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Stenheim Alumine Two Loudspeakers
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- Written by Diego Estan Diego Estan
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 January 2022 15 January 2022
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
Stenheim, a relatively new Swiss manufacturer of high-end loudspeakers, was a brand I had only heard of in passing prior to this review. The company was founded in 2010 and by 2011 had launched Alumine, its first line of speakers, which are, as the name suggests, built using non-resonant aluminum enclosures. Suffice it to say that, like most Swiss hi-fi companies, Stenheim’s offerings have never been inexpensive.
Quebec Double Feature—Simaudio, Followed by Triangle at Centre Hi-Fi
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 January 2022 01 January 2022
At the end of last month’s article about my trip to France to visit speaker maker Focal, I stated that “I’ll travel to pretty much any company of any size, even if it’s in the middle of nowhere, if it means that I can learn something new about the hi-fi industry.”
Technics Reference Class SU-R1000 Integrated Amplifier-DAC
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- Written by Roger Kanno Roger Kanno
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 January 2022 01 January 2022
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
When I think of Technics, the first things that come to mind are the legendary SL direct-drive turntables. So it didn’t come as much of a surprise that their latest Reference Class integrated amplifier-DAC, the SU-R1000, has many features related to optimizing playback of phono sources. What is a bit surprising is that most of these phono-related features rely on digital signal processing (DSP) for their implementation. Not only that, once the phono signal is equalized, the entire signal path of the SU-R1000 remains in the digital domain until the speaker output stage.
Recommended Reference Component: Focal Celestee Headphones
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 January 2022 01 January 2022
In Brent Butterworth’s SoundStage! Solo review of the Focal Celestee headphones ($999, all prices in USD), which was published in September 2021, he wrote that the French brand’s headphones are “the opposite of AC/DC albums.” He then explained his reasoning: “AC/DC albums look different but sound the same. Focal headphones look the same but sound different.” Brent knows the Focal line well, because he’s also reviewed the company’s Clear, Elegia, Stellia, and Utopia headphones for Solo.
The 2021 SoundStage! Network Products of the Year—in One or Two Sentences
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 15 December 2021 15 December 2021
Today is the day of the year that many of our readers—and our reviewers—anticipate the most: the day we announce our SoundStage! Network Products of the Year.
From Focal to the French Riviera—How I Was Floored Twice in France
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 December 2021 01 December 2021
For about 25 years, I’ve made it a point to visit every hi-fi company that will open its doors to me. Some of those companies—Paradigm Electronics, Axiom Audio, Simaudio, Totem Acoustic, Verity Audio, Benchmark Media Systems, Blue Circle Audio, Classé Audio (when its products were still made in Montreal), and the now defunct Audio Products International, to name a few I’ve been to—are or were about two to five hours from my home by car, so, by my standards, pretty much right next door. But others have required a plane trip—sometimes within North America, but oftentimes overseas—which I’m almost always happy to take.
KLH Model Five Loudspeakers
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 December 2021 01 December 2021
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
In my “System One” column published on September 1, I wrote about KLH’s Albany II loudspeaker, which sells for just $299.99 per pair (all prices in USD). In that article, I described how the US brand was originally founded in 1957 as KLH Research and Development Corporation by Henry Kloss, Malcolm S. Low, and Josef Anton Hofmann. But after being sold in 1964 to Singer Corporation, the company went through additional sells and buys over the years to other entities—transactions I described as “messy,” because from the outside looking in, it sure seems that way. But in 2017, the KLH name was bought by David Kelley’s Kelley Global Brands and set up in Noblesville, Indiana, and I commented that this move brought it “stability.”
Ken Kessler's New Stereo System: Part Seven
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 December 2021 01 December 2021
Before we get to the sound of the system we’ve been assembling over the past six months, a momentary pause. If the suspense is killing you, I’m afraid there’s no relief yet because, as much as I wanted to write about the system’s sound al fresco and sans accessories, sticking rigidly to the $6000 budget (plus or minus a few bucks), I found the system so capable and so revealing that its response to add-ons—e.g., upgrading the cables—became a distraction. The gains were too good to dismiss.
Recommended Reference Component: PSB Synchrony B600 Loudspeakers
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 01 December 2021 01 December 2021
Paul Barton, founder and chief designer of PSB Speakers, has been designing speakers of all shapes and sizes since 1972. That wealth of experience shows in the company’s latest offerings: the Synchrony T600, a floorstander priced at $7999/pair (all prices in USD), and the Synchrony B600, a standmounted design priced at $2499/pair. Optional stands for the B600 are available for $599/pair. Diego Estan reviewed a pair of B600s on this site last month and advised that readers shopping for standmounted speakers “absolutely must audition a pair of PSB Synchrony B600s,” because when they do, they’ll likely “see no reason to keep searching.”
PSB Synchrony B600 Loudspeakers
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- Written by Diego Estan Diego Estan
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 November 2021 15 November 2021
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
The existence of PSB Speakers makes me feel proud to be Canadian. The company, founded in 1972 by Paul Barton, named after him and his wife, Sue, and now owned by the Lenbrook Group, is part of the long, rich history of Canadian speaker R&D—much of which took place at the National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa, the city where I was born and still call home. But I also felt a bit embarrassed when PSB’s speakers came up in conversation, because, although I’d heard several models over the years, I think I’d only seriously listened to one pair in my own room, some 20 years ago! So, when I was recently offered the chance to review PSB’s new bookshelf speaker, the Synchrony B600 ($2499 per pair, all prices in USD), I jumped at the chance to remedy this noteworthy gap in my résumé as a reviewer.
