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Stereophile's Products of 1997 1997 Component of the Year

1997 Component of the Year

dCS Elgar D/A processor

Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Audio Physic Caldera loudspeaker
Audio Research VT100 power amplifier
California Audio Labs CL-10 multidisc CD changer
Conrad-Johnson Premier Fourteen preamplifier
EgglestonWorks Andra loudspeaker
Immedia RPM2 tonearm/turntable system
Krell Full Power Balanced 600 power amplifier
Pass Labs Aleph 3 power amplifier
VPI TNT Mk.3 turntable

What a choice to have to make! Still, the dCS won, running away from the tightly grouped pack. The Elgar is an…

Stereophile's Products of 1997 Editors' Choice

Editors' Choice

B&W DM302 loudspeaker ($250/pair; reviewed by Wes Phillips, Vol.20 No.10, October 1997 Review)

When we speak of all that technology can accomplish, we frequently find ourselves talking about chasing the ever-disappearing cutting edge. What a pleasure, instead, to simply redefine what is possible at an affordable price—and when the price is as low as $250 for a pair of B&W DM302 loudspeakers, then we're no longer speaking of pleasure, we're talking sheerest ecstasy.

The DM302 is what the High End is all about: It sounds superb, measures almost…

"What's Going On"

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying

I watched the TV with horror. George Floyd, an African-American man in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was being killed in front of the camera. I retreated to the listening room. In what couldn't have been a coincidence, the Roon app's "Discover" function had recommended I play What's Going On, Marvin Gaye's groundbreaking album, released in 1971 by Motown subsidiary Tamla.

I first heard this album when, at the start of my professional career as a bass guitarist, I was…

Analog Corner #298: Reed Muse 1C turntable and 5T tonearm

At the 2017 Hong Kong High End Audio/Video Show, I found myself sitting next to a turntable manufacturer who shall remain anonymous. A Reed Muse 3C turntable ($20,000) with 3P tonearm ($5500 for the 9.5" version, footnote 1) sat on a display table across from us. I'd favorably reviewed both of those products, in the Vol.39 No.4 and Vol.40 No.11 Analog Corners, and thought highly of them, but I was surprised when the manufacturer beside me mentioned that he thought they were exceptional: ingenious, well-engineered, fine-sounding, and visually appealing. It's hard to say otherwise about these…

Analog Corner #298: Reed Muse 1C turntable and 5T tonearm Page 2

Thereafter, the 5T operates like a standard tonearm, only better, arguably—and certainly with less hassle than your typical high-horizontal-moving-mass tangential tracker.

The 5T's horizontally positioned pivot points, which control vertical movement, can each be adjusted to set azimuth to ±8°. And the entire arm mechanism rides up and down on a threaded post, allowing precise ±0.2mm vertical tracking angle and stylus rake angle adjustment. In addition, the wooden arm tube is user-replaceable, which allows you to change the tonearm's effective mass or swap out cartridges premounted on…

In My Room

Listening rooms are real, imperfect places. Their character arises from their defects. I like real, imperfect things (footnote 1).

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…

Recording of September 2020: <I>Pick Me Up Off the Floor</I>

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 ****

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…

AMG Viella Forte turntable and 12JT tonearm

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…

AMG Viella Forte turntable and 12JT tonearm Page 2

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…

AMG Viella Forte turntable and 12JT tonearm Specifications

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 (…