Analog Sources: Garrard 301 turntable; EMT 997 tonearm; EMT OFD 25 & TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads.
Digital Sources: Halide Designs DAC HD USB D/A converter; Apple iMac G5 computer running Decibel v.1.2.11 and Audirvana Plus v.1.5.12 playback software; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Homage T2 step-up transformer, Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne & Cortese.
Loudspeakers: Altec Valencia, DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96.
Cables: USB: AudioQuest Carbon,…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
I experimented with the bass control and found its settings to be very subtle and very useful. With the F208s switched to Boundary, I heard very little loss in overall bass extension, but a useful loss of boom through the mid- and upper bass. Many boundary switches rob speakers of their life, and even impose a kind of haze on the rest of the audioband. Not so the F208—some audiophiles will find the bass switch a very useful feature. Plugging the ports drastically reduced the level and extension of the bass. Perhaps plugging the ports will be helpful in some rooms, but then you might as well…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I examined the Luxman DA-06's electrical performance with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"). Unless stated otherwise, all measurements were performed from the DA-06's balanced outputs. I don't yet have files of DSD-encoded test signals, so the DA-06's measured performance was assessed with PCM-encoded files, with sample rates extending up to 384kHz.
The Luxman's performance via its USB port was tested using my 2012-vintage Apple MacBook Pro. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the Luxman as having the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Floorstanding, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) aluminum-dome tweeter with acoustic-lens waveguide, 5.25" (133mm) aluminum-cone midrange unit with cast frame, two 8" (200mm) aluminum-cone woofers with cast frames. Crossover frequencies: 270Hz, 2.2kHz. Frequency range: not specified. Low-frequency extension: 23Hz (–10dB), 27Hz (–6dB), 31Hz (–3dB). Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 88.5dB/2.83V/m. Controls: low-frequency contour, high-frequency level.
Dimensions: 46.1" (1182mm) H by 11.7" (300mm) W by 14.6" (375mm) D. Weight…
Sidebar 2: Associated equipment
Digital Sources: Benchmark DAC1 HDR D/A converter; Hewlett-Packard EliteBook laptop running JRiver Media Center 18; Bel Canto Design DAC 3.5 VB Mk.II D/A converter and CD 2 CD transport with VB-1 power supply.
Preamplification: None.
Power Amplifier: Rogue Audio M-180 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Revel Performa F30.
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 600.
Cables: USB: Cardas Clear, DH Labs. Digital: Silver Sonic D-110 AES/EBU, Stereovox HDVX coaxial. Interconnect: Sain Line Systems Pure (balanced, single-ended). Speaker: Kimber Kable BiFocal. AC:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Revel Performa3 F208's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. The F208 is a large, bulky speaker, so it wasn't possible for me to raise it far enough above the floor to get good frequency resolution in the midrange. Bear this mind as you read on.
My estimate of the F208's voltage sensitivity, measured on the tweeter axis, was 88.9dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is within experimental error of the specified 88.5dB. The speaker's plots…
"Our goal is not just to create a portable digital copy of an analog LP; it is to honor the high-fidelity aspects of vinyl by making a digital copy that sounds indistinguishable from the original." So spoke Rob Robinson, PhD (above), creator of Channel D's Pure Vinyl and Pure Music Mac apps, at the start of a recent presentation members of the Bay Area Audiophile Society.
Speaking to a capacity group of 22 BAAS members, who gathered in the living room of a hillside-perched Marin County home, Robinson spent close to two hours reviewing all aspects of using Pure Vinyl to rip LPs. His visit…
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.2
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Bella Davidovich (pno), Concertgebouw Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi, cond.
Philips CD 410-052 2 (CD), 6514-164 (LP).
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Bella Davidovich (pno), Concertgebouw Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi, cond.
Philips CD 410-052 2 (CD), 6514-164 (LP).
At last we're starting to realize some of the promise of CD from a major record company. This is the best CD recording I've heard yet from Philips. Both of these are virtuoso romantic works requiring a big piano sound and the stamina to produce it for 6–10 minutes at a stretch, which is probably why few lady pianists will tackle them. Bella Davidovich pulls these off with great aplomb.…
I grew up with a healthy disrespect—almost a dislike—for rich people. Though my home town, Winchester, Mass., is one of Boston's wealthier suburbs, and my father and grandfather were officers in a Boston-area company, my father grew up on a farm and I seemed to inherit his farm-grown distrust for those who have money.
It's ironic, then, that I've spent most of my professional life working for customers most of whom come from the upper third of society, economically—and a good deal are in the top couple of percent, as our recent subscriber survey shows. (My first 16 working years were…
Letters in response appeared in May 1992 (Vol.15 No.5)
Trade imbalances & high-end hi-fi
Editor: In light of the recent discussion about trade imbalance and the insult and counter-insult with Japan, I find that there is a parallel situation with regard to high-end audio. I don't mean to imply that Dan D'Agostino and Lew Johnson should go to Japan with President Bush to ask the Japanese to buy more amps, but if the American (high-end) audio industry as a whole doesn't watch it, they might be in the same predicament as the auto industry. It seemed like only a few years ago…