Remember albums? The idea is quaint in the era of streaming, a time of "summer songs," one-hit wonders, meme songs, song snippets on TikTok, songs tied to viral videos, robot-generated playlists, and whatnot. Those of us older than the World Wide Web itself, we remember albums. They were 12" slices of happiness, sadness, escape, epiphany—all the feelings. The geometry and physics of…
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Before the bits and bytes, before the streams, the music business and its most talented artists, producers, and engineers conjured up a notion of musical-sonic holiness: the perfect album side.
Like romance or car racing, the act of playing records is tactile by design. Like drifting through curves or making out, spinning vinyl is a learned skill that requires users to touch everything with practiced assurance.
To play a disc with Technics' new SL-1300G record player means pushing its round On button, then touching one or more of its rectangular speed selector buttons, then pushing the big square [Start:Stop] button, then unclamping the tonearm and using its cue lever to raise it up.
Next comes the part where my heart beats a little faster: using the headshell's…
In that spirit, and knowing I did not own a runout gauge, Trei told me to eyeball the chrome bead on the lower rim of the 1300G's platter against the line of the plinth's top surface, watching to see if the platter rises and falls during rotation. Which it did! I estimated it rose about 1.5mm during one point in each rotation. This seemed trivial, but Michael said I could fix that by first making sure I have the washers on the screws that fasten the platter to the motor in the right order (with the small Belleville spring washers on top next to the screw-head), and, as the manual clearly…
I was fascinated by Herb Reichert's adventures with the KEF KC62 subwoofer, so I borrowed one. Beautifully engineered, contoured, and finished and chock-full of cutting-edge technology, it would be welcome in any room and easily integrated into any system. However, it struck me as not just small but miniaturized, like the meticulously functional samples made for the traveling salesmen of a century past. Since its two force-canceling 6.5" radiators were the same size as or smaller than the midrange drivers in my main speakers at the time, I had low expectations and returned it without comment…
KC92s with the PS Audio Aspen FR5
This user configuration is one of the most likely for the KC92, and I found that it worked well. Setup with these small standmount speakers was not as streamlined as with LS60s since the KEF app does not know them. One could use an external program (eg, Roon, JRiver, etc.) to split off the bass to the KC92s and high-pass the rest to the FR5s. Instead, I connected the full-range L/R signals to the subs and fed the main amps and FR5s from the KC92s' line outputs (footnote 4).
Physically, I placed the FR5s where the LS60s (which are usually my…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Powered, sealed-box, dual-driver subwoofer. Drive units: two 9" cone woofers in force-canceling arrangement. Inputs: stereo or dual-mono unbalanced (RCA), speaker level input via Euroblock speaker level connector (included). Outputs: stereo or dual-mono unbalanced (RCA). Controls: Level; Low-Pass filter (variable, 40–140Hz, 24dB/octave, LFE); Phase control (0°, 180°); EQ (Room, Wall, Corner, Cabinet, Apartment); Power/Standby Mode; Ground Lift (On, Off); Line Out High-pass filter (Variable, 40–120Hz). 12V trigger input. USB-C service port. Expansion…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Custom Intel/Win11 music server running JRiver Media Center v32 and Roon 2, Merging Devices Hapi II and Okto Dac8 PRO multichannel DACs. QNAP TVS-873 NAS. Oppo Digital UDP-103 universal disc player.
Power amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2, NAD M23.
Loudspeakers: KEF Blade Two Meta with IsoAcoustics GAIA II feet, KEF LS60 Wireless, PS Audio Aspen FR5.
Cables: Digital interconnects: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-XLR0 snake.Analog interconnects: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-XLR snake, Benchmark Studio&Stage XLR–XLR. Speaker cables: Blue Jeans…
No fewer than eight boxes, powered by six after-market power cables, comprise my current reference front-end (footnote 1). As much as separate boxes can afford superior isolation and provide far more room for visionary engineers to work their magic, the advantages of a single box, which requires a single power cable and far fewer after-market interconnects, are obvious.
Enter Simaudio's Moon 891 network player/preamplifier ($25,000; footnote 2). Also called a "streaming preamplifier"—Simaudio frequently struggles with how to clearly and succinctly brand its Moon products—it includes a DAC…
Before proceeding, I asked Koulisakis which file source—a streaming service or USB stick—would sound superior. He replied, "Network playback via Qobuz or Tidal should be better. The problem with a USB stick is that it is designed as a convenience solution. There is minimal buffering, unlike the state-of-the-art servers which host Q or T. In addition, the USB stick user interface requires traditional file browsing (even though you are using the MiND app), as opposed to the much more enjoyable experience of a DLNA server which sorts and displays the music by utilizing all the handy metadata…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: One-piece network player/D/A processor/analog preamplifier with phono stage, BRM-1 intelligent remote control, and built-in Moon damping base. Integration: Roon Ready, Apple AirPlay, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, local media servers. Streaming services: Qobuz, HighRes Audio, Deezer, and Tidal. Digital inputs: HDMI with ARC for TV, AES3, S/PDIF (2), optical (TosLink) (2); USB Audio, USB (type-A) host, network/RJ45 (2). DAC decodes PCM and MQA up to 32/384, upconverting 24-bit to 32-bit, and DSD up to DSD256. Analog inputs: two pairs line RCA (single…