Sonic: Restoration' Part ,'2

SONIC: RESTORATION' PART ,'2

JULY 1991 US $2.95 UK V .75 CAN $3.50

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dcom stereo components have Why Use Two Mono Amplifiers? a loyal and devoted following, The ability to deliver very high power into complex having earned a reputation among loads is a prerequisite for superior sound reproduction. audiophiles, engineers and musicians Power supplies capable of delivering the energy necessary for extraordinary performance at for high power, high -current amplifiers are massive. But affordable prices. Now Adcom introduces there are practical limits to the size and weight of stereo its newest amplifier, the no compromise GFA-565, for amplifiers designed for home use, as well as heat dissipation those in pursuit of absolute power and sonic perfection, and reliability constraints. Consequently, the use of two but who prefer not paying a king's ransom. Adcom GFA-565 mono amplifiers offers optimum sound The Evolution of Adcom's GFA-565 definition, detail and dynamics, satisfying even the most demanding perfectionist. Adcom's new mono GFA-565 evolves from the design of the critically acclaimed GFA-555, greatly extending More Sound, Less Money its capabilities. Representing brute strength, it delivers Like the GFA-555, the new Adcom GFA-565 sounds 300 watts at 8 ohms, 450 watts at 4 ohms and an awesome superior to amplifiers costing two and three times as much. 850 watts at 2 ohms* Most significantly, it will accurately It is so powerful and pure that it may be the last amplifier drive even esoteric loudspeakers which present loads as you ever buy, even if you upgrade your loudspeakers low as I ohm. several times over the years. And that makes the GFA-565 Inspired by the GFA-555, the new GFA-565's an extraordinary well -regulated, high -current power supply has an bargain OO enormous reserve capacity to meet tremendous dynamic considering demands, resulting in distortion -free reproduction on a its exceptional II/ continuous basis. performance. details you can hear o u *Continuous power output, 20 Hz -20 kHz

lI Elkins Road, East Brunswick, NJ 08816 U.S.A. (201) 390-1130 Distributed in Canada by PRO ACOUSTICS INC. Pointe Claire. Quebec H9R 4X5

Enter No. 3 on Reader Service Card Adcom's GFP-565 Preamp: Pure and Simple.

Wee Noble reCOrvey pnOrq Ia1M 9 / moat& ore -sea po.M phone. Um* in Cont., to 1,11., -ono Vaasa°, on - - tuner - 1111~11111, - tape t 0.3 a - tape t - rnleW.u.

In Search of Sonic Perfection, Adcom Three Sets of Outputs for the Perfect Took the Path of Least Resistance Balance of Performance and Flexibility The fewer circuits a musical signal encounters on its You can use one or more sets of outputs: I) BYPASS - way to your loudspeaker system, the greater its muscial direct -coupled before tone controls, filters, etc. for the most purity will he. Now, through obsessive attention to detail direct path to your power amplifier while retaining control and design ingenuity, Adcom has created the GFP-565 - of volume and balance. 2) LAB - direct -coupled with no the world's first affordable preamplifier with direct, linear output -coupling capacitors yet with tone, filter and loudness gain path circuitry. By combining the GFP-565 with any controls. 3) NORMAL - same as LAB but with highest of Adcom's power amplifiers, you can experience the quality output capacitors for use with amplifiers needing exceptionally lifelike sound which has astonished even the extra protection of ultra -low -frequency roll -off. the most demanding critics. Bi-amped and tri-amped systems are easily accommodated by this flexible arrangement. From Input to Output, Pure Convenience The minimalist aesthetics of the GFP-565 are the Signal Path is deceptive in their simplicity. Without being overly complicated to use, this preamplifier is able to integrate as Direct, Pure and and control all of the components in the most sophisticated of music systems. There are five high-level inputs as well Simple as Possible as a phono input. A separate front -panel switch allows the use of an external processor. only when needed. leaving C- r. both tape circuits free. And, of course, you may listen to one input while recording from another. More Sound, Less Money have a reputation for !t"' Adcom stereo components i sounding superior to others costing two and three times --1111,n more. Keeping faith with this tradition, Adcom took the path of least resistance. Why not do the same? Ask your authorized Adcom dealer for a demonstration of this remarkable stereo preamplifier. Please write or call for a fully detailed brochure. You'll discover the best value in high performance By gold plating all input and output jacks, and then directly preamplifiers. mounting al/ jacks, switches, potentiometers and other laboratory Pure and grade components on a double copper -plated, glass epoxy printed ¢ fircuit board, signal losses and noise are dramatically reduced. simple. details you can hear ó

II Elkins Road. East Brunswick, NJ 08816 U.S.A. (201) 390-1130 Distributed in Canada by PRO ACOUSTICS INC. Pointe Claire. Quebec 119R 4X5 Enter No. 23 on Reader Service Card °

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JULY 1991 VOL. 75, NO. 7 llon3aH. neBa ii Trrian'dnielepojsfió Y azaCjevDtt Bum

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Stax/Volt Singles, page 82 Restoration, page 26 FEATURES SONIC RESTORATION OF HISTORICAL RECORDINGS, PART 2 Michael R. Lane 26 NEW LIFE IN CASSETTES: DIGITAL DUPLICATIONS John Eargle 38

EQUIPMENT PROFILES MONITOR AUDIO STUDIO 10 SPEAKER D. B. Keele, Jr. 44 BLAUPUNKT NEW YORK CAR TUNER/CD PLAYER L. Feldman and I. Berger 56 CARY AUDIO CAD -50 AND CAD-50sL MONO AMPS Bascom H. King 68

MUSIC REVIEWS ta = CLASSICAL RECORDINGS 78 ROCK/POP RECORDINGS 82 JAZZ & BLUES 86

DEPARTMENTS SIGNALS & NOISE 4 Monitor Speakers, page 44 TAPE GUIDE Herman Burstein 8 AUDIOCLINIC Joseph Giovanelli 11 AUDIO ETC Edward Tatnall Canby 14 BEHIND THE SCENES Bert Whyte 18 .-11101"-% The Cover Equipment: Monitor Audio Studio 10 speaker The Cover Photographer: Michael Groen 71,L _ . ? Audio Publishing, Editorial, and Advertising Offices,

1633 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019. The .`0°. nuan Bureau Subscription Inquiries, (800) 274-8808; 46 in Canada or other foreign countries, (303) 447-9330. Cassettes, page 38 A NEW BALANCE

CD -narhIN- } TUIIER evinson R , R TAP( I !` 7

UK2 TUE I IYPui 0011iTOR TAPS 2 N! 28 O UT PREAMPLIFIER I \R r O!!

SELECTOR MONITOR SELECTOR RECORD SELECTOR OUTPUT LEVEL

The Mark Levinson N°28 Preampli- fier is at once a continuation of the "narH, D, . Mark Levinson traditions of musi- evinson cality and enduring quality, and an entirely new implementation of tech- POWER SUPPLY nology that will set the pace for PLS-226 innovation in high-performance audio in the 1990's. Mark Levinson products have offered the advantages of balanced interconnection for many years. The N°28 introduces a new execution of balanced circuitry called a DIDO (Differential In/Differential Out) that provides fully balanced operation throughout (not converting to single - ended for internal processing) while still rejecting common -mode noise from source inputs or arising within the unit itself. All versions of the N°28 have 2 balanced (XLR) inputs as well as balanced output connections. Even single -ended signals benefit from the DIDO, since it rejects common -mode ground noise as it converts single -ended signals to differential at the input. Your local Mark Levinson Dealer can provide complete details on these and many other refinements ii the design of the N°28. More important, you can hear for yourself how this preamplifier tips the balance in your favor.

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Mark Levinson® products are designed and manufactured by MADRIGAL AUDIO LABORATORIES PO. Box 781, Middletown, CT 06457 FAX (203) 346-1540 ` ' SIGNALS & NOISE V.PJEditor: Eugene Pitts III Art Director: Cathy Cacchione Associate Art Director: Linda Zerella Technical Editor: Ivan Berger Managing Editor: Kay Blumenthal Associate Managing Editor: Teresa A. Carriero Associate Managing Editor: Douglas Hyde Directory Editor: Ken Richardson Assistant Editor: Joe Wiesenfelder Reprise of the Bitstream tion filtering: (1) "To reduce the quanti- Assistant Editor/Music: Michael Bieber Dear Editor: zation noise in the analog audio band- Associate Editors: We at Analog Devices as leading width" and (2) "To improve the signal- Edward Tatnall Canby, Bert Whyte, B. V. Pisha suppliers of audio converter ICs-are to-noise ratio (S/N)." The phrase Senior Editors: Leonard Feldman, D. B. Keele, Jr., pleased to see in-depth articles on "quantization noise" is ambiguous, David Lander converter technology as and Shah fails to such "Music clarify. There are Contributing Editors/Artist: of the Bitstream" by Prasanna Shah three sources of quantization noise in M. Aldred, H. Burstein, D. L. Clark, (January). Because of the debate (and the conversion chain if a sigma -delta A. H. Cordesman, T. Costa, J. Diliberto, F. Driggs, J. Eargle, S. Elliott, J. Giovanelli, confusion) in the industry between D/A converter is used, two if a current - B. H. King, H. G. La Torre, E. M. Long, oversampled sigma -delta converters steering type is used. The first is the F. Lovece, J. W. Poses, J. R. Sank, D. Spoto, M: Tearson, J. & S. Tiven, M. Wright and "classical" current -steering con- quantization noise from the analog -to - verters, his article was timely and infor- digital conversion done in the record- Business Services Director: Greg Roperti Production Director: David Rose mative. ing process. There is nothing playback Production Manager: Kerry Tonning Unfortunately, Shah's article contin- equipment can do about recording Research Manager: Dru Ann Love ues to reinforce widespread noise it's Office Manager: Nadine Goody confusion quantization once on the CD! Operations Manager: Sylvia Correa about the role of "oversampling" in the No electronic magic can take away Ad Coordinator: Linda Neuweiler digital -to -analog conversion process. noise the studio introduced or improve V.P./Group Publisher: Nick Matarazzo The first point to be made is that digital the ratio of signal to this noise. Shah's (212) 767-6035 oversampling interpolation filters are argument about smaller step sizes with ADVERTISING required regardless the interpolated is of D/A convert- data completely irrele- Group Ad Director: er technology. That is, both oversam- vant to reducing the noise introduced Charles L. P. Watson (212) 767-6038 pled and current -steering D/A convert- by the original 16 -bit quantization pro- Group Sales Mgr., East: R. Scott Constantine (212) 767-6346 ers are preceded by interpolation fil- cess. Even ideally, this noise is -±-1/2 Regional Mgr.: Tom McMahon (212) 767-6025 ters in virtually all modern designs. least -significant bit at the 16 -bit level. Regional Mgr.: Carol Berman (212) 767-6292 Midwest Region: Pattis Group Confusion is natural when trying to un- Sigma -delta D/A converters intro- Arnold S. Hoffman (708) 679-1100 derstand why a sigma -delta D/A con- duce their own quantization noise, but Jeffrey M. Plaster (708) 679-1100 is Group Sales Mgr., West: verter that oversampled by 64 is eliminating that noise source is what Bob Meth (213) 739-5130 preceded by an interpolation filter that noise shaping is all about; interpolation Regional Mgr.: Paula Mayeri (213) 739-5130 oversamples by eight. There are two filters have no impact on that noise. Network A/D: P. Beckenbach (212) 767-6223 kinds of oversampling going on. The The third type of quantization noise is former is accomplishing quantization ironically introduced by the interpola- Hr noise shaping, as is well explained in tion filter itself. Shah is correct that HAC H N: l"I' , Shah's article. The latter, interpolation oversampling reduces this noise, but m.4(:A'/.INt_\INc filtering, "... allows for simpler and it's noise that wouldn't even be there Chairman and CEO: Daniel Filipacchi lower order, phase -linear analog post - without (oversampling) interpolation. Exec. V.P./Editorial Director: Jean-Louis Ginibre Exec. V.P./Publishing, COO: David J. Pecker filtering," as reported. In fact, that's the Interpolation filters perform multipli- Sr- V.P., Sales & Mktg.: Anthony F. incalcatera only reason for interpolation filtering; its cation/accumulation operations on 16 - V.P., General Counsel: Catherine Flickinger V.P., Circulation: Leon Rosenfield other consequences are negative. bit input data. To retain "perfect" accu- V.P., Mfg. & Distribution: Anthony R. Romano What oversampling interpolation fil- racy using 16 -bit coefficients requires V.P., Magazine Development: Marcia Sachar V.P., Research: tering does is move the Nyquist "im- internal accumulators that are at least Susan Smollens ages" of the audio signal to higher 32 bits wide. Ultimately, the filter out- AUDIO, July 1991, Volume 75, Number 7. AUDIO (ISSN 0004-752X, Dewey Decimal Number frequencies. an a 16-, 18-, 20 Without oversampling puts or -bit word that 621.381 or 778.5) is published monthly by Hachette interpolation filter, the first image at a represents a signal "interpolated" be- Magazines, Inc., a wholly Owned subsidiary of 44.1 -kHz sampling rate will begin to tween the original signal values. In any Hachette Publications, Inc., at 1633 Broadway, New York. N.Y. 10019. Printed in U.S.A. at Dyersburg, appear around 24 kHz. High -order, event, accuracy is lost when the fil- Tenn. Distributed by Wamer Publisher Services Inc. "brick -wall" analog filters would be re- ter's internal values are truncated to Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. 10001 and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions in the quired to eliminate these images-with one of these smaller word widths. This U.S.. $21.94 for one year, $39.94 for two years, $53.94 nasty audio consequences, as the quantization noise is probably best for three years; other countries, add $6.00 per year. first AUDIO' is a registered trademark of Hachette -generation CD players demon- called "requantization" noise because Magazines, Inc. ©1991, Hachette Magazines, Inc. strated. Both oversampled and cur- truncation effectively accomplishes a .All rights reserved. The Editor assumes no rent -steering D/A converters will pro- second quantization of the music sig- responsibility for safety or return of manuscripts, photographs, or artwork. The Publisher, at his sole duce these Nyquist images starting nal. (The finite word length of the co- discretion, reserves the right to reject any ad copy he around 24 kHz unless preceded by an efficients, non -ideality of the digital fil- deems inappropriate. Subscription Service: Forms 3579 and all subscription correspondence must be interpolation filter. If the interpolation ter, and other factors also contribute addressed to AUDIO, P.O. Box 52548. Boulder, Colo. filter oversamples by four, the first im- digital noise to the interpolation pro- 80321-2548. Please allow at least eight weeks for the change of address to become effective. Include both age will near 176.4 kHz; if in a well occur by cess, but -designed interpo.a- your old and your new address and enclose. if eight, near 352.8 kHz. tor, truncation noise will dominate.) possible, an address label from a recent issue. If you Shah really muddies the waters by Now, it's easy to explain the benefits have a subscription problem, please write to the above address or call (800) 274-8808; in Canada or other adducing two additional but fallacious of 18- and 20 -bit D/A converters. Re - foreign countries, (303) 447-9330. Canadian GST "reasons" for oversampling interpola- quantization noise will be spread out Number 126018209.

4 AUDIO/JULY 1991 flee.

< i.nm > i,7n41 iIMM FM ran M. I 2 7 FWY Wa1.M4ne ADCCI i I- - I ú I.9 ^ Teets 6n-e4:0II Oats C-. tsnqr M ion, N COM.! M-Iotts-M Cr. ....en Moro MMTp CO ( i.M lapel 9e04IM1 '1 ti r Introducing the new Adcom G1 P-500 II Tuner/Preamplifier.

Only a few years ago, Adcom announced the dawn and the use of state-of-the-art component parts. of a new era by introducing its GTP-500 tuner/ Adcom's unique, low -impedance RIAA compensation preamplifier. Together with any of Adcom's critically provides lower noise and distortion in the phono input acclaimed power amplifiers, this unique audio product stage. To further reduce noise and distortion in all has given thousands of cost -minded, serious music stages, all switching devices are buffered. lovers a quality alternative far superior to the common Long term adherence to circuit design objectives is receiver. The new, evolutionary GTP-500 II offers accomplished by utilizing 1% Roederstein resistors in a meaningful expansion of convenient features and all critical applications as well as a new low -loss, printed sonic performance. circuit board. Through a careful balance of sensitivity and selectivity, Full Command Of Your Music System the GTP-500 H optimizes FM performance whether Control your system's power on/off, select you're in an urban or rural area. Design parameters, pre-programmed FM and AM stations, scan the FM including an improved IF stage, have been optimized dial, adjust volume level and select different sources.. . to translate into lower distortion. In fact, the quality of all with Adcom's wireless remote controller. With FM stereo reproduction through the GTP-500 II is as optional Adcom remote sensors and additional good as the broadcast itself. loudspeakers, you can also enjoy your Adcom music system in other rooms throughout your home. More Sound, Less Money For total music system integration, the GTR -500 II Adcom stereo components have established a remote sensors will also receive and retransmit reputation for sounding superior to components costing commands to a majority of remotely controlled two and three times as much. The new GTP-500 H components, regardless of brand. This remarkable promises to keep faith with this tradition of more design gives you full command of your entire music sound for less money. system throughout your home and offers the ultimate Its ability to command your entire music system by flexibility of integrating the remote features of remote control, and its exceptional sonic performance components manufactured by others. are why so many experrs consider the GTP-500 II

to be Adcom's . Value Measured By Performance command 2 The overall performance of the new GTP-500 H is performance. 10 Op demonstrably superior through its evolutionary design details you can hear

11 Elkins Road, East Brunswick, NJ 08816 U.S.A. (201) 390-1130 Distributed in Canada by PRO ACOUSTICS INC. Pointe Claire, Quebec H9R 4X5 Enter No. 24 on Reader Service Card Part of what makes this hobby so exciting is that every year something new and different is introduced.

over the wider frequency range of the extra bits in the 18- and 20 -bit convert- More Like Oil and Vinegar interpolation filter's oversampling rate. ers with the spreading of requantiza- Dear Editor: If the interpolation filter's results (at tion noise over a wider frequency In response to a letter in your Janu- eight -times oversampling) were trun- range. The smaller step size in voltage ary 1991 issue from Leland A. Bea- cated to 16 bits, the requantization levels does not spread the noise in man: noise would add about 1.5 dB to the frequency. But a noise shaper with YES, Audio is an outstanding maga- noise floor. If instead we truncate at 18 oversampling and interpolation will zine. bits, then the requantization noise is shift the quantization noise from the NO! Audio should not eliminate the lowered by about 12 dB. Truncation at audio spectrum to higher frequencies. wonderful world of video from this out-

20 bits reduces requantization noise I recommend the fourth reference list- standing publication.

yet another 12 dB. Thus, the advan- ed at the end of the article for further While I agree the field of audio de- tage of 18- and 20 -bit converters is information on this topic. serves its own literature, video prod- that they can reduce the deleterious In order to have any kind of benefit ucts are taking a great part in the audio effects of interpolation filters to a frac- from 18- or 20 -bit D/A converters, they systems of many of the readers of Au- tion of a dB above the theoretically need to maintain less than Y2 LSB dif- dio magazine. ideal. Whether this noise difference is ferential linearity, 1/2 LSB integral linear- The two are not oil and water. audible above all the other noise ity, minimal gain and offset errors, mini- Part of what makes this hobby so sources in the playback chain is a mal glitch energy, and minimal zero - exciting is that every year, if not every question I'll leave to the "golden ears." crossing distortion-and to keep these day, something new and different is David Fair parameters constant-over the entire introduced to us. From the movie the-

ASIC Marketing Manager operating temperature range. I am ater we now have surround sound in Analog Devices sure that even Mr. Fair will agree that our homes that works in harmony with Wilmington, Mass. such an 18- or 20 -bit D/A converter is our audio media and our video media. not commercially available, and even if We no longer live in an age where a

Author's Reply: I don't think there is it were, it would not be viable for con- television is for seeing and not hearing. any confusion about the role of over - sumer CD players.-Prasanna Shah In my system, the two work quite well sampling in the digital -to -analog con- together.

version process. Neither does the arti- An Alternative Bandwagon Also, I feel a bit sorry for Mr. Bea- cle associate oversampling and inter- Dear Editor: man, as it seems he must not have yet

polation filters only to a specific D/A I was highly delighted and a little experienced the joy of recording audio converter technology. It is common surprised to see reviews of Mano Ne- onto Hi -Fi videotape. It would probably knowledge that oversampling and in- gra's Puta's Fever and Tackhead's blow his current "audio" cassette deck terpolation filters have been utilized Friendly As a Hand Grenade in your out of the water. since 1982, when the 14 -bit D/A con- November 1990 issue. I've always en- Grant M. Billings verters were used. It seems to me that joyed the reviews in the Rock/Pop Re- Milwaukee, Wisc. Mr. Fair is mixing up the roles played cordings column, but seeing these "al-

by the oversampling process and in- ternative" bands was great! I hope this Referral of Fortune terpolation in the reconstruction of the turns into a trend. There's quite a bit of Dear Editor:

audio signal. It can be easily found in alternative music out there, and a lot of I would like to tell you about a re- almost all elementary textbooks on digit is very good. There just doesn't seem markable experience with one of your ital signal processing that the quanti- to be enough exposure, but if a few advertisers, Advanced Audio in Leech -

zation noise is proportional to the step more avenues of exposure open up, burg, Pa. I had written to them looking size. If 1 is the step size, then the we'll be hearing more of this music on for a couple of cheap woofers for my

quantization noise will be (1/12) .12. the mainstream stations and more will workshop and mentioned that I intend- Also, the article never claims to re- be available in mainstream stores. And ed to use the woofers with small

duce the quantization noise introduced this would suit me just fine. speakers I had on hand from a junked by the original digital master recording Marty P. Hoar car stereo. in 16 bits, through either D/A converter Longmont, Colo. Advanced Audio wrote back, ex- technology. In fact, the article tries to plaining that none of their speakers

dispel the myth about 18- or 20 -bit Shining Sunier were exactly what I needed. Instead, accuracy being achieved in sound re- Dear Editor: they provided the name of a different productions of 16 -bit -mastered Com- John Sunier's interview with the rath- company, a list of exactly what to or- pact Discs using the 18- and 20 -bit er incredible Robert Parker and his in- der, and precise diagrams for building D/A converters, which is perpetuated fernal machines (February 1991) was the enclosures and hooking up the by the manufacturers of these convert- absolutely first-rate. Best piece you crossover. If they did all this for some- ers and the CD players that employ guys have run in months. Three cheers body who wasn't buying anything, their them. for all concerned from sun -drenched paying customers must really be treat- Lastly, Mr. Fair is trying to explain La Jolla. ed like royalty. the benefits of 18- and 20 -bit D/A con- J. Lee Anderson Jon Vilhauer verters. He is unfair in associating the La Jolla, Cal. Placerville, Cal.

6 AUDIO/JULY 1991 1`' /?*OÍiTIEE z"EREtif,E

. IJ ° ` CM.:1 I l "Kinergetic's KCD-20... the first CD player to crack the .'9. i.1'l Class 1 Sound barrier" Peter Montcriaff w crtx,.19 "International Audio Review", Hotline #43-45.

"...Kinergetics KCD-40 has become an integral part of my playback system. I recommend it very highly, especially to those who have had monumental difficulty coming to any terms with the CD format." Neil Lever:son Fanfare, Jan/Feb 1990. Inc tu 11 "...Kinergetics offers its purchaser 1r-.1º 1 1 more than a glimpse of what the JAllialiFi r! i c Mi I® v best CD sound is all about." John Atkinson Stereophile Vol. 13, No. 1.

"A generation later, transistor designs by such companies as Levinson, Krell, and Threshold have gained my respect as being eminently musical despite their

silicon hearts. To this list I can now add Kinergetics Research." Dick Olsher Stereophile Vol. 13, No. 1..

"Kinergetics pulled off what I considered to be a near miracle. °- They successfully integrated a subwoofer with the twitchy. Martin -Logan CLSes... the tonal balance through the lower octaves was just right. The deep bass and midbass were tight and well -detailed" Dick Olsher Stereophile Vol. 13, No. 3.

We will continue to create improvements in areas of psychoacoustic that others have yet to discover.

CS RESEARCH 6029 Reseda Blvd., Tarzana, CA 91356 818/345-5339 Fax: 818/609-8576

Enter No. 11 On Rea TAPE GUIDE HERMAN BURSTEIN

Why Adjust Bias at -20 dB? susceptibility to saturation tends to able residues, such as gums and oils. Q. I adjust my deck's fine bias knob, vary somewhat from one brand to an- It is generally considered that direct using white noise from a test CD, to other. In the case of Type IV tape, one cleaning, as described here, is prefer- match the source with the tape play- could adjust bias at around -10 dB, if able to use of a cleaning cassette, back at a level of -20 dB. But when I one wished, when using white noise. which may be abrasive. increase the record level to 0 dB, the Finally, there is the matter of what Demagnetization is preferably per- source'and tape don't match anymore; type of noise reduction is employed. formed with a wand -type demagnetiz- the tape is duller. Which procedure is Because of special equalization in the er rather than a demagnetizing cas- correct, bias adjustment at - 20 or at 0 high treble range (spectral skewing sette; wand demagnetizers are apt to dB, and why?-Anthony Hudaverdi, and anti -saturation curves) employed be more effective. When you use any Santa Monica, Cal. by Dolby C and Dolby S, these noise - type of demagnetizer, be sure that the A. You should adjust at -20 dB, for reduction systems help guard against rest of your audio system is off. If your the following reasons: Assuming all fre- tape saturation more effectively than deck is feeding into your audio system, quencies have the same amplitude, as Dolby B NR. The dbx system guards and if the system is accidentally left on is essentially true of white noise, in a still more effectively. Accordingly, the when you are demagnetizing, the re- cassette system the tape saturates need for going below 0 dB when ad- sulting loud hum can damage your more easily at high frequencies than at justing bias with white noise will vary. speakers. others. This is largely due to the great Tape recordists frequently employ Cleaning and demagnetization amount of treble boost employed in FM interstation noise to adjust bias. should take place after about every recording. Such boost is needed to Above about 2 kHz, this noise drops eight hours of use, to be on the safe compensate for magnetic and electri- steadily in level, owing to the tuner's side. Some advocate less frequent de- cal losses encountered in recording, standard FM de -emphasis of 75 µS; magnetization-say, every 16 hours. If and it may reach something like 15 dB the drop eventually reaches a rate of 6 you notice substantial accumulations at 15 kHz. Therefore, using white dB per octave. To illustrate, the inter - of tape oxide on the heads and other noise, high frequencies are presented station noise at 10 kHz is nearly 13 dB components, cleaning more frequently to the tape (and tape head) at much lower than at 1 kHz. Accordingly, the than every eight hours may be advis- greater amplitude than are the middle need for going below 0 dB when set- able. Excessive deposits on the heads, and low frequencies. ting bias is reduced. etc., may indicate the need to change To avoid tape saturation and conse- your brand and/or grade of tape. quent loss of highs when adjusting Safe Head -Cleaning bias with a white -noise test signal, it is Q. I have just purchased a dual -well "Improved" Type II Tapes necessary to keep the signal level dis- cassette deck and would like to know Q. I have recently come upon some tinctly below DIN or Dolby level. (One what the best products are to clean it tape brands that combine metal parti- or the other of these two levels, which with and how often to demagnetize it. I cles with ferric oxide and take Type II are about 2 dB apart, is usually the 0 - am a little wary of using anything right bias. It is claimed that these tapes ap- dB reference.) The usually recom- now because I have heard that alco- proach the extended frequency re- mended level is -20 dB. hol -based products can damage the sponse of Type IV tapes for less cost. Fortunately, in most program materi- heads and that abrasive tape cleaners Are these tapes really better than ordi- al the amplitude of the highs is sub- do the same.-Donna Farley, San Mar- nary Type l/?-Rhet Diaz, Playa Del stantially lower than that of the rest of cos, Tex. Rey, Cal. the audio range. This natural fall -off of A. You should first consult the own- A. The very extensive review of cas- highs tends to compensate largely or er's manual of the deck to discover sette tapes by Howard A. Roberson in completely for the treble boost em- what, if anything, the manufacturer rec- the March 1990 issue does show that a ployed in recording. Accordingly, if we ommends for cleaning the heads and few Type II tapes are nearly as good adjust bias at the -20 dB level when other parts (capstan, pressure roller, as the best Type IV tapes in this re- using white noise, we avoid tape satu- guides) contacted by the tape. If noth- spect. A 10 -kHz tone recorded at ration at high frequencies when re- ing is suggested, it is generally safe to Dolby level will typically drop about 4 cording so that peaks reach 0 dB or use 91% isopropyl alcohol, which or 5 dB in level, and occasionally much even about 3 to 5 dB higher. many drug stores carry. Audio stores more, when recorded on Type II tapes. Some program material does con- usually carry special cleaning fluids in- On Type IV tapes, this tone would typi-

tain unusually strong highs, and the tended for tape decks; often they con- cally be about 1 dB down. Roberson's recordist may then have to reduce retain trichlorofluoroethane. Apply the al- article enables you to identify which cording level by several dB to avoid cohol or other substance with a cotton Type II tapes have the best treble re- saturation. One can't simply "set and swab to all deck components contact- sponse at high recording level. ál forget" when it comes to recording lev- ed by the tape. Let things dry at least el; judgment must be employed. five minutes before using the deck. If you have a problem or question on tape Type and brand of tape also enter Avoid 70% isopropyl alcohol, rubbing recording, write to Mr. Herman Burstein at AU- the picture. Type IV (metal -particle) alcohol, and similar alcohol com- DIO, 1633 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019. All tape is more immune to saturation than pounds because they usually contain letters are answered. Please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. the other types. Within a given type, contaminants that may leave undesir- 8 AUDIO/JULY 1991 T-OFFECI»R' TpG ET; -THY FOR1CHANCE -OF PLUSA D FREE! TE side,4 on other -"MOREdetails KEANr or"lr' See N

sor"' t_ -. Qy41/asEd1_1w.. tY/1,1,t..8tla..i'- -.

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[ Rock I 1 Modem Rock Light Sounds 11 Hard Rock ] Soft Buy only what you want! If you want the Regular or David Lee Roth, George Michael, The Replacements, Cady Simon, do nothing -it will be sent automatically. Aerosmith Michael Bolton The Cure Bette Midler Special Selection, If you'd prefer an alternate selection, or none at all, just [1 Heavy Metal [ 1 R&BISoul U Easy Listening 1 Dance Pop mail the response card always provided by the date Judas Priest, Guy, Johnny Mathis, Stevie B, specified. Warrant Freddie Jackson Ray Conniff Technotronic You always have 10 days to decide; if not, you may [I Jazz 11 Country U Classical return the Selection at our expense. Half -Price Bonus Plan. If you continue your [1 Mr. membership after fulfilling your obligation, you'll be eligible

[ 1 Mrs. for our money -saving bonus plan. It lets you buy one CD Nome Li Miss Prim Env Nome imnd Iasi Extra Bonus Offer: at half-price for each CD you buy at regular Club price. Also send one more CD 10 -Day Free Trial. We'll send details of the Club's If not Address Apt. now, for which I will be billed operation with your introductory package. satisfied, only $6.95. return everything within 10 days and you will have no further obligation. Bonus Offer: you City Extra may take one additional CD right now at the super -low price of only $6.95 -and you are to an a bonus FREE! And ...and I'm entitled to get then entitled take extra CD as with Mis extra CD FREE! you'll receive your discounted CD and your bonus CD Store Zip your 8 introductory selections -a total of 10 CDs In alit Do you have a VCR? (04) [ i Yes [ 1 No 330/F91 Do you have a credit card? (03) I) Yes l I No COLUMBIA HOUSE: Terre Haute, IN 47811 Nor: we reserve se ny,t to repo any apWr bon or carved any membership These oilers not evadable in APO, FPO. Asesta hawm, P,wno ern. wow roe details or eimmenve oiler. Gensase ros,eams will be serviced nom Toronto. 9H3 -F6-59 *use d» salas ta= added lo ui orders © 1991, The Columbia House Company AU DIOCLIN IC JOSEPH GIOVANELLI

Insufficient Phono Output former does. Such units serve no other speakers. If the audio quality again de- Q. The output from my phono car- function. teriorates, maybe your surround tridge is low compared to that of other Although using such transformers or speakers are set at too high a volume. program sources in my system. The preamplifiers will increase the loud- The 5 -foot separation between your rated output of my cartridge is 0.25 ness of your phonograph playback, speakers is a bit small. Move them mV. Even with the extra gain provided this does not guarantee that phono apart till each one is against both the by the low moving -coil input on my output will match all other sources. side and back walls. The increased preamplifer, the output from the speak- Keep in mind that some phonograph physical separation should increase ers is still too low. records are "louder" than others, and the amount of stereo. The corner loca- During some soft musical passages, the output from some CD players tends tion should add considerable bass. the volume needs to be turned up to a to be higher than other input sources. This may solve your problems.

point where I hear noticeable hiss. Recording levels can vary from one CD I hasten to point out, however, that, What can be done?-Name withheld to the next and from one cassette to in most instances, stereo stands out A. When you say your cartridge's the next. more when listening with headphones

level is too low, do you simply mean I can recall one correspondent who than it does when listening via loud- you need to turn the volume up when was sufficiently bothered by this prob- speakers. The problem is that head- listening to records? Or do you mean lem that he incorporated a limiter into phone listening tends to exaggerate you cannot get enough volume even his system. Every source sounded as the stereo effect beyond what is heard when you turn your control up all the loud as any other. Soft musical pas- in the real world. way? If you can get satisfactory listen- sages were as loud as loud ones. He

ing levels from the system, it could be was happy! I heard a sample of this Unusual Phonograph Hum

that you are served well enough de- "beautifully balanced" system; I was Q. i have an annoying phono hum spite the nuisance of having to readjust definitely unhappy. which has me perplexed. The hum is the level control when changing present only when in the phono mode; sources. Just remember to turn the vol- No Bass Punch it is low in level and only occurs in the ume up a notch or so when playing Q. My problem: The sound from my right channel. The ground wire from phonograph records, and then to turn system is bland, lifeless-very little ste- the turntable is correctly connected to it down again before switching to other reo separation and very little bass. the phono ground on the rear panel of program sources. In any event, a good When I use headphones, everything the amplifier. I have noticed that, when habit to get into is to turn the volume seems to jump out and sound great. I disconnect the ground wire, the hum down completely while switching from My loudspeakers are located about disappears completely. What could be one input to another. You'll never 5 feet apart on either side of my enter- causing this hum, and why does it go "blast" your system or damage your tainment center-about a foot away away when the ground wire is discon- speakers or amplifier by following this from the back wall and about 3 feet nected?-Richard Dunn, Hampton, Va.

rule. This is true even if and when you from the side walls. There is a rug on A. I have no idea why the hum is do match phono level with that of other the floor. It's a long room, about 12 x heard in only one channel. It certainly music sources. 20 feet. My equipment consists of a suggests poor connections to the The hiss you hear when you turn the preamplifier, surround decoder, power ground side of the cartridge's right volume up to listen to soft passages amplifier, and four speakers-two channel or to the grounds where the might perhaps be on the LPs them- mains and two for the surround effect. tonearm and the main phono cables selves. When this is the case, the hiss What's wrong with my system?-John meet. It could also indicate a loose will remain as a constant back- B. Smyth, Clinton, Md. skirt on the phono plug. ground-even when you have adjust- A. If you like the sound from your Why the hum disappears when the ed the phonograph output to match headphones, it could be that you just ground wire is removed is another mat-

that of other program sources. don't like your loudspeakers. I say this ter. My best guess is that your turnta- If the background noise you hear in because your system is the same in all ble has a three -prong NEMA plug at- soft passages is electronics noise gen- respects when you listen through tached to its power cord. If so, the erated within the preamplifier, you headphones and when you listen via turntable will automatically be ground- should use a transformer between the your loudspeakers. ed to the system via the ground pin on phonograph and the preamplifier in- Before making any impulsive moves, the plug (assuming that your amp also puts. The transformer will boost the however, first check to determine if the has an NEMA plug). Adding the voltage sufficiently to overcome the phase between your two main loud- ground wire would produce a ground background noise. Manufacturers of speakers is correct; if it is not, the loop, causing the hum. The cure is to moving -coil cartridges usually offer sound may well be lifeless and lack remove the ground wire. A transformers designed for use with bass. Before making this check, kill the their units. surround speakers so that all you hear If you have a problem or question about audio, There are some "preamplifiers" are the main units. Once you have got- write to Mr. Joseph Giovanelli at AUDIO Maga- which are designed to boost the output ten the phase correct, there should be zine, 1633 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019. All voltage from a moving -coil cartridge in an improvement. If you do have such letters are answered. Please enclose a exactly the same way that the trans- an improvement, turn on the surround stamped, self-addressed envelope.

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TRITONE MISSILES 11 Q, My April installment left you . 4 hanging with Dr. Diana BaahI.iverpi1eR' +v Victóri Deutsch and my soap -based oNaheteéU , n de Fuca friend Jim, who had sent me a Science . /Ta Ma AyoumP News report on Deutsch's latest musi- End cal research into hearing. He couldn't s understand the musical details but '';`.;;

I '1 hoped I might. could indeed and was '1,11"(k.71.22'1... :aP1 I working Dr. fascinated. So continue, 11 Deutsch in with some previous ideas tellc

on music that I had already planned to P Có

explore. In this I am fortified by our own Ch which you earlier Audio Deutsch article It Lake may have read-and heard-in our cé (Pü March 1987 issue. n Francisco I missed that issue due to eye trou- T bles, now cleared away, but the Editor .Í /San Joke°1 rushed me a black -and -white copy Baker bu94er Pt Coné pt e8as from the office machine so I might ,tOL S Angeles Gallup catch up. The bound -in plastic record Lon& reproduced very nicely but would not tir.tiYumá i-ºPho enx' Sat oTucsonl play, being on paper. So I went to my `...:-- big bound volumes of back Audios, 'z -, iti,Lo Ciudad and there was the article in splendid Juáre red, white, and blue. But no record. It was removed before binding. To a musician, these tones are dis- doxical tritone. (I assume that this is The newer Deutsch study, again, mally vacuous. No personality com- where my friend Jim admitted defeat.) concerns our curious perceptions of pared, say, to the richness of an This is a musical interval-the propor- up and down in musical pitch-the oboe's sound. But they have the im- tion in frequency between tones-that very foundation of musical notation mense advantage of being elemental, is well known for its strange, feature- and hence of live performance and, the better to aid in pinning down the less, ambiguous sound, its near -irration- consequently, our audio that converts enormously subtle workings of our al ratio. (You won't find it approximated it to signal and back again. Practically sound perception. until the 11th harmonic.) In notation the everything, you see, goes up and Dr. Deutsch offers new bombshells tritone encompasses three whole down in music. And here is Deutsch, each time she comes out with a study. steps (tones) in the modern music always ready to drop significant bomb- And then goes on often to further impli- pitch system, hence the name. It may shells, telling us according to her tests cations and new testings. We can con- be heard as an augmented (stretched) that, lacking certain clues, we can seri- fuse our musical ups and downs? That fourth, as F to B, or as a diminished

ously disagree among ourselves as to was 1986. The new tests, those I re- (shrunken) fifth, as in B to F. Our musi- what goes UP and what goes DOWN! ferred to in the April issue, find that our cal alphabet is repetitive, so this cov- That's like disputing the law of gravity. perceptions of up and down are strictly ers the five piano white notes BCDEF,

Well, I could have told her the same related to our spoken language, our hence a diminished fifth. But if you long ago out of my own experience. local dialect. Where her English tes - continue, FGAB, you have still another But never in the disciplined detail that tees heard the mini -tune go UP, her tritone, this one an augmented fourth. comes from her kind of research. American (Southern Californian) listen- Highly ambiguous, even polyguous. Dr. Deutsch doesn't use music. She ers said it went DOWN. An unsettling The tritone was shunned in early mu- devises test tones, you might say test thought-does our music listening vary sic. It was the "wolf" in the musical tunes, of utter and calculated minimal- in any such way? Could be. Here, henhouse-the devil in music. But well ity, patterned and grouped for (mostly) Deutsch converts what must have rat- before the 15th century, a way was headphone listening, each ear receiving ed as an informed hunch into a disci- found, just one, which surprisingly re- its own channel. Binaural. In this new plined proof. She is good at informed moved both the wolf -like fierceness

study, an extension of a 1986 report, hunches. I might add that music and and the musical ambiguity. If you put she uses no more than two tones at a language have been subtly related another note 11/2 tones lower (i.e., time. (Two successive tones make a since the time of the ancient Greeks, down a minor third), the tritone van- minimum tune, don't they, like the cuck- whose poets "sang," and probably ished! You can easily hear this on the

oo's song?) Moreover, these tones are long before. I expect Neanderthal man piano. Play F and B (a tritone), then as pure as the driven snow, i.e., sine did the same, so Deutsch is well within add a D below it. The tritone is soft- waves. The most basic frequency a long tradition. ened. In its place is a gentle chord shape, minus all distracting harmonics In her up -down studies she has which moves easily on to a C or C that might confuse the results. made use of what she calls the para- chord, forming a cadence. In music, a

14 AUDIO/JULY 1991 SIRNGHT WIRE The Shortest Path BetweenYou And The Music 1%9 FI RRISON ST., SUITE 2118, HOLLYWOOD, FL 33020, 305/9252470

cadence (a falling, from the Latin-not came to the logical thought that they to be confused with a march) says might combine the old, gentle tritone mildly, THE END, or the end of some- cadence with the newer, stronger thing, a place to take a breath. And so dominant -to -tonic cadence, written in

it was long used. The effect is much harmonic language as V I (five moving like the stronger (and later) cadence to one). (Naming chords, harmonies, What from the dominant to the tonic. We in we convert to Latin.) The combination you get out of the audio/music world would under- of these two cadences was stronger, an audio component stand this as the third harmonic to the juicier, more expressive-the dominant depends on what second harmonic and its fundamental seventh, V'! It still has the tritone in it, you put into it. an octave lower. Play the note G and also the extra covering tone (the D- then a C, and you'll get the idea. Bet- see above) and the dominant -chord ter, play a G chord and a C chord. The harmonies. Very familiar, very convinc- .115 994.

older tritone cadence has no third har- ing. I recently found an early one in a monic at all. It is purely melodic. No madrigal by the young Girolamo Fres- ..A. simple harmonic relationship. cobaldi, later a famous organist and ,.,1. Please take a small breath! Like all keyboard composer. The music was professional terminology, music's is published in Holland in 1608. A newly hopelessly polysyllabic and sounds discovered sound effect. much worse than it is. All of this is ever In musical literature (Western) these so simple for the ear. You have heard tritone ambiguities are wondrously ex- Inquire about our in -home at least five billion cadences in the ploited by clever composers from music that surrounds us even without Bach to Debussy, Stravinsky and on- cable audition program. going to a concert. ward. For this tritone is a kind of musi- Mathematically, the tritone rates as cal pun word, which may jump from an interval-relation between two one meaning to another, startlingly dif- Enter No. 20 on Reader Service Card pitches-of a half octave. Play C, F ferent. Often this is via the augmented - sharp, and the C above, and you will sixth chord and its relatives, including How to distinguish a hear that there is indeed a tritone in a tritone as the unstable element. Here, thinking audiophile from each direction from the F sharp. But a minor (small) seventh, e.g., C to B a gullible, what is the tritone in numeric terms? A flat, converts to an augmented, tweako cultist. Thinking audiophiles worry about, and bit like the root 2. And that is A square of stretched, sixth, C to sharp, the focus on, listening room acoustics and speaker how it sounds. The octave is simple, same tones. The other note in such a placement, speaker system design and trans- even basic, 2:1. Not the tritone, 11:8. chord, an E (the chord's third) is a ducer technology, A/D and D/A conveners, Why octave, for tones in the 2:1 rela- tritone away from that A sharp. See surround -sound processors, microphones, re- tionship? Because if you play eight Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, cording techniques-all the things that make a difference. And they read The Audio tones of a scale, eight white notes on Brahms, et al. for thousands of easily Critic, the journal that combines the highest stan- the piano, you the span of an listenable cover examples. dards in equipment testing with an insistence octave. Likewise, if you play five or In addition, the tritone is used me- on sanity and scientific accountability. three notes, you have fifths or thirds lodically to give a somehow exotic, The tweaks and cultists, on the other and so on, even when they are small or mysterious. or bizarre effect since it hand, focus on wires and cables, tiptoes and large-as in major and minor. does not advertise itself as to what part CD rings, tubes vs. transistors. "power conditioners" and $200 line cords, etc. They are on Hi-fi makes use of octave relation- of an ordinary familiar scale it might their 37th preamplifier but only their ships to compensate for loudspeakers 3rd belong. The "Prelude to the Afternoon speake-. They seem to be oblivious to the that cannot reproduce the fundamen- of a Faun" (Debussy), flute solo, faun- snickers of the academics and industry pro- tal. The second and third harmonics like. It plays up and down a tritone. The fessionals, and they read those...well, those are usually present, so thus the ear trained bear in Petrouchka (Stravinsky) other "alternative" audio magazines to which "manufactures" a facsimile of the fun- does a lumbering dance to a tritone- The Audio Critic is the best alternative. Special offer! Send $17.50 damental as a difference tone to those clumsy tune. for an introductory package of the last five issues pub- harmonics. For example, say a speak- Dr. Deutsch works in twc musical lished (Nos. 12 through 16), all of them still er cannot reproduce a 30 -Hz tone, but dimensions. Her new study, lice that of 100% timely and up to date. That represents the 60- and 90 -Hz tones are present. 1986, is vertical, concerning ups and a 50% discount off the newsstand price and The difference between these tones is downs. In our 1987 Deutsch article, the a 36% discount off the regular subscription 30 Hz, and the ear hears this as a thrust was sidewise, rights and lefts. price. After you have read these five fat issues and understood what resultant tone. Organ -builders have Here, too, her test tones, quite differ- The Audio Critic is all about, we are just about certain that you used this trick to produce fundamen- were ent, devilishly ingenious, aimed will become one of our staunch and en- tals without full-length pipes. at sorting out and pinning down what a lightened long-term subscribers. To polish off the idea of a cadence, single ear, unaided by its teammate on The Audio Critic note that around the year 1600, as mu- the other side, could do on its own. In P.O. Box 978 sical language widened, composers nature, in musical listening, our pairs of Quakertown, PA 18951 AUDIO/JULY 1991 15 In our musical listening, as in nature, our pairs of ears grab at a subtle complex of different clues for direction.

ears grab at an immensely subtle com- narrow down these multiplicities to each ear), chromatic half-step lines, plex of different clues for direction, as clear specifics, once again. Listen to wide jumps up and down, and so on. we know when we try to reproduce her tests on Audio's bound -in record. Always a different signal to each ear. musical sound. There'll never be an It's all explained in the article. No tri- Ups and downs but oppositely. end to our own arguments over sonic tones here, and the "tunes" are much The two ears cannot relate and join directionality or of our intense interest longer, pitch patterns, changing alter- these sounds-too different. So they in the practical side, for broadcast and nations right and left, lots of octaves are strictly on their own. What can an recording. What Deutsch does is to (jumping up and down contrarily in isolated ear do for apparent directionality when its partner can't work with it? Very strange, as you might guess. Sometimes, tones fed to the right ear are heard to be on the left, though the MSE 1 20cá left ear receives no such signal. It's another Deutsch bombshell. No, you won't set up your coincident MSE8Od/ stereo mike array and find the violins on the wrong side even though your connections are not crossed. This is MSE4Od/ music, not testing. In stereo, both ears working on both loudspeakers, there NEW HAFLER MOBILE AMPLIFIERS // are enough richly assorted directional cues to keep things in place unless you get into flighty changes in phase somewhere along the lines, or faulty The new line of MSE volume balances. Deutsch tells us

mobile amplifiers only, as I get it, that the single ear is from Hafler. not merely mono but has a positively Multi -channel unstable directionality when its partner MOSFET amplifiers ear is sending noncompatible info to the brain. Sometimes right is designed inside and common right (in the right 'phone), sometimes out for improved it's on the other side of the head. mobile audio There are those secondary bomb- performance. From shells that Deutsch sends our way, so the thermally efficient, intriguingly. One in the Audio article sculpted heat sink to has really raised my consciousness. It the "Dielectric says that the way the single ear per- Isolation" (di) ceives lefts and rights, right or wrong, integrated circuitry, has to do with handedness. In the Haffer tests, lefties reacted distinctly differ- the Hafler ently from righties. Now I am a lefty, engineering team is even a mini -Leonardo. My directional shaping the future of wires are hopelessly crossed at the gut mobile audio. level. Say "QUICK, TURN RIGHT!" and For more information I instantly turn left, traffic allowing. But

on these new 2, 4, not if I have time to think. I tread on and 6 channel square-dance toes, creating dance amplifiers and the gridlock, because I invariably put the dealer nearest you, wrong foot forward. And I can write I learned longhand call 1-602-967-3565. backwards. When with my right, the left hand learned it in - Hailer, shaping the reverse automatically. I still can write mobile environment backwards, but I can't read what I with sonic excellence write. Unless in a mirror. The eyes, you and inherent value see, are on a different circuit. beyond compare. So go find Diana Deutsch's articles, and listen to her tones too. As for me, I'd better get out to California and have For More Information Hafler myself checked. I think maybe my left MADE IN USA hand is attached to my right arm. Q rib HAFLER A DIVISION OF Coll 1-800-553-4355 LS ROCKFORD CORPORATION TEMPE, ARIZONA U.S.A 85281 6 AUDIO/JULY 1991

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F/X 6502002 Empre Strikes Back` Patton* The Abyss* 0910092 0043092 8811022 QUA 3807097 MAD MAX 7109052 Here's a great way to bully a cone :lion mail the response card always provided DOCTOR ZHIVAGD 0026002 of your avorite movies-al laserd scsl by the date specified. And you'll always Just wr to in the numbers of the 3 have 14 days to decide; if not, you may THE COLOR PURPLE 6301032 laserdiscs you want for $1J0 each, plus return the selection at our expense. BEN.HUR (1959) 2603072 shipping and handling. In ecchange you There's a money -saving half-price RAIN MAN 2869062 simply agree to buy two more laserdiscs Bonus Plan. If you continue your In TANGO A CASH + 6474042 the next year, at regula Club p ices membership after fulfilling your (currently as low as 529.95, 3lus obligation, you'll be eligible for our LETHAL WEAPON 6308062 shipping and handling) -end you may Bonus Plan. With each selection you LETHAL WEAPON II + 6427022 cancel nembership at any time after buy at regular Club price, the plan HARD TO KILL 9535052 doing so currently allows you to take another four BLAZING SADDLES 0012062 Ever weeks (up 10 13 times a selection of equal value or less at 50% year), you'll receive a Club mai ing, off...so you'll continue to save money for NATIONAL LAMPOON'S reviewing our Directors SBlection-plus as long as you remain a member. ANIMAL HOUSE 2115082 scores cf alternate choicas, incitsling And there's a 10 -day risk -free trial. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF + 0551032 many lower -paced laserdiscs. And you We'll send details of the Club's may also receive Special ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA 6058082 Selection operation with your introductory mailings up to four times a year. (Teat's package. If not satisfied, return THE DEER HUNTER + 2124072 up to 17 Duying opportunitis a year. everything within 10 days for a full THE DAY THE EARTH You )uy only what you want -when refund and no further obligation. STOOD STILL 0576042 you want hl If you want he Directors For fastest service, use your Selection, do nothing -It will be Bent credit card and our toll -free number. 1} SPARTACUS 2108072 automa-ically. If you'c prefer an Call 24 hours a day: AROUND THE WORLD IN BOCAYS 6036052 alternate selection, or none at all, just THE AFRICAN QUEEN 0511022 1-800-538-2233 r AMERICAN GRAFFITI 2113002 Columbia House LASERDISC CLUB BUTCH CASSIDY ANO Dept. -1X P.O. Box 1112, Terr Haute, Indiana 47811-111 2 THE SUNDANCE KID 0517062 Yes, pease enroll me under the terms outlined in this advertisement. As a member, THE EXORCIST 6003042 I need buy only 2 more _elections, at regular Club prices, within the coming year. THE BIBLE 0747082 Send rse these 3 laserdssa for $1.00 each plus SI.50 each shipping and hondltrg(lorol 57.501 FIELD OF DREAMS 9203062 ROAD WARRIOR 6028052 BLUE STEEL(1990) 6965002 Please Check How Poyinf: My check is enclosed 2HJ/2HK DARK MAN 4981052 Charge my introductory laserriscs and (uture Club purchases to: HOW THE WEST WAS WON * 2669082 MasterCard Diners Club AMEX O VISA MAGNUM FORCE 6090082 ACCT No. Exp. NEXT OF KIN 6472062 THE LAND BEFORE TIME 5822052 Signa-ure OUT OF AFRICA 2131082

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ROOM WITH A NEW VIEW

Model CT One, which has an extra shelf for a VCR or videodisc player. The Vidikron ceiling mount is designed so that the projector is only 11 inches from the ceiling, but an optional CPL - 100 projector lift can store the unit in-

side the ceiling! I decided to use the CT One table to mount the projector. The TGS 200 uses the Vidikron FP chassis, which was developed for professional video applications and data display. The Vidikron is equipped with 7 -inch large -aperture red, green, and blue picture tubes which are liquid cooled. These optical -electronic as- semblies have extremely small spot size and dual focusing capabilities for center and edges, thus improving sharpness of small details in the picture. The tubes also have new phosphors that improve chromaticity of the color gamut and provide a wider range of subtle color hues. Thus, crimson, scarlet, and ruby reds can be readily The TGS 200 also fea- It has been over three years since I to take advantage of new technology differentiated. described my surround sound and to maximize the audio and visual tures a very sophisticated color decod- home theater system in the Febru- performance in my home theater. ing circuit with perfect linearity for re- ary 1988 issue. Since then the concept My room was the simplest part, be- duced chroma noise, separate hori- of home theater has gained astonish- ing nearly the same as I described in zontal and vertical processing circuitry ing popularity; currently, surround my earlier column. The 14 x 30 -foot for superior sync processing, and 50- sound is the hottest buzzword. room still has drapes behind the pro- 50 interlace-which makes video As might be expected, the Japanese jection screen and is treated with 4 - scanning lines virtually invisible. (Some entertainment electronics companies inch -thick Discrete Technology Sound - high-brightness/high-resolution projec- have really jumped on the surround sorber acoustic foam wedges which tors have clearly visible and annoying sound bandwagon, producing a flood cover each side wall out to 10 feet in scanning lines.) I could not detect of audio/video equipment. Many of the front of the screen. The concrete floor scanning lines in the image even when better quality units employ Dolby Pro - is still thickly carpeted. The difference I was as close as 2 feet from the Logic circuitry for enhanced surround in my room is the addition of two side - screen! Special video processing sound processing. The dramatic resur- by -side RPG diffusor panels that cover maintains a neutral gray scale over the gence of the LaserDisc and the avail- nearly all of the rear wall behind the entire contrast range from dark shad- ability of relatively inexpensive units viewing position. The Infinity projector I ows to peak whites. A peak white limit- that can play both CDs and videodiscs used in my original home theater was a er circuit prevents "blooming" of the is quite remarkable. People like the su- very satisfactory unit providing very phosphors under high brightness con- perior resolution of the LaserDisc and good image quality. However, ad- ditions, thus providing a very bright, that it can provide digital sound. vances in projection TV technology high -contrast picture with no loss of For those who want to come as close have considerably improved all as- detail in the brightest sections. as they can to emulating the Dolby pects of video image quality. After due Sophisticated MOS-FET comparator movie theater experience, the dedicat- consideration of such factors as price, protection circuits continuously moni- ed home theater with a large -screen performance, flexibility, reliability, size, tor five operational parameters. There front -projection system is the optimum and ease of installation, I decided the are 49 separate convergence and ge- configuration. There have been many $5,995 Vidikron TGS 200 TV projector, ometry controls to aid the precise ad- advances in the technology of the au- made by Boffi of Italy, was the best justment of RGB registration. The video dio and video components of surround choice. amplifiers have been engineered to sound home theater systems since my The Vidikron TGS 200 is surprisingly pass 10 MHz, ±3 dB, and extend all the way to 18 MHz at the dB first setup in 1988. Recently, I decided compact, with a sleek -looking charcoal out -6 to update my surround sound home gray or white composite enclosure. point. A remotely switchable time -con- theater. After lengthy investigation and The unit is only 9'/e inches high, 213/4 stant circuit provides precise synchro- evaluation of many new audio and vid- inches wide, and 24' inches deep nization to the time base of all video recorders and prevents flagging or eo components, I found that I would and weighs only 59 pounds. It can be have to make major changes in order mounted in an optional coffee table, tearing of the picture. The Vidikron

18 AUDIO/JULY 1991 The Black Crowes: Madonna: Shake Your -doors The immaculate Moneymaker 52142 Collection 54164

'1;1

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HOW THE CLUB OPERATES You select from hundreds of exciting CDs described in the Club's magazine which is NO POSTAGE mailed to you approximately every three NECESSARY weeks (19 times a year). Each issue high- IF MAILED lights a Featured Selection in your preferred music category, plus alternate selections. If IN THE you'd like the Featured Selection, do nothing. UNITED STATES It will be sent to you automatically. If you'd prefer an alternate selection, or none at all, BUSINESS REPLY MAIL just return the card enclosed with each issue FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 5071 INDIANAPOLIS, IN. of your magazine by the date specified on the card. You will have at least 10 days to decide or you may return your Featured Selection at POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE our expense. Cancel your membership at any time after completing your enrollment agreement simply by writing to us, or remain BMG COMPACT DISC CLUB and take advantage of bonus savings. P.O. 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CD736 BMG Compact Disc Club. 6550 E. 30th St.. Indianapo- lis, IN 46219-1194. TRADEMARKS USED IN THE ADV'T ARE It1tr1t11ttt1111ttt11tr11rt1trr1111111itlllltttl THE PROPERTY OF VARIOUS TRADEMARK OWNERS To match the visual thrills provided by big -screen projection, the surround sound system must have special qualities.

TGS 200 is cooled by a d.c. muffin fan, pressing button six (input) on the audio bar pattern. you can similarly watch the which is quiet and quite unobtrusive. adjustment shows another on -screen effects of your color adjustments. The Interfacing includes two composite menu that provides six input choices. TC-1 has a 125 -channel capability and video inputs, one S -VHS (Y and C) In the color -adjust menu, bar graphs is an extremely quiet and clean -sound- input and one RGB-TTL input, and an for brightness, contrast, color, and tint ing component. RGB analog input on a SCART con- are displayed, and the plus or minus The combination of the Vidikron TGS nector. Stereo audio inputs for the two adjustments can be seen on screen. If 200 projector, the JBL TC-1 tuner/con- composite and the S -video inputs are you call up an external standard color troller, and the National Viewtech also present, and a variable stereo line -level audio output is provided. A variable stereo speaker output is available from built-in 10 -watt amplifiers. The Vidikron TGS 200's 14 -function, infrared remote control provides variable adjustment of brightness, color, contrast, tint, and sharpness as well as video input selection and RGB-TTL or analog selection. The projector has more than 500 lines of horizontal resolution, and over 900 lines at the RGB input with its standard lenses. This permits picture size up to 15 feet (diagonally). Optional THERE ARE MANY HD6 glass lenses ($1,700) afford 1,500 lines of resolution at the RGB input and OPINIONS ABOUT picture size up to 20 feet! Brightness is rated at 600 lumens, almost 21/2 times AUDIO CABLE brighter than the Infinity projector. To take advantage of the high brightness/

high resolution of the TGS 200, I used a National Viewtech 100 -inch diagonal, HERE ARE SOME FACTS ABOUT MiT curved, high -gain screen. Like most semi-professional and professional video projectors, this Vidi- 0 MIT has the most extensive research and development program in kron does not have a built-in video the audio cable indLstry. tuner. The tuner of a VCR can be used, but a second VCR is necessary if you J MIT holds more patents on audio cable technologies than any want to record one program while o:her cable company.

watching another. To obviate this, I ac- quired the JBL TC-1 video tuner/con- J MIT is the only cable company that can document cable perfor- troller. This $995 unit is widely used n-ance through advanced instrumenta:ion and testing techniques. with professional projectors. The JBL TC-1 offers extreme flexibili- J MIT has the best selling premium performance audio cables. ty in interconnecting audio and video J MIT is rated highest among cable manufacturers in customer sources and the projector. It has three 75 -ohm r.f. inputs, two auxiliary video satisfaction? inputs, two S -VHS inputs, and S -VHS, U MIT applies premium performance aucio cable technologies to RGB, and sync outputs-not to mention the associated audio input and cables that sell for as little as $150 per bot.

output jacks. I use the RGB output of J MIT cables can be auditioned at home at no risk. the TC-1 connected to the RGB input on the Vidikron TGS 200, not only be- 'According to Stereophile survºy, Vol. 12, No. 2 (I eb. 19E9) cause of the superior resolution but because the RGB output also provides on -screen graphic displays. The tuner/ Music Interface Technologies T controller has on -screen menus that M permit audio adjustments, color and picture adjustments, and clock and MIT products are distributed by Transparent Audio Marketing channel adjustments; within these Rt. 202, Box I I7 I lollis, ME 04042 Tel. (207)929-4553 FAX (207)929-4271 menus are sub -groups. For example, AUDIO/JULY 1991 21 Enter No. 16 on Reader Service Card If one were willing to buy a large speaker for use as a center speaker, there would be a major problem of placement.

screen provides a really stunning im- picture contrast does not obscure de- Obviously, to match the visual thrills age quality. With the best LaserDiscs tails in shadows or bright areas. Truly, provided by the best big -screen pro- the resolution is.right out to the limits of the image quality is limited only by the jection, the surround sound system the NTSC format. The picture is crisp video source. On the Fire Birds Laser - must have special qualities to help and clean, with outstanding bright- i Disc, the sharpness and detail are as simulate the Dolby movie theater expe- ness. Colors are vibrant, fully saturat- close to high -definition TV as we are rience in the home. The surround

ed, and accurate in balance. Whites likely to see before we actually switch sound system I described in my 1988 and blacks are clean, and the punchy to the HDTV format! column did not utilize matched loudspeakers, but the speakers did have similar tonal characteristics, and had Discover Superb Performance! the same efficiency (90 dB SPL). The case for matched loudspeakers in Dolby surround sound is solidly grounded in the requirements for main- VA\DERSTEE\ AUDIO taining a smooth, spacious stereo sound field with seamless sonic transi- tions among the three front speakers. It is especially important to remember that the center front loudspeaker is piv- otal-a sort of "sonic anchor" in Dolby Surround, particularly if Dolby Pro -Log- ic decoders are used. The center front "The 2Ci is one heck of a fine speaker not only is the dialog channel, speaker at its price ... Always but many high-level, often violent spe- musical ... Enthusiastically cial effects sounds are reproduced recommended as an affordable through this speaker. loudspeader for Everyman." Big -screen projection TV literally demands if is to ICi Stereophile, May 1989 big, high-level sound one John Atkinson simulate the emotional intensity and involvement of the Dolby movie theater experience. Big sound is usually equated with big loudspeakers and "The Vandersteens made the big amplifiers. If you wanted to incor- Beethoven sound more like porate large stereo system speakers Beethoven. The 2Ci's make into a surround sound home theater, music and they make sense." you would most likely use them as the 2Ci HiFi Answers, April 1990 left and right front channels. Even if Alvin Gold you were willing to buy another, identical speaker to use for the center channel, there is the major problem of placement. In its normal upright position, the speaker would block the lower portion of the projection screen. Even if placed in a horizontal position, the speaker still may intrude on the screen. The recourse is to use a smaller loudspeaker for the center channel, which, of course, poses problems of tonal bal- VANDERSTEEN AUDIO ance and efficiency-and generally, 116 West Fourth St, Hanford, CA 93230 small speakers are not equated with Dolby Surround movies by (209) 582-0324 big sound. their nature impose some formidable challenges if you want to optimize their DIV E\SIO\AL PURITY sonic presentation. In my next column, the second part The Vandersteen Modell series has been the leader in loudspeaker value and performance of this surround sound saga, I'll dis- cuss the remarkable Shure HTS sur- since 1977. The Model 2Ci uses new materials end technology to establish a new reference round home theater system, which, in at select audio dealers for affordable speaker performance. The Model2Ci is now available essence, allows you to have your cake carefully chosen for their ability to assemble a musically satisfying system. and eat it too! A

Write or call for a brochure and tae name of your nearest dealer. 22 AUDIO/JULY 199

Enter No. 21 on Reader Service Card C1991 Peugeot Motorsof America, Inc.

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1991 Peugeot 405 models are inte I ligent ly priced between $15,490 and $21,990. MSR P. Excludes tax, title, options, registration and destination charges. I n Canada cal 11.416.566.1900. Europeans have long appreciated the remarkable engineering and world -class styling of a Peugeot. Yet, here in America. a Peugeot 405 is a rare pleasure. Perhaps because a full appreciation of one requires the kind of thorough scrutiny few car buyers exercise. The 405's patented 8 -valve shock absorbers, for example, are far from obvious, yet they contribute to the renowned Peugeot road feel that is immediately apparent. Two densities of foam are a subtle but effective way to eliminate seat springs and the road vibrations they transmit. And less obvious still is the sophisticated composite barrier beneath the roof that absorbs road noise. But you'll quickly understard the value of every aspect of the Peugeot 405 with closer scrutiny. For the dealer nearest you call 1-800-447-4700. Signature Reference Series: The Very Best of the Best

The legendary sound of Polk loudspeakers has for With conventional speaker systems, each ear years been exemplified by its flagship Signature hears both speakers, and the separation is mini- Reference Series (SRS), the speakers that carry mized. The resulting soundstage is reduced to Matthew Polk's signature. the small space between the speakers. A large Polk now introduces its SRS 1.2TL, 2.3TL, symphony orchestra is reduced to only a few feet and 3.1 TL, each featuring the latest break- wide and a few inches deep. throughs in loudspeaker technology. Following is Polk's "True Stereo" SI)A technology delivers a technical brief of why the SRS speakers sound left signal information to your left ear and right so remarkably like a live performance. After signal information to your right ear. Each ear reading this information, it is hoped that you lis- only hears its proper signal, thereby maintaining ten carefully to the SRS loudspeakers at your full stereo separation. The resulting soundstage Polk Audio dealer. While you will probably hear is dramatic. things you have never heard from a stereo system, you can be assured that everything you hear Dimensional Stereo Stereo Dimensional is true. SRS ./,YU.SRS -/`r."'Ns é .. %.ss, o ' a ' ;°c : It All Begins With the Sonic ca. Undesirable =á a`oc 'cP,y , Crosstalk:: y°'; ccg r:a ,. .<1. Excitement of Polk's Stereo o/ , Dimensional Array (SDA)

Each Polk SDA incorporates a special extra set of drivers which radiate a Years ago Polk Audio recognized the impor- difference signal that cancels the undesirable signal going from the wrong speaker to the wrong ear (interaural crosstalk distortion). tance of more absolute separation of information The result is True Stereo reproduction. reaching each ear. Of course, the fundamental ...everything you dear is true. concept of stereo reproduction is that there are Experts have called the Polk SRS Series featur- two separate channels of information, each ing the revolutionary Stereo Dimensional Array intended for one ear only (i.e. "taste stereo"). (S I)A) teclinology"mindhoggling... To more accurately reproduce sound as it was astounding...flabbergasting...a new dimension in originally created, it is vital that the integrity of sound." Others have discovered new life in their this separation of information he maintained. favorite musical selections. It is "True Stereo" by Polk. Yes, Everything You Hear is True Listen to what the critics say:"Mindhoggling.. You will hear the next generation of astounding...flabbergasting." Listen to what loudspeakers. other Polk owners say: "I've never heard anything like it...it's whole new world." polk audio But no number of written accolades will pre- The Speaker Specialists© pare you for the experience of listening to the 5601 Metro Drive SRS loudspeakers at your Polk Audio dealer. Baltimore, MD 21215 USA (301) 358 - We invite you to your local Polk Audio dealer 3600 for a demonstration of this technology. Because everything you hear is true. v

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rnatu-al resonances aré found oh PRICE any early eiectrüc "73s, but they are , especially tad or acoustics, where the conica recordinc horns (true exponential ,rt e horns were selrbn used; not only resonated óh :he harnonics -of the basis frequency- but

also generated subhárrrc nics Occurring only - under certain, 5..ery EpEcfic ccnditions, sub - harmonics are not a part r wnat we consider "natural sound" and are usually perceived as- distprtion. A half- cr thi°d-Dctave graphic equalizer can redice the Crosser" effects, but only the ,parametrc-w th control over gain frequency, and baidwidtl-car eliminate th subler cisbrtions bt .urnatural 'horn re nance_ withóut carnagina the natural sound,

"With early electric ..teccrdings, . two or -three; bands -cif parametric equalizak.n usuálly, súf,, fice, but witn acoustics, sever, eight, or eveh, more bands may be needed. ',gain; if the user,' is /is is rot prepared o wcrL fot weeks, even rporths, to _develcp ski Is. he will do múch r bettor to s:ay with a sraignt third -octave, . s multi -graphic equa izer. o = y _

" We'll give just one example of the linkage between the horn and the cut- possibilities with parametric equaliza- ting stylus. Hence, the higher frequen- tion. A typical Victor acoustic record cies, insofar as they could be record- generally has one of its strongest reso- ed, reproduce well on loud passages nant peaks in the area of 3,100 Hz; the but poorly on soft ones. Among collec- precise frequency will vary from one tors of acoustic records, this is thought record to another (Fig. 5A). By adjust- of as a "blasting" effect; that is, if the ing a parametric band for a narrow treble sound is relatively bright on nor- positive spike and sweeping the fre- mal passages, then the loud peaks quency back and forth while listening usually come blasting through in an for the worst sound, you can easily find irritating way. The sound is similar to the exact center frequency of the reso- overmodulation on electric recordings. nant peak (Fig. 5B). It is always easier This nonlinear or blasting phenomenon to find a resonant peak by exaggerat- on acoustics is aggravated by unnatu- ing it rather than notching it out. Hav- ral resonances and internal phase -shift aV JO ing found the exact center of the reso- problems, but even when these are nant peak, lower the gain of the para- removed with parametrics, the original metric band to create a deep notch. problem remaihs. fjOm 8°r¿5 The result will sound much better and The best way of handling nonlinear- + be something similar to Fig. 5C. Next, ity or blasting, at present, is downward . reduce the notch (increase the gain), gain riding of selected treble EQ on the which will bring back some of the ugly loud passages while keeping the full sound; then adjust the bandwidth wid- treble EQ for normal and softer pas- er or narrower for best sound. Work sages. Sometimes it's helpful to use back and forth between the notch upward gain riding of treble EQ in ex- depth and the bandwidth until no fur- ceptionally quiet passages. After se- ther improvement is possible (Fig. 5D). lecting the appropriate EQ, the proce- If you are good at it, you will produce dure is to play the record a number of an exact but opposite EQ curve to the times, practicing the EQ gain riding original resonance, and the resulting until it can be done smoothly and im- signal will be a smooth response with- perceptibly, before making a final out any loss of natural sound qualities. tape. Records with a relatively narrow This technique takes practice, but the dynamic range are not likely to have results are well worth the work and the nonlinearity problem. It is most no- much better than just making the notch ticeable with singers, particularly sing- deeper and deeper until the offending ers with a powerful, dramatic voice, resonance is gone along with some of such as Marcella Sembrich or Ernes- the music. In the cited example you tine Schumann-Heink. Most recordings may need to repeat the process on a of such singers can't be successfully lesser scale at the second harmonic, restored without this frequency -selec- 6,200 Hz, and even at the subhar- tive gain -riding technique. tt . e- monic, 1,550 Hz. If an electric 78 had In a similar way, although not for the this 3,100 -Hz resonance, it might also same reasons, selected bass EQ gain require additional work at the third har- riding can be of great help on many N monic, 9,300 Hz. In addition to elimi- acoustics and some electric record- nating unnatural resonances, paramet- ings. Sometimes, rumble filters, even ric equalizers like the Orban 642B can when combined with low -frequency serve as excellent notch filters and are gating, as with the old Phase Linear very important as phase -modifying de- 1000, can't totally eliminate rumble vices. Also, they can help reduce sur- without cutting into the sound. In these face noise in conjunction with the cases, the bass should be set for the Packburn 323A noise suppressor. best sound at loud and medium levels Anything that other equalizers can do, and downward gain riding used on the parametrics can do as well or better, softer passages where the masking ef- but the amount of work is formidable. fect of the music is absent. Again, careful discrimination is needed so that the results are inaudible to the NONLINEARITY AND GAIN RIDING listener. The most difficult of all are Another serious problem on acous- those recordings where selective gain tics, but almost never encountered on riding is necessary on both high and electrics, is that of nonlinearity in the low frequencies. You may have to treble frequencies. The acoustic re- practice extensively and then tape the cording process suffered from me- record a number of times before the chanical hysteresis (slop or play) in the results are just right.

28 AUDIO/JULY 1991 processing must not be heard when it is applied. One should only notice 1. when it is turned off; its absence should be noticeable, but never its presence. On most electric 78s, dynamic expansion can greatly aid the sense of 1,.11,1,34_11., 3,100 Hz FREQUENCY - life and realism. Even acoustic records A may need some expansion, as the recording horn and system of mechanical recording compressed the sound in unnatural ways. If the nonlinearity problems are corrected, then 3 to 6 dB of expansion will be of great help. PARAMETRIC --e SPIKE Noise pumping must be avoided at all costs, but proper noise -reduction techniques usually reduce noise pumping to inaudible levels records in 3,100 Hz FREQUENCY -. except on really bad condition. Downward ex- B pansion of quiet passages may also improve realism and additionally can further reduce noise. Again, subtlety is the watchword. For normal dynamic expansion we favor our olc, modified Phase Linear 1000, but for subtle downward expansion the Dynafex DX -

1 is the unit of choice.

3,100 Hz FREQUENCY -4. C PHASE EFFECTS! We have observed that, with some son that work on acoustics is so much VDEPTH acoustic 'ecords undergoing restora- more difficult than on electrics. If you tion, the normal bass and treble con- can do a good job on acoustics, then trols (or the gain of adjacent paramet- electncs will be relatively easy. ric bands) seem to operate in reverse. Increasing the bass level seems to SPECTRUM ANALYZERS AND produce less bass; decreasing the tre- BANDWIDTH HIGH ble level seems to increase treble, etc. -FREQUENCY ENHANCEMENT' 3,100 Hz FREQUENCY We have observed this strange phe- A third -octave (or narrower), real- D nomena in varying degrees quite a time spectrum analyzer can be a very number of times, always on acoustics usefur tool. It should have storage ca- Fig. 5-A record resonance (A) and steps and never on electrics. Assuming pability, a fast sampling rate, and peak in its correction; see text. Sweeping with a proper operation and use of the elec- and averaging display modes cover- narrow parametric spike (B) locates the tronic equipment, there seems to be ing up to 4 or 5 seconds-perhaps resonance, which can then be notched out some form of phase cancellation or longe'. It's useful in locating resonant (C). Notch depth and bandwidth are then augmentation between the effect of the peaks, checking inherent record EQ, readjusted alternately (D) for smoothest equalizer control and acoustic record- rebalancing weak treble or bass, and and most natural results. ing -horn resonances. There may also many other applications. We use the be interaction between the phase Gold Line 30, which, among its many shifts inherent in analog equalizers and other features, can store the waveform the resonances that are unique to of the sound at any six moments in acoustic records. time, as selected by the user. These DYNAMIC EXPANSION Digital equalizers, without the inher- can then be recalled from memory at a Among many listeners to old record- ent analog phase shifts, may solve this later time and compared with each oth- ings, the processing methods of dy- problem. While some are available er as desired. For example, if you are namic expansion, reverberation, syn- now, their sound quality does not yet working on the 1928 recording of Rich- thetic stereo, compression, limiting, seem comparable to that of the analog ard Strauss conducting the Berlin Phil- and others have very bad names and units. The physics of the complex harmonic in Beethoven's Fifth Sympho- often deservedly so. It is not because phase and resonance relationships on ny, you may wish to store in memory these things are inherently bad but acoustic records seems to defy analy- the spectral pattern of the very first rather because of their excessive use sis. For now, the problems can only be opening chord. Then by similarly stor- or, in some cases, because the equip- treated empirically-by trial and error. ing that same chord from a modern ment used is improper for the specific Without doubt this is the most complex recording or a number of modern re- job. We cannot stress too strongly that area in sonic restoration. It is the rea - cordings, you can leisurely compare AUDIO/JULY 1991 29 the 1928 spectral pattern with modern a fair amount of the longer reflections ones having much better sound, and and an even larger amount of the me- thereby get an idea of where the sonic dium delays. We use the a/d/s/ Model s _ Fs, 0.11vnr. o 'F problems lie and what to do about 10 Acoustic Dimension Synthesizer. Stipp them. This type of comparative tech- No longer available, it was a home qUq nique is useful and a time saver, pro- entertainment system, not terribly flexi- a urr vided you don't become so enamored ble in its use with tape recording, so a rAStn-mcntar with the technology that you forget to few interface modifications were need- Duet listen. More expensive and elaborate ed. However, it was more natural Hatvafian J G uits spectrum analyzers can show all kinds sounding than some professional units Ha Waüan D of helpful informa- costing three or four times as much. . r9 aros comparisons and 0 e`ben-Marp1e)m vyP, tion, but at times the spectrum analyz- There are also some currently avail- Louiseo uise ant' c' er can appear to give misleading infor- able reverb, time -delay, and ambience y F erera P,VV/ mation, so always use your ears. systems by Yamaha, Lexicon, JVC, G There and other manufacturers which are HHGo M612-A [afX are several devices on the yACHIN.6A ü;_ $, market that can be used to enhance well worth investigating. _- the weak higher frequencies on old Remember, with any audio equip- records. The BBE Sound Model 422A ment, judge primarily by using your Sonic Maximizer (Fig. 6) is an extraor- ears, not necessarily the published dinary device. It breaks the sound into specifications, which don't always re- three frequency bands divided at 150 flect what the sound is like. Reverbera- Hz and 1.2 kHz, introduces small time tion, time delay, and ambience can be delays to the lower bands, and uses a very useful in reducing the dry, dead voltage -controlled amplifier to alter the sound of many historical recordings, apparent level of the highest band but the result should never sound like based on the content of the middle some of the overreverberant modern band. It is effective and unobtrusive on recordings. any sound source, giving better apparent highs improved Its low - and clarity. COMPRESSION, LIMITING, band level control enables the user to AND DE-ESSING correspondingly increase the bass frequencies. We use this device in all our The more these three processes can restorations, and its outstanding char- be avoided, the better, but sometimes acteristic is naturalness of sound. The they are necessary. In the acoustic era Sonic Maximizer is very easy to oper- a form of mechanical compression was ate and has superb sound qualities, sometimes used with singers who had but it can be overused. very powerful voices. It was really quite simple: The singer moved up close to REVERBERATION, TIME DELAY, the recording horn before singing very soft passages and backed away rapid- AND AMBIENCE ly before singing very loud ones. It Even when all the techniques dis- worked to some extent but could be cussed so far are employed, there is pretty hard on the singers! Compres- still something missing from the sound sion is the reduction in the level of loud of early electric 78s and even more so passages in a graduated manner, and with acoustics. Sound exists in some it is the opposite of dynamic expan- kind of environment-an acoustic sion. With recordings having wide dy- space. The sonic reflections of the re- namic range, a small amount of com- cording hall or acoustic recording stu- pression may be needed, especially if dio are weak or missing on old rec- the results are going onto cassettes. ords. A quality reverb, time -delay, and Limiting, the abrupt stop of level in- ambience system can be of great aid creases beyond a preset point, should in restoring the sense of acoustic generally be avoided in restoration space. Acoustic records were very work. In a few cases, limiting helps to close-miked, or perhaps we should say minimize the nonlinearity problem with "close -horned." It was the only way to acoustics, discussed in the earlier sec- get enough energy to drive the me- tion. It should be used in addition to, z -Trot With Vocal choro. chanical cutters. The medium and long but not to replace, selective -E0 gain ALLITTLE E room reflections with a riding. tC,or A L LADY associated Rudv Bouin And good music environment are almost De-essing, which minimizes the sibi- Hia«Orc6 9tra 71769 (b) entirely missing, with only a few of the lants associated with the "S" sound on shorter room reflections being present. vocals, isn't needed on 78s because of This results in an extremely dead their limited frequency range, but there sound. What is needed is to introduce is one exception. Worn records that 30 AUDIO/JULY 1991 :. ---- =~t; :: :. 14YV1. STEREO _ .:2A_ Artificially synthesized stereo from a Fig.8` 6-The BBE Model 422A Sonic treble on the inner grooves, followed mono source doesn't work out very Maximizer. by a return to normal before the start of well. -he Orban 245F creates quasi - the next side. stereo by the use of phase filters and An interesting editing approach to shifters, but even when the control set- r1 clicks, pops, and swish has been de- are very low, o tings the results are audi- It in- CHINA- veloped by Richard C. Burns. ble and do not sound very natural. MARKER volves using tiny bits of splicing tape Their broadcast version with more SPLICING TAPE on the oxide surface of the tape to is a bit more but it (ONE LAYER) bands subtle, still create artificial dropouts! The 20' SPLICING TAPE advan- sounds artificial. We have never heard (TWO LAYERS) 25' tages of this approach are that there is any synthesized stereo that didn't 100 14 10k no FREQUENCY - H, alteration of the timing and the de- sound better when the channels were gree of dropout can be controlled by paralleled to produce mono. Fig. 7-Playback attenuation of high using one or more layers of splicing A very subtle and natural stereo frequencies in 15-ips tape recordings by tape. Of course, exact location of the spread can be produced by using application of yellow china -marker or click, pop, thump, or swish is neces- slightly different settings on paramet- short lengths of 0.001 -inch -thick splicing sary, but this is no more difficult than rics tc create two channels. A some- tape ro the oxide side of the recording with the traditional tape cutting and what fuller and richer sound can be tape. splicing method. A further advantage achieved thisway without any artificial is that, if you make a mistake, correc- quality. Mixing in some of the stereo tion only involves careful removal of the output of a reverberation, time -delay, sound "edgy" on highs may be helped splicing tape, rather than splicing back by this, since distortion, barring actual in the portion of tape removed, as is sound breakup, is worse on the tran- the case in the cut -and -splice method. sient or attack where de-essers func- Swish is usually too lengthy to be re- tion. We have Orban's Model 424A moved by tape cutting and splicing, Gated Compressor Limiter/De-esser but can be handled by this technique, and find it to be a useful, subtle, and using a compromise between degree , natural -sounding device when applied of dropout and loss of high frequency. a, with discretion. In some cases of swish, where even a single layer of splicing tape causes too great a dropout, Burns recommends EDITING 'F o - using a china -marker on the oxide sur- lg . . NE, O, The standard method most of us face and lightly coating this with baby dMPÑpÑY have to rely on is the old mechanical powder to prevent the tape sticking to 1-:^5"d' RCZdSTRA method of tape cutting and splicing. the recorder heads. (See Fig. 7 for the oRChEi1R^ 1 Most 78s are less than four minutes dropout characteristics.) ro; 30 - , oA a' per side, and with long musical works, The new digital, stereo -editing work the unavoidable interruptions to stations offer greater flexibility, accura- / change record sides are awkward and cy, and speed. They enable the restor- disconcerting. Where direct splicing, er to try the blending of 78 sides by co, usº..tw' instead of cross -fading, is used to join direct connections or cross -fades in sides, it is best done on the start of a any place and with any blending slope. and ambience system can also be note or possibly on the end of a note The work can be tried time after time useful in helping produce a subtle and from the previous side; it should never until the results are perfect, and all this natural stereo effect. Perhaps better be done in the middle of a pause as can be done without any mechanical stereo synthesizers will appear in the the shift in background hiss would be tape cutting. Digital editing of any re- future. very disconcerting. A splicing block sidual clicks or pops, which the Pack - with a very gradual 2 -inch cutting burn might leave, becomes relatively PROCESSING groove can be helpful in making simple. In mechanical editing, there SEQUENCE splices less noticeable. When editing are many occasions where audible We have found that our best results sides together, a gradual decrease in clicks and pops are masked by the are obtained when the restoration se- treble at the end of a record is some- sound which is heard at the very low quence is as follows: times audible on early records. This is tape speeds encountered while "rock- Clean the record and make repairs. inherent in the nature of disc recording reels" on a recorder. It can be a Play the record, adjusting for opti- ing; it was compensated for, in later maddening experience to try to locate mum stylus size, geometry, tracking recordings, by diameter equalization a defect's precise location on the tape. force, and turntable speed to ensure (a gradual increase in treble added on With digital editing it becomes relative- correct pitch. the inner grooves). When this treble - ly easy. There is only one problem- Adjust inherent EQ for best sound, loss problem is encountered, the re- the expense of such equipment is far using our record EQ chart (Table II, storer can add diameter equalization too high for most of us who live in the June issue) as a starting point. with a gradual increase of 3 to 5 dB of real world. Adjust for best noise -reduction.

AUDIO/JULY 1991 31 Do preliminary sound rebalancing log tape recorders and is now the me- with a graphic equalizer. dium of choice. Unfortunately, as is the Carefully study the results for unnat- case with digital editing, the expense ural resonances, blasting, and other is still prohibitive for most of us. Digital problems. audio tape recorders are beginning to Work with parametrics for best make their appearance and offer the sound. possibility of digital recording at a pt Work with high -frequency enhance- more affordable price. . riding as long-term of re- ment and selective EQ gain Reliable storage iJ,.yy0 >>l [.3r needed. corded information is vital in the field of p'p ntiorcCe Work with dynamic expansion and/ sonic preservation. It involves not only Tes. or compression if needed. the stability of the media on which the tz 111 9, Work with reverb, time delay, and information is stored but, equally im- ' ambience as needed. portant, the ability to play back that Work with quasi -stereo if deemed information without damaging either appropriate. the storage medium or the information Carefully listen to how all the pro- itself. Analog tape reccrding, barring cessing interrelates, and adjust to catastrophic tape failure, is proven by eliminate poor interactions. Also check over 30 years of experience to work to see if it is possible to eliminate the well, but there are some losses. Digital use of any processors! Theoretically, recording, on the other hand, potential- the fewer the better. ly offers permanent storage with near Repeat the second through twelfth 100% accuracy for an indefinite time, steps until no further improvement is and with no increase in hiss when a obtainable. tape is copied from one machine to Document the audio chain se- another. quence and all control settings. Digital recordings using Reed -Solo- Put the resulting work aside for a mon codes can be largely self-correct- day or two, then come back and listen ing in playback from information errors. again to see if it still sounds the same; It is theoretically possible to lose a high if not, adjust as needed. In some tough percentage of digital information and cases, it may be necessary to start still obtain 100% recovery if high -order over again. Reed -Solomon codes are employed in When you are satisfied, tape the the recording and playback process. results at 15 ips to create a working or (Editor's Note: Dr. Toshi T. Doi's April edit master tape. It may be necessary 1984 article, "Error Correction in the to make this tape several times until Compact Disc System," went into this any selective EQ gain riding is imper- in great detail.-E.P.) ceptible. Physical deterioration of the storage Edit the edit master tape carefully medium-be it wax, shellac, wire, as needed. magnetic tape, vinyl records, or even Using the edit master tape as a optical discs-will eventually occur source, repeat any of the preceding from time alone if nothing else. This steps that yield further improvement. may be rapid, as in the case of wax or Check and adjust for best absolute acetate recordings, or very slow, as polarity. with the newly developing optical stor- Tape the final result, which be- age disk. But even if the physical stor- comes the copy master tape and is the age medium deteriorates very slowly, source of all user records, cassettes, information loss can be rapid in the CDs, etc. recovery or playback process. Tin -foil recordings deformed disastrously with two or three plays, acetate and wax OTHER CONSIDERATIONS recordings deform seriously with a few For restoration work we use and rec- dozen plays. Shellac and vinyl records ommend Otari reel-to-reel and Naka- suffer some wear with each playing. michi cassette tape recorders. They The same is true of magnetic tape but are of superb sonic quality, but as with to a much lesser degree. Only elec- all analog recorders, there are prob- tronically or optically read information lems with noise and high -frequency results in no wear on the storage me- losses that increase with each genera- dia, but even here reading and track- tion. Tape print -through can also be a ing errors are common and appear to problem. Digital recording, which has increase with the passage of time. Dig- overcome its own early problems, ital storage using high -order Reed -Sol- solves the difficulties inherent in ana- omon codes can potentially solve 32 AUDIO/JULY 1991 many reading and tracking problems. justified. Additionally, there is some- Likewise, it can potentially solve the O times no to a note NORMAL' choice but copy or long-term storage -medium problem by L OUT even a musical phrase from LEFT INPUT o an undam- re-recording every 50 years or so, be- REVERSE I aged portion of a record to fill in a fore medium deterioration has pro- totally destroyed area. The sampler is gressed to the point where high -order a great advantage in doing this, and it Reed -Solomon codes can no longer is to the HOPMA1. possible alter intensity or tim- correct errors. Of course, this storage R OUT ing of the note phrase where RIGHT INPUT or the technology hasn't yet been proven by REVERSE 1 reinsertion occurs, to be more consis- experience, but archival storage for tent with the artist's interpretation at hundreds or even thousands of years PIN 8VCc I15 v1 PIN 4VCC-I-I5VI that point in the performance. Whenev- is more than just a dream. er this type of alteration is employed, Fig. 8-A polarity -inversion circuit for we believe that it is mandatory, in the line -level use. The IC is a TL072, and interest of authenticity, to clearly state INTERCONNECTIONS the switch is a two-pole, two -position what was done in the documentation In professional audio systems, inter- make -before-break type. that accompanies the restoration. connection of equipment is made with balanced connections to keep hum ABSOLUTE POLARITY AND and noise to a minimum. With our sonic aged area in a record groove, and de- restoration audio system, some of the essing to reduce distortion on tran- POWER -LINE CONDITIONING . most useful equipment is designed for sients, along with parametric settings. Some maintain that the absolute po- home music systems and has only un- In the usual situation where the noisier larity between musical source and lis- balanced (i.e., RCA) inputs and outside of a mono groove wall is also the tener should be maintained for best puts. Coaxial -type interconnect cable, more distorted, the Packburn's Switch- sound. With live musical performance where the shield carries one side of the er can be a big help, but occasionally this is automatic, but with electronic signal, is satisfactory in small systems, the noisier groove wall is less distorted processing of any type, 180° polarity since interconnects are relatively few than the quieter groove wall. If this is reversal may occur. There is no indus- and short. On the other hand, very encountered, the Switcher shouldn't try -wide standard in this matter. Our high -quality and complex audio sys- be used. A two -track recording should own simple tests convince us that this tems, such as used in sonic restora- be made in which the treble (with bass effect is real and probably inherent in tion, can involve many electronic units filtered out) is recorded from the wall the recordings. On many recordings, and long lengths of interconnecting with noisiest but cleanest treble, and reversing the polarity of the audio sys- cable with resulting hum caused by the bass (with treble filtered out) from tem output makes a definite change in r.f.i. and e.m.i. One good solution is to its cleanest wall. The two tracks are clarity, especially in the lower frequen- use quad mike cable for interconnec- then mixed together, yielding an over- cies. Therefore we suggest that resto- tions. We like Mogami Neglex 2534; all reduction in distortion even though ration systems-and all quality listening the two twisted white wires are sol- the noise will be increased. Where dis- systems, for that matter-employ a cir- dered together at both ends, as are the tortion is severe, with actual sound cuit like that shown in Fig. 8. Restoration two twisted blue wires, with the shield breakup or shatter, downward gain rid- systems should be checked to maintain grounded at one end only. This meth- ing on the treble during the bad pas- consistent polarity after the polarity od of interconnection (bifilar configura- sages is about the only even partial switch so that the final restoration tapes tion) eliminates electromagnetic hum remedy. Perhaps in the future the rapid will have the optimum polarity. induction almost completely. explosion in computer and digital tech- Many in the restoration field are un- One of the most frustrating problems nology may offer some help. aware of the importance of having for those working with complex audio In a few cases, electronic samplers systems is to have a patch panel, jack, may be of use. For example, there are or plug become intermittent during an cases of groove damage where a siz- important tape recording. Intermittent able portion of a musical note is miss- patch panels, jacks, plugs, switches, ing. The sampler can take what re- and connectors, along with noisy pots, mains, even if only a few milliseconds, are basically due to dirt or oxidation. and "loop it" to the degree necessary There are many products for this, but to extend the note to its original length. the outstanding one is Cramolin, which It is possible to do this by the old comes in either spray or liquid. It effec- method of repeated recording and 1'rke tively cleans, preserves, and lubri- splicing, but the results are usually not U. 8. $1.181 cates. It reduces contact resistance satisfactory. Every note consists of $Z05204,f Can. aaal.ao and prevents contact intermittents. three parts-attack, sustain, and de- A (Wo1,,.T cay. With a good sampler, coupled to NTEI-I,E SA3HA CUt8ORT8ptNoP other equalizers if needed, it is possi- DISTORTION AND SAMPLERS © T ME vioaNl.r' ble to mimic all three note parts based AEOLIAN COMPANY We have previously mentioned a on any fragment of the note that re- r= 1921 number of things that may help reduce mains. Good samplers are expensive, distortion including stylus size selec- but if you're doing a lot of work with 11 tion to track above or below the dam - badly damaged records, the cost is AUDIO/JULY 1991 33 quality a.c. power, stable in voltage level shifts or changes in mike position, and free from spikes and garbage. but these are very obvious and rela- Standard power -line conditioners are tively easy to undo in our restoration inadequate for high -quality audio work. work, although in the case of drastic The Tice Power Block is expensive, but level shifts the required corrective it solves most a.c. power -line prob- gain riding may be a bit tricky. For a lems, other than outright loss of power, shift in mike position, a gradual or and we find a definite audible improve- abrupt, as may be required, change in ment in sound quality. Historical rec- compensating EQ will usually do the ords have enough problems without job. With modern recordings the situa- further degradation from poor power. tion is entirely different. Many of to- 904 110 Fox Trot, day's recordings are an artist and en- Vocal Refrain gineering blend not entirely authentic ARTISTIC ELEMENTS to the artists, being an intentional alter- MY CASTLE IN SPAIN IS A SHACK IN THE LANE Except for live performan ces, rec- ation of performance for effect. The (Caesar -Friend) ords lack the interplay between per- current standard, especially in the pop BROADWAY BROADCASTERS 3702 former and audience. Those who knew field, is 24- or 36 -track recording with the great actress Sarah Bernhardt said innumerable alterations and mixings. sot that her recordings do not give the This is not an appropriate model for slightest idea of the impact she made historical recordings. The earlier relive on the theater stage. All great art- cording engineers did not have the ists of the past had that elusive quality means to make such modifications, called projection; without micro- and this is fortunate for the restorer. phones, they could be heard clearly in Had historical recordings been able to the back row. But projection isn't so employ a lot of artistic and engineering important now that small voices can be synthesis, we could never recover the electronically amplified and enhanced artist's interpretation, as it would be to have tremendous impact. The cha- impossible to distinguish between art- risma of many artists can't be exist and engineer. pressed by sound alone-and in this The sonic restorer must compare the regard, motion pictures, and now vid- past with the present to become aware eo recordings, have expanded the of stylistic changes. Attempts in mov- possibilities. Some artists, like Glenn ies, TV, or new recordings to re-create Gould, preferred recordings and didn't the style of the past are frequently un- concertize very much. With others, as successful. For example, modern per- (, diverse as Ignace Jan Paderewski and formances of Glenn Miller's arrange- Elvis Presley, audience interaction and ments are mostly syncopated dance - the visual impact of the artist were a music; they don't have Miller's quality fl - vital aspect of their art. of swing. With current technology it is 71" qr ) Q Ati Attempts to fully re-create the artistry quite possible to remove the voice . ,YA1G c,¿óanlrór, of performers are problematical and from an historical vocal recording and It is ^rsL}nl / j,yE incomplete at best. Our standard for add a new accompaniment. true is .v+,1p1Ñ'+"" sonic restoration is limited to what that many of the earliest vocal acous- VC,V.p possible. What we can say, and this is tics had mediocre piano or poor in- E vSoscn , n F F,ejr+oap\(, important, is that a given sound re- house orchestras for accompaniment, rttZ,1,02- cording represents the sonic portion of but that's the way it was! While 78s of a performance under one set of condi- electric orchestras dubbed over the tions, at one specific time and place. acoustic Caruso voice sounded fuller, Sonic restoration means to re-create the effect was grossly out of character. as fully as we can the specific interpre- It is dishonest to represent such inferi- tation of the artist when the record was or results as accurate. They can't be made. We cannot know the impact Sa- an integrated performance, and they rah Bernhardt made when acting on lack the true style of the time. In the the stage. The most we can hope to sonic restoration of historical record- know is what she sounded like and ings, the key word is historical, and looked like when she made her acous- discrimination is the essence of the art. tic records and silent films. Gross tinkering is easily spotted, but the line between restoration and en- 44. hancement may be very, very thin. ENGINEERING ALTERATIONS Historical recordings made before 1960 have relatively few intentional al- COMPARATIVE TECHNIQUES terations by recording engineers. Through comparative techniques, There are a few gross ones such as we can infer, with considerable accu-

34 AUDIO/JULY 1991 racy, what an historical recording apart from all other violins and is an sounded like at the original perfor- important element in his art. A compar- mance. The basic reference must be ative approach is the way to solve the live sound heard with no electronic in- problem of inaccurately recorded tervention. Next best is "flat" recorded overtone structure. The sound on El - sound such as can be heard on the old man's acoustic records is compared Mercury Living Presence and West- with that on his later electric record- minster Lab LPs, Sheffield Direct ings, which have much better sound; Discs, most Telarc CDs, and some oth- then we can get a good idea of what ers. Timbre (sound quality) is all-impor- modifications are necessary to make tant. If, through the use of filters, all Elman's acoustic records sound more overtones are eliminated, then different authentic While Elman undoubtedly al- instruments or voices all sound alike ways used his Guarneri violin, other except for pitch. It is the overtones, artists using physically large instru- their presence or absence and their ments, such as a piano, could not be relative intensities, that produce timbre so selective and had to perform on the and the articulation of transients. instruments that were available at their From personal experience and good recording sessions. Nevertheless, it is recordings, we know what a symphony reasonable to suppose that they would orchestra sounds like. Of course, there choose instruments of similar sonic are subtleties of timbre distinguishing, qualities to the instrument they normal- for example, an English horn in one ly used. It is unreasonable to suppose orchestra from another English horn in that a pianist of the stature of Alfred a second orchestra, but all these tim- Cortot, if he could not have his own bre 103A differences tend to cancel out magnificent Pleyel piano with him STARRY NIGHT when you are dealing with many instru- when he made acoustic recordings for FranklinSE - George - ments. The main differences from or- Victor at Camden, would consent to THOMAS PALUSO na chestra to orchestra are created by the play on any piano that was incompati- and his conductor. Tempo, accenting, liberties ble with the tone of his own. Unfortu- HAL OERWIN with the printed score, and emphasis nately, available discographical infor- woos cº of one instrument or group of instru- mation has little to say on what artist ments over another are inherent in the used what instrument for what record- recording and depend very little on the ing. Still, much of instrumental perfor- quality of the sound. The sonic restorer mance was, as in the case of the or- in their correct proportions. Hence we will have to make allowances for some chestra, conveyed by acoustic rec- can, with some obvious exceptions, possible differences, such as lower ords. If, a: the end of our work, a piano employ many of the recordings made pitch and smaller or different orches- sounds Ike a piano and a cello from 1925 to 1960 for comparison tral forces. Sometimes conductors in sounds like a cello, we won't have standards. the acoustic record era used special gone far wrong. musical arrangements and/or special With vocalists, especially acoustical- seating arrangements for the members ly recorded vocalists, the difficulties CROSSOVER TECHNIQUE of the orchestra, to accommodate the are much greater. While tempo, inflec- The great coloratura soprano, Ame - acoustic recording process. A special tion, intensity, phrasing, and other lita Galli-Curci, spanned the 1925 violin, known as a Stroh violin, with a characteristics are well conveyed even crossover from acoustic to electric re- horn attached to direct weak violin by acoustic records, the overtone cordings. If we play a number of her sound at the acoustic recording horn, structure is not. This overtone structure early electrics, we can get her unique was used by some conductors. Bass contains the qualities of tone and reso- sound quality firmly in mind. Then in string instruments were sometimes re- nance that make each singer unique. restoring her acoustics, we use our placed with wind instruments. But But what did the tone qualities of equipment to increase the natural res- keeping these differences in mind, if acoustic vocalists really sound like? onances and overtone structure which the restorer modifies the overall sound We believe that the majority of vocal the electrics reveal should be present qualities of a primitive orchestral re- electric recordings made between in her voice. Additionally, we decrease cording to sound much more like a 1925 and 1960, when played back or eliminate the unnatural resonances modern one, he has done a good job. properly, do a fairly good job of captur- of the recording horn. The procedure ing the qualities of the artists they rep- isn't perfect, since voices age and resent. Of course, the highest with INSTRUMENTAL over- change time, but such changes tones are missing or weak, especially are usually a darkening of the voice With instrumental soloists, the prob- on the earliest electrics. In addition, the and perhaps a lack of steadiness, not lems are more complex, because with early electrics were sometimes still a basic change in tonal quality. There very small groups or soloists, timbre made in poor -sounding acoustic re- are hundreds of such comparisons differences are more obvious. While all cording studios. Yet by 1930 or 1935 that can give us a true picture of what violins have a similar overtone struc- the worst problems were overcome, the timbre of these 1925 crossover art- ture, the unique overtone structure of, and the lower harmonics, which are ists actually sounded like when they say, Mischa Elman's Guarneri sets it most important, were being recorded made their acoustics.

AUDIO/JULY 1991 35 ity of using early electric recordings as COMPANION VOICE sound references for acoustic record- With Enrico Caruso the problem is ings, we can make comparisons with more complicated, for he didn't live artists who lived to make acoustics, long enough to make any electric re- electrics, and early LPs. By comparing cordings. However, he did make many their LPs with their late electrics, early records with what we call companion electrics, and finally their acoustics, we voices-duets, trios, quartets, etc. So can gather useful information as to the we adjust a Caruso and Galli-Curci col- reliability of using later records as ref- laboration for what we know is the Gal- erences for work on earlier records. li-Curci electric sound quality and ob- While, for example, Beniamino Gigli's tain a "set" on Caruso's sound quality. voice changed in quality between his We do the same with the Caruso and acoustics and his LPs, the change be- Emilio de Gogorza duet and obtain an- tween his early and late electric 78s is other set on Caruso. We can also ob- not so great that useful comparisons tain sets on Caruso via his acoustic can't be made. e F 21oYt"tit:31"I ¡ b( recordings with Frances Aida, Giu- Once. we have established Caruso's % `3 seppe De Luca, Ernestine Schumann- true tone qualities, we can then use him r.00 - Heink, and others whose careers and in turn as a companion voice to obtain recordings extended into the electric sets on earlier singers he recorded era. Always, we adjust the companion with where acoustic/electric crossover voice for those qualities present on recordings don't exist. There are many its electric recordings. Soon we have singers that can be referred backward many sets on Caruso, and if he sounds from more recent and, in some cases, the same on all these sets, then we relatively modern recordings. Certainly have with considerable accuracy the as we go backward in time, the com- true voice quality of Caruso as he parative process to determine vocal sounded at the recording horn. We quality becomes less reliable, but it may speculate that he sounded the does offer a technique based on the same on the stage of the Metropolitan evidence in the records themselves. Opera House, but we can't know for certain because there are too many variables between studio recordings COMPANY -AGE TECHNIQUE and live performance. The memories of The singers most difficult to pin those still living, who heard him live, down in timbre or vocal quality are are colored by many years of nostalgia those for whom there are few or, in and diminished hearing, and the writ- some cases, no companion voices that ten commentaries of his contemporar- can be traced into the electric era. ies give only a word picture. We must Even here, the situation isn't hopeless. settle for what Caruso and his fellow From our experience with thousands of artists sounded like when they stood records going back to the late 1890s, before the recording horn. we have found that acoustic record- The companion -voice technique is a ings of a given company and date tend Ilona very resonance 3Aak í bit less reliable than that for singers to have similar and 6. C N YO who spanned the 1925 acoustic-to - sound characteristics. The great Italian po eor; esfia electric crossover where direct com- tenor Eduardo Garbin didn't make a 'paaok u snu parisons between acoustics and elec- great number of records, and his Fono- - dg;i trics can be made of the same artist. tipia discs were very early, around When Caruso and Galli-Curci recorded 1905. We found only one companion together, he may not have stood the voice, giving a single set on his voice same distance from the recording hom quality, and that isn't enough. How- as she did (he probably didn't), and ever, it is extremely likely that his Fono- n 411 the horn resonance characteristics for tipias have resonance characteristics the two voices would be different. similar to other Fonotipias of the same iy Companion voices may have been era that we can trace up to the electric .Sr ' Op considerably older when they made era via the companion -voice compari- ,P 4 ho O their electrics. Further, early electrics son technique. It is reasonable to sup- If:CL REcp DeYoW 4y.wt "d s h have their own host of resonance prob- pose that the corrective parametric \0. oRc,/s lems and defects even though they are settings that apply to these other Fono- /Nc ±, vastly superior to the even earlier tipias should also apply to Garbin's 49? - GIRÁRO ' acoustics. However, as the number of recordings. It is never certain, but it companion -voice sets increases, so seems the only approach, and it offers can the accuracy and authenticity of much more than just guesswork. Gar - our results. To help establish the valid- bin represents a style of singing not

36 AUDIO/JULY 1991 heard today, and it is important that the voice. On acoustic records it is Without the help of my associate, Mr. restorations of his recordings and poor; on electrics it is a disaster. The Donald H. Holmes, this article would those of his contemporaries have glorious lower tones of Rosa Ponselle have been impossible. His years of ex- some degree of authenticity. are gutted, and the already reverber- perience with parametrics and many ant Eva Turner record sounds like it useful suggestions on restoration are a was recoded in a rain barrel! Nimbus vital part Audio THE ART of Lane and this article. does a disservice to the artists. Also, I am greatly indebted to Richard Sonic preservation must be preser- It is essential not to confuse today's C. Burns of Packburn Electronics and vation of whatever sound is on the re- extraordinary technology with its appli- Carl J. Malone of Specialty Audio for corded source and of that physical cations. The technology is neutral; the their review and suggestions. source itself. It's an objective process applications rarely are. Modern tech- with little or no room for opinion. Sonic nology, having overcome many early The records shown are from the collec- is enhancement primarily subjective- problems, can produce unequalled re- tion cf Michael R. Lane and Donald H. it can include altering sound quality, alism and naturalness of sound. How- Holmes, who run a restoration service, pitch, and reverbation, as well as add- ever, the "a little is good, therefore a lot put cut auction lists of historical re- ing quasi -stereo and substituting mod- more is a lot better" approach can eas- cords, and offer specialty equipment ern performances-and is done for ily abuse the sound. Those who argue for historical record reproduction. Lane "effect." Sonic restoration attempts to against use of today's sophisticated Audio & Records is located at 1782 walk the very thin line between preser- processors in sonic restoration con- Manor Dr., Vista, Cal. 92084. vation and enhancement. It attempts to fuse the technology with the applica- be authentic to the original perfor- tion. One of the hardest lessons we mance. Acoustic recordings and, to a have learned and are still learning is lesser extent, early electrical record- that if use of a processor produces a ings cast veils of haze between the good result, then try a wee bit less. It artists and the listener. The sonic pre- may be even better. server leaves these veils as they are; The would-be sonic restorer needs the sonic adds and enhancer sub- some detachment from the current mu- .' 1, tracts veils of change for effect. The sical culture plus some historical per- . sonic restorer tries to remove all the spective. He also needs flexibility in veils between artist and listener. looking at both old and new music and Whether the restorer is successful will technology. Attitude is fundamental be determined by the results, which and basic to everything else. The art of

AUDIO/JULY 1991 37 %EY. 1FE IN If, JOHN EARGLE

he Philips Compact Cas- sette is very likely the most universal carrier of recorded music the world has ever known. It is estimated that there are three cassette players per household in the United States; considering the popularity of auto stereo and various forms of personal stereo, this seems reasonable. Overall, the world's popu- lation of players is estimated to be greater than one billion. The cassette was introduced into the United States in the mid -1960s, and its basic technical performance went little beyond the requirements of an office dictating machine. At the time, RCA, Ford Motor Company, and Learjet were promoting the Stereo -8 endless loop cartridge for stereo -on -the -go applications. With a tape speed of 1'/8 1 ips, the cassette suffered by comparison with the 33/4-ips Stereo -8 format. But in just a few years, the cassette won out, primarily because it allowed the consumer the flexibility of conveniently recording material at home for later replay in the automobile-something that Stereo -8 could not do. r In terms of basic quality objectives for home recording, the cassette was up against reel-to-reel stereo tape. In time, the improvements in tape, shell design, and recorder performance, and above all the addition of Dolby B noise reduction, helped the cassette mount a CI formidable assault on reel-to-reel; by the mid -1970s the cassette again be- 0 i came the clear winner. Record companies had seen all of this coming and r .'as. Group of Gauss 2400 high-speed recorders. -

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had geared up to produce prerecord- ed cassettes on a large scale. In 1983 the unit sales of cassettes in the United States exceeded those of - the LP, and the later onslaught of the 1 CD put the LP into further eclipse. Now, even as the CD gains in momen- turn, the cassette holds strong and promises to do so for many years to come. The cassette is mass -duplicated in a manner which is physically identical to the consumer's in -home recording procedure. There are, of course, econo- mies of scale, but essentially the tape p to be copied is run on a master transport, and a number of "slaves" are fed directly from it. On a modest scale there may be no more than four slaves, and the duplicating speed ratio may be no more than 4:1. The slaves themselves may be standard cassette transports which have been modified 1 for the increased speed of operation, f and the "master" may simply be a cassette itself. This method is shown in Fig. 1 and would be applicable for very short runs of speech -quality program. A substantial step forward in quality is shown in Fig. 2. Here, the master is a digital source, a DAT or possibly a '11'`1 Sony PCM-F1. During the mid -1980s, Nakamichi duplicated short runs of very high -quality cassettes using a method similar G to this. The source was a digital F1 tape whose transfer quality was carefully monitored by noting the digital block -error rate as the tape was repeatedly played back. The slaves themselves were top -of -the -line Naka 39 michi recorders which were self -align- ing before each run. The duplicating oldo .1421= j CD= = alml_:.L ratio was, of course, 1:1, or so-called CASSETTE real time. Tapes were duplicated with MASTER --t-- Dolby B or Dolby C noise reduction, CASSETTE TRANSPORTS and HX Pro headroom extension was routinely used. Each side had to be Fig. 1 duplicated separately. Modest duplicating setup for limited runs of Nakamichi provided this service for speech -quality cassettes. No more than four owners of their machines who wanted, slaves are used, and speed ratio is 4:1 or less. and were willing to pay for, audiophile - quality cassettes from such labels as Delos and Sheffield. Nakamichi could honestly say that these tapes "were Zia= G'r 101 R91.= first -generation copies of the original f ,;M= digital master" if all steps in the prepa- DAT OR ration of the running master had been F1 MASTER HIGH QUALITY carried out in the digital domain. CASSETTE RECORDERS These duplicating methods are quite "labor intensive" in that the yield of Fig. 2 product per man-hour is limited. How- Real-time (1:1) duplication from digital copy ever, they remain just about the only master, for high quality. way for producing short runs. For larger scale duplication, however, some fundamental changes must be made and other considerations enter into the picture. Many slaves may be used, and the duplicating ratio may be as high as 96:1 for music and 128:1 for speech quality. (See Fig. 3.) The production time required for each copy is essentially reduced and can be de- SLAVES termined by dividing the playing time Fig. 3 in one direction by the duplicating ratio multiplied by the number of slaves. The Large-scale duplication, using endless -loop master itself is run as an endless loop master and slave recording tape "pancakes." with all four tracks copied at the same Setup shown here is for music, using 71/2-ips time. Figure 3 shows a modern dupli- master running at 240 ips and tape pancakes cating system with four slaves and an running at 60 ips, a 32:1 duplicating speed ratio. endless -loop tape bin for the master. masters The cassettes are duplicated end -to- For speech -quality tapes, 33/a-ips and end on large "pancakes" of tape which still higher speeds would be used, for ratios are subsequently broken down and of 128:1 or more. loaded into the cassette shells. Many of the larger duplicators injection -mold their own cassette shells and The duplicating ratios used today bin for the master was a considerable operate large printing shops for paper are a far cry from the 8:1 methods of challenge, in that the requirements inserts and labels. Their basic pur- the 1960s. The electronic challenges were to move the tape at a speed as chased operating materials are com- were relatively easy to meet; bias fre- high as 480 ips while handling it gently modities, such as plastic, paper and quency has been raised to the range to minimize wear and damage. tape-for which prices are relatively of 8 to 10 MHz, and equalization re- At this point, we will follow a master negotiable. Such "vertical integration" quirements have been simply trans- tape through the entire duplicating cy- reduces operating costs considerably posed upward as required. The major cle, noting the many procedures which ensure quality and process control. Duplicating plants prefer to receive a master in the form of a digital clone of Even though the CD has gained in sales the final edited master, with A and B the holds strong and sides clearly indicated. The digital momentum, cassette tapes are then carefully checked to promises to do so for many years. determine if there are any potentially troublesome high frequencies present in the program. If not, then the digital in a highly competitive marketplace. problems to overcome were in the masters are transferred to 1/2 -inch tape Attention to line scheduling and quality physical handling of the tape. Tape running at 71/2 ips. If the cassettes are assurance maintains good "loading" of skew and air filming have been the to be in Dolby B (most of them are), the plant, again in the interests of con- major problems in ensuring positive then the 71/2-ips tapes will be made as trolling operating costs and minimizing tape -to -head contact at high speeds. a Dolby B copy. In a single pass, side downtime. The design of the endless -loop tape A is copied in one direction, while side 40 AUDIO/JULY 1991 B is copied in the other. The tape one time. The run is scheduled accord-. made at this point is referred to as the ingly, and the master tape is loaded running master. into the endless-loop bin. For high - Should there have been any prob- quality music duplication, a ratio of lems with the source tapes, these 96:1 would probably not be exceeded. would be discussed with the client and At this duplication ratio, and assuming adjustments made either at the client's a total program length of about 40 min= studio or at the duplicating plant. utes, a single slave can produce about Before the actual production run, the 1,800 copies per eight -hour shift. Thus, master will be copied a onto cassette a master transport with four or five Injection -molding department, on a master -slave setup, which, in ef- slaves might easily handle the produc- fect, duplicates all production condition run in about half a shift. Sonopress, Weaverville, N.C. tions. It is transferred at the intended Obviously, one cannot play every production level and on the intended cassette to ensure that everything has the plant's mastering department tape stock. It is then sent to the client as gone properly. Cassettes are spot- makes a pair of R-DAT clones, one for a reference of what the finished product checked according to established side A and one for side B. When a will sound like. The client usually has a sampling procedures, but more to the program is to be duplicated, the two R- technician check the tape and judge point, all of the process and the incom- DATs are loaded into RAM simulta- the quality of the transfer. Then, if all has ing materials are carefully monitored. neously, but on a real-time basis. Thus, gone well, the client will send an ap- The duplicating chain itself is subject it takes about 20 minutes to "load in" proval to the duplicating plant and pro- to several levels of maintenance, in- each new program. When duplication duction can then get underway. cluding those which are performed gets underway, the RAM and high- The production control department daily, such as cleaning, and those that speed D/A converter function just like takes over at this point and ensures are done at much wider intervals, such the running master and master trans- that all paper components (labels, in- as replacement of heads and bear- port in the typical duplicating setup. serts) are on hand. Even though the ings. Between these extremes is rou- The duplicating ratio is 80:1, so this entire order for cassettes may be quite tine electrical checkout of the systems. helps offset some of the rather long large, the client may not want more While the incoming raw tape stock is load -in time for new programs. In all than, say, 5,000 or 10,000 units at any sampled to make sure it meets mag- other regards, the plant works very netic requirements, each duplicated much like a traditional duplicator.

?ORIGINAL 8,400 -foot pancake of tape is recorded Sonopress is owned by BMG, which MASTER TAPE with a diagnostic sequence of signals. is the parent company of RCA Rec- This serves as a running check on out- ords, and the technology can be heard ORIGINAL MASTER going quality, since no pancake will be A M, TAPE o on RCA cassettes as well as & MASTER REPROOIrTR loaded into cassette shells unless the Delos, and Telarc product. Sonopress pancake passes the test. EST places great emphasis on quality -con- SIGNAL REAL-TIME E TEST SIGNAL A pancake contains mary passes of to that GENERATOR trol procedures ensure the the master, and between each pass is benefits of the new technology will RUNNING MASTER a low -frequency cue tone which is clearly find their way into the consum- TAPE MASTERo RECORDER used during the breakdown process. er's home. At this stage, the pancake is loaded The process gets us one step nearer RUNNING onto the cassette winder, and individ- to the digital master, in that each cas- MASTER TAPE ual cassettes are loaded at speeds up sette is a first -generation copy of the to 360 ips. The cue tone stops the digital master, but the next major tech- TEST TEST HIGH-SPEED HIGH- PRECISION SIGNAL_ SPEED SIGNAL TEST SIGNAL APE DUPLICATING SLAVE winding process when each cassette nical leap forward for the cassette will GENERATOR SYSTEM CALIBRATOR is fully loaded. The operator then re- be the DCC, or Digital Compact Cas- moves the loaded cassette and re- sette. The DCC is designed to comple- TEST PANCAKE INSTRIM1ENT places it with a new shell. ment the standard cassette and not The loaded cassettes then find their necessarily make it obsolete. Since all

TEST way to the labeling machine, which af- DCC players will also play standard DUALITY SIGNAL CONTROL fixes the REPRODUCER appropriate label to each side cassettes, there will be no need for of the shell. Then, they move on to final wholesale adoption of the new medi- packing and shrink-wrapping. um. In fact, it may be quite reasonable PANCAKE With recent developments in random to make the conjecture that speech - access memory (RAM) capability and only cassettes, a very large market in- SEMIAUTOMATIC CASSETTE high-speed digital -to -analog (D/A) deed, may remain analog based for LOADER conversion, it is now possible to oper- the foreseeable future. ate duplicating slaves directly from a Tape duplicators and manufacturers CASSETTE digital source, thus bypassing the ana- of duplicating equipment are over- log running master completely. The whelmingly in favor of DCC because it

LABELING, BOXING, technology for this was developed by reinforces their fundamental invest- WRAPPING, AND SHIPPING Concept Design, and one of the major ment in technology. DCC is designed installations of this is at the Sonopress to be duplicated at a 64:1 ratio on Fig. 4 manufacturing facility in Asheville, N.C. traditional slaves which have been out- Tape duplicating chain, Master tapes are received from cli- fitted with new heads. A number of with electronic ents, preferably in the Sony 1630 for- details have yet to be worked out in mat, which stores the program on 3/4 - DCC but it appears poised for intro- quality -control stages. inch videocassettes. From this source, duction in 1992. Q 41 PIBES 1 compatible with modern components - about III I 50 ohms in the case of the SD/A-490t.

1 At the same time, the buffer stage helps iso- late the relatively fragile D/A chip set from the nasty outside world of demanding analog components. TUBES VERSUS SOLID STATE. All compact disc players have buffer amplifiers. But more than 98% of them use solid state How a very old technology can make a brand new devices for this stage: either integrated op -amp compact disc player sound extraordinarily good. circuits or discrete transistors. A handful of hard -to -find, esoteric designs Our new SD/A-490t has a clock that "ticks" in the 51200 to $2500 range employ one or 33 million times a second, multi -stage noise more tubes instead. As does our readily -avail- shaping, pulse width modula- able 5699 SD A -490t. For fundamental physical / / tors and enough other reasons, tubes have different transfer function r[ i( edge -of-the -art circuitry characteristics than transistors. When used in 4 to finally qualify us for ultra -expensive, audiophile preamplifiers and entry into the hallowed power amplifiers, their sound is variously Compact Disc Techno- described as "mellower', "warmer", "more Jargon Hall of Fame. open and natural" or simply "less harsh than But it also includes two solid state". . vacuum tubes whose classic At the heart of these perceived differences design has remained are three basic facts: unchanged for over 35 years. 1. Tubes produce even-order distortion (i.e. Tubes? Those warm glass things 2nd, 4th, 6th harmonics, etc.) while transistors cre- that used to glow cheerily through ate odd -order distortion, particularly 3rd harmon- the grilles of old radios and black & ics which are less psychoacoustically pleasant. white TVs? Yes. In an important circuir 2. In a buffer stage, a tube acts as a pure stage that comes after all the digital wizardy. Class A device, which is considered the optimal We and many other critical listeners believe amplifier configuration. Op -amps function as that this anacronistic addition to an already Class A in and Class B out, with potential excellent CD player design significantly crossover distortion as voltage swings from enhances its sound. Read on and decide for positive to negative. yourself. 3. Tubes "round off' the waveform when When over -driven, solid state devices THE AMPLIFIER THAT DOESN'T AMPLIFY. they clip. cut off sharply, causing audible distortion. Between a CD player's D/A converter and is circuitry called a buffer external outputs THE SD/A4490t'S OUTPUT SECTION amplifier stage. \\'hen you hear the word Our new CD player uses two 617.18 dual amplifier, you think of something which makes triodes (each literally two separate a signal louder. But that's not a tubes in a single glass envelope) buffer amp's purpose. In fact, placed between the digital -to -ana- contrary to popular lore, a CD log converter and a motorized vol- player's buffer amplifier doesn't ume control." boost the signal strength at all Operated at less than 30% of the final output of a CD - their maximum capacity, these player's D/A converter already tubes achieve a highly linear out- has sufficient voltage to directly put voltage with very low static and transient drive a power amplifier! distotion while providing very high dynamic Instead, the buffer amp is a unify gain device which '1) increases output current, and headroom. And because they're "loafing" at 1/3 their 2) in the process, acts as a sort of electronic rated current capability, the SD A-490t's tubes shock absorber. are designed to last the life of the CD player A signal emerging from a CD player's digital - without replacement or need for adjustment. to -analog conversion process has sufficient voltage but insufficient current for proper inter- A "LESS IS MORE" DIGITAL APPROACH action with a preamplifier or power amp. By FOR CLEANER ANALOG SOUND. acting as a current amplifier, the buffer stage It would be pointlesss to have a tube output helps lower impedance to a level that's stage if the digital circuitry which precedes it ///////////1//////I///1r/ //// °." //,/ ////I ' / - 1/11/1'"

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rd",- ca,. 0 o .ate wasn't , first rate. The SD/A-490t uses The Carver SD/A-490t. At $699, its suggested retail is S500 less than Single -Bit D/A circuitry to eliminate a form of the nearest competitor with tube output" exceedingly audible distortion inherent in most current CD player designs, and to provide bet- "digital" harshness is noticeably absent even THE SD/A-490t before it enters the ter signal linearity than ever before. SD/A-490t's mink -lined Dual 6DJ8 Vacuum Tube Output Stage If you've read current CD player brochures, tube stage. Over-sized Disc Stabilizer Transport you've probably stumbled across descriptions AN ARRAY OF FEATURES AS RICH AS ITS 24 -Track Programming with 21 -key front of de-glitcher circuits, laser trimming and even SOUND. panel & remote input 22 -bit converters. All these are merely fixes, We've designed the Music Calendar Display applied to the same basic kind of D/A con- .,/ i SD/A-490t to be both Indexing verter in an attempt to overcome built-in Wm/ v useful and easy -to -use. Random Play shortcomings. mam,r ..rv ...,* 21 -key front panel or Motorized Volume Control In contrast, the SD/A 490t uses a 010102P 0`+ /. r .r r .º r remote programming. Time Edit/Fade Taping Feature with user- completely new technology which 411r ~oil Fixed and variable output. variable time parameters avoids many of the problems that Programming grid display. 2 to 10 Second Variable Length Fade mar. older approaches have struggled ~ r v Random "shuffle" play. Exclusive Carver Soft EQ to surmount. We'd have to vr v..a. Variable length fade. Automatic (Digital Time Lens) circuitry buy a whole section in this song selection to fit any length of Optical and Coaxial magazine to fully explain tape. Even index programming for Digital Outputs the differences (if you're classical CD's. 3 -Inch (8cm) CD interested, call 1-800- Plus our proprietary Soft EQ circuit- Compatibility

443-CAVR for an appro- r ry which compensates for variables in A priately long and detailed - spacial (L -R) information and midrange brochure), but here's a short synopsis. equalization found in many CD's mastered Traditional converters require 16 separate from analog tapes. reference circuits, each of which must be accu- BRING YOUR TWO BEST CRITICS TO A rate to one part in 65,536 but, due to the - CARVER DEALER. realities of mass production, rarely are. If It's tempting to further regale you with how they're not "dead -on", an unpleasant form of well we think the SD/A-490t's tubes and Single noise called zero -cross distortion is produced. Bit circuitry improve the sound of a compact Because Carver's Single Bit D/A Converter disc. But your own ears should be the final transforms a 16 -bit signal into a 1 -bit pulse sig- arbiter of quality. nal array, the "ladder" of 16 ultra -high -preci- Thus you are invited to bring a few familiar sion reference devices is not required: In compact discs down to your local Carver deal- effect, the SD/A-490t need only manipulate a er and compare for yourself, hopefully creating stream varying ER -width instead CAR of on/off pulses your own superlatives in the process. of having to accurately create 65,536 different Suffice it to say that almost all critical listen- CARVER CORP., LVNNWOOD, WA. U.S.A. amplitude levels at all times. Call 1-800-443-CAVR for information and dealer listings. ers not only are able to hear a difference, but Zero -cross distortion is non-existent, and the prefer the sound of the remarkably affordable SD/A-490t's Single Bit converter is able to SD/A-490t's dual triode transfer function. decode linearity in excess of 115 dB below peak level with exceptionally low noise. You'll particularly notice the difference in the height- A device which neither amplifies nor attenuates a signal is said to have unity gain. In other words, what goes in comes out unchanged. Or does it? ened purity and clarity of music during very 'Remote control variable output is a wonderfully convenient feature, but it would be pointless to eliminate solid state circuitry in the buffer quiet passages. intonation amp stage and then use a solid state circuit for the final gain attenuator. So the SD/A-4901 changes volume the old fashioned, physical way: a Every nuance, and nice, clean carbon potentiometer, In this case , physically rotated by a small motor: harmonic of the original recording is there. Yet "'Source: 1990 Audio Magazine Annual Equipment Directory. EQUIPMENT PROFILE

MONITOR AUDIO STUDIO 10 SPEAKER Manufacturer's Specifications

System Type: Two-way, vented, O stand -mounted system. Drivers: 6'/ -in. (16.5 -cm) metal -cone

woofer and 1 -in. (2.54 -cm) metal - dome tweeter. Frequency Response: 40 Hz to 20 kHz, ±3 dB. Sensitivity: 88.5 dB SPL for 1 watt input at 1 meter. Maximum Output: 120 dB SPL. Crossover Frequency: 3.4 kHz, 6- dB/octave slope. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal. Recommended Amplifier Power: 20 to 200 watts per channel. Dimensions: 153/4 in. H x 77/8 in. W x 9'/e in. D (40 cm x 20 cm x 25 cm). Weight: 17 lbs. (7.7 kg) for single speaker. Price: $3,000 per pair, not including stands. Available in Santos rosewood, California oak, black ash, and American walnut. ST -10 lead -filled metal stands, weight: 66 lbs. (30 kg) each, $850 per pair. Company Address: P.O. Box 1355, Buffalo, N.Y. 14205. For literature, circle No. 90 The Studio 10 is Monitor Audio's entry in the field of Monitor Audio was the first British speaker company to expensive two-way monitors. The system embodies the re- offer metal -dome tweeters, in 1984. The Studio 10's tweeter sults of some of the latest materials and manufacturing is unique in that its dome is made of an aluminum/magne- research, as evidenced by its use of not only a metal -dome sium (88%/12%) alloy with a gold -colored anodized finish. tweeter but also a one-piece metal -cone woofer. All Monitor The anodizing greatly increases stiffness, which raises the Audio systems are supplied with premium real -wood ve- first breakup mode above the audible range. The tweeter's neered cabinets, manufactured by Monitor Audio itself. The voice -coil former is vented and cooled with Ferrofluid to review samples were supplied with a pair of massive metal minimize temperature increases. stands that are almost four times heavier than the speakers The 61/2 -inch woofer uses an aluminum -alloy cone, which themselves. is drawn in three stress -relieved steps into a complete one -

44 AUDIO/JULY 1991 piece cone and voice -coil former assembly. The heat gener- 100

I TEF ated by the voice -coil is conducted through the coil former ! to the metal cone itself, for improved dissipation. The cone 1 is 100 µm (0.004 inch) thick and is sandwiched between 90 -- T ' two anodized ceramic damping coatings, 50 µm thick, t making a total cone thickness of 200 p.m. The cone is also - crimped over along its circumference for increased stiff- 80 ------'- - L- -- -- ness. The woofer's unique cone materials and construction raise the cone's first breakup mode above 6 kHz, above its 70 r _- operating band. The woofer, which has a vented -pole mag- ,-1H net, is also built with a heavy, 10 -mm thick die-cast frame

1 which strengthens the assembly and helps to maintain close 60 1il I I production tolerances. 20 100 Ik 1Ok 20k

Monitor Audio was founded in 1972 by Mo lqbal, a Ken- F REQUENCY - Hz yan of Indian descent who studied electrical engineering at Cambridge University. The company is now one of the Fig. 1-One meter, on - most vertically integrated speaker companies in the U.K., axis anechoic frequency manufacturing its own drivers, crossovers, and cabinets, response, measured with and producing cabinets for other British speaker manufac- grille off, for an input of turers. Instead of following standard production -line meth- 1 watt into 8 ohms (2.83 V ods, Monitor lets each worker build a complete product from rms). start to finish. With only one worker per assembled product, there is no one else to blame if something is incorrect or goes wrong! Monitor Audio's philosophy is that simpler is better when it comes to system and crossover design; their whole line contains only two-way systems. The company feels tnat this configuration allows more money to be put into developing and manufacturing each driver and the crossover, and that less complex systems allow greater fidelity to be achieved. The crossover, a relatively simple design, has only six components, equally distributed among resistors, capacitors, and inductors. The slope of the crossover is stated to be 6 dB per octave. The system has two pairs of five -way binding posts on the rear, connected with short lengths of bus wire which may be removed for bi-wiring. Monitor Audio 20 100 IOk 20k states that the unique design of their drivers allows a sim- FREQUENCY - Hz pler crossover because their responses are much smoother and better controlled, both within and outside of their oper- Fig. 2-On-axis phase ating bands. response and group The enclosures are very well built of 3/4 -inch Medite medi- delay, corrected for um -density fiberboard. They are finished on the front and tweeter arrival time. four sides, while the backs are black. The four sides of each cabinet are produced from one veneered plank of fiberboard so that all the sides match perfectly. The evaluation systems were supplied in a gorgeous, very well matched rosewood. Both outside and inside surfaces of the cabinet

are veneered with real wood. (Now if I only could figure out how to turn the cabinet inside out because of a scratch on the outside!) The enclosure, which Monitor Audio calls a Single Flow Reflex, is a vented box (bass reflex), tuned by a distance. With the grille on, the response was minimally tube 3V2 inches long with a 2 -inch inner diameter, at the top affected, less than ± 1.5 dB or so. All the following measure- rear of the cabinet. ments were taken with the grille off. Excluding the slight peak at 5.1 kHz, the curve fits within a Measurements ±3.0 dB window from 60 Hz to 20 kHz. Even with the peak, The on -axis frequency response curve, for a 2.83-V rms the curve fits within a much tighter ±2 dB envelope from input, is shown in Fig. 1. A tenth -octave smoothing filter was 180 Hz to 20 kHz. The response droops below 300 Hz and used. The curve was actually taken at a distance of 2 then falls quite rapidly (at 24 dB/octave, typical of vented meters, 12 inches up from the bottom of the box, normal to boxes) below 60 Hz. Averaging the axial response over the

the enclosure's front surface but is referenced to a 1 -meter range of 250 Hz to 4 kHz yielded a sensitivity of 87.7 dB,

AUDIO/JULY 1991 45 The woofer's metal cone not only raises its breakup frequency but conducts heat away from the voice -coil.

Fig. 3- only slightly lower than the manufacturer's rating of 88.5 dB. One-meter on -axis The systems were matched quite closely, within ± 1 dB energy/time curve, above 100 Hz. A higher 30 -kHz measurement revealed a measured with high -Q dome breakup resonance at 25.8 kHz, which stuck grille off. The up about 15 dB above the average level of the system. Most fortu- main weak is well metal -dome tweeters exhibit such resonances, but behaved, but nately the Studio 10's tweeter resonance has been raised some broadening way above the audible range and should not be a perfor- is evident at mance detriment. lower levels. The axial phase and group -delay measurements of the system, corrected for the tweeter's time arrival, are shown in Fig. 2. The phase response exhibits a total phase rotation of only about 220° between 1 and 20 kHz. The group -delay curve is fairly well behaved above 1 kHz, and shows that the midrange lags the tweeter. A separate measurement of offset indicated that the midrange does indeed trail the tweeter by about 0.11 mS (110 µS), which corresponds to a distance of 11/2 inches (38 mm). This is about one-third wave- 1. J á length, about 120°, at the measured 3.0 -kHz crossover. Fig. For it, a , r The energy -time curve (ETC) is shown in 3. ,,.; ,, á =- _ - --= test is swept from 200 Hz to 10 kHz at an equivalent N . signal of 2.83 V rms at 1 meter on axis. The main arrival, at 3 mS, is quite compact and well behaved, but the overall response FRONT exhibits some broadening at lower levels. (Under these test 30 conditions, a perfect energy -time curve would appear as a 6 1

. 1 OFF SIDE 90 , Y..',y,..jj. single sharp spiKe centered at 3 mS, with a width of about ' .i n :n ..AXIS- 12( line, and to a rounded DEGREES ' mS at the base, the 50 -dB tapering it 150 .,ntl . =- point at the top.) REAR 19, - l All inside of the cabinet are covered with 2j0 .2I. 20k the surfaces FREQUENCY-H. inch -thick foam to damp internal standing waves and reflections. The sides also have an inert black damping pad, '/4 Fig. 4-Horizontal off -axis inch thick, attached to their surfaces to reduce wall reso- frequency responses, nances. In addition, as the company literature stated, all the taken from the front, inside surfaces are veneered, but not finished, and the around the side, to the veneer is not rosewood. rear of the speaker and A high-level low -frequency sine -wave sweep revealed normalized to the on -axis that the cabinet sides and back resonated slightly at about response. 445 Hz but were otherwise quite rigid. Fairly significant wind noise was generated from the port (from the inside opening, not its tapered outside edge) at levels above 5 V rms (3 watts) at frequencies from 45 to 85 Hz. The woofer's excur- CO sion reached a strong minimum at the 60 -Hz box tuning, 6d which indicated that the vented enclosure was working very á well. Below 60 Hz, where the vented box unloads, the woofer's excursion increased very significantly, accompa- nied by high distortion. The woofer exhibited some dynamic

BELOW -90 offset when the impedance fell as frequency increased. -60 The horizontal off -axis curves of the Studio 10 are shown OFF 30 in Fig. 4. These normalized curves are quite well behaved AXIS- F R0.T C DEGREES .i0 within ± 20° of the axis and exhibit some roughness above 3 .60 _,IIm kHz at angles beyond 20°. The vertical off -axis curves, AB( .F t-)( -. - N shown in Fig. 5, are also quite well behaved except for off - 200 2k 20 axis peaks and dips in the crossover region. The curves FREQUENCY iz - indicate reasonably symmetrical up/down behavior, show- Fig. 5-Vertical off -axis ing that the driver's acoustic responses are mostly in phase responses taken from with each other through the crossover region, thus minimiz- below, up the front, and ing lobing error. to the top of the speaker The six crossover parts are wired point to point and and normalized to the attached by hot -melt glue to the input -terminal panel, which response. on -axis is a piece of V2 -inch particleboard. Notwithstanding the 6 46 AUDIO/JULY 1991 Measure time the way George Washington did... with this fine precision timepiece.

Begin by setting the suspension ring to the local latitude.

"-.071 xf ~.7"

Next, adjust the movable index to the current date.

:kF.. '.

Finally, turn the entire dial

SI TOWN ACTUAL SIZE. until sunlight coming through HARDWOOD STAND IN( LUDED. the pinhole in the index is focused on the hour ring. THE NATIONAL MARITIME HISTORICAL SOCIETY Pick it up. Turn the dial until sunlight coming PRESENTS THE UNIVERSAL RING DIAL through the pinhole focuses on the hour ring. And experi- The Father of Our Country always treasured the precisely ence how Washington must have felt as he measured each calibrated timepiece given to him by his close friend the dramatic moment in the birth of our nation. Marquis de Lafayette. Every numeral and letter-as well as the acanthus leaf It was the Universal Ring Dial, the fine instrument design-is deeply etched into the imported brass. Priced preferred by the wealthy and powerful for over 150 years. at $90. Available only from The Franklin Mint. Now this precision timepiece is re-created in etched solid THIRTY -DA" RETURN ASSURANCE POLICY brass to inaugurate the official collection of the National If you wish to return any Frankl.n Mint purchase, you may do so within 30 days of Maritime Historical Society. your receipt of that purchase for replacement, credit or refund. THE UNIVERSAL RING DIAL Please mail by July 31, 1991. National Maritime Historical Society C/o The Franklin Mint Franklin Center, Pennsylvania 19091 SIGNATURE ALL 19113 Alf SLT)tLT nr met rlAMU Please handcraft The Universal Ring Dial in precision -etched solid MR/MRS/MISS-_ brass expressly for me. And me in monthly bill 3 installments of Issued and authenticated $30* each, beginning prior to shipment. The hardwood base, he the ADDRESS instructions for use and historical reference will be provided at no NATIONAL MAR RIME additional charge. HISTORICAL SOCIETY of the United States. CITY/STATE/ZIP 'Phu ow) rure taGt tau and ow- nm, róa.ar of 13. /a tlápprnranJ handling. ©1991 FM 85737-78 Except for one slight peak, the frequency response is flat within ± 3 dB from 60 Hz to 20 kHz.

loo dB/octave claimed, both high- and low-pass portions of the TEF crossover are of second -order, 12-dB/octave electrical de- -IS° sign. The specific configuration of the low-pass network for 11111111 I ON AXIS III 90 the woofer side can be considered either a second -order ^v0°411111 rlr!r' low-pass or a first -order low-pass with an impedance -com- 60° TO 75 pensating "Zobel network. Response measurements of OFF AXIS (i III". driver voltage confirmed that the network indeed provides 30 TO 45 OFF AXIS 12-dB/octave roll -offs, at least at points beyond the cross- range. However, is not whole 70 over this the story; the actual crossover response consists of the cascaded combination of both the network's and the drivers' responses. Measure- I II III ments of each driver's acoustical response when connected 60 20 100 1k 10k 20k to the crossover revealed that the response within ±'/ FREQUENCY - Hz octave of the crossover frequency is about 6 dB/octave, becoming 12 dBioctave thereafter. Nonetheless, the drivers Fig. 6-Mean horizontal actually measured somewhat in phase with each other response, derived from through the crossover region, rather than 90° out of phase, data of Fig. 4. as expected from the 6-dB/octave slope. This explains the minimal lobing error. The NRC-style mean horizontal and vertical on- and off - axis response curves of the Studio 10 are shown in Figs. 6 100 and 7, respectively. The horizontal curve in Fig. 6 is quite TEF smooth and extended except for the narrow peak at 5.1 kHz. The 30° to 45° response is fairly well behaved and +15° TO -15 90 ON AXIS extended but exhibits high -frequency roll -off above 10 kHz. m The 60° to 75° off -axis averaged response exhibits a plateau of sorts above 1.5 kHz, and its roll -off, which begans at 6

1 . 60° TO 75° kHz, becomes steeper above 10 kHz. OFF AXIS The vertical response of the Studio 10s is shown in Fig. 7. 30 TO 45 OFF AXIS The axial curve exhibits a shallow dip in the crossover 70 region at 3 kHz, which also shows up to a greater degree in the two remaining off -axis mean curves. The off -axis curves both roll off above 5 or 6 kHz. 60 20 100 Ik 0k 20k Figure 8 shows the Studio 10's impedance from 20 Hz to FREQUENCY- Hz 20 kHz. The system has a low of 5.1 ohms at 200 Hz and a high of 16.2 ohms at 31 Hz, which makes it a fairly easy load Fig. 7-Mean vertical for most amplifiers. The characteristic double -humped im- response, derived from pedance response of vented enclosures is evident between data of Fig. 5. 20 and 150 Hz. The dip at 60 Hz indicates strong loading at the Helmholtz box resonance. At this frequency, most of the sound is radiated by the port, with minimal output from the woofer. The system's minimum impedance of 5.1 ohms, coupled with its variation of only 3.2 x from minimum to 100 TEFE maximum, makes the Studio 10 somewhat sensitive to cable resistance. To keep cable -drop effects from causing peaks and dips in response of more than 0.1 dB, cable series OHMS Ia.y OHMS ^ resistance must be limited to a maximum of 0.087 ohm (87 milliohms). Figure 9 shows the well-behaved complex im- 10 S pedance (Nyquist) plot from 5 Hz to 24 kHz. The phase angle reached a maximum of + 40° at 20 Hz and a minimum ''.1'1.1''.1'1.1íi ir "ri ' í of - 39° at 105 Hz. - 4--/ MIlli - 7.9 OHMS-- - 5.5 OHMS Figure 10 shows the 3 -meter room curve of the system, ?' S.1 OHMS -f with both raw and sixth -octave smoothed responses. The -- 1 } Studio 10 was in the right-hand stereo position, mounted on l I iil its stand, and amed at the listening location, and the test 20 100 10k 20k microphone was placed at ear height (36 inches) at the FREQUENCY - Hz listener's position on the sofa. The system was swept from Fig. 8-Impedance; note 100 Hz to 20 kHz with a 2.83-V rms sine -wave signal

the logarithmic (corresponding to 1 watt into the rated 8 -ohm load). The impedance scale. parameters of the TDS sweep were chosen so that the

48 AUDIO/JULY 1991 "BBE is the most hearable advance in audio technoloqy since high-fidelity itself. - Music Connection Magazine

ro ooKwua oIEFINIra. r-^-nn PROCESS ARE Pnotrvw RORER

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Measuring 16112" x 9" x 1 3/4", BBE fits perfectly into Please call for a dealer near City/State/Zip your audio rack. Then just plug it into your wall socket you (714) 897-6766 Area Code/Phone No. and a standard tape loop. L A -7J Enter No. 6 on Reader Service Card Metal -dome tweeters have resonances, but here it has been raised way above the audible range.

Figure 11 shows the B, (61.7 -Hz) harmonic distortion data. The higher tone B1 was used, rather than the customary lower E, (41.2 Hz), because E, is below the passband of -i5 the system and essentially provides no woofer loading because the frequency is about 2/3 of an octave below the 60 - Hz box tuning. In a preliminary 41.2 -Hz test, 100% second - o harmonic distortion was reached at a level of only 15 watts! > Inasmuch as B, is close to the Studio 10's box tuning 12% -t5 frequency, the distortion at 50 watts is a relatively low second and 5% third, with the higher harmonics significantly below 1% (the test's frequency scale only goes up to the po fourth harmonic). At 50 watts, the system generated a fairly 0 10 15 20 loud 99 dB SPL at 1 meter at 61.7 Hz. RESISTANCE - OHMS The A2 (110 -Hz) harmonic data in Fig. 12 show that only the second and third harmonics are significant over the Fig. 9-Complex tested range, with the second harmonic predominating. The impedance, showing second harmonic reaches a moderately high level of about reactance and resistance 10% at full power, where the third harmonic reaches 6%. vs. frequency. Levels of higher harmonics are very low. At 110 Hz, the system generated about 101 dB SPL at 1 meter for 50 watts. The A4 (440 -Hz) harmonic measurements, shown in Fig. 13, are low for some unexplained third harmonic 90 quite except (reaching about 1.5%) at lower power levels. The IM on a 440 -Hz (A4) tone created by lower frequency 1 tones of equal input power level is shown in Fig. 14. Note that when 41.2 Hz (E,) is used as the modulating tone, IM distortion reaches 75% at full power! Clearly, E, is below the J 70 passband of the system. In contrast, with the higher B, tone, o. 15%, full N the distortion is more reasonable, about at power. The high IM distortion at low frequencies indicates the 60 system is quite susceptible to being overdriven by high- level program material. Figure 15 shows the short-term, peak -power input and 50 output capabilities of the system, versus frequency, mea- 20 00 Ok 20k sured with a third -octave bandwidth tone burst. The peak FREQUENCY - Hz input power was calculated by assuming that the measured peak voltage was applied across the rated 8 -ohm imped- Fig. 10-Three-meter ance. The maximum input power is shown in the lower room response, showing curve. At 30 Hz and below, peak power must be limited to both raw and smoothed only about 2 watts to prevent excessive distortion and inter - data; see text. modulation. Above 30 Hz, the input power rises rapidly up to about 400 waits at the 60 -Hz box resonance. A plateau is maintained until about 160 Hz, after which the power rises direct sound plus 13 mS of room reverberation were includ- gradually until it reaches the amplifier's clipping point, about ed. The curve is reasonably well behaved and extended 5 kW at frequencies above 1.5 kHz!

except for response roughness below 1 kHz, and most of The upper curve in Fig. 15 shows the maximum peak this was caused by room effects. Above 1.5 kHz, the curve sound pressure levels the system generates at a distance of

is satisfactorily smooth, with just a small amount of roll -off 1 meter on axis for the levels shown in the lower curve. Also above 10 kHz. shown in the upper curve is the "room gain" of a typical Figures 11, 12, and 13 show harmonic distortion versus listening room at low frequencies. This adds about 3 dB to power at the musical notes B1 (61.7 Hz), A2 (110 Hz), and A4 the response at 80 Hz and 9 dB at 20 Hz. The peak acoustic (440 Hz). These measurements indicate the level of harmon- output rises very rapidly with frequency up to 60 Hz, where ic distortion generated with the application of a single - a plateau of about 110 dB is reached. Above 160 Hz, the frequency sine wave at power levels from 0.05 to 50 watts maximum output rises to above 120 dB at frequencies (-13 to 17 dBW, a 30 -dB dynamic range) in steps of 1 dB. above 300 Hz. With room gain, a single Studio 10 can The power levels were computed using the rated system generate peaks in excess of 110 dB SPL above 60 Hz and impedance of 8 ohms (20 V rms = 50 watts, etc.). Actual greater than 120 dB above 250 Hz. Below 60 Hz, the low - power levels are somewhat higher because the imped- frequency output rolls off very rapidly at a rate approaching ances at each tested frequency are somewhat lower than 48 dB/octave, thus making the low -bass output essentially the rated impedance. unusable. A pair of these systems operating with mono bass 50 AUDIO/JULY 1991 7

If you don't want to enjoy a movie in 70 mm,

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A man's home has always been his castle. But Digital Soundfield Processing circuitry. with Yamaha's new 7 -channel DSPA1000 audio - The end result makes listening to music or a video amplifier. it can be almost anything he wants. movie at home seem like you're actually some- What makes it all possible, is the combination of where else. Like a colossal 70 mm movie theatre. Dolby` Pro Logic and Yamaha's Digital Soundfield A huge stadium. An intimate jazz club. Or -you Processing. get the idea. All at the push We call it Dolby Pm Logic with Enhancements. of a button. The Dolby section delivers precisely the same Stop by your Yamaha effects and dialogue placement that could only he dealer today. And discover experienced in the finest movie theatres. the only audio -video ampli- The Enhancement portion funnels all the Dolby fier that can take you out Pro Logic information through Yamaha's exclusive just by turning it on.

01991 Yámalu FJsua».Caprdin USA PQ H. 6600 Puma lark. CA 90692 9~ered trademark Doh Lahra4ric Even with equipment that's not high end, the Studio 10s managed to elicit all that was good in the signal and expose some of the bad.

loo - will be able to generate bass levels 3 to 6 dB higher, , particularly if set up near wall boundaries.

O= 2nd, 11.9% MAXIMUM POWER 50 WATTS 10 Use and Listening Tests C df'' 3rd, 5.0% I- The Studio 10s spent some informal listening time in my office before being moved into the larger listening room. 4m,0.6% áB Here they were hooked up to a Vector Research VRX-3600R 50 ,é:' _..:..-..1 receiver and a mid -1980s Kenwood DP -1100B CD player. ` ; -,-..7:1,111 ' 'N______. Even with this equipment, decidedly not high end, they POWER - -5 J4-- WATTS 11,'"--,v-:-- made a very gocd account of themselves, wringing out all _. the good that existed in the supplied signal along with "t' : 005''11R: ú.r,v. exposing some of the bad. The Studio 10s are suited to 100 ISO 200 250 ,ao smaller listening environments because of their small size FREQUENCY - Hz and limited low -bass capability. Fig. 11-Harmonic After setting up the 10s in my larger listening room and distortion products for driving them with my standard equipment, they really took the musical tone B1 (61.7 Hz). on a life of their own. Driving equipment included the usual Note the change from our Onkyo Grand Integra DX -G10 and Rotel RCD-855 CD play- customary E, (41.2 -Hz) tone, ers, along with some new amplification gear: The Jeff Row- which is below the system's land Consummate preamplifier (a bona fide high -end passband; see text. preamp with full remote -control capabilities) and two Jeff Rowland Model 7 monoblock power amplifiers. Also used 100 1 was the new Crown Macro Reference power amplifier (I

must point out up front that I am a paid consultant to Crown). MAXIMUM POWER 50 WATTS The Krell KSP-7B preamp and Krell KSA-200B power ampli- 3rd, 5.9% fier performed flawlessly and with much distinction during

RI the period I had them. Hookup was with Straight Wire

41n,0.20% 5111,0.25% Maestro interconnects and speaker cables. As usual, I did .T+ most of the listening before the measurements. y3ri 1,7;11.,',H`1}_ :-.. Most of my listening was . serous done with the Studio lOs L1 =,cz`'r 1 placed on their stands in my accustomed evaluation posi- POWER - I'll'1, 11`'G'E' `'-. WATTS 50 os .,I '.ir p1.$'rr tion, about 6 feet away from the short rear wall, separated .11 1 ír. 1-1-11,P5y '''¿4-,,15. :A»tRit ,_:: áiti+ r,M: by 8 feet, and about 4 feet from each side wall. Most "1 I l `-1' ? 005 1" - 150 450 . listening was done with the systems canted in and aimed at 250 350 ,. ;50

my head. I FREQUENCY - Hz listened sitting on the sofa about 10 feet away, Fig. 12-Harmonic which placed my ears about 36 inches above the floor. distortion products for The systems were hooked up in a normal single -cable, the musical tone A2 (110 Hz). rather than bi-wired, configuration. The input terminals of the Studio 10 are on the bottom rear of the cabinet and are composed of two sets of five -way binding posts on 3/4 -inch by about 2 inches. not 100 centers separated (We're talking about the heavy-duty posts you tighten with a nut driver, but the hand -tightened kind with a small hole for the wire.) You MAXIMUM POWER 5OWA'TS 10 can't plug your standard 3/4 -inch -spaced double -banana plugs into these terminals because the posts spaced 3/4 inch apart are actually for the same polarity. Their small 1.0 -f- 12 dB holes are mostly filled with the 22 -gauge jumper wires con- J7111, 2n0, 0.2% 3'd, 0.2% 5o II necting the high- and low-pass sections, leaving essentially ¡ =:i;.. ti .I fN(n; -_- =--__ - --- = - -= no room for the cables from the amp. Spade lugs can be 50 'fÍl':1. ., __--3'--- . =--___ POWER- - used, but they still have to share space with the bus wires. wATTS ' . D 5 -i _ =_ i ._ These are definitely not the well -thought-out connectors you --2¿':'-w-----i_._ Y ''. *_`__-. C_ should find on a $3,000 pair of speakers. 005 500r I+ 15h 2 i 251 The Studio 10s sounded very similar to my B & W 801 FREQUENCY- Hz Matrix Series 2 systems, except that the low bass was Fig. 13-Harmonic missing and some high -frequency emphasis was evident. In distortion products for addition, the sensitivities of the different systems were es- the musical tone A4 (440 Hz). sentially the same. Their soundstaging and imaging were Some third -harmonic first-rate, and they exhibited a very revealing character. distortion is evident at On the analog -recorded CD The Choir of Grace Cathe- lower power levels; see text. dral, San Francisco (Wilson Audiophile WCD-794/805), an -

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AudioQuest makes a full line of cables; speaker, audio -interconnect, video, S -video, fiber-optic and installation cables. All are engineered to bring you maximum performance.

AudioQuest has spent 12 years continually improving and fine tuning its cable designs to reduce all types of cable -induced distortion - and, to do it cost-effectively. Many different constructions and grades of copper and silver are used depending on the budget. AudioQuest F-18 speaker cable is one of three very flat cables which use multiple -solid conductors. The sound is sweet and clean because strand interaction is eliminated, while skin -effect 0000 0000, and resistance. are kept to a minimun. F-18

AudioQuest Indigo Hyperlitz° speaker cable uses geometry similar to our most expensive cables, yet is very affordable. The spiraled solid conductors maintain an absolutely consistent position and are far enough apa-t to prevent magnetic interaction. The clarity, dynamics and sense of acoustic space are incredible.

AudioQuest Lapis Hyperlitz° interconnect cable uses a patented construction which eliminates strand interaction and minimizes distortion caused by insulating ma:erials. Teflon insulation, FPC-6' copper (99.99997% pure), and resistance -welded, direct -gold plated, .FPCTM p ugs make this cable sound incredible. The aural invisibility of tris cable is something you will have to experience for yourself. AudioQuest's absolute commitment to value -doesn't mean that all AudioQuest products are inexpensive. It does mean that the expensive products are a very good value when used with better systems. No matter what type of equipment you have, you can maximize your system's performance with AudioQuest cables! Contact your local AudioQuest dealer and listen for yourself. You can hear the difference!

'All diagrams are 1V, times adual size. Indigo Hyperlitz Lapis Hyperlitz' ciucJioquest.

Tel: 714-498-2770 Fax: 714-498-5112 P 0. Box 3060, San Clemente, CA 92674 USA The Studio lOs were very revealing, and they showed first-rate soundstaging and imaging.

80 other great CD for organ buffs who also happen to like I I religious music, the Monitor Audios exhibited a slightly more 41 and 440Hz open and forward sound than the B & Ws on the choral 60 tracks, but with diminished low bass. The high -frequency emphasis of the Studio 10s was evident on the tape hiss zre between tracks. On track 11, between 6:46 and 6:50, there I 40 was severe intermodulation of the choir voices by the organ pedal notes at moderate to loud levels. It is clear that not only is the system's low -bass output reduced, but its low - 20 H- frequency power handling is low as well. A very - 61 and 440Hz steep, 50 Hz high-pass filter would be very beneficial to a system that includes Studio 10s. This would IM 0 greatly reduce distortion 0' IO l00 and dramatically increase the levels at which the 10s can POWER -WATTS play material with appreciable bass below 50 Hz. A good subwoofer and associated crossover would also be very Fig. 14-IM distortion on appropriate for use with the Studio 10s. 440 Hz (A4) produced by The Studio 10s' rendering of the lute solos on O Mistress 41.2 Hz (E1, upper curve) Mine, A Collection of English Lute Songs (Dorian CD DOR- and 61.7 Hz (B1, lower 90136) was done with much detail and expressiveness. The curve), when mixed in crisp plucked -string sound and the reverberant decay of the

one-to-one proportion. room were delivered very smoothly, with much realism. I The distortion is actually preferred the Studio 10s' reproduction of the tenor excessive with the voice on this CD to my reference systems'. The jazz string - customary lower bass line on track 1 of the Denon High End Hi-Fi Recordings frequency modulating CD (Denon GES-9515) was re-created very evenly, with tone, but it reaches a more none of the upper bass emphasis that is common with some reasonable 15% or so IM systems. at 50 watts with the A great sense of presence and space was generated on higher B1 tone; see text. the Schubert Trios for Piano, Violin, and Cello on the three - CD set of The Isaac Stern Collection, The Trio Recordings, Vol. 1 (Sony Classical SM3K 46425). My notes say, "Very musical! Good delineation of instruments." The 10s exhibited a moderate amount of upper -mid tonality changes on the 130 pink -noise stand-up/sit-down test; the reference B & W

I TEE I systems exhibited essentially no change. At 40 Hz and I iI fi ion WITH ROOM GAIN below, on third -octave band -limited pink noise, the speak- 120 PEAK ACOUSTIC OUTPUT ers' output was unusable and they just generated distortion. l

It III I On the Girl You Know It's True CD by Milli Vanilli, or 110 I. ! I t,t 10k whoever the heck sang on that album (Arista ARCD-8592), the Studio lOs just did not have the bass excitement at high PEAK INPUT POWER 100 1 levels that the B & W systems had. However, when I listened II to the Studio 10s playing the same album in my office, the WITHOUT ROOM GAIN It low end was quite adequate. That room is much smaller, the 90 t 100 speakers were positioned close to the walls, and I was much closer to them. This just emphasizes the fact that the 80 10 Studio 10s do better in smaller rooms-which, of course, is where small monitors are often used.

70 I The Studio 10s have turned out to be very revealing and 20 100 Ik 10k 20k articulate systems which can be played quite loudly without FREQUENCY- Hz compromising their fine high -end sonic qualities. However, they have been optimized for usage above 50 Hz, and Fig. 15-Maximum peak cannot do justice to program material that has a high con- input power and tent of low frequencies. If you have a large room, and your maximum peak sound tastes tend toward music with only a moderate amount of vs. frequency output at low bass, such as much baroque or chamber music. these 1 meter on axis. Above systems will do an extremely good job for you. In smaller 250 Hz, the system can rooms that provide more bass reinforcement, they may generate substantial satisfy all your needs. However, at a pricey $3,000/pair peaks in excess of 120 dB ($3,850 with stands), they deserve close scrutiny to see if SPL; see text. they match your needs. D. B. Keele, Jr.

54 AUDIO/JULY 1991 rh In airline pilots, brain surgeons, and CD Next, the stable platter, by supporting the entire area 1 players, steadiness is a pretty of the CD disc, minimizes wobble and chatter. 1i.1, fundamental requiremenr. A wobbling disc presents a difficult target for the In the case of our laser, while a chattering disc creates resonance, distorting Professional IT. hllanced outp.it jacks -are grounded and newest CD player, the Elitg PD 75, the signal, which distorts the sound. shield the signal against nose its rock -solid stability has rocked the world of music lovers Another problem for CDs is gravity. Spinning above and audio critics. As the reviews have rolled in and the the laser pickup and supported only in the center, the

HOWACONCEPTCALLEDTHESTABLE PLAT 1 ER TURNEDTHE CD UPSIDE DOWN. awards have been bestowed, it is apparent that the standard disc sags microscopically. Which to a for CD players has been advanced dramatically Behind this laser beam is significant degradation. success lies a principle that Elite has brilliantly exploited: But on the Elite CD platter,thedisc

The mechanical elements of a CD player are just as critical is turned upside down-that is, label to its quality as its electronic components. down, information side up. The disc

The first significant innovation to come out of this An advanced linear drive lies firmly clamped to a solid surface. motor moves the laser pickup with smooth speed insight is at the heart of the PD 75. The stable platter. and precision. Meanwhile, the laser pickup reads Two basics of physics- mass and inertia-combine the disc's digital code from above, where it is immune to to make the stable platter an obviously superior platform dust settling on the laser optics. to support a disc spinning at high velocity. We invite you to bring your favorite CD to an Elite dealer and demonstrate the advantages for yourself Give

clsllr '172 '59_ E t`r15_ that disc an audience on the ELITE e

r"."11111".1 1 .1111r...a PD 75 for what one critic called - -B Y P N E &

"a dimension of sound that you have never heard before:'

.7Ív Elite PD -75 Comnput Disc Pltwr Its elegant nnrskr limsh milpeas technical de;sino within And usher in a new era of stability.

For the name of the select dealers in ,our area caming tire full line of Elite Stable Platter CD Players. Please call 400.321-1606. ext.5r02. Cr 1991 Pioneer Electronics USA Inc., Long Brach, CA

Enter No. 17 on Reader Service Card EQUIPMENT PROFILE

Manufacturer's Specifications Frequency Response: 5 Hz to 20 FM Tuner Section kHz, ± 1.0 dB. Usable Sensitivity: 13 dBf. THD: Less than 0.005% at 1 kHz. Mono 50 -dB Quieting Sensitiv- S/N: Greater than 90 dB. ity: 15 dBf. Dynamic Range: 90 dB. S/N: 75 dB. Separation: 85 dB. Frequency Response: 20 Hz to 18 Track Program Memory Capaci- kHz, ±3 dB. ty: 18 discs, 16 tracks per disc. Capture Ratio: 1.0 dB. Alternate -Channel Selectivity: General Specifications 85 dB. Loudness Control: +8 dB at 60 Hz. Image Rejection: Greater than 80 Bass Control: ± 14 dB at 60 Hz. dB. Treble Control: ± 10 dB at 10 kHz. 1.f. Rejection: Greater than 100 dB. Dimensions: Head unit, 7.1 in. W x AM Rejection: 65 dB. 2 in. H x 6.3 in. D (18 cm x 5.2 cm B LAU PU N KT Separation: 50 dB at 1 kHz. x 16 cm); tuner module, 7 in. W x 1.7 in. H x 3.35 in. D (17.9 cm x NEW YORK AM Tuner Section 4.3 cm x 8.5 cm). Usable Sensitivity: 20 µV. Prices: $799.95 with one CD car- CAR TUNER/ 50 -dB Quieting Sensitivity: 60 tridge and one open CD cartridge µV. adaptor; pull-out shuttle mount kit, $31.95; additional CD cartridges, CD PLAYER CD Player Section $4.95 each. D/A Conversion: 16 -bit linear with Company Address: 2800 South two-times oversampling; separate 25th Ave., Broadview, Ill. 60153. converters for each channel. For literature, circle No. 91

BIM r NB>, -.a .,.,. HIFI r-- ' .wa:yvu, P -.,.- 0 :. ecatiPúlvKT° NEW YORK SCD 08 I'PSTS m CDTU 14_ _aLD FM 1-3T AM 1-2 3 ,ll ..ilo ir P ..

ISCAN <4 D> '.

- , BASS TRES Mrs 6 FADE1 v - Y

If you are looking for sophisticated and useful car audio extends all the way out past 15 kHz, while switching "HiFi" features, Blaupunkt's top -of -the -line New York might turn out off improves reception in weak -signal areas. Among the to be the Big Apple of your eye. Blaupunkt has always been circuits that switch in and out when going from one mode to an innovator in mobile electronic products, and this time the other are two ceramic filters that increase selectivity, an they have truly outdone themselves with unusual features. ignition -noise suppressor, and Dynamic Noise Reduction. Despite the multitude of features, the FM and CD perfor- The DNR circuit improves overall FM S/N ratio during weak -

mance was not among the best I have measured lately. But signal reception at the expense of treble response. A great let's talk about those wonderful features first. deal of emphasis has been placed on the design of the i.f. The FM tuner section has two reception modes, toggled section, which has no fewer than 12 poles of filtering, with by a "HiFi" button. In the "HiFi" mode, frequency response inductors rather than ceramic filters.

56 AUDIO/JULY 199 Intro e ' g E ele II. "My newest design provides better Introductory performance, better clarity and more Price... powerful deep bass than -any competing speaker system costing up to twice $399 Call 1.800-AKA-HIFI as much. We guarantee it." Henry Kloss

Threeyears ago, we at Cambridge SoundWorks changed the audio world when we introduced ,,.,,r...;...®.. . Ensemble® by Henry Kloss. Designed to com- pete with expensive, high-performance speaker systems, Ensemble offered no -compromise performance...in a revolutionary dual- subwoofer/satellite speaker package that could virtually disappear in one's living room. We then sold this revolutionary system in a revolutionary way: factory -direct to the public. By eliminating costly middlemen, we were able to price Ensemble at a fraction of the $1,000 price tag it would have carried in stores. For factory -direct savings Price breakthrough... -1..12411111- only $399! call 1 -800 -AKA HIFI.* The subwoofer can be placed just about any- Our helpful, knowledgeable audio experts are We're now pleased to announce Ensemble II, where in a room. It can go behind a chair, in on call from 8AM till midnight (eastern time). a single-subwoofer version of the best-selling back of drapes...or be used as a plant stand. Call to place an order-or to request our color Ensemble system. Ensemble II sounds virtu- The subwoofer uses a dual -chamber design. catalog -24 hours a day, ally identical to Ensemble (with its dual The first chamber consists of two long -throw 365 days a year. You'll Í subwoofers placed next to each other). In fact, 6.5" woofers, sealed in a true acoustic sus- find out why Stereo Review said "it's hard the satellites in Ensemble II are the same as pension cavity. These woofers project the to imagine going wrong with Ensemble." we use in the original Ensemble. But the big bass notes :nto a second cavity, which acts as news is Ensemble II's price: only $399. En- an acoustic filter. This design is far more semble Il features quality components and accurate than a conventional ported woofer. . 13 -T cabinet construction normally found only in very expensive speakers. And sonically it The satellites. outperforms systems selling for well over jVl\L 1 0R11.7 The satellites in the Ensemble 11 system are 154 California St., Suite 104JY, Newton, MA 02158 $750 a pair. But it's priced in the same range identical to those in the original Ensemble * 1-800-AKA-H1FI (800-252-4434) Fax with miniature bookshelf speakers. system' (which Audio magazine said "may Canada: 1-800-525-4434 Switchboard: 617-332-5936 The subwoofer is be the best value in the world"). Unlike our competition, an Ensemble satellite is a true the solution. two-way system, using high-grade compo- FREE Catalog Your ears can't tell what direction bass notes nents normally found in more expensive sys- Our catalog has specials on systems and are coming from. So Ensemble II uses a tems. With Ensemble ll's dual -chamber components from Philips, Denon, Pioneer subwoofer with two long -throw woofers to subwoofer, they create spectacular sound. and Cambridge reproduce deep bass, and two mini "satellite" SoundWorks, Ga%InNFOC.F i1ii>r,dti speakers for the mid -high frequencies. Conquer the fear of including - spending too little. Dolby Sur- Audio Hall of Fame round Sound , __: Don't be fooled by Ensemble H's price. Since member Henry Klass systems (as created the dominant we sell factory -direct to you, your money goes low as $999) -,--.._... , speakers of the '50s (AR), into making better speakers, not into paying .. that we think -----^`.: » '60s (KLH) and '70s for layers of distribution. Ensemble II is an all- :-.Y.T..... Now he's :11 are the best (Advent). out performance speaker that's equal to or o...... - "' created a new kind of values in the surpasses competing systems selling for audio companyfor the country. '90s...Cambridge hundreds more. We guarantee it - or your SoundWorks. ® 19.1 Cambridge SoundWorks. Inc We ship worldwide. including APO it FPO money back. r Except :or connecung terminals AR S Adeem are trademarks of Jensen Laboratories Enter No. 7 on Reader Service Card The FM tuner's "HiFi" mode extends the treble response by switching out filters and noise reducers needed only in weak -signal areas.

AMPLITUDE (dB) VERSUS FREQUENCY (Ha); FM TUNER SECTION; BLAUPUNRT SCD08 Among the features in the CD player section is a Track 2.0000 ...... _ ...... _...... __._...... _...... , -.-. r r i HI-FI MODE ' Program Memory that "recognizes" up to 18 of your favorite 0.0 .... _._. ------CDs and plays only those selections that you have . previous- -2.000 ._ -- - :..:,- _.__._-L...... ly programmed into New -4.000 - the York's memory bank. The player employs a CD cartridge loading system. One cartridge is supplied with the unit, and of course more can be -8.000 .. purchased separately. Two types of cartridges were includ- . ..._ ...... -10.00 ..ETffi ...... 20 100 16 106 20M ed with the sample I tested. One type seals in the CD,

Fig. 1-Frequency keeping out dirt, dust, and fingerprints that I find invariably

response, FM tuner end up on the playing surface of CDs whenever I try to load section, for left channel "loose" ones into ordinary car CD players. The other type (solid curves) and right included with my sample is effectively a cartridge with one channel (dashed curves). end and the top open. You slip this cartridge into the slot

and are then able to load loose CDs. I prefer the first type, since that loading method really gets around my chief ob- jection to the whole concept of CD players in cars-the damage to loose CDs that ultimately results from handling QUIETING CHARACTERISTICS, FM TUNER SECTION: BLAUPUNRT SCION them while driving. 0.0 ...... -__...... _._...... _...... 1 I Ap The CD player also features track scanning, automatic -10.00 _....AUDIO OUTPUT I disc repeat, fast forward and reverse, and pause/play. Disc ...... _..... -20.00 program search skips forward or backward; which track is -30.00 _ ...... accessed depends on how many times you've pushed the -40.00 ...... _ _. _.. appropriate button. The CD playback circuitry employs two- -50.00 ..-.'.... times oversampling plus dual 16 -bit D/A converters. Al- STEREO NOISE -60.00 ...... __...... though the New York does not have provisions for an extra

-70.00 - _...... input (such as a portable cassette player), you can purchase an interface accessory for connecting a Blaupunkt -80.00 - - MONO NOISE cassette or DAT deck to the system. -90.00 ...... 0 0 10 00 20 00 30 00 40 00 50 00 60 00 70 00 80 00 The New York has full -range bass and treble controls and A a properly designed loudness -compensation circuit. Per- haps most important of all in these perilous times, a four - B digit code system renders the unit useless once it has been QUIETING CHARACTERISTICS, NON HI-FI MODE, 111 TUNER SECTION; BLAUPUNRT SCDOB 0.0 Ap removed from its power source, unless the secret code is -10.00 punched in when reconnecting power. My only problem

-20.00 with such a theft -prevention scheme is the fear that any

-30.00 thieves who steal this lovely head unit, or those who buy from them, won't know that it won't work for anyone -40.00 else unless they know the code, even though the word "Code" is -50.00 discreetly lettered on the panel. However, a slide -out shuttle -60.00 bracket is available so you can take the unit with you. The -70.00 New York, by the way, can be adjusted to mount at angles

-80.00 .. MONO NOISE up to 45° in cars that don't allow mounting it horizontally. The tuner module accompanying the main chassis has no 0 0 10 00 20 00 30 00 40 00 50 00 60 00 70 00 00 00 controls, and only your car antenna needs to be connected Fig. 2-FM quieting to it. It can therefore be mounted out of sight, under the characteristics for "HiFi dash, but its final location is limited by the rather short cable

mode (A) and normal provided for connecting it to the unit's main chassis. I was mode (B). particularly pleased to notice that, at last, Blaupunkt has seen fit to provide an adaptor cable to go from their DIN output connector to four standard phono jacks (two for the front amplifier and two for a rear amplifier). The adaptor also has a separate wire that will serve as a "trigger" for turning The tuner can handle a total of 36 presets, 24 for FM and on most car amplifiers. There was also a DIN -to -DIN cable 12 for AM. This includes the contribution of Travel Store, a that could be used to hook directly to any one of Blaupunkt's feature that automatically memorizes the first six strong four -channel amplifiers or to one of their equalizers. stations it finds in your area. The tuner also has manual tuning, seek, scan, and preset scan. Seek and scan sensi- Control Layout tivity can be adjusted to stop at virtually all stations or just One of the most welcome features of the front panel is its the strong ones. Both local/distant reception sensitivity and chameleon -like control markings. When a CD cartridge is mono/stereo blend are switched automatically. inserted, the green illumination of the numbered station 58 AUDIO/JULY 1991 L 1T 05, defines the voice af quality in uric

e e

e , .1.1 _.._ 4

e 0 s

:(F 230 XR 243

For information on McIntosh products and product reviews, please send your name, address and phone number to: McIntosh Laboratory Inc. Department 791A PO Bcx 96 East Side Station Crafted with pride in the United States by Binghamton, NY 13904.0096 Enter No. 14 on Reader Service Caro dedicated, highly trained craftspeople. Copyright 1991 Molnlone laboratory kv. Blaupunkt's CD cartridge loading system prevents the damage that loose discs undergo in cars.

TOD NOISE VERSUS SIGNAL LEVEL. RI TUNER SECTION, BLAUPONRT SCDOO 3 concentric "Fader" ring and loudness switch. The volume API knob also turns the set on and off and, if pulled, becomes STEREO the balance control. To the right are recessed bass and treble tone controls (which can be popped up for adjustment) and buttons that select any one of four preset "bands" for FM (counting Travel Store) and two for AM. The MONO 0.1 six preset buttons to the right of the display therefore com- 0 0 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 mand as many as 24 FM and 12 AM stations. Buttons to the A right of the presets handle all other tuner functions. A button B labelled "PS -TS," if pressed briefly, causes the tuner to scan

TNO NOISE VERSUS SIGMRL LEVEL. NOM HI -PI MODE. PEI SECTION; RLAUPUMIIT SCD08 in succession all stations stored in the AM or FM "bands." 3 API Holding this button down for more than 2 S activates Travel STEREO Store, automatically memorizing the first six strong stations it finds in the area. The next button, labelled ". m," cycles the unit through automatic search (seek) tuning with either low (".") or high ("..") sensitivity, then switches it to manual MONO tuning ("m"). The "CD TU" button changes operation be- 0.1 0 0 10.00 /0.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 tween tuner functions and CD playing (if a disc has been loaded into the unit). In both seek and manual tuning Fig. 3-THD + N vs. modes, a rocker switch in the lower right corner of the panel FM signal level in "HiFi" tunes up and down the frequency band. The "Scan" button mode (A) and normal just to its left plays every station in the currently selected mode (B); see text. broadcast band for a few seconds. When playing CDs, the "PS -TS" and "Scan" buttons become inactive. The rocker switch is now used for track selection. The six buttons previously used for station presets take on new identities and, as mentioned, have red labels

DISTORTION 1 NOISE VERSUS FREQUENCY; BLAUPUMRT SCD08 FTI TUNER SECTION instead of their previous green illumination. Button "1" now 3 I I AP; I I .. becomes "TPM" (for Track Program Memory) is ;; and used I I I ' for choosing and storing the track -playing sequence of up : 1 'r to 18 of your favcrite CDs. The second preset button is now ' ' STEREO '/ i ...... : ...... ""-:-..r.. used to "Clear" previously stored track sequences. The , ------... third button scans all tracks of a CD, the first 10 S MONO playing or so of each track. If this "Scan" button is pressed at the same 0.1 time as the "TPM" button, only the selections in Track Program Memory will be played, and in whatever order they were programmed. Labels above the "4" and "5" buttons show that they now handle audible fast searching in either 0.010 50 100 101. 20k direction of play, while button "6" now toggles between pause and play. An eject button at the upper right corner of Fig. + N vs. 4-THD the panel, next to the CD slot, completes the New York's frequency, FM tuner front -panel layout. section. The well -illuminated display area shows station frequency, stereo indication, station preset number, band indication, selected search tuning sensitivity, and memory bank indications when using the tuner functions. When operating preset buttons turns off, and illuminated words appear in the CD player section, the display shows playing time (in- red to indicate the CD functions that these buttons now cluding total playing time, when a disc is first inserted), control. That's sure a lot clearer than trying to cram indeci- Track Program Memory mode, number of the currently play- pherable double abbreviations onto each button and leaving track, and "Scan" if that function is in use. ing it up to the user to figure out what they stand for and which are for CD and which for radio. Measurements

The "HiFi on/off button is at the upper left. In early When I first turned on the New York and began to mea-

production units, including the samples I and Ivan Berger sure FM frequency response, I didn't believe the results I tested, this button had to be switched on whenever the obtained. After all, the published specification claims a flat

"HiFi" operating mode was desired, as the set defaulted to response (within ±3 dB) from 20 Hz to 18 kHz, and I the normal mode when it was turned on. Units now in seemed to be getting a roll -off amounting to more than 9 dB

production allow the user to select either mode as the at 15 kHz. It was then I determined that, on my sample, it default. A light below the button indicates when the "HiFi" was necessary to push the "HiFi" button after turning on the

mode is in use. At the lower left is the volume knob, with set. Once I did so, response was down no more than

60 AUDIO/JULY 1991 The AM section impressed me with its bass response and its excellent sensitivity, achieving 20 dB S/N with only 20 µV of signal.

SEPARATION (dB) vs. FREQUENCY (14.):1_sMODULATED CH..-=UMMOD.CH.) about 0.7 dB at 15 kHz. Results of both these tests are ..._._ ...... 10.00 I..)...ri ), Ap shown in Fig. 1. es def 0.0 ....._ .. 0.0 Since I wanted to see just how much improvement in def signal-to-noise ratio I would get by disabling the "HiFi" -10.00 -10.0

mode, I ran two tests of the quieting characteristics of the 45 dBf .. ._ ...... -20.0 FM tuner section. In "HiFi" mode (Fig. 2A), 50 -dB quieting in -20.00 mono required about 23 dBf of input signal. Witn "HiFi" -30.00 -30.0 defeated (Fig. 2B), 50 -dB quieting required about 20 dBf. -40.00 -10.0 Furthermore, even at strong signal levels, ultimate S/N was 6sdaf somewhat better with the "HiFi" mode inoperative-better -50.00 -50.0 than 80 dB in mono and about 78 dB (at 80 dBf) in stereo, as against 78 dB in mono and 72 dB (at 80 dBf) in stereo. 30 100 1 106 20k So, as suggested by Blaupunkt, the "HiFi" mode represents Fig. 5 -FM frequency a trade-off of signal-to-noise for better frequency response. response and separation Of course, at strong signal levels, the difference in S/N is at two signal levels. minimal, so I would use the "HiFi" mode whenever possible Modulated channel shown to obtain flat response. by solid curves, Figures 3A and 3B show how THD + N varied with signal unmodulated channel by strength. There was virtually no difference between results dashed curves. obtained with the "HiFi" setting or without it. The results are

very strange, however, in another respect. Rarely have I ever seen a situation where distortion at low signal levels is actually lower in stereo than in mono. The curves indicate

that this is so, but I think I know what the reason may be. SPECTRUM ANALYSIS OF 5 kHz SIGNAL OUTPUT, IL AND R OUTPUTS): BLAUPUNKT SCION FT) 0.0 - 40.00 When I plot these curves, I adjust for 100% FM modulation, AP

which, in the U.S., corresponds to ±75 kHz deviation. -20.00 20.00 That's considerably more than the maximum deviation used -10.00 0.0 by European FM stations. Blaupunkt uses superb i.f. filtering -60.00 -20.0 to obtain extremely high alternate -channel selectivity, and I suspect that the higher than usual levels of mono THD are -80.00 -40.0 It is for the result of this restricted i.f. bandwidth. responsible -100.0 -60.0 an apparent "mono usable sensitivity" of 20 dBf. Remem- -120.0 -80.0 ber, though, that usable sensitivity is determined by a com- -140.0 -100 bination of noise and distortion. As I saw earlier, 20 dBf was enough to produce an S/N of more than 50 dB without "HiFi" -160.0 - 120 35 Ok 10 Ok 45 Ok 50 Ok turned on. The failure to meet the published usable sensitiv- 20 00 5.02k 10 06 15 Ok 20 Ok 25 0k 30 06 ity spec must have been due entirely to distortion caused by

my high levels of modulation during testing. SPECTRUM ANALYSIS OF 5 kHz SIGNAL OUTPUT, IL AND R OUTPUTS): BLAUPUNNT SCDOB FM

...... _ ...... __...... _ So, how come the apparent usable sensitivity (the point at 0.0 ...... _ 10.00 which THD + N reaches 3%) is so much better in stereo? -20.00 20.00 Well, to 20 dBf, the set is not tell the truth, below about -40.00 0.0 actually operating in stereo any longer but has reverted to -20.0 mono. Nevertheless, my modulation now consists of only -60.00 90% left -channel -only, not 100%. This corresponds to a -80.00 -40.0

deviation of ±67.5 kHz instead of ±75 kHz, just enough of -100.0 -60.0 a decrease to reduce the distortion caused by the set's i.f. -120.0 -80.0 bandwidth limitations. The 19 -kHz pilot signal, which re- - 100 mains on throughout the stereo plot, produces the addition- -140.0 al 10% of FM modulation. 20 00 5.02k 10 Ok 15.06 20 0k 25 Ok 30 Ok 35 0k 10 Ok 45 Ok SO Ok Figure 4 is a plot of THD + N versus modulating frequency, for mono and stereo, in the "HiFi" mode. Mono THD + N Fig. 6 -Spectrum analysis was a bit more than 0.3% at 100 Hz, slightly more than 0.2% of crosstalk and products for at 1 kHz, and 0.26% at 6 kHz. In stereo, results were subcarrier with one somewhat higher: 0.46% at 100 Hz, 0.35% at 1 kHz, and FM stereo signal 0.33% at 6 kHz. channel modulated by Figure 5 shows how FM separation varied with frequency. 5 kHz (solid curve) and At strong signal levels (represented by the difference be- the other channel tween the upper solid curve and the lower dashed curve), unmodulated (dashed mode separation measured 50 dB at 1 kHz, exactly as claimed. curve) for "HiFi" Separation was still a very high 45 dB at 100 Hz and 37 dB (A) and normal mode (B).

AUDIO/JULY 1991 61 Deviation from linearity for dithered signals from -70 to -100 dB ranks with the best I've yet measured for a car CD player.

AMPLITUDE (dB) VERSUS FREQUENCY (NN): AM TUNER SECTION, BLAUPUNIIT SCDOB meeting the goal of the National Radio Systems Committee APl 5.0000 (NRSC) of having AM tuners exhibit essentially flat response

0.0 H...... to at least 7.5 kHz. Sensitivity of the AM tuner, meanwhile,

-5.000 was excellent, with a 20 -dB S/N ratio achieved with only 20

-10.00 µV applied to the antenna input.

-15.00 In checking frequency response of the CD player section,

-20.00 I was somewhat shocked to find a channel imbalance great-

-25.00 er than 0.7 dB at mid -frequencies and even greater at lower

-30.00 frequencies. Results of the simultaneous response plots for

-35.00 both channels are shown in Fig. 8. Certainly, a half dB or so of channel imbalance is nothing to get too upset about, but 30 100 OR in view of the fact that output levels from left and right

Fig. 7 -Frequency channels were virtually identical for the FM tuner, I can't response, AM section, for imagine why this difference in output should have occurred signal with new standard when the New York operated in the CD player mode. Of 75-µS pre -emphasis. course, it can be argued that the expanded vertical scale I use in making the CD player measurements tends to exag-

gerate the differerce. I would point out, on the other hand,

that it's the same scale I use for testing all CD players, and I can't remember seeing such a significant difference in output level between left and right In it AMPLITUDE OMB) VS. FREQUENCY (UN): BLAUPUNRT SC00B CD PLAYER ECTI ON channels. any case, .50000 ...... _ ..._ ...... __.,.__ ...... _...... _ .. .5000 _ _ At; would be an easy enough matter to correct this with the LEFT i 0.0 -r 0.0 balance control, and chances are that another sample would not even exhibit this condition. -.5000 -.500 Figure 9 shows how THD + N varied with frequency for -1.000 -1.00 the CD player. At 1 kHz, THD + N was less than 0.005%, as RIGHT -1.500 ...... -1.50 claimed. At higher frequencies, the rise in the curve was

-2.000 ...... caused largely by out -of -band, inaudible beats. Figure 10 10 100 14 10k 20k shows how THD + N varied with recorded signal level. It is Fig. 8 -Frequency obvious from this plot that Blaupunkt designed an excellent response, CD player analog audio section, for even at maximum recorded level section, from 10 Hz to (0 dB), there was practically no rise in distortion relative to 20 kHz; see text. maximum level. At lower levels (below -20 dB), THD + N hovered around the -90 dB point, which corresponds to a percentage of 0.0032% below maximum recorded level. The -87.5 dB reading at 0 dB corresponds to 0.0042%,

providing close correlation with the result for 1 -kHz maximum recorded level shown in Fig. 9.

From a spectrum analysis of a 0 -dB, 1 -kHz signal played

at 10 kHz. The effect of blending is evident when signal back through the CD section of the New York, I determined strength is reduced to 45 dBf. Yet even at that low signal that the actual distortion components were primarily the level, separation remained more than 20 dB across the seventh and ninth harmonics at levels of around -88 and

entire frequency spectrum -enough to yield a perfectly sat- -90 dB. Calculating the effective THD from those figures, I isfactory stereo soundstage, particularly in an automobile. came up with a value of 0.00506% for harmonic distortion,

I suspected that there would be a difference in FM stereo close enough to the previous results. crosstalk and distortion products with and without the "HiFi" The A -weighted S/N for the CD player section was 95.5

mode engaged. Accordingly, I ran my spectrum analysis dB for the left channel and 95.4 dB for the right channel. A test twice, using a 5 -kHz signal to modulate only one chan- spectrum analysis of the residual noise at the output of the nel to 100%. Results are shown with "HiFi" on (Fig. 6A) and New York while playing the "silent" track of my CBS CD -1 off (Fig. 6B). While the 5 -kHz separation seems to be a bit test disc showed that residual noise was at or below -110 greater with "HiFi" turned off, notice how much more promi- dB from about 30 Hz to 4 kHz, rose to about -102 dB at 30 nent the residual 19- and 38 -kHz subcarrier signals are it Hz and 20 kHz, and reached a low of -120 dB at 200 Hz. this mode. Additional tests made for the FM tuner in "HiFi" Figure 11 shows how separation varied with frequency, mode confirmed the very high rated alternate -channel se- measuring 75.5 dB from left to right and 81.6 dB from right lectivity of 85 dB and the superb i.f. rejection of greater than to left at mid -frequencies. Even at 10 kHz, worst -case sepa- 100 dB. Capture ratio was 1.3 dB, and image rejection ration was still in excess of 70 dB. measured close to 90 dB. Figure 12 is a plot of deviation from perfect linearity. With

I was impressed with the low -frequency response of the undithered signals, linearity at -90 dB was off by between AM tuner section (Fig. 7). However, even though treble 2.2 dB and 3.0 dB (depending on the channel measured). response extended beyond 3.0 kHz, that's a long way from For low-level dithered signals ranging from - 70 to -100 62 AUDIO/JULY 1991 .4 %'

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-.r . 1 . . w. .. t .r^a.+rirs.FY ÍM'^"i . . r!.1 i S YSTEMS n Music MTX . ._ car. Ji .,.. ín your dimension. ...- sound interior f .c exact use high- ° ....- true custom car's - SPEAKER. . afford fit your Modules Pre to Music you can networks. - . .. designed MTX Color ... Finally, -shaped, specifically with crossover easy. are computer fast and available Modules ano complete cloth mounting grille of Engineered and of a pair componentry, and matching price with installation dye the sound performance makes spray For about custom 2 still with engineering dealer. is easier MTX high performance soon. enjoy dealer matching authorized can MTX 555 your you at an us at from coaxials car audio Write in sound. conventionaland finish. revolution custom fit latest about d` factory the call 1-800-223-5266. and hear serious or See that's IL, 61032, the company Freeport, S From Road, n Lamm West Serious about Sound The "HiFi" mode definitely will sharpen and clarify the highs on signals good enough to justify its use.

TND NOISE (:,) VS. FREQUENCY (Nil AT MAX. RECORDED LEVEL: RLAUPUNRT SCD00 CD to -120 dB. From the results in Fig. 13, I was able to ascertain the player's figure for EIA dynamic range, which amounted to just over 100 dB. With the EIAJ method, dynamic range measured 92 dB for the left channel and 92.4 dB for the right. The real-time plot of a unit pulse reproduced by the New York revealed that this player does not invert polarity of recorded signals. Other tests made for the CD player section included a spot test of SMPTE-IM distortion at maximum recorded level, which turned out to be 0.0109% for the left channel and 0.0128% for the right. Internal clock accuracy 20 loo 10k 20k was such that reproduced tones were within 0.0107% of Fig. 9-THD + N vs. absolute accuracy.

frequency, CD player Finally, I measured the range of the bass and treble tone section, in percent controls; the results (Fig. 14) come close to the rated values. relative to 0 -dB level. In my opinion, Blaupunkt offers a bit too much bass boost

for a car unit, though I know full well that they are probably responding to demands of the marketplace which dictate that thundering (if exaggerated) bass is what "good" car audio is all about. We purists, who don't go along with this, TAD . NOISE (dR) VS. AMPLITUDE (d0): RLAUPUMRT SCOUR CD PLAYER SECTION -00.00 -00.0 have the option of keeping the control flat, of course, while

-05.00 -R5.0 bass -hungry car audio buffs can drive their power amplifiers as far into overload distortion as they please! -90.00 -90.0

I was very pleased to note that Blaupunkt is one of the -95.00 -95.0 few companies that understands what a loudness compen- -100 sation circuit is supposed to do. Reduced setting of the -100 -90.0 -00.0 -70.0 -60.0 -50.0 -40.0 -30.0 -20.0 -10.0 0 0 New York's volume control resulted in only gradually in- Fig. 10-THD + N vs. creasing amounts of bass boost, with no alteration of the signal amplitude, CD treble response. player section, relative There is so much that's great about this well -designed

to 0 -dB level. head unit that I was almost reluctant to point out the minor flaws, such as the slight but surprising channel imbalance of the CD player section (which may well have been peculiar

to my sample alone). I thoroughly approved of the conve-

nience features. I liked the cartridge loading system used SEPARATION VS. FREQUENCY. RLAUPUNRT SDCOR CD PLAYER SECTION -,0.00 ...... Memory. I Ap for CDs, and the easy -to -use Track Program do wish the memory could accommodate more than 18 CDs, -50.00 but I suppose 18 will satisfy most users. FM reception was

in my lab, and I will be anxious to hear how well -60.00 very good the set performs on the highway when Technical Editor Ivan RIGHT TO LEFT -70.00 Berger installs it in his car and gives it a "test drive." Leonard Feldman -00.00 LEFT TO RIGHT Behind the Wheel -90.00 Blaupunkt's CD cartridge loading system (which is also 1. used by Clarion and Yamaha) will probably appeal more to 10 100 1k 10k 206 those who use the same discs most of the time than those Fig. 11-Separation vs. who play a wide variety of discs and constantly try new frequency, CD player ones. In the former case, spending $4.95 each for extra CD section. cartridges beyond the one supplied, and spending time transferring CDs into them, will seem a worthwhile exchange for the resulting disc protection and convenience. Other- wise, the supplied cartridge adaptor that accepts naked CDs will be an utter necessity.

dB, deviation, while not the lowest I have measured for all Overall, the New York's ergonomics are straightforward

types of CD players, was still among the best I have seen for and useful. The layout is good, with audio controls and radio a car CD player. These results were further confirmed when band switches on the left, CD and tuning controls on the

I ran the fade -to -noise test shown in Fig. 13. This test, right. The preset tuning buttons are in two rows of three employing dithered signals, plots deviation from linearity instead of one long unbroken row. Having the double -arrow and increase in noise for a signal varying linearly from -60 up-and-down buttons for tuning located right next to the

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A While the New York manages to cram in every feature that I want, you don't need a map and a graduate degree in engineering to use it.

DEVIATION P1011 PERFECT LINEARITY, BLAUPUNKT SCDOR CD PLAYER "Scan" button lets you move easily back to a station you 8.0000 have passed. 6.0000 The display was exceptionally informative and very easy 4.0000 to read at night or on overcast days but was washed out by 2.0000 daylight. When the unit is shut off, nothing UN DITHERED glows to help you 0.0 find it in the dark. Yet once it's on, all controls are decently -2.000 illuminated and the disc loading slot has a faint glow. The -1.000 change in DITHERED button illumination as you switch between radio -6.000 and CD was a big help, especially at night. -8.000 The New York has every tuner feature one could ask for- every known tuning mode, -100 automatic local/distance switch- -90.0 -80.0 -70.0 -60.0 -50.0 -10.0 -30.0 -20.0 -10.0 0 0 ing, adjustable scan sensitivity, and station memories for Fig. 12-Deviation from every contingency (including travel). Counting Travel Store, perfect linearity for which finds six strong stations within seconds and programs dithered and undithered them into a separate memory bank, this head unit can signals. memorize 24 FM and 12 AM station frequencies-which is plenty. And the preset scan button runs through all the FM or AM presets, not just the currently selected bank. I couldn't have asked for more CD features, either, though some might want controls for a CD changer. The display shows the time within track as well as the track number; access features include audible fast -forward and rewind, Track Program Memory for your favorite cuts on 18 CDs, FADE -TO -NOISE TEST. CD PLAYER SECTION BLAUPUNRT SCD00 10.000 and scanning of the first 10 S of every track as well as the

0.0000 usual track search. After such interruptions as a severe 6.0000 bump, switching to the tuner, turning the ignition on and off, or 4.0000 even removing the unit and replacing it in the dash, play resumes from 2.0000 the very place on the disc where it left off. The 0.0 New York's FM reception was almost, but not quite, as -2.000 good as my reference unit's. The difference in sensitivity was very -4.000 slight, but there were places where my Sound - stream could -6.000 separate two stations on the same or adjacent channels better -8.000 than the Blaupunkt did. The New York mutes on weak signals, which -10.00 blocked out some marginally -120 -110 -100 -90.0 -80.0 -70.0 -60.0 listenable stations but ensured I wouldn't get drowned in

noise when I Fig. tuned to a station that had long gone out of 13-Fade-to-noise range. test. Pressing the "HiFi" button definitely sharpened and clarified the highs, though it also muted the signal for an annoying second. But it only helps on good signals, so I favor having the normal mode as the default. The FM sound was basically good, warm but not unacceptably so. The AM section traded off some high -frequency response to get better interference rejection; that's reasonable, but I wish the "HiFi" button worked on AM too. The sound on CD was also on the warm side, not as TONE CONTROL RANCE (AR 1 VS. FREQUENCY (0 1; AUX INPUTS, BLn11PUNRT SCD08 15.000 sparkly-or as harsh-as some car CD players I've heard. Ap Oscar Peterson's piano tone on "You Look Good to Me" (We 10.000 ... Get Requests, Verve 810047-2) lost its percussive edge, and the rosiny bow sounds of the double bass lost their 5.0000 ... buzz. However, the triangles sounded appropriately silvery 0.0 _ and airy. Elizabeth Schwarzkopf Sings Operetta (Angel CDC -47284) had a trace of nasality at first, but a slight -5.000 tweak of the tone controls got rid of that. Bumps did not unsettle the CD player unless they were severe enough to -10.00 unsettle the passengers as well.

All in all, the Blaupunkt New York I -15.00 ... provided every feature 20 100 16 101, 206 could wish for without requiring a map and an engineering Fig. 14-Bass degree to use. Its radio reception was excellent, its sound and treble was clear and control range. agreeable, and for those who want it, it offers the extra disc protection of cartridge loading. Ivan Berger 66 AUDIO/JULY 1991 a The Quest

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Manufacturer's Specifications Weight: 35 lbs. (15.9 kg) each. Power Output: 50 watts at 1 kHz. Prices: CAD -50, $1,295 per pair; Frequency Response at 1 Watt CAD-50sL, $1,495 per pair. Output: 20 Hz to 20 kHz, +0, Company Address: 101J Wood- -0.75 dB; 15 Hz to 20 kHz, ±2 dB. winds Industrial Ct., Cary, N.C. THD at Rated Power: 2.5%. 27511. Hum and Noise: 80 dB below rated For literature, circle No. 92 output. Damping Factor: Greater than 30. Input Sensitivity: 1.5 V for full output. Input Impedance: 100 kilohms. Circuit Type: Push-pull amplification in Class AB1. Tube Complement: One ECC83/ 12AX7 pre -driver, one 12BH7 phase inverter, two EL34 output tubes. CARY AUDIO Power Requirements: 100 to 125 CAD -50 and V a.c., 50/60 Hz; export version, 220 V a.c., 50 Hz. CAD -505L Dimensions: 17 in. W x 53/4 in. H x 12 in. D (43.2 cm x 14.6 cm x 30.5 MONO AMPS cm).

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68 AUDIO/JULY 1991 I first learned about Cary Audio Design from an advertisement in an "underground" hi-fi magazine in late 1989 that showed a top view of one of their tube power amplifiers with

its cover removed. I was intrigued to see that it used a toroidal output transformer. At the Winter 1990 Consumer

Electronics Show, I visited Cary Audio's booth and heard

some very nice sound coming out of Dahlquist speakers. I discovered that Cary makes a 100 -watt tube power amp with stacked toroidal output transformers, in addition to their 50 -watt units. They also make a tube preamp, a CD processor/high-level tube preamp, and a hybrid four -channel power amp using tube front -ends with solid-state output stages.

I then arranged to get some of Cary's amplifiers for review. What they finally sent was two pairs of amps, one the general-purpose CAD-50st. that uses an El -lamination output transformer, and the other the special-purpose CAD -50, with a toroidal output transformer, whose performance is optimized for bass frequencies. This quartet of amps makes up the Cary Reference System, intended for use as a

biamplified system. It just so happens that I have on hand a

Martin -Logan Monolith III speaker system that I have been Also on the rear panel are Tiffany phono connectors for experimenting with and listening to. This system is commit- signal "Input" and for "Remote" turn -on and turn-off of the ted to biamplified use, with a low-level active crossover, amp, a pair of knobs for adjusting output -tube bias (plate and therefore is tailor-made for trying out the Cary Refer- current), two line fuses, a gold-plated ground post, a two - ence System. position rotary switch for changing the output tubes' mode

I liked the appearance of these units at first sight. They of operation from pentode to triode, and the power cord. have meters on their front panels, as all God's tube amplifi- Chassis construction is straightforward, consisting of a ers should. Other front -panel attributes include a rocker - piece of aluminum bent Lp to form the rear panel, bottom, type on/off switch and a rotary knob for selecting which and front subpanel. Another piece of aluminum is bent to output tube's plate current will be read on the meter. This form the top and side cover. This latter piece is perforated control has a third position labelled "Class A" for monitoring on the top and sides with many small, round holes for the sum of the two plate currents. The use of this term is ventilation. Inside, the output and power transformers are misleading, in my considered opinion, as it implies the mounted directly to the bottom of the chassis. A T-shaped amplifier's mode of operation is Class A when the knob is p.c. board mounted on stand-offs above the bottom of the put in that position. chassis carries the amplifier signal circuitry, including the On the rear panel we find a pair of Edison Price Music tubes and main power -supply filter capacitors. A 3/16 -inch - Post speaker connectors, outrageously appropriate for thick front panel is mounted to the front subpanel to dress large wire and spade lugs; they easily accommodate the up the finished appearance of the unit.

thick spade lugs on the Cardas speaker wires that I use. Parts and build quality are excellent in these units. My only complaint is that there are too many screws holding on the top cover!

alb Circuit Description The circuit is quite conventional in topology. A number of tube power amplifiers built over the years have used similar circuitry. The first stage (Fig. 1A) is a common -cathode amplifier with paralleled tube elements, direct -coupled to the second stage. This second stage, configured as a split - load phase inverter, again with paralleled tube elements, is capacitor -coupled to the output -tube control grids. High - quality Sidereal brand 0.22-µF, 600-V film capacitors are used here and are bypassed with Sidereal 0.01-µF, 600-V units. The output stage (Fig. 1 B) has a switch for operating the tubes as pentodes or triodes. In pentode mode, the screen grids are connected to the B + supply; in triode mode, the screens are connected to the tube plates. This feature gives the present-day user the ability to experience the old "Pentode/Triode controversy" by listening to these two types of output -tube operation. When the amps are triode -connected, power output is lower (usually somewhat AUDIO/JULY 1991 69 Just by flipping a switch on the Cary amps, you can relive the controversy over triodes versus pentodes in amplifier output stages.

TO PLATE SUPPLY FEEDBACK A less than half that attainable in pentode operation), output impedance is lower, and distortion is less dependent on load conditions. When the tubes operate as pentodes (actually as beam -power tubes, which most of the modern output tubes really are), power output is higher, output impedance is higher, and distortion is more dependent on loading and TO usually has more higher order odd harmonics. The basic OUTPUT GRIDS reason for higher power when output tubes are pentode - connected is that saturation voltage, the minimum voltage across the tube when fully turned on, is quite a bit lower in the pentode connection and therefore the voltage swing is larger for the same plate -supply voltage, producing more power output. A clever arrangement is used in the cathode circuit of the output tubes to measure the plate currents on the front - panel meter. Resistors R13, R14, and R24 are all of the TO POWER TRANSFORMER same value. The meter, a milliammeter with a calibrated CENTER TAP series resistance which turns it into a voltmeter in actuality, is switched across each of these resistors in turn. When - FEEDBACK B across R13 or R14, the meter will indicate the individual

RED plate currents of each output tube. When switched across R24, the meter will read the sum of the two plate currents because both of these currents flow through R24. It is this OUTPUT latter condition that is termed "Class A" on the front -panel meter switch. BLACK An overall negative feedback loop is connected from the output transformer secondary back to the first -stage cathode. Mounted on the p.c. board is an internal two -position toggle switch (S2 in Fig. 1A) that allows for a change of several dB in the amount of feedback. The units were measured and listened to in the "greater feedback" position. Secondary winding configuration of the output transformer consists of two windings in parallel. Cary's specifications don't indicate what load impedance the transformer METER secondary loading is optimized for. Dennis Had, designer of Fig. 1-Initial stages (A) feedback level switch the Cary Audio gear, indicated in a conversation that "best and output stage (B) of S2 (A), as well as triode/ match" was set for about 8 -ohm loading. We'll find out CAD -50 and CAD -50sá. pentode switch and something about this subject in the measurements section amps. Note RC circuit metering system in output of this profile. used to add mild bass stage (B). As for the power supply, the high -voltage secondary boost to CAD -50, and winding on the power transformer is full -wave rectified with solid-state rectifiers, and loaded with a capacitor input filter consisting of two 320-µF, 450-V electrolytic capacitors. This main filter capacitance is bypassed by one of the Sidereal film Interestingly, the rectifier BR LABS PUBAHPFB LEVEL(dBr) FBEQ(Hz 0.22-µF, 600-V capacitors. 20.100 diodes are also bypassed by a pair of these capacitors. , 1.I,,.,. This presumably absorbs some of the transient energy

I , when the start and stop and it may well 10.000 .. I f ,II : .. ,I,./II diodes conduction,

OPEN CIRCU T I I Ii ,.. improve the sonic quality of the amplifier. The tube heaters I ÍI 1.:'I

I +t-r--77:17i 7r; -r} rtrt , all operate off a.c. in this design. o.J I Measurements -10.00 Voltage gain and sensitivity was measured first for both the CAD -50 and CAD -50K amplifiers and was found to be 1 I 16.6 x or 24.4 dB, for both designs when set for the 10 Ion 1k 10k 10(11 pentode mode of output -stage operation. The IHF sensitivity, the input voltage for 1 watt into 8 ohms at 1 kHz, was 169 Fig. 2-Frequency mV for both amps. When set in the triode mode, voltage response of CAD -50sá gain was some 3 dB less, with a commensurate decrease in vs. load. input sensitivity.

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BAB LABS FUBAMFFO us FAEQ(Hz LEUL(dBr) Frequency responses at the 1 -watt level into 8 ohms are 20.000 shown in Fig. 2 for the CAD and in Fig. 3 for the CAD - Qp -50K 50. Each figure includes curves for open -circuit, 8 -ohm, and 10.000 4 -ohm loading. Doing this gives us a measure of the output CIRCUIT OPEN -..j. impedance's magnitude and its uniformity with frequency, 0.0 7.777 i and a good look at the out -of -band behavior of the output transformers. As can be seen, the general-purpose CAD - -10.00 50K has the simpler behavior and wider bandwidth. This amp's output impedance is essentially uniform up to beyond 10 kHz and is on the order of 3 to 4 ohms. Of interest, its -20.00 +:.hui high -frequency response is more peaked when it is loaded, 10 100 1k 10k 1001 contrary to the usual behavior of tube output circuits with Fig. 3-Frequency output transformers. When the CAD -50K was set to the response of CAD -50 triode mode, the peaking between 20 and 100 kHz was vs. load. gone at all loadings from open -circuit down to 4 ohms; output impedance fell to about 2 or 3 ohms. Looking at the curves for the bass -oriented CAD -50 (Fig. 3), we see just the opposite, the more normal variation of high -frequency peaking or damping with loading. Another attribute of the CAD -50's frequency response is a mild bass

boost below a few hundred Hz, about 1 dB at 20 Hz. This was deliberately designed into the amp and is caused by the RC network loading the first tube's plate circuit (Fig. 1A). Needless to say, this network is absent in the CAD -50K. Note that this boost is virtually absent in the open -circuit load curve, as the greater feedback loop gain under this condition takes out this open -loop frequency response aberration. Output impedance variation is somewhat more complicated in this design, especially in the region above a few kHz. Generally, the output impedance is a little higher in Fig. 4-Square-wave the CAD -50, more on the order of 5 to 6 ohms. Given the response of CAD-50sL in measured characteristics discussed, the use of the CAD -50 pentode mode at 10 kHz as a bass amp seems appropriate. into 4 -ohm and 8 -ohm An in-depth look at how the CAD-50sL's behavior loads (overlaid traces, changes between triode and pentode operating modes can top), 10 kHz into 8 ohms be seen in its reproduction of square waves (Figs. 4 and 5). paralleled by 2µF In the pentode mode, shown in Fig. 4, the 10 -kHz traces (middle), and 40 Hz into (top and middle) show quite a bit of ringing, which relates to 8 ohms (bottom). Scales: the frequency response curves of Fig. 2. The top trace Vertical, 5 V/div.; shows response for 8 -ohm loading, overlaid on a smaller horizontal, 20 µS/div. for trace for 4 -ohm loading. The amount of high -frequency 20 -kHz traces, 5 mS/div. ringing exhibited by the CAD -50a in pentode mode is by no for 40 -Hz trace. means intrinsic to pentode operation of an output stage, but is a consequence of the way this amp's high -frequency compensation was designed. The middle trace shows the effect of adding a 2-1.LF capacitance across an 8 -ohm load. The capacitor actually reduces the amount of ringing and slows down the rise -time. The 40 -Hz square wave (bottom trace) indicates relatively good, extended low -frequency response below 10 Hz, the limit of Fig. 2. Figure 5 shows square -wave behavior in the triode mode. High -frequency damping is much better, most likely due to the considerably lower overall circuit -loop gain and lower output impedance of the tubes in the triode mode. The waveshape for 4 -ohm 71 1111111 loading (smaller of the overlaid top traces) is as nice -looking Cal as that for any solid-state amp. However, putting 2µF across the 8 -ohm load causes more ringing overshoot and MI _-e slowing of the rise -time than in the pentode mode. The low - Fig. 5-Same as Fig. 4 but frequency droop in the 40 -Hz (bottom) trace is also just for triode operation. perceptibly worse than that in the pentode mode. 72 AUDIO/JULY 1991 it WORL'SSMALLEST! +F

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SUBSCRIPTION/MAIL ORDER FORM C Start the Updates & send the 240 -page Catalog (56.00/yr, refundable Name on the first order from the Catalog) Address m Yes. Please include my FREE Delos CD, Engineer's Choice. I'm Enclosing an extra 53.95 for Shipping and Handling. (52465) City State Lp E Send me the attached list of recordings (include artist, title, format [CD or CA] & number) I'm enclosing 512.99/disc + 53.95 S&H Per CALL 1-800-233.6357 OR MAIL WITH PAYMENT TO: order (Music orders Only) BOSE EXPRESS MUSIC n Check or CT Credit Card El Visa © MC G AMEX 50 W. 17th St., NYC, NY 10011 (Outside U.S. Credit Card Only, Please) Fax: 212-627-2613 Audio 71_1 With the Cary amplifiers and Spica speakers, it was e to forget am and stuff and get involved with the music.

BAY. LABS vmP_^mo01oo^LEoaw,.m,wv , MY. LABS DIST_PJ. THD-M(X)^ vp. wm,` ow m-- 100

10 m==1= = ' --- ;_==== "":"": ------|- /. ----L- - 50 WATTS, 8 OHMS t = SO WATTS, ooxus:::' ~-' ------'--^- ..." . ...." "." ": . __- 10 10 ......

WATTS OHMS o o.1 uf|

^.w^ Jlui- ' 0.010 20 100 10 20 100 m A

omn_I nm.Bw^ mvaO =mEQ(Il") 100

( 10 =

50 WATTS, 4 OHMS

10 WATTS, 4 OHMS 0. , I w^n*cHus . /

0.010 lid! 20 100 10 100 20k

Fig. 6-THD + N vs. Fig. 7-Same as Fig. 6 but power and frequency for for CAD -50 (see text). 8 -ohm load (A) and 4-ohm load (0) for CAC-50uL. Dashed curves are actual power output vs. frequency at the indicated levels (see text); read power from right-hand scale.

Harmonic distortion plus noise is plotted as a function of completely out of hand. As a nesuk, the power output frequency, power, and load in Figs. 6A and 6B for the CAD- dropped below 50 watts above this frequency, as shown by 50aundinFigo.7Aund7BfoxthoCAD'50.|\'uewi0on\fnom the dashed output curves at the 50 -watt level in Figs. 7A the figures that the CAD-50sL is a somewhat better perform- and 7B. (For the CAD'5Oa. Figs. 64 and 8B. regulation was er. On these graphs, the solid curves show distortion levels terminated above about 12 kHz.) Another weirdness in the and the dashed curves show power output versus frequen- CAD'50'o behavior is the dip in distortion at 120 Hz at lower cy. These tests were done in a regulating mode whereby the power levels. This was caused by 120 -Hz power -supply generator drive to the amplifier under test is regulated to ripple in the amplifier output cancelling the distortion resi- produce a constant specified power output over the fre- due at this frequency. In Fig. 8, 1 -kHz THD + N and

quency range. In the case of the CAD'50. I let the loop go SMPTE-IM distortion are plotted against power output and out of regulation above 4 kHz so the distortion wouldnt get load for the CAD -50a amp in the pentode mode. The

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.34No. 19 on 2Oi838 Enter Reader Service Card The amps sounded more refined and sweet in triode mode, but in pentode mode they were livelier.

CMS LRBS IMSTUSPO SMPTEC<) uc neeaured LiUEL(J) wiggles in the 8 -ohm IM distortion curve below 1 watt are 10 t artifacts of the way my Audio Precision test gear was set and are not really variations in distortion.

The CAD-50SL's distortion residues for a 1 -kHz signal at 10 watts output in pentode and triode operation are shown in Fig. 9 for 4 -ohm loading and in Fig. 10 for 8 ohms. In each figure, the top distortion -residue trace is for pentode opera-

M, 8 OHMS tion and the bottom trace is for the triode mode. The distor- 4 IM, 4 OHMS tion residue for pentode operation into ohms (top trace, Fig. 9) is typical of pentode operation at significant fractions of maximum power and shows an aberration near the signal 0.1 peaks that produces higher order odd harmonics. When the amp is triode -connected and driving 4 ohms, there is more ...... distortion but it's simpler in nature: The 20 -watt level (not THD+ N 4 OHMS shown) was just about at clipping in the triode mode. In Fig.

THD + N, 8 OHMS 10, it can be seen that the distortion in both modes is lower 0.010 in amount when 8 -ohm loading is used, and both modes 0 1 1 10 e0 produce dominant third harmonic. Incidentally, these distor- Fig. 8-THD + N and tion traces show excellent even -harmonic distortion cancel- SMPTE-IM distortion for lation, a measure of push-pull balance, as all the distortion CAD-50st_ into 4- and residues are symmetric about the horizontal zero -distortion 8 -ohm loads. time axis. Output noise measurements for the CAD -50 and CAD- 50sL are enumerated in Table I. Some 120 -Hz power -supply ripple in the output is the main contributor to the rather high Fig. 9- numbers for the CAD -50. This could easily be audible with a Output and high -efficiency woofer system. I don't know why the CAD -50 distortion amps had this 120 -Hz ripple in the output, but since the residue at circuits are nominally the same as in the CAD -50a units, it 10 watts out may be some effect of using a toroidal output transformer. from CAD-50sL Noise levels for the CAD -50a are more in line with what they into 4 ohms. should be. Distortion levels Data for dynamic and clipping headroom for each unit set were 0.61% in in the pentode mode are enumerated in Table II. For some pentode mode reason, the CAD -50 is a bit weaker than the CAD -50a, (upper residue especially when loaded with 4 ohms. All considered, best trace) and 1.6% performance from these amps is likely to come from using in triode mode speakers with a nominal impedance of 6 to 8 ohms. (lower residue Some miscellaneous data and information: Plate current trace). when the meter needle is centered on the red square, indicating correct setting, is about 65 mA. At idle, B+ is

about 465 V, and a.c. line draw is about 1 ampere. . To summarize all measurements, good points include excellent push-pull balance, generally low magnitude and low order of distortion products at listening levels with the CAD -50a, and a relatively constant output impedance over a wide frequency range. Not -so -good points would be the amps' inability to deliver their rated 50 watts at reasonable distortion, excessive ringing and high -frequency peaking in the CAD -50a, and a very high output impedance that produced damping factors on the order of 1 to 2. On to what they sound like-which is the real proof of the pudding.

Fig. 10-Same as Fig. 9 Use and Listening Tests but for 8 ohms. Residue Signal sources used to evaluate the Cary Audio tube was 0.17% in pentode amps were an Oracle turntable fitted with a Well Tempered mode (upper trace) and arm and a Spectral Audio MCR-1 Select cartridge, a Mag- 0.66% in triode mode navox CDB-560 CD player feeding into a Wadia 2000 de- (lower trace). coding computer, a Nakamichi 250 cassette deck, and a 76 AUDIO/JULY 1991 The numbers don't tell you how believable the Cary amplifiers sound, especially when played at full blast.

Technics 1500 open -reel recorder. For LPs, the Vendetta Research SPC-2B phono preamp was used. The outputs Table I-Output noise. The IHF S/N was 90.9 dB for the from the Vendetta and the other signal sources were con- CAD -50a and 68.1 dB for the CAD -50; see text. nected to my reference selector and switched attenuator unit and thence out to the power amp and speaker location. Output Noise, mV Other amplifiers on hand were a Berning EA -2101, my own Bandwidth CAD -50sí CAD -50 EAR 519s, an Air Tight ATM -1, and a pair of Carver Silver Wideband 0.95 7.3 Sevens. Am I a tube freak, or what? 20 Hz to 20 kHz 1.01 7.3 Speakers used were the Siefert Research Magnum Ill, the 400 Hz to 20 kHz 0.055 0.33 Martin -Logan Monolith Ill, the Spica Angelus, and an experi- A -Weighted 0.081 1.1

mental model from Genesis Technologies. When I first re-

ceived the amps, I was using the Siefert speakers, and my listening notes indicated that the CAD -50a units sounded

musical and non -irritating on those speakers. At the time, I thought that the Carys sounded most like the EAR 519s in tonal balance and relative upper midrange softness. After

completing the measurements, I got down to some more serious listening with the other speakers. Table II-Dynamic and clipping headroom. Clipping lev- I first set up the Spica Angelus speakers, and after getting el for the CAD -50a in triode mode was 21 watts into 8 or an idea of how these speakers sounded with the various 4 ohms. amplifiers on hand, I hooked up the CAD -50a amps. The overall sound was a little laid-back and smooth in the upper Dynamic Headroom (Pentode Mode) midrange and treble region. Bass quality and extension CAD -50 SL CAD -50 were good with these speakers. Again, I found the overall Power, Headroom, Power, Headroom, tonal balance of the midrange and treble most like that of Load Watts dB Watts dB the EAR 519s. The other three tube designs mentioned are 8 Ohms 58 0.64 56 0.5 all brighter than these two amps. There are, of course, other 4 Ohms 55 0.41 47 - 0.27 very good attributes to the sound of these other amplifiers (covered in my published and forthcoming reviews of them). Clipping Headroom (Pentode Mode) Since I tend to favor a softer treble presentation, I really CAD-50st CAD -50 liked the combination of the Angelus speakers and the Cary Power, Headroom, Power, Headroom, CAD -50a amps. It was easy to forget amplifiers and stuff Load Watts dB Watts dB and get involved with the music. After all, what are amplifi- 8 56 0.5 52 0.17 ers for? Ohms 4 Ohms 47 -0.27 40 - 0.97 I did experiment with the triode/pentode switch quite a bit and generally found the sound in the triode mode to be more refined and sweet. The pentode mode sounds livelier,

and I found myself in that mode the most-though at the

levels I mostly used, the amplifier was not clipping even in triode mode. Martin -Logan speakers quite loudly-and the speakers play

I then set up the Martin -Logan Monolith Ills, first using a quite loudly, too! The believability of the music coming out home -built duplicate of the power -amp section of the old of the speakers certainly belies some of the less -than -

Marantz 1120 (which I designed) as a bass amp. I have perfect measurements these Cary amps exhibited. Backing been using this amp for bass with the Monoliths, and it down a bit and listening to more favorite music at normal generally is okay but not great in this application. -Pie Cary levels, this combination cf elements sounded downright

CAD -50a amps were used to drive the electrostatic panels outstanding. I noticed that the transition from bass to mid-

of the speakers. After warming up this arrangement for a range appeared seamless when I used the same kind of

while, I put the CAD -50 amps in for the bass and now I had amps for both ranges of the speaker. Boy, if one uses the the full boogie going, with all four Cary Audio units being analogy of good audio gear being like bottles of good wine,

used as Cary intends in their reference setup. I first put on and the consideration is which kind of wine do we wish to

the Telarc recording of Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky (CD - experience at this moment, I was getting a bit drunk on this 80143) to check bass balance on the bass drums. That was great collection of tube amps and speakers.

pretty good right off, and I noticed I wasn't getting much, if On a more serious note, the 120 -Hz ripple I commented any, movement of the plate current meters on the bass on in the measurements section proved to be easily audible

amps. So I sez, "Let's crank it up a bit and get some through the woofers in the Martin-Logans. This, I hope, is

MODULATION going here!" I put my switched attenuators just a problem of my particular sample pair of CAD -50 all the way up, which simply puts full CD output to the low- amps. Otherwise, they worked without a hitch. These are level crossover and power amps. Wow! Did that ever sound neat amplifiers and should appeal to those whose musical

good! I then proceeded to play a number of things that I like tastes regarding tonal balance are similar to my own. Do go at full blast and found that the Cary amps do play these out and give them a listen. Bascom H. King

AUDIO/JULY 1991 77 CLASSICAL RECORDINGS

A STUDY IN SCARLATTI

iarity with the folk music of Spain comes to the fore. Kirkpatrick also recorded some of the sonatas for Colum- bia, but they are rather joyless and poorly recorded versions. And no matter what skilled pianists, such as Horo- witz, brought to the sonatas, if any early keyboard music should be heard on the harpsichord instead of the piano, this is surely it! The Neapolitan composer emigrated to Lisbon as the music master of the young Princess Maria Barbara. When she married the heir to the throne of I Spain, Scarlatti followed his royal pupil to the Alcazar of Seville and later to other Spanish royal sites such as the t . Escorial. The exciting sounds and rhythms of Andalusia and all Spain soon became ingrained in his musical persona and fairly burst out of many of these truly amazing pieces in an almost orchestral fashion. One needn't 1,14- O-1 a a;.b _ / i-'ti1; l strain the imagination to clearly discern ,r- mandolins, guitars, castanets, the iiini r so ,/ -§ §-71.11-1F11-% keening lines of cante hondo vocalists, and the stamp of the feet in the zapate- ado. Some of the sonatas are punctu- Domenico Scarlatti: Complete Key- Scott Ross, originally from Pitts- ated with such sudden and surprising- board Works. Scott Ross, harpsichord burgh but schooled in Paris, proposed ly percussive fistfuls of notes that it and organ. the immense project to Radio France sounds as if the performer's entire fore- for Erato 45309-2, 34 CDs; DDD; approxi- the 1985 tercentenary of Scarlatti's arm were flung unto the keyboard a la mately 34 hours. birth. He was already well known for Cecil Taylor. recitals and recordings of the music of Scarlatti's sonata form is quite differ- This project is a true milestone in the Bach, Handel, Soler, and others, and ent from its successor, the classical history of classical music recording. All for being an eccentric regarding attire sonata. His is usually in binary form, 555 keyboard sonatas of Domenico for public concerts: He wore to the divided into two distinct halves that are Scarlatti are recorded for the first time stage whatever informal gear he hap- complementary but often greatly con- and presented in this elegant, nine - pened to be wearing-beachwear, trasted. The music is not dependent on volume set of 34 CDs in a special slip- hunting outfit, or leather motorcycle theoretical structure. There is not much case with a thick booklet that, among garb. Recording of the sonatas took development of themes, but instead, other things, features a concise and 11/2 years. Four different harpsichords as Scott Ross put it, "the juxtaposition illustrated analysis of each sonata, with were used for variety, plus organ in of swarms of melodic and rhythmic 20 dominant characteristics identified the few sonatas clearly intended for ideas." It is full of joy and vitality. Each with little icons. that instrument. The Guild of French sonata bears Scarlatti's unique stamp Fernando Valenti began a project critics designated Ross "Musical Per- and requires only a few measures to back in the mono era to record all the sonality of the Year" in 1988 for the know it could be by no other compos- sonatas for the Westminster label. He project. It was his major life achieve- er. The variety encompassed in these continued the project, eventually mov- ment; tragically, Ross died the next 550 short works is astounding; no ing into the stereo era but never half year at age 38. chance of monotony here. completing the Herculean task. Domenico Scarlatti's music was not Ross' approach to performance Now harpsichordist Scott Ross has widely known until the publication in grew out of his musicological studies, triumphed with this fascinating set that the early 1950s of his biography written but he admitted he didn't make au- should be a reference for many de- by harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick, thenticity a guiding principle. The dis- cades. It shows Scarlatti as perhaps who also recorded a special edition of cipline is there, but so is the freedom the most innovative composer for the most of the sonatas. One of Kirkpat- and inspiration. His feeling for the keyboard of the entire 18th century rick's contributions was to group many rhythmic pulse keeps these pieces in- and his sonatas as one of the largest sonatas into pairs-usually a slow lyri- teresting and alive. and most impressive collections of cal one followed by a second one .n To appreciate the digital dexterity re- works in the history of music. which Scarlatti's close idiomatic famil- quired by many of the sonatas, one 78 AUDIO/JULY 1991 has really to play them oneself. Even a to band concerts. A pompous band- Nielsen: Symphonies No. 2, "The look at the music doesn't always show master, usually sporting a cavalry mus- Four Temperaments," and No. 3, the wildly abandoned hand -crossings tache, would lead his woodwinds, "Espansiva." Nancy Wait Kromm, so- with which Scarlatti teases and tortures brass, and percussion through rendi- prano; Kevin McMillan, baritone; San the player. When just listening to these tions of Suppé's "Poet and Peasant" Francisco Symphony, Herbert Blom- sonatas alone, one misses the rapid- and Overtures, which "Light Cavalry" stedt. fire contortions required to execute im- were notable more for their exuber- London 4302802, CD; DDD; 67:55. portant notes. ance than for their musicianship. The miking is just right, not too close Cornball connotations notwithstand- About 10 or 15 years ago, in the and not picking up all the action's me- ing, Suppé's tuneful pieces have al- British Army's Berlin equivalent of an

chanical noises as with the Valenti re- ways been popular. On this EMI CD, American army's post exchange, I cordings and many other recent harp- Sir Neville Marriner and the splendid found an EMI boxed set (SLS 5027) of sichord efforts. (And please don't ruin Academy of St. Martin -in -the -Fields eight LPs which changed my life. In the realistic effect by playing back give Suppé's ingratiating music the full 1948 the unique Danish tenor Aksel these CDs at the same high level you symphonic treatment and play it with Schióiz had introduced me to Carl

would an orchestral work! Harpsi- great panache. Nielsen's lovely songs; now I discov- chords are not loud.) The instruments Marriner has the old warhorses ered his six symphonies (plus his clari- are also well chosen so as to not inun- "Light Cavalry," "Poet and Peasant," net, flute, and violin concertos), all su- date Scarlatti's sometimes delicate "Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna," perbly performed by the Danish Radio music with clangorous multi -stop reg- and "Pique Dame" thundering down a Symphony Orchestra under its Massa- istrations that may be more suitable to fast track. The polished, spirited per- chusetts -born Swedish conductor Her- certain Bach or Handel works. Ross formances and playing make them all bert Blomstedt. That set appeared in even participated in the editing of the winners. The less well-known "Vien- 1975; Nielsen had died in 1931. digital tapes because he was able to nese Jubilee Overture" and "The Tor- Since then, Nielsen's symphonies pick out level variations of less than ments of Tantalus," along with the rare- have attracted powerful latter-day a decibel! ly played "The Lady Mistress" and champions, among them Leonard If you spent a 9 -to -5 work week lis- "The Peregrinations After Fortune," Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, and tening only to Scarlatti sonatas, you fare equally well in Marriner's affection- Eugene Ormandy. (Sony recently could get through this set and even ate readirgs. brought out a CD set of the sympho- have a little time left over to repeat a Recorded in the warm acoustics of nies plus two of the three concertos, few of your favorites from the 550. But EMI's Abbey Road Studio One in Lon- reissuing earlier recordings by Orman- the captivating world of Scarlatti will don, the very clean, well-balanced dy and Bernstein.) Even so, Nielsen's enthrall the listener more in smaller sound fully delineates the thrusting fame and popularity have yet to catch doses. Still, the sonatas do make won- brasses, highly detailed woodwinds, up wi:h those of his Finnish contempo- derful background music of a sort. finely etched strings, and punchy and rary Jean Sibelius (1865 to 1957).

(While auditioning these, I was for the weighty percussion in this superb re- Geography and linguistics provide

first time wishing I had a CD changer!) cording. It von Suppé's ebullient, effer- the explanation, I believe. Nielsen But don't expect them to stay in the vescent music appeals to you, you will spent all his 66 years in his native Den- background; they tend to come out find this disc particularly rewarding. mark, and just four million people in the and grab your ears in ways that few Bert Whyte entire world speak Danish. Sibelius works of Bach, Rameau, Couperin, and the other keyboard composers do. By the way, if you fret that "this too too solid acrylic would melt your pock- etbook," you will be glad to know that 56 (or about 10%!) of the sonatas have been selected from the complete collection and are available on a three -CD Erato set (45422-2). John Sunier

. / Suppé: Overtures. Academy of St. Martin -in -the -Fields; Neville Marriner, r'1 conductor. EMI CDC 7 54056 2, CD; DDD; 60:53. -~Vi il1 The music of von Suppé always seems to harken back to a kinder, gentler time when, on Sunday after- noons in the parks I,' of towns and vil- Neville Marriner lages across the land, people listened i 1 AUDIO/JULY 1991 79 Herbert Blomstedt leads The San Francisco Symphony in a recording that reaches the high level expected from London/Decca.

The Danes have a reputation as the Pucks of Scandinavia; that certainly holds true for Carl Nielson. At his best, he has composed music here of simple but majestic nobility. (I will never understand why his virtually perfect little song "I Aften" ["At Evening"], to mention only one, hasn't become internationally familiar.) On the other hand, Nielsen, the broke out of Finland to Germany, where discovered the pleasures of Nielsen, irrepressible cutup, punctuates many early acclaim earned him not only pow- this disc and its two predecessors offer of even his major works by impishly erful advocates but also a leading, in- you the same joy of discovery that old sticking out his tongue or thumbing his fluential publisher who propagated his LP set brought me in Berlin. London's nose. For instance, the first movement music far more effectively than Niel- sonics, understandably, put that older of his Third Symphony strides along sen's publisher, in Copenhagen, could set into the shade. For these recording nobly until a point in the development his. As a result, only in recent years has sessions, the British engineers carried section where, without as much as the world at large even begun to be- out what amounted to a partial rebuild- skipping a beat, it is transformed into a come aware of Carl Nielsen's true rank ing of San Francisco's Symphony Hall, whimsical, airy little waltz. as a major composer. removing many rows of front seats and Certain improbable but undeniable With this third CD of a welcome new extending the stage in order to place parallels exist between Carl Nielsen series, Blomstedt completes his rere- the orchestra closer to the center of the and Charles Ives and their respective cording of the six Nielsen symphonies, enclosure. That, plus other pains taken, music. Ives had the benefit of a band- this time with the San Francisco Sym- elevates the recorded sound to the master father he adored, who fed little phony. This orchestra has noticeably customary brilliant high level that has Charlie's musical hunger generously and steadily improved since Blomstedt been maintained by London/Decca and tirelessly. Nielsen, a farm boy who took it over in 1985. If you haven't yet over the decades. didn't discover Bach, Mozart, and Bee -

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)8KEY Establish SÑGs BK thoven until he'd turned 14, crossed 4000 his own first musical threshold at three, t when he discovered that the length of Credit? :::08/90 t ÓgOp a piece of wood governed its pitch. CV MARY RfOARe ' 8j/9p In a different, Scandinavian sort of Our Bank Can Help way, the rough-hewn, bardic quality characterizing Ives's music also char- Even If You Had Previous acterizes Nielsen's. Unlike Ives, Niel- Credit Problems! sen rarely employs dissonance, but he constantly holds your attention fast, throwing you slightly off balance by Call 1-800-228-2212...24 hours any day introducing the unexpected. For infor your FREE VISA® or MasterCard. application. stance, he may sharpen or flatten a Easier credit approval is possible because you open an interest bearing crucial melodic note when the ear an- for your A minimum ticipates the natural. In the second, Savings Account with our bank as initial collateral card. pastoral movement of the Third Sym- security deposit is required. Enjoy the privileges of a credit card for: phony, the unprepared listener gets Shopping Mail Orders Dining Entertainment Airline Tickets brought up sharp, in a gentle, Danish Hotel Rooms Auto Rentals...AND Worldwide access to ATM Cash Machines! sort of way, when two human voices suddenly vocalize fragments of melo- Call anytime TODAY for your FREE application! dy for a few enchanting moments. Generally speaking, Danes have lit- Key Federal Savings Bank tle affection for their Swedish neigh- FDIC Insured bors (Swedish drunks regularly get Havre de Grace, Maryland tossed into the drink in front of Copen- hagen's vivacious Nyhavn bars), but Enter No. 10 on Reader Service Card Herbert Blomstedt by now must surely have earned something approaching honorary Danish citizenship. He conducts these works with total, passion- ate conviction, getting the most out of PERSUASION their profundity as well as their comic CRYSTAL relief. During a triumphant 1990 tour of Europe (including several major festi- vals), that continent's most hard-bitten critics ranked the San Francisco Sym- phony under Blomstedt among Ameri- 4 ca's finest orchestras; certainly these splendid performances reinforce that i i impression. One hopes they will all car- 'f ry on now to give us Carl Nielsen's _' L three concertos as well. Paul Moor '.. Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony, * 1 Op. 110a; Symphony for Strings, Op. ;a. 118a. The Chamber Orchestra of Eu- (1=4Pi rope; Rudolf Barshai, conductor. Deut- $45.95 sche Grammophon 429 229-2. #($3.65GY04) ' boxed These Shostakovich works are given Glft fl.! near -definitive performances by conductor Rudolf Barshai, who also did the string orchestra arrangements of the composer's Eighth and Tenth String Quartets from which these works were From the skilled craftsmen of Hofbauer in West Germany comes this The of the Chamber derived. playing beautiful crystal piano. Made of highly polished lead crystal with over 24% Orchestra of Europe is breathtaking for PbO it measures approximately 6" in length and 5" in height. A great its of ensemble and its opu- precision collectible item for the discriminating Audio reader. lent tonality. The richly resonant clean string sound is icing on the cake. To order, call our TOLL FREE lines. We accept Visa, MC. and AE or send a Bert Whyte check plus shipping and handling to Audio, P.O. Box 765. Holmes. PA 19043. ORDER TOLL FREE 800-345-8112- AUDIO/JULY 1991 81 ROCK/POP RECORDINGS .

HIGH VOLTAGE

ers, and running time. The book is a superb piece that aids a lot in appreci- ating the music. And what music it is! The 244 selections include some of the best soul music ever, most of it recorded at Stax's Memphis headquarters with its house players as the band. And what a band! The core was Booker T. & the MG's, which included Booker T. Jones on piano and organ, Steve Cropper on guitar, the late Al Jackson on drums, and Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass, who took the place of Lewis Steinberg early on. Add to them the great Mar -Keys horn section of Joe Arnold, Wayne Jackson, and Andrew Love. The most remarkable aspect of this wonderful outfit is how they would tailor their work to fit a plethora of styles. They would always adapt to the artist to showcase him/her/them best, whether it might be the gospel -inspired soul shouting of nnn Sam & Dave, the raunch of DJ -turned - The Complete Stax/Volt Singles: to digital mastering was done with a singer Rufus Thomas, the growing so- 1959-1968: Various artists specially modified and restored Am- phistication of Rufus' daughter Carla pex 350 full -track mono machine with Thomas, the Philly-inspired doo-wop Atlantic 7 82218-2, nine CDs; AAD; 10:52:23. original tube electronics. All equipment stylings of the Mad Lads, the sweet in the transfer process was chosen soul crooning of the underappreciated Sound: A+ Presentation: A+ specifically to re-create the Stax sound Wendy Rene and later William Bell, the In the '60s, only StaxNolt records out on today's stereo systems without marvelous Mabel John (sister of Little of Memphis rivalled the impact of De- compromise." The effort is an absolute Willie John of "Fever" fame), the gritty troit's Motown machine. Both compa- success. The music packs a mighty but good-natured blues of Albert King, nies had a seemingly never-ending punch, with definition, clarity, and or those great signature instrumentals stream of hits sung by an impressive warmth notably superior to the original the MG's and the Mar -Keys released stable of killer artists and expertly per- releases but totally faithful to them. The on their own. formed by an unbeatable house band "dry" sound that was the Stax hallmark And in a class all his own was Otis with perfect arrangements. Both had has never sounded so wonderful. Top Redding. begun with strong community roots, commendation must go to the digital Somehow, everything went to a high- too. However, where Motown banked remastering team of Bill Inglot (well er level yet when Otis was the man at on its Northern city -bred slickness, known for his fabulous work on Rhino's the mike. Begin with his quirky but bril- Stax/Volt's sound was gritty, more reissues) and Dan Hersch. liant horn parts, which were of his own Southern, and far, far funkier. And, for The 64 -page booklet that accompa- invention. They were punctuating and my money, a lot more fun. nies the box features a lengthy appre- contrapuntal, often downright odd, but This nine -disc box set includes ev- ciative essay by Rob Bowman. It is ever downright right, an integral part of ery A -side released on the Stax and profusely illustrated with terrific photos his instantly identifiable sound and a Volt labels between 1959 and 1968, of the artists and examples of the looks big part of the incredible energy of his plus many key B-sides (all of those that of the labels. Bowman traces the histo- records. (For an excellent overview of charted), the Carla and Rufus Thomas ry of Stax from its founding by Jim Otis, check out Atlantic's three -disc singles that appeared on Atlantic and Stewart and Estelle Axton (from their set, The Otis Redding Story, 81762-2.) Atco, and all the R&B A -sides from two surnames comes the derivation of Otis was a great songwriter (espe- Stax's predecessor, Satellite. The re - "Stax") to the end of their distribution cially when collaborating with Steve mastering was. done from the original relationship with Atlantic in '68, not too Cropper), but others richly deserve Stax/Volt mono master tapes (stereo long after the death of flagship artist mention for writing contributions to the versions appeared on albums, but they Otis Redding in a tragic plane crash. Stax canon. Chief among these are the were never as exciting; these are the The booklet appropriately lists each immortal team of David Porter and original singles as released). In some selection with original label, serial Isaac Hayes, who, among their many cases (not specified), the masters had number, release date, highest chart credits, wrote most of Sam & Dave's been lost and "original disc sources" position achieved on Billboard's pop hits. Rufus and Carla Thomas both were used. Quoting the notes, "Analog and R&B charts, songwriters, publish- wrote, as did Eddie Floyd (best known 82 AUDIO/JULY 1991 Pi/tit 1n/81P lif 1111811,

GARY BURTON.. .,..J. .1« - . ,.,..<<

THE GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA GARY BURTON Limited Gold Editioh `Cool Nights" "In the Digital Mood" ni o IK rt te,. h ll211:PHYR MUM AIYE

¡ _.. } - , r, li e ti: . ... _ l ..y - _ -- _ TOM SCOTT DON GRUSIN "Keep-This Love: Alive "Zephyr" `SPYRÓGY Lee Riterour : : e

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Availahk on Compact Disc. IIQ Cassette and Record SP1RO LEE RITENOUR ! O, O aL ay n 1 01991 GRP Records, Inc. "Cwllectlurl" I = ` - "Collection" C D M 6 a N

Enter No. 8 on Rea-_er Service Card The "dry" sound that was the Stax hallmark has never sounded so wonderful as it does on The Complete Stax/Volt Singles.

for "Knock on Wood") and William The chronological sequencing works tation. The price tag of about $100 may Bell. However, Bowman's notes make beautifully. It emphasizes the diversity be hefty, but it is well worth it. As Rob it clear that this was a real community and variety of the Stax catalog and Bowman says, "Soul music never got effort in which everyone would pitch in artists. It enhances the fun of listening any better." and help, not necessarily getting credit to these great sides too. A final note from the Caveat Emptor at all times, but there was plenty The Complete Stax/Volt Singles real- Department: In doing this review, it of opportunity for everyone to get ly is definitive on all levels: Complete- was my miserable luck to encounter his or her due. ness, production, annotation, preser- probably the only two defective sets in the run. 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Illustration by James Dowlen @1990 Enter No. 15 on Reader Service Card JAZZ & BLUES

FENDER OVER ICE

them collaborative efforts among vari- meditations (the title cut). And he's ous bandmembers. added new techniques to vary the tex- Collins is, unquestionably, the most tures, like percussive two-handed tap- important contemporary blues player. ping on "Blue Trout" or the use of a He's an orchestrator, arranger, con- Sympitar (a guitar with sympathetic ductor, and a musician who under- strings, sounding much like a sitar) on stands patience and knows how to "Hidden Voices." make this idiom not only breathe but As usual with Windham Hill releases, .,--,... sing. The title track, centered on a Deep at Night is digitally recorded and classic half-time, I/IVN progression, is sounds great, although it has just a tad all the vehicle Collins needs to show- more delay than I prefer. This is Alex case his electrifying sustain and his de Grassi's best recording so far, a ability to accomplish more using less. pleasure from beginning to end. I Amidst such uncluttered matter as hope, like my Ruck guitar, he'll just the slow, infectious "Don't Mistake keep on getting better! Michael Wright Kindness for Weakness" is Collins ever-present humor, similar to the sen- The Half -Life of Desire: The Either/ "Too Many Dirty .'.. timent he projected on Orchestra Dishes" from his 1987 date, Cold Accurate AC -3242, CD; AAD; 55:23. Snap. The same can be said about the brief sarcastic ditty "The Hawk." Sound: B Performance: B 1'1" Taken as a whole, Iceman success- When you find a big band that can fully moves and grooves through mood cover Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and and situational changes, offering fast Bing Crosby and then cap it off with a .. pieces, mid -tempo shuffles, and those power cruncher by the progressive multi -layered funk and slow -grind num- rock group King Crimson, it's clear that bers that, perhaps more so than any o' the 11 -piece Either/Orchestra is follow- his other work, allow Collins to deliver ing an erudite and rollicking course. startling riff after startling riff. "He Who Hesitates," written by trom- Jon W. Poses bonist Curtis Hasselbring, exemplifies

Deep at Night: Alex de Grassi Alex de Grassi Windham Hill WD -1100, CD; DDD; 40:28. 3 Sound: A- Performance: A ] Although he probably doesn't re-

member it, I played guitar with Alex de 3, ia Z:1,- Grassi one evening some 14 years ago. I'd just received a Ruck classical guitar I'd ordered and was showing it Iceman: Albert Collins off to some other guitarists. De Grassi Point Blank/Charisma 2-91583, CD; was there and played on the Ruck 43:21. some of the John Fahey/William Acker- Sound: A- Performance: A man -style compositions that were typi- Finally, the Iceman cometh, and the cal of his early Windham Hill solo re- result is a dandy. Albert Collins' Ice- cordings. Years later, the Ruck has man stands as the Master of the Tele - matured nicely, mellowing out with a caster's first release in nearly four wonderfully balanced, clearly articulat- years, and his first non -Alligator entry. ed sound, and the same can be said of This is vintage Collins. The explosive De Grassi. guitarist surrounds himself with an ex- Remaining from De Grassi's early tended backing ensemble which in- style are the cascading arpeggios and cludes the four Uptown Horns and, for melodic lyricism. Gone, however, is good measure, two female backup vo- much of the high-speed technical hy- calists who inject just the proper dos- perbole. Instead, his compositions age of soul. Collins, virtually flawlessly, have become more focused and clas- 13 musicians through an- sical, with complex and subtle rhyth- leads these l other set of atypical, fresh -sounding mic shifts (as on "Waltz #4"), shimmer- tunes, each an original and most of ing harmonies ("Mirage"), and jazzy

86 AUDIO/JULY 1991 the simultaneous fusions, grafts, and "Red," might be the best example. Ini- collages going on in The Either/Or- tially, it lacks the reined violence of the 4 .° chestra. It opens at a mid -tempo King Crimson original; horns just don't groove with pianist John Medeski cast- have the texture and force of a fuzz - ing lines towards the bop piano of Bud toned electric guitar. But as John Di- Powell and a modern approach that rac's arrangement moves towards the recalls pianist Don Pullen. His solo center of the piece, it's clear he's after rises, then falls to the ground like clut- something different, unwinding the nu- tered wooden sticks and miraculously ances of composer Robert Fripp's odd rises again into a new form. Partway time signatures and using the horns to through, the tune slides into a slow, g create dark pastel shades around the dirty blues, with Hasselbring snapping minimalistic lines. He finds a drama throaty sexual come-ons through his that's more film noir than King Crim- trombone. son's futuristic angst. At the end, Dirac The mix and match continues on the emerges with his guitar amp cranked pairing of Miles Davis' free modality _ to 11, and he grinds through the re- and Duke Ellington's swing on "Circle - prised opening with a vengeance. in the Round/I Got It Bad." Their rendi- shon's "The Half -Life of Desire," blur- Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder in his tion of Bing Crosby's 1931 "Tempta- ring the lines between solo and melo- legendary studio, the mix of The Half - tion" would fit well in Angelo Badela- dy. Bassist Marc Rivard steps out on Life oí Desire accentuates the color- menti's hallucinatory score for Twin "Circle/Bad," as he starts by playing ation in the arrangements, but some Peaks. the bass with a mallet before switching tracks, notably "Circle" and "Red," are Of the soloists, the standouts are to a punchy pizzicato solo. brittle and mildly distorted on peaks. Medeski and Charles Kohlhase, whose It's in the arrangements and ensem- However, it fails to detract from the alto saxophone coils around the ble passages that The Either/Orches- verve of contrasts in The Either/Or- rhythm shifts of saxophonist Russ Ger- tra lives and dies, and the CD closer, chestra. John Diliberto Limited Gold Edition The Glean Miller Orchestra `In the digital mood"

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Enter No. 8 on Reader Service Card Among offerings from Music of the World are the only extant recordings of the Igede tribe of Nigeria's Benue State.

cross-section of the eclectic variety to The Igede of Nigeria be found within Music of the World's Music of the World CDT -117, CD; catalog. ADD; 48:56. (Available from Music of The Igede of Nigeria is perhaps the Hill, the World, P.O. Box 3667, Chapel most curious of this quartet because it N.C. 27515.) consists of the only extant recordings Sound: A Performance: A- of the Igede tribe of Nigeria's Benue Flutes & Strings of the Andes State. Recorded in 1978 and 1979 in Music of the World CDT -106, CD; the villages, this music preserves a ADD; 56:34. way of life that's rapidly disappearing. Although the music here stands out as Sound: A Performance: A- choral, there is rhythmic accompani- Festival of India ment provided by group hand -clap- Music of the World CDT -121, CD; ping and a variety of drums, percus- ADD; 60:04. sion, and wind instruments. Different Sound: A Performance: B+ choral groups chant funerary songs, dances (in which the real lead instru- Brazil Encanto: Tico da Costa ment is a dancer), and polytheistic Music of the World CDT -211, CD; hymns combining Christian and older ADD: 42:46. elements. Sound: A Performance: B+ nous music rather than the Top 40, all This is folk music in the truest sense, World travel has been dealt some you need is a CD or cassette player to not the polished, professional pop of setbacks recently. But thanks to Bob be whisked off to the far corners of the juju or other urban Nigerian music that Haddad, head of the small label Music globe. The Igede of Nigeria, Flutes & draws on Western inspiration. You'll of the World and one of those rare Strings of the Andes, Festival of India, hear many of the polyrhythms that go idealists who prefers to pursue indige- and Brazil Encanto represent a good into the more accessible music coming

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out of Africa, but these are everyday sources. The overall sound quality here with the Arabic world just around the tribesmen joining together to celebrate is very good, and there is a presence corner. everyday life. Highly recommended if that could easily place you on an adobe Whsle much of Music of the World's you want to experience something very village corner somewhere in Peru. catalog favors "traditional" music, new different and exotic. And very well re- Festival of India takes us from the artists are also represented, as on Bra- corded and digitally remastered, by Central Andes to the subcontinent of zil Encanto, the American recording the way. India, with its ancient traditions and debut of the young singer/songwriter/ Flutes & Strings of the Andes contin- mysteries. This recording presents a guitarist Tico da Costa from Northeast- ues the field -recording theme with mu- sampling of Hindustani music from ern Brazil and Rio de Janeiro. Most of sic of Andean street musicians made Northern India, featuring some of the these pieces sound fairly typically Bra- in 1983 and 1984. Featured are native region's best-known artists. Included zilian: Upbeat syncopated rhythms instruments such as a 21 -string Ande- are selections by Sultan Khan (impro- over which love lyrics float in Da Cos- an harp, a charango (string instru- vising on the sarangi, an upright, ta's native Portuguese. However, as ment), a quena (bamboo wind instru- bowed string instrument), several the liner notes suggest, the Northeast- ment), and a bandolina (mandolin with haunting melodies by Purna Das Baul ern rhythms known as nodeste (which armadillo -shell body) along with a vio- (a descendant of an ancient sect of predominate on this album) are quite lin, whistling, and vocals. This music, wandering religious minstrels known different than the samba and bossa with its jangly metal strings and eerie as Bauls) and his Bengali folk ensem- nova. Da Costa, who's much better flutes, is highly rhythmic and has the ble, the renowned virtuoso violinist V. known in Latin America and Europe naive charm that only true folk music G. Jog, G. S. Sachdev on bamboo than in the States, has a nice ear for possesses-the product of shared cul- flute, and the Dagar Brothers singing melodic composition and sings sweet- ture rather than a creative ego, relating an old raga in the Dagarbani vocal ly and convincingly in the tradition timeless rituals of love and survival. tradition. (You'll recognize The Beatles stretching back to Luis Bonfa and oth- Vocals are in Quechua, Aymara, and in this raga!) The music is highly me- ers. Brazil Encanto is a pleasant listen, Spanish, and the music itself reflects lodic and built on minor modes that although it clearly leans toward Latin the South American Indian and Latin demonstrate geographic connections pop's lighter side. Michael Wright

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Research, 11322 Idaho. 831-9391. johnson MF8OD $1250, MV50 5750-900, MV75A1 5999. MV100D $2299, Premier 1BD $2999; Dynaco MkIlls $599; #206AD, Los Angeles 90025. TOLL FREE HOTLINE: (800) YOU CAN GET THE MOST FOR YOUR MONEY AT ANY Electrocompaniet Amp IIAD $499: Forte 3D $899: Haller 351-0222 (California: 213-477-8226). AUDIO STORE WITH MY REPORTS. 10 PAGES BY A 7 XL600D 51125: Krell KSA8OB 52700, KSA250 $4500; YEAR AUDIO PROFESSIONAL. $5.00 s SASE. ROBERT Lazarus Hl AN $1149: McIntosh MC3Os $600, MC40 $350. MANGAS, SUITE 171A, 317 S. DIVISION, ANN ARBOR, MI MC6Os 5800, MC240 $800-1200. MC502 $599, MC754 48104. $769, MC2500 $2900: Nakamichi PA7AIID $999; Sound - CONRAD JOHNSON, VANDERSTEEN, SONY-ES, AD- stream DA1N $699: Sumo Polaris $265. CD PLAYERS: COM, ROTEL, B&W, AND MORE. SOUND ADVICE, Hi -End BSO CD5ON $299, CDXN $299; CAL Aria MkIIID $1675, The AudioNideo in the heart of SOUTH CAROLINA. SOUND GenesisD $1375; McIntosh MCD7000 $800, MCD7005 ADVICE, 2821 Ashland Road, Columbia. 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SLC505 $120; audio Old Colony Sound Laboratory, PO Box 243AA, Peter- research SP9II $1300; conrad-johnson PFID $1150. PV5 borough NH 03458 USA: 24 -hour tel. (603) 924-6371. fax $749. PV7 $499, PV8 $999, PV9D $2199. PV1OD $759; ON THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT (603)924-9467. Counterpoint SA3000D $1215; Denon PRA1200 $285; Electrocompaniet Preamp II $449: Forte 2N $880: Haller values Acoustic When in Boston please visit the world's smallest AUDIO UNLIMITED offers competitive on DH101AN $199. IrisD 5649. SE10OD 5287; Lazarus Cas- Tice, Lazarus, Mod Squad. Magnum Hi -Fi shop for new PHILIPS PS AUDIO Energy, CODA, cade Classics $650; Marantz 7T $175; McIntosh C11 5600, Aural STAX HAFLER Dynalab, Musical Concepts, Ensemble, Symphonies, C20 $600. C22 $1995. C24 5335. C26 5450, C27 5750. C28 (303) PARADIGM THORENS Muse, Air Tight and more. John at (303) 922-8151, $550. C29 $899, C31V $1200, C32 $999, C35 $1499: Motif TARGET VECTEUR 698-0138. MC9 $799; Nakamichi CA5AIIN $649; Parasound PR200N LEXICON LUXMAN $149: Precision Fidelity C7AII $330; PS Audio 4.5 $299, NAD SONY ES High -end and hard -to -find audio compo- SR1N 5150: Tandberg TCA3002AD 5299, Threshold FET 9 51525. PROCESSORS: ADS 10 $199, Carver C9 $149: 95 Vassar Street nents bought and sold. All types. New and AUDIO Philips DAC960D 5699. LHH100 5999; SAE 5000 $125: Cambridge, MA 02139 Best used. Daily specials. Closeouts. Shure HTS5000 5399: Wadia 2000 $3799. RECEIVERS: 61 7-547-2727 prices! AUDIO AMERICA (Virginia). Call B&O 3000N 5299, 3300N 5399, 5500N $699: Carver 2000N 1-703-745-2223. $999: McIntosh MAC 1700 $399. MAC4100 $999, MAC4275 51099, MAC4300V 52200; Nakamichi SR2AN 5299, SR3AN $449, TA1AN $229, TA2AN $359. TA3AN $599; Philips FR88OD $349; Proton AV300N $169; Tandberg We make good amps great. TR3030N $149. SPEAKERS: Acoustat Spectra 1100D $1199; 680 CX100N $199, RL35N 5199, RL6ON $290, At Professional Mod Service, we take S2200N $99, S80.2N $299: Bowers Active 1 $1200; dbx your Adcom, B&K, or Haller amp Soundfield 1 AD $1199: Dahlquist DQ8D $728, D010 5600: REVAMP D012D $1129; 0020iD 51714; JBL Pro 4406N 5449, 4408N and make the bass more powerful and $585, 4410N 5889, 4435 $2600; JSE .6D 5475, 1.8AD the mills and highs clearer. By the time $1599; Klipschorns Rosewood 53499: McIntosh ML1C ML4C ML1OC XR14 $599, XR16 $699, we're through, your amp will sound as $550, $1100; 5300, YOUR AMR XR1052 $1499, XL1W $399; Parasound BPIA6ON $249; good as amps costing trice as much. Polk SDA1A $699; Quad ESL63USAD $2745; Sumo Sam-

I low do we do it? We make real son $299: TDL Studio tD 5999: 3D $1699; Velodyne improvements, developed with factory ULD151IN $1669. TAPE DECKS: 1380 2000N $249, 3300N $299. 9000N $549; Philips FC4OD 5259; FC5OD $329, engineers. We use nothing but premium FC6OD $499. TEST EQUIPMENT: Nakamichi T100 $800; materials. And our technicians are real Sound Technology 1400A $500. TUNERS: Haller InsD $399, SE130D $325; Magnum Dynalab EtudeD $1099; pros with years of experience. McIntosh MR55 5199, MR656 $299, MR67 5500, MR71 $599, MR78 51200. MR80 $1600, MR500 5700, MR510 Pickup service. 5800, MR7082 51200: Parasound ST220N 5129, Call us and we'll pick up your amp. Or T 0Q260N $149; Proton 440N $175: Soundstream TIN Tandberg TPT3011AD TUNER PREAMPS: send it to us with $199.95 plus $14.95 $349: 5399. McIntosh MX110 $275, MX112 $449, MX113 $499, MX117 shipping. We'll revamp your amp, spec $1335: Proton 900N $125. TURNTABLES: BAO 3300N it out, and return it insured. $299, RX2N $266; Sonograph SG3MTD $595; Thorens TD125 $200, TD126 III $400: VPI HW19D Jr MMT $749, 1-800-334-0295 HW 19111D 5889. FREE Catalogue. Layaway Program. Major Credit Cards accepted. 8AM-5PM EST Mon. -Fri., AUDIO Amex /Visa/\ 1 C/U i scover CLASSICS, POB 176AAA Walton, NY 13856. Professional Nod Service, Inc. 607-865-7200 -Audio Advertiser for over a Decade- 225 Oakes SW Grand Rapids, M1 49503 MICHIGAN! AUDIO ILLUSIONS OF EAST DETROIT PRE- 616-451-3527 FAX 616-451-0709 SENTS HIGH END AUDIO EQUIPMENT FOR THE MUSIC LOVER. (313) 772-8822.

94 AUDIO/JULY 1991 ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR SALE FOR SALE NEW AND USED PROFESSIONAL DJ/BAND WHEN YOUR EARS SAY "HIGH -END". BUT YOUR WAL- AA/SOUND EQUIPMENT-WHOLESALE PRICES. LIGHTING, FOG- LET SAYS "MID -Fl" CALL HCM AUDIO! WE SPECIALIZE ADVICE LOW PRICES/FAST DELIVERY! DENON, NAD, CE- GERS, P.A., CLUB INSTALLATIONS -CALL FOR 50 -PAGE IN HIGH -VALUE COST-EFFECTIVE AUDIO COMPO- BOOKLET/CATALOG LESTION, B&W, ADCOM, CARVER, NAKAMICHI. (502) 782-1172. NENTS AND ACCESSORIES. INCLUDING A LARGE IN- BOSTON ACOUSTICS, LUXMAN. HAFLER, ADS, VENTORY OF QUALITY SPEAKER AND INTERCONNECT MBK, ONKYO, B8K, PROTON, DCM, SNELL, BOSE, CABLES. AUDIOPHILES ON A BUDGET ALWAYS LIKE FOR SALE VELODYNE, PHILIPS. SPICA, COUNTERPOINT. AND OUR PRODUCTS, OUR APPROACH. AND PRICES. OUR MORE! 114-727-0071. AUTHORIZED DEALERS FOR: AR TURNTABLE AUDIO - FULL WARRANTY!! SAVE 40% ON HIGH -END home speak- QUEST ' MK ' BOSE ' CELESTION ' FRIED ' GRADO MOST ITEMS IN STOCK!! 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SOUNDD INVESTMENT ARIEL..SFECIALIZING IN COST EFFECTIVE HIGH -END Alstine, 2202 River Hills Drive, Burnsville, MN 55337 (612) CORPORATION, 3586 PIERCE DR.. CHAMBLEE. GA. B&K, ProA:, Musical Concepts. Straightwire, Target & More. 890-3517. 30341 (800) 659-TAPE(8273). in GA: (404) 455-0968, FAX: Authorized Dealer. Carmel, IN. Visa/MC. (317) 846-9766 (404)458-0276. 5-10PM. CALL TOLL FREE! 1-(800) 826-0520. NAD ONKYO CARVER HARMAN KARDON ACOUSTAT HAFLER LEXICON DAHLQUIST CWD CELESTION VE- LODYNE PROAC PROTON AUDIOCONTROL CITATION BELLES FRIED M & K STAX JBL KINERGETICS NITTY GRITTY NILES MONSTER CABLE PATTERN THORENS GRADO . SOUND HIGH END BLOWOUT SELLER, 2808 CAHILL RD., MARINETTE, WI 54143. FAX N (715) 735-5838, PHONE (715) 735-9002. ATTENTION AUDIO BUYERS!!! ALL COUNTERPOINT & MEITNERIMELIOR AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR.. ADS, ALPHASONIK, CARV- ER, DENON, DUAL, HAFLER, INFINITY, KENWOOD, AT DEALER COST. ASSORTED DEMOS AT KICKER. MONSTER CABLE, ORTOFON & YAMAHA! THE SOUND APPROACH, 6067 JERICHO TPKE. COMMACK, DEALER COST OR BELOW! NY 11725 (800) 368-2344.

AAA -CALL US NOW!!! Luxman, Carver, ADS, Na- kamichi, Denon, Boston Acoustics, NAD, Celestion, B&W, Adcom, Haller, B&K, Onkyo, Proton, Snell, DCM, 1-800-438-6040 Counterpoint, JSE, Spica, M&K, Bose, VPI, Nitty Gritty, Sumiko, Thorens, Velodyne. 414-727-0071 FOR THE LOWEST PRICES! FULL WARRANTY!! Sound Advice, Sound Equipment MOST ITEMS IN STOCK!! 145 W. 26th St, NYC, NY, 10001 OPEN SUNDAYS!! 1-(800)443-4249 Sound Deals! BUY/SELL/TRADE IN THE AUDIONIDEO TRADER! Pub- AUDIO EXCELLENCE lished monthly. FREE ADS! $15iyear. Sample $1.00- MADE AFFORDABLE! S. A.S.E. 330 SO. MAIN STREET, DEPT. A, WAKE FOREST, NC 27587. 212-691-5823 60 YEARS IN BUSINESS...WE MUST BE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT. If it$ a much -in -demand audiophile product, we're likely to have it for immediate MUSEATEX MELIOR shipment. Consult with one of our quiet experts or just Digital -to -Analog Converter order U.S. - warranteed components directly VISA MC. Ask for Steve K. or Dan W. SQUARE DEAL. 456 'the Mellor 1)/A Bitstream controller takes Waverly Ave., Patchogue, NY 11772 (516) 475-1857: this Bitstream technology to its ultimate level (800) 332-5369. of performance!'

CASH for USED AUDIO EQUIP. BUYING and FULL LINE OF MUSEATEX COMPONENTS AND MELIOR SPEAKERS ON DISPLAY! SELLING by PHONE. CALL for HIGHEST WHEN IN N.Y. PLEASE COME VISIT US FOR A DEMO! QUOTE. (800) 388-9443. The Stereo Trading *PS AUDIOYBACREEKMARANTZMUSEATEXHARMAN KARDONJBLTARGETHAFLERONIX Outlet, 320 Old York Road, Jenkintown, PA ELITE/PIONEERMISSIONTANNOYa/dhACOUSTATLAZARUSJVC SUPERDIGIFINEFOSGATE OPTONICA/SHARPEPOSMONSTER CABLECASTLENNTTRIADSIGNETSTRAIGHT WIRE* 19046. AUDIOSOURCEREVOLVEROEDVAN DEN HULLGOODMANSGOLDRINGTHORENS8 much more

AUDIO/JULY 1991 95 FOR SALE FOR SALE CD STORAGE -F SLC's oldest high end shop. Used and demo sale. B&W GAS EQUIPMENT OWNERS: From repairs to complete 800 Matrix. Wilson Watt Puppy Whow, Proceed, Revox, rebuilds, we are the GAS specialists. Since 1977. Call or Adcom 575, Lexicon CP-1, Luxman, Goldman, Mim-9, 9.2.2. write: GASWORKS, 8675 NORTHVIEW STREET, BOISE, Store 300 CD's behind Levinson #26, 27, 28, 20.5, Mirage, Image, Signet and IDAHO 83704. (208)323-0861. glass doors. Five adjustable more! AUDIO DESIGN, 1500 South 15th East, SLC, UT shelves with brass bookends 84105(801)486-5511. ATTENTION MUSIC LOVERS! Allis, Arcici, Boulder, Coda, Muzik Systems. Music Metre, Point Source. PS Audio. hold single & multiple CD's, AUDIO PHASE INDICATOR: Hand-held tool for engineers Straightwire, VMPS, XLO & morel Call (313) 342-2475 for Videos and in and enthusiasts. Bi-color LED shows "IN" or OUT" relative Cassettes - any prices & info. Gil Morrison. combination. Comes in Solid phase for all stereo equipment. For more info, write or call Crystal Lake Designs, P.O. Box 591, Crystal Lake, IL AAA -LOW PRICES -HIGH END EQUIPMENT!!! Oak, Walnut, Teak or Cherry. 60014-0591; ph. (815) 455-0799. PS AUDIO, HAFLER, B&K, CARVER, NAKAMICHI, LUX - Can stack or wall mount. MAN, THORENS, M&K, SNELL, ONKYO, PROTON, FRIED, and terminations, bal- Custom cables Camacs, XLR SUMIKO, BOSE, PHILIPS, DCM, VELODYNE, ADS, VPI, anced, hi -flexibility tonearm volume FREE Literature and Prices: sets; custom Shallcross JSE and any others you desire. AUDIO ELITE, (414) controls; MIT MultiCaps & Wonder Caps -solder- wire: Vishay Call 1-800-432-8005 725-4431, Menasha, Wisconsin. & Holco resistors, types tonearm and all audio connectors, OUR PRICES CAN'T BE BEAT?!! FAX 1-201-748-2592 wires; wide of high -end No. A300 chassis selection accessories/mod parts, $1 catalog ($3 overseas); MICHAEL PERCY, BOX AAA -AUDIO ELITE IN WISCONSIN!!! ox 747-1 526, INVERNESS, CA 94937. (415)669-7181. HAFLER, PS AUDIO, B&K, JSE, NAKAMICHI, PROTON, CARVER, ONKYO, ADS, VPI, DCM, FRIED, NITTY GRIT- soRicé NuOcl'By, NJ 07110J HI Fl CLASSICS USED HI END- HUGE SELECTION of - TY. SUMIKO, THORENS, SNELL, M&K. LUXMAN, BOSE, components, cables, etc. Competent & helpful salespeople PHILIPS, VELODYNE and any others you desire. (414) & the best prices around. WE BUY SELL & TRADE, INVEN 725-4431. TORY LIST AVAILABLE. TEL: (718) 318-9618. FAX: (718) CALL US WE CARE!!! 318-9623. Altec 9440, 800 watt amplifier, BSR 4000XR 12 -band AUDIO CASSETTE ATC SCM-20, ACOUSTIC ENERGY, ASC TUBE $300. equalizer, Carver 4000t preamplifier, $435. TRAPS, AUDIBLE ILLUSIONS, AUDIOQUEST, B&K, per channel $45. BUYERS: DLT-100 disc player, Carver TX -11A CARDAS, CELESTION, CLASSE AUDIO CODA Carver compact $65. SOME GREEN... FMVAM tuner, $342. Conrad -Johnson Evolution 2000 ampli- SAVE TECHNOLOGIES, ENSEMBLE PA -1. ENTEC, ESO- PV-11 preamplifier, $1,100. with Greencorp's TERIC DIGITAL, KIMBER KABLE, LEXICON, MAG- fier, $3,400. Conrad -Johnson recorder, anytime, family of Australian NUM DYNALAB, PSE, MISSION/CYRUS, MOD Sony TC-K555 cassette tape 535. Call (215)395-1914. SQUAD, NILES AUDIO, PHILIPS AUDIO/VIDEO. V Blank Cassettes. REGA PLANAR, SIMS NAVCOM, SONATA, SONRISE C-62 CASSETTES AAMPSTRAVAGANZA! McINTOSH 2125-5700; AM- CABINETS. SONUS FABER,SOUND ANCHOR, PZILLA GASWORKS MODIFIED -5495; SAE 2500-$595; AS LOW STAX, TARA LABS, TARGET STANDS, TERA VIDEO, CARVER 1.57, 4.0, M400. ADCOM/MUSIC CON- AS 38e! TICE AUDIO, VELODYNE, V.A.C. VALVE AMPLIFICA- CEPTS -$550; CASETTES: NAKAMICHI 1000ZXL-$t200; TION COMPANY. FOR LITERATURE CALL QUANTITY 25 100 500 NAD6300-$525; CITATION 23 TUNER, 25 PREAMP-S695 301-890-3232,JS AUDIO, ONE CHILDRESS COURT, PAIR. MUST MAN BE BORN AGAIN? JOHN 3:1-18. 313 XDS Music Grade C12 .39 .28 .26 BURTONSVILLE, MARYLAND, 20866. AUDITION BY 949 4567. Our best selling music C32 .46 .35 .32 APPOINTMENT, MONDAY THRU FRIDAY 10AM TO Hi -Fi Farm Yearly Blowout! New products: VMPS, B&K, grade tape. Used by 7PM, SATURDAY 11 TO 5. WE HONOR VISA, C47 .51 .39 .35 Cary Audio, Magnum, Phillips, Maplenoll, Mordaunt-Short recording companies for MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS. FAX: C62 .58 .45 .42 and the amazing new speaker, the 3AMM from France. High their cassette albums. 301-890-3819. C92 .68 .55 .52 End in WV. It's true! Call 1-800-752-4018. HEADPHONES: Highly rated stax + amplifier as reviewed Music -PLUS C12 .44 .32 .30 n April AUDIO. Private seller, $553. Robert T. Little. Deltona, DAY SEQUERRA FM REFERENCE TUNER, 0/0; ARC D160, $1995: COUNTERPOINT 5.1, $1095, SA -2, S395; C32 .54 .42 .39 Florida (904) 789-3404. For a fuller, smoother FOSGATE 3602G, $395. JOHN: (801)224-4809; sound. A world -class tape C47 .58 .45 .41 (801)226-6000. with high frequency res- C62 .66 .52 .47 ponse, and low noise level. USED AND DEMO EQUIPMENT: Audio Research SP -9, C92 .77 .64 .57 LS -1 & D125. Counterpoint SA -220; Vandersteen 2ci; Celes- Genuine Chrome C12 .53 .41 :39 tion SL -12; Mark Levinson 20.5. 23 & 26: Revox B126 & B250; Mirage; misc. Call AUDITION AUDIO for pricing and .63 .51 .48 to C32 DE 467-5918. Visa, MC. Amex Superior "chrome -bias" T'A details at (801) accepted. ferric oxide tapes, this Is a C47 .68 .55 .51 You can trade your cartridge toward genuine chrome. Coated presents FORTE's new Pure Class -A C62 .75 .61 .57 STEREOWORKS with Dupont's chromium a fabulous sounding AudioQuest® monoblocks for under $2600 per pair! STEREOWORKS oxide. Its signal-to-noise C92 .98 .85 .80 trade-in offers friendly service and competitive prices on Well Tem- ratio is legendary! and get a substantial C100 1.04 .88 .82 allowance, no matter what pered. Sumiko, Van den Hul, Forte, Threshold. Superphon, Hailer, VMPS, Merlin, Celestion. Eminent Technology, Tara EXACT LENGTHS: cartridge you have. Labs, MIT, Aural Symphonies and more! Call for new, used Houston, Texas. C-12 C-32 C-47 C-62 C-92 C-100 and demo gear. Trade -Ins invited. 713-492-2202. C-100 available in Genuine Chrome only. Norelco-type clear plastic boxes, sturdy UPGRADE FOR LESS! ROGERS' AUDIO IS OFFERING commercial grade: .18 .16 .15 BEST PRICES ON USED AUDIO COMPONENTS. BUY- SELL -TRADE. CALL TOLL FREE: 1-800-292-5533. Self-adhesive, white cassette labels and blank inserts $3.00 per 100 DYNACO ST70 UPGRADES: Gold EL34 Sockets, 1215 An AQ cartridge will Microfarad on -board solid state B+, triode output, more. AVAILABLE CALL FOR PRICES!, VIDEO CASSETTES - get you an even greater allowance, DoReTech Audio Services, Box 6054, South Hackensack, PhoneiFax: (201) 843-0488. TELEPHONE ORDERS: up to $345, depending on what you NJ 07606-4354. TOLL FREE: 1 (800) 972-0707 trade and what you buy. USED KEF 107 $2,500, LEVINSON ML9 $1,500; LINN LP12/ITTOK/K18 $1,995, DMS $2,250, SARA 9 $1,000; FAX ORDERS: (305) 429-9214 SONOGRAPHE AMPLIFIER $700; ACOUSTAT PREAMP PAIR FOS- F.O.B. Deerfield Beach, FL. Taxes (if any) plus shipping oudioquest. $499; MIT750 15' $300; INFINITY RSIB $2,500; PO. Box 3060 Tel: 714.498.2770 extra. Call tor shipping charges & larger quantity prices. GATE 3610 $500. CALL TERRY AT (402)391.3842. 714.498.5112 Minimum quantities are 25 per size (audio), and may be I San Clemente, CA 92674 USA Fax: mixed to gel larger quantity discounts. Orders of 6,000 + shipped road freight at cost. We accept company or personal checks or charges to Visa, MasterCard, & American Express (possible surcharge). Prices subject to change without notice. features the exciting world of SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!! If not satisfied for any reason, return the cassette within 30 days for a full rotund of C/ digital with state-of-the-art transports and d/a converters by the unused portion.

For a detailed Product Information Barclay, Esoteric, Proceed and Wadia. brochure, sent FREE of charge ' CALL TODAY High End Components For The Audio Perfectionist 1-800-972-0707 AKG KI000 ALTEC L LANSING APOGEE BARCLAY SOUND SYSTEMS LTD. COUNTERPOINT ESOTERIC I !AFTER HARTLEY Jl GREENCORP USA, Inc. COVENTRY COAIA70.\S Rte 347 LEXICON MELOS PROCEED ROTEL STONY BOOR, N.Y. ¡1790 SUITE 105, 1015 W. NEWPORT CENTER DR. JEFF ROWLAND SHAHIN IAN TDL VAC WADIA 516/689-7444 DEERFIELD BEACH, FLORIDA 33442

96 AUDIO/JULY 1991 FOR SALE FOR SALE

CELLO Equipment For Sale. Absolutely Mint. 33-35%Off SAVE! SAVE! SAVEI Get top dollar for your existing compo- List. Audio Suite(includes P101 8 P301), Palette Equalizer, nents. Trade -up to the latest technology. Authorized dealer Performance Amplifiers. (212) for: LOWER Call 932-7545. ARC, Aragon. Basis, BBK, B8 W, Day Sequerre, Dun - tech, Jadis, Krell, Martin Logan, ProAc and Thiel. CSA AUDIO in New Jersey. (908) 953-9777. LOUDSPEAKER AUDIO CABLES, ETC. Dort pay exorbitant prices for top quality. We have years of experience CUSTOM AUDIO FURNITURE. ANY DESIGN, CONTEM- wire DISTORTION In manufacturing and have duplicated the high priced PORARY OR PERIOD REPRODUCTIONS. DOMESTIC brands. High priced equivalents as low as .35/ft. We de- AND EXOTIC MATERIALS. HIGH LEVEL WORKMANSHIP. mystify wire technology, send for explanation literature which PACIFIC RIM WOODWORKS. (604) 442-5651. also includes all our audio products price list or call our literature request #(800) 321-2108, 24 hrs/day. L A T The AUDIO TRADING TIMES brings you spectacular bar- International, Dept. A, 317 Provincetown Rd.. Cherry Hill, gains on used/demo audio equipment from around the USA. NJ 08034. ADVERTISE FREE! Call (715) 479-3103, (24 hours), for details and subscription rates. TURNTABLE OUTFIT. Thorens TD160 Super, SME Series III Arm, MlcroAcoustics -Only Stereo Cartridge. New Stylus. A.D.S., ADCDM, BANG & OLUFSEN, B&W, Like New. $500. (217) 345-6850. CARVER, DENON, HARMON/KARDON, NA- MCINTOSH Bought -Sold -Traded -Repaired. FREE Cata- logue. See our ad at the beginning of the classifieds. AUDIO KAMICHI, KEF, REVOX AND OTHER QUALI- CLASSICS, POB 176MB, Walton, NY 13856607-865.7200. TY COMPONENTS. ALL PRODUCTS COV- Mon. -Fri. 8AM-5PM EST ERED BY MANUFACTURER'S -Audio Advertiser for over a Decade- U.S.A. WARRANTIES. AMERISOUND SALES INC. WE HAVE COMPUTERS, SOFTWARE, GAME SYSTEMS, GAME PAKS. MOVIES, CD's 8 MUCH MORE. SEND $1 24 HRS, EAST: (904) 262-4000, WEST: FOR CATALOG: AT/COM ELECTRONICS, P.O. BOX (818) 243-1168. 620284, CLEVELAND, OH 44102. Cable TV Descramblers, Converters, Accessories. Name LOUDSPEAKERS Brands. Lowest prices. Best service. Call CABLE READY (800) 234-1006 for COMPANY, FREE 16 -page color catalog. BEST SELECTION -50 HOME, SUBWOOFER, CAR 8 DESCRAMBLERS! ABSOLUTELY THE LOWEST PRO SPEAKERKITS. JBL, DYNAUDIO, POLYDAX, KEF, PRICES. ALL BRANDS. MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. MOREL. SEAS, VIFA; AWARD -WINNING ELECTRONIC CALL US LAST! NO CA. SALES. ADVANCE CROSS-OVERS, RTA'S, 64p CATALOG, $2. GOLD ELECTRONICS 1-800-659-3018. SOUND, 80X141 A, ENGLEWOOD, CO 80151.

MOVING SALE!! Brands include: ARC, CAL, CJ, ESO- TERIC. FORTE, HAFLER IRIS PREAMP $495, LUXMAN, MOD SQUAD, PRISM $595, MARTIN-LOGAN. MIT, ON- KYO, PROTON, THRESHOLD, WELL-TEMPERED 8 WADIA. Trade -Ins: ACOUSTAT II, DBX SOUNDFIELD ONE. The VMPS II CHAMPAGNE AUDIO, Champaign, IL (217)344-0805. Tower Special Edition ($1376/ pr kit, $1 776/pr assem) is an electrically and cosmetically updated version of a system rated MUSICAL CONCEPTS DENON "Best Buy" in Audio Magazine's full review (June ...offers the most refined, elegant modifications for 89). ADCOM B8K/HAFLER amps and preamps-PHILIPS/ AUTHORIZED DEALER ROTEL/MAGNAVOX CD PLAYERS! NEW! PA -1 PC Dual front firing 12" active polycone woofers and a boards for HAFLER amps-budget bliss! EPOCH III, slat-loaded, mass -loaded 12" passive radiator de- ERA III, Ill 1 ENIGMA and EDEN -BIT CD players liver -3dB bass at 22 Hz for THD of no more than ($595-$3295)-untouched realism, period! Compare The mark of a true Denon. 0.7%/1W drive. Trebles flat to 40kHz are gen- our CD players to others at any price! Try our stunning This sticker tells you who is an authorized erated by the renowned Focal 1" inverted hard - CD "TRANSPORT"! MUSICAL CONCEPTS, ONE Denon dealer and who isn't. PATTERSON PLAZA, dome in tandem with an ultralowmass ribbon ST. LOUIS, MO 63031. Some people who Denon (314)831.1822. offer products are supertweeter. The system is now available with not authorized dealers. That can lead to problems. optional Woven Carbon Fiber midrange BINAURAL microphone set, stealthy electrets clip to you First, only authorized dealers offer you the ($100/pr), currently state-of-the-art in mid fre- glasses earpieces, excellent for recording concerts, very flat protection of a Denon warranty with your quency reproduction and the standard mid on our response: + p8h. $100 Write for details. Core Sound, 839 purchase: at other dealers, you may have no new Super Tower/R Special Edition ($2600pr River Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666, (201) 801-0812. warranty at all. kit, $3200pr assem), and the fabulous 6'6" Super CABLE TV CONVERTERS AND DESCRAMBLERS DIS- Authorized Denon dealers stock only Tower Ill ($4300pr kit, $5200pr assem). COUNT CENTER! ALL MAKES AND MODELS. FREE CAT- components designed for the U.S., and have the ALOG! VIDEO -TECH, 3702 S. VIRGINIA, X 160-304, RENO. Hear VMPS at the dealers listed below, or write for NEVADA 89502. ORDER TODAY!! (800) 562-6884 VISA; training to help you select the one right for you. brochures and test reports on all models including MC/COD. Authorized dealers know Denon technology the MiniTower Ila ($369ea kit, $479ea assem), NITTY GRITTY CD 8 RECORD CLEANING MACHINES. inside and out and stock factory parts for your the origina Tower II ($479ea kit, $649ea assem), AUDIOOUEST WIRE 8 ACCESSORIES. TICE LINE Denon to preserve true Denon sound. our three Subwoofers, and the DSO Series of FILTERS CALL (715) 479-7532. So before you buy your Denon, look for this Bookshelf speakers. VMPS also distributes John Curl's Vendetta Research SCP2C BBK COMPONENTS. WE STOCK THE ENTIRE LINE OF Denon Authorized Dealer Sticker. phono preamp MK AMPS AND PREAMPS. IN HOME AUDITIONS. CALL It assures you of the authentic Denon tech- ($2495), reviewed by most major publications as (715)479.7532. the finest available. nology and support you expect. And nothing less. BSA, REFERENCE LINE, COUNTERPOINT, PS AUDIO, TARGET, KIMBER, MONSTER, VPI, AUDIOOUEST, SUM- To find your nearest AUTHORIZED Denon Dealer call: VMPS AUDIO PRODUCTS IKO, NITTY GRITTY, AND MUCH MORE. CALL (715) 1-201-575-7810 div hone Audio 479-7532. (9:00 am -5:00 pm EST) DENON 3429 Morningside Dr., El Sobrante. CA 94803 (415) 222-4276

Hear VMPS at' The Listening Studio, Boston; Par Troy Sound. Parsippany NJ; Dynamic Sound, VVashrngtan DC: Essenual Audio THE AUDIO GLOSSARY by J. GORDON HOLT Winchester VA; Hifi Farm, Beckley Vi/V, Sound Audio, Charlotte NC; American Audio, Greenville SC; Audio by Caruso, Miami FI: In the three and a half decades since the arrival of stereo, no one has Arthur Morgan, Lake Mary PI; Shadow Creek Ltd. Minneapolis done more than J. Gordon Holt lo develop and define a consistent vocabulary Mn; Audio Specialists. South Bend In; Audio Connecuon. Terre for describing reproduced sound. This Is actually two dictionaries In one: a glossary Haute In; Aucio by Gil Manson, Detroit MI; Concert Sound, San of subjective audio and a comprehensive plain.English guide to nearly two thou- Antonio Tx; Parker Enterprises. Garland Tx; Stereoworks. Hous- sand technical terms. A "must" for every audio bookshelf' ton Tx: Encore Audio. Lees Summit Mo; Posh Audio. Lake Oswego OLD COLONY SOUND LAB BKAA7IS Sftbd. $5.95 Or; Sound Room, Vancouver BC Can; Exclusively Entertainment. San Diego Ca; Audio Haven. Upland Ca: Sounds Unique. San PO Box 243, Dept. Al2 BKAA7IH Jose Ca; Ultimate Sound, San Francisco Ca; Private Line Home Hdbd. wl)acket 517.95 Peterborough, NH 03458-0243 USA Entertainmert, Stockton Ca; Golden Ear, Chico Ca. hone Audio, (603) 924-6371 1924-6526 FAX: (603) 924-9467 BKAA7IL El Sobrante Ca. Lookout Elect.. Longview WA Autographed, ltd. ed. LINES OPEN 24 HRSIDAYI $30.00 PLEASE ADD $1.75 SHIPPING FOR CALL OR WRITE FOR FREE CATALOG! FIRST BK., 50,, EA. ADD'L. _ l

AUDIO/JULY 1991 97 LOUDSPEAKERS LOUDSPEAKERS ELECTRONIC LEGACY SIGNATURE II -IMAGINE THE IDEAL DIMIN- NEW ELECTROSTATIC LOUDSPEAKER SERVICE FA- ACTIVE ISHING LINE SOURCE LOUDSPEAKER. BEGIN AT CILITY. Complete service on KLH Nine & Acoustech X CROSSOVERS THE TOP OF THE TOWER WITH A SAMARIUM CO- systems by former design & production personnel. Blue Hill MODEL 120 CABINET & NEW 120-R BALT RIBBON FOR THE ABSOLUTE IN TRACING Industries, Inc., Box 387, Boston, MA 02119 (617) AND PANEL" DESIGNS SPEED AND "AIRINESS". HAND-OFF TO A METAL- 427-6300. "RACK LIZED DOME WITH NEARLY 5 LBS. OF MAGNET Made to order In Butterworth bl-amp, STRUCTURE TO DETAIL THE PRESENCE BAND. ELECTROSTATIC SPEAKERS OUR SPECIALTY! Vacuum tri-amp, or quad -amp configurations PROVIDE THE SWEETEST VOCALS POSSIBLE tube controlled. Latest technology and modular design. with optional level controls, subsonic WITH TWIN SEAS 6.5" MIDBASS DRIVERS. PUNC- "Risk free" thirty day home trial. Uncompromised perfor- filters, or summers. Filters, regulated TUATE THE SUBTERRANEAN WITH THREE mance at factory direct pricing. DAVID LUCAS, INC., DEPT. PA 15139. power supplies, equalizers, are also CARBON/POLY SUBWOOFERS. INCLUDE CARDAS A, 924 HULTON ROAD, OAKMONT, available. LITZ, TIFFANY BIAMP INPUTS AND A TEN YEAR (412)828-1967. New catalog and price sheet. Free! WARRANTY. $2696/PR SHIPPED REFUNDABLE. OAK, WALNUT, MAHOGANY, BLACK LACQUER. DYNAUDIO SPEAKER KITS Lab. HOME AUDITIONS. RTRD, 3021 SANGAMON AVE- We believe SUPERIOR SOUND DUALITY promotes itself, reeouicaty Eng. NUE, SPRINGFIELD, IL 62702. 1-800-283-4644. and invite you to DISCOVER....AUTHENTIC FIDELITY. AD- 11828 Jefferson Bl. Culver City, CA 90230 VANCED AKUSTIC 7627 WOODSIDE STOCKTON CA PHONE (213) 397-9668 95207 "1991 Catalog' $2.00. 1-209-477-5045. LOUDSPEAKER COMPONENTS-KITS. Dynaudio, Morel, Eclipse, Focal, Peerless, Eton, Vita, more! Crossover parts - NEW MICRO REFERENCE!! design books also. Catalog St. Meniscus, 2442 28th St. IN Easy to install foam sur- S.W.. Wyoming, MI. 49509. (616) 534-9121. THE ULTIMATE RECYCLING! round kits available from Ken's Hi -Fi Clinic. $24.95 per pair + Flat Rock, NC 28731 or (704) LOUDSPEAKER CABINETS - Large selection of high - $3.00 S & H. P.O. Box #1088, quality Cabinets ready to finish in Oak and Walnut. Also 693-3459 24 hrs/day. Visa/MC. available in gloss and matte laminate colors. Grenier VMPS factory assembled speakers. All models, low Cabinets, 5901 Jennings Road, Horseheads, NY 14845. F XX prices, shipped direct to you. Free price sheet. Arthur CD (607) 594-3838. Morgan, 886 East Charing Cross CR.. Lake Mary, FL. Restores Skipping CD's A & S SPEAKERS imports the world's finest speaker 32746. and kits: Dynaudio, Scan Speak, Repairs Scratched CD's 95 components, crossovers, ROTTED WOOFER FOAM REPLACED ON MOST Focal, Morel, MB Electronics, Peerless, Polydax, SEAS, $19. BRANDS. Good as new - Fast & inexpensive. All work Reduces Tracking Errors LPG, Eton. We also ship VMPS systems and kits and guaranteed. For information, send stamped envelope. Plus S & H Parasound Amplifiers. Free literature. 3170 23rd Street, San Increases Laser Life NEVISONICS, 2226 Taylorsville Rd.. Suite 101-A, Louisville, Francisco, CA 94110.(415)641-4573: Fax (415) 648-5306. CLEANS POLISHES PROTECTS KY 40205. ABSOLUTE SATISFACTION guaranteed. We sell more high 1 -80.0-878-FIXX end speaker kits than anyone in the U.S. Eleven kits from B&W MATRIX 801/802/803 Money Back If Not Satisfied 5119/pr. Free catalog. 1-800-346-9183. Audio Concepts, 804/805 OWNERS- ARE YOU USING B&W'S BLACK Inc. 901 So. 4th St. La Crosse, WI 54601. BOX (high pass alignment filter) with your high -end equipment? You are being deprived of the best. Now available are high quality units at a very affordable price. Ask for 'The Golden Flute' by JPS Labs at your B&W dealer, or call (716)822-0159. manufacturer's McIntosh --owned eei'ru - - BOZAK SPEAKER REPAIRS, using original techniques and dies. Quality FREE co doh -e - machinery, specifications, workmanship. NEAR 207-353-7308. class' ás . SStl,S POB 176CA, Waltol , Mon. -Fri. NY )56 E1V-7200. 8AM-5PM EST OUTDOOR TOTALLY WATERPROOF AUDIOPHILE - -Aódio Advertiser for over a Decade- QUALITY SPEAKER utilizing metal -alloy speaker cones for outdoor use. 5 year warranty. NEAR 207.353-7307. AUDIO CLASSICS buys -sells -trades -repairs -modifies high end audio components. See our ad at ADCOM, BANG & OLUFSEN, B&W, the beginning of the classifieds. FREE Cata- Audi. .pairs Rel A.D.S., logue. 8AM-5PM EST Mon. -Fri. Audio Classics, Audio assics rme fen t CARVER, DENON, HARMON/KARDON, NA- United States Post Office Bldg., POB 176CA, Wal- Mclry .h. 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You heard it right. SINGERS! REMOVE VOCALS The newest audio magazine FROM RECORDS AND CDs! is all about vacuum tubes! Glass Audio is designed for you dedicated music lovers who've always known that tube equipment sounds better than solid state. We think you'll be pleased to have a magazine to keep you current with all the on -going developments in vacuum tube technology, applications and equipment. Here's a sampling from our premiere issue: An elegant driver for elec- d, trostatic and electrodynamic headphones. A self -bias servo for push-pull output 6., tube amplifiers. Upgrades for the classic Revox tape recorders. A stereo balanced transformer input microphone preamp. A quality dynamic headphone tube amplifier. Plus a major update on the entire field by Ken Kessler. ..cc These articles aren't just for reading or browsing. They're for doing. SING WITH THE WORLD'S BEST BANDS! Glass Audio includes schematics and instructions, just like our other An Unlimited supply of Backgrounds from standard publications, Audio Amateur and Speaker Builder. stereo records! Record with your voice or perform live Used in Professional Performance Glass Audio, PO Box 176, Dept. A89, Peterborough, NH 03458 with the backgrounds. yet connects easily to a home component stereo. This O Two years ® $18 (SAVE $2 on 4 Issues) O One year ® $10 (2 issues) Canada add $2 per year postage unique product is manufactured and sold Exclusively by LT Sound - Not sold through dealers. Call or write for a Free Brochure and Demo Record.

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Nady NHT Labs Nlles Olympus Onkyo -Audio Advertiser for over a Decade- Audo Perfecticn:Ninneaoolis. Optonica Oran Panasonic Phase linear Philips iMtf- D&M Sound: CefuTtoia Primus Audio- Kansas MOSCODES, FUTTERMANS- ANY MAKE TUBE ELEC- Mfl- Pinnacle Pioneer Prec'senPower Proton Parsec City Sound Central: St _ouis. ti RCA RockfordFosgate Sharp Sanyo Sononce TRONICS - SERVICE AND CUSTOM MODIFICATIONS Sony Soundcraftsmon Soundstream Stax BY GEORGE KAYE, MOSCODE DESIGNER. KAYE AUDIC t4 - Stereo Sound: Greensboro, Winston Salem. Stillwater Sunpack .Sunound Sound Tomrac LABS, INC., 238 Liberty Ave., New Rochelle, NY 10805 NE- Custom Electronics: Omaha, Lincoln. TeoC Technics Thorens *Toshiba *Toad Yomaha (914)633-3039. N,l- Sound Waves: Nortt-field Soundworks: Cherry ..And Many More.. Hill- Woodbridge Stereo Montclair, Princeton, W. MOSCODE HYBRID HAFLER - THE SOUND OF TUBES CAR STEREO - THE POWER AND RELIABILITY OF SOLID STATE Caldwell, W. Longbranci, Woodbridge. KAYE AUDIO LABS. 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Clark ML sic: Albany Syracuse Electronic Work- . The place to shop: Manhattan- Hart E ectro,ics: Vestal- In- best novative Audo: Brookloa Listening Room Scars- be seen is where dale- Speaker Shop: Anrerst, Buffalo- Audio are looking. Breakthroug&s: Manha;et. AA\S people Cleveland, Toledo- Stereo Q.B- Audo Craft: Ak or, And each month, both Lab: ColumbLs, Cirldnr a i. BASS SYSTEV enthusiasts & dealers OR- Focas: Salem- Hawthorne Stereo: Portend- Stereo Loft: Eugene. read AUDIO's EA- GN1 Stereo: Lancaster- Hart Electronlcs:.Blake- IT'S THE CHOICE for ly, Kingston- Listening Fost: Pittsburgh & suburbs Classifieds - WHEN ONLY THE BEST WILL DO Sassafras: Philadelphia subLrbs, Allentow-i' Stereo information. house: Lewis wry- Stereoland. Natrona Heights. El- Eastern Aud o: Not-Providence* Soundings: Mid- AUDIO's Classifieds dletown. Dasiboard Stereo Charleston. -where consumers shop BI- Hi Fi Buys: Goodldtville, Nashville- Lirdsay Perfect coherence-with all speakers and dealers buy! Ward: Kaoxvi le. . ' Flat. calibrated low bass response Audo Tech:Tempe Waco Audio Video: Col- Denton Bunkley's Sd. Sys- ' No exaggerated. equalized bass response For more information, please call lege Staton Bell Audio: Sound: San Antonio- Hár- transient response tams: Abilene- Concert High speed 800-445-6066. old's Electronics: Odessa, Mid and. Sheffield Aúdoo: Up to four times more amplifier response Houston- . Up to four times more speaker response j,IL- Broadway Music: Salt Lake- Stokes Bros.: Lo- - gan. yA- Audo Associates Arlington, Fairfax- Audio- This publication is available tronlcs: Roaroke D'gi-al Sound: Virginia Beach. I in microform from UMI. WA- Evergreen Audio:Silverdale Hawthorne Ster- John Marovskis Audio Systems, Inc. 800-521-0600 toll -free eo: Bellevue 0.C. Stereo: Bell ngham, Oak Harbor - 2889 Roebling Avenue 313-761-4700 collect from Alaska and Michigan Tin Ear: +Cenr'ewick. 800-343-5299 toll -free from Canada jy,,yA- P ed Piper: Iiunington, Charleston- Sound In- Bronx, New York 10461 (212) 892-7419 vestments: Moragartown Sound Post: Prirceton. WI- Audio Emporium: vflwauhee. Canada- Advance Electronics: Winnipeg, Regina- 100 Audio A -k: Edmonton* Audio Ctr.: Montreal, Ottawa* Bay Bloer: Toronto -Boutique of Sound: Calgary- CORA: Quebec City SeLnd Plus: Vancouver. A

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Mark Levinson® products are designed and manufactured by MADRIGAL AUDIO LABORATORIES PO. Box 781, Middletown. CT 06457 FAX 1203) 346-1540 rable courtesy 01 Fairhaven Woodworks 1'