"What's New" 2002 Archive
PS Audio HCA-2 Power Amp on Display! (10/1/02)
Fresh Shrimp Now On Display [from Manley Labs]! (10/1/02)
Herbie's Audio Lab HAL-O Tube Dampers (8/18/02)
Magnum Dynalab Tuners Now At Signature Sound (6/11/02)
SimAudio Releases New Nova CD Player (6/11/02)
Rega Planar 9 Trade-Up Specials Announced (3/4/02)
Web-Site Updates (1/28/02)
Audio Aero Products Now Available At Signature Sound (1/28/02)
New Rega Products at CES (1/28/02)

PS Audio HCA-2 Power Amp
Now At Signature Sound!

Actually, we have had our demo HCA-2 around for a couple of months and have been very much enjoying it smooth sound, impressive power, and touch of tube type warmth through the lower midrange. Even when coupled to a speaker as revealing as our demo Merlin VSM-M, the PS Audio HCA-2 delivered very musical results over many hours of listening. While break-in took longer the most conventional amps, the HCA-2's cool running (low power consumption at idle and at lower/moderate volume levels) digital amplifier technology gave us no qualms about running the amp 24/7 or leaving it on all the time without running up our electric bill. We were not at all surprised to see the amp highly praised in the pages of the latest (October 2002) Stereophile magazine (in Sam Tellig's Sams Space column and a listing in the Class A amplifier section of their Recommended Components!) and we have a feeling that the full blown review that is scheduled to appear in the upcoming December 2002 Stereophile will be just as praise worthy. All this for only $1,695! As always, feel free to call or e-mail us for more info or visit PS Audio's web page on the HCA-2!

Manley Labs Shrimp Preamp Now On Display

Leave it to EveAnna Manley to keep things fishy at Manley Labs. One of the latest products in this tradition is the Shrimp line stage preamp.  Fresh off the assembly line, our new demo Shrimp preamp has been seducing us with its decidedly non-fishy character. Clear, liquid, and dynamic sounds ooze forth from this simple, but elegant $1,950 preamp. Give us a ring for  more details or feel free to visit the Manley Labs web page on the Shrimp preamp.

Herbie's Audio Lab HAL-O Tube Dampers

I have had a love hate relationship with tube dampers over the years. I have found that they can be quite beneficial on some tubes, but I have never been particularly found of wrapping, sticking around, gluing on top off, etc various items to tubes. You see I worry about the condition of the tube if I care to swap off the damper or how the dampers my effect the thermal performance of the tube as well. Well, I managed to find out about Steve Herbelin quite by accident via my Industry Liaison duties as AudioAsylum.com and became interested at these tube dampers he is making and selling. You see, Herbie's HAL-O tube dampers are easy to install and remove while not sitting on are directly wrapping around the body of the tube. Did I mention at around $15 each, they don't cost a fortune either and you can re-use them to boot? By the way, they work really well to. An small contingent of Herbie's HAL-O dampers on the line stage tubes of our demo Joule Electra LA-150 preamp made for quieter/blacker backgrounds and a more natural sounding mid-band. The design of the HAL-O also means that they hold up to the heat of  power output tubes too and there are sizes available for about every tube out there! These are a no brainer in my mind - a great tweak at a very reasonable price. For more info and eaxct pricing, please give us a call or visit Herbie's Audio Lab website.

Magnum Dynalab Tuners Beam Into
Signature Sound!

Another new addition to the Signature Sound line up is Magnum Dynalab Tuners. We've always admired M-D's tuners and the timing was right to bring on board these wonderful tuners. M-D has a line up of tuners to meet every Audiophiles budget. Whether it is the new MD-90 (which at $995 replaces the venerable MT101) or the all out $5,850 MD-108 with its hybrid tube output stage, super sensitive front end, and that very cool tuning eye, you get wonderful tuning ability along with great sonic performance which Magnum Dynlab tuners have been known for for many years. You may also be aware of magnum Dynalabs audiophile receiver, the MD-208, which recived high priase in Stereophile, The Aboslute Sound and many other Hi-Fi magazines. For more info on Magnum Dynalab products please feel free to contact us or visit Magnum Dynalab's website.

SimAudio Moon Nova CD Player Debuts at
The 2002 HiFi Expo!

I've just returned this past week from the 2002 HiFi Expo (aka The Stereophile Show) in New York City. At this show I was able to spend a good deal of time in the Merlin/ SimAudio/ Cardas room listening to the new Moon Nova CD player and comparing it to its much more expensive brother, the Eclipse. I'll tell you folks, for $2,895 this player is going to be one heck of a deal. For those of us with single ended systems (i.e probably most of you out there), the Moon Nova only looses out a smidgen of refinement when compared to the Eclipse and is bound to be the player to beat in the under $3,000 price class. Along with the new Nova (which should arrive here at Signature Sound sometime in the next month) there is a new budget integrated from SimAudio which replaces the old i5080. The new I-3 integrated is supposed to come in at well under $1,500 retail and be more powerful and incorporate a number of other refinements. Please fee free to contact us with any questions on these new items.

Trade-Up Specials for the New Rega Planar 9!

With the announcement of the newly revised Planar 9 at CES (see news item below or our Picture of the Month page for more details), I've already been asked several times by customers if upgrade/trade-up specials will be available like the ones we currently offer (those for Rega turntable owners who wish to upgrade to the Planar 3-2000 and the Planar 25). Now that the retail pricing for the new Planar 9 is firmly in place, I've been able to sit down and figure out what we are going to offer. In short, if you have an existing Planar 3, Planar 3-2000, Planar 25, or the older Planar 9, we will have trade up deal available for you! Refer to our Rega Trade Up Deals page for the detailed terms, conditions, and prices.

Web Site Updates

Those of you who visit our web site on occasion, may notice some changes. I've started making a number of changes to the web site to improve navigation and add some specialty pages for certain specific product lines. These special pages include a Merlin page which describes our many years of experience with Merlin speakers and the company. There is another a special page on Rega Research products which lists all those tasty Rega news tidbits as well as trade-up specials we have on Rega gear. I'm also working another page with my thoughts and experiences from this years CES. On some pages you will also notice a new navigation menu (frame) on the left side of the screen. Please feel free to drop me an e-mail and let me know what you think. I'm no great expert when it comes to web design, but I tried to keep the navigation menu simple and easy to load.

Audio Aero Joins the Signature Sound Line-Up

Those of you who have talked to us during the past year, know how highly I think of the Audio Aero Capitole 24/192 CD Player. After hearing some extremely favorably comments about the Capitole 24/192 from friends in the industry, we got a player in during the fall of 2000 for evaluation. I was suitably impressed with the player after comparing it to a couple of other top-notch digital front ends (from Muse and Goldmund) to recommend it to Merlin Music System & Joule-Electra for use in their demo room at the 2001 CES. The results were extremely favorable at that CES and the following shows (2001 HiFi Expo in NYC, and the 2002 CES this past month). Early in 2001, Audio Aero changed distributors in the USA and it has only been in the last several months that Signature Sound has had the opportunity to get know and establish a good business relationship with Globe Audio Marketing who is now handling USA and Canadian distribution of the Audio Aero product line. As a result, we are happy to announce that Signature Sound is now a Audio Aero dealer. Please note that though I have been talking up the Capitole 24/192 big time (it is a great sounding CD player), we will also be carry the other Audio Aero products, including some very nice sounding amplifiers which I had the opportunity to listen to at CES this past month.

Audio Aero Capitole 24 / 192 CD Player SoundStage! "2001 Reviewers Choice Award"  Just Awarded! for Digital Players CD/SACD/DVD-A  (read reviews)

We have also just found out that there will, unfortunately, be some price increases on the Audio Aero products. In regards to the Capitole 24/192, the US Retail price is now $6,895. The word is that this price increase comes with some improvements which are being made to the chassis of the Capitole 24/192 to make the player more robust in feel and appearance. Please feel free to call (315-622-4137) or e-mail us for more info, prices, and availability on all Audio Aero products.

New Rega Products Debut at 2002 CES

US Rega distributor Steve Lauerman had a number of nice new Rega Research items to show me when I entered his suite at CES this past month. The big news of course is the new Rega Planar 9 which has been significantly revised. I have a number of very nice pictures and a overview of the new Planar 9 on our Picture of the Month Page. One of the other items to be seen was the new upgraded cabinetry on the Rega speakers. The new Ela was sounding and looking especially stunning in its new Maple finish (see my picture at right which does not do justice to the finish). The EAR headphone amp and FONO phono preamp have been updated as well and fitted into new sharp looking casework (see picture at left). Phil Freeman of Rega mentioned to me that they are considering building other small products in this new mini-chassis which I think would be pretty cool - imagine a mini preamp and power amp in these cases the would make up an all Rega mini system! While in the Rega room at CES, I ran into a dealer friend from my 1999 Rega England trip. Pictured below is Mark Torma from ProMusica (in Chicago) with Rega engineer Phil Freeman. It was good seeing Phil and Mark again.