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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,…
In jazz, the chief protagonist of the berimbau is, or was, Brazilian avant-garde composer Naná Vasconcelos, an especially inventive virtuoso who played with Gato Barbieri, Don Cherry, and the Pat Metheny Group. His 1979 album Saudades (16/44.1 FLAC ECM/ Qobuz) is a tsunami of percussive reverb and a good reviewing tool. Vasconcelos died in 2016.
Compared to Bel Canto
Switching from the Maggies to the Harbeth M30.2 monitors and using the Denafrips Terminator DAC, I began my comparisons of the LKV Veros PWR+ to the Bel Canto REF600M mono amplifiers—also class-D—using Saudades's first…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier with Purifi Audio's 1ET400A class-D power amplifier modules. Inputs: 1 pair single-ended (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR). Outputs: 2 pair three-way binding posts. Power output: 200Wpc into 8 ohms (23dBW), 400Wpc into 4 ohms (23dBW), 220Wpc into 2 ohms (17.4dBW). Input sensitivity: 2V for 200W into 8 ohms. Maximum output current: 10.5A RMS. Voltage gain: 27dB. Input impedance: 200k ohms (single-ended), 400k ohms (balanced). Standby power consumption: 12W.
Dimensions: 8" (203mm) H × 17" (430mm) W × 17" (430mm) D.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Dr. Feickert Analogue Blackbird turntable with Jelco TK-850L tonearm, Grado Aeon3 moving-iron cartridge, and Parasound JC3+ phono stage; J.Sikora Initial turntable with Jelco TK-850M tonearm and My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent Ex moving-coil cartridge driving an EMIA SUT into a Kitsuné HiFi KTE LCR-1 MK4 RIAA stage.
Digital sources: Apple Mac mini computer running Audirvana+; HoloAudio May KTE (Level 3); Denafrips Terminator and Ares II D/A processors, Integra DPS 7.2 CD player (as CD transport).
Preamplification: Rogue Audio RP-7 line…