Musical Laboratory* Featured on the Web
By Malcolm Hyde | November 17, 2008
It’s been a busy summer at Musical Laboratory*. We updated the Korean Lacquer range to Revision 2.3 including our Bosangwha Gainclone Monoblock amplifier.
- Bosangwa is based on the legendary sounding LM3875 power op amp – first introduced to the audiophile community in the form of the 47 Labs Gaincard. Steven R Rochlin, Editor of Enjoy the Music will personally write a review of our Bosangwha Gainclone Monoblock amplifier and Paeonia Passive Pre, publishing his findings in the April 2009 edition of Superior Audio at EnjoyTheMusic.com.
- It is a really great honor that Steven has agreed to do this for us. Steven R Rochlin wrote a now famous review of the 47 Laboratory 4706 Gaincard, in which he ‘outed’ this marvel of Japanese miniaturization to the West. Musical Laboratory*’s Bosangwhas mono-blocks are in fact a direct lineal descendant of the 47 Laboratory device.
- Stay tuned – we will make an official announcement for the media when the review is published at EnjoyTheMusic.com.
- We are also proud to announce that Musical Laboratory* is inducted into the audio ‘Hall of Fame’ at Mono and Stereo – The Finest in High-end and Pro-audio.It is a great privilege, for us to be alongside the most famous people in audio, especially since we just started trading commercially in 2008. We at Musical Laboratory* would like to thank Matej at MAS for their support in what we are trying to do.
Our customers are invited to read the interview at MonoAndStereo.com
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New and Improved Bosangwha NIGC Monoblock Amplifiers
By Malcolm Hyde | July 25, 2008
Musical Laboratory* is pleased to launch Revision 2 of its Bosangwha NIGC Monoblock amplifiers. The revision 2 changes include an improved layout which is implemented using micro traces set on a high-speed PCB substrate. Special attention was also given to series resistors in the signal path, and use of next generation technology in this regard. These changes take the Bosangwha Revision 2 to the next level of musical reproduction. The official release date is July 31st. 2008. Stay tuned! As a special offer to our customers, we shall be offering the new model with a 25% discount for a limited 2 week launch period starting August 1 2008.
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Ultra Fi – Distinction In Sound
By Malcolm Hyde | April 23, 2008
Hi Fi or High End?
In the world of music reproduction the terms used to describe the various levels of performance can be confusing and often misleading. Here are some terms you may have heard of, which will render a more clear view of the inside world of music reproduction. Terms like high fidelity, high end and ultimately Ultra Fi need to be revisited so that these levels of quality come closer to their original meaning.
- Hi Fi/ High-Fidelity – Back in the 1960’s and ‘70’s Hi Fi or High-Fidelity was a term which came into usage to describe the pinnacle of reproduction quality and listener experience available at that time. During the latter years overuse of the term eroded the original meaning until the term had ceased to offer any guarantees as to the design, implementation or listening experience on offer.
- Hi-End/ High-End – Next up was Hi-End/ High-End which were new marketing terms that came into play in the 1980’s and ‘90’s. Unlike the ‘High Fidelity’ music centers which were on the shelves of Woolworths by the late ‘70’s, Hi-End equipment did not get less expensive with the passing of years. In fact the opposite was true: the cables got thicker, the boxes got bigger – and in proportion, the price tags did too.
Some experts still debate whether real advancement in music reproduction was made in this era, but if one thing is true, it was that High-End became synonymous with High-Price.The audio press it seemed had lost their way too, often becoming obsessed with technology features and wattage, by bass and treble response without as much as a nod to the main question – indeed to Ultra-Fi enthusiasts, the only question – of interest: “How Well Does it Play Music?“
With the sometimes brash and clinical approximation of music portrayed by these expensive ‘trophy’ High-End products, public interest in high-fidelity began to wane, as customers turned to the burgeoning home-cinema market.
The Cult of Ultra-Fi
So what are the origins of the cult that is Ultra-Fi? These date back to the Summer of 1999 when the press in Japan and the US came face to face with a small military-looking device named 4706 Gaincard. The device was developed by an unheard-of Japanese audio company called 47 Labs.
The general press reaction after hearing this amplification device was a mixture of awe and disbelief.
“Everything you know is wrong or how I was fooled by mainstream audio gurus” was the title of one review from Enjoy the Music.com after listening to it. How could something so small and plain looking create reactions like this:
“… there is a deep inner detail and a seemingly infinite depth while the music washes over my soul. It is as though I sit here now trying to explain a more spiritually moving experience vs. the usual “here’s another piece of equipment that does A, B and C, right but D could be better”. The 47 Laboratories 4706 Gaincard transcends all this … and goes into the rare realm that only pieces such as the Ongaku travel.”
Steven R. Rochlin, EnjoyTheMusic.com 1999 – full review
The Ongaku, incidentally, was a rare valve-based amplifier made by a Japanese master, costing at the time close to $100,000.
The second defining moment for the cult of Ultra Fi was when it came to light that the secret of the 47 Labs Gaincard was its use of an over-the-counter chip op amp – the LM3875 – from the Overture Series by National Semiconductor. The cost of this chip from electronics e-tailers was approximately $5 each.
Defining Ultra Fi
Ultra Fi is essentially about taking the listening experience and everything component associated with it to the extreme. Every effort is made to reproduce the original performance “exactly” as it was performed. As with master craftsmen generally, Ultra-Fi enthusiasts are focused on the end result irrespective of how painstaking it is to achieve. Whether components are constructed of old or borrowed or new technologies – the final listening experience is paramount. Here are some characteristics of Ultra Fi:
- An over-arching focus on musical performance
- Origins in the on-line do-it-yourself (DIY) audio forums
- Almost entirely hand-manufactured
- An adherence to a “less is more” philosophy
- The adoption or re-invention of some legacy technology (most notably vacuum tubes)
- The use of the correct materials and components for each part of the circuit – this can mean the use of rare and exotic materials, such as Silver-Gold alloy and Mu-metal, to a simple $5 IC op-amp chip
Ultra Fi – An End In Perfection
Ultra Fi is focused on how music sounds as an end result, regardless of how odd or old the technology is. The minimalist philosophy of Ultra Fi combined with a vision beyond the boundaries of convention is what makes Ultra Fi both unique and ultimately enables its proponents to create devices which let the listener get closer to the musical event than was previously possible. If you think about it, any creation of mass production cannot approach the refined, hand tooled and crafted works of this caliber.
This is where Ultra Fi enthusiasts deviate from what we can consider “ordinary” craftsmanship. The methods, materials and development of Ultra Fi components are on a par with works of art and refinement anywhere. In the end, Ultra Fi enthusiasts seek and often approach their goal: to exactly recreate the original musical event.
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Being Wired – Anchored to Cables
By Malcolm Hyde | February 8, 2008
In a world intent on going wireless we sure are still pretty much cable dependent. Just last Thursday Internet and telephone services to much of the Middle East were severed when two primary undersea fiber optic cables were damaged. Most people do not realize the enormous dependency we have on not only fiber optics but everyday cables of every description. The term “wired” could never been more true than today.
As much as we would love to rely on wireless communications and even wireless electronics applications, it is obvious that we are still anchored to millions of miles of cables of every possible type and configuration.
From undersea cables carrying the bulk of phone and Internet data to speaker cables driving our sound systems, and even the family vacuum cleaner – our world would come to a virtual half were it not for wires. Here are 4 cables that we simply cannot do without.
- Fiber Optic Data Cables – Because of its special characteristics optical fiber is practically indispensable in communications where distance is a factor. A single fiber optic cable can carry many times more data than conventional electrical cable. Also, fiber optics are virtually immune to electrical interference so signal quality is also enhanced when these are deployed. Without fiber optics modern communications worldwide would not exist.
- Electrical Power Cables - From flexible portable power tool cables to ultra high power electrical transmission wires, power cables are still an absolute necessity for the continuous and efficient distribution and utility of electricity. Just as in the case of fiber optics, there is no reasonable alternative to power cords as of yet.
- Speaker Cables – From high end audio systems in the homes of audiophiles to the music played over office and hospital intercom systems, the sound of music could not reach us without these cables. Speaker cables transfer input data as clearly as possible to the speakers of a sound system. Though wireless alternatives do exist, there is still no substitute (especially for high fidelity sound) for properly designed and constructed speaker cables.
- AV/HDMI Cables - No Xbox, Wii, Playstation, HD TV or a hundred other components would operate properly without employing AV jacks of one kind or another. The old RCA jacks invented back in the 1940’are still widely used for VCR, DVD and other AV applications. HDMI cables are also becoming more commonplace with the advent of HD technology that imagining audio of sound without them seems quite impossible.
It is a little ironic that we tend to think of modern technology as being disconnected from appendages like power cords and speaker cables, when we seem to be even more dependent on them than ever before. As residents of a technological age we are inextricably tied to literally millions and millions of miles or clad wires acting on a myriad of crucial devices that we have come to depend on.
Perhaps the greatest innovations in electronics will not be the extension of wireless networks but in the refinement and improvement of the wires and cables we depend on. An interesting concept if you think about it, but being “wired” looks to be around for a while longer.
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