In October last year, after the Paris HiFi Show in Paris, I had a chance to go and listen to the Elipson 4260 and 4050 at the house of Violet of Passion-Elipson.
We had a ball (so to speak...) and you can read all about our adventures on my "Interviews & Reviews" page.
Good reading!

What can I say? You know they are my favorite brand of French speakers, no less because they started me on my journey, were an inspiration for my own designs (and of a number of other people in the industry) and have survived many avatars and incarnations since Joseph Leon passed away.
There was a minimum amount of new products in the range this year, concentrating their marketing efforts on the Planet L and the new smaller M version (are we to expect an XL and S versions???) and their new Music Center, squarely aimed at the iPod generation.
Fortunately, Cedric Leon (not related...) was still conducting great demos of the 4260 and other products in the range, but only from digital sources this year - Mitchell turntable absent unfortunately...
Added bonus though, the re-issue of the BS50/Chambord, my sister-in-law and Interior Architect Extraordinaire (based in Perth - WA) icon speaker who is currently saving for a pair!
After the Show, I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon with Violet from www.passion-elipson.com who happens to work there and responsible for the look of the new 4260.
We had a ball (or should I say a sphere...) comparing a pair of 4040 and 4260 around a cup of coffee and a great chocolate cake specially baked by Mme Violet! 
Watch out for my full report soon on our "Interviews" page.

This has to be the most amazing news at the Paris Hifi Show - next Saturday!
There is no point in trying to deny my admiration for all things Elipson, and the reintroduction of these iconic speakers for the 60th birthday of Elipson is an extraordinary piece of news!
My sister-in-law, who is an Interior Designer in Perth, Western Australia, has recently discovered these speakers and fell in love with their design - I think she might go broke and buy a pair! I will have to relocate (with my Bryston 3B in my suitcase...)
Stay tuned and I will give you a full review in a few days time!

I am happy to report that I will be covering the show officially this year for the Australian Hifi Magazine,
I feel very honoured to be the chosen one!

Here are two links to the show's website for those of you that are keen to visit:
http://www.salonhifi.com/
http://www.hautefidelite.com/flash/main.swf

Dates are October 1st & 2nd at the Pullman Rive Gauche Hotel.

One scoop: Ken Kessler will launch his new book on the history of KEF,
who will be celebrating their 50 years of designing beautiful speakers and will introduce the "Blade"

Some of the French brands already registered to exhibit:
Atohm
BC Acoustique
Cabasse
Elipson
JMB Acoustique
Leedh
Micromega
Pierre Riffaud
Soledge
Vismes
Waterfall Audio

See you there!
Or stay tuned for more news on this blog...

Well, I was having lunch in Melbourne on Wednesday in the popular suburb of Richmond. Being on my own, I was reading the newspaper, and to my utter surprise, on the bottom right corner of one page, there was an ad for Elipson!
Could not believe my eyes...On further inspection, one of the dealers advertised was in Richmond.
Jumped on Maps on my iPhone (how did we lived before having one???) to find out that the dealer in question was about 50m from the restaurant I was in.
So, here I am, entering this nice Hifi shop called Encel Stereo, bumping into some Cabasse speakers right there...(84-88 Bridge Rd - Richmond - tel:+61 3 9428 3761)
I announced myself by asking if they are so kind of French Hifi experts, and it turned out that they had just ordered the system on the photo from the new Elipson distributor: AUDIO DYNAMICS, system you could describe in short as a Bose Lifestyle system well done (or should I say rare...).
It is certainly a very smart attempt at getting the younger crowd out there equipped with MP3/iPhone/iPod/iPad as their main source of musical software into serious 2-channel hifi systems.
I had a chance to listen to the Planets L (and to the Planets by Holt as well...) at the last Hifi Show in Paris.
Although they are nowhere near the sound of the famous vintage Elipson spheres, they are nevertheless a proper pair of hifi speakers, and way way better than any Acoustimass on the planet (pun intended...)
Full description of the Music Centre here:
http://www.elipson.com/en/model/211_Music-Center.html
And the Planet L here
http://www.elipson.com/en/model/137_Planet-L.html

I will keep you posted on the delivery date, so you can rush to Encel to listen to this extraordinary piece of French engineering, and you can kill two birds with the same stone by listening to the Cabasse Artis line.
Find out more here:
http://www.encelstereo.com.au/encel/Brand03pop.asp?id=3845

Update: Len Wallis Audio in Lane Cove, Sydney also stock this product.
If you are a Sydneysider, you ought to go and have a listen!

I have known and respected Ken for about 30 years now, so I was quite keen to read his review of the Paris Hifi Show.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to reconnect with him at the Show.
But, I was quite chuffed reading his prose in HiFi News February issue(I always enjoy his prose, as he is a real writer, AND he is not afraid to publish his own opinions...), as we have spotted some of the very same products as being relevant: Vimes, Aerosystem by Jarre, Soledge Maestro, Elipson (bien sur...) and Pierre Riffaud's turntables for instance...
Update on 16/04: Well, I have now received the March issue of HiFi News, and here he is again, showing to the world his collection of gear and software.
I cannot recommend you more than rush to your newsagent and buy your own copy now.
This one will be sold out for sure!
And the good news are that my wife realised that I am not that mad after all !!!

My dear readers, it is time for a well deserved break, as it is both Christmas and our summer holiday here in Australia.
I will be celebrating Christmas at home in Sydney with my wife and children and hopefully Santa Claus will bring me more vinyls to listen to and a tele lens for my Olympus E- PL1, my best photographic investment in my entire life (I started with a 6x9 cm Voiglander in my teens then moved on to a twin lens Rollei, a few Nikons - one that I still use when nostalgic of real film - and 2 Mamiyas 645, one stolen from me, the last one belonging to my ex-employer...). Most of the photos on this site since June are taken with this beautiful micro third four machine.
Then, I will spend a few days in regional Australia with a nice base in Canberra, and return to Sydney for New Year's Eve and its massive fireworks, enjoying a nice meal at Nick's Seafood on King Street Wharf, with some of our closest friends.
Next year, we are planning to bring you more reviews of vintage products, as well as real tests of more modern ones - Waterfall being the first one, as the Australian importer has agreed to loan me a pair for a full investigation.
Hopefully, more French manufacturers will follow suit and we will bring to you even more interesting content (I am dreaming of a comparison between Elipson 4050 and 4260s...)
If anybody from Agilent or Rohde & Schwarz are in a generous mood, I will need an real-time FFT analyser to do justice to these products...

In the meantime, many thanks for reading my prose and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous and Happy New Year 2011.

ELIPSON
Emotion
Leon (Joseph, bien sur...)
Innovation
Professional
Sphere
ORTF (Office de Radio & Television Francais)
No compromise
This is how the new Elipson communication is structured, a good balance of nostalgia and revival.
The new 4260 is certainly a fine example of all these attributes, and I am sure, Joseph Leon would approve of the new design.
Interestingly enough, PHL Audio, and Philippe Lesage, are providing the main drivers of exceptional characteristics, as you would expect from a manufacturer of pro drivers.
So, the midrange is left to a 21cm (8") driver with a phase plug, and the bass to a 38cm (15") unit, both paper based and very high efficiency, as the final product has a 92db efficiency - not a small feast for a speaker that size!
The power capacity is a whopping 250Watts RMS ( real watts...you can read about the different ways of measuring power for loudspeakers on the PHL Audio website).
The tweeter is custom made from Scanspeak, a very well known Danish manufacturer.
Elipson had prepared quite an extensive demo on CD, although a turntable was also on hand for the vynil enthusiasts.
The sound was spectacular on jazz and percussions particularly, thanks to the 38cm and the tweeter.
On the only classical recording played, the orchestra sounded a bit dull and not full-bodied, but I guess, it was that particular recording.
On female voices, the 21cm gives its full delivery, smooth, precise, quick.
After only six pieces of music, overall the result was splendid and very much part of the Elipson heritage.
For a more thorough review, (and the story of another hifi freak...) I recommend you go to www.passion-elipson.com
I had an extensive chat with the mechanical designer of the 4260, a young man called Cedric Leon (sic!, and he is not related...) who was very enthusiastic about the product and clearly very happy to work for Elipson.
It was very refreshing to meet somebody from a much younger generation being as passionate as I was when I first heard the 4040 in the 70s...
Maybe he will have his own blog one day...
Browse through my collection of photos of the stand and the 4260s as well.
Another product that seems to be the next one to be revived is the sphere with the diffuser, using (maybe...) the coaxial driver used in the new Planets.
Can't wait to hear them!

Today, I will review the two brands/products that have most impressed me in terms of speaker design and new to me.
Atohm and Waterfall Audio are kind of cousins as Thierry Comte is a partner in Waterfall, and the main driver (sic...) behind Atohm.
Besides, Waterfall Audio uses almost exclusively Atohm speakers.
Both companies have created a range of speakers that have some design criteria in common, but have achieved very different products out of some of the same components.
Atohm drivers are all high efficiency and both bass and midrange drivers have a metal membrane. Their top of the range tweeter however has a silk membrane and a 28mm diameter coil small enough to always stay within the humongous magnetic field of more than 17000 Gauss, resulting in a massive 98db/w/m efficiency.

We were exposed to their top model, the GT 3.0, a so-called 3.5 way freestanding speaker beautifully finished and equipped with 2 7inch bass drivers, 1 6inch medium with a phase plug and the above mentioned supertweeter.
The crossover frequencies are 100, 150 and 2500Hz, hence the 3.5 way name.
All filter slopes are 6db and the tweeter is time aligned.
The midrange driver has its own chamber fitted with an internal conical structure aimed at taming the standing waves and reflections inside that cabinet. This is reminiscent of the structure in the B&W Nautilus, but inverted inside the cabinet.
The bass drivers are installed in a bass reflex enclosure with a laminated vent at the base of the speaker's cabinet (like in our Microphase SWS subwoofer, this arrangement removes most of the potential problems linked with the floor structure and the position within the room).
The very well conducted demo showed the accuracy, speed and time alignment of this speaker, highly respecting the timbres of instruments and at 92db efficiency and 300W power capacity, reproducing the music with a realistic level and a total absence of distortion. Definitely in my top five at the show.
Their cost of 7,900 euros + seems to be the norm at that level of quality (Elipson 4260, Vienna Acoustics, or my favourite Martin Logans are twice the price...)

Waterfall Audio has taken a different approach, using some of the same drivers, in their top model, the Niagara.
First of all, Waterfall has made a name for themselves by introducing glass cabinets for their speakers.
We all know that glass is a very inert material, but being transparent, one cannot hide much inside the cabinet. Besides, it is quite a difficult material to process and assemble, more so once you add the complexity of a horn in front of the tweeter!
But Cedric Aubriot and Thierry Combe are not the types to refuse a challenge, and they came up with a number of innovative ideas to make this speaker a "chef d'oeuvre" in the sense of the Compagnons in the Middle Ages.
The result is a beautiful objet with a very high WAF - they have their Export Manager, Nadine, as their first judge, and she has convinced women (and men, I am sure...) in 30 countries to agree with her and buy this wonderful object!
Having said that, the auditive result is totaly in tune with the aesthetics of the product, proving once more that form should follow function if one wants to achieve the best possible results in any field. Electroacoustics are still full of "black magic" and in this case a transparent one: the filter is hidden in the base of the speaker, and so is the larger passive bass driver. Again, the midrange driver has its own enclosure baptised Acoustic Damping Tube, and the bass is generated mainly by a second 7inch driver. The tweeter is a 21mm diameter with a silk cone behind the proprietary glass horn. All drivers are bespoke versions of Atohm drivers.
The sound is solid, accurate and neutral. At 89db and 200w power handling, the output is realistic with a very nice, precise soundstage.
At 27,000 euros, this is not for the faint hearted, but a tenth of the price of a Focal Utopia and a lot easier to fit in one's living room. And with all due respect to Jacques Mahul, a much more lively proposition, more engaging with the source material, and, after a relatively short audition, certainly not less accurate.
It is to be noted here that Len Wallis (of Len Wallis Audio fame in Sydney) has given me access for a full morning to the Utopia in his showroom with two of his most knowledgeable sales people (and vinyl enthusiasts on top...) as my 60th birthday present...and so, my opinion of the Utopia is based on a much longer listening session on my own material. Although we had probably hal a million dollars of equipment in that room, I cannot say I was totally convinced mainly because it was almost surgical and lack the passion to engage my senses totally.
So, if I had a spare 40,000A$, I would certainly consider the Niagara!
I would like to try them with my Bryston amp and a Michell turntable and Grado Signature cartridge. Maybe the Aussie distributor of Waterfall Audio can organise that for me ( I will BYO my amp!!!)