Innehållsförteckning för July - August 2020 från Sound + Image

We are seeing some tantalising bargains at the moment while manufacturers and distributors attempts to keep business flowing during these interesting times, with one of the more enticing being from PS Audio. SAVE $1,000 ON THE PS AUDIO STELLAR POWER PLANT 3. The Hi-Fi community has now discovered the advantages of power conditioners, and PS Audio is arguably the most recognisable brand out there. While PS Audio make a range of excellent Hi-Fi products their reputation for power conditioners is second to none. Like most PS Audio offerings, the Steller Power Plant 3 is a power regenerator. It takes the incoming voltage and rebuilds it to perfect AC. The P3 includes 3 separate zones delivering 300 watts of pure regenerated power, 500 watts of short-term power and a whopping 900…

Klipsch has updated the long-running Heresy model from its Heritage range to MkIV status, making substantial changes to deliver a very different speaker from either the one introduced in 1957, or the previous 2006 model. For a start, and for the first time in the model’s long history, the Heresy is now a bass reflex design with a Tractrix geometry port, which Klipsch says has improved low frequency extension by almost 10Hz. The necessary crossover upgrade draws on the steep slope designs of the legendary Klipschorn, La Scala and Cornwall speakers. Klipsch now rates the frequency response at 48Hz–20kHz ±4dB and its efficiency at an amazingly high 99dBSPL (2.83V/1m). It also claims it can deliver continuous maximum in-room sound pressure levels of 116dBSPL. Warn the neighbours. High frequencies are delivered…

We are indebted to our SoundOff correspondent Derek Powell for bringing to our attention a white paper from display intelligence firm Insight Media, detailing a new way Hollywood is fighting back against the often-destructive effects of motion processing in TVs and other display devices. Motion processing is used to reduce judder by using a higher frame rate, but filmmakers feel that the resulting smooth-ness is no longer ‘cinematic’. Ever since Tom Cruise (yes, him again) joined ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ director Christopher McQuarrie in telling fans they should turn off their motion smoothing and interpolation features, TV makers have rushed to introduce ‘Netflix-calibrated’, ‘Filmmaker’ and other modes, most of which do little more than turn off the processing they put in there in the first place! We’re halfway between these…

SUMMARY LG OLED65GXPTA Price: $5999 + Stunning OLED images + Improved black detail + Built for wall-mounting – Exciting new features not really very exciting – Floorstand extra and ugly This latest OLED from LG is the first TV we can remember ever to arrive without a table-top stand. That’s because this OLED65GXPTA (65GX for short) is described as a ‘Gallery’ model, designed specifically to be wall-mounted, so a low-profile articulated mount is included instead, while it also has standard VESA mounting holes at the back. And rather than the usual wafer-thin top panel with a thicker base for hardware and connections, it’s a uniform 2cm deep all over. So is this the ultimate 4K wall-hanging TV? Equipment You can, in fact, order a pair of feet for the TV,…

PRICING Bluesound Node 2i: $999 Powernode 2i: $1549 Vault 2i: $1999 Pulse Soundbar 2i: $1599 Pulse Sub: $999 Pulse 2i: $1599 Pulse Mini 2i: $999 Pulse Flex 2i: $699 RC1 remote: $99 Contact: Convoy International Telephone: 02 9774 9900 Web: www.bluesound.com.au Among the various streaming multiroom platforms available, Bluesound had a differentiation in place from the start. It was quick to establish its credentials as a higher-quality platform for enjoying music throughout your home, allowing high-res audio to be played, which some rivals added only later, or still haven’t. Also key to its success has been its ease of use, with one of the most attractive and effective apps for selecting what you want to play and where you want to play it, including the ability to play to multiple…

Last issue we reviewed the largest of this new three-strong range of wireless multiroom speakers from Denon, and as noted then, they mark a significant change. Many readers will know the ‘HEOS by Denon’ range of wireless speakers and components that was launched in 2014, with HEOS evolving to become its own brand. That’s now more or less over, with HEOS now marketed as a streaming platform, a technology which now appears in many Denon and Marantz products, with efforts to spread it further. The HEOS-branded wireless speakers are on the way out, replaced by Denon Home speakers, while the HEOS soundbars and subwoofer have been slightly revised and rebranded back to Denon. Only the components — the HEOS Link and Amp and some more custom-orientated units — retain the…

PRICING Meridian 200 Series 210 Streamer: $2099 218 Zone Controller: $2099 251 Powered Zone Controller: $2799 258 8-channel amplifier: $2999 271 Digital Theatre Controller: $4299 SPEAKERS (pairs) M6: $9998 DSP8000SE: $110,000 DSP5200SE: $24,999 Contact: Cogworks Telephone: 07 5415 0337 Web: https://cogworks.io Meridian, a company which operates at the highest levels of hi-fi, also does multiroom audio — but as Spock might say, not as we know or understand it, Jim. There are no standalone one-box wireless speakers here, though you can incorporate Meridian’s ‘digital’ speakers up to their highest level. While a high-end Meridian system might include the large and impressive UltraDAC, a 17kg Reference CD player, or perhaps its solid 23kg power amplifier, the company is now addressing an entirely different type of solution. The world of streaming together…

MusicCast is Yamaha’s streaming and multiroom platform, and is used across such a large selection of its products that we’ll have to take a deep breath just to list the categories — there are standalone MusicCast products such as wireless speakers (three, including a true stereo pair which remains our favourite multiroom product ever), five varying levels of soundbar with subwoofer, and its highly successful range of AV receivers (14 are MusicCast-equipped at the last count, but that’s about to increase). There are three little MusicCast lifestyle amplifiers, three hi-fi stereo amplifiers, two compact music systems, and a pair of MusicCast-equipped amplifiers designed specifically for custom-installed multi-room audio. Not forgetting the wireless multiroom turntable introduced a couple of years ago to great acclaim and a Sound+Image Award. Oh, and a…

SUMMARY Musical Fidelity M2si integrated amplifier Price: $2000 M2sCD CD player Price: $2000 + Solid sound-first hi-fi + Refined yet muscular performance + Good installation flexibility – No digital inputs – No headphone outputs Anyone seeking a classic hi-fi system based around an integrated amplifier should already have Musical Fidelity on their audition list. And all the more so now that the UK company is bounding forward with a new lease of life under the umbrella of Audio Tuning, owned by Heinz Lichtenegger, founder of Pro-Ject Audio Systems, who took over Musical Fidelity from its equally legendary founder Antony Michaelson in 2018. This was no corporate buyout; indeed from Lichtenegger’s perspective it was just bringing a longstanding partnership under his own roof. He and Antony Michaelson have connections going back…

The LCD-1 is a slightly curious product. Technically these headphones offer the planar-magnetic performance for which Audeze has found success with reviewers and listeners around the world. And price-wise they do so at a more affordable level than the company’s previous ‘statement’ planar-magnetics have done. And perhaps in keeping with the lower price and so wider use Audeze has added convenience features, making the LCD-1 “a compact and travel-friendly package” — the headphones fold up, they come with a sturdy carry-case, they are relatively light and certainly comfortable. Their impedance and sensitivity are a nominal 16 ohms and a quoted 99dB/1mW respectively, which are mobile-friendly specifications. But these are open-backed headphones, and Audeze’s own website says “the LCD-1 is engineered for fatigue-free listening sessions both at home and in the…

One of the hallmarks of the lockdown was (or ‘is’, depending on your location and what happens between when I’m writing this and when you’re reading it) a gradual realisa-tion that some things — like restaurant takeaways, working from home, washing our hands — might be new ways of doing things that will stick with us beyond the confines of COVID-19. This has always been the way of the world: the discovery of something better is often such a one-way trip, part of the evolution of our individual lives towards greater efficiency or greater enjoyment. But this crisis has shoved a whole tray of new things before us, with changes we’d never have made — or been allowed to make — without such an enormous push from government and plain…

The closure of cinemas during COVID-19 restrictions has led movie companies to experiment with sending new movies straight to video-on-demand streaming services, instead of sticking with the usual cinema-exclusive model. Home cinema fans would welcome more of this, especially since the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Apple et al investing heavily in their own content has already brought into question the traditional model of a cinema run followed by video release. Now cinemas risk being removed from the distribution chain altogether. One great VOD success during the shutdown was ‘Trolls World Tour’. The Wall Street Journal reported that this movie had made US$77 million from VOD domestic sales in the three weeks to the end of April. Because Universal Pictures will get about 80% of the streaming royalties compared with 50%…

SUMMARY Epson EH-TW7100 Price: $2649 + Solid full-HD and UHD performance + Excellent 576p scaling + Excellent colour brightness + Great price – Not actually pixel-for-pixel 4K Now that there are plenty of 4K projectors on the market, it feels second-best to opt for a full-HD model with just a quarter of the pixels you get with 4K (Ultra High Definition is the more accurate term, but even we have now started saying 4K for short). Of course the issue is price — indeed since the 4Kers have arrived, there are some astounding prices out there on decent full-HD projectors. Yet wait — here comes Epson with the EH-TW7100, equipped with its 4K Pro-UHD feature, complete with a dedicated 4K Pixel-Shift processor, and a price-tag of $2649. We remember back…

PRICING SoundTouch 10: $249 SoundTouch 20: $399.95 SoundTouch 30: $599.95 Wireless Link Adaptor: $249.95 Wave SoundTouch IV: $999.95 SA-5 amplifier: $799 Portable Home: $499.95 Home Speaker 300: $399.95 Home Speaker 500: $599.95 Soundbar 500: $799.95 Soundbar 700: $1199.95 Surround Speakers: $449.95 Contact: Bose Australia Telephone: 1800 061 046 Web: www.bose.com.au There might be a tendency to think of Bose as a mass-market brand, simply because of its size and presence. But that doesn’t mean its products aren’t hi-fi — indeed economies of scale could make it able to offer better value than products from smaller companies. Also, some clever decisions made by Dr Amar Bose before his passing in 2013 have ensured that the company has full control of its own future — the money men can’t dictate what they…

An “intelligent” wireless music system, so Dynaudio declares its four-strong ‘Music’ collection of wireless speakers. They rise in size, power and abilities from the smaller Music 1 and 3, both with internal batteries allowing them to go walkabout, to the two larger domesticated models in the Music 5 and 7. In this they seem quite similar to several other longer-standing offerings in the wireless multiroom speaker market. But Dynaudio does aim to deliver a difference, notably in sheer size with the Music 7, which presents itself an impressively wide 82cm from angled edge to angled edge, or 74cm across its button-laden brushed aluminium top. Even the Music 5 is still quite the presence. And of course Dynaudio’s longevity as a speaker manufacturer of renown gives some further expectation of quality…

PRICING Naim Audio Mu-so Gen 2: $2600 Mu-so Qb Gen 2: $1475 Uniti Core: $3500 Uniti Atom: $4500 Uniti Star: $7100 Uniti Nova: $8700 ND5 XS2: $4850 NDX2: $10,500 ND 555 + 555 PS DR: $41,000 Contact: BusiSoft AV Web: www.busisoft.com.au For longtime hi-fi watchers, Naim is perhaps the most unexpected company to have become such a high-level leader in the art of streaming and multiroom audio. UK-based Naim Audio, which co-exists with French speaker company Focal under common ownership, built its reputation on amplification from its very first products in the early 1970s. At that time it was almost a renegade company both in its attitude, led by the legendary Julian Vereker and later Paul Stephenson, and also in even suggesting that amplification was an area requiring hi-fi attention…

If you’re going to have a treat, we reckon you might as well have a big treat. And for a hi-fi fan, spending time with a McIntosh amplifier at this level — a few coins short of $36,500 the pair — is getting on for as big a treat as they come. Those who have attended Australian hi-fi shows and entered the rooms hosted by Synergy Audio-Visual will know the warm feeling of being confronted by several racks’ worth of green McIntosh logos and glowing teal VU meters (many call them blue; McIntosh specifies teal — so they’re teal, OK?). But of course, it’s the sound that is the thing. Just as everyone knows what a Harley-Davidson engine sounds like, McIntosh amplifiers have a sound quality that’s of similar renown…

SNOWPIERCER (BLU-RAY) MOVIE: EXTRAS: RELEASED: 2013 DIRECTOR: Bong Joon Ho STARRING: Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Ewen Bremner, Ko Asung, John Hurt, Ed Harris DISC RELEASE: Roadshow Entertainment Amid the euphoria of Parasite’s historic Oscar win, and its guaranteed place in pub-quiz immortality as the first foreign-language Best Picture winner, it was easy to miss the climax of a dramatic subplot. Back in 2013, Bong Joon-ho fell foul of the notorious temper of Harvey ‘Scissorhands’ Weinstein, producer of Bong’s 2013 Hollywood debut, Snowpiercer. Weinstein effectively buried the film, which went largely unseen, though its reputation among film fans raced forward as fast as the train at the centre of its plot. Head down the track seven years to February 2020, and in the very month…

A young boy is climbing a steep hill at night. Carefully, he makes his way through the tangles of sparse scrub that cling to the side of Lion Rock; from his vantage point he can see Kowloon spread before him, the name of which comes from the term for nine dragons. Immediately below, the very last house of the accommodation reserved for British army personnel in Hong Kong, where he lives with his parents, huddles into the mane of Lion Rock. Beneath his feet, time stands still, the passing of millions of years solidified in granite. Above him, a scattering of distant stars wink through the pearlescent glow of a glorious moonlit night. 2020“Bill Bruford said the idea was to put the ‘fragile’ label that you would see on instrument…

If you’ve been hankering after Yamaha’s 5000 Series of hi-fi with a wallet too thin to oblige, you’ll be delighted to discover that the company has revised and reengineered the rest of its hi-fi integrated amplifiers to take advantage of some of the 5000 Series concepts. The new A-S1200, A-S2200 and A-S3200 integrated amplifiers have now arrived, priced at $3499, $4999 and $9999 respectively. Although the new amplifiers look similar to the preceding A-S1100, A-S2100 and A-S3000 models they replace, Yamaha says they share several key features with the 5000 Series, including toroidal transformers with drawn-out wiring to reduce energy loss, mechanical grounding to reduce unwanted vibrations, and nicely thick wires for ground connections ensuring lower impedance. The A-S3200 is the most powerful amplifier in the series, rated with a…

Arevolutionary new audio experience that dramatically increases sound quality by introducing the space that is normally missing from recorded audio, unlocking the ‘live’ dimension that’s often lost.” That’s the pitch for IRIS, a new proprietary sound processing algorithm which claims to transform your music listening by “splitting out and increasing the phase information sent to the brain. The listener’s brain then reassembles this vast increase in information and becomes far more active in the listening process.” This ‘Active Listening’ is a buzzphrase used throughout the new company’s litera-ture. IRIS will market a pair of headphones (shown above) to showcase the technology, these to be launched through crowdfunding site IndieGogo. But the application is intended for much wider use. IRIS can integrate with third party hardware or applications, and operates on…

SUMMARY Samsung QA65Q95T Price: $4399 + Top QLED cheaper than top OLED + Separate input box allows super-neat installation + Impressive Tizen interface + Improved motion processing + Very low gaming lag − Dimming zone downgrade on last year’s top 4K model Now pay attention, because the following introduction may confuse you. It certainly confused us. TV model numbers are hard to follow at the best of times. Samsung’s changes from year to year are usually reasonably easy to follow, but this time — well, brace yourself. Last year’s 4K flagship QLED TV from Samsung was the Q90R. Looking at this year’s line-up, you might think it has been replaced by not one but two models: this Q95T and — in some countries but not Australia — the Q90T.…

BLUESOUND • BOSE • BOWERS & WILKINS • DENON • DYNAUDIOHARMAN-KARDON • MERIDIAN • NAIM • SONOS • YAMAHA MUSICCAST Twenty years ago, a home multi-room system was the stuff of fantasy. It required wires through the walls, complex signal routing to get a CD player in one room playing to another, and still more cables to handle control. And it would also have required a fair chunk of cash to achieve Whereas today you can send your favourite tunes all around your home, controlled by the touch of an app or even just the command of your voice, with only mains cables for your various systems required. The combination of better Wi-Fi, higher quality streaming services and the rise of wireless multiroom platforms has made it all far far…

The Formation suite of wireless multiroom audio brings B&W’s strengths in traditional loudspeaker design and engineering into line with the 21st-century multiroom concept, with six products which you could use individually or join together in a home connected via the Formation proprietary mesh wireless network, able to stream up to high-resolution 24-bit/96kHz audio. The company has long been a leader in lifestyle audio through its Zeppelin active speakers and a few other more conventional designs, but it has been a long wait for it to join the multiroom party. Many have been surprised how simplistic is the ‘Home’ app which controls the products — it does little more than group them and control their volume, plus a little EQ control. But the company must have taken this to heart, as…

Back in the day, harman-kardon used the Citation name for some serious amplification, but now it’s the banner under which the company has launched its ambitious and wide-ranging set of multiroom audio products, all of which use Chromecast and built-in Google Voice Assistant as their kicking-off point for wireless connections, along with AirPlay 2 for Apple users and Bluetooth as the omnipresent if not omnipo-tent back-up solution. Talking of omnithings, we’ve long had a high regard for harman-kardon’s standalone wireless speakers and in particular its previous Omni multiroom range, which we never felt achieved its full head in Australia, despite the spherical Omni 10 being one of the best-sounding small speakers we’ve ever heard. So it’s a delight to see here that the Citation series has launched with not only…

PRICING Sonos Five: $749 One: $299 One SL: $269 Move: $649 Sub: $999 Arc: $1399 Beam: $599 Port: $599 Amp: $999 Contact: Sonos Australia Telephone: 1800 680 234 Web: www.sonos.com/en-au Sonos has enjoyed amazing success since it launched its streaming multiroom-capable products back in 2004 — and well-deserved success, since its approach and innovations proved visionary in defining the wireless multiroom category years before any other company managed to react — and even when they did, their solutions tended to follow the blueprint set down by Sonos. At first there were just the original versions of what are now the Port and the Amp, then called the ZonePlayer 80 and 100, streaming either into an existing hi-fi or with internal amps as a just-add-speakers solution. Looking back at our past…

SUMMARY Pro-Ject X1 Price: $1349 without cartridge + Excellent performance + VTA & Azimuth Adjust + Dustcover and cable included – Short arm length – No fine speed adjustment Now that the reign of the Compact Disc is all but over, we forget what an impact the silver discs had in the early 1980s. According to co-inventors Philips and Sony, CD would deliver “perfect sound forever”, plus it was smaller, played for longer without a flip, and it was more robust — one popular science show smeared it with marmalade, wiped it clean, and it played! Try that with your Pink Floyd LPs, they said. Sure enough, in the years that followed, turn-tables disappeared from hi-fi stores and started appearing in garage sales instead. Australian record companies shut their local…

TOP 4 LPs THE KINKS You Really Got Me was Britain’s Tutti Frutti, a brutal thunderbolt of teenage lust that explosively changed the game. Ray Davies was the singer-songwriter of The Kinks’ first hit, but it was kid brother Dave who created its fuzzed-up guitar sound by slashing his amp’s speaker with a razor in hooligan frustration, to finally express his adolescent rage. Thereby inventing hard rock, Hendrix was among those who listened in awe, and later asked Dave how he did it. Subsequent tracks such as All Day And All Of The Night and Who’ll Be The Next In Line were templates for The Who and US garage-rock, while a sequence of innovative singles stretched from See My Friends’ use of sitar-like sounds to Lola’s sly gender-play in 1970,…