Sunday Page 1
Boston Acoustics' excellent in-wall loudspeakers could be seen in the MMM Importação room. From top to bottom is their DSi 450x, DSi 460x, and DSi 480x. The main difference is the size of midrange/bass driver (5, 6, and 8 inches respectively).
Made in Brazil, RS Staner featured their small stand mounted HT-3 monitor ($360
BRL each) and GSW-212 ($1,300 BRL) subwoofer. The HT-3 monitor features a Mylar dome tweeter and 5 inch composite midrange. The GSW-212 subwoofer includes a 12-inch driver and 220 watt amplifier with built-in crossover. It reaches down to 35Hz and has both loudspeaker and line level inputs.
Another Brazilian company is AC Organizer specializes in power filtering and line transformers. The LC-311 ($1,300 USD) provides LC filtering on both phases as here in Brazil they have +120 and +12- and ground, whereas the US +120, Neutral, the Ground. Therefore both phases here in Brazil need to be properly filtered. They also have their TR 2211-S ($700 USD) a 220 to 110 voltage conversion in balanced mode. It is a transformer, yet does not include LC filtering. Lastly they also have a multi-outlet with 8 plugs. Four plugs
for one phase and four for the other phase. Notice the sign on their door
features a red (Ferrari) Dino!
In the Pioneer room were two very interesting pieces. The DVR-99H ($3,295 USD) is a DVD recorder with built-in 120GB hard drive. It is RW compatible, has Dolby Digital and dts
decoding plus hard drive to DVD recording capability. It also handles CD-R at 24x speed and CD-R/W 12x speed. There is an included timer recording, jog/shuttle for video scanning, and on-screen display menus. This is a
world launch for this unit and demonstrates how important the Áudio
e Vídeo Hi-Fi show in São Paulo is to big corporations.
Pioneer also had their DVR-77H ($2,950) is basically the same as the other unit, yet with "only"
80GB hard drive.
Sharp had their SD-AT1000 integrated 1-bit amplifier, pre-amplifier and DAC unit. It digitally decodes many formats including CD, DVD-Audio, and
SACD while having 8 channels of 100-watt amplification.
Insuring top-notch musical enjoyment, Marctron Design had the usual dCS digital front-end with Spectral amplification feeding the excellent
Focal.JMlab Electra floorstanding loudspeakers. To read about the top shelf, ultimate in audio
Focal.JMlab loudspeakers, see our review of their Grande Utopia Be on Enjoy the
Music.com's Superior Audio section by clicking
here.
Another Brazilian company is Airon with their Flex equipment supports and anti-resonance devices. The racks are made from quite rigid metal and come in everything from basic amplifier stand to complete audio and video supports. Their Shindo S-50 anti-resonant device employs three precision ball bearings for a free-floating effect. A set of three costs $60 USD.
The Disac room had Cabasse loudspeakers being driven by Fole FEL34 integrated tube amplifier.
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High-Performance Audio Reviews
