With the complete redesign of SoundStage! Global last month a brand-new section was added: “Blogging on Audio.” This new section allows the SoundStage! Network to provide more content for readers, including behind-the-scenes features, mini show reports and company tours, and even previews of upcoming reviews.
The section opened up on March 19 and featured Garrett Hongo’s two-part story “My Last-Minute AXPONA '13 Adventure.” Since then, Doug Schneider and Jeff Fritz have joined in with their own blog entries, and over time other SoundStage! Network writers will join the team for this section, too. We encourage readers to directly visit the section daily, but another way to keep up with the “Blogging on Audio” content is by following us on Twitter or liking our Facebook page since all the updates will automatically be updated there.
Beats Electronics, LLC (Beats) has partnered with Nicki Minaj on a special pink edition of the company’s popular Pill portable wireless Bluetooth speaker. Inspired by Minaj’s signature color, the pink Pill is now available for purchase for $199 USD exclusively at AT&T retail stores nationwide and online at www.att.com just in time for spring. The pink Pill adds another option to AT&T’s line of Beats headphones and speakers.
Nicki Minaj said, "I am so excited about this product. It’s something I actually use. It’s a little tiny speaker that I can travel with yet the sound is incredibly loud and rich. I knew the barbz would not only love it, but that they'd want it in pink! So, here ya go barbz!!!! My PINK PILL!"
According to the April 5 press release, "The Pill offers wireless portability that makes listening to music accessible and easy. Despite its compact size, the Pill produces powerful sound for every room in the house that can be controlled through any paired device. The Pill is cord and hassle free, lightweight and small enough to fit in a briefcase, purse or backpack. The Pill’s Bluetooth capability and internal microphone make talking on the phone easier and better sounding than ever before."
Britain's Bowers & Wilkins has announced the release of the Z2, a wireless music system that is said to produce “natural, engaging sound.” The versatile speaker is designed to fit almost anywhere and offers the choice of connection via a new Lightning connector or streaming wirelessly with AirPlay.
The B&W Z2 gives the listener the choice of whether to dock or not, since it links up with iPhones and iPods either via the dock connection or a wireless AirPlay setup. The Z2 houses two front-firing 3.5” full-range glass-fiber drive units and a Flowport on the back to smooth airflow, making for “cleaner, clearer bass response.” The Z2’s design utilizes the latest class-D amplifiers, B&W’s proprietary digital signal processing, and a low-noise power supply. A free set-up app eases and simplifies the initial set-up process.
The B&W Z2 is 3 15/16” high, 12 19/32” wide, and 6 19/64” deep. Frequency response is claimed to be 50Hz to 20kHz and amplifier output is 2 X 20W. The Z2 is available now in black and will have a June release in white. Cost is set at $399.99 USD. A free three-month subscription to the Society of Sound download site will be given with the purchase of each Z2.
The SoundStage! Network is proud to announce that the coverage of Salon Son & Image 2013 has officially begun at SoundStage! Global, the SoundStage! Network’s purpose-built site for on-the-spot show reporting and company tours.
Salon Son & Image, aka the Montreal Hi-Fi Show, is Canada’s best-known, longest-running specialty audio event. This year’s show is once again held at the Hilton Bonaventure Hotel, located in downtown Montreal, and features exhibitors from across North America.
In January 2011, the SoundStage! Network debuted SoundStage! Global, a site designed for the sole purpose of featuring events and company tours as they happened. SoundStage! Global was an immediate success. Now, just over two years later, SoundStage! Global has been completely redesigned and launched in time for the recent AXPONA event in Chicago (March 8-10), as well as the upcoming Salon Son & Image show in Montreal (March 21-25).
The new SoundStage! Global site features a cutting-edge design intended to better showcase photo galleries and reports, and it has been expanded to include a multi-author blogging area (Blogging-On-Audio) and a new section designed specifically for product debuts. It’s also now a “responsive” design, meaning that the site adapts and shows optimally on computers, tablets, and smartphones. The new SoundStage! Global can be visited now through the link below.
According to Bryston’s press release on March 14: “The Bryston loudspeakers were born from the challenge to construct a reference-quality loudspeaker that could reproduce real-world dynamics while minimizing distortion and compression. The engineering team at Bryston has devoted countless hours to innovative driver design, enclosure vibration analysis, crossover refinement, anechoic chamber measurements, and blind listening tests. The first model to reach completion, the Bryston Model T, was subjected to over 200 separate anechoic measurements during the design phase to ensure the highest level of accuracy and refinement.”
Since the floorstanding Model T’s debut last year, Bryston’s lineup of loudspeakers has grown to include three versions of the Model T (two passive and one active, ranging in price from $6495 to $9495/pair), the floorstanding Middle T ($4600/pair), the stand-mounted Mini T ($2695/pair), the TC1 Center and TC1 Mini Center center-channels ($3200 and $2200, respectively), the T Sub subwoofer ($4195), the T IW in-wall ($560), and the T OW on-wall ($560). The Middle T and TC1 Mini Center will begin shipping in May, while the T IW and T OW will start shipping in the third quarter of this year. The rest of the models are available now.
Bryston, which is based in Canada and is primarily known as an electronics manufacturer, is well aware of how competitive the current speaker market is. According to Bryston’s James Tanner: “There are a lot of speaker companies already in the marketplace. But we set out to create an affordable reference-quality loudspeaker and went to great lengths to achieve an end result that separates us from the competition -- we are confident that these products will be quite well received.”
Hong Kong-based Trends Audio has launched its new audiophile splitter cable for connecting a preamplifier to two power amplifiers to form a biamp audio system.
The cable itself is constructed using Japanese-made analog cabling and Trends Audio's own 24k-gold RCA plugs. The CQ-107 comes in an RCA configuration and is constructed using four solid-core, silver-plated, OFC conductors insulated with extruded FEP insulation. Each cable has a dual layer of shielding for superb RFI rejection and is hand built and terminated with professional-grade gold-plated connectors. The cable is said to offer very wide frequency response and superb bass response.
"Trends Audio was very successful in promoting its biamp audio system since we released the Trends BA-10. It is an affordable luxury for the music lover to enjoy high-end music with the Trends PA-10.1D tube headphone amp/preamp (two outputs) and two Trends TA-10.2 power amps. Meanwhile, a lot of Trends PA-10 tube preamp (one output) users and audiophiles found high-end but high-priced splitter cables (Y-adaptor) for setting up the biamp audio system. The Trends CQ-107 RCA splitter audiophile cable provides the convenient way for them to set up a biamp audio system between a single-output preamplifier and two sets of power amplifiers," says David Ho, the marketing director of Trends Audio.
The Trends Audio CQ-107 is available now at a suggested retail price of $99 USD for a .47m cable.
Bowers & Wilkins has announced the AM-1 Architectural Monitor, a weatherproof transducer that the company calls the most durable loudspeaker they have ever made.
A two-way design, the AM-1 features an inverted drive-unit configuration, with a 25mm aluminum-dome tweeter mounted below rather than above a 5" glass-fiber bass-midrange driver. According to B&W, this ensures optimal dispersion of sound when the speaker is mounted high on the wall. The AM-1’s low-frequency output is bolstered by the use of a rear-mounted auxiliary bass radiator (ABR). Used instead of a conventional bass-reflex port, the ABR endows the AM-1 with “exceptional bass response for a cabinet of its size.” Unlike a port, it also provides the AM-1’s cabinet with a continual seal against the elements. This combination of advanced drive units, unique configuration, and classically simple crossover components combine to create a loudspeaker “as musical as it is flexible.”
The AM-1 has been designed to be easy to install and very flexible. It can be positioned in either landscape or portrait mode, and combines a rust-proof aluminum grille with a rigid cabinet composed of glass-filled plastics, ensuring class-leading resistance to extremes of dust, moisture and UV exposure. The cost of the AM-1 is $300 USD each, so $600 if you want a stereo pair.