Again, there were a lot of rooms with new products. It’s impossible to cover them all, even though we try. This is our last post on product debuts at RMAF 2018. Congratulations to all of the manufacturers who brought something new to this show. And, please, for those of you who are bringing out new products, we always welcome your press releases (becky@theaudiobeatnik.com) and will cover as much as possible on our site.
Von Schweikert Ultra 9 Loudspeakers
Von Schweikert Audio debuted their ULTRA 9 Loudspeakers. These are their second loudspeaker in the flagship reference series. The technology and performance are essentially identical to the ULTRA 11 I spent a lot of time listening to and reviewed in the “Ultimate System” post after AXPONA. The ULTRA 9s have a footprint and overall size that more easily fits into most rooms.
With the ULTRA 9s, each channel features two 9-inch reinforced ceramic woofers, one 7-inch reinforced ceramic midrange, one Beryllium Tweeter, two Ribbon Super Tweeters one of which is on the back. Also on the back, there is one magnesium horn-loaded tweeter and one 15-inch compound woven subwoofer with a dedicated 1,000-watt amplifier.
All the wiring in the speaker’s signal path is MasterBuilt Audio ULTRA. The ULTRA 9 also has point-to-point hand-built networks with isolated architecture that protects crossover parts and wiring from electrical noise contamination. The cabinet is made of their Version 2.0 Aktive Cabinet Vibration Control material. It uses new materials and layering techniques to reduce cabinet noise.
The ULTRA 9 is also time aligned for phase consistency. It has an adjustable bi-polar sound radiation pattern to help producer room-filling sound. The ULTRA 9’s frequency response is 10Hz to 45kHz. They are priced at $200,000, which is $100,000 less than their ULTRA 11 loudspeakers.
By Sunday, I was really impressed with the sound of these speakers. They performed at a level very close to the ULTRA 11s and, as I noted earlier in this post, they would work in many more rooms than the ULTRA 11s. The combination of the ULTRA 9s and the VAC Statement 450i Qi Integrated Amplifier is an incredible sounding combo.
Two Debut Products from Voxativ
Voxativ made RMAF the US debut of the new T805 SET Integrated Amplifier at $27,900. This is the Berlin brand’s first higher-powered 30Wx2 tube integrated amplifier. This is a pure Class-A high power, Voxativ SET amplifier with KT66 driver stage in triode mode driven by the ECC83 input stage with an internal DC-coupled circuit absent of any interstage chokes. The T805 is anodized in Berlin, and blackened and milled from a single 150 lb. block of aluminum. The coupling capacitors are Mundorf, and the power transformers are custom-designed by Voxativ’s chief electronics engineer.
This integrated amplifier is also equipped with a volume-controlled preamp output stage to directly drive without signal loss any outboard active speakers and woofers like the Voxativ Pi-Bass and Z-Bass modules. This was important for the first US presentation of a field-coil edition of the hybrid-active 9.87 System, price tbd. The sound of this system was simply beautiful and one of the most beautiful at the show.
