The making of a preamplifier seems more or less the opposite. You start with a simple volume control and a couple of jacks, then add whatever you think constitutes a preamplifier. Choices might include electronic source switching, line-level gain, phono-level gain and equalization, tone controls, tone-defeat switches, a balance control, a headphone jack, an iPod…
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Asked how to make a guitar, the celebrated luthier Wayne Henderson offered a straight-up answer: "Just get a pile of really nice wood and a whittling knife. Then you just carve away everything that isn't a guitar." (footnote 1)
It will be to no one's surprise that the Halo P 5 is supplied with a remote control. Equally unremarkable is the fact that I had no real interest in using it, although I did note that the handset is about as straightforward and non-horrible-looking as such things get. It includes all of the most basic functions—power, volume, muting, source selection—and while one can't use it to adjust the bass and treble per se, the handset does have buttons for Tone Controls On and Off. Subwoofer level and balance—two functions that I believe would be useful from one's listening seat—are absent. (Yes, I…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: 2.1-channel stereo preamplifier with phono stage. Line-level inputs: 4 single-ended, 1 usable as single-ended or balanced. Input impedance: 24k ohms single-ended, 100k ohms per phase balanced. Output impedance: 100 ohms single-ended, 470 ohms per phase balanced. Line-level gain: 10dB. Frequency response: 10Hz–100kHz, +0/–3dB. THD: 0.01%. Signal/noise ratio: >108dB (IHF A-weighted).
Dimensions: 17" (437mm) W by 4.5" (114mm) H by 14.5" (368mm) D (dimensions include knobs and feet). Weight: 13.9 lbs (6.3kg).
Serial number of unit reviewed:…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Thomas Schick tonearms; EMT OFD 25 & TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads.
Digital Sources: Wavelength Proton, Halide Designs DAC HD USB D/A converters; Apple iMac G5 computer running OS10.7.4, Decibel v.1.2.11 music software; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2, Bob's Devices Sky 30 CineMag step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne & Cortese, Fi 421A.
Loudspeakers: Altec Valencia.
Cables…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It") to measure the Parasound Halo P 5. Not only is the P 5 a full-function preamplifier with a phono stage, tone controls, and the ability to provide the necessary high- and low-pass crossover functions to enable the use of a subwoofer; it has digital inputs, including USB. Unless stated otherwise, all of my measurements were taken from the unbalanced main outputs.
Looking first at the P 5's behavior as a conventional line…
Shostakovich: Symphony 15
USSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting.
JVC/Melodiya CD VDC-528 (CD). Igor Veprintsev, eng. AAD.
USSR Ministry of Culture State Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting.
JVC/Melodiya CD VDC-528 (CD). Igor Veprintsev, eng. AAD.
I have been wondering recently if we aren't seeing the beginning of the end of rotten recordings. I'm now not too surprised when yet another superlative-sounding Telarc or Reference Recordings disc arrives for review, but when a Soviet-made Melodiya blows me away with its sound, not to say a stupendous performance, I must conclude that something earthshaking is going on.
Melodiya recordings have never been…
Those of our readers who are still anti-CD are going to be offended by what I am about to say. Partly because they do not want it to be true, but mainly because it is. I shall utter the heresy anyway: the Compact Disc is, right now, doing more for the cause of high-end audio than anything that has ever come along before!
There, I've said it. Now I shall explain it.
Prior to CD, the world's major audio equipment manufacturers—and face it, that means the big Japanese manufacturers—generally scorned high end audio as impractical, fanatical tweakery. They loaded their products with…
Sidebar 1: Other Contenders
Since this report was written, I have auditioned two other contenders for "Best CD Player."
The Meridian MCD Pro and the NEC CD-705 both provide slightly better (wider, deeper) soundstage presentation than does the Kyocera. Both are a little more laid-back (less forward) than the Kyocera, the difference being great enough that personal preference is likely to be a strong factor in determining which to buy. (If you feel that CDs generally sound steely, you will prefer the NEC or the Meridian; if you prefer a more forward sound, as I frequently do, the…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: CD player with remote control.
Dimensions: 17" W by 13" D by 5.5" H. Weight: 22 lbs.
Price: $1600 (1985); no longer available (2014).
Manufacturer: Kyocera International, Inc. (1985). Company no longer involved in audio equipment manufacture (2014).
Very few products exude opulence as do the Rowland amplifiers: the massive chassis, the gold finish, those sculpted handles on the front plate. For some strange reason the amp reminds me of Brutus Beefcake, the golden boy of professional wrestling, upon whom I stumbled one night while flipping through the myriad channels of our cable TV. The visual impact is the same: beefy. And then there's the price: also beefy.
A careful examination of the chassis, however, goes a long way toward explaining the stratospheric asking price. A huge 2kVA toroidal transformer occupies a big chunk of the…