mmmhhh, my thought is to report slice by slice, as I cannot do everything at once... when it will be finished we may put the whole story to "one" story, so that it is not interrupted ? so, let me start:
What a HiFi-trip !!!
The beginning
The first impression on the journey to HiFi-Japan to my big surprise I did not experience in Japan but way before, half way from Cologne to Paris, our meeting point, in Brussels (Bruxelles). After about 1 ½ hours from Cologne, just leaving Brussels South, Gare du Midi (the station for the European politicians - with corresponding police presence - to leave for The European Parliament)…
…while some sort of a little nervous dreaming of the HiFi-Trip to Japan to come quick like a flash of lightning I was struck in awe getting aware of that horn not in a HiFi-listening room but in the public, quickly passing by outside the window, free for everybody to use and shout out loud, getting amplified by this horn…
… the horn is called PASIONARIA, “Porte Voix” (translated: “transporting the voice”), it is made out of 10 mm stainless steel (INOX), it possesses some 4,25 meters in length and has a mouth opening of 2 meter 30, a size that we are used to here for more than 30 years in the bass, but not in the mid-range…
…so my immediate thought was: How would that horn sound in a HiFi-system
... well, I do not know yet, but as it is installed in Brussels, not that far away from where I live, I will visit it again and then try it out personally…
…the horn was created in 2006 by the artist Emilio Lopez-Menchero from Belgium… it is installed at the Avenue de Stalingrad, prolonging the street, right in the centre of Brussels…
…the horn is a sign, a symbol and a public instrument, something like “Speaker’s Corner” in Hyde Park in London, accessible for everybody by a staircase made out of concrete in combination with some stainless steel railings…
…if you are in for an adaptation into your system, the PASIONARIA is not just a horn, the construction and execution was scientifically supervised by the sound engineer Johan Vandermaelen. For further inquiries you may contact the society “Firme Moker", atelier métallurgique...
… unfortunately it was too quick for me on the train with restricted view outside the window so I did not manage to get my camera ready inside the Thalys, a high speed train running to and fro from Cologne to Paris, to shoot pictures by myself, so I felt free to adapt some form the internet (credit to the owners of the pictures)