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Rotel RB-1090 power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

After running for one hour at 1/3 power, the Rotel RB-1090's case was quite hot, but not abnormally so. DC offset measured 1.8mV in the left channel, 1.1mV in the right. The amplifier is noninverting, with pin 2 positive in its balanced mode. Voltage gain into 8 ohms measured 28.8dB (22dB balanced). Unless noted otherwise, all measurements were taken with the amplifier running in unbalanced mode.

The RB-1090's input impedance measured 33.2k ohms (47.9k ohms balanced). The maximum measured output impedance was 0.16 ohms, at 20kHz into a 4 ohm load, this…

Edge NL-12 power amplifier

Consider the plight of solid-state muscle amps. Often derided as brutes lacking sophistication or subtlety, particularly by the SET set (ie, fans of single-ended triodes), these powerhouses are taken for granted and often, like Rodney Dangerfield, they get no respect. And once upon a time, the stereotypes were true. Every veteran audiophile has at some time heard an immensely powerful transistor amp that had the soft sonic allure of a sheet of sandpaper, a lumbering oaf of a component with nothing whatsoever to recommend it save for a bulging set of mighty moose muscles.

The Edge…

Edge NL-12 power amplifier Page 2

Sounds
After power-lifting the NL-12 out of its box and receiving the necessary adapters, I hooked it up and let it cook for a week. Two things stood out at first listening: The amp sounded a little tight and unforgiving at first—the mids and top sounded rather dynamically constricted—but its bass power and control were astonishing. The NL-12 joined the rotation of amps in my system and, over the next 100 or so hours, lost its somewhat pinched sound and began to open up, harmonically and spatially.

As it was the bass that had made such a strong first impression, it seems logical to…

Edge NL-12 power amplifier Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Dual-mono power amplifier with laser-biased output stage. Output power: 300Wpc into 8 ohms (24.8dBW). Constant current capacity: 56.34 amperes. Input impedance: 30k ohms. Output impedance: 0.025 ohm.
Dimensions: 15" W by 9" H by 19" D. Weight: 106 lbs.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 102282.
Price: $15,500. Approximate number of dealers: 12.
Manufacturer: Edge Electronics, 815 SE 47th Street, Cape Coral, FL 33904. Tel: (239) 945-6227. Web: www.edgeamp.com.

Edge NL-12 power amplifier Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog source: SOTA Cosmos Series III turntable, Graham 2.2 tonearm, Dynavector XV-1S cartridge.
Digital source: Classé Omega SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Manley Labs Steelhead, Aesthetix Io Signature phono stages; VTL TL-7.5 Reference, BAT VK-51 SE line stages; McIntosh C200 preamplifier (as line stage).
Loudspeakers: Focal-JMlab Nova Utopia Be.
Cables: Phono: Hovland Music Groove 2. Interconnect: Acoustic Zen Silver Reference & Matrix Reference, Nordost Valhalla, Siltech SQ-110 Classic. Speaker: Nordost Valhalla, Siltech LS-188…

Edge NL-12 power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

As I always do before any testing, I ran the Edge NL-12 at one-third power into 8 ohms for an hour, in order to test the amplifier's ability to eliminate waste heat. Despite the relatively small profile of the NL-12's heatsinks, they had heated up to only 60 degreesC or so by the end of this period, proving they had adequate thermal capacity. However, the smell of hot insulation emanated from the amplifier's chassis. In addition, I monitored the amplifier's THD during the preconditioning period. It was surprisingly high at the outset, at 0.25% at 100W. However,…

Rick Visits . . . David Johansen

Who the heck is this guy? Is he David Johansen, the lipstick-wearing front man of the seminal glam-rock, proto-punk New York Dolls? Is he Buster Poindexter, the pompadoured and tuxedoed "Hot, Hot, Hot" soca stylist? Is he a lounge singer? A Latin artist? Johansen is all of the above, having achieved success in each incarnation.

David Johansen is a traditional blues singer. His latest project, David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, focuses on acoustic American roots music, and it's perfectly complemented by Chesky Records' natural-sounding, audiophile-quality recording. I joined Johansen at…

Rick Visits . . . David Johansen Page 2

"I still listen to a lot of Latin music. And then I listen to a lot of classical, jazz, movie soundtracks—especially Italian movie soundtracks. My favorite, of course, is Nino Rota, but I like a lot of the other guys too. And I paint, so a lot of times I put music on my boombox, and it just is there. It's like a friend of mine. Lately I've been listening to this series of early American rural music that Shanachie puts out. There's some great music there you'd never get to hear."

"I'll have to check that out."

And So my Wish was Granted. Johansen happened to be packing a deluxe-…

Rick Visits . . . David Johansen Page 3

"Hey Rick, did you ever play an Erik Satie record and hold the fast-forward like this? It sounds just like ragtime. I was doing this the other day, and it sounded just like Scott Joplin."

"You seem to have a deep knowledge of all kinds of music. Do you have your own archives? Do you collect LPs, 78s?"

"No. I got a bunch of records, but I very rarely listen to them. This friend of mine is in the estate liquidation business, and I asked him to just keep his eye out for one of those hi-fis with the changer, so you could put like 10 records on it. I got one of those now, and I listen…

Rick Visits . . . David Johansen Page 4

"That reminds me of recently, when I heard one of the Dolls records on CD, and I said, 'What is this?' It sounded just completely different from the way it always sounded on LP."

"Yeah, especially Johnny's guitar, that rrowrr, rrowrr, rrowrr. It loses the depth of the thing."

"It always had this real mushed-together, murky vibe to it. The CD sounds so clean, it sounds completely different. It sounds like..."

"It sounds almost acceptable! [laughs] It's funny, because last week or something in Rolling Stone they reviewed the Dolls record in the Hall of Fame, and it got four…