Through these VAC amps, my room evaporated, leaving an enormous space, wide, tall and deep, near the back of which appeared the 25-voice choir—and, behind them, the Aoelian-Skinner organ. When John Atkinson came to measure, I…
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The Bob Katz recording, made at New York's Church of St. Mary the Virgin, utilized but a single AKG C-24 stereo tube mike hung on a boom 30' in the air and about 40' from the Westminster Choir, conducted by Joseph Flummerfelt. Scott Hull at Masterdisk cut this reissue from the original tape; plating was at Mastercraft, and pressing was done at Pallas, in Germany.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Mono/Stereo power amplifier. Tube complement: 4 6SN7GTB; 8 Gold Lion KT88. Maximum output power: 225Wpc into 4 ohms (20.5dBW), stereo; 450W into 4 ohms (23.5dBW), mono. Frequency range: 4Hz–75kHz. Power bandwidth: 20Hz–70kHz. No other specifications provided.
Dimensions (approx.): 8.5" W × 29.5" H × 18.5" D. Weight: 280lb (gross weight in flight case).
Serial number of units reviewed: 1929702 & '703.
Price: $75,000 each, $150,000/pair, mono (as reviewed). Approximate number of dealers: 14.
Manufacturer: Valve Amplification…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable with Castellon stand; SAT CF1-09 and Kuzma 4Point tonearms; Lyra Atlas Lambda SL, Ortofon MC Century, MC Anna Diamond, A95, A90, and MC A (mono), Grado Epoch3, Miyajima Labs Infinity (mono), Grado Epoch (mono).
Digital sources: dCS Vivaldi One SACD player/DAC, Lynx Hilo A/D-D/A converter, Roon Nucleus server; Pure Vinyl and Vinyl Studio software.
Preamplification: darTZeel NHB-18S, Ypsilon MC-10L, MC-16L step-up transformers and VPS-100 phono stage, CH Precision P1 phono stage with X1 PSU.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Because of the VAC Statement 452 iQ's bulk and weight, I drove my Audio Precision SYS2722 system and its host PC (see the January 2008 "As We See It"), test loads, digital and analog oscilloscopes, cables, and other gear to Michael Fremer's place for the measurements. The only space available for me to set everything up was in the garage, along the corridor from Michael's basement listening room. I ran two extension cables from a 20A outlet in the corridor, one for the test system and the other for one of the amplifiers (serial number 1929703). I later repeated…
Frank Zappa: The Hot Rats Sessions
Zappa Records/UMe ZR20032 (6 CDs). 1969–2019. Frank Zappa, prod.; Joe Travers, Craig Parker Adams, Jack Hunt, others, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
Zappa Records/UMe ZR20032 (6 CDs). 1969–2019. Frank Zappa, prod.; Joe Travers, Craig Parker Adams, Jack Hunt, others, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
Frank Zappa's first real solo album (he conducted but did not play on Lumpy Gravy) is probably his greatest recording and perhaps his most uncharacteristic in that his singing voice is nowhere to be heard. The one vocal, "Willie the Pimp," is sung by Captain Beefheart, whose Zappa-produced pinnacle Trout Mask Replica was released the same year (1969). All of the social satire and low…
The High End 2020 show, scheduled to take place in Munich in mid-May, was canceled due to concerns about the coronavirus. The California Audio Show, which usually takes place in late July, is also off, although the reason for its cancelation isn't clear. And as we've just learned, AXPONA, the biggest show in the Western Hemisphere, has been postponed from its original dates (around the time this issue hits mailboxes and newsstands) to the second weekend of August.
The reason, of course, is concern about the spread of COVID-19.
The AXPONA organizers have the peace of mind that…
It may come as no surprise that the two Recommended Components issues we publish every year, in April and October, are Stereophile's most popular. Both go hand-in-hand with increases in single-copy sales and subscription requests, and it's worth noting that equipment and record suppliers line up to get their ads into those issues.
I'm glad our Recommended Components issues make people happy, because they're a pig-faced, needle-toothed, Boschian hell of a miserable job to produce. As I write this, it's one day after the April 2020 Stereophile went to the printers, and I scarcely know my…
I came to the early conclusion that, with line-level inputs, there were more similarities than differences between the Lux's tonal character and that of my reference Shindo Monbrison preamp, but that their phono sections sounded very different. In a nutshell, and speaking off the cuff—these are pseudo-technical impressions made without technical evidence—the Shindo's phono equalization sounded less accurate than the Lux's, with a low-frequency boost in particular: It sounded more exciting on double bass, orchestral drums, and the lowest notes on the piano.
The Lux, for its part, appeared…
Back in the Dark Ages, loudspeaker design was commonly based on semi-enlightened experimentation, with new enclosure configurations appearing almost monthly in professional and consumer journals. One of those, published in Wireless World in October of 1965, was A.R. Bailey's transmission line, a long, selectively resistive, folded-and-sometimes-tapered tube that loaded the back of the (woofer) driver for low-bass reinforcement. The term "transmission line" was misleading; a transmission line in a loudspeaker is designed to absorb all but the very lowest frequencies of the driver's rear-going…
Second, with most speakers, treble energy drops off as one moves to the side from the tweeter axis. However, with the fact.8, I heard an increase in HF energy just off the axis (in either direction), which decreased as I moved farther off-axis. (The narrow, 6" baffle, with its sharp edges, may play a role in this.) PMC suggests a starting arrangement with the speakers angled to have their axes cross just behind the head, but this aims the off-axis boost directly at the listening position. I had to play with both toe-in and the HF switch to get a suitable mid/treble balance and open up the…