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One nit I pick with the CD-303/200's midrange, particularly as it moved into the upper midrange and lower treble, was that its power and presence sometimes seemed almost too much—right on the edge of being too forward. With some discs, vocal transients seemed just a bit edgy, or the faintest hint of steel would creep into massed violin crescendos. There's a nice trumpet entrance about eight minutes into the Romanian Rhapsody that showed off all of the Cary's presence and precision, but it seemed to have a balance that was tipped a bit too much toward its leading edge and contrast, without…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: CD player with HDCD decoding, optional upsampling to 24/96, digital input and outputs, and analog outputs. Digital inputs: 1 S/PDIF (RCA). Digital outputs: 1 S/PDIF (RCA), 1 optical (TosLink), 1 AES/EBU (XLR). Analog outputs: 1 pair unbalanced (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR). D/A conversion: 2 Burr-Brown PCM1704u-K. Digital filter: Pacific Microsonics PMD-200. Analog filter: third-order Bessel. Output level: variable, maximum level user-selectable; 3V/6V unbalanced or 6V/12V balanced. THD at 1kHz: ±0.0009%. Output impedance: ±100 ohms. Frequency…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: VPI TNT Mk.V-HR turntable-tonearm, Grado Statement Reference cartridge.
Digital sources: Simaudio Moon Eclipse, Burmester 001 CD players.
Preamplifier: VAC CPA1 Mk.III.
Power amplifiers: VTL Ichiban, Mark Levinson No.20.6 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Thiel CS6.
Cables: Interconnect: Monster Sigma Retro Gold, Nirvana SX Ltd., Wireworld Gold Eclipse II. Speaker: Audience Au24, Nirvana SX Ltd., Nordost Valhalla, Empirical Audio. AC: Audience, Synergistic Research.
Accessories: Finite Elemente Pagoda equipment rack; Nordost ECO3…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As supplied for review, the Cary player had a maximum output level of 5.94V from its balanced XLR jacks, 3V RMS from the unbalanced RCAs. The latter is 3.5dB higher than the CD standard's 2V, a very audible difference in A/B comparisons. (All the measurements were taken with the volume control at its maximum.) Neither set of outputs inverted absolute polarity, and the source impedance was usefully low, at 99 ohms unbalanced and 198 ohms balanced. (Both figures remained the same across the audioband.) The CD303/200's error correction was superb, the player coping…
The last Lamm product I had my hands on was a pair of M1.1 monoblocks (see Vol.18 No.4, Vol.22 No.7). I liked those hybrid tube/solid-state amps quite a lot.
Since then, Lamm has weathered the vicissitudes of the audio business and has soldiered on to produce a full range of tube and hybrid electronics. They've also coaxed very respectable sound from recalcitrant rooms at diverse audio shows—a real miracle, I can tell you. In fact, Vladimir Shushurin, Lamm's president and director of engineering, told me they'd achieved excellent results at last year's Moscow show with a pair of…
With a few flips of switches, the meters let the fastidious audiophile monitor all of the ML1's important operating parameters. Keep a sharp eye out during run-in. Monitor incoming mains voltage, adjust idle current, bias voltage, and balance with a small screwdriver thoughtfully provided for the task at hand. I had to tweak the idle current for one channel, but otherwise the ML1s were unconditionally stable. Lamm claims the 6C33s are good for five to six years of music five to seven hours a day! No guilt—remember, the 6C33 triode arrived in the West with a Soviet MiG 25 pilot defecting to…
In fact, the ML1s sounded linear across the board, very extended, and very demanding of associated equipment, as noted. Of course, that's a backward-arriving compliment; the ML1s were, in fact, ruthlessly revealing in that regard. Yet the midrange always sounded clear—unpolluted, transparent and airy. The highs too were pellucid, clear, shimmering, extended, anything but warm or euphonic. If you yearn for Ye Olde Tyme Toobe Sounde, you're headed for a fall with the ML1.
There was, however, always something subtle, gentle, and expressive to be culled from the fabric of the music. In fact…
I nearly had a coronary listening to the Duke's Ellington Indigo (Columbia six-eye CS 8053). It sounded airy, beautifully constructed, delicate, nuanced, and finally warm in a musical way through that utterly transparent midrange and treble. It was just terrific, and hit me in that special way that you've all experienced: a vocal or instrument finds its voice within the space of your listening room and the boundaries between you and the music disappear. Notes: "When the Burnished Horns from Heaven come in, you'll know why you're chasing the high-end dream."
There followed something of a…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Class-A/AB tube monoblock power amplifier. Tube complement: two 6C33C-B, one 12AX7WA/7025, one 12BH7A. Two multi-function meters for bias and balance controls. Inputs: RCA/XLR. Power output: 90Wpc into 8, 4, or 2 ohms, 20Hz-20kHz, (19.5, 16.5, 13.5dBW, respectively). Frequency response at 1W: 20Hz-20kHz, -0.3dB; 4Hz-82kHz, -3dB. Total harmonic distortion: 0.1% at 1W/1kHz, 2.5% at 90W/1kHz. Maximum intermodulation distortion, 60Hz-7kHz, 4:1 SMPTE: 5% into 8, 4, or 2 ohms. Damping factor: 7 at 8 ohms. Input impedance: 41k ohms shunted by 470pF. Input…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Forsell Air Force One turntable and tonearm, Clearaudio Insider cartridge.
Digital source: dCS 972 D/D converter and Elgar D/A processor at 24/192, Accuphase DP-75V CD player, Forsell Air Reference CD transport.
Preamplifiers: BAT VK-50SE/VK-P10, Mark Levinson No.32 Reference.
Power amplifiers: Linn Klimax Solo 500 monos, Forsell Statement, Accuphase M2000.
Loudspeakers: JMlab Utopia.
Cables: Interconnects: Synergistic Designer's Reference Active Shielding. Speaker: XLO The Limited. Digital: XLO The Limited AES/EBU. AC:…