Valhalla 2 Reference analog interconnect: Holo:Plug RCA or XLR.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: V0021 (RCA); V1251, V1262 (XLR).
Price: $7599.99/1m pair; add $1100/additional 0.5m.
Valhalla 2 Reference speaker cable: Holo:Plug spade or banana.
Serial number of unit reviewed: V0148.
Price: $14,849.99/3m pair; $1500/additional 0.5m.
Valhalla 2 Reference Tonearm (phono) cable: Holo:Plug RCA, XLR, straight or 90° DIN.
Serial number of unit reviewed: V0021.
Price: $4799.99/1.25m, $600/additional 0.5m.
Valhalla 2 Reference power…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Spiral Groove SG-2 turntable & Centroid tonearm, VPI HR-X turntable & tonearm, Grado Master Reference & Statement Reference cartridges.
Digital Sources: Primare CD32 CD player, Simaudio Moon Evolution 750D CD transport–DAC.
Preamplification: Sutherland Engineering Duo & Phono Block phono preamplifiers; Placette Audio Active, Sutherland Engineering Line Block line stages; Simaudio Moon Evolution 850P preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Simaudio Moon Evolution 880M, VTL Ichiban monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson…
In 1999, I visited a friend, professor of Italian history Bill Adams, at his castle lair in the mountain village of Panzano, in Chianti, Italy. The 10th-century Castello di Panzano towers over the lush Tuscan hills, offering stupendous views. Each morning we'd walk down the mountain to the town below, where squat old men drank espresso and watched soccer at the all-in-one café/general store/post office. We toured the Roman ruins at Volterra and San Gimignano, gorged ourselves on pasta, and admired the fashionable young women.
In Italy, my pulse seemed to slow. I fell into the rhythm of…
Around back are the Primo's power receptacle, four pairs of Taiwanese-made speaker binding posts, a hefty ground screw, and seven pairs of gold-plated RCA jacks: Sub Out, Tape Out, Tape, Tuner, CD, Aux, and Phono. The Primo measures 17" wide by 3.7" high by 16.8" deep and weighs 30.8 lbs.
Listening
All sorted at last, I began listening to the Primo in my funhouse rig: Kuzma Stabi turntable with Kuzma Stogi tonearm, and DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 speakers. The Primo's phono board is set at the factory to moving-magnet mode. (To switch it to moving-coil, you shift two jumpers.) I…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-channel, hybrid integrated amplifier with MOSFET output stage. Tube complement: one ECC83 (12AX7). Inputs: 5 analog (RCA), optional MM/MC phono stage. Outputs: Tape, Subwoofer. Power output: 80Wpc into 8 ohms (19dBW). Frequency response: –0.2dB at 10Hz, –0.5dB at 100kHz. Total harmonic distortion: 0.15% at 10W, 1kHz. Channel separation: 83.7dB, 1kHz. Signal/noise: 90dB. Phono input impedances: MM, 47k ohms/220pF; MC, 100 ohms/440pF. Negative feedback: 10dB. Damping factor: >50. Power consumption: 380W max.
Dimensions: 17" (435mm) W by 3.7…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Kuzma Stabi S turntable & Stogi tonearm; Music Hall MMF-7.3 turntable/tonearm; Denon DL-103 cartridge.
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook computer, Halide DAC HD, Western Digital T2 Mirror Drive.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 A23 moving-coil step-up transformer, Shindo Laboratory Allegro preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93, Elac B6, Snell Type J/II.
Cables: Interconnect: Shindo Laboratory. Speaker: Auditorium 23, AudioQuest Castle Rock & GO-4.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed a full set of measurements on the Unison Research Unico Primo using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). As always before performing any measurements on an amplifier, I preconditioned it by running it with both channels driven at one-third power into 8 ohms for 60 minutes. Thermally, this is the worst-case situation for an amplifier with a class-B or class-A/B output stage, as one-third power is when the maximum heat dissipation occurs in the output transistors. As the Unico Primo's maximum power is specified in the…
As I was scanning the comments under Jason Victor Serinus's insightful piece, "What If They Gave a CES and Nobody Came?", Bill Leebens's words caught my eye (footnote 1). "[ . . . ] several subsequent attempts to form industry associations have come and gone. I was involved in them all, and even I can't remember all their names!" wrote the industry veteran of 40 years (and counting).
Being the (relatively) new audiophile on the block with high hopes to entice the masses, the concept of forming a trade body to promote high-end audio was immediately appealing to me. Dying to know more, I…
By the time you read this, in the fall of 1967, the "Dolby system" will probably be old hat to you. Every other audio publication has been describing it, discussing it, and hailing it as the greatest invention since sex.
We've seen that kind of press ballyhoo before, about such significant advances as the Edsel, the 16-rpm LP and the "thin-profile" loudspeaker, so our first inclination was to be a wee bit skeptical of the Dolby. It seemed too good to be true.
Since then, we've learned more about the Dolby system, and we've listened to some Dolby-ized records with a show-me…
Editor's Note: One-bit DAC chips in the 21st century, where the analog output signal is reconstructed from a very high-rate stream of pulses, are ubiquitous. But a quarter-century ago, those chips were only just beginning to stream from the chip foundries. In this feature, we aggregate Stereophile's 1989 coverage of the then-new technology, starting with Peter van Willenswaard on the basics.—John Atkinson.
Peter van Willenswaard Opens
1989 may well become the year of the D/A converter (DAC). CD-player manufacturers have, almost without exception, launched research projects focusing on…