Empirical evidence has been piling up in my little corner for a year…
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During a century of development of the phonograph, dozens of different things have been considered crucial to its performance: lack of bearing noise, lack of motor noise, freedom from runout error in the platter, high moment of inertia in same, immunity to all manner of unwanted vibration, and so forth. But now I wonder if the most important factor of all hasn't been overlooked, or at least misunderestimated, throughout much of that time: Could it be that motor torque is more critical than any of us imagined?
Adams called his turntable the Voyd and brought it to market, where it was greeted with enthusiastic reviews—especially from the excellent Hi-Fi Answers, then under the editorial direction of Stereophile's Keith Howard—and brisk sales. By 1986, the Voyd had also impressed Peter Qvortrup, soon to found and serve as managing director of Audio Note UK. Qvortrup not only preferred the Voyd to all other turntables, he was sufficiently impressed with Adams' engineering skills that he eventually hired him to design certain archetypal Audio Note products, including the original Oto integrated…
Over the years, I have become increasingly impressed by the quality of the audio engineering emanating from Simaudio, which next year celebrates its 30th anniversary. In a world where the US facilities of some well-known audio brands have been reduced to a design office coupled to a warehouse for storing product manufactured overseas, this Montreal-based manufacturer, in order to keep full control over quality and hence reliability, does as much manufacturing as possible in-house, including metalwork, some printed circuit-board stuffing, and assembly. (See my photo essay starting here.)…
As was Kal with the P-8, I was impressed by the P-7's jet-black backgrounds. This really is a quiet preamplifier, an essential attribute for a component that needs to step out of the way of the music. As a result, such sonic subtleties as the interplay between the voices and the warmly reverberant acoustic of London's Temple Church at the hushed entrance of the voices in Morten Lauridsen's O magnum mysterium (SACD, Hyperion SACDA67449) were laid gloriously apparent. This recording, performed by the mixed voices of Polyphony, sounds very different from my own recording of the work with…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Remote-controlled, fully balanced, dual-mono, solid-state preamplifier. Inputs: 4 unbalanced (RCA), 2 balanced (XLR, pin 2 hot). Outputs: 1 pair balanced XLR (main), 2 pairs unbalanced RCA (main), 2 pairs unbalanced tape (RCAs), 12V trigger on 1/8" minijack, RS-232 on female DB-9 connector. Frequency response: 5Hz–100kHz, +0/0.1dB. Maximum gain: 9dB. Maximum output: 12V balanced, 6V unbalanced. Input sensitivity: 200mV–4.0V. THD: 0.002%, 20Hz–20kHz. IMD: "unmeasurable." Signal/noise: 115dB, 20Hz–20kHz. Channel separation: 115dB at 1kHz. Input…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe universal player; Meridian 808.2 CD player; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Benchmark DAC 1 D/A converters; Logitech (Slim Devices) Transporter network music player with Apple Mac mini running OSX for media storage.
Preamplifiers: Mark Levinson No.380S, Parasound Halo JC 2.
Power Amplifiers: Musical Fidelity 750k Supercharger, Mark Levinson No.33H (both monoblocks); Simaudio Moon Evolution W-7.
Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima Salon2, PSB Synchrony One, Dynaudio Sapphire.
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Operated with either balanced input and output or unbalanced input and output, the Simaudio Moon Evolution P-7 offered a maximum gain of 5.5dB rather than the specified 9dB. This is sensible design I feel, and in this respect the P-7 behaved identically to the twin-chassis Moon Evolution P-8, which Kalman Rubinson reviewed in November 2006 (see its measured performance here). The volume-control setting that gave unity gain was "74.5," as expected (ie, 5.5dB lower than the gain at the control's maximum setting of "80"). The preamplifier preserved absolute polarity—…
High-tech, compact, and lightweight, Chord's entry-level SPM 650 power amplifier ($4995) promises robust power output, low distortion and noise, flat and ultra-wideband frequency response, and bulletproof reliability—all in what seems an impossibly small package measuring 16.4" wide by 3.4" high by 13.8" deep and weighing only 22 lbs.
The key to producing the SPM 650's output power—130Wpc into 8 ohms, 170Wpc into 4 ohms, and 200Wpc into 2 ohms—is Chord's replacement of the usual heavy, bulky power transformers and energy-storing capacitor banks with a compact, lightweight, high-…
Avoiding metal-to-metal contact with the amplifier in attaching TARA's Omega 2 speaker cables, with their large-diameter termination connectors, also proved extremely tricky. Though it was the barrel of the connector and not the conductor that came close to touching the amplifier chassis, I used strips of plastic as insulators rather than risk a short circuit. Admittedly, TARA's connectors are much larger than most, but the tight spacing on the Chord's rear panel will present problems for many other audiophile speaker cables.
Sir Speedy
Do you like fast, tight, effervescent sound?…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state power amplifier with switching power supply and linear output stage. Maximum output power: 130Wpc into 8 ohms (21.1dBW) at 0.05% distortion, 170Wpc into 4 ohms (19.3dBW), 200Wpc into 2 ohms (17dBW). Dynamic headroom: 200Wpc RMS into 8 ohms, 360Wpc RMS into 4 ohms. Frequency response into 8 ohms: 0.2Hz–46kHz, –1dB; 0.1Hz–77kHz, –3dB. Voltage gain: 30dB. Signal/noise: better than –103dB, A-weighted, ref. 2/3 power. Output impedance: 0.02 ohm. Output inductance: 2.6mH. Stability: unconditional.
Dimensions: 16.4" (420mm) W by 3.4" (88mm)…