SilentMax 3D Acoustic Panel
January 9, 2023 Comments Off on SilentMax 3D Acoustic Panel
https://www.monoandstereo.com/2022/12/silentmax-3d-acoustic-panel.html
The very first installation of the Silentmax 3D acoustic panel system in the USA on the back wall (in front of windows) of the listening room.

Burmester 217 turntable £18,700 Review
January 9, 2023 Comments Off on Burmester 217 turntable £18,700 Review
Breaking down the sound of the Burmester 217 is ultimately self-defeating because it’s an extremely coherent sound. Going back to that Nic Jones album once more, his voice, guitar and fiddle playing demand a system that communicates music well, and that’s precisely what the 217 does so well. This album normally shows up a higher-mass turntable as being a bit ponderous and rhythmically challenged, but on the 217, it’s light, tight and beautifully ordered. Swap Nic Jones for Frank Sinatra singing ‘It Happened in Monterey’ [Songs For Swinging Lovers, Capitol] and the 217 nails it; both Nelson Riddle’s excellent scoring and Sinatra’s uncanny passing tones meld together exactly as you always knew they should.
My only real issue with the 217 is more ‘philosophical’ than ‘musical’. I’m still unsure if the high-end turntable market ‘gets’ the notion of a turn-key turntable like this. While there was a long hiatus when turntables were starting to be discussed in the past tense, audiophiles before and after the vinyl revival almost universally selected the turntable, arm, and cartridge from a selection rather than select them as a single entity. Even brands that provide all the links in the chain (Clearaudio, for example) don’t specify their high-end models as a turnkey solution.


Carver Black Magic 25
January 8, 2023 Comments Off on Carver Black Magic 25
The amp runs cool, and provides a sound not as romantic as a vintage Mcintosh, Marantz or Dynaco amp, yet still delivers plenty of tubey, midrange magic that you’d expect. And of course, with only three input tubes, you can roll em’ if you’ve got em’ to fine tune and experiment.
Thanks to careful design, this little jewel plays louder than you would expect a 25Wpc amp to play, even with less efficient speakers like a pair of Harbeths, or your favorite LS3/5a variation on the theme.

Q Acoustics Concept 50 REVIEW
January 8, 2023 Comments Off on Q Acoustics Concept 50 REVIEW
That last sentence is important as it describes the Q Acoustics Concept 50 perfectly; it passes every test with flying colours. It’s a £2,000 loudspeaker that sounds almost like a £4,000 loudspeaker. The design isn’t just ‘another box’ but nor are the innovations that go into the design merely there for their own sakes. A loudspeaker that is easy to drive and possessed of a classic sound yet isn’t so ‘classic’ as to be boring and isn’t undemanding of electronics in quality terms. With Concept 50, Q Acoustics more than earns a place at audio’s top table.

High End ANC Headphones Tested – Focal Bathys, B&W PX8, Mark Levinson 5909
January 8, 2023 Comments Off on High End ANC Headphones Tested – Focal Bathys, B&W PX8, Mark Levinson 5909
HiFi Rose RA180 integrated amplifier $6995 REVIEW
January 7, 2023 Comments Off on HiFi Rose RA180 integrated amplifier $6995 REVIEW
https://www.stereophile.com/content/hifi-rose-ra180-integrated-amplifier
Perhaps the GaN transistors’ decreased “dead time” helped music’s sense of smoothness and continuity. Maybe their speed aided quick and sharp transient attacks and overall dynamics. It’s hard to say, but I do know I enjoyed my time with HiFi Rose’s RA180 flagship. At times it felt hyper-responsive. Its heightened detail lent an exciting intensity to most material.
Except perhaps for this impression of heightened detail, the RA180 remained mostly neutral in its tonal balance. If anything, it ran slightly cool rather than warm. Once in a while, the RA180 verged on leaning a little too far to light, clean, and shiny, like a new penny. Yet, in any kind of music—delicate classical, hard funk, crystalline electronica, all the other stuff I played—the RA180 maintained its cool sense of control.
Audiophiles who appreciate a unique visual and functional design and fast, clear, detailed sound—especially those with biampable speakers (or, even more, who use supertweeters)—should give the HiFi Rose RA180 a long look and listen.


Mark Levinson No. 5909 Review
January 7, 2023 Comments Off on Mark Levinson No. 5909 Review
The soundstage the Mark Levinson describe isn’t the most expansive in all of headphone-land, but it’s authoritatively controlled and consequently extremely easy to understand. Every element of a recording stands securely in a personal pocket of space, enjoys absolute positivity where attack and decay of its contributions are concerned – but is nevertheless integrated into the overall performance in an entirely believable fashion. There’s nothing detached about the way the No. 5909 present music, any more than there’s anything ostentatious or self-satisfied about the way they sound. More than anything, in fact, they sound uncomplicatedly and thrillingly musical.
The post-COVID-19 world has gone a bit mad; people are paying £35,000 for an £8,000 Rolex watch now. So, getting a foot on the Mark Levinson ladder without buying either a room full of expensive equipment or a well-specified Lexus suddenly seems eminently sensible in today’s world. And if you’re fortunate enough to consider the No. 5909 a realistic option then a) lucky you, and b) make sure you hear a pair as soon as possible. You won’t regret it.

Magnepan LRS+ Quasi Ribbon Floorstanding Loudspeaker $995 Review
January 6, 2023 Comments Off on Magnepan LRS+ Quasi Ribbon Floorstanding Loudspeaker $995 Review
Before discussing the Plusses’ downside, I need to say a word about setup. In the old days, Maggies were typically listened to head-on, without any toe-in, for greatest neutrality. A lot of folks still prefer this alignment, but…it won’t work ideally with the LRS or the LRS+. Because of the smaller size of their quasi-ribbon panels and the fact they are two-ways, you may end up with either too much bass or too much treble and not enough in between — i.e., with too dark or too bright a tonal palette — if you don’t cant the speakers in a fair amount (at least 15–20 degrees). Though this may be room-dependent, Maggie also recommends that the speakers be situated with their tweeters (visible via a flashlight shined through the grille as the section of the panel with narrower, more closely aligned foil strips) to the outside and away from the wall and, with the requisite toe-in, their woofers to the inside and closer to the wall. My description of the sound of the LRS+ reflects Maggie’s set-up recommendations, albeit with toe-in painstakingly tweaked almost degree by degree until I achieved a balance that was neither too top-down or too bottom-up but audibly and measurably close to neutral.

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