UNICOSUONO writes: “On 4 December 2021 at the Savoy Hotel in Rome, in the presence of 6 Italian and foreign hi fi magazines, the new totally handmade in Italy brand UNICOSUONO made its debut to the European public.”
“Together with the new brand, great partners such as J. Sikora from Poland joined, who for the first time exhibited his Reference turntable in Italy; LampizatOr from Poland brought the MC-1 phono pre-amplifier to Italy for the first time; Canor Audio from Slovakia which presented for the first time to the world the new Hyperion P1 line preamplifier and Virtus M1 mono power amplifiers, all developed on tube technology.”
The three brands are imported into Italy by the dynamic distributor CinemaeSound, partner and promoter of the event.
UNICOSUONO presented the two types of products that distinguish it, namely the High End Series and the EXTREME.
As the manufacturer himself writes:
“High-end series UNICOSUONO has the ambition to satisfy the expectations of the most demanding public: our business card are the products included in the High End series. It may be a signal cable, a preamplifier or a pair of speakers, UNICOSUONO longs to be positioned at the top of quality levels to offer devices that do not leave high fidelity enthusiasts indifferent. Design, originality, build quality, finish and performance are High-End.”
EXTREME
It is our family of projects outside the conventional framework. Here the form is bent to performance, a dimension in which there is no concept of compromise. “
From the High End Series, unbalanced analog, balanced analog and digital RCA signal cables were presented respectively. To distinguish them from other types of cables they are characterized by the blue color. Technically, they are entirely hand-made cables starting from conductors of various sizes, various metals (copper and silver) and with a unique geometry that cannot be traced back to any scheme already seen. Everything is custom designed and built for these products starting with the connectors, then the sheaths, the metal inserts and all internal conductors. All cables are numbered in increasing series and are associated with the customer’s name.
The power cables, power cables, anti-seismic bases and anti-seismic table were presented from the EXTREME series
In addition to the build quality already seen in the High End series, the EXTREME cables are characterized by having larger and higher quality conductors, separately insulated, so there are three cables for the two poles and the earth in the power cable, there are two cables and for two poles of the power cable.
The power supplies are characterized by the orange color, the power is characterized by the red color. The cables are numbered in a series with a limited edition of 10 or 25 pieces, with a guarantee certificate associated with the customer. They are exclusive products and for an extremely demanding public.
The anti-seismic bases are an extremely high-tech product, it is an aluminum top with a thickness of 15mm on which the brand logo is engraved, suspended by 4 vibrashocks of military aeronautical origin with an opposing system, which allows the top itself to remain suspended and at the same time to tilt according to the weight placed on it. It has a capacity of 90kG, but on request it can be up to 120kg.
There is a screw mechanism that allows micrometric adjustment to put the top in perfect level. In fact, the base can be used for power amplifiers and grounding, or it can support turntables and be placed on top of a piece of furniture even different from those produced by UNICOSUONO. The rest of the structure is imposing and is in solid cnc machined aluminum, the whole base is satin finished, you can have gray or UNICO black.
The anti-seismic table is a modular system of solid and mobile support legs that can be positioned at will around an extra sturdy top that can be finished at will. There are all the colors of the glossy lacquered palette for the top or in natural wood, the legs can be finished with all the palette colors in matt lacquer or solid wood. The anti-seismic system can be either with suspended crosspieces with vibrashock or integrated into the floor itself, according to the customer’s needs, the first system was presented at the Savoy.
The presentation was completed by the prototype of an acoustic diffuser covered by a white cloth. It is a product that will see the light in 2022 and whose sound was wanted to be heard, but not the aesthetics that will be revealed in an exclusive presentation. Technically it is a 3-and-a-half-way, centered around a loudspeaker that emits a large part of the audible range, aided at the top by a high-performance tweeter, and at the bottom by a multi-chord system.
The cabinet is focused on zero vibration technology, with integrated anti-seismic system, the unconventional cross-over is extremely complex in the circuitry, but from the electrical point of view the amplifier ‘sees’ only one component for each speaker and there is no resistance in series with the signal path.
About J.Sikora
J.Sikora’s History
J.Sikora began producing and selling turntables in 2007. Our founder, Janusz Sikora, was one of the pillars behind Burdjak & Sikora, producer of superior vacuum-tube amplifiers. Our turntables are produced one at a time; they are addressed to true music lovers and audiophiles who, like us, seek uncompromised analog sources.
What We Do
We are concerned with designing and producing advanced analog turntables. Lovers of great music, enjoyed in our homes and reproduced with ultimate fidelity to the original recording. The J.Sikora brand was built on this foundation—love of music—and the desire to share our own passion with like-minded others.
What We Create
We offer 3 turntable models: Initial, Standard, and Reference. Each model is made of diverse materials of the very highest quality. Together with the finest-quality tonearms, cartridges, and phonostages, our distinctive turntables enable perfect audio playback and the best possible realization of the musical potential hidden in every vinyl record.
Canor – our story
Yes, it basically comes from a passion for music. My father is a musician and a multi-instrumentalist. Not only did he play, but also taught playing the wind and string instruments; the wind instruments were tenor saxophone, baritone horn and trombone, and the string cellos and double bass. He played in countless brass music which he later conducted and played in several string quartets. So I’ve been in touch with music since I was a kid.
When I was six, I learned to play the violin (one and a half years), but when we moved, I started going to the tenor saxophone lessons my father taught. When I was older, I became more interested in the technical aspect of sound reproduction. I went to the high school of electrical engineering in Tesla Vráble, which was the largest manufacturer of amplifiers in former Czechoslovakia.
I have always been fascinated when I was practising in Tesla, how the amplifiers were assembled, measured and tested.
My beginnings of designing of various amplifiers started right there. After high school, I continued my studies at university and has chosen the specialization as closely related to the field of sound as possible – in radio-electronics.
After school, of course, I was employed in a company that developed and manufactured amplifiers. But they were PA amplifiers for musicians, and there was a focus on performance rather than reproduction quality.
After four years, I left this company and made my first amplifiers, which I called the Audiospace – there were two 500W monoblocks and a battery-powered preamplifier. At that time, I met my current colleagues, who were already producing their tube based amplifier TP101 and we decided to set up a joint venture two years later. This was the beginning of the development of our mutual activities.
At that time we were 3 partners and we had 2 employees.
An amplifier is a complex matter. It is always about details and finesses that are embodied in the overall design of the amplifier. Certainly, aseparate components is a better and more uncompromising solution, but it also brings in higher costs. The CANOR AI 1.10 is a perfect example that great sound can be achieved without making a lot of compromises even with integrated amplifier.
The TP101 and other types of amplifiers we made, such as the TP105VR+ and TP134, were classic ultra-linear connections that deliver great sound. However, by having a lower damping factor, it is quite hard to pick the right speakers for them. In order to make a more versatile amplifier, we decided for a fixed bias cathode feedback design. The model TP106VR + with 6550 was designed with consideration to that idea. But there was still something missing. It took us countless tests, listening and measurements after we finally get to the design with automatic bias cathode feedback and in pure A class – the AI 1.10 model.
This topology can play superbly with 80-90% of the speakers that are produced, although there are always listeners that will enjoy the sound of, for example, TP134.
I always judge the systems based on whether I like them or not and how long I can listen to them.
It happens to me, for example, that I am interested in the sound of horn speakers at some shows, but after half an hour I find out that it is not a sound that I could listen to for a long time and then I always find out that speakers of classical design suit me more.
Like everything, the vacuum tubes also have their pros and cons in both the sound and the technical field.
The biggest technical weakness of the vacuum tubes is their reliability and durability. The lifetime of vacuum tubes is clearly determined and the customer should accept it. It is the same as, for example, in a car – you have to change the oil in it, etc., if you want it to work well after driving a certain number of kilometres. Likewise, the tubes must be replaced after playing a certain number of hours. The semiconductor amplifiers have a significant advantage in this.
As far as the reliability of the vacuum tubes is concerned, the quality of the tubes produced has significantly decreased over the last 15 years. In order to maintain the reliability of our products, we had to deal with this situation. Since there was no vacuum tube measuring system available on the market that would meet our requirements, we decided to design such a very complex and extensive system by ourselves. The available systems did not achieve the accuracy and functionality we required – we wanted to store all the measured tube parameters in the database and have the possibility to select the tubes according to different measurement accuracy filters. Last but not least, we wanted a system that we could rely on in terms of the temporal stability of measured data.
We’ve been developing this system for about 6 years and called it Aladdin – this system really allows us to select “Aladdin’s miracle lamps”.
I think tube amplifiers will always have their place on the market as well as transistor ones.
I’m not saying push-pull is a better engagement than a single-ended one, but it’s a more versatile engagement.
This is doubly true, in the case of the single-ended class, what I mentioned earlier in case of the classic ultra-linear connection, that it is harder to match the speakers to such amplifiers.
New tubes KT120 and KT150 allow you to design more powerful amplifiers.
After discovering the “magic” of the Class A tube amplifier AI 1.10, we were tempted to try class A design with the transistors. We were so pleased with the sound that we reached, that we decided to include this amplifier in our portfolio – a solid-state amplifier AI 1.20, and let the customer choose the sound they like and, last but not least, offer an alternative to customers who still have some mistrust towards the tubes. I think the sound parameters of the Canor AI 1.20 solid-state amplifier can be compared with absolute leaders in this field.
I can’t tell the future, however, it never crossed my mind when we set up a company with 5 employees in 2000, that we will employee around 80 people in 2020 and that we will possess the ultimate cutting-edge technical background and technologies, that enable us to move ahead and keep up with the competition.
But the truth is that we enjoy this work and we will always do it the best we can, always look for ways to improve and progress. And at the same time bring our customers joy with excellent listening to music.
