The RCA input and output jacks are chassis-mounted, as you'd expect to find in products costing far more. There are also…
search
The all-FET, class-A, B2B-1 phono preamplifier ($1749), made in the US by Liberty Audio, is beautifully built inside and out, and comes in a heavy-duty aluminum chassis with a baked-on crackle finish and a 3/8"-thick, black-anodized faceplate. The overall build quality and physical appearance suggest something that costs more than $3000, which is probably what it would cost were it sold through retailers and not factory direct. It comes with a two-week return policy.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state phono preamplifier with unbalanced inputs and outputs (balanced inputs optional). RIAA accuracy 0.1%. Overall voltage gain: 44dB or 64dB, depending on internal setting. Equivalent short-circuit input noise: 100nV. Maximum output voltage: 12V. Risetime: 300ns.
Dimensions: 17" W by 10.5" D by 3.25" H. Weight: 11 lbs net.
Price: $1749. Approximate number of dealers: sold direct with a two-week return policy.
Manufacturer: Liberty Audio, 380 Vernon Way, Suites I–J, El Cajon, CA 92020. Tel: (619) 579-6450. Web: www.libertyaudio.…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
I measured a second sample of the Liberty B2B-1 (serial no. 1004), using Stereophile's loan sample of the Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It" and www.ap.com). The voltage gain of the Liberty set to its moving-magnet mode with its internal jumpers was 44.5dB; set to moving-coil, it was 64.2dB—both a little higher than usual, but still appropriate. The B2B-1 preserved absolute polarity (ie, was non-inverting) in both modes. The output impedance was a low 47 ohms across the audioband; the input impedance depended on the settings of the…
Dope Body’s Drag City debut, Natural History, was released earlier this week. It kills. You’ll read (I hope) in my July, August, and September “Entry Level” columns that I use the album to evaluate the rocking capabilities of the PSB Alpha B1, Polk RTi A3, Definitive Audio SM 45, and Tannoy Mercury V1 loudspeakers—all worthwhile choices.
But back to the awesome music: I’ve grown tired of guitars, but Dope Body is the rare modern guitar-driven rock band that gets me truly excited. These guys aren’t screwing around. They’re not trying to be clever or cute. They’re just rocking…
"Bigger, bigger, bigger...more, more, more!" That's how Richard Beers, President of The Home Entertainment Show Newport Beach, aka T.H.E. Show Newport Beach, describes the second installment of what he and co-conspirator Bob Levi, President of the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society (LA&OC Audio Society), wryly call "An Audio Tradition...Since Last Year."
Scheduled for Friday June 1–Sunday June 3 in sunny Orange County, California's red state within a blue state, the second annual T.H.E. Show Newport Beach has already expanded from the Hilton Hotel, right across the street…
Krzysztof Penderecki/Jonny Greenwood
Threnody for the victims of Hiroshima, Popcorn Superhet Receiver, Polymorphia, 48 Responses to Polymorphia
Aukso Orchestra, Penderecki, Marek Mos, conductors
Nonesuch 530223-2 (CD) Filip Berkowicz, Michal Merczynski, prods. Barbara Orzechowska, associate prod. Ewa Guziotek-Tubelewicz, Pitor Witkowski, engs. Performance ***** Sonics *****
Threnody for the victims of Hiroshima, Popcorn Superhet Receiver, Polymorphia, 48 Responses to Polymorphia
Aukso Orchestra, Penderecki, Marek Mos, conductors
Nonesuch 530223-2 (CD) Filip Berkowicz, Michal Merczynski, prods. Barbara Orzechowska, associate prod. Ewa Guziotek-Tubelewicz, Pitor Witkowski, engs. Performance ***** Sonics *****
For the past two decades, the "C" word in classical music— crossover—has been a bone of both hope and contention. Lured by the supposed riches that lurk amongst classical fans who want to slum it and…
Portland, Maine, my hometown for the better part of two decades, is a pretty hip place. We are not, for the most part, innovators in fashion, but we are early adopters of the more interesting latest styles.
For years now, what I take to be a Brooklyn style has been prevalent among the local twentysomething crowd. The hipper restaurants are full of pretty young women and bearded men in plaid shirts who, on the one hand, seem ready for the woodlot but who, on the other hand, seem too skinny to lift a decent-size chainsaw. Likely as not, they arrived on single-speed racing bikes converted…
I had had it in the back of my mind for some time to try to hear the Wilson Duette, if only because celebrated classical recording engineer Tony Faulkner had, some time ago, shared with me his opinion that the Duette's simpler crossover made it the most coherent speaker in Wilson's line. Faulkner told me that when a cramped recording venue makes it impossible for him to use his favorite Quad electrostatic speakers for monitoring, he uses Duettes.
In a recent e-mail, Faulkner elaborated on the benefits of two-way speakers in general and the Duette in particular, saying that most three-…
Like all Wilson speakers, the Duette is available only in spray-painted automotive finishes—no wood veneers. The standard colors are nonmetallic black and three metallic shades: a very dark gray, silver, and what I call champagne. Wilson calls these: Diamond Black, Dark Titanium, Desert Silver, and Argento Silver Twelve. "Upgrade Colors" are available by special order. Four of these are what I call Rich Guy Famous Italian Car Colors (nonmetallic red, yellow, blue, and white), but I think the others look much better. I've seen Macadamia, a rich brown with gold metallic flecks, on a pair of…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Specifications: Two-way, reflex-loaded bookshelf loudspeaker with separate crossover enclosure. Drive-units: 8" cone woofer, 1" silk-dome tweeter. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m/kHz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum impedance: 3.96 ohms at 3.1kHz. Recommended amplifier power: >20W.
Dimensions: 18.4" H by 9.4" W by 13.75" D. Weight: 39 lbs.
Finish: Automotive paints in non-metallic black, Diamond Black, Dark Titanium, Desert Silver, and Argento Silver Twelve.
Price: $13,900/pair plus $1795/pair for matching stands. Approximate number of dealers: 50.…