Analog Sources: VPI TNT IV turntable, Immedia RPM tonearm, Koetsu Urushi cartridge; Rega Planar 3 turntable, Syrinx PU-3 tonearm, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood & Aurum Beta S cartridges.
Digital Sources: Lector CDP-7T, California Audio Labs Icon Mk.II Power Boss, Creek CD53 Mk.II CD players; Pioneer DV-333 DVD player.
Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage, Audio Valve Eklipse line stage.
Power Amplifier: Audio Research VT100 Mk.II.
Integrated Amplifier: Creek 5350SE.
Loudspeakers: Amphion Helium2, Monitor Silver RS6, Nola…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Roy Hall, of Music Hall, US distributor of the Creek and Epos brands, called me one day a few years back. He was hawking review samples of Epos speakers.
"Bob, I'd like you to review a speaker from the eeh-pos line."
"Roy, I'm a big fan of Epos, but I review only inexpensive speakers; I think the Eposes are out of my price range."
"Nonsense. Since Mike Creek [founder, designer, and co-owner of Creek] purchased Epos from Tannoy in 1999, he has redesigned the entire Epos line and has shifted manufacturing to China to cut costs. So the new Epos line is lower in price…
Since the ES14 from the mid-1980s, speakers from the English Epos company have been renowned for their midrange magic, not for ultimate dynamics. But Mike Creek, Epos's owner, is aiming for both with the Encore 50, which made its debut at CES. This three-way floorstander, priced at $9995/pair, uses two port-loaded 9" woofers with Kevlar/carbon-fiber/pulp-composite cones, in a large cabinet to achieve a high 90dB sensitivity, while the metal-dome tweeter uses an injected-molded roll surround to give high excursion. The midrange is fed by a tapped autotransformer to allow adjustment to a…
Budget Component of 1998:
Creek 4330R integrated amplifier ($595, $495 without remote control; reviewed by Sam Tellig, Vol.20 No.11, November 1997; Wes Phillips, Vol.21 No.8, August 1998)
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
California Audio Labs Gamma D/A processor ($195; reviewed by Muse Kastanovich, Vol.19 No.11, November 1996; Robert J. Reina, Vol.20 No.5, May 1997, and Vol.21 No.1, January 1998)
LFD Mistral integrated amplifier ($1095; reviewed by Sam Tellig, Vol.21 No.9, September 1998)
Mission 731i loudspeaker ($299/pair; reviewed by Robert J. Reina, Vol.21 No.4…
Gryphon's long-awaited pure class-A Antileon Revelation amplifier, the successor to the Antileon EVO, will hit dealer shelves late August in both stereo ($39,800) and mono ($45,500/each) versions. We used to say, “It will arrive late August if the creek don’t rise;” these days, we replace creek with tariffs.
The stereo model delivers 160Wpc into 8 ohms and 320Wpc into 4 ohms; the mono version increases that to 180W into 8 and 360W into 4 ohms. Output impedance is rated at 0.04 ohms for stereo and 0.02 ohms for mono. Power supply capacitance is 2×335,000µF for the stereo amp and…
Sidebar 1: Contacts
Fidelizer. Web: www.fidelizer-audio.com
exaSound Audio Design, 3219 Yonge Street, Suite 354, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3S1, Canada. Web: www.exasound.com
Baetis Audio, 428 Canyon Creek Road, Livingston, MT 59047. Tel: (514) 496-9933. Web: www.baetisaudio.com
2001 Joint Budget Components of the Year
Creek 5350SE integrated amplifier (review) ($1500; reviewed by Robert J. Reina & Sam Tellig, Vol.24 Nos.3 & 4, March & April 2001)
Perpetual Technologies P-3A D/A processor (review) ($799; reviewed by Robert Deutsch, Vol.24 Nos.1 & 10, January & October 2001)
Polk RT25i loudspeaker (review) ($320/pair; reviewed by Robert J. Reina, Vol.24 No.9, September 2001)
Runners-Up (in alphabetical order):
Acoustic Energy AEGO2 loudspeaker ($599/pair with active subwoofer; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.24 No.3, March…
Creek's new EVO 50CD made its debut at CES and will also include a DAC built around 2 Wolfson 24/192 chips. On the back will be coaxial, toslink and USB inputs as well as coax and toslink as well as analog outputs. The player/DAC with USB will be available in spring this year for $1,495.
BJR compared the Marantz PM5003 & PM5004 in March 2011 (Vol.34 No.3):
In the context of reviewing the CD5004 CD player ($349.99), I thought it would be useful to also listen to its sister component, Marantz's PM5004 integrated amplifier ($449.99), and compare it with its predecessor, the PM5003 integrated (also $449.99), which I reviewed in the January 2010 Stereophile.
It took a good deal of scrutiny to see any differences between the PM5003 and PM 5004. The only thing I found is that the Speaker A and B terminals are reversed on the PM5004. Marantz told me that this is…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Rega Research Planar 3 turntable, Syrinx PU-3 tonearm, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge.
Integrated Amplifier: Creek Destiny.
Loudspeakers: Epos Elan 10.
Cables: Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator, MI-330SG Terminator. Speaker: Accent Speaker Technology Black Orpheus. AC: manufacturers' own.
Accessories: Various by ASC, Bright Star, Celestion, Echo Busters, Salamander Designs, Simply Physics, Sound Anchor, VPI.—Robert J. Reina