Taiwan International Hi-End Audio Show 2009

Coverage By Wong Kok Chieat

  While many audiophiles turn to world renowned brands to fulfill they musical cravings, the Taiwan audio community was so into this hobby that many eventually went into setting up their own audio companies. In this second installment of my show coverage, we will continue to see some other Taiwanese audio company and their innovative products. Like the mini-Zenith CD transport and DAC that we saw in the previous installment, by building their own rigs, they were able to customize the sound characteristics based on personal preferences.

PMC's latest flagship BB5i reference monitors with North Star Design CD transport and digital converter and AVM amplifications.

 

PMC PB1i floorstanders with AVM equipments.

 

The latest floorstanders from Heco, the Statement, featuring alnico magnet midrange speakers, hardened bass paper cones with huge carbon dust caps and 1 inch nano-particle coated tweeters with aluminum frontplates. The Statement floorstanders were really meant for those who craved for high quality statement materials.

 

The midrange section of the Statement loudspeakers employed open baffle design, freeing the vocal reproduction from box colorations.

 

Honestly, this was the first time I hear about Addingdon Music Research. I was told that brand origin was from United Kingdom. Shown here was the CD-77 digital source, AM-77 dual mono integrated amplifier and LS-77 bookshelf loudspeakers.

 

Upon closer inspection of the AMR LS-77 speakers, I have to admit that I was bowled over by their first rate finishing!

 

SCL Cables from Taiwan showcasing their ranges of cables. Most of the cables went through the in-house negative 196 degree Celsius treatment claimed to eliminate the need of cable run-in.

Other than producing cables, SCL also started to make their own amplifiers and speakers. Showcased here were the DP-01 II pre amplifier, DP-250 II power amplifier and Pentagon loudspeakers.

 

Products from HoTech Audio Laboratory of Taiwan, JOCAST-Galaxy flagship pre amplifier and JOCAST-Power Amplifier Enhancer module. JOCAST was actually the abbreviation for Jensen Oil Capacitors Array Simulation Technique and developed inhouse by HoTech Audio Laboratory to mimic the sound of Jensen paper in oil capacitors. The simulation circuitry was invented to give users the desired sound of Jensen capacitors while maintaining the production costs low as Jensen capacitors were relatively higher in price. Also, the circuitry was said to be able to improve upon dynamic swing, sweeten the mids and making the mids more palpable.

 

Delight Audio, also a proud company from Taiwan, showcasing the SCD-5000 SACD player and the A-1 high current integrated amplifier.

 

Beautifully crafted Pro-1 (left) and Q-1000 (right) monitors with Pro-1 featuring external crossover boxes. Both were from Delight Audio's MoniAux series monitor loudspeakers.

 

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