The reason, of course, is concern about the spread of COVID-19.
The AXPONA organizers have the peace of mind that…
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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.
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…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way transmission line loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.75" (19mm) Sonomex soft-dome, ferrofluid-cooled tweeter, 2 × 5.5" (140mm) natural-fiber bass drivers with Advanced Transmission Line (ATL) loading. Crossover frequency: 1.7kHz. Crossover slopes: 24dB/octave. Frequency range: 28Hz–30kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB/W/m.
Dimensions: 40.6" (1030mm) H × 6.1" (155mm) W × 15" (380mm) D. Net weight: 44lb (20kg).
Finishes: Metallic Graphite, White Silk.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 0055/0056.
Price: $12,000/pair.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Oppo UDP-205 & BDP-103 universal players, Mac mini server running JRiver Music Center v26 and Roon, Mytek Brooklyn D/A processor, QNAP TS-831x NAS.
Power amplifiers: Bryston 9BST, Benchmark AHB2.
Loudspeakers: Monitor Audio Silver 8.
Cables: Kubala-Sosna Anticipation RCA and Fascination XLR interconnects, AudioQuest Coffee USB, AudioQuest Vodka HDMI, Kubala-Sosna Anticipation/Fascination speaker, Kubala-Sosna Emotion AC.
Accessories: Furman Elite 15 DM i Power line conditioner and surge protector, Emotiva CMX-2…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the PMC fact.8 signature's farfield behavior. I left the grille off for the measurements. PMC specifies the fact.8's sensitivity as 89dB/W/m; my estimated sensitivity was within experimental error of the specification, at 88.5dB(B)/2.83V/m. The fact.8's nominal impedance is specified as 8 ohms, which the solid trace in fig.1 indicates is appropriate, the impedance remaining above 8 ohms for much of the audioband. The minimum values are 5.47 ohms between 185Hz and 200Hz and 5.15 ohms at…
My writing desk looks out over a large garden with chickens, bees, and feral cats. My chair sits only six feet from loudspeakers, playing softly on my left. Between the speakers sits whatever painting I am working on. That painting hangs no more than 10 feet from the oscilloscope and drill press in my kitchen. Best of all, my desk is only six feet from squadrons of ravenous sparrows attacking the suet cage on the fence outside my window. These real-world attractions keep my right and left brain in balance. Similarly, reviewing both analog and digital sources, as well as tube and solid-state…
For those who've never experienced them, I should point out that, with every compatible amplifier I've tried, the Magnepan .7 loudspeakers produce notes, tones, massed strings, drum whacks, and ringing bells all with slightly rounded leading edges. They get the shimmer of tones extremely well, but not the initial bite. For decades, that slight, almost subliminal rounding has been the bête noir of the Magnepan sound. Let me explain.
On a dark, reverberant recording like Anouar Brahem's Blue Maqams (24/96 FLAC ECM/Tidal), the .7s round each note's front edge as described above, but then…