I’ve been so happily preoccupied with my review of NAD’s new D 3020 integrated amplifier that I’ve again fallen behind on my “Payday Albums” posts. My review of the D 3020 will appear in our November issue. I used many of the albums listed below as demo material for that review.
It’s been a seriously great time.
Payday Albums: 7/26/13
Mayer Hawthorne: Where Does this Door Go (CD, Republic Records)
We had been planning a feature on Mayer Hawthorne, to be published in…
Coleman, 56, is a fascinating figure in modern jazz. Born and raised in Chicago, he moved to Brooklyn in the late '70s, apprenticed in several top big bands (ranging from Thad Jones' to Sam Rivers'), and linked up with a group of other young Brooklyn musicians—including Greg Osby, Graham Haynes, Geri Allen and Cassandra Wilson—who formed a movement of sorts that they called M-Base, short for "micro-basic array of structured extemporization," which explored new and conceptually…
The Aqvox's designer was a hired gun: Carlos Candeias. Now he's back, this time with the Phono MCCI balanced phono preamplifier ($3890), another current-input design,…
The ideal phono cable to be used with the Phono MCCI is a twisted-pair cable with shielding connected to XLR pin 1. An unshielded cable can be used, but it must be a noise-…
Description: Solid-state, current-mode moving-coil phono preamplifier. Frequency response: RIAA ±0.25dB. Subsonic filter: –6dB at 10Hz. Input impedance: <3 ohms. Gain: see text. Output impedance: 100 ohms. Maximum output voltage: 8.4V (1% THD). THD at 1kHz, 4V: 0.025%. THD at 1kHz, 2V: 0.007%. S/N Ratio: >80dBA (no reference level quoted). Power consumption: 18–20W.
Dimensions: . 17.1" (435mm) x 3.6" (91mm) H x 13.8" (350mm) D. Weight: (8kg).
Price: $3890.
Serial number of review samples: Not noted (auditioning); PH101 1014101 (measurements).…
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, & Castellon turntable, tonearm, & stand; Kuzma 4Point tonearms; Lyra Atlas, Kubotek Haniwa HCTR01 "green dot" cartridges.
Preamplifiers: darTZeel NHB-18ns, Ypsilon PST-100, Ypsilon VPS-100 phono.
Power Amplifiers: darTZeel NHB 458 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Alexandria XLF.
Cables: Interconnects: TARA Labs Zero Gold, Stealth Sakra & Indra, Kubala-Sosna, Teresonic Clarison Gold. Speaker: TARA Labs Omega Gold. AC: Shunyata Research Zi-Tron Anaconda.
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The MCCI is designed in Germany but manufactured at B.M.C.'s own factory in China. Once I got the MCCI on the bench, measuring it proved trickier than I'd expected, due to the preamplifier's "current injection" input circuit. Unlike almost all other phono stages, the MCCI takes advantage of a moving-coil cartridge's very low impedance, its inherent current-generating capabilities, and its balanced, floating-ground architecture, and arranges for its input stage to operate in current mode. It thus has a very low input impedance (specified as <3 ohms), and will…
"Price point" designers (Arcam, Audible Illusions, Audio Alchemy, Creek, Grado) who have built their reputations by placing all of their designs under very stringent cost constraints. The presumption is that…
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Description: Solid-state integrated amplifier. Power output: 50Wpc into 8 ohms (17dBW). Total harmonic distortion: 0.01%, 20Hz–10kHz. Frequency response: 3Hz–26kHz, –1dB. Power amplifier rise time: 30V/µs. Input sensitivity: 350mV line-level. Input sensitivity on MM phono: 2.5mV. Input impedance on MM phono: 47k ohms. S/N ratio: –105dB. Channel separation: –90dB at 1kHz.
Dimensions: 16.5" W by 9" D by 2.4" H. Weight: 11 lbs.
Price: $600 plus $50 for moving-magnet board, $95 for moving-coil board (basic 4240 costs $595), 1995; no longer available (2013).…