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Here is the most straightforward way of ascertaining whether a power amplifier will be stable (ie, won't oscillate) in actual use, with adequate protection against damage if it does oscillate. Low-current fuses are the cheapest form of protection.

If the amplifier is already equipped with speaker fuses in its outputs, replace these with 0.25A (250mA) fast-blow fuses. (If it hasn't its own fuses, buy a couple of standard in-line fuse holders, put one in series with the Hot output from each amp channel, and install the 0.25A fuses.)

Connect…

It is a 14-mile drive from my mansion to the outer gates of the estate. I normally enjoy the quiet groveling of my peasants as the chauffeur drives my Rolls along this route. More and more, however, these peasants stop my Rolls to ask why I review so many expensive speakers. My answer—as I casually flick their broken and mangled bodies off the fender—is that expensive speakers sound better.

The Infinity Reference Standard 1B is a good case in point. Truly a speaker for members of our social and economic…

In my review of the RS-1B (Vol.8 No.4), I commented on that speaker's tendency to exaggerate grundge in the program material by adding what sounded like extremely narrow response spikes in the mid to upper treble. Since then, Infinity provided us with a modification kit for the passive crossover network feeding the mid-tweeter. The modification involves changing a potentiometer, and adding a resistor, capacitor, and choke to the crossover. It's more difficult than the instructions imply because the leads on the cap and…

No speaker ever totally disguises the compromises it must make with the laws of physics. Infinity's two largest monitor speakers, however come as close to hiding theirs as any full-range speaker available. The Infinity IRS has long ranked as one of the top two or three speakers in the world. The RS-1B has slowly emerged as one of the top two or three speakers for the ordinary home.

I now use the RS-1B as my home reference speaker, and a nearby IRS-III at Excalibur Audio as a listening "control" when I'm…

While I (currently) favor the MartinLogan Monoliths because of their incredible you-are-there realism, I still go back to the Infinity RS-1Bs from time to time for their awesome quality of power and excitement. The Infinities can give me goosebumps more often than any other speakers I've had on hand; every audiophile needs that kind of a fix from time to time.

After a while, though, the RS-1B's peculiar (apparent) sluggishness gets to me, and I start to long once more for the delicacy and transparency of the…

Description: Five-way, two-chassis, dynamic, floorstanding loudspeaker system with four EMIT ribbon tweeters, seven EMIM ribbon midrange units, and six servo-controlled polyproylene-cone woofers. Electronic crossover frequencies: 125Hz, 700Hz, 3kHz, and 8kHz.
Dimensions: LF section: 60" H by 14" W by 15" D. HF section. 60" H by 22" by 13" D.
Price: $5295/system (1985); no longer available (2006).
Manufacturer: Infinity Systems, Canoga Park, CA (1985); Infinity Systems, 250 Crossways Park Drive, Woodbury, NY 11797. Tel: (800) 553-3332 (2006). Web: wwww.…

It was my friend Vladimir, on the phone.

"Yes, the Rasputin speakers from Petersburg. But in order to sound their best, they need this tube amp—the Balgalvis from Riga, Latvia. They also need Moldavian wire, from a wire factory in Kishiniev, which used to make wire for the Soviet military. It's kind of hard to get the system together nowadays, what with the old Union gone."

Vladimir thought for a minute, then realized I was putting him on. Maybe.

"I have heard of this Moldavian wire."

So I…

"A good big'un will always beat a good littl'un" is as true in the world of loudspeakers as it is, say, in the world of car engines. Once you've driven a car with a big, torquey, low-revving V8, small-capacity, high-revving engines, no matter how quick they can make the car go, seem buzzingly inelegant. Similarly, as I've listened to a number of tiny boxes in the last few months, I felt the need to spend some time with full-range speakers. Over the next few months, therefore, I'll be reviewing a handful of speakers…

As mentioned, the Thiel CS 2 2's crossover features first-order, 6dB/octave slopes. Many audiophiles state, without specifying why, that first-order slopes are "the best." A first-order crossover is unique in that it offers the minimum phase error through the crossover region between the two drive-units, hence the best time-domain behavior (least ringing and overshoot). The drive-units also work in phase outside of the crossover region in a time-coherent manner; ie, they are both in phase and in time-step with the input signal. More…

Amplifiers used during the preparation of this review included pairs of Mark Levinson No.20.6 and Audio Research Classic 120 monoblocks, while the preamplifier was first the Melos SHA-1 headphone amplifier, then a Melos 333 linestage, with a Mod Squad Phono Drive EPS handling LP signals. These were provided by a Linn Sondek/Trampolin/Lingo/Ekos/Troika setup sitting on an ArchiDee table, with the Troika subsequently replaced by Linn's new Arkiv phono cartridge.

Digital source components included the VTL Reference D/A processor driven by a Meridian 602…