Search results for 'bronze 50'

Once upon a time twenty five years ago we sold a loudspeaker called the Krix Lyrix ... all Krix speakers have to end in "ix" by the way ... it's a peculiarity they are allowed after being a successful business for forty years.

The Lyrix was a fantastic D'Appolito floorstanding loudspeaker in an era of humdrum "system" speakers. When they were released most speakers purchased in Australia were essentially hollow chipboard boxes with arbitrary drive units intended as furniture for colourful system packages.

The Lyrix were a speaker that a serious enthusiast could appreciate. I recall how very good the wood finish of these speakers would smell when we unpacked them.

The Phoenix is the Lyrix evolved for the second decade of the 21st century with bass presence and detail that is outstanding in its price class. A great all rounder for medium and large room music and cinema reproduction, and they still smell good ...

 Krix Phoenix official page 

The bigger bookshelf design in the Sonus Faber Lumina range. Retaining the 'voice of Sonus Faber' with their Damped Apex Dome tweeter that you'll find on all of the Sonus Faber current range. The Lumina is Sonus Faber's entry level speakers that unlike previous entry level ranges from the Italian brand, they are made directly alongside their more expensive counterparts in the Italian manufacturing facility outside of Vincenza.

Because of this, the sound is rich and warm yet precise where you'd expect as well. 

Some clever design atributes, mean these Lumina speakers are perfectly designed to sit right up against walls or actually in Bookcases. Would you believe it, but most 'bookshelf' speakers are not designed to perform well placed into a bookcase. That's because their rear firing bass port will produce a soundwave reflection off a back wall or surface when placed too close to it. As a listener, you'll hear that reflection as distortion. With a front firing speaker, this eliminates this effect and beautiful music can still be heard when speakers are placed onto bookshelves.

The speakers also have a quality finish and styling. A real leather wrap and wooden finishes on the front baffle with lovely inlay details.

Superb Italian design and manufacturing in a compact package to suit the most discerning of buyers.

Ex-demo unit in perfect condition ready to go. An opportunity to secure a brilliant TV for exceptional value.

Loewe started manufacturing Televisions in 1923 and actually made the first commercially available Television. After a few years of being manufactured in other European countries, they're now back being produced and headquartered in Kronach, Germany's heartland.

I visited Kronach and the Loewe factory in 2015. Kronach is a tiny town for German standards and its industry and in fact it's whole economy has been dominated by Loewe for generations. Most people who live in Kronach work or have worked in the Loewe factory. When I was there, there were multiple generations of the one family working side by side to exacting standards on the Televisions. All of this in what is a Storybook looking town with old wooden houses and a medieval castle on the hill.

Loewe Televisions, like premium German made motor vehicles, contain a workmanship and attention to detail above their Asian made counterparts. Machine engineered alloy bezels, cable management systems, intuitive remote and interface and swivel stands that come as standard are the details that don't come with other Televisions.

The Bild V is elegant, yet solid and robust to out live most of its contempories.

The picture quality, as you'd expect with a Television of this calibre, is bold and expressive without ever seeming artificial. Although it's pitched at replacing the old Bild 5 units, the Bild V has the same panel as the higher end Bild 7 and in substance is much closer in spec to those. 

Expect this Television to out perform generations of other Asian made units because of the picture and build quality. An expectional Television. 

Loewe started manufacturing Televisions in 1923 and actually made the first commercially available Television. After a few years of being manufactured in other European countries, they're now back being produced and headquartered in Kronach, Germany's heartland.

I visited Kronach and the Loewe factory in 2015. Kronach is a tiny town for German standards and its industry and in fact it's whole economy has been dominated by Loewe for generations. Most people who live in Kronach work or have worked in the Loewe factory. When I was there, there were multiple generations of the one family working side by side to exacting standards on the Televisions. All of this in what is a Storybook looking town with old wooden houses and a medieval castle on the hill.

Loewe Televisions, like premium German made motor vehicles, contain a workmanship and attention to detail above their Asian made counterparts. Machine engineered alloy bezels, cable management systems, intuitive remote and interface and swivel stands that come as standard are the details that don't come with other Televisions.

The Bild V is elegant, yet solid and robust to out live most of its contempories.

The picture quality, as you'd expect with a Television of this calibre, is bold and expressive without ever seeming artificial. Although it's pitched at replacing the old Bild 5 units, the Bild V has the same panel as the higher end Bild 7 and in substance is much closer in spec to those. 

Expect this Television to out perform generations of other Asian made units because of the picture and build quality. An expectional Television. 

The new Audio Research i50 integrated amplifier is the new entry level offering from US tube manufacturer, Audio Research. 

Audio Research is the sort of brand that hardened audiophiles lust after, drool over and buckle at the knees for...myself included. The sort of effortless, unadultered, rich sound that keeps us back late at night playing tracks that we've heard thousands of times before because they suddenly sound so real with Audio Research. 

Aesthetically, Audio research has a timeless elegance to it not only because of the valves but also the brushed aluminium finish. There's no plastic add ons with this brand or ostentatious flashing, multi-coloured lights...

Like a German piano from the early 20th century, you lust after them because they're beautiful pieces of furniture but also because their sound is rich & warm yet clearer and more natural than others.

For many people, like myself, Audio Research is an aspirational brand, something we hope, with a bit of luck will grace our living rooms one day. But with the new offering of the i50, we hope that day will come sooner for us all. 

Audio Research has spent years perfecting this design so as not to compromise on their stingent standards of quality and tone but to nevertheless offer something at a more modest price level. You can opt out of a built-in phono stage or DAC module depending on your needs as well. Learn More

This is where power get serious. 9 power outlets delivering perfect AC sine wave to your precious HiFI. 

Sonically this can be a bigger difference than getting a new amplifier. We've had many HiFi enthusiasts blown away by the detail and the largeness of the sound that this delivers. 

And so many cool features to play with as well. You can measure the distortion and the improvements that the unit makes, you can set timed switch on and switch off sequences for your gear, measure output voltages, switch on/off certain zones. The geek in us all does a little happy dance with all the options.

But the real selling point is the sound. You don't realise how much of the power supply you hear through your speakers until it's not there anymore. 

This little unit is specifically designed for Audio Visual applications rather than 2 channel stereo of the other Isotek products. Great for Televisions and projectors. Touted to give your units a longer lifespan by protecting them from sudden electrical surges but also improving them visually!

A handy product for the AV enthusiast.

Rotel is one cool and dedicated family owned company with fantastic provenance and a continuous fifty year history of distribution in Australia. They make all their own components in house with meticulous attention to detail. Even their basic model A10 amplifier has hand wound OFC copper toroidal power supply and purpose made capacitors. Before he left us Mr Ishiwata has colluded with Rotel to rebuild two of their highest value A11 series components and thus we have the Rotel CD11 Tribute Compact Disc Player and A11 Tribute Amplifier.

But there is a catch .... there is no surcharge ... making these the best Hi Fi value since ... the NAD 3020 amplifier of 1979 ...? StereoNet on the Rotel Tribute components

Superb value for a power amplifier. Offering control and headroom as well as musical nuance and clarity. 

This unit is built around the RB-1582Mk II but offers slightly less power at 130W per chanel (as opposed to 200W per chanel).

For those who have some pre out options on a current integrated amplifier, this can be a wonderful, game changing upgrade to bring speakers alive. It can also be used in Home Theatre set ups to take the strain off your surround receiver. Let the RB-1552 MKII power your front left and right speakers and do most of the heavy lifting.

Otherwise a pairing with a quality pre amplifier like the Rotel RC-1572 delivers exceptional musical quality. Taking the sensitive pre-amplifier circuitry away from the beefy power transformers of power amplifiers and putting them in separate chassis instantly takes the musical experience to the next level.

The flagship of the Esseci Design magnetic levitation boards. To increase the isolation on your HiFi equipment can drastically improve the sound and performance of your HiFi. Afterall, much of the design of HiFi is concerned with just that. And expensive and sensitive pieces of HiFi equipment go to extremes to get this right. Most obviously in the Turntable market.

This is a nifty way of getting more isolation into your system for your existing gear. 

And the magnetics and floating board is seriously cool!

Read a glowing review of the Esseci Relaxa 750 here

Monitor Audio are continually updating their speakers and making discernible improvements to the sound and finish of their products.

Their latest refresh sees a new slant on the ever popular Silver range. An updated mid/bass driver and wave guide on the tweeter are the major improvements to the sound. But the apple is not falling far from the tree. For those who have always loved the sound of the silver range, you won't be shocked by drastic changes in the core sound. Simply slight improvements in clarity and presentation.

The same goes for the finish of the cabinets. There are changes to the colours. The walnut is richer and less red. I think it looks more natural. We also see the wide spread availability of the White and Ash (likened to the old natural Oak) finishes in Australia as well as a Gloss Black and an Oak Black finish.

The Big Reds are a no compromise design by Dr Rod Crawford. With amplifiers built in that perfectly match not only the speaker but each individual driver. Normally, when we build up HiFi systems that use a separate amplifier to power each driver, you're looking at a price tag of 10s of thousands of dollars. In this case you can get all of those benefits and more.

These Big Reds also boast an active crossover design that is handled by a separate box, the DEQX. This smart little box also adjusts for any discrepancies of each individual driver as well as those inherent in your listening room.

In whatever situation these end up in, they are sure to astound!

The Joey bookshelf speakers have been a favourite of Carlton AUdio Visual since Dr Rod Crawford made his first set many years ago. For a speaker that is just under $1000 per pair, they have a clarity of tone and precision that is simply unrivalled.

Adding to that, these are hand crafted here in Australia and finished off with real hard wood Aussie veneers.

Rod, not only uses the best parts available in his speakers, he also knows HOW to use them. He was Linn Acoustics head speaker designer for many years and has degrees upon degrees from the best universities in the world. On top of that he has a deep passion for sound and music. You'll often catch Rod at classical music concerts up and down the East coast of Australia or chatting about the intricacies of speaker design to anyone who is interested. 

His passion results in a speaker that is much better than it's meagre price point.

You'll need a good amplifier to bring out the most of these. But when you give them the kind of power they deserve, they will reward!

 These are available in Jarrah, Light Oak and Black

The SP stands for Special Production or as we like to put it, Scottish Production as these are the sets not only specially designed with extra goodies but made in the U.K. in the Scottish factory. 

Unlike the ordinary F501s, these have the IsoFlare Drive. A dual concentric driver that delivers incredible detail and responsiveness. You can see in this driver design the influence of Tannoy where many of the designers came from. Back in the day when Tannoy was completely Scottish owned and made. Tannoy also used Dual Concentric Drivers.

Additional features over the F501s are upgraded crossovers and an aluminium sandwich plinth. All features of the pricier F700 series.

The first mini yet mighty speakers that Acoustic Energy released were the AE1 in 1987 that immediately redefined the state of the art of extracting a large sound from small loudspeakers. I particularly recall the retail impact of the AE1 in Melbourne at the the time as I was losing sales of large box JBL and Infinity and Yamaha speakers to this curious then largely unknown English brand.

Their new version of the AE100 is no different. A reworked cabinet design means a larger internal volume for a richer, deeper sound. New, redesigned drivers (that are made in-house at Acoustic Energy) give more definition and accuracy. A new waveguide design also accompanies the new tweeter for better sound dispersion.

Cunningly the cabinet of this small speaker is made of exceptionally high density material rather than the normal MDF of loudspeakers in this category, and in doing so realise a greater internal volume in a cabinet of the same size with lower resonance properties. The result is deeper bass with less colouration than other products of this size and price.

We believe that this is one of the great low cost small size loudspeaker designs. 

Read Paul Sechi's Stereonet review of these little beauties here.

ECoustics reviews the AE100.2

"Pursuit Perfect System" reviews the AE100.2

A big power amplifier that has a richness and warmth to it as well. Paired with the M6sPRE this becomes a fantastic system to power even the hardest to drive speakers.

A beautiful beast of an integrated amplifier. 500 Watts of power that's capable of pulling your heart strings. A rich sound that's not shy. Vocals and solo instruments will sit centre stage and come out towards you.

The Dual Mono design of this and the smaller M6si is very unusual. A completely symetrical circuit design that doesn't share components between the two sides of the amplifier. Meaning you get the benefits of a separate mono blocks within the single chassis of an integrated amp.

The perfect little subwoofer to match with your other Bluesound units. 

Adds a deep bass that's tight and controlled and a bit more audiophile than other offerings in this category.