Stereophile's Almost All-Tube Issue B.E.S

Stereophile's Almost All-Tube Issue B.E.S. speakers. Music in the Round. The natural sound no other speaker can recreate

Now there sa speaker that produces sound the way nature produces sound: In 360 waves. Front and back and in all planes. Place them anywhere and free yourself from the tyranny of narrowly-beamed box speakers. The reviewers raved: "Open. "Clean - and "Elegant: What are your superlatives? CONTENTS

AS WE SEE IT Those Durable Bottles 4 LETTERS 8 PUBLISHER'S CORNER 13 EQUIPMENT REPORTS Conrad-Johnson PV5 15 Klyne SK-2a 17 Fourier 6Speaker 21 Thiel CS-3 Speaker 24 Tubes and the State of the Art 29 Audio Research SP-10 Preamp, D- 160B Amplifier Conrad-Johnson Premier 3Preamp, HV-la Head Amp, Premier 4Amp 100-Watt Tube Amplifiers 38 Beming EA-2100 & Quicksilver MX190 Tonearms and the Meaning of Life 44 Syrinx PU3, Zeta and Alphason HR-100s FEATURE An Interview with Tim De Paravicini 55 MANUFACTURERS COMMENT 66 FOLLOW-UP 70 RECORD REVIEWS 72 AUDIO CHEAPSKATE 79 AUDIO MART 85

STAFF

Publisher Larry Archibald Editor and Chief Tester J. Gordon Holt Music Reviewers Robert O'Neil, Wilhelm Storrer, Tom Gillette Circulation Donna Martinez Contributing Editors Anthony H. Cordesman, Allen Edelstein, Laurence Greenhill, Dick Olsher, Bill Sommerwerck, Stephen W. Watkinson Business Manager Judy Nacion Photography Ruth Tatter Advertising Bob O'Neill (800-821-3528); Nelson 81, Associates (914-476-3157 or 800-821-3528) Art Director Suzanne Vilmain Cover Photo Diana Luppi

Ste reop h i le is published monthly, except January, April, July. and October for S18.00 per year by Ste reoph ile, 1107 Early Street. Santa Fe. NM 87501. Application to mail at second class postage rate is pending at Santa Fe. New Mexico. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Stereophlle at P.O. Box 1948. Santa Fe. NM 87501. AS WE SEE IT

THOSE DURABLE BOTTLES by J. Gordon Holt

Ibelieve it was 1958 when Ifirst heard supply for its heater.' Its microphonic atransistorized audio product. The Fisher tendencies are evident in high-gain cir- TR-1 was a small battery-powered box cuits, and a tube needs special flexible that provided microphone preamplifica- mounting to keep vibration away from it. don and inputs for three magnetic phono HEATER sources. PLATE CATHODE Iremember being completely bowled (ANODE) over by the sound. It did some things far GRID better than any tubed component Ihad heard, and Iwas so impressed by those things that Idid not at first detect the things the TR-1 was doing worse than tubes. Iam confident that Iwould run screaming from the room were Ito listen to it today, though alot of its shortcomings were doubtless being masked by com- plementary shortcomings in the loudspeakers of that day. Soon the TR-1 was joined in apro- liferation of more sophisticated and better sounding solid-state components, some of which did many things well enough that I, and the audio community at large, was confidently predicting that Lee De- Forest's little glass bottle, the clumsy old It's not very reliable either; output tubes vacuum tube with its finite life and its tend to break down at the drop of ahat, wasteful generation of heat, would be and even a tube that doesn't suffer a dead and gone within 10 years. Twenty- heater burnout before its estimated life- five years later, the vacuum tube is not time will, as inevitably as a living orga- only still with us, it is enjoying arenais- nism, come to its demise. Even worse, sance among audio perfectionists. What is the continuing attraction of this technological dinosaur? Certainly not 1An amplifying vacuum tube consists of at least four convenience, reliability, or cost. Atube is basic components: the heater (1) which agitates the electrons on the surrounding cathode (2) so that very inconvenient to use, requiring as it they more easily escape, weaving their way through does plenty of space around it for venti- the grid (3)—which modulates the current flow—on lation and aseparate, high-current power their merry way to the anode (4).

Stereophile the sound of many tubes deteriorates of fried chicken.) over time, a known cause of tremens Many observers have suggested audiophillus. Given enough time, every through the years that the ultimate truth— tube will wear out and have to be re- true accuracy—may lie somewhere be- placed. Which brings us to cost, another tween the sounds of tubes and transis- thing definitely not in the tube's favor. tors. 2 And indeed, there is increasing Premium brands tend to be quite expen- evidence that this may in fact be the case, sive, ranging from $10 for alow-current as some of the best solid-state products dual-triode 12AX7 to $30 or more for a come to sound increasingly like tubes, high-current output tube like the EL-34. and tubed products have picked up the What, then, does the vacuum tube virtues of transistors: extended bandwith have going for it? Nothing at all, except at top and bottom. Yet the characteristic its sound. And that sound is so unlike differences persist, and to those who hear solid-state sound that a tube enthusiast those differences, there is often little can tell one from the other immediately. choice. Either they prefer the tube sound, Solid-state components tend to be crisp or they prefer solid-state sound. Yet few and sharply-etched at the high end, some- are able to explain their preference, ex- what laid-back through the presence range cept in such simplistic terms as "more (as though the instruments reproduced musical" or "more accurate" or, lamely, were slightly backed off from the record- "I prefer it." ing mikes), and very taut and deep at the The continuing consumer interest in low end. Tubed components tend to be tubes still baffles most of the so-called abit soft at the extreme top (though this scientific community—AKA the test-bench is less true for the very best modern crowd. Seemingly unable to hear what components), rather forward and "alive" all the fuss is about, or to cite measure- through the upper middle range, some- ments which correlate with the differ- what warm and ill-defined through the ences audiophiles claim to hear, they cast mid bass, and weak at the extreme bot- about for "rational" explanations of the tom—again less true of the best designs observation that relatively high distortion (like the Berning 2100 and the EAR 509). measurements (tubes) should sound bet- They also seem to reproduce depth and ter to some listeners than products with front-to-back perspectives better than do vanishingly low measured distortion. transistorized components, sometimes The most commonly heard expla- with an uncanny feeling of 3-dimen- nation is that tubes "overload more grace- sionality around the sound sources. fully." This is often actually true, because The tube sound has been described the transistor's superior (or exaggerated?) as "musical" by those who like it, and as detail makes the tiniest amount of wave- "euphonically colored" by those who form clipping immediately and obnox- don't. It is in fact a little of both. Live- iously evident. Not only that, the nature music highs do tend to be more soft than of tube clipping is more like acompres- crisp, and the overall sound is somewhat sion (Fig.1) where the transistor-clipped warmer and richer in spectral balance waveform is an irritating-to-the-ear trun- than is usually heard from solid-state cation (Fig.2). But that argument can't electronics. While many tubed compo- hold all the water, because the things nents seem to overdo these qualities, it which distinguish tube sound from tran- can be argued just as convincingly that sistor sound are audible at all output many solid-state components underdo

them, making the sound too lean, dry, 2Pontius Pilate would have queried, "What is truth— and crisp. (This sounds like adiscussion tube or transistor?"

Stereophile 5 levels, including those far below the com- Bill Conrad (of conrad-johnson de- ponent's overload point. (Nonetheless, sign) thinks that tubes simply obscure many rock musicians prefer tubed am- less of the very low level information that plifiers for use with their gee-tars and give us subtle aural clues as to the size Fender basses because they do sound of individual instruments and their loca- better when overdriven to the excessive tion in space. Others have speculated that levels beloved of all rock musicians.) tubes are "nicer" to electrons—that the electrons "like" travelling across a vacuum more than they like travelling through asemiconductor substrate. 3

Tube clipping has slightly-rounding corners, yielding overload sound that is fuzzy rather than harsh. In both cases, actual clipping waveform depends on the component's design. An overload-clipped sine wave from asolid- state amplifier. The clipped corners are very In truth, the reasons for atube com- sharp, indicating strong HF content and harsh ponent's unique sound are not clearly sound. understood, although there have been some canny theories presented. Dave It is probable that tubed amplifiers' Hafier (president of the Hafler Company, typical weakness at the extreme low end which makes only solid-state electronics) is related to the limitations of its output has hypothesized that alot of the differ- transformer, whose ability to deliver LF ence has to do with the relative distri- current is directly related to the size and bution and strengths of the spurious weight of its iron core and is thus con- harmonics generated by tubes and tran- strained by economic realities (as well as sistors. For example, a tubed amplifier by its movability by anyone but asumo which measures .05% harmonic distor- wrestler). But the "aliveness," midbass

tion might produce /12 of that as 3rd- warmth,4 and seemingly enhanced depth harmonic content and /12 as 4th, whereas all defy any explanation in terms com- atransistor amp with the same measured prehensible to design engineers. THD may produce /12 of that as 3rd-order Tubed component design remains distortion and /12 as 4th-order. And while rather much ablack art, where measure- the tubes may yield diminishing amounts ments must at some point in the design of distortion with increasing order (5th, 6th and so on), the transistors may yield the same content at each harmonic all 3And no one wants to listen to an irritated electron. the way out to the 10th. This strikes me 4 The midbass warmth of tubes is actually not so mystical. Introducing a30 Hz rolloff point in asolid- as being one of the most convincing state amplifier would bring about midbass warmth explanations we've heard to date, but it also; in fact almost all rolloffs have audible results hardly explains all those other differ- prior to the frequency where the rolloff commences ences. on afrequency response graph. LA

Stereophile 6 process yield to the designer's subjective have scads of detail and, often, rather thin judgments as to how the damned thing low end. For electrostatics, he should go sounds and to heck with the measure- for a soft, "sweet" high end and a full ments. This is a singularly unenviable low end. But most dynamic speakers position for any designer to find himself require just the opposite qualities from in, for the whole area of subjective eval- an amplifier: crisp high end and tight, uation is fraught with more pitfalls than controlled bass. Should the sound be the video game. (We who skirt these tailored to one kind of speaker and slight pitfalls on aregular basis can sympathize the other? Or would he do better to more than most!) First, he must divest compromise and end up with something his listening from personal biases, and that sounds passably good, but not superb listen for what he believes consumers on either? Decisions, decisions. will listen for easier said than done. As a result of all this, good tubed Then he must attempt to second-guess electronics inevitably differ in sound from his target market in terms of what they one to another, much more than do good will like and won't. (I hear that, but will solid-state units. This raises legitimate buyers consider it astrength or aweak- questions regarding the "accuracy" of any ness?) He must convince himself that the of them—they can't all be accurate when signal sources he uses for evaluation are, they sound so different. But it also greatly if not unquestionably accurate, at least enhances abuyer's opportunity of finding representative of what his potential cus- an amplifier which exactly meshes with tomers will use. And then there's the his favorite speaker to produce the best question of his loudspeakers, and that's sound that speaker is capable of deliv- aloaded question. ering. Thus, in aperverse sort of way, the variety of tube sounds can be an avenue toward incredibly listenable, satisfying, and accurate sound. Perhaps,then, the main Tubes are not the only such avenue reason why the vacuum of course, though Iwon't hesitate to admit tube persists in audio is that some of the best sound I've heard that it continues to has been from systems using tubed electronics throughout. All of Sheffield's re- provide the kind of cent recordings, as an example, are brought listening pleasure that to us through the courtesy of all-tubed every audiophile electronics. On the other hand, some of envisioned in his mind's the best sound Ihave heard (in other respects) has been from solid-state sys- ear when he got into tems. Icould happily live with either, as audio in the first place long as they were hooked up to speakers which complemented their respective characteristics. Perhaps, then, the main reason why the vacuum tube persists in All loudspeakers are colored. He audio (when the transistor has replaced knows that, intellectually at least. So are it in every other area of electronics) is all amplifiers, more or less, including his that it continues to provide the kind of prototype tubed amp. What speakers listening pleasure that every audiophile should be used in evaluating the sound envisioned in his mind's ear when he got of his amplifier? And best in what re- into audio in the first place. Ican't think spects? Electrostatics, generally, tend to of abetter reason. JGH

Stereophile 7 LETTERS

you used to recommend for replacing TRADE-IN PRICES the AR one does not seem to be available Editor: any more. I suspect that the -V may Ihave apair of Hartley Concertmas- tolerate the AR arm better than the better ter speaker systems which have only been pickups. Alas, alack, what to do? used for about 24 hours. Iwish to trade Mark Stern these in for a pair of $2100 Acoustat New York, NY 2+ 2s. What price do you think Ishould expect to get for the Concertmasters? RECORDING John L. Fuller ALTERNATIVES Waterville OH

Editor: I enjoyed reading Mr. Sommer- It's hard to say. Ifyou bought the Hartleys werck's report on the relative merits of recently from a dealer who also carnes the Otan i 5050 analog recorder and the Acoustat, you might be able to get back Sony PCM-Fl/SL-2000 digital system. Now much of what you paid for them. Other- Iam curious about two other systems wise, you would do better to try and sell that he did not discuss. them privately, because a non-Hartley Do the new Beta Hi -Fi systems offer dealer won't give you very muchfor them; any serious competition to PCM digital youW be lucky to get $500 for the pair. or, for that matter, to open-reel analog Concertmasters currently go for recordings? $1670 new. Ifyours are in new condition, Mr. Sommerwerck's article men- you might be able to get $1400 for them, tioned that one way to reduce analog but it is more likely that you'll have to tape's "smear problem" was to increase accept something around $1200. If they the tape speed to 30 ips. However, in are cosmetically damaged, you're look- shopping around for open-reel machines, ing at a private resale price of under Ihave yet to find one that will record at $1000 for the pair. ahigher speed than 15 ips. Can you tell me of a manufacturer that makes them XA 'TABLE CONVERSION or modifies current stock units? Michael W. Healey Chicago, IL Editor: Ipresently own an old AR XA turnt- No one has loaned us a Beta Hi-Fi unit able, a Dyna PAS-3X preamp, Quad 303 for testing so all we can do is repeat power amp and Quad ESLs. Iordered a what users have told us. The sound quality Shure V15-VG to replace my -III, only to is apparently about halfway between 7- find that Shure has discontinued their /12 Os analog tape and digital PCM tape, spherical styli. Ihesitate to purchase the although some users report that they can V, yet abetter cartridge may not be suited hear the system's compander '1»-eathing." to the XA table. Iam not thrilled with the And whether or not it's of concern to idea of buying an expensive 'table just you, most users feel that the quality of now to obtain abetter arm, and the arm video from Beta Hi-Fi decks bas slightly

8 Stereophile less definition than does a straight Beta- There are, however, some excellent II VCR recording. 12AX7s available generally, at reasonable 30-0s open-reel recorders are avail- cost. They can be identified, not by la- able on special order from several of the beling but by internal construction, as manufacturers ofprofessional tape decks, follows: the bulb is slightly fatter than including Ampex, Studer and MCI. that of a typical 12AX7, and has a less rounded top. And the anode assemblies REPLACEMENT TUBES are smaller than usual. (See drawing.) I've found these in quite afew places. Editor: Most recently they have been appearing The cost of retubing apreamp today in Radio Shack's stock, but if you buy seems to be approaching the price of them there, check them out first, because entire preamps just afew years ago. Some Radio Shack's brand is on several different really intimidating prices for "reference makes of tubes. But don't tell your friends quality" tubes have led me to extensive that your Berning TF-10 has Radio Shack experimentation. tubes in it. It will suddenly cease sounding Actually, most of these so-called pre- good to them. mium tubes are quite conventional sorts Incidentally, the PL-509 tubes used which have been relabeled. One case in in the EAR 509 amplifier are readily point was a batch of 12AX7s that an available from most parts jobbers as the audiophile friend purchased from alocal 40KB6. Also, the Luxman 3045 amplifier dealer, which were identical to some can use KT-88s in place of its 3045 tubes, Amperex ECC-83s which Ihad gotten at but an even better choice is the cheaper 1/10 the price. What did that tenfold price 7027A industrial tube, also widely avail- buy my friend? Well, the tube pins were able. gold plated, the store had its own brand Dr. Stuart Yaniger on the tubes, and the glass bulbs were Philadelphia PA frosted, presumably to discourage scru- tiny of their internal construction for comparison purposes. Now note that, although these tubes and my Amperexes were identical in construction, that does not necessarily mean they were made by Amperex. That company could have bought them, with Amperex labels, from the same firm that supplied and relabeled them for the local dealer. The practice of relabeling is very common, and has been for many years. Ihave bought Mullard tubes that were labeled GE. And even the marked country of origin is not reliable. Ihave four 12AX7s which are identical in construction, characteristics and sound, and thus presumably originated at the same factory. Yet each is marked with a different brand name and country of origin. So specifying abrand and country (i.e., West Germany) is not enough to specify aparticular tube.

Stereophile 9 CONFUSION SAYS ter than any other loudspeaker system. The ones which image best are tiny sat- Editor: ellite speakers which are limited in power- Ireceived my second issue of your handling ability and have mediocre tran- magazine today and have read it from sient response. The speakers with the low- cover to cover. Ilike what Ihave seen so est distortion and best transient response . far, mostly for contrary reasons. Like: The are full-range electrostatics, but many of harmonious sound of dissonance! them don't image well and none will But after digesting this issue (I ate produce very high listening levels. The it), Iam really confused. one electrostatic with incredibly good You like electrostatics. You rapture imaging (the Quad 63) sounds a bit dry over them. You like the Thiels with res- with most power amplifiers and is quite ervations. But are they polar to the elec- limited in loudness level. The systems trostatics? You casually mention that "In- which produce the most clean output are finity once again had some of the best all-dynamic systems, but onty afew image sound at the show." Another entirely really well and all but the very best are different kind of system which employs noticeably ":slower" (in reaction time) drivers and Emits. Ithought the Infinity than electrostatics. 4.5s were long extinct. You rhapsodize The whole business is complicated by about them. the fact that the sound of a given loud- Iam dizzied by these swirls of ideas. speaker depends on what ampeer is All Iever hear and read about electro- feeding it and on what is feeding the statics is not good. In my first copy of amplifier. Replacing a superb preampli- your magazine, someone spoke of the fier with another superb preamplIfier of hellish difficulty in placement of electro- a deferent brand can make a superb statics for good stereo imaging. I am eeakerlamplifier combination sound splendidly confused. mediocre. If a system is almost "there," What loudspeaker gives the most replacing a cartridge can make it sound transparent sound with excellent imag- right-on or can make it sound worse. In ing? short, there are no simple, easy answers Are the Infinities good? to the problem of achieving satisfying Ilove classical music and no other. reproduction of musical sound. Iam not attracted to Rock & Roll jukebox Twice a year we publish a list of bass. Iprefer the sound you describe in Recommended Components for the ben- electrostatics but without the bother, so efit of readers who find it challenging to what do you suggest? make their own mix-and-match mistakes. Ken Lausa Even the compatibility suggestions that Lima, OH we include with that list offer no assurance that a particular combination of Oh boy! If only things were as simple as components will sound as good as that you would like them to be. amount of money can buy. Was it Confucius, Buddha, or Arthur For the benefit of those readers who Jones of Boise, Idaho, who said, There want really good sound rather than the are many paths to the gates of Heaven?" challenge of experimentation, we also Whoever said it, it sums up the situation publish periodic lists of recommended in audio today. systems, consisting of components which With the possible exception of the we have found to be particularly syner- WAMMS (see above), there is no loud- gistic. But not even those systems can be speaker system which does everything bet- simply plunked down in a room and

Stereophile expected to work at their best. And eyou find someone who specializes in &e- already own a number of components quality home-music installations and work and wish only to buy loudspeakers, you with him. Just make sure he knows what are playing high-stakes roulette, for a alive symphony orchestra sounds like, or better speaker may simply reveal a lot of you may end up with jukebox bass and nasty things that your previous loud- a hard-rock middle-range squawk. speakers were mercifully obscuring. This is why electrostatics have such a bad reputation. They reproduce with embar- rassing honesty every nuance of sonic crud fed to them—so honestly that there are only a handful of associated components in the entire world which are really ideal for use with them. And every last one of those components is horribly expensive Loudspeakers like the Thiel 04s get good reviews when they do more things right than one should expect for their price. The Infinity 4.5 is discontinued— and actually we didn't care much for them. If you don't want the 'bother" of diddling a good speaker system into its optimum placement, your best bet is to

o o

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THIS ISSUE

This is our Almost All-Tube Issue. There the highest overall standard for any man- wasn't really a concerted effort—I just ufacturer in the medium, are reviewed saw a bunch of interesting reviews on by JGH, and we introduce Bob O'Neill tubed electronics coming up and decided (who also sells advertising for us) as a to put them all together. The Conrad- jazz music reviewer. Bob has a long Johnson PV5 reviewed by JGH is an ex- history of jazz-listening, both live and citing product: a$1500 preamp that rivals recorded, and almost as long a history the best we've heard. Tony Cordesman with high fidelity equipment—he was an looks at complete state-of-the-art tube original subscriber to Stereophile back in systems from Audio Research and Conrad- 1962. Johnson Design. JGH reviews two recently introduced tube amplifiers, one (the Quicksilver) asuperb execution of "tra- NEXT ISSUE ditional" tube sound, the other an inno- One of our inspirations for the Al- vative circuit by David Berning (the EA- most All-Tube issue was asurvey of budget 2100). tube preamps by Steve Watkinson (see Tony Cordesman also takes on three below): the Audible Illusions Modulus, well-known British tonearms: the Alpha- the Conrad-Johnson PV4, and the Coun- son, the Syrinx, and the Zeta. While he's terpoint SA-7. Unfortunately, we found at at it, AHC manages to review the Sumiko the last moment that one of our review "Arm," the Souther linear-tracking arm, samples had been modified by the dealer the Goldmund arm and 'table—and sev- from whom it was obtained. According eral other notable turntables. Anyone to the manufacturer, this accounted for thinking of buying something for his disc- the anomolies we heard in its sound. Oh playing system will benefit from this ar- consumer, beware of random and undis- ticle. closed modifications! Many manufactur- Two interesting speakers made it ers we talk to disapprove of throwing into our Almost All-Tube Issue—and nei- extra capacitors at their products—even ther use tubes! Larry Greenhill compares Wonder Caps—and we suspect they're the Fourier 6to the Spica TC-50 featured right. We decided to defer the entire tube in our last issue. JGH takes on the re- preamp survey until Volume 7, Number markable Thiel CS3 on page ??. 4along with apogyourri of other equip- Get to know innovative tube and ment reports: 7 speakers under $500 transformer designer Tim de Paravicini reviewed by DO; the Acoustat Sixes by on page ??, in an interesting interview BS; the Nalcamichi DMP-100 digital adap- conducted by Dick Olsher and Jerry Nov- tor (similar to Sony's PCM-F1) by BS; the etslcy last June. Tim is the manufacturer experiences of JGH and BS in digital of the remarkable Esoteric Audio Re- recording; the remarkable Eminent Tech- search 509 reviewed in Volume 6, Num- nology and Souther tonearms; AHC's re- ber 3—and he's not short on opinions. views of the Fuselier 3.3 speakers and his Telarc's first 6 CDs, setting certainly encyclopedic assessment of our 6 major

Stereophile 13 musical sources: analog disc, CD, PCM, lawyer in Phoenix, but has been partici- cassette, reel-to-reel, and FM. pating in high-end audio for years now. There's even more than that, but I His frequenting of CES shows in the just realized it can't all happen in one company of Michael Dayton Wright and issue; it simply won't fit, even with our Richard Brown (of Brown Electronic Lab- expanded size. You'll just have to wait oratories) has introduced him to numer- and see what makes it in! ous manufacturers; we now introduce him to you, the consumer. PERSONNEL Wilhelm Storrer worked as the music critic for Audio Journal, an underground journal published out of South Carolina Our writing staff has just about dou- until it bit the dust ayear ago. WS' musical bled in the last two issues, just one of background and audiophile orientation the signs of excitement Stereopbile has impressed us when we read Audio Jour- been creating in the hi-fi business. nal; he has ready to go aPrevin discog- Laurence Greenhill started out in raphy, an impressive assessment of Volume 7, Number 1 reviewing three LaserVideo discs, and an extensive treatise expensive cassette decks. LG makes his on the authenticity of "Authentic-Instru- living as apsychiatrist and as ateacher at ment" recordings. His reviews of Com- Columbia. He has written in the past for pact Disc in this issue are somewhat Audio Alternatives, High Performance Re- remarkable: he finds afew that he likes! view, and Stereo Review. He currently writes for Audio as well as Stereopbile, and is very active in The Audiophile Society (Westchester County). Anthony Cordesman made his Ster- eophile debut in our last issue with reviews of the Dayton Wright and Spica Truth in Listening small speakers and an update on the Quad ESL-63. AHC's reputation in high- end audio comes largely from his 3-year association with The Absolute Sound, whose staff he recently left. While there, he impressed us as one of their writers who had the consistent methodology necessary to avoid the pitfalls of subjective reviewing. Now that we see his writing unedited, we see that he has an pene- trating and wry sense of humor as well. Through innovative design and construction. AHC's absolute (there's that word again) rigorous hand-selection of components, and un• integrity, fairness, and respect for the compromising quality control. the NYMPH recreates dimensionally and dynamically the difficulties of creating sonic excellence visceral excitement of the live performance. in a product have established his repu- Write or call your nearest dealer. tation with manufacturers and readers alike. Steven Watkinson wrote last issue's report on the SOTA Sapphire Star turn- Eun IONL Au DIO table, and is anewcomer to the ranks of RRI Box 266 New Egypt. NJ 08533 201-929-2613 reviewing. SWW makes his living as a

14 Stereophile EQUIPMENT REPORTS

CONRAD-JOHNSON PV-5 PREAMPLIFIER 111•111111k

• r

Tube stereo preamplifier. Inputs: MM or MC phono, tuner, 2 tape loops. Controls: Left, right, stereo, reverse, mono. 2 main outputs, 2 tape outputs, 4 AC outputs (2 switched, 2unswitched). Frequency response: +0/-2 dB, 2Hz to 100 kHz. Maximum

output: 25 volts. Phono overload: 500 mV. Dimensions: 16" W by 11 Y4 " D by 4" H. Price: $1485. MANUFACTURER: Conrad-Johnson Design, 1474 Pathfinder Lane, MacLean, VA 22101.

The PV-5 is a "budget" version of C-J's as well. At high listening level (100-dB $2850 Premier Three, but according to peaks) with a 5-mV cartridge, hum and the manufacturer it embodies much the hiss were virtually nonexistent. And the same kind of circuitry. PV-5 has scads of reserve gain; the volume Tubed preamplifiers have a well- control at the aforementioned listening earned reputation as system busters. Many level (with the Premier One amp and of them during warmup produce horren- Acoustat 2+ 2 speakers) was at 11 o'clock, dous bangs or plops so severe that every and measurement showed that there was speaker fuse in the system blows. If fuses an additional 9 dB of gain left. At 12 are absent, or rated too high to protect o'clock, in the absence of any signal things, the amplifier, speakers, or both (including surface noise), there was only are likely to blow up (not literally; they avery faint rushing hbb. At full gain there just twitch once and lie down dead). The was plenty of hhh but still no hum! All PV-5 contains one of the most effective switched functions were completely free pop suppressors I've encountered, and from clicks. (Note that slight DC leakage produces no noise whatsoever during in the coupling capacitors of ahigh-level warmups and turnoffs. My Berning TF- signal source can cause clicks which are 10, on the other hand, produces asmall not the fault of the preamp design.) plop when its delay relay turns it on, and The reserve gain means that with a monstrous, fuse-popping thud when most MM cartridges the volume control turned off. Ihave never given it acrack will be set rather low much of the time, at an unfused system with a 500-watt/ acondition which can cause bad channel channel amplifier, and don't plan to. imbalance due to poor volume-control The C-J is very quiet in other ways tracking in the 8, 9, and 10 o'clock range.

Stereophile 15 Such is not the case with the PV-5. Track- ing to C-J, all they did was "trim the RIAA ing accuracy between the two halves of equalization and change afew tubes," but the ganged control was better than .5 dB the resulting change in the preamplifier's from 7:30 to 4o'clock, which is unusually sound was not subtle. The latest version good. The advantage, of course, is that still has some of the sonic earmarks of the preamp has enough gain to run many tubes, but every coloration has been moving coil cartridges straight in, without reduced to the point where it is merely astep-up device; more on this later. aslight "tint" rather than an aberration. Our first sample of the PV-5 (ob- For example, the original warmth tained around October '83) proved son- remains, but there is less of it—quite ically to be a real puzzler. On bypass little, in fact—and instead of the slight tests, with my inverse-RIAA input network looseness previously observed, the mid- (and using good CD and 15-ips tape bass is now surprisingly taut and "gutsy." sources), there was so little difference Bowed basses sound awesome: realisti- with the PV-5 in-circuit and bypassed that cally rotund with all the bloom of the it was almost impossible to tell which real-instrument sound. The string vibra- was which. On this basis the PV-5 was tions are so clearly defined that Ihad the virtually indistinguishable from my "ref- feeling Ishould have been able to "count erence" Berning TF-10 preamp. the cycles." Not only that, the low end But with analog discs the PV-5's sound has agorgeously full, deep weight to it. was not nearly so neutral. It reminded In short, the low end is now superb, me, in fact, of the sound of C-J's own bettering the Berning by a small but Premier One power amplifier: slightly significant margin. bright and forward, very much alive, with It now surpasses the Berning in two remarkably good rendition of depth and other respects as well: depth and trans- perspective and a warm and full but parency. The PV-5 has such liquid clarity, slightly loose low end. Despite the unit's and reproduces perspectives so well, that extraordinary (for tubes) high-end re- the sound is sometimes spookily real. sponse, highs were somewhat sweetened The preamp is an utter joy to listen to, rather than airy and open, with ahint of and should be heard by anyone who some fine-grained texturing. It was per- maintains an aversion to tubes—not to haps not surprising, then, that Ifound mention those of you who already love the combination of the Premier One and tubes and may be looking for a new the PV-5 to be a bit much with many preamp! If the PV-5 doesn't convince you, speaker systems. Their colorations com- nothing will. pounded one another, and the result was Extreme highs, markedly improved quite noticeable. But the disparity be- over the first sample, are quick and de- tween what Iheard on bypass and with tailed, yet exquisitely delicate. The slight a phono source still had me baffled. graininess in the first unit is virtually Response measurements using the same gone, save for a very subtle crispness. inverse-RIAA box revealed nothing amiss. The Berning is just ahair sweeter at the The PV-5's RIAA and high-level sections top, but the difference is now so slight were as close to being right-on as anything that in actual use it would be swamped I've measured. by far greater differences between loud- Right around the time I'd finished speakers, cartridges and discs. my report on the first unit, and concluded The PV-5 is still not quite as literally the PV-5 couldn't really stand up to my accurate as the Berning; it still has aslight Berning TF-10, C-J asked that we return forwardness and some brightness. The our sample PV-5 for "updating." Accord- brightness may push some speakers and

16 Stereophile many recordings over the hill into shrill- world's great preamplifiers. It floors me ness, but Ihave yet to find aloudspeaker that Conrad-Johnson has a still better system that didn't respond to that for- preamplifier in their line, the Premier wardness by merely sounding more alive Three (see Al-IC's report elsewhere in and realistic. This is one case where I this issue). It has not prompted me to have to say I'm more impressed by sheer turn in my Berning (for which my attach- seductive listenability than by accuracy. I ment is more than emotional; Ipaid good keep telling myself that accurate is better, money for it), but it has made it clear but accuracy by itself isn't why Iderive that my 4-year-old TF-10 is overdue for so much pleasure from listening to the an overhaul and upgrade.' PV-5. A honey of apreamp! JGH Interestingly, when driving C-J's Pre- mier One power amp, this latest PV-5 1 Those who have witnessed JGH's loyalty to the almost seemed to disappear. Ihad the Beming over the last 4years will appreciate what a feeling that all I was hearing was the large step it has been to find apreamp that outper- power amp (which, while superb-sound- forms it in anumber of ways. Interestingly, Beming ing on many top speaker systems, is more has just announced their first official updating of the TF-10 (although it's been modified in minor ways all colored than the preamp). along), and it's described as making "significant" In short, this has to be one of the sonic improvements. LA

THE KLYNE SK-2A PRE- PREAMP

Moving coil stepup device with separate on what it's used with. All the different power supply. Bandwidth: .8 Hz to 350 components interact strongly, making ab- kHz. Gain: 26 dB. Power consumption: solute recommendations very hard to 5 watts. Switchable input impedance come up with. Stan !Clyne has addressed (with 5DIP switches per channel): 47k, this problem by making his SK-2A head lk, 200, 120, 80, 65, 50, 40, 30, 25, 20, amp both very neutral in tonal balance 15 ohms. Switchable high-frequency rol- and very flexible in use. There are areas loff (with 5additional DIP switches per where the SK-2a may be bettered sonically channel): 50, 35, 25, 20, 18, 16, 15, 14, (in my opinion, by anarrow margin) in 13, 12, 11, 10 kHz (-3 dB point). Price: use with aparticular cartridge or preamp; $695. Update from SK-2 to -2A: $160. Idoubt if there's any product out there MANUFACTURER: Klyne Audio Arts, 721 which can equal its sonic excellence in a Howard Ave., Olympia, WA 98506. (206) wide variety of situations. 943-5420. Head amps, of course, wouldn't be Anyone who's played around with head around if it weren't for the low output of amps, moving coil cartridges, and preamps the best moving coil cartridges. There's knows that the results you get with any a major debate in the high-end industry particular device depend to alarge extent as to the necessity or desirability of a

Stereophile 17 stepup device at all. It's maintained in stepup device. The other, and more likely, some quarters that the only good head possibility is that astepup device that is amp is no head amp—in other words, extraordinarily well-regulated (as the Klyne any preamp worth its salt should provide is) affects the sound less than apreamp enough gain to amplify the output of an that is even slightly less well-regulated. MC cartridge on its own (one magazine The principal difference between the SK- has gone so far as to practically dismiss 2 and SK-2A versions of the 'Clyne, for those preamps lacking enough gain). instance, is regulation—and that differ- This position is appealing at first: ence is fairly large. certainly no device is better than even Consider yourself a very low-level the most perfect device. That statement signal, like the output of an MC cartridge. of the problem is inaccurate, however: You're not very powerful, on the order the extra 26-30 dB of gain provided by of miavvolts. If you have to face apreamp's stepup devices—be they transformers, RIAA stage and subsequent gain stages in solid-state, or tube—must be provided by this relatively anemic form, any slight gain stages, and those gain stages will perturbations of those gain stages due to foul up the sound to some extent even voltage-supply inconsistency might knock when they're in the main preamp. One you around quite a bit, changing your does thereby eliminate a pair of inter- spectral balance and losing some of your connects, and anyone who's experi- detail. But what if your strength is made mented with interconnects will recognize greater by adevice whose only job is to the advantage. My findings, however, were increase your strength, and whose gain that the Klyne SK-2A, used with good stages are regulated much more closely interconnects such as the Monster Inter- than the preamp's? Then those gain-stage link Reference, benefitted the sound of a variations in the preamp will have much system even when inserted before ahigh- less effect. This personification may be gain preamp (such as the Acoustat TNP), going a little too far, but I did hear whose gain would correspondingly be beneficial differences using the Klyne either switched out or turned down. In ahead of some good preamps; this is my other words, my finding is that a very speculation as to the reason why. good device can be better than no device at all! Nor was the Acoustat the only How does the SK-2A sound? Icom- preamp with which this was found; the pared it to two other excellent devices, C-J PV5 gave the same result (in different one the 2A's predecessor, the SK-2, and parts of the musical spectrum), as did the the other the Counterpoint SA-2, which PS Audio PS WIC to alesser extent. Stan is widely recognized to be one of the Klyne reports hearing similar stories about best tube pre-preamps, and one of the the Spectral DMC-10 and ARC SP-10 best, period (our review of the SA-2 preamps, both of which have adequate appeared in Volume 6, Number 2). gain for n..wing coil cartridges straight- The sound of the SK-2A is very neu- in. tral. The low end is superb, bettered by At this point, we can't certainly ex- none of the other stepups I've heard. The plain this phenomenon, but there are most immediately noticeable difference some possibilities. High-gain preamps do between the -2 and the -2A, in fact, was all their amplification after the RIAA net- in the low end, which is surprising be- work, just as do low-gain preamps. The cause the -2 was already better than possibility exists that the output of MC anything I'd heard. Compared to our cartridges "likes" to run through the RIAA original Counterpoint SA-2 at the low stages at the higher level provided by a end, the new Klyne would be laughably

18 Stereophile better. Counterpoint, however, took our noxious. The examples of the Monster criticisms of the SA-2's low end to heart Alpha-1 (which is very popular these days) and figured out what was wrong with that we had on hand, however, started their earlier circuit. The SA-2 now has rising at 7 kHz and were up 3 dB at 10 very respectable low end, especially for kHz. In fact, JGH had written a 1-para- atube unit: it is now fairly deep and quite graph pan on the Alpha, running it straight tight, which the early SA-2 was decidedly into a C-J PV5, when Iintervened with not. If you really love bass, though, and the Klyne. Presto, Change-0, you could have aspeaker system that extends below now appreciate the Alpha's other vir- 30 Hz you'll definitely prefer the Klyne. tues—pinpoint imaging, amarvelous sense At the high end, the SK-2A is very of liveliness, excellent tracking—without extended, just as the -2 was. Here, some listening to the spitty high end that was people will prefer the high end of the previously in evidence. There may be Counterpoint, which is softer and subjec- people out there who like MCs with their tively less extended, just as you might high end un -rolled off, but that's their expect from atube unit. At this point, I preference for asound which is definitely should mention one of the tremendous unmusical. advantages of the Klyne: it has externally switchable compensation for the rising The area where the SK-2A is most high end found on many MC cartridges. improved over the -2 is the upper mid- Many competing devices have no provi- range. It was here that areadily noticeable sion for rolling off this high-end rise, and difference could be heard between the the few that do (like the Counterpoint) original -2 and the Counterpoint SA-2. require you to turn off the unit, procure The Counterpoint was natural and alittle 1% capacitors in a variety of sizes, and laid-back, with excellent preservation of install them in the sockets provided. In a detail. The Klyne was a little bright, ex- tube unit you also have to leave the power aggerating the upper treble on loud cym- supply off for an hour or so to lessen the bal crashes and the like. Over aperiod risk of shock from high voltages—al- of time this tended to be fatiguing, though though you could simply count on your not greatly. The SK-2A is markedly better deftness to avoid those portions of the than the -2. The sound in the upper circuitry. The point is that this is a big midrange is now extremely clean and pain in the neck—and if you want to try direct, with no discernible (to me) ov- avariety of high-end rolloffs (say 10, 12, eremphasis. There is still a significant and 14 kHz), the procedure has to be difference between the !Clyne and the repeated for each choice. With the Klyne Counterpoint: the Counterpoint is less you can move acouple of DIP switches, direct and slightly sweeter—in fact, more while the music is playing, and assess the tube-like. This is an area where one's difference on the spot. personal tastes, and the system into which the pre-preamp is to go, come into play. The importance of rolling off the I've found that the !Clyne works well in high end of some of these cartridges virtually all the systems I've tried it, but shouldn't be underestimated. Of course, particularly in systems with tube preamps it used to be that all MCs took off above and/or tube amplifiers. For me, it's pos- 12 or 14 kHz; now there a number of sible to get too much of the tube sound; models (e.g., the Dynavector Ruby and using the Klyne instead of the Counter- Diamond) whose high frequency reso- point in an otherwise all-tube system nance doesn't begin until out beyond 20 cleans up the sound a bit and tightens or even 40 kHz, where it's much less up the bass. The overall system balance

Stereophile 19 is better. In an all-solid-state system the Moncrieff of JAR seems to prefer running Counterpoint might function in the same MCs into the lowest possible impedance way. because of the resultant reduction in Another area in which the SK-2A treble distortion, but this has to be bal- demonstrates its compatibility with tubes anced against the decrease in S/N ratio is imaging. The SK-2 was already excellent which also results. Imust confess that in the imaging department, and the -2A this is an area where Iam not expert; I continues this tradition (though Ididn't find the differences in sound relatively notice a significant difference between subtle and generally accept the recom- the two units—perhaps there's a differ- mendation of someone Iconsider expert ence on loud, complex passages). Many (Stan Klyne includes advice for particular people love tubes because of the' ir re- cartridges in his owner's manual). The markable imaging capabilities, the point of the SK-2 series of head amps is rounded, 3-dimensional quality each sound that this impedance loading is externally source takes on. The Klyne complements switchable amongst 12 different values, rather than adds to this capability. The and virtually any other value can be had images appear very specifically, and the by installing resistors internally. There overall image maintains its non-relation- are two big advantages: you can adjust ship to the position of the speakers. The values while listening to music and judge Counterpoint SA-2, on the other hand, which is best on the spot; and you can seems to add something to the imaging switch between different cartridges (with effect, making the sound sources appear different recommended load values) more 3-dimensional or perhaps adding a without the hassle of uncovering your bit to the ambience. My impression was pre-preamp (and perhaps turning it off that this effect was at least partially due for an hour) for each change. To be fair, to the additional noise of the Counter- there are other devices which offer this point; a few informal experiments have facility (the ARC SP-10 and Spectral DMC- been done, both here and in the U.K., 10, and probably others), but none which that demonstrate an increase in ambience offer it in conjunction with the high when noise is added to an otherwise frequency rolloff mentioned earlier. quiet source. What is the economy involved in Whatever the cause, the effect is spending $695 for something that merely definitely there. In general Ipreferred allows you to play MC cartridges, when the imaging specificity of the Klyne along anumber of preamps these days already with its direct, clear upper midrange; the offer sufficient gain to do the job on their Counterpoint didn't fit quite as well with own? There are two points to be made. my system and my tastes, but this is a First, MC cartridges are not purchased matter of taste and system-matching. for economic reasons. Most cost more than $300 and many are up in the $800- Another area in which the Klyne 1200 range. Typically they last ayear or demonstrates its ease of use is input two until the cantilever collapses, the impedance-matching. It has long been stylus wears out, or the latest and greatest known that moving coil cartridges func- model comes out—and they're rarely tion best into certain loads, which vary upgradeable. But people love them, and from cartridge to cartridge. Opinions on the sound quality they're capable of. Cer- the correct load also vary considerably; tainly they should be made to sound as Harry Pearson of The Absolute Sound prefers running all MCs into the 47K load which is standard for preamps. Peter continued on page 65

20 Stereophile FOURIER 6 SPEAKER SYSTEM

Two-way speaker system with 1" aperiodic soh-dome tweeter and 6/12 "long-throw woofer in vented enclosure. Power rating: 200 watts maximum. Impedance: 8 ohms ± 50% above 125 Hz. Sensitivity: 90 dB. Amplifier requirement: 50 to 200 watts.

Crossover: 3 kHz. Dimensions: 17/34 "H by 9/12 "W by 10 /12 "D. Weight: 22.5 lbs. each. Price: $499/pr; stands, 180/pr. MANUFACTURER: Fourier Systems Inc., 540 Nepperhan Ave., Yonkers, NY 10701. (914 )965-5800.

Publisher's note: and Richard Heyser's time-delay spec- This review is another in which the Spica troscopy (TDS) instrument, the Tecron TC-50 is compared to acomparably priced system 10. The result of this CAD work, and sized speaker, the Fourier 6 For a the prism-shaped TC-50s ($420/pr), em-

complete review of the Spica, see our ploy a 1" tweeter and 6/12 "acoustic sus- comparison to the Dayton Wright LCM-1 pension woofer, with aunique crossover in Volume 7, Number 2. For additional and enclosure. comparisons to the Fourier 6, watch for Although the Fourier 6 also uses a Dick Olsher's review of 6$300-500 speak- 6/12 "woofer, it's of proprietary polypro- ers in our next issue. pylene composition (the Spica's is doped paper), and is housed in a0.65 cubic foot The Fourier 6 has the special ability to vented fourth-order enclosure. Crossover generate large coherent sonic fields from slopes of 24 dB are used to divide the abox small enough to slip into an ordi- audio spectrum at 3kHz, passing the high nary shopping bag. The Six competes frequencies to a 1" soft-dome tweeter. directly with another remarkable-imag- Tweeter, woofer, and port run from top ing, compact American speaker, the Spica to bottom of the front baffle in vertical TC-50. alignment, their close proximity suppos- The success of both the Spica and edly helping the sonic coherence. Cabinet Fourier does not arise from new discov- edges around the front baffle are beveled eries, old alchemy, or any other audio to reduce diffraction effects. Speaker ca- magic, but instead from the application bles are connected by means of banana- of computer-aided design (CAD) and good post speaker terminals, which 1 have engineering. The 6is the least expensive found the minimum for making good model in Fourier's current lineup, and to electrical contact. my ears the most coherent. Computer The accompanying literature rec- systems analyst/mathematician Bruce Zayde ommends raising the Sixes off the floor; teamed up with Peter Aczel, formerly The the stands sold by Fourier get them up Audio Critic, to apply proven mathemat- 10". So mounted, the speakers angle up ical concepts and CAD to the design of towards the listener, generating a sonic drivers, crossover network, and enclo- image with lowered apparent height. With sure. The resulting model 6 produces a eyes closed the music seems displaced smoothly coherent, large sound field typ- downwards, somewhat like sitting in the ically found only in much larger systems. balcony above the orchestra. Raising the Similarly, John Bau created the Spica sixes up on 25"-high stands stimulated TC-50 with his Hewlett-Packard 9845, a some annoying room interactions, so the dual module software package developed Fouriers were auditioned on their own by Deane Jensen of Jensen Transformers, stands.

Stereophile 21 Sonically, the Fourier 6s were well- Levinson ML-9 (capable of 240 watts/ balanced but abit warm and rich-sound- channel). The bass drum whacks on the ing. Their perspective on the music is Telarc Compact Disc of the Cleveland close, bringing vocalists and solo instru- Winds did not bottom out the Six's woof- ments right up to the listener. Stereo ers. Ifound high-powered amplifiers like imaging was strikingly good, with more the ML-9 or the VSP Labs 150 worked than adequate depth. Dispersion was ex- best with the Fouriers. cellent with no evidence of asweet spot. What about the Spicas? They were Centerfill was particularly good, lending cooler, somewhat bass-shy,' slightly more a 3-dimensional, palpable quality to vo- dynamic-sounding, and displayed more calists. horizontal directionality than the Sixes. Instrumental timbres were repro- In my listening room, swept frequency duced well, particularly violin and cello. response measured at the woofer showed String tone was bright but not hard, the 3dB-down point to be 68 Hz for the resonant and sharp without being metal- Spicas and 58 Hz (with the microphone lic. Piano music had richness, due in part at the reflex port) for the Fouriers—a to the Fourier's slight emphasis in the significant difference. The lack of lower warmth region, yet male vocalists did not bass in the Spicas, and the tightly con- sound tubby—just clean and realistic. This trolled mid and upper bass, permits a upper bass accentuation did not get worse good subwoofer (like the Entec, Janis, or with increased volume level. The Fouriers RH Labs) to blend easily with TC-50s and maintained the same sonic fingerprint does wonders for its mid and lower bass even when driven to 98 dB levels by a response. Ifind them most listenable and enjoyable when biamped and with asub - woofer; for this comparison, however, they were run full-range. The Fouriers played louder than did the Spicas for the same input level (i.e., they're about 3 dB more efficient), and definitely had more bass. After hearing of several acquaintances who fried their Spica woofers, Iwas hesitant to push this unfused speaker to its limits. Even so, the Spicas proved to be faster, punchier, and were better than the Fouriers on percussion and vocals. Instrumental timbres were reproduced as well as on the Four- iers, and in some cases better. The Sixes, however, excelled in their rendition of string resonance, in solid bass response (no subwoofer needed here),2 lack of directionality, and superb central imaging.

1 Some listeners to the Spicas find them downright bass-shy, but this depends on room placement, height from the floor, and associated electronics. LA

2 In fact, aglance at the frequency response curve indicates that it would be difficult to mate asubwoofer to the Fouriers.

Stereophile The Spicas did best at producing an Both these small speakers have top, imaging envelope all around the speak- though not identical, imaging abilities. ers, with both depth and space. They When deciding between them, most peo- generated a seamless, deep, 3-dimen- ple will weigh the wider soundstage and sional, wall-to-wall sonic image in contrast greater coherency of the Spica against the to the image heard mostly at stage center better bass and more resonant sound of with the Fouriers. The Spectral DMC-10 the Fouriers. To some extent the choice preamp plus Levinson ML-9 amplifier sys- will depend on the future of your system: tem worked synergistically with the IC- if you anticipate purchase of (or already 50, yielding unusually precise and coher- own) a subwoofer, the Spica is a clear ent imaging, and freeing the instruments choice; as a turnkey system Iprefer the or vocalists from any apparent connection Fouriers, by a narrow margin. Both sys- with the speakers. Realism and transient tems are serious candidates for any audio speed equaled that of any system I've hobbyist tired of the expense, repair bills, heard. Although neither speaker deliv- and shipping costs that come with own- ered the transparency of an ESL-63 elec- ership of huge monolithic boxes or fin- trostatic, both generated imaging with icky electrostatic screens. Iwelcome the front-to-back depth presentation and ac- day (right now!) that apair of audiophile- curacy of instrumental location not pos- quality loudspeakers can be lifted by one sible with my physically larger Snell Type man and do not have to be shipped in As. refrigerator-sized cartons. LG

Stereophile 23 THIEL CS 3

Power bandwidth: -3 dB at 22 Hz and 22 kHz. Frequency response: ± 1/12 dB from 24 Hz to 20 kHz. Sensitivity: 89 dB. Impedance: 4ohms ± 10% above 70 Hz; below 70 Hz agradual rise to 7 ohms. Recommended amplifier power: 40 to 250 watts. Dimensions: 13" W by 13" D by 41" H. Weight: 75 lbs. Price: $1950. MANUFACTURER: Thiel Audio Products Company, 1042 Nandino Blvd., Lexing- ton, KY 40511. (606) 254-9427.

Thiel is one of those loudspeaker manufacturers, like Spica and Dahlquist among others, that pay close attention to detail. The CS3 is time-aligned, phase-coherent,' actively equalized to extend the low-end response, and designed for an unusually uniform impedance characteristic. As can be seen from the photograph, the enclosure is tapered and the edges rounded off. The taper provides the back- to-front offset for the drivers (to accom- plish the time-alignment), and the rounding-off minimizes the effects of cabinet- edge diffraction. Also worthy of note was the fact that the teak panels on the bottom front of both speakers had virtual mirror-image patterns of graining. That's what Imean by attention to detail. The cabinets have nice proportions and clean lines. They're more attractive with grille cloths in place, but even without them the speakers serve to decorate rather than intrude. The CS3 has two sets of input connectors, which are supplied with straps between them. Removing the straps al-

1For the second issue in a row we must apologize for having no standard (other than our opinion) for evaluating manufacturer's claims of phase coherence. Again, were not implying the manufacturer's claims are false. IA

24 Stereophile SPEAKER SYSTEM

lows the system to be connected to two separate power amps for biamplifying. The connectors are so-called 5-way bind- ing posts, and for once the designer had the foresight to recess these far enough into the enclosure to accommodate the length of dual or single banana plugs. There is even enough space around the plugs to allow easy access to them. More attention to detail! Ishould not feel com- pelled to praise things like this, but such common-sense considerations are surprisingly often overlooked. The CS3 comes with a little black box that must be connected in-circuit at some point, preferably between the preamp and power amp (although the Tape Monitor loop will do) and then plugged into an AC outlet, preferably unswitched. The box contains active circuitry which, as with the ITC-1 system reported here last month, boosts the system's low end to compensate for the fact that each speaker has only a10-inch woofer. Located late in the system's circuitry, directly ahead of the power amp, the equalizer is likely to contribute far less sonic pollution than it would if it were located, say, between the cartridge and preamp. When biamping, it is used only with the woofer amp and thus cannot possibly affect the higher frequencies. This bass-boosting approach has been tried many times in the past, but it never caught on until recently because (1) few woofers could take that much LF boost without distorting or bottoming, and (2) amplifiers capable of producing enough power to yield clean low end at such elevated power levels were few and expensive. Times—and components—have changed.

Low-end boosting actually offers two advantages over the use of alarge bass-

Stereophile radiating area. The smaller the woofer Threshold S/500 at 250 watts/channel, and area, the easier it is to locate the woofer would not recommend much less), the where it excites the fewest booming-up kick drum was clocked at 100 dB before room resonances; Ibelieve this is one the woofers started bottoming! Then I reason why the CS3 behaves as well as it started to notice other things. does at the low end. The second advan- The CS3 seems better able to handle tage is that one 10-inch driver stores far impactive bass (kick drum, bass drum, less energy than one or two 12-inch plucked double bass) than sustained bass. drivers. Energy storage and re-release Bowed basses, for instance, seemed a (later in time) is one of the major factors little shy of that (broom quality they have in low-end coloration, and one of the in real life. principal reasons some speakers are de- The imaging on these speakers is scribed as "fast" (low energy storage) and nothing short of amazing. No matter where others "slow" (high energy storage). Isat, Amanda McBroom stayed centered The CS3s were in fact very easy to between the speakers! Even when Iwalked locate for optimum sound. Istarted with to the right of the right-hand speaker she them at adistance of about 10 feet from was centered. Sitting still, anywhere across the listening area and aiming parallel. the 6-foot spread of my sofa, Iheard a Better and more stable imaging was ob- balanced stereo stage and quite remark- tained by toeing them in so that their able imaging stability from every voice in axes crossed about afoot behind acen- a performing group. Ihave heard this trally seated listener, and this is the way kind of imaging before, but never from they stayed for the balance of my listening a speaker that was this good in other tests. Ifelt no further inclination to fiddle respects. How good was it? Well .. . with them. Thiel claims response out to 35 kHz

0 e so loo--.— 200 5 0 2B SII 10B 20K

dB t aq ZO 3 Ft. Hei ht

4 ft. Height

_ Thiel CS3 Frequency Response ZER Average of Six Measurements "LZEQUALI_ I — RESPONSE 4-11/19/83 JGH .--- . o— e :• • • ile IL • • • • . tki zoo o , ,., K

My first reaction to this system was (-10 dB) for its 28-mm tweeter, and it total incredulity! Never in my life have I shows. The CS3 seems subjectively to heard such tight, deep bass from aspeaker have almost no high-end limit. Brushed this small. In fact, rarely have Iheard this cymbals are crisp and brassy, vocal sibi- kind of low end reproduced from any- lants contain the upper FFFF component thing at acomparable price. The Sheffield which is so often missing, and triangles Drum Record heard through the CS3s is and harpsichords cut effortlessly through atactile experience! Ithought Ihad heard the most turgid textures of full-orchestral the lower limit on that disc, but it has passages. Idon't know what alchemy is more impact than I had thought. And at work here, because the system's upper- with adequate amplifier power (I used a range drivers look ordinary enough, and

26 Stereophile the tweeter is a 1-inch dome, which I A large segment of the middle range know for sure is incapable of that kind sounded slightly depressed. Brass instru- of high end. ments were deficient in their character- The SC3 has quite remarkable detail, istic bell coloration (best described as an sounding more like agood horn-loaded awk quality, and illustrated by talking system than a direct radiator in this re- through open, cupped hands), and most spect, but without the usual horn-like woodwinds had their normal ratio of raucousness and sizzle. In fact, LA and I overtones to body-resonance sounds were so bowled over initially by the sound biased in favor of the overtones. The of these speakers that we were thinking clincher here was an original tape Ihad of calling Thiel and requesting apair for made of a familiar tenor voice. It still every staff member. But as we have learned sounded familiar, but its quality was un- through years of listening experience, mistakably lightened. first impressions are not always reliable The sound of our first sample of the and certainly do not reflect the listening CS3 varied with listening height, changing durability of a component—particularly dramatically when one stood up. With my aloudspeaker. ears about 4 feet above the floor (rep- It took several hours, spread out resenting avery uncomfortable bent-knees over several days, for me to realize that listening position), the slight hardness there was something slightly wrong here. virtually disappeared. The reason for this Ifirst suspected it when Iobserved that became clear when Ilater ran frequency-

the CS3 seemed to be exaggerating disc response curves on the system;2 achange surface-noise ticks and pops. My first in height (of the probe microphone) from reaction was that it was just reproducing 36" to 48" caused the entire range from their transient content better than Iam 4to 10 kHz to drop by about 4dB! The

00 20 000 20 00 300 2011

ji— ta" • Me 200 500 r Frequency response curve (0 the second pair CS3s. The low-end rise was not evident in listening—they sounded flat. accustomed to hearing it, but it soon effect of this could be duplicated by tilting became evident that this was not entirely the speakers forward by about 5°. Ob- the case. The speakers were slightly ex- viously the tilt causes cancellation be- aggerating the upper brightness (lower tween the midrange driver and the twee- treble) region; they were not steely, just ter, thus degrading the speaker's phase somewhat hard. coherence. But my ears—and my meas- Several discs and tapes later, Ibe- came aware of something that Ithink had been bothering me for some time but 2We always run our frequency-response measure- that Ihad not yet been conscious of. All mema after all listening tests are completed, so as not to influence our subjective reaction to the sound. recordings played through these speakers One tends to hear things one expects to hear, even had arather cold, slightly pinched quality. when they are not audible.

Stereophile 27 urements—showed that the frequency IA Addendum: response was in fact better with this JGH has not discuss& the question of cancellation taking place. equOment compatibility, which is partic- When Jim Thiel heard the above ularly important with the CS3s. Ihad a comments, he was at first inclined to bit of experietzce in this area. think we were nitpicking for the sake of The CS3 goes both lower and higher finding fault. (That's supposed to be part than most other speaker systems, and will of the "underground"-magazine mys- show up problems in those areas (e.g., tique.) When he subsequently ran some below 40 Hz and above 16 kHz) that measurements, he found that the SEAS aren't apparent on other systems. A tube midrange drivers delivered for his first preamp, for instance, that worked very 100 pairs (of which our review sample well with the Spica TC-50s sounded ter- was one) were significantly different in rible with the CS3s; low bass such as the upper part of their range from the kickdruni UYIS simply unlistenable. An- ostensibly same midrange driver he had other place to watch out for is the high used to develop his prototypes. When end. The CS3s are quite flat from 16 kHz running QC tests on the finished speakers to 22 kHz. If you have a moving coil this fault was not immediately obvious, cartridge that starts to rise at 12 or 14 but it showed up dramatically in curves kHz, it may be listenable on systems with run on just the midrange driver. Jim arolloff above 14 kHz, but you won't be requested that we retest the CS3s, with able to tolerate that rise on the CS3s. Even "corrected" drivers hurriedly supplied by e it doesn't actually sound sizzly, the SEAS (the CS3 production line was shut extra high frequency content will soon down for nearly amonth just when deal- wear you out. ers were clamoring for samples). In ampl(fication a little high-end The sound of the "correct" system softness might he in order, similar to what was identical to that of our first sample you get from matt) , tube amps—but it except for one thing: the hardness, the should be a tube amp with little or no exaggeration of disc surface noise, and brightness. Iwas sutprised to find that the most of the middle-range suckout were Conrad-Johnson MV75-A proved to be an gone! excellent match for :he CS3s, albeit at The slightly laid-back quality of our somewhat limited oueut levels (96 dB if first sample remained (though with none there's alot of low frequency content; 98- of the hardness), particularly when au- 100 dB otherwise). Some other amps ditioned from alow listening seat. The weren't nearly as good: the BEL 2002, CS3's sound would best be described as which has my extended high end, was rich and a little polite rather than au- just a bit unrelenting (too much HF thoritative and startlingly alive. It still has content); the VSP Labs 150 was murky in that remarkably extended and clean high the upper bass and a little too rolled-off end, very punchy and deep low end, and at the high end. My eeperience uas enough pinpoint imaging. to convince me that it's essential with the The CS3 is not the last word in CS3s to find the proper match in ampli- speakers, then, but it substantially out- fication; I don't think I've found the performs most others of similar price. I perfect match yet, but I'm still trying LA think it should be given afair hearing (in the home) by anyone seeking aspeaker in its price range. You'll know soon enough if it's just the speaker for you. JGH

28 Stereophile TUBES AND THE STATE OF THE ART

THE AUDIO RESEARCH SP -10 PREAMP AND D-160 B AMPLIFIER THE CONRAD-JOHNSON PREMIER THREE PREAMP, HV-la HEAD AMP, AND PREMIER

SP-10: stereo tube preamplifer with separate power supply. Individual input or two phono sources, auxiliary inputs for tuner, aux, 2 tape loops. Full swit • ng amongst left, right, stereo reverse, and mono. Mute switch. Switch to remo 12 dB of gain. Switch to connect phono directly to volume control, bypassing all extraneous circuitry and switching. Serial numbers 92426032 and 92427030, 6312700S and 63126004 (both power supply and control unit have individual serial numbers). Price: $3,450 unti17/1/84 when price goes to $3,700. Source: manufacturer loan, loan from Steve Summerall.

Stereophile 29 D-160B: stereo tube power amplifer. Power: 160 watts per channel. Frequency response: +0,-3 dB, 10 Hz to 50 kHz, full power. Weight: 115 lbs. Serial number: 32024017, price $6,000. Source: manufacturer loan. MANUFACTURER: Audio Research Corporation, 6801 Shingle Creek Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55430, (612) 566-7570.

Premier Three: stereo tube preamplifier with inputs for phono, tuner, aux, 2 tape loops. Full switching amongst right, left, stereo reverse, and mono. Mute switch. Serial Number: 1501046. Price: $2,850. Head Amp: tube moving coil stepup device, 28 dB gain, variable impedance matching internally (solder-in resistors). Price: $850. Premier Four: stereo tube power amplifier. Power: 100 watts per channel. Frequency response: +0,-3 dB, 8 Hz to 48 kHz, full power. Weight: 92 lbs. Serial Number: 5201018. Price: $2,950. MANUFACTURER: Conrad-Johnson Design, 1474 Pathfinder lane, McLean, VA 22101, (703) 734-9540.

It says something for the state of tech- there is asimilar consensus that the days nology that, after aquarter of acentury, when tube units provided superb mid- there still is no authoritative explanation range at the expense of the frequency for why so many high-end audiophiles extremes are long gone. prefer tubes. Tubes not only refuse to This brings me to the units under die, they seem to be coming back. The review: the Conrad-Johnson HV-la head number of U.S. and British firms making amp and Premier Three preamp combi- high-end tube equipment is growing nation, and Premier Four amplifier; and steadily, and an increasing number of the Audio Research SP-10 preamp and D- comparatively low-priced units are be- 160B amplifier. The amplification sets coming available. There is alarge market made by these two companies are argu- in renovated or used tube equipment— ably the state of the art in tubes. Arguably, I must confess to owning a converted because Beard, Berning, Counterpoint, McIntosh MR-71 tuner—and there are Futterman, etc. are strong rivals, and even some indications that tube manu- because some would prefer the Premier facturers are improving their reliability, One in the Conrad-Johnson line, or the although getting good tubes remains a newer Audio Research units (the D-70 problem. and D-250 amplifiers), which come with These trends have passed long be- better output transformers and adifferent yond the cult stage. While tube amplifiers regulation system. still cannot provide the high damping Regardless of "who's on first," these factors or woofer control that is possible two sets of components make afascinating with transistor amplifiers, no one still contrast; they also provide an insight into claims that they soften highs or somehow each manufacturer's design philosophy. romanticize recorded sound.' There is a Unlike many tube units, they can be used consensus among high-end magazines with most moving coil cartridges (more that the best tube units are exceptional on this in a moment), and the preamps in the areas of transient and harmonic have sufficient output to drive most am- detail, high frequency information, and plifiers. Both sets of equipment are clearly imaging and soundstage data. Further, designed as "no holds barred" equipment: the price for the Conrad-Johnson

1 For a somewhat different point of view. see "As combination approaches $7,000, the Au- We See It" in this issue. dio Research pairing reaches for $9,500.

30 Stereophile nnn

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TUBES VERSUS TRANSISTORS The end result had been that both There are striking differences be- the Conrad-Johnson and Audio Research tween the two sets of equipment. Let me combinations provide aconsistently more begin, however, with their similarities, accurate reproduction of music, voice, and focus on how both the Conrad John- and speech than any transistor unit Ihave son and Audio Research components dif- heard in my own home. This accuracy fer from most transistor equipment I shows up in several key areas, and is listen to. Let me also make the caveat that evident with avery wide range of source Ihave not had the chance to listen to the material and over along period of time. latest Threshold, Krell, and Levinson It is tempting to focus on short-term equipment in my home, and that Ican differences, and to ignore the fact that only generalize about tubes versus tran- you're looking for equipment that gets sistors—tubes versus the ultimate high- the best out of a broad collection of end transistor units will have to wait for records, tapes, CDs, and FM broadcasts, another issue. and on which you can listen for hours Ihave tested both the Conrad-John- without reminders that your equipment son and Audio Research combinations is introducing unpleasant or constantly using top quality turntables like the Gold- detectable colorations. By comparison, mund and SOTA/Sumiko Arm combina- transistor equipment always has a dis- tion, top quality cartridges, and speakers tinctly less musical sonic fingerprint than like the modified Quad ESL-63s, Thiel does tubed equipment—either in the CS3s, Spicas, and Fuselier 3.3s. Ihave form of dryness or harshness in the upper used them with Compact Discs and a octaves or adistinct loss of detail. wide range of FM Tuners. Ihave mixed The C-J and ARC sets of equipment and matched cables, including the also offer amazing realism in the mid- Straightwire, Petersen, Discrete Technol- range. This is a function of coherence ogy, Audiosource, and Monster Cable and the ability to reproduce an amazing Interlink Reference. amount of detail without hardening or

Stereophile 31 softening, the ability to reproduce ex- sion do afew of these things better, but tremely detailed low-level harmonics, and never so many in combination. the ability to provide wide dynamic range Although neither the C-J nor the ARC without effort—neither appearing to slow equipment veil or roll off the highs, many the music nor accelerating too far. audiophiles would enjoy simply to hear This superior coherence shows up the upper octaves without the fatigue or clearly on those piano and violin records irritation that comes from prolonged lis- with both mechanical and musical detail: tening to their transistor equipment. The where the music is complex and covers key subjective impact of the best tube the entire midrange; where scores are units is that the highs will reveal any rustled, bowing sounds are clearly heard, problems in the miking, but will sound the players move slightly, or there are natural with decent miking and on those extraneous sounds in the hall. To the records and tapes that actually do sound extent that illusions are ever real, both natural. the Conrad-Johnson and Audio Research The best transistor equipment tends systems seduce you into suspended be- to be surprising in the highs. Even when lief: you listen as if it were live. it does not produce long-term listening Tube units are famous for their im- fatigue, it tends to provide detail that you aging and depth, and for providing pre- literally never heard before—in aconcert cise natural placement of the musician or hall, in a studio, or standing next to a singer. Again both these sets of equipment musician. Certain aspects of the highs are outperform the best transistors I've heard. emphasized relative to others, passages Centerfill is excellent and the soundstage of music acquire unusual high frequency extends to the right and left of the speak- emphasis, a triangle will triple in size, ers when the music permits it. Depth is the cymbals change character, or the natural. Imaging height is determined by female voice acquires new sibilants. the speakers and not by the electronics. This can be fascinating—and even Hall effects are clearer and less exagger- musical—but far too often it is not natural. ated. Transistor equipment can on occa- Audiophiles raised on electronic sound

32 Stereophile may not be as impressed by the virtue of ing in detail in the upper midrange. The the natural highs heard on tube equip- Alpha-1 is also marginal, although the ment—since they may have grown up problem tends to be adrying up of the listening to nothing but transistor equip- upper octaves and alack of proper warmth ment, but the best tube units have highs and midrange balance. that do not surprise you when you come The SP-10 or Premier-Three-plus- back from listening to live music. HV-la (which are remarkably close in Ishould hasten to add, however, that price) have just enough gain so that you the best tube and transistor units have can use any moving coil cartridge with a been converging in their virtues, and that minimum of 21.1.v output. "Just enough," both the C-J and ARC sets of equipment however, means detectable hiss and noise. share two important sonic limitations. The Ihave recorded such noise and super- first is in the bass. Tube amplifiers have imposed it on the sound of much quieter less ability than transistor amplifiers to transistor units (this is a rough-cut ap- provide the mix of output impedance and proach since it is impossible to do this power that best controls aspeaker in the without adding some colorations to the deep bass. This is true simply with cone sound), and it is clear that it matters. speakers; electrostatics and most planar Ironically, one has an expanded impres- speakers also perform much better in the sion of depth or air; the unpleasant as- deep bass with those transistor amplifiers pects are atendency to mask the softest that combine high damping factor, high musical detail and harmonics, while add- power reserves, and the ability to drive ing a dry coloration in the spectrum low-impedance loads. where the noise is dominant. Worse, the Idon't mean to imply that the C-J imaging tends to alter. There is afeeling and ARC bass isn't good. It is remarkably of expanded soundstage size and detail, real in the mid and upper bass, and both but it is not natural and, although it is sets of equipment provide arealism and initially impressive, it eventually has the transient detail in the upper bass that are same irritating effect as exaggerated highs. missing from most transistor units. They The revised Conrad-Johnson head have less bloom, less tendency to em- amp offers more gain and less of this phasize afixed part of the bass spectrum, coloration than the SP-10. It is by far the and do not make the trade-off between best commercial stepup device I have tightness and dynamic power that is com- heard, although Murray Zeligman has a mon in many transistor units. The deep new tube head amp in prototype that may bass is one of the major thrills of the high well be major competition, and ARC's end, however, and here the better tran- William Z. Johnson is working on anew sistor units walk away with superior per- transistor head amp design for use with formance. They have power and control the SP-8 and SP-10. Unlike most ARC and in the deep bass; tube units do not. C-J gear, you can mix the C-J head amp The very best transistor units also with the ARC preamp and amp. Try using win out in area of noise. The Premier C-J preamps with ARC amps, or vice versa, Three prearnp alone cannot be used with and you get the worst of both sets of even moderately low-output moving coil gear, not the best. cartridges like the Accuphase, Argent Dia- The HV-la does not, however, permit mond, and Dynavectors without the noise input impedances much below 100 ohms and gain mismatch seriously coloring the without changing sound character and sound. Even a Koetsu Black is marginal diminishing performance. This presents and tends to have its highs rounded and problems, because Iam increasingly un- masked, becoming slightly dry and lack- happy about high-impedance loading as

Stereophile 33 a general solution to the moving coil separate preamp and power supply; the cartridge problem. Many of the best car- Conrad-Johnson a separate preamp and tridges must be loaded down to well head amp. The ARC equipment is amuted below 100 ohms for the best imaging as silver grey with knobs that match the well as linearity of frequency and dynamic panel, and the C-J equipment is in bur- response. Furthermore, high-impedance nished gold with gold knobs. loading often combines with tube noise Both combinations seem to balance to produce even more exaggeration of out in terms of the sonic impact of soundstage size, so that imaging detail is switches and wires. The SP-10 normally unnatural and irritating, with atendency needs to be operated in the bypass mode for the image to wander or appear in an to do its best, and even William Z. Johnson unnatural location. would probably admit that the variable Ishould also note that both the SP- loading and dual phono input switches 10 and the C-J head amp are sensitive to impose aslight sonic degradation. Iwould shock. The SP-10 is particularly sensitive also strongly advise getting the optional in that its input tube—the 6DJ8—can long umbilical cord between the SP-10 become microphonic in use, or in transit. power supply and the SP-10 preamp, and If you have noise problems, if there is using side-by-side rather than over-under more tube noise in one channel than the placement to minimize hum. You also other, or if the highs sound slightly di- need to pay exceptional attention to sembodied from the midrange on the SP- grounding; for some reason the SP-10 is 10, the chances are that changing a6DJ8 very sensitive to improper grounding, will quickly cure the problem. interconnect termination, and AC line- plug orientation. THE SP-10 VERSUS THE PREMIER The Premier Three by itself is not THREE AND HEAD AMP particularly sensitive to grounding, but Now for the comparison. Itested the C-J combination requires an inter- both anew SP-10 and one borrowed from connect between the head amp and alocal audiophile who had retubed it to preamp and is as sensitive to hum-field, his taste. The C-J HV-la and Premier Three grounding, and "AC polarity" as the SP- preamp had just been retubed, and I 10. To get proper AC polarity you need tested two variants of the head amp. to plug each piece of equipment in in- Both preamps are nicely styled and dividually to the AC so that each produces have good basic features. The Audio Re- the lowest voltage from chassis to the search SP-10, however, wins hands-down ground on the AC line, with no intercon- on ergonomics. You have switchable gain, nects plugged in to either the head amp achoice between two turntable inputs or or preamp. Mute at the phono stage, and switchable Both preamps have the precise "feel" cartridge loading. For most high-end au- of expensive equipment, and both pro- diophiles these are useful controls. The vide excellent sound. They do, however, Conrad-Johnson combination has aslight sound different in several important ways. advantage because its balance control is The Audio Research SP-10 has the flat, infinitely variable while the Audio Re- extended upper octaves of the very best search control is stepped—and yes, dam- transistor equipment, plus all the virtues mit, there are times when the ARC's of tubes; no transistor lover will feel balance switch won't "lock in" at just the slighted to own the SP-10. Its variable right place. loading also allows aquick approximate Both units are big and involve two calibration of the best loading for agiven rack-mountable boxes. The SP-10 has a cartridge.

34 Stereophile The end result is that the SP-10 tave depth information. The C-J provids almost seduces you into listening to upper more bass and lower-midrange depth midrange detail while loading acartridge information. This slightly favors the C-J for the most precise imaging. Since the for orchestral music, because more hall SP-10 is amazingly silent in its switching depth-information seems to be present functions (even in Phono and with high in the frequencies the C-J favors. gain), you may well start playing with the Let me hazard another description loading just to match an individual record. of the two units. The SP-10 is ideal in The outstanding merit of the SP-10 is in reproducing closely miked chamber mu- its top four octaves. You will hear more sic, female voice, natural jazz, and other detail in amusically natural form in these music where you might choose to sit octaves with the SP-10 than from any within 30 feet of the performers. The C- other preamp I've heard. J combination is ideal for reproducing The Conrad-Johnson Head Amp and the larger orchestra or musical combi- Premier Three, in contrast, do best in the nation, and opera. Both reproduce all three octaves above the bottom octave. music very well, but the two units tend They are strongest in the areas where to place you in different parts of the tubes traditionally are strongest. You can, concert hall. The SP-10 brings you close for example, hear the bowing sound on to the music. The C-J is twentieth row a violin more clearly than on an SP-10. center. Soundstage noises were clearer, because Another way of putting it is that the most occur in the frequency band where ARC preamp is "fast" and the C-J is the C-J does best, and the C-J combination "sweet" A pejorative way of saying the has superior imaging in terms of stability same thing is that the ARC is "hard" and and centerfill. the C-J is "rolled-off." So much for se- The units differ in depth presenta- mantics; the point is that they are audibly tion. The ARC provides more upper oc- different, and you should pay close atten-

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Stereophile tion to their characteristics in making D-250. It embodies William Z. Johnson's your choice. latest transformer and power supply de- Iwill ignore the issue of which is signs, his latest choice of capacitors and best; this is amatter of taste, and achoice resistors, and the same independent reg- you can make for yourself. They are as ulation of screens, drivers, and front end. different in sound as fine wines from the D-160s and D-160M can be converted to same district. You may find that the C-J D-160Bs for $1500. combination performs slightly better with If Conrad-Johnson and Audio Re- cartridges that have extremely fast highs search seem to represent different sonic with aslight rise, while the SP-10 benefits philosophies in preamps, their respective from a cartridge that has flat frequency sounds are converging in amplifiers. The response. Premier Four is flatter and more extended Although both units performed within the highs than my Premier One was. out fault during my listening, they require Even though the Four is cheaper and has care and sense. Shock and rough handling less power, Ifeel it is definitely the better are no-nos. Mixing tubes to try to improve amplifier. The D-160B is a much better on the designer is a recipe for trouble amplifier than the D-160A. There is far both sonically and in terms of reliability. more coherence between bass, midrange, Cautious cleaning of the tube prongs with and top. The bass is linear and well Tweek, according to the instructions that controlled, and the highs are extended come with Tweek, can be recommended. and clean without any hardness. Both Regular retubing at the manufacturer's frequency extremes blend smoothly into recommended intervals is an unfortunate the midrange, and dynamics are excellent. and expensive necessity. Both amplifiers provide exceptional transparency, imaging, dynamics, air, and THE PREMIER FOUR AND D-160B musicality. It doesn't sound precise to say AMPLIFIERS that both will consistently provide new The Premier Four is Conrad-John- levels of natural musical detail on record son's attempt to provide the same or after record, but it's true. That is why better sound than their Premier One at they are worth the extra money. You pay less cost and with less herniating size and for superior resolution in ahighly enjoy- weight. The D-160B has been heavily able form, and not for the name, the modified since the D-160A, and uses the technology, or the extra heat. same technology as the D-70, D-115, and M for the differences, the Premier

Stereophile Four again is strongest in the midrange Both have easily adjustable bias, but you and the D-160B in the highs. The differ- get rear-panel metering with the D-160, ences described above for their preamps and must use along screw driver and an again emerge, but to a much lesser de- internal LED read out with the Premier gree. If both amplifiers are given about Four. two hours to warm up (the ARC is much The GE 6550 output tubes originally more sensitive in this regard than the C- supplied with earlier units of the D-160B J), and are biased exactly as specified, the were prone to failure. ARC has solved similarities are more important than the this by going to different types of tubes, differences. but ARC tube failures can be messy and Iwill, however, give the D-160B a require circuit-board cleaning and resis- slight edge in controlling bass and in tor replacements (a one- to two-hour low-bass accuracy (although this may sim- job). The Premier Four uses EL34s which ply be a function of its greater power), have very few problems; even with the and the highs are more linear and de- 6550s on my Premier One, the tube and tailed. The Premier Four gets the edge its fuse went out, nothing else. Iwould in the midrange, and in the aspect of advise getting new tubes from ARC if you imaging that gives the best hall effects have the old GEs in your D-160; my GE and centerfill. The differences are not so blew dramatically and you won't want the great, however, that Iwould throw an- downtime and service problems. Above other 200 words at them. all, never feed a large input signal into Some minor points. The D-160B a tube ane4fier with the speakers decon- should have aheavier terminal strip with nected raised barriers for connecting speaker Even the best quality control pro- leads. Choose your lugs very carefully, cedures cannot protect you from the dress them to avoid shorts, use Tweek, problems in today's tubes or the effects and screw down hard. The same routine of power-line voltage fluctuation. Check is useful with the Premier Four, but not your power line for the required voltage; as necessary. if you run into problems, call your elec- Monster Cable Interlink intercon- trician or power company. Quite often a nects work well with the ARC gear, but transformer on your local line may be not so well with the C-J. Petersen, Straigh- malfunctioning due to age or alightning twire, Livewire, and Discrete Audio inter- strike. connects work well with both. As for You might consider the equipment speaker cable, try Powerline II, Straigh- made by Electronic Specialists Inc. (171 twire, Livewire, or the new Kimber Cable South Main Street, Box 389, Natick, Mas- to see which balances out best with your sachusetts, 01760. 1-800-225-4876). They system. The Discrete Audio cable works sell a wide range of quiet line filters, well with the ARC amps, but not with the power interrupters, and regulator trans- C-Js. formers—although they sure ain't cheap. In terms of physical layout, the D- SOLA makes some good devices, but most 160B is larger and more impressive-look- hum along with the tune in ways that ing. Both are quasi rack-mountable—you Linn would distinctly discourage. Consult need braces to support the back. The D- with C-J or ARC before buying any given 160B uses quiet fans, while the Premier device; some can shut down your system Four does not need fans. The D-160 has in ways that may not be good for its life. an LED power readout which is useful as aclipping indicator. The Four has an On SUMMING UP light. Both warn you if the rail fuses go. Icannot tell you whether my love

Stereophile 37 affair with tubes as the ne plus ultra in While tubed and solid-state compo- high end will last through the next year nents are definitely sounding more like or the next issue. Ihave recently found one another these days, Ihave yet to hear the Krell solid-state equipment to be any tubed power ampleer that has as particularly impressive, and there is one much extreme high-end energy as agood hell of aband of designers trying to make solid-state amp. Not only that, the char- tubes truly obsolete. Imust say that I acter of the high end will be dfferent The would not buy tube equipment if Ididn't amount of high end heard will depend trust my dealer, as it is more trouble- on the loudspeaker's HE characteristics, prone than solid-state and you will need but even when HE "quantity" sounds the help and support. same the tubes always seem to have a Both the Audio Research and Con- rather sweeter, more "consonant" quality rad-Johnson electronics are, however, what than the transistors. The transistor amps the high end is all about. They are part seem better able to reproduce sharp at- of that elite group of equipment which tacks. Which of these high ends is more leads the way towards filling the awkward "accurate" is open to question since there gap between live performances and re- is no way to tell what is actually inscribed produced sound, and which allows you in the grooves without listening to them, to explore nearly 100 years of recorded andyou can't listen without an ampleer, sound to its best potential. They, like be it tube or solid-state. virtually all high-end equipment, are lux- M usual, we must ultimately judge uries and not cost-effective investments. the end product—the in-the-room sound. While some of the best things in life may In other words, Iam not as prepared as be free, none of them are cost-effective. ANC to declare that either tubes or tran- AHC sistors offer more accurate musical reproduction in all, or even most, respects, Editor's Addendum: with all loudspeakers. JGH

The LATEST in 100-Watt TUBE AMPLIFIERS: BERNING EA-2100 & QUICKSILVER

There could be no better illustration of given in the Conclusion. the tube renaissance than the appearance, within a few months of each other, of two 100-watt tubed power amplifiers. As you'll see from the reviews, they have BERNING EA-2100 two distinctly different views of what such an amplifier should do. One is almost All-tube stereo power amplifier. Rated the embodiment of the "tube sound," power: 100 watts/channel. Frequency while the other almost rejects the stand- response: +0/-3 dB 20 Hz to 50 kHz, ard tube virtues in its search for an full power. Weight: 40 lbs. Price: $2995. accurate and innovative sound. The two MANUFACTURER: David Berning Com- reports were actually written without re- pany, 11007 Candlelight la., Potomac, spect to each other; comparisons are MD 20854. (301) 299-8970.

38 Stereophile Although one of the most innovative firms frequency square wave goes into what's in the audio electronics field, the David called "an inductive tank circuit." The key Berning Company seems determined to characteristic of this tank circuit is that it keep as low a profile as possible. The transfers power most efficiently at apar- company advertises little, does not ac- ticular frequency (50 kHz) and less effec- tively seek out new dealers, and seems tively at higher and lower frequencies. content to let potential customers seek it David Berning runs the oscillator circuit out, as though to say "Okay, here's my at 70 kHz at no- or low-load conditions; product, take it or leave it." Thus, even that gives him the ability to "goose" the though both Stereopbile and The Absolute power supply under high-load conditions Sound, in arare outbreak of agreement, (voltage-sensing devices on the capacitors acouple of years ago declared Berning's tell the oscillator what to do) by dropping TF-10 to be one of the best preamplifiers the oscillator frequency to 50 khz and available, most serious audiophiles are making the tank circuit run more effi- still unaware of the Berning Company's ciently. existence. Perhaps the EA-2100 will change Following the tank circuit are the that. transformer and the power supply capac- My first reaction to Berning's latest itors, just as in a standard amplifier— product was incredulity. Only somewhat except that in the EA-2100 the transformer larger than your average tubed preamp, can be very small, in this case only 2 lbs. the EA-2100 almost gave me a strained Why so small? Because the transformer back when Ifirst went to pick it up. You is running at very high frequency—the see, Iknew it was rated at 100 watts per large size of most transformers is there and, having just schlepped the identically because they're handling essentially a rated 90-lb Quicksilver out of the listening bass frequency (60 Hz). area, Iexpected to encounter as much The small size of the transformer is weight with the Berning. Instead, Ialmost actually an advantage. Because the num- lost my balance backwards. This amplifier ber of turns are low, the output imped- is light! So light, in fact, that one was ance is low and the transformer can more inclined to be dubious about its power- easily replenish the capacitors. And be- supply capabilities. After all, a proper cause it's operating at such ahigh rate of amplifier, and particularly a tubed am- speed, there's much less time for the plifier, bas to be heavy because of its capacitors to sag between "fill-ups." I'm power supply requirements. Well, that's sure that the remarkable low end of this untrue, at least when the amplifier uses amp is directly attributable to this inno- Berning's unique power supply. vative power supply design. The power supply departs from Unlike Berning's hybrid 'TF-10 standard practice as soon as the AC leaves preamp, which uses cascoded tubes and the on-off switch. In virtually all other FETs to offset each other's distortion power amps the AC goes through apower characteristics, the EA-2100 uses tubes transformer, then through arectifier and only. The outputs are General Electric possibly avoltage regulator, and thence 6LF6s—a type Ihave never before en- to the power supply capacitors (this is a countered—which look like the kind that simplified version). Not in the Berning! were used in pre-solid-state television The EA-2100 first rectifies the AC. The DC receivers for horizontal output. The other output of the rectifier is fed to a fancy tubes consist of a 6SN7 driver and two oscillator circuit which produces asquare- 12AT7s, per channel. The outputs are run wave output whose frequency can be in Class-B,' and the amplifier runs very varied from 50 to 70 kHz. This variable- Footnote bottom next page.

Stereophile 39 cool, particularly considering its output solid-state amplifier. In fact, the only capabil ity. respect in which the best high current The Berning TF-10 is one of the most solid-state amps exceed the Berning is neutral-sounding preamps available. Its through the bottom-most region (30-50 sonic earmarks hew almost dead-center Hz—and very few systems go lower), between the slight laid-back quality of where the Beming delivers somewhat transistors and the alive, up-front quality less rock-solid punchiness. This low-end of tubes. The EA-2100 is not quite so performance is even more amazing in neutral, but does succeed at being one view of the amplifier's weight, but is a of the less "tubey" tubed power amps I tribute to the lightweight power supply— have heard. it really does its job!

The most immediately noticeable Soundstage presentation is excel- things about its sound are its aliveness lent—wide and spacious—as is stereo and immediacy. Although it has little of imaging, which is specific and stable. the spurious brightness of atypical tube Extreme highs are slightly soft, as is amplifier (it does have some), the mid frequently the case with tubes, but alittle and upper ranges have a truly startling less silky-sweet than what you hear from clarity and focus, and front-to-back per- the C-J Premier One, and noticeably less spectives are superbly reproduced. The sweet than what you hear from the Paoli really surprising characteristic is at the S.O.B. For this reason, Ifound the Berning low end, where most tubed amps tend to be less comfortable sounding with the to be heavy and woolly (overly warm). electrostatics Ihad on hand, and partic- The EA-2100 has atightness and impact ularly not an appropriate match for the that sounds more like a high powered Quad ESL-63. The Acoustat 2+ 2s sounded abit hard and unrelenting, the first time I've heard that from the 2+ 2s driven by atube amp. 1Class B is typically frowned upon in audio amplifiers On the Watkins WE-1 and the Spica because of the notorious "crossover distortion" which TC-50 dynamic speakers, the enhanced occurs when the signal is transferred from the positive-amplification device, which then turns off, to the depth and aliveness gave an even greater negative-amplification device, which must immedi- feeling of live music than I'm used to ately turn on. The bad reputation comes primarily with my reference solid-state amp, the from transistor amplifiers; transistors have a very Eagle 7a. The slight apparent dulling of non-linear response characteristic as they turn on high end merely added musical sweetness and off, and sound terrible in Class B. David Beming tells me that tubes are "soft enough and fast enough" without impairing detail. On the Thiel so that whatever waveform distortion occurs because CS3 the improvement was even greater: of the Class-B operation is minimal. The benefit of that speaker's superb bass was not sig- Class Bto the owner of the amplifier is large: because nificantly compromised, the speaker's the tubes are biased at such a low voltage, they run very cool and Berning promises tube life of 10-20 slightly cool and laid-back quality was years (!), compared to the year or two typical for compensated for abit, and the high end high-powered amplifiers. LA was simply beautiful.

40 Stereophile As can be seen from the above re- conclusion is that, on the right speakers, marks, an amplifier like this is different it's one of the most gorgeous-sounding enough from the standard run that a and best tubed amplifiers Ihave heard, rethinking of one's assumptions about at a not-unreasonable price. Highly tubes and solid-state is in order. My recommended.

QUICKSILVER

Tube stereo power amplifier. Rated out- minor pain, but becomes amajor pain if put: 95 watts/channel. Frequency re- the amplifier is normally stowed in an sponse: +0/-3 dB, 16 Hz to 70 kHz, full inaccessible location, simply because the output power. Outputs: 4 and 8 ohms. thing is so hard to move! Power consumption: 300 watts. Weight: The preliminary owner's manual 95 lbs. Price: $2,495. MANUFACTURER: supplied with our sample did not inspire Quicksilver Audio, 5841 Columbus Ave., confidence. There are various and sundry Van Nuys, CA 91411. (213) 989-3329. 2 warnings about how the amp should be turned on (through two switch settings), It would appear that there are still people during what phase of its life, and in every out there who are unaware that this is case the bottom line seems to be that not the age of the transistor. Not only are following the instructions might cause tubed amplifiers not vanishing from the the output tubes to break down. This face of the earth, they are proliferating. didn't happen while we were using the Audio's equipment directory for 1977 amplifier (passing it from staffer to staffer listed three tubed power amplifiers. The for their individual comments), but it had same directory for 1984 lists over 30 of all of us alittle hesitant about turning the them, and the Quicksilver is not even thing on for fear of forgetting the warmup included! countdown. Ultimately however, our sam- This very hefty (95-lb.) stereo power ple unit proved more reliable than several amp uses 8EL34 tubes to deliver arated other tubed power amps we have tested 95 watts output per channel into 4 or 8 in recent years: nothing blew up. ohms. The unit comes with a plug-in Describing the sound of the Quick- milliammeter for setting bias, and de- silver is a little more challenging than tailed adjustment instructions are pro- usual because it comes in two incarna- vided. But as is so typical of American tions: triode and pentode. 3 Not triode or designs, this adjustment is made more pentode outputs, as one might guess, but difficult than necessary. Bias is supposed triode or pentode voltage-amplifier/driver to be periodically readjusted during the sections. The amp is now normally deliv- first 50 hours of operation, and should ered with the triode boards in it, while probably also be trimmed from time to time during the "many years" of the tubes' life. But bias adjustment requires remov- 3 See"As We See It" in this issue for adescription ing the perforated metal cage, which is a of the standard triode tube. A pentode tube inserts two additional grids: a screen grid, which steps up the amount of current change occurring with agiven 2 The model actually auditioned was the MS190, control-grid voltage change: and a suppressor grid, although the specs cover the mxi9o. aslightly later which limits electron re-radiation from the anode. version. The primary differences in the MX version This results in more gain per tube; in the Quicksilver, are larger output transformers and heavier gauge the pentode driver boards have only one amplifying wiring (10 as opposed to 16). The manufacturer stage (one amplifying tube per channel), while the assures us that the audible differences are minimal. triode boards have two. LA

Stereophile 41 the pentode boards are available on spe- but they require the use of adistortion cial order for $165 per stereo pair. At the analyzer, which Ido not own, although time Itested the amp, the pentode board Quicksilver president Mike Sanders main- was "standard," so Ispent most of my tains that the adjustments are not critical, time listening to that version of the amp. and that the boards can be used as set Sonically, the most descriptive thing up at the factory. The triode boards ef- that can be said of the Quicksilver (with fected an interesting change in the sound. its pentode boards) is that it is tube-like. The high end became noticeably sweeter It has the typical good tubed amp's alive- yet with no apparent loss of detail or ness, richness, warmth and almost-holo- "snap," the overall sound became subtly graphic depth. Inner detailing is superb warmer, and depth (perspective) in- but, for those to whom spaciousness is creased almost to the point of exaggera- the be-all and end-all, Imust report that tion. This increase in depth was a re- soundstage presentation from the Quick- markable effect, and not at all unpleasing. silver is not quite as wide as Ihave heard Not surprisingly, the Quicksilver is from some solid-state power amps—the at its best driving electrostatics, which Eagle 7a and the Threshold S/500. Bass tend to complement perfectly its own is deep and full, tending slightly towards characteristics. With Acoustat 2+ 2s for heaviness through the midbass region. LF example, the sound with the triode boards impact is good but not in the same league (which Ipreferred) was about as good

as that of the best solid-state amps, nor as I have heard from those speakers, indeed as good as the Berning 2100 or although not quite as velvety-smooth at C-J Premier One from the tube world. the top nor as tautly controlled at the Highs are rather soft but exqúisitely sweet bottom as with the Paoli S.O.B. Although and musical—comparable in quality to Ihad not had achance to try the Quick- our top-rated Premier One. silver with Quad ESL-63s by the time this Driver-board replacement is simple report was written, Iwould be willing to and straightforward. You remove four bet that this would be one of the best anchoring screws (two per board), un- driving amplifiers around for that speaker plug the original boards, plug in the system. Its power rating is almost exactly alternate boards, insert the tubes and what the 63s call for, and the Quicksilver's replace the screws. There are adjustments lush liveliness should flesh out the ESL's on each board to optimize performance, slightly dry sound with solid-state amps.

42 Stereophile Iam not nearly so enamored with the (and, by tube detractors, negative) attri- sound of the 63s with solid-state ampli- butes of good tubed components. If you fiers as are alot of other critics. like solid-state bass and tube midrange, the Berning approaches this rare amal- The Model MS190 Quicksilver has gum more closely than any other ampli- been on the market for 3/12 years, and fier we have tested. For the best "tube the manufacturer reports only 2 ampli- highs," choose between the Paoli S.O.B. fiers returned out of 85 produced; prob- and the Conrad-Johnson Premier One, ably we can assume that the MX190 will although the Quicksilver comes remark- be also very reliable. Sonically, it must ably close to the Premier One at the high be ranked at the top among tubed am- end, and at amuch lower price. plifiers, along with the Paoli S.O.B., the Of these two, the Berning is tighter C-J Premier One and Premier Four, the and more controlled at the low end and Berning EA-2100, the ARC D-160B, and is, overall, probably the more neutral- the EAR 509. (The EAR and the Paoli sounding of the two. The Quicksilver is sound rather un-tubelike in some re- warmer through the midbass and swee- spects, and should be considered on their ter-sounding at the high end, and thus own merits rather than as "tube ampli- fares better with electrostatics. The Bern- fiers.") I can heartily recommend the ing, despite its somewhat softer-than-solid- Quicksilver for use with electrostatics, state high end, really does much better but Ifeel that its suitability for dynamic than the Quicksilver with most dynamic speakers will depend very much upon speaker systems. In fact, with many dy- the individual speakers. Those which pro- namics, certain aspects of the Berning's duce good musical balance with your sound (its aliveness and depth) were average solid-state amplifier may well preferred to the sound of our current sound rather heavy and slightly dull with favorite solid-state amp, the Electron Ki- either configuration of the Quicksilver, netics Eagle 7A. although less so with the Pentode boards. This description should not serve to However, a dynamic speaker like the minimize the uniqueness of each product. Thiel CS3, with its extended high end With, electrostatics, or with a dynamic and tightly controlled bass, could do very speaker which "likes" its midbass warmth well with this amp. and soft high end, the Quicksilver's re- In short, this is avery fine amplifier markable depth presentation and otherwise lush sound could make awonderful at aprice which ayear ago Imight have music system. Likewise with the Berning: thought was steep, but which is just its combination of tight low end and average these days for a 100-watt tube remarkable aliveness will work perfectly amplifier. The choice between triode and in some systems. Both of these are superb- pentode boards increases substantially sounding amplifiers, but both have defi- your ability to make the sound of the nite "earmarks" which are going to make amp appropriate to your system. loudspeaker choice exceedingly important if one is to achieve the best sound CONCLUSIONS either is capable of. If you're going at These two amps are rather difficult things the other way around—starting to compare because they sound so dif- with the speakers, and seeking the ideal ferent. If you like "tube sound," you are amplifier for them—these two should more likely to be happy with the Quick- certainly be on your list of possibly state- silver, because it embodies more of what of-the-art amplifiers to try with those are generally conceded to be the positive speakers. JGH

Stereophile 43 And The Meaning of Life

A Progress Report by Tony Cordesman Surveying the State of the Modern High-End Tonearm: In-Depth Reports on the Syrinx, Zeta, and Alphason Tonearms; Considerations of the Sumiko "Arm" (designed by Dave Fletcher) and the Souther Tonearm; Not to Mention an Appraisal of the Golmund System.

Ihave the unfortunate feeling that it may are almost impossible to measure in any be impossible to discuss today's tonearms way agreed upon by engineers. or turntables without entering the twilight The choice of aturntable or tonearm zone. We have been so conditioned by is, therefore, always a choice between Ivor the Terriblebottom that we can only flawed systems. The issue is always one end the cult of the Linn by replacing it of choosing which mix of compromises with the cult of the SOTA, or the cult of sounds most musical with awide range the month. of records. There are so many variables We seem to be losing sight of the at work that measurements or tests are fact that no tonearm or turntable can only indicators—and often poor ones— avoid ahost of engineering compromises not ways of deciding who's on first. that must color the sound. These can be The units under review exemplify reduced, or new colorations can be traded these points. They include three very high for old, but the laws of physics ensure priced British tones arms: The Syrinx that any design will have many problems PU3, the Zeta, and the Alphason. All are in terms of resonance, vibration, static priced at the cult level: you really must and dynamic geometric effects, compati- believe in atonearm to spend $700-$1,000. bility with any given cartridge, and so on. One—the Syrinx—is not yet ready for There is good empirical evidence that cult status. In contrast, the Zeta and Al- these errors are audible, even when they phason are top contenders.

44 Stereophile THE SYRINX PU 3, AN INTERIM REPORT

Pivoting undamped tonearm with gimbal suspension. Effective mass: 13 grams. Length: 225 mm. Price: $700. Serial Number: Not applicable. Source: Reader loan. IMPORTER: Krell Industries, 1225 Connecticut Ave., • Bridgeport, CT 06607. (203) 874-3139.

The Syrinx is a $700 cult arm you may have to be occult to love. The PU3 has had teething problems even in the U.K All too frequently it's been delivered with the bearings too tight, causing considerable friction. This was true of the first This is apity PU3 Itried during atrip to London ayear because the PU3 does ago, and Martin Colloms confirmed this, have great potential. Unlike the PU2, the finding 85 mg. of friction in the lateral PU3 has agood flat cartridge mount; more plane on the unit he tested for HFNRR.' importantly, you can rotate the arm for Ihave had the opportunity to try two azimuth-adjust and and alter its extension PU3 arms, both on loan from their own- from the pivot to set overhang. This allows ers. The first was evidently an early model you to fine tune cartridge alignment with and had fatal bearing problems, recalling an ease unmatched by the other high- the Syrinx PU2—itself amajor contender end pivoting arms I've worked with. for aGolden Turkey award. Further, the tonearm tube is rigid These bearing problems in the first and vibration-free, and the effective mass sample were compounded by awired-in is around 13 grams. This makes the Syrinx interconnect which hardened the upper slightly more compatible with a wide midrange (just what your average moving range of cartridges than the Zeta, although coil needs), and by a delicate wiring not up to the standard of the Alphason. assembly that was exposed when the arm Watch these pages for an update on was loosened at its base and which could the Syrinx. Dan D'Agostino of Krell, a lead to serious electrical and mechanical perfectionist if there ever was one, is now problems if the arm was rotated too much the importer and tells me that current or raised too high. samples still have the same hard-wired The second sample had acceptable cable but have been improved in manu- bearings, but otherwise had the same facture, have eliminated the bearing prob- problems. It was agood tonearm, but the lems, and measures have been taken to bearings still weren't up to the price, and reduce the risk of strain to the tonearm the sound was degraded by ahard sound- wiring. Just as this issue goes to press I ing cable. have received one of the most recent Syrinxes (the first one obtained with Krell

115 mg. of friction laterally is considered very low, as the importer), and it shows promise. anything up to 50 mg. acceptable. Based on our experience so far it is

Stereophile 45 impossible to recommend the Syrinx PU3, personally take the risk of buying aused in spite of the promise it shows. Until or older model, and would be careful our update is published, Isuggest you about any direct imports from the U.K. call the importer (203-874-3139) to make Syrinx just doesn't seem to have the sure any unit you are offered for sale is quality control that justifies the risk of one of the newer models. Iwould not importing an arm without awarranty.

THE ZETA

Pivoting gimbal-bearing undamped tonearm with non-removable headshell. Mass of tonearm: 16 grams. Length: 225 mm. Weight of entire assembly: 20 oz. Price: $875. Source: Importer Loan. Serial Number: 8306029. IMPORTER: Reference Monitor International Inc., 6074 Corte del Cedro, Carlsbad, CA, 92008. (619) 438-1214.

The Zeta is a medium to high mass pivoting tonearm with afixed headshell and great rigidity. It is made in the U.K.— but unlike some U.K. tonearms, it is made weight adjustment. Fine tuning requires very well. The machining is lovely. The moving the assembly and using asupple- base and gimbal block are equally im- mental tracking force gauge. pressive: they are one massive machining. The bias adjustment is also uncali- This makes VTA adjustment apain, but it brated and must be set by ear. This can also minimizes coloration. Like the Su- be acutely annoying for the uninitiated, miko Arm, the parts are thermally bonded and a wrong adjustment can give the rather than glued. sound poor imaging or a hard upper The bearing design approaches the midrange (as can misassembly of the Arm in quality, and they're exceptionally counterweight parts—something that is "tight." The bearings are even guaranteed all too easy given the lack of instructions). for life, although whether this is the life The tonearm lift is well designed and of the buyer or the life of the arm is not easy to use; the arm fits securely in its specified. holder when not in use. The counterweight allows the use of The geometry checks out well, and avariety of steel inserts to vary tracking a small two-point metal protractor is weight and dynamic mass, but the coun- supplied. This will work quite well if you terweight-tonearm combination is not know how to use it. You'd better, as the suitable for either very low-weight car- manufacturer does not provide instruc- tridges like the Van den Hul Feather or tions for the arm, and the importer is very heavy cartridges like the Koetsu Lead forced to improvise. (A marvelous ex- and Audionote Ironwood. Let's say 6-12 ample of what seems to be abasic genetic grams, although you can always try other defect in British exporters). The other cartridges. There is no calibrated tracking aspects of setup are comparatively easy,

46 Stereophile however, and the arm should mount well Ishould note that my initial review to virtually any high-end turntable. sample, and others tested in British mag- The phono output is via the standard azines, have low (rather than exception- 5-pin DIN socket; the cable that comes ally low) friction. While some experts with the Zeta is even worse than that prefer very tight bearings and the accom- which comes with the Syrinx, and should panying slight friction, this trade-off sharply be replaced with aStraightwire, Livewire, affects the Zeta's ability to get optimal or Peterson interconnect to get best per- tracking from high compliance cartridges. formance. Since the tonearm is abit heavy for high The Zeta is relatively heavy, accept- compliance cartridges this is unlikely to able but not ideal for the more delicate be a big problem; in any case, the im- turntable suspensions like the Linn or porter is ready to help if you do encounter Pink Triangle. It is better suited to units problems with such a cartridge—he like the SOTA, or to most direct drive cleaned up my review sample promptly. units, which can take tonearms of rela- In any case, the Zeta will not be all tively wide-ranging weights without tech- things to all people. It is far less easy to nical problems or endless fiddling. adapt to awide range of cartridges and Several more important constraints turntables than the Alphason or the Su- are imposed. The effective mass of the miko Arm, with their better-chosen pri- Zeta is rated at about 16 grams, but seems mary mass and wide range of counter- slightly higher (this is another parameter weights. that sounds easier to measure than it is!). While Martin Colloms rates the arm as Used under proper suitable for compliances of 7-14 cu, I would suggest amore conservative 6-12, conditions, however, the with preference for the lower compli- Zeta outperforms the ances. 2 Linn Ittok and the This makes the Zeta well-suited for Helius in providing a use with medium to low compliance moving-coil cartridges having limited body smoother and more resonance or vibration. It does only mod- detailed upper erately well with cartridges like the Linn midrange... Asak and Audioquests which have very "live" bodies. It does exceptionally well, If used with the wrong cartridges— however, in coupling to most other mov- those that are low in mass, have moderate ing coil cartridges. With adecent inter- to high compliance, or have vibrating connect cable, it provides outstanding body shells—it will produce poor bass, performance from the Koetsu Black, the track badly, harden the highs, dull the Argent Diamond, the Accuphase, and imaging, and collapse the soundstage. Monster Cable Alpha. It does not, how- Used under proper conditions, however, work well with moderate to high ever, the Zeta outperforms the Linn Ittok compliance magnetic cartridges, and and the Fielius in providing asmoother seemed slightly massy for the lightweight and more detailed upper midrange, and Tal isman. rivals the Fletcher Arm and Alphason in overall sound quality. It is flatter in frequency response and dynamic perform- 2The importer would beg to differ on this point, at ance than the Souther Arm, but less least in the case of one cartridge. He also imports the Goldbug Brier and insists it sounds best, even detailed and accurate in the upper mid- with its compliance of 16 cu., in the Zeta. LA range, highs, and imaging.

Stereophile 47 If Iwere to hazard asummary de- also softens the highs, but makes it a scription of its sound under optimal con- good match for most transistor equip- ditions, Iwould describe it as slightly ment. The Zeta suits speakers with tight rolled off in the upper octave but ex- bass, and is agood match for ones with tended in the bass. There is not the extended treble and which favor adefi- significant loss of midrange information nition of "flat" that gives them consider- and detail that Ifind with many arms, able treble energy. This includes most such as all the Linns and Graces. British loudspeakers, the ThieIs, the Quad This may make the Zeta less than ESL-63s, etc. ideal for use with tube equipment that

THE ALPHASON HR-100 S

Pivoting undamped tonearm with gimbal bearings of tungsten carbide. Mass of arm: adjustable in approximately .3 gm increments from 10.1 grams to 14.0 grams. Length: 229 mm. Price: $750. Serial No. 1344. Source: Reader Loan. IMPORTER: Music and Sound Imports, 30 Snowflake Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006. (215) 357-7858 or (516) 585-4746.

Like the Zeta, the Alphason is abeautifully machined pivoting arm designed for great rigidity. The cartridge mount and tube are made out of asingle S-shaped piece proper weight under 44 of titanium, and seem deader than the the headshell to achieve Zeta and closer to the Sumiko Arm in a resonance around 10-12 Hz, this respect. there is astrong loss of upper midrange The Alphason's bearings are very air and the apparent depth of the sound- tight and yet have extremely low friction. stage is truncated. Like those on the Fletcher arm and Linn You should select the counterweight Wok, they require careful handling. Do so that its location is as close as possible not twist the arm relative to the pivot or to the pivot, while still getting the proper install acartridge when the arm is mounted tracking force and low-frequency reso- rigidly in place. nance and avoiding, where possible, use The basic design is relatively low in of abrass weight at the cartridge mount. mass (11 grams). Like the Arm, it uses a You can get advice on the best counter- variety of counterweights. Unlike the Arm, weight for your cartridge from either it uses brass headshell inserts to match your dealer or the importer. The coun- mass to cartridge weight and compliance. terweights are exchangeable free of charge, The arm comes with clear instructions or you can buy extras (130-40) if you're on how these are to be used, and proper acartridge-change buff. The importer is use is mandatory. Without the use of the Mel Schilling (215-357-7858).

48 Stereophile Ishould note, incidentally, that proper Alphason and Souther arms, not to men- low-frequency resonance in a cartridge tion the Arm. The Alphason is generally is critical to proper sound. You or your anotch closer to the Arm and the Souther dealer should check this after you install and—like them—is flat and extended the cartridge just as you should check with agreat deal of detail. It would take tracking. You can use commonly available more technical measurement than Iam test records like the Shure or Ortophon, capable of to figure out whether the adding or subtracting weight to get the Alphason or the Arm can do abetter job proper behavior. of ensuring the right cartridge resonance The Alphason is more flexible than with abroad range of cartridges. the Zeta in your choice of cartridge, and Iwould give the Arm atiny edge in should be compatible with any current terms of detail, imaging, and lower mid- cartridge. Only lovers of the old ADCs, range neutrality, but the Alphason is su- or importers of afew experimental Jap- perb in the highs and upper midrange. anese high compliance moving coil car- It is clearly more neutral in the upper tridges, need worry. midrange than the Linn Wok, but not as The Alphason uses the string-and- detailed as the Souther, although it seems weight bias system, which is calibrated in more linear in terms of frequency re- notches and needs very careful listening sponse. Nice! Very nice. for adjustment (you will probably need more bias than the instructions recom- THE ZETA AND THE ALPHASON mend). The notches on the bias adjustment are just a bit too far apart, and VERSUS THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE purists may end up cutting new notches with a jeweler's file. The cueing device The Zeta and Alphason are both works well, but the location is slightly expensive and very high quality arms. I awkward. The headshell fingerlift is poorly could live with either in my reference designed and could well have been omit- system, although Iwould probably choose ted. the Alphason because it offers greater The Alphason installs quickly and flexibility of cartridge choice and because firmly without tricks or fiddles, using the Iuse tubed electronics, which mate less same size mounting hole as aLinn Wok. well with the Zeta. The Alphason's em- Like the Zeta, Ittok, and Sumiko Arm, VTA phasis on astrong, clean upper midrange adjustment is alaborious process which and high end suits my system, but this is involves moving the tonearm pivot up no reason you should clearly rank one and down in the base. As with the Zeta, above the other. Fletcher, and Wok arms, there is no In broader terms, Iwould still rank azimuth adjustment—something as im- the Sumiko Arm as slightly in the lead as portant as VEA, and correctable in these the best pivoting arm—although this ais cases only by laborious shimming at the hard and uncertain choice. Ialso have to tonearm base. note that the Alphason is only $700 (as The cable that comes with the arm opposed to $1200 for the Arm), and it is little more than aconvenience, to use may well be more cost-effective to spend until you buy agood one. You will need the extra money on some other part of a Peterson, Livewire, or Straightwire to your system. get the sound this unit is capable of, and it is capable of very good sound indeed. The Souther arm sounds, quite frankly, I said earlier that the Zeta, used different. Its merit is extremely high res- under optimal conditions, rivals the the olution of detail over the entire record,

Stereophile 49 and its sonic character is so different that turntable. While good tonearms protect Ibelieve you really must hear it in com- you against the kind of mismatch where parison with atop pivoting arm. Iwouldn't cartridges with vibrating or resonant bod- attempt a ranking between the Souther ies color the entire system, they also are and the Alphason, Arm, and Zeta. The more revealing of nuances that will then only tonearm Iwould firmly say is su- have to be matched to your system. perior to all four is aproperly adjusted Goldmund, although I might add the TURNTABLES, CULTS, AND SYSTEM Dennesen had Ithe opportunity to try it MATCHING in my system. This brings me back to my point about making acult-object of the turntable or tonearm. Having said that the Zeta and All the above arms are Alphason are top-ranking pivoted arms good enough that the (within the limits that I have just de- synergistic match scribed), Icannot go on and tell you between a given exactly how they will compare to other top arms with other top cartridges on tonearm, cartridge, your particular system. There are simply turntable, and system is too many variables involved.

likely to be more Each cartridge seems to have its own important than the set of secrets in terms of the preferred intrinsic differences arm or turntable/arm combination. For example, cartridges with thin metal bod- between the tonearms ies are generally more sensitive to tonearm resonance interactions than those Moreover, an absolute ranking may with more solid bodies, but this assumes be unrealistic. All the above arms are good enough that the synergistic match between agiven tonearm, cartridge, turn- Look at the turntable table, and system is likely to be more system as apalette that important than the intrinsic differences you must use in between the tonearms. Ialso test such arms in a setup where the turntable is coloring the music to isolated from my speakers in aseparate your taste, and you get and well-insulated room. In many setups, a more realistic picture. system-specific acoustic breakthrough will dominate the choice of arm. you can easily match tonearm mass to a All tonearm designs produce some given turntable's type of mounting board resonances in the midrange with any and suspension—something the SOTA cartridge. In good tonearm designs, a turntable permits, but few others. category where both the Zeta and Alpha- Look at the turntable system as a son belong, this vibration is limited, as palette that you must use in coloring the illustrated by the test results obtained by music to your taste, and you get amore Martin Colloms in Hi Fi Choice and Hi Fi realistic picture. No arm you can buy will News. These tests show that the Zeta, be completely neutral. It is up to you to Alphason, and Sumiko Arm all have good balance the colorations of what you buy tonearm resonance sweeps. to make the illusion as real as you can, Further, every cartridge introduces and areviewer can only lead you part of its own colorations, as does each different the way.

50 Stereophile THE GOLDMUND—A CULT FOR and Studio turntable system are also ma- THE W ILDLY EXTRAVAGANT turing to the point where they are becoming comparatively easy to live with as well, if not to buy. The Goldmund Iam particularly cautious about mak- system has had three problems: ing absolute judgments at this time. Ihave 1. avery delicate arm design requiring spent the last two months comparing the extreme care in setup and adjustment; 2. Goldmund Studio Turntable and T-3 arm to various other arms, including the re- a lack of meaningful instruction, setup, and service data; vised Souther and the Arm, and to the 3. an importer who had to send every Oracle Delphi, SOTA, and VP! turntables. unit back to France for service. Regardless of the combination of arm, Past and prospective buyers will be turntable, and cartridge, none have happy to know that the situation is im- matched the Goldmunds when using a proving. Goldmund now has aU.S. service properly set-up medium-compliance facility at International Audio Technology, moving coil cartridge. headed by Pierre Duval. It is open from 1-5 PM on Monday-Friday and can be reached by calling (703) 777-1084. Gold- The Goldmund T-3 arm mund also has developed a number of important modifications to the T-3 arm and Studio Turntable that adapt it for voltages in different parts will simply reveal more of the U.S., solve some wiring and ground- natural musical detail ing problems, and end previous problems on virtually any good with cueing. These changes are available for T-3 owners at their dealers. record Equally important, Goldmund has developed new setup techniques, and Ihave the feeling that Harry Pearson acquired added experience with difficult and Dave Wilson of The Absolute Sound cartridges. The setup adjustments require are right: the Goldmund represents a an oscilloscope and dealer expertise, but higher order of resolution than the com- greatly reduce the need for followup petition. The Goldmund T-3 arm and adjustment and maintenance. Any Gold- Studio Turntable will simply reveal more mund owner should contact either his natural musical detail on virtually any dealer or Pierre Duval to see if modifi- good record. cations or adjustments are indicated. The Goldmund combination does More important, the T-3 arm now not call attention to sudden shifts in comes in aT-313 version. It reflects about harmonics, dynamics, transparency, air, 10 years worth of practical experience, or imaging as much as do the Zeta, Arm, and is amuch more stable and reliable Souther, Ittok, SOTA, Oracle, Linn, or VPI. design than the T-3. 3 It has a thicker It also makes the differences between mounting plate, a VTA adjustment and these arms seem less important. Using scale, refined belt drive and side drive the Goldmund as a standard, I keep circuitry, improved control unit circuitry, getting the impression that switching and better grounding. amongst these other (very good) arms and turntables involves simply trading colorations rather than lessening overall 3AHC has his old T-3 "maintained" about once every 3 weeks due to slight changes in the ability of the coloration. arm to follow the groove, which are evident in the Fortunately, the Goldmund T-3 arm sound on ahigh resolution system.

Stereophile 51 The T-3B and revised T-3 allow me volves a lot of dealer effort and not all to sharply upgrade my judgment on the are making it. cost-effectiveness of the Goldmund. This is good news for the audiophile who has CULTS FOR THE MERELY PROFLI- the money to indulge in luxury, but lacks GATE the patience to fiddle or deal with un- reliable products. They may not be the As for the best turntables for pivoting best tonearms in the world, but they are arms, Istill prefer the SOTA Sapphire to certainly the best in my experience for the Linn, Oracle, and VPI. Concerning the the medium to low compliance moving Linn Valhalla, I feel there's a risk of coil cartridges that most high-end audi- transforming a Celtic cult into a neo- ophiles prefer. They offer truly outstand- Newtonian one—and Ihave arevised VPI ing midrange and upper octave detail, that may yet create aBig-Appletonian cult. tonal neutrality, soundstage information, The Linn seems to be something of a and low-level transient information. The kit—there is no way to be sure it is bass will be dependent on the tightness properly set-up, or even that it's been of cartridge-to-tonearm mounting and mass delivered with all the latest washers, con- loading, but is also excellent and at least doms, and other liturgical rites. Moreover, the equal of the competition. the Linn's midbass and deep bass are not There is also now a "baby" Gold- competitive with the SOTA. mund system comprising the T-5 arm and At the same time, Ifeel that the SOTA Studioette turntable. The T-5 arm does Sapphire's midrange—and particularly its not maintain perfect tangency at all times upper midrange—is not materially more and is less accurate than the full straight- accurate than the Linn, and may now be line tracking or "cage" system used in not quite as good. The Sapphire has been the T-3B. The Studioette also has a less revised to use an external power supply neutral-sounding suspension than the (which should have a better plug and Studio. The lower priced combination socket!) and uses aseparate, rather than sells for $3,400 versus $4,900 for the T- bonded, rubber turntable mat. This later 3B and Studioette. Such a savings may model also has a mechanically better even be worth it; even today $1,500 can interface between the tonearm mounting buy a round or two of drinks during boards and the turntable base, and prob- intermission. ably ahost of other tweaks. Several warnings, however, concern- Iwelcome most of these changes in ing the Goldmunds. First, an improperly the Sapphire, but the mat change bothers placed T-3 can react to extraneous light me. Ihave never been all that confident because of its infrared sensor. Second, of the accuracy of the SOTA's midrange, the unit needs aregulated power supply and Ifind that the new mat softens the in areas with wild swings in AC line upper midrange. The result is euphonic, voltage; moreover, afew early T-5s were but Iam concerned that violins that I distributed that need adjustment to U.S. know to be modern—that is, slightly hard line-voltage conditions. And finally, the and piercing—suddenly become Italian dealer setup and service manuals and and antique. Neither violins nor harpsi- improved instruction books are being chords sound as accurate as on the very worked on, but are not yet finished. best Linns, although Iprefer the Sapphire Talk to your dealer to make sure that for bass and woodwinds. There also is a he has someone who has been trained slight loss of soundstage detail and im- by Goldmund in setup and will give you aging precision, and purists must now proper support. The Goldmund still in- move the mat around to get the best

52 Stereophile interface with aparticular record—a fid- R dle that seems to be the incurable price NNELSON-REED of aseparate mat! LOUDSPEAKERS This is correctable (for amere $160) by using the Goldmund mat and record weight instead of the SOTA. This cleans up the sound of strings on the SOTA without any extra hardness or brightness, although I still prefer the Goldmund Studio. Ishould note, however, that you may not hear much difference if you aren't using absolutely top grade equipment, and that the difference will be subtle even when using such equipment. SOTA also has anew record clamp of its own under development and feels this may do much the same thing at a far lower price. EXCELLENCE REALIZED Go for synergy in your own system and trust your own ears. Analogue record 15810 Blossom Hill Rd. equipment is getting better and better, Los Gatos, CA 95030 but choose culture and not cult. (408) 356-3633

THE WATKINS LOUDSPEAKER Reviewers have described its sound as being musical, convincing, realistic, detailed, accurate, listenable, and absolutely superb. It has "revived" audiophiles who were "burned out". Electrostats have been traded in on it. Manufacturers are using it to listen to their design work. It has been used by elite companies at CES. It is a dynamic loudspeaker. It is the Watkins WE-1.

Even in view of the above, we do not consider the WE-1 to be perfect. We are confident, however, that there are none better.

For complete specs, Watkins Engineering write or call: 1019 East Center St. Kingsport, TN 37660 (615) 246-3701

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Toll-Free: 1-800-327-3136 In Florida: 305-462-6700 An Interview With Tim De Paravicini by Jerry Novetsky and Dick Olsher

Tim de Paravicini is president of Esoteric Audio Research, a British inameicturer of tube amplifiers, and a world-renowned designer of tube equipment and output transformers. The opinions eeressed by Mr. De Paraiicini do not necessarily reflect those of Stereophile or its staff

Stereophile: Ithought we'd begin with afford to buy all the parts Ineeded, they a little background. Where were you had to be stripped from old radios and born? What kind of education did you televisions from scrap yards. My frustra- get to prepare you for acareer in audio? tion at the performance of those construc- De Paravicini: Iwas born in 1945 in tion projects forced me to look at their Nigeria, of all places, of British parents. design. Iended up having to try and be My father was in Nigeria at the time as a innovative, starting from square one to geologist. Iwas taken back to England at come up with my own improved design. the age of 7 for education, and there I S: How did you then become involved went on to what we call Technical College with the audio industry? and did Electrical Engineering. During DP: Istarted out working for computer my youth audio and radio had been a companies as acustomer engineer, and passion of mine as ahobby. Iwas building at the age of 21 Idecided to go to South AM radios for picking up DX stations, and Africa because Iwas fed up with the then moved on to modifying the music politics of England and thought Iwould system that my family possessed. prefer awarmer climate. And pay scales S: How did you learn about the design were supposed to be much better in of amplifiers and tuners? South Africa than in England. Icarried DP: Initially, at about the age of 13, I on for ashort spell there in the computer started constructing them from articles in industry, but I made lots of personal the hobbyist magazines. Since Icouldn't contacts with people in the audio industry

Stereophile 55 by acting as a consultant to many hi-fi DP: Yes. But some of my design was dealers and the record industry. Ialso compromised for cost. Everything in Ja- set up a small business building trans- pan is compromised on cost. formers for other companies. At that time S: Well that's true of any product. You Idid alot of consulting work for the Lux put in what you can afford to and still distributor in South Africa, and on one keep areasonable retail price. Were there of the visits of Lux's president and sales any companies that you felt were going manager we got into a discussion, and all out? they threw me an invitation to go to Japan. DP: Well, in Japan there were no other The idea appealed to me. companies that could match Lux on high- S: What was your involvement with the end products. But Technics would occa- Lux 3045 tube amplifier, which has be- sionally put out a super-expensive am- come rather alegend? plifier or loudspeaker to say, "Here is DP: Lux had aseparate department called our flagship." They would sell maybe Luxlcit which manufactured kits like the one, and people would not take it seri- Dynaco kits in the U.S. for the hobbyists ously, but it was there as a credibility of Japan who wanted to have the satisfac- identifier. tion of building their own. Luxkit was S: What kind of acceptance did the 3045 responsible for development of tube have from the company and from the products. Ilooked at all the tube ampli- public at large in Japan? fiers that Lux had made, and Isaid to the DP: It took off quite well. Lux wanted to guys, "None of them are good. Ican do develop their own output tubes. They better." wanted to perpetuate the triode because all the guys in the company still maintained that the triode was the best. They In those day 99% of were looking to make a high-powered Japanese products were triode, and in conjunction with NEC they old wines in new developed this using basically the parts from a beam-powered tetrode, reconfi- bottles gured and wired as a triode. It was packaged and dressed to look like a6550 S: What kinds of problems did you see? or aKT-88 with anice metal band at the DP: In those days, 99% of Japanese prod- bottom to make it look pretty. Luxman's ucts were old wines in new bottles. They idea was that by using your own tubes, kept the same innards and just did a you get amonopoly on the servicing of repackaging exercise. Ifelt that this was the product. Unfortunately that tube proved epitomized by the Luxkits. Nothing much to be adisaster. It wore out very fast. And was innovative. Nonetheless, Lux had al- it wasn't quite as rugged as it was expected ready agood reputation in Japan for their to be. Japanese tube-manufacturing tech- superior output transformers. nology still could not match that of Eu- So Iput together a couple of pro- rope. That is why in all Lux prearnps they totypes and said, "This is how a tube were using Telefunken 12AX7s for the amplifer should perform." Lux reviewed critical stages, rather than any of the them and okayed production on one of Japanese tubes. them—a mono amplifer because with that S: So they recognized, themselves, the kind of power, a stereo version would superiority of the German tubes. have been too heavy for practicality. DP: Right. And Lux has made some con- S: The 3045 was primarily your own ventional power amplifiers using KT-88s, design? that famous amp called the NB88. That

56 Stereophile was a mono amplifier made in the late S: Did the C1000 have tone controls? '60s. Of crude performance, but it had a DP: It had switchable tone controls that good reputation. The Japanese audio could be brought into play when needed, maniacs loved KT-88s. They loved all because at that time the market was not things obscure. yet ready to accept the "purist" approach Unlike the Westerners the Japanese on preamplifiers. Especially coming from like tubes for their appearance as well as Japan, it had to have all the usual bells their sound. and whistles. Even in America most equip- S: It was amatter of which tubes looked ment had tone controls, and lots of people best rather than which circuitry was better? Even in America most DP: That's precisely it. And that is still equipment had tone true to this day. Among other products Ideveloped controls, and lots of there were things like the C1000 preamp people still love to play unit. My design object was to build a their systems with the preamp that measured better than any bass full up and treble other on the market—anywhere in the world. And it started the so-called spec full down wars. still love to play their systems with the S: You mean we can all blame you for bass full up and treble full down. the spec wars. S: How satisfied were you with your own DP: Iconfess. Once I'd done all that, I designs at that time? started to wonder why there were still DP: I'm never satisfied with any of my differences between all the different designs. That's the whole point. You have products and tried to evaluate the signif- to go forward. If you're satisfied, you're icance of slewing distortion and the finished and you might as well close up mechanisms of feedback in amplifiers. shop and go home.

Stereophile S: It must be frustrating, though, working usual blind alley because they had just within the confines of abig corporation lifted their circuitry from early 1950s such as Luxman and having to be told textbooks. what direction you'll actually take. S: What did it sound like? DP: Iwasn't so strapped. They listened DP: It sounded tolerably acceptable; it and discussed whatever concepts were had apleasing quality. It was smooth and thought of. And they were receptive to easy to listen to, but it measured horribly. good ideas. So Ihad quite asignificant Any reviewer that measured it would have amount of influence, even though it was shot it down in flames. It needed to be never shown to me that Ihad. polished up. And so, within the confines S: Iunderstand you became dissatisfied of the mechanical layout that they had then with Luxman. What caused this? chosen Idecided to overhaul the whole DP: There was a point where either I thing, while keeping the overall sound stayed with the company in a fixed po- quality similar to what they wanted. I sition until my dying days or Iwent on wasn't going to try and sell them my to greener pastures. Because Iwas a viewpoint on the sound quality. foreigner Icouldn't move up through the hierarchy of aJapanese company. Ihad My viewpoint is that taken aJapanese wife, and we decided then to seek greener pastures. So Ithought, tubes and transistors "Where else can Igo?" Icouldn't make should sound alike. credible products from any of the small countries. South Africa, Australia, etc. are S: Which was what? not recognized exporters of high quality DP: Well, my viewpoint is that tubes and equipment. So it was America, England, transistors should sound alike. Germany, or Holland. Iended up going S: You mean tubes and transistors should back to England, and when Igot there I be capable of equal accuracy. became associated with Tangent to try DP: In essence, yes. and develop a new range of products. S: All of your work seems to have been Then Tangent got into financial difficul- done with tubes. Is that mainly because ties. Isaid, "Well, what am Igoing to do the people you became associated with now? I'm going to go it alone." were using vacuum tubes, or did you choose vacuum tubes because you felt they might have had more promise? Ifelt they had gone DP: I felt basically that tubed power down the usual blind amplifiers just have fewer problems to alley because they had be overcome. just lifted their circuitry S: What are the problems with transistors? DP: Well, feedback is one. Some of it is from early 1950s always necessary to get distortion down textbooks. to areasonable level, but transistors take less well to it. Transistors are deficient in Isuppose Ishould mention the Mi- speed, overload capability, ruggedness chaelson and Austin business. Imet Mi- and so on. chaelson and Austin through the people S: You feel that tubes are faster than at Tangent. They had designed a tube transistors? amplifier, and Ihad seen that their prod- DP: Well, they are developing transistors uct was really hopeless both sonically and that are the equal of a tube. But these technically. Ifelt they had gone down the are still very costly.

58 Stereophile S: Could you comment on T.I.M. prob- S: What about winding techniques? lems in tubes vs. transistors? DP: Iprefer to keep that proprietary. DP: In Japan Iwas doing alot of research S: How do you address problems such on the problems of slewing distortion in as phase and hysteresis distortion? amplifiers. Iwas able to detect the fact DP: Phase characteristics are basically a that the amplifiers, when fed with music matter of how you wind the coil structure, which contained alot of transients, were which is what Idon't wish to discuss. The being overloaded by them. That's tran- hysteresis is a function of how much sient intermodulation distortion. magnetizable material there is in the core, S: Why does this happen? so the larger you make that, the less DP: Because there is aslight time delay significant hysteresis will be. And the through an amplifier. The feedback that lower the frequency, the more significant should prevent the overload doesn't get hysteresis becomes. In other words, the back to the front of the amplifier until heavier the output transformer, the better after the transient has already overloaded it is likely to be. As there is no substitute it. for CC's in acar, there's no substitute for S: So it's atube's superior overload char- iron in an audio transformer. But the acteristics that make it less susceptible to expense goes up very markedly, so there T.I.M. is apractical limit. DP: That and its higher speed. The second S: Well, we're sort of getting up to the reason Ifelt tubes would be easier to present. Let's go back to the NA-1. Was work with was that transistors had to be Michaelson and Austin's TV-10 as suc- run in Class-B or Class-AB in order to cessful as the TVA-1 in terms of sales? keep them from overheating. Transistors DP: In many ways it was. The point is did not like heat, and consumers didn't that in Europe people didn't need the want large heat sinks. This meant lots of higher power, so the 40-watt/channel NA- feedback, to try and cover up the cross- 10 was more than sufficient. But for those over distortion at the point where oper- who wanted a no-holds-barred design, ation switched from one output transistor the next step was to be the M-200. M & to the other. This was not aproblem with A wanted to have a nice, big, flashy, tubes, because for home audio they had impressive-looking amplifier and that was traditionally been run Class-A. the M-200. S: What's the rated power? In other word.% the DP: Two hundred watts. That's 200 watts right across the audio band. It embodies heavier the output topology similar to the 10 but with alot transformer, the better it more output and a bigger and better is likely to be. As there output transformer. is no substitute for CC's S: This was designed in what year? DP: Around '77 or '78. in a car, there's no S: Okay. So now TVA is out of business? substitute for iron in an Then who was showing the amplifier at audio transformer. CES? Isaw it there. DP: It was Audio Access out of New S: Getting back to transformers. What's Jersey. A couple of Chinese fellows, one so unusual about your designs? of them is named Andy Liu. They appar- DP: The transformers are conventional ently had gotten an import arrangement inasmuch as Iuse copper wire in the with WA. In the meantime, WA filed for winding. bankruptcy. At least that's what Ihear. I

Stereophile 59 haven't seen word of it published, though. with an 8-ohm resistor inside that mo- S: Isee, this is an unconfirmed rumor tor—if you measure the voice coil ter- then. minal it measures 8 ohms DC.' Now if DP: Well, yes, but it's come from at least you put ascrewdriver across those two half adozen different sources. terminals, you have put an infinite damp- S: Now we're in 1978? What next? ing factor on that loudspeaker, right? DP: Ihad already designed the prototype S: Right. of the EAR 509 while Iwas consulting for DP: But that electric motor has still got 'IVA. And when Idecided to quit 'IVA, I 8 ohms in series with it to damp its was reluctant to part with the design. motion. It hasn't really got ashort circuit. S: Why? Now, if instead of the screwdriver Iput DP: Because Ihad done some unique an 8-ohm resistor across those terminals, things in it. And because Ihad for many that electric motor now sees 16 ohms in years promoted the PL509 as an output aseries, so in fact it's got half the damping tube, and Idid not wish to give the idea that it had before, which is expressed as to someone else. a DF of 2. If we lower that resistor from S: Well, the 509 in some ways does sound 8ohms to 1, for example, we now have like no other amplifier I've listened to. adamping factor of 8. That electric motor Tremendous depth. is now seeing 9ohms, which is only 10% larger than 8ohms. We're closing the gap So if you increase the towards that perfect 8-ohm resistor, so if amplifier's damping we go downwards from below 1ohm to /12 and then /14 ohm, we're getting ever factor beyond 10, the closer to that 8-ohm minimum. It just actual damping on the doesn't buy you anything, because you speaker remains for all can't get below 8. So if you increase the intents and purposes amplifier's damping factor beyond 10, the actual damping on the speaker remains unchanged for all intents and purposes unchanged. Whether you have a damping factor of DP: Well, as Isay, Ifelt that Ihad an 1000 or 100,000, the speaker really doesn't amplifier which met practically all my know the difference. criteria. I'm not saying it's the ultimate amplifier, but Iadmit that it is very good. The ideal ampleer Ifelt I had something that was good, compact, efficient. Ihad adesign that had should recover from an all the qualities of asolid-state amplifier, overload infinitely fast the ideal bases, clean lower and mid and not have any range, very tight, with lots of current capability. subsonic misbehavior. S: We're looking at adamping factor of S: Then why is it that amplifiers with very only 20, right? high damping factor usually give the DP: Yes, well, it may only appear to have tightest bass? adamping factor of 20 but that needs to DP: The reason amplifiers sound appar- be clarified. People have latched on to the idea that damping factor is the only important criterion for tight bass. 1Actually, the DC resistance of an 8-olun impedance voice coil will measure about 5ohms—but the rest Now aconventional dynamic speaker of the argument still holds if you adjust the is essentially an electric motor in series numbers. JGH

60 Stereophile ently tighter or looser is not their damp- less than 1, momentarily. From asuper- ing factor but the amount and the quality ficially high figure it disappears, then the of their feedback and their low-frequency speaker lets go and it goes back, crash! stability under dynamic conditions. The S: Okay. How did your own company get bandwidth, the frequency response, the started? way it clips, the way it recovers from DP: Iand apartner formed Esoteric Audio clipping are all problems that are really Research with what amounts to about of great concern. They are all signatures $1000. We built the first pair of 509 of the amp's sound characteristics. amplifiers, sold them, and went on from The ideal amplifier should recover there. from an overload infinitely fast and not S: Which brings us up to the present have any subsonic misbehavior. What I time. You have other products available am trying to do is to come as close to now. How would you say your design that as possible in a transformer-output philosophy is different from those of tube amplifier. That is why my amplifiers other companies in the field? may sound as if the bass is thin—simply because there isn't this overhang. Most tube amplifiers cannot deliver Most of these current. They have a rated power into companies' products one rated impedance and the minute the appear to be variations impedance deviates significantly on either on a theme, like side of that, their power output goes to pot. Idesigned the 509 so it would still Paganini's. maintain its rated power down to 3ohms. It had apeak current capacity—something DP: Ifeel that the other companies in Idon't publish in the specs but that should the tube field are tending to follow each be mentioned—of 12 amps. That is one other in their approach to circuitry and of the reasons for the exceptional tight- performance. Ihave tried to be different ness of the bass. It can keep the speaker and go off in acompletely different di- under control, and that's why acheap 10- rection. Most of these companies' prod- watt receiver will often bottom its woof- ucts appear to be variations on atheme, ers. The amplifier loses control totally, like Paganini's. Although they do have and you end up with adamping factor of better products than they had 30 years

Stereophile 61 ago, they are all evolutionary develop- tube audio. ments from earlier products; the topol- DP: That's right. Even in Japan the pace ogies and the basic principles inside them in audio design has slowed down dra- have remained the same. They only have matically in the last four or five years. small improvements in such things as There is astagnation because of the lack more generous power supplies. But they of incentive. There's not enough market- haven't dealt with the severe deficiencies place demand. Iblame a lot of this on in the designs—the behavior of bass and the audio magazines. The mighty word is overload recovery, feedback, and amyr- Gospel, and people believe what's in print iad other problems. So in other words much more readily than they believe what their designs are not all that different is verbal. But the words they print have from amplifiers made in the '50s and '60s. caused more confusion than enlighten- S: Are you implying alack of real talent ment. And they mislead. for innovation in the industry? S: You've brought up acouple of inter- DP: Sure. Most of them are probably esting words here. You said "Gospel," college dropouts or engineer dropouts and you've occasionally used the word or what have you. People who haven't "mysticism." There seems to be alot of been into audio from childhood and that sort of mystique, of things being haven't spent all their working life in the reported which are in fact just imaginary industry. A lot of them were hobbyists or hype. How have we come to this? who made their hobby into abusiness. DP: It isn't just the magazines that are S: Where are the talented people going, into hype. There's acertain well-known then? What fields do they go into? company in Scotland run by aman with DP: It's asad fact that the talented people aGermanic-sounding name. The manu- often take the money route and go into facturer has been instrumental in building the industries that pay the megabucks. up amystique behind his products which Computers, video games, etc. has given him control of the turntable market in the U.K. That turntable is no longer compared to other people's prod- Even in Japan the pace ucts, but is taken as a reference even if in audio design has it isn't the right reference. Don't misun- slowed down derstand me; it's avery good turntable, dramatically in the last but it isn't perfect. Some others are better in some respects. But Ithink what we four or five year& There need is healthy skepticism of claims by is a stagnation because manufacturers, even if you have got the of the lack of incentive. technical background necessary to challenge something right on the spot. Ithink There's not enough it's just the reasonable thing to do. But marketplace demand I for some reason audiophiles are highly blame a lot of this on susceptible to wild speculative assertions: the audio magazines. e.g., moving coils are better than moving magnets, gold contacts sound better than The mighty word is chrome, and so on. Gospel, and people S: It makes it hard for somebody with a believe it. .. truly better product to get afair hearing. DP: Well, people won't go against the S: Well, there isn't big money to be made grain. The population tends to prefer a in high-end audio. Especially high-end status quo. Human beings are conserva-

62 Stereophile tive by nature. compatibility. Any change whatsoever from S: Now digital is being touted as the the present standards on the digital disc serious alternative to the analog disc. immediately makes existing software un- DP: The only good thing that's coming usable. out of this digital syndrome in England Now in the analog record system is that people in the high-end industry one can take arecord made 50 years ago are seriously questioning the capabilities and still play it on a modern turntable of the digital disc, and there is now an and retrieve the music. It may not be of incentive for people in the reviewing the best quality, but it is retrievable. This profession to find answers as to why is important because music is such an digital is not so good. The mathematics important emotional part of a human have been around a long time to prove being. The pride of owning agood record that digital is not all that good, but un- collection can be a lifetime of records fortunately they have been buried and collected, and one can still pick up rec- are not fully understood by many people. ords that are 20-30 years old and play Suffice it to say that now there are view- them. But with a digital system all pre- points being expressed that digital has vious recordings are unplayable. And if many, many problems that are insoluble. you change one parameter of that digital S: Insoluble, no matter what the tech- system, all previous digital recordings will nology, no matter how much we work be unplayable. on these problems? DP: Yes. The problems are that we have Another point is that a to increase both the bit rate and the clock rate of the system. The other problem is 12" album is ajoy to that the system is being promoted by a look at. You buy the couple of high-powered companies: Phil- record because there's a ips and Sony. They have decreed that one doesn't need better than this level of gorgeous picture on performance, and that's it. So they're it. .. going to force people to accept the lowest common denominator. If the digital disc is going to continue in its present format, then it will only end The mathematics have up as an ideal system for the automobile, been around a long because it is asmall package that is easy to store. It is rugged enough to withstand time to prove that the temperature variations in amotor car, digital is not all that but whatever you do with adigital system goo4 but unfortunately you will not improve the technical sound quality. So you carry on with the status they have been buried quo and let the system drift downwards and are not fully to the bottom of the pile while analog understood by many continues to improve until .. . people. S: You don't see the Compact Disc player as serious competition to the LP? S: If these standards were improved and DP: Only for people who don't care about other areas advanced, would we then sound. It'll be like cassettes which have have achance for digital becoming atrue taken over more than half the market in high fidelity medium? prepackaged music. But Ithink that the DP: Yes, but the problem is now one of digital disc will supersede the cassette

Stereophile 63 very rapidly. DP: And if somebody comes along with S: But you can assemble your own cassette acompetitive product, Ishall go on to a program from other sources, like FM— 1-kilowatt tube amp. You'd have to use you can't do that with aCompact Disc. A ordinary TV tubes. But Ifeel confident lot of people Iknow buy records only to that long before tubes are out of the dub them onto cassettes. But they're not picture, Iwill have got some solid-state audiophiles. designs that will equal their sonic per- DP: But they are really an insignificant formance. percentage. Another reason the LP record S: We'll have to judge that aspiration by has always been so successful is its fast the high standards you set for the 509. I access time. Another point is that a 12" wouldn't want those transistor amplifiers album is a joy to look at. You buy the sounding any less musical. record because there's agorgeous picture DP: Neither would I. on it, and there's room for lots of text on the back. The jacket is an ideal sized format. You don't buy books that are 3"x3" to read. But the digital disc doesn't lend itself to this. There's nothing appealing in astore about aCompact Disc in its silly little bubble pack. S: What kinds of advances do you see forthcoming in audio, then—real advances—and what areas do you feel can be most improved? DP: The advances that have still got to come are predominantly at the recording end of the chain and at the loudspeaker end. Okay, the amplifier and preamplifier still have room for development, but EXTRAORDINARY loudspeakers are where there's the most PRODUCÍS room. There are still unexplored tech- Iriplanar Tonearrn, Phoenix Preamplifier, OracleacMo Power Supply , nologies open to us for converting elec- MacMod Tonearm & Interconnect trical energy into sound. I think the Ca bles, Tiptoes, Md Crossover , electrostatic planar system will see a re- MacMod Subwoofer. surgence with avengeance. EXCEPTIONAL Solid-state amps will, unfortunately, MODIFICATIONS ultimately become the norm. Tube am- QU AD amplifiers, Bettes & Spatia, plifiers have afinite period in the market, preampli, lttok, Mis sion,QQUUAD SME & fiers because tube manufacturing is drying up. Technics EPA-100 tonearms, Tubes probably have another 45 years of 63 & Rogers LS3I5 A speakers . We combine the quality of aerospact, viability, but after that it's going to be technoiogyhwit hthe sensitivity of difficult to obtain them unless one or two meticulousuest acomndcraftsmanship. a companies have enough money to start Reqplete catalog1from the Mod Squad, 542 Coast Highway 101, manufacturing them again. Leucadia CA 92024 (6191436-7666. S: Iunderstand you have a500-watter at EAR DP: That's right. The Colossus. S: 500 watts is awesome for atube amplifier!

64 Stereuphile Aoic continued from page 20

good as possible, particularly if it involves pleasure. Not only that, you probably have investment in hardware, which is nor- the money since you could afford the -2 mally upgradeable and spans the life of to begin with! It is harder to evaluate the many cartridges. The Klyne SK-2A, in my -1 to -1A upgrade, especially since I experience, sounds better than an MC haven't heard either. Isuspect you might cartridge run straight into apreamp, and do better to save some more money and better than virtually all the built-in pre- buy abrand new stepup of some kind— preamps I've heard. though if you don't buy a Klyne you'll Second, the Klyne offers the flexi- probably miss the convenience of all bility to change cartridges readily and those switches. accommodates itself to their particular One other note: Klyne Audio Ans, needs more readily than anything else though they've only been in business a I've seen. For a reviewer, this is invalu- few years, goes out of its way to make able; given the rapid rate at which new you feel that you've purchased a fine MCs are introduced and surpass the old product from acompany that really cares ones in performance, Ithink it would be about you and respects the money you've invaluable for atrue MC-lover as well. spent. The SK-2A comes packaged in deep Afew questions remain unanswered. foam, is very attractive to look at, and How does the Klyne compare to the other comes with a Lucite cover (to hide the high-end stepup devices, such as the C-J 20 DIP switches) which is itself covered HV1-a (see elsewhere in this issue), the with paper to prevent scratches in transit; Music Reference RM-4, the solid-state ste- awooden "stylus" (pointed stick) is even pup Bill Johnson of ARC is working on, supplied for moving the DIP switches the Aulos head amp from Onyx, the tube without hurting their little plastic nubs. prototype created by Murray Zeligman? I The owner's manual is thorough and don't have those units on hand and can't informative; one of Klyne's ongoing ex- answer the question—but AHC does, and penses is the procurement and testing of will address himself to ahead amp survey the latest MC cartridges for the best input in the next issue or two, after he gets the impedance and HF rolloff settings, which latest update of the Klyne SK-2A (its then is relayed to the head amp pur- regulation is being slightly improved still chasers. Nor does 'Clyne gouge you when more). Should you update your Klyne they improve their products. The update SK-2 to a-2A for $160, or your SK-1 (the mentioned above, while not cheap, is very first product made by !Clyne) to a— definitely a good deal: you get all new lA for $90? This last update does not turn circuit boards and a newly regulated the -1 into a -2A, but is a considerable power supply for your $160. 'Clyne is a improvement. The 2 to 2A conversion I company that cares about you; their head would recommend to anyone. The dif- amp is one of the best sonically and ference between the two units is substan- definitely the easiest to use. LA tial and important: it's in that portion of the frequency range which contributes to fatigue and can subtract from listening

Stereophile 65 MANUF ÁCTURERS' COMMENTS

THE ALPHASON HR-100S (b) As per the suggestion of Anthony Cordesman, Music and Sound Imports is Dear Larry: now supplying its own RW/MS-1 Coaxial Anthony Cordesman's review of the Signal Lead Tonearm Cable with the HR- Alphason HR-100S Precision Tonearm in- 100S at no additional cost in place of the dicated gratifying appreciation of this fine tonearm cable originally supplied. product. Let me add the following: Thank you for the opportunity to In designing the HR-100S, the major provide this additional information. contributing factors to rigid cartridge support were identified and quantified by Mel Schilling Computer Aided Structural and Vibra- Music and Sound Imports tional Analysis. This led to the development of the unique, patented headshell/ A clarification: AHC recommended that arm-tube configuration, which not only a deferent cable than the one originally gives amajor improvement in rigidity but supplied be used, not that the eecific also in energy control. The headshell is MS-1 be used. of aclosed "box-section" construction, as opposed to the usual open section (Su- miko) or cantilever (Wok), offering in- ZETA TONEARM creased rigidity in both bending and torsional modes with minimum mass. The Gentlemen: headshell is fabricated homogeneously Many thanks for conducting areview with the arm tube, eliminating any join of the Zeta tonearm. which would compromise rigidity and It always seems to me that all re- increase effective mass. The low effective viewers consider their sole function is to mass of the headshell allows avery thick find as many complaints, problems, or wall tube to be used for the arm-tube. faults as possible. In this advanced, com- puterised and technologically superior The material selected for the arm- space age we live in, Ihave yet to read tube/headshell is titanium which not only about a perfect product. Why can't re- has an extremely high strength/weight viewers with their obvious wealth of ratio, but is also acoustically quite dead; hands-on experience design this elusive hence any vibrations induced in the arm- perfect product? As a distributor only tube/headshell are structurally damped interested in the very best, Iwould be and rapidly decay. only too pleased to sell and promote such Two other small points: aproduct, but until then Isuppose Iwill (a) The Alphason HR-100S imported into just have to be content with the Zeta. the U.SA. by Music and Sound Imports We purposely do not specify whether is supplied with a 5-pin DIN male plug the bearings' lifetime warranty is for "the installed in the arm pillar. This enables life of the buyer" or, "the life of the arm," the purchaser to simply "plug in" any of in order to baffle those who may ever his favorite interconnect tonearm cables. stop to think about it; indeed Iwasted Imention this point as the Alphason FIR- several days endeavoring to come to a 100S is supplied hard-wired to all other sensible conclusion. The nearest Icame parts of the world. to clarification was that Ianticipate most

66 Stereophile discerning Zeta owners to happily take it would surely benefit from dissipating that with them when they depart this world, energy through a rigid substantial arm thus satisfying the lifetime warranty on instead of inevitable exciting aflimsy arm? either the owner or arm. The tonearm cable supplied with the The Zeta was not designed to be all arm gives adequate results and does not things to all people and the design criteria conceal the performance of the Zeta. were carefully chosen, including the ef- However, Iwould recommend for ulti- fective mass, to facilitate only the best mate performance, after and only after cartridges and turntables currently avail- the correct cartridge has been chosen, able. This obviously and rationally pre- that improved connecting cables be con- cludes matching the Zeta with most budget sidered. Only then can the performance items, except on atemporary basis when of the cable be truly evaluated to com- on an upgrading trail. In other words you plement the cartridge. don't put cheap oil in a Ferrari. The The most immediately noticeable chosen materials and mass have success- improvement area, when comparing fully been combined, resulting in the Zeta against other quality arms, is certainly in possessing substantially lower structural the bass which is more extended and arm resonances than any other. Subtan- "tight" due to its controlled structural tiating resonance plots are available upon resonance characteristic. This cleaning up request and were conducted by an in- of the lower octaves reduces the level of dependent body using expensive B & K intermodulation, contributing to the accelerometers. Plainly stated, arm reso- amazing clarity and articulation of mid nances drastically affect and mask the true and high frequencies the Zeta is capable performance of a cartridge, therefore of. By the many various cartridges meas- colorations will be reduced relative to ured, none displayed any "rolling off" in the reduction in resonances. the upper octaves, although they did sound less edgy, which is again afunction Our own extensive experience and of the remarkable low structural reso- that of customers, has shown that: the nances. Zeta is easy to set up including VTA As a final comment to prospective (although we like the dealer to do this), tonearm customers Ialways say, "Listen is compatible with all turntables when for yourself with open ears," as everyone's intelligently set up, is only marginally individual preconceived conception of heavier than an Ittok and therefore is not accurate sound is different. Thank you a problem on Linns, Pink Triangles, or for giving me the opportunity to reply. any others with delicate suspensions, al- John Bradford though turntables like the SOTA or Mich- Reference Monitor International ell Gyrodec do intelligently address the compatability of arm mass vs. suspension resonance and compliance with more accuracy. Stunning results have been achieved when using the Goldbug Brier Cartridge, which has adynamic compliance of 15 cu, with the Zeta; therefore we will continue to stick by our recommended range of 6-15 cu. Although Ihave not tried the Asak or Audioquest cartridges in the Zeta, logic tells me that if they have resonant bodies, then they

Stereophile 67 Simply Dynamic

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For years VPI has been world The result—a precision analog renowned for its superb turntable turntable capable of extracting all isolation base, the VPI HW-2. the information contained on your Now, after 3years of research and records—right down to the lowest engineering, VPI has introduced a frequencies. The HW-19 allows turntable based on the outstanding dynamic range response unavaila- isolation properties of the HW-2. ble with other turntables—paral- VPI went back to basics in its ap- leled only by 15 ips master tapes. proach to produce the ultimate Simple, yet dynamic—the VPI HW- turntable using dynamic 15 ¡Ps 19 has it all, and for only $665.* master tapes as areference. Listen to the unique experience VPI uses only high precision of the HW-19 and all the other VPI machined parts in its construction, quality products at your local no stampings or castings. A space- audio specialty dealer. Call 212- age, self-lubricating material is 738-3269 for his name and ad- used for both the vertical and dress, or write to VPI, P.O. Box horizontal bearings. The 12 lb. 159, Dept. UM, Ozone Park, NY platter is lathe-turned from solid 11417 aluminum and lead to achieve 'Suggested retail price. greater moments of inertia and superb non-resonant qualities. Elegantly simple. In 1971 this man introduced the first planar magnetic loudspeaker to American audiophiles. Now, with four models priced from $475 per pair and up, Magneplanarare still the ONLY full- range planar magnetic speakers on the market. With over 45,000 pairs sold, Magneplanars are recognized worldwide as an elegantly simple, cost-effective approach to accurate music reproduction. Although there have been speakers that do some things better, never has there been any that do more things right— especially for the price. And now, Jim VViney, in recognizing the performance advantage of true ribbon tweeters for esoteric g,91 audio, has developed asuperior true ribbon tweeter that interfaces synergystically with Magneplanars. As with Magneplanars, this patented* ribbon tweeter is an elegantly simple device, However, this simplicity is deceiving, for it accom- plishes all of the following: •Direct drive (no transformer) •Low mass ribbon (only 2.5 microns thick) • Bi -polar operation (no rear cavity or loading) •Response to 50 kHz •Near perfect dispersion (360 degrees to 25 kHz) •Line source (ideal interface with Magneplanars) •Affordable Currently available in the Tympani IS/ and MG ifi

III MAGNEPAN 1645 9th Street White Bear Lake, MN 55110 •Pat No 4,319,096 FOLLOW- UP SONIC DEVELOPMENTSte with a 2- We tested an early °nowt aea70b4.o3r. r warranty. It comes $325 power amp severars Volume 4, Number 8) a E proved version in issue ¡bee I NU) ring, JGH made an ber 1. The later versionro/14 yeing estPigIF:tiz F ry about the drawer- review on the basis ofiji liQ,ut CD,oldyal which seem to be reported to have mad,i-aTioor *o in fig p*tlaWover the bin-loading on distortion tests. Onki later did we find models these days. When the player is that our IM analyze q giving erratic utm_d off, the drawer can't be opened.

readings. So we acce danother sabple y sou'tin› playing your favorite CD for testing. El ill . m evening dlightning strikes nearby, This one soun } d alittle b te han taking out a ixnver-supply diode in the the second sampl an o IM CD playen The drawer is closed, with analyzer operatin rop y, rneasur your precious'disc in it. But you can't very well also. W 1 elhe 'operate the lit mot that opens and urements becaus ut gene closes . it. ibu, r, wilne without that policy; suffice it o at thelhElid disc rail the lm -er comes back from reading we got WIN i fpaired. residual distortion, a no n en ustilieLlyer off, include able from the arnplifi rat all. a note aging politely that Sonically, this I e 35-\ tt/ va1ued11is1 iere and you amp displays a h end qu4ity ltu ack or . equal in smootlanes PP that of the very best so id-state amps we B-71 have tested (t luMng 'hire la si nlit 's reporeton this -end cas- old's S/500 S sette p er,IGI Iexpre me skep- Eagle 7A!), ani inner detailing that is n ticism a uncle inhere, ccuracy of an too inferioda supe-aqâplitier elapse-time display for anon-digital me- either. In f1.117 difiErences dint& as casse elierhose doubts have s between the D-23 nd the highest-priced qtretli lis led. Going fre o solid-state amplifiers are in low-end heft end7o the u r a43-minute and solidi blegoluille lev recording, the timer consistently allowed before ov oa ts 1 ingieN zeroggir on the rt of a seisction to the D-235' g er rating. it am within. one scipnd i is ieredible! ibis is ,in fact al put out a ly o hing amount of good as the signal before the first signs of strain s accuracy with which a D locates the start in, first at the high end (where a st of aban although acassette can take a quality starts to appear) then at the bot- lot lo , to aet there. Larry Greenhill found tom. Overload is exceedingly graceful; si ilar uracy with the MO 9000 and recovery from it is surprisingly fast. tape (. k; apparently there are tech- Apart from th slight sparseness niques toovercome tape stretch,:as.) swell through the gm e the l)-23 5 is a as Lempgature-related expansi and remarkably neinral unding amp, awl..action. Eider that, or th effects none of tile usual solid-state brightnes ha much less effect than we thought. range suckout or high-end ir In s this is areal little sleeper! !IL fleas you're mi 'tw D players, n't he£ a pl froth uI itch t ear The amp is available on -fro filet e addinflal I ft 'tip,: is ft,T manufacturer, at 134 Clarewill Ave., tp CCU i., LA

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FEATURE REVIEW by J. Gordon Holt

Six CDS FROM TELARC

BEETHOVEN best, although I continue to wish they Piano Concerto No. 5 would get alittle closer to the orchestra: (The "Emperor") the perspective is always row-M, not most concertgoers' ideal location. The massed- viola sound at the beginning of the second BEETHOVEN frILA .2,1à,t> movement is simply ravishing, some of Piano Concerto No.5, iu .1., the richest, smoothest massed-string sound «Emperor. Rudolf Serkin Ihave ever heard reproduced. Unfortu- Seiji Ozawa - Boston Symphony Orchestra nately, there is the now -familiar sense of some strain and wiriness from the violin sound when the orchestra is playing full - blast. Tetare uses the Schoeps "Colette" microphones, whose string-pickup sound I have never liked as much as the old (and long-discontinued) CM-60 vacuum - tubed mike. Brass sound is excellent, instrumental balances impeccable, and the piano slightly wiry—though in the manner of awiry-sounding piano, rather than a wiry-sounding recording. There's Rudolph Serkin, Piano no scintillating percussion or floor-shak- Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa ing bass drum here to use for audio conducting. demo, but this is one of the best classical CD-80065. releases on CD to date. Ihave never been a fan of Seiji Ozawa, feeling that his interpretive approach is too often cold and detached. That is not BERLIOZ true of this performance of the "Emperor' . Symphonie Fantastique. Concerto. In fact, my only criticism is that Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel con- the performance seems at times a little ducting. too broadly romantic, where somewhat CD-80076. tighter phrasing would be in order. Ozawa I found this inexplicably unsatisfying. and Serkin have turned in one of the Maazel's tempos are faster than Kojian's most satisfying musical performances in on the Reference Recordings Fantastique Telarc's catalog, which contains a re- yet the performance seems alittle super- markable number of lackluster perform- ficial by comparison. The one on RR is ances. not the definitive performance of this The recording is also one of Telarc's work, but it carries more dramatic force

72 Stereophile to find out how this piece should be done, try to find a copy of the old DG driiph,e( - recording with Eugen Jochum (139-362). (to . It's a primitive recording, but the per- / 4111 Ottviand rirkha formance has not, in my experience, been equalled.

STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel conducting. CD-80054. than this one and in some ways is abetter Telarc's inflexible recording technique recording. The RR's brasses have more fails here. This is stark, harsh music, which weight (although no more bite), massed- is simply unsuited to the kind of distant violin sound is more natural (it's a bit perspective and cavernous hall ambience steely on the Telarc), and the bass drum delivered by Telarc's mikes. On top of on the RR is much more satisfyingly fat. that, add one of Lorin Maazel's most limp- Considering the awesome bass-drum wristed interpretations, and we come up sound Telarc has gotten in the past, the with a real turkey. Compare it, for ex- deficiency on this CD is surprising. Here ample, to Decca/London's Rite with Dorati there is more whack than thud. Cellos or Mehta, or to the one on Mobile Fidelity and basses on the Telarc are, however, with Muti. Multimiked or not, those are much better than on the Reference Re- far more convincing recordings. cording. Given the overall better sound produced by Reference Recordings and STRAVINSKY

Kojian's superior performance, this one THE RITE OF SPRING `111411 is not really a challenge. Not one of LOPIN MAAZEL Telarc's best. THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA ORFF Carrnina Burana. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Robert Shaw conducting. CD-80056.

This is ahair-raising recording, surpassing even Telarc's own high standards for sound, but the performance misses the boat. It is dramatic and exciting but entirely lacking the Rabelaisian humor intrinsic to the work. Carmina Burana is all TCHAIKOVSKY about carousing and debauchery and gen- 1812 Overture; Capriccio erally getting one helluva good time out of life, but you would never know it from Italien; Cossack Dance this straitlaced rendition. If you're curious (from Mazeppa)

Stereophile -3 Cincinnati Orchestra, Eric Kunzel con- analog version, this is still an almost ducting. ridiculous challenge to a reproducing CD-80041 system—a challenge which, if met, would prove nothing of musical worth about the This was reviewed in its analog form in system's fidelity. Volume 4, Number 5, and there is little The attention this recording has re- to add to that review except to say that ceived because of the 1812 has tended the hard-to-track cannonshots on analog to obscure the fact that the Capriccio is are absolutely lethal on CD—though not one of the best renditions of this warhorse hard to track! If your power amp is that has been recorded in recent years— capable of ripping your woofers apart, better in some respects than the one with the cannonshots will give it the oppor- Fiedler on the Crystal Clear label. The tunity to do so. Telarc's warning in the Cossack Dance, on the other hand, is a booklet (and on the album cover) should bore. be heeded. Despite the in-house presence of two 200-watt/channel power amplifiers,

Ihave yet to hear these appalling thuds Vtvaidi e* 9 oure eteons reproduced at higher than modest levels without obvious evidence of something Seiji0zawa -Boston Symphony Old Knild overloading. And if anyone can assemble Joseph silverstein asystem that will reproduce those sounds cleanly, and without attenuating their low end, Iwould not at all be surprised to hear about broken windows.

c7)19r1 Tchaikovslry WLARs1 1812 Caprictolltalien ton“ Inun Hereprta bich Kunal - Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

VIVALDI The Four Seasons Boston Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conducting. Joseph Silverstein, violin solo. CD-80070.

Iam so sated with the endless procession of Seasons over the past five years that I The recording is typical Telarc, with was considering passing this one up. all the positive and slightly negative things Fortunately Ibothered to audition this implied thereby. As usual there is that one from Telarc because it is one of the tendency towards steeliness when the nicest of the whole crop. Telarc has used whole violin section digs in, but consid- good judgment here in moving the BSO's ering the bulk of material released on strings out of Symphony Hall, whose CD to date, this is one of the best or- sound is just too warmly resonant for a chestral CDs you can buy. As with the work as light-textured as this, and into

74 Stereophile the drier, more pristine acoustical envi- can afford to put in its home-user CD ronment of Wellesley College's Houghton player, so the sound transferred to the Chapel. The sound is very good, with vinyl LP was cleaner than the sound only a trace of massed-violin shrillness, converted by the Kyocera. Any other and that is the only thing which prevents explanation begs further, unanswerable- this CD from being aDefinitive Disc. But at-this-stage of our digital knowledge, the performances are elegant, and the questions. sound more than adequate. This is our Please note: Inow play all recordings first Top-of-the-Pile CD! JGH with a db Systems Precision Phase In- verter in line. Multi-miking tends to make hash of phase coherency, and switching the phase of asingle channel will quickly tell any listener if arecording is mini- or maxi-milced. Deutsche Grammophon HOLST multi-mikes with avengeance, and tends The Planets to have ashallow midrange. This CD was separately auditioned The Berlin Philharmonic and RIAS Cham- on aSony, but the sound was even worse ber Choir, Herbert von Karajan con- than that from the Kyocera. Then, at a ducting. recent meeting of the Mid-Carolina Audio Deutsche Grammophon CD 400-028-2, Society, we heard it on the Yamaha CD- DA 2532 019. XI. The sound was slightly better than what came from the Kyocera: in essence, This justifiably well-known recording is the most obvious ringing had disap- famous because auslander von Karajan peared. "came, saw, and conquered" where the All those at the meeting could dis- natives had done no better than so-so. tinguish between the LP and the CD Well, not quite. Solti, Ormandy, Rattle, versions of The Planets, even when they and Gibson has each given us excellent couldn't explain exactly the differences performances, but here Karajan outdoes they were hearing. Afew preferred the LP himself with judicious tempi and finely sound, but most prefetred the absence of delineated balances of the orchestra's noise on the CD. choirs. The Planets is a production of the So, why does the vinyl disc of this DG team of Breest-Glotz-Hermanns. The performance sound better than the CD? recorded acoustic clearly reveals an empty Even if only marginally so? First, my basis Philharmonic Hall, save the musicians, of comparison: a Kyocera DA-01 on the and there are sounds of stringed-instru- one hand, a Win Jewel cartridge in the ment bows tapping wood surfaces and Souther linear arm on aLinn-Sondek deck other background noises that the absolute fed to the to Autos head amp (by Onyx) quiet of CDs so quickly reveal (you hear on the other. The CD and the DA both much the same noises in early staged were congested in the loud passages (4:16 stereo operas). I can recommend this to 6:12 of Mars, for example) due to recording without hesitation for the per- multi-miking, but the CD exhibits ringing formance. DG's multi-miking and con- not present on the DA in these louder gested sound strike me as a bit tragic, passages—there's a synthetic brightness though not unusual, and I'd like to hear created. Why was this absent in the DA? the CD version on a ring-free player to My guess is that Deutsche Grammophon see if it possibly comes up to the standard has abetter D-to-A converter than Kyocera of the DA. WS

Stereophile 75 OFFENBACH trigger excessive ringing in the D-to-A converters and sharp filter networks of Overtures the CD playback. Such ringing would Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Kara- have been laughable in any Williamson- jan conducting. circuited hi-fi amplifier of the fifties, but Deutsche Grammophon CD 400 044-2. it now seems to be acceptable to our (DA equivalent is 2532 006.) colleagues over at High Fidelity and Stereo Review in these permissive eighties. This CD sounds rather awful. Five over- Releases like this one should be tures and the Hoffman Barcarolle make boycotted until DG is "forced" to bring up hardly three-quarters of an hour of out good recordings—which they can do sound—considering the quality, perhaps (see below). My advice on DG is to wait Ishould be thankful for brevity. Iwon't until you've seen areview in print which call it music—the louder passages are is willing to address sound quality before congested to the extent that a 1950's you lay out your dollars for one of their transistor radio could equal our latest CDs. WS and most miraculous storage medium as exemplified here. Recorded in Philhar- BACK To BIRDLAND monic Hall, Berlin, by Guenther Breest, •Michel Glotz, and Guenter Hermanns. Freddie Hubbard, trumpet; Ashley Alex- Why does DG so often get terrible ander, double trombone; George Cables, digital sound while Philips does so well? piano; Richie Cole, alto sax; John Dentz, We can't simply blame "multi-miking," so drums; Med Flory, alto sax; Andy Simp- often suggested by reviewers as the source kins, bass. RealTime Records RT-305 of all our woes, for both DG and Philips This is good music. Freddie Hubbard was multi-mike. The point is that there are as hailed as the "new Miles Davis" in the many ways to multi-mike as there are to '70s. Davis, of course, veered toward mini-mike. One can multi-mike with an- electronic jazz/rock, but Hubbard re- ywhere from two to six basic mikes to mained true to what might be called "touch-up" or "spot" special voices within "contemporary bebop." Hubbard rarely the ensemble, much as Philips does. Or plays badly on any record and this one one can put close-up mikes on each choir, is no exception; his technique is near- and use maybe two extras well out into flawless and his conception exciting. There the auditorium to add-in the recording is a very nice trombone solo by Ashley venue's characteristic sound, much as DG Alexander in "Stella by Starlight," and usually does. Or one can place several Richie Cole on alto sax is always hard to mikes over the ensemble, one (perhaps fault. even a stereo single-point mike) per Although the record has all the trap- group—but at a reasonable rather than pings of "audiophilia" ("M&K," "Real- close-up perspective. I wander if this Time," "digital recording"), the sound is latter is not London/Decca's approach. closely miked and has a closedin feel- Each of these approaches yields adiffer- ing—the cymbals don't sound quite real, ent sound, and DG's in Berlin has been and the star, Hubbard, seems to be re- among the worst. corded at a higher level than the other It provides good sound at low levels, musicians. On the other hand, the re- but when the going gets rough phase cording is very clean and the surfaces cancellations interfere with smoothness good, something you don't always find of sound. A high overall level, combined on jazz records. with such a phase mish-mash, seems to Altogether, amixed bag. RNO

76 Stereophile The Small Yet Surprising Morel MLP-202.

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"The Robertson's sonic superiority is usually so dramatic that people don't need to spend much of their time to hear the obvious... You should listen to the amp for yourself on music and then the amp itself will become (Robertson's) most eloquent spokesman. "This power amp adds other virtues to its sonic excellence. It's surprisingly affordable ($895). Despite this and its modest 60-uatt per channel rating, this amp's tremendous current capability gives it an awesome 950 watt per channel Moxie power rating."

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THE AUDIO CHEAPSKATE'S GUIDE To BRITISH HI- FID EALERS

BY Sui TELLIG

Going to Great Britain this summer? Caught Happy shopping. Generally speak- you just in time! Here is alist of some of ing, you can save one-third to one-half the most reputable high-end dealers in on U.K. hi-fi products by buying over Britain. It's highly selective—you may there. Be careful what you decide to get, have a favorite dealer who's not on the however: products that will likely need list. service or backup support (like tonearms The good dealers in Britain tend to and esoteric speakers) may not be agood be hard to find. That's especially true in deal for you. The North American im- London, where one place you should not porters of such products will not wel- go shopping for stereo is Tottenham come your request for warranty service. Court Road. In fact, they won't do it, period.

LONDON AREA

Grahams Hi -Fi Centre, 86-88 Pentonville Road, London N1 Heinitz & Kirk, Ltd. 35 Moscow Road, Queensway, London W2 Studio 99, Ltd. 81 Fairfax Road, Swiss Cottage, London NW6 Sound Organisation, 1Cathedral Street, London Bridge, London SE1 Subjective Audio Ltd., 204 Camden High St., London NW1 Billy Vee Sound Systems, 248 Lee High Road, Lewisham, London SE13

ELSEWHERE IN BRITAIN

Russ Andrews H-Fi, 34 Northumberland St., Edinburgh r Audio Centre, 284 Glossop Road, Sheffield Audio Excellence, 134 Crwys Road, Cardiff Audio Projects, 45 Headingley Lane, Leeds y Basically Sound, School road, Bracon Ash, Norwich, Norfolk Doug Brady, Kingsway North, Warrington WA Brady, 401 Smithdown road, Liverpool Cam Audio, 110 Mill Road, Cambridge Chichester Hi -Fi, 40 Little London, Chichester, Sussex Holburn Hi -Fi, 445 Holburn Street, Aberdeen Jeffries Iii -Fi, 4Albert Parade, Green St., Eastbourne, Sussex Kernow Audio, 39 Pargolla road, Newquay, Cornwall Lintone Audio, 11 Park Lane, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear Maeto Musik, 14 The Tol, Clarketon, Glasgow

Stereophile 79 ELSEWHERE IN BRITAIN CONTINUED

Martins Electronic Center, 85 Bear Street, Norwich, Norfolk Photocraft Hi -Fi, 40, High Street, Ashford, Kent Radford Hi -Fi, 52 Gloucester Road, Bristol Radford Hi -Fi, 43 King Edward Court, Windsor Radlett Audio Consultants, 141 Watling Street, Radlett, Hens. Rayleigh Hi -Fi, 44a High Street, Rayleigh, Essex Reading Hi -Fi Center, 6 Harris Arcade, Friar Street, Reading, Berks. Sound Advice, 162 Alcester Road, Mosley, Birmingham Tonbridge Hi -Fi, 19 Quarry Hill Road, Tonbridge, Kent West Midlands Audio, 229 Ombersley Road, Worcester Westwood & Mason, 46 George Street, Oxford

THE AUDIO CHEAPSKATE TAKES ON THE ORIENT

THE HK 825 PREAMP AND HK do, but it didn't deliver the punch. It 870 POWER AMP didn't have the Threshold's price tag, either. Both amps have been superseded by new models—the S/150 Series Il and THE DENON - PREAMP PRA 1000 the HMA8500. AND POA-1 500 POWER AMP Now we have at least two Japanese amps that do deliver the punch. The Harmon/Kardon HK 870 and the Denon BY Si TELLIG POA-1500. You want current, you got it. You have a pair of Acoustat 2+ 2s that "All the Japanese amps are the same," I you can't drive with your typical Japanese remember the dealer saying afew years amp, these will drive them. Not only that, ago. "They just don't deliver the current. these amps sound good. That's why they sound like they have no gum" Neither amp redifines the state of Generally, Ithink that was true. I the art, but at their price points ($500 for remember Japanese amps like the Sanyo the Harman/Kardon, $695 for the Denon), P-55. Give them an easy load and they they don't aim to. They simply offer very sounded fine. Ask them to drive adifficult good value for the money, as do the load and they pooped out. preamps that go along with them, the Ionce had the opportunity to listen Harman/Kardon HK 825 and the Denon to a Threshold S/150 next to a Hitachi PRA-1000. HMA7500—both rated at 75 watts/chan- Yeah, but who's going to know? The nel. The amps could hardly have sounded snob audio reviewers won't pay much less alike. The Threshold delivered greater attention. And if the mass -fi mags get their clarity and was more dynamic. Bass was hands on this equipment, they'll make it tighter, firmer. It was "only" a 75-watt seem like everything else—"a worthy amp, but you got the feeling that it could contender" .. . "a winner in its price drive almost anything—and it could. The range" .. . "we could find no aspect of Hitachi, on the other hand, sounded a its performance that could be faulted." little sweeter, as MOSFE'T amps tend to And on and on, the same old crap month

80 Stereophile after month. sounded more dynamic and more de- Let's look into the Harman/Kardon tailed, although less sweet in the treble gear first. H/K, whose fortunes sagged registers. My listening partner did not rather low when they were owned by agree—preferring the sound of his Acous- Beatrice Foods afew years back, is now tat amp, but he had to admit that the one of the hotter brands around. H/K sound quality was very close. He told his can't compete with the likes of Pioneer brother-in-law to run right out and buy or Sony or Yamaha on the basis of brand the Harman/Kardon gear. recognition; if Harman/Kardon gear is to Comparing preamps, we each con- move out the door, dealers have got to cluded that the Acoustat NP is slightly sell it. superior to the Harman/Kardon—a little Now there are two ways to get deal- more dynamic, somewhat deeper and ers behind abrand: offer free trips to Las firmer in the bass, and atouch smoother. Vegas or Hawaii, or offer superior sound. However, the differences were subtle. Harman/Kardon has opted to offer su- The Acoustat preamp should sound bet- perior sound. ter—it's twice the price. Not that I'm in love with everything The HK 825 preamp features defeat- Harman/Kardon makes. Iwas somewhat able bass and treble tone controls, each disappointed with their T60 turntable with two turnover points, arather drastic (they have new turntable models on the high-cut filter for playing old and scratchy way). But everything else Ihave heard records, and abuilt-in moving coil head from H/K offers excellent value for the amp. The moving coil head amp, while money—receivers, cassette decks, and probably better than those built into most now the HK 825 preamp and HK 870 preamps, is not the greatest Ihave heard— power amp. You can safely recommend particularly with very low output moving Harman/Kardon receivers to your non- coils like the Ortofon MC100, for which audiophile friends. The HK 825 and 870 there isn't enough gain. It's fine with a are pieces of equipment that you might Dynavector Ruby, though. At $400 list for buy for yourself. the whole package, it would be hard for The first thing Inoticed is that the you to do better—for the money, that is. H/K amp can make my Quad ESL-63s play Comparisons are always suspect when loud with plenty of punch. Very interest- you no longer have one of the amplifiers ing. The Quads sounded great with jazz, on hand, but the HK 870 reminds me and even good on rock As for classical, very much of the Threshold S/150 (the I could have wished for a slightly old Threshold, that is; Ihaven't heard the sm000ther and sweeter midrange. Not Series II). The Threshold is more expen- bad, however. Not bad at all. Especially sively built, but the sound is similar: very for the price. And remember, the Quads clear, very detailed, very crisp and very are very unforgiving. dynamic, if perhaps a tad brittle. If you The Acoustat 2+2s are another like the sound of Threshold but can't speaker that's also tough to drive. So after afford it, you might listen to the Harman/ a few days, I took the 1-1/K amp and ICardon—a few dealers carry both. preamp over to afriend who owns apair, If you're buying amps by the pound, driven by an Acoustat TNP/TNT preamp/ as I recommendPd a while back, the power-amp combo. These Acoustat elec- Harman/Kardon is an excellent buy at tronics are about twice as expensive as $13.16 apound. The Denon POA-1500 is the Harman/Kardon stuff. a fine buy, too, at $14.18 a pound. The Iactually preferred the Harman/Kar- Denon, which lists for $695 (vs. $500 for don power amp to the Acoustat—it the H/K) is a 49-pound behemoth. Un-

Stereophile 81 fortunately, it's not only big, it's ugly in a cellent quality. There's a high-cut filter, way that only Japanese products can be. which takes effect above 7 khz—quite a Icannot stand looking at this amp, bit more useful than H/K's filter, which with its dreadful fake-plastic woodgrain cuts in above 6lchz. But the Denon, very side panels (the same awful fake plastic curiously, lacks two features which some with which some of Denon's turntables might consider essential: aMono switch, are clad). Inside, though, there is beauty which makes the preamp useless for all where it counts. The quality of construc- my old records; and a headphone jack tion is superb, and so is the sound. This (there isn't one on the Denon power is avery, very good amp for the money— amp either). along with the H/K 870, it may offer the Here's something else quite curious. best value on the market today. I'm still down on CD, but Iwould have H/K says that their 870 puts out 60 to say that CDs sound better with the amps of "instantaneous" current (that's a Denon combination than with any other lot). Denon says it's not going to get into equipment Ihave used—and Icredit the a"pissing contest" with I-I/K over current'— preamp even more than the power amp. it's their shtick, not Denon's. Anyway, the It may be that the Aux inputs of some Denon and the Harman/Kardon sound preamps tend to overload with the signals very much alike. from CD players. (Both the Denon preamp The Denon seems to offer just alittle and the H/K have separate CD and Aux more refinement than the H/K 870 in the inputs, by the way.) area of definition and detail—it should: Okay, which is better—the Harman/ it sells for $200 more. And like the H/K, Kardon gear or the Denon? I'm going to the Denon's got real muscle. Igot the pull aJulian Hirsch and tell you that both feeling this amp could quickly destroy combinations have merit—and I mean my Quad ESL63s if Ididn't back off. The that (not to imply, of course that Julian only thing Icould have wished for was a doesn't!). Ithink the Denon equipment little more midrange smoothness and sounds alittle better—it has slightly better sweetness—that special quality Ifind in definition. Ialso think the Denon equip- the Quad 34/405-2 combination. The Quad ment is better built. The advantage of the equipment sounds (and looks) positively Harmon/Kardon gear is that, if you're on puny by comparison with the Denon gear, atight budget, its aproduct you can buy however. with which you'll be happy for some The Denon preamp is agood per- time. The advantage of the Denon prod- former, too. Ifeel its moving coil section ucts is that you can spend abit more— is better than the Harman/Kardon's, al- still not getting into the stratospheric though there is still not enough gain for range of really high-end gear—and get avery low output cartridge like the Or- better construction and somewhat better tofon MC100U. The moving magnet sec- sound quality. Both combinations offer tion, which is separate, worked well. This excellent sound for the money. preamp revealed in full the superiority of the Shure V15-VMR over the original V15-V. I'm not thrilled with the tone controls, since there are no switchable turnover points, but the controls are of ex-

1Come on, Sam. Idoubt they actually said that. LA

82 Stereophile CONSUMER WARNING!

IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY BUT CHEAP IMITATORS ARE AN INSULT

TIFFANY CONNECTORS are considered to be the best in the world. That's why so many firms copy them and/or claim to be the real manufacturers. Some even claim that their connectors are exactly the same. In every case we have seen so far, the consumer is being mislead. The inserts they claim to be TEFLON turn out to be nylon. The Nickel-plated bodies are sometimes aluminum!! Serrated center pins or the notched teflon insert don't exist. On some, the "brass" can be crushed between your fingers. Your only assurance that you are getting the real quality and workmanship of aTIFFANY CONNECTOR, completely guaranteed, is to ask for it by name and look for the TIFFANY name printed right on the connector. And our new CC-9X Cable Connector, which takes Monster Interlink cables, is now available. For additional details and the name of your nearest dealer: US/Canada dealer sales: SOUND CONNECTIONS (813-985-7033) POB 16543 Tampa: FL 33687 OEM/Export: M. BERNS INDUSTRIES (212-869-4580) Box D. NY NY 10028

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FOR SALE

OPEN REEL TAPES from studio masters. ice $10. UNDERGROUND SOUND, 2125 Catalogue $1.00. Barclay-Crocker, 313-E Central Ave., Memphis, TN 38104. (901) Mill Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. 272-1275.

MERRILL TURNTABLE. Features: Beautiful NEW! PERFORMANCE RECORDINGS. PR- hand-crafted solid oak base. Seven layer, 4 by pianist James Boyk: Debussy, Stra- lead-lined laminated plinth. A unique and vinsky, Schoenberg, Ravel. All-Tube Ana- sophisticated, three-point Constant Res- log. ("Magnificent"—Stereophile in ref- onance Suspension System. A subchassis erence to PR-3.) Dealers nationwide or designed to absorb tonearm release en- contact Harmonia Mundt USA, FOB ergy. Tunable with arms weighing 7 oz. 64503, Los Angeles, CA 90064. Eager? to 2 lbs. Twenty-four pole synchronous (213)474-2139. motor with anti-magnetic motor pod. Two- piece high inertia aluminum platter with ACOUSTAT SCA REVISION: All vacuum aunique lead damping ring. Comes with tube/polypro signal processing, active soft vinyl dust cover. Coming soon— voltage regulation, new FR-4 PCB. Defin- optional, revolutionary, outer periphery itive/dynamic. Old amps + $1200/pair. record clamp. Price: $600. For more in- Also complete preamp revisions: CJ, AR, formation contact UNDERGROUND Maranta, Paragon, $600/ea. Write: J. Cur- SOUND, 2125 Central Ave., Memphis, 77V cio, P.O. Box 10503, State College, PA 38104. (901) 272-1275. 16805-0503.

ELECTROCOMPANIETAMPLIWIRE II, $900; MERRILL-MODIFIED AR TURNTABLES, ARC D-350B, $1800; MCP-2, $800; Pyramid $150. Includes new replacement sub- T-ls, $600. David C Shreve, 319 Concord, chassis, stainless steel spindle. UNDER- #7, El Segundo, CA 90245. (213)322- GROUND SOUND, 2125 Central Ave., 4623. Memphis, TN 38104. (901) 272-1275.

SOUND EXPERIENCE in Saint Paul, Min- OUR REFERENCE ROOM features elec- nesota. SOTA, MICHELL GYRODEC, AR, tronics by Spectral, Acoustic Electronics, SUMIKO, ZETA ORTOPHASE MC 2000, Perreaux and Tandberg; speakers by Dun- Goldbur Briar, Grado Signature, Audi- tech, Quad, KEF and Entec; turntables/ oquest, RGR, STAX, SPICA. Call (612) arms by Rega, Pink Triangle, Michell, Stad 698-8714. and Zeta; cartridges by Accuphase and Koetsu. We have 29 years' experience in MERRILL AR MODIFICATIONS. Subchas- the sales and servicing of quality audio sis Kit $75. Platter Coating $10. Replace- components. AMEX welcome. HILLCREST ment Spindle $25. Spring Kit $8. High HIGH FIDELITY, 6309 Hilla-est, Dallas, Torque motor $45. Platter Balancing Serv- Texas 75205. (214) 528-0575.

84 Stereophile connul-johnson

From a Tradition of Excellence Conrad-Johnson model PV5. $1485 Offering innovative circuitry, painstakingly implemented, and executed with highest quality component parts, the PV5 embodies the current state of art and technology in vacuum tube audio circuit design. In asystem of reference quality components, it achieves breathtaking reproduction of live musical experiences. The PV5 will be a significant refinement in virtually all audiophile systems. Circuit description and detailed technical information available on request.

/design. EVERYTHING YOU HEAR IS TRUE 1474 Pathfinder Lane McLean, Virginia 22101 703/528-8650 KW MODEL 9SPEAKERS-two pairs. Should LINN SONDEK LP-12. Just completely re- be kept together, but Iwill sell separately. built. Includes Nirvana and Valhalla mods. Flawless condition—$650.00 per pair. Fred Like new. $650. Call Sharon at (203) 744- Hafers, 1421 NE 17 Ave., Gainesville, FL 6421, 10-6 PM, M-F (EST). 32601. (904) 378-5294. GREAT BUYS, Expert help for Counter- MERRILL LEAD COATING. This process point, Conrad Johnson, Classé, PS Audio, which acts as a molecular isolation bar- Audire, Fried, Fuselier, Vandersteen, Spica, rier, is now available for application to Sota, VP!, AR (tables), Randall, Alpha 1, almost any turntable platter. Contact: UN- Signature Grados. Crosby's, 105 W DERGROUND SOUND, 2125 Central Ave., Broadway, Hobbs, NM (505) 393-3923. Memphis, TN 38104, (901) 272-1275. Evenings (505) 392-8448.

DYNACO PAS-3x and ST-70, $100 each; UNINTERRUPTED I'OUR'S TAPING—Au- Hailer pre-amp 101, $150. (209) 781- diophile C-120's. 4-$17. Sample $5. Light 5856, eves. Supply-SP, 2265 Westwood Blvd, #415, Los Angeles, CA 90064. CUSTOM MADE DB-3 ACTIVE CROSS- OVERS are available in 2-Way and 3-Way with 6, 12, 18, and 24 dB per octave WANTED slopes. For details write: DB Systems Main Street and Goddard Road, Rindge Center, TUBE TYPE AMPS BY McIntosh, New Hampshire 03461. (603) 899-5121. Marantz, Leak, Quad, Thorens TD- 124, Garrad 301, Altec 604s, 288-166 /H, Old CLASS-A-UNDERGROUND: We discount Tannoy Montor Speakers. Old Western audiophile discs, Last products, Compact Electric Equipments (tubes, amps, con- Discs. Visa and Mastercard accopted. Free soles, mixers. tweeters, horn, speakers. Catalog: 35 North Greenbush Road, West others). (213)5'6-2642 David If), POR Nyack, NY 10994. 8.32 Montemr Park. CA 91'54.

ettrizige5»reop1=- STRAIGHT FACTS ON AUDIO CABLES This paper is the first of aseries which will explain how range. cable designs can affect the performance of qual- "Skin effect" refers to the fact that high frequency ity audio systems signals are conducted more quickly and efficiently near the surface of awire or bundle of wires Audio "Capacitance and "mutual inductance" are two cables with thick bundles cause distortion because of the electrical effects which can distort musical in- J high frequencies travel slower through the center of formation in audio cables These effects are con- the bundle than they do near the surface The bene- trolled by the spacing and insulating material between positive and negative conductors Changing fits of properly controlled skin depth include cleaner transients and increased dynamic contrast. the spacing will reduce one effect while increasing STRAIGHT WIRE cables avoid distortion from skin the other; using better insulation will somewhat re- effect by arranging the positive and negative con- duce capacitance without affecting inductance ductors in the form of thin-walled "coaxial" tubes Cables cannot be designed simply for low capaci- that is, one inside the other. tance the resulting high inductance alters tonal balance and smears delicate musical information. Applied physical theory objective listening tests and STRAIGHT WIRE interconnects and speaker cables advance measurement techniques support our are designed to minimize these audible problems by belief that STRAIGHT WIRE cables reveal more music using superior insulators and optimum spacing, and introduce less coloration than any others in exist- thereby limiting the effects of both capacitance ence today. We invite you to experience the bene- and inductance to the region above the musical fits of STRAIGHT WIRE in your own music system. 43 East Ocean Blvd., Stuart, FL 33494 305-925-2470 Our pride can be your enjoy.

Excellent music reproduction. Designed for reliability. Yet affordably priced.

Series 140 Power Amplifier

B & K Components, Ltd. P 0 Box 331 Call us about it. Toll-free. Orchard Park, NY 14127 1-800-543-5252 /NY State: 1-800-235-5020 716-652-7667 Telex 466482 STEREOPHILE MAGAZINE P.O. BOX 1948 SANTA FE, NM 87501