Microphones: two DPA 4011 cardioids (ORTF pair); two Earthworks QTC40 omnis (wide-spaced pair); two DPA 4003 omnis with acoustic equalizers (on Coresound Jecklin Disc); DPA 4006 omni (spot mike, cello); Neumann M147 tube cardioid (spot mike, voice, guitar); two Neumann TLM103 cardioids (spot piano mikes, as ORTF pair).
Microphone Preamps: two Millennia Media HV3Bs, Earthworks "Zero Distortion," Forssell M2a, DPA power supply/preamp, Metric Halo ULN2.
A/D Converters: dCS 904 (master), Metric Halo ULN2 (slave), Metric Halo MIO 2882 (slave), all…
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Sidebar 2: There Lies The Gear
"Hail, mortal!"
—Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania, reacting to Kevin Kline as Bottom, when he succeeds in operating a phonograph
—Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania, reacting to Kevin Kline as Bottom, when he succeeds in operating a phonograph
Our shops are filled with clever answers. The trick is to find out which ones are attached to similarly intelligent questions.
Remember the Nakamichi "computing" turntable of the early 1980s? The biggest jewel in its engineering crown—the only jewel, some would say—was its ability to correct off-center records on the fly. The Nakamichi could determine, with astounding precision, how much correction a given record required, then compensate for the…
With that in mind, Bill Firebaugh applied yet another simple, clever construction technique to his first tonearm: He filled the tube with sand. Not just any sand, according to George Stanwick, of distributor Stanalog Audio, but the really good stuff that some of us daddies buy for our children to play in. That may have contributed to the findings of Stereophile founder J. Gordon Holt, who first wrote about the WT Tonearm in 1984 (Vol.7 No.8), and who declared that Firebaugh's tonearm was the first in his experience to prevent the average moving-coil cartridge of the day from sounding bright…
The Well Tempered Record Player, January 2008 (Vol.31 No.1)
A little over a year ago, I borrowed a sample of Well Tempered Lab's bread-and-butter turntable-tonearm combination, the Well Tempered Record Player. Distributor George Stanwick (of Stanalog) let me keep the review sample a little longer than usual, and that gave me a chance to make a few more notes.
Next to the Rega P9, which I also admire, the WTRP came closer than any other new turntable or tonearm to coaxing this Linnie into abandoning his LP12—or at least buying an alternative. The LP12 and the WTRP differ in their…
Anyone who knows me will be happy to tell you: I'm very bad at letting go of anger. I hold grudges. I'm unforgiving.
I can look back at 10 years' worth of my own phono-preamp reviews and the stain is unmistakable: In every one is the subtle anger, the subtle pissiness, that came from my having to write about such a thing at all. I found it difficult to forgive an industry that would expect preamp buyers to start paying thousands of dollars more, just like that, for a phono section: something that we used to get for free, like drinkable water or a good education.
Nowadays…
Beyond all that, and because I don't own a standalone tubed phono preamp—although I've had a loaner sample of the excellent solid-state Linn Linto here for an unconscionably long time—I wanted to add another such product to the mix, to strike a comparison that some readers might find reasonable and maybe even useful. I hit on the idea of borrowing a broken-in sample of the EAR 834P from its importer, not only because I know and admire the EAR "house sound," but also because it's a successful and popular thing. And it is. So I did.
Thus my comments are distilled from a variety of…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Tubed phono preamplifier. Tube complement: one 6N1P, two 12AX7, two 5687. Frequency response: 10Hz–42kHz, ±0.5dB. Input impedance: 47.5k ohms. Output Impedance: 1300 ohms at 1kHz. Voltage gain: 52dB. Maximum output voltage: 40V RMS. Total harmonic distortion: <0.2% at 1kHz, 2V RMS output.
Dimensions: 6.5" (165mm) H by 8.5" (220mm) W by 14.6" (375mm) D. Weight: 24 lbs (10.9kg).
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: 0007.
Price: $2890. Approximate number of dealers: 17.
Manufacturer: Artemis Labs, 260 Marvista Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106. Web…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Linn LP12 turntable, Naim Armageddon power supply, Naim Aro tonearm; Well Tempered Record Player; Brinkmann EMT Titanium, Linn Akiva, Lyra Helikon Mono, Miyabi 47, phono cartridges; Tamura TKS-83 moving-coil step-up transformer.
Digital Source: cartonless Sony SCD-777ES SACD player.
Preamplifiers: EAR 834P, Linn Linto phono preamplifiers; Lamm LL2, Juicy Music BlueBerry Xtreme preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Lamm ML2.1 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL.
Cables: Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Nordost Valhalla. Speaker:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Measuring the performance of phono preamplifiers can always be problematic because a signal generator is not a phono cartridge. Even with the wide variety of grounding options offered by my Audio Precision System One measuring rig—its generator outputs and analyzer inputs can be independently grounded or floated—as well as the options of grounding or floating the AC lead of the device under test, or running a separate ground lead from the unit's chassis to the analyzer chassis, the occasional component refuses to cooperate. Such was the case with the Artemis PH-1…
When reviewing affordable speakers, it's critical to have benchmarks and comparisons for various price points. Inexpensive speaker designs are exercises in tradeoffs and compromises, especially for the least costly products. In all of my reviews, I try to compare the speaker in question with other designs close to the review sample's price, chosen from my list of previously reviewed speakers. From time to time, if a speaker particularly impresses me, I ask the manufacturer if I can keep the speakers around a while longer, so that it can serve as a comparison reference for a certain price…