TEAC CD-RW 800 Recorder

The TEAC RW-800 has a single tray, recording entirely from external sources, but unlike many other double decks has some interesting features of its own, including microphone inputs on the front panel with their own level controls beside the 1/4" input jacks. Analog line (RCA) and Toslink and coaxial (RCA) inputs and outputs are provided on the rear panel. In addition to allowing straight recording from these analog and digital sources, the RW-800 also provides for mixing of analog line, microphone, and digital sources, though only one of the latter at a time, coax or optical. Budding DJs may find this feature fun.

Like the Pioneer, this TEAC records on both consumer CD-Rs and consumer CD-RWs (many audiophiles probably don't realize that apartheid exists also between consumer and computer CD-RWs, so don't buy computer RW discs and expect to be able to use them).

The input mixing feature, especially with the microphone inputs, will work well for musicians who want to record with pre-recorded backgrounds of the Music-Minus-One variety, or for simple overdubbing; you can think of the RW-800, when paired with another CD player or source, as a way of doing serial overdubs without generation loss, as is the case with cassette PortaStudio recorders. With separate microphone and analog record level controls, this recorder can also be used as a basic mixer, and with other sources might be useful in basic PA or theatrical situations where a large mixing console is not required (a Monitor button allows mixing and listening through it without being in record mode). The Fader button on both remote and front panel allows controlled fades in and out, also a boon for the amateur musician. Another feature for anyone wanting to record off air is a built-in clock and timer-start system. Like some earlier Pioneer CD recorders, the RW-800 has a built-in sample-rate converter which will downsample 48 kHz to 44.1, and upsample 32 kHz. Another aid to advanced recording functions is the Multi-Jog control on the right side of the front panel, which sets thesholds for track identification, and other operations. Another neat feature is embodied in a button titled "Rehearsal", which uses a solid state memory of about 4 seconds to allow pre-recording check of start cues when programming, so you can avoid clipping opening notes of selections. This is a very versatile product.

And in the ways that count, this TEAC CD recorder works well, making excellent sounding CDs while allowing a lot of control over the process. I like the fact that the designers at TEAC have exercised what you could call "coaster control"; in other words, they've made it much less easy for you to create coasters, that is, screwed-up CDs. Most of us are going to avoid buying the more expensive CD-RWs for most recording, so having a recording machine that is almost foolproof is great. TEAC has done a fine engineering job on the RW-800 CD-R/CD-RW Recorder.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/digital-sources/teac-cdrw800.html

MSB Link III 96KHz 24 Bit DAC

There's been both misunderstanding and skepticism about the process of upsampling digital data. In recent months several DACs have appeared which do this data interpolation and bit creation, which is said to provide better sound by creating a 96-kHz/24- bit signal from a 44.1-kHz/16-bit source.

First, let's look at a common misunderstanding: upsampling is not oversampling. In the case of the latter process, data is multiplied, sometimes with interpolation algorithms operating to provide data that looks more complete and can be better decoded to analog; however, that data is still going into a 44/16 DAC, so a good deal of the oversampling is, in my view, wasted, even if there are are audible benefits from such interpolation algorithms as Pioneer's Legato Link process.

With upsampling we are interpolating data in a similar fashion, but probably with more sophisticated predictive algorithms, and that data resolution is kept, not truncated in the conversion process. The question is asked by skeptics: "How can you increase resolution by multiplying the sampling rate and adding bits?" And the second question is often an assertion: "You can't possibly make a CD sound better by upsampling to 24/96!"

The answer requires a bit of technical stuff. According to a 1997 white paper by Michael J. Story of dCS, the originator of upsampling techniques in 1998, the problem of the CD standard starts with the sharp anti-aliasing filtering required to keep frequencies above 20 kHz out of the audio output signal.

In general, anti-aliasing filtering needs to be quite vigorous - typically from some fraction of a dB down at 20 kHz to -100dB or so at half sampling frequency (22.05 kHz for CDs). Sharp filtering causes a ringing transient response...The effect is well known and unavoidable, and tends to be dismissed as a mathematical irritation with no audible effect - because the frequency response is flat."

The ringing contains energy, and we can plot energy against time. For anti-aliasing filters we get the sort of shape shown in figure 3. This shows that although the energy in the input transient is concentrated at one time, the energy from the anti- alias filter is spread over a much longer time - the audio picture is `defocused'. We might be tempted to argue that the energy is ultrasonic, but this is certainly not the case at 44.1 or 48 kS/s - our bandwidth constraints mean that to get good anti-aliasing, we must filter as fast as we can, and only pass the audio bandwidth. Ergo - any energy in the output signal is in the audio band. At sample rates above the standard, the energy in the ring still has the full bandwidth of the passband - math tells us so. We can also note that the energy in the ringing is large - for a sharp filter it can be 12% (-9 dB) of the energy in the main lobe."

To paraphrase Story, the brick wall filtering that has been the main preoccupation of digital designers since the early 80s has consequences that cannot be overcome at current sampling rates, especially in the decode/playback process. At that point in time (1997) he was arguing simply for higher sampling rates, but a year later was actively experimenting with upsampling, something Steve Lee (then dCS and Nagra distributor for the US) and I talked about extensively when recording in Bellingham in the summer of 98. Further, the CD standard has the problem of inadequate transient response that causes time smear that is audible. When the transient parts of a musical sound that has wide bandwidth are not reproduced together, the result is sound that is not natural, because things are not all happening at the right time. This leads to the listening fatigue that was characteristic of early digital. It's gotten much better, but the only way to get rid of the ringing and consequent smearing of energy is to move the filtering process well out of the audible band. And the only way to do this is to double, or even quadruple the sampling rate.

Now, upsampling cannot eliminate the problems of the filtering done in the encode/record process, but it can deal with those in the decode/playback final stage, in the process moving the filtering up to 44.1 or 48 kHz from 22. Also, with the clever interpolation programs developed by dCS and, more recently by other companies, data can be added in a way that makes the 96- kHz DAC able to wring the greatest amount of detail from the incoming signal while maintaining transient speed and accuracy.

And this brings us to the Assemblage D2D-1, which passes digital signals, but processes them in a number of ways. According to the manual, it is "really 4 products in one! The D2D-1 is a state-of-the-art Sample Rate Converter (Up- Sampler), Jitter Attenuator, Data Word Length Interpolator, and a Digital Transmission Format Converter."

There are 5 digital inputs: AES/EBU coaxial, S/PDIF coaxial via BNC jacks (gold-plated RCA adaptors are supplied), Toslink plastic fibre optic, and ST glass fibre optic. Any of these will appear at all 4 outputs, whose formats are AES/EBU, S/PDIF (BNC again), I2S (an input is found on the Assemblage 3.0 DAC), and I2Senhanced, "an actively buffered and expanded version of I2S", (also found on the DAC 3.0 and the Sonic Frontiers Processor 3).

A Crystal CS8414 input receiver is the first of two phase-locked loops, the second (both have lock LEDS) a discrete PLL with custom made voltage control oscillators; it is in the latter circuit where the jitter is reduced to a claimed .02 picoseconds.

There are 3 output modes: TRANS passes the signal through, including HDCD information, or you can choose to output 48 or 96 kHz signals; 48K upsamples and interpolates to 24 bit; and 96K does the same at this frequency. HDCD coding will not be passed in the latter two modes, though the signal is processed and passed through. Not only is this a useful box to maintain and improve data integrity, it's a valuable professional tool for moving data around safely from format to format; and then there's the upsampling.

I was also supplied an Assemblage DAC 2.6 with a 96/24 daughter board replacing the standard Pacific Microsonics HDCD filter/decoder chip. That chip was also provided, and is easy to swap in and out. That was good, because the 96/24 chipset was DOA out of the box. When I tried the HDCD one the decoder worked fine, though, understandably, not at 96 kHz. The Parts Connection kindly sent me another 96/24 IC by courier, and we were in business.

Or so I thought. The refitted decoder worked well for a couple of days, but the DAC 2.6 was running disturbingly hot, and one minute it was working and then not, on the third day. I checked the fuse and it was definitely blown, and I opted to not replace it because of the obvious thermal problems. I'll come back to the DAC 2.6 presently.

Luckily, I also had on hand the MSB Link DAC III, which is also 96/24. MSB has been promising internal retrofit upsampling boards for months, but they haven't delivered yet. The Link III can also be retrofitted for Virtual Dolby Surround. Our review sample also included the Nelson Upgrade, which adds a balanced AES/EBU input, and an improved power supply. A future upgrade is said to be 192 kHz decoding, but as little program material is available, I'm not exactly anxious about this one, though having recorded and heard 192 kHz, I could get interested if it takes off.

In the here and now I spent several afternoons listening to various CDs through this combination, some of the time also including my Meridian 518 in the chain to see if it would make things even better, or perhaps worse. The 518 dejitters and allows various noise-shaping algorithms, also allowing emphasis encoding and decoding, and like the D2D-1 does bit interpolation up to 24 bits. All this starts to sound like a digital daisy chain...hey, I could have added another jitter box (a Monarchy DIP was at hand), but this seemed enough firepower to do the job.

As it turned out, the 518 was a valuable addition, especially when playing our own CDs, some of which are pre- emphasizedto increase low-level resolution at high frequencies). I started with one of these, Awake My Heart with the Bell'Arte Singers, using de-emphasis in the 518 and outputting 24-bit words with Noise Shape C. However, the listening started with the direct output of the 1- bit DAC of the Pioneer PDR-05 CD recorder. When I switched to the upsampled version it was like turning an audio light on in the room. Yes, it was fairly subtle to a casual listener, but distinct when I switched back and forth: there was less glare in the midrange, better deep bass (especially the ambient foundation of the church), more natural sibilance, and a better developed soundstage both laterally and front-to-back. One could also hear a better sense of dynamics, with less congestion in loud vocal passages. At the lower end of the dynamic scale there seemed to be more contrast, a deeper silence in the background that allowed the decay of notes to be more readily heard. Everything just sounded more realistic.

Next I listened to our newly released Bellingham Sessions 2, with the memory of hearing comparison of 44.1, 96, and 192 kHz reproduction in my head. It was my impression that the upsampled 44.1-to-96 didn't have quite the vitality and snap of the original, but was quite an improvementover the straight Pioneer DAC's output. Percussion was more delicate and sweet, and other musical details got sorted out better, as the Brits say. With the Link III DAC sitting on top of my Pioneer/HHB D9601 96 kHz DAT recorder, another option occurred to me: why not feed it the AES/EBU output of the D2D-1 (the S/PDIF coax fed the Link). Then all I had to do was put a DAT into the deck and put it into record standby. Voila...another 96 kHz DAC, albeit a 16-bit one. And even throwing away 8 bits, I thought the D9601 sounded a little sweeter and more detailed than the Link III, though it was very close.

Numerous other CDs followed, including Jennifer Warnes' The Hunter (fabulous deep bass on all the percussion), Kind of Blue (the CBS Mastersound version: the high hat cymbals on So What just came alive!), and quite a few others. Another Miles Davis CD, Some Day My Prince Will Come (regular CD reissue) always sounded mediocre, the muted trumpet quite distorted. Well, the upsampled playback was free of much of these ugly harmonics and non-harmonic digital grunge, literally proving how audible aliasing artifacts can be (but you could still hear the analog tape saturation, in fact, hear it more clearly!). I always glance at my 1/3d octave analyzer when playing Miles' recordings just to see the bouncing lights going right up to 20 kHz. Another CD that I have in both CD and LP, Maazel's Mahler 4th with the Vienna Philharmonic, demonstrated that though the upsampling process brought the sound quality closer to that of the LP, real 96 kHz (or Sony's SACD/DSD process) would be needed to close the gap.

I also listened to several tracks from our Test & Reference CD (yes, #2 is coming this fall), including Loon's Tunes, and heard things in surround sound through the Cantares SSP-1 (Fall 99) that I'd never heard before. The upsampling brought out subtleties in the wind and rain sounds, and made the echoes of the loon calls off the rock face much more distinct. The thunder got deeper and more powerful.

Overall, I find 96/24 upsampling to be the most exciting thing in digital audio this year, because it allows our existing CD libraries to be much better appreciated, and in this case at a relatively modest cost. It could be said, I suppose, that doubling the sampling rate doubles your pleasure. And having a 96 kHz DAC doubles your fun by allowing you to listen to the Chesky and Classic 96/24 audio DVDs (see SuperSounds).

I'll say more about the excellent Link DAC III with its upsampling board next issue, but for the time being I'm going to live with the D2D-1 in my system.

Just after I'd finished writing all this, another DAC 2.6 arrived via UPS, so I made it another daisy in the chain (actually, I replaced the Link III with it). The heart of the 96 kHz conversion is the new Burr-Brown PCM1704 chip. In the past, this company's DAC chips have been highly regarded, but I found myself not entirely happy with what I was hearing. It sounded quite forward and bright, not as detailed as the 9601, and seemed to lack the sophistication of sound of the Link III. I swapped these two back and forth a few times to compare their sound character, comparing both with the Pioneer DAT's DAC. It seemed I always ended up with the D9601, with the Link coming in second.

When I voiced my thoughts on this to Sonic Frontiers/Parts Connection honcho Chris Johnson, his reply was to send me yet another DAC 2.6, this time containing the Signature Parts Upgrade Kit (SPUK) and the Turbo Mod. Here's how Chris described these upgrades in a subsequent E-mail: "The SPUK contains custom MultiCap signal path capacitors (12 pcs.); 10 Caddock non-inductive foil resistors (in signal path); 6 Sanyo OS-CON ultra low ESR/ESL power supply regulator output caps; 4 IRF Hexfred ultra fast, soft recovery rectifying diodes; 4 WIMA power supply bypass caps; Kimber 19 awg KCAG pure silver output wiring; 4 LINEAR TECHNOLOGY ultra low impedance, high current power supply regulators; 2 pcs. of AD811 I-V stage op amp upgrade.

The TURBO mod replaces the "other" 4 op amps in the unit, which are currently very good Burr-Brown types (OPA134), with the very best op amps, by any manufacturer, the Burr-Brown OPA627 ...these retail for over $15 US each (about 4 times more)! Measured S/N improves by 8 to 9 dB through their use!!!!! FYI, even the $16,000 US Mark-Levinson No. 30.6 doesn't even use the OPA627...they use 134 and the 604 op amps, which are a fraction of the price, and discernably lower in performance, both empirically, and subjectively."

You know, you gotta like a DAC with SPUK, especially TURBO SPUK, and I did. I don't think I've ever heard such a demonstration of the importance of parts in a digital component before. It was the same DAC with the same Burr-Brown PCM1704 heart, but the lung, liver, and whatever else transplant created a completely new sound: more alive, more vibrant, more detailed, and more dynamic. I put the Link III back into the comparison loop, and the Turbo SPUK DAC 2.6 clearly eclipsed it with both fed by the D2D-1. Even the DAC in the D9601 seemed to pale by comparison. I think that The Parts Connection should simply forget about the regular DAC 2.6 and just sell the upgraded version for 96/24 use.

I suspect that the main reason for the better sound lies with the analog output: the improved Burr-Brown OPA627 op amps. But the Kimber silver wiring out of them couldn't hurt, either. To sum up, I've now heard a level of digital reproduction from CDs that I didn't think possible via these two little boxes from Assemblage.

Upsampling Update On The MSB Link DAC III

I was finally able to get my hands on a Link III with the upsampling board installed, this time a Half Nelson, which includes the internal parts upgrade, but not the AES/EBU input. I was able to set it up for level-matched comparisons with the Assemblage D2D/DAC 2.6 combo, these fed and level matched via the Meridian 518, while the Link was getting the same signal from the Toslink optical out of the Pioneer PDR-05 CD transport.

This should have given the Meridian/Assemblage system a sonic advantage, but on some program material I heard the opposite, the Link III's upsampling seeming to give the music a bit more life and micro-dynamic subtlety on Canadian guitarist Ray Montford's new CD, One Step Closer (about which you'll read more in these pages; it's a wonderful acoustic guitar program of original music). Much of the time it was a tossup, for example, on orchestral music. Both got the textures right and most of the details, with a very un-digital kind of atmosphere.

Unfortunately, I received the Link III too close to deadline to spend more than a few hours with it before writing, but I can say that it is least the equal of the Assemblage, both using pretty much the same digital goodies inside, and both built with great attention to parts quality and circuit design. And finally, I was struck by how close both came to the fabulous dCS gear sonically. Great digital audio has never been so affordable.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/digital-sources/msb-link-iii.html

Pioneer PDV-LC10 Portable DVD Player

Billed as the "thinnest, smallest portable DVD", The PDV- LC10 also has a larger screen, at 7" diagonal (16 x 9), than the two current Panasonic models. But that thinness is only when using an AC power supply, the battery cradle that attaches to the bottom of the player doubling the thickness to 2": both battery pack and player are each an inch thick.

The Pioneer's screen is quite a bit larger, the Panasonic DVD-L10 one only 5 1/2". This could be a decisive factor for many buyers, but, as they say, size isn't everything. More on this below.

The PDV-LC10 (Why is there a 10 in both model numbers?) not only plays 24/96 audio DVDs with full resolution, but can also output a 24/96 digital signal, this also able to be downsampled to 48 kHz. It will also output a DTS digital bitstream. A "Twin-Wave laser pickup" is used for play of DVDs, CDs, CD-Rs, and CD Video discs.

The battery is said to last for 3.5 hours per charge, and a "Continue Play Memory" will return you to the same spot in the movie after you swap batteries. A second battery will set you back $199.

The remote control for the player is very compact, a credit-card type, onto which are crammed 32 buttons (the brochure claims 36, so there must be a few that are very cleverly hidden). These are colour coded for easier use, and it's quite easy to get used to. The usual Pioneer GUI menu system allows more complex operations and setup adjustments.

All in all, this is a neat package, a player and monitor that could also serve as a DVD audio transport connected to an outboard DAC like the MSB Link. That is not true of the Panasonic, which doesn't output a 96 kHz signal.

One of the first DVDs I ran through the PDV-LC10 was Video Essentials, specifically, the test material. On the Pluge test a blacker than black signal could be seen, but only from a side angle, but blacks in general were good for an LCD screen. And though there was no blooming on whites, they were a little intense, even at the lowest brightness setting. The colours in between tended slightly to the pastel, with a little extra pinky red from time to time, particularly on faces.

Grey scale performance was excellent, better than colour gradation, and resolution was also quite high from this small screen, in the area of 350+ horizontal lines. As with other LCD devices, occasional moire effects and pixelation could be seen, but this was not troublesome, limited by the small screen size. To put such artifacts in perspective, they are also seen on $20,000 plasma screens.

In sum, picture quality is very good for this small a screen, though a little high in contrast, which cannot be adjusted, though settings of Cinema ("In this mode the black portions of the picture are expressed clearly", according to the manual), Animation ("In this mode the colours are expressed vividly"), and Standard can be selected using the complex "Expert" part of the GUI menu. I found, to my surprise, that the most natural picture was not the default Standard, but Animation, Cinema being way too dark. Animation gave a more natural palette, and eliminated the reddish caste altogether, though contrast was still a bit high.

I can see this player finding its way onto many airplanes early in the milennium, though it may not quite be the executive toy of the century. Though some of the setup operations require a complicated negotiation of the GUI system, basic play of DVDs and CDs is very simple, and should be possible for your average technocrat businessman.

As a CD or audio DVD player, I found the PDV-LC10 to be excellent. In our tracking tests it managed the Verany cvalibrated dropouts very well, through track 35 (2.4mm) in the single dropouts, 42 with 1 tick only (2mm) in the narrow gauge ones, and in the double dropouts it played right through 49 (2 x 2.4mm). It had little trouble on track 2 of the CD CHECK disc, showing 3 or 4 errors on the DED Pro dropout counter, but on track 3 registered over 600 errors, with audible spitting noises.

The random error test disc was well played to the 2-minute mark, where it locked, the errors shooting up over 600 in a second or two. In the partially transparent disc, the PDV-LC10 ticked noisily, and muted often on track 1, 2, and 3, managing 4 quite well.

These results could be seen as a little contradictory, perhaps, but this is not uncommon in our experience of testing hundreds of digital players. The Verany tests indicate the ability to track and conceal very large dropouts; this player corrects errors that are in the digital stream coming out of the player, but inaudible through its own DAC. This was evident in the random error test, where they were largely corrected and concealed by the hundreds up to the 2-minute mark of play. The only area of concern is discs that are incompletely aluminized, this laser assembly quite sensitive to this problem, probably because of its variable focal lengths for CDs and DVDs.

In listening, this player was outstanding with DVD audio discs like the Chesky Remembrances by Jon Faddis (CHDVD176), the big band sound beautifully portrayed through the player's 24/96 DAC. I also listened carefully to our Chuck Israels CD, The Bellingham Sessions, Volume 1, and liked what I heard from this disc that I know better than just about anything else. It did seem just a little softer in the upper octaves, something I'd also noticed with our Pioneer Elite DVL-90, which also useBlogger: Information On CD Player Articles and News - Create Posts a 1-bit DAC. However, definition and solidity of deep bass were superb.

As with the DVD-L10, this player offers audio performance that comes very close to what can be had in single box players at or near the $2000 price range, though there are some less expensive CD players appearing that definitely raise the bar, for example, the Audio Refinement reviewed in our last issue. And if you look at it in the context of portables, nothing out there in CD portable land even comes close (though most are less than 1/10th the price), so the Pioneer and Panasonic players remain unique in this respect.

If you choose the Pioneer you'll get a larger, but slightly softer picture than that of the Panasonic, but pretty much equal digital audio performance, but with 96 K digital audio out available for use with an outboard DAC like the MSB Link. If portable DVD is on your list for the milennium, or even before, have a look at and a listen to the PDV-LC10.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/digital-sources/pioneer-lc-10.html

Yamaha DVD-C900 5-Disc DVD Changer

This year it's DVD carousel changers, and next season it will be 100-to-300-DVD jukeboxes, the path already followed by CD. The DVD-C900 handles 5 discs, and has quite a few features you wouldn't expect on a changer, including 96 kHz audio playback, though it outputs only a 48 kHz digital signal. Both coaxial and Toslink optical outputs are offered. On the video side, composite, S, and component video outputs are provided for easy integration with all video systems, from tube TV to front projector.

The remote control is both well shaped and laid out, important buttons like Play and the cursor array a luminous white and easy to find in the dark. It's also a masterpiece of restraint, having only 40 buttons. Yamaha has made sure that owners will not spend a lot of time fumbling in the dark, and care has been taken to make the DVD-C900 very simple to operate. Front panel controls have also been kept to those that are really necessary. That also makes it easier for me, in that there are not a whole bunch of extra features to describe. This player has all the normal DVD features, with numeric access to tracks and discs, and operates pretty much like a CD carousel.

I checked its tracking of CDs with our standard array of discs, starting with the Verany calibrated dropouts: it burped briefly on 34, played 35 (2.4mm), and showed regular ticking on 36 in the single dropouts; in the narrow gauge ones it played through track 42 (2mm), while in the double dropouts it managed 48 (2 x 1.5mm). On the CD CHECK disc, which combines high and low frequencies with increasing error over 5 tracks, it played cleanly through the first two, ticked a little on 3, and a lot on 4. Our random error track, which quite a few DVD players have had little trouble with, caused the DVD-C900 to skip ahead after 30 seconds, and lock up completely at the 37-second mark, surprisingly poor performance given the excellent tracking of the Verany disc. However, the play of the partially transparent disc was better than average, only the first track giving the player any trouble.

These results are, again, a little problematical, but do show that the player easily handles smaller errors well, and has more difficulty with large clusters, but copes with poorly manufactured discs that are incompletely aluminized. It should perform well with discs with pinholes or other such defects, and will not be fazed by fingerprints, but may have a little trouble with bad scratches.

The actual video picture from this Yamaha player was first rate with all discs, anamorphic or pan & scan. Colour was vivid and detail very good through its S-video outputs. I would expect even better through the component outputs.

Sound quality of CD play was very good, though not quite in the league of some others that use 96 kHz DACs. But the DVD-C900 was a hands-down winner in ease of use and overall convenience, the remote control a gem in its organization of buttons and overall logic. If you want convenience, multiple play, and a superb picture, seek out the Yamaha DVD-C900

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/digital-sources/yamaha-dvd-c900.html

Aaron at Large: Winter 2000

If you read the last edition of Aaron at Large (Summer 99) you may remember that after hefting three decidedly large and unwieldy televisions up a narrow flight of stairs, with the heaviest of the three remaining as my own set, I expressed a rather pointed fear of ever having to move it again. Apparently I should have kept my big mouth shut. Sure enough, as soon as my worst fears had been expressed in print, I was forced to confront one of the greatest challenges any audiophile/home theatre enthusiast/music collector/pack rat can face: The Move.

The negatives of transplanting your A/V system(s) are numerous and obvious. Suffice to say that sometime during all the dusting, unscrewing, lifting, sweating, organizing, packing, moving, unpacking, reorganizing, cursing, drilling, lifting, sorting, sweating, wiring, and leveling you might experience a "moment of clarity" in which a receiver and a pair of mini-monitors flanking a 14" television seems like an impossibly sensible system configuration. There were a few such moments, usually while supporting most of the weight of the aforementioned television, but it could have been worse. Thankfully I have yet to accumulate enough gear to require a medium sized container ship, and, although inevitably unpleasant, my move claimed no significant victims; human or electronic. For those of you with speakers larger than your fridge, or proponents of mass loading vibration control (be it with sand, marble, lead shot or a combination thereof): may you have great friends with strong backs.

There are, however, upsides to a full-scale audio uprooting. For one thing it's a great time to do the kind of maintenance you might not otherwise bother with. Components get dusted, contacts get cleaned, shelves and stands get re-leveled, cable organization is improved. If you're lucky, as I was, you might also be making one of the most dramatic system upgrades possible by moving into a better sounding room. Having been extremely happy with my pervious space I was worried that my new, more reverberant living room would be a step in the wrong direction.

Initial reconnaissance at the new domicile left me with enough raw data to keep the audio centres of my brain churning for the weeks leading up to the move. Normal people would have worried about parking permits or setting up phone service. I wrestled with all the possible system configurations, wiring setups, and "aesthetic compromise contingencies," should my finance react negatively to what would, inevitably, be the best sounding setup. Miraculously, the contingencies were unnecessary and I somehow got away with murder, placing equipment in the both living room and the dining room. Placing my Energy Veritas 1.8's on the living room side of the large double doorway separating the two rooms and the components in the corner on the dining room side of the doorway proved to be the most effective setup. Having only speakers in the living room is also quite a clean and elegant solution, keeping the clutter to a minimum in the living room and the electronics better isolated from vibration produced by the speakers. Not surprisingly, she's more impressed with the former advantage than the latter.

The audio gods were most definitely smiling on me but I was still concerned by the significant structural differences from my old space. Not only did I now have exposed hardwood floors to contend with, the large double doorway into the dining room effectively doubled the volume of the space. I've never been a fan over overly live rooms and I feared that even with a decent sized area rug and furniture that that's exactly what I was going to have. Once again my fears were allayed. It sounds fantastic! The room's extra liveness and the fact that more than half the rear wall opens into the next room makes for an incredibly open, effortless sound. More than ever, the speakers transcend their boxes and breathe, presenting a huge, seamless sonic image at the back of the room. The increased volume of the space also greatly improved the bass, the system displaying bottom octave extension, authority and grip I didn't know it was capable of. The sound might benefit from the increased focus and imaging precision that a little more damping would provide, but I'm otherwise extremely pleased, having discovered no serious sonic flaws in the past several months of listening. If you've got a similar room I highly recommend this type of staggered room configuration. If not, next time you're house hunting keep an eye out for the big doorway.

Naturally the system has been evolving in the new space, as it did in the old. I recently swapped out my vintage Rega Planar 2 for a very recent Planar 3 and, due to a lack of space adjacent to my main equipment rack picked up a Target turntable shelf, putting the spiked Ikea Lack table which used to support the Rega into service as an end table (how many pieces of audio furniture can do that!). The Planar 3 sounds outstanding on its new shelf, which is rigid as all heck, a snap to level, and securely bolted to an exterior wall. Combined with the fact that it's a room away from the speakers and sitting on top of Black Diamond Racing Cones and "Those Things" (rectangular, threaded carbon fibre bases for the cones) it's hard to imagine it being better supported (short of a Vibraplane perhaps). With the Audio Technica OC9 and Shure V15 type MR cartridges, and phono stages from Anthem and Rotel (look for those reviews in my next column) records sound not only wonderful, but spectacularly good for the money.

Another notable development came from granite bases for the speakers, improving bass response and imaging precision considerably. I got mine from my local monument maker for about $100/channel but good old Ikea sells a variety of chopping blocks in both wood and marble which are cheaper and worth checking out for placing under either speakers or source components. These are especially handy for those wishing to protect hardwood floors from repeated spiking. Otherwise my audio energy has been occupied by a budget beating CD player from Rotel, and a potent power amp from Anthem.

Rotel RCD-951 CD Player: Sugg Retail $600 (CAN)

Let's start at the source. Once piece of gear which has significantly contributed to the great sound I've been getting in the new room is Rotel's RCD-951 CD player. Smack in the middle of Rotel's digital lineup the 951 falls below the much pricier RCD-991 ($1,800) and RCD-971 ($900) in terms of model hierarchy but, according to Rotel, uses circuit configurations originally designed for its more expensive brothers. An 18 bit machine, the 951 uses a Burr-Brown PCM-69 DAC, and, unlike most similarly priced players, features HDCD compatibility via Pacific Microsonics' PMD digital filter/decoder.

Enclosed in a thin and fairly non-descript box with a centrally mounted transport, the RCD-951 also features a coaxial digital out and a simple, full-function remote. Like most other Rotel products the look is basic black, plain and simple, and the build quality is decent but by no means extravagant.

Fortunately there's nothing non-descript about the sound of this player. Impressed at the very outset by its smoothness and musicality I listened casually to the 951 for a couple of weeks to ensure that it was completely broken in before making any notes or comparisons. Even during this stage it was abundantly clear that this was a lot more CD player than $600 was supposed to buy and I found myself double checking the price in the 2000 AIG A/V Almanac.

My listening notes are peppered with words like "liquid," "silky," "lush," and "smooth," which pretty much tells the tale. The 951 is a wonderfully musical player which conveys a lot more resolution than its 18 bit, 44.1 KHz architecture would suggest. Definition was excellent with gobs of high frequency and low level detail on offer. The Rotel could really "see" into dark corners, recovering low level ambient information with a dexterity few, if any, players in this price bracket could muster. This quality not only allows the player to produce a more realistic and enveloping sense of the recording's original acoustic, it's a major factor in distinguishing adequate digital sound from excellent digital sound. With HDCD encoded discs the Rotel was even better in this regard, edging a little closer to the resolution offered by 24/96 discs and sounding a more natural overall with better microdynamics.

The 951 was no slouch when it came to imaging or soundstaging either. Its knack for low level detail made for a convincingly deep soundstage which refused to collapse at low volumes. Imaging precision was also exemplary, orchestra members being clearly defined within the soundstage on good symphonic recordings. Performance at the frequency extremes didn't disappoint either, the Rotel possessing a smooth and airy treble and, especially paired with the mighty Anthem Amp 2, superbly well articulated and tightly controlled bottom end.

Was there anything wrong with the sound? Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say no, but there was certainly nothing that jumped out and screamed "FLAW!". In addition to all the above the crucial area of midrange performance was not neglected, the 951 painting vocals with admirable neutrality and body, and generally sounding as transparent in the midband as any other similarly priced (or not so similarly priced -- see below) competitor. No, it doesn't offer the transparency or musicality of the best digital gear, and it's not likely to make even a modest vinyl front end like mine jealous, but for the money, it comes spectacularly close.

Comparisons with my Panasonic DVD-A310 confirmed all this and more. I was surprised to find that the Panasonic sounded a little harsh and congested in comparison to the Rotel. It also couldn't match the Rotel's soundstaging prowess, sounding spatially compressed by comparison. The surprise came from the fact that the A310, with its 24 bit, 96 Khz DACs, also plays well above it's league, boasting an impressive level of resolution at the price ($899). After going head to head with a number of players passing through my system in the past year (including the Myryad, the 3D Lab CD 400, and, most notably, the Rega Planet) the A310 has fared remarkably well, keeping pace with all but the much more expensive 3D Lab ($2295). All this would suggest that the Rotel is an even more formidable dark horse, capable of embarrassing players at twice the price. Either way, a telling fact about my time with the 951 is that I quickly lost interest in making comparisons and just wanted to listen to music through it.

If you're shopping for a CD player in the under $1500 range the 951 should be at the top of your audition list. Although I have no personal experience with the 991, the performance of the 951 suggests that Rotel's top of the line digital machine could give a few audiophile favorites in the $2000+ range a serious run for their money.

Anthem Amp 2 Power Amplifier: Sugg. Retail $2599.00 (CAN)

An equally important contributor to the excellent sound in the new room has been the Anthem Amp 2 power amplifier. A hybrid design the Amp 2 is an attempt to combine "the musicality and finesse of vacuum tubes, with the solidity and control of solid state." It may sound like brochure copy (probably because it is) but, based on what I've been hearing over the past couple of months, it rings amazingly true.

The Amp 2 produces 31 dB of gain using four stages. "First, a vacuum tube buffer and phase splitter are used to provide a high input impedance as well as phase inversion for bridged mono configuration." Next there's a "constant current sourced, double differential cascode input stage" which in turn feeds "a high current, Class A transconductance/driver stage" which is coupled to "a cascode configured bipolar output stage, utilizing 12 Motorola 150 watt devices per channel." Two mil spec 6922 tubes are used in the input stage.

The result is an amp capable of 200 watts per channel into 8 Ohms (with less than 0.05% THD) and 300 wpc into a 4 Ohm load (with less than 0.1% THD). For owners of the thirstiest loudspeakers the Amp 2 can also be bridged to produce a heroic 600 wpc into a single 8 Ohm channel.

A substantial brick of steel and aluminum the Amp 2 is 16" deep, 5.25 inches high and weighs in at 55 lbs, unpacked. Simple and unadorned, like the other Anthem gear, the Amp 2 is very stylish, a single green LED centered in a vast, symmetrical expanse of silver brushed aluminum broken only by a push button on/off switch at far right (should silver clash with your other gear or décor you can also get a black faceplate). Build quality matches the attention to design, and, while not Rowland bomb proof, this Anthem is seriously solid.

The business end of the Amp 2 is equally clean and simple. Binding posts are very well spaced, not only from each other, but from the two single ended input jacks and removable IEC power cord socket mounted in the middle of the rear panel. While the spacing is likely to make users of cumbersome cables happy, the five way biding posts may not. An unusual type (probably designed to comply with strict new European regulations) this plastic-nutted post works fine with bananas, but spades can only be loaded from one side, which may prove cumbersome with big bulky cables. Aside from this nit pick the amp proved extremely user friendly and utterly reliable, performing its duties without a hint of drama. Once fully broken in the sound remained utterly consistent (assuming it was fully warmed up), which made getting a fix on the Anthem's character that much easier. While it runs a little hotter than most solid state amps, it's no furnace, idles with no discernable noise (electronic or physical), and can be left on for long periods of time unsupervised.

A lot of purists might be tempted to associate the word "hybrid" with the word "compromise", arguing that trying to combine two competing technologies into one design is only likely to dilute their inherent strengths, resulting in a mediocre product which benefits from the advantages of neither and suffers from the shortcomings of both. If you prefer to see the glass as half full, a good hybrid design might offer the best of both worlds, using the strengths of one approach to bolster the weaknesses of another. Either way, if you're as dogmatic about your amplifier type as you are about your Mac or PC, then the electronic miscegenation going on inside the Amp 2 is likely to put you off. Too bad, because the Anthem is an incredibly well balanced amplifier, one which juggles sonic compromises as well as any I've heard.

I wouldn't call myself bass freak, but it tends to be the first thing I notice when listening to new gear in my system. It was definitely the first thing I noticed about the Amp 2. The word that kept coming to mind to describe the Amp 2's bass was "traction". When it came to bottom end the Anthem put rubber to road with phenomenal control, but never sounded too dry or over-damped. Articulation was also excellent, allowing complicated bass guitar and drum passages to emerge from the speakers intact. In fact, the Amp 2 performed as well as any amp I've ever heard on Sarah McLaughlin's "Into the Fire" (from the album "Solace") a bass torture test if ever their was one, delineating the subterranean synth notes with great finesse. On good organ recordings and bass rich electronica the Amp 2 was spectacular, and, with its prodigious dynamic capabilities, unflappable at high levels.

More importantly, the Amp-2, unlike some other bass stars, is no one trick pony. Great bass performance can get pretty tiresome if an amp overemphasizes the lower extremes or simply falls short in the mids and treble. This is certainly not the case here. I was consistently impressed by the sense of balance and integration the Anthem displayed on all music. To the credit of the hybrid design, there are no major compromises made to get that great bass, and the result is an especially musical and satisfying sound.

While not in the ultra transparent class the Amp2 sounded very neutral, the midband gaining a hint of extra warmth but rendered with very convincing timbre and body. While not an especially airy sounding amp, the Anthem is very open with no shortage of top end detail, trading the laid back, spacious qualities of some amps for a slightly more present and upfront sonic perspective. This is no to say, however, that the Amp-2 sounded closed in or aggressive, because it didn't, it just put you a little closer to the front of the hall. It still managed to throw an excellent soundstage which extended well outside the left and right boundaries of the speakers. Imaging precision was also very good, but slightly less impressive, with, the locations of sounds a little more vague than I've heard with similarly priced amps.

Speaking of similarly priced amps, I spent some time comparing the Amp-2 to Bob Carver's Sunfire Cinema Grand and MDG's Allegrio, an exercise which definitely helped put the Anthem's sonic character into perspective. I was not surprised to find the Anthem had the best bass of the three, making the extremely well controlled Sunfire sound a little tubby by comparison. In terms of sheer transparency, imaging precision and transient attack, the two pure solid state amps acquitted themselves nicely, matching or bettering the Anthem in these respects. Going back to the Amp 2, however, I was struck again by it's balance and integration; qualities which are better rolled into a broader term: musicality. It's a little slippery to describe, but there is an inherent rightness to the sound of the Amp 2, a naturalness which made the other amps sound slightly clinical and more electronic by comparison. Yes, it has some small flaws, but its compromises are made with such subtlety and grace that the sonic whole adds up to much more than the sum of its parts. Simply, the Amp 2 gets out of the music's way more completely than most and makes for a very satisfying and involving sound. As with the Rotel CD Player, it's few minor flaws are very unobtrusive, and I found myself growing disinterested in comparisons and falling under the spell of the music. Both are products I could live with for the long term.

While I take issue with the implication that musicality and finesse are qualities exclusive to tube-based gear (not to mention that solidity and control are exclusive to solid state), Anthem has succeeded in building an amp which does exactly what they wanted it to do: "combines the musicality and finesse of vacuum tubes, with the solidity and control of solid state." If you're neither a die hard tube head nor a dyed in the wool transistor stickler, then you might find that the best of both worlds is exactly what you're looking for.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/columns/aaron-at-large-wtr-2000.html

NAD L 40 CD Player/Stereo Receiver

If the reviews in this issue are any indication, the CD/receiver is the hottest new category in electronics, at least for stereo systems (in home theatre it seems to be multidisc DVD players). The NAD L40 comes without speakers, so I thought a good coupling would be with the wonderful Paradigm Reference Studio 40, though Paul Barton, designer for NAD sibling company PSB might not agree. Oh well, Paul, we'll get to one of your new models in our next issue.

The L 40's simplicity starts with its name, and continues to its operation. The remote control is small and hand friendly, while the front panel has just what you need: you'll find no goofy gizmos, no GUI menus, and no deadly DSP. It is also limited in the number of external sources that can be used, so we're also talking simple system. In addition to the internal CD and AM/FM Stereo tuner, you can add only an Aux (if you can find one), and a cassette deck, for which there are also record outs. Additional RCA outputs are provided for Preamp Out to interface with a larger system or multi-room use, and the company's own NAD Link, which may allow remote control of other components. This would require another remote, since the one that comes with the L 40 doesn't have the necessary buttons.

The CD drawer is at left, just right of the Power button and headphone jack, while the display is at centre, with control buttons and large Volume control at right. Beneath it are small rotary knobs for Treble, Balance, and Bass, left to right, respectively. All the CD controls are under the display.

Most of the time you'll use the remote, which has only 13 well- spaced buttons that can all be reached with a normal size thumb with the unit in hand. It will not control anything but the receiver, not even an NAD cassette deck or Aux, but provides input selection, CD Stop, Play Pause, Skip, this latter button pair also selecting tuner presets, and Volume up/down. The one operational idiosyncrasy I encountered was that you have to go to the front panel to open the CD drawer, even though that button is also Stop when a CD is playing; the second press opens the drawer. However, when you follow logic and try this on the remote, it doesn't work. However, I discovered (What, me read manuals? The Reviewer's Federation doesn't allow it!) that if I pressed the Play button on the remote the drawer would open when there was no CD inside; however, when there's a CD inside you have to go to the front panel to open the drawer. More on the CD player below.

I haven't said much about the tuner so far, and there's really quite a lot to say. This is a receiver for the serious FM listener. And that's not just because it has RDS display; I could find only 2 stations that showed it, both with call letters: CBL-FM (the only one of the 3 CBC frequencies to show RDS) and Buffalo's WYRK.

One of the features for those trying to pull difficult signals out of the ether is tuning in 1/100th mHz increments, ie; 94.10, 94.11, 94.12, etc. This can allow off-tuning to receive close together stations that interfere, though stereo signals require being right on frequency.

You won't have to do this much, anyway, because this tuner is so selective, as well as being sensitive. It pulled a whopping 52 stations out of the air in pretty average reception conditions, including several I'd never heard before, including a Niagara Falls tourist information station broadcasting from the Skylon Tower. There are 30 station presets, and these can even be named, using a complicated scrolling process. This allows you to make up for what the broadcasters aren't doing with RDS, though you'll never get a scrolled weather forecast this way (and, speaking of just such extra radio services, look for our coming feature on the new digital radio services, DAB, now operating in the Toronto area; we've got it in the car from Pioneer, and will also look at the Arcam home tuner soon).

As I said, the L 40 tuner is also very selective, and close together stations are no problem, and this also increased the station count. There's a cluster of stations around 103 that usually merge. Here, Hamilton's 102.9, Cobourg's 103.1, somewhere's (probably Buffalo's) 103.5, and 103.9 all came in well in stereo, only 103.3 being a casualty of selectivity. Maybe a McIntosh MR-80 would bring them all in (the FT-1's performance is similar to that of the NAD), but this reception, especially a clean stereo signal from CFMX, 103.1, is a real accomplishment. Perhaps more important, the L 40 tuner is a very good sounding one, coming rather close to our Fanfare FT-1, but just lacking that last bit of audio transparency. For a receiver this is outstanding performance.

And on to the CD player. We put it through the standard tests, starting with the Verany calibrated dropout CD. In the single errors, it managed through track 34 (2mm), ticking on 35, and in the narrow gauge dropouts it handled 41 (1.5mm), while in the double dropouts it played through 48 (2 x 1.5mm), ticking and jumping ahead on 49 and 50.

The Canadian-made CD CHECK disc was played cleanly only on Track 1, with a small amount of ticking on 2, and a lot above. Because the L 40 has no digital output we could not hook up the DED Pro digital error counter. Our random error disc caused a lot of ticks and repeated phrases right from the beginning, the player locking up completely at the 1-minute mark exactly, and then skipping forward, to lock totally at 2:10.

And, finally, the see-through CD we use to test for manufacturing defect sensitivity was not well played, either, with loud ticking and distortion on tracks 1, 2, and 3, this gradually decreasing by tracks to a small amount on 4. These results suggest a player that may be sensitive to CDs with pinholes, or with insufficient aluminizing, and will have trouble with other dropouts larger than 2mm. However, most Red Book standard CDs should play perfectly (the dropout limit is a low .2mm).

In listening the CD player showed no reluctance to track and play discs, and sounded very good, as did the receiver as a whole. The amplifier is rated at only 20 wpc, but is claimed to be able to provide 80 watts into 2 ohms and drive difficult loads easily. It is said to be identical to the amp used in the NAD 310 integrated amplifier. It sounded clean and neutral, with plenty of power with the Paradigm Studio 40s. You might want something with more bells and whistles, but, as the Stones say, "if you try, sometimes you get what you need."

The NAD L 40 is a seriously simple component for the audiophile and music lover who listens to FM and CDs, and it could be augmented with the company's PP-1 phono preamplifier for those also having vinyl collections (perhaps this is the Aux we were alluding to earlier), and still not bust the budget. I think NAD has a real winner here for sound and sensibility.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/receivers/nad_l-40.html

Myryad MI 120 Integrated Amplifier, MC 100 CD Player and MT 100 FM Tuner

Myryad Systems came together in the partnership of Chris Short, former owner and managing director of Mordaunt-Short, Chris Evans, a founder and director of Arcam, and David Evans, a veteran of NAD. The M Series components are their upscale line, and handsome they are, as well as very competitively priced for what they are.

The MI 120 integrated amplifier offers 60 wpc rms with inputs for CD, Video, Tuner, Aux, and a pair of tape inputs (with outs for both), as well as an upgrade preamp-out and amp-in pair of RCAs for potential bi-amping; there is a power amplifier, the MA 120 ($1195), also 60 wpc, that can be added to the system.

The MT 100 FM tuner has 19 presets and is very easy to use, with a front-panel tuning knob that allows fast access to stations or presets. There are readouts for frequency and station strength, which is shown numerically, as are preset numbers.

The MC 100 CD player was a 1-bit type until the company found it could buy the better DACs found in the $2695 MC 500 in quantity for the same pricee or less. So now both players use a 24-bit Crystal delta-sigma converter, though the more expensive player has more and better power supplies and two toroidal transformers instead of one. A British review in HiFi News & Record Review notes that the transport is a Sony CDM14.

The system remote (there are also separate remotes for tuner and CD player) provides for control of all three components' basic functions, with numeric buttons that can select either CD tracks or FM presets depending on which input is selected. The remote also has a 3-stage Dim button, that, curiously, operates only the tuner display, the CD one remaining a bright blue. In and out RCA jacks on each component's rear panel marked MY connect the units for otherwise full control, including simultaneous powering up and down.

I plugged these three components together, and connected them to the Enigma Oremus speakers via Kimber 8TC cables. First to be checked out was the MT 100 tuner. Connected to our listening room outdoor yagi antenna it brought in 43 stations, most of these in good stereo, with notably excellent selectivity; these stations stayed in their correct frequency allocations, and weaker signals could be tuned nearby. Sonically, the tuner was excellent, though not quite in the league of our reference Fanfare FT-1. I'd say it's a real value at its price.

The MC 100 CD player turned out to be a remarkable tracker of discs, able to play the Verany test CD's single dropouts to track 35 (2.4mm), the narrow gauge errors to 42 (2mm), and the double glitches through 49 (2 x 2.4mm). Few players in our experience have even come close to this tracking ability, which was further confirmed by its perfect play of the CD CHECK disc through 3 of the 5 levels of error, with moderate ticking on 4.

In our random error disc it played through the track almost perfectly, hiccuping just after the 2-minute mark, but then playing perfectly the rest of the way through. The partially transparentCD we use to check for tolerance of manufacturing defects was not so well handled, the first 2 tracks ticking audibly. Though the MC 100 will track virtually all dirty and damaged discs easily with powerful error correction and interpolation, it reads insufficiently aluminized CDs less well.

The sound of this player was very analog-like, with an easy quality that combined good rhythmic drive with very clean, articulate sound. While not an Arcam Alpha 9, it certainly came close, with a warmth that minimized listening fatigue.

But I guess I'm begging the question of how each component sounds by not describing the system sound, which was all of what has been already said. This is a very good sounding system, more refined and a little more dynamic than, say, the Linn Classik, which sets a standard for its price point. Here we're talking quite a few more dollars, of course, close to $5000 even without speakers. And the Enigma Oremus speakers, an excellent choice with this amplifier, are another couple of thousand.

I also like the look of the Myryad M Series components: not too many buttons or knobs, and an understated elegance that inspires confidence. Its sound is silky and detailed, with plenty of power, the amplifier's power supply obviously well designed and up to the task of providing a real 60 watts. Remote control quirks aside, these are very well engineered components. If I were Arcam CEO John Dawson, I'd be keeping a close watch on ex-partner, Chris Evans, and Myryad.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/systems/myryad.html

Linn Classik Integrated Amp/CD Player/Kan Speakers

Over the past few years Linn has become increasingly system-oriented, this trend accelerated by their strong move into high end home theatre. It was inevitable, therefore, that they would introduce an entry-level high end audio system, and here it is. Very cleverly, the product designers at the Glasgow company have combined a CD player based on the Mimik with an integrated amplifier based on the Magik 1 , and redesigned the Kan speakers to go with this new component. They had already made it possible by the inclusion of the Kudos module to turn the Mimik into a receiver, so this new system should come as no surprise to Linn watchers.

The Classik looks very much like the company's other products, more specifically, like a Mimik, but its remote control is what tells of its real sophistication. There are inputs for Tuner and Aux, as well as a pair of tape monitors. Bass and Treble controls are offered, too, and the remote will also control a Linn Kudos tuner in addition to the CD player. With the outboard tuner or the built-in CD player, the Classik, allows you to "wake up to your favourite music with clock, alarm and timer features."

On the rear panel, in addition to the already mentioned inputs and outputs, we find a preamp output pair of RCAs which can be used to drive another system, or to add a subwoofer to the system, something that can also be done using the second pair of speaker outputs. Incidentally, the speaker outputs use a special recessed connector that probably pleases the IEC, but requires matching male connectors, these supplied on cables by Linn. Power output of the Classik is rated at 75 watts per channel into 4 ohms, the impedance of the Kan speakers bottoming out at about 5 ohms (more on this below).

We did our standard tracking tests on the CD section, and these showed the player to have excellent test-bench performance. In the Verany calibrated dropouts, it played cleanly through track 32 (1.25mm), with a few ticks on 33 (1.5mm), while in the narrow gauge dropouts it managed 41 (1.5mm), and in the double dropouts played 49 (2 x 2.4mm), quite unusual in our tests.

CD-CHECK was also nicely traversed, with all but the 5th track played cleanly, 4 having a dropout of 1.125mm.

In our random error disc, the Classik was less successful, playing to the 43-second mark before locking up, while in the partially transparent CD it ticked slightly and had a bit of garble from heavy error concealment on tracks 1 and 2, but managed 3 and 4 cleanly. These results suggest a player that corrects and conceals errors in a continuous signal (like those on the Verany and CD-CHECK discs) better than it does musical information, but still can handle large dropouts up to 2mm. In later listening tests to the system it tracked perfectly, and judging by the transparent-disc results should have little trouble with pinholes and other similar CD manufacturing defects.

In comparison to other CD players under test, the Linn sounded very good, and was the one to most closely approach the sound quality and resolution of the Arcam Alpha 9, which is itself a powerful compliment. Heard in our reference system through the Classik preamp outs, this player had excellent deep bass, a very open midrange, and an essentially easy quality that made things very musical and involving. This character was retained through the amplifier section, attesting to its transparency, which certainly matches that of the Mimik, adding a few watts of power in the process.

The Kans don't seem to need much of that power to play quite loud, and showed good frequency response for speakers this small, being +/-3 dB from about 70 Hz to 10 kHz in the Pink Noise Sweep (PNS) at top. Their character tends to emphasize the lower midrange somewhat, with a rolloff above 2 kHz that will make them balance quite nicely in smaller rooms. Rear-ported, they will get some useful deep bass reinforcement from bookshelves, walls, or corners. The axial measurements show excellent dispersion, which will ensure uniformity of sound throughout the listening space.

I found the Kans' sound quality, though detailed and spacious with particularly good depth, a little forward, but some listeners may find this quality endearing. It is possible to buy just the Classik electronics and mate them with other speakers. Some Canadian budget models might prove better values, but, on the other hand, there is no denying the synergy of the all-Linn system, and I'm sure many buyers will not question this. As well, I found that a little judicious use of the excellent Classik tone controls not only redressed this imbalance, but improved deep bass in the process. In fact, I tried the Paradigm Titans (tone controls set to flat) with the Classik, and found myself preferring the greater articulation and better soundstaging of the tweaked Kans.

A key to this might be found in the electrical phase shift through crossover seen in the midrange for each speaker; it is quite a bit greater in the Titan, more than +/-45.o., while the Kan varies somewhat less. I think this greater coherence, that is, sounds from woofer/midrange and tweeter starting and stopping more accurately in time, accounts for the Kans' better image and soundstage depth. I think the ear can better perceive these micro-details and directional cues when they are more correctly coherent in their arrival at the listening position.

After that mini-essay on acoustics, I should look at the Kan impedance curve. As noted, it has its low point at about 5 ohms, this around 200 Hz, the highest impedance being in the bass near 100 Hz at 19 ohms. These speakers are not only quite sensitive, but an easy load, especially for the Classik, which has plenty of power to drive them.

In general, the more I listened to the full Classik system, the more I liked its clarity, imaging, and outright fidelity, the dynamic range quite surprising for the speaker size, as was bass reach and power. Whether you are seeking entry level high end, or a second smaller-room audio system, you'll almost certainly find the Linn Classik a compelling option. You can even have it wake you up every morning as the ultimate bedroom system.

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/systems/linn-classik.html

Audio Refinement Complete System

Giving the name "complete" to the components in this system of French origin and oriental manufacture reminds me of an old insult: "Everyone wants their life to be complete, and yours is, because you're a complete (fill in appropriate word)." I suspect the word "complet" has different connotations in French, but I think the whole idea is to get you to buy the whole system.

This tuner, CD player, and integrated amplifier were designed by Yves Bernard Andre to achieve the sonic goals of his YBA philosophy at a more affordable price, and are built in Taiwan. Available in either brushed aluminum or black finish, these are handsome components with a definite high end look.

As with all YBA components, the Complete series has 3 pointed feet, though here they are rubber, which I guess softens the concept of mechanical grounding. The trio stacks nicely, and I put the amplifier (which runs cool) at bottom with CD player above, and tuner on top. All are controlled by a system remote control which is sold separately for $75, perhaps another inducement to buy all three; I think dealers will throw it in if you do go for the whole shebang. The remote has only 13 buttons, 3 of which assign others to CD, Amp, and Tuner functions. This allows control without confusion, something that's been forgotten by many makers of home theatre components. How many times recently, when reviewing HT stuff, have I had to turn the light on to find the right button in the forest on the remote? Too often. This solid, metal-cased control is worth the 75 bucks. I'll say more about its operational oddities in looking at each component's functions.

The tuner offers both AM and FM, with 14 presets in 2 ranks of 7 assignable to either. The rotary tuning knob is at right, and can be assigned to scan presets or tune manually, and presets can be accessed directly via 7 buttons beneath the LCD display at centre. Scanning of presets and frequencies are possible with the remote control.

In our reception test with a directional outdoor yagi antenna, the Complete tuner showed itself to be very selective, allowing reception of numerous close together stations. It was also quite sensitive, very close to our reference Fanfare FT-1 in this respect, bringing in 45 stations. However, it did show somewhat more propensity to multipath distortion than some tuners we've reviewed, but this was in combination with an ability to bring in weaker stations in quite good stereo. Reception comparisons with our other two tuners (within a 1/2-hour period and therfore with virtually identical reception conditions), the FT-1 and a Sony 5130 yielded 49 and 43 stations, respectively, compared to the Complete's 45.

The AM section was pretty much average in sound quality and sensitivity, but benefited quite a bit from the tuning capabilities of the Terk AM Advantage. This loop antenna is quite directional and has its own tuning dial to bring stations in better.

FM sound quality was surprisingly good for a tuner in this price range, and though not in the class of the Fanfare, certainly better than what we hear from most receivers. The FT-1 seemed to be a little cleaner at high frequencies. I also compared it to a vintage Sony 5130 that I bought for a song a couple of years ago, mostly for its beautiful oiled walnut case; I knew it was a very fine tuner, and set it up in the home theatre room. For this test it was brought in and set up with the Complete in the audio listening room, hooked up to our outdoor Yagi directional antenna.

The Sony tuner has a nice analog quality to it, but because of its fixed IF window, which is rather narrow, it tends to sound a little mellow and closed in at the top, though very pleasant to listen to. The Audio Refinement does have a little more, ahem, refinement in its sound, and a little more sparkle at upper frequencies. The Fanfare sounds smoother, more detailed, and has more depth and breadth of soundstage when listening to a good classical station. They are all very good tuners, and the Complete holds its own in the group.

The Audio Refinement CD Complete was tested in our usual manner, starting with the Verany calibrated dropouts. In the single ones, it played right through track 37 (3mm) without a glitch, and then played 38 (4mm) after a tick or two. In the narrow gauge dropouts, it ticked on 42 (2mm), and played on, this also the case through track 50 in the double dropouts (2 x 3mm). This CD mechanism seems to adapt itself to missing data and then go about its business, at least with these 400 Hz sine wave tones.

The Canadian CD Check Disc was played without incident through track 4 (1.125mm), also unusually good performance, while our random error disc played to 1:35 before muting, and then skipping forward to the 2:10 point and playing on. It muted a few more times, but kept playing, never locking up or skipping ahead again. The partially transparent disc we use to test for sensitivity to manufacturing defects, such as pinholes, was played in fashion similar to what we've heard from most other players, with loud ticking on tracks 1 and 2, and clean play on 3 and 4. The CD Complete is a very good tracker with the ability to ignore large errors, so it should be relatively immune to dirt and fingerprints, but might have problems with disc you can see through when you hold them up to the light. On balance, it's one of the best CD trackers we've encountered. I'll have more to say about its sound quality below.

The Complete integrated amplifier offers 6 inputs, 2 of them tape monitors, these accessed by tiny front panel buttons at right or by scrolling through them on the remote. The rotary knob at right is the Record selector, that at left Volume. The other inputs are labeled Tuner, CD, Aux, and Video. All RCA inputs on the rear panel are gold plated, as are the 5-way speaker output binding posts; a rubber sleeve (red +/black -) covers these, and each is marked YBA. There is only a single set of outputs. This integrated amplifier is quite fully featured, but also very simple, both operationally and in its elegant styling. I started our listening using the Totem Arro speakers, connected with our bi-amp/bi-wire Kimber 8TC with its new WBT locking and stackable banana connectors. I'd been very impressed with the Arros driven by the Celeste I-5080. However, here the sound was rather edgy and bright, very solid state sounding in that 70s way, and I knew the Complete amp had to sound better than this.

The next day, speaker designer Andrew Welker arrived with his new babies (API's Ian Paisley is also a proud godfather), the Mirage MRM-1 small monitors, and they immediately went onto the end of the 8TC.

What a difference! Suddenly the sound was full bodied, open, and very musical. Now, the Arro dips to 4 ohms around 200 Hz, and has quite high impedance peaks above and below, so that might be the problem. The MRM is a perfect match for this system, though pehaps not in price at $3500 a pair. I spent a whole afternoon listening to various musical selections with Andrew and Jason Ziedel, the Mirage product manager. The Complete system sounded superb throughout this auditioning, and that with the various tuners the next morning. The MRMs have quite astonishing bass for their size, reaching with authority down into the mid-30-Hz range, and the Complete amplifier drove them with ease and panache. By the way, I haven't mentioned power output because there is nothing about it in the literature from YBA. I would guess that it's at least 50 watts per channel.

At about $4000 for the complete system, this is budget audio only in relation to YBA. There are matched systems out there in the same price range, such as the Myryad components reviewed in the last issue, that also deliver very good performance, though few are as consistently good from component to component as the Complete system. Here you have a truly excellent tuner, a CD player that is one of the better single box types under $2000, and an amplifier that, while fussy about driving low impedance speakers, sounds quite exceptional for its price with the right pair. If I know Yves Bernard Andre (and I know him but slightly), he's probably already designing an upgraded amp with 2 power transformers and a beefed up power supply just as he did with the YBA Integre. Then this system will really be made "complet".

http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/systems/audio-refinement-complete.html