Systems: country of origin

By Michael Jones

December 2007

For this issue our five dealers were given a different brief: the system needed to come from one country. You may wonder if this is a realistic brief. It's not common, for sure, but I have come across people who wanted to buy a New Zealand made system, or one from the UK. But, more importantly, this brief allows our dealers a little more flexibility than a price-based system.

The Listening Post, Hamilton

Martin Logan Vantage

VTL TL2.5

VTL MB125

We’ve designed systems based on budget, performance, aesthetics, or even features, but this is the first time we’ve designed a system based on country of origin! It’s certainly one of the more bizarre requests we’ve had.

Now being a Kiwi company, we’d love to recommend an all Kiwi system. But with all due respect to our local manufacturers, we’re going to look a little further a field in the hunt for a satisfying single county system. In this case, the US of A is our destination. Love ‘em or hate ‘em the Yanks build some best hi-fi gear on the planet.

The Martin Logan Vantages must be one of the greatest bargains to ever grace our industry. We just love what these babies do. Their electrostatic panels give a midrange which is beautifully detailed, natural, and is free of the box colorations that plague most conventional speakers. Tight, articulate, powerful bass is provided by an 8” high excursion aluminium cone powered by a built in 200W amplifier. One of the criticisms of the earlier generations of Martin Logan was that on some music a discontinuity between the conventional bass drivers and the electrostatic panel could be heard. Martin Logan have nailed this issue in the Vantages, they sound seamless and seductive from top to bottom. The end result is that when set up well, the illusion of a performer being right their in front of you is breath taking. We can’t emphasise enough how much we love these speakers. We’re even more impressed that they can deliver true high end performance for such a modest price. $7895.

Valves and Martin Logans are a match made in heaven. And when it comes to valves, no body does it better than VTL. The VTL MB125 mono blocks and TL2.5 preamplifier sound glorious with the Martin Logans. Their sweetness, liquidity, and clarity really bring out the best in the Martin Logans electrostatic panel. When coupled with the Vantages dynamic bass driver and 200W amplifier, you have a system which delivers the strengths of valve and panels for your midrange and highs, with the slam and authority in the bass of solid state and dynamic drivers. It’s a powerful and immensely enjoyable combination. $14,990.

As a source we’d recommend the Wadia 581. This beautiful piece of engineering is supremely neutral, natural, and makes real music. Since 1988 Wadia have built nothing but premium digital sources. The results of this specialisation and their devotion to their art are obvious in the 581. Play back of CD and SACD are as good as anything we’ve heard up to $40,000. Not bad going for $16,995!

Finally we’d use Analysis Plus cabling through out because of their neutrality, and Still Points vibration control to let the system perform at it’s best.

The end result is a system that creates a convincing illusion of a live performance in your home, complete with all the emotional content that makes a good live performance such a moving experience. You could almost forgive the Yanks for Jerry Springer, the Hummer, and Britney Spears!—Romesh Anandaraja

Source: www.audioenz.co.nz