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The Best for Show Reporting
Coverage of Top
Audio & Video 1999
from Milan, Italy, September 9-13
Please note: most product
prices are given in Italian lira. At this time, 1 US dollar is worth approximately 1880
lira.
It was the wooden enclosure that first caught our
eyes, but then it was the superb picture on this Vidikron plasma display that really got
our attention. (Disregard the blurry image in this photo, which is not representative of
what is really seen on the screen.) The 21,000,000 lira Vidikron PLM 2000 is one of the
better displays of this technology that we've seen. At least in this demonstration and
from the distance at which we were viewing, it exhibited none of the haziness and awkward
image movement that plagues many plasma screens.
Triangle speakers of France exhibited with Audio Analogue electronics of Italy.
This may well be the smallest driver we've ever seen used in what is close to a full-range
speaker. The Suono Line 5 is 89dB efficient, appears to have a transmission-line enclosure
for bass extension and uses only that single white driver, which measure just a little
over 3" in diameter. The speaker retails for 400,000 lira and sounded surprisingly
good at the price.
Widescreen is all the rage for television monitors. Despite the blurriness of our photo,
Sony's new Wega Trinitron monitor exhibited fine image quality.
New speakers from B&W? Not quite. They're from Sony. The SS-X9 shown above is actually
a pre-production prototype on display at this show.
For people with limited space, Sony's CMT-ED2 micro music system fits the bill.
Doug Schneider holds Clearaudio's new electronic stylus-pressure gauge. This is a
brand-new unit, and the representatives from the German company think it will retail for
about $350 USD.
Let's give credit where credit is due: Peter Suchy is the man responsible for the new
gauge and is also the man behind all of Clearaudio's impressive products.
Clearaudio's Master Reference turntable is a statement-level product that retails for
25,000,300 lira without tonearm. Pink Floyd's The Wall sounded awesome through
Pass electronics and ProAc Studio 150 loudspeakers.
The more affordably priced Clearaudio Evolution turntable will only set you back 3,255,000
lira.
Audio Analogue's massive new Maestro integrated amplifier retails for 4,500,000 lira. To
give a perspective on its size, the volume control measures approximately 4" in
diameter.
This fine-sounding system used the Italian-made Nightingale Armonia integrated amplifier
and Lyra Concentus loudspeakers.
Using a ribbon midrange and tweeter with a dynamic woofer, the Relco Audio Mantis
loudspeakers retail for 8,920,000 lira in a beautiful piano-black finish.
Denon's AVC-A1D audio/video receiver sports an impressive silver finish.
- Show Coverage: Doug Schneider and Ian White
- Additional Editing: Marc Mickelson
- Digital Photo Editing: Doug Schneider
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