I write these words mere hours after returning home from Home Entertainment 2005, the Show cosponsored by Stereophile magazine that took place from April 28 through May 1 at the Manhattan Hilton. A full report will appear in the August 2005 issue of the magazine.
HE2005 was an upbeat affair, the majority of…
To get these overgrown bookends to stand up, you slide little black boards into the slots in their bottoms. Each board is held in…
The CD player used for my debut Stereophile review was a Kinergetics KCD-20B that I've modified somewhat. Recently, I've been using the best preamp in the world: no preamp at all. What? I don't listen to vinyl? I must not be a real audiophile. The power amplifiers currently in my system are Nelson Pass–designed 15W single-ended "Zen" monoblocks (footnote 1). They have just one large MOSFET in the signal path, and I have to tell you they sound wonderful because I built them.
Other power amps ready for active duty were an NAD 2100X, a Michael Yee Audio PA-…
Other than impedance, all acoustic measurements were made with the DRA Labs MLSSA system and a calibrated B&K/DPA 4006 microphone. To minimize reflections from the test setup, the measuring microphone is flush-mounted inside the end of a long tube. Reflections of the speaker's sound from the mike-stand hardware will be sufficiently delayed not to affect the measurement.
The Unity Audio's sensitivity was about average at a calculated 86dB/2.83V/m. As stated by Kathy Grost, the Unity Signature 3 does have a flat impedance with frequency, as can be seen…
Description: Two-way, three-driver, sealed-box, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: two 6.5" polypropylene-cone woofers, one front-firing, one rear; one 1" cermaic-coated silk-dome tweeter. Frequency response: 39Hz–20kHz, ±2dB. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 5 ohms. Maximum power handling: 300W.
Dimensions: 9.25" W by 4" D by 38" H. Weight: 33 lbs.
Standard finishes: walnut, black oak. Special finishes, $250 extra: piano black, curly or birdseye maple, rosewood, two-tone mixes.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: CA002196/97, first pair;…
Thursday February 13 was a day most of us in New York would have preferred to stay indoors. With 10” of snow falling since the night before, the Stereophile office closed, the roads in my neighborhood impassable, and public transport iffy at best, I really didn’t want to make the trek into Manhattan. But I did and was glad to have done so. English loudspeaker manufacturer KEF, represented by a team led by the company's brand ambassador Johan Coorg (above right), was promoting a unique event for the press at MSR Studios on…
Keith Jarrett's gift for brilliant invention is apparently inexhaustible throughout both of these concerts, recorded five days apart in spring 1981. The combinations of lyricism, literally foot-stomping gospel, chordings and voicings alternately sumptuously lush and astringently lean, and unexpected musical destinations reached in surprising ways…
She told me that Cage picked her up one day to go to an art party in the Hamptons. When they arrived, he said he needed her help putting batteries in a box full of transistor…
And in those early days of recording…