CV
It’s unfathomable that when I was writing the March newsletter about Bryston speakers and Rega turntables, CV was barely on our radar. As I’m writing this newsletter in late March, CV is dominating our lives.
We will have a Coronavirus statement at the top of our LATEST page. Keep up to speed with us there. It will be updated as needed.
We have aggressive sales on demo merchandise to keep commerce going. We have a large inventory. We probably have a great deal on what you want.
Most of our manufacturers are shipping to some degree. But with skeleton staffs, things don’t go out as promptly as usual. Likewise, a fair number of products are in cue to be built, but are not immediately available. So, make the most of our demo sale, and please be patient about the delivery of new orders.
Those of us that love music are in a much better position to enjoy being quarantined than your average bear!
GoldenEar BRX $1600 Per Pair
(12h, 8w, 12.25d, 90dB SPL)
GoldenEar has been talking about releasing a Reference Level stand mount speaker for several years. Initial reviews have been very positive. They’re due in any day. CV may slow this delivery.
BRX uses the exalted ribbon tweeter used in Triton Reference and T 1.R. This ribbon has been esteemed by writers and BUYERS as among the most detailed musical tools in our industry. All these GoldenEar Ref models are known for precision detail and imaging.
BRX employs a brand new 6” cast bass/mid driver with a focused field magnet structure. This driver has a curved shape made of a special polypropylene material that combines superior internal damping with high speed of wave transmission through the cone.
BRX adds two side firing, 6.5” planar infrasonic radiators to deepen bass response, while keeping it taut. The cabinet is luxuriously finished in hand rubbed piano black lacquer. We expect another home run from GoldenEar!
Wharfedale Evo 4.3 Speakers $1600 Per Pair
Real Wood finishes of Walnut, Black Ash or White Ash
Two 5.25” Kevlar Woofers, One 2” Silk Dome Midrange,
One Ribbon Tweeter (34.4h, 8.4w, 11.5d, 51 lbs, 88dB SPL, 8 ohms)
Wharfedale’s new Evo 4.3 is a beautiful small form factor, affordable tower. Its muscle is surprisingly strong for its size. You’ll see a svelte tower but HEAR a large one!
Evo 4.3 goes beyond its mid sized/priced competition in that it employs a RIBBON tweeter and delivers the kind of muscle you can’t get south of its significantly bigger brother, Evo 4.4.
Let’s compare Evo 4.3 to B&W’s equivalent 704S2. IT runs $3k per pair and is very similar to Evo 4.3 in componentry, cabinet & crossover- but you get a dome tweet instead of Wharfedale’s precision RIBBON!
Yup, for about HALF the price, Wharfedale provides apples to apples nuts/bolts WITH a large RIBBON tweet! And by the way, I much prefer the RIBBON’s performance to the dome. Oh, and the other guys provide a cone mid, rectangular box with hole in the wall port that weighs ten pounds less, along with plastic plinth instead of valuable outriggers! Did I mention Evo 4.3 has conspicuously high performing bass for the size/price?
Wharfedale is bashing through the standard operating procedure of speaker building these days. Our industry has reached a point where “everyone” is making very similar products at a given price range. Wharfedale is a welcome exception.
Evo 4.3 starts with exceptional drivers -well beyond the garden variety.
*It uses Wharfedale’s extra large 2.16w by 3.15h RIBBON tweeter
*It dovetails that to its exceptional 2” Silk Dome Midrange driver
*It employs two, 5.25” Kevlar, self damping woofers with extremely heavy magnets
*The crossover uses CAO (Computer Aided Optimization) which provides balanced integration
*Evo 4.3 weighs over 50 lbs!
*Evo 4.3 comes with outrigger feet, which the other guys often upcharge mucho dinero for
*The cabinet is contoured to control resonance- avoiding a square or rectangular boom
*W uses a slot loaded port near the bottom of the cabinet to tune Evo 4.3 precisely.
It doesn’t just have a hole to add some thump to your sound.
*The finish is an elegant real Walnut, Black Ash or White Ash.
In short, Evo 4.3 delivers a musical experience of dramatically larger size/space/impact than you’ll get from esteemed competitors that run double the money.
Piano Prodigy In Our Time: Evgeny Kissin
We all know Mozart is the most famous child musician in history. But let’s not forget about the incredible Evgeny Kissin (b. 1971).
Kissin could play by ear at age two. By age six he composed and played difficult music by ear- for example Chopin’s Ballade #3 (running 8 beautiful minutes).
By age 12 he was recording on a par with masters like Ashkenazy & Rubinstein.
What were you doing at age 12?
We’re lucky his recordings are widely available on CD and streaming services. And yep, he’s still a touring pro! For only $62 you can get a newly released RCA, CD box, that has his first 25 albums. That’s just too cheap- from one of the best pianists we’ve ever known.