Axiom Audio credits the work of their chief engineer, Andrew Welker, and company president and founder, Ian Colquhoun, for the development of their new Omnidirectional Linear Field Radiating loudspeakers. According to Axiom's March 19 press release: "Among the many innovations used in this speaker, it features 11 drivers, front and rear, which are controlled by a total of two stereo DSPs. The sophisticated tailoring of each DSP section provides the incredible depth of soundfield audiophiles crave in a speaker, but with the same neutral tonal balance and pinpoint imaging for which Axiom speakers are renowned. . . . Although from the front the shape appears to be the same anti-standing-wave design that characterizes the rest of the Axiom lineup, a closer inspection will reveal that the rear baffle is angled slightly outward, thus designating the channels Right and Left. The speakers come with a four-channel balanced DSP in its own case which sits between the preamplifier and the amplifiers. It accepts the main right and left channels from the preamplifier and outputs four channels, two for the right speaker and two for the left speaker, to the amplifiers. The innovative internal design is matched externally with a three-part angled grille that is available in all the same colors, or with alternating colors for a contemporary luxury look."
Axiom Audio will debut these new speakers at Salon Son & Image held March 22-25 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The base price is $3760 USD (including delivery in Canada or the USA) in Boston Cherry or Black Oak vinyl-veneer finishes. Optional real-wood veneer and custom vinyl-veneer finishes are available for an extra cost.
Salon Son & Image 2012 takes place March 22-25, at the Hilton Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Montreal. In addition to the many exhibits, SSI 2012 features seminars and discussion panels, including a SoundStage! Network-sponsored, star-studded speaker-designer panel on March 24 at 2 p.m. The panel members will discuss the design goals of their respective companies and will then answer questions from consumers. Those confirmed on the panel include:
Paul Barton (PSB Speakers)
Andrew Welker (Axiom Audio)
Vince Bruzzese (Totem Acoustic)
John DeVore (DeVore Fidelity)
Manfred Diestertich (Audio Physic)
Jeff Joseph (Joseph Audio)
Salon Son & Image is Canada’s longest-running audio show, with this year marking the event’s 25th anniversary. Tickets are available at the door or online through the SSI website. The SoundStage! Network is an official media sponsor for Salon Son & Image 2012, with full coverage appearing on SoundStageGlobal.com starting March 22.
Linn Records has started a cyber music wall that they call Music Moments, posing the question: "What does music mean to you?" The wall is open to anyone who wants to post a thought on an album or a snippet of music that has had some significance in their lives. The site allows the posting of photos, videos, and stories.
Linn has submitted the following as their favorites, so far:
"Music is that giddy anticipation, the beautiful sound of a trumpet and the youthful pride for my superhero father."
"Listening to The Band play 'Chest Fever' in the Albert Hall in 1970 and feeling like the whole band had lifted off the stage."
"Listening to ‘Freebird’ lying on a beach in Spain, straight after graduating from university looking up at the sky thinking anything is possible."
If you have your own magic music and/or audio moment, click the link and add it to the list.
John Peel's record collection is being put online in "virtual" form. The John Peel Centre in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England, will recreate the late broadcaster's home studio for an Arts Council project called The Space, where people will be able to browse through some of his 25,000 vinyl LPs.
Sheila Ravenscroft, Peel’s widow, said: "We’re very happy that we’ve finally found a way to make John’s amazing collection available to his fans, as he would have wanted." Wirral-born Peel, who died in 2004, was a champion of new music during nearly four decades as a DJ on BBC Radio 1.
The legendary DJ’s collection also includes 40,000 vinyl singles as well as CDs, but the project will focus on loading the vinyl LPs first along with some of his personal notes, contributors' stories and filmed interviews with family and musicians. The artwork of the records will be scanned and although listening may be limited due to copyright issues, there will be access to the BBC radio archive of Peel Sessions.
Peel stories
Tom Barker, director of the John Peel Centre, said: "What we're hoping to do is create an online interactive museum which answers the question 'what is in John Peel's record collection?' but also provides the audience with a visualization of it.
"We hope that giving them access to a particular band or their first album or listening to his show will inspire people to tell us their stories. This is the first step in the journey of making one of the most important archives in modern music history available completely."
The John Peel Centre aims to put 100 albums online each week, giving a total of 2500 over the course of this part of the project which runs from May to October, 2012.
The UK’s Naim Audio has released the new NDS network player, something the company is calling a “super streamer.” The NDS was designed to surpass the performance of Naim’s well-regarded NDX network player that was released in late 2010. Like all of Naim’s top-tier components, the NDS requires an external power supply (Naim’s XP5 XS, XPS, or 555PS are compatible). The NDS supports WAV, FLAC, AIFF, AAC, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, and MP3 file formats and has these key features: separate PCBs for the digital, analog, and DSP sections; Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity; UPnP streaming up to 24-bit/192kHz resolution with gapless playback; three S/PDIF 24-bit/192kHz digital inputs; a front-mounted USB port; digital iPod/iPhone playback; Internet Radio support; Naim’s proprietary 16X oversampling and digital filter; and a SHARC 40-bit DSP section for jitter removal and oversampling. Naim’s NDS is designed and built in the UK and sells for $10,995 in the United States.
Denmark's Gryphon Audio Designs has released a new flagship power amplifier, the Mephisto Solo, priced at 84,000 euros per pair (approximately $112,300 USD). According to Gryphon's February 23 press release: "Gryphon owners are a breed apart, so in response to a groundswell of demand, Gryphon now introduces the Mephisto Solo single-channel power amplifier. Based on 80 high-current bipolar output transistors and a 1,000,000 microfarad capacitor bank, Mephisto Solo delivers 200 watts (8 ohms), 400W (4 ohms) and 800W (2 ohms), RMS continuous pure class-A power. Peak output into 0.25 ohms: 9000W."
Gryphon representatives also stated that the Mephisto is not configured like most mono power amplifiers: "While monoblock construction is not uncommon, most manufacturers simply create a bridged version of an existing stereo product, coupling two channels in series to form a single amplifier with increased voltage and, nominally, more output power. Unfortunately, the inevitable side effects of this approach include doubling distortion, doubling input impedance (impairing the ability to drive low-impedance loads) and cutting damping factor in half (reducing control of cone motion at low frequencies). The Gryphon Mephisto Solo topology offers almost the same output in watts but with double the output current, half the distortion and double the damping factor. Mephisto Solo is built for massive peak current swings into very low impedances without losing its cool."
Like all Gryphon products, the Mephisto Solo is designed by Gryphon founder and CEO Flemming E. Rasmussen and is manufactured in Denmark. The Mephisto Solo is available now.
Britain’s Bowers & Wilkins calls their small M1 loudspeaker “the heart of the company’s Mini Theater packages.” The company has recently redesigned the M1 and are now calling it the M-1 and are partnering it with their PV1D and AW608 subwoofers as part of two new home-theater systems. According to the company’s February 13 press release: “Two possible 5.1 system configurations of the upgraded Mini Theater series are the MT-60D and MT-50. These systems provide users with an immersive experience, but in relatively compact, discreet packages that fit easily into people’s lifestyles. Both systems offer excellent performance, but the MT-60D sets new standards for what can be expected from a compact, stylish speaker package. This jump in quality is a result of partnering an upgraded M-1 loudspeaker, with the new PV1D, a dramatically improved version of the highly acclaimed opposed-drive-unit subwoofer. The MT-50, a more affordable system option, sees the new M-1s partnered with the ASW608 subwoofer.”
The price of the MT-50 is $1750, while the price of the MT-60D is $2950. M-1 speakers can be purchased individually for $250. Stands for the M-1 are priced at $150/each. The PV1D and ASW608 subwoofers are priced at $1700 and $500, respectively. All models are available now.
SoundStageRecordings.com is a new site by the SoundStage! Network that is kicking off by offering high-resolution music recordings, but, in time, will also offer valuable test tracks and other audiophile-based recordings.
SoundStage! Recordings’ first release is the 2L-TWBAS2012 Sampler to commemorate The World’s Best Audio System 2012, a SoundStage! Network event held from March 30-31, 2012, in Jeff Fritz’s Music Vault listening room in North Carolina, USA. 2L-TWBAS 2012 is a 21-track recording that was produced by the 2L recording company of Norway. Some of the tracks are currently available to try for free on the 2L site, but many haven’t been released and all have been optimized by 2L’s Morten Lindberg specifically for the 2L-TWBAS 2012 Sampler release.
SoundStageRecordings.com has a full track listing available online that also contains “What to listen for” tips to get the most from this high-quality release. The 2L-TWBAS 2012 Sampler is available for download in 16-bit/44.1kHz, 24-bit/88.2kHz, and 24-bit/176kHz resolutions for a modest price (from $10-$20 depending on quantity of tracks and resolution). Audiophiles are encouraged to select the resolution that best suits the playback capabilities of their systems.