Audiofest organizer Michel Plante invited Jim Austin, Stereophile's new editor, onto the stage to present the award.
"Tonight I have an honor that I haven't earned," Jim said. "I've been Stereophile's editor for only eight months, and I get to present a lifetime achievement award."
Jim then told the audience that he had asked John Atkinson, a longtime colleague of…
Thanks to engineer/producer René Laflamme, who generously allowed Stereophile the rights to needle-drop a track from 2XHD's Audiophile Analog Collection Vol.3, Marie Saintonge's "Traversia."
I chose this track because it offers percussive textures and both low- and high-frequency details, plus it's well-played music. Saintonge's flute carries the song, with support from acoustic guitar and bass, and various percussion and hand-claps.
For comparison sake, I also made needle-drops of "Traversia" with an Audio…
Empire 108
Empire Scientific's 108 Stereo–Mono moving magnet cartridge puts out 8mV, and with it in my system, Julie London's Julie Is Her Name (Liberty LRP 3006) sounded super-vivid and perfectly period correct: Julie sounded like she did coming out of my parents' Columbia console in 1958. When I played E. Power Biggs's Greatest Hits (Columbia MS 7269), the same thing happened. When I played Patsy Cline singing "Heartaches" (Decca 45 31429), it sounded like Patsy sounded coming out of a juke box.
Feeding the Linear Tube Audio Z10e integrated amplifier, the Empire 108 made my…
The obvious starting point for positioning the Sabrinas was the spot usually occupied by the WATT/Puppies, which is also the spot where the Sasha Vs had worked well previously. But when we first fired the Sabrinas up, Peter commented that they "felt a bit closed in." He was correct. This wasn't a placement issue: After a week and a half or so, they began to open up. I can't explain this, though the very close tolerances in many high-performance dynamic loudspeakers make it plausible that things need to loosen up before they start to sound their best. I let the Sabrinas run in for quite a…
I performed a complete set of measurements on one of the two Goldmund Telos 2800 monoblocks sharing serial number T2_LN000023 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. I preconditioned the amplifier by operating it at 1/8 power into 8 ohms for 20 minutes. At the end of that time, the top panel's temperature was 89.8°F/32.1°C. The temperature of the hottest section of the heatsink on the rear panel was 108.9°F/42.8°C.
The amplifier preserved absolute polarity, ie, was noninverting, with both the single-ended and balanced inputs. (The XLR jack is wired with pin…
Description: Solid state mono power amplifier. Output power (IEC60065): 300W into 8 ohms (24.77dBW), 530W into 4 ohms (24.23dBW) at 1% THD. Damping factor: 600 at 1kHz assuming an 8 ohm load. THD+N, unloaded: <0.05%, 20Hz–20kHz at 30V output. Intermodulation distortion (SMPTE), unloaded: <0.05% noisefloor, analog input terminated with RCA shorting caps, unloaded: <3µV, 20Hz–20kHz. Gain: 35dB. Max input level before clipping: Analog input: 1V; digital input: –6dBFS. Max output level before clipping, 1% THD, unloaded: 170V peak–peak. Dynamic range, 22kHz…
Description: Three-way bass-reflex floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: 1" (25.4mm) Convergent Synergy Carbon doped silk fabric-dome tweeter in sealed carbon-fiber enclosure, one 7" (178mm) QuadraMag paper pulp composite cone midrange unit in rear-slotted enclosure, one 8" (203mm) paper pulp composite cone woofer in rear-ported X-, V-, & H-Materials enclosure. Frequency response: 27Hz–24kHz, ±3dB average response in-room. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/1m @ 1kHz. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 2.23 ohms minimum @ 121Hz. Minimum recommended amplifier power: 50Wpc.
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Analog sources: SME Model 35 turntable; Ortofon Verismo, Lyra Etna λ Lambda phono cartridges.
Digital sources: Innuos ZENith Next-Gen server-streamer, CH Precision C1.2 D/A processor.
Preamplifiers: Pass Laboratories XP-32 (line); Pass Laboratories XP-27 phono.
Power amplifiers: Pass Laboratories XA60.8 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Alexx V; Marten Mingus Septet.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Carbon, Cinnamon, & Coffee USB; CAD USB; Wireworld Platinum Starlight 8 Ethernet. Interconnect: Jorma Statement, AudioQuest…
Analog sources: VPI HW-40 turntable, VPI 12" Fatboy tonearm, Pro-Ject Classic EVO turntable, Lyra Etna λ Lambda, Ortofon Bronze Cadenza cartridge, Sumiko Amethyst cartridge.
Digital sources: MacBook Air running Tidal, Roon, Qobuz. Bricasti M21 DAC, Musical Fidelity M1 CDT and Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T transports.
Preamplifier: McIntosh C12000.
Power amplifiers: McIntosh MC462 stereo.
Integrated amplifier: McIntosh MA252.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties The WATT/Puppy, Harbeth P3ESR.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Diamond AES, Coffee…