High End Society 2002 Show Frankfurt Germany

Thursday Page 1

  Clearaudio of Germany had their new high-tech uni-pivot carbon fiber tonearm, Unify ($850), that uses a precision machined headshell and base. The inverted jeweled sapphire (Swiss) bearing takes note from the watch industry. Seen here is the direct RCA cable version with male interconnects. A version with female RCA connector box is available for those who enjoy using their own cables.

 

Also in the Clearaudio booth is their new Strobeoscope test record ($50) and a special Speed Strobe light ($100) to assist in clearly reading the disc. Unlike other flimsy plastic test disc, the Clearaudio version is made of vinyl (approximately 120 gram) and has grooves on both the outermost an innermost section so you can test the speed of your turntable with the needle on the record. As Spock would say, "This is highly logical." As for speeds that may be tested... 33.3/45/78rpm... naturally.

 

In the HGP room was their SUB_600 (€3,600) and features four 12" drivers in compounded design. Frequency response is 20Hz to 150Hz and includes a 600-watt "Class D" amplifier. The crossover is fully adjustable. Their Dona (€1,350) is a full range, slim line design with a 25mm soft dome tweeter is mated to two 13cm midrange/woofers. The enclosure employs front porting.

 

Cyrus has their all new Quattro CD player (£650) that can handle an optional FM radio card (£200) and multi-room card (£350). This unit features both analog and digital output and includes a headphone jack as well.

 

The Cyrus Quattro unit can supply three separate zones in your home, all of which is controllable by a wireless remote control unit. Just add amplification, such as Cyrus' Q Power (£400).

 

Harmon Corporation's Infinity room had the Intermezzo 4.1t (€10,000) floorstanding loudspeakers. With elegant wood highlight on the cabinet, a 25mm tweeter 69mm midrange, and 165mm woofer are mated to a 305mm self-powered (350 watt) subwoofer. Impedance is 6 ohm while the overall sensitivity is 87dB/W/m.

 

At the Kilmo electronic/Duevel loudspeaker room they were enjoying vinyl on Pluto 12A turntable (€20,000 including tonearm). As some of you may remember, the Duevel room won our Best of Show Award. Also in the rooms was a pair of Kilmo Beltaine single-ended monoblock amplifier with VIAC 320B output tubes (€6,150). The loudspeakers are the newest version of Duevel's Bella Luna in special Padouk (€6,300, basic version is €5,080). See our review of the Bella Luna loudspeaker by clicking here.

 

Lavardin Technologies were showcasing their Model IS integrated amplifier (€2,139, with phonostage €2,375) and IS Reference (€3,150, with phonostage €3,385). The Reference unit has upgraded internal components and power supply to produce more amperage. Four inputs are provided.

 

Optimized by golden ear equipment designer Ken Ishiwata is the Marantz CD6000SE compact disc player (€749). Playback abilities include CD, CD-R, CD-RW and CD Text. Stereo analog output and digital output are via industry standard female RCA while a TosLink optical digital output is also provided.

 

Marantz's new DV8300 DVD player plays CD, DVD-Audio/Video and SACD (€2,500).

 

U-Vola watermelon-shaped loudspeaker that can be suspended by wires (€3,580). They even come in Ferrari red! Me amoré!

 

 

Mordaunt-Short's new MS914 floorstanding (£300) and MS912 (£200) stand mounted/bookshelf loudspeaker feature a 165mm driver with large voice coil for midrange/bass and 25mm aluminum dome tweeter. Both also have a special "damped second order crossover". The internals of the cabinet have differential bracing to the top of cabinet. As Marantz distributes Mordant-Short in various parts of the world, none other than Ken Ishiwata has assisted in voicing this new design. Bravo MS!

 

SQF manufactures gorgeous tube units including the Son of Pharao (€8,600) and offers four inputs and 40 watts per channel/stereo with four EL34 tubes per channel. The case is made from precision milled solid aluminum.

 

In our Stands Go Modular department comes Finite Elemente with their Spider equipment rack.

 

Viva, famous for their seductively "V" shaped tube amplification units has the Verona XL monoblock (€14,000) that uses three 845 output tubes. Producing 20 watts per channel in single-ended triode, these tubes will light up your life.

 

BVU High End had a very interesting floorstanding loudspeaker. Their Duo two-way, three-driver unit (€2,000) is designed to be a 12 ohm load with 90dB/W/m using a Vifa tweeter and two 6.5" drivers (in series).

 

Analog is definitely at home in Germany! Seen here is the Amazon turntable with MØRCH DP-6 tonearm.

 

Sorry and all, this is not something new by Quad, but man-o-man these babies would look great in my Retro 60's room! Groovy baby yeah!

 

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