Yes, you read correctly: $20,300 for an integrated amplifier. That's an order of magnitude greater than the typical integrated. Granted, you get a moving-coil input, and it's built in…
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As the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show neared its end, I wandered into Blue Light Audio's room, which was dominated by the innards of darTZeel's new NHB-458 monoblocks—think of a 3D "exploded" diagram and you'll be on target. So impressive was that display of brute engineering that I almost didn't notice the amplifier that was actually making the music: the CTH-8550 integrated ($20,300).
A major fault of conventional integrated amplifiers is lack of get-up-and-go. Sure, lots of them have "rated" outputs of 150–200Wpc, but hook 'em up to a difficult load and they wimp out. Not, apparently, the CTH-8550. It drove the Thiel CS3.7 and YG Anat Reference II Pro speakers as easily as it did the benign Klipsch Palladium 39Fs.
Progress is not an illusion
Sonically, the CTH-8550 was very much a twin of darTZeel's NHB-108 power amp: fast, dynamic, and detailed. On "Skeleton," from the Ginger Baker Trio's Falling Off the Roof (CD, Atlantic 82900-2), the CTH-8550 balanced the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state integrated amplifier with moving-coil phono section, remote control. Inputs: 4 pairs line (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR), 2 pairs Zeel (BNC), 1 pair MC phono (RCA). 1 pair MM phono (RCA, optional). Outputs: preamplifier (RCA), Record (RCA), darT (BNC), speaker (4mm binding posts). Maximum output power: 200W into 8 ohms (23dBW), 330W into 4 ohms (22.2dBW), 330W into 2 ohms (19.2dBW), "limited by software." Maximum voltage gain: 0–22dB, user-defined, 12dB as supplied (line stage); 50–70dB, user-defined (MC phono stage). Power stage voltage…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Source: Ayre C-5xeMP universal player.
Integrated Amplifier: Boulder 865.
Loudspeakers: Klipsch Palladium P-39F, Thiel CS3.7, YG Acoustics Anat Reference II Professional.
Cables: Interconnect: Shunyata Research, Stealth Metacarbon. Speaker: Shunyata Research, Stealth Dream. AC: Shunyata Research Hydra & King Cobra & Anaconda.
Accessories: Ayre Acoustics Myrtle Blocks, Furutech RDP panels, RealTraps Mini & Mondo Traps.—Wes Phillips
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I examined the darTZeel CTH-8550's measured behavior using mainly Stereophile's loaner sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It" and www.ap.com); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain.
Before performing any tests on an amplifier, I run it for 60 minutes at one-third its specified power into 8 ohms, which is thermally the worst case for an amplifier with a class-B or -AB output stage. Cold out of the box, the darTZeel offered 0.083% distortion at one-third power…
Two years ago, I embarked on a series of reviews of mostly state-of-the-art, mostly full-range floorstanding speakers: the Sonus Faber Cremona Elipsa (December 2007), KEF Reference 207/2 (February 2008), PSB Synchrony One (April 2008), Magico V3 (May 2008), Avalon NP Evolution 2.0 and Epos M16i (July 2008), Esoteric MG-20 (August 2008), Dynaudio Sapphire (January 2009), and Revel Ultima Salon2 (March 2009). I had intended to intersperse those reports with coverage of some high-performance minispeakers, but for various reasons that never happened, so in the next few issues I'll be making up…
Time for more piano. I played some 24-bit/88.2kHz test mixes of my current recording project, Robert Silverman performing Brahms' monumental Handel Variations and Schumann's Études Symphonique, scheduled for release on CD next spring. I had recorded these works in the superbly supportive acoustic of Sauder Concert Hall in Goshen, Indiana, and had gotten fairly close to the Steinway, in order to get the optimal balance between a sparkling piano sound and the surrounding ambience. My provisional mix between the two primary pairs of mikes used —ORTF cardioids and spaced omnis —had been done…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, sealed-box, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.9" (22mm), ferrofluid-cooled, soft-dome tweeter; 6" (150mm), ep38 plastic-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 4.8kHz. Frequency response: 75Hz–20kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 85dB/2.83V/m, anechoic. Dispersion: within 3dB of response on reference axis, horizontal over 40° arc (±20°), vertical over 20° arc (±10°). Harmonic distortion (measured at 90dB/m): <1%, 100Hz –20kHz. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 6.3 ohms minimum. Power handling: 125W unclipped program.
Dimensions: 12" (305mm) H by 6.5…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xeMP universal player; Boulder 1021, Meridian 808i.2 CD players; Benchmark DAC 1 D/A converter; Logitech (Slim Devices) Transporter WiFi music player with Apple Mac mini for media storage; dCS 972 D/D converter.
Preamplifiers: Simaudio Moon Evolution P-8, Parasound Halo JC 2.
Power Amplifier: Simaudio Moon Evolution W-7.
Loudspeakers: PSB Imagine B, Rogers BBC LS3/5a (1978 vintage).
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, Stereovox CV2 electrical S/PDIF, AudioQuest OptiLink-5 S/PDIF. Interconnect (balanced…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
A speaker as small as the Spendor SA1 can't be expected to offer a high voltage sensitivity; my measurements indicated that it was a little more sensitive than the BBC LS3/5a, at 83dB(B)/2.83V/m, though this is 1dB lower than specified. Offsetting the Spendor's need for volts is its high impedance. Fig.1 shows the speaker's impedance and electrical phase, the former plotted on a wider 5dB/division scale rather than our usual 2dB/division. The sealed enclosure is tuned to 80Hz, indicated by the impedance peak of 46 ohms at that frequency. The impedance drops below…