Roads to Rome

One of the most unique things about high end audio in the diversity of ideas present in the hobby. I've always believed that there is more than one road to Rome. While every path doesn't make sense to me as long the traveler arrives at the destination, which is musical enjoyment of course who am I to judge? When a designer looks at their products as something that is created, rather than simply manufactured that is always a good sign. After all if they aren't passionate about their offerings what's the chance that anyone else will be? After all we aren't talking about toasters or washing machines. Audio equipment acts as a conduit through which an artistic is conveyed. Just some ideas that these two videos inspired. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh9n9v4bNhY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1KpWkhGFlM

Why Cost-No-Object Speakers Are Good for Everyone

Without a doubt the audio component furthest away from perfection in our systems is the lowly loudspeaker. With distortion ratings left of the decimal place for nearly every transducer on the market (many in the double digits) there is a lot of work to be done. So cutting edge, no-holds barred, statement products not only improve the state of the art but also hold the promise of providing technology that can trickle down to improve performance for nearly everyone. Below is a picture of Kef's newest all out effort, "The Blade." Click on the picture to watch a short video outlining the basics of these beautifully, sculpted speakers.

http://www2.kef.com/resources/video/gb/blade/video.html

A Fun Little Project

Would you believe that you could build your own loudspeaker in under five minutes for less than a dollar?
http://www.youtube.com/v/8m8fbnShPcw&hl=en&fs=1


I knew that I should have kept the headphones that came with my iPod for some reason. It might even be a good picnic trick but be careful and follow all of the directions to the letter or this might happen.
http://www.youtube.com/v/wOXUBWl1T5U&hl=en&fs=1

Lots to think about

Wilson Audio is one of the pillars of the High-end audio industry. The following video makes it clear that David Wilson, Wilson Audio’s guiding light has profound thoughts about a great number of topics involving the industry other than speaker design. The half hour video addresses such subjects as the difference between a product vs. a commodity, the financial transparency and solvency of Hi-Fi manufacturers, business models, fair pricing, real customers vs. customers of opportunity, perceived quality vs. real quality, De-localization, corporate social responsibility, labor rates, and shop efficiency. Click on the photo below to attend the lecture.

Revolution!

Jim Thiel is one of the most innovative speaker designers of all time. He bases all of his designs on common sense and hard science, not marketing. Instead of coming out with a new line of speakers every three years or so, Thiel chooses to wait longer and release speakers that are revolutionary as apposed to evolutionary. The dizzying number of finish options are all well done and allow those who worry about aesthetics to have a large number of choices. They even go as far as to offer custom matching of existing wood work. Does the wife have an 18th centaury armoire that she insists be matched? No problem. Send the nice folks in Lexington Kentucky a sample and in about a week or two they will send back three samples with pricing for each.

Thiel’s newest speakers, the CS3.7 is a masterstroke. For a company whose speakers have always been very seamless owing to their time and phase coherent design the 3.7 takes it to the next level. The vanishing act that these speakers pull off is quite startling. Like all Thiel speakers they do take quite some time to break in. Many believe that the extended break in time required is related to the metal drivers and the solid core wiring used through out the line.

The new 3.7 is significantly more efficient than it’s predecessor, providing twice the output from a given amount of input power. The most technologically innovative aspect of the 3.7 is it’s midrange driver which has response all the way up to 20kHz. The traditional tweeter that lies at the center of the midrange driver is there mostly to improve dispersion. The new midrange driver’s ripples also are unique and add a great amount of structural strength, which reduces distortion. Below is an interview with Jim Thiel conducted by Ken Dawkins. He discusses many of the facets that make his new speaker a technological tour de force. Click on the picture to view the video.

Origami Speakers

This afternoon I was watching Current TV which featured a profile of Muji. Think Japanese IKEA, minus the cute names. Muji's central ideas are quality, simplicity, and modesty. The product that caught my attention was a pair of single-driver speakers that use a collapsable card board box as their enclosure, retail is a cool $42. Never mind the kinds of frequency response problems that such an enclosure would introduce, I want to hear these speakers and I don't even know why. Muji just opened their first US store in New York. These would be right up the alley of Stereophile's Art Dudley. Single-driver? Check. Japanese? Check. Original in a wacky way? Check. Esoteric? CHECK!

According to Muji's website:

THE PHILOSOPHY
What is MUJI? MUJI is not a brand whose value rests in the frills and "extras" it adds to its products. MUJI is simplicity - but a simplicity achieved through a complexity of thought and design. MUJI's streamlining is the result of the careful elmination and subtraction of gratuitous features and design unrelated to function. MUJI, the brand, is rational, and free of agenda, doctrine, and "isms." The MUJI concept derives from us continuously asking, "What is best from an individual's point of view?" MUJI aspires to modesty and plainness, the better to adapt and shape itself to the styles, preferences, and practices of as wide a group of people as possible. This is the single most important reason people embrace MUJI. MUJI - in its deliberate pursuit of the pure and the ordinary - achieves the extraordinary.