OLS has been in operation since the early 1980s, and for me, seeing the depth and variety of their product line was like discovering an unexpected continent of new possibilities. Shortly after my first audition, OLS began showing the Kharma Ceramique speakers at various shows, and were they ever seductive. Not only are…
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Oh boy! This was one of my most eagerly anticipated auditions. At my first demonstration of an OLS loudspeaker system several years ago, I was bowled over not only by the demo, but also by the idea that OLS's Kharma line was topped by the $1,000,000 Grand Enigma system!
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.5" cloth-dome tweeter, 4.5" concave ceramic-cone midrange driver, 9" Nomex/Kevlar-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 220Hz, 2kHz, via series-element network. Frequency range: 35Hz–25kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB/W/m. Maximum SPL: 109dB. Power: 120W RMS, 240W dynamic.
Finish: black; for piano black, add $599/pair.
Dimensions: 40" H by 14" W by 18" D. Weight: 103 lbs each.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 07-pk35002A/B.
Price: $10,799/pair (2000).…
Sidebar 1: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Meridian 508-24 CD player, Meridian 800 DVD player, Mark Levinson No.360 D/A processor; z-Systems rdp-1 digital parametric equalizer.
Preamplifier: Sonic Frontiers Line-3.
Power amplifiers: McCormack DNA-1 with Rev.A mods, Sonic Frontiers Power-2 and Power-3.
Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima Studio and Performa F30.
Cables: Interconnects: Cardas Golden Cross, Cardas Cross, JPS Balanced Super-Conductor 2, Straight Wire Maestro II. Digital: Apogee Wyde-Eye Illuminations D-60. Speaker: AudioQuest Granite, Straight Wire Maestro II.—…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
"I betcha John Atkinson can!" wrote KR, regarding the effect of the Ceramique CE-2.0's unusual series-topology crossover. Unfortunately I can't. The Kharma speakers were the victims of a rare shipping accident. (Given the large amount of shipping we are involved in, with components being sent back and forth between the magazine and its review team, we have had almost zero problems in this area.) Kal had the Ceramiques picked up from his Manhattan digs by RPS (now FedEx Ground) but they never arrived in what used to be Stereophile's HQ in Santa Fe, NM. RPS traced…
"I want you to review an amplifier," John Atkinson said.
"I've just reviewed an amplifier. Two, in fact."
"This one's a little bit different. It's 50Wpc, class-A, and beautifully built."
"So what makes it different?"
"It's under $4000; $3950, to be precise. It's made by Coda."
Who?
Exposition
Coda's roots are in Threshold, where founding members Eric Lauchli, B.D. Dale, and Lorin Peterson all manned the R&D trenches. After founding the company as Continuum Electronics in 1985, they renamed it Coda Technologies, Inc. in 1989, producing…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state, remote-controllable, stereo amplifier with class-A output stage. Output power: 50W RMS into 8 ohms (17dBW), 100W RMS into 4 ohms (17dBW). Gain: 26dB at 8 ohms. Maximum current: 100A peak per channel. Input impedance: 50k ohms (RCA), 1k ohm (XLR). Output impedance: 0.03 ohm, 20Hz–20kHz. Frequency response: DC–100kHz, –3dB. Distortion: <0.03%, 10Hz–20kHz at 125W, both channels driven, 2–8 ohms. Noise: –120dB ref. to rated output. Power requirement: 450W maximum at rated output.
Finishes: Black, silver, graphite-anodized aluminum.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Krell DVD Standard DVD-V player, Polk XRt12 Reference XM satellite radio tuner with Musical Fidelity X-DACV3, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player.
Preamplifiers: Conrad-Johnson ACT2, Krell KAV-280P, Mark Levinson No.320S.
Power amplifiers: Conrad-Johnson Premier 350, darTZeel NHB-108, McCormack DNA-500.
Loudspeakers: Canton Ergo 702DC, Krell Resolution 2, Sonus Faber Cremona.
Cables: Interconnect: Audience Au24 SE, Shunyata Research Aries, Stereovox Studio HDSE. Speaker: Audience Au24, Shunyata Research Lyra, Stereovox…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
When I first attempted to measure the Coda S5, the internal rail fuses blew after a few minutes of high-power running into 8 ohms. I returned the review sample to Coda, who investigated what had happened. Apparently, they had had a bad batch of output devices, and two of these had found their way into our review sample. They had survived Wes's music, but gave up the ghost when hit with sustained sinewave signals. The amplifier was repaired, then sent back to me so that I could complete my measurements.
The Coda S5's output stage is biased heavily into…
Wes Phillips returned to the Coda in August 2005 (Vol.28 No.8)
After testing a new sample of the Coda Technologies S5 stereo power amplifier (May 2005, Vol.28 No.5), JA left it at my house for additional listening. Even though, at $3750, the S5 is more than twice the price of a pair of Channel Islands D-100 monoblocks, it seemed a likely subject for a level-matched comparison.
I began with the Hilliard Ensemble's CD of Guillaume de Machaut's Motets (ECM New Series 1823), and the Coda and the CIAs sounded pretty darn close. Both captured the big acoustic of Propstei St. Gerold, and…
When I read John Atkinson's reviews of the Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe (Vol.23 No.9) and RME Digi96/8 Pro (Vol.23 No.11 and Vol.24 No.1), I realized that soundcard technology had matured far faster than I had been aware. For about the price of a mainstream CD player, anyone with a reasonably powerful computer could add multitrack digital recording technology to his bag of tricks.
As someone who had lusted after the most modest project studio for years—and since I was in the market for a new computer—I knew that a high-quality soundcard was in my future. But I wanted one with analog-to-…