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Back in the 20th century, before mp-3 and other perverse forms of compression littered the high end audio/video landscape, Sound By Singer used to do A/V seminars in which the leading designers would come to our store and present their latest and greatest products along with a world of valuable ancillary information to enthusiastic throngs who thirsted for the best in performance and greater general knowledge. For a while these no longer seemed relevant. As the computer world began to insinuate itself into the high end audio field, control and convenience more than absolute performance seemed to divert the attention of many people from ne plus ultra. That phase seems to have passed. People are once again looking for the best sound and the best picture money can buy. At the same time the maturation of and technical advances in digital power and storage has led to the development of computer-based products such as Kaleidesape, which offer both the ultimate in convenience and state of the art action. So, once again into the breach, dear friends, as Sound By Singer welcomes the audio video gurus of today in a series of exciting seminars. If you have even a passing interest in what is possible in audiophile sound and videophile picture you cannot afford not to be here.
KRELL
For 25 years, Sound By Singer has been the leading exponent of Krell sound in the world. The reasons for this are simple. First, Krell produces the most musical and technically advanced solid state hi-fi components manufactured in the USA. Second, Krell, like Sound By Singer, is dedicated to propagating the best two channel and multi channel music sound possible.
That dedication has been renewed with a vengeance with the introduction of Krell’s Evolution series of preamplifiers, integrated amplifiers, power amplifiers, and digital sources. You could call Evolution a Renaissance, but that doesn’t convey just how far Krell has once again advanced the art of music reproduction.
EVOLUTION ARCHETYPE
The lead components of the new Krell sound and their best preamp and amplifiers ever are the Krell Evolution One mono power amps and the Krell Evolution Two line stage.
All signal gain in the Evolution Two
is realized in the current domain using proprietary multiple-output current mirrors with nearly 500 times the open loop linearity of other designs. Negative feedback is not used anywhere in the Evolution Two preamplifier, nor is it necessary. Open-loop distortion is typically less than 50 parts per million and the open loop bandwidth extends to two megahertz. The result is an extraordinarily wide and deep image, with an open and effortless sound.
In the Evolution One,
the output impedance of the final gain stages is one hundredth that of the final gain stage in most power amplifiers. This provides extremely wide bandwidth and very high current capability. The Evolution One does not employ global negative feedback--the final gain stages use only 8 dB of local, nested negative feedback. This is one-five hundredth of the amount used in most solid-state power amplifiers. The result is an extraordinarily open, liquid, effortless sound.
The new Krell Evolution amplifiers enjoy the hereditary advantage, from faceplate to binding posts, first born in the Evolution One amplifier. Realized in monaural, stereo, and three channel configurations, the Evolution amplifiers bring the engaging reproduction of music and movie soundtracks debuted in the flagship Evolution One to a potent new platform. With virtually unlimited power available, delivered through the most refined circuitry yet conceived, the Evolution amplifiers strike the fine balance between pure visceral response and delicate articulation. Elegant, graceful, powerful – new from Krell, classic from Krell. The Krell Evolution amplifiers range in power from a 300W stereo amplifier, the Evolution 302 to the extraordinary 900W monaural Evolution 900 amplifier.
Intriguingly, as their power goes up, the sound gets better and better. Atypical of a solid state amplifier, but then, Krell never ran with the herd.
The Krell Evolution 707 surround sound preamplifier is an audio video tour-de-force which delivers unparalleled music and cinema soundtrack reproduction through the use of a full complement of advanced Krell technologies, including: Krell Current Mode, Evolution CAST, Class A, Evolution CAST and balanced outputs, user-configurable input assignment and system macros, main and remote zone control capability, and broadcast-quality video circuitry.
FEATURES
8.4 channels of audio output features two center channel outputs and four subwoofer outputs for maximum flexibility in system design.
Two digital signal processors (DSPs), the Crystal CS49623 and the CS49302 are employed to perform all surround mode processing.
Supports Dolby Digital Surround EX, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 6.1 ES, DTS 5.1, DTS NEO: 6, Dolby Pro Logic II processing as well as Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio lossless surround formats, plus nine proprietary Krell Music Surround modes
Digital processing circuitry runs in double precision mode at a word length of 48-bits for the most precise division of frequencies and optimization of the system's speaker/subwoofer combination.
12 output stages are fully balanced and feature Krell Current Mode topology with 1.5 MHz of bandwidth for accurate reproduction of the today’s demanding movie soundtracks. Current audio signal transfer (CAST) outputs are supported for all 12 channels.
Preamp mode bypasses all digital circuitry and routes the analog input, stereo or 7.1 multi-channel, directly to the volume control for the purest path possible.
Separate power supplies for digital and analog circuit paths are linear design and feature custom made, low-noise transformers and robust regulation
All-discrete video circuitry bandwidth is greater than 350 MHz and provides pristine pass-through of all progressive and wideband high definition signals including HDMI.
Faroudja Truelife Video Enhancer:
--Identifies transitions considered to be the details in an image such as skin texture, freckles or hair, for artifact free image enhancement.
IPOD PRODUCTS
Dan D’Agostino, CEO and Chief Designer of Krell Industries, Inc, and a long-standing fan of iPod devices, often wondered what it would be like to design a dock built to Krell standards; specifically targeted towards owners of high end audio systems and music enthusiasts alike. The result is the Krell KID (Krell Interface Dock).
The KID is the first product of its kind to utilize the fully differential output of the internal DAC for the iPod devices – unaltered or modified – to deliver maximum sonic performance from this portable media. Looking for the ideal companion to the Krell KID? Check out the POPADOC amplifier.
dCS
As discussed in other newsletters, there simply isn't any question about it: If you want the very best in CD/SACD playback, you need to own the dCS Scarlatti transport, DAC, and clock.
Only slightly less impressive than the Scarlatti in terms of performance and build quality, the new dCS Paganini PTT CD/SACD transport, PDC D/A converter, and PCK System Master Clock
combine to form a digital playback system of penultimate quality. Both the Scarlatti and Paganini systems incorporate the legendary dCS Ring DAC, proprietary clock technology and unique upsampling algorithms.
Sonically, only Scarlatti components best the Paganini system in terms of musicality, detail and dynamics. Paganini Components are simply a joy to use and sound much closer to musical truth than the Elgar/Verdi Encore and Verona ever did. And that is saying something!
dCS’ new range is completed by Puccini, an all new integrated CD/SACD player, using the same control board and DAC analog board as the dCS Scarlatti and Paganini, the same Esoteric mechanism as the Paganini, and the same aluminum casework and remote handset as the Paganini. At approximately half the price of the dCS Paganini system, the Puccini is the very best integrated player dCS could make at anywhere near its price, and it shares all the same engineering and performance values as their more expensive products.
Here’s why they sound so good!
Oversampling and Upsampling
On the face of it, upsampling does much of the same job except that the upsampler outputs a digital signal and is only an intermediate step. dCS developed the dCS Purcell from their range of professional DDCs after they discovered that converting CD data to an intermediate sample rate then presenting the data to the Ring DAC resulted in a substantial sonic improvement.
Theory indicates that upsampling should have no effect; the mechanism is still not clear 7 years after the Purcell was developed. Indeed, some of dCSs competitors have attempted to ‘prove’ that upsampling does not work. We agree that it SHOULD not work – but our ears tell a different story. An upsampled system behaves as if breaking the oversampling process into 2 steps makes it ‘easier’ for the DAC to oversample accurately!
Most listeners agree that the result of upsampling is larger, more accurate sound stage and even more fine detail, including voices and instruments that were not discernible before. Upsampling does not ‘invent’ the extra detail – that would be worthless! All of the detail you can hear is recorded on the CD, but some of it is apparently masked by the rather pedestrian CD format.
The Ring DAC
All dCS D/A and A/D converters are based on dCS’ patented dCS Ring DAC system, the technology of which is too complicated to go into here.
Clocking
The quality of the clock in a digital audio system has a major impact on sound quality.
dCS products use a pair of voltage-controlled crystal specially chosen and quality controlled oscillators (VCXOs) to generate the system clock for the converter (or the whole system). One of these oscillators is used for sample rates related to 41.1kS/s (such as 22.05kS/s, 4414kS/s, 88.2kS/s, 176.4kS/s, 352.8kS/s and 2.822MS/s) while the other is used for sample rates related to 48kS/s (such as 32kS/s, 48kS/s, 96kS/s, 192kS/s and 384kS/s). The appropriate VCXO runs at a multiple of the sample rate, is divided down as necessary to drive each part of the circuit. This approach allows the converter and its’ micro-controller to run synchronously with the incoming data stream, reducing noise and spurious responses to a minimum.
BURMESTER
The stereo amplifier 909
is the largest Burmester makes, and it is one of the most powerful in the world. Since 1990, the 909 represents the pinnacle of Power Amplification in the audio domain; their smaller models 911 and 956 are its direct descendants. Like the legendary pre-amplifier 808, the 909 is of modular design. And, like all amplifiers from Burmester, the signal path of the 909 is balanced from front to back as well as DC-coupled. Like all Burmester’s power amplifiers, the 909 comes standard as a stereo amp. However, it can easily be bridged into mono operation by using an external adapter supplied by Burmester.
New to Sound By Singer, the 909 distinguishes itself by an extremely high damping factor. This together with the ability to deliver high currents enables it to control any loudspeaker effortlessly over the full frequency range. The 909 can easily deliver high continuous load currents and, thus, drive loudspeakers at the lowest impedance values. This renders the impulse response practically load-independent.
Among audiophiles, the 909 is highly regarded for its warm yet detailed sound. The 909 is unsurpassed in its ability to decipher the smallest musical detail when driving the best speakers in the world, keeping the ability for extreme bass control even at the highest volume levels. 'The Burmesters performed an amazing 'disappearing' act in Larry Alan Kays system, leaving behind the most natural impression of music-making he has observed'. (Fi-magazine, San Francisco).
CD PLAYERS
Audiophiles all over the world mourned the passing of Burmester’s 069/070 CD transport and DAC. It was widely considered the most analog (and by extension the most musical) CD playback in the world. Mourn no more. Burmester has done it again with their new 069 two-chassis CD player
.
With state of the art technology, Burmester Audiosysteme has built a CD-player in the 069 which is cutting edge in musicality and natural sound reproduction from CD.
Burmester Audiosysteme is the high-end company that conceived the world’s first belt-drive CD transport (the Burmester 916) and introduced it during the Berlin Consumer Electronics Show 1991. It now presents its masterpiece, the Reference CD Player 069. It is based on the Philips CD2 PRO laser technology and manufactured in Berlin. The 069 completely eliminates all weaknesses of digital pickup system which, up to now, audiophiles had to work around with expensive aftermarket add-ons.
By using a belt drive and mechanical de-coupling of the drive unit, the 069 insulates the sampling process from all external interference. Furthermore, a newly developed high-precision oscillators (96 and 192kHz) with minimal phase noise and high thermal stability provides a digital output signal with extremely low jitter, The Oscillator functions as the system clock and also as the low-jitter clock for the Sample Rate Converter (SRC). The result is a perfect digital replication of the analog waveform.
Burmester does power conditioners differently than anyone else! Their 948 and 038 units act as high quality AC filters. But, in addition, these remarkably innovative power devices also provide patented active DC suppression which eliminates low frequency power line noise that sporadically distorts the sound.
ZANDEN
The Zanden model 3000 represents one of the world's finest pre-amplifiers
. Its design is simple, elegant and like all Zanden products addresses various technical challenges facing the reproduction of recorded music. In this sense it perfectly complements their other products. It is often said in a complimentary fashion that the component just disappeared and only the music was left. Words that come to mind when describing the model 3000: precise, smooth, solid, built for a lifetime.
The extinction of vinyl records has been predicted many times, and yet the technology remains with us because when you listen to records you can't help but realize that sonically there really is no comparison between the CD format and vinyl.
The model 1200 II is Zanden’s stereo phono stage
. It is designed for use with moving coil cartridges and contains two separate step-up transformers for both high and low impedance cartridges. While most phono playback equalization circuits in preamplifiers are CR (capacitor & resistor) or NF (negative feedback), Zanden has chosen another method. The model 1200 uses a fixed impedance circuit called a bridged T. It is constructed from a capacitor, resistors, and an inductor. This has been the method of choice in professional playback systems for years and is the most accurate. The amplifier section has our original NO-NFB (no negative feedback) vacuum tube circuit. The power supply is constructed from a tube rectifier and an input choke to avoid the switching noise of diodes. The tube heater has current regulated circuits to prevent a rush of current from causing damage and guarantees the stable release of thermo-electrons from the tube’s cathode. High quality polypropylene film capacitors are used in the signal lines. The coils are manufactured on an automatic winding machine at Zanden. The base, front, and rear panels are constructed of 16mm thick aluminum to keep vibrations to a minimum. The unit is then covered with beautiful stainless steel polished to a mirror finish. The sound? Glorious!
Every digital component is inherently limited by its design. Zanden's competitors continue to use the same basic approach to design, employing ever higher sampling rates and longer word lengths. Zanden chose a completely fresh approach: no oversampling, no upsampling and no digital filter. The result was the award winning 2000P CD transport and 5000S DAC.
digital audio system that seriously challenges analog. The 2500 CD player combines many of their features and technologies in a single chassis. You've heard the limitations of digital. Now, hear the potential.
Rare is the amplifier that can capture the delicate beauty of Mozart's symphony #40. Still rarer is the amplifier that can capture the explosive dynamics of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Rarest of all is the Zanden 9500,
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