Displaying items by tag: speaker - StereoLife Magazine

Audiophiles rarely agree with one another. They even divide their community into various groups that are sometimes incomprehensible even to their members. The same kind of sound can be a true discovery for some people and a complete failure to others. Examples of such situations can be multiplied indefinitely. Therefore we found it quite strange and unique that everyone seemed to speak one voice about one of last year's exhibition at Audio Show in Warsaw. Especially remarkable that show's visitors emphasized the sonic excellence of loudspeakers made by so little known manufacturer from Poland. The name of the main company is Audiothlon but it has two brands under its wings. Historically the first one was Enerr, making power cables, conditioners and accessories. The second brand is Equilibrium making speaker and interconnect cables, and whole loudspeakers. While the cables are fairly well known and have been reviewed a couple of times, speakers evolved rather quickly. We couldn't wait to see them in the final form. The Ether Ceramique is the pinnacle among the speakers designed to fit normal and smaller listening rooms.

France is known not only for automobiles, excellent cuisine, high fashion and jammed streets of Paris. It is also one of the most important countries on the audiophile map of the world. It's the birthplace of brands such as Triangle, Lavardin, Lecontoure, Atoll, Devialet, Cabasse, Micromega, YBA, Fadel Art or Jadis. However, one of the most meaningful companies in the area of the speakers and accessories is Focal. And we are not talking only about the French, but worldwide market. Now this company, which a few years ago was known as JMLab, has several production centres. Collectively they occupy an area comparable to small refinery.

Hi-end world may seem mysterious and bizarre, but when you understand some mechanisms and taste the close contact with the music, it is not hard to get involved in this hobby. Even cables and power conditioners are of major importance for the owners of hi-end audio systems. However the speakers are the most important element. To climb higher naturally we look for the ones which are more professional and refined. It's hard not to notice that the majority of speakers available on the market look roughly the same. Many manufacturers offer big, three-way speakers with four classic drivers, high gloss finish and leather, metal or glass accents. Woofers can be placed on the front, on the sides or on the bottom of the enclosure. Treble can come from a dome, ribbon or other stuff and so on, but the problem is that most speakers apply ventilated enclosures, which is too boring and obvious for many audiophiles. Instead, you can choose the electrostatics and magnetostatics, but it requires a lot of courage to make sacrifices in interior design. It may turn out that the best place for them is right in the center of the listening room. Additionally there is a need to purchase an amplifier with a very high output power.

Many manufacturers of audiophile devices occupy a specific area of the market and introduce new constructions, designed to catch the attention of people listening to silver cables. However, there are some companies able to make their way in the world not only for audio freaks, but for other people as well. Sonus Faber is certainly one of them. This brand needs no introduction for audiophiles, but people interested in design, art and even motoring may also know it, because it is responsible for the Pagani Huayra car audio system. Its speakers can be seen not only in stores with amplifiers, but also in museums and art galleries. It is not surprising because the Italian designers treat their sets as works of art. Uncompromising approach to design coupled with a respect for tradition and modern technical solutions is particularly visible in the most expensive loudspeakers. That is why the set of Olympica III arrived to our office. This is the top model from the series named after the Olympic Theater located in the city of Vicenza.

The largest exhibition of audio equipment in Europe is behind us so we are getting back to normal operation. Before this happens, we wrote a small summary of the whole event. The form of our reports is forced by the size of the exhibition. Even before exploring the MOC halls we came to the conclusion that it's impossible to see it all, but we tried nevertheless. We could of course focus on ten, twenty or thirty rooms with the most anticipated new stuff or just the most expensive equipment, but what kind of report would it be, if you have hundreds or thousands of companies and you only pick a few dozens? So we hope that our gallery at least allows you to catch the climate of High End and see some interesting devices. For now all the photos have been posted, also on our profile on Instagram. If you are interested in our impressions of the exhibition, if you were out there somewhere or you want to go to Munich next year, we hope it would be an interesting lecture.

Amphion is one of the companies that do not build speakers for anechoic chambers, measurements and purely theoretical situations. Finns know that speakers must work well in normal living rooms, and good cooperation with room space is more important than rhodium plated sockets or compatibility with power amplifier. Their goal is to construct speakers that are not sensitive to the acoustics of the room. This is probably not possible to achieve for one hundred percent, but at least you know that someone is thinking about the speaker-room system, and not just putting audiophile speakers in a nice box.

Sonus Faber is one of the most recognizable brands in high-end speaker market. The company was founded by charismatic Franco Serblin and it has built its reputation mostly on audiophile monitors. Massive boxes finished in real wood and leather have earned favor with music lovers around the world in a relatively short period of time, turning a small factory into the rank of a place where real works of art are born. One doesn't even need to know about technical matters to see the artistry of Italian designers and craftsmen. A few years ago the catalog has been fairly stable and divided into three main lines. Top models rarely changed, while slightly larger movement prevailed in the lower series.

The French are very progressive. Not only do they want to be first in everything, but they often are. It seems that the concept of usual economy is sometimes limited in this country. If it wasn't true, they probably wouldn't build the famous TGV train or the Millau Viaduct. Travel with ordinary train or a bus would be much cheaper after all, and instead of a giant overpass you could easily build a road leading down and then up the valley. The French definitely can go crazy. From time to time they put aside the standard thinking and do something that others see later in admiration. No wonder that many companies producing hi-fi equipment have built their power in France. Especially speakers manufacturers. Triangle is one of three largest producers of speakers in France. Founded in the early 80's, it first came up with some unusually shaped speakers, but many people criticized the company for a lack of technical innovation in the drivers.

People behind Audel Art Loudspeakers say that their main goal is to involve more people in high quality audio and in a way show them that listening to the music can bring even more fun than they thought. However, Italians don’t do this by organizing social campaigns, but through the creation of original looking speaker and electronics that can be used almost anywhere. Each model is a little piece of art and thus has to be different than the electronics standing next to the TV set or a home cinema receiver. Speakers are hand-made by highly skilled craftsmen. This should draw the attention of customers who appreciate high-quality materials and objects with a heart. All of the speaker cabinets are made of glued laminated birch wood elements, shaped by computer-controlled machines. Boxes put together this way are much stiffer than similar structures made of MDF panels. Cabinets are finished with natural wax polish. And I have to say, it looks wonderful.

Distributors and retailers of audio equipment are usually interested in devices from England, Germany, France, Italy, USA, Scandinavia and so on. We have western, northern and south Europe all covered, plus there are some companies from China, Japan or even New Zealand. Countries like Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Russia practically don't exist in the consciousness of a typical audiophile. It's a shame, especially when you see such products as these made by a small Lithuanian company named AudioSolutions. I had an opportunity to listen to the Euphony 50 speakers and I have to say I liked them very much. During the Audio Show 2013 exhibition in Warsaw I also met their creator - Gediminas Gaidelis.