Listening Listening Feedback Room Room but when the percussion followed we were physically pushed back into our seats. Though the instruments had a little less weight than with our reference preamp and its large power supply, there was no blurring of the transients, nor did the impressive impact hide any of the music. Toby liked the chimes less, thinking they were more like bedsprings this time around, but he enjoyed the richness of detail, including the sound of John Newton Howard’s fingers sliding on his guitar strings. “As with the previous recording,” said Albert,” everything is in balance.” We know that female voices, with their relatively high registers, can present problems for music systems, from speakers to digital players, and certainly including phono preamplifiers. Our next two recordings both featured female singers. The first was Ireland’s Mary Black and her most famous recording, No Frontiers. At its best this recording gives us goose bumps, and we wish it were still available. All three of us mentioned right off that — no surprise — our reference phono preamp let through more body, and therefore more presence, but none of us took many marks off the Leema’s My first impression was one of balance. Here was music that flowed smoothly without undue excess. The natural warmth one comes to expect from a real voice was there. The slightest whispered lyrics were there too, dropped softly between notes. When the music became energetic and lively, musicians seemed to have a ball, exploding out of the silence, filling the room. Was it that good? Yes. Was it perfect? Nahh… Nothing really is, you probably know that by now. But it was a delight to listen to music I knew well and to meet it again, unscathed. That is saying a lot, considering the quality of our reference unit. Come to think of it, there aren’t that many reasons to live without it. —Albert Simon This Leema was a treat. Façade was 48 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine scorecard. Both Toby and Albert noted the purity of Black’s voice, and of course its beauty. If the lower register was a little leaner, it lost none of its beauty. Rhythm was solid, and the recording still sounded right. Our second singer was Barbra Streisand, on her famous Broadway Album (Columbia OC40092). We’ve used this recording in reviews for two decades, and we wish the CD version sounded a tenth as good. <strong>From</strong> that LP we listened to Send in the Clowns. We consider Streisand’s interpretation to be the definitive version. <strong>And</strong> it was nearly flawless, with only a barely noticeable emphasis on the sibilants. Both Toby and Albert left their notebooks nearly blank, preoccupied as Summing it up… Brand/model: Leema Elements Price: C$1050 Size (WDH): 10.5 x 8.3 x 4.8 cm Most liked: Wonderful clarity, rich detail Least liked: Some leanness at the bottom end Verdict: An apparently simple design pushed to its logical extreme CROSSTALK detailed, clean and transparent. I could hear all the instruments, properly placed, with realistic timbres. The snare drums in foreground, middle ground and background were all clearly snares and had a nice rattle to them. Oh, compared to the reference, the timbre of the snare was just a level of detail less realistic, so go for the reference if you have three times the money. On the Track Record the chimes didn’t have quite the same ring but the impact of the drum didn’t give up much at all. Mary Black’s voice was just a tad thinner but there was plenty of flow and lyricism. Streisand’s sibilants had a slight emphasis, but her intensity was still there. This Leema knows music, and I can see why they call it “Elements,” because it won’t short-change you on any of the essentials. —Toby Earp I must say I’m still amazed at how much they were by the song itself. Comparing the sound of the two phono preamps seemed superfluous, because the emotion of the song came through overwhelmingly. The woodwind introduction was superb, Streisand’s voice magnificent. The rest was mere detail, and we were left in no mood to quibble. Good as the Elements is, could it be improved? We took a close look at the wall wart, wondering whether, like some wall warts, it provides alternating current, with the rest of the power supply in the box. No, it supplies 24 volts DC, though it’s possible that there is more filtering and voltage regulation inside the box. The obvious question: could you retrofit a more elaborate supply, or perhaps even batteries? A pair of 12 volt motorcycle batteries connected in series could make a killer electrical source. But chances are you won’t spend this sort of money just so you can secondguess the designers. Right out of the box, this discreet phono preamplifier gets the…elements right. Not only will it make beautiful music, but it will give you a pretty good idea of what Lee and Mallory can do. We can hardly wait to spend some quality time with a pair of their loudspeakers. musicality has been packed into such an unprepossessing box. It can’t quite keep up with the best phono preamps, to be sure. It doesn’t have the body, nor does it have the ultimate smoothness of high frequencies. Yet, despite all, on many — perhaps most — recordings you won’t hear any limitations. You will notice the great clarity, and you may also note that it is not merely the product of harsh highs. There is no veil to hide the music. You may think I’m searching for virtues I can ascribe to this little box, but in fact I didn’t have to search at all. The virtues are the first thing you notice, and they come as a relief if you have much experience with mass-market phono preamps. Look further and you may notice less happy news, but only if you have a good point of comparison, as we do. —Gerard Rejskind
Your System Belongs on the Wall Target One and Two-Shelf Wall Stands at The Audiophile Store www.audiophileboutique.com YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL IN MONTREAL Creek Cyrus DNM Epos Eichmann Soundcare Sugden Thorens BUT ONLY AT 514-276-1413 www.radiosthubert.com Margie’s back! <strong>And</strong> she’s at The Audiophile Store
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