The beautiful Bergmann Audio Galder‑Odin Signature turntable ($33,000) played vinyl discs into a Western Electric Type 116‑C RIAA Preamplifier ($7,695) and a Western Electric Type 20‑B Rectifier, into a Western Electric 91 E Integrated Amplifier ($11,999 [black or champagne finish]; $12,999 [nickel plated]) using Western Electric 1202A Phono Termination plugs ($75/pair), into a quartet of massive…
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Johnnie Bergmann (Bergmann Audio) and Vassil (Taiko Audio) guided me through the elaborate configuration of this expensive system—thankfully, as my brain was already fried by midday Friday.
Keith Haas and Rob Standley of Playback Distribution, PMC loudspeakers, and a gaggle of men in suits from Esoteric brought a big, banging, no-holds-barred system to Tampa.
An Esoteric T1 Turntable ($80,000), mounted with an Ortofon MC Diamond Cartridge ($9999), fed an Esoteric E1 Phono Preamplifier ($46,000). An Esoteric K1X SE SACD Player ($38,000) handled incoming digital, with an Esoteric PS1 Power Supply ($16,000), Esoteric N1T Network Transport ($28,000), and an Esoteric G1X Master Clock ($27,000).
Amplification featured an Esoteric C1X Preamplifier ($22,500)…
Lone Mountain Audio’s Brad Lund, Aleks Bars, and old Hall Audio pal Leland Leard brought a minimal but effective rig to Tampa.
It included ATC’s CDAMKII Preamplifier/CD Player/DAC ($4999) and ATC’s Classic Series SCM50 ASL Active Loudspeakers ($22,499/pair). The latter component (also available as a passive version) employed a 25mm ATC SH25-76S tweeter, 75mm ATC SM75-150S soft dome midrange driver, and 234mm ATC bass driver, which incorporates ATC’s Super Linear Magnet technology.
“Each drive unit in the active model has its own dedicated and individually matched MOS-…
Audiophiles are often misunderstood as mere hobbyists; in fact they hold a profound reverence for sound. Japanese jazz kissas, where vintage vinyl, turntables, tube amplifiers, and horn speakers have drawn audiences since the 1950s, exemplify this passion. Western audiophiles share a similar fervor, though our pursuit of sonic perfection often manifests in a more discreet, almost monastic, lifestyle (footnote 1).
Shinobu Karaki, a 65-year-old electronics designer, is the founder and chief designer of Japan's Aurorasound. A music lover first, an audiophile second, and an aspiring jazz and…
Listening
The HFSA-01 played well with all kinds of music, its forward-motion pacing, exacting clarity, and exceptional coherency making it a fine dance partner regardless of the tune.
For old-world stereo, I played Guem Et Zaka Percussion (1978, Le Chante De Monde LDX 74674), jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham's Una Mas (1966, Blue Note Liberty BST 84127), Terje Rypdal, Miroslav Vitous, Jack DeJohnette (1978, ECM 1125), and Antal Dorati conducting the London Symphony Orchestra performing The Firebird (1997, Mercury SR90226). Forq's Big Party (GroundUP) brought 2024 stereo action…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Hybrid (tube output/solid state input) push-pull integrated amplifier outputting 14Wpc into 8 ohms (11.46dBW). Tube complement: 4 EL84. Inputs: 3 pairs single-ended (RCA). Outputs: Two pairs loudspeaker output terminals with 4/8 ohm taps; ¼" headphone. Frequency response: 10Hz-40kHz, –3dB. THD+N: 0.08% at 1kHz, 2W, A-weighted. Signal/noise ratio: 93dB, Line in, line out. Damping factor: 4. Gain: Line input to speaker output, 29dB. Phono input to speaker 69dB. Input impedance: 47k ohms, line or phono in. Max. power consumption: 150W. Phono: gain (MM…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Thorens TD 124 turntable with Korf TA-SF9R tonearm, Korf HS-A02 Ceramic Headshell, Kuzma CAR-30 MC cartridge, Rega Nd3 MM.
Digital sources: HoloAudio May DAC, Sonore opticalRendu, Roon Nucleus+, Small Green Computer power supply, TRENDnet switch, Apple iPad mini.
Preamplifiers: Tavish Audio Design Adagio, Manley Chinook (phono); Auditorium 23 and Bob's Devices step-up transformers; Rogue Audio RP-7.
Power amplifier: Rogue Audio Stereo 100.
Integrated amplifiers: PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid, Riviera Labs Levante.
Loudspeakers…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Aurorasound HFSA-01 was shipped to me with the four Sovtek EL84/6BQ5 tubes installed. I removed the small lid on top of the chassis to make sure the tubes were correctly seated, then performed a complete set of tests with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. To check whether some of the results were due to aging or to out-of-spec tubes, I installed a matched set of new TubeDepot JJ EL84s then repeated the testing.
Looking first at the line inputs, the HFSA-01 preserved polarity from both the 4 ohm and 8 ohm output transformer taps and from the headphone…
More Measurements
To examine the phono input's performance, I connected a wire from the grounding terminal on the amplifier's rear panel to the analyzer's chassis ground to minimize noise. To avoid overdriving the tubed output stage, I mostly did this testing by looking at the headphone output. (The manual says that inserting a plug into the headphone jack turns off the speaker outputs, but I found that rather than muting them completely, it reduced their level by 44dB.)
What if there was a character in Stanley Kubrick's classic movie 2001: A Space Odyssey who was an audiophile? Aboard the Discovery One interplanetary space ship, what would his system look like? He'd probably have a pair of ultramodern speakers that could pluck sound out of the ether. He'd control the system with something like a present-day smartphone or tablet, commanding the HAL 9000 computer to play his favorite songs. The speakers would stand unobtrusively in a white room with 1970s modern-minimalist furniture, no rack of components to drive them, no wires connecting them, no shelves of…