Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

The main system with which the WATTs and Puppies were auditioned consisted of a Linn/Ekos/Troika setup sitting on an ArchiDee table to play LPs, a Revox PR99 to play 15ips master tapes, and the Stax DAC-X1t processor driven by Meridian 602 and Wadia WT-3200 transports to play CDs.

Preamplification first consisted of the Expressive Technologies transformer hooked into a Mod Squad Phono Drive EPS and a Threshold FET ten/e line stage, this combination then replaced by the French YBA 2 preamplifier.

The power amplifier used was almost exclusively the Mark Levinson No.23.5, connected to the preamplifiers via 15' lengths of AudioQuest Lapis unbalanced interconnect. Speaker cable was first doubled 5' lengths of AudioQuest Clear, then 2m lengths of AudioQuest's new Dragon.—John Atkinson