We have now received our first shipments of the stunning Peachtree bookshelf loudspeakers. While these could be considered as ‘new’ releases they are in reality not new. It is a couple of years since Era speakers arrived on our shores, and were recognised as one of the finest budget bookshelf speakers on the Australian market. Era was a sister product to Peachtree, the trailblazing electronics company who have successfully merged both the old (analogue) and new (digital) formats into their integrated amplifier range. The original Era speakers have now been re-released under the Peachtree Audio label.

The best news is the price. When it was announced that the Era models were to be discontinued they were re-priced at substantial discounts to help clear stock. The new Peachtree range has been launched at the previous ERA clearance prices. This means that the top of the range Peachtree Audio Design 5 bookshelf speakers still sell for $999 a pair (which coincidently is the same price as they are in the US), instead of the initial release price of $1,699. If you need an indication of the value this speaker offers, I believe that at $1,699 this speaker was a bargain.

AVGuide.com has recently reviewed the Peachtree Design 5’s, and in doing so have referred back to the legendary BBC LS3/5a speakers of decades past. I know the LS3/5a well, and am willing to stick my neck out and say that the Peachtree Audio Design 5 is a better speaker. It shares the detailing and accuracy (particularly thought the midrange and upper registers), it has the same uncanny sound-staging but it has a better bass presence, and overall I find it to be more ‘musical’.

The other model of note is the smaller Design 4, which are selling for $699. There are not many quality speakers on our market at $699 – but set these up with the right electronics and these can really sing.

The Design 4’s can form part of what could be considered to be an ideal starter pack for the modern market when partnered with the Peachtree iDecco integrated amplifier ($1399). The iDecco features 2 analogue and 3 digital inputs – with a high quality Sabre DAC for the digital inputs, a high quality headphone amplifier, a valve pre-amplifier stage and an in-built iPod dock. This makes a compact, high performance, relatively inexpensive system cable of handling both the newer digital and the legacy analogue sources we use today. Not only is this a very flexible system, but it has the performance of a proper Hi-Fi component system, something that id surprisingly rare at these prices.

The pristine digital code is sent via (preferably) balanced AES/EBU digital – what we know as a three-pin XLR connection – as used on the M1 DAC and CLiC. It also has optical and coaxial outputs, so can be used to any other equipment that has digital inputs.

The slot-loading mechanism is taking over on a lot of higher-end players, right up to the super Meridian decks. This new CDT is a worthy addition to the M1 range, which will continue to expand over the coming year.

It’s big news when B and W release a new small monitor PM1 speaker that is squarely aimed at musical quality, with many of the aspects of the 800 Series trickling down to a product sitting above the existing CM series. This model stands alone, intended for music, with no matching centre speaker or rear-effects on offer!

“We decided we wanted a loudspeaker that specialised in stereo and concentrated our effort into producing an exquisite small speaker. Small moniitors image very sweetly. This isn’t a replacement for the 700 series, think of it more as a smaller 805S.”

The extensive cross-bracing of the cabinets and thick cross-ply side walls ensure minimal resonance to blur the sound. The front baffle and curved top panel are constructed from a thermoset plastic composite material, strengthened by an additonal layer of mineral-filled resin.

A Carbon-braced tweeter constructed along similar lines to the Nautilus tweeter (with rear tapering tube) is mounted on top of the cabinet. Below that is a Kevlar cone bass/midrange sporting a new wly designed phase plug to dampen resonances in that area too.

The crossover has been kept as simple as possible (one of the benefits of s two-way design) and uses top quality Mundorf M-Cap Supreme capacitors and ir-core inductors. Binding posta are oxygen-free copper and allow for biwiring.

The PM1 speakers sell for $3299 the pair, with matching stands available in a similarly high-gloss finish for $699/pair.

Apologies once again for the delay in getting the A Capella Sphaeron Excalibur speakers up and running. We announced this exciting (in fact awesome!) product in a blog post a while ago, and in our last Headlines magazine, but some setup & technical issues kept them off the air until recently.

Quite few people have now had the opportunity to hear them, and we have had a chance to do the fine tuning of the system that bring out the best in a thoroughbred like these.

It’s always been true that you can’t just lump together a group of high-quality items and expect the result to be equal to (or better than) the sum of the parts. We’ve been trying some different combinations of pre and power amplifiers as well as interconnects and power filters, plus doing a spot of EQ adjustment on the speakers themselves to suit the room.

The results we are now getting are even more spectacular, and we are confident that you’ll be amazed by the experience if you can get in and have a listen. The backing equipment lineup at the time of writing is as follows:

Musical Fidelity Primo valve pre-amplifier
Krell Evolution 400e Monoblocks
Meridian 800 CD player
Electrocompaniet ECD1 DAC

It’s not too often that you’ll get to hear a system costing in excess of $500,000. Some people have cars that cost that much. We think this is more fun! Even if you’re not a prospective buyer we are happy to show you this superlative setup while the opportunity lasts. No appointment necessary, but it might be subject to equipment comings and goings from time to time.

The July/August 2011 issue of The Absolute Sound has a very positive review of the Olive 06HD Music Server by that doyen of high-end reviewers, Anthony H. Cordesman. He’s not easy to please and has seen it all, over many years. His assessment of the 06HD included a detailed appraisal of the digital processing, which is significantly upgraded over the next model down, the 04HD.

The sound quality scores very highly: “there is no question about the sound quality of the Olive 06HD … only surpassed by units that cost far more …”.

Cordesman is obviously a convert to the view that stored and streamed CD content sounds better than the same thing played on a CD player, and that Hi-Res HD downloads easily equal or surpass the quality offered by SACD or DVD-A.
All that remains, he says, is to decide what sort of setup suits you. Some might like to use more computer-based solutions, but there is a clear preference among many users for the stand-alone solution such as that offered by Olive.
The fact that it has “the latest TI chipsets, including the DIT4192 digital-audio transmitter that is used in conjunction with a separate temperature compensated crystal oscillator to reduce jitter” plays a part in this, but then there’s TI’s SRC4194 Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter which converts all sampling rates to 24 bit /192kHz, upsamples them further to 384kHz then hands them on to two differential PCM1792 DACs for conversion to analogue.

The Olive does not have a lot of direct competition, with the obvious alternative being the more expensive Sooloos, which while offering nothing additional in terms of audio performance is still ahead in the management of your music collection. Given the relatively lower cost of the Olive06HD compared to Sooloos, its audio performance will certainly be enough to satisfy the majority of people heading into this territory, while the database management aspects will affect some more than others. Manual editing of things like composers’ names to ensure uniformity is something all serious systems should allow, since the online databases that they all draw upon are not faultless.

In a nutshell, the 06HD is “A truly outstanding component in a highly competitive world.” For more details see our 06HD Product Page.

The Wadia 170i dock created massive interest, being one of the few on the market at any price that can do a direct digital feed out to your DAC or digitally equipped amplifier. The sound quality it can produce is way ahead of most docks which use just the analogue iPod outputs – with variable results.

Wadia have now gone the extra step and added a neat complementary digital amplifier to the lineup – a perfect style match for the 170i Transport (dock). It’s called the 151 PowerDAC Mini, since it is part DAC and part amplifier, and you can stack the dock on the amplifier – they have the same dimensions and cosmetics.

Wadia have long been respected in the field of high-end replay, and they have incorporated technologies like Wadia DigiMaster reconstruction filter system for pristine reproduction. They upsample to 384kHz in order to maximize the resolution of the signal after it has been through various digital processes – including digital volume control. If you’re feeding this amp from a computer, you can use Master Audio files at 192kHz/24bit and get superb results.

The ability of the 151 PowerDAC Mini to drive speakers well has been commented on by numerous reviewers (and their readers) overseas. For such a small device it punches above its weight in terms of drive and audio quality. Being a Wadia, it is not exactly a cheap little DAC/amplifier at $1499, but it is an amazing piece of work with instantly tempting appeal.

Meridian are rightly famous for producing some of the finest hifi components in the world. They added the Sooloos music management and replay system to their stable of products several years ago, setting a new standard on the high quality storage and playback of your entire CD collection, plus access to internet radio and online libraries like Rhapsody. What really set Sooloos apart from the mob was their superb interface and its ability to select and play (“swim”) through “focus” groups (user defined) of items. Like “Jazz, 1950-1970” or “Pop 1980-1990”.

Meridian have just released a new “bookshelf” sized pair of self-powered, digitally controlled and fed loudspeakers, the DSP3200 ($8995), together with a pre-amp/controller the Audio Core AC200 ($3995). The Audio Core has been equipped with advanced Meridian technologies such as the “apodising” filters, which enhance digital music quality and DSP processing to refine the sound in various acoustic environments. It has the following inputs: Meridian SpeakerLink (RJ45); 2 x S/PDIF coax (phono); 2 x mini-optical (3.5mm jack); USB for use as external computer sound card; i80 connector (Mini-DIN) for dock; 2 x Stereo Analogue (RCA); 2 x Stereo Analogue (3.5mm jack) (same connectors as optical digital).

If you thought you couldn’t afford a Sooloos to add to your system, take a look at the new Media Core MC200 ($5995), which is in effect a compact version of the Sooloos. It has essentially a similar capability (search, create focuses, swim through them) but needs an iPad or iPhone for the control screen. It connects directly to the Audio Core, and has a 500GB hard drive.

For the first time, these new components make it possible for you to have an entire Meridian system and music management system for a fraction of what it would have cost – until now.

We announced a showing of these speakers in our Headlines magaine a while back, but had some issues in getting them set up. They are now on show for a limited time! Here’s a recap of what we said about them.

Large horn speakers are fairly rare in this country, but take pride of place in the Japanese and European high end, often partnered with valve amplifiers. You can do that with these ones, as they’re 100dB efficient! That means you produce 100dB with one watt of amplifier power.

The horns cover principally the midrange and upper bass, and give the speakers a distinctive appearance, rather like outsized flowers from an animated film.

The exotic doesn’t end there. The tweeters are plasma – nothing to do with TV. The plasma tweeter uses the excitation of ionized gases around a conductor to generate high frequency vibrations. They do this very quickly and efficiently, and produce incredible detail, all the way to dog-whistle frequencies and beyond – typically up to 50kHz. There are very few (if any) other manufacturers who make these zero-mass high speed tweeters.

Deep bass is handled by 15” woofers – four of them in each cabinet. So everything is covered more than adequately by this varied array of drivers. One of the challenges for the builders of loudspeakers like these is to integrate this group in such a way that you get a seamless, balanced total picture.

We now have the Spharon Excaliburs on show. As always, we are happy to give you a demo, even if you’re not about to buy. As often happens, the demo could change your mind!

Think of cleaning an LP, and the chances are you’re going to think of a cleaning fluid of some sort being used. Is this really necessary? As someone who started out as a secondhand LP dealer, I have cleaned a lot of LPs, and perhaps my experiences will help those of you who still enjoy vinyl, or are getting into it for the first time.

Without a doubt, the best cleaning devices are large, expensive cleaning machines like Nitty Gritty and VPI, and yes, they do use fluids. They literally wet, scrub & vacuum dry the LPs to get them really clean. If you have a lot of LPs and don’t mind spending up to $1000 or more, then go for one of these. But if you don’t have a lot of LPs needing cleaning, and can’t justify that sort of outlay, you need a small-scale, cost-effective method instead. That’s what I’ll try to outline in this article.

There are a lot of cleaning cloths and pads you could use. Everyone has had a go at his over the years. The best thing I’ve ever used is the Duopad, which used to be sold by Milty along with a spray-on cleaner called Permaclean. For years I thought they’d disappeared off the market, but the good news is that they are back now, in a new blue colour, still called the Milty Pro Duopad but marketed by the British Armour group. In my opinion, this is the best $20 you can spend, but I’d buy a stack of them, just in case! It is a double-sided pad using layers of velvet over a stiff sponge layer. One side is red, the other black. This is useful, as I’ll explain.

The Method:
If a record looks free of fingerprints and grunge, the dry method may be all you need. Lay the LP down on its inner sleeve or a lint-free cloth so it doesn’t get scratched during the process. Using the black side of your Duopad and a fair bit of downward pressure, go right around the LP and then lift it off, bringing the leading edge up first. If there’s a line of dust collected by this, do it again, and stop a bit short, creating a second line of dust. A really dusty LP might yield 6 or more lines of dust.

Now, how to get it off the LP. Slightly moisten the red side of the pad, (not damp enough to leave any visible moisture on the record) and use it with one edge slightly raised to pick up the lines of dust. Wipe the dust off on a cloth – you’ll be amazed how dirty this cloth gets after a number of LPs. Go back to your Dry side and repeat the process, to see if you get more lines of dust. Eventually you won’t. If dust was the only problem, you’ll find that this helps a lot.
If it makes no difference at all, there may be some damage to the grooves as well. Static may build up during this process, so you might need to earth the record to the centre spindle – lightly touch the edge of the rotating record with one hand and the centre spindle with the other, at the same time. (The deluxe anti-static treatment is of course the Zerostat anti-static gun at $135, which has also reappeared.)

For records with fingerprints or other stains, you’ll need to use the slightly more wet process. Damp one side of the Duopad with a mixture of 10-15% surgical spirit in distilled water. Not too damp, but this time you should see a trail of wetness. Not so wet that it runs off the record in drips! Keep a supply of this fluid on hand, it’s cheap. Use the wet side to scrub the fingerprints off, then quickly return to the dry side and sponge all the visible liquid off the LP surface in smooth 360 degree runs. Hopefully this will take all the embedded dirt with it.Removing the liquid is the critical part, otherwise you’ve just put the grunge into solution and spread it around.

Best of Luck, and make sure you have a supply of Duopads!