Not that there's such a thing as a perfect listening room. Every domestic listening room shares the same basic problem: Its most fundamental nature—its size and shape, the amount of space it carves out—results in resonances that can profoundly alter the sound of reproduced music, especially in the bass (footnote 2). Favorable dimensions, sound-absorbing furnishings, room treatments, signal processing—many things can mitigate the problem, but it can never be…
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Listening rooms are real, imperfect places. Their character arises from their defects. I like real, imperfect things (footnote 1).
Norah Jones: Pick Me Up Off the Floor
Blue Note B003179402 (CD). 2020. Also available on LP as Blue Note B003179801 and as high-rez download. Norah Jones, Jeff Tweedy, prods.; Patrick Dillett, Brandon Bost, Andy Taub, Matt Marinelli, Jake Owens, Tom Schick, engs.; Greg Calbi, Steve Fallone, mastering
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
Blue Note B003179402 (CD). 2020. Also available on LP as Blue Note B003179801 and as high-rez download. Norah Jones, Jeff Tweedy, prods.; Patrick Dillett, Brandon Bost, Andy Taub, Matt Marinelli, Jake Owens, Tom Schick, engs.; Greg Calbi, Steve Fallone, mastering
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
It has been almost two decades since Norah Jones emerged shyly from obscurity into astonishing pop/jazz stardom, first with 2001's First Sessions EP, her Blue Note launchpad, then with 2002's Come Away With Me, which wowed the world. It has been…
German engineering acumen and machining excellence—acknowledged and admired worldwide—are nowhere to be seen on AMG's flagship Viella Forte turntable and new 12JT tonearm. That's because, while what's on the surface is cosmetically and mechanically well-turned, the design features and precision engineering that set AMG's turntables and tonearms apart are inside and hidden from view.
Nothing about this turntable's mechanical design—or the tonearm's—can be described as "off the shelf" or "standard fare." That's been true since 2009, when the company, which was founded by the late Werner…
Adjusting speed is easy: Just hold down the button for the speed you want to adjust for about 5 seconds, then use the other two buttons to adjust the speed up or down. While the resulting green-line plot does not compare especially well to results from constantly monitored-and-adjusted, light-plattered, direct-drive turntables, the numbers themselves are very good: low-pass–filtered to remove deviations due to record eccentricity, the relative maximum deviation was –0.02%/+0.01% and the absolute was –0.7Hz/+0.5Hz (figs.1 & 2). These are very good numbers! The Air Force One Premium's…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Forte: Nonsuspended, mass-loaded, belt-driven turntable. Speeds: 33.3rpm, 45rpm, 78rpm. Motor: 24V DC. Speed adjustment: 0.1% with each button push. Wow and Flutter: not specified.
Description: 12JT: Dual-bearing aluminum tube pivoted tonearm. Effective length: 304.8mm; P2S distance: 291.4mm; overhang: 13.4mm; offset angle: 17.89°.
Dimensions: Turntable: 20 5/8" (508mm) × 9" (228.6mm) × 12 7/16" (317.5mm). Weight: 106lb (48kg).
Finish: black (engraved or nonengraved surface).
Serial numbers of units reviewed: V327 (turntable), T177 (…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable with Castellon stand; SAT CF1-09 tonearm; Ortofon Anna Diamond cartridge.
Preamplification: darTZeel NHB-18S line preamplifier; Ypsilon MC-10L, MC-16L step-up transformers; Ypsilon VPS-100, CH Precision P1 phono preamps, the latter with CH Precision X1 PSU.
Power amplifiers: VAC Statement 452 iQ Musicbloc and darTZeel NHB 468 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Alexx.
Cables: Interconnect: TARA Labs Zero and Air Evolution, Analysis Plus Silver Apex, Stealth Sakra, and…
EISA, or the Expert Imaging and Sound Association, is an organization representing 60 special interest magazines from 29 countries that cover Hi-Fi, Home Theater Video, Home Theater Audio, Photography, Mobile Devices, and In-Car Electronics. Each year, EISA expert group members, including editors from this publication, receive previews of the latest products, an extended process that culminates in a vote on which products are worthy of the prestigious EISA award.
The following award-winning products represent the state-of-art for their respective categories. When a product receives an…
The phrase "renaissance man" carries gravitas. It's probably overused. But Damon Von Schweikert believes the term genuinely befits his late father, speaker designer Albert Von Schweikert, who passed away on May 29, 2020, leaving behind myriad contributions to audio through his namesake companies.
Albert Von Schweikert was a musician from a young age, studying piano and violin at the Conservatory of the University of Heidelberg in Germany before switching to guitar. Eventually, he became a session musician and before age 20 landed a lead guitar gig, touring with Sonny and Cher and Neil…
Mullins: What was unique about your father and how he approached his work?
Von Schweikert: I think it's an objective observation that the number of products he designed over his career, and even in one year, would exceed his competition at least by double or triple. He has constantly designed that way. But, that said, he would never introduce a product to market unless it was a dramatic and objectively obvious improvement over its predecessor. He definitely rebelled against the whole idea of building a lifecycle into your products, where it is replaced with the next product two years…
As much as I admire Belgian amplifier designer Bruno Putzeys's accomplishments, I have harbored some misgivings about class-D amplifier sound. I do not believe it represents the future of perfectionist audio. Despite the fact that today's active loudspeakers depend entirely on class-D's free horsepower, light weight, and low-temperature operation, I think it sounds vacant compared to class-A. Class-D's primary engineering virtues are its extreme power-to-weight ratio and power-efficiency, as well as its high damping factor. Class-D's chief audiophile virtue is its uncanny transparency,…