Description: Four-way, floorstanding loudspeaker system. Drivers: 12", servo-controlled cone woofer in sealed enclosure, planar-magnetic lower midrange (L-EMIM), midrange (EMIM), and two planar-magnetic tweeters (EMITs). Also includes Servo Control Unit and crossover unit with bass level, low bass, and midbass contour controls. Crossover frequencies: 150Hz, 500Hz, 3kHz. Frequency response: 25Hz–35kHz ±1.5dB. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Amplifier requirements: 150W minimum.
Dimensions: 59" H by 18" W by 15" D. Weight: 150 lbs each.
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: System
I listened to the Epsilons with the Krell KPS-20i CD transport feeding a Mark Levinson No.35 D/A converter through Kimber AGDL digital coaxial cable. TARA Labs Master RSC (unbalanced) connected the Levinson converter to a Rowland Consummate preamp. Amplifiers were a Krell KSA-300S stereo amplifier for the midrange and top end, and a pair of Classé M-700 monoblocks for the bass. I briefly used an NAD 208 and Krell KSA-300S for the bass, and a pair of Pass Laboratories Aleph 0 monoblocks for the mids and highs—when I was able to pry them away from Dick Olsher, whose…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
John Atkinson measured the Infinity Epsilon and provided me with the results after my auditioning was complete.
The sensitivity of the Infinity Epsilon measured effectively to specification at a calculated 85.5dB/W/m (B-weighted). The impedance of its woofer section (fig.1) indicates a cabinet tuned to about 38Hz. The load is relatively benign, never dropping below 4 ohms. However, the inevitable rise in impedance at resonance requires me to modify slightly a couple of statements I made in the main text of the review. Note that, between 20Hz and 30Hz, the…
ARVO PÄRT In Principio
In Principio, La Sindone, Cecilia, vergine romana, Da Pacem Domine, Mein Weg, Fur Lennart in memoriam.
Tõnu Kaljuste, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
ECM New Series 2050 (CD). 2009. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Teije van Geest, Margho Kolar, engs. DDD. TT: 70:44
Performance *****
Sonics *****
In Principio, La Sindone, Cecilia, vergine romana, Da Pacem Domine, Mein Weg, Fur Lennart in memoriam.
Tõnu Kaljuste, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
ECM New Series 2050 (CD). 2009. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Teije van Geest, Margho Kolar, engs. DDD. TT: 70:44
Performance *****
Sonics *****
In the stew of musical treasures to be found in the ever-expanding world of YouTube.com is a film of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt being interviewed in herky-jerky fashion by none other than that…
You've seen the ads from YG Acoustics: "The best loudspeaker on Earth. Period." It sounds arrogant. But come on—high-end audio has never been a field of shrinking violets. When Ivor Tiefenbrun of Linn announced that the turntable, not the cartridge or loudspeakers, dictated the sound quality of an audio system, that was a man convinced that he was right and taking on the world. And was Krell's Dan D'Agostino any less arrogant when, in 1980, he introduced the KSA-100 power amplifier? In a world where small size and high wattage were the norms, didn't it take a pair of big brass 'uns to bring…
And cables themselves? Puh-leeze—let's not even go there. One afternoon, VTL's Luke Manley, my friend Jeff Wong, and I were playing silly audiophile tricks. We substituted Shunyata Research Python Helix Alpha AC cables for the stock pair feeding the Anat Professional's powered subwoofers. I expected to hear little difference, possibly none at all. Au contraire—the bass was audibly better integrated with the rest of the audioband. And another of my certainties bit the dust.
As the French would say, "de trop"
I initially auditioned the Anat Reference II Professionals with the VTL TL-6…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: As reviewed, three-piece, three-way, modular, floorstanding loudspeaker with powered subwoofer. Drive-units: 1" silk-dome tweeter, two 6" paper-cone midrange units, 10" carbon/paper-cone passive subwoofer, 10" carbon/paper-cone powered subwoofer. Crossover Frequency (Main Module): 1.75kHz. Frequency range: <20Hz–>40kHz. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, –0.7dB. Channel matching: within ±0.2dB. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 2.7 ohms minimum. Sensitivity: 92dB/2.83V/m. Subwoofer amplifier: 800Wpc, class-A/B.
Dimensions: Main Module: 20" (500mm) H…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe universal player, Ayre CX-7e CD player.
Preamplifiers: Ayre KX-R, Parasound Halo JC 2, VTL TL-6.5 Signature.
Power Amplifiers: Moscode 402au, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300, Parasound Halo JC 1, VTL MB-450 II.
Cables: Interconnect: AudioQuest William E. Low Signature, Shunyata Research Aeros (single-ended, RCA), Stealth Metacarbon (balanced). Speaker: AudioQuest William E. Low Signature, Shunyata Research Aeros, Stealth Dream. AC: Shunyata Research Python Helix Alpha.
Accessories: Ayre Myrtle wood blocks; Ayre L-5xe…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the YG Acoustics Anat Reference II Professional's behavior mainly using DRA Labs' MLSSA system with a calibrated DPA microphone and an Earthworks Zero Distortion preamplifier. Because of the bulk and mass of the two woofer sections, I could perform a complete set of acoustics measurements only on the 108-lb upper-frequency Main Module. The woofer measurements were performed in situ in Wes Phillips' listening room, as was my reading of the speakers' spatially averaged response. For these measurements I used SMUG Software's FuzzMeasure 2 running on an…
I was having breakfast in my hotel room on December 13, 2008, finally getting down to preparing the presentation I was to give at the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society scant hours later (footnote 1). I procrastinated a little more by checking my e-mail one more time. The message from Ivor Humphreys, once my deputy editor at the UK's Hi-Fi News & Record Review magazine (now just plain Hi-Fi News), and for many years technical editor at Gramophone magazine, was typically terse: "John Crabbe has died. He had a fall on the wintry ice a few days ago and broke an arm. He died at home…