Sidebar 3: Measurements
I looked at the Primare CD32's measured performance using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"). For some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain. Unless otherwise mentioned, the measured results refer to the player used with its upsampling turned off and were taken from the balanced outputs. I tested the Primare's behavior only with test signals on CD; the CD32 didn't recognize uncompressed files stored on a flash drive plugged into its rear-panel USB port, only MP3s.
Error…
When I began my journey into audiophilia, I was in awe of the Audio Research Corporation's flagship SP preamplifiers. As I sat there in the early 1980s with my modest Apt Holman preamp, all of my friends had ARC SP6Bs. By today's standards, the SP6B was colored, did not portray a realistic soundstage, and lacked sufficient gain to amplify the low-output moving-coil cartridges of the day. But it had an intimacy in the midrange that was intoxicating. (Still considered a classic design by many, the SP6B's price on the used market has remained virtually unchanged for 30 years.) Then, still in…
With really good orchestral recordings, such as Analogue Productions' new reissues of recordings by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony—Mussorgsky-Ravel's Pictures at an Exhibition (LP, RCA Living Stereo/Analogue Productions LSC-2201) and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (LSC-2246)—the CSO was reproduced with forceful dynamics, no compression, and a vibrant, airy facsimile of the recording venue's acoustic. In both of these recordings, all instruments were perfectly delineated across a wide, deep stage. And with Penderecki's Cello Concerto 1, with soloist Siegfried Palm and the composer…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Fully balanced hybrid preamplifier. Tube complement: four 6H30 dual triodes. Frequency response: Line: 2Hz–80kHz, ±3dB. Phono: 10Hz–20kHz, ±0.1dB of RIAA; 5Hz–80kHz, ±0.4dB. Headphone: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.05dB. THD+noise: Line: <0.003% at 2V RMS, balanced output. Phono: <0.005% at 3V RMS output to Record Out. Headphone: <0.009% at 1V RMS output. Gain: Line: 13.8dB. Processor: 0dB. Phono: 58dB at 1kHz to Record Out. Headphone: 11.3dB. Noise: Line: <–101dBV volume at max. Phono: <–77dBV to Record Out. Headphone: <–88dBV volume at max.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: VPI TNT IV, Rega Planar 3 turntables; Immedia, Syrinx PU-3 tonearms; Koetsu Urushi, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridges.
Digital Sources: Lector CDP-7T, Creek Destiny CD players.
Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage; Audio Valve Eklipse, Zesto Leto line stages.
Power Amplifier: Audio Research Reference 75.
Loudspeakers: Epos M16i, Monitor Audio Silver RS6, Nola Viper Reference III.
Headphones: Grado SR125, Grado SR60, Sennheiser HD600, Shure 535, Beats Solo, and Beats Powerbeats.
Cables:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used my top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It") to measure the Audio Research SP20. With the SP20's volume control set to "103," the maximum gain for balanced line input and balanced output was basically to specification at 13.9dB. The volume control is implemented with close-tolerance Analog Devices AD5293 chips and the unity-gain setting was between "83" and "84." For single-ended line input/output, the maximum gain was 7.7dB and the unity-gain setting was "73." The gain at the Tape Out jacks was…
Friday morning, May 30, was Day One of T.H.E Show Newport Beach. With the opening bell struck, as it were, by a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the lobby of the Hilton that I miss due to a very slow kitchen at the adjacent Atrium hotel, I dash from hotel to hotel to discover, instead of a frayed red Mylar ribbon or a row of hot, class-A amplifiers, a line of audio hot-rodded classic and contemporary cars.
"The car show folks must be very happy," I think. After several years of finding themselves hidden away in the far reaches of the Hilton courtyard, basically off everyone's beaten path, they'…
Entering the first of four rooms sponsored by Brian Berdan's Audio Element of Pasadena felt like coming home. Not only was I among familiar friends—Wilson Audio Sasha Series 2 loudspeakers ($29,950/pair); mighty VTL Siegfried Reference monoblocks Series II ($65,000/pair), accompanied by VTL's TL-7.5 Reference line preamplifier Series III ($25,000) and TP-6.5 Signature phono stage ($12,000); dCS four-stack, state-of-the-art Vivaldi Digital Playback System ($108,996 total); Transparent Opus MM and Reference cables ($105,500 total); Grand Prix Audio Silverstone 4-shelf Isolation system ($19,175…
Hands down, the most impressive full-range system I encountered during my first hours in T.H.E. Hilton on Day 2 of T.H.E. Show Newport Beach was jointly sponsored by Synergistic Research and Scott Walker Audio of Anaheim. Held in the freezing Crystal Ballroom, which definitely called for hot music as an antidote to potential hyperthermia, the system paired Magico Q7 loudspeakers ($185,000/pair), VAC's Master Signature preamp w/phono ($40,000) and State monoblocks ($78,000/pair) with an unidentified computer audio/music server set-up and unauditioned Kronos Sparta turntable with arm ($28,000)…
Ever the audio expert, and always the music lover, Philip O'Hanlon of On a Higher Note distribution managed to produce enough top end in his smaller, mood-lit room to go a long way toward compensating for the ground floor's acoustically-generated grayness. Baritone Matthias Goerne's voice sounded very warm and simply gorgeous, as did a cut from Illinois Jacquet's fabulous Birthday Party LP. Images were huge and deep, with surprisingly profound bass.
"Very, very musical," I wrote in my notes of an extraordinary playlist that, during my short time in the room, also included a 24/96 download…
