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…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Aurender A20 streamer and DAC, controlled via the Conductor 4 iOS app; HiFi Rose RS520; 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max running Roon.
Preamplifiers: Benchmark HPA4; BAT VK-90.
Power amplifier: Krell FPB 200c (recapped).
Integrated amplifiers: Anthem STR; PrimaLuna EVO 400.
Loudspeakers: Focal Utopia Scala Evo; Tekton Moab Be.
Cables: Speaker: AudioQuest Thunderbird Zero. Interconnects and power cords: AudioQuest, RSX, Clarus Crimson.
Accessories: Townshend Seismic Podiums. Finite Elemente Pagode HD-10 amp stand. AudioQuest…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I examined the Balanced Audio Technology REX 500's measured behavior with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. Before I started the testing, I made sure that the four Reset buttons, two for each channel, were pushed in, as advised in the manual. I preconditioned the REX 500 by following the CEA's recommendation of running it at one-eighth the maximum power into 8 ohms for 30 minutes. At the end of that time, the temperature of the top panel was 99.9°F (37.8°C) and that of the heatsinks 134.0°F (56.7°C). The REX 500 has sufficient heatsink capacity for its high output…
Jon Iverson (right) shares a Big Sur sunset with John Atkinson in 2017. (Photo by Corrina Jones.)
After 27 years, yesterday was the final day AVTech's webmaster Jon Iverson was responsible for overseeing the company's websites, including this one. Now in his mid-60s, Jon felt it was time for him to retire while he still had the energy to explore his other interests.
Jon was a successful audio retailer in California's Central Coast region in the 1980s (footnote 1), though he took a year off to study gamelan music in Bali (footnote 2). After selling his business, he contacted…
Does everything produce an improvement?"
My skeptical visitor, to whom I'd just pointed out some of the acoustic treatments and other accessories in my listening room, wasn't trying to push my buttons. He just wanted my opinion.
"No," I said. "Some things make the sound worse—way worse—but after all these years, I'm convinced that just about everything that can be done to a room or a system produces an audible difference, for better or worse."
Which is one reason that having on hand multiple full sets of more than one brand of interconnects and cables isn't merely…
When Dr. Ted and his crew began experimenting in order to re-create the soothing, late-evening RF environment we all know and love, they found instead that extra-low-frequency (ELF) and super-low-frequency (SLF) generators, tuned to various frequencies and combinations thereof, could affect soundstage width, depth, and height, as well as shift the perceived frequency balance, especially in terms of low-frequency "stiffness."
The product that resulted from this research is the Atmosphere: a black tower, 3' 3" tall, that plugs into the wall, is controlled via Bluetooth, and costs $…
Using light to read data from a disc sounds a lot like the technology behind the Compact Disc—but you may be happy to hear there's nothing digital about DS Audio's optical phono cartridge. The DS-W1 uses the motions of a Shibata stylus and boron cantilever to modulate the output of its externally powered light-emitting diode (LED).
This Analog Corner is reprinted on Stereophile's sister site Analog Planet website.
For all its insidious ferocity, the COVID ordeal also spawned a new musical genre: pandemic records. Stuck indoors like everyone else, some musicians found ways to express their creativity at home, often exploring new repertoire. While some of the resulting albums were myopic and indulgent, others—McCartney III for example—confirmed that artists who need to create will find ways. Trapped indoors, New York singer/actor Hilary Gardner found her musical muse wandering toward an unexpected place. "The songs I was initially drawn to—because I'm in this one-bedroom apartment in downtown Brooklyn—…
I sometimes joke about how audio designers create products that resemble themselves, not just in how they look, but also in the design approach used, and especially the way they sound. So, we have tall, cool, pragmatic Scandinavians making gear like the lean, elegant Børresen loudspeakers, while the Italians build luscious curvy equipment endowed with natural wood and leather, like Sonus Faber speakers and Unison Research amplifiers. Continuing this blatant stereotyping, we have Acoustic Signature founder Gunther Frohnhöfer, a stout German known for creating precision-built turntables that…
With this in mind, I found it interesting that Acoustic Signature chose to equip the review Verona with a 12" TA-5000 NEO and a 9" TA-7000 NEO, the third and second models, respectively, from the top in their five-model lineup. On paper, the 5000 and the 7000 seem quite similar, but when you dig a little deeper the differences become clear. Both have carbon-fiber armtubes, but the 7000's tube uses an internal lattice structure that adds stiffness and damping. Both use high-precision gimbal bearings, but the structure and materials are quite different. The internal wiring on both arms is…