Swiss high end manufacturer Soulution has announced that they will be launching their new 560 
DAC at High-End Munich 2014.
The 560 from Soulution will have five digital inputs including AES/EBU, SPDIF, Optical, USB and LAN which makes it a pretty versatile box of tricks. The USB is of an asynchronous design based around a high performance DSP.
Soulution’s new DAC is clocked by a precision device that is not powered by USB but by what the company are calling “ultra stable power supplies”. The LAN connection has a separate and dedicated DSP which manages the communication to the network but does not buffer or decode the incoming signals.
Soulutions 560 will accept PCM (16bit/32kHz to 24bit/192kHz), DXD (34bit/352.8 kHz) and DSD (1bit/2.82MHz and double DSD (1 bit/5.62Mhz).
The 560 DAC improves on the company’s previous converters with a more powerful DSP (32bit floating point) for upsampling which the company says “allows for much higher precision of the polynomial upsampling calculation process, the integration od a state of the art apodizing digital filter and has still enough computation headroom for Soulution’s innovative Zero-Phase-Technology.
The Zero-Phase-Technology (Zerojtech) essentially allows the phase error of the analogue output to remain below 1 degree, 20Hz-100kHz.
Despite the High-end Munich launch production of the new Soulution 560 will not be until September 2014 when it will have an expected price of 23 000 CHF (around £15, 500).
Diesis Audio has announced its participation at the HiFi DeLuxe show in Munich May 15th to May 17th
as well as the High-End Munich show which takes place 15th to18th of the same month.
They will have their entire range of speakers (Caput Mundi, Aura, Ludos) and their integrated amp, Evento 20-11 on show and for demo and listening sessions.
Diesis Audio was founded in Italy in 1993 and after years of development created their first product, the Caput Mundi which was the first loudspeaker in the world with a dipole load in the low frequencies and a coaxial compression driver horn loaded for the midrange and high frequencies.
They will be in the Linderhof room (Studio 5) at the HiFi Deluxe show and Hall 3 Stand J 14 at Munich.
Diesis Audio has announced its participation at the HiFi DeLuxe show in Munich May 15th to May 17th as well as the High-End Munich show which takes place 15th to18th of the same month.
They will have their entire range of speakers (Caput Mundi, Aura, Ludos) and their integrated amp, Evento 20-11 on show and for demo and listening sessions.
Diesis Audio was founded in Italy in 1993 and after years of development created their first product, the Caput Mundi which was the first loudspeaker in the world with a dipole load in the low frequencies and a coaxial compression driver horn loaded for the midrange and high frequencies.
They will be in the Linderhof room (Studio 5) at the HiFi Deluxe show and Hall 3 Stand J 14 at Munich.
UK based semiconductor company XMOS today announces that its xCORE high-definition USB 
audio solutions are in use in a range of award-winning audio-visual products from OPPO Digital.
“Consumers are becoming more discerning about sound quality; artists and the music business are ready to deliver; and the technology is here to make it happen. We believe that the next few years will be an exciting time for this sector.” said the company.
“OPPO products such as the BDP-105D Universal Audiophile 3D Blu-Ray Disc Player use xCORE technology to deliver the bit-perfect digital audio demanded by today’s discerning consumers. The BDP-105D turns any computer into a high performing multi-media source by converting advanced digital signals, transmitted via USB, to analogue audio”. It supports DSD in standard rate (DSD64) or double rate (DSD128 or DSD 2x) via its dedicated USB DAC input, with asynchronous audio clocking enabled by xCORE technology. “The result is jitter-free operation and outstanding sound quality”.
The BDP-105D supports a wide variety of audio content formats, including lossless FLAC and WAV files: if a computer can play it, the BDP-105D can convert it to analogue.
“The entertainment industry is at one of its periodic tipping points,” said Nigel Toon, XMOS President and CEO. “Consumers are becoming more discerning about sound quality; artists and the music business are ready to deliver; and the technology is here to make it happen. We believe that the next few years will be an exciting time for this sector.”
“The xCORE USB audio solution from XMOS is proven to deliver the highest quality USB audio,” said Jason Liao, VP Product Development of OPPO Digital. “Providing bit-perfect, jitter-free audio allows us to deliver on our promise to deliver products that truly ‘speak for themselves’. We look forward to working with XMOS on future generations of A/V products aimed at discerning consumers and audiophiles around the world.”
Auris Audio, the Serbian manufacturer of tube amplifiers will be at this years High-End Munich show 
with their interesting looking range of hifi amplifiers, phono stage, DAC and headphone amplifier.
The company’s range looks to be beautifully finished in real wood and leather which certainly stands this brand apart from the usual black or silver box prevalent in most of the home audio kit we get to see.
All Auris Audio kit is built in Serbia and at Munich High-End they will be found in Atrium 4.2 room number F221.
Hifi Pig will certainly be popping in to say hell and bring you lots of pictures of this kit.
LH Labs, a division of Light Harmonic and the people behind the Geek Pulse and Geek Out 
products is announcing a new product aimed at improving smartphone audio quality.
Geek Wave is in the final stages of development and the company are want to hear from audiophiles or more casual listeners with regards what additional features they’d like to see on the new product.
Geek Wave is designed to act as an audio enhancer and a battery backup and storage device.
A common complaint from smartphone users using their phones to play music is a lack of bass and volume and that they can’t play at high-resolution and Geek Wave aims to address these issues with Geek Wave being built on a high performance DAC and technology found on their much higher-end products. Light Harmonic’s “Duet Engine” is used to improve the digital signal of MP3 music or streamed music and Geek Wave will have both 256Gb of storage and a high capacity battery that can charge the smartphone’s battery twice in half the time of other chargers on the market. Geek Wave is expected to sell at $399.
Evolution Acoustics has launched the MMTwo and MMThree loudspeakers which they say will 
“transport you into the breathtaking realm of natural music”.
Evolution Acoustics’ MM series loudspeakers are designed and built around a philosophy of Maximum Modularity which essentially means that upgrading is easily accomplished by the addition of another module.
The MMExact, an acronym for External X-over Acoustic Compensation Technology, is designed, engineered, handcrafted, and assembled in the USA.
The midrange and tweeter achieve the same output characteristics as the MMSeven (the company’s flagship loudspeaker) and they say the woofers receive increased smoothness and definition.
The external filter does not degrade the performance of the loudspeaker’s internal Constant Voltage Crossover Network say the company and looking at the quality of parts and the attention to detail it all looks very impressive.
The MMExact filter network is housed in the same acoustic cabinetry as the loudspeakers, which uses multiple layer construction which “helps reduce unwanted micro-phonic vibrations”.
New from Nordost is the QKOIL QK1. The new product is a load resonating coil (LRC) which Nordost 
say generates a passive electronic field that has a “beneficial sonic effect on the AC current”.
The QKOIL QK1 from Nordost uses LFR along with Nordost’s “patented Micro Mono-Filament technology” which they say in a loading application “prevents time delay and distortion of the transmitted signal, making the AC current that much closer to the desired distortionless condition”.
QKOIL QK1 is the entry level product and is housed in a “mechanically tuned carbon-fiber body”. It comes with either a US (NEMA) or Eu (Schuko) connector (though can be used with a AUS or UK adapter) and is said to be compatible with voltages from 110V to 240V.
Operation is a simple case of plugging into a spare socket.
Now we’re not really ones for sharing information about common or garden furniture, ok the odd hifi 
rack is fine, but we thought we’d make an exception with regards the new Kallax range from IKEA as we’ve had our own (very) DIY CD rack featured on the Ikea Hackers website and we are keen proponents of the IKEA EXPEDIT for storing vinyl.
As has been widely reported, and lamented by audiophiles the world over, the vinyl friendly EXPEDIT range is to be phased out. There was a minor wave of panic set in in audiophile-land as this range has for a good few years been the “go to” storage solution for vinyl collectors. EXPEDIT was sturdy (ish), cheap, looked OK and more importantly fitted 12” vinyl collections perfectly – we have a couple of the units ourselves.
But fear not fellow audiophiles for IKEA are telling us that they have improved and updated the previous design with a product that has better durability, is more child-friendly and will still keep your vinyl safe and sound.
The new product will be called KALLAX and will be available at the end of May 2014.
UK loudspeaker manufacturer Harbeth contacted Hifi Pig to give us news that they will be launching
something “very exciting” at this years High-End Munich show. Harbeth don’t release new products all that often and so we were quite enthusiastic to find out more but details are pretty scant at the moment so here is what the company have told us so far.
“The wraps come off something very exciting in Munich”, says Trevor Butler of Harbeth’s marketing department. “We will be in Halle 3 on Stand J10 with our colleagues from Harbeth Deutschland.”
Building on its BBC loudspeaker legacy for the past 35 years, Harbeth has added twenty-first century technology to the ageing BBC designs and brought them right up-to-date to ensure they are fit for a digital era.
“When these speakers were created by the broadcaster’s boffins, they worked in a totally analogue environment, and in mono”, adds Trevor. “Such designs are hardly fitting for today’s more discerning user who has the benefit of ultra high-quality digital sources at their fingertips.”
”Wallowing in nostalgia is all very romantic, but what today’s audiophile and professional audio user needs is a modern-day speaker fit for modern-day use. That’s why Harbeth monitors are the first-choice for so many studio engineers when it comes to critical monitoring”.
“Looking back, you can see how poorly some of the old designs measured”, adds Trevor. “The curves resemble Himalayan peaks and troughs! Harbeth has painstakingly ironed out the blemishes to create designs to be proud of.”
Whatever it is that Harbeth are unveiling at Munich High End 2014 Hifi Pig will be there to bring you the news as it happens.
UK loudspeaker manufacturer Harbeth contacted Hifi Pig to give us news that they will be launching something “very exciting” at this years High-End Munich show. Harbeth don’t release new products all that often and so we were quite enthusiastic to find out more but details are pretty scant at the moment so here is what the company have told us so far.
“The wraps come off something very exciting in Munich”, says Trevor Butler of Harbeth’s marketing department. “We will be in Halle 3 on Stand J10 with our colleagues from Harbeth Deutschland.”
Building on its BBC loudspeaker legacy for the past 35 years, Harbeth has added twenty-first century technology to the ageing BBC designs and brought them right up-to-date to ensure they are fit for a digital era.
“When these speakers were created by the broadcaster’s boffins, they worked in a totally analogue environment, and in mono”, adds Trevor. “Such designs are hardly fitting for today’s more discerning user who has the benefit of ultra high-quality digital sources at their fingertips.”
”Wallowing in nostalgia is all very romantic, but what today’s audiophile and professional audio user needs is a modern-day speaker fit for modern-day use. That’s why Harbeth monitors are the first-choice for so many studio engineers when it comes to critical monitoring”.
“Looking back, you can see how poorly some of the old designs measured”, adds Trevor. “The curves resemble Himalayan peaks and troughs! Harbeth has painstakingly ironed out the blemishes to create designs to be proud of.”
Whatever it is that Harbeth are unveiling at Munich High End 2014 Hifi Pig will be there to bring you the news as it happens.
I was very excited when the post lady pipped and handed me the envelope that I knew would contain what is being heralded as “A stunning new album in the finest tradition of progressive rock and space rock” because being a bit of an ageing hippie I’m partial to both a smattering of prog and a healthy double dipped dose of space rock. But this hasn’t been the records only accolades and “the space opera that Pink Floyd never wrote” and “a prog rock War of the Worlds” whetted my appetite for this record even more.
This eponymous album is out on Cherry Red on the 28th of April and was recorded both in New York and London and has been co-produced and mixed by Youth of Killing Joke fame (I like a bit of Youth I do). More »
The High End Munich 2014 gives its visitors the broadest selection world-wide of products from the
field of high-quality entertainment electronics. No other event offers the public such an international, wide and varied product spectrum. The visitors can expect to see major brand names, exciting designs and new products.
In addition to this, the High End event is not only a trade fair; it is also an experience. Visitors can again expect to discover a whole variety of exclusive and special products and also experience fascinating events.
Music presentations on exquisite equipment in the form of concerts
TACET, hall 3, room E16
The exhibitor “Tacet” is presenting a concert programme with lengthy music passages. Complete works or whole passages in a fixed programme will be played on particularly fine equipment. The visitor can experience a new type of sound recording presentation here. The focus of the presentation is always a complete work. The visitors will be able to discover details of the score that remain hidden during a concert. This is to demonstrate the astounding results that are possible with recordings. Thomas Gluck from Sweden will host the event with the support of Tacet owner and sound engineer Andreas Spreer. Leading artists are also expected to join them on stage.
Backes & Müller present live performances from four renowned jazz artists
Jazz concert with Ro Gebhardt & Burdette Becks
Backes & Müller, atrium 4, 2nd floor, room E 218
16/05/14 – 13:00 and 17:30
17/05/14 – 13:00 and 17:30
Backes & Müller is inviting visitors to a live performance of Ro Gebhardt, Burdette Becks and band. The renowned jazz guitarist Ro Gebhardt is regarded as one of the figureheads of the German guitar world is well-known through Europe and the whole world for his unique style and sound. He will be joined by the virtuoso American vocalist and flautist Burdette Becks to play a set consisting of their own works and some sensitive interpretations of individual contemporary songs. The public will be immediately engaged by their rousing performance. The combo is rounded off by Ralf Cetto, a hugely gifted jazz bass player from Bingen am Rhein and Uli Schiffelholz from the hr-Bigband on drums.
Are analogue recordings better than digital ones?
“stereoplay” editorial team, atrium 4, 2nd floor, room F 228
The “stereoplay” editorial team has again come up with a special workshop. In atrium 4, 2nd floor, room F 228, “stereoplay” sound engineer Jürgen Schröder and SAE lecturer Ulli Schiller will be answering the question: Are analogue recordings better than digital ones? As an aspiring guitarist, Ulli Schiller will give his guitar strings a good work-out and the results will be recorded by Jürgen Schröder. The audience will get a great insight into the world of modern recording – and also into the high resolution digitalisation of analogue recordings. As always the “stereoplay” editorial team are promising a fascinating presentation.
The High End Munich 2014 gives its visitors the broadest selection world-wide of products from the field of high-quality entertainment electronics. No other event offers the public such an international, wide and varied product spectrum. The visitors can expect to see major brand names, exciting designs and new products.
In addition to this, the High End event is not only a trade fair; it is also an experience. Visitors can again expect to discover a whole variety of exclusive and special products and also experience fascinating events.
Music presentations on exquisite equipment in the form of concerts
TACET, hall 3, room E16
The exhibitor “Tacet” is presenting a concert programme with lengthy music passages. Complete works or whole passages in a fixed programme will be played on particularly fine equipment. The visitor can experience a new type of sound recording presentation here. The focus of the presentation is always a complete work. The visitors will be able to discover details of the score that remain hidden during a concert. This is to demonstrate the astounding results that are possible with recordings. Thomas Gluck from Sweden will host the event with the support of Tacet owner and sound engineer Andreas Spreer. Leading artists are also expected to join them on stage.
Backes & Müller present live performances from four renowned jazz artists
Jazz concert with Ro Gebhardt & Burdette Becks
Backes & Müller, atrium 4, 2nd floor, room E 218
16/05/14 – 13:00 and 17:30
17/05/14 – 13:00 and 17:30
Backes & Müller is inviting visitors to a live performance of Ro Gebhardt, Burdette Becks and band. The renowned jazz guitarist Ro Gebhardt is regarded as one of the figureheads of the German guitar world is well-known through Europe and the whole world for his unique style and sound. He will be joined by the virtuoso American vocalist and flautist Burdette Becks to play a set consisting of their own works and some sensitive interpretations of individual contemporary songs. The public will be immediately engaged by their rousing performance. The combo is rounded off by Ralf Cetto, a hugely gifted jazz bass player from Bingen am Rhein and Uli Schiffelholz from the hr-Bigband on drums.
Are analogue recordings better than digital ones?
“stereoplay” editorial team, atrium 4, 2nd floor, room F 228
The “stereoplay” editorial team has again come up with a special workshop. In atrium 4, 2nd floor, room F 228, “stereoplay” sound engineer Jürgen Schröder and SAE lecturer Ulli Schiller will be answering the question: Are analogue recordings better than digital ones? As an aspiring guitarist, Ulli Schiller will give his guitar strings a good work-out and the results will be recorded by Jürgen Schröder. The audience will get a great insight into the world of modern recording – and also into the high resolution digitalisation of analogue recordings. As always the “stereoplay” editorial team are promising a fascinating presentation.
I really enjoyed the last Kaito offering, Until The End Of Time which came out in October on the Kompakt label calling it thoughtful and thought provoking and indeed this record could be summed up similarly – in fact it’s the same tunes bereft of their drum tracks.
Essentially it’s an ambient album that has a real dreamy, ethereal and trippy feel to it. Musically it is grown up electronica which is both alien and recognisable, organic and yet synthetic. It’s not challenging music in any way and you’ll find yourself happy to close your eyes and drift with the exquisiteness of the delicate music that builds on repetitive themes adding new textures and new themes that have the effect of carrying you in different directions of thought and feeling.
For the Sunday morning come-down brigade this is in many ways the perfect record to sooth the twisted mind and allow bodies to readjust to normality after the weekends excesses.
A record for the psychonauts and inner-space cowboys but also clever enough to have much broader appeal I think – perhaps folk who enjoy gentler classical music would do well to give this a listen. Out now on Kompakt and limited to 500 copies on vinyl.
More album reviews.
Melphi are a Dutch four piece and say that they are inspired by contemporary Scandinavian pop music. Through The Looking Glass is their first full length album being preceded by an unnamed EP in 2011.
The band were formed in 2010 by Rogier Telderman who writes most of the music here (and plays piano) but the the real focus of the band on this record is Lotte van Drunen the silky voiced vocalist. That said the musicianship on Through The Looking Glass is really pretty fabulous. Jurriaan Dekker on bass has a beautiful, solid and yet somewhat free-form style that complements Willem van der Krabben’s eminently danceable rhythms on drums and percussion.
Ok, I haven’t he faintest idea of what “Scandinavian pop” sounds like specifically but if this is what inspires Melphi then I’ll be exploring it a bit further after this.
Through The Looking Glass is jazzy, it’s soulful and whilst it’s definitely on the intelligent side of the pop spectrum it doesn’t lose itself in trying to be over clever and …noodly, though there are some very nice instrumental passages to be heard. The record remains solid, coherent and foottappingly infectious throughout. It’s musical and irresistible, soulful and uplifting.
The recording is very nicely done and carried out with a nice light touch that allows the music to shine through. there is a good deal of thought gone into the recording process and you can hear it. the individual musicians manage to keep their own personalities and musical identities throughout but are brought together to produce a wonderfully coherent noise throughout.
Through The Looking Glass is a great record of modern, jazz tinged rhythms with a soulful touch offered by the vocal style of Lotte van Drunen that will appeal to a wide audience. the record works as a whole and it’s recommended to listen as a whole but the standout track for me is Slow Motion…or perhaps Last Night….hell, it’s all very good indeed. Out now on Snip Records and downloaded in this instance from HIGHRESAUDIO. Recommended!
More album reviews.
Dynaudio has contacted Hifi Pig to tell us about their latest development – the Evidence 
Platinum. The new loudspeaker has been developed and manufactured as the company’s new flagship and to offer a level of sound quality “never before experienced”.
After almost seven years of continuous development, the Evidence Platinum concept was first shown in 2012 at Munich High End Show. After receiving tremendous feedback from visitors, distributors, and dealers Dynaudio decided to turn the concept into reality.
The Evidence Platinum incorporates a four centimetre thick mid-section milled from the highest-grade aluminium, weigh 115kg each and measure 194cm in height.
“Thanks to the innovative Dynaudio Directivity Control technology, DDC, the Evidence Platinum is much less demanding and performs at its best, even in difficult listening environments” say Dynaudio. DDC consists of a finely-tuned balance of symmetrically arranged, precisely positioned dual woofers, midrange drive units and tweeters, and an advanced crossover design. DDC is designed to reduce sound reflections from the floor and ceiling of any room by at least 75% through the matching of the phase responses of the individual drive units, consequently achieving a sound radiation vertically focused towards the listener.
Drive Units
The diaphragms of the new Evidence Platinum bass and midrange drive units are manufactured from MSP (Magnesium Silicate Polymer), a composite material developed by Dynaudio that is characterized by low mass, high rigidity and ideal internal damping properties. Ultra-lightweight aluminium voice-coils with powerful magnet structures drive the speaker cones.
The Evidence Platinum’s bass response is enhanced by the bass-reflex ports, located at the back of the speakers’ cabinets, specifically shaped to eliminate harmful resonance.
The Esotar2 tweeter with Precision Coating on the Evidence Platinum uses coated fabric soft domes with magnet assembly of tweeters being aerodynamically shaped, and internally damped.
Features
· Evidence Platinum Esotar² tweeters with precision coating
· Evidence Platinum 15cm MSP midrange drivers
· Evidence Platinum 18cm MSP woofers (18W75)
· High grade crossover with select components on glassfibre-reinforced PCB
· WBT NextGenTM Cu connectors made of pure gold-plated copper
· Internal wiring with select oxygene-free copper cables
· Metal film resistors in the crossover’s tweeter section
· Advanced DDC Technology to reduce room reflections and colorations
· Ultra-solid, resonance-deadening 40mm black aluminium front baffle
· Reinforced cabinet finished in a new choice of veneers and lacquers
· Reinforced base plinth with larger footprint for improved stability
· Two types of base plinth feet included (for hard floor or carpet)
Price is £58 500
Ruark Audio is unveiling what thy are saying is a breathtaking collaboration for Milan Design 
Week 2014 at the Wallpaper* Handmade Exhibition. The company
has been working with artist, sculptor and designer Alex Mulligan to create a concept piece that captures the imagination and pushes the boundaries of what a music system can be.
“Since launching its first product in November 2006, Ruark Audio has always keenly felt that its models are as much about industrial design as the audio technology housed within. The recently launched flagship product, the R7, is probably the company’s most complete statement of this idea, combining as it does the 60s design cues of the original radiograms with state-of-the-art hi-fi technology and class-leading sound quality. The Wallpaper* Handmade Exhibition was a clear opportunity for Ruark to deliver a statement about what it stands for and whereit sees its brand developing, moving beyond the usual boundaries that define technology brands” said the company’s press release.
Mulligan’s sculptural approach focuses on furniture, object and interior. Much like Ruark, Mulligan is experimental and challenges the ‘normal’ and thus, a piece has been created that embodies both Ruark’s and Mulligan’s influences and approach.
Alan O’Rourke, founder and managing director of Ruark Audio commented, “Being invitedto take part in the Handmade project was a great opportunity for us and felt like a natural progression, pushing our brand even further and challenging us to revisit conventional ideas about sound systems”.
The final design is being exhibited at Leclettico at the Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition between the 8th and 12th of April.
UK rack manufacturer Hi Fi Racks got in touch with Hifi Pig to tell us what they will be getting 
up to at the up coming High End Munich 2014 that takes place in May.
“We’ll be showcasing a selection of key products from our Podium® Reference and Podium® Slimline ranges at High End Munich, plus storage products and accessories…”
New products from Hi Fi Racks on display at Munich High End 2014 will include the Podium® Slimline XL, Slimline Akorner and the Slimline Akorner XL racks.
“This year, we’ll be displaying our products by family, e.g. all Podium® Reference products together and all Slimline products together. This means visitors to the Hi Fi racks stand will be able to clearly see how our products work together as beautiful pieces of furniture that will grace any room, as well as providing a superb audio visual experience” added the company.
Hi Fi Racks will be at Stand E08 in Hall 3 of MOC Munich.
UK rack manufacturer Hi Fi Racks got in touch with Hifi Pig to tell us what they will be getting up to at the up coming High End Munich 2014 that takes place in May.
“We’ll be showcasing a selection of key products from our Podium® Reference and Podium® Slimline ranges at High End Munich, plus storage products and accessories…”
New products from Hi Fi Racks on display at Munich High End 2014 will include the Podium® Slimline XL, Slimline Akorner and the Slimline Akorner XL racks.
“This year, we’ll be displaying our products by family, e.g. all Podium® Reference products together and all Slimline products together. This means visitors to the Hi Fi racks stand will be able to clearly see how our products work together as beautiful pieces of furniture that will grace any room, as well as providing a superb audio visual experience” added the company.
Hi Fi Racks will be at Stand E08 in Hall 3 of MOC Munich.
Joining the line-up of Gryphon Audio Designs loudspeakers is the Gryphon Pantheon which will be launched officially at Munich High End 2014. It slots into 
the Gryphon line-up as the brand’s most compact (relatively speaking) floor-standing model alongside the Pendragon and Trident II and stand-mount Mojo.
The family resemblance to these monitor systems is strong and readily apparent, as the Pantheon draws heavily on technologies and components developed specifically by and for Gryphon Audio Designs.
Like its predecessors, Pantheon “employs proprietary constant phase technologies to ensure that all drivers are in phase at all frequencies at all times, allowing the Gryphon Pantheon to re-create the original acoustic event with holographic realism and ultimate resolution”.
Drivers
Like all Gryphon loudspeakers, the high-frequency range in the Gryphon Pantheon is handled by an Air Motion Transformer (AMT) drive unit with an extremely low-mass folded metal diaphragm.
The Pantheon cone drivers are made in Denmark by ScanSpeak to Gryphon’s specifications and custom designed for low Q and minimal dynamic compression. The dual 8” bass drivers and dual 5” midrange units are specially developed with tightly focused, ultra-linear motor systems for maximum force and focus and total control of the motion of the layer-damped fiberglass cones.
Crossing Over
The fourth order filter network is based exclusively on Duelund, Jensen, Holm, Mundorf components in a layout “carefully calculated to eliminate electromagnetic interaction and fitted to a decoupling platform to prevent vibratio”n. The crossover network is pre-biased by a 28 V battery for constant charge to the electrolytic capacitors in the impedance correction circuit which Gryphon say “Class A operation ensures a smoother, more richly detailed three-dimensional presentation”.
The five-driver, three-way Gryphon Pantheon is housed in a sleek, tall, massively braced sculpted enclosure with precisely contoured modular baffle and driver surrounds and baffle covering carefully selected and applied to effectively address baffle reflections and eliminate diffraction phenomena.
Independent baffle elements for each driver break up the pathway through which vibrations would otherwise be transmitted in a single, shared baffle. “The five dedicated Pantheon baffles allow precision time alignment of the individual drivers based on the now classic, subtle Gryphon baffle curvature”.
Beneath its exterior, Gryphon Pantheon offers an inert, non-resonant platform for the drive units combining extensive internal bracing and damping material with separate, precision tuned reflex chambers for the dual bass drivers and an isolated, sealed chamber for the twin midrange units.
The side panels are a modular construction for simple removal and replacement at any time.
Like every Gryphon product, Gryphon Pantheon is designed by Gryphon founder and CEO Flemming E. Rasmussen and manufactured in Denmark and if our previous experience with Gryphon loudspeakers is anything to go by it’s going to be a great listen!
Pantheon will be introduced at the Munich High End Show in May.
Price will be €35000 plus local taxes.
Joining the line up of Gryphon Audio Designs loudspeakers is the Gryphon Pantheon. It slots into the Gryphon line-up as the brand’s most compact (relatively speaking) floor-standing model alongside the Pendragon and Trident II and stand-mount Mojo.
The family resemblance to these monitor systems is strong and readily apparent, as the Pantheon draws heavily on technologies and components developed specifically by and for Gryphon Audio Designs.
Like its predecessors, Pantheon “employs proprietary constant phase technologies to ensure that all drivers are in phase at all frequencies at all times, allowing the Gryphon Pantheon to re-create the original acoustic event with holographic realism and ultimate resolution”.
Drivers
Like all Gryphon loudspeakers, the high-frequency range in the Gryphon Pantheon is handled by an Air Motion Transformer (AMT) drive unit with an extremely low-mass folded metal diaphragm.
The Pantheon cone drivers are made in Denmark by ScanSpeak to Gryphon’s specifications and custom designed for low Q and minimal dynamic compression. The dual 8” bass drivers and dual 5” midrange units are specially developed with tightly focused, ultra-linear motor systems for maximum force and focus and total control of the motion of the layer-damped fiberglass cones.
Crossing Over
The fourth order filter network is based exclusively on Duelund, Jensen, Holm, Mundorf components in a layout “carefully calculated to eliminate electromagnetic interaction and fitted to a decoupling platform to prevent vibratio”n. The crossover network is pre-biased by a 28 V battery for constant charge to the electrolytic capacitors in the impedance correction circuit which Gryphon say “Class A operation ensures a smoother, more richly detailed three-dimensional presentation”.
The five-driver, three-way Gryphon Pantheon is housed in a sleek, tall, massively braced sculpted enclosure with precisely contoured modular baffle and driver surrounds and baffle covering carefully selected and applied to effectively address baffle reflections and eliminate diffraction phenomena.
Independent baffle elements for each driver break up the pathway through which vibrations would otherwise be transmitted in a single, shared baffle. “The five dedicated Pantheon baffles allow precision time alignment of the individual drivers based on the now classic, subtle Gryphon baffle curvature”.
Beneath its exterior, Gryphon Pantheon offers an inert, non-resonant platform for the drive units combining extensive internal bracing and damping material with separate, precision tuned reflex chambers for the dual bass drivers and an isolated, sealed chamber for the twin midrange units.
The side panels are a modular construction for simple removal and replacement at any time.
Like every Gryphon product, Gryphon Pantheon is designed by Gryphon founder and CEO Flemming E. Rasmussen and manufactured in Denmark and if our previous experience with Gryphon loudspeakers is anything to go by it’s going to be a great listen!
Pantheon will be introduced at the Munich High End Show in May.
Price will be €35000 plus local taxes.
After over a decade of research, design and development, Muraudio has launched what they are 
calling “the world’s first pure omni-directional electrostatic loudspeaker – a true point source, 360 degree ESL”.
“With the introduction of Muraudio’s Domain Omni ESL and the complex technology it incorporates, the obstacles for ESL success have been overcome” say Muraudio.
The Domain Omni is said to provide extremely low distortion, true linearity and outstanding low frequency response with Muraudio commenting that “Muraudio’s ESL’s are very capable of recreating exquisite high definition sound beyond that of traditional box speakers that use electrodynamic technology with tweeters, midrange drivers, and woofers”.
The Domain Omni ESL replaces a traditional 1inch tweeter with a large coherent cell of 775 square inches.This single coherent transducer creates 98% of the frequency spectrum from 450 Hz to well beyond 20 kHz. Completing the sound field are three synchronized low frequency drivers.
Technology
Re-imaging life-like sound lies in the theory of what Muraudio are calling Coherent Polar Movement. They explain “Traditional electrodynamic speakers have specifications related to on-axis response – which means you need to sit in a center specific area to hear pure high definition sound – if you sit anywhere else you are out of the “sweet spot”. With Muraudio’s Domain Omni ESL the sweet spot is all around you – “Sound is Everywhere””
The continuous curve ESL combined the speaker’s LF drivers are said to deliver full low frequency bassand uniform 360 degree full range sound field.
Patented methods are used to form each of the more than 50,000 holes in the aluminium stators that make up the Continuous Curve Transducer. Combined with the Continuous Curve ESL are three aluminum cone LF drivers that are mounted in a “force neutral tri-axial configuration” to produce low frequency response and minimal resonance.
From a melted liquid state, aluminium is poured into a pre-cast mould to create a solid sealed driver enclosure. It is this all aluminium enclosure that eliminates resonance and any possibility of low frequency sound distortion say Muraudio.
The all aluminium cabinets are custom finished – hand sanded and hand painted with 18 collective coats of primer, high fidelity paint and then buffed to a pristine finish.
The speakers start at $58 000
