Description: Four-way floorstanding loudspeaker. Three omnidirectional bending-mode drive-units: 24-segment carbon-fiber tweeter, 12-segment carbon-fiber upper-midrange unit, 12-segment aluminum lower-midrange unit; plus, in separate enclosure, bandpass-loaded 12", aluminum-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 105Hz, 600Hz, 3.5kHz (Linkwitz-Riley, fourth-order). Acoustic center: 45" (1140mm) from floor. Frequency range: 24Hz–40kHz. Sensitivity: 81dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Power handling: 320–500W continuous, 2.2kW peak.
Dimensions: 67" (1720mm) H…
search
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable & Cobra tonearm & Castellon stand; Graham Phantom II tonearm; Miyajima Labs Premium BE (mono), Ortofon A90, Soundsmith Sussurro cartridges.
Digital Sources: Simaudio Moon Evolution 650D DAC & CD transport, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Meridian Sooloos music server, Pure Music software.
Preamplification: Ypsilon VPS-100 phono preamplifier; darTZeel NHB-18ns, MBL 6010D, Ypsilon PST-100 Mk.II preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: MBL Reference 9011 monoblocks,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the MBL Radialstrahler 101E Mk.II's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses. Because of its bulk, I measured the speaker (serial no.233831) in Michael Fremer's driveway; though we raised it as far as practicable, the inevitable reflection of the speaker's sound from the ground affects the resolution of the measured response in the midrange. The axis chosen for the farfield measurements was level with the center…
"New York, New York, It's an Audio Town!" After far too many years without a large-scale audio show, New York City is about to get a taste of what regularly enriches the lives of audiophiles in other major centers around the world. The first, hopefully annual New York Audio and AV Show, brought to you by the same Chester Group that mounts audio shows in the UK, Australia, and Sweden, and by T.H.E. Show USA, takes place in Park Avenue's grand Waldorf=Astoria Hotel at 301 Park Avenue on Friday April 13–Sunday, April 15.
The New York Audio and AV Show expects to showcase more than 100 brands…
Because I am an audiophile, I want to hear that music through the best possible source component. Lately, I've been enjoying CDs through the Emotiva ERC-2 CD player ($449).
The Emotiva ERC-2 measures 17" (435mm) wide by 4.25" (110mm) high by 14" (360mm) deep and, at 17.5 lbs (8kg), is the heaviest component to enter my listening room since the 25-lb Simaudio Moon i3.3 integrated amplifier ($3300, discontinued). The player's distinct appearance was developed by Emotiva's president and CEO, Dan Laufman, and VP of engineering, Lonnie Vaughn. In building the ERC-2, their goal was to "keep it…
The Emotiva ERC-2 CD player conveyed "By This River" with stunning impact and a very good sense of momentum and flow. Starts and stops were clean and precise, giving way to staggering silences and making the voluminous deep-bass blasts even more impressive. Hitting 82dB peaks, those blasts coursed through my listening room and sent fluttering the curtains 5' from my speakers' rear ports. Most satisfying, this bass was never bloated or loose, but always taut and well controlled. The ERC-2 quickly distinguished itself as a punchy, authoritative, muscular performer able to produce very quiet…
Follow-Up, from January 2012 (VOl.35 No.1):
One gray and rainy day, just weeks before I sat down to write last month's column, DeVore Fidelity's John DeVore zipped across Brooklyn, through the Holland Tunnel, and into downtown Jersey City, where I sat waiting for him at a gas station on the side of the highway. He slowed down just enough that I could jump into the car through the passenger-side window. We traveled west along Route 78, through dairy farms and deep woods, to the home of Michael Lavorgna, editor of AudioStream, Source Interlink Media's exciting new website devoted to…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state, slot-loading, remote-controlled CD player. Analog outputs: 1 pair single-ended on RCAs, 1 pair balanced on XLRs. Digital outputs: S/PDIF on coaxial and TosLink, AES/EBU.
Dimensions: 17" (435mm) W by 4.25" (110mm) H by 14" (360mm) D. Weight: 17.5 lbs (8kg).
Price: $449
Manufacturer: Emotiva Audio Corporation, 135 Southeast Parkway Court, Franklin, TN 37064. Tel: (615) 790-6754. Web: www.emotiva.com.
Sidebar 2: System
I did all of my listening with an NAD C 316BEE integrated amplifier, PSB Alpha B1 loudspeakers, and AudioQuest Rocket 33 loudspeakers cables and Sidewinder interconnects. The Emotiva and NAD sat on shelves in my PolyCrystal equipment rack, plugged into a Furutech e-TP60 power conditioner, itself plugged into a Furutech GTX wall receptacle via an AudioQuest NRG X-3 power cord. As always, I listened only to awesome music.—Stephen Mejias
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I ran the review sample of the Emotiva ERC-2 CD player through my usual test regime. To measure the ERC-2, I used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It" for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Audio Research Jitter Analyzer.
The maximum output level from both the ERC-2's balanced and single-ended outputs was 2.25V, which is 1dB higher than the CD standard's 2V. If not accounted for, this will tilt A/B comparisons…