search

Stereophile's Products of 1996 Joint Budget Components of 1996

Joint Budget Components of 1996

McCormack Power Drive DNA-0.5 Special Edition amplifier
PSB New Stratus Mini loudspeake ($950/pair (matching stands add $179/pair); reviewed by John Atkinson, Vol.19 No.6, June 1996 Review)

Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Acarian Alón Petite loudspeaker ($995/pair; reviewed by Wes Phillips, Vol.19 No.1, January 1996; Stereophile Guide to Home Theater, Vol.2 No.3, Fall 1996 Review)
Audio Alchemy DDE v3.0 HDCD D/A processor ($799; reviewed by Robert Harley, Vol.18 Nos.7 & 12, July & December 1995)
Audio Alchemy Digital Line…

Plain Talk About the Unmentionable

Editor's Note: On the 52nd anniversary of Stereophile's founding in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt, we are publishing this mea culpa "As We See it" essay from 1981, in which he explains why Vol.4 No.10 was almost six months late in mailing to subscribers. Gordon had relocated from the Philadephia suburbs to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1978, and as he had explained in the April 1978 issue, the move had not gone well. "Much of the equipment necessary for testing got damaged or destroyed in transit," he wrote, adding that "What had promised to be a superb listening room turned out to have some sticky…

Audience ClairAudient The One loudspeaker Page 2

But how did the bass fare in such a large room with no support from a subwoofer? With most recordings, quite nicely. In "Walking on Sacred Ground," from Janis Ian's Breaking Silence (CD, Morgan Creek/Analogue Productions CAPP 027), the boisterous interplay of bass drum and bass guitar was solid and tuneful. Similarly, the bass synths and electronic percussion in Sade's Love Deluxe (CD, Epic EK 53178) were forceful—no sub needed. However, I did feel that the drums and bass guitar on Jennifer Kimball's Oh Hear Us (CD, Epoisse 1094-2) were a bit lightweight on the bottom, and that the Ones…

Croft Acoustics Phono Integrated integrated amplifier Stephen Mejias comments

Stephen Mejias also wrote about the Croft Phono Integrated in October 2013

As I write these words, I haven't yet read Art Dudley's complete review (elsewhere in this issue) of the new Croft integrated amplifier. I do know, however, that Art liked it a lot and that it performed very poorly on John Atkinson's test bench. It's not the first time we've experienced such a discrepancy, and it won't be the last. In this case, though, the results diverged so thoroughly that JA asked for a second opinion. Perhaps because I happened to be in his direct line of vision, JA offered the assignment to…

Mission Pilastro loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Three-way, ABR-loaded floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.25" (28mm) ferrofluid-cooled, viscous-laminated ring-dome tweeter, two 6.5" (165mm) natural-hemp-cone midrange units, four 8" (200mm) air-dried Nomex-cone woofers, six 8" (200mm) air-dried Nomex-cone ABR (Auxiliary Bass Radiator) units. Crossover: acoustic second-order filter slopes at 110Hz and 2.2kHz. Frequency response: 25Hz-48kHz, ±3dB, -6dB at 22Hz. Sensitivity: 95dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 6 ohms (3.2 ohms minimum). Recommended power: 15-500W.
Dimensions: 57.5" (1460mm) H…

Meridian 208 CD player/preamplifier Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: CD player with integral preamplifier and full remote control of functions via supplied 209 handset, two line-level inputs, one tape loop and optional phono input, fixed and variable outputs, one pair of optical outputs, and one coaxial digital output. CD player specifications, fixed outputs: Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz ±0.2dB. THD: ±0.004%. Noise: ±94dB. Conversion: Bitstream, PDM, differential time-aligned mode, 256x-oversampling digital filtering with passive final low-pass filtering. Precision: 16 bits. Output impedance: 12.6 ohms, fixed…

Audio Research SP-11 preamplifier Description

Sidebar: Description

Specifications: Hybrid solid-state/tube preamplifier with separate power supply. Inputs: Phono (high-gain MM), Tuner, CD, Video (sound only), Tape 1, Tape 2. Outputs: Tape 1, Tape 2, Main 1, Main 2, Invert, Direct. Controls: Gain, Level, Balance, Mode (Mono, Reverse, Stereo, Left, Right), Input (All but tape), Impedance (cartridge loading), Tape Monitor, Copy switch, Copy mode (1-2, 2-1), Manual Mute, Polarity (Invert/Normal), Bypass, Subsonic Filter. Frequency response: High level 1Hz-100kHz, ±0.5dB, -3dB at 0.2Hz and 250kHz. RIAA accuracy: 20Hz-40kHz ±0.2dB.…

Altec's Pennsylvania HQ Damaged by Fire

Engineering facilities and a finished-goods warehouse at Altec Lansing Technologies' Milford, Pennsylvania, headquarters were damaged by fire late Sunday, May 31. The blaze was said to have been exacerbated by severe weather. No injuries were reported.

Administrative offices weren't damaged. By Monday afternoon, engineering-department employees were back at work in other parts of the company's offices. No jobs will be lost because of the fire, Altec executives said.

The impact of the fire on Altec's business will be minimal, said president and chairman Edward Anchel, because the…

YBA Integré integrated amplifier Page 2

Roy Hall, and others who import itty-bitty British eye-fye, have been proving for years that you can get great sound from small, relatively inexpensive systems. But as Roy and others find, selling this stuff in North America can be a tough go. Hell, it's hard to get people to listen, never mind buy.

There are some great integrated amps from England. The Creek stuff—better than it's ever been. The Audiolab 8000S, which I have in my listening room now, imported by Dave Lang of Artech—a killer of a line-level integrated for $995. The Myriad MI-120, now being imported (influxed?) by Michael…

JBL Synthesis 1400 Array BG loudspeaker Page 3

The 1400 Array featured an impressive accuracy of midrange timbre. It allowed me to hear subtle differences among individual members of choirs, as well as differentiate the characteristic reediness of different orchestral wind instruments. It was easy to appreciate the vocal registers of different singers in the all-male Turtle Creek Chorale in John Rutter's Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace, from Requiem (CD, Reference RR-57CD). José Carreras's clear tenor in the Kyrie from Ariel Ramirez's Misa Criolla, in the recording led by José Luis Ocejo (CD, Philips, 420 955-2), sounded…