Focal UK today announced the launch of a new series of special edition loudspeakers exclusive to the UK market. The new series, the Chorus 800V W UK Special Edition, feature Focal’s very special W cone sandwich and is finished is high gloss black.
Hi-Fi
New Neat Acoustics IOTA Loudspeaker
The IOTA delivers a spectacular audio performance from an almost impossibly small cabinet. It is specifically intended for use very close to walls, or in locations such as bookshelves and desktops, where even a regular size compact/bookshelf design may be too large.
The Neat IOTA is now shipping following a hugely successful preview at the Manchester Sound and Vision Show in November and an equally successful launch at the Sound and Vision Show Bristol in February.
Planning for Father’s Day: the XTZ Room Analyzer
Not sure how it works in your home but here, sometimes, I’m allowed to choose my own father’s day present. It’s good in the sense that I get what I really want but it’s bad in that I have to pay for it.
This year I am planning on getting a XTZ Room analyzer. For what it does it’s not too expensive. For what improvements it can help you making to your system it’s really cheap.
It consists of a nicely finished USB microphone / sound card on a stand and some clever software. It takes about five minutes to unpack and install or it should have. I use a Naim preamp so I had to find a suitable RCA to DIN adapter to plug in the output of the sound card base. So after fifteen minutes I was sitting in my favourite chair clicking buttons and measuring the low frequency response of my room.
It seems my room is quite even across the LF but there is just a little too much overall bass.
Here are a few images I borrowed from the XTZ website. They show the hardware itself along with images of full range and LF only measurements. The RT60 plot is also useful.
I’ll come back to the XTZ as soon as I have a spare day- Father’s day perhaps. It’s really easy to get going and to get some results, but it will take time to turn this into a better sounding system. I’m convinced that it’s possible though.
Naim updates award-winning CDX2 CD Player
Naim has updated its CDX2 CD player to coincide with the forthcoming launch of the Naim DAC.
This is the first major revision for this product in over 7 years. This takes the CDX2 into new markets delivering greater performance and far increased flexibility. The price remains the same.
The new version CDX2 adds a switchable S/PDIF output on a 75 Ohm BNC connector for the correct impedance match.
Win a NaimUniti System with Radio Paradise
During the month of October 2009 Radio Paradise www.radioparadise.com (one of the most popular internet radio stations in the world) is running a promotion where one lucky listener can win a NaimUniti all-in-one audio player and a pair of Naim n-SAT speakers.
Radio Paradise (RP) is a commercial-free listener-supported radio station. Listeners supporting the station during October are automatically entered into the draw to win the NaimUniti and n-SAT speakers.