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BD Design stands for Bert Doppenberg and is a landmark in the DIY loudspeaker world. His horn-based designs are found with enthusiasts everywhere. One of those is Peter Stordiau known for his relentless efforts to make digital recordings sound at last really good. He has written a zillion lines of code for his XXHighend audio player running on a custom-configured PC which in combination with his Phasure NOS1 DAC should comply. The X-Fi show 2012 was his product’s coming out as far as we know.


It was also the premier of Bert’s ‘Klangfilm’ loudspeaker. This combination of an open baffle and horn is large but can still be used in any room as long as the listening distance is no less than 3 meters. At the show Bert used a wooden baffle but any material may be substituted including Perspex. The four large woofers are not directly attached to the baffle. This construction further enhances the already resonance-free neutral sound. After visiting most rooms we thought in hindsight that the sound of this big system had to have been the most accurate of all at the show. Mind the word accurate which really says it all. With a frequency response of 18Hz to 22KHz and a sensitivity of 115dB this loudspeaker is an easy load for any amplifier, flee power included. Peter’s XXHighend software is intended to not use a preamplifier as attenuation is available in software (review of XXHighend and NOS1 DAC in the works).


Eltim
is responsible for the import of Morel drivers among other components for the industry and the vast amount of DIY enthusiasts. Upon entering the room one thing was startling. There was music warm enveloping and dynamic but no speaker in sight that could be made accountable for what we heard. There was merely a pair of slender white and by the looks of it single-driver 90cm tall speakers and a smiling Louis Timmers. To make a long story short (which hopefully gets its chance to be published in full soon), Louis had sent a Morel SCM 634 midrange driver to two German DIY magazines. Parts of their tests were measurements.


Both magazines concluded that the SCM 634 was an excellent full-range driver - and not just as midrange but for the full 30Hz to 18KHz Monty. It only needs a matching enclosure. After mixing and matching the Supreme 614 Solo now was on display and how. Next to the 16cm carbon-fiber Morel SCM 634 driver the Solo contains a small Mundorf-based correction network, Mundorf silver/gold foil cable, Puresonic terminals and 25g of Twaron Angel Hair. A cross section of the Solo shows a triangular design with the back 5cm wide. Too narrow for a port, that port sits at the bottom requiring the Solo to be mounted on spikes. To enhance frequency response Louis slanted the top panel down towards the back like the Citygroup Center in New York. Listening to this speaker was a complete joy. We hope that not only the DIY community gets treated to this little Solo but that Eltim will soon market the speaker as a turnkey system.


Number 4 Audio
is not only the distributor for Avantgarde Acoustic to demonstrate the Duo with the new XA-Pre and XA-Power amplifiers whose sound in the large room was well under control and enjoyable.


Owner John Snijders also took us to the side to show off a new product he had added to his catalogue. The Italian Audel brand makes loudspeaker cabinets from laminated birch plywood. We fell for the Nika, a labyrinth design around a tiny 3-inch aluminum-alloy driver. Combined with the matching Audamp 50wpc chip-based amp, this was a fun set and we look forward to audition it at home.


No fun audio show can exist without live music, hence Caspar Bunge asked his father Lucas to join pianist Natalia Ivashina on the cello. During the weekend several solo and duet performances were given and well attended. Such encounters with live music put a lot of so-called high-end setups in a most sobering perspective indeed.



Commercial
activities were not banned. Accessories, CDs and lots of vinyl could be found at various locations in the building. That sales were made was obvious by visitors carrying bags filled with new treasures. One remarkable outlet was RMR who showed a variety of Orgonite-based devices meant to reduce the negative effects of electromagnetic fields. Orgonite is a mixture of resin, metallic particles and crystals based on the theories of Wilhelm Reich. RMR offers Orgonite transformers in different shapes and forms.



Music2
occupied a large room acoustically treated with a wealth of Noise Buster panels. The active piece de resistance was the brand-new Blumenhofer Gioia, the smaller version of their giant Grand Gioia but again a full wooden horn system with a compression driver for the upper frequencies. Like all Blumenhofer products finish was meticulous. Sales manager Andrea Vitali was present to show off all the details of this latest addition to their German lineup. He also introduced us to Claudio Trevisanello of Cammino.


This company introduced the Model H 3.1 power line harmonizer with 3 dedicated analog outlets and one dedicated for digital. Other types offer different analog and digital combinations. All parts of the fully passive harmonizer are mounted inside such as to be completely resonance free. The entire harmonizer sits on ball-bearing footers to avoid external vibrations. Outlets can be ground lifted individually and power phase checked by means of a switch and indicator. Claudio demonstrated efficacy with the help of a noise analyzer. With the harmonizer in place the reading was expectedly zero, quite in contrast to the situation without harmonizer. Maximum allowable load is 2.2kW and rated common-mode noise attenuation is 60dB whilst 90dB is the figure for differential mode noise reduction.