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I performed the measurements of the Rotel RA-6000 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. I preconditioned the amplifier by operating it at 1/8 power into 8 ohms for 30 minutes. At the end of that time, the temperature of the top-panel grilles over the heatsinks was almost too hot to touch, at 130.4°F/54.2°C. The RA-6000 needs to be well-ventilated.

Looking first at the line-level analog inputs, the Rotel RA-6000's maximum voltage gain from the loudspeaker output at 1kHz into 8 ohms was 22.14dB for the balanced input and 27.8dB for the unbalanced inputs.…

More than 18 months later, the new Focus line debuted at Munich High End 2022. I recall my excitement as I…

Description: Two-way standmount active wireless streaming loudspeaker with class-D amplification, DAC, and Bluetooth remote control. Drive units: 1.1" (28mm) Cerotar soft-dome tweeter, 5.5" (140mm) Esotec+ mid/bass driver. Inputs, Primary speaker: 2 RCA analog, 1 Ethernet, 1 TosLink. 1 RCA digital (client, for interspeaker link). Outputs, Primary speaker: 1 RCA (for interspeaker S/PDIF link), 1 Sub RCA analog, 1 12V Trigger. Wireless interspeaker connection: WiSA (up to 24/96). Network: Wi-Fi, Ethernet. D/A conversion: 24/48 or 24/96 wireless; 24/192 when wired…

Active loudspeakers: Dynaudio Focus 200 XD.
Front end: Linksys Mesh router as wireless child node; Roon Nucleus+ music server; HDPlex 300 linear power supply. Cables Digital: Nordost Odin 1 and 2 (BNC), Wireworld Platinum Starlight Cat8 (Ethernet). AC: Nordost Odin 1 and 2, Valhalla 1; AudioQuest Dragon HC. Umbilical cord (HDPlex): Ghent Audio Canare.
Accessories: AudioQuest Niagara 1200 power conditioner; Nordost QK1 and QV2 AC enhancers; Stein Super Naturals and Q1 Quantum Organizer; iPhone 12 Pro.—Jason Victor Serinus

Due to some logistical issues, I couldn't measure the Focus 10s auditioned by Jason Victor Serinus. Instead, I tested samples that had been shipped to me from Denmark by Dynaudio. The serial numbers were 10033212 (Primary, left) and 10033213 (Client, right).

I followed the manual's instructions to set up the Dynaudio Focus 10s, first installing the Dynaudio Connect and Control app on my iPhone 11 then connecting the Primary speaker to my Wi-Fi network. Once the speaker was connected to the network, it automatically updated its firmware to version 1.2.77.…

Dave Alvin is a fighter. In the 1980s, when Dave and his older brother, Phil Alvin, shared studio and stage as co-founders of Los Angeles punkabilly band The Blasters, they frequently fought each other. They also fought musically, tussling over every note as the four-man band wrangled many great tunes. In that respect, their working relationship may have been similar to the sibling push-pull output of Ray and Dave Davies in the Kinks and Liam and Noel Gallagher in Oasis. Consider "American Music," "Marie Marie," and "Border Radio," all from the band's 1981 sophomore…

Alvin: Well, yeah—and there were different levels of record stores, right? There were the ones where you knew the guys knew their stuff, so they knew if you put the record you wanted over in Easy Listening. You knew they'd figure it out within an hour. [laughs]

But there were a couple record stores—Licorice Pizza [in Long Beach, California] being one of them—where you knew the people working there had no idea, so you could take the blues or jazz or country record you wanted and put it over behind Mantovani or whatever. You knew they were never gonna look for it over there.

After I read John Marks's review of Benchmark Media Systems' DAC1 D/A processor/headphone amplifier in the July 2003 issue of Stereophile, I bought a rack-mounted version to use for my on-location recording projects. I subsequently wrote, in a follow-up review, that the diminutive Benchmark "punched way above its weight. Its grain-free presentation was accompanied by stable, well-defined soundstaging, and low frequencies that, if not as weighty as [that of my reference, the 18×-the-price Mark…