With temperatures forecast into the 90s for the entire show, you can bet that more than a few attendees who are staying at the show will spend some time cooling off in the pool. Or perhaps the bar. But maybe not, given how much there is to hear, see, and enjoy.
While attendance levels during a COVID surge are TBD, what's clear that whoever makes…
Meanwhile, exhibitors were managing to keep their smiles amidst the heat. Spotted in pre-name tag, box-loading mode were Jim…
Q…
I confirmed this with a track from an album with which I was intimately familiar, "Decision Point" from the Jerome Harris Quintet's Rendezvous (16/44.1 ALAC file, STPH013-2, footnote 1), which…
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: two 5" (125mm) plastic-cone woofers; 0.9" (25mm) fabric-dome tweeter. Crossover frequency: 2.1kHz. Frequency response: 42Hz–30kHz –6dB. Average impedance: 6 ohms. Minimum impedance: 3.6 ohms. Sensitivity: 90.5dB/2.83V/m. Distortion (120Hz–20kHz @ 2.83V RMS): <0.2%. Recommended amplifier power: 25–150W. Supplied accessories: foam port-blocking plugs, custom suspension system with stabilizer and carpet-piercing spikes.
Dimensions: 40.4" (1025mm) H × 16.5" (418mm) W × 12.6" (319mm)…
Analog source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge, Channel D Seta L phono preamplifier.
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ file server; WiiM Mini, used as a network bridge; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; MBL N31 CD player/DAC; Mark Levinson No.30.6 D/A processor; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter; NetGear Nighthawk router.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 804 D4, GoldenEar BRX, JansZen Valentina P8.
Cables: Digital:…
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Q Acoustics Concept 50's frequency response in the farfield. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses and Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system to measure the impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle.
Q Acoustics specifies the Concept 50's anechoic sensitivity as 90.5dB/W/m. My estimate was somewhat lower, at 88.1dB/2.83V/m. The Concept 50's impedance is specified as 6 ohms, with a minimum value of 3.6 ohms…
Shown on the left, with his buddy Mike Alazard, aka "Big Mike", on the right (with his face marked by NFS's light show projections), Anton Dotson, aka Rusty Trombone, aka he whose name we shall never know, was in the midst of…
Of course, a lot of other components also deserve credit. Right off the bat…
Nor was there anything about the sound Burt Goodman drew from his system deserving of slaughter. True, the music selections were all standard audiophile fare from previous generations, but the sound was here, now, and excellent. Diana Krall's "Let’s Fall in Love" was bright, lovely, clean, colorful, and fully detailed.
"Easy to love system" I scribbled as the Legacy Audio's Wavelet 2 DSP DAC/preamplifier…