search

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Stirling Broadcast BBC LS3/6's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. (I measured S/N SB88019A.) The testing was primarily performed without the speaker's grille; I did repeat some of the farfield measurements with the grille in place. Stirling specifies the LS3/6's voltage sensitivity as 87dB/W/m; my estimate was significantly lower, at 84dB(B)/2.83V/m.

How the LS3/6's impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle vary with…

Dismayed to learn that my purportedly dying breed has already died off, I perked up when Gary…

I'm talking Dan D'Agostino's Momentum power amps and preamp, Dave Wilson's XLF and Alexia loudspeakers, Jeff Nelson's Boulder 3050 monoblocks, and the seasoned pros who produce Constellation electronics: John Curl, Bascom King, Peter Madnick, and Demian Martin. Harry Weisfeld's new VPI Classic direct-drive turntable with its JMW Memorial 3D-printed tonearm…

There you have it: a cartridge constructed altogether differently from the $1000-less-expensive Titan i it replaces, featuring many of the same or similar design features and parts, and specs…

Description: Low-output moving-coil phono cartridge with yokeless dual-magnet system, a cantilever rod of diamond-coated boron, and a Lyra-designed, line-contact stylus with a major radius of 70µm, a minor radius of 3µm. Output voltage: 0.56mV at 5cm/s, zero to peak 45° modulation. Frequency range: 10Hz–50kHz. Channel separation: >35dB at 1kHz. Compliance: 12cu. Recommended VTF: 1.68–1.78gm. Recommended resistive load: 104–887 ohms.
Weight: 9.2gm.
Price: $6995.
Manufacturer: Lyra Co. Ltd. US distributor: AudioQuest. 2621 White Road. Irvine, CA 92614…

Editor: Thank you, Michael Fremer and Stereophile, for a careful and insightful review. Seldom do we get the chance to read a review which so accurately describes what we hear in our own systems. Well done!

There are only a few points which we will clarify here, none of which affects Michael's listening impressions: The Lyra Atlas and Etna share the same design philosophy, which is to have a completely solid and seamless connection between cantilever and headshell. This is for two reasons:

One is as Michael wrote—to drain away any excess vibrational…

Pack up all your dishes.
Make note of all good wishes.
Say goodbye to the landlord for me.
That son of a bitch has always bored me.
Throw out them L.A. papers
And that moldy box of vanilla wafers.
Adi¢s to all this concrete.
Gonna get me some dirt road back street
—from "L.A. Freeway"

As songwriters go, Guy Clark has been touched by the muse more than most. Unfortunately, in recent years he's also been visited by illness and heartache. In June 2012, his wife of 40 years, Susanna Clark, who was both a songwriter ("Easy…

You can go out to eat & that's for sure
But it's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure
Put 'em in a salad, put 'em in a stew
You can make your very own tomato juice
Eat 'em with eggs, eat 'em with gravy
Eat 'em with beans, pinto or navy
Put 'em on the side, put 'em in the middle
Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle.

Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without…

Among the gems of…

On the mainland across from these isles, in Port Hueneme, is Channel Islands Audio (aka CIAudio), a company of modest size that's been around for 17 years and makes compact power amps…