I was suffering one of those delusions of wisdom—in…
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In spite of having one end of my listening room devoted entirely to record shelving, there are now 15 cartons of LPs and 78rpm records scattered throughout my house, said bounty enduring as a source of distress for The Management. That prompted me to set about building a new record cabinet and equipment support to handle the spillover. That prompted me to take a fresh look at how my records are catalogued. And that prompted me to cull from my collection every mono record I own, thinking I would keep them separate from the rest.
Before cracking open the Robyatt transformer, I guessed that its Hi/Low switch settings were intended for high- and low-output cartridges, respectively: the high-output/high-impedance EMT sounded best into the former (although the differences were small), while the low-output/low-impedance Miyabi Mono sounded best into the latter (and those distinctions were considerable). The Miyajima, with its 6 ohm impedance and 0.7mV output, sounded a little louder through the Robyatt transformer's Hi setting; that said, although it didn't need the extra gain—there was more than enough with the…
Sidebar 1: The List of the Month
Audiophiles of a certain age, myself included, find it difficult to forget those dreary years when mass-market magazines were all we had to read, and when the magazines in question led us to believe that their laboratory tests said everything one needed to know about a product's sound. We find it difficult to forget, and even harder to forgive—but I think it's time to finally let go. (Besides, I have yet to find a lawyer who specializes in recovering repressed audiophile memories.) So in an effort to let the healing begin, here, in alphabetical order, is…
Sidebar 2: Contacts
Miyajima Laboratory/Otono-Edison, 1-45-111, Katae 5-chome, Jounan-ku, Fufuoka 814-0142, Japan. Web: www.miyajima-lab.com
Tektron Italia. Tel: (39) 335-6693-597. Fax: (39) 06-6220-4300. Tel./Fax (US): (530) 430-3929. Web: www.tektron-italia.com
US Distributor (both): Robyatt Audio, Basking Ridge, NJ. Tel: (855) 762-9288, (908) 334-3241. Fax: (866) 576-3912. Web: www.robyattaudio.com
I approached this loudspeaker much as some of today's political candidates might approach sex: as a means of reproduction, not pleasure.
I brought it on myself. I asked to review Joseph Audio's stand-mounted, two-way Pulsar because I felt an obligation to step down from the rarified air of some of the absurdly priced gear I've been reviewing lately and sample something more "affordable." The Pulsar costs $7000/pair.
Also, I'd heard the Pulsars in Pure Vinyl's room at an audio show last year and was incredulous at their sound—how could such small boxes produce that much bass? I…
The major adjustment was a change in perspective: from a life-size sound seemingly without physical limits coming at me, to a compact, smaller-than-life sound I listened into, as if through a reasonably large, ultratransparent window. Immediately clear was that the Pulsar's overall tonal balance was remarkably flat from the upper midrange up, while the upper bass was slightly elevated, but so subtly that I heard it as a mild, inviting richness that never overstayed its welcome.
In preparation for writing a review for my website, MusicAngle.com, I'd been concentrating on a recent reissue…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, ported, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" Sonatex-dome tweeter, 5.5" cast magnesium-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 2kHz. Frequency range: 42Hz–20kHz. Sensitivity: unspecified. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Power handling: 25–300W without clipping.
Dimensions: 15" (381mm) H by 9" (229mm) W by 13" (333mm) D. Weight: 36 lbs (16.3kg).
Finishes: Sapele, Rosewood, Cherry, Maple, Black.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: P-00067L & 'R.
Price: $7000/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 20.
Manufacturer: Joseph Audio…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable, Cobra tonearm, Castellon stand; OneDoF turntable; Graham Phantom II, Kuzma 4Point tonearms; Lyra Atlas, Ortofon A90, Miyajima Labs Premium BE mono, Ice Blue cartridges.
Digital Sources: Simaudio Moon Evolution 650D DAC/CD transport, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Meridian (Sooloos) Digital Media System, Pure Music software.
Preamplification: Ypsilon Electronics VPS-100 phono preamplifier, darTZeel NHB-18ns preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Music Reference RM-200 Mk.II,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Joseph Audio Pulsar's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses. As Michael Fremer conjectured, the Pulsar is relatively insensitive, my estimate of its voltage sensitivity coming in at 83.5dB(B)/2.83V/m. However, as indicated by its plot of impedance magnitude and electrical phase against frequency (fig.1), the Pulsar is an easy load for the partnering amplifier to drive. Not only is the phase angle relatively…
Even at its humblest, a 300B is a fine thing. And at its best, this classic triode output tube can deliver some of the most intoxicating music playback imaginable. If tubes are liquor, the 300B is clearly absinthe. (The 2A3 is Cognac, the 45 is Armagnac, the F2a is Tequila, and the EL34 is vodka—which is to say, you can make almost anything out of an EL34, from the repulsive to the sublime.)
In the 20 years since the 300B reappeared on the home audio stage, the tube has appeared in a few thoroughly original designs; of those few, the ones I've heard have sounded magnificent. The 300B has…