Description: Solid-state stereo amplifier. Maximum continuous output power: 150W into 8 ohms (21.75dBW), 250W into 4 ohms (21dBW). bandwidth: 100kHz. Voltage gain: 26dB. S/N Ratio, unweighted: 115dB. Peak current for 10 milliseconds: >50 amps. Input impedance: 10k ohms balanced, 20k ohms unbalanced.
Dimensions: 17.25 W by 25" D by 7" H. Weight: 51 lbs.
Price: $2650.
Manufacturer: Silver Lake Research, Boulder, CO (1986); Boulder Amplifiers, Inc., 3235 Prairie Avenue, Boulder, CO 80301 (2008). Tel: (303) 449-8220. Fax: (303) 449-2987. Web: www.…
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Sidebar: Specifications
Because loudspeakers interact with the acoustics of the room in which they are used, optimizing their positions within that room pays major dividends. Inexpensive speakers, optimally set up, may well outperform more expensive models just plonked down willy-nilly.
Over the years, I have developed a library of test signals that make it easier to set up speakers by ear. I made this suite of signals available on my Editor's Choice Sampler & Test CD (Stereophile STPH016-2), released in July 2003. In this article, I suggest how these signals can best be used. (The CD, which also contains a…
Sidebar: Further Reading
Articles about loudspeakers and how to set them up in rooms can be found at:
www.stereophile.com/finetunes/418
www.stereophile.com/finetunes/306
www.stereophile.com/finetunes/226
www.stereophile.com/finetunes/214
www.stereophile.com/features/806
www.stereophile.com/features/103
www.stereophile.com/features/100
www.stereophile.com/features/99
I'm scared. I've just returned from a visit to the isle of my birth, Manhattan. As the spouse and I walked to Stereophile's offices to meet John Atkinson and Stephen Mejias for dinner, we passed some of the most valuable real estate in the country. It was hard to imagine that, if global warming continues at its current, ever-accelerating pace, the buildings we were marveling at will soon be below sea level.
Today, back in the pseudosafety of my office in hardly placid Oakland, California, I gaze at the headlines on Yahoo.com's front page: "Cyclone Kills 10,000 in Just One Myanmar Town…
BEN FOLDS: Way to Normal
Epic 886970984928 (CD). 2008. Dennis Herring, prod., Joe Costa, eng. AAD? TT: 40:32
Performance ****½
Sonics ***
Epic 886970984928 (CD). 2008. Dennis Herring, prod., Joe Costa, eng. AAD? TT: 40:32
Performance ****½
Sonics ***
People used to love Ben Folds for being a snot-nosed kid, for his bashing of people and places, and for turning his corrosive pen and piano on the complacent, the witless, and, of course, women.
Now on his fourth marriage, with kids growing up, the 42-year-old singer-songwriter is being pilloried for turning soft; for being too mature, too sincere. Since Songs for Silverman (2005), fans of Folds' smart-aleck side have brayed that he'…
Last December, when Wadia Digital announced that it was releasing an iPod docking cradle that could access the digital signal before it had passed through the player's own D/A converter, many audiopundits were surprised. I was disbelieving, and nearly told Wadia's John Schaffer that he was shining me on. After all, Apple has tiptoed around the whole issue of consumers being able to digitally copy their iTunes files, going so far as to wrap its iTunes Music Store files in digital rights management (DRM) code.
Times had changed, Schaffer told me. Apple had initiated a program,…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Docking station for outputting analog and digital audio and video signals from late-model Apple iPods. Input: various shells that fit different iPod sizes. Digital output: S/PDIF (coaxial). Analog output: single-ended RCA. Video output: S-video, component video (RCA).
Dimensions: 8" (203.2mm) W by 2.7" (68.6mm) H by 8" (203.2mm) D. Weight: 2.42 lbs (1.1kg).
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: 01700800045.
Price: $379. Approximate number of dealers: 40. Warranty: 1 year.
Manufacturer: Wadia Digital, 1556 Woodland Drive, Saline, MI 48176. Tel…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Apple iPod Classic & Nano 3G, Simaudio Moon Evolution SuperNova CD player.
Preamplifiers: Ayre K-1xe, Conrad-Johnson ACT2.
Headphone Amplifier: Cayin HA-1A.
Power Amplifier: Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300.
Loudspeakers: Thiel CS3.7, Wilson Audio Specialties WATT/Puppy 8.
Headphones: AKG 701 with Cardas Fat Pipe.
Cables: Interconnect: Shunyata Research Aries & Antares. Speaker: Shunyata Research Lyra.
Accessories: Ayre L-5xe line filter; Furutech eTP-609 distribution box; APC APCS15 AC line conditioner; Furutech…
John Atkinson wrote about the Wadia 170 in June 2009 (Vol.32 No.6):
Wes Phillips was very impressed by this $379 iPod dock when he reviewed it in the October 2008 issue, feeling that it let him access the digital information from his Apple iPod with seemingly perfect transparency. The Wadia, you see, extracts the digital audio data from the iPod without processing it with the player's D/A processor; if you hook up the iTransport's S/PDIF output to a standalone D/A converter, you can get significantly higher sound quality than if you plug the iPod into a normal dock that can access only…
I first encountered Avalon Acoustics' loudspeakers about 20 years ago. The hi-fi shop I worked for sold Jeff Rowland Design Group electronics, and Jeff Rowland insisted that no loudspeaker better showcased his electronics than the Avalons. Rowland sent us a pair of Ascents, and we were startled by their gem-like, faceted cabinets and remarkable soundstaging. As we packed them up to return them to Colorado, I remember thinking, I could live with these speakers.
Jeff Rowland turned out to be such a fan that he bought half of Avalon from founder Charles Hansen's partner. But Rowland soon…