Description: Four-way, floorstanding loudpeaker. Drive-units: reflex-loaded, 14" pulp-cone woofer, 8" polypropylene-cone lower-midrange unit, 5" polypropylene-cone midrange unit, 1" titanium-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 400Hz, 1.4kHz, 5.2kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Maximum recommended power: 400W.
Dimensions: 52" H by 22.5" W by 14.25" D. Weight: 150 lbs each.
Price: $3396/pair (1985); no longer available (2013).
Manufacturer: JBL Division of Harman International, 8500 Balboa Blvd., P.O. Box 2200, Northridge, CA 91329…
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Sidebar: Specifications
I'm not sure why, but people tell me things. Maybe it's because they realize I listen. They reveal themselves, sometimes in charming and unexpected ways. So I was almost prepared for my three-way conference call with the designer of the Symphonic Line Kraft 400 power amplifier, Rolf Gemein, in Germany and Indianapolis-based importer/distributor Klaus Bunge. I started by asking Rolf about his design philosophy:
Rolf Gemein: Hi-fi systems in general are not able to reproduce natural, live sound. We're not even getting close to the intimate experience of an opera house, for example. There…
"Without content, television is nothing more than lights in a box."—Edward R. Murrow, 1958
"When it comes to video, most audiophiles are insufferable snobs."—J. Gordon Holt, 1984
Those who have followed the arguments between audiophiles and home-theater enthusiasts in the pages of Stereophile—I lifted the Murrow quote from a 1996 battle between Steve Guttenberg (representing the former community) and Joel Silver (representing the latter)—will have no doubt over which side of the argument I am on. As I wrote in our March 1993 issue, recorded music is a "hot" medium in Marshall…
Getting a review sample of this unique ultrasonic record-cleaning machine took me years; apparently, Audiodesksysteme Gläss, a small German manufacturer, couldn't keep up with demand. I've also heard from a few sources that reliability was not high in the company's early days, but that now all that's been sorted out, as has manufacturing capacity.
This compact cleaner can be thought of as a very high-tech, automatic version of the Spin Clean Record Washer ($79.95), which I reviewed in my February 2010 column. Like the hand-cranked Spin Clean, the Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner ($3995)…
Fred Kaplan wrote about the Audio Desk in September 2013 (Vol.36 No.9):
In his June 2012 "Analog Corner," Michael Fremer hailed the German-made Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner as "the best record-cleaning machine in the world" (also see www.analogplanet.com/content/worlds-best-record-cleaning-machine). Then came the punch line: it cost $3995. That seemed just silly.
In April 2013, the machine was on display at the New York Hi-Fi Show, and I asked its importer, Robert Stein of Ultra Systems, Inc., what the big deal was. I'd just bought a two-LP 45rpm album, Rickie Lee Jones's…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: ultrasonic LP cleaning machine.
Price: $3995.
Manufacturer: Audiodesksysteme Gläss, Seestrasse 1, D 89551 Kînigsbronn, Germany. Tel./Fax: (49) 07328-7138. Web: www.audiodesksysteme.de. US distributor: Ultra Systems, 127 Union Square, New Hope, PA 18938. Tel: (800) 724-3305, (215) 862-6570. Fax: (215) 862-4871. Web: www.ultrasystem.com
Sidebar 2: FK's System
VPI Classic turntable/arm, Lyra Delos cartridge, Nagra BPS battery-powered phono preamp, Simaudio Moon 700i integrated amp, Krell Cipher CD/SACD player, Revel Ultima Studio2 speakers, Nirvana cables, Bybee Technologies Signature Model Power Purifier (except for the amp), Black Diamond Mk. 4 Racing Cones.—Fred Kaplan
Julianna Barwick's new album, Nepenthe, is available now. Photo: Shawn Brackbill.
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…
Alto saxophonist Steve Coleman's new CD, Functional Arrhythmias (Pi Recordings), is his best in many years.
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…
In July 2008 I reviewed the intriguing Phono 2Ci moving-magnet/moving-coil phono preamplifier from Aqvox Audio Devices. Though it then cost only $1400, the Phono 2Ci's current-input circuitry represented a high-tech departure from the typical voltage-gain circuits used by almost everyone else. Although keeping its retail price so low resulted in some sonic compromises, it sounded remarkable, and tough to beat at the price.
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,…