This is unquestionably one of the best recordings Reference Recordings has done. The sound of the LP is up-front and quite bright, giving the orchestra that peculiarly nasal quality I usually associate with small French orchestras. There is truly remarkable detail and naturalness here; I was about to write that the recording makes the…
It wasn't until I'd read Michael Metzger's write-up of Self Portrait in "Records To Die For" (Stereophile, February 2002) that I was prompted to revisit Bob Dylan's once-critically-scoffed-at musical enigma from 1970.…
I first met Charles in the 1990s, around the time I began to review recordings and audio equipment. I had just left my apartment and was driving slowly down the street when I spied a somewhat bent-over, wizened-looking man carrying a copy of Stereophile under his arm. My astonishment at discovering another Stereophile reader whom, it turned out, living just two buildings away, brought my car to a sudden halt.
I opened my window. "You read Stereophile?" I exclaimed.
"Why, yes, I do," replied Charles,…
The D 3020 does not have a phono stage. To include one would have required a bigger case, some exceedingly clever design to properly shield the analog circuit from the D 3020's switch-mode power…
"From the very beginning, we had a vision to shape TAVES as more of a Consumer Electronics Show rather than just another audio show," show co-owner and Canada HiFi publisher Suave…
In the well-known D'Appolito array, one tweeter is partnered with two midrange drivers, one each above and below it. Opera's two-way Callas…
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: two 1" dome tweeters, one magnesium-cone woofer, three rear-firing dome tweeters. Crossover frequencies: "around 1500Hz," front drivers; 2kHz, rear tweeters. Frequency range: 32Hz–25kHz. Sensitivity of 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms.
Dimensions: 14.8" (376mm) H by 9" (229mm) W by 13.4" (340mm) D. Weight: about 57 lbs (26kg) each.
Serial numbers of review samples: .
Price: $5000/pair.
Manufacturer: Opera Loudspeakers, A.R.I.A. Advanced Research in Audio, via…
John Marks was impressed by the Callas stand-mounted loudspeaker from Italian manufacturer Opera Loudspeakers. The Callas is unusual in that it has tweeters mounted above and below its single SEAS magnesium-cone woofer. The conventional wisdom is that the higher the frequency, the closer together you need to position drive-units covering the same passband if you want to avoid unwanted off-axis lobing. Not only does the Callas break that rule, it also has three rear-firing tweeters mounted vertically in-line on its rear panel, below a pair of reflex ports.
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I am no less set in my ways. After 15 years of owning and loving a Linn LP12 turntable, and thereafter hearing the unsubtle improvement in musical drive and force offered by such vintage players…