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Musical Fidelity AMS Primo line preamplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I used 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) to examine the Musical Fidelity AMS Primo's measured behavior; for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain.

For both balanced input to balanced output and unbalanced input to unbalanced output with the Primo's Gain switch operative, the maximum voltage gain was a sensible 12.5dB. (The Gain switch added exactly 6dB to the level of unbalanced sources, to match balanced ones.) The unity…

Roksan Kandy K2 integrated amplifier

Besides my 20th wedding anniversary and the 15th anniversary of Listener magazine's first issue, this year marks the 25th anniversary of Roksan Audio Ltd., easily one of the most innovative design and manufacturing firms in British audio. Before Roksan came upon the scene in 1985, none of us had ever seen a loudspeaker whose tweeter was isolated from its surroundings by a sprung suspension. Or a commercial phono preamplifier designed to fit inside a turntable, just a centimeter away from the tonearm base. And who among us could have guessed that the Linn LP12's hegemony—among flat-earthers,…

Roksan Kandy K2 integrated amplifier Page 2

Because of all that, and because the K2's handset emits an audible beep when any of its buttons is pushed—an unpleasant distraction, especially when trying to find the right volume level during a quiet musical passage—there came a time during the review period when I simply pretended that the K2's remote control did not exist.

Listening
With every loudspeaker I had on hand, the Kandy K2 distinguished itself as a clear, big-sounding, rhythmically accomplished amp with a slightly—a darn near imperceptibly—rounded-off top end. That bit of softness, coupled with its nearly complete lack…

Roksan Kandy K2 integrated amplifier Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Solid-state integrated amplifier with 3.5mm headphone output. Inputs: 5 line-level (including tape), 1 phono (MM). Maximum output power: 125Wpc into 8 ohms (21dBW), 190Wpc into 4 ohms (19.8dBW), both channels driven. Frequency response: <3Hz–>100kHz, –3dB. Line and phono input impedance: 47k ohms. Line input sensitivity: 470mV at maximum output. Signal/noise ratio: 100dBA (line, ref/ 470mV input). Harmonic distortion: <0.005% at 1kHz (8 ohms, no power level specified). Damping factor: >110 (8 ohms).
Dimensions: 16.9" (432mm) W by 4" (…

Roksan Kandy K2 integrated amplifier Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

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,…

Roksan Kandy K2 integrated amplifier Measurements

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…

Listening #89

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…

Listening #89 Page 2

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…

Listening #89 Letters from July 2010

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…

Music in the Round #42

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…