If you treat the SuperZeros like just another cheap speaker, that's the kind of sound you'll hear. But while most cheap speakers never really improve no matter…
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You're not going to get great sound from the NHTs unless you treat them like a "real" high-end speaker, though. Just because they're cheap, don't be fooled into thinking that all the high-end attention you lavish on "real" speakers is a waste of time with the SuperZeros. Chuck the grilles. Give the NHTs a good pair of solid, stable stands, with a bit of Blu-Tack under the speakers' corners. Toe them in so they directly face you.
It's now been eight years since a Rega P3 turntable passed through my listening room. While the new P3-24 superficially resembles the P3 (and virtually every other Rega 'table), the company has made some significant changes, including upgrading to the high-quality, low-voltage (24V), electronically adjusted motor used in the more expensive P5, P7, and P9. As in those models, an electronic circuit trims the phase angle of the P3-24's motor coils, thus substantially reducing motor vibrations. In 1998, during a factory tour, a Rega engineer demonstrated the circuit's effectiveness to me. As he…
Because the P3-24 is neither isolated nor mass-loaded, what you set it on may have a noticeable effect on the sound. My review sample was placed atop a Finite Elemente Pagode stand, whose solid maple shelves sit on damped points in rigid maple frames fitted with resonance-distributing tuning forks.
It takes but a few minutes to set up a P3-24 or any Rega, especially one prefitted with a cartridge. But with no leveling facilities, you'll have to make sure that whatever you place it on is itself level. Rega continues to use an O-ring interface between the RB301 tonearm's stainless-steel…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-speed belt-drive turntable with AC synchronous motor and glass platter. Wow & flutter: unspecified. Speed accuracy: unspecified. Rumble: unspecified. Includes RB301 pivoted tonearm with one-piece, cast-aluminum armtube: Spindle to pivot: 222.8mm. Effective length: 240mm. Spring-actuated downforce, sliding-magnet antiskating system.
Dimensions: 17.5" (450mm) W by 4.5" (115mm) H by 14" (360mm) D (height includes dustcover, feet).
Finish: Black.
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: 00405.
Price: $895 with tonearm; add $200 for Elys 2…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs: Caliburn, Cobra, Castellon turntable, tonearm, and stand. Music Hall MMF-9.1 turntable, Graham Phantom tonearm; Lyra Titan i, Einstein TU-3, Rega Exact 2, Goldring Elite cartridges.
Digital Sources: Musical Fidelity kW DM 25 transport & DAC, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, Einstein Turntable's Choice, whestTWO, Aqvox Phono 2 CI phono preamplifiers; Musical Fidelity kWP, DarTZeel NHB-18NS preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Musical Fidelity kW monoblocks.…
My home, which overlooks a dairy farm, is easy to see from a mile away, invisible from the end of its own driveway. Elevation: 1345'. Population: 3.
My computer speaks to the world through a 56kbps modem and a telephone line. It takes about five minutes to load the local forecast on Weather.com, and YouTube is something I can enjoy only when I visit other people's homes. (I signed up for a satellite Internet service called Wild Blue, but was astounded to discover that what they peddle as e-mail is in fact g-mail—and so buggy that it doesn't work through the user's own e-mail…
Unsurprisingly, the handset was designed more as a game controller than a consumer audio interface: With its dual pistol-grips in my hands, I could imagine myself zapping aliens, or engaging in hand-to-hand combat with some bloodthirsty fiend who hates my freedom. Sadly, imagining was all I could do—I didn't connect the PS1 to a television set or monitor screen, without which the Sony lacks a visual readout of any sort. Lucky for me, six of its 14 buttons can be used for basic audio-only functions: start, stop, skip forward, skip backward, and so forth (see illustration). In another lucky…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Obsolete gaming machine used as a CD player. Formats supported: CD, CD-R. Analog output jacks: RCA, proprietary A/V multipin. Digital output jacks: none. Power consumption: 17W.
Dimensions: 10.75" (275mm) W by 2.5" (65mm) H by 7.5" (190mm) D. Weight: 3.2 lbs (1.5kg).
Color: Grayish.
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: SCPH-1001 U6513204 (auditioning), SCPH-1001 U7163475 (measurements).
Price: $25. Approximate number of dealers: 1496.
Manufacturer: Sony Corporation of America, 550 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022. Tel: (800) 345-…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Linn LP12 (with Basik power supply), Thorens TD-124 Mk.II turntables; Naim Aro, EMT 997 tonearms; Miyabi 47, EMT OFD 25, Ortofon SPU Synergy A cartridges.
Digital Source: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplifier: K&K Audio, EAR MC4 step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Cortese.
Loudspeakers: Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE.
Cables: Interconnect: Audio Note AN-vx, Shindo silver. Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: JPS Labs The Digital (Sony SCD-777ES).
Accessories: Mana Reference Table, 3 Mana…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The sample of the Sony PlayStation 1 I measured was the one John Marks had written about in the April 2008 issue (p.57). Unfortunately, this sample, serial number SCPH-1001 U7163475, was destroyed by UPS when I shipped it to Art Dudley. This was a first-generation machine, the only model to have the RCA output jacks and the AKM AK4309AVM 16-bit sigma-delta DAC chip. My son Harry has a third-generation PS1, an SCPH-7501, which has the multi-pin A/V output only and a different DAC chip; I measured that sample, but it was very much worse in most respects than the…