Standout Room -
Black Forest Audio, Audio Note Company of Japan, Helios, Audioplan
All prices are quoted in euros unless
otherwise noted.
1 euro is approximately .91 US dollar.
Jeff Fritz (left) at the demo.
Great high-end audio usually achieves
something "magical." In this case, Volker Kuhn of Black Forest Audio unveiled an
unusual speaker design that's really many decades old, has been played with mainly by
hobbyists, and he has been working on for the last few years to perfect. The
€4000-per-pair Golden Wings speaker is a large single-driver design with no real
cabinet and no crossover between the amp and the driver. It operates as a dipole, and the
result is one of the best-sounding single-driver speakers Doug Schneider and Jeff Fritz
have heard. Extension, both high and low, is surprising from just one driver. But where
the speaker achieves that magic is throughout the midrange, which is so you-are-there
transparent that it's uncanny. Vocals come to life with tremendous presence and immediacy.
It's a statement in simplicity. Kuhn, though, doesn't attribute all this to the speaker
alone. He credits the Audio Note Co. of Japan's very expensive Ongaku Fuji integrated
amplifier and DAC (used in conjunction with a Helios Stargate transport), plus power
conditioning provided by Audioplan, for the end result. This room was a one-of-a-kind
display.
 
The front and back of the Golden Wings' crossover-less driver
operating in open air.
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