Home Entertainment 2002
Hi-Fi and Home Theater Event

Friday

 

Spectron has the Troubadour ($2,900) digital amplifier had both digital and analog input. A built-in volume control and wireless remote control is also included so pre-amplifier for single source systems can be eliminated.

 

Meadowlark's new White Ash wrapped Swift loudspeaker ($995 per pair)! Yes that is under one grand! It features a Vifa fabric dome tweeter and 5.5" poly midrange/woofer all mounted in a transmission loaded configuration. How can they do this for under one large??? Well worth checking out!

 

Rogue Audio's new 99 Magnum pre-amplifier ($2,395) has five inputs and two outputs. Vishay resistors, Mundorf capacitors and Harmonic Technology silver wire are just a few of the impressive parts that form this design.

 

Clearaudio Maximum Solution with Souther tonearm.

 

Naim's new Axent ($4,400 each) center channel loudspeaker has four mid/woofers and a single 1" tweeter. Each driver has it's own internal chamber for optimum sound quality.

 

Impact Technology's new Air Foil 5.2 ($35,000) five-piece system includes two tweeter/midrange towers, two subwoofer modules and custom crossover network. The patented bending wave driver reproduces 170Hz to 20,000kHz. Each subwoofer module has two 12" woofers is a force canceling configurations. The crossover employs is a special battery powered, electronic crossover to eliminate the problems with normal wall electrical power. It can also function as a pre-amplifier. So yes, it can be used as a battery powered pre-amplifier!

 

Winner of the coolest looking loudspeakers of the day go to Phoenix of Taiwan with their Grand Speaker. Their smaller Claix was quite interesting as well.

 

Seems like Polk Audio is once again aiming at the audiophile market, yet at attractive pricing! Their LSi9 ported minimonitor ($519 each) uses the Vifa tweeter and dual 5.25" midrange/woofers.

 

MBL's new center channel loudspeaker 111RC ($5,800 each) features their omni-directional sound. It has a low 82dB sensitivity so 500+ amplifiers apply only, please.

 

In the All-American Joseph Audio room they had their Pearl full-range loudspeakers ($20,000). Named after Jeff Joseph's mother, the Pearl mates a single 1" Sonatex tweeter and 6.5" magnesium midrange with two 8"aluminum cone woofers. Overall frequency response is 25Hz to 20kHz.

 

Mission's new Pilastro floorstanding loudspeaker ($35,000) is their all new flagship design. After two full years of research and development, Mission has employed advanced Granitech material for the enclosure that is extremely inert and is said to be an ideal platform to attach drivers to. Each of these weights in at an impressive 165kg. The drivers are in-house developed and manufactured by ScanSpeak. Tweeter is a 28mm ring-dome extends smooth to 56kHz. Midrange units are an all new cone material from hemp, which is said to be one of the strongest natural fiber materials. Each Pilastro has ten 8" low frequency drivers. This enables the unit to achieve 95dB/W/m sensitivity.

 

In the Halcro room they had their dm68 monoblock amplifiers ($36,990) driving the impressive Rockport Technologies Antare loudspeaker ($41,500). The Antaries is a three-way design using Dynaudio Estar tweeter, 6" Audio Technologies midrange, and 13" custom Audio Technologie woofer. Overall frequency response is 25Hz to 20kHz with a 89dB/W/m. The cabinet is molded monocoque constructions using a fiber reinforced inner and outer shell bonded together with a high hysteretic dampened epoxy core. Weight is 400 lbs. apiece and, of course, the crossover is complete custom parts design.

 

At Linn's press conference they showcased the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish car that comes with a Linn sound system. The 12-channel, 75 watts each amplification operates each driver separately. A servo-controlled 10" subwoofer is mounted in an extremely small cabinet. Due to space limitations, a servo is needed to control the bass unit.

In Dash Unit

 

Door Loudspeakers

 

With an engine like this
who cares what the stereo sounds like?

 

Click here for Saturday's coverage.