Features

A Private Session With A&E’s Lynn Hoffman
By Jeff Dorgay

Budget Gear: Logitech’s Squeezebox Touch
By Rich Kent

Journeyman Audiophile: The Wadia Power DAC 151
By Jeff Dorgay

Old School Fix My Dual!
By Jerold O’Brien

Tone Style

Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame A Great Reason to Go North
By Bob Gendron
In Defense of 2.1 A great way to pair up a television to your 2ch. system

The Beer Snob Returns!

iPhone 4

Five Finger Footwear

The Dyson DC31 Mini Vac

Smart’s Electric Drive

Music

Live Music: The TONE Staff Covers The Scorpions, Wolf Parade and Lady GaGa

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

Audiophile Pressings
By Jeff Dorgay and Richard Colburn

Club Mix
Summertime Funk!
By Scott Tetzlaff

Recording of Special Merit
Mellencamp’s Latest, In Mono…
By Bob Gendron

Previews

The Sonus Faber Fenice

The Loricraft Record Cleaner

Reviews

The Audio Research DSi200
By Steve Guttenberg

The Goldring Legacy MC Cartridge
By Lawrence Devoe

Conrad Johnson’s TEA2 SE Phono Preamplifier
By Jacob Heilbrunn

The Shuguang 6CA7 “Treasure” Vacuum Tubes
By Jeff Dorgay

The Verity Finn Speakers
By Jerold O’Brien

The Simaudio MOON 300D and 750D DAC’s
By Jeff Dorgay

SLUMMIN’
Garage Sale Madness

For all of the TONEAudio readers that would like to read some movie reviews and perhaps some home theater/AV as well, stop by Blu-Ray Definition. We’ve decided to team up with BRD publisher, Brandon DuHamel and cross pollinate a bit. I’ll be writing a few hardware reviews and giving you my take on some of my favorite movies, new and old.

There’s a lot of great content over there, so we encourage you to take a peek! Just click here.

I’ve been using Running Springs power line conditioners with excellent luck for just over five years now and have upgraded my current reference system to their flagship products, the Dmitri (for all of my line level components) and the Maxim (for my power amplifier, on a separate 20 amp circuit), while the Haley that I purchased quite a few years ago is still working well in system two.

Recently, Running Springs has made a series of upgrades to their line of power conditioners, the Duke, Jaco and Haley that encompass more than the carbon fiber face plates you see on the front. The squishy, sorbothane feet have also been replaced by new, carbon fiber feet and there are a couple of carbon fiber damping plates inside as well. But the biggest improvement comes from the addition of their new platinum foil capacitors. RSA designer Dan Babineau said, “These were all simple but effective changes that make a marked improvement.”

Definitely, a cost effective improvement

The cost increase over past models is about $500 on the Jaco and $400 on the Haley, and a direct comparison between the old models and new reveals the current spec units better in every way. The new models are not light years ahead of the old, but when listening side by side, the current version does present an even lower overall noise floor, with less AC grunge getting through and less resulting grain in the overall presentation. In essence, the new versions take you closer to the performance of the Dmitri and Maxim.

Current RSA customers that need to have the latest, greatest version do not need to sell their current product. The factory offers an upgrade for the earlier models; the Haley can be updated for $350 and the Jaco $500. These are factory direct upgrades (to keep the cost reasonable) and you will need to contact RSA to get a return authorization. This upgrade is not restricted to the original owner, even if yours was purchased used, the price is the same.

The best part of the upgrade is that the unit once upgraded, will not only receive a full factory check up, but an additional 3-year warranty. It’s like buying a certified pre owned used car.

Conclusion

Running Springs continues to raise the bar in power line conditioning and their latest upgrade renews their commitment to their customer base as well. Highly recommended.

Manufacturers Information

www.runningspringsaudio.com

MSRP: Haley ($1,899 – $3,499) Jaco ($3,599 – $4,599) depending on configuration