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The Tchaikovsky trio, cast in two large movements, frequently struggles to find an identity, or an aesthetic point. The Tr°o Arriaga's recording is the first I've actually liked. In the first movement, the players project the two themes with clear contours and firm direction; in the codetta, they delve more deeply into typical Tchaikovskian yearning, turning introspective as the recap winds down. Their…

A big hi-fi show is a great…

At the cottage window a little bird sang.
And the light of the window did flicker.
And look. The roof up it sprang and the cottage became a house bigger.
Look. Into a world the cottage grew and the vast and wide too and filled with song was the air and like new was the sun's flare.

Below this boldly printed poem, in a smaller, finer font, it said, "Thank you for choosing Genelec. With this poem by…

By driving a loudspeaker's voice-coil directly from the output of a dedicated power amplifier, a designer can avoid many of the problems that occur in passive speakers due to the impedance mismatches among the…

Description: 2-way active stand, wall, desk, or ceiling-mount monitor speaker with one 5.1" (130mm) polypropylene-cone midwoofer and one 0.75" (19mm) aluminum-dome tweeter in a cast-aluminum cabinet. Frequency response: 54Hz–20kHz, ±2.5dB. Crossover frequency: 3kHz. Amplifiers: Two 50W class-D/channel. Harmonic distortion: 50–100Hz <2%; >100Hz <0.5%. Input connections: 1 RCA, 1 XLR. Input impedance: 10k ohms (RCA and XLR). Comes with a detachable Iso-Pod base.
Dimensions: 11 25/32" (299mm) H × 7 7/16" (189mm) W × 7" (178mm) D with Iso-Pod installed…

Analog sources: Dr. Feickert Analogue Blackbird turntable with Schick 10.5" tonearm, Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum, My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent Ex, Zu-Denon DL-103 moving coil cartridges; Music Hall Stealth turntable with Ortofon 2M Blue and 2M Black, Audio-Technica VM95E moving magnet cartridges.
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ music server; Denafrips Terminator Plus and HoloAudio Spring 3 D/A processors; dCS Bartók DAC/Streamer.
Preamplification: HoloAudio Serene line-level pre; EMIA, Koetsu, and Lundahl LL1931Ag step-up transformers,…

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Genelec G Three's frequency response in the farfield. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses.

Genelec specifies the G Three's input impedance as 10k ohms. As this is an active loudspeaker, I calculated the input impedance by using spot frequency tones generated by my Audio Precision SYS2722 and examining how the nearfield sound pressure level dropped when I increased the source impedance to 600 ohms from 20 ohms (…

The cover art for Wilco's finely hewn double album Cruel Country resembles a hand-stitched doily or the kind of patch you might have seen sewn onto the back pocket of a pair of vintage faded jeans circa 1978. It's appropriate: Wilco's music has long been a patchwork, piecing together the scope and potential of American music for the band's nearly 30 years.

Cruel Country, Wilco's latest, is anything but…

Description: Streaming D/A processor/preamplifier with Bluetooth 5.1 and 2.4GHz/5GHz dual-band Wi-Fi compatibility. Supported audio file formats: MP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, WAV, WMA, etc. Compatible streaming services: Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, TuneIn, Tidal Connect, Qobuz, iHeartRadio, Napster, SoundMachine, etc. Power input: USB Type C jack. Analog input: Line, 3.5mm stereo jack, maximum input 1V. Digital output: S/PDIF (TosLink), PCM 16/24 bits, 44.1–192kHz. Analog output: 3.5mm stereo jack, 16 bits, 48kHz, "CD quality." Maximum output level: 1V RMS or 2V RMS…