Paul was just about to play his sixth selection but was hauled off the stage to make way for System 2. Track 6 was to be a piece of soundscape electronic from the Rival Consoles' album Night Melody. Paul gave it a 'highly recommended' tick and suggested that we all check it out.

System 2 was provided mostly by David Duffin, who made the mistake of apologizing for the sound quality to come. I'll jump to that topic now, as the system required no forgiveness at all. It had two irreplaceable qualities: (1) a clear, open, unboxy spaciousness, and (2) astonishing front-to-back depth. And the treble was shimmering and spacious too, undoubtedly a function of the very nice Focal tweeters.

The pieces David highlighted were arguably the open-baffle loudspeakers that he has been working on for some time, speakers based on some rather nice Focal drive units (including the very nice inverted dome tweeter) that were bought as part of an in-wall set up from Cash Converters (!) covering the treble, mid-range and bass frequencies, and a pair of 12" Response woofers covering the lowest bass. David pointed out that he used two of the Audio News January 2019 Page 9 12" bass drivers per side, and they were 8 ohm units wired in parallel to produce a final impedance of 4 ohms so that the amplifier would double its power into their 4 ohms while the rest of the system remained at the nominal 8 ohms; such finessing was required to boost the bass response that otherwise would suffer from the lowest frequencies creeping around the open edges of the baffle, interfering with and cancelling the wave fronts emanating from the rear of the speakers. The two bass drivers took care of business to 125 Hz, when they crossed over to the Focal bass/mid drivers.

Cheap but effective CAT 6 cables (highly regarded by David) provided connections between everything. David commented in his feedback to me on an earlier draft of this article that "by some miracle it all blended together well". Amplification was provided by David's amplifier, an OAD from John de Sensi. The source was an Audio Aero La Fontaine SACD player with, on the night, a slightly uncertain drawer mechanism. I overheard Hugh Dean, who was seated behind me, comment that the OAD amplifiers were some of the nicest of their type (i.e. those based on discrete bipolar transistors) he'd ever seen (or heard).

I scribbled down some now incoherent notes as to the playlist and sought to clarify them with David. By the time I got to send him a draft for feedback, he commented that the playlist was "probably under several layers of food scraps at our local tip", but it was possible to salvage enough to point out that the first CD was Bits, Bytes & Pipes Volume Page 10 Melbourne Audio Club II, by Jonas Nordwall on organ. It was followed by Anna Netrebko with an excerpt from a Verdi opera, then a track from the Usher CD Be there, then something from the Yello's CD Zebra , and fifth track that still eludes me.

The night was quickly slipping away, but not before Mark Houston wheeled his signature slate-green VoXUno-12P full-range loudspeakers onto the stage. The LP12 from System 1 sufficed for the source, but the phonostage was the revamped MAC unit. Mark started off with some Edith Piaf with the Orchestra of Robert Chauvigny with the song 'Ouragan (Hurricane)'. Parts of the song translate as "You! Nothing but you, always you A hurricane of you is bursting on me the waves from you break against me, an ocean of happiness that sweeps me away with you!". It was followed by some more blues, in this case 'I just want to make love to you' from the album Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon at the Village Gate, with Willie Dixon on upright bass and vocals and Memphis Slim on piano. Willie and Slim: what a combination! Then Alistair handed over to Mark, who played Leonard Cohen's well-loved You want it darker: has there ever been a more bitter refrain than when Cohen sings "A million candles burning for the help that never came"?

So that was it for another year. I've had great pleasure in writing up the monthly meetings for a large slab of 2018. I realise that sometimes my articles may have sailed a bit close to the wind (e.g. the one on the dreadful music of the 1980s, in Issue 516). Thanks too for the often positive feedback I've received on the articles, including for example Matt Jelicich's nice words in Issue 515. If you'll have me back next year, I'll be happy to continue writing up our monthly meetings, anti-1980 prejudices and all.

Paul I Boon

Web Ed.

The November monthly meeting is always an exceptional one for the club, for it's the time when Rockian Trading, Melbourne-based distributor of quality record labels, and Osborn Loudspeakers, long-term Melbourne-based speaker manufacturer and audio equipment distributor, collaborate to showcase a veritable mountain of music that's almost always new to us. Rockian Trading is the 'go-to' distributor for many audiophile labels, including ATMA Classique, Cala, Chesky, Mobile Fidelity, Opus 3, Reference Recordings, Sheffield Lab, and Stockfisch Records. They used to handle the Dorian label too, but Dorian went bankrupt a decade or so ago and some of their recordings are now handled by ATMA Classique from Canada.

I'm glad their catalog has not been lost utterly, as Dorian (via its founder, Craig Dory, originally a mathematician) long carried the flag for early music and there are not too many labels (excepting of course Jordi Savall's AliaVox) who specialise in such things. Although Rockian is a wholesaler, you can (and I have!) bought records (i.e. CDs, SACDs and vinyl) from them directly too (see www.rockian.biz/rockian/toorder.htm). The evercharming Ian and Beverley Hooper run the show from their office in Briar Hill, a suburb near Greensborough in eastern Melbourne. As usual, they had a selection of CDs, SACDs and vinyl on sale during the evening and I saw more than a few members leave with little boxes of goodies under their arms at the end of the meeting.

Greg and Yvonne Osborn's Osborn Loudspeakers should need no introduction to MAC members either. As Greg pointed out in his introduction, they've been presenting at MAC meetings for 25 years; he was quickly corrected by Beverley from the back of the Willis Room, who updated that to 26 years! Osborn makes some 50 models or variants of loudspeakers, ranging from the tiny Atom and Eos models (both 2-way stand -mounts) to behemoth floor-standers such as the 165 kg (each!) Grand Monument Reference Elite at~$22,000 a pair. I bought a pair of Titan minimonitors from Greg back in March 1994, and they still find use in my home (now attached to an antiquated QUAD 306 power amplifier, fed by a 67 CD player and FM4 tuner via a 34 pre-amplifier).

The fabulous teak veneer is still immaculate and they still weigh 26 kg each, a colossal amount for 2-way stand-mounts but largely a function of the massive wooden frames and the lead lining applied internally to deaden the whole thing. I know that a number of MAC members also have Osborn equipment, including the ex- President David Duffin. Greg and Yvonne also distribute Consonance, Audio Aero, Audio Music and Vermeer Audio electronics (and his own cables). It's all done from the Osborn home/office in Taylors Lakes in suburban western Melbourne ( www.osbornloudspeakers.com.au).

On the night, Greg and Yvonne brought along the new Epitome Tower Reference Elite loudspeakers, a substantial (1.56 m high, 105 kg) floorstander using two 260 mm bass drivers, a 165 mm W cone midrange and, in the Reference version, a 29 mm soft-dome tweeter and, in the Elite version, an updated crossover with fancier components. The loudspeakers retail at a very budget-friendly $14,500. The finish is, as expected, perfect, although I imagine they would be too large for smallish inner-city apartments. In a large room, and with understanding neighbours, they would be perfect.

Driving the Epitomes was a pair of Audio Music 833 M monoblocks (~$12,500 in copper to ~$15,000 for the silver-wire version). They use the drop-dead gorgeous 833 triode running in singleended Class A (for 120 watts per channel), run by a KT150 driver valve and a couple of ECC88s. I'm a sucker for old valves, so immediately looked up the characteristics of the 833 direct-heated triode: it seems it was introduced in the late 1930s, as a medium-power oscillator and suitable for Class B or C amplification in radio transmitters and X-ray machines. In this 833A version it would have been pumped to a hard vacuum, with no gettering. With forced air cooling, it could generate up to 1 kilowatt of RF in Class C with full power up to 30 MHz ( www.r-type.org/exhib/aag0032.htm). The current version is a 833C, the graphite-plate version.

The 833 valve was used in the very famous Wavac SH-833 amplifier from Japan about 15 years ago - at they cost US$350,000 a pair (see the review in Stereophile at www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/704wavac/index.html). It's also been used by home constructors for some time (e.g. see ttradio.net/833a-single-end-amp-pictures/; www.instructables.com/id/The-833-A-Stereo-Amplifier/ or www.parts-express.com/project-gallery-amplifier-projects-class-a-triodeamp). Other direct heated triodes that might be of interest to audiophiles are the well-known 300B and the famously anaemic but lovely sounding 2A3. Some would have nothing else in their system than a direct-heated triode, running single ended.

The pre-amplifer was an Audio Music RT-3 Ultima, a three-box unit using a pair of 6H30 as the drivers for two 6922 valves. Greg opened to top to allow us to peer inside at the end of the demonstration, and what a gorgeous interior it was. Those of a technical mind could see that it used transformers not only for volume attenuation but had another two transformers for the signal output and two more for power supplies. Very classy indeed. And it cost only ~$9,000 (copper wiring) to $14,500 (silver wiring and solid silver transformers). In turn, it was fed by a Consonance Die Walkure turntable (~$3,800) with Consonance T8 tonearm (included in the price). The cartridge was a Clearaudio device. The phonostage was a Consonance Opera R40 (~$1,300). The CD player was an Audio Aero La Fontaigne. All cabling was Osborn too.

It's worth closing this description of the equipment demonstrated with a reference to (1) the article Peter Xeni contributed in last month's magazine on the outrageous pricing of some high-end audio gear ('The great hi-fi sting') and (2) to a comment Greg made in the early parts of his introduction, that the retail prices he charges are very reasonable, especially when seen in the context of the rarefied prices often charged for high-end equipment. He commented on the mark up applied to audio equipment and that it was possible to pass on very considerable savings by directly importing the gear he handles and thus avoiding the middle men in the wholesale-commercialretail chain.

Now: the music. Ian kindly provided the following summary, which I lightly edited to fit in with the rest of my overview of the night (the album number follow each item and are shown in round brackets): Ian started with excerpts from two NMC Records CDs. NMC is a label financed by the government of Great Britain (how enlightened!) and by donations from generous patrons to support and promote aspiring British composers and musicians. The first CD featured 'Onyx Noir,' a virtuoso brass quintet consisting of two trumpets, one trombone, a horn and a tuba. The CD contains a dozen new compositions commissioned from contemporary British composers. Ian played most of the title track 'Onyx Noir' composed by Guy Barker. (NMC D237).

The second CD contained works by aspiring young composer Huw Watkins. Ian played brief segments of the Flute Concerto written for and played by Adam Walker, a brief segment of the Violin Concerto written for and played by Alina Ibragimova, and finished with a short section from Watkin's Symphony. The Flute Concerto and the Symphony were performed by Halle (orchestra), conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth. The Violin Concerto was performed at the BBC Proms by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardiner. (NMC D224).

For the third CD, Ian switched to Canadian label ATMA Classique. The dynamic proprietor, chief engineer, and producer for the label is Johanne Goyette, an audio minimalist who prefers to use just two microphones, either crossed Blumlein microphones or spaced omnidirectional microphones, depending on the size of the work and the performance space. The first ATMA CD showcased a brief segment from 'Vivaldi: Concertos pour flute a bec' featuring the virtuoso recorders of Vincent Lauzer, accompanied by the fourteen piece Arion Orchestre Baroque, conducted from the harpsichord by Alexander Weimann. (ACD2 2760). My feelings were that this was reproduced too muscularly on the night. I attend a lot of early music concerts (e.g. most recently Jordi Savall, Latitude 37, the Continuo Collective and Ludovico's Band, all in the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall) and rarely is the bass as deep or heavy as it was in this recording/playback. Nevertheless, the sound of the recorders (variously soprano, sopranino and alto) was enough to make it clear that these instruments need to be given a reprieve from the amateur status they so often receive.

The second ATMA CD was short pieces of ballet music by Jacques Offenbach from a CD titled Gaite Parisienne. This recording features Orchestre Symphonic de Quebec directed by Fabien Gabel. (ACD2 2757). The third ATMA Classique release was their 10 CD box set of the complete Bruckner Symphonies, recorded over eleven years with Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin. (ACD2 2451). Ian played the start of the Scherzo and the beginning of the Finale from Bruckner's most popular symphony, the 7th. This was recorded in 2006 with the 31-year old conductor early in his career. (SACD2 2512). From this beginning, Nezet-Seguin has become a recognized expert on Bruckner. As well as working with Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal, he has made many recordings with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Berliner Philharmonica, Weiner Philharmoniker, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is now a regular maestro for the Deutsche Grammophon label. Here I felt the demonstration system really sang, and the big Osborns, fed by the glowing 833s, were ideally suited to the scale and dynamism of the performance.

Next Ian introduced German audiophile label Stockfisch Records by playing the track 'Vincent' from the double LP Are We There Yet? from American singer Sara K with American guitarist Chris Jones. The track was recorded live during a Sara K tour of Germany and was the beginning of Sara's relationship with the Stockfisch label. (SFR 357.8030.1; also available on CD SFR 357.6030.2). To my ears there seems to be a 'house sound' with Stockfisch recordings; they tend to be deep and warm and full, and the tonality worked well with this concert performance. Sara introduced Rockian Trading to the label via an email exchange and this led to them becoming the label's Australian distributor. Ian and Beverley later met guitarist Chris Jones during his brief visit to Melbourne. Alas Chris died about 15 years ago, a victim of lung cancer. Ian demonstrated Chris' solo capabilities with the track 'Willing' off a recent retrospective LP release No Looking Back. (SFR 357.8001.1; also available on double CD

Moonstruck & No Looking Back SFR 357.6020.2). He noted that the song was written by the inestimable Lowell George (of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention and, later, Little Feat fame). If you liked this track, try out also his Roadhouses & Automobiles CD - some very tasty blues-inspired stuff in my view. (An intermission of sorts, with some on-road fettling by Greg when he discerned that the left -hand speaker had accidentally been wired out of phase. Twiggling with various cables ensured to locate the problem, followed by a very loud bump as an earth lost contact with the universe and then, suddenly, re-established it again. A reversion to silver discs followed.) This correcting of the system was followed by Ian playing another popular artist on Stockfisch Records, singersongwriter Allan Taylor. He played most of the track about a gathering of friends, 'We Stood As One', off the SACD All Is One. (SFR 357.4078.2; also available on LP SFR 357.8078.1). A recently recruited artist to Stockfisch is American author, poet and songwriter Carrie Newcomer. Ian played some of her song 'The Gathering Of Spirits', off her SACD The Slender Thread. (SFR 357.4088.2; also available on Double LP SFR 357.8088.1). Another new artist to record with Stockfisch Records is Irish folk artist Brian Flanagan. Rockian received a copy of Flanagan's SACD Where Dreams Are Made the week before the MAC meeting. Ian says he found the song 'Flowers In The Window', a eulogy to his friend, a deceased cafe and venue owner, particularly poignant. (SFR 357.4091.2; also available on LP SFR 357.8091.1).

Finally Ian was, in his words to me, "generously indulged by club members" to play two tracks off the final mix CD of an album he's producing of the Melbourne-based rock 'n' roll revival band The Delmatics. Ian is a vocalist, the bass player and leader of the band. The CD was recorded at Airwaves Studios in Altona Meadows by the impressive digital audio engineer Michael Zammit. The Live Sound Engineer and Manager, Beverley, was present at all the sessions with encouragement and valuable suggestions. After Ian introduced the band (by way of a poster picture), there was a lighthearted exchange of levity over the origins of the band name (a commercial manufacturer of toilet systems: "A band flush with success" etc). Ian also pointed out that they had the privilege of recording in Sam Phillips old Sun Records studio in Memphis (where Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis started, not to mention Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins: truly the home of rock n' roll). Anyone with even the faintest interest in 20th century popular music MUST read the 2015 biography of Sam Phillips by Peter Guralnick (Sam Phillips: the man who invented rock 'n' roll). It's superb and you can buy it for ~$25 in any good book shop. Ian then played band member Stan Borysiewicz singing a cover of Roy Orbison's version of 'Mean Woman Blues' and finished with Ian's arrangement of Dave Dudley's hit 'Six Days On The Road'. "Both were received with embarrassing enthusiasm. Thank you!" reported Ian in his subsequent email communication with me.

After the final CD and related comments from the audience, Ian spoke about his experiences producing a local recording that were included in the last issue of the MAC magazine (see pp. 3-5 of issue 519): he said it was gratifying to exhibit the results so far. He concluded by mentioning that the digital sound files were now with a mastering engineer to set the final tracking trims, equalization and correct all the levels. All being well, he should be able to share the finished CD early in 2019. Ian finished with the statement "Thank you to Greg and Yvonne Osborn for the fabulous stereo system and to the Melbourne Audio Club members for their attendance and continued support."

So, to conclude: a fascinating evening of music, ranging from the symphonic scale of the Bruckner to the intimacy of Sara K, Chris Jones and Brian Flanagan, to the raucous, fun-filled rock 'n' roll of The Delmatics. Something for everyone! And all played back on a system that cost somewhere around $50,000, a figure by no means unreasonable in the world of high-end audio equipment. The money you would save by buying cost-effective gear like the items on demonstration on the night could - indeed, should - be put towards buying tonnes and tonnes of CDs, SACDs and vinyl from Rockian. Flick through what's available merely on the Mobile Fidelity catalog ( www.rockian.biz/mfsl/sacdlst.htm) and calculate how much pleasure you'd get by buying at least a handful of these recordings with the money you'd just saved. And, unlike the slackers referred to in Peter Xeni's article last month, you'd be dealing with delightful people like Ian and Beverley and Greg and Yvonne. Thanks too to Greg and Ian for so promptly replying to my request for feedback and further information on an early draft version of this summary of the night's activities.

Paul I Boon

Web Ed.

October

M8Audio

At the recent Melbourne International Hi Fi Show at the Pulman Mercure there were only three set ups that really impressed me with that elusive 'I reckon I could live with that long-term' feeling. These were (1) the M8 Audio set up in Room 1201 (2) the Sonus faber/Cambridge Audio set up in Room 1308; and (3) the Roon/Vivid Audio set up in Room M7 (but only with the Vivid Audio speakers, not the Meridians). It was the first of these, the M8 Audio system, that was showcased during the October monthly meeting at Nunadwading.

Anyway, onto the sound. Mark played eight tracks:

Bass guitar track (identity not known to me)
Hot Club of San Francisco, 'Sundown', a tasty jazz piece
Phillip Glass, 'Koyaanisqatsi, from the album of the same name, probably needing no introduction to MAC members
The The, 'Sweet bird of truth', Ian's selection
Mahler, Symphony No 1, 2nd movement
Jeremy Davenport, 'Was it something I did?', a piece from the American jazz trumpeter
A repeat of Track 6, but played at A=432 Hz. (Note 1.) Angus & Julia Stone

(1) A possibly unique claim to fame with the music server is that files can be replayed at either the traditional tuning pitch of A4=440 Hz or with postprocessing the arguably better sounding A4=432 Hz tuning. And the sound quality? As I noted in the introduction, the M8 Audio set up was one of only a few demonstrated at the recent hi-fi show that impressed me with that elusive 'I can live with that long-term' kind of sound. I wasn't disappointed by the repeat performance at the October MAC meeting, notwithstanding the fact that the Willis Room, with its variable (and varying) number of people seated in the auditorium, presents to demonstrators a suite of sonic problems that are not readily solvable. The speakers, I think, struggled a bit with the open E bass guitar notes of Track 1 and tended to be boomy in the bass, but still gave a creditable performance. On the other hand, how many smallish stand-mount speakers do you know that can accurately reproduce the lowest note of a Fender Precision bass?

I really liked the vocals and the delicacy of the top end in Track 2, but again with a caveat regarding the bass performance. Was it the Willis Room? Was a 7.5" bass driver too large for the cabinet? Track 4 was, I admit, something that I could not listen to for a long time. Sorry: I'm a Maria Muldaur sort of guy.

Track 5, the Mahler, I thought captured spatial information really well. It had a sense of front-to-back depth and left-to-right dimensionality that is often the first thing that goes AWOL when orchestral music is played in the Willis Room. Track 6 similarly impressed me with its rhythm and dynamism, and I espied lots of colleagues tapping their fingers and toes to this one. Clearly the set up was capable of keeping a tight rhythm. The piano I liked too as it actually sounded like one; the naff lyrics of this track, however, I could live without. The change to 432 Hz tuning in Track 7 was, I think discernible. I preferred the 440 Hz version, but others in the audience opted for the subversion of the 432 Hz version.

The vocals in Track 8 were, to me, a treat. This is perhaps not surprising, given that Mark commented early that optimising vocal performance was high on his list of priorities for the Sweet Maxwells. The matter of dollars inevitably arises though. The Sweet Maxells come in at $6,500 for the pair, or $8,000 with matching stands.

I sought feedback from other MAC members on the sound of the night. Two, much older than me and with considerably more experience, thought the midrange was clear but forward and the treble crisp. Their joint criticisms were that (1) that the bass tended to be muddied, undefined and sometimes overwhelming and (2) the perception that the system was filtering the tonalities of each recording, making things sound as if we were 'hearing the same thing over and over' as one person put it. The sound signature of the set up was tending to dominate the tonality of the recording. Was this a function of the speakers alone, or of the combination of the speakers and amplifier? I still reckon that I could live with the M8 Audio set up that we heard on Wednesday night, and that's not a frequent response from me.

To conclude, we owe Mark and Ian a huge vote of thanks for staying after the hifi show to demonstrate their equipment to the club. We all hope that they had a safe trip home and that they succeed fully in this new venture. They did give us a thrilling and informative evening of listening and a unique opportunity to discuss the vagaries of concert-pitch tuning.

Paul Boon

Web Ed.

September

CartridgeLab, a Comprehensive Phono Presentation

At this meeting we were given the rare opportunity to hear eight Ortofon cartridges (four moving magnet and four moving coil: see Table 1) side-by-side, courtesy of Leigh Fischer from Interdyn. Leigh brought along a CartridgeLab turntable (based on a Pro-Ject 2Xperience SB model, but souped up with a custom tonearm collar mounted to suit Orotfon's PnP geometry. It was equipped with an Ortofon TA-110 arm (itself based on a Jelco model, but modified with anti-resonance filling in the arm). It fed into Rotel pre-and power amplifiers (RC -1550 and RB-1552 Mark II, respectively).

These were Leigh's own pieces, used on the night so he was familiar with the overall sound of the set up. They fed a pair of PMC Twenty5.26 speakers. Between the turntable and the Rotels was the phone stage, a Pro-Ject Tube Box DS2, a valve-equipped device that costs a very reasonable $1,090 in black or $1,190 in silver with walnut side panels. We got to see the former on the night, but I imagine the silver/wood one would be a real looker. A really useful feature of the DS2 is that all the loading adjustments (impedance, capacitance and gain) are readily available on the front fascia: no grappling with microswitches underneath or at the back or, even worse, tucked away inside the box. This proved useful during the night's listening session, as Leigh could change them at will to show what effect they had.

Model	Type	Stylus	Compliance (um/mN)	Retail price
2M Red	MM	Tipped elliptical	20	$169
2M Blue	MM	Nude elliptical	20	$329
2M Bronze	MM	Nude fineline	22	$599
2M Black	MM	Nude Shibata	22	$999
Quintet Red	MC	Tipped elliptical	15	$499
Quintet Blue	MC	Nude elliptical	15	$699
Quintet Bronze	MC	Nude fineline	15	$999
Quintet Black S	MC	Nude Shibata on sapphire cantilever	15	$1349

Leigh's presentation was, as expected, professional and entertaining. He started by giving away three LPs for correct answers to his questions, then got into the serious business of shifting between the various cartridges, dancing elf-like across the front stage of the Willis Room while explaining each one.

It was courageous to start the audition with a track from Jimi Hendrix, but that's the way it was - 'Little wing' from the 1967 album Axis: Bold as Love. Leigh played the track first via the 2M Bronze cartridge, then repeated it with the more expensive 2M Black. My feelings: a clearer top end and more controlled bass with the latter cartridge, but really not a huge difference between the two cartridges. The 2M Black did reveal the background tape hiss more clearly, perhaps not surprising given the mid-60's provenance of the recording, and the opening banging of the glockenspiel was far clearer with the dearer cartridge. Both, of course, were moving magnet designs.

Then Leigh switched to the cheapest moving magnet cartridge, the 2M Red, followed by the 2M Blue. Here there was a huge difference between the two; the 2M Red was boomy, the top-end messy and the overall sound a bit congealed. But what do you expect for a measly $169? The 2M Blue brought a revelation; it was not only slightly louder than the 2M Red, but far more coherent in every frequency band.

Looking back, the 2M Blue is an outstanding bargain, a cartridge I think any of us would be more than happy to own. If I were looking for an intro-level cartridge, I'd give the 2M Red a wide berth but go straight and unapologetically to the 2M Blue. It is, simply, an excellent cartridge and an amazing bargain. A tad over $300 - heck, that's what I spend weekly on my groceries to feed two teenagers!

Track 2 was a piece by the 1970s band Rush, 'Tom Sawyer' from their Moving Pictures album, on an original Japanese standard-weight pressing. This time Leigh had switched to the moving coil designs, starting with the Quintet Blue, followed by the Quintet Black S. The difference? The first thing that I noticed was the more spacious sound stage with the moving coils over the prior four moving magnets, and a more controlled 'airy' sound. As for differences between the two moving coils, I couldn't really be sure. But I think I did truthfully hear the greater finesse that moving coils are reputed to have over moving magnet designs.

Track 3: a Decca recoding of Mozart's 25th Symphony, conducted by Ricardo Muti. This was played first via the Quintet Red, then the Quintet Bronze, then a return to the Quintet Black S. After the three MC cartridges had been presented with the Muti, someone called out from the back of the audience "That was the best!", meaning the Black S. Maybe here the finesse of the moving coil design had really come to the fore.

Track 4: a track from the album Toward the Within, by the duo Dead Can Dance. Leigh played this via the 2M Black then with the Quintet Black S, in other words, the most expensive moving magnet and most expensive moving coil cartridges in their respective series. Now this did generate a fascinating response: almost the entire audience opted for the 2M Black, even though they acknowledged that the moving coil design generated the more refined and revealing sound, with the more defined bass. But the moving magnet design generated a slam that seemed to suit the gritty song better; one member called out that the "essence of the song was lost" with the Quintet Black S. Another opined that the bass via the 2M Black was "simply an onslaught", and meant this in an entirely positive way. Is there a lesson here? Moving coil for classical; moving magnet for rock?

The last track was 'So what' by Miles Davis, off the Kind of Blue album. Leigh used the Quintet Black S, then the 2M Blue and finished up with the Quintet Blue. The sound from the Quintet Black S was, put simply, very tasty. But the 2M Blue was again not disgraced, and it sounded very nice too. To my ears, the extra subtlety of the two moving coil designs better suited this jazz track.

So, to conclude. One: Leigh was a superlative presenter. Two: rarely, if at all, have we had the opportunity to compare eight cartridges side-by-side on the one night, using the same turntable and ancillary gear further down the electron chain. That all the cartridges came from the one manufacturer was a bonus, as it allowed us to judge the changes as one moved up the price categories within two series, and to compare replicated moving magnet and moving coil designs.

With the exception of the 2M Red, I'd be perfectly happy with any of them. The 2M Black sounded as good as all the magazine reviews suggested it should. It's damn good, possibly the best moving magnet design on the market? And if you want a tasty moving coil cartridge that delivers all the subtlety that this type of design is known for, the Quintet Black S would be superb - and it doesn't cost a bomb in the rarefied world of top-end MC designs, where one can easily splash $4, 5 or 6 thousand dollars. But for me the highlight was the 2M Blue - a mere $329 and all the punch and finesse anyone could reasonably want. All we need now is a turntable with two arms, one fitted with the Quintet Black S for classical and jazz, and the other fitted with the 2M Blue for rock and rhythm and blues. And, combined, these two would set you back less than $1,800. Add the Pro-Ject Tube Box DS2 phono stage, and you'd be set.

Leigh: please come back again with something else up your sleeve soon. You are sure to get a warm reception from us at the MAC.

Paul I Boon

Web Ed.

August 2018

Members Request

This month's meeting was a members request with club members providing the musical program. MAC members were invited to bring along a CD with a favourite piece of music that would appeal to the group. This could be something from their "desert island disc" selection or a recent purchase.

On entry, each member with a CD was given a slip of paper to write their name on to place in one of three containers marked: Classical, Jazz and Other because there are only three types of music ;-) When a members name was pulled out of one of the containers they got to play their track.

Ray Goh from the Hi Fi Exchange provided the electronic components for the night, a hybrid amplifier from Germany and a hybrid CD player from Italy. The Vincent SV236 is a 150Wpc integrated amplifier (the first 10Wpc in class-A) with a trio of 12AX7 tubes which are framed by a circular glass window in the centre of the front panel. The Synthesis Magnus CDP from Italy also shares the same philosophy in circuit design with an ECC88 tube to compliment its sound.

Continuing the Italian theme the speakers for the night, a pair of Sonus faber Venere 2.5, that have been generously provided by the importers, Synergy AV. These floor standing speakers house a pair of 180mm drivers with a 29mm silk dome tweeter. Every inch a Sonus faber the cabinet is lute-shaped and made more striking by the angled top finished in tempered glass.

Web Ed.

July 2018

Lucie Audio

Superlatives are things that should be rationed out with care. But here I'm willing to go out on a limb and state that July's meeting delivered perhaps the most professional and enjoyable presentation that I'd experienced during a Wednesday night's presentation (and we have had some corkers recently, stand outs in my mind coming from Warwick Freemantle, from the Pure Music Group, and from Leigh Fischer, from Interdyn). What makes a great presentation? Three things in my view: (1) a great selection of music; (2) a presenter who is engaging, knowledgeable and passionate; and (3) equipment that does not prove a limiting factor to items (1) and (2).

The presenter on Wednesday night was Rick Bond, owner and chief developer of Lucie Audio Systems, from Northcote in inner northern Melbourne. Despite being a photographer in a recent past life and initially having only a fleeting academic understanding of audio, he delivered one of the most engaging, honest, open and informative presentations I've experienced during a monthly meeting. So Item (2) ticked off.

Sometimes Item (1) - the selection of music - lets the side down: on the one hand the choice can be too narrow, on the other too eclectic, obscure for the sake of being obscure; or it can just be stuff that nobody with much musical sensibility would want to listen to (Madonna? or AC/DC? or Megadeath? or Boy George?); or it can be just be a plain, uninteresting, cliched selection of pieces that everyone has heard a million times and is tired of. Rick pulled off an almost perfect choice, at least to my limited taste. The sixteen and a half tracks started with Ry Cooder and Muddy Waters; can there be a better way to start? Never! Then he worked his way through a diverse playlist including two pieces by J.S. Bach (suite for unaccompanied cello, and a violin concerto), one each from Grieg and Sibelius, some Nina Simone, Paul Kelly and Leonard Cohen, plus a couple of old favourites from Fleetwood Mac, Dave Brubeck, and Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto. The reason I said it was a sixteen and a half track selection is that at the very end, the magnificent Rolling Stones were replaced mid-song by the whining Joni Mitchell - and that's why I've been a hard assessor and said the selection was almost perfect. Had Keith been allowed to continue to play on rhythm guitar and Mick to wail on vocals etc, I would have given full marks, a perfect score, to the selection. (It must be a deficiency of my personality, but I cannot understand the kafuffle surrounding the supposed 'musical brilliance' of David Bowie or Joni Mitchell.)

What about Item (3), the equipment? Now this was interesting, and novel. All the equipment on demonstration was of Rick's creation (admittedly with some help from his friends, to paraphrase a Beatles' song). He showcased two pairs of his loudspeakers, the first being a full-range, stand-mount device using a single 6.5" paper-cone driver from Dayton Audio in the U.S.A., I think the PS180-8 model. It had an 8 ohm impedance and 92 dB sensitivity. Just before the evening coffee break, he switched over to his second pair, a compact two-way using a 6.5" bass driver from SP Acoustics in the U.K. and a ring-radiator tweeter from Scan Speak in Denmark (5 kHz, 1st order crossover; 4 ohm impedance, 90 dB sensitivity). The cabinets are all CNC-machined in Melbourne from 25-mm thick, solid bamboo, with three cross-laminated layers. Rick took care to bring along an empty cabinet so we could see the complex, undulating internal profile made possible only with CNC machining. A subwoofer, equipped with a 12" Peerless driver in a 40 L sealed box and driven by a 500-watt Class AB amplifier, covered frequencies below about 90 Hz. The subwoofer cabinet is made from 40-mm thick, solid bamboo laminate, consisting of five cross-laminated layers (i.e. something extremely dense and rigid, properties useful for subwoofers driven by half-kilowatt amplifiers.

Complementing the two loudspeakers were Rick's own CS4 preamplifier, featuring DSP and room correction. As he pointed out to Nick in an email after the event to explain what this device can do, "the pre-amp is supplied complete with calibrated measurement microphone and the software licence to perform Dirac Live room corrections. A PC laptop with two USB ports is required for the calibration process, which is not difficult but does involve some reading and perhaps a few iterations at first to fine tune the result. Once the calibration is performed it is uploaded to the unit and can be turned on or off via the remote. Four unique calibrations can be stored and recalled via the remote - for instance for different listening positions, or different equipment combinations, or desired tonal balance".

Power amplification came from another of his creations, a multichannel Class D power amplifier based on the Hypex modules developed by Bruno Putzeys in The Netherlands. The power amplifier can be configured in a number of ways including 2 x 250 watts, 2 x 250 watts with 2 x additional auxiliary tweeter channels (as demonstrated during the night), 1x 500 watt monoblock, 1 x 500 watt monoblock with auxiliary tweeter channel, or for those really requiring horsepower, as 2 x 500 watts. (Ye gods, and I was considering a 7 watt SET valve job for my office as having sufficient power). The inputs can be specified as single-ended or balanced on all two-channel or monoblock configurations. Feeding everything was music streamed at good old-fashioned CD Red Book standard from Tidal.

Paul I Boon

Web Ed.

Jun 2018

AGM

May 2018

Convenors Request Night with gear by Ray Goh

This will be an uncharacteristically short report - short because the Convenors Choice meeting on Wednesday 16 May was one of the most enjoyable events I've participated in, and so there's little to debate about the merits or otherwise of the music or playback equipment. The smaller-than-average audience enjoyed a wide range of music selected by the club's convenors.

Music played went from the sublime to the ridiculous, from a military-band piece written by John Philip Sousa to Bizet's Carmen and Mozart's Magic Flute, by the way of a ballad by a heavy-rock group (!), three sets of cool 1950s jazz (perfectly recorded), odd mixes of 'east-meets-west' and 'northmeets- south' fusion sounds, sundry modern folk and pop singers, and even some electronica. Not a lot of blues or soul but still, what a feast of musical genres!

The electronic equipment was kindly provided by Ray Goh from the Hi Fi Exchange (note: now in Alexandra Parade, Clifton Hill); the speakers were kindly lent by our president from his personal stash. The pre-amplifier was a Luxman C-1000, a model launched in March 1975 to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary and designed by the electronics wizard Tim de Paravicini. It was in production until 1977. As was commonplace at the time, was adorned with a staggering - but very useful - array of controls: two phono inputs with variable input impedances, comprehensive tone controls with all sorts of cross-over options, high- and low-cut filters, options for two sets of speakers that could be run in all manner of perverse stereo/mono/ reverse mono combinations.

The power amplifier was a matching Luxman M-2000, a solid-state monster that generates 180 watts per channel and has an enviable frequency response of 5 Hz to 100 kHz + 1 dB (http://www.thevintageknob.org/ luxman-M-2000.html). Two huge VU meters adorn the left-hand fascia to indicate average levels; below them are six lights (per channel) to show peaks. It was in production from October 1975 to 1978.

The Marantz CD17 CD player that provided the source is a much later invention, being one of Marantz's high-end players during the late 1990s. I'll not describe the speakers, as I've imposed on Martin to write-up an article for MAN on the evolution of these intriguing devices.

The sound was among the nicest I'd heard during a Wednesday-night demonstration. For the first two tracks I thought: ouch, that treble is fierce and the bass is wobbly and wallowy, bordering on being a bit flatulent. But then either (1) I came to my senses or (2) the equipment got into its stride, and we were rewarded for the rest of the night with a gorgeous sound that I'd be perfectly happy to live with at my home.

The first thing that usually makes me wary of solid-state amplification (especially high-power stuff) is its tendency to a hard, unforgiving midrange and a brittle, spitty treble. These sorts of amplifiers can be all a bit relentless in their search for detail. But I heard none of that during the night: here was a system that simply reproduced that it was fed. Give it a hard, 'digitalis' sound and that's what you heard out of the speakers; give it something better recorded and that's what you heard too. Give it saccharine, and you get saccharine in return (a comment on Peter Xeni's aversion to the songs and singing of Roberta Joan Anderson.) Give it a transcription of a Columbia recording from the 1950s and you get bliss.

The second thing that I sometimes find lacking in solid-state equipment is a lack of sound staging. (At this point in the article you can probably tell that I'm very much in the valve-amplifier camp.) But Wednesday night's equipment yielded lots of integrated left-to-right information and front-toback sensations, even in the unforgiving acoustics of the Willis Room. In a better (smaller, softer, quieter) domestic setting I can imagine that it all would have gelled marvellously and the listener would be rewarded with a system that reproduced the finest details yet was unfatiguing, and at the same time was tonally accurate and spatially exciting. And one, as noted later, that didn't cost a bomb. When I closed my eyes the whole system seemed to disappear and I had no impression of two separate streams of sound being beamed at my from two sources situated four metres apart.

All the while the VU meters on the M-2000 barely moved and only the two lowest bulbs on the peak lights lit up; the Luxman was barely cruising. Martin's speakers must have a usefully high efficiency, as in the past I've often seen nominally more powerful amplifiers gasping for breath and speakers begging for mercy when played at similar volumes in the Willis Room.

But the best thing? I must admit to being a bit of a softie when it comes to older hi-fi gear - I have four systems in my house, each one dedicated to a decade, starting with the 1970s and ending with gear that's only a few months old. Some comes from Japan, some from England, some from Denmark, some from Sweden, some from North America. (I'm not adventurous enough to yet have 1950s stuff). The Luxmans, therefore, struck a sympathetic nerve with my bowerbird-like personality. Ray has the complete system - the Marantz CD player and the matching Luxman amplifiers - on sale for less than $3,500. What a bargain! The only drawback is that the gear is 40 years old. But Japanese gear from the 1970s is built like a tank and since it's worked perfectly for the past four decades, the chances that it will pack up tomorrow are pretty slim. And if it did break down, I guess it will only a couple of ageing capacitors that need to be replaced.

We are often confronted with equipment demonstrations that showcase gear that costs 10 or even 20 times what the Luxman-Marantz system cost. Sometimes the phono-cartridge alone costs more than the complete set up, yet it would be a very finicky person who would not be satisfied with the equipment we heard used last Wednesday night. Perhaps we could have a system of demonstrations to highlight what someone could get for reasonable amounts of money, sums that don't require you to (1) sell a vital organ or (2) push your children into prostitution to afford?

Bravo to Nick, Ray and Martin.

Paul Boon

April 2018

Redgum Audio the Black Series

Never have we had a musical presentation as professional as that from Ian Robinson and Lindy Gerber - the gear surprising sound though so affordable, Lindy's charming intelligent introduction to the musical choices with a cogent theme: "Why I chose this piece, and why it would 'go' at a public demo".

Their Media Server for a lousy $1K DAC same price, combined with the excellent $2K amp and $2.5K speakers with a TIDAL subscription and you're Good to Go! This would win anyone who is interested in music but doesn't know what to get - which is most of our friends and family, who suffer with FUD and FOMO. [Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, and Fear of Missing OUT]. I almost feel like loading up a van and selling it door-to-door, couldn't fail. Put ads in In-Flight magazines, Just look at their awards at the big international shows. Exposure is everything (think Bose). But sexy names, please. "RGi35ENR" ?] perhaps RedRiver series 1,2 and 3.

Notes made on the night then transcribed once I got around to it. Never good, prompt revision deciphers uncertainties in re-reading one's notes. At least someone's done it I guess, so enjoy the mystery magical trip: CSC factory in Box Hill in the 90s, for ten years, then contracted out, still in Melbourne. John Riley speakers moved out to Shenzen, local rents too high. Black Series amps etc, Australian made circuit boards, robot assembly, then parts to China for final assembly.

First media server went upto only 16bits, the market 'needs' higher rez hence John deSensi's second DAC for them. Also only $1000, but for you... The media server is a tiny PC laptop without mouse or keyboard or screen, controlled via mobile phone/ iPad.. Plenty (6) inputs for e.g HDD, LAN. etc.

The amp we heard was 65 watts (seemed plenty to us) is $3000. A little extra for an actual redgum front fascia and why wouldn't anyone? Axis speakers by John Riley was Peerless bass, metal ribbon tweeter and fancy crossover. High gloss looks A1 Partner AF. [DO re-check online the technical details; I'm just a music person.]

First fanfare 'Sex Toy' This woman is not going to play the standard show audiophile repertoire... Then Eric Bogle's 'He's nobody's moggy now.' (Did she know that Chris would be with us?). "Audio self-censorship - one can muck up a potential punter at a show, puts head into room, 'that's not my sort of music, skedaddles.'"

Daft Punk played at last Melbourne HiFi show. And you thought she was a nice lady. It cleared the room. Which can lead to predictable play lists. Have you heard Diana Kraal? A bold choice, Minister: 1954 Artur Rubinstein, Chopin preludes. Isn't one of the three strengths of the MAC being introduced to new music, 'I didn't think I liked that sort of music, but I'll look for more like it.' (the other two: the gear and the guys, of course). A jazz Trio. Actually, this genre is good show material, always sounds good, not demanding as is big orchestral music.

So Lindy tempts the sound gods and the show punters with a big choral piece. Then another symphonic piece (or film music if that's your choice) and those massed stings of Barber's adagio were not nasty, not at all, and that is one of audio's toughest tests. I'd like that for my funeral, 'not a dry seat in the house.' Carol King, twice, the first 'this isn't all that good' sounded OK to me. I like the music, never mind the hifi. It has been said, and it is true, Harman have run tests, that the more discriminating you are in analysing sound, the less you enjoy the music. Think about that! Musicians are less picky about sound quality than we are. There are exceptions.

\ 'Is it too loud?' Asked Ian at one stage. No, I gave back; it was running at 88dBA on my iPhone SPL meter from AudioTools, and yes it is accurate enough. All music has a right volume level. Just ask Graham Cobb. A giant guitar or a constricted orchestra make this clear. James Taylor is a good show piece, the human voice, M or F is something we know well. I got a $250 Pioneer centre speaker for my TV, and when the newsreader is on and I'm on axis, it's spooky realistic. Pioneer? $250? Yes, because it's an Andrew Jones special, he now of ELAC who are shooting goals.

The Jerry Douglas track with BASS registered some output around 20Hz on my AudioTools RTA. Which also showed when there was little high end on the thin -sounding Fanfare for the common Man(4K and above missing!) Bryan Ferry OTOH had plenty of juice over 8K. Some havy opera, Traviata, 1977 had it all - tone, presence, dynamics. It Ran up to 92dB, just right. Was I guilty, for using SoundHound and Shazam to glean info while the music played. Thereby not giving full attention to the music. Yes, guilty. But it is cool to read background information. Or to go to Allmusic.com and read informed opinions.

Such as Chris Jones, Blues Brothers, Ray Charles and their pieces. My highlight, and to the amazed approval of everyone I asked was the persuasive violin in the virtuoso solo violin show-stopper. Eat your heart out Clapton. Such violin energy, weight, from such a small box. Redgum, Axis, Ian, Lindy, you won big!

Peter Allen, Have Ears, will travel, & for whom 'E & OE' was coined

Web Ed.

March 2018

Melody Valve Ltd.

On Wednesday night we were exposed to unadulterated sexiness in the form of a brace of 845s mounted on the most ravishing of amplifiers, a pair of PM 845 EVOs monoblocks and a WE2688 Signature Pre preamplifier from Melody. They were fed by another sexy beast, the Accuphase DP550 SACD player, and in turn the monoblocks poured their electrons into a pair of Harbeth's flagship 40.2 speakers, a classic, if sombre-appearing, British 3- way reference monitor with a 12" woofer, 6.5" midrange and 1" tweeter. (It is the Harbeth name that occasions to the reference to Dudley and Elizabeth in the title of this article: it comes from the combination of the first syllable of Dudley Harwood, the brand's original owner and designer, and the last one of his wife, Elizabeth.) I doubt you could ever call the more dour Harbeths sexy, but they are very highly regarded for their sonic ability (see later).

The PM 845 EVOs monoblocks use two 845 valves each, driven by another iconic and, to some, sexy valve, the 300B. In turn, they are complemented by two Western Electric 429As. Each monoblock runs in Class A and delivers 70 watts. The 845 valve has experienced something of a renaissance over the past decade. It started off as a radio transmission valve in 1932 and relies on a terrifying 1,250 volts at the anode. Those who are tempted to probe around inside the chassis - beware! One assessment of the valve argued that the filaments are run so hard 'that they glow like light bulbs'. This, of course, can only add to their sexiness. It now features in amplifiers from the nominally British producer Icon Audio (reviewed very favourably in Hi-Fi World a few years ago), from Cayin, Consonance, Dared and Yaqin in China, Unison Research in Italy, as well as arguably its best-known use in the mighty Ongaku from Japan.

The pre-amplifier also uses an unusual combination of valves; two Western Electric 373As and two of the very peculiar Western Electric 416s; valve rectification (hurrah!) is provided by the much more common 274B. The WE 416 valve used in the pre-amplifier is most unusual: it is an ultra-high frequency planar triode, originally used in microwave communication systems. They are odd devices, with the cathode made from nickel coated with barium and strontium. There have been some good reports on their application to hi-fidelity: one said that "Sonically, the 416 seems to be a terrific choice for low-level phono signals permitting absolutely astounding resolution" .

The power and pre-amplifiers are certainly dressed to impress; not only do the twin 845s glow shamelessly, but the fascias are a perfectly finished, slinky white-silver metal with ultra-classy wooden side pieces. Coolness and warmth in the one package, always a winning combination. On the fascia of the monoblocks are two round meters, which I imagine are used to set the bias current to the 845s. The fascia of the pre-amplifier also has two round dials, but I couldn't determine their function. The webpage views indicate that everything inside appears to be hard wired: there are no circuit boards in the monoblocks and only the smallest one in the pre-amplifier, tucked away in the corner.

The monoblocks weigh 45 kg (each) and retail at $36,000 a pair. The preamplifier comes in at 36 kg and a price of $18,000. As well as having the most delectable finish, they are physically imposing: the monoblocks at 43 x 70 x 26 cm (WHD) and the pre-amplifier at 48 x 25 x 39 cm (also WHD). I had reported earlier on my interview with Mr Shi He Wang (the owner and designer of Melody) and Mr Ming Li; see my article in the December 2017 issue of MAN. He established Melody in 1999, in Baywater (Melbourne). Manufacturing has since moved to Shenzhen (China). Melody's very pretty webpage describes the current set-up.

In contrast, the Harbeths are classically restrained, perhaps even sombre in appearance. They are big though - 42 x 75 x 38 cm - and weigh an appreciable 37 kg each. They retail at around $25,000 in Australia. I couldn't get a price on the Accuphase, but I did find the updated DP560 model for sale on line in Japan for US$6,500, so we were listening to a system that would retail for about A$90,000, more if we include the cost of cables of an appropriate calibre. It is this matter of $ than perplexes me. The combined cost of around $54,000 for the amplification places the Melodies in a very rarified atmosphere. For the same, and in many cases considerably less, a buyer could chose from top-end models of valve amplifiers from American firms such as Audio Research, Macintosh, Manley, VTL or Cary. If solid-sate is your preference, you have a wide range of choices from firms such as Accuphase and Luxman in Japan, Chord, Naim and Musical Fidelity in England, T&A and MBL from Germany, and Mark Levinson and D'Agostino in America. Ouch - the competition from established brands will be fierce, but I guess this is where the elegant styling and fine finish of the Melodys is a USP. It can't but help when trying to mix it with this group of competitors

Paul Boon

Playlist

1: Anne-Sophie Mutter - Carmen - Fantasie
2. Frank Sinatra - It Was a Very Good Year - The Sopranos TV Series
3. Nick Lowe - The Beast in Me - The Sopranos TV Series
4. Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O'Connor - 1B - Appalachian Journey
5. Stacey Kent - Ces Petits Riens - Breakfast on the Morning Tram
6. Antonio Vivaldi : Le Quattro Stagioni - Autumn : Allegro - Fone Gold CD
7. Jimmy Webb - Wichita Linesman - Ten Easy Pieces - EU Pressing
8. Pink Martini - But Now I'm Back - Splendor in the Grass
9. Pink Martini - Sing - Splendor in the Grass
10. Eric Bibb & Needed Time - Where The Green Grass Grows - Opus 3 HDCD
11. Rodrigo y Gabriela - Stairway To Heaven - Rodrigo y Gabriela
12. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here - Wish You Were Here - EU Pressing
13. Mahler - Symphony No.6: II Andante moderato - Valery Gergiev - LSO
14. Dire Straits - Fade to Black - On Every Street - UK Pressing
15. Eilen Jewell - One of Those Days - Sea of Tears
16. Ry Cooder & V.M.Bhatt - A Meeting by the River - Water Lily Acoustics USA

Nick

Web Ed.

February 2018

Pure Music Group presents Open Audio Designs

We had the pleasure on Wednesday night of Warwick Freemantle from the Pure Music Group and Jon De Sensi from Open Audio Designs showcasing Jon's new (and hand-made in Melbourne) CP1 pre-amplifier and UF1 power amplifier, feeding a very tasty pair of floor-standing, white Berlina RC-7D Mark II speakers from Gauder Akustik in Germany. It was to be an allanalog demonstration too, as the source was a Kuzma Stabi S turntable with Kuzma 4 Point 9" arm (built in Slovenia), the latter bearing a Phasemation moving-coil cartridge from Kyodo Denshi in Japan.

As ever, the awkward question of dosh raises its ugly head: $52,00 for the Gauders with the diamond tweeter ($42,000 for the standard version), a comparatively miserly $2,700 for the Stabi S, $5,300 for the 4 Point arm, and $4,000 for the cartridge. Jon's amplifiers? - $6,300 for the power amplifier; $6,500 for the pre-amplifier plus $3,250 for the optional plug-in phono stage. So the all-up cost was hovering around $80,000.

When asked what he aimed to achieve with the amplifiers, Jon was clear: no colouration, highly linear, as accurate as possible, no third harmonic distortion. He said that he was proud his amplifiers had been described as 'warm', not in the euphonic, valve-amplifier sense but in the sense that they were not harsh or tiring. He'll get no objection from me on this point: that unrelenting harshness that so often masquerades as 'detail' in solid -state designs is one of the many things that threw me into the arms of the valve-amplifier fraternity a decade ago. Jon's power amplifier runs in Class A up to 5 or 6 watts, then reverts to Class AB for the next 195 watts, up to its rated output of 200 watts per channel (into 4 or 8 ohms).

Full marks and all our thanks to Warwick and Jon for a fascinating, stimulating and enjoyable evening.

Play List

1. Lou Reed, Transformer: Walk on the wild side
2. Russmann Winfried, violin & Carmen Piazzini, piano, Pablo De Sarasate, Habanera Op 21, Virtuose Tanze
3. Gounod, Funeral March of a Marionette, RCA LSC-2449 recording
4. Keb' Mo', Keb' Mo': Every Morning
5. John Lee Hooker: Baby Lee
6. Quadro Nouveo, Gilbert Becaud, Et Maintenant
7. Malcolm Arnold, English, Cornish and Scottish Dances: Set 1, 1950, Andatino and Vivace
8. Louis Armstrong, St James Infirmary
9. Pink Floyd, The Wall, Another brick in the wall (part 2)
10. Gerry Garcia & David Grisman, Garcia/Grisman: The thrill is gone
11. Dire Straits, Money for nothing: Money for nothing
12. Dead Can Dance: The ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove; The wind that shakes the barley

Paul Boon

Web Ed.

January 2018

QEOS II by Perfect 8 Technologies

When it comes to cabinet construction, many speaker designers will traditionally use some type of wood to produce a finished product. In the past, unconventional material like concrete has been tried. Today, everything from 'high-density polyurethane' to aluminium is in use. Glass would be the most unique and challenging material for any speaker designer.

In 2016 the Australian Hi-Fi & AV Show hosted the world premiere of the QEOS II. These new glass speakers are designed in Sweden, produced in Germany by the renowned glass furniture manufacturer Dreieck Design, while the crossover filters are made in Australia by Spuncsound founder Roland Boitor. This new model is inspired by Perfect 8 Technologies earlier 'Cube' speaker but with increased inner volume that delivers enriched sound. This team of specialists believe glass has become the ideal structural material for a new revolutionary high-end audio solution. One key technology used in the QEOS II speaker, is the proprietary Super Silent Glass (SSG) "SSG is a special glass type which virtually eliminates all vibrations there is no ringing."

The new stand mount speaker is fabricated from 12mm thick glass panels. The sealed glass enclosure houses two 7-inch aluminium drivers and a 35mm fabric dome tweeter. The mid/bass drivers are mounted on opposite sides of the cabinet, thereby delivering a virtually omni directional radiation pattern throughout the heart of the music, up to 900Hz. The tweeter which faces the listener delivers its sonic signature from 700Hz (!) and looks after the high frequencies.

Roland Boitor from Spuncsound presented an excellent program of music to demonstrate the sonic attributes of these speakers, as well as their technical highlights. Loudspeakers are often described as being a window on the performance; with this new revolutionary material, we get to see and hear the results.

Web Ed.