Miscellaneous Accessories
AI Technology ELGR-8501: $160.75/1 oz
AI Technology's ELG-8501 is thermal grease made of more than 80% silver. JM uses a light smear on the mating surfaces of wall-wiring connections to prevent oxidation. He warns: "Never use any kind of silver paste on audio connections such as RCA plugs or amplifier speaker terminals." (Vol.36 No.10 WWW)
Audio Research Tube Damping Rings: $4 each
Damping rings for all AR products are now available to the public at large. They're made of a proprietary polymer material that converts kinetic energy to heat, and…
Interconnects
AcroLink 7N-DA2090 Speciale: $2375/1.5m pair
The less-than-snappily named 7N-DA2090 Speciale is technically laudable; commendably, AcroLink publishes the specs for this product's resistance (18milliohm/meter) and electrostatic capacitance (56pF/meter). It's made of 99.99999% pure multistrand copper, arranged in what AcroLink calls a "balanced twin core structure." According to MF, substituting the AcroLink interconnect for his TARA Zero Evolution "produced sharper but not unnaturally defined transients, shorter sustain and decay, and an overall well-detailed and…
New York City is forever being born. Lately, transnational capitalists are turning Manhattan into both an investment vehicle and playground for their platinum-level appetites. As real estate developments blot the city's skyline with competing glass-and-metal towers, mom-and-pop businesses collapse under rising rents and a lack of protection from predatory landlords—all the while such New York institutions as the White Horse Tavern, Cafe Edison, Bleecker Bob's, the Plaza Hotel, the Paris Theatre, and the Chelsea Hotel undergo massive change or disappear altogether. (Thank God for Katz's…
Ella Fitzgerald has always swung me into next week, but through the Kuzma, Cary, Tavish, and DeVores, her 1962 LP Ella Swings Brightly With Nelson (LP, Verve V6-4054) moved me. I heard greater soundstage depth and air compared to that of the Ragnarok, and stronger center fill, which gave Ella's voice a heightened sense of corporeality. The Cary resolved Ella's sure sense of pitch, her distinctive delivery, her natural swing.
Through the SLI-80HS, the 1989 Japanese reissue of the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour (LP, EMI/Apple Records TOCP-8514) sounded small. The superior 1971 German…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Tube integrated amplifier with fixed-bias, push-pull, class-AB output section. Tube complement: two 6922 dual-triodes, two 6SN7 dual-triodes, four KT88 output pentodes. Power output: 40Wpc (16.02dBW) triode, 80Wpc (19.03dBW) Ultralinear, both into 8 ohms. Input sensitivity: 0.45V. Input impedance: 100k ohms. Noise and hum: 82dB below rated output. Frequency response: 19Hz–23kHz, ±0.5dB at full power output. Maximum gain: 34dB. Power consumption: 166W in operation, 83W standby. Inputs: 3 pair single-ended (RCA). Outputs: One pair 5-way loudspeaker…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Kuzma Stabi R & Kuzma 4Point 11" tonearm; Hana ML moving-coil cartridge.
Preamplification: Tavish Audio Design Adagio phono preamp.
Integrated Amplifiers: Schiit Ragnarok.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93, Klipsch Forte III, Spendor A7.
Headphones: Master & Dynamic MH40.
Cables: Interconnect: Shindo Laboratory, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II. Speaker: Auditorium 23, Triode Wire Labs American. AC: manufacturers' own.
Accessories: IsoTek EVO3 Aquarius line conditioner, Salamander five-tier rack; IKEA…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Cary SLI-80HS using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 As We See It"). Both the small-signal and output tubes—all Electro-Harmonix—are numbered or marked L or R, and I installed them as instructed in the manual. Cary recommends checking the output stage bias current when the tubes are first installed and setting it to between 75mA and 85mA with the trim pots on the top panel. When the amplifier was first powered up, the left channel bias measured 79mA, the right 82mA. I checked the bias currents at intervals throughout the…
On Friday, September 27, Apple Corps, Ltd./Capitol/UMe will release, in various analog and digital formats, a remixed and remastered version of the Beatles' Abbey Road, commissioned in honor of that album's 50th anniversary. And on Saturday, September 28, between 3:00pm and 6:00pm—local times—over 40 perfectionist-audio retailers across the US and Canada, coast to coast, will mark the event by playing all 17 of the album's tracks, presumably on the finest imaginable playback systems. (It is a not-unreasonable expectation that at least some of these many playback sessions will take place at…
Various Artists: Woodstock: Back To The Garden - 50th Anniversary Experience
Rhino Records A 587817 (10 CD). 2019. Andy Zax, Brian Kehew, reissue prods; Dave Schultz, reissue mastering; Eddie Kramer, Lee Osborne, engs. TT: 12:42:23
Performance *****
Sonics ***
Fifty years, man! By the time you read this, the dates will have passed during which promoters had hoped to stage a 50th anniversary Woodstock Festival—sadly, they failed in their effort—and Woodstock mania will have peaked and died—even pieces of the Woodstock stage are available to buy (I have two!). And yet the…
Class-D audio amplifiers: What's the argument for them? Class-A audio amplifiers: What's the argument against them? Class-AB amplifiers: Why does everybody make them? Each of these amplifier output architectures has strengths and weaknesses. Each will interface more or less successfully with a given loudspeaker in a given room. Each has a distinctive sonic signature. Consequently, as knowledgeable audiophiles with a laundry list of system-building goals, we are required to choose the amplifier type that best suits our speakers, our room, and our individual musical-aesthetic predilections.…
