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From that day forward the Sasha distinguished itself as an open-sounding and exceptionally wide-bandwidth loudspeaker much like the Sophia Series 2. Yet whereas the two Wilson models sounded superficially alike overall, the Sasha W/P distinguished itself as a device of greater clarity and resolving power. Months before, the Sophia had surprised me by bringing unexpected timbral color and texture to the world of high-end speakers, as well as degrees of nuance and dramatic contrast that, while not in the same league as those of a very good horn, were well above the norm for a speaker designed…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" titanium inverted-dome tweeter, 7" pulp-composite midrange cone, two 8" polymer woofer cones. Sensitivity: 91dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 1.9 ohms minimum.
Dimensions: 44" (1118mm) H by 14" (356mm) W by 21.25" (539mm) D. Weight: 197 lbs (89.4kg).
Finishes: High-gloss automotive paint; custom finishes, including paint-matching, available at extra cost.
Serial Numbers Of Units Reviewed: 0395, 0396.
Price: $26,900/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 39.
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Thorens TD-124 Mk.II, Bauer Audio dps turntables; EMT 997, Schick, Naim Aro tonearms; Shindo SPU, Ortofon SPU 90th Anniversary, EMT OFD 25, 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, Fi Preamplifier, Fi 2b preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Haut-Brion, Electrocompaniet AWQ400; Shindo Corton-Charlemagne, PrimaLuna DiaLogue…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Other than the in-room and nearfield measurements, for which I used a Joe D'Appolito–designed Mitey Mike II and an Earthworks QTC-40 microphone, respectively, the quasi-anechoic measurements of the Wilson Audio Specialties Sasha W/P were performed using DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone. Wilson specifies the Sasha's voltage sensitivity as 91dB/2.83V/m, which was confirmed by my own measurements. This is usefully higher than average. On the other hand, the Sasha's plot of impedance magnitude and electrical phase (fig.1) reveals the speaker…
At our best, audiophiles are the selfless and generous custodians of a thousand small libraries, keeping alive not only music's greatest recorded moments but the art of listening itself. At our worst, we are self-absorbed, superannuated rich kids, locked in an endless turd-hurl over who has the best toys.
Sanctimonious though it sounds, I prefer things that, by whatever method, allow me the luxury of the former, sunnier view of myself. The newest product from Fi is one of those.
It is also, as far as I can tell, the first Fi to come with an instruction sheet. "You do…
Arguably the greatest circuit distinctions between the old and new Fi preamps are found in the 2b's outboard power supply. Incoming AC is still regulated by a pair of silicon diodes—"A tube would not make a difference," Garber says—and still conditioned by a 6AV5GA series regulator and other tubes. "I've tried using regulated power supplies in amps, but, to me, it tends to dry out the sound," he says; "whereas, in a preamp, it appears to do the opposite." But Garber says that the new design, "simpler and more straightforward than the older one," was the subject of many hours of his work in…
How did the 2b compare with the Shindo Masseto I've owned and used for exactly three years, alongside my original Fi? The huge-sounding Shindo is the more obviously tubeish device, with a richer, slightly darker character overall. Remarkably, the 2b had even greater scale than the original; just as remarkably, the Masseto is slightly bigger still. That said, the Fi 2b forgoes the heavier, more timbrally saturated sound of the Shindo for a more open sort of clarity and, almost certainly, greater degrees of timbral neutrality and textural cleanness.
It's also worth noting that the 2b was…
Klyne Audio Arts is such a low-profile outfit that I marvel at its continued existence. It is reliably absent from the Audio and Stereo Review annual equipment directories, and if Stan Klyne has ever run an advertisement for any of his products anywhere, I haven't seen it, Yet Klyne Audio Arts always manages to have an exhibit at CES, where they display some of the most beautiful preamps and head-amps we see there, only to go underground again for another six months.
Klyne's SK-2A head-amp is, as far as I know, the first such device to provide truly flexible, switchable…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo preamplifier. Inputs: Phono (MM or MC), Aux, Tuner; Tape. Outputs: Main non-inverting, Main inverting, Tape out. Controls: Source, Tape, Mono/Stereo, Volume, Balance, Phase, Mute, AC power (rear panel).
Dimensions: 19" W by 12" D by 24" H.
Price: $2795 (1985); no longer available (2010).
Manufacturer: Klyne Audio Arts, Olympia, WA 98501. Tel: (360) 273-8477. Fax: (360) 273-6991. Web: www.klyne.com.
Considering that the crates they're shipped in are each as large as a Manhattan studio apartment, once they'd been set up in my listening room, Focal's Maestro Utopia III speakers weren't as visually overpowering as I'd anticipated. The elegant dark-gloss front baffles, the gloss-gray side panels, and the fact that the speaker's three subenclosures are vertically arrayed so that the top, midrange section is angled down, significantly reduced their apparent size.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Following a series of minimonitor reviews in 2009, I had decided to live for a while…