savoy014

I've had a sufficient breather since the pain of my capacitor shoot-out, so the time is ripe for another round-up, this time of AC receptacles and plugs. Now, this is almost as fun as watching mould grow on walls - yippee ! A generic aluminium distributor chassis will be the unfortunate test platform for AC receptacles (installed one at a time only), while two spare Acrolink 7N-4020 power cables will be used to try out the AC plugs. The 7N-4020 was chosen as its wire gauge is relatively thin, and plugs can be removed and replaced in less than 10 minutes. It is also useful to be able to switch back between two sets of cables for comparison purposes. All outlets and plugs will be burnt-in for at least 200 hours prior to testing. Some of the test subjects have been in use in my system for a few years. For receptacles which allow split wiring, only the "direct" wired outlet will be used. The participants for this slug-fest will be the following, AC Receptacles 1. ATL ETP-1000...

Raidho has been getting a lot of good press lately, and deservedly so. Mr. Michael Borresen, President and Chief Designer of Raidho Acoustics was in town to showcase Raidho's flagship stand-mounted speaker, the D1, at the local dealer, AV Intelligence. As I came towards the tail end of the event, I did not get to hear the earlier comparisons with the C1.1. During the demonstration, the D1 was paired with Devialet amplification and an Oppo Blu-ray player, which was a welcome change from extravagant pairings that only oil sheikhs could afford. The D1 cast a wide and deep soundstage, with pinpoint imaging. Driver integration between its ribbon tweeter and diamond coated woofer was outstanding. Despite the small driver size, the woofer extends quite low - much lower than expected. Midrange is on the slightly warm and full side of things, while the top end is detailed and glare free. Despite the high level of detail, the D1 avoids an overly analytical presentation and scores high on the...