2006 Joint Budget Products of the Year
Rega Apollo CD player
Revel Concerta F12 loudspeaker
Slim Devices Squeezebox WiFi D/A processor
Runners-up (in alphabetical order)
Apple iPod Hi-Fi docking station
Monitor Audio Silver-RS6 loudspeaker ($999/pair; reviewed by Robert J. Reina, Vol.29 No.3, March 2006 review)
Music Hall RDR-1 table radio
Outlaw RR2150 receiver ($599; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.29 No.3, March 2006 review)
Pro-Ject Debut III turntable
Sonic Impact Super T Amplifier ($159; reviewed by Wes Phillips, Vol.29 No.10, October 2006…
2006 Product of the Year
Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable with Cobra tonearm and Castellon stand
Runners-up (in alphabetical order)
B&W 802D loudspeaker
Conrad-Johnson ACT2 preamplifier
dCS P8i SACD player
Graham Engineering Phantom B-44 tonearm
Halcro dm88 monoblock power amplifier
Lipinski Sound L-707 loudspeaker
McIntosh C1000 preamplifier
Musical Fidelity kW750 power amplifier
NHT Xd powered loudspeaker system
Quad ESL-2805 loudspeaker
Sonus Faber Amati anniversario loudspeaker
Sound Devices Model 722 portable digital…
Sidebar: Previous Awards:
Stereophile's Products of 2005
Joint Products of the Year:
Ayre C-5xe universal disc player (review)
dartZeel NHB-108 Model One power amplifier (review)
Budget Product of the Year: B&W DM603 S3 loudspeaker (review)
Joint Loudspeakers:
Innersound Kaya (review)
Peak Consult Empress (review)
Sonus Faber Stradivari Homage (review)
Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX Series 2 (review)
Amplification Component: DarTZeel NHB-108 Model One power amplifier (review)
Joint Digital Source:
Ayre C-5xe universal disc player (…
JERRY LEE LEWIS: Last Man Standing
Shangri-La Entertainment 2006. (CD) Steve Bing, Jimmy Rip, prods. No eng listed. AAD? TT: 66:45
Performance ****
Sonics ****
When you first see its cover shot, the Killer pounding away, the piano aflame, the letters screaming "The Most Amazing Classic Rock-N-Roll Album Ever!", you almost have to laugh. And when I saw the purple-prosed press release that came with the CD, I knew it was a Jerry Lee Lewis production all the way. No publicist to contact. No free photos to be had. Just an excited plea to join Jerry Lee's mailing list! The Killer…
"You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like—static."—Bob Dylan, interviewed by Jonathan Lethem. Rolling Stone, September 7, 2006
Maybe it's just me, but the music on Bob Dylan's new record feels old—almost as old as Dylan himself. What's modern on Modern Times (CD, Columbia 82876 87606 2) is the sound—dynamically compressed to the hilt, with no top-end air or detail, muddy bass, and a soundstage leaner than Paris Hilton's talent. In the Rolling Stone interview, Dylan includes…
In any category of product or service, there is a gold standard—one company that epitomizes the best in its field of endeavor. Consider the Rolex watch, the Ferrari sports car, the Steinway piano, the Dunhill pipe. All of these artisanal manufacturers have spent decades, even centuries, earning their names' cachet with their histories of consistent excellence. While high-end audio boasts no names with a 60-year pedigree, such as Ferrari's—much less Steinway & Sons' +150 years—there is one firm whose storied past stretches back to the very emergence of the concept of high-end audio itself…
I cranked the thing wide open. Again—total, textureless silence at my listening seat. Only when I got within a foot or so of the tweeter of one of my Wilson Audio MAXX 2 loudspeakers did I hear a very faint, strikingly fine-grained hiss. I can't wait to see what John Atkinson's measurements reveal, but subjectively, the ARC Ref.3 was the quietest tube preamp I've heard, and by a large measure. The nature of that silence was also intriguing. Like the Halcro dm10, the Ref.3 presented a live-sounding silence, not some dead, airless, deep-space void. This odd little tableau was but a precursor…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Tubed, remote-controlled line preamplifier with full sets of balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs, and Processor Loop. Tube complement: four 6H30P dual triodes, plus one 6550C and one 6H30P for power-supply regulation. Maximum voltage gain: main output (single-ended or balanced input), 11.6dB; balanced output, 5.6dB single-ended output. Frequency response: 0.2Hz–200kHz , +0/–3dB, at rated output (balanced, 200k ohms load). Distortion: <0.01% at 2V RMS balanced output. Input impedance: 120k ohms balanced, 60k ohms single-ended. Output…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Source: SOTA Cosmos Series III turntable, Graham 2.2 tonearm, Dynavector XV-1S cartridge.
Digital Sources: Plinius CD-101 CD player, Classé Omega SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Manley Labs Steelhead, Audio Research PH7 phono stages.
Power Amplifiers: Lamm M1.2 Reference, Classé CAM-350 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX 2 & Sophia, Legacy Audio Whisper.
Cables: Phono: Hovland Music Groove 2. Interconnect: Acoustic Zen Silver Reference & Silver Reference II, Cardas Golden Reference line level. Speaker:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Audio Research Reference 3's maximum voltage gain, with its volume control set to "103," was 11.8dB from balanced input to balanced output and 5.75dB from unbalanced input to unbalanced output. These figures are sensibly suitable for use in practical systems. The preamp was noninverting; ie, it preserved absolute polarity in both conditions. The input impedance was to specification at low and midrange frequencies, at 58k ohms single-ended and 116k ohms balanced, these dropping slightly and inconsequentially to 48k ohms and 106k ohms, respectively, at 20kHz.…
