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Snickering was heard from the major consumer electronics purveyors when California Audio Labs came out with the original Tempest, their first CD player using tube output stages. But not from the audiophile community. It was, all things considered, an inevitable product; I'm certainly not the only one who wondered—before the emergence of California Audio Labs—who would be the first to build such a unit. The obvious candidates were Audio Research or Conrad-Johnson. But those companies apparently read the audio tea-leaves and, perhaps perceiving the early high-end hostility toward the new…
My initial sample of the Tempest emitted a loud mechanical buzz, which turned out to originate in one of the transformers on the main chassis. It also sounded off with a loud thumping noise when playing a disc. A return to CAL resulted in a quick fix to the transformer; they never could find what caused the transport noise. In any event, elves must have repaired it en route; the noise has not recurred.
Sound Quality
If a CD player can be said to define the standard in any particular area, the Tempest II certainly does that through the vital midrange. This is the heart of the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-chassis CD player with tubed output stage. Tube complement: 6 6DJ8s. D/A conversion: 16-bit 4x oversampling. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz –0.05dB. S/N ratio: 105dB. THD: 0.03% (at 1kHz).
Dimensions: Player, 19" W by 5.5" H by 12.25" D. Power supply, same. Weight: 22 lbs (player), 22 lbs (power supply).
Price: $2995 (1988); no longer available (2010). Approximate number of dealers: 70 (1988).
Manufacturer: California Audio Labs, Garden Grove, CA 92641 (1988); Sensory Science Corporation, a division of SONICblue Inc., Santa Clara, CA (…
Sidebar 2: Review System
My auditions of the Tempest II were conducted hard on the heels of the Marantz CD-94 review and used the same system: Klyne SK-5A preamp, Motif MS100 power amp, B&W 801 Matrix loudspeakers on Sound Anchor stands with Monster Cable M-1000 interconnects and M-1 loudspeaker cable.—Thomas J. Norton
In a way, you could say that Meridian started the now epidemic practice of modifying stock CD players (usually of the Philips-Magnavox species). The original Meridian player, the MCD, was a reworking of the first-generation Philips and was praised by J. Gordon Holt in these pages in his 1985 review (Vol.8 No.2). The Meridian Pro (Vol.8 No.6) won similar plaudits, and is still to be seen lurking in JA's system. And the original 207 was well-received by MC in Vol.10 No.3.
The latter was designed around the Philips 14-bit, 4x oversampling technique (as the earlier Meridian players had been…
The manual supplied with the Meridian is thorough, but fails to explain the function of several of the six LEDs configured in two columns in the center of the display panel. The first indicates the selection of CD absolute-phase reversal. Below that is a display indication which lights up on selection of any of the special display modes. Repeat play selection is indicated by the third LED. The second column gives unique information not provided by most players. The top light (EQ) indicates if the disc was recorded with pre-emphasis (used in a distinct minority of recordings, if my…
Perhaps more than any other characteristic, the 207 excelled in the ability to extract a natural sense of the performing soundspace from the best CDs. I've used (and referred to) Two Gentlemen Folk (Telarc CD-84401) frequently in the past. The two audience sing-alongs on this recording ("The Leaving of Liverpool" and "Waltzing Matilda," footnote 4) are good indicators of depth and ambience. Through the 207, the audience on both of these selections was spread wide and deep behind the soloists. This is an artifact, of course; the audience should actually be positioned around and behind the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state CD player with integral line-level preamplifier. Phono stage (moving-coil/moving-magnet) optional. D/A Conversion: 16-bit, 4x oversampling. Frequency response: unspecified. S/N: greater than 90dB. THD: less than 0.004%.
Dimensions: Transport and control unit, each 6.3" W by 3.9" H by 12.6" D. Weight: 18 lbs.
Price: $1990. Phono stage: $250 (option). 209 remote: $150 (option), 1988; no longer available, 2010. Approximate number of dealers: 55.
Manufacturer: Boothroyd Stuart Ltd., Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire UK. Imported by…
Sidebar 2: Review System
The 207 was auditioned in a system consisting of the Klyne SK-5a preamp, Motif MS100 power amplifier, Monster interconnects (Interlink Reference X and M1000) and loudspeaker cables (M1), and B&W 801 Matrix loudspeakers (mono-wired, without equalizer) on Sound Anchor stands. The PS Audio 4.6 preamp (with M-500 power supply) and California Audio Labs Aria Revised, Tempest II, and Audio Concepts/MSB Silver CD players were also used for comparisons. To test the 207's optional phono stages, a VPI HW 19 Mk.II with Well-Tempered Arm was brought into play. A van den…
John Atkinson Comments, from May 1988 (Vol.11 No.5)
In Vol.11 No.4, JGH enthusiastically reviewed a series of recordings made with the new Colossus recording system (p.153). The reason for his enthusiasm was that these recordings totally lacked any sign of the dreaded "digititis" so prevalent in modern classical recordings, leading him to proclaim that the Colossus "could justifiably be included in any contemporary listing of the seven wonders of the audio world."
My appetite whetted, I listened to one of these recordings, Stephen Kates playing Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata in G…