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Magico V2: A bargain-priced $18,000 speaker

Times are tough, and even high-end speaker manufacturers are feeling the pinch.

Take Magico, for instance. Its soon to be released V2 speaker is $9,000 less expensive than the current entry-level model, the V3. The brand's probably most famous for its Mini II monitors that go for $29,600. The top of the range Ultimates run, gulp, $329,000! Don't worry, all prices are per pair.

The V2 is certainly built like a Magico; its got the solid aircraft grade aluminum front baffle attached to a 17-ply, vertically stacked Baltic Birch wood cabinet. The entire cabinet is … Read more

Rocky Mountain High: Denver's high-end audio fest

The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2008 was held at two hotels: the Denver Marriott Tech Center Hotel and the Hyatt Regency Tech Center on October 10 through October 12, 2008.

UPDATE: Click here to view more pictures from the RMAF.

The hundreds of manufacturers participating at the show proves high-end audio is alive and definitely kicking. RMAF has a very different vibe than the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas every January--RMAF is friendlier, without a hint of corporate oppression that dominates mainstream shows.

High-end audio is a smaller industry, where established brands such as Krell and Vandersteen compete against fledgling start-ups. Every manufacturer sets out to build the very best performing products, without the dulling constraints that Sony or Bose has to contend with.

Cruising through the 160 demo rooms I noticed an interesting trend, a minority of companies were using CD players. Maybe half had music servers/laptops, 30 percent were spinning vinyl, a couple had reel-to-reel analog tape machines, and the remainder was CD based.

Jolida's new $399 JT-10 all-tube integrated amplifier sounded awesome. It's a gorgeous glass encased design, a little jewel of an amp. Jolida also showed the JD 9 tube phono preamplifier, which was also sounding phenomenal. I believe it's $450, what a deal!

Vacuum tube electronics were plentiful, perhaps even in the majority compared with solid-state. Sure, a lot of gear was pricey, but budget high-end brands, such as Audioengine were making great sound on the cheap, the Audioengine 2 speakers run $200 a pair. Clever name, the Audiophile One is a tiny, $249, 30 watts per channel stereo amplifier. It's no toy, the little thing comes in a bunch of colors and it's built to a very high standard. … Read more

The Audiophile Wiki gives sound answers

The audiophile lexicon goes way, way back, at least to the early 1950s hi-fi craze. Here's a place to get a grip on it.

The Audiophile Wiki was initiated by PS Audio's Paul McGowan to help answer questions about audio.

"For years, I have been on a personal crusade to put whatever effort I could into helping raise awareness of our industry," McGowan said. "I have spent hundreds (probably thousands) of hours answering questions about everything from how to connect a loudspeaker to how a transistor works, all in service to PS Audio customers and … Read more

Picture this: Audiophile bliss

Stereophile magazine writer Wes Phillips is a friend of mine and we occasionally trade mix CDs. A few months ago, we were sitting around listening to our mixes over Wes Bender's tweaked out hi-fi--and this shot perfectly captured the vibe. I Photoshopped this image, shot by Bender.

You can't hear digital audio--until it's converted to analog

To hear digital audio it has to be converted to analog. The chip that does that is called a digital-to-analog converter, and there's one in your iPod, computer, and CD, DVD, and Blu-ray players.

Thing is, the quality of the conversion has everything to do with the sound quality you hear. That's why audiophiles pay big bucks for the best ones, and Chord Electronics, a British high-end stalwart has just released the QBD76, which contains a real contender for world's best digital-to-analog converter (DAC) chip.

Chord Electronics are used in top studios, including Skywalker Sound, Abbey Road, … Read more

The Audiophile Club of Athens on YouTube!

Some guys are into cars, some gamble, or blow the budget on high-end kitchens. Me, I'm an audiophile. I've met a lot of really intense tech geeks over the years, but this masterful YouTube video by Ken Barnes takes it to the extreme. The members of The Audiophile Club of Athens show off their stuff. It's a truly gorgeous video, lavishly produced and the short interviews are well done.

One guy admits, "I was a normal human being until I was thirty five years old." and then he found hi-fi, and he's been obsessed ever since. It's all about a love affair with exotic gear, sound, and yes, music.

Full video after the jump.… Read more

"Novel" receiver to protect electronics against electromagnetic pulse attack

A Malibu, CA company is developing a new system to protect military communication gear from high-power microwave weapons, nuclear blast generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and the mythic, directed-energy "e-bomb".

One nuclear airburst can unleash the EMP equivalent to 100,000 volts per square centimeter, frying computer, radar and communication equipment within hundreds of miles. It's possible to protect electronic circuitry from EMP with something called a Faraday cage, or covering it up with 1 inch mesh, grounded, copper chicken wire as they've done with FEMA headquarters; problem is-nothing gets out either, which defeats the purpose when … Read more

Disposable gizmos vs. high-end audio

You see it every day, a passing parade of new-tech gizmos crowding the market.

From phones to mobile Internet devices, digital cameras, music players, and mini notebooks--and on the home theater side--formats that whither and die just a couple of years after their much ballyhooed introductions. Every day there's more junk.

Most of this glittering assortment of wowie-zowie tech trinkets are destined to take up landfill space in five years or less. That's apparently OK; nobody expects to keep an iPhone all that long, and besides there's always something new, jam-packed with the latest tech to buy. Why would anyone expect to just buy something good enough to use for a decade or more?

Audio is the exception to that mindset. It seems like I've met a gazillion baby boomers still using the hi-fis they bought around the time of the first Woodstock. One Audiophiliac reader bemoaned the fact that his 20-year-old $600 speakers were now beyond repair. He got 20-something years of use out of the speakers--and that's not enough.

When it comes to audio people think it should last forever, though some of the best stuff comes close. For example, the "other" McIntosh, the audio company, still factory services amplifiers built when Nixon was president. Gee, I wonder if Apple would fix your dad's Apple II? … Read more

Boston Acoustics stunning new speakers

Boston Acoustics was in Manhattan earlier this week to demonstrate its new Vista Series speakers. Boston kicked up the styling and all of the speakers feature radical "wave-like" curves and drop dead gorgeous lacquer paint jobs. The high gloss black was beautiful, but the cherry wood was a knockout! Really hot stuff and durable too -- one of Boston's people actually took out his keys and tried to scratch the speaker's paint -- but the finish remained pristine.

That's nice, but wouldn't mean much if the speakers didn't sound great. The demo was … Read more