T.H.E. Show Newport Beach 2014
The Home Entertainment Show Report, Part 3

---

  Astell&Kern's prototype network music server 500n with 1TB SSD internals and is battery powered. There is a 7" color touchscreen , CD ripper,  USB input, headphone output... Look for the full production unit sometime in Q3 2014.

The lower unit of the Astell&Kern 500n is an integrated amplifier, here in prototype form. It has balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs and produces about 200 Watts.

 

 

Perfection 8’s large and impressive Force speakers ($350,000 per pair) includes four 12” subs. The cabinet, or shall i say lack thereof, uses proprietary Super Silent Glass (SSG). SSG is a proprietary special glass type which they claim "virtually eliminates all vibrations – there is no ringing whatsoever associated with SSG". This open baffle design were developed via sensitive acceleration measurement devices to achieve an uncolored overall result. These very large speakers weigh over 400 lbs per channel and stand 6' 7" high. Each glass and gold tower is fed through an outboard passive crossover network. The main panels hold a 1600mm ribbon with FEM-optimized neodymium magnet system and eight 7" proprietary Mg-Cones with ultra linear magnetic drive.

 

Reference Recordings is here at T.H.E. Show with a vinyl 200gr pressing 45rpm of Mephisto. This is a very limited pressing so act fast to get one now!

 

Speaking of great vinyl, Abey Fonn of IMPEX Records is showing their fantastic pressing of Miles Davis E.S.P., which has not been reissued on LP ever... until now! This 180gr limited edition pressing is said to sound amazing and remember this is the beginning of Mile’s band with Wayne Shorter. Very lively performances and a must-have for any jazz aficionado.

 

Meet the Editors seminar was fun and always happy to hang with great guys from Positive Feedback and The Absolute Sound magazines. And for the record, seems to me this industry could use some forcefulness to face the facts about... (link). It does sadden me deeply that this industry can not come together with a single voice, even when one considers we are a full year behind what i'm doing per se.

 

Viva from Italy had this wonderful Egoista ($9500) vacuum tube headphone  amplifier that has five stereo RCA inputs and unbalanced headphone output. As for tubes, it uses an 845 for power output and 5U4GBEH for rectification per channel.

 

Robert Lighton Audio gave the United States premier of their Essex turntable ($9000 sans tonearm). It is made of hand polished mahogany and includes a rosewood armboard and large, high torque Papst motor. The platter is aluminum with a copper top and the Audio Note UK tonearm has rosewood arm ($2750).

 

Lighton Audio also was showing their Regency 300B integrated amplifier ($16,500). The chassis was personally designed by Lighten Audio’s design team, whilst internal electronics were handled by Audio Note UK. It has four stereo RCA inputs, uses double C-core transformers using hiB. Copper foil caps, Audio Note's new electrolytic capacitors, and all the great parts one expects from Audio Note UK. Very interesting.

 

Analysis Audio loudspeakers teamed up with Arion Audio for amplification here at T.H.E. Show 2014. The product herw are the Epsilon speaker and HS500 amplifier ($16,000 and $6295 respectively). The amps are a hybrid with tube input stage with discrete power supplies and propriety solid-state Class D for output. It produced 500 wpc into 8 Ohms, the cabinet is made from  billet machined chassis. This unit is proudly made in the USA.

 

Magnepan’s brand new .7 speakers (~$1200 per pair) replace their MG12. This new model is said to be a scaled down version of their 1.7. How does Magnepan make such great sounding panels and offer them at only $1200 is beyond me, yet am not one to complain. Magnepan’s new .7 speakers could very well be a new reference within their price category for such a magnificent design!

 

---> Next Page.