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Full-range speakers are usually at least three-way rather than two-way, for good reasons. Although a three-way crossover network is harder to do right, and there can be phase-coherence issues if the drivers aren't well-matched and well-integrated, a two-way speaker with a woofer big enough to generate room-filling lows is even more difficult, because a big woofer needs to cross over at a frequency that is low for most tweeters. The dispersion of the tweeter and woofer around the crossover point need to be similar so that there aren't discernible poke-outs or dips in that frequency range,…
I have been haunted for 15 years by these words: "Very often if I was given the choice of listening to a piece of music I really liked or listening to nothing at all, I would choose nothing at all. ... These days I don't listen to a lot of music, and I find a lot of pleasure in no music. There's a kind of silence and just hearing some conversation from outside, or hearing a police car in the distance, just these fragments of daily life are very poetic and very peaceful somehow."
They were spoken by Britisher David Toop (footnote 1), confirmed music-head, someone who has spent his life…
I wrote in the April 2026 issue of Stereophile that when you clean records in an ultrasonic bath, you need to make some decisions. The first is whether it's necessary to use distilled water or whether tap water is good enough. I learned that even very good, pure tap water has enough dissolved solids to produce major contamination once the water is evaporated from the record surface. The next decision is, should I use a surfactant? Surfactants lower water's surface tension, which allows it to penetrate deeper into grooves, but it also has implications for the ultrasonic process. Surfactant…
To examine the behavior of the Devialet Astra's digital inputs, I used optical S/PDIF data, as well as network data played with Roon and USB data sourced from my MacBook Pro via the amplifier's USB-C port. The TosLink input locked to data sampled at 192kHz, and the AudioMIDI utility revealed that the Astra's USB port accepted 16- and 24-bit integer data sampled at all rates from 44.1kHz to 384kHz. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the processor as "Devialet Astra" from "Devialet" and indicated that the USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode.
The digital inputs…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
For logistical reasons I performed a full set of measurements on a different sample of the Devialet Astra than that reviewed by Ola Björling. After I hard-wired the Astra to my network and installed the Devialet app on my iPad mini, the app informed me that the Astra had the serial number U07A00001PH09 and was running firmware version 3.2.9. The Astra is Roon Ready; the Roon app recognized the Astra, and I selected it as a destination for network audio data.
I used my Audio Precision SYS2722 system for the measurements, repeating some of the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Remote-controlled, solid state, internally digital integrated amplifier/streaming DAC with software-assignable inputs, LCD screen, switch-mode power supply, and high-efficiency output stage. Inputs: 1 Ethernet on RJ45; 1 bidirectional USB 2.0; 2 S/PDIF on TosLink; 3 pair RCA jacks assignable to MM/MC phono, line in, line out, or S/PDIF digital in or out. Main outputs: 2 pairs of binding posts. Supported formats: up to 24/384 PCM via USB; up to 24/192 PCM via Ethernet, coaxial; up to 24/96 PCM via optical; DSD128 via USB, DSD64 via coax,…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Dr. Feickert Woodpecker turntable with inertia platter, Jelco SA-750D tonearm, Stack Audio AUVA Equipment Isolators, Technics SL-1200GAE turntable, Dynavector XX-2 MkII cartridge, Ortofon 2M Black cartridge, Ortofon Concorde MKII Elite cartridge.
Digital sources: Grimm MU2 streamer-DAC; Shanling ET3 CD & SACD transport; Weiss DAC202; MacBook Air M2; Denon SC6000 Prime DJ controller.
Preamplification: Grimm MU2; Manley Steelhead, Lejonklou Slipsik 8 (phono).
Integrated amplifier: MBL C51.
Loudspeakers: Focal Scala Utopia (…
The Epiphany room at AXPONA 2026 was hosted by Audio Group Denmark's traditional setup of Børresen speakers, Aavik electronics, and Ansuz cables and power accessories. More specifically, the speakers were Børresen C3 floorstanders ($40,000/pair) and a pair of Børresen BM3 subwoofers ($21,000 each), in addition to an Aavik SD-588 streamer/DAC ($30,000), Aavik I-588 integrated amplifier ($30,000), and Aavik P-588 power amplifier ($30,000). A loom of Ansuz cables and power accessories was also included in this system ($54,000, all in).
This system had Audio Group Denmark's…
It's difficult to put a positive spin on moving. A recent survey ranked it as life's most stressful event, ahead of divorce, losing a job, or becoming a parent. Forty-two percent of respondents said it brought them to tears. Thirteen percent said it was worse than a week in jail.
There's no point in listing the well-documented hassles, humiliations, and expenses involved in changing homes, or point out the ample opportunities for things to go from predictably stressful to memorably horrific. It's the less obvious aspects that strike me as interesting. At the risk of sounding maudlin, I…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed a complete set of measurements on one of the Linn Klimax Solo 800s (serial number 1593390) with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. I preconditioned the Solo 800 by following the CEA's recommendation of running it at one-eighth the specified power into 8 ohms for 30 minutes. At the end of that time, the temperature of the top panel was just 81.6°F (27.6°C) and that of the side-mounted heatsinks only slightly higher, at 89.0°F (31.7°C). The Linn amplifier runs cool, especially considering its high rated power.
The Linn amplifier's balanced and…