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Classé Omega power amplifier Measurements

Measurements
Unless otherwise noted, the measurements here were taken in the Classé Omega's unbalanced mode.

Following its 60-minute, 1/3-power preconditioning test, the Omega's heatsinks were barely warm. The amplifier's input impedance measured 129k ohms in the unbalanced mode, but considerably lower—8.4k ohms—in the balanced configuration. The output impedance is a very low 0.03 ohms at 1kHz, rising to a maximum of 0.036 ohms at 20kHz with a 4 ohm load.

The voltage gain into 8 ohms was 29.3dB (virtually the same in the balanced mode). The amplifier is noninverting at its…

Classé Omega power amplifier Measurements 2

The THD+noise results, plotted in fig.4, indicate moderately low readings across the audio band, with just slightly lower readings for the balanced configuration. In reality, these results are dominated by noise. This was verified by the difficulty I had in obtaining a readable distortion waveform at low output power. The THD+noise waveform shown in fig.5 was taken at a level of 50W into 4 ohms. It indicates a dominant third-order component, but also the presence of some higher-order harmonics plus noise. The same third-order dominance was found with 8 ohm and 2 ohm loads (not shown).

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Classé Omega power amplifier Measurements 3

The Classé had a tendency to blow its internal protection fuses if even slightly mistreated on the test bench. This first occurred when I inadvertently unplugged an unbalanced input connector with the amplifier powered up. The second and third times it happened was when the Omega was driven into clipping with the 19+20kHz IM test signal. This should not be a concern in normal operation. And, of course, if you value your loudspeakers you should never plug and unplug input connections—particularly unbalanced ones—with this powerful amplifier turned on and the speakers hooked up. The internal…

Recording of July 1993: Vivaldi: <I>The Four Seasons</I>

VIVALDI: The Four Seasons; Flute Concerto in D ("Il Gardellino"), RV 428; Harpsichord Concerto in A, RV 780
Igor Kipnis, Connecticut Early Music Festival Ensemble
Chesky CD78 (CD only). David Chesky, Jeremy Kipnis, prods.; Jeremy Kipnis, eng. DDD. TT: 62:15

I am now in the absolutely horrible position of having to recommend yet another bloody Four Seasons. If you've already bought the Huggett/Raglan version I enthused over in Vol.14 No.12, you don't actually need this one, but you may want it. The Connecticut Early Music Festival Ensemble is not up there in technique with the…

Listening #34

What is best in music is not to be found in the notes.—Gustav Mahler

Some things have changed for the better. People say it's easier to get a decent meal in Moscow than it used to be, and, almost regardless of one's views on organized religion, it's good that Russians can now worship as they please, and that they've responded to their newfound freedom with a hopeful fervor.

Then again, now that Russia is catching up with the rest of the world on so many fronts, it may be only a matter of time before their venerated classical music tradition is dragged through the alleys of…

Listening #34 Page 2

Temirkanov's Mahler is epic, and completely unlike any other that I've heard (footnote 1). The first movement's funeral march is gentler and considerably slower than most, and that alone gives the orchestra's nearly klezmeresque outbursts a contrast starker than usual. (Nowhere in the entire piece does the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic sound more Russian.) But it's in the third movement—the real center of the Fifth in every sense—that Temirkanov and his players catch fire and raise the level of concentration to a point where nothing is predictable, and where the symphony seems almost to…

Arcam Solo CD receiver

Here we are, back to the Arcam I know and love: a company that not only invents good products, but good product categories as well. Like the Arcam Black Box of the 1980s, which gave so many people fits at the time—yet which, once you heard it, made good musical sense. It made good marketing sense, too: With that one stroke, teensy, weird, nestled-away-in-the-English-countryside Arcam did nothing less than create the domestic market for outboard digital-to-analog converters.

Are they poised to do the same thing all over again? I don't know. But it's worth noting that Arcam's new…

Arcam Solo CD receiver Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Single-box CD player, DAB/FM tuner, line-level preamplifier, and amplifier. CD D/A converter: 24-bit delta-digma. FM tuner sensitivity: 2µV. FM S/N ratio: 58dB (no reference given). Preamplifier input impedance: 47k ohms. Preamplifier S/N ratio: 105dB (no reference given). Amplifier output power: 50Wpc into 8 ohms (17dBW), 75Wpc into 4 ohms (15.75dBW), both channels driven. THD+noise: 0.013 %.
Dimensions: 17" (435mm) W by 3.5" (90mm) H by 14" (360mm) D. Weight: 17 lbs (7.7kg).
Serial number of unit reviewed: SM001934.
Price: $1599.…

Arcam Solo CD receiver Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Sources: Linn LP12 turntable with Linn Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Akiva & Miyabi 47 cartridges; Rega Planar 3 turntable with Lyra Helikon Mono cartridge; Linn Linto phono preamplifier.
Digital Source: Naim CD5x CD player.
Preamplifier: Fi.
Power Amplifier: EAR 890.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-989.
Cables: Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Nordost Valhalla, Linn. Speaker: Nordost Valhalla.
Accessories: Mana Reference Table, Reference Wall Shelf (under turntables); Loricraft PRC4 record-cleaning machine.—Art Dudley

Arcam Solo CD receiver Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

Looking first at the performance of the Arcam Solo's CD section, assessed at the Preamplifier Out jacks, this offered a maximum level of 1.965V with the volume control set to "72." Signal polarity was preserved; ie, the output was noninverting. Error correction, assessed using the Pierre Verany test CD and both listening to the signal and looking at the error flag in the digital output signal, was astonishingly good, the Solo handling gaps in the CD data spiral up to 2mm long without errors, and up to 3mm long without audible glitches.

CD frequency…