Who is Art Dudley? A devout Listener, a friend to all bunnies—and some humans—John Atkinson's right-hand man, and an invaluable voice, not just within Stereophile, but within the industry as a whole.
Herb Reichert puts it best: "People would love reading Art even if he wrote about lice creams. He thinks he's writing about cartridges and bunnies—he is too humble to realize that he is mentoring a large part of our industry."
That is the allure of Art. And that is the Art we…
A sweet soul singer from Alabama, Alexander was not an inspired shouter like Otis Redding nor a super-charged urban strutter like Wilson Pickett. His voice had a lighter, gentler quality. He was a careful enunciator of every word even though his music was deeply southern fried soul. Most distinctive of all, Alexander had a way with a heartbroken ballad—as in his heart was broken—that was above and beyond.…
281 years after Pergolesi's death, the beauty and freshness of his 12-movement work for two high voices with…
Nevertheless, I went home obsessed with Tina's inspired singing and Spector's infamous Wall of Sound production.
I have forever lusted for Tina Turner . . . but now, my nerdy old reviewer self wanted to use this dense, soulful recording to bring back my teen testosterone,…
All I know for sure is that the new Abyss AB-1266 looks the same as the old, costs the same, weighs the same (620gm), and sounds only slightly different. I had both models here to compare.
Listening
The new and old Abyss headphones were voiced using a Woo Audio WA5 integrated/headphone amplifier, with 300B tubes, like the one I reviewed in the January 2017 issue. Therefore, to get the full measure of authorized Abyss pleasure, I used the Woo WA5 for most of my evaluations. I also…
It's been a while since we published a review of a Rockport Technologies loudspeaker. Michael Fremer raved about Rockport's Antares in August 2002, which at the time cost $41,500/pair. In September 2004…
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25.4mm) beryllium-dome tweeter; 6" (152.4mm) carbon-fiber, sandwich-composite–cone midrange; two 9" (230mm) carbon-fiber, sandwich-composite–cone woofers. Frequency response: 25Hz–30kHz, –3dB. Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum amplification: 30W.
Dimensions: 46.5" (1181mm) H by 15" (381mm) W by 24.5" (622mm) D. Weight: 220 lbs (100kg).
Finishes: Metallic gloss or high-gloss paint.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 1702L & R.
Price: $…
Analog Source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge.
Digital Sources: Aurender N10 music server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; Arcam irDAC-II, Ayre Acoustics QX-5 Twenty, Chord DAVE, PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A converters; AudioQuest JitterBug, UpTone Audio ReGen USB cleaner-uppers; Mac mini running Vinyl Studio, Pure Music 3, Audirvana 1.5, Roon 1.3; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter.
Phono Preamplifier: Channel D Seta L.
Preamplifier: Ayre Acoustics KX-5 Twenty…
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Rockport Avior II's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and in-room responses. A complication was that the 220-lb loudspeaker was too bulky for me to move it outside for the testing, or to lift it onto my computer-controlled turntable. I therefore had to do the quasi-anechoic measurements in my listening room, where the proximity of room boundaries led to more than usually aggressive windowing of the time-domain data, which in turn reduced…