The Home Entertainment Expo 2002

 

Pre-Show Report

  Tyché Electronics, distributing Cyclin electronics and Quatuor loudspeakers for the US and Canada, will be at the Tuscany hotel in room E105. Listeners will have the possibility to check a lower end CD player as compared to the Sony SACD player and an upgraded version of the CEC 5100Z CD player ($1,700). Items in the room include the Anacrouse ($10,000 per pair), Mycron ($3,500 per pair), the Ephesus ($4,900), the Scribe ($2,200), a Cyclin P3 pre-amplifier ($2,500), a Cyclin D12 digital amplifier ($5,000, 800 watts continuous power under 4W load), and a "Cyclin upgrade" version of the Sony SACD player SCD-777ES ($5,000)

 

 

Lehmann Audio will be showing their new top of the line Silver Cube phono stage. After the huge success of the Black Cube that was first introduced to a worldwide audience via a review by Enjoy the Music.com™'s own Steven R. Rochlin, the silver cube is an all-out effort. According to Lehmann Audio, "the power supply is highly responsible for the liquid and open sound of the Silver Cube." Some technical details:

- Special operational amplifiers for professional audio use
- Only Mundorf tin foil MKP caps in the signal path
- Discrete FET output stage without any negative feedback highly buffered with high grade electrolytic capacitors and MKPs
- Each gain stage has its own extremely fast parallel voltage regulators buffered with three different capacitors for each voltage

The power supply of the Silver Cube is definitely worth an extra mentioning:
- 120W toroidal transformer with isolating coil between primary and secondary coil
- Chokes on the secondary side
- Additional filtering
- Separate set of ultra fast recovering diodes for each secondary coil
- Very low noise regulated voltages
- Shielded cable between power supply and audio section
- Voltage selector 120V/240V

 

 

DIVA amplifiers and ReTHM loudspeakers in Tuscany room D115, whose exhibit last year was judged "Best Sound" Enjoy the Music.com™'s own Bill Gaw (and also received very favorable comments from Dick Olsher), have upgraded and improved its Second ReTHM loudspeaker ($6,000). This is a single voice-coiled, horn-loaded design using the Lowther DX-4 driver. They will be launch their Third ReTHM ($2,500-$3,000 depending on finish) that is half the size and half the price of the Second ReTHM, yet is said to deliver 85% of the performance. ReTHM will also be showing its Hi-Fi racks, specially designed such that every component is isolated from the rest, every component is supported around its center of gravity, and components rest on either granite or maple wood shelves for best sound.

DIVA will be introducing a special edition of their Tian Zhu (meaning "A Voice from Heaven", $2980) amplifier. While the regular Tian Zhu uses 2A3 tubes to drive parallel single-ended EL34s, this special edition uses ML6s in place of the 2A3s. DIVA designer T S Lim says the ML6 "beats the 2A3 hands down!". DIVA will also be launching their new Classic One pre-amplifier ($480) that could very well be the budget high-end component of the show. It is a minimalist design employing a single 6SN7 tube. DIVA will also showcase various cables.

 

 

Halcro will be demonstrating at THE Expo in the Tuscany hotel suites G105 and G108 with two complete systems consisting of:

System at Tuscany G108:
Halcro dm10 preamp
Halcro dm68 monoblocks
Revel "Salon" loudspeakers
Clearaudio "Master Reference" turntable & arm
Accuphase DP85 SACD player
Shunyata Research "Hydra" power conditioner & power cords
Transparent Reference XL interconnects & speaker cables
Arcici "Suspense" rack

This room is by appointment only and is a marvelous opportunity to meet Halcro's designer - Bruce Candy. Refreshments will be served.

 

System at Tuscany G105:
Halcro dm10 preamp
Halcro dm58 monoblocks
Wilson Audio "Maxx" loudspeakers
Marantz SA-1 SACD player
Sony XA 777ES SACD player
Shunyata Research "Hydra" power conditioner & power cords
Transparent Reference XL interconnects & speaker cables
Townshend "Seismic Sink" rack

 

 

Randy Bankert of O.S. Services will display select Cadence Audio hybrid electrostatic speaker models and one tube amplifier in suite F105 at the Tuscany hotel. From India, Cadence specializes in electrostatic models that are tube friendly by offering 8-ohm impedances and 91dB sensitivity. The panel element only works above 950Hz below which it is crossed over to Nomex/Kevlar sandwich-type dual magnet bass drivers. The violet-colored 200-watt Canasya 845-based tube amplifier ($24,995) will also be on display.

 

 

Sound Lab, the venerable electrostatic loudspeaker company by Roger West, will display in suite G205 to introduce attendees to its Marquee ($1,870) center channel model. The Marquee uses a slot-loaded dual-port enclosure to house its dual 6.5" shielded aluminum woofers that flank a three-element electrostatic panel. With dimensions of 9" x 35" x 12.5" HxWxD and weighing 48 lbs, the Marquee is moderately sized for a high-performance center channel and offers 45Hz bass extension and 150 watts of power handling. Horizontal/vertical dispersion is 40/20 degrees, nominal impedance 4 ohms, sensitivity a high 91dB and crossover frequency 950Hz. Controls for brilliance and DC bias are standard, as is a black stretch-knit grille. Other grill colors are optional.

 

 

Kevin Blair will be in THE Expo at the Tuscany suite E301 to display select models of his Buggtussel LLC brand. Buggtussel employs 1/8-length transmission lines dubbed q-TSAL or quasi-Thiele/Small Actuated Labyrinths to avoid internal stuffing and use line geometry instead to absorb his drivers' rear waves. They also uses viscous gold damped tweeters and cantilevered Kevlar diaphragms and, according to Enjoy the Music.com™'s Jim Saxon, produced very good sound for the money during last year's show.

 

 

Audio Physic will introduce its new Yara bass-reflex floorstanding model in suite G 305 of the Tuscany. The newest member of the Audio Physic speaker family measures 39.3" x 5.9" x 7.9" (HxWxD) and weighs in at 28.6 lbs. With a nominal impedance of 4 ohms and 90dB sensitivity, frequency response is given as 40Hz to 25kHz, and power handling limit at 120 watts. Driver complement is a 1-inch soft dome tweeter that eschews ferrofluid for reportedly better transient response and is coupled to dual 5.25-inch paper-cone midwoofers with Kapton voice coils.

 

 

ReTHM and Diva's exhibit at last year's CES/T.H.E. Show found Enjoy the Music.com™'s own Bill Gaw proclaim it "Best Sound of Show". During the year, ReTHM's Lowther-based horn speakers received favorable comments from Dick Olsher in Enjoy the Music.com™, Art Dudley in The Listener and Peter Russell in HiFi+. Diva also received high praises, again by Dick Olsher. This year, the team of Jacob George (ReTHM designer), Lim Tze Sian (Diva designer) and Richard Sea (Diva marketing) hope to improve upon last year's showing in room D115 of the Tuscany Hotel & Resort. Scheduled for display are: a modified and improved The Second ReTHM loudspeaker; a special edition of Diva's Tian Zhu power amp that substitutes the standard 2A3 driver tubes with rare ML-6s to drive single-ended EL34s; and a brand-new range of Diva cables and power cords said to offer top performance at very affordable prices.

In view of a slower economy, both companies will also introduce value-priced new models. The Third ReTHM is describes as The Second's baby brother and also uses a single voice-coil, 6-inch full-range driver, but is housed in a much more compact enclosure of 42" x 12" x 17" (HxWxD) dimensions, about 1/2 has deep as the 2^nd ReTHM. Still, the designer managed to incorporate a rear horn length in excess of 9 feet. Pricing will be $2,500 per pair with a specially modified Indian-made driver, and $3,000 with a Lowther unit.

The Diva Classic One ($480) is a single-ended 6SN7-based preamp with outboard power supply destined, in the hopes of its designer, for budget component award of the year. Diva will soon launch a new website.

 

 

This just in from Galante Audio... Want a chance to win a free pair of superb sounding high sensitivity loudspeakers? Galante Audio will be debuting yet another new high sensitivity loudspeaker at the upcoming T.H.E. Expo 2002. This new loud speaker is a floor standing model incorporating an entirely new 12" drive unit similar to the 8" system used in their Rhapsody monitor (see review here). This product is so new that a name has not been chosen. Galante Audio  has decided to let a lucky dealer name it and receive a pair of Galante Audio's hot new Rhapsody loudspeakers ($2,400.00 msrp!) for their efforts! The rules are simple. All audio dealers are invited to come into The Galante Audio/Art Audio suite (G104) during show times January 8^th thru the 11^th. Think of a name for their new loud speaker, write it on the back of your business card and give it to any of the Galante Audio or Art Audio attendants. Galante Audio will select a name from all those suggested and will be used as the official name for their new 12" loud speaker. The winning name and dealer will be announced exclusively on Enjoy the Music.com™ between Friday, January 25^th thru February 1^st, 2002. The winning dealer will have until February 8^th to contact Galante Audio either by email at info@galanteaudio.com or phone at (610) 838-1656. The dealer is responsible for shipping costs and this contest is open to all dealers worldwide. Good luck to all dealers attending the show!

 

 

T.H.E. Expo suite G102 will feature Art Audio's $12,000 Jota monoblocks driven by the Gill Audio Design Alana, all-tube, remote-controlled preamplifier and the matching Elise, all-tube, 24-bit/96kHz DVD-compatible D/A converted. Featured speakers will be the Rosinante Dulcinea loudspeaker system ($6,200 per pair, shown right) with their new Sancho powered subwoofer. Argent Room Lenses and Shunyata Research power cords will also be in use.

The neighboring suite G104 will showcase Art Audio's PX-25, six watts per channel high-current, pure Class 'A', SET amplifier ($5,500 - see Dick Olsher's review, the VPS-DM remote-controlled tube line stage ($3,850) and Vinyl One MM/high-gain MC Phono amplifier ($2,695). Digital bits will be fed from a Sakura Systems 47Labs PiTracer CD transport into a Gill Audio Design all-tube Elise DAC. Featured speakers are Galante Audio's new 96dB high-sensitivity Rhapsody speakers ($2,400).

 

Click here for more of our Pre-Show report

 

Click here to see last year's show coverage.