A new US distributor and a trip to Munich

Welcome to the May 2023 German Physiks newsletter.

After being absent last month, our newsletter is back this with news of the appointment of a new US distributor. We have also been to the Munich High End Show, where we met many old friends and helped to support the German beer industry.

Locrian Audio appointed as new US distributor

Locrian Audio showroom

Locrian Audio has been appointed as our new distributor in the US. The company is run by Basile Theodoropoulos, a longtime friend and business associate of German Physiks. His showroom is located in a purpose-built facility in Dallas, Texas, where the PQS-302, Unicorn Mk II, Borderland Mk IV, HRS-130 and PQS-100 Plus loudspeakers, together with products from our Emperor electronics range are available for audition.

Basile’s passion for music started early.

“My first exposure to proper music reproduction was in my teenage years where I would spend hours listening to Dynaco, Threshold, Dahlquist, Magnepan and Nakamichi equipment at the Lyric Hi-Fi branch in Athens. It was located next to my high school, thus after class I was allowed to listen to one record side per visit. It was inspiring and the first real experience in quality music reproduction. I was hooked for life! The memories are still bringing me a smile when I think about it and have tried ever since to replicate such experiences with friends, colleagues or acquaintances curious to hear their favorite music on my set-up. It never mattered if my system was better or worse than my guest’s, what mattered was to share the experience and learn about new artists and sub-genres.”

Following a successful corporate career in three continents with Chase, IBM, Dell, HSBC and KPMG Basile, decided to turn what had been a very serious passion into a profession. His aim is to allow similarly-minded audiophiles to have a place to experience their distilled knowledge in a high-end space and hopefully, introduce the next generation to the joy of owning and enjoying a great audio system.

In the coming months, Basile will will establish a small number of select high-end audio dealers across the US to represent German Physiks and he will also be presenting German Physiks at audio shows in the US. More news on this will be announced later. In the meantime, anyone wishing to get in touch with Basile may reach him at:

Company: Locrian Audio LLC

Tel: (469) 438 1761

Email: info@locrian-audio.com

Web: www.locrian-audio.com

Visit the PQS-302 web page

Visit the Borderland Mk IV web page

Visit the HRS-130 web page

Visit the Unicorn Mk II web page

Visit the Emperor electronics web page

Basile’s special passion -The Unicorn Mk II

German Physiks Unicorn Mk II and Emperor stereo power amplifier

Basile has long been a fan of our most unusual model, the Unicorn Mk II. It uses a single carbon fibre DDD driver coupled to a horn system to cover the range from 40Hz to 24kHz. These are the roll-off points, so there is significant energy output beyond these points. The use of a single DDD driver to cover such a wide frequency range gives an outstanding level coherence and transparency that in our opinion, no other loudspeaker can match.

Basile sums up the Unicorn’s merits very succinctly:

“I have always been a fan of single driver and horn-loaded systems. The “eureka” moment came when I was introduced to the German Physiks Unicorn, a single driver, horn-loaded, omnidirectional speaker. I was curious on what was driving the excitement amongst the Japanese audiophiles to put the Unicorn in their living rooms, especially given its unconventional engineering and looks. After living with it for 15 years, I never looked back. It has been my go-to speaker for jazz, blues, vocals, and chamber music. The one speaker I will never part with.

It is a very immediate, open and natural sounding speaker without any of the negatives of multi driver speakers. Lack of crossover is obvious in the music material reproduction without any discontinuity or breaking-up across the entire frequency spectrum.”

The Unicorn’s look is unconventional, but this is dictated by the horn system and experience has shown that even small changes to this, including the finish uses, can degrade the sound quality.

Basile has made videos of his Unicorn’s playing in his showroom and you can view these on his YouTube channel by clicking the button below. The use of headphones is recommended. While you are there please subscribe to his channel.

Visit the Unicorn Mk II web page

Interesting Unicorn fact

But for a chance conversation in 1997 over dinner between the owner of German Physiks and Dan Sweeney, a reviewer for the leading US audiophile magazine, The Absolute Sound, the Unicorn would never have emerged from the lab at German Physiks. We have touched on this before and the full story is quite interesting, but we will save this for another time.

Munich High End Show

Western Electric 12B horn loudspeaker

⁣Although we were not demonstrating our products at last week’s Munich High End Show, we did attend to hold meetings with our current distributors and a few new ones. In between meetings we were able see the whole of the show. By far and away the most impressive room was put on by Silbatone Acoustics from Korea. Their founder, Michael Chung, is an expert on and avid collector of early loudspeakers and tube amplifiers. For several years he has brought items from his extensive collection to the show to educate and entertain visitors. This year he did both in spades. He played a Western Electric 12B horn loudspeaker, which was made in 1926 and drove it with a Silbatone P-103 stereo power amplifier fitted with pair of VT-2 tubes, which were made in 1918. This produced just 3W per channel, yet this system filled the large room with a clear, dynamic and emotionally involving sound that was in our opinion the most enjoyable sound in the show. As a loudspeaker manufacturer, it was humbling to see what those long past engineers achieved without the modern materials and computer modelling that we now take for granted. Their creations live on as a testament to their exceptional skills.⁣

⁣Mr Chung played a range of recordings from opera to Led Zeppelin and the system never failed to please. We came back to this room several times and it was always packed. If you ever attend a show where Silbatone are demonstrating one of their systems, you should make a point to have a listen. We are sure you will be impressed.⁣

Interestingly there is a tenuous connection between the horn in the 12B and our own DDD driver. They both achieve a very wide frequency response and and excellent transient response by employing a radiating diaphragm that has a very low moving mass. In the case of the 12B, the radiating diaphragm is physically very small and naturally has a low moving mass. The low output from this small diaphragm is compensated for by the use of a very effective horn system.

The German Physiks DDD driver uses bending wave and modal radiation to achieve a low moving mass and hence a very wide frequency response and and excellent transient response. As they say, there is more than one way to skin a cat!