Andy Moore of prestigious UK hi-fi manufacturer ARCAM visited our store yesterday.

Whilst he surveyed the land, and told us how much he loved visiting Australia, Andy explained one of ARCAM's more mysterious technologies: the Mask Of Silence. Famously, unsuccessful as a Cone Of Silence in Get Smart, Andy explained that the Mask Of Silence very successfully enables the most critical components within any ARCAM FMJ product to operate at their very best by vastly reducing the effects of EMI and RF interference.

The most magical aspect of enjoying music on quality hi-fi is the uncanny sensation that what you are listening to is "real". That the sound you're hearing is played by real musicians rather than a pair of loudspeakers - and the sense of reality does not necessarily come from the largest signals generated by the disc player, but from tiny "micro-dynamic' variations within that wave. Tiny variations in the signal which can be easily overshadowed by electronics' tiniest types of interference.

As Andy explained; interference generated by integrated circuits is so high in frequency that it "bounces" around inside the case of a hi-fi product bound by its metal casework. Besides that phenomenon: mechanical vibration from loudspeakers and motors, etc. also affects component performance. At a very low level, components can act as tiny microphones - we call it microphony - and as such, vibration and resonance introduce "noise" which is louder than the precious micro-dynamic signals critical to hi-fi performance.

Arcam's Mask Of Silence combats interference is 3 ways.

• "Stealth Mat", so called for its use in the Stealth bomber, is a section of ferrite/metal composite 'felt' that, when placed near an IC chip acts as a radio frequency "sink" and draws undesirable interference away from microphonic componentry.
• Tiny ferrite pads are strategically attached to some devices, to further eliminate interference.
• Small amounts of "Sorbothane^TM" energy absorption material is applied to microphonic components to increase the effectiveness of the RFI/EMI treatments and reduce the affects of mechanical vibration on microphonic componentry.

Mask Of Silence technology is the result of hundreds (sometimes thousands) of man hours ARCAM spend in the listening-room developing their products. And, it goes a long way to explain the dedication to music reproduction of ARCAM hi-fi products.

Andy had to leave hurriedly after taking an urgent call on his shoe phone.

Call in some time and take a listen to ARCAM hi-fi. It's a very pleasant experience.