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Look at the photo. What you see is a re-imagining of the original Quad ESL 57s by Dave Slagle of EMIA (Experience Music Intact Audio). The only thing that remains from the original Quads are the PVC stator parts rebuilt to original standards by Wayne Picquet of Quads Unlimited in Longwood, Florida. The cabinets are made from solid 12/4 tiger maple with walnut accents and built by Andy Armstrong. These reinvented Quads are bi-amped using two push-pull 300B tube amps, which are mounted in the loudspeaker’s base and connected to the Quad panels through Slagle-wound step-up transformers. The high…
The Revox A-77 has extremely good speed regulation, vanishingly low wow and flutter, very low noise, superb tape handling, and the smoothest, widest-range frequency response of any recorder we have ever tested.
The portable version, with built-in monitor amps and speakers, is very compact for a machine with 10½ reel capacity, and is easily carried by one person. Now that the later version is equipped with a flutter-filtering tension arm, our only criticism of the A-77 is its use of three-circuit jacks for the micro phone inputs instead of the XLR-type receptacles that are considered to be…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Open-reel tape deck with optinal Dolby noise-reduction system (1973). Speeds: 3.75 and 7.5 ips or (in HS Model) 7.5 and 15 ips. Stereo tracks: 4 standard; 2 on special order. Reel capacity: 10.5".
Weight: 34 lb.
Price: $569 (1971); $799, $999 with Dolby (1973), no longer available (2019).
Manufacturer: Revox USA, Syosset, NY 11791 (1973). Revox Deutschland GmbH (2019), Am Krebsgraben 15, D-78048 VS-Villingen, Germany. Tel: +49 7721 8704 0. Fax: +49 7721 8704 29. Web: www.revox.de. Revox (Schweiz) AG (2019) Wehntalerstra·e 190, CH-8105…
We have still not received a pair of these for formal testing, which may be a good thing in view of our feelings these days about "updatings." (Our feelings about such are clarified in this issue's "As We See It.")
We auditioned Ohm Fs in three audio stores, and came away with five reactions. In one store, the two speakers we heard sounded similar to one another, but not terribly impressive. Stereo imaging was extraordinarily good, which has been the case with every truly omnidirectional speaker system we have heard, but the middle range of the Ohm Fs was rather markedly colored, with a…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Single-way (crossoverless), dynamic, Walsh-type transmission-line radiator. Frequency range: 33Hz–20kHz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms.
Price: $400/pair (1974); no longer available (2019).
Manufacturer: Ohm Acoustics Corp., 241 Taaffe Place, Brooklyn, NY 11205 (1974); 76 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231 (2019). Tel: (800) 783-1553, (718) 422-1111. Web: ohmspeaker.com.
Veteran Palo Alto, California distributor Audio Federation presented a system that included large horn-loaded speakers and Audio Note UK gear, two of my favorite things.
Staged by Cornelia and Michael Davis, the beautiful-looking Audio Federation assemblage consisted of the Acapella Audio One music server ($6875), Audio Note UK DAC Five Signature ($98,355), Acapella LaMusika integrated amplifier ($110,000), new 93" tall, 450lb Acapella Audio Arts Campanile 2 loudspeakers ($66,500/pair) with an updated spherical horn midrange (95dB at 8 ohms), and Acapella and Audio Note UK…
Some products I review touch my heart and affect how I see all other products that I review afterwards. VK Audio's made-in-Japan $1785 EleKit TU-8600R 300B single-ended tube amp kit was one of those. This amp uses Swedish-made Lundahl transformers (and super-premium parts) to deliver near-state-of-the-art performance at a price anyone with a soldering iron could afford. Because it made such a good pairing, this amp had a huge impact on my review of the $650/pair Klipsch RP-600M loudspeakers. Because it made such a good pairing, I called up John DeVore (DeVore Fidelity) and said, "Hey man,…
Looking at the Digital Link II's build quality and circuitry, it's hard to believe that it can sell for $499 at retail. The Digital Link II shares the same appearance as PS Audio's SuperLink and UltraLink processors, but has a 4"-shorter chassis. The ¼"-thick front panel uses PS Audio's familiar touch-sensitive switches that turn the unit on and select between coaxial and optical inputs. LEDs above these switches indicate when the unit is locked to the digital source. A third LED illuminates when power is applied.
The rear panel features a pair of high-quality, gold-plated RCA output…
Sidebar 1: Review context
My reference playback system has remained nearly constant for the past year, providing a stable platform on which to audition and compare digital processors. I auditioned the four processors reviewed in this issue under identical conditions and at matched levels. Additionally, the reference playback system has remained nearly constant for the past year, providing a stable platform on which to audition and compare digital processors. The converters under review fed an Audio Research LS2 line-stage preamplifier, which in turn drove a Mark Levinson No.23.5 power…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
Like other PS Audio processors, the Digital Link II has a high output voltage—3.6V when decoding a full-scale, 1kHz sinewave. Output impedance was extraordinarily low, measuring 2.1 ohms at 20Hz, increasing only slightly to 2.6 ohms at 20kHz. This combination of high output voltage and low output impedance makes the Digital Link II ideal for use with passive level controls.
The Digital Link II's frequency response (fig.1) showed a gradual but rather early HF rolloff, being down 0.2dB at 10kHz and 0.6dB at 20kHz. This was very similar to the Sigma's rolloff…