LOTUS CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER

It’s been a long time in the planning and a lot of hard work but 2016 will mark the beginning of a new flagship highend brand here at Lotus. This new line of product will be the sparkling halo over Lotus Hifi, a personal holy grail, a company who I have marvelled at and whose equipment I have salivated over for many many years. This fortuitous ‘aligning of the planets’ will also represent the single largest investment Lotus has ever made.

To be clear, this is not another ‘me too’ highend name already tired and stagnant in the UK marketplace and it’s not an impromptu moneyspinning startup company born out of the demise of something else. It’s also not a series of flashy ornamental boxes created for the ‘super rich’ with a veritable dogs dinner inside once you open the cover. Rather, this is a brand whose single-mindedness, uncompromising philosophy and ludicrously high manufacturing standards have never once faltered. Glare in bewilderment at the outside or the inside of these products and it’s hard to decide which is the more extraordinary. Through the endless rooms of the Hifi shows – Munich, Rocky Mountain, CES – I have simply never seen product made to this sort of standard and additionally never heard a sound which is so devoid of colouration and so transparent to the source. To gaze upon this equipment is to witness a true luxury brand, the ‘Bugatti Veyron’ of Hifi, agonisingly desireable and completely unsurpassed in the painstaking meticulousness of its manufacture. Sonically, I can give it no greater praise by saying that it will be keeping other world class equipment such as Avalon, Vitus and Allnic, very very honest in my demo room.

For the first time in history, this brand will be available here in the UK and this will be solely and exclusively at Lotus Hifi. Naturally I feel extremely proud and privelidged to have been appointed as helmsman. Early in 2016 there will be a big launch with the Manufacturer, the press and customers present and I will be sending out invites to those of you who are interested nearer the time. Watch this space !

In 2015 Vitus Audio charmed more and more with its amazing sense of musicality and sales have gone from strength to strength. The amount of customers moving into this brand this year was a surprise even to me and many of my juicy pieces on my preloved list this year originated from people trading in for Vitus. There was also a sizeable migration from people with elaborate naim systems, no doubt assisted by various lengthy threads on the naim forum. This became such a repetitive trend that in the Summer I wrote my very own naim to vitus guide to save myself going over and over the same old ground on the telephone every other day. Customers report that the entry level £17,500 Vitus system (RCD-101 cd/dac + RI-100 Integrated amp) is more than competitive with a 500 series system (CD555/NDS + 552/500) and going from 6 or 7 boxes down to just 2 is also often a big plus.

This year the signature class units were most popular, notably the SIA-025 class A integrated but most popular of all, the SCD-025 CD/DAC which was improved by Vitus to mkii specification in the early part of the year. The mkii designation involved a complete redseign of pretty much the whole unit barring the casework and bare transport so it’s a huge sonic upgrade yet at the time of writing the anticipated price rise has still not taken place. This has in part led to a flood of sales for the SCD; it is simply an incredible single box CD/DAC and if you seek richness, density and a real analogue delivery then it does not really have any competitor at its pricepoint right now. One day we really must create an article on Ole Vitus’s emormous turntable collection, listening to his digital products immediately hints at what a huge vinyl fan the man is.

The new reference level RCD-101 was another popular unit this year. This SACD/CD+DAC packs a big giant slaying punch at under £8000 and for many systems it is easily good enough to be an ‘end game’ source. Simply plug in an Aurender and as well as spinning discs, you also have hard disk based streamed music, TIDAL integration and high-res capability in a neat and handsome package.

In 2016 we hope to see a very exciting new product from the Vitus stable and I will also be looking very closely at retailing the more affordable junior arm of Vitus products that go under the name “Alluxity”. This very handsome line of equipment has been maturing in the background very nicely. The craftsmanship, attention to detail and fit and finish is very Vitus-like and the interfaces and functionality are fresh and modern. Joining the award-wining pre and power is now a £6900 Integrated amp and an £8900 DAC/streamer/Server which are positioned conveniently below the RI-100 and RD-100+Aurender. This will mean that the Vitus sound and build quality will be available at under £15,000 for a complete system (less speakers). The Integrated partnered with the Exogal Comet (see below) also promises to be a blinding system well inside 4 figures.

Please see my Vitus Blog for more info.

Unsurprisingly ENTREQ has been the biggest grower this year. It’s given me more work to do that every other brand and after the homepage my Entreq blog and pricelist were the two most frequented pages on my website. The speed at which Entreq has proven itself in home demos and the level to which customers have invested in it has been quite staggering. On the surface of it, grounding the signal path of your electronics into a little passive wooden box full of minerals sounds at best, like a superflous extravagance or at worst, a first step into a world of Hifi insanity !

Let me tell you though, my experience this year has taught me in no uncertain terms that in the not too distant future, all good hifi systems will be grounded. As the message spreads, I think we will one day reach a point where it will simply become de rigeur, exactly the same as good support/isolation, or good mains. Grounding the signal plane is arguably one of the biggest developments in this hobby of the modern times, alongside say streaming music and the CD format. Yes, this was the year when I stood in shock, jaw agape, after plugging a £450 wooden box into a £30,000 Swiss made preamplifer and witnessed the whole system take the most enormous sonic leap, the same year that we connected a Silver Tellus to a Audionote Step-up transformer and grinned stupidly as the ‘mid-fi’ turntable suddenly sounded as real, as open, as deep and wide and as alive as the customer’s £25k+ Metronome/Kondo digital source.

There’s no witchcraft going on here though; Entreq effects a huge sonic improvement to any system by simply draining away unwanted pollutants from the signal ground and hence lowering the system noise floor. If you don’t have it installed then your system is missing a sizeable chunk of its true ability. When the noise floor drops the system’s sound doesn’t change but everything becomes more discernable, from transparency to depth, texture, dynamics, you name it. Right now I can see that other companies have spotted the enormous potential and have started to copy Entreq. This is at a low level at the moment but I am sure that will change as time goes on. Interestingly, this technology also has a great effect in AV systems, improving picture quality by a substantial amount and one day its benefits could easily be used in other places like motor cars for example … perhaps less electronic noise could equate to better fuel economy or smoother gearchanges ?

Amidst all this huge amount of growth, Entreq developed some great new products this year. We now have the Olympus and Poseidon grounding boxes which are even more powerful than the Silver Tellus that came first. We have a new way of grounding the amplifier speaker outputs and also a brand new Entreq modular Rack system. Right now the Poseidon box is selling extremely well and it represents a higher point at which to enter the brand. The rack is yet to appear at lotus hifi but other dealer reports are very favourable and I look forward to my own demo models eary next year. Typically for Entreq it goes about its work in a totally unique manner, unlike any hifi rack which ever went before it.

Please see my Entreq Blog for more info.

This is not a price territory that I tend to occupy but when UK distributers “Kog Audio” demonstrated the Exogal Comet DAC to me I simply had to take it on as it produced such a wonderful sound which was way way out of step with the modest £2600 pricetag.

Be prepared to be shocked at what this little power house can do and just how close it can get to the £8000+ super league DAC’s I usually sell from the likes of Vitus and Allnic. Partner this with an Aurender streamer or a good transport and the results are quite astounding for the money. Like all Lotus products, you can expect an unanalaytical sound, a natural and deeply satisfying musical whole which is replete with vitality. The Comet delivers long term listening pleasure and perhaps uniquely at this sort of pricepoint, is refreshingly divorced from a sense of hifi and the associated gremlins of lower cost digital reproduction.

With a digital volume control, a preamp with analogue input, a headphone socket, DSD, USB AES/EBU SPDIF Toslink & USB digital inputs, single ended and balanced output, smart phone control and optional Power Supply upgrade the ex-Wadia designers have squeezed an awful lot into this modern package. It is most definitely ‘of the moment’. The reviews have been universally gushing and it will be most interesting to see where Exogal go next after this very impressive debut

Pro Audio Bono is a company that doesn’t get even half the attention it deserves. Many longstanding customers though will know that I’ve been a fan of Wladek’s ingenious anti vibration and isolation products for many years now. Beautifully made and sensibly priced they always deliver on performance. Here in the Lotus demo room their racks and anti vibration platforms have become the most commonly used support system for my electronics. I have also had particular success with customers using their suspended platforms to support their turntable. An SE or arcrylic Anti Vibration Platform is a very simple way to further isolate a record deck from strucutral and airborne vibration and bless it with an immediate performance boost. Greater soundstage, tighter and more tuneful bass and a general lift of transparency, the PAB AVP is the first step in improving a good turntable.

In 2015 Avalon loudspeakers were as popular as ever here at Lotus. IDEAs sold in large numbers and Transcendants and Compas also did steady business as well. The major news from Colorado is that Avalon have updated the Indra model to a version II. The Indra was the oldest design in the current range. With its newfangled crossover technology from the then flagship ISIS, the Indra received universal praise when it was released in 2008 but this 3 way design has now been reworked to bring it up to the present day. Feauturing an entirely new crossover network, different internal wiring and filter topologies from the now flagship Tesseract model, the new Indra is a faster, more dynamic speaker with improved bass as well. Like the Compas model, it comes with either a one inch cermaic neodymium tweeter or for a price premium, is offered as an Indra Diamond with 0.75 inch diamond diaphragm tweeter. Even more transparent and invisible than before, I am really looking forward to the demo set arriving.

Allnic continues to captivate newcomers with its magical sound and very high performance per £ ratio. Although it’s a niche brand that is miles away from the mainstream and still unfamiliar to many, once customers are put in front of it I find that they are very quick to find a home for it. A short while down the line, they will usually return to investigate more of the range and migrate more of their system over to mr Kang Su Park’s ingenious way with valves. With very good extension at both ends and lots of presence and dynamics it also seems to appeal to solid state and tube lovers in almost equal measure.

As for particular products, the phono stages continue to sell in large numbers and this year I also had great success with both the 75 wpc T2000 integrated amplifier (now with the marvellous KT150 tube and priced at £6500) and the beautiful T1500 SET 300b Integrated (RRP £5000). Some stellar reviews from both HifiWigam and Hifi Pig were published on both these amps and I had lots of expensive valve pre and powers traded in against them. The D5000 DHT DAC also continues to be a firm favourite, winning listeners over with its vitality and incredible sense of flow. For Vinyl lovers this is certainly the most ‘un-digital’ like I have ever heard CD’s and Flac files.

On the new products front, Allnic released their long awaited speaker cables this year and they are slowly doing trials here with specific customers. They also released the cut down D3000 DAC and a modestly priced EL34 integrated called the T1800 which has just received a fantastic write up in Stereophile.

Most interesting this year is the wonderful little headphone amp the HPA5000. During development Mr. Kang Su Park was so impressed with this unit that he slotted it into the flagship 5000 series. So far I have only sold a few of these but the feedback has been astonishing and backs up many impressive internet comments in places like Headphono Guru, Head-Fi, HiFi Live magazine. The UK demo model is almost here with us and I will be really getting to work with this piece. It’s a wonderful bit of kit and is sure to take the headphone scene by storm. Look out for some up and coming reviews in the near future.

“Other amplifiers that compete with the HPA-5000 include the Eddie Current Balancing Act, the Cavalli Liquid Gold, the ALO Audio Studio Six, the Apex Teton, and even the Ray Samuel’s Dark Star. Though my listening time with many of those amps has been brief, none have blown me away on the first listen like the HPA-5000 did.”

“”Hi Richard, I can safely say that you won’t be seeing this unit again !! The Allnic HPA5000, coupled with the HiFiMan HE1000 will probably be my ‘end-game’ set-up! Beautifully musical, transparent , natural and tonally perfect ! I love it ! Regards, David”

That just about wraps things up. It’s been a fab year but next year will see a major consolidation of Lotus Hifi. As ever, I will be doing my utmost to improve and augment the portfolio even further, offering you a choice of product which goes way beyond the ordinary and the mainstream. We all know that there is plenty of good kit out there, way too much choice if truth be told and that, in part, is why ‘good’ is not good enough. Every piece you buy should be truly special. Sonics, build, looks … it should be elevated some distance above the crowd.

So we have the new flagship brand coming soon, possibly the most exciting moment so far in the history of this company. From the Vitus family there is a potential opportunity with Alluxity. Also I am right now investigating a new make of XLR and RCA interconnects and a 3rd speaker brand and as if that wasn’t enough, there may be a very interesting opportunity looming with a fantastic new turntable.

All of this will hopefully finally coincide with new premises in the Weybridge area. Think bespoke dem rooms with high ceilings and endless racks of jewellery, big comfy couches, homemade Espresso and a Siamese cat or two to keep as all company. Until then, have a great Christmas break and many happy returns for 2016.

Richard Morris, December 2015