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=1111 LEGENDARY 121-1013Li2ER-El\!GNEEI; OF 1-1-111- HElq._11:11X, Al\LI L7-D7:EPREL11\1. US $2.95 UK £1.95 CAN $3.50 c.c c 110 i 3 i 70321 ALL CLEAR. A rose is just a rose. And a speaker is just a speaker. Martin Logan invented Curvilinear Electrostatic Right? Get a grip. Technology. And we packed it all intoa line of very These are Martin Logan Speakers. Unlikeany others. remarkable loudspeaker designs. From thenew Aerius Gone are the components of a traditional speaker. It starting at $1,995 a pair to the $60,000 Statement looks like we put nothing behind the grill. That's System. our electrostatic driver, incorporating an incredibly advanced Vapor Deposited Membrane All this is something you'll have a difficult time that you can see right through. With lessmass seeing. But you will hear it.Clearly. than the air it's moving. Capable of cleanly reproducing the exquisite texture of a MARTIn.LOGAR LTD. Stradavarious violin, yet able to unleash the THE ELECTROSTATIC TECHNOLOGY awesome power of a Fender® bass. 913-749-0133 New Aerius P.O. Box 707 Lawrence, Kansas 66044 $1,995.00 pr. Thereare146 tubeamps listed in the Audio Magazine Buyer's Guide. Onlyonehas current. Onlyonehas IGBT's. Onlyone isthe Natural Progression Mono Amplifie by Counterpoint. FEBRUARY 1993 VOL. 77, NO. 2 Bob Dylan, page 92 AUDIO features THE AUDIO INTERVIEW: EDDIE KRAMER Ted Fox 24 THE UNEASY TRUCE BETWEEN MUSIC AND THE ROOM F. Alton Everest 36 equipment profiles SONY MZ-1 PORTABLE MINIDISC RECORDER Leonard Feldman 44 LEGACY CONVERGENCE LOUDSPEAKER D. B. Keele, Jr. 54 ALPINE 7980 CAR CD CHANGER AND TUNER L. Feldman and 1. Berger 68 auricles ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM 150 HT SURROUND SPEAKERS Leonard Feldman 76 Roomsand Sound, page36 LINN KARIK CD TRANSPORT AND NUMERIK D/A CONVERTER Anthony H. Cordesman 80 recordings CLASSICAL 86 ROCK/POP 92 JAZZ & BLUES 96 Sony MD, page 44 departments FAST FORE -WORDEugene PittsIII 4 SIGNALS & NOISE 6 WHAT'S NEW 11 AUDIOCLINIC Joseph Giovanelli 14 Eddie Kramer, TAPE GUIDEHerman Burstein 18 page 24 BEHIND THE SCENESBert Whyte 21 The Cover Equipment: Sony MZ-1 portableMiniDisc recorder The Audtt The Cover Photographer: Carl Zapp 461Bureau Audio Publishing, Editorial, and AdvertisingOffices, 1633 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019 Subscription Inquiries, (303) 447-9330 N930 REFERENCE DIGITAL PROCESSOR PRIDE IN THE DETAILS. Mark Levinson'' components have earned a reputation for their rugged reliability, uncompromising fit and finish and, above all, superior sonics. We at Madrigal Audio Laboratories are understandably proud of this reputation. The presence of "high technology" in our society has, for some, come to mean the absence of craftsmanship. Mass- produced look-alikes are everywhere, even in the realm of so-called high -end audio. The quality that you see and hear in a Mark Levinson component is not the rest_lt of automated mass production-ratt-er, it is the result of painstaking atten- tion to the details of design, and of pride in tl-e art of craftsmanship. display digital record intenSity select Tlari41 BVIE1E.01-1 At1010 U1190.19.1. REFERENCE CIGITAL PROCESS3R aolarity copy protect aes/ebu emphasis Nt 30 standby invert 3 4 5 Mark Levinson comp-nents are handcrafted in limited quantities and to exacting specifications. All who participate in their production share the feeling of pride that comes from knowing that they contribute to a product that defines quality. It is with great pride, then, that we intro- duce the Mark Levinson N2 30 Reference Digital Processor. Five years of exhaustive research into digital audio yielded a processor worth waiting for, deserving of the Levinson marque. The N2 30 is a true reference: it neither adds to nor subtracts from the music. It brings to your home the accuracy as well as the essence of the performance. Finally, the promise of digital audio is fulfilled. The N2 30 is proof that state-of-the-art digital and analog technology can coexist with craftsmanship. The subject here, however, ultimately is music, and the heart of music is in the listening. To fully appreciate the quality of the NI9- 30, we recommend that you visit your Mark Levinson dealer for a full audition. Levinson Mark Levinson® products are designed and manufactured by MADRIGAL AUDIO LABORATORIES P.O. Box 781, Middletown, CT 06457 FAX (203) 346-1540 FASTFORE -WORD AUDIO THE EQUIPMENT AUTHORITY reliable, a steady beacon or lighthouse V.P./EDITOR-IN-CHIEF when the economic or technical seas got Eugene Pitts III rough. Perhaps there isn't a significant ART DIRECTOR difference between being predictable and Cathy Cacchione reliable. In the end, I realized that there was nothing wrong with polishing up the ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Linda Zerella lighthouse lens with a redesign. There are a number of interesting things TECHNICAL EDITOR about the redesign; I'll mention a few, and Ivan Berger MANAGING EDITOR I invite query letters about any others. The Kay Blumenthal new logotype is a design that is a near ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR relative of the one we started to use during Teresa Carriero ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR the late '50s. We needed a new title at that Douglas Hyde ell, you've seen the redesign of time because the Audio Engineering DIRECTORY EDITOR our magazine, one whole issue Society had begun their Journal and we- Ken Richardson ASSISTANT EDITOR/MUSIC of it by now, and you've under our old name Audio Engineering- Michael Bieber probably seen it for a month, were being confused with them. The in that most of you are identification line, "The Equipment ASSOCIATE EDITORS Edward Tatnall Canby, Bert Whyte subscribers. So it's time to Authority," in the bar beneath the logo extend kudos, formally and up -front in proper, is new, but it recalls one we used SENIOR EDITORS Leonard Feldman, D. B. Keele, Jr., this column, to our Art Director Cathy for many years, "The Authoritative David Lander Cacchione. She has done a truly superb Magazine About High Fidelity." job. Thanks, Cathy! And thanks, as well, to There are some subtle shifts in our CONTRIBUTING EDITORS/ARTIST Michael Aldred, Herman Burstein, Associate Art Director Linda Zerella! coverage of various types of equipment, as David L. Clark, Anthony H. Cordesman, I thought the magazine design Cathy we are attempting to get around to more Ted Costa, John Diliberto, Frank Driggs, John Eargle, Susan Elliott, Edward I. Foster, had done when we came north from pieces of gear. I've often said that even if Joseph Giovanelli, Bascom H. King, Philadelphia to New York City a dozen the four principal magazines in this field Edward M. Long, Robert D. Long, years ago had been so good that we really Frank Lovece, Jon W. Poses, Jon R. Sank, had some central computer to book John Sunier, Michael Tearson, didn't need to do another. At least, we coverage in reviews, there still would be Jon & Sally Tiven, Michael Wright didn't need to do a new one right now, many pieces of worthy equipment left AUDIO, February 1993, Volume 77, Number 2. even though I could see the competition undone. But that's one of the functions of AUDIO (ISSN 0004-752X, Dewey Decimal Number gaining on us a bit. My thought was to reviews-to pick the best and leave the 621.381 or 778.5) is published monthly by Hachette Magazines, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ha- save our ammunition, to wait until the rest. One of the main shifts in the coverage chette Publications, Inc., at 1633 Broadway, New "other guys" were nearly as good, and has been to include more of the "Auricle" York, N.Y. 10019. Printed in U.S.A. at Dyersburg, Tenn. Distributed by Warner Publisher Services Inc. then do it to 'em. reviews, since we can get two of them into Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. 10001 After seeing what Cathy has done, and the space a full review takes up. And, too, and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions in the United States, $24.00 for one year, $42.00 for two after living with the various parts of it for for some types of equipment, the years, $58.00 for three years; other countries except several weeks, I can see that I ought to "Auricle" is the proper sort of report, both Canada, add $8.00 per year; in Canada, $32.00 for one year (includes 7% GST; Canadian GST registra- have helped to get the redesign from the readers' and the writer's tion number 126018209). accomplished much earlier. All I can say at standpoints. AUDIO® is a registered trademark of Hachette Maga- zines, Inc. ©1993, Hachette Magazines, Inc. All rights this point is that you live and learn-at So let us know how you like the new reserved. The Editor assumes no responsibility for least you try to learn, if you dare. Some of design. We think it looks great. manuscripts, photos, or artwork. The Publisher, at his sole discretion, reserves the right to reject any ad the other folks around the magazine had copy he deems inappropriate. felt that we should have done the redesign Subscription Service: Forms 3579 and all subscrip- tion correspondence must beaddressedto AUDIO, earlier, that we had become somewhat too P.O. Box 52548, Boulder, Colo. 80321-2548. Allow set in our ways, too predictable. There is eight weeks for change of address. Include both old and new address and a recent address label. If you more than a little weight to that argument, have a subscription problem, please write to the but I have felt throughout my term as above address or call (303) 447-9330.