As Advertised
When a brand like Cambridge Audio comes along...
"...you really do have to take them seriously" Dahl Murphy - very, very serious about great sound.
Steve Bennett Hi-Fi and Cambridge Audio go back to their respective origins in the 1970s. A small scale production out of Cambridge,
England, saw hand-built amplifiers that sported a lush warm quality of sound then more commonly characterized by the great old-school of British Hi-Fi costing many times the Cambridge products' prices.
Almost 30 years later - and whilst the hi-fi world changed and we all attest to the benefit of age and wisdom. Steve Bennett Hi-Fi and Cambridge Audio are still 'at it' together. Steve Bennett staff are still chasing gorgeous quality sound on a shoestring "hi-fi-saleman's" salary and Cambridge Audio are still producing products (now a whole suite of hi-fi) that punch well above their weight.
The first thing that impresses when we listen to music on a Cambridge Audio amplifier and CD Player is that, eyes-closed, the speakers simply disappear - and it's not because you can't see them - sounds seem to come from between and around the space where you know the speakers are supposed to be! It's like listening to the artists performing right in front of you. This "soundstage" can a compelling and addictive phenomenon, adding the excitement of a live performance to any stereo recording you listen to. We expect to hear a clean and precise soundstage on products costing thousands of dollars - but $499? $799? $999? not likely. Cambridge products perform like we'd expect products costing 2,3,4 times as much money.German Hi-Fi magazine, Steroplay, rated Cambridge Audio's 740A/740C ($2,598) amplifier and CD player above another English product combination valued at $4850! And by a considerable margin.
Castle Acoustics speakers and Cambridge Audio electronics... A most musical combination.
Both Castle and Cambridge have, in their own right, forged enviable reputations among music lovers and the Hi-Fi press alike. They are known for
simple, stylish and impeccably constructed products that offer a relaxing and detailed portrayal of a recorded performance. In combination the result is a hi-fi system that serves the music beautifully, is a pleasure to use and is decor friendly to boot!
Castle hails from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire in... (guessed yet?) Right first time... England! Since 1973 they have been handcrafting quality speakers with silly names and paying attention to detail like no others. They proudly construct all speaker components ‘in house’ and are very smug about their beautiful timber finishes. So they should be to. No other speakers look sooooo expensive and yet cost so little. They are a work of art, both visually and sonically. There are three standard timber finishes available. Mahogany – Cherry – Black. Exotic finishes by special order.
You can own a pair of Castle speakers for as little as $599. This gets you a pair of compact speakers (Knight1) suitable for either book-case or stand mounting that will comfortably fill a small to mid-sized room with music. From there you have the option of a larger book-case design (Knight 2... $799) that produces 20% more bass, or the first of a series of affordable floor-standing models (Knight 3) for $999. The floor-standing models still offer a slim footprint, taking up no more room than a book-case design on a stand. There are also the Knight 4 ($1399) and Knight 5 (1799). Predictably as the cost increases, so does the size of both the speaker and ensuing sound.
Cambridge Audio resides in London (Hankey Place, no less), but was surely from Cambridge originally. I do hope so or it’ll ruin the story. Anyway, they’ve been around for over 35 years and in that time have remained very ‘British’ in everything that they do. Their brief is to bring great sounding hi-fi to the general public at a price that the general public can afford. In the process they have greatly embarrassed a lot of high priced ‘high – end’ manufacturers by designing components that deliver ‘high – end’ sound without the silly price.
The people at Cambridge Audio try really, really hard to make satisfying products. Everything they produce makes perfect sense and once our clients see, touch and listen to a Cambridge component it’s fairly likely you’ll find it in their living room shortly afterwards. Probably with a pair of Castle speakers...
Cambridge amplifiers start from $499 as do their CD players. They have also released a new ‘Topaz’ series amplifier / tuner (receiver) at $599 that promises to be fantastic. We’re testing it as you read this. We’ll keep you posted.Martin Logan's ESL '101' Workshop
Call it the Christmas rush, but when we read Martin Logan's ESL101 on their website, we thought we'd simply reproduce it here. This article explains electrostatic technology well - and re-writing it felt like re-inventing the wheel - we couldn't put it better ourselves!
ESL 101: Electrostatic Theory
Why bother? Some people (and most speaker manufacturers) wonder why anyone would make electrostatic loudspeakers when conventional ones are so much easier to design and build. It would be a silly question if ordinary dynamic speakers all performed poorly, but that's hardly the case. For applications current electrostatic technology can't handle well (subwoofers, to take an extreme example), even we employ other approaches. Cones and domes still have their place.
Wherever possible, however, we go electrostatic. It is a special breed of speaker, capable of extraordinary, compellingly realistic reproduction. In certain crucial respects, good electrostatic loudspeakers are just better than anything else available. Hear MartinLogan electrostats, properly set up in a good environment, and the difference will be immediately apparent - no explanation required.
But for those who'd like to understand as well as experience, here's the back-story. How do electrostatic loudspeakers work, and what are the benefits? Just as important, what are the problems and what has MartinLogan done to overcome them? Then you'll know why we have had such great success with these wonderful speakers, while almost nobody else even tries.
How Electrostatic Speakers Work
An electrostatic transducer has three basic components - stators, diaphragm, and spars (spacers) - assembled as a sandwich. The diaphragm is an ultra light plastic film, impregnated with an electrically conductive material and stretched taut between the two stators, which are perforated steel sheets coated with an insulator. When the speaker is operating, the diaphragm is charged to a fixed positive voltage by a high-voltage power supply, creating a strong electrostatic field around it. (If you've been puzzling over why electrostatic speakers have power cords, there's the reason).
The stators, meanwhile, are connected to the audio system's amplifier through a step-up transformer. It converts the amplifier's output to a pair of high-voltage signals of equal strength but opposite polarity. So as the charge on one stator grows increasingly positive, the charge on the other grows more negative by exactly the same amount. Because like charges repel and opposite charges attract, the diaphragm's positive charge will force it to move forward or backward depending on the stator charges. For example, when the front stator's charge is negative and the back stator's positive, the diaphragm will be pulled from the front and pushed from the back and therefore move forward. The stronger the charges on the stators, the greater the diaphragm displacement. This is how an electrostatic transducer translates an electrical audio signal into diaphragm motion to produce sound waves in the room.
To help stiffen the panel (it's very important that only the diaphragm move) and to prevent the diaphragm from ever coming too close to a stator, nonconductive strips called spars are placed widthwise at intervals along each stator's length.
ELAC 60 Series: Affordable German Precision
When the beautiful FS68 speakers first arrived at our store, here in Geelong, we were instantly impressed. Deftly unboxed and hooked up to a nice Cambridge Audio electronics package, we were quite taken by their fine, extended treble response and impressive ability to fill a room with ease. How the FS68 achieves this is no small feat. It actually requires the same precision and design ingenuity that ELAC usually lavish on their costly designs. So here's what goes into an FS68 loudspeaker, "from the top..."":
A 25mm silk-dome tweeter is wound with ultra-lightweight aluminum wire and ferro-fluid cooled/damped. An additional cooling element, attached to the magnet, aids power-handling and controls frequency response. The tweeter is housed in non-resonant plastic and it is 'sheathed' with a steel mesh that allows for an even dispersion across a broad listening area.
The midrange and bass units share a technology ELAC refer to as an 'aluminium sandwich'. A paper cone diaphragm is reinforced with an aluminum 'dish' in a bond that combines high rigidity with high internal damping - ideal characteristics for mid and bass driver cones. The midrange driver is surrounded by a rubberised cloth, double-asymmetrical, corrugated surround which reduces vibration at the cones edge. Bass units are fixed in 6-places and the result is beautifully natural reproduction of bass-through-midrange frequencies which integrates seamlessly with the high end.The Speaker cabinet is an integral part of the FS68's success. Front edges are tapered to reduce diffraction (a distortion that adds an edginess to high treble frequencies) and results in smooth wide-band treble. An integrated plinth with unique floor spikes or soft feet shifts the centre-of-gravity, adds stability and improves the resonance control of the overall cabinet design.
Take your remote somewhere it's never been before...
Perfect for the sunburnt country, with its droughts and flooding rains.....
Having quality sound outside is a popular pursuit these days, especially in Australia, with our outdoor lifestyle. But what is required of a speaker to allow it to perform in a sometimes hostile environ?
The most obvious enemy of an outdoor speaker is water. Speakers and water just don’t get along. Even if not directly exposed to liquid, the moisture present in the night air, or in the humid atmosphere of our northern states, soon corrodes a conventional speaker. Exposure to sunlight also has a predictably negative effect.
Another, often overlooked, area is the way that the speaker sounds outside. A typical outdoor setting offers a near ‘anechoic’ environment. There are few wall boundaries to reflect and indeed re-enforce the sound coming from the speaker. This is especially true of the bass frequencies. When used indoors, the walls, ceiling and floor of a typical room dramatically affect the sound you hear. Not so outside. Interestingly, when quality speakers are being designed, they are usually tested for evenness of sound output across all frequencies (frequency response) in an ‘anechoic chamber’. This room is devoid of all sound reflecting surfaces and the true measure of the speaker can be observed. Putting a speaker outside is very close to that test.
In most cases, when offering an outdoor speaker, manufacturers concentrate on the weatherproofing of the product. The sound takes a back seat. Plastic cabinets are almost always used, being fairly inert to weather extremes. While plastic is robust, it also resonates at frequencies that detract from a speaker’s performance. That’s why you don’t see speakers of quality for indoor use made from plastic. It’s not a speaker designer’s first choice where sound fidelity is paramount.
Beautiful Hi-Fi Crafted in Norway By Passionate Audiophiles Like Us!
Electrocompaniet 'prelude' range currently consists of 4 stereo models:$3,499 PI-1 50wpc Integrated Amplifier
$4,299 PI-2 100wpc Integrated Amplifier
$2,999 PC-1 Compact Disc Player
$4,999 PSF-1 Floorstanding Loudspeakers
$2,499 PSB-1 Compact Loudspeakers“Audio freaks – eat your hearts out. This is the world’s best sounding amplifier.”
That’s what the audio press had to say about Electrocompaniet’s first amplifier in 1976.
Since then EC has continued to impress music lovers (including us) with their wonderful sounding products. Electrocompaniet’s stable of revered designs now includes several amplifiers (both integrated and separate), CD players, and speakers.
Of special note is the new Prelude series of components. They’re EC’s newest designs and also their debut into ‘real world pricing’ high end equipment. It’s hardly surprising that the EC’s $46,000 CD/Amplifier combination is to die for, but when you listen to their new $7,300 PC-1/PI-2 combination and experience much of the same glory, you just have to be impressed. We certainly are! Not only is the sound exquisite, but the look and feel of the Preludes also matches their sonic abilities. One of the features of EC’s flagship models is ‘fully balanced’ electronic circuit topology. This type of design lowers ‘noise’ to such an extent that more musical detail is heard. It’s a dramatic improvement over conventional ‘single ended’ designs and is present on both the PC-1 and PI-2. There are also other ‘high end’ features such as Class A analogue output stages for the CD player and digital volume control devices present in the amplifier. These are features that will have seasoned audiophiles nodding their heads in approval.
REGA... Affordable Hi-Fi Made In Britain.
Since 1973, British made, rega components have distinguished themselves among the best value HI-Fi for the money. Their turntables have become legendary.
We recently connected the Brio3 amplifier ($999) and Apollo CD player ($1499) to our reference Bowers and Wilkins 802 speakers, to asses their performance in absolute terms. This isn't exactly a fair thing to do as the speakers are rutheless at magnifying imperfections in associated equipment. We were amazed at what we heard. The Brio3 had a grip on our speakers unlike anything we’ve encountered at its price. It sounded powerful and confident, with a surprising richness. It did everything right, sounding like an expensive 'high end' amplifier, but without the vast reserves of power that you asociate with high priced units. Still for $999we couldn't complain about that!
The Apollo CD player delivered a lush, detailed and thoroughly involving sound that most CD players at any price struggle to compete with. Everything about the Apollo is cutting edge... Three point disc loading chuck, pre-play disc analysis, 24 bit Delta Sigma DAC, Class A analogue amplifier stage. There’s a lot going on in here for the money. One giant leap... so to speak!
We were asking these components to perform well above their price limitations and they both delivered... big time!Klipsch Horn Loaded Loudspeakers
Horn loading is a simple method of amplifying sound using ‘natural’ means. If you cup your hands around your mouth and yell, your voice carries much further. Finally your children take notice of what you’re saying...
Klipsch utilizes the same principle by contouring the shape of the speaker housing to naturally amplify the output from the speaker driver (much like a megaphone). In doing this the speaker system becomes very efficient compared to conventional designs. A horn loaded speaker only requires a fraction of the amplifier power that a conventional speaker needs. A huge sound can be produced from a modest amplifier. A unique horn shape – the Tractrix Horn - was pioneered by Mr Paul W Klipsch In 1946. Dissatisfied with the calibre of audio equipment on offer, he developed a horn loaded speaker capable of a level of realism that speakers of the time couldn’t match. Since then Klipsch has specialised in the ‘horn loaded’ concept of speaker design.
The hurdle confronting horn loaded designs is the amount of ‘colouration’ that a horn can impart on the sound. To this end there have been many bad sounding, but very loud, sounding horn speakers over the years. Klipsh’s ’Holy Grail’ has been to develop horn technology to sound natural. Their designs are one of the very few that sound clean and articulate over a wide frequency range.