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McIntosh Laboratories has released an updated version of their successful ML1 loudspeaker, the ML1 Mk II. The new speakers feature a redesigned look and improved materials and construction methods, while still retaining some of the original features. The ML1 Mk II comes with dedicated stands and is built into a sealed-cabinet enclosure, offering a frequency range of 27Hz-45kHz. The article provides a detailed analysis of the speakers' performance and specifications, including measurements of their frequency response, impedance, and dispersion. The author recommends the ML1 Mk II for its powerful and detailed sound, suitable for various music genres, and mentions the associated equipment used in the review. [Extracted from the article]

The Wilson Audio Specialties Alexx V ($135,000-$151,000/pair) is the biggest, heaviest, most expensive loudspeaker I've had in my listening room. It replaces the original Alexx in Wilson's lineup; Michael Fremer [...]

Many loudspeaker designers are minimalists at heart. They embrace a design aesthetic that says that simpler is better. Based on the evidence of the company's R 8 Arrete, Ole Klifoth, [...]

The article discusses the reintroduction of the Musical Fidelity A1 integrated amplifier, which was first released in 1985. The new version of the A1 has improvements in reliability and performance, with a cooler top plate temperature. The article praises the A1 for its impressive phono stage and compares it to other amplifiers. The A1 is noted for its ability to engage both hemispheres of the brain and is praised for its boldness, tactility, and transparency. The amplifier offers 25W of power, multiple inputs and outputs, and is manufactured in Taiwan with a 5-year warranty. The article provides a detailed analysis of the amplifier's performance, highlighting its flat frequency response, satisfactory channel separation and signal-to-noise ratio, low distortion levels, and good performance in the phono stage. [Extracted from the article]

The Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature is a high-performance standmount loudspeaker that is an upgraded version of the standard Diamond 805 D4 model. It features a 1" Diamond Series tweeter and a 6.5" woofer with B&W's Continuum cone material. The Signature model has improved acoustical transparency, upgraded crossover, and enhanced construction to reduce unwanted noise and vibration. It offers accurate midrange reproduction and clean high frequencies, although it may lack in the lowest frequencies. The loudspeaker is recommended for small-to-medium-size listening rooms and has an elegant design with excellent performance. However, its high-frequency response may require careful setup and system matching. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the Audiovector R 3 Arreté loudspeaker, which was first encountered by the author at a 2019 audio event. The R 3 is a 2.5-way bass-reflex speaker with unique concepts aimed at improving transient response, reducing compression, and enhancing the soundstage. The R 3 Arreté is a simpler and lighter version of the larger R 8 Arreté, but both models share some features. The speakers are praised for their low frequency response, off-axis imaging, accurate reproduction of instruments and vocals, and vast, immersive soundstage. They are considered a good value for their price. However, the speakers have a demanding load for amplifiers and a presence-region suckout that may make the treble sound polite or laid back. [Extracted from the article]

This article explores the topic of phono playback equalization curves and their significance in the audiophile community. It explains that different EQ curves were used in the past to optimize the sound quality of vinyl records, but the RIAA curve became the standard in the 1950s. While some argue that certain labels continued to use their own curves, the differences between curves are deemed insignificant. The article introduces the Mola Mola Lupe phono preamp, which offers various EQ curve options for a customizable listening experience. The author discusses the performance of the Lupe in playing vinyl records, highlighting its ability to enhance details and dynamics in music, particularly in vocals and instruments. The article also mentions the versatility and flexibility of the Lupe, but notes its high price point. A brief explanation of the technical aspects of vinyl EQ curves and phono equalization is provided. [Extracted from the article]

My first exposure to Manger Audio loudspeakers, which are based on the 'bending-wave' technology invented years ago by the company, was to the Manger p2, their passive flagship speaker, at [...]

- Julie Mullins HERETIC AD614 LOUDSPEAKER Choosing Heretic's AD614 loudspeaker as my personal Product of the Year was easy: It's new, innovative, and sounds like a high-rez studio monitor on magic mushrooms. Editors' Choice Awards MOFI ELECTRONICS SOURCEPOINT 10 LOUDSPEAKER I have had so many loudspeakers pass through my listening room in the past 40 years that it is rare for one to stick in my mind for more than a couple of months after it had been returned to the manufacturer or distributor. The Wilson and dCS both got three first-place votes; the Alexia V got one more second- place vote than the Vivaldi, but the dCS made it up in third-place votes. But the least expensive product, the Klipsch loudspeaker, and the most expensive, the NAD amplifier, scored the same number of votes, which was considerably more than the third-place Benchmark D/A processor. [Extracted from the article]

When Wilson employees added their voices, expressing a desire for an even smaller subwoofer for their own setups that was reasonably priced by Wilson standards, the LoKe was born. Piece of cake, thought I. All I needed to do to review Wilson Audio Specialties' smallest active subwoofer, the LoKe ($8950 each in standard finish), was describe how low a pair goes in my room and how cleanly they woof. The LoKe is in the latter category.9 Controls on LoKe's rear amplifier panel include an input-level switch, a power-mode switch, a Feature Setup knob, and a main power switch. The subwoofer and speaker must remain in exactly the same phase during the overlap to make the main speaker seem to descend even lower naturally while avoiding the introduction of such bass anomalies as a slightly blurred sound or a subwoofer that sounds like a subwoofer rather than naturally blending. [Extracted from the article]

Power amplifiers Naim NAP 250 DR power amplifier, D'Agostino Progression 350 stereo power amplifier. The NAP 250 incorporates eddy-current suppression at the loudspeaker output connections, in common with the reference-level Naim "Statement" power amplifier. Though output impedance isn't specified, if the specified damping factor (36 with an 8 ohm load) is accurate, it is about 0.2 ohms.1 The loudspeaker output connections are unchanged from earlier models: Naim-standard, spaced 4mm sockets, for which Naim also makes an inexpensive, proprietary, reliable bipolar plug designed to ensure unambiguous polarity. For review this modular of the matching audio component NSC 222 streamer set - a preamp with a matching NPX 300 power supply is forthcoming - we first cover the standalone NAP 250 100Wpc stereo power amplifier, a new version of Naim's 200-series amplifier, now so extensively revised that it must be regarded as a new model. [Extracted from the article]

In the time domain, the Maestro Utopia Evo's step response on the tweeter axis (fig.7) indicates that the tweeter and midrange unit are both connected in negative acoustic polarity, the woofers in positive polarity. In the vertical plane (fig.6), the tweeter-axis balance is maintained 5° above and below that axis, which is useful considering that the tweeter is 47" from the floor. The farfield response of the midrange unit and tweeter on the tweeter axis (green trace above 355Hz), with the jumpers set to Neutral, is even, with small, narrow suckouts balanced by equally small peaks. SPECIFICATIONS Description Three-way bass-reflex loudspeaker with two 11" woofers, one 6.5" Power Flower midrange driver with NIC motor, and one inverted-beryllium-dome tweeter. [Extracted from the article]

(Vol.46 No.2 WWW) DRAGONFIRE MINI DRAGON DFA 2.1: $10,000 FOR THE SYSTEM The DFA 2.1 system from Dragonfire Acoustics comprises the company's Mini Dragon Satellite planar-magnetic desktop speakers; MD-4 250 Wpc class-D amp, which contains a DSP module for correcting and controlling the speakers; and DFA SB-8P subwoofer, along with a version of the miniDSP SHD headphone amp/streamer (equipped with Dirac Live room-correction software), plus a suite of cables and a calibrated USB microphone. JA used the Roksan with Mission 770 and GoldenEar BRX speakers and noted that the amplifier kept tight control over both speakers' woofers. INTEGRATED AMPLIFIERS & RECEIVERS A AMPSANDSOUND BIGGER BEN: $5600 This single-input, single-ended, triode-wired, no-negative-feedback tube amplifier drives both loudspeakers and headphones. (Vol.44 No.12 WWW) CAMBRIDGE AUDIO CXA81: $1299 $$$ The CXA81 is a versatile, solid state integrated amplifier with analog and digital inputs, headphone, preamplifier, and subwoofer outputs, and the usual loudspeaker outputs. (Vol.45 Nos.1 & 3 WWW) LINEAR TUBE AUDIO Z10E: $6950 The all-tube Z10e integrated amplifier/headphone amplifier/ electrostatic headphone amplifier is built around a David Berning - designed, push-pull, output-transformerless (OTL) EL84-tube power amplifier that is rated at 12Wpc into 8 ohms and 13Wpc into 4 ohms. [Extracted from the article]

Loudspeakers are the most diverse of hi-fi components, varying widely in conception, gestation, and morphology. This variety reflects the peculiar nature of our hobby, which spans the widest possible range [...]

Drivers and materials Levy piqued my curiosity when he claimed that the Adam's pure-aluminum ribbon tweeter, which is almost 6" tall and features a magnesium case and neodymium magnets, is "greater than the sum of its parts." As Alta's Mike Levy explained to HR, "Basically, the port tunes the speaker from resonance on up as it would in a properly tuned ported speaker, and the transmission line tunes the speaker from system resonance down. In the time domain, the Adam's step response on the tweeter axis (fig.7) indicates that the tweeter and woofer are both connected in positive acoustic polarity, the midrange unit in inverted polarity. The complicated-looking traces below 500Hz in fig.3 show the outputs of the midrange unit (black trace), the woofer (red trace), the port at the top of the rear panel, which loads the midrange unit (green trace), and the port at the base of the rear panel, which loads the woofer (blue trace), all measured in the nearfield. [Extracted from the article]

At first look, our November 2020 review of the standmount loudspeaker ($5000/pair) from Alta Audio (1) appeared to be a thorough vindication of the Stereophile method of reviewing, combining measurements [...]

Loudspeaker cabinets move in response to the motion of their dynamic drivers, especially heavy woofers--that's Newton's third law of motion. In principle at least, that motion can smear a loudspeaker's [...]

Early in my time with the RA180, I'd connected cables from the MBL 120 speakers in the RA180's terminals in a way that seemed logical, but music only played through one speaker channel. With the MBL 120s I began by hooking up the MBL 120 loudspeakers, my current reference - largeish three-way standmount speakers with the German manufacturer's Radialstrahler omnidirectional tweeter and midrange and bass from two side-firing woofers.6 The 120s are not biwirable, so I ran the RA180 in BTL mode for maximum power. "Output level meters and a full suite of controls grace the RA180's solid aluminum chassis' front panel", I wrote in my show report.2 "In a nod to mechanics, the volume control's moving cogs are visible behind a clear hexagonal covering"; putting the insides on the outside, a modernist touch. [Extracted from the article]

The phono input inverted absolute polarity at the headphone output in both MM and MC modes but preserved polarity at the loudspeaker outputs. A class-A soundalike When I wrote the intro to this story, I already knew the outro: Rogue Audio's Pharaoh II integrated amplifier delivered enough quiet, clear, clean, effortless class-D power to drive the hard-todrive (under 4 ohm EPDR) GoldenEar BRX and the currentsucking Magnepan .7 panel speakers. What's the alternative?) Then, this month, as I installed the Pharaoh II tube-class-D hybrid amplifier, I wondered: How many class-D amplifier designers are trying to make their small, light, cool-running amps sound like hot, heavy, high-power class-A amps? Looking first at the line-level inputs, the Rogue Pharaoh II preserved absolute polarity, ie, was noninverting from its loudspeaker output with both balanced and single-ended inputs but inverted polarity from the headphone output. [Extracted from the article]

Last year, I decided not to put an absolute maximum price on products eligible for the budget category; after all, a $500 amplifier or pair of speakers is obviously budget, but a $1000 phono cartridge might not be. Budget Product GENELEC G THREE LOUDSPEAKER ($1590/PAIR; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.45 NO.8) FINALISTS BLUESOUND POWERNODE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER ($899; REVIEWED BY KEN MICALLEF IN VOL.45 NO.8) LSA VT-70 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER ($1399; REVIEWED BY ROGIER VAN BAKEL IN VOL.45 NO.10) MUSIC HALL STEALTH TURNTABLE ($1649; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.45 NO.10) PRO-JECT DEBUT PRO TURNTABLE ($999 W/TONEARM & CARTRIDGE; REVIEWED BY KEN MICALLEF IN VOL.45 NO.1) TOPPING PRE90 PREAMP $599 INCLUDING EXT90 EXTENSION MODULE1 REVIEWED BY KAL RUBINSON IN VOL.45 NO.2) "Budget" at Stereophile doesn't mean box-store or bubble-gum-dispenser prices - although at $599 the Topping Pre90 preamp, a Budget-category finalist, comes close. What's more, the company had two finalist products in the category, the winning amplifier and the Commander preamplifier mentioned above. Overall Product WILSON AUDIO SPECIALTIES ALEXX V LOUDSPEAKER ($135,000-$151,000/PAIR DEPENDING ON FINISH; REVIEWED BY JIM AUSTIN IN VOL.44 NO.12) FINALISTS DCS ROSSINI APEX D/A PROCESSOR ($32,800; REVIEWED BY JASON VICTOR SERINUS IN VOL.45 NO.10) GENELEC G THREE LOUDSPEAKER ($1590/PAIR; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.45 NO.8) KEF BLADE TWO META LOUDSPEAKER ($28,000/PAIR; REVIEWED BY KAL RUBINSON IN VOL.45 NO.9) MOLA MOLA TAMBAQUI D/A PROCESSOR ($13,400; REVIEWED BY HERB REICHERT IN VOL.45 NO.1 AND KEN MICALLEF IN VOL.45 NO.6) "I felt like I was floating in a sea of ambient sound", I wrote about the experience of listening to Selected Ambient Works (85-92) by Aphex Twin via the big Wilson Alexx V. "Explicit clarity. [Extracted from the article]

Stereophile may be, as the editor of a European hi-fi magazine - an EISA member - announced to the audience at a recent event, "the most important hi-fi magazine in the world", but we're one magazine among many. EISA - the Expert Imaging and Sound Association - brings together the best of them all - the best hi-fi, home theater, car audio, and photography publications - some 60 in all, from Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia. So, without further delay, I'm happy to present the EISA winners for 2022-23.-Jim Austin FERRUM AUDIO OOR Following the EISA Award-winning Hypsos programmable power supply unit, Ferrum has focused its expertise on designing a purely analogue headphone amplifier. [Extracted from the article]

(Vol.40 No.12 WWW) PARASOUND HINT 6 HALO: $3199 * Introduced in 2014, Parasound's Halo integrated amp offered 160Wpc from its bipolar output section - JFETs and MOS- FETs were pressed into service elsewhere in the amp - plus a list of convenience features including a dedicated subwoofer output with its own variable high- and low-pass crossover filters; a 32-bit DAC with USB, coaxial, and optical inputs; a discrete headphone amplifier; an MM/MC phono stage; and a total of six line inputs (one balanced, five unbalanced). (Vol.37 No.1, Vol.38 No.12, Vol.39 No.6, Vol.41 No.5, Vol.42 No.1, Vol.43 No.5 WWW) DRAGONFIRE MINI DRAGON DFA 2.1: $10,000 FOR THE SYSTEM The DFA 2.1 system from Dragonfire Acoustics comprises the company's Mini Dragon Satellite planar-magnetic desktop speakers; MD-4 250 Wpc class-D amp, which contains a DSP module for correcting and controlling the speakers; and DFA SB-8P subwoofer, along with a version of the miniDSP SHD headphone amp/streamer (equipped with Dirac Live room-correction software), plus a suite of cables and a calibrated USB microphone. (Vol.44 No.12 WWW) CAMBRIDGE AUDIO CXA81: $1499 $$$ The CXA81 is a versatile, solid state integrated amplifier with analog and digital inputs, headphone, preamplifier, and subwoofer outputs, and the usual loudspeaker outputs. POWER AMPLIFIERS A (SOLID STATE) ACCUSTIC ARTS AMP V: $50,000 The 176lb Accustic Arts AMP V (pronounced Amp Five) was the heaviest, tallest, most powerful - specified power is 900Wpc into 8 ohms, 1360Wpc into 4 ohms, and 1500Wpc into 2 ohms - and most expensive stereo amplifier JVS has auditioned in his system. Pass Laboratories' solid state XA60.8 monoblock amplifier, JCA echoed JA's earlier published response to the amp's predecessor, the XA.60.5: "the best amplifier I've heard.". [Extracted from the article]

German loudspeaker manufacturer Canton has released a new reference speaker called the Reference GS. This speaker is the most complex and artistically designed loudspeaker that Canton has ever created. The Reference GS features a cabinet made of wood laminate with curved side panels and a rounded, thick front baffle. It also includes a diamond dome tweeter and adjustable bass levels. Only 50 pairs of the Reference GS will be made, and it is priced at $60,000 with a 10-year warranty. [Extracted from the article]

Hi-fi in Maine is a small world. There are two companies of note: Cable company Transparent Audio and Rockport Technologies, which of course makes loudspeakers. Perhaps 15 years ago, when [...]

Our review of the Sonus Faber Olympica Nova loudspeaker (March 2020) included a couple of errors. The mid/bass driver is 5.5'--not 5.9' as we indicated in the review. The cabinet [...]

Is this the coolest name ever for a hi-fi company? Norway's O Audio and High End by Oz--the US importer of Vitus Audio electronics--have announced a distribution agreement. O Audio [...]

Two industry veterans--Rich Maez, lately of Boulder Amplifiers, and Jon Baker, most recently of Musical Surroundings--have created a new hi-fi import and distribution business: Monarch Systems Ltd., located in Denver [...]

German hi-fi manufacturer T+A elektroakustik has announced the launch of a new model in their Criterion series of loudspeakers, the Criterion S 230. The speakers are derived from the Solitaire series and feature a "symmetric directivity" design to reduce reflections from room boundaries. The S 230 has a simpler design compared to the Solitaire series, with a magnesium-dome tweeter and a bass system called "MultiResonator Transmissionline Technology." The Criterion S 230 is available in different finishes and can be ordered for $11,900 per pair. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the upcoming AXPONA audio show, which is held annually at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center near Chicago. The show will feature over 600 brands represented in 200 rooms, with presentations on various topics related to the audio industry. The article also highlights some of the product debuts that will be showcased at the event. Additionally, the authors provide tips for exhibitors on how to make the most of their presentations, including playing music that is familiar to visitors. The article concludes with recommendations for music to be played at the show, including songs by Pink Floyd, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, Philip Glass, Cannonball Adderley, Jussi Björling, Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas, and Véronique Gens. [Extracted from the article]

Although the information sheet on Perlisten's website says that the woofers can be operated with the reflex ports open or closed, all four woofers behaved identically, with a minimum-motion notch at the port tuning frequency, which indicates that the ports were open. PHOTO (COLOR): Fig.4 Perlisten S7t, anechoic response on tweeter axis at 1m, averaged across 30° horizontal window and corrected for microphone response, with the complex sum of the nearfield responses plotted below 300Hz. I received an email from a longtime press representative I've known for years, telling me about a new loudspeaker company he's representing. The central beryllium-dome tweeter extends up to and beyond the top of the audible band; the specified upper end of the S7t's range is 37kHz, -10dB. It was apparent to me that the transitions between the large cones and the domes and the central dome and the flanking ones would require something other than classic textbook crossovers. [Extracted from the article]

This year, I employed a more flexible method, designating Budget products based on my perception of value: $500 is cheap for an amplifier or a pair of loudspeakers but not for a phono cartridge or an interconnect. - Jason Victor Serinus Product NAIM UNITI ATOM HE HEADPHONE AMP/ STREAMING DAC ($3290; REVIEWED BY HR, VOL.44 NO.9) FINALISTS AMPSANDSOUND BIGGER BEN HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER ($4950; REVIEWED BY HR, VOL.44 NO.4) BENCHMARK HPA4 HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER ($2999; REVIEWED BY HR, VOL.44 NO.2) FOCAL CLEAR MG HEADPHONE ($1500; REVIEWED BY HR, VOL.44 NO.9) RAAL-REQUISITE HSA-1B HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER ($4500; REVIEWED BY HR, VOL.44 NO.10) T+A HA 200 DAC/HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER ($8999; REVIEWED BY HR, VOL.44 NO.2) Naim's Uniti Atom HE headphone amp/ streaming DAC was made for competi-Headphone PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) PHOTO (COLOR) ABOUT THE VOTE This one wasn't close, but three other products - the T+A HA 200 DAC/head-phone amplifier, the RAAL-requisite HSA-1B headphone amplifier, and the Benchmark HPA4 headphone ampli-fier - scored well. - Julie Mullins NAD C 298 POWER AMPLIFIER I haven't specifically heard the NAD C 298 but did review for Sound & Vision NAD's 7-channel Masters Series M28, which uses the same Eigentakt digital amp modules that populate both the C 298 and last year's Stereophile PotY winner, the NAD M33 integrated streaming amp. [Extracted from the article]

EQUIPMENT REPORTS It's rare for a Stereophile reviewer to review two loudspeakers in a row from the same manufacturer, but then these are unusual times. The A5 may be part of Magico's least-expensive range, but it is, or was, the first Magico speaker to adopt a particular innovation: an "aluminum honeycomb core" in their driver cones. The A5 cabinet is made from the same aircraft-grade, precipitation-hardened aluminum alloy used in Magico's Q-series speakers. The A5 is also the first Magico speaker - Magico says it's the first loudspeaker anywhere, and I've got no reason to doubt it - to use Mundorf's new "MResist Ultra" foil resistors. [Extracted from the article]

Putzeys also said, in the same interview with Sound & Vision's Bob Ankosko, that "there are a few distortion mechanisms conspicuously missing in class-D, mostly those related to the input stage of a class-A(B) solid state amplifier and nonlinear capacitances" that are also "missing in valve [tube] amplifiers." The M1200's ability to couple with, control, and drive the woofers of my Wilson Alexx loudspeakers matched that of any amplifier I've had here, including my reference darTZ-eel NHB-468 and Boulder's 2150, both of which are way more costly. Because the Stellar M1200 features a class-D output stage, all the measurements other than the frequency response tests and one of the square-wave tests were taken with Audio Precision's AUX-0025 auxiliary passive low-pass filter, which eliminates much of the ultrasonic noise that might otherwise drive the analyzer's input into slew-rate limiting. The gray trace in fig.1 shows the Stellar M1200's small-signal frequency response into our standard simulated loudspeaker.4 The variations in response were a negligible ±0.05dB. Into resistive loads (blue, magenta, and red traces), the amplifier rolled off above the audioband, with -3dB frequencies between 40kHz and 50kHz depending on the load resistance. [Extracted from the article]

The USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode, and Apple's Audio-MIDI utility revealed that, via that input, the May accepted 24-bit integer data sampled at all rates from 44.1kHz to an extraordinary 1536kHz. THIS ISSUE: John Atkinson measures the superb HoloAudio May D/A Converter; Jim Austin auditions a pair of Manger Audio s1 loudspeakers. Fig.2 HoloAudio May, NOS mode, waveform of 1kHz sinewave at 0dBFS, 16-bit data. [Extracted from the article]

This, our February issue, is the first Stereophile issue to arrive during the year 2020, which marks the anniversary of the founding of Audio Research - in my view one of the key events in the history of high-end audio. The 160 M and 160 S amps are the first Audio Research amplifiers to allow switching between triode and Ultralinear operation. Michael Fremer reviewed the Audio Research Reference 6 line preamplifier in the December 2016 issue of Stereophile.5 The ARC preamp, he wrote, "was an exceptionally skilled and unerringly convincing teller of sound stories that revealed, with every record I played, musically significant information not found in the usual checklist of sonic attributes." When the amplifier drove an equal mix of 19 and 20kHz tones at 10W into 8 ohms from the 8 ohm tap in Triode mode (fig.15), the second-order difference product at 1kHz lay just below -60dB (0.1%) and the higherorder intermodulation products were lower in level. [Extracted from the article]

My in-person introduction to Devialet's products was under auspicious circum stance, I was in Paris for what would be a monthlong vacation; my wife was there to give some lectures, but I was free to roam the city, take pictures, practice my bad French, and enjoy the excellent food - the experience of a lifetime except that, a few days in, I was missing music. In the Devialet amps, the current source is instead a class-D amplifier: The digital amp provides the oomph and the analog amp "corrects and completes" the signal, Devialet says. For this reason, the Expert 140 Pro converts its analog inputs to digital as close as possible to the inputs and keeps the signal digital as long as it can, to within a few centimeters of the loudspeaker connections. [Extracted from the article]

The first post-pandemic audio show was The Home Entertainment Show in Long Beach, California, which took place June 11-13. "I hope these show reports convey how good the majority of exhibits sounded", Jason wrote in his show summary. Also sounding gorgeous, in the Cake Audio room, were the Alsyvox Botticelli ribbon loudspeakers ($92,000/pair + $30,000 for the optional external crossovers) powered by a Vitus SS-103 stereo amplifier ($40,000). [Extracted from the article]

The article offers a review on Ultra Reference 9 loudspeaker from Von Schweikert, V2 version of the Element Metal from Totem and Focal Scala Utopia Evo loudspeakers from IsoAcoustics.

The article evaluates the Mark Levinson No.5805 integrated amplifier from audio equipment brand Mark Levinson.

The article offers information on the Gibbon X loudspeaker from Devore Fidelity.

The article evaluates several musical instruments including the KX-5 Twenty preamplifier from Ayre Acoustics and the Heresy III Floorstanding Speaker from Klipschorn.

The article reviews loudspeaker Titanium Hestia by company Alta Audio.

The article evaluates a Phantom wireless speaker offered by Devialet.

THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS For years, Audio Advice Live has been an annual event, drawing enthusiastic audiophiles to the dealership's showrooms on Raleigh's Glenwood Avenue, next to Virgin Cigars. Inside was the simplest system at the show: a Rega P1 turntable,2 the Rega Kyte loudspeakers, and the Rega io integrated amplifier with phono stage, about $2000 total. ELAC brought its bottom-of-the-top-line Concentro S 507 loudspeakers ($15,000/pair) - the only speaker I know about to use an AMT tweeter in a coaxial configuration - and the tiny new ELAC DCB41 powered speaker system with DAC, 50W class-D amp, aptX Bluetooth, and phono preamp, all for $599/pair. [Extracted from the article]

The article offers brief information on Wharfedale Diamond 225 Loudspeaker from Wharfedale.

Sennheiser's HD 650 remain my reference 'phones and have been since back when ~$5P0 was a lot to pay for a pair ofheudphones. Today, nennheiser sells Oar more expensive 'phones, Inrludinf the vanrty-prtred HE 1,1 the successor to the legendary Orpheus, so if s likely that my HD 650s are no longor state rf the art. Vahir is the point of Sennheiser's new HD 560S,a sort oflitthe brother (or sister) So che HD 650 - or to the HD 660S, B successor to the HD 650. [Extracted from the article]

Loudspeaker performance, then, will vary from system to system, not just due to room acoustics - that's well-known - but also due to complexities of the loudspeaker's interactions with the room's surfaces. First the left loudspeaker: At lower frequencies, as expected, the isolated loudspeaker moved more than the loudspeaker mounted on the isolation devices (decoupling it from the floor means freeing it up to move). Measured at the loudspeaker's base, the difference was most pronounced around 200Hz, where vibrations in the vibration-isolated loudspeaker base were some 20dB higher than when the speaker was mounted on wood. [Extracted from the article]

The article evaluates several audio equipment, including the Cary Audio 300 SEI integrated amplifiers, the DeVore Fidelity Gibbon Nine loudspeaker and the Eminent Technology LFT-16 loudspeaker.