It wasn't the best scenario for listening, especially when someone from another…
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Folks were already packing up in the Wyred4Sound room when I happened upon an active display of their just-completed prototypes, none of which is listed on their website. If you total up the total cost of the Aura preamp ($2999, Aura GaN amplifier ($2999), MS i3 music server ($2999) with its outboard HCPS power supply ($999). Isolink USB reclocker ($399), 10th Anniversary DAC ($4499), and Reference Standard 1 speaker ($14,999/pair), plus cables and all the rest, you end up with a $31,213 system.
"We are so proud of everyone who made T.H.E. Show 2021 come to life," texted show coordinator Emiko Carlin about what was the first post-pandemic audio show to take place in North America. "After more than a year of unprecedented losses, this was no doubt a true celebration of audio and musical connection. We are thrilled that 1416 unique attendees showed up to reconnect, and we are delighted that [they] all did it safely and responsibly. As the first audio show in the US to open, and one that had to honor venue attendance caps, we are over the moon with how of T.H.E. Show 2021 turned out. We…
The Who: The Who Sell Out
Universal 7711420 (5 CDs, 2 7" singles). 1967/2021. Kit Lambert, Pete Townshend, prods.; Damon Lyon-Shaw, Jon Astley, Andy MacPherson, other engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
Universal 7711420 (5 CDs, 2 7" singles). 1967/2021. Kit Lambert, Pete Townshend, prods.; Damon Lyon-Shaw, Jon Astley, Andy MacPherson, other engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
This 5-CD box-set version of The Who Sell Out is the latest iteration of a 54-year-old work-in-progress. It contains an unrivaled wealth of recorded information covering the period between the Who's second album, A Quick One (Happy Jack in the US), and the monumental rock opera Tommy.
At the package's core are remasters of the original album in mono and stereo. It also…
Chairman at the Board: Recording the Soundtrack of a Generation, by Bill Schnee. Backbeat Books, 2021. 219pp. $24.49, hard cover; $21.49, Kindle e-book.
It was September 2012, and Sasha Matson and I were in Los Angeles to record the singers for his jazz opera, Cooperstown. We had already recorded the instrumental backing with engineer Mike Marciano at Brooklyn's Systems Two studio, and the venue for the vocal tracking sessions was Bill Schnee's studio in North Hollywood. I knew Bill's name from his work recording Sheffield Lab's legendary I've Got the Music in Me direct-to-disc LP (…
If you've ever paused in front of a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, you may have noticed that the canvas seems to glow. Everything in Rubens's paintings celebrates abundance. A golden light bathes his landscapes, and his figures are epitomes of radiant health—the women ample and voluptuous (a body type sometimes called "Rubenesque"), the men vigorous and athletic. Invariably, these expanses of rosy European flesh appear to be in motion, an effect Rubens mastered more thoroughly than arguably any artist of his age.
Rubens's life was as much of a testament to plenitude and vigor as his art.…
With 1950s and early '60s jazz recordings, there was no need to listen for the bass lines—they were easy to follow and imbued with unexpected presence and weight. Listening to the title track from Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage (Blue Note UCGQ-9009), one of engineer Rudy Van Gelder's most significant but technically least effective recordings, I'd never paid so much attention to Ron Carter's melodic, impressionistic playing, his bass sometimes acting as a percussive brake and at other times twining with Hancock's lilting piano lines. And on "Hot Stepper" from Gregory Isaacs's Night Nurse (…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Class-A, tubed, single-ended, point-to-point–wired integrated amplifier with remote control. Tube complement: two 845 (power), two 63P3 (driver), one 5AR4 (rectifier), two 12AX7 (input). Inputs: 3 pairs line-level (RCA). Input impedance: 100k ohms. Input sensitivity (integrated): 220mV; one pair amplifier (RCA). Output taps: 4, 8, 16 ohms. Power output: 22Wpc into 8 ohms (13.4dBW). Frequency response: 10Hz–50kHz, –1.5dB. Harmonic distortion: 1% at 1kHz (A-weighted). Signal/noise: 87dB (A-weighted). Power consumption: 320W.
Dimensions: 17.75" (…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Garrard 301 turntable in a Box Furniture Co. plinth; Thomas Schick 12" tonearm; Ortofon SPU Classic G cartridge; Zu/Denon DL-103 cartridge.
Digital sources: Denafrips Terminator DAC; Sonore optical-Rendu; Roon Nucleus+; Small Green Computer sonicTransporter i5 server running Roon Core.
Preamplification: Shindo Aurieges preamplifier; Parasound Halo JC 3+ phono preamplifier; Auditorium 23 SPU step-up transformer.
Power amplifiers: Shindo Montille; single-ended amplifier (with triode-wired 307A output tubes) built by Oliver Sayes.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Line Magnetic LM-845IA looks identical to the company's LM-518IA integrated amplifier that Herb Reichert reviewed in October 2015. However, there are many differences in the details. The amplifier still uses a single 845 directly heated triode for each channel's output stage. (It was fitted with the stock tubes when I received it.) I followed the instructions in the manual for setting the bias current for these tubes at the recommended 70mA. After the amplifier had been operating for 30 minutes, I shorted the inputs to ground and adjusted the hum-balancer…
The Line Magnetic LM-845IA looks identical to the company's LM-518IA integrated amplifier that Herb Reichert reviewed in October 2015. However, there are many differences in the details. The amplifier still uses a single 845 directly heated triode for each channel's output stage. (It was fitted with the stock tubes when I received it.) I followed the instructions in the manual for setting the bias current for these tubes at the recommended 70mA. After the amplifier had been operating for 30 minutes, I shorted the inputs to ground and adjusted the hum-balancer…
It's rare for a Stereophile reviewer to review two loudspeakers in a row from the same manufacturer, but then these are unusual times. Because of the pandemic, Magico's M2s got stuck here for a year (I know: poor me). By the time they were packed up and shipped out, it was time for a long-scheduled review of the less-expensive, more-massive Magico A5 ($24,800/pair).
At $63,600/pair equipped with the no-longer-optional M-Pod footers (footnote 1), the now-departed M2 costs roughly 2.5 times what the newly arrived A5 costs. (The A5 comes with mere spikes.) Like all current Magico speakers,…