Solid State Preamp Reviews

Sidebar 1: Associated Equipment

Turntable: VPI HW-19 Mk.II fitted with the Well-Tempered Arm and Ortofon X-5MC cartridge; CD player: Musical Concepts modified Magnavox 1040; Power amplifiers: Belles Model One, plus a 180Wpc amp of my own construction; Speakers: Legacy-1; Interconnects: Mogami Neglex; Speaker cable: LiveWire BC-4. The Spatial Coherence was auditioned alone and in a side-by-side comparison with a Harman/Kardon Citation 21.

Source material used: LPs: The Scott Hamilton Quintet in Concert (Concord Jazz CJ-233); The King James Version, Harry James and his Big Band (Sheffield LAB-3); Trio, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris (Warner Bros. 25491-1); Shadowland, K.D. Lang (Sire Records 25724-1). CDs: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons, Viktoria Mullova with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado, Conductor (Philips 420 216-2); Famous Blue Raincoat, Jennifer Warnes (Cypress 661 111-2).—Barry Willis