Today, McIntosh announces their mighty MA12000 integrated amplifier. The MSRP is $14,000, and if you’ve got a shelf capable of holding it, this looks to be a fantastic product.

Blazing a trail started with the MA252, and MA352, the MA12000 offers a full set of the features you’ve come to enjoy from McIntosh. The giant, blue power meters, a front panel window showing off the preamplifier tubes, a headphone output, tone controls, and enough connectivity for every device you can imagine.

The MA12000 is analog ready, with MM and MC phono inputs, and digital ready, with all of the major connections, as well as being Roon certified. Thanks to the plug-in DA2 audio module, it is ready for any future digital developments.

Best of all, the MA12000 produces 350 watts per channel, so you can pair it with whatever speakers you prefer.

These will be available soon, but McIntosh dealers are taking orders now. That will give you a little bit of extra gym time before it arrives! (it weighs in at just over 100 pounds…)

www.mcintoshlabs.com

While connected audio isn’t our usual cup of, Naim Audio has updated their Control 4 driver to include “advanced music-streaming functionality.”

This will let you control multiple Naim devices through your Control 4 system. Volume control, source switching, and most importantly, full integration with Tidal and Qobuz services. They are promising a speed boost to these services as well, which will be a boon to those with large collections.

For more information visit www.naimaudio.com

Can’t believe I just heard the news that Eddie VanHalen, co-founder of legendary heavy rock band, VanHalen is gone.

Where were you when you heard “Eruption” for the first time? I was working at Southridge Mall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a little record store called Galaxy of Sound. We were hanging out at the counter, price guns in hand when the rep from Warner Brothers walked through the door with one white promo album in his hands. He walked up to the stereo, and took the record that was playing off and looked at us with a slightly drug-induced smile (it was the 70s you know), put the record down on the platter, and just before he dropped the needle, said: “You little fuckers will never hear anything like this, again. This is coming out on Friday and I’m giving you a glimpse of history.”

We heard “Eruption” and freaked out. The next 30 minutes flew by, and though we begged him to leave the record with us, he would not. It was Wednesday, February 8th, and true to his word, the world of rock was changed forever two days later.

It was cool to be there first. Many have been influenced by EVH, and though he had his demons, there’s never been another Eddie VanHalen on the scene.

Rest In Peace.

Two years ago, we awarded Esoteric’s N-01 network player our product of the year in the digital category. Now, they return with the XD version of this highly capable network player and world-class DAC.

At $20,000, this will not be an impulse buy for most, but on one level, it is an even better value than the product it replaces.

 As much excitement as there is over high-resolution formats, the true mettle of a great DAC is often how well it decodes standard 16/44 files. Listening to the title track of John Klemmer’s Barefoot Ballet is simply stunning. Klemmer’s use of the echoplex with his sax makes for an open, airy presentation. This is an average recording, yet the N-01XD shines as much as it will on your favorite 24/192 or DSD recording. The level of realism the N-01XD offers up is incredible. And I’m guessing that most of you with extensive digital libraries, or those streaming music, still have a disproportionate amount of your music at standard CD resolution. The ability to present extraordinary reproduction at 16/44 is a huge win, and the N-01XD delivers.

Getting to the music

While Esoteric offers its own music player, it can also be used as a ROON endpoint. This is where I did the bulk of my listening. With five systems between the studio, house, my wife’s office, and the garage, the ROON ecosystem makes it easy to merge NAS, Tidal, Qobuz, and Spotify effortlessly. If you happen to be an audiophile sticking to one streaming service, and maybe a NAS, you may not need the functionality that ROON provides. In this case, the Esoteric player will serve you just fine.

Those still spinning physical digital media can use one of Esoteric’s excellent transports (if you want to keep it all Esoteric  – and why would you not?) via their high-performance ES-Link inputs. This also allows native DSD playback from SACD discs – a bonus for those with extensive SACD collections. 

The high-quality Ethernet connection offers the next best sound quality making the N-01XD easy to locate far enough from your NAS (if you are using one) to not have to hear it. And all the more convenient for those just using a streaming service.

Rounding out the picture, RCA, USB, XLR, and even optical inputs are available. Don’t laugh – connecting my 90s era SONY ES 10-disc changer to the N-01XD via a 12-foot long optical cable from an adjacent room still provides incredibly good performance. As I did not have an Esoteric transport on hand, I used the one in my dCS Vivaldi, but an Esoteric transport will provide even better performance because of the ES Link. Sometimes you gotta use what you have on hand.

Finally, the N-01XD offers both RCA and balanced XLR outputs. Both easily drive a 30-foot length of cable, so if you need to place yours away from the system, that’s easy. This is of particular advantage here; we were able to use the balanced outputs to drive the main system in room one, and the RCAs to drive the system in room two as well. Again, the ability to drive two separate systems if the need arises, adds to the value proposition of the N-01XD

Tech talk

The N-01XD provides a level of playback that few DACs can match. Much of this comes from the XD model’s improvements – many of them courtesy of the Master Sound Discrete DAC circuitry in their top Grandioso D1X DAC. The DAC section of the N-01XD actually has 64bit resolution, so this is as future proof as it gets. Now using FPGA circuitry instead of individual DAC chips, the N-01XD will be able to be updated to future functionality via the data socket on the rear panel.

As with our Aqua Audio, dCS, and PS Audio DACs, an FPGA configuration is easy to upgrade when the time comes. With a DAC based on a chipset, you’re at the end of the road. The experience I’ve had with dCS and PS have been fantastic, so I expect the same with Esoteric.

Though this is an expensive piece of gear, it will have a long service life. 

Because all of the digital processing is performed in software, Esoteric is able to provide unique decoding algorithms for DSD and PCM files. With no conversion taking place, each can be processed optimally. Those with extensive DSD libraries will be able to take full advantage of the N-01XD.

Because it incorporates so much of the tech from the Grandioso series, the N-01XD can easily be the last DAC/streamer you buy.

If you get the itch for more performance, you can always add an external clock. My experience with the Esoteric clock is indeed exciting. While I haven’t heard their Grandioso clock with the N-01XD, I have listened to it with the Grandioso player, with stunning results. The extra timing accuracy that a top-quality external clock brings can not be understated.

Esoteric offers three clocks from about $9,000, all the way up to $26k for the Grandioso. Their mid-range G-01X ($20,000) would probably be the one I’d pair with this player. When I’ve heard Esoteric DACs with and without the clock, it’s the last bit of icing on the cake. Switching the clock on lifts the last veil of digital sound, so it’s nice to know that even the lofty N-01XD does have an upgrade path.

More listening

The Esoteric N-01XD is one of the few digital components that renders digital files so naturally and effortlessly, you might find your turntable collecting a lot of dust once you install it into your system. I can honestly say I was not itching to spin any vinyl while the Esoteric was here. If you don’t have a turntable, you might not jump off the analog cliff. As much fun as my favorite rock records were, thanks to the incredible dynamic range the N—01XD provides, it really shines with acoustic material.

The two violins and cello that make up the Janaki String Trio are breathtaking, streamed at 88.2/24. Reproducing the violin and piano with enough acoustic space and tone to feel real is tough for analog, but to nail this in the digital domain is something that few digital players at any price can accomplish. When violins are wrong, and they nearly always are, you just want to leave the room, but here, you just might be brought to tears. It’s that good.

Backing this up with a spin of another Yarlung Records great – The Yuko Mabuchi Trio, vol.1 is incredibly engaging. Ms. Mabuci has such a delicate touch on the keys,reproduced flawlessly is lovely. You’ll find yourself lost in the music in seconds. Great as the piano playing is on this album, the depth of the applause from the audience is hauntingly real. You’ll be looking for the surround speakers, yet there are none. This is two-channel audio in its finest moment.

And of course, my favorite Crosby, Stills, and Nash records sound great too. The N-01XD unravels the three voices, giving each one their own distinct space between the speakers, providing more than a few moments where you can close your eyes and feel like you are right there in the studio.

As real as it gets

Rather than bore you with all the specs and such (though you can read them here if you like) the Esoteric N-01XD needs to be experienced to believe. In 2020, the digital vs. analog ship has sailed. The combination of low-level resolution, and tonal gradation is some of the finest going. The only thing taking away from the sheer value of this player is that it might just force you into a major analog upgrade, should you be playing analog files. But that’s part of the fun.

The latest version of Esoteric’s network player is a digital tour de force.

The Esoteric N—01XD

MSRP:  $20,000

www.esoteric.jp

Peripherals

Preamplifier Pass Labs XSPre

Amplifier Pass Labs XA200.8 monos

Speakers Sonus faber Stradiveri w/six pack of REL no.25 subwoofers

Cable Cardas Clear

Features

Old School:

The Audiophile Apartment:

Mine: It Should Be Yours

Music

Playlists:  We share our readers choices from around the world

Future Tense

Gear in our immediate future

Cover Feature

Michi By Rotel: High performance without the high price

Having lived with a number of Focal speakers over the last five years, the family resemblance between the Utopia headphones and their floorstanding speakers is unmistakable.

The quick, lively, accurate sound I’ve grown accustomed to is now available for personal listening. Short story, I love them.

At $3,995, these are top tier premium phones to be sure. Yet unlike some of the other big guns, the Utopias sound incredibly good merely plugged in to my first gen Astell & Kern player or even the Dell desktop that I use to control ROON in my main system. Ditto for the iPad, so these are not like a number of other premium phones that absolutely require a major headphone amplifier to deliver great sound.

Past experience with Focal speakers (and their beryllium tweeters) shows they need a while to break in properly, sounding slightly edgy out of the box. The Utopia headphones are similar, so they stayed plugged into the Dell with music on repeat for a solid week before beginning serious listening. I suggest you do the same, or the brittle sound you start with may scare you off.

Plugging in to a number of different headphone amplifiers, Kevin Deal from Upscale Audio suggests the Feliks Audio Elise. At only $1,649, this makes for an incredible combination, where my Pass HPA-1 is still a touch forward for my personal taste. The Elise transforms the Utopias, mellowing them out that last bit. Passing from my desk to the living room where a pair of Focal Kanta no.3s are playing (via an all tube VAC i170) the sonic signature is wonderfully similar. You can read our review of the Elise here.

The Utopia uses a single, full-range beryllium driver, and I firmly believe that this lack of crossover is a big part of the coherent, open sound these phones deliver. Thanks to the low mass of this driver, the Utopias sound remarkably similar to my favorite planar phones.

No matter what kind of music you gravitate towards, the seamless quality of the Utopias will bring it out. Tracking through a long playlist of Blue Note classics shows off how well these phones capture the fine details of acoustic instruments. Horns and piano are full of texture, and thanks to the ultra dynamic nature of the Utopia driver, drums take on a new level of realism, capturing the initial strike of the drum heads with amazing precision.

Listening to Frank Zappa’s Freak Out! reveals what makes the Utopias worth the price. Their ability to disentangle complex recordings is fantastic. Anyone who happens to be a student of Zappa knows how much he packs into any tune. The massive bass riff in the opening of “Who Are The Brain Police?” is kept in balance with all the tinkly percussion bits, surrounded by layer upon layer of vocals – with Zappa staying front, center, right inside your brain as you listen.

The Utopias do and equally enticing job with sparse musical selections. Moving all the way through Twin Peaks (Music From the Limited Event) I’m stopped dead in my tracks on Sharon Van Etten’s “Tarifa.” If you aren’t/weren’t a Twin Peaks fan, at the end of the new episodes (produced around 2017) there is a different band playing in the bar. David Lynch had an incredible sensitivity for the music featured in the original series, and continues this trend here. It’s worth a spin on your favorite streaming service, you might find a few good test tracks!

As you take the Utopias out of their supplied carrying case, you’ll quickly notice the high level of fit and finish these headphones offer – just like a pair of Grande Utopia Ems. Everything is machined to a standard that you might expect from an F1 car or fine wristwatch. With Focal, engineering and craftsmanship always serves the art. Beautiful to behold, yes. But remarkable to listen to.

Well worth the price asked, these belong at the top of the premium headphone mountain.

focal.com

Technics has just announced a new, Mk.2 version of their successful SC-C70…

While they haven’t given us a full MSRP yet, the MK1 tipped the scales just under $1,000, so we suspect this will be somewhat the ballpark number for the Mk.2. The major upgrades include a revamp of the 2.1 speaker system, a more powerful amplifier, utilizing Technics’ “JENO Engine,” and their “Space Tune” DSP, optimizing the woofer for the environment in which it’s used – to deliver the most natural bass response.

It supports all the major streaming services, and includes a tuner too. There’s even a CD player on top – very nice. We’re looking forward to a review unit as soon as they are available. And…they come in black!

www.technics.com

We’ve just received the 702 Signature floor standing speakers from B&W…

Again, the UK manufacturer sticks to their path of constant refinement, with the
new Signature model of this speaker borrowing heavily from the technology
developed for the top of the line 800 series.

While there is no diamond tweeter sitting on top of the enclosure, the newest
version of the Carbon Dome tweeter uses a similar vapor deposition process
(developed for the 800 series diamond tweeters) in its construction.

We’ll have a full report very soon.

bowerswilkins.com

It’s hitting the web today, that McIntosh is providing the audio system for the concept car, that will eventually become the new Jeep Grand Wagoneer next year.

Ralph Gilles, Jeep’s head of design made it clear in their launch this morning that McIntosh is a big part of the Grand Wagoneer concept’s package. His smile when discussing the McIntosh system says it all, when he talks about the extent that they went to making this part of the new vehicle. Showing off the lighted speaker grilles with McIntosh, he says “yeah we went a little overboard on this, but you’ll be able to show off that you went the extra mile to get the McIntosh system.”
Most importantly, to dispel all the rumors that have been flying around, this was not an off the shelf solution, adapted to Jeep. The McIntosh group is no stranger to mobile audio, having done the stunning system for Ford’s GT40, and a killer line of aftermarket components that are still revered by mobile sound enthusiasts today. However, Poggi’s experience with mobile audio at Harman and Bose really came into play on this project, and he makes it clear this has always been a priority for him at McIntosh. “When I joined the McIntosh group, this was something I wanted to accomplish. We felt Jeep was a perfect overlap for the two companies.”

Poggi mentions that while they approached Jeep, the meeting of the minds went extremely well, and it didn’t take long for both teams to be on board with this project. Many of the technologies that exist in home Mac components, like Power Guard™, will be in the mobile system for maximum benefit.

This nearly three-year project had engineers from McIntosh as well as Jeep cross pollinating each others’ laboratories and design studios, with every aspect of the system fine-tuned to match the Grand Wagoneer’s environment. Poggi says this part of the process to him is “being given control of the room.”
Viewing the rest of the Jeep video, the team has clearly gone all out to offer an incredibly immersive experience for everyone in the cabin, and the integration of the McIntosh system is beautiful to behold.

Automotive car companies often launch concept cars as far as a few years from production, and the final result does not often mirror the concept car. You need look no further than Porsche’s Boxster to see the deviation. However, with Jeep saying that this vehicle will be available next year, it seems unlikely that there will be a major design change between now and then, so fingers crossed.

At this point, the cost of adding the McIntosh system is not available, but the system in the concept car features 23 custom-designed speakers connected to a 24-channel amplifier providing an immersive audio experience. The audio elements are housed in aluminum and gloss black, true to the design aesthetic of McIntosh’s high-end home audio systems. Again, to extrapolate based on what other SUV companies offer, there will most likely be two or three trim levels offered on the Grand Wagoneer, perhaps with the top line featuring it as standard equipment (As Range Rover does with the Meridian systems) and it being an add on for the other models.

Jeep is claiming the Grand Wagoneer will start at $45,000. We wouldn’t be surprised if a fully optioned version approaches double this price, but time will tell.

ED NOTE: A release from Car & Driver reveals the new Grand Wagoneer is going to start at $60k, with a fully loaded version “topping $100k,” so I guess our guess was on the money...

So, if you’re going to be shopping for a new SUV next year and you want to rock in style, what could be a more American experience than cranking up your mobile McIntosh system in a Grand Wagoneer. We look forward to taking one of these for a test drive. Here’s to seeing the finished product, and here’s a look at the past for a reminder where it all began.

www.mcintoshlabs.com

www.jeep.com

Building on the success they’ve achieved in the high end audio market over the last six years, Technics brings a new integrated amplifier, with some exciting new digital technology.

The SU-R1000 takes advantages of advances in power supply, output stage and overall amplifier design. It even features digital phono EQ in the phono stage. The stark, handsome front panel achieves a minimalist design ethos, with merely a volume control, input selector, power switch and headphone jack.

It features two sets of speaker outputs, and while no mention of power output was made in the press release, the front panel power meters illustrate 100 watts as the 0dB point, suggesting power somewhere around 100 watts per channel. In addition to the new, sophisticated phono stage, there is also an onboard DAC, with optical, Coax, and USB inputs. There are two RCA line level inputs, and one balanced XLR, as well as a standard RCA phono input and a balanced XLR/MC input.

Suggested retail has been hinted at just under $10k, but we will announce a final figure when it becomes available.

www.technics.com

Ken Kessler has been an occasional TONE contributor for over a decade now, and in that time, I’ve had the privilege to call him a friend.

He’s written some great books on some of the most legendary brands in audio, but I think his latest title, Making the Music Glow, is his best. Like the fine wines he enjoys, Kessler just gets better with age.

With news of the book being released earlier this week (and of course, under embargo on the news) Ken was kind enough to give us a brief overview on what went into making this legendary book. He and the staff at Audio Research spent a full year getting the details right. The book is $150, and worth every penny. I suspect the initial printing of 2000 copies will sell out quickly. You can order one from your local Audio Research dealer, or online at www.audioresearch.com.

Here’s what Ken had to say about writing this landmark book:

Warm’n’Fuzzy

It never gets old: waiting for one’s next book to appear. If something totally unforeseen, like a pandemic, interferes, the anticipation has been tempered by other challenges. Would the printers be working during lockdown? How would the near absence of air travel affect shipping … and the book launch? Despite unexpected changes to our daily lives, the publishing date has arrived. And an important box has been ticked.

Audio Research: Making the Music Glow is my fifth effort – and fourth history of a hi-fi manufacturer – and the timing was crucial. It was commissioned to mark the company’s first 50 years, so release in 2020 was mandatory. Everything else in my life, as in yours, was being postponed or cancelled: every hi-fi show fell from the calendar, a half-dozen trips abroad abandoned, my 50^th class reunion moved to 2021. But nothing was going to stop the telling of one of high-end audio’s most important tales during its milestone year.

“He would say that,” spots the cynic, “because he’s promoting his book.” Er, doh. So does every other author, musician, baker, tailor, plastic surgeon or anyone else with something to sell. The difference is, there is no hype here. Audio Research’s founder, Bill Johnson, is to the tube revival and the birth of high-end audio what the Band is to roots music, or Rolex is to mechanical watches. His brand’s story is about as seminal an element of the subject we love as it is possible to be.

I went into the project already a long-term user of the company’s preamps and power amps, whose own time involved with serious hi-fi coincided almost exactly with that of Audio Research’s span. A story beginning in was – off the page – almost a chronicle of my own hi-fi adventure. Looking back on my own journey, Audio Research has always been there; in my case, its electronics have powered my reference system for decades. I knew the brand – or thought I did.

As I interviewed past and present employees, reacquainted myself with models from the back-catalogue, reread reviews (including ones I’d written years ago), it emerged that Audio Research wasn’t “just another brand,” which is, unfortunately, an epithet applicable to the majority of names in audio, most of which add little to the canon. As any history is about context, it was a reminder of a specific moment in the development of hi-fi, when transistors threatened to do to audio what quartz was doing to watches.

For audiophiles of a certain vintage, the book is a wander down Memory Lane. Sadly-departed characters from hi-fi’s past pop up here and there, like legendary retailer Mike Kay or pioneering reviews such as Harry Pearson and J Gordon Holt. Forgotten brands, defunct magazines, barely remembered hi-fi shows, once-ubiquitous test discs, obscure rivals and a litany of tube travails: the story is told by those who were there, so future revisionists be warned. ARC employees Warren Gehl, Chris Ossanna, and Dave Gordon are this book’s provenance.

This is not just the saga of Bill Johnson and Audio Research, but how the industry made a stand against mediocrity. Our hobby has always treated its history with disdain, save for those anachrophiles who love vintage audio gear. There are no high-end audio museums, and lavish, profusely illustrated books such as this have only been around since 2003, with the arrival of my first book, the history of Quad. Vainglorious as that may sound, and yes, there were books about hi-fi before it, but none celebrated luxurious audio components with the visual impact they deserve. None treated hi-fi the way books about Ferrari or Rolex glorify, respectively, high-end cars and watches.

Since then, my shelves of books about hi-fi have grown to include a dozen more brand histories, and it is hoped that denizens of a future in which streaming is all that remains will happen upon them and revel in high-end hardware the way some of us swoon over Italian coffee apparatuses from the 1930s, twin-lens cameras and lacquered fountain pens. If the word “romantic” seems to have no place in a world based on brushed aluminum, folded steel plate, glassware, wire and other cold materials, the omnipresence of music should be enough to dispel that notion. But this book is more of a love story than I ever imagined it to be. And I don’t mean my own love for the brand.

What I hope you will glean from every page is that those who worked for Audio Research, and those who still do, love not just the company, and not just audio per se, but they loved Bill Johnson. That may seem a cliché too far, but it was an overwhelming realization. And the greatest love? That of Bill and Nancy Johnson. If, after absorbing the story of Audio Research, you feel as I do about its importance in the history of high-end hi-fi, let it be known that Nancy is an unsung hero, as Bill’s supporter and enabler. And without whose input this book wouldn’t exist.

McIntosh first introduced the C22 preamplifier in 1963 and it’s been a top seller ever since.

The combination of subtle styling, a plethora of inputs, and high performance, have made the C22 a true definition of the phrase “control preamplifier.” It was ahead of its time with two turntable inputs. Now, with the Mk.V edition, the C22 takes a slightly more modern approach to this classic, with a headphone jack on the front panel, vacuum tubes visible via a see through glass top window, and balanced inputs and outputs.

McIntosh claims the C22 Mk.V is very similar to the current C70 preamplifier, but offers the style you know and love. For the first time, the C22 also shares the backlit green faceplate of the rest of the lineup.

With MM and MC phono onboard, it continues the tradition of two phono inputs, in step with the current level of vinyl enthusiasm, and remains an all-tube design, sporting a 12AT7 and five 12AX7 tubes.

These are available for order now, with an MSRP of $6,000.

mcintoshlabs.com

There’s a new amplifier from the First Watt division of Pass Laboratories, and it looks exactly like all the other First Watt amps. However, every First Watt amplifier has different characteristics and is optimized for a different kind of speaker.

If you’ve ever met Nelson Pass, you know that in addition to being a creative genius, he’s also got a great sense of humor and practicality. Using the same case keeps the cost down, and that’s a good thing. According to the recent press release, the F8 is an improved version of their J2, the most popular amplifier in the First Watt lineup. Pass says, “I enjoy amplifiers with a little personality. They don’t have to measure perfectly, they just have to sound good. This is a simple little Class A amplifier with a very nice personality and I hope you like it.”

Producing 25 watts per channel into an 8-ohm load, but only 13 into 4-ohms, the F8 will not be for everyone. But like all of the other First Watt amplifiers we’ve experienced, those of you that will enjoy the F8, will enjoy it like no other. And you won’t get this sound anywhere else. Sound like a compelling challenge? We think so.

If you’ve got fairly sensitive speakers that can work with a 25 watt per channel amplifier, this is a piece of audio art you won’t want to miss. Mr. Pass usually makes these in limited quantities, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

The F8 is available now, at a cost of $4,000

http://www.firstwatt.com/f8.html

We’ve had an influx of CD players to review lately. Hmmm….

Though streaming is all the rage, there’s still a lot of fun to be had
spinning a physical disc. We’ve always been fans of the Compact
Disc, no matter how unpopular it has been.

Line Magnetic’s LM-24CD uses the ESS9016 chipset and offers
a vacuum tube buffer output stage. We’ve got a review in the
works.

http://www.toneimports.com

McIntosh Group announced today that as part of a partnership with Alps/Alpine, Sonus faber and McIntosh, they will soon announce their arrival in premium autosound.

This should prove a powerful force, and we anxiously anticipate hearing what they’ve come up with. About a year ago, when we last visited the McIntosh townhouse for a Sonus faber event, Senior Marketing Manager David Mascioni winked when we asked them if McIntosh would ever return to the autosound space. Now you know!

And for those of you that remember the legendary McIntosh car stereo systems, you know what we’re talking about. We will keep you posted as events unfold.

One of the toughest parts of putting together an analog player is determining what bits play well together.

When buying a budget analog deck in the $500 – $1,000 range, it’s pretty tough to go wrong – nothing resolves enough detail to screw it up too much. However, when you take the next leap or so to a $2,000 – $4,000 analog rig, you’re thinking about tonearms, cables, resonant points, etc. and, of course what cartridge is going to maximize your analog experience, it’s a bigger world. Now, you’re extracting enough information from those delicate grooves to make a real difference. And there are quite a few good choices.

In this case, the latest T-3 turntable package from LSA/Margules and Underwood HiFi hits the scale at $3,499 and ticks all the boxes. Featuring the T-3 turntable/arm package, it also comes with a $2,000 SoundSmith cartridge pre-installed, aligned, and ready to rock. Underwood even packs an alignment protractor and a digital stylus force gauge, for the day you decide to change cartridges. An excellent phono cable is included. Unlike some tables that lock you into a fixed cable, or others that utilize a tonearm cable requiring a DIN connector, the T-3 uses standard RCA connections, just like VPI and Luxman. Of course, we can always argue about cables, but I like the practical approach here. Just for giggles, I substituted a much more expensive Cardas Clear cable, optimized for tonearm duty, with integral grounding wire. In comparison, it does provide another step up in performance, your well on the right track with what’s supplied.

The competition heats up pretty fiercely as you move upscale to the $2,000 – $4,000 range. The jewel here is that all the heavy lifting is done – you only need to unbox, do a little bit of quick assembly and you’re playing records. Double-checking LSA’s work with a full suite of Analog Majik software reveals they did an excellent job setting the table up. I was still able to fine-tune it a smidge, but for those not wanting to go the extra mile, you will be delighted with how this table plays right out of the box.

Our review sample exhibits excellent speed accuracy, and even though three drive belts were enclosed, Underwood stresses that you only need to use one. (It does look kind of cool with three belts, though.) Much like earlier Regas and some VPI tables, changing speed is the only manual adjustment you’ll have to perform. If your record collection is mostly 33 r.p.m. records, this won’t be an issue. If you listen to 45s a lot, this may become aggravating, and some tables in this price range don’t require bothering, with a speed change only a button click away. If you are new to this kind of thing, make sure your hands are always clean when handling turntable drive belts. Getting your skin oil on the belts will make them fail prematurely. I wouldn’t call this one a deal-breaker, because again, this means less complexity, but you need to be aware.

Being there isn’t much setup, spinning records comes quickly. Again, kudos to Underwood for getting you to play right now. Listening begins with Joni Mitchell’s Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter. Not always a favorite of Joni fans, but a record that is somewhat of a tracking torture test and prone to inner groove distortion. Like my Grandfather used to say, “do the thing you like worst, first.” The T3 aces this torture test. Going back to the insanely deep bass riff in the opening track reveals not only the amount of low-frequency information this arm can handle but also how the table does at controlling external vibration.

This turntable is not a sprung or isolated design, so sitting in the same room with a six-pack of REL no.25s is a challenge for the T-3. In room two, as part of a system containing the new Egglestonworks Nicos, (with substantially less LF output) on top of a Quadraspire rack, everything is as it should be. You can turn the volume up as loud as need be to rattle the stuff on the shelves. My mid-grade Linn LP-12 does a better job with this, my Technics 1200 mk.5, worse, the VPI Classic One about the same. As with any table in this category, if you crave subterranean bass, mount that baby on the wall!

Listening to solo acoustic music, or classical pieces with a lot of space and air illustrates the table’s overall quiet, indicating the motor and bearing both do their job and interface well. This is usually where the lesser than tables slip up, with noise creeping in at higher volumes through the quiet passages. Going way, way back to an old favorite on the Phillips label, Beethoven Wind Music, performed by the Netherland Wind Ensemble, is played without the grinding in the background that is present on a budget table. This is one of the main things you should get when stepping up to a table in this price range. More of what you want – the music, and less of what you don’t want – noise, speed inaccuracy, and a restricted sound stage.

Playing substandard records often reveals more of a turntable’s character than playing pristine ones. In this case, the T-3 scores a B+. Part of this can be attributed to the moving iron design of the SoundSmith cartridges. Like the Grado moving iron cartridges, these cartridges all have a lovely midrange, with the dynamic feel of a MM, yet are easier to deal with than an MC cart, because they utilize 47k loading. The Aida 2 cartridge has an output of 2.2mv, so it will not require the additional expense of an MC phonostage. Again, with so many excellent MM phono stages in the $1,000-$2,000 range, this is a table/cart combo you can put in your current system without the additional expense –  a big bonus. However, these cartridges are never the last word in tracking, though the current Aida 2 is better than past SoundSmith designs, and at the top of its class. Remember, your analog setup is a system, so a $3,800 table and cartridge (with solid phono cable thrown in for good measure) that doesn’t need a phonostage upgrade is a major value right there.

Some of the worst rock records from the 70s that feel like they have a soundstage the size of a basketball, deliver the goods when played on the T-3. Those awful Monkees records of mine sound a lot better than they have a right to, and Rare Earth’s “I Just Want to Celebrate” is dynamic and forceful. The more sheer resolution a turntable/arm/combination can offer, the better it can unravel poorly recorded records, making more of your collection genuinely listenable—another plus for the T-3.

The Aida 2 does so much right, and along with its major dynamic swing, has a very natural tonal balance that has a drop or two of warmth in the mix. I prefer this sound, but your taste may vary. Reaching for some records that have better production, the SoundSmith/LSA combination really shines. The overall sonic picture that it paints is reasonably large and dimensional. It’s easy to see/hear what making the next step up from the $1,000 tables brings to the party.

Going through several well-worn favorite pressings, it’s easy to see that the arm and cartridge work incredibly well together. Again, this plays to the system concept of the T-3, so you could  save a few bucks if you already have a cartridge you are fond of. (but it might suck, when you mount it up, and then you’ll be wishing you bought that bundle…) Still, after trying the table with a few other comparably price cartridges from Dynavector, Sumiko, and Ortofon, I think you’ll be hard-pressed to get substantially better performance from something else. It won’t be a screaming deal like the T-3 and SoundSmith combo. Check the Underwood Hifi site for exact pricing, sans cartridge if you prefer to be stubborn and go your own way.

The only thing we haven’t really discussed this far is the aesthetic of the T-3. This is always personal, but I enjoy products that sound great and are a bit more fashion-forward. In the never-ending quest to get more hifi in the living room where all can enjoy it, the T-3 makes a bold statement with its curved plinth. That’s pretty cool. The T-3 is not a “me too” design.

What makes the T-3 worth one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2020 is the way it performs as a complete analog system. Stepping up to a table at this price can offer more performance than your average $1,000 table, but with higher performance, also comes the chance to screw it up. The wrong arm, an arm/table/cartridge mismatch, an underperforming tonearm cable can sour the recipe, leaving you wondering what you spent all that extra cash on in the first place.

If a $3,499 table/arm/cartridge fits your budget, and you don’t want to fuss, the T-3 with SoundSmith Aida 2 is one of the biggest values going. Especially when you consider they throw in all the accessories you need to boot. Those wanting the table alone can get it for $2,299 (with accessory kit and dustcover), or with the SoundSmith Carmen cartridge for $2,999.00. I say get the big box of chocolates, but I’m great at spending other people’s money!

www.underwoodhifi.com

Features

Old School:

The Audiophile Apartment:

Mine: It Should Be Yours

Music

Playlists:  We share our readers choices from around the world

Future Tense

Gear in our immediate future

Cover Feature:

The Egglestonworks Nico

It might strike some of you to start a Rega review talking about Naim, but the comparison begs to be made. Rega’s io is destined for legendary status.

Naim’s original Nait amplifier was a fantastic product, offering incredible musicality in a compact form factor at a price everyone could afford. It enticed thousands of audiophiles based on the above, and to this day, those still in possession of a working Nait cherish it.

 We’ve always been huge fans of Rega’s $900 Brio-R for the same reasons. While the Brio-R bests the vintage Nait in every way, it remains true to the concept of high performance, high value, and minuscule form factor. Though lacking the onboard digital section of something like the PS Audio Sprout (come on, this is Rega we’re talking about), the sound quality of the Rega’s discrete design and overall build quality is far superior. Rega says that the phono and amplifier section of this amplifier are straight from the Brio, so it’s easy to hear where its brilliance comes from.

Lowering the stylus on my older Rega P3 with Elys 2 cartridge, via a pair of FYNE 500 speakers makes beautiful music with a minimum footprint. Tracking through the first side of the purple bonus disc of Prince’s One Night Alone is spacious and delicate. Even though the FYNE speakers only have a sensitivity of 87db/1 watt, they are driven and controlled by the 30 watts per channel offered by the io with ease. The io only offers MM phono, but it is of very high quality. There are plenty of standalone phonostages selling for the $595 MSRP of the io failing to reveal this much music.

Different legos

Swapping the P3 out for a vintage Technics SL-1200 facilitates trying a few other MM cartridges from Sumiko, Clearaudio, and Shure. All offer equally fantastic results, so any cartridges in the $50-$500 range should be a good fit. The phono section of the io is extremely quiet, but Rega has been building great budget phonostages for decades. Experience makes the difference.

Also included in the io is a front panel, mini headphone jack. Trying to stay in the budget ethos, a few phones from B&W, Grado, and an original pair of Audeze 2s make for great personal listening. Again, we can’t think of a $595 headphone amplifier with onboard phonostage that we’ve enjoyed this much. Apartment dwellers not yet ready for speakers would be smart to acquire an io as a headphone amplifier for now, adding speakers later. The io is the perfect building block to transition you from personal listening to full room listening. Merely plug your phones in to disable the speaker outputs.

In addition to the MM phono input, there are two more line-level analog inputs around back, so you can add a DAC/streamer, possibly a tuner, or maybe even a tape deck. Staying compact, we used the Gold Note DS-10 DAC/streamer to provide digital files for additional listening beyond analog.

Quiet quality

In the end, the amount of music that the io reveals is the value proposition. There have been a handful of notable low power solid-state amplifiers over the decades, and we submit the io for top billing. Most amplifiers at this price (and beyond) struggle just to drive a pair of speakers. The io sounds like a component you would expect to pay quite a bit more for.

One of the biggest keys to Rega’s ability to build this much for this little is their corporate frugality, combined with major engineering chops, building nearly everything in-house. Having been to the factory a few times, their commitment to excellence and efficiency is amazing. They use a limited number of enclosures for the same products to minimize tooling costs, with as much raw material overlap as possible. Everything they do is refined, distilled, and simplified as far as it can, but no more. Finally, the highly skilled workforce at the factory assures things are built and tested to perform for the long term. The io is built with the same level of care that Regas top components are.

Sublime sonics

Using the io as an anchor for a $1,500 system will provide plenty of sonic bliss, but going upstream a bit proves just how much more this small amplifier is capable of. Swapping the FYNE speakers for the $1,500/pair Wharfdale Lintons and even the $4,000/pair JBL L-100 classics – both with excellent result illustrates how much resolution the baby Rega amp can muster. This amplifier could easily be paired with components costing a lot more. 

The io provides a lot of bass control, offering a lot of low-frequency definition when listening to bass heavy tracks. This was always an area that the original Nait lacked.

The ios’ high frequency response (especially when listening with more revealing speakers) has a level of polish that you’d expect in a $3,000 integrated. Again, there’s something special about a high quality, low power amplifier used within the realm of its capability. This amplifier plays music with the best.

Selecting tracks with multiple vocal layers shine through, and acoustic pieces give enough insight to feel natural. The io is dynamic, but like the Brio-R will hit a wall. 30 watts only goes so far, and this amplifier does run into a wall when taxed. It does not clip hard though, it merely flattens out dimensionally. The solution is easy, keep listening levels modest or get a pair of very efficient speakers.

Head of the class

The Rega io is so good, one is tempted to summon up a cauldron full of well-worn audiophile clichés. While it is excellent at first listen, the toughest part of reviewing a component offering such a high level of performance is that it begs being connected to much more expensive ancillaries to experience the depth of its true capabilities. You could grab a pair of budget speakers and a thrift shop turntable and live happily ever after with the io, but like that other legend from the UK, don’t be surprised to see this one in the company of much more expensive components. Watch for the audio forums of 2050 to speak of this amplifier in hushed reverence.

Of course, the io is worthy of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2020, but that doesn’t truly explain a product that gets the essence of the music so right. Audiophiles beginning their journey here may be spoiled for a very long time.

I need one!

The Rega io

$599

soundorg.com (NA distributor)

rega.co.uk (factory)

Those of you that know Underwood Wally of Underwood HiFi, know he’s the king of spotting great value and performance. You might have seen this interesting table at the last Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.

Now shipping, this table was originally going to retail for $3,795, bundled with a great suite of accessories: coolio (and massive) record clamp, high quality set of interconnects, along with a well thought out ground wire, dust cover, and cork mat. They’ve even included a digital scale and protractor. Such a great way to roll – you can pull it out of the box, set it up and start spinning records, now.

But, as they say in the movies, “wait, there’s more.” In this case much more. For a limited time, Underwood HiFi is selling this table for $3,499, bundled with a SoundSmith Aida 2 cartridge installed by Peter Madnick to perfection. A quick check with our Analog Magik suite revealed it’s set up well right from the factory. The cart alone is two grand! And this table is drop dead gorgeous too. The curved plinth is said to help control resonance, and it is a major design statement as well.

This has to be one of the biggest analog deals going. Initial listening proves it to be more than good enough, we can enthusiastically recommend this one! But to be fair, we need to give you a more detailed analysis, and go over the fine points.

Whether this is your first table (if so, bravo for making this kind of commitment on your first go) or you’re a vinyl lover with a $500-$1500 table that is really getting into it and wants to make a big move forward, this combination is rocking.

Here’s the site, if you’d like to get out the Visa card!

https://www.underwoodhifi.com/products/lsa-turntables

In the 70s and throughout the 80s, the JBL L-100 was a very successful loudspeaker. Having a production run from 1970 to the mid-80s, the L-100 sold in more significant numbers than any other model, and perhaps one of the greatest selling speakers in audio history.

For those squealing about the $4,000/pair cost, a quick look at a currency calculator reveals that the $546 it took to buy a pair of L-100s in 1970 is worth about $3,700 in 2019. By comparison, a brand new Camaro (V8 sport coupe, not a Z28) back in 1970 was about $3,100, and a new Camaro goes out the door, moderately appointed (but still with a V8) is about $45,000. Clearly, JBL has done a better job of keeping pace with inflation. However, to be fair, a 1970 Camaro in great shape will fetch 50 to 100 thousand dollars at auction. A clean pair of L-100 originals about $1,500.

Considering what three to four thousand dollars buys in a pair of speakers these days, the new JBL will not be everyone’s cup of, but the value they do bring to the table is unmistakable. There are definitely more audiophile-y speakers out there, but to this writer, loudspeakers are like buying a painting. Some prefer the French impressionists, while others like Andy Warhol, and yet others like something else.

If you want more resolution and a broader sound field, think about a pair of comparably priced MartinLogans, or Magnepans. If you’d like a midrange that does a better job with the human voice, think about some Harbeths, Grahams, or ProAcs. We all know that there are tons of choices, and $4k/pair is an excellent speaker budget. You should be able to find something you love with four thousand bucks in your pocket.

Just as one person would rather peel out with a nearly 600 horsepower Dodge Challenger than get a wimpy four-cylinder Porsche Cayman S that is only about 300 horsepower (but goes around corners way better), it’s easy to see the attraction. Fun can be delivered within different paradigms and still be fun.

Comparing to the originals

It’s incredibly easy to let a romanticized past get the better of you. And as a boomer to all of you in younger generations, laugh now. Winter gets longer and more treacherous the older you get. It happens. But we try not to play it that way.

With a pair of mint originals at hand to make a direct comparison, it underlines even further what great speakers the new Classics are. The originals still have an unmistakable cool factor, and there are several updated crossover kits on that market that are claimed to make the originals otherworldly, but that has to be another day. One can only tweak so much.

Unlike today’s reimagined muscle cars paying fairly close visual homage to their 70s counterparts, the L100 classic looks incredibly close, whether the grilles are on or off. The pulp cone midrange driver (albeit updated) and woofer (same) are still in place, though today’s 12-inch woofer now sports a rubber cone surround, where the original featured a pleated paper surround. The paper coned tweeter in the original is now replaced by a titanium dome, which incidentally, JBL has done an excellent job at taming.

Best of all, the sculpted foam grille remains. When I sold these speakers back in the late 70s, everyone knew that grille. Whether on purpose or by accident back then, this was part of what made the L-100 an icon. And this charm remains. Foam choices are orange, blue, and brown.

My originals are orange, so it felt like a great idea to get more subdued brown ones this time. Fortunately, your JBL dealer can supply the other colors for $249 a pair, so I foresee some blue ones in my future. (Ed. note: since this was originally published earlier this year in our 100th anniversary issue, I have acquired a blue set, thanks to staffer, Tom Casselli, who now has the orange. Hmmm.)

While many snooty late 70s/early 80s audiophiles dismissed the L100 of the day, it was a much better speaker than many gave it credit for. Unfortunately, most mass-market retailers sold em with a crappy Kenwood receiver (or something else equally dreadful) that didn’t have the current drive to tame the woofer, or the refinement to get a decent top-end response. I always seemed to remember that connecting my pair up to a Conrad Johnson MV50 was pretty rocking, but again, that memory thing.

This time though, I was right. Hooking the original JBL’s up to the PrimaLuna EVO400 monoblocks with a full complement of EL34 tubes is indeed glorious, and in fact, even better than I remember.

Out with the old, in with the new

The L-100 Classics were far and away the hit of the 2018 Rocky Mountain Audiofest, even if they were hooked up to an awfully dry sounding Levinson amplifier. As part of the same conglomo, I’m sure they had to use that sterile, boring Levinson amp, but they should have pulled out a freshly re-capped Marantz 2275, or god forbid, a McIntosh MC275. Sometimes you have to cross party lines to reach the desired result. But I heard enough to get the essence.

Earlier this year, getting a pair of these for review proved nearly impossible. So, kudos for making this review possible go to Mr. Steve Rowell at Audio Classics for putting this together. I rarely buy a piece of gear before the investigation even begins, but I knew I wanted to get old with a pair of these. Staff member Jessica Sieracki took the vintage ones off my hands after, so onward and upward.

Like several other speakers with a metal dome tweeter, the L-100 is slightly bright out of the box. This went away after about 50 hours of play and is gone entirely by 100 hours. The midrange and tweeter level controls are much more useful than they are on the originals and come in handy fine-tuning to your destination amplifier, cable, and room choice. My living room is a bit livelier than in the main listening room, so a nudge of the tweeter control in the counterclockwise direction is both handy and welcome.

How do they compare?

Now that these speakers have been out for just over a year, the internet abounds with multiple opinions, many centering around the L-100 classic, not being an “audiophile speaker.” It is, and it isn’t. If by audiophile speaker, you mean hyper-detailed, with pinpoint imaging, and pretty much no bass to speak of, then the L-100 classic speaker is not an audiophile speaker.

While attending a demonstration of another manufacturer, the fellow running the show said that when making a speaker, you can go for accuracy, or you can go for something more fun. Clearly, the JBL engineers went for the latter, as these are without question one of the most fun pairs of speakers I’ve ever used.

Like the originals, these are genuinely a garbage in/garbage out speaker. Pair them with  low quality, low-resolution equipment , and they will reveal what is behind them. Mate them to great electronics, and they stand up very well indeed.

The L-100s go deep. A comparable pair of mini-monitors from across the pond sound absolutely wimpy in comparison at first blush. But a side by side comparison with a pair of Harbeth Compact 7s reveals the Brit monitors to be cleaner and less cloudy through the mid-band – you can’t argue with the BBC. Think of the Harbeths as a cool white color rendition and the JBL’s a warm white rendition. I own both, I enjoy both, but if you have to choose one, it’s probably going to be down to your ultimate preferences.

The L-100s definitely go way down deep, but the character of the bass rendered is slightly warm. If you’re listening to classic rock or jazz, this is probably going to be pretty pleasant. Those of you on a quest for the absolute sound, whatever that is, will probably go elsewhere. Much like the originals, plopping a Joni Mitchell record on the turntable and easing back in the couch with the L100 Classics is one of life’s great pleasures. Especially with a good tube amp. I’d highly suggest the PrimaLuna, an MC275 or a VAC amp as my first choices.

The JBLs paint a fairly big sonic picture, but it’s more diffuse. While it expands slightly beyond the speaker boundaries, it’s not all-encompassing the way a pair of panel speakers or a perfectly optimized pair of Falcon LS3/5as can. They don’t entirely disappear in the room all the way, but that’s ok.

One other forgotten aspect is the ability to play at a reasonably convincing level. When the other speakers have long run out of dynamic capability, the L-100 Classics still have plenty of headroom left. Oddly, while they are slightly grainy in comparison to a few other speakers, this does not increase at higher levels. I’d venture to guess that some of the insight gained in studio monitor and sound reinforcement has trickled down to these speakers. If you want a pair of real rock and roll speakers, these will do quite nicely.

At the end of the day, the JBL L-100 Classics remind me a lot of that great American amplifier, the McIntosh MC275. It’s not the last word in any of the standard audiophile qualifiers, but I dare you to have a bad day listening to one. The same goes for the L-100 Classics. I dare you to have a bad time listening to your favorite music, no matter what generation it’s from when you’re rocking a pair of L-100 Classics.

And that’s their charm. Considering I’ve had a pair of the originals in one form or another for the last 40 years, the chance that these will be with me till the end is high. Want a good deal? Show up at the estate sale in 2055. I’m sure our kids will sell em to you cheap.

Classic ride, classic speaks. What’s NOT to love?

Friend and occasional TONE contributor Andy “Ammo” Schneider has been doing something incredibly creative with his spare time, combining a love for music, art, and high end audio.

You may have seen “Ammo” on the stage at Coachella, or selling audio gear at AV San Francisco in a past life, or roaming the streets of Seattle, where he now calls home.

An incredibly multifaceted individual, he’s combined his highly tuned visual skills and music love with an environmentally friendly and affordable approach to audio gear. He’s been wrapping, painting, and grinding secondhand, inexpensive gear to create one – off pieces of audio art.

We chat a lot on Facebook, so I’ve been following his progress. He had a few minutes to give me some more specifics into the how and why (or as they say in art school, “explain your process”) and talk about some of his friends/customers than now have a unique way to listen to music.

TONE: How did you come up with this idea, that is obviously way off the beaten path for audio?

Ammo: I started doing this in San Francisco years ago when I was between jobs, just to stay busy and sane. Though I have a decent 9-5’er now, I’ve got a bit more time since musicians like myself aren’t on the road touring. I’ve always loved collecting audio and am on Craigslist all the time. Friends are always asking me for help wading through the audio jungle, but it must look cool.  I’m always the one that friends call when they are looking for a system. Regardless of what I’m doing, I’ll always drop everything and start searching to find them something.
I think if you can make hifi look interesting, it’s a lot easier to step beyond an Apple or Google device to play and enjoy music more. Once it gets into the house, it’s like a Trojan Horse! I’m particularly proud to say that I have as many female customers as male, which having worked in audio retail, is not usually the case.

TONE: Agreed. Visual appeal is something many manufacturers overlook, or some of the ones that pay close attention to aesthetics, build gear that is out of reach for more casual buyers.

Ammo: I’m definitely building these for people my age and younger, a lot of my followers on Instagram (you can find him here: @ammodrums under the “ammoflage” Highlights). I’m always trying to make something interesting and personal. Every single piece is a one off, done by me, by hand.

TONE: What do you look for in donor gear?

Ammo:  I try to keep it reasonable. I love stuff in the $25 – $100/per box range, as that makes it much more accessible for the end users. I love tackling new speakers whenever I can, though personally I love Andrew Jones’ earlier work with Pioneer. For a while you could get those for $50 a pair new!  I’m watching for stuff that’s easy to modify visually.

Athena speakers are great for the price, and the ones I’m always looking for since you can do some interesting contrast stuff with the different removable fascia pieces. I like some of the smaller Polk Audio models too.

It’s also interesting to note that used gear in Portland is way more expensive than Seattle or San Francisco. I suspect it’s because the gear stayed with families a lot longer, and how painfully hip Portlanders are with collecting vintage kit.

TONE: What was one of your biggest challenges?

Ammo:  My favorite challenges are when someone sends me a picture of their living room and lets me take it from there, carte blanche. My least favorite challenge was an old Denon amp that was the ugliest thing. I sanded everything off, telling the buyer to just remember the button and knob functions from a picture.

TONE: Yeah, I saw that one! Liked that, as well as those vintage A/D/S speakers that got the same treatment!

Ammo: It’s a creative outlet, and a way to get people to understand and enjoy their music in a new, fun way – ironically by focusing on how their stereo looks rather than sounds.

TONE: What else goes into the project?

Ammo: Art supplies. Lots of art supplies. I’m stocking up on art supplies just to keep up! I’m not really making a profit, but am staying even. If someone decides to pay me a decent price, I’ll gift another system to someone who can’t afford investing in a decent rig. Kinda like Toms for speakers, only without a business model. My audience isn’t necessarily the standard audio store customers either. But it is helping to bring more people to music – that’s way better than binging on Netflix all day!

TONE:  Can you tell us more about the colors and the rest of your process?

Ammo: I primer the cabinets, and then work with a wide range of mostly Indian and Thai hand-made craft papers. I stick it down with an adhesive compound – the paper is very delicate. This kind of negates scaling to a wider audience. But who knows?

TONE:  Do you go more for subtle or statement pieces?

Ammo: One goal is to make the pieces look as far away from original as possible. I look for interesting patterns, ranging from organic to psychedelic.

TONE: Do you take input from the recipients of your creations?

Ammo:  All the time. I work with my friends to see the color pallete of their living space. I always get interesting vibes and inspirations. I did one pair of speakers to match a friend’s shoes, because he told me he would be putting his favorite pair of shoes on one of the speakers.

TONE: Better than the cat, eh?

Ammo:  Hahahah. Hey I’d color-match someone’s cat if someone asked!

TONE: This is certainly a great way to introduce people to hifi.

Ammo:  I think so, and it’s awesome to hear from clients how much more time they’re spending listening to music, which is amazing. I’m not really trying to be a product evangelist, and most of this gear is mass market to be sure, but it still sounds way better than an Alexa, or Sonos all in one.

TONE: And that’s still a major step forward, for all.

Ammo: Agreed!

So, if you’re looking for something way more interesting than an Alexa, drop Andy “Ammo” a note on Facebook, Instagram, or email directly at [email protected]. These are some incredible creations.

Sammy Hagar once said in a song, “There’s only one way to rock,” but after listening to the new Luxman L-509x, I beg to differ.

Luxman actually makes a full lineup of tube and transistor electronics (separates and integrated amplifiers), and should you take the solid-state path, they offer more options. Luxman makes a pair of Class-A integrated amplifiers (the L-550aXII and L-590aXII, with 20 watts per channel and 30 watts per channel into 8 ohms, respectively) and three Class-AB integrateds, all with about 100 – 120 watts per channel into 8 ohms.

This might seem counterintuitive to some, as both sets of amplifiers go from about $4,500 to almost $9,500. The specs look reasonably close, but the three Class-AB amps put out considerably more power into 4 ohms as you go up the range, suggesting bigger power supplies and more robust output stages. The L-509x you see here has a retail price of $9,495.

The fine details

A quick call to Luxman USA’s Jeff Sigmund confirms this, and the more we discuss this group of amplifiers that look nearly identical to a casual observer, are, in fact, very different beneath their outer case. Refinement and the ability to reveal more music with each model is how Luxman prefers to handle things. Core engineering and circuit design are very similar. Still, Sigmund goes into detail explaining to me that (as suspected), the bigger models have bigger power supplies, with bigger power transformers and more power supply storage capacitance. That alone makes for more dynamic range and a lower noise floor. Still, every other aspect of the circuits is also more refined, with tighter tolerance components throughout, more component matching, and more output devices in the power amplifier section.

Finally, if you look closer, the fine details in the casework improve in the top models of the series, with the L-509x having the same machined casework as the flagship separates. Giving away the conclusion, all of these amplifiers make a solid argument for going the integrated route. For all but the most finicky audiophiles, these are incredible amplifiers, the L-509x even more so.

The biggest problem you’ll have is deciding whether you want a high current Class-A amplifier or a Class-AB amplifier. Having listened to the L-509x for some time and owning the last generation L-590aX (the one that got away), this will be a tough call for some, and an easy decision for others. If your speakers are slightly less efficient and you like to listen louder than most, the 509x may be your only choice. Assuming you’ve made that choice, let’s move on.

Further functionality

The L-509x borrows heavily from the design of the C-900u preamplifier, featuring the same LECUA 1000 volume control. Luxman refers to it as the “Luxman Electrically Controlled Ultimate Attenuator,” bringing a level of control and precise volume adjustment to the mix, along with the same ODNF amplification technology. You can read a little more about that here on the Luxman website. All of the controls and the tone controls – this is a Luxman, after all, feel damped, heavy, and luxurious. The casework is exquisitely finished, with a bead-blasted, clear anodized finish. The other telltale sign that this is Luxman’s flagship integrated amplifier are the white LED power output meters, where the Class A amplifiers have yellow meters, and the other Class AB amplifiers feature blue meters.

In addition to the polarizing (for some) tone controls, the L-509x has a bevy of other cool and useful features. The onboard headphone amp is excellent – some personal listening with the top of the line Focal Utopia phones and the latest Dianas from Abyss confirm its performance on par with any external headphone amplifier in the $1,500 – $2,000 range. The L-509x has more than enough performance for all but the most fanatical headphone users.

The built-in MM/MC phono stage lists a sensitivity of .3mv with a 100-ohm load, which should suffice for a relatively wide range of premium phono cartridges. Mating it with our reference Luxman PD-171A turntable and Kiseki Purple Heart cartridge, which works splendidly at 100-ohm loading, proves to be an excellent match. The only complaint here is that at nearly 10k, it would have been nice to have a few loading options – not everyone has a cartridge optimized for 100 ohms. A 50, 200, and 500-ohm setting accessible from the front panel would be the last 2% of perfection on the L-509x, especially at almost ten grand.

Finally, in addition to four line-level RCA inputs, there are two balanced XLR inputs, a tape/record loop, pre in/main out jacks, and a pair of speaker outputs (switchable from the front panel.) Nothing else is left to chance, making the L-509x incredibly versatile.

Less talk, more rock

Listening begins in our living room with the second from Focal’s flagship – the $149k/pair Stella Utopia EM speakers. Combining 120 watts per channel, speakers that feature 94db/1-watt sensitivity, and UFO’s version of the classic Robin Trower track “Too Rolling Stoned” proves beyond a doubt that this amplifier can really rock. The power meters are barely moving, and the big Focals are already at loud party levels, with no sense of strain at all.

Staying in the classic guitar rock groove, Led Zeppelin’s first two albums are played from vinyl, and again show off the sheer dynamic capability this integrated possesses. It’s always tough to remember how everything sounds, putting the Luxman 900 series separates in perspective, the L-509x is similar tonally.

For argument and sake of reference point, if you were to put Boulder amplifiers (and we still had the 1100 series here for comparison) as straight-up natural at 12 o’clock – adding nor subtracting nothing, with no sense of added tonal saturation, our reference Pass XS Pre/XA 200.8 is probably at about 10:30. With going to the left a bit on the warm/saturated side. The Luxman 900 series was about 11:30, with our tube references the PrimaLuna EVO 400 and VAC i170 coming in at about  9:00 and 9:30. I’d put the recent Esoteric integrated about 12:30 – slightly to the cold side, and the last few Simaudio amplifiers we’ve reviewed about 1:00 – even more clinical. The L-509x, like it’s larger separates has that same touch of warmth/saturation, without being slow or non-resolving. I wish I would have had the ability to listen to them both side-by-side and suspect that the L-509x comes very, very close to the 900 series in terms of sonic performance.

Of course, the separates have more flexibility and refinement. The 900 series amplifier can be bridged and used as a monoblock in case you crave even more power – another plus. Since my two main reference speakers are reasonably sensitive, I could easily live with the L-509x as a system anchor, and not long for anything else. Anyone wanting the finesse of top range separates, not wanting to be bothered with the complexity required by separates, should have the L-509x at the top of their list. This amplifier gives little away in sheer musicality to the Luxman separates unless you have terribly inefficient speakers, or really need to raise the roof in your listening room.

A quick speaker swap to the Sonus faber Stradiveris reveals the same level of nuance, control, and natural tonality that the Focals do, with the personality of each speaker intact. There’s definitely some overlap in the voicing of the L509x and the Class A amplifiers. Looking at how much power this amplifier draws from the line when idling (about 140 watts, going up to almost 400 at full power), suggesting the L-509x might be pretty heavily biased into Class A mode at low to modest power.

Listening to bass-heavy material, the L-509x offers excellent weight and grip, underlining it’s outstanding dynamic capabilities. This amplifier provides an equally extended and resolute top end to match. Perhaps the bigger agony is not choosing between the L-509x and separates, but between the L-590aXII Class A amplifier and the L-509x. The former has more sheer dynamic drive, yet the class A amplifier slightly sweeter and possessing a touch more inner detail – a hallmark of the class A design.

So in the end, there is more than one way to rock.

www.luxmanamerica.com

Rotel has been a manufacturer of fine audio gear for decades now, always offering maximum value at a reasonable price. Today, they have joined forces with Sumiko Audio to strengthen their distribution channel. For those not familiar, they have also added a new, premium line – MICHI to their offerings.

Senior management at Sumiko, Rotel and McIntosh Group answered a few of my burning questions about the new partnership, which was announced at 10 a.m. EST today.

TA:  How did this new venture come about? Who approached who, or was this a mutual meeting of the minds?

R/S: Rotel and Sumiko came together because of people. Daren Orth, CTO Rotel, and Jeff Poggi, CEO Sumiko, got to know each other through industry friends. The idea of distributing Rotel by Sumiko emerged naturally as we got to know each other and realize that we shared a common vision. The products, dedication, culture and passion are perfectly aligned. The nearly 60 year of Rotel heritage supported with an array of Audio, Custom Installation and Home Theater products was a natural extension to the Sumiko offerings including Sonus faber, Pro-ject, Sumkio Cartridges and Bassocontinuo.

TA: Was this as a result of the general decline in what’s been happening with Bowers & Wilkins? (i.e. the huge layoffs there)? Rotel mentions an alliance with B&W that goes back decades, will this now be a new chapter in their history?

R/S:  The new Rotel / Sumkio relationship will indeed be a new chapter in the history of both businesses. Sumiko spent 2019 moving their office from Berkeley, CA to Maple Grove, MN and the warehouse to Buffalo, NY. Coming into 2020, the new Sumiko staff was running at full speed with a new ERP system, faster order processing, improved on-time delivery, and more engaging marketing communications. Sumiko was ready to take on a new brand and Rotel was a very complementary brand to add to our distribution portfolio. Rotel has long been recognized as a leader in the audio market for both build quality and value. Rotel is sold through Magnolia, select specialty retailers, and CI dealers. These are the three key channels for Sumiko today. So, it was a very nice fit. The timing of the Rotel / Sumiko venture allows both brands to execute on their collective visions extending service and support to the existing network of dealers and consumers.

TA: Is this partnership/association an attempt at making the Rotel lineup a way to expand the current offerings of McIntosh group to existing dealers? (I think it’s outstanding, because the current brands are at the higher end of the high end, so this is a great way to become “part of the family” so to speak)

R/S:  Rotel’s portfolio of hi-performance 2-channel and home theater products are a perfect complement to the McIntosh Group’s family of brands. For the most part, Rotel’s price points allow us to have a high quality, lower priced offering in all electronic categories – amplifiers, pre-amps, integrated amps, and home theater processors/AVRs. This is complementary to both McIntosh and Sonus faber. And, the addition of the new MICHI by Rotel product line allows us to give dealers a unique exclusive product offering to help them differentiate their assortment. We hope that our dealers will appreciate the increased selection that we have to offer.

TA:  Will that also be a way for dealers to dovetail with the current Sonus faber in-wall and custom offerings?

R/S:  Absolutely. Sonus faber and Rotel custom installation models are well aligned to support this growing category and perfectly matched with respect to price/performance. The acoustic innovations of the Sonus faber in-wall speakers connected with Rotel multi-room and home-theater installations will build on the value of both brands and products.

TA:  Will Rotel be sold on the same sales floors as McIntosh? Considering McIntosh offering some great gear that’s more affordable, the new Michi product is a stunning value in approachable, true high-end gear.

R/S:  Ultimately, we believe that the most successful Dealers love the brands that they sell. We want each dealer to be a strong brand ambassador for our brands. Our strategy is to work individually with each dealer to determine which brands are best for them. We will customize our approach to support the dealer’s strategy.  We will inherit a portfolio of existing Rotel dealers to start on June 1. Many of these dealers already sell McIntosh and/or Sonus faber. Others may sell Pro-ject and/or Sumiko Phono Cartridges. And, some of the dealers are new to Sumiko. So, we have nice mix to build from.

TA:  Will Michi dealers be an exclusive arrangement and sold in a different environment than standard Rotel gear?

R/S:  We are very excited to have the opportunity to build the Michi product line in the US. The Michi products offer a new performance/price position for Rotel and allows Dealers the ability to have a unique product offering to differentiate their business. We plan to sell the Michi products through an exclusive channel of specialty dealers within the Sumiko Rotel dealer network.

TA:  Are the Michi products built in Japan or China?

R/S:  Michi products are built in a dedicated factory-in-factory in the Rotel’s 100,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Zhuhai, China. All Michi staff have been trained and certified for Michi assembly, testing and service ensuring the highest standards of build quality and performance.

This looks like a very exciting time for all parties concerned, stay tuned. We currently have the new Michi preamplifier and stereo power amplifier in for review, and if we’re going on first impressions, this pair is stunning. The S5 and P5 will grace the cover of issue 103 and be our feature story.

www.sumikoaudio.net

www.rotel.com

Do any of you remember the famous Dr. Seuss story Green Eggs and Ham? It’s about a guy who doesn’t want to eat green eggs and ham, no matter what. “Not on a boat, not on a goat,” he says.

But Sam keeps pestering him, all the way through to the end of the story, his boundless enthusiasm, finally getting the man to cave in and try them. Much to his surprise, he loves green eggs and ham. That’s kind of how it is convincing some audio enthusiasts to try an upgraded power cord.

Power cords are always a point of contention, and often one of the last things I suggest to improve your system. Notice the word system. If you look at your audio system with a holistic approach, no aspect should be ignored. Even audio buddies that take the “power comes from a hundred miles away, so the last 6 feet don’t matter” perspective have been able to hear the sonic differences in a power cord. I share the opposing view that the power coming from your wall is like a giant well that you tap into, flawed or not. So improved power cords and power conditioning is more like putting a PUR water filter on the end of the water spout on the kitchen sink.

I suggest upgrading your cables close to last, and concentrate on the other system parameters first. If you have a turntable, make sure it’s perfectly level and set up to the best of your ability. Then, spend a good day, or at least an afternoon on speaker setup. Once you’ve moved the hour hand, you can move the minute hand. As cable changes tend to be more subtle, the more your system can resolve, the easier it will be to hear the changes a cable or power cord makes.

Finally, if you can afford it, especially if you are running stock power cords – try and replace them all at once if you can. This is a lot easier when you only have a couple of components, and the power cords in question don’t cost a zillion dollars. Which brings us to the Core Power Diamond power cord we have here. Even the most die-hard anti-cable audiophiles I know, usually cave, when swapping between a pair of stock power cords on an integrated amp and DAC, to something better.

As I only had one Diamond to work with, I used it with integrated amplifiers from VAC, PrimaLuna, Octave, McIntosh, and Luxman. All reasonably high current draw components, and with a little help, was able to make some pretty quick swaps between the stock power cord and the CPDPC (as it will be called from here on in…). A 6-foot power cord will set you back $1,000, but they are currently running a COVID-19 discount – $599. Nice. Check their website for quantity pricing and longer lengths.

The results were uniformly good with both the solid-state and tube amps: bass tightened up a bit, along with a modest increase in soundstage depth and width, along with an improvement in top-end smoothness. The change on the top end was more noticeable with the three tube amplifiers than it was with the solid-state choices. Fortunately, this cord offers enough of a delta, that you shouldn’t be freaking out with expectation bias, wondering if there is a difference.

Swapping cables often requires time beyond the initial switch to “settle in,” and the CPDPC is no exception. After the initial switch, about an hour into the listening sessions, the music presented took another click towards the more relaxing/less fatiguing side of the equation.

Tracking through acoustic and sparsely miked vocal selections quickly reveals the newfound ease delivered with the CPDPC. As I’ve experienced with other power cords, I’m sure if I’d had three on hand to replace the one in the Gold Note CD player and phonostage, the effect would be more pronounced. To cheat this a little bit, I used our Core Power 1200w power conditioner (with the CPDPC as the cord from the AC line to the conditioner) to cheat a bit and again, heard decent improvement. There is an unmistakable clarity that the CPDPC brings to the overall sound, and it’s even easier to hear the difference swapping back to a stock power cord after you’ve been listening to familiar tracks for a while. An edge comes back that wasn’t there before.

The CPDPC is very well made, with premium Furutech connectors on both ends and a robust cable in between. Packing is nice, but not overdone to the point that you’ll feel like you paid way too much for a fancy box.

As with every other power cord I’ve tried, this is not a component change that will whack you on the side of the head with a bat, like swapping speakers will. However, if you’ve done your homework, and optimized your system, a couple of these power cords will add an additional level of clarity to your system.

In keeping with the current world situation, I commend Core Power for offering a major deal at a time like this to keep you all rocking. I suspect that if you audition one in your system, with familiar music, you’ll want to keep it. We’re keeping the review sample and purchasing a few more. Happy listening, whether you’re on a boat, a goat, or a couch.

www.corepowertechav.com

Now that we are well into our 16th year of publication, it seems apparent that there are still some in the audience that don’t fully understand what we do, why we do it, and what sets us somewhat apart. Now is as good a time to clarify as ever, eh? Many of you have been reading us since the early days, so I’m guessing you like our approach enough to stay. And for that, I thank you very much.

However, there is still the occasional snarkiness lurking, and just as in today’s world situation, claims get made, no matter how unfounded they might be. You might even go as far as to call it “fake news.” Without trying to offend anyone, I’ve never bought into the concept of fake news, I’ve always seen every news outlet as having somewhat of a slant or bias. We’re human beings, and no matter how much we might try to be 100% objective, it creeps in because for better or for worse, we nearly always put things into context-based upon our experience.

Filtering

So, when I read about world events, I try to digest multiple sources, perform a mental Venn diagram, see where the overlap is, and draw the best conclusion I can. If possible, thanks to the large group of people I’ve managed to get to know here, I get on the phone and call someone. An event in the UK (or any other place) may look one way in our news, yet to people that live there often have a completely different spin. Boots on the ground get the message across.

I feel that audio reviews are the same. No one review will give you a complete insight into a product, because we are all coming from a different place, with different hot buttons, and of course, different biases. Or shall we say, priorities? Most audio reviewers are just like you – audio enthusiasts, mega audio enthusiasts. Often the difference between you and us is that we’ve spent more time listening to a broader range of products than you have, and the hope is that our additional experience will add insight. At least that’s my hope.

When I was on the other side of the desk, I was a very avid consumer of high-end audio products, as any of my long time friends will attest. But that was a different time when dealers could afford to let you take a lot of things home for the weekend to test drive. Still, that was nothing compared to the gear I’ve had the privilege to listen to in my tenure at TONE. We can argue that aural memory is fleeting. I think that if you pull most of the veteran reviewers aside, they will all agree that most manufacturers have a unique enough voice to their products that they have a general knowledge bank in their heads. Quads sound different than MartinLogan, though they are both ESL speakers, and they both sound different than a pair of Magnepans, though they are all dipole radiating panel speakers. And so on.

Need the info

I’m guessing you probably have similar biases, which is why you prefer tubes over solid-state, mini-monitors over floorstanders, metal dome tweeters over soft dome tweeters, etc., etc., etc. That kind of thing. That’s what makes this pursuit of assembling a satisfying music system so exciting and frustrating at the same time. You can’t be everywhere, you can’t go to all the HiFi shows, and you can’t take everything home for the weekend.

So, you probably lean on a mixture of reviews, FB groups, internet boards, and such. What I see as the problem with the latter two, is that it usually devolves into a pissing match with people looking for validation on what they own. The Magnepan person tells you that Magnepans are the best because that’s what they own. And to them, they are. Just as the person who has a pair of single-driver speakers and a 2A3 amplifier will tell you that their approach is the one correct route to nirvana. Finally, it all just turns into a shouting contest, with gnashing of teeth and everyone going away mad. Even more today amid our current crisis, when tempers flare, and nerves are pretty raw to begin with.

Exploring audio gear was supposed to be what made audio fun.

Again I hope that you can gain some insight from all of us. The overlap is where it’s at. The other reviewers all have their unique perspective to offer, but you have to dig a little deeper to find out where their biases lie. Sometimes they will even tell you, which helps, but if you read any reviewer long enough, you get a feel for what excites them, as well as what the limitations of their systems and rooms are. You even find out what their musical tastes are – which may help or may lead you further off the track.

Lew Johnson of Conrad-Johnson once told me to “pick 25 tracks you hate to evaluate gear because when you’re done, you’ll hate them.” For those of you that know what I’m talking about, there is a secret society of audio professionals that absolutely HATE that damn Jennifer Warnes song about the horse. But it’s a tool.

 It’s hard to get excited about an audio component, or put it in perspective if the tracks described throughout the copy have no meaning to you. Thankfully, streaming music now makes it much easier to listen to whatever a particular reviewer is using to evaluate a component.

But at the end of the day, it’s genuinely about the overlap. While I do not suggest buying a component strictly on a review (mine or anyone else’s), it helps to read as much as you can. I think it’s a safe bet that when a product gets a concise review here and elsewhere, it’s worth your time to investigate. Again, the current world situation has increased the degree of difficulty in this case.

Our approach

While we are occasionally criticized for not writing “negative reviews,” whenever I’ve suggested to a manufacturer at a HiFi show that we should start that trend with their product, they always back down. Interesting.

In today’s market, I don’t feel that any of the major companies, or for that matter, even the second-string companies are making rubbish anymore. With the advent of the internet and death by audio forum, bad news travels faster than ever, and if you are a company that builds inferior products, offers dreadful customer service, or both, your days are numbered. And your death will come much faster than me or anyone else writing a negative review. This is where the forums and FB pages can come in handy when researching a purchase. 

If a disproportionate number of end-users are reporting similar failures or consistent bad service, this may be a product to avoid. A reviewer has no way of knowing the answer to that question.

I like to joke that everyone can usually have a great time on vacation. Everyone is happy with their HiFi purchase until something breaks. How a dealer or manufacturer handles things when it all goes pear-shaped is another matter entirely. Sooner or later, nearly everything breaks. That said, I have worked with manufacturers that I have never had a failure with, but that’s an article for another day. When a manufacturer or their supporting dealer gets you sorted out and back to listening to music quickly and painlessly, that’s a big plus – and you can’t get that from a review.

Where a number of the automotive magazines do “long term tests,” keeping a car for a year to see how maintenance is performed, what breaks, and how much it cost to repair, most audio gear does not fail in the short period it is here for review. We have had a few things that have either arrived destroyed (no fault of the mfr) or have failed repeatedly during the review period, but those products have not made it to the completion of the review process. And to be fair, this has only happened a few times in nearly 1700 product reviews.

You’re super busy, and I get it

This leads to the core of our approach. My goal from the beginning with TONE was to be like a great concierge in a great hotel. Not to be “Mr. Know It-All of Hi?Fi.” I’ll let you in on a little secret, no one is. There are thousands of you and a few of us. Collectively, you will always know more. A great concierge listens to their guests, building their knowledge base on feedback received. More than once, our readers have led us to products we didn’t know about.

So, I’ve always felt our job is to help you make a shortlist. When you get into a hotel at 7 pm, tired from traveling all day, and you just want a good steak – now, and you want your clothes pressed in time for your 8:30 meeting tomorrow morning, that person behind the desk handles it. You don’t want to be bothered with 20 Yelp reviews (with at least three of them negative) you want to be taken care of.

That’s how I see my personal responsibility to both you and the audio industry. Need a great tube preamp with balanced inputs in the $5k-$8k range? We’ll help you find it. Need a pair of tube friendly monitor speakers that will work great in a 13 x 15 room, custom color a bonus? Got you covered.

In the context of TONE, writing a disparaging review, wastes everyone’s time, and that means in addition to finding great products for you to put on your list, I have to seek out crappy products to bash. Is that helping anyone?

What makes our process a little different

Nearly all TONE reviews begin with us vetting the products we’re interested in, rather than getting random products and being surprised. We don’t have enough hours in the day. If that’s truly the approach you want, we are not your HiFi magazine.

I’ve always felt our job is to describe a product thoroughly enough, that YOU can decide to put it on your shortlist. Many times our reviews lack the “conclusion” paragraph in most other reviews. That’s on purpose, and it’s a tribute to your intelligence. If we’ve done our job correctly, you will draw the conclusion yourself. Isn’t that the best conclusion?

This is why we always have a clear photo of the rear panel. How many inputs are there? Balanced, RCA, or? Usually a shot of the remote control too. It’s those little things. We always try to use a pair of speakers with a wide range of amplifiers, from low power SET to high power solid state. The other way around for amplifiers. The Magnepan or ESL owner is always going to want to know if it will drive “their speakers.” So we keep a pair of each on hand, specifically for this purpose.

Once the overall sound character of a component is identified and agreed upon (somewhere on the scale of warm, through neutral, to somewhat bright/forward) and put in the context of speakers, cables, and associated components, our focus turns to functionality. We feel how something will integrate into your environment and system can often be the deciding factor. We once reviewed an incredible, $60,000 phonostage that only had one input and no gain/loading adjustments. This isn’t a fit for everyone, but for the handful of people that are looking for just that, it’s a perfect choice.

A nine-watt SET amplifier, no matter how glorious it sounds, isn’t going to drive a lot of speakers. A mini-monitor with flawless midrange, won’t play techno music, a luscious moving coil cartridge with only .15mv output won’t work with all phono preamplifiers. And so on. This is why we take the shortlist approach.

We also try our best to determine if said review components are easy or tough to set up because you all have different skill (and patience) levels. I feel this is often overlooked in product reviews of all types, and can often lead to hifi frustration. I’ve heard many systems not give their all because of lack of setup, not component shortcomings.

See where I’m going with this? It’s neither my job nor my responsibility to make the ultimate decision for you. My job is to help you weed through the jungle of the myriad of products out there. No matter what you buy, there will always be something different, or perhaps that reveals more music than the component you just purchased. That’s why you rarely see the B-word (“the best”) in our pages. Someone always has infinity plus one.

You may or may not know that I photograph every component that graces the pages of TONE. I spent my last life as an advertising photographer and then as a fine art photographer creating high-quality images in the automotive world for years.

 I enjoy photographing the gear almost as much as I do listening to it.

The bigger picture is that I listen to every single component that has been in this magazine. It has helped to give me a broader knowledge base, but it has also helped add that “additional listening” section that you often see in our reviews. Not everyone on the staff has ten phono cartridges at their disposal, or a range of amplifiers, cables, etc. Knowing how a component sounds when it leaves to head to one of our reviewers makes it that much easier to read their copy, and fill in those blanks at the end if they’ve missed something due to lack of additional associated components.

The last link in the chain

Our job would be so much easier if we could visit your house, size up your room, system and music collection – making suggestions that we think could help you build a system, or get to the next level of audio performance. In a pandemic free world, that would be your dealers’ job, and this is why we’ve been running the “dealers that mean business” section at the back of the magazine.

 This part of TONE is a free service to you and those dealers listed. There are a few dealer ads in the magazine, but the DMB section is no cost to those dealers. They are all establishments that we have visited personally, have attended events at, and talked to their customers about the level of service received. Some of these dealers I have even purchased components from over the years. In short, these are dealers I would spend my money with, and get my endorsement.

A final bit of clarity

If you’ve read this far, thank you. This has been a long “blog” post, but I hope it helps clarify how we operate. We’ve received a lot of wonderful emails and phone calls, along with some great in-person chats with you over the years, and precious few nastygrams. 

If we’ve helped make the path a little less confusing, and helped lead you to a satisfying audio experience, then we’ve done our job. That’s always been our goal.

And throughout this wacky time, I hope we can continue to be a useful resource for those of you that read our pages.

Almost two months into this, the local and global landscape has certainly changed.

I’m guessing that all of you have been touched by this now, one way or another. We’ve lost a couple of friends here, and have had a number of others go through the current virus and come out the other end in one piece. We’ve been talking to a lot of you, so keep the cards and letters coming.

We’re staying isolated, except for the occasional grocery store run. We’re midway through issue 102, which will concentrate on approachable speakers, and one of our favorite speakers, the new JBL L-100 Classics, just received a new set of blue grills, to change the mood up a bit.

Social media is rife with pictures of how you are all coping, and equally rife with hostility. Tempers are starting to fray. So, I’m hoping you can spend the weeks to come more on the “share ten records you love” side of the fence than the “quick angry mob” side of the fence.

While incendiary nasty-grams continue from the usual sources, the outpouring of email and FB messages, just to check up on us and see how we are doing, is truly appreciated. It’s been nice to hear from so many of you. Keep the cards and letters coming!

Over the years, the TONEAudio team enjoyed many opportunities to evaluate Focal speakers, including their stunning flagship Grande Utopia Evo, as well as the Stella Evo’s currently here on audition.

While Focal’s cost-no-object speakers offer a revelatory musical experience, most of us will never have the financial means to own a pair. Of course, Focal understands this reality and offers many other price-performance speaker options in their lineup. The Chora 806 bookshelf speakers we review here retail for $990 (plus optional stands, $290), demonstrating Focal’s commitment to offering high-quality and financially-friendly speakers. While these stand-mounters serve well as a stereo pair, those looking for a line of matched speakers for their home theater setup will find the Choras equally at home.

France’s Focal resides among a shortlist of manufacturers who design and build their speaker components in-house. Therefore, the Chora line benefits its listeners with trickle-down technology borrowed from more expensive speakers in Focal’s arsenal.

Like the 806’s floor-standing siblings, the stand-mounted Chora employs a one-inch aluminum-magnesium tweeter above a 6.5 inch (16.5cm) midrange. The driver cone uses Focal’s proprietary “Slatefiber” material combining recycled non-woven carbon fibers and a thermoplastic polymer. While non-conventional, the elements certainly deliver the sonic goods. A front port for bass reinforcement complements the midrange and tweeter. The port placement gives owners more speaker placement flexibility since the 806 can reside closer to a rear wall without bass over-emphasis.

The Chorus 806 is a hefty “bookshelf” speaker at 16.2 pounds (7.35kg). The utilitarian, modestly finished cabinets measure 8.25 inches wide by 10.5 inches deep by 17 inches in height (21x27x43cm). For more detail about the speaker specifications, check out Focal’s 806 spec sheet.

The Chorus line offers black, light wood and dark wood finishes to complement most décor. Prospective owners with young children will also appreciate the Chora line’s removable grille covering the woofer, plus the tweeter’s perforated metal armor to help deter small fingers.

Placement/Setup

To hone your speaker placement, Focal offers a mathematically-based positioning guide, which you can learn about in their incredibly well produced manual. As always, experiment in your room to determine what sounds best to you.

Once locked into an ideal location, the Choras can do an excellent job of three-dimensional projection. Using Stereophile’s Test CD’s “natural stereo imaging” track, the speakers do a terrific job keeping up with the recorded material – especially for boxes at a sub-$1k price point. As David Chesky circles an omnidirectional microphone in the recording space while beating a drum, sound travels in a similar lap around the listening space and projects to the far sides of the listener, and even behind the listening chair. For more traditional stereo recordings, the Chora 806 also does a great job of separating instruments across the front soundstage giving each element a defined presence.

The 806 employs an unusual binding post. Yes, it does serve to accommodate bare wire, banana, or spade terminated cables. Those using speaker wire with banana ends will need to find a thin bladed screwdriver to gently pry the covered caps off.

Even when driven by a modest classic 35-watt NAD 3020 integrated amplifier, the speakers come to life in remarkable ways. For a critical evaluation of the speakers, though, the usual upstream reference rig with a Conrad-Johnson ART150 amplifier lets the Choras sing to their full potential.

Rewards come to those who wait. Over a 24-hour break-in period, the 806’s sound evolves beneficially and settles into a smooth and well-balanced sonic presentation. The Chora’s voice is just a hint to the warm side of neutral. While they do offer substantial treble reproduction, they also avoid stridency and sibilance, as noted during Zero 7’s song “Distractions” that features Sia Furler’s powerful and beguiling vocals.

The 806’s voicing is a bit akin to being in the 10^th row of a concert hall. Some of the front-row details diminish, but the whole musical picture reaching the ears proves highly engaging. “This Mess We’re In” featuring PJ Harvey and Thom Yorke retains its goosebump potential. While the singers’ placements in the mix overlap front-and-center during the chorus, they remain well-articulated and separated perceptually. Instruments including strings, horns, piano, and percussion render with a substantial degree of separation and realism too.

The 806 is also forgiving. Older tracks like “Sugar Man” by Sixto Rogriguez are fun to hear despite the original recording’s limitations. Even the worst-recorded song I love, “Hi Babe” by the Ngozi Family, sings forth with a surprisingly compelling nature.

For those who like to rock, Rage Against the Machine’s “Bombtrack” proves revelatory too. Given the small cabinet size, low-frequency roll-off is inevitable. However, the Focals do a great job reproducing and articulating bass notes above 60 Hz or so. That said, expect punch, not slam, from the 806.

The Chora 806’s soundstaging capability, complementing their marvelous sonic reproduction, offers an immersive experience generally associated with speakers costing much more. The Chora 806 speakers provide an open and emotionally-engaging window to the music. Moving up the Focal line gets a prospective owner more detail, increased realism, deeper bass, and much more aesthetically-appealing cabinets. Track after track, though, I remained impressed with the 806’s capability.

Summing up

Focal Chora 806 speakers offer wonderful sound and build quality at a very reasonable price point. If you have a $1,000 budget for speakers, the 806 is an excellent choice. For those who desire heartier and deeper bass reinforcement than a stand-mounted speaker can offer, the floor standing iterations in the Chora line — or the addition of a subwoofer — will help satiate that thirst. Either way, you can’t go wrong. The 806 can easily anchor a budget-friendly system now and rise to the challenge as other upstream components come and go over time.

Additional Listening: Jeff Dorgay

While many grouse about flagship loudspeakers, the Focal Chora is a perfect example of vertical manufacturing done right. There are precious few manufacturers left in the world that make their own cabinets and drivers – Focal is one of the select few. Because they make everything in-house, they can put so much more value into a thousand dollar pair of speakers than a company that has to outsource everything.

This is why the Choras are such a great deal. With Focal’s Stella Utopia Ems playing in my living room, it’s easy to see (hear, actually) just how much Utopia DNA is present in the Choras. Granted these speakers do not have the adjustments, or the sexy, curvy cabinets of the Utopias, but the same people that design, manufacture and assemble the top range Utopia speakers build the Choras with the same materials.

There’s a level of sonic sophistication present in the Choras that is absent in most other speakers at this price point. The Focal “house sound,” if you will, is one of resolving detail without being harsh. Rob’s assessment is spot on, and comparing the $1,000/pair Choras to the $150k/pair Stellas, it’s amazing at how much of that house sound still comes right through, especially when listening to music slightly less dynamic, or a little lacking in super low bass information.

These are incredible speakers for someone just getting into the hifi game, and more than worthy of one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2020.

www.focalnaimamerica.com

In case you haven’t heard the news, we lost one of the industry’s finest writers today.

Unfortunately, Stereophile’s Art Dudley is no more. When I heard the news just a few days ago that he was having problems with cancer that had returned, I had hoped he was going to be ok and had no idea that he was having issues with cancer in the first place. But that was Art, never one to trouble you with that kind of thing. No Go Fund Me page, no posts on social media, looking for sympathy – he just carried on.

While I would love to wax poetic about what great friends Art and I were, we weren’t. We always chatted at the various shows he attended – which wasn’t many because Art hated to fly. A few years ago, I was shocked to see him at the Munich show, but he just laughed and said he had mustered up the courage to go.

That really sums up Art Dudley on one level. He was always understated and always a perfect gentleman. Along with Jonathan Halpern (of TONE Imports, no relation to us), Art and I had put on a seminar about the “Virtues of Vintage Audio” at the New York show eight or nine years ago and had a blast doing it. The room was standing room only, with attendees spilling out into the hall. If you are a Stereophile reader, you know how much Art loved Quads, SET amps, tubes, and his beloved Thorens TD-124 turntables.

After that, we had even chatted about doing a book together, but alas, we were both too damn busy. I sincerely regret not following up on that, because I’m sure I would have learned so much from him. But we always joked about it in the halls.

What made Art such a great writer – one of the best, if not the best in the world of audio reporting, was that his motivation was pure. He lived and breathed this stuff. It was in his soul. And this is what made his articles so enjoyable, whether you agreed with him or not. It always felt like you were right there in the room living it with him – a goal that all of us that write about audio should aspire to. His articles were always a near perfect balance of reporting and telling a story without making it all about him. A good friend of mine compared him to another favorite journalist from the automotive world – Peter Egan. An excellent and worthy comparison.

Even though we were never great friends, I will miss Art tremendously, and always remember him fondly. My sincere regret is that we never did get to be good friends. I think we would have had a lot of laughs together.

Power conditioning products can be deceptive. With most, you hear a modest to dramatic reduction in background noise initially and the excitement builds.

More often than not, when the initial purchase excitement subsides and you listen to a wider range of music something sounds amiss and it’s usually dynamics and musical nuance. Those “inky, black backgrounds” that everyone is buzzing about usually comes at a cost. Different, not better. Pretty soon, you plug your system back into the wall and notice that those lost dynamics are back.

With the Duet, Clarus has eliminated the main problem surrounding many of the power conditioning products out there, building a conditioner with sufficient dynamic range. The massive 30 amp, C-Core inductor at the heart of the Duet offers enough reserve to keep up with large, monoblock power amplifiers and high powered subwoofers. Fortunately, I’ve always got a number of these around, so this was an easy test.

Spoiler alert: The Duet does a fantastic job and exceeds expectation. And it does so at the very reasonable cost of $1,250 each.

These somewhat small power conditioners are deceptive, as soon as you pick them up, they feel a lot heavier than you might think this box would weigh. The layout is simple, with a high quality duplex outlet on the top panel and a 15A IEC socket on the rear face. Aimed at the monoblock power amplifier customer because of its high-current capability, it’s also the perfect choice for anyone using a system built around a single source and high powered integrated amplifier. If you’re just running a DAC and integrated amp, or phono stage and integrated, the Duet is perfect, having more than enough capacity.

You’re gonna want the cables too

Dynamics and musical nuance rely heavily on current capability and delivery. Anything getting in the way of that process, stifles transients and slows things down. The more dynamic ability your system has, the more you will notice this effect. To that end, Clarus offers their Crimson High-Current power cables, at $1,720 each. (6 foot length) Those that can keep their Duet(s) closer to the wall outlet can opt for the 3 foot version, which drops the price substantially to $1,020 each.

You either subscribe to the theory that power has come all this way to your house, and the last few feet of cable doesn’t matter, or the theory that power is a gigantic well, that you tap into to power your system – and everything matters. If you are in the former camp, you’re probably not even reading this review. I’ve always chosen the latter view, which is why I’ve always embraced having clean power for my system. However, it’s always been the fight of eliminating distortion and artifacts from the power line, versus dynamics. Forced to choose, I’ll take the dynamic freedom, which is why so many power products have fallen by the wayside in the 16 years we’ve been around. The reason you’ve seen so few reviews on power products in TONE hasn’t been for lack of investigation, we just haven’t heard many great ones.

The Duet/Crimson combination does a fantastic job, and at reasonable cost. If it makes budgetary sense, I suggest thinking of the Duet conditioner and Crimson High Current power cord as a system onto itself. The Duet works well solo, offering a substantial improvement over having nothing in the system, but when you add the cord to the mix, the window on your music is open all the way.

Breaking them out, the Duet still offers a substantial improvement in all the musical attributes mentioned, but the Crimson cord takes it all the way. If you can only move on the Duet for now, adding the cord later makes a clear upgrade path.

The test subjects

Putting this quartet of Clarus products to the test, we installed them in one system with the PrimaLuna EVO 400 vacuum tube monoblocks, the Audio Research REF160M vacuum tube monoblocks, the Nagra Classic solid-state monoblocks and a vintage pair of Pass Labs Aleph monoblocks. Each combination yielded similar improvements in low level clarity, lower noise floor and lack of dynamic restriction. However, like nearly every other tube powered amplifier tested, both of the tube amplifiers seemed to have a greater delta in noise floor reduction than the solid state alternatives. This has been very consistent with all of the good power conditioners we’ve tried when connected to tube electronics.

Playing to the dynamic range of all the mono amplifiers tried, the Duets were each plugged into dedicated 20 amp circuits, so they would not be compromised by the power available to them, and connected via the Crimson power cords, with Cardas receptacles. I take this stuff seriously!

More often than not, if a power conditioner passes all the other tests, when pushed hard, in a high power situation, it brings a compression effect not unlike a solid-state amplifier featuring a soft clipping feature. Dynamic peaks when played at high volume merely lose their impact, and the sound field starts to collapse in all three directions, much like a digital recording that’s been normalized. I’m happy to report the Duet scores a perfect ten here, exhibiting none of these problems. A true test of dynamics.

The other

Fortunately, we still had the REL 212SE subwoofers on hand, as well as a pair of their newest S/510s in the living room system, so this offered an additional confirmation on Clarus’ claims. Plugging your subwoofer into a Duet (or Duets, if you have multiple subs) offers a different, yet equally exciting improvement. Called upon to usually work from about 60hz on down, it’s tough to hear a reduction in noise floor.

The improvement here, is strictly in speed and texture. Every single one of the subs we tried, even down to entry level REL and Paradigm subs (both under $1000) offered the same qualitatitve improvement. You’ve probably got your favorite bass heavy tracks, and the funkier the bass line, the more you’ll hear what the Duet brings to the presentation. It’s easier to hear fingers plucking and slamming bass strings, and it becomes easier to hear the different cabinets that bass players use, instead of just hearing one-note bass.

Wait for it

Like so many other products of this ilk, you will notice a lower noise floor immediately. Using the Duet/Crimson combination provides an effect much like listening to a favorite musical selection in 16/44 resolution, and then immediately hearing it again in 24/96, and going right back. There’s a sense of space in the high resolution, with an accompanying ease that the standard resolution track simply does not have. And, then it’s tough to go back.

Playing a long list of drum and percussion heavy tracks, selections that really tax a power amplifier make it a lot easier to hear what the Duet/Crimson bring to the presentation. The leading and trailing edges of transients are now reproduced with far less effort. From a psychoacoustic sense, there’s much less fatigue, and having the Duet/Crimson in the loop makes it that much easier to relax, engage the music, and forget you are listening to components. That’s what makes this product worth the asking price. This level of clarity is something you can’t get another way.

For all the audiophiles carrying on about the importance of source components, I submit that starting with clean, distortion free power is the ultimate attention to the source. No matter how massive the filter capacitors in your power amplifier are, they aren’t cleaning it all up.

Cost/benefit analysis

It’s always hard to make a value judgement for you. However, in the context of a $10k – $30k system, a pair of Duets moves the scale more than far enough to feel like a great value. The Duet probably offers 75% of the improvement, with the cords adding the rest. Considering how much power these are capable of passing through, it’s not the worst idea to install a couple of premium power outlets to go with your Duets, just so you are getting everything they are capable of delivering.

The Clarus Duet power conditioner(s) are one of the best performing I’ve heard at any price, doing no harm to the musical content and revealing more music than your system is capable of without them in place. Deceptively simple, this is no easy feat. That they do this for $1,250 each, makes them highly worthy of one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2020. I’m keeping this pair, so you’ll be seeing them as associated components going forward, permanently attached to our PrimaLuna EVO400 monoblocks.

www.clarus.com

Features

Old School:

Headphone Art:

The Audiophile Apartment:

Shanon Says:

Mine: It Should Be Yours

Music

Playlists:  We share our readers choices from around the world

Future Tense

Gear in our immediate future

Cover Feature:

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of Nagra products. I can’t hide that from you and keep a straight face. But the admiration is for a good reason – they make fantastic products. Having been to their factory several times now, the team at Nagra is a group dedicated to excellence in every aspect, from design through final build. And their heritage is second to none.

Some American customers bristle at the classic form factor of Nagra Classic components, but I love the simple, compact elegance they offer. Not everyone wants a massive rack of audio gear in their environment, but they still crave high sonic achievement – precisely who the Classic series is for. Those wanting even more performance and a more full-size chassis can step up to the HD series of components – considered some of the world’s absolute finest by recording engineers and audio reviewers the world over.

Just as I would rather have a 1988 Porsche Carerra instead of the new 991 model, I prefer the Classic Line. I like the more straightforward presentation. I love the way a small group of Nagra Classic components disappear in a room, instead of drawing attention to themselves. Yet when you do notice them, and move closer to inspect, the careful attention to every detail that makes a Nagra a Nagra becomes apparent. The smoothness of the controls, the perfection in the details of the casework, and of course, the famous Nagra Modulometer – homage to their decades of building pro gear and recorders lights up the quality center in your brain.

It gets even better when you play music.

Pairing the Classic Preamplifier initially with a Nagra Classic DAC, power supply, and a pair of Classic power amplifiers, operating in bridged mode, is a prodigious combination. Even though the HD series reveals still more music. The Classic line should not be mistaken as “entry-level.” This group of components in place of my standard reference stack of Pass and dCS gear is incredibly musical and does a fantastic job in every sense of the imagination. But for now, we are merely talking about the preamplifier.

The Classic Preamplifier tips the price scale at $17,900. You can add the Nagra VFS base ($2,000) and the Classic PSU power supply ($11,000) to take the performance of the Classic Preamplifier to an even higher level. The PSU power supply does add a greater degree of musicality, with more dynamics, increased bass slam, and definition. It also generates a larger, more three-dimensional soundfield, but it is costly if you own only one Nagra Classic component. This upgrade may not be for everyone. Should you have the tube DAC the power supply is required, and there is an additional output for a Classic Preamplifier and a Nagra VPS two-input phono stage as well.

Powering a single component may be tough to justify, but the power supply is a bargain if you have all three components or plan on adding them soon. For the rest of this review, we will concentrate on the Classic Preamplifier as a standalone component -with the VFS (but without the power supply.) I feel the VFS base makes enough of an improvement in noise floor and focus that it is essential to getting the most out of your Classic. As with nearly every vacuum tube component we’ve reviewed, vibration control platforms/devices usually show more effect with tube gear. Should you already possess a world-class rack, the VFS [ADS1] is not necessary, but it still looks fantastic and complements Nagra’s design ethos perfectly.

Road-tested functionality

For those not familiar with Nagra’s 70 years of experience in designing audio gear, primarily for the pro sound environment, this is where the form factor originates. Their recorders, like the Nagra III pictured here, feature a compact shape and the large, perfectly calibrated Modulometer – a Nagra trademark to keep levels accurate.

When Nagra began to design audio gear for the home environment, it made perfect sense to their engineers to keep things compact. The meter continues to be produced, and Nagras assembly team pays careful attention to their construction and calibration. Illustrated is the test bench where every piece of Nagra gear goes before heading out to you, with multiple, sophisticated checks along the assembly process.

The term “Swiss made” is often associated with the Swiss watchmaking industry. Still, every bit of meticulous detail that you would apply to any top Swiss watchmaker takes place inside the Nagra factory. It is clean, quiet, and highly organized. Walking through the factory as I have done a few times now, the vibe is calm, and the people building your Nagra are friendly but highly focused. This level of focused excellence is what gives Nagra components such a high level of mechanical and electrical quality. I’m sure that somewhere a Nagra component has failed, but in my 15 years of using Nagra components as reference pieces here at TONE, and among my friends that own them, no one I know has had a Nagra component fail.

This is a must if you are recording on location out on the edge of civilization, or capturing a legendary performance at the world-renowned Montreux Jazz Festival (where Nagra gear is used exclusively to record every performance.). The Nagra SN was used by NASA on later Apollo to capture those legendary events.  [ADS2] It is still a big bonus knowing that your home audio system will always be there to fulfill your musical desires.

New yet familiar

While the casework, layout and form factor will be familiar to those using the Nagra Jazz preamplifier, and if you happen to be stepping up from the earlier PL-L or PL-P preamplifier, you’ll note the inputs and outputs are now all on the rear panel. Again, the side inputs of the PL series are an homage to the pro side of Nagra, but the rear inputs certainly make it easier to integrate the Classic into a home system. Let it not be said that the Swiss are inflexible.

The rest of the inputs are also similar to Nagra’s past, as well as the other components in the Classic lineup. There is a switch for volume, an input selector and to the far right, a large dial that powers up the Classic Preamp, allowing it to be fully on, in standby, or by using the selection marked “R,” controlled by the handy (and equally compact) remote control. Somehow as easy to use as the remote is, I always find myself getting up to manually adjust volume just because I like the feel of Nagra gear. It is unique and like no other.

The Classic preamplifier has four sets of RCA inputs and a single set of XLRs, while the output has two sets of XLRs and one set of RCA. Either way, it should be more than enough for any system.

Around front, there is a small switch for XLR, RCA, or headphones. That’s right, headphones. Part of the increase in price from the Jazz is the built-in headphone amplifier, which is excellent in its own right. Spending a fair amount of time using the headphone jack with phones ranging from a pair of Grado SR60s all the way to the Focal Utopias, the verdict is top-notch. Some of the world’s finest (and most expensive) dedicated headphone amplifiers offer a little bit more resolution and dynamics, as they should. Still, the headphone amplifier in the Classic is outstanding.

Neutral in more ways than one

The overall sound of the Classic builds upon the evolution of the Jazz and the PL-L/P before it. This is still a three-tube design, with a pair of 12AU7s and a 12AX7, but the newest preamplifier is quieter, more dynamic, and more refined at both ends of the frequency spectrum. As we happen to have a Jazz here to make a comparison, the first thing that comes to mind is if you have a Jazz, you will definitely be able to experience more music with the Classic, but the flavor and voicing of your Jazz is nothing to hang your head over.

Listening to the opening track on St. Vincent’s Love This Giant, the big bass drum is more robust, more locked down with the Classic. Rolling through a long playlist of bass-heavy tracks, it’s easy to hear that there is more texture, life, and definition, along with a little more speed to the bass line. Nagra has done a lot to update the power supply in the Classic, so this makes perfect sense.

Switching to vocal tracks and music showing off the other end of the frequency scale, the same observations are made. Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Elish both come further out of the speakers, feeling more convincing and natural. Cymbals have more sheen, and the soundfield created by the Classic is larger in all dimensions. The Jazz feels a little small when you go back to it, but still very listenable. However, those asking the familiar “should I upgrade to the new box” question, I’d say that if it doesn’t cause any undue financial strain, it’s definitely a worthwhile upgrade. Sell your Jazz to a friend that isn’t versed in the way of Nagra yet!

Another aspect of the Classics performance that shouldn’t be overlooked is its compatibility with other amplifiers, tube, or solid-state. I made it a point to use about ten different amplifiers with the Classic, and there were no issues, and it’s neutral tonal balance carried through to reveal the signature of the power amplifier used. Even the RCA outputs had no problem driving a 25-foot pair of Cardas Clear cable between amp and pre.

I’m sure that Nagra people would love you to have an all-Nagra system, but we all start our journey somewhere. The Nagra Classic preamplifier works well with whatever components you choose to mate with it. Very Swiss Indeed.

The Nagra Classic Preamplifier

MSRP: $17,500

www.nagraaudio.com

Peripherals

Amplifier Nagra Classic

Digital Source Nagra Tube DAC

Analog Source GrandPrixAudio Parabolica Turntable/TriPlanar Arm Koetsu Jade Platinum

Speakers Focal Stella Utopia EM

Cable Cardas Clear, Tellurium Q Reference

We’ve always been bonkers about Rega’s (almost flagship, they also make the $50k Naiad) turntable, the P10. Building on what they started with the P9 over a decade ago, with it’s machined subplatjer and ceramic composite platter, the P10 is a piece of visual as well as analog fine art.

The refinement provided by every aspect of the table, from the power supply to the new white felt mat shows Rega has left nothing unexamined.

Our review sample is here, and equipped with the new Apheta 3 MC cartridge as well.

At $6,695 with cartridge installed, and the latest RB3000 tonearm, this promises to be exciting.

FACTORY SITE: http://www.rega.co.uk/planar-10.html

US Importer: http://www.soundorg.com

As somewhat of a self-imposed hermit anyway, I’m keeping my head down, staying out of the traffic pattern, and staying busy.

There’s plenty of work to do here, and we will continue to produce content at TONE as if things were back to what we used to consider normal. Our hope is to produce a bit more, in the hope that we can at least provide a minute of distraction here and there.

For those that are interested, we’ll be posting weekly to let you know what’s up and what we’re working on. I truly hope that you are all safe, sound, and out of harms way. Here’s to all the strength that you can muster right now. If we provide a little bit of distraction, that’s great. If you need to be alone and not think of music or hifi right now, we understand.

The new APL-10 preamplifier and AFM-25 monoblocks from Rivera Audio Labs continue to amaze. The ultimate in simplicity, this all tube preamp and hybrid (tube input stage, solid state, Class-A output stage) monoblocks are an excellent match with the 94db/1 watt Focal Stella Utopia Ems. Rounding out the system is the PSAudio Perfect Wave DAC, a Torus TOT line conditioner, and all cable from Cardas Audio.

The overall sound is very natural and open. As a big fan of Class-A amplifiers from Pass, Luxman (along with vintage Krell and Levinson) the Rivera amps have all of that in spades, yet the tube/hybrid design offers a bit more magic. 25 watts per channel won’t be enough for everyone, the other two Rivera amplifiers offer 50 wpc and 100, effectively. We’ll have a full review soon, but these are a true joy.

You can find out a little more here at Rivera Audio Labs…

And, their North American importer, TONE Imports (not affiliated with us, but it has a nice ring to it, eh?)

PS:  I understand that most of you probably have way bigger fish to fry right now, than worry about what your next hifi purchase is going to be, and that to just tell you to “Just take it easy and listen to music for the next few weeks” may not be much solace. So you won’t be getting that one from me.

So, take good care, and stay safe my friends.

Even though there is a wealth of streaming options available to music lovers, the CD is quietly making a bit of a comeback. Not everyone wants to be an IT person, and some really enjoy the simplicity of putting a disc in and pushing play. Not to mention, there are some great deals to be had in the used CD bins.

Over the last several years, vinyl’s comeback reinvigorated the love for turntables. Following on the footsteps of this old-school resurgence CDs are experiencing a surprise comeback too. Embracing this trend, Italy’s Gold Note seeks to bring together the best of CD playback and streaming into a single package with the CD-1000 player and DAC. Indeed, the CD-1000 performs admirably in extracting the most from CDs. However, it also features a USB input so the internal DAC can deliver double-duty in decoding high-resolution PCM files. While Gold Note player cannot decode SACD or DVD-A disks, DSD, or MQA files, listeners will enjoy its prowess with a vast majority of their music collection.

Behold gold

After unpacking the CD1000, it’s evident that Italy’s Gold Note puts a lot of effort into the aesthetics of their products to complement the equally-beautiful sound.

The player comes in a variety of finishes. In addition to the gold anodizing reflecting the company’s namesake, Gold Note offers black and silver options to match other downstream components. While some manufacturers anodize only the thick aluminum faceplate to save production cost, the CD-1000 surfaces all reflect the owner’s color choice. Atop the CD-1000, even the ventilation slits prove attractive. It also features a custom-made aluminum CD drawer rather than the cheap plastic ones used in most players. The unit’s heft also reflects serious build quality. The player weighs in at 33 pounds (15kg) with external dimensions of 17 inches wide, 14.75 inches deep, and 5.3 inches tall (430mm X 375mm X 135mm).

The front panel controls offer the expected options for a CD player. Eject, play/pause, track skipping or scanning, stop, and standby buttons integrate gracefully into the faceplate. A digital display showcases the CD track number and elapsed time. There is no button to choose the input selections, however. For that, one needs to use the included plastic remote control.

Owners have a choice of RCA or AES/EBU (XLR) analog outputs. They can also use the S/PDIF coax output to use the CD-1000 as a transport to an external DAC. However, it would take an exceptional DAC to expect an improvement over the one built into the Gold Note.

Input wise, those using the player as a standalone DAC can connect to it from other sources via Toslink, S/PDIF, or USB. Regardless of input choice, the player’s excellent Burr-Brown PCM1796 dual-mono chip takes the reins for decoding digital information.

Designed for upgrades

Gold Note employs a modular design for the CD player. While the internal dual-mono power supply does a marvelous job on its own, an owner can upgrade the player with a choice of two external Class A tube Output Stage Buffers, the TUBE-1012 taps the aid of twelve 6N1P triode tubes, while the smaller TUBE-1006 sibling uses six. Besides are also available two external inductive power supply the 9 transformers PSU-1250 and the 5 transformers PSU-1000.  According to Gold Note, either power supply bests the internal version. These upgrades don’t come cheap, retailing around $7,000 or $4,000, respectively for both TUBE and PSU. Adding that to the $5,000 cost of the player itself represents a substantial investment.

We’ll need to take Gold Note’s word for the sound improvements these power supplies offer since we did not have either on hand from which to base a comparison. For those CD-1000 owners who seek to unveil every sonic nuance from their CD-1000, the upgrade may prove worthwhile. CD-1000 owners who choose to go that route can acquire new-production Sovtek 6N1P tubes for about $12 each. Necessary re-tubing down the road won’t break the bank.

Listening

The Gold Note features a similar sonic voice, whether enjoying a CD or using the DAC for streamed content. However, CD playback is where it truly excels. The sound is exceptionally immersive and it’s easy to get swept up in the music rather than scrutinizing it.

The CD-1000 MkII digs out bass notes in a tight, defined, and concise way. Those who crave heavy bass emphasis may find the player’s voicing a touch polite for their taste. Low frequency, dub-steppy elements heard in Billie Eilish’s “you should see me in a crown” renders with ample punch, though. Listeners pairing the CD-1000 with preamps and amps that excel at low-frequency delivery may find the Gold Note an excellent match.

The Gold Note offers a beautiful midrange portrayal. Vocals seem to take a step toward the listener, exceeding the physical speaker placement. Similarly-impressive is the player’s broad and deep soundstage. Instruments sometimes offer a surprise by appearing to wrap around the edges of the listening space.

On the top end, high-frequency information translates with oodles of detail. The player retrieves nuances that help frame the ambiance around vocalists and various instruments. It layers them in the soundstage deftly. However, that marvelous capability is a double-edged sword at times. When mated with similarly-voiced downstream components, the DAC can introduce a touch of stridency. For example, “Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones comes with a bit of hard edge during her vocal crescendos. For sonic comparison between the DAC and CD functionality, we played the same track using the CD-1000MkII’s DAC only, and then the CD player. The Redbook CD playback sounded a little more rounded, even in comparison with a streamed 24-bit/192KHz native file.

I expect the power supply upgrades for the CD-1000 would enhance all the player’s strengths and diminish the few quibbles. Even without the upgrades though, the Gold Note’s voice is lovely and it’s easy to get immersed in rummaging through old CDs to see what the CD-1000 can extract from them. Those seeking more detail and “life” in their stereo system’s digital playback prowess may find the CD-1000 a great option.

Summing up

The Gold Note CD-100 MkII is an exceptional performer and a marvelous choice for those with an extensive CD collection. However, keep in mind that the player decodes streamed music too. Dividing that cost among the player and DAC capabilities justifies the future-proofed investment. Plus, Gold Note’s various power supplies give a prospective owner an upgrade path. If this review whets your appetite for a new CD player, be sure to audition a CD-1000 MkII and see if it’s the solution you’ve been seeking to complement your other system components.

Gold Note CD1000 MkII CD Player and DAC

MSRP:  $5,000

www.goldnote.it

PERIPHERALS

Digital Sources Roon Nucleus, Simaudio MOON 780D DAC, Oppo BDP-103, Synology DiskStation 415 Play, Tidal and Qobuz streaming services.

Amplification Conrad-Johnson ART150

Preamplification Coffman Labs G1-B

Speakers GamuT RS3i

Cables Jena Labs

Power Torus AVR 15 Plus, RSA Mongoose, and Cardas power cords

Accessories ASC tube traps, Cathedral Sound Room Dampening Panels, Mapleshade Samson audio racks, Coffman Labs Equipment Footers

In today’s world, and its accelerated pace, so few things are constant anymore. For this audio enthusiast, there is something soothing, about the big, blue meters that adorn nearly every component from McIntosh Laboratory, Inc.

They are an assurance of a number of things: quality – made in America quality, by a group of great people that have been doing this for decades. If you’re 40 or older, chances are some of these people made your parents McIntosh. If you’re my age, chances are some of these people made your Grandparent’s McIntosh. That’s longevity.

This generational thing with McIntosh also perpetuates a consistency in sound and aesthetic. The Mac you buy today will fit right in with the Mac gear you already own and work well, whether just recently purchased, or decades old. Finally, the sound. McIntosh has always stood for great sound, and over the years, their engineering team continues to refine their products for better sound and even better reliability. Other than a few exceptional legacy products (the MC30s immediately come to mind) today’s Mac sounds better than ever.

Our younger readers may remember their parents having a receiver. That ubiquitous audio box that did everything, handling all the formats back then; a turntable, a tape deck (or two) and a glorious FM tuning dial. Keeping with ongoing march of progress, McIntosh has replaced the tuning dial on their receivers of years past with a pair of those big, blue, awesome meters, adding a digital to analog converter that handles everything up to DSD 256.

They’ve also added a moving coil phono section to the phono stage, with its own separate input, so that you can actually run two turntables with your MAC7200 if you’re so inclined, along with an FM tuner for those of you that still have decent radio stations. And the MAC7200s built in tuner sounds lovely, just like vintage tuners from Mac’s past.

Is there anything the MAC7200 doesn’t do?

Not really, and now, it’s even a Roon tested device, so you can use it in the Roon streaming environment.

Where the MAC7200 shines, is it’s engaging, but ever so slightly relaxed tonal rendition. The MAC7200 has more than enough audiophile cred, yet those craving the last molecules of fine detail will probably go elsewhere. That’s not the point, and that’s never been the McIntosh ethos. What really makes the MAC7200 standout is the magic it brings to every recording you own. And for the other 99.99% of us that aren’t fussy audiophiles, this is what it’s all about.

Plenty of power

200 watts per channel assures you can drive anything with the MAC7200. This was the stuff of dreams back in the 70s when the war of the massive receivers reached its peak. Just to make sure I wasn’t just an old guy reminiscing, I managed to borrow a perfect vintage Pioneer SX-1980 (rated at 270 watts per channel) from a collector for an impromptu shootout. While the Mac did not have the tuning dial and tuning meters, it blew the vintage receiver out of the water in every way imaginable.

For those wondering why we might make this comparison, vintage Japanese receivers like the SX-1980 and the Marantz 2325 are starting to pass the $5,000 – $10,000 mark these days and they are 40 years old. Unless you absolutely have to have that cool 70s receiver, the $7,500 MAC7200 is a killer value and has a five-year warranty. Considering McIntosh’s reputation for build quality, and the fact that they still repair 40 – year old components at the factory, this is a major bargain. Not to mention, you’ll be able to hand the MAC7200 down to your kids in a couple of decades.

Utilizing the Autoformer technology that McIntosh has hung their hat on forever, the MAC7200 can drive even two-ohm speaker loads with ease. The output transformer keeps a constant load on the output stage, and the amplifier within comfortable parameters at all times. The result – consistent sound and better durability long term.

Most speakers will work well with the 4 or 8 ohm tap. We found the recent Sonus faber Guareris achieved optimum power transfer with the 4-ohm tap, while the Focal Sopra no.3s and Graham LS5/9s gave their best performance with the 8-ohm tap. Magnepan fans are going to appreciate that 2-ohm tap, making these speakers a lot easier to drive. Again, the MAC7200 offers crazy versatility.

Digital diversity, and no static at all

In addition to the plethora of digital inputs, the MAC7200 also features their proprietary MCT input, so those owning one of their current transports can hear their SACDs in full glory. Rather than converting to PCM, the direct DSD bitstream comes through. We didn’t have one of these for our review, but a few readers that own both pieces have reported it’s a pretty sweet combination.

Here in Portland we still have a few radio stations with decent programming and sound quality. If you are equally blessed, you’re going to appreciate the FM tuner section. Moving through the stations brings back great memories. Taking into account what a vintage Mac tuner hails these days, again you can have an entire system, that won’t need a refurb.

Should you need it, the MAC7200 even receives AM signals. Curiosity got the best of me, since I haven’t listened to AM in decades, going back to WOKY in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a kid. The pickings are sparse these days (at least in Portland) but again, the fidelity is exceptional, considering the limited bandwidth and frequency response the AM band allows.

Lacking the multiple band graphic equalizer of a few of the McIntosh preamplifiers, the bass and treble controls offered on the MAC7200 are still more than welcome, with recordings new and old. Some recordings just sound flat, and if you can get out of the audiophile box, it’s amazing what goosing the bass or treble a touch does for your listening session. Again, McIntosh is the master of flexibility.

Satisfies your inner DJ

Whether you have a turntable with two tonearms, or are rocking a pair of Technics 1200s, the ability to connect more than one table is a major bonus for hard core vinyl lovers. Having the new Technics SL1200G (with Ortofon Cadenza Bronze MC mounted) and a 1200GR sporting a classic Shure M44, I was able to put the MAC7200s phonostage through all of its paces.

The phono section in the MAC7200 is top notch, which led to stepping up the phono game somewhat. Sticking with a known American classic just felt right, so A VPI Prime with with Kieseki Purple Heart cartridge proves the MAC7200’s phonostage is of serious quality. It possesses more than enough resolution to discern a major difference between budget and serious cartridges, so you can grow with it as your vinyl enthusiasm increases. Its super quiet output along with 50, 100, 200, 400, and 1k Ohm loading on the MC side, with 60db of gain puts all but the lowest output cartridges at your disposal.

If you want a single box solution that does nearly everything, the McIntosh MAC7200 is certainly one of our favorite choices. Whether this is your first Mac, or one in a line of many, you’re going to dig this one. McIntosh has produced a new classic.

The McIntosh MAC7200 Reciever

$7,500

www.mcintoshlabs.com

Not wanting to waste the first half of the review with a history lesson, we’ll keep it short and to the point. It’s important to tell you why a product is worth the asking price, rather than leaving it to an unanswered question at the end of the review. So just a little bit about Bryston for those of you that aren’t familiar is an important part of their back story.

Bryston components are hand made in Canada to pro audio standards, and that’s not a bad thing. They are one of the few companies that sell in both arenas, and both camps benefit. The pro-audio customer gets additional value from Bryston’s audiophile side, making for fantastic sound, used in studios around the world, while the audiophile users benefit from rock-solid reliability.

Ever had a friend with a Bryston amp complain about it being broken? Me neither, and I’ve been buying hifi gear for a long time. Bryston offers the best warranty in the business because they make incredibly dependable products, and that’s a huge part of the value proposition here, especially when you’re thinking about buying a $25,000 pair of monoblocks. You can look at them as a lifetime investment, or if you’re a fickle audiophile, they will work flawlessly for the next three owners. But once you get to 1000 watt per channel monoblocks, where do you go?

Let’s get the clichés out of the way

All of the well-worn audiophile clichés apply to the 28B Cubed monoblocks. So, we’ll skip that, eh? In addition to the high reliability/build quality of these fairly dense amplifiers (they weigh 90 lbs. each, but feel heavier, thanks to their compact form), it’s all about the power.

Many audio enthusiasts subscribe to the first watt theory, that if the first watt of power doesn’t sound great, the next 999 don’t matter. To a certain point, that is true, but once that goal is achieved, to really feel like you are living the music instead of just listening to it, a vast power reserve is vital to feeling there.

While you may listen at low volumes, even when doing so, and with small speakers, I might add (in this case the excellent Falcon LS3/5as) the added level of control and dynamics offered by this amplifier rule the day. All too often, we think of dynamics as the ability to handle large, quick musical transients. I maintain that the ebb is just as important as the flow, and the 28B Cubed amplifiers have a fantastic ability to fade back to zero just as quickly as they can accelerate to 100%. This ability to breathe, if you will, is what allows you to hear fingers slide across a guitar fretboard and feel the textural difference when you listen to Stanley Clarke (or whoever your favorite bass players are) go from acoustic bass to an electric. Small amplifiers just can’t do this as easily.

The colossal power supply in each one of the 28B Cubed chassis offers up a level of dynamics and control that very few amplifiers can match. This level of effortlessness brings yet another level of clarity to your system’s presentation. For the internet pundits claiming that the source is everything and that power doesn’t matter, I think a day with the big Bryston monos will make them believers.

Power is good

In the course of this review, I made it a point to use the 28Bs with about a dozen different pairs of speakers. The Falcons, a pair of ProAc Tablettes, the ever-popular KEF LS-50, and even my old Spica TC-50s got pressed into service. Every one of them delivered better performances than they ever have, with more bass offered up than I ever dreamed any of these tiny contenders were able to provide. If you’ve ever noticed, clever speaker manufacturers with the “best sound at shows” often use massive amplifiers in their rooms, even with small speakers and low volume levels.

Moving up the range, a couple of torturous, tough to drive speakers were brought into play: the Quad 2812s, some vintage Acoustats, and some Magnepans all were driven with ease. Extreme ease, actually. It might seem to go past what you know, but more often than not, I’ve achieved much bigger, broader sound with ESLs usually thought of as just needing a polite, little tube amp with a giant solid-state amplifier. It’s that devil control again because ESLs are pretty much like hooking your amp up to a big capacitor and calling it a day. That bottomless power supply inside the Bryston amplifiers is rock solid and unaffected by any of this. I must admit, though, that because the 28Bs were so clean in their presentation, I was a little scared I might just melt the Quads into a puddle. Fortunately, no speakers were harmed in the production of this review.

Finally, pairing the Bryston monos with the Focal Sopra 3s, the Focal Stella Utopia EM, and my Sonus faber Stradivaris proves these amplifiers are worthy in the highest of high-end systems too. A couple of status-oriented audio buddies were shocked to know that these amplifiers were “only” 25 thousand dollars a pair, so it’s all relative. Seriously, putting the 28Bs into a system with some top-shelf gear proves they are more than worthy.

Down to the sound

Everyone likes a different sound or tuning on their system. If your taste falls more to the overly warm, ultra-romantic sound of certain tube amplifiers, the Brystons will probably not be your cup of awesomeness. Those liking a neutral/natural tonal balance to one only a few clicks to the warm/romantic/tonally saturated side can quickly achieve that. Bryston’s flagship preamplifier or any number of others offering that voice will work wonders. Again, if you’d like a bit of warmth combined with the massive power and low-frequency control, this too is easy to accomplish with the 28Bs.

These are fully balanced amplifiers, yet they offer single-ended RCA inputs as well. I had an ample slice of heaven using a vintage (yet updated) Conrad-Johnson PV12 preamplifier, an equal helping of loveliness with my reference Pass XS Pre (slightly warm), and just as nice, but different rendering with the new Boulder 1166 preamplifier. (spot-on neutral, much like the Bryston gear).

Thanks to their natural character, they will be an excellent match with a wide range of tastes. And, you’ll never be hunting tubes down on a weekend when you want to get some serious listening done. Turn your 28Bs on and just enjoy.

Whatever music you enjoy will be reproduced faithfully with the 28Bs. Their vast power reserves make them equally adept at capturing the full-scale dynamics of the heaviest metal band, or the biggest orchestra at your fingertips. Their sheer nimble speed will appeal to those that enjoy acoustic instruments, and vocal performances. There was nothing we found lacking, or less than enjoyable, though again I must admit playing some of my favorite rock, hip – hop, and EDM tracks are so much fun with these amplifiers. Their massive power reserves bring this music more to life than modestly powered amplifiers can.

You don’t realize just how awesome these amplifiers are until you go back to your favorite 60 watt per channel amp. It just feels small. For everyone that’s said you need big speakers to play music on a big scale, you need big amps too. And these are some pretty damn cool amps.

I haven’t mentioned it up till now, but for my music-loving friends that enjoy achieving concert hall sound pressure levels, you will not be disappointed with these amplifiers in the least. Because they can produce so much power, with such tremendous ease, I highly suggest getting a sound pressure meter or app for your phone. Unlike those distorted amps you hear in a live concert performance, the Brystons are so clean you might finding yourself inching that volume control up, up, up to the point of hurting yourself. You’ve been warned.

Even when listening to my favorite live rock recordings, I couldn’t make these amplifiers clip, and if you have even modestly sensitive speakers, your hearing will give out before they do. One final warning, with this much power at your disposal, be sure that if you aren’t using a Bryston preamplifier, that yours does not make any kind of transient pops, etc., should you turn it off first. This much power will harm your speakers. Always be sure to shut the 28Bs off first if you are using a tube preamplifier to avoid problems.

Setup, break-in and such

Other than lifting your 28Bs into place, they are incredibly easy to use and operate. With 15A AC inputs, you should be able to plug them in anywhere. The rear panel claims that they draw 1790 watts at full power, so those who like to really rock should think about dedicated lines. To that effect, while we could never make these amplifiers clip, when they were both plugged into a single 15A AC line, we were able to take the circuit breaker out at the wall.

We suggest having dedicated 15A lines for your 28Bs, and if you’re starting from scratch, a pair of 20A lines isn’t a bad idea. All of our testing, aside from the initial investigation was done with dedicated 20A power lines for each monoblock. While not a huge difference, the dedicated lines to offer that last bit of ease that these amplifiers are capable of delivering.

The 28Bs come out of the box sounding great, and after a couple of days fare even better. I suspect this is just as much due to thermal stabilization as it is “component break-in.” I am a true believer in this phenomenon; however, it seems to be a more profound thing with tube amplifiers possessing a large number of giant Teflon capacitors. None of that is going on here to impede your progress, so you can enjoy your 28Bs straight away. Because they are class AB amplifiers, they do not get terribly warm either, another plus.

Finally, the 28Bs are available with 17 inch or 19-inch front panels, in silver or black. I love the silver, and it’s worth calling attention to the fantastic job Bryston has done in the machine work on these cubed amplifiers. It’s a tremendous aesthetic combination – paying homage to the massive power contained within, yet not overdone in the least. The only decision is whether to get the front handles or not. They look great without, yet are so much easier to handle with, and both models have the rear mounted handles.

Honestly, that’s the biggest decision you face. When we did our initial look at the 28B Cubed monoblocks last year, we gave them one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2019. Yes, $25k is not an idle purchase, but you won’t find a $100k pair of amplifiers that best these. Considering the build quality, Bryston’s dedication to their customers and dealer network, and the top-level performance, if that doesn’t say exceptional value, I don’t know what does. These amplifiers were an absolute pleasure to use.

The Bryston 28B Cubed Monoblocks
$25,000/pair

www.bryston.com

Peripherals

Preamplifier Pass Labs XSPre

Digital Source dCS Vivaldi One

Analog Source GrandPrixAudio Parabolica Turntable/TriPlanar Arm Koetsu Jade Platinum

Speakers Sonus faber Stradivari (35th anniv. edition), six pack REL no. 25 subwoofers

Cable Cardas Clear, Tellurium Q Reference

Bill Conrad and Lew Johnson have worked together for over 40 years, consistently producing products which represent a high level of sonic performance for the dollar.

At the same time, they’ve pushed the boundaries in tube audio design, investing countless hours of engineering experiments, testing, and tweaking before releasing new components. Their amplifiers and preamplifiers have won numerous awards over the years and the company has a very loyal following.

TONEAudio has reviewed many C-J amps over the years, including both of their recent solid-state designs, the MF2275SE and the MF2550SE; fantastic amplifiers in their own right. Our publisher has owned numerous C-J products and makes no bones about being a fan of the marque. Among their latest tube amplifier iterations is the Classic Sixty Two Special Edition (CL62SE), an evolution of the previous Classic Sixty SE (CL60SE) released nearly a decade ago. And like the CL60, there is a standard and SE version, with the latter featuring upgraded components and in particular a full compliment of CJD Teflon capacitors in critical circuit areas.

The Classic series is aimed solidly at those wanting to experience the magic of vacuum tubes at a more accessible price point than their top of the line ART components. While C-J considers the Classic line entry level, for me it reflects an important benchmark for great sonics. Still rated at 60 watts per channel as the CL60, lessons learned from the ART power amplifiers have trickled down to the Classic series.

Rated at 60 watts per channel as the name implies, the CL62SE reviewed here represents an evolution of the circuitry found in its older brother the CL60SE. Despite the numerical designation, I dare say it is more than two better. Conrad-Johnson went through the amp design with a fine-toothed comb, seeking out anything which could benefit from an upgrade. Some trickle-down technology from their latest flagship ART amplifier encouraged a few key differences in the new CL62SE. Among other changes like the use of metal foil resistors, the tube complement shifted slightly. The CL60SE utilizes four KT120 output tubes, along with a pair of 6922 variants, and a single 6189. In the newer CL62SE design, the 6189 is replaced with another 6922.

Appearance

As with many C-J products, the amp retains the classic gold color and a humble, boxy form factor. The hefty transformers rise from the rear of the base, with the tubes residing up front. A vented, black powder coated cage surrounds the tubes to avoid inadvertent skin contact. Those tubes get hot indeed! However, if you do not have children or pets who may be drawn to the tantalizing tubes while you are not there to supervise, it is fun to remove the cage and watch the subtle glow unobstructed. The CL62SE front offers a toggle switch for power, and a small red LED to indicate power up. It is rather apropos, though, since something called the Classic Sixty Two should take on a classic, minimalist form factor, right?

Similar to the front-facing appearance of the amp, the rear panel layout remains equally spartan. Two single-ended inputs accept the connection from a preamp, and a single pair of metal 5-way binding posts get a tight grip on speaker cables. As a tube amp, there is no “standby” power mode as seen in many solid-state designs. Controlled by the switch on the front, the 62 is either on or off. Saving tube life is a good thing, however. With power applied, the amp needs about 30 minutes of warm-up time to sound its best. If you listen to morning music like I do, make the amp your first stop after getting out of bed. Two cups of coffee later, you are ready to rock.

Setup and tube bias

Unlike a solid-state amp prepared for use right out of the box, the CL62SE takes a bit of extra setup due to the tube complement. First off, you will need a long, standard screwdriver to remove the protective grille and gain access to the tube sockets. With the cage removed, the second order of business is unpacking all the valves and loading them firmly into the correct sockets.

The final step is biasing the tubes using the included plastic screwdriver. Biasing serves two purposes: First, it ensures the tubes are adjusted to deliver equal power into the left and right channels. Secondly, it helps increase the life of the tubesby setting them at the point where they are accomplishing their role in kicking all the needed electrons to the internalplates, but not going beyond that required call of duty. Each tube has a finite number of electrons to move, so conserving the stream encourages valve longevity. According to the CL62SE manual, a tube complement should last at least two years if used as directed, but as the saying goes, “your mileage may vary”.  Often the tubes last longer, especially when the owner takes care to shut down the amp when not in use.

C-J makes the biasing process surprisingly simple. After power up, four small red LEDs next to the four KT120s indicate each valve’s bias status. If the light is on, the biasing screw next to it needs to be twisted counter-clockwise a bit – just barely enough to turn off the LED. Conversely, if the LED next to each tube is off already, an owner will want to double-check them. Twist the biasing screw clockwise until the LED turns on, then reverse direction very slowly until the LED turns off.  C-J recommends this process be repeated after about 30 minutes of use, and maybe every six months after that. Down the road, when new valves join the amp, the process must be completed again. C-J notes that after biasing is complete, LEDs may flicker just a bit when the amp is in heavy use driving speakers. I did not notice that during my time with the CL62SE, but don’t worry if you encounter it.

After the 62’s requisite warm-up period, with volume all the way down, I put an ear to each speaker to get a sense of background noise and tube hiss. As it turns out, it is hard to distinguish any. One can hear the pings and ticks of the tubesduring warm up, but after that process, the C-J is nearly silent – even more so than most solid-state designs I have experienced.

Listening

Admittedly, I have never owned a tube amp and always appreciated the simple nature and bass heft of a great solid-state amp coupled with a tube preamp. Unfortunately for my wallet, I may now be a convert.

Listening to music interpreted by the CL62SE, there are two characteristics which stand out immediately. First, the soundstage of this amp not only extends to the far left and right of the speakers. It also widens well above and behind the speakers – and accomplishes a trick I have heard with few amps – extends the sound stage well in front of the speakers toward the listening seat.

The CL62SE regularly pushed musical elements so far to the left and right of the soundstage, my ears perked from the unexpected, but very welcome, experience. Yes, there are plenty of amps out there that have a wide soundstage, but this C-J generated one of the most expansive and immersive ones experienced in my listening space.

The second surprise in sonics is the way the 62 portrays instruments and vocals. There is not only a very transparent and organic ease to the music, each musical element is exceptionally well defined, even in a very crowded soundstage which overlaps instruments and vocals. Indeed, vocal performances have a level of detail and palpability making them eerily real. Ambient cues, “air”, and sparkle around various musical instruments compounds the miraculous illusion, floating around the room with ease and grace. I had not expected the magnitude of these characteristics and found myself listening for hours to favorite albums. Sometimes, the subtleties make all the difference.

Despite the extreme level of detail, revelation, and a very energetic presentation, there is no stridency to the sound. Soprano vocals, horns, cymbals and other musical elements can have the potential to spark the eardrums. The C-J pours forth all the detail, but without nasty artifacts that sometimes accompany it. This beguiling nature will glue you to the listening seat longer than you might realize.

My concerns about limited, mushy bass quelled quickly as well. The 62 offers quite a bit of muscle despite its modest power rating. Deep bass notes rendered with taught accuracy pour out in a very natural way. Solid state amps can truly excel in the delivery of tight, weighty, and low bass reproduction. Moreover, there is something highly satisfying about punchy bass when one just wants to rock! After re-adjusting my ears to the tubed 62, I did not miss it though. Forget ideas of old-school tube designs with mushy bass and overly-romanticized sound. The 62SE is proof to the contrary. Those listeners who enjoy power over nuance may still prefer a solid-state design, but they are likely to be surprised at what the CL62SE is capable. Despite the “Classic” name, this tube amp is a clear result of modern engineering.

Conclusions

If it is not apparent by now, let me say it plainly. The Classic Sixty Two SE is a stellar amp. Conrad-Johnson’s “entry level” tube amp represents a pinnacle of value at its $5,750 MSRP. If you need more power, C-J offers the CL120SE monoblock version. For those with a tight budget, the standard version of the CL62 sells for $4,250, offering much of the SE sonic prowess.

If this amplifier investment is within your budget, those audio fans who love tube gear – and even those who prefer solid state – should make a point of visiting their local Conrad-Johnson dealer to hear the Classic Sixty Two for themselves. Yes, tube amps do take a little more nurturing over their lifetime, and new valves are needed periodically. C-J offers a full set of replacement tubes for about $500. However, a CL62SE owner will be rewarded in spades for that minimal level of maintenance.

Conrad-Johnson Classic Sixty Two SE Amplifier

MSRP: $ 5,750 (SE version)  $4,250 (Standard version)

www.conradjohnson.com

Breezing through George Benson’s “This Masquerade,” via the Focal Utopia, Audeze LCD-2, and Abyss Diana Phi phones, (thanks to three headphone outlets on the front panel of the Luxman P-750u) it’s easy to make quick comparisons.

It’s even easier to get lost in the clarity that these premium phones produce via this incredible headphone amplifier. A lot of talk goes on when setting speakers up in a room, with one of the main goals being to make them disappear in the room. Achieving a VTA setting that is close to perfection with a tonearm and cartridge makes the turntable get out of the way of the reproduction chain and let the music flow. A great audio system, set up to the best of its potential goes a long way to help you concentrate on the music and forget about the gear. At least if that is the experience you are predisposed to.

If you are a music lover that enjoys not thinking about your gear, I hope you will agree that a great headphone system is the same way. Even the finest headphones played through a mediocre or overly colored headphone amplifier still feel like you do have cans on your head. A high quality headphone amplifier makes it easy to forget you are wearing headphones, and the Luxman P-750u is one of the best.

Sans cans (and tubes)

We’ve had the good fortune to listen to a lot of great headphone amplifiers from a number of manufacturers over the last year or two. Many high-performance audio enthusiasts are enthralled with vinyl, but the upper end of personal listening has grown as much, if not more. Five years ago we had precious few four figure (and even five figure) headphones or amplifiers – today it’s commonplace.

Luxman’s P-750u goes out the door for $4,995. By no means inexpensive, but nothing like some of the examples we’ve seen. Much like their class-A integrated amplifiers, the overall sound is slightly saturated tonally, very dynamic and extremely quiet. The P-750u is all solid-state, so in addition to being silent, you will never have to chase or roll tubes. Considering that a number of the world’s finest headphone amplifiers feature tubes, factoring never having to replace tubes makes the P-750u an even better long-term value proposition. If you listen to your headphones a lot during the day, this can get costly in a hurry.

Thanks in part to the massive power supply and resulting current reserve, the sheer dynamic ability of the P-750u not only goes a long way to make your favorite phones disappear, it does so with a wider range of phones than anything we’ve yet taken for a test drive.

If you’ve ever been at a hifi dealer or show, where they’ve used a massive power amplifier to drive relatively inexpensive speakers (with tremendous result) the P-750u performs the same miracle. Connecting my vintage Grado SR60s is a revelation through the P-750u – they sound like $1,500 phones now, and the big Grados have lost their harshness. This adds a degree of versatility to your headphone choices that few amplifiers offer.

Powerful feature set

You can get all the fine details and specs from the Luxman site here:

http://luxman.com/product/detail.php?id=7

However, the P-750us ability to drive any headphones you can connect really makes this headphone amplifier a pleasure to use. With your choice of a standard ¼-inch output jack, a stereo balanced output, and individual L/R balanced outputs and three sensitivity settings, it’s a breeze to completely tailor the amp to your phones. Much like trying multiple output taps on a tube power amplifier, if you have the cables, give balanced a try to your standard phones, you might be surprised.

Around back, there are two sets of balanced XLR inputs and one set of RCA inputs too, so you can easily connect a DAC, phono stage and maybe a tape deck. This leads to the only complaint with the P-750u – at this price, a set of variable level outputs would be incredibly nice so that it could be used as a two-channel linestage too. That might make it easier to justify the cost to some buyers, and is becoming more and more popular in higher end headphone amplifiers.

Especially considering how much of the standard design and build features that go into Luxman’s top components are all present here, from the huge power supplies, premium individual components and the fine casework. And it begs being mentioned again to those unfamiliar with Luxman components – even the packaging is fantastic. This amplifier is built and boxed with extreme care.

Casework is typical Luxman, with the best front panel screen printing in the industry, combined with a level of machining that would be right at home on a fine wristwatch. Even the cast iron feet on the bottom of the chassis are produced with the same level of excellence, as is the inside of the chassis. This is industrial art at its finest.

More listening please

The P-750u is almost hallucinogenic in its delivery of musical information, yet not overdone. Whether sitting at a desk working, or lounging, the soundfield generated is large in all three dimensions and comes the closest to sounding like a pair of great monitors somewhat nearfield as anything I’ve yet used. A few of the top (i.e. 5-figure) headphone amplifiers have painted larger pictures, but it’s always felt unrealistic. If you’ve ever had the chance to experience a pair of the 9 foot tall Sound Labs electrostatic speakers, it’s incredible, but the sense of scale is overblown. The Luxman amp gets it just right, and the wider range of other headphone amps you’ve heard, the more you’ll appreciate this one.

A similar experience is had with vocal heavy tracks. Often, even with the finest headphone amplifiers, certain vocal tracks can sound as if the singer is performing right inside the middle of your head, instead of sounding in the middle of your speakers. This was another area that the P-750u really excelled at: preserving the sense of scale and placement of vocalists within the soundfield.

The beauty of this amplifier is in the details, the fine details to be exact. Listening to whatever your favorite bass heavy tracks are, the extension offered, combined with a level of LF texture that you won’t notice until you go back to what you were listening to, is uncannily good. And the top end presentation is detailed, refined, and controlled. The Grado P2000s and the Utopia phones both can get strident with the wrong amplifier, yet the lack of harshness through the P-750u is the best I’ve heard on these phones.

Best of the best

Much as I despise that word, especially in the context of reviewing gear, the Luxman P-750u is one of the finest headphone amplifiers I’ve had the pleasure to experience. It reveals as much music as any of the five figure amplifiers we’ve auditioned here, and for most that would be more than enough. When you add the versatility and level of sheer craftsmanship to the mix, it’s easy to see why this one is such a favorite.

www.luxmanamerica.com

A well-integrated subwoofer is genuinely a thing of sonic beauty and functionality.

Because subwoofers tend to be somewhat imposing, the toughest part of having one (or more) is where to put them. To complicate the issue, a subwoofer often must fit in a less than optimal place, which can make getting excellent bass response more difficult.

JL Audio has always used subwoofers powered by massive amplifiers along with a highly effective DSP system (D.A.R.O. – Digital Automatic Room Optimization) that goes a long way at eliminating the peaks and valleys in low-frequency response. I’ve used JL subwoofers in a variety of systems over the years, all with excellent results, and often find them the magic bullet when placement options are limited.

One of my favorite JL products has been their Fathom IWS (In-wall subwoofer) because it lets you hide a high-quality subwoofer completely. Whether in the context of a two-channel or multichannel theater system, this can be the difference between having a full-range system and not.

The ICS only uses an 8-inch driver, but it is every bit a Fathom product. The spec sheet says it is down 3dB at 24.6 Hz, but for the intended audience and those listening to main speakers that will probably struggle to go to 40hz, you’ll be amazed at just how capable the ICS is.

One step beyond

Their latest product, the ICS – you guessed it, “in-ceiling subwoofer,” can now hide in your ceiling, between 2 x 6-inch ceiling joists (from 16 to 25 ½ inch centers) and with its tiny grille, hide anywhere. Just like JL Audio’s IWS, the ICS hides perfectly. Using a smaller 8-inch driver and accompanying 300-watt amplifier, you can purchase a single or double pair of ICS woofer enclosures to hide in your ceiling. Where the larger IWS is fairly expensive, the ICS has a modest price of $2,300. Remember, this is the woofer, enclosure, amplifier, crossover, and DSP.

If by chance, you are doing new construction, this couldn’t be any easier. Tell the framers where you want the enclosure(s) to go. Otherwise, you’re going to have to do a bit of surgery, so access to your listening room’s ceiling will determine how difficult this will be. I live in a small mid-century house with a plank ceiling, so for this review, I built a temporary enclosure for living room evaluation, that was fit to the ceiling, yet removable. Both bathrooms in my house have lowered, wallboard ceilings, but I got a hard “no” for installing a bathroom system. Sometimes, the best of plans, eh?

Unless your walls utilize 2 x 6 construction, you must mount the ICS in the ceiling, as the enclosure is 5.13 inches thick. Ironically the final resting place for the ICS here has been in my garage, which does have 2 x 6 wall studs, and my vintage pair of JBL L-100s powered by a stack of Nakamichi 600 components was begging for more bass. Changing a timing belt goes a lot faster when you have great sound. However, JL informs us during the fact check of this review that they also offer an In-Wall version, the IWS-108 for standard 2×4 wall construction. Great news for those of you that can’t fit the Fathom IWS into your room or budget.

Quick setup

Unlike a standard enclosure based JL subwoofer, where you spend a fair amount with static room placement and then attend to the DSP, the majority of the work is installing and finishing the ICS. Once complete, a speaker cable runs from the amplifier to the speaker enclosure, and in this case, I purchased some bulk speaker cable from Cardas Audio. It seemed a shame to use a component of this quality and connect it with lamp cord quality wire. In order to take the measurements you need to fully fine-tune the ICS to your room, you will need to purchase one of JL Audio’s calibrated mics to plug in the front panel. One of these will set you back about $100.

Getting audio to your ICS can be done via single-ended RCA line-level connections from your preamplifier, or high-level inputs from your main speakers. Both work well, and it’s nice that JL has included high-level inputs to offer more system flexibility and integration.

Once connected, running the DSP through its paces with a calibrated microphone (available separately) goes pretty quickly. Be sure to optimize for where you will do the majority of your listening, and you’re ready. It was a little tougher to pick a spot in the garage, because of the concrete floor, but the DSP came through with flying colors. I even did an optimization for hood up listening! And I wouldn’t mind a second one for listening with the garage door open…

Bring on the bass

There’s just no going back once you’ve heard a properly implemented subwoofer, and one that physically disappears along with great integration is fantastic. I never had the feeling bass was coming from a “hole in the ceiling,” so that aspect of the ICS is a major success.

In the house, the ICS was used as part of 2.1 system in our living room with a pair of Dynaudio Special 40s and the new JBL L-100 Classics as the main speakers. Giving it a go in our bedroom system in a 5.1 system with a full complement of Dali Fazon speakers also worked brilliantly.

Starting with the fast, plucky guitar style of Michael Hedges, from his Aerial Boundaries album, the ICS immediately impresses, with its ability to keep up with the main speakers effortlessly. On to a long playlist of hip hop, and electronica tracks confirm the audiophile pedigree that is part of every JL product. A barrage of heavy rock tracks reminds me that JL has also been a dominating force in car/boat audio as well. This sub definitely delivers the goods.

Giving it an easy run through with the recent Jakob Dylan piece on life in Laurel Canyon, the ICS performs as well with movies as it does with music and has the necessary range to capture explosions and such that permeate today’s modern action movies as well.

Quite the limit

The overall performance of the JL ICS is impressive on every level. It provides powerful bass response, great musicality, and can rock the house when necessary. And for those with smaller living quarters, that can’t make the space for a larger JL product; the ICS is the perfect solution.

With this in mind, we gave the JL ICS subwoofer system one of the Audiophile Apartment’s Product of the Year awards for 2019. It wins on multiple levels: value, sound quality, and concept. It doesn’t get any better than that.

www.jlaudio.com

Just say yes to streaming music at your favorite hifi show. Seriously.

Sitting in the airport waiting for the flight home, I’ve just spent the most fun time ever at an audio show. The Florida Audio Expo was an absolute pleasure to attend. But you can read me gush about that tomorrow or Tuesday. For now, I have an issue, I’d like to see solved – pronto.

While it’s been fantastic that the folks at Qobuz have been “the official streaming partner” of all the year’s past audio shows, it’s worthless. You can’t stream audio at an audio show – ever. How messed up is that?

Though everyone is proudly playing vinyl and even reel to reel tape at the show, with excellent result, that isn’t helping those that know nothing about our world. I love analog in every delivery method possible – but I’m obsessed with audio. It’s all intriguing. But I’m not your customer at an audio show.

After 17 years now of listening to a lot of the same people ask the same question, “how do we bring new people into our world?” We have the answer with Tidal, Qobuz and ROON. But no one fucking uses it. I’ve only been to one room in the past year that could answer yes to the “Hey, are you streaming Tidal and Qobuz here, so I can pick some music I want to hear?” question. PS Audio at last year’s Rocky Mountain Audio Fest was the only one doing it, and it’s no coincidence that they were packed to the gills. Everyone in that room was having a great time. Listening to their music.

I attend shows to interact with our readers and colleagues in the industry. I’m not terribly interested in sitting down to listen to gear at shows, because A: it’s probably in the review queue anyway and B: I don’t want to take the seat from the paying customers that want to get a listen and ask questions. It’s your show not mine.

Which brings us full circle. I think the most important way to bring people into the world of high end/high performance audio, whether you are selling a $2,500 system or a $250,000 system is to give the participants an “ah-ha” moment. To deliver an experience that is immersive enough to get them tapping their toes, digging the vibe, and asking questions. I think you’ll all agree with me that music is personal, so there’s no quicker way to get the “boring” light on my dashboard to illuminate, than to play music I’m not interested in. Again, forget about me, think about your potential customer. I guarantee they are thinking the same thing.

I strongly suggest ALL of my industry colleagues to consider this. People who have never really experienced great sound, who are listening to budget buds, phones, or powered speakers are going to be so blown away by streaming music on even a modest DAC that you’ll hook them. The key ingredient? Play THEIR music. I don’t care how much you don’t like hip hop, or whatever, get over it for five minutes. I’ve had to listen to “Keith Don’t Go” and all the other tracks we’ve all suffered through for years now. Wanna sell more hifi? Buck up. Play their music.

The only thing worse than waiting for someone in a demo room fumbling through their collection of 100 LPs to play a track I’m totally uninterested in, is the track I’m totally uninterested in. Again, I don’t care because I’m already drinking the Kool-Aid. It’s ok if you don’t have music to make me happy.

But your potential customers, that’s another story. I’ve been hearing the same thing exiting rooms now for 17 years:

“That guy’s music suuuuucked”
“I hate classical music”
“Jazz is boring”
“I think it sounded good, but it wasn’t music I like”

Not much has changed. I still heard way too much of that at this show, and this was the friendliest hifi show I’ve ever attended.

So, going forward, I’m begging you all to reconsider your position and make a streaming option available in your room for the uninitiated, so when you get the wide-eyed “wow, I’ve never seen/heard anything like this,” you can hand them the tablet and pick out a track or two that they know like the back of their hand.

I challenge every manufacturer and show presenter to find a way to make this happen. I guarantee this will bring more people into our world.

If you grew up in the hifi era of the 60s and 70s, magazines featured the latest stereo equipment in their ads and editorial pages, and the reel to reel tape deck was the pinnacle. You may have owned one, yourself.

Most were bought to record radio broadcasts or to record music to have continuous play of music for several hours – a long playing tape at 3 ¾ i.p.s. was the original party playlist. The convenience of the compact cassette began the end of open reel tape and the introduction of the compact disc accelerated the decline. The advent of home digital recording in the nineties finished the market for reel to reel decks.

Yet over the last five years or so, reel to reel has been making a quiet comeback. If you’ve attended any audio shows recently, you’ve probably noticed open reel tape decks playing in more and more rooms. Approximately, ten years ago a company arrived on the audio horizon that offered the ultimate in-home music playback, copies of original master tapes. The Tape Project was a brave endeavor, licensing master tapes, with 1:1 copies available to the few. Squarely aimed at the well-heeled audiophile, priced at $450 per album it was a labor of love. Several other startup’s followed suit along with some of the established names such as Analogue Productions and Groove Note.

These new, professional grade tapes bore no resemblance to the pre-recorded reel tapes from earlier days, mass duplicated on 7 ½-inch reels. Most of today’s open reel tapes are produced on 10 ½-inch reels, in 15i.p.s., half-track configuration. Perhaps the biggest difference of all is todays tapes using IEC equalization instead of the NAB EQ used in past consumer tapes. Today’s tapes are a studio effort from start to finish.

Fast forward to 2019

Since the manufacture of new reel to reel decks is non-existent, a cottage industry has developed, supporting the renewed interest in the reel format. In addition to several companies doing ground up restoration of vintage decks, a new tape manufacture came aboard to offer tape stock along with the revitalization of the last original tape manufacturer.

This brings us to the point of this review, a tape head preamp. If you are new to the format, you may wonder why you need an external tape head preamp, because tape decks all came with line level outputs. Like a phono cartridge, the tape head is a low output device that requires boosting and equalization to be used as a line level source.

In the heyday of hifi, it would have been unthinkable that a preamp, receiver or integrated amp would not have a built-in phono stage. However just as we have discovered over the last couple of decades with the onslaught of phono preamps, a dedicated well-designed phono preamplifier reveals more music in the playback of vinyl.  The same applies to tape playback: simply put most of the built-in circuitry while acceptable can be improved upon. To take full advantage of what todays tapes have to offer, it’s a necessity.

Unlike your turntable, you cannot simply insert the Tape preamp between the deck and your preamp.  All decks regardless if they are consumer, prosumer or even professional require some modification to use an external tape preamplifier.  Without going into specifics, you need to be able to take the signal directly from the playback head. The good news is that if you are not technically inclined most skilled technicians can do this for you at a reasonable cost.

Merrill Audio, based in New Jersey has joined a small but growing number of companies offering tape preamps and the first to offer a non-tube unit. I chose to use the term non-tube instead of the dreaded term solid-state because many think of solid-state as having a cold sterile harsh sound, which todays best solid-state gear simply does not.

Much like a great phono stage, external tape head preamplifiers are similarly priced. The Merrill PURE has an MSRP of $9,000. Not inexpensive, but by no means crazy money, especially when put in the context of what a phono preamplifier of similar performance would cost.

The setup

The PURE is the first of three units that Merrill will be offering, with additional flexibility as you move up the chain. The PURE features an outboard power supply connected by an umbilical cable, sufficient in length, to allow placement of it away from the electronics. The preamp itself offers well machined casework with a large display that can be easily read from across the room. Although, given its pro audio roots, input and output connections are balanced XLR only.

During the review period, it was used in both balanced and SE mode, using Cardas XLR/RCA adapters with no degradation in sound. Two toggle switches hidden on the bottom of the chassis allow gain selection (65db and 71db) and tape equalization for numerous speeds. The PURE Tape Preamp comes with predefined Equalization settings for 3 ¾, 7 ½, 15 for both NAB and IEC as well as a 30 IEC2/AES setting.

Diving in

With the general audience for external tape preamplifiers being pro studios and very serious tape users, there is a lot of demand for the 15 i.p.s. setting, but this isn’t the only path. A number of internet pundits devoted to open reel playback have a general disdain for pre-recorded, ¼ track tapes, which run at 7 ½ i.p.s. and 3 ¾ i.p.s.. With a large collection at my disposal, I feel that overlooking this segment of recorded music is a mistake. Though many rock titles were produced using a high speed duplication process (resulting in somewhat inferior playback quality) many of the early Jazz and Classical title offer sound that surpasses their vinyl counterparts.

The key to enjoying these tapes to the fullest is the ability to select the proper EQ for the tape you are playing – there is no one size fits all here. Other premium tape head preamplifiers I’ve used need to be recalibrated when changing tape speeds, or offer no predefined tape speed EQ at all. Fortunately, the PURE eliminates this problem, making it easy to switch EQ.

Background prep

Before sending our review unit, Merrill Audio asked if I required input cards for the ATR 102, a professional deck currently available from ATR Services. This leads me to believe that the Pure Tape Head preamp was targeted at those users. While I’m not an ATR owner I do have the following decks as reference components: JCorder with an external head block housing Flux Magnetics half and quarter track heads, a customized Revox PR99 that was built with direct head output as well as custom playback electronics by Soren Wittrup of CS Electronics and an Otari MX5050 with Flux Magnetics half track heads and direct output. My Studer A807 is currently out for service.

I tried to source a wide range of music and variations on the format to put the PURE through its paces. The following tapes were used for evaluation: AP’s Muddy Waters The Folk Singer, Fritz Reiner’s amazing version of Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kije, The Tape Projects’ Jerry Garcia/David Grisman, and Sonny Rollins’ Saxophone Colossus – all are produced at 15i.p.s. using IEC EQ. Commercial 7 ½ i.p.s.quarter track versions of John Coltrane’s Giant Steps and A Love Supreme along with Charles Mingus’ Mingus, Mingus, Mingus and Blues and Roots were used for comparison.

Shhhhh

The sheer quiet of the PURE is apparent before you even push the play button.

Before the tape starts, background noise seems to be reduced. When the music starts, the PURE’s ultra low noise floor allows subtle details in the recordings to shine, much like a premium phono preamplifier offers a deeper and blacker background, it’s the same with tape. Merrill’s electronics are known for lightening fast transient response, and the PURE upholds that tradition. Garcia’s guitar work on the Garcia/Grisman tape has the ring associated with well recorded acoustic guitar. The opening rim shots on Sonny Rollins’  “St. Thomas” are equally lifelike and full of excitement.

The soundstage rendered expands far beyond my speaker boundaries and depth has the illusion of extending beyond the rear wall. This is true analog involvement. The Lieutenant Kije tape gives a panoramic view of the orchestra, and the dynamic swings have no drag in timing. Finesse is not a word I usually associate with Muddy Waters however it is the word that comes to mind listening to the tape. It’s easy to hear and feel Waters’ breathe and bellow at the beginning of “Mr Captain” in a way that you just can’t realize without the additional resolution an external tape head preamplifier provides.

Bonus points

The PURE’s ability to play 7 ½ i.p.s. ¼ track tapes without recalibration is its crowning achievement for tape enthusiasts with a diverse tape collection. While the current crop of 15ips tapes use new high output tape, vintage commercial tapes were recorded at lower levels, to avoid saturating the tape formulations of the day. Switching the output of the preamp to the higher setting. selecting the 7 ½ NAB setting allows these tapes to shine like never before. While they will never challenge the performance of the current premium crop of master copies, they can outperform their best vinyl counterparts, as I hinted at earlier.

Those with tape collections that include these pre-recorded vintage tapes can now take full advantage of what these tapes have to offer. An informal gathering of audiophile friends left my place shocked at just how much information is lurking in these tapes. The vintage version of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme eclipses even my best vinyl pressings on hand. From the opening soprano sax cry in “Acknowledgement” through the opening bass line of “Resolution” it feels as if you are being moved closer to the control room than in any other version available.

The PURE offers a level of refinement, with a smooth extended top end, but the overall bass performance is really this unit’s calling card. Without exception, bass takes on a new dimension on every recording thrown at it.

Final thoughts/fine points

In auditioning the three decks on hand, the decks with Flux Magnetic heads reap the biggest gains in performance. Adding the external preamp allows your tape deck to become a fully realized audiophile component. The Revox Pr99 which has the stock Studer/Revox heads received the least bit of enhancement, more in terms of a lower noise floor and resulting dynamic range.

My only qualm with the unit is a remote that performs less than perfectly. Often, using a remote for another unit in my system it would cause the Pure preamp to change speed selection. Fortunately, the PURE rarely needs the remote; most will set it and only change the selection when a different format of tape is used. This is easily accomplished with a flip of the switch on the front panel.

Like all other Merrill components, the front panel has a very large display showing the tape speed and Eq currently being used. I understand how in a studio environment this is useful from across a darkened control room, however in a domestic environment it’s obtrusive, thankfully it can be turned off.

If you are a serious tape head and have suitable tape transports, I strongly urge you to audition the Merrill PURE. It is a worthy addition to your tape playback chain.

The Merrill PURE Tape Head Preamplifier

MSRP: $9,000

www.merrillaudio.net/tape-head-preamplifier

PERIPHERALS

Preamplifier Pass Labs XP-32

Power Amplifier Pass Labs XA100.8 monoblocks

Speakers Wilson Audio Alexia 2

Cable Kimber Select

It only takes about eight seconds listening to a double stack of six REL no.25 subwoofers to realize that this is something completely otherworldly.

It’s not about sheer bass extension, though there’s plenty of that. The No.25 goes down to about 14 Hz (11 Hz in a well-dimensioned room) and will shake the room sufficiently if that’s the effect you seek. Go no further than your favorite electronica tracks to experience bass that goes beyond flapping your pants legs, or hitting you squarely in the gut. Winding out my reference system hard, really hard with a string of Aphex Twin tracks, both me and the Maxell man are peeling ourselves off the wall. But you can get this elsewhere.

What you can’t get elsewhere is low frequencies that feel real, rendered four dimensionally, with a true sense of height, depth, power, and texture. You don’t know where all of this perfectly rendered low frequency content is coming from – it merely exists. Just as it would if you were outdoors and heard a gunshot, an explosion, or a wall of sound from an outdoor PA system at a live concert.

The effect this will have on your reference system as well as what you thought a hifi system can accomplish is transformative. Combining the rest of my system with six REL No. 25s has brought an improvement that can’t be expressed in percentages. Before their arrival, I was listening to well recorded music on a premium hifi system, now I’m experiencing music that, if the recording is of the right caliber, it feels real. This level of improvement is nearly impossible to quantify.

More than a subtle shift

It’s one thing to make a pair of small speakers disappear in a room. It’s quite another to make six large cabinets, weighing 168 pounds each in a room vanish into thin air. Yet under the expertise of REL’s John Hunter (REL’s head designer who paid a visit to set them up properly) the dual stacks do just this in my listening room. It’s almost a Spinal Tap moment when they are optimized. “Yes, it’s all quite fearful, people run away screaming.” Something like that. The six pack of No.25s are a fundamental shift in what I believed was possible in a music system.

Nearly eight months after the six-pack has been installed, it remains tough to concentrate on two things at once, so I default to just listening.  The musical experience is so much different, so much more involving that what I’ve been used to, my point of reference is now reset. Unlike other components that thrill out of the box, only to fade with familiarity, if anything I’m more engaged and excited about listening to music than I have ever been, as a result of the six pack being part of my system. Though the word magic is often overused in the context of product reviews (of any kind) something supernatural is going on here.

More than excursion

The first thing guests say when they walk in the room is usually a comment about how much bass these must produce, or “do you really need six subwoofers?” The answer to the latter question is an unquestioned “Yes”. The answer to the first question is more complex.

Initial shock aside, what happens on a regular basis at modest listening levels, the reaction to the REL no.25s is one of overwhelming emotional involvement and connection to the music. It usually involves tears, and even a bit of outright sobbing. That’s the connection to music and the REL stack’s true power. Watching someone listen to one of their favorite pieces of music, perhaps one that’s been heard hundreds, if not thousands of times before, come way out of their comfort zone and just tear up – uncontrollably –  is pretty amazing. These 6 No.25 are the final step in making the illusion real.

But even this still isn’t the full story, either. What six REL No.25s do is bring your hifi system to life in a way that is not possible without them. Performing Mr. Hunter’s favorite demo of listening to a piece of music, even one with modest low-frequency content, and then quickly shutting the subs off with the 212SEs that were my past reference is one thing. I immediately want to turn the 212s back on, their contribution significant.

Shutting off the six No.25s is what I imagine quitting heroin cold turkey must be like. The world is no longer right and I just want another fix. Yep, it’s that good. It’s that powerful. Great as one or two No.25s can be, the stack is where it’s at. It’s that much of a buzz.

The secondary shock, if you will, is just how much low frequency content lurks in so many records that I thought I knew inside and out. Even after living with a pair of REL 212SEs and before that the mighty GamuT S9s, which went down deep. Between about 12,000 ripped CDs, a few thousand LP’s and all the new music I’m either discovering or revisiting on Tidal and Qobuz, I’d be lying if I told you I’ve gone through my entire collection.

More than dynamics

The six low-mass/high excursion 15-inch carbon fiber drivers in the REL no.25s, are each powered by a 1000-watt Class-D amplifier that has been refined over a few generations of REL subwoofers. Mr. Hunter tells me that this amplifier was chosen strictly on sonic and reliability parameters, as they use both Class-D and AB amplifiers for their products. “It’s simply the best tool for this application.”  You can read the full specifications of the no.25 here.

However, with this much power and cone excursion at your beck and call, it’s questionable that you will ever use most of it. The benefit at normal levels is the elimination of any distortion or smearing of the sound field being generated. It’s truly amazing at how much low frequency content is present at conversation levels. Neither the drivers nor the amplifiers are being stressed at all, and this sense of ease is what paints such a broad sonic picture.
Where other manufacturers have looked at a subwoofer to extend the frequency response and move a lot of air, the lack of resolution is what always makes them sound like an afterthought. This is what gives you that feeling of hearing those two boxes on the floor, thumping along. This is not the REL way of doing things.

The resolution is the solution

What this all adds up to is a bass system that is built to the same level of excellence that your main speakers are, if not better. Considering that the majority of the energy present in music is in the lower registers, doesn’t it make perfect sense that this is where the attention be paid?

Once the RELs are in place, set up and properly matched to your room and main speakers, even music without high levels of apparent LF energy take on more depth, more life. Common audiophile terms like pace and timing take on new meaning. Should you take the plunge, you’ll notice even the most average recordings in your collection have all become so much more listenable, and the best recordings will fix you in your listening couch or chair to the point that hours will slip away.

And, you just might be surprised how much spatial information is lurking in recordings you thought you knew. It’s not all just way up on the top end of the musical spectrum. This was the biggest revelation of having these subwoofers now part of my system. And with every kind of music. Even well worn Electronica/EDM/Ambient tracks, that use no real instruments still felt way more alive, while acoustic recordings now have so much more realism. Again, listening to someone play a stand up bass in the context of a small club feels correct, yet that last bit of harshness and screechiness that usually accompanies a violin or viola via a pair of speakers vanishes too.

Once optimized and broken in, the REL six pack will have you rediscovering your entire music collection. Cliché but true.

Setup

Mr. Hunter is busy writing a detailed blog on setup of the No.25 Line Arrays. A link will be posted shortly on Tone Audio for those interested in learning how to dial-in their Line Arrays. Suffice it to say, those familiar with the basics of REL setup and dial-in will have a solid grounding in the listening tools needed. But the obvious need for a meticulous, methodical approach when dealing with 6 units totaling over 1,000 pounds, 6,000 watts and over 1,000 square inches of driven surface area necessitates having a solid game when it comes to the finer aspects of pulling a 6-pack together. As always, John Hunter will deliver all the fine points needed to help his customers and especially his dealers achieve the kind of performance expected from a ne plus ultra product such as this.

As someone who started the serious part of their audio journey with Quads 57s, MartinLogan CLS, Acoustat and Magnepan speakers, it’s easy for someone with my built-in bias to minimalize the importance of low frequency content done right. “Me, I’m all about the imaging and soundstage.” “I prefer the transparency of a panel speaker and bass just isn’t that important.” And the well repeated, “you can’t really get a sub to keep up with a panel speaker.” You know the excuses. And hey, you lovers of small mini-monitors are guilty of the same sins.

For those living in the past with their heads in the sand of 1985, yes. But it’s 2020 (for all practical purposes) and there are more than a few excellent cone speakers offering incredible imaging, tonality, delicacy, and dynamics. They even provide decent low frequency reproduction, some very good. However, subwoofers have made similar advancements, and it is possible to get more bass extension in a more unobtrusive way.

Like nearly everything offering high performance, and a high degree of craftsmanship, the best of the best still costs extra – and justifiably so. A six pack of REL no.25 subwoofers is by no means overkill, especially once you’ve had the experience. Many of you know the obvious advantage of two subwoofers versus a single – it allows you to optimize the bass output in your room so much more evenly than a single one can, and also allows more bass excursion with less distortion than a single subwoofer can provide.

The key to this extroadinary experience, is the way the array interacts with the room and the main speakers. The array connects to your main speaker system via a high level Speakon connection at the speaker terminals. This helps the subs to accurately mirror the sonic signature of your amplification chain, as well as letting your main speakers run full range.

This would be where a regular REL subwoofer would pick up, but with the array, each of the three subs per channel is optimized to a slightly different output level, crossover frequency and fine adjustment of the filters, so that each can blend with the room and main speakers perfectly. Your REL dealer will facilitate delivery and setup to perfection.

Justification

One, or even two REL no.25s, at $7,500 each is probably not going to be an idle purchase. And while you might think $45,000 is just crazy for a set of six of these, in the context of a system built to take advantage of what they can bring to the table, the percentage of total system cost is probably going to be between 10-20% of your total system investment.

Looking at this from a cost/benefit analysis, like the pair of REL 212SEs that used to be my reference, the amount of performance gained in relation to the rest of the system is off the chart good. As a comparison, I have heard the Wilson Audio Thor’s Hammer on numerous occasion (about $50k/pair, without crossover and amplifiers) and I feel a six pack of REL no. 25s exceed the ability of the Hammers in every possible parameter – which makes the REL stacks a stone cold bargain. Especially considering that when playing in this league, a highly advanced audio enthusiast could easily spend way more than this on cable or a couple of equipment racks which might bring a few percentage points of improvement in the scheme of things.

Wait for it

A single REL no.25, or even a pair, is the finest subwoofer I’ve heard. But the six pack is in a class by itself. There’s nothing to compare them to. The level of realism that they bring to a world class system is unmatched. That is why the REL no.25 six pack is more than deserving of one of our first ever Product of the Decade awards. This is the new benchmark, indeed it is the missing link in our systems, not just for low frequency reproduction but for dissolving the boundary between recorded music and physical reality happening in one’s own home. And there’s no other way to get it.

The REL no.25 six pack

$45,000

www.rel.net
Peripherals

Preamplifier Pass Labs XSPre

Digital Source dCS Vivaldi One

Analog Source GrandPrixAudio Parabolica Turntable/TriPlanar Arm Koetsu Jade Platinum

Amplifier Pass Labs XA200.8 Monoblocks

Speakers Sonus faber Stradivari (35th anniv. edition)

Cable Cardas Clear, Tellurium Q Reference

Features

AWARDS!

Product of the Year, Exceptional Value, Publishers Choice…

AND-PRODUCTS OF THE DECADE!

Old School:

Juan Calvillo looks back at the Marantz 2252

Headphone Art:

Auditioning the Focal Utopia Phones

The Audiophile Apartment:

Jeff Dorgay spends time with the Pathos Logos Mk.II Integrated

Shanon Says:

Our Canadian correspondent tells us about power

Mine: It Should Be Yours

Grenade Launchers

Classic Adidas

More Lego Stuff

and more….

Awards

NEW! Product of the Decade

Product of the year
Exceptional Value Awards
Publishers Choice

Music

Playlists:  We share our readers choices from around the world

Future Tense

Gear in our immediate future

Cover Feature: Tubes

Jeff Dorgay reviews JBL L-100 Classic speakers

Thirty years ago, I spent $4,500 on an Audio Research SP-11. Think about that for a second. Granted, it had a really good, built-in phonostage, but that was crazy money for a preamp in 1989.

Fortunately, I keep track of nearly everyone that buys my vintage gear as it passes through, and much like vintage cars, I always feel like, with a great piece of equipment like the SP-11, you’re merely taking care of it for the next owner. So, getting it back for a day to listen to what used to be the top of the heap, comparing it to PrimaLuna’s best, was illuminating, to say the least.

Staring down the barrel of 2020, $4,495 for the PrimaLuna EVO 400 has to be the preamplifier bargain of all time. This is a bit of a gray zone, where it’s not inexpensive, but in a world of $100k boutique preamplifiers, very reasonable indeed. More than likely, you’ve got something you’re trading in/up. Hypothetically if you are trading up to an EVO 400 from any $2k preamplifier out there, and you can still get $1,000 for it on the secondary market, you’ll never hear this much of a difference in your hifi system for what it will cost you to trade up to the EVO 400. I can think of several $10k preamplifiers I’d sell for $6k, buy an EVO and take a road trip with the change. Maybe even drive down to see Kevin and take him to lunch.
When PrimaLuna first hit the scene around 2003, their first integrated amplifier struck a delicate balance between new and old, both visually and sonically. It was reasonably priced, but built and finished like components costing far more. This is a trait that has only improved over the years and given PrimaLuna the reputation they now enjoy.

For a while, the naming conventions were a bit confusing, but they have now standardized on the EVO lineup, with 100, 200, 300 and 400 designations of their integrated, pre and power amplifiers. Going up the range, each model reveals more sonically and has additional functionality. This is in part due to a higher concentration of premium parts (wire, resistors, and capacitors) along with a more massive power supply in the EVO 300 and EVO 400 models. Finally, the EVO 400 includes a balanced input and output – a first for PrimaLuna, which makes it able to drive a broader range of power amplifiers. This also allows for using the EVO 400 with some of the world’s finest DAC’s and phono stages that only offer balanced outputs. You can use adapters to achieve your goals, but going straight balanced to balanced, more often than not, provides a little bit more sonic perfection.

Finally, the EVO 400 is available in a silver or black finish, with a handy, but not overdone remote. We’ve commented in years past on the extraordinary level of finish that PrimaLuna products offer, and the EVO series now has an even more finely machined front panel. The chassis finish remains on par with the world’s finest automobiles. All PrimaLuna components are triple boxed, delicately wrapped, and come with a pair of cotton gloves to help you avoid fingerprints.

What’s in a name?

The EVO series is appropriately named. With nearly 20 years of evolution behind them, all the improvements that have been made from generation to generation add up to something truly spectacular. In the past, some have shied away from PrimaLuna because of the lack of balanced input and output. With that hurdle removed, the only thing stopping you is whether you like the aesthetics or not. That’s a personal decision that only you can answer. But like several iconic brands, PrimaLuna maintains a lineage of design that welcomes the new buyer and remains familiar to the legacy customer, so mixing and matching components, should you choose is easy. Before you underestimate this, a quick scan of your favorite audiophile forum or Facebook user group clearly illustrates how many people love having all one brand on their rack.

Which begs the question, when is PrimaLuna going to release a phono preamplifier to go along with their components? Kevin Deal and Herman Van Den Dungen, the guys behind PrimaLuna, are always coy when I’ve brought this up, but maybe one of these days…

Stacking up

As the quality of capacitors under the hood increases, so does break-in time. In the past, most PrimaLuna components have been rocking out of the box, improving a bit over about 50 hours, tops. The new EVO 400 preamplifier, like the EVO 400 power amplifiers, still sound exceptional at first turn on, but it does improve a bit over about 100 hours. So if you love it when you unbox it, you’ll love it even more after about a month of play.

That out of the way, the EVO400 is straightforward. At 52.8 pounds, it’s substantial, so plan where it’s going to go on your rack. This is a reasonably substantial preamplifier, so make sure that your rack or shelving solution has enough heft to hold one of these without issue.

The rest is easy, connect your sources, plug in your power amplifier (s) and start listening. While a pair of EVO 400 power amplifiers (which are now reference components here at TONEAudio) were on hand, serious listening began with Pass XA200.8 amplifiers to get a feel for just what the preamplifier was contributing in a known environment. The dCS Vivaldi ONE was connected via RCA outputs, and the Boulder 508 phono stage was used via balanced outputs, along with a Luxman PD-171 turntable fitted with a Kiseki Purple Heart cartridge (also available from Upscale Audio). Everything was cabled together with Tellurium-Q Reference cable, and a pair of Sonus faber Stradivaris rounded out the system, so the EVO 400 was indeed in good company.

Again, a miracle from PrimaLuna

Taking as much personal bias out of the equation as possible, the EVO 400 preamplifier delivers a level of sonic performance that is not uncommon in preamplifiers in the $10k – $30k range. As this can be hard to quantify, most premium preamplifiers in this price range simply reveal a level of musical nuance that lesser models do not. There is nothing we’ve heard at anywhere near the cost of the EVO 400 that achieves this level of low-level resolution and delicacy, combined with sheer dynamic swing. That’s what you have to write the five-figure check for, as it is with nearly everything.

Adding further to the dynamic prowess of the EVO 400, thanks to its large, dual-mono design and the utilization of three 12AU7 tubes per channel (for maximum current swing), maximum gain is kept to about 10db. This makes for an incredibly quiet preamplifier, and with today’s’ higher output sources and higher gain amplifiers, you don’t really need a ton of gain anyway.

Even in the context of using the EVO 400 with the Pass XA30.8 amplifier and the Pure Audio Project Horns, which have a sensitivity of about 96db, background noise is non-existent, even pressing your ear right up to the horn driver. Dare I say the EVO 400 is nearly solid-state quiet.

Using the 12AU7 also makes re-tubing simpler and less expensive. Where ultra-premium 12AX7s are getting tougher to come by all the time and pushing the $250-$500 range (each), it’s nice to know that you can re-tube the EVO 400 for the cost of one Telefunken 12AX7. Past experience with PrimaLuna and tube life has always been excellent. Unlike a few current tube brands that run their tubes incredibly hard (requiring new tubes sometimes in the 3000-5000 hour range), I’d be surprised if the EVO 400 needs tubes 10,000 hours down the road.

You can knock yourself out tube rolling if that’s your hobby, but the EVO 400 sounds fantastic right out of the box with the stock tubes. After doing a little bit of this, it was more of a “different” than “better” experience, yet for some, this will offer the last bit of system fine-tuning that you are looking for. And in some cases, it’s just plain fun. Buy your EVO 400 with an extra set of tubes, and you just might pass it down to one of your family members without needing more.

Kevin Deal is quick to mention that they voice the EVO 400 slightly warm, because “that’s how 90% of our customers like it.” You can swap the center two 12AU7s out to the new, re-issued Mullards ($30 each) for a little more bite. Way easier and more consistent than trying to change tonality with a piece of wire.

The final question

Whether you add an EVO 400 to your system or not will boil down to the final question of whether you like the voicing of this component. Vacuum tube components, more often than not, have a slightly to substantially warmer, more sonically saturated sound than solid-state components. This is usually more associated with an “airier” presentation.

The EVO 400 provides this in abundance. Yet, where some tube components take this to an extreme, where it is so lush and romantic, dynamics and resolution suffer, the EVO 400 is a modern tube preamplifier. Most tube families have their own voice – the 6922/6DJ8 based units have one range of sound, those based on the 6H30 another, and the 12AX7/12AU7 still another. There are even a few designs based on the 300B tube.

Without going into an endless playlist of tracks, the EVO 400 is definitely rich in tonal saturation and contrast without over embellishing. Great recordings sound great, yet mediocre recordings sound pretty good, unlike some overly “tubey” preamplifiers, where everything sounds pretty good, yet nothing sounds brilliant. All of your favorite audiophile clichés apply to the sonic landscape painted by the EVO 400: big, broad, three dimensional. This is that “reach out and touch – it” feeling that tubes accomplish with ease.

The top end is clean, clear, and defined. Cymbals have the right amount of sheen to be believable, yet drums sound dynamic and forceful. The bottom end of the EVO 400 is taut and powerful, but slightly softer than what you’d expect from the world’s finest solid-state preamplifiers – and I’m comparing the EVO 400 to my reference Pass XS Pre and the new Boulder 1000 series. ($38,000 and $21,000 respectively)

A ten minute listen with three of your favorite tracks is all you need to see how much performance is packed into the EVO 400 preamplifier, whether it’s at the dealer or in your home system. I think those downsizing from a six-figure system that doesn’t want to give up the performance, or the audiophile on the way up, wanting six-figure system sound, but doesn’t quite have that budget will be equally impressed with this preamplifier. I’d even say that for 95% of you, the EVO 400 could be your destination preamplifier. Period…

High-performance audio is always so much more than wires, tubes, and specs. It’s about emotion and how close a component can bring you to what your idea of musical bliss is. You truly need to experience an EVO 400 to believe it. This is one of the world’s finest vacuum tube preamplifiers at any price. That you can have one for $4,495 is pretty cool. That’s why the PrimaLuna EVO 400 is our Product of the Year in the preamplifier of the Year category.

The PrimaLuna EVO 400 Preamplifier

$4,495

www.primaluna-usa.com

Peripherals

Analog source AVID Volvere SP/Kiseki Purple Heart/Luxman EQ-500

Digital source dCS Vivaldi ONE

Power amplifiers Pass XA200.8 monos, PrimaLuna EVO 400s, Audio Research REF160M

Cable Cardas Clear

Speakers Focal Stella Utopia

With vinyl showing no indication of slowing down whatsoever, more and more people are looking for a place to dip their toe in the pool.

While many seasoned vinylistas might stick their noses in the air at a four-hundred dollar turntable with a built-in phono stage, it’s a damn good deal.

Let’s be honest, there’s a lot of junk out there for $400. Thanks to their level of vertical manufacturing, Pro-Ject is making a decent turntable at this price, and are giving you the option of a built in phono stage. And, unlike nearly every other belt drive turntable at this price, you can switch between 33 and 45 r.p.m. from the plinth, without having to remove the platter or touch the drive belt. Some tables costing considerably more still make you do this. Not a great idea in the middle of a party, when your hands could contain food residue. Not good for the belt.

Putting it all in perspective, those $99 dollar turntables from Pioneer, Dual, Garrard and a few others back in the late 70s would be about $450 in today’s money. None of those included a cartridge or phono preamplifier handily built in either. Value proposition, check.

60 second setup

After carefully removing the T1 from its box, you need merely attach the drive belt between the pulley and the sub platter (the bigger black pulley), gently lower the platter onto the subplatter, and connect the cable to the output jacks on the rear. Plug in the 15V wall wart power supply and job done.

Because the T1 has a built in phono preamplifier, you can connect it to an aux or line input on your amplifier, receiver, or powered speakers. Should your device have a moving magnet (MM) phono input, order the less expensive model without onboard phono, and take that extra $50 to grab lunch, or some records!

The tracking force is already preset from the factory, and the Ortofon OM-5MM cartridge is already set up properly. A cursory check with our tools confirms that the cartridge was installed with care and the tracking force where it needed to be, right at 1.9 grams. Any tools precise enough to squeak 5% more performance out of the T1 will cost more than the table, so leave well enough alone and enjoy your T1.

The T1 has enough output to drive any line level you’ve got. We used it with a PrimaLuna EVO 100 vacuum tube integrated, and a Cambridge solid state integrated, driving a pair of Paradigm Atom SE speakers, making it the centerpiece of a nice $1,000 – $1,500 system. A perfect spot for this table.

The four hundred dollar question

Going for broke, listening begins with a MoFi one-step version of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water. The T1 presents a solid musical foundation on this stellar pressing. That Ortofon OM-5 is a real sleeper and one of the best low key values in audio. Should you want just a bit more performance out of your T1, when the removable stylus needs replacing, you can put the stylus from an OM10 or OM20, it plugs right in.

Tracking through the crate full of classic rock LPs that are in the “party bin” in my living room, the T1 continues to impress. While digital audio converters (especially the ones in the $350-$1,000 range) have improved tremendously, there’s still a level of warmth and continuity to the sound that you won’t get with something like an AudioQuest Dragonfly. Granted, streaming 24/192 via Qobuz might offer a little more ultimate resolution, but the Pro-Ject wins hands down in the organic way it assembles the sound molecules from a vinyl LP. And Vinyl is all about the tactile experience.

An impromptu gathering of a few neighbors, has everyone joining in, playing a few records and marveling at how easy the T1 is to use. While the T1 makes a great start to your vinyl journey, I highly suggest that even seasoned audiophiles have one, for casual listening. And starting out your friends with one of these means that their records won’t get damaged either. Nearly everyone buying those cheapie tables is not doing their records a favor.

Ticks all the boxes

In a world full of $5,000 tonearm cables, a $399 turntable, cartridge and phono preamplifier combo is a pretty refreshing thing. Legacy audiophiles forget that we all started somewhere, and most likely it wasn’t with a megabucks system. I can’t think of a combination that is more user friendly, with such a high level of sound and build quality than the Project T1. Another thing often overlooked, is that an entry level has to deliver compelling enough sound for the user to stay interested. Again, the T1 is a major triumph in this regard.

In addition to the semi matte white finish you see here, it is also available in black and simulated wood finishes, so it should fit in easily anywhere (I personally like the white).

In the end, as easy and fun as vinyl gets, from a name you know and trust.

www.pro-jectusa.com

Sometimes, the toughest part of adding a subwoofer to your stereo or theater system can be where to put it.

The SVS PC-4000 makes this easy; its 16-inch in diameter cylinder shape fittsin a corner perfectly. The PC-4000 is only available in black, and that’s my only complaint – white would disappear in the room better, and in the context of my 2.1 system with the powered Totem Kin Play speakers, you’d barely even know it was there. But that didn’t stop me from buying the review sample. We usually watch movies in the dark anyway so who cares?

Moving the PC-4000 out to our living room as the heart of a 5.1 system, featuring SVS Prime Elevation speakers, it works equally well, though in a quest for even more slam, I could fit two in this room. Because hey, you can’t get enough punch when watching action movies or playing games, can you? It has certainly made following this years’ Formula 1 season exciting. Watching the pack roar into turn one is way more engaging with all that low frequency energy. As is everything else.

SVS has built a tremendous reputation on high performance for the dollar and over the top customer service. The PC-4000 will no doubt, strengthen this reputation even further. While the shipping container looks rather imposing, once unboxed, the PC-4000 only weighs 93 pounds, so it should be easy to unpack and place with the help of a friend. Our more buff readers will be able to handle it solo, and our most buff readers will be able to play catch with it. Ha!

The proof is in the listening

The PC-4000 is easy to integrate into your system, once plugged in, download their app and adjust the necessary parameters. You can use the standard presets, or tweak to your heart’s content. The option of using the PC-4000 ported or plugging the three top firing ports makes fine tuning the sound to your room and system a snap. Deep in the corner of the bedroom system, plugging all three ports helped level out the corner gain in the room, and tweaking the EQ with the app takes things to perfection, not to mention perfect integration with my two main speakers. Once set up all the way, it was impossible to hear the subwoofer standing out.

Viewing the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, with the PC-4000 turned off makes it so much more dramatic when the sub is engaged, showing off the full force of this legendary band in action. Awesome! For many, a pair of powered speakers utilizing the sub’s LFT channel might be all you need in a small room. In our 12 x 14 viewing room, we don’t even need to pop the popcorn, just putting the Orville Redenbacher bag on top of the PC-4000 and cranking it up makes the kernels spontaneously pop!

But seriously, having the level of bass extension and slam that the PC-4000 adds, makes you wonder how you ever did without it! Movies and music come alive and this sub is not a one note wonder. At the sound pressure levels that my small room accommodates, clipping or compression wasn’t ever part of the agenda. The level of detail and resolution it offers is tip top.
Moving the PC-4000 back to the living room, and taking advantage of the EQ presets earlier, it’s easier to achieve a bigger sonic picture. While we started our living room test with an Anthem MRX multichannel receiver and a set of SVS Prime Elevation speakers, this time around we made the PC-4000 part of a larger, more audiophile oriented 2.1 audio system with the PrimaLuna EVO400 preamplifier and EVO400 power amplifier with the SVS Prime Pinnacle floorstanding speakers. High res audio files were streamed with Qobuz and ROON via the dCS Bartok.

Thanks to the pluggable ports and the wide range of settings that the SVS app provides, you can easily optimize (and store) the PC-4000 to work with the LF requirements of a theater environment or a strictly music environment. Whether rocking out to AC/DC or listening to Stanley Clark playing acoustic bass, the PC-4000 digs down deep. In a larger room, it was easy to achieve near concert hall levels, and we could not drive the PC-4000 to clipping or exceed the woofers excursion levels. The heartbeat at the beginning of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and Aphex Twin’s SYRO had the windows and the cabinets rattling!

Of course, the deeper your main speakers can go, the easier it will be to achieve perfect integration between sub and mains, yet trying the PC-4000 with a wide range of speakers large and small confirms this subwoofer has excellent upper bass response, with low coloration, making it easy to mate with a wide range of main speakers.

Easy to set up, easy to acquire

One of the smartest things they’ve done at SVS is to make it easy to finance their products. A set of speakers and a sub at $3,000 might not fit in your budget right now, but $125 a month is a lot easier to swallow for great music, gaming and movie sound. Putting it in perspective, that’s less than a foo foo coffee a day. I’d give that up in a heartbeat for rocking sound, how about you?

Those hungry for the full specification sheet, please click here, but SVS claims solid output down to about 16hz. Essentially the equivalent of their big, more traditionally shaped subs, with 1300 watts rms power on tap (close to 4000 watts peak) but in an easier to integrate form factor.

The SVS PC-4000 has no downside. It’s all good. And at $1,799, it fills a niche that no other subwoofer covers. Should you want/need a pair, the price drops to $1,600 for the second one – a nice touch.

If you need bass, and floor space is at a premium, the SVS PC-4000 is the way to go.

The SVS PC-4000 Subwoofer

www.svsound.com

One of the things we always battle as audio enthusiasts is the effect that power has on our systems.

Whether you look at power as a giant pool that you tap into with your power cord or a stream that’s come a long way to get to you, there is still a fair amount of noise and audible grunge in the AC power that runs your audio system.

Again, some take the perspective that your amplifier’s power supply should effectively filter out whatever’s in the AC line. However, not all power supplies are created equal. Some are more effective than others – it’s no surprise that many of the world’s finest, (most expensive and heaviest,) almost always have massive power supplies, with gigantic mains transformers and banks of enormous filter capacitors.

Are you with me or against me?

If you’re of the mindset that power conditioning doesn’t matter or make a difference, there’s no point in reading any further. But if you’re with me, and you think that your HiFi system is like any other electromechanical device benefitting from fine-tuning, read on.

While the Deep Core is described as a power conditioner and can be used alone as a treatment option for your AC line, the Deep Core website suggests that for best results, it be used in front of your favorite power conditioner. Close listening to a few different conditioners from Clarus, ISO-TEK, Running Springs, and Torus confirm this, though in front of my PS Audio P15, (which actually regenerated a new AC signal) the Deep Core had no discernable effect. However, with all other passive conditioners at my disposal, this is a very worthwhile addition.

Adjusting the Deep Core in this manner is like fine-tuning VTA on a turntable when you hit the perfect spot, the music reaches a higher level of clarity, with more focus and transparency. Go slow, and you’ll know when you hit it.

This will depend on what you are starting with. In my main listening room, which has relatively new wires and a new AC panel, was not quite as grungy as in my living room, with the 60-year-old wiring. Interestingly, the PS Audio P15 in the studio registers about 1.8% distortion on the AC line, where the one in the house registers 3 – 4% on a regular. Garbage in, garbage out directly relates to how transparent your audio system will sound, because your amplifier at its lowest level is essentially modulating the AC power from the wall with a music signal. So the fewer artifacts in that carrier signal result in a more realistic presentation.

Bottom line, it works

I’ve always experienced power line conditioning products to have a more noticeable effect on vacuum tube gear than solid-state, and the Deep Core offers the same result. Interestingly enough, regardless of circuit topology in the source component, the Deep Core had a more profound effect on lower priced gear, no doubt because these components do not have as sophisticated power supplies as those further up the range.

Proof for the snubbing effect took no more than powering up my vintage Dynaco Stereo 70, which always makes a nasty click through the speakers. Via the Deep Core, tweeter destroying clicks are a thing of the past. My mid 80s vintage Linn LP-12 is guilty of the same offense. Again, its crimes pardoned with the Deep Core in place. If you happen to be riddled with noise in your environment from an older furnace or appliance somewhere, the Deep Core may be the only thing that cleanses the artifacts these things produce from your listening environment.

Power products are basic – you either hear the difference they make in your audio system or you don’t. Some change the sound without necessarily improving the presentation or revealing more musical detail.

After trying the Deep Core in a few different system configurations, it unmistakably does reveal more music with no shortcomings. Transients aren’t compromised, and the bottom end is not smeared – another sin that more than one power conditioner has committed during the audition process. Best of all, more musical detail is revealed, without the mid to high range becoming etched, harsh, or overemphasized. This is much harder than it sounds. That’s why most power products ultimately end up being unplugged in favor of the existing devil in the wall socket.

Trying not to go all Darth Vader on you, when you plug a Deep Core into your system, you should hear your soundstage get bigger, and thanks to the noise floor going down, things should sound slightly louder at the same volume level. As always, queue up a few tracks you know intimately. If you already have a power conditioner in your system, insert the Deep Core in front of the existing power conditioner, and as always, use the highest quality power cord between Deep Core and the wall socket.

I started with new and old acoustic tracks from Crosby, Stills and Nash, along with some of my favorite Kurt Vile tunes. Densely packed rock records still sound cleaner, but delicately layered vocal compositions are going to have you smiling faster. Those who’s tastes lean towards female vocal audiophile recordings will freak out instantly.

Once you’re really comfy with Deep Core, having gone back through a few cycles of auditioning it in and out of the system, get ready to fine-tune with the contour control. If you can enlist the help of a friend, this will make the process much more comfortable, because you can be sure of staying in relatively the same listening position. Going in about 5-degree increments slowly will take you to the sweet spot.

With a claimed capacity of 1800 watts, the average to slightly above average system will be good to go with a Deep Core. Plugging a gigantic, high current draw power amplifier will tax the Deep Core, and you will hear a flattening of musical transients at extreme volume. You’ll know when you’ve gone too far. Then you’ll have to decide which part of your system is more important to cleanse or perhaps invest in a second one. At $1,295 the Deep Core is by no means crazy money, and in the context of the improvements it makes, an excellent bargain.

https://www.underwoodhifi.com/products/deepcore-1800

The CORE POWER Deep Core 1800

Peripherals

Analog Source AVID Ingenium Plug N Play

Digital Source Gold Note CD-1000

Amplifier VAC Sigma 170i, Pass INT-60, PrimaLuna EVO400

Cables Tellurium Q Black Diamond

Listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s classic, Bridge Over Troubled Water, on AVID’s Ingenium Plug&Play table is not only highly satisfying but clearly illustrates how much difference the turntable makes in the analog equation.

Too often, I’ve seen audiophiles put a mega cartridge on a mediocre turntable/tonearm combination expecting excellence. But like a backyard mechanic that thinks merely putting a big engine in a car that is not capable of handling the extra horsepower will guarantee more speed, the same applies to your analog front end. It’s a system and should be treated as such. Too much or too little performance in any area throws off the balance, and in the end, throws away resolution. The AVID Ingenium Plug&Play is perfection in the sense that it all works together optimally.

An often-quoted audiophile truth states the source is the most essential part of your system, because if you don’t have the musical information to begin with, what’s downstream won’t matter, or at least not as much. To that end, AVID’s founder, Conrad Mas believes that the platform provided by the actual turntable as a stable mechanical platform is perhaps the most important. If you’ve visited an AVID demo at a dealer or hifi show, no doubt you’ve experienced his good/better/best demonstration, where he puts a mid-grade tonearm and cartridge on three different turntables in the AVID line. It’s always a straightforward exercise hearing how much more music is revealed as you go up the AVID range, proving that the table does make a massive difference.

Big sound indeed

Coming full circle, the same thing applies here. The Ingenium Plug&Play centers around the Ingenium turntable, which is a fantastic product on its own. For those interested, I own Ingenium #0001, so I’ve had as much seat time with the Ingenium as anyone but Mr. Mas himself. The level of fit and finish here at $1,795 with the Rega sourced arm and cartridge is nothing short of stunning. The key to the success of the Ingenium’s big sound is the main drive/sub-platter/bearing assembly, made to the same high standard as AVID’s flagship tables, with AVID’s inverted bearing design. It also uses the same high quality, machined center clamp equipped with every AVID table.

Having experienced this tonearm on Rega and other tables that are similarly priced illustrates that the much lower mechanical noise floor of the Ingenium extracts more musical information from this arm than anywhere else I’ve heard it used. The machined, minimalist chassis is used with a combination of three elastomer pucks. Not actually suspended in the classic sense, but not firmly coupled in a solid plinth way either.

While discussing various aspects of the Ingenium’s design, Mas mentions that the Ingenium is now only available as a Plug&Play, in both black and white finishes, it is no longer available sans tonearm. The aluminum platter will be forthcoming, so a sequel to this review is already in the works. And those of you that have a standalone Ingenium possess an instant classic.

Skip the setup

Whether you’re new to analog or a seasoned enthusiast, having a turntable optimally set up is critical to getting every bit of performance you’ve paid for. However, if you’re new to the game, it’s easy to get it wrong – no shame to that. As a result, more manufacturers are starting to sell pre-packaged turntable/cartridge combinations that need little more than unboxing, but most of these are budget tables in the $300 to $500 range. That’s great to get started, but as your excitement for spinning records grows, you quickly outgrow the tables in this range.

The Ingenium, a perfect choice for the analog enthusiast craving more performance than the budget tables, offer but isn’t quite ready to jump off the cliff for a much more expensive model. It unboxes in a few minutes – all you need do is install the drive belt, mount the platter, and remove the stylus guard. Double-checking the factory alignment of the cartridge with our Analog Majik tool suite reveals near-perfect alignment. More than good enough for all but the most obsessed. If you’ve spent the money on this level of tools, chances are you’ve moved up the range with your turntable as well. Kudos to AVID for doing a great job with the factory setup.

This reveals another aspect of AVID tables that is a major bonus. Once you set them up, they stay set up. In nearly a dozen years of using AVID tables daily, they are not fiddly turntables at all. It’s also worth noting that when checked, the speed accuracy of the Ingenium is right on the money.

Should you need performance beyond the Ingenium (even with the aluminum platter) this table is resolving enough to accommodate a better phono cartridge. To keep this as “plug and play” as possible, I’d suggest staying in the Rega range of cartridges, or something that has the same stylus tip to top of cartridge body measurement. (I believe about 15mm here) Then you won’t have to resort to spacers and the like to keep VTA where it should be. Or you can just play records and enjoy it!

Returning to the program

Spinning an old copy of Peter Gabriel, a record I’ve listened to thousands of times over the years, I’m taken back at how much nuance this table reveals. All of the care that went into Gabriel’s first solo album is readily available, and the Ingenium does a fantastic job of painting a large, three-dimensional sonic picture. The harmonies at the beginning of “Excuse Me” is absolutely brilliant – this is the kind of thing that draws people to analog in the first place.

Running the gamut, the Ingenium delivers a finely detailed upper register and well-controlled bass. The elastomer pucks supporting the chassis, do an excellent job at insulating the cartridge from the environment. Bass-heavy tracks can be enjoyed at high volume levels without acoustic feedback, and this is a plus.

As with all the other AVID tables I’ve owned and reviewed, the Ingenium shares a signature core sound that is lively, detailed, and never overdamped. The sense of musical pace is easily discernable. It draws you into the music, wondering “what’s different here,” when compared to listening to the same tracks streamed on a similarly priced DAC. As it should be.

Tipping point

$1,795 is a serious investment for most music lovers, so if you’ve come this far, chances are very good that you’re more than just a casual vinyl lover. For many, the Ingenium Plug&Play will be an excellent destination turntable, especially considering that the platter and cartridge can be upgraded further.

There is a point at which analog really draws you in and makes you crave more. I feel getting to this point requires more than the budget tables offer. This is what the Ingenium Plug&Play gives you at a cost that won’t break the bank, yet still provides a reasonable upgrade path should you want even more analog enjoyment. Well done.

And that is what makes the AVID Plug&Play The Audiophile Apartment’s Product of the Year in the Turntable category.

www.avidhifi.com

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