FOR A NUMBER of years now Sony has had a reputation
for very fine tuners and this year they won out with their
model ST-S444ESX. Its outstanding specification includes
an ultimate signal-to-noise ratio of 96dB in mono and
91db in stereo. RRP is $893.
WINNER IN THE Technological
Development category, the Bose
Acoustimass system uses the very
small stereo satellite speakers
pictured above, which are only 19cm
high and have magnetically shielded
drivers, allowing them to placed near
video monitors. The Acoustimass
woofer module, pictured below, can
be positioned anywhere in the room.
'IHE 1987
IIlFI AWARDS
- TIIE WINNERS From a limited field of runners, this year's
CESA Grand Prix hifi awards produced some
interesting winners. Consistent performers like
Marantz and Sony were there again, as was
Yamaha, while Bose chalked up its first award.
BEST AMPLIFIBR
this year was the
Marantz PM-64Il
which has
comprehensive input
control facilities,
including video
inputs and CD-direct,
which bypasses the
tone controls and
other preamp
circuitry. Power
output is 100 watts
RMS per channel
and up to 300 watts
(IlIF music power)
into 2-ohm loads.
RRP is $1099.00.
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SILICON CHIP
YAMAHA HAS been one of the few Japanese
loudspeaker manufacturers to really gain a
reputation for its loudspeakers. This is not the
first time it has won the CESA award for best
loudspeaker. This very fine 3-way system, the
NS-10000, uses carbon fibre technology in the
woofer and beryllium for the tweeter and
midrange domes. RRP is $13,000.00.
By LEO SIMPSON
The CESA Grand Prix hifi
awards have been having a
rough trot since their inception
three years ago and each year
has been marked by less entries
as more hifi distributors retire
from the field to lick their
wounds and comtemplate an
ever toughening market.
A surpise, but no surprise
really, was that there were no
entries at all in the turntable
category. The Japanese have virtually abandoned the field
altogether to chase after the
burgeoning compact disc market.
This, while millions of people
around the world still have
billions of records they wish to
play.
Winner in the amplifier
category was the Marantz
PM-641( making it two consecutive wins for this company.
The PM-64II is a keenly priced
model with plenty of power and
facilities. Runner up was the
powerful Perreaux PM2350 with
200 watts per channel.
No award was made in the
receiver category, since it was
only a two-horse race. Similarly,
the judges decided not to make
an award in the cassette deck
category - it was a field of plodders but the racers of the day
hadn't been entered.
In spite of the large number of
CD players on the market, there
were only five entries in this
category, from Marantz, JVC,
Yamaha, Sharp and Sony. Sony
was the winner, with their highly
rated model CDP-555ESD.
Sony also won the tuner
category, with their ST-S444ESX
model which has very high performance in its FM section.
The other two awards, for best
loudspeaker and for technological development, were interesting because the respective
winners were originally not
entered in their ultimate award
category. The Bose Acoustimass,
a sa telli te-cum-superwoof er
system was entered in the
loudspeaker category but won
the award for technological
development.
And the Yamaha NSl0000,
which was entered in the
category for technological
development, won the prize for
best loudspeaker.
Let's hope there are a lot more
horses running next time.
SONY'S top-of-the-line
CDP-555ESD CD player
has every feature you
could think of, including
remote volume control. It
can also be teamed with
an optional linear D-A
converter, the
DAS-702ES, for even
higher performance. RRP
of the player on its own
is $2299.00.
JANUARY 1988
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