The Home Entertainment Show 2005

Thursday

  Having finally arrived at THE Show after a scrumptious hamburger lunch, i first came upon Sakura Systems with their new Hotei full range floorstanding loudspeaker ($12,000). An interesting mating of a ribbon tweeter crossed over at 20kHz (supertweeter range) with a 9-inch white polymer cone. They were being all hush hush about the specifics of the cone, and that's good and all... as was the music the loudspeakers reproduced. Of interest was the rear porting that employed foam as a type of slight resistance. Something is most definitely afoot at Sakura Systems. Oh, they are 92dB/W/m sensitive too!

 

New to America are the Credo loudspeakers by Phonar Akustik from Germany. The Danish ScanSpeak driver company is only minutes away from their factory so naturally most of the drivers have been specially made for Credo. Nothing says perfect like a custom fit suit, so the same goes for drivers to a loudspeaker manufacturer. The drivers are specially shaped and mounted to a separate enclosure within the cabinet. This additional bracing also aids in reducing cabinet resonances, thereby reducing distortion. Also of note is the cabinet's curved rear and 5-degree top-to-bottom slant, thereby eliminating unwanted parallel structures. Seen here is Phonar Akoustik's S100 ($6,995) in Rootwood, though Birdeye Maple is available for the same price. They are being imported into the United States by Discovery Cable.

 

Von Schweikert now offers the fourth iteration of their VR-4 now dubbed the VR-4SR with upgraded midrange and woofers and cabinet. Seen here is their hot new VR-9SE with a bandwidth from 10Hz to 100kHz. To achieve the lowermost frequencies, a 15-inch subwoofer is mated with a 1,000-watt "Class-D" amplifier. A pair of 9-inch midbass drivers, single 7-inch midrange, and 1.5-inch tweeter round out the driver compliment. For the extreme highs, a ribbon supertweeter is mounted in front and another one is mounted on the rear. The cabinet looked rock solid and Albert Von Schweikert informed me that it is made from 2-inch of MDF and also an inch of composite dampening internally. Super tweaks included are autoformers for adjusting the output of the tweeter and supertweeter while the woofer has three equalization controls for room tuning.

 

Now unless you just arrived on the scene or have been away for quite some time, you must know about Marchand and their electronic crossover. Since i have photoed/reported upon their tubed version many times over the years, i felt it was time to allow you sand-based solid-state guys equal time. Here is their XM44.4 crossover ($1,200) four-way unit. They also offer a two-way and a three-way unit for less cashola.

 

Offered in nearly unlimited stained colors, the new Audist loudspeakers mate a Fontek 1.5-inch ribbon tweeter and paper cone midrange/woofer. Of note is that they are offered in either bas reflex or transmission line cabinets! Take your pick of cabinet, chose your wood color and... enjoy the music :)