search
In subsequent listening sessions, what stayed with me most was the remarkable coherence the EM/IA brought to my system. While there was a slight reduction in the first kind of force—sheer grunt and propulsion—there was a notable increase in the second: Music sounded more natural, present, and intentional, less like a collection of sounds and more like a real performance. And the EM/IA more consistently drew my attention to the music rather than the sound, always a wonderful development. It turns out that getting this kind of genuinely inspiring performance out of the EM/IA is dependent on…
All prices in Canadian dollars.
If the AudioNec Evo 3 speakers ($125,000/pair) in the top photo look familiar, it's no accident. They're from the same company that made the Evo 1 speakers in my last Luna Cables / Thöress report. But this time, they have three more modules, so the Evo 3 is much taller than the Evo 1.
This was a high-level sounding system. It should be because of the exclusivity of its components. These included a Nagra Reference Anniversary turntable ($232,500) with a Nagra Reference MC cartridge ($24,500). Also, a tube, class-A Nagra HD phono stage ($115,000), a…
When I first got interested in audio in the UK, in the 1960s, four English brands dominated the domestic loudspeaker scene: Goodmans (founded in 1923), Celestion (whose first loudspeaker was launched in early 1925), Tannoy (which started making loudspeakers in 1928), and Wharfedale. Wharfedale was the youngest of these brands, founded in 1932 in Yorkshire—the land of the Dales—by Gilbert Briggs.
In 1968, following some failed experiments with home-brewed speakers, I was looking to buy a pair of "real" loudspeakers. I was attracted to the large Wharfedale Dovedale, with its 12" woofer, but…
After the experiments with speaker placement, the Dovedales cleanly reproduced the 1/3-octave warble tones on the Editor's Choice CD down to the 40Hz band. The 32Hz tone was significantly reinforced by the lowest room mode, and while the 25Hz tone was audible I couldn't hear the 20Hz tone. There was no wind noise from the ports with the 20Hz tone, and the warble tones sounded very clean, with no audible "doubling" (adding second-harmonic distortion). The half-step–spaced tonebursts on Editor's Choice spoke cleanly down to 32Hz, with those between 2kHz and 4kHz slightly accentuated. Listening…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, standmounted loudspeaker. Drive units: 10" (254mm) black, woven Kevlar cone woofer; 5" (135mm) black, woven Kevlar cone midrange unit; 1" (25.4mm) soft-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 560Hz, 2.9kHz. Frequency response: 36Hz–20kHz ±3dB. Bass extension: –6dB at 25Hz. Nominal impedance: 6.5 ohms. Minimum impedance: 3.6 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Peak SPL: 112dB. Recommended amplifier power: 25–250W. Supplied accessories: handling gloves, carpet-piercing spikes, carbon-steel frame stands with black glass inserts.
…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ file server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; MBL N31 CD player/DAC; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter; NetGear Nighthawk router.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: KEF LS50.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Vodka (Ethernet), AudioQuest Coffee (USB), DH Labs (1m, AES3). Interconnect: Ayre/Cardas (balanced). Speaker: AudioQuest Robin Hood. AC: AudioQuest Dragon Source & High Current, manufacturers' own.
Accessories: 24"-high, single-pillar Celestion loudspeaker stands with…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Wharfedale Dovedale's quasi-anechoic frequency- and time-domain responses in the farfield. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses and Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system to measure the impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle.
I examined the farfield behavior on the tweeter axis, which, with the speaker on its stands and spikes, places the tweeter 35" from the floor. As designer Peter Comeau recommends…
All prices listed in US dollars.
TAD was demonstrating a beefy all-TAD system, beefy in looks and sound. It consisted of a 3-way, bass-reflex TAD-R1TX-BR/EB Ultimate Reference One TX speaker system ($160,000), a two-chassis TAD-C600 preamplifier ($45,000), a 175Wpc TAD-M700S stereo amplifier ($60,500), and a TAD-D1000TX-S SACD/CD player. Rounding out the system were Synergistic Research cables and line filters, Modulum equipment racks and shelves, and Jocavi acoustic panels.
The result? As I listened, "An iron fist in a velvet glove" came to mind. Napoleon coined the…
All prices listed in Canadian dollars.
The Innuos/Asona room showcased and AB-tested two network streamers for me: the flagship Pulsar and the Pulse, priced ($10,499 and $4,899, respectively). The rest of the system included an 80Wpc, class-A Pathos Acoustics InPol Heritage MkII integrated amplifier ($25,000), a pair of isodynamic Fonica Flag L speakers ($15,000/pair), an Audio Analogue AAdac DAC ($5500), which can support signals up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD512.
Also spotted but not in use while I was there was a 200Wpc Perreaux 200ix integrated amplifier with…
All prices in Canadian dollars.
The room shared by distributor Motet and PMC Speakers showcased a system—actually, two systems, but I only experienced one. This system surprised me, not merely because it delivered a full, big-picture sound but because the source of that sound was not what I initially assumed upon entering.
Contrary to my expectations, it wasn’t the mighty-statured PMC MB2 SE speakers ($50,000/pair). Instead, it was a pair of the smaller PMC Prodigy 5 floorstanders ($4000/pair) positioned in front of the MB2s. For a few seconds, mentally processing the Prodigy 5’s…