Clark Johnsen Gets Excited About ML* Maedeups
By admin | January 4, 2010
Well, at least after he put some Black Ravioli under them! … Yes, I said Black Ravioli … And No, we had never heard of them before either. We later discovered that they are vibration absorbing pads made by a small company in Scotland trading under the name of, Yes, Black Ravioli.
Black Ravioli
Clark (a Positive Feedback writer and proprietor of the famous Listening Studio in Boston) and some others met at Kwame’s house on the East Coast at the weekend to put the ML* Maedeups through their pace and fortunately – as it turned out – he brought some of these wonder pads with him. Here is what he wrote afterwards about the listening session.
“So we gathered at Kwame’s this morning. He had recently acquired this pair of monoblocks from
http://www.musical-laboratory.com/maedeup/
For other stuff he has Beauhorns, REL subwoofers, a McIntosh player, an external DAC I failed to get the name for, the ML passive pre, and Kondo and Nanotech cables.
It all sounded…OK. Well, those amps are truly minimalist design — the parts weigh a few ounces and the gorgeous lacquer boxes bring each unit up to, oh, two pounds. Yes. Not, one should think, likely candidates for your new best footers.
Well! These Big Feet … made a considerable difference, with easily audible improvements in nearly every department. Then we added them under the player and they were good, but not perhaps worth the investment …so finally, we took that last set and placed them under the amps’ power supply, et voila! Great sound! Best I’ve ever heard for this particular cut, Tiden bara går, an old favorite. Almost as much of an improvement as they were under the amps themselves….
So I feel well-armed to go to Vegas… and California. ”
Best I’ve ever heard … we like these words. Thanks Clark.
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Paeonia featured on Positive Feedback in November
By admin | October 27, 2009
We just heard today that Musical Laboratory*’s passive pre-amp Paeonia will be featured on Positive Feedback in November.
Marshall Nack has been listening to Paeonia in his home system during October and his review is at an advanced stage. Fingers crossed, his feedback will be … ahem … ‘positive’. Sorry, Marshall.
Check out Marshall’s amazing review of Paeonia Rev 2.3 in Positive Feedback Issue 46 here.
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Best of 2009 Blue Note Award for Bosangwha Rev.2.3
By admin | October 15, 2009
Musical Laboratory* is pleased to learn that it has been awarded the prestigious Best of 2009 Blue Note Award in the Amplification category for its gainclone amplifier Bosangwha Rev.2.3.
The award was announced by Enjoy The Music.com Editor, Stephen R Rochlin at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) 2009 in Denver late September. Click here to see the awarded products.
Musical Laboratory* CEO Malcolm Hyde extended a warm thank you to ETM for the Blue Note Award and added “The Bosanghwa was Musical Laboratory*’s first commercial product, so we are very grateful for this recognition.
2010 will be another exciting year for us as, with the release of The Maedeup – our final word on gainclone design – and our forthcoming loudspeaker, we will have two new unique and enigmatic designs, which will again materialize our Minimalist Ultra-Fi ethos.”
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Stop Press: Maedeup Shipping
By Malcolm Hyde | September 11, 2009
After a longer than expected product development cycle, Musical Laboratory* is pleased to announce that its Maedeup gainclone monoblock amplifiers are now shipping.
Pre-sales orders have now been filled so delays will be minimal.
The Maedeups represents ML*’s final word on gainclone design, which carefully combines vintage and exotic passives with state-of-the-art power supply technology and proprietary silver gold foil wiring.
The sound is truly unique and unlike anything we have ever heard before. The Maedeups will be reviewed by Stephen R Rochlin of EnjoyTheMusic.com in Superior Audio October timeframe and by Alan Sircom of British Hi-Fi magazine Hi-Fi+ in December.
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The First Maedeup
By admin | August 24, 2009
While some of you have taken the opportunity to sun yourself on the beach in Florida, Greece and Croatia this Summer, we at Musical Laboratory* have been tied to the lab working flat out on The Maedeup, readying it for a Q4 launch.
So far Maedeup is showing all the characteristics of a true diva – in voice, and in personality!
Even if the Maedeup breadboard prototype worked brilliantly, we have had to work through different issues in the productionisation process: From LEDs that defy LED calculations and still shine too brightly; to PCB materials that bent under pressure causing the Maedeup circuit to go quiet or to complain loudly – in fact *too* loudly for 2 drivers in our testing system.
Of course, as with all divas, you fully expect to wait. Now, when make her sound like the prototype, then I think you will agree with us when we say: ‘This lady is worth it!’
The Meadeup – taking the style factor and sound factor to the next level.
Pre-sale orders are on course to be filled by first week in September. A limited number more will be built starting second week in September.
Don’t miss out.
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Loudness War
By admin | July 27, 2009
- Loudness War is a term which some of you may have heard of. For those who haven’t, it is worthwhile to spend a couple of minutes to understand what this refers to.
- Definition. According to Wikipedia: “Loudness War (or Loudness Race) is the music industry’s tendency to record, produce, and broadcast music at progressively increasing levels of loudness in an attempt to create a sound that stands out from others.
- This phenomenon can be observed in many areas of the music industry, particularly broadcasting and albums released on CD and DVD. In the case of CDs, the war stems from artists’ and producers’ desires to create CDs that sound as loud as possible, or louder than CDs from competing artists or recording labels.”
The trend of increasing loudness as shown by waveform images of Something by The Beatles mastered on CD four times since 1983. Forthcoming remasters are likely to continue this trend.[1]
- Effects. The practice of increasing music release’s loudness to be louder than competing releases can produce two effects: Since there is a maximum loudness level available to recording, the insidious practice of boosting the overall loudness of a track ultimately creates a recording that is maximally and uniformly loud from beginning to end. This creates music with little dynamic range (i.e. hardly any difference between loud and quiet sections), which renders it “fatiguing to listen to and robs it of emotional power” (Robert Levine, Rolling Stone).
- Secondly, if the overall recording volume is boosted beyond a point, then transient noises - like the beat of a snare drum – will go off the recording scale, resulting in the wave form being truncated at this point. This is what is meant by “clipping”. Digitally flat lining musical peaks like this creates a distorted sound, which is harsh to listen to, and in some cases can be heard as a ‘clicking’ sound in recordings.
- Demonstration. For a demonstration of what some in the recording industry are doing to your music, you can listen to this demonstration on YouTube by Matt Mayfield.
What can be done? Music lovers can fight back against this commercialization, which is killing recorded music, by registering with and supporting, the Pleasurize Music Foundation. The PMF is actively campaigning to put an end to this. Join us to stamp out this practice.
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Maedeup Preview
By admin | May 29, 2009
- ML* is pleased to offer a preview of its top-of-the-line mono-block amplifier : The Maedeup.
The Maedeup is our cost-no-object project, which uses the Bosangwha internals as a starting point and builds from this. Some very exotic and rare passives are used in the transformation process, and the whole project is finally window-dressed in luxury wooden casings decorated with images of cranes (a national symbol of Japan), child-proof locks, which are decorated with traditional Korean macrame knots.
- The design brief for the Maedeup was clear: The Maedeup should offer the absolute transparency, detail and soundstage capability of the Bosangwhas. However, the Maedeup will also be voiced to include certain sought-after artifacts normally associated with single-ended triode designs, such as bloom and body.
- At ML* we are known for continually striving to push the musical envelope in terms of what is possible. Can we deliver this? …. well, let’s wait and see, shall we? …
- The Meadeup is due for release later this Summer.
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Musical Laboratory* Signed by Top US Importer
By admin | May 29, 2009
Audio Note Japan – Kondo US distributor, Sounds of Silence, yesterday announced that it is to distribute ML* in the US. Musical Laboratory* founder Malcolm Hyde was delighted to hear the news: “This is really great news for us !… Steve (SOS) is soo the right person to front our business in the US.”
- Earlier in the month the much anticipated head-to-head between the mighty $80,000 Kondos and the $3,500 Bosangwha/ Dual combo took place at Steve (SOS’s) house in New Hampshire.
ML* was unable to attend the event, but Steve reported back his assessment: “No, David didn’t slay Goliath!” After a day of listening, Steve gave the nod to the Kondos on the basis of the extra bloom and soundstage height. The Bosangwhas did, however, manage to take some useful rounds from the Kondos in the areas of transparency, detail and soundstage depth.
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Musical Laboratory* Receives Recognition from Top US High-End Site
By admin | April 9, 2009
- In an industry where as many would like a ‘new’ lab like Musical Laboratory* to fall down as to succeed, it was fortunate that we approached Steven R Rochlin, Editor of top US High-End magazine EnjoyTheMusic.com to review the Revision 2.3 release of our Korean Lacquer range. Steven, in the 3-4 months he has had our review samples at his home, has become quite attached to the Bosangwhas, and has championed Musical Laboratory*’s cause on his site by writing a wonderful review of his experiences with them in the April-May 2009 edition of Superior Audio.
Click here if you have not already seen his review.
- When we set out we knew we wanted to take the path that Junji @ 47 Labs started to the next level, so it was a rite of passage for ML* when Steven confirmed to us that with the Bosangwhas we had achieved this. Something about ’standing on the shoulders’ of great audio designers comes to mind here.
- Unfortunately we were unable to let Steven hold onto the Bosangwhas on this occasion, as the review samples were ear-marked for ML*’s prospective US Audio Note Japan KONDO distributer, Sounds of Silence. I say ‘prospective’ because first they have to prove their mettle and go head-to-head with Steve @ SOS’s all KONDO reference system, which he knows and loves.
This must surely be the audio equivalent of spending twelve rounds with Mike Tyson on a day when he skipped his anger management class; a stiff challenge indeed for our little bonsai-sized jewel boxes.
- Wish we could all file round to Steve’s to witness this Rumble in New Hampshire!
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Does Anybody Still Have A Good Week? …
By admin | February 6, 2009
There is so much gloomy and depressing news shown by the Media these days, it begs the question: ‘Does anyone still have a good week’ ? … Well it seems the answer is apparently still, ‘Yes’.
- We at Musical Laboratory* have had worse weeks. First up, we were contacted by Sindarta, the proprietor of Concrete Sounds in Jakarta. Sindarta told us he was interested to align his audio business more along the Ultra-Fi path, by offering chip amps and complimentary components with “DIY attitude”. Well, he certainly came knocking at the right place.
In fact we were pleased that Concrete beat a path to our door as it turns out that Sindarta had some interesting perspectives on the SE Asia audio scene, and shares similar views to ourselves in matters audio.
- Sindarta has been involved in the music scene for many years in that region of the world, working in PR & A&R roles for record labels and radio and as an audio dealer and distributor. Sindharta, assumes responsibility for distributing Musical Laboratory* products in Malaysia, Singapore & Indonesia, with immediate effect.
- Then, as we were winding down for the weekend, Matej@MonoAndStereo.com sent through the final draft of his review of the Rev 2.2 Korean Lacquer product line.
When we don’t hear from Matej for a while, it is not because he is being idle … Oh no … the chances are he has been deep in thought … and I mean deep, as pronounced, deeeeep. I don’t think I have read a review like it in the audio press in all my years … Wow!, what a journey he takes us on.
- To read his review of our Korean Lacquer product line click here
- Hmmm, somehow I think getting the review sample Bosangwhas back off him might be a problem …
/- Anyway, Respect to Matej and MonAndStereo.com who have supported us from the beginning – but, really Matej, we are not worthy of this.
- My final question for this week is: “Do you think any of us would know there was a recession, if the Media didn’t keep banging on about it?” …
- (Makes us wonder if we wouldn’t be better off living in a state with news censorship, where they tell you how good everything is everyday. I mean, could that be any worse than watching glum-faced suits sitting in Western newsrooms doling out todays helping of bad news, which they have gone to inordinate lengths to find for us? When did freedom of speech turn into freedom to depress us all? Did I get to vote on this? … Can you lot please tell us something positive once in a while forchrisakes?)”
- Now we have got that off our chests … about that bottle of wine that is chilling in the refrigerator … Ah, there it is! … chin chin … Have a nice weekend.
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