Our visit to Cédric, designer of Halgorythme, Feb 24, 2016
 

We were kindly invited to Cédric last week, to listen to his latest creation, a small integrated.
He recently moved to a new apartment, and has a small dedicated space to listen to music.

http://www.audioaficionado.org/attac...1&d=1457038771

This is the little one, delivering 2 x 3,5 Watts:

http://www.audioaficionado.org/attac...2&d=1457038958


But what a delicious sound this little device generated!
We started with Marin Marais, from the 4th book of bass viol pieces, a recording I know really well (I have it on SACD in 2 versions).
The clarity was superb.
Silky smooth yet very very detailed tones came from Cédric's Audio Notes (sensitivity of 95 dB).

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00785.jpg

Source: Kuzma.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00797.jpg


Juice: champagne!

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00798.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00799.jpg

The Audio Note is a speaker with a 21 cm woofer, that goes surprisingly deep.
Even orchestral pieces were transduced faithfully.
Gorgeous finish.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00804.jpg


Cédric changing records.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00819.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00822.jpg


His LP 'Soular Energy' (Ray Brown) easily bested my CD version.

And also this LP was impressive:

http://www.audioaficionado.org/attac...3&d=1457039770


Recorded in '57, artistically superb, and a sonic delight.

That's wonderful, Bart.

I love the picture of the champagne bottle opening - the important stuff. What a great time.

The Kuzma:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00835.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00837.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00840.jpg


Stable custom power (battery) for the Kuzma.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00813.jpg

This is my favorite picture of the series.
It's one for the new portfolio
:banana:

Some other gear: A Dynalab tuner, Accuphase CD player, Nagra tape recorder.
And the Halgorythme phono pre (with power supply, so the phono pre stage comprises 3 boxes!).

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00818.jpg


Power supply of the phono pre:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00810.jpg

The little integrated.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00843.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00844.jpg


It is not on his website, because it is not for sale.
Cédric says it is a delicate design and it needs adjustments from time to time, so he keeps it for himself.
It is especially built to deliver a high quality first watt.
It was oh so sweet, not syrupy, no no, but sweet in the sense of musical.

The sound in this little room leaves nothing to wish for, except maybe when you want to hear really large scale orchestral music.
But for that, Cédric goes to the opera house in Lille! :yes:

Then we had a look at his construction room.
This headphone amp is leaving to Italy soon:

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00791.jpg


And this will be our stereo amp (for the rears):

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00789.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00790.jpg

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00793.jpg


Cédric orders the metal case, and then he makes the holes where needed.
This will be a unique design.

http://www.metazahren.com/photograph...4_MMZ00794.jpg


Afterwards, we went out to have an excellent dinner in a Scandinavian restaurant.