Elodie Sablier is originally from Ardèche in France, but was eventually trained at the Conservatoire in Lyon (INM) and in Aulnay-sous-Bois, an eastern suburb of Paris.
She lived in Sydney for six years and went back to live in Avignon 3 years ago. She is a classically trained pianist, improviser, composer and singer, and now. involved in movie soundtracks. She has composed and produced 3 CDs - see below - all available online via the usual suspects. She graced us with a short visit to Sydney recently and gave us 3 amazing concerts, 1 solo, another one with flautist Keyna Wilkins, and a final one at Ivy Lane with Andrew Hagger - piano, David Holmes - guitar, Keyna Wilkins - flute and saxophonist Trevor Brown. We have recorder two of thsse concerts and we will upload them here and on our YouTube channel as soon as we get a chance to edit them. In the meantime, we have recorded a short interview just before her return to France. 
THIS WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE JAN/FEB ISSUE OF THE AUSTRALIAN HIFI MAGAZINE
I have been visiting Colorado since the 1980s when I was working for the Test & Measurement Division of Hewlett-Packard which morphed into Agilent then more recently Keysight Technologies, but I never had a chance to attend the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest since its inception 14 years ago. It is one of the five shows around the World that fellow journalist Ken Kessler – of Hifi News fame - tries to attend every year, but not this year, as it somehow collided with the Paris Hifi Show where we last met in 2010. RMAF 2017 is a relatively small show with about 5000 attendees and about 50 journalists visiting according to Marjorie Baumert, the organizer, who bravely took over when her husband Al Steifel – who started it - died unexpectedly. She is doing a very fine job let me tell you. The venue is nice at the Marriott Tech Center and newly refurbished in style. Even the food is gorgeous! This is what I call a end-user show, where mostly potential buyers come and listen to equipment they fancy, or only can dream of, like most of us mere mortals. There were still a number of low-cost systems on display, in fact five rooms were dedicated to them, and some were quite amazing for the money. But let’s get into the meat of it, should we? I am publishing this article in stages, so you can enjoy it earlier! Here is Episode 1: the sources 
The vast lobby and restaurant space is the most remarkable feature of the new fitout
Sources & headphones
Well, there were a lot of iPads around and servers and all sorts of digital files toys, and I will certainly talk about some. Obviously there were tons (and I mean tons…) of turntables… I was lucky enough to meet Canadian cousin extraordinaire and co-founder of Oracle Audio, Jacques Riendeau, Clearaudio and Pro-Ject had almost their entire range on display, Rega, EAT, Kronos, SME, Marantz, Luxman, Technics, Brinkmann, Analogueworks, Kuzma, VPI, Mark Levinson (made by VPI), Gem-Dandy, Reference Analog, Audioengine, NAD, McIntosh, Merryl-Williams equipped with two arms, one fitted with an Ortofon Mono cartridge I have been willing to listen to for ages and didn’t disappoint, and my dream Bergmann with a linear tracking arm. There was even an old refurbished Garrard 301 brought by my friend François Saint Gérard who I met at the Paris Show last year. And then the beautifully crafted JWM Acoustics, crafted out of exotic timbers. The big surprise though was the number of fancy professional tape recorders, some playing master tapes recorded days before specially for the Show! Sonorus, Technics, Tascam, Sony, Studer, Nagra, Ampex, to name just the ones I saw and photographed… There were comparatively few CD players with the exception of a number of OPPO players, including one modified with a tube output amplifier, and the the French contraptions from Metronome, bien sûr. We were treated to some live music as well with Robert Silverman, a famous Canadian pianist, who played Chopin for our sheer pleasure, and an artist very interested in the recording process, having recorded a number of SACDs and vinyl with IsoMike, a company dedicated to record straight to DSD256 with the help of Merging Technologies ADCs. The IsoMike is an evolution of the “artificial head” invented by André Charlin in France in the 60s and which was also the inspiration for the DECCA “tree”, all designed to keep the original phase of the instruments to be able to reproduce their timbres as accurately as possible. In the digital world, all talk was about TIDAL, MQA, Roon and other esoteric acronyms that I don’t pretend to fully understand. The “War of the DACs” was in full swing as well and there were so many on display and to listen to that I kind of just tried to enjoy the music… I will just get a brief mention of DACs/Headphones amps at this stage, as some definitely caught my ears: SPL with Focal, Chord with 'final', a relatively new Japanese planar titanium dynamic headphones manufacturer and Sonoma Acoustics is using a new electrostatic transducer developed in the UK, called HPEL, which essentially dispenses with the front grille of a traditional electrostatic one. I did like the ‘final’ a lot as it was extremely detailed and smooth and not at all metallic (I usually dislike titanium membranes in speakers..). The Sonoma had more dynamic range but was slightly less detailed, although I am a great fan of the ESS SABRE DAC used in the dedicated powering unit. The ‘final’ was also more confortable to wear. Both are open designs. 
And now a bit of live music!
Robert Silverman is an acclaimed Canadian pianist who was invited for the Show to play Chopin, his favourite artist and one he has recorded most of his music. Steinway flew, installed and tuned his piano for the event and we were regaled to hours of bliss, a welcome treat at the end of each very tiring day, having walked miles and talked to dozen of people.... 
Electronics A good third, if not more, of all electronics on display were tube based and some were mighty like the Audio Research Reference 750SE, some just amazingly sweet and gorgeous like the Zesto Audio range, or the minimalist and brand new ModWright Ambrose A30 monoblocks. Then one cannot pass the hybrids from NAGRA, paired with the new Wilson Audio Alexia II, probably one of the best sounding systems at the Show. And myriad of others including a number of new contraptions from Dan d’Agostino, Moon, or the more affordable NADs. Special mention to French Micromega for trying successfully to give Devialet a run for their money! My good friends at Bryston were there too, but more on them in the next section… I have to admit of being a serial monogamist, both in real life and when it comes to amplifiers... Once you find a good one, keep it and keep it warm, on all the time, like my vintage Bryston 3B which worked perfectly for 23 years, went to hospital a couple of weeks then as fatigue came in, and came out all refreshed and upgraded, and has been even sweeter since, now we have been happily married for more than 33 years! I am still considering buying a preamp to match, but so far my NAD C326BEE has been our perfect little slave... 
Speakers
If you know me, you will not be surprised if I tell you this is my area of expertise and my real passion. There is still some black magic and intense research and innovation in this field and I am always amazed that thousands of companies, or individuals like myself, consume an inordinate amount of time and resources to create new speakers. This show was no exception, from the huge monoliths to the minuscule and the “out of the square” designs. The palm will be awarded to Danish outfit JERN for making cast iron cabinets for their speakers in the ultimate form follows function way. Small is beautiful and these sound amazing! You may also know that I like open baffle speakers and a great fan of Kyron Audio. So it was with some excitement that I went to check the latest installment of the modular design by PureAudioProject, an Israeli company I met in Melbourne a couple of years ago. They are now including a horn speaker as their midrange/tweeter, coupled to 4 15inch bass drivers in their new QUINTET15 HORN1. These sounded effortlessly sweet and mighty, considering they were driven by a 4w tube amplifier! And at less than 10K$ a pair, a real bargain… In the same category, one could include all the Martin Logan speakers who were in various rooms, the most spectacular one being the full Neoliths driven by Audio Rearch Reference 750SE and fed by the money is no object Clearaudio Master Innovation with linear tracking arm and Statement phono cartridge with not much change out of a 300K$ US for the whole system… Another surprise was the Ultra Stat Panel from Sanders Sound System which uses a transmission line to load the woofer and an electrostatic panel apparently more rugged than Martin Logan. It sounded very good, but the designer insisted to line listeners in the sweet spot, which makes it a tad of an indulgence in my book… As far as I know, there were very few French companies apart from Focal and Metronome already mentioned and one Aussie, with DEXQ showing off their amazing technology that I was acquainted with through Kyron Audio. Now, it might be a good time to mention the new active speakers from Bryston. I like active speakers, I like Bryston amplifiers so I had great expectations from this new range, and it didn’t disappoint, certainly one of the best sounding systems at the show. I would also like to mention three brands that make speakers that are sticking out of the crowd for various reasons: Neat Acoustics for their unconventional cabinets and speaker placement, Tekton Design, for making multiple tweeters work and JWM Acoustics for not only making some of the best sounding speakers at the show, but also beautifully crafted cabinets made entirely by hand, all three companies making speakers that are well under 10K$ a pair! Another revelation came from Acoustic Zen, definitely in my top 5 listening experiences at the show, and Bang & Olufsen for finally designing a speaker I could live with, although the adjustable motorized lens on the tweeter is more a gimmick than real value, as I would only use the narrow mode, but that is a very personal opinion and taste. Finally, I will mention two companies that makes incredible affordable and good products, Audioengine and Vanatoo who manage to produce a pair of active speakers for less than 500$US a pair! The performance label probably goes to Vanatoo, the design label to Audioengine.
In conclusion,
The Show was well worth flying around the World for it and I wish it were a day longer as I couldn’t see all the exhibits in the two and half days I was there. I met a number of great people and was reacquainted with some I knew already and had a great time overall.  Microphase Triton hybrid system, with two passive SATs and an active subwoofer. The third SAT on top has been left untouched for comparison purposes I will be honest with you dear readers, we have not sold myriads of this upgrade kit, primarily because the people who still own our 1980s SATs are rare, and the sub ensemble of those who read this blog and are prepared to spend a couple of hundred dollars for an upgrade are even rarer. So, I am always delighted when I start a conversation with one of these dedicated clients and audiophiles. Recently, I got an email from Steinar Thomassen, all the way from Norway enquiring about changing the foam suspensions of the AUDAX driver and the upgrade kit which is available via our online store. I probably provided Steinar with the right answers as I soon received a notification from PayPal, that I had received an order and some dough! I immediately went on to prepare this kit, which involves buying the tweeters, packing them for export and transport all the way across the planet, together with the new flange duly glued to the tweeters, providing the new Allen key cap screws and the elusive Allen key. (I now keep a stock of them...). Then off to the Post Office to airfreight the small package. Although I use the less expensive option, I still go to the extra step of using a service with which I can track it to its final destination! For a bit of marketing history, we had three major export markets at the time, Belgium, Norway and Germany in that order. Belgium was successful because I had a personal relationship with two of the best dealers, one in Uccle, one of the most affluent suburbs of Brussels - AudioConseil - (Hello Pierre, now retired...) and the other in Ghent (Gand pour mes lecteurs francophones...), Ghent Hifi. In Norway, Martin Viktorin, with whom I am still in contact, ex audio consultant for the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, had a lot of good connections in the pro audio business and with some of the top hifi dealers. These connections resulted in a number of good sales to the public all over Scandinavia, but also, Martin managed to convince the National Norwegian Radio to equip all their studios with the active version of our SATS, resulting in the biggest single order in the history of Microphase. In Germany, we were dealing with a passionate man who was importing just a few high end products from France and Italy primarily. He was only selling the active version of our SATs. I am afraid, I can still see his face, and remember his lovely German accent, but not his name... If he reads this blog, I would welcome him making contact to rekindle the friendship and refresh my memory...  Microphase Triton hybrid system, with two passive SATs and an active subwoofer. The third SAT on top has been left untouched for comparison purposes I made contact with Steinar a month after receiving his order to ask for his feedback. He has authorised me to publish his comments, so here is a copy of his email, after editing for the purpose of clarity. (Most people in Northern Europe have very good command of the English language, so has Steinar...) So here it is: Hi Jean-Marie, Thanks for the follow-up on my, in the end, very satisfying upgrade project. The new tweeters you send me are installed and both of my speakers are now in top shape. The upgrade went smooth, plug and play as it was promised, perfect! I had more of a struggle with changing the damaged cone rings on the 4”. I ordered new rubber suspensions from speakerrepairshop.nl but I could not find any professionals in Oslo who would take on this job. I went for it myself. My challeng became how to make a perfect centering during the process of glueing. The www.SpringfieldSpeakerRepair.com clip on youtube, was helpful (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpMYZq-qQNo). I glued the rings while sending 50hz into the speakers. This gave me perfect control in the adjustment process where i just avoided any scratchy sound indicating that the suspension element touched the inner core. I now have two perfectely upgraded speakers with new tweeters and rubber suspensions and in addition my one original speaker, with foam suspensions and tweeter fully intact, working fine. My ears are not highly educated, but the new tweeters sounds great, very crispy and full in the top, making an even more open sound. Properly widening the register of the speaker even more than the original. Attached a few pictures of the collection. Thanks again for helping me out breathing new life into this great looking and great sounding Microphase speakers. Best regards Steinar Thomassen Well, that made me very happy indeed... Below details of the active subwoofer equipped with a 21cm Cabasse DuoCell driver, still in production today, and used in the Iroise 3 and our bespoke amplifier designed by one of our dealers in Strasbourg.  Rear view of the Microphase active CSW subwoofer. Note the XLRs connectors, as we were selling a number of these in the pro audio market. That same amplifier without the low pass filter was used to power the SATs as well  Microphase Triton active CSW subwoofer and its might 21cm DuoCell driver from Cabasse  The bespoke amplifier for both SATs and CSW active speakers UPDATE 14.04.17What was not obvious from the first lot of photos Steinar sent me, is that in fact these satellites are indeed the Norwegian Radio units and active versions! Here is the proof! Enjoy...   In 2013, I briefly presented this iconic brand up there with the likes of YBA and JADIS. You can read it here: www.frenchvintagehifi.com/hardware/french-vintage-hifi-audioanalyse Since then, I have acquired a great deal of original documents from that era, courtesy of cabinetmaker extraordinaire Jean-Paul GUY. I had a request from my Facebook page this morning for more information on a potential special edition of the PA-90 integrated amplifier, hence why I though appropriate to put the original brochure online today. As it is both in French and English, I will serve it to you raw below!  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 1 - Note that the speakers shown are not in the brochure  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 2/3 - C9 preamp - 4 inputs  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 4/5 - C90 preamp - 5 inputs  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 6/7 - B9 amplifier class AB - note that the slew rate is specified at 25V/uS, a very good spec...  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 8/9 - B90 MK2 class A/AB  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 10/11 - A( amplifier ClassA up to 50W/channel into 8 ohms or 90W/Ch into 4 ohms! An extraordinary performance. The slew rate is 35V/uS. guaranteeing the best transient response.  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page12/13 - Integrated amplifier PA3 - Note the 50V/uS slew rate, best in class!  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 14/15 - PA9 Integrated amplifier - 2x40W/channel into 8 ohms with a mere 0.05% distortion  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 16/17 - PA90 Integrated Amplifier - This top of the range amplifier was the reason behind this article. 2x100W/channelinto 8 ohms - Class A up to 10W  A white limited edition of the Audioanalyse PA90 integrated amp, courtesy of Cyrille Scheepers via Facebook  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 18/19 - T9 digital synthesised tuner - a revolution at the time, when most tuners were still analog  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 20/21 - AL1 Turntable designed by Pierre Lurné  AL1 Audioanalyse turntable at a recent Hifi Show in Paris  A custom version with what looks like a Garrard platter and a marble plinth and a rare phono stage preamp from Audioanalyse  Audioanalyse brochure circa 1985 - Page 22/23 - M4 & M6 active filters - 2 cells and 3 cells - Note the typo in the French text for the M^ incorrectly spec'd as 2 voies, instead of 3!  Audioanalyse AL& speakers, probably a 3-way design with midrange dome and ribbon tweeter  Another model of Audioanalyse speakers the AL3 - 2-way  Audioanalyse AL3 speaker, equipped with Focal 7C03, and vifa D19td.- Confluence on the left  Audioanalyse AL5 speakers - HiFi Stereo review from 1983 - Page 1 - via Forum Cabasse  Audioanalyse AL5 speakers - HiFi Stereo review from 1983 - Page 2 - via Forum Cabasse I have tried to compile a number of documents from various sources, including Audiovintage and Cabasse forums. You might want to visit these sites for more info in particular on the speakers.
If you have more documents, do not hesitate to forward them to us for future inclusion via our Contact page.Thanks in advance and Happy Lunar New Year of the Rooster!   I was beyond excited and not a little nervous to exhibit our new speakers at the Marriott Rive Gauche (once called the PLM Saint-Jacques and alledgedly the most modern hotel in the World when it opened) after a thirty year hiatus. I will be forever grateful to Jean-Jacques Capello of Point Musiques for hosting and demonstrating our new Microphase Audio Desigh SAT MK2 to a knowledgeable audience. I was quite chuffed to see them mesmerised by our minuscule speakers... But this article is all about the other exhibitors and fantastic products, from the oldest players and classic designs like Pierre-Etienne LEON to the revolutionary Devialet. TotalDac    Vincent Brient, the talented French designer of DACs and music servers was presenting his d1-serverwhich can work from a hard drive or as a streamer then onto a DAC like the Totaldac d1-core, or the more upmarket Totaldac d1-twelve-SE. Amplification was courtesy of "Integrated Signature" from the US based Absolare, a hybrid design of valve preamp and solid state power amp generating 2x200W. The horn speakers were not for the faint hearted and behind next door to our own minuscule speakers, we had to fight some serious sound levels! It looked more like a Japanese DYI design than a finished product, butthey did shake the walls even though they were not the sweetest or more accurate design at the Show... WAF = 0 as well... Point Musiques - Ocellia - ConceptS - Gold Note - Artec - M.A.D - Kelinac Jean-Jacques Capello makes sure everything is ready to go...  Ocellia and Artec speakers   Gold Note CD player in three boxes  Keliniac, Concept Couleur and Microphase Audio Design speakers. Gold Note and Artec electronics Jean-Jacques Capello was presenting four different systems, all designed to provide the best musical experience for a given price point. A Gold Note CD1000 CD player from Italy and a French made turntable ConceptS Sonata were feeding an all ARTEC Ultimate amplification, cables and speaker system. A ConceptS preamp and two 300B Ocellia mono valve amps and an integrated Tosca amp Tosca were driving the amazing and totally unconventional Ocellia Calliope 30 Twin, with Ocellia cables throughout. (read my article about them here: http://www.frenchvintagehifi.com/interviews--reviews/point-musiques-a-musical-afternoon-chez-jean-jacques-capello ) Another system was driving the Kelinac 914MG driven by an integrated Gold Note Demidoff, a CD player Gold Note Favard Anniversary and câbles from Actinote. Finally another system based on the ConceptS 7W integrated valve amp driving the ConceptS Couleurs 94 equipped with a full range 31 cm driver and an integrated 2x50W Artec were feeding the M.A.D SAT MK2  Concept Turntable with magnificent unipivot arm for 3000 euros  More arms than an Indian Goddess...  The Concets turntable and its unipivot arm can be have have for 3000 euros  Kelinac and Concepts Couleur speakers  Votre servitor with cabinetmaker extraordinaire Jean-Paul Guy and his lovely daughter  Static display of Concepts electronics and our minuscule SAT MK2  Artec SEY3.5 and Microphase Audio Design SAT MK2 Calamighty Sound - A mecca for all things vinyl Garrard and Pierre Clément cartridge given a new lease of life  Plus vintage, tu meurs! Mighty it is indeed, with refurbished Garrards, Pierre Clément cartridges, and all sorts of plinths, arms, etc... The enthusiastic founder François Saint-Gerand is a delight to talk too and is passionate and very knowledgeable about all his products and beyond. Mulidine   Marc Fontaine presenting his new Mulidine Cadence  Marc Fontaine is an ex colleague of mine at Hewlett-Packard and a very good friend, as we both share a passion for music reproduction and speaker design. He "retired" from HP/Agilent in 2005 to buy Mulidine to continue and expand on the legacy of the original founder Marcel Rochet. Note the elaborate acoustic panels revovered from the studios of the French National Radio and Television ORTF. Micromega - PMC This was an amazing combo of the new M-One integrated amp/DAC, etc with the fabulous PMC speakers, used by Bryston to demo their amps before deesigning their own... So I am pretty happy to report that the M-One make thenm sing beautifully. It was one of the very best demos at the Show.... Metronome Technologies - ASA - JADIS  JADIS amplifier: le "derrière"  JADIS amplifier: le "top"  ASA Loudspeakers I will not insult you by presenting Metronome - alledgedly best CD player in the World, and JADIS, alledgedly best valve amplifiers in the World too, but ASA? Never heard of this Atelier de Synergie Acoustique...Et pourtant! There are a lot of similarities with my own designs and the manufacture of the cabinets in solid wood is amazing! The sound is spectacular too... Gryphon - Pierre Etienne LEON  A mighty association of Danish powerhouse The Gryphon and French legend Pierre Etienne Leon speakers. These two rooms were very well attended throughout the Show. It is a tribute to persistence and good genes to see Pierre Etienne surviving decades of ups and downs but still passionate about designing new speakers and try to achieve the Graal of music reproduction!   DEVIALET    Expert Pro, the new top of the range amps from Devialet was displayed here and the Expert 1000 Pro put to the test. Power, slew rate and dynamic range are the main features of this new range. Obviously the Phantoms were playing their part as well... Davis Acoustics Davis Acoustics turns 30 this year! And for the occaion they are gifting us with a new speaker called Renoir. Interestingly enough, the 'homemade' 31 cm bass driver is paper based, where the 17cm midrange uses the proprietary woven kevlar cone. Both use Ticonal magnets. The TW20K2F tweeter with double magnet and kevlar membrane takes care of the higher frequencies. Like the top of the range Karla, the system comes in two cabinets, a configuration inherited from Elipson and favoured by many, including myself... Electronics used are an Aura Note V2 and a Gryphon Diablo. FOCAL - OCTAVE I happened to visit before the opening of the Show and was privy of the vagaries of the setup. Interstingly enough, there was one position of the Focal speakers (Sopra 3) which gave an amazing image and general rendition. The unknow (to me..) German electronics from Octave were driving the Focals with ease and confidence.  Octave valve electronics from Germany Nautile Acoustique - FISCH Audiotechnik    To be honest, I have never heard of this French brand before... Their coaxial driver is complemented by a super tweeter Townshend. This « Nautile Acoustique by Bel Canto design » electronics were developed by John Stronczer himself. Integrating a DAC and a two-channel Hypex N-Core amp module, they drive the drivers and manage the crossover. Mark Levinson electronics, includingthe new combined server/transport/DAC ML519 and new préamp-DAC ML526, phono preamp double mono ML52 interfaces the EAT turntable to the system. Probably the most innovative speaker at the Show, besides the Phantoms... Sonus Faber    Ever since the Chario was introduced decades ago, I have been in love with Sonus Faber speakers, probably the most beautiful speakers on the Planet... And they don't sound too bad either! ZU Audio   Very interesting coaxial speakers from the US 0f A. First time I had a chance to listen to them and I was certainly impressed. Line Magnetic Audio  oVous avez dit Modern Vintage? Then Line Magnetic is for you! These modern replicas of legendary valve amps and Western Electric speakers are a delight to the eye and a great comfort to the ear! To be discovered absolutely! Pèle mèle or meli melo... Italians do it better? DoAcoustics mini speakers  BW 800 D3 - A private listening session chez Len Wallis Audio in Sydney didn't convince me... Even the magnificent demos of Martial Hernandez failed to impress me  Entry level speakers for 25Keuros? Non merci...  André is probably turning in his grave...  Ultimate amp? Maybe... It certainly looks the part! Ming Da France Ming Da France static display - impressive!  Ming Da France - The Beast! Advance   Haute Couture audio components in small and affordable packages. To be considered to drive our minuscule Microphase Audio Design SAT MK2... ATOHM - Trinnov Audio   No need to introduce Atohm and his charismatic founder Thierry Comte, ex Technical Director chez Triangle... The mighty active subs (in black...) were certainly shaking it! Hifi Câbles et Compagnie The infatigable Jean-Claude Tornior is still at it after probably four decades in the business under various guises, including Phonophone reviewed elsewhere on this blog. He knows how to design a decent pair os speakers and he is has a great following for his cables...But you know what I think, the best cable is the shortest cable... Turntables galore...      Definitely, the vinyl revival is here to stay... Almost every stand had a tyrntable or two or more... Here is a little feast for your eyes as a conclusion to this article. This is obviously not an exhaustive coverage but a glimpse into the products which took my fancy. Thanks for tagging along my journey!
 After the overwhelming response to our SAT MK2 at the Paris Hifi Show, we are now open for business and we are ready to take your orders. Current shipping time is end of January 2017 for orders and deposits received before 15.12.2016. Any questions, get in touch via email or our Contact Us page     After 30 years of absence, we are about to start marketing a new range of speakers under the new name of Microphase Audio Design (M.A.D. in short...). It will be sold only online with five showrooms around the World where you will be able to listen to them. All products will be limited editions and the first product to be release, the new SAT MK2 pictured, is available through our e-store on this website. Towards December 2016, we will launch a dedicated website for these speakers.
To help you understanding the qualities of these speakers, we have started a new page here where we are documenting our design principles, the process, the measurements and listening test and eventually some testimonials from trusted professionals. These products are fully manufactured in Australia and will be shipped around the world from here. So, don't be shy, read our story and if you are in Australia or New Zealand, we can organise a listening session in Sydney by prior arrangement. If you are in France or in Europe, stay tuned for an announcement in the coming weeks.  AW Audio electrodynamic panels EA12 chez Raymond Lerat I have been communicating with Raymond for quite some time as he is the lucky owner of a pair of EA12 from my friend and fellow speaker designer Alain Wacquet. Raymond has also been helpful in providing information for my article on Confluence. He has just posted a comprehensive review of these fabulous speakers on the forum Audio Vintage and has kindly given permission to rewrite and translate his prose in English here. For those of you who read French and want to read the original post, here is the link: http://www.audiovintage.fr/leforum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=56039 My notes are in italics in the text below EA12 presentation by Raymond Lerat - The English version Raymond Lerat had the pleasure to meet with Alain Wacquet in Nancy chez Audio Video Son in the mid 80s. He found him affable and full of humour with a smile on his face, and passionate about music with a penchant for jazz, and a composer himself, up to this day where he indulges in more esoteric compositions with prepared instruments and noises. He was born near Lille in the Northern part of France, close to the Belgium border. (This is where I met Alain...) Raymond first interest in presenting these panels to the Forum was to gauge the level of knowledge, interest and exposure that the members of the forum might have with this confidential range of vintage speakers from the early 80s. Raymond notes that all people he knows who have been exposed to AW speakers were all enthusiastic about them, specially when reproducing jazz ensembles and small classical formations where they excel. Their main characteristic been described as "energetic", with a real sense of "beeing in the room" and with perfect imaging and spatialisation. All reports written over the 10 years of research by Raymond have all returned an "enthusiastic" response. The way Raymond describes his first encounter with AW Audio fells short of a "love at first sight" declaration, but like often, the object of ditto love seems unreachable financially and is left confined to the realm of dreaming...until such a time where it suddenly becomes accessible. Raymond goes on to describing various experiences with other panels, like Magnepan, Stax, Audiostatic and Quad, products which were not lacking in anything, but which would actually add undesirable things, in his opinion. With Magnepan for instance at the time, the image of a piano might have been stretched to 15m or so, within an orchestra which would feel like 20m wide, so the proportions of the sonic image was distorted. Inadequate dynamic range, lack of the bottom octaves, short circuit between front and back fields made it near impossible to position the panels for the best results in a given space. Lansing Trimline, DCM Time Frame, Carver in the US, Phonophone, Triangle in France have tried to use electrodynamic drivers to design such a type of speaker with various degrees of acoustic success, but no commercial one. Alain Wacquet managed to stay in business for over 10 years, while producing a "haute couture" type of product, made by hand, with love and exceptional craftsmanship, hence expensive. The objectives and typical qualities of an electrodynamic panel are a credible horizontal and vertical image, with a cylindrical polar response, providing a stable, accurate and homogenous response and image. The impulse response - slew rate - will have to be exceptional, vastly superior to any other system, with a very good reproduction of timbres, the hallmarks of an acoustic doublet system. The use of a linear array of mostly identical small full range drivers will provide such result if they are correctly implemented. If not, the result will be like a "sonic porridge" as Raymond nicely puts it. NOTE: I have found this measurement from a LEEDH Perspective designed by Gilles Millot, using the same driver as a midrange. This shows the exceptional impulse response of the main driver used by AW Audio, a WFR12 from Audax. It is to be noted that 6 12cm drivers have an equivalent surface to a 300m woofer with half the mass...But the resonant frequency would be about double, hence why the lower octave can't be reproduced at the same level as a 300m woofer which fs would be around 30Hz.
Obviously, it will be expected that the lower octaves of the audio spectrum will be somehow reduced in level, but still extremely clean because of the speed provided by the light membranes of the drivers, but also by the acoustical short circuit between the front and rear waves. Trying to add a subwoofer often results in a bad marriage, which Raymond describes as trying to mate a carp and a rabbit! Raymond has experimented with electrostatic and isodynamic panels over time but found them lacking inefficiency, and dynamic range, qualities required to give life and freedom to the music, a treat that a boxed system cannot achieve. For these reasons Raymond had abandoned his quest, even though he owned a pair of QUAD ESL 63 in the 80s.
The various advantages of a panel speaker compared to a box speaker A bit of history - You might want to read my own articles on the timeline of AW Audio The AW Audio adventure started in 1985 after two years of research prior, resulting in the introduction of the EA12 first panel, then the less expensive EA11 and finally the outstanding EA16 which only 10 pairs have been sold. Later the EA12 would be replaced by the PA12 and there are a few units of the ultimate Transparence (in Alain's basement...) all this over a 10 year period and through a handful of dealers around the country. Raymond didn't get a chance to listen to this second generation of panels, which seem to carry the same drivers, although they are no longer locked behind the fabric. (neither did I...) Obviously, the difficutiles of marketing and selling such a boutique range of products of such high quality, superb finish, designed by a passionate and uncompromising man such as Alain was not a piece of cake, having to abide by the rules of greedy esoteric and high end dealers, (being used to extravagant margins to push such a product and others..) Raymond goes onto explaining some of the reasons behind Alain's decision to abandon the project although all public demos were all spectacular and well received in comparison with similarly priced products at the time. Essentially, it was extremely difficult to transform all these marketing efforts into sales. (I have witnessed a number of these demos and they are amongst the best I have ever heard at any price... It took me decades to find something better, and you probably know that I am referring to my friends at Kyron Audio here!) Raymond goes on to compare the experience of listening to an AW Audio panel to the degustation of a Grand Cru wine, as it stays with you for the rest of your life either on the palate or in your ears. (Obviously, you can rejoice time and time again to the pleasure of listening to a pair of good speakers, difficult and somehow far more expensive to keep drinking bottles of Ducru-Beaucaillou 1982, my all time favourite wine, if you can find some, that is...). The relation between cost of manufacturing and sale price is quite similar in both cases... To calibrate the topic, a pair of EA11 cost 15500 francs, EA12 25000 Francs. EA16 50000 francs. (The dealer was probably buying them for less than half that price, and a pair of EA12 was equivalent to my generous monthly salary at Hewlett-Packard..., so Alain would have to sell at least two pairs a month to barely survive!). A pair of EA12 was sold at the same price as a pair of Confluence "Pastorale" designed by another atypical engineer, musician, music lover and passionate.
Alain Wacquet had some serious criteria and objectives to design his panels: linear phase, homogeneous polar response, slew rate and extended dynamic range, timbres accuracy and enough bass in such a dipole setup, maybe not as deep as a traditional box speaker, but certainly cleaner in many aspects. The AW Audio panels had very few rivals at the time with these parameters in mind. Alain has never unveiled anything much about the crossover schematic, nor the treatment of the midrange drivers, but one can see that 8 drivers (WFR12 from Audax) were used in line, the two top ones have some treatment applied and are dedicated to the midrange, the six at the bottom are the bass drivers. A Focal tweeter takes care of the higher frequencies. It is a 2-way electrically but three way acoustically. The coherence and balance of the system are outstanding (The quality of the voices, male or female and accuracy of the timbres particularly on percussions were astonishing and Alain was a perfectionist when it came to choose the music that would put the best out of his speakers... At some hifi shows where we were both exhibiting, I would sometime abandon my own stand to delight myself in Alain's demos...). The AW Audio panels are quite easy to set up, specially compared to other types of panels, when it comes to spread and tilt as well as distance from the walls. A reasonable power amplifier is enough as the efficiency of these speakers is around 91db/1w/1m. Even a valve amplifier will be a good match, bringing out all the qualities of the panels on vocals and small musical ensembles. Listening test In a few words, the general impression left by listening to the EA12 is one of balance, with an image as wide as it is high and deep with a great sense of precision, without halo around the instruments, with no listening fatigue. The differences between live or studio recordings are well articulated as there is no fuzzyness attached, giving the impression of space between the various instruments, what can be expected of a panel speaker versus a traditional cabinet of the same quality. Percussions are very realistic, the brass are physical, and the strings are very quick, all timbres rendered with accuracy, speed and finesse, the vocals are superb, palpable... The bass is as speedy as the upper spectrum, there, with a sense of freedom, it breezes... All listeners agree that, even though the very bottom part of the spectrum is not present, the quality of the bass is second to none, not withstanding much larger box speakers. Having bought the Confluence "Pastorale" two weeks after getting the EA12, Raymond had extensive comparative listening sessions over the last two years. The EA12 excel at jazz and classical small ensembles with their imaging, finesse and precision, still providing a big sound even at low volume On the other hand, the Pastorales are more polyvalent, specially if one listens to pop, rock or soul music.. (I am tempted to disagree with Raymond on this, being a great lover of small speakers, where imaging, precision and finesse are more important than a lot of bass. In many ways, AW Audio and Microphase were very similar in their objectives and were both very accurate and quick, with a great imaging, hence why we became friends quite naturally). Each speaker brings its own character to the party and that is why so many people design speakers as it is still the realm of some "black magic", definitely an art form. Raymond goes onto stating that his "graal" for listening at home still favours high efficiency and dynamic range over other criteria, implicitly giving the preference to AW Audio. It is worth noting that the EA12 and the Pastorales are in the same price range, hence there is a valid point in comparing the two systems. Raymond concludes by saying he was very lucky to find a pair of EA12 to buy, almost 30 years after having first seduced by Alain's demos and contraptions, as most owners of AW Audio panels tend to keep them for themselves. And I would agree with that statement 100%!  A relatively recent photo of Alain Wacquet with two of his musician friends  Advertising for Scientelec circa 1979 I was at university when Scientelec was the go to brand for cashless students like me. They were primarily sold via people like Cibot Radio (Paris 12ème) and some of their amplifiers were available in kit form, which made them even more affordable. Some would say that the good look of the products were hiding a not so upmarket performance... But, in fact some of the products were really good for the time and they also made an interesting turntable, which by many aspects, seemed to have been inspired by ERA (designed by the famous JC Verdier...). Way before the internet (which turned 25 this month btw...) . Very little information is available online, and after trawling all my forums and various vintage hifi vendors, I have compiled here a few photos to give you a glimpse of what the product range was about. Created in 1968, the company went bankrupt in 1980 and the founder ended up behind bars, a rare thing at the time for such a small business... Photos courtesy of Audio Vintage Forum, Hifi Antique and Hifi Vintage Audiophile.  Scientelec Tripode turntable  Detail of the unipivot curved arm, a difficult concept to implement  Scientelec Integrale, a very similar concept to the ERA QUARANTE  Not a Bryston, but a very capable small integrated amplifier Scientelec Elyse EM-15-8  Scientelec MA-2 Amplifier  Scientelec Big Brother Mach A 50 amplifier  Orange was very fashionable at the time....  Interesting speakers and electronics from Scientelec  Omnidirectional speakers from Scienteler, using the famous Audac TW8 aluminium tweeter  ERA 444 turntable for reference... My second turntable  The ERA Quarante integrated hifi system  It takes balls, resilience and determination to take on a big multinational press group and organise your own local HiFi Show. Not only Marc Ruston of StereoNet fame has these qualities, but on top, he made a success of the event. Well done Marc!   My well worn program It is not a big show by any measure, but to be able to pull out about 40 companies representing not far from 200 brands, mostly famous, but with some more esoteric gear thrown in, I really enjoyed visiting the show, meeting people I knew, and newcomers, as well as talking to a fair number of visitors and listening to some amazing systems and music bien sûr... There was obviously a plethora of turntables, even though digital files were never far away. One wealthy distributor had even brought his own Studer pro tape machine to play first copies of master acquired through very special connections. A treat! I missed my friends from Bryston, Kyron Audio and Brigadier Audio, but the last two had just broken the piggy bank to attend the Newport Hifi Show in the US of A, a show with a lot more exposure for their very special speakers indeed... There was, surprinsigly, only a handful of Australian manufacturers, and I was the only French thing in sight, besides a static display of Cabasse speakers and Audio Aero imported by Osborn.  Cabasse - The only French thing in sight besides this journo... So, let's start with these Aussie legends! Holton Precision Audio - Ex Nihilo Amplifier - Tasmania Holton Precision Audio from Tasmania giving Dan D'Agostino a run for his money! Anthony Holton is a serious person when it comes to designing amplifiers - he has been doing for 20 years - and it shows. This new Ex Nihilo monster is just that, the result of doing table rase of previous designs and starting with a blank sheet of paper and giving himself carte blanche in terms of budget and the sky is no limits specifications. By the way, Anthony is one of the rare amp manufacturer to specify slew rate, the most important parameter in my view, as it will give you a good idea of the transient response of this piece of electronics. And it is beautiful too, the chassis being machined in Switzerland, a country that has produced other fabulous sound machines like Stellavox or Nagra, not to mention Goldmund, Alumine and a few others.. We were treated to listening to these beauties (it takes two to tango...) on some open baffle speakers from Israel, Pure Audio Project. See below for my take on these speakers. Richter Acoustics Richter Audio valve Class A amp The Sorcerer and Mentor V speaker designed by legend Brad Serhan  Top of the range Richter speakers Dragon V Osborn Loudspeakers  Osborn makes almost French speakers, using a lot of Focal drivers and interestingly enough manage to get a much more lively and interesting result at a tenth of the price of the Grande Utopia using most of the same drivers! The cabinets are magnificently crafted without shouting "Look at me".. Interestingly enough, Greg Osborn also imports French electronics from Audio Aero. Quoting his website here says it all and certainly reflects my opinion: "After several years of experimentation the Mark 1 Epitome was born. This speaker easily eclipsed the best of the references used in their design and they captured the heart and soul of those that heard them. The same ideals are reflected in the present generation of speakers where each instrument is separated from the next and operates in its own acoustic space. They have spectacular dynamic range with no dynamic compression and awesome bass response, so that the potential power of the orchestra can be sensed by the listener even during quiet passages. Osborn Loudspeakers put back what has been missing from reproduced music: life, excitement and satisfaction. Although the three larger models epitomize the designers goals, he at least appreciates that people live in real houses and usually have real wives who can see no reason why the living room should be dominated by something as imposing as the Monuments or the Epitomes. The Eclipse was the major attempt to bridge the two ideals. It is large enough to be able to reproduce deep bass and it is lightning fast, with a sound out of all proportions to its size." VAF Research speakers One of the biggest rooms at the Show - VAF Research I like Philip Vafiadis, i like the man, his enthusiasm, his dedication...and his speakers. And I suppose their trademark is the consistency across the whole range from the tiny i(0 to the towering i93 shown above. And I hear him saying "Darling I shrieked the i90..." as there is now an even smaller version of the i90, the149! You can stop this guy and that's fine with me!  The VAF "babies"  Big crowds for a big VAF display  As they say "God is in the details" and it shows on the VAF Signature i93 Wyndham Audio Wyndham Audio makes more traditional speakers, but I was really interested in listening to folded horn single driver design. There is a fine line between transmission line and folded horn, but we will leave that discussion to the experts... This implementation of the concept, based on a single Fostx 108 full range driver was a delight to listen to. Single driver designs give the best phase and with a very high efficiency, the Fostex gives great slew rate and timbre accuracy. Au external baffle compensation filter gives the system the extra bass required together with the folded horn. Quite impressive result in a very spouse friendly package... And now let's have a look at the foreign contingent...Avantgarde Acoustic The "radically simple" Zero 1 from Avantgarde Well, if you are a regular reader, you will know I like horns and Avantgarde's in particular. So I was pretty keen to get a listen to this "tout en un" system, not dissimilar in concept to Kyron Audio, just a hornier version... The room set up was no ideal, as I think the speakers were too far apart to produce the kind of image these type of speakers are capable of. But,eh, every exhibitor had some of the same problem. After must tergiversations, we finally managed to plug my famous USB stick in the system and play these percussions from Jean-Pierre Drouet, one of my definite test. It played quite well, maybe not as accurately as the Kronos from Kyron Audio, but still very realistic with good timing and slew rate, but the timbres were not as precisely rendered. Mind you, these are also a lot less expensive that the Kronos... Great looking speakers! German Physics, Ypsilon electronics and Studer tape machine Telos Distribution are very good at showing their very expensive but magnificent products. Ypsilon and German Physics need no introduction and we have covered them before on this blog. I like these german speakers much better than their MBL "cousins". Fed by either first copies of master tapes running on the Studer or from the Doehmann Helix turntable, the result was some of the finest listening sessions of classical music or jazz at the Show. I did spend an inordinate amount of time there, just because I could... PureAudioProject - Open Baffle in kit form (almost...) The PureAudioProject Open Baffle speakers from Israel This was the best surprise of the Show. I am a bit of a fan of Open Baffle speakers, as you have probably noticed if you are a loyal reader... The small version called the Trio 15 got my vote (well it was Election Day in Australia on that Saturday...) and with two 15"/38cm woofers from Eminence and the famous Voxativ full range driver in a d'Appolito arrangement, a complex and high quality Leonidas crossover (and we are not talking Belgian chocolates here...), the result was not short of spectacular... Mind you, with two mono blocs of power from Holton, there was plenty of juice to drive these beauties designed in Israel. One interesting thing is that they are shipped flat packed and ready to assemble by the end-user, IKEA like. They are also very affordable, in the same price range as the now famous Emerald Physics from the US of A. Curiously, I was far less impressed by the "grand modèle" using Morel drivers (also from Israel). I thought they sounded more brittle and the timbres were not accurately reproduced. Unfortunately there was no possibility to plug my now (in)famous USB stick, so I could not test them with material I knew intimately. These larger speakers are not on their website yet, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt and consider them at prototypes for the moment. Harbeth - Un grand classique The quintessential British design originating from extensive research by the BBC and now with a new bass/midrange driver developed in house. Refined sound, very polite and accurate, great to listen to classical music, but maybe a tad restrained when it comes to more modern repertoire. The construction, manufacturing and finish is outstanding although very dated in terms of look, a real vintage winner with a modern twist. A couple of electronics from the USA and ChinaBricasti Design - USA Brian Zoner, one of the founder of Bricasti Design Like Bryston, (you know, my favourite brand of amplifiers...) Bricasti started in pro audio and still get the bulk of their business from recording artists and studios, but with the introduction of the m1 DAC/preamp and M@* mono blocs , the consumer market was within reach. Brian travels the World to show his wares with his own pair of speakers (Accuton) and his demos are some of the best you can get as he not only knows his gear, but his music as well. I have never heard them before and it was quite a revelation. Besides Brian looks and talks like an HP engineer, so we got along just fine... I was expecting Siegfried Linkwitz to walk in any minute... You should visit their website, as there a number of interviews of pro users raving not only about the sonic qualities of these electronics, but also about the care taken in their manufacturing! Melody - China The Melody valve electronics driving a pair of JBL speakers Pardon my ignorance, but I had never heard of Melody... And that is a shame, because these people craft some of the most amazing looking valve electronics I have ever seen. The quality of the finished product rivals my all time favourite Allnic. Unfortunately, the Chinese music being played almost exclusively was not familiar or should I dare say enjoyable to be able to give them a fair judgement and hopefully I will have a chance one day to listen to them on material that I know. Just from the manufacturing quality and aesthetics point of view, they certainly look the part and I expect them to perform accordingly! A diarrhoea of turntables from all over the WorldAcoustic Signature Acoustic Signature Storm MK2 turntable with two motors Acoustic Signature makes a dozen different turntables, various tone arms and phono amps, built in Germany, with a little resemblance to Clearaudio at times. Well designed and beautifully crafted, they are objets d'art as much as turntables. And not all will break the piggy bank...  Acoustic Signature WOW XXL turntable More turntables...  ME-Geithain RL906 active monitors, Audio Alchemy DAC/Pre, Antipodes Audio DS-SSD Music Server, and Kuzma Stabi S turntable | I like these speakers a lot!  Baby TechDAS Air Force III turntable, Thales Simplicity II tonearm, Lyra Etna cartridge, Mola-Mola Makua Preamp and Kaluga monoblocks, Antipodes Audio DX Music Server, EMM Labs DAC2X DAC, Argento Cables and Gauder Akustik Berlina RC-7 speakers  The new "baby" TechDAS So, in conclusion, this was a great show and it was well organised and attended. We will be waiting for the Sydney event in March 2017. Well done Marc Rushton!
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