deals

After a couple years of waiting on the completion of our new location in the Downtown Indianapolis we are happy to tell everyone that we moved and are operating at all new three story building with four medium to big size rooms and one dedicated Home Movie Theater.

Having so much more space gave us opportunity to add couple of new lines and bring some exciting new products to the store….

We regret that some of our old lines closed their operations, EAD and TagMclauren are among them, but we will make every effort to support our customers who own them if they need any help.

…. Lets start with the immediate task of finding replacements for those two lines. To get the audio/video quality they had was not easy. Plus, we want to cover every price category without making any compromises on the sound. Fortunately, I came across two great processor/amp combos from Cary Audio Design and Audio Analogue. In addition we have three combos from Sherwood/New Castle, Arcam and Simaudio. More about them later in this letter.

Cary is a manufacturer of tube components that won many awards and is well respected in the audio world. In last several years they have ventured into a totally different area: Solid State components for the Home Theater that continued the trend of getting rave reviews from magazines. New Cinema 11 SS, which replaced wonderful Cinema 6, is even better sounding. It offers all latest processing modes and is very easy to set up. Together with the award winning 7ch Cinema 7B amp (“2005 Rave Award” from Home Theater), the sound is so good that it makes them clean winners in the value/sound category. Very soon this combo will be joined by a new source: the Cinema DVD 7 player with 1080p and 1080i video outs. CD playback of this unit, we have been told, will provide Reference quality sound!!

Audio Analogue earned its reputation by making highly regarded CD players and integrated amps. To show you how, we have on display the high current Maestro Settanta integrated amp and matching Maestro 24/192 CD player. Last year they introduced several new products, among them the Primo line of mini separates that will surprise any one who listen. They sound big and you will never suggest it is “mini” components after all.

In addition to Simaudio Titan, one of the greatest HT amps on the market, we now have their Stargate pro-pre from the MOON A/V line. All of their A/V products share designs and components with the MOON Classic line and keep an unmistakably similar sound in movie application. In September of the last year company launched more upscale Evolution line. It represents the best sonic effort yet to come from this company and managed in a very short time to get the attention of both audiophiles and reviewers. Stereophile recommends W-8, 250 W/Ch amp, in Class A and trio of their W-8, P-8 preamp and Andromeda CD player getting the highest praise from Soundstage magazine. The rest of this line includes the Super Nova CD player, P-7 preamp and I-7 integrated, a 150W/Ch version of W-8 with almost P-5 quality preamp section. Our Congratulations to Simaudio!!!

The name ARCAM is associated with a line of superb CD players and integrated amps (like Audio Analogue). Now they have very musical sounding A/V receivers, like the critic’s favorite AVR300, separates and several DVD players. These products continue sonic traditions of the company and would make cost effective A/V system shine in both audio and video.

When I first heard Magellan, the French company’s Triangle flagship speakers, it was one of the most memorable experiences I have had over the years. As with any company that manufactures its own drivers, they are bringing new technology and drivers of the Magellan to the lower level speakers. New Altea and Cellius are perfect examples. As a result, we get more bass extension, fuller sound with a better soundstage. And, what company would pass on a chance to build its own dedicated HT speakers? Enter Odyssey Major or Minor systems where esthetics, sound and size meet a happy medium. They can be hung on the wall or stand mounted and look very elegant.

Talking with my old friend who travels frequently abroad, I heard lots of good things about the Italian manufacturer GRAAF, best known for their OTL tube power amps. Suddenly I learned that this line is available in US; the company just recently introduced 50W/Ch integrated amp with KT 90 tubes. On short notice I acquired the amp. I can best describe the sound as being similar to the way people are talking about the sound of the Wilson Benesch speakers: “The more you listen to them, the more you like them, the more you want to listen and then you like them even more…” This can be easily applied to this amp. It is something special indeed!

Since I mentioned Wilson Benesch, we took delivery on their Discovery full range monitor. Like all models in the line, the cabinets are made out of carbon fiber. This model has a pair of isobaric (push-pull) and single (conventional) bass/midrange drivers. Isobaric driver configuration is found only in this model and the top-of-the-line Chimera. The speakers produce a huge soundstage and have great bass. With the less expensive ARC model they are very possibly one of the best monitors on the market today.

Do you want a “real” quality tube amp/preamp at the price of a mid-fi solid state? Bring in Atlas power amp and Metis preamp, also available in one chassis as an integrated, from Rogue Audio, another new line for us. Punchy and energetic, they redefine the common idea that tube gear at “bargain” prices can’t have bass and can’t drive anything bigger then bookshelf speakers efficiently. In the latest Metis review we find that this preamp can and should be used with a lot more expensive amps then the price point would suggest and will surprise everyone on how god it sounds.

Conrad-Johnson discontinued the PV-14 preamp; it now futures the new PV-15 that we mated to great success with MV-60SE amp. It continues the tradition of the “C-J sound” in the more affordable models. C-J is bringing many new models this year and we will keep you updated on them.

All these years we have enjoyed here at ToneStudio a great deal of following on the sound of Vandersteen Audio, one of the most respected American speaker manufacturers. Top-of-the-line Model 5A is occupying dedicated wall in our “top” room, together with Convergent Audio’s new Ultimate Mk II preamp and JL-2 stereo amp. Preamp needs no introduction. It is “classic” in its own right. The amp is every bit as good. Besides having all best qualities of the great tube amps, it can compete with the best of Solid State amps in the typically non-tube area: current, power, bass, etc. Add tube musicality on the top of it and you get one of the very best amps in the world. Together with 5A this combo comes very close to the sound of a live performance and has none of the listening “fatigue” that you can often experience in the very expensive systems. This is all great, but what about those who have no room to place a 5A or budget to buy them? Not a problem. A new offering from Vandersteen, the Quattro, is a smaller version of the 5A for well under half the price (we will have them here soon) and will be the perfect option. For more money you can even get the Quatro in an “all wood” cabinet version, new cosmetic departure for Vandersteen. We have all of their models on display and invite you to audition them.

One of the sources in our top room is another “new-kid-on-the-block”, the latest model from the famous English manufacturer of digital components: dCS. If acclaimed separates were not affordable by any standards, new P8i is a CD/SACD player and combines the latest technology of the separates in one box for only one third of the price. Stereophile placed it on the cover of their April issue; and called the sound of the unit playing SACD “as good as it can get”. Class A recommended. New separates in the same line will be available in a couple of months.

Continuing more on the speakers, ToneStudio became a DALI dealer, and we have several speakers on display. DALI is one of the Danish Big Three (others are Dynaudio and Jamo) speaker manufacturers. They combine ribbon with conventional tweeter to achieve extended highs without getting bright in the mid-to-high price models. The result is very open, “you are there” sound with powerful bass. The finish is top quality to complement superb sonic signature. Critics around the world praise DALI speakers and one of them, Helicon 400, just won the prestigious “Mid-Price Speaker of the Year 2005” award from The Absolute Sound. The new Ikon line, the affordable version of Helicon, is storming the world with many reviews and award recognitions.

Opera continues developing new speakers. They played at CES Tibaldi, using Audio Analogue Maestro CD player and GRAAF integrated. It is a very open sounding big floor stander that managed to get a “mini review” in the report from the show. The writer was simply amazed at how real they sounded, thinking for the moment that a live musician played in the room (main reason he walked in!). We have Divina and Quinta V, Stereophile Class A and B recipients.

Our last “new” member is the UNICO line from Unison Research. These are integrated amps that have tube inputs, Solid State power and drive and will satisfy even the hardcore tube lover. Sound is big and well extended on both ends of sonic spectrum. Another highly acclaimed products (recommended by Stereophile).

Home Theater can’t be complete without picture. DWIN introduced their new TV4 DLP front projector based on Dark Chip 3. This model brings a new standard to the market: separate video controller/processor and Karl Zeiss lenses, all for under $6,500.00, with top quality picture. This is about half of what you would normally expect to pay for such a product. If a projector is not an option, we now have Hewlett-Packard (HP), a line of excellent DLP rear projection TV’s, Plasmas and LCD. Everyone knows how serious they are when it comes to the computer world. They use the same approach to create superb video displays.

At the end I would like to let our customers know that ToneStudio now is offering Custom Installations with all associated services. We hope to be able to bring you the best in Audio/Video as we do with our “two channel” systems.

To learn more come to visit us and share our “love for music”.