The Devialet D-Premier Redefines High End Audio
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Music.Gear.Style. No.35 February 2011 Conquering The Devialet D-Premier Space Redefines High End Audio n Music Extravaganza: Reviews of New LPs from Decemberists, 11th Dream Day, J. Mascis, Motörhead, Wanda Jackson, and more! n Twilight Singing: A Conversation with Greg Dulli 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 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. 62 118130 features t o n e s t y l e The Ace Hotel 118 Sleep Here If You Love Music Standalone Motherfucker: By Jeff Dorgay 30 A Conversation with Twilight Singers Leader Greg Dulli 40: A Doonesbury By Bob Gendron 12 4 Retrospective 11. PUBLISHER’S LETTER Alex James Interview: 13. NEW CONTRIBUTORS 62 Dolorean’s Introspective The Omron Blood Folk-Rock Beauty 14. TONE TOON 127 Pressure Monitor By Jaan Uhelszki Save Yourself By Liza Donnelly Old School: Fentimans Curiosity Cola 70 The Forgotten Oracle By Jeff Dorgay 129 What’s In That? Budget Gear: Drobo S 88 Silverline Audio Minuet 130 Back It Up! Mini-Monitors, Max Performance By Lawrence Devoe McIntosh Clock Journeyman Audiophile: 133 Nightstand Blue Meters 10 8 Truth and Soul: Zu Soul Superfly By Steve Guttenburg Spend An Extra Day 129 134 In Montreal By Bob Gendron 6 TONE A U D I O NO.35 February 2011 7 music previews 16. LIVE Music: The TONE Staff 143. AVID Acutus Reference SP Covers Buddy Guy, Motörhead, 144. Vitus Audio MP-P201 Black Dub. And a Snapshot of Phono Preamplifier Trap Them 145. NAD PP-3 Phono Preamplifier 36. CurrEnt RELEasES: Fresh Releases in the Pop/Rock World reviews By the TONE Staff 146. Exclusive: The Devialet D-Premier 76. audiophilE prEssings: Ooh La La, It Does it All Art Pepper at Ronnie Scott’s Club, By Jeff Dorgay Iron and Wine, INXS, The B-52’s, Ted Nugent and two from ZZTop 158. Nagra MSA Amplifier 94. Jazz & BluES: A Marvel of Miniaturization Three New Releases By Jeff Dorgay By Jim Macnie 170. Bel Canto: Riding the Airwaves 100. CLUB MIX: MICS Show e.One FM1 FMTuner Coverage from Monaco By Lawrence Devoe By Scott Tetzlaff 178. Totem Acoustic Forest Loudspeakers By Mark Marcantonio 186. The EAT ECC803 S Tubes High Performance or Hype? By Jeff Dorgay 192. Budget Audio Redefined: Polk Blackstone TL2 and PSW111 Sat/Sub Combination By Jeff Dorgay web reviews 203. Vitus Audio SS-050 Amplifier 204. Croft Micro 25 Preamplifier and 206. SLuMMIN’ Classics on the cheap Series 7 Power Amplifier 42. New from Eleventh Dream Day 205. McIntosh MR-88 Tuner 209. Manufacturers Info. 8 TONE A U D I O NO.35 February 1882011 9 DO NO HARM! Great sound and great pictures, music that consumes you, movies that transport you around the universe … comes from honoring the original signal. IN PraisE of Zinio An unavoidable fact-of-life: Every component and cable in a system causes some TONEAudio has been a paperless publication However, going forward, we will be adding amount of distortion. These aberrations add up, like layers of foggy glass between from the very beginning for many reasons, audio and video to the magazine, along with you and the image. The goal of high quality components and cables is to be like clean the most important of which is our concern extra photos (both reviews and features) clear panes of glass, altering and distorting the information for the environment. My mother-in-law and a few articles unique to the “Premium as little as possible. likes to say, “Trees are a Version” of TONEAudio. crop, you can grow more.” I What’s this mean for you? For Some of the most fundamental distortion mecha- wholeheartedly agree. But the starters, readers that have been faithfully actual process of printing a nisms are honored and addressed by AudioQuest’s downloading our PDF will still be able to do magazine is fairly toxic, as any so. We are not abandoning the free version 4-Elements. Any improvement in these areas of number of waste products gets of TONEAudio, so you can continue to read design and materials results in less damage and a dumped into our ecosystem. A it as you have in the past. But for the cost of more effective immersive experience. vision for an electronic future is less than three Starbucks Venti lattes, you’ll something I share with Apple be able to get access to even more cool founder Steve Jobs. And having stuff in the future. Those of you with Droid spent my life as a professional photographer pads, fear not; Zinio has promised Samsung Solid Conductors before starting TONEAudio nearly six Galaxy and Dell pad support, with others on Electrical and magnetic interaction between strands is one of the greatest years ago, I’ve always enjoyed looking at the way. And if you are reading this letter on sources of distortion in normal cables. Separate solid conductors prevent transparencies on a light box as opposed a smart phone, I salute your visual prowess! interaction between strands. to looking at prints. Seriously, if you’d like to read TONEAudio My selfishness perfectly dovetails with on a smartphone, let us know, and we can Insulation reading TONEAudio on a screen. And it’s make that an option as well. In addtion to insulating, all conductor coatings are also a “dielectric.” why we’re thrilled to partner with Zinio.com, For now, I’m hoping the additional Signal flow is slowed down and distorted by a dielectric, making the choice marking the beginning of what is shaping navigation, ease of readability, and stability of material, and AQ’s Dielectric-Bias System, very important. up to be a very promising future at this on the iPad will be enough to keep you ever-growing publication. Zinio’s iPad app intrigued while we are, in a sense, “under works flawlessly, giving our magazine the construction.” I guarantee it will be worth Geometry form factor of a paper periodical with the the journey. We have many fun, informative The relationship between conductors, whether of the same polarity (+ & +) or vibrancy of viewing 8 x10 chromes on a ideas and projects up our sleeves that we opposite polarity (+ & -) affects many electrical and mechanical parameters, color-corrected light box—the ideal blend of can’t wait to share with you. including capacitance, inductance, RF Interference, etc. old and new technologies. While we were not the first audio magazine to embrace As always, thanks for reading. this platform, we are striving to be the Metal Quality most meaningful and most exciting to read. Conductor material quality has a pronounced effect on the signal passing through. Our first few issues on Zinio will be almost Different materials have more or less impurities, grain-boundaries, surface identical to the traditional PDF that you can irregularities, ets. download at no cost from our website. www.audioquest.com 10 TONE A U D I O NO.35 February 2011 11 NEW CONTRIBUTORS This beauty Robert Loerzel Robert Loerzel is a freelance writer and photographer in Chicago. His concert photos is a beast appear regularly in the Chicago Reader and on his blog, www. Reintroducing big speaker sound without undergroundbee.com. He writes for Chicago magazine, Signal to the big speaker®: the new Blackstone® TL Noise and other publications, as series compact speakers well as Chicago Public Radio. Jim Macnie Jim Macnie has been in love with The same components used in our award-winning full size speakers optimized for superior response in compact enclosures, for big, dynamic, realistic sound. The only thing that’s music since childhood.