カテゴリー 新製品速報
以下は、avcat調べによる確定前の情報ですので、誤報となる可能性があります。
SonusfaberのEXTREMAですが、国内価格はストラディバリを越えるかもしれないとのことです。
また世界限定数30ペアと販売数が非常に少ないため、日本向けとしてどのぐら数確保できるかは不明とのことです。もしかすると、確保が厳しい可能性もあり、購入を希望される方は早めに動かれた方がいいのかもしれません。
製品サイト：http://www.sonusfaber.com/en-us/products/extrema
Super Limited Edition
for our 30th Anniversary.
Extrema’s story and its DNA.
After the success obtained with Parva, Minima, Electa and Electa Amator, Sonus faber wanted to use its experience and try a new ambitious project that would exceed limits and create a new reference. In 1991 Extrema came to light, a unique speaker with quite ambitious objectives. Extrema owes its name to its special loudspeakers, to the 6 dB/octave crossover, the first without capacitors in series to the signal, and#to its particular cabinet designed to optimise component performance and the dampened rear passive radiator. Thanks to these characteristics it represented maximum development for a dynamic speaker and, because of this, a notable challenge for the most sophisticated electronic systems, as well as their ideal combination.
The re-birth of a myth and the celebration of 30 years of History.
Extrema is the most front-running project in the history of Sonus faber. It is a milestone on its development road, one of those maximum expressions in the design of acoustic speakers that has become a myth for all enthusiasts. The maximum possible performance and perfect sound reproduction were the factors that guided its development, both for design and in the electro-acoustic project. In its 30 years of history, Sonus faber has produced various successes, and it has developed greatly in technological research and the use of materials, but it has always remained faithful to its DNA and its traditions. This is why, to celebrate its 30th anniversary, Sonus faber decided to pay homage to its most “extreme” project, remaining perfectly adherent to the intentions that characterised its creation, but integrating it with the new technological development, electro-acoustic research, design and material use frontiers.
THE SHAPE
The wiry shape of the speaker breaks on purpose the tradition of the soft lines that characterise Sonus faber products, and was obtained using a reduction process in which the volume was extracted from a block of rigid material. As marble under the skilled hands of the sculptor, the raw material has been broken to obtain clean cuts and
tight surfaces. Extrema is for performance without compromises and its dynamic lines mirror its character and nature.
THE CARBON FIBER
Carbon, a very particular chemical element at the base of all the life on our planet, is present in nature in various forms, from the softest such as graphite to the hardest such as diamonds.Today used in multiple environments, from aeronautics to vehicles, medicine and sport, carbon is well known to Sonus faber,
which experimented its characteristics when producing the Huayra sound system, the latest model of supercar made by Pagani Automobili from Modena.
THE CHASSIS
The complex mold with 6 elements used to create the speaker frame is made to measure, making the standard production of the object extremely limited, adding exclusiveness to the character of this loudspeaker that is already a cult object for the most enthusiastic collectors.
WOOD
The art of lute making has always been a source of inspiration for the design of many of Sonus faber most emblematic speakers; it is not by chance that all the precious elements of the Homage collection, from Amati to Guarneri and Stradivari are named after the most famous lute makers in history.
The new Extrema pays an important tribute to this antique art by flanking, in close contact with the ultra-modern carbon chassis, sides of red spruce from Val di Fiemme, the wood of string instruments par excellence.
THE SIDES
The sound of wood has always been important for Sonus faber. In the case of the Extrema project, the fact that the supporting structure of the loudspeaker is made with a carbon monocoque make it possible to use wood as the pure resounding element, exactly as in the sound board
of string instruments. The choice therefore had to be the resonant spruce from Val di Fiemme, the rare and prestigious essence of which violins are made.
BERYLLIUM AND DIAMOND
Beryllium is an extremely rare and exclusive metal that is used in various high-technology industrial sectors, such as medicine, aerospace and experimental/applied physics. Beryllium also played an important part in the history of audio transducers, used for example in magnetic cartridges
THE MEDIUM AND LOW FREQUENCY
The 180 mm “Ultra dynamic linearity” mid-woofer designed by Sonus faber and equipped with a Neodymium motor, is the driver that reproduces the medium and low frequencies. A pure copper winding 6N is used on a coil support with control of the Lorentz currents. The magnetic motor, very linear and dynamic, has an optimised
layout and a heat dissipator that also acts as a “mass damper”. The special diaphragm, which is personalised for Sonus faber, is obtained by means of a sandwich that uses nano-carbon hides and a special syntactic dampening foam to obtain maximum resolution.
THE HIGH FREQUENCY
Reproducing high frequencies is entrusted to a 30 mm transducer with mobile coil designed entirely by Sonus faber, implemented with a Sonus faber mechanical interface that optimises vibration management.The “Ultra dynamic linearity”, the result of the new Neodymium magnetic system, is optimised
by the dome diaphragm of DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) Beryllium to obtain the maximum resolution possible in acoustic reproduction.
THE ULTRA LOW FREQUENCY AND ITS MANAGEMENT
The passive radiator is also fully designed by Sonus faber; the L’E.M.B.A.B.R (Electro Magnetic Brake Auxiliary Bass Radiator), according to Engineer Cadawas, has varied dampening. The flat piston diaphragm is optimised for this application, and is positioned structurally midway between the sandwich structures of the midwoofer
cone and the “monocoque” structure. The basket is fully optimised to eliminate all resonance, thanks to the use of two high technologymetals (Ergal and Gun Metal) that are machined in CNC from the solid piece. The combination of these two metals eliminates any reciprocal resonance.
CROSSOVER IN AIR
The new Extrema uses a precious non-resonant Crossover in air with progressive slope, optimised by module and phase for the best space/time behaviour. The “paracross” topology is combined with best quality components that exalt the sound quality: Mundorf Supreme capacitor and Jantzen inductors. The crossover
frequency is 2350 Hz, and the low frequencies can be dampened in 4 different ways, according to the listening room.
SYSTEM
2 way, low spurious vibration optimized suspension, E.M.B.A.B.R. (Electro magnetic Brake Auxiliary Bass Radiator), monitor on a dedicated stand loudspeaker system.
CABINET
The carbon fiber sandwich “monocoque”, inspired by the supercar cockpits, is the main chassis structure on which the cabinet is build up. Constrained-mode damped lateral “Val di Fiemme” harmonic fir (Violin wood) sides, hand selected, quality graded and oriented for carefully optimized resonances control. The innovative resonance control of the wood structure is obtained by a 3D thickness distribution in the shape. “New Era” avional (from “the Sonus faber” experience) exo-squeleton front and rear clamp structure.
TWEETER
A Sonus faber designed 30 mm moving coil driver, with Sonus faber’s vibration optimized mechanical interface. D.L.C. (Diamond Like Carbon) Beryllium dome diaphragm for maximum resolution.
MID-WOOFER
A Sonus faber designed 180 mm neodymium magnet system ultra dynamic linearity mid-woofer. 6N pure copper wire is used on a controlled “eddy current” former. The dynamically linear magnetic field motor has an optimized geometry and a mass damper heat sink.
PASSIVE RADIATOR
A Sonus faber designed race track shape E.M.B.A.B.R. (Electro magnetic Brake Auxiliary Bass Radiator) “Cadawas” variably damped passive radiator.
CROSS-OVER
Non-resonant “progressive slope” design, optimized amplitude/phase response for optimal space/time performance. “Paracross topology” topology. Cross-over: 2350Hz. Adjustable low frequency damping into 4 different level.
FREQUENCY RESPONSE
40 Hz – 40.000 Hz, E.M.B.A.B.R included.
SENSITIVITY
88 db SPL (2.83V/1 m).
NOMINAL IMPEDENCE
4 ohm.
SUGGESTED AMPLIFIER POWER OUTPUT
50W – 300W, without clipping.
LONG-TERM MAXIMUM INPUT VOLTAGE (IEC-268-5)
24V rms.
DIMENSIONS (HxWxD)
434 x 282 x 560 mm.
WEIGHT
18,6 Kg each – net weigh.
DEDICATED STAND (HxWxD)
Dimensions: 661 x 360 x 460 mm.Weight: 22 Kg each – net weight.
TOTAL DIMENSIONS (HxWxD)
1.095 x 360 x 560 mm
TOTAL WEIGHT
40,6 Kg each – net weight.
[youtube width=”670″ height=”542.3″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3ingRi-jLU[/youtube]
発表から発売まで時間がかかっていたVienna Acoustics、「 Imperial Series 」ですが、ついに発売・出荷が開始されるとのことです。
金属エンクロージャーのスピーカー登場？？
[youtube width=”670″ height=”542.3″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvCP7Z_RP1k[/youtube]
Signature speaker cable plays a big part in Chord Company history. It was our first shielded speaker cable and it led to the development of Epic, Carnival SilverScreen, Epic Reference and of course our flagship speaker cable, Chord Sarum.chord-signature-speake-cable–500px
Signature speaker cable has been part of the range since 2004 and has worked beautifully in so many systems – and now (thanks to the success of Sarum speaker cable), we’ve found ways to improve the Signature speaker cable.
Please welcome Signature Reference. So what’s changed? Well to put it succinctly – everything!
Size
The new Signature Reference is slightly smaller in diameter and quite a lot more flexible. If you thought Signature was a bit on the stiff side you should have seen the first prototype. I once sat and watched it begin to tip a substantial pair of bookshelf speakers off their stands!
Conductors
Signature Reference has 10 AWG multi-stranded conductors, like the earlier Signature. However, where the Signature conductors were oxygen free copper, the Signature Reference has silver-plated oxygen free copper conductors, bringing it into line with Epic Reference and Sarum.
Insulation
Insulation has also been changed. Signature Reference has PTFE insulation where the original Signature had polyethylene.
Shielding
Two changes here. The first is that a higher density braided shield has been applied to the Signature Reference. The second is that the spacing between the conductor and shield has been optimised to improve performance. The result of this is that the new Signature Reference is marginally smaller in diameter than the original Signature.
Outer Jacket
Both Signature and Signature Reference have PVC outer jackets. However, the new Signature Reference has a different density of PVC, which we use on several of our cables to help minimise mechanical noise.
Appearance
As standard, Signature Reference is fitted with our own custom-machined gold-plated banana plugs. These are produced in the UK to our specification and are plated with 24 karat gold. We can also fit gold-plated spade connectors and BFA Camcon connectors. Like Signature, Signature Reference is available in both red and black or all black. The choice is yours.
Custom made
Every set of Signature Reference is hand built by us. It can be ordered to any length (min 1.5m) you require.
Performance
We’re very pleased. There’s more than a hint of Sarum to the new Signature Reference. We’ve currently got a set running with a pair of seriously high end speakers in our dem room and it exhibits the same sort of control and definition that Sarum does. It’s extremely neutral and transparent enough to make the day to day changes easy to hear as it runs in. It’s a very worthy successor to our beloved Signature speaker cable.
New tonearm: Thales EASY
Introducing their new tonearm: the Thales EASY, the Swiss company THALES TONARM expands its portfolio by producing a new model with a very high level of performance but also at a very competitive price. As expected, the inventor of the Thales tonearm (Micha Huber) has developed a tonearm with variable offset angle, based on a newly developed and highly innovative geometry.
The clever arrangement of six bearing points creates three null points for the horizontal tracking error, plus a zero point for the variable offset angle as well, which is a really novel for a tonearm design. This means the cartridge is guided along the ideal tracing line like that of a parallel tracking tonearm. This reduces side forces tremendously and is audible when listening to the EASY.
The EASY is a very compact and highly integrated design and provides a musical experience that was never possible at this price point before. The EASY was developed and manufactured based on Thales’s knowledge and expertise in producing their reference tonearm; the THALES SIMPLICITY, which has become the bench mark for more than 200 clients around the world.
Spindle to Pivot 230mm (EMT/Ortofon standard)
Effective length: 220mm
Effective mass: 10gm
Max. tracking error: ±0,4° (trad. 9“ tonearm: 2,2°)
Max. offset angle: ±12° (trad. 9“ tonearm: 23°)
Cartridge weight 5g – 20g
Output connection 5-pin-DIN (integrated)
2013年の1/11付け記事「CES2013で注目の新ブランド①「 AVM-TEC Alluxity 」」として紹介したAlluxityがついに国内導入されます。
Vitsu AudioのオーナーであるHans-Ole Vitus氏の息子であるAlexander V. Mogensen氏が起こしたデンマークのオーディオブランドです。
Alluxity：http://www.alluxity.dk
代理店：エミライ
PowerOne 1,599,000円
PreOne 998,000円
\2,800,000（pair・税別）
GIYA G4 Specifications .
Specification
Configuration: 4-way 5-driver system
Cabinet: Glass reinforced balsa cored sandwich composite
Finish: Multi component high gloss automotive
HF: D26 26mm alloy dome unit with Tapered Tube loading, catenary dome profile, radially polarised super flux magnet structure & isolating compliant mount
MID: D50 50mm alloy dome unit with Tapered Tube loading, catenary dome profile, radially polarized magnet structure & isolating compliant mount
Lower MID: C125S C100S alloy cone unit with Tapered Tube loading, short-coil long-gap motor design, 50mm CCA ribbon coil on highly vented former, highly aligned chassis
LF: Two C125L alloy cone unit with short-coil long-gap motor design, 50mm copper ribbon coils on highly vented formers, highly aligned chassis, radial magnet structures & reaction cancelling compliant mount structure & reaction cancelling compliant mount
Bass loading: Exponentially tapered tube enhanced bass reflex
Sensitivity: 86dB @ 2.83Vrms and 1.0 meter on axis
Impedance (Ohm): 6 nominal, 4 minimum, low reactance
Frequency range – 6 dB points: 36 – 36,000 Hz
First D26 Break Up mode: 44,000 Hz
Frequency response (Hz): 39 – 33,000 +/- 2 dB on reference axis
Harmonic distortion: (2nd and 3rd) < 0.5% over frequency range
Crossover frequencies (Hz): 250, 1000, 4000
Power handling (music program) watts rms: 400
Dimensions (H, W, D) mm: 1011, 300, 460
Net weight (kg): 32
Shipping dimensions (H, W, D) mm: (kg): 1200, 675, 530
Shipping mass (kg): 95 per pair
PS Audio DirectStream DAC
2014年3月1日正式発表
$5,995
PerfectWave DACからのアップグレードも可能。
February 27, 2014
PS Audio, manufacturer of fine audio equipment for over 40 years, is proud to introduce the revolutionary new DirectStream DAC.
DirectStream is the result of lead designer Ted Smith’s decade-long obsession with DSD, the first in a field of one: a DAC so radical that it will show how most other DACs on the market are…well, broken. How so?
The back-story: In 1981, music was reproduced exclusively on analog-based turntables and tape decks. Although there are inherent limitations in their media, records and tape have benefitted from a century of development. Despite the very listenable music coming through those grooves, the audio world wanted more: greater dynamic range, lower noise, extended frequency response.
No wonder that when, in 1982, Sony and Philips announced they had achieved “Perfect Sound Forever”, music lovers around the world waited in eager anticipation of analog’s promise finally fulfilled.
The launch of the PCM-based Compact Disc would set in motion a 30-year war amongst Audiophiles, decimate the analog format, cover up subtle musical details for decades and turn the music and audio industries upside down –and not necessarily in a good way.
It might not have ever been a problem if Sony and Philips had waited another decade, and passed over the classic PCM delivery system. It turns out the processing of the CD and its higher-resolution siblings is fundamentally flawed, and has been from the beginning.
Most modern DACs are broken: music’s details have been more faithfully recorded than we ever suspected, and the cover-up of those recorded details has been with us for more than 30 years. Happily, the missing musical information is still buried deep within our audio libraries waiting to be revealed.
The problem is the PCM decoding process itself: whether a classic ladder-DAC or more modern multi-bit Sigma-Delta type, PCM processors universally mask some of the subtle cues in music, and no amount of upgrading, expenditure, tweaking or improvement can fix this fundamentally-flawed system.
In order to extract everything hidden in PCM recordings, a completely new processing method is needed.
An end to the 30-year PCM cover-up: PS Audio is proud to end the cover-up, and finally, with the revolutionary DirectStream DAC, reveal all the missing information buried within PCM-based digital recordings.
Put DSD into DirectStream, you get DSD. Put PCM into DirectStream, you get DSD.
DirectStream converts all digital inputs, including PCM, to pure 1-bit DSD, in an elegantly-simple path. In the process, the PCM feed becomes more linear, less edgy, and never-before-heard musical details are released from all digital audio recordings. Billions of CDs and high-resolution downloads worldwide will gain new life, and be saved from obsolescence — and recycling bins or landfills.
Its secret is in its simplicity: Take a look at this comparison diagram (click to enlarge): on the top is a block diagram of one of the best PCM-based processors in the world, the ESS Sabre DAC. Look at that cluttered, circuitous path then look at the pure simplicity of the DirectStream. The PCM processor’s tendency to mask music’s subtle details is largely due to its complex needs, multiple clocks, power supplies and limitations inherent in ICs.
It’;s not enough to just convert PCM to DSD: Converting PCM to DSD can be an easy exercise using any number of computer software programs or IC solutions. Converting PCM to DSD properly, and in such a way as to reveal missing details in the music, is a serious technical challenge.
DirectStream utilizes 66-bit fixed-point FIR filters, eliminates headroom issues common to PCM, flattens noise response in the 20-100kHz region, uses coefficients optimized for best sound rather than faster processing speed and optimizes hardware-specific operations not possible in software.
Method: Unlike other processors available today, DirectStream unifies all inputs (PCM or DSD) at 10 x DSD, then uses a true single-bit double-rate DSD core engine. True DSD core engines (compared to the standard multibit Sigma-Delta converters followed by random lower quality multibit converters) offer advantages in simplicity, linearity, and in analog-like overload characteristics that avoid PCM’s hard clipping potential and a PCM processor’s propensity to mask subtle details.
Construction: Instead of being based upon a packaged PCM-based DAC chip, with all of its inherent compromises and limitations, DirectStream utilizes an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array). An FPGA is capable of dissipating large amounts of heat, enabling intensive levels of signal-processing that are impossible to achieve with an off-the-shelf chip.
Further information of lead designer Ted Smith’s seven-year journey leading to DirectStream, as well as complete details of DirectStream’s design and features, download the DirectStream White Paper. Videos of Ted’s discussions of his design process as well as the entire Gus Skinas interview can be found here.
PS Audio’s DirectStream is a totally new approach to processing digital signals. By means of its radical architecture and construction, it is able to offer state-of-the-art digital performance and previously masked musical details from all formats, at an affordable price. DirectStream will change viewpoints regarding ultimate sound-quality while simultaneously offering greater value than any contender for state-of-the-art.
PS Audio’s DirectStream isn’t just another new DAC. It’s a whole new process for decoding digital audio.
Release: The PS Audio’s DirectStream DAC will be announced March 1, 2014. Shipments to dealers and distributors will begin in April, 2014. A limited number of units are available for review at the present time.
MSRP: Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price is $5995 in the United States. Pricing in overseas markets will vary.
Upgrades: PS Audio provides an aggressive upgrade program for all PerfectWave DAC owners to convert their existing units to the new DirectStream standard.
About PS Audio: Founded by Paul McGowan and Stan Warren in 1973, PS Audio has a long history of offering innovative designs at affordable prices. PS has been an industry-leader in the fields of power-regeneration, phono preamplifiers, DACs and transports. PS Audio’s administration, engineering and manufacturing facilities are all located in Boulder, Colorado, and all core products are fully made in the USA.
