Stereophile May 2016

THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS THIS ISSUE: Do we really want accuracy from our systems, or musical enjoyment? I was in a strange mood last January when I posted this on Facebook: “Do speaker designers strive for accuracy, or for a ‘sound’ they think potential buyers want?” I doubted that any designer with two working ears would even attempt to design speakers that merely measured well—there must be at least some subjectivity in their process. I also assumed that few designers would go on record about where they stand on the accuracy question, so I was thrilled when Elac Americas’ speaker designer, Andrew Jones, responded: Accuracy in terms of closest approach to the original performance is not practical nor even possible. There is no way to capture an original…

TAKE HEED! Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. In the spirit of vigorous debate implied by the First Amendment, and unless we are requested not to, we publish correspondents’ e-mail addresses. Whither the Soundstage? Editor: In the February 2016 issue of Stereophile Art Dudley stated, in his review of the Master & Dynamic MD40 headphones (p.31): “Were the MH40s accurate in their reproduction of the soundstage? Beats me. Since there’s really no such thing as a ‘soundstage’ . . .” Is Art declaring that headphones in general are not capable of rendering the phenomenon of an audio “soundstage”? Or is he declaring either that the phenomenon of an audio “soundstage” simply does not exist in any type of audio reproduction, or that…

SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should e-mail the when, where, and who to JAtkinson@enthusiastnetwork.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the July 2016 issue is April 20, 2016. BBC/YOUTUBE Paul Messenger Every so often, BBC TV broadcasts a program so interesting that I feel I must share it with a wider audience. BBC Four’s Music Moguls: Masters of Pop is a three-part series produced and directed by Pete Stanton, for BBC Scotland’s Arts division. Originally broadcast in January 2016, it is now available online via the BBC’s iPlayer.1 Each episode is interesting in its way: “Money Makers” is about managers, with fascinating glimpses of Peter Grant and Andrew Loog Oldham in their retirements; “Myth Makers” is about PR and marketing. But it’s the…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website dedicated solely to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophilesocieties. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@XLinkAudio.com. 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. ARIZONA ❚Wednesday, April 27, 7–9pm: The Arizona Audio Video Clubwill hold its monthly meeting at Trinity Lutheran Church, 9424 N. Seventh Street, Phoenix 85021. This event is a bit unusual for the club, in that one member will, by request, provide his system for the meeting. Come hear various source components drive a Hegel Music Systems 160 integrated (rave reviews) fronting a pair of DIY SB Acoustics (Madisound) speakers. Bring some tunes.…

THIS ISSUE: LKV Research’s Veros One phono preamplifier and Triangle Art’s Apollo MC cartridge. Designer Bill Hutchins, of LKV Research, builds the 2-SB moving-magnet/moving-coil phono preamplifier in North Conway, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire; he uses as many US-sourced parts as possible, and sells his products factory direct. I reviewed the 2-SB in March 2014, on AnalogPlanet.com:1 the 2-SB’s sound was exceptionally fine—especially if you like refined, solid-state quiet and detail, and especially considering its then-price of $2500. Since that review’s publication, the 2-SB has been upgraded with a version of the third gain stage from LKV’s JFET-based Veros One phono preamp ($6500; see below), and its price has risen to a still-reasonable $3000. The LKV 2-SB works in class-A, has a fully differential balanced signal path with cascaded JFETs,…

THIS ISSUE: Naim’s classic Nait 2 integrated amplifier is being given a new lease on life. Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.—ROBERT FROST Perhaps it was different for other audio hobbyists in other parts of the world, but to this American, the Naim Audio of the late 1970s and early ’80s seemed a bit prickly. It wasn’t just their road-less-traveled-by attitude toward amplifier design—scorning class-A output architecture, preferring DIN connectors to RCA jacks, routing preamp output signals and power-supply voltages through the same cable—but also the British company’s perspectives on selling and setting up and even listening to hi-fi gear that seemed combative: Shopping for amplifiers based on output power is foolish. Using short speaker cables and long interconnects is the wrong…