Intrépide Chanteuse Keren Ann’S Subtle Suggestiveness
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Music.Gear.Style. No.38 June 2011 Intrépide Chanteuse Keren Ann’s Subtle Suggestiveness n Nothing But Budget Gear! Everything under $2,000 n 20+ In-Depth Record Reviews: Bon Iver, My Morning Jacket, Jesse Sykes, SebastiAn, Prince, William Elliott Whitmore, Elvis Costello, and More n Beer Snob Quenches Summer Thirsts n We’re There! Buffalo Springfield, Twilight Singers, and Orange Goblin Live Stereotypes Sound City Audio Classics Shelley’s Stereo Audio Vision S F Daytona Beach, FL 32114 Denville, NJ 07834 Vestal, NY 13850 Hi Fi Center San Francisco, CA 94109 386-253-7093 973-627-0083 607-766-3501 Woodland Hills, CA 91367 415-641-1118 818-716-8500 Sound Components The Sound Concept Home Theater Concepts Audio FX Coral Gables, FL 33146 Bedford Hills, NY 10507 Morton, IL 61550 DSS- Dynamic Sacramento, CA 95825 305-665-4299 914-244-0900 309-266-6640 Sound Systems 916-929-2100 Carlsbad, CA 92088 Audio Advisors Sound Image Audio and Global Sight & Sound 760-723-2535 Media Enviroments West Palm Beach, FL 33409 Video Design Group Sussex, WI 53089 San Rafael, CA 94901 561-478-3100 Carrollton, TX 75006 262-820-0600 L & M Home Entertainment 415-456-1681 972-503-4434 Tempe, AZ 85285 Independence Audio Freeman’s Stereo 480-403-0011 Pro Home Systems Independence, MO 64055 Advanced Home Charlotte, NC 28216 Oakland, CA 94609 816-252-9782 Theater Systems 704-398-1822 Joseph Cali Systems Design 510-653-4300 3800 Watts. Plano, TX 75075 Santa Monica, CA 90404 Definitive Audio 972-516-1849 Hi Fi Buys 310-453-3297 Overture Bellevue, WA 98005 Nashville, TN 37211 Winnington, DE 19803 360 lbs. 425-746-3188 Speaker Shop 615-832-3121 Systems Design Group 302-478-6050 Amherst, NY 14226 Redondo Beach, CA 90278 Audio Design 716-837-1557 Electronic System 310-370-8575 Devastating Bass. Fairfield, CT 06825 Consultants www.jlaudio.com 203-336-4401 Aspen, CO 81611 Sunny Components 970-925-1700 Covina, CA 91724 © 2007 JL AUDIO, Inc. For more information on our complete line of subwoofers, please visit your local authorized dealer or www.jlaudio.com. Subwoofers pictured with grilles removed. In Canada contact GemSen Distribution at www.gemsen.com. 626-966-6259 U.S. PATENTS: #5,734,734 #5,949,898 #6,118,884 #6,229,902 #6,243,479 #6,294,959 #6,501,844 #6,496,590 #6,441,685 #5,687,247 #6,219,431 #6,625,292 #6,744,902 #D472,891 #D480,709 Other U.S. & Foreign patents pending. 14 123 features t o n e s t y l e 11. PUBLISHER’S LETTER The Music Never StoppedT The Beer Snob: 1 2. TONE TOON 14 New music has never been more creative, 11 0 Three Summer Beers, By Liza Donnelly diverse, relevant, or exciting than it is now. TONE’s Unofficial Beer, By Bob Gendron and an App You Need By Bob Gendron Old School:T 66 Ten of the Best Buys in Vintage Audio DEVO Vegan Shoes By Jerold O’Brien 12 0 No Blue Suede Here New Section! Macro: Monster CleanTouch™ Pen 94 Devoted to Your Desktop 122 Wipe Out Grime B&W MM-1 Portable Speakers and AudioQuest Carbon USB Cables By Jeff Dorgay Railway Maps of the World 123 An Amazing Look at Rail Travel Estes Big Daddy Rocket 124 Bring Back Your Inner Nerd For the Love of Vinyl: 126 Album Art of Hipgnosis AudioQuest 129 Binding Post Wrench 94 66 6 TONE A U D I O NO.38 June 2011 7 music gear previews 20. LivE MusiC: The TONE Staff 131. Classe CA-M300 Power covers Twilight Singers, Buffalo Amplifiers Springfield, Keren Ann, and 132. AVID Diva II and Diva II SP Orange Goblin Turntables 134. Bryston 10B Electronic 40. NEW RELEasES: Crossover Fresh Releases in the Pop/Rock World By the TONE Staff gear reviews 76. auDiophilE prEssings: Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, 136. Magnepan MMG Loudspeaker Santana, Prince, Sisters of Mercy, Begin Your Panel Adventure Here Cheap Trick, and More By Jeff Dorgay By the TONE Staff 146. Arcam rDAC 102. JAZZ & BluES: DAC Pack New Releases from Chris Dingman, By Paul Rigby Orchestre National De Jazz, and Jeremy Udden’s Plainville 152. Klipsch Heresy III Loudspeaker By Jim Macnie Incredible Balance By Jeff Dorgay 158. Rega Brio-R Integrated Amplifier Redefining the Genre By Jeff Dorgay 164. Pro-Ject Essential Turntable True to Its Name? By Paul Rigby 170. Vienna Acoustics Haydn Grand Symphony Loudspeaker By Jeff Dorgay 178. IsoTek EVO 3 Serius web gear reviews High-Performance Power Conditioning By Jeff Dorgay 192. Emotiva USP-1 Preamplifier and UPA-1 Monoblock Power Amps 184. GemmeAudio Tonic 195. Spin Clean Mk.II Record Cleaner 107. Jeremy Udden’s Plainville G5 Loudspeaker If The Past Seems So Bright By Jerold O’Brien 19 7. Manufacturers Info. 8 TONE A U D I O NO.38 June 2011 9 publisher’s letter DO NO HARM! won’t make any excuses for owning an treated me like royalty very often, and I Great sound and great pictures, music that consumes you, movies that transport you exotic hi-fi system. But my focus has can’t say I’ve been treated any better in around the universe … comes from honoring the original signal. always been on music, and specifically, prestigious watch stores, either. exploring more music. By nature, daily More than ever, what our industry An unavoidable fact-of-life: Every component and cable in a system causes some discussions with staff members usually needs to understand is that it’s all about amount of distortion. These aberrations add up, like layers of foggy glass between deal with hardware-related issues, and the point of engagement. Music, enthusi- I’d be lying if I said we didn’t get excited asm, and inclusiveness will sell hi-fi, and it you and the image. The goal of high quality components and cables is to be like clean I about the latest amazing product. Yet won’t matter if the guy behind the counter clear panes of glass, altering and distorting the information music always dominates our is wearing an Armani suit or an Iron Maid- as little as possible. conversations. I’ve also been en t-shirt. Knowledge and passion come very fortunate to have a close always through loud and clear. Besides, Some of the most fundamental distortion mecha- circle of friends that never lost the average 20- or 30-something has a nisms are honored and addressed by AudioQuest’s their drive to seek out new more finely honed bullshit detector than music, even though most of 4-Elements. Any improvement in these areas of their parents. Nothing turns off younger us are now in our late 40s generations (or this 50-something) faster design and materials results in less damage and a and early 50s. Perhaps that’s than telling them that there isn’t anything more effective immersive experience. anomalous behavior. But I new under the sun. That’s just plain lazy. don’t think so. All of which explains why, in this is- No, this isn’t another rant about sue, I turn the Publisher’s Letter over to Solid Conductors “whether you are a gear lover or a music our editor, Bob Gendron, and for excel- Electrical and magnetic interaction between strands is one of the greatest lover,” which is an incredibly tired argu- lent reason: He addresses a topic that’s sources of distortion in normal cables. Separate solid conductors prevent ment and frankly, one I don’t care about. central to my being and to this magazine. interaction between strands. But telling me that there is no or little When I started TONE six years ago, I good music today really gets my ire up. I envisioned a hi-fi publication that champi- couldn’t disagree more. And it all comes oned music—primarily because I’ve spent Insulation full circle when you realize that such atti- my life around people that have an un- In addtion to insulating, all conductor coatings are also a “dielectric.” tudes constitute the biggest problem fac- quenchable thirst for new music, live Signal flow is slowed down and distorted by a dielectric, making the choice ing the high-end audio industry. We can or recorded. of material, and AQ’s Dielectric-Bias System, very important. do all the finger pointing we want, but if you really want to be honest, selling any- If this were a television show, here thing is about excitement. Can you get is where you’d see the 15-second Geometry me excited about something enough that disclaimer that says, “The opinions The relationship between conductors, whether of the same polarity (+ & +) or I want to spend my hard-earned money expressed herein does not necessarily opposite polarity (+ & -) affects many electrical and mechanical parameters, on it instead of something else? represent the viewpoints of TONE or its including capacitance, inductance, RF Interference, etc. management.” However, in this case, I Recently, Ken Kessler made a weak agree with Bob 110%, and I’m anxious to argument in a newsletter in which he hear your thoughts on this hotly debated Metal Quality placed all the blame for audio’s decline and absolutely critical subject. Conductor material quality has a pronounced effect on the signal passing through. on hi-fi dealers, claiming that we should Different materials have more or less impurities, grain-boundaries, surface visit a fine watch shop or automotive irregularities, ets. dealer to see how luxury vendors—hi- fi gear falls into this category, like it or not—treat customers with respect.