Analog Source: Linn LP12 turntable, SME M2-9 tonearm, Dynavector DV-20X2L cartridge.
Digital Sources: Schiit Audio Bifrost D/A converter, Integra DPS-7.2 disc player.
Preamplification: Dynavector SUP-200 step-up transformer & P75 Mk.3 phono stage; Parasound Halo JC 3+ phono stage; PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium, Simaudio Moon Neo 350P preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Line Magnetic LM-518IA, PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium, Simaudio Moon Neo 330A.
Integrated Amplifiers: Schiit Audio Ragnarok, Simaudio Moon Neo 340i.
Headphone Amplifiers:…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
After connecting the 802 D3s to my Theta Digital Dreadnaught D power amplifier with AudioQuest Oak biwire cables, I fine-tuned the B&Ws' final positions by ear with familiar recordings.
Listening
Although my usual protocol is to do no critical listening for a few weeks, I was able to get down to it very quickly: my sample had been shipped not from B&W's factory but from their design, research, and listening facility in Steyning, West Sussex. For all I know, they're the pair I auditioned when I visited last August).
At Steyning, the first thing I'd noticed about the…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed a full set of measurements on the Linear Tube Audio microZOTL2.0 using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). The three sets of outputs—headphone, RCA jacks, speaker terminals—are connected in parallel, with a shunt 470k ohm resistor connecting the hot connection to ground. I therefore took most of the measurements from the RCA jacks. Because the amplifier's unique output stage uses an RF oscillator modulated with the audio signal, there was around 7mV of RF noise present on its output, so I experimented with using…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way vented-box loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) diamond-dome tweeter, 6" (150mm) Continuum-cone FST midrange driver, two 8" (200mm) Aerofoil-cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 350Hz, 4kHz. Frequency range: 14Hz–35kHz. Frequency response on reference axis: 17Hz–28kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Harmonic distortion (second and third harmonics, 90dB, 1m): <1%, 80Hz–20kHz; <0.3%, 100Hz–20kHz. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 3.0 ohms minimum. Recommended amplification: 50–500W into 8 ohms on unclipped program. Maximum recommended cable…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Oppo Digital BDP-105 universal BD player; Baetis XR2 PC-based music server; exaSound e28, Merging Technologies NADAC-8 multichannel D/A processors; QNAP TS569L NAS.
Preamplifiers: Audio Research MP1, Parasound Halo P 7.
Power Amplifiers: McIntosh Laboratories MC303, Parasound Halo A 31, Theta Digital Dreadnaught D.
Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 800 Diamond.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Vodka (HDMI) & Carbon (USB). Analog Interconnects: AudioQuest Earth/DBS balanced, Kubala-Sosna Anticipation (RCA, XLR). Speaker:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Bowers & Wilkins 802 D3 Diamond's frequency response in the farfield; I used an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield frequency responses. (For logistical reasons, I measured a different sample from those auditioned by KR.) As with the Marten Coltrane 3, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, the 802 D3 was too bulky to be lifted off the ground. The earlier-than-usual reflections of the drive-units' output from the ground thus compromised the measurements' resolution in the midrange.…
If you're looking for unusual, viscerally thrilling music guaranteed to give your system a run for its money, then Leos Janácek's Glagolitic Mass is for you. Recorded in Norway last summer by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choirs, conducted by Edward Gardner, this gargantuan mass is the centerpiece of Janácek Orchestral Works, Vol.3, a new, extremely well-recorded hybrid SACD from Chandos.
If the term "mass" brings to mind what you might typically hear in church or at a performance of sacred music by Palestrina and other Renaissance masters, think again. Janácek's 40-minute…
Matt Wilson is one of the most versatile and inventive jazz drummers on the scene, and Beginning of a Memory (on the Palmetto label) is, I think, his best album in his 20 years as a leader.
It's a memorial album to his wife, Felicia, a violinist, who died two years ago of leukemia. To deepen the tribute, Matt assembled a dozen bandmates from over the years to join in, calling the resulting ensemble (trumpeter Terell Stafford, cornetist Kirk Knuffke, and keyboardists Gary Versace and Larry Goldings, among others) Matt Wilson's Big Happy Family.
As a leader and composer, Wilson has…
In August 2015, I visited loudspeaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins in England (footnote 1). It was an exciting prospect to see the factory, and meet the people who designed and built the speakers I've been using for years. Of course, as the time of my visit approached, it was impossible not to speculate that something important was afoot—there was growing Internet buzz that it was time for B&W to update its 800-series speakers. Nonetheless, B&W remained tight-lipped.
I arrived in Brighton in the morning and took the afternoon to tour the town. I hadn't been there in over 40…
Photo: Michele Canova
"Punch me."
"What?"
Conversations with Tim Lefebvre are often like this. That was backstage at the Jazz Standard last week after the Donny McCaslin Group's final set. I later realized that Tim wanted me to be in a compilation of timelapse video clips involving slow motion punches. Naturally, I gladly obliged.
My friendship with Tim has always been-—for lack of better words—really weird. We first met a few years ago when David Binney and I were bored and decided to send humorous videos of ourselves to friends, Tim included. Our friendship…