Product News for April and May

We've had some big new product introductions as vendors are starting to recover from all the pandemic slowdowns. Klipsch has just started shipping their replacement for the extremely popular Reference Premier series.

The new versions have an improved tweeter with a larger horn, redesigned woofers for lower distortion and higher power handling, stiffer cabinets with improved bracing and updated styling. With all of these improvements, they have managed to keep prices pretty much the same as the previous models.

We will have a full Dolby Atmos system on display featuring the RP-6000F II floorstanders and RP-504C II center up front, RP-502S II on-wall surrounds and 2 pair of Pro-160-RPC 2 in-ceiling speakers for overhead Atmos effects (with a pair of REL HT/1205 subwoofers and powered by the NAD T778 receiver). We will also be displaying the replacements for the extremely popular bookshelf speakers, the new RP-500M II and RP-600M II.

The other big announcement came from KEF, for their 60th anniversary they are coming out with a floorstanding version of the Wireless LS-50 II speakers called the LS-60 Wireless.

They use the same design as KEF's flagship Blade speakers called Single Apparent Source. With this design the Uni-Q midrange/tweeter is mounted with the same acoustic center as the woofers (which are mounted back to back on the cabinet sides). The new all new Uni-Q driver has a 4 inch midrange and .75 inch Meta tweeter.

The cabinets slim profile has been achieved by borrowing the Uni-Core technology of the KC-62 subwoofer where the voice coil for the woofer fits inside the woofers voice coil on the opposite side. This makes the cabinet 30% narrower, giving a slim appearance and minimizing the reflection of sound off the face of the cabinet. The cabinets are extremely solid weighing around 65lbs each. For control they use the same app as the current LS-50 Wireless II and are Roon Ready (coming soon). The compact cabinets maintain good bass performance by using 3 amplifiers and 700 watts total power per speaker with DSP control (digital signal processing).

The price is $6999.99 for the pair, which is a bargain considering you get, on-board streaming with app control, AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Bluetooth, digital and analog connectivity including HDMI eARC, 1400 watts of total power, subwoofer outputs on both speakers with electronic crossovers and much of the design technology found in the new Blade speakers (which cost between $28 and $35 thousand dollars per pair without amplification). The LS60 Wireless should be available sometime in June.

Another very exciting announcement for us, we have received our demo's of one of the most popular speakers out right now, the KLH Model 5. It's an acoustic suspension 3-way speaker with a 10 inch woofer in a classically styled cabinet that comes in either a beautiful English Walnut with stonewashed linen grill or West African Mahogany with old world linen grill. The speakers include matching heavy gauge black metal angled risers.

We also received the Kendall 3-way floorstanding speakers. These are a real bargain at $749.99 each, with real American Walnut veneer cabinets, dual 6.5 inch woven Kevlar woofers, 5.25 inch woven Kevlar midrange and 1 inch aluminum dome tweeter. Lastly, we received the Albany II, a very compact bookshelf speaker with a 5.25 inch woven Kevlar woofer and aluminum dome tweeter, available in walnut or black for only $349.99 a pair.

In other product news we have added both Audiolab and Dual to our selection of high quality affordably priced audio components. We have both the highly rated Audiolab 6000A integrated amplifier/DAC and matching 6000CDT CD transport on display.

This amp always gets great reviews for its sound and build quality, and the connectivity options for both digital and analog sources, with an excellent DAC and phono input. The matching CD transport has optical and coax digital outputs and features a read ahead buffer for excellent playback capability. The components are available in black or silver finish and the included remote will operate both the CD and amplifier.

From Dual we have the CS-429 fully automatic turntable with Ortofon 2M Red cartridge. This is one of the very few fully automatic turntables available, and it offers terrific performance with a high quality lightweight aluminum tonearm and the very popular 2M Red cartridge with elliptical stylus.

We will also be carrying the step up CS618Q turntable with Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge as soon as it's available (around the end of May). It's a direct drive model with a very high quality motor, Dual's famous twin gimbal tonearm and a platter that weighs over 3lbs. It features the convenience of auto pick-up and stop at the end of the record and comes in both a walnut and black high gloss finish.