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Art Dudley, Robert Deutsch and John Atkinson report live from the show starting Thursday evening.
The April 2011 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. I’m especially excited about this one. In fact, I kinda wish I could create an enormous high-resolution, illuminated reproduction of the cover and drape it over one entire side of the Empire State Building. That’s how much I love this issue. Yesterday afternoon, I walked over to 4 Times Square and handed a copy of our April issue to my dear friend, Jaime, the photo editor for a very popular woman’s magazine. Jaime was equally impressed.
You see those warm, happy colors and those delicious, little loudspeakers on the cover…
Cycles can be seen in the fortunes of companies. Likewise cycles can be seen in the performance of companies' products. A particular range will appear to have got it just right, whatever "it" is. The designer may have hit a winning streak and thus steal a lead over the competition. C-J set a new state-of-the-art preamp standard in the late 1980s with their Premier Seven, and some of that expertise and experience are beginning to pay off in the shape of new high-performance preamplifiers at realistic prices. Two important products have emerged from all this in C-J's moderately priced FET…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: FET-based, full-function preamplifier: Input impedance: 47k ohms in parallel with 260pF (phono); 31k ohms in parallel with 100pF (line). Input sensitivity (for 500mV output): 0.48mV (phono); 50mV (line). Overall gain: 60dB (phono); 20dB, phase-inverting (line). Output impedance: 160 ohms.
Dimensions; 19" W by 3.5" H by 13.2" D.
Serial number of unit tested: 300100J.
Price: $1295 (1990); no longer available (2011). Approximate number of dealers: 100.
Manufacturer: Conrad-Johnson Design, 12733 Merrilee Drive, Fairfax, VA 22031. Tel: (…
Sidebar 2: System
Analog: Goldmund Studio T4/Koetsu RS 11, Linn Sondek LP12/Ekos/Troika, van den Hul MC2 high output, plus various step-ups.
CD players: Meridian 602–603 and Marantz CD80.
Preamplifiers: C-J Premier 7a, Audio Research LS1, Conrad-Johnson PF-1, and Krell KSP-7B.
Power amplifiers: Krell KSA-80B and KSA-250, ARC Classic 120.
Loudspeakers: Apogee Duetta Signature, Apogee Stage, Quad ESL-63, Spendor SP2.2, and Celestion SL-700.
Cable: custom silver/Teflon.—Martin Colloms
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The PF-1 is ostensibly a moving-magnet design with a confirmed 47k ohm, 260pF input impedance. Normally an input sensitivity of 1 or 2mV is available for an IHF standard output of 0.5V for such an input; the PF-1 delivered a 0.48mV sensitivity and an overall gain of 60dB. This was just sufficient for the loudest "low-output" moving-coils, and was well-suited to the "high-output" types which generally offer somewhat lower levels than the average moving-magnet.
Further consideration of the disc input is worthwhile to help understand the optimum matching…
As explained by Ken Kessler elsewhere in this issue, the English A&R Cambridge company made their name by producing one of the UK's most successful integrated amplifiers, the 40Wpc A60. This neatly styled model was in production for a decade or so and was the basis for a large number of good-sounding but inexpensive audio systems. These days, the company, whose products in the US sell under the Arcam banner, is a major British hi-fi manufacturer, with a product line that includes integrated amplifiers, tuners, loudspeakers, cartridges, and even a CD player. A&R was, I believe, the…
Arcam recommends a two-hour warm-up time before the unit is capable of sounding at its best. I actually left it plugged in and switched on for about 24 hours before I did any serious listening. The following CDs were used for the formal listening tests: Beethoven piano sonatas, John O'Conor, Telarc CD-80118; the HFN/RR Test CD; Mahler Symphony 5, Bernstein, DG 423 608-2; I Was Glad: Cathedral Music by Parry, Hyperion CDA66273; Back in the High Life, Steve Winwood, Island; West of Oz, Amanda McBroom, Sheffield Lab CD-15; and Aerial Boundaries, Michael Hedges, Windham Hill WD-1032.
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Sidebar 1: JA's 1989 System
The fundamental system used to assess the sound of the Delta Black Box consisted of the following: Celestion SL700 loudspeakers, sitting on their own spiked stands well away from room boundaries, were driven by a pair of VTL 100W Compact monoblock amplifiers, and were bi-wired with Monster M1 speaker cable. No active preamplifier was used, all signals being routed through the Mod Squad Deluxe Line Drive reviewed last month and since purchased as a line-level reference.
A Marantz CD-94 CD player was used as the source transport to provide data for the…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
The measured output impedances were pretty much to specification, at 27 ohms (Direct) and 495 ohms (Line), as was the frequency response, which measured –0.2dB at 4Hz and 20kHz, with only the merest hint of ripple in the top octave. Although the maximum output level from the direct sockets was 2.18V, as specified, that from the line-level sockets was a little higher at 1.05V. This is inconsequential, however, the 6dB reduction in output being sufficient to avoid overload problems with some older preamplifiers. As the analog output circuitry uses a DC servo to…