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Italian manufacturer Chario Loudspeakers has never had a strong presence in the US. No wonder, then, when confronted by these exquisitely finished beauties of solid hardwood, many American audiophiles think, "Sonus Faber rip-off." Without knowing the musical history of the 1960s, had you heard Badfinger first, you might have thought the same thing when you then heard the Beatles. Similarly, Chario, by far Italy's largest maker of high-performance speakers, was founded in 1975, eight years before Sonus Faber. While SF has its drive-units built to its own specifications by other firms, Chario…
The bottom octaves were exceedingly clean and nimble. While 35Hz can't give you the full bottom weight, the Sovran more than compensated with clarity and ultralow coloration, which are easily preferable to greater bass extension that comes at the price of bloat, overhang, and detail-obscuring warmth.
The Sovran's complete freedom from midbass overhang meant that, until I got used to the speaker's clarity and honesty in the lower octaves, I had to check to make sure the woofers were working, because they were impossible to "hear." When called on to produce deep bass, they did. When not,…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.2" (32mm) Silversoft tweeter, 6.7" (170mm) aperiodically loaded Rohacell cone mid/woofer, two 8" (200mm) isobarically loaded woofers. Frequency range: 35Hz–20kHz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplification: 180W into 4 ohms.
Dimensions: 47.6" (1220mm) H by 9.4" (240mm) W by 17.2" (440mm) D. Weight: 103.4 lbs (47kg).
Finishes: Solid walnut or cherry.
Serial Numbers Of Units Reviewed: 65159, 65160.
Price: $17,000/pair. Approximate number of…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, & Castellon turntable, tonearm, & stand; Graham Phantom tonearm; Lyra Titan i, Koetsu Coralstone Platinum mono cartridges.
Digital Sources: Musical Fidelity kW DM25 CD transport & DAC, Marantz SA-11S2 SACD player, dCS 904 A/D converter, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, TruLife Reikon phono preamplifiers; darTZeel NHB-18NS preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Musical Fidelity kW monoblocks; Luxman M-800A, Music Reference RM-200.
…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Chario Academy Sovran's voltage sensitivity is specified as a high 90dB/2.83V/m. My B-weighted estimate on the speaker's tweeter axis, calculated by DRA Labs' MLSSA system with a calibrated DPA omnidirectional microphone, was 90.2dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is well within experimental error of the specified figure. However, with an impedance that drops below 4 ohms throughout the midrange and most of the bass, and reaching a minimum value of 2.8 ohms at 90Hz, the Sovran demands a lot of current from an amplifier. The combination of 3.75 ohms and –37° electrical phase…
Fearless leader called me and asked if I'd be interested in reviewing the Simaudio Moon i-1 ($1500), the entry-level integrated amplifier in Simaudio's Classic line. Hmmm. I'd been very impressed by all of the more expensive Simaudio products I'd heard at Stereophile's Home Entertainment shows over the years, and the 50Wpc Moon i-1 would be an interesting match for the affordable speakers I've had in-house lately. Send it on, JA!
Design
The Canadian-made Moon i-1 is a full-functioned integrated amplifier with remote control. It has six line-level inputs—including one front-…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state, class-AB, remote-controlled integrated amplifier. Power-supply transformer: 320VA. Power-supply capacitance: 20,000µF. Inputs: 5 pairs single-ended (RCA). Input device types (preamp): J-FET. Maximum output power: 50Wpc into 8 ohms (17dBW), 100Wpc into 4 ohms (17dBW). Maximum output: 22V. Slew rate: 20V/µs. Maximum current: 15A peak, 9A continuous. Dynamic headroom: 3dB. Input sensitivity: 370mV–3.0V RMS. Input impedance: 11k ohms. Output impedance: 0.04 ohm. Damping factor: >200. Gain: 37dB. Signal/noise: 101dB at full power.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Source: Rega Planar 3 turntable, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood & Aurum Beta S cartridges.
Digital Source: Creek Destiny CD player.
Integrated Amplifiers: Creek Destiny & Creek 5350SE.
Loudspeakers: Monitor Audio Silver RS6.
Cables: Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator, MI-330SG, Terminator. Speaker: Acarian Systems Black Orpheus.
Accessories: Various by ASC, Bright Star, Celestion, Echo Busters, Salamander Designs, Simply Physics, Sound Anchor, VPI.—Robert J. Reina
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I primarily used Stereophile's loaner sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/108awsi and www.ap.com) to examine the Simaudio's measured performance.
Before performing tests on an amplifier, I thermally stress it by running it for 60 minutes at one-third its specified power into 8 ohms, which is the worst case for an amplifier with a class-B or -AB output stage. Despite its lack of external or obvious heatsinking, the Simaudio Moon i-1 survived this preconditioning period without incident, though the…
"How do you make an object common as a box iconic?" asked Bob Graffy, Snell's vice president/brand manager. He and Joseph D'Appolito, Snell's chief design engineer, were sitting in my listening room, discussing cabinet designs. Graffy noted that KEF had sought the same in their distinctive, silvery, cylindrical Muon loudspeaker ($150,000/pair). For the flagship model in their Illusion series, Snell commissioned Gerd Schmieta, former designer for Ideo, to integrate D'Appolito's wish list for an ideal enclosure: a narrow, rounded upper baffle for the midrange and tweeter, wider at the base for…