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A strange and curious aspect of this book is Ferstler's naked idolatry for loudspeaker designer Roy Allison, which at times borders on puppy love; Allison helped with the book in the early draft and, presumably coincidentally, is mentioned an astounding 52 times in 232 pages of text, or once every 4.5 pages. The chapter on speakers could be mistaken for Allison promotional literature, with photo after photo after diagram of Allison drive-units and speaker systems, some of which have been out of production for years. Howard even spends two full pages (pp.42 & 43) discussing the…
The funniest/saddest chapter of the book (footnote 1) is the one on accessories; Ferstler lists what he feels are the Good, the Bad, and the Ridiculous. Here, my fellow nuance-seeking buffs, are his lists:
The Good:
• Sonic Hologram/Polk SDA-type circuits.
• "Subharmonic synthesizers" that synthesize "new" low bass that wasn't in the original recording.
• dbx dynamic range expanders.
The Bad:
• High-quality cable.
• Film-type capacitors.
• Outboard D/A converters—"If you buy an outboard mounted unit, chances are that any changes you…
A letter in response appeared in the March 1992 issue:
A critical response
Editor:
Believe it or not, I rather felt that Greenberg treated me pretty good in his review [of my book, High Fidelity Audio/Video Systems: A Critical Guide for Owners, in Vol.14 No.12], given his philosophy. I do want to bring up some points, however. (Readers are advised to re-read his review of my book in the December issue before continuing.)
First, the book costs $23.50 because it is a "library" binding: acid-free paper, library stitching, etc. The circle/infinity logo on the verso of the…
"It costs as much as a car—and not a used jalopy, either." That's what goes through your head as you contemplate this magnificent $20,190 piece of audio jewelry. I don't mean "jewelry" pejoratively; the tubed Jadis RC JP80 MC Mk.II is a gorgeous, gleaming hunk of retro-looking machinery. Two hunks, actually: an equally large remote power supply is connected via an umbilical cord terminated with an elbow connector the size of house plumbing.
Hand-built in France, Jadis gear has long held a reputation for a Rolls-Royce-like level of sonic luxury—or should I say Citroen-like? From what I've…
I remembered a garage-sale purchase from a few years back that I'd never auditioned: Jascha Heifetz in Concert (Columbia M2 33444), recorded at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 1972, when Heifetz was over 70. Without comparison to what any other preamp or phono section could do with it, there was that same thrilling sense of nonrecorded, convincing transparency—of being transported to the time and space of the event as Heifetz pulls the bow across the strings. In case you've missed it, the Jadis got the midrange as fundamentally correct as I've heard from an audio component.
One of my…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Full-function, remote-controlled vacuum-tube preamplifier. Tube complement: six 12AX7, two 6DJ8; power supply: one EL86, one EF86. Moving-coil phono section: sensitivity, 200µV; input impedance, 35 ohms; overload (before clipping at 1kHz), 13mV; distortion for 2V at output, 0.1%. Moving-magnet phono section: sensitivity for 2V at output, 1.8mV; input impedance, 48.7k ohms; overload level (before clipping at 1kHz), 66mV; distortion for 2V at output, 0.1%. Line section: sensitivity for 2V at output, 120mV; distortion for 2V at output, 0.1%; maximum…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog playback: Simon Yorke turntable; Graham 2.0, Immedia RPM2, and Simon Yorke tonearms; Lyra Parnassus D.C.t, Transfiguration Temper, and Koetsu Urushi cartridges
Preamplifier: Ayre K-1.
Power amplifiers: Conrad-Johnson Premier Twelve, VTL MB 450 (both tubed monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: Audio Physic Virgo, Audio Physic Rhea subwoofer.
Cables: Yamamura Millennium 6000, Cardas Golden Cross, Electra-Glide interconnects; Yamamura speaker cables; Yamamura Quantum, Electra-Glide AC cords.
Accessories: Sounds of Silence Vibraplane active…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The output impedance of the Jadis JP 80 MC Mk.II at its main outputs measured 990 ohms, varying no more than ±10 ohms, depending on the channel and the setting of the level control. The line-level input impedance was 110k ohms in the left channel, 101k ohms in the right at the maximum setting of the level control. The latter increased slightly, but not significantly, as the level control was decreased (122k ohms in the left channel at unity gain—about 2:30 on the level control).
The moving-magnet phono input impedance measured 49.7k ohms, the moving-coil…
Unless you've been on active duty in the Middle East, you're aware that Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is back in business. During Stereophile's Home Entertainment 2003 show in San Francisco last June, Kal Rubinson and I played hookey to visit MoFi mastering engineer Paul Stubblebine's recording studio, at 1340 Mission Street. As we sat spellbound, Paul played the original four-track, ½", 1-mil master tape of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and the Minnesota Orchestra's legendary 1974 recording of Ravel's Boléro and Daphnis et Chloé (footnote 1). Stubblebine fed the four discrete channels from the…
I began by checking the Europa II's low-frequency in-room response. I used the 20-200Hz sweep signal generated by the room-tuning setup program that comes with Velodyne's DD-18 subwoofer, and verified it with the 1/3-octave warble tones at -20dB on Stereophile's Test CD 3 (STPH006-2). I set my RadioShack sound-level meter to its C weighting, in slow ballistics mode, and took and averaged several readings in a window 4' wide by 3' high, and centered on my listening position and ear height to minimize the effect of room modes. When I set the volume so that the 1kHz output registered 0dB on the…