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All measurements presented here are for balanced operation. Following its 1/3-power, one-hour preconditioning test, the Electrocompaniet Nemo's chassis was quite warm to the touch, but not uncomfortably so. The amp's input impedance measured 301k ohms (595k ohms unbalanced, using the supplied adaptor). The output voltage was rendered slightly unstable by infrasonic noise—not enough to be of concern during normal operation, but enough to render such high input-impedance measurements less than fully reliable. I can say, however, that the Nemo has a far higher input…

The crashing chandelier, the candelabras rising from the lake, the aggressive media blitz and hawking of souvenirs—it's easy to develop disdain for The Phantom of the Opera. Yet, if one can get past the technology and the hype, Phantom is not without its musical rewards, and, as a theatrical experience, it does…

Descrption: Tube preamplifier with four or six line-level inputs and one MM phono input. Measured specifications: Frequency response (phono): –3dB points at 3.5Hz and 52kHz. Frequency response (line-level): –3dB points at 1.5Hz and 54kHz. Input impedance: 47k ohms in parallel with less than 20pF (phono), 94k ohms (line). Output impedance: 2k ohms (main). Maximum output level: 5V RMS into 10k ohms. Sensitivity (phono): 3mV RMS input for 1.5V output. Sensitivity (line): 310mV RMS input for 1.5V output. Phono input S/N ratio: 69dB A-weighted, 54dB wide-band, (ref…

The Super-PAS 3 was given a degree of environmental isolation by sitting it upon four Audioquest Sorbothane feet (which also damp vibrations in the chassis, due to their large contact area), and was auditioned in the following system: A pair of VTL 100W tube monoblocks was used to drive Celestion SL700s sitting on their dedicated stands. Source components consisted of a 1985-vintage Meridian MCD Pro CD player, as well as a modified Magnavox '471 from Precision Audio, and a 1987 Linn Sondek/Ittok combination sitting on a Sound Organization table.

Not having…

The most important measured quality of a tube preamplifier, for me, is the noise level on its phono input. With the inputs shorted, I measured the S/N ratio to be 54dB wide-band, and 69dB A-weighted (both figures referred to a nominal output of 1.5V). This is a respectably low noise level for a tube design, though not quite sufficiently low to make feeding a low-output MC straight in a viable proposition. It must be due in part to the heavy-duty power supply installed by Mr. Van Alstine. There should be no problems with conventional MM cartridges or high-output…

The SuperTower IIa/R is not the most…

It may have been audio pioneer Emory Cook (footnote 1) who once observed that "nobody has ever been able to miniaturize a bass violin." His point, of course, was that bass sounds involve a lot of movement of a lot of air, and it takes a large object to do this. While small speakers can now produce deeper bass than they could 40 years ago, we still have not managed to make a dent in that law of physics that says "Deep bass demands a large radiating area." VMPS has accepted this view, not only philosophically,…

Equipment used for my tests included the Ortofon MC-3000 cartridge in the Well-Tempered Arm, the SOTA Star Sapphire turntable, Sony CDP-705ESD CD player, Sony PCM-F1 digital tape system, Revox A-77 15ips open-reel tape deck, and Threshold's FET-10 preamp/line controller and SA-1 power amplifiers.

Audio interconnects were Monster M1000s, speaker cables were MIT Music Hoses, and the listening room is extensively treated with ASC Tube Traps. Program material was some of my own and others' original tapes, as well as CDs and analog LPs from Sheffield, Opus 3,…