Constellation Audio Performance Centaur Mono monoblock power amplifier
Constellation's instigators-in-chief are David Payes and Murali Murugasu, the Australian duo whose first venture into high-performance audio manufacturing was Continuum Audio Labs, makers of the Caliburn and Constellation turntables, both the work of conceptualizer-in-chief Mark Doehmann and an illustrious team of metallurgists, motion-control experts, bearing specialists, and all the other technicians and craftspeople required to produce state-of-the art turntables.
Though Doehmann is no longer with the company, Continuum soldiers on—as does my Caliburn, having never once malfunctioned in seven years of abuse from yours truly. Payes and Murugasu say they have a new turntable in the works, but in 2008 they decided to add a complete line of electronics to their portfolio, made by a new, independent company. "The idea," Payes told me at CES 2010, "was to develop an electronics company on the same basis as Continuum: find the best designers we could find, and basically motivate and control the design team—and fund it, obviously."
Setting aside the drama of bankrolling an expensive audio startup in the face of world economic collapse, Payes and Murugasu found an anonymous investor who is identified on the Constellation website as "Guru/Investor Ignacio Incognito"—almost as good a handle as "Carlos Danger." When they began searching for a project coordinator, Murugasu, with more than a decade's worth of experience in audio importing and distribution, primarily in the upper echelons, knew what he wanted. They began in Australia, but the search ended in the US with Peter Madnick, who had long been eager to work free of price constraints.
In Madnick, Murugasu and Payes found not only an industry veteran with decades' worth of experience and consumer name recognition, thanks to his association with the modestly priced, highly innovative products from Audio Alchemy, but also one who owned a factory, in Newbury Park, California, with proven capabilities in manufacturing high-performance audio gear. Madnick, who assumed the title of vice president of engineering, assembled a dream team (Google them if you're unfamiliar) that includes, among others, the legendary electronics designer John Curl, the equally legendary James Bongiorno (who has since died) and Bascom King, Demian Martin (Entech, Monster), and the gifted polymath industrial designer Alex Rasmussen, who, aside from being incredibly talented, is one damn handsome man—an annoying combination, if you ask me.
Through the Neal Feay Company, of which he's president—the third generation of his family to hold that title—Rasmussen has done the industrial design for dozens of audio products you've either admiringly ogled or run your hands over—as you inevitably will when you meet, in the flesh, Constellation Audio's exquisite-looking and -feeling Performance Centaur Mono monoblock power amplifier.
Performance Centaur Mono vs Reference Hercules
Constellation's cost-no-object, 275-lb, 1100W (into 8 ohms) Reference Hercules monoblock is priced in Larry Ellison territory at $140,000/pair. The 103-lb Performance Centaur Mono—a single-chassis stereo Centaur is also available—costs a more "affordable" $54,000/pair, though it outputs "only" 500W into 8 ohms, which should be enough to drive most any loudspeaker in a room of any size.
Yet, Peter Madnick assured me, the Centaur's amplifier circuit—and the circuit boards themselves—are identical to those in the Hercules. The biggest difference is that the Hercules uses the highest-quality "through hole" parts, hand-mounted, while the Centaur's boards are stuffed with the best available surface-mount-technology components and soldered by machine.
Madnick freely admitted that while the amps' circuits are identical and their sounds similar, the Hercules produces a somewhat more refined sound—as well it should, for almost three times the price and twice the power output. But clearly, the Performance Centaur Mono is the sweet spot of the Constellation line, in terms of quality per dollar which made reviewing it, rather than the Hercules, more useful to this magazine's readers.
Particulars
A design team, led by Bascom King and Peter Madnick, with some front-end input from John Curl and power-supply contributions from James Bongiorno, began by designing a single-ended, 125W, MOSFET-based amplifier that met everyone's specification requirements and produced the requisite sonic glory. That module is the Performance Centaur Mono's basic building block, multiples of which are combined to produce the amp's total claimed output of 500W. The Centaur's sound, Constellation claims, is identical to that of the single module, which begs the question: Why not make and sell that module? After all, 125W is more than enough power for many efficient speakers, and the price could be as attractive as the casework. Maybe it's on the way . . .
The Centaur is a balanced design. So how, you ask, can a single-ended amplifier also be a fully balanced amp? Constellation calls its proprietary topology a Balanced Bridge design.
Instead of the usual push-pull arrangement of N-type output transistors for one half of the waveform and P-type devices for the other half (each of which has somewhat different performance characteristics), within each Centaur Mono are a pair of carefully matched "floating" (ie, not referenced to ground) amplifiers, both using only N-channel MOSFETs. (There are eight transistors on each half-bridge, for a total of 16.) One amplifier is fed the balanced signal's negative phase, the other the positive. The speaker load directly connects the two amplifiers. The unique arrangement is similar but not identical to bridgeable stereo amplifiers that can be configured to produce more than double the power when used as a monoblock. A 1600VA custom-wound toroidal transformer and large storage capacitors ensure that the Centaur never runs out of juice.
The Centaur Mono uniquely includes three input choices: single-ended RCA, balanced XLR, and balanced Direct XLR, the last bypassing the input gain stage and usable only with a Constellation preamplifier. The standard balanced input incorporates a line-stage gain module that uses servo circuits and hand-selected, ultra-low-noise FETs claimed to deliver to the amp stage the same perfectly balanced signal as that delivered by Constellation's own preamplifiers.
The Physical Plant
Despite the Performance Centaur Mono's costing far less than the Reference Hercules, Constellation has spared no expense on its build quality. The sculpted, sloped front panel of pebbly, opaque aluminum, designed and built to the same high standards as the Hercules's faceplate, makes the Centaur among the most subtly striking-looking big amps I've ever seen. It's as unobtrusively handsome as, say, Dan D'Agostino Audio's Momentum monoblock ($55,000/pair; see my February 2013 review) is obtrusively so. Very different but equal "wow factors," to be sure.
In short, you're paying plenty for looks. But these are looks that keep on giving, especially when the Wife Acceptance Factor kicks in—the Centaur's sleek, cool lines might spell the difference between "Not in my house" and "Okay."
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Source : stereophile[dot]com
Introducing Audio Element of Pasadena
Signaling the start of a new era for high-end dealerships in Southern California, Friday night’s catered “soft” opening for existing clients and Saturday’s six-hour public open house were attended by enough major manufacturers, designers and distributors to have made possible a mini-audio show. On Friday night, for example, I discovered Berdan (left) speaking with Tom Bierry (right), former General Manager at Warner Bros, who now runs an independent label that is signing with Sony Red. Among Saturday’s visitors were Manley Labs’ EveAnna Manley, her mastering engineer husband Dave Collins, and T.H.E. Show head honcho Richard Beers.
Posing for a Saturday morning photograph, Jerron Marchant (Wilson Audio), Joe Wessling (Musical Surroundings, distributor of Musical Surroundings, Clearaudio, Fosgate, Aesthetix, AMG turntables, and Graham tonearms), David Carr (The Sound Organization, distributors of Rega and Quadraspire), Luke Manley (VTL Amplifiers), Raveen Bawa and John Quick (dCS), Jesse Luna (Sumiko, distributors of Sumiko, Sonus faber, Pro-Ject, and REL), Alex Brinkman (Ayre), and Jim White (designer of Aesthetix), joined Berdan and Matthew Payne of Audio Element in taking a deep breath before the day got underway. Absent from the shot, but arriving in time to greet visitors at the unstructured open house was Brian Von Bork (Cardas). Had representatives from Burmester, Transparent, Grado, and Grand Prix Audio been available, all of the store’s brands would have been represented.
Brian Berdan, 34, son of legendary audio retailer Brooks Berdan, has been surrounded by audio for virtually his entire life. During the three years preceding his father’s death in July 2011, when Brian ran Brooks Berdan Ltd. in nearby Monrovia, it became clear that he needed to eventually step out on his own.
“I always had more modern ideas,” Brian told Stereophile during Friday’s evening libations. “While I adhere to my father’s core values—I’m not in this to gouge people—my dad was more of a technical guy, while I’m more of a feeling person. I’ve taken my toys and my sandbox and moved to Pasadena.
“I feel I can sense what a client needs and what can work for them. I watch their body posture when they listen to music, and know what they like and what they don’t like. Then I introduce them to products in stages, as one would offer different kinds of wines, in order to guide them to audio bliss. It’s about the journey, and I’m here to help people enjoy it.”
Brian is especially proud of the fact that he once played Heifetz recordings to a man who knew the great violinist, and managed to bring the potential client to tears. “While I remain a vinyl-head—vinyl remains at the core of the sound I try to produce—it’s somewhat of a romantic attachment,” he acknowledges. “The truth is, digital has gotten so good that I’ve grown to really like it as well.”
The Entrance
At the store’s entrance, Brian and Matthew have positioned “less intimidating, more approachable electronics that people off the street can associate with.” On the left (above), you immediately discover a relatively compact system that mates Rega’s Elicit-R amplifier, Aria phono stage, and RP-8 turntable with the Sonus Faber Venere 2.5 loudspeakers that Kal Rubinson praised in the November issue. I was amazed at the solidity of the bass, as well as how pleasing the overall presentation sounded. Beyond this system was positioned a turntable bar with Clearaudio Performance DC, Pro-Ject Classic, and AMG tables.
At entrance right, I encountered Grado and Pro-Jest headphone displays, allied to a small listening area fronted by Pro-Ject’s Stereo Box, Head Box S, Stream Box DS, Phono Box, Debut Carbon and Essential turntables, and Sonus Faber Venere 2.0 loudspeakers. Next came a wall and bins filled with luscious vinyl, fronted by a listening area that included the dCS Puccini CD/SACD player/U-Clock combo; Aesthetix’s Calypso preamp, Rhea phono stage, and Atlas amplifier; Cardas Clear and Clear Beyond cabling; and Wilson Audio Sasha loudspeakers.
After three more Rega tables, Grand Prix Audio Woodcote and Le Mans racks, a Clearaudio Matrix record cleaning machine, and Wilson Audio Sophia 3 and new Sonus faber Olympica II loudspeakers, I discovered the “Living Room Experience.” Facing a couch array, beneath a video screen whose images were absurdly mismatched with the music played, rested a laptop and Pro-Ject Extension 10 with Blackbird cartridge supplying Ayre’s QB-9 DAC, KX-R20 prototype preamp, and VX-5 amp; VTL’s TP 2.5; and Sonus Faber Elipsa SE loudspeakers, all connected by Cardas Clear cabling.
Given that the system was truly up against the wall, I was amazed at its fabulous spaciousness. I experienced no sense of limitation. Alex Brinkman attributes this in part to Ayre’s 20th Anniversary KX-R20 preamp’s Diamond Output Stage. Expect to hear more about this shiny wonder in our CES 2014 show report, which will appear right after the first units ship.
The Glories of the Inner Sanctum
All this lusciousness led to the beveled glass door that opened, not to Oz, but rather to Audio Element’s main, purpose-built listening room. Brian designed the room’s 9.8 foot ceiling and 16 x 20 floor plan to get as close to the Fibonnaci sequence/Golden Ratio as the suspended wood flooring in the rear of the 100-year old historic building would allow. As attested by the room’s exceptional sound, Brian is a system set-up specialist whom dCS has flown to the UK several times. Most recently, on October 17, he worked on both a factory system set-up for dCS and a dry run for a potential event at the Royal College of Music. This caps seven years of helping manufacturers set up shows, as well as aiding in product development, voicing and evaluation.
One unique feature of the room is the sliding wood door on the far side that, when opened, noticeably increases soundstage air and depth. We who lament that our rooms are asymmetrical, with openings on one side, may discover that the openings actually work to our ultimate benefit.
It’s a shame that the mere mention of this room’s equipment may cause some readers to complain that Stereophile pays too much attention to the high-priced spread, and cancel their subscriptions to this free site. To such folks I say, get a grip. If you found yourself flown to Southern California with plenty of time to enjoy track after track in a superbly designed room that included dCS’s state-of-the-art Vivaldi transport, DAC, upsampler, and clock stacked on an eye-catching Grand Prix Audio Silverstone rack, and a separate dCS Paganini system (wired with AudioQuest cabling) on a Grand Prix Monaco Modular rack; Grand Prix Audio Monaco turntable with Tri-Planar tonearm and Lyra Skala cartridge; VTL’s TL 7.5 and TP 6.5 preamps and mighty Siegfried monoblocks; Wilson Audio Alexia and Sonus Faber Amati Futura loudspeakers; and lots of Transparent Opus and Cardas Clear cabling, would you spend your afternoon listening to the excellent lower-priced components, or settle into the inner sanctum’s comfortable couch and indulge?
You know what I did. Cellist Antonio Lysy playing Piazzolla, Peter Gabriel sanctifying “Mercy Street,” Shelby Lynne doing a little lovin’, Paul Simon dancing on 25th anniversary diamonds in 24/96, Dead Can Dance sounding fabulous as MoFi vinyl sent them into the labyrinth, Satchmo dreaming a little dream in 24/192, Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony on vinyl, Sarah Vaughn sending in the clowns in Red Book… it went on and on. Along the way, we experimented with the settings on the Siegfried, and confirmed that the Vivaldi’s DXD upsampling option surpasses its DSD upsampling in soundstage air and depth. But mostly, we grooved to the music.
Welcome to the fold, Audio Element. You and Brian are poised to make a lot of music lovers very, very happy.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
TAVES 2013 Report Part 3
At the other end of the continuum are speakers that are designed and built from the ground up,, using design principles that, while perhaps not entirely original, represent substantially new application of these principles. This approach is much more rare—and much more costly to implement.
The Muraudio Domain Omni ESL ($48,000/pair), which made its debut at TAVES, is squarely in the latter category. Pictured here with designer Murray Harman, the Domain Omni ESL is handmade in Canada, and is described as "a 360 degree, point-source, omni-directional electrostatic loudspeaker." The electrostatic elements are curved top-to-bottom as well as side-to-side (not just side-to-side, as in the MartinLogan electrostatics). The design features a horizontal dispersion of 360° and a vertical dispersion of 16°. The Domain Omni ESL is a two-way system, with the lower part of the range being handled by two LF drivers powered by a 700W class-D amplifier. The design is nothing if not ambitious, and is the subject of several patents. The sound was promising, with a soundstage that was apparent well away from the central sweat spot, but I had the feeling that the relatively small room did not give these omnidirectional speakers enough breathing room.
I have a certain fondness for vintage equipment, and was happy to see a representative of the Ontario Vintage Radio Association, Ted Catton (seen in the photo) at TAVES. Of course, the Sony TV set is a bit too modern to be classified as "vintage radio," but I was intrigued by the rotating picture tube. That's what I need when I forget that you shouldn't take a video with the camera turned to the portrait position!
TAVES offered a wide range of seminars, from the "home theater of the future" to "advanced turntable setup," sponsored by Tricell Enterprises and presented by Richard Mak of Tone Audio magazine (seen in the photo). I sat in on the latter for a few minutes, and was interested in Richard Mak noting that tracking-force gauges are notoriously inaccurate, with one costing $250 being one of the worst, and a $15 gauge being considerably better.
Attending a show like TAVES, it's easy to develop a jaded feeling, accepting as normal equipment whose cost seems to exist in another world. Of course, this is part of what shows like this are about: to see what the 1% buys—or, perhaps, what you would buy if you were part of the 1%.
But TAVES is not completely elitist, and if you were interested in more affordable equipment, there was lots to see as well. A system I saw that can be considered affordable by almost any standard is pictured here, with importer Jean-Marie Suard. The components included the ACT B-1.1 speakers ($700/pair), Ex-302 integrated amp (40Wpc, $349), Ex-322 CD player ($349), all designed by BC Acoustique in France and made in China. It would not be difficult to get it for a package price of $1000. And, despite lack of apparent care in the setup, the sound was really not bad.
How was the show? Well, because of competing obligations, I was able to attend TAVES 2013 only on the first day, Friday, which is traditionally a low-attendance day, so I can't say what overall attendance was like. For a Friday, it was about typical. In terms of the number and range of products on display, the show had a great deal to offer attendees. The major importers/distributors seemed to go all out to present their products. If I had the time, I would have welcomed the opportunity to go back and spend more time listening to the music.
The King Edward hotel continued to be an excellent venue: classy, and with rooms that were generally good for demonstrating equipment. This was the third year of TAVES, Suave Kajko and Simon Au having taken over from the Montreal crew of Michel Plante and Sarah Tremblay—and they're doing just fine. As the sign says: See you in 2014.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
TAVES 2013 Report Part 2
I've always been intrigued by the concept of the air-bearing turntable and linear-tracking arm, and if I were more into playing LPs and wanted a turntable/arm combo that was better than my aging and not-fully-up-to-date Linn, I would probably start by looking at products that follow these design principles. Bergmann has two products in this category which were on demo at TAVES: the $22,000 Sindre the $13,000 Magne. (The one in the photo is the Sindre.) Considering the technology, and the fact that both are turntable/arm combinations, the prices don't seem out of line.
The Bergmann turntable/arm combos are made in Denmark, and, perhaps coincidentally, the speakers in the system were also Danish: the rather diminutive stand-mounted Raidho D1s. The sound was simply superb, making me think that the Raidho D1 is probably the best speaker of its size that I've heard. Alas, a pair of Raidho D1s will set you back $28,000.
In a less exalted price range than the TechDAS Air Force One and the Bergmann turntables was the new TD-209 from Thorens ($1499). Love that red!
Tash Goka, who, along with his wife, Diane Koebel (respectively, right and left in the photo), handles Canadian distribution of Copland, Antique Sound Lab, and various accessories, is also a speaker designer, being responsible for the revamping of the Reference 3A line. The top of this line, seen in the photo, is the very fine-sounding Nefes ($10,000/pair). Also making its debut at TAVES was the Copland CTA405-A integrated amplifier ($5990). This is a tube-based unit, which uses KT120s rather than the KT88s used previously. Tash told me that KT120s draw greater current than KT88s, which required a new, higher-capacity transformer. I've been thinking of swapping the KT88s in my McIntosh MC250 for KT120s—which, some people have told me should be OK—but was somehow reluctant to do so. Based on what Tash told me, my reluctance was justified. Thanks, Tash!
The Gershman Black Swan loudspeaker ($45,000/pair) has been around for a number of years (the earliest reference I could find to it in Stereophile was June, 2006), but it continues to evolve. According to Ofra Gershman (on the right in the photo, with her husband Eli, the designer of the speakers, on the left), there have been some recent changes in the drivers and associated tweaking of the crossover. A brief listen suggested that these are the best-sounding Black Swans so far.
One of the ways you can tell that you're in a room that is demming Joseph Audio speakers is that the speakers are set up diagonally rather than parallel to any wall. (Of course, you could also look at the brand name on the speaker, but that's cheating.) This worked well for the Joseph Audio Pearl 3s ($31,500/pair) driven by an Accustic Arts integrated amplifier ($6900) at TAVES. Jeff Joseph played an LP called Essential Elvis, which had a previously unreleased cut of "There Will Be Peace in the Valley." I have never been a real Elvis fan, but listening to this beautifully sung, deeply felt performance pretty well turned me into one.
Nordost had some new products at TAVES, and, as is their usual practice, did A/B comparisons to demonstrate their effectiveness. (Ariel Bitran reported on one of these demos here) The demo I attended compared the original Valhalla 1 speaker cable with the new Valhalla 2, playing the same piece of music, keeping everything (including volume) the same, just switching cables. The comparison was actually A/B/A, with "A" being Valhalla 1. The Valhalla 1 is my reference speaker cable, so I'm pretty familiar with its sonic characteristics, among which I would include superb clarity and transparency. However, switching from Valhalla 1 to Valhalla 2, and, especially, switching back to Valhalla 1, made Valhalla 1 seem almost muffled, Valhalla 2 revealing fine detain that was only suggested by Valhalla 1.
What's the cost of this improvement? Don't ask . . . I did ask, and was told that the 4m demo length pair of Valhalla 1 costs $12,200 and Valhalla 2 of the same length is $17,850!
Source : stereophile[dot]com
TAVES 2013 Report Part 1
What does this have to do with audio or video? Well, the top-of-the-line Ultra Limited Harley ($30,000) includes an "infotainment system," with all kinds of audio/video goodies, including surround sound. Here it is, with Suave looking suitably...suave (Sorry!).
The Harley exhibit certainly attracted a lot of attention—and, who knows, some of the people having their picture taken on one of the bikes in the lobby may have decided to check out the TAVES exhibits upstairs.
If you're the sort of cool guy who's into motorcycles, high-end audio, and curved video displays, you might want a watch that doesn't look like a watch. These were on sale in the hotel lobby, right next to the Harley exhibit.
One of the major "show business" stories of 2013 was the sale of the Montreal Salon Son & Image to the Chester Group, Sarah Tremblay staying on as show manager, with Michel Plante (right) accepting a position with audio distributor Plurison/Audio Plus. TAVES was the first time I saw Michel since his moved to Plurison, and, ever a cheerful, upbeat guy, he seemed even more cheerful and upbeat. Asked to describe his role at Plurison, he said he said it was to coordinate sales training in North America, and that he was learning to be a "Mini Daniel"—(Daniel being Plurison president Daniel Jacques, Daniel on the left in my photo.)
Plurison had what I think may have been their greatest representation ever at a Canadian audio show (including SSI): a total of seven rooms, the brand list including Focal, Devialet, Wharfedale, Naim, Cambridge, Pathos, Mordaunt-Short, Micromega, BDI, Martin Logan, Rega, and others. With such a long list, all potentially with new products, I was reluctant to ask "What's New?" Instead, I asked Daniel Jacques what is the one new product he would name if asked to nominate just one product that was new and exciting. He demurred—for someone like him, this may be like saying which of your children you love most—but I persisted, and he finally said that the new Focal Aria speakers, which use flax as part of the cone material, were really special.
Ian McArthur of Plurison gave me a demo of the Aria 926 ($3000/pair), the least expensive speaker in the floorstander series, driven by the Devialet 170 DAC/preamp/amplifier ($9495). I was most impressed with the clarity and lack of box coloration in the sound. The midbass was particularly clean, with a lack of smearing or overhang on transients. I'm told that part of the reason for developing the flax sandwich material was to reduce the labor cost that the W sandwich process involves, but in the process they discovered additional benefits of the flax material. There's also a new tweeter with surround made of material called Poron, which allows the tweeter to have considerably lower distortion.
Bryston is truly becoming an all-round manufacturer, with a full line of speakers as well as their well-known audio electronics. Adding to the Model T series, they now have speakers in the Model A series, which are said to have the same sort of sound, just not quite as dynamically extended, at lower prices. At TAVES, they had a (non-playing) prototype of the Mini A ($1200/pair), which, unusually for a speaker of its size, is a three-way.
But apparently not everyone got the memo about Bryston making speakers. James Tanner of Bryston told me an amusing story of his encounter with an attendee at a recent audio show (not TAVES), who , looking at the speakers but apparently not noticing the electronics, said to him "Aren't you afraid of being sued? There's a company that makes amplifiers, called Bryston."
If Bryston, a manufacturer of audio electronics can start making speakers, then what's to stop a speaker manufacturer to start making electronics? Focus Audio, well-known for their speakers, has done this, although in a more limited way than Bryston. The Liszt Prelude ($7,800) and Liszt Sonata ($12,00) are tube-based integrated amps that can function as just power amps.
Coup de Foudre is a Montreal audio dealer, well-known for their parties held at the time of the Montreal show (SSI). I was surprised to see their name listed as an exhibitor at TAVES. Are they trying to attract customers to their Montreal store? Toronto dealers would be pretty upset about that.
As it turns out, the presence of Coup de Foudre did not represent a raiding of the Toronto market—quite the opposite. Coup de Foudre is also the sole Canadian distributor of several highly-regarded lines, which they supply to Toronto dealers. They were just supporting them with demonstrations of equipment that may not be in the stores but that audiophiles would be interested in. Coup de Foudre had several rooms, too. The demo system in the room pictured included Avalon Compass speakers with Spectral Electronics (DMA 200S amp, DMC-15SS preamp), with a Luxman DA-06 DAC as source. Coup de Foudre's Danny Labreque and Erik Fortier (left to right) look relaxed and confident that people will be really impressed with the sound—and I certainly was.
The Cyrus brand—originally Mission— has been around for a number of years, and is well known in the UK and Europe, but has not had Canadian distribution. This has been remedied: Monitor Audio, well-known for their speakers, has undertaken Cyrus distribution. There have a lot of products, including no fewer than six streamers, four CD players, DACs, preamps, and power amps. Monitor Audio is not planning to import all of them, just a selected sample. The Cyrus equipment seems well-made and attractively-priced. An example, shown at TAVES: the Pre Qx DAC ($2600) full system preamp with DAC built in, capable of handling 24-bit digital files and upsampling to 192kHz for all digital inputs.
Simaudio went all-out in their participation at TAVES: they were in six rooms, with equipment covering the range from entry-level to the top end. Simaudio has had a recent change of ownership, which— according to Lionel Goodfield, Simaudio's director of marketing and PR, shown in the photo— is making additional funds available to allow the company to expand their offerings, and at the same time making production more efficient, enhancing competitiveness.
Simaudio and Dynaudio have a long history of association, and, sure enough, one of the rooms had equipment from these companies. At TAVES, the demo system consisted of what Dynaudio's Mike Manousselis (in the photo) referred to as a "high value" system: Dynaudio X-14 speakers (a new model, $1500/pair), Moon 250i integrated ($2300) 260D CD transport/DAC ($3000), and modestly-priced Nordost Blue Heaven cables. "Very pleasant sound" was the highly analytical comment that I wrote in my little notebook.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
Sonus Faber Venere 2.5 loudspeaker
The new Venere line represents Sonus Faber's effort to bring all of this to a lower-priced segment of the market currently dominated by rectangular boxes with OEM drivers. In what's become common practice, SF does all their design and engineering at their home base in Arcugnano, Italy, but has their new speakers made in China. The result are models that retain SF's traditional Italian styling and technology, but are available at prices that more audiophiles and music lovers can afford.
When I first saw the Veneres, at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, I was willing to accept that they might comprise SF's lower-priced range, but I was still amazed at what the prices actually are. The subject of this review, the Venere 2.5 ($2498/pair), is the first of a line that includes a larger floorstander, the 3.0; the 2.0 and 1.5 stand-mounted models: the Wall, a wall-mounted two-way with a passive radiator; and the Center, a center-channel speaker.
Description
As its name implies, the floorstanding Venere 2.5 is a 2.5-way design with Sonus Faber's own coated-fabric tweeter (which is not cooled with ferrofluid), and two 7" woofers, also by SF, the lower rolled off above 250Hz. The drivers are inset into a gently curved front baffle and protected by a stiff but lightweight black grille, magnetically attached. A cutout at the bottom of the grille reveals the Sonus Faber logo engraved on the baffle; below that, at the bottom, is the semirectangular slot port. The side panels curve gracefully around to meet a very narrow rear panel just wide enough to accommodate a staggered array of four multiway terminals. The cabinet sits on a thick glass base plate that accepts four substantial spikes, the front pair nearly an inch longer than the rear, which tilts the entire cabinet back to align the tweeter with the deeper woofer diaphragms. This rake is continued in the top panel, which has a glass inlay and from the front slopes up toward the rear of the speaker, strikingly tapering to a near point. The effect, in the sleek Black Lacquer finish of the review pair, was of an elegantly dressed gentleman in provocative slouch. Certainly, no one will be tempted to place a cocktail glass on it.
My Connecticut system was channeled through the Marantz AV-8801 A/V pre-pro, which includes Audyssey's MultEQ XT32 room-optimization software. However, I couldn't assume that such equalization would be available to all readers, so I listened to the Venere 2.5s either via a direct analog route or, with multichannel sources, with Audyssey set to bypass the front L/R speakers (the Sonus Fabers). I also spent some time listening to the Veneres via a Trinnov MC Optimizer, in both stereo and multichannel.
Setup
I connected the 2.5s with the biwire jumpers in place and proceeded to position them. This was somewhat impeded by the necessity to keep the pads (provided by SF) under the spikes to protect my hardwood floor. I ended up with the Veneres in roughly the same places as my regular speakers, but with a toe-in that aimed their tweeters directly at the main listening position. Not all speakers work well in this orientation; usually, they require less toe-in, to avoid the tinge of HF brightness that often accompanies on-axis listening. I suspect that has to do with such speakers having a mild upper-midrange depression or peak, and that aiming them off axis mitigates the MF/HF imbalance.
Since I used the Venere 2.5s while reviewing the Trinnov Optimizer for my column in the September 2013 issue, I can say that the uncorrected on-axis response in my room did show a mild 1–2dB emphasis from 300 to 1000Hz, followed by a similarly mild 1–2dB trough from 1.5 to 8kHz. This wasn't remarkably flat, but the Venere 2.5s matched within 1dB, and gave the subjective impressions of great midrange clarity and ideal balance when listened to on axis. Below 300Hz, room modes dominated the frequency response, as the two speakers' different relations with the room boundaries imposed a much more widely differing response.
Perhaps due to the pair's close match throughout the midrange and treble, I was immediately struck by the spaciousness of the Veneres' rendering of stereo orchestral recordings; despite the notable midrange and treble detail, the overall balance was warm, with a soundstage that began just behind the speaker plane. Bass was adequately extended, but, with no room EQ, I was aware of excessive midbass emphasis. As I said, I don't ascribe this only to the Veneres, but to my room setup as well. Nonetheless, it was a balance that many would find satisfying, and reminded me of the slightly rising bass response and mildly attenuated treble incorporated into many "house curves."
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Source : stereophile[dot]com
Solo Piano: Marc Cary and Matthew Shipp
They’ve risen out of different influences: Cary, 47, shaped by his stints with the singers Betty Carter and Abbey Lincoln; Shipp, 53, more in the school of Cecil Taylor and Ran Blake, racking up years with Roscoe Mitchell and David S. Ware.
On his latest, though, Cary clangs the piano’s lower registers and flits through unusually adventurous harmonies, while maintaining his lyrical flow. Shipp coaxes lovely, almost romantic melodies, in between dissonant dirges and brooding blue notes—ie, without losing his avant flair.
They’re both riveting albums: heady and passionate. Cary plumbs the Abbey Lincoln songbook and shines new light on her underrated prowess as a composer. Shipp unfurls original pieces, juxtaposing vast ranges of styles in seamless fashion, but also covers gentle, probing takes of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” and Shorter’s “Nefertiti.” (Cary’s 14 tracks include two originals and a cover of Ellington’s “Melancholia.”)
These are two monster pianists at their peak powers. The sound quality is also searing: up close, dynamic, and perfectly clear.
Source : stereophile[dot]com
