January 1, 2000 is not a date for the numerologists of the audio world…
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The January 2000 issue of Stereophile is actually the last to be published in 1999, so, at the risk of adding to your millennial fatigue (footnote 1), it is appropriate to devote much of this month's magazine to navel-gazing. Robert Baird, Chip Stern, David Patrick Stearns, and Larry Birnbaum examine the state of recorded music, while in the first of two articles, Markus Sauer questions the beliefs that underpin the audiophile world. And this "As We See It" offers an overview of what used to be called "high fidelity."
Ironically, the 17 years since the introduction of the CD have seen an astonishing improvement in the playback of vinyl LPs. A couple of days before I wrote these words, I visited Brian Damkroger to listen to the Thiel CS7.2 loudspeakers he will be reviewing in the February 2000 Stereophile. The sound of LPs played on his VPI TNT rig was awesome—not a trace of surface noise, enormous dynamic range, and wide, deep soundstaging. Most important, there was a sense of ease to the presentation that had us reaching for LP after LP. It is a rare CD-based system, in my experience, that can compete…
The first time I heard an Audio Note preamp was seven or eight years ago, when I sampled their entry-level M1—a refreshingly musical thing that brought the same kind of color and drama to preamplification that Audio Note's more famous products brought to the driving of speakers. And the M1 cost only $1250 at the time, with phono stage. (Newcomers, please don't wince: That's awfully cheap for what it was.)
Other Audio Note preamps came to call. I tried the somewhat upmarket M2 ($2695 with phono), which sounded like a more refined version of the M1. Then came the very upmarket M3…
In any event, my listening impressions of the M2 Balanced are distilled from my experiences with it in two quite different contexts. Also, thanks to a loan from Peter Qvortrup, I still had an M3 sample on hand during the first couple of weeks of the M2B review period. I was even able to find my old review notes from when I had the original M1 and M2 in for review at Listener magazine. (I'm well organized in some areas, disturbingly helpless in others.) Thus I can say, with hand on heart: The new, $4400 M2B is closer in sound to the $7500 M3 than to the $1250 M1. Much closer.
I…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Tubed stereo preamplifier. Tube complement: two 6DJ8/6922/7308 dual triodes (line stage), one each 6DJ8/ECC88, 12AX7A/ECC83, 12AU7A/ECC82 (phono stage), one 6X5WGT full-wave rectifier (power supply). Inputs: 5, including phono. Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz, ±0.5dB (phono and line). Input impedance: 47k ohms. Output impedance at 1kHz: 600 ohms balanced, 150 ohms unbalanced. Line amplifier gain: 23dB balanced, 17dB unbalanced. Phono preamp gain: 53dB (to tape outputs). Line stage inverts polarity.
Dimensions: 17.5" W by 5.5" H by 15.75" D.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Linn LP12 turntable, Naim Armageddon power supply, Naim Aro tonearm; Rega Planar 3 turntable, Rega RB-300 tonearm; Tubaphon TU3, Lyra Helikon Mono, Miyabi 47, Rega Elys cartridges.
Digital source: Sony SCD-777ES SACD player.
Preamplification: Audio Note AN-S2, Tamura L2-D phono step-up transformers; Fi, Audio Note M3 phono preamplifiers.
Power amplifiers: Fi 2A3 Stereo, Audio Note Kit One, EAR 890.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-989, Lowther PM6A in modified Medallion horns, Linn Sizmik subwoofer.
Cables: Interconnect: Audio Note AN…
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…
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…
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…
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…