INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
After playing the speakers for me, he began removing his zip-cord speaker cables and paused to show me how, at the amplifier end, his red-plastic Pomona Electronics banana plugs had partially melted from the Al's heat. We both laughed.
After it first appeared in 1985, the AI quickly became famous for its hot top plate. The top plate got as hot as it did because it was used as a heatsink for the output transistors, which were biased highly into class-A. The Al's hot top made tabloid headlines, but for me it was its bold, sinewy, un-transistory sound and timeless, sharply drawn styling that distinguished it from cooler running Brit-fi competitors such as Audiolab's 8000A, Creek's 4040, A&R Cambridge's A60, and NAD's 3020.
Despite the Daily Mirror headlines, it was the Al's all-natural sonics-not its top-plate temperature-that made it an instant classic.
Now it's back, looking and feeling cooler than before.
As I type this, it is 85°F in my room, and I just held my palm 1" from the Al's chassis-top heatsink and could barely feel heat rising up-maybe none at all. Using a digital oven thermometer, I measured the chassis-top temperature at 140.1°F (60°C): too warm for toddler fingers but 5° cooler than the original's design-specified heatsink temperature of 65°Celsius.
History
My introduction to Musical Fidelity's tuneful aesthetic began in the late 1970s, when Anthony Michaelson ran a company called Michaelson & Austin, which was selling EL34 tube amplifiers designed by the first audio designer I christened a "Tall Wizard," my soon-to-be friend and Triode Mafia brother Tim de Paravicini. Tim's design for the TVA-10 was a testament to our shared belief that in any properly designed audio amplifier, tubes and transistors sound alike. I believe Tim's design for Musical Fidelity's Al proved that point.
Bu hikaye Stereophile dergisinin October 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Stereophile dergisinin October 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
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INSTANTLY ICONIC
AUDIO SALON HOST/ENTREPRENEUR/SYSTEM AND FASHION DESIGNER DEVON TURNBULL'S RECORD-BREAKING ART OF NOISE SHOWING AT SAN FRANCISCO MOMA.
Buckeye PURIFI EIGENTAKT 1ET9040BA1
Back in 2016,' I documented the rise of class-D amps using the early Tripath technology. Used in the Bel Canto eVo 200.2, TriPath cracked open the door to the High End but was never admitted due to a dim and opaque treble.
Moon 891
No less than eight boxes, powered by six after-market power cables, comprise my current reference front-end.'
Clearaudio Signature
The Clearaudio allowed each mix, each sonic artifact, to reveal its unique character.
Gryphon Audio Designs Diablo 333
What's in a name? Denmark-based Gryphon Audio Designs laid down a marker when company founder Flemming Rasmussen chose that name in 1985. Browsing through the current Stereophile Recommended Components list, I only found one other manufacturer that utilizes an animal moniker.
The Rega Naia Turntable. Add Lightness.
To watch as Rega very slowly expands its turntable offerings upmarket requires the patience of a Thomas Pynchon addict waiting for each new tome from the notoriously slow-working and reclusive author.
Phono Preamplifier Seduction
Give me the seduction, give me the pleasure,\" Ron Sutherland was nearly shouting into the phone. \"I want to turn off the analytical mind and just enjoy myself!\"
Record Player Revelations
Like romance or car racing, the act of playing records is tactile by design. Like drifting through curves or making out, spinning vinyl is a learned skill that requires users to touch everything with practiced assurance.
Taking Care of Business
As Jim Austin wrote in this space in the December 2024 issue, following a medical procedure that he had in mid-October, he needed to take several weeks' leave to recuperate. He delegated the magazine's production to Managing Editor Mark Henninger, AVTech Editorial Director Paul Miller, and myself. The three of us worked with copy editor Linda Felaco and longtime art director Jeremy Moyler to produce the issue you hold in your hands.
Estelon X Diamond Mk II
Taste is a funny thing. Love cilantro? Millions swear it tastes like soap.