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DVD-A
Tchaikovsky: Overture 1812
Telarc DVDA-70541
Duration: 15:43
Original recording: DSD
Bit depth/sample rate: 24-bit/44.1kHz
S/PDIF sample rate: 44.1kHz

Stereo track is only 24/44.1 but the rate of change results are not that different to the equivalent SACD, and the power envelope tests the same to within fractions of a dB.

DVD-A
Walton: Portsmouth Point Overture
EMI 7243 4 92402 9 2
Duration: 5:33
Original recording: analog
Bit depth/sample rate: 24-bit/48kHz
S/PDIF sample rate: 48kHz

Presumably the analog…

I empathize with those readers who have contacted Stereophile asking for some summary of the graphical evidence I presented in "New Media Metrics." I had planned to include a more rounded conclusion to the piece, but, with my word budget almost spent and a guilty conscience at asking John Atkinson to find space for more than 60 graphs, I put a perhaps premature sock in it.

So what messages did all those graphed wiggles convey? Well, let's first admit that, substantial though the exercise was, it can make no claim to represent a statistically significant sample of…

Whew, I thought to myself. Push-pull. Thank goodness—it oughta measure pretty well. I read on.

"The new V12 is created by a stunning combination of the world-famous CAD-805 soundstage, the glorious midrange of the CAD-300-SE, and the supercharged power of the CAD-211-Ms."

Never above a little…

Regarding really deep bass, try track 2 of Peter Kruder's Peace Orchestra 1999 (G-CD 004), the CD with the Band-Aid on the cover and the title printed on it—you can't miss it! The CAD-280SA V12 sounded like...a V12! Powerful, capable, with good roadholding that struck a fine balance with this CD's…

Description: Two-channel, push-pull tube power amplifier. Tube complement: two 6922 input tubes, two SV83/EL84 driver tubes, twelve EL34 output tubes. Inputs: RCA or XLR, switch-selectable. Outputs: three five-way binding posts, red for 4 and 8 ohm transformer taps, black for ground. Specified output power: 50Wpc (17dBW) triode, 100Wpc (20dBW) ultralinear. Input sensitivity: 2V for full output. Input impedance: 150k ohms. Noise and hum: 84dB below rated output. Frequency response at full power output: 20Hz-23kHz, ±1dB. Power consumption: 420W Operate, 10W Standby…

I placed a pair of Signal Guard closed-cell foam stands, one right behind the other, on the floor behind the hulking Forsell Statement amp and dropped the Cary Audio CAD-280SA V12 directly onto them without using any footers. The Signal Guards are very good at taking a "set" from heavy components sitting on them for a few hours, and proved excellent at isolating the Cary, especially given tubes' inherent tendency to microphony. I didn't tweak the amp in any other way.

Nor did I introduce the V12 to the Mark Levinson No.32 Reference preamplifier. Although I'm…

Analog source: Forsell Air Force One turntable/tonearm, van den Hul Grasshopper IV GLA cartridge.
Digital: Accuphase DP-100 and DC-101 SACD transport and processor, Linn Sondek CD12 CD player, dCS 972 and Purcell D/D converters, dCS Elgar Plus D/A processor.
Preamplification: Lamm L2, BAT VK-50SE, Conrad-Johnson Premier 16LS preamplifiers; BAT VK-P10 phono preamplifier.
Power amplifiers: Krell FPB 350MC and Linn Klimax Solo 500 monoblocks, Forsell Statement.
Loudspeakers: JMlab Utopia.
Cables: Interconnect: Synergistic Research Designer's…

As Jonathan Scull noted, with its 12 EL34 output tubes, the Cary CAD-280SA V12 sure do run hot. I let it warm up (literally) for an hour after installing the tubes, then adjusted the output-stage bias for each channel via the convenient rear-panel phone jacks. The trimpots' action is rather coarse—even an imperceptible twist with a screwdriver changed the bias current by tens of milliamps. The closest I could get to the recommended 275mA was 278mA in the right channel, 283mA in the left.

The Cary amplifier didn't invert absolute polarity. The signal/noise…

"You did not need my urgency," sang Bruce Springsteen in "For You." In the past few years, more than a few alt-rock fans have had the same feeling about the moody, groomed mope rock coming out of the UK. We didn't need their earnestness. We needed their angst even less.

But in 2002, English bands like the Doves…