Moon I-1 Stereo Integrated Amplifier
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EQUIPMENTREVIEW Moon i-1 Stereo Integrated Amplifier No doubt you’ve already heard that tacular-looking and completely individual ably already guessed from the low profi le of Canadian outfi t Simaudio, which manufac- products (the CD5.3 CD player and i5.3 dual- the amplifi er (75mm), Simaudio is using a fl at tures Moon equipment, released the Moon i-5 mono integrated come immediately to mind) (and very large) toroidal mains power trans- integrated amplifi er earlier this year and if you Moon seems to have been playing it safe of former, whose 26-volt rails are rectifi ed by a look at the photograph above, you could be late: obviously by intention, hence the ‘Classic discrete diode bridge before being smoothed forgiven for thinking it is of the new Moon Series’ moniker that attaches to the Moon i-1. by a pair of small 63V/10,000µF capacitors. i-5 because, to all intents and purposes, the Which is not to say that the i-1 doesn’t look The Moon i-1’s front panel is notable for two integrated amplifi ers are externally iden- the part, because it’s superbly fi nished, ooz- having, in addition to the usual source se- tical. Indeed so far as I can see—and I stand ing class from every pore of its incredibly solid lectors (CD, DVD, Tuner, Video and Aux), a to be corrected—the only difference between chassis. (Moon says it specifi cally addressed special ‘MP’ selector, which selects the 3mm the two (other than price, with the i.5 being the issue of chassis rigidity with the i-1, so as ‘MP in’ socket located at the far right of the the less expensive of the two, and thus the to minimise the effects of external vibrations.) front panel, alongside the 6.5mm headphone company’s new ‘entry-level’ amplifi er) is that Despite the relatively modest size of the i-1 socket. I had to resort to opening the instruc- the i-1 is rated at 50-watts per channel into chassis (430×75 ×325mm WHD), the amplifi er tion manual to discover that ‘MP’ stood for 8Ω and the i-5 is rated at 40-watts per channel dissipates heat so effectively that it runs cooler ‘Media Player’, even though I’d guessed its in- into 8Ω. than most other similarly-powered amplifi ers, tended application right at the outset. I’d like which Simaudio claims will result in ‘a longer to hope that Simaudio is at least a tad embar- The Equipment than normal life expectancy’. Indeed it runs so rassed about encouraging Moon owners to use For a company that manufactures some spec- cool that it’s designed to be powered-up con- a portable audio player as a music source, but tinually, so it’s able to deliver optimum perfor- I won’t hold my breath. (And yes, I do know mance the instant you want to start listening. that modern ‘Media Players’ can store high- One reason Simaudio’s been able to shoehorn resolution digital audio fi les, but the plain all this into such a small package is that it’s truth is that most people still store low bit-rate done away with the usual internal (and ex- MP3 fi les on their portables, and I think help- ternal) heatsinks. Instead, the two pairs of ing facilitate the use of such low-res audio fi les perforated emitter bipolar output devices on high-end hi-fi components is a travesty… est Labs T (MJL21193/21194) are directly attached to the but perhaps that’s just me.) t chassis itself. As you can see, there’s plenty of If you have been paying attention and com- wpor ventilation supplied, but despite this, Simau- paring the number of buttons I have so far men- Ne dio is playing it safe (beginning to notice a tioned with the number visible on the front trend here?) by specifi cally stating that you panel, I should tell you that the two I haven’t should never place another component direct- mentioned are for ‘Mute’ and ‘Speaker On/Off.’ ly on top of it. Also, because there are venti- (And that what looks like a button at the far Power Output: Single channel driven into 8-ohm, 4-ohm and 2-ohm non-inductive lation slots on the bottom, it should always left of the row is actually a cunningly disguised loads at 20Hz, 1kHz and 20kHz. [Mi-1] be placed on a hard surface. As you’ve prob- infra-red receiver, for picking up IR commands 50 | Australian Hi-Fi 50-56Mooni1 HFSep09.indd 50 3/09/2009 9:08:02 AM “Gone are the days when smaller specialist manufacturers such as Simaudio could afford to include uniquely designed hand-made remote controls with their products.” from the supplied remote.) The ‘Speakers Off’ the visual balance is perfect. button is, literally, that, because the Moon i-1 I trialled the Moon i-1 with quite a few has only a single set of (fairly ordinary, it must different pairs of loudspeakers, ranging from be said) multi-way loudspeaker terminals. a pair of Wilson Sophia 2s to a tiny pair of The rear panel of the Moon i-1 has, in ad- Paradigm Reference Studio 10v5s. The Moon dition to the essential gold-plated RCA input acquitted itself perfectly with all of them, but sockets, a set of gold-plated pre-out RCA ter- if I were to make a general overall recommen- minals. There are also ‘SimLink’ inputs and dation about speaker selection, it would be to outputs (to allow system integration when prefer fairly effi cient loudspeakers, preferably using other SimAudio products), and a bi-di- rated at more than 87dBSPL, because while rectional RS232 socket for custom home in- the i-1 proved suffi ciently powerful to drive tegration. Simaudio provides a standard IEC all the speakers I trialled to sound pressure three-pin mains power socket, with integral levels that would most assuredly be ‘deafen- mains power switch, so if you do want to be ing’, there was more of a sense of ‘ease’ when able to switch the i-1 completely off, you’ll using high-effi ciency speakers at high volume have to ensure you can always reach around than when I was using low-effi ciency speak- the back! ers. If you play at normal listening levels—or Gone are the days when smaller specialist even higher than normal!—you can ignore manufacturers such as Simaudio could afford this advice, because when I say ‘deafening’ I to include uniquely designed hand-made re- mean deafening! mote controls with their products. The result Fortunately, the most desirable traits of the is that the i-1 is supplied with a typical ‘plas- Moon i-1 reveal themselves at much, much tic’ remote control. Not having the world’s lower levels, as I discovered whilst re-discov- best eye-sight, I found the indistinct dull grey ering a CD that had slipped itself down the lettering quite hard to read, particularly since back of my CD library shelf, titled Musica it was on a dark background. Although the Antiqua, by Ensemble La Reverdie. I’d be the muting logic on the remote control is correct fi rst to admit that the music on it might not be (that is, the muting circuit disengages when- for everyone, as it consists entirely of a songs ever you access the volume buttons), the same and ballads from the middle ages, but they’re isn’t true if you use the front-panel volume actually all quite catchy tunes (they had to est Labs T control, in which case the muting circuit will have been, to have survived so long!) and the t keep the amplifi er muted no matter whether sounds on the disc are glorious, whether it’s wpor you turn the volume up or down. the vocals of the four sisters who comprise Ne the Ensemble La Reverdie to the sounds of the Listening Sessions rarely-heard instruments they play, which in- Power Output: Both channels driven into ‘Safe’ though the look of the Moon i-1 may clude the gothic harp, rebec, bodran and tim- 8-ohm, 4-ohm and 2-ohm non-inductive be, there’s no denying it looks good. On its brel as well as the ‘classics’ such as the recorder loads at 20Hz, 1kHz and 20kHz. [Mi-1] own, it could be a little on the narrow side for (C descant, G treble and C tenor), tabor, lute some, but once you’ve paired it with the cos- and ‘fi ddle.’ The recording (Giulia GS201007), metically identical Moon CD-1, for example, which is in a natural but not too reverberant Moon i-1 Stereo Integrated Amplifi er • Build quality Brand: Moon • MP input Model: i-1 Category: Integrated Amplifi er RRP: $2,500 Warranty: Two Years Distributor: Valhalla Audio Pty Ltd Address: PO Box 403 • Plastic remote Pymble, NSW 2073 • Muting logic T: (02) 9983 1828 F: (02) 9983 0394 E: [email protected] W: www.valhallaaudio.com.au Australian Hi-Fi | 51 50-56Mooni1 HFSep09.indd 51 3/09/2009 9:08:15 AM EQUIPMENT REVIEW Moon i-1 Stereo Integrated Amplifi er LAB Readers interested in a full techni- cal appraisal of the performance of the Moon i-1 Integrated Amplifi er should continue on and read the LABORATORY REPORT published on the following pages 76 & 78. Read- ers should note that the results mentioned in the report, tabulated in performance charts and/or displayed using graphs and/or photographs should be construed as applying only to the specifi c sample tested.