At 90 years of age, Sofia Gubaidulina has honed her musical language amidst conflict. Since 2003, the profoundly religious, visionary, and visceral Russian composer has written three huge, prescient works that depict in musical terms a…
The German company is headquartered in picturesque Süssen not far from Stuttgart, one of the country's automobile capitals. Porsche and Mercedes-Benz are headquartered there. It has been around for 25 years, specializing in exquisitely machined, high-mass, nonsuspended turntable designs, manufactured in-house. With companies moving…
Silver internal arm wire terminates in a DIN jack at the base of the arm pillar…
Description: Montana NEO: Nonsuspended, mass-loaded, triple–belt-driven turntable. Speeds: 33.3rpm, 45rpm. Platter: 12.2" (310mm) diameter, 1.97" (50mm) thick. 3 AC synchronous motors. Wow and flutter: not specified. TA-7000 NEO: Ball-race bearing, carbon fiber, pivoted tonearm. Effective length: 239.9mm; pivot-to-spindle distance: 222mm; overhang: 17.3mm; offset angle: 23.9°. Effective mass: 10gm. Weight: 683gm.
Dimensions: Montana NEO: 16.8" (426mm) × 16.8" (426mm) × 6.77" (172mm). Weight: 79lb (36kg).
Finish: Black or silver anodized or bicolor.
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Analog sources: OMA K3, SAT XD-1 turntables; SAT CF1-09, CF1Ti-09, Schröder K3 tonearms; Lyra Etna Lambda SL, Ortofon A95 phono cartridges.
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: Line: darTZeel NHB-18S. Phono: MC-20L step-up transformer, Ypsilon VPS-100 phono preamp, CH Precision P1 with X1 PSU.
Power amplifiers: darTZeel NHB 468 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Chronosonic XVX.
Cables: Interconnect: TARA…
So, it seems appropriate to share some of the responses, right here on this page. But first, I'll note a few bands and albums from the last couple of decades that I like very much but failed to mention in that column:…
Sutherland Engineering's Ron Sutherland has been building highly respected conventional RC-type phono stages since the first settlements at Jericho. But in 2018, on the urging of a friend, he developed a current-drive/transimpedance phono stage and thought it was crazy-good, so he called it the Phono Loco. As I recall, the Phono Loco arrived to a fanfare of praise and curiosity, but it cost a lot ($8200), and a lot of audiophiles were skeptical about its unusual (but not unprecedented) current-mode…
Stereophile has reviewed many…
Listening
Listening to the dual-mono pink noise track on the Editor's Choice CD (Stereophile STPH016-2), I noticed too much treble energy. I followed the advice in the manual to toe-in the speakers so that they point at a location just in front of the listening position. This reduced the treble excess sufficiently that I could now hear that the pink…
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: 1" (25.4mm), diamond-dome tweeter; 5" (130mm) Continuum-cone, FST midrange unit; two 6.5" (165mm) Aerofoil-cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: not specified. Frequency response: 24Hz– 28kHz ±3dB. Frequency range: 20Hz–35kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Minimum impedance: 3 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplifier power: 50–200W into 8 ohms, unclipped program. Supplied accessories: jumper cables, rubber-tipped feet, and spikes, with a spanner and rod to fit the latter.…