Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe universal player; dCS P8i SACD player; Mark Levinson No.31.5 CD transport; Olive Symphony, Slim Devices Squeezebox 3 media servers; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Benchmark DAC 1, Grace m902 D/A processors; Alesis MasterLink hard-drive recorder.
Preamplifiers: Mark Levinson No.380S, No.326S, No.32 Reference; NHT Passive Volume Control.
Power Amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.33H monoblocks, Musical Fidelity kW750.
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, AudioQuest SVD-4 S/PDIF, OptiLink 5 TosLink. Interconnect:…
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Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 4: Measurements
The Snell LCR7 XL was of average voltage sensitivity, at an estimated 88dB(B)/2.83V/m. Its electrical impedance drops below 4 ohms for most of the midrange, with a minimum value of 2.25 ohms at 244Hz and a combination of –45° phase angle and 5.5 ohms magnitude at 100Hz (fig.1), meaning that a good, 4-ohm–rated amplifier will be optimal for driving this speaker.
Fig.1 Snell LCR7 XL, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed). (2 ohms/vertical div.)
The impedance traces are free from the discontinuities associated with cabinet…
In the past year, Stereophile has reviewed a number of cost-no-object flagship loudspeakers. B&W's Signature 800, MartinLogan's Prodigy, Burmester's B-99, Snell's XA Reference Tower, Krell's LAT-1, Linn's Komri, Dynaudio's Evidence Temptation, Sony's ES SS-M9ED, and Rockport's Antares have all passed through the review mill. Manufacturers like to submit their flagships for review for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the pride they take in showing what their engineers can do when given a blank check. However, while all these models do indeed provide great (if different)…
The 1/3-octave warble tones on Stereophile's Test CD 3 were reproduced in full measure down to the 80Hz band. The 63Hz band is always weak in my room; such was the case with the CS1.6 unless I moved my chair back against the wall behind it, but the 50Hz band was moderately high in level. It was only at 40Hz and below that the speaker was obviously rolling off rapidly. The story was the same with the series of half-step-spaced tonebursts that I included on Test CD 3 (footnote 1), the speaker's bass response falling off rapidly below G at 49Hz.
This series of tonebursts also revealed the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, magnetically shielded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) aluminum-dome tweeter, 6.5" (165mm) metal-cone woofer with 3" voice-coil. Crossover frequency: 3kHz. Crossover slopes: first-order, 6dB/octave. Frequency response: 50Hz-20kHz, ±2dB. Phase response: ±10 degrees maximum. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms, 3 ohms minimum. Recommended Power: 50-300W.
Dimensions: 35.5" (902mm) H by 9" (229mm) W by 11.5" (292mm) D. Weight: 38 lbs (17.3kg) each.
Finishes: Painted black; wood veneers available at extra…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Linn Sondek LP12/Cirkus/Trampolin/Lingo/Ekos/Arkiv LP player on a Sound Organisation table.
Digital sources: Mark Levinson No.31.5 CD transport; Mark Levinson No.30.6 D/A processors; dCS 972 upsampler; Accuphase DP-85 SACD player; Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio player; Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player.
Preamplification: Linn Linto phono preamp, Mark Levinson No.380S line preamp, Z-Systems rdp-1 digital control center (updated to handle 96kHz sources).
Power amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.33H monoblocks.
Cables: Datalinks: Kimber…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Thiel's literature goes into the efforts made by Jim Thiel to increase the CS1.6's sensitivity, and the speaker did indeed prove very sensitive, my estimate coming in 7dB above average, and 4dB above Thiel's own figure, at 94dB(B)/2.83V/m. This seemed unlikely, so I repeated the measurement, only to get the same result. However, the '1.6 does suck more than twice as much current as an 8 ohm speaker from the amplifier to achieve that high sensitivity, as revealed by its plot of impedance magnitude and electrical phase against frequency (fig.1). The phase angle is…
Fig.6, produced by averaging 120 measurements for the left and right speakers individually, shows how all this added up in my listening room. Overall, the Thiels produced an impressively flat curve. However, within that flatness it can be seen that there is a slight excess of energy in the low treble and a slight reduction in the lower midrange. The top octave is shelved down a little, as expected from the quasi-anechoic measurements—but more important, so is the entire low-frequency region. Now it's true that the speakers were positioned where I found their balance to sound the most…
I think I've finally figured out the secret of Stereophile's success. You, cherished reader, don't read this mag because it's chock full o' reviews of tantalizing audio gear (even though it is). And you don't read this mag because JA and RL strive so hard to keep the literary quotient as hi as the fi (even though they do). And I know you don't read this mag cuz trusting yer own sensory input is a mighty scary proposition indeed so you look to Stereophile as to a Holy Bible that eases your Earthly burden by telling you, Ah say Ah say TAILING YEW what to buy (do you?).
No. You…
Not the CD Library; its variable outputs (both single-ended and balanced) are derived from a circuit called MDAC, first seen in Levinson's No.28 preamp. The MDAC circuit uses software control of a multiplying DAC's precision resistors to create a digitally controlled stepped attenuator; the multiplying DAC doesn't deal with the digital audio signal, but instead switches its internal resistors in and out in various combinations to form the precision voltage-divider networks that determine signal level. The added gain of this circuit is provided by an op-amp-based gain stage built around BiFET…