I hooked the amps up to my hi-fi rig: Aunt Corey's Homemade Buffered Passive Preamp, Audio Research SP-14 phono stage, Well-Tempered Record Player fitted with the Sumiko Blue Point cartridge and Analog Survival Arm Wrap, the Proceed CD Library 100-disc multi-player, Theta DS Pro Basic II processor driven via Theta's excellent digital cable by either a JVC XL-Z1050 CD player or the dig-out jack of the CD Library, and ProAc Response Two speakers seated on the back-breakin' heavy-metal Target RS2 stands. Interconnects were Kimber KCAG except for Straight Wire Maestro between…
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Measurements
The Nobis Cantabile ran quite warm after its preconditioning test, but not enough to cause concern. As with all tube amplifiers, it runs quite warm in any case. Its operation was non-inverting, and though it appeared to have some 1/f noise present on its output, this was generally under 10mV and is not something to be concerned about. The unweighted, wide-band S/N ratio measured 65.6dB, referenced to 1W into 8 ohms.
The input impedance of the Nobis was, like many tube amplifiers, quite high: over 320k ohms, making it an easy impedance match for most preamplifiers.…
With the reality of digital television now almost within our grasp, manufacturers of big-screen sets must feel like sky-divers in free fall. Until the 'chute opens with the snap of digital displays finally hitting the stores, the market for large, expensive, conventional rear-projection models might appear to be controlled by nothing but the force of gravity. In a highly unscientific survey, I asked a few dealers around the country whether big-screen television sales were down and whether consumers seemed to be waiting for the coming of the first digital sets. The answer to both questions…
What Pioneer really is selling here is a pluperfect 4:3 television—"enhanced," if you will. Without losing any of the image, you gain some breadth of perspective through electronic stretching of the sides of the picture. But that approach, for all its mainstream appeal, surely doesn't do much for movies in a cinematic mode. That much became clear the moment I slipped an anamorphic DVD into the Faroudja DV1000 player. Anyone who owns a DVD player and a 4:3 television has seen the skinny people you get when you accidentally display an anamorphic image in that squarish frame. Anamorphic images…
Conclusions
Given the legacy of Pioneer Elite rear-projection design and engineering, I expected a decidedly high-end, cinema-oriented television as the company's last shot at drawing consumers to NTSC in the predawn of digital broadcasting. Instead, the PRO-200 seems to have been cobbled together by a marketing committee.
Given the legacy of Pioneer Elite rear-projection design and engineering, I expected a decidedly high-end, cinema-oriented television as the company's last shot at drawing consumers to NTSC in the predawn of digital broadcasting. Instead, the PRO-200 seems to have been cobbled together by a marketing committee.
In its outward appearance (and certainly at its price), the Pioneer PRO-200 is a grand, formidable television. While John Gannon's wry spin on that monumentality might smack of hyperbole, his comment struck my ears with a ring of ingenuous conviction—and…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Pioneer Elite PRO-200: rear-projection television
Screen size: 60" diagonal
Aspect ratio: 16:10.7
Inputs: 4 sets A/V, 4 S-video, 1 set component video, 1 BNC video; 1 line-level center-channel audio, 2 RF
Outputs: 2 sets A/V, 1 set stereo audio
Dimensions: 56.25" by 53.5" by 25.75" (H by W by D)
Weight: 267 lbs.
Price: $5800
Manufacturer: Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., P.O. Box 1540, Long Beach, CA 90810. Tel: (310) PIONEER, (310) 746-6337. Fax: (310) 952-2960. www.pioneerelectronics.com
Sidebar 2: Calibration
The Pioneer Elite PRO-200 presented an unfamiliar and troubling face to John Gannon, a technician with the Imaging Science Foundation. "This television is a scathing attack on the NTSC standard," Gannon said, after he'd pushed and nudged its performance into line with that standard. "This is just not something you expect in a Pioneer Elite product."
At the factory contrast setting, the PRO-200 measured more than 16,600 kelvins (K) through the entire middle range of IRE color-temperature references. In addition, this was true for each of three settings…
"Like many audiophiles I have often sped home from a concert to fire up the audio system, and then, to the sore vexation of my wife and guests, spent the rest of the evening plunged in the morbid contemplation of what, exactly, was missing."
That's how I led off a piece for Stereophile a few years back (Vol.11 No.4, p.58). Live, unamplified music---the sine qua non, the benchmark, the mantra, no?
Most of us desperately want to believe in this "absolute sound," but is it possible that for the majority of our tribe it remains a ritualistic chant, intoned by many and practiced by…
I had the ceiling sheetrock---no flimsy ceilings going diaphragmatic in my concert hall---suspended from the rafters with hundreds of exotic, Sorbothane-like units for improved isolation, and hung with the aid of lasers. I installed adjustable, acoustically absorptive blinds so I could tune the room's reverberation characteristics---its RT60---for each musical program. I hung over $25,000 worth of Italian low-voltage lighting fixtures from the ceiling so they could be grouped, aimed, and dimmed to bathe the performers in just the right light. My acousticians swept the hall with sinewaves,…
"Why do you put on those live concerts in your store?"
In a technical business like audio, you get a lot of abstruse questions. But I want to tell you about a question that about popped my internal fuses the other day. It went: "Why do you put on those live concerts in your store?"
In a technical business like audio, you get a lot of abstruse questions. But I want to tell you about a question that about popped my internal fuses the other day. It went: "Why do you put on those live concerts in your store?"
Pardon me? Why do I put on live concerts in my store? Because live music is what it's all about. Because there's no better way to spend an evening with 120 other people. Because I want to expose friends and customers to music they might not otherwise hear. Because maybe it'll change someone's life. Because…