High End Society 2003 Show Frankfurt Germany

Friday Page 1

  Said in good humor.... Many people have wondered if Peter Suchy of Clearaudio and AJ Van Den Hul were one in the same. No one has ever seen these two gentleman in the same place at the same time. The mystery has been solved as here is photographic proof that Peter Suchy and AJ Van Den Hul are indeed two different people.

They come in colors everywhere... They're like a rainbow. Linn's Classik line includes their standard (€1,775) and Movie (€3,500) systems. The Movie system features five channels of amplification and DVD-Video/CD playback while the standard until is strictly stereo. Both units also include full pre-amplification, amplification and AM/FM tuner with presets. Feel free to read our review of the standard unit by clicking here.

musikelectronic geithian's ME 25 (€783) and larger RL 992K (€4,717) have all drivers mounted on the same space (in front of the other). The ME 25 has a 125mm woofer 25mm tweeter while the RL992K has a 300mm woofer, 125mm midrange and 25mm tweeter. Frequency response of the larger unit is from 30Hz to 20kHz with a 89dB/W/m sensitivity.

Those of you in the "bigger is better" camp for loudspeaker may like the Backes & Miller BM 30 III (€36,000) that stands approximately 6 feet high. This active loudspeaker features 180 watt per driver amplification... including the tweeter! At the bottom of the unit is a display that gives the user visual confirmation to the adjustments. Adjustments you may ask. There are five different +-6dB adjustments, specifically, for the supertweeter, tweeter, midrange, midbass, and woofer. Frequency response is from 16Hz to 30kHz.

Opera Audio's usage of the AER driver includes their lager Unicor MK II opera (€16,000) and sensuously curved Opera TL (€5,000). The MKII AER driver is specially produced for the Unicor while the MK1B is within the Opera TL. The MKII has a very strong Neodymium magnet while the voice coil only moves 2mm in total. The MK1B driver has a lower magnet field, yet moves forward and backward within the gap to a higher degree (8mm). The larger unit has an integrated subwoofer and frequency response is from 24Hz to 22kHz (101dB sensitivity). The lovely rounded unit has a frequency response from 60Hz to 21kHz and 95dB/W/m sensitivity.

Consonance tube amplification was available for all to see at the Frankfurt High End Society show with their Reference 9.9 (€7,000) monoblock amplifier that makes use of a single 845 triode to produce 28 watts. The Reference 5.0 (€3,700) integrated stereo amplifier has a single 300B triode output tube per channel to produce 10 watts. The rectifier tube is a 274B and four inputs are available.

You will never be up the Creek without a paddle as Creek Audio Limited had their CD 50 CD player (€1,185), A50iR integrated stereo 50 watt per channel amplifier with four inputs (€865), and 5350SE integrated amplifier with 80 watts, six inputs, two stereo pair loudspeaker amplification capability and complete record output capabilities (€1,450).

Loth X (Silbatone) JI300B integrated amplifier was on display at the show and has been well covered by us within the Enjoy the Music.com™ Review Magazine. Please click here to see our full review.

The Music Hall mmf-9 turntable (€1,850 or $1,695) is a three-platform unit with Sorbothane between each to greatly reduce unwanted resonances while electronic speed control operates the motor at 50Hz (including within the USA). The motor is naturally external to the table to reduce resonances. Included in the price is the Project Carbon (carbon fiber) tonearm and Vital high-output moving coil cartridge.

Ars aures loudspeakers had their elegantly designed Sensorial (€14,000) that makes use of two 5-inch midrange/woofers and 1-inch ScanSpeak Revelator tweeter to produce frequencies from 50Hz to 30kHz (+-3dB). Presenting a 4-ohm load to an amplifier, this 92dB/W/m unit uses Solen coils in the crossover and is all contained within a beautiful cabinet.

In the 47 Labs room was their Shigaraki 4718 phono (€1,100, small black box to the far left), 4717 integrated stereo amplifier (€1,700), 4716 transport (€1,800), and 4715 DAC (€1,100). They were making their sweet sounds through the Konus Essence 4-inch full range driver loudspeaker (€3,500, seen below).

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