The upper registers of soprano voice consistently sounded somewhat coarse. Kathleen Battle's Baroque Duet album with Wynton Marsalis (Sony SK 46672) is a perfect example of what…
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Massed strings fared no better. String tone on Chesky's reissue of the Beethoven Ninth with René Leibowitz (CD66) has been tonic to my ears through many a speaker. Here, massed strings were decimated, taking on an irritatingly threadbare texture. Nor did Midori's violin (on Midori Live at Carnegie Hall, Sony SK 46742) receive preferential treatment: The loss of overtone sheen and sweetness were quite apparent.
Sidebar 1: Measurements
The impedance magnitude and phase for the Hybrid 6 are shown in fig.1. (Both channels were essentially identical.) The impedance never dropped below 4.2 ohms (the cursor position). This, in conjunction with the low phase angle over nearly all the audio band, means that the Museatex represents quite an easy amplifier load, much like a 5 ohm resistor. In the bass, the valley between the twin impedance humps defines a port tuning frequency of 44Hz. Normally these low-frequency impedance peaks are much larger in magnitude, suggesting that the '6's bass-reflex…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description :Two-way, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: a 16" by 10" RTRE (Real Time Ripple Effect) panel transducer and a 5.25" cone woofer. Woofer alignment: bass-reflex (ported). Crossover frequency: 450Hz, with first-order slopes. Frequency response: 55Hz–20kHz, ±3&dB.Nominal impedance: 6.5 ohms. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m (2.83V).
Dimensions: 45.5" H by 14.5" W by 12" D.
Serial numbers of samples tested: 503 & 504.
Price: $1299/pair (1993); no longer available (2018).
Manufacturer: Museatex Audio Inc., Calgary, Alberta T2B 1N5,…
Lincoln Mayorga: Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues Vol.II
Lincoln Mayorga, arranger, harpsichord, piano.
Lincoln Mayorga, Doug Sax, prods.; Bill Schnee, eng.; Sherwood Sax, design engineer.
Sheffield Lab S-10 (LP).
Lincoln Mayorga, arranger, harpsichord, piano.
Lincoln Mayorga, Doug Sax, prods.; Bill Schnee, eng.; Sherwood Sax, design engineer.
Sheffield Lab S-10 (LP).
Ever wonder just how much sound quality is lost by recording stuff on tape before making a disc? Here's your answer. This program of soft rock and cool jazz arrangements was recorded straight from studio to disc, and the sound is incredible! Suddenly, a veil that we never realized was there has been lifted, and we had the feeling we were listening…
The Greek myth of Odysseus has always been a favorite of mine. For an audiophile looking for a CD transcription system under $2500, it seems to be an especially appropriate metaphor. Almost all the units I've heard since CD's inception fall into one of two camps: the Sirens or the Rocks.
For those of you not up on your Greek mythology, the Sirens were the archetypal seductresses whose sweet songs lured sailors to drive their ships upon the rocks. Siren CD players are those that soften and sweeten the sound. Their primary purpose is to seduce, to give a false sense of comfort to their…
Compared with my analog sources, the Vanguard's soundstage was a bit forward. Rather than starting behind the speakers, the front of the soundstage began right at the speakers. Nothing wrong with that—just different from most analog sources in my systems. Soundstage width was as good as any CD player I've ever heard—that is, some analog sources seem wider, but whether that's a coloration or "the way it is" is debatable. Soundstage depth was quite decent, but not mind-boggling—slightly better than most CD players I've heard in my own systems. Unfortunately, all CD players I've heard seem…
Sidebar 1: Steve Stone's System
I used the following equipment for the SOTA Vanguard CD player review: For analog source comparisons, a Thorens/Chadwick 125 Mk.2 turntable mounted with a Graham 1.5 tonearm, with armtubes fitted with Denon 103 C/van den Hul, EMT/vdH, Fidelity Research FR-1 Mk.3 vdH, and AudioQuest BH-200 cartridges. In my large-room system, I used a VPI HW-19 Mk.5 with a Bright Star TNT base and a Souther Tri-Quartz arm mounted with a vdH MC-1 cartridge.
Preamps: Denneson JC-80 Mk.2 gold, Atma-Sphere MP-1, and the Vendetta SCP-2A phono preamp. Power amplifiers:…
Sideabr 2: Measurements
The Vanguard's maximum output level when decoding a full-scale, 1kHz sinewave was 2.25V from the fixed-level outputs and 4.31V from the variable outputs at the highest volume-control setting. These values are 1dB and 6.7dB higher than the standard 2V output, respectively.
Output impedance was a low 50 ohms at any audio frequency from the fixed-level outputs. The variable outputs were similarly low, measuring 65 ohms at 20Hz and 55 ohms through the rest of the band. The combination of low output impedance and high output level suggests that the Vanguard…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: One-piece CD player. Front-panel controls: Standby, CD/Line, Preset, FTS, Edit, Previous, Next, Open, Play, Pause, Stop, Phones output. Remote controls: all the above plus FTS, FTS 2, Title, Fast, Scan, A/B, Repeat, Review, Volume, and alphanumeric keyboard. Analog outputs: fixed and variable single-ended line and fixed balanced XLR line. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz ±0.2dB. S/N ratio: 100dB (A-weighted). Channel separation: 110dB at 1kHz. THD: 0.002%. Dynamic range: 92dB. Maximum output level: 2V (into 47k ohms). Digital outputs: coaxial, RCA,…
I spent a snowy New York City evening at Rhapsody Music & Cinema, talking with the proprietor, Bob Visintainer, and watching my friend Michael Trei install a Lyra Etna SL moving-coil cartridge in a Graham Engineering Phantom III tonearm mounted on a TechDAS Air Force 3 turntable tethered to a Zesto Tessera phono stage. Every wall was lined with big, floorstanding speakers, all of them expensive. On the main stage that day were Alta Audio's Hestia Titaniums ($32,000/pair).
Installation complete, Michael put on an original pressing of Duke Ellington's Blues in Orbit (LP, Columbia CS…