Walter Schofield, the company's COO, told me that in addition to a few new products recently introduced, many more are just on the horizon. The new products—and the new marketing push—are based on two recent technical advances. The first, iBias, which was introduced by Krell in 2014, is a sliding-bias scheme that ensures there's always a positive bias for both phases of the waveform. Sliding bias is like class-A in that a bias voltage is always…
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Krell had a big display at Munich High End show and seems to be on the brink—or maybe in the midst—of a major new-product and marketing surge.
The characteristic—perhaps I should say inimitable—Vandersteen midrange was in evidence in a system that paired a Brinkmann Audio front end and amplification (detailed below) with Vandersteen ($63,999/pair). The top was quite lively, which made for an extremely exciting listen to an LP of Jeff Beck's extraordinary "Brush with the Blues." Highs were also haunting on the vinyl version of Lou Reed's hilarious (to me) 2003 recording "Vanishing Act." I didn't write down which digital tracks were played, but a return to vinyl with Vanessa Fernandez's "I Want You" revealed that the system also had…
Just released and seen in passive display, the single-ended only Pass Int-25 ($7250) combines an XA-25 with a simplified Int-60 front end. The Int-25 has three inputs, all single-ended.
Verity Audio's system paired their Lohengrin IIS Reference loudspeaker system (110,000 Euros/pair) with the following electronics: A new preamplifier with active crossover, the Monsalvat Pro-4 (64,000 Euros) is designed to work with the loudspeakers; two Verity Audio Monsalvat Amp-60 Reference power amplifiers ($58,000 each), which I reviewed in the June 2019 issue; a Melco N1ZS/2A music server (9,975 euros); a TW-Acustic Raven Black Night turntable (29,500 Euros) with Raven 12 tonearm (5000 Euros) and RPS 10 phonostage (6,000 euros), and a Dynavector XV-1 S MC cartridge (4500 Euros).
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Playing in Room F210 on the top level atrium of Hall 4: Two pair of Focal Scala Utopia EVO loudspeakers ($39,995/pair) with lots of Naim electronics and cabling. Also in the system was a VPI Prime Signature turntable, but it wasn't in use when I was in the room. The key items in this room, though, were some footers: specifically, IsoAcoustics GAIA-Titan Theis isolators—not so humble after all, on second thought, since they cost $899.99 for a set of four. The loudspeakers—white and green—were arranged in alternate pairs, their acoustical centers shifted by a few degrees.
The six-shelf…
In Munich, audio electronics company Constellation Audio was demoing with Magico M2 loudspeakers ($63,000/pair with M-Pod footers). Spinning vinyl was the Continuum Audio Labs Obsidian turntable ($35,000) w/Viper Tonearm ($10,000) and Ortofon A-95 Cartridge ($6,000). Phono preamplification was, of course, by Constellation—their Andromeda phono stage ($18,000). On the digital side, the source was Constellation's Cygnus Media Player/DAC ($38,000). Constellation's Pictor preamp was in use ($18,000), as was a pair of their Taurus monoblocks ($39,000/pair).
The sound was fast, 3D, well-balanced…
It had been years since I last checked in with Totem Acoustic, the Canada-based loudspeaker manufacturer. When I showed up at the Totem room and was greeted by company president and longtime chief designer Vince Bruzzese, I didn't know what to expect. In the event, what I got was some excellent sound from two compact towers placed very close to the front wall, and a short introduction to what appeared to be some interesting technology behind those impressive loudspeakers.
The compact towers I was hearing were the new, v.2 version of the Element Metal (16,999/pair), which come…
Thomas R. Marshall's famous phrase, "What this country needs is a good five-cent cigar," should be modified for the 1990s to be "What this world needs is a good $1500 preamplifier."
It's hard to find a good full-function preamp (ie, one that includes a phono stage) at a reasonable price these days. There are plenty of great preamps on the market, but they tend to be expensive or line-stage only—or expensive line stages. Moreover, many manufacturers are omitting phono stages altogether, on the assumption that people don't listen to LPs anymore. This situation leaves the LP aficionado with…
Stereophile's policy in such matters is that poor sound quality is not a reason to believe a product isn't performing as intended. Moreover, we don't notify the manufacturer when we find sonic flaws with a product; the review proceeds, and the manufacturer is apprised of the reviewer's opinion only after the review is completed, in time for a "Manufacturer's Comment" to appear in the same issue.
It's also our policy to give the manufacturer the benefit of the doubt when a product is claimed to be defective or damaged [provided there does appear to be supporting evidence. If the…
Sidebar 1: System
The Exposure XVII was installed in my reference system, replacing the Audio Research LS5 and driving either a Krell KSA-300S power amp or VTL 225W tubed monoblocks. Loudspeakers were Thiel CS3.6es connected by 8' runs of AudioQuest Sterling. The long interconnects between the preamp and power amps were a 20' pair of AudioQuest Lapis. Other interconnects included Monster Sigma, AudioQuest Diamond, and AudioQuest Lapis.
Source components included the Counterpoint DA-10 and Mark Levinson No.30 or No.35 digital processors, driven by PS Audio Lambda and Mark Levinson…