It depends what is understood by version. The R17 is a completely new development only modeled to have resemblance with a classic Renault. They really do not have much in common so maybe it is not a new version, it is a completely new car. In this case I wonder what the user experience will be. Will the grey haired driver feel the same emotions as when he drove his old rusty Renault 17?
Nostalgia and retro sell to the group that have money. It sure is a beautifully shaped car.
Nostalgia and retro sell to the group that have money. It sure is a beautifully shaped car.
This is more of a true reissue with even the classic design errors reintroduced 🙂
https://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/a1/a1-2
Next week the big marketing event will take place place introducing my reissue of TDA1541B. 24 bit 192 kHz and DSD1024 capable with less than 1 ps jitter. Pin compatible with the old well known hallmark in DAC chip design. Made in the same famous DIL28 casing format in the very same Taiwanese factory that once was the forerunner in DAC chip production of the best S2 versions. The new TDA1541B will bring the in many ways advanced vintage equipment what it deserves with todays best in R3R sigma delta technology. For this development a team of the best of NXP, AKM and ESS engineers were recruited to give you the ultimate in listening pleasure. The Premium Velvet Sinus TDA1541B DAC chip will be the first sigma delta chip to include DEM reclocking with 0.001% deviation of frequency with oven controlled femtoclocks. For the most demanding customers a limited number of 100 selected chips with best specifications and cryo treatment wil be available as Premium Velvet Sinus TDA1541B S2. These will be stamped with 2 gold crowns and delivered in a rosewood box with signatures of the designers likely to become a sought after valuable asset.
That is apparently how it works.
https://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/a1/a1-2
Next week the big marketing event will take place place introducing my reissue of TDA1541B. 24 bit 192 kHz and DSD1024 capable with less than 1 ps jitter. Pin compatible with the old well known hallmark in DAC chip design. Made in the same famous DIL28 casing format in the very same Taiwanese factory that once was the forerunner in DAC chip production of the best S2 versions. The new TDA1541B will bring the in many ways advanced vintage equipment what it deserves with todays best in R3R sigma delta technology. For this development a team of the best of NXP, AKM and ESS engineers were recruited to give you the ultimate in listening pleasure. The Premium Velvet Sinus TDA1541B DAC chip will be the first sigma delta chip to include DEM reclocking with 0.001% deviation of frequency with oven controlled femtoclocks. For the most demanding customers a limited number of 100 selected chips with best specifications and cryo treatment wil be available as Premium Velvet Sinus TDA1541B S2. These will be stamped with 2 gold crowns and delivered in a rosewood box with signatures of the designers likely to become a sought after valuable asset.
That is apparently how it works.
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It is even worse: a dying industry is deperately seeking ways to survive. I watched a depressing video of the Bristol Audio Show some time ago, showing the loudspeakers on display.
Nothing but nostalgia type stuff in very expensive veneered square enclosures, ranking from LS3/5A type shoeboxes to monkey coffin size. But hey, the target audience is around 70+ years of age. Few of those seem to have been able to leave the 70ties or 80ties behind.
EXACTLY!
All understandable seen from the dying industries point of view but the elderly should be wise and know they can not buy youth back. If they have such fond memories of old and now apparently valuable stuff then why did they replace it then without blinking an eye?
All understandable seen from the dying industries point of view but the elderly should be wise and know they can not buy youth back. If they have such fond memories of old and now apparently valuable stuff then why did they replace it then without blinking an eye?
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Bad point.
Human beings, and even more so idiophiles, will always seek better than what they have and will often go for the worst without even realizing it.
That. A too long feedback loop not correcting errors at the right time 😀 Possibly induced by uncertainty.
I very dear friend of mine, now sadly departed, used Altec A7’s as “ceiling speakers” in his kitchen. There was no room for them on the floor.
Driven by a nice EL34 PP amp, I always thought it sounded better than his “main system”.
But that could of been due to the pre-lunch reds we drank while getting sit down Sunday lunches ready.
My 2 cents, ymmv etc
I'm agnostic about the LS3/5A. It was designed for use in outside broadcast vans, and primarily for accurate reproduction of voice. They had no pretense of being a general music transducer, which is what it is expected to be now.
I look with greater favour on the Quad range. Although the brand is owned by the Chinese (as is Wharfedale and a boat load of other audio brands), the service centre in Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire UK) is alive and well, and has rebuilt the design team.
Why are Quad and Wharfedale owned by the Chinese? Because they had been piloted into the financial gutter, and would have vanished without a trace without being bought and saved from demise by the Chinese.
And although the current topic is the new 33/303, Quad also have a range of designs that owe nothing to the dewy eye past.
Personally, the only "old" stuff I have are the original 33/303 and an FM4 as a kitchen system.
Incidentally I was CTO of Wharfedale well before its demise. We relaunched the Leak brand with a Digital pre (outrageous for the early 90's), monoblock power amplifiers, and a CD player. Appearance design by these guys http://www.creactive-id.uk/ . We also introduced ceramic dome tweeters. And because we bought Fane and Cambridge Audio, we also introduced a range of new products for those brands.
The Leak power amps were designed by Steve Sells, a guy I hired straight from University. He is now head of engineering at Naim, and was responsible for the Naim Statement (look online).
I have no idea where that leaves us, other than I'm not quite 70.
Our last audio purchases were a Cambridge Audio streamer and a Khozmo passive pre https://khozmo.com/product/stereo-with-input-selector/ neither of which owe anything to my past.
I happen to know Falcon Acoustics pretty well - they are local to me, a 20 minute drive, and they supplied drivers for my Linkwitz LX521 loudspeakers. They are also a BBC licensed builder of the LS3/5A. Although their official one is eye poppingly expensive, they do a kit too https://www.falconacoustics.co.uk/b...its/q7-completeathome-loudspeaker-system.html
I look with greater favour on the Quad range. Although the brand is owned by the Chinese (as is Wharfedale and a boat load of other audio brands), the service centre in Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire UK) is alive and well, and has rebuilt the design team.
Why are Quad and Wharfedale owned by the Chinese? Because they had been piloted into the financial gutter, and would have vanished without a trace without being bought and saved from demise by the Chinese.
And although the current topic is the new 33/303, Quad also have a range of designs that owe nothing to the dewy eye past.
Personally, the only "old" stuff I have are the original 33/303 and an FM4 as a kitchen system.
Incidentally I was CTO of Wharfedale well before its demise. We relaunched the Leak brand with a Digital pre (outrageous for the early 90's), monoblock power amplifiers, and a CD player. Appearance design by these guys http://www.creactive-id.uk/ . We also introduced ceramic dome tweeters. And because we bought Fane and Cambridge Audio, we also introduced a range of new products for those brands.
The Leak power amps were designed by Steve Sells, a guy I hired straight from University. He is now head of engineering at Naim, and was responsible for the Naim Statement (look online).
I have no idea where that leaves us, other than I'm not quite 70.
Our last audio purchases were a Cambridge Audio streamer and a Khozmo passive pre https://khozmo.com/product/stereo-with-input-selector/ neither of which owe anything to my past.
I happen to know Falcon Acoustics pretty well - they are local to me, a 20 minute drive, and they supplied drivers for my Linkwitz LX521 loudspeakers. They are also a BBC licensed builder of the LS3/5A. Although their official one is eye poppingly expensive, they do a kit too https://www.falconacoustics.co.uk/b...its/q7-completeathome-loudspeaker-system.html
But I do have an idea where it leads us: a niche that once was mainstream, lacking any development.
KEF (Celestion) currently is the only British (also Chinese owned) company that really moves forward with integral design. B&W in contrast seems stuck on hardware only.
"Leak" triggered a memory. Yesterdays news but same category:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/leak-stereo-230-integrated-amplifier
Looks to have been produced by the same chinese/asian OEM manufacturer that produces NAD/Bluesound devices.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/leak-stereo-230-integrated-amplifier
Looks to have been produced by the same chinese/asian OEM manufacturer that produces NAD/Bluesound devices.
Attachments
Leak was owned as a brand by Wharfedale. So part of the sale of Wharfedale to the Chinese transferred Leak too.
Back in the Paleolithic past, the Rank organization hoovered up audio companies. The composite was called Rank-Leak-Wharfedale. In typical slash and burn in acquisitions, Rank dismantled and disposed of Wharfedale's anechoic chamber to make more warehouse space.
The current owner of a host of ex-British audio brands is the International Audio Group (IAG) in Shenzhen. Wharfedale, Audiolab, Quad, Castle, Mission, Leak, Ekco.
Not only China. SME is now owned by an Indian guy called Ajay Shirke, but British, via Cadence Audio. Garrard, SME, Loricraft (expensive record cleaners) and a couple of non-British cable brands, Siltech and Crystal Cable (which normal mortals can not afford!)
The Wharfedale brands that escaped the great Chinese sell off were Cambridge Audio (now owned in the UK by The Audio Partnership) and Fane, which is now back as an independent UK company still true to its roots in high power professional drivers. https://www.fane-international.com/
Back in the Paleolithic past, the Rank organization hoovered up audio companies. The composite was called Rank-Leak-Wharfedale. In typical slash and burn in acquisitions, Rank dismantled and disposed of Wharfedale's anechoic chamber to make more warehouse space.
The current owner of a host of ex-British audio brands is the International Audio Group (IAG) in Shenzhen. Wharfedale, Audiolab, Quad, Castle, Mission, Leak, Ekco.
Not only China. SME is now owned by an Indian guy called Ajay Shirke, but British, via Cadence Audio. Garrard, SME, Loricraft (expensive record cleaners) and a couple of non-British cable brands, Siltech and Crystal Cable (which normal mortals can not afford!)
The Wharfedale brands that escaped the great Chinese sell off were Cambridge Audio (now owned in the UK by The Audio Partnership) and Fane, which is now back as an independent UK company still true to its roots in high power professional drivers. https://www.fane-international.com/
We should start a thread with just/mostly pictures of all the retro-looking stuff coming to market to take advantag eof oldster’s nostalgia.
dave
I would be first wondering how much better the performance of the newly designed gear is rather than judging it based on the fact that is is a look alike to gear from 40 plus years ago. Case in point the current Warfdale Linton loudspeaker is considered a retro loudspeaker but it dances performance circles around the original Linton. That aside I agree that the marketing ploy is to play on good old memories of the past. The new Linton could have been even better if they had not decided to recess the baffle so in that respect I am disappointed but still it is a fine loudspeaker and a great one considering the price. To me the product lives or dies based upon its performance and cost. The looks do not matter that much to me but as they say YMMV.