Floor
0
VIP room - Hi Fi Center
The
Sopegno brothers, Hi Fi Center’s owners, are the ones who
discovered and introduced to Italy, more than five years
ago (so before they were known outside their home countries)
manufacturers such as mbl, Symphonic Line, Audio Tekne.
They had two systems and a half. The first system was their
usual mbl installation, this time featuring the latest version
of the 101 Radialstrahler. The digital source and the power
amp were also mbl products, the preamp was a Mactone. As
an alternative to the mbl power amp (and there’s the other
"half" system), there were a pair of Mactone tube
mono power amps. The sound was deeply fascinating, I dreamt
of having the ticket of admission to this kind of sound
in my house…
The other
system featured an mbl digital source and integrated amp
and speakers from the latest Hi Fi Center discovery, FAL,
from Japan. I think it’s a difficult system to "get",
as it is an attempt to recreate the air, the precision,
the focus and the lack of distortion of electrostatic headphones
in a standard amp/loudspeakers system. I liked it a lot,
by the way. The speakers are equipped with ribbon tweeters
and flat mid and bass drivers. The amp, at first look, seems
to be a green painted Audio Innovations from the Eighties,
but they tell me it’s quite novel, inside. The speakers
were positioned in a strange way, very far from each other
and very near to the optimum listening position; what was
really impressive was the separation between instruments
and the sense of space, without "hole in the middle".
The tonal balance was unusual, too, as it was lightweight,
giving a great sense of speed, but there was no sense of
harmonic constraints; "body" or "authority"
didn’t seem to be a concern, but you didn’t have the sensation
that something was missing. A "difficult" system,
which should be listened to, to try something different.
Be
as it may, and whichever was the system playing when you
were in the room, Hi Fi Center’s systems are a mainstay
in the top positions of the Top Audio & Video best sounding
systems chart.
Cerere
room - Audio Note
Some
really interesting new products: a new version of the AN/E
speaers, featuring a new mid-bass driver, allowing for a
98dB efficiency (outstanding for direct radiators), as usual,
positioned in room corner; theM10 preamp, with a monster
double external PSU; the Sogon power amps, first products
in Audio Note’s new Level 6 (superior in design and parts
quality to the traditional Ongaku, Kassai and Gaku-On, which
are Level 5 components), PSE 300B equipped mono, (tube)
external PSU amps; and the new TT Three, which seems to
be a change of conception compared to Audio Note’s previous
Voyd inspired designs (the picture should explain why);
the digital source was a combination of the best available
transport and the second best DAC (the 5.1x Signature).
The sound was in the usual Audio Note tradition, power and
dynamics, speed and a touch of magic, adding a new realistic
body. The soundstage was sub-optimal, but, as we know, Peter
Qvortrup thinks soundstaging is something of an audiophile
aberration, without a correspondence in reality. An interesting
thing to note was the fact that the digital source seemed
to be a second choice to the analogue one, being present
only to play visitors’ discs…
Vega room- Audiograffiti
A
nice idea from the Italian distributor of Spectral, Avalon,
MIT, Verity, Harbeth and many more interesting products,
was to present a down-to-earth multichannel music system:
5 Harbeth HL-P3ES2, the interesting James Loudspeakers sub
(equipped with an active and a passive 10" driver in
a compact enclosure) and Atoll amps. The source was a Marantz
SA17-S1; I have listened to one of Pentatone’s remastered
Philips Quadro recordings, and noticed that the sweetness
of the baby Harbeth speakers succeeded in offsetting the
glass wall’s negative effects.
Aries
room - Audio Art and Design
Naim Audio’s
distributor presented Audiogram’s new baby speakers, nice
and easy to fit in a civilian’s room (680 Euro/pair), driven
by a Naim entry CD player and pre/power amp. Another surprise
was the annnouncement of a less expensive 5 series from
Naim, dubbed 5i, composed by a CD player and an integrated
amp. The i components lose some features (no external PSU
option for , 4 inputs and a passive preamp section for the
integrated amp) and get much cheaper; the two products weren’t
present, as they are going into production in November,
but if, as I was told, their sound is comparable to the
5 series components, they might well be a bargain. I have
heard that the amp is a trickle down from the new top series…
2
channel area, floor 0
1
- Audio Analogue
The
Maestro integrated amp and CD player were partnered with
B&W Nautilus 803 speakers, as often – it’s known that
the final voicing of Audio Analogue’s products is done with
B&W speakers. Room limitations, though, constrained
the soundstage between the speakers; other audiophile parameters
were fine.
Some
interesting things in the room: the turntable prototype,
with an MDF chassis and an acrylic platter, an ingenious
VTA arrangement (the platter, not the tonearm, height is
changed, so that any tonearm – Rega included – can take
advantage of that), large main bearing and available in
black or in this funny, attention-grabbing green; and a
phono preamp, ready for production, as usual well built,
and with a 500 Euro-ish price tag.
3
- Simetel/Nightingale
The
Concentus dipole speakers were partnered with the beautiful
Nightingale products.I don’t know if the speakers were improved
since the last time I have heard them, or if they were better
suited to this room than to the other ones I have heard
them in, but their bass range was really something else.
5
- SAP
A
surprise: Nagra’s first loudspeaker, designed in Switzerland
and manufactured in Italy by SAP.
The
system was composed by the small SAP Seamate speakers (the
navy ply is certified by the Italian Civil Navy Registry),
SAP Anniversary preamp and mono amps, Nagra and EMT sources.
The sound was captivating, the system was unintrusive and
nice to see and there was a relaxed, pleasant atmosphere
in the room.
7
- Omicron
The
dynamic Mauro Mauri, after designing one of the strangest
turntables you have ever seen, has now turned his attention
to digital components. With his usual enthusiasm, he was
telling me how he calmed down a Philips CDPRO2 transport
by using a rigid mounting system with 4 Kg of bronze. The
Omicron Stargate modular stands were supporting a pair of
stand-mount loudspeakers, the "pigreco" preamp
and amps, in mono bridged configuration, and the CD player,
still a prototype, in two chassis and not as painstakingly
finished as the other components. The floorstanding speakers
were playing, though, and a great sound they made, too –
transparent, articulated and sweet; I would have stayed
much, much longer, were the room less crowded and the time
less constrained…
9
- Ars Aures, Cantina Sperimentale, Sensorial Design
A
really nice match. A room which an average gal/guy might
actively want, electronic products which look very well
finished and not "experimental" (Sperimentale)
in the least, and a speaker system which seems to be a mature
product, a pleasant and relaxing sound. I think the future
of "audiophile" homes is here, in these acoustically
correct(ive) furniture. I hope prices get lower, as 15000
Euro for the shelf/drawer wall system is a lot – the furniture
is very well crafted and finished, but it might be difficult
to convince your non audiophile partner to prefer it to
normal furniture.
11 - Pearl Audio Technologies, Viva Audio
There
were a lot of Pearl speakers (I think there were no new
products, but there were so much speakers that I might have
missed the new ones…), but I think the nicest thing was
the fact that Viva is back home, after their success abroad
(most notably in the U.S.A.). The unusually finished Viva
amps are different from the rest in colour, and their sound
is interesting even when partnered with medium efficiency,
direct radiating speakers.
A
nice buffet, featuring organic food, in a corner of the
room.
13
- Music Tools
Pathos’
top was acquitting itself really well, coupled with some
promising loudspeakers, still in prototype form, and with
the brinkmann Balance turntable. Helmut Brinkmann is a German
designer who, since many years, first with the audiolabor
brand, then with his own brand, which is almost a one-man
band, manufactures music machines, the high price tags of
which are justified by outstanding build quality and one-of-a-kind
solutions – in this case the bearing, which is kept warm
by a particular circuit, and the optional tube power supply
for the turntable motor.
Some
faults, certainly attributable to their prototype form,
of the loudspeakers, weren’t as evident as to disqualify
the sound quality of the room.
The
racks and tables which were all around the room gave a good
hint of Music Tools specialty (other than distributing Pathos
and brinkmann, that is); new for the show were the CD shelf
and a modular equipment stand, affordable and pleasant to
see.
The
amp featured at the centre of the system rack was the new
Inpol2 integrated, which won both the 2-channel
audio and the design award at the show, which closes the
gap in Pathos’ range between the TT and the InPower/InControl
trio.
15.
Pathos
The
multichannel CinemaX integrated amp, Pathos’ first foray
into multichannel audio, was driving a complete range of
loudspeakers, front, centre and surround channels, also
in prototype form. Pathos confirms its qualities in multichannel,
both in sound quality and in aesthetics, with their usual
bronze tonality which I always found fascinating in these
components, since when I saw their first prototypes in Gaetano
Zanini’s shop, some kilometres far from the centre of my
birth town, Vicenza.
17.
Fugagnollo
Cec
and Precide/Heil – a CEC midrange system was driving, in
a very delicate way, the Heil speakers, which are equipped
with the famous ribbon tweeter and an almost horizontally
mounted midwoofer. Sound quality was very pleasant, thanks
also to the moderate levels. I have heard a rather convincing
reproduction of Vivaldi’s Flute Concertos, in the BIS/Laurin
version, which was lacking just some instrumental grain
and some enthusiasm to be one of the best. In a table there
was the AM51 integrated amp, which is a zero-feedback design
– quite unusually for a Japanese manufacturer of solid state
amps.
