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In that same Recommended Components feature, we listed a total of 41 turntables; four of them are suspended-subchassis designs, and two of those—the Linn LP12 and the Oracle Delphi—were first introduced in the 1970s. Of that I can only declare my belief that there exist good-sounding, musically satisfying examples of virtually every sort of turntable in existence, and that suspended-subchassis designs are no exception. Different examples of suspended-subchassis turntables can excel at very different aspects of musical playback. (The Linn, for example, remains a momentum-and-flow champion.)…
Art Dudley returned to the Air Tight ATM-300R in November 2019 (Vol.42 No.11):
Nine months ago, while I was busy reviewing Axiss Audio's Air Tight ATM-300R single-ended power amp ($16,995 with Electro-Harmonix output tubes), my new old house was still new to me, and I hadn't succeeded at getting my 1966 Altec Flamenco loudspeakers to sound consistently good in its 11' by 16' living room. So before I made my listening notes on the Air Tight, I banished my Altecs to the garage—temporarily, of course, until such time as I knew how to get them to sing in their new setting—and relied instead…
About a year after settling into my new house, I decided to buy a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 10 floorstanding loudspeakers, which I had reviewed in 2014 for our sister publication Sound & Vision. I wound up buying three of them, with the intention of cannibalizing the drivers and crossover from one to make my own three-way center-channel speaker. But that project was long delayed, and I never got around to doing anything with the third Silver 10: It now sits in a closet as a spare. (The similar but smaller Silver 8 and its replacement, the new Silver 300, were both reviewed for…
The speakers were single-wired, and the spikes weren't used. (The speakers sat on a large rug but with hardware floors underneath.) The provided grilles remained in the shipping boxes. All the source material was from CD.
Listening
Pomp & Pipes, a 1994 Reference Recordings disc (CD, RR-58CD) recorded by Keith Johnson at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, combines that hall's powerful organ with the Dallas Wind Symphony conducted by the legendary Frederick Fennell. It includes a range of showpieces with astonishing dynamic range. They're not all gems, but the closing number,…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25.4mm) MPD tweeter, 2.5" (63.5mm) C-CAMcone midrange unit, two 8" (203mm) RDT II woofers. Crossover frequencies: 650Hz, 3kHz. Frequency response: 30Hz–50kHz, –6dB. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum impedance: 3.5 ohms at 1kHz. Power handling: 250W (RMS). Recommended amplifier power: 100–250W. Maximum spl: 117dBA (pair).
Dimensions: (including feet and spikes): 42.1" (1069.3mm) H by 12.9" (327.7mm) W by 16.5" (419.1mm) D. Weight: 67.25lb (30.5kg).
…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Source: Marantz UD7007 universal disc player.
Preamplifier: Marantz AV8805 preamp-processor.
Power Amplifier: Parasound Halo A 52+.
Cables: Kimber AGDL (coaxial digital from source to AV8805), Cardas Hexlink (preamps to power amp), QED Silver Anniversary XT speaker cable, generic IEC power cords.—Thomas J. Norton
Sidebar 3: In-Room Measurements
The following measurements were made at a single mike position at ear height (for a seated listener) using the OmniMic measurement system from Parts Express. Averaging multiple readings around the listening position has not been shown to offer more revealing results in my room than a single reading point, apart from smoothing out some minor ripples in the graph. All the graphs here were smoothed to 1/6th octave. While these results will not be as precise as those made with the tools used for our full suite of measurements (which dial out the effects of the…
Sidebar 4: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Monitor Audio Gold 300's frequency response in the farfield and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. I left off the loudspeaker's grille for the measurements.
Although Monitor Audio specifies the Gold 300's sensitivity as 90dB/W/m, my estimate was almost 3dB lower, at 87.3dB(B)/2.83V/m, perhaps due to the fact that the Gold 300's impedance is specified as 4 ohms. (An input of 2.83V is equivalent to 2W into 4 ohms.) The impedance magnitude (fig.1, solid trace…
The Hi-Fi Show Live 2019, U.K’s largest specialty high-end audio event, will take place this Saturday and Sunday at the Ascot Racecourse Grandstand in Ascot, England.
Organized by the editors of Stereophile's sister publication Hi-Fi News & Record Review, the show will feature more than 200 brand exhibits, product demonstrations across all audio categories, listening sessions, interactive workshops, seminars on vintage gear, live music performances, and scheduled presentations and demonstrations by famous designers, engineers, and audio personalities, including a vinyl session hosted…
The Doors: The Soft Parade (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
Rhino Records R2-596001 (3CDs, 1LP). 1969–2019. Paul A. Rothchild, prod.; Bruce Botnick, eng. ADD. TT: 146:47
Performance ****
Sonics ****
Rhino Records R2-596001 (3CDs, 1LP). 1969–2019. Paul A. Rothchild, prod.; Bruce Botnick, eng. ADD. TT: 146:47
Performance ****
Sonics ****
The Soft Parade has long been the Doors' most under-valued album. After the revolutionary impact of the band's first two LPs, The Doors and Strange Days, and the commercial consolidation of the band's popularity on the third, Waiting for the Sun, Soft Parade was perceived as a fall from grace. The charismatic Jim Morrison, famously dubbed "The Lizard King" by Crawdaddy! guru…