June 12, 1998

New Product Daily Coverage

by the SoundStage! Coverage Team

Carl Brinkman (left) and Jack Bybee (r) hold the latest additions and updates to the family of Bybee Purifier products.   In Carl's right hand (far left in picture) is the new Ultra Quantum Speaker Filter ($1,200) using a double Bybee Filter and Nordost SPM Reference cable for connection to the loudspeakers.  In Carl's left hand is the Improved Quantum Speaker Filter ($600) which is replaces the original Speaker Filter.  Jack Bybee holds a pair of Quantum Line Filters intended to be used on preamp inputs or on the inputs of amplifiers.   These are prototypes, production models are expected to sell for something close to $600 per pair.

Meadowlark unveiled the 'Hot Rod' versions of their existing loudspeakers.  The Hot Rod Shearwater retails for $2,500 ($2,000 in standard form) and includes an upgraded crossover and internal wiring among other features. Upgrades are available for those who already own Shearwaters.   Contact Meadowlark regarding cost, etc. and availability of Hot Rod updates for other Meadowlark models.

The Bohlender-Graebner Corp. has been a manufacturer of planar magnetic panels for a number of years, but have never before made finished loudspeakers.  The speaker shown above is the development prototype for the flagship of The Radia Series, the 740DX.   Retail price is expected to be less than $20,000.  The 740DX is expected to be available after August.  The woofer module contains four 7" woofers which are time and phase aligned with the panel.  The crossover is first order at 400Hz.

Monster Cable is in the midst of introducing a large number of  new power conditioners for home theater, computers, and high-end audio.   Both of the above units are not yet named, however, the one on the bottom will retail for approximately $350 and the 'luxury' model on top will be approximately $500.   Renowned designer Richard Marsh has been involved in the designs of these new products. Other products start at $49.95.  All models are multi-outlet.  Many include isolation and suppression for coax cable (cable TV or satellite dish).  Some include isolation and protection for telephone lines which are needed for pay-per-view and perhaps DIVX

Shown above is the mbl 1621 cd transport price at approximately $15,000 and will be shipping in August.  This sophisticated CD transport is designed to get the best from 16/44.1KHz CD audio.

The first showing anywhere, Linn's updated AV5103 system controller priced at $8,495. Includes surround sound from two channels using a proprietary Limbik algorithm.

Audio Note displayed the new CD3 cd player priced at $4,000

At the Sony/Philips DSD press demo, there was plenty of behind the scenes work going on to make DSD a reality.   Above is some of  the prototype hardware Sony used to process DSD (Direct Stream Digital).  These devices and the hardware in the picture below will all be integrated into a single box when DSD players come to the market as early as spring of 1999 in Japan.

Philips' contribution to the Sony/Philips DSD demonstration was the hardware and processing power needed to process the DSD bitstream into 6-channel audio for the demonstrations.

With all the talk of DSD and seeing the type of hardware Sony was using to make it happen, we didn't know if a player even existed!  Lo and behold above is a working prototype version of a Marantz DSD player.  All of the hardware is very tightly packed into this single "box" - still in prototype form, but much closer to being manufacturable than the complex hardware shown in the images above.  Marantz is owned by Philips.

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