The A/D input worked marvelously. While I might have wished for more character in the recordings of my guitars, I have to admit that the threadbare tone recorded was, in fact, what I sound like. It's going to take a lot more than a digital soundcard to improve that.
Recently, I've been attempting to learn how to produce recorded music reviews à la National Public Radio,…
Description: PCI-bus computer soundcard for use in both PCs and Macintoshes with full digital and analog I/O.
Price: $599. Approximate number of dealers: Not known.
Manufacturer: IMM Electronik, Leipziger Strasse 27, 09648, Mittweida, Germany. Web: www.rme-audio.com/english. US Distributor: X-VISION AudioUS, 241 Federal Plaza West, 4th Floor. Suite 406, Youngstown, OH 44503. Tel: (330) 747-3866. Fax: (330) 747-3865. Web: www.xvisionaudio.com.
Other than the addition of a two-channel A/D converter, RME's Digi96/8 PAD is identical to the Digi96/8 Pro I reviewed in the November 2000 and January 2001 issues. I refer readers to those reviews for measurements of its D/A section.
To test the card's ADC, I drove it from the unbalanced analog outputs of my Audio Precision System One DSP. The program used was CoolEdit Pro, which can operate at sample rates of up to 96kHz, the fastest the RME is capable is of. I also used RME's excellent DIGICheck program. The resultant WAV files stored on the host…
The first samples to take up residence in Stereophile's storeroom used Corian enclosures. For various reasons, I never quite got to the point where I…
The 5.2M's…
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted, magnetically shielded loudspeaker. Drive-units: two 1.1" (28mm) silk-dome tweeters with neodymium magnets and Hexatech voice-coils, two 5.25" (130mm) plastic-cone woofers with neodymium-ferrite magnets and 3" Hexatech voice-coils. Crossover frequency and slopes: 1.4kHz, first-order. Frequency response: 42Hz-19kHz, +/-1.5dB. Sensitivity: 87dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Power handling: 400W continuous.
Dimensions: 24.8" (630mm) H (44"/1118mm on stands) by 6.9" (175mm) W by 12.8" (325mm) D. Weight: 52…
Analog source: Linn Sondek LP12/Cirkus/Trampolin/Lingo/Ekos/Arkiv LP player on a Sound Organisation table.
Digital sources: Mark Levinson No.31.5 CD transport; Mark Levinson No.30.6 D/A processor; Classé CDP-10 CD player; Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio player; and Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista SACD player.
Preamplification: Linn Linto phono preamp, Mark Levinson No.380S line preamp, Z-Systems rdp-1 digital control center (updated to handle 96kHz sources).
Power amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.33H monoblocks.
Cables: Datalinks: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU,…
The Octwin 5.2M's voltage sensitivity was just below average, at 86.5dB(B)/2.83V/m. (A single Octave 5.2 will be 3dB lower than this, of course.) And with its paralleled drive-units, the dual speaker's impedance (fig.1) will be half that of a single unit. It remains at or below 4 ohms for most of the audioband, with a minimum magnitude of 3.38 ohms at 220Hz. However, the fact that the electrical phase angle is very low over almost all this range will ameliorate any drive difficulty. The traces in fig.1 are free from the wrinkles that would imply the existence of…
Editor: I would like to express my thanks and appreciation for such an insightful and well-versed review of our Octwin 5.2M speaker system, and for giving us this opportunity to introduce it to the US market.
For over 25 years, Morel has been designing and manufacturing high-quality drivers for other speaker manufacturers. Only recently, we have decided to re-introduce to the US market consumer products bearing the name Morel. Compared with other high-end manufacturers, Morel is in a very unique situation in that we have our own driver-development…
For their part, the numbers are more objective: The first preamp in this series, the Cary SLP-90, was designed in 1990. Its successor, the SLP-94, was designed in 1994 (I reviewed it in…