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I couldn't tell exactly where the mikes were placed, but in the three Embryons desséchés (Dried Embryos), I felt I was back home, sitting next to my childhood piano teacher. The piano sounded as I imagine it sounded to M. Thibaudet while he was playing it. In the first movement, both Thibaudet and the Azur 851A got the cabaret-like "purring" of the holothurian just right. Pianist and amplifier seemed in sync—I could feel the varied forces of Thibaudet's fingers as they struck the keys. At this point in my listening I could best describe the sound of the Azur 851A as relaxed and enjoyably…
Integrated Amplifiers & Receivers
A
Anthem STR: $4499 ###
Anthem's solid-state STR integrated amp offers 200Wpc (into 8 ohms) of class-AB power, along with seven analog inputs—one balanced, four single-ended, and two phono (one MM, one MC). It also offers a 32-bit/192kHz D/A processor with six digital inputs—four S/PDIF (two RCA, two TosLink), one AES/EBU (XLR), and one USB. A subwoofer output is provided, but, curiously, there's no headphone output. Of interest to users with problematic listening rooms is the STR's built-in Anthem Room Correction (ARC)…
In the upper-middle frequency range, the only instruments that at times lacked naturalness were the brass, particularly the trumpet. In a mellow jazz recording such as Miles Davis' Kind of Blue (LP, Columbia/Classic CS 8163, Quiex pressing), Davis' trumpet was not harsh, but seemed highlighted, as if the engineer had added another spot mike. On recordings with more energetic and highly modulated trumpet passages, such as Buena Vista Social Club (LP, Nonesuch/Classic RTH 79478), trumpet passages sounded, well, too brassy, detracting from the realism of this excellent recording.
Strangely…
Since 1991, Acarian Systems' Carl Marchisotto has brought home the bacon by focusing most of his efforts on conventional dynamic, three-way, floorstanding designs in the $2000-$7000/pair range—28 different loudspeaker designs in 12 years, 13 of them still in production. That's why Home Entertainment 2001 showgoers who were familiar with previous Alón efforts were taken aback when Marchisotto unveiled a new flagship for his Alón speaker line: the Exotica Grand Reference, a $120,000 line-source ribbon/dynamic hybrid system comprising five 7' towers. For those attracted to cost-no-object designs…
Cassidy and other vocalists maintained good vocal timbre and image size when played over the Snells. Despite the Towers' height, the voices were rendered life-size and three-dimensional, with none of the Wizard-of-Oz image inflation I'd heard from other flagship speakers, such as the now-unavailable Mark Levinson HQD system. Blues singer Chris Smither's warm, soothing voice and liquid guitar playing remained intimate on his Live As I'll Ever Be (CD, Hightone HCD8120-2).
Male vocalists were conveyed with exceptional emotional power. Take The Blind Boys of Alabama (Real World 8 50918 2)…
Previous Awards:
Stereophile's Products of 2000
Joint Products of the Year:
Sony SCD-1 SACD player (review)
Rockport Technologies System Sirius III turntable (review)
Budget Component: MSB LinkDAC III Full Nelson D/A processor (review)
Joint Loudspeakers:
Avantgarde Uno (review)
Dynaudio Evidence Master (review)
Amplification Component: McIntosh MC2000 Commemorative Edition power amplifier (review)
Digital Source: Sony SCD-1 SACD player (review)
Analog Source: Rockport Technologies System Sirius III turntable (review)
Accessory: PS…
JL Audio's ARO first tests the room, then applies single-band equalization to tune out its most prominent deviation from a linear frequency response. With the rest of the stereo system shut off, ARO automatically generates its own test signals. But before I began, I made certain to turn off my dishwasher and air-conditioner, which can generate subsonic artifacts of their own that can mislead the ARO algorithm. I plugged the ARO calibration mike's cable into the right Fathom f212's front control panel, cranked up the sub's Master level control to its maximal (4 o'clock) position, set all…
Considering that the crates they're shipped in are each as large as a Manhattan studio apartment, once they'd been set up in my listening room, Focal's Maestro Utopia III speakers weren't as visually overpowering as I'd anticipated. The elegant dark-gloss front baffles, the gloss-gray side panels, and the fact that the speaker's three subenclosures are vertically arrayed so that the top, midrange section is angled down, significantly reduced their apparent size.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Following a series of minimonitor reviews in 2009, I had decided to live for a while…
Bryston is one of North America's most established hi-fi makers. Based not far from Toronto in Peterborough, Ontario, Bryston has been in business since 1962.
But audiophiles don't get excited about Bryston—not, at least, those hard-core audiophiles who love to keep changing equipment, who think of hi-fi as a competitive sport. Bryston! Why, their 2B amplifier has been in production for almost 20 years! How boring.
How boring, too, the fact that Bryston equipment is now guaranteed for 20 years. Who owns something for 20 years? (Bryston customers, obviously.) My buddy The Brass Ear…
Bells, chimes, and triangles shimmered with cascades of clearly defined harmonics. Don Dorsey's "Ascent," from Telarc's Time Warp, played with a mixture of dense bass pulses and chimes that were sweet, translucent, and clean. The leading edges of transients were razor-sharp without being irritating. Dorsey's synthesizer exploded out of black silence with a stream of pulses, beeps, bell-like sounds, and high-pitched squeaks that moved back and forth across the soundstage. The piece's end—an explosive shot followed immediately by sullen, massive rumbling—was full of angst and foreboding.
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