Jonathan Scull

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Transcendent T8 OTL monoblock power amplifier
Tube Power Amp Reviews
Jonathan Scull  |  Mar 05, 2006  |  First Published: Nov 05, 1997  |  0 comments
Just who does Bruce Rozenblit think he is? And why is he saying those things about the late Julius Futterman? Rozenblit, relying heavily for guidance on his Electrical Engineering degree, has crafted an OTL (output-transformerless) amplifier that flies in the face of contemporary design dogma. To hear Bruce tell it, he's tamed the breed—this is how OTLs should have been done to start with, Futterman notwithstanding.
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Ulrik Poulsen and his Amazing Alpha-Core Cables
Interviews
Jonathan Scull  |  Sep 14, 2012  |  First Published: Mar 14, 1996  |  10 comments
Jonathan Scull: How long have you been making cables, Ulrik?

Ulrik Poulsen: It's actually close to three years now...It's a spinoff from other products we make. Actually, Alpha-Core manufactures magnetic cores and various materials and components for transformers...And we have a daughter company called Tortran that manufactures toroidal transformers. Anyway, five years ago we introduced a new product called Laminax. It's a combination of copper and aluminum with various kinds of dielectrics. This is laminated together continuously in various fashions to produce a material that's used as shielding for EMI and RFI in the electronics industry.

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van den Hul Black Beauty MC phono cartridge
Phono Cartridge Reviews
Jonathan Scull  |  Apr 29, 2007  |  First Published: May 29, 1999  |  0 comments
A.J. van den Hul calls the Black Beauty a phono cartridge "just for friends." In a way, this Black Beauty was made specially for me—it's been tweaked for an undamped linear-tracking arm. Says so right here on the box: "Forsell Version." But before you explode, know that Mr. van den Hul will be pleased to do the same for you. He'll adjust the suspension of any Black Beauty– or Grasshopper-series cartridge for your arm and 'table. Or, should you specify, for "the preamp and load impedance, a particular brand of records to be played, the type of music generally played (jazz being more dynamic and classical more spacious and detailed), and other personal/sound preferences."
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van den Hul Grasshopper IV phono cartridge
Phono Cartridge Reviews
Jonathan Scull  |  Aug 05, 2007  |  First Published: Jul 05, 1995  |  0 comments
If you think I burned out cartridge-wise at the end of my and JE's It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World cartridge survey at the beginning of the year (Vol.18 Nos.1 & 2), you're wrong. If you think I ought to burn out and give it a rest, you'll be disappointed. If you think analog doesn't matter anymore, you have my semi-sincere condolences. But if you think, as I do, that analog is enjoying a resurgence of epic proportions (twilight or no), and that LP playback has reached a new zenith of musical wonder, then hang on—here I go again!
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VTL MB-1250 Wotan monoblock amplifier
Tube Power Amp ReviewsAudacious Audio
Jonathan Scull  |  Aug 08, 2011  |  First Published: Oct 01, 1996  |  1 comments
Most reviewers look for a "hook" or angle of some kind when it comes time to write a review. After all, how many ways are there to get excited about audio equipment? Kathleen and I like to focus on the human side of the High End. So it was with some amusement that I watched the obstacles swirl around what I thought would be a fairly straightforward review of the Vacuum Tube Logic MB-1250 Wotan monoblock power amplifier. My thought was to return from single-ended to push-pull with a bang! I'll say...

It all began at the January 1996 WCES, where I found my shorts positively welded to the listening chair during a memorable musical blast at VTL. Luke Manley and his extreme audiophile wife Bea had a good thing going and they knew it. People were talking. "Did you hear those monster two-storey VTLs on the Alón Vs?"

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VTL's Luke Manley
Interviews
Jonathan Scull  |  May 24, 2013  |  First Published: Jun 01, 1996  |  0 comments
Luke Manley at Manhattan's Innovative Audio (Photo: John Atkinson)

Jonathan Scull: How long has VTL been in business, Luke?

Luke Manley: My dad, David Manley, and I co-founded VTL in June of 1986. We started small on the East Coast, and soon after we moved to California.

Scull: Is it because you're really a West Coast kind of guy?

Manley: [laughs] You bet! There's a lot of supporting industries out there; a big base of electronics manufacturers, for example.

Scull: What, in the San Francisco area?

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Wavelength Audio Cardinal XS monoblock amplifier
Tube Power Amp Reviews
Jonathan Scull  |  Apr 04, 2004  |  First Published: Jan 01, 1996  |  0 comments
We have to talk. Are you sitting comfortably? Is the reading light okay? Have a little something to drink at hand? (Audio is thirsty business.) The audio world is abuzz over the reintroduction of the single-ended triode amplifier. This is the first of three reviews of such amplifiers I'll be bringing you, along with two speaker systems with which to play them.
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What is the Absolute Sound?
As We See It
Jonathan Scull  |  Mar 05, 2005  |  First Published: Jun 05, 1999  |  0 comments
Just what is the absolute sound, and how do you get there from here? What the heck are we looking for as we endure the mirth of others while purposefully setting up our high-end systems? Is it, indeed, the sanctified sound of acoustic instruments in real space? Can we ever really achieve that? Or is it the accurate realization of the signal on the master tape? Or—as was recently suggested at the New York Noise single-ended lovefest, covered in this issue's "Industry Update"—are some of us looking for the emotion and the artist's intent?
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YBA CD 1 Blue Laser CD player
CD Player/Transport ReviewsAudacious Audio
Jonathan Scull  |  Jan 26, 2013  |  First Published: Feb 01, 1997  |  12 comments
ybacd101.jpgI'm about to out YYves-Bernard André as one of the great unknown tweakers of high-end audio. (My own predilection for stepping into uncharted tweakwaters is well known.) Yves-Bernard, his wife and partner Ariane Moran, and importer/distributor Daniel Jacques of Audio Plus Services seemed perfectly sanguine about letting the cat out of the bag. And why not? In a singular way, the YBA audio solution encompasses both the supertweak and the more-casual-about-equipment music lover.

The YBA CD 1 Blue Laser (or Lecteur CD 1, as it's known at home in France) breaks new ground. It is very French in that it's individualistic in the extreme, and perfectly embodies current thinking chez YBA regarding music playback in the home. Its design dates back to 1991, a point Yves-Bernard takes pains to point out in the manual.

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YBA Passion 1000 monoblock power amplifier
Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Jonathan Scull  |  Oct 10, 2004  |  First Published: Jan 01, 1999  |  0 comments
Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.—Henri-Frédéric Amiel
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