In fact, Color…
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Shortly before I installed the NHB-18NS, an LP reissue of Clark Terry's Color Changes arrived (Candid/Pure Pleasure). Recorded in 1960, when Terry was a member of The Tonight Show's NBC Big Band, the album includes other NBC bandmates, such as drummer Ed Shaughnessy and pianist Tommy Flanagan, as well as veteran bassist Joe Benjamin, trombonist Jimmy Knepper, and French horn player Julius Watkins. The album, perhaps Terry's best, highlights Yusef Lateef's superb wind, horn, and oboe playing in Terry's harmonically charged, color-saturated arrangements. I played it often.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state preamplifier. Inputs: four unbalanced line-level (switchable between RCA and 50 ohm Zeel BNC), one unbalanced phono (RCA), one balanced (XLR). Outputs: one unbalanced (RCA), one balanced (XLR), one buffered Tape Out (RCA), three 50 ohm darT (BNC). Frequency responses (depend on measurement method): 1Hz–1MHz , +0/–6dB; 10Hz–100kHz, +0/–0.5dB; 20Hz–50kHz, ±0.5dB (XLR inputs & outputs). THD: <1%, 7Hz–77kHz. Signal/Noise Ratio: 100dB (A) line level; >70dB phono. Risetime: <0.8µs. Slew rate: >88V/µs peak–peak. Crosstalk: below…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Kuzma Reference XL, Grand Prix Audio Monaco turntables; Continuum Audio Labs Cobra, Kuzma Airline, Graham Phantom tonearms; Lyra Titan i, Air Tight PC-1, EMT Jubilee JSD 5 cartridges.
Digital Sources: Musical Fidelity kW DM25 DAC & transport, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder.
Preamplification: Musical Fidelity kWP preamplifier, Manley Steelhead phono preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Musical Fidelity kW monoblocks, Ayre Acoustics MX-R monoblocks, darTZeel NHB-108.
Loudspeakers:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I looked at the DarTZeel NHB-18NS's measured performance using its conventional balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs rather than the 50 ohm, impedance-matched Zeel inputs and DarT outputs. (See Hervé Delétraz's article on the benefits of impedance matching, written for Stereophile before he went into business as a manufacturer, in our November 2001 issue.) This is because I do not have test gear with the necessary 50 ohm impedances. But the preamp's behavior in this mode can be inferred from the performance of its conventional unbalanced operation.
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I was the member of the family on whom the others could depend for technical assistance: mending eyeglass frames, fixing the radio, replacing the lightbulb in the oven, getting the car to idle smoothly. No job too big or too small. House calls a specialty.
That began to change when the world became more dependent on consumer electronics—except for perfectionist audio, of course—and as consumer electronics became more and more dependent on microprocessors. "How do I reset the time on my VCR?" I don't know. "How do I turn off the flash on my camera?" I don't know. "Where are all…
The audio circuitry is also dual-mono, built with a combination of discrete transistors and integrated circuits. The i-7 is a fully balanced differential design from input to output, and, in the interest of banishing timing distortions, does not use global feedback—a philosophy that Simaudio refers to as their Lynx technology. The i-7's preamp section operates in class-A, and the power amp operates in class-A up to 5Wpc, beyond which it works in class-AB.
Installation
Getting the Moon up and running was as straightforward as one could expect from an amp that weighs more than a nine…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Fully balanced, solid-state integrated amplifier. Line inputs: 1 pair balanced XLR, 4 pairs single-ended RCA. Output power: 150Wpc into 8 ohms (21.75dBW), 250Wpc into 4 ohms (21.0dBW). Input impedance: 23.7k ohms. Input sensitivity: 490mV. Voltage Gain: 37dB. Frequency response: 10Hz–100kHz, + 0/– 0.1dB. THD: <0.015 % at 1W, <0.04 % at 150W. Intermodulation distortion: "Unmeasurable."
Dimensions: 18.75" (480mm) W by 5.5" (140mm) H by 16.5" (420mm) D. Weight: 58 lbs (26kg).
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: H439638.
Price: $6000.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Linn LP12 turntable with Naim Armageddon power supply; Naim Aro tonearm; Miyabi 47, Goldring Elite, Lyra Helikon Mono, Koetsu Black cartridges.
Digital Source: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Linn Linto phono preamplifier; Tamura TKS-83 step-up transformers; Fi, Lamm LL2, Artemis Labs LA-1, Shindo Aurieges preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Lamm ML2.1, Fi 2A3 Stereo, Quad II monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Audio Note AN-E Lexus Signature, Quad ESL.
Cables: Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Nordost Heimdall. Speaker:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Art Dudley is a rapscallion. When I hoisted the Simaudio Moon Evolution i-7 onto my test bench, plugged it in, and switched it out of standby, its display lit up with the message "HELLO JOHN." Switching it from Input 1 to Input 2 brought forth the command to "BITE ME," while Input 3 exclaimed "OUCH." Stuck up there in the wilds of upstate New York with time weighing heavily on his hands, Artie obviously had time to discover a new use for the amplifier's programmable input names!
I selected "HELLO JOHN" with the chunky metal remote and began my test routine…
They say that time flies on faster wings once you pass 40, something that I have found to be more true than I care to think about. Yet even considering the unfortunately subjective nature of time, it hardly seems possible that it was 10 years ago, in those golden days of the first Conrad-Johnson preamplifier, Infinity RS4.5 and Hill Plasmatronic loudspeakers, Infinity class-A and Audio Research D110B power amplifiers, that a small San Francisco company, led by a drummer and mechanical engineer who had previously worked on laser-fusion target design at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, virtually…