I mentioned "Tom's Diner." It was riveting—I couldn't…
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Part of the Kirksaeter's captivating presentation, and a solid strength, was its realistic presentation of detail. It wasn't a "magnifying glass" type of over-etched microdetail, but detail of a more natural kind—and one much better integrated into the images and ambience. On Sonny Meets Hawk, for example, I could clearly hear people—musicians as well as others on the sidelines—talking and singing along in the background. The voices didn't stand out disconcertingly, but were woven into the sounds that defined the performance space.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) "soft" metal-dome tweeter, 6" (150mm) coated fiber-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 2.5kHz, second-order filter slopes. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms (4 ohms minimum). Frequency range: 45Hz-25kHz.
Dimensions: 10.5" (269mm) H by 7.5" (192mm) W by 11.5" D (295mm). Weight: 11 lbs (5kg) each net, 26 lbs/pair shipping.
Finish: Black textured vinyl with mahogany strips.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 60-0515, 60-0518.
Price: $698/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 88.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: VPI TNT Mk.V-HR turntable and JMW 12.5 tonearm; Grado Statement, Benz Micro L04 cartridges.
Digital sources: GamuT, Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD players.
Preamplifiers: VAC Renaissance Signature, CPA-1 Mk.III.
Power amplifiers: VAC Renaissance 70/70, VTL Ichiban, Mark Levinson No.20.6.
Integrated amplifier: Rega Luna.
Cables: Interconnect: Nirvana S-X Ltd., Audience Au24, Nordost Valhalla, AudioQuest Anaconda. Speaker: Nirvana SL, Audience Au24, Nordost Valhalla, AudioQuest Gibraltar. AC: Audience PowerChord, Synergistic Research…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Kirksaeter Silverline 60 played surprising loud for such a small speaker, its voltage sensitivity coming in at 89dB(B)/2.83V/m. However, this will be due, at least in part, to its non-flat frequency response (see later). Its plot of impedance magnitude and frequency (fig.1) indicated that it will be a fairly easy load for the amplifier to drive. While the minimum magnitude was 4.6 ohms at 245Hz, the speaker's impedance remained above 6 ohms over much of the audioband, and the electrical phase angle was significant only at frequencies at which the magnitude was…
If there is a component category that causes the "objectivists" in the audio community to splutter uncontrollably over their cups of herbal tea, it is the high-end CD transport. For in their "bits is bits" world, all a transport is required to do is recover the digital data from a disc—much like a grown-up cousin of your computer's $25 floppy-disk drive. The thought of paying up to $10,000 for something so humble—and, in their eyes, unnecessary—typifies what these blinkered folks regard as the insanity of the High End.
"If you hear a difference, it's because your D/A processor is broken…
The Madrigal-developed control software for the mechanism runs on a combination of an Analog Devices DSP chip and a Xilinx field-programmable device (FPD). The DSP chip is also used to process the audio data—as, once the timecode, track and index information has been read, its presence in the output data potentially increases jitter. Not only are this data stripped out from the output, but the subcode bits in each data frame are replaced by random bits generated by the DSP (footnote 2).
Madrigal had first tried calculating the appropriate bits for each frame to make it DC-neutral (as…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Single-play CD transport. Outputs: one AES/EBU on XLR jack, one S/PDIF on RCA jack, one ST-type optical, one EIAJ (TosLink) optical. Additional inputs and outputs: slave in and slave out (for communication with other Mark Levinson components).
Dimensions: 19.375" W by 5.6" H by 14.5" D (11.93" H with lid open). Shipping weight: 63 lbs.
Serial number of review sample: 0123.
Price: $9495. Upgrade prices for the Mark Levinson No.31: $2995 (performance only upgrade), $3945 (performance upgrade plus lid assembly), $4695 (performance upgrade plus…
Sidebar 2: Stairway to the Stars
Digital processor used for the comparisons was the Mark Levinson No.30.5, connected to the No.31 and No.31.5 via 1.5m lengths of Madrigal AES/EBU cable or the excellent Illuminati Orchid AES/EBU link between the Genesis and Meridian units and the '30.5. I also used a Sonic Frontiers SF-CD1 as a reference. Amplification consisted of a Levinson No.38S/No.333 combination, joined by 10' lengths of balanced AudioTruth Lapis interconnect. Speakers were B&W Silver Signatures, connected to the amplifier with their own solid-core silver cables.—John Atkinson…
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto 2
With: Prelude in g-sharp, Op.32 No.12; Etudes-Tableaux, Op.33 Nos. 1, 2, 9; Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op.42
Hélène Grimaud, piano; Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra
Teldec 8573-84376-2 (CD). 2001. Friedemann Engelbrecht, prod.; Eberhard Sengpiel, Andreas Florczak, engs. DDD. TT: 70:33
Performance *****
Sonics *****
With: Prelude in g-sharp, Op.32 No.12; Etudes-Tableaux, Op.33 Nos. 1, 2, 9; Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op.42
Hélène Grimaud, piano; Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra
Teldec 8573-84376-2 (CD). 2001. Friedemann Engelbrecht, prod.; Eberhard Sengpiel, Andreas Florczak, engs. DDD. TT: 70:33
Performance *****
Sonics *****
Sergei Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, now almost exactly 100 years old, was the composer's first major creation of the 20th century and a personal triumph over the debilitating loss of confidence he…
When I first started buying records at the end of the 1950s, I had this vision of the typical recording engineer: A sound wizard wearing a white lab coat rather than a cloak festooned with Zodiacal symbols. He (it was always a "he," of course) would spare no effort, no expense to create a disc (LPs and 45s were all we had) that offered the highest possible sound quality. At that time I also believed that Elvis going into the Army meant the end of rock'n'roll, that my teachers knew everything, that politicians were honest, that socialism was the best form of government, and that talent and…