The Art Dudley of 2005 would have taken the man's money and demanded lunch, but the Art Dudley of 1985 still had patience and sympathy to…
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In 1985 or so, a middle-aged audiophile who lived in New York City called to invite me to come listen to his stereo: It was, he assured me, the best in the world. All he wanted was the pleasure of my opinion, for which he offered the princely sum of $100. (As I learned in the months and years to come, this same audiophile called virtually every other audio writer in the metropolitan area whose phone number he could get hold of, making the same offer.)
The low-frequency drivers, made in Denmark by Peerless, both use triple-layer polymer cones to minimize flexing while still avoiding the penalties of energy-storing mass. They're fastened to the baffle with Torx-head bolts and threaded inserts, and the back wave of each is reflex-loaded, with separate chambers and double-flared ports that are themselves tightly bolted to the cabinet's rear. The flares, which function as acoustic transformers—just like any horn—help optimize the port's radiation resistance, relative to the volume of air in the listening room.
The Akurate 242's enclosure,…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Five-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.5" fabric-dome supertweeter, 1" soft-plastic dome tweeter, 3" plastic-dome midrange driver, 6.5" plastic-cone upper-bass driver, 6.5" plastic-cone lower-bass driver. Crossover frequencies: 225Hz, 450Hz, 3.6kHz, 9.2kHz. Crossover slopes: fourth-order Linkwitz-Reilly. Frequency ranges: 49Hz–33kHz with standard passive crossovers, 40Hz–33kHz with optional active crossovers. Impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m.
Dimensions: 40" (1025mm) H by 8.25" (211mm) W by 15" (385mm) D.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Linn LP12 turntables (two samples) with: Linn Lingo, Naim Armageddon power supplies; Linn Ekos, Naim Aro tonearms; Linn Akiva cartridge. Rega Planar 9 turntable, Lyra Helikon Mono cartridge. Audio Note AN-S2, Tamura TKS-83 moving-coil step-up transformers.
Digital Sources: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player, Naim CD5x CD player.
Preamplifiers: Fi, Linn Klimax Kontrol, Naim NAC 32.5.
Power Amplifiers: Lamm ML2.1 monoblocks, EAR 890, Linn Klimax Twin, Naim NAP 110.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-989, Lowther PM2As & PM6A Ticonals in…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Because of the extended spell of sub-zero temperatures in New York in late January, when this issue was being prepared, I was unable to measure the Linn Akurate 242 outdoors on a high stand. This, my usual practice, effectively eliminates the interfering effects of room boundaries on the measured response. I therefore had to measure the speaker indoors, which reduced the anechoic time window of my MLSSA measurements from 6ms to around 2.5ms. I might well have missed response problems in the midrange, therefore. With that qualification, here are my measured…
Creek Audio founder/designer/co-owner Michael Creek is a quiet, friendly, unassuming man. Unlike some ego-driven electronics designers who tout their products very loudly from their pulpits, Michael Creek has been quietly designing high-quality, musical, and affordable integrated amps in black-metal boxes for nearly 20 years. His target market is the passionate music-lover who wants something a notch above an entry-level NAD or Rotel receiver, but whose bank manager would frown on splurging on electronic separates.
Creek designs have improved over the years, but in a quiet,…
Enough with the thick faceplates already—how does it sound?
Although I always hope for high levels of performance within all parameters when I review a component, I'm particularly sensitive to and unforgiving of products that deviate from a neutral tonal balance. Bob Reina's Hippocratic Oath of Timbral Accuracy is "First, do no harm."
Although I always hope for high levels of performance within all parameters when I review a component, I'm particularly sensitive to and unforgiving of products that deviate from a neutral tonal balance. Bob Reina's Hippocratic Oath of Timbral Accuracy is "First, do no harm."
Well, after more than three months of auditioning the 5350SE using six speakers, two analog and one digital source, and after comparing the Creek to three other amplifiers (more on that below), I cannot conclusively point to any instance in which the…
Every once in a great while I find a recording of a particular piece of music that moves me in a special way when played through a certain piece of equipment. With the Creek, it was the Adagio of Beethoven's Piano Sonata 3, as performed by Robert Silverman in his recent 10-CD boxed set of the complete Sonatas (Orpheum Masters KSP830, engineered by John Atkinson). In the right hands, this deceptively simple, almost minimalist Haydnesque work is open to a broad range of interpretation, despite the fact that it probably requires the least amount of technical prowess of any Beethoven composition…
What about the competition?
I thought two comparisons would be interesting: first, to compare the 5350SE with an older Creek—my affordable reference, the 4240SE; and, second, to compare the 5350SE with a currently available and similarly priced and powered unit from a competitor—the Arcam Alpha 10 integrated (100Wpc, $1599, reviewed by Wes Phillips in Vol.21 No.12).
I thought two comparisons would be interesting: first, to compare the 5350SE with an older Creek—my affordable reference, the 4240SE; and, second, to compare the 5350SE with a currently available and similarly priced and powered unit from a competitor—the Arcam Alpha 10 integrated (100Wpc, $1599, reviewed by Wes Phillips in Vol.21 No.12).
The comparison with the older Creek was informative. Although the 4240SE exhibited a rich, coherent portrayal of the music, there was much less detail, less articulate highs with a bit more tension, as well as less…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state integrated amplifier. Power output: 85Wpc into 8 ohms (19.3dBW), 120Wpc into 4 ohms (17.8dBW). Maximum current: >30A. THD: <0.05%, 20Hz-20kHz. Frequency response: 3Hz-25kHz, -1dB. Power amp slew rate: >50V/µs. Voltage gain: >50. Input sensitivity (passive line): 525mV line-level input for 50W. S/N ratio: >105dB. Channel separation (line input at 1kHz): >55dB. Moving-magnet sensitivity and impedance: 3.5mV at 47kW. MM S/N: >70dB. Moving-coil sensitivity: 750µV at 1kW. Power consumption at idle: <40W. Power…