Description: Solid-state line preamplifier with separate power supply/base and tone controls. Inputs: 6 balanced (XLR). Outputs: 2 balanced (XLR). Frequency response: 0.1Hz–1MHz, –1dB (20Hz–20kHz, ±0dB). THD, full output: <0.006%, 20Hz–20kHz. Signal/noise (unweighted): 105dB (no reference level quoted). Channel separation: not specified. Maximum output: not specified. Gain: +6 to +12dB, adjustable. Input and output impedances: not specified.
Dimensions: Preamplifier: 18" (450mm) W by 4.3" (108mm) H by 12" (300mm) D. Power supply and base: 11" (275mm) W by…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra & Castellon turntable, tonearm, & stand; VPI Classic Direct Drive turntable & 3D 12" tonearm; Kuzma 4Point tonearm; Lyra Atlas & Etna, Ortofon Anna, Transfiguration Proteus, Miyajima Labs Zero (mono) cartridges.
Digital Sources: Simaudio Moon Evolution 650D CD player, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder; Meridian Digital Media System; Pure Music, Vinyl Studio software.
Preamplification: Ypsilon MC-10L & MC-16L step-up transformers; PBN Audio Olympia CPS/Pi,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems Momentum preamplifier in balanced mode using my top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"). The Momentum's maximum gain was a modest 8dB, which is fine—so many line preamplifiers offer way too much gain—and the preamp preserved absolute polarity (ie, was non-inverting), the front-panel meter glowing green. Pressing the Phase button on the remote control inverted polarity, and the meter now glowed pink. The input impedance was a usefully high 95k ohms at low…
Stalking the halls to experience 38 rooms at Capital AudioFest in three days feels like trying to see the whole Smithsonian in one day. When I got back to my room tonight my ears were ringing from the rock-concert volume levels played in most rooms. My eyes were spinning from trying to read upside down name tags scribbled with Sharpies. But because I have been an exhibitor so many times, I remember that the most important thing I can do is recognize and respect the hope and effort (and money) all these exhibitors and organizers have invested.
Deciding to participate, making all the…
Hold an audio show in a hotel? VPI's Mat Weisfeld was snapped taking full advantage of the amenities and listening to music courtesy of VPI's new Nomad record player!
At the end of a long day of standing in halls and sneaking into converted bedrooms with little rows of chairs I find myself wondering—are there any other trade shows or hobby fairs that take place in the sleeping-rooms part of hotels? Certainly there are no others where so many are hoping so much—for a seat in the middle! This was a very intense Saturday at the Capital AudioFest. Today, the middle seats were all filled and…
Room 708–710: Most of the exhibitors at CAF are not big brandnames with factories employing more than 100 persons. Most are highly inspired and maximally driven "ma & pa" operations like Klaus Bunge's Odyssey Audio. What is unique about Klaus is that he appears to begin designing with a very clear idea of what he wants (precision, dynamics, and laser-clear soundstages). Starting with a cost-is-no-object design, Mr. Bunge distills it over and over making it simpler and less costly each step of the way. When he finishes, he ends up with a roughly $1000amp/preamp combination and a $2200…
Room 615: I always learn something when I chat with Gary Dews and I always enjoy listening to music in the Border Patrol room. I met Gary in Hove, England back in 1994. Even then he was a fully formed individualist and working on some very sophisticated projects. He was then and remains committed to some of my favorite amp-design strategies: transformer coupling, tube rectification and choke-filtered power supplies.
The sound Gary was getting from the Border Patrol P21 push-pull 20W 300B amp ($12,750) driving the Living Voice Avatar loudspeakers ($11,850/pair) with Gary's own non…
Room 515: Every picture tells a story don't it? Well, not really. Like I mentioned earlier Capital Audiofest has been wrongly pegged by some as a "DIY gathering," not a big-time mainstream audio show. This is my first CAF but I have attended most of the audio shows in Europe and America and I did not see it like that. Clearly, this is not a show for Dave & Dan and the people at Sony probably never heard of CAF. What I saw and heard was something very unique and necessary—a show where a group of small manufacturers could pool their resources, make good sound, and maybe get connected to a…
Has it really been 30 years since an engineer named William H. Firebaugh unleashed on the audio world his radical and decidedly affordable Well Tempered Arm? (footnote 1) Indeed it has—and today, at 82, Bill Firebaugh seems busier than ever, with so many irons in the fire that he's been forced to give up the noble game of golf—an irony, as you'll see in a moment.
Firebaugh started down this road in the 1970s, while working at Ford Aerospace. "That was the time when FFT analyzers were appearing on the scene," he says. "We used a lot of Brüel & Kjaer gear in our work, so we received…
The penultimate distinction is Firebaugh's latest choice in drive belts: He has switched from a flat neoprene belt—which usually was installed with an intentional twist—to a polyester filament only 0.004" in diameter. (Human hairs range in diameter from 0.0003" to 0.007".) A thread of any sort must be knotted in order to make a belt. So it goes; Firebaugh says that the grooves in his motor pulley—one each for 33 1/3 and 45rpm—have been sized and shaped to account for that.
The final distinction: In recent years, Well Tempered Lab, which is now based in New Zealand, moved all of its…