Hifi Pig

The CA Electronics (whose Ceramic Isolating Feet we reviewed) have today announced the Ceramic Cable Clamp which they say is “designed to Absorb vibrations from your cables and minimize the Microphonic effect.”
The clamps are said to be easily fitted and suited  for a wide range of cables. Simply unscrew and lead the cable through the Clamp, then hand-tighten and enjoy.

Roth Audio announces the Roth OLi POWA-5, its debut active monitor.

Simply plug the powered speaker into the Mains, now connect it – using the supplied speaker cable – to its passive partner and you’re ready to go. The POWA-5 has 80 watts and connectivity includes 1 x pair RCA analogue connecters (e.g. CD player), 1 x 3.5mm stereo jack input (e.g. MP3 player), 2 x optical inputs (e.g. Sky box, and DVD player), and a built-in Bluetooth receiver. In addition there are two USB outputs to provide power to mobile devices.
You can hook-up a subwoofer via the OLi POWA-5’s subwoofer output.

The Roth OLi POWA-5 launches on 12 th November 2012. RRP including VAT is £249.99 (per pair).

Cary Audio have announced the creation of a new website dedicated to Audio Electronics by Cary Audio. The site will include product information, reviews, industry events and ordering information, along with other regularly updated items of interest.

Audio Electronics is Cary Audio’s subsidiary, originally created in 1993 and now re-launched and positioned to reach a new generation of music fans with a smaller, sleeker design suited for the urban environment.

Audio Electronics products will be available through this online store or at Cary Audio dealers.

Not a great deal of information about this very pretty little headphone amplifier from New Yorks based Woo Audio, other than it is the company’s smallest product and has a 32/192 USB DAC built in.

It’s imaginatively called the WA7, operates in pure class A and was launched at the Rocky Mountain audio Fest.

More news as soon as we have it.

Korean manufacturer of the iRiver DAP have announced that they will launch the Astell and Kern AK100 DAP to Japanese markets on 27th October. This is a high end audio player aimed squarely at the audiophile user. It comes with 32GB of internal memory and a dual MicroSDHC which can expand the units memory up to 96GB.

As well as having a well finished case the Astin and Kern AK100 will be fully compatible with 24bit/192kHz FLAC and WAV file, plus of course the usual MP3/OGG etc support. The neat little unit will also boast a dua optical in/out which will allow the DAP to be plugged into other hifi components without loss in sound quality.

The AK100 will have a 2.4″ colour screen, bluetooth and a twelve hour battery life. cost will be 54,800Yen (£437).

Hifi Lounge, based in Millow near Dunton in Bedfordshire (UK) has been announced as the latest retail outlet for PMC loudspeakers. The outlet will have allow audiophiles and music lovers alike access to the full range of PMC hifi products as well as Bryston electronics.

Hifi Lounge is housed in a converted grain barn and owned by Paul and Wendy Clark and will sell only those products the owners feel passionate about themselves.

The grand opening of the premises will take place on the weekend of the 27th and 28th October.

Hifi Lounge will stock other brands including Naim, Rega, Rel, Grado, Spendor and Atlas.

Photographs of the TAVES 2012 event

Fine Sounds SpA of Milan, Italy, owner of Sonus Faber, Audio Research Corporation, Wadia Digital and Sumiko, has acquired 100% of McIntosh Laboratory, America’s formidable producer of hi-fi systems.  Fine Sounds is owned by Quadrivio, an Investment Management Company also based in Milan, Italy.  The acquisition of McIntosh, a Binghamton, NY based company which had been previously owned by D+M Group, represents a marquee investment for the group, whose strategic direction is to offer products that are “the best in the world in their category”.

McIntosh rose to power in the ’50s, ’60s and 70’s as the rock & roll movement emerged as the defining musical genre in America and throughout the world.  Beginning with the Beatles’ Shea Stadium performance in 1965, countless rock & roll acts became so popular that only huge stadiums could handle the crowds.  It was McIntosh that ultimately pioneered systems capable of delivering clean, high-quality sound that could stand up to these vast arenas of screaming fans.  The first was the system assembled for Woodstock in 1969, where the rock festival’s organizers were forced to develop a system capable of reaching to hundreds of thousands of fans.  Five years later, the Grateful Dead – who would become the premier American touring band for a generation – unveiled its “Wall of Sound” on March 24, 1974, and set new standards for live performances with arguably the greatest PA system of all times.  McIntosh amps drove both of those legendary systems.

Fine Sounds and McIntosh believe the acquisition will deliver important benefits to McIntosh’s customers, sales partners and employees by providing opportunities for building on Fine Sounds Group’s product development capabilities, distribution synergies and financial resources. With Fine Sounds’ support, McIntosh is now poised to elevate its brand to higher acclaim, expand its distribution as well as its reach into new international markets.  “We are thrilled to welcome McIntosh, one of the industry’s most illustrious brands, into our portfolio,” says Mauro Grange, CEO of Fine Sounds Group. “McIntosh is dedicated to the highest caliber of high-end audio and is a perfect fit with our own culture and vision.  We will treasure and protect the legacy of McIntosh as well as its people and reputation.”

The acquisition of McIntosh is an important one for Fine Sounds.  “McIntosh will help strategically strengthen our brand portfolio, allowing us to have a broader product offering, covering more categories, offering customers a complete solution.  It does not compete with any of the other brands we hold – it is positioned quite differently – and offers opportunities for great synergies which we can leverage,” added Grange.

Cary Audio will be exhibiting at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. The 2012 edition of this show, America’s largest consumer presentation of high-performance audio systems, will be held at the Denver Tech Center Marriott from October 12-14. Cary Audio will have two rooms with full systems on display as well as hosting a booth in the Marketplace to display Audio Electronics by Cary Audio products, our subsidiary line of lower cost gear.

Cary Audio will partner with German loudspeaker manufacturer Adam Audio in Tower Room 8025 to present two live systems on demo. The main system will feature Cary Audio’s signature SLP-05 tube preamplifier, a pair of SA-500.1 monoblock amplifiers, and a CD-303T SACD/CD/DAC playing discs and operating as a DAC for high-resolution music files from a computer. Adam Audio’s new Gamma Mk2 from its Tensor range will be the primary speakers, with a pair of Classic Columns too. These speakers all feature Adam Audio’s proprietary take on the folded Air Motion Transformer tweeter and midrange, and HexaCone woofers. This main system will also be powered by cables by Claru.

A second smaller system will also be available for listening, comprising a pair of Adam Audio Classic Compact monitors driven by the new Audio Electronics Constellation preamplifier and Hercules power amplifier. These new tube products will be making their American public debut here at RMAF. The source for this system will be an iPod in a Wadia digital dock, playing lossless music files. It will also drive the new Cary Audio HH-1 hybrid and Audio Electronics Nighthawk solid-state headphone amplifiers, with a pair of AKG K702 headphones for listening.

Who would believe that the CD player is now 30 years old…almost to the day! Who out there sold all their vinyl collection and slowly started replacing it with easy to store shiny silver discs…I for one did just that! It seems a lifetime ago and if truth be known I only really bought my first CD player 5 or so years later in the late 80s.

Remember the whole hype behind CDs when they first came out and they being the ultimate in high end audio? I distinctly recall seeing a Tomorrows World presenter smear a gloopy helping of marmalade over one of the new fangled discs and marvelling at it being washed off and then being played as if nothing had happened. I also recall the radio station, where I worked as a DJ, having a sign declaring that “Hand Acid Kills CDs”.

So what the future of the CD?  If the rumour mill is to be believed it’s a format that is on the way out, but I think it will be around for a good while yet and whilst ever there are second-hand items to be had, I know it’s a format that I’ll continue to use.

The first CD I bought? “Maters of Reality” by Masters of Reality… what was yours?

Tortuga Audio, the South Florida based manufacturer has launched its website/store highlighting its new LDR6 Passive Preamplifier. The US designed and manufactured LDR6 is the first of several high end audio products that Tortuga Audio plans on releasing over the next year geared towards discriminating music lovers interested in high performance 2-channel stereo audio.
The LDR6 is designed around the use of audio grade light dependent resistors (LDRs) that are used both as analogue switches and as digitally controlled analogue attenuators for volume control.The LDR6 accommodates 6 line stage inputs in a simple, functional, and distinctive enclosure with premium materials and components.

“When we first started working with light dependent resistors, we quickly became impressed with the exceptionally open, natural and transparent audio sound that LDRs can deliver compared to even the best potentiometers or stepped attenuators. We immediately started working on designs, testing protocols, and tools needed to deliver consistent and balanced high performance from these uniquely nonlinear components. We’re very pleased with the results so far and after 2 years of reliable operation of various prototype designs we decided it was time to introduce Tortuga Audio and our final design, the LDR6 Passive Preamplifier, to the community of audio enthusiasts,” said Morten Sissener, founder and President of Tortuga Audio.