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Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP & DX-5 universal players; Apple G4 Mac mini running OS10.5.8, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.84; Shuttle PC with Lynx AES16 soundcard & dual-core AMD Athlon processor running Windows 7, Foobar 2000, Adobe Audition 3.0; dCS Debussy, Weiss DAC202, Logitech Transporter D/A converters; Halide S/PDIF Bridge, Empirical Audio Off-Ramp4 USB-S/PDIF converters.
Preamplifier: Ayre Acoustics K-5xeMP.
Power Amplifiers: Classé CT-M600, MBL Reference 9007 (both monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: BBC LS3/5a, Sonus Faber Amati…

I used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system to measure the Bricasti M1 (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 Bricasti's electrical inputs successfully locked to datastreams with sample rates ranging from 44.1 to 192kHz; the TosLink input would not lock to datastreams with sample rates greater than 96kHz, which is normal. As supplied for review, the M1's maximum output…

From the Mouth of the Sun's "Sitting In a Roofless Room," from the new album Woven Tide, released by Experimedia.

Friday, February 17, 5–9pm: David Michael Audio (4341 Delemere Court, Royal Oak, MI) will host an Evening of Turntables and Vinyl featuring outstanding new pressings from ORG. In addition, all ORG releases will be available for purchase. Space is limited. For more info, e-mail info@davidmichaelaudio.com, call (586) 244-8479, or visit David Michael Audio.

Saturday, March 3, 3–9pm: The Audio Doctor (112 Sherman Place, Jersey City, NJ) will host an evening of music featuring amplification and sources from Unison Research. Three systems will be utilized, and there will be three separate showings: 3pm, 6pm, and 8:30pm.

Gear will include Unison’s S6 integrated amplifier, Primo amplifier and CD player/DAC, and Unico 50 CDE CD player/DAC; loudspeakers will include models from KEF and Dali. Dave Lalin of the Audio Doctor and Colleen Cardas of Colleen Cardas Imports will be on hand to present…

Sunday, March 11, Time TBA: Classic Album Sundays, Colleen Murphy’s popular UK event, makes its US debut at the new Bellwether venue (594 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn).

With Classic Album Sundays, Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy shares her passions for great music and high-quality sound, inviting guests to listen to an entire record, from beginning to end, on vinyl.

The event, purely a labor of love, started in a pub in…

Saturday, March 17, 1–6pm: Fidelis AV (14 E. Broadway, Derry, New Hampshire) will host an open house to introduce loudspeakers from Stenheim and Zellaton and turntables Holborne. Gideon Schwartz of Audioarts, US importer for the brands, and Walter Swanbon of Fidelis AV will be on hand to answer questions. Refreshments will be served. For more info, e-mail info@fidelisav.com or call (603) 437-4769.

Saturday, February 11, 11am–4pm: Audio High (165 Moffett Boulevard, Mountain View, CA) will host a vinyl sale to benefit the Friends of Palo Alto Library. Hundreds of vinyl LPs ranging from rock to jazz to classical to “just plain weird” will be available, with prices starting at $2.00. An original pressing of Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue will be offered.

Since 1938, the Friends of Palo Alto Library have supported Palo Alto’s libraries through advocacy, volunteerism, contributions, and books sales and have raised over a million dollars to improve Palo…

Ken Kessler's latest "coffee-tabler" (my favorite publishing-industry insider neologism) celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of KEF Electronics by documenting the history of the venerable loudspeaker manufacturer. While the book doesn't quite start with a bang, it does start with an evocative vignette. The year was 1979, the place the…