![]() My Definitive Technology reference system actually has good timbre-matching, but just for fun I listened with an odd assortment of boxes and was amazed at how seamless the soundstage became. ![]() If your system is built with different enclosures front and back, the amp uses innovative DSP to create a coherent, balanced image. Pioneer's proprietary Full Band Phase Control technology has been designed to compensate for variances in speaker configurations and drivers. One feature that will probably get less attention than most is actually one of the LX90's neatest tricks. Its fidelity firewall, our measurement of absolute, distortion-free muscle, is 228W per channel at 0.05 per cent THD. In our Tech Labs, we measured a constant 250W into 8 ohms when five channels are driven simultaneously. The boffins at Pioneer rate the LX90's power plant at 200W per channel, but they're being conservative. From the birdsong ambience and harmonics of Because to the chopping riffs and multi-tracked rear-channel handclaps of Revolution, these virtual Beatles are a pure joy. On the Pioneer Susano, the album feels as if it's finally come home. Tim Vine-Lott tells me that he considers Love 'spiritually at least' an AIR album.Īlthough none of the record was mixed at AIR Studios (EMI wouldn't allow the master tapes or digital clones to leave Abbey Road), record producers George and Giles Martin used a system specified by the AIR technical team to remix the original source tracks into stereo and 5.1. The Beatles Love DVD-Audio (which might be easier for you to get your hands on) is to my mind one of the most sublime multichannel discs ever made – here it sounds fittingly jaw-dropping. For evidence of the amp's often tantalizing delicacy, listen to Emi Fujita's surround sound rendition of All My Loving (from the Super Audio CD Camomile Best Audio, a Japanese import on Leafage).Įngineered by Sony's Chief Distinguished Engineer Takashi Kanai, the record's seductive, smoky vocals and perfectly placed jazz-club accompaniment is conveyed with almost holographic realism. It isn't all about heavyweight harrumphing though. Soundtracks become a visceral thing with the LX90. The sequence has a Dolby TrueHD mix that opens with portentous LFE, and employs a frantic pulsing riff that insidiously takes you hostage. The Dark Knight Prologue (an extra on the Batman Begins BD) is equally thrilling. The LX90 never sounds muddled, despite the chaos. ![]() The Batmobile chase sequence from Batman Begins (Dolby TrueHD, Blu-ray) mixes helicopter blades with panning police sirens and hi-octane front/back/front image steering. When it comes to widescreen audio action, the LX90 can fight crime with the best of them. ![]() Music or movies? This storm god seems just as happy with both. During the review period, I've been shocked by the depth and reach of the low-end bass on offer, and have often found myself having to rein in the bludgeoning LFE, even while mid-range vocals remained nuanced and tangible. Once its settings have been massaged, the LX90 is capable of sensational imaging, delivering snake-tongue fast transients and articulate multichannel effects. The LX90 is the first product to win AIR's Reference Monitor status endorsement – and with good reason. But months of fine-tuning allayed his fears. Tim Vine-Lott, Technical Director of AIR Studios, the world-famous recording facility which fine-tunes Pioneer's high-end audio products, confided to me that he had his doubts about the brand's decision to adopt digital amplification. The project almost derailed when Onodera left the corporation, but was subsequently adopted and refined by Product planner Yoshiyuki Yamada. The brainchild of Keiichi Onodera, then a senior audio engineer within Pioneer, it was envisaged as a radical multimedia hub built around state-of-the-art digital amplification. I've been keeping an eye on the Susano project since its inception.
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