tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071445161045843262024-03-13T22:13:39.637-06:00The GearheadImagine if YOU could listen to everything that was bought and sold through The Music Room, the Internet's favorite source for used high end audio equipment. TMR quality-assurance tech; recording engineer and music columnist Duncan Taylor shares his favorite picks from the test bench in this blog updated weekly.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12891288354213908269noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-67490770884974914602018-09-21T11:33:00.000-06:002018-09-21T11:33:56.919-06:00Baby got back<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Op-Ac6UpV2Q/W6UpHqaWbeI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/drxMicNxC1g0pltfEt5OAX-7vibyBJIJQCLcBGAs/s1600/brodmann2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="834" height="296" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Op-Ac6UpV2Q/W6UpHqaWbeI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/drxMicNxC1g0pltfEt5OAX-7vibyBJIJQCLcBGAs/s320/brodmann2.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x6-Fi1IyP4c/W6UpCBSu6-I/AAAAAAAAAUM/wW89IMDa54AygPXZM0nK7L1aHnKr3_YsQCLcBGAs/s1600/brodmann.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="773" data-original-width="902" height="274" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x6-Fi1IyP4c/W6UpCBSu6-I/AAAAAAAAAUM/wW89IMDa54AygPXZM0nK7L1aHnKr3_YsQCLcBGAs/s320/brodmann.jpeg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7XbPFMf2G3c/W6UqKuaOx3I/AAAAAAAAAUk/mfWxw7jAkP8IhOUs_OljqkBAD4bxMMxiQCEwYBhgL/s1600/BMC.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="773" data-original-width="777" height="318" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7XbPFMf2G3c/W6UqKuaOx3I/AAAAAAAAAUk/mfWxw7jAkP8IhOUs_OljqkBAD4bxMMxiQCEwYBhgL/s320/BMC.jpeg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a><a href="https://tmraudio.com/speakers/full-range-floorstanding/brodmann-acoustics-vienna-classic-vc7-floorstanding-speakers-burl-walnut-pair/">Brodmann Acoustics VC-7</a> and <a href="https://tmraudio.com/speakers/full-range-floorstanding/bmc-arcadia-bi-polar-floorstanding-speakers-satin-black-pair/">BMC Arcadia</a></h2>
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Most speakers you see have an arrangement like the eyes of ours with which we see them. For the most part, speaker drivers face directly toward us, and we lie in the viewing window of their gaze. <br /><br />This works, generally, until you get up from your chair to get another beer or check on the roast. As you stand up, the sound changes, particularly in the treble region. As you move further away from the speaker window, the sound changes and you lose more and more definition and musicality. When you’re standing at the kitchen sink, it sounds like you’re living next to a dance club — all that’s left to hear from that spot is bass and midbass. <br /><br />Does this matter? Obviously it sounds great in your listening chair, so why should you expect better sound outside of the view of the speakers? <br /><br />The fact is, losing the upper frequencies as you exit your music room is not the largest tragedy. <br /><br />BUT. When you hear what a bipolar speaker does in the same position, or any speaker with a rear-firing tweeter for that matter, you realize that extra fidelity around the back and sides of the speaker is worth thinking about. <br /><br />Lots has been said and written about direct versus indirect sound. Engineers at Bose famously filled speaker boxes with more indirect drivers than direct, in an attempt to re-create the natural reflections of real performance spaces. <br /><br />Enough time with that approach showed us that lots of indirect sound can be fun, but it can also be hard to tame. Even though the 901 speaker from Bose was a classic and is still owned by many, many audiophiles, speaker designers have mostly taken what they could learn from the 901 and explored new directions. Nobody is chucking 15 drivers into anything except a line array these days. <br /><br />But what I’ve found is you don’t need the full “Bose approach” to get some treble back in your music in the kitchen. One single driver, either a tweeter or a full range, is all that’s needed to create new sweet spots all over your room and house. <br /><br />Arnie Nudell included a rear-firing tweeter in nearly every design he made for Infinity and Genesis. After recently spending some time with a new speaker design featuring a rear-firing tweeter, I’ve come to the conclusion that its necessity is borne less from the front-firing driver’s inadequacy than from the room-filling nature of the presentation with the rear-tweeter in place. <br /><br />Lots of listening says it may add a little something to the sense of the recording space at your listening position, but my ears tell me it mostly adds a whole heaping ton to the frequency balance everywhere else. <br /><br />We’ve got a couple exciting sets of speakers with rear-firing drivers at The Music Room right now, like the <a href="https://tmraudio.com/speakers/full-range-floorstanding/bmc-arcadia-bi-polar-floorstanding-speakers-satin-black-pair/">BMC bipolar “Batman” (ok, they’re called Arcadia)</a> speakers (above) with their external crossovers and industrial finish. I really liked those when I tested them, and also am a huge fan of piano maker <a href="https://tmraudio.com/speakers/full-range-floorstanding/brodmann-acoustics-vienna-classic-vc7-floorstanding-speakers-burl-walnut-pair/">Brodmann Acoustics’ Vienna Classic VC7s</a> (top photos) we have with their dual rear tweeters in each channel. <br /><br />When you’re staring the drivers in the face, there can be real audio performance left on the table. If you’ve been considering a speaker upgrade or change, consider the bipolar approach and scoop up some new results for your music system. Besides being acoustically honest, the bipolar approach works the music into all the nooks and crannies around you. “Immersive” is a great word for it.<style type="text/css">
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<a href="http://tmraudio.com/speakers/subwoofers/b-w-asw855-15-powered-subwoofer-cherrywood/"> B&W ASW855 15" Powered Subwoofer</a></h2>
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Sometimes in life, we have to find things out the hard way. We all hope to have a perfect track record of learning from others’ mistakes or heeding the advice of the experienced, but something about the human spirit spurs us to trust only what we can measure and analyze. <br /><br />I don’t know if you’re like me, but I tried for the longest time to get an 8” subwoofer to make enough bass in my listening room. And like asking grass to not be green (Purple Hulls reference), I was expecting the mighty little wonder to do things he simply couldn’t. My measurement and analysis of my own happiness about my system was that I was not happy about it. <br /><br />I could have paid attention to the myriad articles, forum posts and conversational advice online about subwoofers, and I could have enjoyed benefits of using a large driver for the task. <br /><br />I don’t know what it is about me. I guess I’m pretty stubborn with some things. I thought that if I tried an exotic design or implement a bunch of DSP and tack on a very powerful amp that I could make this little cone push some serious air. <br /><br />And to an extent, my tweaks did push the limits of what the 8-incher can do. <br /><br />But then I came to work one day and tested a 15” B&W ASW855 subwoofer that is about half the size of my coffee table. <br /><br />And I learned the lesson. I heard it for myself. People, hear me now: Bass waves are huge. You need a huge driver to properly load a large room with accurate bass. Period!! <br /><br />It’s always going to be a balance between acceptable size of the subwoofer box for domestic tranquility, and acceptable size of the driver for best sound. <br /><br />B&W knows this game well. That’s why they put a state-of-the-art, beefy 15” driver into a curvaceous, stunning cabinet like we have here. The lines on the corners help it to look smaller than it is, and the lovely wood finish seems like it would jibe with a lot of decor motifs. <br /><br />I’d could wrap this blog up with hyperbolic superlatives for the sound quality, calling it “subterranean,” “earth shattering,” “soul rattling” or “vomit-inducing” but that’s not what we’re after in an audiophile subwoofer. A jackhammer in the living room could pull off that kind of unmusical spectacle, as could the LFE channel on a popular Blu-Ray blockbuster. <br /><br />No, this subwoofer is more refined that that, and it sounds as powerful and graceful as it looks. Truly one of the best sealed subs I’ve listened to or tested here at The Music Room. <br /><br />Hear it for yourself when you bring this gorgeous “Cherrywood” beauty into your music chamber. I won’t even say I told you so.<div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-75438143172782104372018-09-07T11:58:00.001-06:002018-09-07T11:58:39.515-06:00Is it on?<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Jeff Rowland Model 8 Stereo Power Amplifier</h2>
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<br /><br />When you turn a mega-sized amplifier on, you expect to hear or feel something. Relays clicking, house lights dimming, maybe a tiny thump through the monkey coffins*. <br /><br />But see, that’s what I would expect from most mega amps out there. In the case of the Rowland Model 8 I’m listening to right now, when I didn’t hear any of that, I had a brief moment of anxiety thinking that something was either wrong with my power, or this amp. <br /><br />The huge, shimmering amp takes up more space than four of my speakers piled together. It’s got a 20-amp input, with massive breaker switches for each channel. When I connected it and flipped each breaker, I heard nothing. Saw nothing. <br /><br />I punched the button on the front… still nothing, although the button lit up immediately. Hmm… <br /><br />Before getting too verklempt, I pressed play in Roon. Something over my right shoulder immediately made me turn my head. Who is hitting a percussion triangle back there in the photo area? <br /><br />Oh no, my friend. That’s the mystery and magic of Jeff Rowland amplification that was toying with me. <br /><br />This is one of those ultra rare examples where what is delivered is the most that it could possibly be. The sound is out of this world — unbelievably dynamite. And clearly the brain trust over at Rowland cut no corners in its development. <br /><br />Meticulous mute circuitry and a mega low noise level combined with the epic sound quality and build heft have me thinking this amp is mega deserving of the title “higher-fi.” <br /><br />To say my expectations for big power amps were altered just now is a mega understatement. <br /><br />* A.K.A. speakersAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-90804600080089828922018-09-07T11:51:00.001-06:002018-09-07T11:51:25.265-06:00Tug of war<h2>
Pass Labs X150.8 Stereo Power Amplifier</h2>
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Speaking with my audio buddy about speaker driver linearity last night, I found myself asking a basic question that sprung to mind. <br />
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We’re making speakers lately, and the new design is more right and honest, he says. A hi-hat strike sounds like you’re next to the kit. <br />
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Which prompted me to pose the query: how is it that we chase our tails so much to hear that hi-hat as sounding actually realistic, when the recording / mastering side of things likely had the signal running through hundreds of feet of stepped-on, budget cabling? The mic used is likely colored by heavy use in the 10 years the studio owned it, including (for the sake of argument) a good 10 drops, plenty of plosives and lots of spit. <br />
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The mixing engineer maybe had a small room with a subwoofer that was just good enough to get the job done. But did he ever hear all of the detail and harmonics on the recording? When we can hear what we hear only with world class electronics and the best drivers made, are we hearing the music the same way the artist did? <br />
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My audio buddy doesn’t think so, and neither do I. In fact, I’m a recording and mastering engineer myself, and before I finally created a system that was worthy, I would chase my tail around trying to listen to mixes on up to 8 different audio systems to find some sort of middle of the road “truth.” <br />
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And in the years since I’ve had access to the higher end of audio equipment, I’ve done my share of evangelism, and watched musicians and engineers alike go wide-eyed and point out things they’d never heard before in their own recordings. <br />
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I should add that many in the pro field seek out excellent discrete electronics circuits and many condition or balance power, among other “tweaky” things. Many push the boundaries of what’s available to achieve the best possible sound — and we audiophiles are rewarded with fine records. <br />
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But still, audiophiles have pro audio folks plain beat in the tweaky department. Don’t get me started about fuse direction. <br />
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My test system here at The Music Room is set up well enough that equipment really shows its colors. If a component has “the stuff” to be truly world class, it shows in an instant. <br />
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It’s the same with music. I’ve got a servo subwoofer at my feet, and I’m listening to highly refined two ways with external crossovers featuring hundreds of dollars in caps, resistors and inductors. <br />
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I’m asking myself as I listen through this amazing Pass Labs X150.8 stereo amplifier whether the band Point Point ever heard their track “Serious Mood” like this before. <br />
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Modern electronic production can create jaw-dropping sound, some of which you’ll never hear in nature. Some of which makes your system really bounce. <br />
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I think I’ll chase whatever tail I need to if it means I’d get the kind of sound this Pass Labs is capable of. An amplification upgrade is always > any tweak. And it’s a great way to stop worrying so much about stepped-on studio cables!</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-24975771800229456092018-09-07T10:06:00.004-06:002018-09-07T10:06:49.003-06:00In the details<style type="text/css">
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Audio Mirror 45 Watt Parallel SET monoblocks</h2>
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When I’m trying to test a component’s handling of high frequencies, personally, I go first to The Funky Knuckles’ New Birth and the track “Wise Willis.” This album is recorded crisply, and is not short on detail. In fact, on components or speakers known to be bright or “digital,” this album can get fatiguing quickly. <br />
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In contrast, on excellent speakers, the detail rides right to the edge of what’s comfortable and the result is a very exciting. The amount of available texture within the many layers has this feel of being state-of-the-art in digital recording of a large band. <br />
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I’ll also fire up Nathaniel Smith’s wonderful Arrhythmia, which is a masterful solo cello album you must know if you’re not familiar. As it is only cello, the natural high frequencies are rolled off compared to something with a drum kit. <br />
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If I can hear nice detail on Nat Smith’s work and not be fatigued by the highs of the Funky Knuckles joint, I’m feeling good about that piece of equipment. <br />
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You might have guessed already but that’s the admirable quality I’m hearing in the gear before me: a gorgeous pair of Audio Mirror 45 Watt Parallel Single Ended monoblocks featuring 6C33C output tubes. <br />
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OK, so they can perform well on the top end. Lots of other amplifiers have their treble ducks in order, right? <br />
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Well, not really like this design. The mature, present, accurate and non-fatiguing top end is truly showing itself to be special. <br />
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These are single ended after all, and that top end is much of what SET owners gush about. What’s the usual problem with SET amps? Flea-powered - the average 300B DHSET can’t drive speakers with sensitivity below 100dB con gusto, which limits potential pairings. <br />
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At this moment, I am making my coworkers uncomfortable with the volume of the music, and my speakers are inefficient — about 84dB. While I’d say the amps will sing louder on more efficient speakers than mine, I can’t imagine most people can’t get the job done with the 45 watts per channel that these puppies bring. <br />
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Tube amplification may not be your style, but any ears can appreciate what Audio Mirror has made here. I’m thinking the investment must be in the mid-to-high four figures on solid state amplification to get this kind of top end. <br />
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Sometimes, it’s all in the details.</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-1454824453034455142018-08-28T11:09:00.000-06:002018-08-28T11:09:13.192-06:00Lone wolf<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<a href="http://tmraudio.com/components/power-amplifiers/boulder-850-balanced-mono-power-amplifier-pair/">Boulder 850 Balanced Mono Power Amplifier Pair</a></h2>
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<br /><br />Monoblocks. Overkill, right? <br /><br />The use of conjoined-channel, “stereo” amplification is so ubiquitous, most folks look at two big separate mono amps and say “Nope!” <br /><br />Nonetheless, the discovery and development of amplification began as a mono endeavor. Actually, if you think about it, the stereo amp is the strange bird. <br /><br />An amplifier does one thing: it takes power from the wall, processes it, and then whips it up and down in big volt swings to represent the music signal fed into it. Amplifiers turn our wall power into music, and music is a wildly complex thing. They have a tough job. <br /><br />When you consider that speakers in a room perform the task of re-blending the left and right signals in front of you, you can see what a massive role in the eventual stereo image that they play. <br /><br />So, question: Would it be better to keep those signals separate until they get to the speakers? <br /><br />You’re damn right it would. That’s why we have monoblocks and dual mono amps. Blending isn’t the amp’s best skill set — let’s leave that to the purpose-built blending machines (our “cone-and-dome monkey coffins” ;). <br /><br />When two channels of amplification don’t share a power supply and don’t share a ground, in general, we get lower noise per channel. Noise is the bane of all good sound. <br /><br />But we also get better instantaneous current output for each channel when we separate the supplies. Two channels sharing a power supply cap bank will pull energy potential away from the each other based on what the signal does. Yes, this is a small variable, but with a complex input like music, small variables result in real sonic changes. <br /><br />The last thing I can think of to explain the use of monoblocks is power. An amp running one channel only means that both heatsinks are free for the taking. Slap a few more output devices on there why don’tcha. Let’s dissipate some energy. <br /><br />Unfortunately, monoblocks are an expensive thing to experiment with. Even a visit to a local dealer can’t always give you the audio knowledge of what a jump from stereo to monoblock can do for the sound of an amp design. <br /><br />If you are lucky enough to have a very flexible and very well-appointed dealer, ask sometime to hear the stereo version and the monoblock version of the same amplifier, compared to one another. <br /><br />Having previously worked for an amplifier manufacturer, I’ve performed this type of comparison many times. And the results are always clear as day. Music is meant to be amplified in mono!<div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-36999407533495351042018-08-28T11:01:00.000-06:002018-08-28T11:17:30.569-06:00What’s in a shape?<br />
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<a href="http://qln%20signature%203%20bookshelf%20speakers%3B%20walnut%20pair/">QLN Signature 3 Bookshelf Speakers; Walnut Pair</a></h2>
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One of the best hifi forum pejoratives I've seen is the term “cone-and-dome monkey coffin,” used to denigrate a standard mini monitor type of speaker design. <br />
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If you’re presently looking at a set of these, as I am, you can try to imagine an old monkey who lived a long and happy life, laid to rest by his monkey descendants and lowered into the earth entombed in an adorable, BBC-licensed, LS3/5a cabinet. <br />
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Why is a BBC monitor shaped the way it is? Why are these mini QLN monitors shaped like a trapezoid instead? Did the BBC scientists miss something that QLN did not? <br />
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I’ve noticed trending waves of unique looks, each of which seem to concern a group of companies for a period of time, all throughout the history of audio. First you had Electro Voice and the giant cabinets like the fridge-sized Patrician dominating homes. Years later, Klipsch popularized the corner horn approach, and by the end of that trend, Klipsch had some healthy competition in the corner-speaker game.<br />
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In the ‘70s, you had the East Coast Sound, and the Western counterpart. The east coasters all looked the same (sealed, big woofers and dampened paper domes), as did the west coast speakers (horn on top, PA woofer below). <br />
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There was a brief era of mega line arrays, ALA Beveridge, Genesis, Infinity, McIntosh and others (<a href="https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/speakers/XRT2K">McIntosh is still at it</a>). <br />
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Then there was the BBC monitor craze. And the monkeys rejoiced. <br />
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More recently, there’s been this “trapezoid on top / tall bass reflex bin on the bottom” kind of thing that describes Watt/Puppy and Genesis V and quite a few others. <br />
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Where was I going with this? <br />
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There are very specific reasons each of those speaker designs looks the way it does. The BBC monkey coffins are small enough to hold a monkey, because they’re focused on midrange clarity and transparency so they utilize a small midbass woofer. And the small midbass woofer needs a small monkey coffin-amount of air behind it to correctly pressurize the cone. <br />
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The actual dimensions of the box follow a “golden ratio” which minimizes the parallel, opposing sides ability to form internal sound-ruining standing waves. The golden ratio does a good job, but there are other approaches that work a tad better, like this approach from QLN. <br />
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Looking at these beautiful cabinets we can see that the only parallel walls are the top and the bottom, and if I had to guess I’d say the perfect spot for a cross brace inside would be also perfect for diffusing that tiny standing wave. Even without a brace, the slope of the front puts the driver baskets in the way to diffuse the wave, and the intrusion of the port from the back does the same. <br />
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Further, the trapezoid allows for a taper, bottom to top, meaning the front baffle is not much wider than each of the drivers themselves. This, as you might know, is fantastic for supporting a vibrant stereo image. Lastly, a reclined front baffle actually vertically aligns the centers of each driver’s motors. As they receive the same music at the same time, they launch their waves together, resulting in improved coherency. <br />
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Well-designed speakers deliver refined sound. As you explore the various approaches to discover your preferences, try to dig into the “whys” of the design and see what resonates with you. <br />
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These QLN cabinets may be inert due to constrained-layer cabinet construction, but they are resonating with me. How’s that for an audiophile joke. :)<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-58812114887363438532018-08-24T11:43:00.000-06:002018-08-24T11:43:14.447-06:00Oooh, la la!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://tmraudio.com/speakers/full-range-floorstanding/focal-sopra-no-2-floorstanding-speakers-high-gloss-black-pair-n2/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fiT94DAh8Ek/W4BAMvH4GBI/AAAAAAAAAQE/0dfbEnnXQVIwlrEZCD51YUqf08b-N8dQwCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_6256.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<h2>
Focal Sopra No. 2 Floorstanding Speakers</h2>
<br />Oui, oui, mon ami, le fromage du poisson! <br /><br />Pardon my French, but this set of speakers from Focal is amazing. <br /><br />But then, I knew they would be. They’re the smaller brother of the speaker that I got to know quite well in the month leading up to last year’s Denver’s Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. <br /><br />The Sopra is a speaker line that aims for the summit, while staying within reach of the wealthy. Hah, poor bunch, they. Too many amazing speakers to choose from at the $14,000 a pair range. <br /><br />These do a lot of what the TAD Evolution One speakers do, but with their own character. Not surprising that listening to these flawless gloss black Sopra No. 2s reminds me of TAD. They both use beryllium in the tweeter, I believe. <br /><br />My journey with the larger Sopra No. 3 was illuminating in the sense that I distinctly heard a brand new set of speakers undergo a significant initial break-in over the month preceding the audio show. We knew this needed to happen to get all of the mechanical parts loosened up for the demo weekend. <br /><br />But I don’t think we expected to hear such a mellowing of the tweeter over that first weekend. There may be those out there who don’t believe in break-in of audio components, although maybe in this crowd they number in the few. But stick them in front of new beryllium tweeters for a weekend, and they might come around if they don’t press charges. <br /><br />That’s one of the best things about buying flawless, gently-used gear from The Music Room. When this pair hits the listening room of its future owner, they’ll be squarely in their sweet spot and ready to sing. This for a better price than he’d buy new. <div>
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I looked and looked and looked for signs of wear or use, and couldn't find any. So I have to ask:<br /><br />Why pay retail? <div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-9684755480287099202018-08-24T11:20:00.001-06:002018-08-24T11:20:18.849-06:00The crunch factor<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
LSA Group LSA-1 Signature Bookshelf Speakers; Rosewood Pair</h2>
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<a href="http://tmraudio.com/speakers/bookshelf-monitors/lsa-lsa-1-signature-bookshelf-speakers-rosewood-pair/"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="1048" height="478" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8QJ1ZQI6qZ8/W4A8Jsd86TI/AAAAAAAAAPo/gakUI-Wx87QE5rJA_0KWBpCE-Nt8zT_RwCLcBGAs/s640/lsa1.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I like to directly compare my DIY speakers to some of the world’s best designs from time to time, if just to take regular whacks at my ego. In my test rig, I’ve got a nice high-current speaker and amplifier switching box, so comparisons are easy and transparent. And I will say it’s nice to occasionally hear no difference in quality from a well-regarded speaker compared to mine, hearing instead just a change in perspective. <br /><br />My crossover intentionally allows a very slight dip — the “Nudell dip” — in the lower-midrange, to give the soundstage presentation a touch more depth. <br /><br />In contrast, I hear some speaker designers going the other way, accentuating the vocal and presence ranges to give extra detail and bite. Sometimes, in my opinion, at the expense of livability and resulting in listener fatigue. <br /><br />There is a middle ground, however. The TAD Evolution One speakers are smack dab in the middle of that middle ground (I call them “accurate <i>and</i> listenable”), and actually, so are this pair of LSA-1 Signature speakers on the test bench at the moment. <br /><br />With both the TAD and with these, there is a tonal honesty and a textural resolution that perhaps isn’t there in the same quantity with my own speakers. <br /><br />I consider the wonderful LSA-1 Signatures to represent a “studio monitor” version of what my speakers bring. I spent a lot of effort to make mine tonally accurate and cast a wide ‘stage, but also to be every day listeners. And the LSA-1 Signatures seem to achieve all of that, plus a teensy touch of extra bite. A pro to my boxes’ amateur. Frankly, I like both arrangements, and I’d love to have both sets up here at the desk. If I was a mixing engineer I would definitely use both. <br /><br />The LSA-1’s similarity to the TAD Evolution continues with the spatial presentation, but that’s also where the TADs start leaving these in the dust. Hard to compete with $30K speakers from the Andrew Jones team. But who said these LSA-1s were trying? <br /><br />It was my own brain that conjured the aural memory of the TADs when I fired up the LSAs. I didn’t tell it to do that. ;) The LSA-1s offer wonderful space, wonderful tone (if on the accurate side), and wonderful dynamics. I think they’ll please anyone, from amateur to pro.</div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-6648006912011046062018-08-21T14:27:00.002-06:002018-08-21T14:27:58.294-06:00Splitting up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<h2>
Paradigm Signature S4 Bookshelf Speakers</h2>
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One of the topics that resonates most with me when it comes to speaker design is the all-important crossover point frequency. <br /><br />Based loosely on the size of drivers available (influenced by consumers’ desires for final speaker size) and drivers' individual strengths, if it’s a two-way, the crossover point is usually around 2.5KHz. <br /><br />Right around where our hearing systems are tuned for the highest precision. Right where the human voice really shines. <br /><br />It’s a pity, but I guess that’s what makes the challenge worth tackling. <br /><br />The challenge is real: use a wideband midbass unit so you can push the crossover point above the vocal range, and you lose bass. Use a legitimately pistonic driver at low frequencies with a big XMax, and you likely are deep into cone breakup by the time you want to cross it over, and the sound is colored by the choice of material and construction of the driver. <br /><br />One solution is to go further: split the sound into three ways. Pair that with attention to cone breakup and driver materials — use a reinforced poly cone for the bass, a kevlar widebander with a nice big phase plug for the mids and have a tweeter there only for 9KHz and up. Now you have drivers operating in ranges where they sound best, and you have sound characteristics from driver materials that support each range. <br /><br />NOW the tricky part becomes how to mate these dissimilar materials together with a coherent crossover. That topic could easily cover 10 of these blog posts, so we’ll put that aside. <br /><br />The above solution describes to a letter the approach of Paradigm in their design of the Signature S4 that I’m listening to right now. <br /><br />The silken-voiced Fatoumata Diawara comes through with her entire vocal range unscathed when listening to these large monitors. Pleasant and satisfying are words I usually conjure in front of a set of modern Paradigms. <br /><br />If that sounds like an indictment, it’s not. Who wants to live with a speaker that is always aggressive, or always a challenge to your inferior recordings? I’m not sure that I do. <br /><br />If there’s one lasting characteristic of these wonderful cherry wood speakers from the Great White North, it’s that they put a smile on your face. That is a wonderful and frankly rare experience in this competitive field.</div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-52856346966866286622018-08-17T10:33:00.002-06:002018-08-17T10:34:00.592-06:00New heights<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h2>
TAD Evolution One Floorstanding Speakers</h2>
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You never know what a new day will bring, and this one brought me the best speakers I’ve ever heard in my life. No big deal. <br />
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I’ve heard a lot of great speakers. I’ve listened extensively to PS Audio’s Infinity IRS V system, the Infinity Beta system, and TAD Reference One, and at audio shows I’ve gravitated toward the big speaker rooms and heard Tidals, YGs, massive electrostats like the Martin Logans & Sanders Sound, Focal Grand Utopias and big Wilsons galore. And a whole bunch of others I’m forgetting. <br />
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I even got a chance to have Arnie Nudell demo his “IRS Killer” speakers for me at his home before his passing. My audio memory of that is brief, so it’s difficult for me to say with 100% certainty that these TAD Evolution One speakers are better than Arnie’s, but the fact that I’m wondering says something about these dynamic speakers from the TAD Lab. <br />
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Something I’ve noticed here at The Music Room is that many speakers need attention heavily placed on their, well… placement. Some have out-of-the ordinary requirements, like those that are made to live on the back wall, or have their bass reinforced with corner positioning. <br />
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Some need tons of space in front and behind. Some need the exact amount of space behind and in front to integrate the front and back waves correctly. <br />
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And then, in contrast, you fire up some of the world’s absolute best speakers and you realize… huh. Placement doesn’t really matter as much, does it? <br />
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Obviously you can’t point them away from your ears or ignore all of the laws of audiophilia. <br />
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But when you fire up a top of the line Wilson, or, case in point, these TAD Evolution One speakers, the music leaps from the 3-D space around the speakers so instantly and effortlessly, you’re tempted to just leave them wherever you put them originally and enjoy the experience. <br />
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In fact, if a professional setup and installation isn’t part of the equation, I bet that more people do an eyeball setup of these TAD speakers than any other brand. <br />
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If I’m right, it’s because these speakers do everything so correctly, so instantly, that you have a real cognitive difficulty with the idea of changing a single thing. These speakers are an adrenalin/endorphin hose. <br />
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Some of my favorite spatial tracks, like Yosi Horikawa’s “Bubbles” or “Bump” appeared so distinctly outside of the speakers… I’d say this is the best I’ve ever heard the tracks. My eyeball setup took all of 30 seconds. <br />
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Bear in mind, I’m getting mind-blowing sound even when powering these with a Class D amplifier, albeit one with a Class A input stage — no bi-amping here. No exquisite massive A/B or Class A amp. The notion that these can get even better is hard to fathom. <br />
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At the price, I cannot think of a better option for any room, period. <br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-45374760657704944322018-08-17T10:12:00.000-06:002018-08-17T10:33:51.792-06:00Diving in deep<h2>
Vitus Audio RS-100 Stereo Power Amplifier</h2>
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Depth. That’s what you get with a good A/B amp that you just can’t quite touch with even the most excellent Class D. <br />
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Sorry, it’s the truth. Most Class A/B amps on most loads at most volumes stay in Class A anyway, and there’s no contest. <br />
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Sure, you can optimize the path of the power to your Class D monoblocks, use isolation bases to minimize vibration, place Shakti Stones or other EMI/RFI filters over the PCBs, put on your voodoo suit and hail the demon gods of audio to deliver Nirvana. <br />
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Or you can plug in a high quality A/B amp and never look back. <br />
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That pesky switching frequency and the usual harmonics of Class D just end up getting in the way of the sheer magic that is possible with the world’s best A/Bs. <br />
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Even if you eliminate the upper harmonics and create a harmonic structure similar to tube amps, as PS Audio does with the Stellar S300 amplifier I use for testing, you can’t quite match the subtle details an A/B brings that make up perceived depth in a soundstage representation. <br />
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Amp designers will say most tube amps offer more positive and negative second order harmonic distortion — low order as opposed to the high order of Class Ds. Sense of depth is connected to a touch of second order, but that’s not the whole story. <br />
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Signal purity, phase correctness, wide bandwidth at full power — these are other hallmarks of an amp that will expand the sound to the back walls and beyond. <br />
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I place this amp from Vitus into the same rare waters as the best Constellation Audio amps, the Aesthetix Atlas, the BHK from PS Audio, and the Ayre V-5xe. <br />
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Congrats to the lucky duck who snaps this one up!</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-22175628923405496382018-08-17T09:38:00.000-06:002018-08-17T10:39:41.503-06:00Music in motion<h2>
Martin Logan Motion LX16 Bookshelf Speakers</h2>
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<a href="http://tmraudio.com/speakers/bookshelf-monitors/martin-logan-motion-lx16-bookshelf-speakers-piano-black-pair/"><img border="0" data-original-height="782" data-original-width="1049" height="476" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PZ3ldQG1yc4/W3b512O37cI/AAAAAAAAAO4/U9MfHqcRBjY3FIfFEQ0vm3-kbVcwRwmKwCLcBGAs/s640/martinlogan.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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When something jumps out at me, I’ve got to write it down. I don’t generally think about price or any consideration other than excellent sound. <br />
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So while most of these blog posts will likely be about higher priced gear, if something that is budget priced sounds like a winner, I’ll shriek it from the mountain top. <br />
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Which brings me to the subject of this blog post. These little Martin Logan Motion LX16 bookshelf speakers had me interested from the first sounds that they made. <br />
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After writing my recent <a href="https://tmraudio.blogspot.com/2018/08/taking-test.html">lengthy cable manifesto</a> while listening to Gary Burton and Makoto Ozone’s wonderful album Time Thread, I came across these high gloss black beauties and wanted to keep listening to the vibes and piano duo. <br />
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If you wind up with these because a certain someone said they were good (it happens), definitely fire up this recording on the little Motion LX16s. These speakers were made to produce the realistic soundstage of a cream of the crop vibes recording where individual keys and strikes appear in thin air between the speakers. <br />
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They check the boxes for me, all except for low-end extension, so pair them with a good subwoofer. If they wind up on your desktop, make sure you also pair them with some Iso Acoustics stands or something similar, to de-couple them from the desk surface. <br />
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Go get 'em! Comments and feedback always welcome.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-6765569271364821732018-08-15T10:41:00.003-06:002018-08-15T10:41:33.918-06:00Tubey, or not tubey?<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
PrimaLuna ProLogue Four Stereo Tube Power Amplifier</h2>
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<br /><br />Let’s talk about the difference between tubes at a bargain, versus the no-holds-barred approach. <br /><br />The magic of tubes is real, and while it’s easy to say that, the fact remains that you can hear certain qualities to the midrange and top end when tubes are involved, that you don’t necessarily hear with solid state. It’s something that can sound different on different music — quite hard to pin down with words, although you know it when you hear it. <br /><br />And if you DO hear these qualities from a solid state amplifier, it’s notable. Everyone wants to be the first to remark on whether an SS amp has a sense of “tubeyness.” The amplifier I use for testing here at The Music Room is widely described as such, and it comes about its tube-ish nature by way of a bit of second order and third order harmonics in the input stage. <br /><br />It comes close to the real thing, but it ain’t quite the same. Clearly the bright bottles are onto something, but they don’t come without needs. <br /><br />Let’s talk about maintenance. Tube amplifiers are sometimes a headache to own. At least they are, relative to an SS amp that you can keep plugged in and on for 20 years. Not to mention the difference in air conditioning bills over that time. <br /><br />If you’ve heard a good tube amp and want one, or if your audio buddy is trying to convince you to step into the realm, your next move is to pick a design, hope it sounds good and hope it doesn’t heat up your room too much or require too much tweaking. <br /><br />Chances are, you’ll be barking up PrimaLuna’s tree. <br /><br />Sure, you could go big and go vintage and feast your eyes and ears on a military-sized chassis & bombproof PCBs & uncommon tubes. You could find a tube amp for every wattage and frankly, a healthy handful which offer less than 5 watts total. You could go OTL and have 16 KT88s to bias. You could find something with no less than Mundorf Supreme Silver & Oil caps everywhere, silver wiring and components chosen for sound rather than for longevity. <br /><br />OR, you could try a PrimaLuna. These EL34 amps really make me smile every single time I hear them. Most of that has to do with the sound, but some of it is that sense of ease that surrounds their ownership. There’s no biasing, no fancy mute controls you can accidentally disengage on startup, no DC thumps, no mess, no fuss. <br /><br />And these amplifiers bring the tube magic, for real. Every Prima I’ve ever heard is a wonderful, fun amplifier, period. <br /><br />I think that’s impressive. Rabbit holes are deep due to the desire for the rabbits to go further. If a Prima Luna lights you up, you may wish to tread deeper into the world of tubes. <br /><br />But these amps show you don’t need to go very far across the boundary into tube land to have fun.<div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-45352015207027970102018-08-14T14:16:00.001-06:002018-08-14T14:16:23.583-06:00To pre, or not to pre<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Classe Delta CP-500 Stereo Preamplifier</h2>
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Over the years it’s always been difficult to describe to people what a preamplifier does, and why there would be a need for one. <br /><br />To most people, a power amplifier with no volume control, or an expensive, large device that is little more than a dressed-up volume knob — these things are mind-bl<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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owing. <br /><br />All the while — we’re talkin’ years here — I’ve witnessed again and again with my own ears a myriad of effects to a system from just adding or replacing a preamplifier. <br /><br />I’ve heard soundstages narrow (not a good thing) and soundstages spread bewilderingly wide. <br /><br />I’ve heard an uptick in punch and “bounce” when a pre is added. I’ve heard a lowering of noise. I’ve heard a sound go from interesting to breathtakingly realistic with the addition of a good pre. <br /><br />But I’ve also heard sibilance added, magic removed, detail obscured and all the bass attenuated. <br /><br />The best preamplifiers do something that is noticeable, but they’re judged first on whether the rest of the music is unaffected. <br /><br />If a preamplifier adds body to the bass, but does so in a way that makes the treble and midrange obscured, it’s not worthwhile as a preamplifier. <br /><br />If a pre gives you detail that reaches up to the heavens of audibility with no sense of fatigue, but the soundstage narrows a bit, something about that detail is off. That’s not a good pre. <br /><br />I rank this Classe CP-500 way up there on the list of worthwhile preamplifiers, because the absolute drive it’s giving to the bass of the recordings I’m playing is impressive. And these recordings are challenging, spatial tests and the pre is doing what it does (solid bass) and leaving the rest of the music pure and unchanged. <br /><br />The amazing sense of space in recordings, and the reverb decay are telltale signs that this solid foundational preamplifier is more than impressive. <br /><br />The saying “First, do no harm” — which, by the way is not in the hippocratic oath — can be followed in this case with “Then, kick some bass.” <br /><br />When you factor in the touchscreen and intuitive user interface, the folks who balked at the idea of a pre to begin with — well, they start to come around. It is a gorgeous machine. <br /><br />I grew up in the era where displays on electronics underwent lots of change as technological advances happened. We went from un-lighted liquid crystal displays to OLED and touchscreen interfaces in the span of 20 years. I’d like to think I have an educated opinion on the subject. <br /><br />My favorite device display is probably the Mytek Brooklyn DAC, or at least that’s the one that stands out in memory. While this Classe CP-500’s display shows less in common with cell phone precision in terms of color depth and resolution, its interface and design make it one of my favorite displays anyway. <br /><br />Straight to the point and intuitive enough for me to do everything I wanted without cracking open the manual — that’s how I like an interface. Make it attractive enough to live with long term, and you’ve got a winner. <br /><br />When you look at the total package, this preamplifier is an easy system addition to justify to your audio buddies or significant other. For me, during my time with it, it was about as excellent a “control center” as I’ve seen, while retaining the excellent sound character of a true high fidelity component.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-85243487582398839032018-08-10T14:42:00.002-06:002018-08-10T15:00:11.267-06:00Filling the space<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Harbeth 40.1 Speakers / 3-way Monitors w/ Stands</h2>
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<a href="http://tmraudio.com/speakers/full-range-floorstanding/hold-vmp-event-rb-harbeth-40-1-speakers-3-way-monitors-w-stands-cherry-pair/"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vqTvJJDEZv0/W2322baXXjI/AAAAAAAAAMY/3RVSn6JU1c4G3xMtRV94uml-RueEaikFwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_4989harbeth.JPG" width="640" /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OU08cEQztDw/W233KkfPbkI/AAAAAAAAAMg/yNCrnJFCEnAjsBNqAUugGqeXYc1dI4b4gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_4961harbeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OU08cEQztDw/W233KkfPbkI/AAAAAAAAAMg/yNCrnJFCEnAjsBNqAUugGqeXYc1dI4b4gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_4961harbeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1451" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OU08cEQztDw/W233KkfPbkI/AAAAAAAAAMg/yNCrnJFCEnAjsBNqAUugGqeXYc1dI4b4gCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_4961harbeth.jpg" width="362" /></a></div>
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I’m finally getting around to writing this blog post, a few months removed from one of the more impressive feats of a speaker that I’ve witnessed. <br />
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The Music Room is the kind of business that interests everyone in this hobby. We’re not beholden to any brand when it comes to our giant library of used hifi equipment. We try to take the best stuff in hifi audio’s past, so there is an element of curation to the offerings. <br />
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It’s a great thing to be a part of. And likewise, we love this role and our industry and we try to stay connected and lend a hand where we can. <br />
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The quickly growing vinyl subscription service and record club called Vinyl Me Please — <a href="http://classicalbumsundays.com/classic-album-sundays-and-vinyl-me-please-presents-a-tribute-to-trojan-records/">you may have heard of them from their recent partnership with Classic Album Sundays</a> — is based nearby here, and it’s got franchises popping up all across the country. <br />
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One of the community-focused things Vinyl Me Please does is host listening and lecture parties called “The Spins” (clever ;) in chic locations, in nearly every state. <br />
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Denver’s club hosted a party a couple months ago, featuring discussion and selected music from a scholarly analysis of Miles Davis’ music. <br />
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VMP is good pals with TMR, and we try to help with the hardware side of things either at their offices or on location at these parties. This night of The Spins was a fun chance to show up with and set up a really killer system. <br />
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TMR head buyer/guru Rob and I headed to the HQ to whip up a system that would play vinyl to a large audience and sound fantastic in the process. <br />
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As a Devialet owner, Rob didn’t need suggestions for the electronics, and I didn’t have any arguments. I love the sound of Devialet and the ease of use. The sheer flexibility of these things is a little much for my brain sometimes, but I let Rob figure out how to dial it in. <br />
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No, we had to mainly decide what speakers we were going to use. This was a very specific audience. They were people who are 100% unaware of the hifi world, but are actually quite receptive to it. We wanted to blow some minds and convert some new audiophiles with our speaker choice, frankly. <br />
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Rob said the room for the party would be big, but I don’t think we knew how big the room would actually be. <br />
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So we were looking for something with grandeur that commands attention, and that also clearly presents some of that audiophile “magic” that gets even the untrained ears to recognize excellence. And it had to fill an absolutely enormous room with that kind of sound. <br />
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Our choice? The Harbeth 40.1, of course. <br />
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I’ve written about Harbeth before, and, having plenty of experience with the tiny little Harbeth P3ESR, the 40.1s are hard for me to wrap my head around. <br />
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The P3ESR is so good at detail and space, and they’re so fun and relaxing to listen to. It’s hard to think that you’d get all of that when you take in the massiveness of these 40.1s with their 12” woofers. <br />
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But in practice, what is surprising is that you do get the P3ESR magic, WHILE filling a 10,000 sq ft. room with loud music, and while ALSO being the most dynamic speaker I’ve heard in hifi. <br />
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It shouldn’t be surprising. The P3ESR is more accessible than the 40.1, with applications galore. But once you go above 90dB or you want to sit more than 6 feet away from them, you start to notice the limitations of the P3. <br />
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That’s where the 40.1 (and the 30, and the HL5 and all the Harbeths — we love our British speakers, can you tell?) take over. From there on out, the bigger guys dominate with a delicate touch.<br />
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Anyway. Sorry to ramble. The party was a smashing success, and there was a lot of cell phone selfies and oooohs and aaaahs over the Devialet/Harbeth system. Mission accomplished. <br />
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Consider Harbeth’s big boys if you’ve got a space that could tax your average floorstander. These music makers are anything but average.<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-31014965465052853502018-08-10T14:24:00.000-06:002018-08-10T14:24:30.187-06:00Heating up<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
B&K Reference 200.2 S2 Stereo Power Amplifier</h2>
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<a href="http://tmraudio.com/components/power-amplifiers/b-k-reference-200-2-s2-stereo-power-amplifier/"><img border="0" data-original-height="782" data-original-width="1044" height="478" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yWbA9_Xs2lI/W23zVOupsRI/AAAAAAAAAME/oraGYxWMfpU3mEPgDSyh2ZwXkkvXUWq0ACLcBGAs/s640/bandk.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Warm is a strange adjective to use to describe the way something looks, or the way it sounds. <br /><br />Does “warmth” play a role in the highest caliber audio systems? Or does its implied deviation from neutral suggest that warmth doesn’t belong in the same conversation about the best sound? <br /><br />Well the problem with that take is that audio excellence and music enjoyment are very subjective and personal experiences. <br /><br />And how do you characterize warmth to someone else? Since warmth is a sound quality descriptor, and music is a wildly fluctuating mess of tones and harmonics, the amount of warmth must be variable from piece to piece and track to track. And person to person. <br /><br />What if there’s an amp that is both mildly warm and impressively detailed? Would you believe this sound comes from a solid state amp? One audiophile may be impressed, and another might shrug. <br /><br />That’s the conundrum I face when firing up this eminently enjoyable power amplifier from B&K AV: The B&K Reference 200.2 S2. <br /><br />I’ve already witnessed it open up in the short time I’ve been playing music, but this detailed slight warmth just has me nodding my head and tapping my toes. I like hearing music this way. <br /><br />This is one of those awesome elder amps that still shows well in a modern circuit landscape. Well-made is well-made. The B&K Reference 200.2 would be a great first step for a budding audiophile. Or, because of its “warm” qualities, it could be the perfect sound character to slot into a system that needs a little more weight from ~300Hz down. <br /><br />I really like this one. My system at The Music Room is so revealing that cables and amps really show their colors when I slide them in. This one’s a Gearhead gem.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-60859007863538847242018-08-03T11:45:00.001-06:002018-08-10T14:24:45.154-06:00Taking the test<h2>
AudioQuest Columbia XLR Balanced Interconnects</h2>
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Some of the things people talk about in high end audio are actually very subtle and hard to even experience unless everything in your system is set up right. Things like P.R.A.T. (Pace, Rhythm, And Timing), musicality, soundstage depth, tonal truth, and more. <br />
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Maybe the only hifi buzzword you can experience without a proper setup would be the stereotypical “black background.” Turn off your stereo, and there you go. <br />
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Nyuk, nyuk. Wise guy eh? <br />
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When folks get all up in arms about hifi snake oil, and they claim, red-faced, that no one can tell the difference between $10K speaker cables and a coat hanger, one has to assume that these people A) have never heard the cables they deride, and B) have not set up a proper test for themselves to compare cables more closely related than say a set of Wireworlds and a strip of tin foil. <br />
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Number one step in the process to hear and contemplate the contribution that cables make to the overall presentation is to set up the speakers and listening position perfectly. Seriously — that’s step one. No big deal! <br />
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There are many schools of thought on this step, including the interesting <a href="https://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?5894-The-Sumiko-setup">Sukimo Master Set</a> speaker placement method. <br />
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After that, there is a lot of listening and small adjustment, and then attention paid to things like power cables (listening to changes all the while), setting a baseline standard for interconnects and speaker cables, gear stands and isolation of electronics, USB re-clocking, etc. <br />
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When you’re in the sweet spot and the system is a lean, mean music machine, swapping out a pair of interconnects can make an immediate and very satisfying (or saddening!) change to the sound. The change can be subtle or limited in scope but because of the complexity of music, can cause a sea change in the way the sound is perceived. <br />
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For instance, this morning before anyone else got into work at The Music Room I fired up a Gary Burton album I had just discovered the day before. It’s called Time Thread by Gary and Makoto Ozone. <br />
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This recording has enough depth and nuance and detail to be my cable testing partner as I discover what these <b>AudioQuest Columbia XLR</b> interconnects bring to the table. This record is perfect also because Gary’s vibraphone has so much depth and nuance itself, rivaled in resonant, rich harmonics only by Makoto’s piano. <br />
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Add some real reverb and a live-ish feel to the performance and you’ve got sonic cues so complex and delicate as to really illuminate any changes. <br />
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And because music is so varying and intricate itself, it’s my belief that each proper comparison requires several minutes of music. You need to really catch some good sections of tone and transient and sometimes you have to wait for it. <br />
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But also, I think our brains need a little time to digest and analyze things as complex as what we’re hearing and listening for in a cable comparison. <br />
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So how do AudioQuest’s Columbia XLR ICs affect the sound of this masterful record? Well, let’s go through the buzzwords. The most apparent upgrade is in soundstage, and because both instruments were stereo-miked it’s instantly recognizable as more real when you hear different notes literally living in their own spot along a horizontal plane in front of you. Same goes with the piano. <br />
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With lesser cables, I get some of this sensation, but the delineation between notes in space like it is is less accurate. It’s more of a mash of most of the notes in the middle, with just the lowest and highest notes throwing the sound to the edges. <br />
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P.R.A.T. applies to a few aspects of music, and cables really do affect a system’s “pratiness.” You hear it on the transients — the vibraphone mallet strikes — sensing a little bit of a bass element in each hammer strike. You hear it on the undulating, throbbing piano backing, coming through as a sensation of dynamic force. <br />
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Musicality, as provided by cables, shows up when Gary lets a note hang long, like at the very end of Part I “Lyon In the Morning - I Hear Trouble!” (around 3:52). If the note holds its shape in your mind as a vibraphone strike with the sustain pedal down, the cables are doing their job well. If it disintegrates after a few seconds and moves in apparent soundstage position at all, they are not. <br />
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I’ll wrap up this long winded diatribe about audio snake oil and the effect of cables by saying once again: If you know anyone who swears that zip cord is the zenith of audio cable science, have them talk to me. <br />
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The testers back here at The Music Room have each heard a massive slew of different cables. Each of us will tell you cables can change the sound dramatically. After my cable testing this morning I share nothing with the approach of coat hanger guy. I’ve listened to a ton of different designs, and I’ve done the work to compare them for myself in honest tests. <br />
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And these AudioQuest Columbia cables just kick ass, man. They are right up there in the mix with my favorite interconnects I’ve heard. <br />
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Comment below if you’ve done some cable testing of your own!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-18961513594130956682018-08-03T11:40:00.004-06:002018-08-10T14:24:54.039-06:00Yes, weCan<h2>
iFi Pro iCan Balanced Headphone Amp / Preamplifier</h2>
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Sometimes all you need to do to suss out an audio component is look at the front faceplate. The features that the manufacturer envisioned for the device can tell you a lot about what they find important and what they’re trying to bring to the table.<br />
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I was emphatically sold on iFi Audio as an amazing David vs. Goliath hifi story by a loyal PS Audio customer calling in on the phone when I was retail sales manager for the brand. <br />
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He was emphatic that the designers behind this equipment were the cream of the crop, and that the (in his words) unfortunately low prices of the iFi gear meant that most folks with the coin and the ear didn’t take the brand seriously.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1GOaojDfRYc/W2SS6jOWoZI/AAAAAAAAAKc/8LMUzFSHKakb4ICGA_DPvL_Gi1fpLt0pgCEwYBhgL/s1600/ifi_ican_2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="1276" height="120" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1GOaojDfRYc/W2SS6jOWoZI/AAAAAAAAAKc/8LMUzFSHKakb4ICGA_DPvL_Gi1fpLt0pgCEwYBhgL/s320/ifi_ican_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Well I’m taking this iFi Pro iCan tube / solid state headphone amplifier and preamplifier very seriously.<br />
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I mean, my goodness — it’s a tube-based balanced preamplifier for less than $1000 (just guessing at our eventual price)… for this feature set for the price, can you do better?<br />
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I didn’t need to fire up this gem to know that iFi means business. Looking at the bass boost, it has a uniquely selectable shelf filter and offers 10Hz as a pole frequency as well as 20 and 40. Obviously a shelf EQ change results in a rise above the pole frequency, determined by the shape of the slope. But some of that bass boost is going to leak up, which is why I’m loving this 10Hz boost feature.<br />
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Like, reeeally loving it. This boost kicks ass! Even on a set of planars like what Mr. Headphones* offers, or any from the Audeze fleet.<br />
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Readers of this blog might remember that I adore a good crossfeeed circuit in a headphone amp, and this one has a very nice approach, with 3 options of intensity. I found the three to be not dissimilar from each other, the last two with very subtle differences. I would imagine that depends on the headphones used. I found all of them to be musical and natural sounding.<br />
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My favorite part of this tweaky device is the output stage flexibility. iFi gives you the option to totally eliminate the tube section and go full solid state, or you can use the tube section but lower the negative feedback for better transients (at the expense of slightly increasing benign low order harmonics).<br />
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All settings and all options seem to sound great, in subtly different ways. I said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t think you can do much better at the price point to find a balanced DAC and balanced head amp with this feature set.<br />
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In the words of my PS Audio customer, “What are iFi thinking with these prices?”<br />
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They were probably thinking about you and me! Go check out this gem today.<br />
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<i>* or whatever his name is… just kidding Dan! We adore Mr. Speakers headphones here at TMR.</i><br />
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Vienna Acoustics Waltz Grand Bookshelf Speakers</h2>
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It’s really amazing to me every time I do something that lowers the noise floor of my system and lets more of the music through. <br />
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I describe it precisely that way after years of experience with this. I’ve moved on from wondering what the heck it takes to get “the magic” going and realized that once the basics like frequency response and time domain are handled with room treatment and speaker placement, the job becomes about eliminating noise at all costs. <br />
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Choice in gear, choice in speakers, choice in cables, routing of cables, and, oh my goodness — conditioning or regenerating the power — all of these things serve to lower noise and remove distortions in a system. It’s in those distortions that the realism-robbing noise goblins wreak their havoc. <br />
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You may not notice the noise reduction tweaks on lesser recordings, but excellent productions show off that magic immediately. <br />
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With a great recording played on a great system, you press play and the sound doesn’t lurch from the speakers. They don’t grunt out the melody while drawing attention to themselves in the process. <br />
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Actually, if you’ve done it right, before the music starts you wonder if the system is on at all. <br />
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When the music does start, the sound just sort of appears from nowhere and it instantly fills your listening space with a realistic representation of the sound of the space in the performance hall. <br />
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If you’ve reeeally done well, with eyes closed you’ll be damn sure you’re at the venue. <br />
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Great speakers do this because their driver integration and diffraction prevention are so well executed. Great speakers have high quality ingredients and phase-careful crossover designers. <br />
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There are many elements to the elimination of noise in a system, and I plan on contemplating those in future blog posts. Today we’re focusing on the role of speakers in the general reduction of noise and distortion from a system. <br />
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The subject of the blog posts du jour are a pair of gorgeous Vienna Acoustics Waltz Grand speakers. <br />
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What are these things?! The cabinet shape is really unique, but because of it I’m finding I like to try different placement orientations. <br />
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After some experimentation I decided on a favorite position for them. I’m sitting at a rather large desk, and I have them on their sides, which has the baffle slightly leaning upwards. See picture below. <br />
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And I’m blown away. The track begins, but in the first seconds of silence I wonder if I actually hit “play.” <br />
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And then, the music appears from nowhere. It’s like I’m in a performance hall. I was expecting some negative interaction with the desk surface but I’m hearing none. <br />
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Could these be the best desktop speakers ever created? I’m not kidding with this. Vienna Acoustics seem to have intended them for wall and corner mounting, but the sound I’m hearing doesn’t lie. <br />
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Mounted on the side, on a desk, the sound has an enticing combination of a dipole’s sense of space and an electrostat’s sense of timing. Just a superb execution of a two-way by Vienna Acoustics’ design team, if you ask me. <br />
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If your desk has the room (set up this way the speakers are 19” wide by 7” deep by 7” tall), consider placing these on either side of your monitor. While I’ve no doubt they show up big in a bigger system, or could be fantastic as surround or center channel speakers, I may have just stumbled across the best use of their 3-D imaging talents. <br />
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At the time of this blog post, we have 3 pairs and a single speaker available, in two different finishes. Check ‘em out! Highly recommended.<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-54734728623481092372018-07-27T12:00:00.000-06:002018-08-02T15:48:18.713-06:00A legend lives<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Thiel CS2 2 and CS 1.5 Floorstanding Speakers</h2>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2HkbMSC7BIE/W1tdHnc2SxI/AAAAAAAAAJA/1CamQM3AB54HKsgQlqyEAzxmXnEpAeVKACLcBGAs/s1600/thiel_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="817" data-original-width="678" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2HkbMSC7BIE/W1tdHnc2SxI/AAAAAAAAAJA/1CamQM3AB54HKsgQlqyEAzxmXnEpAeVKACLcBGAs/s640/thiel_1.jpg" width="530" /></a></div>
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If you looked at the website for Thiel Audio late last year with any kind of knowledge of what Thiel used to be, you might have shaken your head and cried. Before shuttering completely, the amazing company that Jim and Tom Thiel put together was reduced to making a single Bluetooth speaker. <br />
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Why, Universe, why?? <br />
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The thought of a Bluetooth speaker by Thiel kind of tweaks me off right now, because I’m sitting in between a gorgeous pair of Thiel CS 2 2 speakers and remarking on just how much they remind me of current state-of-the-art offerings. <br />
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These came out in the early 90s, and judging from period reviews (pun intended — note the space between 2 and 2. Bose threatened a lawsuit to reclaim the dot, amazingly) of the 2 2s, they sounded as good to audiophile ears then as they do now. <br />
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And earlier this morning, a flawless set of CS1.5s (they were permitted to keep the period here — thanks Bose) blew me away with the same kind of modern sound. <br />
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<a href="http://tmraudio.com/speakers/full-range-floorstanding/thiel-cs1-5-floorstanding-speakers-white-oak-pair/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="773" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_MdND_euNZc/W1t3cPdxoFI/AAAAAAAAAJU/s7tsoG3Q16osde19posUHJH4bJIpag2_ACLcBGAs/s320/cs15.jpg" width="301" /></a></div>
There are simple qualities that the best speakers exhibit, but which are hard to achieve. Simple in my context here would be simple to identify. <br />
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One of these is transient response. You know from a few seconds of listening to good speakers that they reproduce a kick drum accurately and convincingly, but you may need to listen deeper and longer before you notice that great speakers can put a bass transient together with the striking of a triangle. <br />
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Another is spatial information. On well-recorded music, believability of reverb decay is something I listen for. This effect can’t all be laid at the feet of the speakers— it’s a system thing, involving the amp and the speaker cables especially. But it starts at the speakers. If there isn’t a phase-neutral crossover and some kind of attention paid to diffraction (more the former than the latter), changes in amplifier or cables won’t affect this much. <br />
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So how do these ~25 year old speakers measure up? <br />
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My goodness. If I didn’t know better I’d think I’m listening to a new set of top of the line PSB, Revel or Sonus Faber. There’s a bit of the Dynaudio spirit in there too. <br />
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This is the amazing thing about buying gently-used audio equipment that has been curated to include only excellent offerings, as we do. These speakers represent such a good value, most of my readers could shake out their shelves and trade in whatever falls out and cover the entire cost. <br />
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Under close inspection, both pairs of these Thiels appear to have a lot of life left in them. Save your speaker money for some good cables, why don’tcha!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-64897968983926499202018-07-27T11:39:00.001-06:002018-08-02T15:44:46.898-06:00Home on the (full) range<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Voxativ AC-4X 8" Full Range Drivers</h2>
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<a href="http://tmraudio.com/speakers/speaker-parts/voxativ-ac-4x-8-full-range-speaker-driver-pair/"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1275" height="402" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-42SBvfHvlDk/W1tXiQztwSI/AAAAAAAAAIk/lUkVXG_eMvI_2LDK_uzW9o1IEyXffHufwCLcBGAs/s640/voxativ_2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "Bigger Is Better" (BIB) horn</td></tr>
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I still remember the day I found the Single Driver Website, which was compiled by James Melhuish a while ago, and of which a remnant <a href="http://www.geocities.ws/everybee2/">still exists on Geocities, here</a>.</div>
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I was like a pig discovering shit. Something about the science really spoke to me — the lack of crossover and the simplification of design variables combined with geometrically-cool-looking boxes had me transfixed like the Millennium Falcon in a tractor beam. <br />
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Among the things I learned in my voyage through many styles of DIY full range speaker design is that Zoebel networks shouldn’t be feared — great passive ingredients really do deliver great results — and that raw driver quality plays a huge role in the eventual sound. <br />
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In all things audio, the less you have to fix, or the less you ask any circuit to try to fix, the better. The less any piece of gear has to “work,” the better. Often when components — especially drivers — are “loafing along,” their transient response is better and performance is greatly improved. <br />
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These fascinating Voxativ 8” full range drivers are of a different league than anything I’ve messed around with, and the build quality is insane. The magnet appearance and — my God — the strength of that magnet... insane. <br />
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And since I use Roon to test all equipment I could use its DSP engine to make a quick Zoebel network correction in the software domain (a benefit of which is that it’s much more phase-coherent), and I could tell even with no enclosure that there is something very special about them. <br />
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Fast is the word. In DIY full range driver design, fast is a Very Good Thing. Usually fast is accomplished while sacrificing X-Max (the absolute distance a cone can move back and forth), resulting in drivers that have wonderful midrange but little in the way of dynamics or bass heft or slam, even in the largest of back-loaded-horn cabinets. <br />
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Not so with these beautiful Voxativ AC-4X drivers - a healthy half-roll surround and deep, linear cone movement makes these more capable of bass extension and dynamics than most other full range drivers I can remember. <br />
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I would bet good money that if you put these in a giant “Bigger is Better” horn cabinet, or in a tall Voigt Pipe or on an open baffle of sufficient size (or a small baffle, mated to a “fast” subwoofer like a Ripole) they are one of these magic audiophile keys that unlocks the door to Nirvana. <br />
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Really. I listen at home to a pair of full range drivers in 6-foot tall horn cabinets and I feel like I am getting away with murder when they’re more musical and enjoyable than some very high dollar speakers I test here at The Music Room. <br />
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The sound qualities of the unmolested transients and accurate phase of single drivers has to be experienced. I don’t think you can really convey it with words — you really have to try it and listen. These days, DSP can smooth even the most pernicious of peaks and valleys, so right now might be a better time to try to DIY than ever before. <br />
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If you have questions about these and how to potentially use them, feel free to comment below or send an email to duncan@tmraudio.com. <br />
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Prost zu DIY!<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-63681806286075047082018-07-25T11:17:00.002-06:002018-08-02T15:45:56.396-06:00Escape from the world<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Meridian Prime Headphone Amplifier and Prime Power Supply</h2>
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<a href="http://tmraudio.com/personal-audio/headphone-amplifiers/meridian-prime-headphone-amplifier-usb-dac-prime-power-supply-mqa/"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="1276" height="186" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3ru094Yu2q0/W1sl2z2f4MI/AAAAAAAAAH8/gmGJ4jq3cgYB5rIAwU3OSfdzUUuyJiutQCLcBGAs/s640/meridian_1_edited.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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There is something so intimate about a good musical experience with headphones. When things are right — the headphones aren’t so weighty that they intrude on your thoughts about the music, and the sound is balanced to achieve the same — the listener is easily transported to an internal state of being, and the music grows large in the listener’s consciousness. <br />
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This kind of personal experience seems to be exactly what Meridian had in mind when designing their lovely Prime headphone amplifier and matching external power supply. After spending a little time with these two pieces, I think Meridian achieved that goal, and along the way managed to ratchet that experience up a notch. <br />
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It’s been a while since I’ve had as wonderful and engrossing of an experience with a headphone amp like I’m having with this one. Why? Well the last emotional headphones experience was the venerable Stax electrostatic ‘phones with an incredible matching amplifier, so the bar is set pretty high up. <br />
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But also, this little Prime amp does something the Stax could never do: it unfolds MQA. Like most head amps it has analog inputs, but it’s also a handy USB and mini optical DAC that will unfold MQA when paired with the right software. And speaking of USB, the external low-noise power supply also has isolation for that USB signal to remove the computer-generated nasties from your music. <br />
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The kicker for me is Meridian’s enlightened and well-executed crossfeed circuit. It offers two choices of blending of the left and right signals to simulate speakers in a room, and brings the music forward instead of letting it reside directly between the ears. I like this effect, and have sought out head amps in the past that offer this. <br />
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The Meridian implementation here is better than anything I’ve heard before. It takes a deft touch to make a believable crossfeed circuit, so my hat’s off to Meridian. <br />
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This amp and external power supply are a perfect first step into the MQA waters, if you’ve been watching from the shore. I’m playing John Scofield’s MQA-encoded 96KHz/24bit album Country For Old Men on Tidal, with the Meridian crossfeed set on full strength, and I’m in audio heaven.<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-56533623152515508412018-07-20T10:01:00.002-06:002018-08-02T15:46:41.001-06:0040th verse, same as the first<style type="text/css">
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Conrad Johnson ET7 Tube Hybrid Preamplfier</h2>
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<a href="http://tmraudio.com/components/preamplifiers/conrad-johnson-et7-stereo-tube-linestage-preamplifier-remote/"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="1274" height="292" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q9Tgx3VfT4U/W1IF-ZlYXxI/AAAAAAAAAGw/OOG47x5yVGkIg8qF_axnmQW5hEcf8s-pACLcBGAs/s640/cj_et7_1.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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How does a manufacturing company stay in the Hifi business for more than 10 or 20 years?</div>
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In the true high end of audio, every brand I’ve seen that lasts longer than 10 has a reputation for excellent-sounding products.</div>
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Having worked for a manufacturer in its fourth decade of existence, I know that good business practices and forward thinking also play a big role.</div>
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But reach back to any of the old designs from the long-timers like PS Audio, McIntosh, Krell or Audio Research and fire it up. I dare you not to grin when you hear it.</div>
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The reason I bring this up is because I’m listening - gap-jawed - to a new Conrad Johnson ET7 tube hybrid preamplifier, and I’m gushing about it just about a month removed from my gushing about a 34-year-old PV5 preamplifier design from the same company. Check out that post <a href="https://tmraudio.blogspot.com/2018/06/conrad-johnson-pv5-tube-preamplifier.html">by clicking here</a>.</div>
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Take a look at the inside of this beauty and you see lots of space, huge PCB traces and massive Teflon film caps. You see one lonely PCC88 tube, which is really all you need for the 2-channel input. PCC88s are dual triodes, so the left and right channels both get routed into there.</div>
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A high current, low impedance MOSFET output like this CJ’s reminds me of the PS Audio BHK Signature and the Aesthetix Calypso preamplifiers.</div>
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And I cannot deny that the sound reminds me of those incredible works of art. There is a top to bottom frequency balance that smacks of reference, and this transparent little pre also reminds you that the very, very top of the spectrum can be present and also silky smooth. In the case you’ve been missing it a little, like I have.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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Bass is a perfect balance between nimble and pounding. Firing up my own recordings, I am very pleased with the way the ET7 captures the reverberations of upright bass in our large and reflective recording space.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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Because of that quality, my bluegrass recordings have this “fatness” that spreads across the stage, even though you can localize the stand-up bass player perfectly. </div>
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That's a quality of the venue itself -- the upright player told me it was one of his favorite stages ever, due to the quality of sound from the player's position. Many systems can’t capture it exactly right, but the very best systems I’ve heard fool you into believing you’re on stage with the band.</div>
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This CJ is so good at doing just that, I’m smitten. What’s this — my third tube preamplifier love affair in a couple weeks?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> It's a sickness.</span></div>
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The Conrad Johnson ET7 is an incredible long term system investment. If you took the time to read my earlier blog about the PV5 you know it was 34 years old, fired up perfectly and sounded competitive with modern preamps. 34 years old!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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Companies that last more than 10 or 20 years in the Hifi audio business do it by building amazing sounding equipment, and building the equipment to last for generations.</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-807144516104584326.post-72510025866287519362018-07-16T10:28:00.000-06:002018-08-02T15:43:44.284-06:00All you'd ever need<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Mark Levinson No. 585 Stereo Integrated Amplifier</h2>
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Sometimes things just… click. <br />
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I witnessed that this morning with this Mark Levinson No. 585 “do-everything” style of integrated amplifier as I hauled its massive chassis up onto the test bench. <br />
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Mark Levinson and perhaps the rest of the Harman Group certainly know how to package a fine product to elicit feelings of pride in the owner. <br />
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Fit and finish are superb, but it’s the little details like a remote with the right heft, embroidered gloves and a special screwdriver for the remote that have me impressed with the packaging. <br />
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But of course you should know that with me, the buck stops with the sound. <br />
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Firing up the 2018 master jazz production called Hudson, everything is perfect, and everything is right. I’m greeted with instant space and depth in this recording featuring some of the jazz world’s best musicians. <br />
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If you haven’t jumped on the Hudson train yet, it’s a rag-tag crew of no-names like John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Larry Grenadier and John Medeski. Of course, I kid when I call these giants “no-names” — they are literally jazz royalty. <br />
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The music on this disc ranges from amazing and engaging to challenging and wild. The production however is consistently at the very top of the heap. <br />
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So it’s a remarkable system that shows off every nuance this disc has to offer. My fantastic bookshelf speakers, my copper foil cables, my fancy air-dielectric interconnects and this Mark Levinson integrated represent such a system. <br />
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Pair this with good Dynaudios or, better yet, a set of Harbeth 30.2, and strap in for the ride. Like I said before, everything is there. This is one of the few amps I hear where everything is right and I have no complaints whatsoever. <br />
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And keep chasing that “click” … it happens to all of us at some point!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1