In this video, Steve shares his personal background and offers his perspective on a variety of audio-related topics. He defines the term "audiophile" while questioning the evasiveness surrounding the term, discusses affordable audio, and describes his method for reviewing. Think of this as an "As We See It"—video edition.
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Editor: We do not agree with your subjective evaluation of the M-15 Super's sound, but since there is no disputing personal taste, we are not going to argue the point.
There are however some misleading statements in the report that we must, in the interests of accuracy, take issue with.
You stated that it is likely that production quality control will be better (than it was for your sample) by the time this report gets into print, but expressed no such qualification for the rather poor response and separation curves you show. In fact, the deviations…
Description: Moving-magnet phono cartridge with 0.6 mil spherical stylus (M-15) or 0.7 by 0.3 mil elliptical stylus (M15E). Recommended tracking force: 1 gram. Output: 4mV.
Cartridge weight: 5 grams.
Price: $79.95 (elliptical) or $69.95 (spherical) (1974); no longer available (2017).
Manufacturer: Ortofon A/S, Stavangervej 9, DK-4900 Nakskov, Denmark, US Distributor: Ortofon US, New York, NY 10016 (1974); Ortofon Inc., 500 Executive Blvd, Suite 102, Ossining, NY 10562 (2017). Tel: (914) 762-8646. Fax: (914) 762-8649. Web: www.ortofon.com.
If one accepts that, just like careful speaker positioning and acoustic treatments, room equalization exists…
Arcam's remote control is illuminated and…
I decided to use the same music files to compare the sound of the Arcam FMJ SR250 with Dirac Live room correction to the Dirac Live filtering in my server. It was a fair fight, as long as I set the server to downsample to 24/96 and used the same target curves for both implementations. In this face-off, the Dirac Suite on my server seemed marginally but consistently more successful than did the Arcam implementation. Yeah, the microphone positions couldn't possibly have been exactly the same, but the purpose of the multiple positions is to create a…
Description: Solid-state, class-G integrated audio-visual receiver with FM/DAB tuner, analog & digital inputs, Dirac Live room correction. Analog audio inputs: 6 unbalanced (RCA), 1 auxiliary (3.5mm). Digital audio inputs: 7 HDMI, 4 S/PDIF (RCA), 2 S/PDIF (TosLink), USB, Ethernet (RJ-45). Preamplifier outputs: 2.1-channel unbalanced Left/Right/SW1/SW2, Zone 2 Left/Right (RCA). Communication: Ethernet RJ-45 control interface; Spotify, vTuner enabled. Digital input sample rates: USB & Ethernet, 24-bit/48kHz; HDMI & S/PDIF, up to 24/192. DACs: Cirrus…
Digital Sources: Oppo BDP-103 universal BD player, Apple Mac mini running BootCamp, Windows 7, JRiver Music.
Preamplifier: Marantz AV8802a.
Power Amplifiers: Bryston 9BST, Classé Sigma Mono (2).
Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 802 D3, Monitor Audio Silver 8, JL Audio E-Sub e110 subwoofers (2).
Cables: Interconnect: AudioQuest Vodka (HDMI), Kubala-Sosna Anticipation (RCA) & Fascination (XLR). Speaker: Kubala-Sosna Anticipation & Fascination. AC: Kubala-Sosna Emotion.
Accessory: BrickWall 8RAUD power conditioner.—Kalman…
I measured the Arcam FMJ SR250 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Before performing any tests, I ran it at 40Wpc into 8 ohms for an hour. At the end of that time, the louvers on the top panel were warm, at 110.6°F (43.7°C).
Looking first at the Arcam as a conventional integrated amplifier, I performed all the measurements in Stereo Direct mode, which bypasses the digitization and DSP effects. With the volume control set to "99," the maximum gain at the loudspeaker terminals was 43.8dB. At the headphone outputs, the…