Hifi Pig

British company Heretic Audio emailed Hifi Pig to tell us about their new Huron 3 loudspeaker which is available now.

It looks and interesting design being highly efficient (95db) and with an impedence of over 7.5 Ohms which should provide an easy load for most amplifiers out there (7W minimum is suggested).  

Huron 3 has four paper coned 6 ¾ inch drivers working in unison to cover the lower registers and a waveguide loaded soft dome tweeter taking care of the higher frequencies. Frequency range is given as 30Hz to 20kHz and a maximum power handling of 200W is quoted.

The crossover design in the Huron 3 is a simple second order configuration using quality film capacitors and oversized air core inductors. Internal wiring is high purity OFC copper using synthetic insulators, all solder has silver content and point to point wiring is used throughout.

Cabinets for the Huron 3 are made from MDF which is veneered in real wood on both the outside and (surprisingly) the inside. Multiple braces are used in the cabinet and only small amounts of damping material are used. The cabinet is reflex loaded to the front with a slot port and a full length grill is included, but Heretic suggest this should be removed for serious listening.

Heretic say that the Huron 3 has been made easy to position and should be successful in a wide variety of rooms with minimum fuss and it can be placed near rear wall and even corners.

Price is £2500 a pair.

Fujitsu Ten Eclipse contacted Hifi Pig to tell us about their TD-M1 Airplay active wireless speaker system which they say can be used as a hifi, desktop monitor or for when watching the television.

The system has been built with a philosophy of “Better in, Better out” and is set up to take advantage of 24/192 formats having a suitable USB connected DAC plus NOS DAC and class D amplification.

The TD-M1 is compatible with AirPlay and AirPlay Direct for all apple devices, has full Wi-Fi streaming, USB Direct for iPhone and Pad charging and has a 3.5mm stereo jack input for connecting TVs and other devices.

The speaker is a single driver 8cm design with no crossover positioned in a non-resonant composite egg cabinet and utilising DSP processing.

The TD-M1 will get its UK launch at the Bristol show and will have a price of £999 inc in UK and $1300 plus tax in USA.

Meridian get on the road in 2014 with a series of events to Celebrate 25 years of Digital Loudspeaker Innovation, with the Introduction of Special Edition Loudspeakers.

Events kick off on February 14th with a two-day dedicated Meridian open-day at the newly opened Meridian West London Boutique in Chelsea. Meridian is connecting with its retail partners to preview the introduction of the new Special Edition DSP Digital Active Loudspeakers in-store and members of the public will be made welcome to visit various stores across the UK – for full details of where and when visit the Meridian website.

The events will continue throughout March and April and will provide an opportunity to experience the new Special Edition DSP Digital Active Loudspeakers, enjoy demonstrations and hear from Meridian engineers.

The Special Edition loudspeakers required many entirely new design implementations to the DSP8000, DSP7200 and DSP5200 models say Meridian.

All Special Edition loudspeakers feature;

–        New Meridian designed short horn loaded tweeter with a Beryllium dome

–        New mid-range and bass driver mechanical clamp rings

–        New wideband, high resolution analogue electronics

–        New DSP implementing the performance improvement of ‘EBA’ technology across the entire frequency range.

British audio company, Ferguson Hill, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the development of a new speaker product, the Ferguson Hill Clear Speaker System. Created for music and TV sound, the system builds upon Ferguson Hill’s trademark horn-loaded loudspeaker technology.

Elliptical horn satellite speakers combine with spherical bass speakers, all fashioned from crystal-clear acrylic, alongside an integrated amplifier with a range of analogue and digital inputs, plus wireless audio streaming from Bluetooth-compatible devices. The Clear Speaker System comes in three configurations: the Primary System (two horn speakers and one bass sphere); the Deluxe System (two horn speakers and two bass spheres); and the Deluxe Surround Sound System (four horn speakers and two bass spheres).

The Kickstarter project aims to raise £149,500 by Monday 10^th March. People who contribute to the fund before the deadline stand to receive a range of benefits, including the various configurations of the Clear Speaker System at significantly discounted prices.

The Clear Speaker System features the latest generation of Ferguson Hill’s ‘front-loaded horn dipole’ loudspeaker design, which the company pioneered in 2003 with its first product, the 160cm high, floorstanding FHOO1. Essentially, this involves a drive unit assembly that radiates sound waves fore and aft, mounted in the centre of an elliptical cone made from clear polycarbonate.

The three available system configurations deliver flexibility according to the user’s requirements and budget, from two-channel stereo to surround sound, with either two or four horn speakers augmented by one or two bass speakers .

The horn speakers measure 42x27x19cm (HxWxD) and can be wall mounted using the supplied brackets, or secured to tall, elegant floor stands, also supplied. The bass speaker features a 20cm drive unit housed within a ported polycarbonate sphere with a diameter of 35cm, supported by three spiked aluminium feet.

The principal reason for Ferguson Hill’s Kickstarter campaign is to help fund the development of a compact, fully integrated amplifier that will be supplied with all three Clear Speaker System configurations. Already in the advanced stages of development, the amp is small enough to be secreted away on a shelf, rack or TV stand and contains six amp modules to enable each drive unit in the Deluxe Surround System to be driven by its own amplifier.

The amp delivers a total of 180W (the split per channel depending on the number of speakers in the system), incorporates a DAC and 5.1/7.1-channel surround sound processing, plus a range of analogue and digital inputs including USB and HDMI. Bluetooth connectivity is also supported, allowing music to be streamed wirelessly from compatible devices like smartphones and tablets.

All three Clear Speaker System configurations are scheduled to launch in September 2014. Prices are expected to be around £895 for the Primary System, £1,125 for the Deluxe System and £1,395 for the Deluxe Surround Sound System.

Wharfedale have announced their new Vista 100 Soundbar which the company says offers a compact alternative to the traditional 5.1 surround sound loudspeaker array and is ideal for rooms where floor space is at a premium.

Measuring less than one meter in width, and equipped for table or wall mounting, the Vista 100 plugs straight into any TV  and incorporates “Sonic Emotion Absolute 3D” technology which is said to provide a wide sweet spot.

On board the Vista 100 there is a 60W built-in amplifier which drives its six neodymium drivers plus Bluetooth.  The inclusion of a Bluetooth wireless receiver means, in addition to its four wired inputs, users can connect Bluetooth-equipped devices, turning the Vista 100 into any room’s ‘sound hub’.

The Vista 100 package includes a remote control providing remote access to all functions, including a choice of four EQ modes. Listeners can select from Game, Movie, Music, as well as ‘off’. To further tailor sound to match the surroundings, it’s also possible to adjust both bass and treble levels.

The Wharfedale Vista 100 is available from February 2014 at a suggested retail price of £149.95.

Hot on the heels of the success of the Reference CD9 Audio Research have announced the solid-state CD6 CD-DAC. The new CD-DAC combines a compact disc player with a digital-to-analogue converter in one compact chassis.

The CD6 is so much more than the 5-1/2 year old CD5 that it replaces, both sonically and technologically say audio Research. There are four digital inputs, including asynchronous

The CD6 utilises quad 24-bit DACs running in mono mode, with dual master oscillators; one for 44.1/88.2/176.4 sample rates, the other for 48/96/192kHz sample rates. Sample rate conversion is selectable for all inputs, allowing playback in native resolution or via upsampling, including compact disc and USB. Additionally, there is a selectable digital filter offering fast or slow rolloff.

The front panel layout is identical to the REFCD9, with a dimmable display on the left side. On the right side there are three vertical LED displays indicating Sample rates (192-176.4-96-88.2-48-44.1), Input (CD-RCA-USB-TOS1-TOS2), and Fast-Slow- Upsample-Power. Underneath the LED displays are seven metal buttons for Power, Previous, Play, Next, Pause, Stop, and Input.

In addition to the digital inputs, the back panel includes two digital outputs (AES/EBU and BNC), single-ended RCA and balanced XLR outputs, an IR input, and a 15A IEC power connector.

The CD6 comes with the metal remote and costs £8050 inc VAT.