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In order to let me evaluate the Continuum Caliburn independent of the Cobra, Continuum made an adapter plate that allowed Graham Engineering's Phantom B-44 tonearm to be mounted opposite the Cobra. Continuum has the utmost respect for Bob Graham and his arm, considering it among the best out there.

Direct comparisons using the same cartridge told me that these are two of the finest tonearms I have ever heard. The Graham was slightly more reserved and grounded, the Cobra a bit more airy and effusive.

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Bob Graham has been refining his tonearm since it first appeared in prototype form as the McIntosh Excalibur, back in the 1980s. As reported by Ken Kessler in his terrific book McIntosh "...for the love of music...," Graham, then at MIT and independently developing his tonearm, was introduced to McIntosh's Gordon Gow, who was in Massachusetts visiting area audio retailers. Gow was sufficiently impressed to fund further development and help Graham patent his design. However, a hitch in the accompanying McIntosh…

In February 2000, a physicist at Bell Labs announced that he had succeeded in creating molecular-scale transistors. Imagine!

The researcher in question, one Jan Hendrik Schön, produced hundreds of pages of graphs and other data that appeared to support his claim, some of which were submitted for publication in Science. Virtually overnight, as these things go, Science's readers hailed the work as a genuine breakthrough in the field of nanophysics.

But there was a problem: When fellow researchers…

C1000T: tube preamplifier. Tube complement: eight 12AX7. Frequency response: 10Hz–20kHz, +0/–0.5dB. THD: 0.08%, 20Hz–20kHz (no level quoted). Signal/noise ratios: high level: 93dB (ref. 2.5V output unbalanced, 5V balanced); phono, 80dB(ref. 10mV input, MM; 1mV input, MC). Maximum output: 8V RMS single-ended, 16V RMS balanced. Output impedance: 220 ohms. Maximum input levels: 5V single-ended, 10V balanced, high level; 50mV (MM), 5mV (MC), phono. Sensitivity, high level, for 2.5V output: 450mV (high level), 4.5mV (MM), 0.45mV (MC).
Serial Number Of Unit…

Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable; Continuum Cobra, Graham Phantom tonearms; Lyra Titan (stereo & mono), Miyabi/47 Labs cartridges.
Digital Sources: Musical Fidelity kW SACD player, Alesis Masterlink BPT-modified hard-disk recorder.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, Blue Amp 42, PS Audio GCPH, Oracle Temple phono preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Musical Fidelity kW, mbl 9007 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson MAXX 2, Merlin VSM.
Cables: Phono: CrystalConnect Piccolo. Interconnect: Acrolink 6100, Shunyata Research…

I performed full sets of measurements on both McIntosh preamplifiers, for both balanced and unbalanced operation, but the two units turned out to be electrically so similar that I've combined my comments on both into a single sidebar.

The phono stages, of course, are unbalanced only; I examined their behavior at each preamp's Processor Out jacks. The MM stages of the C1000P and C1000T are noninverting and offered a voltage gain of 40.1dB and an input impedance of 47k ohms across most of the audioband, the latter dropping inconsequentially to 42.5k ohms at…

The system comes in five sections: two woofer columns, two upper-range columns, and an active crossover and servo control module. Each bass column contains six 8" polypropylene-cone woofers. Each upper-range column contains seven of Infinity's proprietary EMIM ribbon midrange drivers and four EMIT ribbon tweeters (one of them aiming out the rear, of all things!). System crossovers are at 125Hz (nominal), 750Hz, 3kHz, and 8kHz, and the number of operating drivers diminishes as the…