Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: two 5" (125mm) impregnated-and-coated-paper–cone woofers; 1" (25mm) fabric-dome tweeter. Crossover frequency: 2.5kHz. Frequency response: 39Hz–30kHz –6dB. Nominal impedance: 6 ohms. Minimum impedance: 3.0 ohms. Sensitivity: 91.5dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplifier power: 25–150W. Supplied accessories: foam port-blocking plugs, aluminum stabilizers, carpet-piercing spikes, and protective spike covers.
Dimensions: 38.1" (967mm) H × 11.5" (293mm) W × 14.2" (361mm) D including spikes and…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ file server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; MBL N31 CD player/DAC; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter; NetGear Nighthawk router.
Integrated amplifiers: Audio Research I/50, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2, NAD M10.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: KEF LS50.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Vodka (Ethernet), AudioQuest Coffee (USB), DH Labs (1m, AES3). Interconnect: Ayre/Cardas (balanced). Speaker: AudioQuest Robin Hood. AC: AudioQuest Dragon Source & High Current,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Q Acoustics 5040's quasi-anechoic behavior in the farfield. (The 5040's manual doesn't mention an optimal listening axis, so I examined the farfield frequency- and time-domain responses on the tweeter axis.) I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses and Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system to measure the impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle.
In Gramophone Dreams #79, I described how my mother started me on a path where I am compelled to look and touch and listen and read my way to "good taste in everything." "Books and manners," she called it. She viewed these social proficiencies as something people put on like clothes.
But for me, taste has a deeper significance. I see it as regulated by an internalized moral and socio-spiritual code that forces me to recognize how little I know about whatever subject I am judging. With fine art and music, that code compels me to ask myself why I prefer one artist, style, or genre to…
In the 1970s, Steely Dan produced hit records for a listening public that could care less about the band's cryptic lyrics. Those early Dan fans responded to their songs' epic choruses and glistening hooks, awarding chart-topping success and a global audience.
From 1972's Can't Buy a Thrill to 1980's closing act Gaucho, Bard sages Walter Becker (1950–2017) and Donald Fagen occupied a place in pop music as unique as their songs' references to "wild gamblers," "midnight cruisers," "bodacious cowboys," and a female protagonist who "prays like a Roman with her eyes on fire." Much later, Becker…
Photo by Himanshu Ratnaka
In prior screeds, I have discussed the category of turntable designers I like to call deep thinkers, who twist their brains to come up with fresh thinking about how to approach the task of playing a vinyl record. If there is a poster boy for deep thinkers, it's got to be Simon Brown.
Brown is based on the South Island of New Zealand. I'm thinking that being in such a far-flung part of the world must have given his head plenty of space to get creative. First, in 2011 he created The Wand tonearm, a striking unipivot design that features a fat carbon-fiber…
Photos by Michael Trei.
A Visit to SME
It's no secret that I have long been a fan of SME turntables and tonearms. But despite having worked on, set up, or owned hundreds of their products over the last 40 years, I have never had an opportunity to visit the place where they are made. Until now.
Nestled in a sleepy village called Steyning in the south of England, SME still operates from the purpose-built factory they moved into more than 60 years ago (above), although it has been expanded several times.
What struck me first, as I approached the facility, is how the…
When Jim Austin offered the Plinius Reference A-150 stereo amplifier ($14,995) for review, it felt like a welcome blast from the past. Plinius has, lately, maintained a low profile in the US, likely due to several changes in US distributorship.
When was the last time I'd encountered a Plinius product? I found no talk of the 40-year-old New Zealand brand between a brief mention in a 2015 column by John Marks and 2022, when Robert Schryer spied a Plinius component at the Montréal Audio Fest. The most recent Stereophile review of a Plinius component was Erick Lichte's 2011 take on the SA-103…
Setup
Plinius may surround the Reference A-150's heatsinks with aesthetically pleasing curved metal, but their bottom edges are a little bit sharp. My friend Scott, who helped with installation, had no problem lifting with his hands on either side of the amp, but I kept mine toward the amp's center, where the edges are smoother. Having moved several behemoths lately, it was a pleasure to handle a powerful, full-sized audiophile-grade amp that weighs only 83lb.
Plinius may surround the Reference A-150's heatsinks with aesthetically pleasing curved metal, but their bottom edges are a little bit sharp. My friend Scott, who helped with installation, had no problem lifting with his hands on either side of the amp, but I kept mine toward the amp's center, where the edges are smoother. Having moved several behemoths lately, it was a pleasure to handle a powerful, full-sized audiophile-grade amp that weighs only 83lb.
We placed the amps on Grand Prix amplifier stands. In place of the RA-150's supplied two-piece height-adjustable feet, I used…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid state, class-A/AB stereo/bridged mono power amplifier. Inputs: 1 pair single-ended (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR). Outputs: 2 pair loudspeaker binding posts. Rated output power, stereo: 150Wpc continuous into 8 ohms (21.8dBW), 250Wpc into 4 ohms (21dBW). Rated output power, mono: 450W continuous into 8 ohms (26.5dBW), 600W into 4 ohms (24.8dBW). Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.5dB, –3dB at 70kHz. Distortion: <0.03% THD at rated output power. Output current: 50A per channel for short durations, fuse protected. Input impedance: 47k ohms. Hum…