Top Audio & Video 2003 Milan, Italy

Thursday Part 2

  Jamo offered a wide range their loudspeakers at the Milan Top Audio & Video show.

 

Celestion's traé chic floorstanding loudspeakers are seen here with their S10 subwoofer.

 

As this is an audio and video show, Yamaha had their ultra-small TSS 10 system with small cube main loudspeaker much like Bose. Sorry and all, yet can't help and wonder, why would some so greatly compromise the sound reproduction in their home.

 

Triangle Electroacoustique had an array of products including the over six foot high Magellan (€35,000) that reproduces from 30Hz to 20kHz. This 177 lb. behemoth handles 400 watts, yet is surprisingly sensitive with a 94dB/W/m rating.

 

My close friends know i am always on the lookout for some T+A, and there was an abundance of it in Milan! T+A's new V10 tubed stereo integrated amplifier (€5,500) employs a pair of EL 509 tubes to produce 80 watts per channel. A pair of ECC82 tubes for voltage amplification and a pair of ECC99 tubes for driver are also employed. Four inputs, tape loop, loudspeaker binding posts, and headphone jack appear at the rear of the unit. The front sports selector and volume knobs while centrally mounted red LCD display allows for visual confirmation of operation.

 

Those who desire more T+A might enjoy this prototype G10 turntable with glass platter and both 33.3- and 45-rpm speeds.

 

(Said with tongue in cheek) And if all this talk of T+A is getting you horny, the Kiom brand H1-3A (€18,000) is a three-way 104.5dB/W/ sensitive design. A 15-ich woofer is mated with 1-inch Alnico magnet compression driver and horn tweeter. The separate box behind the main loudspeaker is the external crossover with it's transformer-based adjustability for the midrange and tweeter.

 

Kiom also had their 2A3 -based integrated amplifier called the A3 (€3,900). All of Kiom products are hand built by Italian craftsman Luca Chiomenti including hand winding the copper transformers.

 

Montagna's Spark 3 uses a stand carefully crafted from a solid billet of aluminum that houses a nearly 6-inch aluminum dome midrange and 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter. Bass duties is from 12-inch driver enabled, wood wrapped enclosure.

 

V.Y.G.LE.R. is still going strong with their Atlantis turntable made with more pounds of aluminum than most Japanese autos. OK, perhaps an exaggeration, yet this hefty design has an outstanding linear tracking tonearm and multiple pressure gauges to insure proper operation.

 

Where form follows function with great styling is Eclipse TD and their TD512 loudspeaker and A505 amplifier. The loudspeaker cabinet is sensuously shaped and holds a Kevlar 4-inch driver whilst the pyramid-like amplifier has a top-mounted volume knob for easy access.

 

Loudspeaker manufacturer Mission had their FS1-AV audio and video five-channel system that includes a self-powered normal cone driver subwoofer while the mains use NXT flat driver technology.

 

Audio Note customers, who possibly already own Ferrari cars and Patek Philippe grand complication watches, now have a new turntable and monoblock amplifier to look forward to. Their new TT3 Reference (€18,000 not including tonearm or cartridge) continues Audio Note's this three motor design and employs a power supply the size of a Krell amplifier and weighs 35 kg. Why is the power supply so large you ask? Because Audio Note feels you need an amplifier that can produce 800 watts at 25Hz to achieve the best control of the three impressively hefty motors.

 

Also new from Audio Note is the Sogon (€85,000) parallel 300B all-silver Level 6 monoblock amplifier. Naturally each monoblock has a separate outboard power supply. In typical fashion from this no-holds-barred company, silver is everywhere from transformers to signal capacitors and beyond.

 

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