SUMMER/FALL	2001
Page Four

ANALOG

ORIGIN LIVE: An original creation by Origin Live designer Mark Baker, the Silver 250 elevates the value oriented Rega RB-250 tonearm into virtual "super-arm" territory. To the standard RB-250 base assembly Mark adds a custom armtube headshell and bearing yoke, all precision machined from high strength aircraft aluminum.

The horizontal bearings have been upgraded to a higher ABEC specification, and positioned outside the armtube for greater torsional stability and lower resonance.

Give this one a listen. I think you'll be surprised at the level of performance one can achieve at this price point! $650.00

AESTHETIX: First introduced in 1995, the Aesthetix Io is undoubtedly one of the best phono stages extant. Designer Jim White has come up with some tasty tweaks, resulting in the introduction of an improved model. The  Mark II features custom Mill's resistors and custom-made coupling caps with twice the output capacitance of those found in the previous model. The power supply received a new high voltage transformer with special damping material; WIMA bypass capacitors replace the film caps used previously. Special, ultra-matched 12AX7LP tubes are now used to further reduce noise. Should be fun! $6500.00.

For the nuttier among us, we can ogle the new Signature edition, replete with exotic Teflon capacitors (fifteen times more expensive than polypropylene units!) and specialized Teflon coated Cardas internal wiring. Aesthetix Io MkII, $9000.00.

MUSIC HALL: Seen in prototype for at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show, the MM-7 turntable is finally a reality! Our first of the production units has popped in for a visit and the new piece looks even better than the one seen in January.

If you have not had a chance to see it, the MMF-7 offers several interesting design features. Most notably, the outboard motor design insures a remarkably quiet presentation (very low background noise) by effectively preventing motor vibrations from reaching the plinth. This simple yet effective technique has been employed by others (Basis, Michell, VPI), but has never been included in a turntable at this price range.

We’ve had a bit of a listen to the new unit and are impressed. Though the cartridge is still breaking-in (I have about fifteen hours on it, so far), the sound is quite enjoyable, with good rendition of space, lively dynamic transitions and, as expected, a quiet background.

Hey, at $995.00, the Music Hall MMF-7 is a great buy!

 VPI: After a long absence, VPI has re-introduced the popular SDS Motor Drive. The SDS is two products in one:

• Motor speed control, allowing one to vary speed (on any turntable using a synchronous motor).

• A line conditioner, and voltage stabilizer, counteracting many of the negative effects of AC line anomalies. The unit uses regeneration technology, changing AC into DC, then back into AC.

Units are available in both 115V and 230V versions and have been CE approved. $1000.00

 HOME THEATER

ENLIGHTENED AUDIO:  EAD is bringing to market a new surround processor and DVD player. Let me quote from their press release: “EAD’s engineering team has never been as enthused about the release of any new product as they are for the TheaterMaster-8 (Ovation-8 and Signature-8).  This product transcends all previous EAD engineering accomplishments. 

Initial users report that the TM-8 is amazingly flexible, offering multiple formats (including ES for Dolby Digital and DTS, and “7.1”), two major modes: “Cinema 7.1” and “Reference Cinema”, with 10 different set-up options.  The 8-channel analog pass-through also accommodates both SACD and DVD-Audio analog signals. No other digital processor offers this level of flexibility. The new graphical owner’s manual is also superb.

In addition, the new TheaterMaster-8 surpasses all previous efforts in terms of musicality.  Excellent quality wide bandwidth 24/96 DAC’s, lower jitter circuitry and Arlon 25N substrate (Signature-8 only) provide the finest in sound performance attainable. You won’t find a better sounding surround-sound decoder anywhere. TheatreMaster 8 Signature, $5500.00, Ovation 8, $4495.00.

ULTRA DVD-Audio Player: The ULTRA will feature the finest sound performance ever achieved by a DVD player, with state-of-the-art analog audio processing and the superb new DVD-Audio format.  It will be the only DVD player ever with up to 8-channels of analog output (both balanced and single-ended), with full bass management and high-end volume control, allowing owners to connect the ULTRA directly to their amplifier, or processor.

EAD is proud to announce that the upcoming ULTRA DVD-Audio / DVD Video player will now offer the option of FAROUDJA – DCDi progressive scan video output, with both FAROUDJA FLI2200 and FLI2220 circuitry.

The standard ULTRA includes high-quality progressive scan video output through the highly acclaimed Genesis video chip. The Genesis chip is an excellent product that provides superb video performance, however, there is no question that the Faroudja’s DCDi technology (Directional Co relational De-interlacing) stands unmatched in the video world for performance. No other video solution, including Silicon Image, nDSP or Genesis, can match the unsurpassed quality and flexibility of the Faroudja FLI2200 circuitry. DCDi technology allows signals from both film and video sources to be reproduced flawlessly (unlike other technologies which result in “stair casing” and “jaggies”).  

In addition, Faroudja’s FLI2200 circuitry offers Motion Adaptive Cross Color Suppression, which removes NTSC and PAL color artifacts, and Motion Adaptive De-interlacing which separately processes each pixel, allowing highest possible picture resolution while suppressing motion artifacts.

Also included in the FLI2200 circuitry is Film Mode De-interlacing with 3:2 and 2:2 pull-down detection, bad-edit and mixed mode detection (and correction) with look ahead.  This means that even non-standard film mode DVD’s, or video based material with poor edits are rendered with exceptional quality and smoothness. FAROUDJA’S top-of-the-line FLI 2220 circuitry (normally only found on extremely expensive components) provides additional luma and chroma enhancement, resulting in superior horizontal and vertical processing, sharpening of small and large transitions (without introduction of ringing), and improved color details with superior depth perception.

The Faroudja video processing may be included on the ULTRA as an option.  The Standard ULTRA (with the excellent Genesis chip) will retail for $3995.  The ULTRA-F (with Faroudja video processing) will retail for $4995.

Please give us ring if you questions about any of the products you've read about here. 
210-805-9927

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