Description: Two-way, shelf- or stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" titanium-dome tweeter, 5" pulp-cone woofer. Low-frequency alignment: sealed-box. Crossover frequency: 5kHz. Crossover: high-pass slope, second-order, 12dB/octave; low-pass slope, first-order, 6dB/octave. Frequency response: 75Hz–20kHz –3dB. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Amplifier requirements: 10–60W continuous. Maximum power handling: 60W program.
Dimensions: 13" (310mm) H by 7.3" (185mm) W by 8.5" (215mm) D. Recommended stand height: 24". Internal volume: 8…
search
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Register to win a set of Audio-Technica SonicFuel ATH-OX7AMP premium on-ear headphones with built-in amplifier (MSRP $299.95) we are giving away.
According to the company:
The SonicFuel ATH-OX7AMP on-ear headphones deliver premium sound through large 40 mm drivers and built-in, high-output amplifiers that enhance any type of musical selection, maximizing the detail and clarity of your music like never before. The amplifiers run on a AAA battery (included), however batteries are not necessary for audio output – the headphones operate normally regardless of battery power.…
Joseph Audio’s immaculate Perspective loudspeaker is featured on the July issue’s cover and is treated to an in-depth review from John Atkinson. Revel’s superb Performa F208 tower speaker is also featured this month, along with the Classic reissue of Phase Technology’s best-selling PC-60 bookshelf. Art Dudley tries out the sound of DSD files with Luxman’s DA-06 processor, while radically different, ididosyncratic amplifiers from Miyajima in Japan and LFD in England are put under the aural spotlight.
Michael Lavorgna kicks off his “Audio Streams” column with a listen to Bluesound’s WiFi…
In 1992, a good friend in the record business, Bill Bentley of Warner Bros. Records, called to tell me that he was part of ongoing machinations to make a new record with Jimmy Scott. The singer who everyone assumed was dead—he was in Cleveland working on a loading dock—had just stunned the music world by turning up at Doc Pomus' funeral and launching into an impromptu vocal performance. A mini bidding war ensued and soon Jimmy was signed to Seymour Stein’s Sire Records. Bentley was enthused because for the first time in his career, Jimmy, who pronounced the word “album” as “ablum,” was gonna…
Beethoven: Symphony 9 in d, Op.125 ("Choral")
Berlin Staatskapelle and Rundfunkchor, Otmar Suitner, cond.; Dietrich Knothe, chorus master; Magdaléna Hajóssyová, soprano; Uta Priew, contralto; Eberhard Büchner, tenor; Manfred Schenk, bass.
Denon CD383C7-7021 (CD).
Berlin Staatskapelle and Rundfunkchor, Otmar Suitner, cond.; Dietrich Knothe, chorus master; Magdaléna Hajóssyová, soprano; Uta Priew, contralto; Eberhard Büchner, tenor; Manfred Schenk, bass.
Denon CD383C7-7021 (CD).
This is a positively stunning performance, abetted by one of the best-sounding orchestral recordings on CD to date.
I have long felt that the best reading of Beethoven's Ninth ever committed to records was an antique Columbia 78 set with the Vienna Philharmonic and Felix Weingartner (later released on an…
Though it's Stereophile's most popular single feature, "Recommended Components" has many problems. The biggest is that you readers use it—but then, if I didn't want that, why would we publish it? More accurately, problems come from uncritical use, as if only products that "make" "Recommended Components" are worth buying. Alternatively, it's concluded that products which drop out have somehow been consigned to an outer darkness.
Even hedging RC with every warning we can, many people look only to it for buying advice. The commercial importance of "Recommended Components" has gotten so…
No, the $399 price listed in the specification block isn't a misprint. And yes, the Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine v1.0 is indeed a full-function outboard digital processor. And since this is the August issue, not April, you can stop worrying that this review is some kind of joke.
The $399 Digital Decoding Engine is for real.
But how can Audio Alchemy make an outboard D/A converter for about half the price of the next most inexpensive decoders (the PS Audio DigiLink and Melior Bitstream D/A)? Can it be any good? These were my first reactions to the DDE, and I'm sure many…
Sidebar: Review System
I auditioned the Audio Alchemy DDE with my usual reference system: Hales System Two Signatures driven by VTL 225W Deluxe monoblock tube amplifiers, and Muse Model 18 active subwoofer. The preamp was either an Audio Research SP11 Mk.2 or the passive Electronic Visionary Systems Stepped Attenuator.
3' runs of bi-wired AudioQuest Clear/Dragon connected the VTLs to the Hales, and interconnect was AudioQuest Lapis and Diamond. Other processors on hand for comparison included the Meridian 203 ($990) and PS Audio SuperLink ($1195, footnote 1). Both these…
Sam Tellig wrote about the Digital Decoding Engine in October 1992 (VOl.14 No.10):
Would you believe $399 for a digital processor?
Now this is my kind of product. I'm a real cheapskate when it comes to anything digital, because the technology changes so fast. Think about it: your new $3000 processor will likely be superseded in six months or so by a Mk.II or III version; if you only paid $399 for your Alchemy, you won't be too worried when v2.0 comes out. If you do want to spend big bucks on hi-fi, do something sensible like buy a pair of Quicksilver Silver mono amps, or a Jadis…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
The Digital Decoding Engine performed quite well on the bench. It didn't measure as well as some more expensive units, but nothing in the measurements would indicate its budget heritage.
Driving the DDE with data representing a positive-going impulse revealed it to be non-inverting with the front-panel switch in the 0° position, and inverting in the 180° position. No DC was measured at the output jacks, but there was a very low level (2mV p–p) of high-frequency noise (350kHz) always present at the output. Output impedance was 220 ohms across the band, not…