Description: Three-way, two-enclosure floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: 1" (25.4mm) silk-dome tweeter, 7" (177.8mm) paper/pulp composite-cone midrange unit, two 8" (203.2mm) paper/pulp-cone woofers. Frequency response: 26Hz–30kHz, ±3dB (Room Average Response, RAR, the reference axial output weighted to include the power coupled to the room at lower frequencies, and not a room average per se). Sensitivity: 89dB/W/1m at 1kHz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum impedance: 2.87 ohms at 86Hz. Minimum amplifier power: 25Wpc. Supplied accessories: Paw feet. (…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Keel chassis, Karousel main bearing, Radikal motor control, Naim ARO tonearm, and Lyra Delos cartridge.
Digital sources: Naim UnitiCore network server and S/PDIF source. Roon Nucleus+. Naim ND 555 Streamer-DAC with two 555 PS (DR) power supplies, Ariston CD player used as a transport.
Preamplification: Townshend Allegri Reference line control. Phono: Naim SuperLine-SuperCap DR.
Power amplifiers: Naim NAP 250 (2023), Constellation Revelation 2.
Loudspeakers: FinkTeam KIM, BBC LS3/5a.
Cables…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Photo: Piper Ferguson
Listening to music inspires us to take action. Upon hearing an I.E.—Instant Ear-worm—we must then determine the best way we can go about listening to it again (and again) at our convenience. Prior to the free-for-all streaming era, our I.E. follow-through measures typically meant seeking out a specific playback medium for our favorite music, initially based on budgetary constraints. In those formative, pre-employment preteen years, 45s—and/or, depending on how far back we're talking here, possibly even 78s—fit the literal dollar bill before we could afford to move up…
The British audio scene from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s was pretty strange. Audio as a hobby was a big deal, with widespread appeal to a much younger crowd than today. Audiophiles were guided by a flurry of what my friends called "hi-fi pornos," audio magazines that filled the racks at the newsagents.
Far more than you see today, there was a strong nationalist bent, with some writers displaying an open bias against anything that wasn't British. Magazines' editorial departments presented readers with a clear, specific doctrine of how a system should be built and what components…
Franc Kuzma's most recent breakthrough came when he began to experiment with the extreme stiffness and favorable resonant properties of sapphire. Back in the '80s at Sound By Singer, with the original Stogi arm, we would joke that stogi was the Slovenian spelling of stogie, referring to its cigar-shaped armtube. Franc Kuzma, though, says that stogi is the Slovenian word for rigid or stiff (footnote 2), a key principle behind Kuzma's designs and the catalyst for his decision to explore sapphire for the armtube. For the Safir 9, Kuzma uses a single tapered piece of lab-grown sapphire. Its…
Updated 2/20/2025 (previously 2/12/25)
In a Connecticut courtroom on Wednesday, Kristofer D'Agostino, son of late Krell owner and CEO Rondi D'Agostino, won control over his own trust, opening a path for Krell to begin to get its ducks in a row and, if all goes well, reopen.
This was a probate hearing, intended to establish who would control the D'Agostino trust. Wil Buhler of "family holding company" JF Bicking had put forward a motion to have a third party administer the trust. Buhler apparently didn't know that the proposed third-party administrator had already notified the…
Many connections
After leaving it running for a few days in the office, I moved the EXN100 upstairs into my reference system. My usual Bowers & Wilkins 808 speakers were not installed; instead I was using a pair of Amphion Krypton3X's; look for my review in the June issue. The big Amphions have the same sharp-focus top end and midrange as their baby cousins down in my office, plus a big, full, fast low end courtesy of their 10" woofers and large floorstanding cabinets.
Upstairs, I tested various connections to the EXN100. I plugged in a USB flash drive stick filled with…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Streaming D/A processor. Inputs: Ethernet, USB-A 2.0 (for attached storage), USB-B asynchronous (computer connection), 1 S/ PDIF on RCA, 1 optical S/PDIF on TosLink, HDMI-eARC. Outputs: Line Out (1 pair XLR balanced, 1 pair RCA unbalanced); Digital Out resolution: S/PDIF on RCA up to 24/192, TosLink up to 24/96. DAC: ESS ES9028Q2M. Frequency response: 20Hz–75kHz +0/–1dB. THD at 1kHz, 0dBFs: <0.0005%. Crosstalk at 1kHz: <–120dB. S/N ratio (ref. 1V): >120dB. Ethernet connectivity: IEEE 802.3, 10 Base-T or 100 Base-T. Wi-Fi connectivity: IEEE…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: dCS Bartók streaming DAC, Oppo UDP-203 universal disc player.
Preamplifier: Benchmark LA-4.
Power amplifier: Benchmark AHB2.
Integrated amplifier: McIntosh MA6500.
Loudspeakers: Amphion Krypton3X, Amphion One18.—Tom Fine