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As mentioned earlier, the low frequencies sounded shelved down. Whether this was musically bothersome or not seemed very dependent on playback level. At relatively low levels, orchestral double-bass, and kick drum and bass guitar on rock recordings, sounded anemic, while above 90dB or so the bass became more believable (though this will still never be a preferred speaker for playing organ recordings). As mentioned by Martin Colloms last month, the ear is both very sensitive to small differences in bass level and has a sensitivity that varies with playback level. Nevertheless, whether or not…
Sidebar 1: Review System
Equipment used during the preparation of this review included a Mark Levinson No.23.5 power amplifier, the French YBA 2 preamplifier or the Mod Squad Line Drive Deluxe passive control unit, the former feeding the power amplifier via 15' lengths of AudioQuest Lapis unbalanced interconnect, the latter via 1m lengths of AudioQuest Diamond.
Source components included a Linn Sondek/Lingo/Ekos/Troika setup sitting on an ArchiDee table to play LPs, an Aiwa portable DAT recorder and a Revox PR99 to play master tapes, and the VTL D/A processor driven by a Meridian…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) soft-dome tweeter, 3.5" (89mm) pulp-cone midrange unit, two 6" (153mm) plastic-cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 600Hz, 6kHz. Crossover slopes: 24dB/octave, phase-compensated. Frequency response: 60Hz–18kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 82dB/V/m ±0.5dB (equivalent to 91dB/W/m at 2.83V into 8 ohms). Nominal impedance: 4 ohms (minimum 2 ohms). Power handling: 80W continuous below 600Hz, 50W 600Hz–6kHz, 30W above 6kHz.
Dimensions: 10.75" (273mm) H by 22" (559mm) W by 13" (330mm) D.…
Sidebar 2: System
I auditioned the Mark Levinson No.331 amplifier in my 13' by 26' by 12' listening room. A doorway at the back of the room opens into our kitchen, adding a 25' by 15' area. CDs were played on a Krell MD-1 turntable, which drove an Audio Alchemy DTI jitter attenuator using a 75 ohm Silver Starlight digital coaxial cable. This unit fed either an Audio Alchemy DDE v3.0 HDCD$r-based D/A converter over its I2S bus or an Adcom GDA-700 D/A converter. Other sources included Day Sequerra FM Reference and Rotel RHT-10 FM tuners, and a Linn Sondek LP12/Lingo turntable with an…
Measurements
A full set of measurements of the Mark Levinson No.331 was made in its unbalanced mode, though many readings were repeated in the balanced configuration and will be referenced as appropriate below.
Following the 1/3-power, one-hour preconditioning test, the No.331's heatsinks were no more than warm to the touch. The No.331 is noninverting in the unbalanced mode; in the balanced mode, pin 2 is wired as positive. Its input impedance measured 49.3k ohms (112.7k ohms balanced). The output impedance was below 0.02 ohms at 1kHz, 20Hz, or 20kHz, and should not in any way…
Larry Greenhill wrote about the No.331.5 in September 1999 (Vol.22 No.9):
Having heard the No.334's strong bass response and dynamic contrasts, I couldn't wait to try Madrigal's MLC780 VG No.331.5 Update Kit on my own No.331 dual-mono amplifier. At $1950 it is an expensive modification, especially when you consider that the difference in retail cost between the No.334 and the discontinued No.331 is only $1000. Madrigal claims that the two cyanate-ester voltage-gain boards account for most of this cost. Besides these PCBs, the kit supplies a new black-anodized "No.331.5" nameplate for…
Glasnost Mondial Supergroup: 1990 Aragon Jam Sessions
Anthony Federici, Michael Fremer, Roland Marconi, Bob Reina, Paul Rosenberg, Rob Sample, vocals; Frank Doris, Steve Harris, Roland Marconi, Paul Rosenberg, guitars; Elliot Kallen, Bob Reina, keyboards; John Atkinson, bass; Allen Perkins, Neil Sinclair, drums
Bainbridge GMS-1 (CD only). PJ Littleton, Michael Kusiak, Jr., engs.; PJ Littleton, Paul Rosenberg, prods. Recorded live with direct feed to the Colossus Digital Audio System from a single MS-4 surround 4-channel microphone. DDD. TT: 71:42
Anthony Federici, Michael Fremer, Roland Marconi, Bob Reina, Paul Rosenberg, Rob Sample, vocals; Frank Doris, Steve Harris, Roland Marconi, Paul Rosenberg, guitars; Elliot Kallen, Bob Reina, keyboards; John Atkinson, bass; Allen Perkins, Neil Sinclair, drums
Bainbridge GMS-1 (CD only). PJ Littleton, Michael Kusiak, Jr., engs.; PJ Littleton, Paul Rosenberg, prods. Recorded live with direct feed to the Colossus Digital Audio System from a single MS-4 surround 4-channel microphone. DDD. TT: 71:42
"Yahadtabethere" is the copout…
Is it possible to make a $700 "mainstream-audio" power amplifier sound exactly like a high-priced perfectionist amplifier? Bob Carver, of Carver Corporation, seemed to think he could, so we challenged him to prove it.
The question posed above seems laughable. If it were possible to make an average, modestly priced amplifier sound just like state-of-the-art, wouldn't it already have been done? Of course it would. State-of-the-art sound would thereby become much more affordable, and high priced power amplifiers would become as extinct as Diplodocus (footnote 1). That is the conventional…
The reference amplifier should not have a higher power-output capability than the Carver. If it had, Bob would be obliged to beef up his own power supply, which would take additional time and prove nothing. (If cost-effectiveness is no consideration, any knowledgeable designer can put together a "perfect" power supply, given time and the necessary parts.)
If we felt there was any audible difference between the amplifiers, Bob would be allowed 48 hours to eliminate that difference. If he proved unable to do so within that time, we would declare the game over and him the loser.…
This output nulling technique is not a Carver innovation. It has been known for years to be a possible way of comparing amplifiers, at least in thoery. But it could never be made to work with amplifiers having slightly different group delay and phase-shift characteristics, because any loss of signal synchronisation impairs the effectiveness of the cancellation. In other words, it wasn't used because all amplifiers are very different—the test was too sensitive! But phase shift happened to be only one of the many parameters for which Bob planned to compensate. Hearing of this level of…