Innehållsförteckning för Jan-13 från Stereophile

To say that a digital source “sounds like analog” has always struck me as coming up short. The notion that one format sounds like another is not really sensible or even ideal. While I love listening to LPs, there are some physical attributes of vinyl that, ideally, you don’t want to reproduce. You know what I’m talking about because, every chance they get, LP haters remind us about pops, ticks, skips, surface noise, inner-groove distortion, etc. So when we say that a digital source sounds like analog, what we’re really saying is that it doesn’t sound like digital. What does it mean to sound not digital? I remember my early experiences with CDs, and of being nearly uncontrollably excited at their tremendous prospects: 60+ minutes of music, none of vinyl’s…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@vcable.us. Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless this is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA • Sunday, January 27, 2–5pm: The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting at Definition Audio Video (2934 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica). There will be a presentation on the latest in digital server technology, and Jeff Joseph of Joseph Audio will discuss his loudspeakers. A raffle is planned and lunch will be served. Guests, visitors, and new members are invited, and parking is free.…

By the end of last month’s column I’d invested a total of $290 in acquiring and refurbishing a 55-year-old Rek-O-Kut Rondine Jr. turntable. In the weeks that followed I spent just a few dollars more on some small parts—one of which sprang from a technology that I don’t believe existed in the 1950s—that made small but welcome improvements in the performance of this outwardly simple player. I’ll come back to those improvements in a moment, but for now let’s get started on putting Junior back together again. As you know from the last installment, it was surprisingly easy to find replacements for the Rondine’s rubber isolation grommets, which had cracked and crumbled with age; would that it were so easy to install the new ones. As anyone who’s ever tried…

IN a discussion about what their music is—and is not—Dave King, drummer for the Bad Plus, remembers opening a show for free-jazz patriarch Ornette Coleman at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. After their set, the band joined the audience to watch Coleman. “After the first couple tunes—and this was in a seated theater—I swear, half the audience had left. Fifty years into your career, and he’s still making people want to check it out and then decide if they can take it. And that’s every night, I bet. “We played the Mercury Lounge [in New York City] recently, and it was packed. There were a lot of people in there who were just going to a Lower East Side rock club. If we can be a gateway into jazz…

I measured the Devialet D-Premier with Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain. I measured the later, black-finish sample, serial no.00965, the mirror-finish no.00061 having been sent off for photography. Before testing an amplifier with a conventional class-B or-AB output stage, I precondition it by running it at one-third power for an hour, which thermally stresses the amplifier to the maximum extent. In theory, this test is irrelevant with the Devialet, but I did so anyway. At the end of the hour, the left side of the top panel was hot to the touch, at 131.4°F (55.3°C), the right side a little…

I measured the Octave Audio RE 290 using Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We See It” and www.ap.com). As Erick Lichte reviewed the RE 290 with KT120 tubes and the Super Black Box capacitor bank, that’s how I measured it, with its rear-panel switch set to High Power, as recommended for these tubes. After warming up the amplifier for an hour, I checked the bias for each of the four output tubes using the central LED array and the right-hand rotary switch on the front panel. All the tubes were correctly biased. The voltage gain at 1kHz into 8 ohms measured 30.8dB for an unbalanced input (nearly 3dB higher than specified), but 6dB lower for the balanced input. Both inputs…

Description Three-way, floor-standing loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) silk-dome tweeter (rear-firing), 1" silk-dome tweeter (front-firing), two 7" (178mm) carbon-fiber/paper-cone midrange units, 13" (330mm) and 15” (381mm) W-sandwich cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: not disclosed. Frequency response (average, in-room): 19.5Hz.33kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 93.5dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum amplification: 7Wpc. Dimensions 70 1.4" (1784mm) H by 19 13.16" (504mm) W by 27 7.8" (708mm) D. Weight: 655 lbs (297kg). Finishes Multiple automotive paint colors, plus custom options. Serial numbers of units reviewed 51, 52. Price $200,000/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 39. Manufacturer Wilson Audio Specialties, 2233 Mountain Vista Lane, Provo, UT 84606. Tel: (801) 377-2233. Fax: (801) 377-2282. www.wilsonaudio.com.…

WILSON CLAIMS that its Aspherical Group Delay technology is as effective harmonically and texturally as it is spatially, helping to precisely reintegrate, at the listening position, the frequencies that have been separated by the crossover and sent to the various drivers. To do this, each of the three drivers in the Alexandria XLF’s MTM array can be independently adjusted fore and aft, as well as rotated on its polar axis. Of equal importance, once the appropriate position has been found, each module can be rigidly locked in place with tether bolts of various lengths, secured with wing nuts. Each module is moved along a pair of rails, each with a center notched track. There’s one set of rails atop the woofer box, and one set each atop the lower-midrange and…

The Spendor Classic SP100R2 loudspeaker was measured with DRA Labs’ MLSSA system, using a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the speaker’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. The Spendor’s voltage sensitivity is specified as 89dB/W/m, a little higher than my estimate of 88.2dB(B)/2.83V/m. The impedance is specified as 8 ohms with a minimum of 5.5 ohms; the solid trace in fig.1 indicates that the impedance remains above 8 ohms for almost all of the audioband, with a minimum magnitude of 5.95 ohms at 171Hz. Though the electrical phase angle (dotted trace) sometimes reaches extreme values, this is always when the impedance is high, ameliorating the increased demand for current. With its slightly-higher-than-average sensitivity and benign impedance, the Spendor should work well…

Description Two-way bass-reflex loudspeaker. Driveunits: 1" ASR silk-dome tweeter, 5" woven-Kevlar woofer with aluminum phase plug. Frequency response: 59Hz–20kHz, ±3dB; 54Hz–22kHz, ±6dB. Impedance: 6 ohms. Sensitivity: 87dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplification: 30–200W. Dimensions 13" (330mm) H by 7.5" (190mm) W by 9" (230mm) D. Weight: 14 lbs (6.4kg). Finishes Gloss Piano Black, Gloss Cherrywood veneer. Serial numbers of units reviewed VG 301091/2. Price $598/pair. Matching I29 stands cost $94/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 1 (sold direct). Warranty: 10 years. Manufacturer Aperion Audio, 18151 SW Boones Ferry Road, Portland, OR 97224. Tel: (888) 880-8992. www.aperionaudio.com.…

Stephen Mejias writes about the Dayton Audio B652 loudspeaker in his “Entry Level” column in this issue. As the $39.80/pair B652 is by far the least expensive loudspeaker ever to be reviewed in Stereophile, I couldn’t resist the temptation to run it through my speaker-testing regime. I examined the performance of the Dayton B652 with DRA Labs’ MLSSA system, using a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the speaker’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. The B652’s voltage sensitivity is specified as 87dB; my estimate was a little higher, at 88.4dB(B)/2.83V/m. The Dayton’s nominal impedance is 8 ohms, which my measurement confirmed. Fig.1 shows that the impedance remains between 4 and 8 ohms throughout almost all of the audioband, rising to 12…

WAGNER Der Ring des Nibelungen Birgit Nilsson, Hans Hotter, Wolfgang Windgassen, George London, Gustav Neidlinger, Gerhard Stolze, Gottlob Frick, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kirsten Flagstadt, Set Svanholm, James King, Régine Crespin, Christa Ludwig, many others; Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti Decca 0289 478 3702 2 (17 CDs, 1 BD, 1 DVD). 1958–66/1997/2012. John Culshaw, prod.; Gordon Parry, eng.; James Lock (1997), Philip Siney (2012), remastering. ADD. TT: 14:36:56 (Ring only) PERFORMANCE: 5.0/5.0 SONICS: 5.0/5.0 Gramophone called it “the recording of the [20th] century”; Stereophile named it No.1 of the 40 essential recordings of all time. Fifty-four years after the first Rheingold sessions, there is still nothing like this history-making first studio recording—by conductor Georg Solti, the Vienna Philharmonic, and producer John Culshaw—of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, originally taped…

50 Years! Editor: Congratulations, and thank you for a fascinating ride the last 50 years! Too many good things to mention, but being an “audiophile” has been better because of Stereophile. —Carlos E. Bauza Guayama, Puerto Rico bauzace50@yahoo.com Less than complete Editor: Just a note to point out that the listing of former writers and reviewers “who have moved on to other ventures” appearing in the “As We See It” column by John Atkinson in Vol.35 No.11 is not complete, since there are at least two omissions. If you could see fit to review the list, it would go a long way toward maintaining the high level of professionalism that Stereophile has consistently displayed under your leadership. —Arnis Balgalvis arnisbalgalvis@gmail.com My apologies, Arnie, and to Chip Stern, Muse Kastanovich, and…

Peachtree Keen Remember Seth Brundle, the scientist portrayed by Jeff Goldblum in David Cronenberg’s remake (1986) of The Fly? Brundle had a closetful of identical suits, shirts, ties, shoes, so that he never had to choose what to wear. This way, he could spare his mental energy for important tasks, like turning himself into an insect. It turns out that President Obama takes the same tack as Brundlefly. Of course, he’s not a mad scientist, or even a mad politician. But he’s got important matters to resolve, like which country to invade next. As he told Michael Lewis in the October 2012 issue of Vanity Fair,1 he likes to pare down decisions. The key is to make routines simple. This is exactly what I tell my wife, Marina. I no…

There I was, sitting on the orange couch, with just a few hours to kill before my scheduled departure to Denver, Colorado-I’d been invited to the eighth annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, where surely I’d be moved to tears by some of the greatest, most advanced, most expensive hi-fi systems known to man-and I could not believe the awesome sound coming from my modest little stereo. The song was "Lunacy," the opening track of Swans’ latest masterpiece, The Seer (3 LPs, Young God YG45), a brutal and uncompromising epic of an album-and my very favorite album of the year (see sidebar). The stuttering, fragmented electric-guitar chords emerged from somewhere far behind the plane of the loudspeakers, deep in the corner of my listening room, and grew slowly but steadily in…

D/A INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER Most reviews are straightforward. One preamplifier or power amplifier replaces another. DACs are swapped out. A new pair of speakers takes up residence in the listening room. But some products demand a complete revision of a system’s architecture. Such was the case with Devialet’s D-Premier ($15,995). Not only is this French product an integrated amplifier, with phono and line analog inputs; it has digital inputs and an internal D/A section. And since v.5.5 of its operating system, the D-Premier can also act as a high-resolution WiFi audio streamer, working with Devialet’s Asynchronous Intelligent Route (AIR) client for Macs and PCs. At a stroke, the D-Premier replaces streaming program, USB or other computer audio interface, D/A processor, preamplifier, power amplifier, and many cables. And all is contained in…

POWER AMPLIFIER Ever since I became a Stereophile contributing editor, people have asked me, “How do you determine what equipment you’re going to review? Do you get to pick your own, or does John Atkinson tell you what to do?” I’ve chosen roughly 85% of the components I’ve reviewed for Stereophile, those choices made on the bases of what I find interesting, and what I think readers would like to know about. It’s as simple as that. I’d never heard of Octave Audio until JA e-mailed to ask if I’d like to review one of their amps. The RE 290 intrigued me because it was built around the new KT120 tube (which is also my new favorite output tube), it costs about the same as the Audio Research Reference 150…

Digital Sources Benchmark DAC1 HDR D/A processor/headphone amplifier; Bel Canto Design e.One DAC 3.5 VB Mk.II DAC & e.One CD 2 CD transport with e.One VB-1 power supply; Sony Vaio laptop computer running JRiver Media Center 17, Bel Canto Design Light Link USB-optical bridge. Analog Sources Clearaudio Ovation turntable/tonearm, Talisman V2 cartridge. Preamplification Clearaudio Basic+ phono preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Rogue Audio M180 monoblocks, Audio Research Reference 150. Loudspeakers Revel Performa F30. Headphones Sennheiser HD600. Cables Digital: Stereovox HDVX coaxial, Silver Sonic D-110 AES/EBU. USB: Cardas Clear. Interconnect: Sain Line Systems Pure (balanced & single-ended). Speaker: Kimber Kable BiFocal X. AC: Sain Line Systems Reference. Accessories Ready Acoustics, ASC Tube Traps room treatments; Butcher Block audio table.…

I used DRA Labs’ MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Wilson Alexandria XLF’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses. Performing measurements on such a large, heavy speaker as the Alexandria XLF poses two main problems. The first is practical: shipping the speakers to my test lab was out of the question, so I had to take my test gear to Michael Fremer’s house. The second is that the assumption in any farfield acoustic measurement is that the distance from speaker to microphone is much greater than the speaker’s largest dimension. There is also the fact that the speaker needs to be well away from any boundary so that reflections of its sound from that…

Description Three-way, stand-mounted, reflex-ported loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.8" fabric-dome tweeter, 7" polymer-cone midrange, 11.8" Bextrene-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 500Hz, 5kHz. Frequency response: 45Hz–20kHz, ±3dB (anechoic). Sensitivity: 89dB/W/m. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 5.5 ohms minimum. Dimensions 27.3" (700mm) H by 14.4" (370mm) W by 16.8" (430mm) D. Weight: 79 lbs (36kg). Finishes Cherry; Black Ash or Dark Walnut available by special order. Serial numbers of units reviewed 220B06507, 220B06508. Price $11,495/pair, stands additional. Approximate number of dealers: 25. Manufacturer Spendor Audio Systems, Ltd., G5 Ropemaker Park, South Road, Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 3GY, England, UK. Tel: 44 (0)1323-843474. www.spendoraudio.com. US distributor: Bluebird Music, 40 Sonwill Drive, Buffalo, New York 14225 Tel: (416) 638-8207. Fax: (416) 638-8115. www.bluebirdmusic.com.…

Analog Sources Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Ortofon TA-210 tonearms; Ortofon SPU, EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary & OFD 25 & OFD 65 pickup heads; Denon DL-103 cartridge. Digital Sources AudioQuest DragonFly USB D/A converter; Apple iMac G5 computer with iTunes v.10.6, Decibel v.1.0.2 playback software. Preamplification Auditorium 23 Standard (SPU version), Silvercore One-to-Ten, Hommage T2 step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks & Haut-Brion, Fi 421A. Loudspeakers Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE, Line Magnetic 755I, Quad ESL, DeVore Orangutan O/96, Klipsch Heresy III, Surreal Sound Fifth Row, Wilson Audio Specialties Sophia Series 2. Cables USB: AudioQuest Yosemite. Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Shindo Silver. Speaker: Auditorium 23. Accessories Box Furniture Company D3S rack (source & amplification components); Skylan 4P18 speaker stands; Keith Monks record-cleaning machine;…

I examined the performance of the Aperion Verus Grand Bookshelf loudspeaker with DRA Labs’ MLSSA system, using a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the speaker’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. The Verus Grand’s voltage sensitivity is specified as 87dB; my estimate was close, at 86.3dB(B)/2.83V/m. The speaker’s nominal impedance is 6 ohms, but other than the region between 120 and 400Hz, where it reaches a minimum of 4.15 ohms at 160Hz, the impedance magnitude remains above 6 ohms across the audioband. While there is a combination of 6 ohms and –40° electrical phase angle at 120Hz, a good, 8 ohm–rated amplifier or receiver should have no difficulty driving the Verus Grand. The traces in fig.1 are free from the small…

Sam Tellig enthusiastically reviewed this inexpensive solid-state D/A processor2 in March 2011. “What I mainly heard from the M1DAC was nothing: an absence of artifacts, if you want to get fancy,” he wrote. “There was no fudging of detail, no smearing of transients. Purity of tone was exceptional.” I refer you to Sam’s review, at www.stereophile.com/content/musicalfidelity-m1-dac, for details on the M1DAC’s facilities and design. Some months after that review was published, the M1DAC was updated. Whereas the original version’s USB input was limited to 48kHz sample rates and below and 16-bit data, the new version uses the popular Texas Instruments TAS1020B USB receiver, operating in the optimal asynchronous mode, to handle 24-bit data with sample rates up to 96kHz. A few other things also changed, mainly concerning the power supply,…

THIS ISSUE: This magic moment, while your lips are close to mine/Will last forever, forever till the end of time. A Teenager In Love Memorable is too weak a word: Zebraprint vest and matching short boots. Skin-tight black stretch pants. Wide, black-leather bracelets with studs. The high voice of an angel trapped inside the body of an NFL defensive lineman shakin’ his booty. These days, Aaron Neville has toned down those legendary working-girl ensembles he used to don as the XL frère of the Neville Brothers—the original New Orleans jam band, now on indefinite hiatus. Yet that delicate, quavery voice always belied the fact that beneath that hulking exterior and those questionable fashion choices, Aaron Neville was a softy. Anyone able to pour the kind of emotional energy he did…

UK: TOWCESTER, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Paul Messenger The name of the Chester Group’s National Audio Show, held each September at Whittlebury Hall, in Northamptonshire, is somewhat vainglorious, given its modest size compared to the massive High End Show in Munich each May, or Bristol’s Sound & Vision event in February. In fact, this year’s National show appeared to be a little smaller than the 2011 edition. Still, it took me a full day to visit most of the rooms (inadvertently if inevitably missing a few due to the hotel’s peculiar layout) and found a number of interesting items and people along the way. The National is very much a show for smaller brands with modest profiles; larger operations with wide distribution and global footprints were relatively scarce. Among them, however, DRM Holdings,…

Analogplanet.com covered new products exhibited at the 2012 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver last October (see www.analogplanet.com/category/rmaf-2012; Stereophile’s full coverage can be found at www.stereophile.com/category/rmaf-2012); here I’ll comment on the show generally, and specifically on two seminars. RMAF’s growth over the past few years has been phenomenal. This year’s attendance appeared to be substantial—according to Show organizer Marjorie Baumert, approximately 431 companies were represented by 150 exhibitors, and there were about 3600 attendee-days—and while many manufacturers weren’t represented, there was a good mix of major brands and upstarts. Certainly attendees could not have been disappointed by what they saw and heard—unless, like me, they thought too few rooms were demonstrating with turntables, and in too many, the only source component was a computer. Still, the number of new analog…

This past September’s CEDIA Expo was again held in Indianapolis, something with which most commentators seem to find fault. West Coast folks complain about the difficulties and cost of airline arrangements in comparison to Denver. The East Coast contingent complains about the relatively unexciting dining options compared to those in Atlanta. I can’t deny those points. Still, the nearby restaurants are good enough, and the flight from New York is easy. What I really like about Indianapolis is the cluster of hotels that surround the new Indiana Convention Center, which is directly connected to several of them. While those connections are an obvious convenience, especially as compared with Atlanta, they also make it easy for exhibitors to take advantage of larger, acoustically more isolated demo rooms in hotels only a…

Description Remote-controlled, solid-state integrated amplifier with software-assignable inputs, LCD screen, switch-mode power supply, and high-efficiency (85%) output stage. Inputs: 2 S/PDIF on TosLink; 1 pair RCA jacks assignable to phono or line; 1 pair RCA jacks assignable to phono, line, or two S/PDIF digital inputs; 1 AES/EBU digital input on XLR; 1 pair RCA jacks assignable to 2 S/PDIF digital inputs, analog preamplifier output, or subwoofer output and S/PDIF digital output. Main outputs: 2 pairs of binding posts. Other inputs/outputs: HDMI (not yet implemented), WiFi, trigger, RS-232, SD card (for firmware). Maximum output power: 240Wpc into 6 ohms (22dBW). Recommended speaker impedance range: 2–8 ohms. Frequency response: not specified, depends on selected A/D-converter sample rate (96 or 192kHz). THD+noise at full power: 0.001%. IMD (SMPTE): 0.001%. Thermal distortion: unmeasurable. Input…

Description Tubed stereo power amplifier with pushpull pentode, class-A/B output stage and adjustable bias for each tube. Tube complement: four KT120 or KT88, three ECC82. Inputs: 1 RCA, 1 XLR. Outputs: 1 speaker terminal suitable for 4mm banana connectors and spades. Maximum output power: High Power mode: 100Wpc into 4 ohms (17dBW); Low Power mode: 70Wpc into 4 ohms (15.5dBW); (power output decreases by 20% into 8 ohms). Power bandwidth: 25Hz–70kHz, –3dB at full power; frequency response 5Hz–80kHz, –3dB. Total harmonic distortion: <0.1% at 10W into 4 ohms. Signal/Noise ratio: >100dB. Noise: <100μV, 150Hz–15kHz. Input sensitivity: 0.8V RCA, 1.6V XLR. Input impedance: 220k ohms RCA, 10k ohms each phase XLR. CMRR of XLR input: >85dB/1kHz. Minimum load impedance: 2 ohms. Gain: +28dB (RCA). ECOmode trigger level: 0.5mV. Power consumption: <20W…

LOUDSPEAKER The Wilson Audio Specialties Alexandra XLF costs $200,000/pair. So does a Ferrari. Perhaps if Wilson Audio Specialties sold as many pairs of XLFs as Ferrari sells cars, the price might drop. For now, $200,000 is what you pay. Can a loudspeaker possibly be worth that much? Add $10,000 for speaker cables, and that’s what I paid for my first home in 1992. Today, the average American home costs around $272,000, which is likely less than the cost of an audio system built around a pair of Alexandra XLFs. Think no one spends that kind of money on a music system? Don’t kid yourself. Many people can afford it, and many spend it—though not as many as should. We need to educate those people! Anyone want to fly me to…

Analog Sources Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable, Cobra tonearm, Castellon stand; Graham Engineering Phantom Supreme II, Kuzma 4Point tonearms; Lyra Atlas & Titan i, Miyajima Labs Focus (mono) Ortofon Anna, cartridges. Digital Sources MSB Platinum Data CD IV CD transport, MSB Platinum Diamond DAC IV DAC, Platinum Studio ADC; BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder; Meridian Digital Media System; Pure Music software. Phono preamplifier Ypsilon VPS-100 with MC-10 and MC-16 step-up transformers. Preamplifier darTZeel NHB-18ns. Power Amplifiers darTZeel NHB 458 and Ypsilon Aelius mono-blocks, Musical Fidelity Titan, Music Reference RM200 Mk.II. Loudspeakers Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX 3. Cables Phono: Hovland/Graham Engineering MG2 Music Groove, Nordost Valhalla. Interconnect: Stealth Sakra & Indra, TARA Labs Zero Gold, ZenSati Seraphim. Speaker: AudioQuest WEL Signature, Stealth Dream V10, TARA Labs Omega Gold. AC: Shunyata Research…

LOUDSPEAKER In late 1996, as Listener magazine entered its third year of existence, the Spendor SP100 became my reference loudspeaker, and would remain so for a considerable time. My decision to try the SP100 was influenced by John Atkinson’s review of its antecedent, the nearly identical Spendor S100, in the December 1991 issue of Stereophile (http://tinyurl.com/8ed55zm). But my purchase decision came down to two things: The SP100 did virtually everything one could ask a modern loudspeaker to do, requiring in the process far less amplifier power than usual. Just as important at the time, it sold for only $3300/pair—which explains how I could afford them on the spotty salary of a teacher turned fledgling publisher. I might add a third factor: The unapologetically big, boxy Spendor SP100 fit my idea…

LOUDSPEAKER I received a call from Aperion Audio, who wanted to know if was interested in reviewing their Verus Grand Bookshelf loudspeaker ($598/pair). I’ve had good experiences with speakers from this Oregon-based, Internet-only company. I reviewed their Intimus 6T (January 2009) and Intimus 533-T (April 2007), and felt both provided overall good sound and great value for the money. I was also impressed with the speakers’ quality of construction and physical appearance. But those models were floorstanders—what excites me more is finding new bookshelf speakers at low prices. I was anxious to hear the Verus Grand. Design The Verus Grand Bookshelf is a stand-mounted descendent of Aperion’s flagship model, the Verus Grand Tower ($1798/pair). The two-way, bass-reflex Bookshelf features Aperion’s Axially Stabilized Radiator (ASR) silk-dome tweeter (patent pending), which has…

Analog Sources VPI TNT IV, Rega Research Planar 3 turntables; Immedia, Syrinx PU-3 tonearms; Koetsu Urushi, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridges. Digital Sources Lector CDP-7T, Creek Destiny CD players. Preamplification Vendetta Research SCP-2D, Creek Destiny phono stages; Audio Valve Eclipse line stage. Power Amplifier Audio Research Reference 110. Integrated Amplifier Creek Destiny. Loudspeakers Epos ELS3 & M5i, Wharfedale Diamond 10.1. Cables Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator, MI-330SG Terminator. Speaker: Acarian Systems Black Orpheus. Accessories Various by ASC, Bright Star, Celestion, Echo Busters, Salamander Designs, Simply Physics, Sound Anchor, VPI.…

The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun by Robert Greenfield. 431 pages. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Hardcover, $30. Robert Greenfield’s engaging biography shows that Ahmet Ertegun was destined to dominate. The son of a Turkish ambassador, Ertegun (1923–2006) left his native country at age two, and lived for a decade in Switzerland, France, and England, where he had a nanny who had previously cared for the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. His first American home was an architectural gem of a mansion on Washington’s Embassy Row. House guests included Cary Grant and his second wife, the Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. While Ertegun excelled in private school, the leisure haunts of his teen years signaled his future as head of Atlantic Records. He gravitated toward “Waxie…