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After running the XV at one-third rated power into 8 ohms for an hour (the recommended measurement preconditioning conditions), the heatsinks grew too hot to touch. I estimated the rear-panel temperature at about 70°C. After listening at even moderate playback levels, the heatsinks reached about the same temperature.

The XV's frequency response, shown in fig.1, reveals the amplifier's band-limited response. The amplifier was down 0.84dB at 20kHz into 8 ohms (top pair of traces, dotted trace is the right channel). When driving 4 ohms, the treble rolloff…

Description: Integrated amplifier with phono stage. Power output: 40Wpc into 8 ohms (16dBW) (peak or RMS rating, distortion, and bandwidth not specified). Transient power: 100VA. Distortion: <0.01% (power output and bandwidth not specified). Input impedance: 10k ohms, 150mV sensitivity. Phono input impedance: 47k ohms, 3mV sensitivity (MM); 470 ohms, 0.6mV sensitivity (MC).
Dimensions: 17" W by 3.35" H by 13.6" D. Weight: 8kg (17.6 lb).
Price: $1295 (1993); no longer available (2019). Approximate number of dealers: 15.
Manufacturer: Exposure…

While we have not yet had the opportunity to check the sample TD-I50AB sent to The Stereophile, there is little doubt but that the tonearm on this unit was seriously damaged in transit or has a serious manufacturing defect. The 5°tilt in the head shell and the ½-gram vertical friction are completely beyond the design and quality control limits established by Thorens.

The speed accuracy tolerances of this unit are ±1% of the nominal speed, which corresponds to 1/6 of a semitone. On early units the speed was at the upper limit of these tolerances, and slight…

Description: Two-speed synchronous turntable with base and integral arm. Speeds: 33 1/3 and 45 rpm. Platter: 12", aluminum, 7.5 lb. Tonearm: tubular aluminum with perforated aluminum plug-in shell, balanced horizontally and vertically.
Dimensions: 15" W by 22" D by 5" H, overall.
Price: $99.75 (1966); no longer available (2019).
Manufacturer: Thorens, Germany. Web: thorens.com/en/. US Distributor: ELPA Marketing Industries, inc., New Hyde Park, NY (1966); American Audio & Video, A Division of JAM Industries USA, LLC, 310 West Newberry Road,…

Horn-loaded speakers achieve what few conventional cone-only speakers can: reproduce…

A drummer (in his spare time) who well understands how bass frequencies can bloat, Delgado gave me his blessing to go further. "You don't want the speaker to couple too much to the floor because it will…

Description: Three-way, horn-loaded floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: High frequency driver: K-100-T1 1" (25mm) titanium diaphragm compression driver on a K-79T horn. Midrange driver: K-70 1.75" (45mm) titanium diaphragm compression driver on a K-703-M horn. Low-frequency driver: K-281 12" (305mm) fiber-composite cone woofer. KD-15 15" (381mm) passive cone radiator. Crossover frequencies: HF: 5.2kHz, MF: 650Hz. Frequency range: 38Hz–20kHz. Sensitivity: 99dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal. Power handling: 100W/400W. Terminals: dual binding posts/biwire/…

Analog Sources: Kuzma Stabi S turntable & Stogi S tonearm; Kuzma Stabi R & Kuzma 4Point 11" tonearm; Thorens TD124 turntable & Jelco TS-350S tonearm; Denon DL-103 and Hana EL phono cartridges.
Digital Sources: Sony Vaio computer running Qobuz and Tidal; BorderPatrol DAC SE, Tascam CD-200iL CD player; Western Digital T2 Mirror Drives (2).
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 A23 moving-coil step-up transformer, Musical Surroundings Phonomena II phono stage, Shindo Laboratory Allegro preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Mytek Brooklyn, Shindo…