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Like the massive Snell XA Reference loudspeaker, also reviewed in this issue, the Linn Komri was too bulky to lift off the ground for the usual set of quasi-anechoic measurements I take with the DRA Labs MLSSA system. The presence of a floor reflection will therefore limit the farfield measurements' resolution in the midrange. However, I was able to lift the 176-lb Komri (but not the 210-lb Snell!) onto my Outline speaker turntable, so I could examine its off-axis behavior in detail.

I estimated the Komri's voltage sensitivity to be just under 87dB(B)/2.…

Editor: Thanks for a most professional review. Yes, the Komri is a very difficult load. This is a side effect of the 4k array being operated as a four-way passive system. It requires a power amplifier capable of operating into a low impedance. The cabinet was engineered to be extremely dead, as measured, hence some of the weight. The upper bass driver has a first-order crossover so, as measured, it slightly overlaps the bass-system rolloff. Any more than a first-order high-pass on this driver introduces an excessive rate of phase change, and this slight…

Two grand gets you a microprocessor-controlled, remote-controlled integrated amp featuring two tubes, a 6922 and a 12BH7, coupled to a MOSFET output rated at 100Wpc into 8 ohms and 150Wpc into 3 ohms. The 150SB offers four line-level inputs, a tape-monitor loop, and direct access to the…

Description: Remote-controlled hybrid integrated amplifier with a tubed preamplifier section and MOSFET power section. Tube complement: one 6922 dual triode, one 12BH7 dual triode. Output power: 100Wpc into 8 ohms (20dBW), 150Wpc into 4 ohms (18.75dBW). Maximum preamplifier gain: 20dB. Measured power amplifier gain: 21.5dB. Input impedance: 100k ohms. Frequency range: 0.2Hz–200kHz (no limits given). Distortion: <0.3% at full power, 3dB feedback.
Dimensions: 18" (460mm) W by 5.2" (130mm) H by 14.4" (370mm) D. Weight: 28.6 lbs (13kg).
Serial number of…

Analog sources: Simon Yorke S7, Brinkmann Balance turntables; Immedia RPM, Graham 2.2, Brinkmann 10.5 tonearms; Lyra Titan & Helikon mono, London Jubilee cartridges.
Digital Sources: Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista SACD/CD player, Alesis Masterlink CD recorder.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, Whest PhonoStage .20, Musical Fidelity kW phono preamplifiers; Musical Fidelity kWp preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Musical Fidelity kW monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson WATT/Puppy 7, MAXX Series 2.
Cables: Phono: Cardas Neutral Reference, Audience…

I examined the broken sample before returning it to Kora to be repaired. Michael's plugging in headphones, which the Explorer appears to drive from its power amplifier output, had blown the internal rail fuses. However, when I replaced these, they blew at the end of the tube warm-up period, suggesting that something had indeed broken in the power amplifier section. I performed all the measurements on the amplifier after it had been fixed. Unless stated otherwise, all the measurements were taken from the Explorer's speaker terminals, with the signal generator…

When it was announced in 2002 that Ry Cooder was going back to Cuba to make a third record of music from that frozen-in-time musical terrarium of the western hemisphere, it was sure to mean one of two things: either enough time had passed since 1997's breakthrough Buena Vista Social Club that it would work, or, more fatefully, no well of music was this deep, and Cooder had unwisely gone back one time too many…

Perhaps the most intriguing late-night music argument concerns whether or not America has ever birthed a composer or soloist on a level with Mozart, Beethoven, or other icons…

A disc of English medieval Christmas music is a logical follow-up to this group's enormously successful English Ladymass recording, not only in terms of its likely popular appeal (classical music stations which avoid the Middle Ages as a matter of policy will make an exception at Christmas), but also as a continuation of their exploration of the Marian repertoire. Indeed, nowhere is the Mariolatric aspect of…