TONEAudio MAGAZINE The Concierge of High End Audio

In issue #53, we reviewed the Simaudio Moon 880M monoblocks, that produce a staggering 800 watts per channel, with the delicacy and control of a small amplifier.

To make a long story short, the pair makes one of the best high power amplifiers we’ve ever heard at any price. To make a long story long, download #53 and read our review….

The matching flagship, MOON 850P preamplifier is equally stunning.  It’s two chassis design maximizes power supply design and minimizes noise, be it electrical or vibrational. It goes without question that the 850P and the 880Ms make quite a statement.

Stay tuned for issue #55, where we will have a full report.  But they are good. Oh, so very good.

After about three years, I’ve worked my way to the top of the Pass Labs food chain.

While the Xs 300 monoblocks are not for the faint of heart, or bicep for that matter, weighing in at about 300 pounds per side and costing about $40k per side, from the minute we unboxed them, it was apparent that these amplifiers were indeed one step beyond.  Having spent a year with the incredible XA200.5 that I just recently reviewed in issue #53, it seemed hard to believe that Pass could create two boxes that could reveal even more music.

It took four boxes.

Expanding the concept of Pass’ patented Supersymmetry amplifiers and the single ended, Class A design of the original Aleph, they have created a true masterpiece with the Xs300s.  As each channel draws 1000 watts of current per channel, all the time, I left them off on Earth Day, but they are back at full song today.  I walk to work, so my carbon footprint is still intact.

And what a better way to use electricity that these?

As we were taking the photos for the upcoming review, we hooked the first stack to the GamuT S9 speakers, and staff member Jerold O’Brien said, “Dude, your system sounds better in mono with one of these than it did with the pair of XA200.5s”  And the XA200.5s are no slouch.

Stay tuned for further adventures and our full review of the Xs300s.

Nelson Pass has created yet another masterpiece.

You can read more about the Xs300 here at the Pass Website.

Central California’s Wyred4Sound has taken the high end by storm with their extensive line of Class D based amplifiers, DAC’s, and music servers.

The Wyred4Sound mINT, short for Mini Integrated Amplifier ($1,499), is indeed a half sized component that interestingly, looks at once both retro and modern. The mINT boasts 100 wpc, and is a custom Class D design based on the ICE power modules. Wyred4Sound goes out of their way to stress the refinements found in the mINT that are usually regulated to much more expensive components. One aspect of the design they are especially proud of is the volume control. According to W4S, it is “a true-resistive ladder which results in linear control, excellent channel matching, and impressive sonic quality.”

But wait, there is more. A lot more.  Along with two analog inputs, the mINT is also a three input DAC, with TosLink and Coaxial inputs that handle 24 bit, 192 Khz data. There is also an asynchronous USB input that handles up to 96 Khz. Rounding off the list of features is a fixed output for a recording device, a variable output, an HT bypass, and a very nice, full function attractive remote control. And, the mINT is fully designed and built in California.

Down to business

The mINT was paired with Harbeth Compact 7 ES3 and the Opera Mezza speakers, proving a wonderful match for both, with more than enough power to drive both speakers to their limits. To put it another way, my listening rooms suffered from overload well before the mINT could even break a sweat.

The mINT is equally capable when fed analog sources, like a CD player or a file streamer, offering a spacious, precise, and untarnished presentation that I find wonderfully balanced. If anything, the tonal presentation of this amplifier is slightly tilted to the warm side, unlike the Class D amplifiers of a few years ago, that offered great bass performance at the expense of a smooth top end.  That bleached feeling is no longer a line item with Class D, and certainly not the mINT.  It proves very nimble on top, balancing dynamic contrast with brass instruments, staying delicate and finessed on strings and vocals.

The three digital inputs work equally well, and performance is on par with many outboard DAC’s that are similarly priced.  Eliminating some of the extra buffers and gain stages required with separate components pays big dividends here, giving the mINT high performance at a very reasonable cost.  You could easily spend $1,499 on power cords and interconnects between a separate power amplifier, preamplifier and DAC, making this little marvel a major bargain. In addition, the mINT offers a headphone jack on the front panel, upping the fun and the value factor even further.

The relaxed tonality the mINT provides, makes it highly enjoyable across a wide range of musical genres.  The opening track of Imelda May’s Love Tattoo album, “Johnny Got a Boom Boom,” combines a fast, dynamic slap bass line, snare drum and cymbal crashes, combined with May’s sultry, often screaming vocals.  Legendary salsa singer Hector Lavoe’s La Vos provides more of the same.  Percolating with layers of bass, percussion, brass and heavily syncopated rhythms, the mINT never loses its cool, throwing a large soundstage.  The mINT does an excellent job keeping these densely packed, explosive recordings well sorted and three dimensional – a perfect torture test for any amplifier.

Digital functionality

Windows users will need to install the proper USB drivers form the Wyred4Sound Website, and Mac users can just plug and play, selecting the the mINT in their sound control panel. All in all, an easy task, no matter what platform you choose.

The internal DAC proves equally balanced and on par with the amplifier section of the mINT.  Tunes from my Windows 7 laptop using Jriver’s Media Center 18 and FLAC files were spacious and engaging. Emmylou Harris’ Hard Bargain for a wide range of bluesy folk tunes and instrumental dexterity again reveals the mINTs ability to unravel delicate tracks without getting overly grainy or “digital” sounding.

The only area that left me wanting was the USB input being limited to 24/96.  The S/PDIF and optical inputs claim full 24/192 resolution, so those purchasing tracks in this format will have to search for a good USB converter to take full advantage of the mINTs digital performance.

However, this type of digital input flexibility offers a world of convenience to those who have ripped their CD collections to a hard drive or purchase high resolution downloads.

The mINT is a clever package, and if this is an indication of the rest of their line, I look forward to hearing more from this company.  It offers enough resolution to show what a higher quality power cord can do as well as better interconnect and speaker cables – a great sign.  But more refinement will cost quite a bit more money, perhaps twice as much, making the mINT an excellent bargain.
Additional listening

The Wyred4Sound mINT is the perfect solution for music lovers wanting great sound that have a reasonable budget and want to maximize space, i.e. not have a giant rack full of audio gear. Its ability to work with analog and digital sources means you can keep your turntable in the mix, or add one if you’re curious.  Thanks to its tiny form factor, the mINT, a turntable and a compact phonostage can fit on a shelf or tabletop nicely. The Rega RP3, Exact cartridge and Naim StageLine phonostage make a perfect match for the mINT, combining to make a system any analog lover will enjoy.

Its 100-watt per channel power rating opens the door to a much wider range of speaker choices that many of the small, desktop integrateds from Naim, Rega and others don’t drive as easily with 25-50 watts per channel.  The mINT was even able to drive the Magnepan MMG to adequate volume, and thanks to the variable output can take advantage of a small powered subwoofer – again increasing versatility.

Having tried it with a number of great speakers at my disposal, my favorite, hands down was the pairing with the Sonus faber Venere 3.0 speakers reviewed in issue #54 of TONEAudio.  Their 90db sensitivity makes for house party volume when you need it and great dynamics the rest of the time.

Equally intriguing is the built in headphone amplifier.  Starting with the ultimate torture test, the HiFi Man HE-6, the mINT falls down a bit, but to its credit, so does just about everything else, no black marks here.  Moving to a suite of much easier phones to drive (Grado, Sennheiser and Denon) proves enlightening.  Decent control and tonal balance overall makes the mINT a great way to get into the headphone game. Rocking some headphone favorites, it throws a wide and deep soundstage with Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, and Low’s The Invisible Way.

The Wyred4Sound mINT is easier to set up and listen to than it is to spell correctly.  For many, this will be a destination product, offering flexibility and performance unheard of five years ago.  We are happy to give the mINT one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2013.  – Jeff Dorgay

The Wyred 4Sound mINT amplifier

MSRP: $1,495

www.wyred4sound.com

Associated Equipment:

Opera Mezza Loudspeakers

Harbeth Compact 7 ES3

Musical Fidelity CDT transport

Marantz NA7004 streamer/DAC

Darwin Cables silver interconnects

QED Genesis Silver Spiral speaker cables

QED digital cables

Five years ago, when visiting the Rega factory in the UK, I joined a group of Rega dealers to witness something very special at Rega founder Roy Gandy’s house.

A new skeletal plinth design that was supposed to be a step above the flagship P9, featuring a one off, ceramic platter and what appeared to be an RB1000 tonearm.  Needless to say the sound was fantastic and the following day, back at the factory, we saw more.  Gandy and staff were coy, referring to it as a “prototype,” and a “work in progress,” tempering our enthusiasm, telling us that “it could be out in a few months, a few years, or not at all.”  So, I returned to the States empty-handed, but I did learn how to play cricket.

But time flies when your having fun, and we now have the RP8, looking surprisingly like that prototype I saw years ago, but for a few minor changes.  And, on one level the RP8 is a pretty big jump forward for Rega.  They have always championed a low mass plinth design as the path to analog greatness and the website hints that “this is the first of the skeletal plinth designs.”

Featuring a new RB808 tonearm, which looks like a further refinement of the direction taken with the RB303 on the RP6 turntable, introduced last year, and also features new, lower capacitance tonearm cables, that look very audiophile-like in nature. The RP8 has an MSRP of $2,995, however US customers can purchase one with Rega’s $1,800 Apheta MC cartridge attached and set up for $3,995.  A major bargain, if you have the right phono stage.

The hub/subplatter features a machined aluminum cap, extending all the way down so the belts can contact the full surface. Rega claims that this, combined with the new tonearm provides for increased resolution, and the first record auditioned, Herbie Hancock’s Empyrean Isles brings a new perspective on this Blue Note classic, and illustrates a turntable, tonearm and cartridge all working together as a system.

One of the toughest things facing an analog enthusiast is getting this combination correct, so that the optimum trackability, resolution and stereo separation can be achieved.  Freddie Hubbard’s Coronet bleats out of the left channel, completely occupying the left half of the listening room, with the proper height and spatial relationships – is both beguiling and convincing. The drum kit is miked equally hard right, with Hancock on piano, gently floating in the middle, with Ron Carter’s bass keeping the bass on track, yet dissolved into the stereo image.

Quick Comparisons – up and down the range

Utilizing the Audio Research REF Phono 2SE, with two identical inputs and the ability to load both phono cartridges at the 50 ohms required for utmost HF smoothness (and honestly, my ARC SP11 mk.2, with it’s 30 ohm setting is pure bliss with the Apheta moving coil cartridge, but alas only one input) makes it a snap to compare the RP8 to both the RP6 and P9 to see just how much higher the bar has been raised.

The MoFi version of Aimee Mann’s Lost In Space underscores the improvements on two levels.  This densely layered record needs a first rate analog rig to lay bare all the intriguing textures and spatial cues, which the RP8 aces.  Perhaps even more intriguing is the LF performance of the RP8 – it’s very close to that of the P9.  If you haven’t experienced the P9, it’s not like the rest of the Rega range.   It possesses incredible weight and body.  The RP8 has a similar weighty feel, you almost don’t expect this kind of locked in bass response to come from a table that is the opposite of some of todays massive record players.

That machined aluminum subplatter pays another big dividend; much better pitch stability, and consequently revealing more low level detail.  Where Mann’s delicate voice wavers ever so slightly during “Guys Like Me” on the RP6, it is rock solid when switching to the RP8.  This doesn’t mean the RP6 is rubbish, you don’t notice the difference as easily until you play it right next to the RP8, and let’s face it, the RP8 costs twice as much.

The biggest surprise comes in a side-by-side comparison with the P9.  While the $5,000 P9 still has more LF weight and an even dreamier, more defined high end, the RP8 closes the gap tremendously, leaving this reviewer to wonder what Rega has on the horizon with the RP10.  An urge to spin the recent remaster of Devo’s Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Illustrates the huge soundstage the Apheta is capable, with synthesizers and special effects everywhere.  Moving up to the P9 offers an even bigger soundfield, yet pace and timing are equally enticing with both decks, yet the P9 takes the lead, with the opening, distorted bass line of “Mongoloid,” offering more grunt and more texture.

Ticking the necessary boxes

It wouldn’t be an audiophile review without some female vocals, eh?  The Low + Dirty Three In the Fishtank 7 LP seemed the perfect place to start, with it’s dreamy, ethereal vocals, fading way off into the distance of the soundstage on the opening track, “I Hear…Goodnight,” with Mimi Parkers gentle brushwork on the drums so faint, it would be lost on a budget rig.  This record also clearly illustrates the ease by which the Rega combo handles the violin – exquisite.

Going up in tempo to Me’Shell Ndegeocello’s Plantation Lullabies proves that the RP8 and Apheta can rock in a major way; Ndegeocello’s thunderous bass riffs command authority with this table and cartridge anchoring her sensuous vocals all the while.

We covered the Apheta in detail in issue 10 at it’s introduction.  In five years, it’s only gone up in price $300 and my opinion hasn’t changed.  This is a fantastic cartridge with a lightnening fast response, but it must be loaded properly or it will sound harsh and thin.  With comparisons to the RP6 and P9 out of the way, I could go back to in-depth listening through the ARC SP-11 mk.2, which has an incredible on board phono stage that just happens to have a loading setting of 30 ohms – perfection for the Apheta.

This allows the cartridge to have maximum dynamics, smoothing out the HF response at the same time.  Keith Richards “You Don’t Move Me,” From his Talk is Cheap album features great acoustic playing by the riff meister that hangs between the speakers.   Richard’s voice has never been his strong suit, yet it is rendered with plenty of body here.

Regardless of the program material chosen, the RP8/Apheta combination delivers the goods. Though you’ll save a few bucks should you choose an Exact 2 cartridge, if you have a phonostage up to the task, the extra $500 for the Apheta upgrade is the smartest $500 you’ll ever spend in the world of analog.

The nitty gritty

For those not familiar with Rega turntables and phono cartridges, they are the ultimate in simplicity, when it comes to setup.  The Apheta cartridge uses three screws instead of the usual two and this provides perfect alignment.  Your RP8 can arrive with the Apheta already installed, so all you need to do is five minutes of basic assembly (fit the belt, the platter and set tracking force/anti skate) Analog bliss is about 15 minutes away, if you’re really poking.

Personally, I love the skeletal plinth and as I have no children or furry creatures to threaten my analog world, I can bask in the RP8s high tech glory.  Those less fortunate, fear not.  The RP8 comes with a traditional plinth and dust cover that will protect it from the environment.  I could not discern any audible advantage or disadvantage to the extra hardware, but congratulate Rega for providing it.  My audiophile buddies were polarized, they either thought the RP8 was really cool, or tried to explain to me how it couldn’t work.

We could discuss techie bits in further detail, but you can read about that here, on Rega’s website.  Suffice to say they all work together brilliantly and the RP8/Apheta combination reveals more music than most in its class, if not all.  Mounting the Apheta on the VPI Classic 1 gives a warmer, slightly more bass heavy presentation, but it does not offer up the resolution that the RP8 does.  It’s like the difference between a Mini Cooper S and my Fiat Abarth.  You either prefer the more nimble ride of the Abarth or the somewhat more posh ride of the Cooper.  There’s no wrong choice.

However, if you want a high performance record player with next to zero fuss required, I can think of no better choice.

My Rega journey began with the Planar 3 in 1982, and somehow over thirty years later, I have the feeling it’s not over.  Roy Gandy and his crew are a clever group, and as long as they keep refining their turntables, there will be new vinyl adventures from this fine British company.  I’m very happy to award the RP8/Apheta combination one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2013.

-Jeff Dorgay

The Rega RP8 Turntable

MSRP:  $2,995   ($3,995 bundled with Rega Apheta MC cartridge)

www.rega.co.uk (factory)

www.soundorg.com (US importer)

Peripherals

Features

Old School:
The Thorens TD-125 Turntable

By Ken Kessler

995: Sounds that Won’t Break the Bank
The Lounge Audio Phonostage

By Jeff Dorgay

Macro: Sound for Small Spaces

Ferrari Cavallino T350 and Denon AH-D340 Phones
By Mike Liang

Bryston BHA-1 Headphone amplifier
By Jeff Dorgay

Tone Style

Single Malt Shootout:
Kirkland 20 vs. Macallan 18
By Bailey S. Barnard

Joey Roth Ceramic Speaker and Subwoofer
By Mark Marcantonio

Gumby Shot Glasses

Camera Lens Coffee Mug

Vicoustic Omega Wood Acoustic Panels

Tape Deck Stand

Music

Current Releases:

Fresh Releases in the Pop/Rock World
By the TONE Staff

Live Music:
Richard Thompson, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell
By Bob Gendron

Low
By Jeff Dorgay

Audiophile Pressings

Jazz & Blues
By Jim Macnie

Previews

KEF Blade Speakers

Music First Audio Classic Preamplifier

Audio by Van Alstine Ultravalve Amplifier

Simaudio MOON 850P Preamplifier

From The Web:

AVID Pellar Phonostage

NewClear NC1000L Power Amplifier

Rega RP8 Turntable

Wyred 4 Sound mINT Integrated Amplifier

Reviews:

Sonus faber Venere 3.0 Speakers
By Rob Johnson

Polk Audio LSiM703 Speakers
By Andre Marc

Boulder 3050 Monoblocks
By Jeff Dorgay

Dynaudio XEO 3 Wireless Speakers
By Rob Johnson

Qualia Indigo Phonostage
By Jeff Dorgay

Paradigm Reference Signature 8 Speakers
By Jeff Dorgay

KEF R300 Bookshelf Speakers
By Jerold O’Brien

Slummin’

Seriously, how about it?

With so many vinyl enthusiasts, new and old excited about this event, Record Store Day is growing to the point where it’s becoming more exclusive than inclusive.  Here in Portland, Oregon, my favorite record store owner, Terry Currier, of Music Millennium told me that “the line around the building started at 10 last night.”

A few other stores I know echoed the same sentiment, receiving so many titles that they got two or three copies of that could have easily sold a 100 copies, possibly more. Another store owner, preferring to remain anonymous, was a bit more bleak. “The limited edition model worked better when people weren’t aware of vinyl – it helped to build enthusiasm.  Now that the demand is there, customers go away from the store crabby when they can’t get the RSD goodies.”

So how about it Record Companies?  While you might lose a buck or two, making a few less RSD collectibles, you’d make a lot more money and achieve a lot more good will if those of us that actually listen to the records we purchase could get our hands on it.  Maybe compromise with Record Store Week? It appears the demand is there.

If I had to make a bet, I’d put my money on the Brits taking the prize for understatement.

Unpacking the 1920 loudspeakers from British manufacturer MAD (for “My Audio Design”), it’s tough not to have an internal dialog that goes something like, “Two and a half grand for these?  They are mad!”  But, looking past the relatively simple-looking box speakers, one soon notices gorgeously mitered corners and an exceptional attention to detail paid on behalf of the craftsmen behind these.  Hmmm.  Some understated British artistry, perhaps?  I take the necessary photos and roll the speakers into listening room two, which, at 13 feet by 16 feet, is perhaps even a bit on the large side for a pair of small speakers—truly mini-monitors, in this case.  The next thought that comes to mind is “LS3/5a clone,” until I turn the speaker around and see a rear-facing port.

At $2,650 per pair, the 1920s are towards the high end of the price scale for this category.  Their obvious competitors are the KEF LS50 ($1,499/pair), which we haven’t reviewed yet; the Harbeth P3ESR ($2,200/pair); and the Stirling Broadcast LS3/5a V2 ($1,999/pair).  A mint pair of original LS3/5a speakers can command up to $2,000 per pair.  While the originals do have a certain vintage charm, they are notably woolly sounding in the world of 21^st-century monitors.  Colleen Cardas Imports is handling US distribution and now has three dealers, with more on the way.

A mini-monitor, properly optimized in a small room, is one of audio’s guilty pleasures.  Paired with a great amplifier, these speakers will provide ample bass quantity and well-above-average bass quality, going a long way to convince you that you won’t ever need a subwoofer.  But don’t forgo good stands, as they are essential to getting the maximum output from the 1920s.  Just place these on a pair of high-mass stands (sand filled Sound Anchors are my choice) after applying your favorite sticky substance to couple the speakers to said stands, and expect to be wowed.

Jumping Right In

Auditioning the 1920s begins with the Zombies’ classic, “Time of the Season.”  What better way to audition a British speaker than with some of the best of the British Invasion?  Immediately, the spatial characteristics of these speakers reveal a massive soundstage in the small room, with things clearly delineated and with solid bass—and rock-solid pace.  The added dynamics of the original mono record is an absolute blast with these speakers.  Rod Argent’s keys leap from the speakers.  When mated to the Conrad Johnson MV-50C1 power amplifier, the 1920s confirm the manufacturer’s spec sheet:  These little speakers are incredibly easy to drive.  Even the 20-watt-per-channel Carver Black Magic amplifier has no problem playing these speakers to maddening levels.  (Pardon the pun.)

Ry Cooder’s light touch on the acoustic guitar at the beginning of “The Very Thing That Will Make You Rich (Makes Me Poor),” from the Bop Till You Drop album, hovers just above the speakers, with Cooder well out in front of them.  Cat Power’s “Nothin’ But Time,” from Sun, her current album, has a more modern feel, laden with weighty synth bass riffs, again allowing the 1920s to sound so much larger than they seem capable.  Closing your eyes to concentrate on the presentation, it’s easy to think you are listening to much bigger speakers, only to open your eyes and find this pair of tiny audio morsels before you.  An equally spacious presentation is had with Little Village’s “Don’t Think About Her When You’re Trying to Drive.”

Tonality + Dynamics = Bliss

The performance of the 1920s is especially excellent during playback of a slew of acoustic standards.  But, while the speakers are not as rolled-off sounding on the top end as either the Harbeths or the vintage LS3/5as on hand, they are not quite as extended as the Penaudio Cenya or Dynaudio Confidence C1 IIs that I have here for comparison.  (To be fair, the Cenyas and C1 IIs are considerably more expensive.)  With the 1920s, it’s a nice, gentle roll-off, which will not be noticed on all but the best audiophile recordings and that, more often than not, goes a long way at making digital files and budget solid-state amplifiers considerably more listenable.

The only time I found the tonal characteristic of the 1920s a bit too soft for my taste was when using certain vintage tube amplifiers.  With the Dynaco ST-70 or Harman Kardon A500 integrated amp, for example, even digital files come across as slightly dull.  But, having drawn that line in the sand, the combination of vintage tube amplification and 320-Kb/sec MP3 files sounds much better than it has a right to.

All things considered, the extra efficiency, slam and bass weight are what separate the MAD 1920s from their comparably priced brethren.  You won’t mistake these for a pair of floorstanders, but they open up and breathe so much more than the other small speakers we’ve experienced at this price level.  While the Harbeth and Stirlings both present a benign enough load to drive with a 20-watt amplifier, they are still rated in the range of 83 to 84 dB—which means that a low-power amp can’t deliver the dynamic peaks like it can with a speaker rated at 90 dB.

Crazy Imaging

If you are new to the small British monitor thing, the sonic image that the 1920s present will spoil almost everything else for you.  From the first tap of the hi-hat on the title track to Donovan’s Mellow Yellow, the term “pinpoint imaging” takes on a new meaning, especially if you dim the lights just a bit to keep your eyes from sending visual information to your brain that might otherwise distract processing power from your auditory nerves.  Donovan sounds as if he’s singing just in front of your face, with his overdubs floating in a sea of handclaps and horns.  And the separation between the flute and the oboe in “Jennifer, Juniper” is magnificent.

Maybe it’s the stunning imaging that these old studio records present, or perhaps it’s the strong British heritage thing, but I just kept going back for more British Invasion records to play on these speakers.  I swear I was having flashbacks during Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man.”  But then, a brief detour spent on a number of Duran Duran and Thompson Twins tracks from the ’80s transitioned me back to the 21^st century—and it was still good.

On the deep-bass side of the musical universe, Dungen and Dr. Dre are both off the menu at all but modest levels.  You can only cheat physics so far, and the 1920s pull off a major sonic feat already.  But heavy rock and hip-hop are simply not a match for these speakers, should you really want to crank it up.  But I’m guessing that, if this stuff happens to be at the top of your music menu, you’re not looking at mini-monitors anyway.  To use an old audiophile cliché, the 1920s are mostly guilty of omission.  They remind me of a first-generation VW Golf GTI or Mazda MX5—they’re tons of fun to drive between 20 and 80 mph, which is where we’re stuck living most of the time.  But if you have a modest amplifier, a medium- to small-sized room and few pipe-organ records in your collection, you won’t even know what you’re missing.

Smart is the New Sexy

A quick visual once-over of the 1920s and you might just pass them by.  While the small box is well executed, these aren’t head-turners.  But inside it’s a completely different story—an abundance of high-grade audiophile parts lurk: ultra-pure silver internal wiring on the tweeter, plus point-to-point wiring with equally zooty copper wire.  Best of all, these are hand assembled in the UK, with all components hand tested and matched before the construction process begins.

Don’t think of the MAD 1920 as a clone of the LS3/5a, nor as an update or replacement for it.  It will just raise your dander.  But do pay close attention to them—they are sleepers.  And don’t let the understated box fool you.  These speakers are the new standard for small monitors.

The MAD 1920 loudspeakers

MSRP: £1,500   (US pricing, $2,650)

US Distributor:  Colleen Cardas Imports  www.colleencardasimports.com

Peripherals

Preamplifier                Burmster 011

Power Amplifier         Conrad Johnson MV-50C1, Pass Aleph 3, Carver Black Magic 20.

Analog Source             Rega RP6/Exact, SME 10/Sumiko Blackbird

Digital Source              Sooloos Control 15, Aurender S10, Light Harmonic DAC

Cable                           Cardas Clear

Accessories                 GIK Room Treatments, Audience aR6-TSS Power Line Conditioner, Furutech DeMag and DeStat, Audio Desk Systeme RCM

As part of an ongoing effort to help children and young adults get the best music education possible, Acoustic Geometry made a donation to the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy in Sioux Falls, SD, involving multiple Studio 3D Doors and Studio 6 Windows, the finest soundproof doors and windows available.

Each Studio 3D Door featured custom viewing windows as part of the package, and the Studio 6 Windows were custom-built to fit the live recording area in the Main Room of the Academy.

Brennan Rock & Roll Academy’s own Rock & Roll Ambassador/Designer Kory Van Sickle said: “These doors are amazing! They’re not only beautiful; they’re also super soundproof as proven during our Grand Opening week. Lots of really great and really loud rock bands performed (all personal friends of Mr. Brennan), and I couldn’t believe how quiet the practice rooms were when the doors were closed. They truly are works of art and I can’t say enough about how great everyone from Acoustic Geometry was to work with.”

Acoustic Geometry’s Retail Sales Director John Calder, who attended the Grand Opening, remarked on the new Academy: “For anyone who loves music, this is a truly welcoming environment for learning how to ‘play well with others’. The Brennan Academy team has done a wonderful job of engaging the community with state-of-the-art resources for the Boys and Girls Club in Sioux Falls – I haven’t seen a better learning space for music. And the “entertainment-biz royalty” – like Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons, George Lopez, Louie Anderson, Vince Neil and Night Ranger – who gave their time and talent to kick off the event, were terrific!”

Acoustic Geometry (http://www.acousticgeometry.com/), the retail brand of Acoustical Surfaces, Inc., works with community-based organizations like the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy (http://brennanrockandrollacademy.com/) to help advance music education.

Contact:

Acoustic Geometry

123 Columbia Court North

Chaska MN 55318

952-448-5300

Brennan Rock

It arrived just before I jumped on a plane for the NY Audio Show.  It’s big, red and beautiful.

We’ve got the EHF-200MK2 integrated amplifier from Rogers High Fidelity here for a while and after hearing it at Stereo Exchange in New York this weekend, I’m anxious to put it through its paces with a wide variety of speakers.  Featuring a pair of KT120 output tubes per channel, this amplifier puts out 120 watts per channel in Ultralinear mode, but can be switched into triode mode as well.

The EHF-200MK2 is packaged like a piece of fine jewelry, homage to the luxury product it is.  The remote is gorgeous, the manual concise and easy to read – but best of all each one comes with a little note enclosed from the person who built it, adding a bit of humanity to the process. When I caught up with Roger Gibboni I thanked him for the extra car, but he said “We do that with every amplifier, we want people to know the care that goes into each one.” So, Trish, thank you very much for building this amplifier…

Stay tuned for our listening impressions and the world’s first review shortly.

I certainly had a lovely time at this years HiFi Show in New York City…

Put on by the Chester Group, the same folks that sponsored last years show, things went incredibly smoothly for the UK based firm, considering they overcame a few major hurdles. First, there was a lot of hotel construction that was in progress, that no one expected during show week, when it was being organized almost a year ago, and there were a few water and power failures that necessitated some major jackhammering during the day on Saturday as well as some tenant evacuations on Sunday evening.  Yikes.

However, the show was not only well attended, it was a diverse crowd, perhaps the most diverse crowd I’ve seen at an audio show in the US.  Montreal and Munich do an excellent job at attracting kids and women to the party, but the US shows tend to be more often than not, a high percentage of beard tuggers.

It was nice to see a few groups of younger people, like the ones pictured in the VPI Industries room, not only grooving on the music, but asking to “turn it up…”  It was also nice to talk music and audio with some of our female readers and get their feedback on things.

The Chester Group and their US liasons, Sally Goff (formerly the face of McIntosh) and Christina Yuin (our director of sales) made an excellent effort to bring some seminars and events that were a lot more music centric, and wider ranging than I’ve seen in a long time.

SoundStageDirect and The SoundOrganisation, along with PMC Speakers contributed with their “Studio to You” series of lectures, bringing in some famous recording and mastering engineers, to discuss their part of the process.

And, speaking of music, this was the first show in memory that also did not consist primarily of audiophile standards. I did avoid a couple of rooms (still) playing “Keith Don’t Go,” but by and large, it was a much more musical show overall.  The Rutherford Group was rocking everything from Swedish House Mafia to Elvis on acetate, AudioArts NYC had a wide range of jazz, classical and blues, on vinyl, and Johan Coorg of KEF was a mixmaster – spanning a very wide range of music as well.

Rounding things out, Stereophile’s Michael Fremer was there, with his turntable setup seminar, and Art Dudley (also of Stereophile) and I held a spirited panel discussion about vintage hifi, which I am told by the folks at the Chester Group, had the highest attendance of all the seminars.

Again a thanks to the Chester Group for performing above and beyond the call of duty, and all of you that attended.  I hope to see you again next year.

For those of you craving more room by room coverage, stop by Stereophile’s website, where they have done their usual concise job.

AVID, a Kimbolton, UK-based firm has been turning out some mighty impressive turntables for more than a decade now, and their recent pursuit of phono preamplifier designs, equally so.

AVID’s mission statement is simply this: “The truth, nothing more, nothing less.”  Of course, the “truth” is one of the most elusive subjects in the audio world. Is it the sonic realism of a live performance, the accurate reproduction of a studio master tape or something else? If beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, then audio truth resides in the ear of the listener.  From my perspective, audio truth is told when the essence of a recording, good, bad or indifferent, is revealed without additions or subtractions. Having lived with many (and I mean many) phonostages at widely ranging price points, I now investigate the baby of the AVID family, and see how much truth the Pellar serves up.

AVID: A Very Interesting Design.

Before getting the Pellar phonostage into my system, a look under the hood reveals a straightforward, unbalanced circuit, and high quality parts on the circuit board of this all solid-state design.  The compact chassis (2.75” (H) x 4” (W) x 9” (D)] has a single power switch on the front panel and is a rather solid little brick, weighing 3.5 pounds.  The rear panel has a power cord receptacle, stereo RCA outputs, and a tandem of RCA inputs, with the upper pair of RCA jacks used for impedance loading, much like the Naim Superline does.

The Pellar arrives with two 500 Ohm RCA plugs for this purpose, and this should work with a wide range of phono cartridges. Other values are available on request, or you can make your own. The default impedance without the plugs installed is 47K ohms. The turntable is connected to the Pellar via the lower set of inputs. Gain can be easily adjusted by sliding a pair of dipswitches from 40 dB (adequate for most MM cartridges) to 60 dB or 70 dB (adequate for most lower output MC cartridges).  Considering the complexity of many high-end phonostages, the Pellar is simplicity itself, resulting in a very quick unbox to enjoy music time.

Staging the Phonostage

Since the Pellar is billed as AVID’s entry level phonostage at $1,149 (the top-of-the-heap two-box Pulsare II will set you back $7,000), I mated it with my modified VPI Aries with outboard flywheel and JMW 10.5i tonearm.  For this review, I alternated two stereo MC cartridges, the higher output Clearaudio Stradivari (0.8 mv @ 5 cm/sec) and the low output Dynavector DV-20×2 (0.3 mv @ 5 cm/sec).  A Benz Micro Ruby 3H (0.7 mv @ 5 cm/sec) handled the mono LPs.   After a  48 hour power up, serious listening began in earnest.

Retrieval of detail is a good measure of a phonostage’s noise floor. Simply put, the lower the noise floor the more detail you get from the grooves.  Sheila, an intimate duet between jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan and bassist Arild Andersen (SteepleChase), is an easy way to evaluate this aspect of phonostage performance.  The proof in the pudding is hearing Sheila’s husky voice move toward and away from the mike and catching the short breaths that she takes between phrases. Meanwhile, you should also hear the varying harmonics of Andersen’s finger work on his bass.  The Pellar does a fantastic job on musical fundamentals.

Ry Cooder’s Jazz, an unabashed homage to ragtime and Dixieland music is a great example of a studio recording not victim of excess tweaking and one with with great recreation of voice and each of the small group of instruments involved. The opening track “Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now) clearly illustrates the Pellar’s ability to keep the vocals on track with all of the horns spread out across the soundstage, giving the illusion of these players in the room.

Encouraged by the ease at which the Pellar handled this favorite, the big stuff was next.  The classic recording of the Verdi Requiem with Sir Georg Solti leading a fabulous quartet of soloists, the Musikverein chorus  and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra proved another excellent challenge that the Pellar aced.  The Decca tonmeisters have always known how to get the most out of a huge surge of orchestral and vocal music.  The Pellar never feels overwhelmed with “Kyrie” section, one of the most dynamic choral passages ever written – a tough challenge for any analog front end.

If I had to pick one mono LP to demonstrate how good a phonostage can make mono records sound, it would be the 45 RPM reissue of Ella and Louis (Analogue Productions). Not a dud cut on the record and what presence Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong have! The Pellar mated to the Benz Micro Ruby 3H gets me very close to the vocal cords of these two jazz legends, and excited

What Do You Get For A G-Note?

Occasionally one of my audio buddies will ask me, “hey, I’m getting back into analog, so how much should I spend on a phonostage?” The Pellar’s resolving power and soundstage recreation might not reach the highest sound realms of my reference Pass XP-25 (to be had at ten times the price!) but it does provide a genuine peek at what audio heaven sounds like.  You get a lot of what the audio in-crowd venerates with enough coin left over to buy… a whole bunch of vinyl records. The AVID Pellar becomes my definite contender for one of the audio bargains of the year and an easy, suggestion for a friend who wants to rediscover the magic residing in those black vinyl grooves, that won’t break the bank.   – Lawrence Devoe

Second Listen:

Having spent a fair amount of time with both of AVID’s more expensive phono stages, the Pulsus and the first generation Pulsare, there is definitely a family resemblance here.  All three phonostages have a similar sound: a natural tonal balance with good dynamics and a low noise floor.  Much like the AVID turntables, each phonostage in the range has increasingly more dynamic punch, low level detail and low frequency heft.

That being said, the Pellar is remarkably good for $1,149.  I gave it a spin with a few of the tables in my stable here, the Linn LP-12/Shure V15 mxvr and the AVID Ingenium/SME 309/Ortofon 2M Black, both a good fit for the MM side of the equation.  As for MC, the Pellar works phenomenally well with the $379 Denon 103DL.  Combined with the Ingenium, this is a tough combination to beat for a prudent audiophile.  You will need to get 100-ohm loading plugs or get out the soldering iron, however.

Perhaps the best part of owning the AVID Pellar is that you can just turn it on, forget about it, and enjoy your vinyl collection, no matter what turntable you have.   Highly recommended.   -Jeff Dorgay

AVID Pellar Phono Preamplifier

MSRP: $1,149 (USD)

Manufacturer: AVID HIFI

Contact: www.avidhifi.co.uk (UK and Europe)
www.musicdirect.com (US)

PERIPHERALS

• Preamplifier: Pass Labs X-30
• Amplifier: Pass Labs XA-100.5
• Speakers: Martin Logan CLX
• Power Conditioner: Running Springs Audio Dmitri, Maxim
• Cables: Nordost Valhalla, Odin
• Power Cords: Nordost Valhalla, Odin

It’s as if Sonus faber put the $120,000 Aida speakers in a shrink machine…

Finished to the same high standard as their flagship speakers, the new Sonus faber Guareri Evolution speakers retail for $22,000 per pair with the matching Evolution floor stands.  You can delete them and save $2,000, but you’ll never find a stand this inert or this beautiful, so just order both.

Our review pair arrives in the dark grey “Graffit” finish and is beautifully hand polished to a glass – like surface, as is the shiny nickel plated top and bottom plates.  But best of all, these speakers sound better than they look.  Not a pair of mere mini monitors, these are a world class speaker system, perhaps better suited to our readers that want cost no object sound, but don’t have a 20 x 30 foot listening room.

They are currently mated to a Burmester 011 preamplifier, Aesthetix Rhea phonostage, and the SME10 turntable, with Sumiko’s Palo Santos Presentation phono cartridge.  To say we’re in analog heaven would be an understatement.  Power is via the highly capable Burmester 911 mk. 2 power amplifier, capable of 350 watts per channel into 4 ohms, the impedance of the Evos.

You can read more about the Evos here…

Or better yet, head down to your Sonus faber dealer and experience them for yourself.

While vacuum tube and solid-state amplifiers continue to improve, the gains have been for the most part evolutionary rather than revolutionary at this stage of the game.

Class D amplifiers are a whole different game – much like the introduction of the compact disc, early efforts were harsh and highly unmusical.  But Class D has matured.  Perhaps not into the voluptuous shape of a pair of giant VTL or ARC monoblocks, but not the skinny runway models they used to be.

The NC1000L is a dual mono design, built around the latest ICE Power modules and is essentially two power supplies and two separate mono amplifiers sharing the same chassis.  It features balanced XLR and single ended RCA inputs, both going in via a pair of high quality Lundahl transformers. The NC1000L delivers 501 watts into an 8-ohm load and doubles that into 4 ohms.  Magnepan lovers, this amplifier is your new best friend.  And that’s exactly where I began this review, with my Magnepan 1.7s.  This amplifier’s enormous power reserves light up these wonderful, but power hungry speakers – giving them a true semblance of dynamics, even playing fairly heavy rock.  Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter” never sounded better on the 1.7s.

Oodles of power

Many say the “first watt” is the most important, however I feel they are all important.  I also prefer a lot of power to not so much.  There are a number of classic low power amplifiers, all of which have a tonal magic about them: the Wavac EC-300, the Pass Aleph 3, the McIntosh MC-30, etc., etc.  And as much fun as they’ve been at very low levels, if you don’t have efficient speakers, those amps run out of steam fast. Ultimately, dynamics are just as important as tonal accuracy, or any of the audiophile parameters that try to convince us that we are hearing reality through our stereo systems – even with music that you don’t think demands it.

Low powered amplifiers are always fun to take for a spin, but I always go back to high power at the end of the day, and the NC1000L delivers the goods.  I mentioned Magnepans at the beginning of the review, and after about a month with both the 1.7 and 3.7, unless you are going to drop upwards of $15k on an amplifier, the NC1000L is the amplifier for you – at an introductory price of $2,600.

We can argue the merits of a “dealer direct” product versus one sold through normal distribution channels and whether a $2,600 amplifier sold this way really needs to be compared to a $5,000 amplifier sold with the costs of distribution attached to be fair.  No problem.  The NC1000L stands up handily to everything we’ve heard in this price category. It doesn’t have the sweetness of say, a McIntosh MC275, but you can’t drive a pair of inefficient speakers with an MC275 either. No disrespect intended to either manufacturer, the amount of clean power available with the NC1000L easily justifies its price.  With this much power on tap, I could not play the NC1000L loud enough (without risk of brain damage) to explore the boundaries of their claimed “graceful rounded waveforms at clipping.”

Under the hood

Popping the top of the thick, 14-gauge chassis and thick front panel reveals a tidy layout.  Each amplifier has it’s own separate board, with power supply and ICE module self contained.  The layout is tidy, and my only concern for sonic degradation over time is the screw terminals used to bring in power an input signal.  However, I have seen this approach taken in much more expensive amplifiers and speakers, some ten times the cost of this amplifier.

The NC1000L doesn’t take long to settle into a groove – it doesn’t need hundreds of hours to sound its best. The slight bit of solid-state haze at initial power up vanishes after about three days of 24/7 operation at modest volume.  Its miserly 28 watt current draw at idle lends itself to leave powered up continuously without guilt.

A real pleasure

Thanks to the NC1000Ls balanced XLR and single ended RCA inputs, it will work with whatever linestage or preamplifier you have handy.  After trying about ten different examples from my recently rebuilt Conrad Johnson PV-12 up to the $60,000 Indigo Qualia linestage, the NC1000 merely revealed the character of what was in front of it, with plenty of resolution to discern the differences between front end components with ease.

The NCl000L does fall short of spendier competitors is resolving last bit of detail in the upper registers, but this is not a fair comparison.  Auditioning similarly priced products in the 50-100 watt per channel range, the NC1000L is without peer.  The presentation is very neutral and if like, me you desire a bit more warmth or romance, you can always mate the NC1000L with your favorite tube preamplifier and season to taste.  I did just that with my vintage Conrad Johnson PV-12 (recently rebuilt by the CJ factory with a full compliment of CJD Teflon caps, so it’s not that vintage sounding) and was in affordable hifi heaven.  Man I wish I could have had this amplifier back in the days of my Magnepan Tympanis or Acoustat 2+2s!

This amplifier throws a very wide soundstage, thanks in part to it’s dual mono design, with well delineated imaging, but again not quite as much front to back depth as something with vacuum tubes in the circuit, yet low level detail is excellent.  Listening to the title track on Joni Mitchell’s The Hissing of Summer Lawns is fantastic, with the gentle percussion bits floating well outside of the speakers with Mitchell’s multi-layered vocals well separate from the bass line anchoring the tune.

Timbral complexity is also well represented, as Mitchell gets a bit shrieky on “Shadows and Light.”  This is a track that can deteriorate into a ball of midrange on an amplifier unable to handle complex passages.  The NC1000 does an equally good job with the violin, reproducing this delicate image with aplomb.

The NC1000s ability to drive speakers with a low impedance or a complex load is better than any Class D amplifier we’ve yet sampled, where many early Class D designs were more like an SET amplifier with many speakers, horribly rolling off the top end when the match was less than stellar.  The B&W 802 Diamond speakers always prove tough for the Class D amps we’ve reviewed in the past, but he NC1000L passes with flying colors.  There really was no speaker at our disposal that was problematic for this amplifier.

As with many ICE powered designs, the NC1000L excels at the low frequency part of the audio spectrum. Cranking up Bassnectar’s “Boomerang” with the 802 Diamonds felt like a subwoofer was added to the system now offering a serious punch to the chest at high volume levels.  Ditto with Prince’s “Billy Jack Bitch.”  And of course, the heartbeat at the beginning of Dark Side of the Moon was pretty cool too.  The massive power is well controlled, giving bass instruments a natural response that does not sound overdamped.

Speaking of cool, the NC1000 stays nice and cool, even when pushed to punishing SPL levels, and under normal operation, shouldn’t use much more electricity than a light bulb.

Nod to the new guys

If the market is an indicator, it will be tough for the crew at NewClear to keep building these amplifiers for this price forever.  Other manufactures have done incredibly well with the factory direct approach, and considering this amplifier is so underpriced at this point, our hope is that as NewClear grows and has to amortize those costs, this amplifier will still be a solid product.  But for now, this understated black box has to be one of the year’s best bargains.  If 500 watts per channel sounds like your way to party, get in on the ground floor.

The NC1000 does its job simply and effortlessly, serving the music all the while.  It easily earns one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2013.

The NewClear NC1000 power amplifier

MSRP:  $2,600

www.newclearaudio.com

Peripherals

Analog Source             AVID Volvere/SME V/Sumiko Palo Santos Presentation

Digital Source              dCS Paganini, Sooloos Control 15

Preamplifiers               Conrad Johnson PV-12, ARC REF5SE, Burmester 011

Phonostage                  Simaudio MOON LP810

Speakers                      Magnepan 1.7 & 3.7, GamuT S9, Dynaudio Confidence C1 II, B&W 802D

Cable                           Cardas Clear

KEF, the renowned manufacturer of innovative, reference-quality loudspeakers, will celebrate its participation in the New York Audio Show 2013 by hosting a special evening with lauded Italian jazz guitarist and music producer/songwriter Fabrizio Sotti on Friday, April 12.

Sponsored by New York-based Matrix Sound & Vision, the event featuring Sotti will be held from 9-10 p.m. ET at the New York Palace Hotel in Hubbard II Room.

Sotti, who has collaborated with an impressive range of artists from all genres, including Cassandra Wilson, Q-Tip, the late Whitney Houston and many others, will treat attendees with a special free performance to celebrate the upcoming release of Right Now, Sotti’s latest album which was mixed and mastered using KEF’s LS50 Mini Monitor Loudspeakers.

During the evening presented by KEF and Matrix Sound & Vision, Sotti will bring together musicians from around the world to treat attendees to a sampling of new tracks from Right Now and other works. Shareese Ballard, better known as Res, will accompany Sotti with her beautiful combination of soul, rock and Indie pop vocals. Also performing alongside Sotti will be accomplished bassist Tony Grey and internationally renowned drummer Francisco Mela.

The LS50s helped Sotti and an exciting and unexpected ensemble of guest on Right Now deliver a truly unique mix of original songs and covers of timeless classic songs, like an interpretation of “The Wall” featuring Ice-T, M-1 of Dead Prez and Res.

To attend the event, which will include an open bar, show attendees must stop by the KEF suite (No. 926) at the show to pick up a free pass. There, attendees will have the luxury of experiencing first-hand how the LS50 delivers a rich, multi-dimensional soundstage for the ultimate studio experience—even in the smallest of spaces.

KEF will also present attendees to the New York Audio Show with the opportunity to demo the new X300A, a premium powered loudspeaker system developed to offer the highest resolution digital music reproduction from a PC/MAC desktop or laptop computer via distortion-free USB input, as well as the legendary KEF Reference 207/2 and KEF R Series.  You can read the world’s first review of the X300A here.

For more information on KEF, please visit http://www.kef.com.

John Darko from Digital Audio Review takes an in-depth look and listen at Emotiva’s latest DAC/digital preamp, the XDA-2…

My first slice of Emotiva DAC coverage appeared nearly two years ago. In 2011, I found the XDA-1 to be a bit of a bargain – US$399 for a (then) better-than-average sound atop a killer feature set: remote controllable digital pre-amp with balance outputs. Back then, very few DACs in the shallow end of the budget market could compete with such a high value proposition. More crucially, the XDA-1 offered a sound that didn’t screech or scratch its nails down the chalkboard despite being solid with detail dig and widescreen musical staging.  After teasing with 12 months of trade show demos, the XDA-2 (US$399) finally drops.

Please click here to read the rest of his review:

If you happen to be at the New York Audio show this weekend, please stop by and sniff around.

And, if you feel so inclined, I invite you to sit in on “The Virtue of Vintage,” a presentation Stereophile’s Art Dudley and I are putting on at  11am on Saturday.

Art’s tales of restoration have certainly inspired me over the years, so it’s an honor to be sharing the stage with him.  He’s invited some other vintage restoration experts, who will help you walk through the joys of using some of the best of audio’s past.

We look forward to seeing you there!

We’ve just received a pair of Plinius Audio’s newest separates, and they are quite impressive.

The Hautonga Integrated amplifier features a 200 watt per channel class AB power amplifier, preamplifier and phono stage on board for $5,750 and the Tiki digital music player offers full streaming capabilities from a NAS for $4,750. This device has a network input only and is not meant as a standalone DAC.

Built to the same quality level of Plinius’ top reference components, the Hautonga and the Tiki both offer top performance and functionality in a somewhat compact package. They are available in silver or black and you can read more about Plinius here….

So far, the sound quality is exquisite and the Tiki very easy to use.  We’ll have a full report in Issue 55.

This is a review from way back, issue 10 to be exact.  But, as we are just getting our hands on the current RP8, it might be interesting for some of you to revisit our thoughts on the P9 and the excellent Apheta phono cartridge.

We usually review cartridges as separate items, but because this is Rega’s first moving coil cartridge (and it has been in development for a few years)designed to mate perfectly with a Rega arm, especially their flagship RB1000 arm featured here on the P9, a joint review it is.

In case you are not familiar with this turntable and cartridge, the P9 has a suggested retail of $4495 and the Apheta Moving Coil cartridge is $1695.  The accessory Tungsten counterweight is an additional $100.  This is definitely a serious turntable, folks.  Rega has been steadily moving upmarket with their P5 and P7 models, which are great turntables in their own right, but the P9 is the flagship and having spent time with both of them I feel that the P9 is really in a class all its own. (Ed. Note: These are now $4,995 and $1,995 respectively and the P9 has just been discontinued)

I enjoy Regas understated elegance.  If you want a big, bulky turntable, that screams “dig me”, the P9 is not going to be your cup of tea.  At first glance the P9 looks like a P25 with a larger wood base, but that would be missing the boat. Don’t let the subtle styling fool you; a peek under the traditional felt mat reveals a high tech ceramic platter, with a machined sub platter beneath.  The plastic part in the P3 and P25 is gone.

Cast your glance aside to the RB1000 tonearm.  According to Rega, it takes one technician as much time to hand assemble and adjust an RB1000 arm as it does to make 30 RB300’s and it shows the first time you pick that tonearm and set it down on a record.  Definitely a work of art.

And the idea that Rega has a moving coil cartridge, is also pretty exciting.  Designed from the ground up, they have eliminated the tie wire and foam damper found in conventional moving coil designs.  The result is indeed, very clean sounding with a tremendous amount of detail on tap.  As much as I like the sound, I love the clear body, allowing you a peek inside, a nice touch!­  A more in-depth technical analysis of the new arm and power supply, can be found on the Rega website.
Thanks to a power supply that is the same size as a Rega integrated amplifier, you no longer have to pop that platter and move the belt on the pulley to get 45rpm playback.  Just plug in the umbilical cord, turn it on and choose the speed you want.

I can’t imagine that there is anyone out there who hasn’t heard of Rega, or even owned one at one point in time.  My guess is if you did, it was probably a P2 or P3.  Aside from the Linn LP-12, the Rega P3 is probably one of the best selling turntables in history; certainly if we are talking about belt drive tables.  (NO Surly emails from Technics SL-1200 owners!!)

Like anything that has been around for a long time, there are a number of misconceptions, urban myths and other bits of misinformation floating around.  So let’s get the BS out of the way and clear the air.  Here are the Rega myths exposed and explained once and for all:

Rega turntables don’t have good speed accuracy, they tend to play a little fast.

Way back in the beginning of the companies tenure, some of their tables did play a smidge fast but that has not been an issue for many years now.  The engineering staff at Rega has painstakingly worked to rid themselves of this problem and they are so particular, they actually measure speed with a record playing to take the drag from tracking a groove into account.

Even with the P1, this issue is LONG a thing of the past and our review sample has perfect speed accuracy.  A new belt solved the slight speed issue with my own P25, so check this first if you are having an issue on an older table.  Most turntable manufacturers suggest changing the belt yearly or at least every other year.

Rega turntables don’t have deep bass, they sound a little thin.

This one is a matter of personal taste.  I have always found the P2, P3 and P25 to have more of a “fast” sound compared to other tables in its price range, with fantastic detail retrieval and smooth midrange.  One mans fast is another mans thin.  In all fairness, my bias is towards minimonitors and panel speakers so I’m not a big bass freak to begin with.  However even on a full range system, Rega tables have always come across as well balanced and bass has never been an issue.  Perhaps those complaining of thin bass response did not have the VTA set correct – this can be an issue with other manufacturers cartridges, but easy to remedy.

You can’t adjust VTA on a Rega and hence can’t use other manufacturers cartridges very easy.

Again, not true.  Granted, it’s not as easy to adjust the VTA on a Rega table as it is on an SME, but should you decide that you would like a cartridge other than Rega (which have a 14mm stylus to top of the cartridge body distance) there are a few options.  You can use one of the aftermarket VTA adjustment devices or if you measure this distance on your cartridge, chances one of Rega’s tonearm shims will do the trick.  They now have these available for the RB250/300/600 arms as well as the RB700/900/1000 arms and you can just order whatever combination you require from your dealer in 2, 4 or 10mm thicknesses.

That felt mat drives me nuts, I’ve had way better luck with (insert mat of the week here)…

Just shut up and use the felt mat.  It works just fine, especially when you are spinning a lot of records in a listening session.  You can just leave the platter spin and change records, fantastic! Let’s get back to the job at hand and talk about the P9. Right.

Initial setup

The P9 arrived with the new Apheta moving coil cartridge installed, but it can be set up in a jiffy yourself, should the need arise, thanks to Regas three point mounting system.  Attach the wires, insert the screws and you are good to go!  No adjustments to make, just tracking force (1.75g) and Anti-skate; not quite as easy as putting a CD in the drawer, but the easiest turntable setup you’ll ever experience.  Five minutes and you will be playing records!  I dare you to accomplish that with any other $6000 record player.

Loading is the secret to making the Apeheta sing.  At least 100 ohms, 50-75 if you can and a touch lower if you’ve got it.  If you only have a 1000 ohm setting on your phono stage, there is a high probability that you will find the Apheta bright.  Anything higher than that and you will definitely find it bright and possibly way too bright.

Setting the Modwright 9.0 SWLP to 50 ohms and the BAT VK-10SE  at 33 ohms was perfect.  Down here, the cartridge can still breathe and the top end is smoothed out very nicely.  All of my serious listening was spent with the ModWright, because I felt that this was a good match financially as well – a $3k phono stage is probably a more realistic combination for a $6k turntable than a 7k phono stage.  However, the P9/Apheta combination has enough resolution to justify it, should you decide to go there.

A great first impression

Often times, first impressions really do stick with you and getting the P9 out of the box was quite a surprise.  I was very impressed with the table right away, with the P9 offering a much bigger and more powerful presentations than past Regas I’ve listened to.  If you were on the bubble and in the “Rega tables sound a bit thin” camp, you can flush that misconception down the toilet.  The P9 has a very authoritative presentation, especially in the lower registers.

The first record I put on that familiar felt mat was Patti Smiths Trampin’.  The first song on side two, Cartwheels has some very deep bass riffs that were reproduced with the usual Rega texture but a lot more weight than I’m used to.  The next cut, Ghandi has a lot of air and some very tasty drum fills over the top of some very strong bass parts too.  What the P9/Apheta combination excelled at was keeping everything placed about the soundstage, without losing focus or grip.  Some cartridges I have heard in this price range get mushy when the music gets texturally complex, but not the Apheta.

This is when you know that you are listening to first class analog, the sense of air and texture is there along with plenty of detail, yet lacking in grain.  The more I listened, the more I was impressed with the Apheta cartridge and marveled at how it had a speed, extension and clarity that I would normally associate with CD, yet with the smoothness I would expect from analog.  Quite anomalous behavior from a company that didn’t even start making digital products until recently.

And their top of the line digital player has an amazing amount of the positive attributes of good analog.  Very interesting indeed, but you will have to wait until our next issue to read about the Saturn!

It’s getting better all the time

The P9 ticks all the boxes at its price point; smooth, even frequency response, plenty of LF weight and definition, and enough PRAT to satisfy that crowd as well. Getting comfy with the Apheta only requires a short break in period – a few days will do the trick. Moving it out to the main reference system with the ASR Basis phono stage (again, loaded at 50 ohms) it was easy to compare to the SME 10.  The Apheta is a fantastic match for the ultra low noise floor of the ASR, providing CD quiet backgrounds on pristine vinyl surfaces.

Moving through the gamut, listening began in earnest with the recent Willie Nelson album, Songbird, which was produced by Ryan Adams. This is a great album, with a lot of depth and spatial cues. Definitely one of those “delicate space between the notes” kind of records that really conveys Nelson’s vocals in a more soft-spoken manner.  Same with the Johnny Cash American Recording album; the presentation of Delia was RIGHT THERE.

The P9/Apheta has such a good combination of resolution and ease, it makes for fatigue-free extended listening sessions. Load this baby wrong and you will curse it forever.  Get it right and it is a very nice dose of analog bliss.

The Apheta works well with dense musical passages, regardless of whether it was ten layers of overdubbed guitars or the violin section in an orchestra, meaning the heavy metal fan and the orchestra lovers will be able to find peace here.

Exploring other options

Just to be thorough, I did spend some time mounting other cartridges to the P9 to see how well it would perform.  Again, it passed with flying colors.  My Sumiko Celebration has a 14mm stylus to top measurement, so it did not require any spacer, just a quick HTA adjustment and a rebalance of the tonearm.  A bit more on the lush side than the Apheta, this might be a good combination for those needing a bit less detail than the Apheta offers.  A pair of  2mm spacers made it easy to mount the Shelter 90x – another excellent choice for those wanting a more romantic presentation.

Tough to beat

Once you get to this price range in turntables, there is quite a bit to choose from and every table has its own characteristic sound.  Right now I have an Oracle and an AVID Volvere here in the studio which are similarly priced and while I don’t believe in shootouts, I will say the P9 holds its own with the others in it’s class that I have at my disposal.

If I could change one thing on the P9, I would love to see it offered with a set of balanced connectors so those of us running a fully balanced phono stage could take advantage of the additional noise reduction this configuration offers. That’s my only gripe and it probably only applies to 2% of the people who might buy this table.

The Rega P9 excels by offering a mega analog experience with none of the hassle that you might expect from a high performance turntable.  This is as close as you can get to close and play ease of use with this level of musicality and detail.  Yes there are tables (at this price point) that might reveal a little more of this or that, but if there is another table for this kind of money that offers up this much music, yet requires NO setup expertise, Ill eat that felt mat.

An old friend of mine used to say, “Dude, why do you want a Rega, you can’t tweak it!”  To which I would reply “Dude, that’s why I want a Rega, I don’t want to tweak it, I want to listen to records!”

And I still feel that way 28 years later.  This one’s a keeper.  Highly recommended.

The Rega P9 Turntable and Apheta moving coil cartridge

MSRP:  Table:  $4,995, Cartridge:  $1,995   (tungsten counterweight, $100)

Manufacturer:

www.rega.co.uk (Factory)

www.soundorg.com (US Distributor)

Peripherals

Living with the Unlimiteds for a few more weeks continues to reveal treasure.

The resolving nature of these speakers continues to impress everyone that hears them and their chameleon – like character should charm solid state and valve amplifiers lovers equally. They provide equally stunning performances with either.

Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay these speakers after extended listening is that they will improve in sound quality as you keep upgrading your equipment and are not out of place in a mega system, making them perfect for the audiophile not having a large room, not wanting to give up sound quality.

They are not at all finicky and great results are achieved with entry-level electronics; so this is a speaker you can buy with long-term system aspirations even if you don’t have the spare change to buy the whole system in one go.  And spinning vinyl, fantastic!  In room two with six turntable/tonearm/cartridge combinations at my disposal, it is easy to discern the nuance of each.  Most of my final listening sessions centered around the VPI Classic 1 turntable, fitted with an Eminent Technology ET2.5 tonearm and Grado Statement 1 cartridge.  The Aesthetix Rhea phono stage and Burmester 011 preamplifier fed the Jubilee monoblocks for a breathtaking analog experience.

Rock till you drop

The 10cc classic, Deceptive Bends instantly reveals the cinemascope like soundstage painted by the Unlimiteds.  The engaging studio trickery, full of layer upon layer of texture, overdubbed vocals and a wall of guitars comes alive through these speakers, feeling highly psychedelic, indeed. The opening beats of “Good Morning Judge” pin me back in the listening chair, neither the Unlimiteds nor the Jubilees any worse for the wear and tear.

This prompted playing the band’s most noteworthy hit “I’m Not in Love,” from The Original Soundtrack, harkening back to the Crème and Godley days of this wonderfully witty band.  In the middle of the track, as the female vocal wispily claims “big boys don’t cry, big boys don’t cry,” there’s yet another group of layered vocals set well behind the speakers main axis with a handful of tinkly bits floating all over the room as if I were wearing a giant pair of headphones.  Brilliant.

Turning the clock even further back (and turning the volume way up) to the Ten Years After masterpiece, A Space in Time, Alvin Lee’s acoustic guitar intro almost feels larger than life.  No matter how dense the mix, the Unlimiteds are masters of keeping the pace rock solid – something my favorite electrostats struggle with when there is a heavy bass line present.  Because these speakers can play so loud without distortion, I advise a bit of prudence – if you have a high power amplifier, you’ll find yourself constantly turning it up because the clarity of the presentation is so intoxicating.

Resolving reality

The Unlimiteds high resolution makes listening sessions fun, re-discovering favorite recordings mining low level details that may have been lost or diminished via other speakers.

As much fun as the Unlimiteds can be rocking out, they provide an extremely convincing look at acoustic music as well.  Thad Jones trumpet fills the room, playing the 45-rpm copy of Music Matters, The Magnificent Thad Jones. The wide, spacious sound of these speakers gives real instruments more room to breathe.  The lightening fast attack of the DDD driver does not blur drums and percussion in the least and cymbals fade out with an ease that fools you into thinking you are hearing the real thing.

Slowing down the pace much further to take in Bax’ Sonata For Flute and Harp illustrates the delicacy that these speakers provide, even at low volume.  The harp hovers between the speakers, allowing the flute it’s own space, with neither of these faint instruments polluting the sound of the other.

This clarity extends to the vocal range, male and female.  Again, the extreme clarity these speakers provide give vocals a sense of immediacy that is tough to beat.  Thanks to that low 200hz crossover, the DDD driver handles it all, not breaking up the coherency with a crossover network.

Whether you’re listening to Tom Jones, Tom Petty or Tom Waits, the Unlimiteds will satisfy and yes, female vocals are equally intoxicating.  Ella Fitzgerald’s “My Cousin in Milwaukee” is absolutely slinky.

Great dynamics

Visiting some of my favorite hip hop and electronic tracks, I had to push the Unlimiteds really hard to find their limits with the 600 watt per channel Burmester 909 power amplifier that we recently reviewed.  Anyone who is less than punishing will find they play incredibly loud without strain.  Much like a ceramic driver, the DDD is so clean it doesn’t go easily into distortion like a cone or dome speaker, it just kind of flattens out.  Again, this is way beyond the point of reason.

Romping through the driving beats in Thievery Corporation’s The Mirror Conspiracy poses no problems for these speakers, regardless of volume, again underlining their ability to reproduce a powerful bass line and maintain a huge spatial perspective with everything else.  Investigating a few classic dynamic tracks from Pink Floyd, Yello and Genesis are all handled with equal ease, making these incredibly well rounded speakers.

As well as the German Physiks Unlimited speakers perform on a wide variety of music, one of their best attributes is how user friendly they are, as I mentioned in part one of this review.  This is a speaker system that requires precious little fuss to setup, so you go instantly to enjoying your music when you bring a pair home.

The final part of this review will cover using the speakers with a wider range of electronics, and a couple of different environments, probing the rest of their limits.

Visit the German Physiks website here:

Hi-fi isn’t just about boxes and wires – it’s about people.

Meet Christian Drecksel – paint shop guru and today’s tour guide of Zu Audio’s factory floor. I’m here to talk Union, a new loudspeaker that’s pitched sonically closer to Zu’s A-game Soul Superfly (right) than their entry-level Omen (left).  I’m keen to see the build process from woe to go.  First up: Drecksel drives me ’round to meet one of the local box cutters.

Zu outsource the cutting to a triumvirate of woodshops.  A rigid three-ply composite is cut to strict build specifications. CNC cutting tables ensure precision.  I get a sense that error-tolerance amongst team Zu is super low.  The factory itself has a feeling of long hours spent in the pursuit of high standards – everyone seems dedicated to a team outcome.  Music is nearly always playing downstairs and rarely does five minutes pass without my hearing someone, somewhere laugh hard.

For the rest of John Darko’s journey, please click here…..

Whether you’ve spent a small, medium or super size pile of cash on your system, chances are good that it’s not delivering the maximum performance that it’s capable of.

I’m guessing that many of you that have invested in great racks, cables and other accessories have not invested time in properly addressing the sound of your listening environment.

And for good reason, most of the products look at home in a recording studio at best, or a garage sale at worst: not at home in even a modestly design conscious environment.  But there’s an answer.  We’ve teamed up with the people at Vicoustic USA to show you just how painless and attractive a properly designed acoustic space can be.  Their products are beautiful and easy to install, and not prohibitively expensive.  We start the process next week.  We’ll be capturing video and taking a ton of pictures to document it all, so stay tuned. (pun intended)

Once finished, we will be doing a makeover of a lucky TONEAudio reader’s room later on this year, so you can see just for yourself just how much more enjoyable your system can be.

For those of you outside the USA, please go to www.vicoustic.com for dealer and product information.

Here’s the answer for those wanting a digital stylus force gauge on a tight budget.

Music Direct’s Audio Additives Digital Stylus Force Gauge tips the scale at $79.99. About three times what the reliable Shure balance gauge will set you back, but much more precise.  Of course, if you’re going to set your table up once and forget it until you buy a cartridge in a few years, or if you bought a VPI table, in which case they include a Shure gauge at no charge, this is probably not for you.

However, with more analog enthusiasts sporting multiple turntables and tonearms with removable headshells, the thought of having two or more cartridges in your collection isn’t as crazy as it used to be.  And a digital scale to keep things precise makes it that much easier.

Setup is quick, a pair of AAA batteries keep this gizmo going, and once the scale settles down to all zeros, calibration is checked with a supplied reference weight.  Everything is tucked neatly in a foam lined box, making it easy to keep tidy.

Comparing the AA gauge to my reference Clearaudio Weight Watcher, the new contender proves spot on, with the ten turntables at my command.  The only question left to answer is long term stability, which we will answer somewhere down the road, as this handy gauge will be used on a daily here.

For now, this looks like the one to beat, and you can purchase one from Music Direct here.

Perhaps the most important thing you need to know about Simaudio is that the entire company has only one person in its service department; he’s not terribly busy – and that’s a good thing.

When I compare Sim’s service guy, Mark Catalfamo, to the famous Maytag repairman, he laughs and points out that two thirds of the “repair” work executed on his test bench is just to confirm the performance of various review units that have been returned from around the world.

“We need to be sure that everything is still up to spec,” he says, “and that there has been no physical damage.”

This confirms that breakdowns with Simaudio gear is a rarity, precisely the reason the company offers a 10-year warranty on all of its products.  You don’t stay in business for thirty-plus years if you’re mired in constant repair issues.  Yet, should the need for service ever occur, the company has a substantial parts inventory on hand.

“We don’t have metal casework parts for all of our oldest models anymore,” says Costa Koulisakis, the company’s VP of Sales and Marketing.  “But we do have electrical parts—resistors, capacitors, transistors, etcetera—on hand to repair or refurbish practically everything we’ve ever made.”

This is something to strongly consider when making a purchase decision.  As additional evidenced, a cursory look at the secondary market reveals few Simaudio components for sale—and when you do find a pre-owned Sim unit, it commands a high price.  We at TONE have a number of Simaudio products in service as staff-member reference components, not to mention friends and family members who have enjoyed long, trouble-free relationships with their gear.  Koulisakis goes on to note that his customers are the same way.  “We tend to get customers for life,” he says.  “When they buy an amplifier, the old one is often moved to another room for a second system.”

Proudly Made in Canada

Simaudio has been in business since 1980 and has been running under the guidance of its current CEO, Jean Poulin, since 1993.  He is responsible for the company’s growth in recent years, having expanded the Sim product line, made major circuitry upgrades and upgraded the casework to the world-class design those components now enjoy.  All of this, he says, has regrettably kept him too busy to play his piano located upstairs at the company’s headquarters, just to the left of the main listening room.  “Once the move is complete I am hoping to find a bit more time to play,” Poulin says with a smile.

Every day, Poulin hangs his hat on the fact that, as more and more of the audio industry’s manufacturing heads to China, every aspect of Simaudio products is realized in Canada, either in the company’s factory or within a very tight radius.  The company has just moved into its current facility, which is just over 45,000 square feet and home to 42 employees.  It is more than just a factory, however:  In addition to all of the component-production facilities, it includes two state-of-the-art listening rooms and a performance space.  Sim has made great effort to keep the building as green as possible, going so far as to grow strawberries on the roof!

As far as audio parts go, the original extrusions that become product faceplates and heat sinks are produced near the Sim factory, but machined to their final forms at the company’s five-axis Haas CNC work center.  Going through the machine shop reveals a second, four-axis machine nearby.  Boards are stuffed only a few blocks away from the Sim facility, with all testing completed on Sim’s factory floor.  The company even takes an artisan approach with its front and rear product panels, which are silk-screened one at a time in an area of the shop dedicated to this process.  And to bust a common audiophile myth, the exquisite casework of a Simaudio product does not constitute a majority of its final price, thanks to having it everything produced in-house.

The design team at Simaudio feels that this high-quality casework adds to the finished product in more ways than one.  The billet-aluminum enclosures minimize vibration, which results in better performance, but there remains a stringent eye on quality and pride of ownership.  Simaudio uses 6063-T5 aluminum, which is not as hard as 6061-T6 aircraft-grade aluminum, but that is superior in appearance, since it can be more finely finished.

Koulisakis is quick to point out that, while the T6 aluminum has a higher tensile strength than the T5 they use, it is actually detrimental to the sound, because the extra stiffness makes it ring much more.  “The T5 aluminum is very stable and provides a surface that is easy to machine, anodize and brush, ” he says, also noting that any Simaudio piece you buy today will maintain its attractive look, without any fading or discoloration.

The Difference is in the Details

The vibe at the Simaudio factory is relaxed, right down to the desk in the reception room, which has been custom-machined to look like the face plates on Sim’s gear, right down to the blue LED in the center—a nice touch.  Many of the company’s employees have been there longer than 15 years, which is another key to product success and low failure rates.

While many of the engineering changes made over the years were to refine sonic performance, others were made in the name of reliability.  The most noticeable of these changes is that Sim now produces its own CD transport for the 650D and 750D DACs.

Upon close inspection, it’s easy to see that a number of parts inside Simaudio components are completely custom-made. Simaudio’s Marketing Manager Lionel Goodfield points out that the output transistors used in the company’s power amplifiers are also custom-made, in batches of 100,000, specifically for Simaudio.  “Once here, we sort and match these transistors to an even tighter tolerance for use in our amplifiers,” he says.  “It adds a few extra steps, but insures quality and product uniformity.”

Power transformers are also custom-made by a small firm nearby, for which Simaudio is the main customer.  “Jean’s background was in power supply and transformer design,” says Goodfield of Sim’s CEO, “so it was easy to design something unique to Simaudio.  Not having to rely on off-the-shelf parts has made it easier for us to achieve the low noise floor of our designs.”

By Music Lovers for Music Lovers

As mentioned earlier, there are two separate listening rooms at the Simaudio HQ: one about 20 feet by 30 feet and one about 20 feet by 15 feet, both of which help the staff simulate how Sim’s products will be used by customers.  With about a dozen speakers queued up in the entryway from Dynaudio, Thiel, MartinLogan, Wilson and others, it is obvious that the company makes every effort to be sure that its products work well with as many different varieties of speakers as it is practical to keep around.

During my visit, the second room was not quite finished, but the main room is most certainly a testament to what great gear can sound like when properly set up.  Here, Sim’s latest 850P Dual-Mono Reference Preamplifier, a pair of its 880M Mono Reference Power Amplifiers, the 810LP phonostage and the 750D DAC/CD Transport were driving a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C1 II speakers.  As a C1 owner, I came away with a new appreciation for not only how much the room contributes to the overall sound of a system, but also how much more sound lurks in a pair of great speakers when premium electronics are supporting them.  The equal level of resolution, tonal purity and ease this system provides again underscores how much care with which Sim builds its components.

This attention to detail is perhaps what best defines Simaudio’s approach to audio-product manufacturing.  The company’s designers, engineers and factory workers make some of the world’s finest-sounding gear.  But it is Simaudio’s attention to the minutest of details—not only in its manufacturing but also in its pursuit of a level of reliability that keeps its products performing at their best long after the sale—that gives the company’s components true heirloom value.  And, after a visit to the factory in Montreal, it is quite apparent that these guys love music, which takes the company’s gear beyond manufacturing.

www.simaudio.com

Features

995: Sounds that Won’t Break the Bank
AVA Media Maestro-50 Digital Amplifier

By Mark Marcantonio

Macro: Sound for Small Spaces

Motorheadphones
By Bob Gendron

Ressonessence Labs Concerto DAC
By John Darko

Dealers That Mean Business
Audio Arts NYC: An Oasis on 5th Avenue

Tone Style

Bang & Olufsen’s Beo Play A9
An Audio UFO
By Jeff Dorgay

Peter Roberts “Concentrique”
By Ken Kessler

Big Brother and the Holding Co. T-Shirt

CharLi USB Charger

Chocolate USB Stick

Fiat 500 Abarth w/Beats Audio

Scottvest Fleece 7.0

The Beer Snob: A look at Deschutes
By Bob Gendron

Music

Current Releases:

Fresh Releases in the Pop/Rock World
By the TONE Staff

Live Music:
David Byrne & St. Vincent
By John Darko

Leni Stern
By Jeff Dorgay

Audiophile Pressings

Jazz & Blues
By Jim Macnie

Classic Album Sundays
By Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy

Previews

Rega RP8 Turntable

Oppo BDP-103 and 105 Universal Players

Thorens TD-125 via Vinyl Nirvana

Boulder 3050 Monoblocks

From The Web:

Meridian Explorer

iRiver Astell&Kern AS100

Reviews:

PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium Stereo Power Amplifier
By Jerold O’Brien

Penaudio Sinfonietta Loudspeaker
By Rob Johnson

Simaudio MOON 880M Monoblocks
By Jeff Dorgay

Bob Carver Black Magic 20 Amplifier
By Andre Marc

Pass Labs XA200.5 Monoblocks
By Jeff Dorgay

Burmester 909 mk.5 Power Amplifier
By Jeff Dorgay

Slummin’

Just when you thought the world of high performance personal audio couldn’t get any more crowded, with a plethora of great DAC’s and headphone amplifiers, iRiver released the AK100 music player.

It plays FLAC files and has the new Wolfson WM8740 DAC chip under the hood – allowing playback of up to 24bit/192khz files.

For those not of the nerd intelligentsia, suffice to say the AK100 is a major jump in performance over the iPod or for that matter anything else you’ve got in your pocket to play music. Initial response to the AK100 is good.  It’s wonderful to load some HD Tracks files and some DVD-a rips that can be enjoyed on the go.

But the fricking thing costs $700.  Awesome or insanity?  So just how good is the AK 100? As Pee Wee Herman said in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, “Some questions get answered, other questions pop up.”

We’ll do our best to uncover the rocks in the road, if any, and we will also explore the modded AK100 from Red Wine Audio, that promises to take this portable player even further.  Vinni Rossi’s iMod for the iPod has proved fantastic, and I still use the one he modded for me years ago.

And what about PONO, the new high resolution player that is the brainchild of Meridian Audio and Neil Young?  When it comes to high quality digital, don’t rule out Bob Stuart (ceo of Meridian) he’s a rock star in his own right.

Those are the questions we will answer in the weeks to come as we put the AK100 through its paces with as many top quality headphones as we can get our hands on, and use it as a source component in everything from a desktop system to a half million dollar hifi system.

Stay tuned for more, and feel free to comment here and on our facebook page.

Desktop audio and portable audio have been two of the fastest growing segments in the audio world for the past few years.

For every twentysomething who’s bought a turntable recently, 100 have bought a pair of headphones.  While outboard USB DACs have been gaining popularity, there really haven’t been any that handle 24-bit/192-kHz files with gusto—and with more and more online vendors offering these higher-resolution files, a quality outboard USB DAC is a must.

Bob Stuart, the man behind Meridian, was demonstrating the Explorer at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in January to a limited audience, and it was obvious that this is a pet project of his. Of course, the sound is fantastic, but the big surprise is the price: This portable Meridian 24/192 DAC (and headphone amplifier) is just $299.

“Now you can have the Meridian experience everywhere you go,” says Stuart with a wily grin, “from your Range Rover equipped with Meridian sound, to your home with one of our systems, to wherever your laptop takes you.”

Beauty on the Inside and the Outside

Made at the Meridian factory in Cambridge, England, the Explorer is a marvel of miniaturization and a shining example of design elegance, from its clean circuit-board layout to its machined-aluminum outer shell.  By not following the USB-stick form factor, Meridian eliminates problems that could result from repeatedly plugging and unplugging said item from your laptop and the resulting damage—a clever move.

“We are trying to avoid the twisting of the USB socket in the computer that headphones plugged into a USB stick risks,” adds Stuart.  “Also, having a USB cable, short or long, gives flexibility on the desk.  A longer USB cable allows the audio to happen nearer the point of use.”

Three pale-white LED lights alert you to the Explorer’s sampling rate:  One indicates standard 16/44.1 files, one indicates 24/88 or 24/96 files and the third lights up when taking advantage of the highest resolution 24/176 or 24/192 files.

Jumping in Headfirst

Heading straight for the files I couldn’t play with any of my other portable DACs, I go first for Neil Young’s Harvest in 24/192, which quickly tells me almost everything I need to know about this jewel.  The piano intro from “A Man Needs a Maid” floats gently between my ears through the Audeze LCD3 phones.  This $2,000 pair of headphones truly reveals just what the Explorer can do.  Equally breathtaking results are achieved with Grado SR500, Sennheiser HD 650 and HiFiMan HE-400 phones, proving that the Explorer is equally competent as a headphone amplifier.

The 24/96 version of “Don’t Let it Bring You Down” (from Neil Young’s Live at Massey Hall 1971) lays bare the fine tonal gradation the Explorer is capable of.  It paints an accurate picture of this famous hall’s sonic signature as much during the track as at the end, when the applause comes up—the depth is incredible.  This no longer feels like budget digital; the Explorer is a serious contender.

Start Your Digital Journey Here

Those looking for a great portable DAC and headphone amplifier in a sleek, stylish case will love the Explorer’s performance, but using it as the digital hub in a home-playback environment is equally impressive.  Combining the Explorer with a laptop or desktop and feeding its 2V fixed line-level output to your amplifier is an audibly rich experience.  But don’t plug your headphones (or a power amplifier) into this output, as there is no volume control!

Though I still treasure my vinyl, there’s just no way you can achieve anywhere near this level of sound quality with a budget turntable or with discs purchased from your local audiojumble—forget it.  Get your hands on an Explorer, load up some high-res files and mothball the budget turntable.  This is miles ahead in every way.

Even those loving high-resolution digital audio on a major system now need not be without a fix for great sound—you can take the Explorer anywhere.  Thanks to being self-powered by your computer’s USB port, you never need to worry about losing (or having the wrong) wall wart to power it.  The only thing that could make the Explorer more intriguing is if M fitted one with a laser.  Who knows, maybe we’ll see the Explorer in the next Bond movie—it’s certainly that cool.

Plugging the Explorer into a more traditional system (via the line-level output) consisting of the Burmester 011 preamplifier, 911 power amplifier and a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C1s, the Meridian DAC still holds its own.
Switching the program from rock to some classical, jazz and primarily acoustic titles underscores the level of sophistication available here for 300 bucks.  The Explorer is un-digital to the extent you’d expect from a serious four-figure DAC.  Whether listening to Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance” (from the Maiden Voyage album) or Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert, the sound now possesses a sophistication that bridges the resolution gap at such a high level that you can forget about the equipment.  The attack of stringed instruments, as well as decay and sustain, are all highly convincing through the Explorer.

Excellent, Regardless of Sampling Rate

Don’t think that you need high-res files to enjoy the Explorer:  CD resolution files (16/44.1) are equally marvelous.  Bass is tight and snappy, while the upper registers come through with an unmistakable cleanliness and lack of grain.  No doubt, the lack of a small, switching power supply (that accompanies many budget, sub-$1,000 DACs) helps here.

Revisiting the Beatles mono remasters, with “Good Day Sunshine” from Revolver, is a treat.  The big, weighty vocal textures, which are lovelier in mono, have so much texture and depth through the Explorer that you’ll mistake them for stereo, provided you have a highly resolving system.  A number of my audiophile friends were fooled into thinking I was using a much more expensive DAC than the Explorer.

The Crash Test Dummies’ “Just Chillin’,” from the band’s Give Yourself a Hand disc, is a torture test for budget players, thanks to the song’s layered vocal tracks and myriad synthesizer and sound effects.  A mediocre DAC flattens this to the point of sounding like XM radio, but yet again the Explorer recreates a wonderful, three-dimensional soundstage, with overblown guitars feeling larger than life and lead vocalist Ellen Reid’s voice sounding equally haunting.

Pushing the Envelope

Most of you will buy the Explorer, plug it in to your computer and enjoy it.  The enthusiast fringe can do two things to extract more performance from the Explorer:  Get the Pure Music software and get a higher-quality USB cable.

I can’t suggest highly enough that Macintosh users that don’t already have it should download the free 15-day demo of Pure Music (the full version is $129) and investigate the multiple playback options available.  Remember, this is geek extra credit.  Playing tracks directly from the memory of your computer bumps the believability index even higher, peeling one more layer of grain from the overall presentation.  And while the debate over whether or not upgrading to a higher-quality USB cable truly improves digital playback, we’ll stick our collective necks out and vote for this inexpensive upgrade.  The $99 Wireworld Starlight USB cable added as much palpability to the midrange presentation of the Explorer as did switching from iTunes to Pure Music.

Revisiting the Neil Young tracks from the beginning of the review, quickly swapping the cable in and out of the system, proved convincing to everyone taking the time to listen—from experienced audiophiles (perhaps the most skeptical audience of all) to uninitiated music lovers.  One thing they all agreed on was the amazing experience that the Explorer provides.  Meridian Audio couldn’t have picked a more appropriate name for this amazing little device:  Regardless of where you are in your digital audio journey, the Meridian Explorer will serve you well.

Progress in the world of computer audio is advancing briskly, but for the moment, Meridian is at the top of the heap.  The Explorer offers the most versatility, reveals more music than its competitors and possesses the most stunning industrial design—a more-than worthy recipient of one of our Exceptional Value Award for 2013.  It’s an exciting time to be a music lover.

The Meridian Audio Explorer

MSRP: $299

www.meridian-audio.com

Mike (HiFiGuy) is back with the latest from Logic 3 and their line of Ferrari branded headphones.

The P200 you see here is part of the “Scuderia Ferrari Collection” and is said to be inspired by the the headphones worn by the Ferrari pit crew.  A quick peek at last years Formula 1 racing series confirms that these look remarkably similar to the ones the guys in the crew wear.

Here is a link to Mike’s initial inspection of these phones. Watch for a full review shortly.

Remember these?

Maybe you bought a pair of Sennheiser 424s because they were a cool color, or because you liked the light, open, airy feel that they brought to the table, but either way there’s no denying that these phones’ brought about a change from the heavy cans we listened to up until then.

This pair looks pretty sad, but the headpiece is in good shape. Fortunately spare yellow cushions are still available through the factory, and the transducers are floating around as well.  So, we’re going to rebuild these dumpster dogs and maybe even get the guys at ALO Audio to build us an updated pair of cables.  Stay tuned!

Livio Cucuzza is no stranger to the world of high end audio.

You probably know him for his recent work with Sonus faber: the recent Amati Futura, Guarneri Evolution, the spectacular Aida and the new entry level Venere line.  His influence even extends to the soon to be released Wadia Intuition 01.

But you might not be aware of his work prior to Sonus faber. Working with other Italian companies led me to his commentary when working at Emme speakers.  Further research reveals Cucuzza as the design visionary behind many other companies as well – not all are done in house as you might suspect!

Read the rest of the article and the full interview here at Mono & Stereo...

Photo and text courtesy of Mono & Stereo.

With the renaissance that vacuum tubes have been undergoing for the last decade or so, it’s more challenging than ever to create a tube preamp that stands out from the pack.

So when engineer, musician, physicist and Portland local Damon Coffman told me he designed a new preamp that’s “amazing,” I was a bit skeptical.  But when I saw Coffman’s creation, the G-1A, upon a recent trip to local gear shop Echo Audio, it was like catnip.  The unique casework caught my eye instantly, where fledgling manufacturers usually fall short—think steampunk meets art deco, fused with some mid-century modern.  The shop’s wry owner, Kurt Doslu, who is usually the one curbing my enthusiasm, showed me the nifty little preamp.

“Kurt, what’s this?” I asked. “Oh, it’s this new preamp that we’re going to be distributing,” he replied. “It’s pretty good, want to take it home and give it a listen?”  And so the adventure began.

The G-1A has an MSRP of $5,495 and, at present, is only available through Echo Audio in Portland.  There will be a total production run of just 500 units and the first 25 have already been pre-sold—impressive for a new product.

A two-box design, with an outboard, tube-rectified power supply, the G-1A is a full-function preamplifier.  It has a phonostage, with moving-coil (via step up transformer) and moving-magnet inputs and a headphone amplifier built in, which is a lot of capability for that price point.  The G-1A features a single-ended design throughout, with premium RCA connectors for the four high-level inputs and two phono inputs, along with two fixed high-level outputs and a tape out, which makes life easier for this tape enthusiast.

Circuit Basics

The G-1A uses six vacuum tubes in the main circuit: two 12AX7s, two 12AU7s and two 5687s, with a 5AR4 in the rectifier position.  The preamp  ships with standard-issue, current-day production tubes, leaving things wide open for tube rolling—but the G-1A was so enjoyable as delivered, I’ll leave tube rolling for a future blog post.

Coffman says that much of the impetus for the design of the G-1A came from revisiting classic tube designs from the 1920s, when “the original concepts in tube audio” were born.  As a result, his preamplifier is a masterpiece of simplicity, even down to the number of screws holding its case together.  Inside, we see a mix of new and classic parts.  Coffman sourced a number of oil and paper capacitors (“NOS KGB items”) and an input selector switch from the aerospace industry.  He also went so far as to hand-select and measure every single component for sound quality and durability.  Yet, even with this bespoke approach, Coffman’s training in the medical-instrumentation field drove him to streamline the manufacturing approach to assure consistency from unit to unit.

A concert violinist with a master’s degree in physics, Coffman made his mark in the medical electronics industry by producing digital stethoscopes.  A hi-fi guy since his early teens, he admits that building this preamplifier was, in many ways, even tougher than building his stethoscopes.  And most importantly, Coffman is a music guy through and through; his wife, daughter and parents are also musicians. So he is constantly asking himself if the sound is natural.  With the G-1A, a result of two years and countless prototypes, Coffman has finally answered that burning question in the affirmative.

Stunning Musicality

Wanda Jackson’s 2011 release The Party Ain’t Over is a dense recording and, as the first album on my long listening list, established that the G-1A has a timbral clarity that is unmistakable.  The upright bass at the beginning of “Rum and Coca Cola” has a loose, resonant, almost unturned quality such that you can actually hear the bass rattle—and the G-1A brings all this detail front and center, capturing every bit of texture available.

Zooming through some audiophile standards proves equally rewarding.  Listening to the Doors and the Grateful Dead in 24/96 was a spectacular experience with this preamp.  The soundstage that the G-1A presents is enveloping, dishing up the magic you usually have to spend five figures to achieve.  This preamplifier produces a stereo image that extends well beyond speaker boundaries on all axis—of course, the better the source material, the better the result.

The true triumph of the G-1A is its effortless reproduction of acoustic instruments.  Acoustic playback is a must considering Coffman’s background.  The tonal accuracy of piano, violin and drums must be experienced to be believed.   The gentle tap of Phil Collins’ drumstick on the snare frame in the title track of Brand X’s album Unorthodox Behaviour was scarily real. That extra dollop of texture the G-1A provides seems to come from nowhere and yet still makes itself known.

The sparse drumming and percussion in this record, with its almost Zappa-like triangle taps and bells at the far corners of the soundstage, show off the immediacy that the G-1A delivers.  No matter how complex the musical passage, there’s always enough headroom to accommodate another instrument in the mix.  This level of dynamic competence at both ends of the scale is rarely found without spending a lot more money.

Not Terribly Tubey

While you won’t mistake the G-1A for a solid-state preamplifier, much like my Audio Research REF5 SE, the Coffman preamp is highly accurate, with that extra bit of airiness suggesting vacuum tubes under the hood (or, in this case, poking out of the top of the hood)—and nothing more.  Where a few of my favorite tube preamplifiers of old injected their share of warmth and often coloration, the G-1A plays it clean all the way.  It is worth noting, however, that this one really needs a good hour to warm up.  At initial power-up, it does sound a bit thinner than some of the other tube preamplifiers we’ve experienced.  But to complement the highly resolving nature of the G-1A, it is equally well represented in the lowest octave.

Because the G-1A offers such a great balance, I did not spend any time tolling tubes in search of a different “tuning.”  I’m sure it would be fun to swap the phonostage tubes, because the 12AX7 allows so many different variations on the theme, but we’ll leave that for another day.  Plus, the tall, spun-aluminum towers that ensconce each of the tubes do not make for easy tube swaps, and perhaps it’s for the best.

At this point, we could call the G-1A a “best buy” without the phonostage and headphone amplifier.  As both of these segments practically warrant full reviews on their own, I will go into greater depth on our Analogaholic and Macro sites.

Full Function Phono and Phones

The G-1A includes inputs for MM and MC cartridges.  While everything in the preamp is so carefully thought out, this vinyl junkie would love to see that as a function addressable from the front panel.  Coffman does thoughtfully include a loading switch for the MM input, giving 47K, 70K and 90K ohms, allowing most of my favorite cartridges to shine.  The Shure and some of the Ortofon MM range have a much more open sound when loaded to 70k than at 47k, so this is a nice touch.

The phonostage is excellent, easily on par with anything I’ve heard in the $2,500 range, including the outstanding Manley Chinook, and the G-1A is head and shoulders above the EAR 834P, which is fairly colored in comparison.  Most impressive is the sheer dynamic drive that the G-1A provides, with the same tonality as the linestage.

Soundstage width and depth are enormous, making the freshly rebuilt Quad 57s in my second listening sound like a pair of stacked Quads.  Spinning the recent MoFi remaster of Dead Can Dance’s Into The Labyrinth, the level of detail revealed was no less than stunning.  With a diverse combination of acoustic and electronic elements, featuring male and female vocals, this record gives a quick and accurate read on a component’s spatial abilities.

Sampling a wide range of cartridges, including the Denon DL-103R (and the Zu Audio variation), Ortofon Cadenza Bronze, Ortofon SPU and Clearaudio da Vinci all proved excellent matches with the G-1A.  Unfortunately, the Lyra family of cartridges was not as exciting.  The Atlas, Titan i and Kleos all offered the same result: slightly slow and rolled off, which is likely the result of an obvious impedance mismatch.  There are still a few more on the audition list, so stay tuned for a follow-up on the Analogaholic site.

As this was the first sample from the production line, the headphone stage was not complete at this time, so for now we are concentrating on linestage and phono performance.  A full review of the G-1A’s headphone stage will occur on our website very soon as a follow-up review.

The lack of a remote control proved not to be an issue, especially when moving the G-1A into room two, where the listening chair is directly in front of the main rack, so volume adjustment is easily handled.  Coffman assured me that the output stage of this preamplifier would drive “anything” and, after mixing it up with about eight different power amplifiers and driving 20-foot interconnects, I concur.  Driving a few of my test power amplifiers with one-meter and seven-meter lengths of ALO Audio’s newest premium interconnects reveals no change in sound quality or high-frequency rolloff.

So What Makes This Thing Awesome?

The Coffman G-1A has a unique and striking look and it’s built by a man with a plan.  Some might be surprised by the $5,495 price, but consider this: In the best old-school tradition, the G-1A includes an onboard phonostage (MM and MC) and an onboard headphone amplifier—remember when you could buy a full-function preamplifier with all of this under the hood?

With vinyl still growing in popularity and headphones a full-fledged sub-genre of audio, a preamplifier incorporating these two elements is exciting.  Considering that you won’t have to purchase an outboard phonostage, headphone amplifier or a pair of power cords, the G-1A is fantastic if you value sound quality above everything else. The design is so pure it even lacks a remote control.

Judged strictly as a linestage for $5,495, the Coffman G-1A is at the top of its class.  The fact that it includes an excellent phonostage and headphone amplifier makes it the bargain of the year.  All of the tubes are easily found and those predisposed to tube rolling can tune and tweak until Election Day.   Coffman has plans to expand the lineup, possibly making the phonostage and linestage separate boxes. When I asked him if there might be a companion power amplifier in the works, he smiled that evasive smile that usually means “yes, but I don’t want to talk about it now.”

So with that in mind, we award the Coffman Labs G-1A one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2012 and look forward to the company’s future offerings.  Coffman is certainly off to a brilliant start.  I have purchased the review sample, so that it can become an anchor component in room two, and so that we can do a long-term report when a year has passed.

The Coffman Labs G-1A Preamplifier

MSRP: $5,495

Peripherals

Analog Source               AVID Volvere SP turntable/SME V, various cartridges

Digital Source                dCS Paganini stack, Sooloos Control 15, Aurender C10

Power Amplifier             Conrad Johnson MV-50C1

Speakers                       Quad 57

Cable                            ALO Audio, Cardas

Power                           Audience AR-6TS

TONEAudio’s Music Annual

By The TONE Staff

A complete list of our record reviews for the past year along with a comprehensive
overview of our concert coverage and artist interviews, with an issue by issue listing
at the end. A perfect recap for your record purchases this year! Keep this one on
your tablet or smartphone to jog your memory.

Illustration, by Liza Donnelly

We’re kicking off a new format in our Spotlight section, giving our readers a chance to interact with us in the product review, as we provide it in multiple parts.

We begin with the German Physiks Unlimited MK II, their newest speaker offering virtually the same experience as their larger models, with this speaker optimized for smaller spaces.

The new speaker makes no compromise in component quality, but the smaller size and more basic cabinet finishes allow a lower, $13,500 MSRP, making these speakers available to a wider audience.

If you’ve never had the chance to experience the German Physiks speakers, they are fantastic – for a number of reasons, but perhaps the one they are most noted for is their unique, omnidirectional DDD driver.  This driver uses the same carbon fiber material as the one used in their top of the range, $300,000 speaker system.

Those loving the seamless sound of an ESL, but not terribly fond of the single person sweet spot that they provide, will appreciate the wide dispersion characteristics of the Unlimited.  Much like the current MartinLogan ESL hybrid speakers, the DDD driver in the Unlimited goes from about 200Hz to beyond audibility.  Lacking a crossover network in the critical vocal range makes for a transparency that few speakers achieve.  Mated to a downward-firing 8 inch woofer in a cabinet with a footprint of only 9.5 x 9.5 inches, placing the Unlimited is much more flexible than with most speakers.

Weighing only 63.7 lbs (28.9kg) each, the Unlimiteds are easily set up with one person, and their 88db/1 watt sensitivity makes them easy to drive with the amplifiers at my disposal.

The GP website says, “Free yourself from the tyranny of the sweet spot,” and they couldn’t be more right.  While these speakers do benefit from about 20 minutes of optimizing the bass driver in the room, those with no speaker setup skills will still be able to achieve excellent results.  I’ve never used a pair of speakers that were this easy to place in my three listening rooms.

Thanks to the ultra wide dispersion and built in time alignment of these speakers, you won’t need to bother with rake angles and the downward firing woofer eliminates toe in as well.

The DDD driver breaks in relatively quickly at moderate to high volume.  Slightly stiff in the upper mids for the first 20 or 30 hours, the Unlimiteds get right down to business.  I suggest 100 hours of play with the speakers loosely placed and then concentrate on placement for the smoothest bass response in your room.  In room two (13 x 15 feet), this ended up being about two feet from the side and rear wall.  This will vary in your room, depending on the reflectivity of the surfaces present, so feel free to experiment.

Steady playback of a bass heavy track will set you right in no time at all, and because these speakers are manageable, you won’t need any help to get it done.  Once optimized for the best bass response, an ideal distance between the rear and side walls with each speaker will help imaging somewhat.  Fortunately, these speakers are much more tolerant of room acoustics than any panel speaker I’ve used, but I suggest those inclined to get the optimum results to experiment with some light diffusion.

Placing a GIK RPG diffusor just behind and just to the side of the Unlimiteds (in the smaller room) provides an even wider, more dramatic stereo image.  But, unlike your favorite panel or cone speaker, don’t go mad with the room treatments.  Placing absorbing panels behind and at the first wall reflection points will kill the spaciousness of these speakers.  The fact that they are designed to work with the reflective surfaces in your room makes them incredibly flexible.

A wide range of amplifiers were used, all with good effect, from the 40 watt per channel PrimaLuna ProLogue up to the Burmester 911 mk.3. My 25 watt per channel 845 SET amplifiers were a nice match, but I wouldn’t suggest using much less than 25 watts per channel. The Unlimiteds are very resolving, so their only limitation will be the electronics and cable you supply.

The German Physiks Unlimiteds redefine the audiophile phrase, “the speakers disappear in the room.”  Spend about 10-20 minutes optimizing the placement and you will forget you even have speakers in the room.  Very cool.

That’s it for our first installment.  We’ve been listening intently, so tune in next week when we offer more in depth analysis of multiple listening sessions.  Our final install ment will offer further commentary on a wider range of associated components, and our favorite synergistic combinations.

Initially, everyone on the staff is highly impressed with these speakers, they are easy to set up and thanks to their compact size, integrate into any décor.  Please feel free to leave your comments and questions.

Click here to visit the German Physiks website.

In the world of racing, lighter is better and anything not contributing to getting across the finish line first is deemed useless, but in the world of turntables mass is usually considered an asset.

We’ve seen a proliferation of tables that merely just chunk on the weight – adding massive platters and enormous plinths, (often eschewing real engineering in the process) chroming everything along the way to justify a high price. This has never been the mantra at AVID.

AVID designer Conrad Mas continues to refine his design in the hope of making a table in the highly competitive price range occupied by the Rega RP6, VPI Traveler (and a few others) without compromising the engineering and performance principals that make an AVID an AVID.

AVID has always taken a more intelligent approach, using mass where needed to get the job done along with a highly tuned suspension to extract the maximum amount of information from those delicate grooves.  Their highly successful Diva and Diva IISP turntables use the same W-shaped plinth, derived from the original Acutus design, forming the critical bridge between the tonearm and the turntable bearing, with a simplified elastomer based suspension.  The Ingenium’s MDF platter, bearing, spindle and clamp are directly off the Diva II assembly line; but its plinth uses a simpler, rectangle-shaped part, keeping CNC time to a minimum.  It also allows the user to see the spindle rotate during playback – kind of cool for technology lovers. The elastomers are a different shape than those of the Diva series tables, but made of the same material and to the same tolerance.

This configuration brings AVID performance to a wider range of customers. If AVID’s Volvere turntable is a Lotus Elise, think of the Ingenium as a Caterham 7; distilling the AVID concept as far as it can go, but no further.

Would you like some fries with that?

Setting the tonearm down on War’s “Lowrider” reveals the signature AVID sound – big dynamics and rock solid bass. You can’t have a Diva IISP for $1,350 but you do get a lot more than you bargain for at this price, and the Ingenium succeeds brilliantly. The big question is how to configure your Ingenium.  The table is available without tonearm, drilled for a Pro-Ject Carbon arm for $1,300, 9-inch SME arm for $1,350 and a 12-inch SME for $1,550.  It can also be purchased in a dual arm configuration for $1,950 – the model we have here.  The entry level Ingenium is available with the Pro-Ject arm already installed (and it is a great arm, also featured as standard equipment on the Oracle Paris) and can be ordered with or without the AVID clamp, again an effort at keeping cost to a minimum with performance at maximum.

Mr. Mas and I have gone back and forth about the validity of a dual tonearm setup (he’s against it, I’m for it), so his catering to the true analogaholic and offering this option is highly commendable. I am convinced that this functionality, usually limited to some of the world’s most expensive turntables, is an essential feature to fully enjoy analog, whether you use that second tonearm for a mono cartridge, a budget cartridge for playing rough records, or an alternate tonal balance at the ready.

Spending a ton of cash in the context of a dual arm Ingenium isn’t necessary to reap the benefits.  With so many used SME, Rega and other arms on the market, that second arm is well in reach.  For this review, the SME 309 arm ($2,250 new, usually around $800 on the used market) and the new Ortofon TA-110 ($1,495 new) offer the best of both worlds – both having removable headshells, with the Ortofon using a more universal headshell, compatible with the vintage SME 3009 and the Technics SL-1200 tonearms.  The Ortofon arm is easy to install, streamlining the process for those loving to mix it up with their cartridge collection.  The majority of my listening was done with the Shure V15mxVr, the Ortofon MC Vivo Blue and the Zu Denon 103 – all cartridges in a range of about $400 – $600.

I modified an Ortofon arm adaptor from the Volvere SP, but AVID should have these available shortly as a regular item for the Ingenium.  Should you be as impatient as I am, the threads can be gently drilled clean with the aid of a drill press to keep the holes perpendicular to the board, allowing the threaded screws supplied with the Ingenium to clamp the board down.  This is the opposite of the other AVID turntables.

A joy to listen to

Tracking through the Art of Noise’s Who’s Afraid of the Art of Noise? reveals a wide and deep soundstage, with all the minute synth bits and vocal echoes floating all over the room, well beyond the speaker boundaries – the mark of a great turntable. (or hallucinogen) The bass line in “Moments in Love” stays solid, never lacking weight or focus at the expense of blurring the musical information in the rest of the track.

The combination of layered vocals and multi-instrumental talent on Egberto Gismonti and Nana Vasconcelos’ Duas Voices, again highlights how well the AVID/SME combination retrieves inner detail and preserves transient attack.  This album is full of lightning fast acoustic guitar runs and explosive percussion – Vasconcelos’ specialty. The degree of texture present with the bongos here is enlightening, and the rich decay of each guitarist’s hands as they slap against their guitar bodies adds to the dimension of realism that this table offers.

More great guitar licks abound on Ry Cooder’s Into the Purple Valley, with a plethora of layered vocals here too.  This densely packed record is a torture test for low-level detail and tracking ability – if everything isn’t sorted, it just sounds like an AM radio. Another test easily passed by the Ingenium.

Basic functionality

The rock solid bass and image detail can be chalked up, in part to the excellent speed stability of the Ingenium.  The Feickert analog tools reveal the Ingenium spot on in terms of speed and when monitored over time, unwavering.  AVID deviates from the standard practice of most other belt drive turntable manufacturers using a low torque motor to drive the platter, choosing a high torque, high power motor instead – feeling this offers better control over the platter and minimal effect from stylus drag.

The Ingenium starts up with the sheer spin of a direct drive table, at full speed almost immediately. The only odd bit about the Ingenium is the power button; instead of being built into the plinth or in an outboard enclosure, it’s merely a rocker switch incorporated into the AC cord.  Be sure to route the cable accordingly so that it can be easily accessed.  A small sacrifice indeed, for this level of performance.

The basic elastomer suspension works well to isolate the table from the room. Acoustic feedback was nonexistent at high volume, and arbitrary raps near the Ingenium on the equipment rack barely came through the speakers. Not as effective as the suspended AVID tables, but way better than the non suspended tables in my collection.

Fantastic results

At the end of the test, mounting an identical SME 309 tonearm on the AVID Acutus Reference SP table confirms how well the entry level table stacks up against AVID’s finest, with the Zu Denon cartridge affixed to each arm, using the Aesthetix Rhea phonostage as a conduit to my reference system.  The Ingenium provides stellar performance in the context of a Journeyman level system (Electrocompaniet integrated, a pair of KEF LS-50s and the AVID Pellar phonostage), and it is no slouch in my reference system.  Compared to AVID’s top table, the lineage is clearly confirmed.  The Ingenium shares all of the same virtues of the Acutus Reference SP, just in a smaller dose.

True to the AVID design brief, each table up the range consistently reveals more music than the one before it. Having owned or reviewed every AVID table in the range except the Sequel, I can say this with 100% confidence.

Because our test Ingenium is fitted with a tonearm costing nearly twice as much as the table itself, even cursory comparison with the Rega RP6 and VPI Traveler isn’t fair. However, it is to AVID’s credit that this table performs so well with the 309, offering the prudent enthusiast a major glimpse at what high end analog is really all about without spending five figures.  We will get a standard edition Ingenium without clamp and featuring the Pro-Ject arm to investigate further very soon.

Utilizing the second tonearm configuration proves a ton of fun. The Ortofon arm makes it a cinch to go through my collection of cartridges mounted on the standard Ortofon headshells, swapping one for the other at will.  Though slightly retro, the Ortofon SPU is another heavenly match for the Ingenium.  Substituting the Lyra Kleos Mono, normally used on the Thorens TD-124 extracts a great performance from my mono Beatles and Stones records.  Grado, Ortofon and Denon (to name a few great examples) all offer fantastic mono cartridges in the $200 – $300 range, so you can take full advantage of this functionality without going broke, I just happened to have the Kleos on hand.

Even those with a modest collection of mono LP’s, will be surprised at how much more lifelike they sound played back with a proper mono cartridge.  The Shure M97xe also proves a great match for the AVID table/Ortofon tonearm combination and provides a budget alternative as a starter cartridge, it’s excellent for tracking through questionable yard sale finds, or favorites that are warped.  In some instances, the thrift store specials sound better with a low budget cartridge.

This level of performance, convenience and style makes for an award winning product.  We awarded the Ingenium one of our ten Publishers Choice awards for 2012, and feel that this table is at the top of the $2,000 turntable category in every way. But just as in racing, the competition is always in your rear view mirror.  The good news for analog lovers is that we all benefit from this competition.

The AVID Ingenium Turntable

MSRP:  $1,350 – $2,560 (depending on configuration)

www.avidhifi.co.uk

The secrets of the technology behind Skogrand cables seems to be as mystic as Norwegian mythological world and beings.

Mr. Skogrand doesn’t reveal much about the technology implemented. While this might seem a bit arrogant at first, the performance of Skogrand Cables speaks volumes. Over the last year you may have noticed Skogrand cables in many highly respected systems and within the homes of audiophiles and music lovers where you don’t ask about the price… So why do they choose Skogrand’s?…

Read the full review here at Mono & Stereo:

(Copy and photo, courtesy of Mono & Stereo)

According to the official CES website, this was the most highly attended show ever, with attendance over 150,000.

This is quite a jump from when it was only about 110,000 back in 2009, shortly after the economy tanked in the fall of 2008. The number is calculated by tallying everyone who physically got a badge holder, not just those registering.

Just down the street, the Venetian hotel showcased 95% of the “High Performance Audio” exhibits, with dCS, Nagra, Audio Plus Services and a few others across the street, displaying in the Mirage hotel.  The Home Entertainment Show was located a few blocks down the street at the Flamingo, more of a consumer show; similar to THE Show in Newport Beach and managed by Richard Beers, who handles both shows. Unfortunately, the Vegas THE Show is nowhere near the draw of its southern California counterpart.  It remains the ghost town that it’s been for the last few years.

Without taking an official tally, attendance seemed a bit off at the Venetian this year, as it was last year since CES has moved to a “middle of the week” format.  Now taking place Tuesday through Friday, instead of the usual Thursday through Sunday, the schedule change eliminated a lot of the bloggers and such from the world of high end audio, as many were unable to leave their day jobs to attend, leaving foot traffic steady, yet manageable. Many vendors commented that though foot traffic was down, qualified inquiries were way up.

As I mentioned on our Facebook page, If you are interested in room by room coverage, with commentary on every rack of gear present, visit the Stereophile site.  They did an excellent job and had a full compliment of writers on hand, working tirelessly to get fresh coverage up each day.

Here’s my take on what was trending:

More products with high aesthetic sense.  While “lifestyle” is such a dirty word in the high end audio industry, more products are appearing that wouldn’t look out of place in a design conscious environment.  I.e., hifi doesn’t have to be just for the man cave anymore.  With some great examples from Meridian, BelCanto, Nagra and Peachtree, to name a few, perhaps the most stunning product introduced this year is the Intuition from Wadia Digital.

Combining a Wadia DAC with a 350 watt per channel (into 4 ohms) integrated amp, this product looks like a bit of a variation on the Apple MacBook Pro design brief.  Available in four finishes: matte black, matte silver, turned aluminum and the nickel plated masterpiece you see here, the Intuition features multiple digital inputs (of course, it will grab the digital bitstream from your Apple device) and an analog input.

Picking up on the trail blazed by Devialet at the 2011 CES (by far the coolest product at the 2011 show), the Wadia is poised for success.  Retail price, depending on finish will be in the neighborhood of $8,000.  We look forward to a full review as soon as it’s available.

Happily, vinyl just keeps gaining steam, with more turntables, phono cartridges and phonostages than ever.  Regardless of budget, spinning records has never been easier or more fun.  Who would have thought ten years ago, that vinyl would be so vital in 2013?

Streaming continues a meteoric rise, with nearly all of the majors offering a streaming product, incorporating your tunes ripped to various storage devices, along with incorporating your favorite internet radio station, or online music provider all from the convenience of your mobile device. Simaudio’s MiND 180 is the perfect example.  This technology has become far less garage and much more glamour in the last year, making it easier than ever to get music from the net to your home.

Personal audio is still on a rising trajectory, with more of the majors getting into the headphone amplifier game.  This Pathos Class-A amplifier shown here at $1,495 underscores the majors commitment to performance and style.

The most intriguing development on the software side of the equation is the new PONO player, brainchild of Neil Young and Bob Stuart (of Meridian Audio).  I heard a very exciting demo of music via the PONO process, and it is well done.  Neil Young is calling it “sound from God.” I’d say he’s not far off track. More info when my NDA’s expire.

Another welcome trend, is that of more women on both sides of the fence.  There were more women presenting and attending this segment of the show than in years past and this will dovetail nicely with the women joining the TONEAudio staff in the next few months.  Stay tuned for their observation on the industry, the gear and their own personal pursuit of hifi.

-Jeff Dorgay

It’s not every day you get to see something new for the first time, and as a reviewer, so much better when said new component is in a system that you are actually familiar with.

The debut of the Kronos turntable in Montreal just happened to be in a room possessing the same dimensions and orientation of my own, built around a system featuring a pair of Sonus faber Stradivari speakers, all powered by Audio Research Reference components.  So much for making the excuse of “needing to hear it in my system!”  Kronos designer Louis Desjardins was even using a Lyra Skala cartridge, one of my current references at the time.  Many others voted the Kronos room best sound of the Montreal show – and it’s reassuring to see multiple critics agree on what constitutes great sound.

I’ve been living with the Kronos turntable for eight months now, so consider this a “long term” review.  It’s easy for reviewers and audiophiles alike to get caught up in the excitement of a product, either at a dealer or in the fever of a show environment.  Clearly everyone was buzzing about the Kronos in Montreal last year, and the other shows the table has been presented.  Desjardins has been strategic, not letting just anyone use his table at shows, keeping the exposure limited to fantastic systems.

Yet after living with the Kronos for the better part of 2012 and having the chance to use it with multiple tonearms and cartridges, my impression is even better than it was when the audition began. Minimizing my results, the SME arms both lend more weight to the LF spectrum, while the Graham is slightly more nimble, ever so slightly more resolving.  However, both are close enough, especially when using the SME V-12, that your choice of cartridge will be the ultimate deciding factor.  And neither proved to be a “wrong” choice.

Double your pleasure

The key aspect of the Kronos table is it’s two platters.  Other manufacturers have produced tables with more than one platter, but Kronos’ variation on the theme is to rotate their second, identical, 30-pound platter in the  opposite direction of the main platter spinning the record.  In essence, it completely cancels any vibration induced by the first.  Mitsubishi licensed a similar technology to Porsche back in the 1980s for the engine in the 944.  This 2.5-liter, straight four-cylinder engine was as smooth as a BMW inline six utilizing a counter rotating shaft opposite the crankshaft to achieve this effect.

Due to the plinth size of the Kronos, this table is better suited to 12-inch tonearms.  Our review began with the SME 312, with guest appearances by the SME V12 and Graham.  The short story here is to buy the best arm you can afford with the Kronos; its astonishingly low noise floor reveals every last molecule of detail the arm is capable of extracting from your cartridge.

Grain gone

Feickert’s PlatterSpeed app reveals 33.33 rpm exactly.  The Kronos also has a pair of LED readouts, monitoring the speed of both platters and it tracked perfectly with the Feickert measurements.  The aluminum top platter has a carbon fiber inlay and no mat is needed.

Initial listening begins with the Sumiko Palo Santos cartridge, the cartridge that has replaced my Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum with no regrets and is a favorite because of its general easygoing character, and synergistic match with SME tonearms.  (Full review here)

The rock solid speed accuracy of the Kronos is immediately noticeable, playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.64. This instrument is tough to get right and on lesser tables devolves into a screechy mess.  The first 30 seconds of this piece right before the orchestra joins in, is so delicate, yet a joy to hear rendered by the Kronos, all of its subtle overtones gracefully intact.  The long synthesizer sustain at the beginning of Triumvirat’s “The Capital of Power” reveals the same thing.  On a budget table, the synth warbles like a cassette that’s been left in the sun too long, yet here an unmistakable richness comes through.

This combination of speed accuracy and the 12-inch tonearm, makes it easy to fool yourself that perhaps you are listening to a reel to reel tape, or a linear tracking arm. The usual crew of analog fans that stop by to check out the latest gear all made similar comments, and even those outside the fringe, commented about “how real” the music sounds played on the Kronos.

The Kronos integrates inner detail with wide dynamic swings.  The only other table in the studio with a 12-inch tonearm is the AMG V-12; so comparing the two is not a direct “apples to apples” comparison.  24/192 digital samples (via the Nagra LB recorder) confirm the benefit of the longer tonearm, yet the Kronos has an unmistakable sonic signature, even when captured to high-resolution digital files.

Tons of texture

On a certain level, the Kronos is not unlike the $150,000 Continuum turntable in its rock solid bass stability and texture resolution.  Auditioning highly familiar LPs with bass heavy grooves instantly unearths just how special this turntable is.  Even the heartbeat at the beginning of Dark Side of the Moon, is more visceral, has more dimension and subtlety than before. The opening bass riff of Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused,” utterly fantastic, you can almost feel the grille cloth rattling on John Paul Jones’ bass cabinets.

This is not limited just to the bass.  Acoustic instruments take on more charm via the Kronos too.  Those loving female vocals will be in heaven.  The transition as Betty Davis’ goes from bedroom whisper to bar room growl in “Bar Hoppin” is seamless.   I suppose you could listen to Eva Cassidy, nah. Male vocals are equally exciting.

However, the fine detail that this table exposes is its greatest strength.  Tracking through Eno’s Here Come the Warm Jets unearths an abundance of buried treasure, especially on the track “Dead Finks Don’t Talk.”  Re-assessing a cache of densely packed records opens up recordings that felt overly compressed, again proving how much information is really packed in those fine grooves.

I’ve always felt that a great hifi system should expand your music collection, not limit it to a handful of audiophile darlings that always seem to be stuck to the platter.  Much like the AVID Acutus REF SP, the Kronos’ ability to disperse the music buried in the grooves more evenly, makes records that might have been passed off as not worthy of your system much more palatable.  Resolution without fatigue is the essence of the Kronos turntable. Even my awful copy of Boston’s Don’t Look Back sounds pretty darn good.  Imagine what the best pressings in your collection will sound like.  It’s better than that.

All this quiet makes the Kronos a perfect place to test-drive premium phono cartridges.  With the Lyra Titan-I, Atlas and Clearaudio Goldfinger at hand, (and the Nagra LB close by) it was time to up the ante.  All three of these mega dollar cartridges perform flawlessly in concert with the Kronos, though I would suggest the SME V-12, Graham or something equally magnificent.  The 312 is a great way to enjoy the Kronos, and works well with a wide range of cartridges, but if you are going for a cost no object cart, I feel you might be leaving a bit of resolution at the door with the 312.

Get a solid shelf

The Kronos weighs 90 pounds when you remove the parts from the neatly packed, aluminum flight case.  The box was so compact, that when it arrived, we initially thought they forgot to ship something.  High marks to Kronos for shipping their table in such a compact, yet robust case – it’s a definite value add.

With three separate sub plinths, two motors, a motor controller and of course those two 30 pound platters, I expected setup to take all day, yet designer Desjardins had the Kronos ready to roll in under 45 minutes, with the Sumiko cartridge nearly optimized to perfection.  A few test tracks later, it was fully dialed in and we went to lunch.

The Burmester equipment racks in the TONEAudio studio are not the last word in vibration control, but they are overbuilt, supporting heavy gear with ease.  Because of this, they are particularly handy at seeing how well a turntable’s suspension does at filtering out ambient vibration.  Even when pounding on the top shelf, the Kronos stops the vibration from getting through to the speakers – highly impressive.

Utilizing a pair of ultra high quality Swiss DC motors, the Kronos table makes use of a small external power supply connected via two cables. A three-pin cable transmits the DC power, and the other; a four-pin cable transmits data, making it impossible to connect things improperly. One of the many small details that makes the Kronos so special.

Capacitance sensors power the table on and off, and change the speed, so they will never have to be replaced, and the digital readout is amply sized, making it easy to see what you are spinning!  Desjardins claims a one-year interval on lubricating the pulleys and five years on the main bearings, keeping maintenance to a minimum.

Every aspect of the Kronos turntable feels over built, with fit and finish equally excellent for what was turntable number two in the eventual production run of 250 units.  As Desjardins wrapped his visit this spring, he had already sold 50 tables worldwide since its official introduction in January of 2012 at the Consumer Electronics Show. It will be exciting to see just what he’s got in store for 2013.

In the light of other tables from AVID, Clearaudio and SME to name a few, the Kronos is polished and up to task.  I award the Kronos one of our nine Publishers Choice awards for 2012 – it remains as enjoyable to listen to as the day it arrived. Here’s to Louis Desjardins’ continued growth and success.

The Kronos Turntable (limited to 250 units)

www.kronosaudio.com

MSRP: $28,000

Peripherals

We are working feverishly to sort the differences between the Lehmann Black Cube and Black Cube Signature.

We’ll have firm pricing after CES and a side by side review in the Comparo section of TONEAudio very soon.  We’ve always enjoyed the high performance, low cost and simplicity of the Black Cube, so stay tuned!  Lehmann is now distributed by Ortofon in the US, so we are looking forward to test driving more of their products in 2013!

http://www.lehmannaudio.com/de (manufacturer site)

Since many of today’s LPs are mastered from digital sources, many vociferous audiophiles willingly sacrifice dynamics and resolution on the altar of tonality. Yes, the vinyl revolution has an ugly side.

Combining this trend with the strong resurgence in vintage gear becomes akin to dealing with comfort food for your ears. Half of your brain wants foie gras. The other half craves a chilidog. Sophistication? Or comfort and convenience? What if you could have both or, at least, a great mixture of the two? Enter the Sumiko Palo Santos Presentation (PSP).

In theory, something slightly mellow makes sense, and it is nearly impossible to have one cartridge that suits everything in your record collection. If you must draw a line in the sand, siding with tonality isn’t a bad way to roll. The only problem with said approach? Truly great recordings don’t sound much better than the mediocre albums.

Still, hyper-detail gear only goes so far. How many times have you heard a mega-bucks system playing a current audiophile treasure with aplomb, but falling horribly short of expectations when spinning your favorite record? At the end of the day, you want Led Zeppelin, Belle & Sebastian, Diana Ross, and Fleet Foxes to all sound equally great on your system. Plus, the surgeon general says listening exclusively to audio pap like Jacintha is bad for your health. The PSP yields tonal complexity, resolution, and dynamic power with little sacrifice.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Average

A two-edged sword, resolution can be a blessing and a curse. The key to the PSP’s success relates to its capability as a high-quality daily driver. While some cartridges send you on a limited quest to uncover details previously obscured from view on your best pressings, the PSP illuminates information on less-than-amazing records. Of course, the sonic spectaculars sound great with the Sumiko, but now, I find myself listening to LPs I haven’t heard in ages—titles lacking audiophile credentials.

The Fabulous Poodles’ Mirror Stars never sounded better on my stereo. Even if you aren’t predisposed to 80s Britpop, you probably have your own short list of records that sound less than, well, great. And sure, current pressings, such as Amy Winehouse’s posthumous Lioness: Hidden Treasures, sound as dreadful as anything produced in the Reagan Era. But the PSP transforms Winehouse’s posthumous record from nearly unlistenable to a platter you can enjoy on a top-notch system.

The PSP does a fantastic job of analog triage with terrible records, and comes into its own with records possessing average to above-average sound quality. Spinning Classic Records’ Led Zeppelin 200g remasters elicits thrills. The cartridge rocks with the best of them, boasting a tonal richness that isn’t thin or sterile. John Paul Jones’ bass playing on Led Zeppelin II possesses the requisite fatness, with no loss of dynamic slam. The PSP keeps the musical pace locked down.

A quick comparison to the Koetsu Urushi Blue, mounted on an identical AVID Acutus Reference SP (both ‘tables playing through the Vitus Audio MPP-201 phonostage), brings to the fore the Koetsu’s sonic signature. Both cartridges are equally mellifluous through the midband. But when compared directly to the PSP, the Koetsu sounds slow and rolled-off on the high end—and lacking low-level detail. With the PSP, the drum solo during Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick” reveals more sparkle in the cymbals, more leading-edge transient attack, and yes, more percussive textures.

Tom Petty’s recent Kiss My Amps: Live illustrates the cartridge’s serious dynamic punch and attack. “Takin’ My Time” often transitions from loud to soft. Sumiko’s cartridge always keeps separate Petty and Mike Campbell’s guitars, and convincingly captures the audience’s swelling cheers. With the Pass XA200.5 monoblocks pushed to their limits, the PSP’s meaty presentation comes damn close to recreating the live Heartbreakers feel I’ve heard many times before.

Space, the Final Frontier

Listeners that prefer solo vocalists and/or acoustic recordings will be right at home with the PSP. Its rich tonality and wide dynamic contrast only tell half the story. The cartridge navigates snaky grooves with ease. Spinning Music Matters’ 45RPM edition of Art Blakey’s Indestructible tells one everything they need to know about the PSP’s tracking.  Blakey’s explosive drumming is in your face, as it should be. On ORG’s pressing of John Coltrane’s Live at the Village Vanguard, the PSP effortlessly handles the saxophonist’s rapid-fire deliveries and ensures that the brassy “blats” are lively and full of sparkle. Both the aforementioned high-velocity discs often cause lesser cartridges to mis-track.

The PSP also delivers every bit of vocal breathiness. MoFi’s current remaster of Priscilla Ahn’s A Good Day shows how the PSP renders the subtleties of the singer’s delicate voice without presenting her on an overblown soundstage. Rather, she’s revealed to enjoy an exquisite, finely gradated tonal palette in a realistic space. I experienced similar revelations with Anja Garbarek’s Smiling & Waving, on which her voice sounds real in tone and in regard to spatial dimension.

Nuts and Bolts

The PSP sets up quickly. Its medium compliance value (8 x 10-6 cm/dyne) is ideally suited to tonearms like the SME (Sumiko is the US importer). Any model in SME’s turntable range makes for a great match. Having turned in fantastic performances with the Funk Firm FX II•R, TriPlanar, Rega RB 1000, and SME 309, 312 and V, it’s safe to say the PSP works well with a wide range of tonearms.

The PSP spent the majority of its review time mounted to the SME V tonearm, which mated with the AVID Acutus Reference SP turntable. When the splendid Kronos turntable arrived, I installed the PSP with equally brilliant results on the SME 312 tonearm. Sumiko specifies a load range of 100-1000 ohms, with 200 ohms proving optimum on the Vitus MPP-201 and ARC REF Phono 2 SE phonostages and providing the best balance between high-frequency smoothness and extension. Experiment, however, as your phonostage may yield better results with a different combination. Tracking force is specified at 1.8 – 2.2 grams, with 2.05 grams the best on both SME arms at my disposal. In addition, the PSP has a .5mv output, so gain shouldn’t be an issue with an MC phonostage or step-up transformer.

Much like Koetsu cartridges we’ve sampled, the PSP benefits from optimization and attention to VTA, even if these aspects aren’t as critical here as with other cartridges.  Think of the PSP as a set of speakers with a big “sweet spot.” It’s worth taking the time to dial in, but you can expect excellent results along the way—especially if you have an arm like the SME or TriPlanar, which make it easy to set VTA. This cartridge also requires precious few hours for mechanical break-in, as it sounds natural out of the box and slightly improves after 25-30 hours.

Loving It

Audiophiles that want or need to settle on owning one high-performance cartridge will have a difficult time topping the PSP, especially if you are a tone aficionado. For those on stricter budgets, I highly suggest Sumiko’s $2,499 Pearwood Celebration II. It possesses similar tonality, with slightly less dynamic swing. Of course, the better your table/arm/phonostage, the more you will appreciate what the PSP brings to the dance.

Can you get a little more detail here or a little more slam there? Yes, but it’s going to cost a lot more money. Or, you will have to reconsider your listening priorities—and now you’re back to that place where you primarily listen to just twenty of the records in your collection. That scenario isn’t for me. The PSP is staying in my reference system as my daily driver.

Sumiko Palo Santos Presentation Cartridge

MSRP: $3,999

www.sumiko-audio.net

Peripherals

As part of our newly formed alliance with Mono&Stereo, writer Matej Isak begins with one of the most controversial products in high end audio today, the LessLoss Blackbody field conditioner.

Sure to start a hellacious fight on any internet forum you mention it, and capable of inducing an unremovable frown from any engineer you reveal it to, this little black cube (that costs $1400) is sure to amaze, annoy and possibly impress more than a few audiophiles.

Both Matej and I are not “tweaky” audiophiles.  We don’t have those things that look like coat racks in our listening rooms, we don’t smear goooey stuff on our gear and we don’t wear foil hats, or participate in any of the other alchemy that often passes for audiophile improvements.  That’s not to say that I don’t believe in a good set of interconnects, power conditioning, or room treatments. (Especially room treatments) My dog chewed all of the Shunyata wire elevators to bits, and after a while, I never missed them.

Yet these little black boxes seemed over the top, I couldn’t resist. I wanted to hate them and I wanted to tell the world that they are useless.  However, after trying them with a number of different components, there is definitely something going on here. And I can’t explain it for the life of me. And I still suggest you spend the $1400 that one of these Blackbodies cost on room treatments before you even think of buying one of these…

So, I turn you over to our host Matej.  And I must say I concur with his findings.

Please click here to read the full Mono&Stereo report:

The end of the year always brings award mania.

It’s like the end of your kids soccer season, everyone wants a trophy.  Now that our awards have been spoken for, there are still a few things that keep gnawing at me. But we can’t give everything an award, can we?  While my hope is always that you read every page of every issue of TONEAudio, I know you’re busy, or you don’t care.

But here’s nine more things that I spent time with this year that I just enjoyed the hell out of.  Are they the best in class? I don’t know.  But I had a ton of fun listening to them, and even wrote a check for a few of them.  I suggest they are worthy of your time.

Enjoy!

-Jeff Dorgay, Publisher
TONEAudio

1.  Thorens TD-125 Turntable, rebuilt by Vinyl Nirvana. (www.vinylnirvana.com)

Proprietor Dave Archambault’s home page says “Your internet resource for AR Turntables,” but he does a cracking job on the Thorens TD-125 as well.  I selfishly wish he’d start working on the LP-12, but I digress.  While I’m not quite finished with a full review of the TD-125, this thing is beautiful.  Archambault does amazing work and offers a true alternative to the analog enthusiast wanting something different than the popular choices from Rega, et. al. in the $1000 – $2000 range.  The model pictured here was fitted with an SME 3009 tonearm and a price tag of about $1600.  Vinyl Nirvana also works carefully with a custom plinth maker to really take these these tables to the next level of restoration, should you so desire.  Standard woods are about $375 each, and you can order more exotic wood at an additional cost.  Should you be motivated to either purchase a table from VN, or just have him restore yours, I can’t suggest the new plinth highly enough.

2. Thorens TD-124 Turntable, rebuilt by Swissonor. (www.swissonor.ch)

Forget everything you think you know about the Thorens TD-124 turntable.  Rebuilt by Swiss craftspeople, with a handful of improvements that will turn your head as well as your ear, including a non magnetic cast iron platter that sounds straight out of a Bond film, this turntable delivers an amazing sound that has one foot firmly planted in the past, with the other in today.  Capitalizing on the precision these tables were originally built with, Swissonor tastefully updates this turntable in a manner that reveals more music, yet doesn’t hide the true character of this classic.  If you love vinyl, you owe it to yourself to experience this turntable.

3.  Goldpoint SW2X Input Switcher. (www.goldpnt.com)

Those needing to add an extra balanced input, switch between amplifiers, or perform quick cable comparisons, look no further.  This is the droid you need.  Well made and reasonably priced.  There is a balanced version (currently in-house) with two inputs and a single ended RCA version with four.

4. Apple iPad Mini (www.apple.com)

Apple haters, sod off.  I know it doesn’t have the Retina display and it will probably be replaced with a new model by the time you read this, but the Mini is the best way to control a music server that I’ve ever encounter, whether you use iTunes or a proprietary music server from Sooloos/Meridian, Aurender, Naim or one of the others.  The screen size is just big enough to see easily, yet small and light enough to fit comfortably in one paw, where the standard iPad does not.

5. Omega Headphone Stand (www.musicdirect.com)

These cost way more money than they should, but they are just so damn cool, they prove irresistible.

6. Solidsteel WS-5 Turntable Shelf (www.musicdirect.com)

Much like real estate in Manhattan or Tokyo, sometimes the only way to go is up.  If you’re adding turntables and out of rack space, this is the way to roll. Properly installed, it will support up to 130 pounds, so it’s perfect for a reel to reel tape deck too.

7. Furutech DeMag (www.furutech.com)

Sure to get you crucified on any audiophile forum by merely mentioning it, the Furutech DeMag works brilliantly on LP’s, removing the last layer of grain and grunge from the presentation.  How does it really work? Who knows? Yet it does and every skeptic I’ve given a proper demonstration walks away admitting defeat while they scratch their head.  If you’ve taken your system as far as it can go and you still crave more, the Furutech DeMag will give it to you.

8. Ikea Expedit Shelves (www.ikea.com)  Though a few internet pundits have circulated photos of collapsed Expedit shelving units showing catastrophic results, a bit of 1/4-inch plywood, a few strategically placed brads and a bit of heavy duty glue makes the Expedit a stylish and robust record shelf.  Just don’t put a heavy amplifier or turntable on the shelf with spikes.

9. EAT ECC88 and ECC803 Tubes (www.musicdirect.com) Another expensive accessory, these precision crafted small signal tubes deliver sound quality that rivals any vintage tube you’ll get your hands on.

Listening to Frank Sinatra sing “Stormy Weather,” via the Talea Tonearm, combined with the Miyajima Kansui cartridge and AVID Volvere SP turntable, the utter clarity this combination provides is unmistakable.

Sinatras voice is crystal clear (thanks, in part to the latest MoFi remaster) yet with a beguiling dimensionality even beyond what I’m used to from the same combination, with a different tonearm.

It often feels like a wacky episode of Mythbusters, here at TONEAudio. A tonearm with a wooden armwand?  That can’t work.  A wood body cartridge with a wooden arm?  That will sound terrible. Transistors? Forget it.

Audiophiles are usually highly opinionated.  The longer many spend in the pursuit of high quality sound, the tougher their convictions are to change. I’m positive I was a wire-haired fox terrier in another life and I gravitate towards the different, the unexpected, or the thing that “shouldn’t” work.  Leading me instantly to the Talea.

This $9,500 tonearm arrives in a neatly constructed wooden box, that probably doesn’t cost all that much to make, yet the amount of care spent in its design and execution foreshadows the thought spent on the tonearm’s construction.  To those that complain about the containers that some gear is packaged, I appreciate the extra effort.  At this price, packaging commensurate with the product goes another step forward, reinforcing value. You wouldn’t feel quite right about buying a bespoke watch in a cardboard box, would you?

The Talea is a unipivot design, and is available with a fixed tonearm cable or a breakout box, allowing the use of standard 5 pin tonearm cables. Having this option will be of more interest to the user enjoying more control over this parameter.  Initial listening was done with the fixed tonearm cable, a Discovery Cable Plus 4.  Due to the delicate nature of the phono signal, and after using a number of premium cables at my disposal, I suggest sticking with the permanent cable, so that the delicate phono signal travel through as few junctions as possible.

The Talea is a 10.3-inch arm, but its offset pivot point allows it to be used in the same applications that a 9-inch arm can be fitted.  A quick call to AVID produced a custom mounting plate, and now that their engineers have the CAD profile stored, any AVID owners considering the Talea need only drop a note to the factory.  Those using a different table can take advantage of the handy mounting template and protractor included.

Assembly and setup is straightforward, taking about 45 minutes via the skilled hands of Mr. Durand.  After a few cartridge swaps, I quickly got the hang of the Talea, and thanks to VTA and azimuth on the fly, this is the easiest tonearm I’ve had the pleasure of setting up.

Color but not colored

Tonearms, like loudspeakers often take a different approach in their construction.  One school of thought works in aluminum and composites, attempting to subdue every molecule of vibration and resonance from the cabinet, letting only the sound of the drivers come through.  Yet another works with the driver and cabinet resonances to produce the final sound.

I’ll make no bones about it; I prefer the latter approach in speakers.  The massive, metallic speakers have always left me just a little cold. Guilty as charged when it comes to analog.  What’s the point of getting away from all the things that digital has to offer, strictly for an analytical sound?

After hundreds of hours listening to the Talea, it doesn’t sound colored.  It’s more like tint in the color of a photographic image, or muddiness in the middle tones of color that mask fine gradations are absent with the Talea – it is truly a high definition tonearm.  Think of the difference between listening to a comparison between a rare Stradivarius violin and something less exotic.  Or for that matter, a 1963 Fender Stratocaster versus a Squire Stratocaster. The notes produced are the same, yet the fine tonal gradations, the decay, the feel is completely different. There is more tonal saturation everywhere.

That’s what the Talea brings to the game.  Designer Joel Durand, a musician himself, discusses the myriad variations taken in developing this tonearm and how every material chosen for the arm is based strictly on its final effect on sound quality.  Listening to Joe Henderson’s sax on Pete La Roca’s Basra (Music Matters 45 rpm) is a true analog delicacy.  Every little quirk in Henderson’s playing is instantly delivered to the listener, while the cymbals linger that extra bit, fooling you into thinking that you are listening to the real thing.

A quick comparison

Even the mega, distorted guitar of Neil Young on his recent Americana release feels more real, more inviting. It’s easy to get caught up in the thrill of the moment when something new enters the sound chain and even easier to be fooled into thinking the new gadget is better than what we remember.
A pair of identical Ortofon Cadenza Bronze MC cartridges mounted to the Talea and the SME V arms, each on AVID Volvere SP turntables with matching Furutech AG-12 tonearm cables reveals a distinct difference between the two tonearms. While this reviewer prefers the dedicated cable, for comparison purposes, the arm wand with a breakout box allows easy cable swaps and isolates the tonearms from the reproduction chain.

Tracking further through Americana, the Talea not only delivers more texture and tonal saturation, it is the master of low-level musical nuance.  The songs featuring Young’s wife, Pegi illustrate this perfectly. When using the SME, Mrs. Young is somewhat buried in the mix. Switching to the identical setup with the Talea, her voice is more easily discernible, with her voice having a more liquid quality.  The growling guitars in “Travel On” feel more like you’re sitting in a club, twenty feet from the stage. Switching back to the SME, some of that air, space and magic is gone. Much like the difference between a great triode tube amplifier and a single ended triode amplifier.  There’s an unmistakable richness that you will respond favorably to or not.

Speaking of magic

The Talea has a fine-grained presentation, not at all unlike analog tape.  What might be initially mistaken for a slight softness is actually an ultra fine gradation in both directions, loud and soft.  This arm is the essence of natural sound; switching back and forth immediately to the SME V and TriPlanar arms (again with identical cartridges) reveals a presentation that you will either dismiss or adore.  Put this reviewer in the adore category, but again remember my bias – I prefer things with a drop or two of smoothness.

On everything I could throw at the Talea, it presents a more natural timbre than everything else at my disposal, and for those fearing that a unipivot design can’t generate a solid bass foundation, you need look no further than this tonearm.  The Talea, like the VPI arm (also a unipivot) doesn’t give up anything in terms of weight, just the slightest bit of ultimate slam, that I only noticed on the heaviest rock records.  It is so much more intriguing everywhere else, I don’t see this as a compromise – and most of this can be mitigated by the phono cartridge you choose to pair with the Talea.  The only cartridge that proved a bit soft for me in this tonearm was the Koestu Urushi Vermillion, however one staff member was highly smitten with this setup.

Listening further up the tonal scale, reveals no lack of dynamics and acceleration. Snare drums and percussion bits are as vital played through the Talea as with anything else at my disposal. The more time spent with this tonearm, the more it seduces.  Its superlative ability to capture musical tones in such a natural way, just makes you forget about anything else.

While you might prefer something else for a steady diet of Led Zeppelin or Slayer, should your tastes drift more towards acoustic music, the Talea will spoil you for anything else.

Which is right?

We will probably argue over the merits of the finest examples of vacuum tube or solid-state electronics, the arguments will go on until the Earth cools.  But in my system, with the cartridges at my disposal, the Durand Talea is one of the most satisfying analog experiences I’ve ever had, especially in combination with the Miyajima Kansui cartridge (review in progress) or the Clearaudio Goldfinger.  This is a tonearm you should own. It is on the list of our Publishers Choice Awards for 2012.

The Durand Talea Tonearm

MSRP:  $9,500

www.durand-tonearms.com

Peripherals

No matter what you own, it’s usually unnerving when a “new model” hits the market.

Especially so with hifi gear. And certainly if you just bought the previous model just before the newest, latest, greatest arrives. I feel your pain.

The most agonizing questions are “Should I trade up?” “Immediately?” “Is what I own now rubbish?” “Is the new thing really better?” Maybe, not necessarily, definitely not, and yes.  As a current Cambridge owner, I’m always impressed with the effortless way their products work.  They are logically designed from an electrical and ergonomic standpoint; while the manuals are well written, you can turn these components on and start listening without reading them.  Best of all, both components share the same remote, allowing those of us a bit more on the OCD side the opportunity to keep one tucked away, looking pristine.

I’m a sucker for understatement, and Cambridge’s US importer, Daniel Jacques is a smart guy.  When discussing the review of the new CD player and integrated, as he was telling me about the new features, decided it would be an excellent idea to send me the past models so I could directly compare them.  “You’ll see for yourself the progress we’ve made on the new units, even though they look almost the same.” He said with a smile. Other than a few more buttons on the CD player, you’d never know the difference.  Not that I condone this kind of behavior, but these are stealthy enough to sneak right in without anyone knowing the wiser. If you get caught, this review will self-destruct.

An audio omen

During the photo shoot, it appears our Canadian friends have given us a gift. Mickey Hart’s At The Edge is in the CD tray of the 851C. Very familiar with this disc, why not start the comparison right here?  Both pairs of Cambridge components were plugged in and powered up for 24 hours before serious listening began.  The third track, “Slow Sailing,” features a thunderous bass line that begins a bit loose, so amplifiers with no grip go to pieces here.  The new amplifier jumped right out in front in a major way, driving the German Physiks Unlimited mk.II speakers (also in for review), with more weight, more grip and more speed in the bass region than the 840A.  This is a gun demo disc to play really loud if you have the juice, because it sounds so tribal, with the drums having a big, bold sound.  Veteran drummer Hart blends in a myriad of exotic percussion instruments, filling the soundstage in all three directions.

The German Physiks speakers are a great place to start, because the proprietary DDD driver is fast, clean and accurate, much like an ESL.  The bottom line is garbage in/garbage out, and most modestly priced amplifiers can’t cut the mustard with these speakers.  With the $30k Burmester 911 and $65k Octave Jubilee monoblocks now taking a back seat, my informal listening associates were all duly impressed with the amount of finesse the 851A brings to the table.  Even more impressive for the MSRP of $1,849, up from the $1,495 commanded by the 840A it replaces)

Power to drive

Almost all listening was done with the German Physiks Unlimited IIs, a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C1 IIs, the new KEF LS50s and my recently restored Acoustat 1+1s – notoriously tough to drive.  Even with the Acoustats, the 851A breezes through.  It’s no surprise that the two most demanding speakers in the group (the 1+1s and the Unlimiteds) reveal the upgrades to Cambridge’s XD amplifier circuit and increased power supply capacity to the fullest.

Don’t be confused by the moniker:  XD does not denote a class D amplifier under the hood of the 851A. XD refers to “Crossover Displacement,” the way that Cambridge has finely tuned the crossover point of their amplifiers transitioning from Class A at low power to AB at higher power.  The 851A also takes advantage of a massive toroidal power transformer – you’ll notice the weight as you unpack it.

The 840A and 851A both claim a power output of 120 watts per channel into an 8-ohm load and 200 watts per channel into a 4-ohm load – enough for all but the most inefficient speakers.  Either will drive a pair of Magnepan 1.7s to modest level with decent grip, but the newer amplifier does a better job, where the 840A seems to struggle a bit.

This amplifier is well composed at all volumes, yet at modest volumes, where it stays more in Class-A bias, it’s easy to think you are listening to a much more expensive amplifier indeed.

The ins and outs

One of the 851As best features is its plethora of inputs and outputs.  There are five strictly RCA inputs, with input 1 and 2 having the option of balanced XLR or standard RCA inputs. And, for the true analogaholic, a tape monitor loop.  Those using a powered sub woofer or wishing to bi amp are also rewarded with a variable output. (RCA)  Cambridge has also thoughtfully supplied a standard RS-232 port, an extension for the IR remote and their own control bus, so that you can link an all-Cambridge system together.  Two sets of speaker outputs, switchable from the front panel make it easy to increase the flexibility of a system based on the 851A and those with stacked Advents.

Cambridge’s newest version of their “silicon gate” volume control tracks true and features precise volume control in small increments.  They also claim extremely accurate channel balance with this volume control.  Best of all, the front panel includes a bass and treble control.  Purists will freak, but music lovers will love them.  Just like the ones on my Cambridge 740A, they can be switched out when not in use, but work very well, providing only modest adjustment at the extreme ends of the audio spectrum.  These are especially good if you decide to use your 851A to anchor a high quality two-channel system for video playback as I do.

Headphone listeners will be pleased with the onboard headphone amp.  With a wide range of phones from the Grado 60i, all the way up to the LCD-2 (a range of about $100 – $1,000), the internal amp is on par with anything you’ll find externally for a couple hundred bucks.  Not a bad thing to include on the chassis. Those who haven’t partaken the pleasures of the head-fi world will find the 851A a great place to start your journey.

The front panel is well laid out and much like the Porsche 911; the control layout is similar from one generation to the next.  Those encountering the Cambridge marque for the first time will find the 851A and 851C well thought out, and not requiring the remote for most functions.  The large alpha numeric display is easy to read, and you can tailor the display to your inputs, so instead of reading “input 1” and “input 5,” they read “CD player,” “DAC,” or whatever you’d like to label them.

CD Player surprises

While the 840A and 851A have virtually identical specs, their companion disc players are more dramatically different.  They each upsample digital data from the digital inputs and CD drive to 24bit/382khz, the 851C goes further, with its new, ATP2 upsampling, which is said to further reduce jitter over the previous Q5 upsampling system implemented in the 840C.  In addition to a refinement of the prior system, ATP2 offers three distinct digital filter choices:  A Steep roll-off filter, A Linear Phase filter and a Minimum Phase filter, to optimize digital playback better towards your personal taste and software. The 851C has the same price jump ($1,499 to $1,849) I suggest experimenting with the different filter options, but be warned, it can make you a bit mad, trying to figure out which one is the best choice.

Much like the amplifier, the newer 851C offers more refinement, however here we found the major gains more in HF smoothness and low-level detail.  Reproducing acoustic instruments is a strong suit of the 840C, yet the 851C improves this aspect of digital reproduction significantly.  The opening drum rolls on the Pretenders “Private Life,” from their self-titled album have more attack and more immediacy, while the bells in the background linger and decay more delicately.  The oboe is also reproduced with more texture via the newer player, tracking through the Netherland Wind Ensemble’s Greatest Hits.

While quick A/B comparisons reveal the improvement in the new player quickly, perhaps the most dramatic difference happens after listening to one player for about an hour, then making a quick switch to the other.  The soundstage shrinks noticeably going from 851C to the 840C, and when going in the other direction, things definitely have more vitality and immediacy.

As both players can be used as a DAC, high-resolution files again shine brighter on the new model.  A sequence of female vocal tracks in 24/96 and 24/192 formats from Dusty Springfield, Carole King and Bjork all illuminate more resolution on tap.  Interestingly enough, the 851Cs ability to navigate Janis Joplin’s voice on Pearl is the most telling of the new players capability.  Much like a violin being butchered on a budget player, Joplin’s raspy voice translates with more body and ease on the 851C. Both players do a commendable job illustrating the difference between high res files and standard 16bit/44.1khz files, but the 851C makes it clearer.

Whether you consider it the most interesting change or the most useful, the 851C now offers a precise digital volume control and variable outputs.  Three sets of digital inputs, offering a choice of balanced AES/EBU, S/PDIF co-axial and Toslink optical as well as a separate USB input (with a switchable ground lift) makes the 851C the perfect hub for the music lover that has no interest in analog sources, this makes the 851C a killer value. Connect your favorite power amplifier and roll.  Its single ended RCA and balanced XLR outputs make it compatible with any amplifier.

We had excellent luck with tube and solid-state examples. The combination of the 851C and the new Prima Luna ProLogue Premium power amplifier with 40 watts per channel of tube power along with the KEF LS50s proves beguiling in a small room, albeit not as powerful as the companion 851A.  Either way, it’s nice to have the option.

For those not wanting a rack full of gear, the 851C had no problem driving a 6 meter length of XLR or RCA cables to a handful of power amplifiers we had on hand.  There were no issues with HF rolloff or output drive.  A simple menu click enables the variable output. And like the 851A, the inputs can be labeled via the remote.

Refinement is the word

If you currently own an 840A and 840C, you still possess some great gear, and depending on the speakers you’ve paired with this combo, you may not feel the urge to make the move to the next models.  However, those taking the plunge will not be disappointed, there is enough of a delta to rediscover your current music collection without guilt.  This is a great pair, offering high performance and enough power to drive almost any speaker with headroom to spare.

For those starting from scratch, the Cambridge Audio 851A and 851C deliver high performance, excellent functionality and understated good looks.  We call that an “exceptional value” and I am happy to award these two components our first Exceptional Value Awards of 2013.

The Cambridge Audio 851A integrated amplifier and 851C Disc Player/DAC/Digital Preamplifier

$1,849 ea.

www.cambridgeaudio.com (mfr)

www.audioplusservices.com (US importer)

www.plurison.com (Canadian importer)

Though I am not a huge fan of modded gear, I’ve always appreciated the ingenuity exhibited by the DIY side of the audio world.

Just like my other favorite hobby (automobiles), there is always plenty of room for the wrench turners to coexist with the check writers, and while they always like to banter about whose approach is more pure, the decision to mod is up to you.

If you are new to the modding game, keep in mind that a modded piece rarely has great resale value, because once you start tinkering with anything, there are only so many people who will want to purchase your version of nirvana.  So keep that in mind before you get out the Sawzall. In this case, if you perform the Sound HiFi mods with care, you could reverse the process and go back to a stock SL-1200, should you decide to sell it.

From the beginning

My journey in HiFi started with a Technics SL1200 about 35 years ago, yet I quickly got caught up in being a proper audiophile trading that table in for a belt-drive Rega Planar 3.  To be fair to the Rega, I still prefer the sound of a P3 to the sound of a stock Technics SL-1200, which I find rather dark and cloudy sounding overall.  Careful attention to detail when setting up an SL-1200 will wring every bit of resolution for which it is capable, but this is still not a ton.

The good news is that Technics has been building the SL-1200 for a long time and the core turntable mechanism (motor, base and platter) is robustly built.  The direct-drive mechanism has a lot of torque and the table has a very weighty presentation with a fair amount of bass detail despite its other shortcomings.  While a basic “audiophile approved” turntable can easily run a couple thousand dollars without a tonearm, you can still find a like – new SL-1200 on the secondary market for $400 -$500 (in the U.S. anyway), so this is an excellent platform for modification.  Think of the SL-1200 as the Volkswagen GTI of the turntable world.

I’ve investigated the KAB series of modifications for the SL-1200, and they have ultimately left me cold because I still feel that the stock SL-1200 arm is the weak link in the equation.  The full suite of KAB mods certainly improve the SL-1200, the minute I drop a record on a Rega P5, or a nice used Linn LP-12, I’m still not that interested in the Technics.

However, the rabid enthusiasm for the 1200 out in the world of internet forums has kept my interest piqued.  The Sound HiFi mods described here were brought to my attention by a good friend on the MartinLogan forum (an SME owner) who had just heard the modded table at a friend’s house with an SME 309 arm fitted.  “You need to get this mod in for review.  You won’t believe how great the SL-1200 sounds with this arm and a good cartridge.”

Dave Cawley of Sound HiFi (www.soundhif.com) has been running a HiFi shop with on-site repair facilities for a long time and is a true analog enthusiast.  During our phone conversation, he said, “Look, I sell AVID, SME and Clearaudio.  I’m not going to tell you my mod will turn an SL-1200 into an SME 20, but I do think you will find it very interesting.”  Should you live anywhere near Sound HiFi in the U.K., they can modify your 1200 for you if you are not so inclined.  Sound HiFi also still services and refurbishes the legendary Technics SP-10 broadcast turntable, which is enjoying a tremendous resurgence in the audiophile world.

Choices, choices

There are a few different options to this series of modifications.  The external power supply is about $450 at current exchange rates (£299), the arm board for an SME arm is £89.95 and they also offer a great mat for £89.95.  A series of upgraded feet and a clamp can also be purchased to take the SL-1200 to the limit of its performance envelope.

Our European readers may have an easier time of this, as the SME arms are not as expensive there as they are here.  However, there always seems to be a great deal on a used 309 that someone is trading to move up the ladder.  A 309 in excellent shape can usually be had for about $900, and I’ve seen them as low as $700.  The M2-09 is a less expensive arm, but in much shorter supply and I’ve actually seen them selling for more than a 309.

I prefer the mechanical robustness of the 309, and the stock SME tonearm cable isn’t bad either, though once you get done with all of this, you now will be able to easily hear the difference an upgraded tonearm cable will make.  Should you decide to take this even further, I highly suggest the Furutech AG-12 tonearm cable. It offers world-class performance, and I use it on my other two SME tonearms.

Some assembly required

The Sound HiFi kit is relatively easy to install, but it will require good basic soldering and mechanical skills.  If you have never done anything like this, I would not make this your first electronic project without the help of a friend possessing some skills.  The instructions that come with the Sound HiFi kit have a few holes in them, so we will be posting some additional tips and photos on our website to guide you a little better.

Granted, I’ve seen far worse, but being a visual person, I wouldn’t mind just a few more pictures to ease the process.

As with all electrical and mechanical projects, the key is to budget an hour or so of quiet time and give yourself room to spread out everything.  As you remove the bottom cover of the SL-1200, there are quite a few screws to keep track of.

All the parts required were included and the organization of the kit was very tidy.  I was taking my time and taking pictures along the way. Two hours later, I had a very nice looking SL-1200 with an SME 309 ready for setup and adjustment that looked as if it came that way from the factory.  This speaks volumes about the quality of the Sound HiFi modifications.

The Sumiko Blackbird that I had been using on the SME 309 fitted to my Raven Two is now only a headshell swap and quick readjust away.  Now you have the versatility of setup that the SME arm offers while retaining the removable headshells that made the stock SL-1200 desirable.

The sound – glorious!

Yes, you heard right; I’m gloating about the sound of an SL-1200.  I performed the modifications in two steps –  first the power supply and then the tonearm – so that I could evaluate each step’s improvement to the overall sound.  Thanks to removing that big transformer from under the platter and adding the more robust external power supply, the SL-1200 sounds more open and focused, even with the stock arm.  But when the SME arm was added, the table goes from capable to outstanding.

The more practical readers in the audience will note  that adding the external power supply, arm board and a decent used SME 309 to the mix, I’ve quadrupled the original price of the SL1200; wouldn’t I be better off just spending $2,000 on a proper turntable, in a box with a manufacturer’s warranty?

Well, yes, if you worry about that sort of thing. But no, if you want to push the boundaries of what you can achieve for an investment of $2,000 in a turntable.  I’ve had the opportunity to listen to a lot of turntables in the $2,000 – $3,000 range from Rega, VPI, Pro-Ject, Music Hall, etc., and for my money, this one is the one to beat.

Would I give up my Rega P9/RB 1000 or Raven TWO with SME 309 for this table?  No, it’s not that good, but it’s so damn good for $2,000, paired up with your favorite $900 cartridge, that you may not ever need to spend more money on a turntable unless you have a mega system.  This truly is a magic combination, being much more than the sum of its parts. Some find joy in customization, while others find joy in turnkey solutions.

The big-bucks tables still offer more resolution at the frequency extremes, with more fine detail throughout, and that’s what you pay the money for.  But balance is the key to a great HiFi system, and for the Journeyman Audiophile, a five-figure analog setup is a waste of money.

I noticed immediately that the wonderful bass presentation of the stock SL-1200 is still there and, if anything, improved.  The table now had plenty of weight and  a high degree of bass definition.  When listening to Charlie Haden’s Private Collection on Naim records, I could really enjoy all of the texture present in his acoustic-bass playing. The one-note bass feel of the stock table now gone.   My favorite early Genesis records now sound  more like what I’m used to on my reference tables, and even LL Cool J sounded a lot better, with more bass slam and control.

I was not ready for the amount of delicacy and resolution through the midrange and high frequencies offered by the modded SL-1200.  The stock table is a clunker with acoustic music or densely recorded rock records; things become two dimensional lacking any kind of proper depth.  Honestly, I’d prefer a decent CD player to a stock SL-1200 any day.

With the Sound HiFi mods in place combined with the SME arm, serious analog magic is going on.  This is an analog setup you can be proud to own.  My usual group of audiophile buddies teased me to no end when they saw a Technics table sitting on the rack next to my Raven TWO and Spiral Groove SG-2, but the minute I put a record on, everybody shut up.

Listening to the first track on Lindsey Buckingham’s current release, Gift of Screws, the acoustic guitar barely makes it to the outer edges of the speakers with the stock table.  The Sound HiFi version extends the soundstage about three feet past the speaker boundaries, with a healthy measure of height thrown in.  Everything has a lot more body and my LP’s sound great again, not flat and lifeless as they did on the stock SL-1200.

Vocals take on a realistic character, now clearly hearing the subtle details that make good analog such a treat, with a very expansive soundstage no matter what I was listening to.  Combined with my ARC PH3SE phono stage, the SL-1200 and Sumiko Blackbird make an excellent showing. Stepping up to the Nagra VPS/VFS, even more detail is present.

Sure, pairing this table up with a $4,000 cartridge and an $8,000 phono preamp is a bit overkill, but the Sound HiFi SL-1200 makes a good showing.  Playing more in its league, with the Shelter 501, Sumiko Blackbird, Lyra Dorian, etc., and  a Lehman Black Cube SE, Dynavector P-75 mk.2 or the like, I dare you to find more pleasing analog playback for this kind of money.

Get out your credit card and call Dave

Again, if the idea of a project like this is not for you, the cost of shipping an SL-1200 to the U.K. and paying to have these bits installed may outweigh the cost of the end result.  Those of you who are handy and up to the challenge of creating something wonderful for a reasonable expenditure should look no further.  I can’t think of a more musically revealing turntable for this kind of money and I’ve heard most of them.

When assembling a system in the $10k range, every place you can save $500 is a big plus and money that can be invested in more performance elsewhere or perhaps for some room treatments or even more music!  The Sound HiFi modded Technics SL-1200 gets my highest recommendation, and you can plan on seeing it around here for a long time as my reference table at this price point.

NOTE:  This article was originally published in issue 22 of TONEAudio.  Dave Cawley has some even newer SL-1200 bits that we will be investigating soon.  This story is far from complete!

www.soundhifi.com

Peripherals

Preamplifier                Burmester 011

Phono Preamplifiers   Nagra VPS/VFS, Nagra BPS, ARC PH3SE

Power Amplifier         Burmester 911 mk.3

Speakers                      MartinLogan CLX w/JL Fathom F110 subwoofers (2)

Interconnects              Shunyata Aurora

Speaker Cables            Shunata Orion

Is it just me, or has it been raining phonostages lately?

It seems as though the vinyl downpour keeps coming, and there are no signs of it subsiding.  Vinyl sales were up 37% last year, which is a great thing for vinyl lovers.  And equipment manufacturers seem to be keeping pace with this trend, considering how many new phonostages are popping up from out of nowhere these days.  Where you land in this sea of analog goodies will certainly depend on the size of your record collection, the quality of your system and your ultimate dedication to vinyl.  You’ll know vinyl fever has hit you really hard when you decide to make the step up to more than one turntable (or a table with two tonearms), or even if you’re just adding a mono cartridge or a second cartridge of different tonality or quality.

The new Wyndsor phonostage offers two inputs, one RCA and one balanced, which makes it perfect for the budding analogaholic.  While Creek Audio has offered fine and very cost-effective phonostages in the past, the Wyndsor is in a different league, both in performance and price.  The English company has come a long way from its humble beginnings.

Opening the Box

Like many others on the market, the Wyndsor is a two-piece affair.  The signal from a phono cartridge is so faint and fragile that any attempt to preserve its integrity is welcome.  This is why the Wyndsor’s power supply comes equipped with individual mains transformers and separate regulation for each channel, connecting to the main unit via an umbilical cord.  The main chassis is a deceptively simple looking unit, with an illuminated readout section that can be dimmed or turned off completely, a back button, a mute switch and a main controller knob marked “Select.”

It’s this “Select” capability that is the key to what’s available from the Wyndsor.  From this feature the user can select various parameters for various cartridges and store them in the unit’s memory.  You can select cartridge type, load resistance, capacitance, EQ and arm wiring.  Arm wiring?  Yes, you can select single-ended RCA or balanced DIN for the phono cable input.  How cool is that?!

A lot of other phonostages allow for various levels of configurability, but none (at least none in this price range) offer the variety of settings and options available from the Wyndsor.  The folks at Creek certainly thought the feature set through on this product.  What’s even better is that these features can be easily dialed up and stored via the “Select” function.  This is a far cry from having to dial up DIP switches that are either behind a panel or, worse, inside the phonostage.

Best of all, you can use the 16-character alphanumeric display to list gain, loading and cartridge type.  This is an awesome feature, and helps to keep your vinyl world organized; especially if you have an arm with multiple headshell/cartridge combinations, it’s great to see the one you’re using displayed.  Vampires in the audience will be glad to know that you can shut the display off completely if desired.

It’s Not Just About Features

The Wyndsor offers up a lot of sonic goodness, but you will have to wait for it a bit.  Straight out of the box, it’s rather small and thin sounding, like so many other solid-state phono preamps we’ve tried.  But don’t panic.  Leaving it powered up 24/7 will alleviate about half of this, but it needs some serious break in.  I suggest one of those handy little Hagerman devices that knock high-level output down to an RIAA signal at phono-cartridge level.  Avoid the grumpiness, leave your iPod on repeat for a week and be prepared for the caterpillar to make a big change for the better.

Once broken in, the first cartridge on my list was the Goldring 2400 MM.  I dial up the parameters by the data sheet and let her fly.  Most memorable is the recent ORG offering 45 rpm of Weather Report’s seminal album, Heavy Weather.  Of the hundreds of times I’ve listened to this recording in its various iterations, I’ve never enjoyed it as thoroughly as I do through the Wyndsor.  The solid, weighty bass line on this exquisite disc makes for much foot tapping and big grins during this listening session.

I couldn’t resist another period classic, Edgar Winter’s They Only Come Out At Night.  You guessed it, I crank “Frankenstein,” taking advantage of the big soundstage provided by the Wyndsor, this time courtesy of the Denon DL-301 MK II MC cartridge.

Very Versatile

Changing the cartridge again to the (2.5-mV-output MC) Sumiko Blackbird is easy with the Wyndsor.  Often this high output MC, which likes to be loaded at 47K ohms, is often a little shy for many phonostages’ high-output settings, but a bit high for the low output.  Thanks to gain settings at 40, 45, 50, 61 and 70 dB, optimization for maximum dynamic range proves straightforward, with the 50-dB setting perfect in my system.  Even the low output MC Dynavector 17D3 (.23 mV) works well with the 70 dB maximum gain setting, yet it maintains a very quiet noise floor.

The Blackbird’s high trackability is a perfect match for Ginger Baker’s monstrous drumming on “Toad,” from the Fresh Cream album.  Cymbals are nicely fleshed out, with plenty of extension, but no harshness or sibilance.  Unable to escape the gravitational field of classic rock, I turn to the drum solo from “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” to wind up the evening’s listening session.

One last cartridge change proves the Wyndsor is an equal match for an upscale dance partner, this time the $1,995 Ortofon Cadenza Bronze, a .4-mV MC.  Switching the program to jazz, I play something from the Meters.  The rich tonality of Leo Nocentelli’s guitar on the Look-Ka Py Py album is full bodied and three dimensional, with great attack and decay.  A superset of various Dave Holland records gives the Wyndsor a sufficient set of bass calisthenics to prove its mettle.

The longer the Wyndsor is plugged in, the more it smooths out.  You won’t mistake this one for a valve unit, but it is not plagued with the graininess that pervades most of the lesser transistor offerings.  If your taste falls more to solo vocals or acoustic music, the Wyndsor delivers, offering a delicate midrange, along with a healthy dose of pace and timing.  The recent Rickie Lee Jones Pop Pop remaster is a perfect example:  Jones’ voice never becomes trampled by the big, acoustic bass lines present on this disc.  The Wyndsor proves equally nimble with dense recordings.  The title track of Pat Metheny’s Song X collaboration with Ornette Coleman is a torture test on a budget analog rig, with Metheny and Coleman riffing at maximum velocity out in front of a robust rhythm section.  The Windsor keeps it all well sorted, without becoming a gigantic blob of noise—a job well done.

Beyond the Facts

Thanks to the power supply and circuit refinements, the Wyndsor offers quite a bit more sound quality and flexibility compared to the plethora of phonostages in the highly contested $1,000 range.  There are a few single input units in this price range offering even more performance, but if you’re like me, then part of your joy in the hobby comes from having multiple tables, tonearms and cartridges. Such being the case, the Wyndsor should be at the very top of your list.  – Jerold O’Brien

The Creek Audio Wyndsor Phonostage

MSRP:  $2,495

www.creekaudio.com

www.musichallaudio.com

It just seems appropriate that we launch the headphone review section of Macro, with HiFiGuy’s (Mike Liang) unboxing and initial impression of the new Ferrari headphones, from Logic 3.

Let us know what you think and thanks for tuning in.  We will have a LOT of headphone stuff here in 2013.

Forget what you know about Clearaudio cartridges of old.

Since they brought out the new generation Goldfinger, Clearaudio has been going towards a more-balanced sound.   These days, their newfound expertise has trickled down to the $7,500 Titanium and the $5,500 DaVinci.  And like their top two cartridges, the DaVinci also has coils wound from 24kt. gold wire.

After living with the Advance for a few months, I purchased the review sample to round out my own arsenal of cartridges, which includes the Lyra Scale and Dynavector XV-1s. The DaVinci is a special cartridge, offering a high level of detail retrieval without crossing the line and sounding harsh, always a tough proposition.

This review started along with the Clearaudio Innovation turntable, mated with Clearaudio’s TT-2 linear track tone arm.  If you haven’t yet made a turntable choice, I’d highly suggest the whole system; the synergy is fantastic.  The DaVinci worked well on my Raga, SME and Triplanar arms, too, but it was tough to beat the all-Clearaudio system.

The DaVinci is part of Clearaudio’s new V2 series of MC cartridges, with improved magnet and generator assemblies as well as a new stylus profile that Clearaudio claims has one-fifth less mass than their previous design.  In the real world, the DaVinci is an excellent tracker.  One particular torture track that comes to mind is Joni Mitchell’s “Jericho” on the album Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter.  The last track on the side, we’re already headed for trouble; about half of the cartridges I’ve reviewed won’t get through Joni’s voice without distortion.  But the DaVinci handled it perfectly.

The price of admission

Let’s face it, there are a fair amount of people in the audience who haven’t spent $5,500 bucks on their whole system, so a cartridge at this price level is built for an exclusive clientele.  My main requirement for a cartridge in the $5,000 – $10,000 range is that it has to not only have a unique personality, but it needs to take you somewhere you can’t go with the lesser-priced cartridges.  For five BIG ones, you shouldn’t have to make any excuses, and the DaVinci doesn’t ask you to.

If you have an equally high-achieving turntable and phono stage, you will be rewarded with some of the most exciting analog playback money can buy.  When Musical Surroundings’ Garth Leerer dropped the TT-2 Clearaudio tonearm down on that first record, I was very impressed.  About a hundred hours later after some serious break in, I was blown away.

Opposing views on setup

When used on Clearaudios’ TT-2 linear track arm, you only need to dial in VTA and tracking force beacuse there are no other adjustments. With a linear track arm, there is NO tracking error, so you don’t need to argue with your buddies on the Internet about which set of  null points to use.  Set it and forget it.  As my review of the Innovation said, “The sound is super smooth, like analog tape.”

I also had excellent luck on my other table/tonearm combinations, with the virtues of the DaVinci always coming through.  At 2.8 grams, the DaVinci tracks a bit heavier than you may be accustomed to on some other cartridges.  Using Clearaudios own digital stylus force gauge, I ended up right at 2.8 grams for the best overall balance.
I also made it a point to try the DaVinci with a number of excellent phono preamplifiers,  all with great results.  The Naim Superline/Supercap was on hand, as well as the $20k Montana phono stage, the Manley Steelhead RC and my reference, the Nagra VPS with VFS base.  Final loading ended up between 400 and 500 ohms with all phono stages, and the DaVinci was so revealing, it made it easy to hear the differences between each of the four phono preamplifiers.

Personally, I liked the two tube phono stages the best, as the high resolution of the DaVinci mixed with a touch of tube warmth was a match made in heaven for my system.  While I was never put off by matching the DaVinci with the solid-state phono preamplifiers, there were times where there was so much resolution it was tough to process, but a few of my audiophile buddies were addicted to the extra resolution on tap.

In all but the most forward sounding systems, the DaVinci should be a winner.

Spacious and resolute

Clearaudio claims that their V2 cartridges have a 100db dynamic range that is “better than CD.”  While I don’t have any LP’s with a 100db range with which to verify this, I was immediately attracted to the punchy, fast presentation.  If pace and timing push your hot button, you will be amazed by the speed of the DaVinci. Unlike some so-called “audiophile” products that only shine with your best records, the DaVinci extracts every bit of information from the grooves on whatever records you are playing.  Of course, the flawless first-stamper pressings are going to wow you more, but you will be pleasantly surprised at how much more music you hear on some of your old favorites that you might have thought unworthy of a mega analog setup.  This alone makes the DaVinci worth its price tag.

The only drawback to having extra resolution on tap is that it will reveal the records in your collection that have not been thoroughly cleaned, but the benefit of good vinyl hygiene when using the DaVinci will be an analog presentation that is CD quiet.  It takes a little while to get used to that kind of silence, but once you do, it’s very exciting.  And it’s always fun to listen to your anti-vinyl friends claim “that can’t be a record!”  If you don’t have a good record-cleaning machine, I highly suggest one of the Clearaudio Matrix models that clean in both directions.  Combining clean surfaces with the incredible detail retrieval capabilities of the DaVinci, it just feels like you can hear into the record forever.  Listening to “Between My Head and the Sky” on Yoko Ono’s new Plastic Ono Band album, the cymbals hung in the air, while guitars popped in from all over the mix, with Yoko’s signature trippy, squeaky vocals front and center, and the overdubs of her voice way beyond my speaker boundaries.  When I switched to a few budget cartridges, everything lined up on the same plane.

The DaVinci really excels at front-to-back separation; it always has you wondering if you really do have a secret pair of surround speakers in your listening room.  This record led me to some of my wacky favorites from Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre and Mickey Hart, just to bask in the giant fishbowl of sound I was experiencing.

I always felt like I was watching a Hitchcock movie while listening with the DaVinci.  Hitchcock was a master of having quite a few layers of interest in his shots, with the main action center frame, but equally important things going on way off in the distance or in the lower corners of the frame.  This is the perspective my system takes on with this cartridge; there is something going on all over the soundfield.  It is very engaging  indeed.

Switching back to some straightforward rock, MoFi’s Santana was another incredible experience.  I’ve been listening to this record for about 35 years and it’s never sounded better. On the last track, “Soul Sacrifice,” when the bongos fade up over the drums, they sound somewhat blurry. But now they had their own distinct soundstage in the mix.  I didn’t even hear that while I listened to the master tap at the MoFi studio last year!

Perhaps a bit larger than life

Because the Clearaudio DaVinci reveals so much information, some may perceive it as having a “slightly larger than life” kind of sound, but I found it to be very exciting and I haven’t tired of it in the least.  If you’ve been craving the perfect fusion of dynamics and fine detail, the Clearaudio DaVinci is the cartridge for you.  Just be sure to get those records spotless if you want everything it can deliver.

-Jeff Dorgay

The Clearaudio DaVinci

MSRP:  $5,499

Contact:  www.musicalsurroundings.com

Peripherals

Turntables Clearaudio Innovation w/TT2 arm, Spiral Groove SG-2 w/Triplanar arm, TW Acustic Raven Two w/SME iV.Vi arm, Rega P9 w/RB1000 arm

Phono Preamplifiers Montana Olympia PX, Manley Steelhead RC, Naim Superline/Supercap, Nagra VPS/VFS

Preamplifier Burmester 011

Power Amplifier Burmester 911mk. 3, McIntosh MC1.2KW, Moscode 402Au

Speakers Martin Logan CLX w/JL Audio F110 subs, Gamut S-7

Cable Shunyata Aurora Interconnects and Stratos SP Speaker cables

Power Running Springs Dmitri and Jaco power conditioners

Do you feel like Jack Bauer trying to disarm a nuclear missile  when trying to set overhang on your turntable?

Close to freaking out?  Beads of sweat running down your forehead?  I know I used to, especially with some of the mega-expensive cartridges that have come my way lately.  One slight slip backwards and no more Goldfinger. This is definitely a case of what’s good for the DJ is NOT good for the audiophile.

Here’s a simple and inexpensive tip.  Use that same green or blue painters tape that you’ve been using to mark where your speakers go and lock your turntable’s platter down while using your favorite alignment protractor.  If you aren’t marking where your speakers go with tape, and don’t have any on hand, stop by your local Home Depot, hardware store or paint supply shop and get a roll.

The reason for painters tape, instead of traditional masking tape or duct tape?  The adhesive.  Painters tape is made with an adhesive slightly weaker than masking tape and is designed to pull off cleanly without residue.  You don’t want tape scum all over your pride and joy, do you?

Here’s to a quicker way to better alignment!  Happy listening.

Beauty Of Sound, a new high-end shop located just outside of Albany, has become the exclusive U.S. Distributor for Ikeda Sound Labs analog products.

They just announced the release of the Ikeda 9TT, a low-output moving coil cartridge employing a duralumin pipe cantilever that exhibits very low resonance and coloration. The cartridge also features a line-contact stylus, permalloy core, low impedance coils, and strong neodymium magnet that renders a layered, three-dimensional sound. The 9TT is also available in a mono version.

Ikeda has also just introduced the flagship KAI low output moving coil. The cartridge is made by hand, one by one, using a single piece of aluminum alloy. The generator unit is made of titanium, the stylus is a micro-ridge profile which will trace the groove accurately into the super-high frequency range. It also features a boron cantilever, low impedance coils, ideally shaped magnet yoke, and a samarium-cobalt magnet for the generator.

The sound of these new products is in keeping with the legendary sound that Ikeda is known for. Pricing for the 9TT is $4,600; the KAI is $10,000.

Please visit the Beauty Of Sound website at-www.beautyofsound.com, or contact us at    wdemars@beautyofsound or 518-852-9183.

We will have a review in progress of the 9TT very soon…

Every day there’s a new rant on what is or isn’t the “future” of high end audio.

One camp insists that the vinyl resurgence is essential to gaining more minions, another hates vinyl with a passion, claiming that LP’s have inferior specs and no potential for multichannel reproduction (talk about dead horses!), while still another feels headphones and personal audio will save the world. I submit they are all missing the boat in a major way.  The constant whining about formats and hardware is short sighted at best and drives people away from audio at it’s worst.

The enjoyment of music should enhance your life and the minute it becomes a hassle in todays fast paced, attention deficit driven world, people change the channel. As someone who’s been obsessed with audio most of their life, sold it and now covers it on a daily basis, I’ve discovered a major change in the game.  Women are the key to high end audio’s future.

Back in the early days of high end audio (to me, that’s the 70s and 80s), audio gear, like sports cars, motorcycles and such were manly things to do and women were rarely if ever considered or invited to the dance.  How many of you, long in the retail game, had customers that made purchases insistent on using a certain credit card or checking account that “their wives didn’t see?”  Much like the focus group scene in Mad Men, where Don Draper asks Roger Sterling what women think and he glibly answers, “who cares?”

But as Ice-T says, “Shit ain’t like that anymore.”

You need look no further than the recent T-Mobile ads with the devilishly attractive woman on the sport bike racing around, or the female hosts on The Attack of the Show, to see that times have changed.  Watching the teens and twenty somethings of today, women have become just as excited about technology as men are, and they are just as efficient.  While my 19 year old daughter doesn’t check her oil as often as I would like her to, she knows what’s going on under the hood and a number of her friends have geeked out cars with exhaust pipes big enough for Honey Badger to climb into.  And they are no slouch at setting up a wireless router, either.

I can’t tell you how many times in the last few years, I’ve gone to a friends house and commented on their massive flat panel TV only to find out it was their wife or girlfriend that insisted on a 70-inch screen instead of the 50-inch model they thought they would have to beg for.  You’ll get my wife’s Meridan F80 compact music system ($2,995 MSRP) away from her when you pry her cold, dead hands from it, and like many women I know, was very influential in our early adoption of the Sooloos music server. A recent visit to Ears Nova in New York City confirms this.  When we were discussing who makes the purchase decisions in 2012, owner Joshua Cohn said, “Women key in on great sound and the emotional involvement right away. It’s usually the men that need to do more research, compare specs, or get an additional opinion from someone on an internet forum. Women are rarely if ever the ones that object to the sale.”

The bottom line is that enthusiasm breeds engagement, which translates into purchases.  When your female partner says, “Let’s get that new pair of MartinLogan speakers,” or “I want a better turntable,” most guys aren’t going to say “Let’s buy a couch instead.”  The fact that we are living in a world of technologically savvy women can only mean good things for the consumer electronics industry.