Sound & Vision August/September 2019

“Everything that made Triton Reference Sound & Vision’s Product-of-the-Year in a gorgeous, super sounding, more compact and even more a ordable package!”“ The powerful sense of atmosphere that the One.R speakers conveyed conjure up memories of my time with the Triton Reference.–Al Griffin, Sound & Vision” GoldenEar Technology is pleased to announce the introduction of the new Triton One.R. This extraordinary new reference quality loudspeaker is a smaller, less expensive follow up to the Triton Reference. The T Ref has been compared with speakers selling for over ten times its surprisingly a. ordable cost. It has had a remarkable response from both music and hi. enthusiasts as well as press and reviewers from around the world, who have bestowed upon it innumerable Speaker-of-the-Year and Product-of-the-Year awards. Now the T One.R is…

Gotta See the Show LAST MAY I had an opportunity to attend High End in Munich, Germany, an event considered by many to be the world’s leading hi-fi show. It was the second consecutive Munich show I had attended, and this one was even more bustling with activity than the last. While the show does provide trade-only days, it’s primarily a consumer-focused event—audiophiles from all over Europe flock in to look at and listen to the latest gear, much of it on active display in rooms that pump out nonstop music. There’s something special about getting the chance to actually sit down and demo equipment at a hi-fi show. Many of the experiences I’ve had at High End and some other events have been truly ear-opening and involved exotic and expensive gear…

Another highlight of this year's High End Munich trip was a visit to the DALI (Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries) Speakers factory in Denmark. Sound & Vision recently tested that company’s Callisto 6 C wireless active speakers (April/May and online at soundandvision.com), and currently have an Oberon passive 5.1 system in-house for review. The DALI factory presented a dizzying mix of high-tech and traditional speaker-building techniques, with sophisticated robots rapidly assembling speaker cabinets that were then handed off to humans to conduct the painstaking process of hand-lacquering. DALI is especially proud of the innovations it has developed for in-house driver production. In certain speaker models, for example, custom wood-fiber cones are employed. In others, the motor magnet system uses SMC (Soft Magnetic Compound), a material that measurably reduces distortion by minimizing the…

Home Is Where S&V Is At Eureka! After being located in temporary housing for 8 months following an involuntary displacement last November, my family moved into a more permanent rental and I finally received the latest Sound & Vision after missing a few issues. This was after 20-plus continuous years of SR and S&V! I love the speaker-laden current issue and am glad to once again be enjoying the comforts of home after wandering in the wilderness without S&V! M. Gulli / via email Welcome home! A word on subscriptions: By changing a sub to Print+Digital status, you will not only receive Sound & Vision in the mail but can access a digital version of each issue that’s viewable on a PC/Mac computer, tablet, or phone. Print+Digital only costs a few dollars more…

HI-FI AT HIGH END MUNICH 2019 The High End show that took place in Munich, Germany this past May was a literal hi-fi playground, one offering countless opportunities to sit back and listen to music being played on some of the world’s best gear. Compared with High End Munich 2018, which Sound & Vision also attended, the gear on display at this year’s show skewed further toward the pricey and exotic—think low-power tube amps, huge horn speakers that look like something from a Dr. Suess book, and ultra-expensive turntables. Even so, we managed to find more real-world products worth reporting on. Here’s a sampling of what we uncovered. Pro-Ject Audio Pre Box RS2 Digital Pro-Ject Audio Systems’ Box lineup has grown substantially since the company first started offering the mini-sized components. The new…

Lemoyne Martin was unhappy. He’d just bought a Sony big screen TV, but now found the quality of his local cable TV service severely lacking. Pondering this dilemma in early 1994, Lemoyne read about a new satellite TV system called DirecTV. DirecTV promised 150 channels of all-digital laserdisc-quality TV—DVD was still three years in the future—and CD-quality sound, transmitted via the Ku satellite band. Lemoyne was familiar with satellite TV—three million subscribers at that time received their TV via C-band satellite. But C-band required a receiving dish larger than a swimming pool. In 1991, PrimeStar had launched a Ku-band service known as DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite), but even this system needed a three-foot-diameter dish. DirecTV’s DBS dish, however, measured a mere 18 inches across, “A saucer that would scarcely do as a respectable…