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Legacy Audio Focus 20/20 loudspeaker Carving Out a Legacy

Sidebar 1: Carving Out a Legacy

In mid-September 2003, I paid a visit to the Legacy factory—or, more accurately, the Legacy/Allen Organ Company factory, in the Pennsylvania Dutch country an hour northwest of Philadelphia.

Every Legacy speaker is made on the same assembly line as are Allen's magnificent church and theater organs and supporting sound systems. But "assembly line" doesn't describe Legacy/Allen's manufacturing process. One sees none of the exotic machine tools that term implies, save for a computer-controlled milling machine that turns MDF blanks into the panels used…

Legacy Audio Focus 20/20 loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 2: Specifications

Description: 7-driver, 5-way, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 4"-long ribbon supertweeter, 1.25" soft-dome tweeter, two 5" Kevlar-cone midrange units, 12" carbon-reinforced-cone "transition" woofer; two 12" carbon-reinforced-cone subwoofers. Low-frequency alignment: B6 assisted. Crossover frequencies: 80Hz, 300Hz, 2.8kHz, 8kHz. Frequency response: 26Hz-20kHz, ±2dB. Sensitivity: 96dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal. Recommended amplification: 10-400Wpc.
Dimensions: 55" H by 15" W by 13" D. Weight: 185 lbs each.
Finishes: Oak, cherry; other…

Legacy Audio Focus 20/20 loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment

Analog source: SOTA Cosmos Series III turntable, Graham 2.2 tonearm, Dynavector XV-1S cartridge.
Digital sources: Esoteric DV-50 universal player, Classé Omega SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, Aesthetix Rhea phono preamplifiers; VTL TL-7.5, BAT VK51SE, Aesthetix Calypso line stages; Halcro dm10 full-function preamplifier.
Power amplifiers: Lamm ML1.1, VTL MB-450 Signature monoblocks; Hovland Radia, Plinius SA-102, Edge NL-12.
Cables: Phono: Hovland Music Groove 2. Interconnect: Acoustic Zen Silver Reference, Nordost Valhalla.…

Legacy Audio Focus 20/20 loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 4: Measurements

At 185 lbs and 55" high, the Legacy Focus 20/20 was too bulky for me to lift into the air for the acoustic measurements, as I usually do. My speaker turntable therefore had to sit on the ground, which meant that the midrange resolution of the farfield measurements was curtailed by the presence of a floor reflection. However, I don't believe this affects the overall validity of the results.

The Legacy's sensitivity was slightly lower than specified, but still a very high 94.5dB(B)/2.83V/m—this speaker will play very loudly even with a low-powered amplifier.…

Linn Linto phono preamplifier

Audiophiles with budget restrictions (most of us, I imagine) could be forgiven for feeling we're afterthoughts to most manufacturers. Even though we probably keep many companies in business by buying their "entry-" or mid-level products, we're always hearing about products designed "without compromise." Waiter, could you bring the reality check, please?

Even if you design a component without regard to the price tag, you still run into the compromises dictated by material science, or our collective ignorance, or even market pressures. (Although, with Asian economies in serious trouble, I'm…

Linn Linto phono preamplifier Page 2

But Linn isn't selling packaged air; they saw the future coming a long time ago and constructed their Glasgow facility to take advantage of automation and high-quality surface-mount construction. Despite its light weight and empty real estate, there's a lot of technology packed into the Linto. Besides, as Linn points out, a square centimeter of circuit area can pick up more signal as interference than a moving-coil cartridge generates as music.

While many audiophiles swear by loading networks, Linn's reasons for avoiding them are compelling. Linn claims the switches used in most…

Linn Linto phono preamplifier Page 3

The Linn was also superlative in its re-creation of bass. It had remarkable extension and definition. If you believe the bass region is the foundation upon which musical cathedrals are built, then the Linto is your meat. I've never heard Ron Carter's tone possess more heft and character than it did when I played Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage (Blue Note ST-46339) through the Linto. He isn't playing a really mellow-sounding instrument on the album—with some phono sections, I would have wondered whether this perception was colored by the preamp's limitations or whether I was hearing the sound…

Linn Linto phono preamplifier Specifications

Specifications
Linn Linto: Solid-state, direct-coupled MC phono preamplifier with switch-mode power supply. Recommended audio input level: 150uV (high gain), 500uV (low gain). Input impedance: 150 ohms (in parallel with 4.7nF). Voltage gain: 64dB at 1kHz (high gain), 54dB at 1kHz (low gain). Maximum input: 6.7mV at 1kHz (high gain), 19mV at 1kHz (low gain). Maximum output: 10.1V p-p at 1kHz. Power consumption: ca 6W/12VA.

Dimensions: 12.5" W by 3" H by 13" D. Weight: 3.5 lbs.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 001575 ("Assembled and Tested by David Clyne").
Price: $1500.…

Linn Linto phono preamplifier Measurements

Measurements
As Wes Phillips found, the Linn Linto was astonishingly quiet, with an A-weighted S/N ratio (ref. 500uV input at 1kHz) of 85.3dB. Unweighted, with a broad measurement bandwidth of 10Hz to 500kHz, the S/N ratio dropped to 66.5dB, which is still excellent. Its voltage gain in the high setting (the only one I measured) was 62dB rather than the specified 64dB, probably due to the 25 ohm source impedance of the Audio Precision System One. The difference is negligible.

The input impedance measured 165 ohms at 1kHz, slightly higher than spec, while the output impedance was a low…

VAC Renaissance Signature Mk.II preamplifier

I had a wonderful audio moment the other night. It was late in the evening, after a long day. I was standing in the middle of my makeshift listening room—Trish's dining room—and in spite of the fact that we were moving in just a few weeks, I'd just unpacked and set up my combo of VPI TNT Mk.V-HR turntable and tonearm with Grado Statement cartridge and dug a box of LPs out of the stacks in the garage. I cued up Dave Brubeck's Time Out (Columbia/Classic CS 8192), and the first notes of "Blue Rondo à la Turk" froze me in my tracks.

The music hadn't just started, it had come to life…