Digital Sources: Krell DVD Standard DVD/CD player; Musical Fidelity X-RayV3 CD player, Polk XRt12 Reference XM satellite radio tuner with Musical Fidelity X-DACV3 D/A processor.
Preamplifiers: Conrad-Johnson ACT2, Krell KAV-280P.
Power Amplifiers: Coda S5, Conrad-Johnson Premier 350, McCormack DNA-500.
Loudspeakers: Sonus Faber Cremona.
Cables: Interconnect: Audience Au24 SE, Shunyata Research Aries, Stereovox Studio HDSE. Speaker: Audience Au24, Shunyata Research Lyra, Stereovox Studio HDLS. AC: Shunyata Research Anaconda.
Accessories:…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
My estimate of the Canton Vento 809 DC's voltage sensitivity was 92dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is both high in absolute terms and 3.5dB higher than the specified figure. The speaker's impedance remained between 4 and 6 ohms for most of the audioband (fig.1); though the electrical phase angle was mainly moderate, the Canton will need to be driven with an amplifier rated at 4 ohms.
Fig.1 Canton Vento 809 DC, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed). (2 ohms/vertical div.)
The smoothness of the traces in fig.1 is marred by glitches at 130Hz…
ELVIS COSTELLO: 2½ Years
Including: My Aim Is True (RCD 90271. Bazza, eng. TT: 60:22), This Year's Model (RCD 90272. TT: 52:46), Armed Forces (RCD 90273. TT: 63:29), all available separately, and Live at El Mocambo
Rykodisc RCD 90271/74 (4 CDs). TT: 3:45:33
All above (except as noted): CD only. Nick Lowe, prod.; Roger Bechirian, eng. & re-mastering. AAD.
Including: My Aim Is True (RCD 90271. Bazza, eng. TT: 60:22), This Year's Model (RCD 90272. TT: 52:46), Armed Forces (RCD 90273. TT: 63:29), all available separately, and Live at El Mocambo
Rykodisc RCD 90271/74 (4 CDs). TT: 3:45:33
All above (except as noted): CD only. Nick Lowe, prod.; Roger Bechirian, eng. & re-mastering. AAD.
Every once in a great while a rock musician comes along who not only sums up everything that has come before him, but who sounds so new his appeal is irresistible. Elvis Costello didn't just "burst" upon the moribund rock…
Why would a sharp mind offer a $15,000 integrated digital amplifier to a reviewer who has been characterized in the audio press as the "self-proclaimed Analog Messiah" and a "hyper-Luddite"? That's the first question a self-centered reviewer asks himself. Yours might be: "A $15,000 integrated amplifier from...Sharp?"
Yes. The company that failed to crack the upscale video-monitor market a few years ago with its Optonica line (but now is very successful with expensive SharpVision LCD home-theater projectors) has hopped on the last train to Krellsville with this gorgeous,…
The Skin
The amp's dramatically Deco-ish looks are self-evident, but a photo can't convey the cool, sleek, solid feel of this compact 40-lb product. The rear panel tells you Sharp is serious: there are two pairs of ultra-high-quality WBT speaker binding posts, five digital inputs including ST link glass-optical and TosLink optical, BNC (true 75 ohm) and Neutrik RCA coax connectors, and an SACD bitstream input jack. Analog ins include two pairs of Neutrik RCA jacks (Neutrik female jacks have the same neat, spring-loaded "safety" ground rings as the male plugs) and a pair of XLR analog…
The amp's dramatically Deco-ish looks are self-evident, but a photo can't convey the cool, sleek, solid feel of this compact 40-lb product. The rear panel tells you Sharp is serious: there are two pairs of ultra-high-quality WBT speaker binding posts, five digital inputs including ST link glass-optical and TosLink optical, BNC (true 75 ohm) and Neutrik RCA coax connectors, and an SACD bitstream input jack. Analog ins include two pairs of Neutrik RCA jacks (Neutrik female jacks have the same neat, spring-loaded "safety" ground rings as the male plugs) and a pair of XLR analog…
In such a circuit, the voltage rails apparently tend to droop below ±32V if there is an accumulation of either 1s or 0s. So the Sharp design uses a feedback loop between the power-switching circuit's output and the input of the delta-sigma chip. This adjusts the value of the data to compensate for any voltage drop in the output signal.
The output of the amplifier at this point is still a ±32V pulse train, which, if fed directly to the loudspeakers, will results in high levels of RFI. The MOSFET stage is therefore followed by an initially gradual-sloped passive low-pass filter. While this…
The SM-SX100 didn't need to be turned up to sound "alive." Yet when I did crank it, it never hardened or glazed over. Still, I found myself using my SPL meter—I frequently turned the volume up way too high because the amp sounded so good, and behaved so well when asked to deliver high SPLs. At high levels, the top end did get to be a bit much, but that will happen with any amplifier. What didn't happen with the Sharp was dynamic compression, image smearing, or flattening—though, of course, the Amati Homage's sensitivity is about 93dB. The SM-SX100's volume control goes to 128. I never took…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Stereo integrated amplifier with digital (PCM and DSD) and analog inputs, delta-sigma A/D conversion of analog sources, and PWM (class-D) output stage. Preamplifier section: Sensitivity (analog input): 350mV RMS/50k ohms (1kHz, 100W). Power amplifier section: 64Fs 1-bit switching (Fs=44.1kHz) output stage. A/D noiseshaping: seventh-order delta-sigma modulation. Sampling frequency: 2.8224MHz (64Fs) (Fs=44.1kHz). Master clock frequency: 5.6448MHz (128Fs) (Fs=44.1kHz). Low-pass filter: fourth-order Butterworth type. Output power: 100Wpc into 4 or 8…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Simon Yorke, Michell GyroDec SE turntables; Rockport Sirius III turntable/tonearm; Graham 2.0, Immedia RPM2 tonearms; Lyra Parnassus D.C.t, Lyra Helikon, Transfiguration Temper Supreme cartridges.
Digital sources: Sharp DX-SX 1 prototype SACD player, Musical Fidelity X-Ray CD player, Marantz DR17 CD recorder.
Phono stage: Audio Research Reference.
Cables: Interconnects: Yamamura Millennium 6000, Electra Glide, Silver Audio, Wireworld Gold Eclipse. Phono: Kimber TAK silver, Hovland DIN/RCA, XLO Signature 3.1. Speaker: Yamamura…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Although the Sharp SM-SX100 is really a power D/A converter, I first examined its performance as a conventional integrated amplifier. With analog sources and the volume control set to "128," the '100's maximum voltage gain (into 8 ohms) was 36.7dB with the rear-panel switch set to "8 ohms," 34.75dB set to "4 ohms." A volume-control setting of "81" resulted in clipping with a digital 0dBFS input signal, while the unity-gain setting for analog sources was an indicated "33" ("8 ohms") or "34" ("4 ohms"). The amplifier didn't invert signal polarity via the digital or…