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…
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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.
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…
The sad toll among musicians who came of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s continues as jazz guitarist extraordinaire John Abercrombie, 72, died on Wednesday at Hudson Valley Hospital outside of Peekskill, NY, in the presence of his family.
While everyone, or most jazz fans at least, have their favorite guitarist, their preferred stylist as it were, Abercrombie has always stood out in my mind as much for what he didn't play as for what he did. Uncommonly generous as a leader, he was a master of understatement and had impeccable taste in his playing, composing and choice of cover…
Actual Internal Dialog: "Jason, you cannot review another recording with Carolyn Sampson. You've already reviewed two, and given one a R2D4. People will think you believe there's no other soprano worth listening to."
"True. But one of the Brit pubs just gave her latest recording for Harmonia Mundi, Bach Cantatas for Soprano with the Freiburger Barockorchester under Petra Müllejans, its 'best of the month.' And the recording includes the joy-filled Wedding Cantata, Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202" (Begone now, Gloomy Shadows) that you first learned from Karl Richter and the Munich…
In this video, Steve Guttenberg, "The Audiophiliac" and a regular contributor to Stereophile's "As We See It" column, gives us a tour of his system in Brooklyn, NY.
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture (Op.49), Capriccio Italien (Op.45
), "Cossack Dance" from Mazeppa (LP), plus Marche slav, Op.31, Polonaise and Waltz from
Eugene Onegin
, Op.24, Festival Coronation March
(CD).
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Kiev Symphony Chorus; Children's Choir of Greater Cincinnati, Erich Kunzel cond.
Telarc Digital DG-10041 (LP, CD-80041 (CD). 1979 (LP), 1984 (CD). Edited at Soundstream, Inc. Robert Woods, prod.; Jack Renner, eng. DAA (LP), DDD (CD). TT: 35:19 (LP), 60:23 (CD).
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Kiev Symphony Chorus; Children's Choir of Greater Cincinnati, Erich Kunzel cond.
Telarc Digital DG-10041 (LP, CD-80041 (CD). 1979 (LP), 1984 (CD). Edited at Soundstream, Inc. Robert Woods, prod.; Jack Renner, eng. DAA (LP), DDD (CD). TT: 35:19 (LP), 60:23 (CD).
I must say I'm getting a bit bored with the 1812 Overture, but as long as there are…
Nelson Pass is a consummate engineer, but he got his start in physics, earning a bachelor's degree from UC Davis. As he worked on his degree, he was already an audio designer, focusing on loudspeakers—great training for a designer of audio amplifiers. Soon, in 1974, he cofounded Threshold Audio with René Besne, of audio and folk-dancing fame; their goal was to build electronics, partly because the field is less competitive—it's harder than building speakers. As he told Thomas J. Norton in "Simple Sounds Better," an interview in the November 1991 issue of Stereophile, Pass created one of the…