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Krell Industries. Inc.. 45 Connair Road, Orange. CT 06477-3650 • FAX 203-691-2028 [email protected] • www.krellonline.com As We See It

Barry Willis

very once in awhile, some main- otite charlatan, who last year enjoyed miles to the gallon, years to pay off the stream journalist discovers the renewed critical acclaim by coaxing some loan. Financing a luxury model might audiophile underground. flowering plants in Rockefeller Center into require asecond mortgage and an extra E job. Your purchase will probably sit idle k happened again this past summer, the shape of agiant puppy. Like many artists, when Washington Post writer David Segal in- Koons got his big start rifling on Marcel 350 days per year, but at least it can double troduced his readers to some Washington, Duchamp's notion of the "readymade" —an as guest quarters and arefuge from do- DC audiophiles and the stores that stoke ordinary object taken out of context so that mestic strife when the bills are overdue. their mania ("Sound Crazy?," June 13). The it can be seen anew. One early Koons trick Music-lovers' bonus: Some come equip- theme that unites all such journalistic forays was to turn vacuum cleaners and other ped with very nice sound systems. into audioland is an unwavering astonish- household devices into many thousands of Then there's the sailboat, the arche- ment that grown adults can lavish such time, dollars simply by placing them in vitrines. typal example of the fantasy exceeding attention, and money on the experience of His Neu, Hoover Deluxe Shampoo Polishers the reality. Ah, the sailboat: handmade, recorded music. The bemusement evokes a (two in aPlexiglas box, illuminated by fluor- stunningly beautiful, ungodly expensive, and a maintenance nighmsare. On the favorite bumper sticker: "PRAY FOR ME MY escent lights) debuted in 1980 and, 19 years HUSBAND COLLECTS BASEBALL CARDS." few days each year when you're actually In "Sound Crazy?," Segal meets Hugh Life is full of zipping along with the spray in your face Campbell, a70-year-old consulting engi- and the sun in your hair, you'll probably neer and former Navy pilot whose passion fatuous pursuits, but the need to check the time on a fancy happens to be listening to music at home "chronometer," starting price in the mid at the highest level of resolution he can search for musical ecstasy four figures. Unlike the hi-fi, which no attain. Segal admits that Campbell's sys- one else ever sees, your superbly crafted tem — replete with room treatment, isn't one of them. timepiece will inform your sailing com- power conditioners, and exotic cables — panions that you are aman of substance. sounds "amazing," but he can't let the late4 was auctioned at Sotheby's New York After braving the elements and berthing epiphany overcome his astonishment at for $365,500. From the perspective of amid- your rig, you might wish to visit agourmet the price: $140,000, apportioned, his host dle-class wage earner, that's insane. For the restaurant, where you can wait an eternity tells him, over several years. billionaire collector who bought it, it's alot to drop aload of cash on some delicious tri- Such asum for amusic system is be- of fun—and an excellent investment. fles that, quite literally, will soon be flushed yond the conceptual limits of Segal's British minimalist Gary Hume has down the toilet. If you happen to bc acigar middlebrow readers, as he knew from enjoyed critical and financial success with aficionado, you can then take pleasure in the outset. Segal admits that the listening some faux industrial doors coated in applying ritual fire to acarcinogenic object experience was arevelation, then states glossy beige enamel. They initially sold in of affection —maybe one smuggled in pointblank that music-lovers can find the high five figures and quickly multi- from an embargoed nation, the illicit cost perfectly adequate systems for afew hun- plied in the secondary market, according adding aflavor all its own. Wash it all down dred dollars at any Circuit City. With his to a conversation overheard at the Los with arare scotch and call it anight, you Consumer Reports mentality, he would Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, bon vivant. You've got money to buns. probably suggest that an aspiring cyclist which earlier this year devoted consider- Most human interests, esoteric and could achieve the same results riding a able space and many weeks to displaying otherwise, make no monetary sense —or heavyweight K-Mart clunker instead of a this staggering work of genius. sense of any kind — outside their own sleek performer like a titanium-alloy Not your idea of an entertainment bar- guarded borders. How boring it would be Litespeed. They both have two wheels, gain? A San Francisco gallery can supply if the bottom line were the sole abiding don't they? something more affordable: Para Usted, a constraint. It's awacky world, and avastly The maligned Mr. Campbell, of course, 12-minute video by Argentine artist more entertaining one for its wackiness. would have had no appeal as anewsworthy Lilliana Porter. Guaranteed to amuse chil- For us hi-fi loonies, music is the glue that eccentric had he instead poured his money dren and adults alike, the characters in Pam holds it all together. It's the oldest and and time into restoring an old roadster or a Usted are all antique toy windup animals, most transcendent art form, and we'll spill wooden sailboat, or had he spruced up his which variously strike ironic poses or walk blood, sweat, tears, and our children's in- home and his portfolio with paintings and afew steps and fall over. The soundtrack, heritance to make it sound better. sculpture. Audiophilia, you see, has acredi- appropriately enough, is tinkly tunes from If, in the classic science-fiction scenario, bility problem: It's got neither stature nor awindup music box. The price? A mere we arc visited by members of some in- visibility outside the reach of this journal $15,000. That new amplifier with the two- comprehensibly advanced alien civiliza- and the few others like it. As the rest of the grand price tag doesn't look like such asilly tion, what evidence could we present that world perceives us, we are hi-fi loonies. expenditure now, does it? we arc anything more than aberrant blobs Care to do alittle comparison shop- But forget art. It's too easy a target. of self-mocking protoplasm in need of ping? There are plenty of other, more common- quick eradication? For my money, Franz Instead of dumping your money on ly accessible fantasies you can try on for Schubert's Ave Maria is the best argument music and electronics, you could be tossing financial size. Like to travel? You could we could offer for our continued exis- it by the bucketful at contemporary art. Let buy amotor home. Many would-be ad- tence. Life is full of fatuous pursuits, but me assume the middlebrow stance for a venturers take the plunge every week: the search for musical ecstasy isn't one of moment and introduce Jeff Koons, my fav- thousands down, hundreds per month, six them.

3 Stereophile, November 2001 •-•441111M1

p. 59 Features 59 Reflections, Echoes, & Music Hervé Delétraz examines whether impedance matching in audio is myth or reality

71 David Byrne Throultout his years with the Talking Heads and his varied solo career, David Byrne musical explorations never stopped making sense Equipment Reports 78 Classé Audio Omega Super Audio CD player p. 71 Um 'Muni Scull) 87 Meridian DSP8000 Digital Active loudspeaker (John Atkinson) 93 Westlake Audio Lc5.75F loudspeaker (Michael Freiner) 101 Mirage 0M-7 loudspeaker (Lonnie Brolvnell) 109 Nordost Valhalla interconnect and speaker cable (Brbut Dain/'r(w) 113 Synergistic Research X-Series Designers' Reference and Alpha Sterling interconnects, X-Series Designers' Reference 2 and Alpha Quad loudspeaker cable, and Designers' Reference 2 Master Coupler AC cord (Chip Stern and John Atkinson) Follow-Up p. 87 121 Ayre K-3x preamplifier (Michael Frillier) 121 Bel Canto eVo 200.2 power amplifier (Kalman Rubinson) p. 123 123 Herron Audio M150 monoblock power amplifier (Michael Fremer) Staff Columns VP/Executive Publisher Jaqueline Augustine Publisher John B. Gotirlay 3 As We See It Barry Willis comments on the "outside world's" inability, or re/sisal, to recooize the Editor Joins Atkinson Senior Editor _Jonathan Scull merits if the audiophile quest. Music Editor Robert Baird 9 Letters Managing Editor. Elizabeth Donovan Readers coiteatulateJA On his erwineering prowess and Isis thosOidill call tar a Production Manager Pip Tannenbaum Senior Contributing boycott of watmnarked discs, yearn lar an end to the format wars, dead .for: reviews Editors Martin Colloins, Michael Freiner of more sanely priced equipment, and much much niore. Copy Editor Richard Lehner(

19 Industry Update Contributing Editors (Audio) High-end news, including dealer-promoted seminars, phis: HE2002 1WWS, I.isa ilionkroger, Robot 1),nrich, .Sha ...... private suit against companies using new Cl) copy protection systems, i)bloon, Larry J011 Iverson, David Lander, John Marks, lind A/1.01er, RACII J. Reina, Rithard J. Rown, Kalman Rtibinson, .11arinis new SACD titles, directional speakers, aportable plat.farin jar protected jarmats, Saner, tirent. Sant Tellig, Peirr nn, Rany liSle improving MP3s, I4.yrion hinis retires, and... Test 8 Measurement Consultant !Intl Miller Sam's Space Contributing Editors (Music) 35 S. 13,7kby, Lop 00000 Daniel 1J1141,117.J11.1 Sam Telle,,' on the new Quad ESL-988 loudspeaker, the Cambridge Audio (A101. lhornas (>m14 Danid 1)nrchholz, Ilyperion Knight. Rohm Levine, D500SE CD player, and LFD's Minstral LE integrated amplifier. Nlitharl Miter, Fred Mills, Kiah Atoin-r, Onaldie, David anid listrick Shunts, Chip SICM, Zan SIINTIS011, 45 Analog Corner ¡Sara lintier Michael Fremer on his response to Sound and Vision's Ken Pohlmann, the new Editorial Assistant 11111171 »lie 4Men Wth Beards vinyl reissue label, Music Hall's MMF-7 "masterpiece," the Assistant to the VP/Executive Publisher .... Kontrapunkt Ajr . om Ortojan, and afond farewell to Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's Assistant to the Publisher Web Producer Jon /maim head Herb Be/kin. Graphic Design \Wahl 13,141,1341.1, Pir linrimbanno 53 The Fifth Element Cover Photo Erb Suinnon John Marks on "Joyless connoisseurship" and the perils if rationalist thovht. Advertising Sales Eastern Advertising Manager: Keith Pnry 127 Aural Robert 1W .1ranie, MI, Floor • Nay link, NI' 10011 Now his solo career, Jay Farrar, rock's inan-q0awest-words, talks 0 with (212) .229-4846 - fax (212) 886-2810 Robert Baird. • praykeieniapUSA.com East of the Mississippi: Brim, Georgi 129 Building a Library 1W Amnon 511, Floor • Nen , 1,,rk, NY 10011 (212) .229-4868 • fax (2)2) 886-2810 Duane Alhnan remains the most billuential slide .oitarist (be modern ir,,. • [email protected] J. C'. Costa explores his recorded legacy. West of the Mississippi 8 National Dealers Record Reviews 1,, ,kaihia • Lean, Assoc-jaws, lirooklpt, NY 135 (718) 745-5025 •fax (718) 745-5076 November's Recording of the Month is the latest from amusical taste who at the • LoVecchio_Associatesebomnpuserve.com moment can seemingly do no wrong: Bob Dylan's Love & Theft. In classical music this month new pedannances of music by Brahms, Bruckner, and Rameau Primedia, Inc. Chairman 8 CEO 'brri Werrs are reviewed. In rock/pop the soundtrack to Songcatcher joins discs by 141vet President 8 Director Chide G. Ali-Curdy Crush, Tricky, and Superchunk. And in jazz, new elleirts from Baikida Carroll, Vice Chairman Boy* C ClwIl Primedia Consumer Media & Magazine Group Madeline Eastman, and the Mingus Big Band please our critical ears. President and CEO John Loughlin Chief Operating Officer Daniel IL Aks 159 Manufacturers' Comments Executive VP, Consumer Madœting/Circulation Sine 'lac Manufacturers comment on reviews of joseph Audio RM33si, Music Hall Sr. VP/Chief Financial Officer Lire, C.Jenleitis MMF-7, LFD Minstral hitcgrated LE, Classé Audio Omega, Westlake Lc5.75F, Sr. VP, Mfg. Production and Distribution Kevin Maw, Sr. VP, 1-turnan Resources Koine, hI? Mirka, Mirage 0M-7, Synergistic Research cables, and a"Follow-Up" of Herron Audio's VP/C10, Information Technology Anridiiii Maw M150. Vice President, Database 8 Consumer Information... JI'!',, Diliiiiii Vice President, Single Copy Sales ilnimas L Fem. 170 Fine Tunes Vice President. Business Development GVillf IC !Liman Jonathan Scull shares some fine ideas for the "care and feeding" qf speaker drivers Primedia Outdoor Recreation and Hobbyist Groups Sr. VP/Publishing Director WWI Rio. from his and readers' vast experiences. Vice President Consumer Marketing lInid Ball Vice President, Production Nirk aerie Information Vice President, Manufacturing Budgets 8 Operations Lea GA: 70 Home Entertainment 2002 Important Telephone Numbers Subscriptions: Inquiries, missing issues, address changes, 163 Where to Buy Stereophile problems, US 8 Canada (aoo) 666-3746 or e-mail wwwatereopluleasoni 167 Audio Mart Subscriptions: International (850) 682-7644 Editorial (212) 229-4896 154 Manufacturers' Showcase Editorial fax (2)2) 886-2809 John Atkinson atkinsoj@cmapUSA,com Robert Baird [email protected] 169 Advertiser Index Jonathan Scull [email protected] Classified Advertisements (212) 229-4896 Back Issues, LPs, CDs (888) 237-0955 Stereophile website www.stereophilc.com he terrible events oj Strember 11 unjalded as this issue ofStereophile was behie shipped to the printer. Reprints: Reprints Unlimited (866) 298-9883 All eels at the magazine express sorrow and alter about what happened. We °Pr our prayers not only Wright's Reprints. (877) 652-5295 Tfor the 111110Calt people who died in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania, but fir thejircfiehters, PRIMEDIA 2001 I, '15H I mity Inr. 45 Audit police, paramedics, and priests 11410 willingly put themselves ill harries way to help others. —7/h ster,ophile she Primed in it, USA Bureau

November issue on sale Oct. 23, 2001 immummumpetabAkomimmimmiur ‘1111111011mIalii" ,en 5 SOME DAYS YOU'LL THINK YOU'RE IN THE CINEMA.

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in the US, contact AudioStream MPO Box 2410, Niagara Falls, NY 14302 T•19051632-0180 In Canada, contact Paradigm 205 Annagem Blvd Mississauga, ON 151 2V1 T•(905) 564-1944 Copyright ezeo1 Paradigm Electronics Inc and Bevan Corp letters

Gets your attention coral reefs, but Icannot for the life of me news of lawsuit filed against some ofthe per- Editor: read salacious or scatological content into petrators of these crimes against music. —JA Now Michael Freiner is weighing in the term, and wasn't that the gist of Dr. [`Analog Corner," Scptember 2001] over that Vincelette's lainent —trailer-trash talk? Boycott watermarking ad — you know the one, the beautiful As I'm pecking away at the keyboard Editor: woman listening to Coltrane, vinyl scat- giving this letter form, anfractuosity stands After roaring about the audibility of tered on the floor, speakers firing away off to the side, awaiting its moment. I DVD-Audio watermarking, about how from her. A prime function of advertis- love that word! Use it at every opportu- bad it is, and how it is worse than amar- ing is to get your attention. Well, it nity! But cannot here and now, and that keting opportunity for perfectionist worked. Seems to me that Paradigm makes me sad. Mike Silverton labels (who could opt not to use water- owes someone abonus for their audio- www.LaFolia.com marking), my favorite editor, John phile heresy. David Hayes Atkinson, modestly concluded in his [email protected] Anfractuosity? A fine word indeed, but September 2000 "As We See It" maybe one that is alittle tortuous to follow (www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cg A touch zealous? through its syllabic twists and tunis? —JA i?257) that we should boycott water- marked discs. This may seem a touch zealous, but Playback restrictions Indeed, we should! On principle! But here goes. The work that John Atkinson Editor: is that enough? Don't we generally has done to capture Robert Silverman Has anyone there even heard of choose to buy music based on the performing all 32 Beethoven piano HR2281? The Digital Millennium artists, performers, composers, etc.? sonatas is...well, I do not have the Copyright Act of 1998, Title 17? Iknow Unfortunately, the bigger amusic star is, words to describe the feeling this gives the people who wrote it are laughing the more likely they are to have their me. It is atestament to what being an now because I've spoken with their music in the hands of one of the big audiophile is all about: the music. offices. The music industry and Napster music monopolies. You are abigger man than you might have the whole thing wrong! You can't Ibelieve this calls for law! No water- think, John. Bigger than any of us. I stop someone from copying CDs. Sunn- marking scheme should be allowed to applaud your enthusiasm for the art of Comm and all of these other companies affect the music content (as opposed to music and giving me the chance to that have started to come up with anti- its encoding) in any way! (In my enjoy (I still can't believe it) all 32 circumvention technologies are in viola- dreams...) And no interlaced digital sonatas composed by the great Ludwig tion of the law! SoundCircle123@aotcons. television, either—another thing I van Beethoven. Bravo! Keep up the think should be illegal. (I believe these good work. Tyler MacDonald We examine the latest developments in what are both big corporate plots.) [email protected] are coming to be called "playback restrictions" Ijust bought my second batch of in this issue's "Industry Update," including the Classic Records DADs. Iwish all two- Thank )su, Mr. MacDonald. As Iwrote in channel recordings were available in a the January 2001 article on the Silverman DVD-Video-compatible format, so project (reprinted at wwwstereophilecom/ Letters to the Editor should be sent long as they are 24-bit/88kHz or 24/96 showarchivesagi?298), to be able to contribute to The Editor, Stereophile, 110 Fifth (not 24/192). About the only advantage to one musician's If/crime of performing on the Avenue (5th floor), New York, in the DVD-A standard (for which piano and one composer's lifetime of writiner NY 10011. Fax: (212) 886-2809. E- there are still precious few players — the piano will remain ahighlight of my work mail: [email protected]. none, perhaps, when it comes to ones as arecording erigineer —JA Unless marked otherwise, all let- with high-end sound) for two-channel ters are assumed to be for possible use at less than 192kHz is the MLP loss- Anfractuosity? publication. In the spirit of vigor- less compression. Furthermore, aDVD- Editor: ous debate implied by the First V disc's content provider is allowed to All those letters bewailing Dr. Barney Amendment, and unless we are bypass the egregious but supposedly Vincelette's letter in the July Stereophile requested not to, we publish corre- mandated digital stream downconver- ("Letters," September 2001, pp.9-11) spondents' e-mail addresses. Please sion. You can get the full 24/96 at the sent me to the source: note: We are unable to answer output jacks of most DVD-V players Evacuation and ordure Iunderstand. requests for information on specif- from DAlls. So let DVD-Video reign! It's the bowel thing. Poo-poo. Cockie- ic products or systems. If you have SACD should be boycotted as well. I doodie. But st-robiatiation? My Nov Shorter problems with your subscription, love Sony, and own tons of their equip- Oxford attaches it to savbiaile, "a small pit call toll-free (800) 666-3746, or ment, but sometimes they just get too or depression, asmooth level area around write to Stereophile, P.O. Box 53117, greedy. The whole SACD thing is about atubercle in asea urchin." Now Iunder- Boulder, CO 80322-3117. controlling the music marketplace for stand sea urchins to be aproblem for the biggest corporation in it —Sony!

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The system has obvious technical flaws Whether the format is perfect or not, it consider it. After all, if Sterrophiltes editors and ultimate limitations. Without Sony's needs to have the unanimity of the peo- think it's something important, isn't it proprietary trickery, the S/N ratio is ple promoting it. worth hearing it through? ridiculously poor. And with SACD, con- If Brent and Steve, who are experts in Multichannel playback is coming, like sumers are locked out of copying and this field, don't agree on aformat, then it or not. There are too many solid busi- everything else. Today ateenager can why should the consumer? Why should ness reasons for it in mass-market con- master and press 24/96 DVDs on con- the consumer go out of his way to sumer applications. Iwant my Stereophile sumer computer equipment. Is Sony spend hundreds of dollars on anew for- and the high-end community it repre- ever going to permit that for SACD? mat if the support for the format may sents to not only survive the impact but In the end, Ihope that neither Sony not be there in afew years? Consumers to come out even stronger on the other nor Warner locks down the future of have had too many disappointments side. In that not-so-distant high-end music. May the best and most open with new technologies, such as Quadra- future, there will still be aplace for two- standards win! Charles Peterson phonic, Betamax, DAT, DCC, and channel, for LP, for tubes, for solid-state, San Antonio, TX MiniDisc, to name afew. for horns, for electrostatics, for dynamic cpeterson [email protected] Don't misunderstand me; I'm not speakers, room-acoustics compensators, comparing SACD or DVD-Audio to for all the weird and wonderful things Support watermarking any of these. The technology is far more we have today. The addition of multi- Editor: advanced, but the debates are the same, channel source material will only enrich I urge all Stereophile readers to get and so arc the doubts in the consumers' our high-end environment. behind digital watermarking — you're minds. I think we should end the When Ifirst started paying attention missing the real advantage if you're debates, take each format for what it is, to playback systems, "stereo" was a against it. and enjoy the sounds they offer. These generic term for a sound system. I With only hopelessly corrupted and formats may not be here in afew years, would like to see Stereophile continue to emasculated recordings available on so we need to enjoy them now, so that be about high-end home sound compo- polycarbonate, more and more audio- in the years to come, when MP3 takes nents, about the business, about the philes — and, as the late, great Dr. over the world, we can sit back and tell music, even if it's no longer only about Gizmo used to say, Musicmaniacs — our grandchildren what SACD was like stereo. Steve Williams will demand the purest source of plea- and reminisce over audiophile sound Santa Cruz, CA sure. Irefer, of course, to the LP — the that was lost in the midst of our own [email protected] apotheosis of great sound, agreat can- debates. Alex Lehmann vas for sleeve art, and no digital cack to Miami, FL July in Paris stop us from making atape for the car. cutsor2000@bigfoorcom Editor: Sheer demand will help revive the for- Reading the July issue of Stereophile on tunes of the most successful audio for- It's about the sound aterrace in the middle of Paris, it sud- mat of all time. Editor: denly dawned on me: the reason Ilike If Imay, Iwould like to quote John Iapplaud Stereophiles vision in bringing Stereophik has nothing to do with Lithgow, from Third Rock from the Sun. its readers information about different equipment at all.. it's "community" Lithgow plays an alien from afar more playback systems, about currents in the and "music." technically advanced race. When the industry, about technology trends, about As usual, Istarted with "As We See Compact Disc was explained to him, he musicians, and about the recordings. It," and there it was. John Atkinson said exclaimed, "When will this primitive Those who think the magazine is about that Stereophile fosters "an ongoing dia- species wake up to the superior sound two-channel stereo systems should take log about [editors', writers', and readers'] quality of vinyl!" Daniel Emerson astep back and really look at it. They'll shared enthusiasms." Then John Marks Hendon, London, England see that "it's about the sound, dummy." wrote: "Once we understand what it is [email protected] It's about achieving extraordinary fidel- we're trying to accomplish, that usually ity in the playback of music in the con- stays the same; it's our means of accom- End the debates trolled environments of people's homes. plishing that goal that evolve." Both of Editor: Equipment reviews arc only apart of these statements absolutely nail it. And Iwas reading Steve Guttenberg and the picture. If there is amultichannel then Iread "Letters." Brent Butterworth's debate in the technological advancement in music Going over Barry MacMaster's entry, August issue regarding stereo vs multi- distribution coming at us like aplanet - it struck me again. Of course! What do channel formats and realized that it's too busting comet, I, for one, want to know Ido first when/after reading Stereophile? late for any format to win in the end. about it. The convenience of CD with Go to the Web or my local record store Although very entertaining to read, the "soul" of agood LP? Sign me up, I and find those CDs that the writers debates such as these spark doubt in the don't care how many channels there arc. rave about. (Although Ihaven't listened consumer's mind about which format to Ido care to know about the equipment to arecord in 15 years, Istill refer to it go with, and, ultimately, that consumer Iwill need, even if it doesn't look like as a "record store." Strange. Michael doesn't go with any. Consumers need what I'm used to. Fremer will be glad. But Ihave abone conformity and uniformity. They want The reactionary and exclusionary atti- to pick with him later, so don't relax too to hear that everyone in the industry is tudes displayed by some of your readers much, Michael.) supporting it and that it will be the best could give Stereophiles new owners and Ihave never written aletter to the thing since sliced bread. They want to its advertisers the idea that the readers editor of any magazine, so Stereophile has know that the software will be support- are all troglodytes or snobs. Instead of re- succeeded in touching anerve. Thanks ed; that the hardware, the upgrades, the flexively trashing something that is out- to Stereophile, Ifeel that Iam part of a accessories, etc., will all be supported. side the normal box, take the time to global community. I subscribed to

11 Stereophile, November 2001 Letters

Stereophile when Ilived in the US, and the distance and the price difference have a number of problems with the now when Iam in France. Ialso gave a between France and the US. Bad bad magazine. Now, I've valued our cordial, subscription to afriend in Holland. bad. Never buy before you try. For- if only occasional, correspondence, and Community and music. These are tunately, these worked out fine. have hesitated to speak of these things the two things that will keep the high To all audiophiles out there, it's up to to you. Icould, of course, put the mag- end from perishing. There is no point in us to keep the community and the azine aside and focus on more impor- complaining about reviews of equip- music thriving. Do that, and equipment tant things. However, to do so would be ment you don't like. Or canceling your will follow. Joel Waterman to make the assumption that you do not subscription because you feel that Paris, France want to hear my views about Stereophile. equipment reviews don't meet your joel [email protected] So, instead, Ishall make the opposite expectations. Or ranting about the al- assumption, that perhaps you do. leged conspiracy between writers and Riveting? Even my favorite columnist, John the industry. It's about music and com- Editor: Marks, speaks of power cables and munity, stupid. It's about sharing our September's issue was to be my last for interconnects as if there are legitimate enthusiasm for gear, for CDs, for LPs, awhile. Ihad no problem with editori- differences between them. As denizens for musicians, for Idon't care what, as al content or BMW ads or such; Iwas of the rec.audio.high-end Internet long as it's related to the world of faith- just getting ambivalent about the lack of newsgroup, you and Iboth know of a ful audio reproduction in the home. new, truly interesting concepts in the number of audio engineers who would And if that includes a Denon home-the- industry. But the September Stereophile deny such an assertion. (Within reason: ater receiver, so be it. was riveting: It is, of course, possible to design an And that leads me to Michael Fremer •John Atkinson's cogent prose on inadequate power cable, or a capaci- and the eternal (and entertaining) strug- Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg had me tance-heavy interconnect, and RFI may gle between Perfect Sound Forever and laughing —a blender hooked up to an be aseparate problem.) LPs. As Isaid, Ihave not listened to an amp! — then, with the announcement And it's not just cables: There's LP for over 15 years. Iam so far re- of his death, suddenly reflecting on the Jonathan Scull's review of the esoteric moved from this debate it's not truc, but brief nature of life. 47 Lab PiTracer CD transport at apid- give me abreak, Michael. In order for • An advertiser, Imerge, finally dling $25,000. Here again, the engineers you to get your LPs to sound right, you announces ahigh-end hard-disk storage would assert that, except for jitter, there need to do what, exactly? Iquote liter- solution. Someone was reading my are no audible differences among de- ally from July's "Analog Corner": "You mind! cently designed transports; and given must finish the job by applying steam- •Michael Freiner writes about alaser the newer upsampling DACs, which distilled water, which is why the brush- turntable. Wow! Ican't wait to hear fully reclock the SIPDIF input, jitter is es are sold in pairs, one for the fluid and more. not an issue. one for the distilled water...I prefer •John Marks' seven better ways to These issues get argued about ad applying fluid with his applicator pad, spend $1000 than on cable. Brilliant! nauseam, and there's areason: They are removing most of it with an Allsop •Finally, a tribute to Nick Drake by of import, if only financially. If cables do Orbitrac (but not to the point of total Daniel Durchholz. About time! not make adifference, if the PiTracer dryness), then dousing the record with Now if we could only get Corey sounds no different from the Maranta distilled water using the second brush, Greenberg back...that would be per- CD-63, revealing these home truths and finishing by vacuuming the LP dry." fect. Kudos! Charles Cordon would be asignal service to audiophiles. And it goes on. After all this, Michael is Watertown, MA Enter the double-blind test. Irealize not even finished cleaning. [email protected] some audiophiles will pooh-pooh the Don't know about you, but by now I results of such tests, and, bless their am on the floor, laughing. Okay, okay, I Thanks, John Marks hearts, more power to them. But for use DiscSolution to give my CDs a Editor: those of us with aless mystical bent, quick wipe. And Ialso admit to using Special thanks to John Marks for double-blind test information is valu- AudioPrism's green pen. At least that reminding me how much Ienjoyed Julia able. Stereophile is in aperfect position lasts me many spins. But that's it, folks. Fordham's Porcelain album (September, to determine, once and for all, if per- Honest. If you need to do all that p.57). Ipromptly broke it out for the ceived differences hold up in double- Michael does in order to get one clean first time in several years. I was taken blind testing. You've got the material run of his LP, man, Itell ya, you sure way back to the early '90s, when Ihad resources, the time and money, the must love your vinyl. And that settles first met my lovely wife and we experi- trained ears, to run such tests and to the debate.... enced "Manhattan Skyline" for the first publish definitive results. But you know, this is actually great. I time in a little bar called Buddy's in Mind, Ihave heard quite obvious dif- don't care who wins the LP vs CD Richmond, Virginia. Ms. Fordham's ferences between transports, using aBel debate. No, Idon't have any records, but voice was as enchanting as Irecalled, and Canto DAC (which is theoretically I love reading Michael's column be- as "rich and powerful" as Mr. Marks immune to incoming jitter); Ihave even cause this is something he passionately describes. Erik Putzrath heard subtle differences between Cardas cares about. And Sam Tellig...every Charlotte, NC Neutral Reference and Cross and time Iread your stuff Iwant to go out [email protected] Nordost Solar Wind interconnects. All and buy what you've heard. Fortunately were sighted tests. And, based on what Idon't, because Iwould have multiple Even John Marks? I've read (very, very little indeed) about sets of everything. Although Idid buy Editor: psychoacoustics, I'm damned if I'd insist the MSB Full Nelson, the P1000, the Well, sir, I've finished glancing through such differences exist simply because I DIP—unheard, mind you, because of the September Stereophile. As usual, I perceive them. I'd love to see definitive

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results either confirming or giving the lie Please review more equipment ca many thousands of bucks that I'd lis- to the engineers' assertions. $1000 and keep the esoteric stuff as a tened to over that year. Why? Ican't Finally, in my opinion, the "Letters" sidebar. Pete really say. It just got it right. section has succumbed to that worst Houston, TX It got better. Another house, another form of asupposedly democratic forum: PVories@absconsultinecom room: This time, Igot out of my car catering to the lowest common denom- thinking, "Pretty good band." I'd join inator. The magazine has acertain read- Perfect? these guys! ership who have been educated by talk Editor: There was no band. None. radio and checkout newspapers, who Stereophile is perfect. It's been perfect You won't believe this. In the parking resent the "intellectual" habit of using since the very first issue Ipicked up at a lot Iheard apair of, uh, Klipschorns dri- language with exactitude and care. Why bookstore, back in October 1996. Even ven by a30-year old Kenwood receiver struggle to actually express a thought though everybody complains in (oops!), and it sounded wondetfid. In the when slang and profanity are abund- "Letters" each month about the many room it was, ununm ... real. Astonish- andy available? shortcomings of Stereophile, or about the ingly reaL Iasked the host what he was You may consider it agood thing to foolish, pompous, or droll letters that using—tweaks and all the rest. He just open up "Letters" to such correspon- Stereophile publishes, Ifind that Iread laughed, and told me Imust be an audio- dence, but Ifind it increasingly offensive "Letters" first! Ilike the little conflicts phile. He just had the ancient Kenwood, and frustrating: There are few things in that bounce to and fro between the aseven-disc CD changer, good music... human intercourse as powerful as the snobs and the good ol' boys. The maga- and those big old speakers. power of stupidity Was it Platoon that zine's mix of equipment reviews, music Well, I'm obviously not an audiophile. contained the statement "Hell is the reviews, and industry information is just But Ihave decent hearing and Ilove impossibility of reason"? about as perfect as I could ask for. music. What, kind sirs, is aKlipschorn, Ah, Ifeel better now. Rest assured, I Otherwise, Iwouldn't send in my sub- and why was it the very best stereo sys- continue to enjoy your efforts in the scription cards for three years at atime! tem I've ever heard? realm of recorded music, and remain And Adam Ferguson ("Letters," Sept- Thank you for a well-put-together grateful. Russell Lichter ember 2001, p.10): perhaps you should magazine. Iwill continue to read and dichter@sonicnet actually read Stereophilès reasoning behind learn from you. Dean Helm its reviewing JBL bookshelf speakers, Portales, NM Get real DVD-A players, and high-end PC sound- Editor: cards. Perhaps then, if you had managed Getting it wrong Stereophile has finally dropped off into to pull your head out of your hole, you Editor: the deep end. $25k for aCD transport! would understand that new technology is It is with great pleasure that Iannounce Iwould not purchase this product if I part of the human cycle, and that denying Stereophile's winning of Sound Off maga- won the latest Powerball lottery!!! Iwill it will only make you bitter. zine's seventh annual Cuckoo Clock not renew my subscription because Good luck to Stereophile as it under- award for the year 2000. The award is things like this make me plain nauseous. goes its transition to yet another pub- given for "The article which best exem- Not too long ago, $25k would have lishing house! Nicholas H. Luhr plifies progress in metaphysics, confirma- bought a'vette and anew house. Get nideluhr@hotmaiLcom tion of magical audio properties, realizing real, guys; this is insanity! Juan the unimportance of measurements, cor- Temotu1234@aolcom Getting it right relating high-priced with superior, not Editor: letting any trace of humor diffuse the Get agrip I've been reading your mag for about a essence of the article, blowing smoke, Editor: year, and although Idon't understand and making claims so farfetched that Iam an audiophile on abudget, and most of the technical parts of your prod- even the term 'blazing stupidities' seems judging from several letters Stereophile uct reviews, Ican relate to your need for hardly descriptive enough." has published, Iam not alone. Iam also good sound and good music. The article responsible for placing willing to bet that many of us feel that For the better part of last year Iwent Stereophile in such select company was you people need to "get agrip." The lat- around the country visiting "high-end" published in the May 2000 issue: the est issue reviewed two sets of +$30k dealers looking for that "ultimate" "Undercurrents" column, written by speakers. The current issue reviews a sound system. I've heard literally hun- George Reisch. CD player and aturntable priced just as dreds of systems and thousands of Where does one start in praise of an absurdly. Irealize you get what you pay recordings. As aguitar player in acoun- article so profound and deep as to rival for in this world, but this should only try/classic rock band, Iknow what a Copernicus's De Revolutionbus Orbium motivate the individual to seek out great good Fender Twin Reverb sounds like Coelestium and Newton's Philosophiae sound for the dollar spent. in good hands. And that sort of sound, Naturalis Principia Mathematica? An ap- Spending what some spend on a the sense of "being there," is missing, to propriate title for Mr. Reisch's article home on audio equipment is arrogant my ears, from most of what I've heard. would be "Blazingeous Stupidityeous and stupid. Ilove great sound, but to Then Iwent to aparty — in Clovis, ineous Spadeseous." Repeated readings date there simply isn't amedium that New Mexico, strangely enough. There of the article make one aware that "blaz- justifies the price of any piece of equip- was a tiny Cambridge Sound Works ing stupidity" is woefully inadequate to ment within an audio system. Even if I radio in the back yard playing Vince describe Mt Reisch's writing. But until had that kind of discretionary income, I Gill. Somehow, somehow, this little fuck- something else comes along, "blazing wouldn't spend it on stereo goods, as I ing radio nailed what Iplay every week. stupidity" will have to suffice. am already certain that "mine is bigger," To my jaded ears, that little bastard The first clue to an article unsur- you suckers. sounded better than the systems costing passed for blazing stupidities is the exis-

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For additional ...then there was Wes Phillip's A85 integrated amplifier review on information, Sound Stage... including the "As to its performance, it ranks among the very best integrated location of your amplifiers Ihave heard -and that includes the Krell KAV-300i and nearest dealer, visit the Mark Levinson No.383. Is it the equal of those genre-busting integrateds? Well, not in terms of power, certainly, but in terms our website at of sound quality, the A85 doesn't cede much, if anything. .audiophile The Arcam DiVA A85 is an exceptional hi-fi product no matter how you look at it. But when you consider that it only costs $1500, systems.com it's nothing short of miraculous."

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The full reviews can be found at: CONTACT www.hometheatersound.com/equipment/arcam_dv88.htm www.soundstage.com/revequip/arcam_a85.htm RLD CLASS AUDIO and at the newsstand in the September 2001 issue of What Hi-Fi? ISTRIBUTED BY: AUDIOPHI 8709 CASTLE PARK DRIVE, INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46256 ARCAM 1-888-272-2658 WWW.AUDIOPHILESYSTEMS.COM Letters tence of the words "exotic cables" and to rest in cuckoo heaven with the fol- wasn't paid good money for either his "green magic markers." By themselves, lowing comment from someone with — original column or his follow-up arti- these terms are relatively minor stupidi- unlike Mr. Reisch — impeccable qualifi- cle/reply to Mr. Salinger?) ties. But when these minor stupidities cations in the quantum-physics arena. To As usual, the awarding of an actual are justified by referencing Einstein and, wit: "The uncertainty of a quantum cuckoo clock to Mr. Reisch is in name by implication, Niels Bohr, Werner superposition is different from the only. The cost of aclock will be donat- Heisenberg, John Bell, Louis de Broglie, uncertainty of classical probability, as ed to the charity of Mr. Reisch's choice. and other quantum-physics pioneers, occurs after acoin toss." This quote is Iwill take the editorial prerogative of the result, to paraphrase Sherlock taken directly from an article, "100 Years contributing the cost of acuckoo clock Holmes, is about as stupid and idiotic as of Quantum Mysteries," co-authored by to the American Cancer Society if Mr. including an elopement in the fifth ele- John Archibald Wheeler (!), that Reisch or yourself do not select achar- ment of Euclid! Another indication of appeared in the February 2001 issue of ity. Joseph (foe) Michael Cierniak stupid and idiotic (duh) is Mr. Reisch ref- Scientific American. Or, to put it in the par- Editor/Publisher, Sound Off erencing askit from Saturday Night Live! lance of the everyday person, you can't [email protected] To justify "exotic power cables," "green compare apples and oranges. magic markers," and "golden ears," Mr. Implied in John Wheeler's state- As explained in the February 2001 issue (v3), Reisch references aDutch physician, one ment — and proven experimentally — George Reisch, Ph.D.—one of the most Jan Baptista van Helmont, who believed is abasic tenet of quantum physics: The inseeul- writers whom Ihave had the privi- that applying ointment to aweapon that objects in the microworld of quantum lege ofpublishing—le Stereophile's writing had caused awound would cause that physics (eg, electrons) do not behave the staff at the end of 2000. In Dr. Reisch's wound to heal. Mr. Reisch then goes into same as objects in the everyday, or absence Ithank Mr. Cierniak for the award, fruitcake and Heaven's Gate cuckoo land macroworld (eg, agolf ball). Mr. Reisch and request that a donation be made in with the statement that "physics tells us conveniently (!) wanders between the Georges name to Johns Hopkins Hospital in that nature sometimes does follow the microworld and macroworld, establish- Baltimore for AIDS research. The May and ghostly logic of van Helmont, according ing bogus conclusions based on conve- September "Undercurrents" columns that to which events in one place (applying niently (stealthily) interweaving the caused Mr. Cierniak's blood pressure to rise ointment to aknife) inexplicably influ- macroworld of quantum physics and the along with responses from Ross Salinger and ence events in another place (your fester- everyday macroworld, leading the read- other readers, can be found at wwwstereo ing wound)." My congratulations to Mt er to assume that the two worlds are philecom/showarrhives.wi?268. — JA Reisch for relegating the hilarious oxy- identical. This results in conclusions as moron "military intelligence" to adistant asinine as those based on, eg, combining Good and bad distortion second place in the oxymoron hilarity the world of biology with the world of Editor: hierarchy with his newly coined oxy- quantum physics. Even such a great It strikes me in reading about the moron, "ghostly logic." (Aside number thinker as Niels Bohr fell into this trap "benign" nature of some harmonics (eg, one: Iwant to stay on the subject, but I of assigning quantum behavior to the the octave, or second harmonic) and the will say very quickly that my research world of biology. Nick Bohr was proven "dissonant" nature of others (the octave indicates that there was more, much wrong. But in Mr. Reisch's case, Idon't and afifth, or third harmonic) that we more, to Jan Baptista van Helmont than think he fell into any trap. The only trap often overlook the significance of natur- the overly simple and somewhat mislead- was the one he set for the casual reader. al vs equal-tempered tuning. For exam- ing description given by Mt Reisch.) Icould leave it here, but reader Ross ple, anaturally resonating G string on a Continuing his assault on double- Salinger takes Mr. Reisch to task in the violin will produce athird-harmonic D blind testing, and justification for green September 2000 issue of Stereophile. Mt at aratio of 3:2, or 702 cents in piano markers, exotic cables, and golden ears, Salinger's retort is non-confrontational tuning terminology. (Our amplifiers and Mr. Reisch establishes himself as agreat and evenhanded. Mr. Reisch's reply is a other electronics will do the same thing.) thinker by being the first human to better example than his original article An equal-tempered instrument's D (a make a startling connection between of the art of"baffle them with bullshit." fifth higher than G) will be 700 cents; van Helmones 16th-century "ghostly He wanders the cuckoo landscape from that is, slightly lower in pitch than anat- logic" and the Einstein-Poclolsky-Rosen "aural sex" to "Mr. Salingees elves" to ural fifth. Could it be that the "harsh- (EPR) paradox. This is an idea so idiotic "having sex" to the observation that ness," "hardness," or whatever other as to make me paraphrase the scathing "blind tests stink" to "God" to "sex sonically negative impact we hear is real- criticism of another quantum pioneer, organ" to "Elvis Costello," contemplates ly the dissonance between the natural (I Wolfgang Pauli, to wit: It's so bad what his system would say if "it could would say "in tune") harmonics pro- (Reisch's idea) that it's not even wrong! talk," and other nonsense — the kind of duced by distortion and the human- Note: Not wanting to face the wrath nonsense better reserved for awebsite engineered ("out of tune") harmonics of Mr. Reisch in the form of "Writer's such as www.heavensgatetoo.com! produced by equal-temperament-tuned Rage," Iqualify the "idiotic." Mr. Reisch Nothing clinches the absurdity and instruments? Donald Steven isn't an idiot. Quite the contrary — he's ridiculousness of Mr. Reisch's reply to anstey@taconienet obviously aknowledgeable individual, Mr. Salinger better than its last sentence: but he missed his calling. He should be "Could there be an undiscovered per- Ihave been thinking along these lines for some championing perpetual-motion turnta- sonality type that leads some into years, and actually discussed the issue in my bles, frictionless tonearms, and styli that pornography and others into audio booklet notes for Stereophile's Test CD 2 never wear out! journalism?" Whew! Perhaps the com- (wwwstereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?338), Of course, Mt Reisch's idiotic dribble bination of these two dissimilar worlds which has tutorial tracks on how to hear vari- about the EPR paradox and double- results in the naked truth...by George! ous amounts of different flavors of harmonic blind testing statistics can be swiftly put (Aside number two: Surely Mr. Reisch distortion. — JA

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US: NEW YORK CITY SACD to Michael Fremer's wildly pop- principle with Sonopress of Germany Stereophile Staff ular analog clinics to the art of designing for implementation of its MediaCloQ After the 2001 Show's wildly successful your own home-theater environment. technology at manufacturing facilities run earlier this year — see the reports in Exhibitor and contact information for all over Europe. the August, September, and October HE2002 is online now at www.home- SunnComm says that this arrange- issues — Home Entertainment 2002 is entertainment-expo.com, while acom- ment is the prelude to amore formal heading back again to the heart of New plete list of live music events, audio/ agreement that includes the commit- York City. HE2002 will take place May video seminars, panel discussions, and ment by SunnComm to immediately 30-June 2, 2002 at the Hilton New other special programs will be added to deploy MediaCloQ technologies in the York, 1335 Avenue of the Americas, the HE2002 website later this year. The Sonopress plant located in Gütersloh, New York, NY 10019-6078. Tel: (800) show will be open on: Thursday, May Germany. SunnComm adds that HILTON. 30, noon-6pm (trade, press, and adv- MediaCloQ v.12 is expected to be in- Cosponsored by Stereophi le, Home ance ticket-holders only); Friday, May stalled and operational there within the Theater, and Stereophile Guide to Home 31, 10am-8pm; Saturday, June 1, next few weeks, with additional prepa- Theater magazines, Home Entertain- 10am-8pin; and Sunday, June 2, rations being made to ramp up plants in ment 2002 (formerly the HI-FI Show) 10am-5pm. Tickets will cost $35 for a Spain and the UK. is aunique hands-on weekend extrava- weekend pass and $25 for a one-day Sonopress, amember of Bertelsmann ganza aimed at industry veterans and pass. Registration for advance tickets will Arvato AG — and, we understand, the consumers alike, where you will see and be available on the show website soon. only plant in the world currently capa- hear the latest and best in home theater ble of pressing two-layer SACDs — is and high-performance audio. HE2002 US: ARIZONA & CALIFORNIA feeling pressure from BMG to encode promises to have on display the biggest, Jon Iverson new CDs with the MediaCloQ process. most comprehensive collection of inno- While Napster was thriving a few The company's Frank D. Bargsten ex- vative products the industry has to offer. months ago, the music business was plains that "MediaCloQ is required in During the show, there will be live noisily seething and quietly plotting. our facilities to fulfill arequest for this music to complement the high energy How could they stuff the digital audio copy-protection format in Europe. of the event. At the 2001 show last May, genie back into the content-control bot- MediaCloQ copy protection could also music fans were entertained by Keb' tle? Although Napster has since been bring additional customers to Sonopress Mo' as the Saturday evening musical act, gutted, the labels have identified the and enable our company to offer this sponsored by Sony Electronics. David unprotected CD as the source of their solution to our existing clients." Johansen performed in the Friday night woes, and now it's payback time. The MediaCloQ process was intro- concert, sponsored by Chcsky Records. As reported last month (pp.19-23), duced in the US ayear ago by Music The HE2002 Seminar Forum will Macrovision has secretly inserted copy- City records with the Cl) release of again present leading authorities in the protection distortion into thousands of Charley Pride's A Tribute to Jim Reeves. arcas of sound reproduction and home CDs, and in early August, Phoenix, The results of this initial test have been theater. Seminars will address avariety Arizona-based SunnComm announced mixed, with posters to the www.CD of topics, ranging from DVD-Audio and that it had reached an agreement in Freaks.com website claiming that the

Calendar

Those pnwtoting audio-related seminars, show.ç Sound will be hosting aspecial appear- and Audiomat Join us for aweekend and nitrate shouldSix (do not al) the whew, ance by John McIntosh of B&W. Hear of analog and digital playback featuring wlure, and who to (212) 886-2809 at least eight his thoughts on the new Nautilus 800 Avantgarde Hornspeakers. Call (858) weeks beke the month of the event. The deadline loudspeakers, as well as the rest of the 677-0220 to RSVP; visit www.sonic for theJanuary 2001 issue is November 1. Made B&W line. Please call (650) 342-1476 culture.com for more details. thefax 'Attention Stephen Mias, Dealer Bulletin for more details. Board" We will fax back aconfirmation Ifyou do • Saturday and Sunday, November 10 GEORGIA not nreive amfinnation within 24 hours, pleixefirx and 11: Sonic Culture (San Diego) will • Sunday, October 21, 2pm, Dunwoody us again I* regret that limited space this month be hosting Casey McKee of Avant- North Clubhouse, 4522 Kingsgate Dr., hasfirced us to omit audiophile society details. garde Acoustics. Sonic Culture special- Dunwoody: The Atlantic Audio izes in vacuum-tube electronics, includ- Society is hosting a seminar featuring CALIFORNIA ing Art Audio, Atma-Sphere, InnerSound hybrid electrostatic loud- • Tuesday, October 23, 6pin: Future Hovland Company, Emotive Audio, speakers, electronics, and cable acces-

Stereophile, November 2001 19 Industry Update

version of MediaCloQ used on the of its technology. The company's Ran players found on millions of personal Pride CD had been cracked. Alcalay added, "Our purpose is to help computers, and that electronic music The latest company to publicly combat unauthorized reproduction of files made available for download after announce copy-protection exploits is content, return the power and the con- the purchase of the Pride CD are pro- Midbar Tech, which specializes in trol back to the artists, the producer, and prietary in nature and will not work on developing copy-control technologies the legitimate recording companies, and portable MP3 players. for music CDs. The company claimed last but not least, meet consumer expec- More significant, the suit contends in August that, to date, one million tations for high-quality audio." that the consumer's privacy is compro- Midbar-protected CDs had been re- Midbar's initial CDS deployments mised by the CD security system. The leased in the European market, and that have had mixed results. In February, suit alleges that the CD includes apro- plans are under discussion for entry into BMG Germany issued approximately prietary electronic music scheme facili- the US market. 100,000 CDS-restricted discs, but had tated by SunnComm (also named in the Midbar's protection technology, to take a substantial portion of them suit) technology that "tracks, stores, and called Cactus Data Shield, is said to be back because consumers said the discs disseminates specific consumer personal similar to that of the SafeAudio system, wouldn't perform in car players and in identifying information, listening data, which adds digital distortion to the data some home audio systems. and downloading habits to entities be- during mastering. Web news magazine And in September, there were the yond the control of the consumer." The The Rtgister (www.theregister.co.uk) re- first signs of aconsumer counterattack. suit also points out that there is no prac- ports that, unlike SafeAudio, Midbar Karen DeLise of California sued tical way to opt out of the data collection uses atechnique that flags the noise as Fahrenheit Entertainment and its label, or destroy the data once it is collected. control information, which is ignored Music City Records, on behalf of the Ira Rothken, an attorney with the law during playback but derails the re- General Public of the State of firm representing DeLise, said that corder's error correction during an California, "to enjoin them from selling "Fahrenheit, in our view, has an obliga- attempt to copy the disc. The Register has music compact discs that have been tion to the General Public to truthfully also reported that both Cactus Data designed, programmed, and imple- and adequately inform them, before the Shield and SafeAudio can be circum- mented to defeat the rights of con- CD sale is made, about what they arc vented using CloneCD software, from sumers [and] that include misleading taking from them as acondition of play- German developer Elaborate Bytes. advertising, defective notices, and inva- ing the music CD on afamily computer, Regardless, Midbar claims that its sys- sions of privacy." namely personal, private information. tem is asuccess, stating that "industry The suit alleges that Fahrenheit and Consumers have aright to privacy and associations IFPI and RIAA gave the Music City never disclosed on the Shrink- to be free from false and misleading Cactus Data Shield (CDS) solution the Wrap of certain "impaired" CDs that con- advertising, protected by the laws of the highest score possible for protection sumers couldn't listen to music on their State of California. It is our view that effectiveness. CDS-protected CDs play computers anonymously. According to Fahrenheit and Music City do not dis- on all types of machines without mak- the suit, if left unchecked, "this will be the close the privacy intrusion and other ing any change to the quality of the re- start of an era where consumers will be limitations with specificity on the CD cording or the abilities of the playback coerced to give up their privacy to listen to container, since it would likely hurt sales. machinery itself." music on their computers." If the defendants want to implement In late August, Midbar Tech an- The lawsuit, filed in California Digital Rights Management technology nounced that it, too, has entered into a Superior Court in Marin County as they have to do so responsibly, so the commercial arrangement with Sono- DeLise vs Fahrenheit Entertainment, consumer can make an informed deci- press. Under the terms of the agree- Inc., et al, alleges that Fahrenheit failed sion about buying the burdened CD." ment, Midbar said that it will protect to disclose that, "unlike millions of Fahrenheit pointed out that the back "select" Sonopress commercial releases music CDs sold before it," Charley of the Charley Pride CD includes adis- in major markets with the CDS -100, Pride's A Tribute to Jim Reeves (see above) claimer stating that "This audio CD is CDS-200, and/or CDS-300 version(s) will not work on the standard audio CD protected by SunnCornm MediaCloQ

Calendar MICHIGAN sones. Guest speaker Roger Sanders • Audio Alternative (895 Indian Trail • Saturday and Sunday, November 10 will showcase additions to their product Rd., Lilburn) welcomes you to join us and 11,10am-4pm: Superior Sight & line, including the new electrostatic for Customer Appreciation Week, Sound (West Bloomfield) hosts ashow loudspeaker power amplifier. Ample November 6-10. We will be hosting and demonstration of the Wisdom time will be allocated to music listening. evening seminars with Luke Manley of Audio speaker systems, together with Visit www.innersound.net. Details VTL, Daniel Sperry of Enlightened Jeff Rowland Design Group and about this and other Atlanta Audio Audio Design, Jim Price of PSB Edge Electronics amplification and Society activities are found at Speakers, and Vmce Galbo of Accuphase digital equipment. Wilson www.mindspring.com/-chucksaudio/ Advanced Audio Technologies designer Tom Bohlender will be pre- index.htm. E-mail chucksaudio@rnind (Plinius). Door prizes and giveaways sent to demonstrate his speakers and spring.com or call Chuck Bruce at (770) throughout the week. Refreshments answer any questions. Special show 493-7105. Guests are welcome at all will be served. For more details, call pricing will be in effect on all of meetings. (770) 931-0606. Superior's products. Please RSVP to

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Ver 1.0. It is designed to play in standard duccd the S1000, asingle-room solution The new disc has a suggested list audio CD players only and is not at amuch lower price: £1200 in the UK, price of $24.98 and is playable only on intended for use in DVD players. $1499 in the US. DVD machines. An unspecified Licensed copies of all music on this CD The S1000 is designed to match exist- amount of video content has been are available for downloading. Simply ing hi-fi products; its 30GB hard disk worked into the new release; viewing it, insert CD into your computer to can store about 700 hours of music in of course, requires aDVD-Video player begin." But Rothken said that the word- MP3 format, and up to 70 hours of and appropriate display. ing is not specific enough in stating how uncompressed 16-bit, CD-style PCM Only afew days after Warner Bros. the disc is restricted for use in acom- data. CDs loaded in the drive are re- announced the DVD-A release of You're puter or MP3 playback device. corded at several times real time, and the One, Universal Music Group and Consequently, Rothken said, his firm then the S1000's XiVA software auto- UK-based EMI and Virgin Records is "requesting an injunction against matically connects to the Gracenote announced plans to release titles in the Fahrenheit and SunnConun, stopping (formerly CDDB) Internet site to competing Super Audio CD format. them from tracking consumer habits download track-listing information. Universal, one of the music industry's and requiring the defendants to provide Music tracks can be selected by album, dominant players, has apparently decid- adequate notice of the privacy intru- track, artist, or genre, and a new TV ed the time is right to make amove into sions and CD deficiencies." interface allows plenty of information to high-resolution audio and will throw its be displayed. Future plans include the considerable weight behind the format, UNITED KINGDOM automatic search and retrieval of more which was developed jointly by Sony Paul Messenger music and information about favorite and Philips. "UMG looks forward to "Convergence" has been the big con- artists or music types from the Net, and providing consumers with acompelling sumer-electronics buzzword for some online software upgrading. musical experience. Super Audio CD years, but so far it's had little impact on Linn Products and ReVox have taken provides extraordinary resolution and the hi-fi scene. Now [merge, a rela- out licenses to use Imerge's XiVA sound quality, which truly brings the tively new company based in Cam- multimedia streaming software. You music to life," said Larry Kenswil, presi- bridge, England, is trying to bring the can check them out on the Web at dent of UMG eLabs. "Super Audio CD worlds of computing, the Internet, and www.xiva.com, www.xiva-net.com, and offers a new 'palette' to present our serious hi-fi together. Ifirst mentioned www.imerge.co.uk. artists' music in more original and Imerge's M1000 SoundServer back in dynamic ways." September 2000 (Vo123 No.9); it's US: LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK The company's SACDs will include time for an update. Barry Willis both back catalog and new material, The SoundServer is essentially a Two years after they were first an- according to the August 25 press computer masquerading as ahard-disk nounced, DVD-Audio discs may finally release. Many will take advantage of recording system for storing acollection be on their way from major labels. the format's multichannel capabilities. of music from CD and other digital In mid-August, Warner Bros. Records "With the increasing penetration of sources. The company's proprietary announced the release of Paul Simon's Super Audio CD players in the mar- XiVA software and built-in modem You're the One in the new format. ketplace, UMG recognizes the sub- provide considerable user-friendliness Originally released last year as a two- stantial potential for this innovative in finding specific tracks, with auto- channel CD, the material for the new disc new format," said Universal Music matic Internet connection for down- has been rernastered in the six-channel International CEO Jorgen Larsen. "By loading more information and, perhaps, Advanced Resolution Surround Sound making titles available on Super Audio music as well. format. The DVD-A is compatible with CD, UMG intends to help drive the The original M1000 was amulti-room Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 decoders, or growth of this high-quality, secure component with enormous flexibility in can be played back as ahigh-resolution music format, with its many benefits the amount of storage and number of two-channel recording, according to the for consumers and recording artists. zones available. Now Imerge has intro- Warner Bros. statement. The objective is to make Super Audio

Calendar reserve your place. Call (248) 626-2780 Velodyne, and more. For further info, 2-/5-channel demo and discussion, in- or e-mail [email protected]. please call (406) 273-7940 or e-mail cluding representatives from Balanced [email protected]. Audio Technology introducing their MONTANA new preamp-processor, the AV-10, as • Audio Elation (6825 Happy Lane, NEW YORK well as from EgglestonWorks, Fujitsu, Florence, south of Missoula) is proud to • Sunday, November 18, 2-6pm: The Wadia, and AudioQuest Both music announce the opening of the area's pre- Gotham City Audio Society's annual and video will be presented. Saturday, mier high-end audio and home-theater Audiophile Flea Market. Buy, sell, trade, December 1, 12-5pm: Convergent specialty store. Carrying Acoustic barter components and software —or Audio Technology will showcase their Energy, Arcam, Balanced Audio just schmooze! Tables available. Call new JL-2 stereo amplifier. Joining them Technology, Cardas Audio, Eggle- (212) 629-1933 for more information. will be representatives from Merlin stonWorks, Meadowlark Audio, • Saturday, November 3, 12-5pm: Toys Music Systems, VP! Industries, and Nordost, Nottingham Analogue, from the Attic (White Plains) will host a Harmonic Technology. Light refresh-

Stereophile, November 2001 23 Industry Update

Cl) astandard for the industry." Abbey Road Studios. The company statistics. However, none of those play- EMI and Virgin Records will also installed its first DSD workstation this ers are compatible with the new high- produce and distribute SACD titles. past July —a Sonoma multichannel resolution DVD-A format (although Neither announcement specified when recording, editing, and mastering sys- they are compatible with any com- new discs will appear ("over coming tem, developed by Sony. "This high- pressed Dolby or DTS 5.1 audio tracks months," read the EMI announce- resolution recording and mastering that may be on the disc). That format's ment), but it seems likely that they will technology enables record companies only real hope may be in the eventual arrive sometime late this year. EMI to release new productions, as well as introduction of all-format players. No mentioned "successful projects in re-releases that have been remastered news has come forth from SUMI for Germany, UK, and Belgium" that led to from analog and digital master tapes, on many months; the organization appears the decision to go forward with SACD. Super Audio Cl)," stated the comp- to be dead in the water. EMI will initially release as many as any's announcement. "This installation 17 tides on SACD, possibly including is part of the studios' continual drive for UNITED KINGDOM new and back-catalog material from audio excellence at the cutting edge of Paul Messenger Geri Halliwell, Fun Lovin' Criminals, sound recording." For all the subtle distinctions between Beverley Knight, Coldplay, Joe Cocker, These endorsements could give different drive-units and configura- David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, Tina SAC!) abig market boost. SACD's roll- tions, most loudspeakers have more in Turner, and Paul McCartney. Virgin out has gone quietly and smoothly, with common than not, if only because Records, which debuted an SACD ver- the first players from ahandful of man- they tend to comprise similar drivers sion of Mike Oldfield's 1970s classic ufacturers introduced at the extreme mounted in similar ways. The fact that Tubular Bells earlier this year, will make high end, followed by others at lower monopole designs overwhelmingly asimilar move. Among the titles slated prices. All have been well received by dominate the speaker market suggests for release on SAC!) are The Best (fRoay audio-industry reviewers. Small special- that they're doing pretty much what Music, The Best of Simple Minds, the ty record labels began to produce afew most people want. Human League's Dare, King Crimson's titles and gradually have increased their Exceptions are comparatively rare but In the Court of the Crimson Kink', Brian output, so that now there are afew hun- arc thus all the more welcome —they Eno's Music Jar Airports, Tangerine dred titles to choose from. With amajor provide agenuine alternative to the nor- Dream's Rubycon, Ennio Morricone's label like Universal behind it, SACD mal hi-fi experience, usually because of soundtrack for The Mission, Michael could become the format of choice for the different way they interact with the Nyman's The Piano, and Soue of the music industry as awhole. listening room. My subconscious long Sanctuary by Adiemus. DVD-Audio, on the other hand, has ago learned what to expect from con- "We have received afantastic reaction been beset by technical glitches, dis- ventional speakers, but it came as quite to our first SACD release," said Jason agreement over standards, and the asurprise when apair of the new, tall Day, catalog manager at Virgin Records. inability of the combined music and Quad ESL-989s moved in temporarily a "Music lovers are impressed by the clar- electronics industries to devise awork- few months back. These full-range elec- ity of the stereo mix and thrilled with able copyright-protection technology. trostatic panel speakers sound very dif- the multichannel mix that are both The Secure Digital Music Initiative ferent from conventional monopoles found on Tubular Bells. Quite simply, (SDMI), across-industry organization, because they operate as dipoles. Instead this exciting new music format adds wrangled pointlessly over DVD-A of some variation on the spherical radi- value to the customer. In its multichan- copy-protection technology for the ation pattern, the dipole radiates in afig- nel form, it provides surround capabili- entire two years that SACD was getting ure-8 pattern front and rear, with no ties to awider audience, at the saine established. DVD-A would seem to output to the sides. time as enhancing sound fidelity for the have an advantage in that more than 10 This much Iknew intellectually, but it important audiophile market." million American homes are now was still asurprise to discover what abig EMI is in the process of creating an equipped with DVD players, according change this different pattern of sound SACD production center at London's to Consumer Electronics Association dispersion made. It was almost as though

Calendar ments will be served. Please call (914) Energy, Analysis Plus, PowerSnakes, will be served. RSVP to (214) 520-7156 421-0069 or visit www.tfta.com. Richard Gray's Power Company, or e-mail [email protected]. Herron Audio, Lyra, Klyne, Aurios OREGON MIB, YI3A, Vibrapods, and others. For VERMONT • Corner Audio (Beaverton) is pleased to more info, visit www.corneraudio.com • Sound Essentials is happy to an- announce our selection as the exclusive or call (503) 643-7512. nounce it has been selected as Legacy Oregon and Washington dealer for Audio's exclusive dealer for the state of Hovland components. Other recent TEXAS Vermont. On display are the Studio, arrivals indude the EA]) TheaterMaster • Wednesday, October 24, 5-9pm: Classic, and the newly redesigned Focus 8.1 and DVD Ultra. We also offer com- Krystal Clear Audio-Video (Dallas 20/20 models. Sound Essentials offers ponents from Audio Physic, Decorative Center) proudly announces fine audio and video products from Quicksilver, Edge Electronics, Im- their relocation to anew, larger show- Acoustic Energy, Arcam, Audio media, BEL, Arcam, Acoustic room with an open house. Refreshments Refinement, Audio Research, Basis,

24 Stereophile, November 2001 \um/

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In recorded music on the resultant tion pattern, the listener hears amuch fact, both the Quad and Tannoy deliv- DataPlay digital format for use in avari- higher ratio of direct to reflected sound ered unusually smooth in-room, ety of consumer-electronics devices. than with the "quasi-spherical" radiation farfield frequency responses through Taking the MiniDisc concept astep of aconventional design: you hear more the upper midband —partly, Isuspect, further, DataPlay has developed asmall of the signal and less of the listening because they avoided the distribution enclosed disc that is less than 1.5" room. And because the Quad is afull- discontinuities inevitably encountered (32mm) in diameter and can hold range dipole, it also showed significantly around the crossover point with most 500MB of digital data, or about 11 less low-frequency unevenness because regular speakers. hours of MP3 audio files. The company it was less inclined to excite room Rather, there's aspectrum of choice says that it expects blank recordable modes. The downside is that adipole's here, which starts at one end with head- discs to cost consumers between $5 and ultimate bass extension is limited by its phones and narrow sonic radiators like $10, and prerecorded discs about $15. minimum dimension (ie, its width) to dipoles and dual-concentrics, continues InterTrust and DataPlay say they will around 50Hz. through regular front-baffle direct- create aformat for secure DRM-based Much more of asurprise was hearing radiating speakers, and ends with full content storage on DataPlay digital something of the same effect a few omnidirectional designs like some of media. Consumer-electronics compa- months later, when apair of big Tannoy Dick Shahinian's creations. I'm remind- nies that wish to manufacture DataPlay- Dimension TI)12s arrived. These arc ed of the fierce debates about omnidi- enabled devices — which so far include not dipoles, but are entirely monopolar rectional speakers that raged in the UK Samsung, Toshiba, and SONICblue and radiate spherically at low frequen- hi-fi press back in the 1970s, prompted (maker of the Diamond Rio) —will cies, so the Tannoy is conventional by models from such brands as Bose and then be able to license the format. enough here (room modes included). Sonab. With hindsight, it seems to me To support the DataPlay platform, But further up the band, Tannoy's clas- that there is no right and wrong here, InterTrust said, it has developed aspe- sic large dual-concentric driver behaves just personal preference, based on an cial version of its copy-protection very differently from the conventional. individual's own hi-fi ideal and, perhaps, technology for portable devices, along Because it uses a12" bass/mid driver, the characteristics of the listening room. with a dedicated "packager" that the midrange becomes less omni- The more directional the speaker, places the content in asecure format. directional and more forward-focused the better Ihear into the recording The company stated that it is also ad- from alower frequency than the usual, itself; the more omnidirectional the apting its PC plug-in for music players, much smaller main drivers. The horn- speaker, the more easily I'm able to be- to enable the playing and importing of loaded tweeter, which operates above a lieve that the musicians are actually in content from DataPlay digital media, lowish 1.5kHz, is designed to radiate the room. Most of us, Iguess, would as well as the activation of additional across a90° arc —again, a much nar- like abit of both. content that resides protected on the rower range than that of a baffle- digital media. InterTrust adds that its mounted 1" dome. (The Tammy also US: YOUR AUDIO SYSTEM system also allows retailers and distrib- has a 1" dome tweeter, but it operates Jon Iverson utors to activate content on the digital only above 14kHz.) InterTrust Technologies, which creates media and send protected content to The subjective consequences of this 1)igital Rights Management (I)RM) consumers directly. narrow dispersion were not as extreme technology, and format developer Data- InterTruses Talal Shamoon is clearly or as obvious as with the Quad, but the Play, announced apartnership in August thinking big for the new format. He Tannoy still showed much less room that is intended to create a portable explained that "a standard for protected interaction than a conventional loud- media-distribution platform for protect- portable inedia is essential to create the

Calendar

Cambridge Audio, NAD, NAD Theater (5218 University Way, Seattle) is proud to announce the addition of Silver, Princeton Graphics, ProAc, presents the new Electra line from Avantgarde Hornspeakers to its TARA Labs, VTL, Walker Audio, JMlab. Also showing Wisdom Audio, product lineup. Call (414) 354-5082 or Zoethecus, and others. Please contact Conrad-Johnson, Audio Refine- visit www.Audioemporium.com if you Chris for more information or to sched- ment Art Audio, Simaudio, are interested in attending an ule aprivate audition in your home or at Meadowlark, Audio Physic, Audio- Avantgarde seminar. the shop (1 Steele St. *108, Burlington): Prism, Harmonic Technology, • Friday, November 2, 7pm: Sound www.soundessentialsvt.com or (802) Alpha-Core, Analysis Plus, MIT, World (3015 W. Wisconsin Ave., 863-6271. Séleco, DreamVision, and more. Call Appleton) welcomes Tor Sivertsen, (206) 985-0209 for more info. national sales manager of Conrad- WASHINGTON Johnson, who will demonstrate and • Wednesday and Thursday, October 24 WISCONSIN discuss C-J's latest innovative prod- and 25, 5-9pm: Premier Audio fie Home • The Audio Emporium (Milwaukee) ucts, including the new MV-60 tube

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CD's successor. InterTrust believes that load on several websites, including two patois of the music industry), but acom- DataPlay's position with three of the constructed by Thomson Multimedia. pany spokesman said that the feature five major labels and its cutting-edge The improved codee is said to offer bet- could be added later. "Consumers format deliver acompelling consumer ter sound quality, especially in the high haven't been clamoring for DRM tech- entertainment experience. A ubiqui- frequencies, while retaining "forward nology," he explained. tous protected format beyond the CD and backward compatibility" with the As M P3Pro is making its debut, so is is the only way to conclusively halt original MP3 format. something called Ogg Vorbis. Neither music piracy." Developed by a Swedish-German avideo game nor acomic strip nor a company, Coding Technologies, adivi- science-fiction hero, Ogg Vorbis is a FRANCE sion of Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, under compressed-audio file format devel- Barry Willis contract to Paris-based Thomson oped by independent researchers who First, the sobering reality: Among the Multimedia SA, MP3Pro also allows for intend to use it to compete with MP3. world's billions of music-lovers, proba- higher compression with fewer compro- In various iterations, Ogg Vorbis has bly only a million or fewer are true mises, according to announcements been floating around the Internet for audiophiles, for whom sound quality is made in mid-June. The format's more than ayear as it's been tested and a primary concern. The uncritical improved high-frequency resolution is refined. Said to provide better audio majority will embrace any audio tech- attributed to a technique called Spec- quality than MP3, it's now ready for its nology that offers economy and conve- tral Band Replication (SBR), which sup- official public debut, and was sched- nience. Case in point: the popularity of posedly "regenerates" harmonics and uled to appear June 17 as release 1.0. the MP3 digital format, widely derided high-frequency information that would The developers hope to win market- by audiophiles for its compressed otherwise be lost. "SBR is avery efficient place acceptance for the software, dynamics and lack of detail, but adopted way to code high frequencies," said which has reportedly already been readily by the general public because of Coding Technologies president and adopted by AOL Time Warner. its ease of use. CEO Martin Dietz. MP3Pro offers Although the format came into being twice the playback time and better sound UNITED KINGDOM less than four years ago, portable MP3 than standard MP3; enhanced with Paul Messenger players in use now number in excess of SBR's digital signal processing, an After 45 years in the business, Vernon 12 million, according to Henri Linde, MP3Pro recording at acompression bit Innis has decided to retire.. sort of. vice president for new business of rate of 64kbps is said to be better than a (Does anyone really retire from hi-fi?) Thomson Multimedia's patent and MP3 at 100kbps. With roots going back to long-forgotten licensing division. He estimates that Normal audio CDs can hold approx- brands from the radioagram (stereo there are more than 250 million per- imately 15 songs; using MP3, the capac- console) era, Innis is one of the unsung sonal computers playing MP3 files. ity of aCD-R can be as high as 150 heroes of British hi-fi. At Hacker, the "Practically every song in the world has songs. With MP3Pro, aCD-R can con- leading maker of British transistor been encoded as an MP3 file," he says. tain more than 300 songs of relatively radios, he was probably responsible for "These numbers underscore the tre- high quality, according to Thomson the first high-quality, class-A, solid-state mendous appeal MP3 has within the Multimedia. MP3Pro is compatible power amplifier. Innis's late '60s design global consumer marketplace." with all recent Windows operating sys- beat Jim Sugden's eponymous amp to The good news is that engineers at tems, provided that installed software market by about amonth, but attracted Thomson and other companies haven't players support sampling rates of 16, much less attention, as it was built into been content with the limitations of 22.5, 24, 32, 44.1, and 48kHz. MP3Pro ahi-fi console. MP3, and have been working diligently for Mac OS 9 and Linux will appear Innis's emphasis switched to loud- to improve the format's performance. later this year. speakers in the mid-1970s, when he The culmination of these efforts is a In the design of the format, Thomson joined Audax UK just as the whole turbo-charged version called MP3Pro, did not provide for copyright protection business of OEM drivers was gathering which recently debuted as afree down- (or "digital rights management," in the steam — for some eight years, he

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Stereophile, November 2001 29 \` serenitl - KHoRus

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audio technologies www.talonaudio.com tel: 801.619.9000 helped numerous designers get the mal signal path, and on and on. But the most out of Audax drive-units. He then real kicker is that the gain stage uses a Árçi') moved on, first to Mordaunt-Short, premium Sovtek 12AX7 vacuum tube, then, in 1989, to Elac, the North and the thing is sounding very fine. You know what they say London driver manufacturer. "Filtering is LC passive and the vol- about "free advice". It's After atakeover, Innis joined forces ume control is an analog pot, so there is worth what you paid for with Monitor Audio's Mo Iqbal to buy not the bit-shedding associated with dig- it. the plant, now trading as AEL and pro- ital attenuators," said Sutherland. "The At PS Audio, we believe ducing many of the 1990s' metal-cone 12dAX7 has full signal resolution at all you might just get a little listening levels." It is 15" wide by 9" deep drivers, including those used in MA's more than that. Studio series. Innis's final move was in by 3" high, and Sutherland said that it 1993 —to the West Country to join "looks like the high-end component that Our web site wwwpsaudio.com offers budget specialist JPW, which has since it is: steel case with a'h"-thick machined visitors what we think is a wealth of absorbed Heybrook as part of AGI. Lexan front panel with awindow, so you free goodies and advice. Vernon Innis is afine engineer with can see the tubes inside." enormous experience who Ican't imag- The USB preamp/DAC costs $1495 You can have us help you fix the hums ine ever actually "retiring" from audio. and is available from adedicated web- and buzzes in your audio/video system At any rate, he plans to continue visiting site: ‘vww.12dax7com. When we asked with our new interactive Humbuster's Britain's hi-fi shows. tool.

US: KANSAS Sutherland's 12dAX7 Find out what everyone's listening to by visitng our Music Library section, ion Iverson preamp/DAC is Don't smirk, but a lot of audiophiles, or discover all the cool new DVD including this writer and Stereophile% connected to the PC movies your fellow Audio and Video esteemed editorjohn Atkinson, spend a "Philes" are watching in the movie considerable amount of time listening via the USB port. section. to music on their computers, especially at work. In fact, the results from "Ask the experts" about anything you www.stereophile.com's recent online Sutherland who the 12dAX7 is aimed want to. One of our staff members, poll about computers and listening at, he said, "I see the market as music- or even the "Grand Poobah" himself, habits indicate that at least 60% of the lovers with good systems at home. Paul McGowan, will jump in and magazine's readers listen this way, and They spend alot of time at the office answer you personally. that half of them use their PCs for and would enjoy good tunes there also. music playback "quite often." The PC is ideal as an MP3 jukebox, or High-end audio equipment designer for using CDs and webcasting. Sound Ron Sutherland said that he, too, found quality can go way up by using the himself listening to his office PC often 12dAX7 with agood power amp and enough that he started to tinker with good speakers, because the tube gain the audio possibilities. "When we go to stage smooths out the signal, making a the office, we leave behind our good- huge library of music very listenable sounding systems, and the music is from and enjoyable." the PC, using sources such as CD, MP3, Sutherland added, "Since building and webcasting. Personally, I'm getting a the prototype, Iuse it all day, every day. Sure, we've designed the PS web site big charge out of MP3 webcasting, but I'm getting more use and pleasure out to let you know about our audio, video, of this than anything I've ever owned. the soundcards arc at the low end of lo- cable and power products as well as fi. Inside the computer it is electrically It's so much fun to have access to so provide our web members and visitors very noisy, which is abad environment much new music." for a soundcard. Soundcards are also easy access to a lot of fun. typically built to be cheap, with no bud- UNITED KINGDOM get for audiophile components." Paul Messenger But building a community of like- So, Sutherland said, he started to In the excellent two-vs-multichannel minded people is equally look at the data rate on the USB bus, debate in the August Stereophik (Vol.24 important. which can accommodate CD's 16- No.8), Steve Guttenberg took aswipe at bit/44.1kHz stream, and derided that center-front "dialogue" speakers: "cen- this might be "an acceptable data path ter speakers arc, with few exceptions, for good audio." rarely the equals of decent main After several weeks of development, left/right speakers." he created the 12dAX7 preamp/DAC, While Iagree with much of what fol- whid- is connected to the PC via the lowed, especially about the horrendous USB pert. Sutherland emphasized that acoustic and mechanical consequences he has included "all of the 'politically of placing acenter speaker atop alarge correct' audiophile details: Wima poly- TV, afew recent experiences of mine propylene caps, Dale metal-film resis- suggest that the overall configuration of Audio tors, toroidal power transformer, dou- the center speaker is worth closer scruti- VVWW.PSAUDIO.COM 720-406-8946 ble-sided fiberglass circuit board, mini- ny for two-channel stereo use. Using a

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S INDUCTION DYNAMICS Experience True Audio Perfection. Industry Update center speaker might actually be one of it's maybe no surprise that Ifound it 8" two-way has asignificant advantage the best all-around compromises. the pick of the bunch. over the 6.5" in delivering dynamic The first clue came about 18 months Another piece of the puzzle fell into realism. Of course, the dispersion of an back, when, in agroup test of surround- place when, in another group test — 8" driver makes it harder to integrate sound speakers, Ifirst encountered the this one of 12 speakers — Inoticed that with a tweeter, but there are always B&W LCR6. Ihad five of them in for two (a Spendor and an Audio Note) tradeoffs. the test, but part of my brief was to assess were 8" two-way stand-mounts. It sud- Which brings me back to the irre- the speakers as two-channel as well as denly dawned on me that it had been a futable logic of the 6.5" two-and-a-half- surround-sound designs. It was as a long time since I'd seen agenuine 8" way. It has aslightly larger cone area traditional stereo pair that the LCR6 driver. They'd been the mainstay of the than an 8" in the bass, and a slightly really shone: fine weight and dynamic hi-fi speaker business throughout smaller one at the crossover point, expression with only modest coloration. much of the 1960s and 1970s — all which should be just about ideal. This The LCR6 is labeled (and priced) as a those AR and Wharfedale two-way format is often adopted for larger center home-theater speaker, but it's actually a 'bookshelf' speakers, to name the speakers (though sometimes astraight magnetically shielded member of the most obvious examples. Indeed, two-way, or d'Appolito, configuration is 600 S2 series, and occupies a rather B&W's 602 S2 is probably the nearest used). However, for stereo left/right intriguing position in that line. The 601 current "mainstream" model from a duties such designs are nearly always re- S2 is a6.5", two-way stand-mount; the major brand to come close to the clas- packaged as floorstanders, which is 602 S2 is similar, but with alarger (7") sic 8" stand-mount. probably not the best solution. main driver. The 603 S2 is afloorstand- Almost by stealth, and certainly in In my experience at least, a good ing two-and-a-half-way configuration — response to the demands of the market- stand-mounted speaker on adedicated essentially atwo-way but with an extra place, the 8"-driver speaker has gradual- stand will always have aperformance driver augmenting just the bass region. ly metamorphosed into a6.5" —just as advantage over an equivalent floor- The LCR6 is also atwin 6.5" two-and-a- the 8" itself had evolved out of 12" and stander, which is why (in the UK, at half-way, but requires astand. 10" designs. According to one market- least), stand-mounts remain popular. What this means is that the LCR6 ing manager, people these days want There are precedents, like the LCR6 actually has the same bass-cone area slim loudspeakers, and simply won't go and JMlab's Mini Utopia, for examples, as the floorstanding 603 S2, but only for the sort of speaker wide enough to but whether fashion will permit the half the cabinet volume. With the accommodate an 8" drive-unit. "stretched" stand-mount with twin 6.5" LCR6 having the further bonus of This seems a shame — that group main drivers on arelatively low stand being able to use a high-class stand, test comfortably convinced me that the remains amoot point. 111

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Stereophite, November 2001 33 FAMILY VALL4eS Onfr.ga Signature Sei-ies \\ Sam's Space Sam Tellig

twas like having an old mistress the parent company of Mission, and return and finding she had im- about ayear later to the International Iproved with age. Audio Group (IAG), Quad's current Not that I've ever had amistress. (I'm owner. (Sounds like Stereophile!) making an imaginative leap.) But that's In the early '80s there developed a how Ifelt when Ireceived the new Quad cult. The late Harvey Rosenberg, Quad ESL-988 speaker for review. It's then of New York Audio Labs and the Quad ESL-63 reborn —a speaker I Futterman fame, launched The Quad was wedded to, on and off, from the Owners' Club and named himself pres- early 1980s to the late '90s. Iowned ident, as he would do years later with three pairs — like marrying the same The Triode Guild. I'm not sure there woman three times. were ever any actual members; just a It happened like this. I'd have apair newsletter, until Harvey lost interest and for several years, get bored, and sell moved on to other things. them. Then, usually ayear or two later, Ah, Harvey. He passed away sudden- I'd want the Quads back again. After I ly last summer, and Imiss him. Dr. sold my last pair, though —in 1999 — Gizmo is gone. No more Harvey show- the ESL-63 went out of production as ing up on my doorstep bearing strange Quad Electroacoustics changed hands speakers and flea-powered amps. twice. Icouldn't buy afourth new pair How eccentric was Harvey? In sum- if Iwanted to. mertime, he would show up in his cam- Naturally, Iwas hot to review the ouflage-painted Volkswagen Thing, ESL-988, which is described as a"direct wearing a matching camouflage uni- replacement" for the ESL-63, the first Quad ESL-988 loudspeaker form. As he pulled into my driveway, he prototype of which came off Peter would turn on his bullhorn and yell to Walker's drawing board in 1963 (hence my daughter, "Amy! WAKE UP DAD AND the name). The speaker was introduced OPEN THE DOOR! IT'S UNCLE HARVEY!" 18 years later, in 1981! It remained in Two decades ago, One of akind. production for nearly 18 years, with One of my fondest Harvey memories only minor modifications. the ESL-63 smoked was visiting him in the mid '80s at the The ESL-988 is essentially the sanic New York Audio Labs factory, then speaker. The electrostatic panels are the most of the competition. located in Ardsley, New York. Along sanie design and size as those of the with various Futterman output-trans- ESL-63, and the dimensions, too, are formerless (OTL) amplifiers (tweaky, more or less the same: 37" high by 26V2." twitchy things that produced great wide by 12/" deep (because of the my pair of B&W DM7s to a friend. sound), Ispied at least half adozen pairs base). Each speaker weighs 45 lbs — Nice speakers, but not close to the of ESL-63s. All had their socks off— they're awkward to move but easy to Quads in ternis of transparency, tran- that is, their grillecloths removed. lift. Sensitivity is given as 86dB/W/m, sient response, imaging. Several were in various stages of disas- and nominal impedance is stated as 8 Today, of course, Quad has much sembly. Harvey could never resist the ohms. More about that later. more competition. Companies like temptation to "improve" things. When it was introduced 20 years ago, B&W, Sonus Faber, Wilson Audio, and "Hey, Harve, I'd love to hear apair of the ESL-63 was arguably the best loud- Thiel were just getting started when the Futtermans on the Quads." speaker you could buy—especially if ESL-63 appeared, and they haven't "Sorry, Dude." Ithink Harvey used your tastes ran to classical and jazz. stood still. Quad, however, did stand still the term even way back then. "They're Despite the high (for then) price of for almost 20 years —a complacency, all non-functional." Rendered that way, $3300, Ibought apair. So did alot of perhaps, that led to the Walker family's it seemed, by Mr. Rosenberg himself. other audiophiles — for atime, it was losing control of the company. It was Like Dr. Frankenstein, Harvey loved to the speaker to have. There were Quad sold to the Verity Group in 1998, then operate. mods (I electrocuted myself making Ithought of Harvey when the Quad one of them), Quad tweaks, accessory '988s arrived. It was afew weeks before Quad stands — even though Peter 1When Ivisited Peter ("P.1") Walker at the Quad fac- he died. Gizmo was eager to come over tory in 1981, to interview him for the British magazine Walker felt that the speaker should sit Hi-Fi Noe< & Record Review, he demonstrated pre- and listen. directly on the floor.' production ESL-63s to me with the speakers sitting on "Harvey, you can't modify them. I chairs. He also showed nie how the speaker could pro- Two decades ago, the ESL-63 duce aperfect squarewave then dismissed that as being won't let you come if you take them smoked most of the competition. Isold of no subjective consequence. — JA apart."

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Harvey never came. walls. What works best for your con- listening lair —I didn't need the services Enough digression. What you proba- ventional cabinet speakers might not of my friend Lars. (My listening room is bly want to know is what Harvey want- work best for Quads. about 17' wide by 18' deep, with asmall ed to know: how the ESL-988 com- An English firm, G.F. Deane and alcove and asloped ceiling. The irregular pares to the ESL-63. Company, used to make stands with shape is good for the sound.) The answer: very well. wheels for the ESL-63, so that Alistair Iset the '988s in the '63s' sweet Quad's new owners haven't spoiled or Nigel could roll them out into the spots—about 5' from the rear walls the company. The ESL-988 is still Peter living room for listening, then roll them and 3' from the side walls. Isat about 6' Walker's great loudspeaker —updated back again, close to the rear wall, so as from the speakers. Then Ifiddled with and improved, just as Quad claims. With not to upset The Wife. Neat idea, that. the toe-in, firing the speakers almost these updates and improvements, the Wheels for the ESL-988 might be a straight ahead rather than directly at ESL-988 more than holds its own neat idea, too. me. Worked before. Worked again. against the competition, especially at the Quad speakers radiate as much ener- You know how electrostatic speakers price: $5000/pair. Ijust heard apair of gy from their backs as from their fronts. work, yes? No? speakers that sell for more than 10 times It's part of how they pull their disap- Speakers move air, as you know. the money, and they couldn't hold acan- pearing act. So it's extremely important With an electrostatic, air is moved by an dle to the Quads in terms of accuracy almost massless sheet of taut, non- and musicality. In today's market, where stretchable Mylar film. Quad says that nothing succeeds like excess, the '988 is The ESL-988 is still the Mylar in the ESL-988 is about a wonderfully sane. (Yeah, I know — tenth the thickness of ahuman hair. $5000 is still alot of money.) Peter Walker's great This Mylar film is sandwiched be- If you own ESL-63s, you might want tween two highly charged electrodes, to upgrade to the ESL-988 —especially loudspeaker—updated whose voltages are modulated by the if your ESL-63s are early-production musical signal. Sound from the Mylar units. No pair of speakers lasts forever. and improved, just as passes through aperforated steel panel, Like the ESL-63, the ESL-988 can Quad claims. which protects against "accidents," a be tricky to position in a room. You euphemism for electrocution —more need space behind the speakers—at than 5000V are involved. (Not to worry. least 3', preferably more. If you have a I've never heard of anyone being killed long, narrow room, you can bring the what's behind the speaker: preferably, by a Quad.) Each speaker is plugged speakers far forward from the short no furniture —and certainly not the into the mains and left charged all the back wall, maybe halfway down into rear wall. Quads have always worked time, drawing about 5W of power. the room. And you can put the speak- well in my listening room because my The ESL-988's Mylar is stretched on ers very close to the side walls, almost rear walls are lined with books. Books the same Quad jig that was built for touching. You didn't think that Quads are your best "room treatment," and Peter Walker and the Quad ESL-63. I had bass? Think again. cheap, too: you can always go to a saw this jig when Ivisited the old Quad With a wide room —or a squarish library book sale on the last day —or, factory in Huntingdon several years room, like mine — you should try better yet, on the morning after the last ago. (Production has since been moved bringing the speakers as far forward as day, when they give books away. to an LAG facility in Bradford, in the you can. Don't be afraid to listen near- After my long but on-again, off-again north of England.) field. Of course, you probably won't be marriage to the ESL-63s, Iknew exactly Igot the skinny on the ESL-988 from able to position them close to the side where to position the ESL-988s in my Quad's Julian Maddoch, who apolo- gized for telling me so much, assuming Ialready knew it all. "I'm only 32," he exclaimed. "You may know stuff that I Contacts don't." Audio Plus Services, P.O. Box LFD Audio, 7 Lancaster Gardens Ah, no. Not about Quads, anyway. 3047, Plattsburgh, NY 12901. Tel: West, Clacton-on-sea, Essex C015 The ESL-988 is afull-range electro- (800) 663-9352. Fax: (450) 585- 6QG, England, UK. Tel: (44) 1255- static, but it has four panels —the top 5862. Web: www.audioplusservices. 422533. Fax: (44) 1255-221069. and bottom panels are sometimes com. In Canada: Plurison. Tel: (450) Quad Electroacoustics Ltd., LAG described as the "bass" panels. How can 585-0098. Fax: (450) 585-5862. House, Sovereign Court, Ermine you have "bass" panels if the speaker is Web: www.plurison.com. Business Park, Huntingdon, Cambs full-range, with no crossover? Mie lack Cambridge Audio, c/o Audio PE29 6XU, England, UK. Tel: (44) of any crossover is one reason the Quad Partnership PLC, Gallery Court, (0)845-458-0011. Fax: (44) (0)1480- '988 sounds as good as it does.) Julian Hankey Place, London SE 4B, 431767. Web: www.quad-hi-fi.co.uk. confessed that Quad itself has created England, UK. Tel: (44) 207-940- The Sound Organisation, 11140 some of the confusion by referring to 2200. Fax: (44) 207-940-2233. Web: Petal Street, Suite 350, Dallas, TX "bass panels" when, in fact, all four pan- www.cambridgeaudio.com. 75235. Tel: (972) 234-0182. Fax: els of the ESL-988 operate full-range. LAG America, 180 Kerry Place, (972) 234-0249. Web: www.sound He emphasizes that "all panels are elec- Norwood, MA 02062. Tel: (877) 440- org.com. trostatic and all panels receive an identi- 0888 or (781) 440-0888. Fax: (781) cal full-range signal." There are no 440-0333. Web: www.quad-hifi.com. crossovers, and there is no cone bass driver in acabinet below. The ESL-988 is afull-range electrostatic.

Stereophile, November 2001 37 Sam's Space

The four panels are stacked atop one Remember, you need very high voltage of aproblem 20 years ago than today. another, each extending the full width to get that Mylar to give off good vibes. Tube amps seem to cope with the of the speaker (minus the frame). Each The Mylar, too, has improved, thanks to Quad load quite well, so long as they're panel contains aMylar diaphragm, elec- demands from windsurfers and others. not single-ended triodes (SET), and trodes, and asubchassis. The panels are It's stronger and thinner than it was 20 especially not low-powered SETs. And, joined together to work as a single years ago. as the late Harvey Rosenberg knew, the speaker unit. But the frame is the big thing, says Quads were magic with OTL amps. I'm The panels are the same size but are Julian. "The ESL-988 gives much about to receive apair of Tenor OTLs, not identical. The middle two panels greater structural rigidity to the frame, but they didn't arrive in time for this (mirror images of one another) have and Ipersonally believe this gives the month's column. their electrodes arranged in the form of most significant sonic improvement Meanwhile, Ihad no trouble driving concentric anode rings. These rings are over the ESL-63." the ESL-988s with other amps. For fed by delay lines. Think of the Mylar as tubes, I tried the Conrad-Johnson the surface of apond and the signal as a MV60 and McIntosh MC 2102, using pebble thrown into the pond. First, the Ces splendid 17LS line stage and a sound "hits" the Mylar, then tipples out- If you're fond of the Rega Jupiter CD player. For solid-state, ward. This was Peter Walker's inge- "pipe and slippers" sound Iused Musical Fidelity's A3cR preamp nious invention, found in no other and power combination, the AYR pre- make of electrostatic speaker. The effect of the ESL-63, amp with the Belles 150A amplifier, and is to re-create a point source and to the Cairn 4808 class-A integrated — achieve the superb, stable imaging for you won't hear it only 25Wpc, but the Quads were akick which Quads are renowned. with the Cairn. Ialso tried the 75Wpc The top and bottom panels "sit" on from the ESL-988. LFD Mistral LE integrated (see below). the end of the delay line, receive afull- In general, Ipreferred the somewhat range signal, and fire over the entire softer, gentler presentation Iheard with surface simultaneously. As Julian tubes. No surprise there, huh? The explained, the ESL-989 ($8000/pair) is The frame now tilts the speaker back Musical Fidelity solid-state combo, for simply a'988 with an extra "bass" panel at a5° angle, which makes stands far less instance, struck me as alittle too dry, too on the top and bottom. Adding two necessary. (You can tilt the speakers austere with the ESL-988. But the more panels does produce more sound back another degree or two by fiddling Belles 150A made lovely music with the and the extra baffle area provides more with the spikes.) The holes in the pro- Quads, which may show apreference bass, so, in away, "bass panel" is not en- tective steel grille are now circular; they not only for tubes but also for MOS- tirely inaccurate. used to be downward-firing slots. FET solid-state output devices. There's something magical about a There's only so much you can do Those looking for an exact clone of full-range speaker. No crossovers means with the speaker's appearance, which is the ESL-63 won't find it in the ESL- no crossover distortion. Also, there's no maybe why G.F. Deane and Company 988. The updates have brought changes disparity — or discontinuity — in the came up with the idea of awheeled to the sound —changes that Iwelcome. sound because the cone drivers are made stand. ("Nigel, be agood chap and roll But if you're fond of the "pipe and slip- of different materials (fabric, say, for the those speakers back against the wall pers" sound (Julian Maddoch's term, midrange driver, and metal for the when you're not listening, please. We not mine) of the ESL-63, you won't tweeter). The Mylar does it all. And 'ave to live 'ere.") hear it from the ESL-988. there are no sounds from the rear of the The ESL-63 had awooden top plate For the most part, though, the ESL- drivers —no backwaves — to be stifled and wood trim at the bottom. The new 988 is an updated ESL-63. In my lis- inside acabinet or tamed by aspecial en- frame has a molded plastic top plate tening room, the ESL-988s imaged closure, as in the B&W Nautilus series. and no wood trim at all. And the speak- superbly. For better or worse, Icould Julian Maddoch ran down the list of er is all black. Quad hints that they hear into each recording as if the improvements the ESL-988 contains. might do something to relieve the speakers weren't there. The spatial pre- First and foremost (according to him) Darth Vader look. sentation was breathtaking, given a is the frame. It's stiffer, more rigid. I As long as I'm nitpicking...I'm not good recording. Everyone was in his or could actually feel it, compared to the too keen on the speaker binding posts. her place, and everyone stayed put— somewhat rickety ESL-63. That flimsy They're plastic; it's awkward to use unless the engineers started playing frame was probably one reason the heavy spades or banana plugs. tricks. The ESL-988 ruthlessly revealed Arcici stand did so much to improve the One thing to keep in mind with the poor multi-miking and shabby tricks sound of the ESL-63 — the stand stiff- ESL-988, as with the ESL-63, is that the like zooming in on asoloist and mak- ened and strengthened the frame. It's speaker presents an unconventional ing him or her seem as large and loud not needed now. (The Arcici stand, like load. The impedance, nominally 8 as the entire orchestra. No wonder so most others made for the ESL-63, does ohms, dips at some points to around 4 many good recording engineers used not fit the ESL-988 because of changes ohms. It rises sharply and peaks at the ESL-63 for monitoring. (A profes- to the frame.) around 20kHz, at which point the sional version of the ESL-63 was kept The parts quality has been improved. speaker becomes areactive load, mean- permanently at the Musikverein, in "Quad acknowledges the effects of cable ing that the impedance is so high it Vienna, as Ionce saw for myself.) now," Julian told me. "There's better- opposes current flow from the amplifier. Yes, I know — other speakers can quality wiring in the delay lines and Some amps don't like that—especially throw abig, spacious soundstage, and higher-quality copper in the electrodes. solid-state amps that rely on a lot of can do well when it comes to precise The transformers have been improved." global feedback. In truth, this was more imaging. Yet Ifound that the ESL-988s

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LISTEN AND YOU'LL SEE Sam's Space were qualitatively different from cone- driver speakers. Less got lost. With the right recordings, Icould hear each vio- lin in astring section as an individual violin, not just part of the "massed strings." Good choral and opera record- ings were spectacular. Icould pick out each voice, even in alarge chorus. Ithink Ioriginally came up with the Cambridge Audio 05005E CD player term "palpable presence" while listen- ing to the ESL-63. That's what Igot with the ESL-988: an uncanny tactile The Quad ESL-63 was often de- the 60Wpc Conrad-Johnson MV60 sense of each recorded performance. scribed as "polite" by audio journalists. drove them nicely (deliciously, actually). This sounds like an advertising slogan, Restrained. Lacking extension on top. Hear these speakers before you pay but it's true: the ESL-988 brings the re- Or, as Julian Maddoch put it, as if it had more. In my opinion, crazy-expensive cording home alive. a"pipe and slippers sound." speakers make no sense. The ESL-988s Like the ESL-63, the ESL-988 Not the ESL-988. Compared to the are becoming my fourth pair of Quads. showed what a miracle two-channel ESL-63, the new speaker had more top- stereo is, and why audiophiles might end extension. Iliked it, but if you find Cambridge Audio D500SE CD player hesitate before "adopting" surround there's too much, you can probably lis the September 2000 issue Iwrote up sound for music. The idea of having a tame the treble alittle by fiddling with the Cambridge Audio D500 CD player. third ESL-988 as a center-channel the speakers' toe-in. It's been replaced by aSpecial Edition. speaker struck me as ludicrous. How The original ESL-63 was sometimes The D500 sold for $450, while the could Iimprove on the soundstage or criticized for its bass response as well. D500SE goes for $479, available with the imaging? It would be like having a But Ialways liked the '63's bass — so black or silver faceplate. third ear, an extra eye, asurplus nostril — coherent, so naturally apart of the total The SE version features a new or three bums (love that Monty Python sound. Tight, tuneful, if not especially Crystal CD4391 24-bit/1921cHz dual- sketch). It's nice that more major record extended or forceful. Iheard even better differential stereo DAC. The innards are labels say they'll support SACD, but I'm bass with the ESL-988. It went lower, sourced from Sony, and proprietary cir- very wary of the push to multichannel. I and Icould play it louder — possibly cuitry redocks the digital data before it think that average people — non-audio- because the low notes didn't rattle the goes to the DAC. The D500SE is philes — will surround themselves with frame, as they tended to do with the claimed to deliver lower jitter levels cheap, crappy receivers and speakers. ESL-63, even in Arcici stands. Still, the than many high-end players. The piano is notoriously difficult to ESL-988 is not, Ithink, aspeaker for Iliked the regular edition, and Iliked reproduce, but the ESL-988 did so nat- hard rockers. (I didn't try to trip the the SE even more. Iheard clean, clear urally. I heard the initial percussive speakers' protection circuitry. After all, I sound, with somewhat improved low- impact of hammer on strings, followed want to be nice to these speakers. I'm level resolution over the standard ver- by the sound of the note and its natural keeping them!) sion. The new player had particularly decay. Ithink it's amatter of superior Which Quad ESL to get—the '988 good bass, with definition and drive. timing, the lack of any cabinet col- or the '989? Many inexpensive speakers just don't oration, the lack of smearing from back- Ihaven't heard the ESL-989 in my deliver the goods down below. waves produced by cone drivers and listening room, but I'm not sure it The overall sound was solid-state neu- never completely suppressed. Quads, would work as well as the ESL-988. I tral —no harshness, for sure, but none of like other electrostatic speakers, are have low ceilings — not abad thing for the softening or sweetening you might qualitatively different. You really should sound, necessarily. The room is fairly get from tubes in the analog output stage. seek out a dealer and listen, even if small. The larger speaker might over- For $479, Ihighly recommend the you're not ready to buy apair. whelm the room with too much bass. D500SE. And keep in mind that dis- The transient response was spectacu- Don't forget, the '989 has two more counts are often available on Cambridge lar. Again, timing. Marina was listening "bass" panels pumping out sound into Audio gear in North America; you as Iplayed Mariss Jansons' recording of the room from front and rear. With a might see this player for less than $400. Tchaikovsky's Symphony 4 with the large room, though, and especially with And you might find anifty closeout deal Oslo Philharmonic (Chandos CHAN high cathedral ceilings, the '989 might on the regular D500 for even less. 8361). The fourth movement, as you make sense. But it costs $3000 more per Iknow — you want SACD. But for may know, opens with abang. Marina pair. I'd probably opt for the ESL-988, playing standard "Red Book" CDs, you was dozing off. Icranked up the volume especially for an average-size room. might be better off with adedicated alittle. The speed, the suddenness, the What more could an audiophile want CD player. You could buy an inexpen- sheer velocity of the sound almost than apair of ESL-988s? You get world- sive SACD player, too, while waiting knocked her out of her seat. That's what class resolution. Superb, stable sound- for enough hi-rez software to material- agreat electrostatic speaker can do. And staging. Spectacular transient response. ize. Right now, Iwouldn't drop big while some conventional speakers get And sound as neutral as it gets. The only bucks on CD or SACD. close — very close, like the Triangle things you don't get are very deep bass, Celius Italked about last month —only the ability to play crazy loud, and sexy LFD Mistral LE integrated amplifier an electrostatic is an electrostatic. It's styling. Another benefit of the ESL-988 Another special edition — but the LF1) like saying an amp is "tube-like." Tube- is that you don't need heroic amplifica- Mistral integrated amp is an L-E: a like is never tube. tion of the 200-300Wpc variety. Even Limited Edition.

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II 1111'.111.111illh.e.111.. Sam's Space

on-sea, Essex. Steve Daniels, of The Sound Organisation, the US importer, describes the "factory" (ahem) as "the last garage operation in England." Ifound the LFD Mistral LE simple and delightful to use. As Idid the stan- P4414el dard edition's, Iloved the LE's har- \MP monic presentation, which had an almost SET-like quality of being "lit LED Mistral LE integrated amplifier from within." As for PRAT (pace, rhythm, acceleration, timing), this amp Richard Bews, the co-designer (along is probably not the champ. But so with Professor Malcolm Omar Hawks- Holy smoke! what? The music sounded so right — ford), told me that the LE actually came from one pair of MOSFET output first —they just didn't put it into pro- Who says this has devices per side. duction right away. Instead, they intro- The LFD Mistral LE was up to driv- duced the standard edition of the LFD to be a ing every speaker Itried it with, includ- Mistral, opting to lead with a lower ing the Quad '988 and the MartinLogan price. The regular edition remains avail- rich man's hobby? Ascent (though with the MartinLogans, able for $1095. The LE will set you back Icould have done with more power for $1495. the bass). The amp was agood match in Iwas blown away, as we say in the my review sample, so I can't com- my listening room for the Triangle US, by the regular edition —not so ment). There are five line-level inputs Celius and the Audio Physic Spark III. much by its resolution (very good), but (four if you opt for built-in phono) and Think of the neat little system you by its tonal quality: close to tube, which atape loop. could build for around $2500: $1500 for in my book translates as close to real. The LFD Mistral LE is also traditional the Mistral LE, $479 for aCambridge "The major difference between the British hi-fi at its best: small, civilized, Audio D500SE, $500 for a pair of standard version of the Mistral inte- understated, assembled and tested by Triangle Titus speakers with the new, grated and the LE version is the choice hand, and listened to before it's shipped improved tweeter. of components," Richard Bews told me out. Ilove, too, the sound of the place Holy smoke! Who says this has to be via snail mail. "The only relevant tech- where the amplifier is made: Clacton- arich man's hobby? nical change is the reduction of global feedback by 4dB —not alot, but it does have asmall beneficial effect. "The circuit board is the same, but the capacitors and resistors are different Digital Hindsight is 20/20 and the mains transformer is larger, to give ahigher power output. A heatsink is used to improve the thermal safety margins when driving more inefficient loudspeakers. "We chose slightly different resis- tors — making extensive use of expensive wirewound resistors. All electrolytics are Roederstein/ Waycom instead of Rubycon in the standard version. The volume-con- trol pot is the same used in the stan- dard version, but better matched between channels. All connectors on the LE are gold-plated." Like the standard edition, the Mistral LE embodies minimalist British build at The instruments became very airy and alive. High frequencies its best: few features, asimple circuit, and as few parts as possible. Fewer parts were the most detailed and clean. They had a "see-through" clarity, yet never gave any hint of brightness and were non-fatiguing. means Dr. Bews can carefully select and The bass control was top class. test each one, rejecting those that aren't up to snuff. Adnan Ardumon -Stereo Times, August 2000 As for features, forget it! (Thank EamecexAitE ci goodness — the last thing Iwant as I approach curmudgeonly old age is e e el "features.") No tone controls. No bal- Music in Harmony with Science ance control. No remote. No active 2752 South 1900 West •Ogden Utah 84401 •801-621-5530 •fax 801-627-6980 line stage (the power amp has enough www.kirriber.com gain). Phono is optional (absent from

Stereophile, November 2001 43 oo 111

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ll four standard record speeds more. It wears out. It's analog. Feh! do) that few new vinyl sales are reported have now been covered in this "Pohlmann wakes up. Whew! It's to the RIAA, nor are they computed by Acolumn: 16 (%)rpm, 33 (1/3)rpm, fantasy. Well, his knowledge of this sub- SoundScan, because most vinyl sales are 45rpm, and this is "Analog Corner" ject is anyway. It's all true, though. But made via the Internet — from places like #78(rpm). Seventy-eight columns and how could Ken know any of this? After RedTrumpetcom, Acousticsounds.com, going strong. Hard to believe, consider- all, when Idebated him on the CBS Elusive Disc (mailordercentral.com/ ing that vinyl was declared "dead" a radio network afew years ago, he made elusivedisc), Music Direct (amusic decade ago, and is still so declared by the the stunning admission that he 'skipped direct.com), and Audiophile International digital hardcore. over' the LP era. (audiophileusa.com). Those sales fly right Take my friend Ken Pohlmann, who It's still here, Ken, and my 30-year- under the RIANs radat Nor are trans- writes for Sound and Vision and teaches old 'worn-out' rock and jazz LPs still actions at mom'n'pop stores counted. So digital engineering at the University of of course —Pohlmann's stats prove about Miami. He wrote a sarcastic column as much as CD's statistics prove that CDs last spring suggesting that the record Few new vinyl sales are sound "perfect." industry counter decreasing CD sales What's really funny here is that, and mounting financial losses due to reported to the RIM, before sending the letter to SEW, Ipur- free digital downloads by reintroducing posely did not call the Blue Note vinyl —or "LP2," as he called it (as if nor are they computed by Records store to see if it was still in vinyl had ever gone away). Why would business. Ihadn't been to the small indic that be amoneymaker for the biz? Easy! SoundScan, because most outlet in six or seven years, but it used to Since LPs wear out so fast, music lovers vinyl sales are made be a great store, filled with new and would be forced to buy their favorite used vinyl and, of course, CDs. Maybe recordings again and again. Not true, of via the Internet. it had closed. Maybe it was still open, course — and not even funny. minus LPs. But Iwas so confident it So Iwrote aletter to the editor, and, would still be there, selling LPs like to Bob Ankosko's credit, he ran it in the crazy, that Itook achance. September issue. Ihave edited this ver- sound better than the fourth or fifth CD After the letter ran, Icalled Blue sion to save space because there's so remasterings of your old favorites." Note. They're still there, and still doing much vinyl stuff to get to: SSV cut one line from the letter: great selling vinyl — but it had opened a "Ken Pohlmann hits atrendy South "CDs last forever (never mind the three second, two-floor building closer to the Beach disco and the kids are dancing million unplayable CDs out there, ac- ocean, just for vinyl. to? Vinyl! Dejected, he goes home to cording to the Wall Street Journal)." Vinyl's aniche product, but it's clearly watch some tube. What's on? The Hnun... doing great, Ken. Thanks. Mercedes 'Noah's Ark' ad (where they Pohlmann offered aweak response: When Idebated him on the radio save a stack of vinyl)! Outraged, he My "demonizations" of him and of digi- (around the time the Soviet Union col- decides to surf the Net on eBay. What? tal audio are "always so witty," he com- lapsed), Ken tried to "get" me: Hundred-dollar bidding frenzies for plimented me, "but repetitive, as though POHLMANN: I bet you're also one of used, 'worn-out' vinyl? stuck in avinyl groove." Ha-ha! He then those tube guys, huh? The Soviets use "Sickened, Pohlmann grabs some of went on to "burst my bubble" by them in their MIGs, and look where it his beloved CDs and goes for a ride. informing me that vinyl sales have been got them. Finding himself on 163rd St. in North "dismal" for adecade, citing RIAA statis- FREMER: YeS, but their planes sound so Miami Beach, he spies Blue Note tics that show sales dropping awhopping much better than ours! Records. Ah! A store full of CDs! But 24.6% last year. Eighty-seven percent of wait? Why are all those kids crowding unit sales are CDs, he stated, going in for A New Vinyl Reissue Label that other room? Oh no! It's full of the kill, with EPs, LPs, and singles 4 Men With Beards? What's that? ZZ vinyl! New vinyl! Springsteen Live in amounting to apathetic 0.6%. "Figures Top looking in the mirror? No. It's a New York City on three LPs (cut from for sales of Edison cylinders were new Berkeley, California vinyl reissue the 24-bit/882kHz master!) from... unavailable," he concluded; "best of luck label, and so far, so good. Sony? Hip new alternative rock on with the zealotry thing, and above all, The jazz- and soul-oriented 4 Men Matador, Sub-Pop, Thrill Jockey, Drag have fun beating your dead horse." With Beards company is licensing titles City, and other trendsetting labels. Guess which ad SEW printed opposite from Atlantic Records (through Rhino), Beck? Eminem? Phish? Robyn Hitch- my letter? Right! Paradigm's vinyl- and so far has released Aretha Franklin's cock, Prince, Beastie Boys, Pavement, strewn "A Love Supreme" ad! Either INever Loved aMan (Ilw Way ILove You), Richard Thompson? Ramones? Dylan? someone at WV has akeen sense of Les McCann and Eddie Harris' Swiss Otis Redding? Don't these kids read my humor or it was afabulous coincidence. Movement (the jazz crossover album that column? They don't make vinyl any- Of course, Ken doesn't know (but we includes "Compared to What?"), Sonny

Stereophile, November 2001 45 Analog Corner

Sharrock's Blade Woman, and the Art New York. The Horn connection ture but with quieter surfaces, greater Ensemble of Chicago's Bap-Tizum, makes sense — he's in Berkeley, and so transparency, and wider dynamics, the 4 which was recorded live at the 1972 is the label. Men versions will be for you. Aretha's Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. 4 Men With Beards principal Pat career-building Atlantic debut — it Eight more titles are due out before the Thomas told me he was happy with includes "Respect" — sounded really end of the year, including Charles Urn's plating and pressing quality, and rich, open, and relaxing. Very analog-like. Mingus' The Clown, An Blakey's Jazz that the numbers were good. Iguess A comparison of the adventurous, Messengers with Thelonious Monk, The RTI was considerably more expensive, most enjoyable, and you-are-there- Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads, the given that the LPs have to go cross- sounding Bap-Tizum reissue with Art Ensemble of Chicago's Fanfare for the country from Uni instead ofjust up the Classic's Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival Warriors, and apair each of Eddie Harris coast from Camarillo, had RTI done 1972 (featuring Muddy Waters, and Les McCann albums. The mix of the work. In general, you get what you Howlin' Wolf, Dr. John, Bobby "Blue" popular soul, classic, avant-garde, and pay for, but with Sundazed Records' Bland, Otis Rush, Freddie King, Luther crossover jazz means there should be Bob Irwin riding herd over the Uni Allison, Sun Ra, and a very young something in the 4Men release sched- Bonnie Raid) and an original was in- ule for everyone. structive. Both sets were recorded dur- Before Ihad achance to call and find The mix of popular soul, ing the same weekend by the same out who's cutting, plating, and pressing, team. Some audiophiles complain that and from what sources, apackage ar- classic, avant-garde, and Classic's reissues are bright. Idon't hear rived containing three of the first four them that way. What I reconfirmed releases (the Sharrock was missing, un- crossover jazz means from this comparison was that Bernie fortunately). All were gatefolded, even Grundman's mastering chain for Classic when the original had not been. The there should be something has a character that some would call gatefolds contain extra photos and a in the 4 Men release "clarity" and "focus" and others "edge." new essay about the music, which is a Horn's chain sounds lusher, richer, defi- very cool idea. For instance, the Art schedule for everyone. nitely more "relaxed," and that will Ensemble essay is by political activist appeal to those who have a problem John Sinclair, who organized and with Grundman's sound. I think booked the original Ann Arbor Blues Grundman's chain is better suited to Festival. The Les McCann essay is by plant — it's almost in his back yard —4 rock (the Led Zep catalog, for instance) the album's original co-producer, Joel Men With Beards gets to ride on Sun- and some jazz than it is to classical. Dorn. Unfortunately, the layout is real- dazed's coattails. No doubt Classic's Mike Hobson ly poor —the text runs across the full Uni is doing good work for will not be happy with this assessment, 12" and therefore induces headaches — Sundazed; witness their quiet, fabulous- but that's not my problem. Compare but maybe the designer will come to his sounding catalog of Dylan mono LPs. the Bap-Tizum and Ann Arbor reissues or her senses. And the label is 4 Men These 4Men With Beards reissues are and you'll hear what Imean. Both are With Beards' own, not areproduction equally accomplished — though I've recommended for sound, and espec- of the original Atlantic. found RT1's pressings to be more con- ially for music, but the sonic differences But that's minor stuff. The really sistently finished and quiet overall. The are telling. Meanwhile, 4 Men With good news is that the four bearded men RTIs also end up costing more at retail. Beards Records is quite happy with are committed to good sound: they're Icompared the Aretha to an original their first issue: all four titles (1000 insisting on using original master tapes, blue-green Atlantic "1841 Broadway," copies each) have sold out. You can lacquers cut by veteran mastering engi- and to asecond-pressing red-green with probably still buy them at retail, but the neer George Horn at Fantasy, and plat- the same address. If you like your reissues warehouse is empty. ing and pressing by Uni in Gloversville, to mirror the originals' tonality and tex - When IPaint My Masterpiece Dylan's song kept running through my In Heavy Rotation head as I set up Music Hall's new MMF-7 turntable ($999). Since it 1) Bob Dylan, The Times They Are 6) Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti, comes already fitted with acartridge — A-Changin', Columbia/Sundazed Atlantic/Classic 180gm LPs (2) aGoldring Eroica H high-output mov- 180gm mono LP 7) Love, Forever Changes, Elek- ing-coil — setup took all of 10 minutes. 2) Mott the Hoople, All the Young tra/Sundaz,ed 180gm LP (test Music Hall turntables are built at the Dudes, Columbia/Absolute An- pressing) same Czech factory that turns out the alogue 180gm LP (test pressing) 8) Art Blakey and the Jazz Project line. Roy Hall visits the factory 3) Aredia Franklin, INever Loved a Messengers, Impulse!, Speakers and, like acar buyer, has the 'tables built Man (The Way I Love You), Corner 180gm LP to his wishes, based on available options. Atlantic/4 Men With Beards 9) Saint-Saëns, Symphony 3, For the top-of-the-line MMF-7 Hall 180gm LP Classic 180gm LP, JVC XRCD went for a split plinth, an external 4) Art Ensemble of Chicago, Bap- CD motor, aProject 9tonearrn, an acrylic TIZ14M, Atlantic/4 Men With 10) Elvis Costello, All This Useless platter driven by aperimeter belt, and a Beards 180gm LP Beauty, Rhino CDs (2) felt mat and screw-on record clamp. 5) Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy, The freestanding 12V AC motor and Atlantic/Classic 180gm LP dual aluminum pulley assembly sits in a plinth cutout diagonally situated from

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5330 Derry Ave., Suite R, Agoura Hills, CA 91301 (818) 597-9195, FAX (818) 597-1079 Email [email protected] www.thetadigital.com Analog Corner the tonearrn. The assembly rests on a rubber-footed puck that raises the motor to the correct height and pro- vides some isolation. The upper ele- ment of the split plinth, finished in high-gloss piano-black lacquer, features four hemispheric suspension/isolation elements of Sorbothane, and an integral spirit level for adjusting the three spiked feet attached to the lower plinth. Spike cups are provided to protect your mounting platform. The bearing cup is attached to the lower plinth. Pro-Ject's 9tonearnr is 9/12 "long and features a one-piece aluminum arm/ headshell supported by hardened stain- less-steel bearings, adecoupled counter- weight, adjustable VTA, and high-purity copper internal wiring terminated with external phono jacks attached to the lower plinth. A high-quality set of inter- connects is included, but buyers can add (t) Music Hall MMF-7, (m) Free standing motor their own. assembly in plinth cutout, (b) Pro-Ject 9tonearm Setup is simple: Remove the three shipping screws, put the platter over the subplatter, level the 'table, add the trol, and focus and image solidity were counterweight and antiskating string only so-so. and weight, and apply the tracking But Music Hall's entry-level 'table force using the calibrated counter- was and is "okay" — a great place to weight. Drop the motor into the cutout start. For many vinyl fans, the MMF-7 (after sliding the motor support in will be agreat place to end up. It was place), place the square-section rubber that good. It ran precisely at speed belt around the platter and pulley, and (though that's dependent on belt ten- plug it in. You're done. sion, which depends on motor place- The Goldring Eroica H is acredible ment within the cutout — be sure to high-end MC cartridge with a list get a strobe disc), and presented the price of $400 (it's often discounted to music against a serenely quiet back- around $325 when sold separately). It ground. The overall sonic presentation features a low-mass Gyger II stylus was on the slightly warm side, with an and tracks at 1.75gm. The 2.5mV out- impressively solid, well-timed bass put puts the Eroica H in the gray zone foundation. Igot greater midbass con- between the usual 5mV-output MM trol and, therefore, improved tonal cartridge and a 0.5mV low-output neutrality with the bass-firming Ring- MC, but it should work fine with mat (highly recommended in place of most MM phono sections. Depending any felt mat). on your phono section, you might While resonances often show them- want to try the MM and MC inputs. selves as bloat and rhythmic lethargy, The Hovland HP-100's MC-only speed instability often results in grain input worked fine, as did the Pass and brightness. The MMF-7 exhibited XOno's MM input. none of those problems. Combined Sonic problems at this level of analog with what is obviously asmooth-talking playback performance are usually sub- cartridge, the MM F-7 glided as grace- tractive, and that was the case with the fully through the music as askater on Rega; that's the kind of decision buyers MMF-7, which was easily the best of fresh ice. If the 'table-cartridge combo must make for themselves. Isuspect the the Music Hall turntables I've audi- erred at all, it was on the side of warm Rega-Eroica combo would sound some- tioned —though much of the differ- and rich, which is far preferable to what "snappier," but that's aguess. ence between the MMF-5 and '7 is bright and hard. That could have been a All Iknow is, Ispent amonth listen- probably due to the better cartridge. function of the solid acrylic platter — ing to the MMF-7 and it was afine all- There was a"cute" quality to the origi- not my favorite platter material. around performer, aided and abetted by nal MMF 'table (now the MMF-2.1, The competition at this price point Roy Hall's generous choice of cartridges. $299), which offered far better perfor- (with the same cartridge) would be the If you're looking for something you can mance than it had any right to for that Rega P3, which costs $750. Add the take out of the box and play within 15 piddling amount of money, complete Eroica H for about $330 and you're in minutes — no special setup skills with cartridge. But it had asomewhat the ballpark. Ihaven't done a direct required —the Music Hall MMF-7 is a hollow sound, lacked bottom-end con- comparison of the Music Hall and the good choice. It's the kind of reasonably

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-RANSPARENT AUDIO, INC. •47 INDUSTRIAL PARK ROAD • SACO ME 04072 •USA •(207) 284-1100 •FAX (207) 284-1101 Analog Corner priced, well-balanced product on afishing trip in Alaska. To that will deceive you into think- do Herb justice requires far ing you're getting it all —until more space than I've got left in you compare it to something far this column. Ifirst met him in more expensive. Roy Hall has 1979, when Iwas acivilian in painted his masterpiece. the audiophile wars. We often fought —especially over what Kontrapunkt A: A 8600 titles MoFi should reissue. Winner from Ortofon Herb told me that if Iwanted I've never heard Ortofon's far to pick titles, Ishould start my more expensive Jubilee car- own label. It was Herb's chutz- tridge, said to be the mechanical pah (and his connections to the and sonic inspiration for the two commercial record biz) that got new Kontrapunkt models (the the first label dedicated to reis- other is the $950 Kontrapunkt suing audiophile vinyl off the B), but Ican tell you that Ifin- Ortofon Kontrapunkt A ground, and it was his unwill- ished listening mistakenly think- ingness to listen to the opinions ing the Kontrapunkt A cost $950. Even tuneful as hell. For that reason, I'd be of others that helped sink it. But MoFi then, Iwas prepared to write that it was careful about using this cartridge on a was all Herb, and he wouldn't have it "a superbly musical performer" and "a cheap arm or 'table. The Kontrapunkt A any other way. I'll miss him. genuine bargain." Have a look at the swung, and boy, was it well-focused and I've also just learned that Joe fit'n'finish of its injection-molded stain- coherent, with energy to spare and DePhillips' Discovery Audio is the new less-steel body and you'll understand without sounding bloated. Iwas quick- American distributor of Immutable how Ioverpriced it. ly reminded of abudget version of the Audio, which makes the highly regard- The Kontrapunkt A (distributed in super-expensive Audio Note Kondo ed Transfiguration line of cartridges and the US by The Needle Doctor) features will soon announce some new models. a thick aluminum cantilever (that Next month, I'll report on some should have been the price giveaway) The hard, rubbery ridge European hi-fi shows; the month after fitted with anude Fine Line stylus (the that, a major-league survey of phono B's is ruby with Gyger 80 stylus), with allows you to adjust preamplifiers. CI coils wound from 99.9999% pure silver azimuth by varying the wire. Output is agenerous 0A5mV, rec- ommended tracking force is 2.5gm, and tightness of the screws. the recommended load impedance is 50-500 ohms. Iran the Kontrapunkt into the Hovland HP-100's built-in 7x IO-J/silver I reviewed in November MC transformer where the load ends 2000, and of the Crown Jewel SE. The Tri up being around 450 ohms, and into the mids and trebles were somewhat under- Luminous 1.0 Pass XOno MC input, where Iwas able stated but not at all soft or ill-defined. Digital Processor to experiment with loading via the Punchy, in control, and with arich but with dual internal DIP switches. well-balanced frequency spectrum, the output stages An interesting feature of the Kontrapunkt A produced ultra-solid (tube and solid state) Kontrapunkt A is the hard, rubbery images and fast transients. It yielded to ridge running between the mounting more expensive cartridges in the areas of 88 Signature holes. This ridge allows you to adjust depth and resolution of low-level details, KT88 l'aralell azimuth by varying the tightness of the but when Ipaired it with speakers like Push Pull screws. This is similar to a scheme the Audio Physic Avanti Ills, which are Pre Main someone suggested to me: you place a detail freaks and can be somewhat reti- Amplifier piece of pencil lead between the head- cent in the midbass, Iended up with an shell and cartridge and, depending on absolutely magical combination. The World distributors month Ispent with the Kontrapunkt A USA:Yama's Enterprises, Inc. where you locate it, you can shift 206 East Star of India Ln. azimuth. Ithink rigid mounting is more in a system comprising the Immedia Carson, CA 90746-1418 important, but you might disagree. In RPM tonearm, Simon Yorke turntable, Tel: 310-327-3913 Fax: 310-324-7422 www.yamasinc.com any case, the Immedia RPM's unipivot and Vibraplane isolation base (when I e-mail: [email protected] tonearm allows for azimuth adjustment; wasn't listening to the MMF-7) didn't Russia: Hi-End Centre Iignored the ridge and tightened both have me yearning for one of the ultra- 129-128 Mockba yn.Manaxntobar A.17 Moskow sides equally until the ridge was expensive cartridges Ihad waiting at the Tel: 095-187-9590 Fax: 095-187-4243 squeezed out of existence. starting gate. A great cartridge at the wvAv.hec.ru [email protected] The Kontrapunkt A exhibited none price —or twice the price. Triode Corporation Ltd. of the bright, thin, hashy sound you 1-23-1 Kitakoshigaya sometimes get from inexpensive MC Odds & Ends Koshigayashi Saitama Japan cartridges, or the dull, lackluster perfor- As Iwas doing my final editing on this www.triode.co.jp mance you can sometimes get. Instead, column, Ilearned that former Mobile e-mail: [email protected] what Ifirst noted was rich, extended Fidelity Sound Lab head Herb Belkin International CES 2002, Alexis Park bass that was very well controlled and had passed away in late August while Rooms 1859 & 1861

Stereophile, November 2001 51 A

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02001 JVC Company of America. All Rights Reserved. www.jvc.com The Fifth Element John Marks

"The long tradition of professional con- whose daydream of monkeys holding that the Compact Disc is an analog noisseurship has resulted in the develop- each other's tails provided the crucial medium played back using analog ment of abewildering universe of specialist insight into the structure of the benzene means,2 my response to the Wet Blanket terminology. In certain cases, it must be ring; and Philo Farnsworth, who con- Clan is to paraphrase Gershwin: "It Ain't admitted, there was self-indulgent prolif- ceived raster television scanning after Necessarily (Digitally) So." This is eration of words relating to some minute watching awheat field being harvested. because we do not listen to digital data, feature. In fact, no clear distinction can be Ido not propose that we abandon we listen to digital data turned into an made between one tern's and its closest testing audio equipment in favor of day- analog voltage and then amplified to neighbor in meaning." dreaming about monkeys. Test results drive loudspeakers. —from die hinoduction to Kanzan Sato's indicating, for instance, that a certain If some portion of the dissatisfaction Theinpance Suer4 A Ompthensive Guide, single-ended tube amplifier amplifies many feel over conventional CD sound can translated and with an innoduction by less as the input voltage increases can fairly be laid at the doorstep of the so-called Joe Earle (New York: Kodansha America, brick-wall filter used in digital-to-analog Inc, 1983). Joyless audio conversion, and if upconverting does move the brick-wall artifacts up one or two oc- connoisseurship has at taves, then indeed there is an improvement, think Mr. Earle's point is even more its root avain desire to and Iwould not call it anifictual. Iwould valid for audio than it is for Japanese call it the removal of artifacts. III swords. But Ihave come to believe banish mystery from the These ruminations were prompted that in the audio world, the self-indul- by my recent investigations into the gent proliferation of words is only a perception of music. possible musical benefits of transfer- symptom of something worse: what I ring irreplaceable older digital master call "joyless connoisseurship." provide a valuable insight into why tapes onto SACDs.3 The reductionist, Oscar Wilde defined acynic as some- some people might find its sound be- rationalist snap judgment is that the one who knows the price of everything witching: such an amplifier functions as original digital format's limitations are but the value of nothing. Idefine joyless adynamic compressor. bred in the bone, case closed, keep audio connoisseurship as arelentlessly But such aconclusion does not mean reductionist drive to isolate, identify, that someone who likes that amplifier is and label acoustical phenomena, which adupe or an unworthy person. This is 2As was conclusively shown in Stenvphile seven years because we do not listen to individual ago (Vol.17 No.12, pp.84-95), the pits of varying in the process relegates the enjoyment lengths in aCD's surface arc analogs of digital data. The of music to an afterthought. Joyless components, we listen to systems in analog voltage from the player's photocell output is audio connoisseurship has at its root a rooms. If that amp avoids exciting reso- checked against aclock signal, and the player's logic cir- cuit treats the result as adigital datastream. But the CI) vain (in both senses of that word) desire nances in acertain untreated room, that itself is an analog medium read by analog means. That to claim to understand everything, in an system as awhole may sound less un- is why enhancements into which Ihave made extensive professional investigations, such as black underprinting effort to banish mystery from the per- musical than it would with adynam- under CD labels and title cryogenic processing, do re- ception of music. It is, in short, the tri- ically linear amplifier that runs smack sult in audible differences. These modifications influ- into the room's acoustical problems. ence the analog process of CD data retrieval as surely as umph of rationalism. vacuum hold-down systems and bedrock-coupled Ihave awarning for you: The desire Joyless connoisseurship seeks to cut off stands influence LP playback. to have arational explanation for every- discussion and bludgeon dissent by invok- Most of the top mastering engineers have had exper- iences in which artist-clients far removed from the land thing is aprofoundly emotional longing. ing "scientific" propositions that may be of ones and zeros have complained about test Cl)s I'll say that again. The kind of person true as far as they go, but often fail to do made using one transfer medium (CDR vs 1630 vs Exa- byte) but were happy with another: audible differences, who has adeep inner need to under- justice to the totality of the circum- despite bit-to-bit verification. As is said here in Rhode stand and explain everything.. has a stances.' My current favorite "scientific" Island, go figure. deep inner need. A nearly irrational party-pooper is the wet blanket some 3 Readers with long memories may be tempted to deep inner need, in some cases. So be on people want to throw over upconvertin e-mail me about my March 2000 "As We Sec It." If so, please re-read that article. My concern was primarily the your guard. Rationalists are often deeply "If the digital data weren't there ori • economics of SACD as amass-market medium in an emotionally needy people, which is why ly, they were lost forever, so any 'improve- oversaturated and eroding marketplace for recorded music of all kinds, not just classical. And if Iwas so rationalism is often carried to irrationally ment' you're hearing is artifactual." wrung, why does Tower Records need to hold press fanatical extremes. Leaving aside the indisputable facts conferences announcing that they have no present intention to file bankruptcy? Ihad been offended by 'Without question, science proceeds ivory-tower scribes who cavalierly said that independent (or, rather, plods along) by use of the sci- labels should just eat SAC1Ys higher costs in the interest entific method. But radical departures in 1The opposite of joyless connoisseurship is brainless of not stocking parallel inventories. Ihave always said enthusiasm, which usually manifests itself in Internet that DS1) sounds good. In view of DVD-Audio's slow- science as often as not come from the postings lauding the enthusiast's latest purchase as the motion death wish (what was so bad about two- workings of the subconscious, or from hest whatever he or she has ever heard. Such enthusi- channel, 24-bit/961:1-1z linear PCM on DVD-Video, asts rarely let you know how many whatevers they anyway?), SAO) is the only generally available high- observing nature. Examples are the have heard, ninth less the experiences that have resolution digital music vehicle. SACD also seems German chemist Kekulé von Stradonitz, shaped their discernment. poised to reach critical (but still minority-status) mass.

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54 Stereophile, November 2001 The Fifth Element

your wallet in your pants.4 no demonstrable content over 10IcHz?) diminishing returns set in above 22 bits. A more nuanced approach would be Equally problematic are the limita- (A resolution of 24 bits is much more to revisit the pulse-code-modulated dig- tions of the input (also called anti-alias- frequently advertised than achieved.) ital recording process in aphenomeno- ing) filter: It must pass no signal at Let us not forget dither: In order to logical spirit5 and try to discern the 24kHz, yet as much as possible at optimize the performance of the least nature of each step as it influences what significant bit in amultibit system, low- is ultimately perceived. If frequency extension is level noise must be added. The last sev- We start by assuming ahigh-quality the essential element, eral years have seen the development of microphone feed, which means that with very sophisticated proprietary dithering full-frequency program material, there why have I been moved systems, and some professional proces- will be content over 20Id-lz. PCM re- sors provide for selection from amenu cording requires that any input signal to my core by acoustical of various dither shapes. (Adding noise components over half the system's sam- to increase resolution is about as coun- pling rate be cut off. (Unless discarded, 78rpm recordings with no terintuitive as things get.) these frequencies will be read as the dif- Finally, in amirror image of the input ference between themselves and the sam- demonstrable content stage, at the final digital-to-analog con- ple rate, creating "alias" signals in the over 10kHz? version, another brick-wall filter is audioband.) So, the sampling rate itself is needed to keep the sampling frequency the first McGuffin. Obviously, ahigher 20kHz. The nearly vertical slope of such from intermodulating with the program sampling rate is better, as it is the limiting afilter (120dB cutoff over roughly the material. It is felt by many qualified factor in the system's frequency response. span of two adjacent musical tones) engineers that ringing from the D/A (But if frequency extension is the essential results in its often being referred to as a brick-wall filter is the prime culprit re- element, why have Ibeen moved to my "brick-wall" filter. Designing such afilter sponsible for certain less felicitous core by acoustical 78rpm recordings with is atall order, and one that cannot be aspects of conventional CD sound. accomplished without sacrifices. As this recapitulation demonstrates, Next comes digital word length: In a there are at least five aspects of conven- 4 Obviously, new all-DSD recordings, and SAC) re- masterings from high-quality analog master tapes, are multibit system such as 16-bit/44.1kHz, tional digital recording, as it has histori- totally different cases. word length determines how many fine cally been practiced, that may impose 5Phenomenology is the brave attempt to fashion aphil- gradations of dynamics can be preserved. limitations on the system's ability to osophical system totally without preconceptions, while record and play back music. Some of focusing on the interactions between people and per- The consensus seems to be that aword ceptions. Phenomoion is the Greek word fin> appearann. length of 16 bits is not enough, but that these limitations were functions of the

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WE KNOW ABOUT HOME THEATER state of technology when the system was substantial ultrasonic switching noise. launched, but other limitations stemmed England's dCS has developed apair of from the marketing decision that the sampling-rate and format converters — CD had to fit into the standard DIN the 972 for professional use and the dashboard cutout yet still hold the aver- Purcell for audiophiles; see Jonathan .Aam62 age performance of Beethoven's Ninth Scull's 972 reviews in the January and Symphony on one side.6 So what about February 2001 issues — that can convert all those musicians who went gaga over adata file from PCM to DSD entirely early digital? Were they dupes, or just within the digital domain. Because the A -rae unworthy persons? final brick-wall filter comes into play Ithink neither. In many cases, it boiled only on PCM's conversion to analog, down to what they were listening for. converting an older PCM recording to Pianists in particular were delighted to DSD by purely mathematical means hear piano tone reproduced without spu- rather than by playing back to analog rious vibrato added by analog tape flutter, and then using the DSD process from print-through, or LP speed variations. scratch will have (at least in theory) sonic String players were in many cases more benefits, despite the limitations of the cautious in their endorsements —they original recording process. Python As atest subject for my comparisons Boa Of the five potentially of aDSD transfer of an LPCM original, Iof course chose Glenn Gould's indis- problematic aspects of pensable digital re-recording of Bach's AG Goldberg Variations (recorded. 1981, re- CD PCM, it would appear leased 1982). This touchstone recording has been reissued as asingle-layer non- that we are stuck with the compatible SACD. initial frequency cutoff of To eliminate to the greatest extent possible variability caused by playback the anti-aliasing filter. equipment, it was necessary to use aplay- er with incontestably top-drawer CD eb 28. 1995 U.S. Patent 5.3 • • • t, Speaker Cable May 1. 2001 U.S. Patent 6.225,563 Micro Purl. TO2 usually like more vibrato. Over the last playback as well as SACD capability. "WOW!!! The Micro Purl AG and Triode Quartz 2are 20 years, PCM recording has matured in- John Atkinson generously gave up the just plain AWESOME in 110 foot tall, flaming lettenifi to avery sophisticated discipline, while Accuphase SACD transport and convert- I never dreamed interconnects could make as much ,nprovement as (or more so than)a component many of the shortcomings of the CD er he had been enjoying in his system, upgrade. Wow guys...you done good Fit" itself have been worked around. and arranged for them to be sent to me. Charles Stuckey July 10, 1001

Of the five potentially problematic Ijudged my standby Plinius CD- "I just installed your Micro Purl Interconnects aspects of CD PCM, it would appear that LAD line stage and SA-50 amplifier as between my CO player and headphone amp, and my system never sounded so good. No coloration or we are stuck with the initial frequency equal to almost any high-resolution task, distortion, only an unforced, natural presentation cutoff of the anti-aliasing filter. Up- especially after David Blair of Custom within a three dimensional soundstage. All this from interconnects which cost far less than some of converting the sampling frequency can- Power Cord Company came through the well known brands I've tried.' not add the harmonic information the with the loan of Top Gun power cords Paul gubny July 6, 2001 anti-aliasing filter originally kept out, but for nearly everything, and aTop Gun upconversion can nonetheless reduce the HCFi for the power amplifier. ana7.1- newer'mem,..4; sonic degradation attributed to the com- On setting up the two-box Accuphase plementary brick-wall filter at the other SACD system, though, Idid the obliga- (71A; end of the process. We can tack on more tory forehead slap over the Accuphase zeros to make the digital words longer, converter's variable line output. Sure A true balanced Symmetrical Power System but that can't add low-level information. enough, running the signal directly into by Dick Sequerra lore The original dither can't be removed, but the SA-50 power amp was preferable to *bee the data can be redithered. So we're stuck using Plinius' line stage. Creative Cable 12,42, Alpha-Core BP30 with four out of five, but sampling-rate Concepts' RIv1C 12.0 SB interconnects 1000 Watts upconversion can move brick-wall D/A ($1350/m), which I previously had 8 Outputs filter artifacts up an octave or two. shelved as abit too revealing on lesser Toroidal, balanced However, the advent of DSD's very sources, worked like a charm on the Isolation transformer fast 1-bit system opens up at least the Accuphase converter. My single-ended Electrostatic Shield possibility that the final brick-wall filter digital interconnect (for comparison stage can be avoided entirely, even for purposes) was DH Labs' excellent Silver old PCM master tapes. The DSD sam- Sonic, while the CAT 5cable that comes pling rate is so fast (Mx that of CD) with the Accuphase duo handled DSD that an analog filter can accomplish data transfer, and usually the "Red Alpha-Core, Inc. analog conversion, albeit at the cost of Book" data as well. 915 Pembroke Street • Bridgeport, CT 06608 Next time: Choosing ahigh-perfor- 800 836-5920 •(203)335-6805 •F., (203)384-8120 mance monitoring speaker. www.alphacore.com 6Good thing the piece that had to fit on one Cl) was not Questions? Comments? Praise and Makers of GOERTZ speaker cables •Made in U.S. A. Mahler's "Symphony of aThousand"; we would have Patented Worldwide been stuck With I2-bit resolution or IIkHz bandwidth. honors? [email protected].

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58 Stereophile, November 2001 REFLECTIONS, ECHOES, & MUSIC Hervé Delétraz examines whether impedance matching in audio is myth or reality

use audiophile cables in my system, and 1have no stand. be glad to personally answer their questions at doubt about the improvement in quality they bring de letra [email protected]. Ito my hi-fi gear. As an electronic designer, however, Another thing: Because Ilive in Europe, I'm used to work- Iwas always intrigued by the fact that the differences in ing with the metric system, aka MKSA (meter, kilo, second, sound between good and bad cables could not be measured, ampere) notation. Therefore, the symbol used here for V(olt) or even "scientifically" explained. is U, A(mpere) is I, W(att) is P. "U" is defined as apotential Low-capacitance and/or inductance cables are often difference in volts, "I" as the current Intensity in amperes, claimed in advertisements to sound better. Special dielectrics and "P" as the electrical power in watts. and wire shapes, twisted pairs or thin, braided wires, Litz configurations, and so on —all are described as being better. Transmission Lines But are they? Iwill try to provide some of the answers to Matclung impedances is de rigeur in radio-frequency elec- that question in this article. tronics, but is very rare in components intended to handle Because I've tried to keep my explanations as simple audio frequencies. Manufacturers build their components as possible, Iapologize in advance to the skilled elec- with low output impedances for sources like CD players, tronic guys who will find this article abit simplistic. But tuners, preamplifiers and so on, high input impedances for as Stereophile reaches the worldwide audiophile commu- preamplifiers and power amplifiers. nity, Iguess that others will find it abit hard to under- Definitions: Though most of us know about impedance, few really know what it means. Impedance (Z) is to an 1A music lover for 25 years and an electronics engineer based in Switzerland, alternating current (AC) signal what resistance R) is to a Herve Ikletraz's first piece of writing for Sterophile was asix-part on-line article direct current (DC) signal. So, if R = Upc/Ipc ,Z = describing the evolution of an intriguing I)IY power amplifier design. It can be found at www.stereophile.com/shownews.cgi?825, '832, '839, '844, '851, and '857. Um ilAc .Both R and Z are measured in ohms (n). The

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60 Stereophile, November 2001 main difference between Rand Zis that Zcan vary with fre- metrical line, the top half of the diagram would be mirrored quency — something you can see, for example, in aloud- for the cold signal or return half, but the principle remains speaker's impedance curve. the same. An electrical transmission line can be defined as being a device allowing an electrical signal to travel from point A to point B. In the hi-fi world, it simply means that atransmis- sion line is, in fact, two or more wires that will let the audio signal pass from asource to areceptor.

Electrical transmission: Let's take the simplest electrical line — say, two copper wires, aand b, characterized by: a

L= Total line length in meters, where L = La + Lb (m) Fig.2 Equivalent circuit of areal transmission line. S = Section (area) of the copper wires used (m2)

R = Total line resistance, where Requals Ra + Rb (i2) You can easily see that areal transmission line is much more complex than the two-wires model. In order to better under- stand that the signal is propagating through the line as awave, we also need to take into account the parasitic aspects of the Source 2dy 3wires line Receptor line: the specific capacitance and the specific inductance. (CD. tuner) (prearnp) This relative complexity partially explains why most cable 4 manufacturers don't reveal too much about their products.

Fig.1 Typical audio-frequency electrical circuit, with Zi/Zo 210. In fact, any cable can be represented by fig2: First, let us consider that the cable is purely resistive. The For now, the parasitic capacitance and inductance are ig- parasitic capacitance and inductance can therefore be nored. With areal circuit (fig.1), in order to minimize the ignored, and it becomes easy to calculate the signal level at perturbation effects of the line, it is usual to arrange that the the input of the receptor: impedances of the source and the receptor are as shown. Almost all hi-fi systems use this arrangement: low output zi impedance, high input impedance. The minimum ratio for = U0 [V] proper compatibility is 10 or higher, as stated above. Input R0 + Zo + Z and output impedances in tube machines are generally of higher value than those in transistor designs, meaning that a VVith: U, = Output source voltage without load solid-state CD player output stage will easily drive atubed U; = Input receptor voltage when the line is preamp, but atubed CD player's output could have some connected problem driving aprofessional, low-input-impedance solid- = Total series resistance of the cable state amplifier. Nothing new there. (negligible for L5 20m.) This impedance ratio of 10 is used worldwide for its design simplicity: no brainstorming problem when hooking our A quick computation shows that if Zi/Zo = 10, the atten- CD from Digital-Heaven to our Straight-Wire-Gain ampli- uation factor is about 0.83dB, provided that the cable resis- fier. Unfortunately, this simple impedance ratio doesn't take tance itself is far lower than those of the source and receptor into account the properties of the interconnect cable. involved. In this case, if we consider the two-wires model, the Perturbations due to the Transmission Line: When attenuation is constant throughout the entire audio freq- hooking two hi-fi devices together, we generally don't know uency range and does not affect the frequency response. much about the characteristics of the cable we use. We may have been told that the cable is the best-sounding on Earth, that its insulation is made from very good dielectric materi- A real transmission line al, that the wires are made from pure copper or silver, and that we paid alot of bucks per foot for it. We are hardly ever is much more complex told what the capacitance and inductance are per meter. After all, if the sound is good, who cares? than the two-wires model. At the other end are the professional audio people, who tend to believe that copper is copper and therefore buy the cheapest cables. "Silver cables? What ajoke!" Now take alook at the real, physical parameters of the Whatever acable is made of, whether cheap copper or transmission line —simply put, its intrinsic impedance. pure platinum, its parallel wires behave as atransmission line Important note: Contrary to common bel, the frequency re- in which the signal travels step by step. In the line, the sig- sponse does not depend on the parasitic capacitance and/or para- nal will then propagate from the input to the output. That sitic inductance! kind of signal is called apropagation wave. k's well known in the audiophile community that high Fig2 shows the equivalent circuit of areal transmission capacitance and/or high inductance of the cable by itself can line (as opposed to the theoretical one shown earlier). In severely affect the signal response. Wrong! In fact, one must order to simplify the diagram, only one wire is drawn. (The think of acable exactly as one thinks of the transmission line return wire is represented by the ground path.) In asym- described in fig2, where each portion of length is made of a

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Stereophile, November 2001 partial series inductance Lxs, apartial series resistance Rxs, a very small. It is arguable whether or not the ear can detect partial parallel capacitance Crp, and, finally, apartial parallel such small anomalies? resistance Rxp, where the xvaries from 1to N for N parts composing the entire line. Intrinsic Cable Impedance In order to avoid mathematical complication not needed Calculation According to Manufacturer Specifications: here, one can imagine that each portion of the line stores the A cable's intrinsic impedance mostly depends on the cable's energy before releasing it in the next portion. It's like a physical dimensions. This impedance is defined by the linear human chain extinguishing a fire by passing buckets of capacitance and the linear inductance, given in Farads per water from hand to hand —if everyone is careful, no drop of meter (F/m) and Henrys per meter (H/m), respectively. water is spilled. In fig2, this ideal situation can be obtained Once again, I'll skip the mathematical demonstration and by omitting resistors Rxs and Rxp. go directly to Formula 3, which gives a cable's intrinsic Practically, however, losses due to imperfect materials lead impedance: to additional attenuation. But the intrinsic bandwidth of any cable is as high as several megahertz (MHz), athousand times the best golden-eared audiophile's upper hearing limit. So why explain all of the above if all cables can handle such high frequencies, and why care about the matching impedance, provided that Zi/Zo is greater than 10? The in- trinsic bandwidth is the key thing here. As the cable be-

Where: Z, = Intrinsic impedance of cable Matching impedance is L1 = Linear inductance of cable the only way to avoid C1 = Linear capacitance of cable echoes and data loss. Unfortunately, It's not easy to get hold of acable's linear parasitic values. Very few audio manufacturers give out that kind of information, simply because they are much less im- haves like atransmission line, it has practically unlimited pressive than such words as "pure," "fast," "transparent," and bandwidth only when correctly matched in impedance. so on. Before going further, ashort detour into another well- High-frequency cables, like those used for TV or FM known world could help. antenna feeds, clearly display their intrinsic impedance. Manufacturers even give the linear capacitance, sometimes A Brief Digital Detour indirectly as acable's propagation time in nanoseconds Digital Links: The confirmed audiophile knows that per meter (ns/m). only true 75 ohm S/PDIF cables can offer good data trans- The linear figures act directly on the propagation time. mission between aCD transport and its associated D/A The more capacitive and/or inductive acable is, the greater converter. This 75 ohm figure is called the cable's intrin- the propagation time is. As this propagation time can be seen sic impedance. to be apure delay, you can now better grasp the fact that In the same manner, the networks used to link computers the cable's bandwidth does not depend on them. also need the use of specific cables with determined intrinsic For most cables, the propagation time is around 5ns/m, impedance. In such anetwork, the source, the line, and the corresponding to apropagation speed of 2 x 108m/s, or receptor work under the very same impedance. When care two-thirds the speed of light. is not taken that those impedances are identical, parasitic 'Ile propagation speed is given by Formula 4: echoes will smear the signal, introducing data errors. Matching impedance is the only way to avoid echoes and data loss. Later, we will see how and why.

The Sound of Digital Cables: Anyone, audiophile or not, V = who uses different S/PDIF cables can hear differences among them. How is this possible? After all, ones and zeros are bits. The main reason digital cables sound different is because Where: V = Speed of the propagation wave they aren't always perfectly matched. Cables rated at 7512 L1 = Linear inductance of cable ±212 are tricky to manufacture, and can introduce jitter due C1 = Linear capacitance of cable to the echoes resulting from the mismatched impedances smearing the datastream. In the extreme case, these echoes Calculation According to Physical Dimensions: can lead to misinterpretation —a "1" can be taken for a"0," Because the electrical data are often missing, one can use a and vice versa. different way to figure acable's intrinsic impedance —by measuring its physical dimensions. Digital Matching Impedance: Why match digital lines This method requires some care if one wants to but not analog lines? obtain accurate results, but is very useful when one A good question. In the digital domain, the frequencies needs to know acable's impedance. The advantage is involved are in ICMI ILiaLige, so even avery small echo that the intrinsic impedance does 'Jot &pond eh« «r leads to data smearing. In the analog domain, the frequency cable's length; consequently, only afew measurements range is 500-1000 times lower, so the problem of echoes is are needed.

Stereophile, November 2001 63

Stki '

A) Coaxial Cable: With: Zc = Intrinsic impedance of cable K21 po = Inductance constant = 1.256 x10 6 (A xs)/(V xm) pr = Relative permittivity, here pr = 1 Eo = Influence constant = 8.859 x10 12 (V xs)/(A xm) Er = Relative dielectric factor, here (Er = 2(PVC, plastic, Teflon) a= Conductor radius [ml Dielectric (tritulattem) D = Distance between conductors [ml

Once again, you can see that the impedance depends on the physical distance between the conductors.

Fig.3 Coaxial cable construction. Intrinsic impedance of typical cables:

Coaxial cable RJ58 50 Coaxial cable RJ59 75 1 ab [Q] (S/PDIF datalink) Zc 211 DNM speaker cable 288 Typical speaker cable (Monster) 117 OCOS (coaxial) speaker cable 60 Typical Klotz microphone cable 150 With: Zc = Intrinsic impedance of cable IQI p, = Inductance constant = 1.256 x10 6 Important note: The theoretical lower limit for abifilar cable is (A xs)/(V xm) about 60 ohms, as that is the value reached when the two wires touch. Pr = Relative permittivity, here pr = 1 A coaxial cable, however, can have an impedance as low as 0ohm, E, = Influence constant = 8.859 x10 12 provided its dielectric insulation is made of infinitely thin material. (V xs)/(A xm) This limit, too, is theoretical. Er = Relative dielectric factor, here Er = 2(PVC, plastic, Teflon) True Impedance Matching of an Audio Line a= Central conductor radius (rn) Concept: We are here reaching the heart of this article. As b= Internal shield radius (rn) described earlier, the term "true impedance matching" is in fact referring to the power impedance matching. Then we It is possible to observe that the impedance is directly saw that the ratio between source and receptor is generally dependent on the b/a ratio. A small-diameter cable could Zi/Zo ≥10. When applying the power-matching concept, have the same impedance as athicker one, provided the cen- the following principle is used: tral conductor is proportionally thinner, thus keeping the same b/a ratio. zo =Zcable If only small power is involved, avery thin cable could be used with no degradation of performance. Note: In using such aratio, the signal attenuation will be 6dB, and B) Bifilar Cable: not the 0.83dB in figt This small caveat is the pia' to pay with this kind of linking. The solution is to turn up the volume slightly. Dielectric

Propagation Wave Reflections: When the impedance is mismatched, apart of the outgoing signal from the source is reflected by the receptor. In order to better show this phenomenon, we conducted all the following measurements using a75 ohm coaxial cable 100m long. This cable had apropagation time of 5ns/m, or about 500m for the signal to travel from the source to the receptor. The reflection ratio of the generated propagation wave is given as follows: Conductor Conductor

Fig.4 Bifilar (flat-twin) cable construction. 5 = ZL- Zc ZL+Zc

1 K2] zc Where: 45 = Reflection coefficient (ratio) = Receptor load impedance [Q] Z, = Intrinsic impedance of cable [Q]

Stereophile, November 2001 65 The source impedance is not taken into account because asource mismatch will act on the signal attenuation, not on Echo the reflections themselves. Formula 8shows that even aslight deviation already gen- erates reflections, or echoes; it will be of primary importance Source signal to keep the nominal values as tight as possible, in order to ...... maintain the deviation within 1-3%. Furthermore, asym- metrical deviation leads to asymmetrical reflection ratios. Thus, +3% in the receptor impedance corresponds to +1.4% 1111 1114 1144 1111 1 i-1-4—•"' reflection, while -3% leads to —1.5% of reflection. The impedance of high-end digital S/PDIF cables is gen- erally 75n ±2 ohms, representing a tolerance of 2.7%, Receptor signai resulting in areflection factor of around 1.35%. In analog audio, the almost total mismatch of source and receptor impedances gives very high reflection ratios of 1 5V S%r 04 SOOnS Est 1.2 V: close to 1, or 100% reflection! This is the worst case, but you and Ilisten to such mismatched systems every day with great pleasure. So what? Fig.6 Transmission through 100m of 75 ohm coaxial cable. Out — 750, We will now examine what bad effects are induced by a In = IMO mismatched line, using ahigh-quality, wide-bandwidth dig- ital storage oscilloscope to examine the actual waveforms. There is now an amplified pulse arriving at the receptor and its shape is altered, with aslower risetime and atilted Perfect Matching: In fig.5, a500ns pulse width is applied plateau. If the cable is being used to transmit digital data, it to the 75 ohm coaxial cable. Both source and receptor also should now be more than evident that the choice of cable have an impedance of 75 ohms. will affect the resulting sound, given this degree of imped- ance mismatch. Figs.5 and 6show the two extreme cases. It is important to remember that even smaller echoes are echoes nonethe- less, and that their perturbational nature will undoubtedly affect the signal.

Total Mismatch: Same sourced signal, same 75 ohm cable, but both source and receptor with unmatched impedance.

oll.•••••••• This is, in fact, always the case with audio gear. The chosen impedance values are similar to those found in today's audio gear, with a150 ohm source feeding a10k ohm receptor. 4-A1111f41 I,tilt if:4 11:1 I Echo 1a

Receptor signal te-

Sourc signal

Ch 1 5 V 11111 51 NI 0Ons Chi 2.3 V-

j. à I Fig.5 Transmission through 100m of 75 ohm coaxial cable. Out =750, Echo lb In = 750. ,-, 1111 1111 1111 1141 1111

The signal at the receptor is exactly the same as the one Receptor signal from the source, except for the very slight attenuation due to the pure line resistance. No deformation here, even after 100m of travel. The time delay of 500ns between source and receptor Echo 2b 2V 11111 2 e m500ns Ext/10 1.4 V perfectly corresponds to the propagation time of 5ns/m times 100m.

The somewhat rough traces are artifacts of the oscillo- Fig.7 Transmission through 100m of 75 ohm coaxial cable. Out = 1500, scope input AID converter and are not to be interpreted as In = noise or cable problems. Now many echoes become visible. Echo la is due to the Source/Cable Matching Only: In fig.6 we can clearly see 10kil receptor impedance, which itself induces echo lb on that when the receptor has amuch higher impedance than the 150e source impedance, which generates echo 2a, and required, the source signal is totally reflected by the recep- so on. These echoes are clearly visible here because the tor. The total delay of the echo to the source is 1vs, as sourced signal is of very high frequency and small pulse expected, the signal having traveled forth and back —say, width. 200m at 5ns/m. As we will see, these multiple echoes will also affect the

66 Stereophile, November 2001 signal at much lower frequencies, even if the result is revealed by the longer risetime of the pulse's leading edge. often misinterpreted. As manufacturers and audiophiles have being saying for decades, it's the parasitic capacitance that acts as alow-pass Perfectly Matched Audio Signal: In fig.8, an audioband filter. When using 100m of cable, you'll be lucky if the result signal is being sent through the cable. Ile rectangular shape is not worse! is surely not very musical, but the 10kHz frequency is well in What's the point of writing an article that explains what the audio range —even older people can hear it. The entire everybody already knows? Well, what if fig.9's resolution chain is matched; ie, the source, cable, and receptor all have wasn't high enough? What if the rounded shape of the sig- nal was due, not to reduced bandwidth but to multiple echoes? You might find this hard to believe, but take alook at fig.10.

Source signal Source signal Chi Frog •• Hz No period found . II 11'4 1111 II II 1411 1411 4`f Echo Steps

Receptor signal 4; - Receptor signal

5 V Ch2 5 V- M tops Extitos 1.4 V, Ech Steps

Fig.8 Transmission through 100m of 75 ohm coaxial cable. 10kHz fully Ch . 2 V MO 2 VI;" M 2.5ps Ext/10 1.4 v- matched signal. the same impedance of 75 ohms. The pulse width is much higher here, the signal period Fig.10 Detail of fig.9. being 100ps, or 20 times higher than the signal's traveling time through the 100m cable. See? Iwas surprised myself. What we take as being due rot» There is nothing wrong to be seen in fig.8: The signal at to high-frequency attenuation is, in fact, the superimposition the receptor perfectly mirrors the signal from the source. of multiple echoes spaced apart by 500ns, which corre- sponds to the propagation time of the cable. As each echo is Mismatched Audio Signal: Fig.9, too, shows source and delayed by the propagation time, they add together, forming receptor impedances close to those of real-world audio gear. steps exactly like the discrete echoes seen in fig.7. Lower source and/or higher receptor impedances would be Fig.10 clearly shows that the signal will be modified when even worse. The choice of coaxial cable is not important; any links are not perfectly matched. Such mismatching represents cable used in such amismatched arrangement would have 99.99% of the audio gear in the world, including hugh-tmd systems. the same behavior. In other words, your system. It's true that, if the cable is only 1m long instead of 100m, the problem will be divided by 100. Divided, yes; eliminat- ed, no. Can the ear detect the difference between matched and mismatched audio lines? I'm tempted to say "yes," but Ihave not conducted serious comparative listening tests. The mea- surements were conducted only a few months ago (February 2001), and the results were so surprising and interesting that Icouldn't wait to share them with you.

Practical Considerations Matching Lines at Home: We just saw that matching impedances does improve asystem's measured performance. Does it contribute to better clarity in sound? The big ques- tion is whether the average audiophile can easily adapt her/his audio system to directly benefit from matched impedances.

System Disparities: Every manufacturer imposes his own Fig.9 Transmission through 100m of 75 ohm coaxial cable. 10kHz, standards, so it's not easy to match an existing system to the 2500, Z =101(n cables used without seriously modifying components and thus voiding their warranties. Furthermore, most audio- Surprise, surprise — high-frequency attenuation, as philes are not familiar with electronic tweaking.

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Stereophile, November 2001 \_Qi•Ley

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A smart solution is to add an active box at the source and taken at very low cost —perhaps this could be another Vg; apassive one at the receptor end. The problem is finding a tweak to be discussed in J-10's "Fine Tunes" column? Pro- system transparent enough — one that won't degrade the vided you own aCD player or other source with aknown sound more than the matching action would improve it. impedance of 50 ohms or less, you can try this little experi- This matching option is different from that offered by ment, which doesn't involve modifying your components: those cable manufacturers who include black boxes with •Calculate your cable impedance with Formula 5or 6. their flagship cables. The boxes, all passive, don't take into •Add acomplementary series resistor at the output of your account the real impedance of the components, because they CD player. can't "know" which components you will link together. •Terminate the cable at the preamplifier with aparallel At the other end, afew high-end manufacturers offer resistor between the signal wire and ground. such matched linking as an option, but this is very rare. •Listen for differences.

Matching Modules: These modules, inexpensive by high-end A Practical Example: Your CD player has an output standards, adjust the source and receptor impedances to that of impedance of 30 ohms. After calculation, you find that the the cable used. Any skilled DWer will be able to build them. intrinsic impedance of your interconnect is 250 ohms. By The only critical component with respect to sound quality is the inserting aseries 220 ohm resistor directly at the output of active module, but some ICs are now of high-end quality. the CD player —or, even better, inside the interconnect's RCA jack — you get asource impedance of 250 ohms. At the other end of the cable, put a250 ohm resistor between the signal wire (central pin of an RCA jack) and Source module [ the ground. Provided the preamp's input impedance is high, this gives you areceptor impedance of 250 ohms. bun 4 Do this again for the other channel.

11t_t This trick works only if your player's output can drive a low load impedance without asignificant increase of total harmonic distortion (THD). With solid-state output, this Receptor module trick is nondestructive, provided the output impedance of Fig.11 Impedance matching modules. the player is less than 100 ohms. In practical use, even ashort at the player's output will not destroy anything, the output Fig.11 shows asymmetrical (balanced) matching module. circuits being designed to handle such bad treatment. For For single-ended (SE) operation, only half the components tube output, forget it. A matching module will be needed. need be used; cg, only one matching resistor Rat both ends. It is 100% guaranteed that the sound will dramatically The source module is basically an op-amp, or avery - change. But was the change for the better or the worse? Let high-speed discrete buffer, with the desired matched series me know. If you lose dynamics or bass, it is only because output impedance. The receptor module is much simpler, your player's output can't handle such aload — you'll need a using only two resistors — or even one, for SE operation — matching module. of the same value than those used in the source module, If you're not sure about how to do this trick, your ques- connected to the signal ground path. tions are welcome. Both modules should be sited as close as possible (100mm, 4", or less) to the components. The great thing Conclusion then is that the line between them can be as long as needed, As you all know, every high-end product tries to offer the with virtually no signal degradation. best sound by modifying the audio signal as little as possible. The four resistors R (or two for SE operation) all have the This is very difficult to do using active components, and same value as the cable. For example, if we use Klotz micro- some degradation cannot be avoided. In the cable, where the phone cable, which has an intrinsic impedance of 150 ohms, signal is "only" passing through, it would be too bad not to all resistors should also be 150a. try to eliminate aknown source of signal degradation. If a cable of unknown impedance is used, we can calcu- As we saw above, amismatched link leads to asmeared late the impedance using Formula 5or 6. signal response, however small the amount of the smearing, the signal is still distorted. Echoes are aphysical fact, even if Subjective Thoughts they are very small. Canceling them by matching the trans- Audiophiles view the subject of cable sound differently from mission line is cheap and easy to do; the result can be both mass consumers and even from most of the pro audio com- measured and heard. munity. For the latter, wires are wires, no matter what kind It is still abit early to claim that matching the impedances of cable they use. For the audiophile, cables arc considered of cables and interconnects will make 2cents/meter cables components in themselves. sound as good as $1000/m ones. But I'm convinced that Who is right? Maybe both. I'm not saying that any cable can $1000/m cables do sound better when matched in imped- be used to interconnect hi-fi components. Iuse silver cables ance with the source and the receptor. in my system and find that they sound pretty good. However, Why wait any longer? as in most systems, my links are not matched. Not yet. When you use mismatched links, it becomes obvious that Acknowledgments every cable will have its own sound signature. Ibelieve that Iwould like to thank the Engineering School of Geneva, where if perfect matching is performed, the cables will tend to have Iperformed the tests, and Antoine Pittet, professor of physics reduced influence when it comes to affecting the system's and in charge of the acoustical department of the school sound quality. Istrongly recommend that curious tweakers Thanks also to the School of Audio Engineering of experiment with impedance matching. The first steps can be Geneva, which inspired me to write this article.

Stereophile, November 2001 69 Home EntertainmenArlore than a 4, 4,e It, san Ewen THE te -e%

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na damp, rainy New York day, David Byrne their prime, and which was heralded by many as the best rock sits in the lower level of the Greenwich Village office that film since the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. houses his Luaka Bop record label and serves as his art studio. Sipping acup of almond tea, Byrne is mild-mannered, To get here, you have to pass by alife-size, lightweight statue low-key, even shy, but articulate and funny. On the eve of of ablack boxer dog that stands guard at the front door, walk releasing his new CD, Look Into the Eyeball (Virgin 850924 2), down acorridor lined with CD boxes and photos of album Byrne seems fulfilled as an artist —proud of the T-Heads covers, and head downstairs to aspacious room in which var- legacy, his various artistic pursuits, and his record label, which ious quirky and mildly subversive Byrne art projects are scat- has given voice in the US to an array of musicians from tered about, including agiant blow-up photo of aGeorge around the world, especially Brazil. His latest disc is his sev- Bush mask turned inside out. enth as asolo artist, his first for Virgin, his first since 1997's Dressed casually in black jeans and agray button-down Feelings, and arguably the best of Byrne's post-Heads career. shirt, Byrne is still as slender as in his nerdy-looking Talking Eyeball is grooves and strings —a catchy, classical-tinged pop Heads days, but his close-cropped hair has gone silver, and he disc fueled by the percussive funk he and his former band- wears wire-rimmed glasses that make him look businesslike. mates employed when burning down the house in the late Nowhere in sight is the restless, quirky stage persona best cap- 1970s through the '80s. tured in Stop Making Sense, the definitive 1984 concert film But there's ahint of insecurity in Byrne's voice as he talks directed by Jonathan Demme that documented the Heads in about the album. He admits he had doubts about it when he

Stereophile, November 2001 71 alRila BYRNE

q. finished it. "But after getting over the initial repulsion, Ifind helping him with such rudiments of recording technology as that it does what Ihoped it would do," he says. "I just talked electronic effects. with ajournalist in Munich who said he and his friends felt the "I grew up listening to the hits of the day by R&B and rock album was too commercial. Idon't know exactly what that bands," Byrne says. "But back in the '60s, it was cool to be means. I'm thinking that Look Into the Eyeball doesn't sound open-minded about music, to accept amusician who put a anything like the latest new thing they're into." The fact that sitar into asong or made areference to Stockhausen. It wasn't it doesn't has its pros and cons. As asolo act, Byrne hasn't frowned upon as snobbish or world music-y. In fact, it was so enjoyed the popularity of his days with the Heads, when the cool that it encouraged me to go to the library to check out band dominated the pop music scene with asuing of hot-wire various Folkways records and albums by contemporary classical albums: Talking Heads 77, More Songs About Buildings and Red, composers. Frank Zappa had a quote from Varèse on the Fear ofMusic, Remain in Light, Speaking in lingues, the film sound- early Mothers albums. Ithought, 'Who is this guy?' So I track Stop Making Sense, and Little Creatures. Yet he has main- checked Varèse out and got exposed to his early electronic tained avital cre- compositions." ative presence by With such steering clear of eclectic musical the same-as-it- tastes percolat- ever-was pop ing in him, it's mindsct. In addi- not surprising tion to scouting that Byrne's high new acts for his school peers con- label, directing sidered him an videos and films, oddball. He sang and delving into an old song photographic art while accompan- projects, Byrne ying himself on continues to write ukulele in his oddly whimsical high school tal- songs that deviate ent show. He from the norm. ran for senior On Eyeball, class student Byrne gets high council president - marks for his and got trounced. funky beats and Upon gradua- his melodies, tion, fascinated which are catchy by both science enough to sing and art, he was along to while N EYEBALL, BYRN E GETS HIGH MARKS FOR HIS accepted at both driving on the FUNKY BEATS AND HIS MELODI ES, WHICH ARE CATCHY ENOUGH the tech-oriented open road. But TO SING ALONG TO WHILE DRIVING ON THE OPEN ROAD. Massachusetts it's his use of Institute of Tech- strings that sets the album apart from anything else on the nology and the pop map today. "I wanted to move people to dance and cry Rhode Island at the same time," he says. "These tunes are emotional, School of Design. warm, but they also have beats." And the strings? "Most of He chose art the time in pop music they're added as icing on the cake, to school, he says, sweeten atune. But Iwanted them to be part of the cake, to because the graf- replace keyboards and guitars as well as add to the rhythmic fiti in the hallways drive." As in his Talking Heads collaborations, the result is a was superior. blend of pop accessibility crafted with artistic sensibility. It was at Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland in 1952, brought RISD that his up in Baltimore, and early revealed his penchant for throwing artistic vision artsy changeups. A musical child who played violin and expanded, and accordion before switching to guitar, he was rejected in his where he soon attempts to join his junior high choir because he sang off-key. met future band- That didn't deter him from expressing himself musically. He mates Tuia Weymouth and Chris Frantz. However, Byrne went on to form a garage band called The Revelation, dropped out and hit the road with afriend and lived for aspell although he didn't sing lead vocals. However, he did test his in ahippie commune, making artsy videotapes and, with an singing voice while playing ukulele in solo gigs at acoffeehouse accordionist friend, playing standards on ukulele and violin in near the University of Maryland (Dylan was his specialty). aduo called Bizadi. On returning to Rhode Island he co- Then, influenced by Stockhausen and the Beatles, Byrne founded the group the Artistics (later renamed the Autistics) began exploring musique concrète by making tape collages on with Weymouth and Franz, who later followed him to New areel-to-reel deck. One of his early projects was abizarre York City, where they shared aloft and renamed their actj version of the Turtles' hit, "Happy Together," with multitrack Talking Heads. Already in the repertoire was one of Byrne's feedback and Tupperware tubs used for the drum parts. early compositions, "Psycho Killer," aca-1974 pop tune that During this time his scientist father offered encouragement, was part playful, part social commentary. The buzz generated

Stereophile November 2001 • _ "Why 1Cried When the Music Ended"

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renur."- - - 110 by their gigs at CBGB's and other hip downtown venues led success with the band Los Amigos Invisibles and the reissuel to arecording contract. As he notes in "David Byrne on David of Shuggie Otis' 1974 album, Inspiration Information. • Byrne," the autobiographical note accompanying the Look Into "Well, yes, it's hanging in there," says Byrne politely. He , the Eyeball press kit, "I continued making art for awhile ... but explains that it was an outgrowth of"a weird little blip" in the soon the band and my day job took all my time. The band contract Talking Heads renegotiated with Warner Bros. The became successful too." band was allowed to have its own imprint, which Byrne chris- Ex-Modern Lover Jerry Harrison joined the group in its tened Fly Records, to record various fly-on-the-wall projects, early stages, bringing abeefier guitar and keyboard sound to including Jerry Harrison's solo debut, Casual Gods. augment Byrne's rhythm guitar. On stage, instead of looking However, Fly was discontinued in 1989 because an indic like glam mid-70s rock stars, the members dressed preppy, with the same name was found to have already been in exis- especially Byrne, who wore button- tence. Byrne then signed a solo down-collar dress shirts. Byrne deal with Warners that resulted in says, "In the early Talking Heads Luaka Bop, ahip-sounding four- days, our appearance on the syllable name that was actually a — bandstand made us subversive. brand of tea. "I wanted to have an We were being radical by looking outlet for projects that weren't conservative. We didn't follow Talking Heads," says Byrne. But it any rock stereotypes." wasn't meant to be merely avani- The same held true for the ty label —Byrne was hearing too band's tunes. The Heads, already much good music, most of it orig- committed to making music with inating from outside the US. "At an artistic flair, linked up with first we did compilations of tapes — likeminded Brian Eno, who co- Ihad been collecting which peo- produced More Songs About Buildings ple seemed to enjoy. Eventually and Food, Fear of Music, and Remain we started signing bands, and in Light By 1984, when they doc- everyone began taking us more umented their Big Suit perfor- seriously, even though the compi- mance piece, Stop Making Sense, lations are still what pay the bills." rhythm ruled. Two years ago, The label's raison d'être is to ful- Byrne reflected, "I look at the film fill Byrne's desire to expose people _ now and think, What a funk to different styles of music and show.' We were labeled new artistry. Sometimes he serves as the wave, but we really were afunk talent scout, sometimes others band." working at the label fill in. "Really, That period proved to be the • everyone who works here hears band's golden age. Even though the music and decides. If people the Heads made three more fine aren't enthusiastic about an act, we studio albums — 1985's Little generally won't sign them. A Creatures, the 1986 soundtrack to N STAGE, INSTEAD OF woman who used to work here — True Stories, and 1988's Naked — LOOKING LIKE GLAM MID-'70s ROCK brought a tape in from former individual members' side projects STARS, THE MEMBERS DRESSED PREPPY, schoolmates of hers. It was Geg,gy and personality conflicts within ESPECIALLY BYRNE, WHO WORE Tah, from Pomona, California. I the band caused major fissures. In BUTTON-DOWN-COLLAR DRESS SHIRTS. had never heard anything like it, so 1992, the band officially dissolved, we signed them." though it resurfaced in 1996, without Byrne, to record aflop As if dealing with Luaka Bop business and supporting his new of an album as the Heads. album weren't enough, Byrne is working on another extracur- However, Byrne wasn't looking in the rear-view. By the ricular activity: designing abilingual pictures-and-words book , time he filed the divorce papers, he'd already recorded three commissioned by an ait fair in Valencia, Spain. The book, Los solo albums: 1988's forgettable avant-garde theater score for Nuevos Pecados (The New Sins), will be given out free to people in Robert Wilson's The Forest, 1989's Reí Momo; and 1992's Uh- the streets. "It's going to look like alittle religious book," he says, Oh. Subsequent albums include aself-titled 1994 album and holding aworn red copy of Thomas a Kempis' devotional 1997's Feelings. Imitation of Christ, which he's using as amodel. About his fasci- During his years with the Talking Heads he also recorded nation with the religious —from his spastic onstage T-Head por- Catherine Wheel, his score for Twyla Tharp's dance production trayals of aBible-slapping Pentecostal minister to several allusions of the same name and Music for the Knee Plays, an album of on Look Into the Eyeball —Byrne says, "Well, it's powerful stuff. It music for Robert Wilson's opera The Civil Wars. And in 1981, definitely strikes anerve in me and others. It's connected to acollaboration with Brian Eno produced the influendal tech- something else and adds another layer to life that makes it even rno/world album My Lift in the Bush of Ghosts. more confusing." Meanwhile, Byrne found the time to launch Luaka Bop Creatively restless, Byrne even put awhimsical artistic touch (now distributed by Virgin). The label helped to introduce to on the packaging of Look Into the Eyeball. It comes with aplastic North American audiences the deep riches of Brazilian sleeve filter that works like atoy gadget from aCracker jacks music — far beyond the well-known samba and bossa nova box: Tilt the CD slightly and Byrne's image on the CD cover styles—and helped break down the cultural barriers the US closes its eyes. Tilt it again and the eyes open. It's eerie and had erected against all things Cuban by issuing music from comic at the same time. As for the music, Byrne came up with that island nation. Currently, Luaka Bop is riding awave of the concept of writing songs with strings in mind after working

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• lassé's Mike Viglas watched the squarish, finn-press Classé style —the There are two more top-panel but- audiophile skies, scratched his opposite of Japanese machines' mini- tons to the right front of the "media Cchin, and thought about his busi- pips. These buttons control Stop, Play, well": Open/Close and SACD/CD. ness. As he gazed, it occurred to him and Skip forward/back —just like the The Omega defaults optimistically to that if everyone in audio was moving original Sony SCD-1, if memory serves. the SACD setting —we all live in hope downmarket to invade his territory, why (I had the Accuphase DP-101/DC-100 of new releases before growing old — not take his company and head upmar- two-box player on hand for SACD com- but takes the change to CD with equa- ket? Thus was born Classes much-laud- parisons, but not the Sony.) nimity. Just.. slowly and deliberately. ed Omega series. A thick, black band runs around the You've got to be in Stop before you Classé has guts. These are uncertain middle third or so of the top plate and switch from CI) to SACD; if left inac- times, but here they are with an audio- continues down the sides. 'This band is tive for five minutes, the Omega returns phile classic: an expensive two-channel black-anodized aluminum set into the to Standby mode. Super Audio CD player that will also brushed aluminum of the rest of the All of these control functions and spin CDs and CD-Rs and sports lots of case, and makes the whole affair stiffer many more are to be found on the hefty inputs and outputs, "Your last CD play- and less resonant. The finish is called remote. Bitch, bitch, bitch —why can't er, my friend!" enthused Viglas after Satin Shadow Silver. Go figger. everyone put those cheap rubber footers he'd installed the unit in our loft. While its design is not over the top, under the four corners of these substan- the Classé Omega is handsome and dis- tially built remotes, many of them, like "Lots of aluminuminun..." tinctive, and right up there in build the Omega's, made of metal? Imean, —George W. Bush quality with Mark Levinson and Boul- there's no expensive furniture around Big swaths of brushed aluminum make der —pretty much the best you can get. here, but I'd hate to scratch the flat, beau- up the front of the Omega's slab-sided The "media well," which hides the tifully finished top of my left JMlab box. The faceplate's large, central dis- saine solid gold-colored brass CD Utopia, anatural resting place for re- play is all done up in red. Like all SACD weight on the spindle as the Sony, sits to motes diez Scull. displays, and even afew late-model 16- the right of the top plate in regal Classé The Omega's remote includes but- bit/44.1kHz recordings, the display black. The well cover slides open to the tons for SRC (96kHz sample-rate scrolls title information, then stops and left, and doesn't raise or lower itself in conversion), Display On/Off, input reads out again as many characters as the any way, like the Accuphasc or Sony selection, direct track access, Search display supports. That and time and SACD players. And it's abit prissy; left forward/back, Track forward/back, track number, all the usual stuff, along open for more than afew minutes, it Index, Mute, and Volume controls for with aSample Rate Converter (SRC) chastely slides closed again to protect a Classé preamp or integrated amp (if indicator. There's also an HDCD indi- the optics. Ilike that. It's got brains. used). The switch to SRC and back cator, an Internal indicator for the unit But it's that Sony mechanism all again during 16/44.1 play was always when it processes discs rather than ex- over again. There's just no getting away accompanied by arather sharp elec- ternal data sources. from it — the Classé takes an age and a tronic crackling noise through the The front of the top surface has an array half to read the ToC and ready itself for tweeters, but not when using the digi- of control buttons, all in large, chunky, play. Yawn. tal data outs. Aside from these minor quibbles, it's a nice remote, and perfect for controlling the player while remaining comfortable Description: SACD/CD/CD-R player by 15" D. Weight: 37 lbs. Power sup- on my substantial audiophile butt in my with balanced (XLR) and single- ply: 91/2" W by 3s H by 15" D. well-broken-in listening chair. ended (RCA) line-level outputs, and Weight: 10 lbs. 'Round back are two sets of outputs: external power supply. Digital inputs: Serial number of unit reviewed: one of XLRs (pin 2 hot) for balanced S/PDIF on RCA and TosLink; both 0290031. running, another pair for single-ended. accept PCM from 32 to 96kHz. Digital Price: 512,000. Approximate number Over at the other side of the back panel, outputs: S/PDIF on RCA, AES/EBLJ on of dealers: 75. on the bottom, to the left of the socket XLR, optical (on ST connector); inter- Manufacturer: Classé Audio, 5070 for the power-supply umbilicus, are two nal sample-rate converter to 96kHz; François-Cusson, Lachine, Quebec digital inputs: S/PDIF on RCA and digital outputs do not function during H8T 163, Canada. Tel: (514) 636- TosLink. Above these are the digital out- SACD play. Power consumption: 50W 6384. Fax: (514) 636-1428. Web: puts: AES/EBU, S/PDIF on RCAs, an No other specifications provided. yvvwv.classeaudio.com. AT&T glass output (not seen much these days), and two IR trigger input/output Dimensions: Player: 19" W by 53/8"H •• connectors on n numplugs.

78 Stereophile, November 2001 Equipment Report Jonathan Scull

Classé Omega Super Audio CD player

Digital technology for PCM (standard "Red Book" CD) size of the respective format, says The Classé Omega is said to be ano - and DSD (Super Audio CD) data- Classé. The 780-nanometer CD laser compromise design. All data and control streams. Treating the signal paths sepa- also reads CD-Rs. The two signals are signals from the transport mechanism rately, as laid out in atechnical white processed separately until the last stage of are connected to the main circuitry via paper available from Classé, means no digital/analog conversion. high-speed optical isolators, so that digi- compromises need be made for either To decode standard CD signals, the tal switching and power-supply noise datastream, and that the best perfor- Omega uses aCrystal CS4397 filter and from the transport don't contaminate mance is extracted from both formats. DAC chip. This "state-of-the-art con- the sensitive circuitry in the D/A sec- The separate signal paths begin with verter" —the latest from Cirrus Logic, tion. The transport and D/A grounds are the two laser pickups in the transport trumpets Classé —offers performance kept completely separate, which Classé mechanism: one for the "semi-trans- "near the theoretical limits for dynamic says lowers the noise floor, reduces jitter, missive" SACD layer, one for the CD range and linearity with both PCM (stan- and improves sonic performance. layer. The wavelength of each laser is dard CD) and DSD (SACD) signals." It The Omega uses separate signal paths optimized for the track pitch and pit performs up to 8x interpolation "with

Stereophile, November 2001 79

Stereophile, November 2001 81 the input, thus offering an opportunity and Pungent." Igay -ron -tee the mid- But the whole of the music was so for such noise to enter the circuitry. range will leave you ravaged in your lis- much more than its many parts. The "Notice," Classé finally can't help but tening chair. Right from the opening midrange lusciousness, especially in crow, "that the entire output circuit re- bars, it sounded positively lascivious — SACD, had me on my audiophile knees quires no voltage gain and no feedback. just like afilm noir blond putting her [crick] begging for more. "This is what This elegant simplicity is representative arms around you (you wish!) and giving it's al111 about," Ibabbled in my notes. of the approach taken with every aspect you one of those looks. Big boy. When Ilisten carefully to track 7, of the Omega SACD design." In audiophile terms, that meant abig, "Blues in Blueprint," Ican hear aground Well, he who has the last laugh very transparent soundstage and a loop in the studio, along with the most laughs best, they say! On to the listen- delightful cushion of...not so much of restrained, lovely horn intro I've ever ing... air (although there's plenty of that), but experienced. The Classé laid it all out of defining 1110rellIelle of air—the vol- like I've never been privileged to hear Listening ume of space from which the horn before. "Blueprint" is more evocative Here's how to start your J-10-sanc- laments and wails far forward in the than the other, bil4:er numbers on this tioned listening session. If there's one center of the soundstage. The drums disc: the acoustic space seems bigger, SACD disc that all Stereophile reviewers were fabulously resonant, farther back more full of instrumentation, all nicely should have, it's Duke Ellington's out- left, the bass rather indistinct in it's-all- limned by the Classé in SACD. The of-print but not-too-hard-to-find Blues in-the-room sound, rather than some- tunefulness, speed, ease, purity — the in Orbit (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab thing more tightly miked, as we find on plain loveliness of the plaintive horn — UDCD 757). recordings today. And there's alot of the interplay of sonorities, the effort- First, enjoy some instant sex by play- body and thus dimensionality, ahall- lessness in settling down deep in the ing the SACD layer of track 4, "Sweet mark of the Omega player's style. music...were all agreat pleasure.

Measurements

result. The waveform of an un- player decoded CD data represent- harmonic rises by 12dB. Working dithered lkHz tone at -90.31dBFS ing afull-scale 50Hz tone. The sec- against the audibility of this behavior was essentially perfect (fig.7). ond (100Hz), third (150Hz), fourth is the low order of the distortion har- Distortion was alittle higher than (200Hz), and fifth (250Hz) harmon- monics. The levels of intermodula- Iexpected, and, unusually, worse ics can all be seen. Though the third tion distortion products are also low, from the balanced outputs than from harmonic is the highest in level, this even into 600 ohms (fig.11). But Istill the unbalanced. Fig.8, for example, is still negligible at -74dB (0.02%). would like to have seen better perfor- shows an FFT-derived spectrum of By contrast, fig.9 shows asimilar mance on these tests. the unbalanced output while the spectral analysis for the balanced out- Finally, Iassessed the Omega's jit- put into the same high (100k ohms) ter performance using the Miller load. Balanced operation tends to Audio Research Analyzer. This pro- cancel even-order harmonics, hence gram, based on a National Instru- the disappearance of the fourth har- ments PC card, works in conjunction monic in this graph compared with with adiagnostic signal stored on a thl VIM fig.8, and the halving in level of the CD-R with low tirnebase errot The second from -76dB (0.015%) to software performs ahigh-resolution ot r -83dB (0.007%). But the third har- spectral analysis of the player's analog

1.« monic has increased by almost 20dB, output with the special signal, then kV, sly de, 110“ to -58dB (0.12%)! searches the FFT "bins" for symmet- )00. Thankfully, things don't get signifi- 00 WOu 1000 11.00 1.00 'UM ewe ease ,opc. rical sideband pairs, which will in the cantly worse into the punishing 600 main be due to word-clock jitter. Fig.7 Classé Omega, waveform of undithered ikHz sinewave at -90.31dBFS, 16-bit ohm load (fig.10), though the fifth The result for the Classé Omega's CD data.

• .00 Om. I«, 00.011.00•1 « •••••00.10 000$1,1600ë r• 4.11, .0 0.

70 00 MIS MOO

« 00 $11

« «00

1Ce .0 100 0

. • .11.11,1allUk.kào 1,00 illt/V. 0 0 100 1000 101. ease WI 0 0110 Me N. 0 00.• 1001. M 000 MO MO MO MO MO MO MO 011M 1M 00 «00 KO 0 100 0 a« 0 MO 0 «0 0 moo won 100 0 10111.

Fig.8 Classé Omega, unbalanced spectrum of Fig.9 Classé Omega, balanced spectrum of Fig.I0Classé Omega, balanced spectrum of 50Hz sinewave, DC- kHz, at OdBFS into 50Hz sinewave, DC-1kHz, at OdBF5 into 50Hz sinewave, DC-1 kHz, at OdBFS into 100k ohms (linear frequency scale). 100k ohms (linear frequency scale). 600 ohms (linear frequency scale).

82 Stereophtle, November 2001 Classé Omega

Then Idid myself afavor and let the CD Lyrinx disc of pianist Caroline had aflash —and burned myself rather Omega go on to track 8, "The Swingers Sageman playing Chopin (LYR 2194). badly. Ipressed the SRC button on the Get the Blues Too." Ah, that somewhat Morbidly, perhaps, Iplayed Scherzo remote for 24/96 sample-rate conver- distant horn, the fullness of tone, and 3 in C-sharp minor, Op.39. You sion, yet found less body, even as Iappre- then, almost aminute in, the fuse lights know... dumm durnm dee-dunim, as dated the greater transparency over and lea-ham. The air, the space, the the imaginary casket moves toward the 16/44.1. But it sounded more brittle, too. sonority were fabulous. So were the loamy earth. Ialways liked the slow So — back to straight, non-upsam- drive, the urgency of the music, the joy stuff. And Iwas surprised to read in the pled 16/44.1. Iwas happier with the in the playing. booklet that, "even as achild, [Sageman] immediate gain in body. In my view, the Icouldn't stop. Next was track 9, the preferred slow movements, the more Omega SACD did "Red Book" CDs so sublime "The Swinger's Jump." Notes: dramatic pieces.... Still today she has a well that Ididn't need the 24/96 option. "Truly amazing sound, so real and pre- particular affection for these works It might help on some CDs, but my sent, the Classé is just like the Nagra which allow her to penetrate the music vote would be to, in general, leave it off. PL-P in perspective —I'm right up on more easily, to be able to isolate herself." Another flash (this time Iheld my the outer edge of the recording stage, The SACD layer communicated this amis away so they wouldn't get singed): the sound all around and behind nie feeling exquisitely by its superiority of Into my Linn CD12 CD player went and the speakers, but not so deep." In playback. The sound of the piano was in the hybrid Chopin disc, which at first any case, the sound was big, full, dra- every way remarkable —it seemed to the Linn refused to acknowledge, arms matic, colorful, detailed, and airy. All enter my soul. (Yes, Istill have one.) crossed over chest. Iejected the disc, hallmarks of this great player in SACD This recording's SACD layer sounds inserted it again, and — success! — and, surprisingly, CD mode too. much better than the rather more homo- Scherzo 3played. It sounded way better Next, Iturned to the hybrid SACD/ genized "Red Book" track. But then I than the CD section of the Classé (or

single-ended output — the NI card fewer in number and lower in level. measured. However, this last point is only has a single-ended input — is The Classé Omega's generally almost certainly connected with the shown in fig.12. Data-related jitter— good measured performance was let player's use of apassive I/V converter the sidebands indicated with red down by the poor channel separation topology, which can certainly sound numeric markers —is very low, at a from the unbalanced outputs, the superb. —John Atkinson calculated 172.4 picoseconds peak— highish distortion from the balanced peak. But alargish number of noise outputs, its inability to lock reliably spikes can also be seen (light blue on to external datastreams with high numeric markers), with the highest in sample rates, and the compromised level, at 9.6kHz, ringed in red. This dynamic range compared with the noise, as well as arandom noise floor best CD and SACD players Ihave some 6-7dB higher than the best I have measured with this test, reduces the Classé's dynamic range. The grayed-out trace just visible in this graph is asimilar spectral analysis performed with the Omega playing an 11.025kHz tone from the Sony test SACD. The random noise compo- nents are very slightly higher in level, though the noise spikes are both

00. 400 600 sm Q. .. AO U. 400

Fig.11 Classé Omega, balanced HF Fig.12 Classé Omega, high-resolution jitter spectrum of unbalanced analog output signal intermodulation spectrum, DC-24kHz, (11.025kHz at —6dBFS with LSB toggled at 229Hz). Center frequency of trace, 11.025kHz; 19+20kHz at OdBFS into 600 ohms frequency range, ±3.5kHz. Grayed-out trace is similar analysis for 11.025kHz tone (no LF (linear frequency scale). LSB toggling) from SACD.

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84 Stereophile, November 2001 the Accuphase, for that matter), and I hall in CD mode, fabulous micro- and could hear Sageman's sharp inhalations. macrodynamics, and sweet and com- THE #1 More detail, less roughness. pelling highs when run through the Ithen flipped the Scherzo into the Krell 350Mcs, no less. Accuphase and heard, in the beginning of Finishing up, Iplayed the SACD of BEST SOUND the work on the SAC!) layer, Sageman Rapsodie espagnole from Boulez Conducts hum or sing to herself as she stroked her Ravel (Sony Classical SS 89121) and found instrument. Lovely, just lovely...a capa- it more excitedly rendered by the Classé ATS HOW city of the DP-101/DC-100 for nuance in comparison to anything else around and small detail that makes it eternally here. The Omega was more brash, more satisfying in some ways. And at $28,000, ready to make sweeping emotional ges- it better be! Fellow travelers looking for tures that left me gasping for breath. At New York's HE 2001 show, the best, there it was. Regarding acoustic Um'oe been touched, Scull, I remember attendees cast their votes space, ease, the flowering of the music, thinking. Maybe you won't Pe it. for the Best Sound. the detail of Sageman's sharp intake of Ialso tried the Classé Omega sin- breath before certain passages —all were gle-ended. Great sound, but run it Despite the elaborate displays of more finely rendered via SACD, along balanced if you can, and with afully price-no-object systems, with more power evident throughout differential preamp, if possible — that aslender pair of speakers the frequency band. combo offered the best sound for in amodestly-sized room SACD like this was like aLicense to SACD and CD. stole the show by winning the Quiver, as Ifound out listening intently hearts and minds of the listeners. to Vladimir Horowitz play Schumann's Finale Arabeseque (Sony Classical SS 9671) and The Classé Omega SACD/CD/ Best of all. they're only $7499 per pair. hearing how those last few notes faded CD-R player takes the perfect swing • out at the end of the piece —sheer, un- at getting everything right. Its overall So now you can afford to adulterated ecstasy. balance in SACD and, importantly, in take the best sound home. The Classé wasn't a"softener" in the CD were so much to my taste that the classic sense, like the Accuphase in CD Omega's the one Ideclare closest to mode. This One's fir Blanton, with Ray what I expected when this whole Brown and Duke Ellington (Analogue high-resolution thing started. Yes, I Productions CAPJ 015), exposed piano have the Linn CD12 for when Iwanna strings as the metal they are. The rock out in 16/44.1, not to mention Omega wasn't exactly kind to this re- the dCS upsamplers, and all of them cording, especially where the Duke's will soon go back in the system — not piano is abit tinkly —it added aslightly to mention the wonderfully nuanced silvery quality to the highs. Ah, but Ray Accuphase SACD player. Brown's bass was divine — so perfect, But if Ididn't have the Accuphase especially through the Linn Klimax and the Linn and the dCS, the Classé monos. Sharp focus, leading-edge tran- Omega would be my choice for the sient info as detailed (if not more so) as one machine that does it all. Highlii the Linn CI)12's, dynamics up the hoo- recommended.

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John Atkinson Meridian DSP8000 Digital Active loudspeaker

and control circuitry is currently estledDowns south in of theEngland's North echoed only by Canadian comp- Nsoutheast, the Kentish any Paradigm and companies serv- dormitory town of Sevenoaks is ing the studio market, such as about as sleepy aplace as you can Genelec and Mackie. imagine. Yet 20 years ago, in the And in Meridian's D600, which unlikely circumstances of the back Ireviewed in the November 1989 room of aSevenoaks pub, Iwit- Stereophile, the concept was nessed the world of consumer extended to include the D/A pro- loudspeakers changing. Meridian's cessors. Such "digital active" Steve Hopkins was showing apair speakers both keep the music data of the company's active M2 loud- in the robust digital domain for as speakers connected directly to a long as possible, and allow the 101 preamplifier. usual analog functions of volume The idea of integrating the adjustment, equalization, and power amplifier into the loud- crossover filters all to be realized speaker was not new in the pro with digital signal processing audio world even then —in my (DSP) chips. All you needed to days as amusician in the 1970s, I complete amusic system using a had become used to seeing pow- pair of D600s was adigital source, ered Spendors in TV and radio such as aCD transport. studios. Yet in the world of high- end audio, Meridian has done Enter the '8000 more than any other company to The Meridian 1>SP8000 is the cul- establish the concept. mination of those years of work by Yes, Iknow —British cohorts Meridian's Bob Stuart and his Linn and Naim have always team. Standing more than 4' high, offered active versions . of their the '8000 is atruncated pyramid speakers, but these still use exter- carrying the tweeter and midrange nal amplifiers and line-level cross- unit sitting atop agently curved overs. Meridian's approach of fully bass bin containing no fewer than integrating the design of the six 8" woofers. Three of these speaker with that of the amplifier Meridian DSP8000 loudspeaker plastic-cone, long-throw units are

Description: Remote-controlled, 200Hz, 2.6kHz, linear-phase filters, Finishes: piano-black lacquer; other powered, three-and-a-half-way, floor- ±30° realized in DSP running on two colors available by special order. standing, sealed-box loudspeaker with 100MHz Motorola ICs. Power ampli- Serial numbers of units reviewed: two Meridian Comms ports (5-pin fiers: complementary bipolar design 10091A & B. DIN), 9-pin D connector for RS-232 PC with output-stage error correction and Price: $40,000/pair. Approximate setup and control (null-modem, 9600 low feedback; three by 150W RMS number of dealers: 120. baud, 2N1, no handshake), two digital (bass); 100W RMS (midrange); 100W Manufacturer: Meridian Audio Ltd., (S/PDIF) inputs, and one digital RMS (tweeter). Frequency response: Stonehill, Stukeley Meadows, Cambs (S/PDIF) output mirroring selected 25Hz-35kHz, ±1.5dB in-room. Distor- PE29 6EX, England, UK. Tel: (44) input As supplied, handles input sam- tion: typically <0.01%, or <0.02% up (0)1480-52144. Fax: (44) (0)1480- ple rates of up to 96kHz; FIFO buffer to full power at all frequencies. Noise 459934. Web: www.meridian.co.uk. locks at 44.1, 48, 88.2, or 96kHz, and hum: <-94dB at all volume set- US distributor: Meridian America Inc., ±150ppm (LPCM or MHR encoding); tings. Acoustic noise: <15dB SPL at 3800 Camp Creek Parkway, Building 176.4kHz or 192kHz supported with 1m. Maximum acoustic output: typi- 2400, Suite 122, Atlanta, GA 30331. special firmware and cabling. Drive- cally >115dB SPL at 1m. Power con- Tel: (404) 344-7111. Fax: (404) 346- units: 1" (25.4mm) composite-dome sumption: 20VA idle, 900VA max. 7111. Web: www.meridian-audio.com. tweeter, 6" (160mm) plastic-cone Dimensions: 51.2" (1300mm) H by midrange unit, six 8" (200mm) plastic- 15.7" (400mm) W by 20.8" (528mm) cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: D. Weight: 231 lbs (105kg) each.

Stereophile, November 2001 87 mounted vertically in-line on each side optimize dispersion across awide listen- all you see is its 6mm-thick black glass panel, thus reducing vibrational excita- ing area. The head unit is supported on panel, this incorporating awindow at tion of the enclosure. the woofer enclosure by three the top for the dot-matrix LED display The HF unit's voice-coil is silver, and machined feet, with aflying lead term- and remote-control sensor. The three its dome is specified as being formed inated in a four-pin XLR providing machined disc feet supporting the from a"composite" material, which I electrical connection. speaker can be converted into spikes. assume is an aluminum alloy modified with asurface treatment to increase its Inside the '8000 stiffness. The dome is surrounded by a The heart of the The heart of the DSP8000 is its digital short, conical flare and protected with circuitry. The rear panel carries two black wire mesh. The midrange unit's DSP8000 is its RCA jacks for S/PDIF-formatted transparent cone is fabricated from "a datastreams. These handle data with uniquely light and stiff combination of digital circuitry. sample rates of up to 96kHz, as well as polymers," and there is a stationary Meridian's proprietary MHR encrypted "phase plug" instead of adustcap. format, and each can be assigned one of The sealed head assembly is fabricat- 12 alphanumeric labels. After reclock- ed from curved pressure-laminated ply- The extensively braced bass cabinet is ing to minimize jitter, the digital data wood, with layers of wood and steel also constructed from panels laminated are sent to two Motorola 56366 DSP providing both stiffness and damping. from wood and steel sheet, and is fin- ICs running at 100MHz, which per- The minimal baffle area offered by the ished in high-gloss black piano lacquer. form the following functions: narrow-tapered shape is intended to Looking at the speaker from the front, •splitting the frequency band into bass,

Measurements

et-forming acoustic measurements level at 1m was 84.8dB —this com- tweeter's "oil-can" dome resonance Pon aspeaker that has only adigital pared with my reference BBC LS3/5a, results in anarrow spike 12dB above input posed some problems, as the which gives 82.5dB(B) at 1m when the reference level at lkHz, this can be DRA Labs MLSSA system Iuse for all fed with 2.83V RMS. Given that the seen to occur at ahigh 261cHz. With of my loudspeaker tests outputs only an volume control goes up to "99" in CD material, this resonance will have analog signal. Itherefore digitized the steps of ldB and that the digital level no audible consequences, as it will not MLSSA stimulus at 24 bits/882kHz could be increased by another 6dB, be excited by the -band-limited source, with adCS 904 A/D converter, and this gives amaximum SPL for each even when upsampled by the Meridi- converted the AES/EBU datastream to speaker of 120dB (assuming the inter-

S/PDIF using aZ-Systems 41, this nal amplifiers don't clip)! That certain- I I f Ill I. MI

set to do nothing but convert formats. ly makes the DSP8000 aloud speaker. o— The peak level of the digital signal, Fig.1 shows the Meridian's quasi- measured with a Dorrough digital- anechoic farfield response, averaged domain metei was -6dBFS. across a30° horizontal window on the The second problem involved the tweeter axis and spliced to the nearfield sheer bulk of the DSP8000 —it was responses of the midrange and woofers. impossible for me to lift it onto my The latter smoothly cover the passband 1 1' I I1 1 1111i 1 Outline loudspeaker turntable for between 30Hz and 150Hz, with the CO PeeMbq measurement Fortunately, the '8000's ultimate high-pass rollout apparently Fig.1 Meridian DSP8000, anechoic response top section is connected with an umbil- arranged to be 24dB/octave rather on tweeter axis at 50", averaged across ical cord to the woofer bin. Meridian than the 12dB/octave typical of a 30° horizontal window and corrected for sent me a 10' extender cord, which sealed-box alignment. As aresult, the microphone response, with nearfield midrange and woofer responses plotted allowed the tweeter/midrange section '8000 will not benefit as much as usual below 400Hz. to be placed high in the air on the from room reinforcement of the low- turntable, while the woofer section, bass register. However as Ifound in my with its digital circuitry and amplifiers, auditioning, this was not aproblem. could be kept on the ground. As the The crossover between the woofers crossover between the sections is set to and the midrange unit features fourth- 200Hz, below the frequency region order slopes, with the woofers' ulti- where Ican get accurate quasi-ane- mate low-pass rollout even higher in choic measurements, Ifelt this was an slope, presumably due to the drive- acceptable compromise. unit's own acoustic behavior. The head

The usual concept of "speaker sensi- unit's balance is basically smooth, 1000 tivity" is not applicable to the '8000. though with the HF tilt control set to ...wary on lit However, when Ifed the Meridian "0" there is aslightly elevated plateau Fig.2 Meridian DSP8000, effect on response of HF control set to "±10," normalized pink noise at -6dBFS with its volume apparent through the upper-midrange to response on tweeter axis at 50" control set to "70," the B-weighted and presence regions. Although the (5dB/vertical div.).

88 Stereoptule, November 2001 Meridian DSP 8 0 0 0 midrange, and treble ranges, to drive the each drive apair of woofers, while two slightly asymmetrical arrangement giv- appropriate units after D/A conversion 100W modules drive the tweeter-and- ing the best upper-to-mid-bass transi- •adjusting the time alignment of the midrange unit. According to Meridian's tion. Set "flat," the speakers sounded treble and midrange signals, to tilt the downloadable literature on the '8000 both bass-heavy and alittle shut-in in listening axis up or down from the (www.meridian.co.uk/handbooks/d8k the highs. After Andy had returned to tweeter axis user.pdf), these low-feedback amplifiers Meridian Central in Georgia, Ifooled •adjustment of the bass and treble freq- offer "extremely low noise, high detail, around with the controls and ended up uency responses and fast bass" due to "the combination with HF set to "+1" and Bass set to •providing volume control to 48-bit of idealized magnetic design, careful star "-3," which to my cars produced the precision earthing, and very fast output devices." optimal in-room balance. The tweeter is •digital protection against high-level The power supply uses two "substan- ahigh 49" from the floor; accordingly, I low-frequency transients tial" toroidal transformers. Other than set the Axis Tilt to "--1," appropriate for All of the digital adjustments are the AC cord, the only external evidence my 38" seated ear height. available from the Meridian System that the DSP8000 is apowered speaker The main source was aMeridian 800 Remote. The processed digital data- is the black, finned, extruded heatsink DVD/CD player,' which fed adigital streams for each speaker's drive-unit that occupies most of the rear panel's datastream to the left, "Master" speaker, feeds are sent to four 24-bit/192kHz real estate above the terminal panel. and all three Meridian components delta-sigma D/A chips, the outputs of which drive the power-amplifier mod- Sound 1See Kalman Rubinson's typically thorough review of ules. Five separate bipolar amplifiers are Meridian's Andy Regan set up the this unit in the Febniary 2000 issue (www.sterro used in each speaker: three 150W amps speakers in my listening room in a phile.cornishowarchives4P.201).

an 800. The resonance will be excited by wide-bandwidth SACD and DVD- Audio material, but Iheard nothing untoward when using these sources. The effect of the HF tilt control is

shown in fig2. Operating in 0.5dB -45.00 steps, it basically hinges the speaker's

response by up to ±5dB each side of a r--15.00 1.3kHz center frequency, which is 0.00 almost exactly what is needed to bal- 15.00 ance the '8000's perceived response. I 30.00 des say "almost" because, if you look MLSSA 300.0 1000.0 10000.0 again at fig.1, the hinge frequency is rrIMIUM101/ File Display log Frequenco - Hs (Smoothed te 0.10 octaue) set about an octave lower than the top -6.28 dB, 2663 Hz 28.888 deg edge of the presence-region plateau. A loudspeaker's perceived in-room Fig.3 Meridian DSP8000, vertical response family at 50", normalized to response on tweeter axis, from back to front: differences in response 45*-S° above reference axis; reference balance will depend not only on its response; differences in response 5°-45° below reference axis (not including baffle effect on-axis response but also on its disper- of woofer cabinet). sion -its radiation patterns in the hori- zontal and vertical planes. Fig3 shows the vertical dispersion of the '8000's head unit. (As Isaid earlie4 it had to be operated remotely from the woofer bin for the measurements, which means any effect of the lower crossover is absent from this graph.) In fig3, the individual measurements are normal- dB -90.00 ized to the tweeter axis; deep suckouts 0.0 -60.00 -30.00 appear above and below the tweeter at -6.0 0.00 exactly the specified 2.6kHz crossover -12.0 20.00 frequency, butas! had inadvertendy left -19.0 -24.0 60.00 deg the axis control set to "-I," the above- MLSSFI axis suckout appears earlier than the 300.0 1000.0 eegoo.ce Frequency File Display log Frequency - Hs (Suoothed to 0.10 octave) lower one. Other than that, the Meridi- -6.28 dB, 3374 H2 8.888 deg an's off-axis behavior is well-controlled. Ihave shown two graphs for the lat- Fig.4 Meridian DSP8000, horizontal response family at se, from back to front: responses 9e-e eral dispersion: fig.4 shows the actual off-axis; reference response on tweeter axis; responses 5.-90* off-axis.

Stereophile, November 2001 89 were linked with C,omms cables. A sec- supplied RS-232 null-modem cable. (JVC's superb XRCD2 re-release of the ond S/PDIF link connected the two The effortless sweep of the RCA original, JMCXR-0002), where speakers; each takes just its own channel DSP8000s' presentation was aided by the organ dramatically punctuates the from the two-channel S/PDIF stream. I the extended and well-defined low fre- orchestral declarations of the big tune started off using Meridian's own with majestic chords, was reproduced S/PDIF link, but later substituted with no sense of strain (other than my AudioQueses silver-conductored SVD- I congratulate Meridian own, from the woodwind's occasionally 4, which Ifelt gave the soundstage sour intonation and some horn clams). slightly better dimensionality. for the clarity of the With less dynamic recordings featur- Before getting into the sound, Icon- ing less massive organs, the sense of gratulate Meridian for the clarity of the manuals they've written reproduced space was boundless. A DSP8000 and 800 manuals. Reviewing for the DSP8000 and favorite CD of mine from last year is past Meridian components, I have cellist Yo-Yo Ma's Simply Baroque II ended up cursing manuals that con- for the 800. (Sony Classical SK 60681). On track 2, tained but successfully hid the informa- Ma traverses the aria from Bach's Gold- tion Ineeded. But using the manuals to berg Variations as organist Ton Koopman set up and adjust these Meridian prod- weaves intricate continuo patterns ucts was painless. Some setup options quencies. The fourth-movement climax around and behind the cello. Via the for the 800 required using the Configu- of the 1959 recording of Saint-Saëns' DSP8000s, the central cello image was ration program (Windows PC only), "Organ Symphony," with Charles palpably stable in the center of the but even that was painless, using the Munch conducting the Boston SO stage, the well-defined dome of ambi-

Measurements

responses plotted out to 90° away from exact region where the on-axis re- octaves to better match the mom, but the tweeter axis in 5° increments, and sponse is alittle "hot." Similarly, the you still run the risk of emphasizing the fig.5 has the off-axis plots normalized tweeter's lower-octave flare occurs presence region. This can be seen in to the tweeter-axis response to empha- where the on-axis response begins to fig.6, which shows the '8000's spatially size any differences that exist. The plateau down. In atypical listening averaged response in my Brooklyn lis- contour lines in these two graphs are room, the '8000's on- and off-axis be- tening room.' The HF control was set evenly spaced, always agood indicator haviors will tend to balance each °then to "+1" for this measurement, to bring of well-defined stereo imaging. Partic- resulting in aneutral perceived balance. the top octaves into optimal balance ularly obvious in fig.5 are both the nar- However, the use of ashort horn according to my ears, yet this results in rowing of the DSP8000's dispersion in surrounding the tweeter dome does in- an excess of energy in the mid-treble. the top octave of the midrange unit's crease that drive-unies directivity above Lower in frequency, alack of ener- passband and aflare at the bottom of 11kHz or so. In all but very small or gy in the 200Hz region is probably the tweeter's passband. very live moms, this will tend to make due to acombination of room effects But before you jump to any conclu- the speaker sound rather mellow. As I and the crossover between the mid- sion about the subjective effects of this pointed out earliei the HF tilt control range unit and the woofers. The lack behavior, look again at fig.1: The mid- can be effectively used to adjust the of energy in the 63Hz and 80Hz range unit narrows its dispersion in the speaker's output in the top three bands is definitely due to my room.

1Individual 1/3-octave response curves are taken (with in AudioControl Industrial SA-3050A spec- trum analyzer) for both kit and right loudspeakers at 20 positions covering an approximately 6' by 3' spatial "window" centered un the listening position. The curve shown is the average of these responses. weighted toward the actual listening position.

dB -90.00

0.0 -60.00

-6.0 -30.00

-12.0 0.00

-18.0 30.00 •I0

-24.0 60.00 des AL-SSA I .20 300.0 1000.0 10000.0 Frequency Ftle Dàsplaty low FrequencW - Ho (Smoothed to 0.10 octave) 30 -13.78 dB, 1332 Hz 98.888 deg .10 IMoll!: 1 11111111 I W 00 '000 Fig.5 Meridian D5P8000, horizontal response family at 50", normalized to response on tweeter axis, from back to front: differences in response 90*-5° off-axis; reference response; Fig.6 Meridian DSP8000, spatially averaged, differences in response 5*-90° off-axis. ,-octave response in 1A's room.

90 Stereophrle, November 2001 Meridian DSP8000 ence around both instrumentalists lit up precisely how different mixes of the two speaker so transparent to such fine re- by occasional action noises from the mike pairs affected the re-creation of corded detail. chamber organ. the original soundstage. The B&ICs gave Classic Records is to be congratu- It was, in fact, this superbly defined the best tonal quality, but as tincreased lated for re-releasing Sonny Clark's stereo imaging that continued to impress 1958 Blue Note recording, Cool Strut- nie with the Meridian speakers. Even tin', as a 24/96 DVD-Video (DAD though the demonstrations the company 1037). Played back on the Technics has staged at shows have used multiple The Meridians' superbly DVD-Audio/Video player Ipicked up speakers in home theater and surround cheap in aJ&R MusicWorld sale and contexts, a single pair demonstrated defined stereo imaging feeding the second digital input on almost holographic properties. the "Master" DSP8000, not only was During the review period, Iwas edit- continued to impress me. the sound of Philly Joe Joncs' cymbals ing and mixing the master of arecord- astonishingly lifelike, but the image of ing Ihad made of Minnesota-based Clark's piano just hung between and Cantus, due for release this month on behind the Meridians. (Comparisons the male choir's own label. Ihad used their level in the mix, the images of the with the Rudy Van Gelder Edition four microphones at the sessions: acen- singers at the extreme edges of the stage CD reissue of this classic recording, tral ORTF pair of Neumann cardioids began to fold over back toward the cen- (Blue Note 495237 4), were rendered and my usual spaced pair of B&K ter. Balancing the desired tonal balance moot by the very different stereo omnis. The Meridians were invaluable against the compromised imaging was mixes on the two discs.) during this process, allowing me to hear facilitated by my being able to use a [ëontinued on page 108

The Meridian's bass control was set to individual drivers, the negative-going with excellent clarity and transparency. "-3" when Itook this graph, which midrange output arrives first, fol- Those familiar with my loudspeaker sounded right. Nevertheless, the lowed by the positive-going tweeter measurements will note that one thing woofer region can be seen to be still output, then the negative-going out- Ihave not shown is asimilar waterfall boosted by acouple of dB, and there put of the woofers. Just before this plot calculated from the output of an was still strong output at 20Hz. review went to press, Iasked Meridi- accelerometer fastened to the Meri- Despite its use of crossover filters an's Bob Stuart why they had not dian's enclosure walls. The reason is that are realized in the digital domain, made the '8000 time-coherent if, in that there was nothing to show. Icould which allows optimal behavior in both effect, it could be "done for free" in find no resonant modes, either in the time and frequency domains, the '8000 DSP. His response was that this par- woofer bin walls or in the head unit! is not time-coherent. Fig.7 shows the ticular crossover topology was the —John Adchnon step response on the tweeter axis. one they had found to sound best, (Although the microphone was 50" despite its lack of time coherence. away from the tweeter equivalent to a Finally, fig.8 shows the Meridian's time of flight of around 4milliseconds, cumulative spectral-decay plot on the you can see that the sound doesn't tweeter axis. As expected, the graph is reach the microphone until the 7.5ms dominated by the ultrasonic tweeter mark. The extra 3.5ms are due to the resonance, but is otherwise extremely latency of both the A/D converter clean, something that always correlates used to digitize the MLSSA signal and the Meridian's integral DSP.) As best as Ican tell, examining this graph and the step responses of the

0.00

0.60

1.26

1.87

-2 53

10- 3.13 lesec MLSSA 400.0 1000.0 10000.0 Cumulatsve Spectral Decay log Frequency - Hs Fig.7 Meridian DSP8000, step response on 9.83 dB. 26181 Hz 8.888 nsec tweeter axis at 50" (5ms time window, 30kHz bandwidth). Fig.8 Meridian DSP8000, cumulative spectral-decay plot at 50" (0.15ms risetime).

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*Hours of telephone operation are: M-Tu 9-8PM; Vied-Fri 9-7PM: Sat 19-541; Sun 12-5PM. All times are EST. Audio Advisor, Inc., 4717A Broodmoor SE, Kentwood, MI 49512-5361. Phone: (616) 656-9564. FAX: (616) 656-9592. info aaudioadvisorcom Equipment Report Michael Fremer Westlake Audio Lc5.75F minimonitor loudspeaker

hat's a pro audio company doing at CES? W I've asked myself that each of the past few years, whenever I've walked past Westlake Audio's room at the Alexis Park Hotel. My mental excuse for not going in the Westlake room was that Iwas covering analog, so why bother? What Iwas really telling myself was, Westlake is a pro audio company, so why bother? Assigned afew months ago to review Westlake's tiny Lc5.75F minimonitor ($1699/pair), Ihad to bother. Iaccepted the task with amixture of curiosity, resentment, and amusement: "Aren't there already enough speaker comp- anies in high-end audio? Isn't being all over the studio map enough for these folks? Okay, Westlake may know about monitoring music, but what does that have to do with listening to it? Whose bright idea was this, anyway? Iknow it's going to be a'bright' experience!" And so on. Then Igot acall from Westlake's PR guy, who told me that he wanted me to Westlake Audio Lc5.75F loudspeaker hear the speakers using the company's speaker cables and stands and their of this Iwas no longer, and that Ishould lakes from their boxes, the R3s looked modified Boulder amplifier. Fine, what- be sure to dip the cotton into alcohol positively steroidal by comparison. ever —I'll listen standing on my head — and swab all of the connections when I but Itold Mr. PR that "I'm sticking to reviewed their speakers. Background one variable for the actual review, and What ashock! How was Westlake doing in high-end that's the speakers on their stands." In short, Iwent into this review some- audio? After the care packages were deliv- what skeptical, and not exactly looking Very well, thank you, according to ered, but before I'd had achance to forward to listening to teeny-weeny the background information they pro- open any of them, aFedEx envelope speakers, given that Ihad Sonus Faber vided. Founded in 1971, Westlake arrived containing abag of long wood- Amati Homages and Audio Physic Audio now has three divisions: apro en cotton swabs—the kind you see Avanti Ins on the premises. The only audio dealership "considered the engineers chewing on in recording stu- glimmer of hope came from my time largest... in Southern California, and dios — accompanied by anote about with the diminutive Red Rose Music one of the top 10...in the country"; a how Westlake has discovered that R3s, which had filled my room quite recording services group that "operates cleaning contacts can have ahuge effect effectively when Ireviewed them last seven recording rooms from two loca- on the sound, that if I'd been unaware May. But when Iremoved the tiny West- tions in the Hollywood/West L.A.

Description: Two-way stand-mount- tivity: 86dB/2.83V/m. Power handling Price: $1699/pair. Approximate num- ed, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive- (per IEC 268-5 long/short): 80-200W. ber of dealers: 12. Warranty: 5years. units: /14 "soft-dome tweeter, 5" "poly- Dimensions: 14" H by 61/2"W by 9" Manufacturer: Westlake Audio Man- glass"-treated paper-cone woofer. D. Weight: 18 lbs. ufacturing Group, 2696 Lavery Court, Crossover frequency: 5kHz at Finishes: North American Black Wal- Unit 18, Newbury Park, CA 91320. Tel: 12dB/octave. Frequency range: nut, maple, black. (805) 499-3686. Fax: (805) 498- 60Hz-18kHz. Impedance: 7 ohms Serial numbers of units reviewed: 2571. Web: www.westlakeaudio.com. nominal, 4 ohms minimum. Sensi- 349, 350.

Stereophile, November 2001 93 Westlake Audio Lc5.75F arca" and is used by everyone from Westlake began with big, horn- The Lc5.75F "Limp Bizkit to Frank Sinatra"; and a loaded, three-way designs featuring The compact (14" by 6/12 " by 9") manufacturing group that builds loud- dual 15" woofers and active cross- Lc5.75F features a5" "polyglass"-treated speakers for both "recording profes- overs requiring multiple amplifiers. paper-cone woofer and a ferrofluid- sionals and audio connoisseurs." As consumers began buying some of cooled, /34 "soft-fabric-dome tweeter The biggest news: "within the last 15 their studio gear for home use, the that's capped in the rear for better isola- years the company has seen the ratio of company realized that, to reach an tion within the front-ported box. The pro vs consumer sales shift dramatically even larger audience, it would have extensively damped cabinet of veneered to the point that hi-fi sales now account to make smaller, easier-to-drive MDF is available in achoice of North for over 70% of the manufacturing speakers that were not geared for American Black Walnut or maple. (A group's total business." That can be ultra-high SPLs. The result is the black utility finish is also offered.) The taken three ways, of course: Westlake's company's Lc Series, an extensive fien'finish looked excellent, and the 18 consumer business has grown dramati- line of consumer and professional lb box felt solid and well-braced. cally, its pro business has declined dra- loudspeakers of which the '5.75F is A good start, Ithought, as Iset the matically, or both. the newest and second smallest. speakers on the prototype lightweight

Measurements

The little Westlake Audio ameliorates any problems with drive the back wall beneath the terminals. Lc5.75F was of slightly- difficulty. Only in the top octave, Due to logistical problems, Ihad below-average sensitivity, at an where the impedance drops below 4 not read Michael's review text before estimated 84dB(B)/2.83V/m. ohms, will the speaker demand more Imeasured the Lc5.75F, so Ichose my However, its impedance magni- than an 8 ohm-rated amplifier — usual tweeter axis for the main set of tude (fig.1, solid trace) stayed and perhaps not even then, given the response measurements. (I use DRA above 6.8 ohms throughout the lack of music energy in this region Labs' MLSSA system with calibrated bass, midrange, and low-treble with most types of music. The saddle B&K and Mitey Mike II micro- regions, and even when the elec- centered on 60Hz in the magnitude phones to perform my acoustic mea- trical phase angle is large —as it is trace indicates the tuning of the surements of loudspeakers.) The between 90Hz and 120Hz — the small port, which in turn implies Westlake's farfield, quasi-anechoic re- high magnitude in the same region only modest bass extension. sponse on its tweeter axis, averaged There are no wrinkles in the im- across a30° horizontal window, is pedance traces that would indicate the shown in the right half of fig3. The 1000 presence of panel resonances, and On on-axis output slowly rises through

0» indeed, exploring the small cabinet's the midrange, and peaks by 2dB in vibrational behavior with a simple the presence region. The transition to plastic-tape accelerometer revealed the tweeter looks abit ragged, with -ns that it appeared to be relatively well- the tweeter passband then flat, if braced. However, the walls did appear shelved down by acouple of dB. .000 to flex alittle in the upper bass, as Also shown in fig.3 are the near-

90. 1.0 revealed by flg2, acumulative spec- field responses of the woofer and tral-decay plot calculated from the out- port. The latter is the narrow band- Fig.1 Westlake Lc5.75F, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed). put of the accelerometer fastened to pass peaking in the region between (2 ohms/vertical div.) 50Hz and 70Hz and dropping at 12dB/octave above and below that region. Its midrange output is free

1 11 1 11111 1 1111111 1111111 1

dB 0.00

0.0 12.00 •111

-6.0 25.00 1 w -12.0 37.00

-18.0 50.00 20

-24.0 62.00 nec I1 1 111111 I1 111111 11 1 111111 1 HLSSA 100 1000 20.0 108.0 1000.0 cato .. ,, Cunulative Spectral Decay log Frequency - Hz -9.27 dB. 113 Hz 4.0918 msec Fig.3 Westlake Lc5.75F, anechoic response on tweeter axis at 50", averaged across 30° horizontal window and corrected for Fig.2 Westlake Lc5.75F, cumulative spectral-decay plot of accelerometer output fastened to back microphone response, with the nearfield panel beneath terminals. (MLS driving voltage to speaker, 7.55V; measurement bandwidth, woofer and port responses plotted 2kHz.) below 400Hz.

94 Stereophile, November 2001 ACOUSTIC ENERGY ALIANTE •A LOIA ARCAM •A TLANTIS AUDIO CARPET AUDIO MAGIC AUDIOMECA (PIERRE LURNE) AUDIO NOTE •A UDIO TEKNE B&K •B EDINI BILLY BAGS BRIGHT STAR CARDAS •C REEK DCS •DH LABS DODSON •D UNLAVY EGGLESTON WORKS GENESIS • GRADO GOLDEN SOUND JOULE ELECTRA II IF 'FARM LAMM •L YRA MAGNUM DYNALAB Offering the world's finest new and MARIGO •M ETRONOME MIT •M ONTANA used high end audio for 20 years. NORDOST •O RACLE Come by and visit our showrooms QS&D RACKS in Moneta, VA or call QUAD •R EVOX ROKSAN •S ELECO 800-752-4018 SIERRA SOUND ANCHOR for personal and SPENDOR •T ARGET professional consultations. VAC •V AMPIRE WIRE VANS EVERS VIDIKRON 400 Scruggs Rd, Ste 200 VPI •W oLcorr Moneta, VA 24121 SOFTWARE & OTHER BRANDS AVAILABLE

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at the click of your mouse. www.hififarm metal stands Westlake had provided, binding posts with plastic nuts. The 20- working together in "perfect synchron- though Ithought the "Westlake Audio" component crossover is wired point-to- ism" so that, over their shared output, logo was abit too prominent on the point and set at an unusually high 5kHz each has to work only half as hard as it front baffle. The relatively tall (about 3') (at 12dBloctave). would alone. According to him, this supports were encased, top to bottom, The Lc5.75F was designed by Glenn leaves the listener with the impression in soft meshy foam designed to absorb Phoenix, chief engineer and president that "there's more speaker doing the and/or diffuse reflections. of Westlake Audio. According to the work than there actually is." The litera- The Lc5.75Fs frequency response is company, the 30-year audio veteran has ture says that "The shared area on the Lc said to be 60Hz-18kHz, though no designed more than 50 loudspeakers, products is wide...or at least the shared "±dB" figure is cited, nor are distortion some of which have been in production area where the two drivers...arc work- specs provided. The efficiency is just for more than 20 years. He's also de- ing exactly in sync." below average, at 86dB/m for 2.83V signed recording studios and personal According to the literature, "All input, while the nominal impedance is 7 listening rooms around the world. Westlake speakers have their nodal ohms, 4ohms minimum. Connection is Phoenix's design philosophy for the summing points located perpendicular via asingle pair of gold-plated, five-way Lc series was to get the two drivers to the front board and aligned halfway

Measurements

from resonant modes. The woofer any better. As arule of thumb, if occasional "cuppy" coloration - response drops to asharply defined response peaks are balanced by something that tends to be associated notch at the port tuning frequency response dips of around the same with the kind of upper-midrange of 60Hz. In the left side of fig.4 is magnitude and width, the speaker's peak and subsequent dip evident in shown the combined output, perceived balance might well be flat. fig.4 -I think that this graph does summed in the ratio of their radiat- But as Michael did comment on an represent how the speaker behaves. ing diameters and taking acoustic phase into account. While this com- plex sum of the two individual out- puts appears to peak slightly in the upper bass, this will be mainly due to the assumption of a2pi environ- ment inherent in the nearfield mea- surement; it is probable that the

Lc5.75F would actually be maxi- 0.0 -30.00 mally flat in an =echoic chamber. c--15.00 After Ihad finished the measure- -12.0 ments, Iread Michael's text and real- -10.0- 15.00 ized that the Lc5.75F's design axis -24.0- -.30.00 deg was actually slightly below the OILSSA 300.0 1000.0 10000.0 tweeter, between the port and the Frequency File DtsplaY log Frequency - Hz (Smoothed to 0.10 octave) woofer. The closest response I -10.78 dB, 1589 Hz 45.088 deg obtained to this axis is shown in the Fig.5 Westlake Lc5.75F, vertical response family at 50", from back to front: differences in response right half of fig.4. The tweeter level 45*-5" above tweeter axis, reference response, differences in response 5*-45° below is actually a little higher than in fig3, tweeter axis. but to be honest, the integration between the two drivers doesn't look

dB -90.00

0.0 -60.00

-6.0 -30.00

-12.0 0.00

-18.0 30.00

-24.0 60.00 deg boo 111..SSA 300.0 1000.0 10000.0 Fig.4 Westlake Lc5.75F, anechoic response 5° Frequency B110 BiMPidb, log Frequenou - Hz (Smoothed to 0.10 octaym) below tweeter axis at 50", corrected for 2.92 dB, 2042 Hz 90.088 deg microphone response, with the complex sum of the nearfield woofer and port Fig.6 Westlake Lc5.75F, lateral response family at 50", from back to front: responses 90°-5° off- responses plotted below 300Hz. axis, tweeter-axis response, responses 5*--90° off-axis.

96 Stereophile, November 2001 Westlake Audio Lc5.75F between the two sound sources... low-distortion electronics...[and] a good sound with any loudspeaker in (woofer and tweeter, which puts it at near- rather than farfield ...listening any room requires plenty of luck. the lower half of the port in the case of setup" with the speakers firing on-axis Ipositioned the Lc5.75Fs in the usual the Lc5.75F)." That last bit of informa- at the listener-all of which Iwas able places in my room: about 3' from the tion explains why the stands are so tall. to accomplish in my room. back wall, 2/12 'from the side walls, 9' With the front-placed port located apart, and about 8' from my listening between the two drivers and the lis- Setup and Sound position, the speakers' baffles pointed tener's ears best situated between Though written for earlier models in directly at my listening position (per woofer and port, the stand would have Westlake's Lc series and thus not entire- Westlake's instructions). Then Ifired to be relatively tall to achieve that ly applicable to the Lc5.75F, the I2-page them up. alignment for alistener seated in a instruction manual is extremely com- But instead of the thin, analytical, chair of average height. prehensive, well-written, easy to read, "pro audio" voicing I'd expected, Iwas To get the best results, Westlake rec- and ends with "Good luck and good lis- greeted by awarm, inviting, easy-to- ommends "a well-damped environ- tening!" Now that's the voice of loud- take balance -a presentation reminis- ment, good source material...clean, speaker experience talking. Getting cent of the Merlin VSM I'd written

The complex manner in which the er's perceived balance by adjusting the the on- and off-axis responses. De- Westlake's response changes above listening height. spite the woofer being taken an and below the tweeter axis is shown The Lc5.75Fs lateral dispersion is octave higher than is usual, there is in fig.5. Sit way too high or low and shown in figs.6 and 7. Fig.6 shows only amoderate amount of beaming big suckouts appear at the crossover how the actual response changes as apparent above 2kHz. Other than in frequency and in the upper midrange. you move away from the tweeter axis the top octave, where the tweeter gets But over quite awide (±101 vertical to the speaker's sides, while fig.7 quite directional, the speaker's disper- window you can fine-tune the speak- shows just the differences between sion is generally wide and even. The Westlake's step response (fig.8) indicates that the tweeter is connected in inverted acoustic polari- ty, the woofer in positive polarity. The waterfall plot on the tweeter axis (fig.9) is mainly clean, but is marred by delayed energy at 2kHz - there dB -90.00 again is that residual "cupped" col- 0.0 -60.00 oration -and in the upper region of -6.0 -30.00 the woofer's passband. Perhaps this -12.0 0.00 behavior correlates with MF having -18.0 30.00 found that alittle hollowness set in at -24.0 60.00 dog high playback levels. NUM 300.0 1000.0 10000.0 As I've said before, designing a Feeeeee cy Ftle Olaplald Ipe rP110.4«...10 - Hz (Smoothed to 0.10 octave good-sounding speaker to sell at a -1.85 dB. 6837 Hz 68.888 deg real-world price is all about balance. As MF found, the Westlake Lc5.75F Fig.7 Westlake Lc5.75F, lateral response family at 50", from back to front: differences in response 90"-5° off-axis, reference response, differences in response 5*-90° off-axis. may appear to have some measured blemishes, but these have been ar- ranged not to interfere with the man- ner in which the speaker reproduces music. -John Atkinson

5 6 400.0 1000.0 10000 o .r.0a ff, Cutoulat ve Spectral Deese los Feessenow - Hs 3.70 dB. 1998 Hz 0.385 nsec Fig.8 Westlake Lc5.75F, step response on tweeter axis at 50" (5ms time window, Fig.9 Westlake Lc5.75F, cumulative spectral-decay plot at 50" (0.15ms risetime). 30kHz bandwidth).

Stereophde, November 2001 97 about in September, though that speak- suggested enough of those things to or at +100dB, the Lc5.75F held on to its er needed to be listened to 10° off-axis encourage my ear/brain to fill in the relaxed yet detailed overall character. to achieve similar results. Relaxing and rest. And while I expected the When Ipushed it too hard, ahollow- easy on the ears, the Westlake produced Lc5.75Fs unusually high 5k crossover ness did set in —perhaps the woofer's apleasingly rich sonic picture that, on point of 5kHz to reveal that the woofer response close to the 5kHz crossover first hearing, didn't seem to skimp on beam at the top of its passband, either it point became more noticeable. But upper-octave air or transient speed. didn't, or it did but concealed this effec- even then, the tweeter refused to sound But regardless of technology, aspeak- tively enough to not encroach on this hard or edgy, and overall distortion er this small simply can't move agreat small speaker's ability to disappear. seemed low. deal of air or go really deep, so large Like the Spica TC-50 —a cannily Classic's vinyl Led Zeppelin reissues dynamic swings and deep bass are out. designed speaker from another era — didn't embarrass the Westlakes or make And while HF response won't necessar- them sound puny, but the bottom-end ily be compromised, it probably should When I got the deficit and the speaker's smooth, deb- be. With the bottom octave missing, a onair character might have rockers relatively flat speaker can be perceived Lc5.75Fs' woofers moving, looking elsewhere at this price point, or as sounding thin and bright. buying with the intention of adding a From the listener's point of view, a the ports blew shots subwoofer. As with the Merlin SVMs, speaker designer's goal should be to of compressed air clear when Igot the Lc5.75Fs' woofers mov- create the illusion of aneutral voic- ing, the ports blew shots of compressed ing while still managing the sensa- across the room. air clear across the room —only with tion of deep bass without negatively the Westlakes, the air hit me in the face. affecting midbass balance or mid- the Westlake suggested much more than Small jazz combos, folk singers, and range clarity. Maximizing small-box it delivered on the bottom, and the sub- chamber ensembles suited the Lc5.75F performance strengths like image tle midbass bump (intentional or other- best—but that's only from my current specificity, focus, and soundstaging wise) that did that suggesting, did so in a perspective. It's what I'd say today if I can distract listeners from a small way that was easy to ignore. For the were reviewing the Spica TC-50, speaker's inherent limitations. most part, stand-up bass was free of though when Iowned apair (from the The Lc5.75F produced credibly free overhang, male voices weren't chesty, mid- through the late '80s), Ithought standing, three-dimensional images on female voices weren't hollow, and vio- they were great for rock. I've since be- my live-recording reference discs, such lins didn't sound like violas. Pianos didn't come accustomed to 20Hz and below; as Frank Sinatra's Live at the Sands fare quite as well, especially at the lower it's difficult to go back. (Reprise 2FS 101,9LP; 46947-2, CD) end of the keyboard, but again, as with Charlie Haden's Nocturne (CD, and Mel Tonné and Friends at Marty's the Spica TC-50s: Unless Iwas fixated Verve 440 013 611-2), Classic's recent (Finesse W2X 37484, LP). Though on this occasional and very mild "cuppy" reissue of Holly Cole's Temptation (two image size and weight were somewhat coloration, the Lc5.75F's many other LPs, Blue Note/Classic JP500 3), and diminished compared to my far larger strengths kept me from noticing it. the late Harold Land's (with the late and more expensive references, and However it was donc and whatever Billy Higgins) Promised Land, on the low-frequency "room sound" was limi- its crossover design, this little two-way new audiophile label Audiophonic, are ted compared to what abig, full-range could play quite loud without sounding the kind of recordings Icould sit down speaker can produce, the Westlakes compressed or edgy. At late-night levels with, listen to, and find myself asking, What more could Iwant?—even though I knew the answer. Ditto Sundazed's Associated Equipment absolutely essential mono LP of Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Chat:gin' Analog source: Simon Yorke, Music Groove DIN/RCA, RCA/RCA. (Columbia/Sundazed LP5108). The Hall MMF-7 turntables; Graham 22, Interconnect: Harmonic Technology Dylan really shone through the pint- Immedia RPM2 tonearms; Lyra Pro-Silway II, Yamamura Millennium sized Lc5.75Fs: his voice properly Helikon, Helikon Mono, Clearaudio 6000, Wireworld Gold Eclipse. sized, three-dimensional and detailed, Insider, Ortofon Kontrapwikt A cart- Speaker Harmonic Technology Magic with apalpable sensation of a non- ridges. Woofet AC: JPS Labs, Electra Glide electronic fleshy entity singing and Digital source: Musical Fidelity Nu- Fatboy, PS Audio Lab, Wm-world Elec- plucking wirewound strings. That's a Vista 3D CD player, Marantz SA-1 tra HL record you need to own even if you SACD playet Accessories: PS Audio Power Plant haven't yet bought aturntable. Preamplificafion: Hovland HP-100 P300 and P600, Sounds of Silence With these types of discs, the West- preamplifier, Pass OnoX phono pream- Vibraplane active isolation platform, lakes seemed to depart the room, leav- plifier Symposium Rollerblocks (Tungsten), ing asatisfying, credible sonic picture in Power amplifiers: Musical Fidelity Grand Prix Audio Monaco amplifier every sense of the word, as long as I Nu-Vista 300, modified Bouldet stands, Walker motor chive, Finite Ele- didn't crank them beyond levels Loudspeakers: Sonus Faber Amati mente Pagode and Zoethecus equip- appropriate to the music. While not the Homage, Audio Physic Avanti HI, Red ment stands, ART Q dampers, Walk- last word in upper-octave extension, Rose Music R3, Audio Physic Rhea er Valid Points, ASC Tube Traps, Shakti detail, or air, the Lc5.75F delivered subwoofet Stones and On-Lines, RPG BAD and enough to satisfy without turning the Cables: Phono: Hovland Music Abffusor panels. —Michael Freiner balance bright and calling my attention to their lack of deep bass. Once I'd gotten a handle on the

98 Stereophile, November 2001 Lc5.75F, Idecided to hear if the Audio amount of music from acompact, very- Physic Rhea subwoofer (with the West- well-built, reasonably priced package. THE lakes still running full-range) could inte- It will be interesting to see how kind grate with them. With a minimum John Atkinson's test bench is to asystem ART amount of fuss—dialing up the Rhea's whose woofer extends to 5kHz —well OF low-pass rolloff to coincide with the into the upper midrange. Whatever Lc5.75Fs 60Hz low-frequency response measurable problems might be caused SOLID limit—I was able to achieve asuperbly by pushing awoofer that high seemed coherent full-range picture. The result more than offset by acoherent mid- AUDIO was a much bigger soundstage, with range —which was perhaps achieved by VIDEO greater depth and image dimensionality. not handing off the music to the tweet- er somewhere in the more usual DISPLAY Variables 2.2-2.5kHz range. Westlake insisted that Ilisten to the In the end, of course, aspeaker is meant Lc5.75Fs driven by aWestlake-modi- to be listened to, not measured, and the fied Boulder amplifier and Westlake's Lc5.75F was an enjoyable performer. The own cables, and Iobliged. The combi- key to its success was a balance of nation of the unusually supple twist- strengths unmarred by such serious defi- ed-pair cables, the modified amp, and ciencies (for avery small vented box) as the Lc5.75Fs performed as promised: consistently audible frequency blemishes there seemed to be abit more exten- sion and detail on top, better overall Don't let Westlake's focus and immediacy, and, generally, a greater sense of musical control. pro-audio heritage stop Given that the powerful Musical you from checking out Fidelity Nu-Vista 300 also exhibits these characteristics and is capable of the Lc5.75F. delivering huge amounts of power at very low impedances (1000W into 2 (nasality, chestiness, sibilance, "hoot," ohms), Ihave no explanation for the grain, etc.), doubling or other gross forms differences Iheard — unless the Boul- of distortion at high SPLs, or dynamic der amp's high-frequency character- compression. Whatever deficiencies the istics are somewhat more in-your-face measurements might show, they were than the MF's, and thus were abetter cannily hidden. match for the Westlake's top end. As long as you don't press the But the Boulder is aWestlake-mod- Lc5.75Fs beyond reasonable limits (you ified amp and not for sale as such, so can probably push them harder than I'm not sure my experience with it is of you might think), you'll be amazed by any value to you. Still, Iconcluded that what these well-engineered little speak- this warmish-sounding speaker will ers can do—so long as you provide them sound most immediate and involving with aclean environment and approp- when partnered by apowerful solid- riate associated equipment, including 111 A LICZSV state amplifier that's comfortable driv- the right stands. (Your ears must be level ing low-impedance loads. with the area between the port and PRO-STANDS' AUCIICIR/10E0 • COMPUTER FURNITURE Iwas also sent apair of gray foam woofer or there will be considerable E gr Speaker Muffs ($112/pair), which fit high-frequency rolloff.) over and frame the Lc5.75F's baffle. The Lc5.75Fs combine a pleasing, They're designed to improve imaging open frequency balance, fine low-level and soundstaging and increase "appar- resolution, an authoritative and coherent With over 100 designs from ent" bass response, but in my well- rhythmic presentation, and superb imag- Audio Racks, Component Centers treated room Iheard no difference with ing and soundstaging. They can't fill a and TV Tables to CD & DVD storage. the Muffs on or off. In more "live" large room the way the $3500/pair We stand at the top! rooms, Ihave no doubt that they'd be dipolar Red Rose Music R3 can, or go as Be sure to visit an effective if ugly accessory. low as either the R3 or the $2000/pair us on the web powered-woofer Infinity Intermezzo to locate adealer C.ondusion 2.6. But these $1699 speakers did fill my near you and The Westlake Audio Lc5.75F was a room when Ilistened in the nearfield, browse through very pleasant surprise —not at all what and were more reminiscent of the $8000 our new 135 Iexpected, whether from apro audio Merlin VSMs in their overall supple, page, year company or from atiny vented box. lucid presentation than the Red Roses or 2002 catalog. Clearly, Glenn Phoenix used listening Intermezzos. That makes them avery to music as afoundation for his work, attractive choice if you're strapped for 805/644-2185 along with measured performance. room or cash or both. Don't let West- 4147-A Transport St. •Ventura. California 93003 He's designed asmall, well-balanced lake's pro-audio heritage stop you from www.billybags.com speaker that delivers an impressive checking out the Lc5.75F. CI

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Mirage 0M-7 loudspeaker

irage is agood name for a directional radiator, sounds more like speaker manufacturer; it sug- live music than what can be achieved by M gests that their products forward-firing designs or dipolar loud- produce realistic illusions. A 1934 dic- speakers, and that the senses of depth tionary I've got supplies adefinition for and space will be very convincing. "mirage" that might also be apt: "An Imaging with omnidirectional speakers optical atmospheric illusion by which won't be as vividly precise as with con- the image of adistant object is seen as if ventional speakers; however, Mirage inverted." Idon't mean that the Mirage contends that such hyper-detailed imag- OM stands Harry Belafonte on his ing isn't natural or (therefore) desirable. head, or makes him sing "0-Day" — Mirage's M-series speakers, though instead, certain tenets of cones-in-a-box quite well-received, didn't completely loudspeaker design and usage are achieve Paisley's omnidirectional ideal. turned turvy-topsy by Mirage's Omni- The problem was that output at 90° off- polar concept. axis —that is, directly to the side of the cabinet — was somewhat reduced, re- History, theory, and such sulting in afigure-8 dispersion pattern. In 1987, Mirage debuted the M-1 — The OM series was designed to the first "bipolar" speaker design. solve this problem, primarily by mov- What chief designer Ian Paisley did ing the front and rear baffles as close was put conventional drivers on the together as possible, and by careful back as well as the front of the cabinet, design of all other parameters: baffle and drive them in phase — unlike a width, shape of the edge and interface dipole speaker, in which the front and with the grille to make positive use of back waves arc out of phase. The goal, diffraction effects, selection of drivers then as now, was to produce atruly and crossover frequencies, etc. The omnidirectional radiation pattern —as result, as Mirage suggests in the "Tech- if the sound was being produced from nical Overview" document packed something like apulsating ball (it's with the speakers, is that you can put actually more like avertical cylinder)) your nose on the side of the cabinet and Obviously, room reflections will play it'll sound as if you're listening to adriv- abig part in the perceived sound of such er that's right in front of you. This is aspeaker; this, too, is part of the design true (I tried it) and not very surprising: desiderata. Mirage believes that the you've got aset of drivers right in front combination of direct and reflected of each ear, albeit facing the same direc- sound, when produced by atruly omni- tion as your cars instead of at them. It's stereo imaging! However, as you might 1Something that the Ohm 'Walsh speakers have been expect, at this position the highs are doing for many years, and, more recently, certain mod- somewhat rolled-off. No one said that el, front mbl — .both with designs very different from that used by Mirage. This is also something that Bose obtaining purely omnidirectional be- med to achieve with the original 901. havior would be easy. Mira ge0M-7 loudspeaker

Description: Ploorstanding, reflex- Frequency response: 30Hz-20kHz, Price: $2200/pair. Approximate num- loaded, "Omnipolar" loudspeaker. ±3dB. Room efficiency: 90dB. Imped- ber of dealers: 375. Warranty: 5years, Drive-units: two 1" PTH-cone (Pure ance: 6 ohms nominal, 4 ohms mini- parts & labor. Titanium Hybrid) tweeters, two 4.5" mum. Recommended amplifier Manufacturer: Mirage Loudspeakers, polypropylene-cone midranges with power: 50-200W. a division of Audio Products Interna- butyl surrounds, one 8" polypropy- Dimensions: 43.75" H by 11.5" W by tional, 3641 McNicoll Avenue, Scarbor- lene-cone woofer with butyl sur- 14.4" D. Weight: 78 lbs each. ough, Ontario MI X 1G5, Canada. Tel: round. Tweeters and midranges Finishes: Cherry, black; high-gloss (416) 321-1800. Fax: (416) 321-1500. arranged in Omnipolar array (one of black for extra cost. Web: www.miragespeakers.com. each pair fires forward, one rearward). Serial numbers of units reviewed: Crossover frequencies: 200Hz, 2kHz. 0209215, 0209392.

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3023 E. Sangamon Ave., Springfield, IL 62702 •217-544-3178 •Fax: 217-544-1483 Mirage 0M-7

Audiophiles who've spent significant conventional woofer — then you've lower cabinet. The front of the bass cab- time and money to damp or diffuse the got agood idea of what the 0M-7 inet has agrille that matches the upper first-reflection points on the side walls of (and its larger sibling, the 0M-5, unit's; this lower grille also sports a their listening rooms need to undo their which includes apowered subwoofer) Mirage logo. Viewed from the front, the work to listen to the 0M-7 as intended. looks like. The top section is shorter 0M-7 is quite elegant; from the side, its For Mirage, we rewrite the well-known and thicker than ahybrid's, with afab- narrow top and wide bottom give it a audiophile axiom of "Side-wall reflec- ric-covered grille on the front and the slightly ungainly Baby Huey profile. tions badr to "Side-wall reflections.elodr back. The grille, though removable, Around back are four substantial should be left in place —as mentioned binding posts, knurled for easy finger- Seeing things above, it's a functional element of tightening (but not application of anut If you're familiar with the look of vari- the design. driver), with unusually burly gold- ous electrostatic-dynamic hybrid Cherry-veneer columns on each side plated jumpers, removable for bi- speakers — a thin panel on top, a and aveneered top cap and bottom wiring. There are also two ports, one much deeper box below containing a plate frame the black grilles and black above the other.

Measurements

The Mirage 0M-7's quasi-ane- phase angle. Optimistically specified at 2kHz. However, the region cov- choic sensitivity was fractionally receivers would best be avoided with ered by the tweeters gently rises for below average, at an estimated the 0M-7. The "saddle" at 35Hz in three octaves, reaching +8dB at 86dB(B)/2.83V/m. However, it will this graph's magnitude trace indicates 20kHz compared with the reference appear to be more sensitive in-room the tuning frequency of the twin level at lkHz. As El Bee noted, the due to the presence of its rear-firing rear-facing ports. balance will have a"slight whitening." drive-units, which is presumably why No obvious wrinldes or disconti- On the right-hand side of fig3 are Mirage quotes a"room efficiency" nuities can be seen in fig.1 that would shown the individual responses of the specification of 90dB. Its impedance imply the presence of cabinet panel front midrange unit and woofer and (fig.1) drops below 4ohms slightly in resonances. Nevertheless, a high- one of the ports, measured in the the upper bass and midrange, the for- level mode at 348Hz on the front nearfield using the small Mitey Mike mer coinciding with quite asevere baffle (fig.2) might obscure lower- II from Old Colony Sound Labs. The midrange clarity. The bass bin was two lower-frequency units appear to relatively well-braced, with this cross over at around 150Hz, >with zoom Me mode well-suppressed in compari- symmetrical 12dB/octave slopes. The utm ee son, and another, at 250Hz, only woofer actually covers quite arestrict- ,cro, slightly higher in level. ed frequency range —about an octave To the right side of fig3 is shown and ahalf, centered on 80Hz, with 00 the output of the midrange/tweeter the ports handling most of the speak- •MO

ee section on the tweeter axis at 50", er's midbass output. The woofer's assessed with DRA Labs' MLSSA minimum-motion point, indicated by Nne system and acalibrated B&K micro- the sharp notch at 40Hz, is alittle oo NI 0 phone. The speaker is quite flat higher in frequency than Iexpected Fig.1 Mirage 0M-7, electrical impedance through the midrange and mid-treble from the impedance graph. The ports (solid) and phase (dashed). regions, disturbed by asmall suckout roll off steeply above their passband, (2 ohms/vertical div.) with only a well-suppressed peak apparent at 600Hz.

" fi 0.00

12.00

0.0 25.00

-37.00

50.00 100 62.00 ...sec

— MLSSA 20.0 100.0 1000.0 Fig.3 Mirage 0M-7, acoustic crossover on Cumulat ve Spectral Decay lust Frequency-Hz tweeter axis at 50", corrected for 14.83 dB. 348 Hz 0.989 nsec microphone response, with the nearfield midrange, woofer, and port responses Fig.2 Mirage 0M-7, cumulative spectral-decay plot of accelerometer output fastened to center of plotted below 500Hz, lkHz, and front baffle. (MIS driving voltage to speaker, 7.55V; measurement bandwidth, 2kHz.) 800Hz, respectively.

Stereophile, November 2001 103 The solidly built 0M-7 gave areas- Which had me worried -this was not Baffled, befuddled, bummed - but suring thud when rapped with the natural sound, but the sound of some- still hopeful -I left the 0M-7s playing knuckles; the sides of the woofer cabinet thing gone wrong. The midrange was overnight and all next day (it's really produced aslightly more hollow note. constricted and extremely nasal, and the handy having adedicated listening build- highs were ragged and rough. Ouch! ing) in hopes that all they needed was Chillin' in SoCal That first night Itried playing with all even more break-in time. Igot the 0M-7s a few days before manner of positioning, even facing the The next evening, Ithought I'd Mirage's marketing man, Jeff Percy, and speakers directly at each other; then away walked into a different room. designer Andrew Welker (whose name from each other - they're Omnipolar, Ahhhh...now these were speakers I graces the back of the 0M-7, along with after all -as well as brute-force sound could sit down and listen to! The gross Ian Paisley's) were due to visit. The speak- absorption (foam panels directly adjacent aberrations were gone. ers had been undergoing break-in at to each speaker). All of this was interest- When Irelayed this tale to Percy and Mirage HQ, so Iexpected them to sound ing, to say the least, but didn't do much to Welker, they weren't surprised. The as Welker and Paisley had intended. alter the 0M-7's problematic sound. speakers had been shipped airfreight

Measurements

Fig.4 shows how all these indiv- gesting that it would probably be a between the two midrange units. But idual responses sum on the tweeter good idea not to toe-in the Mirages whether it is due to the 0M-7's rela- axis, with the result averaged across all the way to the listening position. tively wide baffle or its use of rear- a30° horizontal window. The mid- These two graphs also show that this and front-firing drivers, the contour range and low treble are basically would also usefully suppress the for- lines in these graphs are not as flat, with the rising top octaves bal- ward top octaves alittle. smooth or as uniformly spaced as we anced by asomewhat underdamped The off-axis directionality around see with speakers that throw accu- woofer alignment, and with no true 11cHz is probably due to interference rate, well-defined soundstages. Ido deep bass present. However, with the upper-bass bloom and a-6dB point of 30Hz (referred to the lIcHz reference level), the 0M-7 will sound bigger than it is - as LB found in his auditioning. Not only the on-axis response

affects aspeaker's perceived tonal bal- do -90.00

ance, of course. Its off-axis behavior 6.0 60.00

also plays arole in all but the largest, 0.0 30.00 most heavily damped rooms. Figs.5 -6.0 no and 6reveal the 0M-7's lateral radia- -12.0 30.00 tion pattern: fig.5 shows the actual -111.0 60.00 dey responses plotted every 5° out to the MLS50 300.0 1000.0 10000.0 speaker's sides, fig.6 just the differ- rweguenoti rile Dimple). log Frequency - Ho (Smoothed to 0.10 octave) ences between the off-axis responses 2.95 dB, 1864 Hz 8.888 deg

and that on the tweeter axis. The first Fig.5 Mirage 0M-7, lateral response family at 50", from back to front: responses 90°-5° off-axis, thing to note is that the on-axis suck- tweeter-axis response, responses 5*-90* off-axis. out at 21cHz fills in to the sides, sug-

dB -90.00

6.0 -60.00

0.0 -30.00

0.00

-12.0 loo woo MOO 30.00 -18.o 60.00 deg IlLSSA Fig.4 Mirage 0M-7, anechoic response on 300.0 1000.0 10000.0 tweeter axis at 50", averaged across Frequency File Display log Feeeeee cm - He (Smoothed to 0.10 octave) 30° horizontal window and corrected 0.56 dB, 1864 Hz -85.000 deg for microphone response, with the complex sum of the nearfield midrange, woofer, and port responses plotted Fig.6 Mirage 0M-7, lateral response family at 50", from back to front: differences in response below 300Hz, 90°-5° off-axis, reference response, differences in response 5*-90* off-axis.

104 Stereophile, November 2001 Mirage 0M-7 from Canada, and it gets cold in those to positioning, but do pay dividends settling on aspot for the speakers some- cargo holds. The low temperatures had with careful placement. Other than the what more toward the back wall than stiffened up that which had been previ- break-in exercise and positioning the my usual (44" from the back wall and ously loosened. speakers at the spot where other models about 48" from the sides, with the lis- Later, the 0M-7s underwent asimi- have done well, Ihadn't had any time to tening position about 9' from the speak- lar transformation, when Iwent into the experiment with them by the time er plane). He also toed them in abit, so listening room one cold night.2 This Percy and Welker dropped by. Welker that the cabinets' inside walls were still time, however, they came to quickly, as set about listening and repositioning, visible. That's where Ileft them for the room and they warmed up. After most of their time here. that, Ialways made sure there was ample ambient warmup time before 2Or as cold as it gets here in San Diego County: in the Sound... high 30s to mid-40s M. settling in to listen.3 Before Idelve into the special spatial 3Electronics have been always well-warmed in my lis- properties of Omnipolar sound, let's get According to the user's manual, the tening lab, electrically speaking; now, Imake sure the 0M-7s aren't very fussy when it comes room has been, too. to the bottom of this. No, not the con-

note that while El Bee liked the above that axis. The Mirage is other- are connected with positive acoustic Mirages' imaging, it was not as well- wise not that fussy about listening axis, polarity (the sharp up/down spike defined as possible. except that the best integration at 3.6ms and the lazier triangle In the vertical plane (fig.7, asuck- between the tweeter and midrange 0.4ms later), while the woofer is out at the upper crossover frequency occurs just below the tweeter axis. connected with negative polarity develops le or more below the tweet- In the time domain, the 0M-7's (the broad, negative-going hump er axis, with acorresponding energy step response (fig.8) indicates that centered between 5and 6ms). The excess in the same region 10° or more the front tweeter and midrange unit actual drive-unit polarity doesn't matter except when it comes to waveform preservation — and the jury is out on that subject. What does matter, at least when it comes to the frequency response, is how the individu drive-unit step re- sponses integrate: there should be no discontinuities. Fig.8 shows that while the midrange step does smoothly hand over to the woofer, that step starts very slightly late, compared with the decay of the tweeter step. The solution, as implied by fig.7 would be to lower the measuring axis slightly below the tweeter axis. Finally, the Mirage's cumulative spectral-decay or waterfall plot (fig.9) Fig.7 Mirage 0M-7 vertical response family at 50", from back to front: differences in response indicates some delayed energy coinci- 15*-5 ° above tweeter axis, reference response, differences in response 5*-10° below tweeter axis. dent with the on-axis crossover notch. But aside from that and some mid- treble hash, this plot is quite clean. —John Atkinson

dB 0.00

12.0 0.60

6.0 1.26

0.0 ,emee-1.87

2 53

- 12.0 3.13 mare HLSSA 400.0 1000.0 10000.0 iori en ms 6 Cumulative Spectral Decay log Frequency - Ha 8.79 dB, 3152 Hz 8.888 msec Fig.8 Mirage 0M-7, step response on tweeter axis at 50" (5ms time window, 3OkHz Fig.9 Mirage 0M-7, cumulative spectral-decay plot at 50" (0.15ms risetime). bandwidth).

Stereophile, November 2001 105 elusion — I'm talking about bass re- right. Little percussive tidbits — bells, played this soft-focus effect as well. Con- sponse: The Mirage 0M-7 is, no mis- blocks, things that go click and pop, as trasted with the Joseph Audio RM-7si take about it, ahill-range loudspeaker. I on "Bird on a Wire" from Jennifer monitors, the 0M-7s, besides having was consistently impressed by the depth Warnes' Famous Blue Raincoat—tended more weight and authority, portrayed and power of the bass the 0M-7 pro- to localize well with most good-quality the orchestra as more of, well, an orches- duced. True, concussive, feel-it-in-your- speakers, and did so with the 0M-7s. tra than as agroup of individual instru- chest whumps were not unusual — like It was also interesting to note that the mentalists. Oh, sure —with the Mirages those on "The Ubiquitous Mr. Love- soundstage didn't change much with Icould pick out any player and identify grove," from Dead Can Dance's Into the changes in my position in the listening approximately where he was; but with Labyrinth (Lp, 4AD DAD-3013). scat —or even as Imoved around the the plucky little RM-7si's, the level of As part of my bass-appreciation ses- room. Some speakers cause shifts in detail was uncanny. sions, Ipulled out that old-time audio- focus or tonal balance even with slight The somewhat more diffuse acoustic phile percussion extravaganza, Ddfos head movements, but the Mirages were signature became more apparent as the (Reference Recordings RR-12CD) and rock-steady. volume level increased. Two recordings skipped right to "Gates of Dâfos,” Comparison with the Thiel CS.5s, of manly men — Leonard Cohen Mickey Hart's workout on the drum- imaging champs that they are, was smooth-talking his way through mer's erector set he calls The Beast. "Tower of Song," from I'm Your Man The large bass drum that starts it off The soundstage didn't (CD, Columbia CK 44191); and the sent ataut, tight blast my way, followed Crash Test Dummies' Brad Roberts' by aroom-rolling rumble —just like change much with basso absurdo reading of "Superman's being in abig room with abig drum. Song," from Best of Mountain Stage, f4)I. The sonic booms that followed were changes in my position Three (CD, Blue Plate Music BPM- exactly pinpointed, with objects in the 003 CD) — illustrated the effects of middle farther back and those to the in the listening seat— higher volume via the 0M-7s. At mod- side more forward. erate levels, the singers appeared as I've or even as I moved come to expect them: as well-focused ...and Vision around the room. central images. Raising the volume As for other performance parameters, seemed to draw the accompanying life in the Omnipolar region plays such acoustic space up around each singer, asignificant part that there's no point in instructive. The Tine's draw each in- blurring where the men left off and the trying to put off the question: Did the strument very precisely; through them, sidemen began. This didn't happen 0M-7s throw a believable, palpable Ihear avery vivid rendering of each with the Thiels or the Joseph Audios. soundstage? In other words, did they contributor. With the 0M-7s, instru- Less subterranean vocals, such as create a...mirage? ments were equally well placed, but not Dan Hicks' and Maryanne Price's on I was happily surprised when my outlined so exactly. But that wasn't all "Crazy —'Cause He Is," from Hicks' It favorite "visual" records were nicely ren- bad; the overall acoustic signature — Happened One Bite (LP, Warner Bros. dered by the 0M-7s. The horn and whip the feel of the instruments and voices 3158), had a natural timbre, Hicks' snaps (or whatever they are) during "The as part of an acoustic space — was laconic tenor contrasted nicely with Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove" were placed quite convincing. Price's lively, higher-pitched style. The where Fve grown used to hearing them — More complex material, such as small acoustic ensemble framed the behind and to the outside of the speaker "Tourist Point of View," from Duke two singers well — a slightly-larger- positions —while the hand-drumming Ellington's The Far East Suite: Special Mix than-intimate setting that seemed ideal was pinpointed in the middle and mid- (CD, Bluebird/RCA 66551-2), dis- fare for the 0M-7s. Cymbals, sibilance, and other things that go tizz were mostly kept in propor- Associated Equipment tion, but had atendency to get alittle hard —again, as the volume rose. On Analog source: L11111 Axis turn- 11 Plus, Goertz Python MI2. AC: "Andy's Chest," from Lou Reed's Trans- table, Linn Basik tonearm, Lyra API Power Enhancer and Power former (LP, RCA AFL1-4807), the hi-hats Lydian Beta cartridge. Link. via the 0M-7s had ametallic sparkle that Digital source: Arcam Audio FMJ Accessories: API Power Wedge became abit over-the-top when played CD 23 player. 110 and 116 power-line condit- loudly. At similar volume via the RM-7si, Preamplification: Anthem PRE ioners, Checkpoint Systems P-770 they were just louder. The sax and n-um- 1L line preamp and PRE 1P phono Laser Speaker alignment tool, Nitty pet solos on "Way Out Basie," from preamp. Gritty One record-cleaner with Fawners Market Barbegsw (LP, Pablo 2310- Power amplifier: Simaudio Record Research Labs cleaning fluid, 874), displayed aslight "whitening" in Celeste 4070se. Sumiko FB -1 Fluxbuster, Audience their harmonics through the Mirage —a Loudspeakers: Thiel CS.5, Joseph Auric Illuminator CD treatment, tendency not displayed via the RM-7si. Audio RM-7si. Bright Star Audio Big Rocks and Air Similarly, complex material, especially Cables: Phono: Harmonic Tech- Mass 1, DH Cones footers, Sala- that with significant upper-mid/high- nology Crystal Silver. Interconnect: mander audio racks, RoomTunes frequency content, tended to sound abit Harmonic Technology Pro Silway CornerTunes, big hunk-o-foam-on- congested at higher volumes. Mk.II, Goertz Micro Purl Silver. the-ceiling homemade absorber. Ihave to wonder how much these Speaker: Harmonic Technology Pro —Lonnie Brownell volume-related changes were due to the coupling of my room and the 0M-7s

106 Stereophile, November 2001 and how much they were duc to the speakers themselves. My guess—and it is aguess; Ihad no other room to try them in —is that it was the former, or at INNE21/5UND° least some of both. My room still tends toward liveliness, despite my efforts to tone it down. The speaker-room inter- face, always aprimary determiner of a KILOWATT MONOBLOC AMPLIFIER system's sound, is even more critical 0, SI with an omnidirectional speaker. A 1,000 watts @ 8 2,000 watts @ 4 speaker like the Mirage 0M-7 and a MSRP $6,995 bright environment might not be the most synergistic of matches. That said, this wasn't aproblem at my preferred moderate listening levels.

Conclusion The Mirage 0M-7 is aunique speaker, the result of aquest to perfect atech- nology conceived more than 15 years ago. It would appear that, in engineer- ing terms, Mirage has succeeded. The

The Mirage 0M-7 is also a lot of speaker for the money.

0M-7 is also alot of speaker for the money — for $2k you get five drivers, a large, solid, floorstandind cabinet, and substantial biwirable binding posts. As for musical enjoyment, that's in the car of the beholder. There is no more highly variable family of compo- nents than the loudspeaker clan. Digital vs analog, tubes vs solid-state, and push- pull vs single-ended arc high-profile religious debates, but at least the lines are well-drawn. With loudspeakers, there arc almost as many conceptual camps as there arc audiophiles. With which should one align? Is your calling awaiting you in the Order of the Omnipolar? Depends. If you're a PIF (Precision Imaging Freak), ELECTROSTATIC AMPLIFIER then probably not — the 0M-7s image 300 watts @ 8D., 600 watts @ 4O., or surprisingly well, but not in that hyper- monobloc version with 800 watts @ 8£2, 1200 watts @ 4 real way that can be so spooky (if un- real). Also, he who lives in aglass house MSRP $2,995 shouldn't throw down long green for omnidirectional speakers; in fact, in an environment that reflective you'd do well to consider forgoing all speakers Also available: and switching to headphones. HOME THEATER AMPLIFIER But if you've got aroom that can han- dle deep bass and isn't too lively, and you looks just like the Electrostatic Amplifier like amore natural, relaxed take on the 3or 4 channels, 200 watts per channel stereophonic imaging thing, then the MSRP $2,995 (3 channels) or $3,195 (4 channels) 0M-7 is definitely worth alisten. It may be just what you were looking for but didn't know it —because an Omnipolar WWW.1NNERSOUND.NET (770) 838-1400 speaker's like virtually nothing else.

Stereophite, November 2001 107 Meridian DSP 8 0 0 0

'Continued from page 91 coding format that uses encryption and my experience of remixes almost always anti-copy methods to provide asecure retreating into techno-clichés and sam- "Wait a minute," Ihear you say. copyright protection environment," pled lo-rez garbage, Ihad hopes for this "Doesn't the Technics downsample/ allowing the speakers to be fed hi-rez album, which features Propellerheads, truncate to 16/48 from its digital output?" data even when the content provider Mantronix, and 10 other remixers let Well, no. The DSP8000's front- doesn't wish those data to be made loose on 13 classic tracks by the Tigress panel display unambiguously showed available "outside the box." Thus, from Tiger Bay. "PCM 96kHz," and Ichecked the data when you play aDVD-Audio disc on Ishouldn't have bothered. Even with format with RME's DIGICheck soft- this CD upsampled to 882kHz, the ware. It appears that it is not the player DSP8000s let me clearly hear that all but the disc, and therefore the content MHR also offers a involved had clearly thought 16-bit reso- provider, that controls the presence or lution an unattainable dream! absence of ahi-rez digital output. Put a possible sonic benefit Classic or Chesky DVD-V disc in a Conclusions DVD player and, provided the manu- in that the effects of any The Meridian DSP8000 offers full- facturer has included the necessary range, Class A sound. While the speaker double-speed interface hardware, you word-clock jitter will be can be used with third-party digital get atwo-channel 24/96 datastream sources, it gives of its best with the out of the S/PDIF port, even when decorrelated from Meridian 800 DVD/CD transport. Yes, the player's manufacturer states that the music. $40,000 seems expensive for apair of the machine always downsamples/ speakers, but you also get 650Wpc of truncates to 16/48. But with all the amplification and state-of-the-art digital DVD-As Ihad handy, the Technics was processing in asuperbly styled, room- allowed to put out only 16/48 via its the latest version of the Meridian 800 friendly package. 'While Ihesitate to use S/PDIF output, the DSP8000 display (premiered at the September CEDIA the word "bargain" in this context, showing "48X." Upsampling that sig- conference), MHR-encrypted versions you'd have to spend at least $40,000 to nal by feeding it to one of the Meridian of the 24/96 data can still be fed to match the DSP8000's performance 800's digital inputs gave only asmall DSP8000s. with apair of conventional speakers improvement in sound quality. MHR also offers apossible sonic used with aconventional preamplifier, benefit in that, when the data are power amplifier, and digital processor. Meridian High Resolution decrypted within the speaker, the Highly recommended. CI The DSP8000 supports Meridian High effects of any word-clock jitter will be Resolution (MHR). In Meridian's decorrelated from the music, thus words, this is 'a proprietary secure en- reducing the jitter's audibility. Even knowing that, however, I still felt straight CD data played back on the READER SERVICES Associated Equipment 800 and upsampled to 882kHz sound- ed better than when the same data Digital sources: Meridian 800 were upsampled and encrypted with DVD-V/CD/CD-R player, Apple MHR. (The 800's data output can be Macintosh 8100, 80MHz, fitted toggled between the two states, and its MOVING? with two Sonic Solutions SSP3 upsampling turned off, using the Con- Please give us 6-8 weeks notice. digital audio workstation NuBus figuration program.) Fill in the form below or attach the mailing cards, connected via 15' TosLink label from acurrent issue or go to optical link; Technics DVD-A10 Criticisms www.sterophile.com. DVD-A player; Accuphase DP- Only one. While Icould adjust the HF Ill Please change my address from: 100 SACD transport and DC-101 control to ameliorate the somewhat D/A processor (this used from its shut-in highs, the mid-treble balance OLD ADDRESS balanced analog outputs and redig- was always alittle on the forward side. itized at 24/96 with adCS 904 While this added to the impression of Name A/D converter). detail and clarity, it was at the expense of Street Address Apt No Equalization/formatation/format conver- aslightly relentless quality — a small City State Zip sion: Z-Systems rdp-1 digital con- degree of "bite" in the lower treble — trol center (updated to handle with recordings that were already over- FILL IN NEW ADDRESS BELOW 96kHz sources). cooked in this region. Cables: Daralinlr AudioQuest Imust emphasize that whether or Name SVD-4, Meridian S/PDIF. AC: not this slight treble forwardness will Street Address Apt No, Synergistic Research Designers' bother you will be very dependent on City State Zip Reference2 (8000s), PS Audio Lab the distance between the speakers and (P300). the sidewalls, and on the absorption of Mail entire form to: Accessories: PS Audio Power the room furnishings —and, of course, Stereophile Plant 300 at 90Hz (Meridian 800), on the recordings. In arecent fit of mad- P.O. Box 53117 ASC Tube Traps, RPG Abffusors. ness, Ipicked up Diamonds Are Forever Boulder, CO 80322-3117 —John Atkinson (Nettwerk America 6700-30178-2), a 5FGR6 CD of Shirley Bassey remixes. Despite

108 Stereophile, November 2001 Equipment Report Brian Damkroger Nordost Valhalla interconnect 8, speaker cable

ne of the highlights of any Consumer Electronics Show, I 0have found, is Nordost Corp- oration's demonstration of their cables. Using arelatively modest system and non-audiophile source material, they run through asimple, straightforward sequence, climbing up through their product line, culminating with their new, just-introduced model. At each step, the system sounds distinctly bet- ter — clearer, cleaner, with more body and tonal purity —than with the previ- ous model. There's no hype, artifice, or magic, just aclear demonstration of the progress that Nordost is making as they refine their designs. At the 2001 CES last January, the Nordost demo featured their new Val- halla interconnect and loudspeaker cables. Sure enough, listening to the Valhallas made Nordoses previous top- of-the-line cables, the Quatro-fil inter- connect and SPM Reference speaker cables, sound abit grungy and confused in comparison. And because Nordoses cables have been regular components of my systems for the past several years, it was only natural for me to audition their latest.

Valhalla interconnect: 83300/m pair with RCAs The Valhalla interconnect is similar to, and an evolutionary advancement of, Nordost Valhalla speaker cable the Quatro-fil. The Quatro-fil uses four bundles of seven conductors each, ing, and polished prior to wrapping compared with the Quatro-fil's specs of each bundle surrounded by amonofil- and encapsulation. 12pF/ft and 0.08pH/ft. ament spacer and encapsulated in a The eight conductors are then bond- All of my review interconnects were Teflon tube. The Valhalla uses eight ed using aproprietary process, and the single-ended and terminated using individual conductors, each wrapped bundle is wrapped in adual-layer silver- Nordoses ground-before-hot Moonglo with a monofilament spacer and foil shield and encased in another, outer, RCA plugs. Iused a3m run between encapsulated in an evacuated, airtight extruded Teflon tube, this 0.25" in my TNT/JMW/Micro-Benz analog Teflon tube. The conductors them- diameter. The final result yields capad- rig and the VAC CPA1 Mk.III preamp, selves are 99.999999% OFC copper, tance and inductance numbers of and a6m run between the VAC and my plated with a78pm-thick silver coat- 22pF/ft and 0.055pH/ft, respectively, Classé CAM-350 monoblock amps. A

Description: Micro-monofilament tion; additional length, 81900/m. Manufacturer: Nordost Corporation, speaker cables and interconnects. Interconnect: $3300/m pair with RCA 420 Franklin Street, Framingham, Serial numbers of units reviewed: termination; balanced (XLR) configur- MA 01702. Tel: (800) 836-2750. Fax: N/A. ation, 860 extra; additional length, (508) 879-8197. E-mail: nordostflat Prices: Speaker cables: 84200/m pair 81000/m. Approximate number of [email protected]. Web: www.nor with banana-plug or spade termina- dealers: 100. Warranty: Lifetime. dost.com.

Stereophrle, November 2001 109 lm length fed the VAC from either a derfully detailed with the Valhallas. bottom end, the double-basses and Simaudio Moon Eclipse or Wadia 861 Individual cellos, for example, were dis- cellos sounded powerful and articu- CD player. Ialso performed some lis- tinct in tone and texture, as well as in late. Yet somehow, the orchestra as a tening evaluations running the Wadia their positions within the section. I've whole didn't have quite the weight directly into the Classés, via the 6m criticized earlier Nordost cables for and solid foundation that other cables interconnect run. Prior to any serious slightly overemphasizing image out- provided. listening, each cable spent about aweek lines, but there was no such exaggera- Similarly, when Iconcentrated instead on the Duo-Tech Cable Burn-In device, tion with the Valhallas. Image edges on the upper-bass/lower-midrange and another week installed and settling were distinct, but interacted naturally region, it did seem to be atouch re- into my system. with the surrounding space —nor were cessed, or polite-sounding. Oboes, the images outlines, but densely filled- violas, trombones — all seemed a bit Wired: It was immediately obvious in and three-dimensional. smaller and not quite as weighty, or as that the Valhalla interconnects were The woodwinds in the Sibelius were deeply resonant as these instruments can something special. They had aclean, sound. The effect wasn't huge —more open, airy sound, and moved the sound- of apersonality than acoloration —and stage boundaries out, to farther than I It was immediately Inever found it onerous, regardless of had ever heard in my system. They associated equipment. But the slight lack opened up the spaces between orches- obvious that the Valhalla of warmth and weight, combined with tral sections as well, and even the spaces the air and treble extension, did give the between individual instruments within interconnects were Valhallas adistinct character. the sections. One very clear example that Inoted was in Heifetz's perfor- something special. Valhalla loudspeaker cable: mance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, $4200/m pair with Walter Hendl conducting the The Valhalla speaker cable represents Chicago Symphony (RCA LSC-2435). also great examples: clearly bounded, Nordost's first use of micro-mono- In the first movement are some double- but warm, woody, and solid. And one of filament conductors in aspeaker cable. bass passages that clearly define the my favorite passages —a subtle, plain- Although the Valhalla is similar in adjacent side and back walls. With the tive French horn line deep within a appearance to the SPM Reference — a Valhalla cables, the walls were much complex, heavily orchestrated section — flat, ribbon-type configuration 2.125" more tangible and farther out, and the was absolutely wonderful with the Val- wide by 0.039" thick —the conductors space itself was better illuminated than halla's detail and clarity. The line was themselves are very different. The SPM with my reference Nirvana SX-Ltds. clear and achingly beautiful, and the uses 32 silver-plated OFC copper con- The images themselves were won- interaction between the horns set up a ductors running in parallel and directly kind of pulsing or beating that I'd not encased in the Teflon ribbon. The Val- heard before, and that made them seem halla, on the other hand, uses 40 silver- Assetiated Equipment abit more real. plated copper conductors, each polished The Valhalla was also clear and open and wrapped with a monofilament Analog source: VPI TNT-V Hot in its handling of dynamics. Notes spacer prior to encapsulation in the Rod turntable, JMW Memorial seemed to stop and start abit more pre- Teflon ribbon. The capacitance and tonearm, Benz-Micro LO4 cart- cisely than with my reference Nirvana inductance specs of the Valhalla speaker ridge. or Synergistic cables, and to do so cable are 11.8pF/ft and 0.096[1H/ft, Digital source: Wadia 861, Sim- throughout the frequency spectrum. On respectively, compared to the SPM's audio Moon Eclipse CD players. the bottom, it was clear that the leading 7.9pF/ft and 0.12H/ft. Preamplifier: VAC CPAI Mk.III. edges of double-bass and timpani notes Iused an 8' run between my Classé Power amplifiers: Classé CAM- were alittle more distinct with the Nor- CAM-350s monoblocks and my Mag- 350 and VTL Ichiban mono- dost. Up top, violins, even at the very nepan MG3.6/R loudspeakers, in a blocks, VAC Renaissance 70/70. top of their range, had clean, precise biwire configuration. My cables were Loudspeakers: Magnepan MG transients — but without ever getting terminated with Nordoses nifty "Z type" 3.6/R. the least bit steely or edgy. And similar gold-plated beryllium banana plugs at Accessories: Duo-Tech Cable to what I'd heard with the French the speaker end, and gold-plated spade Burn-In device, Bright Star iso- horns, the violins' would occasionally lugs at the amplifier end. Iran the Valhal- lation systems, MIT Z Systems, interact to set up asubtle beating, creat- las 'round the clock for about aweek PAC Super IDOS and Nirvana AC ing apulsing cushion of air that either before doing any serious listening, and isolation and delivery systems, VP! wasn't there, or wasn't as tangible, with my main reference points were Synergis- HW16.5 record cleaner, Nordost my other cables. tic Research Resolution and Designer's ECO3 and Music Fidelity Disk- It was immediately apparent that Reference, and Nordoses own Blue Solution CD treatments, Tiptoes, the Valhalla also had aslight but dis- Heaven and SPM Reference. Sumiko Fluxbuster, Sheffield/XL° tinct tonal signature. Regardless of Test & Burn-in CD, Synergistic what components Iswapped in and Cabled: The Valhalla speaker cable Research A/C Master Couplers out, the system always had alighter, was, not surprisingly, similar to the Val- and Reference Master Couplers, drier sound with the Nordost — the halla interconnect in its overall presenta- Echo Busters room-treatment tonal balance was shifted slightly tion. It was clean, airy, and detailed, products. -Brian Damkroger upward, and the overall presentation without ever being over-etched or was a touch cooler than with most harsh. The soundstage was wider and other wires. 'When Ilistened for the deeper, and noticeably more open than

110 Stereophile, November 2001 with the Synergistics — so much so, in between the Valhalla and the Blue AUDIOCIUEST. CAL •SUMIKO• KItv1BER fact, that it made me wonder if the Syn- Heaven or SPM, so great were the dif- TRIANGLE •CAMELOT •JPS •RGPC ergistics had changed over time, becom- ferences. While they shared asimilar REGA • GRADO •CREEK •AUDIOPRISM ing slightly closed-in and rolled-off at overall tonal balance —slightly to the TOTEM •MAGNUM DYNAUB •EPOS the top end. Idoubt that was the case, light, cool, dry end of absolute neu- UNISON RESEARCH •ILLUMINATIONS but the contrast between the Syn- trality—the overall feel of the Valhalla HARMONIC TECHNOLOGY •MSB z ergistics and Valhallas was dramatic. was completely different. Instead of a AUDIO ANALOGUE •ATI•BDR•RGPC In addition to the overall soundstage sense of lightning speed and slightly BRIGHT STAR •OPERA •BILLY BAGS z being deeper with the Valhallas, and the transparent, outlined images, the Val- PATHOS •JOLIDA •VIBRAPODS z back corners being better illuminated, hallas sounded almost relaxed —but still HRS •loaf IllUSIOVS •TARGET individual images were more dimen- clean and precise — and their images HAVE •GOLDRING •PLATEAU •LAST were dense, detailed, and dimensional. sional as well —particularly at the rear of BELLES •MONOLITHIC •LEHMANN t the stage. There was also abetter sense of A point-by-point comparison con- SOLILOQUY •ANTIQUE SOUND LAB firmed my initial suspicion: The Val- the air between instruments, particularly ANALYSIS PLUS •ATACAMA -APOLLO in the front-to-back dimension. The lay- halla built on the SPM's strengths and ering of sections in the Sibelius —wood- went along way toward ameliorating Our Starting winds and brass, for example—was their shortcomings. They were every bit Line Up much more apparent and realistic with as fast and open as the SPM and just as the Nordost than with the Synergistic. extended at the frequency extremes. Belles Hot Rod The bowed double-bass passages in However, the Valhalla added a tonal 1S0 A the Sibelius concerto were quite abit density and body that the SPM was clearer with the Nordost. Individual missing. The Valhalla also had aslightly HARMr.)14 IC GRADO instruments became distinct, and tran- warmer tonal balance, sounding atouch Triangle Titus sients — both dynamic and tonal — fuller in the upper-bass/lower-mid- Stereophile Class B were much easier to follow with the range region. Orchestras were more Valhalla. Both frequency extremes were solidly anchored with the Valhalla, and articulate and extended. Similarly, the vocalists sounded more solid, as if they Valhalla's top end was significantly more were singing from their chests rather Hal MMF 7 open and airy than with my other than just their mouths and throats. Cel- speaker cables. Brushed cymbals on los sounded articulate and detailed with small-scale jazz combos are one of my the SPM. With the Valhalla, they were JoLida Rego Planet 2000 standard tests for top-end performance, just as articulate, but now had awarm, and the Valhalla passed with flying col- woody resonance that was missing, or at ors. Its air, detail, and tonal balance were least abit leaner, with the SPM. as good as any cable's I've ever heard, and noticeably better than most. Summing Up JPS And Iabsolutely flipped over the Val- The Nordost Valhalla interconnects and @lupEqconDuctoq halla's portrayal of the midrange. One speaker cables continue Nordoses Unison Research SR-1 New! Superconductor FA afternoon, Iwas reading astack of mag- steady progress in improving their azines and trying to relegate Arthur cables. Both are significant steps beyond Nordost's previous flagship products, Grumiaux's performance of Mozart's MSB Link DAC 3, Nelson Link 8Gold Link Violin Concerto 1, K.207 (with Colin the already excellent Quatro-fil and Davis and the London Symphony, SPM Reference wires. Yes, they're in- audioquest Philips 438 323-2) to the status of back- sanely expensive — cabling my rela- ground music. But Icouldn't get more tively simple system would cost nearly KIM3ER KABLE than two or three sentences into an arti- $22,000 — but they're superb, unques- cle before my attention would wander tionably some of the very best cables back to the music. The portrayal was I've ever heard. incredibly compelling from top to bot- Are they worth the money? Idon't tom, but the midrange —violas, wood- know. Is aFerrari or aPorsche worth winds, and massed violins through the the money? A Rolex or Breitling? How bottom two-thirds of their range — about around at Pebble Beach ... or Creek 5350S seemed almost holographic. When I season tickets to Carnegie Hall? Triangle Cetrus 202 Stereophile Class A concentrated on the audiophile compo- Closer to home, could I, would I nents of the sound, it was obvious that spend my money for the Valhalla cables? M AUDIO WAVES the images were tangible, and particu- Probably nor, no matter how Ijug,gle the the finest in affordable atc---iin larly rich with inner detail and tonal numbers, $22,000 just isn't in my bud- complexity. Although I've listened to get, regardless of how good these wires 800.510.4753 14-Thurs 10-6,&M. Fri 9-5, Sat 12-4 (PST this disc umpteen times, there were lay- are. Iobviously can't say whether or not P.O. BOX 461 TRINIDAD CALIFORNIA 95570 ers of low-level subtlety that seemed they'll fit in your budget, but Ican PHONE/FAX 707 677 3299 audiowavesaol.coni new. There was no way Icould do any- strongly urge you to give them alisten. www.oudioshoppercom/AudioWaves thing but melt into the music. These are sensational cables, and you'll Ice = nue love what they'll do for your system. FREE SHIPPING How much better is the Valhalla? The Valhallas get my very highest, most NO LOCAL DEALER? -CALL US I'm loath to even draw comparisons unconditional recommendation. CI

Stereophile, November 2001 I11 The Starlet "The Starlet offers so much in the way of perceived value that Iwouldn't have balked if they said it cost another $1,500." Ken Kessler Ultimate Audio, Winter 2001

"The Starlet is just about every- thing one could wish for in a high-quality, relatively afford- able, all-triode tube integrated amplifier.., she should reward you with performances worthy of atrue diva." Chip Stem Stereophile, December 2000

Legend Audio Design The True Integrated Class 'A' Berkeley. California Triode Amplifier 1.800.783.7360 40 watts x2 www.legendaudio.com

H j Stereophi/e, November 2001 Equipment Report Chip Stern

Synergistic Research Active Shielded Cables

aying spent much time in the past five years experimenting Hwith the sound signatures and interactions of speaker cables, intercon- nects, and power cords from JPS Labs, AudioQuest, Straight Wire, Cardas, Monster Cable, Acoustic Zen, and Syn- ergistic Research, Icontinue to regard cables not as aural afterthoughts but as essential components. From the hum- blest rigs to the most expensive systems, I've seen how careful fine-tuning with cables can help maximize the music- reproduction potential of each associated component. During this same time I've often observed Stereophile senior editor Jonathan Scull doggedly experimenting with endless combinations of cables, seeking to optimize those critical junc- tures —source component to preamp, preamp to power amp, power amp to speakers—so that he might hear the component under review at its best, and thus judge its optimal effect on his refer- ence system. \\\ In the last few years I've found myself Synergistic Research Active Shielded interconnects and speaker cables with Master Control Center Ill returning again and again to Synergistic and Mini-Power Coupler. Research cables, interconnects, and power cords as my references. I've shield from ground. With anormally replaced my original set of Resolution grown to depend on their high resolu- shielded interconnect, any noise that is Reference Phase II interconnects with tion, clarity, and midrange detail to picked up by the shield of acable is an updated version, Iwrote in the April reveal the sonic wings and warts of gear passed directly to the ground circuit of 1999 Stereophik (p.185): "There's alot at all points in the signal chain, particu- the components they are connecting. more air and harmonic detail, with larly with the shielding technology that With Discrete Shielding, any noise that greater bass extension, and deeper, more they have developed. is picked up on the shield of our inter- open soundstaging; there is also signifi- connects is buffered before it can enter cantly more high-frequency informa- Active Shielding the ground circuit of the components tion, yet the overall frequency response According to SR honcho Ted Denney they are connected to." is alot smoother, less brassy and for- III, Synergistic Research's original "Dis- SR claims the net result of Discrete ward. It made the old interconnects, crete Shielding" "improves the efficien- Shielding is a6dB drop in the noise themselves no slouches, sound rather cy of our interconnects by buffering the floor of their interconnects. When I veiled by comparison."

Description: Interconnects and loud- $350/10' pair (Alpha loudspeaker power module and aDesigner's Ref- speaker cables with Active Shielding. cable with Mini-Power Coupler); erence Master Coupler); an additional AC cord. $2000/1m pair terminated with RCAs Master Control Center Ill X Module Dimensions: 19" W by 3.5" H by 12" or XLRs, $500/pair each additional costs $350; $2000/5' (Designer's Ref- D (with BNC connectors on cables) 0.5m (Designer's Reference intercon- erence2 AC Master Coupler). Approxi- (Master Control Center Ill for Active nects); $6800/10' pair (Solid State mate number of dealers: 75. Shielding). Reference speaker cables); $1300 Manufacturer: Synergistic Research, Prices: $199/1m pair (Alpha Sterling (Master Control Center III with one X 501 Superior Avenue, Newport interconnects); $250/1m pair (Alpha Module and a Resolution Reference Beach, CA 92663. Tel: (949) 642- Sterling with Active Shielding inter- Mk.II AC Master Coupler); $2400 2800. Fax: (949) 642-2900. Web: connects with Mini-Power Coupler); (Master Control Center III with one www.synergisticresearch.com.

Stereophile, November 2001 113 The X-Series

II ce you don't believe in audio- 'round, these fitted with the excellent dub of the new Dylan CD, this issue's phile power cords!" Neutrik RCA jacks and purchased "Recording of the Month." The sys- Synergistic's Ted Denney III was from pro-audio dealer Markertek a tem was definitely cooking. poking around behind my equipment couple of years back for my testing One caveat: The massive construc- racks lab. tion of all the Designers' Reference Well, Ididn't use to. While Ihad Denney plugged in the Synergistic cables and the inherent stiffness of the found PS Audio's Lab Cable to work power cord and flicked on the Krell. I foamed polyethylene dielectric makes well with the company's Power Plant hit Play on the Mary Chapin Carpen- cable dressing very important. If ap- P300, and while I routinely used ter track we'd been listening to: "This propriate care is not taken, the compo- Audio Power Industries' Powerlinks is Me Leaving You," from Time* nents' RCA sockets might have strong with source components, Ihad never Sex*Love* (Columbia CK 85176). My sideways forces exerted on them. experienced night-and-day sonic im- jaw dropped. Of the amplifiers Ihave "How about Active Shielding?" I provements from an AC power cord. used over the years, when it came to asked. Denney unpacked the new This explanation didn't faze Mr. bass impact and perceived extension, third generation Master Control Denney. "So I'll start by replacing just the Krell had been beaten out only by Center III, which has three pairs of the ICrell's AC cable with aDesigners' the Levinson No20.6 and No.33H BNC outputs per module (it can Reference2 AC Master Coupler." monoblocics. Yet with the massive Syn- house one or two modules), plu Itled Ineed to backtrack alittle. After ergistic cord, with its four twisted bun- it into the wall, and hooked up con- Chip Stern had submitted his text for dles of green-finished, screened con- nectors to the flying y sockets on this review, we learned that the ductors, Icould have sworn there was the interconnects and speaker cables. Designers' Reference interconnect another half-octave of bass extension. The six blue LEDs lit up and we sat samples he'd written about were We listened through to the end of back to listen to some of the cuts about to be superseded by the X- the cut. We went back to the generic we'd been enjoying. Series. These featured slightly re- AC cable, then back to the Designers' The sound was ... worked alloy conductors but, more Reference2 AC Master Coupler. Let me digress alittle. When Iwas important, extended the Active Same difference. mastering the Let Your Voice Be Heard Shielding concept to SR's Designers' "How much is the AC cable?" CD for the Minnesota-based male Reference speaker cables (with power "$2000." choir Cantos,' it took me awhile to cords soon to follow). Blue LEDs are Two thousand bucks. 'This was more decide on the precise equalization now used at the "receive" ends of the than the Krell had cost me new back needed. The main microphones had interconnects and speaker cables to in 1983. We moved on to the X- been apair of large-diaphragm Neu- indicate that their shields are floating Series SSR (Solid State Reference) mann M147 cardioids in an ORTF above ground potential. (Note: This speaker cables. These look similar in configuration, which Iused because DC voltage — Imeasured 30V — is size and construction to the Master of their excellent presentation of the referenced to aseparate drain conduc- Coupler and are available in versions soundstage. However, at the neces- tor, not the signal conductor. Icouldn't suited for solid-state and tube ampli- sarily distant mike position, the lower measure any bleedthrough of the fiers. Price, in the 10' lengths Ted had mids were intrinsically rather lean. I shield voltage to either the hot or brought with him, was $6800/pair — did use asecond, spaced pair of B&K ground signal conductors.) more than twice as much as the Revel omnis, which helped balance the As it was not going to be possible speakers themselves. We listened to sound in the final mix, but some EQ for Chip to update his review com- Mary Chapin Carpenter again. A less was still necessary to best present ments, Iagreed that Ted could install obvious change in the sound than both the tonal quality of the voices the new X-Series cables in my system. what I'd heard with the AC cable, but and the soundstage. I moved the active Meridian in the same direction: more perceived The Z-Systems rdp-1 Iwas using DSP8000 speakers (reviewed else- low-frequency extension, this time to apply parametric EQ in the digital where in this issue) temporarily to my with slightly better image focus. (This domain allows aconsiderable degree storage room and set up the system I was without the Active Shielding of control over both width and center had been using before them: Revel switched on.) frequency of the band being boosted Performa M20 minimonitors on 24" Then we replaced the two pairs of or cut. This was just as well; Ifound stands, driven by my vintage Krell unbalanced interconnects with the that changing the degree of boost by KSA-50. The digital front end was all $2000/pair Synergistics, again with- just 0.2dB made all the difference Mark Levinson: No.31.5 transport, out the Active Shielding powered up. between asound that was tonally true No30.6 D/A, and No380S preamp. A slight but pervasive treble grain was and one that sounded slightly "over- Speaker cables were the excellent gone. The midrange sang. The sound- cooked" in the lower ¡nids. AudioQuest Gibraltar, and because stage was wide, deep, and well- Let Your Voice Be Heard includes the the Krell has only single-ended inputs defined. We listened again to Mary choral chestnut "Danny Boy" in a and the balanced outputs on one Chapin Carpenter, this time "Stones channel of the No30.6 had failed (for in the Road," from Party Doll (Colum- the second time in less than ayear for bia CK 68751), with its wonderfully 1We are planning to make this CD available via the this 9-year-old sample), Iwas using captured round-wound bass-guitar "Recordinge section of www.stereophile.com. You can find out more about Cantus at www.cantus unbalanced Canare interconnects all growls. We listened to an advance mensinging.org.

114 Stereophlle, November 2001 Synergistic Research Cables

But Synergistic Research's most dra- gling an interface cable loose — or, if I matic aural refinement was aprocess got metal-on-metal contact, there'd be a they call "Active Shielding." This spark, like alittle static discharge. In this refreshing arrangement by Can- applies aDC voltage bias to the shield- manner Iblew out afuse or two. tus' musical director, Erick Lichte, ing via little pigtails ending in Vs"mini- Likewise, the many extensive A/B that makes much use of close har- jacks that are located just behind the comparisons that are part of my routine monies in the baritone range. RCA connectors. A separate Master necessitated removing the power cord, With not quite enough boost in Control Center has one or two power- either from its IEC inlet on the back of the lower mids, the tonality was a supply and filtering modules, each the unit or from the wall socket—inex- little cold but, paradoxically, the capable of powering three pairs of plicably, there was no On/Off or Stand- view into the soundstage seemed cables. (All current Alpha Sterling and by switch on the Control Center. And less clear than it should. Clicking higher SR interconnects are supplied when Ileft my system on overnight, the up the boost with the rdp-l's ready for Active Shielding; pre-Dis- illuminated sapphire glow of the tiny rotary encoder by 02dB at atime crete Shielding interconnects, from LED on the front panel sometimes was like operating a camera's Alpha Sterling through Designers' went out while Islept. focus control: When the EQ was Reference can be modified at the fac- Some months later Ireceived from just right tonally, it also opened tory — call (800) 578-6489 for details Synergistic Research an upgraded up aclearer picture into the re- and an RA number.) Master Control Center, which addressed corded soundstage. "Active Shielding works outside the my primary concerns. The interface Ihave discussed this phenom- signal path," Denney explains, "to pre- cables employed a better quality of enon at some length because the vent RFI and EMI distortion from stranding; more significantly, the flimsy change in the presentation due to penetrating the shield of the cable and '44" minijack connections on the back of the Synergistic cables' Active corrupting the signal. In addition to the original Master Control Center were Shielding was very similar. No, lowering the noise floor of our cables replaced by amore solid, stable array of switching it with the Master by as much as 12dI3 or more, depend- locking BNC connections. In addition, Control Center III didn't equalize ing on the cable geometry, active the t/e minijack sockets on the intercon- the sound. But the effect on the shielding reduces the amount of ener- nect pigtails were now contained in plas- perceived soundstage was an gy that leaches into the dielectric from tic sleeves to prevent metal-to-metal identical sense of the perceived musical signals traveling down the con- contact. Still, Icontinued my practice of sonic picture coming into focus. ductors by saturating the dielectric powering down the Active Control This difference is, admittedly, with its own energy, which creates a Center anytime Iwas changing cables, small —but it became more and field that holds the music signal in its power cords, or interconnects. With the more important to me as Icon- own conductors." addition of an On/Off mini toggle tinued my auditioning. After Iauditioned my first Active switch on the chassis' left front panel ad- Explanations? The only plausi- Shielded cables, Iwrote in afirst blush jacent to that faint sapphire LED, this ble one that comes to mind is of excitement, for "Recommended was now asimple matter. that, as the shield is no longer Components" in April 2000: "If Dis- You can buy aMaster Control Cen- connected to the components' crete Shielding represented asignifi- ter III with one module plus aResolu- grounds, those grounds are no cant improvement in the performance tion Reference Mk.II Master Coupler longer required to sink any RF of [Synergistic's] old Resolution Refer- for $1300, or $2400 with Synergistic hash or interference. Even in the ence Mk.II interconnects, then the Research's top-of-the-line Designers' best-engineered products, there upgrade to Active Shielding is profound. Reference Master Coupler. (Add $350 will always be aslight degree of Imagine your soundstage illuminated for an additional module.) resistance between their ground from within, as if you were used to fil- potential and true ground, mean- tering white light through aprism and Further listening ing that any RF that needs to be getting the three primary shades, For my final round of auditions Iused sunk to ground will give rise to whereas now you've got dozens of dif- SR's Designers' Reference and Resolu- some noise. ferent hues and colors no one knows tion Reference Mk.II interconnects, with Whatever — the explanation the names of." Iwas also conscious of a Designers' Reference Master Coupler is not as important as the effect wealth of spatial cues — stupefying power cords on my preamp, power sup- on the sound. My experience dimensions of soundstage layering. plies, source components, and the Master confirms Chip Stern's (and The heightened sense of dimen- Control Center itself (though Iused JPS Jonathan Scull's) very positive sionality was intoxicating — whenever Labs' new Aluminata power cord on my impressions of the handmade Idisengaged Active Shielding, Iwas power amp). My tube/solid-state Musical Synergistic Research Designers' keenly conscious of its absence. Fidelity Nu-Vista 300 power amplifier Reference cables and the Active Still, the original implementation of was driven by a Blue Circle BCG3 Shielding concépt. But at what a Active Shielding was a little dicey; I Galatea single-ended triode preamp. price! I have therefore asked soon discovered any number of novel Rounding out the system were: aSony Synergistic to send me samples ways to short out internal fuses. The SCD-777ES SACD player and the Cali- of their much less expensive rear-panel connection points on the fornia Audio Labs CL-20 24-bit/961cHz Alpha Sterling interconnects and original Master Control Center for DVD-V/HDC13 player, aRega Planar 3 Alpha Quad speaker cables to those V8"rninijacks was cheesy; Icould- turntable with Grado Reference Master try. I'll let you know what Ihear. n't get areally firm connection, and if I cartridge and Musical Fidelity X-LP2 —John Atkinson moved stuff around in the back of my dual-mono phono preamp; the Maranta rack, there was always achance of jig- PMD 430 professional nssrtte recorder,

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Reference for the treble). applied their Active Shielding tech- Because the Master Control Center nology to speaker cables —a 10' single Unbelievable Value, now has an On/Off toggle switch, it still or biwire run of their Alpha Quad is Delightfay Music-cf, takes alittle while for the shielding both to $350 with MPC. Itried this combo on become saturated when the Active Shield- my secondary reference system in my Surprisingly ing is turned on and to dissipate when it's wife's piano studio with apair ofJoseph turned off. At first, the Active Shielding RM7si Signature minimonitors and a effect seemed fairly subtle, growing more Musical Fidelity A3 integrated amp and palpable as it came on and as Ilearned to A3 CD player. To be on the safe side, RE!ERENCE 3A much as SR was for their HE2001 A/B listen for its sonic signatures: more natural Efficient, hand built timbres and enhanced bass energy, which demos, Iplugged each MPC into an translated into extended dynamics and inexpensive RadioShack power strip driver with no crossover deeper, more holographic soundsta elg; with an On/Off switch, plugged that greater front-to-back imaging and focus into aJPS Labs Power AC Outlet Cen- (especially on vocals), each instrumental ter, and that into the wall socket. image seeming to be individually backlit, The MPC doesn't offer the filtration with agreater sense of layering, locali- circuitry of the Master Control Center zation, and inner detail; and greater III's internal modules, and it didn't con- retrieval of ambient information and vey quite the level of dynamics, refine- microdynamics. This gave amore pro- ment, and coherence of its big brother. nounced sense of air and space, with Still, for amodest investment of $600, blacker backgrounds and less sense of the Active Shielding transformed the sonic music originating from apoint source. signature of these inexpensive cables in a Curiously enough, like so many startling manner. Comparing the perfor- strategic tweaks, Active Shielding's mance of the $250 Alpha Sterling,/MPC effects seemed more apparent in their combo with the exceptionally musical absence. When Ipowered down my Straight Wire Serenade interconnects interconnects, the soundstage seemed ($380/1m pair), Iheard greater transient to contract and become more shallow. snap, speed, and focus in the bass MM De Capo On amore subtle level, Active Shield- response; more air and spatial cues; and a $2500. 00 pair ing's spooky sense of luminescence — subtle sense of layering and illumination an inner glow accorded individual Iso enjoyed in the higher-priced spread. images — receded as well. However, the most impressive thing ANTIQUE SOUND The best interconnects I've ever about the MPC was the way it seemed to LAB heard? Hard to say, given the subtle extend the soundstaging beyond the rear 15 Watts per channel nature of system interactions, room wall, conveying greater depth and dimen- anomalies, and aural preferences that sionality than Iwas used to hearing. single ended integrated amp. seem to su K est certain combinations of (Practical considerations have forced me cables over others. But even without to position my speakers much closer to Active Shielding, Synergistic Research the rear wall than is ideal.) Adding aset of Designers' Reference cables are more SR's active Alpha Quad speaker cables than competitive with the cream of con- (with their cute little blue LEDs) to the temporary high-end cables —and adding signal chain further enhanced the holo- Active Shielding seemed both to illumi- graphic effect, and resulted in amore nate and deepen the soundstage and gen- involving sense of layering and liquidity erally firm things up. Synergistic Research might just be competing against itself. Ifound the MGSI 15 DT Real-world stuff contribution of the way cool, inexpensive $595 oo rwo more recent and cost-effective little Mini-Power Couplers to be more applications of the Active Shielding pronounced and profound in my cost- technology (first introduced in May, at effective secondary reference system than Trust your ears Home Entertainment 2001) offer entry- in my main setup. That makes sense Start a revolution level consumers even more dramatic when you factor in the refined aural qual- performance enhancements. The new ities one might reasonably hope to hear Synergistic Research Mini-Power Cou- from the more sophisticated geometry www.divertech.com pler resembles awall wart equipped and pricey materials of any top-of-the- 342 Frederick St, Kitchener with apair of interface cables each ter- line interconnect. Compared to cables Ontario, Canada, N2H2N9 minating in a 1/8"minijack for Active costing two to three times as much, the Shielding-ready SR interconnects. (The Active Shielding-equipped Sterling/ Tel: 519.749.1565 Fax: 519.749.2863 price is $250 for a 1m pair of Alpha Quad combo offered asignificantly more Sterling interconnects with Mini-Power vivid, lifelike performance.

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Ayre K-3x preamplifier almost every performance "It's not subtle," Ayre's parameter was improved by Charlie Hansen assured me, the substitution. There was after I'd let him know that a greater clarity, focus, image K-3x — the upgraded version specificity, transient speed, of Ayre's K-3 solid-state pre- and — especially — trans- amplifier — had arrived for a parency. The "Charade" track "Follow-Up." The "x" refers was transformed. The horn to changes in the outboard accent was now easy to identi- power supply (including RF fy as brass, and the track's filtering), atotal reconfigura- opening volley of wood tion of the grounding scheme, blocks took on the taut, insis- and new feet. Hansen said tent, exciting quality Ihear at that "months of experiment- Ayre K-3x preamplifier home on the Audio Physic ing" had gone into the up- Avanti Ills. grades. The improvements add $450 to Once we'd noted the difference on the K-3's cost, whether you buy anew "Hansen was correct!" "Charade," it was easy to extrapolate K-3x or send your old K-3 back to what we'd hear from the other tracks Ayre' for upgrading, during which the I exclaimed. we'd planned to audition. We weren't unit gets acomplete going-over. That "The improvement is disappointed. And in Greg's system, at means a new K-3x will set you back least, there was no price to pay for the $3700 (add $250 for the remote, and not subtle!" improvements: no zingy or strident $1000 for the phono section). aftertaste, no thinness to massed strings, Determining whether or not the no unpleasant edge to sibilants. changes were "subtle" seemed problem- Having played the CDs at home The Ayre K-3x is aclear improve- atic — it had been three years since I'd before heading over to Greg's, Ithought ment over the K-3. If Iowned aK-3, I'd reviewed the original K-3, for the July his system, while sounding quite ac- arrange for the update ASAR Greg did. 1998 Stereophi/e. Then I remembered complished, was somewhat veiled and —Michael Fremer that my friend Greg owned one, and milky overall. Transients were softened, decided to do the comparison at his backgrounds were lacking in blackness, Bel Canto eVo 200.2 power place. The rest of Greg's system consists and images lacked clarity and three- amplifier of an Audio Research VT100 Mk.II, a dimensionality. But what Imissed most How do you know when your system pair of MartinLogan CIS-2 loudspeak- sorely was transparency. On the title is really loud? If you don't have a ers, an Arcam FMJ CD23 CD player, a tune of the Charade soundtrack, for in- sound-level meter, you can wait for Rega P25 turntable with Goldring stance, composer Henry Mancini had your neighbors to complain or for your Excel MC cartridge, and abig, dedicat- inserted ablaring horn accent. Through cars to bleed. But long before that ed listening room I'd kill to have. Greg, my system, it sounds like brass; through point, asystem will begin to give tell- you've been warned: Watch your back. Greg's, it was difficult to make out the tale signs —like dynamic compression Hansen told me the K-3x had been source, mostly because of the muted and increased distortion, which arc broken-in at the factory, and that it attack. I'm not abig fan of electrostatic often misinterpreted as meaning "loud" needed only afew minutes' wannup to speakers, and that's where Iplaced the rather than "distorted." perform as intended. So Greg and I blame for the system's sound. Irespect Well, Idon't generally get to that decided to listen to the system with the electrostats for what they do well, but, point with my regular equipment and K-3, then switch to the K-3x. What rightly or wrongly, Itend to hear "plas- musical preferences, and when Iaudi- could be simpler? I'd brought along tic" and alack of image weight and body. tioned the $2395 Bel Canto eVo 2002 some of the latest batch of JVC-XRCD We switched to the K-3x. "Hansen power amplifier for the March 2001 reissues from the RCA Living Stereo was correct!" Iexclaimed. "It's not sub- Stereophile, Ifound nothing lacking in its back catalog, including Charade, Breakfast tle!" The '3x brought Greg's system to ability to drive my speakers as loud as at Tiffany's, and Charles Munch and the life, and dramatically improved its over- necessary. Iwas shocked when John Boston Symphony's reading of all musical presentation. "Veils lifted," Atkinson's test results showed that our Debussy's hnages Pr Orchestra. And, of Greg groaned, already feeling the green review sample could not output its course, we played afew LPs. slipping from his pocket to Ayre's. rated power because, according to Bel The changes were subtle and dram- Canto's "Manufacturer's Comment," — — atic. The K-3's basic character remained the set-point of the protection circuitry 1 Aviv Acoustu,, 23(X)-If Central Avenue. Boulder. a constant (dynamic integrity and an was too conservative. CO 80301. Td: (3(13) 442-73M. Fax: (303) 442-7301. Web: WWW.ATC.00111. overall ease —read the full review), but Before Ilearned any of this, Ihad

Stereophile, November 2001 121 I'd noted in my original review with a single stereo 2002 were much reduced, but that perception is possibly related to my long use of and adaptation to them. On the other hand, with continued exposure, adevice with acharacteristic flavor is just as likely to become annoy- ing. But the eVo reminded nie of Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat: The longer Ilistened, the more my con- cerns faded, until only my smile remained. I'll underscore this by saying that I wrote my effusive encomia (Steretphile, September 2001) about the sound quality made possible by the TacT RCS 2.0 room equalizer while the monoblock eVo 2002s were doing the heavy lifting. The monoblock eVo, however, was just as picky as the stereo eVo about get- Bel Canto eVo 200.2 power amplifier ting the level just right for each record- ing. Finding this level became aregular already requested another eVo 2002 — but unstrenuous ritual for classical not because I felt I needed more The bridged-and-snipped music —a single tweak at the beginning power, but to set up the pair of them as usually served for the rest of the disc. bridged monoblocks. The amp's design eVo was abear With pop and jazz discs, whose miking invites bridging because the two chan- and performers can change from track nels in each eVo are connected to the of an amp. to track, abit more involvement and power supply in opposite polarity. Feed work was required. The remote control in one signal, push a button, and of my Sonic Frontiers Line-3 preamp- bridged output is available without Before Icould tell him the bad news, lifier made this easier; the results were having to add any signal-inversion cir- he volunteered that these amps, too, their own reward. cuitry. It was no surprise that, in view had had their protection cutoffs set too However much Ilove the eVo 2002s, of JA's results, Bel Canto sent me two low. The fix was simple: Just open the they exist in a complex context. Bel spanking-new 2002s, which Iprompt- amps and snip out one resistor from Canto has recently introduced eVo ly bridged and biwired to my Revel each. The entire process took less than amplifiers with 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6amplifier Ultima Studio loudspeakers. Iwaited five minutes; the hardest part was find- modules. I don't think you can go until no one was around, put on Erich ing the right-size hex key for the chas- wrong with any of these options, as they Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops' re- sis screws. all seem to be based on the same cording of the Polka and Fugue from After I'd snipped out the resistors, the "Tripath" amp module. With the resis- Weinberger's Schwanda the Bagpiper eVos were unflappable. But without that tor snipped, the unleashed stereo 2002 (Telarc CD-80115), and let 'er rip. suggestion from Bel Canto, there's no was even better than the original Iaudi- All went gloriously well until the way to know from the outside what's tioned, and had quite enough power for end, when, with the orchestral forces going on inside the 2002. If your expe- all but headbangers, or those with very already in full cry, Telarc's infamous rience of the amp has been anything inefficient speakers. bass drum and apipe organ pile on. like mine, give Bel Canto acall? When a single 2002 will do, of Burp! The protection relays in the left- The bridged-and-snipped eVo was a course, there's no need for two. How- channel eVo clicked on and off, totally bear of an amp. With the aforemen- ever, the multichannel eVos are blessed destroying the musical continuity. I tioned Weinberger re-heated, the drum with a 1500VA power transformer reversed channels and, lo and behold, and organ bellowed forth on top of the rather than the 538VA transformer in now the eVo on the right choked. Sure, orchestra, and nothing faltered. Except, the 2002. And for those who need the the system had been turned up to 11 — perhaps, my resolve to do it again — muscle, a four-channel 200.4 is less something Ialmost never do — but the neighbors I'd never before spoken with expensive and less bulky than apair of problem was clearly related to the complimented me on the music. two-channel 2002s. To use bridged musical power demands of the left- Because no additional circuitry is re- eVos for each of my two stereo chan- channel signal. But with an estimated quired to bridge the 2002, it was no nels, I'd have to decide if the potential 800Wpc on tap, this should not have surprise that, used as amonoblock, the value of the 1500VA transformer in a been happening. eVo sounded much like one of its own 200.4 outweighed the advantage of Both eVos recovered from the stereo channels, but with seemingly using very short but very excellent ordeal just fine, and as I pondered limitless power. The midrange dryness speaker cables with a pair of 2002s. whether to chalk up their burping to and slightly analytic HF character that While Ilean toward the latter, what excessive expectations or to ask Bel really intrigues nie is alateral move to a Canto to take them back, the phone 200.6 for my multichannel system. rang —Bel Canto's Mike McCormick 2 Bel Canto lksitm, 212 Third Avenue N., Suite 345, Minneapolis, MN 55401. Tel: (612) 317-4550. Fax: Yeah, that's the ticket — eVos all wanted to know how it was going. (612) 359-9358. Web: www.belcantodesiépi.coni. around! -Kalman Rubinson

122 Stereophile, November 2001 Follow-Up

Herron M150 monoblock power loudspeaker you're considering using low-level detail — something the origi- amplifier with the M150. nal review samples only hinted at. You'd really have to be in an audio crit- In his "Manufacturer's Conunent," With the many live recordings I ic's shoes to understand the embarrass- Herron claimed that the review sam- played —Sinatra at the Sands, Mel TOrnté ment of reading your own rave review ples' idle bias current had been acciden- and Friends at Marty's, Belafottte at in Stereophile, only to glance down at the tally set too low, and that this would Cartugie Hall, The Weavers' Reunion at "Measurements" sidebar to find that the indeed have resulted in the measured Cartugie Hall 1963, etc.—the M150s' product fared so poorly on John crossover distortion and an audible ability to spatially delineate the main Atkinson's test bench that it might very reduction in transparency. event from the reverberation was note- well have been defective. It's like em- Another set of M150s recently worthy. The Nu-Vista 300's presenta- erging from cold water onto acrowded arrived, and Ispent afew days listening tion was somewhat warmer, with more beach and having your bathing suit to them using the Sonus Faber Amati rounded images, but it tended to lump come off. Measurements don't tell the Homage and Audio Physic Avanti Ill together the first event with the ensu- whole story, as any vinyl- or tube-loving speakers. For whatever reason, the sen- ing reverberation. audiophile will attest, but sometimes sation that Icomplained about in the Compared to the Nu-Vista, the the graphs offer incontrovertible evi- original review —of three groundless Herron presented voices and instru- dence that you or the designer —or images, left, center, and right, hovering ments more dryly and two-dimension- both — have missed something. like balls — was gone, replaced by more ally, but with increased clarity and in So it was with agreat deal of relief that normal soundstaging and imaging, if far greater relief from the ensuing Iread JA's measurements of the Herron still on the compact and tidy side. reverberation. This created an intense M150 monoblock power amplifiers3 in the March 2001 issue. Itried very hard to like these amps, having enjoyed Keith Herron's vacuum-tube line stage and hybrid MC phono section—not to mention his company, when he delivered them. But the amps' lack of bottom-end weight seemed to leave the music un- grounded and without spatial context. They were ruthlessly revealing and deliv- ered impressive inner detail, but sounded stingy and somewhat mechanical. They also didn't seem as powerful as their rated Herron M150 monoblock power amplifier output sulA:ested they'd be. JA's measurements revealed an 3D effect not unlike the old amplifier of very low distortion but If you lean toward Viewmaster stereo slide viewers kids some quirks. The distortion doubled as had in the 1950s, wherein somewhat the impedance was halved, and the detail and "event" flat images of fairy-tale characters total harmonic distortion (THD) rose were set against two-dimensional with the frequency, though it was still and demand clarity, backgrounds but presented in vivid below 0.05% into 2 ohms above apair of the rather 3D. In many ways, the Herron M150 10kHz. At very low levels there was an reminded me of the sound of early unusual anomaly for amodern ampli- homely-looking Ml 50s moving-coil cartridges: gobs of im- fier design: crossover distortion, audi- pressive detail, highlighted and pre- ble, according to JA, because of its might find ahome sented with clinical precision. high-order content and dominance at The rebiased M150s definitely per- low levels. Also, the M150 restricted in your system. formed better than the original review current at low impedances. There was pair—by some means or other, my also, according to JA, the "possible Compared to my reference Musical main objection had been addressed. I'm presence of ultrasonic instability" and Fidelity Nu-Vista 300, the M150 still convinced that what Iheard in this go- an aggressive protection circuit. While seemed somewhat lean in the midbass, 'round was precisely how Keith Herron the M150 delivered 240W into 8 ever so slightly forward in the upper intended his amplifiers to sound. Still, ohms (at 1% THD) and 429W into 4 mids, and slightly dry on top, but not the M150 is asingular-sounding ampli- ohms (with higher distortion), the out- objectionably so — even driving the fier that will appeal to some listeners put power sank to 177W into 2ohms somewhat lean-sounding Avanti Ills. and not at all to others. If you like your and 80W into 1ohm. For this reason, Herron says "bloom" is adistortion presentation lush and relaxed, you prob- Keith Herron recommends using artifact. If he's right, the M150 is one of ably won't go for it. If you lean toward speakers with nominal loads of 4ohms the least-distorting amplifiers you're detail and "event" and demand clarity, a or above, which means you'll need to likely to hear —bloom it doesn't have. pair of the rather homely-looking know the true impedance curve of any Instead, its overall presentation is some- M150s might find ahome in your sys- what analytical, but please don't confuse tem. Just remember: Your choice of that with "bright" or "etched," which the associated equipment, especially speak- 3 Tlw M150 costs 55895/pair. Herron Audio, 12685 M150 definitely is not. What you might ers, will be critical in getting the perfor- 1>orsett Road, #138, St. Louis, MO 63043. Td: (314) 434-5416. Fax: (314) 434-6629. Web: www.berron lose in bloom and warmth is more than mance the designer intended. audio.com. made up for by the M150's resolution of — Michael Fremer

Stereophile, November 2001 123 How to tu

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n o you think of your- and Wilco were unceremoniously self as dark?" I ask, dropped from (respectively) Warner unable to keep a Bros. and subsidiary Reprise. Farrar straight face. and Tweedy have since moved on One of rock's men of fewest to independent labels: Farrar has words, Jay Farrar, smiles uneasily signed with Artemis, and Tweedy and shifts in his chair. was entertaining numerous offers "rye always been drawn to songs when this went to press. Tweedy and songwriting that deal with darker has also split with longtime collabo- themes. And I've always had an un- rator Jay Bennett and may, like his easy relationship with things that old running buddy, be heading could be construed as pop." He paus- toward making asolo record. es. "I guess there are some lyrics on As for Farrar's first solo turn, he's this record that approach being droll." stocked Sebastopol (the name, like After making that last statement, "Son Volt," was more chosen for its even Farrar has to smile broadly. sound than its meaning) with an all- Strangely enough, though, the new star guest list that includes singer album of which he speaks, Gillian Welch, guitar/lap steel play- Sebastopol (Artemis), his solo debut, is his which, to varying degrees, began to er David Rawlings, keyboardist Steven sunniest ever. After five years as leader move away from the Tupelo sound. As Drodze (Flaming Lips), drummer Jon of Son Volt, the group he formed in time has passed, however, Uncle Wurster (Superchunk), bassist Tom Ray 1994 when the now-legendary Uncle Tupelo's legend (like that of Parsons) has (Bottle Rockets), and slide guitarist Tupelo disbanded, Farrar has decided to far outstripped the reality of their four Kelly Joe Phelps. Farrar's older brother, go it alone. Being liberated from aband albums and five years together. Dade, sits in on one cut on bowed dou- has given songs like the upbeat "Voodoo "Yeah, Ithink along the way there's ble bass. After writing 19 songs in four Candle" and the near-pop of "Feed Kill been the tendency for some people to months, Farrar cut the record (on Chain" alighter emotional hue. romanticize," sighs the taciturn Farrat Warner Bros.' tab) last year. It was mas- "I knew that Iwanted to present the "There's a few myths here and there. tered in September 2000 and has await- songs in adifferent way, if possible. The Hopefully, a lot of positive things can ed release ever since. result of that was using different instru- come out of this, especially because we're To abet his goal of stretching out, mentation, like keyboards and the sitar. putting together some unreleased songs Farrar learned to play the sitar and The songwriting process this time was and live stuff for anew release [slated for tamboura for the sessions. After its also different than when Iwrote for Son 2002 release on Columbia/Legacy]. slightly more buoyant tone, the al- Volt. The primary concern there was There aren't alot of recorded unreleased bum's most distinguishing feature is that we could re-create them live as a songs, and Idon't know what will make it that most of its songs were written band. This time around, Ijust let the [onto the album]. We'll have to vote on it," using odd open tunings. songs evolve whichever way they might. he says, lowering his head to hide agrin. "It can be inspirational, especially "The songs all started out as acoustic Unable to resist the obvious, Iask with tunings you haven't used before, guitar and vocal. Ijust left it wide open. how things are these days between because you're kind of learning the A lot of them changed direction quite a Farrar and his former partner. The man chord configurations as you're writing bit when Ibrought in musicians to play of few words is ready with some. the song. And it's almost like you're them. The textures changed." "We get along fine whenever we get learning how to play the instrument Farrar would know about textures. together." again. In a conventional tune, you're Ever since he and Jeff Tweedy formed But was the breakup as bad as has always conscious of where you've been Uncle Tupelo in 1989, the weave of been rumored? before, whereas with an alternate tun- modern rock hasn't been the same. Not "I'm sure there have been a lot ing it's pretty much all new." that they invented any new paths or worse," he says, but his uncomfortable Even though embarked on the all- broke much new ground, but on albums smile is asking if we can move on. new tack of solo career, Farrar says he's

like 1990's No Depression (Rockville) and We laugh. ( 'ace closed. Next question. leaving open the possibility of Son 1993's Anodyne (Sire), Tweedy and Although no longer bandmates (or, Volt's return. Farrar gave fresh relevance to the fusion probably, friends), Tweedy and Farrar "I just felt like, after five years of of country and rock, which the great and and their respective projects have touring and recording [with Son Volt], good Gram Parsons had founded in the remained intertwined thanks to being from a creative standpoint it just late '60s and early '70s. Uncle Tupelo's signed to different imprints of Uncle seemed like the right time for achange. breakup in 1994 spawned the Tweedy- Tupelo's label, Warner Bros. Coincid- Ididn't want to repeat what we had led Wilco and Farrar's Son Volt, both of entally, earlier this year both Son Volt done before."

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Duane Allman

hirty years on, Duane Allman stands as the foremost electric slide Tguitarist of the modern era —an inspired contributor to countless rock, OCHS blues, and R8tB sessions, and the founder and leader of the Allman Brothers Band,

an ongoing American musical institution PALEY/MICHAEL still playing to packed houses. The fact that he died in amotorcycle accident in October 1971 at the age of 24, after are- cording career of only five years, makes all of this only more remarkable. Acknowledging his prodigious out- put of passionate and intuitive guitar work in the studio, the continuing influ- ence of the Allman Brothers based on their absolute dedication to home grown American blues and rock music forms and the idea that extended im- provisation or "jamming" on stage could succeed when guided by musical in- spiration rather than self indulgence, one must still wonder why Duane Allman is such acompelling presence so long after his passing. Duane we hardly knew ye.. .The Slide Guitar Master at work, 9/23/69. Muscle Shoals, Alabama. When you listen, the answer becomes more apparent with each track. No other From the beginning, Duane's rapport Berry Oaldey (bass), Jai Johanny Johan- guitarist sounds like Duane Allman. Not with the guitar was instinctive and son and Butch Trucks (drums, percus- then, not now, not ever. Most obvious, quick. Starting in his mid teens down in sion), and brother Gregg (keyboards, the absolutely pure, sweet intonation and Daytona Beach, he had absorbed the in- vocals) to form the kind of band he'd endless melodic invention of his slide strument, paid hard dues on the minor been waiting to play with all his life. guitar playing, Allman's special calling as league chitterlin' circuit with younger 'They released The Allman Brothers Band an instrumentalist. Less apparent, the brother Gregg in the Allman Joys, and (Mercury 314 531 257-2), aferocious set utter conviction he breathed into every- recorded his first single, ahyperbolic of modern blues originals and standards thing he played. You can even hear it on version of Willie Dixon's "Spoonful," destined to become the musical and the most unassuming rhythm tracks that by the time he was 19. spiritual template for the Southern Rock pulse with his understated yet fierce In 1967, stuck in Los Angeles suffer- movement of the 1970s and '80s. determination to move the music along ing through his next professional misad- Two years later, after three more at all deliberate speed with aprofound venture, Hourglass (a band appropriately seminal recordings with the band — sense of urgency perfectly matched to described by Liberty Records publicity Idlewild South (Mercury 314 531 258-2), the impassioned vocals of artists he was hacks as a"psychotic phenomenon"), At Fillmore East (Mercury 314 531 259- supporting such as Aretha Franklin, Allman attended aTaj Mahal concert 2), and Eat aPeach (Mercury 314 531 Clarence Carter and others. The supple, where he heard guitarist Jesse Ed Davis 260-2) — his epic collaboration with shifting chord fills on classic R&D tracks play electric slide on "Statesboro Blues." Eric Clapton on Layla (Polydor 31453 by Wilson Pickett. Or the measured, for- He decided that night to learn the slide- 1820-2), and notable studio work for bidding sound of guitar riffs that set the guitar style, one of the most nuanced artists ranging from Aretha Franklin, mood for perennial Allman Brothers and difficult to master. A year later, his King Curtis, John Hammond, Ronnie favorites like "Trouble No More" and pure, sweet tone and sinuous glissandos Hawkins, Herbie Mann, Boz Scaggs, "Whipping Post." were putting Rick Hall's Fame Studios, Lulu, and Laura Nyro, Duane Allman And, finally, there is the redeeming in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, on the map. was gone. grace provided by his incandescent solos, Allman's distinctive guitar-playing But his music — the deep, throbbing invariably lifting whatever music he was quickly flourished, honed in sessions for grit and celestial scream of his guitar— playing to ahigher ground that he al- Clarence Carter, Arthur Conley, and still reverberates through our musical ways seemed to take for granted but Johnny Jenkins. Soon weary of the stu- consciousness, from jam bands to the many of us are still just now discovering. dio, he then joined Dickey Betts (guitar), third-generation Allman Brothers faithful

Stereophile, November 2001 129 left to conjure up mem- DUANE ALLMAN An early indicator of the Allmans' un- ories from the many discs an anthology questionable authority and daring when and websites devoted to playing the blues, "B.B. King Medley" Duane and the various in- prefigures the uncanny rapport that carnations of the band he formed the nucleus of the Allman brought to life. Brothers Band. The number of origi- Unsurprisingly, Hourglass drifted nal albums featuring apart. Gregg stayed on in Hollywood to Duane as asession player repay advances from the label, and Duane that have either gone out headed south to play with Berry Oakley of print or mutated into and Dickey Betts. Rick Hall, impressed "Greatest Hits" collec- by "B.B. King Medley," asked Duane to tions, and the infinite play on aWilson Pickett session at Fame. variety of reissues and This was an important date —Hall was compilations of original hoping to land Pickett and his label, Allman Brothers releases, Atlantic Records, as regular customers. make getting an accurate Duane, despite his long sense of his recorded legacy atrek up a red hair, muttonchops long, slippery slope. Duane Allman sideburns, and clothes, For acareer overview, start with the An Anthology Volume 11 none of which fit the con- two volumes of Duane Allman: All servative, small-town "blue Auutlioloy (Polydor 831 444-2 and 831 laws" atmosphere of 445-2, hereafter referred to as Muscle Shoals, blew every- Anthologys Iand //), originally released one away from the start. in 1972 and (mercifully) still available. It was Allman's idea to Dig deeper into Duane's extraordinary record "Hey Jude," contributions as leader of the Allman which, despite initial re- Brothers Band on the previously men- sistance from Pickett, tioned core albums and Dreams (Poly- eventually became the dor 422 839 417-2), adefinitive — in album's title track, crest- terms of scope, ambition, and running ed at #13 on the R&B time (four CDs, 55 tracks) —boxed set charts and #23 on the lovingly compiled in 1989 by Bill pop charts, sold millions Levenson, the man responsible for Eric of records, and definitely Clapton's Crossroads collection. got the attention of Those obsessed with live Allman Atlantic's legendary pro- Brothers recordings can experience featuring brother Gregg(keyboards and ducer, Jerry Wexler. Listening to the the band's more primitive and relaxed vocals), Pete Carr (bass, Paul Hornsby track on Anthology I, it's easy to appreci- approach on The Allman Brothers Band (organ), and Johnny Sandlin (drums). ate Duane's subtle, perfectly placed Live at Ludlow Garage 1970 (Polydor Repackaged by Liberty as mutation of chord fills through the first few verses 843 260-2), afriendly if imperfectly overproduced lower-order pop psych- and, behind Wilson's frantic choruses, played and recorded twofer taped edelia, the band produced two albums, the stinging, knife-edged solos pushing when the sextet was still very much in Houiglass (1967) and Power of Love the track higher and higher. its formative stages. (1968), both thankfully out of print. Duane eventually played on every Extending the impact of the original Dreams includes three samples of the track of Pickett's album, opening up the At Fillmore East album is 1992's The relatively unadulterated Hourglass: traditional R&B guitar palette with Fillmore Concerts (Polydor 314 517 294 "Cast Off All My Fears," "Down in highly charged phrasing and more 2), with tracks not included on the first Texas," and "Ain't No Good to Cry." experimental timbres. By then, he was release —such as "One Way Out," from But these, too, arc for hard-core fans, staff lead guitarist at Muscle Shoals, an earlier Fillmore show, "Don't Keep especially in light of Duane's com- blasting through tracks by Clarence Mc Wonderin'," and the 33-minute, ments in the notes for Ant/Woe /: "It's Carter, Arthur Conley, Johnny Jenkins, sometimes seemingly interminable depressing for me to listen to, 'cause it's and others. His slide playing on Carter's "Mountain Jam," which first appeared cats ti-yin' to get off on things that can- "Road of Love" (also documented on on Eat aPeach. not be gotten off on." Anthology I) marks a total departure. The beginning of Duane Allman's Truc enough. But one Hourglass Built on amoody guitar riff by Carter recording career is embodied in three track, the "B.B. King Medley," pre- over tight Muscle Shoals rhythms, the otherwise unreleased Allman Joys served on both Dreams and AtithoheI, is track moves along ominously before demos — "Spoonful," "Shapes of worth revisiting. A straight-up rendition Duane's slide explodes from the heav- Things," and "Crossroads" — on of three showstoppers from King's Live ens in asolo played at earth-shattering Dreams, which are interesting mainly as at 71w Reed album ("Sweet Little volume. Carter comments, "I like what period pieces. Duane's playing is typi- Angel," "It's My Own Fault," "How I'm listening to" as the part screams cally full on, but at odds with itself as he Blue Can You Get"), it builds off through, threatening to shred the track. struggles to find adirection. The music Gregg's smoky, passionate vocals and a In addition to other people's ses- hadn't significantly improved by the biting, slightly distorted solo from sions, Allman played guitar and sang time Hourglass was formed, aquintet Duane that augurs well for the future. his own well-intentioned if mu-cm:irk-

130 Stereophiie, November 2001 Building a Library

Atlantic-South Criteria studios by Tommy Dowd, who had arranged for Allman and Clapton to meet, Layla documents Clapton's jagged emotional state following a failed love affair through stunning original songs like the soaring title track, "Bell Bottom Blues," and "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?," and inspired interpretations of Duane Allman such blues classics as "Key to the Gregg Allman Highway" and "Have You Ever Loved a Dickey Betts Woman." Throughout, Allman's sleek, glassy slide, more melodic and unfet- Berry Oakley tered than ever before, provides intu- ButchTrucks itive counterpoint both inspirational to Jai JohannyJohanson and supportive of Clapton's shattering vocals and guitar. A timeless recording with some of Allman's very finest play- ing, these sessions also produced an intimate version of "Mean Old World," with Clapton and Allman on acoustic slide (Anthology II). But by 1969, Allinan was profoundly ambivalent about the studio. In an inter- view and guest-DJ session on New York's WPLJ FM (posted on the fan site www.allmanbrother.com), he ranted about the materialism and limited able vocals on Jack Dupree's 'Goin' potential implicit in studio life: "You Down Slow," Chuck Berry's "No just lay around and get your money. All Money Down," and his own "Happily Through the last years of his of those studio cats Iknow...they're just keeping up with the Joneses and not Married Man," all for asolo album that life, Allman produced too never materialized. (The tracks can be playing their music.... The sessions Ido found on Anthology Iand II.) much exceptional studio now, Ijust go in there and play my By then afavorite of Jerry Wexler, in music and leave." 1969 Duane played on sessions for This playing to cover here... Time to focus on the Allman Girl's in Love with You and Spirit in the Brothers Band. After amonstrous two- Dark, two albums by Aretha Franklin — and-a-half-hour jam with everyone but another odd juxtaposition of musics and Gregg (still sequestered in LA.), Duane life styles. His playing on "The Weight," ing, loose-limbed slide on John had finally found the means to play the "It Ain't Fair," and "When the Battle is Hammond's "Shake for Me"; his gritty music he'd been hearing in his heart. Over" is more subtle than before but New Orleans funk and dusty Delta On March 26, 1969, he called his broth- nonetheless extraordinary (see Anthology phrases, both on acoustic Dobro (an- er to get him to come back and com- Iand H and Franklin's Queen of Soul— other expressive force in his repertoire), plete the band. That fall, they recorded The Atlantic Recordings, Rhino R2 71063). underscoring Joluury Jenkins' "Walk On The Allman Brothers Band at Atlantic's Especially worth noting is The Band's Gilded Splinters" and "Rolling Stone"; New York studios. "The Weight," which begins with a on Boz Scaggs' "Loan Me a Dime," Partly by nature and partly in reaction quivering glissando, followed by long, Duane, the Muscle Shoals rhythm sec- to the increasingly constipated atmos- sustained slide notes tempered with a tion, and the Memphis Horns bring phere of Muscle Shoals, Duane wanted a metallic tone as Franklin kicks the track home a track that threatens to go freer, more spontaneous "live" sound on into overdrive. Later on, Duane would nowhere with asteadily building inten- the record, with most solos as first or use amore extreme version of this ap- sity spurred by the guitarist's meltdown early takes. This natural impetus and ten- proach on King Curtis's version of the solos; the carefully calibrated intensity of dency to avoid control-room overthink song (Anthology "It Ain't Fair" starts Duane's solo on Herbie Mann's testa- played to the Allman Brothers' strengths, with soft volume swells that gradually ment to urban funk, "Push Push"; and afact later vividly brought home by the settle into sharper blues notes that lift the careening slide figures that perfectly live recordings at the Fillmore East. Franklin's mournful vocals. embody the lunar madness of touring "Don't Want You No More" is ahard - Through the last years of his life, on Delaney & Bonnie's 'Livin' on the charging introduction to the band's vari- Allman produced too much exceptional Open Road." ous gifts, with fluid Hammond-organ studio playing to cover here, some of it Beyond the scope of Duane Allman's vamps, contrapuntal blues solos, and selected on the Anthologys and other col- typical session work is his monumental Duane and Dickey's unison and harm- lections, and more on aprojected multi- contribution to Derek & the Dominos' ony guitar lines. Gregg's wrenching vocal disc Polydor set currently tied up in the Layla, ahigh-water mark of Eric Clap- on "It's Not My Cross to Bear" is sup- legal departments of several labels. Some ton's recording career and of modern ported by his brother's shimmering lead highpoints within easy reach: his rock- rock in general. Recorded at Miami's guitar. Muddy Waters' "Trouble No

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Record Reviews

Recording of the Vonth

BOB DYLAN: Love and Theft Columbia (85975) (CD). 2001. Jack Frost, prod.; Chris Shaw, eng.; Jeremy Welch, asst. ens. AAD? Tr: 57:35 Performance **** /12 Sonies **** osay that Bob Dylan has been on aroll for the last four years has now officially become agross under- Tstatement Ever since the now-60-year-old music icon and producer Daniel Lanois managed to right yet another down period in his career with 1997's Time Out ofMind, eas- ily his most coherent artistic statement since the Lanois- helmed Oh Mercy of 1989, the man has been unstoppable. For proof, look no further than this new album. Instead of acomplete makeover, or an unfortunate downshift like Under the Red Sky (the listless disaster that followed Oh Mercy), with Love and T110 Dylan sharpens the angles of what he began on Time Out of Mind: songwriting and singing strong enough to cast its nets far and wide over a variety of styles. Nearly every American roots music imag- inable —from swing to blues to the kind of jacked-up electric rodc'n'roll that got him in hot water at Newport years ago — here gets its due. Best of all, Dylan's stylistic adventurism this time comes off with more swagger than the careful stepping and open space that made lime so flavorful. Here, confidence is the fuel, and my, does it ever points, as in the opening couplet: "Bye and Bye / I'm burn sweetly. breathing alover's sigh." The ever-present side of Dylan The spark to this sizzle is the fac-t that, despite having that loves being in love can still flash that ol' optimism. been in the music business for 40 years, during which time More sentimental yet is "Floater (Too Much to Ask)," he's waxed an impossible 43 albums, Dylan is again getting asnappy number accented with fiddle and ukulele that high from being on the road. In the four years since he wouldn't be out of place "down on the levee"; and pulled down aGrammy for Album of the Year with Time "Moonlight," in which Dylan actually croons the word Out ofMind, he and the band heard here have played more "levee." than 450 concert dates. Not surprisingly, from the fade-in When Dylan turns serious, as in "Mississippi," his ragged of the first track, "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum," it's shred of avoice summons waves of wistfulness as he airs obvious that this act has been honed on the whetstone of his doubts and punctures his own legend with more of a live performance. clear eye than any bitter recrimination: This ain't the first or even the 20th time these guys Iwas raised in the country have been through these songs. Larry Campbell and I've been working in the town Charlie Sexton are equally skilled on guitar, providing fit I've been in trouble ever since background acoustic support in the album's tenderest Isat my suitcase down. tune, "Po Boy," while also nailing rock fills with resource- ful aim in its most upbeat rocker, "Honest With Me." Got nothingfor ya Bassist Toni Gamier and drummer David Kemper are a Had nothing before supple, adaptable foundation. Like 'Times, the sound of Don't even have anything Love and Theft is raw and visceral, but reasonably well- For myself anymore recorded for arock album. All my powers of expression Ever the vain thespian fond of changing masks, Dylan Ithought so sublime currently sports anatty dusting of mustache. But that's Could never do you justice about the biggest change here. And when it comes to In reason or rhyme singing astraight-ahead swing tune like "Summer Days," Reason and certainly rhyme have always been the guid- Dylan is all business: focused, determined, and seemingly ing lights, good and bad, of Bob Dylan's career. Judging by having alot of fun. In "Bye and Bye," even though he's the music and passion on Love and Theft, both are now "walking on briars" and isn't even "acquainted with his own more focused, at least in terms of recent Dylan history, desires," he can't help getting sentimental, almost goofy at than they have been in along time. —Robert Baird

Stereophile, November 2001 135 voicings and melodic distinction and he symphonies of Anton Bruck- Glenn Gould's more chaste introspec- ner are about matters of life and classical tion, while bringing more abandon to Tdeath. That's one reason it's hard the central episodes than either of those not to find aperformance recorded in BRAHMS eminences. Under Hough's secure fin- Europe during or in the years immedi- gers, the third Ballade's unison octave Piano Sonata 3, Four Ballades Op. JO ately following World War II that isn't, runs are perfectly poised and rhythmi- in some way or another, extraordinary. Stephen Hough, piano cally aligned, as are the spooky, high- Hyperion CDA67237 (CD). 2001. Andrew Keener, But in these less dire times, in which the prod.; Mike Hatch, eng. DDD. Ti: 59:19 register chords in the Trio. If Iprefer execution of these massive works is no Performance ** * Michelangeli's weightier projection of longer such astruggle, the attentive lis- Sonics *** 16 the frequent three-against-two rhyth- tener has to ask if Bruckner can survive tephen Hough's recent recorded mic patterns in the fourth Ballade, less personal readings, or performances forays into the so-called central Hough still captures the music's lyric that aren't an expression of faith in the Spiano repertoire have generally breadth and improvisational flow. face of adversity. Is there such athing as not stood out to the same dazzling Mike Hatch's engineering provides a classical, objective approach to degree as his efforts on behalf of piano an intimate yet full soundstage, al- Bruckner that doesn't reduce the music's less-beaten track, including though Hough's bass notes don't ring music's expressive potential? York Bowen's sonatas, Mompou's mini- out and resonate as they normally do in Bernard Haitink, Roger Norrington, atures, and the large-scale works of the concert hall. Recommended. and Nikolaus Harnoncourt have come C,origliano and Tsontakis (on New York —Jed Disder up with engrossing performances along Variations, Hyperion CDA67005). This those lines, the latter two falling vaguely reflects less on Hough's artistry than on BRUCKNER into the authentic-performance camp. sheer catalog saturation: after all, how Elsewhere, conductors without an in- Symphonies 5& 9 many more Liszt B-Minor or Schubert born point of view (like the recently de- B-flat sonatas can the market absorb? Symphony 9 ceased Georg lintner, whose Bruckner Claudio Abbado, Vienna Philharmonic One might put forth the same argu- Deutsche Grammophon 389 471 032-2 (CD). 2001. cycle on Naxos is such atreasure) often ment about the present Brahms recital, Christopher Alder, prod.; Ulrich Vette, eng. DDD. seem to be searching for aviable inter- TT: 60:24 but happily, Hough is at the top of his Performance *** pretive model for Bruckner. And even considerable form. His traversals of the Sonics *** some of the best—Claudio Abbado and F-Minor Sonata, Op.5 and the Four Symphony 5 (also recently deceased) Giuseppe Ballades, Op.10 reveal amaster pianist Giuseppe Sinopoli, Staatskapelle Dresden Sinopoli —aren't entirely successful. at work, one who imbues these ambi- Deutsche Grammophon 469 527-2 (CD). 2001. Abbado's reading of Symphony 9, Arend Prohmann, prod.; Klaus Hiemann, eng. tious early works with musical intelli- DDD. Ti': 76:37 with the Vienna Philharmonic, was re- gence, effortless technical mastery, Performance **** corded some five years ago, and so Sonics **** dynamic power, and aburnished, full- doesn't reflect the exalted artistic state throated sonority. in which he recorded his The burly sonata's bushels recent, superb Beethoven of chords never spill, and its symphony cycle. In fact, this unwieldy octave passages are recording hails from aperiod consistently suave and long- when Abbado's recordings lined. Here and there Imiss were particularly uneven — the unfettered swagger and and for whatever reason, the organic drama Rubinstein Vienna Philharmonic is here brought to his classic 1959 atad ragged, as well as only RCA recording, especially in intermittently inspired. Per- the Scherzo's Trio and in the haps no other orchestra in the tumultuous Finale. Rubin- world knows this music bet- stein's left hand also speaks ter, and that may be the prob- out more in the slow move- lem —this performance feels ment, which helps build more like arunthrough than stronger transitional bridges an occasion worth capturing between episodes. for posterity. Moments of By the same token, Hough Brucknerian crisis are defi- makes magical moments out nitely there, but this compos- of the hushed right-hand er was far more than adrama espressivo syncopations during queen, and the deeper quali- the first-movement develop- ties that hardcore admirers of ment, and manages to observe this music look for — and the legiero indication in the find in the performances of Finales Presto section without Wilhelm Furtwângler, Her- sacrificing fullness of tone. mann Abendroth, Otto In the first two Ballades' Klemperer, and Tintner — outer sections, Hough strikes are either not here or are a middle ground between characterized less than vivid- Rubinstein's robust chord Struggling to redefine Bruckner—Claudio Abbado. ly. The structural turning

136 Stereophile, November 2001 points in aBruckner symphony can also feel like hard-won resolutions, but aside from Abbado's hushed, awestruck treatment of the first-movement coda, those qualities aren't here. Such transi- 7 SOPHIA tions are, however, managed with aflu- ency that's welcome in all repertoire, and particularly in Bruckner. The Beguiling New Loudspeaker From Wilson In Symphony 5, Giuseppe Sinopoli (or, more to the point, Dr. Sinopoli) could have played the psychoanalytic card with the potentially lurid results he Wilson Audio so often drew from Puccini. But Sophia Speaker Sinopoli takes the high road in areading that offers the distinctively silky appeal of the Dresden strings, particularly in the slow movement. And there are def- inite rewards when, as here, Sinop°li's intellect is applied more to the sym- phony's technical workings than to its emotional implications. There's aclear sense of the pillars on which this grand symphonic structure rests. In the best moments, Sinopoli resourcefully makes the musical repeti- tiveness of Bruckner count with asense of cumulative impact. More important, though, are moments such as that in the second movement, when, in the wake of aparticularly ethereal climax, asin- gle note creates atransition into anoth- er, rather different musical paragraph, as if the composer had suddenly found the long-searched-for key to more With Sophia', Wilson Audio has defined anew standard of musical serene, enlightened inner terrains. It's performance and value. Sophia' is visually stunning and sonically transparent quite amoment. Both performances, however, have a and accurate with holographic clarity. Audition Sophia'" and the entire range labored quality, and the recording is of Wilson loudspeakers at Innovative Audio Video Showrooms. partly to blame. Ilonged for abit of "air" around the sound; this was proba- bly not an option in Vienna's ultra-live Innovative Audio Video Showrooms features Musikverein, where the Abbado perfor- mance was recorded, but must have Home Theater House-wide, multi-room music been possible with the Dresden. Both Large Screen Projection Systems systems. User friendly, remote performances also lack the sense of &keypad controlled. • Reference Quality Music Systems inevitability — that not a single note Centralized Lighting Systems could be different — that's often heard Compact Music Systems Custom Installations with conductors who seem to have a Complete Stereo Systems start closer identification with Bruckner. at under $1000 MI Delivery &Repair On the plus side, there's none of the 7Days AWeek gooey sentimentality that frequently Automated Home Control creeps into more confessional interpre- Direct TV Satellite MI Trade-Ins &Used Equipment tations, but it's hard to imagine that these newly released recordings will deliver new dimensions on subsequent hearings. Maybe that's why Bruckner releases tend to be spaced widely in this 11111011ATIVr country, and why the Abbado was AUDIO VIDEO SHOWROOM' delayed for five years, and the Sinopoli arrived in the US nine months after its Manhattan 212-634-4444 150 East 58 Street, New York 1015 5 European release. The market for such Brooklyn Heights 718-596-0888 76 Montague Street, Brooklyn 112 01 recordings is small —perhaps because they just don't have that much to add to www.innovativeaudiovideo.com what has already been said. —David Patrick Stearns

Stereophiie, November 2001 137 Sick! Really, Really Sick!

Here at HeadRoom, we're very proud of our least expensive portable headphone amplifier, the Total AirHead. We feel good about helping people get near-audiophile quality reproduction from their portable player. We know a lot of people hove been introduced to high-end audio by this amp and have gone on to improve their home system with quality audio electronics. The RirHead Amp makes us feel responsible and justified; o healthy contributor to this industry. The ugly truth, however, is that we're sick—really, really sick.

non-driven side of the driver elements. You can audio channel electronics (hence mono-block). Once HeadRoom could afford to get away from see this by looking at oheadphone plug; the left hired gun engineering and bring a full-time engi- Each non-inverted and inverted audio channel channel connection is at the tip, the right channel neer on board, TyII Hertsens (HeadRooMs Presi- has completely separate electronics and power connection is the ring, and the common connec- supplies all the way back to separate Rvel- dent) went straight to Danny Bartlett (one of the tion we're talking about is the remainder of the original HeadRoom design team) and convinced Lindburg toroidal transformers (hence double plug shaft, called the sleeve. The problem is that dual-mono). Yes, this amp has four transformers, him to join HeadRoom as Chief Designer. While the summed left and right channel return current four power supplies, and four audio channels. their hearts are in the right place—the first thing will develop o signal across the series resis- The amp comes standard with all sorts of sweet they did was a complete re-tweak and clean-up tance of the common return path, which causes of the entire product line—TyII remains an ob- stuff like high performance Burr-Brown 627 au- cross-talk and muddies the stereo presentation dio op-amps (see the June '01 Stereophile foro sessed headphone geek looking for ways to on headphones (When evaluating headphones, very intelligent discussion about high perfor- push the limits of audio reproduction on head- one thing you can look for is having the connec- mance audio op-amps); very low temperature phones, and Donny suffers from o coefficient .1% metal film resistors compulsive need to build perfect and hand-matched polyphenoline- things-regardless of what they are. sulphide film capacitors in the sig- So, we ore both pleased, and some- nal path; Nobel potentiometers, what disturbed, to bring you news of our latest flagship product: the Neutrik connectors; three-step gain clearly beyond-the-edge HeadRoom control for volume control optimi- BlockHead--a fully balanced mono- zation of various efficiency head- block headphone amplifier. phones; three-step filter control; HeadRoom psychoocoustic pro- To understand how truly sick a mind cessor circuit; and much more. Also has to be to build aproduct like this, available ore stepped ottenuo- tors and further audio electronic you will have to understand that it's impossible to build obalanced head- component upgrades. Currently, phone amp—under normal circumstances. You see, custom cabled Sennheiser HD600 tion point of the left and right common return at headphones share o common connection on the and Grado RS1 headphones ore available to the plug rather than within the headphones). It is use with the BlockHead. this headphone connector found on all headphones that makes it impossible to drive the return side How does it sound? Frankly, we just can't be- of the headphone coils with the separate left lieve it. While it's finesse and depth of imaging and right inverted signals of o fully balanced ore o significant improvement over anything amplifier. we've previously experienced with dynamic headphones (competitive with the best electro- But Todd (HeodRoom's Soles Manager) kept statics, we feel), it's the BlockHead's Adam's- getting tolls from customers who said they loved Ground wire resistance Apple-Wobbling boss reproduction and eye blink- their balanced equipment and wonted obalanced of common signal return ing impact that have us re-thinking everything R.,ht Channe ldevelops inter.chonnel headphone amp to go along with it; and Danny we thought we knew about headphones. RH of us cross talk distortion knew it would be way closer to perfection to ore stunned at the performance of this amp. Folks build abalanced amp; and Tyll...well, he was just who got o chance to hear it at the recent Home nuts enough to think he could convince people to Entertainment Show hosted by Stereophile lis- make the custom cabled headphones needed to tened agape and were torn to select a favorite complete a fully-bolonced dynamic headphone system from among the 812,000 Sennheiser system. The result is the BlockHead: the world's Orpheus, 86000 Stox Omega, and 84,000 first and only commercially available fully bal- BlockHead/Sennheiser 600/custom Clou cable anced. double dual-mono, mono-block headphone combo which is a bargain by comparison. amplifier.

But the final word on the subject comes from Tyll The BlockHead's machined aluminum front and who, with eyes shut and head bobbing, was rear panels hold together two enclosures which heard to describe the sound as, "Sick! Really, house the completely separate left and right really sick!"

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GEORGE CRUMB rustle. In the end, it is not noise or ventional solo instninients. By the early The Complete Crumb Edition, VoL4 effects but sheer loveliness that one 20th century, such major composers as Zeitgeist Music for oSummer takes away from the movement. Mahler and Sibelius had apparently lost Evening (Makrokosmos III) The fourth movement, "Day of the interest in the piano, and many modern composers, from Stravinsky through Quattro Mani: Susan Grace, Alice Rybalç pianos; with Comet," is quick and foreboding, full of David Colson, John Kinzie, percussion deep rumblings, high clashing chords, Boulez, have been more attracted to Bridge 9105 (CD). 2001. David 8, Becky Starobin, and agitated tremolos. "The Realm of diverse ensemble writing. prods.; Robert Starobin, assoc. prod.; Michael B. Grace, eng. AAD. TT: 64:40 Morpheus," Zeitgeist's soft fifth move- Thus, for many listeners, it may come Performance ****'6 ment, employs whistling harmonics and as somewhat of asurprise to encounter Sonics ****'6 muted strummings of the piano's interi- solo piano music by such major contem- ext to Rounder's reissues of or, as bits of the Appalachian ballad "The porary composers as Philip Glass and, to Alan Lomax's field recordings, Riddle" float disembodied through these alesser extent, John Cage. (Cage's most NBridge's ambitious traversal of sounds. It is as tranquil, atmospheric, and notorious work, the silent 433", while the music of West Virginia-born personal as Debussy's Prelude to the scored for piano, actually contains no George Crumb is the most exciting on- Afternoon of aFaun. piano sounds.) Glass's minimalist style going series underway. With Music for a Summer Evening usually has a meditative quality, and Neither aminimalist nor aserialist, (Makrokosmos for Two Amplified Pianos some of his most popular music has Crumb (b. 1929) has created his own and Percussion, Crumb expands the two- been written for background settings, musical language of texture, nuance, piano palette not just with percussion but such as the film scores for Koynailisciatsi color, and space, in which sonority and also with whistling and voices. and The Thin Blue Line. On occasion, as timbre are key. Modern classical music Marimbas, rattles, claves, vibraphones, in his Heroes symphony, he does strive for has gotten the reputation for being "out and gongs are used strategically in dra- more conventional drama, but his piano of touch" with the average listener, but matic combination and contrast with the works on this disc, particularly the five- Crumb's music, while acompletely dif- bustling pianos. The section, "Wanderer- movement Metamorphosis and the ferent experience from what's heard on Fantasy (Calling, echoing)," features a excerpt from his opera Satyagraha, are in classical radio, is never atonal and always slide whistle playing a clear musical the hypnotic mode. evocative. At its best, the music has melody enfolded in its slippery path and Pianist Bruce Brubaker, achampion of about it adiaphanous beauty, mystery, goofy tone. Again, the pentatonic tunes contemporary music, makes the best and wonder akin to Hubble Space Tele- and gamelan-like sense of suspended possible case for these pieces by infusing scope photos of far-flung nebulae — motion recall traditional Asian elements. them with subtle tenderness and sensu- sometimes colorful and luminous, at Crumb concludes the work with some ousness. The result is undeniably seduc- others dark and shadowy. of his finest writing: "Music of the Starry tive, aptly described in Tim Page's notes Volume 4 features works that are Night (fantastic, oracular); Song of as a"sonorous and unified invitation to among Crumb's best. Both Zeitgeist Reconciliation (joyous, ecstatic, with a elevation." Brubaker describes the music (1987, revised 1988) and Music for a sense of cosmic time)." Bright prickings as being free from the "usual downtown/ Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III) (1974) of sharp sound and rolling thunder yield uptown, pop/classical distinctions," and, use dual amplified pianos as central to a soft, lovely pentatonic melody. indeed, the distinction between "concert instruments, the latter work adding two Whistling ensues as the melody arpeg- music" and "new age" music seems to percussionists as well. giates. An ecstatic melody develops dissolve here. The nuking of the piano is The six tableaus of Zeitgeist ("time roughly halfway through, and the Asian close, providing a feeling of intimacy spirit") have orchestral range and power, elements return in ajoyful celebration. while still allowing the tone to bloom. as well as the sonic immediacy of Ihave heard numerous performances John Cage, as much philosopher as romantic tone poems. And as he fre- of these works over the years, in concert composer, was intent on making his quently has in his mature works, and on record, but none compares with audiences think more than feel, so his Crumb even gives the score an unusual the poetry and artistry these players juxtaposition with aminimalist compos- symbolic twist. The score for the fifth have brought to these exquisite read- er might seem provocative. It is remark- tableau, "The Realm of Morpheus (the ings. -Daniel Buckley able, though, how well these two slen- inner eye of dreams)," for example, is der pieces from the 1940s fit into this bent to the shape of ahuman eye. GLASS & CAGE program: both Dream and the move- ment from She Is Asleep have arepetitive, Zeitgeist brims with exotic effects. In Glass Cage: Piano Music by dreamlike quality, although their edgi- its opening movement, "Portent," Philip Glass &John Cage Crumb frequently has pianists Susan ness and sense of exploration demand GLASS: Satyagraha (Act 3, Conclusion), more attention than the Glass works. Grace and Alice Rybak, collectively Metamorphosis, Mad Rush known as Quattro Mani, use their sus- CAGE: "A Room" from She Is Asleep, Dream But the Cage pieces here total only tain pedals to leave in their wake clouds Bruce Brubaker, piano about 10 minutes of playing time. The Arabesque Z6744 (CD). 2001. Malvin M. Reiss, prod.; of sonic smoke that die away slowly as David L Rick, eng. DDD. TT: 63:36 lion's share of the disc is music by Glass, new sounds are introduced over the Performance *** and demanding concentrated listening receding vapors; and aglass tumbler is Sonics *** and stirring passionate responses is the rolled along the strings to create eerie he ongoing strife between music last thing most of Glass's pieces on this glissandi. The work's meditative, Asian- critics who gripe about the dearth disc seek to do. However alien his con- styled third movement, "Monochord," Tof contemporary music in the templative style may seem to the tradi- calls for the pianists to rapidly oscillate a concert halls and virtuosos who rarely tion of classical music, there is no doubt fingertip on the strings to excite elec- venture further than the 19th century that Glass has made for himself that tronic-sounding overtones. Paper is put tends to obscure acentral reality: less rarest of commodities: a recognizable over selected strings to create agentle and less music is being written for con- voice. -Hyperion Knight

139 Stereophile, November 2001 If your last hifi purchase had your household lookin like ascene from aJerry Springer show, complete wit finger-wagging and head-wiggling, we have asolution BUY VALUE ...or move to atrailer down by the river.

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not abad analogy —there are no cracks, Le s but delicacy is everywhere evident. SeTIE This lovely but airy show is impecca- bly recorded, with balances natural and each of the wind instruments credibly audible. The 18th-century French drawing-room ambiance is perfectly RAMEAU captured. -Robert Levine LAG UIRLANDE ZÉ PHYRE rock/pop

Dancman Méchaly SON GC ATC HER Ockenden Decaudaveine Original Soundtrack Av.new Razola Vanguard 79586-2 (CD). 2001. Steve Buckingham, Chris Farren, Ken Levitan, Christopher Cover, lliain Christie prods.; various engs. MD? Ti': 55:10 Performance **** It's Arts 1.1i) r %sit ts Sonics *** 16 appclia dc, \\:1)k he soundtrack to the film 0 Brother, Where Art Thou? was per- Thaps last year's most surprising breakthrough hit. Given how thor- ERATO oughly NashVegas —or amore likely culprit, country radio, which leads the music capital around by its nose — has RAMEAU Each work contains, as one might given up on country music's rich hist- La Guirlande, Zephyre expect, much dance music, and it is all ory, you couldn't have picked a less

La Guirlande: Sophie Daneman, Zelide; Paul Agnew, lovely. The scoring is varied; in addition likely album to strike achord with the Myrtil; François Bazola, Hylas. Zephyre: Gaelle to the usual strings (18), we're treated to music-buying public, which generally Mechaly, Zephyre; Rebecca Ockenden, Cloris, flute, oboe, bassoon, horn, and musette knows what it wants (because it, too, is flore; Sophie Decaudaveine, Diane. Both: Les Arts Florissants, Cappella Coloniensis des WDR, William (along with harpsichord), used in differ- told as much by radio) but not what it Christie ent pairings in order to offer as much needs. But even ablind squirrel finds an Erato 8573-85774-2 (2 CDs). 2000. Richard Lorber, exec. prod.; Arnd Coppers, eng. DDD. TT: 95:24 aural color as possible. The horns in acorn now and again. Performance ****'i, Zephyre are gloriously played, and each So, the question that's asked by the Sonics **** work contains awell-placed chorus or Songcatcher soundtrack — which surveys hese two pieces of Rameau lite — two. The vocal performances, particu- Appalachian music from the early 20th actes de ballet, as they were known larly in Guirlande, are splendid: Paul century and features performances by a Tin 18th-century France —are far Agnew uses his high, light tenor lus- mostly female cast of such true believers cries from the composer's great ciously as Myrtil, and inflects the text as Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch, Iris tragedies, such as Hippolyte et Arnie or with feeling as well. Sophie Daneman DeMent, Patty Loveless, Emmylou Castor et Pollux. Nonetheless, each of matches him in grace, agility, these late works contains much first- and sincerity, and François rate music, for which one must look Bazola as Hylas does what beyond the simple-minded plots. he can with his fewer than La Guirlande concerns the Arcadian 10 lines. lovers Myrtil (high tenor) and Zelide Zephyre, with its trio of (soprano), who have woven matching similar, high voices, is some- magic garlands, each of which will what less affecting; since its wilt if its owner is unfaithful. Myrtil emotional content is even is, it does, he regrets it and prays to less compelling than Guir- Cupid, and somehow the situation landès, it must get by on ends happily after an exchange of gar- charm alone, which it practi- lands and Zelide's successful putting- cally does. off of the advances of another shep- The performances by herd, Hylas (bass). William Christie's Les Arts Zephyre, cast with atrio of sopranos, Florissants are ideally suited introduces us to the eponymous wind to the music —the touch is god; his beloved Cloris, a wood light, but all important voices nymph in the service of Diana, god- can be heard, and Rameau's dess of the hunt; and Diana herself. A elegance is allowed to shine type of true love prevails again, as through. These works have Zephyre names Cloris Flora, goddess been referred to as "Dresden of spring. Had enough? china" Rameau, and that's

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Harris, and Allison Moorer — is, can it sparked an interest in traditional coun- player, and in a sense it reflects how happen again? try music, Songcatcher should benefit growing up in public in the indic under- Songcatcher concerns afemale academ- somewhat from fans' expanded hori- ground means broadening one's musical ic who, in the 1920s, is passed over for a zons — as should Parton, Loveless, palette and constantly opening up to university promotion. Frustrated, she Miller, and DeMent, who, as part of new associations. This, it must be said, is heads off to Appalachia with abulky, their daily routine, make country in marked contrast to mainstream- primitive recording device and aplan to music as it oughta be.-Daniel Durchhok inclined classic-rock outfits and their capture on disc music never heard fans, who tend to bury their necks deep- before by the outside world. The film SUPERCHUNK er and deeper in the sand as time won aspecial jury prize for Outstanding trudges on. Here's to Shutting Up Ensemble Performance at the 2000 The luscious pedal steel twining Merge MRG201 (CD). 2001. Brian Paulson, through "Phone Sex," for example, Sundance Film Festival. Which means Superchunk, prods.; Brian Paulson, eng. AAD7 Tr: that the cast, which includes Jane 43:20 gives the once-punkish Superchunk Adams, Aidan Quinn, Pat Carroll, Performance **** an alt-country vibe not unlike that of Sonics *** Emmy Rossum, and singers Iris their Nashville-based labelmates DeMent, Taj Mahal, and Hazel Dickens, ell, it ain't your mother's Lambchop. Likewise, the gooey pop is excellent. Superchunk — despite an smooch of "Act Surprised" detours But it seems the real star of the film is advisory in the long-running southward in the direction of the music. In some cases on this disc, the Chapel Hill, North Carolina Athens: equal parts vintage R.E.M. songs are recorded raw and real, as you'd pop/punk quartet's bio that "sonic kudzu rock and contemporary twee- expect them to have been captured on maturity" is not acode phrase suggest- psychedelia aligned with the Georgia that early recording device. DeMenes ing that the 'chunk is no longer "the 'burg's exotically named current res- take on "Pretty Sam," on which she's ac- same band you had tacked up on your idents (Japancakes, Elf Power, companied by original score creator college dorm-room wall." Perman- Neutral Milk Hotel, etc.). "Late David Mansfield's fiddle, is dead-on. So ently jettisoned, for the most part, are Century Dream," with its sweet key- is Emmy Rossum's brief "Barbara the group's early trademarks: scrappy boards and baroque strings — not to Allen," Pat Carroll's "Single Girl," and yelped/yowled vocals from frontman mention amelody line subtly nicked the unadorned "Conversation With Mac McCaughan, buzzsaw, neo-Class- from Blondie's version of Bowie's Death," which features Dickens, David of-'77 guitars, and head-bashing "Heroes" — is so shimmery and Patrick Kelly, and Bobby McMillon. rhythm-section tumult. In their place is hummable that a blindfold test More often, though, the stellar cast asound that's more serene, less franti- might fool the listener into thinking turns in contemporary venions of tradi- cally paced, and downright reflective in it was an outtake from UK drone- tional Appalachian tunes, and these will spots — in other words, mature. poppers Stereolab. certainly appeal to a wider audience Issuing records since the late 1980s, Here's to Shutting Up's sound is the while retaining much of the original Superchunk remains as fiercely inde- 'chunk's most expansive ever — no songs' emotion and impact. Among these, pendent as DIY torchbearer Ani budget-conscious scams show, no the finest performances include Allison Difranco, and owns and operates the doubt thanks to veteran producer Moorees grim, gripping "Moonshiner," respected Merge label (home to most of Brian Paulson, of Wilco/Uncle Tupelo Maria McKee's full-throated take on Superchunk's lengthy discography). fame. But the album's title doesn't nec- "Wayfarin' Stranger," and Gillian Welch, Here's to Shutting Up is their eighth long- essarily stand as a"kinder, gentler" slo- David Rawlings, and David gan for Superchunk. The Steele's fairly shocking ver- title track, in fact, thumps sion of the murder ballad superchunk rousingly, its sneaky synth "Wind and Rain." here's to shutting up riffs and keening Several songs —Parton's McCaughan vocal offset "When Love is New" (per- by power chords galore, formed with Rossum), Julie and a galloping bass line Miller's "All My Tears," and that'd do Dee Dee Loveless' "Sounds of Ramone proud. Loneliness" — sound so What the title does sug- much apart of the music gest is the other side of the that surrounds them on the coin: After shutting up, album that you scarcely one can listen. By employ- know they're new songs ing an array of acoustic and not age-old traditional and electronic sounds and tunes. textures not always associ- Ultimately, Songcatcher ated with anominally full - may not enjoy the broad- on rock'n'roll combo, the based commercial success band has nimbly side- of 0 Brother. After all, stepped the Superchunk- none of these songs has a by-blueprint cul-de-sac video featuring George that might have consigned Clooney to put in heavy it too soon to the irrele- rotation on CMT. Still, if vance of atattered dorm- the earlier soundtrack room poster. -Fred Mills

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TRICKY Morissette, and ?Cyndi Lauper. Blowback But the truth is, Tricky has always worked best in collaboration, first as a www.aaudio.com (949) 362-6080 Hollywood HR-62285-2 (CD). 2001. Tricky, prod.; 36 Mallare Dr., Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 Ron A. Shaffer, Greg Goldman, engs. AAD? TT: member of the rap group The Wild 50:45 Bunch, then with Massive Attack. On Performance **** his earlier albums, he used teen vocalist Sonics **** Martina as his mouthpiece, which ricky fans who have closely fol- added a light, ethereal aspect to his lowed the albums that came in often-dark vision. Tthe wake of his 1995 break- Martina is out of the picture now, 6/24/5.1 through, Maxinquaye, are probably few of course, having opted for a solo AIX Records is making NEW recordings in number —by the time of his 2000 career afew years back. Here, Tricky at 96 kHz/24 bits mixed in 5.1! Hear EP, Mission Accomplished, it seemed as if uses Ambersunshower as his dreamy dynamic range available only when the trip-hop pioneer had pretty much muse, and Jamaican toastmaster you start with HiRes. You'll never hear fallen off the face of the earth. Yet those Hawkman for the rugged rhymes. the difference unless there IS adifference! The clash of several voices on several true believers will likely regard Blowback Our tracks are MIXED in 5.1 surround as something of asellout. tracks, including the openers "Excess" with you placed in the middle of the First, Tricky is working with conven- (which features Tricky, Steph- ensemble...or from the best seat in the tional song structures once again. Not anie McKay, and Morissette) and that there's anything wrong with that, "Evolution Revolution Love" (sport- house! You decide. nevi but for those who prefer the spare beats ing Tricky, Kowalczyk, and Hawk- Jazz and inscrutable directions of his late-'90s man), is particularly effective. albums, Blowback will sound like a The dense soundscapes, deftly ren- acoustic naked grab for airplay. dered by Tricky himself, contain a classical Good for Tricky, 1 say. After all, wealth of wide-ranging sounds —from AUDIO/VIDEO Moby snatched his career back from the ringing acoustic to thrash/metal elec- guitar scrap heap by getting his music back tric guitars, surging keyboards, live into the public consciousness in any way drums, programmed rhythms, and all vocal music Receive aFREE copy of our OVO sampler, send he could, and Tricky's work —when it's those voices. $6.95 for shipping and handling to AIX Records, on target, as it was on Maxinquaye and is But give credit where it's due: Tricky 8455 Beverly Blvd/Ste 500/West Hollywood/CA 90048. Compatible with DVD-Video & OVO -Audio players. once again on Blowback —is just as is always at the center of this sonic PLEASE ALLOW 6-8 WEEKS FOR DELIVERY. worth salvaging. storm, and having survived about of The album's guest list may also raise "Pre-Millennium Tension" (which, - - some eyebrows — high-profile friends quite appropriately, was the title of one • 'x —wy• like the Red Hot Chili Peppers' of his efforts that drifted away in the records Anthony 1Ciedis, Flea, and John wake of Maxinquaye), he sounds fresh Frusciante stop in for guest shots here, once again, and ready to face the new wfflv.aixrecords.com • as do Live's Ed Kowalczyk, Alanis century. -Daniel Durchholz

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Remastered from the original 8-track tapes, the sound of both albums is pre- dictably extra-large and full-blooded, although the DIY edges occasionally show in the form of reduced dynamic range and clumped imaging. Hopefully closing the band's early history with these reissues will inspire Ric Menck to write anew chapter. —Robert Baird short takes GRAEME DOVVNES: Hammers and Anvils Matador OLE506 (CD). 2001. Graeme Downes, prod.; Mike O'Neil, eng. ODD. TT: 43:29 Performance ** I/7 Sonia ****

Fond memories of old heroes die hard. Such is the case with New Zealand psych-pop kings The Verlaincs, who, during the 1980s and early '90s, were one of the leading lights of the much- celebrated Flying Nun Records roster. Verlaines leader-genius Graeme Downes' stated intent with this, his first VELVET CRUSH issue guitar band, the material less win- solo album, is to not sound like his old ning, and their pop ethos still only half- band, but perhaps he erred on the wrong Relics & Reissues formed; still, highlights like "Superstar" side of reactionary. He jumps from folk- In the Presence of Greatness psych to techno to piano ballads without Action Musik 103 (CD). 2001. Velvet Crush, Matthew leap out to point to what became their Sweet, Mitch Easter, prods., engs. AAD? TT: 45:49 glorious future. This reissue's three rhyme or reason, leaving behind only a Performance *** I/2 bonus tracks are also part of A Single handful of tunes (the fuzztone-meets- Sonics ***'6 Odessey (sic). orchestral pop of "Rodc'n'Roll Hero," A Single Odessey From the start, Velvet Crush's musi- the moody blues of "Gucci," the serene- Action Musik 104 (CD). 2001. Velvet Crush, Matthew ly anthemic "Sunday Kickaround") that Sweet Mitch Easter, prods., engs. AAD? TT: 63:23 cal concept was knotty: marry sweet, Performance **** peppy, two-minute singles à la the match the magical quality of the best Sonics *** 16 Kinks, Beach Boys, or Byrds to enough Verlaincs records. Downes' singing voice, however, in which Robyn ince their 1994 album Teenage electric-guitar din and drum bashing to Symphonies to God (550 give it all huevos, and keep it from Hitchcock meets David Byrne, remains 5Music/Epic), Velvet Crush — becoming too precious. After 1994, the aquirky, edgy delight. A likable enough among the best anglophilic American band also took on a twangy tinge, album, but not one destined to supplant power-pop bands of the '90s — has thanks to covers of tunes by Gram all those fond memories. -Fred milk been nearly silent. Slimmed down to Parsons ("One Hundred Years from the duo of singer-guitarist Paul Chastian Now"), Roger McGuinn ("Mr. Space- and drummer-songwriter-visionary Ric man"), and Gene Clark ("Elevator Menck, VC has released one record, Operator") —and tuneful, spot-on orig- jazz 1999's lower-key-than-usual Free inals like "Don't You Slip Away from Expression (Bobsled). Me." Along the way they also tossed off BAIKIDA CARROLL nods to fellow pop trippers Teenage When formerly successful acts disap- Marionettes on aHigh Wire pear, anticipation among music geeks Fanclub ("Everything Flows") and Baikida Carroll trumpet; Erica Lindsay, tenor sax; grows; hence these reissues. Released Jonathan Richman ("She Cracked"). Deogoke Steve Colson, piano; Michael Formanek, on the band's own label, these discs are A Single Odessey, which collects all of bass; Pheeroan Md.*, drums the tracks mentioned above, gathers OmniTone 12101 (CD). 2001. Baikida Carroll, Frank a brash reminder of Velvet Crush's Tafuri, prods.; Joe Rosenberg, eng. AAD. TT: 62:15 exhilarating ability to throw itself head- for the first time 20 of the band's non- Performance ***** long into hooky, jangly rushes of guitar- album singles and EP tracks. With a Sonics **** band exuberance. guest list that includes guitarists Sweet, n this era of lingering backward Out of print for a decade, In the Mitch Easter (both of whom also took glances, it's difficult to abide the aca- Presence of Greatness, the band's first turns producing), Greg Leisz, and Idemic infomerdals that often pass album, was originally released domesti- David Gibbs, this energetic disc is full for jazz releases. If one is to believe the cally on the tiny Ringers Lactate label. of such successful blossomings of the accepted historical revisionism of the Produced by fellow pop nut Matthew band's formula of lush-but-loud as "It's moment, then the '60s and '70s never Sweet, it has rawer edges, fewer mel- Been Too Long & It's Too Late Now" really happened; the recombinant genet- odies, and more volume overall than and the hit that shoulda been, "Be ics that distinguished that era's giddy Teenage Symphonies. More of astandard - Someone Tonight." intermingling of musical styles and artis-

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• ORDER TOLL FREE • FULL 1 S3 00 U.S.A. / se° INTL. CATALOG J FREE WITH ORDER!! 1-800-782-3472 DOMESTIC SHIPPING: (Average cost bowed on weight) Fax: (765)608-5341 Info: (765)608-5340 UPS Ground/Priority Mod. 1-4 LP C.D $5-57 (odtl. LP/CD .50c ea.) Hours: M-F 9am-6pm & Sat 11am-4pm UPS 3-Doy Select: 1-3 LP/CD: $10-$12 (min. LP/CD S1.00 each) UPS 2nd Day Air 1.3 LP/CD $15.S I7 10,111 P.'CD SI 50 Poch) 4020 FRONTAGE RD. e-mail us at: FOR SHIPPING OUTSIDE THE U.S. CALL, E-MAIL ANDERSON, IN 46013 elusalesenetdirect.net OR FAX FOR YOUR OPTIONS AND COSTS Record Reviews BAIKIDA CARROLL himself, Sonny Rollins, manages theme suggests such proto-modern MARIONETTES ON A NIGH WIRE to abstract aphrase and suspend jazz-funk amalgams as Miles' "Stuff' time, yet always land gracefully and Eddie Harris' "Freedom Jazz on aripe melodic phrase. While Dance"; the lovely airborne dialogue the trumpeter's long, fluid lines between himself and akLaff illustrates over the dancing, stop-and-go that no matter how far Carroll stretch- groove of "Thrill aMinute" are es the harmony or pushes the envelope proof of his commanding bop of expressive canvas his phrases indi- chops, he also shines on the bal- rectly reference Don Cherry. Likewise, lad "Our Say," where his muted on "Flamboye," pianist Dcogoke Steve finesse inspires a torchy tenor Colson's cubist harmonies retain a solo by Erica Lindsay. chamber-like intimacy, while bassist Still, conceptually, this is post- Michael Formanck and drummer modern expressionism, and in akLaff display a similar talent for the title tune Carroll displays an switching up between a non-metric indomitable feeling for jazz pulse and agroove, even as the group's tic disciplines was irrelevanr, and the col- abstraction. Avant-garde? Nah...mid- broken syncopations and polyphonic lective impulse in jazz improvisation as garde is more like it. His opening lyricism evoke the flamboyant side of practiced by Coleman, Mingus, Evans, Coltrane, Davis, Dolphy, and Taylor is meaningful only insofar as it explicitly referenced blues and dance rhythms. Pass the hemlock, please. But despair not — the young lions of yWip.-4 ha our collective youth never stopped pushing the envelope, and Marionettes on l i a High Wire is acomprehensive, deeply moving evocation of creative values as eiGé te enunciated by such artists' collectives as the Black Artists' Group of St. Louis and Chicago's AACM. Following in the We're goin ochange the way you listen to music footsteps of Clark Terry, Miles Davis, and Lester Bowie, trumpeter Baikida Carroll is one of the most original in a ww.c es .com long line of singular trumpet voices to The best software to demonstrate the capabilities of your hardware emerge from St. Louis. The well-trav- eled listener will recall his stunning solos on Julius Hemphill's legendary OVO -Audio The Ultimate DVD Surround Sampler Mbari recordings, The Hard Blues and 2/4/6 DISCS and 5.1 Set-Up Disc MULTI-CHANNEL Dogon AD., and his ubiquitous presence Bucky Pizzarelli-SWING LIVE RECORDINGS in the finest large ensembles of the loft Playable on DVD-Audio and OVO -Video players. era — those chaired by John Carter, The most interesting surround playback lheard at CES was of David Chesky's Muhal Richard Abrams, and Sam multi-channel recordings... the immersive experience was musically convincing." —John Atkinson, Stereophile -May 2001 Rivers. Nor is Carroll a stranger to blues, R&B, and the post-bop main- SACO Ana Caram-BLUE BOSSA stream — his résumé also includes stints MULTI-CHANNEL David Johansen- with Jay McShann, Little Milton, Dr. RECORDINGS DAVID JOHANSEN & THE HARRY SMITHS John, and Oliver Nelson. Christy Baron-STEPPIN' Marionettes honors all of these without Chuck Mangione-EVERYTHING FOR LOVE being beholden to any of them; Carroll The Conga Kings-JAZZ DESCARGAS and his quintet attack group improvisa- tion with a lyric fervor and rhythmic SACO Rebecca Pidgeon - THE RAVEN focus that belie postmodern jazz as a STEREO McCoy Tyner Quartet - NEW YORK REUNION repository of European harmonic deca- RECORDINGS Paquito D'Rivera - TROPICANA NIGHTS dence — the last refuge of the non- Carla Lother - EPHEMERA swinging scoundrel. Various Artists -AN INTRODUCTION TO SACO This rich analog recording is shot through with all manner of collective ON CD Ana Caram-BLUE BOSSA elegance and seat-of-the-pants danger. For all the bravura complexity and cal- A PAIR OF QUAD 988 SPEAKERS, culated ambiguity of Carroll's lines, QUAD TUBE 40 WATT AMP there's asuede elegance to his tone, and win! AND THE QUAD TUBE PRE AMP6 on his "Ebullient Secrets," Carroll's www.chesky.com AN S11,000 VALUE unhurried yet fervent conception recalls (HEW RECORDS 1800 331-1437 DrdwIncj velll he held on DeLereher 31 2001 the manner in which the ebullient one

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Dreyfus Jazz FDM 36628-2 (CD). 2001. Sue Mingus, with Mingus, but they could have. prod.; Douglas Yoel, compilation prod.; unidenti- fied engs., including Tom Swift; Gene Paul, compi- They spill their guts. lation remastering. DDD? Tr: 71:21 Yet for those who regard the record Performance ***V2 album as an art form, it's hard to get Sonics *** excited about compilations, which usu- Pluilliefl •le lli fever ajazz musician was deserv- ally lack continuity and identity. Worse, BARE ing of aposthumous "ghost band," this particular compilation, overweight- Iit is Charles Mingus. He was a ed with uptempo shouters, is not espe- towering figure whose music is so cially well-chosen. Mingus laid bare his acollection of ballads - powerful and complex that it can nei- soul in his ballads, and here there are ther be fully expressed nor received in only two: "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (the one lifetime. Hence, under the spiritu- greatest lament in the literature of jazz) al guidance of Mingus' widow, Sue, the and "Self Portrait in Three Colors." Mingus Big Band carries on. It has Worse still, the sound quality is two-di- toured the world and recorded five mensional and harsh. The compilation albums of Mingus music on the was mastered by Gene Paul; the original Dreyfus label since 1993. The critical CDs (mostly mastered by Kevin Hodge) "You Better Go Now" is adefinite consensus in the jazz press is that the sound better. They reproduce more high point: atale of emotional ambiva- Mingus Big Band is the finest large jazz inner detail, with more precise discrimi- lence that, as portrayed by Eastman, ensemble of our time. It has won the nation among instruments. keeps you on the edge of your seat. Big Band category in the Downbeat The Mingus Big Band is afine ensem- Here her intensity, her forays into soft Critics' Poll every year since 1996. ble, and may even be, as the critics be- from loud, are always fitting. There's 71te Essential Mingus Big Band is a lieve, the best big band now playing jazz. also asly touch of the blues in places "greatest hits" sampler — 10 tracks But it is not in the same class with the that's delightful. And the pairing of"My drawn from the five Dreyfus albums. It ones Mingus led in his lifetime. The dif- Ship" and Mal Waldron's evocative is serious fun to revisit such Mingus ference between Mingus' own groups "Soul Eyes," bridged by a reflective classics as "Haitian Fight Song," "Wed- and this ghost band is the difference Garvin interlude, is inspired. nesday Night Prayer Meeting," and between the poetic mystery of art and Most of the songs have something "Boogie Stop Shuffle," because the the prose of committed craftsmanship. special. Dave Frishberg's "Listen Here" MBB plays them the way Mingus Every one of Mingus' own performances is a tender self-lecture on "that little would have demanded: with a vehe- of "Goodbye Pork Pic Hat," whether the voice inside"; the Leonard Bernstein mence that approaches violence. They tenor solo was by John Handy or Booker favorite "Lucky to Be Me" (words by punch and kick their way through the Ervin or George Coleman, was acathar- Comden and Green) celebrates the charts of Ronnie Cuber, Steve Slagle, tic outpouring for Lester Young, both bloom of love; and Dorival Caynuni's and former Mingus arranger Sy mourning and celebration. The version "0 Cantador," with English lyrics by Johnson, and they solo with the same by the MBB has aclever tenor solo by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, pines for ferocity. Trumpeter Ryan ICisor, pianist Seamus Blake that is missing only the love's arrival. Kenny Drew, Jr., and drummer Adam human ache and triumph. However, Eastman's reading of poet Cruz (to name but three) never played —Thomas Conrad W.H. Auden's stark "Funeral Blues," which precedes Bill Evans' "Turn Out the Stars," funereal as it is, never seems to get off the ground. Still, it hardly spoils the evening. The sound is capacious, open, de- tailed, present: afront-row table indeed. THE ESSENTIAL MINGUS BIG BAND —Zan Stewart

MINGUS BIG BAND The Essential Mingus Big Band • • .3, A Randy Brecker, Earl Gardner, Philip Harper, Ryan 'ue't Kisor, Jack Walrath, trumpet; Alex Sipiagin, trum- pet, flugelhorn; Art Baron, Sam Burtis, Robin ulet‘ 'F Eubanks, Clark Gayton, Akili Jamal Mshauri Haynes, Conrad Herwi& Ku-Umba Frank Lacy, Earl ‘e-- McIntyre, trombone; Dave Taylor, trombone, bass .4 trombone, tuba; Gary Bartz, Vincent Herring, "S" :404get David Lee Jones, Bobby Watson, alto sax; Alex Foster, Steve Slagle, alto 8 soprano sax, flute; Seamus Blake, Craig Handy, tenor sax; Chris Potter, alto 8 tenor sax; John Stubblefield, sopra- down no 8 tenor sax, flute; Mark Shim, tenor sax, clar- inet; Ronnie Cuber, Gary Smulyan, baritone sax; Kenny Drew, Jr., Michael Formanelç John Hicks, David Kikoski, piano; John Benitez, Boris Kozlov, Andy McKee, bass; Jonathan Blake, Adam Cruz, Gene Jackson, Victor Jones, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, drums; Steve Berrios, percussion; Charles Mingus, Eric Mingus, vocals

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Stereophile, November 2001 157 10.1111111111 exilefeW.egiiia pee er. •••••::: wo• met ?ewe."'" Manufacturers' Comment

Joseph Audio RM33si "...smooth talking cartridge," the Goldring reach for most customers, provided the Editor: Eroica H. designer(s) concentrate on the most crit- Joseph Audio would like to thank Chip A lot of effort went into making the ical areas of design. At times, Iwish that Stern and Stereophile for their review of our MMF-7 considerably better than the the same time and effort was lavished on RM33si speakers [October 2001]. We are MMF-5. Four different types of rubber the sound of aproduct as appears to be pleased that Mr. Stern confirmed our compounds were tried for the suspension, spent on superfluous features, casework, belief that we "have achieved something Sorbothane sounded the best. Six platters and marketing. Richard Bews special with the RM33si — adesign that ranging from alloy to MDF were tried. LFD might in time prove to be astand by Different arms were considered. The which other speakers are compared." stand-alone motor itself improves the Classé Audio Omega Joseph Audio was founded with the idea sound. Even the adjustable feet were cho- Editor: that every aspect of design, manufacturing, sen from various samples. In other words, The Classé design team thanks Jonathan marketing, and customer support should a lot of listening and effort went into Scull for his rigorous review of our new be treated with the utmost care. The suc- choosing just the best parts possible for the SACD/CD player. He was able to hear cess of the RM33si supports that belief. table. The engineer in the factory who (and confirm our own findings) that there Mr. Stern's familiarity with music pro- took my concept, atotally plagiarized one is still alittle more to discover in the discs duction gives him special insight into the at that, and turned it into areality, deserves in the vast music libraries Stereophile read- musicality of the RM33si. Selection of a enormous credit for his elegant solutions. ers now own. More important, he discov- particular take during recording is often The MMF-7 was designed to offer the ered the even richer possibilities appearing based on "feel." Even if the notes are right best sound and value in its price range. The in the SACD format. across several takes, it is the level of artistic cartridge retails for $400 alone. Where can Regarding the high level of crosstalk expression that determines whether the you get adeal like that anywhere? that Joint Atkinson measured on the RCA musicians "nailed it" or not. That Mr. Stern How can Michael compare it to one of outputs only: Because he found the found the RM33si "permitted an emot- these English pieces of plank wood with crosstalk on the balanced outputs to be as ional connection to the music that was no suspension, anonadjustable arm and a low as our specs, we believe the culprit is magical" speaks volumes. It is the emot- motor that runs too fast? No wonder he amisplaced resistor in the single-ended ional connection that is the essence of suspects it would run "snappier." The output portion of the circuit. One of the music itself. And yet, as Mr. Stern points MMF-7 continues Music Hall's tradition design goals for the Classé Omega DAC out, "it was all there: the soundstaging of selling well-priced, entry-level, high- boards was to create a design that could be depth, the pinpoint definition and local- end products. Watch this space. used in multiple products. One result of ization of images in the lateral plane, the Roy Hall, Music Hall such adesign is the inclusion of parts that clarity of timbre, the accuracy of frequency are not used for all products. Since we find response, the realism of the top and bottom LFD Mistral Integrated LE crosstalk on the SACD RCA outputs to be extensions, the wealth of midrange detail Iditoi. in the high 90s, we did some sleuthing and air." Who says you can't have it all? Many thanks for athoughtful and accurate and found we could duplicate the low We set high technical goals for the assessment of our Mistral Integrated LE reading by inserting aresister into aloca- RM33si, and it was gratifying to see John ["Sam's Space]. At LFD we believe that tion not intended for the SACD. Classé Atkinson confirm that we achieved them. simple but highly optimized circuits bring has taken steps to ensure that this doesn't The RM33si demonstrates that Joseph benefits in terms of naturalness, trans- happen in the future. Audio can offer the exciting performance parency, and imaging. Our aversion to Classé has been unable to duplicate the of the second-generation Infinite Slope complication, long signal paths, and poor- other problem JA had: with engaging SRC technology while still giving our cus- quality parts does differentiate our prod- for an external source. The SACD/CD is tomers the excellent value they've come to ucts from other comparable solid-state designed to upsample an external digital in- expect. I'm pleased to announce that we're equipment, so perhaps our philosophy is put. In addition, if auser experiences adigi- updating the rest of our models with this more in tune with that of tube designers. tal input that is outside the lock range of the new design. Owners of previous Joseph As the saying goes, less is better, provided cloth-recovery circuit, engaging the SRC models may wish to contact the factory to the design is executed extremely well. will correct the condition. Without the obtain specific upgrade information. The intention of the Mistral Integrated SRC engaged, the frequency ranges that can JeffJostph, Richard Modaffeti LE is to allow abroad range of people to be converted to analog are 32kHz, Jostph Audio experience true audiophile sound quality 44.11cHz, 481cHz, 882kHz, and 961cHz, at an affordable price. If we have suc- ±8Oppm, which is compatible with CD- Music Hall MMF-7 ceeded, we are very pleased, but care will level clock requirements. We have observed Editor: be required in the choice of matching that many DVD players do not meet this "Roy Hall has painted his masterpiece." components, including cables, so that the specification. With the SRC engaged, the Ah, it's lovely to get praise from one as potential of the whole system is realized. digital input frequency range is 32-100kHz. lofty as Michael Fremer. And Ididn't even Unfortunately, as the level of sound Classé Audio is excited to be in at the have to bribe him! Ilove this magazine. I'm transparency increases, cable sensitivity start of anew revolution in sound repro- pleased that he liked the Music Hall MMF- rises accordingly, and our products are no duction, but we also feel responsible to 7turntable but Ithink he is alittle bit "flip" different from others — open and trans- safeguard the investments in CDs that in assigning most of the improvements (in parent cabling is anecessity. True high- audiophiles have made. The SACD/CD comparison to the MMF-5) to the quality reproduction need not be out of player both brings the CD into the future

Stereophile, November 2001 159 whoa whata SALE!

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Gold CD =CPOPG 2004 $1500 TchaikovslryFrancesca Da Rimini, AFantasia for Orchestra (alter Dante( Chuck Loeb Balance ...... COMP 484 ...... CD =CPOP 1004 $7.50 Op 32 .tiainiet (Overture ,ind FantasviiStokowskt. AOCC 1001 $25 00 The Dolphins with Dan Brubeck Old World/New World COMP 487 Allred Schittke, Tikhon Khrennikov CD =CPOPG 2007 $15.00 Richard Strauss/Don Juan (Tone Poem) Op 20; Till Eulenspiegels Bob Mintzer One Music COMP 488 Merry Pranks. Op 28, Salome/Dance at the Seven Veils/Stokowski ...CD -CPOP 1007 $750 Warren Bernhardt Reflections COMP 489 Shostakovitch/Symphony No. 5& String Symphony Mark Gorenstein: ADCC 1002 S25 00 Jay Anderson Next Exit COMP 490 Conductor/Russian Symphony Orchestra .Gold CD =CPOPG 2009 515.00 Ray Heindorl &W80 For Whom The Bell Tolls ADCC 2023 525 00 David Charles A David Friedman Junkyard COMP 491 .CD =CPOP 1009 $7.50 Copland Appalachian Spring BalletiSussIdnd/LSO...... ADCC 2034 525 00 The Ovino Brothers Band Chitlins Parmigiana COMP 492 Bernstein. Prokoliev el Tchaikovsky Romeo &Julia Copland Buy !ne Kid' Copland/1SO.. ADCC 2035 $25 00 Garry Dial and Dick Galls Play Cole Porter. COMP 495 Maxine Sullivan &Stars ATnbute to Andy Raul. ADCC 2038 S25 00 Gold CO =CPOPG 2011 &15.00 The Fantasy Band COMP 496 Ales Rostotsky Trio Boiled Borscht Gold CD =CPOPG 2014 $15.00 DCC LPs 180 gram - Buy any 5get one free Joe Morello Going Places COMP 497 CD =CPOP 1014 $750 The Mann Brothers Mann to Mann COMP 500 Russian Pops/Mark Gorensteinfflussian Symphony Orchestra Villa-Lobos/ProkolleyStokowski/Stadium Sym. Oral. 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ACOUSTIC SOUNDS'e Prices good until December 1, 2001. To order, or for aFREE catalog call PO Box 1905 •Salina, KS 67402-1905 PH 785-825-8609 •FAX 785-825-0156 1-800-716-3553 www.acousticsounds.com Manufacturers' Comments and brings the future quality of the SACD (wraparound) from the rear output. stage localization of the recordings. For format home today. Classé Design Team Unfortunately for those who place great example, there is no added bloom neces- Classé Audio weight on objective data, measurements at sary for the listener to be completely 1m will never yield atheoretically ideal set immersed in two-channel, 360° sound Westlake ic5.75F of graphs and waterfalls. from the three-second decay reverbera- Editor: Not to worry, though — at the listening tion of Christ Church Cathedral in St. We thank Michael Fremer and John position, and throughout the room, the Louis. The sounds of individual events, Atkinson for their time and efforts taken speaker is emulating life, where about 70% such as the pluck of astring, the tap of a to review the Lc5.75Fs. To comment alit- of the sound is reflected off surrounding mallet on the head of atimpani, or the tle on Michael's surprise at the difference surfaces and only about 30% is direct. In pop from the clap of hands during ap- in sound when changing to the Boulder the case of the 0M-7s, much of the re- plause, would be muddled by an overly 102 power amplifier and Westlake speak- flected sound emanates from the rear of warm presentation. It has to be just right. er cables, Ioffer the following: the speaker; given its close spectral balance Along with day-to-day sounds that sur- We recommend "low-distortion ampli- with the on-axis sound, this reflected infor- round the listener, as in live music, it is the fiers having alow output impedance, con- mation is largely responsible for the seduc- sound of events as they happen that sepa- nected to the speaker with short-loss tive soundstage, the depth and openness, rates the live from the reproduced, and cables for optimum performance." that we worked so hard to achieve. that is what we are attempting to address About amplifiers: Many deliver power Given its preponderance, the fidelity of with the M150. Iagree with Michael and bandwidth; few deliver ultra-low dis- the off-axis sound may be even more Fremer that this is not an amplifier for tortion (including noise) and output important than that on-axis. What matters everyone. Keith Herron impedance. In short, we feel the above most, though, is the overall response — Herron Audio amp-speaker combination provides the the overall accuracy at adistance from the Lc5.75F with the highest "effective" speakers in areal room — the "listening Synergistic Research cables dynamic range, often 10-20dB more than position," which, in the case of Mirage Editor: comparable systems, even when the amp is Omnipolar speakers, isn't so much asweet Everyone here at Synergistic Research rated at higher power. (When you think spot as asweet space. wishes to thank Chip Stern and John about it, agood small speaker can't take Readers wishing to delve further can Atkinson for taking the time to really break advantage of more power, but can improve download the Mirage Omnipolar white down the unique musical qualities which dynamically with lower impedance drive paper at www.miragespeakers.com. make our active shielded interconnects and characteristics.) Additionally, the high qual- Andrew Welker speaker cables so special. The Active ity of the cables and the amp assure you Design Engineer, Mirage Shielding process, the new X-Series line of that the left and right speakers are seeing cables, the new Master Control Center III, "exactly the same impedance," which is Herron Audio M150 and the new MPC (Mini Power Coupler) required to comply with our "do to the Editor: are the culmination of 10 years of research right what you do to the left" slogan. Iwant to sincerely thank Michael Fremer and development into optimizing system Finally, it was indeed disappointing to and Stereophile for the second listen to the synergy. From no-compromise reference see that the frequency-response charac- Herron Audio M150s with the bias setup systems to cost-effective, entry-level, high- teristics did not appear to be very good corrected. Iwould like to clarify acouple end gear, music lovers can experience the on John's test. Of course, mike type and of points of the design philosophy and use very highest levels of music reproduction location can drastically affect the results of the unit. their systems are capable of delivering. of any particular test, which is why, when First, there is no need to study speaker Seeing as how our reference point has al- someone shows me a graph and says, impedance curves with the M150s. The ways been the experience of music itself, `What do you think?: Isay, 'I don't know, protection circuitry of the M150 was cal- we were very moved by the manner in let me see...,' and hold it up to my ear. culated to deliver full performance to which Chip and John communicated the Seriously, though, all speakers are speaker systems with anameplate "nomi- emotional impact of the new X-Series and graphed, and Idon't believe the Lc5.75Fs nal" rating by the speaker manufacturer of Active Shielding process. could have been other than what our test 4ohms or higher. This includes the vast When Chip Stern says of our affordable results show, which is ±1.5dB from 60Hz majority of the speaker systems that are on Active Alpha Sterling interconnect and to 20kHz, and still sound as good as they the market, and takes into account 4 Active Alpha Quad speaker wire "Com- did to Michael. Glenn Phoenix ohm—rated speakers with curves dropping pared to cables costing two to three times President, Westlake Audio below 4 ohms—including the Audio as much, the Active Shielding-equipped Physic Avanti Ills, which we use to de- Sterling/Quad combo offered a signifi- Mirage 0M-7 monstrate the M150s. The performance cantly more vivid, lifelike performance," Editor: of the M150s with speaker systems that we were most gratified. Why? Because, it Thank you for another thorough and fair are 1 and 2 ohms nominal would not is important to note that music lovers review in LB's report on the Mirage 0M-7s. meet our expectations and therefore is not need not purchase our most expensive My only additional comment is to point recommended. Power-limiting the 1and cables, interconnects and power cords to out the difficulty in drawing meaningful 2ohm loads allows us to optimize perfor- achieve comparable results in their sys- conclusions about the 0M-7, or any of mance at 4ohms nominal and above. The tems (unless of course they are employing our Omnipolar models, from traditional M150 also incorporates extensive speaker- nothing but top of the line reference qual- loudspeaker measurements. protection circuitry, which was evident ity components throughout the signal Unlike forward-radiating speakers and, during John Atkinson's testing that path). In fact, on our website (www.syner to an even larger degree, directional for- accompanied the original review. gisticresearch.com) we emphasize the law ward-radiating speakers, the 0M-7s are Much of the design work on the M150 of diminishing returns when employing designed to mimic areal musical event was done with tapes made at local (St. our system dependent cable technology throughout a room, using an almost Louis) recording sessions for comparison through our new X-Series on-line system spherical, spectrally balanced radiation of live musical events with the reproduced diagnostic program which stresses system pattern. Consequently, when JA does his events. Attempts to add bloom, warmth, synergy, not price points. Ted Denney III usual measurements, essentially in front of and lush colorations to the M150 detract- Lead Designer and CEO, the speaker, he is also getting some effects ed from the realism and natural sound- Synergistic Research Inc

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(A word is defined as one or more 510-6377 tical dipole antenna. Built to outperform and outlast all characters with aspace, dash, or slash on either CANARY TUBE PRE- & POWER AMPS. Canary others. Shipped free within continental US. Satisfaction side.) PAYMENT: All classified ads must be 601/301 tube preamp and 22W 30013 push-pull power guaranteed. Call toll-free (800) 268-8637 other locale prepaid with order, by check or credit card: amp. champagne. Pre lll i lllllllllllll tube electronics, inquire (716) 683-5450;2x (716) 683-5421. Now avail- MasterCard or Visa. MAIL TO: Stereophik handmade in California %yids the very best components; able for purchase direct off the Web at 1111 ,14110;11C.(0111. Classified Ad Department, Stephen Mcjias, point-to-point, hand-wired. Teflon-coated silver mires; The Fanfare FM tuner is state-of-the-art.., soon to PRIMED1A. 110 Fifth Ave. 5th Floor, New gold-plated switches; etc. Glorious sound, loads of drive, include AM. York, NY 10011. FAX: (212) 886-2809. 6months old. mint condition, with packaffing, manuals, CORNER AUDIO: Quicksilver, BEL, Audio Physic, ONLINE: [email protected]. and warranty. (S7000) $4995. Call Ja); (416) 638-8207 EAD, Immedia. Vibrapods, Lyra, Wirework', 'dyne, DEADLINE: Ads are due on the first work- SOTA TURNTABLE availability includes new and re- Power Snakes, Acoustic Energy, Richard Gray, YBA, ing day of the month, two months in advance furbished turntables, trade-in options. upgrades. modi- Needle Nectar, Herron Audio. Analysis Plus, MYA, of the issue in which your ad will appear. For fications, parts, and accessories. Toneann and cartridge Arcam, Edge Electronics, Aurios. Used and densos example, if you want your ad to run in the setups. Call SOTA Saks & &nice, (708) 246-9815, fix available. Trade-ins welcome. More info at WWW.COMIT January 2001 Sterropki/e, you must submit it by (708) 246-9778, e-romil [email protected] or ViSit audio.cont or (503) 643-7512. November I, 2001. Please Note: Phoned-in 111111'31411IIIIIstables.(0111. McCORMACK EQUIPMENT UPGRADES avail- ads are not accepted. Please plan on faxing or able from SMc Audio. Developed by Steve Mc- mailing in your ads on the form provided at the MAGNEPAN MGIIIa, Cardas-rcwired, four cross- overs. llama' oak, tan cloth, mint, original carton. man- Cormack (the original designer), these outstanding up- end of the section. No refunds. grades are available for all DNA amplifiers, TLC and ual, $975. (631) 499-5365. ALD preamplifiers. and Micro series. For details, call REGA PLANET, excellent condition, $400. Richard, (760) 732-03 .72 (408) 229-0134 or [email protected].

Stereophile, November 2001 167 AUDIO RESEARCH M-100s, like new, boxes and CASH PAID FOR USED AUDIO/VIDEO equip- papers, $3400 0130; Classé DR3-VHC, 52000 0130; ment. Buy, sell, and trade by phone. Dealer for CAL Aria CI) player, $800 0130; Rega Planet, $550 AudioQuest, Kimber }Cable, Lexicon, Marantz, 0130. (304) 843-0359. Monitor Audio, Panasonic, Paradigm, Paradigm '[FL DAC digital-to-analog converter, $2000; VTL Reference, l'hase Technology. Sherbourn, SunFire, preamplifier, $500; Manley Mastering Room preampli- Toshiba. Slew ?Fading Outlet (Since 1984), 320 Old Kirk fier, $2000; Infinity Servo unit, $900; Pioneer Elite Rd,Jenkiniown, PA 19046. Call (215) 886-1650, fax (215) PD75 CI) player, 5500; Mitsubishi S-VHS/VHS VCR, 886-2171. Websire catalog: www.rsio.com. E-mail: $450; Audio Alchemy DTI v2.A jitter filter, $350; four [email protected]. Target TTFI amp floor stands, cone-point feet, black. England, $60 each. Tubes, new: four 6550A Sovtek, Employment $20 each; eight I2BH7, $7 each; six I2AT7WA. S5 SALES REPS WANTED—Bluebird Music seeks each; eight I2AU7WA, $5 each. Excellent condition. reps experienced in high-end audio to represent our (732) 701-0894. line of exceptional British audio products. Territories available throughout North America (not all lines LPs, CDs available in US). Visit wiritiblitebirdmiiskra, then call jay at (416) 638-8207 LARGE RARE LP RECORI) COLLECTION. approximately 75CO, jazz and classical. Best offer. Chuck ADA, Alon by Acarian Systems, Arcam, Josiphson, (954) 475-9789, Small Florida. Audio Research, B&K, Barco, BDI, C.A.L., HIGHEST PRICES PAII) for classical LPs and CDs. Cardas, DCS. Denon, Dunlavy. Elan, Will travel. Only collections of +1000. Call Liiiirme Escient, Faroudja, Gallo, Krell. Loewe, OToole, 8-10 Camden Su, Hekisismk, NJ 07601, (201) Marantz, Niles, VTL, Martin Logan. 488-9323. Meadowlark,McIntosh, Nakamichi, REL, Salamander, Speakercraft, Staight Wire, Wanted WARNING !! ! Sumiko, Tannoy, Toshiba, Transparent, VAC, TUBE HI-FI, commercial tube and horn speakers, Vidikron, Vienna Acoustics, Well Tempered. sonic current "high-end" Altec, JBL, Jensen, Western Be careful with 'nail-order dealers Electric, McIntosh, Marantz, EV, Quad, Leak, Fisher, who insist on cash/personal check, Eico, etc. Also old guitars and amps. Sootily, (850) 314- or who offer alarge discount on the sanie basis. Ik secure—pay by credit card. ADIO 0321,Jsv (850) 314-0284, •, 114111 '1119'SOIIIIIieba01.(0111 193 Bellevue Avenue •Upper Montclair, NJ 973-744-0600 www.CSAAucho.com Audio Mart Order Form

NEW RATES: Private, $1.60 per word; Commercial, $5.10 per word; $205 minimum on all commercial ads. A word is defined as one or more characters with aspace, dash, or slash on either side. (Telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and WWW addresses count as one word.) PAYMENT: All ads ;;;;; st be prepaid with order. Visa/MC or checks arc accepted. MAIL TO: Sterrophile Classified Ad Department, Stephen Mejias, PRJMEDIA, 110 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011. or FAX (212) 886-280% or SUBMIT ONLINE: [email protected] (Faxed and e-mailed ads are credit-card only.) DEADLINE: Ads are due on the first working day of the month, two months in advance of the issue in which your ad will appear. For example, if you want your ad to run in the January 2001 Sterroplük you must submit it with payment by November 1, 2001. Ad material that reaches us after deadline will appear in the next available issue. No refunds. If you have questions, call (212) 229-4896.

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Stereophile, November 2001 169 Fine Tunes Jonathan Scull

his episode of "Fine Tunes" is was in every way improved. They lost empty toilet-paper rolls over the cables, mainly about the care and feed- their slight boxy coloration, and the especially over the "spot of attraction." Ting of speaker drivers. Before I speaker became more tuneful. It was Problem solved! "Here's the tweak part. launch into some of the tweaks — a easier to follow individual musicians on You may have to use duct tape for bet- few fairly wild and wacky — sent in all my recordings, and vocals were ter resonance control. But whatever by readers, here are two from my much more intelligible." Seemed to you do, by all means use 100% recycled own experience. work for him. He described the bass materials — no chlorine additives. En- First, tighten those drivers —perhaps bel re the treatment as "a little indistinct joy!" writes Rich. "I credit my wife with once ayear. You might be surprised at and `thrummy' under about 50 or this one," he added. Good man. Thank how the retaining screws can vibrate 60Hz, and remaining so down to the you, Rich and Celeste! [1./. your bindinq loose; tightening them improves the speaker's lower useful limit of about posts and/or spade he are silver, avoid rubber sound in just about every way imagin- 35Hz." Although the tweak didn't bands. 71te sulfa- in the rubber quickly tar- able. Second, if you live in alarge city lower the speaker's bass extension, "it nishes thesilver. — Ed.] with air as thick and full of particulate dramatically improved the quality of Hand in hand with that one came an matter as New York's, use alarge, very the bass below 60Hz or so." e-mail from Greg Brown (glbaqa@tic soft brush to occasionally remove the After afew days, Allen reports, the net.com) entitled "Tar Paper Sleeves." In dust buildup on the drivers. Gently sound never failed to put asmile on his an effort to clean up his soundscape, as does it! face, especially with solo piano. "Before he put it, Greg recalled that he had aroll On to the mail. Allen McGillivray, the tweak, the sound was okay but noth- of roofing tar paper in the oh' storage from Ontario, Canada (allenmc3@ ing special. Now it is much improved and shed. "I cut off a6" strip from the roll juno.com), seems afriendly chap (his far more musical. Hope this helps!" and cut that into four equal pieces e-mail began with a hearty "Hello Ihaven't tried this tweak chez Scull approximately 6" by 9" each. Icupped a there!"). He insists that avery inexpen- and so can't really endorse it and have piece of tar paper around the plugged-in sive and easy-to-implement tweak everyone scrambling for the Armor All power cord/interconnect. Then Istapled "made such adramatic improvement to again., hut the idea makes sense to me. the loose ends together so it fastened the sound of my speakers that Ijust had In fact, Allen's e-mail reminded me that tightly around the wires like a cuff to write to you and share it." His the driver surrounds on our JMIab around one's wrist. Then Islid the tar- Paradigm Monitor 9 v2s had asmall Utopia located closer to the skylight paper cuffs against the body of the amp, "fleck or overspray" of some kind on were indeed lighter in color than the CD, preamp, power-line conditioner, the rubber surrounds, as he described it. other speaker. Some time ago, after wall socket, and so on. And he thought the surrounds weren't doing a"Follow-Up" on another pair of "All Idid afterwards was sit back as shiny and smooth as he'd seen on speakers, Ireversed the Utopias' posi- and enjoy a miraculous difference in other speakers, which I'm not sure is of tions for uniformity's sake. This might the music. Noise floor gone. Clarity primary importance. But he decided to be agood one for many of you out there. times two. Holography in spades! I treat a small area of one of the sur- But before applying any Armor All, I tried apair around my speaker cables rounds with —hold on to your hats — su 14:est you check with your speakers' at the amp (biwired, high-frequency Armor All! Paging Sam Tellig! Deciding manufacturer — driver surrounds are only), with nice results. This is almost that Armor All had no negative effect made from different materials. a zero-dollar investment with a big on the "integrity" of the surround, Allen Rich and Celeste Crimi (rcrimi 14@ payback," exulted Greg. "I have yet to treated all four surrounds "with about hotmail.com) sent me an e-mail whose try adouble cuff or other variations four treatments of Amor All." He subject line read "TOILET TWEAK"! (I on the theme to see what happens. mentioned that the first three "pretty had asudden urge...) This one's great Too many of these can deaden your well soaked in and the fourth treatment for all you catophiles. It seems the sound, so play around and tailor the 'beaded' somewhat, so Iwiped them Crimis take in cats for arescue organi- results to your system. Great sound is dry and was pleased that, cosmetically, zation, and one foster feline took alik- always in style!" they looked fantastic!" ing to their speaker cables, "nipping up Couldn't agree with you more, Greg. Looking good is one thing, sounding near the binding posts each time it Again, Ihaven't tried this one at home; good another. "The real shock came made its 'hunting rounds' behind the if anyone does, let me know if you have when Isat down to listen. The sound speakers." The solution? Slipped some asimilar epiphany.

Stereophile (ISSN: 0585-2544)11424 N,'.11, November 2001, Issue Numbtr 262 C:opyright 2001. MI rights wsewol. Published monthly IT PRIMEDL4 Specialty Group, Inc. 6420 II ilshire Lue Angeles, CA 90048-5515. Periodicals Awe. Me, iS paid at Les ...bodes, Ci and additional mailing offices. Subscription AlleS 6,rone pur t'S, US. Possession, 519.94, Canada $3294. Canada Post httemational Publications Mail (Canadian 1)istribution) Salt, Agreement No. 1337926. GSTRcg. 87209 3125 krona liVriel MATS add S15 (U.S. hinds). POS7MASTER: • Please send addrm changes to Stercophile, PO. Box 53117 Boulder, CO 80322-3117 Mailing Lists: From tinge to time we make our subscriber list available to companies. dun sell goods and series by

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