Weighing 95lb, it is smaller and lighter than its entry-level sibling, the more powerful, 125lb Progression M550 Mono amplifier ($47,500/pair), and is veritably dwarfed by some other monoblocks, including the flagship D'Agostino Relentless Epic 1600 (5701b) and the Karan Acoustics POWERa mono (231lb), which I reviewed last month. But if the M400 MxV's rock-solid look and feel and its exquisite aesthetics-a sleek amalgam of silver and copper fronted by a power meter that glows green and radiates Rolex quality-are any indication, a helluva lot is going on beneath its showy exterior.
Once I took a listen, I discovered sound so smooth and satisfying that the refrain "How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm / After they've seen Paree," from a WWIera song about soldiers not wanting to return to their family farms after experiencing big city life in Paris, kept playing on repeat in my head.
Direct from Cave Creek
What kind of amplifier is this that distracted me so from watering the cows and milking the chickens? D'Agostino's website² offered a few clues. The Momentum M400 MxV is hand built; it includes discrete, direct-coupled, balanced circuitry and boasts a "new, ultra-quiet 2200VA linear transformer" with a winding scheme that is said to reduce the hysteresis effect by 90%, minimizing power and thermal loss. The new winding method also plays a role in increasing current capability by more than 50% and "offer[ing] greater headroom during dynamic passages," which is surely aided by a bank of nearly 100,000μF of supply capacitance. All that adds up to potential output power of 400, 800, and 1600W into speaker loads of 8, 4, and 2 ohms, respectively.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 2023 من Stereophile.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 2023 من Stereophile.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
The Beatles in Mono according to Kevin
It's almost too easy to make Dave Dexter Jr. the villain in the story of the Beatles' fumbled introduction to America.
Stromtank S-4000 ProPower MK-II XT
COMPUTER-CONTROLLED BATTERY POWER SOURCE
Aurorasound HFSA-01
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
Transforming the music
One of my favorite things about this pastime is the modesty of its aims.
Lou Donaldson
Years ago, at one of the milestone NYC anniversary parties for Blue Note Records, a piercing voice burst out above the clinking glasses and chattering tongues, loudly declaiming (quoted here with several profanities omitted), \"Blue Note never gave me a dime!\"
EMM Labs DA2i
Among the many reasons to be grateful for audio shows,' one stands out: They allow me to set reasonable expectations of what components and whole audio systems can or cannot achieve. They have helped me set standards.
POLICED
THAT'S PRETTY ODIOUS,\" ANDY SUMMERS SAYS TO ME. \"AN ODIOUS COMPARISON.\" HIS BLUEISH EYES DARKEN. ROUGHLY AN HOUR INTO OUR 90-MINUTE FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEW, I'D ASKED IF IT BOTHERS HIM THAT IN TERMS OF REACH AND STAYING POWER, HIS SOLO OEUVRE WILL NEVER MATCH HIS WORK WITH THE POLICE.
Focal Diva Utopia
WIRELESS STREAMING ACTIVE LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM
An ultrasonic bargain
The first album I ever bought with my own money-cash earned mowing neighbors' lawns-was a British plum-label pressing of Led Zeppelin II.
MoFi Electronics Source Point 888
A recent high point in my career as a reviewer was writing about the MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 10 standmount loudspeaker for the February 2023 issue of Stereophile.'
