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"Push it gently in the foam to correct." It sounds like a line from The Dairyman's Guide to BDSM, but it's actually a quote from the installation manual for Linn's latest upgrade for the Sondek LP12 turntable. The kit in question—a DC motor, plus an outboard power supply/control unit—is probably the most extreme to arrive from the Scottish firm, thus earning one of the company's least abstract name in ages: It is, indeed, the Linn Radikal. And along with a newly designed onboard phono stage called the Urika, the Radikal is the latest of what Linn calls their SE-series upgrades (footnote 1…
Linn's recent upgrades for the LP12 have, in some ways, streamlined and demystified the setup process, and the Radikal continues in that direction. By eliminating the need for an onboard PCB, it undercuts those setup gurus who would waste time getting all the nylon standoff clips pointing in the "correct" direction, or other such silliness. And, like the Lingo kit before it, the Radikal doesn't require running an AC ground lead to one of the main crossmember bolts. (In fairness, I should point out that Naim Armageddon fans, in whose formation I used to march, would say that the ganging of…
When people feel passionately about something—whether books, golf, auto racing, dog breeding, or music—there is an understandable impulse to create rankings, hierarchies, and lists. Such lists can be helpful. I am quite likely to read someone's list of The 100 Most Important Jazz Recordings, or of The 100 Greatest Novels in the English Language. Engaging with such rankings and lists has several benefits. First, we all like to see our prejudices validated. When I discover that someone else is also a fan of Ralph Vaughan Williams's An Oxford Elegy, or of Herbert Howells's Master Tallis's…
The rapidly evolving world of the late 20th century is the source of much stress. Changes in the status quo, whether wrought by social, political, or technological forces, are often accompanied by anxiety brought on by the struggle to assimilate new patterns of thought. New ideas necessitate abandoning or modifying one's old ideas, thus creating conflict (footnote 1). However, these periods of rapid change can also be exciting, allowing one to chart a course of discovery and growth.
These ideas are particularly relevant to digital audio. The proliferation of digital audio technology in…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: D/A converter with 4x-oversampling dual DACs. Features: 44.1kHz and 48kHz decoding, polarity-inversion switch. Inputs/Outputs: Coaxial digital input (S/PDIF format) and EIAJ optical input, analog output. Specifications: not provided.
Dimensions: 10½" (265mm) W by 10½" (265mm) D by 2½" (63.5mm) H.
Price: $995 (1989); no longer available (2011). Approximate number of dealers: 50.
Manufacturer: Musical Fidelity Ltd., 15-17 Fulton Road, Wembley, Middlesex HA9 0TF, England, UK. Tel: (44) (0)181-900-2866. Fax: (44) (0)181-900-2983. Web: www.…
Sidebar 2: RH's 1988 System
The system used for evaluating the three components consisted of a PS Audio 5.5 preamp (in Straightwire mode exclusively), Vortex Screen loudspeakers driven by Prodigy OTL tube power amplifiers, and Stax Pro Lambda Signature headphones. Included in the source material was a live recording I had just made as part of an appraisal of the Nakamichi 1000 DAT machine. I recorded acoustic guitar and acoustic bass duets in a church using tube microphones to fully explore the Nakamichi's capabilities (watch for a full report, as well as a review of the 1000, next month…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Measured using the Audio Precision System One with a swept bandpass filter, both units exhibited a slight negative deviation from linearity, the amplitude of a dithered 1kHz tone at –90dBFS not quite reaching the –90dB level. While the Black Box 2's small 120Hz peak at –110dB is indicative of a full-wave rectified power supply whose ripple frequency is double the line frequency, with harmonics evident at 2kHz, 3kHz, 5kHz, and 7kHz (fig.1 in that review's measurements), attempting to measure the same thing with the Digilog resulted in a severe ground loop, the…
Direct Acoustics is a loudspeaker company in Weston, Massachusetts, that sells, by mail-order only, just one product: the two-way, floorstanding Silent Speaker II ($748/pair).
Its seemingly paradoxical name refers not to any inability of the Silent to create sound, but rather is intended by its maker to indicate two aspects of its performance. First is the ability of the loudspeaker boxes to "disappear" in the sense of not being readily apparent as sound sources. Well, okay, everyone wants that. The other intended sense of Silent is that the woofer and its loading arrangement were…
Although I had been aware of Direct Acoustics for at least a year and probably two, had bookmarked its website, and had it in mind to eventually get in touch, what prompted me to take action was a conversation I had late last year, at Parsons Audio's annual trade fair, with the recording engineer and musician Micha Shattner. Micha has some of the best ears I have ever seen at work, and he does not gush praise as a standard operating procedure. Indeed, he did not gush at all over the Silent Speaker II; he simply said that, at the price, there was nothing like it. He also said that, owing to…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, floorstanding loudpseaker. Drive-units. 1" soft-dome tweeter, 6.5" paper-cone woofer. Frequency response: 40Hz–10kHz, ±2dB; 30Hz–17kHz, ±4dB; 20Hz–20kHz, ±6dB. Voltage sensitivity, not specified. Impedance: 6 ohms nominal, 4 ohms minimum.
Dimensions: 25" H by 13.5" W by 9" D. Weight: about 25 lbs.
Serial numbers of review samples: None visible.
Price: $748/pair. Approximate number of retailers: sold direct only.
Manufacturer: Direct Acoustics, 19 Lexington St., Weston, MA 02493. Tel: (617) 538-2015. Web: www.directacoustics.…