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…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
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…
RY COODER & MANUEL GALBÁN: Mambo Sinuendo
Perro Verde/Nonesuch 79691-2 (CD). 2003. Ry Cooder, prod.; Jerry Boys, eng. AAD? TT: 50:31
Performance ****?
Sonics ****
Perro Verde/Nonesuch 79691-2 (CD). 2003. Ry Cooder, prod.; Jerry Boys, eng. AAD? TT: 50:31
Performance ****?
Sonics ****
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…
DUKE ELLINGTON: The Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings
Duke Ellington, piano; and his bands, 1927-73
RCA Victor 63386-2 (24 CDs). 1999. Orrin Keepnews, coordinating prod.; Keepnews, Steven Lasker, reissue prods.; Steve Backer, exec. prod.; Lasker, Dennis Ferrante, digital transfer engs.; Lasker, Paul Brizzi, CEDAR restoration engs. AAD? TT: 27:33:35
Performance *****
Sonics ****
Duke Ellington, piano; and his bands, 1927-73
RCA Victor 63386-2 (24 CDs). 1999. Orrin Keepnews, coordinating prod.; Keepnews, Steven Lasker, reissue prods.; Steve Backer, exec. prod.; Lasker, Dennis Ferrante, digital transfer engs.; Lasker, Paul Brizzi, CEDAR restoration engs. AAD? TT: 27:33:35
Performance *****
Sonics ****
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…
ANONYMOUS 4: On Yoolis Night
Medieval Christmas Carols and Motets
Anonymous 4
Harmonia Mundi 907099 (CD only). Robina G. Young, prod.; Brad Michel, eng. ADD? TT: 68:03
Medieval Christmas Carols and Motets
Anonymous 4
Harmonia Mundi 907099 (CD only). Robina G. Young, prod.; Brad Michel, eng. ADD? TT: 68:03
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…
Loudspeaker Cables & Interconnects
Editor's Note: Rather than place cables in the usual "Recommended Components" classes, we've just listed those cables that members of the magazine's review team either have chosen to use on a long-term basis or have found to offer good value for money. They are therefore implicitly recommended. Where a cable has been found to have specific matching requirements or an identifiable sonic signature, it is noted in the text. "Try before you buy" is mandatory with cables; many dealers have a loaner stock to make this easier.
Editor's Note: Rather than place cables in the usual "Recommended Components" classes, we've just listed those cables that members of the magazine's review team either have chosen to use on a long-term basis or have found to offer good value for money. They are therefore implicitly recommended. Where a cable has been found to have specific matching requirements or an identifiable sonic signature, it is noted in the text. "Try before you buy" is mandatory with cables; many dealers have a loaner stock to make this easier.
Interconnects
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Consider the coelacanth. In 1938, a healthy specimen of this Paul Simon-sized fish was pulled from the Indian Ocean, not far from the mouth of South Africa's Chalumna River. But prior to that happy event (depending on your perspective, of course: the sight of the coelacanth's long, fleshy fins probably made for some very unhappy creationists), the scientific community believed the animal in question was extinct, and had been for 65 million years.
We have also learned that these elusive dinotrout spent at least some of the last 65,000,065 years working on their act, if not quite taking it…
On the less mathematical side of things we have New Yorker Bob Visintainer, the man behind Avantgarde Music & Cinema. In his own Victor Kiam-esque way, Visintainer liked his first pair of Avantgarde Duos so much that he bought a second pair, and he liked them so much he approached the speaker's US distributor, Jim Smith, and suggested giving the speakers their own store in a city where some audio dealers are notorious for their arrogance, condescension, and unstinting efforts on behalf of the cult of the trophy system. Smith said yes, and on November 13 he and some associates gathered at…
Well, you can see what I'm getting at. A fair and full description takes a great deal more space than this, and in any event the Model 88 really must be heard and seen to be appreciated: Beyond everything else I can (or, apparently, can't) say about the 88, it's a pleasure to find a physical design that is completely, 100% fresh, new, and inviting without looking silly and overdone. Bravo to Audiopax and its founding designer, the very friendly Eduardo de Lima, who speaks English a little better than at least one "elected" official I can think of.
In other words, whereas the selection at…
I'm always eager to fulfill my prime Stereophile directive: "To go where no audiophile has gone before," as JA often quips. As it happens, I've long suffered an itch to audition OTL (output-transformer–less) amplifiers, wondering how eliminating the output transformer might affect the sound. Enter the Graaf GM 200, with nothing but wire between its power tubes and the crossover.
Of course, nothing's free; eliminating the output transformer (and its distortions, claim rabid OTLers) engenders other problems. For instance, the primary purpose of an output transformer (the bad puns never…