Description: Remote-controlled, fully balanced, tubed line-stage preamplifier with 20A power receptacle. Tube complement: seven 6H30P dual-triodes, one 6550WE. Frequency response: 0.4Hz–200kHz, +0/–3dB at rated output. Voltage gain: 12dB balanced, 6dB single-ended. Noise: 1.7µV RMS residual IHF-weighted balanced equivalent input noise output with gain control set to "1" (109dB below 2V RMS balanced output). Distortion: <0.01% at 2V RMS balanced output. Output impedance: 600 ohms balanced, 300 ohms single-ended Main. Recommended load: 10k ohms minimum…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: dCS Rossini SACD/CD transport & Rossini DAC & Rossini Clock & Network Bridge; EMM Labs DV2 Integrated DAC; Synology 5-bay NAS 1019+; Roon Nucleus+ music server with HDPlex 200 linear power supply; Uptone Audio etherRegen, Small Green Computer Sonore opticalModule, TP-Link gigabit Ethernet media converters plus multimode duplex fiber-optic cable (2), Linksys routers (2); Small Green Computer linear power supply & Small Green Computer/HDPlex four-component 200W linear power supply (3); external hard drives, SSD USB sticks,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
From the outside, the Audio Research Reference 6SE looks identical to the Reference 6 preamplifier that Michael Fremer reviewed in December 2016. I measured the REF 6SE's performance with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Like the earlier preamplifier, the REF 6SE's volume control operates in approximately 0.3dB steps. The gain with the volume control set to its maximum—"103" on the front-panel display—was 12.2dB, balanced or unbalanced input to balanced output, and 6.1dB, unbalanced input to unbalanced output. The unity-gain…
In place of my usual Wilson Alexxes, a pair of small (though very fine) two-way speakers has been in my system this past month: the Marten Oscar Duos I review elsewhere in this issue. Without my usual reference speakers in the system, I didn't feel comfortable covering anything that affects sound quality for this column, so, with the exception of one item—the first—this column covers accessories that don't require sonic evaluation.
Isoacoustics Gaia-Titan Cronos
I can write about the IsoAcoustics Gaia-Titan Cronos loudspeaker footers (footnote 1) because I did the evaluation before…
However well-focused your spiked speakers sound, I'm fairly certain you will hear an improvement with these IsoAcoustics footers that you won't want to give up—and this is on a concrete floor! On suspended wooden floors, the isolating effects and the improvement in soundstage width and center image focus should be even more profound.
The Gaia-Titan Cronos includes thread adaptors for sizes ½"-13, M10-1.5, and M14-2.0. If that's not what your speakers use, the company can supply what's needed.
Total coincidence: When I went to the Marten Audio website to get some information for…
Before starting this review of Rotel's Michi P5, the 60-year-old, Japan-based audio company's recent preamplifier design, I thought it appropriate to consider "What is an audio preamplifier? What should it do?" There are plenty of opinions to be found at stereophile.com:
"What a preamp ought to do, apart from changing volume and switching sources, is as little as possible," wrote Stereophile Editor Jim Austin in his 2017 review of the PS Audio BHK Signature preamplifier.
And yet "the preamplifier is the heart of a system," noted Technical Editor John Atkinson in his 2013 review…
Sliding the P5 into my Salamander rack was challenging. The 50.5lb weight was manageable, but at a full 19", it barely squeezed between the rack's four pillars.
Break-in was required before I could judge the P5's sonic merits, but there was a small glitch in the process. Typically, I set Tidal to shuffle and go away, but when I did this with the P5, I returned home to a silent hi-fi. Orth directed me to the "power-off time" in the "system" menu, accessible via the "setup" function on the remote control. I disabled it.
The P5 ran just slightly warm to the touch.
Listening…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo preamplifier with Bluetooth, MC/MM phono stage, dual-mono AKM DAC chips, MQA. Inputs: 2 pairs balanced (XLR), 5 pairs unbalanced (RCA), 7 digital (see main text). Outputs: 2 pairs balanced (XLR), 4 pairs unbalanced (RCA) (two pre out, line out, mono sub out), headphone (¼"), 2 digital outputs (S/PDIF TosLink, coaxial). THD (20Hz–20kHz): <0.002%. Output impedance: unbalanced (RCA), 470 ohms; balanced (XLR), 100 ohms. Intermodulation distortion (60Hz: 7 kHz, 4:1): <0.002%. Input sensitivity/Impedance: Phono input (MM), 2.5mV/…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Kuzma Stabi R turntable & Kuzma 4Point 11" tonearm; EMT TDSN MC phono cartridge.
Digital source: Asuslaptop, BorderPatrol DAC SE.
Preamplification: Shindo Allegro.
Power amplifiers: Mytek Brooklyn AMP+, Shindo Haut-Brion, Rotel S5 Stereo.
Integrated amplifier: Rotel 1572.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity O/93.
Cables: Interconnect: Shindo Laboratory, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II. Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: Triode Wire Labs Obsession NCF power cord, manufacturers' own.
Accessories: Kuzma Plastis 65 isolation…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I tested the Rotel Michi P5 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Looking first at its behavior via its line inputs, I performed most of the testing with the balanced inputs and balanced outputs and with the volume control set to its maximum. I repeated some of the tests with the unbalanced inputs and outputs with the volume control first set to its maximum, then at 77, which is equivalent to –10dB. (The volume control operates in accurate 0.5dB steps.)
The maximum gain for the balanced input to the balanced output…