issue number 5: may 2006

Affordable$$Audio Issue Number 5: May 2006

Interview with Jack Elliano of Electra-PrintPage 3

Inside-Out: Bozak B-302A A Tour of a true classic.0

iPod 60 Gig Using the hottest piece of electronics as a music serverPage 12

AV123 Onix x-ls Big bang for very little bucksPage 14

Interview with Mark Schifter of AV123

Page 18

The Jazz File Hamiet Blueitt Sextet: Young Warriors, Old Warriors

Page 21 DIY Workbench Replacing the spring prong speaker connector Page 24

Zebra Cables ZC-Sp12SD High Value sound,

Page 26

From the Pulpit Building a bargain system Page 28

Letters Page 30

Mission Statement Page 31

About Us

Page 32

The Hidden Danger in Reviewing Equipment

One of my hopes when I started Afford-able$$Audio, is that it would keep my desire for upgrading my system in check. After all, I’d be spending most of my listening time working with review equipment. In large part that has happened, I have gotten out of my system the desire to own many such pieces for a variety of reasons. But still, our materialistic world tugs on me from time to time. Recently, I’ve had the hankering for an integrated amp of high quality that meets within my rather mea-ger budget. Being the cheapskate that I am, used is of course a definite option.

In a way it seems kind of silly to be thinking integrated as I managed to add to my main/review system of Adcom GFA 535 amplifier, a very minty matching Adcom GTP 450 with re-mote. This has allowed me to limit my HK re-ceiver to it’s intended role, that of home thea-ter receiver. Which is much easier on my back, as I no longer need to pull it out from the cabinet and haul it to the living room each month.

In addition, of course is last month’s acquisi-tion of an iPod 60 gig as a music server

(reviewed in this issue). I do enjoy the system very much, and for the money it’s a great deal. However, the idea of a more all-purpose unit just won’t go away. One reason is the infa-mous Wife Approval Factor. So far, my better-half has been far more tolerant of the stack of equipment and tangle of wires than I ever thought she’d be. Being a professional organ-izer, she loves order, and a jungle of visible wire is akin to us audio fanatics hearing feed-back.

So, the idea of an integrated amplifier in con-junction with the iPod and speaker wires makes for a very out-of-the-way system. I’ve been doing quite a bit of research and some significant drooling as a few pieces have ap-peared from various sources. Unfortunately, my audio savings is not anywhere near suffi-cient for the quality-level I’m looking at. Plus, I’m not finished with my list of finalists for sec-ondary research. A couple of brands I am in-terested in are Creek, Krell, Musical Fidelity, Audio Refinement (Yba, etc.) Classe. If any of you have suggestions please email me at: [email protected]. Just remember, I’m nowhere near ready to buy anything yet!

T H E E - Z I N E F O R F R U G A L A U D I O E N T H U S I A S T S

Affordable$$Audio ! 1

Weather & ListeningWith the advent of warmer, sunnier weather, I have noticed some subtle differences in my hearing. My equipment sounds louder at the same volume than it did in January. In addi-tion, the frequency response seems wider. This puzzled me for a few days, then the pieces fell together, much the same way as the intrigue in The DaVinci Code. As the air warms and sunnier days appear in the Pacific Northwest, the humidity drops thus making the air lighter and increasing the distance the sound wave travels before eroding.

Of course I am still dealing with the issue of low altitude, as the elevation in the Portland, Oregon area is approximately 300 feet above sea level. Growing up, I was spoiled by the thin and dry mile high air of Denver. Some of you may think this is trivial, however, the world-famous Caribou Ranch recording studio (northwest of Denver at 8000 ft) promoted the sound difference. Such famous artists as El-ton John, Joe Walsh, Al DiMeola, Dan Fogel-berg, Rod Stewert, U2, Carol King, to mention just a few took advantage of the pristine air.

It would be fair to point out the other side of the thin air argument in audio listening, that of the thicker air acting like acoustic wall treatment, thus deadening the room. Whatever the case may be, all I know is that I’m enjoying the music more than ever.

Snail Mailing For ReviewsBeing new to the audio publication world, emails don’t always work in gaining the atten-tion of some manufacturers. When requesting samples via email, I wait usually about two

weeks and then send a second request. If I still don’t hear from the manufacturer, I fire up my printer, grab the good stationary, and let the USPS do it the old-fashioned way. So far, the results have been well worth the 39 cents.

Just to let you know, the staff contacts the manufacturers they wish to review. I follow up if needed, but in allowing the staff to go with what intrigues them, I believe it allows Afford-able$$Audio to avoid focusing on the narrow view of what I find interesting as publisher. After all, different manufacturers have areas of focus, and what may be rare to me in the Pa-cific Northwest, is quite common in the heart-land.

May InterviewsThis month begins with an interview with one of the giants of amplifier design, Jack Elliano, of Electra-Print. It’s a fascinating read, even for the non-techie. We also have an interview with Mark Schifter of AV123, one of the up and comers in audio.

Audio Shop DirectoryLast month I asked you, the good readers of A$$A to send in your suggestions of quality, independent audio shops across North Amer-ica. Many of your responded and I’d like to say thanks. But the list is far from being where I want it to be, so, if you haven’t sent in your list please email me at: [email protected].

So, sit back, turn up the tunes and enjoy this month’s A$$A.Mark Marcantonio, Owner/Publisher

A F F O R D A B L E $ $ A U D I O

2! Affordable$$Audio

Interview with Jack Elliano of Electra-PrintBy John Hoffman

This month Affordable Audio readers are in for a real treat. Jack Elliano has agreed to take some time from his busy schedule and give us his views on a variety of subjects. This inter-view covers a lot of ground, and I believe that every reader will find something interesting within this piece. Up front I will say that Jack is one of the good guys in the audio world, and he is going to tell you what he believes in very straightforward manner. So let us see what the man behind Electra Print audio has to say about the world of two channel audio.

A$$A When did you become interested in audio gear?

JE Early in the 60's I was a moderately suc-cessful musician, which means that at least I was working every week. When we did studio work I noticed how impressive the playback was from the studio monitors. Those Holly-wood studios we recorded at were in heavy competition therefore the playback was well done. Early in the 70's I went into the record-ing business, as the performing arts began to diminish for us. My job was all electronics -- mixers, recorders, playback amps, monitors, microphones and the complete wiring of all of the above to perfection. Much had to be learned to survive in that environment. I'll have to admit that what we had put together was very good sounding. The equipment we used have us proper direction as to what full sound reproduction was all about then and now, such as Altec Lansing, Langevine, Cinema, Ampex, McIntosh, Western Electric, Electrovoice, Sony plus all tube mixing consoles. At this

time the industry in Hollywood was friendly and supportive. We never had any problem making it all work. The only downside was the drugged up musicians we had to nurse through recording sessions.

A$$A How did you obtain your education?

JE My basic electronic education started when I was in my early teens and I received my Ham Radio license. In those days we were famil-iar with tubes and tube circuits because we built and used our own equip-ment. After high school I went to work at the phone company because of my Ham Radio skills. Then I, like many Ham Radio en-thusiasts, went to work for aerospace companies during the 60's and 70's

plus taking college classes and working in re-cording studios at night. I rose to be an Engi-neer during the Project Gemini period doing research and circuit design in Radar and Tracking Systems. Thanks to the space race with its government funding I received a rounded education. The passion for Ham Ra-dio and the building and design of my own equipment (no money for new stuff) probably was 70% of any electronic knowledge that sunk in.

A$$A What people in audio have influenced you or work you admire?

JE One person who stands out is Paul Ben-nett, noted transformer designer, who's audio engineering skills started during the 20's in the radio broadcasting field and extended through World War 2 with aircraft communications and instrumentation. Eurcell Harrison was Paul's best friend, and Eurcell developed output transformers for Telefunken for high fidelity radios, such as Grundig Majestic. I think the



first wideband SE output was designed into these radios. Paul later became a consulting engineer for Zenith, Electrodyne and other companies as a transformer designer. Paul also worked for Jim Lancing working with speaker designs. When Cy Brenneman and I met him, he was in his 80's. Paul patiently taught us the fine art of wide bandwidth audio transformers. I still build his SE output designs to this day. As for whose work was most ad-mired, the people remain unknown, but the professional audio equipment, as described earlier, they created was studied and taken seriously as to why they did it that way. It, in no way was built like the standard, profit driven commercial HiFi gear in the 50's, 60's and so on. Finally, some of the best people were the anonymous authors found in books such as Ed Tilton, Fred Terman and Howard Tremaine.

A$$A How was Electra-Print formed or where did it come from?

JE Electra Print was established in 1977 and was a division of International Time Recorder Co. This evolved into transformer design and rapidly grew after overwhelming response to an article we put in an early edition of /Sound Practices/.

A$$A Can you explain how a transformer is wound and what are the critical parameters?

JE Actually I would need a month of your at-tention. Transformers for full bandwidth audio application all have one thing in common and that's proper coupling within its build for the circuit needed. These are the most compli-cated and can be said that they are a blend of many disciplines. Power transformers are completely different as they only operate at one frequency. Chokes (reactors) and induc-tors are singular in operation and are not transformers. They use the expression of self inductance to create a useful action within the circuit and those used in audio have to be wound with the least gradient capacity.

A$$A Do you consider SET amps superior to P-P and why?

JE Single Ended Transformer amps can re-produce more accurately than other types be-cause the output stage is just a large common voltage amp. The voltage motion that devel-ops power, without feedback, and is very close to natural live sound motion. The SE output transformer is larger due to the need to mag-netize most of the core. Therefore the flux variations (audio) rides within a linear (straight portion of BH curve) or magnetic bias. This feature will not allow the audio through zero, as in P-P, but only to saturation or maximum transformer core limits.

P-P always has to divide audio into two deliv-eries and cross through the transformer core to alternately remagnetize at waveform zero. This is notch distortion and can only be re-duced by feedback (except for unity coupling). Feedback is frequently used to improve per-formance but this is like driving a car with the gas to the floor and controlling the speed with the brake. Now to add salt to the wounds, P-P will cancel even order harmonics but will add or emphasize the odd order. To illustrate this, one experiment that still intrigues me is when we took two audio frequencies and mixed them to one waveform which measured as 80% distortion. It then passed through a very good quality commercial P-P amp where the output waveform measured about 50% hmm! But when we then passed it through a SET amp and its output measured 80% just like the original. What Happened to the other 30% within the P-P amp? It appears that there are occasions that some audio signal complexities may also cancel or change structure from the original as well as the P-P tube transfer char-acteristics on even order harmonics.

A$$A Can you explain in layman's terms what your circuit designs do differently than other companies?



JE I've developed a number of designs, the first circuit design we revealed was using the cancellation of harmonic distortion of two con-secutive stages of amplification by the use of each tube's matching transfer characteristics (look it up). They then would vector out there operational curves resulting in a very low dis-tortion. An ex-ample is the grid of the power output tube was measured 4% from its driver tube, then a measured power output of less than 1%. This effect was first published by Sylvania in the late 30's then again in the 50's; it was lost until Cy Bren-neman revealed it in our first article in Sound Practices as a very useful effect for this type of audio amp.

Second circuit design was the UltraPath or complete tube coupling to the transformer. We later found it to be common practice with Western Electric telephone repeaters dating back to the 30's. It is a very good and efficient way to reproduce high quality audio. We also saw this arrangement in one of the studio line amps.

Third was the Direct Reactance Drive or DRD which is an improvement on the old Loftin White. The circuit uses a minimum of parts and absolutely no encumbrances of coupling. The result is a very accurate power amp with a measurable increase of power level over the original Loftin White using the same tubes.

Fourth is a simple means to match an opamp to a grid. A very efficient nickel transformer design forces the opamp to deliver current in-stead of a voltage. In other words when you

connect up to a CD player normally you are hearing the voltage of the opamp with no cur-rent flow to speak of, but when the CD players opamp output must now see a DCR of less than 1 ohm but and impedance held steady by a load resistance on the secondary. A voltage now appears on the transformer secondary

load resistance as a re-sult of opamp current. This current from the opamp is much closer to the published specs and it will usually perform more accurately. We called this the PVA or "Passive Voltage Ampli-fier". All of the above cir-cuits, to the best of our knowledge, are not used by anyone, other than who we given permis-sion.

A$$A What speakers do you use and what parameters work best with your amps?

JE We like to use very sensitive speakers with 100+ db SPL. We have used Edgarhorns because they would reveal everything and I mean everything. We now use D'Appolito de-signs plus Klipsch and mini-monitors, so we can get a good view of most other speakers. I also ask customers what they are using as far as speaker sensitivity to see what results they may get. If they are building or buying a 2 watt amp and they have 85db speakers we rec-ommend a brain scan. To hear detail or high number harmonics that will structure the origi-nal waveform you must have a very sensitive speakers system that will wriggle with the mil-liwatts. After you analyze the typical "I have a 400 watt solid state amp and I can hear every-thing", please get back to me and tell me what they are talking about.

A$$A Are there any trends in audio that con-cern you? What is your opinion of the overall health of the hobby?



JE There is one primary concern, notice I use the word primary, and that's the number of people who are influenced by price and looks as that being the reason for best reproduction of music. This person invariably will hear a more accurate sound from an amp a fraction of the cost and have a change of mind about this hobby. The hobby should be based on cir-cuit performance, proper construction and cor-rect application.

The other concern is the ever growing com-puter programs for circuit and component de-sign. It is a daily battle with people using com-puter generated parameters to order trans-formers. It is a wonder that a computer pro-grammer, who has never plugged in a solder-ing iron in his life, comes up with a perfect mathematical set of parameters for a trans-former and the person who purchased this program expects me to build this thing!! He is usually disappointed after I tell him about the real world.

As for the overall health of the hobby, it ap-pears to be good as it is following the pattern of the old Ham Radio hobby. We used to build most of our equipment, get it working and talk to someone down the block or in another country. The pride expressed to the listener of the very device conveying his voice around the world that he had built, usually made the listener, listen and learn. This was a crude Internet of these days from the 30's to today. The problem now is that most Ham equipment is store bought and as you listen to conversa-tions it is obvious that the users have no idea why they can hear a signal from around the world instantly. Point being is that if everyone stopped building and stopped learning why it all works, we hear questions such as

"Which color interconnect sounds the best". There is no better feeling than when friends compliment you on how real the sound sounds and "you built that?" It must be true that a cu-rious, well balanced person who establishes himself properly into society needs an expres-

sion of accomplishment. This hobby can be that.

A$$A What trends or products in today's audio really excite you?

JE What really excites me is a royal flush! But seriously, what does makes me feel good is when I get a phone call from a customer that completed his project and it works beyond his wildest dreams and the "thanks for the help". As far as audio products- I'm amazed that some of them sell! I am encouraged to see more tube powered equipment than in the past. This shows an increased acceptance by customers.

A$$A Are you teaching a protege your skills of transformer winding and electrical theory?

JE At Electra-Print Audio we do have one that is receptive, inquisitive, dedicated, punc-tual and loyal protege. His attention is admira-ble concerning all the winding and fabrication going on and always pays attention through-out the working day. His name is Stanley, he is my shop cat. If I can find someone just like Stanley to carry on the tradition I will be more than happy to teach him, provided he buys the company also.

A$$A What do you feel the future holds for Electra-Print?

JE The future of Electra-Print is probably the production of amplifiers of quality and unique design. The time left would be best used doing what I love most and that's building and de-signing this type of equipment. Of course I'll keep working with transformers because they are the heart of my products.

A$$A For someone designing or buying an amp, what are the most important specs to pay attention to?



JE The only specs to be aware of are: fre-quency response (+/-1db 20-30 Hz to 20 k Hz), harmonic distortion less than 1% mid-band at midpower, input sensitivity (about 1v to full output), and power needed for speakers used. These specs cover just about every-thing. If any one of these is compromised, the amp will not perform correctly. All other added specs mean very little and are usually there to confuse the customer and drive the price up.

A$$A What do the various types of distortion sound like?

JE Distortion is any modification of the origi-nal signal wave shape. As far as what they sound like, it really can't be objectively de-scribed. However there are many who think they can! Here is a list of several different kinds of distortions.

*Even order - 2^nd , 4^th etc.* This is found when a sine wave has dissimilar shapes on each side of the waveform.

*Odd order - 3^rd , 5^th etc.* This is seen when a sine wave has the same dissimilar shape on each side of the waveform.

*Intermodulation* This is the resulting heterodyne, sum/difference, or beat frequency of two frequen-cies and usually results from an even number fre-quency and an odd num-ber frequency.

*Amplitude or "linearity"* The increase or de-crease of a voltage or power level that does not correspond to the same speed of the in-crease or decrease of the original signal. This can result in compression or expansion is am-plitude distortion.

*Phase* This occurs when the voltage and current of a given waveform arrive at the load at different times, the result is roll off or power decrease.

*Harmonic amplitude* When capacitor cou-pled (C-R) circuitry is used, the capacitive re-actance of this capacitor will have a different reactance or resistance to the fundamental signal and about half the resistance to its 2^nd harmonic. Therefore the resulting waveform will be dissimilar due to the 2^nd harmonic now is twice the amplitude. (Actually the 2^nd harmonic is really the first harmonic of the fundamental but no one acknowledges this fact. It is the confusion of the word "first" being a double of the fundamental or 2 times the fundamental therefore 2^nd prevails.)

A$$A What methods do you use to test your amps? Measurements or listening test?

JE All of our tests are done with measure-ments and with qualified pro-fessional test equipment from HP and Tektronix. If the equipment under test meets the specs mentioned earlier, it will sound and work well. After the objective testing is completed its time for some subjective listening because it is necessary to hear a full system together because oc-casionally, much as I hate to admit it, products don't sound that well. As for listening tests only, this is for people that have no test equipment and like to sound important to others by displaying there inability to figure out why it

sounds good, bad or otherwise. How can one believe what is stated from someone who has had the sound enter his ear, stimulate his nerves, send it to his brain, which can be in any number of conditions, such as emotional, political, drugged, drunk, tired, pissed off, un-dersexed, psychotic and so on, then out of his



mouth an "opinion"! Test equipment cannot do this.

This has been one of the most interesting audio projects I have been involved with for Affordable$$Audio. We have covered a lot of ground in this interview, and in my opinion Jack’s thoughts on many of these subjects are quite refreshing. As you can see, this is not the standard song and dance given out by most audio companies marketing depart-ments. I sincerely hope that every reader of Affordable Audio will find something of value to take from this piece. If there is anything that Jack has said that sparks your interest be sure to give him a call at Electra Print. Just be sure to have an open mind, and more than a few minutes to devote to the conversation.



Inside-Out: Bozak B-302ABy Michael Jarve

This month we take a closer look at the ven-erable Bozak B-302A (Concerto), a classic loudspeaker from one of the first players in hi-fidelity speakers.

The B-302A was the "little brother" to the leg-endary B-410 Concert Grand, but with a 5 cu. Ft. enclosure, no one could call the B-302A "small".

The B-302A was roughly 1/4 of a Concert Grand, utilizing a single 12-inch B-199A woofer, a B-209A 6-inch mid range, and two

B-200Y tweeters.

The 12-inch woofer was specially created by the Bozak company, and consisted of lambs wool fiber and paper pulp to create a variable density cone. This cone was coupled to a 2-inch voice coil and use a treated fabric sur-round. The basket is cast aluminum, and it used an alnico V formulation magnet. Some variations of the B-199 used a ceramic mag-net (called the B-199C - "C" for ceramic, "A" for alnico). The B-199A was designed as an infinite baffle speaker, as such it requires room to breathe, which it does in a cavernouscabinet.

The B-199A was mounted to a special flange

and super-structure that allowed the two B-200Y tweeters to mount quasi-coaxially in front of the woofer. The B-200Y tweeters are aluminum cones that were treated with a latex paint, which becomes powder over time. The 2.5-inch tweeters used a 1/2-inch voice coil and featured alnico magnets.

The B-209A midrange driver is perhaps the star of the show. The 6-inch aluminum cone is also coated in a latex paint, and many (but not all) versions featured a foam dampening ring over the surround to help limit movement. The open-back midrange shared the same enclosure with the woofer, and without the dampening ring, it could act as an over-loaded ABR. The B-209A is



something special with its 2-inch voice coil and substantial 6-pound alnico magnet.

Again, the basket is cast aluminum.

Bozak provided one of the most sophisticated crossovers available in a speaker at that time. Where many manufacturers were satisfied with a bi-polar cap inline with the mid and tweeter, Bozak designed theirs with high-

quality inductors and capacitors that more re-sembles something you would find in higher-end speakers a decade or two later.

The cabinets available for the B-303A were beautiful as a rule. This set in particular I have are the Urban style, and were built to fine-furniture standards. The massive 5-cu. Ft. enclosure is well damped internally, and

sound as a pound.

The B-302A is an excellent "everyday lis-tener". The non-fatiguing, effortless sound does miss out on the top-end, and loses some air, but its midrange magic and bass capabili-ties more than make up for it. There aresmaller speakers that can do more, but the caveat is that they are not nearly so smooth and buttery soft as the Bozak Concerto. The Concerto also has a rather unique ability in that it can fill a whole house with beautifully even and consistent sound in a way that I have never heard in any other loudspeaker. This is the aspect that perhaps impressed me the most. Also, they do not become louder with more power, just larger, and would be a perfect complement for a mid powered tube or capacitor coupled SS amp. Perhaps most surprisingly is the fact that they perform so well with modern, high-power SS gear, too.

Expect to pay a premium for this bit of crushed velvet, though. Units in excellent and good condition will routinely fetch $300-$500. The good news is that in-vesting in a pair of Bozak’s is about as sound of an invest-ment asyou can make. The desire for a smooth, efficient, whole house filling speaker will not diminish among vintagers any time soon. And, unlike other in-demand vintage speaker, replacement parts are common and affordablypriced on popular auction sites.



Apple iPod iPhoto 60 Gig (as a music server)By Mark Marcantonio

Remember your parent’s/grandparents record player? Chances are that it was actually a re-cord changer. The center spindle and stabiliz-ing arm could hold upward of a half a dozen albums or 45’s. Scratches and warps were par for the course, but it was a source of a couple of hours of continuous music that the listener controlled. Over the years audiophiles moved beyond the record changer to the cutting edge of sound, reel-to-reel tape decks. These imposing, yet fascinating mechanisms of sound were the visible signature that this room was under the domain of a true audiophile. The bookcases were usually filled of music both by artist and the inspiration of the owner.

For a couple of decades the reel-to-reel owned the crown for the ultimate in extended play audio. Then, in the mid-1980’s a serious challenger arose, the hi-fi VCR. With it’s own audio head and upwards of 80db of signal-to-noise ratio and six hours of recording time, the next generation of audio fanatics saw a poten-tial new king. However, the hi-fi VCR was just rest stop in the evolution of extended play. Only a few months later, multi disc cd-players reached for the brass ring. Over several years, solidifying their place as the ultimate in long play audio.

On October 23, 2001, the audio game changed. It wasn’t by some lifetime pursuer of audio, but instead, by the iconoclastic guru of the computer industry, Steve Jobs. At first, the iPod was just thought of as the next gen-eration of walkman’s. But a funny thing hap-pened, a small group of owners began to see the iPod concept as the next great piece in the audio fanatic home system. A music storage device/playback device the size of a pack of

cigarettes, a new term in the industry came about, the music server.

Last fall I began to seriously look at buying an iPod. No, I’m not a runner, nor any type of fit-ness fanatic. I was simply looking for a way to enjoy my 80 plus collection of cd’s. Too many times I had listened to my favorite station (KINK 101.9 in Portland, OR, and prior to that, KBCO 97.3 Boulder, CO) play more than a couple of songs from my collection back-to-back. The instant access and spontinaety of choice was exactly what I was looking for. The shuffle play capability had always been a favorite feature of my multi-disc player. But the limitation of just five discs left me lacking. Another factor was my desire to have the mu-sic available with me in my classroom as well. Just before the school year began I had hooked up a garage sale receiver and a pair of Polk RTi-35 speakers in the room. Plugged into it was a cheap portable cd-player, useable but definitely not a permanent answer. Own-ing an iPod seemed the ideal solution.

My one rule was that I would not under any circumstances tolerate compressed music. The iPod would perform at its best ability. Why go backwards in sound quality? That meant buy-ing the larg-est model available, the 60 gig. Of course, be-ing the frugal fellow I am, that meant avoiding full price. Luck-ily, Apple had just released the iPod Video, which meant that used previous models would be flooding eBay, Craigslist, etc. In March, I finally won an eBay auction after several un-successful attempts. Upon arrival, I immedi-ately began loading up the iPod with some of my current favorites. Through trial and error (I believe iPod/iTunes software subtly discour-ages full file size transfers) I was able to setup my music server.



I spent several hours running various A/B tests between the iPod and a Toshiba DVD player. I honestly failed to detect any difference between the two players. Since the information is transferred in digi-tal bits, any differ-ence will come in the transition to, and in the analog stage. The mini headphone or dock output is one such area of concern. I purchased a higher-grade mini-headphone to RCA cable to limit such issues.

Another test I tried was comparing the sound between a direct-to amplifier using the head-

phone jack, versus using the iPod Dock and it’s line out con-nection. Once I had established a

comparable volume output, I detected a slightly elevated noise level using the head-phone output in the form of a hissing. Using the Dock and a preamp, no such hissing was detectable. Unfortunately, for owners like my-self, a second dock is a $40 option, something I find a bit pri-cey.

Listening to and playing with the iPod’s controls is a joy. It’s a rare combina-tion of simplicity and common sense. Rotating your finger around the dial controls or touching the four corners and center button is all there is to operating the iPod. In Apple’s

own surveys most owners use the shuffle play, so once started the controls are left alone. In watching people on mass transit rides, Apple’s survey results appear to be quite accurate. In my home or classroom the biggest need I have for controls is the pause button. Since my equipment at home is setup several feet from my listening point I was getting up and down quite a bit. Attaching the Griffin Tech-nology AirClick remote system resolved that issue quite nicely.

The sound reproduction, as I mentioned pre-viously is as accurate as what I was used to previously. I look forward to some very smart third party to develop a DAC unit with a built-in cradle. The thought of such a combination of Burr-Brown DAC and the iPod would make for some incredible musical reproduction. An-other possibility is preamplifiers or integrated ones with a built-in USB connection with built-in DAC’s. Outlaw’s new RR2150 (reviewed in our premiere issue) already has the USB con-nection. Harman Kardon has a basic concept of the iPod’s value in creating the “Bridge”. The field is still wide-open, and the companies that catch on first to the iPod music server concept will be the big winners.

If you are like myself, and have a medium to large collection of cd’s that you rarely get to listen to, the iPod as a music server is a very inexpensive way to jump into the next big wave of audio. It’s been worth every dollar and minute of file transferring time. I have re-discovered so many great cd’s (and a few clunkers) that I had filed away deep into the recesses of my brain. The iPod is a definite winning addition, just remember not to com-press the files!



AV123 Onix x-ls Bookshelf Loudspeak-ers & x-sub SubwooferBy Clarke Robinson

x-lsSystem: Two way, two driver direct-radiating sys-

tem, vented enclosure with rear-firing flared port

Drivers: 1" treated fabric dome and custom 6.5" curvilinear shaped treated paper cone woofer with poly-mer chassis

Crossover: 1750Hz, 2nd orderFrequency Response: ! 55 Hz to 20 KHz (± 3 dB)Impedance: 8 Ohms nominalEfficiency: 87 dB (@ 1 watt / 1 meter)Dimensions: 13.5" H x 8.5" W x 12.125" DWeight: 17 lbs each; ship weight = 40

lbs (shipped in pairs)

x-subType: Slot ported single-driver sys-

temDriver: 8" mass loaded wooferAmplifier: 150 wattsFrequency Response: 28Hz - 150Hz +/- 3 dBInputs: Stereo high level input and

output. Stereo low level and LFE input.

Phase Control: 0 and 180Size: 17 3/4" H x 9" W x 12 7/8" DWeight: 44 lbs. (shipped)Other Features: 110V-220V switchable, 0-180

phase switch, gain, and cross-over adjustments (40Hz - 150Hz), auto-on / standby mode.

Price point is a funny thing in audio. You would think that a components’ price could be arrived at simply by adding together the cost to design, build, ship & sell it (plus a reason-able markup). The reality is, however, that high-end audio MSRPs are often inflated sim-ply to make the product more appealing to a particular segment of the audio-buying public. Brian Cheney (of VMPS Audio) once wrote about a particular high-end manufacturer, wondering if it should sell his new flagship system for $60,000 or $100,000, ultimately decided it would sell better at $100,000. The price had nothing to do with its actual build costs, it was a high price chosen only for high price’ sake.

Refreshingly at the opposing end of this prac-tice is AV123. One of the first audio compa-nies to sell products direct via the internet

(and passing the “no middle man” savings on to their customers), AV123 is an amalgam of several brands: Perpetual Technologies for cutting-edge digital gear, Emotiva for high-end

home theater elec-tronics, Onix for speakers, cables, amplifiers, etc. Among AV123’s more recent offer-ings is the “x-series” group of products, the goal of which is “to redefine excel-lence in the budget class with every product” according to AV123 president & founder Mark Schifter. Redefining excellence in the budget class is fa-miliar territory for Schifter, he did it once before with Audio Alchemy (which he also founded), a com-

pany that produced a well-regarded array of digital audio gee-gaws, all at “regular guy” prices.

Several x-series products are in the works (a $99 integrated amp, a $299 preamp/DAC, a $199 headphone amp, and many others), but first out of the gate are the x-ls Bookshelf Loudspeakers (at $199/pair) and the $199 x-sub. Being as this is Affordable$$Audio, I fig-ured we ought to take a look at anything that was going to “redefine excellence in the budget class”, so I dropped Mark an email, and a 5.2 system landed on my doorstep just a few weeks later. Let the fun begin...

If Looks Could KillOut of the box, the x-ls don’t look like anything like a $200 pair of speakers. The pair I re-ceived sports the “Shadow Maple” finish: a real hardwood veneer unheard of in this price range. Even my wife commented that they



look pretty, something she has never said about any piece of audio gear in our home. Current models lack grills, but AV123 has said they will be available in the future.

Taking a look inside the x-ls reveals that its beauty isn’t only skin deep. The cabinet is built entirely out of 3/4" MDF and lined with what looks to be a wool felt damping material. I was very happy to see seven (count ‘em, seven!) cross braces in place (5 diagonal edge braces and 2 running across the width of the cabi-net)…more than enough to sufficiently damp cabinet resonances in a speaker this size. The x-ls pass the “knuckle wrap” test with ease.

The x-sub is a subwoofer even my wife could like. With the downward-firing 8-inch driver, nothing disrupts the austere look of its maple veneered surface but a slotted port on the front and the de rigueur plate amp on the rear. This 150 watter features the usual adjust-ments and offers 3 connection options: speaker level (via 5-way binding posts), stereo RCA line-level inputs, and an LFE input that bypasses the internal crossover.

Care & FeedingThe x-ls sound smoother and more natural af-ter some break-in. AV123 recommends 100 hours, I ran them in for over a week, playing a local jazz radio station. Placement isn’t critical, but giving them a foot or two from nearby walls improves imaging and bass clarity. I put the x-ls on stands about 4 feet from the wall behind them, 2-3 feet from the side walls, and about 7-8 feet apart. Toe-in was around 10-15 degrees, and I sat about 10 feet away. I placed the x-subs in the corners, but see the

articles by Bob Katz and Floyd E. Toole refer-enced at the end of this article, there’s a lot to know about proper subwoofer set-up. My room is about 13 feet wide, 25 feet long, with an 8-foot ceiling.

Not Just Another Pretty FaceThe x-ls deliver such an immer-sive musical experience, I had a difficult time focusing on their sonic properties, and simply be-came engrossed in the music. Therein lies their greatest strength: these things are all about music. Their intoxicating ability to pull me out of “speaker evaluation” mode into “music en-joyment” mode may have made a long process out of writing this review, but it sure makes for a great set of speakers.

Still, the x-ls good qualities are obvious: key among them is a neutral, uncolored tonal balance. Female vocals on Rebecca Pid-

geon’s The Raven and Norah Jones’ Come Away with Me were captivating, and piano (one of the most difficult instruments to repro-duce well) was spot on: I had never sat so en-rapt through Cecil Taylor’s 50-minute solo workout on Live in Willisau. Despite their ac-curacy, the x-ls aren’t clinical ( like studio monitors), so listening to inferior quality re-cordings isn’t as much of a chore as it can be on ultra-revealing equipment. I pulled a few out of my collection that I had deemed unlis-tenable on other systems and really enjoyed them, in some cases for the first time.

Soundstage is wide, if a little low. On Dave Brubeck’s Time Out, Joe Morello’s ride cymbal hung about one foot to the left of the left speaker and Brubeck’s piano extended to the outside of the right. The x-ls imaging is re-markable for such an inexpensive speaker: I’ve heard more palpable imaging (that spooky “musicians in the room with you” thing) on speakers costing 40x their price, but the x-ls



project a sonic image solid enough I could easily hear what the recording engineer had in mind (this on recordings where the engineer did, in fact, have something in mind!).

Bass is always a concern with bookshelf speakers, but I didn’t find the bass lacking on the x-ls, even with bass-heavy material (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones’ Flight of the Cosmic Hippo, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony #3). Once I fired up the x-subs, however, I realized

what I’d been missing. The x-subs don’t call attention to them-selves, but liven up the room just the way an audiophile sub is sup-posed to. One x-sub did the job well for mu-

sic, but two is more fun, and seemed to re-duce standing wave issues in my listening room (see the Todd Welti article below).

The x-sub is a phenomenon. The market is clogged with cheap subs that do a reasonable job recreating cannon fire or T-Rex footfalls, but then make a subtle jazz kick-drum sound like, well, cannon fire or T-Rex footfalls. You can’t have everything in a $200 sub, but what AV123 has decided to give you is good music performance, devoid of the one-note thumping so common in ported designs in this price range. The earth drum on Mickey Hart’s “Temple Caves” (from Planet Drum) rung beautifully: no boom, but you could feel it as well as hear it. Trade-offs are speed (bass notes tend to “hang on” a little too long) and impact: a single x-sub lacks the floor-shaking “rumble” that some crave for home theater applications. If you want the sensation during Master & Commander that real cannonballs

are actually landing in your living room, you can always buy two…

Meet the NeighborsNext step was to see how the x-ls compared to some of the venerable budget bookshelves in my collection. First up was the NHT Super-One. Now discontinued (replaced by the SB2), the SuperOne enjoyed a lot of notoriety back in the ’90s for its remarkable price/performance ratio (it retailed for a little under $400/pair). It has a similar sonic signature to the x-ls…both speakers aim for neutrality, but it didn’t take long to pick a favorite: the x-ls’ greater bass extension and smoother top end stood out immediately.

Paradigm Mini-Monitors were up next. These are still in production (again, just under $400/pair) although in a newer version than what I have (the current model is the v3, I have the v2). The Minis beat the x-ls on bass extension, and the high end was smoother, but less ex-tended. Their downfall is the midrange, which sounded congested and muddy, particularly when compared side-by-side with the x-ls. Still, they have a punchy, in-your-face presen-tation that I’ve always loved, so I had a difficult time picking a favorite. Ultimately I gave the nod to the x-ls…they image better, and their less colored response makes music more natural and compelling.

Curious to see how the x-ls would stack up to much greater competition, I schlepped them to a friend’s house to compare to his PSB Stra-tus Minis ( $1099/pair). No surprise that we preferred the PSBs…more lifelike imaging and a smoother top end were its most obvious im-provements. What was a surprise was how close the x-ls came for their “less than 20% of the price” tag. My friend said it all in a post on Audio Asylum that next following day: “They came darn close, at a fraction of the cost. In the maple veneer they are really attractive, and their performance and finish completely belies their price.”



Buying AdviceThe x-ls are easy to recommend. Strengths are many: accurate, good imaging, non-fatiguing, easy to listen to, and did I mention the price? Caveats are few: they have a little

trouble keeping up during loud, busy passages (like most 6.5 inch two-ways) and they’re a little ragged in the treble (notice-able when you com-

pare them to speakers well out of their league). If you only have $200 to spend on speakers, these are an no-brainer, and should be at the top of a very short audition list. If you have $400, you have more options, but the x-ls will be hard to beat, particularly when combined with an x-sub.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the x-ls, however, is recommending them. There are already enough people out there who think audiophiles are just a bunch of nut-jobs with rocks on their CD players, sitting around wait-ing for their cables to burn in. Turning some-one on to a good looking, great sounding bar-gain will go a long way towards winning back a few hearts & minds. A few demographics in particular I think would be great candidates for the x-ls:

•! Music lovers: The kind of people who spend more on concert tickets, CDs, & vinyl in a single year than they’ll spend on audio gear their entire lifetime.

•! The curious yet clueless: People who are interested in great sound, but have no idea how to get there, and can’t

imagine why they should spend more than $xxx. The x-ls provide a great education on some of the finer points on audiophiledom.

•! High school (or college) graduates: Send them off in style…an x-ls for every dorm room!

You get the idea. I’ll be messing around with the x-ls for a few more months (unless I de-cide to buy the review samples…yes, they’re that good) so if you have any questions or comments, feel free to give me a holler at clarke68 at rcn dot com. The nice folks at AV123 have promised to send along more x-series goodies as they come out, so if any of them blow me away, you’ll be reading about it here.

Associated Equipment2-Channel System:NEC MultiSpin 6xe CD-ROM transport (modded)Rotel RDP 980 DACDenon DRA-395 Stereo Receiver

Home Theater System:Sony DVP-NC875 DVD/SACD PlayerOnkyo TX SR-500 AV Receiver

Further ReadingBrian Cheney, Money and the High End: The Price is the Producthttp://www.audaud.com/audaud/JAN01/cheney.html

Bob Katz, Accurately Set Up a Subwoofer with (Almost) No Test Instrumentshttp://www.digido.com/portal/pmodule_id=11/pmdmode=fullscreen/pageadder_page_id=29/

Todd Welti, Subwoofers: Optimum Numbers and Loca-tionshttp://www.harman.com/wp/pdf/multsubs.pdf

Floyd E. Toole; Loudspeakers and Rooms for Multi-channel Audio Reproduction Part 3: Getting the Bass Righthttp://www.harman.com/wp/pdf/Loudspeakers&RoomsPt3.pdf



Interview with Mark Schifter, President & Founder of AV123By Clarke Robinson

Since his days at Audio Alchemy, Mark Schifter has been instrumental in bringing serious sound to those of us with normal, 5-digit in-comes. Probably guilty of breaking every rule in your typical “how to be a CEO” type book, he spends countless hours chatting with cus-tomers online (at times even giving out his per-sonal email and cell phone number) and is constantly looking to find ways to lower the cost of his products. Consequently, AV123 has earned a loyal fol-lowing of dedicated fans. This interview was conducted over email.

A$$A: How are you do-ing today, Mark?

Mark L. Schifter: I’m really doing great...my health is fine and my outlook is quite rosy. Thanks for asking!

A$$A: How/when did you first get into audio as a hobby?

MLS: As a hobby as a very little boy. I stut-tered as a child, and thusly my speech was terribly impaired, but I could sing without stut-tering. My parents bought for me a very early Curtis Mathes console entertainment center and I would sing along with the turntable!

A$$A: How/when did you first get into audio as a business?

MLS: Gosh...my first job was at Ametron Elec-tronics in Hollywood, CA. at the ripe old age of 13.

A$$A: They didn't have child labor laws back then? Seriously, what did you do for at Ametron?

MLS: I was the Tube Boy for some time (no jokes please)... I worked at the Tube Counter and later I got to work in the audio depart-ment.

A$$A: Throughout your career, you've been associated with many technologically innova-tive audio products (Audio Alchemy DTI Pro32, Genesis loudspeakers, Perpetual Technologies P-1A, etc.). What attracts you to new technologies, rather than more “classic” approaches to audio (vinyl, SET/horns, mini-malist “wire with gain” approach, etc.)?

MLS: New is fun. New is risky. New is where “history can begin and be made”…I love that.

A$$A: What lessons did you learn working with companies like Audio Alchemy and Genesis Technologies, and how have you put them into practice with AV123?

MLS: I learned to do it the “right way” from the very first moment. Do not trust anyone else’s reality except my own, listen and verify. Trust is fine, but do not just accept that everything is fine because the Lead Engineer says so. Test and re-test...do everything I can to get it right out of the gate.

A$$A: Besides technological innovation in your products, you also run AV123 in an inno-vative way (direct selling, internet/word-of-mouth marketing, manufacturing in China/Russia). It must not have been easy to build your business this way, what inspired you to operate so differently?

MLS: It hasn’t been easy, but direct connec-tion to the end user is where the rubber hits the road, and I’m all in for that. Being able to



translate my mission (and vision) to the end user is key, and our forums and opportunities like this make that possible. I’ve always wanted to get closer to the customer, and now I can. I have the vehicle and the fuel (the products)...

A$$A: What is your mission and vision?

MLS: My mission is to translate the complexity that seems to bind those that might want to get something better into something under-standable and easy to get along with. I also want to raise up a new generation of audiophiles...this is key.

My vision is create a community where people can come and learn and be a part of some-thing that grows and expands because we served the mission well. Make it easy for those that are ready to leave behind their store-bought HTiB(s) and some other four let-ter words and explore the world of audio.

A$$A: What other companies does AV123 make cabinets/speakers/electronics/etc. for?

MLS: Some of the ones I can talk about are MBL, Genesis, GR Research, Roksan, ACI, VMPS, Epiphany, etc. In all, we are building for 19 companies today with more coming on line. We will also open a factory in Cali, Co-lumbia very soon, get ready for that!

A$$A: What will you be building in Cali?

MLS: Speakers as well as complete furniture solutions.

A$$A: How many employees does AV123 have?

MLS: AV123 has 9 employees. In China we have several hundred.

A$$A: Ask a lot of people (in and out of the audio industry) about manufacturing in China,

and the first thing many will say is “it's cheap, but QA is terrible”. Have you found this to be the case? What have you done to change this reality/perception?

MLS: It’s only terrible if you don’t put the proc-esses in place and make sure to convey that speed is not where it’s at. Our factory is run very differently than most over in The PRC…we have spent loads of time and money con-veying the message to our teams there. We do make mistakes, but generally we are able to get it right…and then replication is almost easy from that point.

A$$A: What kind of music do you like?

MLS: I like all kinds of music, I listen to every-thing from Classical to Jazz to Hip Hip and Electronic with everything in between.

A$$A: With operations in the U.S., China, and Russia, you must be on the road a lot. Do you get much time to listen? Do you own an iPod?

MLS: I do...I own three of them! I also own homes in each country where I have business (and in China two homes actually). I have sys-tems in each of these, and I listen a lot...

A$$A: Does AV123 have any “cost no object” products, or is everything built to a price point at some level?

MLS: Wait…the next step is about to be intro-duced in May. It will shock the industry for sure.

A$$A: What products/services/innovations do you have on the horizon that you’re most ex-cited about?

MLS: Digital EQ, digital amplification, and much, much more. R-DES will be shipping in a few short weeks and this product will make a huge impact.

A$$A: What is the x-series?

MLS: A complete examination and re-



definition of budget components. Market-making at its best...excellence well beyond the price.

A$$A: You've talked about the x-series being a “calling card” for AV123. What does that mean? Will you make any money on the x-series?

MLS: The x-series is our way of introducing our philosophy to a wider audience, and to new audiophiles in the making. It is our calling card for this era. We will make serious money with x...

A$$A: How much of a role do you play in de-termining the sound of AV123’s products? Does AV123 have a “house sound”?

MLS: I play a critical role in this. We do not have a house sound per se, but I know what I want with each product line. The buck stops here with respect to the sonic signature of our products.

A$$A: Interesting. What was your sonic goal with the x-series?

MLS: Well, with x we wanted to bring real high-end to the regular people of the world. It is not just budget, the x-series is something more, and anyone that comes into contact with x will find out soon that these are not just budget products, but instead they are a re-definition of what budget-priced audio can be.



The Jazz File: Young Warriors, Old Warriors: Hamiet Blueitt SextetBy Clarke RobinsonRead through bios of many great jazz baritone sax players, and a few words keep coming up: “unsung”, “overshadowed”, “under appreci-ated”, etc. It seems that most people’s jazz memory banks don’t have room for bari players besides Harry Carney & Gerry Mulligan. One player, however, that has come to recogni-tion over the last 30 years is that of Ha-miet Bluiett.

Bluiett is a founding member of the re-nowned World Saxo-phone Quartet (who he continues to re-cord & tour with) and has played with Charles Mingus, Sam Rivers, Olatunji, as well as led several of his own groups. Never satisfied with the tradi-tional accompanist role of the baritone sax, Bluiett has been instrumental in demonstrating its ability as a lead voice. His mastery of the big horn’s upper register was born partly out of necessity, having spent some of his early years picking up tenor players’ gigs. The bari’s powerful, brusque tone is a perfect match for Bluiett’s personality and playing style, which runs the gamut from sweet & soulful to free-wheeling & earth-shaking.

The diversity of Bluiett’s playing and writing are displayed to good effect on the trans-generational Young Warrior, Old Warrior. Re-corded in 1995, the player’s ages range from the late, great Keter Betts on bass (67 at the time, Betts passed away in August of 2005) to the 22-year-old Mark Shim on tenor. Rounding out the middle are trumpet player Jack Wal-rath (49), drummer Jimmy Cobb (66, best known for his contribution to the Miles Davis

classic Kind of Blue), Mapleshade Records’ Music Director Larry Willis on piano and Blui-ett (both were 55 at the time of this recording).

A Jimmy Cobb drum fill opens the session with a delightfully swinging take on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Blue ‘N’ Boogie”, the only standard in the set. After a round of solos the three horns return to the head for a bout of delirious

collective improvisation that suggests Dixieland jazz, but wilder. “Precious Moments for Right Now” is delicate ballad that opens with Bluiett ac-companied by only piano & bass. When the other horns chime in, it’s with the beauti-ful but slightly off-kilter har-monies that recur frequently throughout the recording. I don’t know exactly what it is that gives the horns’ sectional work such a unique sound...one would suspect Bluiett’s compositions, but the effect is there on the Willis & Walrath penned numbers as well. It’s not that Bluiett is

throwing a wrench in to the machine with his ensemble playing, it’s more like extra octane in the gas tank. Whatever it is, the sound of these three horns together contributes a great deal to Young Warrior, Old Warrior’s success.

Bluiett has a number of fantastic moments, but his soulful exploration on “St. Phyllis Blues” shows his range particularly well, both stylistically, from multi-phonic bluesy grunts to sweet, gentle singing; and harmonically, taking his bari from it’s lowest octave to stratospheric soprano heights in the space of a few seconds. Shim swings pleasantly throughout, and Walrath is something of a monster. He displays a di-versity similar to Bluiett, from introspective note-bending on Larry Willis’ “Thinking About It” to his gut-tural howls on the show-stopping “Head Start”.The rhythm section has pretty tough competi-tion from the horns, but they keep things bouncing along. Willis’ playing on this is a little more sweet & lyrical than I usually prefer, but it works well here, providing an effective con-



trast to Bluiett’s edgy tonality. This is certainly a more accessible date for his contribution. Keter Betts is a true master of spontaneous composition. Throughout, he throws out more crafty melodies in his solos than some more chops-oriented players write their entire ca-reers. His deceptively simple “Blues in F and G”, a duet with Bluiett, is one of the disc’s highlights. Cobb anchors the session without calling much attention to himself, until Bluiett calls him out for a duet: “Jimmy and Me” is a raucous free-blower, evidently the first Cobb ever recorded. He takes it with a characteristic melodicism, Bluiett follows, and the results are pretty darn good; these guys listen to each other well.

The man most responsi-ble for Young Warrior, Old Warrior, besides Bluiett and his band-mates, is Pierre Sprey, recording engineer and founder of Mapleshade Records. Sprey began recording live jazz shows in Washington D.C. as a hobby while working at the Pentagon designing aircraft like the A-10 and the F-16 fighter jets. After a particularly enjoyable recording session with singer Shirley Horn, he began recording profes-sionally on weekends. Three years later, enough top-notch jazz talent was calling asking for recording dates that he was able to quit his military consulting day job…Mapleshade Records was born soon thereaf-ter.

Mapleshade is like no other record label on the planet: the “studio” (and Sprey’s home) is a large plantation mansion in rural Maryland. Sprey records in the front parlor, but moves singers and soloists into the foyer when addi-tional reverb is needed. Their motto, "No mix-ing board, no overdubs, no noise reduction,

no compression, no multitracks, no EQ, no re-verb" is indicative of Sprey’s disdain for typical studio practices. He records everything with just two pressure-zone microphones direct to a heavily modified 2-track Sony analog tape deck, every piece of equipment used in the recording process is run on batteries, and no cables run over 15 feet in length. If all this sounds a little obsessive, you’d be right…but if you think all this fussing wouldn’t result in re-cordings that are noticeably superior to any-thing put out by the major labels, well, you really need to feast your ears on a Maple-shade recording.

Young Warrior, Old War-rior, while it may lack the microscopic detail found in releases by more typi-cal audiophile labels, is incredibly lifelike. Sprey’s minimalist approach puts the musicians in the room with you better than any recording I’ve heard. Blui-ett produced a suite of re-cordings for Mapleshade called the “Explorations Series” which I’ll definitely be checking out…watch this space for more Ma-pleshade recordings in the future.



DIY – By and For the Marginally Competent. By Bob Lombard

Spring-clamp speaker connectors (the non-article) – and the power cord storyThis month I planned to change, and write about changing, the spring-clamp speaker wire connectors on one of my amps over to ‘5-way binding posts’. Well, that ain’t going to work. The only amp I own with spring-clamp speaker wire connectors is a Sansui AU-710 in really nice condition (including the speaker wire connectors). Modifying it would lessen its market value (and probably its attractiveness, given my marginal competence). I also have

the TU-710 tuner – in really nice condition except it needs alignment – so I want to leave the pair in as pristine condition as possible.

I did find a receiver with lever-clamp speaker wire connectors that are like the spring ones only without the spring, and that would be a reasonable substitute – except that the re-ceiver is a ‘non-starter’ of limited value, and I don’t want to waste time and money on it. I could show you some photos of what’s in this junk receiver, and some sketches of how I would change that receiver over to 5-way binding posts, without actually doing it; but that isn’t DIY, it’s just speculation – so I won’t. Well, just as a curiosity, here are the speaker connectors and the ‘sub-board’ they’re con-nected to. It’s really a pretty simple thing to de-solder the board connections and stick pieces of wire in the holes. The only

‘craftsman-like’ part of the whole deal is mak-ing up the new piece to mount the 5-ways on.

Photo – speaker connectorsPower cord replacementAfter that copout there’s the vintage power cord replacement situation. I don’t agree with the ‘IEC Crowd’, which advocates cutting a hole in the back of the case and putting a 3-prong IEC receptacle in it, for these reasons:

1.! The component is no longer of ‘stock’ appearance.

2.! Unless you are more than marginally competent, you should avoid connect-ing a ground from the chassis to the house ground – the possibility of creat-ing what has been described as a “ground loop hum from hell” is quite likely. I gather that there’s a way to modify the component’s circuitry to avoid the ground loop, but I don’t know what that way is, and I don’t know if the same procedure works for every com-ponent.

3. Leaving the ground post in the IEC re-ceptacle bare creates a false impres-sion; the next guy who comes along thinks the chassis is grounded.

.Replacing the vintage 2-prongs-the-same plug on the power cord is a worthwhile modifi-cation, if only to make sure that the hot wire always gets to go to the component’s main power fuse rather than the neutral wire going there. If the vintage power cord is decrepit, that’s easy enough to replace too. Here’s how I find the neutral:

1.! The deal with the hot wire is that it al-ways is the one that goes through the component’s power switch.

2.! If your unit has a switched receptacle on the back, the neutral is connected to one side of it. With the power switch off, you can use an ohmmeter, one probe on a plug prong and the other in one of the receptacle’s slots. If that doesn’t show a connection, check the other slot. If that doesn’t show a connection



either, the other plug prong must be the neutral; it will show a connection with one of the receptacle slots.

3.! If your unit has no switched receptacle on it, you’ll have to remove enough stuff to get at the connections on the power switch. With the switch on, one of the power plug prongs will show a ground to one of those connections that becomes an open when the switch is opened – that will be the hot wire. Note – this procedure only works with vin-tage components that have a real manually operated ‘contactor’ power switch. Many of the newer compo-nents, including the junk receiver men-tioned above, show a readable resis-tance of 500 ohms or so between the plug prongs when the switch is off; power is required to close the switch. I think the resistance reading is across the coil of a servo. Anyway, it ain’t much help.

4.! The wide slot in your wall receptacle should be the neutral – but you ought to make sure. Set your VOM/DMM to read house voltage. Hold one probe to the center screw in the receptacle cover. That’s house ground. If you put the other probe in the narrow slot you should see house voltage, in the wide slot no voltage. Well, in some houses there may be some voltage reading in the neutral wire, but not much.

5.! The rest of the operation is easy, and I’m not going to insult your intelligence by going over it.

OK, there you have the column for the month. On this high note I will ‘make my exit stage right’, for awhile anyway. The e-zine now has a DIY writer who actually knows what he’s doing, and is known among audio-nuts as someone who knows what he’s doing. He has my best wishes.

Besides becoming superfluous, I’ve had no luck coming up with subjects to write about; so what we have here is a fortui-

tous combination of circumstances.

So long for now, folks, it’s been real.

Bob

Publisher’s note: I’m not about to let Bob ride off into the sunset permanently. Su-perfluous, HAH!! With all of you readers help, I will continue hit Bob up with ideas so when his batteries are recharged we will see more DIY columns.



Zebra ZC-SP12SD 12 ft Speaker CablesBy Mark Marcantonio

Speaker Cable Specifications:!▪ ! 2 x 12 AWG stranded Oxygen Free Copper!▪ ! PVC insulation, PVC jacket!▪ ! Twisted Pair Design!▪ ! Nom. Inductance: 0.15 µH/ft!▪ ! Nom. Capacitance Conductor to Conductor @ 1

KHz: 33.5 pF/ft!▪ ! Nom. Conductor DC Resistance: 1.6 Ohms/1000 ft!▪ ! NEC/(UL) Specification: CL3R, FPLR!▪ ! Terminations: Vampire Wire HDS5, BAR8 or SS9

spades and/or B558 banana plugs

I admit, I thoroughly enjoy perusing the vari-ous audio forums every evening especially AudioKarma. Normally, everybody is polite and quite respectful of the varying opinions. That is, until the issue of cabling comes up. Then, watch out because the mud is going to fly. It seems that everyone has an opinion, that is in some way unique and all-knowing. Having spent many an evening in college with engineers, including some electrical variety, I was laughed at for spending money on higher quality cables way back in the 1980’s. The guys gave all sorts of reasons that I was in a foolish adventure. My ears told me different, how-ever, trying to convince beer chugging college students was all but impossible.

Over the years, as advanced ca-bling became a hot issue, I began to question the differences in ca-bles costing more than many pieces of quality equipment. But since I could never afford it I didn’t pay much heed. During a move I had packed away my original 10-gauge Monster cable and was unable to lo-cate it during unpacking. A quick trip to the hardware store for some 14-gauge speaker wire solved the problem and life went on.

I had no idea that I was listening to inferior sound until last winter during my review test-ing of the Linn Keilidhs. The bass lacked any energy, and the rest of the sound was bland. In a moment of sheer desperation I went hunt-ing in my rafters looking through every box with my name on it. Finally, under some out-of-date teaching materials, lay the Monster cables. A few minutes later the Keilidh’s came to life with the sound I had heard from the showroom at Echo Audio. That convinced me for good that yes, cabling does make a differ-ence.

Recently, I received a pair of Zebra Cables series ZC-SP12SD 12 foot from Scott Burns to audition. The cables are quite handsome in appearance with a black/silver nylon weave, and with my navy blue rug, blended into the color scheme, unlike the clear copper of the Monster cables. From the Zebra cable web-site: Zebra Cables SP12SD speaker cable is a double run of 12 AWG twisted pair speaker wire terminated with Vampire Wire SS9, HDS5, BAR 8 spades and/or B558 banana plugs. Your choice of nylon sleeve color.” For

my review purposes banana plugs were attached.

Like virtually all higher grade cabling the Zebra is a fairly stiff cable. It doesn’t like be-ing coiled smaller than the cir-cumference of a volleyball without support. I allowed for some room behind and to the side of my speakers The ca-bles are not as thick as one might suspect, but the overall appearance is rugged rather than rubbery. I have no doubts that the ZC-SP12SD

would do just fine in a battle with a vacuum cleaner. A grey rubber cap covers the ends of the nylon with an exit hole for the positive and negative connections. The tactile feel of the ends allows for a sure grip, something that is much appreciated when connecting to an am-plifier in a tight space.



Scott Burns, the man behind Zebra cables ex-plains: “I got started in the cabling business early of 2005. I was looking to start my own part time home based business and was look-ing for ideas. After browsing several audio fo-rums I noticed that the pricing of some cables out there where just outrageous. I thought I could provide an affordable cable along with a user friendly website.

When choosing what brand of parts I wanted to use, I knew I wanted something different than some of the other companies out there. I did not want to use a crimp style RCA connec-tor and was looking for good quality speaker bananas and spades. I came across Vampire Wire while browsing one of the audio forms. After looking at some of their products I de-cided to go with them. For the type of wire, Belden seemed to be the number one choice out there for audio enthusiasts so I went with them for the wire products.”

Listening ExperienceSince my Adcom GFA 535 has the ability for connecting two sets of speakers, it was quite easy to set up an A/B test. Though not a per-fect double blind, at least I could switch back and forth quite quickly thus confirming sound differences/similarities immediately. As is standard with all my listening tests I play a special demo cd I created. Within the minute I was hearing an appreciable difference in per-formance. The Zebra ZC-SP12SD were sim-ply cleaner sounding. The hi-hat and drum rolls of Steely Dan’s Aja were tighter and the notes more defined. The Monster cable couldn’t define the toms, the sound existed but lacked distinction. Having played drums as a kid I have a pretty good sense of where cer-tain frequencies come from on the hi-hat. With the Zebras I could close my eyes and place the location of the hit.

One of the things I try to listen for is the vari-ous background or secondary sounds in a re-cording. Mediocre equipment struggles to de-fine a space for these subtle audio delights.

The Zebra’s extracted the cleanliness of Mark Knopfler’s guitar picking in Skateaway. The thumping bass was far tighter than the Mon-ster’s. The ringing of the acoustical guitar picks in a live version of Crash Test Dummies Superman Song, was something I had not heard previously as the Monster cable had never revealed to me.

The most impressive sonic difference came during Higher Ground by Dan Fogelberg. The height of the sound stage increased by at least 18 inches. I perceived the single hit per drum roll came from at least five and a half feet from the floor. The ability to refine the lo-cation of instruments is what makes active lis-tening process so enjoyable and the Zebra ZC-SP12SD’s deliver it in spades.

ConclusionsIt’s always nice to be pleasantly surprised by a product. I had honest doubts that more than the slightest differences could be detected, and only in the rarest of moments. Instead the Zebra ZC-SP12SD’s delivered a consistent improvement in the listening experience. The opportunity to hear things previously unde-tected is an honest thrill to me. I consider it akin to when Abbey Road was released on cd and for the first time the masses could enjoy the little 25 second diddy, Her Majesty. If you’re serious about wanting quality sound on a budget, tryout a pair of Zebra Cables, espe-cially if you’ve been using hardware store speaker wire, the difference will make you smile.

Review System EquipmentAdcom GFA-535 AmplifierAdcom GTP-450 PreamplifierToshiba SD-K750 DVD PlayerApple iPod 60gig iPhotoTotem Mite SpeakersAperion Audio 533 PT Speakers



From the Pulpit: Ramblings from a (not self) Proclaimed Audio PreacherBy Stew Nelless

Last time I listed a bunch of stuff that I have, how I got it and my listening enviroments. I'm sure many of you are saying to yourselves ”ya, right...that guy's full of B.S.”. Ok, enough B.S. Time for another real example (if ya didn't beleive me last time), with a reasonable time limit to put it to-gether . Recently I have been introduced to a real music lover, who has a system that absolutely sucks! This new aquaintance loves reggae, “classic” rock (late 70's early 80's stuff—is it classic or “glam?”,) and some older jazz, blues, all sorts (although we didn't discuss classical, rap, ska, or ughh---country at all) or music. I asked her what she had for a system and she was a little vague. I was hoping (at worst) that she had a good quality “executive” system. Big mistake, to my dismay it turns out that she has no less than a Panasonic SA AK45 .

This is typical of those who just don't know that great sounding equipment can be had for, often less than what they pay for similar “sys-tems” to the one shown to the left here. It's unfortunate that these consumer goods are

produced at all, they are neither good, nor in-expensive (for what they are). This one was purchased for approximately CDN $200 (USD $160 using today's exchange rate

With just a little more money, or patience or expertise or little of each a great sounding system can be had. On the list of wants is a turntable, because she still has a few records that she has always enjoyed (oh, good). And now the hunt begins...

I believe that good deals should be passed on to someone else, so if she agrees, a pair of “beater “ Dynaco A25s that I purchased forUSD$ 8.50 will be making their way to her house. Asked if she was “handy”, she replied ”yes”, so a small tub of automotive body filler, some spray can primer and a spray on finish will help beautify them ($20). I'll keep the original grill material and badges, wash the material, clean up the badges and re-install them on the grilles. New velcro will hold the grilles on. Cat 5 cable as speaker cable, $.15 a foot, 30 feet, $4.50 Running total: $33.50

Sony cdp 790 , $25 at a local pawn shop, Running total $58.50. Some used dvd play-ers are a little more money, but the old Sony is built like a tank. Although old, can it possibly be any worse than the POS in the Panny “ghetto blaster”? ( If the 790 is anything like the 990, better match it carefully or go get a Sony Playstaion PS1 “Greystation”...)



For the amplifier/tuner or receiver, I'm still looking. A phono stage is needed. (hmm, maybe if I can do this cheap enough , I can get some Bo Diddley tickets outta the deal....), I'll check out the used shops today. Worse case scenario, I could sell her something from my “collection”, my wife would love that. Think I'll jump onto eBay (just to have a look, no ma and pa audio shops here, only big boxes and pawn/thrift/used shops here, where there may or may not be anything of interest).

This is a little harder than I thought. I guess putting something together, with time re-straints and looking for the best deals can be a little tough. The lesson I”ve learned here is that the old saying. “Quick, Cheap, Good, you pick 2” really holds true in audio and in par-ticular, used audio. So now I have a little more sympathy for those who are starting out. (I remember my thoughts about university and professors. As an undergrad, your world ex-pands . As a Grad student it focuses on on de-tail, and as a Phd., your focus becomes so tight and focussed, you may forget about the rest of the world. Again, that still holds true for audio)

Thankfully in my “audio“ life, I haven't made many mistakes, and still own most of the stuff I bought along the way. Being somewhat cash poor and always having to pinch a penny has resulted in me buying some stuff that I didn't need, but that turned out to be good buys.

So I'm still looking for a receiver, and a turnta-ble. If my new friend needs a cassette deck, I have three, and I'll give her one (all of them are pretty respectable). Most expensive one was $13, and my wife would like the “junk re-duction”.

Next time I'll report back on the final results and let ya know what the new “audiophile” thinks of her system.

For now, listen to some music, and when not, go listen to some live music, enjoy your friends, family and pets, because that's the stuff that's really important.



Letters and Postings from our Readers

From AudioKarma: Firstly- Once again, an excellent read. Please know you're in my short list of "favor-ites" bookmarks, right there with my dear beloved AudioKarma. I'm very glad you have our Mr. Jarves on board- an asset for sure.

I too am glad to hear someone setting the record straight with the iPod. The iPod only regurgitates what you feed it- raise it on diatetic MP3s and AAC files, you don't get the "fat" sound of a nice, plump AIFF file. Feed it the AIFF files, it sounds as good as many a CD player.

Despite the negative issues associated with iPods, one thing that isn't a fair lob at 'em is over the sound, if the files are full-sized, or apple's proprietary Lossless format, they will sing just fine.

For purists, please understand I still prefer my tasty black vinyl records best, always have, hands-down. But the turntable doesn't take well to jogging... TheDeliHaus- Boston

Editor:Thank you for keying me in on GR Research. I have wondered about DIY speakers for sometime but feared buying the parts and creating something akin to Homer Simpson’s brick BBQ.Jason D. Simi Valley, CA

Jason, I would have no fear in going with a GR Re-search DIY. If you get stuck at any time Danny Ritchie is very willing to talk or email thru any issue you might have. MM Publisher

Editor:I would like to recommend a store for your audio list, Second Sound in Denver. They mostly used equip-ment and have always treated me right!John T. Englewood, CO

John, I know Second Sound quite well. I used to visit it quite often when I lived in Denver. I liked their honesty. One time I was going to trade in a piece and the one of the guys told me I was nuts and should just change my surge protector. He was dead on. MM Publisher

Editor:

I know that shipping/transporting monitors are far easier than floor standing speakers, but could you please review more of the big guys. Some of us don’t have wives to worry about.

Brian H. Yankton, SD

Brian:

You hit the nail on the head, shipping is an issue, especially when smaller magazines like review samples. However, as our readership continues to expand that will become less and less of an issue. next month I promise you will see a tower re-view. MM, Publisher

Editor:

The DIY column is my favorite. Bob did a good job explaining how to change vinyl to veneer. I’m going to switch out the finish on my trusty Pioneer SX-3700 receiver.

Tom L. Dayton, OH

Tom, sounds like you have a good project ahead of you. Hang on to that SX-3700, it’s a very nice piece of equipment. Bob is going to take some time off, but if you have an idea for a column please email us, and I’ll be sure he gets its. MM Publisher



Affordable$$Audio

Mission Statement To provide the average audio enthusiast re-views and opinions of affordable current and vintage equipment based upon real listening

conditions.

OutlineGoal: Current audio magazines both online and print try to review affordable equipment using a false assumption. That is that all other equipment in the listening/reviewing/testing process be way above the price range of the actual owner. The argument that this allows the review to hear the particular piece of equipment at its finest is laudable, but flawed. Why? Because 99% of users will never expe-rience such opportunities in their own life. The reader needs to know what to expect of the equipment in their own home, under real-world conditions. After all, how many of us ask friends, neighbors, etc. of experiences before buying or using a specific item or service?!

Standards: In order to make Affordable $$ Audio consistent and fair, some standards must be adhered to, therefore, I have come up with a preliminary list that I believe address the concerns of both consistency and fairness:

1. Each reviewer should create a stan-dard set of music from a variety of genres to be used for each review possible. Each piece should have unique qualities that will allow the re-viewer to spot the strengths and weaknesses of the equipment.

2.! All other equipment in the review process must be in top working order, with above “generic” (dollar store RCA cables and 20 gauge speaker wire) interconnects/wiring.

3. Review sessions must be repeated. In other words, to fairly form an opin-ion three similar listening sessions should be experienced.

4. All equipment and music used, along with a room description are to be

listed in the article. Digital pictures would be helpful and are encouraged.

5. If the review is in the form of a com-petition, for example speakers, simi-lar placement is a must. If you have an a/b switch that is encouraged to assist in spotting immediate differ-ences.

6.! All reviews are asked to be in by the 20th day of each month in order to be put in the next month’s issue, which I am striving for release on the 1st day.

Contributors Ground Rules: You cannot be a salesperson in the audio/video field, nor em-ployed by any audio/video manufacturer. Each writer’s goal is to express their knowledgeable opinion based upon solid listening time and referenced observations. As I tell my students when writing opinion pieces, I don’t care whether you like something or not, just make sure to justify your point with specific details. As editor/owner, I reserve the right to ask you to make revisions, etc. in order to meet the standards of this declaration. I will not ask you to change your mind, just be fair.

Conclusion: The whole goal is to bring thoughtful audio reviews to the masses based on actual affordable audio systems. Integrity is a keystone of respect from our readers. Once violated, the work and value of all con-tributors is compromised.



About Affordable$$Audio:Is a privately held venture, published via the Internet, the content is delivered free of charge to readers.

Created using Apple Computer’s Pages software program and translated into .pdf document format.

Writing Opportunities:If you have an interest in audio equipment, especially quality affordable or vintage gear, please contact the pub-lisher for guidelines. Specific areas of interest being looked for are vintage wood-sided equipment and tube fanatics.

Advertising:Retail shops dealing in both new and used audio equip-ment are highly encouraged to advertise as this e-zine was created specifically to support your business. For rates please contact the publisher at:[email protected].

Affordable$$Audio: is now accepting manufacturers adver-tising. You’ll find our monthly rates very appealing. Please contact the publisher for an advertising packet. [email protected].

Copyright NoticeAll articles are the property of Affordable$$Audio. Manu-facturers need only to ask permission to reprint or post a link to the web page.

Staff Biographies:Mark Marcantonio- Editor, Owner, PublisherIs a school teacher in the Portland, Oregon metro area. Audio has been a fascination/budget drain since his early teenage years.

Steve Eddy, 57, is a longtime journalist and jazz writer currently doing freelance writing. He lives in Southern California with his wife, Diana, and son, Brian.

Bob Lombard-Was a field service technician/manual writer for a machine tool company. Now retired, tripping along through The Golden Years.

John Hoffman, Resides in the sunny Tri Cities of Washington state. Enjoys spending his time with his lovely wife, Michelle, three kids, two dogs, and one cat. Anybody need an extra cat?

Matt Poisson, Born Jan 4th 1983 in a small town in On-tario Canada. I was a peculiar child, taking into considera-tion my favorite toys to play with were extension cords of all lengths.

Stew Nelless, Currently reside in southern Alberta (Can-ada) about 150 miles south east of Calgary. I'm in my early 40's , 2 grown kids, been with the same girl for 25 years. One thing I have impressed upon my kids is that music is important in life and we often mark our lives by the music we hear along the way.

Clarke Robinson is a 37 year old Web Designer from the San Francisco Bay Area. He wastes countless hours of his life listening to jazz on headphones, at times long after his wife and two daughters have gone to bed.

Michael Jarve, 24 years old, and lives in the heart of Minnesota’s Iron Range. In life is an ISP network techni-cian and overall computer geek, when not trying to tweak or restore gear. He dreams in shades of h/k, Kenwood, and Altec.

Affordable$$Audio Review Calendar Index:Issue 1, January 2006

Adcom GFA 535 AmplifierLinn Keilidhs SpeakersOutlaw RR2150 ReceiverPolk Audio LSi9 SpeakersTotem Dreamcatcher Speakers

Issue 2, February 2006

Advent Baby II SpeakersAudiolab 8000A Integrated AmplifierElectriPrint 300DRD AmplifierEnergy Connoisseur C-9 SpeakersInfinity Kappa 200 SpeakersNakamichi SR4A ReceiverParadigm Titan V Speakers

Issue 3, March 2006

GR Research AV-1 SpeakersHSU STF-2 SubwooferMarantz CD-5000Sansui TU-7900

Issue 4, April 2006

Alegria Audio Rosa SpeakersQSC PLX-2402 AmplifierTotem Acoustic MITES Speakers

Issue 5, May 2006

AV123 Onix x-ls Speakers & x-subwooferBozak B-302A SpeakersiPod iPhoto 60 Gig (music server)Zebra ZC-SP12SD Speaker cables



issue number 5: may 2006

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