- Details
- Category: Monthly Column
- Created on Wednesday, 01 May 2013 00:00
- Written by Doug Schneider
Our “Best of” post-show awards began after the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show -- we published the article featuring the best products and systems at that event in this space on February 1. Our next show stop was Salon Son & Image 2013, held March 21-24 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. SSI is considerably smaller than CES, but is still important enough that many companies use it as a launching pad for new products, and most take the time to set up excellent display rooms to showcase their wares. This article highlights my choices for the best products and systems I saw and heard there.
Best products
One of the first products we covered at SSI 2013 was one of my favorites: the Satie loudspeaker from Arteluthe, a brand-new company based in Montreal and headed by Robert Gaboury, who used to be with Gemme Audio. Technically, the Satie is impressive -- a two-way, fully active design with a DSP-based crossover; all the electronics are built into the cabinet. Cosmetically, the Satie is a knockout, with an elegantly shaped cabinet and a superb, high-gloss finish. What surprised me was when Gaboury told me that the cabinets were not built and finished in China, like Gemme Audio’s, but in Montreal. Finally, there’s the price, which I thought very reasonable, based on what the Satie offers: $8000/pair (US or Canadian dollars; the two currencies now trade about equally).
- Details
- Category: Monthly Column
- Created on Monday, 01 April 2013 00:00
- Written by Jason Thorpe
The realization crept up on me. I recently noticed that the subjects of most of my reviews end up getting tagged as SoundStage! Hi-Fi Reviewers’ Choice or Ultra Audio Select Components, depending on which publication I reviewed them for. While I stand by the opinions expressed in those reviews, I can’t help but feel a little exposed -- as if you, the reader, might think I’m a pushover, easily impressed, a milquetoast who’s a-feared to man up and write a negative review.
That’s not the case. This sort of thing is self-regulating: If I talk up a lousy component, those who read the review and then seek out that component will quickly lose confidence in my opinions and stop reading. And remember, I choose a fair proportion of the products I review, having first seen them at shows and liked what I heard. So it’s not all that surprising that I favorably review many of those components.
- Details
- Category: Monthly Column
- Created on Friday, 01 February 2013 00:00
- Written by Doug Schneider
The 2013 edition of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) ran January 8-11 in Las Vegas, Nevada. We had a five-man SoundStage! Network team there to cover it, delivering on-the-spot updates to the world through our SoundStage! Global site. That coverage included 14 feature articles, but none of them discussed what I thought were the best products and systems at the show. I saved that for this article.
Best products
A few years ago, Crystal Cable, of the Netherlands, pulled off a corporate miracle by successfully transforming themselves from a manufacturer of audio cables into a maker of high-end loudspeakers as well. Furthermore, they did it with a speaker design that most people thought could never work: the all-glass Arabesque ($65,000 USD per pair). The Arabesque pretty much took the audio world by storm. Its combination of great sound with luxurious build quality and unique styling resulted in something the world had never seen before -- until January 2013.
Crystal Cable unveiled the Absolute Arabesque at CES 2013. It features new wiring from their top line of cables, Absolute Dream (hence the speaker’s expanded name), newer versions of its drivers, and an improved crossover. At $95,000/pair in the US, the Absolute Arabesque costs considerably more than the standard model (which remains in production), largely due to the more expensive wire. For us regular wage earners, the Absolute Arabesque is something to behold, admire, and, at events such as CES, enjoy -- the pair I heard sounded remarkably good driven by sister company Siltech’s new SAGA amplifier system.
- Details
- Category: Monthly Column
- Created on Friday, 01 March 2013 00:00
- Written by Doug Schneider
In Pete Roth’s review of Vivid Audio’s Giya G3 loudspeakers in Ultra Audio, he described me as “always on the lookout for original thinking and outstanding sound.” That statement made me stop and ponder, but I had to quickly concede that it’s true -- I do tend to focus my attention on a product’s originality of design (if any) and the resultant quality of sound. This is most likely why I, like Pete, think so highly of Vivid’s speakers -- there’s nothing that looks or sounds like them.
With that in mind, this editorial continues the theme of one published last September: “Original Thinking: My Six Favorite Cutting-Edge Loudspeakers of 2012.” This time I focus on affordable hi-tech hi-fi -- products that push the technical envelope but don’t cost more than the common man or woman can afford. With one exception, to be reviewed on this site soon, all of these products have been recently reviewed in a SoundStage! Network publication.
- Details
- Category: Monthly Column
- Created on Tuesday, 01 January 2013 00:00
- Written by Doug Schneider
The SoundStage! Network includes four main review publications: SoundStage! Hi-Fi (this one), SoundStage! Xperience, SoundStage! GoodSound!, and SoundStage! Xtreme (aka Ultra Audio). Throughout the year, each site gives awards to those components considered better than the rest: the Reviewers’ Choice Award for Hi-Fi and Xperience, the Great Buy Award for GoodSound!, and the Select Component Award for Ultra Audio.
It’s from this list of Reviewers’ Choice, Great Buy, and Select Component recipients that we choose our Products of the Year, which are divided into two main groups: Exceptional Value and Outstanding Performance. Exceptional Value emphasizes performance and affordability, while Outstanding Performance recognizes performance regardless of cost.
We also give two more Product of the Year awards: Pioneering Design Achievement, for a product that brings something new and innovative to the high-performance-audio market, and Aesthetics and Sound, for a high-performing product that looks as good as it sounds. And that’s important -- high-end gear is seldom only listened to; it’s looked at and admired as well.
Here are the 2012 award winners, along with comments from me about each:
Read more: The 2012 SoundStage! Network Product of the Year Awards
