Shows-Events

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Written by: Jeff Fritz

Category: Features

Created: 03 May 2012

High End 2012 began on Thursday, May 3, but on Wednesday Doug Schneider and I attended the German premier of Magico's S5 loudspeaker, held at Life Like HiFi Studios, a retailer that seemingly carries every audio product under the sun. (The Magico event was sponsored by German distributor Audio Components.) We attended the event because Magico was promoting the S5 as having the highest price/performance ratio of any speaker they've ever offered. We were obviously anxious to hear just what the buzz was about and to decide for ourselves if it was indeed true. The S5 retails for $28,600 per pair in the United States.

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Written by: Jeff Fritz

Category: Videos, Features, & Photos

Created: 01 April 2012

This is what it's all about. Dialed in. Warmed up. Ultra tweaked. Here's what I heard.

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Written by: News Editor

Category: Videos, Features, & Photos

Created: 31 March 2012

The TWBAS 2012 system is made up of products from seven manufacturers from five countries: Vitus Audio (Denmark), WideaLab (Korea), Magico (USA), AudioQuest (USA), Silent Running Audio (USA), Esoteric (Japan), and Torus Power (Canada). The retail price of the system approaches $500,000 USD. Profiles on all the products can be found through this link.

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Written by: News Editor

Category: Videos, Features, & Photos

Created: 31 March 2012

SoundStage! Network publisher Doug Schneider photographed each of the TWBAS 2012 participants with their products. Featured in this gallery: Hans-Ole Vitus (Vitus Audio), Charles Kim (WideaLab), Tim Crable (Esoteric), Alon Wolf (Magico), Howard Gladstone (Torus Power), and Jett Logan (AudioQuest). (Unfortunately, Kevin Tellekamp of Silent Running Audio, whose racks were used to support the electronics in this system, could not attend on this day.)

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Written by: News Editor

Category: Videos, Features, & Photos

Created: 31 March 2012

Photographer Chris Lang created portraits of the company participants, as well as the entire TWBAS 2012 team. (Unfortunately, Kevin Tellekamp of Silent Running Audio, whose racks were used to support the electronics in this system, could not attend on this day.)

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Written by: News Editor

Category: Videos, Features, & Photos

Created: 31 March 2012

On March 30, the SoundStage! Network hosted a gathering at the Port Land Grille restaurant in Wilmington, North Carolina. TWBAS 2012 corporate participants were all present, as were a large number of writers from the SoundStage! Network staff. Photographer Chris Lang was on hand to capture the excitement.

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Written by: Jeff Fritz

Category: Videos, Features, & Photos

Created: 30 March 2012

Setting up the Magico Q7 loudspeakers for TWBAS 2012 meant more than just placing them in the room, listening to a few tracks, making an adjustment or two, and then calling it a day. In the case of TWBAS 2012, a listening panel consisting of Vitus Audio's Hans-Ole Vitus, Magico's Alon Wolf, and me, along with three microphones and two software-based measurement programs, were called into service to get the Q7s dialed in to perfection.

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Written by: Administrator

Category: Videos, Features, & Photos

Created: 30 March 2012

TWBAS 2012 setup and kickoff! Produced, shot and edited by Chris Lang Photography. Enjoy!

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Written by: Administrator

Category: Photos

Created: 25 March 2012

Companies featured in gallery below: Axiom Audio, Magico, T+A, Totem Acoustic, Lyra, BitPerfect Sound, Pro-Ject, Zellaton, JRiver, Bryston, Genesis Advanced Technologies, Trigon

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Written by: Administrator

Category: Photos

Created: 25 March 2012

On March 25, the SoundStage! Network sponsored a one-hour seminar and question-and-answer session featuring six digital-audio experts: James Tanner (Bryston), Jacques Riendeau (Oracle Audio), Dominique Poupart (Simaudio Moon), Jim Hillegas (JRiver), Steve Silberman (AudioQuest), and Joe Harley (AudioQuest). This gallery features images taken throughout the duration of this eye-opening, informative event.

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Written by: Hans Wetzel

Category: Features

Created: 24 March 2012

There's no ignoring the obvious: a fine line divides the unique from the obtrusive, and the styling department of Germany's MBL has no qualms skirting it. The company's room was littered with gear from their Reference line of equipment, and its all-white finish was hard to miss, as were the logos adorning the monoblock 9011 amps, which were large enough for the legally blind to see.

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Written by: Hans Wetzel

Category: Features

Created: 24 March 2012

Confident claims in audiophile literature are commonplace. More rarely seen, however, is confidence that's entirely devoid of embellishment, from someone looking you unerringly in the eye. Tim Ryan of SimpliFi Audio displayed this borderline-unsettling conviction as he explained the theory behind the Gradient SW-S ($6990 USD per pair), a triangular, non-ported dipole bass module with two 12" drivers, maneuvered by the included external crossover.

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Written by: Jason Thorpe

Category: Features

Created: 24 March 2012

Raise your hand if you've heard of Zellaton speakers. I don't see many hands out there. That's OK -- I hadn't heard of them either, but I should have. The genesis of Zellaton speakers lies way back in 1930, when Emil Podzus patented a speaker cone made from foam solidified on a substrate and coated with a very thin film layer. Podzus also pioneered the use of differing speaker diameters for reproducing specific frequency ranges.

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Written by: Administrator

Category: Photos

Created: 24 March 2012

On March 24, the SoundStage! Network sponsored a one-hour seminar and question-and-answer session featuring six top speaker designers: Vince Bruzzese (Totem Acoustic), Paul Barton (PSB Speakers), Andrew Welker (Axiom Audio), Manfred Diestertich (Audio Physic), Jeff Joseph (Joseph Audio), and John DeVore (DeVore Fidelity). This gallery features images taken during this extremely informative and entertaining event.

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Written by: Jason Thorpe

Category: Features

Created: 24 March 2012

The breakneck pace of show coverage is anathema to the goals of high-end audio. We assemble a stereo system to -- presumably -- create an environment where we can relax and enjoy a musical performance in the comfort of our own homes.

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Written by: Hans Wetzel

Category: Features

Created: 24 March 2012

I think I'm in the majority when I say that if I don't like the way an audio product works, I'm far more likely to bitch about it than to go and try to build something better.

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Written by: Hans Wetzel

Category: Features

Created: 24 March 2012

No one actually wants big amplifiers and preamplifiers on tall equipment racks. Nor, perhaps especially, conspicuous cables. They're just necessary. But do they have to be?

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Written by: Hans Wetzel

Category: Features

Created: 24 March 2012

Ideas born in a bar rarely bear fruit that doesn't involve butchered pick-up lines, petty violence, or obnoxious yelling (that's probably redundant). Yet speaker designer Andrew Welker . . .

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Written by: Administrator

Category: Photos

Created: 23 March 2012

Canada has a sterling reputation for being home to some of the world's most respected audio companies. To celebrate these companies' successes at home and abroad, the Salon Son & Image organizers created the Canada Pavilion (Pavillon du Canada) to showcase the companies and their products.

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Written by: Administrator

Category: Photos

Created: 23 March 2012

Canada has a sterling reputation for being home to some of the world's most respected audio companies. To celebrate these companies' successes at home and abroad, the Salon Son & Image organizers created the Canada Pavilion (Pavillon du Canada) to showcase the companies and their products.

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