Once home, I unwrap my new possession, place the record on the VPI Traveler, and anxiously, expectantly, sit down to listen.
More beeps, bangs, and drones—gah!—almost as terrifying as the crap coming from Ms. Little's apartment. Ten seconds in, I'm scolding myself: Why did I buy this? (footnote 1) I get up, pull the record from the platter, return it to its sleeve, place the album on a stack of countless others like it, and soon forget it ever existed.
Where did I put that Drake record?
Ms. Little snapped me out of my reverie. "And what do you mean by 'Hmm'?"
"…
Sidebar: Contacts
Epoz, PO Box 258, Belrose, NSW 2085, Sidney, Australia. Tel: (61) 2-9450-0789. Fax: (61) 2-9475-4255 Web: www.epoz.com.au
US distributor: Music Hall, 108 Station Road, Great Neck, NY 11023. Tel: (516) 487-3663. Web: www.musichallaudio.com
This past Wednesday (12/5/2012) at New York City’s In Living Stereo, a diverse crowd of music lovers and audiophiles congregated on the listening room’s floor for a chance to hear a few choice sides from the new Beatles LP remasters. Attendees overflowed from the listening room into the lobby where they waited in anticipation to sit on that floor and get a listen to the new LPs.
Upon my arrival, the presentation was already half-way through. The looping sample at the end of “A Day in the Life” rotated around turntable taunting me as I waited behind clusters of folks to get a seat: “never…
When I first saw Anthem Statement's M1 at the 2011 CEDIA Expo, it was a bolt from the blue. Happening on this flat, black slab of an amplifier lying on a display table or bolted to a wall, reminded me of the appearance of the iconic monolith in Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. The M1's dimensional ratios are not 12:22:32, and there are many other one-rack-unit amps—yet, like the monolith on the moon, the M1 was in such striking contrast to everything else in its environment that it demanded attention and reflection.
I soon learned that the M1 is a 1000W or…
Then, to reacquaint myself with the sound of my reference system in my room, I spent some time listening to my B&W 800 Diamond speakers and my other amps. Only after that did I put the M1s back to work. As when test driving a powerful sports car, my first impulse was to see what the M1s' power could do. I wasn't disappointed—as much as I tried , within and sometimes beyond the limits of propriety, the M1s drove the 800 Diamonds to clean and undistorted output. Whether it was the conclusion of Mahler's Symphony 2, with orchestra, chorus, and organ all at full tilt, or the conclusion of…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Monoblock power amplifier with class-D output stage. Line-level inputs: 1 single-ended (RCA), 1 balanced (XLR). Outputs: 1 pair multiway binding posts. Selectable power switching (external trigger, manual, signal-sensing); 5-24V signal input and output for external power control. Maximum continuous power (20Hz–20kHz, 0.1% THD+N): 1000W into 8 ohms, 2000W into 4 ohms, 2400W into 3 ohms, >2000W into 2 ohms (depending on line-voltage regulation). Input sensitivity: 3.2V for 1000W (8 ohms). Voltage gain: 29dB. Input impedance: 10k ohms (RCA), 20k…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Sony XA-5400ES SACD/CD player, Oppo BDP-95 universal Blu-ray player.
Preamplification: Meridian HD621 HDMI audio processor & 861 Reference v6 digital surround controller.
Power Amplifiers: Bel Canto Design e.One REF1000 monoblocks, McIntosh MC303, Parasound Halo A 31.
Loudspeakers: ADAM Audio Classic Column MK3, Bowers & Wilkins 800 Diamond.
Cables: Digital: Black Cat Veloce. Interconnect: van den Hul Flat 180 HDMI, AudioQuest Vodka HDMI & Cheetah/DBS balanced. Speaker: AudioQuest Mont Blanc/DBS biwire. AC: JPS…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
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") to measure the Anthem Statement M1. Because Kalman Rubinson felt that the two sets of amplifiers he auditioned sounded different from each other, I measured one sample from the first set, serial no.147923, and one from the later set, no.148279. Unless stated otherwise, all measured data refer to this later sample.
I preconditioned each monoblock by running it at one-third its rated power into 8 ohms for 60 minutes.…
Mark Levinson founded Mark Levinson Audio Systems in 1972, but sold it, and the right to market audio gear under his own name, to Madrigal Audio Laboratories, then owned by the late Sandy Berlin, in 1984. Harman International bought Madrigal in 1995. As well as Mark Levinson, Harman's Luxury Audio Group now also includes digital processing pioneer Lexicon, speaker manufacturer Revel, and JBL Synthesis. The Mark Levinson brand is now headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana, at the Crown Audio facility, another Harman-owned brand. The No.53 ($25,000 each; $50,000/pair) is Mark Levinson's first new…
Sound Quality
When I first listened to the Mark Levinson No.53, its sound most reminded me of that of the Soulution 710 stereo amplifier that I reviewed in August 2011: fast, precise, detailed, somewhat lean overall, and more interested in correctly producing the initial transient than in fleshing out the texture-producing sustain. In "Yulunga," from Dead Can Dance's Into the Labyrinth (LP, 4AD), the hand drum crackled with taut definition, while the metal percussive accent that floats above was noticeably and appropriately metallic. The shaker was reproduced as cleanly as I've ever…
