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I measured the Luxman E-07 phono preamplifier with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. To minimize noise, I connected wires from each channel's grounding terminals on the preamplifier's rear panel to the analyzer's ground. I left the Articulator function turned off for the testing.

The E-07 has two single-ended inputs and one balanced input; the balanced inputs can be used only for MC cartridges. With the single-ended inputs, absolute polarity was preserved from both the balanced and single-ended outputs with the front-panel Phase Invert switch set to "Off…

"The mid-frequency portion is reproduced both by the midrange and side woofers, but with a precise phase-amplitude relationship that causes output behind the speaker to be minimized. The low- and high-frequency bands are reproduced normally, by the side woofers and tweeter, respectively.

"This is a polar plot of the mid and low bands combined. Note that these plots are made with the center of rotation directly in front of the midrange driver, hence the apparent rearward shift in the bass.

Description: Three-way standmount, sealed-box, powered loudspeaker with DSP control. Drive units: Two 6.5" woofers, one 5" midrange, one 1" waveguide-loaded tweeter. Crossovers: LR4 at 125Hz and 2kHz plus all-pass filters for phase correction. Amplification: 200W Purifi Eigentakt (tweeter), 200W Purifi Eigentakt with current feedback (midrange), 600W Pascal with current feedback (woofers). D/A conversion: 16-stage PWM FIR DACs for mids, highs, sigma-delta converters for bass. Inputs: Analog: dual XLR-TRS (sensitivity –10dBV); Digital: AES3 (up to 24/192), Dante/…

Digital sources: Custom Intel/Win11 and Mac mini M4 music servers running JRiver Media Center v34 and Roon 2, Merging Devices Hapi II DAC. QNAP TVS-873 NAS. Oppo Digital UDP-103 universal disc player.
Power amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2 (3).
Loudspeakers: Three KEF Blade 2 Meta (L/C/R) with IsoAcoustics GAIA II feet; KEF LS60 Wireless (SL/SR); two KEF KC92 and one SVS SB 2000Pro subwoofers.
Cables: Digital: Mogami Gold AES TD DB25-XLR snake. Analog interconnects: Benchmark Studio&Stage XLR–XLR. Speaker cables: Blue Jeans speakON-terminated…

Description: Floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: 1" TPCD (Thin-Ply Carbon Diaphragm) tweeter, two 6.5" carbon-cone midrange drivers, one 12" paper-cone woofer with rear port. Crossover frequencies: 350Hz, 2.3kHz. Frequency range: 20Hz–24kHz. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 5.4 ohms minimum at 85Hz. Sensitivity: 87.5dB/W/m. Recommended power: minimum 80W.
Dimensions: 45" (1143mm) H × 12.1" (307.3mm) W × 20" (508mm) D. Weight: 159lb (72.1kg) each.
Finishes: Each speaker pair painted to customer order, with automotive paint.
Serial numbers of…

Vinyl playback: Technics SL-1200MKV turntable with KAB 3-speed mod, fluid damping, and tonearm wiring; LP Gear The Vessel, Ortofon 2M Blue, Audio-Technica AT-VM95C cartridges. Technics SL-50C turntable with Ortofon 2M Red cartridge.
Phono preamplifier: Pro-Ject Phono Box RS2.
Digital playback: dCS Bartók APEX DAC/streamer.
Preamplifier: Benchmark LA-4.
Power amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2, Aragon 8002.
Streaming receiver: T+A Symphonia.
Loudspeaker: B&W 808.
Accessories: Butcherblock Acoustics equipment rack, SME turntable cable…

Now Kii is offering a newer, smaller, less…

The Kitsuné HiFi KTE LCR-1 MK5 phono stage
Last month, when I was at Richard Cirulnick's place, I noticed he was running a Valab LCR phono stage with his ELAC EMC-1 moving coil. The Valab LCR was the phono stage that became Kitsuné HiFi's $1498 KTE LCR-1 MK5, which I raved about in Gramophone Dreams #50 (footnote 5). Hearing how transparent and vital the Valab sounded in Richard's system made me run home and re-install the KTE LCR-1 MK5 in my system. I wanted to remind myself what low-impedance RIAA sounds like.

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but despite its conspicuously…

Before beginning any measurements, I connected the Kii Control unit to one of the loudspeakers and installed the Kii Home app—v.1.1.27 (build 60)—on my iPhone. When I powered up the speaker, the app found it via Bluetooth, and it allowed me to connect the speaker to my Wi-Fi network. I then connected my MacBook Pro's USB port to the Control unit. Apple's AudioMIDI utility revealed that its USB port accepted 32-bit integer data sampled at all rates from 32kHz to 384kHz. The USB Prober app identified the Kii as "Kii Control" from "Kii Audio GmbH" with the…

Octave Audio of Karlsbad, Germany, a longtime manufacturer of tube electronics, presented the North American debut of its new Octave Jubilee Class A mono amplifier ($85,000/pair; go here for more info) at Definitive Audio in Bellevue, Washington, (across the lake from Seattle) on January 29. The first stop in a three-city US tour by Andreas Hofmann, company president and designer, and John Quick, VP Sales & Marketing for Octave’s US distributor, Dynaudio North America, the multi-day event included two back-to-back sessions followed by open houses. Days…