Wingate Class-A Amplifier Tandberg Cd Player R-Dat

FEBRUARY 1988

WINGATE CLASS-A AMPLIFIER TANDBERG CD PLAYER R-DAT USER REPORT APASSIVE PREAMPLIFIER SCHUBERT'S GREAT C-MAJOR INDEX TO 1987 SONOGRAPHE SYSTEMS: For Those Whose Discriminating Taste Exceeds Their Means

Whether your preference is for the warm glow of astring quartet or the driving rhythm of hard rock SONOGRAPHE will recreate the mood of live performance. Conceived and engineered by conrad-johnson design to achieve sonic excellence far exceeding their moderate prices, each SONOGRAPHE component offers commendable performance in systems of the highest quality Together they constitute acomplete system of near reference quality at an affordable price—less than $3000 for cd player preamplifier amplifier and monitor speakers.

the conrad-johnson group • 2800R Dorr Ave • Fairfax. VA 22031 • 703-698-8581 CONTENTS

AS WE SEE IT 5 LETTERS 12 INDUSTRY UPDATE 33 High-End News from the USA and UK THE BEST SOUND IN NEW YORK 47 The results ol the Stereophile Show visitors survey AUDIO WITH ROTARY HEADS 52 George Graves lives with a Luxman R-DAT recorder INTERSTELLAR OVERDRIVE • 61 John Atkinson talks with John Bau of Spica Speakers AN ABSENCE OF GAIN? 78 Ben Duncan offers a DIY passive preamplifier design EQUIPMENT REPORTS Wilson WATTs loudspeaker (MC). 88 Spica Angelus loudspeaker (JA) . 96 Kindel Purist LT loudspeaker (TJN) 101 Castle Durham loudspeaker (TJN) 103 Audio Concepts Quartz loudspeaker (TJN) 105 AR Powered Partner loudspeaker (BS) 108 Wingate 2000A power amplifier (DO) 110 Sima W-3050 power amplifier (TJN) 114 Parasound HCA-800 power amplifier (TJN) 116 Tandbérg 3015A CD player (JGH) 118 Audio Control Phase-Coupleo Activator (BS) 121 dbx 120BX subharmonic synthesizer (BS) 121 Luxman T-117 FM tuner (DAS) 124 FOLLOW UP Bedini 150/150 Mk.II amplifier (DO) 126 Monitor Audio R952MD loudspeaker (JA) • 127 BUILDING A LIBRARY 129 Christopher Breunig looks at Schubert's Great C-Major Symphony on record RECORD REVIEWS 133 BOOK REVIEWS 169 INDEX TO STEREOPHILE VOLUME 10 174 MANUFACTURERS COMMENTS 179 COMING ATTRACTIONS 4 WHERE TO BUY STEREOPHILE 191 AUDIO MART 199 BACK ISSUES 177 SUBSCRIPTIONS 75 FOREIGN SUBSCRIPTIONS 75 ADVERTISER INDEX 209 THE FINAL WORD 210 Larry Archibald offers a publisher's point of view

FEBRUARY 1988 VOL. 11 NO. 2

Stereophile, February 1988 COMING ATTRACTIONS

The March issue of Stereopbile (Vol.]] No.3) the Apogee Divas; Iwill be looking at British offers much to intrigue, inform, and entertain amplification from DNM and acomplete sys- the audiophile J. Gordon Holt, as spry as ever, tem from Linn Products, as well a host of reports on what was new in high-end audio under-$1000 loudspeakers; Keith Yates has at the Las Vegas CES; Dick Olsher reports on been examining one of the most promising the state of the electrostatic art; Amis Balgalvis room-acoustic treatments, the tantalizingly kicks off his writing career for Stereopbile with named Reflection Phase Gratings; and Lewis a review of Bill Firebaugh's Well-Tempered Lipnick is putting together acomplete report Ibmtable; Bill Sommerwerck provides an in- on a classical recording session, including depth report on which surround-sound de- politics, engineering, choice of program, and coders best decode Dolby Stereo video sound- performance. tracks; Martin Colloms analyzes the perfor- And April will see afully revised edition of mance of amost unusual British loudspeaker, Stereopbile's authoritative "Recommended Mordaunt-Short's System 442; Thomas J. Nor- Components" feature. ton surveys the field of modified Philips/Mag- In the Music Section, we hope to include 20 navox CD players; and Ken Kessler talks to pages of record reviews in every issue; inter- Naim Audio's Julian Vereker. views with Michala Petri and Ofra Hamoy are Works in progress due to appear in the next in the works, as are reviews of two major new two or three issues of Stereopbile include Dick Wagner recordings; and Steréopbile's search Olsher's hopefully definitive survey of loud- for black vinyl will continue in New York, los speaker cables—if the word "definitive" should Angeles, and London. ever be used for acomponent that seems to And to those of you who buy your copy of change so often—and alook at the undersea Stereopbile from a newstand, now that the world of subwoofers, including models from magazine appears every month, why don't you Sumo, Kinergetics, Coggin-Hall, Nelson-Reed, consider subscribing? The subscription form and Entec. JGH will review cost-no-object can be found on page 75. loudspeakers, including, we hope, the Infinity IRS Beta; Amis Balp,alvis will be reporting on Aile‘41t,

STAFF

Publisher Larry Archibald Advertising Representatives (Domestic East Coast 8 Foreign) Founder and Chief Tester J Gordon Holt Nelson 8, Associates (Ken Nelson) Editor John Atkinson (914) 476-3157 (Domestic West Coast & National Dealer) Assistant Editor Richard Lehnert Nelson 8. Associates (Laura J. Atkinson) (505) 988-3284 Contributing Editors (hardware) Production Manager Rebecca Willard Arms Balgalv is Bebo Moroni Production Andrew Main, Janice St. Marie Martin Colloms Thomas J. Norton 8 Susan Lamden Alvin Gold Dick Oisher George M. Graves II Don A. Scott Ad Copy Manager Susan Lamden Ken Kessler Bit Sommerwerck Feature Design Michael Motley Peter Mitchell Stephen W. Watkinson Cover Design Jim Wood Typesetting Copygraphics Musician in Residence Lewis Lipnick

Contributing Editors (records) Stereophile -Vol. 11 No. 2, February 1988, Issue Number g7. Stereophile (ISSN NO585-2544) is pub- David B. Allvin Robert Hesson lished monthly, $35.00 per year for U.S. residents by Leslie S. Berkley Barbara Jahn Stereophile, 208 Delgado, Santa Fe, NM 67501. James Berwin Igor Kiprus Second class postage paid at Santa Fe, NM and at Christopher Breunig Gary S. Krakow additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send ad- Kevin Conklin Harold Lynn dress changes to Stereophile, PO. Box 364, Mount Gordon Emerson Richard Schneider Morris, IL 61054 Mortimer H. Frank Bernard Soil Subscriptions William A.C. Furtwangler U.S. residents 800-435-0715 800-892-0753 (Illinois) Business Manager Gail Anderson From outside U.S. call (505)982-2366. (505)982-2366

4 Stereophile, February 1988 ow that Sony has bought CBS's rec- and it's as easy to use as CD. DAT confers no ords division, and the infamous Copy- advantage in any of those areas. N code bill seems to be dying in Con- As for the new system's superior sound gress, the way may be clearing at last for the quality. relative to the analog cassette, I do not US introduction of the new Digital Audio Tape foresee that having any significant effect on system. This has sparked renewed speculation DAT's marketplace acceptance. In fact, the in the industry about the impact DAT will have perceived difference between DAT reproduc- on existing formats, particularly the fledgling tion and the sound from conventional cas- CD. Some are convinced DAT will kill CD, settes will, for most consumers, be quite small. because of its ability to record as well as play A good cassette copy of a CD can never be a digital recordings. Others believe DAT won't perfect replica of it, hut the differences are even gain a foothold in the market, for the slight enough that the average person will be same reason quadraphonic sound laid an egg hard put to hear them. There's a slight high - back in the '70s: The public can't handle more end softening that only trained listeners with than one "standard" format. I feel that both good equipment are likely to notice. There's views are wrong, and that—as is usually the also an increase in background hiss, which has case with extreme views—the truth lies in be- apparently never bothered the average user, tween. I believe DAT will catch on in the either. In an automobile, it's buried under the marketplace, but never in abig way, and cer- high ambient noise.' Even at home, where am- tainly not the way CD has. Here's why. bient noise is much lower, the compact cas- First, and probably most important, is that sette's gentle hiss is still usually inaudible, DAT will have little to offer the average music because most people listen to music which has listener that he cannot now get from the con- limited dynamic range to begin with, and ventional audio cassette at much lower cost. because most "stereos" won't play loudly The analog cassette is recordable, it does not enough to put a Dolby-B'ed cassette's hiss well accumulate ticks and pops with repeated play- above the ambient noise level. ings. and it wears out slowly enough with The other advantages of DAT—the ability repeated playings that few users have ever exhausted its life expectancy. The cassette is II am ignoring those idiots whose criterion of fi in a Cr is its ability to induce Needing from the rats Few of them have pocketable, players can he eminently portable, any hearing left ahove ikH anyway.

Stereophile, February 1988 5 e iThe very essence of the Delta Mode differential topology is to intrinsically oppose 'wdistortion, yet effortlessly magnify the music while accurately preserving its harmonic phase structure to present an exquisitely detailed sonic picture of the live performance. Regardless of your level of listening experience, the Delta Mode's unique sonic capabilities will transport you to center stage. Quality and reliability by natural design. Satisfaction guaranteed! Please call or write for additional information.

Don JCochran Inc. Suite 109, 1900 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303 USA 415-496-1900 to automatically locate different selections by But if DAT would seem to pose little threat anumerical address, and to be programmed to the compact cassette, what about its impact for playback in any desired order—will appeal on the other digital medium, CD? Ibelieve little to those people who now routinely put there might be some cause for concern here together their own programs on cassette from if the CD were not already firmly established several different source recordings. And as for as the home-music medium, because DAT will the ability to encode DAT tapes with time do everything the CD can do, as well as record codes and other synchronizing data, these will with the same fidelity. he completely irrelevant for anyone but pro- Many industry observers maintain it is the fessional recording engineers. VCR's ability to record which explains the Then there's the cost of DAT. The first public's indifference toward the non-record- recorder/players are expected to sell for be- able LaserVision system, despite the latter's im- tween $1500 and $2000 in the US, with the (ex- age superiority. But Idon't believe that parallel pressed) expectation that prices will eventually with video will hold in audio. It is true that a come down as increasing sales permit econo- lot of videophiles have been making cheap mies of mass production to take effect. But it (and clearly illegal) copies of rented cassettes may take along time for that to happen, partly in recent years, hut there was alot more incen- because of the new system's limited perceived tive for doing that when the average price of value, partly because the nature of the beast aHollywood film on cassette was $70. Today, practically guarantees it will never be acheap with many recent blockbusters going for $30 medium. Because of its complexity, a DAT and scads of lesser ones priced at S10 each, machine can never he as inexpensive to manu- most consumer video recorders are being facture as acassette machine is today, and may used, not for copying of films, but for "time- never be as rugged and reliable. Feeding a DA shifting" of broadcast programs whose sched- corder will he expensive, too. The blank tapes uled airings prevent real-time viewing. But far will cost between $9 and $14 initially, and may fewer people are interested in time-shifting never go below $9 because of the necessary radio programs—particularly music programs. precision and the lack of abroad consumer To most listeners, the few must-not-miss radio base. The day of the 3-for -SI blank DAT cas- shows tend to be talk shows, and (here we go sette is not in sight and will probably never again!) aconventional cassette will do just as come. good a job of time-shifting these as a DAT Prerecorded DAT software will cost even recording. more. lbday, you can buy ahigh-speed (60 The vinyl LP was never arecordable medium times real-time) analog-cassette duplicator plus either, yet it outsold prerecorded cassettes for six slaves for around $200,000, and blank 20 years until—coincidentally or otherwise— cassettes may run around 30 cents each. The the introduction of the CD, when cassette sales only currently available high-speed duplicator started to outstrip LP sales just as LPs started for DAT tapes costs acool 5600,000—enough to lose out to CDs. But was it the CD's superior to discourage most prospective duplicators, sound 3 that killed the LP? Ithink not. Ibelieve particularly when there is not as yet any mar- it was acombination of things—the fact that ket at all for the software. A real-time DAT CI) came along right after the home-computer duplicator, with 6slaves, can be bought for a revolution ("Digital is good!"), the attractive- mere $250,000, as compared with around ness of something that would never wear out $7000 for acomparable real-time setup for with use, and the striking appearance of the analog cassettes. There is no way prerecorded CD with its shifting spectrum of unbelievably DAL can be priced competitively with con- pure colors. But Iam convinced that the most ventional cassettes within the foreseeable important attraction of the CD for the average future. person is its freedom from clicks and pops, which have always plagued him more than 2Casio, which has no CD-player market to support, introduced aminiature portable DAT recorder weighing less than 3Audiophiles with $5000 phono units may sneer at this asser- Ikg at the Tokyo Audio Fair last October. Al the equivalent tion, but when ).Q. Public compared CD sound with what of II 100, this costs half the price of comming models from he was getting from his S'9.50 record player, the difference Sony and Matsushita. Casio must see R-DAT as anatural ex- was staggering, and persuasive. And it is the general public, tension of their high profile in the amateur music-making not the audiophile, that determines the commercial success market. of an audio product.

Stereophile, February 1988 7 they have audiophiles because he neither took single prerecorded DAT tape to be found in any care of his records nor played them on equip- record store. And there won't be until there are ment which didn't emphasize the problems. lots of players out there to reproduce them on. If this is the case, though, why didn't the But who will spend $1500 on amachine for prerecorded analog cassette, which is equally which there is no prerecorded software? Even free from transient surface noise, bury the if DAT is launched along with an impressive "scratchy" LP long ago? Iattribute this to the first release of software titles, it will be forever- public perception of the LP as the "primary" after trying to catch up with amedium that has home-music medium, plus the fact that for ahuge head start. Idon't believe it ever will. most of its lifespan there were far more titles The success of any new product depends on LP than there have ever been on cassette. on its perceived value, not its real value. The In that particular respect, video history can CD, as anon-recordable medium, was seen as give us one clue as to the potential marketplace asuperior incarnation of the LP, and as far as viability of DAT: The thing that killed Beta was most people were concerned, there was just software availability. Beta was launched with no comparison. Today, CD collectors are nearly ahead start over any other home-video system all ex-LP buyers. People whose home-music because it was the first, but there was no pre- medium has been the cassette all along have recorded software for it at the time. It was in- not, by and large, been seduced by CD, be- tended for time shifting of TV programs, and cause the players and the software cost more while its 1-hour running time was adequate for than cassette, and, as far as they can see, have that purpose, it was useless for films. It wasn't less to offer. The average cassette player sounds until VHS was introduced, with its 2-or 4-hour far better than the average el cheapo phono record/play time, that it became possible to ac- unit, and will record as well as play back. The commodate afull-length feature film on one public will view DAT as competition for the cassette, and that was when Hollywood climbed compact cassette, not the CD. And Isincerely onto the home-video bandwagon. Sony prompt- doubt that DAT will be perceived as being ly countered with aBeta-II 2-hour speed, but superior enough to analog cassette to displace VHS's optional 4-hour capability offered it the way CD has displaced the LP. substantial savings in tape costs for those who Ido, however, believe there is aplace for wanted to record off the air and didn't care DAT in the order of things. Its major appeal about the inferior picture quality at the slower will be to people who are best able to take ad- tape speed. With blank tapes going for $25 vantage of what it has to offer: those who de-. each, the savings at half-speed were not incon- mand the best sound quality attainable, and siderable. At that time, there were still relatively who are acutely aware of the shortcomings of few films available for rental or purchase; analog. This means, primarily, audio people movie buffs did most of their collecting off the who make original, live recordings, and in- airwaves, and they saw VHS-4 as the best way cludes serious amateur recordists and profes- to do it. Sales of VHS machines soon started sional recording engineers, particularly in the to outstrip Betas. film business. Aside from CDs (which are Naturally, the film studios courted the larger becoming cheap enough that there is little base of consumer VCRs, releasing more titles point in copying them to DAT), only live, on VHS than on Beta. And most VCR pur- original material offers high enough quality to chasers, planning to rent or buy films, opted take full advantage of DAT's signal/noise and for the format with the widest selection of bandwidth capabilities. And the ability to titles—VHS. It became a tightening vortex make flawless digital copies from DAT masters with Beta in the middle, until most of the soft- will delight professional users, to whom an ware publishers saw the writing on the wall original recording is often just the first step in and pulled the plug on Beta altogether. Today, aseries culminating in the finished product. it is the favored format with home videotapers, But for many such prospective users, DAT alone as well as for professional ENG use, but as a will not be enough. In order for the new system cinema-at-home medium it is dead. to be supported in either area, proper editing DAT faces the same uphill fight as did Beta, equipment must be made available for it. only more so. There are literally thousands of The only reason analog open-reel recorders CD titles available now, while there is not a continue to sell is because they permit easy

8 Stereophile, February 1988 editing, on the same machine used for mak- Sony has already shown prototypes of apor- ing the master tape. The cost to asmall record- table pro DAT unit that does all of those things, ing studio of "going digital" is not just that of and more, in asingle unit about half the size apro PCM mastering system, which is formi- and weight of acomparably outfitted Nagra. dable enough to begin with, but must also in- The lack of editing equipment designed spe- clude that of the editing equipment needed to cifically for DAT will be no deterrent to its use assemble apresentable commercial product by any major studio, because those that aren't from the digital masters. The total can easily already equipped with suitable equipment for top $60,000—an investment that many strug- their big studio PCM systems can readily afford gling studios are just not prepared to make. It to obtain it. is lack of editing ease, not format incompati- As for the anticipated (by some) DAT revolu- bility, which has hindered the $3000 PCM-F1's tion, Ijust do not see it happening. DAT has acceptance in pro and semipro circles. It is enough going for it that it will find its niches used, grudgingly, by many pros simply be- in those areas where it is better suited for the cause its sound quality is good enough to job than anything else, but those areas will, I allow transfer, without appreciable quality loss, feel, remain forever outside the mainstream. 4 to open-reel analog tape, which allows for easy The DAT promoter's dream of aplayer in every editing. car and on every jogger's belt is, 1suspect, no As it stands now, Ibelieve the DAT system's more likely to come true than the music in- major appeal will be to on-location film-sound dustry's nightmare of every kid down the engineers, who have relied for more than 20 block mass-producing DAT copies of the latest years on the Nagra, battery-operated, portable, hit CD for all his DAT-equipped friends. Yes, open-reel analog recorder made by asmall DAT will catch on, but it will never catch fire. Swiss firm called Kudelski, all the while curs- Of course, Icould be wrong. ing its limitations while appending all sorts of outboard add-ons to make it do what is re- 4 It is estimated that, despite all the hoopla, only 30,000 DAT quired of modern film-mastering recorders. recorder, were sold in 1987. nearly all in Japan.

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1m4 • THE ELITE A-91D INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER. Now that the compact disc has taken the world by storm, ordinary amplifiers are failing their driving test. Because ordinary amplifiers simply can't handle the dynamic range and purer signal that digital sound delivers. Fortunately the A-91D is far from ordinary Because the A-91D is built with one thought , in mind—to maximize the per formance of digital sound. 12 With 170 watts per channel into 4o hm speaker loads, and 120 watts into 8oh ms,th e A-91D un - leashespatodtisgiatnailtshfuullge d krtiamicned ra nge. cast-iron enclosed transformers further contribute to the A-91D's high current capacity and stability into speaker loads as low as 2ohms. Along with all this power comes unprecedented purity You can plug the latest CD players with optical outputs directly into the A-91D, and reap the rewards 4 of independent digital conversion circuitry—with it twin, glitch-free DIA converters, adigital fil ter w ith 3 • four-times oversampling, and an analog lowpass filter made from quality discrete parts. The A-91D e l'e. also uses Pioneer's exclusive Non-Switching" 'type Ill amplifier circuit to totally eliminate switching distortion. What's more, critical signal paths are : kept extraordinarily short for less electronic inter ference and cleaner sound. • When it comes to digital sound, there's no such thing as good vibrations. That's why the A-91D uses -a special anti-vibration honeycomb design in the chassis frame. In isolation barriers between elec- ite tronic sections. Even in all five insulator feet. Alarge aluminum volume control knob with aspecially balanced brass shaft also absorbs distortion-causing vibration, and printed circuit boards are mounted in rubber for the same reason. The A-91D is not only ready for digital, it's ready the future. With six digital inputs (2 optical), nd three digital outputs (I optical). So if you want your digital sound to drive you to new heights, you need to drive your dig,ital atcomponents with the Elite A-9 ID. w For more information. call 1-800-421-1404.

whim ©1987 Pioneer Electronics il .S.A1 Inc.. I.ong Beach. CA i• LETTERS We regret that resources not permit us to reply individually to letters, particularly those requesting advice about particular equipment purchases. Were we to do this, a significant service charge would have to be assessed—and we don't have time to do it anyway! Although all are read and noted, only those of general interest are selected for publication.

Right? subscribing. This is because Ihave no use for Editor: the magazine As Idon't intend to buy a$5000 Let me confess that Ihave grown to love and amplifier within the next 20 years—I don't respect your magazine, for many reasons: even intend to get a$ 500 amp within the next 1. The Cheapskate. Sam Tellig and Anthony 20 years—I have no use for reviews on such H. Cordesman are, in my opinion, the most equipment. Even at the discounted price of sane people reviewing audio today. They $1.50 an issue, it is too much to pay to "keep recognize music reproduction as ahobby that up" with the latest developments in high-end must be in balance with other pursuits to make equipment. Iget Audio and Stereo Review to an entire life worth living. Ipurchased Spen- "keep up," in addition to which these two dor Sins and aMagnavox CD 1051 on Sam's magazines report on equipment that are simi- recommendation, and Iam quite pleased with lar to my own in price Idon't think my choice them. of magazines would limit my choice of audio 2. J. Gordon Holt. This guy has class. His equipment in the future. So, when Ibegin to liberalism in his relations with designers such acquire interest in high-end equipment, Ishall as Bob Carver and in his comments on digital begin my subscription to Stereopbile. technology show alevel of maturity that is fre- Ki Suk Hahn quently lacking in audio journalism. This West Covina, CA hobby, which is supposed to put some fun into our lives, has in some quarters developed into Qualified applause acult with demented ideological underpin- Editor: nings. JGH has stayed above the fray. First, why does Stereopbile use so many British 3. Larry Archibald. When he flags down writers? While Idon't question their creden- reviewer comments to make some of his own, tials, it seems to me that there must be Isee none of the "I am thy Guru, thy Golden American writers with equal qualifications. Ear" high-horse crap that, intended or not, Second, when will you review aSoundcrafts- deprecates the opinions of others. men preamplifier? This company has been In short, Ihave not only learned tremen- around for some time, and seems to make a dously from your magazine, but Ihave also quality product. come to develop adeep respect for your staff Your record reviews still leave something to as people. Ifeel like Icould be personal friends be desired. Montesquieu said, "Those who of any of them; and in fact consider all of you wish to give us depth often give us length in- as such. stead." Your reviews too often prove him right. Ken Kallon Notwithstanding the above, Iapplaud you Poughkeepsie, NY for your intelligent, literate approach to the care and feeding of the stereophile Your blend But also wrong of informative reporting, criticism, and educa- Editor: tion is better in most respects than that of any Stereopbile is one of the better audio maga- other magazine in the field. Keep up the good zines Ihave read. Ifind particularly interesting work. the letters, "Recommended Components," and Don Goodenow the manufacturers' comments. Ialso like the Springfield, IL way the reviewers describe the sounds they hear from the equipment. Vol.10 No.8 had a Appalled great cover, too. Editor: Ishould say, however, that Ishall not be I've just recently started reading Stereopbile

12 Stereophile, February 1988 again after an 11-year layoff. I'm appalled at the And since in fact the ET-2 does have an direction the magazine has taken. After reading azimuth adjustment, does their misstatement all the rave reviews you publish of Apogee imply that the authors had not read Eminent loudspeakers, Iwonder when was the last time Technology's installation manual? And if that's your writers listened to live music. In fact, I the case, then how—and by whom—was the wonder if some of them ever have. And then, ET-2 actually installed and adjusted? in ol.10 No.7, The Audio Cheapskate reviewed Is it meaningful to base a listening com- a30W mono tube amplifier—only S4300 per parison, which is concerned with the most stereo pair! Is this ajoke, aput-on of the maga- subtle aspects of recorded music, on tape zine's readers, or what? Iguess now that recordings? Recorders, which all will agree are subscription money has little to do with not perfect, will alter asignal from acartridge whether the magazine lives anymore, the mag and arm just as surely as they will alter alive doesn't care whether the poor reader is in a signal from amicrophone. befuddled fog or pissed off. Gosh, and Iused And why was this article—which, when to think The Absolute Sound was strange. submitted to another audio publication, was Marlon Weaver returned twice for rewriting and still deemed Chattanooga, TN unacceptable—ever published at all, when it Huh? is in fact promoting aproduct so new that Editor: Graham himself declared in his Manufacturer's Is Stereopbile now made in Japan? Comment that he is waiting for delivery of Robert Mayberger component parts and that his first production Rosedale, NY arms". .. should be available just when this issue of Stereopbile is mailed"? That tonearm comparison Itrust that your readers will compare the Editor: ET-2 with competing arms for themselves, and As the co-designer of Eminent Technology's Ibelieve that many will then decide that the Tonearm 2and aformer vice-president of that lesser brightness and liveliness of the ET-2 firm, I was naturally interested in Philip signifies the same lack of coloration that has Greenspun's and Charles Stromeyer's article endeared it to its 4000-plus owners through- (V)l.10 No.8) comparing that arm with the new out the world. tonearm from Graham Engineering. Edison Price But the article raised many questions. New York, NY Why was the designer/manufacturer of the Edison Price apparently thinks that the pur- Graham arm invited to participate in the listen- pose of Greenspun's article was to make a ing test, while Eminent Technology's Bruce definitive comparative evaluation between Thigpen was not? This would have assured the ET-2 and the Graham arm. This was, in that the ET-2 had not been mishandled and fact, not the purpose, which was to see if was properly set up. Overall, Thigpen's pres- double-blind evaluation techniques could ence would have resulted in amore equitable correctly identify two quite different tone- situation by allowing the test participants (in- arms. The result—that most of the audi- cluding the authors) to meet the ET-2's tioners preferred the Graham arm—does not designer personally, as they presumably met to me read as a Stereophile endorsement of Robert Graham. that product, which is not even available for Why, in an ostensibly neutral test report, was purchase, to the best of my knowledge. We four times more descriptive prose devoted to apologize for the mistaken allegation that the the Graham arm than to the ET-2? Why did ET-2 fails to provide for azimuth adjustment, technical errors in the piece work only to the but it is clear that the additional description Graham arm's advantage and the ET-2's disad- of the Graham arm reflects its novelty; the vantage? For example, the Graham arm's bear- ET-2 has been described most extensively in ing, aunipivot design which depends solely these pages. —LA on gravity to hold it together, was said to have ". .. no play," while elsewhere the authors state And again that the ET-2 lacks aprovision for adjusting Editor: azimuth. Ibegan reading the Tonearm Comparison ar-

Stereophile, February 1988 13 The new SP11 Mark II from Audio Research: setting the standard, again.

A classic reborn. than ever before, with an uncanny Traditional wisdom holds that you rendition of proper size and location. don't tamper with success. But at Bass response is both deeper and Audio Research, the working more detailed, for amore dynamic philosophy has always been to make foundation beneath the musical important progress in music program. And, overall, you'll hear a reproduction available to those breathtaking new clarity that simply music lovers who care to hear the lets arecorded musical difference. So, two years after the performance through as never introduction of the original SP11 before—while telling you more about preamplifier, Audio Research the quality of the transcription announces the heir to its acclaimed medium as well. The new SP11 Mark reference standard: the new SP11 II is truly the most revealing, yet Mark "invisible" preamplifier ever from Audio Research. And, we think you'll New clarity, dynamics, realism. agree, one of the best values in high- The new Mark II offers startling end audio. Again. Audition it soon at improvements in musical realism your authorized Audio Research compared to the standard-setting dealer. original. First, there is asoundstage that extends even further beyond the speakers, laterally and front-to-back. Within this stage, instruments and voices are focused more precisely audio research HIGH DEFINITION MUSIC REPRODUCTION EQUIPMENT corporation 6801 ShIngle Creek Parkway Minneapolis. Minnesota 55430 Area Code 612/566-7570 Telex 290-583 tide in the November Stereophile, and noted 4favored the Eminent Technology, and there increasing interest and approbation. However, were 2draws. Analysis as above indicates that upon getting into page 65, my gorge rose also. there could have been 8tests favoring the Emi- It is just this sort of misbegotten analysis and nent Technology arm, only 5tests favoring the data presentation that has given subjective Graham arm, 4draws, and 2tests which could testing such abad name in some circles. One have gone either way. Only 3of the 19 tests would not be surprised to see such stuff in would have had the same result in both cases. Stereo Review (viz, the abysmally analyzed So as presented, the results do not in any power-amplifier comparison), but in Stereo- way substantiate anything except that Stereo- phile ..? How very ghastly! (Cantab long a phile readers have been unfortunately de- in "ghastly.") Stronger language initially, but prived of aproper set of data and have been Ididn't know what expletives you can actually told of an evaluation that may or may not have use in print. come out as alleged. Neither Inor any other First, the good parts: same music selections reader knows what the data actually show— for each device, close together in time, presented maybe the Graham tonearm was preferred— similarly; no coercion to decide, near enough but the published results sure don't prove it. to double-blind as makes no difference. However, they do prove that JA made aboo- Now, the omissions: no data as to which boo when he let this get into print this way. tests were done with the 4:5 set-up and which How about a new editorial rule for were done with the 1:5 set-up, or whether it Stereophile? "Always present the raw data. mattered; no data as to how many of the Completely." Your mostly above-average, observers listened to each selection; no data thoughtful readers deserve that much. as to how often and/or how many observers Will Hammond declined to decide; lastly, and worst, no data North Hollywood, CA as to the degrees of difference noted, even Mr Hammond 's and Mr Price's letters baie though the authors specifically stated that this been sent to the authors of "The Essential information was obtained. If this information Tonearm Test" for comment. —JA was transformed into the degrees of confidence used to weight the scoring, it is A) not Unipivots & the incompetent so stated, and B) not justified so to do. Press The authors defend part of the study design Editor: on the grounds that most of the listeners had Iwas impressed to read in Stereophile Vol.10 no prior opportunity to listen to either of the No.8 the comparison between the ET arm and two tonearms. That's fine—but is it then OK the Graham Engineering arm, particularly as to include the designer of one of the tonearms the listeners preferred the sound of the as one of the purportedly unbiased observers? Graham unipivot. The problem with both No bloody way arms, as with the SME V, is that they are over- Still worse—the weighted rating scale, engineered, far too expensive, and, most im- loaded so that ahigh degree of confidence al- portant, sound no better than far cheaper leged by one observer in one direction counts arms. Long being an enthusiastic user of as much as the view of three less ebullient unipivots (currently Iuse aMayware Formula observers who decide in the other direction. IV), Iknow full well that the unipivot is best This weighting leads only to asilly comparison despite its usual downgrading by an incompe- of the personalities of the observers; it de- tent Press. serves very short shrift indeed. However, this long-winded article misses The very worst: not presenting the data as the most important point: the reason why obtained. By dissecting the published point various types of tonearms sound different. scores in a"worst possible case the other way Unipivot arms always sound best with most round" fashion (as detailed in the enclosed cartridges; the only exception is when the car- table), and then counting the unweighted pro tridge used produces excess energy or and con votes on the basis of one observer/ mechanical vibrations, Koetsu, Linn, and one vote, one can readily reach aconclusion Supex being the worst that Iknow of (doubt- rather different from that described in the text. less there are others). Iventure to suggest that As presented, 13 tests favored the Graham arm, although aKoetsu cartridge would not sound

Stereophile, February 1988 15 very good in the Graham arm, Graham should offer aproper perspective on the magazine Hi- not worry as these cartridges neither sound Fi News & Record Review, which Iedited for natural nor like master tapes. They do, how- many years and which 1think he slightly mis- ever, appear to sound "romantic" to some represented in apassing comment. Although unqualified commentators. The same applies there were indeed some shifts of emphasis to the simply dreadful, overpriced, overen- after John Atkinson became editor in 1982, gineered, but unnatural- and colored-sound- these hardly amounted to the dramatic con- ing Audio Research SPI1 preamplifier. version from objectivism to subjectivism Finally, the Press still continues to mislead which Alvin implies. The new outlook was the Public over CD, especially in amusing but granted asteadily increasing voice in HFN/RR very silly magazines like TAS and Stereo/Mile, over along period before JA took my place, whose unbelievable naivety amazes me. There and in many respects it could be said that John are, of course, many bad CD recordings, but simply moved farther along a road already agood one is superior to analog—for one under serious exploration. thing, it is closer to the recording process. Any magazine tends to reflect its editor's Vinyl may be subject to rapid deterioration, outlook, and as 1 came from a cautious but is less so when played with adamped, vir- engineering background there was naturally tually frictionless, unipivot tonearm. some bias in favor of objective measurements, Peter Stanley which meant that Isometimes needed prod- Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England ding in new directions. On the other hand, I PS: Iwas amused to see the worthless Alvin always endeavored to be open-minded regard- Gold defending the equally worthless Ken ing what the human animal might be capable Kessler in the same issue; both are failed hi-fi of learning. Time and again Ipointed out that salesmen. there are huge areas of unresearched ignorance in psycho-acoustics, and that we should never All that glisters .. . make up our minds in advance about what Editor: may be revealed in the difficult terrain of sub- "All that glisters is not .. ." jective testing. And if listeners can in fact detect Naturally, Iread the hysterical diatribe by supposedly unlikely differences between A Alvin Gold in Vol.10 No.8 of Stereopbile. I and B(and that "if' is vital, demanding prop- don't normally react to the pontifications of erly controlled blind tests before rushing into ex-shop assistants; even when he ascribes to print), then atruly scientific response is to ac- me views and philosophies that are totally un- cept the observed facts and adjust the back- true. Ihave never even met the little lad, but ground theory to accommodate them. There's psychic Iam sure he is not. So please, ask him nothing more unscientific than to declare that to desist. Ican just recognize his only talent, something can't be true simply because the ex- that of finding his way around aword proc- isting world view doesn't allow for it. On this, essor; but prolixity is dangerously close. I'm sure that Alvin and larcin full agreement. While Iam about it, Imay think what Gold So, lest it be thought that the magazine for has written is 100% bovine feces. But there are which Iused to be responsible remained stub- young members in my family circle who do bornly resistant to new thoughts until my unwittingly pick up any magazine; so the retirement, readers of Stereo/Mile should know crude use of Anglo-Saxon vernacular is really that HFN/RR was printing articles by Alvin without justification and does you and the Gold and other subjectivists long before my magazine no credit. Please exorcise it in future. departure. It was the first English-language Steeopbile's music content is still very good. paper to publish Jean Hiraga's pioneering (and Reg Williamson at the time highly heretical) findings concern- Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, England ing the sound of passive components; nearly 25 years have passed since Ifirst bemoaned the .. . is not Gold inadequacies of Fourier analysis, etc., in ex- Editor: plaining the ear's response to music; and in I would like to respond to Alvin Gold's one HFN/RR editorial Ieven suggested that November '87 piece about mechanistic and there might be a psychokirietic process at relativistic world views, primarily in order to work whereby listeners unconsciously affect

16 Stereophile, February 1988 the behavior of audio circuitry—hardly a cellent, the value of the Vandersteens seemed recipe for mechanistic reductionism. to overshadow each one. Martin Walsh The point Iam making is that revolutions in Long Beach, CA outlook are often more gradual than may appear at first sight. Perhaps Alvin thought that Shocked my rather severe sub-editing of his early ar- Editor: ticles showed HFN/RR to be overburdened Iwas shocked to see that you totally ignored with measurement-mania, just as the more Thorens turntables in the turntable section of hidebound of my own generation have tended "Recommended Components" (Vol.10 No.8). to dismiss many subjectivist ideas as little more Paul Vergulak than woolly-minded obscurantism. Either Cicero, IL view may carry agrain of truth, but neither is just or reasonable, and there is indeed now a A Grado misconception need for some sort of rapprochement. How- Editor: ever, this should surely not be "between the Come on, let's get on the ball. The Grado car- forces of darkness and those of light;' as Alvin tridge is not and never has been amoving- suggests; that would produce twilight all magnet design. B. A. Engholm 'round. What we need is to bring together the Carlsbad, CA more open-minded from each camp, to shed light from both directions. Pedantically speaking Mr Engbolm is cor- Finally, Iknow that Alvin doesn't want us to rect, as the moving element is an induced take his Newton/Einstein metaphor too serious- magnet rather than apermanent one. (Shure ly, but Ido wish that everyone would remem- and Elac are, Ibelieve, the only companies ber that while relativity (plus quantum mech- that produce true moving-magnet designs.) anics) may have supplanted naive mechanism But as its coils are nevertheless fixed in posi- when it comes to cosmology or particle phy- tion, the generator used by Grado can be con- sics, the Newtonian model still applies for most sidered as a variant of the moving-magnet practical purposes in the everyday world. The principle rather than, as has been suggested

trouble is that hi-fi tends all too easily to elsewhere, something more. akin to a transport itself out of this world into Platonic moving-coil. regions, with people always believing or dis- believing its higher manifestations according A MOSFET misconception to temperament rather than evidence. Editor: John Crabbe As a designer involved with tube/MOSFET London, England hybrid amplifiers, Iread with interest Mr. Olsher's description of Don JCochran's Delta Mode power amplifiers (Vol.10 No 8). A popu- Perplexed lar misconception crept into the review when Editor: Mr. Olsher wrote that "the use of power MOS- As afairly new (about three years) inductee to FETs means that the output stage has anega- the realm of the "high emir Ihave come to tive thermal coefficient, eliminating the poten- await each issue of Stereopbile with great ex- tial for thermal runaway common with bipolar pectation. Recently Ihave been following JA's output stages." Ihasten to add that Mr. Olsher reviews of speakers costing "under agrand." really cannot be blamed for passing on this Iam perplexed to find no mention of the common misconception, but somewhere, some- Vandersteen lBs—in fact Ihaven't seen a how, MOSFEB gained areputation for having review of them anywhere! Am Ithe only one anegative Tc (thermal coefficient), and it just who thinks these speakers are adefinite best ain't so. For all practical purposes, MOSFElb buy at $650, or am Ioff-base here? Please let have apositive Tc, and are just as prone as me know. Ilistened to over 30 loudspeakers bipolar transistors to thermal runaway. in nine months, including models from Spica, For those puzzled about what this is all Thiel, KEF, B&W, Magnepan, Energy, Acoustat, about, allow me to explain: a class-AB Celestion, Tammy, Spectrum, Dahlquist, etc., amplifier's output stage is designed to operate and while many were good, some even ex- with a certain amount of current flowing

Stereophile, February 1988 17 Sensitiritv and cam when applied to audio design, should channel 4fe rather than merely repmduce sound.

E V E A N G

ROVVLAND RESEARCH CRAFTED TO RECOGNIZE MUSICAL SUBTLETY

20-C Mountview Lane Colorado Springs, Colorado 80907 303-528-8388 through it at all times. This so-called "bias cur- real and apparent, but negative Tc is not one rent" is typically selected to be somewhere of them. And, by gum, Ithink it is high time between none (class-B) and huge (class-A). somebody stepped forward and said so. Some devices (bipolar transistors) are nqtori- J. Michael Elliott, President ous for having atendency to draw more cur- Counterpoint Electronic Systems, Inc. rent when they get warmer. This increase in current causes them to get even warmer, and It would seem from the above that one of the therefore draw more current, which makes consequences of MOSFET behavior is tbat, them get warmer and draw yet more current above their "Tcx" point, they will draw less and so on until they self-destruct. A device current, and the thermal runaway will stop. that has this tendency is one that is described The question then becomes whether that point, as having apositive thermal coefficient. In this 25A in the example, is sufficient to fry the case, "positive" doesn't mean good. This kind device or its neighbors in the amplifier—LA of suicidal behavior is known as thermal runaway. Idiosyncratic subjectivity What kind of Tc do power MOSFEU have? Editor: Taking, at random, adata sheet for the Inter- Iam anewcomer to the fascinating, esoteric, national Rectifier IRF250 power MOSFET and totally liberating world of audio perfec- shows that MOSFETs also have apositive Tc. tion. Where else could one find such carefree Assume that the designer has selected a disregard for practical considerations? But this Drain Current of 0.2 Amperes as the target bias should not mean idiosyncratic subjectivity. current. The MOSFET starts out at room The review of the Audio Research SP9 pre- temperature (25°C), so for this device aGate- amplifier in the November issue of Stereapialle to-Source voltage of alittle less than 4volts seems an anomaly. It raises serious questions must be applied to achieve the desired 0.2A. of whether your reviews can be trusted. In Now, because of this current, the device heats light of Terry Dom's manufacturer's comment, up. For the sake of discussion, let's assume that Iam puzzled why you published your review the device reaches 150°C, and that the Gate- at all. JA's and JGH's negative findings do not to-Source voltage hasn't changed. As can be make sense, considering that the SP9 works seen, the device will now be drawing about well for so many people—it is hard to believe 3A, an increase of 15 times. This is apositive that there are 1000 audiophiles who cannot tell Tc in anybody's book. "hard, rough, thin, and both spatially and So how did MOSFETs acquire this reputa- dynamically compressed" sound from warm, tion for having anegative Tc? Beats me! On ex- round, full, and expanded sound. amination of the data sheet, it can be seen that Dick Olsher's review of interconnects earlier the 25°C and 150°C lines intersect and cross, in 1987 was very interesting to me as Irecently at about 25A, showing that at very high cur- began testing these. In reviewing individual rents the MOSFET does operate with a cables, DO did not mention what kind of negative Tc. And, in fact, nearly all MOSFETs music he was listening to, so here was my sur- show transfer characteristics similar to this: a prise. Itried Aural Symphonies As-One which positive Tc at low currents, crossing over to a sounded very nice indeed. However, the negative Tc at higher currents. This thermal MIT-330 was spectacular in providing natural crossover point (Tcx?) varies from part number warmth for the sound of orchestra, strings, and to part number, and varies with device manu- choral music. The low bass was very beautiful facturer, with some showing aTcx as low as 2 and very loving. Alas, not so for solo piano! Amperes. But it should be noted that, with the The piano came out harsh and shrill in the exception of some very hefty class-A designs, mid/upper range, and with aringing sound atypical class-AB output stage will have bias that was both unpleasant and unnatural. currents well under 1Ampere. So as far as the Perhaps I'll have to set up two parallel systems designer is concerned, he is dealing with that will differ only in the brand of intercon- positive Tc devices. nects. Perhaps future reviews of interconnects The other benefits of using MOSFETs as out- should include "the critical piano test." put devices (easy to drive at medium frequen- Michael M. Piechowski cies, tube-like output characteristics, etc.) are Washburn, WI

Stereophile, February 1988 19 "Thanks to Nitty Gritty, every music lover can get the best sound from his records" (and compact discs, too)

osays James Jarvis of the SENSIBLE suctioned immediately off, leaving a purified SOUND. And Bert Whyte of AUDIO, record. Perfectly prepared for play. Tony Cordesman of STEREOPHILE, "Any record in one's collection, old or new, Julian Hirsch of STEREO REVIEW, Enid audiophile or not, will benefit greatly with a Lumley of INTERNATIONAL AUDIO REVIEW, (Nitty Gritty) cleaning." Jarvis says, "I believe Michel Prin of SON HI FI, Al Fasoldt of FAN- that anyone considering upgrading his system FARE, and Jack Philpot of AUDIO AMATEUR in any way should first obtain one of these all agree: there is no other record or compact record cleaning machines. Only then will he disc cleaning system that is equal to those be aware of what he might be missing in the made by Nitty Gritty Record Care Products of music, or of what his current system is really California. capable of in terms of music reproduction." Why do these independent audio critics feel Digital gets a wash, too. so strongly? Because cleaning systems made The CD-1 is the first motorized CD cleaner. by Nitty Gritty get records and compact discs It uses bi-directional rotation to safely and 100% clean. Free of dust, grease and static surely clean acompact disc. Bert Whyte said, electricity. Microscopically clean. Perfectly "Nitty Gritty has come up with aCD cleaning clean. machine that is unquestionably the easiest to Have you ever listened to aclean record? use as well as the most efficient and effective Records that have been cleaned by a Nitty method of ensuring pristine CD playing Gritty sound more like live music. They have surfaces." extended high frequency response, improved A full-line brochure, full reprints of test re- imaging, more acoustical space, and less ports, alist of retail prices, and alist of dealers noise. are available to you. Write or call for an im- The effectiveness of the Nitty Gritty record mediate packet of ear-opening information. cleaning system is due to its superior design. The record cleaning system employs apower- Nitty Gritty Record Care Products ful vacuum and apure cleaning fluid. The Nitty 4650 Arrow Highway, *F4 Gritty cleaning fluid dissolves dust, and Montclair, California 91763 grease, neutralizes static charge, and then is (714) 625-5525 More on the SP9 with other preamplifiers, all costing between Editor: $995 and $3250. And yes, the SP9 beat them Ibought an Audio Research SP9 preamplifier all by hundreds of miles in overall sound. And before reading your report in Stereopbile's yes, Ido own one. As amatter of fact, Iown November issue (Vol.10 No.8). After listening two, one in my living room and one in my den to the unit in the dealer's store, Itook it home Name and Address Withheld On Request and put it in my system. After acouple of days, concluded that Icould live with the sound "Lies . ." and bought one. However, the unit Ireceived Editor: in asealed box from the factory sounded dif- Iwould like to comment on several points ferent from the unit Ihad checked out. The regarding your review of the Audio Research sound was abit smoother, alittle warmer, and Corporation SP9 preamplifier. more open than the first unit; Iliked this one First, the blind comparisons of the SP9 vs bet ter. the SPI 1in England must be interpreted with But after about two months of use, the caution. In four independent trials with aprob- sound changed. String music became hard and ability of 1:2 for guessing correctly on each, shrill, with less openness and depth. the likelihood of arun of four successes is 1:16; Ireturned the unit to ARC and have now if four misidentifications are also interpreted gotten it back. Ichecked it out and the unit as meaningful, the probability of either of sounds alittle smoother, but the rest of the these outcomes occurring purely by chance sound is about the same. is 1:8. This is not sufficient to reject the null According to the repair order ARC sent me, hypothesis that JGH could not distinguish be- they put in "compatibility Mod. Board and up- tween the two preamplifiers under these date," whatever that means. conditions. 1am using the SP9 with the Counterpoint Of course, ifJGH consistently misidentified SA-20 amplifier and PS Audio CD-1A player, the two components over sufficiently many with Interlink Reference A cables used be- trials, one would conclude that he heard a tween every unit. difference—and, based on his strongly stated Anthony Mattina judgments about the characteristic sounds of Staten Island, NY the SP9 and SP! I, that he actually preferred the SP9 in the context of the Absolute Sounds And more system and room. This result might be even Editor: more distressing to Audio Research Corpora- Please cancel my subscription to Stereopbile, tion—but would underscore the important the main reason being J. Gordon Holt's review role of component interactions, room com- of the Audio Research SP9 preamplifier in patibility, and the subjective element in com- Vol.10 No.8, along with John Aticinson's added paring one aural perspective to another. few words. Ifeel that these two men's days of Let me pass on my own experience as an reviewing are numbered. The adjectives used owner of the SP9. When first added to a to describe the sound of the SP9 in the second system including the Meridian 207 CD player, paragraph on p.113 are the exact opposite of SOTA Sapphire III/Sumiko FT III/Virtuoso what my wife, a friend of ours, and myself Boron record-playing system, Krell KSA 100 heard. (There was also no crosstalk between Mk.II, Apogee Duetta II loudspeaker, Stax line-level inputs.) When you read areview that Lambda pro headphones, and FMS Blue III is so entirely different from what you hear, interconnects, the SP9 contributed brightness, then it is time to move on to more truthful hardness, constricted dynamics and depth. SOUltes. This effect persisted during at least one week I've talked with five different dealers about of regular use. The sound was so unpleasant this review. (Two were not ARC dealers, the that Ichose to employ the 207 as my high- other three were.) All five said that the review level preamp, driving the power amp through was purely political—I'd say it was purely bull. its variable outputs; only the phono stage of It is almost as if JGH and JA had agrudge the SP9 was used, via the tape outputs, to feed against the Audio Research Corporation. the line input of the 207. One final thing: Yes, Idid compare the SP9 Approximately two months later, the Med-

Stereophile, February 1988 21 dian developed mechanical problems which ference between the two preamps rather than required temporary substitution of another CD to show the ability to identify which is which. player and the use of the SP9 as afull preampli- Similarly, one out of four is as significant as fier. The sound was then strikingly different: three out of four. Thus, two out of four is the the SP9 had acquired a distinct warmth, only score that does not suggest an audible smoothness, and palpable three-dimension- difference. ality reminiscent of other ARC components. Of the 2x2x2x2 possible outcomes of four When the 207 returned, Iquickly compared trials, six have two correct identifications. the CD variable outputs to the CD/SP9 Thus, given two identical preamps and asingle hookups and strongly preferred the sound test of four trials, the statistics would imply the passed through the SP9. Ihave repeated this preamps sound the same 6:16, or 38% of the comparison on several occasions and always time, and appear to sound different 10:16, or reached the same conclusion. Records have, 62% of the time. if anything, more of the desirable aural Comparing two identical preamps by two qualities. independent listening tests of four trials each, This sequence of events in the setting of ex- the results will imply no audible difference in treme differences in critical response to the 38%x38% or 14% of the time, hence imply SP9 makes one suspect aneed for extensive an audible difference 86% of the time. "Cer- burn-in before it achieves optimal perfor- tainly, it is incontrovertible that adifference mance. Roger Modjeski's article in Vol.10 No.8 was heard" is astronger statement than the about tube component interactions raises statistics justify. another possibility: that the cascode design of If we take the stricter assumption that only the SP9 makes it susceptible to unavoidable all-right or all-wrong tests show significant variations in its component 6DJ8s. differences, then 2:16 or 12% of the time, iden- David Bear, MD tical preamps will have results that imply audi- Nashville, TN ble differences. For two independent tests, at least one of the tests would imply audible dif- ".• .Damned Lies ..." ferences 23% of the time. Editor: If we take the strictest assumption that four I'm delighted to see that after 20 years, you correct identifications in four trials is the only have aMusician in Residence. After reading JAs significant result, then afour-trial test of two analysis of the blind listening test comparing identical preamps will imply adifference 1:16, the Audio Research SP9 and SPII(Vol.10 No.8, or 6% of the time. For two independent tests, p.I16), 1suggest that aStatistician in Residence at least one will imply an audible difference also be added to your staff. JA's analysis sug- 12% of the time. Thus, even with the strictest gests that he may have been listening to good interpretation available, the word "incon- music when he should have been attending trovertible" could not be justified. mathematics classes. As noted above, two tests of four trials each The two listening tests are treated as in- will show an audible difference 62% of the dependent events. This could be valid—JGH time for identical preamps, but the confidence and JA do have different ears. This also could that can be placed in such is quite limited. be invalid—if JGH and JA discussed what they Perhaps your Statistician in Residence would heard as they were listening, the trials are not be able to explain "confidence intervals," independent. But for lack of any information, which give ameasure of just how much con- let's accept the assumption of independence. fidence can be placed in astatistical implication. A score of four correct identifications out Kevin Willoughby of four trials surely is significant. Iassume that Framingham, MA JA would claim that three correct identifica-

tions out of four trials is significant. (The ad- 66. • . and Statistics" vice of aStatistician in Residence could have Editor: prevented the need to make assumptions.) Ijust received the first issue of Stereophile of- Zero out of four is claimed to be as significant fered to me as aspecial promotion, and Iam as four out of four—this is correct, as the writing to comment upon amatter of great statistics are being used to imply an audible dif- concern. Irefer to your critique of the Audio

22 Stereophile, February 1988 Research SP9 preamplifier and your defensive reproduces music; it should be judged as er- reaction to the results of the ad hoc "blind" satz wine. test performed under duress. As a vision Sensory substitutes can be judged in two researcher and psychophysicist, Ideplore your ways: testing substitutes vs the original, or interpretation of the results, and the claims you testing substitutes vs each other. Your preferred make regarding statistics. method is the former: you judge reproduced In this test, two observers were required to sound vs your memory of what the sound identify correctly two devices, each presented should be. twice. The observer could on any trial expect However, your readers may be interested in to guess correctly 50% of the time. The prob- relative differences, which require the latter ability of an individual guessing all four presenta- method. The easiest way to design an accurate tions correctly is therefore one in 16 (one half and reliable test of relative differences is to use to the fourth power). The same is true for a two-alternative, forced-choice method; a guessing all four incorrectly. Thus your com- "blind" A/B test is arather weak variant of this. ment that J. Gordon Holt's performance was Contrary to your belief that "proving anything extremely unlikely is false. from blind testing is extremely hard," it is ac- The real problem with your analysis is the tually easy to test hypotheses this way if you criterion for reliable detection of real dif- know what you are doing. ferences: you state that aperfect inverse cor- The most important point that Ican make relation from one of two observers proves that is that whether you judge the absolute sound there are real differences between the devices. of the device, or the relative sound of two Since you were satisfied that one observer devices, you must understand that you are per- guessed wrong every time, it is reasonable to forming an experiment. You must control assume that you would have been even hap- stimulus and subject parameters. You seem to pier had he guessed right every time. This have agrasp of the stimulus; efforts have been doubles the probability of the result to one in made to ensure similarity of presentation, eight. Because two observers participated, the although this is of course difficult for situations probability that one or the other would guess where physics gets in the way, as in the case of all right or all wrong is double this, or one in loudspeaker-room interactions. However, you four. Clearly we must charitably assume the have not allowed for significant variations in results are due to chance; otherwise, we must listener performance. The most significant of assume that your hypothesis that the SPI 1is these is state of adaptation; we do not know better than the SP9 is false because of the if your listener has previously been sitting negative correlation. quietly at home, driving on noisy streets, or Your misguided notions of statistical validity listening to music for several hours. Other prob- are not what concern me most, however. In- lems include subject age and experience. The stead, it is your view that "blind" testing is of results of poorly designed tests using quali- little value that astounded me. You apparently tative descriptions are so strongly influenced fail to realize that any subjective evaluation of by uncontrolled factors that the results are stereo components is essentially aperceptual dubious at best. Because of this, it is actually experiment; only the methodologies vary. The easier to design tests of relative differences, type you prefer is suprathreshold, and quali- using aforced choice of better or worse. Of tative in nature. This approach is of course course, the criterion of quality must be that of essential in art; to judge music otherwise sound reproduction, so subjects must not be would be meaningless. But you are evaluating allowed to detect differences based upon products, not music A tempting model for this equipment appearance or reputation; hence sort of experiment is the evaluation of wines. the tests must be "blind." Descriptors such as body, sweetness, acidity, How rigorous need you be? Had you tried and others have some generally acknowledged eight presentations instead of four, there would sensory correlates, and numerical scales can only have been one chance in 64 of one even be applied to describe how sweet, how observer achieving a perfect positive or acidic. This model fails for audio, though, negative correlation by chance You could just because the taste of wine is the experience in- as easily have presented more trials. Still, this tended by the vintner. Audio equipment would not have been a good test for two

StereOphile, February 1988 23 Museatex 1987 ©

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Museatex Audio Inc. (514) 333-6661. MUSEATEX reasons. First, stimulus parameters were not tance of a double-blind test we didn't set up, controlled. JGH thought the unfamiliar en- didn't want to take, and don't believe in vironment caused his poor performance, even anyway! Tbis is unjust! All Ican say is that though prior to the test your team thought that it's comforting to have the pages of a maga- informal listening demonstrated the differ- zine in which to discuss it all, and express my ences you claimed. Second, subject para- outrage. —LA meters were not controlled because, as you admitted, the observers had "partied abit the Taking the major points made above, in night before." Fatigue and hangover definitely response to the first letter 1must point out that affect performance. Do they ever affect others politics never enter into a review published of your evaluations? You may argue that my in Stereophile. All our writers are instructed criticism is unfair because you did not set up to honestly report on what they hear regard- the test. A well-designed test would succeed less of the consequences. lb do otherwise—for regardless of the identity of the examiner. I example, to have given the SP9 agood review suggest for relative-difference evaluation that because of ARC's track record, or the positive you consult an experimental psychologist and reports from other reviewers, or the contrary devise a consistent test to be used for all opinion of the manufacturer and ARC devices of agiven class. This would cost you dealers, despite the evidence of our own some time and money, but your readers pay ears—is not only dishonest, it lets Stereo- for accurate information. phile's readers down. They do not buy the The promo for your magazine offered the magazine to read what we think we ought first copy with no obligation. Please cancel my to have beard; nor do they buy the magazine subscription. to bear us deafly echo the sentiments of other Michael A. Morris, OD reviewers (unless we agree with them, of Oak Brook, IL course); they need to know what we actually did bear And as to whether JGH and Ihave JA answers these letters in more detail, but I a grudge against Audio Research, Iwould must say that the objections Iraised at the point out that Ihave been a happy user of time to the "blind A/B testing" we were alleged Audio Research products for five years, cur- to ham carried out in London, are only con- rently owning an SPIO Mk. II preamplifier, firmed. whileJGH gave the company's M300 power

Consider: for 26 years now, J. Gordon Holt amplifier a vet), positive review in Ibl.10 Na9. books up components and listens to them, and To reassure Mr Willoughby, there was no goes to great extremes to separate out the communication of any kind between JGH and behavior of those components from that of his myself during the blind test. With hindsight, reference system. He describes what he hears. Ido agree that my use of the word "incon- For 26 years people have read what be says, trovertible" was somewhat heavy-banded. no doubt employing several grains of salt as Our combined scoring of 2 out of 8could be they see fit, based on their prior experience due to chance, while JGH's individual scor- of bis reviews. Their reaction to what be ing of 0out of 4 identifications is not signifi- writes must not be too bad, because they keep cant to the 95% level demanded by statisti- buying the magazine be writes. Not once in cians. As Iindicated, it is possible to analyze this entire time is a successful or meaningful the results presented on p.116 of Vot 10 Na 8, allegation made with respect to his integrity on a basis of identifying when an unknown or with respect to any political alignments be preamplifier was the same as or different may have. from the previous one. If you lumpJGH's and Now, after having "proved" his lack of my results together you get the following: out malice for ARC by virtually drooling over of six potential changes of unknown, we cor- their SP!! (and subsequently by calling their rectly identifiedfive cbanges, JGH scoring 3 M300 the best amplifier he's ever heard), JGH out of 3. Though still not "incontrovertible," is made out to be "political" and of "having under the adverse conditions of the test— a grudge against Audio Research Corpora- remember that this was sprung on us at tion." And, then, to add insult to injury, we almost no notice—this led to my positive feel- are taken to task for minimizing the impor- ings of identification.

Stereophile, February 1988 25 WHEN YOU S EE THIS... You are visiting astore that cares about your music.

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26 Stereophile, February 1988 IfIGH had continued with the test, and con- gave it started me wondering about another tinued to misidentify the preamplifiers for product—the Well-Tempered Table. It has another four trials, then "incontrovertible" received substantial praise in previous issues would bave been undoubtedly the appro- and in other magazines, in one case being rated priate word to use. Yes, Iwould have liked equal or better than the Goldrnund Reference. to carry out more trials. However as anyone Yet there has not been areview in Stereophile. who has taken part in blind equipment testing Why not? will agree, the listeners ,get fatigued very The case for one is strong, Ibelieve. JAR did quickly. To have continued with the testing at a long and laudatory review of the 'table, another time was not possible considering the though Inotice Mr. Moncrieff is not highly fact that the test was not under our control, regarded at Stereophile (witness the SP9 and the venue was apublic hi-fi show on the review). Both the Audio Cheapskate and Ken very last day Kessler praised the WTT in their reports from And one thing that discussion of the results the WCES (Von() No.2). If interest in the 'table of this blind test—hurriedly organized by a was not high at Stereophile, why did Mr. Holt representative of Audio Research—does not interview William Firebaugh? The interview alter isJGH's and my original findings: that was rather "soft," leaning toward the descrip- our (early) SP9 sample failed to achieve the tive rather than analytical. Why? This is not musical performance required for it to be what I've come to expect from Mr. Holt. Lastly, recommended, regardless of politics. In my Mr. Firebaugh stated that he needed to get 1000 opinion, Audio Research produced an inex- 'tables out PDQ. This seems an extraordinary pensive derivative of the SPI1 by keeping the number for aproduct that had only been on superb technical performance but compromis- the market about eight months at the time and ing the sound quality, endowing it with a cost 51500. more forward, less universally gratifying What steps has Stereophile taken? Have you balance. My preference would have been to been offered a'table, and under what, if any, have kept as much as possible of the SPI! 's conditions? How does Transparent Audio sound quality but to have compromised the Marketing fit in? Greg Bergin technical performance—the noise floor on the South Lyon, MI phono inputs, say—in order to ham produced a true hybrid successor to the always musical, Ireiterate that our reviews accurately reflect all-tube SP8.• the result of our own auditioning The fact that J. Peter Moncrieff gate the Audio Research The politics of reviews SP9 an enthusiastic review bad no bearing Editor: either on our own findings, nor on Stereo- Val° No.8, in particular Alvin Gold's column phile's opinion of him as a co-worker in the and the Audio Research SP9 review, raised field. Ihave the highest regard for Mr Mon- some questions that Ihope you can answer. crieff both as a listener and as a writer, and Mr. Gold presented the "political" nature of on many products be and Stereophile have reviewing and the audio business. During his been in agreement—the Spica TC- 50 (more discussion of personalities, philosophies, and or less). MIT speaker cable, and Audio Re- priorities, Ibegan to focus on the latter, es- search SPI I, for example. pecially in regard to how a piece of equip- Regarding the »11-Tempered 7Iirntable, we ment gets to be reviewed. What procedures are informed that Mr Moncrieff worked as a are involved? And, how are good relations consultant on the final development of the maintained if asubsequent review of another product. The publication of his review in product by that company is not favorable? The January 1987, based on his extensive experi- SP9 is acase in point. Also, how persistent is ence of the various prototypes that passed Stereophile with companies/marketing agen- through bis hands, therefore preceded cies that are reluctant to grant reviews, par- availability by a significant period. After in- ticularly when they have a highly regarded itially trying to produce the WTT himself (but piece of equipment? delivering only 80-100 in the period from Iread the Versa Dynamics review with this November 1986 to June 1987), Bill Firebaugh in mind. The extremely high praise Mr. Holt made an arrangement with Transparent

Stereophile, February 1988 27 ONITOR AUDIO 11111discerning appreciation for the explfience of good listening, music lovers in 18 countries have demanded Monitor Audio loudspeakers for excellence in engineering and esthetics in sound and form. Monitor Audio has earned its enviable reputation as one of the world's premier creators of audio loudspeakers with accolades such as the 1987 Loudspeaker of the Year Award.• Manufactured in England and designed to reproduce the stunning reality of compact disc and digital recordings, Monitor Audio loudspeakers employ the world's most advanced metaldome tweeter technology matched to closely toleranced components Cabinets are finished in the finest real- wood veneers. among them meogany. oak. walnut. rosewood, teak and the uniquely stunning Kenya Black "Best Buy" — recommendations show Monitor Audio to have the added virtue of value for money Audition the entire line for its breathtak ino accuracy. wide dynamic range and -unparalleled clarity. — »Speaking volumes for an audiophile s pride of possession since 1972. Monitor Audio loudspeakers are a superior sound system's voice.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON MONITOR AUDIO LOUDSPEAKERS, PLEASE CONTACT In C8118111: 1755 Plurniner Street, Unit 20, IÇÉVRCI Pidrering, Ontario L1W 3S1 Tel (416)8314741 ELIECTIIIONICM INC. In U.S.A.: P.O. Box 1355 Buffalo N.Y. 14205 Tel (416)831-4741 Audio Marketing to produce the 'table for the shows that you've been listening to apoorly US market. nyinsparent Audio began ship- matched 'table/arm combination. ping in July 1987, with production in full Dan Evert swing by the Fall—but they have not sent a No address supplied W77 to Stereophilefor review, apparently due to their displeasure at our description of the Turntables Again Well- Tempered Arm in "Recommended Com- Editor: ponents." However new reviewer Antis Bal- As John Atkinson commented in the intro- galvis has putrhased a WTT which be will be duction to his interview with Pierre Lurne in reviewing, if all goes well, in Vold' No.3. In the December 1987 issue (Vol.10 No.9) of addition, Bill Firebaugb has supplied us with Stereophile, it is indeed ironic that, with the a review sample of the WTT from his own acceptance of CD over the last two years, there production. —JA has been averitable flood of developments in vinyl record front-end equipment: not only Tbrntables & arms new designs of turntables, arms, and car- Editor: tridges, but also significant versions of existing Ijust got done reading JGH's review of the Versa units. As an owner of many LP records, Iap- Dynamics 2.0 turntable/arm in Vol.10 No.8. prove of this upsurge in front-end capability, Judging from his comments, the 2.0 must be which hopefully will provide me, and others an excellent turntable system. In order to put of like mind, with the ability to reproduce its performance in perspective, Isuggest you sound at home even closer to the original. listen again after you've refitted your SOTA Star My hi-fi equipment purchases have always as follows: SME V, SOTA Reflex Clamp (don't been made with the aim of getting as close as use the rubber washer), replace the stock feet possible to the original sound. This task has with threaded TipToes or Counterfeet, and been made easier for me because of my in- mount the Von an aluminum armboard. terest in recording live concerts—using Calrec By handicapping your SCYM performance microphones and a Revox B77 open-reel with a"Class B" arm like the VI/ell-Tempered, recorder to get my wife's concerts on tape. you simply cannot be sure that the Versa These tapes then provide the basis for my own Dynamics 2.0 is the "best 'table/arm unit in comparative tests on amplifiers and speakers. the world" (emphasis added). In fact, Iused recent tapes of my wife's con- With the digital juggernaut chewing at our certs to select my current amplifier/speaker heels, Ithink it's very important for Stereophile combination in 1986. to identify the record-playing combinations So Iwondered how the accuracy of sound which take full advantage of the LP format. reproduction had improved with this latest This obviously makes reviewing and rating a crop of turntable/arm/cartridge developments. more complex process, but it will provide the I had read about a groove isolation test audio consumer with better information on developed by J. Peter Moncrieff of Interna- which 'table/arm combos work best. tional Audio Review that had shown (in blind Ihad achance to see and hear the 2.0 at listening evaluations) aclose correlation to ac- your High-End Hi -Fi Show in NYC. It looked curacy of sound reproduction. As Iknew that great, but unfortunately it was being demon- Hi -Fi Choice gave disc impulse test graphs (a strated with what Ifelt to be one of the worst- la Moncrieff) in their publication, Ipurchased sounding systems (CSAs Cello/Duntech combo) their issue #48 to discover their conclusions. at the show. Its virtuosity must have been For those of you not aware of Peter Mon- hidden by the mendacious nature of all those crieffs work, aturntable that does well on the transistor gain stages. It did manage to sound disc impulse test produces sound when play- better than the "spiced-up" CDs that Cello ing avinyl record that is closer to that of the used (Mark Levinson described Cello's Palette master tape ibmtables that do not fare so well as an "audio spice rack"). on this test sound artificially livelier, are louder, Iadmire Versa for taking asystem approach brighter, with more bass, but the sound is with the 2.0, but Iwonder if this costly, com- smeared with the blurring of music transients. plex arrangement really outperforms the best For anyone wishing to improve the fidelity of pivoted arm combinations. Your review only his record front-end equipment, the disc im-

Stereophile, February 1988 29 Vol Viusic. Fewer 3oxes. Tim introduces amachine designed for people more interested in music than in black boxes The Teac AD-4 CD/Cassette Deck Combo. On the left side wei,e installed our latest programmable compact disc player On the right wei/e included one of our top of the line auto-reverse cassette decks with Dolby Band Cnoise reduction. To further simplify things, we made them both work via awireless remote control A 16-selection program lets you pick the selections you like on acompact disc and rearrange them in any order you prefer on your cassette. you can even listen to adisc while you're taping from an outside source. The Teac AD-4. All you ever wanted in acompact disc player all you ever wanted in acassette deck all in one place. TEAC, Made In Japan By Fanatics

,OR DOLBY LAOS TAPING K141(0120E0 MATERIAL. MLRY BE AN INFRINGEMENT Of COPT RHL44- IS S. KV TRAC CORP Of AMERICA 703 TEIEGRAPH RO.. MONTEBELLO. CA 90640 pulse test is a most significant guide to the Keeping Copycode alive merits of competing turntables. Editor: Iwas appalled to read in Hi -Fi Choice that Copycode has the potential to totally ruin that the measurements were used only to "help goal for which we are all striving: high-fidelity weed out the wallies" and provide back-up audio reproduction. evidence for listening findings. Auditioning This system, which threatens to plague all was to be the final arbiter. Then Iread that prerecorded CDs, LPs, and cassettes, takes a listening tests were performed with compari- narrow but extremely deep notch out of the sons made, not with master tape, but with audible spectrum at around 3840Hz. Although specific reference turntables recognized as CBS makes the claim that the system has no good-sounding but certainly not accurate. To audible effects because the notch is centered crown it all, Ithen found to my great an- between the fundamentals of two notes (I noyance that the test graphs for the reference believe it is between aB and aB flat), it is clear Linn.Sondek turntable and SME V arm were that some very important facts have been not even included, but could only be found glossed over. For example: assuming that all in aprevious edition. Iconsider that to be the recordings are perfectly in tune (a poor assump- height of discourtesy, and makes me suspect tion at best), there still is going to be arather that the editor has something to hide. destructive effect on the harmonics of notes In my view, the only fair way of evaluating below 1920Hz. Also, "blue notes," commonly vinyl record front-end equipment is to use ac- used in jazz, blues, and their derivatives, will curately revealing amplifier and speakers, then suffer greatly from this notch. compare the sound when playing arecord to Also, the system puts the notch in the worst that of the master tape used to make that of all possible locations in the audible spec- record. Competing front ends can then be trum, between 2kHz and 4kHz; the area where rated on the basis of which gets closest to the the ear is most sensitive to sound. sound from the master tape. Performing listen- This all said, it would even be appropriate ing tests in this way will avoid any accusations to call the system obsolete by today's stan- of bias that can occur when specific reference ards. The bulk of the system was developed turntables are used. in the late '70s, and it follows that there simply Surely record manufacturers such as EMI, has to be abetter way of copycoding in 1987. Decca, Linn, etc. could provide reviewers and There is little reason why it has to be done in testers with quality reference records and the analog domain in the first place. Digital master tapes for making valid, accurate com- subcodes would work more effectively, and parisons. After all, it must be in their own would not have the all-too-audible side effects interests to improve the quality of sound that of the CBS system. can be obtained from vinyl records for the Reports have it that CBS has started en- continuing sale of records in the future. coding their CDs with this horrible system, Let me end this piece with arequest to all and Iwould urge anyone who has any regard reviewers/testers to ensure that their pro- for high fidelity whatsoever to not purchase cedures and conclusions help the hi-fi enthu- CDs from CBS or any other company riding siast toward the aim of improved fidelity the CBS bandwagon. If by some terrible act of when he makes his equipment purchases. My fate this Copycode legislation does pass, I own "journey to the truth" has led me via would encourage people to buy from small, Leak, Yamaha, Lentek, Naim, and Linn equip- perfectionist-oriented labels who will not be ment to my current set-up of Townshend encoding their material. This way, if enough Rock /Excalibur/Koetsu Black with Croft people participate, we might be able to get the amplification and Snell lypeJ II speakers. Now, message across to the "Big Boys" that we will Iwill be looking for further developments not put up with this type of thing. from speaker manufacturers to significantly What we need is some innovative thinking reduce the coloration from speaker cabinets, to do away with the problems of home taping, perhaps using the lessons of the Moncrieff not to permanently wound the pursuit of high impulse test. fidelity. Don't let Copycode ruin your listening Anthony C. Seaford pleasure! James F. Ellis Fareham, Hams, England Bellevue, WA

Stereophile, February 1988 31 "Martin-Logan makes the speakers that mT Mozart and Beethoven would have used ... "

.. . and Iwouldn't think of listening 33 to any other loudspeaker. LEONARD SLATKIN*

hen most audio man- It's a design that employs ufacturers speak of electrostatic diaph rams whose W "technology," it's mass is so light, it equals that usually to discuss the amount of acubic inch of air. Adesign of distortion their product so advanced that it is both produces. When Martin- acoustically AND physically Logan uses the term, it's to transparent. Adesign so revo- expound on the musical ex- lutionary that its only require- perience of listening to a ments are better than average symphony played through quality amplification and an "Monolith's." Or perhaps a unremitting zeal for musical concerto as rendered by a performance. pair of "C LS." A New Standard of It is an experience that tran- Performance scends cartridges, electron- Mr. Slatkin also stated, ics, and speakerwire. It avoids the anxiety "The Martin-Logans are extraordinary of slew rate and damping factor. It's an speakers that decisively establish new experience that amazes the world-class standards of loudspeaker performance." conductor to the extent that he would give The creation of which was more than the this unqualified endorsement. handiwork of technocrats. The experience is MUSIC. The product We invite you to experience their musical of musicians and Martin-Logan's "tech- technology personally at your authorized nology." Martin-Logan dealer. A New Standard of Design When Martin-Logan employs the term Martin-Logan, Ltd. "technology," it's to amplify a philosophy The Electrostatic Loudspeaker of electrostatic loudspeaker design. A Technology Company design far beyond the capabilities of any P.O. Box 741, 2001 Delaware other speaker company. Lawrence, Kansas 66046 •Mr. Slatkin is the conductor of the St. Louis Symphony. (913) 749-0133 INDUSTRY

USA: Peter W. Mitchell The copy-protection debate has created the impression that if DAT recorders are sold without Copycode scanners, everyone could start churning out perfect digital copies of CDs. But in fact the design of DAT already incorporates two basic obstacles to digital CD piracy: copy- protect flags and incompatible sampling. Thus the proposed imposition of Copycode scannera in DAT recorders would seem to be asuper- fluous third level of protection. The coding standard for the Compact Disc, established in 1981, provides for an optional copy-protect "flag" bit in the digital data stream. From the outset the design of DAT has included acircuit that automatically inhibits recording if an incoming digital signal contains this flag bit. This, the designers presumed, would provide ample protection against amateur piracy of copyrighted recordings. Originally the digital sampling rate of DAT was set at 44 kHz, like CD, and digital outputs were added to CD players in order to facilitate direct digital taping of any CDs produced without copy-protect flags. But two years ago an international agreement set 48kHz as the BIM standard for professional digital recording, and DAT manufacturers were persuaded—reluc- tantly—to adopt the higher rate in order to provide asecond level of protection against home copying of CDs. DAT recorders designed for professional use can record at either 48 or 44kHz (so that they can be used to make master tapes for CD production), but consumer DATs

33 are locked out of 44kHz recording. They can- be more accurate to view DAT as the logical not record the digital code from aCD even if successor to the Revox (and other) 2-track the copy-flag protection is somehow bypassed open-reel stereo tape recorders that have long or defeated. This, optimists thought, would been the standard for semi-professional record- take care of any remaining piracy worries ing, basement studios, and on-location record- among American record-company executives. ing of concerts for delayed radio broadcast. Why didn't it? The enthusiasm of DAT pro- Recognizing this potential, Sony introduced ponents played directly into the paranoia and two "professional" DAT recorders at Novem- greed of the big cheeses at the RIAA (the Re- ber's AES convention—a $5000 AC-powered cording Industry Association of America). Like model and a$7000 portable. Pro DATs have the first ads for the CD, which claimed that it also been announced by Fostex and Nakamichi. would provide "pure and perfect sound for- Meanwhile, since DAT seems destined to be ever," early DAT publicity emphasized that it aslow-growth medium, developers are explor- would make flawlessly exact copies of every ing other uses for the technology, and there sound. If that's true, the RIAA argued, digital is much enthusiasm for the idea that aDAT copying is not the only threat; the DAT could with more robust error-correction would be make an exact copy of aCD through its analog asplendid storage medium for computer pro- inputs, and each DAT tape could then serve as grams and data. Its capacity (over 1000 mega- the source of endless digital clones. As aprac- bytes) would be double that of the CD-ROM, tical matter, the first two levels of copy-pro- and it would be much less expensive than the tection might as well not exist. Thus the ground user-recordable optical discs now being was paved for the entry of the CBS "magic developed. bullet" —the 3.8kHz notch filter and detector that promise to block analog copying from CD Why digital filtering? to DAT (and, eventually, copying of recordings Most new CD players employ so-called "over- in any medium). sampling" (a misnomer that I'll discuss some Of course, people who care enough about other time) and digital filtering, in place of the sound quality to pay S2(XX) for atape recorder multi-pole analog "brick wall" filters that were won't be satisfied with analog copying as long commonplace in earlier designs. Manufac- as the possibility of digital dubbing is tantaliz- turers have been converting to digital filters in ingly just out of reach. In Japan the DAT, even all but the cheapest players, not because they without the mythical Copycode chip, is viewed have been proven unequivocally to sound betas acrippled product because of its inability ter, but because they are now price-compe- to make digital-to-digital CD dubs. titive with analog filters—and they measure When Sony bought CBS Records in Novem- better, in both amplitude and phase response. ber,' the audio industry breathed acollective Everyone has focused on the dramatic im- sigh of relief because of the widespread as- provement in phase response, but amplitude sumption that the new owners would force response (le, "frequency response") accounts CBS to drop its advocacy of Copycode notch- for audible differences, too. A nine-pole analog filtering. But that probably won't happen right brick-wall filter is acomplex nest of more than away; Sony announced its intention to leave adozen resistors, capacitors, and coil inductors, policy-making in the hands of current CBS each of which must have precisely the correct Records executives, at least for now. value if the filter is to have the desired res- Regardless of the outcome of the Copycode ponse. But mass-produced electronic com- battle, it seems clear that DAT is not going to ponents don't usually have exact values; if you become the dominant home taping medium look at the components hanging in plastic any time soon. The CD may supplant the LP, blister packs in your local Radio Shack, you'll hut DAT won't replace the mass-market analog find that ordinary resistors and capacitors are cassette; it is simply too expensive and is likely guaranteed only to be within 5or 10 percent to remain so for the forseeable future. It would of their nominal values. A 1000 ohm 5% -tolerance resistor is unlikely to measure ISony paid 52 billion for CBS Records. who made an operat- 10(X) ohms, but it will be somewhere between ing profit of just over 5162 million on ag,nws it-venue of nearly 950 and 1050 ohms. 51.5 billion in 1986. more than any other record company worldwide. Expensive parts have tolerances of one to

Stereophile, February 1988 two percent, but that still may not be good digitál filter is that it is relatively phase-linear, enough. As ageneral rule of thumb in filter providing symmetrical reproduction of pulses, design, a1% error in the value of apart will squarewaves, and other complex. waveforms. typically produce afrequency-response error Analog brick-wall filters, by contrast, exhibit of about 0.1dB. If ten components in afilter large phase shifts at high frequencies. Strictly all happen to err in the same direction, the speaking, what counts is not the phase shift resulting deviations could add up to 1.0dB or per se, but the non-linear rate at which it more. Usually the parts tolerances won't all err changes with frequency. The practical conse- in the same direction, and some errors will quence is "group delay": the highest-frequency cancel others out; but the net error is still likely overtones of acomplex signal may emerge to be 0.3dB or more. from the CD player as much as 0.1 millisecond That may not seem like much, but it is audi- later than the fundamental and lower-frequency ble. If one CD player is 0.3dB up in the top oc- harmonics. tave and another player is 0.3dB down, the More about this next time. In the meantime, resulting 0.6dB difference will be obvious your homework assignment is to think about even to atin-eared listener like me. Since the this question: Since most recordings already largest filter errors occur above 10kHz, many contain large group delays created by the filters listeners will hear the difference not as achange in professional digital recorders, does digital in timbre but as an apparent difference in airi- filtering in the CD player provide any audible ness, depth, transient attack, or "sweetness." benefit? And if group delay is audible, when Much ink has been spilled in descriptions of will the pros start using phase-linear filters? alleged refinements in CD-player technology, but in the comparisons that Ihave been aparty to, the most consistently audible differences UK: Ken Kessler have been correlated with easily measured dif- Press releases with headings like "Institute of ferences in high-frequency response. I'm not Acoustics" impress the hell out of me, whether suggesting that other differences don't exist, or not Ican decipher the missive. Ordinarily, but that this factor shouldn't be dismissed Iscan such releases, glean what Ican, and lightly. The simple fact is that, until very re- leave the rest to my more technical colleagues, cently, very few CD players have provided but the latest is irresistible. Igot hold of acopy dead-flat response. of "The Rainbow Effect" from lter Mirauer Early digital filters were no flatter than their of Wharfedale, who had warned me about the analog counterparts, but with recent advances company's research into colors and their ef- both in IC manufacturing and in the power of fects on listeners. Coming hot on the heels of the computer programs used to calculate their the Peter Belt saga, Ifigured that this one could designs, new digital filters can consistently pro- wrest away the crown for Most Inane Tweak duce the desired response within 0.1dB—and of 1988. since digital filters operate by signal cancella- It helps if you know alittle about Walter. A tion rather than by voltage division, their re- hype-master of the caliber of Harvey Rosen- sponse is not affected by parts tolerances. berg, Ivor Tiefenbrun, or even Bob Carver, The main advantage for the manufacturer Mintier is currently overseeing a range of is that the filter stage becomes asimple plug-in loudspeakers — Wharfedale's Diamonds— part, eliminating the need to measure indivi- which can be purchased with achoice of no dually the response of every filter on the pro- less than 10 grille colors. Grille color choice duction line and discard those with excessively is not anew idea, as KEF, JBL, Bose (Walter's large errors. Actually this is aslight oversimpli- previous employer), and others have offered fication of the situation, since the digital filter this option in the past, while companies as is followed by agentle analog filter that sup- disparate as Monitor Audio and Wilson offer presses remaining "image" signals around 88 selections of finishes far wider than the usual or 176kHz. But the latest digital filters have a walnut/black/rosewood. What's different this precision of 0.01dB, and the mild output filter time is that the sales pitch is no longer restricted can easily be controlled within 0.1dB. to aesthetics and domestic harmony. Of course that's not what sales brochures Putting two and two together and coming tell you. The great advertised virtue of the up with three, Iadmit to assuming that the wily

Stereophile, February 1988 35 amplifier on

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diustrated model SA 1 optical bias class A STASIS power amplifier. model FET ten preamplifier — high level section

Threshold more than audio excellence

Threshold products are designed by Nelson Pass. styled by Rene Besne. and manufactured in the U SA Walter was looking for an oddball angle to help fiable system, then color choice will be as im- shift afew hundred unwanted puce, taupe, and portant an aspect of setting up ahi-fi as choice lilac grilles, hence the need for a"story" to of cables or speaker positioning. enhance the appeal of speaker fronts that were Wharfedale assembled three groups of 30 neither black, brown, nor grey. His nudge- students each from Sandwell College, all of nudge, whisper-whisper phonecall, like some whom were enrolled for courses in sound and guy offering you acheap watch from under his acoustics. They were subjected to demonstra- coat, ended with a"Just wait until Isend you tions of three Wharfedale Diamonds differing the documentation." As Walter writes press only by virtue of the color of the grille, but releases with PT Barnum as his muse, Icould were not told that they were partaking in acolor hardly wait. experiment. The sessions took place in amulti- The swallowing sound you're hearing is me track studio at Sandwell, the three pairs of eating my words. WM was not leading up to Diamonds being fed the same signal from the one of his more whimsical spiels, but to an control room. Each speaker was illuminated eight-page document on the aforementioned as it played, the effect enhanced by conducting institute of Acoustics letterhead. The report the experiments in a darkened room. The reads like atract from aPsychology 101 text, students were asked to complete aquestion- and the implications are staggering. Iwant to naire which did not refer to color, the speakers make it perfectly clear from the outset—as did being identified as 1, 2, and 3. Wharfedale—that the "revelation" has nothing The results prove interesting, because they to do with actually changing the sound itself, add asonic flavor to the known effects of colors. but with the way we perceive it. In asense, What would blue, regarded as acool color, they're inseparable, but it gets right down to "sound" like? Red is known to be awarm color; the fundamentals of assessing hi-fi reproduc- would the students describe the sound of the tion, and why two people can listen to the ex- red-grilled speaker as "warm"? The findings act same sound and form totally different opin- were as follows: ions. I'd hate to lapse into some zen -like stance, The red speakers were adjudged to offer but I've long held that bow one perceives the better bass. sound is the final arbiter, hence my refusal to The blue speakers were rated as having the ally with some reviewers who dismiss the im- greatest clarity and openness. portance of personal taste. In other words, if The yellow speakers were perceived as be- two out of three listeners hate agiven product ing louder and having more treble. and the third listener adores it, who's to say The green speakers were rated as being that he or she is wrong? We have yet to find a evenly balanced. way to listen with other people's ears. Or, in In Walter's own words, the data can be in- this case, see with others' eyes. terpreted thus: "All of the respondents in all It's long been known in design circles that three groups and in all age segments rated the color can be used to alter an individual's re- Yellow speaker as louder and brighter. This is sponse. Paint a room blue and it will seem avery clear indication of difference. The small- cooler. Paint asmall room in alight color and est difference in sound level that the untrained it will seem larger. This is no inexact science, ear can detect is 2dB in program. Such amarket and texts exist which can help an interior preference almost certainly equates to aper- designer, fabric designer, car stylist, graphics ceived [My italics—KM level change of more illustrator, or any other stylist create whatever than 3dB. This is abigger difference than, say, mood they require by fine-tuning responses from Diamond II to Diamond III with its new with specific colors. Indeed, the Scandinavians tweeter." have shown that people with blue rooms run Can you imagine the wave of paranoia among their heating some three degrees higher than reviewers? "Invalid! Invalid!" will be the ac- in rooms of warmer hues. What's so novel cusation leveled at every speaker review ever about the Wharfedale research is that it at- published, because the color influenced the tempts to classify colors according to how they reviewer. Considering that black or brown or alter our perception of sound rather than of grey grilles, however, constitute the majority, space or temperature. If Wharfedale is right, it would also appear that every speaker has and the research establishes arepeatable, ved- been judged with the same handicap. Further-

Stereophile, February 1988 37 .. . audible results with the finest in connecting components.

SOUND • CONNECTIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC. 14932 N.Florida Tampa, FL 33612 (813)961-3319 In Canada: Korbon Trading LTD., 1020 Meyerside Dr., Unit 8, Mississauga, Ont. L5TIK7, Phone (416) 676-1260 Department A more, who's to say that, however subcon- While it took the UK along time to appre- sciously, the designer didn't tweak the real ciatecene of America's most popular speakers, sound because of changes affected by the color? the Spicas, they have finally developed afol- Which then leads to more confusion, because lowing. Presence Audio, who distributes the we'd then have to determine how different line, decided that the gains from biwiring listeners respond to the same color. And why were too impressive to ignore so they've done not? Don't we all have differing responses to their own redevelopment program and pro- bass-heavy or bright sounds? (Since Ido most duced abi-wiring option. Ihaven't tried apair of my listening with the lights out, I'm pretty yet, but Martin Colloms auditioned them as much immune to all of the above anyway. ..) part of his review of the Tt -50 for Stereopbile Are designers, consumers, and reviewers go- last month and was impressed. I'm hooked ing to face a future of assessing groups of on the Spicas, and asensible upgrade—if it speakers only when they've been given a works—can only be deemed laudable. The common-color grille? Will consumers take sad thing is that that although Spica has ap- note of Wharfedale's suggestion, that one can proved the modification for sales in the UK, improve—or, more accurately, tailor to one's they have no plans to introduce it in the US. taste—the sound of asystem by changing the Though it's early days, as Iwrite, Ihave to grilles for amore "euphonic" color? Ihave to warn you of apending showdown concerning admit that, abstract as this may appear, chang- the aforementioned Mr. Belt. John Vizor, editor ing grilles according to an accurate, reliable of the UK trade magazine Private Eye -Fi, color chart seems far less difficult than wading phoned me to ask if HFN/RR would be in- through the myriad cables on the market. And terested in overseeing some listening tests to I'm dying to hear the names that the "after- determine whether or not the Belt tweaks have market grille manufacturers" would create. Im- any basis in reality Ever suspicious ofJohn— agine Monster Cable's "Color Blinds" or Audio- whose magazine is hi-fi's most scurrilous quest's "Speaker Shades." Worse, how about gossip sheet-1 asked, "Why?" Vizor is not, HFN/RR's Accessory Club offering "Hue after all, atweak or areviewer but aretailer Hefners"? A whole issue of Hi -Fi Choice who should have better things to do than in- devoted to grilles? vestigate the incipient madness of the high Spare me .. . end. It turns out that, over many drinks, he Is this yet another episode to be added to was discussing the Belt situation with Ross the tweak saga which encompasses other Walker of Quad. Ross "We Don't Sell People "lost" arts like hanging cables from strings at- What They Want We Sell Them What They tached to the ceiling, shining spotlights on the Need" Walker is one of the industry's most speakers, adjusting VTA for every Lp, and various skeptical, cynical anti-tweaks, and he responded other fads since reduced to cult interest? As I to Vizor's non-dismissive attitude toward Belt mentioned before, this latest wrinkle bothers with achallenge. If Vizor could prove, under me little as far as my personal listening habits controlled conditions, that Belt's stuff works, are concerned, because "lights out" is the rule Quad would donate £10,000 (that's $18,000 at But Imost certainly want to be there when the today's exchange rate) to the charity of Vizcir's color wars start. choice. One tweak which hasn't been discredited Iknow abookie who'll take your bets. yet and continues to command new adherents in the UK is bi-wiring. Because few manufacturers offer speakers which are "bi- wirable" USA: John Atkinson straight from the box, asmall cottage industry First, some sad news: John Bowers, founder has been created for adapting existing pro- and the creative light behind way loudspeakers, ducts. Paul Crook, whose background in- died of cancer just before Christmas. John, an cludes years as Martin Colloms's assistant, does archetypical gentleman, always civilized, anice line in suitably reworked Celestion SL6s always informed, will be missed. The chair- and SL600s, Spendors, and other popular manship of the company passes to Robert models, but Iwas pleasantly surprised to learn Trunz, who had been in charge of B&W's that an importer is offering bi-wired versions marketing. John's legacy to the world of high of aspeaker with the manufacturer's approval. fidelity includes I3&W's research establishment

Stereophile, February 1988 39 rfechnology Perfected

Every home audio com- today's technology has becoi. ponent company has their own Lueman's forte. In 1985, irea of expertise. Some Luxman introduced the wog.. manufacturers concentrate on first hybrid integrated amplif new inventions and patents. BRID... aunique combina Others focus their efforts on of tubes and FETs that reducing costs and producing epitomizes the musicality o lower priced components. contributed to the sonic live performances. More important than superiority of the SQ-5B: the Internationally recognized as being the first or the cheapest, industry reference standard for sonic milestone for moderateM II Luxman components are de- integrated amplifiers. priced amplifiers, this "Bb31111111111 igned to achieve their sonic design best. The engineers at Luxman The transistor the catalyst of have dedicated a revolution. awhole new lifetime to In the mid-60's transistor level of public perfecting technology revolutionized the awareness of existing audio industry, and virtually the sonic technology for every audio component could integrity of sonic superiority. now benefit from the increased I.uxman efficiency, cost economy and . components. In the beginning. higher power output of The most recent Lux Corporation of Japan, transistors compared to vacuum developments by the Luxman as Luxman was originally tubes. audio enthusiasts, engineering group redefine the named, was established in 1925 however, this new technology industry standards in three to design and manufacture high clearly lost the warm, sonic distinct categories: purity of tube components. Fality radio tuners for a I. 11.11.11.(TE POWER. 'hdgling home radio industry. The long and detailed Luxman has perfected sonic eword "lux" is ascientific study of transformers and tube reproduction with amplifiers measure of illumination and configurations enabled Lux to that capture the warm was immediately applicable to a design transistor components musicality associated with company that was seeking to that retained truc "musiclity". vacuum tube amplifiers, plus build a"bright" future. Then in 1975, Lux the high power needed for From this modest adopted the family name of today's digital source material. beginning, the Lux engineers Luxman and, with their debut continued to design and at the Consumer Electronics Z. DIGIUL DIRECT develop the internal parts Show in the United States, Luxman engineers have for audio components, and in received immediate critical perfected the musical 1934 assembled aunique acclaim for design and reproduction of digital source vacuum tube amplifier that performance. material by transferring highlighted our state-of-the-art The continued devel- the information in its digital transformers. Our transformers opment of innovative circuit form and converting it to delivered wider hand-width designs, such as IX: ampli- analog in the integrated and lower distortion than the fication (1975), Duo-Beta amplifier. competition, earning Lux an circuitry (1980) and Computer immediate reputation for Analyzed Tuning (1982), were 3. SYSIKII REMOTE. quality and performance. examples of technology Luxman engineers have In the 1950's, unique tube perfected for performance. perfected the convenience of technology and the use of high Luxman's reputation was remote control by allowing quality transformers became rapidly spreading: transistor full system operation from the trademark of our quest amplifiers with the warm, anywhere in the house. for audio excellence. musical sound of previous In subsequent years, tube designs. I.uxman is... Lux began exporting to the technology perfected. European market and received The tradition numerous accolades for ampli- continues. fier designs. In 1961, the Maintaining that "tube- LUXMAN introduction onega ,ve r like" inn..--ieglirs‘vhili usine in Steyning, Sussex, which has attracted many just as well we weren't successful, as the 5.0 of the UK's most talented loudspeaker engi- has been extensively redesigned to become neers to work on the fundamentals of speaker the 5.5. About the only things left from the performance, including the computer model- original 5.0 are the power supply, knobs, ing of drive-unit behavior. volume control, and main chassis. The re- The late Fall seemed to be atime for musical design includes anew printed circuit board, chairs in the US hi-fi industry Apparently fol- with completely new voltage regulator, phono lowing the lead given by DCI's management and line-level circuitry, and also includes buyout of CBS Magazines (publishers of Stereo MOSFET output stages. In addition, the phono Review and Audio) and Sony's purchase of stage now has 16 gain settings and 16 cartridge CBS Records, further changes took place in loadings. Price of the 5.5 is $1099, and, not November, the major one being car-audio surprisingly the cost of updating a5.0 is rather manufacturer Rockford-Fosgate's purchase of more than that for a 4.5: $400. The 200C the David Hanel. Corporation and Acoustat power amplifier, now in the 200CX incarna- Loudspeakers. (It was only acouple of years tion, has also been revised, and is joined by a ago that the Florida-based electrostatic speaker less powerful sibling, the 100C, which offers manufacturer itself became asubsidiary of 128W into 8ohms for $1195. Flatlet) Rockford, which also makes speaker Most interesting is aproduct PS plans to drive-units under the Carbonneau label, says launch in the late Spring: the "Digital Link." that it has no intentions of making significant This is an outboard DAC unit, intended to take changes in product strategy for the two com- the serial digital output from CD players so panies, and we are assured that David Hafler equipped and provide astate-of-the-art analog will continue to be active with the company signal. "State-of-the-art" is an overworked that bears his name for agood few years yet. phrase in the high end, but PS's Paul McGowan Marketing of Haller and Acoustat products will aims to make the phrase literal by mounting be concentrated in Rockford's Tempe, Arizona the digital filter and DAC circuitry on aplug-in headquarters. module; as new chips become available, the Meanwhile, Harman International, the world- Digital Link owner can keep up. At present the wide marketing conglomerate that owns JBL, unit, housed in a4.5-like chassis, appears to Infinity and Pyle Industries, has acquired the use the Philips 16-bit, 4x-oversampled chip French OEM drive-unit manufacturer Audax, set, based on the TDA 1541 dual-DAC chip: along with its speaker subsidiary Siarc Audax Paul McGowan admits that the 6dB level error was apparently in poor financial condition, at -90dB featured by the digital filter in this set something which Ifind surprising considering (see Stereophile passim) is real, but claims that the large number of speaker manufacturers incorporation of digital dither— ie, random which use its units, but this may have some- digital words (numbers) added to the stream thing to do with the increased success of the of digital data prior to the digital filtration and Scandinavian OEM manufacturers at the top D/A conversion—will correct for it, resulting of the market and pressure from the Japanese in music sounding more natural, with greater at the lower. As with the Rockford/Hafler image depth. (The trade-off is ahigher noise takeover, Harman say that they do not intend floor.) The digital dither can be switched out, to introduce radical changes in Audax's cur- and also adjusted in level. Price is expected to rent business arrangement. be in the region of $1000. For full details on PS Audio has completely revamped their the upgrades and the Digital Link, contact PS line of electronics; fortunately—and wisely— Audio at 4145 Santa Fe Road, San Luis Obispo, the updates will be available to owners of exist- CA 93401. Tel: (805) 543-6655. ing PS products. First off, the best-selling 4.5 Strictly speaking, the next item should preamplifier benefits from improved power belong in Ken Kessler's report, but Audiophile supplies and phono/line-stage circuitry to Systems' Susan Larochelle was kind enough become the 4.6. The price has been raised to to give me the scoop: Linn has introduced a $659; the update for the 4.5, which includes new loudspeaker, the Nexus, to sell in the a gold 4.6 nameplate, costs $100, factory region of $1095/pair. Astonishing to those who direct. We have been trying for some time to have been familiar with the Scottish company's arrange areview of the 5.0 preamplifier; it's range of loudspeakers over the years, the

Stereophile, February 1988 41 LISTE\I\G DEVICE

Before you listen to the speakers And they will reward you. in your system, your speakers must Ask your dealer for more details listen to your system. about Esoteric Audio speaker cable And then deliver. systems or simply send $2.00 for our So why deprive your speakers latest color brochure. and, ultimately, yourself of all your Dealer inquiries invited. system is capable of'? Treat your speakers to Esoteric Audio speaker cables and enjoy ESOTERIC listening to the difference. Your speakers will thank you. AUDIO USA RR 3Box 262 Winder, Georgia 30680

42 Stereophile, February 1988 paid to custom-installation companies by loudspeaker and amplifier manufacturers such as ADS, Boston Acoustics, KEF, and Sumo, and it is safe to predict that high-end hi-fi retailing in the '90s could well take on the character of acustom interior-design service. Notebook jottings: We are informed that the long-time partners behind the SOTA turntable company, Rodney Herman and Robert Becker, have parted, with Becker remaining in control of SOTA. The reason, presumably, has to do with the delayed appearance of the production SOTA loudspeaker. Products from the British electronics manufacturer Cambridge Audio, including their much-heralded CD2 16x-oversampled CD player, are now being distributed in the USA by Celestion Industries, Kuniholm Drive—Box 521, Holliston, MA 01 746. Tel: (617) 429-6706. Since UK loud-

Linn Nexus loudspeaker speaker manufacturer Goodmans' takeover of Mordaunt-Short (their parent company, TGI, Nexus is a reflex design. Has there been a which includes Tannoy, is apparently the Cultural Revolution in Glasgow? Have Red largest loudspeaker manufacturer in Europe, Guards overrun Castlemilk? Is Linn's involve- with an annual turnover of nearly $51m), the ment in Artificial Intelligence research caus- two companies' US distribution has changed. ing Ivor to lose his mind? From January 1, products from M-S and Good- The answer to these and many other ques- mans will be handled by Geoff Miller, Tel: tions will have to wait until the next issue of (303) 293-9737. (Mordaunt-Short, which has Stereophile, which will incorporate JGH's just lost its talented designer Phil Ward, has a report from Las Vegas. But it appears that Linn hot new speaker, the MS442, which will be has anew designer who reckoned he could get reviewed in Stereophile Vol.11 No.3). aported design to work properly. Apart from Hot on the heels of their launch of the 3. that heresy, the Nexus is also fitted with two "subcompact" disc, or "CD single," the Mas- sets of terminals for bi-wiring, combines a sachusetts CD-only Rykodisc firm will intro- custom-designed, polypropylene-coned, 8" duce the first 80-minute CD some time late woofer from Tonagen in Japan with the Scan- this month. Manufactured by Pilz of West Ger- dinavian-sourced tweeter used in the SARA-9, many, the CD, TT:80:05, will be acompilation and comes with an integral stand. Linn is also of tracks by the defunct Boston group Mission introducing an infra-red link system—called of Burma. "We're offering an alternative to X-TEND—to be used with the tape outputs of record companies who release 2-CD sets with the Linn LK1 preamplifier. This modular sys- total times of under 80 minutes," said Ryko's tem will enable IR remote signals in any room new publicist Carrie Svingen. where there is an IR receiver to be commu- Finally: LA says that competing magazines nicated back to the main system, offering the should be judged not by the time it takes to ability to have the output of source compo- read them—my basic litmus test (perhaps we nents in the main system controlled and routed should publish benchmarks)—but by whether to subsidiary amp/speaker systems anywhere they include articles you wish you'd published in the house. (The Linn LK1 can route adif- yourself. Well, issues 3and 4, 1987, of Ed Dell's ferent source to its Tape-Out sockets from that Speaker Builder magazine certainly qualify: routed to the power amplifier.) they include atwo-part appreciation of the late Isuspect that by the end of the decade, such Richard Heyser by Peter Sutheim, the host of facilities will be the norm on all but the most LA radio station KPFK's In-Fidelity program. purist, sound-quality-above-all systems. Couple Missing only an index of Heyser's papers and this trend with the increased attention being articles, this superb piece of journalism, which

Stereophile, February 1988 43 "McIntosh . .. no other transistoi amplifier is capable of reproducing as well.

"All the sounds, even those different one from another, remain separated and distinctive. There results a sensation of coritrast, precision, and uncommon clarity.

.. A close analysis of.diffetent frequencies reveals an extremely deep bass, very rich in spatial detail ... The upper bass region is very linear testifying to an extraordinary richness of information. The very structured mid-range con- tributes enormously to listening pleasure.

The feeling ol power is never refuted-and instead of stunning the listener, the 7270 recreates an audio environment of a majesty that no other transistor amplifier is capable of reproducing as well." Need we say more?

--xtvtir nil SON terrines' French stereo magazine. e l Fo formation on he mc Intosh MC 7270 Ampl and ot her McIntosh products write: McINTOSII BOKATOKY INC. P.O. Box 96 1 SIDI, STATION, DE . SI7 BINGHAMTON, N 3904-0096

4111.1.1011111111111111111.11111111usuraumisuuusuus.

,..44,1A)11641kate

•40 al AC •10 OFC.11111.3

) includes extracts from a1976 radio interview, divided enclosure which is vertically hinged, brings out the character of the man and effec- so the drivers can be toed-in to any desired tively exposes the thrust of Heyser's thought: angle without having to rotate the entire system. aquoted example on the way in which cross- The system was unveiled at a press con- over distortion in aclass-B transistor amplifier ference near Altec's home base of Milford, PA. dynamically affects the nature of the repro- The demonstration was impressive. Not sur- duced soundstage illustrates the talent Heyser prisingly, the BIAS 550 had avery big sound, had for communicating arcane subjects to the with awesome low end, extraordinarily smooth layman. These two articles are essential reading middles and highs, and remarkably good for anyone interested in the lack of correlation depth. Imaging, though, was only fair, having between what is measured and what is heard. little specificity and atendency for the sound Speaker Builder is available from PO Box 494, to shift to the left or right speaker with relatively Peterborough, NH 03458 (individual copies, small listener movements from dead-center. $S; subscriptions, $15/year, 825/2 years). Ialso felt the sound was quite abit too warm and rich, but since the system allows for awide range of adjustment in balance, Iattributed this USA: J. Gordon Holt to Altec's choice of setup rather than to the Altec Lansing, the speaker manufacturer whose system itself. Icouldn't help but wonder, modestly sized 301 loudspeakers Ireviewed though, how the same company that balanced with well-tempered enthusiasm ayear or so its woofers 3dB too low in the model 301 ago (Vol.9 No.7), is introducing a"no-holds- could see fit to opt for excessive low end in the barred" system. The BIAS (Built-In Amplifica- BIAS 550 demo. Ialso had to question Altec's tion System) 550 is apair of massive five-way claim of ±2dB frequency response from 20Hz towers, with 700W of built-in power amplifi- to 20kHz when their own response curve, in- cation per channel for amaximum output- cluded in the press kit, showed anarrow 6dB level rating of 120dB—threshold-of-pain level. peak at around 43Hz. Each tower stands 6 feet high and weighs an The BIAS 550 will cost $12,000—not as appalling 437 lbs. There are no castors for easy steep as it sounds if you remember that it in- moving, because they would emboss grooves cludes power amplifiers. But what will be the in the typical hardwood floor. (The speakers system's marketing position? Only adedicated will, however, slide fairly easily across acar- perfectionist audiophile would consider peted floor; Iwas able to do it, even though the spending that kind of money for arear end speakers' weight is almost four times my own.) (amplifier/loudspeaker combo), or even giving All of the built-in amplifiers are located in it the room space it demands, and serious alarge cube-shaped module recessed into the audiophiles have traditionally resisted the rear of the main cabinet. A single large-area notion of powered loudspeakers, no matter heatsink with rear-facing cooling fins serves how much sense it makes. They reason that all the output devices. The gain of each ampli- loudspeaker designers don't know how to fier is individually adjustable via an infra-red design amplifiers, and vice versa, and it must remote controller, as is channel balance and be admitted that, historically, this has in fact overall listening volume. A rated sensitivity of been the case. Then there's Altec Lansing's 100mV for 90dB SPL allows any CD player to perceived image, which as far as perfectionists drive the system without the need for an addi- are concerned, is not at all good. To them, that tional line controller. name is inseparable from the A-7, the model The system embodies some unusual innova- of the "small" theater loudspeaker which tions. Each of the two subwoofers per side is served as the workhorse monitor system for housed in its own infinite baffle, and these are some of the biggest record companies for the separated from the outer walls of the tower by last 20 years, and was inadvertently responsi- an isolating layer of foam rubber which is in- ble for some of the worst-sounding recordings

tended to prevent most of the flapping mo- ever produced by those companies. , S tions of the inner walls from being conveyed

to the outer walls. All the other drivers, ranged 2The speaker had avery prominent midrange. and no deep in acentral vertical line down apanel between bass or high highs; efforts to equalize recordings to sound "good" on them made the recordings sound poor on better the subwoofers, are attached to asingle sub- loudspeakers.

Stereophile, February 1988 45 At last, high-performance audio comes down to earth.

High-performance audio by Rotel has arrived. With remarkable sonic quality you've previously associated only with esoteric equipment selling at other-worldly prices. Now, however, at prices you'll find very down-to-earth.

At Rotel, our engineers avoid gimmicks and flashing lights. Instead, they concentrate on audible performance.

All critical parts are carefully hand selected on the basis 13 of how they sound when producing music. Direct signal lr paths -from inputs to outputs -assure highest accuracy and resolution. And our renowned amplifiers, for example, use massive power supplies, along with discrete output transistors rated many times their actual load. As a result, they can produce high-current output continuously -not just for afew milliseconds. Our 50-watt amplifier actually plays louder and sounds better than many with 100-watt specs -and 100-watt prices.

This pursuit of affordable sonic perfection may explain why Rotel outsells most other specialty hi-fi brands in Great Britain And why hard-to-please British audio critics consistently give Rotel components rave reviews.

For reprints of these reviews, and a brochure on our re- ceivers, Compact Disc players, tuners, integrated amplifiers, power amplifiers, preamps, cassette decks and turntables, just send your name and address to Rotel Audio of America Inc., Department ST, PO. Box 653, Buffalo, NY 14240. Or call us at 1416) 297-0599.

High performance. Down to earth THE BEST SOUND IN NEW YORK

sat the first Stereophile hi-fi show, demonstration, the main complaint being of which took place in March 1987 in uncontrolled low-frequency boom.) A Santa Monica, we asked visitors to The following tables list the demographics Stereopbile's New York show in October what of the visitors to the show, and for interest's they thought was the room with the best sake Ihave included the data for the Santa sound. As well as giving an indication of what Monica show. As might be expected, the visi- exhibitors managed to cope best with the tors to the show were avoracious lot when it came to reading about hi-fi, 50% of them eNseNtie\e\WW reading between two and four titles on areg- ile%IeWNWNie\e% ular basis and one in four reading my alma ONIONNO'Ne%/W mater HFN/RR. There are not that many sur- prises in the list of magazines read, with Audio, often hostile environment of atypical hotel as expected, being the most widely read of the bedroom or suite in the limited time possible mass-market magazines in the high-end, and for setting up, it would also give us an idea of Stereophile the most widely read of the spe- what products attracted the most attention. As cialist press. The higher readership for The Ab- with the results for the Santa Monica show, solute Sound in the Big Apple undoubtedly which were published in Vol.10 No.4, Iallo- reflects the fact that New York is Harry Pear- cated three points for a "best sound," two son's home turf, while International Audio points for a"second-best sound," and one for Review, Hi -Fi Heretic and High Performance a"third-best." The following table lists all the Review also apparently do well in the East. rooms which attracted 1% or more of the total votes cast. (I disregarded votes for James Iloyk's and Lewis Lipnick's respective demon- W INBONII"SieN.".".0\11 strations of live piano and live bassoon sound— tieNieNaINIONIONNONION•1 !think we would all agree that the real thing %10WWNWN.0%« is better, by definition.) When reading the table, bear in mind that When it came to age, "baby-boomers" still factors other than sound quality will influence predominated, as at Santa Monica, but, rein- the results, the most important being the forcing the impression of this reporter as he reduced traffic an exhibitor will get if he con- pro vt led the corridors, their age was alittle ducts "closed-door" demonstrations in order higher, the average age being 38 rather than 37 to best demonstrate the system. (The section (though the median age—that which splits the marked "worst sound," which many respon- attendees into two equal numbers was, para- dents indicated they felt to have been in poor doxicall), alittle lower at 35.5 compared with taste, was included purely for our own infor- 38.5). Looking at the value of systems also mation, but it is interesting that many voted showed that visitors to the New York show had for any and every video surround-sound rather more disposable income, fully a third e%•e%ie%e%e%e'W'\WNIINW'W%I

Stereophile, February 1988 47 having systems worth $9000 or more. One forms was that there was asizeable proportion point of interest to emerge from the returned of women at the show.

TABLE 1: ROOM WITH THE BEST SOUND

Exhibitor System details Percentage of Votes Apogee Apogee Divas/Krell/Basis/Koetsu 14.2% Martin-Logan/Thresh- Martin-Logan Statement/Threshold 10.6% hold/Monster Cable CSA Electronics Cello/Duntech/Accuphase 9.7% Lyric Infinity IRS V 9.2% Sound by Singer Apogee Diva/Krell 5.2% Lyric Magnepan Tympani IVA/Mark Levinson 4.7% Sound by Singer Snell Type A/ARC SP11, M300 4.6% Woodbridge Stereo Wilson WATTs/Entec/Threshold 3.5% Museatex Meitner/Acoustat 33 3.0% Stereo Exchange Sound Lab A3/Rowland Research 2.7% Lyric C-J Synthesis Reference 2.3% Ears Nova Linn/Naim/Epos 2.2% Vandersteen 1.9% Audio Breakthroughs Dahlquist D020/ARC 1.8% Esoteric Sound Sys. Shahinian/Bedini 1.7% Lyric Infinity IRS Beta/C-J 1.5% B&W B&W 801 Matrix 1.5% MAS Imports Electrocompaniet 1.3% Eminent Technology 1.2% Innovative Audio Thiel etc 1.2% Landes Audio VTL/Princeton/Well Tempered 1.1% The Mod Squad The Mod Squad/Vandersteen 1.0% Woodbridge Stereo Infinity IRS Beta 1.0% Audio Influx Rogers Studio 1A/Arcam 1.0% (All other exhibitors received less than 1% of the votes cast) Total number of votes cast: 1311.5, Total number of forms returned: 237

TABLE 2: MAGAZINES READ

Magazine Percentage of visitors who regularly read it (Santa Monica) Stereophile 84.0% (88.0%) Audio 64.4% (67.5%) The Absolute Sound 60.6% (53.0%) Stereo Review 35.0 0/o (36.5%) Hi -Fi News & Record Review (UK) 24.6% (25.0%) High Fidelity 18.2% (20.5%) The Sensible Sound 16.5% ( 9.0%) High Performance Review 15.7% (11.5%) Digital Audio 11.9% ( 0.5%) International Audio Review 11.4% ( 3.5%) Hi -Fi Heretic 11.0% ( 2.5%) Fanfare 8.1 0/0 ( 5.0%) Hi -Fi Answers (UK) 5.9% ( 6.5%) The Audio Amateur 5.5% (10.0%) Hi -Fi Choice (UK) 1.7% ( 4.5%) The Audio Critic 0.8% Speaker Builder 0.8% Gramophone 0.4%

Stereophile, February 1988 TABLE 3: VISITOR TABLE 4: LP AND CD BREAKDOWN BY AGE OWNERSHIP

Age Percentage of No. of LPs Percentage (Santa Monica) visitors (Santa Monica) Zero 4.8% ( 3.5%) Under 21 1.7% ( 0.6%) 1-50 2.2% ( 4.7%) 21-25 3.5% ( 8.7%) 51-100 5.4% (10.5%) 26-30 15.7% (19.8%) 101-250 21.2% (19.2%) 31-35 23.9% (20.3%) 251-500 29.0% (28.7%) 36-40 22.6% (21.5%) 501-1000 22.8% (17.0%) 41-50 20.9% (18.0%) 1001-2000 8.0% (10.5%) 51-60 9.1% (10.5%) Over 2000 6.6% ( 5.9%) Over 60 2.6% ( 0.6%) No. of CDs Percentage (Santa Monica) We asked visitors about the size of their col- Zero 33.3% (36.4%) lections, both of LPs and of CDs. Though there 1-10 2.6% ( 9.8%) were asmall number of audiophiles who were 11-20 7.0% ( 9.3%) obviously less interested in music than in the 21-30 6.6% ( 9.2%) 31-40 5.7% ( 3.5%) sound it makes-the acid test is to compare 41-50 7.9% ( 5.8%) the size of their record collection with the 51-100 14.9% (15.0%) value of their system, 25 records and a$25,000 101-250 16.2% ( 6.9%) system appearing twice-it would appear that 251-500 5.8% ( 2.9%) atypical New York audiophile is amusic lover, 501-1000 ( 1.2%) owning between 250 and 1000 LPs (the average is 623), with either between 50 and 250 CDs or no CDs at all- "Absolutely None!" From all reports, the show was asuccess for wrote Anthony Roukis of Ridgewood. Two the magazine, for the exhibitors, and for those correlations popped up from the maze of who braved the traffic to attend, so Stereophile numbers, which was that women visitors to will be once again entering the fray Our second the show tended to have CD-based systems, Los Angeles Hi -Fi Show will again take place at and that those with the most LPs tended either the Bay View Plaza Holiday Inn, Pico Blvd., to have no CDs at all or alarge number. An in- Santa Monica, from April 8through 10. Admis- verse correlation was found between quality sion at the door will be $10, but advance tickets of handwriting and value of system-obviously will be available for $7.50. For full details of doctors spend alot of money on hi-fi com- when,Where, who, and what, see the advertise- ponents and music. ment and ticket order form on p.66.

TABLE 5: SYSTEM VALUE

Value of system Percentage (Santa Monica) Over Under Under $1000 2.7% ( 3.1%) 97.3% $1001 -$2000 8.4% (11.5%) 88.9% 2.7% $2001 -$3000 11.1% (12.7%) 77.8% 11.1% $3001 -$4000 4.0% (13.9%) 73.8% 22.2% $4001-$5000 12.0% (12.1%) 26.2% $5001 -$6000 ( 9.1%) 52.5% 38.2% $6001 -$7000 8.0% ( 6.7%) 44.5% 47.5% $7001 -$8000 7.1% ( 5.5%) 37.4% 55.5% $8001-$9000 4.0% ( 3.6%) 33.4% 62.6% $9001-$10,000 7.6% ( 9.7%) 25.8% 66.6% $10,001 -$12,500 5.8% ( 3.1%) 20.0% 74.2% $12,501 -$15,000 8.0% ( 4.2%) 12.0% 80.0% $15,001 -$20,000 3.6% ( 1.2%) 8.4% 88.0% Over $20,000 8.4% ( 3.6%) 91.6%

Stereophile, February 1988 49 \ \ II1l(ItI

"In its price category, the Adcom GFA-535 is not only an excellent choice; it's the only choice:' s-TeigTheAud°CheaDskate e0 0

Vol. 10 No.7 November1987 11111111•11111111111111h. MIN

.010.1.1.••••1111«.

Adcom GFA-535 power amplifier. The complete report: Sometimes products are too cheap for their "I've never heard the Quad ESL-63 sound own good, and people don't take them seri- better," Rob said. Of course, he was hardly an ously: the Superphon Revelation Basic Dual impartial observer, but the sound was extraor- Mono preamp, Rega FtB300 arm, AR ES-1 turn- dinarily clean, detailed, and musical. If it table, Shure V15-V MR cartridge, and the B&K wasn't the best sound /have ever heard from ST-140 power amp. They can't be any good Quads, it was pretty close. because they cost so little, right? This humble $300 amplifier was driving a Wrong, of course. pair of very revealing $3000 speakers and giv- Adcom appears to be having the same prob- ing avery good account of itself. (We listened lem with their $299.95 GFA-535 amp. Credi- first to some Goran Sollscher classical guitar.) bility. "So how come this product isn't flying off Now if this amplifier were imported from the dealers' shelves?" Iasked Rob. England and sold for $599.95, then maybe it "I don't know. Everyone wants the GFA-555 would be taken seriously. And highly praised, with 200 watts per channel. Including people no doubt. who don't need it." For the baby Adcom is one of the finest "Does the GFA-555 sound any better?" I solid-state amps Ihave heard. No, not the best; asked. I'm not sure what is the best. But it's an "No, it's our aim to have all our amps sound amplifier that is so good for so little money as pretty much the same. You pay more money, to be practically agift. you get more power." Actually, when Rob Ain from Adcom called, Rob pointed out that while the GFA-535 is Iwas about as enthusiastic about the GFA-535 rated at 60Wpc, it puts out more like 80. And as you were before you finish reading this while Idid not do any measurements, my ex- piece. But Rob insisted, "You've gotta hear this perience with other amps tells me Rob's right. amp." Isuppose Adcom doesn't want to steal sales He brought it over the next day, along with from its GFA-545, rated at 100Wpc and selling the GFP-555 preamp ($499.95), and we put for $200 more. both pieces into the rest of the system: aShure After acouple of hours, Rob left, grinning Ultra 500 in aFtega RB300 arm on an AR ES-1 from ear to ear, and Ilater sat down to listen table, with Quad ESL-63 speakers on Arcici alone. True, when Itried certain Telarcs and stands. Then we chatted for ahalf hour or so pushed hard Icould get the amplifier to clip— while the electronics warmed up. two LEDs quickly light up (very useful). But And then, simultaneously, the two of us the Quads were running out of the ability to decided to shut up and listen. use the power anyway. My first impressions Advertisement

were confirmed: the GFA-535 is one of the The bass, like everything else, is neutral, cer- best amplifiers around for driving Quads. tainly not fat and overdone But it's here where Spendor SP- ls, too. you notice that this amp is not apowerhouse Suddenly, it hit me what this meant. Con- You just don't get the solidity and extension ventional wisdom had been dealt a severe you get with avery powerful (and expensive) blow. You know, the old saw that you should solid-state amp. Nor do you get the breadth never power agood pair of speakers with a and depth of soundstage that you often find with avery powerful amp. The Adcom GFA- "The GFA-535 reminds 535 sounds awee bit small, which it is. me of...amplifiers that My only criticism, and it's more of aquib- ble, is that the speaker connectors are non- sell...for about three standard and unique (so far as Iknow). You in- and five times the sert bared speaker wire into ahole and twist the connector tight aquarter turn. Most speaker pricer cables will fit, but some will not. Certainly MIT won't. Neither will the best Kimber, the kind cheap amplifier. Here was acheap amp—one with eight clumps of strands. The less costly of the cheapest on the market—that sounded four-clump Kimber will, and proved an ex- good with Quads, Spendors, later Vander- cellent choice. My sample amp was quiet— steens. Probably Thiels, too—at least the CS1. What it means is you can stretch your speaker "This amplifier is so budget abit and get the speakers you really want, then economize by buying an Adcom good and so cheap that I GFA-535 for $299.95. True, you may be alittle think any CD owner who power shy, but probably not much. And to say the least, the GFA-535 would make adecent buys an integrated amp interim amp. is nuts:' What does the GFA-535 sound like? (You no hum—and ran cool. There are selectors for thought I'd forget that part, right?) Well, this two sets of speakers. And the 535 looks nice. is one of the most neutral amps I've heard. And talk about economy: If you're not in- to LPs anymore, you could buy aMod Squad, "...the baby Adcom is dbx or Old Colony line-level switching box— one of the finest solid- or possibly a B&K Pro 5 preamp, with its switchable line amp section (only $350)—and state amps Ihave run it with aCD player. In fact, if you are in- heard...so good for to CD only (no tape, no tuner, no phono), you could buy aCD player with avariable volume so little money as to output and run it directly into the Adcom. This be practically agift' amplifier is so good and so cheap that Ithink any CD owner who buys an integrated amp is While it doesn't sound particularly tubelike, nuts. it avoids the typical transistor nasties through In its price category, the Adcom GFA-535 is the midrange and into the treble. Iwouldn't not only an excellent choice; it's the only call it sweet—there's no euphonic coloring— choice. The real question is whether you but it isn't cold or sterile What it is, is smooth. should buy one even if $299.95 is much less And detailed. Far more detailed than Iwould than you planned to spend for an amp—ie, ever imagine a$300 amplifier could be. The whether you should put the money into abet- GFA-535 reminds me of the Eagle 2A and PS ter CD player or pair of speakers instead. Audio 200C, amplifiers that sell, respectively, for about three and five times the price. Of course, they have more power. And they are ADCOM. more detailed. The point is, the Adcom comes 11 Elkins Road, East Brunswick, NJ 08816 201-390-1130 Distributed in Canada by PRO ACOUSTICS. INC close. Very close. Pointe Claire. Quebec H9R 4X5 AUDIO with

that borrows some technology from CD and some technology from your friendly VCR. Mix George Graves - 11 this with ample amounts of politics, greed, and rampant paranoia, and you have arecipe for lives with a the biggest tempest-in-a-teapot ever to hit the world of audio. You see, the record companies (and their Luxman mouthpiece, the RIAA) don't want us to have this new toy. Or at the very least, they will let R-DAT recorder us have only athoroughly crippled version. By pushing through Congress some form of legislation aimed at ending home tape recording—see J. Gordon Holt's article on this subject in Vol.10 No.5 —the poor, starving

threecyocrodmoen out"I record companies hope to recoup the many nwith waityacan 4 4 ' millions of dollars "lost" each year due to the / overheard apotential CD-player unauthorized copying of legally protected buyer tell the young audio salesman. "What material. They are using DAT as their scapegoat on Earth for?", thought I, as Iturned my atten- and test case If these machines can be lawfully tion to other matters. Imean, really, what lumbered so that they cannot record material possible use could the average consumer have which has been encoded with an analog copy- for ahome recording medium which has a protection signal,' the recording industry 96dB dynamic range? What would they do won't object to their being sold here As of this with it, copy FM broadcasts? Well, if the var- writing, aHouse subcommittee has approved ious Japanese consumer electronics conglom- abill requiring "some form of copy protection erates get their way, and the Recording In- circuitry." The bill next goes to the House dustries Association of America (RIAA) doesn't, we may soon be able to answer that very ques- IThe one under serious consideration, as I'm sure most of you know by now, would remove aportion of the music tion. DAT is coming. centered around 3800Hz, thereby audibly ruining any record- DAT is the audio-cassette recording medium ing so encoded.

52 Stereophile, February 1988 Rotary Heads

Energy and Commerce Committee, where, we material as they wish, as long as those copies can only hope, more realistic opinions will are for his or her own use. That means that prevail ,2 you may legally make cassette copies of your Whatever happens, if a stupid, special- own CDs to play in your car, and you may interest-serving bill like this one does make it make atape of that new record to play while into Federal Law, we all lose. If they can put keeping the actual disc new and pristine. What program-damaging copy protection on CDs, you may not copy are your buddy's records, they can also put it on vinyl, analog cassettes, tapes, or CDs (even if they are out of print), videotapes, laserdiscs, TV broadcasts, radio and you obviously cannot copy anyone's broadcasts, in fact every source of sound. Now, records, tapes, or CDs for sale. This copycode this will do what the record companies say thing will make even legal copying impos- they want—stop illegal copying5—but it will sible. Make no mistake about it, the anti-copy also stop legal copying, which is what the chip will start out in DAT machines, but it will record companies really want. They want you quickly find its way into analog cassette to buy aCD for your main hi-fl, aprerecorded machines and even open-reel recorders! tape for the car, and asecond CD or tape for If this isn't enough to add insult to injury, the mountain cabin—all of the same program. preliminary tests of the system under con- Sounds like pure, simple greed to me. sideration indicate that it can be accidentally What is legal copying? Well, according to false-triggered into going into the "protect our courts and copyright laws, after acon- mode" even while making alive recording, if sumer purchases apiece of copyrighted mater- that signal has insufficient information in the ial, he or she may make as many copies of that affected frequency range. This means that a

2Those who have yet to write their Congressman on the mat- tape machine fitted with acopy-protect chip ter of Cops-code and the notching of recorded music by won't even reliably record your kid's birthday removing ahand of frequencies in the region where the car is most sensitive can obtain aprepaid printed postcard from party! Even if you don't give ahoot or aholler the Home Recording Rights Coalition, apressure group set about home taping, the removal of aband of up by tape and equipment manufacturers. All you do is fill in your name and address, sign the card, and return it to the FIRRC, who will forward it to your Congressman. Write the 3 For awhile. What the RIAA overlooks is that these so-called FIRRC for a card at PO Box 33'05. 1145 19th St. NW. "pirates - arc pmfessionals. If they sec abuck in selling pirated VVashington, DC 20033. or call them toll-free at CDs on DAT tapes they will find away to defeat the circuitry I-800-282-TAPE. involved.

Stereophile, February 1988 53 MATRIX

HANGE YOUR IDEAS - E RIES 2

B sModel 801 — the recording industry's Reference Standard Monitor — was the inspiration for innovation. Dramatic developments in technology and enclosure design have lit the fuse. B&W"s Matrix 801 Series 2personifies the state-of-the-art ten years on. This magnificent successor sets the new standard for professional and home user alike. With no commercial compromise. Rich in Matrix technology, 801 Series 2 registers accurately even beyond audibility. Phenomenal sound. Clean and utterly uncoloured. Outstanding imagery with tight unbooming bass. An instrument destined to occupy aspecial place in world esteem.

erica, P.O. 3, Buffalo Ncn York 14240 (41g5 music from future records, tapes, and CDs then you know how valuable your master should be enough to get you up in arms. tapes are. Each time you play them you risk Careful there, complacent audiophiles; you are damaging them, and of course, residual mag- about to lose aright! netism on the tape heads, guides, etc. erases OK, fine; now what about this DAT machine? a little of the high frequencies. The result? Yes, well, sorry for the digression, but Ifelt Well, if you're like me, you don't play them it was necessary. The nice folks at Luxman/ very often, even though you would like to do Alpine sent me apre-production prototype of so. Over the years, Ihave made numerous their KD-117 DAT recorder to play with. And cassette dubs of some of my better masters, Ido mean "play": since the legal status of DAT and of late, they are sounding pretty good. But is still up in the air, this machine may not be no matter how high the quality of tape or representative of what we here in the USA recorder, transferring a 15ips master to the finally get to buy (if anything). For this reason, Phips cassette format just doesn't work. Iam Luxman has asked me not to specifically re- here to tell you, however, that making aDAT view this machine as an equipment report, but copy gives you adub so close to the master to basically get afeel for the technology, its that it is extremely difficult to distinguish one capabilities and limitations, and to see what from the other. Now Ican listen to my "mas- use the things might actually have. This Ihave ters" any time Iwish! That alone makes aDAT agreed to do. So, on with the show! machine amust for me. The problem with aDAT machine is, as I Realizing that the most prevalent use that the said earlier, the fact that the average consumer DAT machine will get in most audiophile has almost no use for such a device. The systems will be to copy CDs, legally or not, I record-industry sales figures for the last couple tried it. The results, while slightly more col- of years show that even the lowly prerecorded ored than the CD (two more data-conversion cassette tape sells better than does the vinyl steps are added; direct-digital CD-to-DAT record. (The actual figures for the first six transfers are impossible due to the fact that, months of 1987, as published as percentage as manufactured, an R-DAT recorder will not shares of the market in the US, UK, West Ger- record at the CD's 44.1kHz sampling rate), are many, France, and Japan in The Economist, are: nonetheless adequate for most people's uses cassettes, 44.2%; 45rpm singles, 22.2%; LPs, (ie, for playback on aDAT car player). 19.8%; and CDs, 13.8%—CDs having in- Ialso used it with an outboard Sony timer creased their market share by afactor of 3.5:1 that has been in my possession for anumber since 1985 while LP has dropped by afactor of years to record some FM radio programs off of 1.5:1.) This proves, almost conclusively, that the air. There is atwo-hour program of Latin the average consumer has little interest in jazz which is broadcast late at night in my area quality. If the recorded music buyer can accept on atechnically fine FM station. Before DAT, the high noise level and generally poor fre- it was impossible to tape it with a normal quency response which characterize prere- cassette deck (unless it auto-reverses in the corded cassettes, then one can pretty well record mode, but you still miss alittle during figure that he is not going to see the need for turnaround and you are forced to use the digital cassettes, or $2000 machines to play or unreliable C-120 cassette lengths). Using the record them on. Now, as you are areader of audio portion of aHi -Fi video deck works, but Stereophi/e, Iassume that you are not an Ifind the sound quality from AFM recordings average consumer. As awriter for Stereophile, to be unsatisfactory. (In spite of the ads about Ican assure you that I'm not; yet Ihave found video hi-fi being as good as digital, the corn- only afew uses for the thing. Most of these panding circuits used for noise reduction uses, because of some of the recording activi- pump audibly, and the sound is quite colored.) ties that Iam involved in, would not apply to With the DAT recording, the "air-check" was most audiophiles, regardless of how serious virtually as good as the original broadcast, and they might be. of course Icould then listen to it at my con- One of the more practical uses that Ihave venience, rather than at the radio station's found for the DAT machine is the transfer of convenience. my analog master tapes to the DAT format. If Recently, Ihad the opportunity to record you have ever done any serious live recording, the local symphony live to DAT. Since making

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Exclusive U.S. Distributor MADRIGAL AUDIO LABORATORIES P.O. Box 781, Middletovvn, CT 06457 ITT TD< 4942158 alive recording is the most stringent test that sion), Ifound the same upward tilt to the top one can give a recorder, Ifigured that this end of the spectrum, accompanied by the would quickly give me afeel for the machine's same harshness. Going back to the open-reel overall usefulness and ultimate quality In this master, Inoted that the spectral balance was case, Iwas able to connect the Luxman in almost perfect, exhibiting little or none of the parallel with an analog open-reel (Revox A-77 shrill, distorted character of the two digital Dolby) and another digital recorder (Sony recordings. PCM-501ES used in conjunction with aSony "Ah-Hah," Ihear you say, "that proves that Betamax VCR). The results, while mixed (for there is something wrong with digital! Just as reasons that Iwill disclose anon), show that Ialways suspected!" But hold on—remember, DAT is aformat with great promise. Isaid earlier that digital dubs of analog masters First of all, the orchestra is probably one of sounded fine. Ihave also noted this same the finest civic symphonies in the nation. The phenomenon with CDs made from older program consisted of Berlioz's Symphony Fan- analog recordings. A look at the frequency- tastique and Charles Ives's Variations on response graph supplied with the Neumann America, and ended with awonderful perfor- KM-84s supplied the answer. They exhibit a mance of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto I. rising high-end characteristic on-axis which The music varied in texture and content to the is up more than 15dB at 15kHz (with respect point of being absolutely perfect for this to IkHz)! It is important to remember here that evaluation. The Symphony Fantastique, analog recorders self-erase high-level, high- scored for an extremely large orchestra, has frequency information and roll off at the high incredible dynamic range, but the DAT machine end, while digital recorders do not. So "hot" just sailed through it all. Like all digital microphones do not affect analog recorders recorders, the DAT machine doesn't require as much as they affect digital recorders. The any gain riding after the levels are once set, but analog machines just lay down on tape what one must be very careful to set those levels so they can, and self-erase the rest. A digital that the peaks never exceed the OVU mark on recorder, on the other hand, has flat power the meters. This is really no problem with a response. It will record a20kHz signal at OVU digital recorder because of its low noise floor just as readily as it will record aIkHz signal at and 96dB dynamic range. Average levels which that level. If the microphone is flat, no prob- would be considered "in the mud" for any lem. But when the microphone has asharply analog recorder are the order of the day for rising top-end characteristic (as do most older digital. studio condenser mikes), not only will the The cardioid microphones used for this ses- resultant recording be shrill and overbright, sion were apair of Neumann KM-84s mounted it will also probably be distorted because the on astereo T-bar, about 7" apart and angled hot top end can take the record level over OdB at 90° to one another. The mikes were then during loud passages (a digital no-no, remem- hung from the proscenium arch center-stage ber?) while the rest of the spectrum doesn't ex- about 15 feet over the conductor's head, and ceed -5dB. Due to the ballistics of most pulled back over the stage apron. This classic recording-meter circuits (even peak-reading stereo microphone placement is my personal types), it is probable that this high-frequency favorite, and if any configuration can elicit overload won't even register on the meters soundstage from adigital recording, this is the unless it is asustained signal. This leads to one thave found to be it. sound that exhibits the "bleeding ears" syn- The first thing that Inoted upon listening drome that many audiophiles associate with to the finished R-DAT tape was how unnatural- digital sound. Anyone contemplating the ad- ly bright and harsh it sounded. Since the Lux- dition of aDAT machine (or any type of digital man measured absolutely fiat, and dubs made recorder) to his or her live-recording ensemble of old analog masters sounded fine, Ihad to should keep this in mind. Use microphones assume that the problem lay elsewhere. Listen- which are flat or slightly rolled-off on top. ing to the recording made by the Sony proc- You'll be alot happier with the results. essor/Betamax set-up (which was connected Long-time readers of Stereophile will prob- in parallel with the Luxman DAT recorder ably remember that this writer has, in the along with the Revox during the record ses- past, not been very happy with the soundstage

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111 MONSTER CRBLEn Advancing the Art of Listening.

©Monster Cable Products Inc. 1987, 101 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 Telephone: 415-777-1355, TELEX: 470584 MCSYU1, FAX: 415-896-1745 presentation of most CDs. Ihave often specu- ter than did the open-reel. It was easier to pick

lated about the possibility that this is the fault out individual instruments with. the DAT tape, of the recording medium itself rather than a and there was less image wander. Front-to- problem with the digital productions or player back was also accurate, and this depth extend- shortcomings. This recording session was a ed all the way to the edge of the soundstage. perfect opportunity to find out the truth of the The analog recording was, by comparison, matter to my satisfaction (and, perhaps, yours). foreshortened at the extreme edges. With my Since Iused a microphone arrangement eyes closed, my ears painted aperfectly ac- which Iknow from experience to give great curate picture of the ensemble's arrangement stereo, the truth was in the listening: Borrow- on stage; in the Berlioz, the off-stage-left ing the analog tape from the Symphony's quartet sounded offstage. recording engineer (same mike feed) and con- Except for the highs, this is probably the necting the bit-stream output of the Luxman best-sounding recording that I have ever DAT to the direct-digital input of a Denon made, marking the fact that the highs were so DAP-5500 preamp (via optical cable), Iwas exceptionally irritating to me. But this is not able to use the same D/A converter that I the fault of the DAT machine. As far as this used for listening to CDs. The analog tape was reviewer is concerned, DAT is all that anyone threaded onto my Sony TC-880-2 (probably hoped it would be. Sitting here, writing this, one of the best semipro analog recorders ever Iam reminded of how Ifelt after the concert, made) and connected to the Denon through when Iopened the Luxman's cassette drawer, one of the tape loops. The levels of the two took out the digital master tape of the perfor- machines were set identically (using asound mance just played, and put it in my shirt pressure meter). Switching between the two pocket! 1helped the Symphony's recording machines (which were started at the sanie time engineer dismantle his tons of equipment and and which were running as close together as 10 /12 "reels of tape, then picked up the Lux- possible), Inoticed that not only did the DAT man, tucked it under my arm and sauntered machine indeed image, it imaged slightly bet- out of the concert hall. DAT's the truth. fi

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;. lsewbere in this issue, Iret•iew the new Spica Angelus loudspeaker only Fthe fourth produa to appear from this Santa Fe-based manufacturer since it started operations at the end of the 70s. Ibu will bare to read the review to learn what Ithought of the speaker a distinctively styledjloor-standing two-way, but Ialso thought it would be beneficial to talk with Spica 's founder and chief engineer John Bau. Itherefore made arrangements to meet with him in their facility just a couple of blocks from Stereophile's old Early Street HQ Ihad been told that John was tall, but until be unfolded himselffrom his stool in his laboratory, surrounded by com- puters and computerized test equipment. I had not realized how tall! Undaunted, set- tled into a conventional chain pointed the microphone in a vaguely upward direction, and asked John how be bad gotten into loudspeaker design.

61 JB: I've been amusician since Iwas 12 years old—I play acoustic guitar and bass—and after acertain point, Igot more interested in studio work. By 1976 or '77, Iwas working in arecording studio in Albuquerque It was apretty nice facility, considering it was in Albuquer- que—it had two 16-track recorders. When you listen to an instrument in the studio, you move your head around to get the sweet spot and you place amicrophone on the instrument, but when you go back into the control room and listen to what's coming out, it isn't All this work was being done by ear; Ihad the same. Imean, the disparity between the avoltmeter, but Ididn't have amicrophone. live and the reproduced was pretty awful. Iwas renting a house in the little town of Obviously I wanted to make some im- Madrid, near Santa Fe, and because the room provements to the system that was in the sounded awful, Iwould stick a pair of the studio! The weakest links in the chain are speakers out in front of the house. There was the mechanical to electrical transitions; je, quite abit of tourist traffic through town, and the microphones and speakers. Well, micro- people would stop: "Hey, those sound good, phones were awhole level of technology that how much do you want for apair?" So I'd end I couldn't really apply myself to without up selling four or five pairs amonth. Part of me specialized knowledge—I don't have any train- said, "Hmm, this is interesting. It's anice lit- ing or degrees in audio engineering, although tle income on the side." However, then the I'm not afraid of playing around with elec- funding for our project got cut off, Iparted tronics—so Iended up playing around with company with the person Iwas working loudspeakers. Iwas fortunate enough, Iguess under, and Idecided that I'd had it with music; you might say, that the person Iwas working trying to make my living in the bars and in the for was very stubborn, very set in his ways, studios wasn't working very well. It therefore and would not let me experiment with the felt fairly natural to explore the speaker thing. studio speakers. Ihad to start doing it on my The amount of money necessary horrified me, own. So Iwent out and bought areasonably but afew months later Igot married and my priced pair of speakers, Ithink it was apair of wife's mother gave me agift of enough money Advents or something, and just started play- to buy all the materials to do 50 to 100 pairs ing around with them, seeing what changed of speakers. what. This was in 1978. My intention was to sell After afew years, Igot involved in aproject the SC50 to friends and to market it through producing and playing on an album that re- local dealers and hope to make ago of it. Iwas quired that Igo to a number of different doing OK selling them to people Iknew, but studios around the country in order to utilize Santa Fe isn't that large atown; the dealers the talents of various people who couldn't would all say, "Well, here's alocal boy trying come to New Mexico. Ineeded, therefore, a to make ago of it. Good luck. But we can't pair of lightweight compact speakers that I really help you." It was getting pretty much could haul around with me; I've been in down to the wire—something had to happen enough studios to know that they all sound or it wasn't going to work—when afriend told different, and Ididn't want to have to keep me about PS Audio, who had started their making adjustments when Iwent to Studio X company acouple of years prior. Ireally didn't or Studio Yin Nashville. Iwanted something know anything about the hi-fi industry, so 1 that Icould take with me that Icould trust—a called them. They asked if Iwas going to the transportable monitor. Ihad been playing Show? "What Show?" Isaid. "The CES!", they around with this tubular material, so the result said; "If you're not there, you have no hope." was the first Spica loudspeaker, the SC50. (Peo- Iimmediately called CES, who put me on the ple used to say that this was reminiscent of the waiting list for the June 1979 show in Chicago. little JR 149, the semi-cylindrical thing with Things were getting grimmer and grimmer, but endcaps, although Ihad never seen apair.) then, three days before the show, Igot acall

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Natural Sound. and the timing relationships which were totally mucked up on almost every system out there. Since there was no system that Icould go and buy to see if this were really true, Ineeded to build one to see if it really did result in the ability to, at least in some measure, recreate the sense of space and localization in a more coherent manner. It was avery involved process because Iwas having to set up ameasurement system that was accurate and predictable, and this was before the TDS system could from CES and they said that as ESS had just measure phase. That box hadn't showed up bought out Dynaco, Dynaco's room on the yet. In fact, there was no box that you could fourth floor of the Americana Congress was buy to give you accurate phase information— open. Would Ilike it? "By all means," Isaid. something that took me several months to So Ipacked up my pair of SC5Os in my lit- discover. tle Opel Cadet and drove to Chicago. Iwas just JA: Do you think that part of the traditional astounded by the size of the companies and engineer's attitude that phase doesn't matter the whole scene there.] had to borrow astereo is because there was no easy way of measur- system because all Ihad as my reference was ing it? Because it's more convenient to push my Revox A77 recorder that was in pretty sad it under the carpet? shape. (Although the good side of it was that JB: Sure. And any time you look at something Ihad some good microphones and Iwas us- and you see that there are just anumber of ing live recorded material.) Iwas only able to roadblocks if you go in that direction, things stay at the show for three to four days, because to overcome that are either going to be very my wife was giving birth to our child while I costly or relatively impossible, then you turn was gone, but Iobtained about 30 dealers. Peo- your attention to away to go around it! ple were really amazed at what was coming This project was as much for my own edi- out of this little speaker, so Iwas obviously just fication as anything, though Idid hope that it in seventh heaven. From that very beginning would result in something. Ihad obtained a year, Spica was profitable. It looked like it was fairly large loan at the bank and had atime going to fly, so Iobtained another loan and deadline on it. And when Igot to the end of bought what Ifelt were necessary tools. I that deadline, Istill hadn't found the key in bought an FFT spectrum analyzer, because terms of the crossover function. Icould now one of the things that Irealized early on was accurately measure phase, but it took me four that the disparity between the various loud- or five months to get ameasurement system speaker systems that Ihad looked at was not rigged where 1could actually eliminate all of explainable by the differences in their ampli- the nonlinearities of the measurement system tude responses. with the help of software. For example, there JA: We'll come back to that. In the meantime, were timing uncertainties with the FFT ana- your next product was the TC- 50 system, lyzer. It would get the trigger from the signal which was launched at the WOES in January generator but there was avariance as to when 1983. it was going to start collecting data. The soft- JB: Right. Basically, how we got to the TC-50 ware was sitting there looking for the trigger, was by' throwing out all preconceptions, and so it depended where the microprocessor was just trying, number one, to find atransfer func- in the software loop when it was actually go- tion for a crossover network that actually ing to send the hardware trigger and start col- summed to linear amplitude and phase. That lecting the data. was the biggest thing that needed to be solved. JA: And then ifyou just wanted to average the Ihad already' come to realize, with the help of data, you couldn't because the waveform the FFT and later the Time Delay Spectrometry would be in adifferent part of the time win- (TDS) measurement technique system—which dow for each sample .. . 1found to be superior, more revealing—that JB: Sure, it's jumping all around all the time. the possible clue was in the phase information Thankfully, the company whose FFT box I

Stereophile, February 1988 65 Dear Stereophile Reader:

The New York City High End Hi -Fi Show, held this past October, was ahappy occasion for both attendees and exhibitors. The New York Times said on October 29, "To many devoted audiophiles, avisit to the New York Show must have seemed like walking through a daydream!' The showgoers got to speak to key product designers and Stereophile reviewers, attend seminars, see and hear the best sound reproduction equipment, and listen to great live music. Exhibitors received exposure for their products, could present their design philosophies to the people who bought their products, and received tremendous feedback in the face-to-face interaction that characterizes these Hi -Fi Shows.

On April 8-10, 1988, Stereophile, in cooperation with Nelson and Associates, will produce another High End Hi -Fi Show. The place: The Bayview Plaza Holiday Inn, at West Pico and Third, Santa Monica, California. Ticket price: $10 at the door, $7.50 if you order in advance. For advance orders simply send personal check or credit card number (Visa, Master Card, American Express) to High End Hi -Fi Show, PO Box 5529, Santa Fe, NM, 87502. Or call Laurie Evans, 505-982-2366. Don't miss it!

Yours in happy listening,

ik‘ Larry Archibald Publisher, Stereophile Magazine

66 Stereophile. February 1988 had selected was intrigued that Ihad actually Anyway, Istill hadn't gotten this key, and it found this problem—they knew about it but, was getting down to acouple of weeks before again, had swept it under the rug. You had Ihad to go to the bank and tell them why I access to the raw data and you could com- couldn't start paying them back. Out of frustra- pute the phase, but they didn't display it for tion Idecided to go to California to spend a you. So they never thought it would ever get few days at the AES Convention there. Iwas caught. But Iwas very fortunate, because the sitting very dejectedly, listening to all these guy who had designed the box was still with boring papers, when somebody got up and the company. He got right on it, sent me out started talking about his experiments with new ROMs, and Ihad already evolved the soft- Bessel networks. The more Ilistened, the ware to verify that it was OK. Finally, this part more Isaw that he had not been able to take works! But then it's something else and Inow it through to completion because he didn't have to model all the nonlinearities of the have the tools. He was working with fairly microphone and of the preamp and all of the crude hardware and needed acomputer with stuff so that they do not affect what Isee on modeling capability and iterative optimization, the screen. which we have, to bring it to fruition. He could JA: Did it come as asurprise to find that the see the potential but couldn't take it further. tools you wanted to measure with were, in Boy, the light went on in my head. Iimme- effect, bent? That the rules had unequal diately started investigating the Bessel algo- gradations? rithms, evolving models and playing around JB: It was very frustrating. When you get with time delay as an optimizable parameter down to having to define the problems of the —something Ihad never thought of before, very tools that you need to rely on, it really and Idon't know if anyone else had at that throws you back. But it did create a very point. Not only can you play around with the positive attitude because it made me want to slopes and enhance the phase response, but trust nothing unless Ihad actually verified it you can also move the mid section, or the myself, which is really the definition of Scien- bass/mid and the high section relative to each tific Method. However, it meant that Ihad to other in time, which creates its own phase rela- forget about sound for months. tion between the two. By aprocess of elimina- When Idid get back to sound, Ihad still not tion, Istarted working with the fourth-order found the key Iknew Ineeded. To me, the Bessel because it was where the phase was first-order crossover systems were unsatisfac- linear at the crossover frequency, which at tory for atwo-way speaker system. Even for least Iknew Ineeded. And after four or five three-way speaker systems. days of work, with the help of the computer JA: Because of the wide overlap between the Icame upon acombination of afourth-order drive-units? Bessel for the low-pass filter with something JB: Because of the huge overlap region and that was very close to first-order Butterworth because of what Ithink has been described in on the high-pass. It was perfect up to about an the literature as the lobing effect. With afirst- octave and ahalf above the crossover point, order crossover system, you actually have with the error occurring at very high frequen- more energy in the crossover region bounc- cies. Now, if you look at that error on aphase ing off the floor and then reaching your ears graph, it looks pretty awful, but if you plot it than is coming to you directly from the speaker. as atime-delay curve, it looks very, very good When Iwas playing around with first-order because the time delay that it takes to create crossovers, we would do experiments where aphase aberration at high frequencies is very we would put huge piles of cotton on the floor small. As aresult, we were getting group delay in front of the speaker—when we'd take it characteristics that were flat within afew mi- away, it was like day and night. Now Idon't croseconds. All of asudden, Iknew what I think there's any psychological way of getting needed to do, I'd got the key. This was also, by over that. Idon't see that it's possible. the way, afew days before the show From the — And you would be getting alot of distortion point of hitting on the key, the TC-50 came from the bass-mid driver because of the very together in about five days. gentle rolloff into the high frequencies. There We didn't get much sleep. After we'd opti- were alot of things that were not desirable. mized the baffle geometry and everything, and

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W.; Stereophile, February 1988 then optimized the crossovers, it was like four tance of other loudspeaker aberrations— in the morning on the day that we had to leave problems of resonances in the drive units, infor the show. We screwed 'em in and listened ternal cavity problems, etc.? to them, and it was like, Ithink this sounds JB: They're definitely lesser. Ihad two main good. We threw them in the truck regardless priorities: the crossover function, which is an and went off to the show, and the response integral part of the whole necessity for phase was pretty astounding. Peter Moncrieffs JAR alignment; and the treatment of the immediate awarded us an engineering award—the gates environment around the drivers because that's had opened up and people were flocking in. like the launching pad. If there was asentence The speakers sounded good, though Idid hear that really stuck with me when Iwas first some problems at the show. Ihad not given learning about how loudspeaker units are de- serious consideration to baffle reflection; com- signed, it was that they are basically designed plaints at that time about apaperiness in the for half-space use. The assumption is that they sound coming from the cone was actually are going to be positioned on ahuge infinite baffle-reflection problems from the tweeter— baffle with no surface discontinuities that they not from the cone. Small things like that. can see; half the energy gets thrown away and JA: What is your feeling on the relative impor- the other half comes into the room, hut there

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Stereophile, February 1988 is no break. Obviously there is no system that lems, the whole quest is to make the area we can sell that will be like that, so on the around the drivers present as few obstructions TC-50 we could only do that to alimited ex- as possible, and to make sure that those ob- tent, partly because of the timing of things, structions that do exist are correlated in that and partly because of alack of insight and a sequence in time. For instance, if you measure lack of tools at the time. Istarted learning a adriver in its nearfield and then move back, whole bunch more about that once Igot the you want those two measurements to coincide Crown TEF analyzer. as much as possible; if you're going into cor- JA: The WCES in January 1988 was five years recting things with your crossover network, to the day since the appearance of the TC-50. the instantaneous response vs the power What baie you tried to do with the Angelus response in the room is going to be quite abit that you couldn't do with the TC- 50? different unless that's the case. JB: Build the hest $1000 speaker Icould. JA: So the strange shape of the Angelus baf- Basically, spend alittle bit more money, relax fle is to simulate an effective infinite-baffle my preconceptions, and hope that the market environment for the tweeter As far as the would accept its cabinet shape; if the TC-50 tweeter is concerned. by the time ils output had adesign shortcoming, it was that Iwas not reaches adiscontinuity it has been reduced able to play around more with the area around in amplitude by the fell so that any reflection the drivers. For its time, it was already an odd- is sufficiently suppressed. looking box. And we weren't sure about ac- JE: Right. We had chosen those drivers almost ceptance of that. Fortunately, it sold on the ayear prior to getting seriously to work on the merits of its sound. Angelus. We first had to wait for Audax to send With the Angelus, Iwanted to use better us identical samples from two production runs drive-units, especially the bass/midrange unit. in arow, which took along time. Once we had More overlap also became very important. The that, and knew what we were working with, Angelus actually crosses over to the tweeter we worked on optimizing the baffle geometry higher than the TC-50, which is interesting and the placement of the drivers on the baf- because it's alarger bass/mid unit. But the ex- fle—just one thing after another. We would tension of that unit is better, being much more find that we would do something that was linear and much more predictable from unit good for the tweeter but bad for the woofer, to unit, so we could stretch the units there. The and then we'd find something that was good initial listening tests show that we didn't run for the woofer but bad for the tweeter, and ob- into agreat increase in modulation problems. viously the Angelus needed to be better than In fact, we saw adecrease because of the better the TC-50. If it wasn't, it would have been surface area. And athree-way system would stupid to come out with it. not have performed as well overall, would not The only thing that ended up being good have had the coherence. for both drive-units was having lots of area But one of the things Idiscovered in the in- around the tweeter but getting rid of as much terim is that there is in nature an optimum material on the baffle around the woofer as sequence of the arrival of events in time that possible so that the woofer was almost baffle- ends up summing to give you the most linear free. The tweeter needs to see alot of baffle amplitude response. It's what is called the because it needs lots of wavefront support "Fibonacci Series": the sum of the previous down to afairly low frequency. But with the two numbers equals the next. The growth of woofer, you're basically playing with its radia- plants and shells evidence it, and it turns out tion pattern; you want to get the dimensions the one-third-octave and octave equalizers also so that they correspond to wavelengths that conform to it. As soon as 1read about it, it was are within its beaming range. The strange baf- like, OK, Ineed to check this out mathemat- fle shape was the only way we could achieve ically So Iwould come to the lab and model both things. Once we saw what it was going this in the computer—you know, just creating to look like, we then started to wonder if it was little electronic equivalents of things coming going to fly if it was going to be accepted. We out in time, and moving them around. It was were up against the same thing we had on the right. This really works. Since it's inevitable TC, where we were stretching the limits of that we have diffraction and re-reflection prob- aesthetic acceptability.

70 Stereophile, February 1988 We don't sit and design things to look like when you play around with low-end stuff. that; it's just that functionally it had to be We're talking three to four octaves above the that way. So we made acardboard mockup, frequency at which you're making thé altera- and said, "Hmm, this doesn't look too bad. tions, and there are still phase changes. Iwouldn't mind having one of those if it JA: And yet you ma;' !maw noted the continu- sounded good." By the way, we don't do any ing debate in Stereophile about the amount listening during this period. Ijust work with of bass which should be expected from a pieces of wood and stuff to change the dimen- loudspeaker it scents to be a subject which sions of the baffle; Idon't do any listening at gels people very angry. all during the design period. It's not until Ifeel JB: Yeah, people have pretty strong opinions like I'm done that Ilisten. about it. I'm not sure what to think about it. JA: in asense, this stage of your design pro- Ihave to say that Americans have been weaned cess is realizing as something physical what on hyped bass, the sort of Hollywood kick you've already modeled on the computer where there's an 80-100Hz hump. It sounds JB: The modeling process anticipates the magnificent, with lots of hit and sock, but shortcomings of the drivers. We don't assume when you actually measure it, it doesn't go that we've got abass/midrange unit that ex- that deep. Ialso have ahunch that whatever tends to DC. We have an idea that we're going room someone tends to listen in influences to be able to give the woofer somewhere be- their opinions awhole bunch. Idon't know tween two and two and a half cubic feet. about you, but Ilive in apretty solidly con- That's the sort of space it likes for an optimally structed house. In fact, half of my music room damped cabinet. Iaim for asealed-box bass is below ground, so Idon't have awhole lot alignment with a Q of 0.5, which Ihighly of energy loss. Idon't even have a pair of prefer over aported box for transient clean- Angeluses at home yet, Ihave apair of TCs, but liness. That's what ends up coming out to be to me the low-frequency response in that the best. room is much more satisfying than in the JA: Yet hardly any designers opt for this low house that Ilived in before, which was afairly a Q. It seems that a Q between 0. 7and Ihas cheaply constructed apartment. Because in been fashionable for a long time. that kind of room, most of your low end leaves JB: Ithink that's the best compromise, if one's the room. Your walls can't contain it. aim is volumetric efficiency rather than tran- The other thing that I've heard from reflex sient purity. But transient purity is what we're systems is that there's amonotonic quality to about. And there's alaw that Ibecame aware the bass timbre. Iwas abass guitar player— of with the help of Dick Heyser, which is that still am —and changes in timbre in the low end whenever you have sharp edges in one do- are very important to me. Even when Iwas main, it introduces problems in the other. Let's playing professionally, Ifound that Ipreferred say you've got a system with a frequency sealed systems because Icould hear subtle dif- response that extends out really flat but then ferences and Icould create subtle differences dies like arock; that will inevitably introduce better than with ported systems where there disturbances in the time domain, in the tim- was always this indistinct sameness to the ing relationships. So if transient purity is what sound. Unless that was the sameness that I you want, what you need are smooth roll-off wanted, it was really something you couldn't characteristics at either end of the spectrum. correct for with an equalizer. It's always there. This is anatural law you can't get around. So that, coupled with the far better timing rela- We accepted early on, therefore, that our tionship response of the sealed system, sold systems weren't going to have low-end "hit" me on the sealed system. Ididn't look at alter- when compared with ported box designs, but natives, although early on Iwas working with they were certainly going to be clearer and bet- transmission line stuff and maybe someday it'll ter defined. It's just something that we ac- result in aproduct. Again, though, we have to cepted, because there was no other way of to work within the bounds of aesthetic accept- achieving the transient purity You can take the ability, trying to sell a product that people same system and make it into aported design have to put in the room that they generally and it would be inferior because you're chang- want to look the nicest. If you're talking about ing the phase terms way up into the midrange atransmission line system, then how do you

Stereophile, February 1988 71 get the longest line with the least reflection I'm not trained in this area, Icouldn't make problems in as small aspace as possible? We sense of alot of his stuff because so much have asolution to that, but it hasn't resulted is formulae, it's like, "This is explained by in aproduct yet. We don't know how to make chicken scratches." Fortunately, every now and it—I know how to make one or two, but it's then he would say "what all this means is," and apain in the ass. then he would have aparagraph of real cold JA: Why did you dedicate the Angelus to hard English about what it means and how to Richard Heyser's memory? Iassume that he get there. And Isay, "Ah ha, now Iunderstand had a strong influence on your thinking. that and now Iknow why that has to be done JB: Oh God, yes. In the early days, even as ear- that way." ly as 1979 and '80 after I'd gotten the Hewlett 1don't know of anyone who could hit on Packard FFT analyzer to do phase measure- problems as directly as he could, and had the ment quasi-accurately, Iread his early work wherewithal to devise ameasurement tech- which had been sitting there unnoticed—how nique that would, that could give you accurate could such genius work could go unnoticed measurements, even in avery small room (ad- for ten years before somebody picked it up mittedly, then, not down to low frequencies). and said. "Hey, this is important") And because There was no other single source of informa-

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72 Stereophile, February 1988 tion that was as helpful in getting me on what four-way system—is that we need as much Ifelt was the right track. Ijust feel an amazing overlap as we can get, aminimum of two oc- devotion to him. taves. Otherwise there is no hope of creating JA: Iremember going to a talk he gaie in Lon- agood phase-aligned system. The nice thing don where he presented the idea of the hi-fi about the Audax tweeter is that if you put it on experience as being multidimensional. The areasonably sized baffle, you've got a3dB- reproduction of music involves five, six, or down point around 600Hz. So if you're cross- more separate parameters—as many as you ing over about 2400-2500Hz, you've got three care to identify and map out, in fact—chang- octaves of accurate crossover. ing instantaneously at any one time, time, of JA: Iassume that it is also helped by the fact course, also being a parameter But if you that one listens to your tweeter off its own want to measure that performance, you axis. If you stand up in front of the Angelus, can only really plot one parameter against for example, then you hear a lot more treble another, or one parameter against two pa- energy. rameters if you have a3-D analyzer or 3-D JB: Sure, that helps alot. Another thing that display. Any one measurement can therefore it really helps, something that we really haven't only give you a tiny part of the whole picture. articulated clearly in the past, is that every JB: Right. Imean, part of what he's talking driver has an area where its high-frequency about there is the psychology of musical response starts to beam, to narrow. Most perception. Ireally appreciated that part of his systems are optimized so that the listener work, but Icouldn't embody it in any way. I listens on that beaming axis. The designer is had to draw the line there, as Iwasn't in a trying to take advantage of that extra energy position—again, because of my lack of formal in order to get an extended response. For training—to be able to evolve new ways of what, Idon't know. One of the things about looking at things. Since we were so far away using the drivers the way that we do is that from having systems that lived up even to that's an exception. Most of the response of these simple things that we can measure and the driver is not that beaming characteristic. correlate, we can only do the best we can with And if you design acrossover network for that the problems that are there—to optimize. If characteristic, all of asudden you've got this there's aword that sums up Spica, it's "optimize" huge suckout off-axis! So if you optimize a JA: One continuing aspect of Spica loud- system for the norm and not for the exception, speakers is that you choose to utilize what are then your energy response in the room ends basically not particularly esoteric drive-units, up being much more linear as well. You can but then concentrate on getting the best per- walk around the room and the tonal balance formance from them. Do you think that, on doesn't change all that much, given expensive the whole, too much emphasis is placed in hi- rooms. fi on obtaining very complicated high-tech JA: The National Research Council in Canada solutions to some problems but ignoring pretty much determined that severe peaks and others totally? dips in the off-listening-axis response of the JB: Sure. Ithink that's aproblem of our age. speaker will, in a real room, result in audi- Not just hi-fi, frankly. But yes, it's very true. I'd ble problems. like to make one comment on our tweeters, JB: Sure, because your reflections coming off because if there's any criticism that we get con- the wall sound different from what you're get- sistently, it is that we're using atweeter that is ting directly. What we're trying to describe sort of old technology. We get samples from here are subtle psychological distractions from all these companies and we check them out an original event. It's aproblem that we have pretty thoroughly. Again, because we don't to listen in rooms, as far as I'm concerned. design to suit our ears, we don't really do ex- That puts a heavy burden on open-panel tensive listening tests but we sure put them systems because, to me they don't even appear through the wringer on the bench and out in to be designed to be used in rooms. When I the test box. And we just have not seen abetter lived in Minnesota Iheard some of the earlier overall unit. Magnepans in ahuge room and they sounded And one of the very important key factors— magnificent. In a big room, the antiphase and it's going to be true even on athree- or energy bounces off the back wall and comes

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Ben Duncan describes apassive control unit à •

PAS-01 passive preamplifier. front

Editor's Introduction: Ben Duncan, who had designed an active DIY In his review of the PS Audi, )1.5 preamplifier preamplifier design for me when I was Editor (\'l .0 No. - ). Anthony Cordesman found that or News & Record Review, to come up switching out the unit's active line stage, in with a suitable circuit for what would become essence reducing the preamp to phono stage, the PAS -01. This could then be used with an input switching, and volume control, improved inexpensive commercial piton() stage such as the sound quality. Following that experience. NYAL's Superlt (bypassing the latter's own AHC reviewed The Mod Squad's 5400 Line volume control), The Mod Squad's phono Drive preamplifier \ )1.10 No.3), which omits stage. (ir Ben Duncan's own solid-state D3A even the phono stage, turning it into apure- disc card,' to give high-end preamplifier sound ly passive control box. The sound quality, for quality for (almost) next to nothing. (The high-level sources and with some limitations PAS-01 was auditioned extensively in Santa Fe regarding cabling and compatibility. now ap- using Threshold's excellent, if expensive, proached that of the state-of-the-art -the FET-10/P RIAA stage.) Alternatively and more Krell KRS2 and Audio Research SP -11. probably. aCD player could be fed into one "Aha!", I thought. Perhaps Stereophile's input, giving the hest possible sound from Cl), readers would be interested in a project to con- while the output of the user's conventional struct a totally passive preamplifier, with preamplifier, used for I.P playback, could be volume control, balance control, and provi- fed into another. —JA sion for two, three, or more line-level inputs. Parts quality would be as high as could be PAS-01: a tale practically achieved, using off-the-shelf com- Isnder ideal conditions, a passive preamplifier ponents, and construction would be hard- will outperliirm bog -standard electronics: the wired, to avoid the potential sonic degradation circuit below, albeit rudimentary, is "cost- of printed circuit boards. The only significant eflective" by any standards. Nevertheless, I'd drawback, as far Ican see, is that unless aCD best not shirk from mentioning the fundamen- player with a very high output is used, the tal limitations of passive units. Kinergetics KCD-20 or '30, for example, with Apart from the obvious limitation of not very insensitive loudspeakers —Celestion having any gain to lift low-level signals out of SL600s, Stax ELS-F81s, Rogers/Spendor LS3/

5As, Apogee Scintillas—there would be insuf- I Ben Duman\ ultra 6'6 noisc D3A disc card kit which can ficient system gain, resulting in too quiet a 1w configured for MM Mt 'both unbalanced'. or MC balanced operation. with a wide 'mice of loading options. is available sound. But with typical moving-coil speakers from Audio Synthesis, 196 Wollaton Road. Beeston. Not- with a sensitivity of at least 89dB/W, such as tingham Nri9 2Pfl. England. Tel. Olt 602 224IMt. Send S3 Lash or MK) milt check'. or 6 MC', tor full catalog of those used by the majority of readers, there audiophile-grade kits and components. Audio Synthesis can should be no problem. also supply hard-ii,•obsain parts for l'AS -01. including preselected Bourns pi ItentiOMCICIS and CK switches. as well I therefore asked respected English engineer as a complete kit for £99.95 plus 10 shipping.

Stereophile, February 1988 79 lete MC-2

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US cfistrIbutors for Brifish Fidellty (Musc F,dellty in UK L Spendor, Logic. the noise floor, apassive preamp inevitably of sonic degradation in preamplifiers is the in- operates at relatively high impedance levels. put switching. The hairshirted among you will Accordingly, they are sensitive to interference no doubt plug and unplug every time you from magnetic and electrostatic fields—in want to change source, but for the remaining other words, hum! The highish output im- 99%, the PAS-01 switching has been arranged pedance, which will vary with control set- so that there is only one switch contact (gold- ting—minimum is at full volume, maximum plated with the specified switch) in the path at half volume—will also precipitate high- between input socket and volume control. frequency losses if the unit is carelessly ap- This switching arrangement does mean that plied. This will be particularly likely if the feed two or more sources can be selected simultan- to the amplifier(s) exhibits ahigh shunt capaci- eously, but buffering resistors in the less- tance, due either to the construction of the critical input paths—the CD input is straight cable or to the use of very long cable runs, and in—ensure that nothing will be harmed; the the HF rolloff will be dependent on volume- distortion and/or mix of signals will sound a control setting. By the same token, any kind trifle odd, however. This condition is readily of response tailoring or RF filtration is ruled corrected by switching out the offending out, as is the use of signal sources having high source. (A second switch contact lies in the output-impedances (very much greater than signal path if the attenuator function—see lk ohm), such as some tube designs—the CAL below—is included; if this worries the more Tempest CD player comes to mind—and early fastidious constructor, it can be omitted.) transistor equipment. The heart of the preamplifier is the volume The PAS-01 has been designed substantially control. Rather than pots with the ubiquitous to overcome interactive impedance variations. pseudo-logarithmic "Audio Law" taper to the Nevertheless, for the best results, the output tracks, Ihave chosen linear pots. cable to the power amplifier should be kept "Linear pots? Don't they produce ahighly short, ideally between aquarter and ahalf a non-linear law to our ears?" asked aperplexed meter (10*-20"). The input cables can easily Alice. be 3m to 5m in length (10'-16'), provided the "Between you, me, Alice, and the Toad," an- source has alow impedance: this applies to all nounced the Professor, fiddling with asmall solid-state CD players, some tuners, and some blue object, "1 think we should tell them." tape machines. "Right-Ho!" said the Toad, leaping bolt 'Riming to the actual circuit, amajor source upright: "We use linear control pots for stereo

Stereophile, February 1988 81 IMPROVING ON PERFECTION

The Ortofon MC 3000 moving coil cartridge, the result of groundbreaking research, is available now. Visit your local HiFi dealer and listen to improved perfection. Or contact us: orrofon areuracy in sound Ortofon Inc., 122 Dupont Street, Plainview, New York 11803 gain control because the tracking between the the outputs to ground, it also avoids introduc- channels is an order of magnitude tighter than ing any additional series-switch contact into comparable 'log (logarithmic-taper) poten- the signal path. , tiometers, where any slight physical misalign- ment between the two channels introduces a Bits & Pieces disproportionate error. But we then have to Poor components will throw away the poten- add a' law-faking' resistor to our linear pot tial for good sound, and the key to the PAS-01's

(between slider and ground) to accelerate the performance is to use the specified parts. 3 The attenuation vs rotation. The resulting charac- volume control, in particular, can be asource teristic change in sound level vs rotation, called of all manner of ills. How many of you have an audio taper note, then sounds smoother not suffered noisy pots? And how can to our ears; better than alog pot. Because the hysterical demands for gold-plating be justi- faking resistor typically lowers the load im- fied without first tackling the crude, carbon- pedance seen by the source by afactor of five rubbing-alongside-carbon contacts of the or ten, alinear pot so treated will need to be average pot? 5to 10 times the target value. A look pot plus In order of listening, Ifound the following faking resistor will be equivalent to a20k-10k pots to give the best sound: Penny and Giles pot respectively." RF2-10k (very expensive—over $70); Boums "Contrary to intuition," Alice winks, "this 82A/2A/B28/H20/H20 Cermet 5%; Boums high value doesn't adversely affect the noise 91A/2A/B28/E20/E20, CP 10%. (Old Colony level (or noise resistance) in line-level stages. Parts, 4 The Audio Amateur's associated com- For a passive preamplifier, the maximum pany, also stocks an ALPS pot which would source resistance of a 100k pm plus faking work well, though as this is a logarithmic resistor is ca 7000 ohms, spelling amaximum design, it doesn't fit in with the Toad's cable capacitance of 200pF —just over lm of demands for maximum channel-to-channel Monster M1000 interconnect—for less than integrity.) Compared with conventional 0.IdB loss at 20kHz." carbon-track pots, these are Rolls-Royce A stopper resistor—"In line with the ground components—the Boums 91A pot, for exam- connection!", stresses the Professor—limits ple, has multi-finger wipers and conductive- the possible attenuation to some -35dB. This plastic tracks. Wiper-to-track contact proper- part linearizes residual mistracking (or zero- ties are on a par with the best stepped at- base error), which always begins to rise sharply tenuators, and even with heavy manipulation, below the -30dB setting on real-life pots: it's years of noise-free adjustment may be ex- all down to practical tolerances of assembly. pected. Lastly, the Boums pot is an aesthetic At the same time, it's best to avoid attenuation delight, conductive plastic having an exalted, settings below -40dB outright. Phew! silky feel. If it feels good. . Below -35dB, the attenuator switch, SW2, As mentioned above, the CK DPDT switches can be brought into play. This drops the level recommended for use in PAS-01 have gold- by another 20dB with less than 0.05dB inter- plated contacts, as well as gold-plated terminal channel error, shifting the volume control's range down to -50dB (minimum) and -20dB 2 If the mute is switched in with the balance control fully over (maximum). "Rather like agear change," an- to the left and the volume at maximum, then the CD player output (but not the tuner or tape is connected to ground. "In- nounced the Toad with aflourish, then con- ters" in Minn \oó. P 33. included acommunication (mm tinued: "The balance control smoothly swings Mr. B. Kendall Berg in which he pointed out that to short a CD player's outputs to ground might result in "a smoking Cl) the left-hand channel's attenuation by ±3dB player. - However, as far as Ihave been able to ascertain. all relative to the right without using any engines (:1) players include series output resistors so that this is no problem. In addition, the ubiquitous op-amp chips used hy or other active devices, and without beckon- nearly all players are humpned in this respect. Indeed. if you ing any crosstalk from the offhand channel examine the schematics for popular CD players. many imple- ment the mute while the player is searching the disc by whatsoever. Poop Poop!" doing exactly this: shorting the output to ground. —JA

Needless to say, our reckless friend, the 3A beauty of the hard-wired construction is that PAS-(l1 can Toad, forgot to mention the mute switch SW3. he constructed with less-optimum components and used until the recommended ones can be sourced. It is then asimple This provides instant silence whenever the matter to replace the appropriate component with the bet- phone rings (or whatever), without disturbing ter one. any control settings. By harmlessly shorting 4 Old Colony Parts, P() Box 2-13. Peterborough, N1103158.

Stereophile, February 1988 83 TARGE_ 141ige

TT2 TT3

TT5 56 HJ61/T

BT3 TT1

may audio marketing inc. P.O. Box 1048, 76 Main St. Champlain, N.Y. 12919 Tel.: (518) 298-4434

Stereophile, February 1988 Parts List

Potentiometers VR1a/b Bourns 91A 100kA stereo (see text for alternatives) VR2 Bourns 91A 5kA mono

Switches SW1a-z CK DPDT short-bar toggle SW2, 3 CK DPDT short-bar toggle

Resistor Value Quantity R1 47R5 2required for each stereo input R2 2k87 2 R3 4k99 1 R4 6k81 1 R5 2k87 1 R6 47k5 2 R7 5k62 2 (Holco 0.5% metal-film preferred)

Hardware Gold-plated phono sockets (2 per stereo input, 2for output) Dress nuts (1 per switch) Enclosure Collet knobs (2)

pins, and the sealed construction will resist at- sported apair of XLR output sockets in parallel mospheric pollution. These switches are wide- with the phonos. XLRs are gas-tight, self- ly used in professional music applications, wiping, and reliable, which is why they witness the Fairlight music computer. dominate professional sound. In adomestic The resistor featured in the prototype system not prone to the slings and arrows of PAS-01 is a0.5% tolerance metal-film from outrageous abuse, however, they are probably Holco (wHOLe COpper), which has done con- an unnecessary luxury, particularly as "audio- sistently well in listening tests carried out by phile" cables come fitted with high-quality Martin Colloms for HFN/RR. It is also one of phono plugs. the few resistors tested for lead-out integrity, which may have something to do with it. The Construction lead-outs themselves are solid copper. Old The resistors are mounted "daisy chain" Colony Parts can supply high-quality, mil-spec, fashion by wrapping the ends of the leads in I% tolerance, metal-film resistors manufac- aloop, then slipping over the lead or terminal. tured by Coming or Resista. These should also crimping with long-nosed pliers, then solder- present no sound problems, the Resista doing ing. Holco offcuts are recommended for short very well in J. Peter Moncrieffs tests in MR. links, and with careful dressing, no insulation Undoubtedly the highest sound quality will will be necessary—air has superior dielectric result if the inputs and outputs are hard-wired, properties to any plastic. The longer internal je, flying leads with phono plugs on the end wiring in the prototype was fashioned from wired directly to the appropriate places in the solid-core single-conductor cable—Radio PAS-01 circuit. However, if the user wants to Shack solid-core hook-up cable is inexpensive experiment with leads, high-quality phono and readily available. The OV lines should all sockets with gold-plated contact surfaces, called be taken to a "star point" consisting of a Royce SCXT8 and equivalent to the renowned ground plane made from a 5/8"x 6" roller- Tiffany brand, are available from Old Colony tinned, single-sided glass-epoxy pcb laminate. for around $10/pair, as are matching nylon in- As supplied, the PAS-01 has three stereo line- sulating bushes. (The matching jacks are also level inputs, but there is no reason why the available.) As can be seen from the photograph builder cannot add as many as desired, each of its rear panel, the prototype PAS-01 also additional input requiring two phono sockets

Stereophile, February 1988 85 FULL-RANGE PLANAR MAGNETIC $495 PAIR

MAGNEPLANAR• SMGa —Unique technology —Ordinary price

* Speaker photographed with magnetic structure removed.

III MAGNEPAN 1645 Ninth Street White Bear Lake, MN 55110 1nre Turtif•

Np r SE,EC1 SinLICrIts Vo•.•UME Ere NG! lTtNANTQN E

,PAS OtAellAl«

and insulating bushes, aCK DPDT switch, and note #1 on p.79 for the address. One impor- two 47.5 ohm metal-film resistors. tant point is that the signal ground can be con- The box can be anything, as long as it is of nected directly to the case only if the case does metal construction for the electrostatic not come into contact with earthed equipment shielding necessary with the highish im- enclosures. If there is alikelihood of this hap- pedances involved. (One UK audio writer con- pening, the star ground-plane for the OV wir- structed apassive preamp in an antique tea ing should be connected to the case via alk tin.) Small diecast-aluminum enclosures are resistor. All the phono sockets should be probably ideal. Radio Shack stocks neat pro- isolated from the case by using insulating ject boxes, but as these are constructed from bushes. steel and therefore magnetic, their sonic prop- If demand for PAS-01 is high, then it is possi- erties will be in doubt, although the low cur- ble that Stereophile could supply akit contain- rents involved and the fact that the signal wiring all the parts except the enclosure for a ing is distant from the case might render this PAS-01 with three stereo inputs. Write for objection moot. Audio Synthesis can supply details, marking the envelope Dept. PAS-01. neat engraved front and rear panels, see foot- Happy listening!

Stereophile, February 1988 87 EQUIPMENT REPORTS

WILSON WATT LOUDSPEAKER Martin Colloms

Wilson WATT speaker

Two-way, reflex-loaded (quasi third-order Butterworth tuning) loudspeaker system. Recommended placement: free space, on 24" stands. Drive-units: 1" inverted-dome tweeter, 6.5" doped pulp- cone woofer. Crossover frequency: around 2kHz. Frequency response: 58Hz-16kHz +3dB. Nominal impedance: 4ohms (but with aminimum of 1ohm at 2kHz). Sensitivity: 89dB/W/m. Minimum amplifier power required: 50W. Dimensions: 14" H by 12" W by 16.5" D. Internal volume: around 9 liters. Weight: 120 lbs/pair. Standard finishes: white or black lacquer, black lacquer with wood side panels (oak, walnut, teak, rosewood, zebrawood). Price: $5200/pair (2Pi panels, $500/pair, Gibraltar stands, $750/pair). Warranty: 5years, limited and transferable. Approximate number of dealers: 20. Manufacturer Wilson Audio Specialties, 100 Rush Landing Road, Suite 101, Novato, CA 94945. Tel: (415) 897-8440.

Landmarks in speaker design have been few capable ut breathtaking clarity', transparency, and far between. There are afew certain con- and depth with appropriate soundsources. tenders: in the UK, the two Quad Electrostatic 1therefore awaited their delivery with some models qualify, while the Celestion SL600 eagerness, cursing early delivery delays. How- scored abig point for all small monitors; the ever, they arrived at last, and some inuoduction Spendor BC1 changed forever the notion that is now in order. Notwithstanding the sugges- cone speakers were always colored and that tions to the contrary in Slereophile's "Letters" big boxes were essential for good sound. In columns, Icertainly appreciate the merits of the States, Apogee has taught us much with good, big speakers, and regret that nowadays their surprising mid-treble ribbon-based de- there are so few of them that Ican live with. signs. Other technologies have shown promise Ialso enjoy small monitors, but only if they but have not achieved real commercial success. possess genuinely musical characters. In some On the basis of reputation and personal ex- respects, then, Iwas likely to be sympathetic perience, Ihad begun to suspect that the Wil- to the WATT rather than dismissive, and would son WATT would represent another such step be prepared to take it to the limit in order to forward. Iknew from my own experience at assess the full measure of its potential. the Chicago CES that the WATT was impres- For such asmall speaker, the WATT is incre- sive; it was demonstrably one of the best speak- dibly heavy, dense, and inert. In fact, it feels ers at the show despite its small size, proving as if it were made from solid concrete, an im-

88 Stereophile, February 1988 pression conveyed by its laminated construc- the laminated body of the Ariston QLN woofer tion of mineral-based panels and lead blocks. (a non-production item), but Wilson Audio has Gilbert Briggs, the founder of Wharfedale, its own proposal for a subwoorer portion. always said that you could never fully appre- They suggest the Entec SW5 placed against the ciate the potential of aspeaker driver until it back wall, with dedicated, low-coloration was mounted in abrick enclosure. Certainly stands devoted to the WATTs. As the instruc- this was the case with the WATT, since its raw tion manual correctly points out, the best drive-units are well known but have never stereo focus and definition will be obtained been mounted in such amanner before. In this with free-space mounting well clear of the approach, the WATT contrasts the philoso- nearest wall boundaries—we found 3.5 feet phies of an independent US designer and a from the side walls and 2.7 from the rear wall Japanese corporation. The Corporation ap- to be the most effective. Wilson also notes that proach to designing acostly miniature would astronger 2Pi boundary improvement , can be be to "reinvent the wheel," applying arange obtained by floor mounting, this improvement of expensive and complex new drive-unit in tonal "richness" achieved at the expense of technologies, and employing costly cosmetic pretty severe mid-treble coloration due to the and engineering tooling wherever possible. comb-filter acoustic response imposed by the Without fear or favor David Wilson has chosen proximity of the speaker to the floor boundary to use two inexpensive but substantially good It is said that the WATT was primarily de- off-the-shelf drivers. signed for use as adesktop nearfield studio Wilson provides a25-page treatise on speak- monitor, which is avery different acoustic en- er positioning and use which is guaranteed to vironment from stand use in rooms at anor- improve the subjective performance of any mal listening distance. That may explain some speaker system, let alone the WATT. The dif- of the emphasis placed on extending the tonal ference between relatively casual positioning balance, for example the solid stands, the 2Pi and listening and aprecisely controlled place- Panel, etc. Should the WATT sold for domestic ment of enclosures and subject is not atrivial use require such artifices in the first place? one, assuming that the speakers themselves If we take the view that the cabinet is a have excellent time-phase characteristics and superb example of controlled nonresonant are very well matched. Lock-in image focus clamped-wall technology, then what is the based on accurate placement is also amajor char- logic behind attaching an undamped open acteristic of low-diffraction miniature speaker panel such as the "Beard" or placing the systems. speaker on asolid base, when an open stand Following the commercial introduction of can offer lower coloration? Some answers to the WATT, some comments were made con- this question will be found in the section on cerning alightness of tonal balance which was sound quality. In vibration terms the Beard said to be addressed by an accessory generally may contribute more resonance than the en- known as the "Beard" or "2Pi Panel." This tire cabinet, due to its unsupported nature. comprises aplate fixed to the lower front panel As regards amplifier interfacing, two points which extends the effective baffle area. The arise. One concerns the rear port which is ef- forward radiation characteristics are thereby fective at low frequencies. Two types are sup- improved by 1dB or so in the lower midrange, plied, one for high-damping-factor (100-400) the aim being to fill out the tonal balance. solid-state amplifiers and the second with a Superb stands are essential, Wilson recom- different tuning intended for use with ampli- mending asolid box-section type such as the fiers that possess ahigher output impedance, 24" "Gibraltar." Iachieved good results, how- eg, valve models and hence alower damping ever, by using 24" custom Foundation Pi stands factor between 20 and 80. A damping factor —heavy two-pillar jobs, with alead-sand fill- of 80 relates to an output resistance of 0.1 ohm ing and a welded, heavily reinforced base for an 8ohm load; equivalent to a DF of 40 for plate. The latter was firmly spiked to the floor, while the upper plate was well keyed to the IThe "Pi" nomenclature refers to the solid angle in radians speaker underside via three TipToes (alloy into which the speaker radiates. A speaker well away from all cones). Placement on asolid subwoofer box boundaries effectively radiates into asphere, hence the 4Pi label. As aspeaker flat against aboundary can only radiate such as the Entec can also work well. We tried into ahemisphere, this is referred to as 2Pi positioning. —JA

Stereophile, February 1988 89 a4 ohm system like the WATT Design and Build Interesting as this port option is, a few This compact two-way speaker encloses a points are worth remembering. Most valve/ small internal volume of approximately 9litres, tube amplifiers have output resistances of 0.2 reflex-tuned in the 40Hz region by aducted to 0.4 ohms, whether set to a4 ohm transport mounted on the rear panel. The main former tap or not, resulting in an effective port used, the "100-400," has a1" exit of small damping factor of 20 to 10 for the 4 ohm flow capacity, backed by asensibly short 2" WATT impedance. This figure does not take in- duct. Larger port-length:duct-diameter ratios to account the loop resistance of the speaker encourage rectification and back-pressure cable. With high-damping-factor amplifiers, distortion. the low output resistance —eg, 0.05 ohm-- Built on adiecast magnesium-alloy chassis, cannot be applied to the speaker terminals ex- I75mm in diameter, the Norwegian SEAS bass cept by feedback-sensing cables or by using unit is fitted with a1" motor-coil, with ashal- ver); very thick, short cable. Once in the box, low, near-straight-sided soft-pulp cone of the bass-unit voice-coil winding offers amin- I25mm effective diameter. The front surface imum electrical resistance of 3.2 ohms (for a is factory-finished in adamping coating, the 4 ohm system), this appearing in the cable surround comprising asynthetic rubber half- amplifier loop. This is why the sum of the roll. A generous magnet is fitted to give strong cable and amplifier output resistance has vir- electromagnetic control of the bass-reflex tually no further effect if held below 0.3 ohms loading. for an 8 ohm system, and 0.15 ohm for a4 Crossing over at approximately 2kHz, the ohm one. HF driver is awell-established 1" dome from While on this subject, the WATT manual the French Focal company. Two points are of notes that this 4 ohm speaker has an impe- interest here: This cloth dome has a hard- dance dip to Iohm at 2kHz, which in my view cured impregnation and performs as apiston represents asevere imposition to place on any to quite high frequencies, in contrast to the amplifier. The manual suggests that direct- early breakup behavior of the soft-dome tweet- coupled Futterman and similar tubed ampli - ers almost universally used by other manufac- tiers are inappropriate, but gives the OK for turers. (Generally speaking, these are operating other tube models when used on their 4ohm in well-damped resonant modes from 4kHz tap. Ihave to disagree. A 1ohm load severely upward.) A hard-cloth dome resonance, how- limits the output power from atube amplifier. ever, may lie in the 15 to 25kHz range, though For example, a100W output (I7dBW, 8ohm) potentially it could still be audible (see the test into a4 ohm load will typically fall to 7dBW, results for the 19kHz peak). The concave form or 10W in level terms, when faced with 1ohm. is also worth mentioning. The edge leads with- Simply, this means that the amplifier will clip out break to aflat polyurethane foam suspen- 10dB earlier if astrong musical signal appears sion. A concave dome can offer adispersion at 2kHz, which is not unlikely, since this fre- approaching that of apiston disc, with amore quency is well in the main music power band. uniform off-axis pattern compared with that Let us also assume atypical case where the produced by the usual convex form. tube output impedance and cable loop are The crossover uses the finest polypropylene limited to 0.4 ohms. Overall there is aloss of capacitors and imported oxygen-free copper, 0.8dB over the whole range, but at the 2kHz air-core inductors, selected to 0.5% accuracy. minimum impedance the loss increases to The crossover is potted into an aluminum shell nearly 3dB, this inducing adip in acoustic fre- to form arigid, vibration-free structure shielded quency response of 2.2dB which may well from external electromagnetic fields such as alter the sound of the speaker. those from the drivers or the internal wiring. Given these observations, Isuggest that the The latter is Monster Cable's time-corrected, WATTs be used with heavy, low-resistance special- grade hookup. cable and with low-output impedance, highly Resembling atruncated pyramid, the en- load-tolerant solid-state amplifiers if consis- closure has alargely asymmetric anti-parallel tent results are to be obtained. More sonic interior which minimizes internal standing variation than usual can be expected with dif- waves; whatever remain of the latter are ab- fering speaker cables. sorbed by an anechoic-grade foam lining plus

90 Stereophile, February 1988 avolume fill of polyester fiber wadding. Ex- This was aserious flaw considering the price ternally, both the WATIb and the 2Pi panels are of the system, and was not greatly improved fitted with low-diffraction, open-reticulated, by the additional hanging baffle, in my opinion. polyester-foam grilles. Depending on the amplifier used, there was Factors responsible for the very low panel also atouch of hardness on, or edge in, the up- readout include the small area of the panels per midrange which was ameliorated by using themselves, their high mass and stiffness, the the Goldmund Mimesis 3power amplifier and internal seam bracing, and the linked cross- one or two of the other high-current amplifier bracing from front to rear (between the driv- types such as the Krell. This mid-treble prob- ers) as well as front to side. Add in the high-loss lem was rather amplifier-dependent (due to bituminous cladding lining the walls, the ef- the impedance characteristic, perhaps?). fect of the consolidated, well-secured cross- These matters aside, the WATTs displayed over mass, and the contribution of several astonishingly low levels of perceived colora- strategically placed, heavy slabs of 4ei "-thick tion over the 100Hz to 15kHz range. Cabinet lead alloy securely bolted on. Last but by no or box coloration seemed to be nonexistent, means least is the panel material itself, which and it was very hard to believe such clarity comprises avery hard, rigid, and relatively could be obtained from a pulp-cone bass- well-damped mineral-loaded polymer. The midrange unit. One can make some correla- loading is said to be ceramic and mineral, and tion between good detail and transparency and the panels can be sawn and milled like marble. a"forward" balance, but the WATT went far In fact, it weighs almost too much! beyond this association. It breathed detail and The result is an exceptionally heavy, acous- read subtle harmonic shading to such ahigh tically dead structure, providing a perfect, degree that complex material was unraveled, unyielding inertial mass against which the allowing an amazingly clear exposition of in- chosen drive-units can perform to their limit. dividual instrumental lines. Perhaps only personal knowledge of the Sound Quality bass mid-driver allowed me to identify some This is astriking loudspeaker system, but first slight "cone cry" coloration and atrace of con- impressions appeared to be contradictory. gestion in the lower midrange. Aside from the How could such athin-sounding speaker with occasional lower-treble glare, Ireally liked the almost no bass sound so good? It made aval- treble for its speed and detail, and was barely iant attempt to blow away my disbelief and aware of some breathy "zing" high in the convince me that Iwas wrong and it was right. range, close to inaudibility. The WATTs, fitted with their 2Pi panels, did The bass was too light, but what there was come close, but in the end Idid not succumb. proved to be articulate and tuneful and notice- Those things it does well it does very well ably even. Fast bass transients were very well indeed, so that you can hardly bear to drag portrayed, if lacking in fundamental power. your mind back to areasonably balanced ap- Given the lack of weight, the WATT did pro- preciation of its performance. Once you man- vide excellent rendition of dynamics. The ebb age this, however, significant weaknesses be- and flow of orchestral scoring was nicely cap- come apparent. The upper midrange, and to tured, the speaker always sounding agile, fast, alesser extent the treble, are forward and pro- and "open." jected. Interestingly, this did not detract too The degree of focus was so high that this greatly from the impression of the stereo depth speaker imposed amost critical location on but it did leave the sound quite deficient in the listener. It was only too easy to find that lower-mid foundation. As a consequence, perfect equidistant location where the sound- cellos tended to sound like violas, while lower- stage focus "locked" —there was only room mid and upper-bass sounds were emasculated. for one head at this position, however! For- A further weakness concerned the bass, which tunately, substantially good focus was obtained did not recover from the depressed lower-mid over awider-than-usual listening area. Stage level, leaving the speaker very subdued in width was excellent, reaching beyond left/ the bass. Even kettledrum sounded thin and right boundaries as defined by the speaker pinched; complex, harmonic-rich, low-fre- positions, while the superb transparency al- quency instruments appeared miniaturized. lowed the mind to reach well beyond the

Stereophile, February 1988 91 plane of the speakers to perceive considerable it was really as difficult as indicated. On the depth in appropriate recordings. normal chart my bottom line is Iohm; on the Notwithstanding the rather forward, close- first run, the pen fell way below the line at up presentation, the WATT showed no diffi- 2kHz, impacting the limit stop. Ithen upranged cult), in delineating the more subtle depth- by 10dB to set the base line at 0.32 ohms, and perspective layerings of large orchestral re- the WATT loading just kissed the 0.33 ohm cordings. level at 2kHz (fig.1). In some disbelief Ifelt the My initial reactions to the WATT, based on need to recalibrate the system and go for a the Chicago '87 CES, described adark block manual static measurement; however, the same of transparent glass, possessing considerable result was obtained, to within 2% accuracy. depth, but on listening to the WATTs at home, So there it is, the WATT presents an inexcus- Iwas reminded of the image of areflection in ably difficult load over a very narrow fre- aconvex mirror: somehow smaller, brighter, quency notch. and sharper, yet still showing good depth In fact, it was so low that many cable sets perspectives. will provide some partial protection, typically The clarity and transparency were continu- raising the impedance to atotal of 0.5 ohm. ing delights, but ultimately Ifailed to come to For some reason, Wilson has chosen to suck terms with the lack of bass and the thin, light out electrical energy in the crossover by a midrange. Adding asubwoofer will slow the parallel tuned circuit—perhaps to correct the speedy bass, and cannot cure the midrange phase/amplitude response at the crossover tonality imbalance. However, the added low- frequency between the two drivers. Such acir- frequency weight will improve the overall cuit, if unbuffered by aseries crossover ele- performance. ment, will go to nearly zero resistance at res- Experiments with a Cello Audio Palette onance—the residual value measured is the showed that it was possible to "flatten" the product of the speaker's internal wiring, the WATT in free space by programming the ap- equivalent series resistance of the resonant propriate levels of boost in the low mid and capacitor, plus the winding resistance of the bass range—typically +4 to +6dB, according corresponding resonant inductor. Such anar- to speaker and subject positions. Given the in- row notch implies astrongly reactive phase evitable small losses in the Palette, the WATT angle for the loading in the 2kHz region, al- could then sound well balanced without too most purely inductive on one slope and capac- great aloss in impact, life, or transparency itative on the other. though the resulting system would not be able Taken as aworst case, let us assume that the to play as loud. Such exercises are, however, speaker is driven at a100W (20dBW, 8ohms) self-defeating, and for review purposes, one level for peak loudness. A peak current of 10A has to take the product as it comes. is drawn by the main 4ohm loading at one frequency If two frequencies peak simultaneously, Test Results 20A is necessary, this demand becoming in- Given the 1ohm value for the impedance increasingly unlikely statistically with an increase dicated by the specification, Ifirst looked at in the number of simultaneous peak-level fre- the impedance characteristic to see whether quencies. Now consider asteady violin or pic-

WILSON WATT 10

Modulus of Impedance in Ohms

0 20 SO 100 In QQS 111. .21c 51. tor 55. FIG. 1 Frequency in Hz

1)2 Stereophile, February 1988 colo tone at 2kHz momentarily at full level, it lay at 5ohms—no problem—while the low- and assume we are using aclosely positioned frequency area told us about the loading (with monoblock power amplifier with short low- the DF 100-400 port). Box resonance lay at a resistance speaker wiring. The peak current high 80Hz, while the port was fairly weakly will now try to hit 120A—in all probability, the tuned at 40Hz in quasi-Butterworth alignment, amp will fail to deliver. What is the outcome? deliberately overdamped to avoid any chance Momentary current clipping will occur, only of transient overhang or boom. when and if ahigh-level signal sits precisely Frequency responses were taken in free on 2kHz. space (no Beard) on the forward axis at the Music is adynamic phenomenon—notes recommended angle (fig.2), also at 5° above run up and down the scale and very few hold (fig.3), and for interest's sake, on an axis per- any single pitch for any length of time. We have pendicular to the angled baffle (fig.4), the latter astatistical phenomenon where the amplifier the axis available to the listener when the is likely to clip very occasionally, almost un- speaker is placed directly on the floor. Inter- predictably in the upper midrange. The sub- estingly with our test amplifier and test level, jective effect is hard to predict, and will largely 1W, plus low-resistance cable (Siltech pure depend on the amplifier's speed of recovery silver), no trace of an acoustic response dip from current overload. If rapid, the clipping was evident at 2kHz. What was evident was may pass virtually unnoticed, but if electrical the characteristic rising response of an une- protection is fitted, it may trigger those cir- qualized bass-mid driver, the output clearly cuits. If the overload recovery is poor, then the designed for a2Pi loading reinforcement rather amplifier sound will be degraded in many

611.4:::g; . Il. :" ST."'" "n" areas, including those of tonality and focus. ;a Objectively, the effect of such narrow-band clipping is to add occasional "splashes" of rich odd-order harmonics to upper-mid notes, extending up into the treble over at least two octaves. Dynamics can be affected, since transients in the 2kHz region will sound "faster"

and more exciting. Subjective "expansion" ef- -St MIPS 14-46 ..-36.46 Inv STOP. 40 00. I fects may be created by the added modulation el .%; eq. " in the treble range. Since most recording sys- FIG. 2 Freespace frequency response, recommended axis tems are to some degree compressive in the 61 1, 1 OCT emu. IA der 111,IflS1; FROM upper register, this might be falsely interpreted ;le as aperformance enhancement on the part of _ the loudspeaker. Given this impedance result, Ican only reiterate my opinion that only the largest of Atv j r-L--- amplifiers with areally healthy output will give consistent results with the WATT. One factor serves to mitigate the wicked im- ON eft Éq uez... rCIMS 'iie STOPt 40 pedance, however. The sensitivity was higher FIG. 3 Freespace frequency response, 5° than spec at an effective 91dBA for anominal above recommended axis 8ohm WATT. Thus high-power inputs are not iii 61 1,3 OCT TT0T0, :eni:n " .1' See:: "«"R needed to give respectable in-room sound levels. For example, amodest 400Wpc peak from arobust 100-200Wpc power amp will

provide aworthwhile sound level of 102dBA 1

for astereo pair in an 80m 3 room. The worst- ---i-f---' In_r case peak current will then be about 70A, just within reach of amplifiers such as the bigger

- 1 Krells. STOP' AA SIl HR IliqUelt " ,C1M, 1.1i.1 5 While on the subject of impedance, the curve FIG. 4 Freespace frequency response, per- offers further confirmation. In the main range. pendicular to baffle

Stereophile, February 1988 93 than the near-4Pi test position. The addition of the Beard did not produce more than the average of 'dB's worth of change in the 150- 400Hz band, though subjectively assessed it seemed to be worth alittle more than this. Ex- amining fig.2, the free-field reference line and sensitivity level were defined by the flat midbass level at the "dl/DIN" label. The midband -72 rose to a level 4-5dB higher than this. The * " treble was more or less to match, with notice- FIG. 5 Response perpendicular to baffle, nar able amplitude lumpiness and signs of asub- row-band analysis

vàry2.211. S.W. PAUSED dued peak in the extreme treble. A /14 -octave- Corn,. wide frequency suckout, 6dB deep, occurred at 2.5kHz. At 5° above the recommended axis (fig.3), the 2.5kHz dip increases to 10dB, and the treble is altered, showing different bumps and more emphasis in the high treble. (This was not unexpected, as the microphone was then closer to the tweeter.) Finally, we reach -72 the geometric "normal" axis in fig.4. There the EilLe i n " vs!:1.3: :iv STO.. 20 VII 01 presence dip was almost corrected, but the FIG. 6 Response on recommended axis, nar- mid-treble balance was awry. row-band analysis Based on the reference level at 100-300Hz, .,, ,0, , ..." ,.sór/..ti ' ." ' it:1' 2 ' the sensitivity was no more than 88dB, but the ge . — MC MIS . mid and treble boost placed the subjective loud- ..•• IS' vilMC.A1.- , ---iliet.witRAL . Anegfe•AtrotA, ness at the 9IdB level. For this reason, the true . -- ,•F C.Mteagent

sensitivity figure is amatter of interpretation. • . I. The 1/3-octave curve in fig.4 was subjected uy to narrow-band analysis, the result being shown ' « in fig.5 which has alogarithmic 200Hz-20.2kHz horizontal scale. A significant energy peak can -4, if1-51/ 1 k sceluie' be seen at 5kHz, above which the treble clears FIG. 7 Forward response family up, until it peaks up by 8-9dB around 19kHz. As Iam in my late thirties, Iwould find this Fig.7 is my overlay for the acoustic output peak almost inaudible, except at high sound in the forward sector, showing the recom- levels, and only when listening directly on this mended axis, plus the 15° vertical and the 30° axis (normal to the front panel). However, I and 45° lateral off-axis results. An ideal speaker cannot vouch for younger listeners, say 25 and should show an evenly matched set of traces under, who in my experience have proven to moderately displaced from the central axial be surprisingly sensitive to 19kHz pilot tones curve. The overall trend to aprominent upper in the output of FM tuners measured at 30dB mid was clearly visible, while the 2.5kHz dip below normal modulation. It is unfortunate was also aconstant feature. The precise shape that this tweeter peak lies on, or very close to, of the treble response was rather axis-depen- the multiplex pilot-tone frequency. Fig.6 illus- dent, making the speaker sensitive to height, trates the narrow band analysis on the recom- specifically the vertical angle made with re- mended axis, clearly showing two response dips. spect to the listener's head. Fig.7 would not Considering these graphs (figs.2 through 6), be classed as an even set of well-integrated Iam led to the conclusion that the WATT has responses. aminimal, or at best low rolloff rate, 6dB/oc- This graph also includes a nearfield-cor- tave crossover, with considerable overlap be- rected supplement to the low-frequency re- tween the acoustic output of the drivers. Such sponse which defines the bass rolloff. The an overlap will produce the varying responses specified -6dB bass rolloff depends on the shown with vertical axis variations, these due chosen sensitivity—if to the reference 88dB, to constructive and destructive interference. then it is 60Hz, and if to the subjective 91dBA,

94 Stereophile, February 1988 Ode»GU 13 cl» STOICS, Pauft0 P',', OCT 1144:44 On» supports the results obtained during the auditioning.

Conclusion As Ionce said in areview of an early Decca cartridge, this product presents a view of Heaven and aglimpse of Hell. Hand on heart, Icannot give the WATT astraight recommen- STOP, 44 OH M. dation. In major areas, this system produced FIG. 8 Room-averaged response the finest performance 1have yet heard, despite or perhaps because of the simplicity of then it is only 80Hz. As the room-averaged its driver engineering. Such a performance response will show, the WATT does have bass demands ahearing; for most, its superb resolu- extension to lower frequencies, but not in a tion of detail, transparency, focus, and depth form which has much effect on the listener. will all come as arevelation. One cannot real- Looking at the computer-averaged, 64-meas- istically put aprice on these aspects. It may urement response relating to the sound per- well be love at first hearing, and you might sign ceived over the listening position (fig.8), we acheck on the spot. find much of interest. Note how the individual However, if this is the heavenly aspect, then bumps and dips in the treble have smoothed what about this speaker's darker side? Here out, proving that the variations were adriver- there are several aspects to consider, all signifi- interference effect. The 2.5kHz dip (marked cant. To begin with, we have the most obvious by the cursor) has not been fully filled in. The feature, namely the light tonal balance and little peak at high frequencies remains; the distinctly depressed bass—and not just the response should really be rolling off smoothly low bass either. Secondly, there is the erratic at this point. However, the dominant feature performance in varying vertical axes, together was the relative output of the bass and mid- with the possibility of an audible high-treble range and how it balanced in the room acous- peak for younger, more acute listeners (I have tic. It all looked very promising up to afew good sensitivity only to 17kHz). Last and by 100Hz, and the efficacy of Wilson's "no-boom" no means least, there is the matter of that awk- low-frequency tuning was confirmed. How- ward load impedance, and the corresponding, ever, above 300Hz, the midrange can be seen almost unforgivable dip to 0.33 ohms noted to rise in acontrolled slope, reaching +6dB by on the review pair. 1.6kHz—the kind of spectral imbalance which At the beginning of this report Imentioned cannot be subjectively or objectively ignored. 2 loudspeaker landmarks. Despite the negative The 2.5kHz dip actually helped to redress the aspect of the WATT's results, Ido consider it balance alittle, while the treble was held back to represent just such aspeaker. For me, it is somewhat to avoid excessive brightness. In my the most perfect exposition of cabinet con- opinion, this balance may give correct results struction, representing avery real proof of the when supported by the large, 2Pi-baffle effect adverse influence the cabinet exerts on so of astudio mixing console, but is inappropriate many speakers in current production. The to free-field domestic use. 1also feel that the drivers mounted in the WATT reproduce sound documentary evidence outlined above strongly to quite an unsuspected quality level, specifically due to the cabinet's thoroughgoing acoustical engineering. Ihope that this lesson will 2The WATTS' in-room response powerfully reminds me of some experiments Icarried out in 1982 to hiamp the original prove instructive to the rest of the industry; Celestion 51.6 loudspeaker Iconstructed an electronic cross- for the present, the WATT amply demonstrates over with the specified 12dB/octave slopes and crossover fluency and drove the drive-units independently The sound just how superb its enclosure actually is. suffered from exactly the rising midrange character noted hy MC in this review of the U'ATTs. The reason was that aseries It is easy to be wise after the event, but Ican- resistor in the low-pass section of Celestion's original passive not resist making the following comments. crossover—or it may just have been the winding resistance of the series inductor—interacted with the woofer/midrange Considering its domestic free-field use: if the unit's inductance to give the exact equalization necessary to mid were equalized and leveled off at the 86dB compensate for the unit's intrinsic rising response through the upper midrange; my electronic equivalent gave the listener level and the treble set to match; if the 2.5kHz the raw driver responses. —JA dip were solved and the impedance notch

Stereophile, February 1988 95 corrected—then what kind of speaker would cannot be balanced objectively to provide we have? Its obvious potential, married to a a clear conclusion. My conscience is clear normal tonal balance, might result in aloud- —I have provided the facts. From now on, speaker which would sweep all before it. dear reader, you will have to make your own As the WATTs stand, however rnv findings decision.

SPICA ANGELUS LOUDSPEAKER John Atkinson

Two-way, floor-standing loudspeaker. Bass loading: sealed-box, system resonance at 34Hz with aQ of 0.5. Drive-units: 1" soft-dome tweeter; 8" TPX-coned bass/midrange driver. Crossover frequency: 3.4kHz. Frequency response: 45Hz-175kHz ±3dB (90Hz-15kHz ±1.5dB). Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8ohms (minimum 5.8 ohms at 8.5kHz). Amplifier requirements: 20-200W Dimensions: 46" H by 21" W by 10.25" D. Internal volume: 2.5 cu.ft. Weight: 65 lbs each. Price: $949/pair (oak finish), $995/pair (walnut finish). Approximate number of dealers: 140. Manufacturer: Spica Loudspeakers, 1601 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Tel: (505) 982-1894.

Iam puzzled. No, really. Iknow you find it know that the English have an inherent love hard to believe that we sacerdotes of the of small, sealed-box loudspeakers-1 must golden-eared persuasion could ever be per- point out that Ihave no inherent bias against plexed, but Ihave been pondering the im- reflex designs. Mathematically, asealed-box ponderables of ports. Ever since the classic woofer loading basically gives the speaker a work of Richard Small and Neville Thiele in second-order, high-pass filter response, with the early '70s showed how the low-frequency a 12dB/octave roll-off below its resonant fre- response of any box loudspeaker can be quency; a reflex gives it a fourth-order re- modeled as an electrical high-pass filter of sponse, with a24dB/octave roll-off. Given an some kind, with the relevant equations and example of each type, with identical sensitiv- data made available to all, there would seem ity, cutoff frequency, and Q of resonance, to be very little reason why all loudspeakers they should sound pretty much equally good with the same extension should not sound or bad in the bass, apart from the greater alike (or at least very similar) below 100Hz. phase shift around and below the cutoff point Yet after reviewing 20 dynamic loudspeakers in the reflex design, which equates to less (and using 24) in the same room over the last good performance in the time domain. In seven months, Iam led to the conclusion that fact, the reflex design could even sound bet- speakers vary as much in the quality of their ter, due to the woofer cone not having to mid-to-upper bass as they do in any other undergo as much excursion for the same LF region. A few are dry, more are exaggerated in SPLs and therefore not introducing as much this region; some are detailed and "fast," most distortion. Provided that neither speaker is are blurred, with the upper bass "slow" (by driven beyond its excursion capabilities (and which Imean that the weight of bass tone putting to one side the matter of reinforce- seems to lag behind the leading edges of the ment of the bass response below the cutoff sound). point by the proximity of room boundaries), Have Ifound any empirical correlation be- the size of each woofer, or its cone material, tween bass character and design philosophy? and the size of each box will not be relevant Sure. The speakers which Ihave found to to the quality or quantity of bass. work best in the mid-to-upper bass in my Now, of course, you are jumping to your room use, almost without exception, sealed- feet and accusing me of spouting nonsense— box loading for the woofer, and those which everyone knows that bigger speakers give work worst are reflex (ported) designs. bigger and better bass. Well, sorry, fellas, that Now before you all jump to your feet and just isn't so. The bigger the box, the higher its accuse me of Anglophilia—after all, you all sensitivity, and the bigger the cone the more

96 Stereophile, February 1988 manufacturers know that out there in the real world, in dealers' demo rooms, too much bass with too little damping will always help sales. .. Naaah. Surely Stereophile's readers wouldn't be taken in by such blatant sales- manship?) All of which is by way of an introduction to my review of Spica's new Angelus loudspeaker, only their second full-range model to appear in five years. The previous Spica speaker, of course, was the small two-way TC50 (reviewed in Vol.11 No.!), which has become abest-seller, offering excellent performance at avery competitive price of just $450/pair. The Angelus, dedicated by its designer John Bau to the memory of Richard Heyser (see my interview with John elsewhere in this issue), was introduced at the Chicago SCES, but only went into full production in the Fall. Again atwo-way design, but now floorstanding, it is significantly larger than the TC50 and is distinguished by its unique "waisted" styling, with hardly aright angle anywhere, apart from the join between the cabinet rear and the base. The lower two-thirds of the speaker cabinet consist of an elegant trape- zoidal prism veneered on the front and sides. On the top of that is mounted an inverted truncated pyramid, with the baffle sloping back. The woofer is positioned near to the "waist," with the tweeter in-line above it where the baf- Spica Angelus speaker fle widens, the placement of the drivers being asymmetric and handed. Both units are sur- air it can move for agiven displacement, both rounded by an acoustic environment of /34 "- factors endowing the speaker with agreater thick felt, the small cutout for the tweeter dynamic range at low frequencies. But all being shaped like the transom of aboat. other factors being equal, all that matters In his driver choice, John Bau echoes David when it comes to bass quality is cutoff fre- Wilson's WATTs by going for relatively mod- quency and the Q of the bass resonance. est but well-behaved units: aversion of the So why do Iseem to prefer the bass fea- well-known 1" fabric-dome tweeter from tured by sealed-box loudspeakers? Audax, and a TPX-coned 8" woofer, also Answers, please, on apostcard. But in the from Audax. (TPX is anew plastic material meantime, Ican only assume that it is easier said to have less inherent coloration than for aloudspeaker designer to get aconsistent polypropylene.) Builders of Dick Olsher's bass tuning in production with asealed box. Dahlia and Dahlia-Debra loudspeakers (see The designer may be able to get the same Stereopbile Vol.9 No.1, Vol.10 No.4) will be target extension and Q with a prototype familiar with this drive-unit, but John Bau ported system, but the inevitable errors and modifies it for use in the Angelus. As sup- tolerances in production, coupled with the plied, the cone has adistinctive rod-shaped inherently less-good time-domain perfor- dust cap, intended to equalize the airspace mance, seem always to raise the Q of the either side of the voice-coil. This "rod" was reflex tuning, resulting in too much upper found to interfere with the tweeter's operat- bass and a "slow" overall bass quality. (It is ing environment by introducing asharp dis- always possible, of course, that loudspeaker continuity from which the sound can be

Stereophile, February 1988 97 reflected. Spica replaces it with aflat dust-cap referenced to the sensitivity of Celestion's made of felt. SL600) and the change of impedance with Based on extensive work with computer frequency were also assessed. modeling, the crossover is not as simple as some, though not nearly as complicated as Sound quality those found in "flat-amplitude-response- The loudspeakers were carefully positioned above-all" designs. Though the high-pass leg for optimum performance, well away from for the tweeter is basically first-order, the cor- room boundaries, and coupled to the tile-on- responding low-pass drive to the woofer is concrete floor beneath the rug with their fourth-order Bessel. This, coupled with the screw-in spikes. As the speakers are mirror- time alignment of the drive-units due to the imaged, the narrower borders to their baffles sloping front baffle, gives what John Bau feels were placed to the inside, with the speakers to be the most linear amplitude and phase toed-in to the listening position. As the grille response through the crossover region; ie, follows the line of felt on the front panel, the the output of each driver sums to unity on auditioning was carried out with the grilles in the listening axis and the phase angle to 0°. situ. Electrical connection is via sturdy angled The Angelus seems to beam relatively se- binding posts on the black-painted cabinet verely in the vertical plane: the most neutral rear. The base contains bushes for carpet- response with pink noise seemed to be with piercing spikes, which are supplied. the ear level with the tweeter, though there As noted by LA in his "Final Word" column was then aslight mid-treble emphasis; desir- last month, the review pair of speakers was able, Ithought, to compensate for aslightly purchased through adealer, rather than being shut-in quality in the top octave, especially borrowed from the manufacturer, as is our with naturally miked strings. Above this axis usual practice. the treble became increasingly uneven; by the time the ear is normal to the angled baffle, Test procedure there is aconsiderable excess of mid-treble This followed, with minor changes, that es- energy apparent. However, as you would tablished for my previous loudspeaker re- have to be sitting on stacked bar-stools to be views in Stereophile. Amplification was all- on this axis, or at least standing up, this is not Krell — KRS2/KSA-50 —with speaker cables a problem. Below the tweeter axis, the HF and interconnect from Monster. Source com- rolls off, the exact head position for the right ponents included a Mission PCM 7000 CD treble balance being quite critical, Ifound. player (used both direct and driving aSony The bass level also increases once you get DAS-703ES outboard decoder from its digital below the level of the woofer. This is an output), an up-to-date Linn Sondek/Ittok/ unrealistically low seating position, however. Troika combination (with the latest compos- In their manual, Spica recommends a ite armboard) sitting on aSound Organization "break-in" period of up to 48 hours before table, an LP12 /SME V/Koetsu Red player sit- any serious listening takes place. As LA used ting on a RATA Torlyte stand, and a trusty the speakers first, he set aCD player to con- Revox A77 to play my own master tapes. tinuously play Dave Grusin tracks through The frequency response was measured in them all night—I'm glad Iwasn't around! the room—spatially averaged across the lis- When they eventually found their way to my tening window in order to minimize the ef- house, Iused them for a Saturday night's fects of low-frequency standing waves— worth of heavy rock, with SPLs in the high

using /14 -octave pink noise at areference level 905—LA's glad be wasn't around! Neverthe- of 90dB, IkHz; this will also give an idea of less, over the three-week period that Iused the speaker's dispersion characteristic in the the Spicas, Ikept feeling that the bass was upper midrange and treble. In addition, the continuing to loosen up right up to the mo- nearfield low-frequency response was meas- ment of booting up the word processor. This ured with asinewave sweep to get an idea of should be borne in mind when reading my the true bass extension relative to the level at description of the character of the low fre-

100Hz. Voltage sensitivity (using the /14 -oc- quencies. If the Angelus were awine, it would tave pink noise band centered on IkHz and definitely be ared Bordeaux, awine that im-

98 Stereophile, February 1988 proves with age. (A good Bordeaux even, but also had the ability to present naturally sized then, that's running ahead.) voice images, there being arefreshing free- After what Ifelt to be an appropriate break- dom from "image bloat." in period, Istarted my serious listening. My My recording of the Polish pianist Anna- initial impressions were that the low to mid- Maria Stanczyk playing Chopin's Waltz in C- bass was depressed in level, leading me to sharp minor found its way on to the HFN/RR suspect a rather more damped alignment Test CD. Each phrase of the main melody than the Q of 0.5 quoted in the specification. with an upward-running scale, from the A This made the speaker sound "smaller" than above middle C to aC# nearly two and ahalf Ihad expected from its size, although the octaves higher—the fundamentals ranging definition in the upper bass was excellent. I from 440Hz to 22I -.5Hz—is the nearest mus- discussed this apparent shelving-down of the ical analogy to sweeping atest-tone through Angelus's LF response with John Bau, who the region in which many speakers have immediately asked if Ihad any ASC Tube- severe problems and where music has the Traps in my listening room. Ido: four pairs of bulk of its energy. The presence of cabinet the 16"-diameter cylinders in the room cor- resonances, destructive interference between ners to smooth out the upper-bass room the direct sound and that reflected from the sound, as well as various rugs hanging on the cabinet rear, and the like, result in some notes walls behind the listening chair to suppress leaping forward and others disappearing with reflections. Bau explained that the Angelus this scale. In general, panel speakers, not hav- was intended to be used in rooms rather ing cabinets, manage this passage with nary a more live than mine and recommended I stumble. The Angelus did well here, the tim- remove the "flibe-Traps. Idid so: though the bre of the Steinway being reproduced natu- low frequencies then had more weight, this rally. In addition, as with other speakers to was at the expense of upper-bass smoothness. grab my fancy, the body of the piano tone was In the end Icompromised by putting back integrated with the initial hammer sound. enough Traps to civilize the room's low end. This recording is also quite critical regard- Ultimately, though, as Isaid above, the mid- ing the reproduction of its soundstage. I to upper bass kept improving during the time made the recording with aCalrec Soundfield Iused the speakers—presumably the suspen- microphone set to crossed figure-eight mode, sion was getting more compliant —and by positioned about 15 feet away from the piano the time Istared to write the review, Iwas not looking down the line of the lid. The piano having any problem with the quality of low image should occupy the right-hand side of bass. Generous it wasn't —the Angelus will the stage, the keyboard being just left of never be a first-choice speaker for parties center. The reverberant soundfield should dedicated to destroying brain cells with un- also be nicely defined, placing the piano healthy doses of Twisted Sister or Motley distinctly behind the plane of the speakers. Crue. But it gave enough extension to make Not many speakers do this: either their tonal organ recordings with real low bass (my quality brings the piano image forward, reference in this respect is an LP including bruising the delicate relationship between Karg-Elert's Homage to Handel, recorded by ambience and direct sound; or they reduce Michael Woodward in Liverpool Cathedral, the piano image to akind of "fat" mono. The England) musically satisfying. It had also Spicas presented the soundstage as Iremem- developed sufficient levels of the "purr" on bered, and as Ihad wanted. bass guitar and plucked double-bass that I This ability to decode the recorded sound- feel necessary to suitably underpin the music. stage is presumably due to the care John Bau It is in the midrange, however, that the has taken over the crossover integration be- Angelus excels, and the reproduction of tween the drive-units, though Idon't think human voice in particular. Baritone voice, that this is the only parameter to so correlate: Airrion Love, for example, on the verse of that relatively narrow-baffled loudspeakers such classic Stylistics track You Make Me Feel as the IS3/5A, Celestion SL6S/SL600/SL700 Brand New," did not suffer from the "after- family, and Monitor Audio R952MD also boom" so common with ported speakers at possess this ability. The Angelus is superb in this price level. The Angeluses—Angeli? — this respect, nevertheless. Itried it with a

Stereophile, February 1988 99 recording of an unaccompanied choir singing more neutral, balance, Ihaven't got the in- Thomas TaIlis's "Calvary Mount," which Ihad strumentation to determine. It did, however, made using an ORTF technique. Again, this impose atop loudness limit alittle lower than recording's soundstage is fragile, presumably Iwould have liked. due to the fine balance struck between time and amplitude imaging, often either sound- Measurement ing bloated and diffuse or too monophonic, Measured nearfield, the -6dB point referred depending on the speaker. The Angeli pre- to the level at 100Hz was a highish 41Hz, sented it as Ihad intended it to appear—the though the rate of rolloff was shallow, imply- singers strung in an arc across the center two- ing asomewhat overdamped alignment. The thirds of the stage, surrounded by the church spatially averaged room-response also re- acoustic. vealed the low frequencies to be alittle light- The ultimate test in this area is arecording weight, there being a lack of energy in my made. by the BBC of Palestrina's Missae Pa- room—which normally reinforces the mid- pae Marcelli (BBC Records CD 572). This to-upper bass—right up to 200Hz. The rate analog original, recorded in the Vatican's of roll-off was gentle, however, as there was Sistine Chapel, is arecreation of the Pontifical still significant output, albeit 10dB down, at High Mass of St. Sylvester as it might have 31.5Hz (though the woofer was audibly work- been performed on New Year's Eve 1631, ing very hard at this frequency and level). using a double choir. To say that it has a The response sounded alittle resonant in reverberant quality is an understatement: the the 200Hz V3 -octave band, with a dip at sound of the unaccompanied male voices 250Hz, but above that frequency, the in- rolls gently around the chapel. .. and around room response was essentially fiat (± 0.8dB) .. . and around, almost to the point where in- from the lower midrange up to 5kHz or so, telligibility is lost among the swell. With most and sounded very clean. The treble was also speakers, the qualifier "almost" is unneces- relatively flat, apart from aprominence in the sary; with the Angelus, the voices are sepa- 5kHz and 6.3kHz bands, due, Iam sure, to the rated enough from their associated wash of contribution to the reverberant soundfield in reverberation that they remain intelligible, the room from the accentuated output in this more effectively transporting the listener to region above the listener's head. As with Rome. other designs featuring this relatively large- There are some areas where the Angelus's diaphragm tweeter, the final octave rolled off performance reflects its relatively modest alittle early, the in-room -6dB point being at price. The lack of air, of transparency, above 16kHz (though note that this is a relative 8kHz was adisappointment after my experi- measure only, the exact roll-off, dependent ences with the better metal-dome tweeters on room furnishings and distance from the featured by the Celestion SL600/700 and speakers to the listening seat, being unique to Monitor Audio R952MD. And despite the each room). Pair-matching appeared excel- overall neutrality of the midrange, Iocca- lent, while the horizontal dispersion seemed sionally caught aglimpse of ahollowness to even and well-controlled. the sound, somewhere around 600-700Hz. The impedance plot showed that the An- In addition, record ticks and scratches ac- gelus is well-behaved, rarely dropping below quired a slight HF emphasis, something I 8ohms apart from adrop to 5.2 ohms around found surprising considering the neutral 8kHz. It should work well even with highish- quality of the treble. The relatively limited output-impedance tube amplifiers. The LF dynamic range also caught me out more resonance was of low Q, but positioned alit- often than Iwould have liked: my room is tle lower than spec at around 30Hz. Measured somewhat lively in the upper midrange and sensitivity at lkHz was spot on at 87dB/W/m. treble, and there was adistinct threshold with Unless you have asmall room, Irecommend the Angelus where the HF hardened, acquir- using 100W amplifiers with the Angelus. ing agritty quality. Whether this was due to distortion in the tweeter, or to the off-verti- To sum up cal-axis brightness finally dominating the Long-awaited, the Angelus is not only the room sound at the expense of the direct, best speaker John Bau could design to sell for

100 Stereophile, February 1988 $1000, it is one of the best speakers Ihave though its level and tuning mean that careful heard, not only at this price but among those audition in the listener's own room and sys- costing up to twice as much. This is not to say tem will be mandatory. The soundstaging it's perfect: the ultimate dynamic range is abilities are excellent, not only in lateral and more restricted than you might think for a depth definition, but in presenting believable loudspeaker standing nearly four feet tall, and instrumental images within the soundstage. there is alack of air—sparkle, if you will—in The forte of the Angelus, however, is in its the top octave. The bass, however, makes up reproduction of voice—utterly natural. In- in quality what it lacks in absolute quantity— deed angelic! Recommended.

TRIPLE PLAY Thomas J. Norton reviews loudspeakers from Castle, Audio Concepts and Kindel

Kindel Purist LT Drive-units: (2) 61/2"bass/midrange, 1" soft-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 300Hz, 2.5kHz. Frequency response: 35Hz-20kHz +3dB. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4ohms. Recommended amplifier power: 20W minimum. Dimensions: 43" H by 13" W by 7" D. Weight: 44 lbs. Price: $850/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 50. Manufac- turer: Kindel Audio, 3615 Presley Ave., Riverside, CA 92507. Tel: (714) 787-0662.

Castle Durham: Drive units: 51/2" bass/mid, 11/4 " cone tweeter. Crossover frequency: not specified. Frequency range: 60Hz-22kHz (deviation not specified). Sensitivity: 88dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8ohms. Recommended amplifier power: 10W minimum. Dimensions: 16" H by 81/2"W by 9" D. Weight: 13 lbs. Price: $525/pair (stands $160/pair additional). Ap- proximate number of dealers: la Importer: May Audio Marketing Ltd., 76 Main Street, Champlain, NY 12919. Tel: (518) 298-4434.

Audio Concepts Quartz: Drive units: 61/2"bass, 2" soft-dome midrange, 1" soft dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 1.5kHz, 5kHz. Frequency response: 46Hz-20kHz +3dB. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Recommended amplifier power: 30W minimum. Dimensions: 36" H by 13" W by 12" D. Weight: not specified (estimated 50 lbs). Price: $899/pair, full kit, oak or walnut; $569/pair, w/o enclosures. Approximate number of dealers: Factory Direct only. Manufacturer: Audio Concepts, 1631 Caledonia Street, Box 212, La Crosse, WI 54602. Tel: (608) 781-2110.

JA isn't alone in the quest for agood loud- dominated. Interconnects were by Monster speaker under S1000/pair. The flood of prod- (Interlink Reference A and M-1000), speaker ucts in this price range is far too great for any cable was Monster MI. Several CD players were one person to cover. With three loudspeakers also used, primarily the American Audio Lab- on test here, two more to come in a future oratories P-12. The Kindels and the Castles issue, and probably others as yet unforeseen were also auditioned in asmall listening room (the stream is never-ending), perhaps Ican (11 x 15 x 8 feet). Here the associated equip- help make sense of acomplex jigsaw puzzle ment was far more modest: an Audio Con- of available loudspeakers. cepts/Brasfield CD player directly driving All of the loudspeakers tested here were a Parasound HCA-800 amplifier (the latter auditioned in my large, primary listening room having its own level controls), with (predom- using aLuxman PD-300/Eminent Technology inantly) MAS Musicable interconnects and II/Monster Alpha 2combination into aKlyne speaker cable. SK-5a preamp. Several amplifiers were used, but in deference to the type of component Kindel Purist LT: $850 most likely to be used to drive loudspeakers There is aproblem with the typical bookshelf in this price range, the Adcom GFA-555 pre- loudspeaker. To perform at its best, it can't be

Stereophile, February 1988 101 used in abookshelf! It usually needs to be mounted well away from nearby walls, and on sturdy stands. Good stands aren't cheap, which must have occurred to Kindel Audio when they designed their new Purist series. Build a speaker that doesn't require stands, and the money saved can be spent on abetter loudspeaker to begin with. The Kindel Purist LT is, as aresult of this thinking, amoderately tall, monolithic, floorstanding design. The three drivers are mounted near the top the enclosure in avertically symmetrical arrangement: the tweeter is centered, at about ear level, and the two polypropylene- coned bass/midrange drivers are active up to 300Hz; above that frequency, the lower one is rolled off. The other continues up to the mid/tweeter crossover point (2500Hz). An 8" passive radiator at the bottom front of the cabinet identifies the LT as aported reflex design. Crossover slopes are first-order (300Hz) and third-order (2500Hz); the rather complex dividing network also has extra elements for level matching (including arear panel-mounted tweeter level control), impedance compensa- tion, and wave shaping (passive equalization to compensate for inevitable driver irregu- larities). The active drivers extend out about V4" from the front face of the enclosure on heavy foam, which appears to be used primarily for creating an airtight seal; it's too dense to be of much value in diffraction control. But this slight protruding of the drivers does appear to reduce the possibility of diffraction from both the side-wood trim (which extends out slightly at the front of the enclosure) and the grille frame. Inevertheless did all of my listening Kindel Purist LT speaker with the latter removed. At the bottom of the enclosure, two spiked feet give added stability going for it. Its high end, as noted above, may to this otherwise rather top-heavy design. not have provided the last word in detail, but On audition, the top octave of the 1:B seemed was nevertheless clean, sweet, and well in- abit soft—that last bit of openness and "air" tegrated. There was no sensation of atweeter just wasn't there. Iwas also troubled by an ap- crying for attention. Iexperimented briefly parent lack of weight in the lower midrange— with the rear level control; its action was mild the power region. Reproduction of a sym- but Iinvariably preferred the mid setting. phony orchestra at full bore lacked impact; Apart from the lack of sheer weight and brass, the ballast of the orchestra and aclear dynamics in the lower midrange already dis- test of this problem, sounded pinched, lacking cussed, the remainder of the LT's midband was the weight and foundation needed for atruly very low in coloration. Boxiness, nasality, convincing illusion of the real thing. honkiness—none of these adjectives came to On simpler material, however—voices, mind during my auditions. small ensembles, and the like—played back at The Kindel's depth and imaging were not, reasonable levels, the LT had agreat deal more as you might expect, state-of-the-art. But they

102 Stereophile, February 1988 were more than adequate to give apleasing parency, yet have good, unexaggerated detail. sense of space and soundstage—certainly bet- They don't overwhelm you with presence or ter than the norm at this price. Only as the sock; they refuse to hype any aspect of the level was cranked up past the mid 90s did sound, and never offend. They aren't dramatic these qualities start to deteriorate; the Kindels in their sense of depth or imaging, yet do pre- will play at what Iconsider to be comfortably sent agood soundstage. They won't make you loud levels, but are not designed to break feel you've suddenly acquired megabuck de- alease. tail, dynamics, and overall realism on the The bass of the LTs won't knock you off of cheap. But you don't really expect to find a your chair with sheer impact, and it rolls off, loudspeaker with those qualities for $850/pair, subjectively, below about 45Hz. But it doesn't do you? What you do have aright to expect is disappear below that point, and there is asen- a loudspeaker whose flaws don't seriously sation of things happening in the region below detract from its considerable strengths. If you 40Hz. Bass drum, though down in level, is listen primarily to large-scale symphonic and clean and detailed. Even in my large room, choral music, the Purist LT may not qualify. respectably high levels (low 90s) could be Otherwise, however, you should give it a reached without woofer bottoming or obvious serious audition. distortion. But the LTs did have trouble with one of my bass torture-tests; "Psychopomp" Castle Durham: $52 5 from Dafos (Reference Recordings RR-12 CD). Unless you're aloyal reader of the British audio This selection is a nearly continuous, low press, or scrutinize the pages of the Audio an- growling; it is not included on the LP and I nual directory edition with adepth more befit- suspect it may have been too difficult to cut ting astudy of the great literary works of the properly without using up too much scarce Western world, you may be unfamiliar with (45 rpm) groove space. The LTs' woofers didn't Castle Acoustics. Since Iconfess to both weak- bottom or break up, but they did make some nesses, Ihave heard of them, but until my rather pained chuffing noises in protest to this overworked UPS man presented me with a cruel treatment—noises which sounded like pair of Castle Durhams, Ihad never actually air rushing furiously through leaks that the auditioned any of their products. speakers never knew they had. This was the The Durham is asmall, two-way system of only time the Kindels refused to behave them- rather conventional appearance. It is aported, selves in the low end. Midbass, similarly, was reflex design, rather lightweight but reinforced unexaggerated, with agood balance of warmth by asimple internal cross-brace and damp- and detail. ened on the side walls by bituminous pads. Most of my comments to this point relate to The overall finish of the cabinets is excellent; the way the LTs sounded in alarge listening the review pair were black ash wood veneer. room. What of asmaller space? Essentially, my Rear connections are via five-way binding observations were similar. The more modest posts, spaced to accept double banana plugs driving system used in this secondary environ- (very unusual in British loudspeakers, which ment did not appear to compromise the LTs' generally are spaced to accommodate only strengths to anotable degree. Idid hear what single plugs). The paper-coned bass/midrange appeared to be atrace of midrange nasality on driver is specified as 6/12 "in the Audio direc- some program material, and the midbass seemed tory; it is actually closer to 5/12 ". The tweeter to be abit more recessed. The deep bass was is a1 /12 "plastic-cone design. The crossover more impressive in the smaller environment, frequency of the 12dB/octave dividing net- the high end just as clean. At any tolerable work is unspecified, but my elves place it at listening level (which for me, in this room, or near 2kHz. The grille is of frameless, self- meant mid-90dB range), the LTs refused to bite supporting foam construction and was left in or glare. Iconsider them suitable for listening place during the listening tests. rooms of any reasonable size. Audition of the Durhams took place with With the single notable exception of their the loudspeakers mounted on Castle's match- lower-midrange recessiveness, the greatest ing stands. The lightweight Durhams were not strength of the LU is, in my judgment, balance. particularly stable atop these stands; double- They lack the last word in openness and trans- sided carpet tape was used to secure the two.

Stereophile, February 1988 103 their rather modest bass/midrange driver, but not dramatically better. The high end of the Durhams is, in my opinion, their strong suit. The highest frequencies aren't in the class with the best tweeters, even the best conventional tweeters, in overall transparency and dispersion, but had aliveliness and openness that Ifound very appealing. I occasionally heard atrace of hardness (especially at higher levels), and upper-octave detail was slightly smeared (on, for example, the brushed cymbals in Serendipity on the Refer- ence Recordings RR-20 CD), but sibilants were admirably clean and unexaggerated, and the overall balance and smoothness of the treble were very good. At the low end, or rather the lack of it, the Castles ran into real difficulties. There simply was no depth or impact to the bass response. Castle Durham speaker Its a tribute to the smooth, unexaggerated high-frequency balance of the loudspeaker The stands were spiked. Ihave had difficulty that it did not sound bright or pinched, but in the past in obtaining adequate rigidity with from the midbass on down the sound lacked lightweight, stand-mounted speakers; the Cas- body. Tenor sax resembled alto, male voices tles were very much in this category A reason- were thinned out, bass drum was ashadow of ably firm mounting was finally obtained; heav- its real self. The bass that remained was clean, ier stands would likely be an improvement, but avery subdued bass usually is. Even in this and probably wouldn't be significantly more price range, abetter low end is mandatory. expensive. At an optional $160, Castle's own Inext moved the Durhams to my smaller stands, though well finished, strike me as dis- listening room to see how they would respond tinctly overpriced. there. Their size and general design character- In my large listening room, the Durhams istics, in fact, suggest that they would be more weren't exceptionally open sounding, but as comfortable in amore intimate soundspace. long as listening levels were moderate they And so they were, especially in their ultimate produced areasonably large soundstage. Their output capability, yet their essential sonic balance was generally neutral, never sounding characteristics were much as before: fair to consistently forward or laid-back but varying good soundstaging, moderately low midrange with the program material. Soundstaging was coloration with fair detailing, very nice high fair to good, as was detail, but neither was end, and athin bass response. competitive with the better mini-monitors in If Ihave been hard on the Durhams it's not this price class. The Star of Wonder (Reference because Idisliked them. Not at all—their Recordings RR-21, LP), avery fine choral re- weaknesses, by and large, were subtractive. cording, lacked any sense of individual voices And the Castle has one of the better tweeters within the overall sonic fabric. Dynamic range Ihave heard in arelatively low-cost system. and transient response were only fair. On, for My major problem is with the Durhams' cost. example, the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 2 There's some serious competition in this price (Chesky CR -2, LP), the leading edges of the range—JA's recommendations in the latest of piano, which are quite distinct on this record- his recent speaker surveys (Von' No.1 p.128) ing, were noticeably rounded and lacking in will give you ashort list to start from, to which impact on the Castles. On the plus side, how- Imight add the bottom-of-the-line Vander- ever, except for atrace of badness, overall col- steens 18s ($650, but no stands required) and oration (at reasonable listening levels) was low. Snell Ks ($450), as well as models from Kindel Overall, the midband reproduction of the Dur- (P-200, $585; Purist ST, $555). Ireally don't hams was definitely better than expected from feel that the Durhams can compete in this

104 Stereophile, February 1988 price class, due primarily to their bass short- from sample to sample that Audio Concepts comings. They would be areasonable sonic custom-drills each cabinet for the supplied value at $3004350, and indeed Castle does drivers. Of course Murphy was 'on hand to have aslightly smaller model in that category help unpack the new drivers and cabinet. AC, —the Clyde, —which appears to use the same unfortunately, labeled the former but not the tweeter as the Durham. It might be worth in- latter; the old shell game was played, and Ilost vestigating if your budget is severely constrained. track of which group of drivers went with But !can't really recommend the Durham over which boxes. Not to worry, though. My best its competition; it's not abad loudspeaker, just guess seemed to be an adequate fit. abad value. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Since this system is akit, you have aright to an explana- Audio Concepts Quartz: $869 tion of why and how. Why build akit, and ($569 minus cabinet) how did it go together? Why is easy—money. Audio Concepts is a small, primarily mail- Buying akit directly from amanufacturer saves order company that has been in operation for you the cost of amiddleman and the cost of several years, marketing selected loudspeaker final assembly and finishing. It's still nowhere drivers from various manufacturers, including near as cheap as designing and building your at least one (soon to be two) woofer(s) designed own loudspeaker from scratch, but that's adif- to their own specifications, and an extensive ferent ballgame entirely. line of kits based on these drivers. Ihave been The "how" could take me several pages, but perusing their catalogs off and on for acou- in light of the final result I'll be less verbose. ple of years, not to mention some other in- Assembly of the Quartz, if you buy the version teresting design literature which they have with assembled cabinets (a parts kit is also available, and found their three-way Quartz to available, with cabinet plans, for the sawdust- be more interesting, conceptually, than your and-glue set), consists of installing the internal typical sub- $1000 box loudspeaker. and external precut foam, mounting the pre- Audio Concepts was receptive to areview, wired crossover and routing the wires, sealing so in reasonable short order several boxes ar- various potential leaks with foam tape (not rived from the far reaches of the upper mid- supplied) and silicone sealing compound (sup- west. Unfortunately, UPS had done their magic plied, but in asqueeze tube—I strongly rec- trick on the cabinets; both arrived damaged. ommend that abuilder purchase acaulking The damage to one was relatively minor—a gun and suitable supply of sealant for easier hairline crack in an unexposed portion of the application), mounting the drivers and duct particle-board woodwork which was repaired damper (called aVariovent here), and screwing by yours truly with agenerous application of in the back of the cabinet (using caution not epoxy. The other was ahopeless case: in ad- to foul the crossover wires—easy to do). It's dition to several serious cracks along cabinet abit more time-consuming than it sounds, seams, the solid oak top was split neatly in two though not at all difficult. No soldering is re- along the grain. Scratch one cabinet, return to quired; the drivers are connected with push- Wisconsin. In fairness to UPS, the packaging on terminals. (I prefer soldered connections, of the Quartz cabinets could have used more but Audio Concepts voids the warranty on the padding (it has since, Iam told, been rein- drivers if you do that, so Iassembled the loud- forced), and the cabinets, in their semi-assem- speakers as recommended.) There are some bled state (the back was only loosely attached, rough spots and omissions in the instructions substantially reducing the rigidity of the overall (see Postscript), but areasonable dose of com- structure), flexed more easily than when fin- mon sense should see you through. ished, inviting splitting at critical junctures. The drivers used in the Quartz are high- Cut to afew weeks later. The replacement quality Dynaudios. These are more expensive cabinet arrives intact, complete with acom- units than you're likely to find in any loud- plement of new drivers. It seems that the speaker under $2000/pair, much less under mounting centers of the drivers vary enough $1000. The cabinet is abit difficult to describe, but the photograph will give you agood idea

IAny company that can name one of its loudspeakers the of the design (the corners of the interior cab- "Clyde" certainly deserves wider recognition! inets are more rounded than shown). The

Stereophile, February 1988 105 that the dowels are not round, but have aflat face aimed directly at the drivers. Separate grilles are furnished for the front and sides; in the review pair they were far too massive, adding substantially to the reflective surfaces in front of the drivers. All of my listening was done with them removed. Since Iwrote the review, the manufacturer has since redesigned the grille as aone-piece design to reduce this problem; Ihave not seen the revised version. The crossover for the Quartz is all first- order. Biwiring is provided for by an extra set of terminals in the rear. The speakers appear to be afloor-standing design, but the manufacturer recommends raising them about 10" off the floor on suitable stands. In my listening environment Igot the best results from the loudspeakers by leaving them on the floor but raising the front of the cabinet via asingle TipToe —placing the listener on the tweeter axis of the toed-in loudspeakers. Ràising them off the floor thinned out the bass end too much, em- phasizing the already troublesome colorations in the midband. Ihave some serious reservations about the sound of the Quartz, but let's start out on a positive note. These babies are dynamic. They have agutsy, forward, punchy sound that is completely at odds with typically laid-back "audiophile" loudspeakers. They'll play very loud, even in alarge room, without turning mushy or congested through the midrange. The high end is clean and open—typical of the Dynaudio D-28AF tweeter (also used by Syn- thesis and Thiel). Audio Concepts Quartz speaker The low end is abit more problematical. midrange and tweeter are stepped back from The Quartzes don't sound seriously thinned the woofer for time-alignment. The outside out, but the lowest bass is definitely not there. of the sub-enclosures are completely covered Mid and upper bass are reasonably well de- in foam to reduce external reflections, with the fined, though there seems to be some lumpi- curious exception of the step-back shelves ness and abit of boxiness as plucked bass, for directly beneath the midrange and tweeter. I example, is varied in pitch. The Siefert IIID, to cut some spare pieces of foam (furnished) to cite one example, with asmaller box and less fit these shelves, and it noticeably reduced expensive driver, definitely had, for me, the midrange/tweeter colorations; all of my listen- more impressive low end. Audio Concepts ing observations relate to the system with calls the Quartz atransmission line, but it's these extra foam pads in place. more of adamped reflex. If it is aquarter- The underside of the top of the external wavelength design, as claimed, then it's tuned cabinet, which overhangs the internal array, to about 90Hz (its length is just over three feet), is covered with atriple layer of foam. Only the with aline cross-sectional area much too small front wooden support dowels, which connect for aclassic transmission line. In any event, the top and bottom of the external enclosure, Audio Concepts recognizes that the deep bass are unpadded and pose apotential source of of the Quartz is not particularly extended; they unwanted reflections—aggravated by the fact recommend asubwoofer for best results, and

106 Stereophile, February 1988 Idefinitely agree. (They make four different recommend the Audio Concepts catalog; they subwoofer designs—the smallest has been have anumber of other interesting systems and promised for afuture review.) subwoofers which might arouse your interest. If Icould stop here, Icould recommend the Ilike their way of doing business, and Ilike Quartz. But there's had news in the midrange. their helpful attitude (I have ordered several A trace of13oxiness and "Aww" coloration, not small items from them as an individual, not as too serious in this price range, is evident in the areviewer). Unfortunately, Icannot, at present, lower midband. Higher up the scale, less tol- recommend the Quartz. erable things start to happen. The Quartz may be dynamic and exciting, but it can turn un- Postscript: building the Quartz pleasant with little provocation. On Star of While the instructions that Audio Concepts Wonder, the chorus took on adefinite glare provides with the Quartz are adequate to get and edge as the level increased. Catch the you through, there were afew rough spots. I Brass Ring—Favorite Music front an Old have passed on my observations to the manu- Fashioned Merry Go Round (Klavier LP KS- facturer, but in the event they don't make their 566), asuperb recording of the vanishing Wur- way into the manual, Ioffer them here to litzer Band Organ, was certainly lively sound- potential purchasers: ing through the Quartz—no wimp factor 1) The instructions ask you to finish the here—but it was also hard and rather colored. cabinets last. Irecommend finishing them first. James Boyk's LP recording of the Prokofiev If you use steel wool for the final wood finish Sixth Piano Sonata (Performance Recordings (generally recommended for almost any stain/ PR-3) is an impressive solo piano disc, and the oil/varnish Iknow of), this will allow you to weight, solidity, and dynamics of the instru- thoroughly clean up (preferably with avac- ment came through very nicely on the Quartz, uum) any steel finishings that remain before but so did acertain electronic bite and edge. they find their way to the magnets (and pos- The tam-tam at the end of side 1of Church sibly the voice coils) of the drivers. Windows (Reference Recordings LP RR-I5), 2) Mount the crossover network right-side up! through asmooth loudspeaker, is metallic yet 3) Before sealing the routing holes to the clean, with a stunning output of mid- and midrange and tweeter, be sure to allow enough high-frequency energy. The Dynaudio drivers slack in the leads coming through these holes in the Quartz have far higher power handling to permit complete removal of the drivers than the drivers in the Snell Ci, and should from the cabinet, otherwise you'll have adif- have coasted through this passage with ease. ficult time attaching the terminals (difficult But the Snell (no longer in-house but well enough in my case—they're atight fit). remembefed) handled this passage with aplomb. 4) The negative driver leads in my sam- On the Quartz, it's hard and glary. Why? Un- ples were white, not black as stated in the suspected peaks in the ostensibly superior instructions. Dynaudios? Overloading of the drivers below 5) When you unpack the drivers from their their crossover points with the slow-slope, boxes, use caution. They're well packed, but first-order crossovers? Idon't know, but the the midrange, in particular, is prone to having problem, to me, is not asmall one. Rock fans the styrofoam padding separate like aclamshell might take more kindly to the Quartz, yet I when removed, possibly dropping the un- found that the inherent hardness of most rock protected dome into your awaiting hand. The recordings and the hardness Iheard in the sheer mass of the driver makes this more than Quartz didn't combine into an enjoyable ex- aremote possibility. perience. 6) The drivers must he tightened carefully You're unlikely to be able to audition the into the cabinet. The screws will strip if you Quartz for yourself, short of hearing afriend's go about this with too much gusto—the in- (several hundred of the systems have been structions do caution you on this. If your sold) or making apersonal trek to the near screws should strip, use the old toothpick Great White North. Audio Concepts does have trick: drop one or two short pieces of atooth- a30-day, money-back guarantee (but you pay pick into the stripped hole and retighten. The shipping both ways), which takes some of the woofer is fastened in with Allen-head bolts risk out of buying kits sound unheard. Ido (the appropriate wrench is not provided—and

Stereophile, February 1988 107 should be!). Overtightening these does not risk ing spray glue. It worked OK, but the foam stripping threads, but does risk deforming the could be pulled off easily. A bright idea that woofer basket. Toothpicks won't help here. wasn't so bright. Follow AC's directions. 7) If you have, or can borrow, apower drill, drill pilot holes in the rear of the cabinet before Conclusions screwing it down. Otherwise it's an arm- There are always conclusions. Mine are sim- wrenching job. AC should consider predrilling ple, and should be obvious from the reviews. these holes. The Kindel Purist LT is the clear winner in this 8) The foam on the exterior of the cabinet faceoff, and Ican confidently add it to the list is designed to be set in place with the silicone of loudspeakers under $1000 which should de- sealer furnished. Ihad the bright idea of us- mand your attention.

AR POWERED PARTNER LOUDSPEAKER Bill Sommerwerck

AR Powered Partner speaker

Miniature self-powered two-way loudspeaker system in triangular cast-aluminum cabinet. Drive- units: 4" plastic-doped paper woofer/midrange, 1" plastic tweeter. Peak SPL: at least 106dB at 1m (AC power). Output power: 15W at less than 1% THD (AC power). Sensitivity: 500mV for maximum output. Input impedance: 10k ohms. Controls: power. volume, and bass-boost. Power source: AC (built-in), DC (9-16V through car lighter adapter, or optional gelled-electrolyte pack). Dimensions: 6" H x10.5" W x7 5/8"D. Price: S380/pair (widely and heavily discounted). Approximate number of dealers: 200. Manufacturer: Teledyne Acoustic Research, 330 Turnpike St., Canton, MA 02021. Tel: (617) 821-2300.

Betcha thought the personal stereo was in- couldn't afford a component system. KLH vented by Akio Morita, when he asked aSony rushed awalnut-cabinet version (the 11W) to engineer to design a pocket-sized cassette market, and the "compact" system was born. player so he could listen to music while play- Compacts had agood run, until cheap Japa- ing tennis. Well, you're wrong, sushi-breath. nese components and the proliferation of junk The personal stereo was invented rat cheer, in compacts destroyed the market. Rack systems the good ol' US of A, 25 years ago. It was the are the modem equivalent, though when com- KLH Model II, apricey (for that time—$200) pared with the top-of-the-line compacts from portable phonograph. Harman/Kardon and KLH, they strike me as Dubbed "The Suitcase," the 11 was aimed at considerably less "honest" products. New England preppies who wanted ahigh- So much for history. The way to market tiny quality portable for vacations, or asecond products is to start small, then add features system for the rec room. ("Look, Muffle, a and accessories until the reason for the original stereo for us!") Much to KLH's surprise, their compactness is lost. (This happened to 35mm marketing department discovered that most SLRs, until Olympus reversed the trend with Model 1ls were bought by "poor" people who their 0M-1.) Though Sony persists in making

108 Stereophile, February 1988 ever-tinier Walkmen, all personal-stereo manu- shielding, since aluminum is not permeable.) facturers keep adding feature after feature The claimed frequency response is 50Hz to (record capability, equalizers, stereo mikes, FM 25kHz, down 3dB at those points. The exact tuners, auto-reverse, solar batteries), regardless conditions under which this obtains are not of how big the things get. stated, though one can assume it is at full bass Perhaps the most idiotic accessories for per- boost and/or near aroom corner. The amp is sonal stereos are those wretched little rated at 15Wpc, at less than 1% distortion. Peak "pocket" speakers (powered or passive). You acoustical output is at least 106dB, at 1meter. cannot believe how awful they sound, yet peo- Setup is simple. Plug the Partners into anear- ple buy them because there are times they'd by wall outlet (each has its own AC outlet, to rather not listen with headphones. There was simplify things), run the input cables to the an obvious market for such products, and a program source, and turn everything on. (If "quality vacuum" that needed to be filled. you're not at home, you'll need alighter cable, Bose was the first to step in, with their AR's gelled-electrolyte battery back, or alarge RoomMate system. It's been largely ignored by solar-cell array.) The Partners have their own the hi-fi press, and for good reason. It sounds level controls, for decks or players lacking like what it is—Bose drivers stuffed into little them. (The usual thing is to take the feed from boxes. (The coloration is hollowness, rather the headphone jack, which is level-controlled. than constriction, aproblem the Bose shares With this setup, AR recommends setting the with the K II.) The integral amp puts out only Partners' level controls at 3o'clock.) afew watts. Since afair amount of EQ is ap- All my listening was done with aSony D-7S plied to get bass from the system, there may Discman as source, since this is the way the be times when this will not be enough power. Partners would most often be used. (AR must Bose drivers have good power-handling be commended for its integrity in not pro- capability, so this lack of substantial driving moting the Partners for use in avideo system power must be considered adeficiency. or as ambience speakers. Unless one needs a AR felt they could do alot better, and the single product to do double duty, aseparate Powered Partners were born. With their cast- amp and speakers, especially used models, aluminum cabinets, they're hefty little buggers. could sound better and cost no more.) Initial Each has its own power supply and amplifier. reactions were favorable; the Partners had a The power switch, pilot light, volume and bass- reasonably clean, fairly well-balanced sound. boost controls are on the front. A rear inset And although they couldn't hit rock-concert panel (which also serves as asimple carrying levels, they had no trouble playing loudly in handle) holds an RCA input jack, the AC power alarge (14x20') room, even with substantial connector (the power cord detaches), an ac- bass boost. Still, Iwanted to make a "fair" cessory AC outlet, and aI4V DC power jack. comparison with a"comparable" high-quality The Partners' triangular shape was designed miniature speaker. for high volumetric efficiency. They can be Fortunately, Ihad the right equipment. My shoved in any nearby corner, for maximum NAD MR-20 TV has two 5W amplifiers (con- bass output and minimum wasted space. A rear siderably less than the Partners' I5Wpc), and strip of the cabinet comes off, which can then Ihave apair of Infinity 0.1 speakers (the "In- be bolted back on, with any convenient finitesimals") which displace only abit more l.25"-diameter pole in between. volume than the Partners. (The Infinities are, The Partners are "fully accessorized," with in fact, always connected to the NAD.) Ispent a line of add-ons (carrying case, mounting several hours listening to high-quality CDs brackets, rechargeable battery pack, cigarette played through both systems. lighter cable) to configure them for just about The Partners' principal sonic flaw is amoder- any use short of deep-sea diving. (Which ate "hollowness" which sometimes borders wouldn't work anyway, since the woofer cone on honkiness or nasality. It is not apparent on is paper.) all program material, being most obvious with The drivers are a4" treated-paper woofer woodwinds and lower-register strings, but and 1" liquid-cooled tweeter. Both are shielded not, oddly, on voice. to permit use near aTV. (Please note, Enid, that The Partners' overall response seems abit the aluminum cabinet itself provides no "lumpy," too. The midrange, not surprising-

Stereophile, February 1988 109 ly, is abit laid-back, and mid-bass seems weak. of mini-speakers for monitoring. The Partners The best overall balance (with the speakers on simply aren't convenient enough to carry, or the floor, but away from the walls) was obtained high enough in sound quality. to be those with the bass boost control set to about 3 speakers. (At least, according to my possibly ex- o'clock. The boost is truly bass-only. No matter cessive standards.) Icould have purchased the how far it's advanced, the boost never intrudes Partners at avery attractive price, but declined. into voices or adds boxiness. Those who often wish they had away to play There's adecent amount of bass, but it isn't their personal stereos through speakers should especially detailed, transparent, or well-defined. have no hesitation in buying the Partners, pro- On heavily scored bass passages, there is some vided they've listened a while, and aren't bass breakup and muddy distortion. Bass distor- bothered by the mild colorations. Those with tion is quite high, even at 100Hz. With sinewave aless pressing need might wait abit (though I test tones, alack of cleanliness is audible at any know of no similar product at a reasonable listening level. Above acertain level (dependent price coming from any other manufacturer,' or on both drive and bass boost), a papery any intent by AR to produce an "improved" breakup sets in. version). On the positive side, the Partners have great AR should consider updating the KLH.11 2. depth and tremendous, probably exaggerated, Two passive speakers with about twice the spaciousness. Those who enjoy these qualities usable internal volume of the Partners could will be delighted with their Partners. Ialso clip to the sides of acarrying case. The case found that even after afew hours' listening, I would have afoam insert to hold aWalkman or was not fatigued. Discman (and program material), with the amps, Though my overall reaction is more positive power supply, recharger, and batteries built in. than negative, the Partners strike me as rather This arrangement would be more convenient a "Roxanne" product. As an NPR movie than the present system of "loose" components, reviewer put it: "I like this film, but Iknow the and should sound even better. And I've got just original, and Iknow what's missing." My feel- the name for it: the Senior Partner! How about ings exactly. Ilike the Partners, but it is possible it, AR? to make a better miniature speaker: the In- finities, though only a bit bigger, are far IAt the Summer CES, AudioPro showed an incredible pair of smoother, have more and cleaner bass, and no mini-speakers and matching amp/equalizer. The sound was hollowness. unbelievable, as was the price: $1100! 2If anybody gets the feeling that this is the hi-fi %rision of Scotty Ialso carry the prejudices of an amateur Ferguson trying to remake Judy Barton into Madeleine Elster. recordist. Iwould dearly love areally good pair they're not far wrong Iloved my KI.H Model II.

WINGATE 2000A SERIES III POWER AMPLIFIER Dick Olsher Stereo power amplifier. Power output: 100W continuous, pure class-A. Power bandwidth: 0.1Hz to 250kHz. Current Drive Capability: 64 amps peak-to-peak; 23 amps continuous. Slew rate: 100V/us. Damping factor: Greater than 30, 20Hz-20kHz. Gain: 28dB (1.12V rms in for 100W out). Input impedance: 25k ohms. Dimensions: 19" W by 7.75" H by 22.4" D. Weight: 67 pounds. Price: $3700. Approximate number of dealers: 20. Manufacturer: Wingate Audio Corporation, 20 Sunnyside Ave., Suite A, Box 194, Mill Valley, CA 94941. Tel: (415) 381-5018.

It is uncommon in audio for engineering savvy performance to notice that the emperor has to combine with agood ear. Too often the no clothes. But in the case of Steve Wingate we golden ears do not possess the requisite engi- have an innovative engineer who listens very neering skills, and the engineering talent is too well indeed. The offspring of amarriage be- obsessed with specifications and measured tween brains and ears is often precocious, and

110 Stereophile, February 1988 II

Wingate 2000A power amp

the 2000A amp is no exception. It runs circles fast-changing envelope of the waveform. around most amps—especially at the frequency The result is Transient Intermodulation Dis- extremes. But it is not perfect, and in the final tortion, or TIM for short (a popular buzzword analysis. ..1 see that I'm getting ahead of my- in the late '70s, but still avalid concept). TIM self, so I'll slow down and maintain the sus- is not apleasant fellow, and his audible result pense awhile longer. is aloss of dynamic bloom and inner detail The Wingate embraces several crucial design with aconcomitant irritating edginess. Ano- concepts. First, this is apure class-A design. ther problem has to do with maintaining sta- None of that pseudo- or quasi-class-A jazz bility into reactive loads. This is very difficult here. The output stage is biased to conduct to do with heavy doses of overall feedback 100% of the time, on both the negative and because the feedback is increasingly out of positive portions of the signal. We all know phase with the input signal; the ultimate result that class-A operation commands aprice in the can be HF oscillation or even worse. The sad form of increased heatsinking demands and truth, however, is that nonlinearities in the gain reduced power output for the same number stage mandate the use of some feedback. So of output transistors, but for acost-no-object the trend in recent years has been to avoid design Ibelieve that this is the proper path to overall negative feedback while retaining local follow. The primary advantage is that of elim- feedback around the gain stages. The Win- inating crossover distortion caused by switch- gate comes closer to the ideal of no feedback ing transistors on and off to handle different through the use of devices said to be funda- portions of the signal. Also, the DC biasing cir- mentally linear (MOSFETs) and a patented cuitry is generally simpler and more stable. distortion-cancelling technique which linear- Another significant design parameter is the izes the amplification process. The amp is use of no overall negative feedback and no claimed to be a"zero-negative feedback de- negative feedback within the voltage gain sign," and while it may use less feedback than stages. Local feedback is only used in the final any other commercial design known to me, stage of the amplifier. Traditionally, feedback such aclaim is not strictly true. has been used to linearize the performance of The 2000A is also said to be dual-mono in an amplifier. Although it is incapable of reduc- design. Iwonder what Wingate's definition of ing input-signal noise, feedback can greatly this is. Certainly, the power supplies are laid reduce nonlinearities in the gain stages—at out in dual-mono fashion on the chassis, but least under steady-state conditions. And that the left and right gain stages share the same PC is an important caveat. With sinewave input board. Close, Isuppose, but no cigar. signals it is easy to demonstrate the advantage of using lots of feedback to control distortion. Technical Details However, complex musical waveforms don't Construction quality and passive parts utilized look much like sinewaves, and with real-world are of very high quality. Signal-path caps are signals feedback is unable to keep up with the SiderealKaps, which I've found to be the best

Stereophile, February 1988 Ill money can buy. The resistors used are also in the treble is indeed worthwhile. Naturally, very good (Resistas). Silver solder and pure- all future production units will incorporate this copper PC-board traces are used throughout. modification. Four huge power supplies are provided which consist of atotal capacitance of 352,000uF, and Sonic Impressions #1 there are two separate toroidal transformers, Listening began with the Lesley Test. As you each rated at 650VA. All of which accounts must have gathered by now, reproduction of for the Wingate's impressive current-drive the human voice is an important priority of capability. mine, and these master tapes of my soprano The input signal is attenuated and filtered spouse give me an immediate and accurate to remove HF trash before being applied to a assessment of midrange colorations. To my pair of symmetrical but opposing current mind, voice is the most difficult instrument to mirrors and bias stage. The resultant current master. Ingo Titze at the University of Iowa has swings are combined in avoltage gain stage. analyzed the vocal instrument from amaterial- Because the nonlinearities of the current mir- science viewpoint. The quality of musical in- rors are opposite in polarity they cancel each struments is determined by their shape and other at this point—at least to the extent al- material properties. Such instruments have lowed by device-to-device uniformity in trans- stable geometries, dependable elastic moduli, fer characteristics. The class-A voltage stage and resonant Qs. The human larynx, on the drives the power MOSFET output-current other hand, is made of materials that vary con- stage, which is also class-A biased. A relay is siderably with time, frequency, and biochem- provided to disconnect the output from the ical composition. Given these variable proper- load during turn-on in order to eliminate DC ties, Mr. Titze concludes that the larynx as a pulses from reaching the speakers. This relay musical instrument would appear to be in the also serves as protection from amplifier failure class of aplastic ukulele with rubber strings, or other catastrophic events. A DC servo cir- and that control of such an instrument to cuit monitors and corrects DC offsets in the maintain accurate pitch and consistent quality signal path. The amp features avery clever and would seem to be aformidable task. That the effective thermal-control system. All of the ac- human voice is capable of so much musicality tive signal-path circuitry is located along the is indeed amiracle!! sides of a"chimney" or tunnel that runs the As a prelude to the Lesley Test results, I length of the chassis. Extending into this tun- would like to share with you some additional nel are all of the heatsinks, which are then facts that bear on the interpretation of this test. cooled by afan located at the front end of the In normal speech, neither male nor female tunnel. Air intake is from the bottom of the voice has fundamentals higher than about amp and through air filters so as to keep dust 250Hz. However, the fundamental pitch of outside. The warm air is exhausted through sopranos in operatic voice often ranges as high vents on the back of the amp—a wonderful as 1320Hz, and sometimes, in the coloratura forced-air heater for those cold winter nights voice, considerably higher. So we have here in Santa Fe! The fan is quiet, all right, being an instrument whose fundamentals are smack barely audible 10 feet away in aquiet room. in the middle of the midrange. Different vowel Fortunately, the noise is completely masked sounds are formed from approximately the with even faint program material. same basic laryngeal tone spectrum by shaping Just as Iwas preparing for some serious the vocal tract (throat, back of mouth, mouth listening, abypass cap mod arrived courtesy or jaw opening, and lips) to have different of Wingate. Apparently after extended listening resonances. The resultant peaks in the fre- tests, Wingate decided that bypassing the 2uF quency spectrum are called formants. The for- input coupling caps with 0.01uF SiderealKaps mants that determine vowel quality lie largely improved the lower treble by eliminating a in the 250-1850Hz range, but as the fundamen- slight roughness around 8kHz. Mind you, the tal is shifted higher the first formant moves up coupling caps were already premium-quality to coincide with the pitch of the fundamen- SiderealKaps. In any event, Iproceeded to in- stall these bypass caps per Wingate's instruc- IYes. IX). hut the very concept of musicality is based on that most ancient of musical instruments. thy human voice, which tions, and Ican report that the improvement is "capable of so much musicality" by definition. —RL

112 Stereophile, February 1988 tal. As the fundamental approaches lkHz, the massive, loud, and emotionally involving—at first three formants of all the vowels are almost least with the Audio Research M300s or the identical in frequency, making them all sound Cochran Delta Mode amps driving the Sound very similar. This accounts for the fact that the Labs. The kind of music that's impossible to intelligibility of sopranos in the upper registers ignore, right? Well, several minutes into the is poor. music Iturned to JGH to comment on how Finally, the test results. Above about lkHz, bland and canned the sound had gotten, and the Wingate's sound was exceptionally clean what do you know! His attention span had and cohesive. Control of treble transients was lapsed. He had lost contact with the music and excellent. Harmonic textures in the upper reg- was thinking about something else entirely. "I isters of Lesley's voice were very convincing: see what you mean," he said with achuckle. smooth and detailed, without hardness, harsh- Ireturned the amplifier, wrote ashort, dis- ness, or added zip or grit. The extreme treble missive conclusion to the review, and consi- was spacious and extended, while the lower dered matters closed. treble was perceived as being slightly liquid and soft—a la vintage tube gear. But the per- Sonic Impressions e2 formance through the upper octaves was in Rather than take my review lying down, how- stark contrast to that below about lkHz. The ever, Steve Wingate burned the midnight oil sound quality here was slightly opaque and with my original text in hand, tackling the reticent. Vowels sounded slightly thick and voltage reference section that biases the front- darkened in tonal color. The lower mids struck end MOSFElb. Rather than drive azener diode, me as dull and lifeless. The tonal purity and the current source now drives aprecision re- delicacy of Lesley's upper registers were simply sistor. Using aresistive voltage source also has missing down here. The resonance and rich- the advantage of eliminating anumber of caps

ness of the chest diaphragm were obscured. used to filter the zener voltages. 2 The power The transition was quite disturbing: Lesley's supply was also improved, with the idea of tonal colors faded out, then converged as she enhancing the amp's dynamic range. shifted gears upward. The overall effect was The 2000A, now in "Series Ill" incarnation, of arefined sound quality lacking the visceral arrived on my doorstep just two weeks after excitement present on the master tapes, and Ihad dispensed with the first sample. What a for that reason not particularly involving mus- transformation! My principal objection to the ically. As JGH would put it: the goosebumps 2000A's sound had to do with its wooden, never came. slightly colored midrange reproduction. Sur- Toward the end of the analog session Ibe- prise! The revised amp has made stupendous came aware that Iwas having ahard time fo- gains in midrange timbre accuracy, transpar- cusing on the music. With the 2000A in the ency, and dynamic contrasts. The first order of chain it was very easy to tune out the music business was to rerun the Lesley Test. My first and let my mind drift. A useful attribute, no listen was through the revised Ohm Walsh 5 doubt, for background music, but certainly loudspeaker, currently under review. To say not for serious listening. Ithink that this amp that I've had great difficulties in reproducing would benefit from aromantic tube preamp the correct tonality and harmonic flavors of to flesh out the lower mids, and it does not sur- Lesley's voice would be an understatement. On prise me that Steve Wingate uses the Conver- the Ohms, for example, neither the Cochran gent Audio Technology SL-1 in his reference Delta Mode or Threshold SA-1s amps had system. proved entirely satisfactory. With the 2000A Because of the high standards the 2000A in the system, Lesley's voice was reproduced sets in the treble and bass regions, Ifound its as close to lifelike as I've ever heard: clean, midrange problems all the more frustrating; transparent, and harmonically correct. Even Idecided it deserved one more chance. With the Krell KMA-100 Mk.II monoblocks did not JGH's help, the amp was moved down the come so close: vowels sounded slightly dark, basement stairs and into his reference system. giving the lower register an unnatural chesti- After afew CDs replayed via the St2X Quattro, we switched to analog. Respighi's Feste Ro- 2Though convenient. aliwr diodes an: inherently noisy when mane (Mobile Fidelity's Limited Edition) is used as voltage references.

Stereophile, February 1988 113 ness. A similar effect was also noted on male some sort of glitch. According to Wingate, voice. But playing the Persuasions' No Frills however, this is perfectly normal. Since you'll (Rounder 3083) through the Wingate, lead want to warm up the amp for afew minutes singer Jerry Lawson's tenor timbre was much anyhow before any serious listening, Idon't better realized, and Jimmy Hayes's bass voice see this as aproblem. was not bloated, and much more palpable. In several respects, however, it was clear that To sum up the Krells were better, being consistently more The Wingate Series III just about has it all. It transparent and authoritative, and better fo- is clean, detailed, and neutral sounding. But cused top-to-bottom than the Wingate on above all it is capable of reproducing the dy- both CD and analog program material. But the namic bloom and verve of live music. With the Krells were consistently cool and slightly dark- program material permitting, this is an exciting sounding. Cool as in cool jazz, without the amp capable of generating goosebumps galore. sunshine and drive of hot jazz phrasing. The It appears to easily handle avariety of speaker Krells were capable of clean, round tones, but loads, from low- and high-impedance dynam- understated midrange textures. These qualities ics to capacitive electrostatics. Closer to perfec- combined to rob the music of much of its tion than any other stereo solid-state amp I've verve and excitement. The Wingate, on the heard, it is very, very difficult to criticize. One other hand, was able to imbue the Ohms with could wish for alittle more midrange trans- awarm but very natural sunshine- glow. parency (possibly amonoblock version would At this point, athought crossed my mind: help), and it certainly does not have the 3-D what if this is merely acase of phenomenal imaging and spatial resolution of the best tube synergism between aparticular amp and speak- amps money can buy, but it blows its immed- er? It seemed reasonable to examine the Win- iate competition out of the water. It is that gate in the context of other speaker systems. good. That it achieves Class A performance As of now I've tried it with my Dahlia-Debra at almost half the asking price of some of and Koval-modded Quad ESI-s. In both cases our Class A recommended amps should be the Wingate acquitted itself superbly It did not good news to audiophiles without bottom- have the weight of the Krell in the lower mids, less pockets. but neither was it thin-sounding. It consis- The older Series II amplifiers may be up- tently had more verve and natural harmonic graded to current status for only $150, while colors than the Krell—quite amazing for an the Series I(without the van den Hul Silver amp costing only half as much. wiring of the II) will cost $250 for acomplete When the 2000A is powered up, either one upgrade. or both channels are in alow-gain mode. On Fabulous sound and areasonable price (by this sample it took several minutes for both high-end standards) is my definition of the channels to come up to ahigh-gain condition, proverbial "steal." Buy this amp now before as opposed to several seconds on the first sam- the price starts to climb. ple This surprised me, and Iassumed this was

SIMA W-3050 STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER Thomas J. Norton

Solid-state class-AB amplifier. Power output: 50Wpc into 8ohms; 100Wpc into 4ohms; frequency range not specified. Bandwidth: -3dB at 100kHz. Rated distortion: under 0.05% THD and IM (frequency range not specified). Slew rate: 50V/us. Input sensitivity: 0.5V. Weight: 25 lbs. Dimen- sions: 18" W by 51/4"H by 10 1/4"D. Price: $995. Approximate number of dealers: 18. Manufacturer: Sima Electronics, PO Box 402, St-Hubert, Quebec, Canada J3J 5T3. Tel: (514) 678-0802. US Distributor: Audiophile Accessories, 119 East Wayne Street. Butler, PA 16001. Tel: (412) 282-7195.

Most reviewers, and Isuspect not akw ut our every company in the audio marketplace, if readers, pride themselves on being aware of not every individual product. But when JA

114 Stereophile, February 1988 Sima W-3050 power amp

sent me an amplifier for evaluation manufac- me as all that oversized. Two fairly large tured by Sima, my first reaction was "what's toroidal transformers and four filter capacitors a Sima?" You might well have the same ques- (total of 40,000uF) take up most of the inter- tion. It turns out that Sima is aCanadian com- nal space. There are two pair of output devices pany which maintains aremarkably low profile per channel. The external chassis forms part here in the US: they have been listed in the of the heatsink (there are no external heatsink Audio annual directories all the way back to "fins"). No internal fuses were visible. An in- '84 (and possibly further back—my earlier edi- ternal switch is provided to permit bridging tions are buried somewhere in back-date of the amp.' Gaining access to the interior is magazine never-never-land). But Ihave never best left to adealer; the chassis is made up of seen a Sima advertisement. They have never, individual plates assembled rather like a to my knowledge, made an appearance at a Chinese puzzle-box. Iwas able to get inside CES, nor have Iever seen a Sima product in a (well, not literally) by removing one side, then dealer's showroom or adealer's ad in this or the top (the latter is held in place by three small any other magazine. In short, compared with Allen-head setscrews). The individual plates Sima, Klyne is practically ahousehold name. that make up the chassis worked slightly loose Notoriety, however, is hardly arequirement in shipment—not at all reassuring—but were for acompany to manufacture aquality prod- easy to retighten with no apparent ill effects. uct, so Iapproached the Sima W-3050 with Iauditioned the Sima through both Apogee an anticipation of discovery. In fact, 1didn't Duetta II and Synthesis LM300 loudspeakers. even know its power rating until after the audi- Associated equipment consisted of the tioning was complete—the spec sheet arrived Monster Alpha "Ikvo in an Eminent Technology just before Isat down to write this review. II tonearm and aKlyne SK-5a preamp, with Therefore, in one important sense, the audi- interconnects by Monster (M-1000 and Interlink tioning was "blind" in away which is impos- Reference A) and speaker cables by Monster sible with more familiar products. (M-1 with the Synthesis) and Kimber (biwire Sima provided little in the way of circuit de- 8TC with the Duetta Ils). tails for the W-3050. It is amodestly powered, The Sima did surprisingly well driving the class-AB amplifier designed along fairly Apogees, considering its limited power. As straightforward, classical lines: fully com- long, that is, as the material was reasonably plementary from input to output, limited undemanding and the listening levels moderate. bandwidth to avoid transient intermodulation The LM300 is, however, amuch more suitable (TIM) distortion, quality paris, and an oversized power supply No special "gee-whiz" circuit II don't generally recommend bridging an amplifier that isn't features are claimed. Internal construction is specified to drive loads of less than Iohms. Such an amp. about average for an amplifier in this price when bridged. shouldn't be loaded with less than 8 ohms: most lieudspeakers dip significantly below 8ohms somi.s‘bere class, although the power supply did not strike in their frequency range.

Stereophile, February 1988 115 load (at Ild13 greater sensitivity, it requires less realize that there are, intermittently, two voices than atenth the power input for the same out- singing in unison. On Test Record 2(Opus 3 put). The Sima displayed a similar sonic 8000), side B, cut 5, "Jesu Meine Freude," signature through both systems, provided it depth was reasonably well presented, but was not pushed too hard in driving the there was little differentiation of voices within Apogees; using it to drive these latter loud- the chorus. Cut 8on the same side, "Dalaham- speakers was useful in assessing its sound, but bo," is primarily abrass sextet, but it begins Iwould not recommend the Sima for all- with some subtle percussion detailing in the around use in driving Duettas. It just doesn't right channel. In my listening notes Iwasn't have sufficient power to do the Apogees full even moved to comment on this passage; justice. when Ilistened to it again after substituting a To be perfectly honest, Iwas disappointed more transparent amplifier (the Adcom with the sound of the Sima. As was the case GFA -555), Inoted how alive it sounded and with the Parasound D/AS-1000 reviewed in how it was imbedded in a natural acoustic Vol.11 No.1, Ifound it to be generally sweet and space. inoffensive. But it had anumber of character- Icould go on, but at the risk of simply istics which, in my judgment, must be improved belaboring the point. Icompared the Sima upon if it is to compete in its price range. It had with two other amplifiers directly—the Aragon a forward quality which foreshortened the 4004 and the Adcom GFA-555 (the former sense of depth, and sounded consistently significantly more expensive, the latter con- "louder" than other amps to which it was siderably cheaper). Only in acase where a compared, even when levels were carefully ad- softened high end is preferred would the Sima justed. And at 50Wpc it lacked, as might be ex- have any point of advantage over either of pected, the sort of low-frequency impact that these amplifiers. In the important parameters the best price-competitive amplifiers provide. of openness, extension at the frequency ex- It does well up to the point of clipping—quite tremes, inner detailing, and soundstage preci- respectably clean and tight—but don't expect sion, both amplifiers outpoint the Sima. And to rattle the rafters unless you're using fairly while! didn't directly compare the Parasound efficient loudspeakers in asmall room. D/AS-1000 with the Sima, Idid evaluate both One thread runs through my listening notes amplifiers at about the same time. Ialso was on this amplifier: an overall lack of focus. High somewhat critical of the Parasound, but if push frequencies are softened, reducing clarity and came to shove Iwouldn't hesitate to recom- "snap." Individual instruments and voices mend it as aconsiderably better value than the seem to "spread" slightly within the sound- Sima —nearly three times the (continuous) stage—not so much as to cause serious image power for about 60% of the cost, with mar- confusion, but enough to subtly obscure the ginally better overall sound. specificity of image placement and reduce the In its home market the Sima might be com- differentiation of inner instrumental and vocal petitive; US electronics, such as the Adcom, details. On River Road (Opus 38017), delicate tend to be considerably more expensive once guitar-fingering details were rounded off. Tran- they reach Canada. But, in my opinion, the sient attack lacked immediacy; the Sima does Sima needs additional development work not sound dull—far from it—but thinly veiled. before it is fully competitive with the best On the last cut of side A, "There's aRiver," it amplifiers in (and in some cases below) its takes longer than it should (and longer than it price class. does with more transparent amplifiers) to

PARASOUND HCA-800 POWER AMPLIFIER Thomas J. Norton

Solid-state class-A/AB power amplifier. Power output: 80Wpc into 8ohms, 20Hz-20kHz, 130Wpc

Stereophile, February 1988 Parasound HC800 power amp into 4ohms, 20Hz-20kHz. Bandwidth: 20Hz-20kHz. Input sensitivity: 700mV. Input impedance: 30k ohms. Damping factor: greater than 100. Weight: 23 lbs. Dimensions: 17 1/4 "W by 3/34 "H by 11 /34 "D. Price: $335. Approximate number of dealers: 135. Manufacturer: Parasound Products. Inc., 945 Front Street, San Francisco, CA 94111. Tel: (415) 397-7100.

In Vol.11 No.1 Ireviewed Parasound's D/AS- would respond when combined with more 1000 amplifier. While the HCA-800 might be revealing loudspeakers and more varied pro- termed its smaller sibling, the two amplifiers gram material (CD and LP), the HCA-800 was differ in several respects other than power and brought into my main listening room for fur- price. Both are high-current designs, but the ther auditioning. It was first hooked up to the HCA-800 is not rated into 2ohm loads. Nor Apogee Duetta Ils. Other associated equip- does the smaller amplifier claim the elaborate, ment: Eminent Technology II arm with Mon- dual-rail power supply of the D/AS-1000. It ster Alpha 2 mounted on aLuxman PD-300 does, however, have substantial rated head- belt-drive turntable, Klyne SK-5a preamplifier, room —115Wpc of dynamic power into 8 and American Audio Laboratories P-12 CD ohms, 150Wpc into 4. It also has external level player. Interconnects were by Monster (Inter- controls for each channel and separate, switch- link Reference A and M-1000), speaker wire by able outputs for two sets of speakers—the lat- Kimber (doubled-up 8TC, bi-wired). ter feature not available on the larger amplifier. Loading with these insensitive loudspeakers A rack-mounting kit is available for $24. is something of acruel and unusual punish- My initial listening to the HCA-800 was con- ment for amoderately powered, inexpensive ducted in asmall listening room (about 11 by amplifier; Icouldn't resist. For the first few 15 by 8 feet) driving first the Kindel Purist LTs minutes of the auditioning, the results were and subsequently the Castle Durhams, both surprisingly listenable. To be sure, there were also under evaluation. The program source limitations. The soundstage was respectable, was aCD player (the Audio Concepts Brasfield but not exceptional. Depth was slightly fore- modification of the Magnavox CDB 650) fed shortened and imaging less precise than Ihave directly into the HCA-800; level adjustment heard with other, more expensive and power- was provided by the controls on the amplifier ful amplifiers through the Duettas. Midbass itself. Judged on its performance within this was slightly fat (and the Duettas themselves are system, the Parasound provided rewarding not at all lean in this region), and some clip- listening. No, it was not to be confused with ping was noted on piano reproduced at high asuper amplifier, but it did produce, within but not lease-breaking levels. Ambience was the limits imposed by the loudspeakers and more subdued than the best Ihave heard from associated program material, athoroughly en- the Duettas; highs lacked the subtle delicacy joyable sound, with respectable soundstag,ing, and detailing of costlier amps but weren't in clean, well-defined bass, and nonfatiguing any way hard or grainy. Kept below clipping, highs with anotable lack of glare, hardness, or the sound was very listenable. Instrumental other solid-state "nasties." Idid not feel that timbres were good. The flaws Inoted were the amplifier was limiting my ability to evaluate mostly subtractive, the easiest kind to live with. these loudspeakers in this environment, and But the good times didn't continue to roll. felt no inclination to change it for another On Leo Kottke's superb A Shout Toward Noon model during the course of the small-room (CD, Private Music 2007-2-P) Ibegan to notice listening tests. alow-level, bum, raspy distortion that sounded To get abetter idea of how the Parasound like aparticularly irritating interchannel cross-

Stereophile, February 1988 117 talk distortion. It was evident primarily on the review Ihad found the D/AS-1000 to be agood decay of hard transients, and once it asserted but not exceptional performer in aprice class itself was impossible to ignore. Ithought per- with some stiff competition. The HCA-800 is haps the amplifier was defective, but it never a good but not exceptional performer in a displayed this characteristic on any of the three price class with little competition, which conventional loudspeakers with which it was makes for arather different conclusion. But it used. Conclusion: avoid the HCA-800 if you does have one serious competitor: the $295 have or plan to use Apogees, and use caution Adcom GFA-535. Ihave not heard that unit (je, acareful audition) before considering it for under familiar conditions, having personal ex- use with anything other than aconventional, perience only with Adcom's GFA-555. But the average-efficiency dynamic system. Idoubt if Audio Cheapskate was definitely impressed by any potential user will lose sleep over this the little Adcom (Vol.10 No.8), and from his limitation. sonic description of that unit, Ican only con- After this experience, Idid the rest of my clude that it doesn't sound like the HCA-800. listening to the HCA-800 through the Synthe- Since in this price class compatibility is, if sis LM-300s. Two other amplifiers were used anything, even more significant than in the for comparison: the Sumo Polaris and the Ad- high end (and it's certainly not negligible com GFA-555 (the latter of mid-1986 vintage). there), Iseriously recommend, if shopping for The Parasound acquitted itself well, but broke an amplifier in this range, that you audition no new ground. Its bass was reasonably deep both of these products in asystem similar to and well-defined, but noticeably less so than your own. either of the other amplifiers. The same could The Parasound does have one competitive be said of its highs. They were more than ac- edge over the Adcom: its built-in level controls ceptably detailed, yet definitely erred on the facilitate use with a CD player without the side of roundness—never hard or harsh and need for apreamp or external level control' always listenable, but never totally involving (the Adcom has no such controls). On the neg- either. In the midband, the HCA-800 was a ative side, if you plan to use apreamp, an extra shade more forward than either the Adcom or set of level controls in the circuit is seldom a the Sumo, with noticeably less focus and res- sonic plus. olution than either—especially the Adcom. The HUA -800 never warmed the cockles or The differences became more pronounced at raised goose bumps, but neither did it ever higher volume settings and program peaks, the send me fleeing to the television to watch Parasound simply losing definition and be- Gilligan 's Island reruns. You might recall that coming congested faster than either the Ad- my reaction to the larger Parasound amplifier corn or the Sumo. But the Parasound is roughly had been similarly ambivalent—neither love half the price of either of the other amplifiers; nor dislike. But here we're looking at asignif- judged in that light, and considering that it's icantly lower price. At ashade over $300, I likely to be used with far more modest loud- don't expect high drama; Iexpect listenability, speakers, its performance was more than re- competence, and value for money. The small spectable. Parasound qualified. In its strengths and weaknesses, the HCA- IWith the C2VC21 that you check the compatibility of the CD 800 resembles Parasound's larger D/AS-1000, player's output level with the input sensitivity of the power with the latter, more powerful amplifier super- amp. The best way to check this is hy auditioning hoth together ior, as expected, in lack of strain at high output levels and in bass power. In my previous

TANDBERG 3015A CD PLAYER J. Gordon Holt

CD player with optional remote. Frequency response: +0.3dB. 2Hz-20kHz. THD: 0.005% at 1kHz. Signal/noise ratio: 100dB. D/A: dual 16-bit, 4-times oversampled. Output: 2V Power consumption: 30W. Dimensions: 1714" W by 31/2"H by 13 /34 "D. VVeight: 125 lbs. Price: $1895. Approximate number

Stereophile, February 1988 Tandberg TCP 3015A CD player

of dealers: 200-250. Manufacturer: Tandberg of America, Inc., 122 DuPont St., Plainview, NY 11803 Tel: (516) 349-9206

Tandberg of Norway has arather ambiguous audio circuit. Arrays of resistors are used to corporate image among audio perfectionists. provide the precise values needed for mini- Long considered to make some of the best mum distortion in the absence of the param- tape-recording equipment around, the firm eter stabilization normally provided by feed- has never been seen as aleader in electronics, back. The common power supply delivers despite some bold—and reportedly good- four pairs (+ and -) of isolated, regulated out- sounding—forays into the realm of $2000 puts to the logic board, DAC, and audio sec- preamps and $3500 power amplifiers. Per- tions. The deck uses Philips' single-beam haps this is why, when Tandberg started mak- laser system, which eliminates several critical ing CD players, high-enders were uncertain adjustments that are sometimes subject to how to respond. A CD player is not a tape drift in 3-beam players. recorder, and (according to belief, which The player delivers afixed output level of proved wrong) adigital signal is uncorruptible 2volts max, and has no other output connec- until it becomes audio—an area where Tand- tions except afront-panel-controlled head- berg had no such brilliant track record as phone jack. Krell or Audio Research or Threshold. Ergo, Purely on the basis of its drawer assembly, aTandberg CD player could never be better the first impression of this player is that of than quite good. very flimsy construction. The drawer itself is AHC, in his CD-player survey (Vol.10 No.1), made of plastic and is quite lightweight, and hinted that this prejudgment of the 3015A— when open, there is agreat deal of vertical then in its 14-bit incarnation—may have slop in it. The impression, though, is mislead- been incorrect, judging its sound to be among ing, because when the drawer closes, it seats the best of the machines he auditioned. The firmly against its subassembly, forming an current version, with an identical model essentially solid block which, when tapped, number, uses the Philips 16-bit D/A chip it sounds very inert. Overall construction of the was supposed to have used initially but didn't player is, in fact, very good. because it wasn't available as soon as Philips The pushbutton controls are unusual. had anticipated. But the current machine ap- They are round and slightly protruding, pears otherwise to be identical in every way rather like thin knobs, and although they pro- to the '86 model. duce a slightly irritating mechanical click The 3015A is a 4x-oversampling 16-bit when depressed, they have avery nice feel to player with separate DACs (on the same chip) them, all giving that small tactile-feedback and a single power transformer. The deck, "snap" which, on acomputer keyboard, gives power supply, and digital board are all of assurance that you've depressed akey all the Philips manufacture; Tandberg uses their own way. Otherwise, the 3015 hews to true audio- aluminum chassis and analog board. All the phile tradition in that it is not very conven- analog active devices are discrete bipolar ient to use. It comes without aremote control transistors, DC coupled throughout. There (although it's an available option), and there are no capacitors in the circuit path, and is no number pad either on the player or on neither is there any feedback anywhere in the the remote. You wanna play track 12? You

Stereophile, February 1988 119 punch the Track+ button 12 times, or hold it PIT in for about 6 seconds. Program four selec- TRACK TRACK tions? You use the Track+ button to "locate" each track, four times. It does have an Index find, but you have to call that out the same BEAM I way, by punching or holding the Track+ button. Calling out track 99 on atest disc takes SIGNAL SIGNAL & ) TRACKING about 45 seconds, which seems like asmall REAM TRACKING BEAM eternity while you're doing it. Now, Icould be tolerant about this sort of TRACKING HEAM 2 love-me- despite- my-shortcomings attitude when all such handicapped CD players sounded much better than their full-function cous- ins, but that choice of sound versus conven- TRACKE7 TWO SPLIT ience need no longer be made. Similarly- CELLI( 1L_J PHOTO CELLS priced players like the Denon DCD-3300 and the Sony 705ESD have shown it is possible to sIGNAL1(1> TRACK SHIFTED LEFT combine full operating convenience with CELL very good sound, so the acceptability of the VI@ VI@ 3015 must turn entirely on its ability to out- TRACK n TRACK CENTERED perform those units in terms of sound quality. CELL 2 11 But does it? Well, yes and no. 'N Response times, to the things the Tandberg AS LENS Ill will do, were gratifyingly fast. Only when GOES OFF TRACK SHIFTED RIGHT CENTER, selecting another track during play does it LIGHT 1=1 LIGHT PRESENT seem alittle slow, taking about 2seconds to BALANCE ON CELLS NO LIGHT acknowledge your command, and this was 1 AND 2 hardly enough to quibble about. With adisc CHANGES 1=1 INTERMEDIATE- STRENGTH loaded and the drawer open, the player took LIGHT 5seconds to start Track 1after punching Play.

In athree-beam laser system (left), the first and Starting with the door closed, it took 2. From third beams are directed at the disc ahead of and the start of Track 1, it took 5seconds to ac- behind the signal beam, at opposite edges of the cess Rack 15 (the access-time test) of the CBS pit track. Their reflections are picked up by photo CD-1 test disc. (Dialing it up took longer.) cells that are physically separated from the main- signal pickup cell. When both tracking cells "see" The 3015A appears to have excellent track- the same proportion of the total track width, their ing and error-correction, as it played every sur- equal-but-antiphase outputs cancel. When they face glitch on the Philips Test Sample 5-A disc are displaced to either side of the signal track, without atrace of distress.' their outputs are of different amplitude, cancella- tion is incomplete, and the resulting + or -off- The sound of this player is very much like set voltage is fed to the head servo to get it back the Denon DCD-3300 ($1700), which is to on center-track. Focus-correction information in say it is a little laid-back and ashade more the three-beam system is derived from the dis- rich than outstandingly detailed (like the tribution of the main signal beam between the quadrants of athird photocell, which also receives Sony 705). If the term "dig,ititis" means some- the signal data. Perfect focus throws a circular thing to you, this player has as little of it as beam; imperfect focus throws an elliptical beam anything you'll find for under $5000. Bass in either of two directions depending on the direc- performance is superb, slightly surpassing tion of the focus error (lens too close or too far from the disc surface). that of the Denon, and fully equalling the In asingle-beam system (right), tracking, focus, best Ihave heard from any players, including and signal information are all gleaned from the the top Sonys which have maintained preem- shape and size of asingle reflected laser beam thrown onto apair of side-by-side dual photocells.

Tracking errors shift the beam toward one side pair IThis has printed, on its playing surface, matte patterns and or the other. Focus errors narrow or spread the black dots of varying size to simulate scratches and finger- beam between the two pairs, depending on the prints. All that's missing is asimulated peanut-butter smear. direction of the error. Nonetheless, not too many players will negotiate the largest obstructions without at least asmall click or two.

Stereophile, February 1988 inence in that area almost from the start. and good FM. The 3015A may not be the Soundstaging is wide and quite deep, but most tonally accurate CD player money can perspectives are slightly compressed because buy, but it is certainly one of the most listen- the closest instruments sound a bit farther able, and should appeal more than most to away than they should. Imaging is solid and those who consider analog disc (rather than stable, with excellent center fill. Low-level more-reliable sources) to be the sound stan- detail is superbly rendered—as well as from dard by which others are to be judged. any player I've auditioned. (All of this puzzles The Tandberg is sonically a little better me, as no previous player with as rudimentary, than the Denon 3300—in low-end authority, and skimpy, a power supply as this has ap- overall neutrality, listening ease (by an ex- proached it in soundstage width, imaging tremely small margin), and resolution of fine stability, or sheer cleanness of sound. It would detail, but with the Denon priced at $195 less seem that abrute-force power supply may not and featuring afull complement of controls be as important in terms of sound quality as plus aremote at no extra cost, it is clear that it is cracked up to be.) neither is an obvious choice over the other. Sony's $1500 Model 705ES (which has two Ask Hobson, he knows what it's all about. separate power transformers for the elec- All in all, the Tandberg 3015A is asuperb tronic and the motor drive/servo) has even player. But Istill have agut feeling that the better detail and more-distinct layering of Sony 705's more up-front sound is more receding rows of instruments than the Tand- accurate—that is, more felicitous to the ori- berg, but is rather more upfront than either ginal recording—than the sweeter sound of the Tandberg or the Denon. While probably the Tandberg and Denon. There is no doubt, more accurate, it sounds rather less suave on though, that the latter two will sound better systems optimized for analog discs. on systems that have been tailored to the The Tandberg's overall sound is very sound of analog disc. Which means, most of smooth, relaxed, and effortless—remarkably the systems owned by Stereopbile readers. 1 similar in fact to excellent analog-disc sound, know which of the three Iwould choose for but a little less forward than that of other my own system, but you don't have to agree signal sources such as analog and digital tape with me.

DIGGING DEEP Bill Sommerwerck reviews the dbx 120X-DS subharmonic synthesizer & Audio Control Phase-Coupled Activator

dbx 120X-DS: Bass synthesizer to create bass fundamentals from musical "harmonics' in the range of about 50 to 120Hz. Processor enhances each channel separately with: continuously variable level of restored subharmonics; soft bypass of signal put-ebbing; variable electronic crossover for subwoofer; separate level control for subwoofer output; subwoofer on/off switch; individual level controls for subharmonics in 28, 34. 40, and 50Hz bands; separate boost control for 55Hz region (to improve "blend" between existing components and synthesized ones); continuously variable electronic crossover, separately usable. is 12dB/octave highpass, 6dB/octave lowpass, phase-coherent (unity-sum); variable 50-200Hz; In/Bypac-s mode light. Price: $299. Approximate number of dealers: undisclosed. Manufac- turer: dbx, 71 Chapel St., Newton, MA 02195. Tel: (617) 964-3210.

Audio Control Phase-Coupled Activator Bacs synthesizer to create bass fundamentals from musical "harmonics" in the range of about 50 to 120Hz. Processor enhances each channel separately with: continuously variable level of restored subharmonics; soft bypass of signal processing; variable electronic crossover for subwoofer; separate level control for subwoofer output; subwoofer on/off switch: separate inputs for hi-fi system and video components, selected via front-panel switch: hi-fi input automatically shuts off bass restoration when astrong mono component predominates; video input gives bass restoration at all times (see text); subwoofer crossover factory-set at 90Hz—simple plug-in component to change frequency; crossover may be used separately from rest of unit; external processor loop (after processing); unswitched AC outlet. Price: $259. Approximate number of dealers: 600. Manufacturer: Audio Control, PO Box 3199, Lynnwood, WA 98036. Tel: (206) n5-8461.

Stereophile, February 1988 121 dbx 120X-DS subharmomc synth.

There are some things you never forget. One capable of high sound-pressure levels in the of these was the arrival of our dbx rep with the below-30Hz region. Such products are pro- original dbx 100 "Boom Box." "Ya gotta hear hibitively expensive for most listeners, as well. this thing!" My cute little classical-listener nose Worst of all, most program material (even the went up in the air. "You've got to be kidding! parts with spectacular sound effects) doesn't A bass synthesizer?! On orchestral music?! have much energy below 40Hz. A partial solu- And that name!" tion is to synthesize the missing bass. It works Not wanting to be rude, we plugged it in and this way: three or four third-octave filters are listened. Surprise! It worked. The added bass used to extract bass harmonics in the 50 to was natural-sounding; it wasn't boomy! or 120Hz region. (The exact frequencies are dif- muddy, and didn't sound "tacked-on." The ferent for each unit, and not explicitly dbx 100 was quickly added on to my list of specified.) These signals trigger flip-flops. A "things to buy some day." flip-flop (more properly a bistable multi- But Inever bought one, because as my sys- vibrator) is adigital circuit that outputs one tem improved, there was less and less need for pulse for every two that enter it. In other it. Though its effects never seemed "gim- words, it divides the input frequency in half. micky," neither did Ifeel that most recordings These outputs (which are squarewaves) are run lacked bass impact. The availability of through low-pass filters to remove the har- theatrical movies on home video changed all monics and restore them to a more-nearly that. sinewave form. They are then mixed back with Suddenly, sheer visceral impact has become the original input, to the listener's taste. central to the process of "bringing the theater Bass synthesizers have other uses than just experience home." When an Imperial Walker enhancing the low end of movie soundtracks. topples over, you want the air in the room to Most commercial recordings have little energy shudder in sympathetic convulsion. The below 40 or 50Hz. This is partly because all ultimate goal is to so agitate the vitals that one's the little rolloffs at each step in the chain take dinner is deposited on the faceplate of the 35" their cumulative toll, and partly because hi -res direct-view monitor—from across the record companies often deliberately roll off room. the response in this region, often to make LP There are several difficulties standing in the mastering aless demanding business. A bass way of such an admirable end. Few speaker synthesizer could, in theory, make aworth- systems (or subwoofers, for that matter) are while contribution. Another possible use would be in enhancing

IWithin afew months, the "boom box" appellation was gone the bass output of small speakers. Many care- and the "subharmonic synthesizer" designation moved into top billing, dbx dealers were unanimous in rejecting the fully designed speakers can handle large original name, and for good reason. amounts of bass power without alot of clistor-

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Audio Control Phase-Coupled Activator

122 Stereophile, February 1988 tion. A bass synthesizer could take advantage duced through any medium and by any of this to get punchy sound from asmall box. speakers. It doesn't really need the enhance-

Regardless of the application, bass syn- ment given by the PCA. The 120 h.as aseparate thesizers have three advantages over equal- control marked LF BOOST, which boosts the izers. First, an equalizer cannot boost what 55Hz region. dbx suggests that if there seems does nor exist. Second, asynthesizer does not to be some discontinuity between the added exaggerate rumble. Third, there is no increase bass and the rest of the audio range, this con- in system gain. Therefore, synthesizers cannot trol should be advanced to get a better cause feedback or mistracking. "blend." Sort of the way an artist softens the Both units were run through abypass test, line between two areas of different-colored oil with the bass restoration shut off or turned all paint. the way down. The program source was CDs In an attempt to make arational evaluation, on a Denon DCD-3300 player. Idecided to feed both units with arecording Neither escaped unscathed. Both slightly of tympani that Ihad run through an equalizer darkened the sound, losing some air, "deli- to remove the bottom octaves. By simultane- cacy," and openness, along with aslight loss ously switching the equalizer and the syn- of depth. The Audio Control added abit of thesizer out of the circuit, Icould get afairly steeliness to string tone. The dbx showed a objective idea of how well the 120 and the PGA slight loss of bass impact and heft(!). Both did their job. were surprisingly bad at rendering the col My first problem was—how do you ra- legno tappings about one minute into the tionally roll off the bass? Ididn't know, so I fourth movement of Bartok's Concerto for Or- tried an empirical/interactive approach. With chestra (Solti, 1981). Neither the Audio Con- both equalizers jacked all the way up, Itried trol nor the dbx revealed all the subtleties or to find some substantial equalizer roll-off that the full "wooden" quality of the tapping. the synthesizers were able to fully correct for. Still, their errors are primarily subtractive, Much to my surprise, Icouldn't! Neither was and not too noticeable by themselves; only on able to completely restore the fundamentals— direct comparison. Since the kind of program and the PCA added a lot of unneeded material that needs their ministrations is either "ruummpp" around 60Hz. To get a near- probably defective in other areas, or the sort perfect match, Ihad to use so little roll-off that of thing where one is more interested in im- it made as much as no difference. pact than subtlety, these errors are hardly Well, Ithought, at least these gadgets will crippling. enhance the bass that's already on the disc. My Though both units appear to work the same speakers are flat to 26Hz, so that ought to be way, there is one fundamental difference you alot of fun. Istarted with the end of Star 7kek have to understand, if my descriptions of the III, where the Genesis planet blows up. synthesized bass qualities are to make any Nothing. No effect. (Of course, the PCA sounded sense. The Audio Control PCA samples the impressive, with its 60Hz "ruummpp," but I signal surprisingly far up. It is still working in found Icould duplicate that sound on the 120 that region between the upper bass and the by simply turning up LF BOOST all the way.) lower lower midrange (around 120Hz), The lowest frequencies that pop the ears, rum- whereas the dbx 120 doesn't pay attention to ble the belly, and generate asonic cloud, simp- anything above 100Hz. This difference is plain- ly weren't being enhanced. ly audible on male voices, which are more like- Istarted rummaging through my disks, both ly to take on aheavy, rumbly quality when LP and CD, for bass drum and low-string played through the PCA than when passed recordings. Itried the Telarc Firebird, the Nim- through the dbx 120. 2 bus Symphony in 3 Movements, the RCA The 60Hz region is generally well-repro- Burlesque for Piano and Orchestra, and The Isle of the Dead. Nothing. Almost no enhance- 2 The PCA has an unusual feature to minimize this effect. ment, despite the fact that the dbx's display When astrong mono component dominates the signal. the PCA shuts off the enhancement. Ocklly this feature works only lights were going off like the 4th of July. on the hi-fi inputs. If any it should be on the video in- Even worse, the slight enhancement Idid puts. Audio sources rarely have centered male voices; movies and TV have them all the time. If you own or buy the PCA. hear, though not boomy or muddy, suffered give some thought to switching the cables around. from extreme overhang. With either synthe-

Stereophile, February 1988 123 sizer switched in, bass drum took substantially who just wants to blow his socks off. Of the longer to die away. Since the added fundamen- two, the dbx is marginally superior, if only tals are derived from the harmonics, which (I because it doesn't add aconstant overlay of assume) die away more quickly than the fun- "ruummpp." damentals, this is especially surprising. Ifind nothing inherently wrong with the In desperation, Ihooked my amp to the concept of bass synthesis. Indeed, if digital compact TC-60 speakers that Phase Tech had audio processors ever appear, bass restoration kindly loaned for my surround-sound decoder will doubtless be one of their functions. The review (to appear next month). Finally! Icould problem is that neither the Audio Control PCA hear asubstantial difference when Iswitched nor the dbx 120 really do what is claimed for in the synthesizers. them. They do not fully restore the bass of This doesn't make any sense. If Ienhance material that has deliberately been rolled off. bass frequencies, the enhancement should They don't do much to enhance the bass of a seem nearly identical on any speaker. If any- truly wide-range system. When they do ap- thing, the enhancement should be far more pear to add bass, the added low end suffers noticeable on the wide-range speaker, simply from excessive overhang. because it has more output in the bass region Heard anecdotally, both products are nice- to begin with. sounding, and even impressive. Alas, more That these devices do work with small critical, extended listening shows how disap- speakers is beside the point. Ignoring the fact pointing they are. Everyone likes to be over- that one might not have room for full-size whelmed with bass once in awhile, and even speakers, why would anyone buy a$300 proc- the "perfectionist" audiophile can hardly be essor to enhance the low end of $500 book- blamed if he wants one of these things for oc- shelf speakers, when they could have bought casional use. But their failure to deliver the floor models in the $800 to $900 range? In goods suggests that the prudent listener audi- short, both the dbx 120 and the Audio Control tion carefully and purchase cautiously. S PCA are of limited usefulness, even to the guy

LUXM AN T-117 TUNER Don Scott

Luxman T-117 tuner

FM Stereo/AM tuner with digitally synthesized tuning. Usable sensitivity: 1.6uV/9.28dBf mono, 5uV/19.2dBf stereo. 50dB stereo quieting sensitivity: 24uV/3213dBf with noise reduction; 30uV/34.7dBf without noise reduction. Capture ratio: 1.3dB. Selectivity: 85dB alternate channel, 20dB adjacent channel. S/N ratio at 65dBf: 85dB mono, 83dB stereo. Stereo total harmonic distortion: 0.01%. Stereo separation: 55dB. SCA rejection: 65dB. AM suppression ratio: 75dB. 19 and 38kHz products: 55dB. Power consumption: 15W. Dimensions: 173/8"W by 12 1/4"D by 23/8"H. Weight: 4 lbs. Price: $550. Approximate number of dealers: 250. Manufacturer: Luxman, 19145 Gramercy Place, Torrance, CA 90501. Tel: (213) 326-8000.

Two excellent Luxman tuners have been re- and in many aspects it is superb. viewed in Stereophile: the now-obsolete The T-117 is avery slim tuner with several TX-101 in Vol.7 No.7 and the still-available good and some questionable features: from T-02 in Vol.9 No.3. The T-117 is the com- left to right on the top section are power pany's latest answer to good FM reception, on/off, preset selected display, 4-digit fre-

124 Stereophile, February 1988 quency display, mode indicators, 24 presets gray area of noisy reception from lOuV down with 12 A/B selections, and memory con- to 4uV, at which point the tuner switches to trols. The button section includes record quieter mono. Additionally, the blend is non- calibrate, timer program for recording with a defeatable —not areal problem, because an Luxman remote control system, wide-narrow "in" position would probably be preferred. IF bandwidth, and, yes—a combined auto The company's other top tuner, the T-02, seek, muting, and mono/stereo switch, fol- uses a fixed-ratio high-blend, which is far lowed by a good-sized tuning rocker and more usable for cable FM that has noise de- large AM-FM selectors. The combined tun- spite its good signal strength. The ideal is to ing, muting, and mono/stereo modes switch have afront-panel adjustable high-blend to is not atotal disaster because the muting and suit reception conditions. This feature was on stereo thresholds are very low and do not the old MR-78 and the recent Nikko Gamma normally interfere with operation of the 30 tuners. tuner. However, separated functions give the operator more control. All lighting is in red or Specifications and Performance blue fluorescent. This tuner is one of the most sensitive ever manufactured. 1.6uV/9.2dBf provides dead- Circuit Features quiet reception—at least in mono—of signals In dual or multiple IF bandwidth tuners, the that are noisy with tuners with typical 1.8- progressive insertion of additional ceramic 1.9uV sensitivity. (Other very sensitive tuners filters and associated circuitry may detune the are the Proton 440 and the Revox B261RD.) IF amplification strip in relation to the fixed The T-117 has 20dB adjacent-channel selec- tuning of the detector. Denon's approach is to tivity: not quite up to the H/K Citation 23, use a balanced detector that doesn't care Denon TU -800, or the latest version of the about slight IF mistracking. Harman/Kardon's Onkyo T-9090, but still adequate for splatter- approach is to phase-correct the time lag free reception of weak- or medium-strength created in the super-narrow IF strip by the signals adjacent to asignal not over 100uV. four ceramic filters, and Yamaha shifts the IF The tuner is also resistant to strong signal frequency in aportion of the amplification overload and splatter. Other specifications are strip to center-tune to the individual produc- adequate for good reception. tion filters used. The methods they use are all interrelated because time, frequency, and phase are interrelated—a different road to the FM Sound Quality same end. Not to be left out of the high- One thing that all. top-of-the-line Luxman technology camp, Luxman has come up with tuners seem to do is receive avariety of sta- aComputer ControllediWin Detector circuit. tions with good fidelity. The T-117 is no ex- Their technical emphasis is not on IF-strip ception. There are no SCA birdies, the nar- problems because though the T-117 is selec- row bandwidth position does not appreciably tive, it is not as selective as the above group, distort signals, and the stereo S/N is 83dB — and correspondingly doesn't need electronic very quiet. Iwill stick my neck out by saying cosmetics. Instead, Luxman emphasizes ob- that this is one of ¡be best-sounding tuners taining the best S/N ratio and lowest distortion ever. On strong signals in the wide-band under weak and strong (over 30uV/34.7dBf) mode, there is no detectable distortion over signal levels with separate detectors and asso- the best reference Ihave (an 11-year-old San- ciated IF circuitry optimized to each com- sui TU -9900). In brief, the T-117 could serve puter-determined condition. Surprisingly, well as astudio monitor. Its stereo separation there are no transition pops or clicks. and clarity are exceptional, and basically mir- The T-117 also uses asliding high-blend to ror what is broadcast, good or bad. The Onix reduce weak signal noise. The .circuit has BWD1 reviewed in Vol.10 No.8 also shares merits and faults: it slides from 30uV down to these same finite audio qualities, but under approximately lOuV, and never goes to full more favorable reception conditions. mono, as with most variable high-blends. This approach maintains minimum 20dB AM Section separation with weak signals, but leaves a Some day amanufacturer will go all out and

Stereophile, February 1988 125 build an AM tuner with the same fervor as re- Conclusion cent FM designs. Luxman has done about a In the last two months my reference Class A 60% job with its AM section. It has very low tuner has been displaced by better products distortion, useful frequency response beyond such as the T-I17. (Expect some changes in the 6kKz, and 200uV/m sensitivity on the higher next Stereophile "Recommended Compon- end of the dial. Below 900kHz, however, con- ents" list.) It may not be the ultimate tuner, but siderable self-generated digital noise masks all with adirectional antenna it should be quite but the strongest stations. Moving the loop usable in 80% of reception applications. Rec- antenna away from the chassis helps slightly. ommended.

FOLLOW UP

Bedini 150/150 Mk.11 power tive playing but did not entirely disappear. The amplifier brilliance of the upper registers was somewhat Those of you who read my original review of diminished and flat-sounding, as if Lesley's this solid-state amplifier (Vol.10 No.7) should voice had been transposed asemitone. The not be surprised that the folks at Bedini were treble also evidenced traces of grain or coarse- quite unhappy with my findings. After examin- ness. The spatial outlines of instruments within ing the returned sample as well as listening to the soundstage were as flat as apancake; ver- it, Bedini agreed that its sound quality left alot itable cardboard cutouts. to be desired and diagnosed my unit as "defec- These initial impressions held up with sub- tive." To prove their case, areplacement am- sequent analog program material. For exam- plifier was sent for evaluation. According to ple, Therese Juel's voice (cut Al on the Opus John Bedini, astringent quality-control pro- 3 Test Record 1) was not well focused within gram is maintained, but occasionally it is passi- the soundstage, and, in general, spatial outlines ble for aunit that specs out OK but has some lacked any sense of palpable realism. Sibilants sonic misgivings to leave the factory. In order were slightly out of control. The bass was tight to ensure the customer's long-term satisfac- in character, but the timbre of the double bass tion, Bedini—at no charge—will test any of was not quite right. On cut A4, losses in trans- their amplifiers that are suspected of not being parency and upper-mid purity were noted, 100%. The greatly improved sound of the sec- while on cut A10 the upper octaves were dry- ond sample certainly bears out the veracity of sounding. In general, grain and grit were Bedini's claim. found to increase with volume level, and the The amp was auditioned after a 72-hour amp sounded darker (but not murky) as it was warm-up period. It was left on continuously pushed harder. The harmonic colors of David during the testing period, as recommended by Abel's Guarnerius (Wilson Audio's recording Bedini. Both the old Quad ESLs (with the of the Beethoven Piano and Violin Sonata) Koval mod) and the Dahlia-Debra speakers were distinctly dry and bleached, and much were used. The rest of the system consisted of of the overtone sweetness was missing in ac- the Threshold FET-10 preamp, the SOTA vac- tion. On laudate! (Proprius 7800), resolution uum table, the SME V tonearm, and Monster of individual voices in the chorus suffered Cable's Alpha Genesis 1000 cartridge. Of course, somewhat, and the upper mids and treble the Lesley Test (Sony PCM-F1 master tapes) was were consistently dry and slightly grainy. also conducted. The foregoing should not be interpreted•as My first listening impressions were of Les- an attempt to shoot down the 150/150, but ley's voice on the Quads. The first impression rather as evidence to the effect that it has not was of aclean and very detailed soundstage achieved perfection. To put my findings in with just slight losses in the areas of transpar- perspective, Ishould note that the Bedini ency, timbre accuracy, and imaging. There was struck me at this point in time as edging much aslight darkening of Lesley's lower register, closer to perfection than any other similarly which improved after about 30 minutes of ac- priced solid-state amplifier. Despite its short-

126 Stereophile, February 1988 comings, the Bedini was quite listenable, with- Monitor Audio R952MD out the harshness and zip that afflict lesser Ireviewed these modest-looking, two-way amps. In fact, it appeared to beat out anything (but three-driver), floorstanding loudspeakers else Icould think of, solid-state-wise, at under last month. Iconcluded that their combina- akilobuck. So at this point in the evaluation, tion of high sensitivity, superb transparency, the Bedini, though lacking an inspirational excellent imaging and, for me, optimally sound quality, appeared to be agood value aligned bass, made them well worth the and stiff competition for anything close to its SI349/pair asking price, offsetting the rather price point. forward mid-treble which is due, Iam sure, to The 150/150 stock went up markedly when the intrinsically rising response of the twin Itried it with the Dahlia-Debra speakers. Ireally woofers in this region. Prolonged listening struck gold! Apparently, this amp loves ady- has not changed my opinion of the speakers' namic load. Suddenly, the soundstage came sound quality. However, the overall ease of alive, with amuch improved sense of dynamic the sound makes it very easy to demand too contrast and tonal verity. The music ebbed and much of them in terms of dynamics. A week flowed with greater conviction than on the after Vol.11 No.1 went to press, Idid some- Quads. The faults enumerated above were still thing that we always warn high-end neo- audible, but collectively were not as intrusive. phytes against: Icontinuously clipped arela- The Bedini was able to drive the Dahlias to tively low-powered amplifier (50Wpc) into very high volume levels without strain or any the speakers with atrack that already had a signs of distress. Bass control was excellent. high proportion of treble (Dave Edmunds' Low-level detail resolution and midrange trans- "Crawling from the Wreckage," a real air- parency again struck me more positively on guitar special). The distortion components the Dahlias. The amp was able to generate the add to the load already being suffered by the drive and verve of live music whenever the tweeter, and in the case of a system using program material cooperated. first-order, shallow-slope filter slopes, as with As the Bedini was now beginning to suggest the '952, the result is aterminally damaged performance capabilities of far more expen- HF unit. sive amplifiers, Ire-ran the Lesley Test. While The moral of this tale? Use of shallow cross- the timbre of Lesley's voice was still slightly over slopes may result in increased trans- tainted (though more natural then before), she parency, but to be set against that is the in- was nonetheless projected onto the sound- creased vulnerability of the drive-units. Be stage in abelievable fashion. How believable warned. These Monitor Audios are thor- was she? Well, JGH, who happened to be pass- oughbreds rather than streetwise punks, and ing in the hallway, poked his head into my should be treated accordingly. —JA listening room to see if Lesley was inside, which of course she was not. His comment was that she sounded real in the hallway. With the proviso that this amp he matched with adynamic speaker load, Ican tell you that I'm quite high on the Bedini. It is capable of STEREOPHELE clean, detailed, and dynamic sound, with only minor vestiges of asonic signature. It is slightly dry and dark-sounding, and the imaging per- Subscribe formance is clearly solid-stateish in that instrument outlines within the soundstage are flat, today without 3-D palpability. Bass control and impact are very good, at least into 8-ohm nominal loads. Overall, the 150/150 impresses me form on page awhole lot more than, sa); the Eagle 2, by virtue of the former's greater transparency and resolution capabilities. In my opinion, then, 75 the 150/150 is aclear Class C selection and a winner at its asking price. —DO

Stereophile, February 1988 127 THE POWER PURIFIER IS HERE!

‘-‘ • • (• rib — 7

la WADI WM IMIMILEITIUMZIM

STRAIGHT WIRE POWER PURIFIER EIGHT is the first practical device that provides pure power without current limitations. Utilizing Active Waveform Correction circuitry, it analyzes the incoming power waveform and instantaneously corrects voltage spikes and line hash to yield anearly perfect sine wave. The Power Purifier Eight notably improves the performance of audio and video systems, providing increased dynamic contrasts, quieter background, and enhanced definition. Available in ablack, component style chassis. $495.00

— — — — Magnetic Field CASE STUDY: AUDIO CABLE ANATOMY

PATIENT: A seemingly healthy, high-quality audio system.

SYMPTOMS: The patient appears to be suffering from aloss of subtlety, harmonic purity and lifelike dimensionality. Ex- treme high frequencies are diminished and upper midrange frequencies sound congested and irritated. Musical enjoyment is significantly impaired.

DIAGNOSIS: The patient's cables have inadequate control of Twisted Arrays their electromagnetic fields due to acongenital design defect. The cable's twisted conductors cannot fully contain the magnetic field of the music signal (Fig. 1). This induces a slowing down of high frequencies (PHASE SHIFT) and a tendency toward bloated lower extremities (malignant bass).

CURE: Immediate, radical cablectomy (removal of existing cables) followed by implantation of cables that uniformly contain the signal's magnetic field. The best prescription — SYMMETRICAL COAXIAL cables (Fig. 2) by STRAIGHT WIRE (The Music Conductor Series, LSI. and Ultra-Flex interconnect). NO GENERIC SUBSTITUTES WILL DO! Fig. 2 • Symmetrical Coaxial

PRESCRIPTIONS CAN BE FILLED BY: Stereo Exchange -NYC 800-833-0071 P.F.A. -Italy Shelley's Stereo -L.A. Area 818-716-8500 Unico -Japan May Audio Marketing -Canada 514-651-5707 Summit -Hong Kong _fflAIGHT E1909 HARRISON ST. HOLLYWOOD. FL 33020

Stereophile, February 1988 BUILDING A LIBRARY

Schubert's Great C-Major Symphony

Christopher Brett nig

chubert's "Great" C major Symphony (D.944),while Sfollowing the pattern of aHaydn symphony, expands on the scale of Beet- s hoven's Seventh and forms abridge to the scope and length of Bruckner's—the drama } and turbulence of the slow movement aromantic breaking of the classical mold (strange- ly pre-echoing Tchaikovsky's Fifth, one might but it could not be discerned because it was argue.) It was completed in the year following too pale pink."! The complete symphony, Beethoven's death. albeit heavily cut, was premiered in that same There is slight confusion over numbering year, when Mendelssohn conducted it at the here: recently, EMI has decided to follow the Leipzig Gewandhaus. He had been sent the New Complete Edition and revised Deutsch score by Schumann (at that time best known Thematic Catalogue, exchanging the custom- as the principal critic of the Nene Zeitschrift ary 9for 8(which everyone knows as the "Un- music journal), who had traveled to visit the finished"!). To add to this confusion, DG used tombs of Beethoven and Schubert, and then to adopt the old numbering, Seven, for this, to see the composer's brother Ferdinand, who the last Schubert symphony. There was no kept acollection of Schubert's manuscripts. superstition on Schubert's part, as there was Though Schumann spoke of its "heavenly to be with Gustav Mahler, although like Mahler lengths," the orchestral musicians were not so he never heard his Ninth performed. He had enthusiastic—the endless figurations in the the bad luck to offer it to the Vienna Musik- finale were pronounced unplayable. verein in 1828; the parts were copied out Nowadays the "Great" is in almost every am- and rehearsals begun. The work was then set bitious conductor's repertory, and has been aside as "too long and too difficult," although endlessly recorded, if not from Abbado to Zin- the first two movements were heard in Vienna man then from Arturo Toscanini to Zubin in 1839—after which one critic wrote that it Mehta. The problem with assessing these suggested "a little conflict between instru- recordings is that so many of them are attrac- ments, out of which no clear picture emerged. tive, in parts if not the whole. And, speaking Admittedly ared thread ran through the whole, of the whole, do you want all repeats? The ftill

Stereophile, February 1988 129 heavenly lengths, as in the recordings of Muti, an eailier style of interpretation, freer in tempo Tate, Barenboim, Davis, or Loughran? In the changes than is now the current fashion. In the Levine/Chicago SO version on DG, aspinoff slow movement Barenboim makes much of from the 1983 Ravinia Festival performances, the big climax, with trombones and strings— the outer movements were deprived of exposi- almost a screaming anguish there, in the tion repeats while all those in (iii) were observed, resonance of the Philharmonie acoustic; then an unbalanced apportionment —Levine's awearied delivery of the strings/oboe material Scherzo is 14:03 vs Toscanini's 8:47. that hints of consolation to come, atrill signal- And how sensitive are you to tempo rela- ing the resumption of the song-like main tionships? Carlo Maria Giulini, in any case a theme. most reserved musician, says he avoided con- The precedent for all this, of course, lies in ducting the Ninth for many years, until he saw the Wilhelm Furtwangler recording with the autograph and realized the intended rela- (nominally) the same orchestra, produced by tionship between the Andante introduction DG in December 1951 and first issued on three and the first movement's Allegro non troppo. 12" LP sides, later in various reincarnations. Intuitively, he'd always thought the acceleran- Now it comes on CD with the Rosamunde do most conductors made from one to the Overture (415 660-2). There are four other other was wrong. He saw that Schubert's Furtwangler Ninths on worldwide labels, but manuscript time-signature for the Andante it is this historic and exhaustive traversal that was two to the bar—not four, as shown in the stirred not just the young Barenboim set of the Breitkopf printed edition—which meant the '60s, but prompted Claudio Arrau, on more equation of triplet eighth-notes there to triplet than one occasion, to cite its penetrative in- quarter-notes in the Allegro. Even so, "a ghast- sights. Furtwangler's achievement there was ly mistake" was the reaction of one reviewer, to express the widest emotional range with a though for another, something "I always plasticity that never allowed asuspicion of hoped to hear." "imposition" on the music to arise; rather, he More recently, last November, Sir Charles reached the inspirational centers of the Mackerras followed that precedent in what movements. was possibly the first London concert perfor- Such sublimity comes but once. But, at an mance with aperiod-instrument ensemble opposite extreme, yet no less overwhelming (the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment). in its way, there was the unexpected stature of The reading was then recorded for the new a Boston SO Ninth under Charles Munch, classical division of Virgin. issued by RCA in 1960. Munch's second move- When awork has attracted interpreters of ment has aresolute, positive tread, with strong such widely differing temperaments, the timpani accents and slight rallentandos "con- results must vary accordingly—from the tradicted" with avigorous resumption of the monumentality of Klemperer and Tate, to the basic pulse. It is Munch who makes the ac- geniality of Krips and Walter, the imperious- celerando approach the movement's climax ness of Szell, the nerviness of Tennstedt, the (very much aFurtwangler trait), and its resolu- dynamism of Toscanini and Munch, then to tion has apeaceful, unequivocally optimistic the less markedly personal but still pleasingly spirit. musical versions of Haitink, Sawallisch, and The exuberant pacing of Munch'sfinale has Levine. On records, Schubert 9ranges from the agraceful flow that differs only slightly from classically restrained (Boult) to the grandiose that of George Szell's 1970 Cleveland recording and impersonal (Muti). for Angel (made just three months before his One 1987 release, greeted with very little death). In the second subject the Bostonians sympathy by the critics, seems to me of special are freer, less strictly reined than the Cleveland interest when viewed as akind of homage to Orchestra. Szell had a way of stopping the the spirit of what was, many would argue, the music from smiling—pace RU—yet the sheer greatest of all Schubert Ninths. The extremely beauty of his introduction to the symphony slow introduction to the work in the Daniel (each pizzicato in its place, the long legato Barenboim recording with the Berlin Philhar- phrases impeccably contoured) makes this monic (CBS M42316, CD MK42316) forewarns Ninth equally worth seeking at the deletion of an approach to the text that harks back to specialists'.

130 Stereophile, February 1988 Another gramophone classic, long in the LP oiled precision, the performance itself seems catalog, has yielded to CD to form part of a to offer little apart from conducting virtuosity. complete set of the Schubert Symphonies: the Far more rewarding, in every was is Sir Georg BPO version under Karl Bohm of 1963. The Solti's "Great" with this orchestra, a 1981 cycle as awhole (DG 419 318-2, 4CDs) typifies Sofiensaal production by—yes, James Mallinson what the veteran German conductor Gunter again! This early CD release from Decca is still Wand calls "the Perfektions-orchester" man- to be heard as ademonstration disc (400082- ner, but is none the worse for that—far from 2). A satisfying reading, if not especially "Vien- it. Iwould not like to have to choose between nese— —nor was the old Kertesz/VPO Decca. Bohm and Wand's own Schubert series, hap- If warmth is your principal aim, the earlier pily available on single CDs (EMI/Deutsche Krips/LSO Decca Ninth is the one to search Harmonia Mundi). Wand's Ninth, very stimu- out; but if you like amore classical style, yet lating, was one of the first to be done, and still with glowing orchestral playing, then he says he would like to re-record it now Sawallisch and the Dresden Orchestra— Wand excels in the earlier works—which perhaps my own choice for what might be Bohm did not even want to conduct, until DG called "everyday" listening—are better still. persuaded him to tackle them in 1972-3. Though the Philips sound needs a good It's apity DG opted for the much later Bohm system to open it out: in sonic character it is live recording with the Dresden Staatskapelle rather dull, although some congestion lends for separate CD reissue (419 484-2); this has afalse brightness to the top. some mannered speeds, and the digital proc- Sawallisch's finale is small-scaled, though, essing is not very agreeable. With Karajan, it when set beside Tate's. Tate conducts the is acase of the earliest of his three recordings, Dresden Staatskapelle, too, in an EMI /VEB the 1946 one with the VP0 on Toshiba (EAC- coproduction (CDC 747 4782). You cannot but 30104) being preferable musically to either of admire the integrity here (especially rhythmic), the BPO stereo remakes. Of those, Ifind the which extends to the purist balancing tech- DG more interesting than do most reviewers, niques favored by producer David Groves. But but little of absorption in the EMI (part of an the digital sound is faintly cold and forbidding, unmemorable 1977-8 cycle on LP). and one or two reviewers gave up on the The hours of work that went into resusci- reading too, finding it marmoreal. It follows tating Tosc-anini's 1941 Philadelphia Ninth from the Klemperer manner and, if decidedly not damaged acetates is part of recording lore. But for everyday listening, surely ranks with the was the effort worth it? In my view the maestro's two or three outstanding realizations to be own NBC Orchestra, in the February 53 had. Carnegie Hall alternative (to the '4 7 Victor), Sir Adrian Boult's performances with the gave by far the more characteristic account, BBC SO were highly regarded in his day; his and Iam glad this was made available again on LPO recording suffers from some untidy RCA Gold Seal (GL 85246) acouple of years ensemble, but this does not mask his evident ago. Even though digitally mastered, it still convictions about the piece. Some of the or- sounds acceptable enough in German DMM chestral balances are as revealing as his grip on pressings. tempi. The 1972 analog LP sounds very good Whether from La Scala, Philadelphia, or (EMI SXLP30558), the recut being brighter, if even Vienna, the recent EMI/Angel recordings less weighty, than the superior original transfer. meted out to Riccardo Muti can hardly be said As with their Elgar and Vaughan Williams re- to be technically distinguished. His new VPO cordings, Boult and Barbirolli differ markedly Schubert Ninth (CDC 747 6992) will surprise The deleted Halle Ninth (1966 EMI) tingles those who associate the producer James with feeling in the finale, where Boult's bris- Mallinson with excellence—or who already tles with rhythmic firmness—Barbirolli is less own his Berlin/Barenboim production for powerful in the merely rhetorical accenting, CBS. The way the cellos loom up from the but excels in the lyricism and molding of in- right-hand speaker early on in the recording ner support lines, as well as in drawing the Ifound disconcerting, and the general quality listener in to the dramas of Schubert's flowing combines abland unreality with potential ag- . soundscapes. gressiveness. But then, with its machine-like

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TEL 904 575-5655 piece of night music with abeautiful, extended CLASSICAL viola solo. Other promising themes receive ARENSKY: Symphonies 1and 2 mechanical, perfunctory development. levgeni Svetlanov, USSR Symphony Orchestra So why should we not completely forget Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFCD 878. A-D. 'Ft 58:54 Arensky's music? Well, the answer is that it Those wondering why the music of Anton contains just enough of interest to get by. One Stepanovich Arensky isn't heard much these of these symphonies could certainly replace days need search no farther than this release an umpteenth performance of Also Sprach to find the reasons. On the other hand, this Zarathustra on some orchestra's program. His disc is also evidence that his music should not music is also easily comprehended, which may be forgotten altogether. entice novice listeners to seek out more satis- Arensky had all the outward makings of a fying stuff. great Romantic artist: addictions to alcohol and The performances on this disc were recorded gambling, even an early death from tuber- by the Soviet Union's Melodiya, and while culosis. Born in Novgorod in 1861, he died in the sound is somewhat dull and constricted aFinnish sanitarium in 1906. Rimsky-Korsakov in nearly all aspects, the playing is of prosely- was his teacher, Rachmaninov and Scriabin his tizing fervor. Bereft of recorded comparisons, pupils. the interpretation and execution seem aptly What he lacked was the fire of agreat soul. fitting to the best intentions of the music. The little in his work that is original is usually This recording will not be ablockbuster for handled sophomorically, and if you find that MFSL, nor will it start an Arensky revival. It the music of Arensky reminds you of some- may not even make asecond appearance on thing, it is probably the music of Mendelssohn, your spinner. But it does open awindow on Rimsk y Korsakov, or Chopin. alesser light of apast era. That may help us Symphony 1, which won the composer a understand our own musical times better. gold medal from the St. Petersburg Conserv- — Robert Hesson atory, is very approachable, but very predictable as well. An intriguing, mysterious melody BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonatas Nos. 5, 6, 7, II, 15, & 20 Itermint Roberts, piano in the third movement and folk elements in the Nimbus NI 5054 (CD). Nos. DDD. IT: 5-1:32 fourth form the most successful sections, but Nimbus NI 5055 (CD), Nos. II, IS. & 20. DDD. 58:11 they are not enough to banish the feeling that So much has been written about Beethoven's you've gotten all the composition has to offer music that the only real question is: In light of in the first hearing. the towering pianists of the past and today The unusual form of Symphony 2, like who have recorded his music, is there anything many of Arensky's techniques, rings more of new to be said? novelty than of originality. The second move- By all means, yes. Differences of period style ment of this work, however, is an appealing alone are abundant. Iam not talking about at-

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technology Avelable Crect or through selected dealen, tempts at historical accuracy, but rather the heads the list, thanks in part to Felix Mendels- style of the performer's own day. Irefer to the sohn's resurrection of his St. Matthew Passion obvious differences in performing style be- in 1829. But there have been numerous others tween the 1930s romantic intellectualism of whose music lay dormant after their deaths Artur Schnabel, the post-WWII drama of Sviato- until some adventuresome performer (or pro- slav Richter, the current original- or period- ducer) decided that it should be heard (or instrument approach of Michael Bilson, or the might sell). modern school of unadorned, clear-cut in- A recent beneficiary of such enterprises is telligence of aBernard Roberts, just to name the Englishman William Boyce, who lived afew of the more outstanding artists whose from 1711 to '79. Although much of his exten- recordings we have. sive oeuvre was never published and is lost, Roberts is one of Britain's leading pianists, agood deal remains; based on the musical as Nimbus's notes tell us, with a repertoire quality of these symphonies, one hopes that from the early classics to the 20th century And future examinations of his work will not be like most musicians worth adamn, he plays for long in coming. the audience of today—an audience exposed Among his many accomplishments, Boyce to abreadth and depth of music and musicians held several posts as church organist, during unheard of before the advent of recordings which he produced asteady stream of com- and radio. Roberts is rerecording all of the positions for liturgical use. He received his Beethoven sonatas DDD. (His direct-to-disc greatest recognition for theater music, how- Beethoven sonata cycle of the late 1970s ever, and the symphonies, published in 1760, helped put Nimbus's name on the map.) These are largely drawn from his earlier dramatic two CDs, discs five and six in the series, are works and odes. Scored for strings, continuo, commanding in their self-effacing style and and assorted winds (including trumpets and unified manner. While Beethoven did usher tympani in No.5), they are notably succinct, out the Classic era and establish the Roman- with the shortest (No.3) running only about tic, these facts do not interfere with Roberts's five minutes and the longest (No.8) amere ten refreshingly strong view. For example, Richter minutes. The first five are cast in the three- (Philips, op) definitely lets you know the movement fast-slow-fast scheme derived from origins of the Haydnesque Sonata No. 20, and the Italian overture, and none of the set Schnabel (EMI, op) repeatedly displays the fact challenges the tonal conventions of its day. But that Beethoven was abig-time romantic, while appearances can be deceiving: within this Bilson (Nonesuch) is given to romanticizing on rather straightforward formal arrangement, atinkly-sounding instrument. Roberts, on the Boyce has crafted eight thoroughly captivating other hand, plays a concert grand with a little gems. mesmerizing clarity and directness. In common with most 18th-Century English The sound, while not up to the ideal composers, Boyce worked under Handers im- represented by James Boyk's recordings, is ex- posing shadow, and there is certainly more cellent, with awarm ambience about half-way than atrace of Handelian stateliness and har- back in areasonably resonant hall. For those monic richness to be found here. Nonetheless, interested, the recording is, like most Nimbus these are not pieces that simply chug along in releases, Ambisonic UHJ encoded. If you want accepted period parlance; Boyce's way of flesh- more performer's style and personality, look ing out simple forms is both imaginative and elsewhere. If you want more Beethoven, you varied. His often motivically constructed are at home here melodies bubble over with grace and regal —William A.C. Furtwangler charm and sometimes—as during the Minuet movement of No.3 —evince an affecting sweet- BOYCE: 8 Symphonies ness as well. His skill at contrasting dramatic Trevor Pinnock. English Concert Archiv 419 631-2 (CD). Dr. Gerd Ploebsch, recording sup , tension with relaxed tunefulness is as highly Dr. Andreas Holschneider, Charlotte Kriesch, prods. DDD. developed as his contrapuntal writing is pol- TE 60:04 ished (consider here the barn-burner of afugue Every few years some forgotten composer which closes the first movement of No.7). once held in high esteem by his contem- Happily, nothing in the way of style or con- poraries is "rediscovered." J.S. Bach, of course, tent escapes harpsichordist/conductor Pin-

Stereophile, February 1988 135 flock and the English Concert. If you're one In the Fall of 1963, Reiner was to appear at of those who stil: thinks that the use of the Metropolitan Opera to lead anew produc- "original instruments" spells expressive bland- tion of Gotterdammerung; record Haydn's ness (and God knows that, in some hands, it 95th and 101st symphonies for RCA with a does), you're in for atreat. The Concert's in- hand-picked orchestra of Metropolitan Opera, tonation is consistently right on the yellow NYPO, and old NBC SO personnel; and visit line, and these recreations are, in all, models the CSO, where RCA had scheduled him to of scholarly care, ensemble finesse, and sen- record the suites from Bartok's Miraculous sitive musicianship. While Pinnock's tempi are Mandarin and Kodaly's Nary Janos. The generally on the slow side, much faster ones Haydn works were recorded, but recurrent ill- would surely dilute the music's inherent ma- ness brought Reiner to the hospital, where he jesty and, if you will, English swagger—quali- died—one week to the day before President ties which are brightly illuminated on the CD. Kennedy was assassinated. Orchestral balances and timbres have been Iheard Reiner and the Chicago Symphony captured by Archiv's engineers with appeal- perfonn Brahms's 4th in December, 1962. That ing naturalness, and instruments are secure- performance has had few rivals since, and cer- ly placed spatially. Personally, Ifind the reso- tainly remains unsurpassed. This recording nant, empty-hall acoustic to be larger than life doesn't surpass it, but it's the next best thing for what are essentially chamber-sized works by avery close margin, really too close to call. realized on intimately scaled instruments. But Its only current rivals in any recorded format this is aminor complaint in what is otherwise are by Toscanini, Walter, Wand, and Kleiber. amusical delight in every way. Lurking in the background is some truly ex- —Gordon Emerson cellent Brahms recorded about 20 years ago by Kurt Sanderling in Dresden, currently BRAID'S: Symphony 4; BEETHOVEN: Egmont Overture Fritz Reiner (Brahms). Rene Leibowitz (Beethoven), RP() unavailable. And when CBS gets around to is- Chesky CD6 (CD). Kenneth G. Wilkinson. eng Charles suing CDs of Szell's Brahms, we'll have an in- Gerhardt. prod. SPARS Code not given—Analog original. TT: teresting horse race indeed. e:31 Rivalry aside, and with all the merits these When Fritz Reiner listened to atest pressing other conductors possess, Idoubt seriously of this recording he had made on asummer whether there will ever be another Brahms 4 visit to London in 1963, he declared it to be the quite like this one, so restrained in its disci- most beautiful recording he had ever made. pline, yet so deeply felt, and so beautifully This statement may have ruffled some feathers played by the orchestra. Reiner was not known among the personnel of the Chicago Sym- to wear his heart on his sleeve, and some phony, which he had led for adecade and listeners may be left cold by an approach to made into one of the world's greatest orches- Brahms in which the mind governs the heart. tras, and with which he had made dozens of If, on the other hand, you've had enough landmark recordings. Nonetheless, hearing this bombast from the current crop of young Brahms 4 now, one can understand how he curly-haired moppets in their turtle-neck would have been moved to utter the thought. shirts and designer jeans, this just could be Fragile health had forced Reiner to relin- your cup of tea. This is aperformance of such quish his position as Musical Director at subtlety, yet such intensity, that it may be Chicago at the close of the 1962-63 Season, returned to again and again, with new insights but his post-retirement plans were nothing less to be gained at each repeated hearing. than ambitious. The Brahms 4 was an inter- Imissed the original Reader's Digest issue, esting assignment which drew Reiner into the and didn't hear this recording until RCA ranks of the leading senior conductors of the reissued it on its mid-priced Gold Seal LP period for a Reader's Digest subscription- series. More recently it reappeared on the record series. It had class: the Royal Philhar- Quintessence label. The RCA was as murky as monic, Sir Thomas Beecham's own orchestra. the Quintessence was overbright and bass-shy, Sir Thomas and Reiner were close friends and like abad CD. mutual admirers—Sir Thomas had appeared The Chesky is neither abad CD, nor merely as aguest conductor on many occasions in agood CD. It is agreat CD. The original pro- Chicago. duction in Walthamstow Town Hall was more

136 Stereophile, February 1988 intimate and less reverberant than Reiner's The third (1889) revision, performed here by Chicago recordings, and this is very much in Wand, has the legendary Karajan/BPO record- keeping not only with the smaller concert halls ing (CD: DG 413 362-2) to compete with, and in Europe, but European orchestral dynamics, Chailly's more recent London recording (CD: which are not quite so grandiose as those of 417 093-2) with the Berlin RSO. This makes American orchestras. The Chesky transfer into the choice somewhat bewildering, but for the digital format is one of the finest of its type ardent Brucknerites at least one recording of Ihave ever heard. It truly sounds analog in the all three versions would seem a necessity. best sense of the term, with all the advantages It might as well be said at the outset that the of CD. Dave and Norm Chesky are strongly shortcomings of Wand and the Cologne RSO committed to analog vinyl, but they are equal- in the Symphony are too many to make it areal ly committed to the improvement of CD. So contender in this strong field. The first move- far, their CDs have been no less remarkable ment has drive enough, but rhythms are loose than their vinyl issues from the RCA Living and uninspiring, and coordination is often Stereo series. poor. The slow movement fails to take notice- If Iappear to have given short shrift (or none able account of tempi changes between An- at all) to the Egmont Overture conducted by dante quasi allegretto and Langsamer sec- Rene Leibowitz, please excuse me. Palk about tions, and the strings lack the body to fully an underrated conductor! Whew—what a release the emotional impact of the score. In whirlwind of aperformance, and no cheap the Scherzo the recording misjudgment noted shots or vulgar exaggerations, just clear- in Vol.10 No.9 in Symphonies 1and 2(which minded insights, and magnificent playing from allows the brass to break through and smother the RPO. In this, the Brahms, and in each of all else in the tutti sections) must take the lion's the previous Chesky releases from this series, share of the blame for the imbalance created it's difficult to believe these are studio record- here. All we are left with are brass and wood- ings. The spirit of communication is of an wind blasting out of rhythm, the theme on order we usually expect from an orchestra strings being virtually inaudible. The Trio is playing before the public. This is aCD to have pleasantly insouciant in its rustic declamation, in one's collection for performance and sound, but ends scrappily at the Scherzo's recapitula- and Chesky is alabel to watch for future re- tion. The Finale needs acertain rhythmic ten- leases, on vinyl and CD. —Richard Schneider sion to develop full strength and power, and to draw its sprawlingly diverse themes into BRUCKNER: Symphonies 3 & 4* satisfying cohesion, and although Wand cer- Gunter Wand, Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra tainly achieves momentum here, string osti- EMI Deutsche Harrnonia Mundi CDC 747 7442 (CD), CDC 74' '452' (CD). Otto Nielen, Hermann Rantz, Hans-Georg nato figures, particularly that which accom- Daehn," engs.; Dr. Hermann Lang, prod. ADD. TTs, 55:06. panies the opening theme, lack conviction and 64 :21' seem to chug along without purpose or direc- Bruckner's Third Symphony exists in three tion. By contrast, the Polka theme is delicately versions: the original 1873 version only done and emerges as the most satisfying mo- became available in 1984, when it was recorded ment of the movement, thus rendering the by lnbal with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony movement itself an unsatisfying climax to the Orchestra in a4-disc set with the original ver- work. sions of Symphonies 4and 8. This first work- But if this cannot be arecommended ac- ing of ideas contained numerous quotes from count of the Third Symphony, the same is the operas of Wagner, the work's dedicatee, in hardly true of the Fourth. Here Wand stands its first, second, and fourth movements, but in almost childlike awe of the work, his sen- these were mostly omitted in the extensive sitivity revealed through aperformance touch- revisions that Bruckner later made to the score. ing in its understatement, the grand gesture Inbal's highly praised performance of this ver- never clouding his view or enforcing aself- sion is now available singly on Teldec ZK8 consciousness. The orchestra is better coor- 42922. The second (1878) revision still exists dinated and more accurate here too, respond- in Haitink's 1965 performance on Philips SAL ing well to Wand's serene, meditative reading 3506, and in Kubelik's 1985 Bavarian RSO per- of the opening. If the strings sound alittle steely, formance, now on CD from CBS (MK 39033). they handle phrasing so sensuously, and

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ALCYON ELECTRONIOUE 4351 ESPLANADE MONTREAL NAIM AUDIO NORTH AMERICA INC QUEBEC H2W 02 1759 N SEDGWICK. CHICAGO. IL 60614 SEPARATE BOX LOUDSPEAKER CANADA JDL TEL 1312/ 944 0717 TEL 1514 8457159 dynamics so beautifully that tone quality seems always been one of my least favorite of Gersh- to matter very little in this context. The still, win's works, but Fiedler's mastery has increased funereal mood of the Andante is also sensitively both my understanding and enjoyment of what handled, the music unfolding at its own unhur- had previously seemed adisjointed piece. ried yet purposeful pace, and the same can be Despite the fact that both composer and said of the difficult Finale, which moves ever conductor were associated with pop music, forward with unpressured momentum as a this performance is in the highest traditions result of finely integrated tempi. Perhaps most of concert music: superb composition and pa- strongly characterized is the Scherzo, its open- tient, clear, insightful conducting. ing woodland horns suggesting a fresh, The record lacks nothing. The orchestra is elemental atmosphere, so compatible with the just sitting there between your speakers—no serenely bucolic Trio. more, no less. This is surely the height of Wand responds to this "Romantic" Sym- natural, unadulteratedly great sound, making phony not with the grandeur and majesty of, one wonder what other treasures remain to be say, Bohm or Jochum, but with the care and unlocked by Chesky's engineers. High praise concern of someone opening aprecious gift, should also go to RCA's original recording and intent only to reveal its contents and delight maintenance of the master tape. Bravissimo! in its beauty Fortunately the recording mirrors Please bring us more. —James Berwin this with agreater clarity than the previous three symphonies have enjoyed. There is good HAYDN: Symphonies 101 ("The Clock") & 104 depth and spread here, and, despite the reso- ("London") nance of the venue, lines and textures tend to Adam Fischer, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra emerge uncluttered. My only complaint is at Nimbus NI 5105 (CD). DOD. TT: 60:14 the abrupt loss of ambience at the end of the According to the notes accompanying this disc, second movement, but that is asmall price to the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra is pay when weighed against the merits of this comprised of musicians drawn from the Vien- very fine issue. —Barbara Jahn na and Budapest Philharmonics and brought together to "perform and record Haydn's major GERSHW1N: Rimpsody in Blue, An American in Paris Earl Wild. piano, Pasquale Cardillo, clarinet, Arthur Fiedler. orchestral works in the places where he lived Boston Pops Orchestra and coinposed." This initial release in the series Chesky Records RC 8(LP). Jack Adelman. mg., David and Nor- man Chesky. prods. Tr 323' directed by Adam Fischer does not augur well for what may follow. Originally an RCA Living Stereo release from These are competent but thoroughly un- the early '60s, this Chesky Records Gershwin distinguished readings, blemished by anum- LP is amiracle of modern engineering tech- ber of shortcomings. Most notable among niques. The fidelity of this album rivals the very them is apervasive smoothing away of what best of anything being turned out today es- ought to be sharply etched motifs. It is, after pecially remarkable given the length of time all, such motifs that—through dissection, per- that has passed since its transcription. mutation, and growth—generate Haydn's Earl Wild's performance in Rhapsody in grand sonata designs. When those motifs are Blue is unique—his always-introspective in- eroded, much of the music's thrust, tension, terpretation offers arefreshing alternative to and drama is wiped away. Also disturbing is the usual fare. Sometimes, though, he seems Fischer's failure to exert firm control; this is alittle behind himself (certainly acceptable in most apparent in the way passages sometimes jazz, but it takes some getting used to here). race ahead, fracturing rhythmic backbone and Otherwise, this excellent Rhapsody is dramatic structural coherence in the process. The or- and quite spirited. chestra plays well enough, but the winds fail Arthur Fiedler's insightful interpretation of to articulate with the kind of crispness needed An American in Paris follows the natural ebb to bring out the wit, color, and (at times) and flow between the brash American and the poignancy so typical of these works. elegant French settings. No other version that Complementing these shortcomings is Nim- Ihave heard brings out this contrast so artfully, bus's rather coarse sound, strings especially with no theme overstated; the momentum of having a hard, unpleasant edge. Neither of the piece is maintained. In the past this has these works is as yet represented by afirst-class

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Soirees de Nienne -; Wagner: Spinning Chorus from The Flying Dutchman; Weber: Der Freiscbutz Over- and Herbert von Karajan (DG 410517-2), if not ture; Paganini: Grandes Etudes 2, 3. e5; Hach: Fantasia & the last word in stylishness and vivaciousness, Fugue in g (BWV 542); Verdi: Rigoletw Paraphrase offer better sound, suaver orchestral execu- Etcetera KTC 2011 (2 CDs). Kelly Higgins. mg.: Michael Rolland Davis, prod. ODD. TT: 103:50 tion, and more of the quintessential Haydn. Sboupieces for Piano: Fischer observes exposition repeats in both Herz: Variations on "Non piu MCSI.2;* . Liszt: Reminiscences de Don Juan (after Mozart), Reminiscences de Robert le first movements. —Mortimer H. Frank Diable —Valse Infernale (after Meyerheer); Thaiberg: Don Pasquale Fantasy; Godowsky: Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes from Johann Strauss's "Kunstlerlehen" Vanguard LISZT: The Virtuoso Liszt 'CI) - 2010 (CD). AAD. TT: 64:10 Mephisto N‘Ultit'S I. 2, 3, 4; Mephisto Polka Mosonyi's Funeral Procession; to Petoefi's Memory; Hungarian Rhapsodies 16, 1-,18, & 19 The hundredth anniversary of Liszt's death in Jeffrey Swann, piano 1986 succeeded in celebrating an almost com- Music & Arts CD-245 (CD). Nlaggi Payne, eng. & prod. DOD. TT 6526 plete reversal of attitude toward acomposer too often previously thought of as brilliant but With the exception of the popular first Mephisto shallow, popular but rhetorically empty. Earl Waltz of 1859, all the pieces in this intriguing Wild's 2-CD set, one of three (the others, still anthology represent the late Liszt, when the forthcoming, are Liszt as Virtuoso and Liszt aging Abbe of the 1870s and '80s leaned in the as Poet), gives about as good asampling of direction of the harmonically enigmatic, the Liszt the Transcriber as can be conceived. sparse, and the introspective. Hearing the Why did the composer go to the trouble in 36-year-old American pianist Jeffrey Swann the first place? Among anumber of reasons, range with his incredibly fleet fingers through including wanting to do technically for the the diableries of the composer's favorite Faust piano what Paganini had done for the violin subjects, as well as the equally active Friska (viz such Paganini Etudes included here as La sections of the last four late Hungarian Rhap- Capricciosa, La Chasse, and the familiar La sodies, one realizes that this album is, after all, Campanella), Liszt enabled audiences of all very aptly named. There is considerable ex- kinds to become familiar with alarger reper- citement to be heard here, but there are also toire than they might otherwise have been able moments of poetic sentiment, most obviously to hear. We must remember that the phono- apparent in the love section of the second graph did not exist then, nor was the disper- Mephisto Waltz and the closing portion of the sion of music as pervasive as it is now; in many gloomy Mosonyis' Funeral Procession (Mosonyi, cases if one wanted to become familiar with a Hungarian nationalist composer, died in apiece of music one would have to play it at 1870). The latter piece, and the equally rare- home on the family piano. Thus, apossible ly heard elegy in memory of the poet Petoefi, subheading for the present album might be by the way, would be my own very strong "Liszt the Proselytizer." Sometimes the reasons for acquiring this album, but you transcriptions were remarkably straight and should make anote that their order is reversed highly accurate to the source; the Beethoven in the printed sequence of pieces. In general, Symphony, for instance. Or there could be Swann can be described here as apianist very what Liszt termed aParaphrase, in which the much of the modern no-nonsense style, ab- basic melodies and harmonies of the original solutely brilliant technically—even rla271ing— would be extravagantly supplemented and but less interested in evoking the colors and transformed into asuperbly worked-out con- shadings, or the more ruminative sensibilities, cert piece: the Chopin Polish song, the lovely of an older generation of pianists. The piano, set of Schubert waltzes (No.7 of the Soirees de aGerman Steinway, seems alittle harder and Vienne, incidentally, and not the more often drier on top than one might have expected, recorded No.6), or the Quartet from Rigoletto. and in playback could, Ifeel, benefit from a Overall, this highly important aspect of boost in the bass. —Igor Kipnis Liszt's output, as well as his personality, is splendidly sampled by the indefatigable Earl LISZT: Piano Music Wild. (A number of years ago in Buenos Aires Earl Wild, piano Transcriptions & Paraphrases: Iheard him tackle, without any obvious strain, Beethoven: Symphony I; Liszt: Die Loreley; Schumann: aSunday morning concerto program that con-

Stereophile, February 1988 141 sisted of the Liszt First, Rachmaninov Second, record companies) throughout the period of and Tchaikovsky First, bringing them all off Reiner's career. He did, however, embrace with technique to spare.) My own particular Songs of a Wayfarer, which he recorded with favorites here are Schumann's Widmung, with Carol Brice for CBS during his tenure as Music its gorgeously played middle section, the Director with the Pittsburgh Symphony. And Rigoletto Paraphrase, in which the delicate interestingly enough, he performed the se- filigree is admirably projected, and, of course, cond movement of Symphony 7in Pittsburgh. the splashy, fun-filled Paganini Etudes. Wild's In the '30s and '40s, that was often the only brilliance is well matched by aliving-room- way to sneak these advanced and challenging like ambience, not overly reverberant but works into the repertoire. realistic and reasonably solid in the bass end. The only numbered Mahler symphony In aword: impressive on all counts! Reiner ever performed was the Fourth, which Although only two of Liszt's operatic trans- he recorded for RCA, with soprano Lisa Della criptions are included on the Vanguard disc, Casa as soloist. That recording, available on the entire contents of this album can really be CD, requites aseparate review in its own right. described as atechnical blockbuster in the Reiner's only other Mahler recording in Chi- most brilliant Liszt tradition, and was in fact cago, Das Lied von der Erde, was taped on so hailed when these performances were first November 7and 9,1959, the days immediately issued on LP The Herz, Thalbeig, and Godow- following performances at subscription con- sky (20th Century but with roots firmly in the certs. The original Red Seal LP release spread pianistic extravagancies of the 19th) derive the work generously over three sides, with from The Virtuoso Piano, first issued in 1964; Haydn's Symphony 88 as filler on side 4. It the two operatic fantasies after Meyerbeer and sounded magnificent, and still does. Subse- Mozart were part of The Daemonic Liszt, re- quent budget LP issues have compressed the leased in 1968. In all cases, Wild's playing is work to two sides of asingle LP, and compressed stunning, even (to use that overquoted term is definitely the right word. accurately) awesome. What Ifind disappoint- Whatever misgivings Reiner may have had ing, however, is that the transfer to CD has about Mahler are nowhere apparent in this robbed the original LPs of some depth and recording. Every mood of this highly varied bass. The piano is more distant than in the setting of ancient Chinese poetry is gauged newly recorded album, and an A/B com- with Reiner's uncanny sense of clarity, along parison of LPs versus CD reveals the latter to with adepth of spirit which many followers be shallower, less bright, and even on occasion of vintage conductors have not associated with alittle clattery (the sound in the Mozart in par- him. Maureen Forrester and Richard Lewis ticular leans at times to harshness). If you add could have hired a van, considering the substantial bass and can tame the treble, how- number of performances they have given of ever, you'll be able to enjoy some pretty amaz- this work together over their respective careers. ing pyrotechnics. —Igor Kipnis They could probably sing it in their sleep. Here they are wide awake and singing their hearts out in aperformance which has earned the ad- MAHLER: Das Lied von der Erde miration of many highly critical vocal afici- Maureen Forrester, Richard Lewis, Fritz Reiner, Chicago SO RCA 5248-2-RC (CD). Lewis Layton, mg., Richard Mohr, prod. onados. ADD. TT: 6300 Then there is the orchestral playing. I During Fritz Reiner's reign as Music Director challenge anyone to name arecording of Das of the CSO, Mahler's time had barely come. Lied which features better playing than this Reiner, who did not consider himself to be a one! Whether it's the full ensemble, consti- "Mahlerian" conductor, expressed difficulty tuent groupings, or individual principal players in coming to terms with what seemed to many in avariety of key solo passages, there is a performers, as well as listeners of his era, a sense of style, polish, and control which make strange and uncompromising musical idiom. it little wonder that musicians from all over the It is fascinating to note that he never performed world have beaten their paths to certain doors the First Symphony (though that is the one in Chicago for advanced or even remedial Mahler symphony most readily accepted by studies. the public, the boards of orchestras, and even My original "shaded dog" —SI stampers,

142 Stereophile, February 1988 purchased as anew release—is in excellent deserves recognition. shape. One doesn't listen to Das Lied awhole This analog-to-digital CD has only slight hell of alot; as great awork as it is, it is emo- amounts of the microphone distortion so tionally exhausting to experience The original common to piano recordings, and amildly LP has more depth in the orchestra, and the rolled-off sound. Overall, it is quite good. May voices project from further back than on the Isay euphonic? CD. For those readers who prefer analog vinyl If your collection is lacking in Mendelssohn, as areligion, Iquestion the authenticity of this this is an absolute must purchase. Recom- effect no matter how euphonic it may be. The mended without reservation. stage of Orchestra Hall is one of the widest and The Variations and Fantasies are unmis- most shallow of the major world concert halls, takably Mendelssohnian in style, with an and Mohr and Layton did not alter it, or the inherent serenity that runs throughout the concert deployment of the orchestra, for music. How difficult it must have been for recordings. Mendelssohn to gain recognition with Chopin, The CD gives the voices more presence than Liszt, Berlioz, and Schumann as his contem- one would experience at aperformance, but poraries! the perspective on the orchestra is naturally Though often ignored, the Variations and balanced, if abit one-dimensional. Whatever Fantasies are richly lyrical keyboard works in one's feelings on perspective, it is at least more the Romantic style, with occasional influences than apparent that we are hearing this music of Bach and Beethoven. The Fantasy in F the way Reiner (and hopefully Mahler) wanted Sharp Minor, Op.28, the major work of the it to be heard. group (written by Mendelssohn in his early For those listeners accustomed to hearing 20s), clearly illustrates the composer's virtu- Mahler performed quite feverishly, and who osity and inventive genius. associate this composer with "lush roman- Martin Jones's playing, while sympathetic ticism," Irecommend this CD as ahighly suc- to the lyrical requirements of these pieces, at cessful example of amore cerebral approach the same time maintains direction and con- to his music Of equal importance is the record- tinuity. His style, though concise, is warm and ing process itself, which reveals the music lively without being too analytical. and its performance without distracting, un- Sonically, this CD is aclone of the Nim- like so many of today's recordings. bus/Mendelssohn Preludes and Fugues (very —Richard Schneider good), and a worthy addition to anyone's piano-music collection. Nimbus should be MENDELSSOHN: Piano Music complimented for their first-rate promotion Martin Jones, piano Preludes, Fugues, and Studies of this great composer. —David B. Alfvin Nimbus NI 50 -'1 (CD). AAD. Tr: 61:30 Variations and Fantasies Nimbus NI 5072 (CD). AA». TT: 59:06 MOZART: Piano Concertos No.9, K.271; No.I2, K.4I4 Fou Ts'ong, piano, conductor; Polish Chamber Orchestra Felix Mendelssohn worshipped the music of RCA 6357.2-RC (CD). Ledi Dudzik. Krzysztof Drab, prods. J.S. Bach; in 1829, atime lukewarm to Bach, & cngs. DDD. TE 56:55 20-year-old Mendelssohn conducted the Saint If this is an example of how the major labels Matthew Passion at the Berlin Singakademie can beat the high cost of recording US per- and sparked aBach revival which continues formers (see Von() No.6, p.5), more companies to this day. His own Preludes, Fugues, and should hear RCA's effort: Take a Shanghai- Studies, written mostly between the ages of born, London-based pianist, set him up with 17 and 27, are not only interesting reflections a skilled orchestra in someplace named of Bach's profound influence on Mende's- Bydgoszcz, Poland—forget the conductor— sohn's life, but are also documented proof of and let them have acouple of Mozart concer- Mendelssohn's flat-out musical genius. tos. Then stand back and listen to the pure joy Martin Jones is an outstanding pianist, with of making music. the ability to play these demanding pieces with That's what we have here, in the form of wonderful Bachian detail and precision, at the pianist-conductor Fou Ts'ong and the Polish same time tinting them with Mendelssohnian Chamber Orchestra. All's not perfect, of lyrical grace. His performance is first-rate and course, but what recording is?

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Stereophile, February 1988 Mozart's piano concertos brought the genre and gruffness at the expense of lightness and to equal stature with the symphony and made, delicacy. With Mozart often excessively pret- perhaps, the strongest emotional statements tified, such an approach is not without merit. of all his music Fou is exuberant in rendering But the outer movements of K.593 have none the profusion of ideas in the first movements of the saucy impishness so well conveyed in of these concertos. The same enthusiasm is felt the old Budapest recordings (still listed in throughout this CD, though it brings along Schwann). Then, too, both works suffer from with it afew things that might better have been less-than-perfect ensemble, many slurred left behind. passages robbing the music of its elan and Bold attacks and dynamics as well as robust crispness. legatos give both concertos aslight Romantic Far more of the Moz.artean matter is con- tinge. And while the second movements have veyed by Josef Suk and the Smetana Quartet plenty of Mozartean andante poetry—espe- (on two Denon CDs). And those willing to in- cially with Fou's appealing phrasing of rubato vest in a3-CD (Philips) set can acquire all six passages and nonharmonic tones—they don't of Mozart's glorious string quintets played with really have the depth or tragic sense that, say, uncommon elegance and polish by agroup aLily Krauss or Rudolph Serkin gives them. featuring violinist Arthur Grumiaux. The most In short, this is beautiful music, lacking only compelling of all the recordings of this reper- the final few touches of pathos in the inner tory, however, was made in the early '70s by movements and classical charm in the outer. aDanish ensemble; currently availably only As for the sound, if you're looking for depth on LP (in aValois set), its issue in the laser for- or ambience, look elsewhere Strings are alittle mat would be most welcome. The Talcacs harsh at times, and the Yamaha piano is ashade observes all exposition repeats, but given the brittle, though this seems to complement the limitations of this new release, the point is music. What you'll find is an in-your-lap academic. —Mortimer H. Frank perspective with well-defined orchestral sections and arelative freedom from most of the SCHUBERT: Symphonies 4 a 5 sins of close miking. Ivan Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra Quibbles aside, this recording is one you'll Hungaroton HCD 12842 (CD). lstvan Berenyi. mg. & prod. love to hear many times over if you've ever ex DOD. IT: 60:20 perienced the joy of being part of the human Ivan Fischer, whose burgeoning career in race. —Robert Hesson England and on the continent has stamped him as one of Europe's more promising conductors, here leads two performances that, if MOZART: String Quartets, K.593 a 614 occasionally flawed, have a good deal to Takacs Quartet: Denes Kromonzay, viola recommend them. Throughout, textures are Hungaroton 12881-2 (CD). DDD. TT 55:32 admirably clear without any excess of string Here is aprime example of how the standards tone covering other choirs; tempos, with one used in judging arecorded performance must exception to be noted, are well-chosen; be more rigorous than those applied to alive rhythms are firm, and melodies permitted to one. Heard in the hall, both of these readings sing with anatural expansiveness that avoids would seem more than adequate. But both even ahint of sounding labored. A few key have liabilities that make repeated hearings idiosyncrasies, however, prevent these readings wearisome. Sound is akey shortcoming: the from gaining an unqualified endorsement: harsh string tone grates, annoyingly audible Fischer paces the slow movement of Sym- breathing provides ludicrous counterpoint to phony 5 more like an adagio than the An- the music, and the overall sonority is thick to dante con moto that Schubert specified, and the point of suggesting a string orchestra. at such a funereal tempo the movement Whether this last flaw is rooted in the engi- threatens to fall apart. The conductor also in- neering or in the tone of the Talcacs is hard to serts untoward breath-pauses before the Trios ascertain. Regardless, the end effect blurs in each of the Minuets, apractice probably in- detail, muddying many significant part-extended to heighten contrast, but one that— changes. given the contrast already built into the music— Interpretively, these accounts suggest weight causes it to be neutralized. Finally, some may

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Cri RICK ROBERTS Housto's ht end audio dealer 713-537-8108 miss the nervous intensity implicit in the finale Compare Bernstein's timing of the first of No.4, acharacteristic conveyed exceptional- movement of 6(22:29) with that of Yevgeny ly well in arecent EMI CD release of the score Mravinsky (14:57, Angel), who premiered the recorded by Gunther Wand. Indeed, Wand, work in 1939, and you'll have aclue. M ravin - whose superb cycle of Schubert symphonies sky and others give the movement an astrin- was recently released on CD by EMI, is often gent angularity, while Bernstein turns it into more successful with both works, highlighting awhispered prayer. He has seen what others key details that Fischer skims over and taking have not, and it transforms the music com- greater interpretative risks, particularly in pletely. By comparison, Stokowski's attempt favoring awider parameter of tempos. to probe the depths only serves to drag the Those who want Hungaroton's coupling of movement, gushing and sprawling, into the these two symphonies (the only one of its kind 19th Century. in the CD catalog) will nonetheless find much In 9, which Shostakovich called "a merry lit- to admire in Fischer's generally tasteful, well- tle piece," Bernstein reveals the cold, shaken disciplined readings. Both were recorded in stare of foreboding beneath the surface smiles. concert and are punctuated with occasional The outgoing festivity is still there, but so is coughs and applause at the close of each work. the uneasy peace—the gravity that humor tries This can irritate on repeated hearings, but also to hide from itself. Frivolity and darkness do serves as areminder that these are real perfor- not take their assigned places, as they do in mances, not pastiches of tape splices assembled Walter Weller's superb performance with L'Or- in the studio. Fischer observes exposition chestre de la Suisse Romande. Bernstein's repeats in both first movements. Hungaroton's reading is as pervasively enigmatic as the work sound is well-focused and provides afine in- itself. It does not try to put its finger on that stance of how musical string tone, free of even which will not be pointed out. Is anything a hint of harshness, can be achieved on a sacrificed for this depth of insight? Some of the digitally recorded CD.—Mortimer H. Frank wit and some of the fun, to be sure, but the compensations are generous.

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphonies 6 & 9 The sound of the recording is decent, too. Leonard Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra It doesn't go much beyond that, though. It's Deutsche Grammophon 419 771-2 (CD). Hans VA-ber, recording supervisor; Hanno Rinke, prod. DDD. rt 6524 up close with good width, not much depth. Tone colors are true. The odd thing is that the Neither of these symphonies is what it was notes say this is alive recording, but not so supposed to have been. Shostakovich let on much as asniffle is heard from the audience. that the Sixth would be apaean to Lenin. Later, What you will buy this recording for is to he would hint that the Ninth was to sing a hear the music of a conductor, too often hymn to the victory of WWII. Though they maligned, who has survived to follow inner surrounded the heroically proportioned voices on apath toward enlightenment, under- Seventh and Eighth "war" symphonies, they standing, and stoic acceptance. turned out to be surprisingly light, brief— —Robert Hesson some would say jocular—compositions. We see them today as enigmatic, ambiguous works

that are neither what they were "supposed" STRAUSS: FM Heldenleben, Four Last Songs to be nor what they were taken to be upon Felicity Lott, soprano; Neeme Jarvi, Scottish National Orchestra their much-disparaged premieres. Chandos 8518 (CD). Ralph Couzens, ens.; Brian Couzens, Leonard Bernstein seems to hold that they prod. DDD. rn 6643 An Alpine Symphony, 4 Songs are works of much greater depth and portent Felicity LORI. soprano; Neeme Jaervi, SNO than anyone has heretofore recognized. He Chandos 8557 (CD). Ralph Couzens. eng.; Brian Couzens, recorded both previously with the NYPO, and prod. DDD. TT: 6039 there are no great surface differences between Neeme Jarvi and the Scottish National Or- those interpretations and these, with the VPO. chestra have opened their intended cycle of But the later versions have an inexorable sense Richard Strauss's Symphonic Poems with of insight that the earlier ones lack. Perhaps perhaps the most exciting and impressive of we are hearing the voice of mature wisdom them all, Ein Heldenleben. This huge work, added to artistic talent. in one continuous movement, subdivides into

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I iS Stereophile, February 1988 six sections that portray the character of the scene is marvelously wrought too, and with Hero himself, his Adversaries, and his Compa- off-stage trumpets calling the Hero into action, nion, and then outline his Deeds in Battle, his there unfolds an orchestral showcase as testing Works of Peace, and finally his Retirement to the performers as to the recording engineers. from the World and Fulfillment of Life. It is a Considering the warmth and lengthy partly autobiographical work, with Strauss reverberation of the Caird Hall acoustic, there himself battling against his adversaries, the is incredible inner textural clarity, even in the music critics, for recognition of his composi- most complex sections of the score. Com- tions, or works of peace. His companion is his plementing Jarvi's interpretation is an equally much-loved and capricious wife, Pauline de expansive width and depth to the soundstage, Ahna, the professional singer for whom many and if there is aslightly raucous edge to the of his songs were written. sound it is entirely in keeping here. In the The Four Last Songs were written when more peaceful, final two scenes of the work, Strauss was 85. They sum up a lifetime of the richness of instrumental timbres and the glorious composition for the female voice, and wonderful commitment of the SNO put to rest seem to be aspecial tribute to his wife, with any minor doubts over recording quality With whom he stands, hand in hand, at the sunset the helpful accessing of the six sections (also of life looking toward death in the final song, banded on the LP) as an added bonus, this first Abendrot. The order of the songs chosen for issue is highly recommended. this performance follows that favored by The Alpine Symphony, coupled with four Strauss and used in the work's first perfor- separate orchestral songs, has, arguably, a mance in London in 1950. Felicity Lott sings pleasanter recorded sound. The orchestra is them with aradiance and purity of tone, soar- slightly more distant and the harsh edge is ing rapturously to lofty heights and descend- gone, but it is important to find the optimum ing with ease to dwell in the more despondent volume setting. Even with this, sections of depths; she handles these particularly difficult greatest dynamic complexity fail to flower as and characteristic phrases most successfully naturally and fully as they should, inhibiting in Frubling. the kind of immediacy to be found on the The SNO provides the most beautifully Heldenleben recording. Jarvi's reading is, warm and sensuous accompaniment in Beim again, so sensitively honed that this perfor- Scblafengeben and 1m Abendrot, but Sep- mance alone should sell the disc. If the in- tember, with its raindrop accompaniment dividual parts are not always finely wrought, behind the less immaculately intoned voice the sum of those parts is totally captivating. here, is disappointingly imprecise by com- The atmosphere he creates at the opening is parison. However, this criticism can rarely be gripping—one waits on the mountain at night, leveled against the orchestra in Eli, Heiden- hardly daring to draw breath, as slowly the sun leben. Jarvi's is awonderfully expansive view starts to rise, eventually bursting forth with of this magnificent work, and the SNO opens scintillating orchestral color. And so begins a out to give everything they've got for its full description of 21 events within aday on the 46 minutes. Perhaps the greatest compliment mountain, all individually accessible on CD. that could be paid them is that the music There is some beautiful oboe playing here, seems to play itself, and bears all the excite- depicting the Alpine sprite at the waterfall and ment and spontaneity of alive performance. the first drops of rain that herald the tumul- The Hero's soaring theme is virile and confi- tuous storm. In ascore usually trivialized in dent, while his adversaries appear more performance by the nature of its program, Jarvi cowardly than usual. They chatter and com- digs deep to discover the hidden treasures plain among themselves, rather than face the within. Hero head-on. The characterization of Pauline Of the orchestral songs coupled with this is, like the Hero's, unafraid to show itself in its symphonic poem, the greatest is the famous true light. Edwin Paling, the solo violin here, Morgen!. It receives an impelling performance, grasps the very essence of her character: from the opening notes of the orchestral volatile and unpredictable in her changes of prelude to Felicity Lott's beautiful floating mood; sometimes seductively alluring, at phrases. By contrast, Das Bacblein is reminis- others unreasonably fractious. The Battle cent of Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel in

Stereophile, February 1988 149 "Lyric respects you as much as your equipment."

Iremember many years the servicemen to the sound better than the back one of our sales- cabinet maker. There's Magneplanars in other men used to grab the no better place to buy stores. And it's why equipment by the tail audio and video equip- equipment from Lyric and run. ment than Lyric. will sound better than the same equipment That's why the The person who was you buy elsewhere." having the installation, Magneplanars at Lyric avery old, dear friend of mine, got very up- set. He said, 'I can't possibly stand your technician grabbing my Mike Kay, President dr Owner, Lyric Hi-Fi equipment like arabbit from the ears and running away. Irespect the equipment, I'm amusic Lyric lover, and Iwant him to HiFi &Video. The Legend Lives. handle it with care.' 1221 Lexington Ave. 2005 Broadway 146 East Post Road Now, Iknow that it New York, NY New York, NY White Plains, NY doesn't matter to an am- 10028 10023 10601 914-949-7500 plifier how you handle 212-439-1900 212-769-4600 it. But it does matter to Call for an appointment to audition these and aclient. How you han- other hard-to-find high-end components.* dle your equipment is Many are exclusive at Lyric. how you handle yourself. Accuphase Infinity Quad That's why today, Audio Research Jadis Rega when we do an instal- Ariston JVC Revox lation, you will see our Bryston Kyocera Rogers technicians put down B&W Magneplanar Shure California Mark Levinson SME ablanket. They'll put Audio Labs Meridian Sonographe their tools down on the Carnegie MIT Sony blanket. They respect Carver M&K SOTA Monster Cable Spectral the people and they Celestion conrad johnson Motif STAX respect the items that CWD NAD Sumiko they work with. Duntech Nakamichi Tandberg Entec Oracle Velodyne And the same goes for Goldmund Proton VPI everybody at Lyric, Grado Pulsar from the salespeople to *220 volt models available its freshness and innocence. Freundlicbe Vi- sion and Meinem Kinde open this sequence CLASSICAL COLLECTIONS with equally compelling empathy and commitment from soloist and orchestra alike With BACH: Prelude in C (V/1C Bk I); Trio Sonata in C (BWV 1037); Concerto in d (BWV 1043) such afine beginning to this cycle, one won- VIVALDI: Sinfonia in C (RV 116); Trio Sonata in g(RV 73); ders what other cards Jarvi has up his sleeve Concerto in Eb (RV SIS) .Iaap Schroder, Stanley Ritchie, Linda Quan, violins; Helicon for the next issue of Also Sprach Zarathustra, Ensemble. Albert Fuller, dir. with Don Juan and yet four more songs. Reference Recordings RR-23CD (CD). Keith,Johnson, prod. DDD. TT: 56:45 — Barbara Jahn Comparisons (BWV 1043): Sundae, Wilcox, Eng. Concert, Pinnock (DG Arch 410-646-1); Perlman, Zukerman: ECO, Barenboim (EMI AM-34726) VIVALDI: The Four Seasons, Concerto in C Michala Petri, recorder; George Malcolm. harpsichord, There have been anumber of criticisms leveled Guildhall String Ensemble at the authentic movement in Baroque perfor- RCA RD 86656 (CD). Tony Faulkner. mg. Ralph Mace, prod DDD. TT: 47:54 mance. While Iam certainly an advocate of that movement, Imust admit that some of the If you can first come to terms with the fact that objections are valid. Unfortunately, this record- this Four Seasons is going to sound like no ing may serve to reinforce some of the more other, then you should have little difficulty in strident complaints, particularly in the area of enjoying its freshness and spontaneity, and string tone. Michala Petri's breathtaking virtuosity on the This is not to say that the playing here is bad recorder. Here she plays the solo, usually taken by any means. Technique is very fine, and by the violin, on sopranino, descant, or treble direction is firm; however, the extremely small recorder, depending on which is tonally most forces employed (2 First Violins; 2Seconds, suitable. These are her own arrangements and 1Viola, 1Cello, 1Violone—and that at max- they work remarkably well, though you may imum)—surely smaller than the composers have to steel yourself against marveling at her had in mind—lead not only to clarity of line, immaculate technique rather than hearing the which is desirable, but to alack of smoothness, music in its own right. and even the "acid" tone of which critics com- Her recorders seem to have had no balance plain. There is also, which seems to me more problems with the string body, the sopranino serious, alack of the last degree of involve- in particular piercing through the textures with ment with the music, something absolutely arresting clarity. And how effective it all is: the necessary in such intimate performances. spiky sounds of Winter and the lively, spirited Compare, for example, the largo of the Bach joys of Spring seem to work especially well, Concerto with Pinnock's version. Both are on but maybe it is the infectious enthusiasm and period instruments, and Helicon actually plays dexterity with which not only Michala Petri more slowly (7:02 as opposed to 6:32), but but also the youthful Guildhall String Ensem- Standage and Wilcox produce what sounds ble and George Malcolm play that has ensured like alargo (Bach actually says ma non tanto, this success. Iwas impressed by the excellent "but not too slowly"); Ritchie and Quan do not. articulation and coordination of the conductor- Imiss as well the dialogue between the two less strings, alert and quick to respond to their violins, which ought to be continually in soloist's requirements and obviously well- evidence here, but only shows up sporadically. rehearsed in grading every shade of dynamic If you are unsure of what Imean, listen to color. Perlman and Zukerman. It is true, they have Equally praiseworthy is the way they sup- some wobble in their tone (which Inow find press their natural exuberance in the Concerto objectionable in Baroque playing), but the in C, here a virtuosic showpiece for the authentic movement cannot yet boast of vir- sopranino recorder. Michala is stunning in her tuosity to equal theirs. (Could this have some- technical fluency in the outer movements, thing to do with relative salaries?) They, along while the slow movement displays her with Barenboim, create amusical experience beautifully consistent and pure tone, shot of aspecial order, not to be quantified with through with atotally captivating intensity of labels of authenticity or inauthenticity. The emotion. Altogether an exciting first issue for sublime is always authentic. RCA. —Barbara Jahn All this said, Iam sure many of you simply

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152 Stereophile, February 1988 want to know what aProfessor Johnson all political, and religious differences of opinion. digital recording sounds like. My first impres- Yet, despite the implied altruism of this inter- sion was of dryness; Iquickly revised this to national cooperative effort, the actual genesis "somewhat dry, but with incredible detail" of the project was essentially pragmatic, funda- (alas, this sounds like Accu -Weather). This mentally bottom line. In Stereophile's April/ recording makes every other violin disc (black May 1987 issue (Vol.10 No.3), Sheffield or silver) Iown sound muddy and veiled, as Lab's Lincoln Mayorga and Doug Sax, in con- though atransistor preamp were replaced by versation with J. Gordon Holt, disclosed that atube unit. Ihope this will serve to silence the soaring cost of recording American orch- those who believe digital incapable of such a estras virtually forced the enterprising duo detailed presentation: Iwould love to hear the to seek cheaper, if not necessarily greener, companion "pure analog" recording. pastures. Whatever the motivation, arecording There are two problems with the sound, of an American conductor directing aSoviet however. The first is atoo-forward placement orchestra in Russian music, juxtaposed with of the harpsichord; it sounds lovely (ravishing aSoviet maestro interpreting Copland, Gersh- in the Prelude), but it is only supposed to be win, Barber, etc., sounds promising and, we part of the continuo. The second is the are told, is afirst. presence of some hiss (microphones?) and a The Moscow Philharmonic is, of course, no rumble, especially evident between move- stranger to US record collectors. Under the ments of the Bach Concerto (air condition- baton of Kiril Kondrashin (among others), their ers?). This bothers me somewhat; you will Melodiya recordings, mainly released by Angel have to make up your own mind about it. here (and now Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab), To conclude: if you want authentic perfor- made agreat contribution to Shostakovich en- mances of Bach and Vivaldi, Isuggest you go thusiasts (of which Iam one) with an almost elsewhere, perhaps to Pinnock for the former, complete discography of the 15 symphonies. and Monica Huggett and the London Vivaldi By most accepted musical standards, the Orchestra (ASV GAU 105-R) for the latter. If you Moscow band is afine ensemble on apar with want the Bach Concerto as it may never be the acclaimed Leningrad Philharmonic, but heard again, go for Perlman and Zukerman. ranking, perhaps, lower than the Ministry of Now if only Keith Johnson could get artists like Culture Symphony. As with all Russian orch- those to record! —Leslie S. Berkley estras, the perceptive listener may hear subtle differences of instrumental tone. Lawrence

THE MOSCOW SESSIONS Leighton Smith points out in his notes that Rus- Barber: First Essay for Orchestra; Copland: Appalachian sian horns play with amarked vibrato (par- Spring; Gershwin: Lullaby (for string quartet); Glazunov: ticularly noticeable in the Tchaikovsky), their ‘Ulse de Concert in D; Glinka: Russian and ludmilla Over- ture: Griffes: The White Peacock; Ives: The Unanswered oboes have adarker sound, and, as their cellos' Question; Mussorgsky: Kboransbcbina Prelude; Piston: end-pins are both longer and angled unusually The Incredible Flutist (ballet suite); Shostakovich: Symphony I. Festive Overture; Tchaikovsky: Symphony 5 by American standards, the sound projection Lawrence Leighton Smith, Dmitri Kitayenko, Moscow Philhar- strikes the US listener's ear rather differently. monic Orchestra Sheffield Lab CD-I000 (3 CDs); TLP-1000 (3 LPs). CDs DDD. 1would add that Russian brass and wood- LPs AAA. TT: 180:40 winds emit a somewhat coarser, earthier sound that invariably appears less studied and The ecumenical collaboration between Shef- more spontaneous than that of their US field Lab, the Moscow Philharmonic Orch- counterparts. The strings, too, are weightier, estra, conductors Lawrence Leighton Smith less silky, and more plangent. Under the and Dmitri Kitayenko, an imposing gaggle of leadership of both Smith and Kitayenko (the businessmen and bureaucrats, and partial orchestra's music director), homogeneity and sponsorship by The Absolute Sound's Fund for balance are wholly admirable, and the rank- Recorded Music, if somewhat short of epoch- and-file musicians appear to be thoroughly in- making, is, nonetheless, apositive example of volved emotionally with their duties. Of course, free enterprise and socialism bedding down these recording sessions were embossed with together, liberally (pardon the expression) an extraordinary sense of occasion which lubricated with glasnost. Art, we are told, is must have stimulated all concerned. universal. It transcends philosophical, racial, Lawrence Leighton Smith, presently music

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SOUND BY SINGER 165 East 33rd Street New York NY 10016 •212-683-0925 director of the Louisville Orchestra and the Iam impressed by Smith's reading of the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, Glinka and Shostakovich overtures. Similarly, California, is an extremely accomplished musi- the Kbovansbchina by Mussorgsky, played cian whose talents merit far greater recogni- with idiomatic elan, whetted my appetite for tion via both the concert hall and the record- more of this melodious opera from these per- ing studio. A musician's musician, Smith is formers. Having long championed the cause one of acoterie of gifted American conductors of Alexander Glazunov, whose estimable (Ins Angeles's Daniel Lewis is another who symphonies are inexplicably ignored in this comes to mind) who frequently languish in the country—although they have begun to appear boonies making beautiful music, while lesser in recordings on such European labels as mortals overflowing with charisma and/or ex- Olympia, Orfeo, and Chandos —I am thankful pensive PR guidance conduct major orchestras for small mercies, even for the Concert Waltz in minor recordings. No.!, apleasant but distinctly minor piece. The Moscow Philharmonic is probably This Slavic equivalent of a Strauss waltz is capable of playing Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, liltingly played with terpsichorean elegance. Mussorgsky, et Russian al, in their sleep. For reasons solely musical, Iam distinctly However, Smith's overview of the 18-year-old disenchanted by Kitayenko's plodding attempts Shostakovich's first symphony, astudent com- to communicate the American musical idiom. position, is, in its own way, as impressive as True, he was apparently unfamiliar with this Kondrashin's despite different emphases. After repertoire prior to having been given the ajaunty, appropriately light-hearted opening scores by the Sheffield Lab people. One Allegretto which captures the requisite quiz- assumes from his obvious lack of sympathy zical buoyancy and sets the stage for things to with these pieces that he was not provided come, he settles down to amore expansive, with records or tapes to familiarize himself thoughtful reading. Shostakovich's omnipres- with, at least, arequisite musical milieu. He ent wit is graciously underlined, yet heavy sounds remarkably ill-prepared. Copland's doses of "subtle" effects are not allowed to evocative Appalachian Spring, for example, overpower and smother compulsive piquancy. has had an international concert-hall life for Transitions of tempi variations and mood are years and exists in several helpful recordings. allowed to occur naturally, leading to amov- In his notes, Smith talks about hearing his ing, integrated, synergistic totality. Soviet colleague rehearsing and playing with Iam less enthusiastic about the performance what he describes as "a Russian accent." of the Tchaikovsky Fifth. If you like your Methinks that maestro Smith is being ultra- Tchaikovsky with asurfeit of Sturm und Drang, tactful. Kitayenko's halting phrasing is four- this version may please you. Although Smith square, his accentuation is sometimes out of succeeds in controlling the orchestra's seem- whack, the playing, so boisterous in the ingly natural exuberance—possibly over- Tchaikovsky, is tentative, and the artistic com- stimulated by that sense of occasion—for the munication is at a low and distinctly un- Shostakovich, he appears to be waging alosing American level. battle in the Tchaikovsky. In the aforementioned Walter Piston's The Incredible Flutist, a JGH article, Doug Sax was quoted as saying charming ballet score seldom programmed that this Fifth was "positively stunning, that these days, emerges atrifle more successfully this is the most impassioned, moving perfor- but hardly offers competition to the excellent mance of this work you've ever heard." Well, Louisville Orchestra recording with Jorge Ifind it stunning, but not in the same sense. Mester conducting, or Howard Hanson's Mer- 1have heard many interpretations far less em- cury version. I'm afraid that Icannot honestly phatic, far less overwrought, yet infinitely be more enthusiastic about Kitayenko's other more persuasively moving. Tchaikovsky created American excursions. apassionate score; the intensity of emotion is As Sheffield Lab is the champion of direct- all there in the notation. The last thing it needs to-disc, it may surprise some fans that they is such overemphasis and underlining. With decided to record digitally for CD release, and apologies to Mr. Sax, whose opinion could be via two-track analog for LP. Obviously, mar- nonobjective, if Iwish to be stunned I'll climb ketplace dictates were largely responsible in the ring with Mike 'Tyson. for this decision. As my realm of analysis and

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Major Credit Cards Accepted. We Ship Anywhere... opinion is music, Idon't intend to dip even my to CD. But sonics aside for amoment, what little toe in the waters of contention that sur- even the worst of these reissues unequivocally round the analog vs digital debate. In several reveals is the astonishing power, punchy decades of reviewing concerts and recordings, sound, sparse playing, unerring rhythm, and Istill have not heard any music reproduction effortless musicality of Paul McCartney's bass. to completely capture the sound quality of a I've always had ahealthy respect for McCart- good seat in afine, audience-filled concert ney's playing, but so much more is revealed hall. Methinks Inever will. In sum, for me, a here that it calls for ageneral reassessment. To recording is to alive performance what amo- alesser degree, Ringo's oft—and wrongly— tion picture is to aplay: they are similar but dif- maligned drumming also sounds much better ferent art forms offering similar yet disparate here (try listening to just the drums on aesthetic experiences. "Polythene Pam").. .but I'm getting ahead of That, succinctly, is my audio credo. In myself. general, Iam impressed with Sheffield Lab's Sgt. Pepper, the musical media event and engineering; they appear to have chosen music pop-culture watershed non pareil, was the rather than audio impressionism as their end- centerpiece of this reissue series and boasts the product. Their digitally engineered CDs are packaging to prove it: athick booklet including notable for pristine clarity, expressive dynamic notes on the sessions, individual notes for each range, and exciting transients. As with many song, previously unpublished photos from the of their ilk, Iam conscious of some sterility in cover sessions, rejected song sequences, the actual musical quality of the sound, but essays, asample of the original inner sleeve this seems to be endemic to agreat deal of design, and, on the side of the CD longbox, digital engineering. This also manifests as the famous cut-outs. It's all quite wonderful, coolness in the sound character. Conversely, but Icouldn't help wishing that EMI had done the analog LPs offer amiable warmth, rather the same for all the reissues—they certainly less impressionable transients, and more wouldn't have had to worry about covering natural-sounding string reproduction. Ido not costs. And, in case anyone is still fearful, rest have keen preference for one over the other, assured: these releases are all in stereo. but do confess to playing the CDs more often Ialways forget what ahard rocker Sgt. Pep- than the LPs. This, Iadmit, is probably due per is; its associations of chewy-centered, more to laziness and the CDs' undoubted con- received spirituality always make me think of venience. Both recording methods serve their incense and peppermints, but right from the musical content admirably . —Bernard Soil first riff, the playing is tough. This quality is brought to the fore on CD, with Paul's solid

ROCK, ETC. bass so much stronger, fuller, and insistent. The sound is quite good throughout, with a THE BEATLES bit more high-frequency air than the LP. The Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band drily recorded string quartet on "She's Leav- EMI/Parlophone CDP 7 46442 2(CD). Geoff Emerick. ant.; George Martin. prod. ADD. TE 39:52 ing Home" has more bite, the electronics at the Magical Mystery Tour end of "Mr. Kite" are much more audible as EMI/Parlophone CDP 7 48062 2 (CD). Big George Martin, prod. ADD. IT: 36:52 separate sounds, Ringo's drums come to life on The Beatles (The Willie Album) "Rita," and Paul's vocal on "When I'm 64" EMI/Parlophone CDP 7 46443,46444 2(2 CDs). George Mar- sounds as if he suddenly decided to face the tin, prod. ADD. IT: 9340 Abbey Road microphone after 20 years of turning his back EMllParlophone COP 7 46446 2 (CD). Geoff Emerick, to it. Philip McDonald, engs.: George Martin, mod. ADD. TE 4726 The bass drum on "Day in the Life," which Once again it's time to splash more printer's some long-ago rock critic likened to "a can- ink on the legend of the Beatles. If you haven't nonball dropped from 30 feet into a300-1b. already read too many interviews with George marshmallow," is faithfully rendered; the same Martin, or reviews of the Beatles CD reissues, song's maracas are mixed farther front; the or- press on. chestral crescendo sounds much better here, The four albums reviewed here, the most individual instruments easily discerned; and important releases of the Beatles' later work, reinstated are what the rest of the world has vary wildly in the qualities of their transfers heard for 20 years but is new to the US—the

Stereophile, February 1988 157 UPSCALE AUDIO FIRSTS 8-10-86: WORLD PREMIER OF BEVERIDGE SYSTEM 6 10-26-86: WILLIAM Z. JOHNS° AUDIO RESEARCH OPEN HOUE 3-27-87: WORLD PREMIER OF INFINITY KAPPA 9 4-26-87: WEST COAST PREMIE ACOUSTAT SPECTRA 3 5-3-87: BILL FIREBAUGH WELL TEMPERED LABS SEM1NA 6-14-87: MARCEL REINDAU ORACLE DELPHI OPEN HOUS 8-30-87: WORLD PREMIER OF MARTIN LOGAN SEQUELS

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Call (818) 882-3802 Cloaed Monday Appointments recommended ,during the week final seconds of tape-splice screwing around been respectful, but this is inspired; for the first that were in the lead-out grooves of all but the time, the sound of Magical Mystçry Tour is ac- US edition of this album. tually apleasure to hear. All in all, the CD makes Sgt. Pepper sound The Beatles is the least changed of these much more as if played by arock band, rather four releases, though there are afew. The as- than amasterful assemblage of tracks. A de- tringent, almost painful high frequencies are cent, respectful job of remastering, with great carried over intact to the CDs; instrumental respect for the original. placement is not quite as specific as on LP. Magical Mystery Tour was always one of the Most of my criticism, however, is of the least-played of my Beatles albums; not because editing: many previously segued songs are Idisliked the music, but because the recorded now discrete units on the silver disc, which sound was so god-awful. Screaming high fre- plays hell with the between-song rhythm and quencies, nonexistent bass, and extreme harsh- flow the Beatles labored so mightily to achieve. ness added up to aching ears and few play- This is particularly annoying in such cases as ings. This is in large part due to the kind of "Martha My Dear," the descending close of sound the Beatles were looking for during that which is perfectly mirrored by the ascending time; certainly the four new songs on Yellow intro of "I'm So Tired"; the cutting out of link- Submarine—particularly George Harrison's— ing ambience on the CD destroys the effect. were top-heavy enough in HF, and The Beatles This sort of thing happens throughout the (see below) had astrained, stretched-thin, no- album. frills sound. But much of it was simply bad But there are improvements as well: the engineering and mastering, as the MMT CD so brass arrangement on "Martha" is fully in- clearly reveals. tegrated into the mix, no longer atinny little The highs are still there, but they don't track at the extreme right channel; an alter- scream, and the CD separates and organizes native lead-guitar solo can be heard faintly in them in ways that keep them from fighting the left channel of "Yer Blues," just before each other. Here's arare case in which the CD John's off-mike vocal; the organ part in verse is several orders of magnitude less harsh than 2of "Sexy Sadie" was new to me; the "Savoy the LP—witness the title song, "Fool on the Truffle" sax chart has even more bite; and the Hill," and the right-channel guitar in "Flying." false fade in "Helter Skelter" does not, it turns There are many other pleasures: the tam- out, fade to total silence before fading back in. bourine in the outchorus of "Blue Jay Way" In "Cry Baby Cry," when John sings "with redefines palpable presence (I looked over my voices out of nowhere put on specially by the shoulder at its entrance, thinking someone— children for alark," the LP's left-channel vocal or something—was gainin' on me); handclaps drops ow, making the last six words come Ihadn't heard before in "Hello Goodbye"; and from the extreme right channel. This is "cor- the British version of "Walrus," which has a rected" in the CD, keeping the vocal dead- few extra bars of the opening cello motif center throughout. Evidently this was aglitch (although the cellos don't come through as that someone always wanted to repair; how- well as on the LP at the first "I'm cryin'"). ever, /always assumed it to be deliberate, Throughout the CD, Ringo's drums have a and, late-'60s Beatles listening sessions being little less punch, but sound—as does every- what they were, had developed all sorts of thing else—considerably less flimsy than reasons why it should be so, the most obvious on the LP. The celli and brass come through being an attempt to approximate a"voice out with deep-focus clarity, and George Martin's of nowhere" by electronic means (something arrangements seem mixed alittle farther for- for which the Beatles were notorious). Anyway, ward. It works. "Penny Lane" is mellower, Imiss it. warmer on CD, with amuch-clarified bass line, Paul's bass playing reached its peak here, and there is a conga drum in the trumpet stuttering on "Everybody's Got Something to bridge that I hadn't heard before. Listen Hide ...", offering all sorts of treats on "Birth- carefully to Paul's bass in "Baby You're A Rich day," "Helter Skelter," "Revolution 1," "Honey Man," and what sounds like Yoko singing with Pie," and "Savoy Truffle," and sounding John on "Nothing that doesn't show." positively frightening in drive and intensity on The remastering of Sgt. Pepper may have "Yer Blues."

Stereophile, February 1988 159 The Magic of Music

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Clitbantment Winner of the "Best Sound" at the first Stereophile Hi-Fi Show in Los Angeles. 213/393-4434 In balance, atough call, the CD ending up The Firesign Theatre: Philip Austin, Peter Bergman, Philip with arecommendation only slightly higher Proctor, David Ossman Mobile Fidelity MFCD 880 (CD). Bill Driml, mg.; Bill Driml, than the LP's; but most will want both. Firesign, prods. AAD. TT: 46:24 When I first heard of the Beatles CD reissues, 1immediately thought of MMT and Back in the late '60s and early '70s, when the Abbey Road as the albums that would most sight of a VW Bug or van on the horizon benefit from transfer: the former because its almost guaranteed the hapless hitcher aride, LP predecessor was so bad, the latter because Idid most of my traveling by thumb. Ican it was the most sophisticated recording. remember spending literally hours reciting en- Well, MMT exceeded my highest expecta- tire Firesign Theatre scripts with the total tions, but Abbey Road is agreat disappoint- strangers who had just picked me up, never ut- ment. The sound is fuzzy and furry through- tering a"straight" remark in hours of non-stop out, often sounding like a pastry paddle talk. From the first "Shoes for Industry, com- whumping through great mounds of dough. padre," to the last "I see you are asailor All editing, punching-in, and multi-tracking the litany would go on and on. Of the many are much more audible on CD, to the music's argots and ephemeral shared mythologies of detriment. Also, there seems to be more time that now-mythic time, the Firesign Theatre between songs, and/or CD silence makes non- provided one of the richest, funniest, and most ambient dead air between tracks even more resonant. glaringly evident, making the album sound like Reading Mobile Fidelity's press release on a mere bag of songs rather than a unified this CD, Iwas impressed yet again by the fact whole. that, in 20 years, Ihave never read anything The strings in "Something" are muddy, by a journalist that even comes close to sounding like the Mellotron they most defin- describing what the Firesign Theatre has been itely are not, and the gothic organ entrance doing in that time. I'm afraid Ican't do much halfway through the closing vamp of "She's So better myself. Perhaps their own self-defini- Heavy" is barely discernible. There's asoft tion, from the liner notes of the very obscure glaze over the entire album, as if it were Just Folks. .. A Firesign Chat, is most succinct: preserved in amber epoxy. The LP tended "of or relating to the humor of the decline of toward this effect, but the CD crystallizes it. Western Civilization." There are afew advantages—Paul's fingers It should be clear, then, that to me, there was on bass strings in "Come Together," the much always alot more to this group than the usual clearer piano vamping in "Oh Darling," and "let's get stoned and listen to Firesign Theatre!" the fresher choirs in "Maxwell's Silver Ham- would suggest, though even that announce- mer," "Because," and "Sun King"—but on the ment was invariably followed by abunch of whole, the LP delivers amuch richer sonic scruffy young people sitting in silence, actually experience. listening to the record with great concentration. Now the mop-up starts. What we need is a Sort of unthinkable now, isn't it? comprehensive, chronological, well Dwarf, Firesign's best-selling of over 23 CD or two of all the Beatles material that has releases, and their first full- (ie, album-) length not made it onto this series: British singles, B- LP, was first released in the summer of 1970 by sides, most of what's on Hey Jude, judicious CBS. I've worn out three copies in that time, gleanings from the US and UK editions of so Mobile Fidelity's CD was awelcome arrival. Rarities, and, who knows? mebbe even some Nor did the little disc wear out its welcome: of that stuff that still, after all these years, re- the sound is simply gorgeous. Mobile Fidelity mains in the EMI vaults. On the whole, the has done amagical job with the master tapes, series has been good; except for the mono flap which were mighty sophisticated to begin at the beginning, and the sorry Abbey Road at with. No one has produced audio drama of the end, EMI, George Martin & Co. have done higher or more sophisticated production adecent job. Not to mention those four other values than Firesign, and it's ajoy to discover guys. Now let's finish it.—Richard Lehnert that there was a whole lot more in those master tapes than any of us ever heard. The greater depth-of-field here makes audi- FIRESIGN THEATRE: Don't Crush nut Dwarf. ¡land Me The Pliers ble many second- and third-level background

Stereophile, February 1988 161 What does Dave Howard have that you want?

Dave has the complete Cello Music System: -Audio Suite preamplifier -Audio Palette -Performance amplifiers -Amati speakers. in place and ready for you to audition at Cello Chicago. Dave has been personally appointed by the president of Cello Ltd.. as the Resident Systems Designer for the Midwest. He offers the dedicated listener a level of expertise. commitment, and professional accommodation commensurate with Cello's no-compromise philosophy. To audition this system. contact Dave Howard at Cello Chicago. 312-433-7187. Arrangements will be made. For your personal copy of the new full-color Cello brochure. send one dollar to cover postage and handling to:

Cello Chicago •493 Roger Williams • Highland Park. IL 60035 •312/433-7187 conversations, musical cues, sound effects, and commercialism of his product, instead mak- monologues that were formerly just part of a ing the most of the pop medium: abig sound, vague background ambience. Now they have sometimes joyous, sometimes Inelancholy, true dramatic content, and can be followed always alert and emphatic. much farther, even as the foreground material Will Power is completely different from takes over. This makes the overlapping and these earlier albums, and wrongheaded in ex- editing even more seamless, the connections tending the tendency of self-importance between the surreally segued scenes even Jackson began in 1984's Body and Soul. In more powerful. Edits are as good, or better, Body and Soul, Jackson overlayed splashy, than the LP throughout. pseudo-jazz instrumentals (near-parodies of Tape hiss is nonexistent. The recording has Gil Evans orchestrations) with embarrassingly all the advantages of analog and digital, and vapid lyrics. By 1987 he has made enough the disadvantages of neither. An added treat money to go symphonic and hire a60-piece are Phil Austin's remarkable liner notes, in orchestra, forces deployed in playing some of which is revealed, for the cognoscenti, that, the most inutile, perfectly awful music I've yes, The Firesign Theatre was just as wise and heard in years. "Solitude," the album's second smart as we thought they were back in the cut, is Jackson's attempt at bad Debussy. dope-cured '60s. It's good to know it wasn't Though scored for full orchestra, the record- just the dynamite hash. ing is dominated by outsized flutes, a bad Highly recommended for fans. For those rendering of abad arrangement. The major who've never heard this group, even more work, "Symphony in One Movement," is so highly recommended—you've got quite a characterless that it scarcely qualifies as treat coming. —Richard Lchnert mediocre film scoring. This is structureless mush-music; it can't even be called episodic, and is full of jive, cliched sectional licks. It ex- JOEJACKSON: Will Poorer Joe Jackson (composer, arranger, piano), orchestra ists solely to exploit all of the hackneyed Mobile Fidelity UDCD 503 (CD). (Reissue of A&M CD-3908). audiophile expectations (why else would Paul Goodman and Michael Frondelli, engs.; Joe Jackson, Mobile Fidelity remaster it?). It goes low and prod. ODD (AAD on Syntpbony?). TT, 4205 it goes high, solo instruments are merciless- Sometimes popular musicians are their own ly spotlighted, the listener is led through ex- worst enemies. It's bad enough that there are tremes of volume; the result is physically pain- so many "serious" music critics who refuse to ful (my dog left the room while Symphony was take Pop seriously. You can read their musty playing). The MFSL flack sheet trumpets this pronouncements in various audio journals. as a significant work, but Will Power, and Such criticism, though, is usually lightweight. specifically this cut, deserve no higher regard The real danger comes from those pop musi- than such other audiophile excesses as the dans who achieve, and become acknowledged Telarc 1812, or Dave Grusin records from the for, serious accomplishment in their work. bad old days of audio. Too often they wind up taking themselves Only one piece on Will Power is remotely more seriously than they do their art, and pur- like what I've come to expect from Jackson in sue legitimacy as defined by inappropriate thematic development and depth of feeling. establishment criteria. "Nocturne" is apretty piece for solo piano, Joe Jackson is atalented, sometimes inspired played by Jackson, the only piece on the musician. There was atime—about five years record where he appears as performer rather ago—when few could equal him in writing ar- than technician. But "Solitude" lacks words, ticulate and soul-piercing lyrics. "Is She Really and words have always been the most original Going Out With Him," from Jackson's first commodity to come out of Jackson's best (1979) album Look Sharp, "Pretty Boys," from records. 1980's Beat Crazy, and "Breaking Us in Two," The biggest problem with Will Power is that from 1982's Night and Day, are about as good it blatantly asserts its significance, and an artist as pop songs get: adult-romantic lyrics; in- cannot simply try to be significant. Not only strumentation and arrangement appropriate doesn't it work; it also vitiates the art. What's in scale and wit; and production full of blood wrong with playing good rock'n'roll, anyway? and vigor. Jackson offered no apologies for the That's what Jackson does best. Most good art,

Stereophile, February 1988 163 wers Defiviesffie stote of ffie ort

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164 Stereophile, February 1988 whether nxk'n'roll or not, does carry adiscern- same vein as Nebraska, and not as monumen- ible connection to popular culture. One ig- tal an effort as Born in the USA. Iam not the nores this connection at great peril. Jackson's biggest Springsteen fan in the world, so 1can eschewing of his rock roots recalls the reports readily agree. that Mark Twain resented his own renown Tunnel of Love represents Springsteen's as a teller of humorous stories. I'm also latest works, now that he's married, Live Aid reminded of the aging Leonard Bernstein, behind him, and he's seemingly getting used who, in his desire to legitimize his popular to the fruits of his labors. The album opens masterpiece West Side Story, re-recorded it with "Ain't Got You": with an international operatic cast (DG 415 Igot apound of caviar sitting borne on ice 253-2), the result proving far more refined and /got afancy foreign car that rides like para- immeasurably less alive than the earlier stage dise ligota hundred pretty women knockin' versions (eg, Columbia JS -32603). down my door /And folks wanna kiss me I As to sound: this is literally agold-plated CD, ain't even seen before /I been around the one of Mobile Fidelity's Ultradisc series. The world and all across the seven seas /Been technical information included with the disc paid a king's ransom for doin' what comes posits that the gold coating is far less prone to naturally /But I'm still the biggest fool honey oxidation, and therefore pitting and loss of this world ever knew /Cause the only thing digits, than the standard aluminum surface, so lain 't got baby lain't got you. (c)1987 Bruce it trips aCD player's error-correction circuitry Springsteen (ASCAP) less often. Ididn't have on hand abit-error It's starting to sound like alot of the struggle tester, but can report that this disc presents a is gone, reflecting changes in aman who no big, clean sound. Dynamic range is impressive longer needs to fret over what he used to even for a CD (this even though Iseem to worry about in suburban New Jersey; what detect tape hiss on Symphony; perhaps this cut youth has always worried about: alousy job, was recorded in analog). In fact, it's quite women, cars, and money. The music says there possible that my as-yet-unmodified CD player are still worries, but I've made it .. . and Isee cannot do it justice. I'm sure that my objec- the world alittle differently now. tions to Will Power—sonic and aesthetic— Don't get the impression that this album is are abyproduct of the musical material and complacent MOR or elevator music. It's agood original recording, not the playback medium. record, the 12 songs are very well produced It's not MFSL's fault that there is no ambience and well presented, but they lack the intensity around the orchestral instruments, and that it's that previous outings have conveyed. blatantly obvious that certain instruments were Die-hard Springsteen fans will probably recorded in acloset, then mixed in later. Those disagree, but ayear or two from now Iwonder failings existed from the time of recording. I'm how many will really want to listen to this afraid that, rather than gilding the lily, Mobile album. Fidelity has here gold-plated aturkey. Success-wise, John Mellencamp is no slouch —Kevin Conklin either. From rural America, he sees the country from the point of view of asmall-town Indiana boy. Sure, jobs, women, cars, and money are BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Thinnel of love important there, too—but the problems that Columbia CK 40999. Bruce Springsteen. Jon 12ndau. Chuck Plotkin, prods. DDD. TT: 46,25 face American farmers have left an indelible JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP: The Lonesome jubilee marten that part of the world, and an indeli- Mercury 832 465-1 Q-I. John Mellencamp. Don Gellman, prods. AAD. 17: 3938 ble mark on Mellencamp's music. Mellencamp dropped the "Cougar" show- Both of these albums represent "mid-life" biz pseudonym afew years ago. He's been mar- crises of sorts for these two somewhat similar ried alittle longer than Springsteen (he's even rock stars. Springsteen, the more successful of written asong about his wife; Bruce hasn't). the two, is coming off his incredibly successful He organized Farm Aids 1and 2and now, with Born in the USA, his last studio album, and a children entering his life, his world seems to multi-record live set that saw sales fall as quick- be settling down. It's reflected in his music. ly as they had risen. This new album was The album opens with the hit "Paper in Fire": heralded as a"smaller"-scaled album, in the There is agood life /Right across this green

Stereophile, February 1988 165 THE PURIST SOUND EXPERIENCE

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Stereophile, February 1988 field /And each generation /Stares at it from enamored with his voice. Guess that's why he afar /But we keep no check /On our appetites didn't sing lead with The Band. But there is /So our green fields turn to brown /Just like something about the music that brought me paper in fire (c)1987 Riva Music, Inc. (ASCAP) back to listen and appreciate again and again. The Lonesome Jubilee wonderfully reflects Ifind that I'm listening to the songs on adaily Middle America in the eyes of arock'n'roll basis. musician. From "Paper in Fire" to "Hard Times Standouts on the album are "Fallen Angel," For An Honest Man" and "Hotdogs And Ham- dedicated to late Band member Richard burgers," Mellencamp shows that he's fast Manuel (and featuring an entrancing American becoming the populist voice of rock. Indian drum), "Showdown At Big Sky" (in- Technically, the Springsteen album is digital- teresting video), and "Somewhere Down The ly recorded and does sound better on CD. On Crazy River" (great spoken lyrics). All the the other hand, Mellencamp's album is analog, songs are strung together by Robertson's and sounds abit more realistic on LP (cheaper stingy guitar style—just enough notes to make too!). Both albums are worth auditioning, but the point with emphasis. if Iwere pressed to choose just one, it would The album was recorded in six different be The Lonesome Jubilee. It will be interesting studios, from England to Bearsville to LA. to see what's next from both of them. Quality is very good in both disc formats, but —Gary S. Krakow since the LP has the same number of songs as the CD, save the extra money and enjoy the ROBBIE ROBERTSON: Robbie Robertson 12" version. Oaten OHS 24160. Daniel Limns and Robbie Robertson, One last thought: listening to both U21 prods. ADD. TI 44:59 Robertson collaborations on the disc, Irealized Robbie Robertson was the lead guitarist for just how much 122 has borrowed stylistically The Band. He also wrote or co-wrote most of from Robertson/The Band; probably the ma- their songs. Like many other rock groups, jor influence on one of the most popular when the leader decided he had had enough, bands of the '80s. —Gary S. Krakow The Band ceased to exist. That happens alot these days—The Stones, The Who, etc. But like fellow musicians in the other groups, the remaining members of The Band Boulder MS II PHONOGRAPH PREAMPLIFIER did not want their careers ending when the "lead guy" left .. . they hadn't had enough. They continued touring with other bands and their own pick-up groups. One or two even made solo albums, or had parts in movies. 00 Robertson scored some movies and acted alittle too, starring in Carny with Gary Busey and Jodie Foster, but never toured and never recorded asolo effort of his own. Until now. Robbie Robertson's first solo album was worth waiting for. With some help from Garth Hudson, Rick Danko (formerly of The Band), The sonic quality of the Peter Gabriel, and members of the BoDeans MS11 Phono Preamplifier and the supergroup U2, Robertson has created module may be the ahauntingly beautiful album. (More about the U2 /Robertson connection below.) best reason to invest in the Robertson calls heavily upon his Native Boulder Modular American background and experiences picked Preamplifier System up while touring the US and Canada, bringing Boulder Amplifiers about a mix of styles and textures that is recognizable as new, but instantly reminiscent 4850 Sterling Drive, Boulder, CO 80301 of past efforts. 303-449-8220 Iwill admit that on first audition, Iwas not Telex: 6503085376 MCI 1.11x,/

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Stereophile, February 1988 BOOK REVIEWS

The Neu , Audio Cyclopedia tains information useful to anyone interested Edited by Glen Ballou in designing acustom listening room. The ef- 1247 pages, $79.95 (hardcover), first printing, fects of room size, proportion and shape, stand- 1987 ing waves and modal frequencies, reflection Published by Howard W. Sams & Co., 4300 and diffraction, are all discussed. Chapter 4, West 62nd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46268. Tel: "Common Factors in All Audio Rooms," deals (800) 428-SAMS; in Alaska, Hawaii, and In- extensively with the factors that optimize the diana, (317) 298-5699 acoustic isolation of a room. It's the most thorough discussion of the subject I've seen One of my oversights, as an audiophile, was anywhere. Chapter 5, "Acoustical Design of never having acquired acopy of the original Small Rooms," is an excellent discussion of the Audio Cyclopedia. Ireferred to it anumber of treatment of the interior of the room itself. times in libraries, and was sorely tempted to Keeping in mind the fact that the author is purchase it on those rare occasions when it primarily considering the design of a small would show up in a local bookstore. But I recording studio rather than a dedicated managed to convince myself, especially in re- domestic listening room, the information will cent years, that much of the content was dated. still be extremely useful if applied with alittle It was, to adegree, but that's rather beside the common sense. point. The book was aclassic of its kind. The final three chapters of Part 1deal with Now there is a new version, completely the acoustics of spaces ranging from small revamped, with new writers (14 in total) and recording studios to concert halls and motion- anew editor. Iurge you, if you have any in- picture theaters; though of little immediate ap- terest in the technical aspects of audio and plication in the home listening environment, sound reproduction, not to repeat my mistake. it is still information worth having. You should seriously consider adding The New Part 2of the Cyclopedia is an excellent col- Audio Cyclopedia to your personal audio lection of data on electronic components— library. from the lowly resistor, capacitor, and induc- The book is divided into seven sections, tor, all the way up through transformers, wire, with atotal of 31 chapters. The book may be tubes (six pages on the hot little devils), tran- written for professional sound engineers (as sistors, and integrated circuits. The fourth part is clearly indicated by its title), but don't let puts these components together into various that put you off. It is loaded with information devices: amplifiers, filters, power supplies, and that the curious hobbyist will find engrossing, the like. This is the most technically challeng- much of it difficult to find elsewhere. You cer- ing part of the book, and will be tough sled- tainly won't find this much basic audio infor- ding for those without technical or design mation gathered together in any other single background. It only takes up about 200 pages, location. however. One important point: don't expect Part 1, "Acoustics," begins with adiscussion an audiophile sensibility in these sections; this of sound fundamentals, extending from that is strictly by-the-book, measurement-oriented into adiscussion of psychoacoustics. You'll stuff. That doesn't make it inaccurate—even find out in this section that arifle bullet travels high-end designers have to know Ohm's at 1000 ft./s, sound at sea level at 1130—when Law—but you won't find any hint that the fired at, you have to duck very quickly. Want authors recognize passive components as con- to know what a"Mel" is? You'll find out in tributors to overall sound quality, or cables as Chapter 2. Curious about the Scapia, Helix being of particular importance. Fossa, and Intertragic Notch? Same chapter. (A Part 3contains excellent chapters on micro- hint—Van Gogh would have had aproblem as phones and loudspeakers. The discussion of an audio critic.) loudspeakers includes descriptions of all types Chapter 3, Acoustics of Small Rooms," con- of designs but, as you might expect from the

Stereophile, February 1988 169 VANDERSTEEN AUDIO VA\DERST 1E\ was founded in 1977 with the commitment to offer AUDIO always the finest in music reproduction for the dollar. Toward this goal there will always be a high degree of pride, love, and personal satisfaction involved in each piece before it leaves our facilities. Your Vandersteen dealer shares in this commitment, and has been carefully selected for his ability to deal with the complex task of assem- bling a musically satisfying system. Although sometimes hard to find, he is well worth seeking out.

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ro Stereophile, February 1988 book's "professional" slant, tends to emphasize sort of book that you will read in detail from horn designs. Some design information is in- cover to cover, though you could. But for many, cluded, but it is definitely no substitute for it will be an indispensible work of reference—I Vance Dickason's The Loudspeaker Design have consulted it on numerous occasions in the Cookbook , for those planning to "roll their five weeks since it arrived. As abonus, all the own" loudspeaker systems. Chapter 13, how- chapters have extensive lists of references; the ever, has an excellent overview of micro- book's value extends beyond what lies between phones and miking techniques; the author its covers. doesn't play favorites, and is fairly evenhanded The publisher might find it worthwhile to in his treatment of various single- and multi- issue each section as aseparate publication, microphone arrangements. allowing readers to purchase just those sections Chapter 22 is arather long examination of of special interest. It might not be abook that "Consoles and Systems," running to 130 pages. all audiophiles will want to own, especially Iconfess to almost no knowledge of, or interest those less technically inclined, but it is abook in, the design of multitrack mixing consoles. that, at the very least, you should consider. It

If you have either, or both, Iexpect you will isn't cheap, 2 but Ican envision audio clubs and find this chapter of value. groups of audiophiles buying joint copies. Chapter 23, "Disk Recording and Playback," Highly recommended. —TJN is superb, covering everything from Edison's phonograph to Direct Metal Mastering, from The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia cartridge types (with superb cutaway dia- offazz grams) and stylus profiles to test records. The by Brian Case and Stan Britt. Third Edi- chapter is crammed full of superb charts, tion, fully revised by Chess' Murray photos, and diagrams. But it does have one 208 pages, $22.95 (hardcover), $13.95 (soft- serious weakness, which is the greatest flaw of cover) the book as awhole: The entire discussion of Published by Harmony Books, Crown Pub- CD is limited to the last six pages of this lishers Inc., 225 Park Avenue South, New York, 102-page chapter. Yes, there is aseparate discus- NY 10003. Tel: (212) 254-1600 sion of digital recording—a scant 12 pages— plus afew references elsewhere in the text, but Iused to think that Iwas alone in becoming the overall treatment of this topic does not disillusioned with the directions jazz took in the come close to giving it the coverage its impor- late '60s and early '70s. If you examine what tance in the world of professional recording happened to the perhaps oppositely directed would seem to require. trails blazed by John Coltrane and Miles Davis The remaining chapters of interest to (exemplified by the former's A Love Supreme audiophiles are #24, "Magnetic Recording and and the latter's In aSilent Way), one led to the Playback" (not as striking as the chapter on disk formless anger of what one critic referred to as recording, but quite thorough, nevertheless), "Hoot twitter-plonk" music; the other became #30, 'Audio Measurements," and #31, "Fun- bowdlerized as the anodyne pap of fusion. And damentals and Units of Measurement." The lat- with such potential giants as Oscar Peterson ap- ter is agold mine of information—a power/ parently more concerned with developing a dBm /voltage nomograph; an audible fre- rewarding career as akind of hip Liberace— quency-range chart, including the ranges the last time Isaw him in concert, ten years ago, covered by various instruments, related both stands in my memory as one of the most to frequency and to the piano keyboard; musically disappointing evenings of my life—is volume and area formulae for various geomet- it any wonder that jazz took aback seat in my ric shapes (for easy calculation of the volume musical development? of that truncated pyramid loudspeaker sys- And then Iread Wynton Marsalis's foreword tem); and agreat deal more. to this superbly prepared encyclopedia: ". ..we In short, The Neu. Audio Cyclopedia is a now find ourselves in an era of growing vital, fundamental reference work. It is not the rebellion against the aesthetic denigration of jazz that began when major figures started IPrice 514.95. reviewed by DO in %WI° No.. and distributed by Old Colony Sound Lab. PO Box 243. Peterborough. NH 2Although it costs about the same as one three-foot pair of 03458-0243. good-quality interconnects. Think about that for aminute.

Stereophile, February 1988 171 SIEFERT RESEARCH MAXIM III "The Most Successful Design of All" J. GORDON HOLT, STEREOPHILE — JULY, 1985, VOL. 8. NO. 3

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Stereophile, February 1988 making fools of themselves and dupes of their ments the achievements of just about every listeners. .. (this) resulted from acombination important jazz musician or singer, regardless of arrogance, ignorance, and opportunism of of their musical taste or direction. This point such abominable determination that it threatened is made clear by the last entry, concerning the essence of amusical art so profound that Frank Zappa: entering the musical arena via the its very emergence redefined the history of mushrooming explosion of musical forms in music .. . the musician who offers the willing the rock of the late '60s, his contribution to and innocent listener an artifact in sound that modern improvised music is as important as shows no respect for craft and tradition is be- that of one of the first entries in the book, ing more than inept .. . this musician is cor- "traditional" modern jazzer Cannonball rupting the sensibility of the listening public." Adderley. In other words, sterility and meaningless- The book is lavishly illustrated with photo- ness are the legacies of amusical art which graphs and album sleeves, with over 450 loses contact with its roots—which were ex- artists treated to informed essays covering actly my feelings 15 years ago! Sure, young mainly their recorded careers, followed by players need to establish their own voices, but complete discographies. This emphasis on the rejection of Louis Armstrong, one of the recordings perfectly illustrates the lack of finest improvisers of all time, as an Uncle Tom documentation about the true nature of jazz— figure by awhole generation of black Ameri- that it fully exists only as alive, ephemeral can musicians must have been one of the event. The authors are well-known on the stupidest artistic decisions ever taken by a British jazz scene, but their work is not insular, body of people. As Marsalis points out, being totally international in nature regarding however, there is now awhole generation of the musicians covered. Perhaps all that is miss- young musicians who do not feel that it is selling from this highly recommended book, ing out to respect what went before and who preventing it from being acomplete history of are developing from afirmer base, with ap- the 20th Century's most important musical propriate notice taken of their predecessors. form, are entries for generic musics, such as And without apparent detriment to the music. "Jazz in Russia" or "The Development of Which is what makes such an excellently Bebop." A tiny criticism, and perhaps an prepared book as this so valuable: it docu- unrealistic one. Buy and enjoy. —JA eyenc.

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Volume X of Stereophile was published in 1987, with Volume IX covering 1986; VIII, 1985; VII, 1984; VI, 1983; V, 1982; IV, 1977-81;111, 1971-1977;11, 1967-71; and 1, 1962-67. All issues listed are available from our back-issue department; if out of print, they can be supplied in Xerox form. See the advertisement in this issue for details.

Articles & Otherwise Well-Tempered Innovator, The UGH) 6-50 16 Years of Equipment Reports (Cumulative Index). .7-172 Who Stole the Bass? (AHC) 3-58 25 Years of Stereopbile (Dell) 1-75 Workin on the Ftallroad UGH) I-42 Ambisonic Record Survey (Sunier) 4-187 Balancing Act, A (Burmester) 8-48 As We See It Biwiring (Boyk) 8-40 LA/faire Belt UGH) 9-5 CES Reports Ambisonics, the Future of Sound Reproduction? UA) 8-5 Summer 1987 Blind Leading the Deaf, The UGH) 3-5 JGH 5-51 Canned Music UGH) 2-5 Lipnick 5-56 DAT Solution, The UGH) 7-5 MC 5-68 Diminishing DAT UGH) 5-5 ST 5-31 How We Got Here UGH) I-5 Winter 1987 Is It Live? UA) 4-5 KK 2-36 Orchestras & Copyright UGH) 6.5 ST 2-25 Concert-Hall Sound (Lipnick) 5-42 The Audio Cheapskate (Sam Tellig) Conductors Compared (Lipnick) 7-44 Adcom OFF-535 power amplifier 8-30 Controversy AffiCi Quad ESL-63 stands 1-35 The Carver Challenge 3-117/206,5-14 B&K STI40 power amplifier 7-39 CBS Copycode 5-5/99,7-5/9,8-12 13&K ST202 power amplifier 8-31 Peter Belt's "Polarizers" 6-83,9-5 Conrad-Johnson MV-50 power amplifier 8-35 Small speakers & bass response .. 3-58,5-89,7-187,8-21 Counterpoint SA-I2 power amplifier 8-37 Solid-Core Cable 4-73,6-15/67,9-18 Discrete Technology linecords 3-37 Dahlia Debra DIY loudspeaker, The (DO) 4-65 Jadis JA-30 power amplifier 7-35 Desert Song, The (Kessler) 2-36 _WC QL-Y5 turntable 1-38 Down to Absolutes (GG) 4-36 Magnavox CDB650 & 560 CD players 6-36 Editor at the Show, The UGH) 5-51 Onkyo M-504 power amplifier 8-33 Engineer at the Show, The (MC) 5-68 Quad 34 preamplifier 3-33 Essential Toneorm test, The (Stromeyer & Quad 306 power amplifier 3-33 Grecnspun) 8-58 Radford Renaissance power amplifier 7-37 European Dahlia DIY loudspeaker, A (MC) 6-79 Recommended Components, Cheapskate-Style 9-38 Flying into Los Angeles (JA) I-59 Reports from Chicago 5-31 Gallic Charm (JA) 9- 71 Reports from Las Vegas 2-25 High-End Hi -Fi Show Preview UA) 7-90 Sonographe SD-IA CD player 6-36 Impossible Dream: Compusonics, The (Fox) 3-42 Sony CD-P505ES CD player 6-36 Index to Stereophile Volume IX 2-159 Sumo Polaris power amplifier 7-39 Interviews Superphon Revelation Basic preamplifier 6-41 Henry Azima (Mission)UA) 7-68 Bill Firebaugh (Well-Tempered Lab)(JGH) 6-50 Building a Library (Christopher Breunig) Keith Johnson (Reference Recordings)UGH) 3-68 Bartok Concerto for Orchestra (David Lennox) . .7-143 Pierre Lurne (Audiomeca)UA) 9-71 Classical Magpie's Nest, A 5-173 Lincoln Mayorga (Sheffield Lab) UGH) 3-68 Haydn/Beethoven Symphonies 4-161 Doug Sax (Sheffield Lab)UGH) 3-68 Julius Kotchen Legacy, The 2-167 Little Network Workout, A (Watkins & Mitchell) 5-93 Liszt's B-Minor Sonata (Barbara Jahn) 8-145 London AES, The (JA) 4-55 Mahler Symphony 7 1-189 Matter of taste, A 1-152,2-55,3-177 Mendelssohn Octet (Barbara Jahn) 9-135 Mission to Succeed, A UA) 7-68 Prokofiev Symphony 5 3-190 Moscow Nights UGH) 3-68 làughan Williams London Symphony 6-143 Mono, Stereo, Digital (Lehner() 7 -58 Musician at the Show, The (Lipnick) 5-56 Consultation Musician in the Middle, The (Lipnick) I-65 Accuracy or Music from CD 6-139 New & Awful Silence, A (Holland) 6-46 Biwiring 6-137 No One Stole the Bass (MC) 5-89 Roomy bass 4-154 Nothing to Hide UGH) I-85 Cable & conduit 7-139 Real Thing, The (Lipnick) 4-42 Cassette tape variations 4-151 Recommended Components 3-91,8-84 CD stabilizers 4-157 Santa Monica Survey, The UA) 5-178 Decibels 4-147 Shot Down in Flames (GG) 6-75 Dither 7-133 Showbiz: the Heathrow Hi -Fi Show UGH) 9-48 Editing with the Sony PCM -F1 4-157 Thin Solid-Core Cable (DO) 6-67 Equalizers 4-153 llibe Sound? (Modjeski) 8-75 Hi -Fi headache 6-133

174 Stereophile, February 1988 Hybrid systems 4-157 Mirror Image LIS (JGH) 6-106 Loudness peaks 7-141 Motif MS100 (TJN) 9-88 Loudspeaker sensitivity 7-137 NAD 2600 UGH) 2-92 Loudspeaker toeing-In 6-135 Onkyo M-308 UGH) 4-87 Multiplexing 7-141 Radford STA 25 Renaissance (DO) 6-104 No Noise? 7-133 Rowland Research Model 5(LL) 8-122 Overcoming meter inertia 7-143 VTL 30/30 (DO) 2-104,6-102 Small amplifiers blow up speakers 6-131 Smooth bass response 4-149 Amplifiers (preamps) Spade-Lug adaptors 6-137 Audio Research SP9 (JGH) 8-111 Subwoofer matching 7-139 Electrocompaniet EC-1 (SWW) 9-106 Test CDs 6-133 Klyne SK-5A UGH) 6-88 VTA Rake Angle 7-137 Krell KRS2 (AHC) 4-82 Why no television? 6-135 The Mod Squad Line Drive (AHC) 3-153 NYAL Minuet-in-A (GG) 6-96 Pure Gold (Alvin Gold) Rowland Research Coherence 1(LL) 8-122 Apogee Duetta Mk Il loudspeaker 2-79 Threshold FET 10 UGH) 6-92 Cambridge Audio CD2 CD player 7-83 Cassette decks 6-83 Audio Interconnects (DO) 2-136 CBS Copycode 5-99 Cartridges Ethics & Hi- FI Journalism 8-79 A& R E77Mg (KK) 4-135 Linn Axis turntable 1-97 A&R P77Mg (KK) 4-135 Musical Mysticism 6-83 Adcom SXC/van den Hul (AHC) 5-114 Philips CD960 CD player 2-79 Adcom XC/Microridge 11 (AHC) 5-114 Regs RB300 & RB250 tonearms I-99 Apature Kocc (KK) 4-134 Solid-core cable 4-73 Argent Diamond (ANC) 5-115 Tower & Midi systems 9-81 Audio Technica AT-F3 (KK) I-139 Clear Audio Vcritas (AHC) 5-115 Equipment Reports Decca Garrott (AHC) 5-116 Accessories Decca Super Gold (AHC) 5-117 AKG K DF headphones (BS) 9-129 Denon DL -160 (KK) I-141 AKG K 141 headphones (BS) 9-130 Denon DL-301 (ILK) 4-136 Ambico V-0602 IR Receiver system (DAS) 8-141 Dynavector DV-17DMR (AHC) 5-117 Beyer Dynamic DT990 headphones (BS) 9-128 Dynavector DV-23SMR (AHC) 5-117 Beyer Dynamic DT220 headphones (BS) 9-128 Goldring Epic (KK) I-141 CD CarryDisc UGH) 8-142 Goldring GI020 (KK) 2-131 CD Saver UGH) 8-143 Grado Signature 8MX (AHC) 5-117 Cramolin Contact Cleaner (GG) 6-125 Grado Signature MCX (AHC) 5-118 Decca Record Brush UGH) 8-142 Kiseki Blue Silverspot (AHC) 5-119 Jecklin Float Electrostatic headphones (BS) 9-125 Kiseki Purpleheart Sapphire (AHC) 5-119 Jecklin Float II headphones (BS) 9-129 Koetsu Black Goldline (AHC) 5-120 Koss portero 1headphones (BS) 9-131 Koetsu Rosewood Signature (AHC) 5-120 Nagaoka CD Cleaner UGH) 8-143 Linn Basik (KK) 1-142 Record Clamps UGH) 8-142 Linn K9 (KK) 1-143 Recoton CD converter (DS) 3-169 Linn Karma (AHC) 5-121 Sennheiser HD 540 Reference headphones (BS) 9-128 Linn Troika UA) 6-98 Signet Contact Cleaner Kit (GG) 6-125 Mission Solitaire (KK) 2-132 Signet TK44 headphones (BS) 9-126 Monster Alpha I(ANC) 5-122 Sony MDR-CD6 headphones (BS) 9-130 Monster Alpha 2(AHC) 5-122 Sony MDR-S101 headphones (BS) 9-132 Monster Alpha HO (AHC) 5 122 Stax Lambda Pro 3 headphones (BS) 9-121 Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 (AHC) 5•122 Stax SR-5 NB headphones (BS) 9-125 Nagaoka MPIO (KK) 1 138 Stax SR-34 headphones (BS) 9-127 Nagaoka MPII Gold (KK) 138 Sumiko FR •I Fluxbuster (ANC) 5-173 Nagaoka MPII Boron (KK) 2 132 Sumiko 'Week Contact Cleaner (GG) 6-125 Ortofon MC30 Super UGH,AHC) 1 121.5 124 Watkins Echo-Muffs (AHCJA) 3-170 Ortofon MC20 Super (AHC) 123 Yamaha YHD• Iheadphones (BS) 9-131 Ortofon MCIO Super (KK) 2 133 Ortofon XI -MC (KK) 1 1+4 Amplifiers (integrated) Ortofon X3 -MC (KK) 1 144 Lux Brid LV105 (GG) 3-157 RATA RP-40 (KK) 1 1-15 Mission Cyrus Two (JA) 7-103 RATA RP-20 (KK) 2 133 Shinon Red Boron (AHC) 6 124 Amplifiers (power) Shure M104E (KK) 2 134 Aragon 4004 (TJN) 9-103 Shure M105E (KK) 139 Audio Research M300 (JGH,MC) 9-91 Shure V•I5 V MR (AHC) 124 Beard P35 (DO) 5-144,6-129 Shure Ultra 500 (AHC) 6 124 Bedini 150/150 Mk.111 (DO) 7- III Talisman Alchemist IIIS (AHC) S 25 Carver M•1.0t UA/JGH/LA) 3-117 Talisman Virtuoso DTi (AHC) 125 Discrete Technology LS-II (AHC) 2-103 van den Hul MC-10 (AHC) S•126 Don J. Cochran Delta Mode (DO) 8-116 van den Hul MC-One (AHC) 5-126 Forte Model IUGH) 4.86 Hailer XL-280 UGH) I-100 CD Players JadisJA-30 (DO) 2-96 Accuphase DP-80/DC-81 UA) 6-109 Krell KMA-I00 (AHC) 2-86 California Audio Labs Aria (DO) 7-94 McIntosh MC 7270 UGH) 2-88 California Audio Labs Tempest (AHC) I-135 Meitner M TR- 100 (AHC) 2-100 California Audio Labs Tempest II (MC) 3-136

Stereophile, February 1988 175 Cambridge Audio CD1 (MC) 3-140 Harman/Kardon Citation 23 (DAS) 8-138 Denon DCD-1500 UGH) 2-125 Magnum 205 FM Booster (DAS) 6-123 Denon DCD-3300(JGH) 7-98 Magnum FT-I01 (DAS) 3-172 Discrete Technology LSI Mk.11(AHC) 1-136 Marantz 10B (DAS) 4-140 Kinergetics KCD-20A (MC,D0) 3-143,4-144 Maranta ST55I (DAS) 6-120 Meridian 207 (MC) 3-146 Nikko NT -950 (DAS) 6-122 Mission PCM7000 (GG,MCJA) 2-127,4-91,7-103 Onix BWDI (DAS) 8-137 Nakamichi OMS 5II (MC) 4-96 Pioneer F-77 (DAS) 3-168 Nakamichi OMS 7 II (MC) 4-96 PS Audio CD-1A (AHC,MC) 1.137,4-93 Turntables Sansui "Vintage" DX-90I (DO) 8-127 Micro Seiki RX-1500 (SWW) 8-108 Shure D-6000 UGH) 7-101 RATA Torlyte Linn Sondek LPI2 (CB) 3-129 Sonographe SD-IA (AHC,MC) 1.137,3-149 SOTA Star Sapphire Series III (JGH) 5-105 Sony CDP-650ESD II/DAS-703E5 (MC) 4-98 Versa Dynamics 2.0 UGH) 8-102 Sony CDP-705ESD UGH) 7-92 Stax CDP Quattro UAJGH) 6-109,7-132 Tandberg TCP 30I5A (AHC) I-138 Book Reviews TEAC ZD-5000 UGH) 3-154 Audio IC Op-Amp Applications (JA) 6-151 Technics SL-P1200 (MC) 4-102 Classical Music on Compact Disc UA) 7.167 Critics Choice: the Top 100 Albums Loudspeakers of All Time (JA) 7.171 Acoustat Spectra III UGH) 5-147 Electronic Connections UGH) 6-151 Acoustic Research 351 UA) 7-119 Good Sound UA) 9-167 Acoustic Research TSW 410 UA) 7-120 Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, The (DO) 7-167 Angstrom Reflexion (BS) 3-163 New Sound of Stereo, The (JGH) 6-149 Apogee Duetta Mk.II (MC) 1-108 Opera on Compact Disc UA) 7-167 ARC CS2 (JA) 7-122,9-133 Principles of Digital Audio UGH) 6-149 B&W 801 Matrix Series 2(LL) 9-109 Camber 1.5 (JA) 7-124 Classical Record Reviews Celestion System 6000 (MC) 2-106 ALFONSO Cantigas de Santa Maria, Celestion SL6S (JA) 5-153 Nimbus CD 9-149 dbx Soundfield IA UGH) 4-108 JS BACH: Goldberg Variations, DX Labs 175 (JA) 8-131 Harmonia Mundi CD 9-151 Eminent Technology LFT III (AHC) 3-127 13ALAKIREV: Symphony I, EMI CD 7-151 GNP Valkyrie (TJN) 3-160 BARBER: Violin Concerto, EMI CD 4-177 JBL 18h (JA) 5-156 BARBER: Agnus Dei, Hyperion CD 6-163 KEF R107 (MC) 2-106 BARTOK: Piano Concerto 3, Recut Records 4-169 Kevek ES6 (JA) 5-159 BEETHOVEN: Symphony I. Piano Concerto I. Kindel P.100 Il (TJN) 4-122,6-127 Nimbus CD 4-193 Magnepan SMGa (GG) 7-129 BEETHOVEN: Symphony 5, Overtures, Nimbus CD 4-193 Magnepan SIGMA (MC) 1-108 BEETHOVEN: Symphony 5, Recut Records 4-169 Martin •Logan CLS (MC) 1-108 BEETHOVEN: Symphony 5, Cappriccio CD 7-151 Mission 780 Argonaut UA) 7-103 BEETHOVEN: Symphony 6, CBS CD 7-153 Monitor Audio R352 UA) 7-125 BEETHOVEN-LISZT: Symphonies 4/8, Teldec CD ..9-151 Monitor Audio R652MD UA) 5-159 BERG: Three Orchestral Pieces, DG CD 9-161 Ohm Walsh 5(DO) 4-115 BERNSTEIN: Chichester Psalms, Hyperion CD 6-163 Pres Classic II (JA) 5-160 BLISS: Piano Concerto, Unicorn-Kanchana 4-191 Quad ESL (original) (DO) 5-164 BRITTEN: Song Cycles, Chandos CD 9-153 Quadrant Q-250 UA) 8-131 BRUCKNER: Symphonies V:, Deutsche Harmonia Siefert Magnum III (JA) 5-161 Mundi CD 9-153 Siefert Maxim IIID (TJN) 4-120 BRUCKNER: Symphony 6, Orfeo CD 8-151 Snell Type Cii (TJN) 2-121,6-127 BYRD: Ttvo Masses, Harmonia Mundi CD 9-155 Spectrum 410 (BS) 3-163 CAGE: Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano, Synthesis LM210(JA) 8-131 VQR CD 7-153 Synthesis 1M300 (TJN) 7-114 CAMPRA: Messe de Requiem, Harmonia lennessee Sound Company Symphony I(DO) 3-132 Mundi CD/LP 9-155 Thiel CSI UA) 5-162 CAMPRA: Messe de Requiem, Conifer/Erato 9-155 Thiel CS3.5 (AHC) 1-104 COPLAND: Appalachian Spring, Eight Poems Trtie Image HR-6.5 (JA) 7-127 of Emily Dickinson, Reference 4-173 COPLAND: In the Beginning, Hyperion CD 6-163 Recording Equipment DURUFLE: Requiem, Telarc CD 7-154 dbx 700 PCM processor (BS) 5-138 ELGAR: Orchestral Works, Nimbus CD 4-193 NAD 6300 cassette deck (GG) 6-117 FAIDIT: Poubadour Music, Hungaroton CD 7-154 Sony PCM-1630 PCM processor (MC) 5-128 FRANCK: Organ Works, Unicorn-Kanchana CD .. .4 -191 Sony DTC-1000ES R-DAT recorder (MC) 5-128 FAURE: Requiem, Telarc CD 7-154 HANSON: Symphony 2, EMI CD 4-177 Signal Processors HAYDN: Symphonies 48/49, DG CD 7-155 Accuphasc DC-8I D/A converter UA) 6-109 HERRMANN: North by Northwest, Barcus Berry 200OR Audio Processor (DAS) 4-142 Varese-Sarabande CD 4-189 Yamaha DSP.1 ambience synthesizer (BS) 4-124 HOIST: The Planets, Telarc CD 4-179 JANACEK: Glagolitic Mass, Supraphon CD 7-155 Tonearms LIADOV: Polonaise Op.49, EMI CD 7-151 ersa Dynamics 20 UGH) 8-102 MAHLER: Symphony I, Telarc CD 4-179 MAHLER: Symphonies I/2/3, Denon CD 7-155 Tuners & Aerials MAHLER: Symphonies 4/5/6, Denon CD 8-153 Haller D11.330 (DAS) 9-133 MAHLER: Symphony 7, Denon CD 9-157

1'6 Stereophile, February 1988 MESSIAEN: Les Corps Glorieux, VARIOUS: Piano Duets, Hungaroton CD 7-162 Unicorn-Kanchana 4-191 VARIOUS: Roundup, Telarc CD 4-181 MESSIAEN: La Nativitie du Seigneur. VARIOUS: Russian Piano Music, Chandos CD 7-163 Unicorn-Kanchana 4-191 VARIOUS: Russian Tone poems, Mobile Fidelity/ MOZART: Symphonies 36 /38, Telarc CD 7-159 Melodiya CD 8-173 MOZART: Symphonies 40/41, Telarc CD 4-179 VARIOUS: The Russian Viola, BIS CD 8-173 MOZART: Violin Concerti, Nimbus CD 4-193 VARIOUS: The Stokowski Sound, 'relate CD 4-181 MOZART: Songs, Von, Arabesque CD 8-157 VARIOUS: Trumpet Concerti, Nimbus CD 4-193 PART: Arbos, ECM CD 8-157 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Mass in g, Songs, Nimbus CD 7-162 PART: Tabula Rasa, ECM CD 8-157 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Symphony 2, The Lark RACHMANINOV: Piano Pieces, Delos CD 7-161 Ascending, Telarc CD 4-185 RACHMANINOV: Symphonic Dances Op.45, WEBERN: Six Orchestral Pieces, DG CD 9-161 Melodiya/Mobile Fidelity CD 7-161 ZWIL1CH: Chamber Symphony, etc., CRI CD 9-161 RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G, Recut Records 4-169 ROSZA: Ben Hur, London CD 8-163 Non-Classical Record Reviews ROSZA: Knights of the Round Table, Lydia, Varese Laurindo Almeida & Ray Brown, Sarabande CD 8-163 ,Sloonlight Serenade. Jeton CD 7-165 ROSZA: Quo Vadis, London CD 8-163 Warren Bernhardt, Hands On, DMP CD 7-163 ROSZA: Spellbound, Varese Sarabande CD 8-163 Randy Brecker, In the Idiom, Denon CD 8-174 ROSZA: The Thief of Baghdad, Eddie Gomez, Gomez, Denon CD 9-163 Varese Sarabande CD 8-163 Wynton Marsalis, Mai-salis Standard Time Vol. I 9-163 ROSZA: Time after Time, Southern Cross CD 8-163 Frank Morgan Quintet, Bebop Lites!, SCHOENBERG: Five Orchestral Pieces, DG CD 9-161 Contemporary CD 7-165 SCHUBERT: String Quintet Op.163, DG CD 7-162 Alan Parsons, Sterrotomy, Arista 4-189 SCHUMANN: Symphonies 1/3, Denon CD 7-162 The Windham Hill Storybook Classics, Various artists, SIBELIUS: Symphony 2, Chcsky 4-171 Windham Hill 9-141 TALNIA: The Ambient Air; etc., CRI 9-159 Frank Zappa, We're Only In It for the Money/ TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker, Telarc CD 4-185 Lumpy Graty, Rykodisc CD 8-174 TCHAIKOVSKY: Swan Lake. The Sleeping Beauty, Frank Zappa, The Grand Wazoo, Rykodisc CD 8-174 Telarc CD 8-167 Frank Zappa, Oternite Sensation/Apostrophe; TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony 2, Telarc CD 4-183 Rykodisc CD 8-174 TELEMANN: Wind Concertos, Archly CD 8-167 Frank Zappa, Shut Up 'n' Play Wr Guitar, VARIOUS: Edition Lockenhaus/Gidon Kremer Rykodisc CD 8-174 Vols.1, 2, 3, ECM CD 8-169 Frank Zappa, The London Symphony Orchestra, VARIOUS: Equate Brass Baccbanales, Nimbus CD 4-193 Rykodisc CD 8-174 VARIOUS: Horn Concerti, Nimbus CD 4-193 Frank Zappa. Them or Us, Rykodisc CD 8-174 VARIOUS: Music for aViol, Accent CD 8-171 Frank Zappa, Thing-Fish, Rykodisc CD 8-174 VARIOUS: Music to entertain the Kings of Hungary, Frank Zappa, Meets the Mothers of Prevention, Hungaroton CD 8-173 Rykodisc CD 8-174 VARIOI'S orchestral spectaculars, Telarc CD 4-179 Frank la:: from Hell. Rykodisc CD 8-174

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L71 Check D MC D VISA Card No. Exp. date •:-•••••• NEW! RIGID RISER SPEAKER STANDS BY ARCICI Infinitely adjustable height from 12 to 36 inches. allows for critical speaker placement. Filled with sand or lead shot, the broad. triad- based RIGID RISER is a stable and rigid pedestal that greatly enhances the performance of your speaker. Adjustable points in platform and base provide excellent mechanical coupling. Heavy steel casing. Satin black, hardened lacquer finish.

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I- 8 Stereophile, February 1988 MANUFACTURERS' COMMENTS

Wilson WATT loudspeaker 30Wpc Radford vacuum-tube amplifier in his Editor: review of the WATT in the January 1988 issue Martin CoHorns's review of our Wilson Audio of HFN/RR. Problems caused by this dip in Tiny Tot (WATT) loudspeaker system was in- impedance have been extremely rare, consid- sightful and, as usual, thoroughgoing. ering the population of WATTs in various lis- The WATT was originally designed as avery tening habitats throughout the world. high-resolution instrument for evaluating On the other hand, the measures which I audio hardware and software. After an exten- have tried, in order to raise this impedance dip, sive analysis of which sonic qualities the have all compromised the speaker's perfor- speaker could not compromise in order to give mance in key areas (particularly clarity and me the information Ineeded, and keeping in dynamics) to a degree which was audible mind the requirement for compact size, three much of the time. Why compromise key areas primary sonic desiderata of the WATT were of musical quality in order to achieve an elec- established: 1) soundstage accuracy; 2) sheer trical quality which is apparently only rarely clarity and focus achieved through significant necessary? reductions in system resonances and time- The low-frequency response of the WATT domain errors; and 3) precision in resolving is measurably lean relative to the midrange due dynamic shading. In addition to their impor- to four factors: 1) the woofer's very large elec- tance analytically, these qualities contribute trodynamic motor, which provides superior greatly to asense of musical involvement. It damping and power handling; 2) the QB-3 was satisfying to see these outstanding quali- Thiele and Small alignment, which trades off ties of the WATT recognized in the review. some upper-bass response to achieve superior The review also pointed out two areas of transient response and power handling; 3) the concern in the measured performance which small baffle area, which minimizes upper- Iwould like to address. octave diffraction for better soundstaging; and As measured by Colloms, the modulus of 4) the absence of panel resonances, which impedance drops to about 0.3 ohm in the would otherwise add energy (not musical in- 2kHz region. While not as low as the approx- formation) to the mid- and upper bass. imately 0.1 ohm impedance exhibited by the To achieve more low-frequency output certain ribbon-system midrange elements, from such acompact system by altering any direct-coupled, it would, nevertheless, seem of the above design approaches would com- that the WATT is suitable for only the most promise the primary sonic desiderata of sound- current-wieldy of solid-state amps, such as the staging, clarity, and dynamic resolution. If Rowland Model 7, Krell KMA or KRS, Mark there is aspeaker out there which performs as Levinson ML-20, Threshold SA-1, or Spectral well as the WATT in these areas, is as compact DMA-200. While it is true that many WATIb are and has more extended bass of equal quality, thus powered, it is also true that large numbers Iwould like to know. As the review mentioned, of WATTs are effectively driven by amplifiers Wilson Audio is providing two special stand not considered to be high-current designs, accessories: the 2pi Panel and the Gibraltar such as the JadisJA-30 (30Wpc, tubes). Stand, to augment the system's output essen- Vile successfully use the little Spectral DMA- tially passively and purely acoustically. The 50 (80Wpc) for location monitor use. In fact, WATT owner's manual explains, in detail, the the Spectral DMA-50/WATT combination was acoustical behavior of the system in the low able to provide very convincing sound-pres- frequencies, and the effects of room acoustics sure levels, within the first ten rows of seats, and placement on that behavior. For those re- during playback evaluation for recording ses- quiring even more midbass through lower sions with David Abel and Julie Steinberg in midrange balance, we will be offering apassive the Mills College Concert Hall, which seats equalization network, designed by John Curl, over 500 people. which will interface with the power amplifier's Ken Kessler noted good results using a input.

Stereophile, February 1988 179 Sensitivity, Selectivity & Sound III

Of The H-101 analog FM tuner

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180 Stereophile, February 1988 Why don't we just package the WATB with Audio Concepts Quartz 2pi Panels or EQ networks? The surprising loudspeaker reason is that about athird of the users of the Editor: WATT wouldn't use them. Many WATTs are I'd like to thank Tom Norton for the time and used rested atop Entec SW-5 woofers, which effort he put into the review of the Quartz. I provide 2pi support, and substantial output have to admit being puzzled at first by the col- below 100Hz. Other users, perhaps because orations he reported; they just didn't fit with of room acoustics, associated electronics, or my perception, or the comments we have simply musical preferences, actually find the received from owners and other listeners. But 2pi Panel adds too many low frequencies for Ihave atheory of what may have happened. their tastes. This in spite of the fact that the 2 As Tom says, the Quartz is definitely not alaid- pi Panel provides the least low-frequency back speaker. Further, the small woofer does augmentation of any of the three accessories give fiat output to below 50Hz, but because mentioned. of the small cone size, the woofer does not In an earlier issue of S(ereopbile, J. Gordon have the dynamic range below 100Hz that the Holt stated the verity, "If it measures good and rest of the system has. So as the volume goes sounds bad .. . it is bad." The areas of undeni- up, the bass response becomes compressed able sonic excellence of the WATT tend to be compared to the rest of the range. The system rather difficult to measure directly. Thus, begins to sound nasty in the midrange because graphs of "soundstaging," "clarity," and "dy- it is no longer balanced. This is why we namic shading" are not available to publish recommend it for use with subwoofers. I next to graphs of "impedance" and "frequency believe this would have altered Tom's opinion response." Which measurements are most im- considerably. Ialso noticed that Tom said ab- portant? The final proof is in the listening. solutely nothing about imaging capabilities. David A. Wilson This is unfortunate, as correct three-dimen- Wilson Audio Specialties sional imaging is one of the strong points of the Quartz. Thanks to feedback from our customers and Spica Angelus loudspeaker Tom, we have made some further improve- Editor: ments in our service and the Quartz, includ- Thanks for the excellent review of our new ing: 1) Our money-back guarantee now covers Angelus speaker. Iam grateful to the reviewer everything but return shipping to us. 2) The for his patience with the Angelus's need for a revised Quartz and Quartz II have a totally rather extended break-in, but, as he experi- removable grille structure. It looks better, and enced, it is worth the wait. Also appreciated allows the critical listener to virtually eliminate are his sensitivity to see the product for what diffraction. 3) The revised Quartz and Quartz it is (not a4' tower of power), and to articulate H will have anew manual which will be even its strengths and weaknesses in a well-bal- more detailed than the last one. anced way. And personally, being amusician Again, thanks for the review and the ideas and recordist myself, it gives me deep satisfac- that you have shared with us. ibm's comments tion to hear that another engineer finds that have helped us improve our products and ser- his own recordings are reproduced spatially vices and we are grateful! as he had originally intended—I love it! Mike Dzurko A small technical correction: the version of President the Audax TPX driver we use has anonstan- dard surround; the standard version is opti- Wingate 2000A power amplifier mized for reflex enclosures. Editor: Iwould like to recommend that any readers Thank you for your helpful comments. We who might choose to audition the Angelus at have made changes in the voltage reference their local dealer inquire about how long they and regulated power supplies which, Ibelieve, have been in use. It really does make abig have completely corrected the deficiencies difference. that the Lesley Test pointed out. All units John Bau presently in the field can be updated to the Director, Spica current series.

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182 Stereophile, February 1988 The changes impact several areas greatly, magazine too carefully. In Von() No.4, p.206, especially improving midrange transparency, is ahalf-page display ad for SIMA Electronique. overall dynamics, and low-level detail. The ad- Check Vol.9 No.7 for Bill Sommerwerck's vantages of the zero-feedback gain stage are review of the Canadian CES. Icould go on, but now quite evident. We have found it best to Iwould be belaboring the point. The SIMA avoid the use of any overall, or even local, Electronique W-3050 is alow-power, high- negative feedback in the voltage gain stages, current (50Wpc at 45 amps) amplifier, and to to preserve the dynamics and transient re- be able to drive the notoriously inefficient sponse of the original recording. Negative Apogees is quite impressive. The manufacturer feedback clearly causes sonic degradation by recommends a minimum of 100Wpc. Defi- generating TIM, even in tube circuitry This is nitely not aneutral speaker system. (See TAS, why all Wingate products avoid the use of Vol.12 No.49, for John Nork's review.) The feedback wherever possible. Klyne SK-5A is also noted to work wonder- Iwould like to make several minor correc- fully in the right system, but has atendency tions. The Wingate 2000A is indeed a true to have a "slightly laid back perspective" dual-mono power amplifier. The definition of (Stereophile Vol.10 No.6, p.90, JGH), and can dual-mono is that each channel has its own sound lifeless and dull with some systems. The power supply, and both channels are electrical- Monster cables are known to be soft and lean- ly isolated, including ground. The Wingate ing toward the dull side (HFN/RR, V)l.32 No.6, 2000A fits this definition. Both channels are p.43, Martin Colloms). Matched with the right electrically isolated, even though they share equipment—for example, preamps and power the same printed circuit board. Thus the amps that are lean or bright—they can be 2000A has the added RFI immunity that results more than acceptable and provide asmooth, from avoiding aground loop between chan- balanced sound. nels as well as better imaging from having What Iam trying to convey is that com- separate power supplies. patibility is crucial in any system. The ability There are no output relays in the 2000A. of a reviewer to be able to determine the The outputs are directly connected. The relays neutrality and/or colorations of components referred to in the review change the gain of the and interconnects is essential. Once the sonic driver stages only, to allow the voltages to signature of the associated piece of equipment stabilize initially. After three to five minutes, is determined it is then possible to make an ac- the relays open, each switching the respective curate aves.sment of the faults or virtues of the channel of the amplifier to ahigh gain stage. piece of equipment. Substitutions will always Thank you again for the helpful comments, be necessary to achieve as neutral and bal- Dick. They have resulted in agreatly improved anced a sound as possible. A reviewer's product, for which Iam grateful. method must be beyond reproach or the Steve Wingate results will not be valid. President, Wingate Audio Corporation A little effort by TJN to set up acompatible system would have rewarded him many times Sima W -3050 power amplifier over. Unfortunately he didn't do that. After six Editor: months with the equipment all we have are It is with much consternation and confusion cursory and sophomoric comments about the that we are writing this comment. Since we sonic signature of his "system" and his own have received the preliminary review of the preferences, and not a review of the SIMA SIMA Electronique W-3050 Amplifier we have W-3050 amplifier. been inundated with calls from the Canadian To say the least, his testing procedure, in this manufacturer, his distributor in Canada, and instance, deserves close scrutiny. After check- various other individuals who have access to ing back issues of Stereophile, this appears to the audio grapevine. be his first amplifier review (lucky us!). The reasons for this are many. The SIMA In any case, this review is not indicative of W-3050 has been highly reviewed in the Cana- what the SIMA W-3050 is capable of, and we dian press and acclaimed by our US dealers. feel quite justified in asking for afollow-up by As for TJN's comments, he obviously writes JGH or JA. Stereophile has always been fair and for Stereophile, but he must not read the very gracious in reviewing the products that

Stereophile, February 1988 183 • s

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184 Stereophile, February 1988 we import and we hope they continue their on the rear apron) for 250W RMS mono opera- "neutral" attitude. tion. This makes it one of the most practical "For a reviewer, though, neutrality is ex- building blocks for an audiophile whose start- tremely important." (Stereopbile Vol.8 No.7, ing budget is limited but who suspects he/ p.99, JGH.) she'll upgrade in the future. Brian V. Bolger 4. The HCA-800 uses gold-plated input Audiophile Accessories jacks and rugged 5-way output terminals to accept standard double-banana plugs. Its power dbx 120X-DS subharmonic supply employs 36,000uF of premium capaci- synthesizer tors. And its bandwidth is the same as the Editor: D/AS-1000: 10Hz-100kHz. It should cost We cannot explain the absence of "effect" that more. the reviewer experienced some of the time, 5. Ihaven't found a CD player that can although it is true that prudent amounts of overload the HCA-800 cascode input stage, so synthesized frequencies are sonically more compatibility should be no problem. If used pleasing than the opposite. The 120X-DS is a with apreamp, setting the HCA-800 level con- patented multiband design, like its predeces- trols to maximum effectively removes them sors (which lacked separately adjustable filters) from the signal path to avoid possible degra- and unlike the one-band Audio Control, dation. which the review describes incorrectly. It 6. Ican't wait to hear how the Audio Cheap- would have been interesting to hear whether skate likes it! independently changing the levels in each of Richard Schram the four filters helped match speaker with President, Parasound Products, Inc. material (and vice versa) better. Another reason for this feature is to avoid completely any Nitty Gritty 1.0 record cleaner growliness in the upper bass. Editor: David Moran Ican't believe that you are still using and even Marketing Services Manager, dbx "recommending" record-cleaning brushes, even in the context of "accessories for every- Parasound HCA-800 power man." Ifeel this is adisservice to the Stereo- amplifier pbile readership. Editor: There is no brush, nor is there atechnique Thank you for your thorough and favorable in using any brush, that can truly get arecord review of the Parasound HCA-800. I'm very clean. A simple 30x microscope (such as the proud of this unit. Permit me to clarify afew one Radio Shack makes) is sufficient to reveal things: the particles of dust that are left behind by any 1. While the HCA-800 is not rated into 2 known brush or technique, including the one ohm loads, it is capable of sustained operation that you propose in Val° No.8 (November below 4ohms. The real objective was to per- '87). mit users to run 2 pairs of 4 ohm speakers Of course, the little matters of grease and rather than drive speakers such as the Apogees, static charge are also arguments against any which are not only insensitive, but very low hand-held brush. impedance at most frequencies. The price of Nitty Gritry's most basic cleaner 2. Idon't agree with your conclusion that shouldn't be an obstacle, even to "everyman." readers should take caution in considering the The $259 price tag represents asmall invest- HCA-800 with other than "conventional, ment compared to the bountiful benefits of average-efficiency dynamic" speakers. It improved sound and infinitely extended sounds positively glorious with old Quads record preservation that the Nitty Gritty will (notorious capacitive load), ESL-63s, or Mag- provide. gies. And at the top end of abi-amped system Iam sending you our basic Nitty Gritty (which was one of the applications for which (model 1.0) immediately, out of my respect for it was designed—and, Imight add, requested you and your profession. Sterile, nonabrasive, by our dealers!), the HCA-800 is right at home nonstatic record sleeves are also an essential 3. The HCA-800 can be bridged (a switch is component in the audiophile's effort to opti-

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Stereophile, February 1988 mize the record's sonic performance. Iam in- We would like to reiterate the point made in cluding apackage for your evaluation. Please the review regarding speaker colorations. As use these with our compliments. you are aware, speaker design is avery com- M. Baskin plex task, and no matter how exceptional the Nitty Gritty Record Care Products, Inc. engineering, colorations continue to persist. No speaker, at this time, is perfectly true to the Clearaudio Souther Ventas original music The Paradigm 5se has very low cartridge levels of coloration that easily allow it to fall Editor. into the high-performance category. This level Thank you for the time and effort Mr. Anthony of performance is so unexpectedly good that Cordesman took in reviewing the Clearaudio the 5se is consistently compared with much Souther Ventas (Von() No.5). Please note that more expensive products which, in many this Clearaudio Souther Ventas cartridge is a cases, have considerably higher levels of col- five-year-old design, and the cartridge being oration. This fact alone would make the 5se reviewed was over two years old as compared aspeaker worthy of serious consideration by to the brand-new design of the Monster Alpha audiophiles. However, when the price is con- Genesis 1000. sidered, the high level of musical precision that Iagree with JA's footnote (p.110). We know, the Paradigm 5se achieves is indeed very through years of experience, that the cited JVC remarkable, as JA discovered. 1007 test record TRS-1007 Mk.II is perfectly Paradigm speakers are completely designed flat from 20Hz to 10kHz. During the past ten by Paradigm. Co-engineered tweeters are years Clearaudio has used over 400 of these carefully selected and matched with Paradigm records. Therefore, we are probably more precision crossovers to Paradigm woofers. Pro- familiar with it than most reviewers. We have duction consistency is ±0.5dB. This level of found there are even significant deviations control ensures that Paradigm loudspeakers from record to record. We have observed over will sound consistent and accurate for many time that the rise in output level above 10kHz years of listening pleasure is inherent in the record. This is caused by W.A. Vandermarel resonance which occurs during the cutting Audiostream process. Hence, all good high-end cartridges must show these same characteristics. Shure HTS5000 home theater For your information, our current Clear- sound system audio Gammas ($400 retail) are better than our Editor: earlier models of the Ventas, which was tested The Shure HTS5000 has been mentioned for in the above-mentioned issue, and our current some time now in the Recommended Com- Clearaudio Ventas MC cartridges are far supe- ponents listing in Stereophile since its original rior to the earlier production. review in Vol.9 No.2. There is one statement, Thank you once again. however, that continues to disturb us, in that Peter Suchy it did not appear in the original review or President, Clearaudio electronic GmbH subsequent letters to the editor. The statement relates to image collapse in the presence of Paradigm 5se loudspeaker front-center information when a center- Editor: channel loudspeaker is used. Thank you for afavorable review of the Para- The Shure HTS5000 and the new Shure digm 5se loudspeaker in Vol.11 No.1 of Stereo- HTS5200 are both designed to be used with phile. We are pleased that JA found the 5se to acenter-channel loudspeaker as the preferred be the high-quality, musical performer that it mode when decoding program material en- is. Through its complete product range, Para- coded using the Dolby Motion Picture matrix digm strives to provide balanced, musical process. Under these circumstances, there is loudspeakers that compare well with much no evidence of soundfield collapse in the more expensive product. Judging by JA's com- presence of center information. This fact can ments, along with those from many retailers be readily verified using any number of high- and consumers, Paradigm has indeed suc- quality program examples such as Back to the ceeded in this goal. Future, Return of the jedi, Out of Africa, or

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I Stereophile, February 1988 Prizzes Honor. Since these programs were ber 1987, p.175) inadvertently, we are sure, produced while being monitored through a ended up on the cutting-room floor. That por- professional theater decoder with matching tion of our unreported comments addressed characteristics, any tendency toward this oc- what Steve WatIcinson perceived as aslight col- currence would be immediately noted and oration which he said he suspected was trace- corrected by altering the mix. able to the RIAA phono stage. To allay your There is, however, the possibility of unde- reviewer's suspicions, our comments noted sirable soundfield changes (such as image col- these measurements, which speak for them- lapse) with stereo programs that bave not selves: been encoded with this process or have been The RIAA stage of the EC-1 measures copied with errors from the program master. ±0.075dB and distortion for the entire no- This type of problem is similar to using various loop feedback design circuitry is less than forms of playback noise reduction on program 0.0037%. We believe these measurements are material that was not originally encoded with profoundly pertinent to the other virtues Steve acomplementary process. Watkinson found in the preamplifier and In those instances where soundfield change respectfully request that Stereopbile add this is felt to be aproblem, both HTS decoders of- information to its published dialogue concern- fer two-speaker stereo bypass and stereo sur- ing the EC-1. round synthesis modes, that do not employ Mel Schilling any channel-separation-enhancement signal Music and Sound Imports processing. This type of problem, however, generally does not occur even with non- encoded program material. As an additional comment, we feel that it would be aservice to Stereophile readers, in the future, to separate the surround-sound decoder category in your Recommended Com- ponents section into two basic groups: products that decode encoded program material (Re-Creation Products) and those that are primarily involved with the enhancement of un- encoded program material (Creative Products). This separation of product types should serve to reduce confusion on the part of the consumer as to the types of surround-oriented products available. Robert B. Schulein General Manager, Shure Home Theater Sound

Electrocompaniet EC-1 preamplifier Editor: Once again we must commend Sterrophile for its continuing efforts to stimulate an exchange of ideas in its columns so readers can best evaluate and select components for their music systems. We refer to Steve \1Vatkinson's review of our Electrocompaniet EC-1 Preamplifier in the December 1987 issue. Obviously, we heart- ily concur in his "outstanding recommendation" as well as his praise of the EC-1's "superior sonic performance" and "excellent value." Unfortunately, acrucial observation contained in our comments (Stereopbile,Decem-

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ALABAMA Encinitas Riverside COLORADO North County SpeakerCraft Auburn Boulder Stereo Vision Accurate Audio 6282 Magnolia Ave Listen Up 131 N El Camino 110 East Samford Ave Sacramento 2034 E Arapahoe Encino Keith Yates Audio Birmingham Cherry Creek Sound Factor West Lawrence Stereo 3019 D St US Tech 17265 Ventura BI 430 Greensprings Hwy San Carlos 248 Detroit St Suite 34 Fair Oaks Manions Audio Colorado Springs Pinkerton Audio 1125 Laurel St Huntsville The Sound Shop 6716 Madison Ave Campbell Stereo San Clemente 528 S Teton 1216 N Memorial Parkway Fairfield Audio Exposure Denver Mobile C&M Stereo Unlimited 629 Camino de los Sound Hounds Audible Difference Audio 2020 N. Texas Mares #305 1575 S Pearl 556 Holcombe Ave Foster City San Diego Listen Up Montgomery Digital Sonics Inc. Stereo Design 999 S Logan The Record Shop 999F Edgewater BI 9353 Clairemont Mesa BI 2515 Eastern Bypass Gardena Stereo Unlimited CONNECTICUT Reference Audio Systems 3191 Sports Arena BI Bristol ALASKA 18214 Dalton Ave San Francisco Sound Unlimited Anchorage 169 Church St Grass Valley Civic Center Books Pyramid Audio Alta Buena Stereo 360 Golden Gate Ave New Haven 2420 Seward Hwy 214 E Main St News on 24 Take Five 105 Whitney Ave Shimeks Huntington Beach 3920 24th St 405 E Northern Lights BI Havens and Hardesty Sounds Alive New London 15102-A Bolsa Chica 731 Florida St Roberts ARIZONA 90 Bank St Irvine Ultimate Sound Mesa Soundquest 141 Kearny St Stereo Lab Hi -Fi Sales 140 Bank St 4255 Campus Dr #116 San Jose 810 W Main St La Habra Books Inc. Phoenix DIST OF COLUMBIA C.F Audio 420 Town & Country Village Two Jeffreys Audio Serenade Records 415 W Imperial Hwy 527 W Butler Dr San Juan Capistrano 1800 M SI NW Lancaster Home Technology Systems Scottsdale California Soundworks 32992 Calle Perfecto FLORIDA Esoteric Audio 737 W Lancaster BI 8672 E Edgemont SE San Luis Obispo Boca Raton Leucadia Audio Ecstasy Sound Plus Wood Tempe Music by the Sea 1130 Garden St. Ste A 4705 N Federal Hwy Books Etc 542 N. Hwy 101 901 S Mill Ave San Mateo Vern's Electronics Los Angeles Mateo Hi-Fidelity Inc 3259 N Federal Hwy Tucson Beverly Stereo 2199 S El Camino Real Wilson Audio Ltd Fort Lauderdale 8413 Beverly 01 2440 E Broadway San Rafael Audio Center Christopher Hansen Ltd Rafael Book and News 4134 N Federal Hwy 646 N. Robertson CALIFORNIA 1114 4th St Fort Pierce Santa Barbara Arcata Mission Viejo Sound Shack Audio Vision Northtown Books Home Technology Systems 2302 S US 1 957 H St 28251 Marguerite Pkwy #C 3951 State St Fort Walton Beach Benicia Videolaser Santa Maria Stereo Images 11 Eglin Pkwy SE #6 Benicia Audio/Video 28451 Marguerite Parkway Jeff Lynn Audio 810 Southampton Rd Monterey Park 6455 Esplanade Ave Hollywood Berkeley Gene Rubin Audio Santa Monica Audio Encounters DB Audio 529 S Lincoln Audio by John Dudley 523 S 21st Ave 2573 Shattuck Mountain View 1431 Ocean Ave, #400 Jacksonville Canoga Park Sound Goods Audio Shoppe House of Stereo The Laser's Edge 391 San Antonio Rd 1322 2nd St. Ste 22B 3505 Southside BI #10 22021 Sherman Way Napa Jonas Miller Sound Lake Worth Shelley's Stereo Bookends Bookstore 2828 Wilshire BI S and S Wholesalers 6836 De Soto Ave 1014 Coombs St Shelley'r Stereo 1220 N 19 Ave Upscale Audio Newport Beach 2212 Wilshire BI Melbourne 8381 Canoga Ave Audio by Design Santa Rosa Sound Gallery 1000 Bristol St N. Capitola Sawyer's News Inc 912-B E New Haven Northridge 733 Fourth St Cymbaline Records Miami Northridge Audio Center 1475 41st Ave Sausalito Audio by Caruso 9054 Tampa Ave Carmichael Music by Design 13831 S Dixie Hwy Northridge Newsstand Deetes Sound Room 107 Caledonia St Audio Plus 19520 Nordhoff St 5825 Manzanita Ave #4 Stockton 6214 S Dixie Hwy Oakland Claremont Private Line Joe's News Inc Pro Audio Audio Basics Home Entertainment 1549 Sunset Dr 976 W Foothill #139 383 40th St 88 W Castle St Sound Components Concord Orange Van Nuys 1536 S Dixie Hwy C&M Stereo Unlimited Absolute Audio Audio Den Tampa 2151G Salvio 1232 N. Tustin 15600 Roscoe BI Audio Visions Cupertino Palo Alto Westminster 14733 N Dale Maybry Elite Electronics Western Audio Imports Audio Today 20149A Stevens Creek BI 4191 El Camino Real 14306 Beach BI GEORGIA Diamond Bar Pasadena Woodland Hills Atlanta Audio Best GNP Showcase Sound Center Music Audio 22204 E Croll Ct 1244 E. Colorado BI 20044 Ventura BI 1579 N Decatur Rd

Stereophile, February 1988 191 ENJOY THE MUSIC at

Mr"- LIME proât F v4 WIE MI VFW 1MA M1- DNA' Design • r J11117/, "'11 SONOGRAPHE .a. r 1 MR al M 0 El IX Revolver I nureiv. TARGET Located in Historic Roslyn Village. SELECT SOUND C0•1•004•IVS LID has quietly become known as a true "specialist" dealer. We otter music lovers the finest audio values. personalized friendly service, and proper demon- KIM strations in a home-like listening room NYDRIGAL Our customers come from all over the Tri-State Area and their trips are always well worth it! RDTL We invite you to enjoy the music at our place and welcome the opportunity in helping you select a Free Delivery 8( Set-up music system for your listening room... in the Tri-State Area

SELECT SOUND Call for Open Hours or 1345 OLD NORTHERN BLVD. ROSLYN VILLAGE NY an Appointment

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UghEnd Audio CANADA'S PREMIERE SPECIALTY AUDIO DEALER 2216A Queen St E Toronto Ontario. Canada (416)699-3060

GRADO • GARROTT •TALISMAN • CARNEGIE • KOETSU • GOLDMUND • VPI SOTA • SME •EMINENT TECHNOLOGY • SUMIKO • CARDAS • MORRISON PERKINS • AUDIBLE ILLUSIONS • COUNTERPOINT •QUICKSILVER • RAY LUMLEY KLYNE • MFA • AUDIOQUEST • MONSTER CABLE • MIT • SPICA • BSC • ENTEC TANNOY • ELECTRIC BLUE • MARTIN-LOGAN • WELL TEMPERED LABS LUMINESCENCE • MAGNUM • TANDBERG • MOD SQUAD • TARGET • LAST

FEATURING

—MFA MAGUS PREAMPLIFIER & MFA 200 WATT MONOS- -(COMPLETE LINE OF PREAMPLIFIERS & POWER AMPS)- -MARTIN- LOGAN SEQUEL LOUDSPEAKER- - WELL TEMPERED ARM & TURNTABLE — — VPI DELUXE (TRIPLE-PULLEY) TURNTABLE— ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED if WE SHIP ANYWHERE IN CANADA 111

Stereophile, February 1988 Music, Music. Music INDIANA Cambridge NEW JERSEY Buckhead and 0 Audio Dyer Deptford N Lake Tower Festival 95 Vassar St Miles Books Hi Fi Connection Stereo Shop 1200 Sheffield Ave Framingham 136 Route 41 2774 Hargrove Rd Natural Sound Indianapolis East Brunswick Doraville 401 Worcester Rd Audio Workshop Atlantic Stereo Audio Lab of Georgia 5357 N Keystone Northampton 636 Route 18 5269-2 Buford Hwy Custom Audio Ye Olde Hi Fi Shoppe Franklin Lakes Martinez 183 Main St 824 E 64th St Franklin Lakes Stereo The Stereo Shop Terre Haute Sound and Music 792 Franklin Ave 104 Chamilla Dr 351 Pleasant St Stereocrafters Hackettstown Tucker Dixie Bee Hwy Pittsfield Marcel Associates MG Audio HBS Stereo Systems 57 Wood Duck Cl 4880 Lawrenceville Hwy IOWA 237 First St Marlton Davenport HAWAII MICHIGAN Hi Fi Connection Audio Odyssey RD 1. Route 73 Honolulu 1718 E Kimberly Rd Bad Axe Sound Grewe Systems Ltd Millburn Fairfield 502 Kaaahi St 112 S Port Crescent Professional Audio Golden Ears Audio-Video Dewitt Consultants 304 N Main IDAHO Jemstone 182 Essex St Iowa City Boise 603 Dartmouth Box 240 Morristown Hawkeye Audio The Stereo Shoppe Grand Rapids Sight and Sound 401 S Gilbert 5105 Overland Rd Spectrum Electronics 60 Speedwell Ave Sioux City 2019 Eastern Ave SE Northfield ILLINOIS Audio Vision Lansing Sound Inc Belleville 2901 Hamilton BI *38 Great Lakes Audio 900 Tilton Rd Audio Musicale KANSAS 502 N. Harrison Paramus 36 Country Club Plaza Lawrence Muskegon Leonard Radio Champaign University Audio Stereo Showcase 160 Route 17 August Systems 2319 Louisiana St 3100 Hensy 901 N Prospect Ave Ridgewood Prairie Village Royal Oak Sounding Board Glenn Poor's Audio Video Golden Stereo Audio Dimensions 75 Franklin Ave 1912 B Round Barn Rd 5337 W 94th Terrace 4128 N. Woodward Ave Tom's River Chicago Saginaw Rands Camera and Hi Fi Absolute Audio KENTUCKY The Listening Room 1841 Hooper Ave 5211 S. Harper Louisville 1305 Court St Trenton Audio Video Option Audio Video by Design Swartz Creek Hals Stereo 141 W Jackson BI 9409 Shelbyville Rd Audio House Lake Lawrence Plaza Chicago Speakerworks Sound Gallery 4304 Brayan Dr Verona 5700 N Western Ave 9916 Linn Station Rd MINNESOTA Audio Connection Superior Audio Systems 615 Bloomfield Ave LOUISIANA Minneapolis 716 N Wells St Westfield Baton Rouge Audio Perfection Stuart's Audio Chicago Heights Art Colleys 7401 Lyndale Ave S 3Grand Ave Audio Enterprises Audio Specialties HiFi Sound Electronics 202 Halsted 711 Jefferson Hwy 1226 Harmon PI NEW MEXICO DeKalb Covington Rochester Albuquerque Audio Plus Northshore Audio Interior Images Hudson's Audio Center 866 W. Lincoln Hwy 2640 N Hwy 190 317 S. Broadway 7611 Menaul NE Evanston New Orleans St. Paul Page One Newsstand Chicago Main Newsstand Wilson Audio Hi End Audio 11200 Montgomery NE 860 Chicago Ave 8001 Maple St 1399 W. 7th St Highland Park House of High Fidelity Santa Fe Ravina Classical Music MAINE 157 N. Snelling Ave The Candyman 493 Roger Williams Ave Scarborough In Concert 851 St Michaels Dr New England Music Lisle 165 Western Ave N Downtown Subscription 424 Paine Rd Sound Choice 130 W Palace MISSOURI 5328 Route 53 Galisteo News MARYLAND Buffalo Lombard 201 Galisteo Baltimore Audio Doctor Audio Video Encounters Ovation Audio Soundscape 1518 W. Commercial 40 Yorktown Center 1310 Osage, Ste A 406 W Cold Spring Ln Kansas City Santa Fe Audio Video Murphysboro Frederick Sound Advice Sabin Audio 120 W San Francisco Audio Ceu 8215 Grand Ave 1313 South St 180 Stoneybrook Ct St. Louis NEW YORK Naperville Laurel Best Sound Inc Albany Quintessence Audio Ltd C.K Audio 1131 S Brentwood 01 20 W Jefferson St 11605 Basswood Dr Clark Music Audio Normal NEBRASKA 1075 Troy Schenectady Rd Silver Spring Glenn Poor's Audio Video Lincoln Batavia OEM Audio and Video Natural Sound 106 E Beaufort 9330 Georgia Ave Unicorn Audio Oak Park 233 N 48th St 206 E Main St Suite P On Any Sunday MASSACHUSETTS Binghamton 729 Erie Arlington NEW HAMPSHIRE JSG-Audio Orland Park Audio Vision Hanover 1437 Front St Simply Stereo 1060 Massachusetts Ave Hanover Audio Buffalo 14494 S Lagrange Rd Boston 47-51 S. Main St Speaker Shop Rockford Audio Studio Nashua 3604 Main St Absolute Audio 303 Newbury St Re-Sound Inc Stereo Emporium 4227 Maray Dr Encore Audio 402 Amherst St, Ste 310 3407 Delaware Skokie 225 Newbury St Portsmouth Colonie Rosine Audio The Listening Studio Soundsmith MOM'S M USIC Systems 4525 Oakton 23 Stillings St 43 Pleasant St 1593 Central Ave Springfield Brookline Somersworth Goshen The King's Stereo Audio Studio Crossover Audio Long Player Stereo 1275 W Wabash, Ste S 414 Harvard St 10 lates Brook Rd 60 N Church St

Stereophile, February 1988 THE•F INEST•PR °DUCTS SUPERIOR•SERVICE Adcom •AKG •AR •Audio Research •Bang &Olufsen •Boston Acoustics Bryston •California Audio Labs •Canton •Celestion SL •CWD •Dahlquist Denon •Forte •Fosgate • Grado •Infinity •Janis •Kyocera •M &K Magnepan •MIT •Monster • NAD •Nakamichi •NEC •Nitty Gritty Oracle •Pioneer Video •Revox • SME •Snell •Sonographe • SOTA Spica •Stax •Sumiko •Talisman •Tandberg •Threshold •Van den Hul VPI •WATT •Yamaha

751 Amboy Avenue (Rt. 35) Woodbridge, NI 07095 wood bridge (201) 636-7777 stereceie Paddock Plaza, Route 36 center.t West Long Branch, NJ 07764 (201) 542-5255 Major Credit Card.> -1«epted. I.:naming Ai ailahle

• Il Known by the company we keep. MAJOR AUDIO Eagle NAD Stax Wilson/ WATT ADS Eminent Technology Nakamichi Sumiko Yamaha Audio Research Grado Signature Nelson-Reed Talisman VIDEO Bryston Magnepan Oracle Tandberg NAD Cambridge Martin-Logan SME Thiel NEC Counterpoint Meitner Audio Signet Thorens Nova Beam CWD Meridian Sonographe Threshold Pioneer DBX Mission Snell VPI Sony DCM MIT SOTA Vandersteen Yamaha Duntech Monster/Alpha Spica Velodyne and more'

Modern Demo Facility, Specialty Accessories, Records and CDs In-store Service, Custom Design Service, No Mail Orders Please

105 Whitney Ave., New Haven, CT 06510

Mon ,Wed ,Fri,10-6,Thurs.,10-8,Sat ,10-5, MC/VISA/AMEXJTAKE 5Charge

194 Stereophile, February 1988 Huntington Station Greensboro Waynesburg VIRGINIA Audio Breakthrough The Book Collection T.C. Audio Toys Alexandria 129 Route 110 117 N Greene St RD 2. Box 1 Excalibur Lake Grove Sound Systems PUERTO RICO 323 S Washington Audio Den Ltd 2148 Lawndale Puerto Nuevo Bailey's Crossroads Smith Haven Plaza Raleigh Laser Sound Audio Buys 2021 Nesconset Hwy Audio Advice de Diego Ave #272 5177 Leesburg Pike 3532 Wade Ave Lynbrook Rio Piedras Skyline Mall American Audiophile Wilmington On Top Audio Charlottesville 373 Sunrise Hwy Atlantic Audio 332-8 Ave Jesus T P,nero Preferred Sound Mamaroneck 4127 Oleander Dr 309 E Water St RHODE ISLAND Definitive Hi Fi OHIO Danville Providence 154 E Boston Post Rd Cincinnati Aeolian Products & Svcs CD City Manhasset Audible Elegance 215 Main St 358 Broadway St Audio Breakthrough 9464 Montgomery Rd Fredericksburg 1534 Northern BI Ocean State Audio Contemporary Sounds Pete's News Shop 304 Thayer St Merrick 308 Ludlow Ave 1236 Jefferson Davis Hwy Performance Audio Soteric Audio SOUTH CAROLINA Leesburg 2064 Sunrise Hwy 4611 Montgomery Columbia High C Stereo Mount Kisco 212 E Market St Stereo Lab Sound Advice Fox and Sutherland 11419 Princeton Rd 2821 Ashland Rd Richmond 15 South Moger Ave and 4582 Montgomery Greenville Audio Art 2215 Broad St New York City Columbus Sound Source Audio Breakthrough Custom Stereo Electronics 941 Haywood Rd Virginia Beach 199 Amsterdam Ave 1391 S. Hamilton Rd Wise Audio Digital Sound. Inc 6519 College Park Sq Electronic Workshop Dublin 1001 N. Pleasantburg Dr 10 E. 8th St Audio Encounters Suite B WASHINGTON Leonard Radio 4271 W. Dublin West Columbia Billingham 55 W. 44th St Granville Rd Upstairs Audio The Landing Discs Lyric Hi -Fi Inc. Fairborn 746 Harden St and Tapes 1221 Lexington Ave Audio Etcetera TENNESSEE 1307 11th St and 2005 Broadway 2626 Col. Glen Hwy Memphis Seattle Stereo Exchange Findlay Underground Sound Bulldog News 687 Broadway Audio Specialties 2125 Central Ave 4208 University Way NE Sound by Singer 229 N. Main St Definitive Audio TEXAS 165 E 33rd Heath 6017 Roosevelt Way NE Amarillo Pleasantville Threshold Audio University Bookstore Sound Systems Ltd Audio Excellence 409 S 22nd St 4326 University Way NE 2502 Paramount 343 Manville Rd Kettering Spokane Austin Rochester Hauer Music Hal's Stereo Audio File Paul Heath Audio 3140 Far Hills Ave W 313 Sprague Ave 9041 Research #200 217 Alexander Lorain Tacoma Cochran Corp. Sound Concepts Grasso's Audio The Stereo Shoppe 2830 Real St 2314 Monroe Ave 4355 Oberlin Ave 11007 Bridgeport Wy SW Beaumont Roslyn Miamisburg Walla Walla Beaumont Sound Select Sound Stereo Showcase Tiger Todd Productions 5925 Phelan 1345 Old Northern BI Prestige Plaza 5 1509 E Isaacs Dallas Scarsdale N. Olmsted Krystal Clear Audio WEST VIRGINIA The Listening Room Inc. Maximum Compact 5330 Longview Morgantown 590 Central Park Ave 4755 Great Northern BI Omni Sound Sound Investments Inc. Smithtown Parma 4833 Keller Springs 467 High St Audio Enjoyment DeSiero Enterprises 11 Caroline Ave 7517 Southington Dr Preston Trail Audio WISCONSIN 17390 Preston Rd #320 Stonybrook Sandusky Cudahy Esoteric Sound Systems Audio Force El Paso Cudahy News & Hobby Coventry Commons 521 E Perkins Ave Soundquest Inc 4758 S Packard Ave Route 347 Toledo 6800 Gateway E 1D Glendale Syracuse Audio Center Houston Sound Investments Superior Sight and Sound 1546 Alexis Rd Esoteric Ear 2500 W Silver Spring Dr 2780 Erie BI E Jamiesons' 4230 Glenchase Lane Wisconsin Rapids Wappinger Falls 3417 Dorr St Odessa Salon IAudio Sound Odyssey Inc. University Heights Harold's Electronics 2031 W Grand Ave 55 Route 9 Atlantis Home 2809 Andrews Hwy CANADA West Babylon Entertainment Systems San Antonio Audio Visions 2220 Warrensville Rd Bill Case Sound National Distributor 4319 Medical Dr #106 Fenwick, Ontario 1067 Montauk Hwy OREGON Concert Sound Thomas Ruehle White Plains Grants Pass 7103A Blanco Rd 850 Roland Rd Harvey Electronics Casey Distributing 236 E. Post Rd 1201 Jaymes Dr UTAH ALBERTA Lyric Hi Fi Portland Ogden Calgary 146 E Post Rd Hawthorne Stereo The Hi Fi Shop KW Audio Woodside 1428 SE 36th 2236 Washington BI 344 17th Ave SW Leonard Audio Edmonton PENNSYLVANIA Salt Lake City 69-34 51st Ave Audition Audio Audio Ark Butler 2144 Highland Dr 10746A 124th St NORTH CAROLINA Audiophile Accessories Discriminator Music Red Deer Chapel Hill 119 E Wayne St 1788 S 1100 E Audio West Select Audio Systems Hershey 4715-49th St 1502 Smith Level Rd Stereo Barn VERMONT Charlotte 251 W. Chocolate Ave Burlington BRITISH COLUMBIA Sound Systems Philadelphia City Stereo Vancouver 3748 E Independence BI Chestnut Hill Audio 207 College St Big Bird Audio Visual 740 Marine Dr Durham 149 N. 3rd S. Burlington Audio Visions Discovery Discs Audio Den Music Works 4600 Chapel Hill Rd 3417 Spruce St 100 Dorset St 4740 Main St

Stereophile, February 1988 195 74, teedle.saen.d.L

A good listener needs to hear more than the subtle differences between high quality components.

As asalesperson, agood listener needs to hear the subtle differences between customers who are searching for the right component to complement their system. "'IT& If you need to be heard, call. .. IIND 60 Speedwell Avenue NEIL McPHEE 1-800-832-0234 Morristown, NJ 201/267-6700

I9() Stereophile, February 1988 Victoria QUEBEC SINGAPORE THAILAND Sweet Thunder Records Ste-Foy National Distributor Bangkok 621 Johnson St Rotac Electronics Flair System Future Land Ltd MANITOBA 2873 Ch Ste•Foy B1 -03/04. Katong Peoples 496-502 Amann Plaza Complex, 112 Winnipeg 3rd Floor, Ploenchit Rd E Coast Rd Creative Audio AUSTRALIA WEST GERMANY 214 Osborne St S National Distributor TAIWAN National Distributor National Distributor Thornbury, Victoria NEW BRUNSWICK Taipei 6 Frankfurt/M, 56 Audio 0 Imports Fredricton Tartu Electronics Audio International 649 Burwood Rd Magic Forest Music Store Chung Ching S Rd Gonzenheimer Str 2b Hawthorn 3122 546 Queen St PRCI4f3URfl. AUDIO NOVA SCOTIA DENMARK Halifax National Distributor NOISE SUPPRESSOR Atlantic News Graestad TM chaise of recormni) industry archives and collectors around the world 5560 Morris St Matrix Bylyngen 4, Blistrup Throe processera for reduction of transient and steady state ONTARIO noises Plus special features for optimum reproductron of old Brampton records lateral or vertical ENGLAND Eastmen Audio Model 32311: $2.650 National Distributor 295A Queen St E. Write for literature to Wilstead, Bedford P0 Box 335, (keen. NY USA 13214-0335 Essex Moth Marketing Tel 13151472-5644 Essex Audio Consultants 10 Dane Lane 5 Francis Ct Glasgow G2 Guelph Guelph Hi Fi Music Room INTRODUCING 221 St Vincent St 5 Speedvale Ave E. Our speaker cables London Hamilton Gkentuni and Interconnects bring Audio T Globe Audio the muse back to you 190 Westend Ln 552 /12 Upper James St Douglas Brading Hi Fi Globe Discount 18 Monmouth St 217 King St E. Covent Garden Kingston KJ Leisuresound Ltd House of Sounds 26 New Cavendish St 277 Princess St Sound Information Vern Napier Camera 13 St John's Hill 333 Princess St Manchester London Music Room Multi-Mag 50 Bridge St 116 Dundas St Reading Berks Milton Reading Hi Fi Sound Man ci-lece.ovdickç Harris Arcade 629 Main St E Friar St c.esh/nge ktiA 35.1 1,11 Ottawa Distinctive Audio HONG KONG 160 Bruyere, Unit 7 w•••1.- Aeroplax Limited Euphonies Room 201 Canton House 687 Bank St 54-56 Queen's Rd Central Saros The Sound Chamber 132 Bank St Suite 1001, Dina House Stereo Trading Post 11 Duddell St 242 /12 Bank St KIMBER KABLE FM Peterborough ICELAND The Audio Room National Distributor 300 George St N 125 Reykjavik ACCLAIMED AS A LEADING CABLE PRODUCT Richmond Hill Stein' HF, S. Danielsson LINE. SEE OUR NEW LPC (LOW PROFILE Linear Sound Skulagata 61 10176 Yonge St CABLE) W1111 100% TEFLON CONSTRUC- Thornhill TION SUITABLE FOR UNDER CARPET IN- ITALY Stereo Factory National Distributor STALLATIONS. KC I-INTERCONNECTS ARE 7616 Yonge St Lucca, 55100 NOW AVAILABLE!! ASK YOUR KIMBER Toronto Sound and Music KABLE DEALER. Audio Empire Via Mazzarosa 125 1011 Albion Rd Musical •Accurate •Dynamic •Flexible •Stable Classic Audio JAPAN Valuable but not too expensive) 1894 Lawrence Ave E National Distributor Great National Sound Suma -Ku, Kobe 615 Queen St W 4PR•31.00 /FT •4VS-$2.00/FT •4TC•S4.40 /FT Vente 8TC-$7.80/ET •KCI-$58.00/Meter Pair High End Audio 3-6-1 Sekimori-Cho 2216A Queen St E. 8LPC-$6.00/FT •16LPC-$10.00 /FT •4AG-S100.00/FT 8AG-S180.00/FT •KCAG-S350.00/ Meter Pair Ring Audio NETHERLANDS DEALER INQUIRIES WELCOME 553 Queen St W. Amsterdam Toronto Home of Audiophile RAF HrFi Stereo 150 Dundas St W KIMBER KABLE Rrinstraat 142-150 Waterloo Eindhoven 2675 INDUSTRIAL DRIVE -OGDEN, Sound Stage Sound Guided UT 84401 56 Regina St N Van Kanstraat 12 (801) 621-5530 FAX(80I) 627-6980 Whitby Whitby Audio NORWAY 223 Brock St S National Distributor Windsor N-0134 Oslo 1 Better Audio Audio Import Ltd 106 Eugenie St W Box 9193 Vaterland IW.IW Aar

Stereophile, February 1988 I,r Why not have it all? Remote control—beautiful mahogany finish— compact size in afully integrated system of electronics that removes the guesswork and gives the ultimate in sonic performance and compatibility. MEITNER—preamps, amplifiers, translinks, interconnects, speaker wire, CD players, turntables, and next—a tuner.

Atas;o 1)7 6,4)1,•141e)/

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FEATURING

QUAD ESL 63 USA xe• •el -I The new Quad is the world's most naturally detailed speaker.

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ARIA exists to enrich music lovers' aesthetic and emotional lives. Advances in audio art have vastly increased our ability to reveal in recorded performances the nuances of live music.

Call Joseph Del Priore ARIA EVENINGS & WEEKENDS RD 1 Box 310 (600) 397-2416 Stockton, NJ 08559

Stereophile, February 1988 AUDIO MART Rates: Private, 50 cents per word, no minimum; Commercial, $1.25 per word, $45 minimum per insertion. Multiple insertions must be prepaid; we do not bill for Audio Mart. MC and Visa accepted; send card number and expiration date with ad. Send classified ads to: Stereophile, Classified Ad Department, PO. Box 5529, Santa Fe, NM 87502. Ads must be received for Volume 11, No. 4by February 8, 1988; for Volume 11, No. 5by March 7, 1988.

FOR SALE STACKED QUAD ELECTROSTATICS (1981) with black FREE HIGH-END KIT CATALOG. Power amplifiers, anodized aluminum stands, properly designed and preamps (tube/ic/JFET), active crossovers (tube/ic). machined at an absurd expense; exquisite hi-tech in- Resista ± I% MF Resistors, Gold RCA connectors, dustrial design. Speakers are flawless with less than Mogarni cables. Old Colony Sound, Box 243S, Peter- 200 hours use. Ipromise there are no finer examples borough, NH 03458. extant. Includes Fulton Golds and X-Terminators. ELECTRON TUBE SALE: Matched pairs, 12AX7, 52600. (213)4'5-9369 after 4:30 PST 12BH', 6FQ7, 6L6GC, EL34, KT-88, 6550A. 4000 FOR SALE: B&K 202+ POWER AMPLIFIER, 200 types stocked, since 1947. GE, Amperc:x, Telefunken. w/ch, 5400. (319)393-82 -'9, best time 10am-noon Gold Lion (original), Sylvania. Military grade, same- CST day shipping. Write or call for prices: ARS Electronics, ONE PAIR LINN DMS ISOBARIK SPEAKERS, S roo. 110 DeCelis PI., PO Box '323-Dept SE Van Nuie, IThreshold Stasis Model S/500-2, 81900. Contact CA 91406. In California, (800)422-427 Outside Ralph Pisani, (201)991-6311, between 4 & 10pin. California, (800)422-4250. WANTED: McINTOSH, MARANTZ, AUDIO RE- AUDIOPHILE ALBUMS!! Fourth annual Christmas SEARCH, Dynaco, Levinson, Krell, Conrad-Johnson, sale!! Mobile Fidelity, Sheffield, Reference Recordings, Counterpoint, Linn, Altec, JBL, Tannoy, EV, Quad, Chesky, Nautilus, Wilson Audio; UHQRs, collections, etc. Tube and solid state, prramps, amplifiers, tuners, etc. Sound Advice, 821$ Grand, Kansas City MO speakers. (-73)'28-4343. Maury Corb, 11122 Atur1L 64114. (816)361-2 -13. Fantastic new releases from Houston, TX "096. Chesky, Reference, and the ultimate gift, the Sheffield box from Moscow. VECTOR ELECTRONICS: TOP QUALITY, competitive prices. B&K components, amps, piramps; Cramolin; THE FINEST EQL1PMF:NT EXPERT ADVICE, outstand- Goldbug cartridges; Kimber Kahle; Kevek speakers; ing prices! Apogee, Krell. SOTA, Maplenoll, Klyne, Michell Gyrodec turntable; Namiki AC direction Quad, Eminent Technology. Meitner, Quicksilver, finder; Orsonic side force checker; Sheffield Lab; Lazarus, VPI. Sonographe, Merlin, B&K, Audible Il- Sonex; Technics stylus force gauge; Zeta tonearm. lusions, Monster Cable, more! Virtually all cartridge Tubes: Amperex 6DJ8/ECC88, GE 6550A/KT88 Mprs, and cable lines! Free newsletter. Galen Cam! Audio, India 12AX7A/ECC83, Visa/MC/Amex. Please call (512)494-3551. (503)233-2603. Portland, OR. I.Ps SOUND GREAT when treated with Gruv-Glide. Reduce wear and static, improve tracking. See Audio RCA I.SC SHADED DOGS—N1ERCURIES 90,000. Free Cheapskate review December 1986. $21.95 per kit. list. Send SASE. PJE 160 Walnut St., Nutley, NJ 0'110. Check or MO to Rozoil Lubricant Ca, Box 19003, BELLES 400-A AMP, $1050; NYAL Minuet in A pre- Las Vegas, NV 89132. amp, $550; excellent combination for driving all Apo- READ THE ADVERTISEMENTS BANNED by Hi -Fi gees. Purchased 11:87, mint. Call Ezra, (803)32"-4849 Neuw & Record Review. Freedom of the Press denied anytime. to advertisers. SI bill for latest catalog of bargain offers. AUDIO CLASSICS BUYS-SELLS-TRADES McIntosh, Mayware Ltd., PO Box 58. Edgware. Middx.. Mar.mtz (tube), Conrad-Johnson, Audio Research. and England. other precision audio components. See our monthly CANADA-WIDE COMPACT DISC MAIL-ORDER ser- list at the beginning of Audio Magazine's classifieds. vice. Mobile. Pro Arte, Sheffield, Ulan:, and more! Free catalogue. 8am-5pm EST Mon.-Fri. POR ros. Send S5 for 10,000+ CD catalog. Write: Discs & Dais. Wallort, NV 13856. (60'065-'200

Box 2352, 4- Simcoe St. South Oshawa, Ontario THE BEST RECORD RACK IN AMERICA. Stackable, Lill "1W portable oak units hold I.Ps. CDs. and tapes. Free mail- FIND OUT WHY AUDIO CONCEPTS INC. is con- order brochure (please mention Stereophile). Per sidered headquarters for high-end speaker kits. Madsen Design, (415)928-4509, PO Bar 330101. San acoustic foam, drivers, capacitors, and much more! Francisco, CA 94133. Call toll-free, (800)346-9183. 1631 Caledonia St.. SIDEREALKAP. The SiderealKap was designed from LaCmsse, WI 54603. its inception to be the finest-sounding capacitor NEW DEALER FOR NESTOROVIC LABS! Audition available for audio today. Find out what the music- thru Klyne. Well-Tempered, Monster system. Alpha lover's capacitor doesn't sound like. Call One High Fidelity 5016 N. 7bpelo nerm Wilmington. (619) -22- — 0- or write to Sidereal Akustic. 1969 DE 19808. Call or write for appointment. Tel. Outrigger Way Oceanside, CA 92054. Free literature (302) -38-3681. TELEX 910240 -'88. FAX and information upon request. Dealer inquiries 3022392904 invited.

Stereophile, February 1988 199 MAS State-of-the-Art gip 11-e Accessories The Studio SLvvas de- StLxiio signed for the listen- SL was High Definition Power Cord... '70.00 er who demands designed for Electrocompaniet. Krell. Levinson. Quad ESL-63 etc straight wire for the listen- Hi -Fi News & Record Review er who needs TEST CD 22.00 perform for complete check-out of your system) ance. flexibility in his CARRY DISC .... '15.95 - 2/'29.00 system. (holds 14 CD's without 'ewe) boxes)

"VALVE-JOB" - so of 4 12.00 (silicon vacuum tube damping rings)

"PIN-UPS" - Set of 4 22 00 (ADJUSTABLE SPIKES for speakers, amplifiers. turn-tables, etc ) Studio SL — SATISFACTION GUARANTEED — PRE AMPLIFIER MasterCard 8 Visa Accepted Professional Systems Engineering Inc. MUSIC & SOUND IMPORTS 7401 Lyndale Avenue South 30 Snowflake Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55423 (215) 357-7858 (612) 866-4984 Call Toll Free 1-800-331-4315 A Full Line Manufacturer Since 1973

ORPHEUS 808 "Highly recommended"

As advised by Bill Sommerwerck of "Stereophile"

"Rush right down to your nearest STAX dealer and audition these, before STAX Direct Audition Program discovers its pricing error!" 14 day money back guaranty Stereophile, Vol. 10, No. 9(Dec 1987)

44r/2 x 15 1/2 x 81/2 — $1400/pair For a full line brochure send $500 to ORPHEUS STAX Kogyo, Inc., 940 E Dominguez St 87 S. 6th St, Locust Valley, NY 11560 Carson, CA 90746 (516) 676-5082

Stereophile, February 1988 AIX:OM MODIFICATIONS FROM DRH. We use FET technology and proprietary circuit topology to transform your GFA-555. 545, or 535 into astunning A S example of musical transparency. Our design allows the listener to hear through to the heart and soul of the music and move closer to the elusive qualities of the live performance. Ask about our money-back BASS SYSTE V guarantee! Also available, fully modified (.FA-555s. 5995. Free 10-day trial available. Call or write DR!!. IT'S THE CHOICE 22'5 East Bay Dr, #1205C, Clearwater FL 34624. (813)536-2904. WHEN ONLY THE BEST WILL DO AUDIO DESIGNS SPECIALIZES in the finest previously owned audio components plus custom termination by Esoteric Audio. Call or write, 5115 Red Fox, Brighton, MI 48116. Phone (313)229-5191.

CELESTION SL 6000 WOOFERS—Mod Squaded, AN INDUSTRY 51690; Well-Tempered TT/arm/MCIO, sealed, $1825; RECOGNIZED STANDARD Ampel 351-2, 51100; Grado TT/arm, $1"5. Wanted: B&O 200 mie. Rich, (203)824-5310. FOR SHADED DOG RCAs. Identify the great recordings. TOTAL BASS PERFORMANCE Send for latest-edition "Golden Era of RCA Records" with complete listing of early stereo classics, sound evaluations, meaning of labels-numbers. 34p of info for 5101. Mitchell, Box 843, Kingsport, TN 3'662. McINTOSH MC-2205, $1150; MR-'8, $850; C-28, John Marovskis Audio Systems, Inc $3'5; MR-", 52 7 5; MR-65, 50; MQ-102, $60. 2889 Roebling Avenue Marantz 1200 amp. 5250; 2130 tuner W scope, S400;

Bronx, New York 10461 (212) 892-741 ,, 150 tuner W scope, 8375; 120 tuner W scope, $350. Scott 130 prramp, 575; 333 tuner, 51(10; LT-I0 tuner,

$45; LC-2I pimp, $40; 222D amp, MOO; 330C tuner, $45; Dyna PAS, OM ST-35, $65; 2ST-70, $125 cc.; QD-1, $25; EICO ST-40, $40; HFT-92 tuner, $35; HF -87 amp. 5'5; HET-92 KIT tuner. $85; HF -86 amp KIT, $85. Knight preamp, $35 tube; Basic amp tube, SOTA's Reflex 565; Fisher Pr. 70A amp tube, $125; X101B amp, $45 tube; Altec 353A amp, $45 tube; CJ PV-2 preamp, $350; White Series 400 Vs -Octave Equalizers, pr. Clamp is Here! 51250; Accuphase T-100 tuner, $300. Thorens TD-147 TT, $350; pr AR-4X speakers, $100. McIn- tosh C-11, $250; MA-6100, $450; 3SCR-2. 555 cc.; Dyna pr. Mark 4, $125. Wanted REL Precedent FM tunet/P Evans, 8" Bettina Ct. #643, Houston, 7X "024. ('13)9 73-9480.

MUSIC LOVERS ONLY! Apogee, Aragon, Audioquest, Aural Symphonies, Classe, Distech, DMN, Epos, Han- son, JPW, Klyne, Mission Cyrus, Mod Squad, QED, Straight Wire, Sumo, Target, van den Hul, and more! Performance Systems, (313)342-24'5, ask for Gil. Ready to Hear LP Perfection? DB SYSTEMS AUDIOPHILE ACCESSORIES include: DBP-2J/5 Passive Switchbox, 569.95; DBP-10 Phono SOTA's new record clamp combines simplicity Alignment Protractor, $24.95; DBP-16(2) 12dB In- of use, elegance, and unequalled perform- put Attenuators. $12.95 (custom values $15.95); DBP- ance. True Reflex action. Rigid, massive, yet SC Souther Clever Clamp, $10; New DBP-17(2)Phono decoupled during play. The ideal match for Couplers, gold-plated female to female pair, 512.95. the SOTA Supermat. Under $45, handling 52.50. DB Systems, Main St., Capture pad of the SOTA achievement. Rindge, NH 03461. (603)899-5121. Experience how perfect an LP can sound! WS'. BEATLES THE COLLECTION No. 592 —un - Warning: Both may be addictive! played, free shipping, $885. Write to Heinz Theis, Kreuzbeck 421,6239 Eppstetn 4. West Germany

LINN VALHAI.LA, 5475; Mod Squad ITOK, $450 ; SOTA Counterpoint SA3.1, 5475; Nitty Gritty 3.5, 5275; dust , es VMPS Tower Ils, new in box, $800. Call PO. Box 7075, Berkeley, CA 94707 ('16)2'1-4943 (Rochester NY).

Stereophile, February 1988 201 ePwign The Most Effective SOUND THAT Pain Reliever Money Can Buy SPEAKS FOR ITSELF SPECTRAL • SOTA • BOSTON Try our prescription for fast relief from earaches caused by MAGNEPAN •MONSTER •XYLOPHILE poor stereo performance. • SOTA Sapphire & Star NAKAMICHI • GRADO SIGNATURE Sapphire turntables LAST • NITTY GRITTY • MADRIGAL • COUNTERPOINT tube pre-amplifiers & hybrid amplifiers CARNEGIE 1 • STAX • KYOCERA • VANDERSTEEN classic, time- coherent loudspeakers THIEL • M & K • ONKYO GRAND

Alphason • Apogee • Ariston • Audioguest • BEL INTEGRA • PS AUDIO • ADCOM B & K • British Fidelity • CJ Walker • Counterpc: -• Eminent Technology • Fried • Grace •JSF B & W •VELODYNE • PIERRE LURNE Kimber Kable • Kiseki • Klyne • Melos Meridian • Merlin • MIT • Monster Cable/Alp, Nitty Gritty • Plexus • Premier • PS Audio • Rauna SME • MIT • SUMIKO •SHURE ULTRA Robertson • Rotel • Rowland Research SME • Sonographe • Sony ES • Sota • Spectrum Stax • Systemdek • Talisman/Alchemist • Tube Trap SINCE 1968 Van fi •. • Vanderst ,•,- • Vendetta Research

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SUPERPHON NELSON-REED C.D. MAXX $329 It" LOUDSPEAKERS CD MAXX. our ai, line control preamp now showing at the following fine audio salons

Audio Advisor Grand Rapids, MI Audio Elite Meneshrs, WI Audio House Swan: Creek. MI Audio Unlornired La Grande. OR Audio Visions of Tampa Tempe, FL Audio Workshop Indianapolis, IN August Systems Champaign. IL Chicago Speaker Works Chicago. IL City Stereo Burlington. VT Community Audio Philadelphie. PA Creative Audio Winnipeg, Manitoba Golden Stereo Prairie Village KS Hi Fi Farm Beckley, WV in Concert St Paul. IAN Lawrence Stereo Birmingham, AL Linear Design Associates New York. NY MG Audio Tucker. GA Northcoest Electronics Chico. CA Rewenswood Muero Crticago, IL Reference Audio Systems Gardena, CA Reference Sound Eagle Rock, CA Senco Victoria. British Columbia Sound Investments Ltd Glendale. WI Sound Service Company Philadelphia. PA Sound Unlimited Bristol. CT Sound Unlimited Deland. FL Sounds Honolulu. HI Sounds Alive San Francisco. CA EXCELLENCE REALIZED Soundstage Audio Fort Collins. CO Stereo ExChange New York, NY Stereo Shop Martinez. GA Super Structures Boulder, CO 15810 Blossom HIM Rd. Threshold Audio Heath. OH Underground Sound Memphis TN Los Gatos, CA 95030 For more information write or call: Superphon Audio (408) 356-3633 Components, 1035 Conger #3. Eugene. OR 97402. 503/345-4226

Stereophile, February 1988 AUDIO CLASSICS INTRODUCES A NEW AMPLIFIER developed by George Kaye, former Chief Engineer of New York Audio Laboratories and inventor of NYAL's Moscode Amplifier, Minuet in A, and Super SPERINCR Slhil it. The amplifier, a"limited edition," is adual-mono design conservatively rated at 60 w-atts per channel, UNCOMPROMISED STEREO VIDEO utilizing 6550 output tubes and McIntosh output transformers. A unique feature is FETrIbbe driver cir- (ESTABLISHED 1977) cuits that achieve very low noise and distortion with only 8dh of negative feedback. Retail, $1660. Audio 716-837-1557 Classics, Inc., POB 1'6, Walton, NY 13856. (6(r9 3604 Main St., Buffalo, NY 14226 865-7200, Ham-5pm Mon.-Fri. AUDIOPHILE WAREHOUSE LIQUIDATION! Direct - to-disc, haffspeed masters & Quiex II recordings. Ap- KNOWN for QUALITY, SERVICE proximately 2500 available! Great titles—great prices! First-come, rust-served! Call for price list. The Elusive and FRIENDLY ADVICE. Disc, (213)388-'1 -6. SHEFFIELD MISSING LINC, sealed, $100; Thelma Houston, sealed, $75; open. $25; Grusin, sealed, AKG •ALPHASON •APOGEE •AR $125; Sheffield Vol. 1, open B/0. Trades considered. AUDIO RESEARCH •BANG & OLUFSEN •BRYSTON Steve Thomas, 2415 W Greenway Rd. #2, Phoenix. CANON •CHICAGO STANDS •COUNTERPOINT AZ 85023, (602)3 75-8800. DAHLQUIST • DEA •DUAL • GRADO SIGNATURE CHAPMAN T-9 SPEAKERS. Custom pair, mint, HAFLER •JBL TI •KEF •KLOSS •KOETSU KRELL •MAGNUM DYNALAB •MISSION beautiful, accurate, impressive. Massive 170Ib MONSTER • NAD •NAKAMICHI •ORACLE enclosure! These speakers challenge systems at 2to ORTOFON •POLK •PROTON •PS-AUDIO •QUAD 4 times cost. Made in USA and guaranteed. $2200. ROBERTSON •SHURE ULTRA •SIGNET •SONRISE (2/3)939- '299, Mitch. SONY ES •SUMIKO •VPI •WELL TEMPERED THE AUDIO CRITIC IS BACK! After an absence of XYLOPHILE •YAMAHA more than six and ahalf years, the toughe.t, most original, and most serious critical journal in audio is back in business again. The Fall 1987 issue of The Audio Critic discloses surprising information, unavailable elsewhere, on amplifiers, phono technology, speakers, etc. The Winter 1987-88 issue, heavy on speakers and CD players, is coming soon. • • AUTHORIZED Subscriptions are now being taken for four issues a r F LIDIO DEALER FOR: c ALPHASON year, starting with No. 10 (Fall 1987). Send $22 (no ARCICI INC Canadian dollars), $10 extra for overseas delivery to AURAL SYMPHONICS BENNETT SOUND CORP The Audio Criti Box 392, Bronxville, NY 10708, CHESKY RECORDS& CDS CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGY SOLID-CORE INTERCONNECTS & SPEAKER COUNTERPOINT CABLES remove many of the veils clouding your DISCRETE TECHNOLOGY music. Interconnects: Wonder soldered, gold-plated / QUALITY EQUIPMENT EMINENT TECHNOLOGY FRIED RCA plugs. 1-meter pair, $58. Speaker cables: Wonder HELPFUL SERVICE GOLD AERO soldered ends fit amps and speakers without bananas. IWE CAN SHIP TOO GRADO SIGNATURE $1.50 per foot. Free shipping. RMS Stereo, RD#.2 Box VISA MC COD HIGHPHONIC HITACHI LC-OFC WIRE 120A, M dsville, WV 26041. (304)843-1 761. KINERGETICS AUDIO ABODE, where music and technology live LANTANA in harmony, features equipment by Audioquest, Aural FREE LITERATURE. MICRO SEIKI I MOD SQUAD Symphonies, B&K, BEL, ClearAudio, Convergent 'PLEASE BE SPECIFIC MOFFET CD PLAYERS Audio Technology, Eminent Technology, Maplenoll, MONSTER CABLE MUSIC REFERENCE Magnum Dynalab, Melos, MFA, Morrison, Quicksilver, NITTY GRITTY Reference Recordings, Souther, Straight Wire, Super- P.O. BOX 2305. 90632-2305 NIP DEGREE phon, VPI, and others. Dallas; TX. (214)369-2092. 1415 W. IMPERIAL HWY. QUAD RAM TUBE WORKS MERRILL "HEIRLOOM" TURNTABLE, featuring LA HABRA, CA 90631 SONOGRAPHE 1 acrylic lead platter, periphery clamping ring, fluid (213) 691-0967 SOUTHER (714) 871-5670 SUPERPHON damped motor, constant resonance tuning system, VP1 and screw-down center clamp. Undegmund Sound,

HERE'S AN IDEA FOR AN EXCELLENT SYSTEM OR 2125 Central Ave., Memphis, TN 38104. (901) LET'S TAILOR A SYSTEM TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS 2-2-1410. COUNTERPOINT SA 31 Preamp S 995.00 COUNTERPOINT SA-12 Amp S 995.00 MCIN-IDSH 225 AMPLIFIER, Maranta 7preamplifier, MOD SQUAD 650 CD Player $120000 Altec Lansing 605A speakers with enclosures, Rekokut SONOGRAPHE SG3 TT sv..LMT Arm S 59900 N33H turntable, Fisher 20013 FM tuner. All original SAEC C2 HrOutpul MC Carvesie S 395 CO NIP DEGREE ZWay Speakers S 599 00 equipment, excellent condition. Best offers Call even- TOTAL SYSTEM LIST PRICE S4 78300 ings. (-18)526-3296. ••••••••••••••MbnIMBN

Stereophile, February 1988 203 7/7‘1‘+1 Serving music lovers world wide. Representing: ADCOM SUMIKO ENERGY DUAL KYOCERA CALIFORNIA ONKYO AUDIO LABS PRO AC MONSTER CABLE JANIS MIRAGE HIGH END AUDIO LINN SONDEK SOUND LAB VPI SHURE VIDEO IN CENTRAL PA EMINENT SUPERPHON "Central PA's high end audio shop TECHNOLOGY COUNTERPOINT tot the discriminating listener. - ELECTROCOMPANIET vANDER:3TEEN menu MgRTIfl l0041 ET Call or write for our

Threshold p.m xu...rzeo conradloIrmson monthly newsletter.

Phone for evening appointment. The Audio Workshop 5357 N. Keystone Ave. Indianapolis, IN 46220 Stf- (317) 253-5260 Hours: S-OPDE Mon.-Fri. 11 A.M.-8 P.M. 21 N Mterket St. Sehnsyrove. PA •717 374 0150 Sat. 11 A.M.-6 PM.

The Last Great $399 Preamp? LAZARUS Announcing the exclusive limited edition ELECTRONICS Superphon Revelation Basic Dual Mono PLUS'

KINDEL PLSA LOUDSPEAKERS The Original Superphm Revelation Basic Dual Mono was hailed nStereophrle (Vol 8. No 5) as one of the greatest preamps ever produced and one of the greatest "IN HARMONY TOÇETHER" audio products ever made - Ken Kessler. in Britain's Hi Fl News (2/87). called it 'One of the very best preamps AT around - tor under $1.500 Audio Advisor Inc has bought up the first. last and only production run of the Revelation Basic Dual Mono AUDIO RftAPSODY PLUS. , Not sold elsewhere it features asingle volume control balance control (new) and lower gain for the high-level input gain to better match CD players The Open 7 Days o Week by Appt. standard Revelation Dual Mono last listed at 545900 Long Beach, California Our exclusive Dual Mono PLUS ,s yours for $399 A limited number will be made Satisfaction guaranteed 213/597-1157 or 213/498-0867 Order now , Shipping $695 within continental US We also stock: CHARGE Ir VISA /MCI AMEX (616) 451-3868 Rotel • B+K • Magnum / Dynalab Sustemdek •Spectrum •Aucfeoguest audio Mod Squad • Apature • ARCICI advisor, inc Chicago Stands • Kimberkable 225 Oakes SW •Grand Rapids MI 49503 + More!

Stereophile, February 1988 EXCEPTIONAL AUDIO REPRODUCTION SYSTEMS —Adcom, Alphason, AR, Arcam, AudioQuest, AudioSource, Audirr, British Fidelity. Chicago, Creek, MIM1111% Dual, Grace, Grado & Signature, Fried, Heybrook, Kenvecx)d Basic, Kyocera, Lazarus, Linn, Logic, Music & Sound, Michell, Monster, Mordaunt-Short. Nitty 4 Gritty, Premier, QED, RATA, Rega, Rote!. Shinon, IrY41vM 4WireJ Spectrum, Superphon. Supex, Systemdek, Talisman. AUDIO SYE T L Target, and more. EARS., PO. Box 658-S, W Havens & Hardesty Audio Covina, CA 91793-0658. (818)961-6158 evenings. Systems is a refreshing alternative weekends. MC/VISA, monthly specials, trade-ins. to the confusing proliferation of mediocre audio consultation given MUSICAL CONCEPTS CD-1 (Magnavox 46(1 modified) in most stores. CD player and ESB (Italian) 7 /06 speakers. PA, We sell only those products that (215)56"-4626, eves. produce exceptional performance ARIZONA AUDIOPHILES—The best in the Southwest for their price; such as Audio is at Esoteric Audio: Rowland Research, Versa- Research, Linn Sondek, Martin- Dynamics, Siltech, and Soundlab. Also hear: Adcom, Logan, Vandersteen and others. SOTA. Conrad-Johnson, Synthesis, Fried, Sonop,raphe, Our store offers the finest demon- Talisman, Spica, SMF., and more! Call for appointment stration facilities in Orange County or shipping information. In Scottsdale, AZ. Esoteric so you can hear the difference be- Audio, (602)946-8128. tween components. We also provide B&K. ADCOM, ETC.: UPGRADE THE SOUND of a professional repair service, a your already excellent amplifier! Electrolytic custom modification service, and a capacitors in the forward and negative signal paths custom installation service. veil the absolute performance of these otherwise 15102 Bolsa Chica Rd. high-end products! Our Super Servo amplifier enables Huntington Beach, CA 92649 these products to operate direct-coupled! (No caps in the signal paths.) The hest capacitor is no capacitor. 714/897-0166 5150 installed, $100 for tested board and instructions e with assistance. Call (78)631-4669, write Precision Audio, 223-4' 65th Ave.. Bayside NY 11364.

MUST SELL: SOTA STAR, MODULUS 2A, Moscode 600, Polyphasors, MG-IIIA, MIT. Offers. Jim Cain. (203r42-"124. The Audio SAN DIEGO AREA: The Convergent Audio SL-1 tube preamp. Music lovers will want to hear this Enthusiast "marvelous CAT" and other high-value, high-end products, including Wingate. Merlin, Vortex. Audio Specialists in the natural and uncolored Archives, (619)455-6326. reproduction of music MERRILL MODS. AR (all): acrylic lead outer platter Satellite/Subwoofer speaker systems by with clamping ring, $135; acrylic subchassis, $95; Nestorovic replacement motor, $65; spindle, $25; spring kit, $8; Speakers from and more. Linn: acrylic lead outer platter with clamp- Nestorovic, Symdex, ProAc, Kindel ing ring, $135; acrylic arm board, $48. Underground Sound, 2125 Central Ave., Memphis, TN 38104. Tube electronics from Berning, Nestorovic, Music Reference, Lazarus (901)272-1275. Solid state electronics from ROWLAND RESEARCH MODEL" AMPS SERIES IIA, PSE, Kinergetics, Rote) 55000. (516)351433. Turntables from AUDIOPHILES. AUDITION JSE INFINITE SLOPE VP), Michell, Sonographe loudspeakers on our 30-day no-risk auditioning pro- Toneamn from gram. Authorized JSE, Fried, Spectrum, Counterpoint, Souther, Grado, Profile, Sumiko Superphon, B&K, Kinergetics, Haller, Magnum Cartridges from Dynalab, Thorens, Audioquest, Parasound, Apature Clearaudio (Veritas &Gamma), Grado, dealers. Est. 1959. Sound Unlimited. 169 Church St., Garrott, Audioquest Bristol, CT 06010. (203)584-0131. We pay shipping. Interconnect cable and speaker wire from Peterson, Audioquest, Kimber IYAMAHA CT-7000N, $485; IOracle Delphi MKII, S550; IOracle Premier MKII (w/Finale arm), 51450; Compact disc players from Kinergetics, Audioquest I Em Tec tonearm w/o pump. 5100: Ipair MIT Shotgun Music Hoses. 20' per side, 51100; IKlyne Much Moret SK I-A head amp. $200; 1Carnegie One cartridge (virgin), 5550; ISyrinx PU -3 arm, 5350. Phone Weekdays 5-9 PM Weekends 9AM-6PM (509)545-422" weekdays, (509)545-4061 other Los Angeles, CA (213) 541-8177 Please ask for fina Wee.

Stereophile, February 1988 205 MUSIC "DESIGN] rCUSTOM HOME STEREO <;IALLAS When You're Ready To Own The Best. The most exciting and revolutionary components in WON'T the world, selected and matched to suit your needs. BELIEVE EXCLUSIVE MARIN COUNTY DEALER FOR: ITS EARS Audio Research •Vandersteen •Counterpoint Eminent Technology •Spica •Apogee Oracle • Well Tempered •Mod Squad PRESTON TRAIL AUDIO Vacuum Tube Logic • SME •Athena INTRODUCES Audible Illusions •B + K • NAD AR •ASC •APOGEE •AUDIOQUEST MIT "Shotgun" •Monster "Genesis" B&W •CAL •CARNEGIE •CARVER CONRAD-JOHNSON •CWD •DCM Talisman •Kinergetics •Magnum Dynalah DENON •HAFLER •KRELL PS Audio •Audioquest • Grado LAST • LU XMAS •MARK LEV INSON MEITNER •MOD SQUAD •MONSTER Spectrum •and many others PIERRE URNE •• SME •SONOGRAPH SOTA •SUMIKO •VPl VACUUM TUBE SPECIALISTS 415 332-2142

PRESTON TRAIL AUDIO r 17390 PRESTON RD. SUITE 320 DALLAS, TEXAS 75252 (214) 248-9104

107 Caledonia Street, Sausalito, California 94965

eaudio technica —treriefç IT'S ALL HERE YOUR SEARCH ELECTRONICS: Krell, Cello. Audio Research. Meitner. PS Audio Aragon, Electrocompaniet, Acoustic Electronics. Ram Labs. Hailer IS OVER! Tandberg. Carver. NAD, Kyocera. Denon. kcuphase 3 SPEAKERS: Duntech, ProAc, Sota. Acoustat. Rauna, Linn Dahlquist. ITC, ESE. Carver. Acoustic Electronics, Velodyne. ADS Boston Acoustics. Mission. PSB :Fite TURNTABLES: Versa Dynamics. Lurne. Sota. Well-Tempered VPI, Linn LP12. Dark Star. Denon. Linn Axis. Dual We specialize in hard to find TONE ARMS: SME IV & V. Well-Tempered, Linn Ittok. Odyssey phono cartridges and orig - Premier. Dark Star JSE. Linn Belk ci in al replac cme nt styli. CARTRIDGES: Koetsu, Cello, Carnigie, Krell. Audio Quest. Linn Van Den Hul. Talisman. Monster. Grado. Signet 1 CD PLAYERS: Accuphase. Stay. Analogic Kyocera. Mission g (800) 221-0906 le NAD. Denon. Carver

CALL TOLL-FREE FOR nee CABLES: Krell. MIT. Siltech. Dtstech. Museatex. Live Wire. CSI. FREE PRICE QUOTES Monster Duntech `3 AND VISA/MC ORDERS IF. N.Y. STATE (516) 599-1112 ACOUSTIC TREATMENTS: RPG Diffusors Sonex. Distech ASC MEDIA COMPONENTS: Harman Kardon. Sound Concepts SEND SELF ADDRESSED Shure Muitivision Sonance NAD Video. Synergex. Pioneer STAMPED ENVELOPE FOR Et) Video JVC Video F. Super VHS OUR FREE CATALOG Lei 3 c) Trade-Ins accepted • Accessories • DID Furniture LYLE CARTRIDGES rri Dept. S, Box 158 Valley Stream, N.Y. 11582 CSI ADO Phones Open Mon -Sat 9 am-8 pm 193 Bellevue Ave . Upper Montclair NJ ortof nSHU sTaNTon 201 744 0600

.211(i Stereophile, February 1988 CROSSOVER: THE DUET PASSIVE/ACTIVE BIAMP- AFFORDABLE H1-END: Spica, Superphon, B&K, ING crossover. Passive high end with minimal color- Musical Concepts, Magnum Dynalab, Kinergetics, ation, 6dB/octave. Elegant low end, choice of slopes: Straight Wirt, JPW, AuclioPro, QED, Chicago Stands, conventional 18dB/octave; transitional 6-18 dB/oc- Echo Muffs, & others. Evenings & weekends. Mo- tave for high-performance subwoofers such as Cogan- bile Recording Company, Carmel, IN 46032. Hall's Contrabass. Audiophile quality: Sidereal caps, (317)846-9766 or(317)841-7154. Stereo Consultants, gold-plated connectors, van den Hul wiring, ten-turn Lafayette, IN 47905. (317)474-9004. wire-wound pots. Several crossover frequencies, INFINITY RS-IB SPEAKER SYSTEM. Latest version, stereo or summed (mono) available. $575 stereo, $450 18 hours of use, absolutely mint condition, $4500. mono. At Cogan-Hall dealers or write or call Cogan- (21(,)54X- 231, Ben. HaU Instruments, Inc, 1609 )bung St., Cincinnati,

OH 45210. (513)421-1055. aMIR!MIIM,

LINN, SOTA OWNERS: 'THE KEYBOARD replacement tonearm mounting board is guaranteed to Buy -Sell -Trade outperform all other tonearm boards for Linn LP-12 ...your stereo equipment like you never could and all SOTA turntables. Musicality, transparency before...yeith SOUND MARTI An Independent MONTHLY NATIONWIDE NEWSLETTER that puts enhanced throughout range. Construction: handsome buyers and sellers together. We are NOT a black acrylic, hardwood ply, phenolic resin laminated dealer. You deal direct. You make your best under high pressure. $88 blank; tonearm drilling dealt There are never any commissions or fees Get more for that hard-to-sell speaker... pay available. At Cogan-Hall dealers or write or call less for that hard-to-find preamp. SOUND Cogan-Hall Instruments, Inc, 1609 }bung St., Cin- MART helps the audiophile find what he cinnati, OH 45210. needs...sell or trade what he no longer wants. Member/subscribers receive FREE ad placement FREI)ERICK, MD. Audiophiles and beer budgets coex- every month...for a year. A one year subscription is only $24. You can even Include ist with B&K electronics. Tube prramp from %'TI.. for your first ad.. indicate whether It's For Sale S550. Extended highs, deep bass, analytical, dynamic —Wanted_ .or For rude...but you don't need an from tubes! VIL has redefined tube sound limita- ad to subscribe. Mail your check or money tions!! Apaturr, Ariston, Audioquest. Belles, Forte. order for $24 to: MART Publications Inc.. 2901 Dorchester Lane, Cooper City, FL 33026 (FL Maplenoll, Musical Concepts, ProAc, Straight Wire resident» add 5% sales taxi Visa/MasterCard. & more. Audio Ceu, (300695-'083. Or call 1-800• 912 mmer I,, FI, (305) 432-8788

A&S SPEAKERS has moved to San Francisco. We are now open to the public. We will continue to provide our mail order customers with the widest selection of high-end speaker kits, systems and drivers from the world's finest manufacturers. Write, call or come in for our free 1988 catalog. A&S SPEAKERS 3170 23rd Street, San Francisco, Ca 94110 (415) 641-4573

TRI-PLANAR II THE SOUND PRECISION TONEARIN OF MUSIC •'• -ith unrivaled e transparency, = =_ resolution and e - «e tracking ability, the TRF-PLANAR II creates amusical sound stage unmatched by any other tonearm

WHEATON MUSIC INC •2505 ENNALLS AVE •WHEATON MD 20902 •(301) 949-1262 (301) 949-8392 I

Stereophile, February 1988 20- KISEKI PURPLE HEART SAPPHIRE MC. "The Sweet WANTED One." Unmounted, brand new in box, 51100. Call WANTED: STAX DA -300. must be original and mint. Harrison, (206)588-3882, 9-5 PST M-F, 9-1 Sat. (213)475-9369 after 430 PST

CD, PREAMP MODS—The ultimate in mods for your IWILL PAY BUJE BOOK RETAIL for most used McIn- Cl) player or preamp. DC Servo stereo module MI, tosh. Maranta, especially tubes. (504)833-6942. 550. Cl) Drive is aDC Servo module with 6dli gain, 575. FET ultra-high slew rate op-amps OM. sonically WANTED TO BUY: ALWAYS PAYING TOP SSS for and electrically superior to NE5535. Tube-like sound McIntosh, M. Levinson, Krell, C. Johnson, and similar for S15/pr. Also, esoteric preamp parts—torroids. high-quality products. Call or writc,John gblff, 5115 conductive plastic pots, etc. Call or write for catalog. Red Fox, Brighton, MI 48116. (313)229-5191. Soloist Audio, 331 Balk, S.A., TX "8209. WANTED: B&O 200 MIC. Rich, (203)824-5310. (512)229-0 -12. MC/Visa. TOP DOLLAR FOR AUDIO RESEARCH, Adcom, Krell STEREOPHILE VOL. 4 THROUGH VOL. 8 (Vol.4 KMA, Conrad-Johnson, Mark Irvinson & 23, No.4 missing). Best cash offer. Kushen. IRaynor Rd.. Threshold, Marantz/MacIntosh tube gear. Call Bobby, W Orange, NJ 0=052. (18)459-'236 evenings, NY

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ACOUSTAT TNTI20, 1499; Counterpoint SA7, $299; Celestion SL6, 1499; Conrad Johnson PV2, $299; Spectral MI500 2M, 1129; Adcom, PS, Superphon, B&K, Audible Illusions, Palantir, Fosgate. (14)861-4830 1_1-1 1 11=7-.2 1 evenings. REBUILDS AVAILABLE FOR: SUMO "CHARLIE" TUNER. (209)538-'236. •All Gas Co. Products •CJ PV2 MV45-75 •ARC SP3 SP6A-E D76 •ADCOM GFA555 ELITE MUSIC SYSTEMS. %Vr specialize in purist audio •SUMO 9 8ELECTRA •HK CITATION 16. 19 systems for the true music lover. Featuring 'TL tubed •MARANTZ 7C 88B •MAC MC30 250 275 electronics, Soundlah electrostats, Oracle turntables, •DYNA 400 410 150 •P.S. Audio 2C-4H and Alphason toneanns, Cleaniudio and Garrot cartridges. PAS3 & S170 many others. Also Kinetgetics CD player.; and subwoofax, Symdcx, Merlin, and Princeton Acoustics speakers. Cables by Write or call for brochure. Cardas, Audioquest, Straight Wire, and Randall 5563 Kendall Street •Boise. Idaho 83706 •U.S.A. Research. 1001 Versailles Cl., Maitland, FL 32'51. 12081 323-0861 (305)629- 9/61 eves

better bottom s The octaves down there at the two digit frequency range 7/ are coming into their own today. And Speaker Builder has every bit of information you need to design for yourself or buy the best available system that does full justice to all the music you love. For eight years now Speaker Builder, the loudspeaker-design bi-monthly, has been publishing authoritative information for the music aficionado, whether it's software for FFT analysis of room performance, or the smallest, best, transmission line with the newest multi-driver complement. Crossovers get full and excellent treatment in SB's pages. Whether it's electrostatics, ribbons, vented or closed boxes, subwoofers, horns, 1-lines, or infinite baffles, Speaker Builder does it all. Use the coupon below to order six issues with our absolute guarantee of satisfaction—or your money back—whenever, whyever. Or call with your credit card order for faster service. You will not be disappointed.

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208 Stereophile, February 1988 THE STEREOPHILE ADVERTISING STANDARDS

Advertising published in Stereophile is accepted on the premise that the merchandise and services as offered are accurately described, and are available to customers at the advertised price Advertising that does not conform to these standards, or that is deceptive or misleading is never 'glowingly accepted If any Stereophile reader encounters noncompliance with these standards please write Nelson & Associates, 62 Wendover, Rd., Yonkers, NY 10705.

ADVERTISER INDEX

A & S Speakers 207 MFA Systems 184 Absolute Audio 190 Magnepan 86 Adcom 50-51 Magnum Dynalab 180 Arcici 178 Maplenoll 182 Aria 198 Mart Publications 207 Artech Electronics 168 Martin Logan 32 Audio Advisor, Inc 140, 184, 204 May Audio Marketing 84 Audio Breakthroughs 186 McIntosh 44 Audio By John Dudley 198 Meitner 24 Audio Enthusiast 205 Meridian 56 Audio Nexus 202 Mod Squad 168 Audio Research Corporation 14 Monitor Audio 28 Audio Rhapsody 204 Monster Cable 58 Audio Stream 69 Music & Sound 200 Audio Today 60 Music by Design 206 Audio Vision 188 Music by the Sea 188 Audio Visions 190 Musical Concepts 172 Audio Workshop 204 Naim 138 Audioquest 26 Natural Sound 64 Aural Symphonics 180 Nelson-Reed Loudspeakers 202 B & K Components Inside back cover Nitty Gritty 20 B & W Loudspeakers 54 Onkyo Back cover Boulder Amplifiers 167 Optimal Enchantment 160 British Fidelity 80 Orpheus Loudspeakers 200 CF. Audio 203 Ortofon 82 CSA Audio 206 Packburn Electronics 197 California Audio Labs 182 Parasound 72 Cello 162 Pioneer 10-11 Chadwick Modifications 197 Preston Trail Audio 206 Cochran, Don 6 Professional Audio Consultants 68 Cogan-Hall Instruments 59 Professional Systems Engineering 200 Conrad-Johnson Design Inside front cover Rotel 46 Crutchfield Corporation 144 Rowland Research 18 Custom Electronics 202 SOTA 201 Custom Woodwork & Design 68 Select Sound 192 D'Ascanio Audio 178 Siefert Research 172 Dbx 74 Sight and Sound 196 Definitive Hi -Fi 196 Sixth Avenue Electronics 148 Discrete Technology 9 Sound By Singer 154 Eminent Technology 132 Sounding Board 173 Esoteric Audio 42 Speaker Builder 208 Esoteric Ear 146 Speaker Shop 203 Euphonic Technology 134 Stax 200 Gala Sound 152 Stereo Exchange 76-77 Gasworks 208 Stereo Shoppe 204 Gold Aero 63 Straight Wire 128 Christopher Hansen Ltd. 156 Sumiko 170 Havens & Hardesty 205 Superphon 202 Hi Fi Answers 164 Take 5 194 Hi Fi News & Record Review 166 Teac of America 30 High End Audio 192 The Sound Concept 186 High End Hi -Fi Show 66 Threshold Corporation 36 Janis 201 Upscale Audio 158 Kimber Kable 197 Vampire 38 Luxman 40 Vandersteen Audio 170 Lyle Cartridges 206 Wheaton Music 207 Lyric Hi -Fi Inc. 150 Woodbridge Stereo Center 194

Stereophile, February 1988 209 THE FINAL WORD

Recently, while overseeing the production of was aGoldmund cartridge aprototype Levin- the January issue of Stereopbile at our new son No.26 preamp, Levinson cables and ampli- printer in southern Florida, Iwas privileged fication, and Duntech Sovereign speakers—LP to spend an afternoon with Peter McGrath of was asignificant step down from the master Audiofon records and Sound Components tape Tonally, there was not much discrepancy, high-end salon. In aword, Peter had amission: but akind of brightness and "tang" character- to demonstrate the clear inferiority of digital istic of live strings and real voices that had tape as astorage medium and CD as ahigh- been captured on ;he tape was notably muted fidelity vehicle for bringing the sound of the on the LP. The texture of instruments was master tape into your home. there but less than on the master, and the hall Let me make one thing clear: Peter McGrath ambience was reduced, though still evident. is not anti-CD. He has welcomed the upsurge Depending on the specific comparison, Igave in interest that has accompanied the success LP ascore of 88 to 92, compared with 100 for of CD, and it is certain that Audiofon depends the master tape. mightily on CD for its income There has been CD, though, was ashock, even for this sea- little enough interest in LP sales that, when soned sceptic. Surprisingly, Iheard almost Audiofon arranged for transfer of their Earl none of the classic symptoms of so-called Wild in Concert at Carnegie Hall (1981) to CD, digititis: no harshness, very little extra bright- they did not go to the expense of rereleasing ness, and no screechy strings. Instead, Iheard the LP, no longer available Peter's primary goal adramatic loss of information: on astring tone was to correct what he felt to be ashameful that originally had real texture there was simply lack of ongoing critical examination by the much less to it; the string had been simplified. supposed defenders of the faith: the subjec- Hall ambience was lessened (though not totally tive-review magazines. absent), and the sense of air surrounding in- So, who cares? You've heard all this before. dividual instruments and voices—their indi- That may be, but there bas been agrowing vidual ambiences—was almost totally absent. lack of critical focus on CD (though CDs have Compared with the master, Igave the CD also been getting much better), and McGrath playback about an 80. had something to offer I'd never heard before: In none of the examples Iheard were there direct comparison of analog master tape, CD gross aberrations; had LP or CD been pre- made from the analog master tape, and LP sented as the original—which is our typical made from the analog master tape. listening situation—I wouldn't have thought. I'll be the first to admit that there are many they were bad at all. more comparisons that could be made in an- Iwould be most interested to make other alyzing the relative effectiveness of CD and LP comparisons of this kind, happily submitting as what I'll call "transfer media" (to be differen- to the same audition from someone with a tiated from basic storage media). Different pro-digital point to prove Ialso want others digital recorders, analog recorders, LP players, from Stereopbile, notably JGH, to hear the CD players, microphone combinations, etc. comparisons at Peter McGrath's, just to make Nevertheless, the comparisons Idid at Peter's sure I'm not pulling all this up out of my own sound room in Coral Gables, listening to sev- anti-digital imagination. eral of McGrath's actual master tapes played on Does it all amount to ahill of beans, given his StellaVox, compared with his LPs played on the direction of the market re CD vs LP? Per- aGoldmund Reference, and also compared haps not—but it does indicate that digital with his CDs played on an Accuphase DP-70, systems have along way to go if the goals of were valid. It told me whether there were high fidelity are to advance. This is something losses or additions made by the transfer media, we must not lose sight of. and what their nature was. First, LP Even on this super high-end system —in addition to the Goldmund 'table, there

210 Stereophile, February 1988 "A runaway bargain and astellar performer." H! F! HERETIC FALL 86

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