March 2012
“A confession: I’ve always preferred full-range speakers,” writes Peter D’Amario in his review of the Vienna Acoustics Haydn. He explores the realities of real-sizing with these small monitor louspeakers, and concludes: “Buy some stands, ensure that you have adequate amplification, and you will find that these are speakers with which you can live happily ever after.”
“The last two pairs of speakers that I reviewed are tube-friendly designs. So tube-friendly, in fact, that their designers would go so far as to suggest that it be preferable to drive their speakers with just one, solitary tube per speaker.” Thad Aerts goes in search of more “oomph” than SET, and discovers the Eastern Electric M88 integrated amplifier.
“I was first intrigued with this album because of its cover, images of an abandoned sci-fi pod-style housing project in northern San-Zhr,” writes Walker Burns of M. Ostermeier’s most recent album. “It sounds as if one is exploring the environs of what is depicted on the album’s cover… this is music-on-the-edges of consciousness or the fringe of a dream.”
Patrick Dillon explores the concept of doing a complete system rewire with cables from a single manufacturer. “The theory, if we may call it such, is that the true benefit of cable changes are found when one employs the same manufacturer’s cables for the complete rig rather than cherry picking different cables for different components.” The results? Read on…
“My relationship with headphones and associated equipment has been pretty hit-and-miss over the years. Headphone listening has always been a definite second choice…” John Reekie goes in search of a more enjoyable listening experience with headphones, and settles on the little-known USB-powered Fostex HP-A3 DAC and headphone amplifier.
John Reekie measures the effect of dipole subwoofer placement with respect to listener and wall distance. While he had earlier obtained good results with nearby placement of a diple subwoofer, he asks “Can these results be generalized into a recommendation for others to try?” This series of measurements suggests that they can.
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