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The AK240 came preloaded with a bunch of music, including Led Zeppelin's II in 24/192, and the flipping and fading from one channel to the other in "Whole Lotta Love" was pure head-spinning pleasure. While I've heard more lush, ripe presentations, the AK240-Viso combination delivered every last ounce of detail and nuance. Upper frequencies were finely detailed, yet never edgy or too sharp. Engaging the preloaded Pro EQ setting helped fill out the midrange with a bit more body, which I found preferable to the flat, default EQ setting. You can also create custom equalizations by entering EQ…
For a reviewer, deciding which products to write about is a tricky business. You want to do a professional job of evaluation, but you also want to be able to wrest maximum enjoyment from your music while you do so. Attending audio shows is where reviewers perform sonic triage, weeding out the products that aren't ready for prime time, and making a note of those they wish to invite home after the show.
Jason Victor Serinus and I had both been impressed by the sound of Nola's Metro Grand Reference Gold speakers at the 2013 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, and Jason had repeated that positive…
I followed the Widor with a CD that I bought following Sam Tellig's recommendation in his July "Sam's Space" column: a recital from London's Wigmore Hall by cellist Antonio Meneses and pianist Maria-João Pires (CD, Deutsche Grammophon 4790965). Pires's empathetic performance of Brahms's Op.117 Intermezzi has displaced my own recording, Intermezzo, of Robert Silverman performing these delicate piano works (CD, Stereophile STPH003-2). Again I was impressed by the Nola's bottom-octave clarity—the Metro Grand readily differentiated the pitches of the piano's octave-spaced B-flats below the bass…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, four-driver, floorstanding loudspeaker with vented enclosure. Drive-units: 2.5" by 0.4" (63.5 by 10mm) ribbon tweeter; 4" (100mm) coated pulp-cone midrange unit; two 6.3" (160mm) magnesium-cone woofers with alnico magnets. Frequency range: 25Hz–100kHz. Sensitivity: 87dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 4 ohms minimum.
Dimensions: 45" (1154mm) H by 11.5" (295mm) W by 13.5" (346mm) D (all with plinth). Weight: 95 lbs (43.2kg).
Finishes: True Piano Rosewood with True Piano Black bases. Piano Black and other finishes available by…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Analog Sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge.
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini running OS10.9.3, iTunes 11, Pure Music 1.89 & 2.0, Audirvana Plus 1.5.10; Auralic Vega, PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A processors; dCS Vivaldi upsampling D/A system; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter.
Preamplification: Channel D Seta L phono preamplifier; Pass Labs XP-30, Ayre Acoustics KX-R Twenty line preamplifiers.
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Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Nola Metro Grand Reference Gold's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses. My estimate of the Nola's voltage sensitivity was 83.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is both low in absolute terms and significantly lower than the manufacturer's specification of 87dB. Despite a combination of 5.7 ohms and –45° phase angle at 87Hz, the Metro Grand's plot of impedance magnitude and electrical phase against frequency (fig.1)…
The Sheraton Center Hotel, venue of the 2014 Toronto Audio Video Entertainment Show (TAVES), represents a marked change from the genteel elegance of the King Edward Hotel, the TAVES venue for the past two years. Built in 1972 in a modern style, the Sheraton offers a lot more space—it also sports one of the most confusing show layouts that I've encountered. There are long corridors leading who-knows-where, and stairs going up and down that may or may not lead to exhibit areas. TAVES did its best to make things easy to find, with signs and with TAVES staff being as helpful as possible, but on…
Virginia retailer Command Performance A/V—115 Park Ave. Suite #2, Falls Church—is having a Grand Opening on Saturday November 8 from 11am to 5pm. The day will feature Constellation Audio's new Inspiration Series (above), presented by Irv Gross, Director of Sales for Constellation Audio.
MartinLogan's Truth in Sound Tour continues with the introduction of its new flagship loudspeaker, the built-to-order Neolith, at Overture Ultimate Home Electronics, 2423 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE on Saturday, November 8, from 11am to 6pm.
Members of the MartinLogan sales, marketing and engineering team, along with Overture's founder Terry Menacker, will be available to answer questions, perform demos and provide an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the intensive development process that created Neolith. Neolith is the result of a 3-year-long development process. It combines the…
Editor's Note: On the 52nd anniversary of Stereophile's founding in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt, we are publishing this mea culpa "As We See it" essay from 1981, in which he explains why Vol.4 No.10 was almost six months late in mailing to subscribers. Gordon had relocated from the Philadephia suburbs to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1978, and as he had explained in the April 1978 issue, the move had not gone well. "Much of the equipment necessary for testing got damaged or destroyed in transit," he wrote, adding that "What had promised to be a superb listening room turned out to have some sticky…