Blueberry Hill Audio : the Cables

Blueberry Hill Audio

Intoduction

From all the equipment that comes trough our hands, it is quite rare that our attention is cut by simplicity and performance, especially in the cable industry.

As a matter of fact, I have always asked my self this question: Why pay more for a cable then the actual piece of furniture that my system is sitting on?

I certainly recognize the use and virtue of cables but there is a difference between using them and recommending them. That is until the day I had my hands on a set of cable that really impressed me.
This is what we are going to share with you today!

This week, Blueberry hill Audio is our highlight.

It is rare and in fact quite unique that a cable manufacturer invites us to compare their work against other manufactures without restrictions.

Many other large manufactures actually decline this comparison invitation… I have names

Making comparison does not mean that we are going to badly judge or say bad things about a product. Doing comparison is mostly putting up characteristics of each product, being able to evaluate this product in different context, bringing qualities forward and finally making conclusions that are truthful in precise circumstances.

Being courageous is not enough; you have to work hard to be so sure that your product is as good if not better to accept loaning your equipment for testing. We, at the Magazine-audio team, all came up with the same conclusion. The same thing happened with the people that are not related to the Magazine when they tested the cables on their own personal system.

It shows from Blueberry Hill Audio’s part that over their maturity, there is a great and fabulous expertise. They are good at what they do!

The Question is why other manufactures don’t want to compare their products. They probably have more to lose then to gain. They are business men first and they are comfortable in doing what they are doing, selling stuff with big brand names.
They don’t want audio Magazines to say bad things about their products.

Blueberry Hill Audio cable

From time to time, we have to recognise that some manufactures provide us with fabulous products that are not only looking good but that gives good performance and that are well manufactured.

In fact, you will notice that Blueberry Hill Audio are quite different then other manufactures. You can consult all the data for every type of cable, prices are clearly shown, and consumer’s comments are on the site too. It is easy to contact Marlen Mogilever and he will answer to whoever has a question. He offers an excellent service and there is even a 10 days satisfaction guaranteed on all products or he will reimburse your purchase.

Did I mention customizing? Blueberry Hill Audio is at your service, they offer a great choice of connectors but if you want an AC cable equipped with Furutech FI-50 carbon they will build it for you.

It took 4 years of work and research to get the production cables that they offer on today’s catalogue.

I invite you, if it is not already done, to take a look at the interview we had with Mr Marlen Mogiliver, manager of Blueberry Hill Audio. This will allow you to look Marlen’s Business up and understand his philosophy.

Let’s get to the good stuff

We did not make just a simple test; we went way more far ahead on this trial. We wanted to know what a high end cable coming from a manufacture’s catalog would bring to a set-up following their instructions and recommendations.

Knowing that we often ear rumors on this and on that, and probably more over here then over here about the fact that it is far better to use the same brand of cables all the way through your system then having different ones, we asked our self WHY would that be?
No one ever explained the reasons why so we tried finding those answers for you.

In order to achieve that, we have used the FIGARO cables line from Blueberry hill Audio, made in Canada of course and we used them for many months on different set-up, from low end to high end systems.

This cable specialist actually put the bar quite high in regards to sound results associated with a manufacturing standard unknown to this day from many other cable manufactures. All the steps of building their cables are done by hand, unit by unit. There are no sophisticated packaging, no magic box and no little blue lights…. No! It is simply an audio cable.

I have asked Marlen Mogilever, the manager of the company, what were his motivations and here is what he answered:

I am trying my best to develop interconnects cable witch will perform the best in any system, regardless of make, cost, solid state or tubes.

Being said, we found out that not only interconnects were very versatile, we had the proof with the AC and speaker cables that were designed with the same state of mind from his designer.

In order to respect the designer philosophy, we equipped all of our systems regardless of their components, speakers, and price with the same set of cable from the Figaro line: AC power, RCA/XLR and speaker cables.

List of the cable used during our trials

FIGARO : Single ended ( RCA )

LINE STAGE INTERCONNECT CABLES, Model – FIS11
Length – 1.0 m.

Features/Caractéristiques :

1. Hand polished Fine silver conductors.
2. Pure unbleached cotton dielectric.
3. Two level conductor placing.
4. Combination of single and multi strand conductors.
5. Proprietary geometry.
6. Air sealed construction.
7. Anti-vibration polyurethane core inside of the cables.
8. Anti-vibration O-rings at the both ends outside of the cables.
9. Eichmann silver bullet RCA connectors.
10. Very light weight and excellent flexibility.
11. User friendly color coded left and right channels.
12. Completely “broken-in” and demagnetized prior to the shipping.
13. Requires only 10-15 hours to warm up before sounding the best.

FIGARO : BALANCED (XLR)

Hybrid line stage interconnect cables, silver/copper, cuivre et argent : Model – FIH08
Length – 1.0 m.

Features/Caractéristiques :

1. Hand polished Fine silver (50%) and OCC cooper (50%) conductors.
2. Pure unbleached cotton dielectric.
3. Four level conductor placing.
4. Combination of single and multi strand conductors.
5. Proprietary geometry.
6. Air sealed construction.
7. Anti-vibration polyurethane core inside of the cables.
8. Anti-vibration O-rings at the both ends outside of the cables.
9. Furutech Hi-End gold plated male and female connectors.
10. Very light weight and excellent flexibility.
11. User friendly color coded left and right channels.
12. Completely “broken-in” and demagnetized prior to the shipping.
13. Requires only 10-15 hours to warm up before sounding the best.

FIGARO Hybrid Speaker cables

Model – FSH45
Length – 2.0 m.

Features/Caractéristiques :

1. Hand polished Fine silver (50%) and OCC cooper (50%) conductors.
2. Pure unbleached cotton dielectric.
3. Three level conductor placing.
4. Combination of single and multi strand conductors.
5. Proprietary geometry.
6. Air sealed construction.
7. Anti-vibration polyurethane core inside of the cables.
8. Anti-vibration O-rings at the both ends outside of the cables.
9. Furutech Hi-End gold plated Banana locking plugs.
10. Very light weight and excellent flexibility.
11. User friendly color coded left and right channels.
12. Completely “broken-in” and demagnetized prior to the shipping.
13. Requires only 10–15 hours to warm up before sounding the best.

FIGARO Hybrid power cord

Model – FPS52
Length – 2.0 m.

Features/Caractéristiques :

1. Multi strand silver plated cooper.
2. Teflon dielectric.
3. Three level conductors placing
4. Proprietary geometry.
5. Air sealed construction.
6. Anti-vibration polyurethane core inside of the cables.
7. Anti-vibration O-rings at the both ends outside of the cables.
8. Furutech Hi-End rhodium plated male and female connectors.
9. Very light weight and excellent flexibility.
10. Completely “broken-in” and demagnetized prior to the shipping.
11. Requires only 10-15 hours to warm up before sounding the best.

ANALOG EVOLUTION STEP-UP PHONO CABLE EVO-IV

Model – E4S01
Length – 0.6 m.

Features/Caractéristiques :

1. Hand polished Fine silver conductors.
2. Pure unbleached cotton dielectric.
3. Two level conductor placing.
4. Combination of single and multi strand conductors.
5. Proprietary geometry.
6. Air sealed construction.
7. Anti-vibration polyurethane core inside of the cables.
8. Anti-vibration O-rings at the both ends outside of the cables.
9. Alpha Braided Shielding- electromagnetic interference protection (EMI).
10. Conductive Carbon Infused Nylon Shielding-for high Frequency.
11. Interference protection (RFI).
12. Furutech male gold plated input connectors FP-101(G).
13. Eichmann silver bullet RCA output connectors.
14. Very light weight and excellent flexibility.
15. User friendly color coded left and right channels.
16. Completely “broken-in” and demagnetized prior to the shipping.
17. Requires only 10-15 hours to warm up before sounding the best.

ANALOG EVOLUTION STEP-UP PHONO CABLE EVO-I

TRANSFORMER TECHNICAL INFORMATION

1. Recommended for MC cartridges with self (internal) impedance range from 3 to15 ohms.
2. Ratio: 1:10 (20 db)
3. Total harmonic distortion: 0.05%
4. Frequency response: +/- 0.25 db. 10 Hz – 70 kHz.
5. DC resistance (OCC wires): Pri. = 0.86 Ohms. Sec. = 84 Ohms.
6. Winding material: OCC copper wire
7. Cable type: Silver

The Trials

Here is what we tested in our trials: Respect of timbres, dynamics associated with a beautiful tonal equilibrium. We had to get a musical sound without asking ourselves questions!

For the price and the fun, might as well get it all at the same time! Don’t you think so?

Translation for the profane: We plug the cables and we listen to music at a reasonable volume. We need to get harmonic richness associated with great dynamics. All those while keeping equilibrium on all registers witch ever the sound volume.

So, I should not ear aggressive or forward or rearward frequencies like projected medium highs witch gives you the impression that there is better dynamics or to much base that covers the rest of the musical specter, giving the impression of not having enough speed. We needed all frequencies to come out of the speakers at the same time, being in phase in fact!

This is actually very hard to achieve since each manufacture introduce their own design and philosophy in the products they manufacture. You end up having colored sound according to their taste.

You will get a good understanding of each listening sessions so it should be a good starting point for you to understand.

Jean Marc! User/Day tester.

Jean-Marc Hi-Fi set up

Speakers:

• 2 QUAD ESL 2905
• 2 QUAD ESL 988
• 2 QUAD ESL 63
• Subwoofer Martin Logan Depth.

Power Amplifier:

• Bryston 3BSST (2905)
• Bryston 2BSST (988)
• Audio Refinement-3 (63)

Players:

• Oppo 980H
• Sony PS3

Other device

• Processeur Audio Video Integra DTC 9.8 (HDMI)
• AC power conditioner: Monster HTS 5000
• Projector Panasonic PT-AE3000
• Screen Steward Motorised Firehawk G3 MicroPerf X2

Here is a short description of my reaction after plugging the cables in.

Know form the start that I consider myself having skepticism when we are talking about cables and their virtue.

In general when I am asked to test cables, or participating in any other type of testing, I have always found that the differences between cables were very small and subjective and not quite realistic in terms of pricing.

But at my house, I was located in ideal conditions, using my equipment with my recordings. Requiem from Rutter or the 5th of Bruckner for example

The differences were a lot more important then what I expected.

The biggest difference was that the music was coming out of my speakers with less back noise, the details were way clearer. Of course I had the chance to see this type of change before but never to this extent.

On top of that, the tonal balance and the sound stage produced by my Quad’s 2905 were absolutely better on Rutter’s . I ended up with clearer voices and the depth of the stage was definitely deeper. The signer was simply standing there with a better presence.

On the 5th of Bruckner, The clarinets and Haut bois solos had more clarity and way more Harmonic Richness I was not expecting that much of a change.

On my regular system, I have always heard the Oboe sounding like it was hidden behind a thin curtain and it was not pleasing my ears at all. Adding the Figaro line cable to the system made me appreciate the musician’s talent and my perception of the Oboe changed completely.

The speakers dynamics was way better, the speakers were breathing… It is hard to put a number in terms of improvement but I would easily say that it is higher then 10 % so I will say 25%!

YVES advice.

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to listen to the Figaro line of cable. I was comprised of interconnects, Ac cords and speaker cables.

This set of cables coming from Blueberry Hill Audio instantly gave me improvements as we turned the music on. The tonal equilibrium was instantaneous, a total control on the entire specter and very impressive dynamics.

My system witch is comprised of a Coda amp, Audio Refinement Preamp and Mirage M1 speakers had a brutal wakening. But it was a fine wakening. For those who know the M1’s, the really need a lot of power to give life to music.

As soon as the Blueberry Cables were hooked on we asked ourselves, where are the speakers gone to?

These monsters(M1’s) who have always looked to me as excellent, at that particular time, completely disappeared finally letting music flow through my entire room! At the same time it seems like it was also giving a bit of a brake to my Coda 10.5 which will now stay behind my Mirage for many years.

In conclusion, we can speak of detailed sound, opening of the stage, exceptional voices, great dynamics all associated with tonal equilibrium.
Well! If you can afford it, you have to listen to the Blueberry Hill Audio cables, especially before replacing your existing material.

Yves Coulombe

Next part follow as soon as possible.

Contact and information

Manager : Marlen Mogilever
Blueberry Hill Audio

383 Connaught Avenue
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M2R 2M1
Phone: 647-341-8757
From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time
Monday – Friday

Email: bha@rogers.com

Site web : http://www.blueberryhillaudio.com

This article has been written by Marc PHILIP, independent editor and reviewer, all rights reserved, copyright 2010, the text and photos are the property of the author and the magazine,under the creative commons license.

Have a great day and enjoy the music.

XLO Shows Updated Reference-3 and Signature-3 Cable Lines At Salon Son & Image in Montreal, Rooms 1304 and 2403

XLO cables

Ultralink/XLO Products, Inc., an innovative and prolific manufacturer of award-winning audio and video interconnects, cables and AC power products, shows their completely updated Signature-3™ and Reference-3™ interconnects and cable lines at this year’s Salon Son & Image in Montreal, March 25th through the 28th.

What Are You Doing? As Little As Possible!
Cables are everywhere in an audio/video system; without quality cable engineering and manufacture most of the performance stays locked up inside your components. Relying on a jumble of different cables to tone-control a system is equally unsound. Cables should just… get out of the way. And there’s the rub; it’s extraordinarily difficult to make cables that sound like nothing at all.

But XLO is in an excellent position to get closer to… the sound of nothing.

“We control the manufacturing of our own product, just as we’ve done for more than 15 years,” enthuses XLO’s president Allen Sung, “giving us 100 percent quality control backed with a lifetime warranty. We have the capacity, machining and engineering expertise to work the conductor and dielectric materials.
We design and produce all our specialist connectors. The product is of such quality that it’s supplied OEM to a surprising number of other brands.”

Reference-3 and Signature-3 interconnect and speaker cables are custom-drawn 99.99998% (« Six Nines ») pure Laboratory Grade copper. Signature-3’s higher specification calls for UPOCC 6N copper (Ultra Pure Ohno Continuous Casting process). Proprietary Field-Balanced™ winding – how each signal-bearing conductor is arrayed relative to the others – is optimized for the interactive relationship between current-controlled electromagnetic fields formed around a cable’s conductors, and the electrostatic fields formed around its insulation when an audio or digital/video signal passes.

Reference-3 and Signature-3 are designed with to minimize capacitive discharge effects. As current passes through insulated conductors capacitance effects store signal energy in the surrounding dielectric material that’s either turned into heat or quickly released out of phase back into the signal path as soon as the polarity changes leading to signal cancellations, reduced low-level detail, smearing, and out-of-phase artifacts causing spurious sound or picture distortions!

XLO reduces stored energy with low-mass dielectrics and the best materials with the minimum dielectric constant and the fastest “dump rate” – the faster the energy returns or dumps from the dielectric, the less distortion you hear.

Even our hand-terminated connectors are direct-plated 24k gold with no shiny but poor-sounding nickel substrate: Nickel is ferrous and becomes magnetized when passing signal current. The magnetic field is modulated by the electrical signal and the connector retains a residual magnetic charge. Making our own connectors also allows XLO to ensure constant impedance from one end to the other.

XLO is Your Cable Solutions Company!

Retail prices start at $290 for Reference-3 half meter audio pair and $590 for Signature-3 half meter audio pair.

About XLO
Ultralink/XLO Products Inc., headquartered in Ontario, California is an industry-leading manufacturer of high-performance audio and video cables and UltraPower™ AC power products, Canada’s market share leader in the field. In early 2002 Ultralink Products Inc. acquired XLO Electric Co., Inc. a well-known brand of audiophile reference cables and interconnects.

Ultralink also introduced the elegant “Engineering Truth” Argentum Acoustics™ line of cables and accessories. Ultralink is a member of PARA, CEDIA and the CEA. For more information on Ultralink/XLO and their product brands call (909) 947-6960 or find them at www.ultralinkproducts.com or learn more about XLO at www.xloelectric.com and Argentum Acoustics at www.argentumacoustics.com.

ULTRALINK/XLO PRODUCTS, INC. 1951 South Lynx Avenue Ontario, California, U.S.A. 91761 Tel: (909) 947-6960 Fax: (909) 947-6970 Web: www.ultralinkproducts.com

The Veloce by Stereolab

STEREOLAB™ announces BLACK CAT CABLE™, a subdivision created within the Stereolab organization, intending to deliver maximum performance for a minimum price.

The first product onto the Black Cat line will be a pure, 75 Ohm digital cable called Veloce – after the Italian word for « fast »

« It’s derived from my $250 (Stereovox) XV-2 design, which we discontinued after introducing the XV-Ultra late last year under the new brand marque Stereolab, » said Sommovigo, designer for Stereolab cables. « As an entry-level digital cable, it’s yet another giant slayer – a tightly controlled 75 Ohm Digital Cable Extraordinaire! »

Sommovigo, who is best known for his digital cable designs beginning with the Illuminati cables of the 1990′s, has also designed a fair selection of digital, analog and phono cables over the past 18 years, both under his own corporate monikers as well as for other companies.

« Once we’ve established Veloce in the market, we’re planning to introduce some Black Cat power cords, loudspeaker cables, and interconnects. All of these will share technology derived from our more advanced Stereolab cables, only in ‘lite’ form. »

The Veloce digital cable is slated to retail for $123.00 USD for 1.23 meters, and will not be available in any other length.

Black Cat Cable will be introduced through a « hybrid-retail » sales model in the USA, being available for direct sale at Black Cat Cable’s web site, as well as from their exclusive retailer, The Cable Company. As a result of this new sales model, which operates on very abbreviated margins, Veloce is priced much lower than it would have been through traditional industry sales models.
« We chose The Cable Company because of our long standing relationship with Robert Stein. We go back together over 15 years, when The Cable Company was a retailer for Illuminati digital cables. The Cable Company is like family, » shared Chris.

The Veloce digital cable comes with a 60-Day Money Back Guarantee. When purchased from The Cable Company, customers also have the option to try the cable before they buy it through the use of their Cable Lending Library.

Stereolab have also made an arrangement with The Cable Company to provide for a 100% trade-in value for Veloce when upgrading to the Stereolab XV-Ultra digital cable. Users will have the option of trading up during their first 365 days of ownership of the Veloce cable, truly extending the value of the offer.

« It doesn’t matter if you’ve purchased the Veloce direct from the Black Cat site or from The Cable Company, » stated Sommovigo. « The 60 Day MBG and the offer to upgrade to the category-busting XV-Ultra is the same thanks to The Cable Company’s exclusive Stereolab upgrade offer. »

Veloce is due to be released to the market in early April. Interested parties will be advised of the release via Black Cat Cable’s website’s newsletter.

To receive the newsletter, please visit Black Cat Cable’s website and sign in.

For more information, please visit: www.BlackCatCable.com

-or-

http://www.thecableco.com/product.php?id=817

CONTACT:

Chris Sommovigo

The Signal Collection, LLC
p: +1 678.528.8077
c: +1 404.509.5505
e: chris@TheSignalCollection.com
w: www.TheSignalCollection.com

STEREOLAB™ by, Chris Sommovigo

Stereolab

The Signal Collection, LLC (TSC), a specialty distributor of fine audio equipment and manufacturer of highly-regarded audiophile cables, announces today that it will no longer be using the « STEREOVOX » moniker due to issues surrounding that trademark, and has adopted use of the name Stereolab™ – which it has registered with the USPTO.

Under the Stereolab umbrella, TSC will continue to manufacture audiophile cables designed by Chris Sommovigo under several categories:

* The Studio: A « performance first » approach using tubular copper, Mil-Spec silver-plated copper, and low-density PTFE dielectrics.
* The Reference: State of the Art cable designs that employ custom silver and silver-plated copper conductors in low density PTFE dielectrics.
* TOMBO: Limited-Edition, artisan-grade cables.
* The Dragon: No-holds-barred reference cables for the ultra-reference system. Please visit: www.Stereolab-HiFi.com for product information.

Information and Contact:
Chris Sommovigo

The Signal Collection, LLC
p: +1 678.528.8077
c: +1 404.509.5505
e: chris@TheSignalCollection.com
w: www.TheSignalCollection.com

The Signal Collection

[NOTE: Recently I wrote a little blog entry over on Stereomatic, addressing the notion of directionality in cables, based on my limited knowledge and my desire to run my mouth off like a good Italian boy. I've re-written it here, with some further clarifying ideas added. I hope you enjoy it, and would love to hear any feedback you might have. I'll post this also as a blog entry to the site.]

So … I’ve been asked the question about the « directionality » of my cables ever since I’ve been designing and manufacturing cable for the audio industry. There persists this notion that somehow signal cables (interconnects, speaker cables, digital cables) are « directional. »

For those of you who don’t understand this bit of Hi Fi vernacular, I’ll explain it like this: Your speaker cable has two ends to it – the end that will get connected to your amplifier, and the end that will get connected to your speaker.

Imagine that you have them hooked up, and then you mark the amplifier-end of the cable with an « A » and the loudspeaker end of the cable with a « B » – so that you have identified an orientation of that cable. Now, reverse the ends so that the « A » end is connected to the loudspeaker, and vice versa.

One can hear a slight difference or change in the quality of sound when this reversal is performed, and some people claim that this difference, prima fascie, is sufficient evidence to prove that the speaker cable itself must be more efficient (or somehow otherwise « better ») when oriented in one direction vs. the other.

Some industry folks have even theorized that the crystals in the metal wire’s lattice are somehow diodic (a diode is like a one-way valve, permitting signal to travel in one direction but not in the other), and the orientation of these crystals within the wire will determine the appropriate « direction » to orient your speaker cable.

Therefore: I would like to address the notion of directionality in a signal cable as regards a better or worse orientation for a cable.

I believe that this notion doesn’t comport with the generally accepted working model of alternating current. That is to say: I think « directionality, » as it is used to infer some manner of diodicity in cable, is tantamount to « magical thinking » – attributing an observation to an impossible cause.

My Argument :

The signals traveling through a cable are alternating current (AC) which simply means that the « direction » of the signal changes for every half of every cycle of every frequency.

An AC signal is not analogous to water being pushed down a hose, from one end to the other. Rather, an AC signal travels in one direction toward the speaker for the positive-phase of the waveform, and then travels toward the amplifier for the negative-phase of the waveform.

Half the time it’s headed to the speaker, half the time it’s headed to the amplifier.
Back and forth, like a piston … and if you have ever seen a woofer move back and forth like a piston you not only have a visual and mechanical analogy of what is happening electrically within the cable, you have the direct effect and evidence of it.

So … if the signal is working back and forth between amplifier and speaker much the way a piston moves up and down or a woofer moves in and out, what does this mean to the issue of directionality?

It simply means that if a cable is « directional » at all, and that directionality could somehow mess up the signal, no matter how you orient that cable – 1/2 of your signal will always be messed up: either the negative half of the waveform or the positive half of the waveform.
So if you’re reorienting your cable for directionality, you’d simply be choosing which half to deform without ever knowing which half you’ve chosen (because we cannot inspect and confirm the directionality or « diodicity » of metal crystals in a cable).

What all this means is that your speaker cables, interconnects, digital cables … are either not actually « directional, » or if they were, you wouldn’t be able to tell because no matter how you oriented the cable, they would always be affecting/deforming one half of every waveform within the overall signal.
So the notion of directionality in audio cables is untestable, unfalsifiable, and therefore meaningless to the responsible observer.

« But! » you say … « I have heard it with my own ears! » – I have too (or at least I’ve heard something). I have reoriented wires and heard small differences. After a long while, I have also re-reoriented them and heard differences once again. Better? Worse? Hard to say. At least different.
There are any number of possibilities at work here, but I doubt sincerely that any of them are of a « directional » or « diodic » nature, given the behavior of alternating current as we understand and use it.

As well, if you think about it: In industries where something like the potential directionality of a signal cable would be literally life-or-death critical, there is no concern for any manner of « diodicity » in cables. I’m talking here about the millimeter-wave communications industries that inform and supply military, aerospace, and surveillance activities (from which we not only derive some of our cable technology, but from which we also subcontract some of our cable manufacturing).

If there were any industry or activity that would benefit most from this otherwise arcane and esoteric knowledge of wire directionality, it would be the industry and activities surrounding signal transfer in military, aerospace, and surveillance disciplines.

All of this to say that, in my own opinion, the idea that wires are actually directional seems to be bunkum, and the idea doesn’t seem to stand up to the light of mild scrutiny.

So the next time you buy a cable with arrows marked on it, or the next time someone tells you « we listen for directionality of our cables before marking them with pretty arrows, » … think about what I’ve told you here and ask yourself whether or not those arrows and the associated claims are just marketing words and concepts aimed at convincing you of something magical that probably isn’t true, because it probably can’t be true.

Chris

Visit The Signal Collection at : http://www.thesignalcollection.com

New Matrix Switcher from Gefen Supplies Simple and Reliable Method of System Integration

CHATSWORTH, CA

– Connectivity solutions provider Gefen today announced the availability of its new 8×8 CrossPoint Matrix for HDMI v1.3. This matrix switcher enables direct connections between high definition sources and displays without networking.

Eight Blu-ray players, gaming systems or set-top boxes using the HDMI format can be switched to any eight displays with the 8×8 CrossPoint Matrix for HDMI v1.3. High definition resolutions up to 1080p full HD are delivered instantly when selected. Plug and play operation and support for the expanded HDMI v1.3 format, including deep color as well as Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio make this a useful addition to any environment using consumer equipment.

“This matrix requires no networking, and gives direct access to any eight hi-def sources from one or more hi-def displays,” said Hagai Gefen, president and CEO, Gefen Inc. “It is a true matrix, allowing any source to be viewed on one or all eight displays.”

Installation is simple, requiring the connection of eight hi-def sources to the eight HDMI inputs, and the connection of eight hi-def displays to the eight HDMI outputs. Users can assign any source to any display, relaying hi-def video with HDCP compliance and multi-channel audio with no signal delays.

The 8×8 Cross Point Matrix for HDMI v1.3 offers local front panel control, IR remote access and RS-232 compatibility. It comes with an external power supply, eight HDMI cables and rack ears for mounting.

# # #

Additional information:
http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=8407

About Gefen:

Gefen supplies a wide selection of audio/video switchers, splitters, extenders, scalers, converters, KVM solutions and home theater accessories that support consumer, industrial and commercial applications. Gefen’s hardware enables audio/video and computer systems to be integrated, extended, distributed and optimized to enhance performance.

Gefen’s foray into wireless high definition video extension, integration of alternative content for digital cinemas, and high-end audio processing adds to its reputation as an innovative resource for installers and system integrators. In 2008, Gefen launched GefenTV, which delivers professional quality home theater accessories streamlined for plug and play operation.

Gefen solutions are available around the world through a respected network of international distributors and resellers, offering local support. Technical representatives and engineers are available for consultation in Gefen’s Los Angeles area headquarters.

For more information:

Linda Morgan
linda@gefen.com
1.818.745.0020