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Wilson Audio Specialties Yvette loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

For logistical reasons, the sample of the Wilson Yvette I measured—serial no. 166, kindly loaned by Manhattan retailer Innovative Audio—was not one of the pair auditioned by Brian Damkroger. I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Yvette's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses.

The Wilson's specified sensitivity is 86dB/2.83V/m; my estimate was a little higher, at 87.6dB(B)/2.83V/m. Wilson specifies the Yvette's nominal impedance as 4 ohms, with a…

Peter McGrath at The Audio Salon in Santa Monica Saturday

On Saturday, April 27, Join Wilson Audio's Peter McGrath for an evening of music at The Audio Salon, 2525 Michigan Ave (Gallery F1) Santa Monica, California, from 1-8 PM. McGrath will be presenting the WAMM Master Chronosonic loudspeakers with the WAMM Master Subsonic subwoofers.

The system will also feature: a Data Conversion Systems Ltd (dCS) Vivaldi Digital System; Dan D'Agostino/Master Audio Systems new HD Momentum Preamplifier and Relentless Monoblock Amplifiers; Transparent Audio Opus Cables; HRS VXR Audio Stands. A wide variety of music will be presented, including McGrath's very…

PS Audio DirectStream Power Plant 20 AC regenerator Jason Victor Serinus May 2019

Jason Victor Serinus wrote about the PS Audio DirectStream Power Plant 20 in May 2019 (Vol.42 No.5):

The last thing I expected to rave about was a PS Audio Power Plant AC regenerator—not when, over a decade ago, I'd tested an early model, the Power Plant P600, and it shot 18"-high flames and acrid black smoke into my living room. And after reviewing two Power Plants for other publications, I concluded that, for all the good they did, they tended to homogenize the sound of my system.

Nonetheless, in fall 2018, after trying four power conditioners that either buzzed and hummed far…

Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital D/A headphone amplifier Herb Reichert May 2019

Herb Reichert auditioned the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital in May 2019 (Vol.42 No.5):

Pro-Ject's "audiophile digital amplifier," the Pre Box S2 Digital, looks like something big that got shrunk down small enough that John Atkinson could carry one in his pocket on his way to my studio. "Herb, Ken Micallef reviewed this Pro-Ject DAC in our April issue. I'd like you to write a Follow-Up. I won't tell you what I think, but I'm curious what you'll make of it."

Then I remembered that Pro-Ject, an Austrian company, makes everything microsized—except their famous turntables, which are…

Honoring Hector Berlioz

It's 150 years since that quintessential French Romantic, Louis-Hector Berlioz (1803–1869), left the planet. A near-contemporary of the equally romantic Chopin, Gounod, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Liszt, Berlioz shared with Meyerbeer (1791–1864) and Wagner (1813–1883) a propensity to express his passions and fantasies in music that sometimes unfolded slowly as it extended drama to extraordinary lengths.

In this sesquicentennial year filled with new and reissued Berlioz recordings, the indisputable champion is a new boxed set, Hector Berlioz: The Complete Works (27 CDs,…

Listening #197: Simon Brown & The Wand tonearm

There's a noise I make when I'm having trouble with something inanimate: a deep, growly huff that starts in my diaphragm and comes out in one or two quick, staccato bursts. I huff this huff when I drop a tool or can't budge a seized bolt or the bottom falls out of a trash bag. It annoys my family and scares my dog.

I made that noise at least a half-dozen times while installing and setting up the Wand, a unipivot tonearm designed and manufactured by Design Build Listen Ltd., in Dunedin, New Zealand (footnote 1). That's not to say the Wand is lacking in any way: It appears both well…

Listening #197: Simon Brown & The Wand tonearm Page 2

First, while using the installation/alignment jig to confirm that the overhang was correct—according to the Wand's designer, Simon Brown, the Wand is made with Baerwald alignment—I found the need to loosen the mounting collet and adjust the arm's spindle-to-pivot distance, as described above. To do so requires the user to also loosen the screw that holds in place the cueing/armrest gantry—a component that will need to be repositioned after the spindle-to-pivot distance has been set. That's merely the fiddly part. The enragingly fiddly part comes if and when the mounting collet must be…

Musicians As Audiophiles: Jed Levy

Tenor saxophonist, composer and hi-fi enthusiast Jed Levy is a perceptive musician and devoted music listener. Over the years, he's upgraded his hi-fi as funds have allowed, typically preceded by intense study of equipment reviews and equally persistent ear-twisting of audiophile friends, some in the industry, some not.

But long before his hi-fi took shape, in the basement/rehearsal space of his comfortable Auburndale, New York home, Levy collaborated with a legendary recording engineer on his first date as a leader, Good People.

"This all began because I wanted my records to…

Musicians As Audiophiles: Jed Levy Page 2

"I'm back from Europe, I'm listening to the system, everything is sounding great, then all of a sudden I hear a loud pop," Levy explained. "I see smoke coming out of my AMC CD player! I knew that was going to be the next thing to go, but I'd hoped it wouldn't be in such a flamboyant manor. Anyway, I found an Audiolab 6000CDT transport on eBay for about $450 new in box. Wow, I just wanted something to spin CDs, but holy s*** it really upped the game tremendously which I wasn't expecting at all. Pretty much in stereo nirvana over here!"

The Music Hall MMF-5 with…

Don Was: What Was Will Be

Don Was is a music lover. Looking at his extensive discography as a record producer and musician, one is struck by the variety of artists he's worked with: from Iggy Pop to the B-52's, from Roy Orbison to Elton John, with over half a dozen stops along the way as producer for a little band called the Rolling Stones. In 2017, Was produced Gregg Allman's final studio album, Southern Blood (Rounder 610005). And when you include all the music he's had a hand in since 2012, when he became president of Blue Note Records, you're talking about one busy little red hen helping to bake a lot of bread.…