Description: Solid-state power amplifier usable as balanced monoblock or single-ended stereo amplifier. Rated power outputs, mono: 440W into 8 ohms (26.4dBW), 840W into 4 ohms (26.2dBW), 1390W into 2 ohms (25.4dBW). Rated power outputs, stereo: 130W into 8 ohms (21.1dBW), 210W into 4 ohms (20.2dBW), 330W into 2 ohms (19.2dBW). Frequency range: mono, DC–200kHz; stereo, DC–320kHz. Distortion: <0.001%, 1kHz at 50W into 4 ohms. Output current: 50A peak maximum. Signal/noise (no reference level given): mono, 114dB unweighted, 118dB A-weighted; stereo, 113dB…
search
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable, Cobra tonearm, Castellon stand; Graham Phantom II tonearm; Ortofon A90, Soundsmith Sussurro cartridges.
Digital Sources: Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD/CD player–DAC, Simaudio Moon Evolution 650D CD transport–DAC, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Sooloos music server, Pure Music software.
Preamplifiers: Ypsilon PST-100 Mk.II with Ypsilon BC1 balancing transformers, MBL Reference 6010D, darTZeel NHB-18NS.
Power Amplifiers: Music Reference RM-200 Mk.II, Soulution 710, VTL MB-…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
To perform the measurements on the MBL Reference 9011, I 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). Before doing the testing, I ran the MBL, serial number 40431, at one-third its rated power for 30 minutes, which thermally is the worst case for an amplifier with a class-A/B output stage. (I usually do this test for 60 minutes, but my time with the review sample, serial no.40431, was limited.) At the end of that period, the chassis was only mildly warm. However, the…
"Daddy?" asked the young audiophile.
"Yes, son?"
"How are loudspeakers made?"
"Hmm...Maybe it's time we had a little talk. Follow me into the listening room..."
"And that's how loudspeakers are made, son."
"Wow."
My favorite holiday, Record Store Day, falls on Saturday, April 21—just one month from today. Independent record stores across the nation will celebrate with contests, giveaways, all kinds of limited-edition releases, in-store performances by exciting bands, and lots of other fun stuff. Check the Record Store Day website for details and participating stores near you.
This year’s Ambassador, Iggy Pop, has this to say:
A person should have a personality. You won't get one dicking around on a computer. It helps to go somewhere where there are other persons. Persons…
GoldenEar's Aon 2 (right) and Aon 3 (left).
Sunday, April 22, 2-5pm: The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting at Evolution Audio Video (5341 Derry Avenue #S, Agoura Hills, CA). The event includes presentations from Dave Kakenmaster, Western Region Sales Manager for GoldenEar, as well as Tony Weber, Sales Manager at Cary Audio, as well as a mega-raffle with stupendous prizes.
Part of Kakenmaster’s responsibilities as Western Region Sales Manager for GoldenEar include establishing and maintaining a dealer network in his region, providing…
It has been a strange winter. Now approaching what is formally known as spring, I’m not sure if we ever even made it out of autumn! Forty-five degrees Fahrenheit in the middle of February in New York City? What in the hell is going on?
Similar to how the seasons from 2011 to 2012 have melded together into the longest autumn, the shipping out of each issue of Stereophile becomes a blur as well. As I discussed in my last on newsstands March article, we are never really sure what month we are living in here at the Stereophile office, much less the month of the issue we are…
The Moscow Sessions
Barber: First Essay for Orchestra; Copland: Appalachian Spring; Gershwin: Lullaby (for string quartet); Glazunov: Valse de Concert in D; Glinka: Russlan and Ludmilla Overture; Griffes: The White Peacock; Ives: The Unanswered Question; Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina Prelude; Piston: The Incredible Flutist (ballet suite); Shostakovich: Symphony 1, Festive Overture; Tchaikovsky: Symphony 5
Lawrence Leighton Smith, Dmitri Kitayenko, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Sheffield Lab CD-1000 (3 CDs); TLP-1000 (3 LPs). CDs DDD. LPs AAA. TT: 180:40
Barber: First Essay for Orchestra; Copland: Appalachian Spring; Gershwin: Lullaby (for string quartet); Glazunov: Valse de Concert in D; Glinka: Russlan and Ludmilla Overture; Griffes: The White Peacock; Ives: The Unanswered Question; Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina Prelude; Piston: The Incredible Flutist (ballet suite); Shostakovich: Symphony 1, Festive Overture; Tchaikovsky: Symphony 5
Lawrence Leighton Smith, Dmitri Kitayenko, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Sheffield Lab CD-1000 (3 CDs); TLP-1000 (3 LPs). CDs DDD. LPs AAA. TT: 180:40
The ecumenical…
Editor's Introduction: One of the big industry stories of 1985 was the split, both personal and commercial, between the British Linn and Naim companies. Led by Ivor Tiefenbrun and Julian Vereker (footnote 1) respectively, both companies had started up in the early 1970s. Both men held similar views, both about the fat-cat complacency of British designers (which had led to a grievous sound-quality slump in the mid '70s), and about the system rethinking necessary for what some writers, unaware of the rigors of thought required by followers of that spiritual descendant of Fowler, William Safire…
Then there are the areas of electrostatics which people complain about. One, of course, is dispersion at high frequencies; the ribbon was the answer to that. The other thing is level; none of them go loud enough. In order to get level, you need to allow the diaphragms to move far enough. This is basically a question of having the plates far enough apart and getting them sensitive enough so you can get that level out of the speakers without having too big an amplifier. If you're going to have a big plate with big distances it's not going to be very much of a capacitance so you have to have…