Sure, some rooms are better than others, but their size, shape, and furnishings alter your speakers' sound in ways their designers can never fully anticipate, leaving it up to you to dial in the best sound you can.…
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There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it: Headphones sound different from speakers. For different reasons, I like both, but all speakers come with one undeniable disadvantage: the room you play them in. I don't care if you're running pint-size Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a's or giant Wilson Audio Alexandria XLFs—they're at the mercy of your room's acoustics. Losses are inevitable.
Zesto's Téssara tube phono preamplifier takes pride of place on the July Stereophile's cover, to accompany Mikey Fremer's review inside. Add to that Jason Victor Serinus on the expensive Audionet Max monoblocks from Germany, John Atkinson on an affordable DAC from Arcam, Larry Greenhill on the awesome No.536 monoblock from the revitalized Mark Levinson company, Art Dudley on the Lamm L.21 preamplifier and the Serbian Soulines Kubrick DCX turntable, and Herb Reichert on turntables from Analogueworks and Palmer, and you'll see why we think this issue is rad! (JA's daughter says "Don't say that…
Three years ago, when I first heard Audionet's Max monoblock power amplifiers, I described their pairing with YG Acoustics Hailey loudspeakers "an absolute winner" and "definitely one of the finer systems at T.H.E. Show Newport Beach." At subsequent audio shows, no fewer than four other Stereophile Contributing Editors enthused about different pairings of YG loudspeakers with Audionet amplification. Herb Reichert, at the 2014 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest: "Everything had a kind of just right quality. Totally impressive!" Sasha Matson, at RMAF 2015: "Marvelous" on vocals, "rockin' and tight" on…
Joe Kubala agreed to send what amounted to an 80-lb tub filled with Elation! cables and a Kubala-Sosna Xpander power distributor. Although in price the Elation!s are far more comparable to Nordost's Valhalla 2s than their Odin 2s, Kubala felt I wouldn't be disappointed.
While awaiting that shipment, I reinstalled my Pass Labs XA200.8s so that I could review recordings without pain. But when the Passes now sounded bad as well, I went into a full panic. Check the connections, check the ground . . . everything checked out except my composure.
Many days later, but before I'd settled…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state, MOSFET monoblock power amplifier. Inputs: 1 balanced (XLR), 1 unbalanced (RCA). Outputs: 2 pairs binding posts. Power outputs: 400W into 8 ohms (26dBW), 700W into 4 ohms (25.4dBW), 1100W into 2 ohms (24.4dBW). Frequency response: 0Hz–500kHz, –3dB. Input impedance: 3k ohms, 100pF (balanced); 37k ohms, 100pF (unbalanced). Damping factor: >1800 at 10kHz, >10,000 at 100Hz. Intermodulation distortion (SMPTE 100Hz and 20kHz, 4:1): <–110dB at 50W into 4 ohms. THD+N: <–106dB, 1kHz at 25–700W into 4 ohms. Signal/noise: >125dB.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: dCS Paganini SACD/CD transport & Rossini DAC (6V output) & Scarlatti clock; Oppo Digital BDP-93 NuForce Edition universal BD player; Apple MacBook Pro computer with Intel i7, SSD, 8GB RAM; external hard drives, USB sticks.
Power Amplifiers: Pass Labs XA200.8 (monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Alexia.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Diamond (FireWire, Ethernet), Kubala-Sosna Elation!, Nordost Odin 1 & Odin 2 & Valhalla 2 (USB). Interconnect, Speaker, AC: Kubala-Sosna Elation! (all), Nordost Odin 2 (…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured one of the Audionet Max monoblocks (serial no. 9.16.20) with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Before doing any testing of a power amplifier, I precondition it by running it at one-third its specified power into 8 ohms for 60 minutes with a 1kHz tone: This power level results in the highest thermal stress on the output devices of an amplifier having a class-B or -AB output stage. The Max turned itself off after 42 minutes, its front panel displaying the message "SEVERE ERROR OVERHEATING." The Audionet's top panel…
Maybe you've seen the widely circulated New Yorker cartoon: Two guys stand in front of a nicely drawn, tubed audio system, under which are shelves full of LPs. One guy says, "The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience."
If you can't laugh at that, you've lost your sense of humor—even acknowledging that, oddly, convenience is the raison d'etre of some recent phono preamplifiers—including Dan D'Agostino Audio's Momentum and the CH Precision P1, both of which offer multiple, switchable, configurable inputs saved in memory. Today's well-heeled vinyl…
While the usual way to start listening to a new audio component is to play familiar recordings, I thought it might be more interesting to start with an unfamiliar record. Les liaisons dangereuses 1960, Thelonious Monk's previously unreleased music for Roger Vadim's film Les liaisons dangereuses (2 180gm LPs, Sam 5 051083 116923), had just arrived, and I was anxious to hear this newly discovered Monk!
Would I be judging the record's sound or the Téssera's? No way of knowing until I played the same album through a reference phono preamp. But Tom Nola had recorded the session on July 27,…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Tubed phono preamplifier: Tube complement: four 12AX7/ECC83, two 12AU7. Gain settings: 40, 45, and 50dB, MM mode; 60, 65, and 70dB, MC mode. ) Loading options: 47k ohms, 68k ohms, MM mode; 1000, 800, 700, 500, 400, 350, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, or 50 ohms, MC mode. MM capacitance: 220pF. RIAA accuracy: within ±0.5dB. Noise: –90dBu ref. maximum output. Output impedance: 150 ohms.
Dimensions: 17" (432mm) W by 5.5" (140mm) H by 15" (381mm) D. Weight: 25 lbs (11.35kg).
Price: $12,000.
Manufacturer: Zesto Audio, 3138 Calle Estepa, Thousand…