I always enjoy visiting Margules Audio. Owner Julian
Margules is a real music lover, and he always has something interesting to display. This
year he showed what he is calling i-Fi -- an audiophile-grade iPod docking station that
not only connects the device and recharges it, but makes the analog output sound better.
To prove the latter point, Julian connected an iPod to his integrated amplifier and played
MP3 source material. Then, he plugged the iPod into the i-Fi and played the same music
again. Through the i-Fi, the sound was richer, bolder, and more room-filling. It certainly
wasn’t a subtle difference at all. Right now the i-Fi is in prototype form, and
Julian hopes to bring it to market with a retail price under $900.
As well, Julian also showed me the newest version of the
U280 SC (below) -- a tube amplifier I’ve always liked because it's reasonably priced
and relatively powerful. Now, it appears to be even better.
Various improvements to the circuitry have increased the
rated power from 30Wpc in triode mode to 40Wpc, and in ultralinear mode, it’s up to
80Wpc from 60Wpc. The U280 SC also seems to be quite user-friendly. It has an
active-biasing circuit, so users don’t have to worry about fiddling around with the
bias to get it right. Julian pointed out to me that users can just plug in their tubes and
then change them perhaps every three years, depending on usage. That's all the work
required. There is a front-mounted knob to switch the output taps from 2 to 4 to 8 ohms,
along with switches to change the amp from stereo to mono and to alternate between triode
and ultralinear modes. I also like the styling very much, and, as I've said, the price is
right: $3300. This seems to be the perfect component for someone looking to get into tubes
and not break the bank.
***
I’m usually tired and unwilling to talk at any length
if it’s too early in the morning; I’d rather be left alone. However, on Saturday
morning I had to get up early for a breakfast meeting at the Mirage that included Home
Theater & Sound movie expert Wes Marshall. It didn’t take long before Wes and
I were talking non-stop about -- what else? -- movies. Wes and I have similar tastes, and
this breakfast allowed us to discuss what was good in 2005, what was bad, and what each of
us had to see if we hadn’t seen it already.
Mostly, though, our conversation revolved around filmmaker
Robert Rodriguez, who happens to live in the same city as Wes. We talked about
Rodriguez’s many films to date, including Sin City, which was released in
2005. Although we disagreed on the merits of certain Rodriguez films, we both agreed that Sin
City is Rodriguez’s best film. In fact, Wes went so far as to call it "a
masterpiece." That’s strong language. However, he recanted a short time later,
saying that "masterpiece" was, indeed, a little bit too much. We both agree,
though, that Sin City is a very good film.
Frankly, the only bad thing that you can say about Sin
City is that the original DVD release was as spare as it gets. Now, just a few months
later, there is a "Recut, Extended, Unrated" version that contains two versions
of the film -- the original cut and a new cut -- as well as a wealth of extras. Rightly
so, many have complained about releasing the original and this new DVD almost back to
back, essentially "double dipping" into consumers’ wallets. This newer
release should be the only DVD available.
Still, despite the obvious money grab with the two
releases, Sin City is an amazing movie that’s well worth owning on DVD.
Don’t boycott it because of a stupid business decision by the studio. I’m
shocked that at CES this year no one I visited is using it for demo material. The
picture quality is amazing, and the sound is very good, too. Make sure you see it soon.
***
Lifestyle, schmifstyle. I’m going to let
you in on a dirty little secret about the modern speaker-building business: The vast
majority of those tall, skinny, great-looking speakers that are in such high demand these
days sound like crap. I’m not exaggerating either. It’s easy to make a speaker
like that looks good, but making it sound good is quite another story.
Two speakers that run contrary to that, however, are Athena
Technologies’ WS-100 and Mirage’s Omnisat V2 FS. The WS-100 ($600/pair) is very
good for the money, and the V2 FS ($1000/pair) is very good, period. I reviewed both last
year.
Another company that’s now throwing its hat fully into
the high-style, high-performance ring is Paradigm with the new Millennia 200 (above,
$1000/pair) that’s part of the company's Reference series. Paradigm has made some
good-sounding, high-style speakers before, but with this speaker they’re claiming to
give true audiophile sound -- sound worthy of the Reference-series name -- in a high-style
package. They say the speaker will sound best mated with a subwoofer to deliver truly deep
bass, but they also say they’ve achieved bass to a solid 60Hz, making the Millennia
200 respectable on its own, something few of the tall, skinny, supermodel-styled speakers
can claim, save for the Mirage V2 FS, which seems to reach down to about the same bass
depth.
I’ll defer final judgment on the performance of the
Millennia 200 until I get a pair in my listening room. Paradigm says they’ll probably
be shipping the speakers at the end of the first quarter of this year, and we’ve
asked for a review pair.
***
One of the best-kept secrets in high-end audio today is
April Music, a relatively new Korean audio company. Its two brand names, Stello and
Eximus, both seem poised to set benchmarks for value and performance. April Music was one
of the first companies I visited on day one.
