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High-End '99
I've changed this slightly from the usual standout-room listing in order to discuss a couple of "experiences" that were not strictly exhibit rooms. Verity Parsifal For those who have already listened to these excellent speakers, it will probably come as no surprise that my visit to the Verity room was one of the high points of this year's Frankfurt show. This relatively small speaker produced a delicate, very neutral and at the same time quite impressive sound. The last refers to the authority with which larger works were presented. You would not immediately expect such a diminutive floorstander to have such a large-speaker sound. The Parsifals were played with a Wadia front-end and very nice Lamm monoblocks (I hear what Marc Mickelson has admired), and the room was treated with a set of Argent RoomLenses. Not only were there no obvious weaknesses, but the sound was such a pleasure that I could have stayed much longer. Oh what sacrifices we poor reporters make!
The Parsifal starts out as a small two-way monitor, and the Encore adds a bass unit that is no larger than the stand you would have to put the speaker on anyway. Depending on your room, you can do some tuning by deciding whether the bass unit should fire forward or backward. The Parsifals use all Danish drivers, the woofer and midrange being from Audio Technology and the tweeter from ScanSpeak. I could not keep from being just a little bit proud of the heritage. On the other hand, no amount of good parts can give these results unless the designer really knows what he is doing. This, of course, became even more clear during my chat with Julien Pelchat from Verity. These guys have definite ideas, and they know how to turn them into real audiophile products. TacT RCS 2.0 Last year's demonstration of the Millennium digital amplifier was a real stunner for me. As I have often mentioned (to whomever was willing to listen), the concept of digital equalization has been on my mind for many years. That was quite a positive thing for me since the focal product of this year's demo was the new RCS (Room Correction System) 2.0. SoundStage! has previously reported on the efficacy of the RCS 2.2 in one of Jim Saxon's reports, and I was really looking forward to hearing the unit at work.
Does it work? Without a doubt! In spite of Murphy being ever present (this time in the guise of a broken battery loader in a laptop computer), Peter Lyngdorf managed to give a taste of the abilities of this new audiophile toy. The broken computer prevented further adjustments during the show (fortunately he had managed to set up the RCS as the show started), but the positive effect was certainly demonstrable. With the RCS 2.0 in action, the soundstage was considerably larger while a solo singer at the same time was better focussed at center stage. Bypassing the correction, the room collapsed down to the level of the speakers, and the singer became diffuse and unfocussed. The unit has many more possibilities, but space and the malfunctioning computer prevented a more detailed report here. I will be certain to report closer later. The Millennium Mk II was also being used, and I spent quite a bit of time listening with great pleasure. But I remain certain that a closer investigation under more known circumstances will allow a much more detailed evaluation.
Jackie Leven Jackie WHO? Well, in his own words, he is a singer from the old kingdom of Fife. Scotland might be more meaningful to you. One of my more blissful experiences at the show was when I listened to (and subsequently bought, of course) Leven's CD The Mystery of Love Is Greater Than The Mystery of Death. If this sounds a bit romantic, it's probably because this chap IS a bleeding romantic. But while I was hanging around at Jurg Kessler's ARS (Audiophile Record Service) stand and listening to some of his excellent-sounding records of real music, the opening number of The Mystery CD, "The Jug," left me speechless. Carrying it around with me at the show and playing it in various rooms, I was not the only one taken with this artist and recording. Poetry, soul and Celtic folk are just some of the ingredients in this recording, which really found my heart. The recording is on Cooking Vinyl [COOK CD064]. Anyway, if you are in the market for some real music with audiophile qualities, chances are that ARS in Hamburg might help you. This is, of course, more interesting for the European readers, although the Telefunken LP reissues that Jurg produces are available in US though Immedia (www.immediasound.com). The Audio session I had some doubts as to whether I should write this bit, mainly because it could be taken quite wrongly and I most certainly do not want to embarrass anybody. On the other hand, there are a number of lessons that could be learned by both exhibitors and visitors to shows, so I have decided to dare it. Germany's biggest audio magazine, that aptly named Audio, had arranged a "ticket only" session with perhaps the world's most expensive hi-fi system. This cost being hyperbole or not is not the issue, since at about 1,000,000 DEM or $500,000 USD it did go a long way towards being the ultimate. It consisted of MBL CD transport and DAC, a DVD player, a Transrotor Gravitas turntable of over 100,000 DEM, AudioNote preamp and Gaku-On amplifiers, the new Cabasse Adriatique speakers (looking a bit like the enormous Atlantique with the top chopped off) and not the least power conditioning by Accuphase.
There is no denying the phenomenal build quality of these devices. While the purpose was to give "normal" audiophiles a chance to listen to something truly exceptional, as well demonstrating differences between a CD and LP pressed from the same session, my feeling was that something else was brought home during the session. Even putting what might individually be truly outstanding products together does not guarantee high-end reproduction. Initially I was seated out to one side, and to be quite honest, I was severely underwhelmed with the sound. While not terrible, it could in no way justify just a fraction of the expense. Having a chance to listen from a more centered position later, presentation and more specifically soundstaging were greatly improved. But there was still no magic. Wearing my teacher's cap, I ask: what lessons can be drawn? Well, for one thing, the exhibitors should really be quite careful in their planning of demos and setups. Their expensive hour of triumph can quickly turn into a marketing disaster. For us visitors, perhaps the lesson is to look at the positive side of things, but certainly ponder why a certain exhibit sounds the way it does, for better or worse or even indifferent. If a system sounds marvelous, we know it can be done. It's possible. If it sounds less than marvelous, it can unfortunately be caused by any of a number of other reasons than the specific device we might be interested in. So take your negative show experiences with a pinch of salt. Considerable analysis might be called for on our part, since we are after all listening to complete systems in specific rooms and not just individual bits and pieces. No Limits My visits to No Limits were refreshing experiences. I had never heard of the company, and my attention was grabbed by what seemed to be a quite extensive line of cabling products. But what really made the room stand out were two things. Most importantly, the sound was great. Of special mention would be the cabling, both electrically and signal-wise, but a set of truly diminutive preamps and power amps playing into the passive Newtronics speakers made music with verve and vigor as well as delicacy. It was quite obvious when listening to owner/designer Uwe Flock that he could also have called the company No Nonsense.
While the products are not cheap, there seems to a quite direct relation between the effort, the quality and the fact that we are not talking about a large company. Still, the results in terms of listening were such that I found myself returning to the room on Sunday when I was running out of steam and wanting to relax while listening to folk, cabaret and classical music as well as Uwe Flock's ruminations on all sorts of design issues. Very well worth the visit. Yamamura-Churchill Another very nice experience was my visit to the Yamamura-Churchill room. Be Yamamura has had a reputation for creating really different, very low-volume, but very high-quality (as well as rather different) hi-fi products for quite a few years. Some years back he went into partnership with old Sir Winston's nephew Robert, who now takes care of the business side of things. Since then they have presented some very unusual designs. The ones they were showing in Frankfurt were not the most outrageous, but they were different enough to catch my attention.
Having started out designing very large cork-covered horns using a modified Lowther driver, Yamamura has progressed to producing their own driver, which I presume still shares a lot with the Lowthers. Some obvious differences are the way the whizzer cone (used to augment the high frequencies) is attached, and the use of a paper pulp, which has a beige-mauve-brownish indescribable color. This, I was told, comes from the use of what is probably the purest form of paper you can get -- no additives or bleaching. Less directly visible is the unusual suspension. It's not the normal "spider" keeping the cone centered and in contact with the chassis, but a series of finely spun carbon-fiber rods. All of this combines to form a very light assembly covering the full frequency spectrum. The electronics are also a tad outside the usual. They have very short signal paths and utilize almost extreme measures with regard to shielding and damping. The cabinets are made from substantial copper sheets, and both the inside as well as outside all are covered to protect the signal from potential disturbances. Through use of a small number of very high-quality components like silver-foil capacitors, a noteworthy total-system concept has been developed and refined. I feel that the system perhaps falls more under the musical-instrument (certainly not PA) category than the very objective hi-fi, and I believe this also to be in line with Be Yamamura's philosophies. Nonetheless, it was very moving when playing "Oblivion" from Gidon Kremer's Hommage à Piazolla [Nonesuch 7559-79407-2], which is tango music exposed to a small group of truly excellent musicians. I was impressed by how full-range the speaker presented itself, considering the unusual technology and the fairly small cabinet. While the system might not satisfy lovers of loud volumes and large orchestras, for connoisseurs of smaller ensembles, its delicate presentation could be just the ticket. Be Yamamura's theories and technologies could be the subject of a whole article in itself The One I missed (SACD) Last year I found that the joint Sony/Philips demonstration showed great promise. This year Sony had a demonstration, but you had to present yourself at the exact time (or they would not let you in), and I missed it a number of times. Finally on Sunday afternoon I sat down to wait, but I was so tired and actually suffering complete burnout that I couldn't tolerate the wait; and even if I had been able to, I'm not sure I would have been able to do any serious listening. So sorry Sony (and readers) -- no SACD report from me at this show. I got up, got into my car, and drove the four hours home to see my family again. Live music
A very nice feature that I have appreciated before and also did very much this time was the sponsoring of some live music during the show. Under less-than-ideal circumstances (in the middle of a corridor), Quadro Nuevo, a German tango group, played. If you like tango, I can recommend their CD Luna Rossa [Minor Music 801065].
AudioNote sponsored a piano recital in the bar/lounge, and it was really a quiet oasis away from the crowd. I'm embarrassed to say that I have lost my piece of paper with the name of the fine young pianist playing, but after entering SO many rooms with music playing that often makes you wish to be somewhere completely different, his playing was a real relief. Bravo Phonosophie and AudioNote. My Swedish friends Another thing that I found heartening was my acquaintance with four Swedish audiophiles who, being members of a local hi-fi-club at their company, had decided that this year they were going to make the long trip to Frankfurt to see and listen to the good stuff. We happened to stay at the same little hotel and got to talk over breakfast.
The picture is not terribly good, but we kept meeting around the exhibition, and in the evening we shared some Greek food and impressions. I was happy to meet what I would call old-fashioned hi-fi and music lovers. Perhaps we'll meet again next year. |
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Copyright © 1999 |
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