It's also worth noting that the 2b was…
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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.
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…
The lower woofer hands over to the upper at 90Hz, which in turn hands over to the midrange unit at 220Hz. The midrange/tweeter crossover is at 2.2kHz, but no details are provided for the crossover topology, other than that it uses what Focal terms Optimum Phase Crossover Plus (OPC+). This includes the three sets of jumpers mentioned above, one each for the subbass, midrange, and tweeter. Each set offers three choices of position, labeled "1," "2," and "3," to allow the speaker's balance to be optimized for specific room acoustics. The middle "2" jumper positions are for nominal flat response…
A CD that has been in heavy rotation since I returned from the 2010 Salon Son et Image at the end of March is an EP from the Montreal show's featured artist, the band Give. Recorded at Studio Reference in St. Caliste, Quebec, the four songs on this CD, titled SSi, epitomize what can be produced with a modern rock recording without having to resort to massive amounts of make-it-loud compression or in your-face equalization. The bass player uses a five-string instrument on the final song, "Mouths," and while every note was reproduced with impressive clarity and good weight, this recording did…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-and-a-half-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.1" (27mm) inverted beryllium-dome tweeter, 6.5" (165mm) W-cone midrange, 11" (270mm) W-cone woofer, 11" (270mm) W-cone subwoofer with Damping Control System. Crossover frequencies: 90Hz, 220Hz, 2.2kHz. Frequency response: 25Hz–40kHz, ±3dB. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 3 ohms minimum. Sensitivity: 93dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplifier power: 80–600W.
Dimensions: 57.9" (1470mm) H by 17.9" (455mm) W by 30.3" (770mm) D. Weight: 255.7 lbs (116kg).
Finishes: Gloss Black, Red…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xeMP universal player; Simaudio Moon Evolution 750D CD player; dCS Puccini SACD player & USB-input D/A converter with Apple Mac mini for media storage.
Preamplifier: Simaudio Moon Evolution P-8.
Power Amplifiers: Classé CTM-600 monoblocks, Simaudio Moon Evolution W-7.
Loudspeakers: Aerial Acoustics 20T V2.
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, Stereovox CV2 electrical S/PDIF, Belkin USB. Interconnect (balanced): AudioQuest Wild, Ayre Signature. Speaker: AudioQuest Wild. AC: PS Audio Lab,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Measuring the behavior of a speaker as large and heavy as the Focal Maestro Utopia III is problematic. Ultimately, I had to perform the acoustic measurements with the speaker in my listening room. Even though I maneuvered one of the Maestros as far as I could from the sidewalls and fired it along one of the room's diagonals, in order to push back room reflections as far as possible in time after the arrival of the speaker's direct sound at the microphone, the results don't have as much resolution in the midrange as I would have liked, or as I routinely achieve…
YSAE KREISLER BACH
J.S. Bach: Partita No.2, BWV 1004, Kreisler: Recitativo & Scherzo, Op.6, Ysaÿe: Sonata, Op.27 No.2
Arturo Delmoni, violin
Water Lily Acoustics WLA-WS-07 (LP), WLA-WS-07-CD (CD). Kavichandran Alexander, eng., prod. AAA/AAD. Subsequently released on CD as John Marks Records CD JMR 14G (footnote 1). TT: 48:03
J.S. Bach: Partita No.2, BWV 1004, Kreisler: Recitativo & Scherzo, Op.6, Ysaÿe: Sonata, Op.27 No.2
Arturo Delmoni, violin
Water Lily Acoustics WLA-WS-07 (LP), WLA-WS-07-CD (CD). Kavichandran Alexander, eng., prod. AAA/AAD. Subsequently released on CD as John Marks Records CD JMR 14G (footnote 1). TT: 48:03
This recording ought to come with a pedigree. In fact, the first spread of the CD booklet practically is a pedigree. This is blueblood audiophilia all the way. People listed as being involved, one way or another, include Tim de Paravicini, Jason…