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Although one of the most innovative firms in the audio electronics field, the David Berning Company seems determined to keep as low a profile as possible. The company advertises little, does not actively seek out new dealers, and seems content to let potential customers seek it out, as though to say "Okay, here's my product, take it or leave it." Thus, even though both Stereophile and The Absolute Sound, in a rare outbreak of agreement, a couple of years ago declared Berning's TF-10 to be one of the best preamplifiers available, most serious audiophiles are still unaware of the Berning…
Anthony H. Cordesman wrote about the Berning 2100M in July 1985 (Vol.8 No.3)
Wife: I read your draft reviews on the Futterman, Conrad Johnson, and Audio Research (footnote 2).
Husband: Ummmm.
Wife: If I were one of your readers, I'd think you missed a key point.
Husband: Urrmhm?
Wife: Doesn't the Berning 2100M cost less than half of all those other super amplifiers you are reviewing?
Husband: Umph.
Wife: Even if it wasn't the absolute best, wasn't the Berning 2100M directly competitive in most ways with amplifiers costing twice as much?…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: All-tube stereo power amplifier. Rated power: 100Wpc (20dBW). Frequency response: 20Hz–50kHz, +0/–3dB at full power.
Dimensions: 5¼" H × 19" W × 17¼" D. Weight: 40lb.
Price: $2995 (1984). No longer available (2021).
Manufacturer: The David Berning Company, 11007 Candlelight Lane, Potomac, MD 20854 (1984); 12430 McCrossin Lane, Potomac, MD 20854 (2021). Tel: (301) 926-3371. Web: davidberning.com.
When the person on the street hears the term "high-end audio," they usually think of fancy, feature-laden systems that cost more than most houses. The unfortunate phrase evokes images of a lavish lifestyle replete with expansive Manhattan apartments and rolling country estates.
In reality, "high-end audio" has nothing to do with price, features, or complexity. It simply describes a subset of music-reproduction components designed to convey the musical experience in the most realistic way possible—at any price level. A $500 integrated amplifier designed by sensitive engineers to sound…
Sonic Frontiers makes much of their use of expensive, top-grade components in their products. Though the Integrated 1 doesn't have quite the parts pedigree of Sonic Frontiers' more expensive products, inside are found tweaky parts you wouldn't expect to see in a $1295 integrated amplifier: MIT and WIMA film- and metalized-polypropylene caps, Noble pots, Roderstein and Holco metal-film resistors, high-quality gold-plated RCA jacks, and Kimber internal wiring.
The Anthem Integrated 1 couldn't be more different from the similarly priced Linn Majik-I integrated amplifier that I review…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: All-tube integrated amplifier. Tube complement: four 12AX7, one 12AT7, eight EL84. Inputs: four line, one tape loop, power amplifier in (all unbalanced on RCA jacks); phono input optional. Outputs: preamplifier out (line level, unbalanced), separate 4 ohm and 8 ohm loudspeaker terminals on 5-way binding posts. Power output: 25Wpc continuous into 4 or 8 ohms (14dBW/11dBW) with both channels driven from 30Hz to 15kHz at 1% THD. Frequency response: 15Hz–100kHz (–3dB) at rated power; 15Hz–150kHz (–3dB) at 1W. Signal/Noise ratio (ref. 25W): >83dB A-…
Sidebar 2: System context
I auditioned the amplifiers in my new (and temporary) smaller listening room with two pair of loudspeakers: the Aerial 5 ($1295/pair) and Linn's $795/pair Tukan, both mounted on the Aerial stands. Loudspeaker cables were bi-wired MIT Terminator 2, or a bi-wired run of AudioQuest Midnight/Argent.
The analog source was a heavily modified Well Tempered Turntable and Lary Pederson–modified Well Tempered Arm fitted with an AudioQuest AQ7000nsx cartridge.
Digital front-end was a Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1 CD player feeding the amplifiers through a 1m run…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As you might expect from an amplifier with 12 tubes, the Integrated 1 ran very hot. The line input impedance measured 49k ohms, the phono impedance 30k ohms. Along with its lowish gain of 44dB, this mandates using a moving-magnet cartridge. Maximum voltage gain from the line input was a very high 33dB. Phono overload at 1kHz was high at 100mV. The Integrated 1's line stage and power-amplifer stage invert polarity; the phono stage does not. That means the Integrated 1 is inverting through the phono and line inputs when used as an integrated amplifier or…
A 50-year-old corroded meter box with aluminum wire.
Rex Hungerford, Edward DeVito, and Craig Bradley rode into town last week and, together with Audioquest's Garth Powell, solved all the electrical problems that have plagued my audio system for years.
Garth Powell, a name familiar to many Stereophile readers, is AudioQuest's electricity guru and designer of the Niagara series of power conditioners; he is also responsible for the company's line of AC and signal cables. Bradley is a local electrician and audio enthusiast who has done electrical work for me in the past, including…
Two circuits would feed a 4-gang AC receptacle box located behind the amplifiers; each amplifier would have its own dedicated 20A circuit. The other two would feed another 4-gang box located behind the equipment rack.
This should have been done 20 years ago when I moved into this house! According to Hungerford's synopsis, the now-corroded electrical infrastructure was assembled in the 1970s and included all-aluminum wire. The subpanel used a decade ago to create the then-new dedicated circuit for the audio system featured 3-wire, metal-clad cabling that does not allow for an isolated…