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In a typical phono cartridge, the stylus is at one end of an oversize cantilever (oversize in comparison with the cartridge's other moving parts), the fulcrum of which is nearer the cantilever's other end. That design makes possible a certain amount of mechanical compliance that, when the cartridge is lowered to the record surface, helps the stylus seat itself in the groove rather than bounce or skip all over the place. Without at least a modicum of springiness, cueing up a record would be more difficult, and jukeboxes and automatic record changers might never have been possible. Imagine!…
The first of the new DST 62-inspired cartridges was a one-off, made for Schröder's personal use. But as he explained to me, "It became clear that [the cartridge] was way too good to just leave it at that." So Schröder suggested to the builder some changes, and eventually partnered with Robin Wyatt, who came up with the name Tzar DST.
According to Schröder, the Tzar DST's compliance is "very low," and the cartridge performs best in a tonearm with an effective mass of 25gm or more. (He's also designing a new tonearm of his own that will suit the Tzar and various vintage cartridges from…
1918: Konosuke Matsushita founds Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Japan).
1965: Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co. (Japan) introduces the first Technics product, a two-way acoustic-suspension loudspeaker designed to compete with the increasingly popular line of sealed-box speakers made by Acoustic Research (US).
2008: Matsushita renames itself Panasonic Corporation.
2010: Panasonic halts production of the revered Technics SL1200 turntable, thus ending an era and the Technics brand name, whose wide-ranging audio products had become synonymous with smooth sound,…
I doubted the straitlaced, extremely neutral Technics speakers could handle such twisted madness, but they did . . . at least sort of. The SB-C700s turned this stinking Two Penny Opera into a slightly more fragrant package of honky-tonk cabaret—but still with an enjoyable dose of wink-wink tongue and cheeky.
Two Penny Opera is a "live in the studio" album recorded at London's Pathway Studios. Much to engineer Jim Custence's credit, the recording presents a convincing illusion of a fully energized smoky cabaret with only the dimmest colored lights for guidance. Custence has struck an…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, coaxial, rear-ported loudspeaker. Drive-units (coaxial): 0.75" (19mm) dome tweeter, 6.5" (160mm) flat woofer. Crossover frequency: 2.5kHz. Frequency response: 20Hz–100kHz, –16dB; 45Hz–80kHz, –10dB. Sensitivity: 85dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms.
Dimensions: 13.1" (336mm) H by 8.9" (229mm) W by 11.2" (286mm) D. Weight: 18.7 lbs (8.5kg).
Finish: White or black.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: WX5AA001035 (both), "Made in China."
Price: $1699/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 10. Warranty: 3 years, parts & labor…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Acoustic Signature WOW XL turntable & TA-1000 tonearm, Ortofon 2M Black cartridge; Technics SL1200 Mk.2 turntable, SME M2-9 tonearm, Soundsmith Carmen cartridge; Thorens TD 124 turntable, Abis SA-1.2 tonearm; Jasmine Turtle MC, Ortofon CG 25 Di Mk.II, Zu Denon DL-103 cartridges.
Digital Sources: Integra DPS-7.2 DVD-A player, Halide HD DAC.
Preamplification: Intact Audio step-up transformer; Blue Horizon Ideas Profono, Schiit Audio Mani phono stages.
Preamplifier: Simaudio Moon Neo 350P.
Power Amplifiers: Pass Labs XA100.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Technics SB-C700's frequency response in the farfield; for nearfield frequency response, I used an Earthworks QTC-40, which has a ¼" capsule and thus doesn't present a significant obstacle to the sound.
The SB-C700's voltage sensitivity is specified as 85dB/2.83V/m. My estimate was usefully higher than this, at 87.5dB/2.83V/m. The speaker's nominal impedance is 4 ohms, but as fig.1 shows, the impedance magnitude drops below 4 ohms only in a narrow band in the lower midrange,…
Apogee Electronics Corp. has been in business for 30 years, and I've always thought of them as one of the pro-audio companies responsible for moving digital in the right direction. They've made their mark in recording studios around the planet with digital-audio interfaces and master clocks that have long been considered some of the most technically and sonically advanced, and that were probably used in a high percentage of the recordings in your collection. So when I saw Apogee pop up at the consumer end of the market with a technically unique product, budget-priced at $295, it got my…
Current Covers
To test Apogee's claims, I listened to the Groove through a wide variety of headphones: Sennheiser Amperiors and HD600s (the latters' impedance curve is similar to that of the HD800s, which threw off the Bakoon); Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 in-ear monitors; my trusty Grado Labs HP 1s; NAD's Viso HP50 full-sized, circumaural 'phones; and AKG K240 studio 'phones. DAC-headphone amps included AudioQuest's DragonFly, Aurender's Flow, Cambridge Audio's DacMagic XS (all three include ESS's Sabre chip), Audioengine's Model D3, and Meridian's Explorer. And to keep them all honest,…
To test Apogee's claims, I listened to the Groove through a wide variety of headphones: Sennheiser Amperiors and HD600s (the latters' impedance curve is similar to that of the HD800s, which threw off the Bakoon); Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 in-ear monitors; my trusty Grado Labs HP 1s; NAD's Viso HP50 full-sized, circumaural 'phones; and AKG K240 studio 'phones. DAC-headphone amps included AudioQuest's DragonFly, Aurender's Flow, Cambridge Audio's DacMagic XS (all three include ESS's Sabre chip), Audioengine's Model D3, and Meridian's Explorer. And to keep them all honest,…
Déjà vu all over again?
Apart from being reminded of this Yogi-ism by the death, in September 2015, of its originator, I was all set to begin by commenting that this would be my first review for Stereophile of a Paradigm loudspeaker. But—the recent online posting of my June 1992 review of Paradigm's Studio Monitor took me back.
That speaker sold for $1899/pair in an era when $5000/pair was near the top of the price structure of high-end audio—apart from a very few nosebleed models. I have in my hands a copy of the April 1992 Stereophile. In that issue's edition of "Recommended…