Tag Archives: flagship

New Flagship Turntable From Audio-Technica Delivers

September 30, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

STOW, OH, September 30, 2024 — Our friends at Audio-Technica are pleased to announce the introduction and availability of its AT-LP8X Semi-Automatic Direct Drive Turntable.

The AT-LP8X is Audio-Technica’s new flagship turntable and its first-ever semi-automatic model.

It is designed to deliver exceptional vinyl record playback, with features including a VM95 Series cartridge (included), adjustable VTA (vertical tracking angle), a newly-designed motor, and additional refinements.

In addition to delivering outstanding sound from 33-1/3, 45 and 78-RPM records, the Audio-Technica AT-LP8X offers the convenience of semi-automatic operation, where the tonearm raises itself off the record and the motor stops at the end of a side. The AT-LP8X comes with a pre-mounted high-performance AT-VM95E Dual Magnet phono cartridge with an elliptical stylus, for superior resolution, stereo imaging, and tracking. The cartridge is pre-mounted on Audio-Technica’s new AT-L10 removeable headshell (also available separately) for easy installation. The AT-VM95E is compatible with any VM95 Series replacement stylus.

Adjustable Vertical Tracking Angle VTA

The J-shaped aluminum tonearm is inspired by classic Audio-Technica designs and has adjustable VTA, enabling it to be optimized for virtually any phono cartridge. In addition, the AT-LP8X provides adjustments for anti-skating and tracking force, and comes with a sub-counterweight that enables the use of cartridges with a weight range from 14 to 23.5 grams.

The AT-LP8X incorporates a new low-torque direct drive DC motor, with a speed sensor system that ensures accurate speed stability. It features a 1-inch-thick (25 mm) rubber-damped, anti-resonance, die-cast aluminum platter and a rubber mat, the most substantial platter ever offered on an Audio-Technica turntable, for reduced resonance and more accurate and uncolored vinyl playback. It also features a new internal switching power supply that is optimized for audio use, ensuring minimum noise in the signal chain. The AT-LP8X comes with a detachable RCA cable, removeable hinged dust cover, and 45-RPM adapter.

The Audio-Technica AT-LP8X Semi-Automatic Direct Drive Turntable is now available, at a suggested U.S. retail price of $999 / CAD $1,348. For the Silo, Frank Doris.

Audio-Technica was founded in 1962 with the mission of producing high-quality audio for everyone. As we have grown to design critically acclaimed headphones, turntables and microphones, we have retained the belief that great audio should not be enjoyed only by the select few, but accessible to all. Building upon our analog heritage, we work to expand the limits of audio technology, pursuing an ever-changing purity of sound that creates connections and enriches lives.

— For further information regarding product availability and pricing in Europe, contact Tanya Williams (TWilliams@audio-technica.eu) please mention The Silo when contacting.

Culture

Florida Pirate Island Hideaway Now For Sale

April 23, 2024 The Silo Leave a comment

This feature via our friends at toptenrealestatedeals.com

Black Sam Bellamy was one of the most notorious and wealthiest pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy in the early nineteenth century. In his short pirate career, he captured fifty-three ships, including the English slave ship Whydah Gally, which he used as his flagship.

The famous pirate’s island hideaway, now a stunning resort property, has been listed for sale at $50 million usd. Black’s Island is a seven-acre gem off the coast of the Florida Panhandle, sporting a four-star resort with twenty-six waterfront bungalows. Accessible only by boat, seaplane or helicopter, the white-sand island is about ten minutes from the mainland, offering a spectacular Caribbean adventure without leaving the United States.

The property can be operated commercially or retained as a family compound.

Born in Devon, England, he sailed with the Royal Navy before joining a crew of treasure hunters who turned to piracy when their mission to find a Spanish shipwreck failed. Bellamy served initially under Captain Benjamin Hornigold and his first mate, Edward Teach, later known as Blackbeard. When the crew became frustrated with Hornigold’s refusal to attack English ships, they mutinied and elected Bellamy as their captain instead. He was generous with those he raided and loved by his crew, who called themselves “Robin Hood’s Men.” This “Robin Hood of the Sea” or “Prince of Pirates” developed a distinctive style, favoring long black coats and forgoing the then-fashionable powdered wig for a dark ponytail tied with a black satin bow.

His favorite weapons were four dueling pistols carried in his sash.

The pirate prince’s reign ended when a nor’easter storm capsized his ships, drowning the captain and most of his crew. The wreckage of the Whydah Gally was discovered in 1982, yielding over 200,000 artifacts, including a cannon loaded with gold and precious stones.

1982 discovery of Black Sam’s booty made headlines worldwide. image: Irish Sun

The fully furnished bungalows come in one- and two-story models, 1,225 and 1,425 square feet respectively. Each unit includes two bedrooms, a loft bedroom area, two full bathrooms, a spacious kitchen with an island and top-notch appliances, a living room, a dining area, a laundry room and a balcony, while the two-story bungalows have an additional half bathroom. Boasting a classic look with blonde wood walls and grey stone floors, the bungalows were recently remodeled. A round floorplan offers 360-degree views of the gorgeous island from sunrise to sunset.

In addition to the bungalows, the resort includes a four-story luxury clubhouse, a cabana with bar, beach volleyball courts, and a forty-by-sixteen-foot swimming pool. The island is in the middle of a marine estuary, offering sparkling clear water and numerous opportunities for bird-watching and duck hunting, plus kayaking, paddle boarding, jet skiing and relaxing on the beach.

Private islands are all the rage among celebrities and the world’s elite. Beyonce and Jay Z are said to own two private islands in Florida, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Eddie Murphy, David Copperfield, and Mel Gibson just a few of the A-listers with private islands outside the USA.

The listing is held by Jon Kohler of Jon Kohler & Associates. Photo credit: Jon Kohler & Associates.

Reviews

How New $198K Speaker Produces Jump Factor

June 23, 2023 The Silo Leave a comment

HOLBROOK, New York, June, 2023 At Pacific Audio Fest 2023 Nola Speakers will feature the West Coast debut of its Baby Grand Reference Gold Series 3 loudspeaker. The full-range floor standing speaker offers a number of upgrades from the previous model to deliver an extraordinary quality of musical realism, including a new isolation system that provides greatly improved dynamics, low-level resolution and other benefits.

The Nola Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 loudspeaker will be showcased at Pacific Audio Fest, June 23 – 25, 2023 at the Doubletree By Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport, Seattle, Washington, in Olympic Room 3, Wing 7.

The speaker employs Nola’s hallmark open-baffle dipole design for the midrange drivers and tweeters, which eliminates box enclosure colorations and contributes to the speaker’s spacious soundstage. The Nola Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 features four proprietary true ribbon tweeters along with four newly-designed midrange drivers, and dual 220 mm woofers. The new isolation system is a key element in the speaker’s remarkable performance. The isolation base’s construction features a spiked platform with an improved version of Nola’s ball-bearing isolation technology incorporated into the base.

While the concept may seem simple, the results are profound.

Nola president Carl Marchisotto noted, The idea was inspired by attending a recent live music concert. You can instantly tell live from reproduced music, and I wondered why. I was struck by the fact that with live music, the harmonics decay properly with respect to the fundamental. They’re not lost, or cut off abruptly. I set out to make sure this important aural cue was preserved, by designing the new isolation base, and achieving further improvements in performance with our new low-distortion drivers and upgraded crossovers. Marchisotto continued, For the first time, we will demonstrate our ball bearing isolation system applied to the whole system, including the source, amplification and other components as well as the loudspeakers.

The true ribbon tweeters, which are built with final assembly completed in-house with proprietary components, have a frequency response to 100 kHz, for smooth, effortless high-frequency reproduction.

The midrange drivers incorporate Alnico ring magnets for a more lifelike attack and transient response, and now feature the same gold-plated phase plugs used in the woofers. The 220 mm woofers employ magnesium cones and massive Alnico ring magnets, and are housed in individual rear-ported chambers for deeper, more articulate bass with exceptional dynamic response. The 3-1/2-way crossover network is hand-wired with premium components and no PC boards used, to maintain sonic purity.

These speakers have what designers and reviewers used to call the jump factor, where they can surprise you with their dynamic impact and clarity, Marchisotto said. You don’t realize that certain distortions in a loudspeaker are eliminated until you don’t hear them, in a speaker that brings you closer to musical reality. We invite everyone at Pacific Audio Fest to come by and enjoy a very special listening experience.

The Nola Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 is available in mirror-imaged pairs in a choice of True Piano Black Gloss or True Piano Santos Rosewood finishes, with other finishes and colors available by special order. The Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 is now shipping at a suggested retail price of $150,000USD/ $198,190CAD per pair. For the Silo, Frank Doris.

About Nola Speakers

In 2004 Carl and Marilyn Marchisotto founded Accent Speaker Technology Ltd. and created the Nola product line with the goal of bringing the experience of listening to live music to a wider number of people. President and Chief Engineer Marchisotto has been designing audio equipment since 1973 at Dahlquist, Acarian Systems/Alon and Accent/Nola, which now offers a complete loudspeaker lineup from high-performance bookshelf models to the flagship USD$500,000/ CAD$660,650 pair Nola Grand Reference Gold VII System, designed and built to deliver ultimate musical performance in every aspect. Nola employs a number of key technologies including baffle-less dipole drivers, Alnico magnets, Unison Crossover technology that optimally blends the performance of multiple speaker drivers, and many other refinements.