 845 tube. Specifically, two 845 tubes per channel with zero negative feedback operated in Class "A" for an output of 40wpc. At 15watt output, the frequency response is claimed as 15Hz - 40kHz using what they refer to as "special output transformers". The front left know is for selecting one of the five inputs while the left knob is for volume control. Master Sound also makes a few other units too. Some of which use either the EL34, or VV52, or 300B for output.
One of my favorite named companies, Bow Technologies has a way of naming their gear i simply love! For instance, they were showing their Wazoo amplifier which is built like the proverbial tank and looks really cool too. All solid-state with a high .5V input sensitivity this baby can be used with even those pesky passive line preamplifiers. Very wide frequency response is claimed at 2Hz - 300kHz (-3db) and 50wpc @ 8ohms is its power rating (90wpc @ 4ohms). Now if they'd only make a model called Wow Wow we'd have the killer-named, what else, Bow Wow Wow just like the 80's music group :-{)+ . Well, maybe when they make a speaker it could be kinda like Wilson Speakers and be named...
Above is the Ultrasound Otello amplifier priced at a low, low bargain basement retail of 1,000,000,000 Lira (Audio Note Ongaku owners will need to upgrade to this baby). Using ten PL519 tubes per channel, the folks at Ultrasound told me this is not a wattage amplifier but a amperage amplifier. Specifically, the output is eight amps and no wattage rating was given though they did tell me the impedance of the output stage is 1Mohm!
Going back to sanity, Spark showed quite a few offerings. Pictured above is their 300B S integrated amplifier which uses one 300B, 12AT7, and 6L6GT per channel for a claimed output of 10wpc. Weighing in at a hefty 25kg. and priced at 3,400,000 Lira this unit seemed very interesting. Notice the dual power supplies (one per channel)!
In one room was this small Quad system which actually sounded quite nice. i must have taken too much No-Doze because my notes seem to forget to add exactly which components are shown here or the exact pricing thereof. (Said in humor like the movie Airplane) Looks like i picked a bad week to quit sniffing glue %-{)+ .
Nagra was showing their new doohicky which, in the Nagra system, sounded not so good. Funny, i kinda felt the Nagra room sounded awful at Hi-Fi '98 in Los Angeles. Maybe this is a new Nagra home audio trend?
Klimo makes a full line of tubed amplification products. Seen here is their LAR which is a MM/MC phono unit. This dual mono phono stage uses two EC88CC tubes for the MC stage and two E88CC plus two E81CC for the MM stage. Priced at 5,500,000 Lira it looked like one very well designed unit. Amazing all the great stuff that never reaches the US shores.
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