Much has been written about balanced operation, but few real facts have been established except for its frequent use in professional studio applications, where it was primarily developed for low-level microphone signals and long cable runs, sometimes as long as 100m. By using an intimately twisted pair of conductors (which offers good rejection of external electromagnetic interferences when driven in a push-pull balanced mode), then shielding the assembly, often with two successive dense-wire braids, external hum and noise fields could be suppressed. The…
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Sidebar 2: Ancillary Components
A well-judged assessment of equipment of this quality requires several conditions to be satisfied. First, the equipment must be conditioned, run-in for several days, and well warmed up. Second, its mode of use and the chosen interfaces should be carefully selected, with allowance made for some experimentation to determine the optimum arrangement. This area includes balanced and unbalanced operation, and the choice of cables. Third, it's valuable to have a handful of comparable and reference components with which to compare. In the case of the KSL…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As might well be expected, harmonic distortion levels were negligible—better than –83dB over the measured 20Hz–20kHz range at a nominal 0.5V IHF output level. With class-A circuitry, fully complementary harmonic orders were low, with quite negligible upper-range harmonics. The two-tone high-frequency intermodulation test generated a very low –89dB level of in-band difference tone. Little variation was observed at higher or lower signal levels. Virtually a little power amplifier in its own right, the KSL could deliver a maximum voltage swing of 8.7V RMS from a very…
Sidebar 4: Specifications
Description: Line-level preamplifier. Gain: 10dB (x3). Frequency range: 0.5Hz–550kHz. S/N ratio: 95dB A-weighted. Input impedance: 48.5k ohms. Output impedance: 11 ohms. Maximum output voltage: 9.5V RMS, 28V p–p.
Dimensions: 18" W by 21/4" H by 13.75" D.
Serial number of unit tested: 17-39359.
Prices: $1800 (high-level), $2100 (with phono section) (1991); no longer available (2017). Approximate number of dealers: 55. Warranty: 5 years.
Manufacturer: Krell Industries, Milford, CT 06460 (1991). Krell Industries, LLC, 45 Connair Road, Orange, CT…
1915. Marcel Duchamp's nude has already descended the staircase, Arnold Schoenberg's Three Orchestral Pieces, Op.16 have shattered tonality, and the old order is crumbling. World War I is well upon us, bringing with it human-caused suffering and destruction on a scale never before experienced in human history.
It is in 1915 that 30-year old Alban Berg finally heeds the advice of Schoenberg, his longtime mentor, unleashes his talents on full orchestra, and completes his Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op.6. Although the 22-minute composition pays homage to Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) in its use…
Featuring Mytek's MQA-equipped Manhattan II D/A preamplifier-headphone amplifier on its cover, our new issue—132 pages of awesome—is jam-packed with good stuff. There are reviews of Ayre's QX-5 Twenty "digital hub," Kii's ground-breaking, DSP-optimized active speaker, amplifiers from Bel Canto and Octave, and preamplifiers from Shindo and Sutherland. Jim Austin interviews Pass Labs' onlie begetter, veteran engineer Nelson Pass. Robert Baird surveys audiophile-quality reissues of horror-film soundtracks. Mikey Fremer visits revitalized SME in the UK. And kicking it all off, Art Dudley condemns…
Art Dudley and Herb Reichert are back! In this third (and final) video conversation that I shot in Art's living room, Art and Herb have a friendly debate about stereo imaging and talk about what matters to them when it comes to the reproduction of music.
I'm a thirty-year-old puppy doing what I'm told And I'm told there's no more coal for the older engines,"—Andy Partridge, "Train Running Low on Soul Coal"
"[We] know the truth of this: We would likely live happily ever after with a system from nearly 60 years ago. An idler-drive turntable, some Marantz electronics, and Quad ESL-57s can be very satisfying. The main improvements to be made are not necessarily in the area of musical enjoyment, but rather boring old reliability."
Charley Hansen of Ayre Acoustics, who made these observations in an e-conversation two years ago, gives…
In equipment reports, I use the phrase forward momentum to refer to something a little deeper and more encompassing than what's meant by that well-worn Brit-fi expression pace, rhythm, and timing (PRaT). Pace refers to the speed at which a piece of music is being played, and the accurate reproduction of that speed requires audio sources with good dynamic pitch stability. (Digital folk always lord it over LP clingers for digital's superior pitch stability.)
Rhythm is a sequential pattern of any kind, and pattern is the building block of musical expression. Rhythm is especially important. I…
I want to share with you not what I heard from this CD, but what I noticed while listening to McDowell play "Shake 'Em On Down," a trance-inducing hill-country blues anthem by Bukka White. Unlike Chicago blues, which usually features guitar or harmonica solos, "Shake 'Em On Down" is groove-based. It begins with a hard-strumming boogie groove that carries the quickly mesmerized listener forward on a steam train of louder-harder-faster strumming, never slowing or backing off until it gently drops that listener off at its final destination. In "Shake 'Em On Down," the force and movement of…