The emailer was Victor from Aural Design, a Singapore importer/retailer with whom I occasionally share notes. "After two years of R&D and numerous prototype cabinets, my customer and friend has 'perfected' a back-loaded horn for what is known as the most exotic single driver manufacturer known today, Feastrex from Japan. The horn enclosure is handcrafted from a mixture of HDF and Ply and optimized for Feastrex's 5-inch driver range which includes the NF5 Naturflux, the NF5 Monster Alnico and the field coil versions. "The curved horn prevents the build-up of standing waves while effectively and efficiently extending the low frequencies to 45Hz even with the basic NF5 Naturflux. The cabinet is handcrafted right here in Singapore. While I consider the Feastrex drivers to be the best of their kind, prices are high. Algahorn is planning also to launch smaller and more economical models featuring single drivers from Seas, Tangband, Fostex etc. We will be showing the Algahorn at the coming Singapore ISSE 2009 show from Nov. 6 - 8 with Italian Tektron electronics and Almarro single-ended amplification." After posting the announcement in our news room, I informed Victor that if a review pair became available despite the very unappealing shipping proposition to Switzerland, I'd be all ears. Hearing a Feastrex in the flesh had been high on my list since reading about these exotic drivers. While the genre of single-driver speakers has very specific limitations, the best of the breed counter with virtues that are difficult if not impossible to replicate to quite that extent by other means. As no-holds-barred statement efforts, Feastrex made quite a splash within the small niche-within-a-niche of audiophiles who take such speakers serious and are curious to stay appraised of current developments. Ever since their release, hardcore widebander aficionados around the globe had experimented with various enclosures and loading schemes to get the best from these drivers. The US Feastrex importer Joseph Cohen of Lotus Group America has settled on an open baffle augmented by twin woofers and a digital crossover. The Algahorn meanwhile focuses on the single driver in widebander speaker designs.

Victor continued: "You will definitely get a pair. The freight is nothing compared to the 20+ pairs of cabinets that were made and dumped. You know that I'm not the type to be easily swayed by claims. Before I heard the Algahorns, I did not like the many single driver speakers I heard. The shout in the higher midrange, the lack of detailed highs and muddy bass are all I ever hear. Despite using single drivers, some horns are also incoherent as they tend to load the drivers too much to give huge bass whereby the highs and mids are like a step behind the bass. I'm not saying that the Algahorn solved all these problems but the compromises made—such as extending the bass to only 45Hz—kept the musical soul and body intact. The cabinet carpentry is not like what one can get from Hornslet in Denmark but it's up there with most mainstream speaker manufacturers. The first pair has been delivered to a music lover who uses the Kondo Ongaku. He gave up his top-line Tannoy Westminster Royal for the Algahorn with Feastrex Monster Alnico 5" drivers. Feastrex's Teramoto Haruhiko-San and Akiyama Kazuya-San are here in Singapore to grace our debut. They like the implementation very much." [Prototypes below.]

I asked Victor to furnish some photos of their show exhibit, ideally accompanied by personal commentary and feedback from the Feastrex designers. Once the show ends, we'll complete this informal product launch introduction.