Analog Sources: Thorens TD-124 Mk.II, Bauer Audio dps turntables; EMT 997, Thomas Schick, Naim Aro tonearms; Shindo SPU, Ortofon SPU 90th Anniversary, Miyabi 47 cartridges.
Digital Sources: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player, Ayre Acoustics QB-9 USB DAC (with Apple iTunes).
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Hommage T1, K&K Audio step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto, Tempo Electric Arthur Loesch 1.1 preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Haut-Brion & Corton-Charlemagne.
Loudspeakers: Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE, Wilson Audio Specialties Sasha W/P,…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I examined the Roksan Kandy K2's measured behavior using mainly Stereophile's loan 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 I test an amplifier, I run it for 60 minutes at one-third its specified power into 8 ohms. Thermally, this worst case for an amplifier with a class-B or -AB output stage taxes its heatsinks' ability to dissipate waste heat. The Kandy K2's top panel got too hot to touch after…
Nineteen days after J. Gordon Holt died, my daughter and I drove west on NY Route 20, passing lawn sale after lawn sale on our way to the supermarket in Richfield Springs. Each sale promised a pleasant waste of time on that hot afternoon, but only one caught my eye: There, among the Avon bottles and the 8-track tape cartridges, were two large bookshelf loudspeakers, dressed in walnut veneer and light-colored fabric grilles. AR 3s, I thought. Or maybe Large Advents. "They'll still be there when we come back this way," I said, stupidly.
Two years earlier I'd driven past a tag sale…
The next day I set about fastening the outer edges of the surrounds to the frames: the most challenging step in re-foaming a driver, since it's the one in which good—or bad—voice-coil alignment is established. Orange County Speaker advises the user to glue the outer edge of the surround in place, press on the cone, listen for the scrape that comes from a coil misaligned in its gap, and then shift the cone-plus-surround accordingly before the glue sets. There's nothing wrong with that approach per se, but much of the guesswork and uncertainty can be eliminated by gluing the surround while…
Letters from July 2010 (Vol.33 No.7):
Won't get fooled again!
Editor: I grinned the whole way through Artie's May write-up on restoring Large Advent speakers from the memories it evoked. Back in the day, my audiophile pal had a pair of Advents while I opted for the EPI sound. I foolishly sold my two pairs of circa-1973 EPI 100s in the 1990s during a couple of downsizing periods. It didn't take long for me to track down another set a few years later.
After reading Art's piece, I did the only thing I could do: I dropped 40-year old music on the 'table and let them babies…
An audio/video receiver in Stereophile? Heresy!
Well, my following report on the Sherwood Newcastle R-972 A/V receiver with Trinnov Audio Optimizer ain't the first time, but I recall the outrage of subscribers when, in December 2000, Larry Greenhill reviewed the Denon AVR-4800 and editor John Atkinson put it on the magazine's cover. Since then, however, Stereophile has reviewed everything from iPods to PC soundcards to minisystems, and while AVRs are unlikely to become a common subject of reviews, in some situations there are good reasons to consider using one. I did that in the January…
Third, while the R-972 handled all HDMI sources well, it was slow in responding to input or channel changes, and a little picky about the order of powering the connected HDMI devices. None of this is insurmountable or unique to Sherwood, and it didn't affect the R-972's performance. But it could be annoying.
Trinnov Optimizer
The basic setup procedure for the Sherwood R-972's included Trinnov Optimizer is a familiar one. A measuring microphone is supplied, and clear onscreen instructions guide the user through the steps. The first unique feature is the Trinnov microphone pod, an…
Even without the spatial manipulations and corrections, Sherwood Newcastle and Trinnov Audio have done an excellent job of the basics of system setup and room correction, as long as one is careful with mike setup, and willing to repeat the easy task if the results are not subjectively successful.
Out in Space
I won't try your patience and my memory by detailing all the other permutations and combinations of options possible with the Trinnov Optimizer, but will instead summarize my feelings about some of them. Please be aware that all efforts to reshape the frequency response and/or…
Sidebar: CONTACTS
Sherwood America, 13101 Moore Street, Cerritos, CA 90703. Tel: (800) 962-3203, (562) 741-0960. Fax : (562) 741-0967/0968. Web: www.sherwoodusa.com.
Trinnov Audio, 2 Avenue de l'Europe, 94360 Bry-Sur-Marne, Paris, France. Tel./Fax: (33) (0)1-47-06-61-37. Web: www.trinnov-audio.com. US distributor: Trinnov Audio–Curt Hoyt, Huntington Beach, CA 92649. Tel: (714) 840-1065.
As someone who wrestled endlessly with the nine-pin serial ports and the RS-232 protocol with which early PCs came fitted (footnote 1), I welcomed the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface when I first encountered it a decade ago, on the original Apple iMac. Plug it in. Don't worry. Be happy. The computer peripherals work as they should, which was often not the case with RS-232. It was a given, therefore, that the then-new USB port would be seen as a natural means of exporting audio data from a PC (footnote 2), but the first generation of USB-connected audio devices offered disappointing…