It had been several years since I attended the California Audio Show, as a particular Midwest show has grown quite large and I can attend without having to fly and stay in a hotel. However, Constantine Soo, Publisher of Dagogo.com and the producer of the CAS, was keen on having many of his reviewers present this year, so I obliged. I’m happy that I did!

After years of “pounding the pavement” by trying to hit perhaps 10-12 rooms per day at AXPONA, it was refreshing to take a more leisurely approach to reporting on a show. I could actually find a seat in nearly any room I wished, and could remain practically as long as I wished without a niggling sense of taking up someone else’s time for an experience. It’s not that the rooms were not busy; they just weren’t superheated to sauna level and shoulder-to-shoulder, which does not make for a lovely experience.

Traffic flowed as if plotted on a bell curve, with thin activity at the very beginning, bulging in the middle and petering out again at the last hour or so. One manufacturer who shall remain nameless indicated that manufacturers in general want more foot traffic and opined that they wish Constantine would grow the show. It’s like kids at a high school dance sitting on the sidelines, and then deciding to dance if everyone else will. Were the manufacturers and dealers I spoke to just being polite in saying they very much enjoyed the show and felt it was better traffic than last year, and worth it? I don’t think so. One manufacturer said on day two he had 20 leads on sales. He seemed elated about the ratio of interest to attendance.

As my Dagogo colleagues and I debriefed at the end of each day an observation emerged: at this show, the sound quality across the spectrum of rooms was higher than usual. Fellow Dagogoan David Blumenstein put his finger on it, as he said the presence of ASC (Acoustic Sciences Corporation) TubeTraps in nearly every room moderated much of the undesirable effects normally encountered in show conditions. I felt invigorated by the experience, refreshed by hearing decent sound and not just ok sound “for show conditions”. I’m not saying it was like your custom room in a residence, but on the whole not bad. The show may be small, but the rooms destroyed not much of what went on.

The vendors seemed relaxed and engaging, not fighting through a hoard of people asking questions that they could get answers for at the manufacturers’ websites. Demo music was welcomed in most rooms, though a lack of Net access in some rooms narrowed the experience. Digital was running rampant, and vinyl in the background, which is perfectly fine with me. There is much about Analogue that is unappealing to me, including the snobbery, the nebulously applied principles to assess sound quality, and the fact that my monthly Tidal “streaming collection” numbers in the millions for the price of one LP. As I have noticed for many years, the rooms playing Analogue were not terribly superior to the better ones playing digital.

It surely will not help the industry, or the hobby that in four mornings of wake-up fitness regimen I saw one other person fighting to maintain semblance of being in shape – Holger Adler of Voxativ. Kudos, Holger, long may you live! We may be the last of our breed as audiophile couch potatoes kick off. Audiophiles may protect their ears, but they seem intent on letting their hearts go to mush.

I take that back; Lyle Porter of Bernhagen – Porter, which I will discuss momentarily, looked like he could still run ten miles, and the way he maneuvered the namesake speaker looked like he could kick everyone’s ass. But, as with audio gear, looks can be deceptive; Lyle is as affable as they come.

Thank you to the dedicated CAS staff, which worked tirelessly in the background to make everything run smoothly. Thank you to Constantine, who continues to keep the flame of audio shows alive in Northern California. Thank you to my Dagogo.com colleagues; you are a group of genuinely nice men. Thank you to the industry participants, and please do not send all your gear at once for me to review!

If you wish to see all the products represented in each room and their MSRP, use this link  https://www.caaudioshow.com/cas9-systems/

We now will take a stroll through CAS 2019, stopping at several rooms representative of similar systems in terms of the technologies employed. Speakers set the tone, so to speak, so I will use them to group the rooms. Let’s start off big.

Zesto Audio, Room 5203.

Zesto Audio shines again in every category.  The sinuous beauty of their industrial design consistently blends yin and yang with dazzling élan. Through Joseph Audio speakers with Tchaikovsky playing from vinyl, Zesto’s glorious electronics display exemplary dynamics.  The overall sound is engaging and enveloping with reliable placement cues and strong ambience retrieval.

SoundKaos Vox 3F speakers, Room 5220.

Tiny size doesn’t constrain the unconventional hybrid SoundKaos VOX 3f speaker from Switzerland.  The smallest of their line, the VOX 3 is a welcome surprise in waxed and oiled solid walnut.

The diminutive 3-way, four driver speaker has one front-firing 4” wide-band midrange and two side-firing 5” carbon fiber, ported woofers. Designed to sit low in the room, tilted back slightly on dedicated wooden stands, its top-mounted upward-firing Raal ribbon tweeter (above 7,000 kHz) helps retain air and presence from a wide range of listening positions, reducing high-frequency beaming.

It was coupled with the sweet 100-watt Pure Audio ONE integrated amplifier, strongly biased toward Class A operation, from New Zealand.  VOX 3 projects sunny warmth and tuneful bass for its size, producing the audio illusion of an elegant mid-sized floor-stander.  Kudos to Pennsylvania dealership Old Forge Audio for a pleasant-sounding space without any room treatment whatsoever.

Paul Stubblebine of The Tape Project, Boardroom 3. (MartinLogan/Timothy Marutani Consulting/Doshi Audio/The Tape Project)

Wow, great exhibition from MartinLogan this year partnering with The Tape Project.  World-class mastering engineer Paul Stubblebine presented superb 1/2” open-reel tapes on an Ampex ATR-102 with Doshi amplification and external preamplification of the tape signal. MartinLogan CLX ART electrostatic panels and associated large powered sub-woofers generated highly transparent, wide-open reproduction with high fidelity to the pristine analog sources Tape Project brought to the party.

This crew is to be saluted for their dedication to AC line noise control.  Three massive symmetrically balanced AC power conditioners were deployed; one for the source electronics and one for each amp channel.  Seen in the photo above–they are the two lowest black boxes nestled next to the ATR-102.  This made a critical contribution to the most open and natural sound of the show – in my humble opinion.

Marchand Electronics/Bernhagen-Porter, Room 5218.

Robustly constructed with layers of dissimilar wood, the Bernhagen Porter Model 10/12 speaker produced palpable sound.  It features a specialized tweeter nestled in a horn-like aperture for broad dispersion and 96 dB efficiency, fortified with an internal 650-watt amplifier for the 12”subwoofer.   The result is muscular dynamics, even driven by a mere 20 watts per channel of single ended (and single tube) Marchand Electric BTA-40 monoblocks.

Sound Lab Majestic 645 electrostatic speaker system, Room 5201.

Local installer Ultimate Audio offers a very simple and successful setup for the massive Sound Lab curved electrostatic panels.  They behave quite well in the tiny hotel room, offering good imaging from almost every spot.  Yet these elegant reproducers could easily fill a grand ballroom with full-range sound.  Sound Lab revels in producing the distinctly lifelike presence and rich ambience that is only found in such a masterful, mature execution of panelspeaker technology.

In the minimalist Sound Labs setup, highly transparent Bricasti Design solid-state electronics provided the streaming audio and amplification.  Elegant Bricasti gear was also found in other good-sounding rooms.

Statement products like this justify attending exhibitions, demonstrating what is possible in the audio arts far beyond what will ever be feasible for most of us.  Yet, we can be vicariously thrilled at the level of aspiration and achievement — perhaps even folly –like that which once transported humanity to the Moon.

Acapella Audio Arts Campanile 2, Boardroom 5.

Standing nearly eight feet tall and offered in striking color schemes, the Acapella Audio Arts Campanile 2 spherical horn with ion plasma tweeter would dominate any interior space regardless of scale.  Handmade in Germany, 96 dB efficiency, four-way hybrid speaker system tolerates amplification ranging from 15 to 1000 watts.

Given adequate horizontal and vertical clearance, the Campanile 2 will produce lifelike sound in a small ballroom, very large listening room or vast McMansion without the thrust of a Saturn V rocket.  “Fly me to the Moon.”

The 2019 California Audio Show, “CAS9” as it unfolded, as it was and is destined to be in its past, present and future incarnations. CAS shall always be an intimate affair, not by design, not as artifice, but by its very core principles. It truly is a family affair. All one need do is look to the extent of involvement and dedication of Constantine and Vivian Soo and their extended family, actual relatives and Dagogo staffers, of which I am one. We all pitch in on the organization, planning and execution of CAS and that will be no different in this coming year as CAS celebrates its 10^th anniversary.

Holger Adler of Voxativ Acoustic Technologies and an exhibitor this year put it best:

“My personal impression of the show was how Constantine Soo and his partners: Byron Baba, David Blumenstein and Doug Schroeder created a feeling that is simply the meeting of old and good friends who like each other. I enjoyed my stay very much and I will be back next year with Voxativ Acoustic Technologies.”

This is what the crew strives for on behalf of CAS, its attendees and its exhibitors. The intention is that nobody on either side of the equation feels any pressure, and that there can be open discussion between all parties without feeling the need to rush off to the next exhibit.

A noticeable first this year was quite possibly the best sounding speaker/panel room ever at any Hi-Fi show on record. It’s not so much the quality of the Behringer gear, but the sheer number of ASC TubeTraps in the room. For those of you eagle eyes, there are actually 12 in the photo below, as two corner units are obscured by their brethren and the screen. But what you’re not seeing are the four more TubeTraps in the back of the room. That’s right, 16 of them. It made the Forum room look like the Parthenon. Anyhow, the sound was amazing. Room treatments can indeed do wonders, and what with so many of the hotel rooms being TubeTrapped, it really did make a sonic difference. Exhibitors and attendees alike took notice and made favorable comments.

Tossing 16 TubeTraps at one room might be excessive in one’s book, but if it can be done, why not? I requested and ASC’s Jordan Goulette, Engineering, Production, Research and Product Development, has agreed to write a piece for Dagogo on what prompted the incredible set-up pictured above, and his detailed insights into several other TubeTrapped exhibit rooms. Stay tuned for this to appear, at the moment a work in progress.

I for one appreciated just how patriotic ASC could be, and was surprised to see in just how many colors they could be obtained. Guildford of Maine does them proud with their vast selection of fabric colors.

On the topic of colors, a well-lit room is a thing of …, and I for one could not pass up the majesty that was the handiwork of Brian Ackerman of Aaudio Imports. Brian went truly International with his approach and there’s no mistaking him as importer of brands.

The light show having served its purpose, I turned my sights on to the impressive Wilson Benesch (United Kingdom) A.C.T One Evolution speakers sitting upon their expressly designed Carbon Plinths along with their Torus + AMP, an infrasonic generator. I was there on set-up day and in the hotel’s Boardroom 1 its not just room treatments but speaker treatments which helps brings things together in rooms not specifically designed for audiophile purpose. While I have heard/read of Ypsilon (Greece) as a manufacturer, this was my first opportunity to get close and personal. Seeing and hearing is believing. Exquisitely designed, I found myself returning to this room, not just for the colorful lights, but to experience Ypsilon’s Phaeton Integrated Amplifier and DAC 1000 Valve (Tube) DAC.

Note to Exhibitors: While it does not and should not REQUIRE you to mount your own light shows, do take on board that Brian’s attempt to be creative with his room did indeed make it memorable, even unforgettable to some who were heretofore not acquainted with ANY of the brands in his room.

I was pleased again to cover the California Audio Show for 2019. The last time I covered the show was 2017 and due to scheduling issues I missed the first day of the show and thus was unable to spend much time in each room. This year I had the opportunity to cover each room.

My issues in 2017 have largely remained the same in that some rooms had no real ability to play my recordings. I brought CDs and a USB drive containing FLAC files but many rooms could not support either.

As other Dagogo reviewers have noted, as did I back in 2017, the quality of the rooms are generally superior at the Oakland Hilton which is likely due to being an airport hotel and perhaps constructed better for reducing external sound. Further aiding the experience for show goers was the fact that most every room was separated with a sleeping room in between so there was no bleed through from room to room.

On with the coverage starting with the large room systems: I have decided to separate the rooms with speakers designed for big rooms from those designed for small rooms. I think readers know that is not a fair comparison to compare speakers designed for a large mansion living room with 25 foot ceilings to those who are buying for a New York apartment.

Boardroom 5: Audio Federation brought Acapella Audio Arts/ Audio Note UK and Harmonic Resolution Systems and Emm Labs

Audio Federation was my show winner back in 2017 and once again was a top tier room for me. This time around they brought larger, more sensitive speakers from Acapella Audio Arts in the Campanile 2 Loudspeakers at around 450lbs and 93 inches tall. Once again, Acapella shows off their industry leading treble response which is as good as treble gets.  Integration wasn’t quite there the first day but by the last day this again was my favorite big room, big speaker system at CAS. From smaller scale music to large, the speakers had just sublime midrange to top end clarity.  Piano on Jackson Browne’s ‘Pretender’ from his Live Acoustic Vol 1 album was full rich and deep. The artist was [virtually] in the room.  Credit must also be given to arguably the front end electronics from emmLabs and Audio Note UK. Like 2017, the CD sources sounded better than the server sources to my ear.

This was the best big room system at CAS.

Boardroom 4: Margules Audio/ Magenta/ Atlas Cables & Lyn Stanley

I quite enjoyed this room with an assortment of interesting tube amplifiers at reasonable costs.  This system was in a big room but I am not sure that would be needed for the average consumer. The smaller floorstanders at $4,000 were a particular highlight as they offered high value for the dollar. I quite enjoyed Lyn Stanley’s demonstrations of direct to disc LP versus SACD and different masterings.  What sounded the best? LP by a rather wide margin. The SACD was handled by the OPPO UDP-205 and vinyl was spun by Margules’ own player. Margules makes relatively affordable products and they should be a strong consideration if you are looking to get into tube based audio but still require some healthy power. This was also one of my favorite rooms at CAS.

Boardroom 1: Audio Imports/Aurender/HB Cable Design/Wilson Benesch/Ypsilon

I am fairly familiar with Wilson Benesch as I have auditioned one of their top models as well as standmounts from then in Hong Kong.  For whatever reason several show goers including myself felt that these more affordable speakers actually sounded better.  I was far more impressed this time around than I have been in the past.  There was a lot of bass foundation and control here.

Boardroom 3: MartinLogan/Doshi Audio/Berkeley Audio Design/ The Tape Project

The Tape Project always seems to offer superb recordings that demonstrate well.  The MartinLogan CLS ART speakers offer arguably the best purity of sound offered by MartinLogan.  The bass received bass support from their large subwoofers.

End of Part 1

The appearance of the Valor Speaker System as a new flagship product for Legacy was especially exciting for me as it incorporated some new design elements that Bill Dudleston had been working on for some time. This was the first time a multi-driver concentric design had been released by Legacy Audio. As Bill is widely recognized as an authority on speaker design, room equalization, recording and active speaker systems, I thought this afforded the perfect opportunity to have him discuss the principles behind the design of the Valor.

Answer: The end game is restoring the elements of stereo playback sequentially back to the vectors that were originally present at the recording event. Better directivity control for the early signal, cancel reflections from near room boundaries and present the ambient information at appropriate time and levels.

Q: How was the name Valor chosen for this speaker? What do you wish to emphasize about the speaker and Legacy Audio by naming the flagship speaker Valor?

A: For me, it’s about remaining undaunted in a sincere quest for restoring naturalness.  As a pioneering company, we don’t wait for what we know to be correct to become accepted generally by mainstream audio.

Q: Let’s begin with the Wavelet. Have there been any significant changes to the operation of the Wavelet since the release of the V Speaker System two years ago? If so, what changes have occurred?

A: No hardware changes yet. Our assembly methods have certainly improved as has the internal harness connections. The remote software is continually refined and, being web based, it requires no updates by the user. We have added features for Home Theater inputs and the punch setting and brilliance were latter additions.

Q: What frequencies are being controlled by the “Punch” setting? Are these frequencies also being adjusted in level, and if so, by how many dB?

A: The punch adjustment is centered at 50Hz and can be increased a maximum of 6dB, or trimmed down 10dB.

Q: The description of the internal DAC for the Wavelet states, “Wavelet processes at 56 bits of depth in a domain more than one  trillion times finer in resolution than that of a standard CD.” When the phrase “finer in resolution” is used, what does that mean? How does that impact the sound quality the listener perceives? An Analog Devices chipset was chosen for the Wavelet. I see practically no other DACs processing at 56 bits for stereo reproduction.

A: Finer bit resolution refers to the dynamics. More bits allow more dynamic range representation. In practice you will not achieve a significantly greater bit depth than the input recording itself but the additional bits instead allow more precise level resolution in the processing steps to prevent rounding errors, and significantly greater dynamic processing above the noise floor. Lower bit systems are limited in gain adjustment within the digital domain. Let’s say we need a -12dB correction at 63Hz, along with a + 6dB correction at 30Hz, each occurring at difference time coordinates with an overall gain of 4 dB on the channel. This very simple example just required 22 dB of adjustment in overall levels over time.

Q: On the other hand, the frequency of 96 kHz does not seem nearly as radical as some DACs that now are rated by megahertz. Does this indicate that you feel the most critical aspect of digital processing is the bit rate and not the frequency? Please explain.

A: Bit depth is far more audibly dominant. Based on hearing range and Nyquist theory it is audibly beneficial and reasonable to sample up to 48 kHz. However, to assure both the anti-aliasing filter of the A-D converter and the D-A aliasing filter do not adversely affect the audible bandwidth it is useful to have 96kHz of processing. This is certainly higher than necessary, but not wastefully so. Sampling higher will not provide improved transients or extend the audible bandwidth in a useful way.

Let’s look at the filters that are present on playback. First the aliasing filter. If a recording is sampled at 96kHz in the studio, then any frequency above 48kHz is subject to aliasing error. Thus any aliasing filter must be introduced. Second, even great speakers usually roll-off beyond 25 kHz. Third, our hearing mechanism’s qualitative discerning ability fades at 12kHz. Fourth, individual neurons can only fire at a maximum of about 500 Hz. The brain literally reconstructs the band above 1kHz from staggered volleys from multiple neural transmitters. (See Place Theory, Frequency Theory and Volley Theory.) Groups of neurons in the cochlea individually fire at subharmonic frequencies of a sound being heard and collectively phase-lock to match the total frequencies of the sound. This of course leads to sharply reduced phase accuracy in perception above 1kHz. The frequency range process is quite finite.

Neurons, like any transducer, have their version of impulse response called action potential as shown below. Their trip threshold is quite digital in behavior. How the brain sums these tens of thousands of electrical transmissions is miraculous to say the least.

Q: The specifications of the Wavelet discuss the following in regard to the Analog attenuation: Analog attenuation available in three steps of -3 dB, -6 dB and -12 dB for an input sensitivity of respectively 0 dBFS = 4 dBV, 7 dBV or 12dBV.  When Brice was setting up the Benchmark AHB2 Amplifier with the Wavelet initially the Sensitivity of the AHB2 was set to VRMS 4 and dBu 14.2, but in order to obtain proper calibration and setup for the Wavelet the Sensitivity setting on the Benchmark amp needed to be changed to VRMS 2 and dBu 8.2. Is this indicating that the output of the amp was too low and needed to be raised?

A: Gain is the amp’s fixed voltage multiplier. Sensitivity is the voltage input required to achieve rated output. It is possible for one amp to have a high sensitivity of 0.5V and another amp (or input of the same amp) a low sensitivity of 6V yet both have the same maximum output. Thus, the sensitivity term is well chosen. Preamps with low output or passive preamps (misnomer) work best with high sensitivity (low V) amplifier inputs. Amps for professional studios are usually less sensitive so they can be driven by the console. The Benchmark amp is adaptable for it can be driven by consumer single ended, balanced, or console levels. Wavelet’s balanced outputs will drive any amplifier. Legacy can match gains for any combination of amps in the house-programmed system configuration file at the factory. There is also 18 dB of adjustment in the manual channel controls. The trimming resistors on the rear panel are primarily for attenuating inputs of high output DACS.

Q: Looking at the cabinet construction of the Valor there are several smallish compartments that seem to separate every driver. Is every driver in the entire speaker isolated? Is the extreme amount of isolation of drivers necessary for the acoustic steering?

A: Yes, that is correct.

Q: There are some tubes running vertically inside the cabinet and they appear to run from the region where the downward firing bass driver is on up into the location of the 14” midrange and post convergent array. What is the purpose of the tubing?

A: The tubing is tuning the enclosure below.

Q: Is the concentric Midrange driver operative? Is it at a lower level than the ones flanking it? I ask because it seems the small horn driver seems to occupy the space where the midrange magnet structure would normally be. Are the internal tubes supplying the mid/bass that seems to come from the concentric 14” cone that is behind the post convergent array?

A: Yes the concentric mid is active. It does not reach as low in frequency as the other 14” drivers. It has a passive filter on board. The magnets are concentric with the rearmost motor belonging to the tweeter. The compression driver’s waveguide sets inside the cone’s voice-coil.

Q: Legacy’s use of internal amplification has been consistent over the past several years. I detect a significant improvement in the results when hearing the class D amplifiers integral to the Valor. Frankly, this is the first speaker I have heard where I have no complaints at all about the class D amps. Please share about the Legacy Audio PowerBloc amps used internally. Why are these ideal for the application? I sense a level of confidence of the sound quality of the speaker and the amps to have precluded use of outboard amps, except for frequencies above about 1,040 Hz. What parameters of sound are improved by the use of active drivers?

A: Matching is assured and voicing is complete this way. Direct coupling a driver to an amplifier eliminates lossy passive components, improves damping. Transients are better realized, and articulation is notably improved. There are 2750 watts of state of the art class D ICEPower amplifiers on board for the drivers to avoid clipping of peaks and provide authoritative weight.

Q: I noticed that the minimum amplification requirements for the Valor are 60wpc versus the V’s recommended minimum of 30wpc. I was surprised to see this. Is this a function of the driver set change? I wonder if the Valor could operate as well with 30wpc, but perhaps you have made a decision that more wattage is preferable? Please explain.

A: While more sensitive, the Valor has extraordinary dynamics to be exploited on 24-bit recordings. Even at modest listening levels the dynamic crests are higher with the Valor. 30 watts will however drive the treble section.

Q: The Valor is a four-way speaker. Please delineate the driver groupings and which channels are feeding them.

A: Wavelet channels

L, R

1,5   Dual 12 subwoofers with dynamic breaking

2,6   Three 14” drivers

3,7    Treble section (titanium coax and AMT PC array)

4,8    SUT array (three 8” full range)

Grover Neville: Early 20’s, graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Professional Musician and Recording Engineer, and, most importantly, an aspiring audiophile.

David Blumenstein, Dagogo’s International Correspondent, requested that I author a piece detailing, exploring and examining my experiences in the audio industry. I admit to being simultaneously excited and just a wee bit trepidatious. I stand out and apart at Hi-Fi shows given my age and background. On top of everything I dabble in psychoacoustics and acoustical physics. Most folks over the age of 40 will mistakenly refer to me as a Millennial, a rather nondescript blanket term for “those young people,” to which I can equally unfairly refer to them as “those old people.”

My professors at the Conservatory were millennials, so I am not entirely sure where that leaves me. Generation Z comes off sounding like something from a recent zombie movie, but until they come up with something better that’s what I and my contemporaries must endure. Somebody, anybody, come up with a more pleasing blanket term for us.

The genesis of this piece, much like the Phoenix, arose from ongoing conversations with David on the topic of the youth perspective on Hi-Fi as both a hobby and an industry. Seeing as how the hobby can be a largely solitary pursuit, listening in one’s room, one’s inner sanctum and the Hi-Fi shows. Attendees might travel to the show in groups, but once they arrive, it can be pretty much every man for himself. I purposely specified male, as the gender gap is less of a gap and more of a void.

While new to attending Hi-Fi shows, I’ve actually been in the audio industry for some time and have attended my fair share of both hobby and professional shows. In stark contrast, the two could not be any more different. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in the supposedly/tragically hip headphone scene.

Having recently attended the CanJam SoCal 2019 headphone show, I attended the promising-sounding seminar entitled The Convergence of Personal Audio, which should/could have been so much better than it was. I consider myself both a two-channel and headphone listener, and while the panelists were up to the task, the moderator resorted to the all too familiar grandstanding upon issues with which they possess but passing familiarity, and all too frequent interruptions of the panelists, with misleading questions and not so thinly veiled demeaning commentaries, the hallmark of two-channel audiophiles in such a situation. Again, the panel provided some valuable insights but they were few and far between for the reasons mentioned above.

Highlighting both the age and perspective chasm, I recall a demo given by Andrew Jones of ELAC at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) last year. He was queuing up a track and quipped that if he left Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” on continuous repeat the old fogies might not even notice. I chuckled at this, perhaps a bit too loud for my own good, as this utterance did not escape Andrew, who declared we have a young whipper snapper! While he appeared entertained, the rest of the old fogies not so much.

I’ve run rooms where more modern musical selections have chased out older audiophiles­—not my intention at all—and been in rooms where my musical requests, even bog-standard by classical standards, were met with dismissal and haughty derision. By no means a unique situation/experience in my show-going limited experience, but I did and do find it somewhat ironic.

I grew up in a serious audiophile household listening to gear from Vandersteen, McCormack and Creek. I cut my teeth in the headphone world at age thirteen. I went to school and studied music performance, recording technology, and physics. Without self-aggrandizing, it’s not a stretch to say that I probably have a larger musical and technical knowledge-base and more rigorously-trained ears than the average audiophile.

The pro audio shows I attend are different, they are FUN! Old, young, global, and local, we can talk about gear and music interchangeably and have a blast doing so at the same time. There’s even a sort of cautious respect accorded to those music and audio professionals willing to admit their audiophile streak. In essence, a recognition of true dedication to everything sound related.

So where’s the love? Show me the love in the audiophile world. Why all the grumpiness in places where attendees’ livelihoods are even less at stake? Let’s break it down into something somewhat more digestible.

I’m going to go out on a limb here: most Hi-Fi show attendees are older than my dad. Heh, David [Blumenstein] is ancient in comparison, and while he doesn’t give a damn about my hot pink hair and fashion statement wardrobe choices, no doubt his contemporaries and the dinosaurs making him feel young are just not that open-minded. There are three cultural issues at play here:

1. Traditional audiophiles for the most part simply don’t get (grok) headphones, and with each passing day, each passing show it becomes clearer that this is generational. It is not so much that the old-timers don’t understand or like headphones, but more to the point, video games are a big gateway for younger folks into the world of audio. In further contrast to two-channel’s home-theatre niche, video gaming is a forever growing, changing field in terms of industry standards and, more importantly, audio and sonic production quality, and with that the need for specialized equipment is minimal.

2. Most video-game audio can be created entirely within the gaming world: spatial out of the box, requiring no specific processing and/or equipment on the part of the end-user apart from a decent pair of headphones. Recently some of the best audio I’ve heard has been in the form of sound-design from within video games. In light of the current VR (virtual-reality) trend, headphones have become crucial for gaming, though some gamers are incorporating desktop audio and, in some instances, high-end audio and home-theatre rigs have infiltrated their worlds. Gaming as the gateway to more traditional audio, who would have thought?

3. A not too subtle factor is purely physical. Young folks are plainly more active, where sitting indoors listening to speakers is unabashedly sedentary, whereas with headphones and desktop rigs, there exists an implied perception of mobility. The days of LAN parties (carrying your computer and speakers to someone’s house) are over with, distant memories in the rear-view mirror. The prospect of doing the same with a traditional two-channel system is sheer lunacy. Also, with physical fitness and health concerns having increasing cultural value, the appeal of sitting back—not leaning forward—and listening to music is the province of the anachronistic couch potato. It is not so much that today’s youth have an aversion to sonic quality, it’s just that they want to get out and enjoy their lives.

Concealed in the shadows of Jazz, Swing and Blues history are dynamic women who nurtured, guided and developed the music.  In this column, several of the most talented and accomplished are profiled: Blanche Calloway — who was the first woman to lead an all-male jazz band — “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith; and Ina Rae Hutton, leader of the all-female Melodears Swing orchestra.

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Select images are from Swing Shift by Sherrie Tucker, 2000.

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm (1937-49) was a racially mixed orchestra, the term ‘International’ denoting its diverse ethnic makeup including Hispanic, Asian and Native American women.  It was a hot 16-piece Swing band in the image of the Count Basie Orchestra, evident in their rhythm style, riffing, soloing and the powerful Lester Young-inspired tenor saxophone playing of Viola Burnside.  Among their onstage MCs were vocalist Anna Mae Winburn, who had previously led an all-male band and was a follower of Kansas City blues singer Jimmy Rushing.

Sweet Georgia Brown

Galvanizing

Jump Children (1945)

She’s Crazy with the Heat (1945)

The band originated at the Piney Woods School of Mississippi for disadvantaged boys and girls.  As the band matured, it moved to Virginia and began attracting professionals. During World War II, most of the male musicians in the band (and across America) were drafted.  Continuing as the all-female International Sweethearts of Rhythm, they were more successful than before.

The ensemble contained excellent musicians playing tough charts, some written by arranger Eddie Durham of the Basie orchestra who also ran his own all-women Swing band. For the duration of World War II, “girl bands” were a popular and strategic reserve of morale-building, some even sponsored or organized by the US Army.

For a long time, recordings of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm were unavailable.  Most of the extant performances have survived thanks to V-Discs — the patriotic World War II consortium of record labels and music artists producing entertainment for distribution to troops and via Armed Forces Radio.  A signature of that origin remains audible in the live applause (some of it probably canned) and announcers’ attempts to sound “hep to the jive.”

Sweethearts Clip (1944-46) -Diggin’ Dykes, Central Avenue Boogie, Vi Vigor, Bugle Call Rag.mp3

As a mixed-race ensemble often touring in the Southern United States, the Sweethearts were subject to racist local Jim Crow laws imposing vile restrictions.  They experienced harsh limitations on their access to dining, lodging and sanitary public facilities. During their Southern tours the Caucasian girls in the band needed to wear dark makeup on stage to conceal the prohibited mixing of white and non-white women.

Beginning around 1940 the popular orchestra performed at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and across America — once appearing for an audience of 11,000 in Kansas City.  They toured American USO clubs in Europe after World War II in response to overwhelming demand from black soldiers.  The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were a high-water mark for popularity and quality of all-women Swing ensembles.

Blanche Calloway in her early days and with Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy including Mary Lou Williams.

Blanche Calloway

Singer, composer and bandleader Blanche Calloway (1902-1978) is recognized as the first woman to successfully lead an all-male Jazz orchestra under her own name.  Waxing a couple dozen sides, Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys were a quite successful regional Midwestern band in the early 1930s.  But she was eclipsed by the superstardom of her much more famous brother Cab Calloway.

Cab borrowed key elements from his elder sister’s act — her bravura vocal style and Hi-de-Ho call and response routines.  His 1976 memoir acknowledges her influence, declaring Blanche “vivacious, lovely, personality plus and a hell of a singer and dancer,” an all-around entertainer who was “fabulous, happy and extroverted.”

Blanche’s 12-piece outfit consisted of personnel often interchangeable with Andy Kirk and The Clouds of Joy, including pianist and arranger Mary Lou Williams, but Calloway split off.  In 1931, she was one of the first to hire young Kansas City tenor saxophonist Ben Webster– heard on “Just a Crazy Song.”  Trombonist Vic Dickenson is featured in “I Need Lovin’.” Both songs were probably arranged by talented trumpet player and arranger Edgar “Puddinghead” Battle, who later wrote for Cab.

Just a Crazy Song (Hi-Hi-Hi) (1931).mp3

I Need Lovin’ (1934).mp3

Calloway dropped out of college to enter show business with a Cabaret troupe, subsequently appearing in Sissle and Blake’s “Shuffle Along” and the touring “Plantation Days.”  She was very successful in Chicago during the early 1920s at the prestigious Sunset Café and made a blues record accompanied by cornet player Louis Armstrong.

Though her last official orchestra disbanded in 1938, Calloway ran an all-woman band briefly during World War II.  She remained engaged with the entertainment industry into the 1950s, running bands and representing her protégé, R & B singer Ruth Brown.

Calloway retired to Miami in the 1950s.  Becoming active in civil rights, she was the first black woman to vote in the State of Florida.  In the 1960s Blanche was the only African American female disc jockey on the air in Florida, possibly the entire Southern United States, and ran her own cosmetics company.

Her scintillating 1931 “Growlin’ Dan” contains proto-Minnie the Moocher imagery.  It again shows the deft hand of arranger Edgar Battle and drummer Cozy Cole.  “You Ain’t Livin’ Right” is from her last recording session in November 1935.

Growlin’ Dan (1931).mp3

You Ain’t Livin’ Right (1935).mp3

Personal Bias

I firmly believe everyone connected to the audio business or who is a HiFi hobbyist has personal biases as they relate to amps, speakers, DACs, turntables or cartridge design.  I most assuredly am not immune to these biases.

Although my current primary amplifier is a 200W per channel Arcam Sliding Bias Class “A” integrated amp (or what Arcam calls Class “G”), my personal preference is a Single-Ended Triode Tube amp. However, my choice of Arcam comes down to what works well with my primary speakers. I have used Acoustat 2+2 full range electrostatic speakers for over 30 years, but they are current hogs. Many years ago, I had them attached to a McIntosh 300 watt per channel stereo power amp (which was an excellent power amp) but they sucked every watt and bit of current from the design and still wanted more. I have used dozens of both tube and solid-state amps on my speakers and come to the realization that high current solid-state trumps ethereal tube musicality.

I have considered changing my primary speakers but again it comes down to personal taste. For me nothing sounds as RIGHT as electrostats. There are newer excellent and more efficient electrostatic designs like Martin Logan, but the advantages don’t outweigh the cost disadvantages. The reason for this confession is to make you the reader aware of my personal biases upfront.

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to talk about amplifiers. I will be commenting on both solid state and tube designs, plus the most common variations of each. I plan to cover the characteristics of each and the positives and negatives of each design.

In this discussion I will concentrate specifically on Power amplifiers. Everything discussed will also apply to integrated amps as well. To be clear, an integrated amplifier includes both control and amplification in one chassis.

First I need to explain how we identify what an amplifier is. Basically, how I define an amplifier.

What is an amplifier?

Simply put, an amplifier is a device that increases the output of a low-level device such as a preamplifier (control section) or source component (devices with a voltage output typically with less than 5V of output)and proportionally increases the output signal to a wattage capable of driving loudspeakers or headphones.The amplified difference between the input and output signals is known as the Gain of the amplifier.

Amplifier circuits can be either a standalone device such as an audio power amplifier or also part of another type of circuit, such as a phono preamp which has an amplifier stage in conjunction with an equalizer stage. Also, there are solid state devices (referred to as either IC or LSIs) that are all in one amplifier circuits on one single chip. But for this discussion I will concentrate on Power Amplifiers as standalone electronics.

Needless to say, amplification is at the core of all electronics today and for that matter has been since the early years of development. An amplifier is key to our ability to listen to reproduced music and sound in general.

Although technically amplifiers can be categorized in a number of different ways such as broadcast or RF amplifiers, or low-level amplifiers.Again this article will only discuss audio amplifiers for consumer electronics.

Here is a little bit of history. According to Wikipedia; “The first practical electrical device which could amplify was the triode vacuum tube, invented in 1906 by Lee De Forest, which led to the first amplifiers around 1912.” Interestingly enough we still use similar tube technology today, over a hundred years later. But today most amplifiers use transistors, (invented in 1947). An interesting fact is there are more and varied tube amplifiers produced today than anytime in history.

Usually in past articles I tend to go off on a tangent talking about the history of what ever I am writing about, but in this case I will leave the history of amplifiers and amplifier design for a future article. For those of you interested in such things, I apologize.

What are the basic sections that make up an amplifier?

Amplifiers are made of multiple sections. Each with a specific purpose or function. This is regardless of whether we are talking about tube type or solid-state amplifier designs.

Basically, an amplifier is made up of a power supply, which consists of a transformer and voltage rectifier. This portion of the amp converts the AC power from the wall and converts it to DC which is then utilized by the output stage of the amp.

Next is the Pre-driver stage. This is the first stage of amplification. Taking very small input voltages and increasing them to higher output voltage. When a pre-driver stage is present the amplifier is often referred to as a dual stage amplifier. The first stage increases voltage and the second stage increases amperage (current). Although technically the pre-driver stage is not critical in all amplifier designs, it is common in most modern amplifiers.

Finally, we have the output stage, which is where the current is produced within the amplifier.Making the gain produced more usable by the speakers.

What are the 4 basic classes of amplifiers?

Whether we are talking about tube or solid-state designs, the class of amplifiers are basically the same. There are more variations in solid state designs than tube designs and I will cover that in each case.

Both Class “A” and Class “AB” amplifiers can be either Tube or Solid State.

Class “D” and Class “G” amplifiers by their nature are only Solid-State designs.

There are other amplifier designs, but they are rarely used or even considered in modern amplifier designs. They include Class “B”, Class “C” and Class “E”. But for clarity and efficient use of space I will be ignoring these designs because they are not typical to consumer electronics today.

In Class “A” designs the output device is always on. In amplifiers like a tube single ended triode (SET), for example, the amplifier uses a single output tube that produces both sides of the wave form. I should also note a couple things about SET designs. They are the least efficient design produced and are noted for their heat output. I should comment that most audiophiles consider Class “A” designs to be the best sounding amps. These characteristics also hold true in solid state designs.

In a Class “AB” design the output device switches on and off. Class “AB” amps are often referred to as having a push–pull output stage and usually uses some overall negative feedback. This type of amp can use either Bipolar Transistors, FETs or Vacuum Tubes. In an AB design one side of the audio wave form is handled by one or more devices and the opposite side of the wave form is handled by a complementary one or more devices. Because each side of the circuit is off half the time these types of amps run cooler and are more efficient. In solid-state amps the transistors are called NPN (negative positive negative) and PNP (positive negative positive) transistors which describes their actions in the circuit.

I will skip ahead to Class “G” which is also referred to as a Sliding-Bias Class “A” design. This is a combination of both Class “A” and Class “AB”. This type of amplifier starts out as a Class “A” amp and at a given power rating switches to a Class “AB” amp. The advantage of this design is it has the sonic advantages of a Class “A” over most of the amplifiers use while still having the high dynamic capability of high-power Class “AB” amps.

(8/21/19 – Publisher’s note: Previously, Marc mentioned two companies that he believed was employing the Class G Sliding-Bias circuitry. We have received notice from one of the companies, advising us that Marc’s claim was incorrect. The company names are now removed.

We extend our apology to the companies for causing confusion and inconvenience.)

For Dagogo readers still spinning discs or streaming audio through a Mac Mini or similar, this article is for you. It is also for those who have tried various power conditioning devices and found them lacking. If you find it hard to believe that an Ethernet cable can confer a particular sound to an audio system, this article is also for you.

The state of digital audio is developing at an incredible pace. It is breathtaking how much the standard of quality has risen over the past five years in terms of both file playback and streaming audio. DACs that I thought were really good back then now sound unimpressive. Cabling methods I used then are now considered not good enough. This article will enthuse —and I do mean enthuse — about the Sonore SystemOptique (Designated “SOPT” on the SONORE.us website) version of the Signature Rendu SE, which I previously discussed in a review of the standard Rendu SE along with the Small Green Computer sonicTransporter AP I7 4TB.

The three components that comprise SOPT are a cigarette pack sized opticalModule, the opticalRendu SE (you can see that SONORE has a thing for shifting the capitalization of product names), and an OMI Multimode (62.5/125), duplex, LC to LC cable. The website offers various hookup options for systems integrating the systemOptique, and typically the server (Small Green Computer) is located in a different location from the listening area.

In my case, I have the Small Green Computer (SMG) in my listening room, and though it utilizes a spinning hard drive I have never been bothered by it, even when it sits fairly close to the listening chair. More on that in a moment. My hookup was via an approximately 12–foot Ethernet cable carrying my streaming audio service to the sonicTransporter, another 1M Ethernet cable run between the sonicTransporter’s output and the opticalModule, then finally the dual optic fiber cable running from the output of the opticalModule to the input of the optical Rendu SE. It seems more complex than it is; just imagine the streaming source picking up the stored files in the server, then changing over to an optical signal on its way to the Rendu SE.

I used to spin discs until about three years ago. I am so happy I stopped! I still occasionally try a silver disc to compare its sound with streaming and file audio. The truth is that with the right power cord, interconnect and transport, a disc could sound better. However, that has come to an end abruptly with the entrance of the systemOptique for the Signature Rendu SE. File and streaming playback with this source have leapfrogged CDs, and not by a small margin. The key has been the optical connection, which has transformed the system’s digital performance quite literally as the signal has been converted from Ethernet to optical.

Readers who don’t like Ethernet cables, it’s a great day for you. The optical connection literally fixes the shortcomings of that connection. Without getting terribly involved in the technical aspects, Adrian Lebena from SONORE explained the advantage of adding another component and cable with an expectation of improved sound. Prior to this experience I struggle to remember ever hearing a source cleaned up and given elevated performance holistically by adding a component and cable. It never happens, because you are making a system more complex, with more inherent noise.

But, therein lies the magic of the systemOptique as the fiber optical connection specializes in diminishing noise to a vanishingly low level. Adrian Lebena of SONORE explained that it is impossible to eliminate all noise in the same way that it is impossible to eliminate all toxic substances from drinking water. However, the presence of the substance can be reduced to the point that it is harmless. In the same way, the noise can be reduced by the fiber optic cable to the point that it has no practical effect on the signal.

Now, let the power conditioner enthusiasts pay attention! I tried a lot of power conditioners and all of them exacted a price from the sound quality in order to banish noise. I don’t use any power conditioning today because they all were deleterious to the sound quality. To my ear, the systemOptique is accomplishing what all those conditioners and power regenerators are trying to, and is doing so far more affordably, and flawlessly, without any downside to the sound quality! Adrian explained that the reason adding a component and cable can be more pure is because the optical system filters out the EMI (Electromagnetic Interference; also called RFI, or Radio Frequency Interference). The noise is carried on Ethernet cables, but the conversion to optical input for the Rendu SE completely banishes them! Yes, power conditioners also often are power protection devices, and I would never tell someone to not put one in their system. But, the noise banishment that everyone is seeking is right here with the systemOptique!

Now, will systemOptique eliminate noises for amplifiers? No, it won’t. However, whole system power filtering is used in the hope that all components will benefit. I have zero interest in doing so now that I have heard what systemOptique does for a digital source and DAC.

The optical cable that SONORE recommends is offered on their website in a 1–meter length. I went to the website of Stonewall Cable, the OEM which also makes serious optical cables for military and industrial applications, and bought my own cables in the 10–meter and 3–meter lengths. It took a few weeks to receive them, as it seems Stonewall gets a lot of specialty orders. The systemOptique uses a discrete (duplex) L/R pair of optical cables for each channel. The cable is thin and quite flexible, but you had better watch that you don’t crimp it or pierce it if running it through a tangle of wires and gear.

Adrian indicated that the length of the optical cable influences the intensity of the sound. He said it has an affect similar to attenuation, and as such the 3m cable might be too intense. I apologize that with my hectic schedule I did not yet compare the different lengths of optical cables, but I have no reason to doubt Adrian’s guidance, as he has been spot on with all other descriptions of SONORE and SMG products’ performance.

A word about purchasing from and relating to SONORE and Small Green Computer. Adrian, and Andrew Gillis, the head of Small Green Computer, work full time in the tech field, and have parlayed their expertise to create this sensational combination of gear. They are busy, and communicate typically in sound bite phrases via email. They are cordial, but not wordy. The website is technical and highly functional, but has little explanation. They will offer advice and guidance quickly, and they know systems. The level of time to chat is very small, but the level of expertise is very high —and that is reflected in the sound quality. I have never had a more erudite source in my room, and it runs with the uber-user-friendly Roon! It is a world apart in quality from when I began with a humble Mac Mini. I remember how proud I was to do my first upgrade, software that adjusted bit depth and frequency to enhance the Redbook signal. Oh, goodness, that was so average in comparison — and I thought it was great!

Available October 2019, the Motion Series features seven new models, including two floorstanding, two bookshelf, and two center channel speakers. 

Lawrence, Kansas, United States – August 20, 2019 – MartinLogan is pleased to announce seven new Motion® Series loudspeakers for music or home cinemas. Since its introduction, the Motion Series has garnered acclaim for its performance and value. When it came time to introduce a new generation of the Motion Series, MartinLogan decided not to mess with a good thing. The new line of modern, multi-application speakers utilizes the same benchmark-performance technology as previous generations of the Motion Series, updated with a modern and stylish new design. The result is the same, but different; familiar, but unexpected.

Key Features:

• Folded Motion® and Folded Motion® XT tweeters
• Aluminum cone midrange drivers and woofers with concave dust caps that reinforce the strength and rigidity of the cone
• Proprietary Vojtko™ crossover networks featuring custom air core coil and low DCR steel laminate inductors. Polypropylene film capacitors in series and low DF electrolytic capacitors in parallel.
• Custom 5-way tool-less binding posts
• Three luxurious finishes and matching metallic trim, including gloss black with black grilles and gunmetal grey trim, matte white with silver grilles and silver trim, and red walnut with black grilles and champagne-colored trim

The Motion Legacy

The Motion Series is inspired by the performance of MartinLogan’s ultra-high-end electrostatic loudspeakers, and features cutting edge Folded Motion tweeter, exceptional components, and hand-built crossovers. They deliver a richly detailed audio experience at an unrivaled price.

Engineering, Without Compromises

What makes the Motion Series sound so amazing? MartinLogan’s dedicated in-house engineering and design team started by utilizing and refining the most advanced, compact technologies and combining them with innovative engineering and time-honored cabinet construction techniques. The result is an emotionally engaging sound that rivals (and most times trounces) traditional loudspeakers of similar size and price. Our ‘no compromise’ philosophy gives Motion Series a unique sound you won’t find anywhere else.

Sound Inspired by Electrostatic Speakers

The success of the Motion Series is directly attributed to its close relation to MartinLogan’s legendary ultra-high-end electrostatic loudspeakers. The desire to transmute that level of performance into a more traditional speaker at a more affordable price drove the initial design imperatives that created the Motion Series.

Folded Motion® Tweeters

MartinLogan’s signature Folded Motion tweeter utilizes an extremely low mass diaphragm that “squeezes” air, thus demanding significantly less excursion than the typical 1-inch dome tweeter. Its folded design allows for a much larger surface area (compared to that of a regular 1-inch dome tweeter), controlled dispersion characteristics, and vanishingly low distortion. It’s a miracle of audio engineering that’s able to deliver much of the high-frequency detail and speed of a large, dynamic electrostatic panel in a small space.

Motion 60XTi, 50XTi, and 35XTi feature Folded Motion XT tweeters, with a 40% larger radiating surface and 80×30-degree controlled dispersion. This tweak increases audible bandwidth without sacrificing details and minimizes distortion to an unprecedented level while increasing efficiency and the tweeter’s already lightning-fast response time. The result—superior realism and alarming specificity is aurally astounding, and only by MartinLogan.

Powerful Aluminum Cone Mid-Frequency and Bass Drivers

Custom built, low-distortion drivers pair high-power magnet structures with aluminum cone diaphragms to deliver massive excursion and sound output, preserve minute bass details, and maximize power handling capability, all without a hint of distortion. A unique concave dust cap design reinforces the strength and rigidity of the cone while reducing break up modes.

The use of aluminum for cones maximizes rigidity and strength of the drivers without adding excessive weight. This, along with the exceptional damping properties of aluminum, ensures the smooth, non-resonant response necessary for seamless blending with high-resolution Folded Motion tweeters. An added benefit of aluminum is its outstanding thermal conduction capability which allows cones to serve as efficient heat sinks for voice coils.

To deliver accuracy in the critical midrange, mid-frequency drivers feature a specially engineered “stiff” suspension. Stiffening the suspension (the spider and surround) raises the driver’s resonant frequency and optimizes its performance to achieve a natural roll-off and inherently operate within an ideal range for a mid-frequency reproduction (as opposed to a comparably sized woofer).

Low-Mounted Woofers Minimize Floor Bounce

Floorstanding Motion models utilize 2.5-way designs that feature woofers positioned low in the cabinet and close to the floor. This deliberate design addresses a phenomenon known as floor bounce where sound reflected off the floor (from drivers positioned high on a cabinet), and those aimed directly at the listener interfere with each other. Without addressing these issues, listeners would experience bloated bass and massive increases and decreases in sound levels throughout critical midrange frequencies. Through careful crossover design and driver positioning, floorstanding Motion speakers deliver a flat, balanced response through the bass and midrange regions. Such considerations are crucial when seeking to achieve accurate reproduction of vocals and instruments such as kick drums.

Proprietary Vojtko™ Crossover Networks

Premium Motion Series speakers feature proprietary Vojtko crossover networks using polypropylene and low-DF electrolytic capacitors, custom-wound inductors, and thermal and current protection. Vojtko crossovers are named after MartinLogan’s chief audio technologist, Joe Vojtko. His unique approach to crossover design is as big of a part of the “MartinLogan Sound” as are electrostatic and Folded Motion thin-film driver technologies. A Vojtko crossover isn’t so much a set of design requirements as it is a philosophy. Vojtko crossovers are designed in such a way that all drivers are kept within their optimal frequency range and balanced with one another. The drivers themselves are as much a part of a Vojtko crossover as are capacitors and resistors. Before the design of any crossover begins, drivers are carefully selected or designed to operate within a very intentional frequency range and with precise and predictable performance parameters. Vojtko crossovers are always built from high-quality parts, and care is taken to avoid overly complex topologies—a straightforward objective due to the careful selection of woofers and tweeters. The final (and most critical) aspect of a Vojtko Crossover is that final voicing is conducted in a space that is indicative of a real-world environment. This pragmatic approach allows MartinLogan speakers to sound their best in real-world rooms.

Modern Design Featuring Luxurious Finishes

Discreetly hidden behind fabric wrapped magnetic grilles, Folded Motion and aluminum cone drivers are held securely in place beneath matte black trim that masks tweeter and woofer mounting hardware for a clean, modern aesthetic. Solid cabinets, designed to eliminate fidelity robbing vibrations, are constructed from 18mm (0.7-inch) MDF with 31mm (1.2-inch) thick front baffles. Motion 60XTi and 50XTi feature additional internal bracing to further reduce cabinet resonance.

These new Motion Series speakers are available in three luxurious finishes and matching metallic trim—gloss black with black grilles and gunmetal grey trim, matte white with silver grilles and silver trim, and red walnut with black grilles and champagne-colored trim.

Custom 5-Way Tool-less Binding Posts

Premium gold-plated 5-way tool-less binding posts assure a stable connection while accommodating a wide range of connections. Select models feature two sets of binding posts accommodate bi-wire connections to increase signal carrying conductors and allow each portion of the crossover to be directly coupled to the amplifier.

These are the seven new models in MartinLogan’s Motion Series:

Floorstanding speakers:

Motion 60XTi: A powerful floorstanding speaker featuring a Folded Motion® XT tweeter, 6.5-inch aluminum cone midrange driver, and dual 8-inch aluminum cone woofers with rear-firing bass ports. $1599.99/each (US) and $1,849.50/each (CAD) retail.

Motion 40i: Floorstanding speaker featuring a Folded Motion® tweeter, 5.5-inch aluminum cone midrange driver, and dual 6.5-inch aluminum cone woofers with a rear-firing bass port. $1,099.99/each (US) and $1,349.50/each (CAD) retail.

Motion 20i: A compact floorstanding speaker featuring a Folded Motion® tweeter and dual 5.5-inch aluminum cone woofers with a rear-firing bass port.$849.99/each (US) and $1,099.50/each (CAD) retail.

Bookshelf speakers:

Motion 35XTi: Powerful bookshelf speaker featuring a Folded Motion® XT tweeter and 6.5-inch aluminum cone woofer with a rear-firing bass port. $649.99/each (US) and $799.50/each (CAD) retail.

Motion 15i: Bookshelf speaker featuring a Folded Motion® tweeter and 5.25-inch aluminum cone woofer with a rear-firing bass port.$399.99/each (US) and $499.50/each (CAD) retail.

Center channel speakers:

Motion 50XTi: A powerful center channel speaker featuring a Folded Motion® XT tweeter and dual 6.5-inch aluminum cone woofers with a rear-firing bass port. $999.99/each (US) and $1,199/each (CAD) retail.

Motion 30i: Center channel speaker featuring a Folded Motion® tweeter and dual 5.5-inch aluminum cone woofers with a rear-firing bass port.$749.99/each (US) and $899/each (CAD) retail.

MartinLogan’s new Motion Series speakers will begin shipping October 2019.

About MartinLogan, Ltd.

MartinLogan is the leader in the exotic realm of high-performance electrostatic and advanced thin-film loudspeakers, handcrafting works of art engineered for ultra-realistic audio reproduction. MartinLogan was founded in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1983. Their Lawrence-based in-house design and engineering teams continue to push the bounds of electrostatic and thin-film transducer technology for new applications. Distinctive MartinLogan loudspeakers are the choice of audiophiles the world over who demand Truth in Sound.

Herford, Germany-based T+A is introducing the PA 1100 E, an integrated amplifier with DAC.

According to the company, the PA 1100 E “has both analog and digital inputs and converts digital audio signals into analog signals of the highest quality via the high-resolution and extremely linear 32-bit D/A converter. The PA 1100 E can decode DSD signals (up to DSD 256) and PCM signals (up to 32 / 384), while providing the exceptional power and refinement the E series has become known for.”

The PA 1100 E can be ordered with optional HDMI input / outputs that enable high performance 2 channel amplification / integration into any video display.

Units are available in lacquered matte surface in silver or black with matching side panels.

As Dagogo’s International Correspondent, I have made my way around the world of Hi-Fi figuratively and literally. Whenever I travel, I try my best to attend Hi-Fi shows, visit Hi-Fi and/or record shops to obtain a first-hand look and feel as to what’s going on out there in Hi-Fi world as both a hobbyist and an analyst.

Over the years I have recognized the growing generation chasm in the realm of Hi-Fi. It is global and not something that can be tied to a particular culture or geography. This year, with my publisher’s blessing, I decided to do my part to bridge this chasm by commissioning pieces by members of the younger generations to have them share their perspectives with the rest of us. Just recently Grover Neville shared his Swiftian Adventures. I will also be interviewing Gen ‘Xers, Millennials/Gen ‘Ys and Gen ‘Zs to get to the heart of matter. Readers are encouraged to comment at Dagogo.com

Aaron Sherrick is my first interview subject in the series, and definitely not the last. Aaron lives on the generational edge, caught between being a Gen ‘Xer and a Millennial. You’ll get to know more about Aaron from the interview. One added fact, which was alluded to is that Aaron and Jessica Sherrick have taken their passion for Hi-Fi one step further by purchasing their very own Hi-Fi dealership Now Listen Here in Central Pennsylvania.

Aaron Sherrick: Wired for AXPONA

DB:  What is it that attracted you, Aaron, as a millennial/Gen ‘Xer to HiFi as a hobby and now as a profession?

AS: At an early age I recognized and cared about the quality of things and the experiences they created. This was perhaps never more apparent to me than the difference between a TV’s built-in speakers and a surround sound system. This served as my gateway drug to the world of hi-fi. However, it was still a couple years until I had my first, true hi-fi experience at a dealer near my university. The salesman knew I was a poor college student that couldn’t afford most of what that they sold, but nevertheless he gave me a tour and then sat me down in front of a pair of Magnepan speakers driven with Classé electronics. That was it! I had to have it…once I graduated college, got a job, and started making money!

The opportunity to purchase a Hi-Fi store was indeed fateful. I had been looking to become more involved in my local Hi-Fi community and the industry at large, so when the existing Now Listen Here shop came up on the market, I jumped at it. Here in my own Central Pennsylvania neighborhood, I’d be able to make an impact, where are there so few options for people to tangibly experience Hi-Fi, so they could reach out and touch, and hear gear for themselves. It is my intention to create an environment, fostering new prospective audiophiles.

I toyed with the notion of owning and operating a Hi-Fi shop but didn’t think it would be something I’d get to until my semi-retirement years. That being said, I never thought I would be starting  up a new business fresh out of college as well.

DB:  What is it like when you attend shows?

AS:   My first show was Capital Audio Fest in 2017. While this show is smaller and considered one of the most friendly and approachable, it was still overwhelming. Fortunately, I was familiar with the process of demoing equipment from visiting dealers. Had I not been, the prospect of moving from one dimly lit, sometimes pungent room to the next, listening to systems with a group of complete strangers, would have been an even more bizarre occurrence.  It must not have been that …, because I came back the next year to CAF and doubled down by attending AXPONA 2019 earlier this year. Often, I heard people in the exhibit room ill-suited to be making introductions to the uninitiated into the hobby of Hi-Fi.

Aaron and Jessica Sherrick getting serious at Capitol Audio Fest

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Manfred Honeck, conductor

I. Feierlich – misterioso 25:06
II. Scherzo – bewegt – lebhaft 10:20
III. Adagio – langsam – feierlich 27:46

Three Other Recordings

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) meant for his symphonies as a personal testament and tribute to God. Each of the nine symphonies in the cycle represent the composer’s evolving sensibility and focus, and they are exercises towards his most perfect work, starting from the First to the Ninth, the fourth movement of which he didn’t finish at the time of his death. If you listen to the Ninth first and then trek backwards, you’ll find the same thematic approach time-encapsulated in his earlier efforts. His earlier symphonies are sometimes even more colossal monuments, but the Ninth, being his final work though unfinished, is most refined and personal.

Most conductors endeavor to honor and purvey the Ninth’s status as such, thus giving it the solemnity treatment. Their approach seek to bestow justice onto the final work of one of the last great Romantic composers since Beethoven, so the ubiquitous heavy-handedness sometimes dull the edges of the music and dragged it through time in manners that stop it for the listener.

I have at least six different recordings of the Bruckner Ninth, three of them I rotate more than the others every now and then, and I had not been disillusioned about the reality of their vintage and was focusing on the music instead. Until I got this red hot SACD from Sean Martin of Reference Recordings four weeks ago at CAS9.

The subject of this review is part of the RR Fresh! Series. Per Jan Mancuso of RR: “In 2010, we started a new, separate series to allow us to release recordings made by other production teams – teams other than our own. The Fresh! series are not, as you see, Keith Johnson recordings.”

The Pittsburgh Symphony recordings are produced by the production team at Soundmirror. Founded in 1972, Soundmirror produces work of such quality that it has garnered 116 GRAMMY awards and nominations. Its artists include Pittsburgh Symphony, Utah Symphony, PaTRAM Choir, and Florentine Opera, labels it worked with as shown on the website include Albany, Angel, Analeckta, BMG, Cambria, CBS, Chandos, Clarion, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, ECM, EMI, Erato, Finlandia, Harmonia Mundi, Koch International, LSO Live, Marc Aural Edition, N2K, Naxos, New World, Nonesuch, PentaTone Classics, Philips, Phonogram, RCA Red Seal, Reference Recordings, Signum Classics, Sony Classical, Summit, Telarc, Teldec, Virgin Classics, Warner/Elektra, etc.

This recording is the definitive Bruckner No. 9.

Compared to the other three recordings of the music I have, namely the live 2013 Deutsche Grammophon 24/96 recording by the late Claudio Abbado at Lucern Festival a few months before his passing, the 1976 Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic on vinyl by the same label, and finally the 1959 Bruno Walter reading with Columbia Symphony Orchestra on a 1996 Sony SBM remastered CD, this latest SACD entry from RR by Honeck and Pittsburgh SO is the most intense both emotionally and sonically.

At times, Honeck is faster than his predecessors, thus heightening the tension; many conductors attempted it and ended up looking just like the next guy on the record shelf. But Honeck has Soundmirror at his beckoning, and did he take full advantage of it.

He pushed the Pittsburgh SO players to impart more cohesion in accelerated tempos to convey not so much sonic edges in the defining of the moment, but a comprehensive whole of the musical message. This is especially true in the first movement, titled “Solemnly.” And he did so knowing the release from Soundmirror would be able to convey his grand vision with distinct technical resolution. Honeck is like the racecar champion confident in the technological superiority of his car and pit crew and thus able to push himself and unleash all his potential without a moment’s hesitation.

The Walter and Karajan renditions maintain the grandeur of the music sans the Honeck treatment in contrasting and emphasizing. The Claudio Abbado, high-resolution DG recording, then, ranks second to the RR release in sonic splendor, but the late Maestro handled the movement quite even-handedly and not out of bound in the midst of his contemporaries.

Now, we arrive at the second “Scherzo” movement. How often do you play the Scherzo of the Bruckner No. 9? This movement, hailed by critics as “the most ingenious thing Bruckner ever wrote,” is also a showpiece for the Hi-Fi fan. It’s very distinct structure and blatant displays of the exchanges between the brasses and the strings are delightful to hear. The Walter Sony SBM remastered CD could pass as a modern day recording, but not a Reference Recordings one.

The raison d’être of the Sony CD lies in this passage alone. Neither Karajan nor Abbado commanded the Berlin Philharmonic, as recognized and reputable as it has always been, to the same height as Walter with the Columbia SO. And it is in this movement that Honeck’s is the quickest at 10:20.

It is interesting that Honeck is over a minute shorter than Walter’s reading, and yet the effect created is not an increase in intensity. In fact, listening to the Honeck treatment convinces me that he looks at the Ninth differently than others before him, in which the Solemnly and Adagio are the monuments that bear the theses of the work, as opposed to many of his colleagues’ emphasis on the Scherzo instead. It is a gutsy move that proved fruitful. First time listeners will feel disappointment undoubtedly by Honeck’s “mistreatment” of the traditional star of the work, it will take a few passes to take in the more expansive universe of the Ninth that Honeck is showing us.

The longest in duration among recordings aforementioned, the Honeck Adagio reveals a depth he has achieved just before the Scherzo in the Solemnly first movement, upgrading the otherwise dormant movement in many others’ hands into a rollercoaster ride. Then, seventeen minutes into the Adagio, the Pittsburgh SO under Honeck conjured up a magical, Vaugh Williams-like euphoria that is surrealistic and hypnotic.

Perhaps Honeck specializes in imparting contrasts in his music, whether it is also evident in his other recordings is unknown as I don’t have them, but his style bodes extremely well in this recording. Atop of all that is, of course, the clarity and resolution of the recording, an aspect that propels the recording well past all that came before it. A towering achievement.

Review system:

Oppo BDP-105D for SACD extraction to Toshiba hard-drive
Oppo UDP-205 as renderer
Aural Symphonics Optical
Bricasti M21 DAC
Pass Laboratories Xs Preamp
Bricasti M28 monoblocks/Pass Laboratories XA200.8 monoblocks
Sound Lab Majestic 645 electrostatic panels
A.R.T. cable system
Acoustic Science Corporation TubeTraps

I am a lifetime member of the Los Angeles Orange County Audio Society and their monthly meetings give the members opportunities to be introduced to some great sounding lesser known audio components. This was the case one Saturday afternoon in March, 2019, when our meeting was held at High End by Oz in Westwood, CA. The owner of the store, Mr. Ozan Turan (Oz), was a gracious host and played some beautiful music through a pair of speakers made by a company from Vilnius, Lithuania called AudioSolutions. I told the person sitting next to me these are a pair of great sounding speakers, and he concurred. I was sitting on the most comfortable seat in the house; however, I moved to a different seat to get a more complete listening experience. Oz put on a recording of Chick Corea’s “Spain” and I enjoyed the entire performance. But, there were a lot of people waiting to listen to these speakers, so we had to rotate seats. I asked Oz if I could review a pair of AudioSolutions speakers for Dagogo.

I ran into Oz again at T.H.E. Show. He was in a room playing copies of safety master tapes on a pair of AudioSolutions Figaro L speakers driven by the Vitus RI-101 integrated amplifier. This was an awesome combination. I again requested a pair of speakers to review and he suggested this pair. I immediately accepted and we made arrangements for delivery and set up.

The AudioSolution Figaro L speakers are a very large and heavy three-way speaker with five drivers.  The shipping weight according to the shipping receipt was 568 pounds for the pair. They have two extra rigid paper cone bass woofers at 9.17 inches with two ports in the back. There are two 6-inch extra rigid paper cone midrange drivers and a mini-horn loaded 1-inch silk dome tweeter. You can pick from 17 different piano gloss finishes. The Figaro L is two feet deep, there is a single pair of WBT Nexgen pure copper connectors in the back. The fit and finish of these speakers is first rate. The cabinet is solid and aesthetically pleasing and would look great in any room.

The very heavy Figaro L requires at least two people to set up. We were very meticulous when putting the speakers in the room where they would sound the best because I could not move them by myself afterwards. The pair of Figaro L ended up in the middle of the room with the drivers toed in directly towards the listener. I usually listen to speakers pointed straight ahead about 4 feet from the front wall. I have vaulted ceilings and I was afraid being right underneath the highest part of the ceiling would suck the bass completely out of the music. Fortunately, it did not. Once Oz felt they were properly set up, he left and told me they needed some additional break in time.

I was concerned my equipment would not be up to the standards of these wonderful speakers, so when discussing these speakers with Oz, he told me the Figaro Ls are not particularly demanding of the equipment you use. They will sound great with inexpensive quality gear and will improve as the equipment improves.  They are very amplifier friendly, although they deserve much more than your typical audio-video receiver.

I used my Parasound HCA 1200 high current power amplifier, which has similar power to the Vitus amplifier Oz had been using. The preamplifier was my NAD Monitor 1000 with a built-in phono stage that also includes a moving coil step up. The turntable was the Goldring GR1, a Rega 2 clone. The Goldring was fitted with a Talisman A low-output moving coil cartridge retipped by Soundsmith.The compact disc player was an inexpensive Sony.  I was excited to listen to these new speakers in my system as my experience finds that speakers more than any other component have the biggest impact on the sound.

I first put on Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite with the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Eiji Oue on Reference Recordings. I noticed the very deep bass that only large floor standing speakers can give you. The Figaro L’s also had that big speaker sound that could carry the scale of a full orchestra. Although some Dagogo readers are willing to sacrifice deep bass for a purer midrange, missing the bottom octave(s) of an orchestra makes it very difficult for speakers to transport me to the event. Deep bass requires a larger cabinet with bigger, costlier drivers, and this makes a modern speaker more expensive.

Next up was some big band jazz by the Joe Henderson Big Band. After that, I played several more CDs to burn in the speakers and then switched to playing records.

Playing my LA&OC Audio Society 25^th anniversary record of the Shoji Yokouchi Trio plus Yuri Tashiro (I guess this makes it a quartet) let me hear how beautiful the midrange was. A great midrange should be a given nowadays with any high-end pair of speakers and the AudioSolution Figaro L was no exception. I wanted to listen to these speakers with a wide variety of music, so I played my Steely Dan Aja album and a JBL “Superecord” album that I won at a stereo show in the 1970s. There was a wide-open sound, although I did notice the drum sets were a little exaggerated on these multi-miked recordings. There was also a nice integration between the bass and midrange. This is normally a problem when you add a separate subwoofer to extend the bass of a pair of smaller speakers, which is why I prefer a single pair of floor standing speakers over a mini monitor/subwoofer combination.

The highs from the Figaros were very sweet with almost a softening of the music as opposed to being overly detailed. The music was never harsh. They had a very nice, pleasant sound no matter what music I played. Recorded cymbals had a natural shimmer.

I have been using the Acarian Systems Alon 1 speakers for the past 26 years. I really like the wide-open sound of the Alons and find them to be a wonderful pair of speakers, but have come to recognize some weaknesses. They are a bright and forward sounding pair of speakers, so they are not compatible with some transistor amplifiers and preamplifiers. It took a tube preamplifier and tube power amplifiers to really tame the Acarian Systems. It also lacks the last octave of bass. The AudioSolution Figaro L matched the wide-open sound of my Alons and also gave me the missing bottom octave of bass along with no brightness or forwardness at all. Acarian Systems went out of business in 2003 and Carl Marshisotto formed Nola Speakers right after that. The comparable Nola speakers to my Alons would be the Vipers and their last price before being discontinued some years ago was $4,000 per pair. Adjusted for inflation, today’s price would approach $5,000. When comparing the two, I felt the AudioSolutions Figaro L speakers were easily worth the price difference.

After using the 200 watts per channel (300 watts 4 ohms) Parasound amplifier, I switched to my low powered tube amplifiers —the wonderful sounding Quicksilver Mini Mite 25-watt tube power amplifiers using the 4 ohm taps and KT77 output tubes. The Quicksilver tube amplifiers created a magical experience with a more focused placement of all of the musicians. Although this was a large pair of speakers, they created a distinct image and, combined with a credible soundstage, they were just like a pair of small mini monitors except with great bass. I could picture the musicians right in front of me. There was really good spacing between the instruments as well as front to back layering of them. I did not crank up my Quicksilvers because the amplifier seemed to struggle a little and I did not want to risk damaging either the speakers or the amplifiers by clipping the amplifiers. This was my favorite combination despite being slightly under powered. It is interesting that the Quicksilvers drove my 87 dB Alons with ease, however, they seemed to struggle when driving the 92 dB Figaro Ls.  Maybe the deep bass took a lot of extra power. Careful matching of components is a must if you use lower powered amplifiers.

T.H.E. Show 2019 had several rooms with speakers with 5-figure price tags and expensive electronics that did not sound very good. I was told that it was due to room conditions at the hotel. Well, these AudioSolutions Figaro L speakers were in a similarly sized room and had no problems sounding wonderful. I do not want to call a $10,000 pair of speakers a bargain, however, when you listen to speakers in the $10,000 to $20,000 category, the AudioSolution Figaro L at the lower end of that range is very competitive.

Drawbacks? The Figaro Ls are large and heavy, so they are best suited to a decent sized room. And they are difficult to move around being so heavy. Fortunately, it is fairly easy to find the optimum placement for them.

The AudioSolution Figaro Ls are an outstanding pair of speakers. I went down my checklist and they exceed every expectation I have for a speaker costing 5 figures. If you are looking for a pair of speakers and have a budget of up to $20,000, you should include the AudioSolution Figaro L speakers in your audition process. I would recommend you try them with tube amplifiers because you may find them at the top of your list.

Copy editor: Dan Rubin

Read Audiophile on the Generational Edge, Part 1: An Interview with Aaron Sherrick of “Now Listen Here”

It was mentioned that the Sherricks were not to be split up, and, as such here is her interview providing personal and unique perspectives on the hobby and the industry that is Hi-Fi.

Jessica sizing up the …McIntosh

DB: Jessica, what is it that attracted you as a woman and a millennial to Hi-Fi as a hobby and now as a profession?

JS: My father started me on the journey by his instilling in me my love for adventure and fearlessness in the face of technology. Dad worked in the tech field for many years so there always was a computer in the house and I was given free rein to do whatever I wanted. Dad’s comment to me was always: “I can fix whatever you do so feel free to play”. He provided me a safe space to explore, to plug-and-play with both hardware and software. A fine arrangement, as far as he was concerned, because when he would have to travel for business and I was a teen, I’d be called into running the audio and lighting for our church services. No adult was willing to step up and take on the responsibility, so Dad taught me instead. Fearless, I rather enjoyed it, continuing to learn more and more even upon his return from business trips. With the church’s music evolving from a piano or organ into more of a full band each week, I learned how to run the boards to mix instruments and vocal levels so the band did not sound like a “hot” mess. While still a novice at it all by professional standards, I continue to run the audio for the church’s services some 25 years on.

DB: How did this background and experience come into play with your now husband, Aaron and your introduction to Hi-Fi?

JS: Not long after Aaron and I started dating my mixing skills became a topic of conversation. With that, it was not long before he had me in front of his stereo with the words “you will appreciate this” as I was sat in the sweet-spot to listen to a few tracks. Since that time, I’ve heard better systems, but that instance, that moment shall be forever engraved in my memory as it set me on a path, into a world I really knew nothing about.

After being married for a few years to Aaron, we were ready to upgrade our Hi-Fi system so we started visiting various Hi-Fi stores to demo equipment under consideration. This was the first time I was really exposed to the process of demoing gear, since I married into the system at home. It was an eye- and ear-opening experience, as we encountered examples of how and perhaps more importantly how not to sell Hi-Fi gear. The salespeople could be off-putting with their pushy attitudes and/or their dismissal of my thoughts and opinions and even Aaron’s on occasion. Conversely, there were those times where I wanted to buy something because I really liked the people in the shop and the gear sounded great.

DB: How did these experiences factor into the decision for both of you to open a Hi-Fi shop?

JS: When the opportunity arose for us to purchase a store, I didn’t need to think that hard. I wanted to create and foster an environment where customers could listen to Hi-Fi and share their respective personal journey with others. These are the aspects of Hi-FI, the hobby/the pastime, over the years that I have loved the most. Everyone appreciates different elements of a system, and I love hearing other people’s insights and engaging with them. I may not always agree with them as my criteria, priority and preference is different from theirs, but their personal perspectives provide a means for greater appreciation. And, of course, being able to demo gear in my own familiar environment is nothing to sneeze at

DB:  What is it like when you attend Hi-Fi shows? In the company of Aaron? And when you’re on your own?

Jessica and Aaron keeping it real at AXPONA

JS: The first Hi-Fi show was a little nerve-wracking. We knew we would be younger than most people attending and were not sure how we would be treated because of it; looked down upon, questioned or just plain ignored. And in the knowledge that I would be one of the few, if any, females just added to the apprehension.

I should point out that venturing into hotel rooms with a bunch of guys, with or without it being in the context of a Hi-Fi show is just weird, and from a personal safety perspective, it is the kind of thing women are cautioned against. Did I mention the rooms can exhibit an odor, a certain pungency. (Odors in standard hotel rooms at an audio show are usually from sweaty patrons sitting collectively in a room with air conditioning turned off for the sake of a quieter listening environment. -Pub.)

Since, having attended the first show, the two of us made a number of friends and acquaintances, and for that I generally look forward to attending. There are still those times when people just look over (disregard) me, especially with Aaron at my side. I will get questioned as to Why am I there? And, how was I bribed to come along to the show. I’m not sure they believe me when I tell them that I’m glad to be in attendance of my own accord and was not bribed. It is my hope that over time my honest answers to their queries will change their perceptions a little bit at a time.

I haven’t gone around the show visiting rooms much on my own so I can’t speak to what that is like. However, the few times I have been in the halls alone someone generally stops to ask me the usual questions about why I am there, I’m an oddity after all. If its someone I have spoken with before they often ask what I have liked and why. They still can be surprised when I answer the “why” without the design or color being the first things I mention, if at all. Don’t get me wrong, the design is important to me because I am a graphic designer and lover of interior design but it is not all I care about when demoing speakers. The flip side is that I don’t care how great the speaker sounds, if it looks like a robot it’s not coming home…there will be no daleks in my house. It’s a delicate balance.

I fear the above comment might have readers muttering the vile “WAF” so I want to be clear: the gear has to sound amazing and look good. There are so many options for great sounding speakers it’s not terribly hard to find several that sound amazing and look great in my home at all the price points. To put a finer point on this, if we were talking about a car with amazing handling and performance but it looked like a Pontiac Aztec, would you mutter WAF if I wouldn’t buy it and got a Porsche instead with similar handling, performance and price?

DB: How do you interact with manufacturers, exhibitors, dealers and attending audiophiles?

JS: Manufactures and exhibitors generally don’t interact with me since Aaron is there unless I insert myself into a conversation. I am generally seen as the dutiful wife tagging along with my husband and aside from the design, the color options are the most important things to me. Those things are important as I mentioned but it has to sound equally as good for me to consider them an option. Now, there are also the rare few people who call me out because I don’t look completely bored out of my mind. They figure I am having a good time and might even wanted to be at the show.

One exhibitor, for example, was so excited to have a female in the room for their after-hour event and who wanted me to be there, I was brought drinks and food, had my pick of the music, and several questions about what I had liked so far…for once Aaron was the one being looked over.   Even the other gentlemen in the room were shocked and complimented me on being happy and not glossed over. It was really weird since I was just having a good time with my husband at the show.

The level and intensity of my questions have shocked manufacturers, so much so that some have even asked if I have an “available” sister.

Attendees are generally surprised to see/hear a woman in the room. I do remember at one point you, David [Blumenstein] asked jokingly if I was drugged and/or dragged to the show. Show goers are primarily male and those with wives recount the woes of their counterparts not wanting to be involved and how it was once they did convince them to join them for the weekend at a show.  There are those rare few who will ask me what I have seen and liked so far and if there is anything specific, I would like to see/hear while at the show.

DB: How do they interact with you singly as millennials?

JS: “Oh, young people!” “Why are you here?” “What brought you in? Where are you from? How old are you?” There are endless versions of these questions. We also seem to stick out since we go around as a couple and fall into an age range that is something of a minority.

DB: And how does that change, if at all, when they learn that you are a couple?

JS: Since women are so rare at the shows, being there on my own doesn’t even seem to register as an option. Not to mention Aaron and I go around the show together. There is the normal “How did you get her to come with you?” and “Wait, you want to be here?” questions but they seem to just assume we are a couple from the onset. And at this point I am generally just seen as the dutiful wife tagging along. Very few people ask me any direct questions if it’s our first meeting and since I can be somewhat shy, this is fine with me.

DB: With the forward-looking perspective as to why so few millennials openly are out there in the hobby, the industry, what’s the attraction? What’s the turn-off? What if anything need be done differently?

JS: I have talked with some interesting people the past few years who find my take on things fascinating even when it doesn’t line up with their preferences. It is great to take in their perspective on different systems and products and be able to share my thoughts without feeling like I’m being judged. Sometimes these men are just shocked that I care enough to have listened and formed my own thoughts on the subject, again I’m something of a novelty to them. However, it has taken me years to start talking with audiophiles and Hi-Fi hobbyists. Enough of them come off as judgmental of others opinions and verging on (or are) disrespectful to women that I didn’t (and sometimes still don’t) want to open my mouth around them. I feel like I am being judged or rated when I talk or even ask questions and there is a pressure that I am speaking as an ambassador for all women, so I must do it exceptionally well or it will set us (women) back more in Hi-Fi or confirm what men already think of us. While some of this judgment could also be due to my age, it seems to be more geared towards me being a female.

While most of this is how I perceive the issue as a female, I would say it is similar for younger generations. If I can’t talk with the majority of others in the hobby without feeling judged, why would I want to be in that hobby? If only certain music is the correct music to listen to (and it’s not my preference) why would I want to be in the hobby? If you have to have lots of money to afford to listen to music correctly how could I be in that hobby as someone still paying off student debt and with the added expense of a mortgage and children?

People who are vocal, need to be welcoming and inclusive of hobbyists at all levels of experience and financial status. Do not discount someone because they don’t fit the stereotypical mold, and understand that others will and do possess a differing set of priorities when looking at and shopping for a system. Everything is relative, the best system is the one in a particular moment in time that the Hi-Fi hobbyist appreciates and enjoys.

Aaron and Jessica casting not serious poses at AXPONA

Read Dynamic Women of Early Jazz and Classic Blues, Pt 1

Concealed in the shadows of early Jazz and Blues history are dynamic and accomplished women who nurtured, guided and developed the music.  In this column are profiles of Ethel Waters, who was the most popular female singer in America around 1930; accomplished jazz violinist Ginger Smock and the vaudeville trouper Sophie Tucker who was known as “The Original Red Hot Mama.”  Also featured are the tough and independent “Mother of the Blues”Ma Rainey and Mary Lou Williams–a composer, arranger, bandleader and Jazz giant who became a bold modernist.

Lil Hardin in the mid-1930s. These and selected images below are from Black Beauty, White Heat (Driggs & Lewine 1982).

Lil Hardin

Lil Hardin (Armstrong) (1898-1971) was a bright, talented,arranger, composer, bandleader and singer with a flair for promotion.  She forged her own path through the male-dominated world of music.  But she has yet to receive full credit for her seminal role as midwife to the birth of Jazz on record.

Lil Clip A–King Oliver and married to Louis,Got No Blues, Droppin’ Shucks.mp3

Lillian was piano player for bandleader and cornet player Joe “King”Oliver in Chicago and had a key role organizing the landmark records of King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band.  Unlike the band men including her future husband Louis Armstrong, Lil had a formal musical education and likely played a substantial role behind the scenes crafting the Creole Jazz Band recording sessions in 1923.

These were the earliest records by a genuine African American Jazz band – with the sole exception of Kid Ory’s obscure handful of Sunshine Records discs made in Los Angeles a couple years earlier.  The Oliver discs sold vigorously and were re-issued in multiple re-stampings on multiple labels.

Lil Clip B – First job, Born to Swing, Knock Kneed Sal.mp3

Midwife to the birth of Jazz on record, Lil Hardin played a key role organizing innovative recordings by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in 1923 (at bottom, Oliver center) and her husband Louis Armstrong’s landmark Hot Five and Hot Seven sessions of 1925-27 (top, Louis far left).

As the second wife of Louis Armstrong, she tirelessly built his success, launched his solo career, arranged his early sessions and supported his musical ventures.  Lil wrote down Louis’ ideas, fortified his talent, nurtured his confidence and promoted his popularity.

Hardin played a key role in the OKeh Records sessions of Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven between 1925-27.  These four dozen pivotal recordings changed the path of Jazz and introduced its biggest star.  Lil supplied the arrangements, many of the original tunes and a rhythmic piano foundation. The couple separated in 1931 but were not officially divorced until 1938.  Though Louis’ rapid elevation left her behind, their friendship endured.

Lil Clip C– Split with Louis, When I Went Back Home, You Shall Reap What You Sow, Harlem on Saturday Night, Brown Gal.mp3

By the mid-1930s Lil Hardin-Armstrong had established her own career as a successful singer, pianist, songwriter, bandleader and all-around music professional.  She even led some of the first all-female jazz bands in Harlem in 1931 and Chicago in 1934.

From 1936 to ’40 Hardin was very productive at Decca Records, recording under her own name.  She functioned as a house pianist accompanying blues singers Rosetta Howard, Peetie Wheatstraw, Blue Lu Barker, Alberta Hunter and others. Her first Decca session yielded several effervescent records and a solid-seller entitled “Brown Gal.”

Decca subsequently promoted Lil “Brown Gal”Armstrong for about 25 sides.  Her hot little bands included such well-known musicians as Buster Bailey (clarinet), J.C. Higginbotham (trombone), Chu Berry and Prince Robinson (tenor sax) and bassist Wellman Braud (of Ellington fame).  She favored hot trumpet players Jonah Jones and the excellent but little-known Joe Thomas, who is heard on most of the sides.

Lil Clip D – Perdido Street Blues, conclusion and East Town Boogie (1961).mp3

Recording and performing for most of her adult life, Lil was a complete musician.  A creative woman of substance and style, she also tried her hand at running a restaurant and dabbled in fashion and tailoring.  Despite their years-long estrangement and divorce they remained productively associated.

Hardin’s death was eerie coming shortly after Armstrong’s. She had always considered herself Mrs. Armstrong in some sense and still lived in the house they bought in the 1920s.  At an August 1971 memorial for Louis in Chicago, she collapsed on stage from a heart attack and could not be revived.

Ginger Smock.

Ginger Smock

Superb jazz violinist Emma “Ginger” Smock (1920-1995) was versatile and talented but has not received due recognition.  Formally trained, she was a stunning beauty who played superb jazz violin in the style of Stuff Smith. Smock appeared on television in Los Angeles where she had her own TV show and performed with the Los Angeles Symphony.  During the 1960s-70s Smock recorded with Rhythm and Blues groups and was concertmaster at several hotels in Las Vegas — backing the likes of Sammy Davis, Jr.

On her web page, accomplished jazz violinist Laura Risk sums up her PhD research into Smock’s “raucous, hard-swinging intensity.  Her composition ‘Strange Blues’ . . .evidences a mature musical voice: her solo is rhythmically complex, technically demanding, alternately sassy and delicate, with long melodic lines spun out across the changes.”

Until recently, the only music available was Smock’s 1946 session playing solid-body electric violin with the Vivien Garry Quintet. A collection of her recordings was issued for the first time in 2005 by a small British company called AB Fable.  Among the rare contents are “Exactly Like You” from KTLA television, tracks from the 1946 ‘Girls in Jazz’ RCA sessions and “Strange Blues” with the obscure septet of Cecil Count Carter.

Smock clip – Exactly Like You (1953), Strange Blues (1953), I’m in the Mood for Love (1946).mp3

This appears to be the 1946 RCA “Girls in Jazz” recording session of the Vivien Garry Quintet. L to R: Edna Williams (trumpet), Ginger Smock (violin), Dody Jeshke (drums), Wini Beaty (piano) and Vivien Garry (bass).

Years after selling them, I still wonder occasionally how could I have divested my pair of Wells Audio Innamorata amplifiers. At the time it seemed necessary, as I was making a purchase of some speakers. Over time, as I continue to review components, I recall how many gorgeous systems I made with those amps, and I find it hard to avoid self-recrimination.

It came as no surprise, then, that when Jeff Wells contacted me in order to fulfill a years-old promise, he had my attention. Confidentially he had shared with me at the time I was reviewing the amps that a tube preamplifier was on the table. I asked to be the first to have a crack at it. Jeff kept his word and this is the premier review of the Commander Preamplifier from Wells Audio.

Commander – what a great name for a preamplifier, the control unit! You command it, and it commands the system. As a matter of humor I keep an Emerson Jumbo Universal Remote, the kind that is about 1 foot long with .5” square buttons and sold at drug stores for the sight impaired, in my listening room. Every so often I grab it, usually when some unsuspecting visitor is seated next to me, and I wave it at the system, “I have complete control! I have all audiophile power with this remote!” Anachronistic “VCR” and “TV-VCR” buttons on the remote add to the ludicrous nature of the moment. The expression on the visitor is priceless as they try to suppress guffaws! At times we can take ourselves a bit too seriously, and a bit of humor lightens up the experience.

While there are no truly universal remote controls, we do recognize command performances, or people with commanding personalities. In terms of audio components, I find the Wells Audio Commander to be uncharacteristically capable in what it does. It is a preamp that makes music listening exciting, as it enlivens amplifiers more than any tube preamplifier previously encountered. I will share more about that in a bit as I discuss the sound.

Design and construction

Wells Audio products are by intent not bespoke components, not bling machines. There is no rubidium in the preamp, nor is it paneled with Bubinga wood, or fitted with an obnoxiously sized volume dial. Of course, you won’t be charged for them, and that is the point. The case is smoked acrylic and the “meter” is an arrestingly cool “Magic Eye” tube that changes appearance with the listening level. Costs for the shell are constrained, but not the internal parts. If you either have to show off your bespoke preamp, or think that sound quality is contingent on starting with a 100 pound block of aluminum as opposed to the circuitry making the sound, then a Wells Commander may not be for you. I have no problem at all with the Wells philosophy. Why? Because I have handled other inexpensively housed electronics that performed admirably.

The aesthetics of the Commander are appealing to me, with the mirror-like black case and the silver ringed sky blue LED pushbuttons. A full complement of inputs and outputs of both XLR and RCA allow flexibility in connections. See the website for a more thorough examination of particulars (http://www.wellsaudio.com/commander).

The most eye-catching feature is the Magic Eye that winks at you as the level is adjusted, and it proves as nice a vanity feature and every bit as cool as Pass Labs meters. Nearly as novel is the flashing, clicking power button that sounds like a turn signal in a car as the unit warms up. A point of information here; I am currently reviewing the Sanders Magtech Mono Amplifiers and the advice given by Sanders is that five seconds is enough to wait to turn on the amps following powering up the preamplifier. Not in the case of preamps like the Commander, which have longer startup times. Five seconds may be the rule generally, but when you are firing up an amp with 1,600 Watts per channel into 8 Ohms, you want to make sure the preamp is good and ready.

There is a care and handling consideration in that you best not manhandle the Commander, and you must take caution if you remove the lid to insert tubes or change them. This is not a tough-as-nails product; there is a give to the chassis when weight is put on it. Do not lean hard on the top or put pressure on the front face of the Commander. Thankfully, the unit is under 20 pounds, so it can be carried held away from the body without pressure on the chassis. The longer piece of acrylic glass across the front of the unit has the function buttons embedded into it. When a button is depressed there is a slight give to the Plexiglas. At first this is unnerving, but as with other unusual features, such as the clacking of a resistive ladder volume control, one adjusts to it and after a short period of time it is scarcely considered, especially if the remote control is used regularly.

The signal and output tubes, as well as the Magic Eye, are shipped along with the Commander in a thick, dense foam cradle. The double box and foam adequately protect the unit, and there was no damage to the Level 1 Commander. The owner removes the cover and inserts the tubes. The minute screws of the cover can strip, and the plastic can scratch, chip or break. This is most definitely not a toss it around type of component, but rather a “handle with kid gloves” piece.

The other complaint I have with the Commander is the lack of clear designation of functions on the remote control. Several times I looked for “Aux1”, the primary input I used, only to find it is not seen on the remote. It seems the functions are a combination of multiple and single touch commands. This should be made more intuitive.

The overall build of the Commander reminds me of another product that I adore, the Kingsound King III Electrostatic Speakers. It is one of those oh-so-rare products that combines a thrifty combination of construction with a killer design for the signal path — and enthralling sound. I have had opportunity to compare the King III to some very stiff competition in open panel designs, and the King III still reigns in my room. This speaker is so good that recently there was a pair for sale online for $5K. I already own a set, but the thought of buying the second pair as backup crossed my mind more than once. I would lament if the speaker ever died on me, so I am sure to check connections three times when setting it up and I do not overdrive it. It is so good that I want it to last theoretically forever. If you get that line of reasoning, wanting to preserve the performance of a component or speakers you love so much, then apply that kind of passion to the Commander Preamplifier. It’s that kind of component.

Having previously reviewed the Wells Akasha and Innamorata amplifiers, and now the Commander Tube Preamplifier, I agree with Jeff Wells’ declaration that his components eschew fancy packaging in favor of fancy designs and parts selection. Wells Audio is a company that is trying to give the enthusiast a component that performs at a high level without the sky-high price tag. Looking inside the unit one sees upper grade parts and a clean, smart layout. I have always been one who could accept a component that is well designed and sounds great, even if the case is economical. I have learned over the years to prioritize power supply and signal path over nearly every other parameter, and that principle has served me well; it also serves Wells Audio customers well.

Rewind a bit…if your reaction to the title of this article was, “English, please,” then I should take some time to explain. The rest of you can head on down to the section, “This thing is hot!”

If you’re still with me, I’ll discuss the title from right to left, starting with “Transport.” For many of us, the Compact Disc was our first exposure to digital audio in the home. CD playback started with single-chassis CD players; however, it was not long before folks discovered that better sound was possible by splitting things up. As similar concepts, consider a turntable and external phono stage or a preamplifier and power amp vs. a combined integrated amp. Cost aside, isolating the mechanical vibrations from a disc that spins up to 500 RPM and stepper motors for the laser into a separate chassis with its own power supply makes a certain amount of sense. Not without its challenges, this approach turned out to be a solid architectural decision, and with it, the external DAC was born.

At around the same time, multimedia PCs were popular and were starting to become fast enough to play CD-resolution audio (44.1k samples per channel per second at 16-bits per sample). More smart people discovered that, with a suitable interface card, they could disconnect their CD transport and connect their computer directly to the DAC. With this discovery, the Computer Audio Transport was born. While splitting up a CD player to a CD transport and DAC often improved sound quality, for many years, the computer audio transport was a step backward in sound quality. It would take another decade or so before improvements in interfaces and architecture would bring the Computer Audio Transport up to the level of the finest CD transports.

Eventually, more smart people realized that the problem with Computer Audio was the Computer! Computers can be noisy beasts, both mechanically and electrically. The mere presence of a computer in one’s audio component rack can negatively impact sound quality of the entire system. There are a few different approaches to solving this problem. One is to spend a huge amount of money building a powerful yet ultra-quiet computer. The other is to split things up again.

The idea behind the Network Audio Transport is to put some distance between that noisy computer and our delicate audio components and listening environment. The audio computer can be relocated to an office or closet as long as it’s accessible over the home network. We browse and control music selection and playback via a remote control app installed on a tablet or smartphone, but how do we get the music to our listening room?

The solution is a Network Audio Transport (sometimes referred to as an NAA or Network Audio Adapter). This small device receives a digital audio stream from the audio computer (a music server) over a network connection and outputs digital audio to a DAC, typically over S/PDIF or USB. These devices are, technically, tiny, low-power computers. The advantage they have over full-sized (even small form-factor) computers is that they can be cost-effectively configured to generate no noise and very little RFI and EMF. They usually run single-purpose software that simply copies audio from the network to the digital output. Virtually no background tasks are running, so the much less powerful CPU in a Network Audio Transport is still almost entirely idle. Crucially, an idle CPU is what we want whenever a computer is anywhere near our audio system!

The Raspberry Pi (RPi) is a pocket-sized $35 single-board computer that’s been around since 2011. The latest version is called Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, or RPI4, and includes performance and architectural improvements over its predecessors. The RPi is a popular choice commercially and among hobbyists for building network audio transports due to its small size, low power, and low cost. It has been used in a number of commercial products, including Bryston’s BDP-Pi Digital Player. The RPi is equipped with four USB ports, a wired Ethernet connection, and 40 general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins to which 3rd party audio boards may be attached without soldering. The RPi’s low power requirements mean that it can be run for many hours from four rechargeable AA batteries or a small linear power supply.

So, there you have it. The RPi is a $35 device that, with just a little work, can be configured to function as a network audio transport that feeds a high performance DAC while eliminating the need for an electrically noisy computer to be present in the listening room. Now, advancing audio streaming…

Smraza Case for Raspberry Pi 4 B

This thing is hot!

I’ve had a Raspberry Pi 4 small board computer (SBC) for a while, but the thing runs hot (61 – 65º C) just idling in a standard case. At first, I thought I might have a defective board, but that’s just how the RPi4 is.

To manage the heat, I moved it from the official case to one with an integrated CPU fan. Doing so brought the temperature down to RPi3 levels (~45º C) but precluded serious use of the RPi4 as a Roon output due to fan noise and vibrations.

Solving the heat issue properly required the Flirc case that I had pre-ordered a month or so before the RPi4’s release. Theirs is a passive cooling design that uses the entire chassis as a heatsink. A metal post extends from the top of the case, making contact with the CPU/GPU via thermal tape. It acts as a heat-pipe, transferring heat away from the CPU.

iFi iDefender3.0 between SBC and DAC

My interest in the RPi4 as a network audio transport stems from its improved USB design. Quoting from the official documentation, “In all models prior to the Pi 4, the USB ports connect to a combo hub/Ethernet chip, which is itself a USB device connected to the single upstream USB port on BCM2835. On the Pi 4, the USB hub chip is connected to the SoC using a PCIe bus.” In theory, this dedicated connection should result in better USB performance with, possibly, less noise contribution from the Ethernet chip.

The “bits are bits” crowd will argue that noise makes no difference with digital signals, but in reality, there’s no such thing as a “digital signal.” All signals are analog and are affected to some degree by noise. More importantly, the “A” in “DAC” stands for analog, thus reducing noise in the digital audio transport means that less noise makes it to the analog circuits of the DAC. Is this significant? The answer is very system dependent, but it’s just good housekeeping. If you have an opportunity to do something that may reduce transport noise without spending a lot more money, why not?

One limitation of the USB implementation on the Raspberry Pi is available power. According to the official documentation, “The USB ports on a Raspberry Pi have a design loading of 100mA each — sufficient to drive “low-power” devices such as mice and keyboards. Devices such as Wi-Fi adapters, USB hard drives, USB pen drives all consume much more current and should be powered from an external hub with its own power supply. While it is possible to plug a 500mA device into a Pi and have it work with a sufficiently powerful supply, reliable operation is not guaranteed.” This means that it’s never a good idea to rely on any Raspberry Pi to solely power an attached DAC!

Whenever I use an SBC as a USB network audio transport, I insert some kind of device to obviate the SBC of the responsibility of powering the DAC. In the photo above, I have the iDefender3.0 from iFi Audio relieving the RPi4 of 5V power duties. In other installations, I’m using the micro or nano (no longer available) iUSB3.0 devices from iFi Audio for the same purpose. These ensure that the DAC receives adequate power to drive both analog and digital circuits without stressing the upstream Raspberry Pi digital transport.

How does it sound?

DSD256 streaming to the RPi4 from Roon

Well, it’s early in my evaluation, but it sounds great so far. Like the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, the RPi4 has 5 GHz Wi-Fi and 802.11ac support, so streaming DSD256 and 32-bit, 768 kHz PCM are no problem. The background is inky black on quality recordings, leading to impressive dynamics. My next step is to compare the RPi4 with the Allo USBridge. The latter solves the USB noise issue by adding a bespoke USB board that Allo specifically designed for digital audio applications. This board should give the USBridge an advantage over a general-purpose RPi4, but I’ll report back on what I find soon.

Regarding the kodi edition of the Flirc case

I originally purchased this case with the intent of using the RPi4 as a kodi video player. (The kodi edition of the Flirc case is exactly the same as the standard case, but some of the money goes to support kodi.) The dual 4k HDMI outputs and hardware H.265 video decoding makes the RPi4 a very attractive device for video playback. Sadly, as far as I can tell, kodi is not yet supported on the RPi4. That’s too bad since I think kodi will become one of the killer applications for this SBC. Until a future version of kodi is released that adds support for the RPi4, this device will be relegated to audio duties.

Following along at home…

If you’d like to give the Raspberry Pi a try as a Roon output, here’s a link to a video that I created that walks through the hardest part: preparing a microSD card with an O/S and the Wi-Fi settings required for you to access the device from your home network.

How to flash a microSD with DietPi and Roon Bridge

End of Part 1

Copy editor: Dan Rubin

Users of BluOS Enabled players will be among the first to experience Amazon’s new premium hi-res music service

TORONTO, CANADA, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 – Lenbrook International, developer of hi-res audio solutions for residential and commercial applications, has announced that its BluOS wireless multi-room streaming platform is among the first to integrate Amazon Music HD and Ultra HD. The service is available immediately to users of BluOS Enabled products by NAD Electronics, DALI Loudspeakers, and Bluesound wireless multi-room players who are also Amazon customers in the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, or Germany. Promising a lower monthly price versus comparable hi-res music services, US pricing comes in at $12.99 per month for Amazon Prime subscribers, and $14.99 per month for Amazon customers. An additional $5 per month will be charged for Individual or Family Plan subscribers.

With more than 50 million songs in High Definition (16-bit/44kHz), and millions of songs in Ultra High Definition (24-bit/192 kHz), BluOS users can access an enormous library of music without compromising on sound quality.

“We are proud to have been approached and chosen by Amazon to be among the first streaming platforms integrated with Amazon Music HD,” says Andrew Haines, BluOS Product Manager. “And we are particularly proud to support the highest resolution UHD service tier, as the Amazon catalog is extensive and gives our audiophile audience a broad selection of the highest quality music available.”

New subscribers to Amazon Music can receive a 90-day free trial, and current subscribers can try Amazon Music HD at no additional cost for 90 days. To learn more about Amazon Music HD and this offer, visit amazon.com/music/unlimited/hd.

ABOUT AMAZON MUSIC

Amazon Music reimagines music listening by enabling customers to unlock millions of songs and thousands of curated playlists and stations with their voice. Amazon Music provides unlimited access to new releases and classic hits through multiple streaming tiers. With Amazon Music, Prime members have access to ad-free listening of 2 million songs at no additional cost to their membership. Listeners can also enjoy Amazon Music Unlimited, which provides access to more than 50 million songs and the latest new releases. Amazon Music HD, a new tier of the highest quality streaming audio, offers more than 50 million songs in High Definition, and millions of songs in Ultra High Definition. Customers with Echo devices also have free access to an ad-supported selection of top playlists and stations on Amazon Music. Engaging with music has never been more natural, simple, and fun. For more information, visit amazonmusic.com or download the Amazon Music app.

About bluOS

BluOS™ is a premium multi-room audio ecosystem that manages stored and cloud music sources and playback, with support for high-resolution audio streams up to 24/192. Adopted by some of the most renowned hifi audio brands and integrated with numerous smarthome and voice control systems, BluOS allows for interoperability among enabled devices across brands for maximum versatility and use cases. Integrations with popular streaming music services like Tidal, Spotify, and Deezer, as well as featuring support for FLAC, WAV, MQA, and other high resolution formats and codecs, BluOS offers virtually unlimited access to music of all genres for any occasion. Made up of an operating system and a control application for smart phones, tablets, and PC desktops, BluOS is the ultimate choice for the modern audiophile.

About Lenbrook International

Lenbrook International, a subsidiary of the Lenbrook Group of Companies, is the owner and manufacturer of award-winning brands for home audio and residential install applications. Its full suite of products from NAD Electronics, PSB Speakers, Bluesound wireless multi-room players, and Bluesound Professional commercial audio, are distributed in over 80 countries, while its BluOS hi-res distributed audio platform continues to be adopted by some of the world’s leading premium audio brands.