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B&O Play Announces Release of BeoPlay A9 Active Speaker System
During their presentation to the press, B&O suggested that this product was not necessarily made for the audiophile but instead those interested in design and feeling enriched by one’s surroundings. Apparently, this message did not sink through to the other geeky writers. During the Q&A, reporters continued to prod whether the BeoPlay A9 could be used in stereo mode with two BeoPlays, to which B&O representatives affirmed that it could, but it was not designed for that intent. While the BeoPlay A9 was designed to sound good, more importantly it was designed to look good.
We asked Øivind Slaatto, a young designer who also has a strong interest in music, to create a design that is as free of visual noise as possible, and then had our engineers empower it with truly amazing sound.
The BeoPlay A9 houses two ¾" tweeters and two 3" midrange units each driven by a separate 80-watt class D amplifier. When playing back Stevie Ray Vaughan, the guitar-master’s licks sounded relaxed, refined yet realistically Stratty in the treble, and filled the loft with sound. For the low-end, the BeoPlay A9 uses an 8" bass unit powered by its own 160 watt class D amplifier. The bass performance on the speaker was noteworthy offering deep and supple extension. Tech-reporters prodded again whether it could be used in stereo mode. Again, it can, but only when connected via speaker wire. Airplay cannot send separate left and right speaker feeds so stereo playback was not a priority when developing the product.
I felt embarrassed on the behalf of the reporters. This is just supposed to look awesome. Can’t that be awesome too? As long as it is not marketed as the best sounding stereo experience on the market, which it was not but instead as the best looking, which it could contend for, then B&O is doing the customer a service by telling them exactly what they are getting. Presentations continued to focus on the visual aspect. With its gentle curves, aluminum siding, and Danish simplicity, the BeoPlay A9 is a subtle and enchanting approach to the loudspeaker.
The BeoPlay A9 offers three different “sound modes” depending on the type of placement: corner, wall, or freestanding. The speaker can be hung on the wall by hooking under its bass reflex port (gasp!), and despite the A9’s powerful bass, B&O representatives promised it would not fall off the wall when the you listen to double-kick drum patterns.
The A9 will allow for upgrades to their built-in DSP. One can turn the volume up or down by sliding your hand across a dimpled ridge on the back of the speaker and pause the music by resting your hand on top, a seductive party trick. Solid wood legs are available in oak, beech, or teak and B&O offer five color options for the fabric cover: silver, white, black, red, green, or brown. When the fabric cover is removed, a Fibonacci-sequence ridged grill covers the drivers.
The A9 will be available for prices starting at $2,699 at B&O stores, the B&O PLAY online store, Apple online, and select design stores.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
Loudspeaker Pioneer Bill Hecht Passes at 89
Hecht's contributions to the consumer electronics industry were numerous. He invented the true soft-dome tweeter (patented in 1962), which is ubiquitous in speaker designs. Later inventions included a manufacturing process for solid flat-piston drivers, a basket-less woofer/midrange driver mounting system, a self-damping woofer voice-coil and silicon-injected drivers.
Hecht remained involved in the speaker industry through the rest of his life and retained an office at United Speaker Systems in Jacksonville. United Speaker Systems produced more than 600 different speaker systems.
"All of us at MSE Audio greatly enjoyed our association with Bill and are deeply saddened at his passing," said Chris Combest, President of MSE Audio. "Bill was a legend in the speaker industry and brought a wealth of ideas to the manufacturing world. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the Hecht family and their friends."
Hecht is survived by his wife of 61 years, Sonia Hecht, his son Kenneth Hecht and wife Joan, his two daughters, Lauren Penny and Diane Hecht and five grandchildren.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
Matmos: The Ganzfeld EP (and Incase headphones)
The EP and the album [ The Marriage of True Minds, available early 2013] have the same conceptual basis: telepathy.
Telepathy!
For the past four years the band have been conducting parapsychological experiments based upon the classic Ganzfeld (“total field”) experiment, but with a twist: instead of sending and receiving simple graphic patterns, test subjects were put into a state of sensory deprivation by covering their eyes and listening to white noise on headphones, and then Matmos member Drew Daniel attempted to transmit “the concept of the new Matmos record” directly into their minds. During videotaped psychic experiments conducted at home in Baltimore and at Oxford University, test subjects were asked to describe out loud anything they saw or heard within their minds as Drew attempted transmission. The resulting transcripts became a kind of score that was then used by Matmos to generate music. If a subject hummed something, that became a melody; passing visual images suggested arrangement ideas, instruments, or raw materials for a collage; if a subject described an action, then the band members had to act that out and make music out of the noises generated in the process of the re-enactment.
The result, to which I am now listening and which is in turn driving me crazy, is perhaps the greatest work I’ve heard from Matmos—and that’s saying a lot, as Matmos generally blows my mind.
“Very Large Green Triangles” is a soaring, orchestral dance track with electronically manipulated voices forming a mind-twisting, psychedelic experience. Bells erupt from the speakers and ring in your ears. But in a nice way. “You,” remixed by RRose, is less forward, but no less intense, stretching out Carly Ptak’s whispered vocals and combining them with an amplified rubber band, for a deep, throbbing house track. But most delirious is the closer, 12-minute long “Just Waves,” which combines the voices of Matmos’ M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel with those of electronic composer Dan Deacon, Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors), and Clodagh Simonds (Fovea Hex), and adds warm, bell-like synthesizer and organ.
Eyes are bulging; hearts are beating; black and white shapes are forming, blinking, spiraling; I see something over my head; in my imagination; a circle, a triangle; just waves, just waves, just waves. This is some serious Arnold Schoenberg / Brian Eno / Gordon Mumma wackiness. In fact, from the press release again:
Singing the transcripts of psychic experiments in pitched clusters of monotone Sprechstimme, reminiscent of the avant-garde “tele-operas” of American minimalist composer Robert Ashley, phrases recur and coalesce into a gradually emerging chord progression.
I love it, I hate it, I don’t know what to do with it. It’s silly, maddening, and surprisingly beautiful. I want you to hear it, too.
Thrill Jockey will release The Ganzfeld EP on CD ($10) and LP ($13) on October 16. But that’s not all: Thrill Jockey has partnered with design company Incase to release “a limited edition of The Ganzfeld EP that recreates the perceptual circumstances and sensory experiences of the first test subjects in the original Ganzfeld experiment.” Limited to 600 copies, vinyl packages will include the EP, pressed on virgin vinyl, with Incase Sonic headphones, a download coupon, sticker, a signed and numbered Ganzfeld certificate, and custom goggles ($80); or all of the above with Incase’s Reflex headphones ($60).
Audiophiles probably already have their own headphones (and goggles?), but these packages are cool nonetheless. Matmos albums always sound great on the hi-fi, and I suspect The Ganzfeld EP will be sonically superb—it sounds damn good and exciting even through my crappy computer speakers.
If you just can’t wait until October 16th, you can catch Matmos live on September 13th, at Ram’s Head, in Baltimore, MD, or in New York, on September 14th, at Death by Audio, and September 15th, at Webster Hall. These shows are part of Thrill Jockey’s 20th Anniversary celebration, and will be appropriately awesome. If you’re attending one of the NYC shows, you can pre-order your copy of The Ganzfeld EP and pick it up at the venue.
Dooooooooo it. You deserve it.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
