My first opportunity to hear the Triangle Antal 40th Anniversary loudspeaker (footnote 1) was in the context of my December 2022 review of the HiFi Rose RA180 integrated amplifier. Because of that amplifier's unique feature set—specifically, its incorporation of four amplification modules—I wanted to try it with speakers that could be biamped. Robert Schryer favorably reviewed these Antals in the October 2022 issue, and his review convinced me that I wanted to hear them. "The Antal 40's sonic balance is akin to…
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Julie Mullins wrote about the Triangle Antal 40th in June 2023 (Vol.46 No.6):
Photo by Harald Krichel
Before offering a few modest observations about the music, life, and times of David Lindley, a man who never met a stringed instrument he couldn't master and who died on March 3, I'll make two points, both somewhat contrarian.
In the flood of obituaries and tributes that have appeared since his death at age 78, one reads ad nauseam that Lindley, a lifelong Los Angeles resident whose most productive years were the 1970s and '80s, "help[ed] shape the sound of West Coast soft rock," as Guitar Player's writer put it. While Lindley's impact on Jackson Browne,…
There were several reasons why I was extremely eager to hear this system. First and foremost, given the high price of Wadax digital gear, I wanted to get a sense of what the Wadax Atlantis Reference DAC ($166,420), Wadax Atlantis Reference Server ($68,800), Wadax Atlantis Reference Transport $115,000), and Wadax Atlantis Reference PSU ($52,700) might sound like in the context of the MOC's challenging acoustics. Second, while I don't have good sense of the ultimate potential of Magico M6 loudspeakers ($185,000/pair), which I haven't heard as many times as I hope I will, I certainly know the…
How Raidho manages to produce such an extreme, seeming full range sound from a floorstander as diminutive as the X2t (14,000/pair) I do not know. But perhaps its planar-magnetic tweeter, which is almost the same as in the much larger TD6, has something to do with it. The speaker, which replaces the X2, also has contains 5.25" bass drivers with an extremely stiff tantalum-coated membrane, Nordost internal cabling, Mundorf capacitors, special decoupling feet that include metal balls, and 2.5-way construction. Crossover components have been improved, and are hard-wired point-to-point, and the…
Quite the well-conceived display, don't you think? I have to say the same about the sound, one of whose high points, on Gabriel Rios's "Swing Low," was a wonderfully large and captivating soundstage.
Grimm's new MU2 music streamer/DAC/analog preamplifier ($18,000; below), which will start shipping in October or November, is already back-ordered. The unit boasts the company's FPGA-based discrete Major D/A converter, a relay-based analog volume control, AES, S/PDIF, and optical digital inputs, and XLR and RCA analog inputs. Outputs are analog XLR and RCA, along with a headphone output. "All…
Despite the ton of equipment from Burmester and others shown in the photo, the YG Acoustics set-up I heard involved just two speakers and a single control module. That's because the company's Vantage 3 Live active loudspeaker system ($65,600/pair), which contains amplification by Bel Canto as well as optimized DSP, a digital preamplifier, and a phono stage, is pretty much all-in-one.
The Vantage 3 Live contains three 700W amplifiers, one for each driver; each has been optimized for its particular driver. The Vantage 3 Live even comes with its own 25' ST optical fiber cables which…
Estelon's new entry-level Aura loudspeaker ($19,900/pair) is as notable for its sound and unique design as for its departure from premium pricing. Every driver in the Aura, from the Scanspeak 1" soft-dome tweeter to its two 5" SB Acoustics mid-woofers and 10" Faital woofer, is new.
Allied with the excellent Moon 860A v2 monoblocks that I've reviewed; Moon 740P preamp; Moon 820S external power supply; dCS's superb Rossini CD/SACD transport, which JA1 reviewed; dCS Rossini Apex DAC with Rossini Master Clock, all of which I've reviewed; and Crystal and Siltech cabling, the Estelon…
Of the fraction of rooms and booths I was able to cover at Munich High End 2023—the "I wish I could have" list is at least as long as that of the exhibits I enjoyed—Rockport Technologies' triumphant meeting of its Orion loudspeaker ($133,000/pair–$143,000/pair with the custom finish shown) with Absolare's Altius phonostage ($52,000), Eternum preamplifier ($85,000, below), and Hybrid Altius monoblocks ($120,000/pair) was an unqualified triumph. There was, of course, far more in the system than those four components, but what's most important is the effect of the music on visitors. As Absolare'…
For years, David Chesky has kept me abreast of developments and updates to Princeton Professor Edgar Y. Choueiri's BACCH-SP Adio System. Happily, the word is out. When I entered the room, none other than Stereophile's Alex Halberstadt was sitting in the prime seat, receiving all the benefits of the fully-loaded BACCH-SP system ($37,780).
As Choueiri subsequently explained via email, "The BACCH-SP (where the 'SP' stands for stereo purifier) is a digital audio processor that yields 3D imaging from stereo recordings by allowing the listener to perceive the spatial cues that exist in…
First introduced at a show in August 2019, not long before COVID-related supply shortages put a major damper on new product releases, Zellaton's 3-way Plural Evo loudspeaker (69,950/pair) is finally available. One main goal of the design, according to company president Michael Schwab, is to minimize the impact of the sound of the speaker's materials on the music.
Unique to Zellaton is a cabinet whose midrange section is open in the back (above), and whose bottom is also open on the inside-facing side of the speaker. Both openings are designed to eliminate any possibility of…