The look, the feel, the sound
With everything set up and ready to go, the Immedia RPM-2, with its matte black and stainless-steel accents, cut a low-key, businesslike…
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One thing I noticed right away—before playing any music—was the lowest level of crosstalk from the Transfiguration Temper (and later from the AudioQuest Fe5 and Clavis Da Capo cartridges) I've ever achieved. There was essentially no audible crosstalk—it was so quiet, at first I thought I'd done something wrong. This tribute to the arm's inherent stability promised outstanding channel separation and a wide soundstage.
But I didn't hear any of that. The RPM-2 let me hear, with greater authority and detail, for better or for worse, what was engraved in the grooves—the glories and grotesqueries of analog playback. Bright, awful-sounding records sounded so. Bad EQ choices made by ham-handed mastering engineers were exposed with brutal clarity. Multimiking phase anomalies were laid bare like adolescent zits under fluorescent light. And my chewed-up records? I didn't enjoy those.
But the great records—the wideband, dynamic ones, the ones that brilliantly balance direct and reverberant sound, that get…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Medium/high-mass damped unipivot tonearm.
Dimensions: Effective length: 10" (254mm). Weight: 2 lbs.
Serial number of unit reviewed: Not noted.
Price: $2495 (includes tonearm cable), 1994. Approximate number of dealers: 9.
Manufacturer: Immedia, 1101 Eighth Street, Suite 210, Berkeley, CA 94710. Tel: (510) 559-2050. Fax: (510) 559-1855. Web: www.immediasound.com.
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Phono Cartridges: Transfiguration Temper, Lyra Parnassus and Clavis DC, AudioQuest Fe-5, Dynavector XX-1L, and Crown Jewel.
Tonearms: Rockport Series 6000, Graham 1.5t/C, VPI JMW Memorial.
Turntable: VPI TNT Mk.III.
Digital Front-Ends: Audio Alchemy DDS•Pro transport, DTI•Pro 32 enhancer/jitter reducer, Enlightened Audio DSP-9000 III HDCD processor.
Preamplifiers: Audible Illusions Modulus 3A preamp, Millennium line-stage, Audio Research PH-3 and FM Acoustics 122 phono sections.
Power Amplifiers: Cary 805 SE triode and VTL MB 175 Signature…
As technology develops, things get more and more complicated. With every update of Windows, the program offers greater flexibility, but runs slower and makes greater demands on hardware. Automobiles have become so complex that only the most highly trained mechanics are able to fix even a minor malfunction. Surround-sound processors come with inch-thick owner's manuals.
Perhaps as a backlash to all these increases in technological complexity, a number of audio designers have come to endorse the principle of "less is more." Balanced Audio Technology's Victor Khomenko argues that…
The industrial design of the Gaincard/Power Humpty is, shall we say, distinctive. (Some might call it quirky.) The Gaincard itself is only slightly larger than two packs of cards, so it's not likely to impress those who equate size with performance. However, anyone who values craftsmanship will be impressed with the quality of fit'n'finish, which is excellent. The Power Humpty is unusual in shape as well as name: a short cylinder with no feet, just a pair of separate metal supports resembling chopstick rests.
Sound
The concept of break-in (or burn-in) applied to audio components is a…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier with separate left and right L-pad type, attenuators. Power output: 25Wpc into 8 ohms (14dBW), 34Wpc into 4 ohms (12.3dBW). Input impedance: 22k ohms.
Dimensions: 4706 amplifier: 6.6" (170mm) W by 1.5" (40mm) H by 3.9" (100mm) D. 4700 power supply: 5" (130mm) diameter by 7.6" (195mm) D. Weights: 4706, 1.8 lbs; 4700, 9.5 lbs.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: Gaincard, 4706-95439 (listening), 4706-95444 (measuring); Power Humpty, 4700-1036 (listening), 4700-1188 (measuring).
Price: $3300 with one Power…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Linn LP12 turntable (fully updated), Linn Ittok tonearm, AudioQuest AQ-7000nsx cartridge.
Digital source: PS Audio Lambda II CD transport, Perpetual Technologies P-1A/ModWright P-3A digital processors.
Preamplifier: Convergent Audio Technology SL-1 Ultimate.
Loudspeakers: Avantgarde Acoustic Uno 2.0.
Cables: Digital: Mystic Reference I2S, Illuminati Orchid AES/EBU. Interconnect: Nordost Quattro Fil, Nirvana S-L. Speaker: Nordost SPM, Nirvana S-L with Avantgarde Uno 2.0 wiring harness. AC: PS Audio Lab Cable, Mini Lab Cable, TARA…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
After the usual one-hour preconditioning period at 1/3 power into 8 ohms, the tiny 47 Lab 4706 Gaincard amplifier was far too hot to touch. It was so hot, in fact, that I was alarmed that something might have broken. Fortunately, everything was fine, but owners should be sure to give the 4706 plenty of room for adequate ventilation.
Looking first at the basics, the Gaincard didn't invert signal polarity. Its maximum gain into 8 ohms was a moderate (for an integrated amplifier) but adequate 30.4dB. The input impedance (measured at 1kHz) depended on the…
The other night I heard The Tallis Scholars—the world's foremost exponents of Renaissance polyphony—sing in the Chorus of Westerly's performance hall, in Rhode Island: an 1886-vintage former Roman Catholic church with nearly all of its original horsehair plaster intact (footnote 1). Even sitting back in the cheap seats, the sound was glorious. I have never heard a vocal ensemble sing with more finesse, pitch security, or blend of tone.
After the concert, director Peter Phillips was kind enough to chat with me, and to autograph the Scholars' CD of John Sheppard's Media Vita I had just…