Canada’s Anthem is now shipping the MRX 300 receiver that features seven channels of amplification (80Wpc), 1080p upscaling, four HDMI inputs, seven analog video inputs, five digital-audio inputs, and seven RCA analog inputs. The MRX 30 can run Anthem Room Correction (ARC) and is 3D capable (Anthem has also just released an optional firmware upgrade for all receivers).
The MRX 300 is the smallest in Anthem’s three-receiver family (the already-available, more powerful MRX 500 and MRX 700 are above it) and retails for $999.
The new SoundStage! Global site (SoundStageGlobal.com) was designed to showcase specialty audio and video as the SoundStage! Network team travels worldwide. The goal is to produce first-rate, on-the-spot coverage that’s as close to "live" as possible. In other words, as it happens.
The SoundStage! Network used SoundStage! Global for their Las Vegas 2011 show report and provided more reports and photos as the event happened than any other publication in the world. On February 23, Jeff Fritz and Doug Schneider traveled to Miramar, Florida, to visit the headquarters of JL Audio to produce the first factory tour for that site. The entire report was online the same night. Future coverage on SoundStage! Global includes the Salon Son & Image show in Montreal, Canada, and a tour of the dCS company at their headquarters in Cambridge, UK.
The SoundStage! Network will start sending e-mail-based newsletters to subscribers on March 15. The newsletter will be called SoundStage! Update and will feature links to the latest reviews and feature articles published in SoundStage! Hi-Fi, SoundStage! Xperience, GoodSound!, and Ultra Audio, and will also include new content not found anywhere else on the SoundStage! Network. As an added bonus and to keep subscribers on the cutting edge, the newsletter will also include links to equipment reviews that are yet to appear in our publications.
SoundStage! Update will only be sent to people who have signed up through the subscription service on SoundStageNetwork.com. To sign up right now, visit www.SoundStageNetwork.com and click the “Subscribe” tab in the main menu on top, or click the link below.
Do you want up-to-the-minute updates every time the SoundStage! Network publishes something new? The SoundStage! Network is now on Twitter, delivering a Tweet when each new equipment review or news story, such as this one, is published. Our Twitter identity is @soundstagenet, or you can visit our Twitter page using the link below. We hope that you’ll be following us soon!
California-based Magico has launched the QPod isolation device that's based on technology developed for their Q-series loudspeaker products. The QPod is designed to be placed under components, where it reportedly dissipates vibration by turning it to heat. Magico explains the genesis for the product: "Throughout the development process of the Q platform numerous advances in the area of resonance management were made. Improvements with regards to the stiffness of the structure necessitated improvements to methods of damping. By employing a combination of extensional damping, constrained-layer damping, and vibrational isolation, the overall system Q factor was brought to ideal levels and, thus, the model and name were created. Of course, in so doing, controlling the transmission of resonances to all equipment in the testing and listening facilities became the next variable to isolate."
The QPod was designed for use with source components, but can be used elsewhere. According to Magico: "Originally developed for internal R&D, Magico is introducing the QPods to maximize front-end system performance. The pods themselves are CNC-turned and milled from hardened stainless steel, oxygen-free copper, and hard black-anodized aircraft-grade aluminum. These materials create the constraining layers for the damping material that is alternately clamped between to create a single traverse dissipating unit, which we call the QPod. Vibrational wave propagation through the floor, stands, and the equipment itself is converted into heat energy through the side-to-side movement (known as shear deformation) within each layer of the pod. By adding a multi-leveled constraining-layer mechanism to equipment standoffs, electrical and mechanical vibration-induced artifacts are acutely reduced, ultimately resulting in marked improvements to signal fidelity."
The retail price of three QPods is $1310 USD, and four QPods is $1680. Delivery will begin in March 2011.
The UK's Artisan Silver Cables has introduced the Silver Dream pure-silver USB cable. The cable was designed to give the best possible connection between a computer and an external USB DAC. According to Artisan, the Silver Dream uses four individual pure-silver conductors, arranged in a four-way braid, each individually insulated in oversized Teflon tubing.
Company president Alister Staniland stated, "After all the nay-sayers who claim the USB cable cannot possibly make much difference, even we were shocked at the magnitude of improvement over a stock USB cable. In the high-end hi-fi world everything matters. All elements in the chain affect the end result. The new breed of computer audiophile -- intent on extracting the best possible sound from computers -- knows this better than most. Many listen with external USB DACs and pipe the resulting sound through high-end headphone amps feeding super-revealing headphones, or into a high-end hi-fi system. This is high-definition listening and just like watching a big high-definition television, non-optimum elements earlier in the chain are ruthlessly revealed."
The Artisan Silver Cables Silver Dream USB cable can be ordered directly from the company website. The prices, which depend on length start at $135.
Sonance, the company that introduced the world’s first in-wall loudspeaker, is now shipping the Sonance Landscape Series that debuted at CEDIA Expo 2010. The new 70V Sonance Landscape Series system consisting of two-way satellite speakers and in-ground subwoofer has been designed with a long-life UV-stable material to withstand extreme weather.
The company's two new two-way satellite speakers, the LS67SAT and LS47SAT, feature 0.75" tweeters and are said to handle up to 25W of power. The LS67SAT incorporates a 6" woofer and the LS47SAT a 3.5" woofer. A variety of accessories featuring .75" NEC threading are available for various outdoor mounting schemes, including: tree mounts, 19" and 9" ground stakes, and surface mounts.
The LS10SUB in-ground subwoofer features a 10" woofer and is said to handle up to 100W. The subwoofer's enclosure material has been designed to either be buried or left exposed to the elements. A brown canopy is included to easily blend into the surrounding landscape.
In addition to the new Landscape Series speakers, Sonance will also be offering three Crown amplifiers featuring the most popular wattages for 70V systems: the CDi 4000, CDi 2000 and the CDi 1000. Each Crown amplifier purchased through Sonance will come preloaded with the Sonance SLSEQ system, featuring 16 customized EQ settings designed specifically for the Sonance Landscape Series speakers. Prices for the Landscape Series products have not yet been announced.
California-based Sunfire has released the Atmos, their smallest and most powerful subwoofer to date. According to the company’s February 3 press release: “The Atmos features a custom-designed 6.5” woofer paired with a unique new asymmetrical cardiod surround, allowing over 1.5” of excursion. Resembling the variable thickness of the human heart, the surround provides superior control of the 6.5” driver, reducing distortion and increasing fidelity and reliability. Quietly containing the monstrous, cool-running 1400W amplifier using Sunfire’s exclusive Tracking Downconverter technology required space-age engineering, which is why Sunfire used FEA (Finite Element Analysis) to design the Atmos, including the aluminum cabinet and the drivers as well as redesigning the Tracking Downconverter amplifier. This patient attention to detail gave the Atmos unequalled fidelity and high output, all out of an impossibly small aluminum, extruded cabinet.”
The Atmos measures 8.5”H x 8.9”W x 10.1”L, meaning its footprint is small, and has “master/slave connectors” that allow the use of two Atmos subwoofers with just one main wire from the receiver or processor. Sunfire has not released the price for the Atmos, but they do say it will be available in the second quarter of 2011.