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- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 00:00
- Written by Uday Reddy
If you’re like me, you discover new music through a variety of sources. However, despite the increasing popularity of outlets such as Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube, my main source for new music remains the radio -- FM broadcasts listened to in the car or at home, Internet streams at home and at work -- and I suspect that’s still true for most people. While FM remains limited by the tuner’s proximity to the station, the beauty of Internet streaming is that you can tune into distant stations from all over the world, and also listen to Internet-only broadcasts. While the bit rates (as low as 32kbps) of most stations leave much to be desired, higher-quality streams up to 384kbps are available, and the sound can be reasonably good. More important, Internet Radio exposes you to all sorts of formats and genres.
Although I’d originally purchased my Logitech Transporter in late 2008 as a streaming network music player and DAC ($1999 USD, when last available), I’d largely relegated it to Internet Radio streaming, and continued to use my Wadia 830 CD player as my primary music source for the next two years, due to my preference for the Wadia’s sound. Although the Transporter did later supplant the Wadia, it has since been superseded by my Meitner MA-1 DAC; the Transporter’s primary function is once again that of a tuner. But while the Logitech may no longer be my top-dog digital source, I still love it for its ease of use.
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- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created on Wednesday, 01 May 2013 00:00
- Written by S. Andrea Sundaram
In 2008, when I reviewed Thiel Audio’s SCS4 two-way minimonitor, they also sent along their SS1 subwoofer. While I’d heard 2.1-channel speaker systems before, that was the first time I’d integrated a subwoofer into my own two-channel system. Thanks to an external crossover dedicated to work with the SCS4 main speakers, and adjustment knobs on the sub calibrated in meters, to correspond with the sub’s distance from room boundaries, setup was a breeze. The sonic results were entirely positive, and I decided that I would further experiment with adding a sub to my usual stereo setup sometime in the future. That has taken me longer than anticipated, but I finally got the opportunity.
Many companies produce subwoofers, most of them designed to be part of home-theater systems. REL is different. From the firm’s beginning, in 1990, their subs have been intended, first and foremost, for music. An important part of REL’s philosophy is that the subwoofer should receive exactly the same signal as the main speakers. To that end, they strongly recommend using the sub’s high-level input, which connects to your amplifier’s speaker-level outputs. (Many other manufacturers now omit a high-level input, making their subs impossible to use in some stereo setups.) REL also stays away from digital room correction, relying instead on careful placement of the sub in the room. This, too, runs counter to the practice of most of their high-end competitors, and might be thought unsophisticated by some buyers. On the other hand, if you assume that the purpose of a subwoofer is to fill in the frequencies below those reproduced by the main speakers, instead of compensating for their interactions with the room, it will be playing below the frequency of the strongest room modes, unless the room is very large or the main speakers are very small.
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- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created on Monday, 15 April 2013 00:00
- Written by Doug Schneider
Note: Measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
When I turned 30, I thought I was getting old, but everyone kept telling me, “Oh, you’re still young.” They were right -- no one at that age is really old. When I turned 40, fewer people told me I was still young, which made me wonder. Now, as I approach 50, no one’s telling me I’m young, not even my mom; instead, it’s more like, “Really? You’re that old?” If that’s not a hint that I’m no longer improving with age, nothing is.
Unlike me, KEF actually does appear to be improving with age, even as they pass the half-century mark. The British company was founded in 1961 by the late Raymond Cooke to “pioneer the use of synthetic materials in creating superior loudspeakers.” The high-tech mentality with which, under Cooke’s leadership, KEF began has stayed with them through five decades as they released speaker after speaker that pushed the envelopes of technology and design -- even after Cooke’s death in 1995.
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- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created on Wednesday, 01 May 2013 00:00
- Written by Doug Schneider
The JE Audio VL10.1 preamplifier, which I wrote about in May 2011, was one of the most impressive and surprising products I’ve reviewed in years. What impressed me was the sound: natural, detailed, smooth, and transparent -- a real high-flyer. What surprised me was that it was a tubed design, had a few operational quirks, and is made by a Hong Kong company I’d barely heard of. The odds didn’t seem in the VL10.1’s favor, yet it won my audiophile heart.
Now comes JE’s VM60 mono amp, which sells for $6400 USD per pair. Price-wise, and taking into account the rest of the products in JE’s line, the VM60 can be considered the VL10.1’s companion. But is it as impressive -- and as surprising?
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- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created on Monday, 01 April 2013 00:00
- Written by Philip Beaudette
Note: Measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
Ported cabinets, bigger cabinets, bigger woofers, more woofers, passive radiators, transmission lines -- all are methods that can be used, singly or in combination, to increase a speaker’s low-end output. Floorstanding speakers have an inherent advantage in reproducing deep bass because they have larger cabinets, and often multiple drivers to move a greater volume of air. Smaller, bookshelf speakers are at a disadvantage in this regard.
American speaker company Atlantic Technology claims to have found a solution to what they describe as the “Iron Law” of bookshelf speakers: that deep bass, good sensitivity, and small cabinet size are mutually exclusive. Their AT-2 bookshelf model employs several design features, most notably Atlantic’s Hybrid Pressure Acceleration System (H-PAS), intended to produce powerful low end from a fairly small enclosure. Like most audiophiles, I prefer speakers that can generate realistic bass; I was curious to hear what the AT-2 could do.
