Ohh… and if anybody is interested, they’ve got a bridge for sale!
Diptyque DP170 Loudspeaker
By Roy Gregory
While the expensive panel speaker wars rage between the cults of Clarisys and Alsyvox, French company Diptyque Audio has quietly been producing innovative, highly musical and affordable planar magnetics, culminating in their Reference II launched in Munich last year. Arguably the first genuine innovation in planar magnetic design since the original Magneplanar, their double-sided, quad-coil bass drivers deliver bandwidth and dynamics, the speakers serious scale, a natural tonality and music that breathes.
In Vienna, the company used a small sound cabin (a safe choice given the acoustic vagaries of the rooms on the main ACV floors) to demonstrate their new DP170. One step down from the Reference II and priced at €35,900/pr (inc. sales tax) the new speaker displays all of the Diptyque DNA while also offering smaller and more pleasing proportions. Finished in a bronze metallic paint and driven by a complete Kora system, this was a relaxed, spatially and dynamically coherent and highly enjoyable presentation, despite the confines of the listening space. The familiar Du Pré/Elgar Cello Concerto was delivered with real scale, drama and expressive range. The cello had body and tone, the acoustic was spacious, the orchestral playing powerful.
Diptyque are going from strength to strength and, for many listeners, this might just be the sweet spot in their range.
LowSwing and Randum Records
By Roy Gregory
LowSwing has continued its energetic promotion of its all-analogue recordings, bringing both Reema and Alon Lotringer to the show, where they each performed live, while their recordings were also played on the Thales/Engstrom/Kroma Callas system. This was no live versus recorded presentation, just a celebration of beautiful, gentle music, perfect for the smaller (performance) spaces found at an audio show.
Meanwhile, in another Thales-related analogue move, we saw the first release from Randum records, small group pop, recorded one-take in a single space to analogue tape, with singer/pianist Maria Wylma supported by acoustic guitar, electric bass and drums.
LowSwing has rapidly built an excellent reputation within the audiophile community. It looks like Randum Records are soon to join them.
lowswing-records.com
www.randum.music
https://www.rundum.music/maria-wylma—alles-gute1.html
Wadax Reference Transport Clamps
By Roy Gregory
In Vienna, as in Munich, there were prototype parts or products, kept well away from the public gaze but present to gauge informed comment. Amongst them was a tenable clamp being developed by Wadax to complement the Reference Transport.
The clamp consists of the circular magnetic plate that interfaces with the disc spindle, and the smaller top disc or handle. The standard clamp has a narrow neck that fits between the leaves of the transport’s iris closure. The tuneable clamp has a tiny Torx screw in the centre of the handle that allows owners to disassemble it, accessing a stack of rings that sit around the central shaft. It is those rings and the ability to change them that makes the clamp adjustable for mass and musical presentation. The company had two of the tuneable clamps in Vienna, one using five aluminium rings was noticeably lighter than the standard clamp. The other used three alloy rings and polymer dampers top and bottom was considerably heavier.
