I knew it! It was in an issue of Home & Studio Recording, but I'd just thrown it out with a bunch of other old magazines. And trash pickup was today! I threw open the door to watch the garbage truck blunder down…
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"I've know I've seen this amp before," I thought to myself when I lifted the $1200 Muse Model One Hundred out of the box, and I wasn't thinking of Robert Harley's review of the identical-looking Muse Model One Hundred Fifty reviewed in January 1990, either. No, I'd seen this amp before, somewhere else, in some other magazine, but with a different manufacturer's name.
If there's one word that sums up both the external and internal construction of the Muse 100, it's "clean." The internal parts, what few there are, include high-quality metal-film resistors and film capacitors. Interestingly, the film caps bear the "SCS-Muse" name, and appear identical to the excellent Rel Caps. The brushed aluminum front panel, with its eight shiny hexbolts, exudes a feeling of understated solidity. I have only two complaints, one practical and one personal. On the practical side, Muse should have provided the 100 with binding posts that could be tightened with a nut-driver…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier. Power output: 100Wpc, 20dBW (8 ohms), 200Wpc, 20dBW (4 ohms). VOltage gain: 30dB. Sensitivity: 890mV. Absolute polarity: non-inverting. Input impedance: 51k ohms. Distortion: less than 0.5% THD+noise. Frequency response: –3dB at 13Hz and 200kHz. Output impedance: 0.6 ohms, 20Hz–20kHz. Output current capability: 45A maximum, peak–peak into 0.1 ohm. Power consumption: 90W idle, 600W maximum (limited by 5A line fuse).
Dimensions: 3.5" H by 18.9" W by 13.4" D. Weight: 28 lbs.
Serial number of review sample:…
Sidebar 2: System
As with the other amplifiers on review this month, my listening system included my reworked Philips CD-50 and my buffered-passive preamp. All line-level gear was plugged into an Audio Express NoiseTrapper Plus. Speakers were the Spica Angeluses and Thiel CS 1.2s. Interconnect was Straight Wire Maestro, with 8' runs of both Maestro and Cardas Hexlink Five speaker cable. Whereas the Maestro sounded smoother and more natural, the Cardas gave a brighter presentation that was welcome on some CDs, annoying on most. As I felt the overall sound to be more neutral with the…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
All the measurements were made after each amplifier had been preconditioned by running it at one-third full power into 8 ohms for an hour. This thermally stresses the amp to the maximum, though none of the models tested overheated. The Muse and Counterpoint heatsinks, however, did get too hot to touch. Compared with the VTL Tiny Triode, the Muse has a somewhat restricted low-bass response, as can be seen from fig.1. However, 1dB down at 28Hz could give the Muse's bass a tight rather than lightweight character. Certainly CG found the Muse's bass to be AOK quality-…
"I've got the world on a string, sitting on the rainbow
Got the string around my finger, what a life, Mama, I'm in love.
Life's a beautiful thing, as long as I hold the string
I'd be a silly so-and-so if I should ever let you go."—Ted Koehler
Got the string around my finger, what a life, Mama, I'm in love.
Life's a beautiful thing, as long as I hold the string
I'd be a silly so-and-so if I should ever let you go."—Ted Koehler
I was basking in Classic Records' reissue of the Louis Armstrong Verve classic I've Got the World on a String (Verve/Classic MB-4035), and it occurred to me how well this album—or even its title alone—captured the essence of the Well Tempered Reference turntable/tonearm combination.
Since their debut in the mid-'80s, Well…
When fitted with the Benz-Micro or Grado, the Well Tempered Reference had a big, dynamic, musically engaging sound. After spending the early part of one evening reading and listening to CDs, I dropped John Mellencamp's The Lonesome Jubilee (Mercury 832 465-1) on the WT and cued up "Cherry Bomb." The first rimshot had me grinning, and about three notes in, the phrase "It don't mean a think if it ain't got that swing" popped into my head—to which I appended, "and this thing really swings!"
The Reference's performance excelled in several respects. One was really obvious: its stability. This…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Belt-driven turntable with integral record clamp, filament-bearing, viscous-damped tonearm, and standalone AC synchronous motor assembly. Adjustments: speed selection (331/3 or 45rpm), alignment, tracking force, VTA, azimuth, damping, and antiskating.
Dimensions: Turntable/tonearm: 19" W (430mm) by 7" H (130mm) by 15.25" (390mm) D. Motor assembly: 5" (130mm) diameter by 4.5" (115mm) H, fits into cutout in turntable base. Net weight: 57 lbs turntable, 7 lbs motor assembly.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 0446.
Price: $5495 (1999); no longer…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog front-ends: VPI TNT IV turntable with JMW Memorial 12" tonearm; Immedia RPM-2 turntable and tonearm; Grado The Reference, Micro-Benz LO4, Clearaudio Gamma Gold cartridges.
Digital front-ends: Ultech UCD-100, CAL CL-15 CD players; Denon DVD-3000 DVD player.
Preamplification: Sonic Frontiers Phono 1 phono stage and Line 3 preamplifier, VAC CPA1 Mk.II preamplifier.
Power amplifiers: Sonic Frontiers Power 3, Mark Levinson No.20.6, and VTL Ichiban monoblocks, VAC Renaissance 70/70.
Loudspeakers: Thiel CS7.2, Genesis 200, Magnepan 1.6 Q/R,…
Just after I agreed to review the Accuphase M-2000 monoblocks, importer Arturo Manzano began urging me to take the Accuphase PS-1200 Clean Power Supply as well.
"Arturo, who's gonna pay $27k for a pair of monoblocks, then another $8200 for a power conditioner?"
He looked at me as if I was making a bad joke. I often do.
"That's a trick question, right, J-10? Uh...all of them?"
That gave me something to think about. If occasionally you wonder just who in the world is buying this ultra-ultra stuff, consider that there must be enough of them to keep these…