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The Fifth Element #37

While you might have been paying attention to other matters, there has been a quiet revolution in affordable recording technology. What if I told you that I've been making pure Direct Stream Digital (DSD), SACD-quality two-channel recordings using equipment that, from soup to nuts, costs less than $6000? Read on.

I last covered recording equipment in "The Fifth Element" in the August 2002 issue (Vol.25 No.8). That column remains the best place to start if you're just getting going. This column reports on some spiffy new equipment I've been working and playing with over the past…

The Fifth Element #37 Page 2

There are two compelling and (one not so compelling) reasons to record this way, instead of just using two actual rather than virtual angled X-Y directional microphones. First, unlike X-Y pairs, in M-S technique the Mid mike is completely on-axis to the sound source. Obviously, this would make less of a difference for an orchestra than for a point source. But for natural recordings of voice, guitar, harpsichord, piano, or any other small source, it should make a worthwhile difference.

Second, by using M-S technique, very fine adjustments of the balance of direct and ambient sounds are…

The Well-Tempered Arm

Remember Rube Goldberg? He was a cartoonist during the late 1920s to early 1950s who specialized in devising the most outlandish and ingenious devices ever conceived by man, before or since. A Rube Goldberg mousetrap, for example, would occupy an entire small room. In taking the bait, the mouse would tip a balance beam, dropping a steel ball into a gutter, down which the ball would roll to strike a paddle whose spin would wind up a string that hoisted a weight into the air until it reached a trigger at the top, which would then release the weight to drop onto the unsuspecting mouse. Splat!…

The Well-Tempered Arm Bill Sommerwerck, August 1986

Bill Sommerwerck wrote about the WTA in August 1986 (Vol.9 No.5):

An ad from a famous-name-brand pickup manufacturer in the November 1985 Audio suggests that their "phono cartridge on the end of your tonearm is the best investment you can make to improve the sound of your stereo system." In my case, it was just the opposite; a new arm and 'table, "hanging" on my pickup, produced some amazing improvements.

A few years back, when I finally became convinced that turntables really do sound different, I decided to upgrade from my Luxman PD-121/Signet XK50 turntable and tonearm. But I…

The Well-Tempered Arm Robert Harley, January 1992

Robert Harley wrote about the Well-Tempered Arm in January 1992 (Vol.15 No.1):

The Well-Tempered Turntable (WTT) and Well-Tempered Arm (WTA) combination is one of those products destined for the audio hall of fame. This unusual design incorporated some innovative thinking and quickly established itself in the mid 1980s as a musical bargain in a world of similarly priced competitors...The Stereophile-owned WTT served as a reference in J. Gordon Holt's system and, just as tools are passed down from master to apprentice, I inherited the WTT and WTA when JGH moved up to the Versa Dynamics 2…

The Well-Tempered Arm More RH

Robert Harley wrote about the Well-Tempered Black Arm in April 1993 (Vol.16 No.4):

The Black Well-Tempered Arm is very similar to the original WTA, but with a few changes. The Black Arm features a thicker aluminum (instead of stainless steel) arm tube, a new headshell that has two mounting holes for a more secure mechanical connection to the cartridge, and a single large stainless-steel counterweight. The wiring is also updated, and the terminal block is fitted with higher-quality RCA jacks.

The Black Arm can be bought separately for $900. Owners of the original WTA can have…

The Well-Tempered Arm Robert Harley's 1993 Reference System

Sidebar 1: Robert Harley's 1993 Reference System

The playback system used in all of these evaluations consisted of an Audio Research LS2 line-stage preamplifier fed by John Curl's Vendetta Research SCP2B phono stage and an AudioQuest AQ7000 cartridge. Power amplifiers were VTL 225W Deluxe monoblocks or a Mark Levinson No.23.5, driving Hales System Two Signatures, with and without a Muse Model 18 subwoofer. Interconnects were primarily Expressive Technologies IC-2 in the phono stage and between the LS2 and the power amplifiers. AC power was conditioned by a Tice Power Block and Titan.—…

The Well-Tempered Arm Specifications

Sidebar 2: Specifications

Description: Viscous-damped, unipivot tonearm. Effective mass: 10 grams.
Price: $500 (1984); $900 (1993); $1007–$2112 (2006).
Manufacturer: Well-Tempered Lab, Costa Mesa, CA (1984). Transparent Audio, Rt. 202, Box 117, Hollis, ME 04042 (1993). Stanalog, Inc., PO Box 671, Hagaman, NY 12086. Tel: (518) 843-3070. (2006). Web: stanalog.stores.yahoo.net/index.html

Meridian D600 digital active loudspeaker

In audiophile circles, it is the "Stuart"—electronics designer Bob Stuart of the Boothroyd-Stuart collaboration—who has received most recognition. The contribution of industrial designer and stylist Allen Boothroyd has gone relatively unremarked. Yet as I unpacked Meridian's D600 "Digital Active" loudspeaker, I was struck by Boothroyd's ability to make the humdrum—a rectangular box loudspeaker—seem more than just that. The man has one hell of an eye for proportion. From the first Orpheus loudspeaker of 1975, through the Celestion SL6 and 'SL600 (where AB did the industrial and package design…

Meridian D600 digital active loudspeaker Page 2

I experimented only slightly in siting the D600s. Basically, as with other designs intended for out-in-the-room placement, there are only a limited number of positions in my 20' by 16' listening room where speakers will achieve the optimum balance between precise soundstaging and a neutral transition between the upper bass and lower midrange. The D600s ended up 42" away from the (longer) rear wall (which is faced with books and records) and 6' away from the sidewalls, toed-in toward the listening seat, which is some 8' distant.

The sidewalls have bookcases at the midpoint between the…