Bass presentation was equally sensational, if unusual: bigger and warmer than I was used…
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That's because the SH-833s met challenges such as The Clash's masterfully recorded London Calling (LP, CBS CLASH3) by rendering the drum kit with sufficient slam and crackle to avoid the sensation of muffled softness, while adding weight to each percussive hit—whether cymbals, toms, snare, or kick drum. The overall effect was to make the kit sound far more like a live event than I was used to experiencing from this disc, even though it ever so slightly mellowed the tonal expression at the very top.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Direct-heated-triode, single-ended, class-A tube monoblock power amplifier. Tube complement: one each WE437, 6550/KT88, SH-833. "Effective" power: 150W (no distortion percentage specified). Frequency range: 20Hz-100kHz. Input sensitivity: 1V. Input impedance: 100k ohms. Signal/noise ratio: >100dB (no reference level quoted).
Dimensions: SH-833 amplifier: 16" (410mm) W by 10¾" (275mm) by 20½" (525mm) D; 110 lbs (50kg). PS-833 power supply: 16" (410mm) W by 12 1/8" (311mm) H by 20½" (525mm) D; 143 lbs (65kg). TB-833 power transformer: 20" (…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Simon Yorke S7 turntable, Kuzma Air Line tonearm; Origin Live Resolution Modern turntable & Encounter tonearm; Graham Nightingale II, Lyra Titan, Lyra Helikon SL cartridges.
Digital sources: Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista SACD player, Arcam DV27A DVD-A player, Alesis Masterlink CD recorder.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead phono preamplifier; Musical Fidelity kW preamplifiers.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties WATT/Puppy 7.
Cables: Interconnect: AudioQuest Cheetah, Sky. Speaker: AudioQuest Kilimanjaro. AC: Richard Gray's…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
"Perhaps I should just measure one of the amplifiers," I said, eyeing the eight chassis that comprise a pair of the Wavac SH-833 monoblocks, all of them sitting at the business end of Mikey's room. Even so, as neighbor Wes Phillips and I manhandled the 550 lbs of amplifier dead weight out of my wife's SUV—price new, one eighth that of a pair of SH-833s—and down the steps into my basement listening room and test lab, I thought I might institute a new rule: that Stereophile's writers review only components that they can lift—with one hand!
Once I'd set up…
While I was working on my review of the K-1 preamplifier, I telephonically corralled Ayre's Research Director Charlie Hansen for a midwinter afternoon's gabfest. I started by asking Charlie how he became an audiophile.
Hansen: My dad wasn't fanatical about hi-fi, but he built Dynaco gear and had a Rec-O-Cut turntable. He had AR2s with 10" woofers—and for the tweeters, they actually had 4" cones! Two of them, mounted in a V so that they cross-fired—because their dispersion was so bad...[chuckles]. That was when I was teeny-tiny. He wanted to get Jantzen electrostatic tweeters to add on,…
Phillips: It must help if you have a great product to sell.
Hansen: Sure, but it's a tough world out there, and there are a lot of good products to compete against.
Phillips: And, you finally have the K-1 preamplifier to flesh out the line.
Hansen: We're really happy with the K-1—it disappears more than just about any preamp I've ever heard. If you had to pick one thing that contributes to that more than any other, it would be that volume control. Everyone knows that a stepped attenuator is superior to a pot, but they've got two things against them: they're expensive and…
"No!"
I was somewhat surprised by my lack of equivocation. The time was January 2005, the scene was the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and I had just been asked by a high-end audio company if they should devote their engineering resources to developing a Super Audio CD player.
My response was perhaps even more puzzling because, the day before I flew out to Las Vegas, I had turned in the report on the dCS Verona Master Clock that appears in this issue (p.115). That review turned out significantly longer than I'd expected because I ended up including a "Follow…
It was my hunt for new and interesting-looking turntables at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show that introduced me to the loudspeakers from DeVore Fidelity. In the Glass Amplifier room I spied a Teres turntable with a Darth Vader-ish look and sat down to listen. From a pair of nondescript, two-way, floorstanding speakers so small they were almost lost in the room, came surprisingly present, full-bodied, and notably coherent music. Their sound so far exceeded my low expectations that I exclaimed, "What are those?! Whoever designed them sure knows what he's doing!"
My reaction probably…
A switch on the crossover panel has two settings, labeled Direct and HT (for Home Theater). DeVore says the Direct position provides the best driver integration and is preferred for most listening in most rooms. HT offers greater power handling, when the Silverback is used as a full-range speaker in a home theater, or when music containing deep bass is played at high SPLs. With tube gear, which position sounds best will depend on the amplifier. According to DeVore, solid-state gear will usually sound "leaner" with the HT setting. As the manual points out, that can sometimes help alleviate…
Netania Davrath sings these folk tunes in an operatic style, backed by an orchestra conducted by Pierre de la Roche. There is an exquisite delicacy and purity to the recording of her voice that comes through on both versions, the original having a slight edge in natural warmth and purity, the reissue leading the way in transparency and clarity. A "warmish"-sounding speaker might make the original sound a bit syrupy and cool, an "analytical" one might make the reissue sound hard and mechanical. I've usually preferred the original LP, but the Silverback References made both masterings sound…