I spent a great deal of time comparing the Cary Audio Design SLM-100 Revised monoblock to the Audio Research Classic 60 on both sets of speakers. The results were fascinating: both amplifiers were clearly impressive performers with totally different sonic presentations. They shared a wide and deep soundstage presentation, but it was difficult to determine which was more realistic.
The ARC excelled in image specificity, detail resolution, and transparency, but the images on the stage with the…
When compared with my reference, the long-discontinued Audio Research Classic 60, the Sonic Frontiers Power 2 presented an interesting tradeoff of strengths and weaknesses. The Classic 60 had the more neutral midrange and midbass presentation, but the Power 2's high frequencies were much more convincing. The ARC did not, however, approach either the low-level or high-level dynamic capabilities of the Power 2. And, although one of the Classic 60's strengths is its resolution of inner detail, the Power 2 exceeded…
Bass was obviously well-extended, but without the spikes, the 111B's low frequencies again lagged a bit behind the music's pulse. On piano, for…
Description: Four-way, omnidirectional, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 24-segment carbon-fiber omnidirectional bending-mode tweeter; 12-segment carbon-fiber omnidirectional bending-mode upper-midrange unit; two 5" (130mm) alloy-cone lower-midrange units; 12" (300mm) metal-cone woofer in separate bandpass enclosure. Crossover frequencies: 105Hz, 600Hz, 3.5kHz. Crossover slopes: fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley. Acoustic center: 43" (1090mm) from floor. Frequency range: 20Hz-40kHz. Sensitivity: 81dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Maximum power handling: 320W…
Digital sources: Mark Levinson No.31.5 CD transport; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Chord DAC64 D/A processors; dCS 972 upsampler; Meridian 800 DVD-Video/CD/CD-R player; Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio player; Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player; Macintosh 8100/80 fitted with two Sonic Solutions SSP-3 digital audio workstation cards; Dell 866MHz Pentium III fitted with RME Digi96/8 Pro and Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe soundcards, running Windows Me, WinAmp 2.5, SoundForge 5.0, Acid 2.0, and CoolEdit 2000.
Preamplification: Mark Levinson No.380S preamplifier, Z-…
Other than impedance, for which I used an Audio Precision System One, all acoustic measurements were made with the DRA Labs MLSSA system and a calibrated B&K 4006 microphone. To minimize reflections from the test setup, the measuring microphone is flush-mounted inside the end of a long tube. Reflections of the speaker sound from the mike stand and its hardware will be sufficiently delayed not to affect the measurement.
Confirming what I'd experienced in my listening room, the 111B was not very sensitive. My estimate for the B-weighted figure was 80.7dB…
Fig.6 MBL 111B, vertical response family at 50", normalized to response on 43"-high listening axis, from back to front: differences in response 15 degrees-5 degrees above axis, reference response, differences in…
Get thee hence to the nearest RadioShack. Ask for their $11.99 Mini Audio Amplifier/Speaker (part #277-1008), and don't forget a 9V battery. Then pick up part #42-2421…
Uh-oh. I know what interesting means. I had a barber once who told me that, at barber school, he'd actually taken a course in conversation...
"What the heck do they teach you in a class on conversation?"
"They taught us there was one thing you could say to any statement a customer uttered, no matter how bizarre."
"Which is . . . ?"
"'That's really interesting.'"
So when JA told me that the Canton Vento 809 DC was "interesting," I reckoned he just had nothing else to say…