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Expolinear’s Jörg Henning-Reinelt too hit the scales with his 109kg Studiohorn DeLuxe compliments of their trademark sandwich construction with natural stone cheeks. Inside sits a triple-folded rounded bass horn. The Görlich/Expolinear woofer puts a mere 9.1g of moving mass on the scale and the midrange a puny 3.8. A magnetostatic tweeter rounds out the driver complement. This model is available now in various stone, marble and wood species. Standard trim are Roman Travertin side panels for a takeaway of €13.000.
Part of Expolinear’s import roster is Plinius whose Aidan Moody introduced the new Toko digital audio player with slot loader, asynchronous 24/96 USB and smartphone remote interface, the latter not via WLAN or wifi but infrared module plugged into the handy’s headphone output. A fall launch will ask ca. €5.000. |
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Apparently upbeat was Esoteric’s EU product manager Jens Wölfert who had two new products for the show. The €16.000 A-02 stereo amp with class A/B stage outputs 400wpc into 4Ω whilst the €9.500 dual-mono I-03 class D integrated manages an equivalent 300wpc. Sister (mother?) brand Teac bowed the new full-width Dynasty Series in three ranges. The entry-level system is a CDP, tuner and integrated threesome of ca. €2.000 for the lot. The next level tops out at about €5.000. Optically mouthwatering is the dynastic integrated of 44 x 23cm WxH dimensions with nearly half a meter of depth and 31.3kg of mass. Socketry are 2/3 XLR/RCA inputs plus MM phono, amp-direct input and biwire terminals with 360w/4Ω potency. Considering material excess, the asking price of €3.000 seems decidedly anti inflationary.
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Octave Audio’s Andreas Hoffmann introduced the €7.000 R E290 power amp upgrade of the RE280 predecessor which had been in the catalogue since 1980. To fully milk the newly available KT120 power pentodes with their higher current delivery, a complete overhaul of the KT88-based circuit was deemed necessary including new output transformers for greater stability into low-impedance loads. The RE290 has RCA/XLR inputs, the company’s signature Eco mode and a rear-mounted power selector to match various power tube options.
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Circuitry of a different sort came from NuForce and not merely as popular desktop dwarves in their Icon range. With the 3rd generation of their proprietary and multi patented class D amplifiers in Reference 18 guise, cosmetics and tactile pleasures were ramped up to meet high-end expectations. These low-rider flounders weigh in at €8.000/pr. Mated with the summer-release P18 preamp that combines into a pre/power combo at €13K. German representation has moved from Marvel Audio to Robytone including full EU logistics. Robytone also handles Melody and Amphion.
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Audio Physic traveled from Brilon to bow their new €12.900/pr 3.5-way Avantera tower in two systems/rooms, one valve, one transistor. As part of the Reference Line, the newcomer settles in right below the top Cardeas model. Cosmetics follow the company profile of narrow front with a slight rearward slant and sidefiring push/push woofers for superior soundstaging. Composite/metal twin baskets for the tweeters and mids and neoprene fasteners undermine resonance transfer into the enclosures as do the multi-board networks on decoupled bases and mechanically isolated output terminals. Review forthcoming.
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Ditto for Dyaudio’s revised Focus Range though we’re not sure yet which model. This series includes one monitor, three floorstanders and one center channel. The new 1.1m tall €4.900/pr Focus 340 as middle tower bridges the former gap between smallest and biggest model. Product manager Roland Hoffmann explained the overhaul as going beyond cosmetics to include new drivers and revised filter networks. The improved coating process on the silk dome has benefited dispersion continuity and top-range detail. The voice coil formers of the woofers have become black Kapton which is stiffer than the usual transparent Kapton to make for higher precision and tautness during dynamic peaks. Our forthcoming review shall investigate these promises.
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With Neoprene fasteners and Kapton formers, why not turntables and cartridges of tankwood? It’s definitely got that martial/macho ring. We couldn’t be sure whether that’s why Christoph Rossner of Bavarian Rossner & Son's analog house was so happy – or whether three novelties in his suitcase were the real reason. The first of those and at €2.850 cheapest in the catalogue was the new Chameleon high-mass deck whose plinth runs Panzerholz, essentially dense Plywood soaked solid in resin. True to its name, the Chameleon was shown in three wildly different trims of form and color. The second were two new carts, the €950 high-output MC Canofer 1 with neodymium-iron-boron motor and the €3.950 low-output MC Canofer 2 with samarium-cobalt magnetics. The third was the missing link of tonearm. Rossner’s goes by StringThing, sells for €1.200 and runs a carbon wand suspended by a string.
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