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Elite DV-09 DVD player (SGHT Review) What's Your Angle?

Sidebar 4: What's Your Angle?
With both the Pioneer DV-09 and DVL-909 players, I noted that the Alternate Angle symbol defaults to the On position. (It can be turned off by the user.) It pops up at the beginning of the Video Essentials DVD, but also on a number of Disney DVDs, which is puzzling; there are clearly no multiple angles on the latter discs.

Or are there? It turns out that the Alternate Angle feature is used on those Disney discs to provide French titles and end-credits. You cannot select them with the Alternate Angle button; they show up only when you select the French…

Book Review: <I>Quad: The Closest Approach</I>

Quad: The Closest Approach
by Ken Kessler. Cambridge, England, UK: International Audio Group Ltd., 2003. Hardcover, 12" square, 215 pp. ISBN 0 954 57420 6.
Available from: Quad dealers or IAG America, 15 Walpole Park South, Walpole, MA 02801. Tel: (508) 850-3950.

The number of high-end audio companies it would make sense to write an entire book about is quite small. There cannot be more than a dozen companies whose longevity, product innovation and quality, and cumulative impact upon not only "the industry" but the larger society as well, would justify such an effort (footnote 1…

Pass Aleph Ono phono preamplifier

If compact discs are so damned dynamic and vinyl is so dynamically limited, why do they sound just the opposite? Why do LPs sound so "live," so explosive, so "there," and CDs so dead? Even the best CDs usually sink to second-rate when you switch to their vinyl versions. I've heard it, you've heard it. Only those in deep denial, those who refuse to listen, don't. They'd rather read the published specs and consider the actual listening some kind of mass delusion among Luddite LP fans.

That's what I was thinking while auditioning the Pass Aleph Ono phono preamplifier: a very reasonably…

Pass Aleph Ono phono preamplifier Page 2

The power supply uses a shielded toroidal transformer providing 80V DC. This is RC-filtered and actively regulated to 60V, then passively filtered again for each channel. There is additional regulation for the preamplifier circuitry. The power supply includes 16 high-performance power electrolytic capacitors for energy storage and passive filtration.

Of equal importance to all of this tech talk and the fine set of numbers is the manual's claim that final decisions in the design, and changes made after the basic circuitry was configured, were based on listening-test results.

Mikey…

Pass Aleph Ono phono preamplifier Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Discrete, single-ended, solid-state moving-magnet/moving-coil phono preamplifier. Voltage gain: 40dB at 1kHz (MM), 71dB (max, MC), 76dB (balanced out). Frequency response (RIAA error): 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.1dB. Unweighted S/N ratio: 90dB ref. 10mV input (MM), 81dB ref. 1mV input (MC). Distortion: <0.05% THD at 20V output. Maximum output: 20V. Output impedance: 150/150 ohms.
Dimensions: 19" W by 4" H by 11.5" D. Weight: 35 lbs.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 08136.
Price: $2300 (1999). Approximate number of dealers: 30. Warranty: 3 years…

Pass Aleph Ono phono preamplifier Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Phono cartridges: Lyra Parnassus D.C.t, Transfiguration Temper, AudioQuest Fe5, Grado Reference.
Tonearms: Graham 2.0, Immedia RPM2, Simon Yorke.
Turntable: Simon Yorke.
Preamplifier: Ayre K-1.
Power amplifiers: Conrad-Johnson Premier 12, VTL MB450 (both tubed).
Loudspeakers: Audio Physic Virgo, Audio Physic Rhea subwoofer.
Cables: Magnan Type Vi, Cardas Golden Cross interconnects. Yamamura speaker cables. Yamamura Quantum, Electra-Glide AC cords.
Accessories: Sounds of Silence Vibraplane active isolation stand, Zoethecus equipment…

Pass Aleph Ono phono preamplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

A complete set of measurements was run on the Pass Aleph Ono from its unbalanced outputs, and another, more limited, set from its balanced outputs. Unless otherwise noted, the results presented are for the unbalanced outputs. After shipping to Santa Fe, one channel of the preamp was inoperative in the moving-magnet setting (I suspect a bad lead or selector DIP switch); the moving-magnet measurements presented here are for the left channel only.

The Aleph Ono's output impedance measured 297 ohms unbalanced and 833 ohms balanced—higher than specified, but…

The Digital Genie's Out of the Bottle

In early 2000, the British magazine The Economist published a lead editorial addressing America Online's acquisition of media giant Time Warner. In the editors' view, TW was a clunky, old-style media company that needed a fresh injection of dot-com blood to help them reach a more narrowly targeted audience. "Sex, shopping and violence," the editors wrote, echoing Internet visionary George Gilder, "...are what people have in common. What differentiates them is their enthusiasm for folk music, tropical fish, or Viennese waltzes."

The Economist's editors were making a pitch for an approach…

Audio Research VTM200 monoblock power amplifier

The VTM200 is the first Audio Research power amplifier I've reviewed. It took me 13 years, and ultimately I'm glad I'd put that much mileage on my reviewing odometer before tackling what turned out to be a most difficult assignment.

At $13,990/pair, the 200W VTM200 is the baby of ARC's monoblock line, below the Reference 300 and $40,000 Reference 600 Mk.II. The VTM200 weighs 75 lbs—light enough for one person to carry, but still massive and imposing. I put the amps on Target stands, each of which has a Symposium Acoustics constrained-layer-damped board in place of the usual…

Audio Research VTM200 monoblock power amplifier Page 2

Next to arrive was a package from Harmonic Technology. I had spoken with company president Jim Wang, who offered to send a 20' pair of balanced Pro-Silway II interconnects, a 1.5m pair to run between my processor and preamp, and an 8' pair of Pro-9 speaker cables. I was more interested in putting some good interconnects between the amp and preamp than in getting involved with more speaker cables, but I agreed to give them a listen.

Wang wasn't finished. He suggested that I listen as well to the company's Magic Woofer speaker cables: separate runs for plus and ground on each channel. I…