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The first reference I saw to the Count of Saint Germain was in Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco's dense novel about a man whose paranoid delusions become so overpoweringly real that, by the end of the book, the reader is left wondering whether the protagonist's enemies actually exist. That their number should include Saint Germain was a nice touch: Part cabalist, part confidence man, the real-life Count was thought by some to be immortal (in Pendulum he's pushing 300), and while Casanova wrote vividly of meeting Saint Germain at a dinner party in 1757, so did the English writer and pederast C…
And scale: The Cometes sounded big and easy, not tiny and fussy in the manner of other small boxes. Likewise, Drake's steel-string guitar had realistic body and scale, and just as much beautiful richness of tone as I could have hoped for. The sound of the guitar appears to have been equalized during the making of the original recording, to give more prominence to its lower strings—an untrue sound, maybe, but one that was reproduced truly by the Cometes.
This wasn't a curse at all!
Then I listened to Mendelssohn's Symphony 3, with Peter Maag and the London Symphony Orchestra (LP,…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded loudspeaker for use with stands 20–30" H (not included). Drive-units: 1" titanium-dome tweeter in molded horn enclosure, 6.3" coated pulp-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 2.5kHz. Frequency response: 50Hz–20kHz, ±3dB. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 4.4 ohms minimum. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m.
Dimensions: 16.5" (420mm) H by 7.9" (200mm) W by 13.2" (335mm) D. Shipping weight: 41 lbs (18.7kg).
Finishes: Bordeaux, Champagne, Cognac.
Serial Numbers Of Units Reviewed: 07TEB14 0463, 07TEB14 0464.
Price: $1295/pair. Approximate…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Linn LP12 (with Linn Basik power supply), Thorens TD-124 Mk.II turntables; Naim Aro, Rega RB300 tonearms; EMT JSD 5, Denon DL-103 cartridges.
Digital Source: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Standard, K&K Audio step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Quad II monoblocks, 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 SACD/CD player).
Accessories…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Triangle Esprit Comete Ex is significantly more sensitive than the norm, my estimate of its voltage sensitivity coming in at 91dB(B)/2.83V/m. While its impedance magnitude drops below 5 ohms in the lower midrange and mid-treble (fig.1, solid trace), and the electrical phase angle is occasionally extreme, overall the speaker will be fairly easy to drive.
Fig.1 Triangle Esprit Comete Ex, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed). (2 ohms/vertical div.)
There are two sharp discontinuities in the impedance traces, one at 620Hz, the…
The audio industry may have lost a legend and a prolific innovator in Henry Kloss a few years back, but it still has another affable, creative eccentric in Peter Ledermann. In the mid-1970s, Ledermann was director of engineering at Bozak, where, with Rudy Bozak, he helped develop a miniature bookshelf speaker and a miniature powered subwoofer. Before that, Ledermann was a design engineer at RAM Audio Systems, working with Richard Majestic on the designs of everything from high-power, minimal-feedback power amplifiers and preamplifiers to phono cartridge systems. He was also an award-winning…
The SMMC1's one-piece cantilever is made of ruby to which is attached a nude line-contact diamond stylus with a tip of very low effective mass (0.32mg). The compliance, 28µm/mN, is moderate to high. The SMMC1's frequency response is cited as 20Hz–20kHz, ±2.5dB, while its channel separation at 1kHz is greater than 25dB and its channel matching within 1.6dB or better. (The Voice's channel balance is specced at better than 0.5dB.) The recommended resistive loading is 47k ohms, while the recommended capacitive loading is equal to or greater than 400pF, including the capacitance of the tonearm…
You won't mistake the SMMC1's retrieval of detail, or its less-than-first-class reproduction of microdynamic gradations, for those of a premium-priced modern MC—nor did it reveal the most delicate inner musical textures, as those top-shelf transducers do. But it more than compensated with a refreshingly robust and musically convincing sound free of obvious colorations or artifacts. Its rejection of surface noise and other playback detritus was among the best I've heard at any price—and without lopping off the top-end extension.
The SMMC1's frequency balance was subjectively ultrasmooth…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Moving-iron phono cartridge with ruby cantilever. Stylus: nude line-contact, 0.12mm2. Recommended tracking force: 1gm. Effective tip mass: 0.32mg. Compliance: 28µm/millinewton. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±2.5dB. Channel separation: >25dB at 1kHz; >20dB, 50Hz–15kHz. Channel balance: <1.6dB. Output voltage: 2.12mV, 5cm/s lateral modulation. Recommended load resistance: 47k ohms. Recommended load capacitance: 400pF or greater.
Dimensions: Weight: Cartridge alone, 1.6gm; with universal mounting adapter, 6.8gm.
Serial Number Of Unit…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable, Cobra tonearm, Castellon stand; Graham Phantom tonearm; Ortofon Winfeld cartridge.
Digital Sources: Musical Fidelity kW SACD player, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, Einstein Turntable's Choice, Whest Audio whestTWO, Graham Slee Era Gold V, Camelot Technology Lancelot Pro phono preamplifiers; Musical Fidelity kWP preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Musical Fidelity kW monoblocks, Marantz SM-11S1.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX…