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Avalon NP Evolution 2.0 loudspeaker

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:15:00 EDT

Originally intended for home-theater use, the NP Evolution 2.0 is a slim, cherry-veneered tower standing 3' tall on its carpet-piercing cones. All three drive-units are rabbeted into the baffle and secured with Allen-headed bolts screwing into T-nuts. The tweeter, made by Eton in Germany, has a hard, white-finished dome formed from a "ceramic composite" material proprietary to Avalon and used in a number of models in their line. A small, efficient neodymium magnet provides the motive force, and the mounting plate is faced with black felt.

KEF Reference 201/2 loudspeaker

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:10:00 EDT

In the waning days of 2007, I delivered some small audio doohickey to John Atkinson one weekend afternoon. "Come down to the listening room," he said. "I want you to hear something."

Wilson Audio Specialties WITT loudspeaker

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:30:00 EDT

The woofer and tweeter in the WITT are made by Focal. Dave Wilson has long been partial to Focal tweeters (other versions are used in both the WATT and the X-1). The WITT's inverted titanium-dome tweeter is similar to that in the WATT/Puppy 5 in that it's driven by a voice-coil slightly smaller than the dome itself. (This is unlike a conventional dome tweeter, which is driven from its perimeter by a voice-coil the same diameter as the dome.) But there's an added twist: the dome is coated with titanium dioxide, which is employed for damping. Focal calls the titanium/titanium dioxide material

B&W Matrix 800 loudspeaker

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:24:00 EDT

With my beloved 801s relinquishing the throne to their new, more expensive cousins, the question must be asked: Do I still like the 801? You bet. Next to the 800, it remains my speaker of choice. The next logical step in this discussion is an apples/apples comparison between the two. A difficult task, since they are so entirely different in all respects. But if I were pushed to make an absolute comparison between these two products, I'd have to say that the 800 is the full realization of the seed planted by the 801. In other words, the 801 redefines dynamic loudspeaker design—the 800 redefines the art of musical reproduction.

Sony PlayStation 1 CD player

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:12:00 EDT

A year ago, when I heard that some audiophiles were using Sony's original PlayStation 1 as a CD player—my friend Michael Lavorgna, who writes for 6moons.com, was the first to cross my attention—I was more than a little confused. Sure, I'd heard of the Sony PlayStation, just as I've heard of the Game Boy and Nintendo (and Starbucks, and American Idol, and Anderson Cooper). But which is which? What do they look like? How do they work? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

Rega P3-24, RB301, & Elys 2 turntable, tonearm, & phono cartridge

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:53:00 EDT

Given that Rega mounts its motor assemblies to the plinth, the importance of this upgrade cannot be overstated. While an elastomer-suspended motor design like the ingenious one Pro-Ject uses in its least expensive 'tables can lower noise and reduce the amount of vibrational energy transmitted to the plinth, the tradeoff is a motor free to vibrate—and thus move—in space. The small but constantly varying distance between motor and platter causes the drive belt to flex, which makes the platter's rotational speed erratic. Such a design tradeoff is a worthwhile one in a budget 'table, but with the addition of the phase-angle trim circuit to the P3-24, Rega gets rigidity, speed stability, and low noise.

Acurus DIA 100 integrated amplifier

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:48:00 EDT

I mean, wouldn't that be great? Not only could we all hook up with that Special Someone a helluva lot easier than hanging around hi-fi huts with red hankies protruding from our back pockets, but we could also send messages to the manufacturers telling them what we really want in terms of hi-fi gear. And after trying to assemble a butt-kickin' Real World system of affordable audio components, I know what message I wanna send:

Drunk on Vinyl

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:44:00 EDT

Have you heard? Michael Lavorgna and John DeVore are into vinyl. They are also into beer. In the hearts and minds of these two manly men, vinyl plus beer equals love. A trip to the record store, punctuated by delicious ales and stouts, with music-loving friends on a warm, spring day—what could be better?

Recording of July 2008: Haydn: The Creation

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:42:00 EDT

Between 1796 and 1798, when Haydn composed The Creation, he was the most beloved composer the world had ever known. Already an old man, he had befriended and outlived Mozart and was deeply religious: he prayed daily that he might live to finish this oratorio. "I spent much time over it because I expect it to last for a long time," he wrote. In fact, it was performed dozens of times before his death, in 1809, and has never disappeared from the repertory. The text is taken from Genesis, the Psalms, and Milton's Paradise Lost; the original author is unknown. But a Baron van Swieten (musician, diplomat, librarian) translated the texts into German for Haydn to compose to, and the first performances of the work were as Die Schöpfung. Van Swieten later translated—at times quite awkwardly—the text back into English, and nowadays the work is still more frequently performed in German.

Those Durable Bottles

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:31:00 EDT

I believe it was 1958 when I first heard a transistorized audio product. The Fisher TR-1 was a small battery-powered box that provided microphone preamplification and inputs for three magnetic phono sources.

Acoustic Energy AE3 loudspeaker

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:01:00 EDT

Recording of December 1991: He Is Christmas

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 10:34:00 EDT

Conrad-Johnson Premier Seven preamplifier

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:27:00 EDT

Whenever an audio high-ender thinks about tubes, he usually thinks about Audio Research. This is only natural, because Audio Research Corporation was almost single-handedly responsible for saving tubes from oblivion in the early '70s when everyone else switched to solid-state. But ARC was soon joined in its heroic endeavor by an upstart company called Conrad-Johnson, which entered the fray in 1977 with its PV-1 preamp, priced at an affordable (even then) $500.

Revel's Kevin Voecks

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:57:00 EDT

The Fifth Element #48

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:16:00 EDT

One of my 2008 Records To Die For picks was the 1991 compilation Time for Love: The Best of Julie London (CD, Rhino R2 70737). The source material runs from London's mono 1955 debut LP to her last stereo album, of 1967. Originally a Hollywood B-movie actress who had to be cajoled into singing in public, London (1926–2000) later enjoyed a successful third career as a television actress in the late 1960s and '70s, and played Nurse Dixie McCall in the drama series Emergency!

Energy Connoisseur C-2 loudspeaker

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:27:00 EDT

Reality check number one. Tired of reading about the latest and greatest $65,000 loudspeakers? Or even the current hot ticket at $2500? Such loudspeakers promise to bring you the audio truth, or the golly-gee-whiz, honest-to-gosh, absolutely positively real sound. And some of them do seem to come awfully close, though truth be told, we're still a long way from replicating reality—and will never do it with just two channels.

Bel Canto e.One S300iu integrated amplifier

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:10:00 EDT

The S300iu looks remarkably similar to the DAC3. As members of Bel Canto's e.One line, they share the same shape and appearance: a half-width front panel, a central green display, and, on the right, a single black knob for controlling the volume and selecting the source, framed within the faceplate's radiused recess.

Exposure 3010S integrated amplifier

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:09:00 EDT

Exposure Electronics, Ltd., which confounds yet another trend by assembling their products in England while running the business from the Far East, has now unveiled a follow-up, of sorts, to the 2010S: an upmarket integrated amp called the 3010S ($2295, or $2790 with onboard phono preamp), itself a refinement of the Exposure 3010, itself derived from that humbler model we know and love.

Listening #66

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:55:00 EDT

The subject comes up every now and then: Audio reviewers don't write nearly enough negative reviews. One old attention-seeker on Audio Asylum went so far as to characterize Stereophile and our would-be competitors as "happy face" magazines—a joke in which he seemed to take tremendous pride—simply because we hand out a lot of As and Bs. By that logic, assuming that a certain percentage of underachievers is inevitable in any population, our schools aren't handing out nearly enough Fs. (I have a suggestion for where they can begin.)

Tony Schwartz Dies at 84

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:34:00 EDT

Tony Schwartz, who died on June 14 in Manhattan at age 84, understood that listening is inexorable. "People don't have earlids," he once observed.