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Saturday August 26, from 1–5pm, Sandy Gross, President of GoldenEar Technology, will be presenting GoldenEar's new flagship Triton Reference loudspeaker at New Jersey retailer Electronics Expo (491 US 46 West, Wayne NJ). The Triton Reference sits above Stereophile's "Joint Loudspeaker of 2015", the Triton One, which is still very much current and available. Stereophile reviewer Robert Deutsch wrote after hearing the Triton Reference at their debut at last January's CES, "The Triton Reference presents a serious challenge to speakers in the multi-$10k range. . ." Saturday's event will be a good…
Jim Austin wrote about the Orangutan O/96 in September 2017 (Vol.40 No.9):
In my May 2009 Follow-Up review of DeVore Fidelity's Gibbon Nine loudspeaker (footnote 1), I said it was quite wonderful. I bought a pair. Though I heard a slight "woody" coloration, I didn't consider that a flaw. In my subsequent conversations with the speaker's designer, John DeVore, he disagreed with my characterization, arguing that what I was hearing was authentic, natural sound—the sound captured on the recordings of acoustic music that I was listening to.
What DeVore said was plausible; maybe other…
Herb Reichert reviewed the Bel Canto e.One REF600M in September 2017 (Vol.40 No.9):
During the listening for my review of Dynaudio's Contour 20 loudspeaker in the April 2017 issue, it became embarrassingly obvious to me that I needed a reasonably priced high-power amplifier that could look down the barrel of a 4-ohm loudspeaker impedance and not flinch or buckle. I needed said amp to be light and small enough that I could lift it and move it about with ease—something, perhaps, based on Bruno Putzeys's well-regarded NCore class-D module, and with a well-regarded audio pedigree. I needed an…
In January of 2014, some of us wondered if the sudden death of designer Ken Shindo would spell the end of the company he founded in 1977: It was hard to imagine Shindo Laboratory being led by anyone but its founder, a former Matsushita engineer who made it his life's work to study not only the designs of audio's golden age, but to learn the sound of every vacuum tube, every passive part, every circuit variation that he might reasonably press into service. Ken Shindo wasn't just a builder—he was one part engineer, one part curator, and one part master chef, and his work stood, so far as I…
As with the Masseto, the power supply of the new Monbrison is built around a sturdy Denki mains transformer and a 6X4 rectifier tube—just one 6X4 instead of the Masseto's two—supplemented with solid-state, full-wave rectifiers for tube heaters. The new power supply appears to have more current-smoothing chokes than its predecessor, and Takashi revisits the earlier Shindo practice of using aluminum-can electrolytic capacitors alongside newer types.
All of the above is built into a steel enclosure somewhat bigger than the Masseto's—approximately 715 vs 560 cubic inches—but that breaks…
As a salt-and-pepper–haired bachelor living in present-day Manhattan, I admit to participating in mating rituals that have included electronic divining tools and computer-aided pleasure machines. In a phrase: online dating.
From various sites whose names begin with O or M, and which can lead to S or M with a stranger who may or may not be who or what she claims to be, I've had private zones tickled silly, and as often have found the process to be confusing, depressing, or both. I've been happily hijacked by a flexible Broadway singer, met a she who was really a he, and even found…
Once the sound of a reference audio system is known, any new kid on that block must meet the mature listener between his or her ears. Some listeners want their imaginations fired and set free by a sound system, some seek thrills, some ruthlessly pursue auditory and musical information, and others listen only for the facts. And everyone's audio heart beats at a different rate.
When a new product enters my reference rig, I listen for tone, dynamics, texture—and, to lesser degrees, resolution, soundstaging, and leading-edge definition. For me, replicating music is ultimately about color…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-channel, tubed integrated amplifier. Tube complement: four Tung-Sol KT150, two 12AU7, one 6072/12AT7. Line-level inputs: 6 (1 XLR, 5 RCA) plus 1 home-theater bypass (RCA). Line-level outputs: 2 (RCA). Output power: 120Wpc into 4 ohms (17.8dBW), 80Wpc into 8 ohms (19dBW). Input sensitivity: 300mV (RCA, XLR). Input impedance: 40k ohms (RCA), 25k ohms (XLR). Channel balance: 0.5dB to –70dB on volume control. Crosstalk: left/right, 60dB; input–input, –105dB. Gain at pre out: +12dB. Frequency response: 10Hz–80kHz. THD: 0.1% at 10W into 4 ohms. Signal…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Kuzma Stabi S turntable & Stogi S tonearm; Music Hall MMF-7.3 turntable; Denon DL-103, Goldring Elite MC, Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridges.
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook computer running Audirvana Plus; Halide DAC HD, PS Audio NuWave DACs; LG BD player; Western Digital T2 Mirror Drives (2).
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 A23 moving-coil step-up transformer, Heed Audio Quasar phono stage, Shindo Laboratory Allegro preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Shindo Laboratory Haut-Brion.
Integrated Amplifier: Heed Audio Elixir.
…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Octave Audio V 80 SE using my top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It" and www.ap.com). Measurements were taken with the Octave's rear-panel switch set to High Power, as recommended for the KT150 output-stage tubes. (I didn't use the Super Black Box power-supply capacitance booster.) After warming up the amplifier for an hour, I checked the bias for each of the four output tubes, using the central LED array and the right-hand rotary switch on the front panel. All tubes were correctly biased for KT150s, with…