Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier. Inputs: 2 unbalanced (RCA), 2 balanced (XLR). Outputs: 2 pairs Hurricane spade connectors with banana-plug sockets (not available on 230V models). Power output (20Hz–20kHz, 0.25% THD+N): 250Wpc into 8 ohms (25.5dBW),. Frequency response: 10Hz–20kHz, ±0.05dB. Input sensitivity: 2.83V RMS output for 150mV input. Input impedance: 60k ohms (balanced), 30k ohms (unbalanced). Output impedance: 0.054 ohm, 20Hz–1kHz; 0.055 ohm at 5Hz; 0.056 ohm at 10Hz; 0.59 ohm at 20kHz. Signal/noise: >85dB, ref. level 2.83V RMS.…
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A selection of gear from Gryphon Audio Designs, the Danish firm founded some 33 years ago by Flemming Rasmussen, will be introduced to listeners at a special event on Thursday, May 3, at The Sound Environment, 11021 Elm Street, Omaha, NE. On hand will be a selection of Gryphon electronics—including their Diablo 120 and Diablo 300 integrated amplifiers, Colosseum stereo class-A amplifier, Pandora preamplifier, Legato phono stage, and Scorpio S CD player—as well as Wilson Audio Alexx speakers, a TechDAS Air Force 3 turntable, and a full Vivaldi stack from digital specialists dCS. Philip O'…
The Final Tour, Volume 6 of Columbia Legacy's Miles Davis Bootleg Series—documenting Miles' quintet, featuring John Coltrane, live in Europe in March 1960—is one of the most revelatory new-old jazz albums in recent years. Of the five concerts on the 4-CD boxed set, one of them—the March 24 date in Copenhagen—is now out on 180-gram LP, and not only is the music thrilling, the sound quality is extraordinary: as vibrant as just about any live album in the Miles catalog.
The concerts took place one year after the band recorded Kind of Blue, but, though they play two of the songs from that…
We're well past the day when the sound of top-tier tube amplifiers can be described as "syrupy" or "too warm" or producing "soft bass." Equally true, solid-state designs have reached a level of maturity at which "sweetness," "fluidity," and "flow" are similarly applicable descriptors, thus smashing the cliché of "cold transistor sound."
One high-end audio manufacturer, resourceful in both tube and solid-state designs, has weathered selloffs, acquisitions, and fickle audiophile demands to create beautiful, enduring audio art under a name synonymous with Japanese high-end audio supremacy:…
The Luxman L-509X is the first audio component I've reviewed for which the operative descriptor is tender. Without my going all red-faced and teary on you, the L-509X seemed to enjoy reproducing the music as much as I enjoyed listening to/through it. Record after record, the L-509X illuminated every important aspect and area of the recording. It lived and breathed in the air around the notes, consistently creating big, solid, spatially natural images that presented me with: a) the roundness and complexity of each instrument, b) a holistic sense of the musicians' intent, c) excellent touch…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-channel, solid-state, integrated amplifier with class-A/B output stage. Line inputs: Line In (4 pairs RCA), Main In (1 pair RCA), Balanced (2 pairs XLR). Line outputs: Rec Out (1 pair RCA), Monitor (1 pair RCA), Pre Out (1 pair RCA). Phono inputs, switchable: MM, high-/low-output MC (1 pair RCA). Output power: 120Wpc into 8 ohms (20.8dBW), 220Wpc into 4 ohms (20.4dBW). Frequency responses: phono, 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.5dB; line, 20Hz–100kHz, ±3dB. Tone controls: Bass, ±8dB at 100Hz; Treble, ±8dB at 10kHz. THD: <0.007% (8 ohms, 1kHz), <0.06% (8…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Kuzma Stabi S turntable & Stogi S tonearm; Denon DL-103, Hana EL, Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridges.
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook computer running Audirvana Plus; PS Audio NuWave, Mytek HiFi Manhattan DACs; LG BD-550 Blu-ray 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 Amplifiers: Heed Audio Elixir, Octave Audio V80SE.
…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Luxman L-509X using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Before I test an amplifier, I precondition it with both channels driving a 1kHz tone at one-third power into 8 ohms for an hour. At the end of that time, the Luxman's top panel was warm, at 95°F (35°C), and the small metal grilles above the heatsinks were hotter, at 107.7°F (42.1°C).
Looking first at the line inputs: The maximum voltage gain at 1kHz from the speaker terminals into 8 ohms, with the volume control set to the maximum, measured 43.4dB…
While covering CanMania at the 2017 Capital Audiofest, I was sitting at the table of HeadAmp Audio Electronics, listening first to John McEuen singing Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy," from McEuen's Made in Brooklyn (24-bit/192kHz AIFF, Chesky JD388/HDtracks), then to Macy Gray's Stripped (24/96 AIFF, Chesky JD389/HDtracks). I was listening through HeadAmp's extraordinary GS-X Mk.2 headphone amplifier ($2999–$3199), but midway through Gray's "I Try," I stopped, pulled the Audeze LCD-4 headphones off my head, and asked HeadAmp's head of sales and marketing, Peter James, what DAC he was using…
I began with CDs, decoded with the DAC set to NOS. The first to capture my attention was disc 2 of Memphis Jug Band with Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers (4 CDs, JSP 7745). These remasterings by John R.T. Davies of recordings from the early days of electrical recording and RCA ribbon mikes seemed less antique and more just right tonally than I remember ever hearing them. More open. More relaxed. The Spring let me feel rhythm changes with my head and rocking shoulders. The sounds of cheap guitars, clay jugs, washtub bass, and washboards played with spoons weren't just unusually vivid and…