download the PDF version - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine
download the PDF version - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine
download the PDF version - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Listening Room<br />
We’re expecting mail from <strong>the</strong><br />
flat-ear<strong>the</strong>rs, those who believe that<br />
all amplifiers with adequate power<br />
will, in <strong>the</strong> absence of a truly egregious<br />
engineering blunder, sound alike. We<br />
reviewed two multichannel power amps<br />
in this issue. And if you think <strong>the</strong>y must<br />
both sound <strong>the</strong> same, turn <strong>the</strong> page.<br />
We took <strong>the</strong> AV-6 into <strong>the</strong> lab for our<br />
usual battery of tests. It performed flawlessly<br />
even at levels just above <strong>the</strong> noise<br />
floor, which was very low: it’s shown on<br />
this page. Down to 200 Hz, <strong>the</strong> noise<br />
hovers around 100 dB below full power.<br />
It rises somewhat below that frequency,<br />
though under no circumstances does it<br />
become audible. The amplifier is slightly<br />
microphonic, and we could see <strong>the</strong> lowfrequency<br />
noise soar some 10 dB when<br />
we struck <strong>the</strong> cover hard. This is still<br />
a good figure, though it illustrates <strong>the</strong><br />
reason Vecteur spent money damping<br />
that potentially troublesome cover.<br />
Because we don’t own six dummy<br />
load resistors, we couldn’t check maximum<br />
power with all channels driven.<br />
Driving just two channels (<strong>the</strong> ones<br />
we had listened to), <strong>the</strong> AV-6 easily<br />
exceeded its specifications. We drove<br />
it to 153.3 watts before clipping at<br />
1 kHz, and to a slightly higher level at<br />
20 kHz. It did a bit less well at 20 Hz, as<br />
The listening room was suddenly filled<br />
with sunlight, and I felt great, submerged in<br />
great music. Lacking was not a single one of<br />
<strong>the</strong> qualities sought by any self-respecting<br />
audiophile.<br />
To begin, in works with torrents of notes<br />
and sounds, including at times breathtaking<br />
chromatics, I detected a treasure trove of<br />
detail, thanks to <strong>the</strong> amplifier’s remarkable<br />
clarity. The image, and <strong>the</strong> space — both<br />
horizontal and vertical — left all <strong>the</strong> space<br />
necessary for <strong>the</strong> wide-ranging dynamics,<br />
alternating between pianissimo and powerful<br />
tuttis, had plenty of elbow room, and<br />
could communicate such charming emotions.<br />
Choral voices were superb too. Impact<br />
was striking, <strong>the</strong> sound exquisite…in short,<br />
we are dealing here with a highly musical<br />
amplifier I can recommend without tion.<br />
hesita-<br />
—Reine Lessard<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
Listening to music through this amplifier<br />
was a breeze. There was nothing to analyze<br />
or compare, nothing to pay attention to,<br />
just <strong>the</strong> music in all its glory. An effortless<br />
experience, I tell you. Choral voices flowed<br />
in clear, transparent veils around <strong>the</strong> speakers,<br />
strings lightly brushed sounded like just<br />
that — not just as simple transients — and<br />
<strong>the</strong> vibraphone…vibrated with its rich,<br />
resounding tone.<br />
Actually, it was so similar to <strong>the</strong> reference<br />
amplifier that it was no test at all, so to speak.<br />
But <strong>the</strong>n, as I relaxed through <strong>the</strong> listening<br />
tests, I started noticing little things I had<br />
not heard quite so clearly before. That harp<br />
touch was almost palpable, I thought. And<br />
this double bass melody line — why did I<br />
find it so easy to follow now? What about<br />
those barely audible sounds that fade into<br />
space and reveal <strong>the</strong> size of <strong>the</strong> hall?<br />
In many ways <strong>the</strong> character of this amp<br />
many amplifiers do. Though it clipped<br />
at 147 watts, it began exhibiting high<br />
distortion at 120.1 watts…just above<br />
<strong>the</strong> rated power.<br />
We were initially puzzled by what one<br />
can do with that sixth channel. Though<br />
6.1 channel systems do exist (DTS<br />
offers a true 6.1 system), <strong>the</strong> AV-6 has<br />
one channel too many for <strong>the</strong> usual 5.1<br />
surround system, and one too few for<br />
Dolby’s 7.1 channel system. What do<br />
you do with an extra channel?<br />
Actually we had little difficulty<br />
coming up with answers. You can give<br />
your centre speaker extra headroom by<br />
biamplifying it. You can also drive a passive<br />
subwoofer. Such subs are now rare,<br />
but we do in fact own one.<br />
And <strong>the</strong>n we got more ideas. Perhaps<br />
you have a high grade two channel<br />
music system and you’re looking for a<br />
new power amplifier. So look what we<br />
have here: six superb quality amplifier<br />
channels, capable of triamplifying your<br />
high end speakers!<br />
However you configure it, we think<br />
you’ll come to <strong>the</strong> same conclusion we<br />
did: by any standard this amplifier is an<br />
amazing bargain. But unlike many bargains,<br />
this one won’t make you wish you<br />
had saved a little longer before making<br />
your choice.<br />
was similar to that of <strong>the</strong> reference, but<br />
through many o<strong>the</strong>r little details, it reached<br />
out to me unexpectedly, in unmistakable<br />
fashion, as <strong>the</strong> reference rarely did. How do<br />
<strong>the</strong>y do it?<br />
—Albert Simon<br />
I’m still waiting for Vecteur to get a<br />
product really, really wrong. It doesn’t look<br />
as though it will be this year. The AV-6 is<br />
such a bargain that it’s tempting to talk about<br />
it in terms of price. That would be unfair.<br />
What Vecteur has provided here is not<br />
just a big bang for <strong>the</strong> buck, but The Big<br />
Bang itself. Forget <strong>the</strong> price, forget <strong>the</strong> extra<br />
four channels (as we did in our Alpha room),<br />
and just listen to <strong>the</strong> way it sounds. The AV-6<br />
represents value in <strong>the</strong> original sense of that<br />
much maligned word: what comes out of it<br />
is valuable for its own sake.<br />
—Gerard Rejskind<br />
Was Ray Brown <strong>the</strong> world’s best bassist?<br />
Judge for yourself on this 24/96 disc that will play in any DVD player. Of flip it over for 24/192<br />
DVD-Audio. Visit http://www.uhfmag.com/Hi-Res.html.<br />
52 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>