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Audio Note M2 Balanced Phono preamplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

Audio Note is an English company run by a Dane; I was surprised to see the M2's rear sporting a "Made in Canada" label.

I looked first at the phono stage. When I took its output from the tape output jacks, the voltage gain at 1kHz was 48.5dB, implying that the M2 will work well with moderate-output MC cartridges. Confirming this, the overload margin ref. 500µV at 1kHz was an excellent 25dB at low and midrange frequencies, dropping to a still good 20dB at 20kHz. Even though the phono stage's input impedance is specified at 47k ohms (I measured 53k at 1kHz…

Fine Tunes #23

Reader Bill Huey reminded me recently that I'd promised to cover pre-War buildings that have hot and neutral electrical service but no ground. Why the rush? Bill was about to move into just such a dwelling. (Hey, never mind the furnace and the roof—what about my stereo?!)

One thing you have to understand: If you don't have ground, ya gotta get it! There's just no fast'n'easy way around it. And, once again: If you don't know what you're doing, call an electrician. Deep-fried audiophiles cannot subscribe to Stereophile. (No, that's not the only reason I love you.)

Trying out the…

Changes of Everything

As of February, 1982, the ownership of this publication passed to other hands. In total despair about its precarious finances, JGH accepted with alacrity an offer by Larry Archibald (an occasional contributor in recent years) to purchase the magazine. This has now come to pass, and it is because of the resulting infusion of money that you are holding this issue in your hot little hands now instead of three months from now (and that is probably being a little optimistic about the way things were).

As is customary when such transactions take place, we are assuring our loyal subscribers…

Changes of Everything LA Final Word 1998

Larry Archibald's "Final Word" in July 1998 (Vol.21 No.7) announced the end of his ownership of Stereophile:

Those of you who read it on our website will have had a preview of the latest news from Santa Fe: Stereophile, Stereophile Guide to Home Theater, and HI-FI '98 (and its successors) have been sold, as of June 1 1998, to Petersen Publishing, a Los Angeles-based company specializing in enthusiast magazines (footnote 1).

Just over 16 years ago, in Vol.5 No.1, J. Gordon Holt penned an editorial titled "A Change of Everything," announcing my purchase of Stereophile from him. Some…

Classical Music as an Act of Rebellion

There's a widespread myth that writers who get published are more talented than writers who don't get published, and that musicians who make records are more talented than musicians who don't make records. But anyone with any talent who has ever tried to earn a living as a writer, a musician, or any other kind of artist understands that the correlation between merit and success is, at best, loose. Some successful artists are talented, and some talented artists are successful. But for every talented artist who manages to make a living there are a dozen more, equally deserving, who have no…

Recording of November 1999: <B>Dvorák: <I>Stabat Mater</I></B>

DVORÁK: Stabat Mater
Christine Goerke, soprano; Marietta Simpson, mezzo-soprano; Stanford Olsen, tenor; Nathan Berg, bass-baritone; Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Robert Shaw
Telarc 2CD-80506 (2 CDs). 1999. Robert Woods, prod.; Michael Bishop, eng. DDD. TT: 85:49
Performance ****
Sonics *****

In the best "can-do" American tradition, Robert Shaw wasn't just a great choral conductor but a ceaselessly useful one. Upon forming the Robert Shaw Chorale, he took the Mozart Requiem on tour to the hinterlands. Upon building the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra into a…

Red Rose Music R3 loudspeaker

Red Rose Music founder and CEO Mark Levinson may have lost the rights to use his own name, but not the good timing that helped make him a successful businessman and an accomplished bass player. (According to his online bio, Levinson has sat in with the likes of John Coltrane, Sonny Stitt, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett.)

After designing the mixer used onstage at Woodstock (pretty good timing, I'd say!), Levinson decided to enter the home hi-fi market with a new solid-state amplifier—hardly a rational business decision in 1971, when he founded Mark Levinson Audio Systems, Ltd.,…

Red Rose Music R3 loudspeaker Page 2

If Levinson's Cello foray was haute monde, Red Rose is Dockers: loose-fitting and relaxed. How relaxed would you be trying to sell vacuum tubes and ribbon tweeters to non-audiophiles? I bet Levinson is. He's got his story straight, and he believes.

Enter the R3
The entire Red Rose loudspeaker line presently consists of the R1, a $45,000/pair floorstander, and the stand-mounted R3, a $3500/pair bookshelf model. (The $20,000/pair R2 is in the works.)

The 17-lb R3 is small: just 17" tall and 7" wide. There's a vented 5" Dynaudio polypropylene woofer, a proprietary ribbon…

Red Rose Music R3 loudspeaker Page 3

I never heard the lowest organ pedals, or the illusion of a large room space that can be developed only by speakers extending flat to below 30Hz. And the R3 didn't deliver large-scale bass dynamics or high-volume bass slam. However, it did provide musical bass that was otherwise richly satisfying and dynamic. But whatever level of bass reproduction you expect from the R3 when you first see a pair—even after reading this—I bet what you'll hear will be far more, and better. The R3's low-frequency performance had me shaking my head long into many a night's listening.

The R3's soundstaging…

Red Rose Music R3 loudspeaker Page 4

That freedom was demonstrated again on the second track, Kenny Rankin's breezy turn on "Blackbird." He plays a nylon-stringed guitar, which was reproduced just about right, and not at all with the boxy midbass coloration you often get from a small speaker. Spatially, tonally, and dynamically, the R3s delivered the performance with convincing ease, putting Rankin in the room.

Solo performances are one thing; how did the R3 do with larger ensembles? Shirley Horn's superb new CD, You're My Thrill (Verve 314 549 417-2), arrived toward the end of the review period. With a big orchestra…