Description: Moving-coil phono cartridge with 6µm x 35µm line-contact stylus. Recommended tracking force: 1.8 grams.
Price: $650 (1989); no longer available (2017).
Manufacturer: Monster Inc. 601 Gateway Blvd. Suite 900, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA, Tel: (415) 840-2000. Web: www.monsterproducts.com.
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Sidebar 3: Specifications
Last May, Jack Oclee-Brown, KEF's Head of Acoustics, visited John Atkinson's listening room to drop off and set up the KEF Reference 5 loudspeakers ($19,000/pair). (JA's review appears in the October Stereophile, which will hit newsstands and mailboxes later this week.) In this video, they discuss Jack's origins and the challenges of speaker design, as well as the genesis of the Reference 5, KEF's Uni-Q drive-unit, and why, to perform quasi-anechoic speaker measurements, it's best to use a chamber as large as a true anechoic chamber.
If you are a fan of feline audiophiles, speaker design…
What was to have been the first Southern California-based T.H.E. Show organized without input from its late co-founder, Richard Beers, who died in 2016, has been postponed until 2018. The inaugural T.H.E. Show Anaheim, as the former T.H.E. Show Newport Beach is now called, was to have taken place September 22–24 at the Hilton Anaheim.
The reasons for the late postponement are spelled out in a two-page letter to exhibitors, which was released on September 6 by Beers' close friend and long-time associate, Show President Maurice R. Jung. In the letter, which was shared with Stereophile by…
One never knows, do one? Within the past year, I've had six preamplifiers in my system for critical evaluation, reviewing four of them and using another two as references. I was getting pretty tired of listening for sonic differences among preamps, and I told JA that I'd prefer my next reviewing assignment to be something different, like a speaker or a power amp. He agreed, but said he'd first like me to review just one more preamp, the Perfectionist Audio CPR/TIPS, which had been waiting patiently in the review queue in Santa Fe. Well, one more wouldn't hurt. Sounded kind of interesting,…
LPs. Oh, dear. I've just received the latest issue of the Schwann Opus, and I see that it no longer lists LPs (footnote 3). When I requested PAC to send me a review sample of the phono-staged CPR, I was told that they'd have to build me one: there's so little demand for it that all they keep in stock is the line-stage–only model!
As it turned out, the performance of the phono stage was a bit of a disappointment after the excellence of the line stage. The first problem was minor and idiosyncratic: in the "Recharge" position, there was a loud hum that defied all my efforts to get rid of it…
Sidebar 1: AC/DC
Item: AC power-line conditioners have become a major audio product category, featured in "Recommended Components" and used by several Stereophile reviewers—including RH, JE, JA, GL, CG, and RD—in their own systems.
Item: British rep for Audio Alchemy finds that their D/A processor takes too long to warm up for convenient demonstration when he takes it to dealers. His solution is to build a battery-operated power supply, using a car battery, so that the D/A processor can be kept powered up while traveling. He then notices that the processor sounds better with the…
Sidebar 2: Review System
Initial listening was done with the system staying the same as in my review of the Mark Levinson No.28 (Vol.15 No.6): Lingo'd Linn/Ittok/AudioQuest AQ 7000 analog, Proceed PCT 2/Aragon D2A Mk.II digital front end, "stripped" original Quads driven by a Luxman MQ-68c, and Cizek MG-27 subs driven by a Bryston 3B via a Dahlquist LP-1 crossover. Interconnects were AudioQuest Lapis; speaker cables AudioQuest Sterling (Quads) and Midnight (subs). A Stax Lambda Signature headset, driven by the SRM-T1 headphone amp, served as an additional reference. All electronics were…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The output impedance of the battery-powered PAC CPR IIIB/TIPS (hereafter referred to as the CPR) at its main outputs measured under 201 ohms at 1kHz. The input impedance at the same frequency was just under 49k ohms at its lowest (right channel, full volume). The tape output appeared to be unbuffered. Unity gain was at 12:30 on the volume control; the maximum line-level gain of the preamp was 39.7dB in the left channel, 38.9dB in the right (with the balance control centered). DC offset measured 1.6mV in both channels. The CPR was noninverting, both line and phono.…
Sidebar 4: Specifications
Frequency response: 0–100kHz, +0, $*–0.01dB; RIAA equalization: ±0.1dB. THD: <0.01%. Gain: phono stage, 56 to 66dB (adjustable); line stage, 21dB. S/N ratio: >110dB. AC line noise rejection: infinite. Power-supply regulation: line, infinite; load, >110dB. Input impedance: line stage, 75k ohms; phono stage, selectable 7.5 ohms to 47k ohms. Output impedance: 200 ohms. Maximum input: overload-proof. Maximum output: 10V RMS. Absolute polarity: correct for all inputs.
Dimensions: 19" W by 1.75" H by 10.5" D, each unit. Weights: 7 lbs (CPR), 8 lbs (TIPS…
Sidebar 1: Review System
The Thiel speakers were substituted for the Celestion SL600s in my usual system of Krell KSA-50 power amplifier, Audio Research SP-10 II preamp, CAL Tempest II and Meridian MCD Pro CD players, and Koetsu Red/SME V/Linn Sondek LP player mounted on a Torlyte stand. (At the end of the listening period, I substituted a 1987 Linn/Ittok combination fitted with the new composite armboard and the new Linn Troika cartridge, the whole sitting on a Sound Organization table.)
Interconnect was Monster Interlink Reference A, and Monster M1 speaker cable was used for…