Innholdsfortegnelse for Sep-13 i Stereophile

THIS ISSUE: With music streaming becoming ubiquitous, will the day come when music lovers no longer buy albums and musicians no longer get paid? No one ever had to pay for recorded music—it was always “free” on the radio—and the home taping of LPs, the copying of cassettes, and, later, burning CDs made buying music optional. Then Napster and other file-sharing sites kicked it up a notch and made it very easy to assemble a 10,000-song collection without spending a dime. Now, Spotify, BitTorrent, SoundCloud, MOG, and YouTube make music instantly accessible on demand. It raises the question: Will music lovers continue to buy music? Paying for recorded music is now, more than ever, a voluntary act. A generation gap is part of this story: Today’s music fans of high…

THIS ISSUE: Mikey spends the month of May on the road. In the old days, this column would have covered last May’s High End show in Munich and T.H.E. Show Newport Beach. Today, live online blogging renders obsolete magazine reports that arrive in your mailbox months after the events. It also makes life difficult for a monthly magazine columnist. I wasn’t home a good part of the month, so how much serious listening do you think I managed? But what a month! Colleen Murphy’s Bowie Fest On May 5, I attended Colleen Murphy’s Classic Album Sundays event at the New Museum, in the Bowery. Part of the Red Bull Music Academy festivities, Murphy’s event featured the playing of three David Bowie LPs, and was co-hosted by the albums’ original producers.…

Recently, my wife and I made a trip to Europe, where we heard some great music in some great halls. Those concerts reinforced my already strongly held opinion that the acoustic of the venue is a major determinant of the sound of music heard in that venue, and that each space has its own sound. One evening in Amsterdam, we heard Iván Fischer conduct the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in their own hall, the Concertgebouw, in a concert that underscored this interaction of performance and place. The concert seemed to me to be badly programmed, and I predicted that the three Beethoven symphonies to be performed—1, 2, and 5, in that order—would lack variety. How wrong I was. Fischer announced that the intermission would take place between the first two and…

LOUDSPEAKER I don’t think that the Bowers and Wilkins 804, in any of its incarnation, gets its due respect. As the smallest floorstander in B&W’s elite 800 series, it has historically been overshadowed by its larger brethren and outmaneuvered by the smaller, stand-mounted 805. However, the 804 Diamond is unique, and deserves special attention for reasons I discovered when I chose the earlier 804S for the surround channels of my 5.1-channel surround system. The first of these reasons: The three-way 804 Diamond takes up no more floor space than the two-way 805 while also having two 6.5" woofers, which greatly expand its power handling and bass extension. In fact, it was my wife who, when I consulted her about choice and placement, asked why one would even consider the smaller…

Digital Sources Sony XA-5400ES SACD/CD player, Oppo BDP-105 universal Blu-ray player, Mytek Stereo192-DSD DAC, PC-based server using JRiver Media Center 18. Preamplification Audio Research MP1 multichannel analog preamplifier, Meridian HD621 HDMI audio processor & 861 Reference V6 digital surround controllers. Power Amplifiers McIntosh MC303, Parasound A-31 (both three-channel). Loudspeakers Bowers and Wilkins 800 Diamond & 804S, Aerial Acoustics 7T. Cables Interconnect: van den Hul Flat 180, AudioQuest Vodka (HDMI); Black Cat Veloce (digital); AudioQuest Cheetah (DBS balanced). Speaker: AudioQuest Mont Blanc (DBS biwire). AC: JPS Aluminata. Accessories Environmental Potentials EP-2450 power conditioner.…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Sony SS-NA2ES’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses. All the measurements were performed with the second pair of SS-NA2ES speakers. My estimate of the SS-NA2ES’s voltage sensitivity was 91dB(B)/2.83V/m, a full dB higher than the specified 90dB. As I found in my auditioning, this is a high-sensitivity speaker. The Sony’s impedance magnitude drops below 4 ohms in the midrange and high treble (fig.1), reaching minimum values of 3.52 ohms at 340Hz and 3.56 ohms at 7.9kHz, meaning that the speaker is actually drawing 2W or more to reach that 91dB figure with 2.83V drive. But while there is a combination of 5 ohms magnitude…

Description Single-driver desktop speaker with 4" passive radiator. Drive-unit: 3" titanium alloy-cone, full-range unit. Frequency range: 50Hz–23kHz when placed near desk or wall. Impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 84dB/W/m. Maximum RMS continuous output per pair: 98dB. Maximum RMS continuous power per speaker: 25W. Dimensions 7” (180mm) H by 5.5” (140mm) W by 7” (180mm) D. Weight: 3 lbs (1.5kg) each. Finishes High-gloss black. Serial numbers of units reviewed 54 (listening); 10 (measuring). Price $995/pair; desktop stands, $75/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 50. Warranty: five years, limited. Manufacturer Audience, 120 N. Pacific St., K-9, San Marcos, CA 92069. Tel: (760) 471-0202. Fax: (760) 471-0282. www.audience-av.com.…

Description Tubed monoblock power amplifier (ML3) with outboard power supply (ML3-PS). Tube complement: one 12AX7, four 6N30PDR, one GM70 (ML3); six 12AX3 (ML3-PS). Output power: 32W into 4, 8, or 16 ohms at 3% THD (32dBW). Frequency response at 30W into 16 ohms: 20Hz–20kHz, +0,–1.5dB. Input impedance: 41k ohms. Input sensitivity: 850mV for rated output. Slew rate (61.96V peak–peak): 5V/ìs. Signal/noise ratio, ref. 4V RMS into 16 ohms: typically 92dB, A-weighted. Dimensions ML3 and ML3-PS (each): 15.8" (406mm) W by 8.2" (210mm) H by 20.2" (518mm) D. Weights: ML3, 79 lbs (35.9kg); ML3-PS, 80.1 lbs (36.4kg). Serial numbers of units reviewed G10029, G10030. Price $139,490/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 10. Manufacturer Lamm Industries Inc., 2513 East 21st Street, Brooklyn, NY 11235. Tel: (718) 368-0181. Fax: (718) 368-0140. www.lammindustries.com.…

Analog Sources Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable, Cobra tonearm, Castellon stand; Kuzma 4Point tonearm; Lyra Atlas & Titan i, Ortofon Anna, Miyajima Labs Focus mono cartridges. Digital Sources Simaudio Moon Evolution 610D DAC/CD transport; dCS Vivaldi DAC, transport, clock, upsampler; BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder; Meridian Digital Media System; Pure Music software running on a Macintosh computer. Preamplifier darTZeel NHB-18ns. Power Amplifiers darTZeel NHB 458 monoblocks. Loudspeakers Wilson Audio Specialties Alexandria XLF. Cables Hovland/Graham MG2 Music Groove, Teresonic Clarison Gold, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 7, TARA Labs Zero Gold, Stealth Sakra & Indra interconnects; TARA Labs Omega Gold, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse speaker cables. AC: Shunyata Research Zi-Tron Anaconda. Accessories Shunyata Research Hydra Triton & Typhon power conditioners (2 sets); Oyaide AC wall box & receptacles; ASC Tube Traps; RPG BAD, Skyline,…

I examined the Meridian Explorer’s electrical performance with Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4) For sdome tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One. I used the supplied USB cable and played files with Bias Peak Pro running on my MacBook Pro, using Apple’s AudioMIDI utility to make sure that the data output from the USB port had the correct sample rate and bit depth. I performed a complete set of measurements from both the line-level and headphone outputs, but most of what I describe here is the Explorer’s performance from its line output; I comment on the headphone output only when it differed. Apple’s USB Prober utility identified the Explorer as “Meridian…

When Michael Fremer reviewed the B.M.C. Phono MCCI in the June 2013 “Analog Corner,” he concluded that the MCCI “is exceptional, and easily among the best MC phono preamps available today at any price. Its sound was startlingly good, and in some ways seemed to surpass that of virtually every other phono preamp I’ve heard, especially in terms of transparency, and of not imposing its own strong character, or any character, on the music.” Strong words indeed from the usually reticent Mr. F.; I asked for a sample so I could get it on my test bench. The MCCI is designed in Germany but manufactured at B.M.C.’s own factory in China.3 Once I got the MCCI on the bench, measuring it proved trickier than I’d expected, due to the preamplifier’s…

AUDIOCLASSICS.COM - Buys - Sells - Trades-Repairs - Appraises New, Used & Vintage McIntosh, Marantz, Tannoy, JBL, Levinson and other High End audio equipment. 3501 Vestal Road, Vestal, NY 13850 800-321-2834 LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK - Audience, Audio Physic, Audio Desk, Avalon Acoustics, Berkeley Audio Design, Bryston, Cardas, Conrad-Johnson, Dali, Esoteric, Jeff Rowland, Hegel, Lyra, Oracle Audio, Ortofon, Purist Audio Design, Plinius, Siltech, Stax, Symposium Acoustics, Tannoy Prestige, Transparent Audio, VPI, VTL, Wireworld and many more. Large selection of fine preowned gear, quality trades welcome, analog guru on board. New York Sound & Vision (631) 321-8969 or visit www.newyorksoundandvision.com AUDIO ART, est. 1976 - Edge-of-the-art audio components dedicated to serving music. Aesthetix, Audience, Avalon, Ayre, Benz, Cardas, Clearaudio, Jeff Rowland, Martin Logan, Music Hall, Music Reference, Pro-Ject Series, Rega, Shunyata,…

FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR TAKE HEED! Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. In the spirit of vigorous debate implied by the First Amendment, and unless we are requested not to, we publish correspondents’ e-mail addresses. A right Eliot Ness Editor: I love Sam Tellig, but tell Sam that Alfred Brendel’s not yet brown bread (“Sam’s Space,” July, p.25). —Marshall Arbitman limehouse.chappy@gmail.com Brendel’s alive and well Editor: Have just finished reading “Sam’s Space” in the July 2013 Stereophile (pp.21–25), which was, as always, very enjoyable. One thing shocked me somewhat: the news of the passing (along with Colin Davis and Wolfgang Sawallisch) of Alfred Brendel (p.25). I was especially shocked considering that, two months ago, I was eating dinner…

Volti Audio’s Vittora, a borrowed pair of which now sit at the far end of my listening room, is a great loudspeaker and, at $17,500/pair, a seriously great value. After a few weeks with the Vittora, I find myself convinced by the naturalness, momentum, and force that it found in every record I played: This is surely one of the finest horn-loaded speakers made in the US. The Vittora is designed and built by Greg Roberts, a longtime audio enthusiast who bought his first pair of Klipsch La Scala loudspeakers when he was 14. (He has owned a number of pairs of Klipschorns in the years since, having settled on an especially nice-looking set from 1967.) A woodworker by training and a homebuilder by trade, Roberts began, in 2001, to…

Before striding into the future, John Dibb enjoyed considerable exposure to his sceptered isle’s fascinating past. He was born in England’s North Country, in 1948, in a model West Yorkshire village established a century earlier by an enlightened industrialist determined to provide comfortable housing and communal amenities for his employees and their families; called Saltaire, it’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At age 11, young Dibb won a place at the nearby Bingley Grammar School, which dates back half a millennium, to the era of Henry VIII. He later studied at the University of Bradford, one of two English colleges then offering a course in materials science. Dibb was interested in composite materials, and proved just the right student for a tutor who’d set up a cutting-edge research project…

Description Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) diamond-dome tweeter, 6" (150mm) FST woven-Kevlar midrange cone, two 6.5" (165mm) Rohacellcone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 350Hz, 4kHz. Frequency range:–6dB at 30Hz and 33kHz. Frequency response: 38Hz–28kHz, ±3dB, on reference axis. Dispersion: within 2dB of on-axis response over 60° arc (horizontal) and 10° arc (vertical). Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Harmonic distortion (second and third harmonics, 90dB, 1m): <1.0%, 90Hz–100kHz; <0.5%, 120Hz–100kHz. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 3 ohms minimum. Recommended amplification: 50–200W into 8 ohms, unclipped program. Maximum recommended cable impedance: 0.1 ohm. Dimensions 39.8" (1020mm) H by 9.3" (238mm) W by 13.7" (351mm) D. Weight: 59.4 lbs (27kg). Finishes Rosenut, Cherry, Piano Gloss Black. Serial numbers of units reviewed: 009625, 009626 (listening); 009176 (measuring). Price $7500/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 275. Manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins,…

LOUDSPEAKER The door to a professional reviewer’s listening room is one that revolves: As one product leaves, another enters. After a while, it becomes difficult to remember exactly when you auditioned any specific component. But some products stick in your memory—you fondly remember the time you spent with them, and wish they hadn’t departed quite so quickly. With loudspeakers, I recall a few such (all prices per pair): Revel’s Ultima Salon2 ($22,000), MBL’s 111B ($17,000), Dynaudio’s Confidence C4 ($16,000), Sonus Faber’s Amati Futura ($36,000), Vivid’s B1 ($14,990), TAD’s Compact Reference CR1 ($40,600 with stands), and even the much less expensive Harbeth P3ESR ($2195–$2395) and KEF LS50 ($1500). Among the most recently reviewed of those fondly remembered speakers is Sony’s SS-AR2ES ($20,000).1 I was impressed by the SS-AR2. Somewhat mellow-balanced, it…

Analog Sources Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge. Digital Sources Marantz NA-11S1 media server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini running OS10.7, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.86; MSB Diamond DAC IV D/A processor with Diamond Power Base, Arcam FMJ D33 D/A converters; Astell&Kern AK100 media player; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter. Preamplification Linn Linnto phono preamplifier, Pass Labs XP-30 line preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Classé CT-M600, Lamm M1.2 Reference, MBL 9007 (all monoblocks). Loudspeakers Boston Acoustics M350, BBC LS3/5a. Cables Digital: Kubala-Sosna Elation! AES/EBU, AudioQuest Coffee, Belkin Gold USB. FireWire: AudioQuest FireWire 400 (prototype). Interconnect (balanced): Kubala-Sosna Elation! Speaker: Kubala-Sosna Elation! AC: Kubala-Sosna Elation!, manufacturers’ own. Accessories Target TT-5 equipment racks; Ayre Acoustics Myrtle Blocks; ASC Tube…

For reasons of consistency, I measured the Audience ClairAudient The One in free space, mounted on a tall stand, as I do all bookshelf loudspeakers that pass through my lab. In use, however, the Ones will be in close proximity to one surface—the top of the user’s desk—and perhaps another (the wall, if any, behind the desk). This difference between measurement conditions and those of actual use should be kept in mind throughout this sidebar. However, I note that Bob Reina did do some of his listening with the speakers mounted on 24"-high stands, and far enough away from the room’s walls that the latter would give no boundary reinforcement of the lower frequencies. I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Audience…

Even as the gulf narrows between the sounds of the best solid-state and the best tubed amplifiers, most listeners remain staunch members of one or the other camp. Similarly, when it comes to video displays, the plasma and liquid-crystal technologies each has its partisans, though that conflict’s intensity is relatively mild, perhaps because video performance, unlike audio, is based on a mastering standard that establishes color temperature, gray-scale tracking, color points, and the like (I’m deeply in the plasma camp). But in audio, the “standard” is whatever monitoring loudspeaker and sonic balance the mastering engineer prefers, which makes somewhat questionable the pursuit of “sonic accuracy.” Still, in a power amplifier, a relative lack of coloration is preferable to amps that Stereophile editor John Atkinson has characterized as “tone controls”—usually, if…

Those of us who groan at the appearance of every new five-figure digital source component in a massively oversized chassis—and who groan in greater torment when the offending manufacturer says his customer base insists on products that are styled and built and priced that way—can take heart: The appearance of such sanely sized and affordable products as the Halide Design DAC HD ($495) and the AudioQuest DragonFly ($249) would suggest that the market has a mind of its own. Yet more good news comes in the form of Meridian Audio’s Explorer ($299), a 4"-long USB digital-to-analog converter from a company that many hobbyists would name as one of the industry’s premier digital specialists. That the Explorer is available not only at traditional Meridian dealers but also at a growing number…

Analog Sources Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Ikeda IT-407 tonearms; EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary pickup head; Miyabi 47, Miyajima Premium BE mono cartridges. Digital Sources AudioQuest DragonFly, Halide DAC HD, Wavelength Proton USB DACs; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.11.0, Decibel v.1.2.11 playback software; Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player. Preamplification Auditorium 23 Standard (SPU version), Hommage T2 step-up transformers; Sutherland Insight phono preamplifier; Shindo Masseto preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Shindo Corton-Charlemagne & Cortese, Fi 421A. Loudspeakers Altec Valencia, DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96, Quad ESL. Headphones Sennheiser PMX 90. Cables USB: AudioQuest Carbon, Nordost Blue Heaven. Interconnect: Ayre Acoustics Signature Series, Nordost Tyr (balanced); Audio Note AN-Vx, Shindo Silver (single-ended). Speaker: Auditorium 23, Tel Wire. AC: manufacturers’ own. Accessories Box Furniture Company D3S rack (source & amplification…

DAVID CHESKY Jazz in the New Harmonic David Chesky, piano; Javon Jackson, tenor saxophone; Jeremy Pelt, trumpet; Peter Washington, bass; Billy Drummond, drums Chesky JD358 (CD). 2013. Norman Chesky, exec prod.; David Chesky, prod.; Nicholas Prout, prod., eng. DDD.? TT: 69:15. PERFORMANCE 4.0/5.0 SONICS 5.0/5.0 If there’s a word that describes the feeling, the vibe present throughout Jazz in the New Harmonic, it’s trance. Pianist and session leader David Chesky even uses it without prompting when asked how, among all his music endeavors—an album of difficult non–Joplin-like Rags in 2012, a children’s ballet later this year, not to mention running Chesky Records—he found the time or inspiration to make a straight-ahead jazz record. “It’s two things. First, this is my therapy group, because my main thing is doing the symphonic…

Whhaaaarriiiiiinnnnngggggg! That, of course, is the sound of the pedal steel guitar, an instrument once associated with country music that’s now become a welcome and often game-changing flavor du jour in every hipster indie-rock/electronica band from Seattle to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. An older, more esoteric use of the pedal steel lies in its adoption, in the 1930s and ’40s, by certain branches of the House of God Pentecostal church. The instrument’s distinctly twangy, often otherworldly voice has a central place in church services because, as Bishop Charles E. Campbell, of Rush, New York, explains in Sacred Steel, a 2001 documentary film produced by the Arhoolie Foundation, “If you ever want to have some glimpse of what heaven’s about, you need to hear the heavenly sound.” Discovered, as it were, by a…

AUDIO NEWS & VIEWS SUBMISSIONS: Submissions: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should e-mail the when, where, and who to stephen.mejias@sorc.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the November 2013 issue is August 30, 2013. USA NEW YORK John Atkinson Fans of Sam Tellig’s “Sam’s Space” column—and I know that’s a sufficiently large group of audiophiles to populate a small town!—will have noticed his current absence from our pages. The avuncular if irascible Sam is taking a short furlough but will return in the fall. UK NORTH LONDON Paul Messenger The resurgence of vinyl continues to gather momentum. Existing turntable manufacturers are smiling, and newcomers regularly emerge. More and more new releases are appearing on vinyl, sometimes accompanied by CDs and/or download…

Two of the five loudspeakers reviewed in our July issue were designed by Andrew Jones: the $29,800/pair TAD Evolution One and the $129.99/pair Pioneer SP-BS22-LR. I did the math. You can buy 229 pairs of the Pioneer for the price of a single pair of the TAD. Which is the better deal? Which would result in more happiness? Imagine keeping one pair of the Pioneers, and delivering the other 228 pairs to friends and family. Or donating them to schools. The possibilities are great. How much fun can you have with just a single pair of speakers, anyway? It’s true that the TAD bears the more mellifluous model name, but only the Pioneer comes with Jones’s signature on the rear panel—a significant selling point, I would think, and perhaps an…

A CELEBRATED TENOR SAXOPHONIST RETURNS Azar Lawrence and John Coltrane. It’s the story of the incomparable tenor and soprano saxophonist who died young after achieving immortal renown, and a younger, supremely versatile reedman who has lived on, keeping alive a sound unmistakably reminiscent of the icon. Even in his teens, in the early 1970s, Azar Lawrence’s timbre and tone were evocative of Coltrane’s. Drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner, both of whom worked with Coltrane, later hired Lawrence because he had that sound. As scary and potentially unfavorable as the comparison seems, Lawrence’s own website reinforces the connection with personal memories: “McCoy Tyner’s reply to me when I asked him how could he play with me just having turned 19 years old after being with the incomparable John Coltrane,…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Bowers & Wilkins 804 Diamond’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses, the latter’s 1.4" capsule offering no significant acoustic obstacle to the outputs of the small diaphragms. Before performing any measurements, I removed the plastic disc from the rear of the tube that loads the midrange unit, as instructed in the manual. My estimate of the 804 Diamond’s voltage sensitivity was 89.3dB(B)/2.83V/m. While this is slightly lower than the specified 90dB, it is still usefully higher than average. The plot of the 804 Diamond’s impedance magnitude and phase against frequency is shown in fig.1. The speaker is a moderately difficult load for the partnering amplifier to drive. Not…

Description Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) soft-dome tweeter, two 3.4" (19mm) soft-dome tweeters, 5" (130mm) paper-cone midrange, two 6.5" (165mm) aluminum-cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 400Hz, 4kHz, with multiple slopes. Frequency response: 45Hz–45kHz,–10dB. Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Power handling: 100W maximum (non-clipping). Dimensions 35.4" (900mm) H by 10" (254mm) W by 16.3" (415mm) D. Weight: 70.5 lbs (32kg) each. Finish Dark Brown Wood Grain Piano. Serial numbers of units reviewed 800013 & 14. Price $10,000/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 20+. Manufacturer Sony Electronics Inc., 16530 Via Esprillo, San Diego, CA 92127-1708. Tel: (858) 942-2400. http://discover.store.sony.com/ES/es-speakers/SS-NA2ES.html.…

As the years pass and I turn into a crotchety old man, I’m reminded of those old TV ads for the Honda Accord: “Simplify.” Even though I now have more things going on than at any other point in my life, I try to eliminate complications everywhere I can. I now can’t believe that, for over 15 years, I used the Infinity RS-1B as my reference loudspeaker. Sure, I loved it—the RS-1B was the first speaker I’d owned that produced a wide, deep soundstage, the full dynamic range of an orchestra, and bass extension down to 25Hz. But it was ridiculously complex: a five-way design with three different driver types and a servomechanism for the woofers. It also required biamplification—I got the best sound with a combination of high-powered tube…

Analog Sources VPI TNT IV, Rega Planar 3 turntables; Immedia, Syrinx PU-3 tonearms; Koetsu Urushi, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridges. Digital Sources Lector CDP-7T, Creek Destiny CD players. Integrated Amplifier Creek Evolution 50A. Loudspeakers Epos M5i. Cables Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-330SG Terminator, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator. Speaker: Acarian Systems Black Orpheus, Nola Blue Thunder, Audience Ohno. AC: manufacturers’ own. Accessories Various by ASC, Bright Star, Celestion, Echo Busters, Salamander Designs, Simply Physics, Sound Anchor, VPI.—Robert J. Reina…

Before performing any measurements, I ran one of the Lamm ML3 Signature amplifiers (serial no. G10029) for an hour at 1W into 8 ohms from its 4 ohm tap. At the end of that period, I muted the input signal and checked the plate current of the GM70 output tube using the two test points on the top panel and Lamm’s recommended Fluke 87 multimeter. The wall voltage was 119.3V; the test-point reading was 1.172V DC, which is out of the recommended range of 1.078–1.122V. Using the multi-turn potentiometer that’s visible through a circular cutout in the top panel, I reduced the plate current until the reading was 1.103V. That adjustment made, I performed full sets of measurements from each of the ML3’s three output-transformer taps, using Stereophile’s loan sample…

Description Single-box, USB bus-powered digital/analog converter and headphone amplifier. Maximum word length: 24 bits. Maximum sampling rate: 192kHz. Input: mini USB-B. Line-level–S/PDIF output: 3.5mm mini-jack combining 2-channel analog and TosLink optical digital. Headphone output: 3.5mm mini-jack. Maximum line-level output voltage: 2V RMS. Headphone output impedance: 5.25 ohms, measured.. Maximum headphone output power: 130mW. Dimensions 4" (102mm) L by 1.25" (32mm) W by 0.7" (18mm) D. Weight: 1.76oz (50gm). Serial number of unit reviewed MA03BQ/020005BC. Price $299. Approximate number of dealers: 91. Manufacturer Meridian Audio Ltd., Latham Road, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 6YE, England, UK. Tel: (44) (0)1480-445678. Fax: (44) (0)1480-445686. US distributor: Meridian America Inc., 110 Greene Street, Suite 407, New York, NY 10012. Tel: (646) 666-0140. Tel: (646) 666-0152. www.meridian-audio.com.…

THIS ISSUE: FK cleans his records and JA measures the B.M.C. Phono MCCI. In his June 2012 “Analog Corner,” Michael Fremer hailed the German-made Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner as “the best record-cleaning machine in the world” (see www.analogplanet.com/content/worlds-best-record-cleaning-machine). Then came the punch line: it cost $3995. That just seemed silly. In June 2013, the machine was on display at the New York Hi-Fi Show, and I asked its importer, Robert Stein of Ultra Systems, Inc., what the big deal was. I’d just bought a two-LP 45rpm album, Rickie Lee Jones’s It’s Like This (Artemis/Acoustic Sounds AAPP 51056). Stein offered to clean one of the records; when I got home, I could compare the cleaned with the uncleaned. I accepted the challenge. Back home, I listened to track 1 of…

THIS ISSUE: Volti, Trinnov, Audience, B.M.C., and Pioneer respond to our reviews of their products. Volti Audio Vittora I would like to say thank you to Art Dudley for taking the time to review the Volti Audio Vittora speakers and to Stereophile for publishing the review. I am humbled by the written words, befitting a company with many more accomplishments than my young company. My goal is to build speakers that take the listener away from the equipment and into the music, and based on the delight in Art’s words, I think he clearly enjoyed that experience. Greg Roberts Volti Audio Trinnov Optimizer MC Editor: Thanks to Kalman Rubinson and Stereophile for the look at Trinnov’s product line. It was a pleasure to remotely calibrate Kal’s system. The process involves…