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RIAA Curves were discussed in detail in Keith Howard's 2009 Stereophile article "Cut and Thrust: RIAA LP Equalization."

In an ideal world, lacquer cutting would be done such that all frequencies take up the same amount of space. That way, all the grooves could be made to be an optimal size so that neither lows nor highs suffer from avoidable cutting-induced distortion—hence the idea of reducing bass and increasing the treble when the record is cut.

Like most (but not all) phono cartridges, a cutter head is a…

The room of Tampa-area dealer, UniQue Home Audio was hosted by Michael Swek and offered unique gear and interesting sounds. Their products included the MoFi Ultradeck turntable ($2499) with an Ultragold MC cartridge ($1495) feeding a Coda 06X FET phono preamplifier ($6000). Digital audio was handled with a HiFi Rose RS-130 Network Transport ($5195).

Also in the room was Theoretica Applied Physics's innovative BAACH-SP III Adio Stereo Purifier ($26,800), "for Virtual Reality 3D Imaging," boasted the room banner.

The remaining components included an IsoTek V5 Polaris Power…

Just Audio's Lenny Florentine presented two rooms at the show, one jammed with components at all price points (including Luxman, inspiring that company's VP of Sales John Pravel and myself to reminisce about 1970s hi-fi sales), the second with more affordable but no less listenable alternatives. Room 806 offered two systems in one.

System One consisted of three Audiolab components—a 9000CDT CD Transport ($1499), a 9000N Wireless Audio Streaming Player ($3499)—and a 9000A integrated amplifier ($2999), the latter helping a pair of Mission 770 loudspeakers ($5000/pair) push out…

With a slightly worried look, he asked, "How much did you say those silver cables cost?"

Thirty years later
Changing audio cables always changes the sound of my system, sometimes a lot but usually just a little. Typically, the sonic effects of cable changes are modest shifts in…

With HiFiMan HE R10P: When I played Stravinsky: Histoire du soldat (version française) (24/96 FLAC, Harmonia Mundi/Qobuz) through the Lina, powering HiFiMan's $5499 HE R10P closed-back headphones, I felt as though I was listening to a live French radio drama ca 1920. Isabelle Faust's violin, Alexander Melnikov's piano, and Dominique Horwitz's narration were presented as if each had their own recording track and those tracks were skillfully combined into an engrossing, faux-live mix, well-suited to headphones. The sound was sharp, lucid, and emotionally affecting in a way that made me…

The French two-way Diptyque DP140 MKII loudspeaker ($17,000/pair) challenges the preconception that planar magnetic speakers struggle to put out deep bass: It's specified to reach down to 35Hz. Its 87dB/W/m sensitivity is merely average—it will benefit from some power—but its 6 ohm nominal impedance means it's not too heavy a load.

The sound quality of this system was outstanding. Its planar-magnetic mid/bass driver and ribbon tweeter operate in seamless harmony. There's a loss of deep bass output with any open baffle dipole design, but this can be compensated, and it's offset by…

In the conclusion to my K-300i review, I wrote, "The Krell ... has…

Setup and other considerations
With the invaluable assistance of my husband and my friend Scott Campbell, I positioned the 145lb Krell flagship monoblocks atop Grand Prix Monza amp stands, with Wilson Audio Pedestals as supports. The amps may be heavy, but their rear handles and lack of sharp external cooling fins makes them somewhat easier to handle than many amps of similar weight.

The KMA-i800s require 20A power cables. I used two Nordost Odin 2 cables with 20A connectors and drew power through AudioQuest wall outlets fed by a carefully optimized dedicated line. All front-…

"Once I thought I had the best hi-fi system that I could get. But then I would listen to a new product andbe shocked to hear something that I hadn't heard before. It always gave me a thrill, and I was always sorry that my old system didn't sound as good." Lest anyone think Rondi D'Agostino is even a little bit new to hi-fi, she clarified in our chat how long she'd been pursuing audiophile bliss. "I got into audio through my love of music," she told me. "I grew up in the '50s and '60s just outside of San Francisco in Sausalito,…

Description: Solid state iBias class-A mono power amplifier. Inputs: one each balanced (XLR) and single-ended (RCA). Output: 2 pairs gold-plated loudspeaker binding posts. Rated output power: 800W into 8 ohms (29dBW), 1600W into 4 ohms (29dBW), 3200W into 2 ohms (29dBW). Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz +0, –0.13dB. Bandwidth, –3dB: 147kHz (measured at 50W into 8 ohms). Input impedance: 28k ohms, balanced; 14k ohms single-ended. Gain: 26.5dB. Input sensitivity: 3.8V RMS. THD: <0.010%, at 1kHz, 800W with an 8 ohm load; <0.035% at 20kHz, 800W, with an 8 ohm…