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For those who care about sonics, the current wave of expensive 45rpm vinyl reissues has made one question urgently relevant: Does convenience trump better sound? Put differently, does the ease of not getting up every 10…

One of the most common turntable-related problems I get asked to solve is footfalls. People with squishy floors must tiptoe gingerly back to the listening seat lest they send the stylus skipping across the record—no fun! Good music should make you want to get up and dance; that's not exactly in the cards if doing so sends the needle flying.

This topic reminds me of a school ski trip I took to Austria in the mid-1970s. I was a teenager, and the jukebox in the dorm we stayed in turned out to be unskippable. That…

In this, McIntosh is not unique; KLH, JBL, Klipsch, and other companies have rethought and reworked vintage products for the current marketplace, employing new approaches and technologies.…

The ML1 Mk II's came to me new from the McIntosh plant in nearby Binghamton. When I first fired up the ML1 Mk II's, I picked something to play at random. I don't even recall what the recording was. My initial reaction: The upper-mids seemed a bit harsh and busy, very different than the two-way stand-mounted Harbeth C7's that usually occupy this space. Following my new resolution to be patient, I kept playing recordings without sitting in the sweet spot or taking notes. I did not fool around yet with placement or toe-in, and I left the handsome substantial grilles in place. My idea was to…

Description: Four-way acoustic suspension, floorstanding speaker system. Drive units: One 12" polypropylene-cone woofer; two 4" polypropylene-cone lower midrange drivers; one 2" soft-cloth–dome upper-midrange driver, and one ¾" (20mm) treated titanium-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 180Hz, 500Hz, 4.5kHz. Frequency range: 27Hz– 45kHz. Sensitivity: 85dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Max. power handling: 600Wpc.
Dimensions: 26 1/8" (664mm) H × 15" (381mm) W × 13 3/8" (340mm) D. Weight: 66lb (30kg). Stands: 19lb (8.6kg).
Serial numbers of units…

Analog sources: VPI HW-40 turntable, VPI 12" Fatboy tonearm, Pro-Ject Classic EVO turntable, Lyra Etna λ Lambda cartridge, Ortofon Bronze Cadenza cartridge, Sumiko Amethyst cartridge.
Digital sources: MacBook Air running Tidal, Roon, Qobuz. Bricasti M1 Series II DAC, Musical Fidelity M1 CDT transport, ProJect CD Box RS 2 T.
Preamplification: McIntosh C12000.
Integrated Amplifier: McIntosh MA252.
Power Amplifier: McIntosh MC462.
Loudspeakers: Harbeth C7ES-3XD, Wilson Audio Specialties Sasha V.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Diamond AES,…

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the quasi-anechoic frequency- and time-domain behavior of one of the McIntosh ML1 Mk IIs—serial number BBB1256—in the farfield. The manual doesn't mention the preferred listening axis. However, although the tweeter is a low 31.75" from the floor with the loudspeaker sitting on its stand, the stand's slight tiltback will aim the tweeter at the ears of a typical seated listener. I therefore performed the farfield measurements on the tweeter axis. I…

The special sound of tubes, which flows like water and sometimes shines like the golden sun you hopefully shielded your eyes from during…

What occasioned the redesign of his less expensive monoblocks? "The MRE 220 SE is a refinement of its predecessor, the MRE 220, which was available for close to eight years. After its release, as I worked with different systems and setups, I learned how to improve some aspects of the push-pull design that affected feedback and stability. A good amplifier is a stable amplifier that always has good sound, independent of the speaker. I've made the two signal passes for the plus and the minus push-pull transients as equal as possible. The midrange and even the high frequencies and bass sound…