TONEAudio MAGAZINE The Concierge of High End Audio

With all of the emphasis on digital music recording these days, I’ve decided to make an about face and dramatically go old-school. Back in the 80s, the Nakamichi 550 was the ultimate portable analog recording deck. With peak reading meters and solid frequency response out to 18khz, it’s highly capable as a home or portable machine. Originally, it was meant to run on an AC adapter or 8 D-Cell batteries. (Buying that many batteries made me feel like Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing. “I said D batteries, motherfucker!”) To stay green, a Black Lightning rechargeable battery supply is on the way from Red Wine Audio http://redwineaudio.com/components/black_lightning .

The unit pictured here is just about finished getting tuned up by the master, Willy Hermann from Willy Hermann Services. If you’ve got a Nakamichi deck that needs attention, give Willy a call. He rebuilt my Nakamichi Dragon to perfection and since its return, my reel-to-reel deck has been collecting dust. Who knows? Perhaps the 550 might make an appearance at one of next year’s hi-fi shows.

www.willyhermannservices.com

It’s a great time to be a vinyl enthusiast. Despite all the excitement over five- and six-figure turntables, many audiophiles are not spending that kind of dough on record players. There are a lot of music lovers exploring vinyl for the first time and getting their feet wet with a $300 to $500 table-and-cartridge combination, but if you really want a stronger dose of analog magic (and remember, digital keeps getting better all the time), you need to spend some more money.

How much money you ask? I’ve always felt that about $1,500 to $2,500 is an excellent plateau for a turntable and phono-cartridge combination. If you can increase your budget to this range, you’ll get a much more substantial analog experience than an entry-level table has to offer without heading off to never-never land. Of course, this number is not in stone, but this is where I’ve always felt you can really enjoy the subtleties that make analog fantastic. For the time being, I’m assuming that you already have a phono stage built into your preamplifier or have a suitable outboard phono stage already on hand. If not, budget about another $1,000 here and you will be well rewarded.

If you can afford to make this kind of investment in an analog front end, there are a plethora of choices when shopping for a new turntable. There are some bargains to be found on the web occasionally, but more often than not, used-turntable transactions end up with a frown instead of a smile because precious few people take the necessary care to pack a turntable so that it reaches its destination in one piece. So for now, let’s talk new.

The competition

There are some great tables in the $1,000 to $2,000 range from Rega, VPI, Pro-ject and a few others, not to mention the outstanding Clearaudio Concept we reviewed just recently. Add one more to your list: the Consonance XBB is the real deal, and it takes a different approach than the others in its immediate price range, making it very intriguing.

Ian and Rachel at Grant Fidelity have been importing some great gear from China over the past few years combining high performance with some very reasonable prices, and their customer service has been exemplary. We just reviewed their Shugyuang Premium EL-34 tubes last issue and they are fantastic. And well-worth mentioning, their customer service is second to none. So I was very excited to receive their latest turntable, which has an MSRP of $1,465 with the standard nine-inch tonearm. For an additional $210, you can add a 12-inch arm tube that will require configuring the turntables’ base differently so you can achieve the proper spindle-to-pivot distance required for the 12-inch tonearm.

Construction

The XBB is a plinth-less design that goes together quickly. Once you remove the metal bars that make up the base and lower the one-inch-thick acrylic platter onto the bearing surface, the only remaining step is to attach the unipivot arm and dial it in with your favorite cartridge. And what a cool tonearm it is! The long, carbon-fiber shaft is somewhat reminiscent of the one featured on the Well Tempered Arm, with a quick disconnect so that additional arm tubes can be easily substituted. Once exposed, the main bearing can be filled with the supplied oil to damp its movement.

The Consonance arm uses a threaded tube that allows you to set the VTA easily for any cartridge, which is a rarity at this price point. Once you snug down the two round washers on top and below the arm mount, there is a 4mm Allen bolt in the turntable base to snug the tube the rest of the way. Fail to take this last step and low bass will suffer.

The other side of the tonearm connector has a short pair of unshielded leads that connect to a pair of RCA jacks, allowing you the flexibility of choosing your own phono interconnect. While convenient in theory, this was my only complaint with the table. With these just hanging loosely from the tonearm mount, I see this as an area that could be problematic for someone who accesses this on a regular basis, changing cables. You could very easily bump the counterweight and send the tonearm bouncing across a record. Set-it-and-forget-it types will be fine, and in all fairness, I’d still rather see this arrangement than have such a good turntable be handicapped by a mediocre tonearm cable that is hardwired in place.

When unpacking the Consonance turntable for the first time, be careful not to misplace the belt; it is a very fine, monofilament material (much like fishing line) wrapped around a tiny paper bobbin. It does not stretch at all. So again, caution is the word when installing it.

Cartridges and setup

Once assembled, a quick speed check with the Acoustic Sounds test record and my digital multimeter revealed that all was well. The 1000 Hz track played at exactly 1,000 Hz right out of the box.

The Consonance arrives sans cartridge, but I did try a range of cartridges in the $400-$1,000 range, settling on the Clearaudio Maestro Wood MM. I was able to achieve excellent performance with the Lyra Dorian as well, but staying with a moving-magnet design really kept with the ethos of not getting too carried away with the checkbook on this setup. If you already have a MC preamplifier, a great MC cart in the $1,000 to $2,000 range will not embarrass this table.

Cartridge setup is straightforward, but if you’ve never used a unipivot arm before, the “floppiness” at the pivot point is somewhat unnerving until you get accustomed to it. When setting the azimuth, it’s critical to have the half-moon shaped counterweight perfectly level or you will have some serious channel-balance issues. You will spend a bit of time going back and forth between optimum tracking force and perfect azimuth adjustment, but your cartridge will be much better off for it. Anti-skate is set with a small hanging weight, as is common on many of the Pro-ject arms.

The table was auditioned primarily in my second system, consisting of the McIntosh C500 preamplifier and MC 1.2kw power amplifiers driving a pair of B&W 805D speakers with JL Audio Gotham Subwoofer. Near the end of the review period, it was transferred to my main system to provide direct comparisons with my reference table/cartridge combinations.

Sound

I was immediately struck by the openness of the presentation with the Consonance and spent an uncharacteristically long time listening to female vocalists. When listening to K.D. Lang’s All You Can Eat LP, there was a wealth of inner detail that is not normally present to this degree on similarly priced tables. It seems like Consonance and Clearaudio have both raised the bar substantially for turntable performance in the $1,400 range. I noticed the same effect with Fleetwood Mac’s self titled remaster on Mobile Fidelity; as Christine McVie’s voice faded out on “Warm Ways,” there was a longer gradation between the softness in her voice than that delivered by my trusty Technics SL-1200 on input 2. This is indicative of a solid-bearing design, not letting the finest details get lost in the noise floor. And just like the Clearaudio table, the DC motor responds very well to battery power, giving this table even better low-level resolution. But that’s an article for another time.

In fear of mellowing out too much, AC/DC’s 12-inch 45 maxi single of “Let’s Get It Up” was the next selection, and if you are an AC/DC fan, searching one of these out is a must. Although the album on which this track is originally featured (For Those About to Rock) is somewhat compressed, spreading this track out on a full side of vinyl spinning at 45 rpm is a tour de force of rock dynamics, giving you a tremendous insight into what a wall of Marshall amplifiers really sound like. Make no mistake, this table can rock and even though the Consonance is a suspensionless design, it is relatively impervious to acoustic feedback, even at high SPL.

While the battery power will increase the resolution of this table, the parameter that might drive you crazy is making the choice for a mat. The table comes supplied with a 2mm thick, spongy rubber mat. Ian told me that the table’s designer prefers to use the table with no mat, but that was a bit too harsh for my taste. If you have a cartridge possessing a more lush tonal balance, this may be just perfect. Experimentation on the mat is a worthwhile endeavor and will help you fine tune the table to your liking.  For now, the standard issue, Rega felt mat is my favorite and easily removable arm wands make it easy to use multiple phono cartridges.

Conclusion

Add the Consonance XBB to the very short list of fine turntables in the $1,500 to $2,000 range. It offers everything that an analog lover would want (great sound, ease of setup and a tweekable upgrade path) with no downside at a very reasonable price. This one is joining our long-term turntable fleet.

www.grantfidelity.com

Building on the success of its latest phono preamplifiers, UK turntable manufacturer AVID has set its sights on the cable market. We’ve received the SCT interconnects and ACT speaker cable, so they are playing nicely in system two, consisting of the McIntosh C500 control center, ARC REF 150 power amplifier, and a pair of B&W 802 Diamond loudspeakers. Of course, there is an AVID table in the mix—two of them, actually, the Diva II and Diva II SP (also in for review).

Glamour shots have just been taken, so we’ve just begun listening. So far, so good, but we’re not letting the cat out of the bag just yet. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for review progress, but right now, it looks like AVID has produced another winner.  For more information, click here.

Merely mentioning that you still listen to vinyl records in casual conversation amongst non-audiophiles almost always invokes a raised eyebrow. And if you try to explain the thrill of vacuum tubes, people that don’t give you a dog-like stare will surely move you to the penalty box. But as vacuum tube fans know, current designs continue to advance like the Energizer bunny, with the best examples light years ahead of the humble beginning of the Williamson circuit from the 1940s. In 1955, the Heathkit version of the original circuit claimed to have “performance far beyond the finest speaker systems available.”  Much has improved since then.

Hailing from Germany, the Octave MRE 130 monoblocks look straightforward in terms of aesthetics. But they’ve also combined a few unique features, along with meticulous attention to detail, to create a pair of power amplifiers that sit at the top of their class. The standard MRE 130 monos run $16,000 per pair, and thanks to external power supply modules ($7,500 additional per pair), allow for the option of taking their stunning performance even further.

The most distinctive aspect of these amplifiers is the substantial redesign of the classic pentode amplifier circuit. The first part of the Octave approach is its power management system, which not only provides a soft start for the tubes, but also furnishes a separate supply that is optimized for the input stage—as well as another for the output stage and a third section that takes care of the additional current requirements of the pentode circuit. In addition, an electronic protection circuit protects the amplifier from damage, should tube failure occur while remaining audibly transparent.

While Octave has only been distributed in the United States for a few years, the company began in 1968 when founder Andreas Hoffman’s father began a transformer-winding factory in Germany. Hoffman started building solid-state amplifiers in 1975 and turned his attention to tubes in 1977. In the years that followed, his products won numerous awards in Europe and Asia.

The MR 130 amplifiers are rated at 100 watts per channel into an 8-ohm load and 130 per channel into 4 ohms. Available in silver or black, the MR 130s are substantial at 46 pounds (22.7kg) each, but not so heavy that they need more than one person to lift.

Setup

Removing the tube cage reveals a complement of two 12AU7s (ECC82C) and a 6C5 as driver tubes, with a quartet of 6550s for the output stage. They can also be configured with KT88s. The review pair came with KT88s installed, and Octave was thoughtful by including two spare power tubes. The company should also be praised for producing one of the most comprehensive and well-written manuals in the industry. It offers background on the design, a thorough explanation of how to properly bias the tubes, and finally, for the technically inclined, measurements.  Hoffman has indicated that future versions of the MRE 130 have been slightly modified to ship with a 6SN7 in the place of the 6C5, to make it easier to find replacments, but assured me that there is no change in sound.

Once the tubes are installed in their respective sockets, the output tubes need to have proper bias set. Five LEDs indicate bias status. A middle green LED indicates correct bias, while a yellow one to the left of center glows with an underbias situation and a yellow one to the right indicates overbias. An orange LED all the way on the far left is used when installing a fresh set of tubes. Finally, a red LED on the maximum far right position only lights when a tube is defective.

The remainder of the setup is straightforward, with two pairs of easily accessible speaker binding posts and a pair of RCA and XLR input sockets. Input type is selected via a switch, and the inputs can be shorted as well, so you can change cables without causing amplifier or speaker damage. XLR connectors are offered, but the amplifier is not fully balanced, as Hoffman doesn’t feel that it’s a superior way to design a tube amplifier.

Although the manual states that output tubes can take “up to 300 hours to sound their best,” my review samples had just come from the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, where they had about a week on the clock. I did not hear a change in amplifiers’ sound character during the test period, other than that of initial warm-up. The MRE 130s require about 45 minutes to sound their best.

It’s also worth mentioning that an output tube failed during the course of this review, and while such an episode may have caused drama with other amplifiers, the MRE 130 simply went quiet. The corresponding red LED lit up to indicate the defective tube. Once the latter was replaced, the MRE 130 went back to performing flawlessly.

Listening Impressions

Beginning with a handful of audiophile classics, I was instantly struck by the soundstage depth and fine detail offered by the MR130s. The LP of the Fleet Foxes’ debut encapsulated such characteristics, keeping the band members’ harmonies wonderfully separated. And the title track from the new Fleet Foxes record, Helplessness Blues (reviewed this issue), proved quite a treat as well. The heavily layered vocals were easy to pluck from the main musical line, as they floated above and in front of the big bass drum in the background.

John Fogerty’s version of “I Put a Spell on You” from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s self-titled album (45RPM Analogue Productions version) proved equally captivating. Shortly thereafter, the band’s “Suzie Q” equated to retro treat, with the lead guitar distinctly defined in the far left channel, full of glorious distortion as Fogerty chimed in and out of the right channel. Yet the bass guitar sounded diffuse, hanging back behind the performers. It was as if bassist Stu Cook was off playing in another room.

While most tube amplifiers impart a glorious sense of pace and a generous measure of air, they usually falter in the area of bass control. But the MRE 130s did not fall victim to the common problem that plagues all but the world’s best tube amplifiers— proof that Hoffman’s power-supply design is highly successful. The funky bass lines in George Michael’s “Hard Day” from Faith arrived with just the right amount of weight and grip, and without losing control. Keep in mind that this song usually overwhelms most tube amplifiers and ends up boomy.

I was equally impressed with the deep bass performance of the MRE 130s when grooving to George Clinton’s “Why Should I Dog You Out?” from The Cinderella Theory. If you have speakers capable of delivering major low-frequency extension, the MRE 130s will step up to the plate. Depth and dimension were definite specialties of the MRE 130s even if they weren’t the equivalent of my Burmester 911 mk.3s. But the Octaves were about to make some big performance gains.

Increasing Performance: Step One

Users not interested in experimenting with different tube configurations will enjoy the MRE 130s as outfitted at the factory. However, if you are a maniacal tube enthusiast that always searches for more performance, rest assured that more is on tap. Towards the end of the review period, the new KT120 power tubes were released. And while this model isn’t a plug-in replacement for every amplifier that utilizes 6550 or KT88 tubes, Hoffman assured me that the MRE 130s’ power supply was up to the task of this particular tube’s increased current demands.

Hoffman also claims that, without redesigning the amplifier, it really won’t produce much more power than with the stock KT88 tubes. Yet, with the KT120s installed, the sound quality tremendously improved on both ends of the frequency spectrum. Bass became deeper and tighter, with even better control than before. The MRE 130s already exhibited some of the most controlled bass I’ve ever heard from a tube amplifier, and with the KT120s, they offer even more grunt.

At the other end of the spectrum, more air circulated around cymbals than before.  Heading back to the CCR catalog, the high hat cymbals seemed to float better while the overall sound achieved a heightened level of refinement. Acoustic instruments became fleshed out with more body; the more complex sounds of the violin and piano took another step towards reality. Originally recorded to two-track 30 i.p.s. tape, Liz Story’s Steinway on her Solid Colors LP suspiciously sounded like the one in my living room.  The amplifiers did an excellent job of letting me just forget about the gear and get lost in the musical presentation.

While the MRE 130s came with a pair of JJ ECC82s (12AU7) installed in each unit, swapping them out for the new Pvane 12AU7s from Shunuang yielded more delicacy. Substituting your favorite NOS tube may change the tonal character of the amplifier, but the new Pvane tubes did not alter tonality. They simply dropped the noise floor of an already very quiet tube amplifier even further, and peeled off a layer of grain that I didn’t previously know existed.  If you do nothing else to your MRE 130s, I highly suggest making this small change.

Step Two: Adding the Big Black Boxes

After becoming thoroughly familiar with the MRE 130s in their stock form and then again with upgraded tubes, another big performance jump came via the Super Black Box, which incidentally, is silver. While a pair of Super Black Boxes add $7,500 to the MRE 130s’ price tag, the improvement is major—and well worth it. As you might suspect from such a substantial upgrade, the soundstage immediately became larger in all three directions, the upper register had more clarity, and the bass possessed even more heft and control.

Whereas Naim gives you the opportunity to add a completely different power supply, the Octave Super Black Box is a giant capacitor bank tethered to each amplifier by a massive power cord and connector. Once powered up, the Super Black Box has a blue status indicator—just like the power amplifier. Should you feel the need to disconnect them, a yellow LED glows for approximately two seconds, indicating the discharge. Hence, you will not be exposed to any harmful voltage when unplugging them.

Digging through deep tracks to locate old-school synthesized bass, I dusted off Edgar Winter’s Jasmine Nightdreams. The second cut, “Little Brother,” has a fairly loose and whumpy albeit powerful bass line that was much more agreeable with the Super Black Boxes in place. The song lost some looseness but not the character of the bass.  I discovered the same effect when playing “Word Up!” from Korn’s Greatest Hits, Vol.1. The driving bass line attained more authority and punch than before, an experience that led me to revisit most of the initial tracks I used to determine the MRE 130s’ character. A definite transformation.

Still, the improvements afforded by the Super Black Box went beyond bass performance. The three-dimensional aspect of the presentation increased to the point that I felt as if I were listening to surround sound. Kraftwerk’s Tour de France took on an uncanny sense of depth that normally requires an analog source to achieve. I found myself listening start-to-finish to several albums in the digital format that I normally experience one or two tracks at a time before moving on. The MRE 130s’ resolution healthily expanded, as did the jump in dynamic range.

Hoffman also told me that one of the side benefits of additional power-supply capacity lowered the amplifier’s output impedance, which accounts for its spectacular bass performance. Such extra capacity also gives the MRE 130s’ the ability to more easily drive difficult loads. I had no problem driving my MartinLogan CLX speakers or the Magnepan 1.6s, each notoriously tough to drive with tubes. Without the Super Black Boxes in place, the MRE 130s ran out of juice with the Magnepans and rolled off the highs with the CLXs. This upgrade is a must if you plan on using these amplifiers with either speaker.

Before adding the upgraded tubes and Super Black Box, the MRE 130s took a back seat to my Burmester 911 Mk. 3 monoblocks in terms of imaging and delicacy. But, after I made the changes, the Octave units held their own in these areas when played within their limits—very impressive for a pair of amplifiers that cost one-third as much as the Burmester gear.

Conclusion

While I can’t imagine using the Octave MRE 130s without the Super Black Boxes now that I’ve had the experience, they are fantastic amplifiers without the add-ons, and Octave is to be commended for giving the end user the opportunity to work their way up to a statement product.

The Octave MRE 130 monoblocks should satisfy all but the most power-hungry systems. If 130 watts per channel is not enough, Octave also produces floor-standing Jubilee monoblocks, which we will audition in the near future. If you’ve always wanted the benefits of tube amplification without any of the drawbacks, these amplifiers are for you.

Octave MRE 130 Monoblock Amplifiers

MSRP: $16,000/pair; Super Black Box: $7,500/pair

Manufacturer Information:

www.octave.de

Peripherals

Analog Source                        AVID Acutus Reference SP w/SME V and Koetsu Urushi Blue

Digital Source                        dCS Paganini (4 box stack), Sooloos Control 15

Phono Preamplifier            ARC REF Phono 2, Octave Phono Module

Preamplifier                        Burmester 011, McIntosh C500

Speakers                        GamuT S9, MartinLogan CLX, Magnepan 1.6, B&W 805D

Cable                                    Cardas Clear

Power                                    Running Springs Maxim and Dmitri power conditioners, RSA and Shunyata power cords

Accessories                        Furutech DeMag, SRA Ohio Class XL+² equipment platforms, Loricraft PRC -2 record cleaner

CD22 CD Player

The CD22 is the successor to and upgrade for the successful CD21 CD Player.  It is housed in Primare’s signature heavy alloy chassis, designed to provide strength, rigidity, and isolation, while also damping vibrations from external sources.

The internals include a switchable sample rate converter (44.1/48/96/192kHz), single Burr-Brown PCM1792 DAC with active MOSFET transistor, and SMD technology that keeps the signal paths isolated and as short as possible.  Also befitting its audiophile credentials, the CD22 contains no capacitors in the signal path: a DC servo takes care of any DC offset present in the circuit or from the DACs.

The display of the CD22 is isolated from the audio circuits and is dimmable in 4 steps (when connected to the I22 via IR, the CD22 and I22 display brightness can be matched). RS232 is included for connection to a larger home automation system.

INPUTS: USB, IR 3.5mm, RS232, Trigger 3.5mm

OUTPUTS: 1pr x RCA (analogue), 1 x S/PDIF (digital), 1 x optical (digital), RS232, IR, Trigger

The CD22 is available in black or silver finish for immediate shipment at a US retail price of $1695.

I22 Integrated Amplifier

The I22 is a 2 x 80wpc Class D Integrated Amplifier that utilizes Primare’s proprietary UFPD power technology.  It is designed to provide high power output with very low distortion as well as system control for the new 20 Series range of separates.  The I22 is proud to be “green”, as its Class D design makes it extremely efficient without generating excessive heat, and its standby mode only consumes 0.3 W.

Inside the heavy alloy chassis are two discrete UFPD amplifiers, with the preamp section fed by its own dedicated power supply.  All signal paths are as short as possible and all signal controls (source selection, volume, and channel balance trim) are performed purely in the analogue domain.  Volume and balance controls employ a single LM1972 attenuator; source selection is via high performance relays.

ULTRA FAST POWER DEVICE (UFPD) TECHNOLOGY

The use of switch mode power electronics is gaining in popularity as the result of its lower energy consumption and as a way to squeeze more amplifier channels into smaller spaces.  Unfortunately Class D amplifiers and their switch mode power supplies have traditionally deserved a reputation for poor audio quality, characterized by rising THD with frequency. Primare’s UFPD (Ultra Fast Power Device) technology, however, provides for the possibilities of a full-range ‘audiophile’ Class D design. It features a consistent 26dB feedback loop gain across the entire audio bandwidth and is stable way beyond the audible frequencies. This is quite easy to achieve in conventional linear ‘continuous signal’ amplifiers, but much more difficult in ‘non-continuous’ high speed switching amplifiers.

Rather than have the amplifier and then the filter as discrete stages, the UFPD design integrates the two, making control with feedback much more immediate and accurate.  The UFPD amplifier actively adapts the loop gain to keep the total loop stable during start-up, clipping, and current limit.  It senses the changes to the filter output and compensates by applying the precise amount of feedback.  This adaptive pole control allows for several more dBs of constant loop gain across the audio band and maintains performance irrespective of load (impedance) variations.

The UFPD treats all signals equally, regardless of frequency or slew rate, and has the ability to suppress the filter resonance entirely.  Consequently THD is kept very low at all frequencies.  With this very wide “load independent” frequency response, UFPD is able to drive any speaker while maintaining control and accuracy.

In conjunction with UFPD, Primare uses an isolated PFC (Power Factor Control) technology in the power supply, which controls the current from the mains voltage so that it is a pure sine wave with the same frequency and phase as the mains voltage.  The isolating stage of the converter works in a ZVS mode and as a result, the switch flanks contain a lower quantity of harmonics, providing lower EMI and a clean environment for the amplifiers to work in.

OPTIONAL DAC BOARD

An optional retailer-installed DAC board is available for the I22, allowing not just the connection of an existing CD player but also the streaming of music files from PCs and Macs.  Three digital inputs are included: isochronous USB-B (16-24bit/44.1-96kHz), optical (16-24bit/44.1-192kHz), and S/PDIF (16-24bit/44.1-192kHz).

The DAC consists of two chips: Analog Devices’ AD1855 and TI’s PCM1792A.  And although the I22 uses a conventional USB input, it is non-standard, exhibiting reduced jitter and improved clock performance by using TI’s USB streaming chip TAS1020B.

SPECIFICATIONS

Output Power            2 x 80wpc at 8Ω, 2 x 160wpc at 4Ω
Analogue Inputs        4 pair RCA

Optional DAC Board        1 x USB-B Input
1 x Digital Optical Input (TOSLINK)
1 x Digital Coaxial Input (RCA)

Input Impedance        15kΩ
Analogue Record Out        1 pair RCA
Pre Out            1 pair RCA
Output Impedance        RCA 94Ω
Frequency Response        10Hz – 20kHz, -0.5dB
THD + N            < 0.05%, 20Hz – 20kHz, 10W at 8Ω
Signal-to-noise            -95dB
Power Consumption        Standby: 0.3W, Operation: 19W
Net Weight            10kg

The I22 is available in black or silver finish for immediate shipment at a US retail price of $1695.

The optional DAC board for the I22 is also available immediately at a US retail price of $595.

After hundreds of hours of initial listening, the Decware Zen Torii continues to improve, as designer Steve Deckert said it would.  While the full review will be in issue 40, suffice to say that this is one of the most musically engaging amplifiers I’ve had the pleasure to experience.  If you’ve ever spent time with a great SET and thought “If this only had 2-3 times the power, I could live with it,” your ship has arrived.  After owning a number of the world’s finest SET amplifiers, I can easily support Deckert’s claim that the Zen Torii is certainly the equal of any SET I’ve owned.

The best news is that the Zen Torii has 25 watts per channel.  Utilizing a pair of EL34 power tubes per channel as well as tube rectification and voltage regulation, it offers a sound that is fast, detailed and dynamic, with bass and treble controls that let you fine tune the amplifier to your speakers.  These are not tone controls in the classic sense, altering the frequency response of the amplifier.  The bass control controls the impedance match with your speakers, so it doesn’t increase or decrease the amount of bass as it does change the tonal character of the bass from soft to taut – so there is no right or wrong setting, but it does allow you to tailor the sound exactly to your liking.  Per the instruction manual, the treble control allows a gentle roll off of the high frequencies and is not in the actual signal path.

Digging further in the well written and illustrated owners manual reveals that this amplifier is a tube rollers’ delight, with a number of options available.  So far, we’ve stuck with the stock tubes, but when the rainy winter season hits the Pacific Northwest again, it will be time for some experimenting.  I’ve been stockpiling a few different types of EL34’s, some variations on the 5U4 rectifiers and even a couple of different voltage regulators.  If for no other reason, the blue glow of a pair of OB3’s looks like fun.

But all techie goodies aside, this amplifier sounds wonderful.  Pricing for the standard Zen Torii is $2,975 and the model reviewed here features a $500 V-Cap upgrade and a 21 position stepped attenuator, which will also allow you to maximize the output of your preamplifier to get maximum dynamic range.

These are 25 of the best watts you will find anywhere, at any price.  If a 25wpc tube amplifier is your idea of nirvana, I suggest calling Mr. Deckert now and getting in line, there is usually a waiting list for one of his amplifiers – but your patience will be rewarded!

www.decware.com

(photo courtesy of Decware)

“Where’s the sub?” Those were the first words out of my mouth as I entered Danny Haikin’s office at B&W in London earlier this year. He just smiled and said, “There isn’t one. That’s just coming from the two desktop speakers.” Then we spent the better part of the next hour talking about music while I got a proper demo of B&W’s latest masterpiece, built upon the technology incorporated in its Zeppelin models.

Indeed, a few years ago, B&W wowed the desktop/iPod world with its original Zeppelin and built on that success with the Zeppelin Mini and recently, an upgraded Zeppelin model. My tour of the B&W factory (full article to follow in a future issue of TONE) revealed a substantial amount of brain trust devoted to the Zeppelin line. The forward-thinking mindset has paid off handsomely for B&W, which now sells the Zeppelin and MM-1s through Apple stores as well as its own dealer network.

Like the rest of the B&W range, the MM-1s possess the understated elegance for which the marquee is known. While the $499 price might initially catch you off guard, the first listen proves reassuring. Incorporating a version of the Zeppelin’s DSP (digital signal processing) engine, the MM-1s are a two-way active speaker system that uses a tube-loaded tweeter—just like those in the company’s higher-end models—and a long-throw bass driver. The brochure claims that the MM-1 “is a true hi-fi speaker, shrunk to fit on your desktop,” and is absolutely correct.

Each of the MM-1s only takes up a 3.9 inch (100mm) x 3.9 inch square on your desktop and stands a mere 6.6 inches tall (170mm). The enclosures are wrapped in black textured grille cloth that is similar to B&W’s larger speakers, and trimmed with a brushed aluminum band and top plate. Our art director’s design sense immediately piqued during the photo shoot.

Quick Setup

The MM-1s looked like so much fun that I resisted the urge to read the instruction manual. I’m happy to report that the average computer user can be rocking in a matter of minutes. Three essential connections need to be made: The 4-pin umbilical from the left speaker to the right, the USB port from the right speaker to your computer, and the power supply to the right speaker.

I had to sneak inside my iMac’s sound control panel to direct sound output to the MM-1s via USB, but that was about it. The only glitch in the operation came when using the Control:Mac software with my Sooloos music server. For those accessing a Sooloos, you will have to use the supplied AUX cable to go between your Mac’s headphone output and the MM-1’s AUX input. The Mac will not send audio output from the Sooloos back out via USB. iTunes and Rhapsody users will have no trouble.

Once connected, volume can be controlled via the chrome band on the right speaker, the control panel on your computer, or with the egg-shaped volume control that is standard issue for the Zeppelin series. This is incredibly handy, should you utilize the MM-1s outside of an immediate desktop region. They actually worked quite well in my kitchen, fed via a nearby Apple Airport Express.

Verifying Initial Observations

To be sure I wasn’t brainwashed at B&W’s HQ with a tarted-up prototype, I began my listening sessions with tracks containing some bass.  First up, Thomas Dolby’s “Pulp Culture” from Aliens Ate My Buick. Then, after auditioning a few quick cuts from Tone Loc’s Loc-Ed After Dark, I was firmly convinced that the MM-1s had enough bass on tap. The warm sound I remembered from my London visit confirmed that these are serious desktop loudspeakers.

The B&W DSP engine works wonders, allowing the MM-1s to disappear on your desktop in an almost uncanny way. Prince’s One Nite Alone perfectly played to this strength, creating a soundfield that went well beyond the desktop’s borders. While not always convenient in an office environment, spend 30 minutes with the MM-1s, and you’ll never want to listen to headphones again.

With rock, rap, and funk checked off, time spent with acoustic music confirmed the speakers’ versatility and shared heritage with top-line B&W models. The Sooloos made it incredibly easy to switch between the desktop system with the MM-1s and my reference system built around B&W 805Ds. Both pairs of speakers had a similar, airy character, especially with piano and violin. Listening to Keith Jarrett’s Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 equated to a spectacular experience on the desktop; with my eyes closed, it seemed like a piano was floating on my desk.

Serious Resolution

An uncanny level of resolution sets the MM-1s apart from many of the other powered computer speakers I’ve experienced. They reproduce spatial cues and create a three-dimensional soundfield in a way I’ve yet to experience with this type of product.

Even the most inexperienced listeners are easily able to hear the difference between low-res MP3 files and standard 16bit/44.1khz files of the Rolling Stones’ Through the Past Darkly. Yet the variation became more stunning when playing back the HD Tracks’ 24 bit/176khz versions. My friends were not only amazed by how much more information surfaced, but how effortless it was to discern such detail on a pair of $500 desktop speakers. For example, the texture in Mick Jagger’s voice on “Ruby Tuesday” proved staggering.  The only way I could get my desk back was to blast Steel Dragon’s “Death to All But Metal.” And while this deejaying change helped me regain my personal space, the MM-1s were still clearly up to task.

No Need to Fear High-End Sound

If you’ve been on the sidelines or fearing the complex world of high-end sound, jump in with a pair of B&W MM-1s. You won’t need any special cables or know how. And the speakers won’t leave a huge dent in your wallet.  Just plug them in and enjoy your music in a much more immersive way than you did before. Who knows, you might even be tempted to head to your B&W dealer for a pair of 800s one day. Good sound is contagious. This is truly a product you will wonder how you ever lived without.

Click here to visit the MM-1 site.

Features

The Music Never Stopped
By Bob Gendron

Macro: Our New Section Devoted to Desktop Audio
By Jeff Dorgay

Old School: The Ten Best Buys in Vintage Audio
By Jerold O’Brien

Tone Style

The Beer Snob: Three Summer Beers
By Bob Gendron

DEVO’s Vegan Shoes

Monster Clean Touch Pen

Railway Maps of the World

Estes’ Big Daddy Rocket

AQ Binding Post Wrench

Hipgnosis – For the Love of Vinyl

Music

Live Music: The TONE Staff covers Twilight Singers, Keren Ann, Buffalo Springfield and Orange Goblin

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

Audiophile Pressings
By Paul Rigby and Jeff Dorgay

Jazz and Blues
Three new releases
By Jim Macnie

Previews

Classe CA-M300 Power Amplifiers

AVID Diva II and Diva II SP Turntables

Bryston 10B Electronic Crossover

Reviews:  All Budget Gear!

The Magnepan MMG Loudspeakers
By Jeff Dorgay

The Arcam R-Dac
By Paul Rigby

The Klipsch Heresy III Loudspeakers
By Jeff Dorgay

The Rega Brio-R Integrated Amplifier
By Jeff Dorgay

The Pro-Ject Essential Turntable
By Paul Rigby

The Vienna Acoustics Haydn Loudspeakers
By Jeff Dorgay

The IsoTek EVO3 Serius
By Jeff Dorgay

The GemmeAudio Tonic G5 Loudspeakers
By Jerold O’Brien

“Who Is Interested? Well, I Am”

A Conversation With Pink Floyd Drummer Nick Mason

By Bob Gendron

Pink Floyd’s forthcoming reissue series may represent the final time that a major artist’s full catalog receives the deluxe treatment in the manner of enhanced CDs, multiple box sets, redesigned packaging, and auxiliary analog reissues. In an era where most significant artists already witnessed their output re-released in remastered form, and where record labels are increasingly reluctant to manufacture box sets or invest in fancy physical media, EMI is celebrating the British group’s legacy with an exhaustive project that has few peers.

Going well beyond that of EMI’s excellent Beatles remasters series, Pink Floyd’s rollout features reconfigured sound, artwork, inserts, and more—as well as various multi-disc sets that include scads of unreleased and/or rare audio and visual footage. While the reissues don’t street until late September, drummer Nick Mason—the band’s only contiguous member—recently talked with editor Bob Gendron about various details, memories, and procedures related to the massive campaign. In clarifying truths and recalling history, his insightful comments will likely surprise even the most diehard Floyd fans and committed audiophiles.

B: You’ve heard Pink Floyd’s studio records countless times. What jumps out at you when you listen to the new remasters?

N: The thing that strikes me is not so much the quality, although that is interesting and improved. But [the pleasure] really comes from listening to things that I’ve forgotten about. For all of our career, we never really ever revisited old demos or leftover material. The tendency has always been to put that to one side when the record is finished or when we’ve moved on and started doing other shows. Sometimes, you come across ideas that are still quite fresh or interesting, and while they were superceded by some new idea, they still have validity in their own right.

B: Is there anything specific you heard that you feel the band should have revisited?

N: The one that astonishes me that we didn’t pick up on is a version of “Wish You Were Here” that has [violinist] Stephane Grappelli playing on it. First of all, it was just a delight to hear because I always understood that it had been recorded over and we had no record of it. But also, when I did hear it, I was astonished. And I haven’t done so yet, but I must ask Roger and David if they can remember why on earth we didn’t use it. It’s still incredibly powerful.

B: Having had the chance to survey the catalog again, what is the single piece of music  closest to your heart?

N: A version of “On the Run,” recorded long before we actually put it together on the record with the VCS3 tape loop, where it’s played as sort of a jazz piece. It has a rather uptempo drum thing. I listened to it and thought, ‘Good lord, is that me playing?’ I hardly recognize the band, the style, or anything else. That sort of surprise is terrific.

B: Take me through some memories conjured up by the bonus material.

N: It conjures memories of touring in the early to mid 1970s, and putting on those shows. If you looked at the concerts now, you’d just think they were quaint—that’s the word for it. They are so small compared to not what we later did, but to what everyone does now. Virtually every artist today would expect to do quite a lot of staging and music production wherever they are playing. It’s that thing of remembering—the very early cherry pickers, for instance. Hydraulic towers with mounted lights. They are tiny now, but at the time, it was a really groundbreaking idea that you actually carried all of this stage lighting with you and made it part of the show.

B: Would you deem The Wall production “quaint” as well?

N: Quaint is the right word. The Wall came later, but if you look at, for instance, the Ummagumma sleeve: There is a picture of our touring crew and all of our equipment laid out. Well, most people have that in their back room now. It all fits into a small van. But at the time, it seemed like a gigantic amount of stuff. The Wall is interesting because the version that Roger is doing now is a fantastic leap—not so much musically because he’s adhered very rigorously to the original parts played on the record—in terms of the movie parts that have been added to the show. It’s fantastic, and absolutely 30 years further down the line.

B: Speaking of visuals, do you recall being associated with the visual content that’s now included on the box sets?

N: The visuals divide into different periods. There are three major periods: The stuff we originally did for Dark Side of the Moon, which was done by various people. There was an animator named Ian Eames who did a particular series of clocks that have stood the test of time. And then there was a second wave of film done by Hungarian film director Peter Medak. And then, finally, the Gerald Scarfe film that was done for Wish You Were Here. The interesting thing with his stuff is that some of it moved on; it was the forerunner of what got used in The Wall. I’m so used to computer animation now. The actual technology is quite clunky, but the visuals are stunning.

B: To what extent was the band involved in the visual design of the album artwork?

N: There’s no easy answer to that. Not unlike the way the music was put together, it was very different from image to image. The most famous one, the prism, by Storm [Thorgerson], arrived at the studio as five different rough ideas. Within an instant, all of us agreed that the prism was absolutely the right thing, and to go with Storm’s idea. We just rubber-stamped it immediately. There are other visuals where we went backwards and forwards, and in a few cases, there were ideas that initially came from the band and then, Storm developed them. Generally those ideas were less successful—I think Storm would back me up on that. [Laughs]

B: What’s your take on the reissue redesigns?

N: Terrific, because I’m of an age where I really do see physical records disappearing and regret that [trend]—and regret all of the artwork that goes with them. This is maybe not the very last chance, but very late on for Storm to really have another look at things, decide which is best, and add some new bits and pieces. For me, that’s one of the great attractions of the reissue project. We can make sure that every piece of visual art we’ve done, plus a bit more, is made available and there for the record, so to speak.

B: How long has the reissue project been in progress?

N: It’s been in the works for a couple of years. Of course, what happened is that the idea was mentioned two years ago and a lot of the push came from the record company, EMI, which said, ‘You know, you really ought to do this.’ We were initially very lukewarm. We felt that we’d done virtually every version of the catalog that we possibly could. But as the first year went by, we started unearthing more product that could go into it. And then we found ourselves becoming interested in it. It began to make more and more sense. For me, it was the realization that I actually [explore] with other artists. Like with jazz albums; I’ll go out and buy an eight-album John Coltrane box set, which is full of outtakes. And you think, well, ‘Who is interested?’ Well, I am. So if I’m interested in it with an artist, it makes sense to let our fans have access to such material.

B: Is the rare footage coming from personal or record label archives?

N: Most of it has come from EMI’s archives rather than our own. The only things that I’ve turned out have been some very early demos that we made before we were even signed, which contains some very nice Syd Barrett songs. But for the most part, it’s been EMI. The company has very extensive vaults and pretty good cataloging. But what happened this time is that there was a much more concerted effort to look through the archives. The trouble is that, like most archives, there are always a few things that have been miscataloged or haven’t been properly checked. This time, quite a lot of stuff was brought up from the vaults, listened to, and checked. That is how, for instance, the Grappelli version of “Wish You Were Here” got discovered.

B: The multichannel options seemingly parallel the unreleased material in that they represent new horizons for the listener. Do you think surround makes for a better experience?

N: I’m fond of the 5.1 and so on. I think it gives an extra depth to the music. But we’re all coming to terms with the fact that the embracing of the digital revolution wasn’t entirely satisfactory. It’s really interesting how many people are talking about going back to vinyl. You know, when I say ‘a lot of people,’ I mean a tiny percentage. I don’t think it’s really going to catch on. But there is still enormous enthusiasm for that warm, particularly odd sound you get from vinyl. And it’s not the cleanest, most accurate sound. But it does have this quality that people really like. To some extent, it will be really interesting to see the feedback. I’m not sure in this day and age how many people still have stereo sets capable of giving them the full effect. I was just talking with some people at breakfast this morning about the technical side of the reissues, and I said, ‘Maybe we should put a sort of health warning and say it is not advised to buy this record unless you have speakers that require at least two men to carry them into the room.’ [Laughs]

B: Regarding sonics, were you conscious when you were recording albums—especially Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall—that they would be, more than 30 years on, be used as references by producers, engineers, and audiophiles?

N: No. It’s astonishing in some ways. I think anyone who went into rock and roll in the 60s or early 70s entered into it with the belief that it was rock and roll and it was ephemeral and that it would be all over. Anything that you produced would last around a year, and in your working life, you’d be lucky to get five years. Of course, it changed. It became a completely different thing. The point I would like to get across is that if the quality of some of this stuff is so good—and I believe it is—it’s a testament to Abbey Road and the people that worked there and the systems they had in place in the 60s, where the kids joined as apprentices and really learned the trade of making records and miking things up and going for the highest standards of loading the tape.

B: It’s shocking to hear you admit that, even in the wake of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Pink Floyd believed it would disappear without a trace within a few years.

N: [Laughs] We’re all very privileged and lucky to have had a 40-odd-year career out of it. Obviously, after the first 10 or 15 years, you realize it’s not likely going to go away. But initially, in the late 60s, when we kicked off and had no idea where this would lead or end up, it’s what we thought.

In an audiophile world where individual components have five (and sometimes six) figure price tags, the concept of being able to get a preamplifier and a pair of 200-watt mono amplifiers that use discrete circuitry instead of just being Class-D for under $1,200 is refreshing. You may have guessed that such components are manufactured offshore and sold direct to you from the manufacturer; both methods are necessary to keep costs down to this level. However, due to the high praise that greets Emotiva products, it appears that the company makes quality control a main priority.

The USP-1 preamplifier fetches $499 while the 200-watt-per-channel UPA-1 monoblocks cost $349 each. Popping the top on both components reveals beefy power transformers, large capacitor banks, and tidy construction throughout. No massive film capacitors, fancy wire, or mega-expensive binding posts—simply well thought-out components that are consistent with their design goals.

Both pieces also sport no-nonsense features. Each has more than adequate inputs and outputs, along with 5-12v. trigger inputs for remote access, etc. The power amplifiers have two sets of reasonable binding posts while the preamplifier boasts a decent headphone amplifier, internal LF crossover for use with a powered subwoofer of your choice, and a phonostage capable of MM and MC operation.

Subwoofer and HT-Ready

The UPA-1s had more than enough power to drive any of the speakers at my disposal, and the USP-1 preamplifier comes with an adjustable low-pass and high-pass filter for those using smaller satellite speakers that have limited LF capability. This can also prove handy for listeners wanting to use a powered subwoofer with a lower-power tube amplifier with their main speakers. I followed that very scenario with the CJ MV-50C1, which I used to power Polk Audio TL-3s and Paradigm Millennia One speakers (both currently in for review). Rolling off the output at 100Hz and passing that to the CJ relieved the tube amplifier of heavy lifting. I passed the LF information to a MartinLogan Grotto i subwoofer, making for an incredible sub/sat system.

I came away highly impressed at the preamplifier’s versatility. In addition, the USP-1 also offers a pair of bypass outputs for use in a multichannel home theater system. So, if you don’t currently operate in the multichannel realm, you won’t have to eliminate the USP-1 to integrate your two-channel system should you expand at a future date.

Easy Listening

Talk about a quick and easy setup. Using AudioQuest Columbia interconnects, Rocket speaker cable, and a set of Shunyata Venom 3 power cords, I was rolling in about 15 minutes. The rear panels of all three components are well labeled, so you should have no trouble hooking everything up sans the assistance of the well-written manual.

While the out-of-the-box sound was good, the system sounded smoother after being powered up for 24 hours. Once power cycled for 48 hours, the UPA-1 required about an hour for the sound to fully stabilize. As it was barely warm to the touch, I kept the trio powered up at all times to net the best sound. Those feeling slightly more environmentally conscious may want to consider leaving the amplifiers off between listening sessions. The preamplifier only requires 30 watts, so it’s worth leaving on.

Aces the Fundamentals

To stack the deck against the Emotiva combination, I began my listening sessions with the B&W 805Ds. These moderately efficient 2-way speakers are heavenly but highly resolving. The diamond tweeter reveals any inadequacies in equipment that drives them. The 805Ds made such a great match with the Emotiva components that, after experimenting with a few other speaker systems, I kept them in the system for the duration of the review. The UPA-1 amplifiers drove all of the other speakers we hand on hand for our budget gear issue (Issue 38), including the power-hungry Magnepan MMGs.

While not the equal of my reference Burmester 911 mk. 3 monoblocks, the UPA-1s did a respectable job driving the $150,000 GamuT S9s—very impressive for a $700 pair of amplifiers. Playing “Baltasaurus” from D.F.A.’s 4^th at a fairly high level, as well as “Euthanasia Waltz” from Brand X’s Livestock, I was instantly struck by the Emotiva’s ability to keep the pace intact while playing complex musical passages at moderately high listening levels. When pushed too hard, the UPA-1’s quickly soundstage collapsed. Still, the volume was quite high, and the GamuTs only have 88db sensitivity. With more efficient speakers, you should be able to rock out to your heart’s content before running out of amplifier power. Those needing brain damage levels would be wise to consider Emotiva’s 500-watt monoblocks.

Taking a Spin

The USP-1 offers an onboard MM and MC phonostage, which is somewhat unbelievable given its price. Remember, these days, $500 will get you a mid-grade power cord at many other places. Doing some quick comparisons with the Rega RP1 turntable and its associated performance pack upgrade yielded great synergy. And as switching to my Cambridge 640P and NAD PP3i revealed, the USP-1’s onboard stage is easily the equivalent (and perhaps slightly more resolving) of these $200 standalone counterparts.

While most vinyl enthusiasts will probably opt for a MM cartridge that stays within the parameters of a budget system, the USP-1’s MC performance ranks above average. The somewhat low output (.25mv) Denon DL-103R proved an excellent match.  There is only one loading option (240 ohms) and gain is fixed (no level specified), but it should work just fine for most available entry-level MC cartridges. Both inputs offered a quiet background and enough dimension that one could still hear a meaningful difference between analog and digital with comparably priced source components.

More Comparisons

My experience with acoustic and vocal music found it fairly well reproduced, yet these are areas where big-bucks gear leaves budget stuff in the dust. Listening to TONEAudio cover girl Keren Ann’s latest record, 101, it became obvious that there were textures and that prized third dimension that the Emotiva gear couldn’t bring to the table. These shortcomings were the combination’s only real limitations and, again, at this price level, tradeoffs are a reality. A PrimaLuna ProLogue integrated will give you more midrange depth and texture, and the Rega Brio-R possesses more resolution, but these amplifiers are 40 and 50 watts per channel, respectively. Obviously, 200-watts-per-channel allows for a much wider range of speaker choices.

Even when using the Klipsch Heresy IIIs, the difference in sound quality between the Emotiva triplets and Simaudio Moon 600i (reviewed last issue) wasn’t subtle; the Moon gear claimed a clarity that the budget separates could not match. But a quick comparison to a $1,200 Yamaha integrated amplifier purchased from Best Buy proved the opposite. The Emotiva gear won out on all levels, providing a much more lifelike perspective of the music than the comparably priced mass-market box.

The UPA-1s always mustered a lot of grunt on the low end as well. The amplifiers admirably captured the weight and texture of the bass lines in “Dragonaut” from Sleep’s Holy Mountain, as well as some of my favorite Snoop Dogg tracks, controlling the woofers in whatever speakers I employed. Such music really demands extra amplifier power, and the UPA-1s did not disappoint.

Musically Engaging

After putting the Emotiva USP-1 and UPA-1 through rigorous listening sessions, I have to admit that the set comprises some of the most musically engaging amplification I’ve heard for around a thousand dollars. And if you aren’t as impressed with it as me, Emotiva offers a 30-day return policy. It’s impossible to go wrong.

Okay, you’ll either love or hate the blue glow, but beyond that, there’s nothing to complain about. This gear offers up neutral tonality, great dynamic range, plenty of power, and an abundance of truly useful features. If I were starting again from the beginning, the USP-1 and UPA-1 would serve as my system’s core. Add your favorite $500-$1,500 pair of speakers, a $500 turntable, a DAC, and you’ve got a system that rocks for a few thousand bucks. (I’m really looking forward to listening to Emotiva’s flagship monoblocks; if the company can turn out a product of this caliber for $350, what they can do for $1,000?)

I can’t stress it enough: This combination does not make a single misstep. Sound quality is excellent, and the pricing is amazing. Ten years ago, Chinese-made audio carried a stigma of poor build quality, shoddy finish, and subpar sound. About eight years ago, PrimaLuna came on the scene and set the gold standard for Chinese manufacturing with its line of vacuum-tube amplifiers. After listening to these components, it’s safe to say that Emotiva is well on the way to doing the same with solid-state electronics.

No, $1,200 won’t get you a $60,000 Burmester amplifier and preamplifier. But what you do get is solid build quality and great sound. Just as I was ready to award the USP-1/UPA-1 combo one of TONEAudio’s Exceptional Value Awards for 2011, a glance at the company’s Web site yielded yet another pleasant surprise in the form of a temporary price drop: The USP-1 currently sells for $399 and the UPA-1 monoblocks for $299. Factor free shipping into the equation, and there’s not a better entry point into high-end audio.

Emotiva USP-1 Preamplifier and UPA-1 Amplifiers

MSRP:  USP-1, $499 (currently $399); UPA-1, $349 each (currently $299)

Manufacturer:  www.emotiva.com

Peripherals

Analog Source            Dual 1219 w/Grado Red cartridge, Rega P3-24 w/Denon DL-103 cartridge

Digital Source                        BelCanto CD2

Speakers            Klipsch Heresy III, Magnepan MMG, Magnepan 1.6, MartinLogan ElectroMotion, B&W 805D, GamuT S9

Cable            AudioQuest Columbia I/Cs, AudioQuest Rocket Speaker Cables, Shunyata Venom 3 power cords

Accessories                        Running Springs Elgar Power Line Conditioner

Yeah, yeah, we are pretty much the last ones to the party to discover the Spin Clean Record cleaner.  But in case you haven’t heard of this incredibly reasonably priced record cleaning system that’s been around since 1975 and still made in the USA, it’s definitely worth your time.  Dirt is the enemy of your records, it’s pretty much the enemy of the whole vinyl playback chain – it’s what makes for most of those nasty clicks and pops that the mainstream likes to tell us is “the romance of vinyl.”

Forget that.  If you want to truly get the analog experience, you need clean records. Chances are if you’ve been into vinyl for any length of time, you’re buying at least some of your records used and if you’re a newcomer to the vinyl scene, you’re finding records in any number of off the beaten path places – and chances they sound pretty awful.  Perhaps your audiophile buddies have told you about their elaborate record cleaning machines that can get your records CD clean, free of those dreaded pops, but you freaked out when you heard the price.  A decent RCM can run anywhere from $500 – $5,000.

A Record Cleaner for the Regular Guy

Enter the Spin Clean II.  The complete kit, with enough cleaning solution to clean hundreds of records costs $129. It’s not as technically complex as a VPI, ClearAudio or Loricraft machine, but it’s damn good and it actually does a better job at ground in fingerprints than my Loricraft does.  The Spin Clean II is the ultimate in simplicity; there is no electric motor to burn out and no vacuum hoses to loosen.  Just mix up some cleaning solution, dump it in the tank and you are ready to begin. Once the Spin Clean solution is mixed, a tank full will clean 20-50 records, depending on how dirty they happen to be.  Fluid is cheap in comparison to styli, so I say err on the side of cleanliness and stick to the 10-20 figure. A bottle of their concentrate is only $9.99! The manual suggests batch cleaning, as the mixed fluid only has a shelf life of about a week.

The best feature of the Spin Clean is that it cleans both sides of your record at the same time. Simply spin the record gently by its edge (hence the name) until you’ve made a few revolutions.  The brushes are bathed in the solution, so the dirt will be suspended when you remove the record.  Easy!  The Spin Clean kit includes some soft, diaper like cloths that are intended to blot your records dry after they’ve been cleaned, but I highly suggest a plastic dish rack from Target (another $8 expense) to use for letting your records air dry all the way, before you can play them.  This should hold about 10 records comfortably.

Say Hello to Quiet

If you’ve never used a record cleaning machine, you’ll be amazed at how much quieter your records sound after a pass through the Spin Clean. Like any other aspect of audiophilia, you can get as obsessed as you’d like to with record cleaning, but if you never do more than use a Spin Clean, you’re way ahead of the game.  As I mentioned, the Spin Clean does an exceptional job at removing deep seated fingerprints. I found that letting the area of the record with the fingerprint just soak for 3-10 minutes in the solution, giving it a quick spin and then moving on to final clean on my Loricraft brought most albums back to like new condition.

Even if you have a high zoot RCM, the Spin Clean can be a valuable addition to your cleaning regimen when sorting out used records, because it works so much faster.  You can at least perform an initial clean in a very short period of time to be assured that your stylus won’t snag on an LP from the bargain bin and then decide how much further to pursue cleaning later.

If you have a turntable and you don’t have a Spin Clean, you need one. If you’re a maniacal LP collector with a top of the line RCM and you don’t have a Spin Clean, you need one too.  This is an accessory that no vinyl lover should be without.

You can buy one from our friends at Music Direct here.

For those that attended T.H.E. Show’s Newport Beach event at the Orange County Hilton this past weekend, you know they are off to a great start. With attendance reaching over 5000, this was highly impressive for the first year. It’s important to give credit where credit is due and the Los Angeles Audio Society did a great job (albeit somewhat pushy nearer opening day) of promoting the event as did Richard Beers, the show’s producer – with ads in most of the major hifi magazines well in advance.

The show featured an excellent mix of gear from all price ranges and the majority of the rooms had good sound. A few brought speakers that were somewhat large for their rooms, but that is often the norm, wherever a hifi show is held, so no penalty points here. As an attempt to reach out to associated luxury pursuits, there were wine and cigar vendors as well as a car show out back. Unfortunately, the car show was relatively uneventful (this is Southern California) and for most of the show, the excitement was in the parking lot, with numerous Ferraris, Porsches and a few Lamborghinis to peruse on your way in.

If you are looking for room by room, rack by rack coverage, I suggest blasting over to Stereophile’s website. Michael Lavorgna worked around the clock to provide what I feel is some of the best show coverage I’ve read in years; insightful and to the point, yet giving you ample feel for the vibe. I know if I hadn’t attended, this report would have made me want to make the pilgrimage next year.

The high point of this show for me was the diversity of music being played. For a change it wasn’t all female vocal dreck. As always, the guys in the Zu Audio room were doing a killer job, spinning plenty of records with a pair of their latest modded SL-1200’s featuring Rega tonearms, and of course, Zus Denon cartridges. Played through an Audion 300B amplifier and a pair of their Soul Superfly speakers, these guys really had it going on. And in the picture you see above, they were joined by no less than Bes Nievera from Music Direct, playing DJ. Always nice to see both sides of the industry playing well together!

But the room that gave me goosebumps was the Meridian room on the main floor featuring their 810 Video Projector. If you haven’t seen the 810 in action, it’s staggering. Imagine having an IMAX theater in your home. Yeah, it’s that good. For upwards of $200k for the system, you probably could spend the summer in style at Cannes next year, but you’d still have to go home to your boring 50-inch television. Once you’ve experienced the 810, your life will never be the same, it is by far the best video presentation I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

Though this event didn’t quite hit the promised mark of being “The Best HiFi Show in The World,” it’s certainly an outstanding first effort. Here’s to their continued growth and success.

If you happen to be a music lover who adores electrostatic speakers, you no doubt have your favorites. And if MartinLogan is on your radar, its Aerius is definitely at the top of your list. Considering what an amazing value the Aerius offered back in 1992 for about $2000, the fact that MartinLogan has hit nearly the same price with its ElectroMotion is nothing less than a major miracle in 2011.

When discussions about the ElectroMotion ESL began last fall, MartinLogan’s product manager Devin Zell couldn’t have been more enthusiastic. When he started telling me about the driver complement and fact that the company was trying to bring the speaker to market close to $2,000, I immediately thought of the Aerius. Zell, pleased that I picked up on the strategy, commented, “Exactly. We’ve had a number of product focus meetings and we’ve never quite been able to create a speaker like the Aerius for $2,000. Until now.” They came damn close – the EM-ESLs retail for $2,195

Of course that’s what marketing guys are supposed to say, but Zell put his money where his mouth is. “To prove just how amazing these speakers are, I’m going to send you a pair of Aerius i’s so you can compare them side by side.” Nothing like a man who walks it like he talks it.

Speaker Basics

The $2,195 ElectroMotion utilizes an 8-inch unamplified woofer and an ESL panel that uses the same “XStat MicroPerf” technology that is featured in MartinLogan’s top-of-the-line speakers. Thanks to such a design, the EM-ESL has about 40% more panel area than the Aerius, yet has a smaller footprint. The crossover uses ML’s latest technology, all trickled down from its flagship CLX speakers and a downward firing port.

The EM-ESL has a rated sensitivity of 91db and nominal impedance of 6 ohms, which dips to 1.6 ohms at 20khz, making the EM-ESL fairly tube-amplifier friendly. Switching from the Aerius i to the EM-ESL speakers with the PrimaLuna Dialog 4 power amplifier (EL34 output tubes, 40wpc), there wasn’t much perceived increase in output level even though the EM-ESL’s are allegedly 3db more sensitive. The additional bass control and HF extension became immediately apparent. Swapping back and forth between the two revealed the Aerius i to have a warmer, darker (richer to some) sound.

Save for binding posts, build quality is top-notch and worthy of a decent set of speaker cables. But those posts. Sourced from MartinLogan’s Motion 4 speakers, the only option is bare wire and banana plugs. Sure, MartinLogan had to sharpen the pencil to hit its price target, but most would happily pay an extra $100 to get proper binding posts.

Setup

Thanks to their smaller size and lighter weight (I’ve been using MartinLogan’s CLXs for some time, and they are much larger) the EM-ESL is easy to set up and can be easily accomplished with one person. They work well in a small-to-medium- sized room, but did an amazingly good job filling up my main 16 x 24 feet listening room. As with any panel speaker, the further you can keep them away from the sidewalls, the better, as doing so results in a wider stereo image. Fortunately, the EM-ESL’s small footprint allowed them to seamlessly integrate into my room better than any other panels I’ve tried since the MartinLogan Vantage.

Final placement ended up being about seven feet apart, slightly toed in with the ESL panels about 50 inches from the rear wall. While I spent a fair amount of time listening through PrimaLuna, CJ, and Octave power amplifiers I had on hand, the speakers’ limits were explored via the Burmester 011 preamplifier/911 mk. 3 power amplifier—the same combination through which I’ve auditioned MartinLogan’s CLX, Summit, and Summit X for nearly a year.

No, the average EM-ESL owner isn’t going to hook them up to a $60k power amplifier/preamplifier setup. But rest assured that these speakers weren’t embarrassed in the company of the Burmester gear, and yielded stellar performance. Finally, the EM-ESL’s spent the bulk of the review paired with Simaudio’s new 600i integrated amplifier. Yes, the tubes were great fun, and while the romance of the vacuum tubes appeal to some, a high-current solid-state amplifier coaxes maximum performance.

Comparing Old and New

I began comparison between the Aerius i and EM-ESL by playing “The Breeze,” from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Second Helping. Hardcore audiophiles might scoff, yet Skynyrd albums actually reveal tons of information due to the band’s triple lead-guitar format. Not only did they impress with excellent imaging of each of the three guitarists, the speakers also dynamically portrayed the grungy guitar intro to “Sugar Buzz” off kd lang’s new Sing it Loud. While a fairly dense recording, the ElectroMotions had no difficulty keeping Lang front and center without ever losing the bite of the instruments.

Switching between the Aerius i’s and EM-ESL’s repeatedly revealed the latter’s tremendous refinement. Regardless of musical choice, the current model possessed an increased level of resolution that its predecessor couldn’t touch. When listening to primarily acoustic fare, the EM-ESL’s presented instruments with a more lifelike timbre and provided extra low-level detail. Craving exquisite? Experience the cymbal decay on the title track of Kenny Burrell’s Midnight Blue via these cost-defying loudspeakers. I constantly had the illusion that I was listening to significantly more expensive speakers.

What’s more, the EM-ESL really pulls ahead of its predecessor when playing rock. Where the Aerius always struggled, running out of dynamic punch at higher levels, the MicroPerf panel in the ElectroMotion plays much louder without hitting its limit. I first noticed this ability in MartinLogan’s Summit (the original as well as the Summit X); I could actually play Metallica at a level loud enough to qualify as immersive. While the EM-ESL can’t play as loud as the Summit, all but the most crazed metalheads should find satisfaction. I was never disappointed when going through a fair share of classic Led Zeppelin or prog-minded Tool.

ESLs aren’t famous for having a huge sweet spot, yet that of the EM-ESL is on par with ML’s much more expensive Vantage. Amazing. The other surprise? Bass performance. The EM-ESL’s go down solidly to the mid-40hz range and still have useable output below 40hz, although, it should noted, they are rolling off at this point.

Exceeds Expectations

The Aerius was an amazing speaker in its day and still holds up well, but the MartinLogan team has learned a lot in the last 15 years. I’m still stunned that a company can manufacture a speaker this good for $1,995 in 2011. Granted, an ESL is slightly more finicky than your average pair of cone speakers, but if there’s a more exciting loudspeaker out there at this price, I certainly haven’t heard it. While the year isn’t yet half over, the EM-ESL’s are on our short list for a Product of the Year award.

MartinLogan EM-ESL Speakers

MSRP: $2,195

Manufacturer Info: www.martinlogan.com

Peripherals

Amplifier Simaudio 600i

Digital Source Simaudio 750D

Analog Source Rega P9 w/RB1000 arm and Denon DL-103 cartridge, Parasound JC- phono preamp

Cable ED 411 ICs and 432 speaker cable

Power Running Springs Elgar

Features

TONE covers the Roadburn Festival
By Louise Brown

Budget Gear: The NAD PP 3i Phono Preamp
By Jeff Dorgay

Journeyman Audiophile: Clean Power For The Regular Guy
By Jerold o’Brien

Old School: The MartinLogan Aerius i Speakers
By Jerold O’Brien

Tone Style

T.H.E. Show Preview – Where to eat and Drink in Newport Beach
By Scott Tetzlaff

Apples iPad 2: Not so Much

The Rolling Stones Complete Singles Box Set

Quadraspire LP Qube Storage

Sassicaia Session by Ken Kessler

Music

Live Music: Bob Gendron covers Neil Young and Femi Kuti

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

Audiophile Pressings
By Paul Rigby

Jazz and Blues
Three new releases
By Jim Macnie

Previews

Gemme Tonic 5 Loudspeakers

Lyra Kleos Phono Cartridge

Burmester 089 CD Player

Reviews

Headphone Planet: Marshall and WESC
By Kevin Gallucci

The ARC PH6 Phono Preamplifier
By Jeff Dorgay

Red Wine Audio’s Ginevra LFP-V Phono Preamplifier and Factory Visit
By Steve Guttenberg

Octave MRE 130 Monoblocks and Super Black Box
By Jeff Dorgay

Silent Running Audio Ohio Class XL+ Equipment Platforms
By Jeff Dorgay

Comparison Test: The Simaudio Moon 600i and 700i Integrated Amplifiers
By Jeff Dorgay

SLUMMIN’
Classics on the cheap

Too bad the folks at Rega aren’t in charge of balancing the trade deficit. While a substantial amount of modestly priced hi-fi is now produced in China, Rega continues to make solid designs built by hand by skilled craftspeople in its UK factory. That the company produces a 50wpc integrated amplifier with an excellent phonostage is quite admirable; that the firm does it at this level without going to the Far East is nothing less than incredible. Rega’s main man, Roy Gandy, is fond of saying that Rega likes to build products that offer top performance in their respective class. But this time, Rega hit the ball way out of the park.

Longtime Rega enthusiasts might be surprised that the price of the Brio-R is $300 more than that of the previous model, which has been around for about 12 years. However, the new version offers substantial gains even as it occupies a much smaller footprint. Think of the $895 Rega Brio-R as the Lotus Elise of integrated amplifiers; it’s not quite what you’d expect until you get behind the wheel. And yes, the “R” stands for remote.

Make sure to use both hands when unpacking the Brio-R. The compact box is fairly heavy, weighing in at about 20 pounds. Peaking inside shows that Rega didn’t allow a square millimeter of space to go to waste. The Brio-R features the same enclosure as the Rega DAC we reviewed earlier this year, the shared approach keeping costs low and quality high. No detail is left to chance; the remote-control circuitry is even given its own separate power supply to ensure signal purity. Poking around inside reveals one pair of output transistors per channel, high-quality film caps, and a very short signal path.

Small Yet Strong

Despite its smaller box, the new Brio packs a bigger wallop than its predecessor. And there’s never been a more perfect example of specs not telling the whole story. While the previous Brio 3 is rated at 49 watts per channel and the new model at only 50 watts per channel (73 watts per channel into 4 ohms), Rega claims the new output stage can reasonably drive outputs “as low as 1.7 ohms.”

Indeed, while the last Brio struggled with low-impedance speakers, the Brio-R effortlessly sailed through. Driving a pair of Magnepans usually translates into the kiss of death for most small integrated amplifiers (and a few larger ones, as well), but the Brio-R did a very respectable job of powering the notoriously power-hungry MMGs reviewed in this issue. It’s also worth noting that my Cambridge Audio 740C (rated at 100 watts per channel) was not up to this task. Moreover, the Rega had no problems driving my vintage MartinLogan Aerius. A reasonably priced integrated that can tackle Magnepans and MartinLogans without problem? High marks are in order.

Like the prior Brio, the Brio-R features an onboard MM phonostage, also improved in sound quality and sensitivity. In the past, users that didn’t utilize a Rega phono cartridge complained about a lack of gain in the phonostage, an issue that required serious twisting the volume control to achieve reasonable listening levels. With a sensitivity of 2.1mv, the Brio-R had no troubles reaching full volume at the 12:00 level when outfitted with a Sumiko Blackbird cartridge, which boasts an output of 2.5mv. Thanks to its quietness, I was even able to use a Grado Master1, which has an output of only .5mv (47k loading). Doing so necessitated setting the volume at almost 2:00 for the maximum level, but the Brio-R remained up to the task.

Setup and Controls

The Brio-R will have you listening to music in a jiff. The spartan front panel shares the same design brief as the Rega DAC, with a power button on the left, volume control on the right, and a button that requires a touch to toggle between inputs. The mute control is only accessed via the remote, which also allows for volume level and input switching.  And the Brio-R can only be turned on and off from the front panel.

Around back, five inputs and a fixed level output made for an excellent match with my recently restored Nakamichi 550 cassette deck, which incidentally is almost the same size as the Brio-R. For the tapeheads, the output has a level of 210mv.

The only caveat? Input one is the phono input and not marked as such. Plugging in a line-level source here will cause a hateful noise at best and blown tweeter at worst, so proceed with caution. If you’re not a vinyl enthusiast, get a pair of Cardas RCA caps, if for no other reason than to prevent a mishap. Rega turntables do not have ground wires. But if you’re using a ‘table that has one, the ground screw is underneath the amplifier’s rear face.

The Brio-R uses a standard IEC AC socket, so those that enjoy swapping power cords can geek out all they want. However, the RCA jacks and speaker binding posts are so close together that some cables will not be compatible. And while the average consumer that purchases a Brio-R may not step too far into the world of premium cables, the amplifier is good enough to warrant doing so. Given the restricted space, speaker cables with spades are almost out of the question; grab bananas or banana adaptors.

Sounds Like Separates

Resolution often sets separate components apart from integrated amplifiers. The Brio-R has an overall clarity that I have never experienced at this price—and I’ve heard my share of much more expensive pieces that struggle to sound this good. After all, only a handful of sub-$3k amplifiers provide true high-end sound; the Brio-R belongs at the top of that short list. It truly sounds like separate components.

At the beginning of John Mellencamp’s “Sweet Evening Breeze” from Human Wheels, a Hammond organ faintly enters from the far back of the soundstage, barely registering a whisper. Other inexpensive integrateds I’ve sampled (except for the PrimaLuna ProLogue1) don’t resolve this. Or, what does come through is flat and on the same plane as the rest of the music—a blurry rendition. Oingo Boingo’s “Nothing Bad Ever Happens” from Good For Your Soul has similar textures, with multiple layers of guitars and keyboards that, via substandard gear, blend together and smear. By yielding genuine dimensionality, the Brio-R is a budget component that you can listen to for hours on end, fully engaged in the presentation.

The amp claims a fair share of headroom as well. Whether listening to KISS, with or without a symphony orchestra, the Rega didn’t run out of steam until played at very high volumes. Switching to the 99db sensitivity Klipsch Heresy IIIs (also reviewed this issue) resulted in a completely different situation. This combination achieved near rave-level SPLs with Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral. The opening drumbeats to “Big Man With a Gun” were big and powerful, yet the little Rega didn’t seem to break a sweat.

Your favorite speaker with a sensitivity rating of between 87–91db should prove a more than acceptable match for the Brio-R’s power amplifier section.

Vinyl Adventure

The phonostage in the Brio-R should prove a perfect match for anything in the $100-$600 range and when used with the Rega RP1 and its Performance Pack, an upgrade that includes the Bias 2 MM cartridge. The latter features a tonal balance slightly tipped toward the warm side of neutral, helping less-than-stellar LP pressings sound their best.

For example, a friend that brought over budget treasures purchased for fewer than $3/each couldn’t believe the performance wrought by the RP1/Brio-R combination. Again, the Brio-R’s phonostage offers excellent resolution and a very smooth upper register. And while the RP1/Bias combination turned in a great show, switching to the P3-24 and Blackbird offered a substantial helping of “what the analog fuss is all about.”

Good Things Do Come in Small Packages

The Rega Brio-R sets the benchmark for an $1000 integrated amplifier and then some.  While it’s easy for those that regularly hear the world’s best (and often most expensive) gear to get excited about great sound, it’s truly thrilling to hear this level of sound quality from an amplifier with an $895 price tag. Music lovers on a budget no longer have to sacrifice quality. This one could make a crazed audiophile out of you where you least expect it.

-Jeff Dorgay

The Rega Brio-R

MSRP:  $895
Manufacturer Information:

www.soundorg.com (US)

www.rega.co.uk (UK)

Peripherals

Digital source                        Simaudio 750D, Cambridge 650BD

Analog source                        Rega RP1 w/Bias 2, Rega P3-24 w/Sumiko Blackbird

Speakers            Magnepan MMG, Klipsch Heresy III, Vienna Acoustics Hayden Grand, Spica TC 50

Cable                                    Audioquest  Columbia

Power                                    IsoTek EVO3 Sirius

Last night in Portland you could have spent $30 on going to see Pirates of the Caribbean.  But for the price of a movie ticket, 16oz. Diet Coke and some some soggy popcorn you could have gone to the Wonder Ballroom and experienced The Twilight Singers and a beer.  Watch for our editor Bob Gendron’s coverage of the band’s performance in Chicago in our next issue, but suffice to say if you’re of the mindset that “there’s no good music anymore,” you’re just plain wrong.

In the beginning, the Sooloos featured a Control (which held the system core and the touchscreen), giving you access to the Source (which provided analog and digital outputs in either one or five zones) and the Stores (the physical location of all of your music files), all connected via Ethernet to link the system together. But computer years are like dog years; things move quickly.

After Meridian purchased Sooloos, the next-generation hardware introduced the Control 10, which incorporated the Source and Control into the same box and added the option of Meridian’s Speaker Link system. All of which meant that the Sooloos could be used directly with a pair of powered Meridian speakers to make for a complete system.

These changes represented a quantum leap in Sooloos audio performance and build quality, but users requiring a number of zones had no choice but to purchase the somewhat expensive Control 10. No longer. The Media Source 600 includes this functionality, allowing for a pair of analog outputs (one balanced XLR and one balanced RCA), an SPDIF digital output, and an RJ-45 Meridian SpeakerLink output essentially equating to the addition of three more zones to your Sooloos system. Each can be controlled by a Sooloos Control, iPhone/iPad, or via another computer that shares the same network as the Sooloos system.

I found this setup very handy, as it allowed me to move the Control 15 closer to my listening position and the Media Source 600 to my equipment rack. Now, the extra analog outputs drive System Two and the SpeakerLink outputs are available to drive the DSP3200 powered speakers. Indeed, any of Meridian’s powered speakers make for an ideal solution for someone who wants high-performance audio without all the boxes, cables, and associated components.

A Model of Simplicity

The Meridian Sooloos Music Server redefines the often-overused phrase “plug and play.” And after using practically everything else on the market, nothing else gets me to play quicker. While the manual speaks of advanced functions that can be accessed from a Web browser, I didn t bother investigating them. All I needed to do to integrate the Media Source 600 into my existing system was simply plug in an Ethernet cable from my router and power it up. Within about 2 minutes, the Control 15 recognized the additional zone.

In my main reference system, and for the bulk of my listening tests, I utilized the Media Source 600 in place of my Control 15 as the connection between my music library and dCS Paganini stack via the SPDIF output.

Of course, the only drawback to using an iPad/iPhone as a Sooloos controller is that Apple devices do not offer the same interface touted by the Control 10/15—specifically, the placement all of the album art at your disposal, thus allowing you to peruse your music collection much faster than doing so alphabetically.

To avoid any potential confusion, please note that the Media Source 600 does not have an internal hard drive and hence, does not have the “system core” that’s required from a standalone Sooloos device. A Media Core 200, Media Core 600, or Control 15 is needed on the network to drive the system. So think of the Media Source 600 as an “expansion port.”

Functionality and Sound

The Sooloos system accesses high-resolution audio files, so you can keep all of your music in one place. If you are like most Sooloos owners and possess a fairly large collection of standard 16bit/44.1khz CDs, you ll be happy to know that the Media Source 600 utilizes Meridian s current upsampling and apodising filter. CD files emerge from the SPDIF output upsampled to a 24bit/88.2khz bitstream, while high-resolution files pass through in their native formats.

Meridian founder Bob Stuart told me that the DAC and analog sections of the Media Source 600 are very close to what’s available in their current G08 CD player. Since there’s no digital input on the Media Source 600, the system reads all the audio data that goes to and from the Sooloos components via the Ethernet network. For home automation, there’s a remote 12v. trigger as well as the option to connect a Meridian IR receiver so that basic functions can be controlled with a standard Meridian remote.

Playback through the analog outputs was excellent, possessing all the refinement I expect from a $4,000-$6,000 player. Having spent a good deal of time with the 800 series players and the G08, I can authoritatively state that if there is one hallmark of Meridian players, it s tonal correctness. The company bridges the gap of providing a digital player with high resolution that does not cross the line and become overly analytical or digital sounding.

When listening to recent Audio Wave XRCD24 discs from Horace Silver and Donald Byrd, I was repeatedly impressed with the lack of grain present in the upper registers. Cymbals took on a three-dimensional shape and the soundstage was fleshed out, especially when the discs were compared to their analog counterparts from Music Matters. Most importantly, when contrasting the sound from the digital output of the Media Source 600 to that of the Control 15 (both fed through the four-box dCS Paganini stack), the Media Source 600 definitely came out on top.

A Winner Either Way

If you need to expand your current Sooloos system beyond one zone and do not require the six-zone support provided by the new Media Core 600, the Media Source 600 is a highly cost-effective solution. Or, if you are considering adding a Sooloos Control 15 to an audio system that doesn’t currently possess an excellent DAC (and you aren’t quite ready to step up to the $18k Meridian 808.3), again, here’s your answer.

Meridian continues to refine the Sooloos Music Server system by adding features, increasing flexibility, and most importantly, improving the sound quality with every new bit of hardware released. The Control 15 represented a definite step forward in resolution and lack of grain from the Control 10, and the Media Source 600 takes the whole presentation a step further. So even if you don’t yet require an extra zone yet, I highly suggest adding the Media Source 600 to your Sooloos system.

Meridian Media Source 600

MSRP: $3,500

Manufacturer Information: www.sooloosbymeridian.com

Peripherals

In keeping with the resurgence in vacuum tube electronics and their need for wider ranging representation in the US, Audion International Ltd., a British tube manufacturing company based in France has appointed Gary Alpern of True Audiophile to be their new distributor for North America.  Gary will be responsible for driving sales of Audion’s Amplifiers, Preamplifiers and cables within the US market.

We have some reviews in the works and will be visiting the Audion factory later this year with a full report.

You can reach Gary at:
www.trueaudiophile.com
310-998-1908

I went to the Innovative Audio Video showrooms recently in NYC to check out Dan D’Agostino’s new amplifier, The Momentum. The store was filled with customers and audio press. Dan is one of the founding fathers of American high-end audio, and started his first company, Krell Industries, in 1980 where he served as its chief engineer for 30 years, designing amplifiers, preamplifiers, CD players, surround-sound processors, subwoofers, and speakers.

The Momentum is a 300 watt monoblock power amplifier (you need two for stereo). The machined from solid aluminum billet and copper chassis is painted with high-gloss clear coat; it is one of the most beautiful components I’ve ever seen. How did it sound? Well, let me put it this way, it was so good it mesmerized a room full of audiophiles! During the 20 minute demo not one person talked, I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed that before. I heard a few Momentum demos that night with a range of Wilson Audio speakers: Sophia Series 3, Sasha W/P, and Alexandria Series 2. The sound was highly transparent and pure with all three speakers.

The Dan D’Agostino Momentum amplifier retails for $45,000 a pair; a matching preamplifier will soon be offered by the company.

-Steve Guttenberg

If you are in the San Francisco area, join us tomorrow, Thursday evening (April 28) at AudioVision San Francisco.

They will be hosting their 4th installment of their “Fiscally Sound Event,” which will be featuring two moderately priced systems with gear from Simaudio Moon, Triangle Loudspeakers and Nordost, to name a few.  The event takes place from 7:30 – 9:30 and refreshments will be served.  Of course, they’ve got a few surprise goodies to hand out and manufacturers reps will be on hand to answer your questions.  I’ll be there to chat with the crowd and talk to you about all things audio too, so if you’re nearby, stop on in!

Features

Henry Rollins Speaks: You Should Listen
By Andy Downing

Live Divinations: A Conversation With Mastodon Drummer Brian Dailor

By Bob Gendron

An Interview With Roadburn Festival’s Walter Hoeijmaker
By Bob Gendron

Budget Gear: The Denon DL-103R Cartridge
By Jeff Dorgay

Journeyman Audiophile: Ortofon’s MC 20 Super –  The Return of a Classic
By Jerold o’Brien

Old School:  The Denon DP-62L Turntable
By Jerold O’Brien

Tone Style

Specimen Audio Horn Speakers
By Bob Gendron

Skooba Design iPad Messenger Bag

Playbutton

McIntosh EP1 Music Player

Bracketron Twist 360

Breitling For Bentley

The Beer Snob: Three Chicago Brewers You Should Know About
By Bob Gendron

Music

Live Music: Drive-By Truckers and DEVO, with a Snapshot of Warpaint

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

Audiophile Pressings
By Lawrence Devoe

Jazz and Blues
Three new releases
By Jim Macnie

Previews

Naim DAC

Parasound JC3 Phonostage

MartinLogan ElectroMotion Speakers

Reviews

The AVID Acutus Reference SP Turntable
By Jeff Dorgay

The Kiseki Blue NOS Cartridge
By Ken Kessler

The Luxman SQ-38u Integrated Amplifier
By Steve Guttenberg

CJ’s ET3SE: Baby GAT
By Jeff Dorgay

The SoundSmith Sussurro Paua
By Jeff Dorgay

The Ypsilon VPS 100 Phono Preamplifier
By Jacob Heilbrunn

Octave Phono Module
By Jeff Dorgay

SLUMMIN’
Classics on the cheap

If you’re as sick as I am of the earbuds that were packaged with your iPod but don’t really want to become a full fledged headphone addict, here’s a great pair of phones that will server you well – The Image ONE by Klipsch.  Yeah, the speaker company.  After a quick listen at this years Consumer Electronics Show, I wouldn’t let the Image ONE’s go – I forced them to let me take em home!  Here was a reasonably priced pair of headphones ($149.95) that felt as if they should have been much more expensive, yet were still compact enough to easily pack in a piece of carry on luggage.  The perfect accessory for the music lover on the go.  This modest price tag also includes a semi-hard shell case that zips up and includes a tiny pocket that could carry cable adapters or perhaps a few memory cards with more music.

Tipping the scale at just 138 grams (under 5 ounces) the Image ONE phones are extremely comfortable on a long trip.  On a recent trip to London, I put them to the test watching almost all three seasons of Dethklok at one sitting, proving immediately that these phones can really rock while not causing listener fatigue.  My return flight was somewhat calmer, with a mixture of iTunes music and a few episodes of House, which actually put the Image ONE’s to the test again.  House features a great sound mix with a lot of deep bass present, which these phones reproduced effortlessly.

Sound To Share

The Image ONE phones incorporate a 40mm driver in each earcup and have an impedance of 32 ohms.  They use a standard 1/8 – inch stereo mini plug (perfect for your favorite pad, pod or phone) and include a 1/4 – inch adapter so that you can use them with your favorite old school receiver at home.  The low impedance proved easy to drive with my iPad, offering up more than enough volume, even when sitting in a relatively noisy seat.  Indeed, these were a major upgrade from the standard Apple earbuds.  However, if you’d really like to see what the Image ONE’s can do, I suggest an outboard headphone amplifier – specifically my favorite portable headphone amplifier from ALO Audio:  the Rx Mk.2 pictured here. (click here for more info) As you can see, this will not take up much space, and while you might think it madness to add a $450 headphone amp to the mix, the Image ONE phones were up to the task.

The sound quality increased dramatically, listening to the current remaster of Traffic’s John Barleycorn Must Die was fantastic.   The soundstage opened up and I had music floating all around my head. Of course this was too much fun to keep to myself, so I had to share them with the passengers seated next to me.  I know by the time I got home from London, I had convinced a few people that a high performance headphone setup was the way to go.

Often a weakness of less expensive phones, the Image ONE’s had clear and deep bass response.  Laurie Anderson’s “Only an Expert Can Deal With a Problem” from her latest CD, Homeland has some incredibly low frequency bass riffs, as does Orgones Cali Fever.  The Klipsch phones had very convincing output even at the lowest of frequencies.  The high frequency response was much more refined than I expected from a $150 pair of phones, which made classical music that much more enjoyable.  Best of all, the solid ear seal made it easy to enjoy the ping-pong stereo effects from my favorite Beatles and Pink Floyd tracks.

Taking my quest even further, I couldn’t resist plugging the Image ONE’s into the $4,000 Woo Audio SET headphone amplifier when I got back to the office.  These small but mighty phones were finally out of their league, but still gave a good showing.  Regardless of your setup, these headphones will put a smile on your face.  Perhaps the most handy feature with the microphone and remote control built into the cord, that is compatible with the iPhone.  My daughter really enjoyed this when she was lounging about listening; she could stay plugged in and not have to remove the phones when friends called.  Perfect for the world traveler or your favorite antisocial teenager!

Conclusion

While not quite as quiet as a full blown, active noise-cancelling phones, the Klipsch Image ONE’s don’t have the high pricetag either.  They are still a significant order of magnitude quieter than in-ear phones costing much more and thanks to the over ear design, offer up much more solid bass response.  Their light weight, great sound (and build) quality make these my first choice when on the go.  I’m purchasing the review pair and keeping them in my briefcase ready to go on the next trip.  Highly recommended.

The Klipsch Image ONE headphones

MSRP:  $149.95

Click here to go to the Klipsch site

The ElectroMotion’s are out of the box and rocking!  Now that I’ve got a couple of days on the clock, it’s safe to say that these speakers are incredibly good!  But the biggest part of the test is yet to come, we are about to start the comparison between the original Aerius and the new challenger.  Stay tuned and we’ll fill you in as we go!

Apr. 8
Good news, tube lovers, the ElectroMotions are very tube friendly…   Now that the speakers have about 100 hours on the clock, I’ve had the chance to use them with a wider range of amplifiers.  Encouraged by the results with the Octave MRE 130 monoblocks, which produce just over 130 watts per channel, I moved on to some lower powered amplifiers and it’s all good.  Both my recently upgraded Conrad – Johnson MV 50 and the new PrimaLuna Dialog 4 ampflifiers (approx 40 -50 wpc.) are driving the ElectroMotion’s with ease, utilizing the four ohm taps.  More info to follow!

Over the years there has been more than one attempt at an omnidirectional speaker, but I can’t ever really recall one that has worked well, until now. So often we are presented with the dilemma of wanting great sound, but not being able to make the necessary sacrifices to put a pair of speakers where they can provide it. Enter the HRS-120’s. Reminiscent of the 70’s in their standard wood finish, I assure you the sound is completely modern, though those old enough to remember the Ohm Walsh speaker systems will definitely see an outwardly familiar shape.  A hexagonal column that stands about 14 inches in diameter and about four feet tall.  On top of the HRS-120 is their trademark DDD driver, which uses a titanium element.  For more information about the DDD driver, click here:

http://www.german-physiks.com/technology/the-ddd-driver.html

The HRS-120 uses this driver from 240 Hz all the way up to 21,500 Hz, so it is free of the crossover notches that would be present in a standard 3-way loudspeaker.  Interestingly enough, my MartinLogan Summit speakers have an almost identical crossover frequency to the ESL panel, which contributes to that speaker’s natural midrange as well.

While the wood finish is the least expensive in the model range at $27,405, it may not gain acceptance into the design aesthetic of your household.  Part of this will depend on room placement (more on that later).  Should you have the option to put them out in the room and display them like regular speakers, I would suggest upgrading to the more exotic finishes or the full carbon fiber finished model at $37,845, which also features a carbon fiber drive unit to match.

The HRS-120 is available with either a titanium coned DDD driver as reviewed here, or a carbon fibre coned DDD driver.     The HRS-120 fitted with the carbon fibre coned DDD driver shares the same high performance as its titanium coned sibling, but also offers some useful improvements.

The upper frequency limit is extended from 21,500Hz to 24,000Hz, providing more air to the sound.  The transient response is better, which gives an even more realistic rendering of drums and percussion.  The strength of the carbon fibre cone makes it almost impossible to damage the cone by driving it too hard and also enables it to withstand minor knocks making it more able to survive living with small children than other high-end drivers. The sensitivity is also marginally higher.

Setup

This is one speaker that really doesn’t need a fully treated room to perform at its best, though I did have excellent luck in my main listening room, which is 16 x 24 and has a full complement of room treatments. Because of the omnidirectional nature of the speaker, should you purchase a pair I suggest working towards the best bass response you can in the room and then adjust the high frequency level with the supplied jumpers that have a -2, -4 and +2db setting.  Because of the room treatments in my main room, I had the best luck there at the +2db setting.

Final placement on my long wall was about 34 inches from the back and about 10 feet apart.  Just as you would with a conventional box or planar speaker, move the HRS apart a few inches at a time until the sound field collapses and then keep splitting the difference inching them back together until you have the widest coherent stereo image.  I found the HRS-120 very easy to set up, and though it took about 20 minutes to optimize, these speakers provided the best sound I’ve yet heard, just “throwing them in the room,” with no attention paid to setup at all – they are the epitiome of user friendliness.  At 65 pounds each, they are relatively easy to move around.

In my 11 x 17 room which is notorious for bass suckout, and has limited speaker placement options, the HRS-120 came through brilliantly and other than the Meridian DSP7200’s (which use active, digital room correction) offered up some of the most natural sound and solid bass I’ve experienced in this relatively difficult room.  So, for ease of setup and placement, the HRS-120’s get a grade of A+.

Amplifier choices

My first experience with the HRS-120’s was at CES, powered by the 25 watt, Class –A Vitus monoblocks, which was a fantastic experience.  The speakers exhibited a very open, dynamic sound, with solid, well damped bass.  While show sound is not always a great indicator of a products performance, my experience has always been that anything sounding great within the confines of the Venetian usually sounds even better in my room.  Because of their omnidirectional nature, I got a bit better imaging and depth here in my studio, but overall the HRS-120’s turned in a very impressive sound at CES.

Even though the HRS-120’s have a rated sensitivity of about 87db, they proved to be very easy to drive and even the First Watt F4, which is only rated at 25 watts per channel (class –A), had no problem driving the speakers to decent levels.  The McIntosh MC275 (75 watts/channel, vacuum tubes) was able to really rock the HRS-120’s with no difficulties, and the highly resolving nature of these speakers easily revealed the differences in sonic character between the tubes and solid state amplifiers.

I did have the best luck, especially in my larger room with the additional power of the Conrad Johnson Premier 350.  With 350 watts per channel on tap, I could play anything I wanted at any level, without strain.  Should you be mating the HRS-120’s with a fairly high power amplifier, proceed with caution because the DDD driver does not exhibit cone breakup the way a traditional dome tweeter does.  Much like a ceramic driver, the DDD driver is very linear, so I suspect if you were to get a bit carried away with the volume control, you might damage the speaker unknowingly.

The Sound

As I hinted at the beginning of the review, the omnidirectional abilities of these speakers really throws a huge sweet spot.  If you enjoy the transparency of a panel speaker, but have always craved a larger listening area, the HRS-120 may be exactly what you are looking for.  Even significantly off axis, these speakers still present a very coherent soundstage.

What you do sacrifice slightly, in exchange for the giant sweet spot is a bit of pinpoint imaging.  While a “different” sound than you would expect from a large pair of dynamic speakers, the HRS-120 has a somewhat more diffuse quality, not completely unlike a pair of Magnepans, but with more dynamic drive, due to the driver design.

No matter what music I played, the HRS-120 did a fantastic job.  Especially with the Premier 350, I could achieve realistic volume and dynamics with my favorite rock records (which I can’t achieve with my Magnepans).  The 8 – inch woofer was solid down to about 35 Hz, so everything but hard core club and hip hop music had enough weight.

Jazz and vocal music lovers will be in absolute heaven with these speakers.  The instruments just seem to float in space, much as they do at a live performance.  My living room was transformed into a jazz club with the HRS-120’s and thanks to their dispersion, even a room full of guests could enjoy the show.  Playing Jacqui Naylor’s Live at the Plush Room was a treat and having heard Jacqui live numerous times, the HRS-120’s offered up a highly realistic reproduction.

The airy presentation of the HRS-120’s also really lent themselves to electronic music too.  Jean Michel Jarre’s Zoolook, a longtime trippy favorite was absolutely haunting thanks to the huge soundfield these speakers presented.  The water droplets and back tracked vocals in “Diva” easily raised the hair on the back of my neck, especially with the lights dimmed!

Those loving string and vocal ensembles will appreciate the lack of crossover in the mid  to upper midrange region.  These speakers do an exceptional job with piano and violin, with vocals never sounding pushed or harsh.  If your taste in music is more in this vein and not quite as requiring of full scale dynamics, you may even prefer the HRS-120’s with a tube amplifier, as the additional warmth makes for a very enjoyable presentation.  Those hooked on solo female vocals will appreciate the hyper –realism that some tubes bring to the equation.

Conclusion

The German Physiks HRS-120 speakers, though unconventional in appearance and approach, offer a highly realistic musical experience.  While these are by no means a budget speaker system, they are exceptionally well built and offer performance that is in keeping with their asking price.  They require precious little floor space and thanks to the ease of setup, offer more versatility than a number of other high performance (and similarly priced) speakers.

If you are tired of speakers with a narrow sweet spot, that everyone in your listening room can enjoy as much as you do, put a pair of German Physiks speakers on your short list to audition.

The German Physiks HRS-120 speakers

MSRP:  $27,405 – $42,600 (depending on driver config. and finish)

Contact Information:   http://www.german-physiks.com

The US distributor for German Physiks is:

Laufer Teknik
360 Southbury Road
Roxbury, CT 06783

Contact:  Sam Laufer

Tel: 860-355-4484

Email: [email protected]

Peripherals

Analog Source                                    TW Acustic Raven TWO w/SME iV.Vi and 309 tonearms, Dynavector XV-1s and Lyra Skala cartridges

Digital Source                                    Naim CD555

Preamplifier                                    Conrad Johnson ACT2 series 2

Power Amplifier                        First Watt F4, McIntosh MC275, Conrad Johnson Premier 350

Cable                                                Cardas Golden Reference

Power                                                Running Springs Jaco

It’s been a long time since Burmester has produced a phono stage.  Their last model, the 838, was produced in the 80’s.  However, with vinyl making such a comeback, Dieter Burmester felt the time was right to build a phono stage that was worthy of his current Reference Line components.  And in typical Burmester fashion, it addresses every aspect of the analog domain – it can even be ordered with a studio quality ADC (analog to digital converter) on board, so that any vinyl enthusiast migrating to the high quality digital world has all of their bases covered.

Occupying the same amount of rack space as my reference Burmester 011 preamplifier, the sleek casework and mirror finished front panel makes for a perfect aesthetic match. When viewed under studio conditions on a bright white background, you might think the Burmester gear “too shiny,” but when it is in place in your listening room, it mirrors your environment and disappears – a pleasing aesthetic illusion.

Your final configuration determines the price: The 100 Phono outfitted with two phono preamp modules, (sans the ADC and Burmester’s Burlink interface card) has an MSRP of $22,995.  The base model with one phono card and no ADC or Burlink specs out at $16,995. This probably isn’t going to be your first phono stage, but it could very well be  the last one you will need to purchase – thanks both to Burmester’s legendary build quality and their commitment to product upgrades.  Like other products in the Burmester range, the 100 will never become obsolete.  Think of it as an investment in your vinyl future.

Ultimate flexibility

The 100 can be configured to your specification with your choice of one or two inputs.  Either input can be designated as MM (moving magnet) or MC (moving coil), but once the choice has been made, the 100 must be sent back to your dealer for one of the inputs to be changed.  The MM gain can be adjusted in six steps from 37 db to 52 db and the MC stage (also six steps) from 57 db to 73 db, so even the lowest output cartridges can be accommodated.   Capacitance can be adjusted on the MM side from 68 pf to 400 pf and MC input loading has six options:  33, 75, 220, 390, 1000 and 47k ohms.  MC purists may be put off at the odd choices, but I had no problem using cartridges that I would normally load at 100 ohms with the 75-ohm setting or the 390-ohm setting for cartridges that I would use 500 ohms on another phono preamplifier.

The subsonic filter worked well with a few older, more warped records that have not had a session with the Furutech flattener yet and I was unable to hear any difference in low frequency output.  If the wide range of gain settings still isn’t enough, the 100 has the ability to boost the output by an additional 6db, so there should never be a situation where the 100 Phono does not possess enough gain.

Burmester’s “auto adjust” feature, when used with the supplied test record, will make up for channel imbalance in your phono cartridge. It compares the left and right channel signals, adjusting the level between channels to .2db, able to make the compensation up to 6db, though I can’t imagine a premium phono cartridge having this much channel error.  The only thing missing is a mono switch.

Setup

The Model 100 sounded slightly flat out of the box compared to my other Burmester components that have been powered up for over a year now, but because there are no capacitors in the signal path, there is no long drawn out break in with this preamplifier.  It opens up dramatically after a few days of constant play, and after it’s been on for about a week, you’re 100% there.  If you don’t have 12 hours a day to spin records, I highly suggest a Hagerman Technologies Reverse-RIAA between your CD player and the 100.  Leave it on repeat 24 hours a day for a few days to speed up the process. If you are one of the audiophiles that pooh-poohs component break in/stabilization, play your favorite record on the 100 straight out of the box and then again after a few days of burn in and you will be stunned at the improvement.

All controls are easily available on the front panel and clearly marked, so finding the proper loading and gain settings for your cartridge couldn’t be easier.  If you have multiple turntable/cartridge owners will be instantly at ease with this flexibility that few other phono stages match.

For those incorporating the 100 into a non-Burmester system, there is a phase reversal switch that works with the RCA outputs as well as the balanced XLR outputs.  This is particularly important because Burmester uses pin 3 for signal positive and 2 negative, while most other manufacturers do just the opposite.  A quick flip of the switch keeps everything in phase.

Burmester feels that keeping the signal path balanced all the way through, so the 100 only has balanced inputs.  This will require cable retermination or using the supplied XLR to RCA adaptors.  Considering the additional benefit to running a phono cartridge balanced, I would highly suggest having your tonearm cable terminated for balanced operation.  I used a Cardas Clear Phono cable and the Burmester Silver Balanced Phono Cable ($1,595) The Burmester cable was perhaps a bit too revealing for my taste, but again like any other cable, this is a tone control that needs to be fitted to your taste.

The Sound

Having used Burmester amplification as my reference for almost two years now, I’ve become very familiar with the “Burmester sound” or perhaps lack of it.  A year ago, I proclaimed the 911 mk. 3 power amplifier “The best power amplifier I’ve ever heard” and I still feel that way.  Dieter Burmester has managed to design and build electronics that bridges the gap between solid-state and vacuum tubes, offering the known advantages of both with the disadvantages of neither.

Burmester electronics have always offered a tonal richness that is usually associated with vacuum tubes, yet has an equal helping of dynamic contrast and weight that normally can only be achieved with the best solid-state gear.  If you are an analog lover, it’s much like the difference between hearing a master tape and a great pressing of your favorite record – the tonality has not been altered, but there is an ease, an extra level of naturalness that the record doesn’t have. If you haven’t heard the master tape you don’t know what you are missing, yet once you have, the difference is easy to discern. This is the ease in which Burmester electronics present the music.

Listening to the current Chris Bellman remaster of Van Halen II brought the first major strength of the model 100 to the front – impact.  This recording now has a lot more punch, and some serious low-end energy and the model 100 was able to capture every bit of Eddie Van Halen’s guitar harmonics.   It was also much easier to hear the differences between Eddie Van Halen and Michael Anthony singing harmonies on “Women In Love.”  Most excellent.

Classical and ambient music lovers will appreciate the subtlety of the subsonic filter.  When auditioning the vinyl edition of Brian Eno’s Small Craft on a Milk Sea, which features incredibly low synthesizer tones, I was able to play this record considerably louder than I could with the subsonic filter out – yet it never felt like there was any less bass energy on the record.  Granted, this is something you probably won’t need often, but a nice feature to have available. In combination with the GamuT S9 speakers and a pair of Burmester 911 mk. 3 amplifiers, I was able to achieve sound pressure levels that you would expect to hear in a club without strain – and without a touch of acoustic feedback.

High frequencies – sublime.  Again, when listening to your favorite acoustic music, the speakers just melt into the room and allow you to forget about the gear.  Spinning at least half a dozen of the latest Blue Note remasters from Music Matters Jazz I was always taken back at how natural cymbals and drum heads were sounding; always with perfect attack and smooth decay.  The true sign of an exceptional piece of gear, the 100 did not favor any particular type of music.

A few things always stand out with the Burmester experience beyond perfect tonality; ultra low noise, massive weight and lightning quick dynamics.  The 100 stays true to the rest of my Burmester gear.  Spinning the latest ORG pressing of Joni Mitchell’s The Hissing of Summer Lawns and their latest remake of Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes revealed even more detail than I was used to with these two perfect pressings. This ultra quiet background always made for huge dynamic swings on records that had the scale, but also revealed a stunning amount of low-level detail as well. The 100 is one of those rare additions to your system that will offer a further look into recordings you thought you knew intimately.

This realism is further enhanced by the 100’s ability to start and stop instantly.  It exhibits lightning fast response during the attack phase of a musical transient, but exhibits no overhang, stopping instantly as well.  This contributes to the 100’s complete lack of fatigue when listening for long periods of time.

A few quick comparisons

To keep the playing field level, I captured some tracks at 24/192 files with my Nagra LB pro digital recorder, as I do with the other phono stages I’ve used in the last year.  This offered an  for an indirect comparison to the ARC REF Phono 2 and the Boulder 1008 to the 100 Phono.  While this does not reveal 100% of what each of the respective phono stages can do, it’s a great way to compare phono stages past, without relying on memory alone.  When comparing the high res digital samples of Hissing of Summer Lawns, it confirmed what I suspected: The Boulder offered slightly more bass grunt, and my ARC REF Phono 2 had slightly less than the Burmester. When comparing the REF to the Burmester in real time, the Burmester was definitely an order of magnitude quieter – quite possibly the quietest I’ve ever heard.

The order was reversed when listening for that image depth; here the vacuum tubes in the ARC offered a bit larger musical image with the 100 seeming to make the room a bit smaller, with the Boulder now in last place. The 100 exceeded the other two in terms of dynamic contrast and the lowest noise floor. Considering adjustability, ease of use and the thought of never having to search for vacuum tubes, makes the 100 the big winner in my book.  Keep in mind that the order of magnitude we are discussing here is very small – indeed much of these differences could be minimized by cartridge choice.

When listening to Andrew Bird’s 2005 release Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs, I was consistently impressed by the low level detail and clarity presented. If you value a wide soundstage where images are painted in a very specific place across that sonic landscape, the Burmester is at the top of this category as well.  While I haven’t had the privilege of listening to all of the top $30k – $60k phono stages yet, the Model 100 is at the top of my list in regards to everything else I’ve heard in the 10-25k range.  And we still haven’t discussed the ADC…

The deciding factor in choosing the 100 over something else up in the stratosphere of phono stages will boil down to the sound you prefer and synergy with the rest of your components.  Of course if you have an all Burmester system, just write the check, it doesn’t get any better or any easier.

And now for something completely digital

If you’ve been curious about high quality digital capture and are either thinking about digitizing some of your favorite LP’s for a music server or just archival purposes, the extra $2,995 spent on the ADC module is a bargain.  Capturing files via USB and my MacBook Pro was fairly straightforward, (as I’ve been doing my fair share of this with other tools lately) though the instructions are fairly cryptic.  Those completely new to digital capture will probably be lost, so insist that your dealer give you a good run through on this part of the process.

All digital captures taken with the 100 feature 24-bit resolution, with a choice of 48khz, 96khz or 192khz sample rates.  Obviously the 24/192 files were of the highest quality, but the 29/96 files were not far behind and the 48 khz files were probably the most impressive, because they still offered excellent playback.  Even using the Burmester 088 CD player as a DAC, the difference between these and the original vinyl was minimal.

Though my Nagra LB digital recorder is easier to use and more user friendly than the Burmester, the Burmester offers a significant jump in recording quality. If you have ever thought about adding this functionality to your system, the Burmester does a fantastic job. Unfortunately, you will have to transfer your files somewhere and transcode to 16/44.1, should you want to burn any of these digital files to a CD.  Again, I would have liked to see this as an option in the ADC, so as to not have to perform yet another option in the digital domain.

Conclusion

If you only require one phono input and do not possess an all Burmester system, the 100 Phono is probably a bit on the high side of the price spectrum, but it becomes more reasonable (at least as reasonable as a $20,000 + phono stage can be…) as you add the second input and even more so if you make the ADC part of the bargain.

Nervous audiophiles that swap gear gear fairly often may not appreciate what makes the Burmester components such a great long-term value.  They are built with the precision of a Porsche engine and placed inside casework that is fitting of the best Swiss watches.  If you are someone that desires high quality audio equipment that you will live with for years to come, the Burmester 100 Phono will sound as great in 20 years as it does today.  And that, on many levels is its highest value.

The Burmester 100 Phono

MSRP:  $16,995 – $22,995 (depending on configuration)

Manufacturers Information:  www.burmester.de

Peripherals

Turntables                        Spiral Groove SG-2 w/Triplanar, AVID Acutus Reference SP w/SME V, AVID Volvere SP w/SME 309 and Rega P9/RB1000

Cartridges                        Dynavector XV-1s, Koetsu Urushi Blue, Grado Statement 1, Lyra Skala, SoundSmith Sussurro Paua

Preamplifier                      Burmester 011, McIntosh C500

Amplifiers                      Burmester 911mk. 3 monoblocks, McIntosh MC 1.2kw monoblocks

Speakers                         GamuT S9

If you are going to be in Montreal, we suggest that you pay a visit to the Salon Son & Image event, and if so, stop in our room and say hello. We always enjoy meeting our readers up close and in person! It is being held at the Hilton Bonaventure in the heart of downtown Montreal. 900 de La Gauchetiere St. West H5A 1E4 514-878-2332

We will be featuring a full Burmester system in our room and will be playing plenty of music daily. We’ll have quite a few recent MoFi discs as well as some old favorites. So bring a disc or listen to ours. And bring snack treats, it’s a long day in trade show world.

See you in Montreal!

For those new to the music server world, the Sooloos is by far the easiest and most comprehensive way to organize your music collection. As a very happy Sooloos owner for three years now, it’s definitely made my life easier and allowed me to listen to a lot more of my music collection.

Sooloos has produced a brief video explaining things and you can view it here.

We are currently working on a review of their latest products, the Control 15, the MS600 and the Media Core 200, so stay tuned…

An intimate four-day gathering of psychedelic, avant-garde, heavy, and nearly every other imaginable cutting-edge sonic delight, Roadburn Festival is without peer. Every April, dozens of bands and eager listeners from more than 40 countries descend upon a quaint town in the Netherlands to share in a common love of sensory-absorbing music, underground art, and likeminded discussion. It’s not difficult to understand why.

Unlike most festivals, Roadburn is focused and small; boundaries between the performers and audience are practically nonexistent. Due to its international reputation, unparalleled vision, and limited capacity, the multi-day event sells out within minutes. Indeed, Roadburn has become the gold standard in a music industry that’s increasingly more reliant on festivals. This year’s lineup represents a veritable wet dream for any metal, experimental, or doom fan: Sunn O))), Godflesh, Shrinebuilder, Winter, Trap Them, Corrosion of Conformity, Keiji Haino, The Secret, Earth, and Swans are just some of the names involved.

TONE is honored and humbled by the organizers’ invitation to attend Roadburn 2011. Our forthcoming report will serve as the magazine’s cover feature in Issue 37. In the meantime, to get an even better understanding of Roadburn’s history, purpose, and unique characteristics, we talked with festival organizer—and fellow audiophile—Walter Hoeijmakers via email. All festival directors should bring his level of passion, insight, and dedication to the fore.

BG: Roadburn began as a website but ultimately turned into a festival. Can
you give some background on how the music festival came about, and when you
started?

“At the very beginning, we just wanted to convey the overall feel of the website onto the stage. We started out very small by inviting several bands that we had featured on the website. Plus, we wanted to project parts of the website’s artwork behind the bands, and also have deejays spinning the music we were covering. Along the way, we started to experiment with live streams since we also sought to keep up with Internet’s progress. There was no real master plan; but nothing was contrived, either. We just did what felt best, and got tons of creative input along the way. All of this cumulated into the 10th Roadburn festival in 2005, which became the blueprint for the festival as we know it today.”

Most festivals are sprawling affairs that involve tens of thousands of people and vague artistic focus. Roadburn is the opposite. It strives to melt any boundaries between artists, fans and organizers. How do you manage to accomplish this? And what motivated you to set these goals?

“We want Roadburn to be a small, intimate, and well-organized festival. We love the bands, and thrive on creating a unique social vibe by emphasizing the cutting edge and honoring the forefathers. This is all joined together by a love of music. We’re not thriving on financial goals, neither do we want to be the next ‘best outdoor festival.’ Our main goal is to bring together a diverse group of artists that push the envelope, are truly original, and inspire us all with the unspeakable fire flowing through their art. It’s a gathering of kindred spirits, bands, and fans alike, and the lines between them are often completely blurred as they all worship the power of sound together. At Roadburn, most bands don’t hang out backstage: They can be found down in front!”

Tickets for this year’s festival sold out in about 15 minutes. The fest is now an internationally recognized phenomenon. Do you have any idea how many countries are represented by the people attending? Do you remember how long it took the first festival to sell out?

“The first-ever Roadburn Festivals didn’t sell out at all. We sold out in 2003 for the very first time when the festival took place at the Effenaar club in Eindhoven; 450 people showed up. Then, in 2006, Roadburn sold out a few days prior to the festival. We had moved to the 013 venue in Tilburg, and offered 1750 tickets. It was crazy to see that approximately 70% of our attendees were from abroad and not from the Netherlands. These figures still stand today, as we have about 44 different nationalities attending the festival. They descend upon Tilburg from the world over, ranging from the USA and South America to Australia and Japan, and all the European countries in between. For Roadburn 2011, we’re even welcoming people from Singapore and Indonesia. It’s something that still amazes me today as we just started the festival out of a labor of love, and still do it for that very reason.”

As the organizer, can you share what your duties involve and how early you start planning? Once the festival begins, are you able to enjoy it or are you too busy managing logistics?

“We start planning one year in advance. I’m already working on Roadburn 2012 even though the 2011 edition has yet to take place. Unfortunately, I’m not able to see much at the festival as I’m often busy micro-managing. I always tend to spend time with bands and attendees, and as soon as I’m able to catch up with them, you’ll find me backstage or talking to all the wonderful people in the venue’s hallways. Sometimes I can enjoy a band. There’s always a show that I’m trying to catch in its entirety, and it’s my goal to catch several this year. I desperately want to see likes of Wovenhand and Shrinebuilder, among others. Luckily, we record most performances for the on-demand audio streams, and I catch up with everything at home when listening to the steams.”

The lineup for Roadburn 2011 is any metal and underground music fan’s dream. How do you go about inviting artists? Do you start with a wish list? Do certain bands contact you expressing their desire?

“Both Jurgen van den Brand (Roadburn’s co-organizer) and I start out with a band list. We have a pretty good idea of the bands we’d like to invite for the festival. The list keeps changing throughout the year, and we’re very proactive by approaching the bands ourselves. It’s always very rewarding if certain bands on our list start to approach us. It’s in the spirit of the festival, and makes confirming their involvement easy. On a personal note, I’ve been around in the underground scene for more than 25 years and happen to know many bands personally, as well as lots of bookings agents, managers, and journalists. This is really helpful, because getting in touch with certain bands is really easy for me. The Roadburn phenomenon also helps to get in touch with bands that I don’t know on a personal level.”

You were able to get Keiji Haino, Caspar Brotzmann Massaker, Ufomammut, and at least a half dozen other bands that can be considered nothing less than coups for any festival. How does one go about doing this?

“Keiji Haino and Caspar Brotzmann Massaker have been invited by Sunn O))) for their curated Roadburn event. We asked [Sunn O))) leaders] Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley to open up the styles and sounds of the festival, and they did a great job. Their curated day is nothing short of amazing, and a tribute to some master guitarists that influenced them as artists. Offering a day of the festival to a curating band or artist is of great help in getting coups for Roadburn. It inspires other bands to be part of the festival as well, as they want to be among their peers in an intimate setting—which is Roadburn.”

This year’s lineup has a definite psychedelic and doom flavor. Was this intentional? If so, are there any bands that you targeted that, for some reason, you weren’t able to get for the festival?

“It all happened naturally. When we started to work on this year’s Roadburn festival, we noticed some very interesting doom and psychedelic bands that we really liked. It’s part of our mission to put emphasis on the cutting edge. Thus, inviting these bands was inevitable, and pushed Roadburn 2011 in a more doomy and dark psychedelic direction. We love evolving the festival in manners like this to keep it interesting for our attendees. In the end, the festival should be a tribute to the open minds of bands and attendees alike. As far as bands we wanted but didn’t get, it would have been great if we could have had The Obsessed for Roadburn 2011, but we couldn’t pull of the reunion yet!”

There’s an incredible balance between new and older bands on the bill, i.e., with highly influential veterans such as COC, Pentagram, Godflesh, and Earth sharing the bill with relative newcomers such as The Secret, Liturgy, et al. Was this by design?

“We want Roadburn to be a well-balanced festival and do everything to keep it that way even if it means that we have to pass on certain opportunities. In order to keep the balance, several great bands didn’t make it on this year’s lineup. However, we remain in touch with these bands for future Roadburn festivals since they are good reference points for next year’s direction.”

Is there anything that you are doing for this year’s festival that improves upon what you did in the past?

“We keep improving every year, whether it’s about backlines, projections, crowd control, food vendors, a merchandise venue, or the metal disco. We want to maintain the laidback vibe of the festival as much as we possibly can. Luckily, the incredible staff of the 013 venue, home of Roadburn, is of great help—they are a main part of the festival, too.”

What advice what you give somebody who has never been to Roadburn?

“Go with the flow. Don’t try to catch as many bands as you’d like or get distracted by some overlaps. Please immerse yourself in the laidback vibe of the festival, and enjoy the company of all these like-minded people. Then you’ll experience the camaraderie amongst the festivalgoers and end up seeing some amazing bands you didn’t intend to see while making new friends along the way.”

You’ve been there from the start. Can you share a few favorite memories?

“There are way too many stories to be told. Maybe I should write a book some day about all the shenanigans and debauchery behind the scenes—hahaha! All joking aside, if someone would have told me 25 years ago that I would run a festival like Roadburn and collaborate with either Neurosis, Tom G Warrior (of Celtic Frost and Triptykon), Saint Vitus, or Hawkwind, I simply wouldn’t believe them. It all just happened.”

Is there any single band or performance this year that you can’t wait to see?

“As I said earlier, I’m really looking forward to seeing Dave Eugene Edward’s Wovenhand at Roadburn. It’s an incredible coup for the festival to have the band on the bill. At first glimpse, Wovenhand is a little off-kilter, as Roadburn tends to be an underground festival for psychedelic, avant-garde, doom, or any other variation of leftfield sonic pleasures that push the boundaries of music. But Wovenhand will prove that making really heavy music does not necessarily mean having the loudest guitar or the most amps.”

You’re obviously a huge music fan. And the intimate construction of the festival suggests that you appreciate good sound. Are you interested in audio gear? If so, on what kind of system do you listen to music at home?

“I have been fascinated by audio gear and spent lots of money on speakers, interlinks, tweaks, and the like over the years—just like many of TONE’s readers, I suppose. For the last 8 years, I’ve been really enjoying my Marantz Music Link series (preamp, phono preamp and monoblocks). My current set of speakers is Floating Systems’ Synthese.

“I’m in love with my mid-70s Ariston RD 11 turntable (it’s the predecessor of Linn’s LP12) plus SME tonearm. As far as cartridges go, I’m sticking to a Grado Statement Wood—amazing warmth, and perfect for my vast collection of 60s and 70s rock on vinyl. “I prefer vinyl over CDs any time, but have an experimental CD player that’s custom-built by a Swiss audio geek. I bought it relatively cheap. Sometimes you need to be lucky!”

In 1992, MartinLogan debuted the Aerius loudspeaker, shrinking the sound of their Sequel II in to a smaller and more affordable sized speaker, with an 8-inch woofer, at a retail price of $1,995 per pair. Stereophile’s John Atkinson gave these speakers a highly enthusiastic review, saying the panel/woofer integration was “seamless” and that “he was struck by the unity of the Aerius’s sound.”

I bought a pair of Aerius’s, based on that review, because while I had loved my former CLS’s, my current digs did not afford the room that the CLS required, but I really missed the MartinLogan sound. So out went my Acoustat 1+1’s and I was back in LoganWorld! My system consisted of a Klyne Audio Arts SK-5 preamplifier, a Conrad Johnson MV-50 and a Rega P3 with Dynavector Ruby Carat cartridge and I was digging the panel goodness. The Aerius’s could definitely rock out better than my Acoustats were able to.

Over the last 19 years, I’ve owned and reviewed a lot of speakers, but I always remember that pair of Aerius’s well. A little sniffing around the internet reveals a doggedly loyal following, even today. Considering that you can still get a replacement set of ESL panels for your Aerius’s, it’s easy to keep them singing.

At the end of 2010, Devin Zell (MartinLogan’s Marketing Manager) started talking about a new hybrid ESL that was going to come in right at $1995, to which I said, “Is this going to be a 21st Century Aerius?” Zell’s excitement for the project was tough to keep under wraps, as I had obviously hit a hot button. We then proceeded to nerd out about all things MartinLogan for a while and a review pair was promised.

Zell went way above and beyond the call of duty this time. He not only sent me a pair of the ElectroMotion speakers you see here in my driveway, but he had a pair of Aerius’s refurbished at the factory for me to use for comparison purposes! I felt this was so cool, I had to meet the challenge. My MV-50 just got back from Conrad Johnson, freshened up with their current CJD Teflon capacitors, so it will sound even better than it did back in the early 90’s when I first had my Aerius’s and I found a mint Klyne preamp as well. Add a current Rega P9 with Dynavector cartridge and it’s as close to going back in time as I can muster.

So, stay tuned. This will certainly be a fun review – of both speakers.

For now, here’s a little more information on the ElectroMotion’s:

Ken Kessler is an American-born, UK-based journalist whose articles on hi-fi, watches, pens, and cars have appeared in more than 140 different publications in more than 20 countries. After working as Assistant Editor for the short-lived Stereo – The Magazine, in 1983 he joined Hi-Fi News & Record Review, where he still serves, latterly as Senior Contributing Editor.

Ken is among the most widely published hi-fi journalists at work today, and is the author of Quad: The Closest Approach and McIntosh…For The Love Of Music. He lives near Canterbury with his wife, his son and three cats.

We are thrilled to have Ken bring decades of insight into our vintage audio column.

Sometimes it’s easy to overlook the obvious. With new speakers hitting the market every day, here’s an updated classic that’s sure to please. The Klipsch Heresy hit the market in the late 50’s and now is in its third generation, featuring a 12-inch, 3 way design with a horn loaded midrange and tweeter. The result is a high efficiency (99db/1 watt sensitivity) speaker that rocks out in a major way with a minimum of amplifier power.

These speakers arrived yesterday, and have been blasting since I got them out of the box. Using the 40 watt Croft hybrid power amplifier tested recently, it’s going to take a while to find the volume limits of these speakers. Even with 40 watts per channel on tap, a modest twist of the volume control is producing plenty of oomph.

We’ll have a full review in issue 38, but even after a day’s listening, this is a speaker has put a big smile on my face.

$799 each, mfrs. info here

While visiting Washington DC, I had quite the audio experience at contributing writer Jacob Heilbrunn’s house. After attending an outstanding dealer event at JS Audio, that was packed until well past closing with demos from Wilson Audio’s Peter McGrath and Rich Maez from Boulder, the real treat was yet to come.

Heilbrunn’s purpose built room, featuring the Continuum Caliburn turntable with a matching pair of Cobra tonearms (featuring the Lyra Titan mono and the AirTight PC-1 Supreme), and the Ypsilon phono stage, showcasing a pair of Wilson Audio Alexandra 2’s driven by a pair of Classe 600 watt monoblocks. Digital was handled by the Playback Designs MPS-5 CD/SACD player and all sources channeled through the Messenger preamplifier. If this pair of enormous full range speakers wasn’t enough, Heilbrunn had a pair of Wilson Thor subwoofers, which McGrath had just recently installed in the room for a future review in The Absolute Sound. But the system was as much a testament to finesse as brute strength.

Running through a gamut of jazz, blues and classic rock, I was stunned at the system’s limitless dynamic range and perfect tonality. While many audiophiles like to think that recorded music can’t approach the real thing, it’s only a pile of cash away. In this case, about 400 large (Clevelands not Franklins), and it unquestionably delivers the goods. Having been to Wilson Audio’s Valhalla – David Wilson’s living room, even his spectacular system comes up short in terms of the delicacy and ultimate resolution I experienced here. McGrath went on to say that while listening to a live jazz recording as he was packing up at Heilbrunn’s house, the people chatting on the couch at the back of the room just added to the ambiance. “I really felt as if I was sitting right there in the club, experiencing a live show.”. McGrath also confirmed my analysis of Heilbrunn’s system and felt it might be the best he’s ever experienced as well. But he left it open with a wry smile, as he said “There is one customer of ours in Spain…”

This is truly a system that does it all. The monstrous X-2’s disappeared in the room completely; we didn’t need to dim the lights as a parlor trick. It was if they were coated with something from the Army’s latest stealth arsenal. (With the Pentagon only a few miles away and Heilbrunn’s day job covering politics, who knows? Maybe I did have an X-Files experience?). These six foot tall speakers never drew attention to themselves and had a top to bottom coherence that even the best panel speakers lack.

In the quest for even higher fidelity, Heibrunn is in the process of building a new sound room when he moves in fall. As we leave for the airport he ponders, “Is there more resolution available?”

We will see. Watch for the complete chronicle of his new project later this year in a future issue of TONEAudio.

Features

Standalone Motherfucker: A Conversation with Twilight Singers Leader Greg Dulli
By Bob Gendron

Alex James Interview: Dolorean’s Introspective Folk Rock Beauty
By Jaan Uhelszki

Budget Gear: Silverline Minuet Mini Monitors
By Lawrence Devoe

Journeyman Audiophile: Truth and Soul: The ZuAudio Soul Superfly speakers
By Steve Guttenberg

Old School Alexandria: The Forgotten Oracle
By Jeff Dorgay

Tone Style

The Ace Hotel Sleep here if you love music

40: A Doonesbury Retrospective

The Omron Blood Pressure Monitor

Fentimans Curiosity Cola

Drobo S: Back it up!

The McIntosh Clock

Spend an Extra Day In Montreal By Bob Gendron

Music

Live Music: Buddy Guy, Motorhead, Black Dub and Trap Them

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

Audiophile Pressings
By Jeff Dorgay

Jazz and Blues
Three new releases
By Jim Macnie

Club Mix
MICS Show coverage from Monaco
By Scott Tetzlaff

Previews

AVID Acutus Reference SP Turntable

Vitus Audio MP-P201 Phono Preamp

NAD PP-3 Phono Preamp

Reviews

EXCLUSIVE: The Devialet D-Premier
By Jeff Dorgay

The Nagra MSA Amplifier
By Jeff Dorgay

Bel Canto’s FM1 Tuner
By Lawrence Devoe

Totem Acoustic Forest Speakers
By Mark Marcantonio

The EAT ECC803S tubes
By Jeff Dorgay

Ultimate Versatility: The McIntosh C500 Control Center
By Jeff Dorgay

Budget Audio Redefined: The Polk Audio Blackstone speakers
By Jeff Dorgay

SLUMMIN’
Classics on the cheap

By the time most of you are reading this, I’ll be on my way to the UK.

Going to visit Conrad Mas, the fellow who designs the full range of AVID turntables and take a tour of their brand new facility. Hoping to get some great photos of my table the Acutus SP Reference, which is sounding ever so fantastic here in the TONEAudio listening room.

Conrad is promising beer and a sneak peek at some new developments. What could be better?

For those of you that have been waiting for the next series of Croft amplification products, they are back with their Micro 25 preamplifier and Series 7 power amplifier. In case you aren’t familiar, don’t feel out of touch, Croft has always been one of the smallest of British hifi manufacturers, but worth seeking out if you are interested in high performance at a very reasonable price. The two components you see here are only $1,395 each.

When you pick them up, you might be surprised at the relatively light weight; there are no massive power transformers or CNC machined chassis here, but that’s not the Croft design ethos. There are seven components in the Croft lineup; three preamplifiers, three power amplifiers and a phono stage. They all share the same enclosure to save cost. The two top line products fill the enclosure and the two lower models have progressively less under the hood, ultimately keeping the cost down on all models.

Value inside

Where past Croft owners might smirk ever so slightly upon reading this, as they know what lurks inside, the more traditional audiophile might be somewhat tense, worried that they aren’t receiving enough for their money. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you look more closely, you will notice that there are no printed circuit boards inside either of these two components. They are completely wired point to point, with a density and precision that would make a watchmaker proud.

Croft has always been about simplicity, and these two components are the essence of minimalism. The Micro 25 preamplifier is a full tube design and uses three 12AX7 (ECC 83) tubes, one for the linestage and two for the phono stage. The series 7 power amplifier is a hybrid design, again using the 12AX7 for the input stage with a Mosfet output stage, producing 45 watts per channel.

In the 60’s Dynaco was the benchmark for great sound at a very reasonable price, and in the 80’s the early Hafler gear offered more of the same, with their DH-101 preamplifier and DH-200 power amplifier. Though a bit more expensive (it is 2011 after all), these two pieces from Croft offer a level of musicality that are truly unmatched at this price level, at least in my experience – though you need to define your priorities.

Like the Dynaco and Hafler products before, the Micro 25 preamplifier is a no frills design. There are two high level inputs and the phono input. No remote is offered and there isn’t even a balance control. All the effort has been put into sound quality and that’s great news for audiophiles on a budget. The Series 7 amplifier has a pair of RCA input jacks, a simple pair of output binding posts and a power switch. Nothing more.

Instantly impressive

These two pieces of gear will surprise you as soon as you power them up. As I was just completing the review of the $45,000 pair of Estelon speakers for the December issue, I started here to see just what the Croft combination was capable of. Running a pair of RCA cables from the dCS Paganini to one of the line level inputs, I was amazed at just how musical these two were right off the bat. At moderate levels, it was very easy to get fooled into thinking this amplifier and preamplifier were worth at least double their asking price when judged on sound quality alone. The pace was excellent and the Series 7 amplifier did a great job of controlling the Estelons and my reference GamuT S9’s as well. I started with one of my favorite totally 80’s test tracks, Thomas Dolby’s “Hot Sauce,” that features a killer opening bass riff. The Series 7 had no problem controlling the might Estelons, and that hooked me instantly on the sound. Next up, Dave Stewart’s “Kinky Sweetheart” from his Greetings From the Gutter CD. This track is very ethereal, with a lot of electronic and synth effects that float around the soundstage and will fall flat with a lesser preamp. The Croft combo through a soundstage that was impressively wide and deep. Going back to something I’ve heard a million times for an acoustic reference, Sonny Rollins’ Saxophone Colossus was the next choice and again I came away astonished at how natural instruments felt, with just the right of space and decay.

Of course this is playing way out of the league of these two components, but the point is that they still turned in an outstanding performance, even with state of the art speakers and digital source. Moving on to a more “budget appropriate” system, I used a few more reasonably priced speakers with the Croft combination and still came with a big smile on my face. The Series 7 amplifier even passed the torture test of driving my Magnepan 1.6 speakers at a modest level, something most budget amplifiers (even those with higher power ratings) can’t do. The rest of my listening was done with my freshly restored JBL L-100’s, the new Blackstone speakers from Polk Audio and the B&W 805D’s.

Great phono

As the Micro 25 only possesses a MM phono stage, the freshly restored Dual 1219/Grado Black and Rega RP1/Ortofon OM40 tables were used to spin records, making for a very nice system. Both tables turned in excellent performance, but the synergy between the Dual/Grado was unbelievably good, offering a very rich tonal quality to whatever I played. If you are an analog lover that is on a tight budget or just doesn’t want to spend the time (and money) to seek out mega pressings, The Micro 25 could be your little slice of heaven. Some of my 70’s classic rock favorites sounded way better than they had a right to.

I love to compare audio components to automobiles and while this may annoy some of you that are less automotively inclined, the Micro 25 and Series 7 remind me of one of my favorite cars of all time, the Series one VW GTI. While the current GTI is an excellent car in its own right and offers a healthy does of Audi – level luxury, they now retail for about $30k and are out of the range many of the enthusiasts the car was originally aimed at.

But that original GTI was only $7,000 dollars and between 25 and 90 mph, provided a level of driver involvement that few cars at any price could match. This is exactly what the Croft pair offers up. They do such a great job at what they do well; you won’t notice their limitations. Even when used with a pair of $40k speakers, they sound so inviting connected to your favorite pair of $500-$1,500 speakers, you’ll be blown away with how much you can enjoy your music collection, analog or digital.

Only complaint is that the phono stage could be a little bit quieter. There is a bit of tube rush at modest levels when getting relatively close to the speakers, though you won’t hear it from your listening position. It does make a fairly harsh click when shutting off the preamplifier, so be sure to turn the amplifier off first.

Croft all the way, or…

These two Croft components have an obvious, one-manufacturer synergy when using them separately with other components but the preamplifier is the over achiever of the two. You’ll be hard pressed to find a vacuum tube based phono preamplifier this good for $1,395, much less one that includes a great linestage. Going a bit further upscale and plugging the Micro 25 into my recently rebuilt Conrad Johnson MV-50 power amplifier, I was pleasantly surprised at just how much more music was lurking inside this little preamplifier.

Where the Model 7 really shines is the amount of inner detail and musicality that it reveals. This is a quality vs. quantity piece all the way. You can buy other amplifiers for about $1,500 that have more power, but I defy you to find one this musically satisfying. Just like the preamplifier, mate the Model 7 with the right pair of speakers, preferably ones with a sensitivity of about 90db, and you may never go any further down the audio path. The other preamplifier I found great synergy with was my vintage Naim NAC 52, so anyone thinking of using one a Micro 25 with a vintage Naim preamplifier (also well known for an excellent on board phono stage) will not be disappointed, though you will need the appropriate interconnects.

Regardless of where you are on the audiophile path, if you are building a high performance, yet reasonably priced system I can’t suggest the Croft Micro 25 preamplifier and Model 7 power amplifier highly enough, especially if you can live without a remote control.

Both of these pieces perform far enough out of their respective price point that even if the audio bug bites you hard, you should be able to go through a few rounds of source and speaker upgrades before you tire of the Croft pieces. Even if you do decide to move further up the ladder, I’d suggest keeping these two forever – they are destined to become classics. I bought the review pair and plan to do just that. We are proud to award the pair one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2011.

The Croft Micro 25 Preamplifier and Model 7 power amplifier

MSRP: $1,395 each

Manufacturers Information:

www.croftacoustics.co.uk (factory)

http://www.bluebirdmusic.com (North American distributor)

I’ve been using Running Springs Audio power line conditioners in my two reference systems for the last four years now with excellent results. I’ve tried damn near everything else and everything else that I have tried has fallen short. Nothing has been able to offer the combination of lowering the noise floor and cleaning up the power line grain without compromising dynamics like the RSA products. Even the mightiest pair of monoblocks haven’t had an issue with the Maxim conditioner that I have plugged into a dedicated 20 amp line. I have their Dmitri connected to another 20A line for my line level components (and a few small power amplifiers, as needed) and a Haley on yet another 15A line strictly to keep the power going to my dCS Paganini stack and Sooloos music server performing at their best.

My only beef has been that this level of performance doesn’t come cheap. Their prior entry level product, the Haley tips the scale at around $2,000. It’s worth every penny, and in informal comparisons has often outperformed other PLC’s costing twice as much, but has been out of reach for the person with a more reasonable system, or perhaps someone not having such heavy current demands. Enter the Elgar, with a list price of $999.

A full review is in progress, but on first listen today with my Woo Audio 5 headphone amplifier, utilizing 300B SET amplification, my first impression is “fantastic!” For more information, visit the Running Springs website here:

-Jeff Dorgay

I’ve been living with a set of PSVANE 12AX7’s for a few weeks now and so far, these are great sounding tubes. While many lovers of vacuum tubes enjoy the hunt for NOS (new old stock) tubes, great deals on NOS tubes are few and far inbetween. With the 12AX7 being such a popular tube in vintage as well as current preamplifiers, a great 12AX7 is always in demand.

At $99 per pair for their highest grade, the Shuguang Psvane (Pavane) 12AX7’s are a bargain. With a warmer yet highly detailed presentation, these tubes outperform everything in my toolbox, except for a couple of very rare Tele’s and Mullards, all in the $250-$400 range, EACH. I’ve been using a complete set in the output stage of my McIntosh C500 preamplifier with excellent results. These tubes were a major upgrade in every way from the standard issue Mac tubes. If you’d like a great tube upgrade that’s easy on the wallet, call the folks at Grant Fidelity and order some of these for your favorite tube amp or preamp. Highly suggested!

Click here to visit their site

I must admit, I’m almost never impressed with what I hear at audio shows, and it’s not for the manufacturers’ lack of trying. It’s always tough to hear anything decently at a show, even if the room is set up fairly well. But at last year’s CEDIA convention, there was something that really blew me away, the final prototypes of MartinLogan’s new Motion series, especially when I saw how tiny they were.

While MartinLogan is well known for their electrostat speakers, they have been making great strides with their ATF planar tweeters over the past few years, the Motion series uses the same air motion technology for their tweeter that was made famous by ESS in the 1970’s. The air motion driver has made a big comeback in the past ten years, showing up in flagship speakers from Dali and Burmester to name a few. Because of its folded ribbon nature, this tweeter has the speed of a panel speaker, offering the transparency that MartinLogan is famous for, but in a much smaller form factor.

Only about 5 x 5 inches and just over a foot tall, MartinLogan managed to stuff a 4 inch woofer with a folded bass port into this tiny, curvy enclosure along with the new tweeter. The Motion 4 has a rated sensitivity of 90db/1watt, but it is very easy to drive. I used these speakers exclusively in my living room system to see how well they would work in a small environment.

Setup

I used the speakers about 9 feet apart (2 feet from the side walls, 18 inches from the rear wall) on a pair of carbon fiber Whitworth stands, with a tiny bit of blu-tack between the speakers’ base and that of the stands. The Motion 4’s also have a mounting flange for wall mounting, which should prove handy in a compact surround sound system. I also made use of one of their new Dynamo 700 wireless subwoofers that we will feature a detailed review on soon. Suffice to say for now, it’s another home run from MartinLogan, providing outstanding performance, value and perfect integration for the Motion 4’s. I would highly suggest one of these to round out a full range system based around the Motion speakers, whether it is two-channel or multi channel.

The Motion 4’s have some recessed binding posts that are easy to get at if you are stringing something similar to zip cord or the basic upgraded wire that a lot of home installers use. Those wanting to use somewhat higher quality cables need to be sure they are terminated with banana plugs. Spades of any kind will not work, due to the recessed nature of the binding posts. The Motion 4’s only weigh 6 pounds each, so I can’t imagine using mega speaker cables with these speakers anyway.

The Audioquest Colorado speaker I used for my listening sessions was probably a bit overkill for this application, but it worked great and did provide better sound that later switching to $1/foot Radio Shack speaker wire could offer. The bottom line is that these little speakers are capable of a healthy dose of resolution. The rest of the reference system was rounded out with a Naim Uniti (50w/ch solid state) all in one receiver, which allowed CD’s, FM, Internet radio and my iPod to be used as sources and the Prima Luna Prologue 1 vacuum tube integrated (30w/ch) along with a Denon 3910. For those that will be using the Motion 4’s as the start of a two channel system, rest assured that they are easy to drive with tubes or transistors, making this speaker even more versatile.

The Sound

In a small room with corner placement, the Motion 4’s have a surprising amount of bass on tap, much more than their LF range spec of 75hz would suggest. Adding the slight warmth of the Prima Luna to the mix made me wonder at first if a subwoofer was even necessary, and if you aren’t listening to Pink Floyd at bone crushing levels, you might not either. MartinLogan concentrated on making a great speaker that only goes down to 75hz cleanly rather than a mediocre speaker that goes down to 50hz, sacrificing everything else to get that last bit of ultimate bass. Remember, adding a subwoofer to a speaker with lousy midrange isn’t HiFi.

The key to appreciating and enjoying this speaker is how much quality it offers, and for those of you that have MartinLogan speakers in your main listening room and perhaps need a second system, or would like to build a small home theater system in another room, you will be pleasantly surprised at how much of the core ML sound is on tap here.

I went through a fair share of my classic rock favorites, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, The Doobies, etc. to get a good feel for how these little speakers would perform on music that I know like the back of my hand. Friends and family members were all amazed at the natural sound the Motion 4’s possessed, and a couple of MartinLogan owners were equally impressed.

Again, the key to this speaker is the midrange performance and transparency, they offered. Cymbals sound incredibly right and these speakers do a great job with solo vocals as well. I never really felt like I was listening to a pair of “budget” speakers. Those listening to a steady diet of jazz and classical music will notice a slight bit of grain in the upper mids, but that’s being really fussy. Again, remember, these are entry-level speakers, not a pair of CLX’s.

At the end of the test, my $35 Pioneer receiver from the 70’s was substituted for the Naim, to see how these speakers would perform in an “extreme budget” system, and they passed the test quite handily. While they are capable of high resolution and will shine with better electronics, the Motion 4’s will offer a lot of sound with anything you hook them up to.

The speakers are very robust and even with a 35-watt amplifier at my disposal; I was amazed at how loud they would play in my small room. When I got wacky with Megadeth, Metallica and Korn, I could tell they needed more oomph, but that’s what that Dynamo subwoofer is all about. If you add one of those to the mix, even the most hardcore metal head should be very happy indeed.

A Breakthrough

When I heard the Motion 4’s in front of a pair of CLX’s (playing through some very nice gear from McIntosh) at CEDIA, I was really impressed. While many of the people in the room exclaimed, “are those the big speakers?” I knew they weren’t the CLX’s, because I own a pair, but they certainly didn’t sound like, are you ready…

A $500 pair of speakers. That’s right. A pair of Motion 4’s will only set you back $500. Though my head is usually up in the clouds listening to five figure speaker systems, this is truly a breakthrough in budget speaker performance. No one on the staff guessed the price on the Motion 4’s; the closest bid was $800 a pair. Having just recently reviewed a number of small monitor speakers in the $1,500 – $3,000 a pair range, these speakers have got to be one of the best buys in high end audio today. Add that Dynamo 700, which is wireless ready, and you’ve got an amazing speaker system for under $1,200, and a great foundation to a system in the $2,000 – $3,000 range.

If we are going to get more people excited about the world of HiFi, this is definitely what we need a lot more of. I am very happy to award MartinLogan one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2010. Don’t let the price fool you; the Motion 4’s are worthy of the MartinLogan name on the box.

-Jeff Dorgay

The MartinLogan Motion 4

MSRP: $499/pair

www.martinlogan.com

Peripherals

Amplification Naim Uniti, Prima Luna ProLogue 1

Digital Sources Denon 3910, Oppo BDP 83

Cable Audioquest Colorado

Power Shunyata Hydra 2, Shunyata Venom power cords

We are honored to have the opportunity to receive the first D-Premier integrated amplifier/DAC from Devialet in the United States for review.  It will be featured in our February 20 issue, but for now, we’re giving our readers the opportunity to ask some questions and share a bit of the review process as we head towards production.  We will be doing this going forward with select reviews to give you more of a chance to interact with us.

And, to answer the main question that is probably on your mind, it DOES sound as good as it looks, perhaps better!

Rega has established a solid reputation over the last thirty years now for building reasonably priced components packed with value beyond their price point. Rega turntables have always been a triumph of function and simplicity, with a legion of fans that span the globe. Founder Roy Gandy is a champion of giving his customers high performance without a high price tag, and didn’t even start building CD players until about ten years ago. His sense of humor is evident in their website, where it’s mentioned that Rega was “the last major high end company to build a CD player.”

About that same time Rega also introduced the P9 turntable. Then $4,000 and now $5,000, ten years later (with the tonearm upgraded from the RB900 to RB1000 status), this was Rega’s only entry into more expensive components. One of my reference turntables for the last few years, the P9 is a very special table, offering performance well beyond its pricetag, just like every other Rega product.

In 2008 that trend was continued with the introduction of the IOS phono stage and later on in the year, the Elicit integrated amplifier. Something was definitely up at Rega. Though still very reasonably priced in market terms, at about $3,000 each, these components were still a considerable step up from the Fono and Brio.

A visit to the Rega factory this year revealed a company more committed to performance and value than ever. Rega is a fantastic mix of 21’st century modernization and early 20th century craftsmanship, with their own spin applied. Towards the end of our tour of the plant, the group I was with was taken to an assembly room where something very different was going on.

A $9,000 CD player, from Rega?

That’s not a typo. Yes, that’s right, $9,000 for a Rega CD player. But it’s a very special CD player. In the past, Rega has always been fanatical about offering the highest value they feel that they can build. Because they only outsource a tiny percentage of their production, they have become very efficient and eliminate multiple sources of markup that eventually get passed on to the consumer.

They have not varied from their chosen path with the ISIS a single millimeter, however the focus has changed somewhat. The ISIS is the first product Rega has built that has not had a target cost attached to it; it’s simply the best player that Gandy and his staff feel they are capable of building, with cost no object. Coming full circle to Rega’s core values, the pricetag is only $9,000. The average Rega customer that’s been raised on P3 turntables and Apollo CD players ($800 and $1,000 respectively) is freaking out at the thought of a $9,000 CD player from their favorite British HiFi manufacturer. Has Roy Gandy gone mad?

If anyone should be freaking out, it should be the manufacturers of CD players in the $20 – $50k range. It’s definitely a contender and in typical Rega fashion, offers value way beyond its price point. Even if you haven’t had the chance to see them assembled at the factory, the minute you open the box, the attention to detail is apparent.

The ISIS comes packaged in a very sturdy yet tasteful mini-crate with the ISIS logo cut in the high-density, closed cell foam internals. It gives you the feel that something special is inside, without being extravagant. When you remove the 55-pound (25kg) CD player from the box, you know it. The massive aluminum chassis reveals a look not unlike past Rega players, with their famous “spaceship” top loading door and red LED’s on the front panel, but seriously fortified all the way around.

In addition to the player, a substantial billet remote control is included that is on par with what you would expect with the world’s finest audio gear as well as a pair of high quality RCA interconnects and a substantial power cord. I would value both of these items in the $500 – $1,000 range if you bought them as aftermarket items. A very nice touch I’d say, but I’d love to see you being able to have the option of them being terminated with XLR’s.

Which leads us to something else you’ve never seen from Rega, a pair of balanced XLR jacks on the back panel. This takes advantage of the ISIS having fully balanced, differential circuitry throughout. There are also standard RCA outputs for those requiring it. The DAC in the ISIS uses a pair of Burr Brown PCM 1794 D to A converters running in parallel dual mono mode. Analog and digital stages have their own separate power supply transformers and there are ten individual voltage regulator stages in the digital section along with another ten for the analog stage. This is indeed a very serious bit of digital hardware.

Those worried about the viability of the CD format and getting your player serviced in the future, fear not. Inside the owner’s manual, there is a signature from the technician that assembled your ISIS, another tech that QC’d the electrical and mechanical systems and the tech that tested and archived not one, but two spare laser units. I think it’s safe to say that the ISIS will last longer than most of its owners and I appreciate this attention to detail, with CD transport mechanisms getting scarcer all the time.

An outstanding DAC that happens to play CD’s, or the other way around?

As the market for high performance CD players is probably nearing its end, Rega gives you the option to use the ISIS as a USB DAC as well. Personally, I’d love to see an SPDIF input on this player, but considering the recent success of the Ayre USB DAC, I’m guessing this is not a deal breaker for the current crop of audiophiles that are more computer based.

While you might be clinging on to your shiny discs for now, the ISIS gives you the options to go both ways and that’s what makes the ISIS such a great value. The DAC performance of the ISIS was also outstanding when streaming files from my Mac Book Pro via the USB input, which is switchable from the front panel or the remote. The only serious drawback to the ISIS is it’s inability to read 24bit/96khz files and this may be the Achilles heel for someone wanting to make this player part of a more computer based system. With 24/96 files becoming the new standard, this will limit your music choices going forward. Personally, I see the ISIS in the same light that I do my Naim 555, a statement CD player for someone with a large collection of physical media.

Which $800 bottle of wine would you like with your dinner?

With the ISIS in short supply worldwide, the question everyone has been asking me is how does is stack up ultimately to the five figure players I have here as reference components? Damn good, I say. Comparing the ISIS to my reference Naim 555 was an interesting study in presentation. It was a big help that we had the ultra revealing YG Acoustics Anat II speakers around for the duration of the review. As part of a six-figure reference system, the 555 still had the ultimate edge in terms of overall analog-like smoothness, but not by a large amount.

Interestingly, the edge went slightly in favor of the ISIS in terms of tonal contrast and transient attack. When listening to the cymbals at the beginning of “Euthanasia Waltz” on Brand X’s Livestock CD, the Rega player offered slightly quicker attack on the leading edge, but didn’t decay as smoothly as the Naim. However, when comparing the playback of this track to the Wadia 781i, the ISIS had a definite edge in upper end refinement, though it did not have quite the subterranean bass slam of the Wadia. (Neither does the $32k Naim player)

But this level of tonal contrast is what I kept coming back to with the ISIS and I would say that is it’s shining virtue. It has more than enough extension at both ends of the frequency scale to keep the fussiest audiophile happy, with plenty of weight to the presentation, but much like the YG Acoustics Anats, the ISIS has a delicacy about it that few players at any price match. Acoustic instruments have a layer of texture that is unmistakable with the ISIS and makes the player a lot of fun to listen to. Spinning “Down On the Farm” from Guns N’Roses The Spaghetti Incident, you can really distinguish the difference between Izzy Stradlin’s guitar setup and Slash, better than I’ve ever heard on this disc. And of course your favorite female vocals will sound just fine.

Tonal accuracy is also a strong suit with the ISIS. Lovers of acoustic music will notice the extra layer of detail and tonal body that the ISIS provides. Going back through some of my favorite jazz standards from Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins underscored what a fantastic job this player does at nailing the tonality of acoustic instruments. Naysayers of high end digital will be taken back at how natural this player sounds with violin and piano.

Of course we’re splitting hairs here, but that’s the kind of things that people purchasing five figure CD players do. A bit of madness if you will, but all good fun. The ISIS is a player that allows you to make that last jump to where you become immersed in the music, instead of thinking “this is really good for digital.” Again, there are only a handful of players at any price that achieve this lofty goal.

Perhaps not for the typical Rega customer

The Rega ISIS is a digital audio player that is worthy of being on the top shelf with the world’s best components. I own a couple of those players myself, and after extensive listening and close comparison, this player delivers the goods. If you own one of these players, you probably won’t be trading in your Naim, Wadia or Meridian player for the ISIS, but that’s not who I feel this player is aimed at. If you are someone who has always lusted after one of those $20 – $50k players, but can’t or won’t write that check, the ISIS is the way to go. I’ve had the privilege of listening to most of the world’s best CD players, some with pricetags that you’d swear should be on the window of a Porsche instead of a CD player and I feel the ISIS will deliver 95% of the performance of the five figure players for nine grand. It’s well worth the asking price; If I had to start over, I’d buy an ISIS, pocket the other $20k and go shopping for a nice used Boxster.

With that in mind, the Rega ISIS has stayed true to their core values by offering a product that offers the best performance in its price class. This is why we chose this player as our Digital Product of the Year for 2009. It makes a stellar match to their new OSIRIS amplifier, that will be reviewed in the December issue of TONEAudio. And, yeah it’s that good too.

The Rega ISIS CD Player

MSRP: $8995.00 (USD)

Manufacturers Information:

www.rega.co.uk
www.soundorg.com (US Distribution)

Peripherals

Preamplifier: Burmester 011 Preamplifier

Power Amplifier: Burmester 911mk. 3 Amplifier, Rega OSIRIS Amplifier

Speakers: YG Acoustics Anat II Studio

Cable: Shunyata Aurora Interconnect, Shunyata Stratos SP spkr. cable

Power: Running Springs Dmitri Power conditioner, RSA HZ power cords

No matter what your position in the audiophile game, you need a MiniWatt. This is one of the most fun pieces of gear I’ve seen in about fifteen years. (The last time was when the Antique Sound Labs Company sold their $99 tube monoblocks…) The MiniWatt is a 2.5-watt per channel tube amplifier that weighs a couple of pounds and only takes up about a 6 x 6 inch footprint on your desk, about 15 x 15 centimeters for our friends in the rest of the world.

It uses a pair of 6J1 and 6P1 tubes and a self contained AC power supply. The rear side of the transformers have banana jacks wired directly to them for your speakers and there is one set of RCA jacks to plug in an analog source. ALOAudio and their retail store 32 Ohm Audio is the exclusive American distributor for these little jewels, and when I stopped by their store last week, they weren’t even open and people were already buying them. “Wanna take one home?” Ball asked me as I was surveying the new store. Look, shiny thing!

Hurry up and plug it in

I wasn’t even half way to my car when I thought of hooking the MiniWatt up to my Zu Essence speakers that have a sensitivity of almost 100db. Knowing the luck I’ve had with Zu’s and 2A3 amplifiers in the past, I knew that this would be a rocking combination. The minute I hit the door, the MiniWatt was plugged in to the living room system, with the tubes warming up.

For the nerdtrons in the audience, I hooked the MW up with a pair of Zu’s Libtec speaker cables and a pair of Furutech Reference III interconnects to my Marantz Pearl SACD player. You think I’m crazy hooking up about $4k worth of ancillaries? It didn’t stop there, I had a spare Shunyata Python CX power cord, and so I was now ready to roll with the whole setup plugged into a Running Springs Haley power conditioner.

FYI, for those considering the MiniWatt to be the hub of a “budget” system, it works great that way too. Later on, after the amplifier was fully evaluated, I broke out the $50 Pioneer 563 Universal Player and my favorite $100 Polk Audios and was still very impressed with the performance.

2.5 watts can accomplish a lot

Powering the Zu’s the MW was able to blast. I zipped through some of my favorite metal discs and was amazed at how loud I could play Van Halen with this tiny amplifier. TONEAudio writer Jerald O’Brien stopped by for an adult beverage and thought I was using the Lavardin integrated amplifier that is also in for review. He was pretty surprised when I told him it was just the MW. “I thought that was a new headphone amp!” he remarked.

We proceeded to spin more discs and after some jazz and vocals, it was evident that this tiny tot was no mere toy amplifier; it delivered the goods. Because this amplifier has the tubes driven in ultralinear mode and those are some pretty small output transformers, it’s slightly grainy, but that’s judging it against my Bottlehead 2A3 monoblocks, which are silky smooth and with some upgraded 2A3’s will set you back a couple thousand bucks. You’ll never touch tubey goodness like this for $229.

What impressed me the most about the MW was the amount of bass power and control it had, which wasn’t limited to the Zu’s. Going through another cache of tracks from Pink Floyd, Genesis and Spock’s Beard, we were convinced that the MW could really get down. I also had a ton of fun using it as a desktop amplifier with a pair of KEF XQ20’s that feature their Uni-Q driver and are very coherent. Soundstaging on my desk between my 30” Apple Cinema Monitor was wide, wide, wide and dynamics remained excellent, even with speakers only having an 88db sensitivity. Near field listening has its benefits.

Pondering the Zu’s again, which have a nominal impedance somewhere around 14 ohms, I thought the MW just might be a good headphone after all and gave my Sennheiser 650’s a try. Again, excellent luck, so this could also work as a headphone amplifier for some phones. I didn’t get a chance to give this configuration extensive testing, so it might not work with every situation, but if you buy a MW I suggest giving your phones a test drive while you are at it. It’s small enough to carry into the bedroom for some late night listening with your iPod and favorite phones.

More performance

I suppose you could get crazy and mod the heck out of the MW, (and this could be a future article because I have a hard time leaving well enough alone) but an easy upgrade is to spend another $45 and get the “upgraded tube set” from ALO which includes a pair of Russian tubes to replace the 6N1’s on the outer left and right, while the two middle tubes are replaced with a pair of vintage Western Electric 403, which is a 7 pin mini pentode tube.

This made a big difference in the overall sound, increasing the soundstage about 25% and eliminating some of the grain that was present in the upper midrange/lower treble range. This is definitely the best $45 upgrade you will ever hear, so I suggest just ordering your MW from Ken with the better tubes, you won’t regret it.

Award winning fun

I am happy to give the MiniWatt amplifier our Product of the Year award in the “Budget Audio” category. This is a great amplifier, period. If you are just starting out in HiFi, you can make a pair of single driver, high efficiency speakers, add a source and be digging music on a pretty tight budget that you will really enjoy and our world definitely needs more products like this. And I can’t think of a more fun way to enter the world of vacuum tube audio if you haven’t yet.

This little amp is the real deal folks. Highly recommended.

– Jeff Dorgay

The MiniWatt Amplifier

MSRP: $229, updated tubes, $30 additional

USA Importer:

Ken Ball/ALO Audio, www.aloaudio.com

MiniWatt home page: www.miniwatt.com.hk

Digital Excellence:
The Neko Audio D100 DAC

With the DAC making such a big comeback in the last year especially, the market is heating up again, much like the early 90’s when it seemed everyone had a DAC for sale.  But then, DAC chips took a leap up in quality and a big leap down in price; single box players started to rule the day.

Fast forward to 2009 and the DAC is back, but for a different reason.  Computers and portable music players have people wanting to integrate those sources into their systems, while many are replacing their CD players entirely in favor of using a laptop or computer based music server as a primary source component.

There are some old and new players back in the game, almost all with excellent results.  Of course, the extreme high end has latched onto this again with a handful of mega DAC’s in the five-figure range, but I believe the excitement is at the $1,000 price point.  We have had the good fortune to review quite a few different models in this range, but for now, one stands head and shoulders above the rest, the D100 from Neko Audio at $1,295.

Digital Direct to You

Like Benchmark and a few others, Neko gets the job done at a reasonable price point by going direct to the customer, avoiding the traditional dealer network.  Considering the added cost and time of establishing such a dealer network, this makes the D100 much more competitive.

Because the D100 is so small and relatively lightweight, it is easy and inexpensive to ship.  Adopting the current business model of a number of other high-end audio companies that sell direct, there is a 30-day money back guarantee for the D100.  I doubt there will be many asking for a refund.

The only caveat is that Neko Audio is a newcomer to the industry, so they do not enjoy the reputation and legacy product support that a company like Naim, Wadia or Meridian does.  But for this kind of money, I feel it’s worth gambling on the new guy in town.

A New approach

Where most DAC’s use a series of op amps or some form of active circuitry in their analog sections, the D100 is unique in the sense that it uses high quality passive components and a pair of Jensen transformers in the output stage.  Digital conversion is done with a pair of the ubiquitous Burr Brown PCM1794’s operating in mono.

The D100 keeps it simple, with a small case (10.5″ x 2.5″ x 6.5″) and minimal controls.  There is an on/off switch on the back, inputs for RCA SPDIF and Toslink with a selector switch on the front panel.  For now, designer Wesley Miaw has chosen to forgo a USB input, but says that this will be implemented in the next version at a higher cost.
Because of the output transformers, the output is balanced XLR on the D100.  You can use adaptors or purchase RCA to XLR interconnects directly from Neko Audio at a very reasonable cost.  My reference system is balanced today, so I plugged in a pair of Shunyata’s newest Aurora interconnects and got to work listening.  Having spent a lot of time recently with the PS Audio Digital Link III, the Benchmark DAC-1 and the Cambridge DAC Magic, I was very anxious to see how the D100 would stack up.  As always, my main references were the Naim CD555 and Wadia 781i SE, which can also be used as a DAC.

Natural Digital

It’s rare that these two words go together and even more rare at this price point, but the D100 is a stellar performer.  Long-term readers of TONEAudio know that I’m not a flavor of the month reviewer, and seldom gush about anything, but the Neko Audio D100 is damn good.

To sum it up in one word; natural.  When you are playing the digital game at the $1,000 price point, the words “it sounds really good for digital” usually end up falling out of your mouth, but the D100 is the first DAC at this level that I’ve found truly musical in the sense that I would a decent turntable.  Though I have a ton of megabuck digital hardware here, I started my audition of the D100 with my Wadia 170i, my iPod full of uncompressed music.

Vinyl resurgence notwithstanding, I could be just as happy with a Wadia 170i and this DAC as I would any turntable/arm/cartridge and phono preamplifier at this price point, so the D100 passes the ultimate test for me.

An unfair comparison

When I spoke with designer Wesley Miaw on the phone, he wanted to know what differences I found between the D100 and the more expensive digital components.  The real gap between the D100 and the money no object digital, is a lack of ultimate resolution and dynamics, but more often than not (and especially at this price point) this can be a good thing with digital.  Personally, I would always rather err on the side of musicality than go the other way with too much detail in all but the most transparent systems.

Listening to vocals and acoustic instruments was a treat on the D100 and even after day long listening and Photoshop sessions, I never walked away from this DAC feeling the slightest bit fatigued.  If I had to compare the sound of the D100 to something, it would be my Harbeth Monitor 40.1’s. They too lack a slight bit of ultimate detail, but do such a great job with the midrange and have such a natural sound, I find myself forgetting about the rest of the fine points and concentrating on the music instead.  It’s rare when any digital component can do this at any price.  Sure, when I drop a disc in the Naim CD555, I see what’s missing, but the D100 is great digital that you can live with that doesn’t cost a princely sum.

Sonic signature

I spent the majority of the review period using the D100 with my Sooloos music server.  With 5000 CD’s on tap, I was able to cover a lot of musical ground in a relatively short period of time.  I suspect eliminating the opamps from the circuit and going with the output transformers has a lot to do with the grain free, almost slightly warm presentation that the D100 achieves.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear there was a pair of 12AX7’s under the hood!  But the great news is that there isn’t and you won’t be at the mercy of the tube pirates to have this sound.

The overall tonality of the D100 is rich and engaging.  When listening to my favorite classic jazz cuts (Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, etc) I instantly keyed in on the portrayal of acoustic instruments in a real space.  Cymbals sound smooth, with a lot of air and the proper amount of decay, never crunchy.

Yet the D100 had enough punch and dynamic drive to keep me happy listening to Metallica, Tool and Mastodon.  This isn’t a wimpy sounding DAC at all.  Much like a Koetsu phono cartridge, the D100 embellishes slightly, but in a good way.  It allows great recordings to shine, but helps a bit with the less than stellar recordings.  For most of us with less than perfect music collections, I can’t see this ever being a problem.

Variables and other system synergies

I made it a point to use the D100 with a number of other transports, from my budget Pioneer 563 up to the Wadia 781SE.  Because this DAC does not have a USB input, computer audio fans are limited to using the Toslink input only, unless your computer has an SPDIF output like my HP TouchSmart does.  Music played from my MacBook Pro via Toslink was very good, but a step down from the SPDIF input; the presentation shrunk somewhat in all dimensions, but this is no fault of the D100, this is the sacrifice you pay with Toslink on any DAC.

Should you have an older CD player in your system, the D100 is definitely your ticket to ride.  Everything from the Pioneer 563 to a friend’s Rega Planet 2000 player was improved substantially by adding the D100 to the mix.

Top Gun, at least for now

As we all know, computer years are even shorter than dog years, so there could be a new contender in six months.  However, if your taste in sound at all mirrors mine, and you value tonal correctness and musicality above all other parameters, the Neko Audio D100 is the DAC to beat for reasonably priced digital excellence.  This DAC put on an admirable performance stacked up to the mega buck stuff and for those of you with a system in the $2,000 – $30,000 range; this may be all you ever need.
I am happy to award the Neko Audio D100 one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2009 and hope that Mr. Miaw has continued success.  Keep an eye on this guy; he’s got some great ideas.

The Neko Audio D100 DAC

MSRP:  $1,295    Factory direct, 30-day return policy

408-476-3276

www.nekoaudio.com

Peripherals:

Digital Sources Naim CD555, Wadia 781i SE, Sooloos Music Server, Pioneer 563, Rega Planet 2000, McIntosh MS300 music server

Electronics Burmester 011 Preamplifier, Burmester 911mk. 3 Power Amplifier

Speakers MartinLogan CLXw/pair of Descent i subwoofers

Cable Shunyata Aurora interconnects, Shunyata Orion Speaker cables, ALO Audio Digital cable

Power Running Springs Dmitri and Jaco Line conditioners, Shunyata Hydra 2 line conditioner, Running Springs Mongoose power cords, Shunyata Anaconda VX power cords

Accessories Burmester V1 and V3 racks, Finite Elemente Pagode signature racks, Manley Massive Passive Studio Mastering Equalizer, Manley Skipjack,  Shunyata Dark Field cable elevators

When Peachtree Audio brought out their Decco amplifier/DAC combination two years ago it was an amazing product for $800. It featured a 50wpc integrated amplifier with a tube in the input stage to add a little bit of warmth to its basic 16/44 DAC smoothing out some of the digital grunge. It featured a slot on the back for a SONOS controller and a decent headphone amp on the front panel. Anyone wanting a basic system only needed to add a digital source, some inexpensive speakers and voila! Instant HiFi. The sound quality was excellent for the price point but if you moved up on the speaker food chain, you could hear the limitations of the Decco pretty quickly.

The guys from Peachtree didn’t let the initial success go to their heads with their sophomore effort the NOVA. At first glance it looks almost identical to the Decco, but it has been improved in every way. This is a serious piece of HiFi gear, folks.

The amplifier’s power has been upped to 80 watts per channel and they kept the tube in the preamplifier, offering you the option to switch it out of the circuit, running the amplifier all solid-state. It uses a single 6922 and for the life of me I wouldn’t know why you would want to do remove it from the signal path, because it still adds a welcome touch of warmth and body. If you swap that 6922 for a vintage NOS Mullard, the NOVA takes another big step in the musicality department and one exotic tube won’t break the bank. But the switch it is a very cool convenience feature, if you just happen to blow a tube late one evening and don’t have a spare you can just push the button on the remote and you are back in business. A very nice touch.

The outer case of the NOVA is available in a gloss black, rosewood or cherry finish. Our review sample came in cherry and was very attractive. When powered up, the NOVA’s power button glows red until warmup, then becoming blue, with whatever input you’ve selected pulsing with a blue glow until the signal is playing. The buttons have a damped feel to them, but the volume control feels somewhat benign. Of course none of this will matter if you use the handy remote control, and at this price level, I’d rather see a manufacturer scrimp in the feel department to maximize the sonic capabilities and that’s exactly what has happened in the NOVA.

Very versatile, plenty of inputs

The NOVA has three sets of analog inputs, with one of them switchable as a HT pass through, a pair of RCA S/PDIF digital inputs, a pair of Toslink digital inputs and a USB input. There is a fixed level output and a variable output, which allows you to use a powered subwoofer with the NOVA or just use it as a preamplifier, feeding a different power amplifier. There is one pair of speaker outputs, with the standard Chinese plastic coated binding posts. I’m not a fan of these but on a $1,200 integrated I can certainly live with them.

The slot for a Sonos still exists and I can’t think of a better match for a Sonos system than the NOVA. This has to be the most painless way to ingrate a music server into a 2-channel system. The front panel features a standard ¼-inch headphone jack and offers first class sound. I had the opportunity to use the new Sennheiser HD 800’s and was very impressed with the NOVA’s performance on a pair of headphones worth more than the NOVA itself! For the headphone listeners in the audience, I had no problems driving my Grado GS1000’s, Sennheiser 650’s and AKG K701’s; the NOVA’s headphone amplifier is very versatile.

However, the NOVA’s digital versatility was what impressed me the most. Using the budget Pioneer 563 and a Marantz Pearl K1 CD players as transports, I also had the Wadia 170i and a Mac Book Pro connected to the NOVA to give it a thorough workout.
The NOVA has taken the biggest step up from the Decco in the DAC department, now featuring the ESS 9006 chips from SabreDAC, the company that supplies McIntosh with the 9008 chips used in their MCD 500. Those expecting the performance of the Mac for $5,000 less will be disappointed, but if you are looking for a very musical DAC with an integrated amplifier thrown in, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks to the analog inputs, I spun some records as well, adding the Cambridge Audio 640P and my modded Technics SL-1200 to the mix, again proving what an excellent all around achiever the NOVA is. Thanks to this flexibility, the NOVA should be able to cover any future expansion plans you have for your system.

The Sound

I started my listening sessions with the NOVA with my recently acquired set of Spica TC-50’s because they offer incredible performance for the dollar (If you can find an unmolested pair) and possess a degree of resolution that you’d be hard to match with today’s’ budget mini monitors under $1,500 a pair.

If you’ve been around the HiFi world for a long time, you might remember when the NAD 3020 integrated amplifier hit the scene. For about 200 dollars, it was amazing in it’s ability to offer serious high quality sound for such a low priced amplifier and held its own with separates costing a lot more. Perhaps the (highly overused, these days) phrase “giant killer” came from reviewers listening to that famous little integrated. The NOVA does well to hold up this tradition.

To round out the review, I used a number of monitors from KEF, Snell, ProAc and Harbeth to investigate the amplifiers’ performance with more upscale speakers before the NOVA ended up in my living room system, paired with the ZU Essence speakers. The Zu’s are a little unfair because they have a sensitivity of almost 100db, so most anything can push them to way more than adequate levels, but they are an excellent reference because they are so detailed and offer great midrange tonality. If an amplifier is going to fall down, the Zu’s are merciless at revealing its shortcomings. Again, I was highly impressed with the combination and pairing the NOVA with the Zu’s provided incredible dynamic range. The NOVA is much cleaner sounding throughout the range than its predecessor and the extra power goes a long way to make it compatible with a much wider range of speakers.

The NOVA worked particularly well with ERA’s D5 mini monitors (also available from Signal Path International) and at $995 a pair, makes a pretty unbeatable combination. There’s no way you can get close to this level of sound quality at a mass market shop for $2,000. Watch for an upcoming review of the D5’s.

After extensive listening, all of the NOVA’s sins are those of omission. It could certainly use more refinement in the highs and control in the lows. But then it would cost $4,000. The difference between the NOVA and the higher priced gear is in the fine details. When listening to solo piano or violin recordings, the extreme highs became somewhat brittle and the level of tonal richness that you would expect with higher priced gear was absent.
Also, overall soundstage shrunk compared to the MCD 500 or the Marantz Pearl. This was expected though, as these players are $6,000 and $3,000 respectively.

When comparing the NOVA with an inexpensive transport to a number of CD players in the $800-$1,200 range, it was consistently as good or better. The minute you switch to Pearl Jam or Yello, your worries will disappear.

Well worth the pricetag

And remember, you are getting a preamplifier, headphone amplifier, power amplifier and DAC for $1,200! I dare you to come even remotely close for twice this amount of money with separate components.

While the NOVA was an exceptional performer no matter which way I used it, I think the killer application is as the hub of a computer based playback system, because the NOVA’s USB implementation is excellent. I enjoyed this amplifier the most when playing uncompressed WAV files from my Mac Book Pro. With the low price G4 Mac Minis are fetching on eBay, you could build a complete music system that you could control from your iPhone for peanuts. A Squeezebox would also be an excellent choice.

Playing within its abilities, the NOVA will never cease to amaze you.

The NOVA is an outstanding value

The Peachtree NOVA offers so much performance and versatility for $1,195 that it is more than worthy of one of our Exceptional Value awards for 2009.

Whether you are an audiophile on a budget, need a great second system or are sending your kids off to college; anywhere you need high performance audio without a stack of components, the NOVA is the best suggestion I can make. I’ve never used the word best in TONEAudio’s history, but this is the best budget HiFi component I’ve ever had the pleasure of using. – Jeff Dorgay

The Peachtree Audio NOVA

MSRP: $1,295

Manufacturers Information
Signal Path International
909-309-4884
www.signalpathint.com

Peripherals

Digital Sources Pioneer 563, Marantz Pearl K1 CD player, McIntosh MCD 500 CD player, MacBook Pro, Squeezebox, QSonix music server, Wadia 170i

Analog Source Sound HiFi Technics SL-1200, Cambridge Audio 640P, Sumiko Blackbird

Speakers Zu Audio Essence, Harbeth Monitor 40.1, ERA D5, Spica TC50

Cables Audience AU24 S/PDIF digital cable, Zu Libtec Speaker cables, ED 422 interconnects

Accessories Shunyata Hydra 2 power conditioner, Shunyata Venom power cord¬¬¬¬

Introduced in 2002, the Boulder 2008 phono preamplifier caused quite a stir and was considered the top of the analog mountain by many. With three inputs and variable EQ options for older recordings, it left no bases uncovered. It still remains king to many people, but at $33,500 out of reach for all but the most well heeled audiophiles.

In November of 2009, Boulder announced their 1008 phono stage at a price point of $12,000. While not a budget component by any means, the 1008 is on par with similar offerings from ARC, Aesthetix and a number of other players in the $10K realm. Utilizing a lot of the technology from the 2008, it features a single chassis design and only two inputs, with the additional EQ functions already built in. The low cut filter only has a 20hz option (where the 2008 is switchable between 5hz, 10hz and 20hz), but the 1008 is still balanced from input to output. In addition to the EQ and low filter selectors, there is also a mono button on the front panel for use with mono recordings. The Boulder 1008 is ready for anything you can throw at it, if it’s on vinyl.

A peek inside the box reveals Boulder’s meticulous construction and outside, their flawless casework. Though light by Boulder standards at 32 pounds, the 1008 is a bit more manageable than it’s larger brother, but equally potent. (And it still weighs as much as some power amplifiers I’ve reviewed.) A one-chassis design, the 1008 still features dual mono construction throughout and heavy duty shielding on the power transformer to isolate it from the rest of the circuitry. Thanks to 70db of gain, and a noise floor that redefines quiet, you should be able to use any phono cartridge available, no matter how low the output with no issue. The MM input features 44db of gain, and allows for adjusting the capacitive load as well, so the 1008 is infinitely configurable to suit your needs.

The 1008 offers two pairs of balanced outputs as well, so that the 1008 can not only run into your linestage, but the second set of outputs can drive your choice of recording device. I used the 1008 with my J-Corder/Technics RS-1500 open reel deck and made some superlative copies of my favorite analog tracks. At 15 i.p.s., the result was dead quiet, capturing almost all of the magic of the original. Digital captures with the Nagra LB were also fantastic, going from balanced out of the Boulder into the balanced inputs of the Nagra and this has proven a great way to get more of my vinyl collection into my Sooloos digital music server.

Setup

Operating the 1008 is very straightforward, thanks to Boulder’s well-written and illustrated instruction manual. I wish more manufacturers’ would follow their lead, offering some decent color photos. I have no bigger pet peeve in the audio world than purchasing a component with a five-figure price tag that has a cryptic instruction manual.

As my review sample came straight from booth duty at this years’ Consumer Electronics Show, it did have some hours on the clock, and while it sounded fantastic out of the box, did continue to improve for the next 100 hours or so.

Other than placing the 1008 on my rack and plugging it in to a Running Springs Dmitri power conditioner (with Shunyata Python CX power cord, as all of my other low level components are), the only setup necessary was changing the loading on input two to low gain via a switch and unsoldering the 100 ohm resistor from the removable “personality card”, so that I could investigate the moving magnet and moving iron cartridges in my collection from Clearaudio, Grado and Soundsmith. The other cartridges used on input one were the Lyra Skala, Dynavector XV-1s and the ZYX Omega, reviewed in issue 28 of TONEAudio. I briefly auditioned the Clearaudio DaVinci, but found its slightly forward presentation not to my liking with the 1008.

Because the inputs of the 1008 are also balanced, it is to your advantage if you can have your favorite tonearm cable re-wired to a balanced configuration. Like headphones, a phono cartridge can be connected in a true balanced configuration, and though I had excellent results with the supplied Boulder XLR>RCA adapters, (you must use the Boulder adapters to keep phase correct on the inputs), going all balanced offered even a little more “blackness” to the backgrounds.

Massive, like a boulder

Boulder electronics are known for dynamics and resolution, and the 1008 is worthy of the name on the front panel. Not expecting much out of the Boulder, five minutes out of the box, still (literally) ice cold from the UPS truck, I had just thrown a copy of Supertramp’s Crime of the Century on the Raven TWO with the ZYX cartridge. I was not prepared for what I was about to hear; while the volume was down fairly far for the opening track, I cranked up the volume somewhat and the first sax blast on “Bloody Well Right” set me back in the couch. With dynamics like this on a garden variety album, I couldn’t wait to get some hours on the clock to really see what the 1008 was capable of.

Though the larger Boulder phono stage, the 2008 is held in awe by most people, reviewers and mere mortals alike, I’ve never been fortunate enough to get a great demo of this piece, so I had no preconceived notions with the 1008. However, once it was on continuously for a few days, it just kept opening up further for another week.

Where my reference Nagra VPS/VFS with Red Wine Audio Black Lightening is no slouch, and with accessories approaches the price of the Boulder, I firmly believe they will appeal to different listeners. Even with the battery supply, the Nagra gets to about 95% black in backgrounds but the Boulder goes slightly further. When listening to large-scale classical music, this preamp really has a lot of grunt.

Much like a race car with massive brakes, what surprised me about the 1008 was it’s ability to stop on a dime. It handles the swing of a kettle drum perfectly, reproducing just the right amount of air and resonance after the strike, yet coming directly to a full stop without sounding bloated. As my knowledge of classical music is mostly confined to the tried and true warhorses, I won’t bore you with my selections, but suffice to say that tonality is spot on with the 1008 and that should you purchase one of these, you will not be disappointed.

Moving back into my comfort zone, I revisited the Supertramp album that I began my evaluation with and was impressed at how much bigger the sound had grown in all three dimensions, very impressive. Next stop, the recent remasters of the Kraftwerk catalog. The driving beats in Tour De France were pounding, and at extremely high level, starting to shake my building. Thanks to that 20hz low pass filter, I was able to drive my system to discothèque levels without a hint of feedback. This also came in handy with moderately warped records. With a system that extends to 20hz, recorded anomalies that were not a problem when my system bottomed out at around 30hz now are front and center. The filter worked well without diminishing the subterranean bass drive of the system.

Yet light as a feather

I’ve noticed that some gear capable of tremendous dynamic swings can sacrifice weight for detail. While this can be very exciting in the initial listening sessions shortly after bringing said gear home from the dealer, it can soon become exhausting if not outright annoying.

This is another area that the 1008 does not disappoint. Good out of the box, once fully broken in and stabilized, I was always surprised at how much low level detail and low level texture was always on tap. Interestingly, this is what had me listening to more classical and acoustic music for this review than in many of my past articles. That extra bit of resolution on tap just made classical music so much more enjoyable, that I found myself actually buying some new classical albums to listen to during the review period!

The 1008 was also able to recreate an uncanny sense of height when listening, and this is one of the toughest things for a system to get right, or even achieve at all. When switching back to the EAR 834P (one of my favorite affordable phono stages), everything just seemed to line up laterally, with all energy coming from the soundstage at the same height. I noticed this very distinctly while listening to Steve Earle’s Townes LP. Instantly upon switching from the EAR to the Boulder, not only did each instrument get it’s own, very distinct space, the banjo felt as if it was slightly higher off the ground than the guitar and Earle’s voice was placed right between the two.

Of course, the Boulder costs almost ten times more than the EAR, but the point is that this 12 thousand dollar phono stage is not a case of spending a lot of extra money, only to get a fancy case and a modest improvement in sound. The improvement is huge. If the rest of your system is up to the task, the Boulder will offer performance concurrent with its price tag.

The 1008’s tonal balance is as near perfect as I’ve had the chance to experience. Where my reference Nagra adds just the slightest drop of body to the sound (not that that’s a bad thing for 99% of my record collection), the Boulder neither adds nor subtracts anything. At the same time it does not commit the ultimate audiophile sin in my book of overdamping everything at the expense of transient attack. Acoustic bass sounded just right, and electric bass had the right amount of bounce. While some may describe this as clinical, I prefer to call it neutral. Again, if you’d like a drop of warmth that can certainly be adjusted by your choice of cartridge.

Additional functionality

If you are using a high-end MM cartridge or a Moving Iron cartridge from Grado or the Soundsmith, the 1008, will extract every bit of detail the cartridge is capable of. I happened to have all three on hand and was amazed at how much these cartridges were able to deliver. My current favorite, the Clearaudio Maestro Wood, mounted on the Technics SL-1200 with Sound HiFi mods and SME 309 arm consistently amazed listeners with its big sound through the Boulder preamp. What’s the point of having a second phono input if you don’t take advantage of it?

Boulder rounds off their design with a few extra touches that make the 1008 a great choice for the real vinyl connoisseur. There is a separate EQ selector for early Columbia and EMI records as well as the early Decca ffrr recordings. While I don’t have many of these records in my collection at present, should the 1008 become part of my reference system, I would no longer shy away from them in the future.

Conclusion

The Boulder 1008 does everything right and nothing wrong. If you think you need vacuum tubes to get depth and delicacy in a top shelf phono stage, think again. You can say goodbye to tubes forever and not miss a molecule of music with the 1008. In anything but an extremely forward sounding system and all but the most harsh phono cartridges, it should be a perfect match. Personally, I think those of you in the audience with a cartridge on the slightly warm side of the tonality equation (DV XV-1s, Koetsu RSP, ZYX Omega, etc) will be in vinyl heaven, able to get the body you are used to, with an extra dose of slam and dynamics thrown in for good measure.

For the vinyl enthusiast that dreams of owning a Continuum table and Boulder 2008 phono preamp, but will never be able to scratch together $200k, trust me, combine the Boulder 1008 with your favorite $25k table, arm and cartridge and go to bed with a big smile on your face.

The Boulder 1008

MSRP: $12,000

Manufacturer: Boulder Amplifiers www.boulderamp.com

Peripherals

Turntables Spiral Groove SG-2 w/Triplanar, TW Acustic Raven Two with SME iV.Vi and SME 309 arms, Acoustic Signature Analog One Mk. III with SME iV.Vi arm, Technics SL-1200 (with Sound HiFi mods) and SME 309 arm

Cartridges ZYX Omega, Lyra Skala, Clearaudio DaVinci, Dynavector XV-1s and 17D3, Sumiko Blackbird, Grado Statement, Soundsmith “The Voice”, Clearaudio Maestro Wood

Preamplifier Burmester 011

Power Amplifier Burmester 911 MK.3

Digital Source DCS Paganini stack

Speakers GamuT S-9

Cable Shunyata Aurora (interconnect), Shunyata Stratos SP (speakers), Furutech Silver Arrow and AG-12 (tonearm)

Power Running Springs Dmitri and Maxim power conditioners, RSA HZ and Mongoose power cords, Shunyata Python CX power cords

Somewhere between the odds and ends at T.H.E. Show, just down the street from the Venetian, where CES is featuring most of the high performance audio, there is a beacon of light. Well, sound, actually.

Should you be attending T.H.E. Show, do not miss the Blue Light Audio exhibit in Room 4044. Jonathan Tinn is has a stellar exhibit, that is by far the best sound at the show.

On display is his new Wave Kinetics reference direct drive turntable with a Durand tonearm and the Ortofon MC A-90 cartridge, the Playback Designs MPS-3 player darTZeel amplification and the amazing Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne speakers.

The most amazing thing is that this six figure reference system is driving a $2,000 pair of speakers (not a typo) and the combination is fantastic. With solid bass down to 35hz, these small but stylish speakers threw a huge soundstage, with a tonality so realistic, you’d be hard pressed not to think you were listening to at least a $10-15,000 pair of speakers.

So, even if you only have 20 minutes to spend at T.H.E. Show, drop in the lobby and see the wonderful ladies from The Montreal Salon Son & Image Show (you can’t miss them, they have blue hair) and stop by Room 4044. You won’t be disappointed.

Sometimes, one longs for the hi-fi simplicity of the 1970s. Back then, FM radio functioned as the prime source of listening for many a music lover. AOR FM was in high gear, and people just tuned into any number of stations to get a music fix. Those with audiophile leanings often invested in a separate tuner to optimize the FM sound quality. Often, a manufacturer’s top-of-the-line tuner represented the best and most highly engineered product in its whole line. Companies such as Yamaha, Pioneer, SAE, Kenwood, Sansui, Marantz, Technics, Sony, and McIntosh waged a high-stakes tech war to see who could develop the king of the airwaves: A tuner with clean, clear reception coupled with good sound.

MR65B, MR71, MR74, MR78…MR88?

At first glance, I mistook the MR88 for a classic McIntosh model, with the stellar MR65B and MR74 coming to mind. The $4,000 unit’s cosmetics are distinctly retro. A tuning knob connected to a flywheel, a glass tuning dial, and an illuminated dial pointer reinforce the traditional McIntosh appearance. But any analog suggestions are instantly dispelled upon power up: A window displays station frequency, shows station call letters, and scrolls RBDS text when the unit is switched on.

The MR88 is basically an all-digital DSP device that uses every manner of technological wizardry to deliver terrestrial or satellite signals in crystal clear, noise-free fashion. It even has an spdif digital out that can be sent to your favorite DAC, via a coax or Toslink cable. Various other provisions make the MR88 a thoroughly modern, future-proof component. An RS232 port is at the ready for communicating with an external control device; a service port allows for firmware upgrades; an IR input, power control input, and output for receiving and sending trigger signals to and from other McIntosh components round out the prudent touches.

Master of the Frequency Domains

Once installed and warmed up, the MR88 was put through its paces as an analog-only tuner. A default receiving mode will automatically select the HD feed from many stations, but setting it to receive the non-HD signal is easy. I connected the unit to my preamp using the greatly appreciated balanced outputs; an outdoor antenna was connected via an F-connector located on the back of the tuner.

While my standby Kenwood KT-8005 grabs about 15 stations with a strong low-noise and low-distortion signal, the MR88 claimed 18. A local jazz station, KMHD, came in strong and clear, as did KQAC, the local classical station. Both provided many hours of pleasurable listening through the MR88. Its ability to throw a convincingly deep and wide soundstage fooled more than a few listeners into thinking a CD was playing. However, the tuner’s greatest strength lies elsewhere.

Switching to back the default Auto receiving mode, the listener will hear a blending of the analog and digital signals that provides the best sound quality. Stations with HD broadcasting capability come in with noise-free clarity. The user also gets a much wider bandwidth with HD. Compared to the analog signals, bass extension goes lower and high frequencies extend further. iBiquity Digital Corp., the purveyor of HD technology, touts the sound as CD quality. A slight exaggeration, as the signal is basically an audio compression codec combined with an enhancer called SBR (spectral band replication). The latter replicates higher frequency content by transposing harmonics up from the lower and mid-frequencies at the decoder. Theoretically, SBR is based on the principle that the psychoacoustic part of the human brain tends to analyze higher frequencies with less accuracy, thus any harmonic phenomena associated with the spectral band replication process needs only be accurate in a perceptual sense, and not technically or mathematically exact.

Such myriad handling of the signal yields a slightly artificial aspect to the sound that owes to the nature of the format, not the MR88. Purist audiophiles might not fully endorse the sound, but average listeners should be quite pleased, especially considering the added content currently available on HD. As you move up and down the dial with the handy remote, you can hear the tuner first grab the analog signal and then switch over to the HD broadcast. Once the transfer occurs, one instantly perceives the increase in clarity and bandwidth. Moreover, there’s a dramatic reduction of noise on marginal signals. Employing this mode, the number of listenable stations in my area rose to 35 due to the HD2 and HD3 broadcasts.

AM, XM: The MR88 Does It All

Fans of Howard Stern and Major League Baseball broadcasts, rejoice. The MR88 is also XM Satellite Radio enabled, further increasing the content options and variety. As with AM and FM, the MR88 allows users to program up to 20 preset XM channels.

Want more? The MR88 also does wonders with the AM band. News, weather, talk, and sports are here for the taking. And AM reception quality is no afterthought. An innovative AM antenna deemed the RAA2 connects to the tuner via 20 feet of network cable, enabling optimum antenna positioning and mounting. Aficionados will recognize the approach as a far cry from foldout ferrite rods, ubiquitous on the back panels of most old-school tuners.
Speaking of the old school, adding more digital to the mix often yielded poorer sonics. While I experimented by using the digital out to my DAC, and comparing the sound quality with the balanced analog out signal, results were mixed. The most satisfying overall sound was obtained through the analog output stage.

Can streaming audio on the Internet replicate what the MR88 accomplishes? Some might be tempted to think so. But the MR88 is a different animal. From the comfort of a sofa, you can enjoy favorite FM broadcasts, listen to HD Radio content, dive into XM Radio, and get the weather report without moving so much as the remote control.
Indeed, the MR88 is a substantial audio component that’s steeped in McIntosh tradition. Sturdily built with a giant power supply, great fit and finish, wonderful looks, and excellent performance, it offers a thoroughly modern and forward-looking take on the traditional AM/FM tuner.

MSRP: $4,000

McIntosh Laboratory, Inc.
2 Chambers St.
Binghamton, NY 13903-2699
(800) 538-6576
mcintoshlabs.com

Avid HiFi, clearly on a roll after releasing their stellar Pulsare phono stage (watch for the review here, shortly) has topped their line of turntables with the Limited Edition Anniversary model, of which only 10 will be made, in celebration of their 10th anniversary.

This table is a step beyond their Reference SP and comes with a dedicated stand that will hold the table, the Reference SP power supply (now split into two separate enclosures) and a shelf for a phono stage. The cost is £20,000. It looks to be a massive setup, that should be the highlight of any analog lovers system. I’ll have a full report when I visit the AVID factory in February.

http://www.avidhifi.co.uk/turntable_anniversary.htm

Now that we’ve all had a bit of holiday cheer, it’s time to head to Las Vegas for the mecca of the electronics world – CES. While TONE will be concentrating on the high performance audio at the Venetian, with the launch of TONEPhoto on the horizon, we will be spending some time at the main hall as well.

As always, CES is a chance to catch up with our industry partners, readers and check out the latest and greatest goodies. We will have a report on CES and next weeks’ NAMM show in the February issue of TONEAudio, so stay tuned.

Hope to see you there!

* Photo courtesy of Liquid Image….

Features

Gregg Allman: Soul Survivor
By Jaan Uhelszki

Jefferson Airplane: Remembered and Recorded
By Ben Fong-Torres and Jeff Dorgay

Budget Gear: The Furutech GT40
By Jerold O’Brien

Journeyman Audiophile: The Cary Xciter DAC
By Rich Kent

Old School The Conrad-Johnson MV 50
By Jeff Dorgay

Dealers That Mean Business Audio High in Mountain View, California
By Jeff Dorgay

Tone Style

TASCAM DR-2d Great digital portable

Ralph Lauren Sporting Collection

Samsung’s Galaxy Tablet: The Tablet Wars Commence

The iPlunge: Boost your iPod

The Beer Snob Three fresh brews for the holiday season

Music

Live Music: Grinderman, The Raincoats, Beatallica and The Black Crowes

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

Audiophile Pressings
By Jeff Dorgay

Recording of Special Merit
Two New Recordings From Exhibit Records
By Jeff Dorgay

Italian Alternatives
Six to Explore
By Anne Farnsworth

Downloads
A Classic from Keith Jarrett, The latest from Brian Eno, and a remix from Gwyneth Herbert