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Audio & Design M9BA tonearm Manufacturer's Comment and Follow-Up

Manufacturer's Comment

We are gratified to note that The Stereophile observed the same improvements when using the A&D tonearm that we observed.

As for the minor criticisms aimed at the arm that was tested, we should emphasize the point that nothing is perfect. The arm was put into production simply when it was because even with its "faults," it had proven to be better than any other arm that was available and it was felt that such an improvement in pickup performance was more than adequate justification for putting the arm on the market.

The aim that The…

Stenheim and CH Precision at Sound by Singer in Manhattan

On Thursday, September 19, 2019, 6–10pm, Sound by Singer (242 W. 27th St., second floor, New York, NY) will host a special two-part program featuring CH Precision, Stenheim, and Stereophile's Michael Fremer.

6–8pm Ralph Sorrentino of CH Precison and Stenheim importer Walter Swanborn will conduct alternating demonstrations Of their companies’ latest creations including the CH Precision I1 Integrated amplifier (New York introduction), P1 phono stage, and X1 power supply, and Stenheim’s Alumine III speaker system (also a New York introduction).

At 8pm, special guest Michael Fremer,…

Garrard 301 & Thorens TD 124 turntables

An editorial note: We recently republished Stereophile founder J. Gordon Holt's 1966 review of the Swiss Thorens TD-150AB turntable. This was the first high-end 'table I bought after leaving university and earning a wage. But as good as I felt the TD-150AB to be, with its belt drive and sprung suspension, it was sonically overshadowed both by Thorens's TD 124 turntable and by the English Garrard 301 turntable. The idler-drive Garrard and belt/idler-drive Thorens, both introduced more than 60 years ago, proved to be two of the most significant turntables ever brought to market. Deputy editor…

My Journey to Jazz

Like most older teens growing up in the South in the late 1970s, I had two poles of rock and roll heroes: The Allman Brothers Band and ZZ Top on one side, Yes and King Crimson on the other.

But big sister Diane lived on 78th Street at Columbus Avenue in New York City—and when I moved north, her apartment floor became my bed. One day, as we walked down Amsterdam Avenue, Diane said, "Miles Davis lives down that block." "That block" was 77th Street. I'd read that Miles was the founding father of the jazz-rock music I was devouring, but I didn't yet know him as Miles, Prince of Darkness,…

RMAF 2019: Enter Stage Left

Where am I? I thought I was heading to Denver to cover the 16th edition of the three-day Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, but it looks as though I boarded the wrong plane and ended up in Las Vegas. An indoor pseudodesert with an empty red Santa Fe caboose and the canopy of an Asian restaurant in the background? An Asian restaurant whose menu’s first sushi roll is built around steak? A strange stone grotto that leads to … ? An even stranger, snakelike thing that turns out to be a towering outdoor/indoor water slide that terminates in a huge pool?

Welcome to the Gaylord Rockies Resort and…

Bryston’s New BDA-3.14 Streamer/DAC

Before the revelation of Bryston’s new BDA-3.14 streamer/DAC/digital preamp ($4195) came another, far less welcome one: The Gaylord Resort and Convention Center is huge. Ridiculously huge, and constructed with less-than-penetrable logic.

“You’re sure going to get your 10,000 Fitbit steps in today,” quipped a fellow audio reviewer as we both attempted to navigate the quarter mile between the hotel and the RMAF registration table in the convention center. The main navigation problem is that the hotel consists of several towers that don’t connect on highr floors: If I start out from my 7th…

Wilson’s Big New Baby

It’s no surprise that the Wilson Audio rooms were buzzing. Both Sheryl Lee Wilson and her late husband Dave’s successor, son Daryl, were on hand to unveil, in passive display, the new Chronosonic XVX loudspeaker ($329,000/pair, seen to Daryl’s right). Shipping to dealers now—I hope to cover its Pacific Northwest unveiling in mid-November at Seattle’s Definitive Audio—the speaker is intended for music lovers who wish they could fit its big brother, the WAMM Master Chronosonic ($850,000/pair), in their listening spaces. (The speaker, with spikes, is close to Daryl’s 6’4” height.)

While the…

Haniwa Loudspeakers, Amplifier, and Complete Vinyl Front End

Haniwa's chief designer, Tetsuo Kubo, surprised me with the sound of his new Clear Focus speakers plus digital phase control system amplifier ($25,000 total). With a much larger cone than in previous versions and an impedance of 1.3 ohms, this loudspeaker sounded totally smooth, with a very strong midrange presence, when mated with their 400Wpc amplifier. Even the bright voice of Luciano Pavarotti was pleasant to listen to, and thrilling as well.

The system also included Haniwa's HCTR-CO current-output MC cartridge plus HEQA03-CI current input phono preamp ($20,000 total; forgive me if I…

EMM Labs Optical Equalizer Phono Stage, Focal Utopia Scala V2 Loudspeakers, Kimber Kable Interconnects and Speaker Cables

Ed Meitner goes analog?

Not really. But the famed digital pioneer and founder of EMM Labs, known especially for his work with DSD/SACD, was showing his prototype optical phono preamp, the Optical Equalizer. Designed solely for use with DS Audio's optical cartridges, it can be described as a marriage between analog and digital. With specific filters for the different DS Audio cartridge models, it's expected in the first quarter of 2020.

"DS Audio's optical cartridges are so different than regular magnetic-based transducers," Meitner told me. "They require one less translation from…

Parasound Classic 200 Integrated Amplifier, Tekton Moab Loudspeakers, BlueSound Streamer, Straight Wire Cabling

For a room too small for Tekton's massive, multi-driver Moab loudspeakers ($4500/pair), Parasound and Tekton were getting surprisingly good sound. The small system lineup was headed by the new Parasound Classic 200 Integrated ($1195), which includes an all-analog signal path, analog bass management with high and low pass outputs, a DAC whose circuitry is, in the company's words, "pulled directly out of the award-wining Halo P-5," and far more goodies than you might expect at this price point. Yes, switching to the larger system, with Parasound's Halo JC 5 amplifier ($5995), JC 2 BP…