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The balance of transient speed, precision of attack, and instrumental sustain produced some startling moments from very familiar recordings—for instance, from John Renbourn's Sir John Alot of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thyng & ye Grene Knyghte (LP, Transatlantic TRA 167), an album I've been playing for 45 years. The image of Renbourn's guitar was farther forward than I'm used to hearing it, and less of the space behind the instrument was apparent—but the guitar itself, and the percussion and recorder, sounded more transparent, coherent, and believable than I'd ever heard them, particularly…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Hybrid stereo power amplifier with battery-powered voltage-gain and mains-powered current-gain sections in separate housings.
V1 Voltage-Gain Amplifier: Tube complement: two E80CC, two 18042. Inputs: 1 pair single-ended (RCA), 1 pair single ended (XLR, pins 1 and 3 tied to ground). Outputs: 1 pair single-ended (RCA), 1 pair single-ended (XLR, pins 1 and 3 tied to ground). Frequency response: 1Hz–110kHz, –1dB. Voltage gain: triode circuit, 28dB; pentode circuit, 34dB. Signal/noise, IHF-A: 128dB (triode). Dynamic range: 130dB (triode). THD: 0.08%…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, & Castellon turntable, tonearm, & stand; Kuzma 4Point tonearm; Lyra Atlas & Etna, Ortofon Anna, Transfiguration Proteus, Miyajima Labs Zero (mono) cartridges.
Digital Sources: dCS Vivaldi> transport, DAC, clock, upsampler; Simaudio Evolution Moon 650D transport-DAC & 820 power supply; BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder; Meridian Digital Media System; Pure Music, Vinyl Studio software.
Preamplification: Ypsilon MC-10L & MC-16L step-up transformers; Ypsilon…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Siltech SAGA using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com, and the January 2008 "As We See It"). When I received from Michael Fremer the Siltech SAGA V1 voltage amplifier and P1 current amplifier, I hoisted the two chassis up onto my test bench—easier to write than to do, given that each weighs 53 lbs—and linked them with a pair of XLR interconnects. Although the SAGA's XLR jacks are wired for single-ended operation, with pins 1 and 3 shorted, Siltech recommends using cables fitted with XLRs, presumably due to the fact that these, when…
Friday night, I saw one of the finest, most intimate jazz sets I'd seen in a while: Ethan Iverson and Ron Carter playing duets at Mezzrow, a small new jazz club in Manhattan's West Village, across the street from Smalls, an even smaller, somewhat older jazz club (both of which are operated by Spike Willner, a considerable pianist himself, mainly in the stride style).
Those in the jammed club who knew Iverson only as the pianist for The Bad Plus, or as a sideman (and a rather backseat one, at that) in Billy Hart's quartet, may have gasped, or at least raised their eyebrows, at his…
Friday, October 10, 11:30am: the line to enter the 11th Rocky Mountain Audio Fest stretched into the Marriott Denver Tech Center's parking lot (Photo: John Atkinson).
Thursday, October 9, 6:00pm: New York to Denver —from mountains of iron and cement to "Mountains of Sound" . . . For the last hour on the plane all I could see were the low-lying grassy and then the much higher arid plains of Iowa, Kansas and Colorado. When I squinted I could see legions of 18-wheel smoke signals threading their way towards one coast or another. When I looked up I could see the Big Dome Sky. Denver is a kind…
Anyone who thinks the high-end is on its last legs need only have passed the registration table for Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 20 minutes before the show officially opened. The lobby was mobbed, with the line literally going out the front door of the Marriott Denver Tech Center. Nor were these folks just from Colorado. On my first trip up the Tower elevator, I confirmed that my fellow passengers were audiophile visitors—not industry people—from Oregon and New Jersey.
With Tyll Hertsens of our sister publication, InnerFidelity.com, attending RMAF to cover headphones and the like,…
Perhaps the most over-the-top pieces of electronics at the RMAF, shown in static form only (if it's being demoed elsewhere at the show we haven't yet found it) are the Naim Statements. As seen here, the amplification system includes two monoblock amps weighing 220 lbs each, plus a preamp, the latter in the center. The amps are rated at 748W into 8 ohms, and 9000W (!) into 1 ohm. The amps are internally bridged, fully balanced designs.
The entire shebang (think of it as a giant integrated amp) weighs 600 lbs and will set you back a cool $250,000. Perhaps Naim can arrange for a mortgage.…
When I entered room 1102, Greg Roberts of Volti Audio was in the midst of describing the Volti Audio 3-way Vittora system, complete with separate Extended Low Frequency cabinet ($25,000/five-piece set) that kicks in below 50Hz. In the familiar pairing with BorderPatrol Audio Electronics' S20 ESC + EXS dual-mono parallel 18Wpc SET amplifiers ($25,750/pair with new EXS power supply units), EXT1 triode line stage ($12,500), and USB DAC ($975); and Triode Wire Labs cabling, the system scored as another midrange winner . . . perhaps too much of a winner for some tastes, given that the…
Even in a world where a five-figure price tag for a pair of loudspeakers is no longer a jaw-dropper, Raidho Acoustics' has carved out an honored place. I've been impressed by the company's small C1.1 speakers in the past. This year the D-1s were on show ($26,000/pair, including stands), driven by Constellation electronics. They made a bit less of an impression this time, but in a very different, and likely problematical room and what appeared to be excessive spacing that limited soundstage cohesion. This sort of setup was an issue in some of the other, larger demo spaces as well, probably in…