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Belleson Brilliance phono preamplifier Page 2

What I listened to
For a few days, I connected the Brilliance to my office turntable—a Philips AF-887 with Shure M97xe—and spun records through my McIntosh MA6500 integrated amplifier driving Amphion One18 speakers. I got familiar with the controls and dialed in the best-sounding capacitance (350pF). I was impressed with the sound character: crisp and clear, with a full but not thumpy low end. Compared to the built-in phono preamp in the MA6500, the Belleson Brilliance was at another level in terms of clarity, speed, and soundstage depth.

Once I was satisfied that the unit I received…

Belleson Brilliance phono preamplifier

Product photos by Tyler Lo.

My oldest aural memory is my mother singing nursery rhymes to send me off to sleep. After that, it's vinyl records. Being the third child, I benefited from a constant stream of audio-related hand-me-downs, starting with a 1960s kiddie phonograph and a pile of well-worn records from my older brothers. Aside from welding my consciousness and pleasure sensors to recorded sound, those records formed a common reference root for me, my older brothers, and my younger brother, even though our births spanned 11 years. We all spun the same or similar records when we were…

Gramophone Dreams #100: the Schiit Stjarna again, the Denon DL-103, the EM/IA 103 SUT Page 2

The EM/IA 103 SUT
As I mentioned earlier, this Dream was inspired by watching Jana Dagdagan's YouTube video. It was also inspired by my brothers from the Fraternal Triode Lodge, Jeffrey Jackson of Experience Music (EM) and Dave Slagle of Intact Audio (IA), who recently introduced the EM/IA 103 SUT, a copper-wired, nickel-cored step-up transformer designed specifically for use with Denon's DL-103 (footnote 6).

I smiled as Brother Jackson explained. "This Pelican-cased package consisting of a hand-wound nickel-cored EM/IA SUT ($1500) with a hard-wired cable leadout, a denuded…

Stenheim Alumine Two.Five loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone with an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Stenheim Alumine Two.Five's farfield frequency behavior and dispersion. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses and Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system to measure the impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle. The loudspeaker was too heavy for me to carry up the stairs to the large room where I usually perform speaker measurements, so I measured one of the Alumine Two.Fives in my basement listening room.…

Gramophone Dreams #100: the Schiit Stjarna again, the Denon DL-103, the EM/IA 103 SUT

My Russian neighbor Alex forges ax heads and smokes pig chests 5' from my bedroom window. At 2:00am, shirtless, in February. One especially cold night, I woke up to the sounds of hammering and loud music. When I looked out, Alex was blacksmithing a glowing red meat cleaver blade, with Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff blaring from a cassette in his boom box. I once helped him break into a white-painted chest-high office safe that he bought at auction. After grinding the tips off a dozen long drill bits, we could see inside through a little hole, and there was nothing in it. No metals dealers…

Sly Stone, a Great, Recent Musical Loss

Super fans who dig deeper into a favorite artist's recording catalog eventually come to the crossroads of performance versus sonics. In the case of Sly Stone, who died this past June at age 82, that question has new relevance with the release on CD and vinyl of a "new" Sly and the Family Stone record, The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967.

The audio document of an afterhours performance at a teen club in Redwood City, California, that was named after the 1966 novelty hit by the New Vaudeville Band, this performance is described in the liner notes (with slight hyperbole) as…

Volti Audio Lucera loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone with an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Volti Audio Lucera's farfield frequency behavior and dispersion. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses and Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system to measure the impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle. I took a full set of farfield measurements with the microphone at my usual 50" on the tweeter axis, which is 36" from the floor.

Fig.1 Volti Audio Lucera, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed) (2…

Belleson Brilliance phono preamplifier Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Phono preamplifier with dual inputs and wireless Wi-Fi remote control of cartridge loading, gain, and other parameters. Inputs: 1 pair XLR/RCA, 1 pair RCA only, both switchable balanced/single-ended via rear-panel pushbuttons. Single-ended setting connects input ground to chassis ground. Each input is switchable, moving magnet or moving coil, with an Android app. Outputs: balanced XLR or single-ended RCA. Gain: MM: 30, 36, 44, or 50dB; MC: 50, 56, 64, or 70dB. Input capacitance: 0pF to 750pF in 50pF steps, adjustable for each input. Input resistance…

Diptyque Reference loudspeaker

"Panel speakers that do bass? Sign me up!" That was my reaction when I first heard a pair of Diptyque Reference loudspeakers, at AXPONA 2023. The Reference is a 6'-tall, French planar magnetic speaker whose designers, Gilles Douziech and Eric Poix, make no secret of their love for Magnepan, the Minnesota company famed for its dipole panels. The French duo has improved on Magnepan's pioneering technology by addressing the number-one shortcoming of such designs: a lack of low-frequency extension.

I was instantly taken by the Diptyques' performance—not just by the effortless, lightning-quick…

Revinylization #68: Craft Recordings reissues The Blackbyrds' <I>City Life</I>

As a music teacher, I can think of no better learning experience than what trumpeter Donald Byrd did in the early 1970s for a group of his music students. To quote the band's current website, "Byrd envisioned taking active students at Howard University in Washington, DC, on a real-world field trip which would expose them to ins and outs of the music business."

Leveraging his music-business connections and salting the adventure with his own compositions, Byrd set his students up as a funky musical act to, in his own words, "bridge the gap between academia and the real world." The…