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…
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Much ink has been spilled, and rightly so, on the topic of the LP's recent and apparently durable resurrection as a playback medium. The corpse may not be quite as lively after death as before, but it is nonetheless arguably more Lazarus than Lavoisier (the latter having managed nothing more than to wink at the crowd following his time on the guillotine—as he boasted, in life, that he would do).
As for build quality, I could find nothing to fault and a lot to praise. The tonearm exhibited very low friction in both planes, with neither binding nor excessive play. Downforce calibration was reasonably accurate, and the required spindle-to-pivot distance was accurately set at 214mm. Even more impressive was the quality of machining evident in the turntable itself; neither the motor pulley nor the platter—which is said to be diamond-lapped—exhibited even the slightest wobble or runout error. The platter in particular was astonishingly well made: It ran so true that, when wiped clean of…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-speed, belt-driven turntable with integrated tonearm. Motor: AC synchronous. Speeds: 331/3, 45rpm. Speed adjustment: ±4%. Wow and flutter: 0.04%. Tonearm effective length: 9" (229mm). Overhang: 15mm. Offset angle: 22°. Cartridge mass range: 4–12gm. Range of tonearm height adjustment: 39–60mm.
Dimensions: 18.3" (465mm) W by 7.7" (195mm) H (including dustcover) by 15.4" (390mm) D. Weight: 51 lbs (23kg).
Serial Number of Unit Reviewed: F10600089.
Price: $6400. Approximate number of dealers: 30.
Manufacturer: Luxman Corporation, 1-3-…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301 turntable; EMT 997 tonearm; EMT OFD 25 and TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup heads; Denon 103, Ortofon Cadenza Red, Miyajima Premium BE mono cartridges.
Digital Sources: AudioQuest DragonFly, Meridian Explorer, Wavelength Proton USB DACs; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.11.0, Decibel v.1.2.11; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Hommage T2 step-up transformer, Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne, Fi 421A.
Loudspeakers: Altec Valencia, DeVore Fidelity…
I was introduced to audiophilia by my friend Gary Gustavsen. Although I'd known Gary since I was 13, I didn't discover his passion for music until that day in high school physics lab when I blurted out an obscure line from the Doors' "The Soft Parade," and Gary bounced back immediately with the next line. It turns out I shared my friend's passions for the Doors and Frank Zappa, but not for Mahler. Before long, Gary was dragging me to every audio store in our area to listen to potential speakers for his first high-end audio system. At the beginning of each trip he'd say, "Right now I'm partial…
When I listened to well-recorded singers, the Aon 2's lower midrange had a warm richness that made it sound like a much larger speaker. Melody Gardot has a somewhat thick, husky voice to begin with, and on The Absence (CD, Decca B0016816) she uses a microphone that tends to emphasize the lower region of her voice. Through the GoldenEars she sounded rich, holographic, and silky throughout her range on all tracks.
The Aon 2's low-end extension and naturalness through the midbass also suggested a larger, more expensive speaker. I always enjoy listening to bassist Chuck Israels's many solos…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.06" by 1.31" High-Velocity Folded Ribbon (HVFR) tweeter, 6" polypropylene-cone woofer, two 6.5" side-mounted planar passive radiators. Measured crossover frequency: 3.5kHz. Frequency range: 42Hz–35kHz. Sensitivity: 89dB. Nominal impedance: compatible with 8 ohms. Recommended amplification: 10-200Wpc.
Dimensions: 8" (205mm) W by 12" (310mm) H by 10" (255mm) D. Weight: 12 lbs (5.5kg) net, 14 lbs (6.4kg) shipping.
Finishes: Wraparound black grillecloth and piano-gloss black endcap.
Serial…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: VPI TNT IV, Rega Planar 3 turntables; Immedia, Syrinx PU-3 tonearms; Koetsu Urushi, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridges.
Digital Sources: Lector CDP-7T, Creek Destiny CD players.
Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D, Creek Destiny phono stages; Audio Valve Eclipse line stage.
Power Amplifier: Audio Research Reference 75.
Integrated Amplifier: Creek Destiny.
Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Excite X12, Epos M5i, Monitor Silver RX6.
Cables: Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator, MI-330SG Terminator.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system (www.mlssa.com) and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the GoldenEar Aon 2's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. The Aon 2's voltage sensitivity is specified as an above-average 89dB; my estimate was significantly lower, at 86.2dB(B)/2.83V. The speaker's impedance dips below 6 ohms in the mid-treble and midrange, reaching a minimum value of 3.5 ohms at 190Hz (fig.1). There are also combinations of a lowish magnitude and highish electrical phase angle in two regions: 100–…
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