I soon forgot all about the 5378 other rooms I had hoped to get to in the next 30 minutes, and basked in the glory of Beethoven's Violin Concerto. When a speaker makes you…
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Beckoning like the mythical paradise for which the Coloradon company is named, the Avalon Acoustics Time loudspeakers ($47,995/pair) stood in a large suite on the 34th floor. Surrounded by a large complement of room-tuning devices that only partially controlled their low end, the beauty and clarity of the Time's diamond tweeter transmitted the beauty of Renaud Capuüon's violin as few other speakers I have heard.
Dynaudio had something for almost everyone with an exhibit that ranged from affordable to cost-no-object. At one of the room stood the imposing Consequence SE, whose bass was so powerful that it would interact with the spongy wall behind it unless the mighty Michael Manousselis braced himself against the corner. But on the other end of the long room sat a marvelous little system composed of the Contour S 1.4 ($3500/pair, with optional stands costing an additional $450), Octave V40SE 40Wpc integrated amp ($4900), and an optional capacitance Black Box ($1200) that increased the…
I have little to tell you about Dolby IIz, or Audyssey's DSX or Dynamic Volume, because they added little to my musical enjoyment when I tried them or heard them in demo with this product. They work, and I encourage you to sample them for yourself. I'm somewhat undecided about Dolby Volume and Audyssey Dynamic EQ. Both will adjust tonal and channel balance to compensate for the changes in auditory perception associated with changing sound levels. While they work pretty well, I tend to listen to music at comfortably high levels. As a result, neither is really necessary for my serious…
Sidebar: Contacts
Integra, 18 Park Way, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. Tel: (800) 225-1946, (201) 818-9200. Web: www.integrahometheater.com.
Audyssey Laboratories, 350 S. Figueroa Street, Suite 233, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Tel: (213) 625-4300. Fax: (213) 625-4383. Web: www.audyssey.com.
Blind though I am to the allure of blind testing, I can appreciate some degree of review-sample anonymity: Distinctive products elicit distinctive responses, but a plain black box encourages us to leave our prejudices at the door. It asks of us a certain . . . objectivity.
So it was with the Micromega AS-400 digital source/integrated amplifier ($4495), the anonymity of which was compounded, in my case, by a generous helping of forgetfulness: I suppose I was told, ahead of time, that this was a class-D amplifier, but at some point in time before my first at-home audition I apparently…
Then I launched iTunes and located the "choose which speakers to use" icon in the lower right-hand corner of the display: The symbol, which appears only when an appropriate WiFi network has been located, resembles a planaria worm wearing a box on his head. (Ironically, the icon appears right next to the one for iTunes' Genius function.) Clicking on it gave me the choice between my computer or something called WM20-330e85. I selected the latter, which is related to the Micromega's serial number, and that was that. Within 10 minutes of unpacking the AS-400, my iMac was wirelessly streaming…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state integrated amplifier with iTunes-ready WiFi receiver and D/A converter. Line-level analog inputs: 3 pairs RCA jacks (plus 3.5mm minijack for iPod analog out). Phono inputs: 1 moving-magnet. Digital codecs supported: AAC, AIFF, ALAC, MP3, WMA, WAV. Word length and sampling rates supported: up to 16-bit/44.1kHz (but see text). Line-level input sensitivity: 280mV. Line-level input impedance: 100k ohms. Phono input sensitivity: 18mV RMS. Phono input impedance: 47k ohms. Frequency response: 10Hz–50kHz, +0/–3dB. Signal/noise: 96dB, A-weighted…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 Mk.II, Linn LP12 turntables; EMT 997, Rega RB300, Schick tonearms; Ortofon SPU & 90th Anniversary SPU.
Digital Sources: Wavelength Cosecant, Furutech GT40, Ayre Acoustics QB-9 USB D/A converters; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes V.10.1 & Decibel V.1.0.2 playback software; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Standard/SPU & Hommage T1, Silvercore One-to-Ten step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
To perform the measurements on the Micromega AS-400, I mostly used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It" and www.ap.com); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Audio Research Jitter Analyzer. Before I did any testing of the Micromega AS-400 I ran it at one-third power into 8 ohms for an hour, which imposes the maximum heat stress on an amplifier with a class-AB output stage. As the AS-400 is a class-D design, one of the benefits of…
The Cable Company's 16th annual Summer Against Hunger is anything but a feel-good gimmick. Thanks to ingenious leveraging by Robert Stein, company founder, every dollar spent on purchases from The Cable Company in the month of August results in almost $2 donated to a specific project of C.A.R.E., a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Given that C.A.R.E. is one of the more efficient charities around—over 90% of donations go directly to programs and recipients, rather than to administration—this means that for every $100 purchase you make during the month of August, a…