I was fortunate to have grown up attending the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops Orchestra's "LolliPops" children's concerts. I'd seen some tepid live acts as a kid (ie, Donny and Marie). But nothing prepared me for my first rock concert. It, um, rocked my world.
It was The Power Station, at a large, covered, outdoor amphitheater. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) opened. I…
Of the three amplifiers, the N51 provided the most fullness and…
Description: Three-way, floorstanding, bass-reflex loudspeaker with reversed tweeter/midrange array with one 38mm treated-silk tweeter, one midrange driver with 5.1" (130mm) flared parabolic cone, two 5.1" (130mm) parallel woofers, both made with Rohacell, a lightweight structural foam. Crossover frequencies and slope: 200Hz and 1345Hz, 4th order. Frequency range: 48Hz–20kHz, –3dB at 48Hz. Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 2.8 ohms minimum at 119Hz.
Dimensions: 7.5" (190mm) W × 40" (1015mm) H × 13.2"(335mm) D. Weight: 44lb (20kg).
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Analog sources: Clearaudio Performance DC Wood turntable with Tracer tonearm and Talismann v2 MC cartridge; MoFi Electronics UltraDeck turntable with tonearm and StudioTracker MM cartridge and weight.
Digital sources: MBL N31 DAC/CD player, MacBook Air (M1, 2020) as Roon Core.
Preamplification: MoFi Electronics StudioPhono phono stage.
Integrated amplifiers: MBL Noble Line N51, Soulution 330 (with onboard phono stage, w/o DAC), PS Audio Sprout100.
Loudspeakers: MBL Radialstrahler 120.
Cables: AC: AudioQuest Monsoon and NRG-Z3, Ansuz…
I measured the Chario Aviator Amelia's farfield and nearfield behavior with the DRA Labs MLSSA system, using calibrated DPA 4006 and Earthworks QTC-40 microphones and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier. I examined the loudspeaker's impedance magnitude and electrical phase with Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system. Before performing the measurements, I mounted one of the Amelias on its baseplate using the supplied conical spacers to ensure the correct distance below the downward-firing woofer and port.
Chario specifies the Amelia's sensitivity as 90dB/W/m. My B…
As luck would have it, Julie Mullins, Michael Fremer, and this writer all ended up staying at the Innside Hotel in Munich's shiny new tech center (above). Our proximity was fortuitous because we soon discovered that the show had discontinued free shuttle buses. Armed with iPhones and credit cards, we found it easy to hail cabs and Ubers and transport our band of the…
These extreme shapes, with names like Line Contact, Fine Line, Gyger, Replicant, Shibata, and van den Hul, have complex geometries with long, narrow vertical contact patches that sit deep within the groove, can better trace…
The new 216 and 218 amplifiers fill a price and quality gap in Burmester's former amp line-up. The 216, which is the successor to the Burmester 911, is claimed to offer "flagship Burmester sound" in a modern design.
Burmester's new BC150…