D24 Posted September 1, 2007 Posted September 1, 2007 Hi guys Anyone heard of ALR Jordan Note 2 speakers? In this article, was it a typo mistake (ALR Jordan Note 3) or a new model is on the way? Thks. Hi-Fi News’ Editor Steve Fairclough recently visited Marantz’s European HQ in Holland to talk to the company’s famous audio guru Ken Ishiwata. Here is the full interview – only available online… Speeding down a German autobahn at 240km/h in Ken Ishiwata’s BMW sports car you quickly realise that this is a man who seriously knows how to handle machines. But it’s not cars that Ken Ishiwata is famous for; it’s as the technical genius behind the Marantz brand in his role as ‘Brand Ambassador’ for the company. In person he resembles a sort of diminutive Japanese Karl Lagerfeld with a natty line in clothes and a slick ponytail nestling down his back – basically he’s a man with style. Although in his late 50s he’s full of energy and humour and you instantly find yourself hanging on his every word simply because he talks so much sense in such a knowledgeable way. No Marantz product – amps, CD players, turntables, receivers, tuners, systems etc – comes to market until it has had the ‘green light’ from ‘KI’. In addition certain Marantz products are hand-picked by Ken Ishiwata for special tweaking before appearing as KI Signature models. Hi-Fi News recently spent a couple of days in his company, and his listening room, to chew the fat and hear the new Marantz SA7001 KI CD player and PM7001 KI amplifier. The room is in the bowels of Marantz’s European HQ in Eindhoven, Holland and was set up with the aforementioned recent additions to the KI Signature range, plus the TT-15 turntable and a pair of ALR Jordan Note 2 bookshelvers on stands. The new KI CD and amp sounded terrific but before we got down to listening we spoke to ‘Marantz’s Music Man’… Hi-Fi News (HFN): Is Marantz’s relationship with Mordaunt-Short still ongoing? Ken Ishiwata (KI): ‘Yes, Marantz and Mordaunt-Short are spreading our alliance into many countries. We distribute Mordaunt-Short speakers and that’s exactly the extent of the relationship. First of all Marantz started with B&W, then the relationship didn’t work; then we moved to Tannoy, then the relationship didn’t work and now we are with Mordaunt-Short’. HFN: Does the fact that D&M is the overall holding company that owns Marantz affect things as D&M also owns the Boston and Snell speaker brands? KI: ‘Not in Europe, but yes, in America It’s different. Over here (Europe) you don’t hear much of the Boston and Snell brands. The Mordaunt-Short name is much better suited for the European market’. HFN: Do you have a preferred speaker brand? KI: ‘Not a brand, but I can pick out a few speakers. Do you remember the original Snell? I like that speaker very much. The founder of B&W – his dream was to come up with a speaker having like a dipole soundstage, no effect on the cabinet, yet dynamics – conventional dynamics. It was very expensive because it was an active system. It was four-way so you needed four stereo power amps or eight monoblocks to drive this with electronics crossover. It was a very expensive system but the performance of that speaker (the Nautilus) was exceptional’. HFN: Is there any possibility Marantz might have any collaboration with Sonus faber at all? KI: (laughs) I’ve known the Sonus faber company for many years and they make beautiful speakers. They were looking for a distribution solution in China and because of the fact that I knew China very well I introduced them to the person who used to run Marantz China. He now runs Sonus faber Greater China – that means Hong Kong and China – so that’s the link. I introduced them to this guy and he’s now doing the job very well I have to say. I don’t know if you remember but they had one amplifier called Musica. They’re not allowed to use my name for marketing but I designed that amplifier many years ago because Franco was not satisfied with any amplifier that he wanted to get, so I said “OK, maybe I can help you”. So, I designed the amplifier and I let Franco decide, and then they marketed it’. For full article, check this out: Source: http://www.avexpo.co.uk/content/interview.html
SiriuslyCold Posted September 2, 2007 Posted September 2, 2007 Pretty good. You can hear ALR Jordan at Sky Audio in Bukit Timah Plaza
D24 Posted September 2, 2007 Author Posted September 2, 2007 Thx SiriuslyCold ALR Jordan doesn't seem to be a popular brand here. Has anyone owned or listened to them before? However, i'll try to call Sky Audio for an audition. Since it's sitting in Ken Ishiwata's listening room.... it must be something. ;)
Spunky Posted September 3, 2007 Posted September 3, 2007 the hgp is not very well known here...but sounded good too in the diva setup. ;)
D24 Posted September 6, 2007 Author Posted September 6, 2007 Have to wait till next week for an audition. If ALR is not popular here Sky Audio must be verry popular.... A kind bro gave me this link. Group Test of B&W, Focal, Triangle, Nbien and ALR speakers. Do check them out: http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Reviews/Real_Hi_Fi/H3T8J4X4?page=1
Spunky Posted September 7, 2007 Posted September 7, 2007 generally, the market here depends very much on what is written in those Brit hifi mags and stereophile/TAS.
Spunky Posted September 11, 2007 Posted September 11, 2007 While looking for a belden article in Echoloft (archive!), I found this article by Richard Seah written some 7 years ago on HGP loudspeakers.
hotbird Posted September 11, 2007 Posted September 11, 2007 While looking for a belden article in Echoloft (archive!), I found this article by Richard Seah written some 7 years ago on HGP loudspeakers. Richard Seah still around and contactable at http://www.stop-trans-fat.com/richard-seah.html http://healthpromotionblog.wordpress.com/ http://www.richardseah.com/ http://www.divaaudio.com/ But these days mostly on health affairs ;D
D24 Posted September 19, 2007 Author Posted September 19, 2007 Hi guys, Thx for all the inputs… Note 3 impressed me with a clean, smooth, pleasant sound with excellent bass for a bookshelf. It’s lifelike without being harsh or piercing even at high volumes. 2 thumbs up for fine imaging, wide dynamic staging and with detail resolution. However, positioning of the speakers makes a big difference, it took me a while...
D24 Posted September 19, 2007 Author Posted September 19, 2007 Hi Spunky, Marantz CD67 (mod by TS Lim) with 1. Diva M7 & BlueSky 2. Integrated Tube (Made in Taiwan) 3. Diva Classic 1H & Denon AV Amp Interconnects: Diva's Tocatta & Fugue Speaker Cables: Diva's Albino Python ;D Steve said.. if use his Ninja Speaker Cables (cost more than $1k) my nose will bleed :o Btw, anyone know where to get Partington Speaker Stand? Thx
stanly Posted September 28, 2007 Posted September 28, 2007 Hi guys, Thx for all the inputs… Note 3 impressed me with a clean, smooth, pleasant sound with excellent bass for a bookshelf. It’s lifelike without being harsh or piercing even at high volumes. 2 thumbs up for fine imaging, wide dynamic staging and with detail resolution. However, positioning of the speakers makes a big difference, it took me a while... Wah.....Note 3 seems fab.... :o I listen to the Entry Si and was quite amazed already...... :D Now awaiting for my Entry M(the bigger brother of Entry Si).... ;D
civicguy Posted September 28, 2007 Posted September 28, 2007 Now awaiting for my Entry M(the bigger brother of Entry Si).... ;D Special order ? how much neh
stanly Posted September 28, 2007 Posted September 28, 2007 Special order ? how much neh Yeah.....order direct from Steve (Sky Audio) at a good price.... :D
D24 Posted September 30, 2007 Author Posted September 30, 2007 Wah.....Note 3 seems fab.... :o I listen to the Entry Si and was quite amazed already...... :D Now awaiting for my Entry M(the bigger brother of Entry Si).... ;D Bro, fab to me only lah... ;) This type of thing is very subjective one.... speakers have their pros & cons... After listening to many "editor's choice & product of the year" speakers, I've decided on ALR becoz it sounded natural to me..... :)
stanly Posted September 30, 2007 Posted September 30, 2007 Bro, fab to me only lah... ;) This type of thing is very subjective one.... speakers have their pros & cons... After listening to many "editor's choice & product of the year" speakers, I've decided on ALR becoz it sounded natural to me..... :) Haha....no perfect speakers i guess.....but ALR Jordan definitely good for people who like organic and detailed sound...... ;)
D24 Posted October 1, 2007 Author Posted October 1, 2007 Hi stanly If u like "Natural" sound, try the alr speaker cable with yr alr speakers. To me, they matched very well. I've tried the more "ex" speaker cables there, found alr more "real" & bass is not compromised. But if u like more towards vocals, then go for the more "ex" ones.... ;)
stanly Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 Hi stanly If u like "Natural" sound, try the alr speaker cable with yr alr speakers. To me, they matched very well. I've tried the more "ex" speaker cables there, found alr more "real" & bass is not compromised. But if u like more towards vocals, then go for the more "ex" ones.... ;) Thanks for the recommendations.....would certainly try out the Alr Jordan speaker cable first before deciding whether to keep my current cable.... :) Hows your Note 7 so far?? Are you using the ALR Jordan speaker cable with it?? ;)
D24 Posted October 2, 2007 Author Posted October 2, 2007 Coming with the next shipment & will be using the ALR speaker cable. ;)
stanly Posted October 2, 2007 Posted October 2, 2007 Coming with the next shipment & will be using the ALR speaker cable. ;) I should be receiving my Entry M at the same time as yours..... :D
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