JFF Diffusion, our distribution partners in France recently held an exclusive 2-day demonstration of the Wilson Benesch Chimera in the Bristol Palace Hotel in Paris. The event was a collaboration with Jefferson, who distribute Goldmund in France.

Set in the luxurious surrounds of the Bristol Palace on Rue du Faubourg St Honore, amidst the art house district of Paris. The Wilson Benesch Chimera was driven effortlessly by Goldmund electronics. The setup included the new Drive Goldmund Metis 30, the digital preamplifier Mimesis 16 and two monoblock Telos 350 power amplifiers. The listening experience was quite wonderful, one customer commented, “What could you say about the listening results? Everybody agreed, there is only one question: do you have the money or not… if you do, you buy this setup!”.

Jefferson is now a new retailer for Wilson Benesch in France, located at Belfort, with a permanent presentation of the following Wilson Benesch products: Chimera, ACT, Curve, Arc, Torus and Full Circle.

Jefferson HiFi Video
43 Grande Rue – 90160 PEROUSE
Tel : 03 84 22 22 23
Fax : 03 84 58 96 87
info@jefferson-hifi-video.fr
Jefferson HiFi Video

JFF Diffusion
info@jffdiffusion.fr
JFF Diffusion – Wilson Benesch France

The Future is Carbon

Keith Jarrett, born May 8th 1945, is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music. Jarrett favored jazz over classical from a young age and actually turned down the opportunity to study classical composition in Paris with famed musical teacher Nadia Boulanger. Instead he took his own path through High School, Berklee College of Music and eventually settled in New York in the 1960s.

Throughout the 1960s Jarrett would become recognised as an accomplished musician and at the start of the 1970s, Jarrett started to perform with Miles Davis. He has often cited Davis as a vital influence, both musical and personal, on his own thinking about music and improvisation.

Jarrett has commented that his best performances have been when he has had only the slightest notion of what he was going to play at the next moment. He also said that most people don’t know “what he does”, which relates to what Miles Davis said to him expressing bewilderment – as to how Jarrett could “play from nothing”. What Jarrett did during his most creative solo concerts seems to have been to have put himself into a meditative ‘alterted state of consciousness’ which facilitated the flow of many brilliant and original musical ideas. In the liner notes of the Bremen Lausanne album Jarrett states something to the effect that he is a conduit for the ‘Creator’, something his mother had apparently discussed with him.

One of Jarrett’s trademarks is his frequent, loud vocalizations (grunting, squealing, and tuneless singing). Jarrett is also physically active while playing, writhing, gyrating, and almost dancing on the piano bench.

However, Jarrett is notoriously intolerant of audience noise, including coughing and other involuntary sounds, especially during solo improvised performances. He feels that extraneous noise affects his musical inspiration, and distracts from the purity of the sound. As a result, cough drops are routinely supplied to Jarrett’s audiences in cold weather, and he has even been known to stop playing and lead the crowd in a group cough.

In 2003, Jarrett received the Polar Music Prize, the first (and to this day only) recipient not to share the prize with a co-recipient and in 2004 he received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize.

Discovery Channel, have announced the transfer of the Full Circle film to Euope. Next dates of airing will be in the U.K. Please note that these dates and times may vary slightly but at this moment they are set for the following.

Discovery Science
Wednesday April 25th at 11pm

Discovery Channel
Sunday June 3rd at 4pm

Of course if you cannot wait, you can always see a less adequate version on YouTube that has already attracted over 13,000 views.

We are delighted to announce the premier UK review of the Vertex Standmount Loudspeaker from the Geometry Series. We would like to thank everyone at HiFi+, with a special thanks to Editor in Chief and Alan Sircom who took time to understand the product.

The Vertex is the latest standmount design in the Wilson Benesch portfolio. Taking design clues from the ground breaking Trinity as well as the highly successful Arc the design stakes its claim at the forefront of the price performance league.

Like all its siblings the design benefits from Tactic II advanced drive unit technology and the radical  WB-Semisphere Tweeter. Arguably the design  represents the most advanced standmount design available in it’s price point. As Alan comments, this is largely due to the Advanced Composite Technologies deployed throughout the design.

“From the 1960s, brands like KEF and Bowers & Wilkins pioneered the use of new materials in drive unit technology, but arguably no company pushes the envelope of materials science these days quite like Wilson Benesch – Alan Sircom, Editor, HiFi+, 2012″

Wilson Benesch is very proud to be seen to be flying the flag for British loudspeaker design and especially proud to have garnered such enthusiasm for this new standmount design. In truth,  Wilson Benesch maybe the last British company that actually manufactures each element. This is the big difference that defines the companies products from those of assembly companies. Why is this so important? Because it enables a level of control that goes well beyond the limitations of assembled designs. The degree of control over the small details that exert such an enormous influence is after all the determining factor of the success of any system. Alan hits the nail on the head when he states,

“I’m not the most jingoistic person on the planet, but it’s a fine thing for an Englishman to say that the Vertex shows we are still damn good at making state of the art things, and still know how to make a damn good two-way standmount.”- Alan Sircom, Editor, HiFi+, 2012

The Vertex Retails at £4,650 per pair including stands. For more information see the product page.

For the HiFi+ Review you can download the PDF here.

The Test of Time. Wilson Benesch products are all based upon classic design principles that really are timeless. The product catalogue bears testimony to this, with more than half the products now well into their second decade of production! The Full Circle is just one of these remarkable products.

Global Critical Acclaim. Consistent reviews across the world is another major test and represents a real endorsement of a products quality. Hot on the heals of the superb review by Haute Fidelite, France and the documentary by the Canadian based Discovery Channel comes the positively glowing review from Norway. This may well be a 13 year old design but as you will read, “it shows the competition the door.”

“The undisputed master of this price point is a thirteen year old classic that once again has shown the competition the door. A future classic, and ‘The LP 12 of our time’ to put it into context. If you are looking for a really serious turntable, I know of no better in this price range or a few steps above. Highly recommended.”

“Do most of us really need a turntable any better than this?” I am dangerously close to saying “No”.

You can find the full unedited review here on our reviews page, along with the English translation which Trond was kind enough to provide us with.

Naturally we are delighted with the review and would like to extend our gratitude to Trond Torgnesskar and the team at Fidelity Magazine in Norway.

Further information about the Full Circle and all our analogue components can be found in our product pages here.

The Full Circle Turntable as setup in the review (Circle Turntable, ACT 0.5 Tone Arm & Ply Cartridge retails in the UK at £2,795. For more information about where you can purchase or demonstrate the product please see our UK Dealers and Worldwide Distribution pages.

The ‘How It’s Made’ series is a long running production on Discovery’s Science Channel. The program presents the steps involved in the entire process of manufacturing. Wilson Benesch are delighted to be able to share with our audience the processes involved in manufacturing the Full Circle including the tonearm.

Having returned sometime ago from this years Bristol Sound & Vision Show 2012, Wilson Benesch have been settled back in nicely to what seems to be a positive and increasingly healthy British HiFi market. We had a great weekend at the end of last month and it would seem many of you enjoyed the show and the favorable discounts at the show. Figures from the organisers suggest, the best sales for 4 yrs, attendance up 9%, sales up 14%, with Saturday being the busiest day. Based on our short film below, we’d agree Saturday was the busiest day.

This year Wilson Benesch performed a live demonstration of the Geometry Series, Vector Floorstander and running alongside was the latest NEW product from Wilson Benesch, the Square Three Floorstanding Loudspeaker, taken from the all new Square Series 2.

So here a little glimpse of the time and energy we pour into our exhibition space and with a soundtrack sample from one of our preferred demonstration pieces from the weekend in the Wilson Benesch Conservatory, aka, ‘The WB Glass House’. Hans Zimmer’s excellent and evocative piece, aptly titled, ‘Time’.

Thanks again everyone, see you next year.

The White Queen of Soul, Dusty Springfield, 16th April 1939 – 2nd March 1999. A British pop singer with a soulful, sensual sound. Dusty had a unique timing and delivery that propelled her to fame. At a time when soul was the happening thing in music on both sides of the atlantic, Springfield won Top Female British Artist as voted by the New Musical Express four years running, topping a poll which included huge acts such as Lulu, Sandie Shaw and Cilla Black. The uniqueness of Springfield’s voice was described by Burt Bacharach when he said: “You could hear just three notes and you knew it was Dusty.”

Dusty’s first hit was the upbeat pop hit, “I Only Want to Be with You” in 1963. Which would be followed by a string of hits throughout the 1960s. Her image, supported by a peroxide blond beehive hairstyle, evening gowns and heavy make-up, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties. And her popularity was not limited to the UK, topping charts and radio playlists in the US.

Dusty’s career sadly started to fade with the change in music culture toward more progressive music and the association with underground as “fashionable” and pop which had become “unfashionable”. In an effort to revive her faltering career Dusty went to the States and signed with Atlantic Records. Here she recorded perhaps her most famous album ‘Dusty in Memphis’ in 1968. Despite being unanimously well received critically, the album failed to top charts in the US or the UK. But one track stood out strongly and remains one of Dusty’s greatest hits today, “Son of a Preacher Man”, which earned Springfield a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1970.

Despite Springfield’s decline in popularity, her impact on British Music culture and fashion was incredibly powerful. Springfield became an icon and her style was adopted widely and that included her “panda eye” mascara which is well captured in David Redferns image. Springfield was recognised by countless awards throughout her career. Today she sits in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the UK Music Hall of Fame. Voted amongst the top female artists of all time by all the major music magazines and also received the Grammy Hall of Fame award posthumously. Springfield succumbed to cancer on 2nd March 1999, the same day Springfield had been scheduled to go to Buckingham Palace to receive her award of Officer, Order of the British Empire from her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Springfield’s manager collected the medal on her behalf and presented it to her in the hospital the day before her death. In the days after her death, her friend Sir Elton John stated, “I think she is the greatest white singer that there ever has been”.

Dusty Springfield’s first major hit “I Only Want To Be With You”.

Riley B. King Born September 16th, 1925, known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter acclaimed for his expressive singing and fluid, complex guitar playing.

King hails from Indianola, Mississipi. His expressive singing style, developed as he grew up singing in the gospel choir. At age 12, King bought his first guitar. In 1946, age 21, King moved to Memphis, Tennessee, which throughout the 50s would become the melting pot for Blues, Gospel and Rock and Roll. King would become a key player. His ten-minute radio spot on the legendary Memphis Radio station WDIA, affectionately became known as “King’s Spot” and later as a disk jockey he would become known as “Beale Street Blues Boy” after the street at the epicenter of the Blues scene.

King’s band, the B.B. King Review formed and began recording in 1949. During a performance later that year, a brawl would erupt between two men fighting for the attention of a young lady, resulting in a fire. King having left the building without his beloved $30 Gibson electric guitar, realized the imminent demise of the instrument and returned into the burning building to rescue the guitar. The woman at the heart of the brawl was named Lucille. King named that first guitar Lucille, as well as everyone he owned since that near fatal experience, as a reminder never again to do something as stupid.

King would forge his name over the following years, not only as a recording artists, but also for bringing to the fold new artists on his own ‘Blues Boys Kingdom’ recording label. King amassed a collection of hits in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. His contribution to music would continually receive recognition. In 1980 he would be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 1987, he garnered a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which would become the first of 15 Grammy Awards. In 2004 he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists “in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music”.

Despite a series of farewell tours, King continues to perform throughout the world, with tours of Europe, Brazil and the US. Collaborating with other artists of notoriety, including Eric Clapton, U2, John Mayall, Gladys Knight. Over a 52-year period, B.B. King has played in excess of 15,000 performances.

2012 Bristol Show – Science Behind the Designs Presentation.

This years Focus : GEOMETRY and its fundamental relevance to good design.

Conservatory : Each day of the Show at 1 o’clock.

The science based presentation will begin at the molecular level. It will provide an insight into the strengths and weaknesses of numerous engineering materials. Gain a real insight into why materials technology matters. Get a hold of and even stand on some of the most amazing materials of today and tomorrow!

WARNING : The presentation will include explosions via the combined effect of 4 Torus Infrasonic generators.

Wilson Benesch is one of the great success stories of British Audio design and manufacture. The companies “We can make it better than that” can do attitude has led to some of the most innovative design in audio over the last twenty years, and it all started with a record player and a grant from the D.T.I.

Wilson Benesch is globally recognised as the pioneer of advanced carbon fibre audio components. Stereosound Japan noted ten years ago that it was Wilson Benesch that first recognised the importance of the now ubiquitous sloping top geometry on the top of loudspeaker enclosures. The patented Torus Infrasonic Generator was described as a “Genius design” by The Absolute Sounds writer Jonathon Valin. A few of our favourite things that we will be celebrating this year as per usual, in the Conservatory.

Wilson Benesch is about joined up design and manufacture that is driven by a passionate no compromise approach to component and product development. Manufacturing, design, management, research in short everything, exists under one roof in Sheffield South Yorkshire. This unique facility is a centre for innovation that has established collaborative links with with scientists and engineers across the UK. It is this capability that has won the company not one but three substantial grants that records £870,000 of research and development expenditure over the last eight years. It has also led to several studies by television programs and researchers looking to see how we do, what we do. The Discovery Channel recently covered the company on its ‘How Is It Made’ Program.

So come and join us in the Sound & Vision Conservatory or Wilson Benesch Glass House.

Twitter Feed @Wilson_Benesch will keep you updated during the event

Here’s a short film from last year. This video can be viewed in HD on our YouTube homepage.