A Cyrus TTP turntable ($5495), Grimm M2 DAC/streamer ($17,450), Triode TRX-EQ7 phono stage ($1070), Triode TRV-CD6SE CD player (€4990), Peak Consult Sinfonia speakers ($55,000/pair), and Inakustik Referenz Air cables completed the system.
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Triode Japan premiered two products at High End Munich: the Triode Evolution Pre Preamplifier and the Triode Evolution Musashi Integrated Amplifier ($10,830). The latter runs in class AB in a push-pull configuration, outputting 100Wpc into 8 ohms. It uses four KT 150 and four 12AU7 tubes for its power and pre stages, respectively.
Evaluating a loudspeaker that would become Stereophile's 2011 Product of the Year, Art Dudley, at the time the magazine's editor-at-large, wrote, "The Voxativ Ampeggio went beyond sounding good: More than once, with too many records to mention, I found myself stopping to marvel at its brilliantly good pitch certainty. In terms of being able to simply nail a note, whether in isolation or tucked within a whole string of the little bastards, I've heard few other speakers this accomplished. And while it's one thing to focus on such a characteristic for a moment at a time, it's quite another to…
Side view of the 8" Voxativ AC-1.9 full-range driver.
"Most of the horn's throat is filled with two different kinds of acoustically absorbent material," Art wrote about the original Ampeggio. "One such blanket, in fact, covers the rear of the throat and almost—but not quite—makes contact with the rear of the magnet once the driver is tightened into place."
This has changed with the 2024. "There is not much internal damping in the speaker," Adler wrote about the Ampeggio 2024. "Only some small wool directly behind the driver to add damping to eliminate higher frequencies,…
Sidebar 1: Raising the Full-Range–Driver Bar
In his 2011 review of the original Ampeggio loudspeaker, Art Dudley wrote about Inès Adler's and Ampeggio's efforts to move beyond the original Lowther's shortcomings. "After working for Mercedes-Benz for a number of years—and with 14 patents to her name in the field of electronic monitoring systems for diesel motors—Adler and some friends decided to try to make a better wideband driver. 'I think everyone who owns Lowthers becomes interested, at some point, in improving them…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Floorstanding loudspeaker with 8" full-range driver with a horn-loaded cabinet with a 14 ¼" mouth. Driver variants: AC-1.9 with Simili Japon paper cone; AC-4B with cone of wood (recommended) or paper. Phase plug made from brass, aluminum, birch, maple, or oak. Frequency range specified as 40Hz–20kHz but depends on choice of driver. Impedance: 10.5 ohms. Sensitivity: 94dB/W/m (AC-1.9) or 97dB/W/m (AC-4B).
Dimensions: 47" (1193mm) H × 16" (406mm) W × 16" (406mm) D. Weight: 120lb (54kg).
Finish: Piano black.
Serial number of units reviewed:…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: VPI Avenger Direct turntable/VPI FatBoy tonearm/Hana Umami Blue MC cartridge.
Preamplifiers: PrimaLuna EVO 100 phono stage, Shindo Labs Allegro.
Integrated amplifiers: PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid, Triode Lab EVO 45 (in for review).
Power amplifiers: Shindo Labs Haut-Brion, Rogue Stereo 100.
Loudspeakers: Devore Fidelity O/baby, Volti Audio Razz.
Cables: Interconnects: Agent Pur, AudioQuest Pegasus, Analysis Plus Silver Apex, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II (RCA). Shindo (XLR to RCA). Speaker: AudioQuest William Tell, Voxativ Due…
Sidebar 4: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Voxativ Ampeggio 2024's quasi-anechoic frequency- and time-domain behavior in the farfield. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 microphone for the nearfield responses and examined the loudspeaker's impedance with Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system.
The Voxativ Ampeggio 2024's impedance magnitude (fig.1, solid trace) lay above 12 ohms from…
There was a period in the 1970s when many pop ballads that should have had understated arrangements instead turned grandiose and even maudlin. Take Gilbert O'Sullivan's sensational single "Nothing Rhymed" (a track that went deep for a pop hit, referencing famine, duty, and morality). Soon after the start, O'Sullivan's piano is overshadowed by a loud, saccharine string section.
Another example is "Lotte," German singer Stephan Sulke's portrayal of a dying love affair. The devastatingly wistful chanson is burdened by a mawkish orchestral track—the equivalent of glitterbombing an Edward…
Is it me, or is it hot in here?
The REX 500 is a class-AB amplifier that uses 24 high-current output devices per channel, giving it stupendous power: 500Wpc into 8 ohms, 1000Wpc into 4 ohms. (There's no official rating into 2 ohms.) Considering that amplifiers have to produce only a few continuous watts to make most speakers sing (very low-sensitivity and low-impedance loads excluded), you might think that such specs are overkill. To justify such a beast, Bednarski cited JA's measurements of Wilson Audio's Alexx V speakers, whose equivalent peak dissipation resistance (EPDR) drops…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Fully balanced, dual-mono, class-AB stereo amplifier heavily biased into class-A with high-current differential driver stage, dual power transformers, no global negative feedback, and fuseless protection circuit. Power output: 500Wpc into 8 ohms, 1000Wpc into 4 ohms (both 27dBW). Input impedance: 215k ohms. Bandwidth: 3Hz–250kHz. Slew rate: 200V/µs. Gain not specified. Power consumption: 400W at idle, 3000W at full power.
Dimensions: 19" (482mm) W × 10" (254mm) H × 23.5" (597mm) D. Weight: 140lb (64 kg).
Finish: Silver or black anodized…