Digital Sources: Sony Vaio laptop computer; Bel Canto Design CD 2 CD player. Benchmark DAC1 & DAC1 HDR, and Bel Canto DAC 3.5 VB (with VB-1 power supply), Weiss DAC202, dCS Debussy D/A converters.
Power Amplifiers: Rogue Audio M180 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Revel Performa F30, Atlantic Technology AT-1.
Cables: Digital: Stereovox HDVX coaxial, Silver Sonic D-110 AES/EBU. USB: Cardas Clear. Interconnect: Sain Line Systems Pure (balanced). Speaker: Kimber Kable BiFocal X. AC: Sain Line Systems Reference.
Accessories: Shunyata Research…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
I’ve mentioned my old band, The Multi-Purpose Solution: We play a type of hard, fast, guitar-driven rock and roll, inspired by all kinds of things, including: New Jersey, Sonic Youth, the Rolling Stones, the Ramones, pizza, beer, brotherhood, women, Tom Waits, Kurt Vonnegut, Jim Thompson, anger, desperation, the Cure, and Metallica.
But I also make music with my dear friend, Todd. Todd, I think, is a genius: His crazy ability to create and combine sounds would be frightening if it wasn’t so purely delightful. I especially enjoy the music Todd makes under the name At Work. It's…
The phono preamplifiers reviewed this month are both affordable ($400–$1960) and highly accomplished, and the most expensive of them offers versatility that's unprecedented in my experience. Three of them are designed to be used only with moving-magnet, moving-iron, and high-output moving-coil cartridges, so I installed Shure's V15VxMR cartridge in VPI's Classic 3 turntable and listened in MM mode to all of them, beginning with the least expensive.
A word about the Shure V15VxMR: After spending a week listening to it in the VPI Classic 3, I've come to respect it far more than before,…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state MM/MC phono preamplifier. RIAA matching: within 0.1dB, 20Hz–20 kHz. Voltage gain at 1kHz: 40dB (MM); 60dB. Loading: 21 values from 13.3 to 1000 ohms, preset to 100 ohms (MC; 21 values from 4.9k ohms to 75k ohms, preset to 47.5k ohms (MM). MM input capacitance: 100pF. S/N ratio: 74dB unweighted ref. 5mV at 1kHz (MM); 70dB unweighted ref. 500µV at 1kHz (MC). Output impedance: 100 ohms.
Dimensions: Not noted.
Serial number of review sample: not noted (original sample); 1006 (sample supplied for measurement).
Price: $1600.…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
When Michael Fremer reviewed this $1595 phono preamplifier from Precision Transducer Engineering (PTE) in the October issue (p.31), he liked its sound via its moving-coil input.5 "Drum textures were believable—as were, generally, the percussive attacks," he wrote, adding that "The bottom end was well developed, helping to produce rich lower strings, warm French horns, and an enveloping hall sound. Macrodynamics, while no match for the Einstein [Audio Turntable's Choice]'s, were very good, particularly for $1595." He was less impressed by the sound of the PTE's MM…
Opening with a prayer for Whitney Houston, the Grammy Awards had its usual smattering of worthwhile performances and utter idiocy. To my simple mind, it was nearly upstaged by the constant appearance of Elton John’s amusing Super Bowl Pepsi ad. There’s something about him tottering on those platform shoes that never ceases to make me smile. That and Flavor Flav in the pit.
In my unhumble opinion, some Grammy categories need a critical tweak. When Chris Brown won Best R&B Album it was sickeningly clear to me—Chris Brown is Rhythm and Blues? Please. Chris Brown and Otis Redding (who won…
Although many high-end audio products are described as revolutionary and as breakthroughs in design when new, most audiophile components now on the market have not changed our way of relating to such products in the way the iPad has done. Once in a while, a new audio product does move in that direction by enabling the audiophile to do install a product and optimize its performance in a different way.
The last applies to the Bowers & Wilkins Group's new DB1 subwoofer: In addition to its automated room-compensation system, which samples over a wider bandwidth and adjusts for more room…
The DB1's Room Acoustics Compensation program probes the listening room with a tone sent to the sub's input, then samples its audio output in the room with eight closely bunched measurements taken by the supplied mike. After analyzing the results, it applies four-band equalization to correct the four most prominent resonance room peaks in the sub's range by reducing its output in a narrow band around each peak. The procedure gathers information over a passband of 30–140Hz, and gathers additional information below 30Hz. However, the DB1's ability to adjust for more than one peak is inversely…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Powered subwoofer in sealed enclosure. Drive-units: two 12" long-throw Rohacell-cone woofers, each with 3.66" voice-coil and 11-lb magnet. Frequency response: 17–145Hz, ±3dB. Passband of automatic room compensation: not stated. Low-pass filter: 40–120Hz (adjustable), slope, phase. High-pass filter: no option. Total harmonic distortion: not specified. Amplifier: 1000W RMS. Rated power consumption: 300W. Input impedance: 15k ohms. Signal/noise ratio: >100dB. Inputs per channel: stereo, unbalanced (RCA); mono LFE, unbalanced (RCA), and mono balanced…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Ittok tonearm; Spectral cartridge; Day-Sequerra FM Reference Signature tuner.
Digital Sources: Bryston BCD-1 CD player, Bryston BDP-1 digital transport with USB-2 flash drives and external USB hard drive, "Bryston BDA-1 D/A converter, NetGear WN-350 wireless router connected to BDP-1 via Ethernet.
Preamplifier: Bryston BP-26.
Power Amplifiers: Mark Levinson ML-2 monoblocks, No.334, No.27.5, No.532H.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-989; Velodyne DD-18, JL Audio Fathom f113 subwoofers.…