MUSIC IN SURROUND SOUND

JULY 2005 CANADIAN CLASS: Paradigm’s SUPERB Signature S2 SPEAKER

IN REVIEW: ULTIMATE UNIVERSAL PLAYER from Ayre MAXIMUM IMPACT PREAMPS from Aesthetix & Burmester

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X-MAN JOHN DOE’S NEW PROJECTS AS WE SEE IT John Atkinson

Blind Tests & Bus Stops

n mornings when I can get under blind conditions. Instead, they know “scientific” testing: 1) that a blind test, up early enough after a late- what it is they are listening to. This, of merely by being blind, reveals the reality of night listening session, I take course, is as J. Gordon Holt envisaged it audible amplifier differences; and 2) that the last express bus from my when he founded this magazine 43 years sighted listening is dominated by nonaudio Brooklyn suburb to Stereo- ago: that the optimal way to judge a com- factors, the so-called “Placebo Effect.” phile’s Manhattan office. An ponent’s performance is to use it for its To explain my quarter-century-old Oinveterate people watcher, I notice that intended purpose—to listen to it. Damascene experience, you have to accept while my fellow travelers and I don’t form As I explained at the debate, I didn’t that either the blind test was flawed—in a traditional queue at the bus stop, prefer- always hold this view. In fact, when I first which case all the reports that cited that ring instead to mill around in something joined English magazine Hi-Fi News in 1978 test as “proving” the amplifiers that resembles a jelly donut, we still enter 1976, I was as hard-line an “objectivist” as sounded the same were wrong—or that the the bus in the order in which we arrived at Arny Krueger, due both to the arrogance nonaudio factors were irrelevant, in which the stop. The balance between individual- of youth and to the fact that I had trained case the criticisms of sighted listening ism and social necessity is thus preserved. as a scientist, working for some years in based on that factor must be wrong. At the other end of the line that sepa- government research labs in the late 1960s Remember, the nonaudio factors were rates social sophistication from mob and early 1970s. I believed—no, I knew that all working in favor of my not hearing any behavior are the free-for-alls that develop amplifiers operated short of clipping did problem with the amplifier: the Quad was on the Internet newsgroups and Web not sound different from one another. inexpensive; it was small for a 100Wpc forums. Freed from the need for personal In the summer of 1978 I took part in a design (it appealed to my intellectual responsibility and the usual social rules of blind listening test organized by Martin nature by being no bigger than it had to personal interaction, many individuals Colloms, in which the panel tried to distin- be); it ran cool; it was nice-looking; and write anything and everything to attack guish by ear between two solid-state Peter Walker of Quad was a hero of mine. those they perceive as the “enemy.” power amplifiers—a Quad 405 and a Naim If, as the “objectivists” repeatedly claim, Stereophile appears to have become a NAP250—and a tube amp, a Michaelson & these factors were going to influence my lightning rod for these disaffected souls, Austin TVA-1. The results of the test were listening, I would have been satisfied with one of whom, Arnold (Arny) B. Krueger, inconclusive, the listeners apparently not the amplifier. However, my increasing dis- of audio-review website www.pcav being able to distinguish between the satisfaction with the 405 was real. I was tech.com, has been criticizing this maga- amplifiers (see HFN, November 1978). having to work harder to appreciate my zine weekly, if not daily, for almost eight Having been involved in the tests, having music through the amplifier, and it was years. Feeling it was high time Mr. seen how carefully Martin had organized this cognitive dissonance that triggered the Krueger came out from behind his PC to them, and having experienced nothing that tipping point at which I changed from a confront in person those he criticized, I conflicted with my beliefs, I concluded hard-line objectivist into someone who invited him to debate me at Home Enter- that the null results proved that the ampli- recognized the value of listening. tainment 2005, held at the end of April at fiers didn’t sound different from one I have never said that listeners can’t fool the Manhattan Hilton. another. I bought a Quad 405. themselves—read Jim Austin’s essay in the A report on the debate and an MP3 However, over time I began to realize May Stereophile (p.5) concerning the fuss over recording of it can be found on our website that even though the sound of my system the so-called Intelligent Chip, as well as his (www.stereophile.com/news/050905de with the Quad was the same as it ever had further thoughts in this issue’s “Letters” bate). As you can hear, Mr. Krueger’s open- been, the magic was gone. Listening to (pp.11–12)—or that sighted listening is not ing argument ended with his stating that records began to play a smaller role in my without its own set of pitfalls. But if a listen- he had three major criticisms of this maga- life—until I replaced the 405 with an er is true to what his ears are telling him, it is zine: 1) “Stereophile willfully ignores much M&A tube amplifier two years later. unlikely that that listener will end up with a that is known about reliably evaluating The lesson was duly learned. Whether system that disappoints. And that, surely, is audio products”; 2) “Stereophile frequently or not they can be told apart under blind the point of all of that we do: to put together reaches conclusions and makes recom- conditions, amplifiers can have a major an audio system that makes us happy. mendations that are improbable if not just effect on a system’s sound quality. And Texas Instruments and Samsung spon- completely wrong”; and 3) “Stereophile does more important, normal listening had sored a digital screening of The Hitchhiker’s not take enough pains to ensure that it is revealed what the blind test had missed. Guide to the Galaxy at HE2005, in which publishing correct information.” I told this anecdote at the debate to planetary architect Slartibartfast expresses However, as you can also hear, these make two specific points. First, it demon- the sentiment “Science has achieved some assertions were not supported or fleshed strates that my following the then-as-now wonderful things, of course, but I’d far out. I assumed, therefore, that Mr. Krueger “objectivist” mantra—that audiophiles rather be happy than right any day.” I sus- was basing them on the one criticism he should buy the cheapest amplifier that pect that the believers in “scientism” who has repeatedly made over the years that is offers the power and features they need— uncritically promote blind testing would correct: to wit, that Stereophile’s reviewers had let me down. Second, it pits against one rather be right than happy, at least when it do not perform their listening evaluations another two core beliefs of the believers in comes to choosing amplifiers. ■■ www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 3 JULY 2005 VOL.28 NO.7 FEATURES Contingent Dither 55 Keith Howard offers some controversial findings…

X-Man 67 Singer/Songwriter John Doe’s new projects. By Robert Baird

72 EQUIPMENT REPORTS 72 Paradigm Signature S2 loudspeaker (John Atkinson) 79 Ayre C-5xe universal player (Wes Phillips) 95 Arcam Solo CD receiver 113 (Art Dudley) 103 Burmester 011 preamplifier (Brian Damkroger) 113 Aesthetix Saturn Calypso preamplifier (Michael Fremer) FOLLOW-UP 89 Linn Unidisk SC universal player (Wes Phillips)

6 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 KEN KESSLER & WES PHILLIPS SIGN UP FOR HOT HIGH-END NEWS BRING YOU STEREOPHILE VISIT WWW.STEREOPHILE.COM ’S E-MAIL NEWSLETTER. STEREOPHILE JULY 2005 COLUMNS 3 As We See It Fresh back from the “Great Debate” at HE2005, John Atkinson ponders the problems of “scientific” listening tests. 11 Letters Readers write in about “The Great Debate,” the well-missed Ken Nelson, the “truth” of Kalman Rubinson and Jim Austin, the rashness of the latter (and his rebuttal), and the etymology of the phrase “High performance loudspeaker.” Get on your Soapbox! Visit www.stereophile.com. 15 Industry Update 25 High-end audio news including dealer-promoted seminars, plus: News from the British Federation of Audio, the new JansZen One loudspeaker, Britain’s AES Audio Technical Education Day, and premieres of audiophile products at France’s Salon Hi-Fi Home Cinema. 25 Sam’s Space Sam Tellig listens to the Whest Audio dap.10 analog processor and the Shanling CD-T300 CD player. 33 Analog Corner Michael Fremer listens to the B&O system in Audi’s A8, the DV Forge ProSticks computer speakers, the Nottingham Deco turntable with Ace-Anna arm, and the Hadcock 242 Integra arm with the Cartridge Man MusicMaker cartridge. 41 Listening This month Art Dudley ruminates on the “art and commerce” of music these days, 41 listens to the Cox SM-081 loudspeakers, and hawks some bluegrass festivals. 47 Music in the Round Kalman Rubinson listens to new Mercury Living Presence SACDs on his “evolving” multichannel music system, including, speakers from Paradigm, Revel, and Meridian, and electronics from Bel Canto, Theta, Sony, and McCormack. 123 Record Reviews For July’s “Recording of the Month” we’ve turned to Area 31, a collection of new music by composer and audiophile record label owner David Chesky, and the classi- cal group Area 31. In classical, there’s Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Finnish Radio Symphony. In Rock/Pop, there’s new records by Nic Armstrong, Doves, and a quartet of albums from the eccentric Numero Records stable. In jazz, there’s a pair of records with pianist David Hazeltine and a new set on ECM by the trio that backs Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko. 135 Manufacturers’ Comments This month we hear from Whest, Cox, Burmester, Ayre, and Aesthetix on our reviews of their products. 138 Aural Robert 47 “The 24-year-old Berlioz was similarly bewitched by an actress when he wrote his Symphonie Fantastique in the 1820’s. But how did our boys, of similar age, body forth this supernatural craving in ‘Black Dog’?” Say what? A new series of books on THE great albums contains this quote on Led Zeppelin and many other gems of wisdom and wankerdom. Robert Baird reads (and rocks) on. INFORMATION 132 Audio Mart 120 Manufacturers’ Showcase 137 Dealers’ Showcase 123 137 Advertiser Index

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 7 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Great Debate before, when he wanted to sell a ban- I can’t get the CD side of any DualDisc to Editor: ner ad on the front cover of one of my play in my new Denon 2910 universal I must congratulate John Atkinson on magazines. Winning that editorial bat- machine. —Jon Iverson the cool and professional manner in tle meant winning his respect—as John which he debated Arny Krueger on the Atkinson pointed out. I tried a number of DualDiscs, including the eternal “Subjective vs Objective” subject Ken and I launched many new publi- Bruce Springsteen Devils and Dust in my sys- at Home Entertainment 2005. I can’t cations, including the first daily news- tem. All the CD sides would play in both my say I really learned anything new, paper at the Consumer Electronics Mark Levinson No.31.5 CD transport and my although the two sides turn out to be Show. Some lived, most were killed off, Technics DVD-A10 DVD player. The DVD- somewhat closer than their most rabid but Ken was never at a loss for a new V sides weren’t recognized by the CD transport, proponents pretend. title, a new venture, where he saw of course, but did play without problem in the While I did not get a chance to ask a opportunities. Technics, with the exception of the Springsteen, question at the debate, I would like to All of the agreeable experiences that which occasionally required the disc to be reinsert- ask one now: Why do you think those Laura LoVecchio mentioned in June are ed before it would be recognized. —John Atkinson on each side care so passionately, and are my fond memories of Ken, as well. Yes, he so determined to convince the other side was an ad salesman, but he was also a tow- Unique credibility they are wrong? [email protected] ering presence in the audio industry. For Editor: me, Ken was my constant mentor—I had Once in a while, I read an article in See this issue’s “As We See It,” on p.3, for some to work hard not to always be in his shad- Stereophile that makes me wish I could thoughts. —JA ow! Not that Ken would want me to be… extend my subscription for a decade. Whenever I attend an industry trade Such was the effect of Jim Austin’s “As Ken Nelson remembered show, I still half expect to encounter Ken We See It” in May (p.5). To say that it Editor: at his usual “station,” patrolling the highlighted the unique credibility of I’d like to add a few words to the trib- lobby, often with his beloved Libby at your publication would be understate- ute Laura LoVecchio paid Ken Nelson his side, fearlessly proving that his debili- ment. While there are many who will in the June issue (“As We See It,” p.5). tating disease was not going to get the value imaginary gains to the exclusion of My nine-year-long experience with best of Ken Nelson. Bryan Stanton reality, his wisdom is well received by Ken preceded his association with J.B. Stanton Communications those seeking a firmer foothold in Stereophile, when I joined St. Regis Pub- demonstrable science. lications in 1968, fresh out of college DualDisc What Jim said needed saying, and and green as one could be after a col- Editor: while he will surely be attacked from lege major of English Lit (ie, Cocktail I just read Kalman Rubinson’s com- the fringes, I hope he knows that many Parties 101). ments on “DualDisc=DumbDisc” (May more who have invested the years neces- Ken was VP of Sales at the trade- 2005, p.52) and I couldn’t agree more. I sary to get a basic understanding of magazine publishing house; I was Asso- don’t know why they keep pushing junk physics will champion his efforts to ciate Editor and sole full-time staffer at like this on us. SACD and other formats bring forth the truth on this subject. the leading trade magazine for hi-fi haven’t even been given a chance to Steve Armand dealers. The ever-savvy Ken saw to it grow, and now they are pushing more Sanger, TX that I spent my first week on the job not on us. [email protected] behind a typewriter but on the floor of I am very pleased with SACD. I have a local hi-fi store, where I learned a had nothing but good luck. The redone Smoke and mirrors? great deal about the industry where I Living Stereo disc by RCA/BMG is very Editor: was to spend my entire career. One good, and the Mercury release I just I really enjoyed Jim Austin’s column in memorable event: During a slow peri- bought is great. Thanks for writing the the May Stereophile: Science brought to od, I started dusting off the equipment, truth, Kal. Walter E. Hart Stereophile, perhaps some reasonable only to have the owner rush over to [email protected] explanations of smoke and mirrors. I can stop me, exclaiming that people seeing only hope. I do hope Jim becomes a reg- the dusty gear thought they were get- DumbDisc ular in the magazine. Who knows, he ting a discount! Editor: may even convince you of the usefulness One advantage of a small company I purchased the new Springsteen Devils in select cases of double-blind testing; eg, was that rapid advancement was possi- and Dust DualDisc. The genius behind of speaker cables when they are ble. I became Editor and, eventually, this marketing program probably never reviewed. Allen L. Schmidt Editorial Director of many titles— tried to play this disc in a CD player. [email protected] which meant working with Ken, as The disc is too fat, so the drawer of my Laura says, “like a team or a marriage Sony ES CD player does not close. Clark heard from …the mutual respect was always pre- Howard F. Goldstein Editor: sent.” We had made our peace years [email protected] Hey! I resent Jim Austin’s May 2005 “As

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR should be sent as faxes or e-mails only (until further notice). Fax: (212) 886-2809. E-mail: [email protected]. Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possi- ble publication. In the spirit of vigorous debate implied by the First Amendment, and unless we are requested not to, we publish correspondents’ e-mail addresses. Please note: We are unable to answer requests for information on specific products or sys- tems. If you have problems with your subscription, call toll-free (800) 666-3746, or e-mail [email protected], or write to Stereophile, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235. www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 11 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We See It” on the incredible Intelligent all, the chip is a tweak that appears too of the usual three or four: you can still sit on it, Chip and its deluded defenders. He good to be true, and neither Golden but it costs more to make than it needs to, it named names but left mine out! Here I Sound nor Machina Dynamica offers weighs more, and nobody would ever call it an go to all the trouble to write a really long enough information about its workings elegant solution to the problem of where to sit. report about my experience with it (and to satisfy my curiosity. It’s certainly true that there are areas of science those who fell under its sway) at CES “There are more things in heaven and that I haven’t mastered; pretty much all of them, in (www.positive-feed earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in fact. Yet the serious study and practice of science back.com/Issue18/intelligentchip.htm), your philosophy.” Hamlet’s admonition teach a healthy skepticism of things that violate besides defending myself on to Horatio is equally applicable to Jim logic, common sense, and a basic understanding of www.AudioAsylum.com, and all I get is Austin, the physicist with a PhD. I am how the universe works and how its parts interact. the cold shoulder. Don’t my mystifica- neither a physicist nor do I hold a PhD, A rigorous de-bunking of the so-called Intelligent tions deserve equal credit? but I contend that modern science is too Chip would take more room than I have, but I’ll It’s all in the mind, I know, and this vast for any individual to survey, let make three observations, at least one of which has wouldn’t be the first time I was influ- alone master, no matter how qualified. I been made elsewhere. enced by greedy, dishonest opportunists find it quite plausible that the chip uti- • The Intelligent Chip claims to be fixing “errors” like the guys at Golden Sound and lizes scientific principles unfamiliar to that probably don’t even exist; a simple bit-by-bit Machina Dynamica. Why, I’m even Mr. Austin. comparison of the disc will demonstrate that it known to spend over $50 on a bottle of This is no impediment to Mr. Austin has the same information on it after treatment as fermented grape juice, fer godsake, and I as he contemptuously characterizes all it had before, and that that information is, in consume vitamins without a single mea- satisfied users of the Intelligent Chip as turn, the same as what’s on another nondefective surable improvement in my health. Call deluded. We bought a bottle of snake copy of the same CD. me a goner. oil, says he, as he laments the dearth of • Certain forces act on certain types of materi- And in audio, I do all this certifiably double-blind tests in high-end audio. als in certain ways, and these forces are gener- cray-zee stuff—vibration isolation (on a Excuse me, but I trust my own ears ally well understood; no force is known that CD player yet!), mechanical damping on more than those of any number of oth- could explain how a piece of stuff—which may cables, AC power filtration, CD surface ers who can be enlisted into a DBT. I’ve or may not have some connection to quan- polishing—that has no double-blind tests, heard the chip produce a very real and tum-dot technology (not that it matters)—can no science to back it up. Thus, I suspect positive effect on many discs, and others act through a metal CD-player casing to that when Jim Austin, PhD, sniffs at have shared similar experiences on manipulate the pits on a plastic disc with a such as we who merely listen, he is Audio Asylum. To label us a bunch of metallic layer. probably correct. On Audio Asylum he dupes is quite insulting. • Even if that were possible, this little chunk of has earnestly annunciated, anent the “Thus conscience does make cowards stuff would indeed have to be intelligent, since it Chip, “There’s nothing in there that, of us all.” Conspicuously absent from would need first to detect which pits are in the according to known laws, could cause Mr. Austin’s article is an account of his right place and which ones are in the wrong the effect people say it has. … I believe experiences with the chip. I’d be more place before it could get to work repairing them. these people are running a scam.” apt to heed his cautions had Mr. Austin That’s something even a brilliant scientist with I must admit it’s good to receive assur- actually evaluated the chip himself. a million dollars’ worth of equipment couldn’t ances from the custodians that the laws of Lacking this, his estimation of the chip do without access to an original, unmodified physics are safe, or even, as Paul Klipsch appears baseless. Perhaps conscience digital source. used to say, “immutable”—perhaps demanded haste in warning his readers Given the fact that we don’t have to look far nowhere more so than in audio. On the about the newest charlatans in audio to find perfectly good, simple, fully scientific other hand, the history of science might land, and he just didn’t have the time. explanations in the realm of neuroscience and suggest that “common sense” is forever So this happy customer challenges Mr. psychology, I’m reluctant to attribute them to being replaced by weird ideas, so maybe Austin to try the chip himself and science that is either brand-new or very poorly one shouldn’t be too quick to judge new report his findings. I’m not asking for known. Some may find it offensive, but until possibilities such as the Intelligent Chip, an audited DBT here—only a single lis- some new information comes along, it’s the to whose efficacy dozens upon dozens of tening session with a chip and some simplest explanation. —Jim Austin people have attested. But what do we the good CDs. Patrick Conroy under-degreed, the great unwashed, know [email protected] High-performance audio about priestly science? What we hear can’t Editor: even be enumerated! We do, however, Mr. Johnsen and Mr. Conroy, Occam’s razor Regarding your footnote on “high-perfor- have the Great Albert, if not the Amazing was formulated by a 14th-century Franciscan mance audio” in the April 2005 issue Randi, on our side: “Not everything that monk, William of Ockham, and given rigorous (p.39): In 1980, Saul B. Marantz, can be counted counts, and not everything support thanks to a version of statistics formu- cofounder of Dahlquist Inc., used the slo- that counts can be counted.” Clark Johnsen lated by an 18th-century theologian, Thomas gan “High Performance Loudspeakers” in Boston, MA Bayes. Despite its religious roots, Occam’s razor product literature for the Dahlquist [email protected] says, in effect, that people shouldn’t create gods DQM-series monitor loudspeakers. Also (or ghosts, or other mysterious forces) unless probably in 1980, in a product sheet for Wondrous strange? they really need them to explain something. the Dahlquist ALS-3 car speaker, he used Editor: Alternative formulations of Occam’s razor in passing the phrase “high performance “O day and night, but this is wondrous include these: plurality should not be assumed systems” in discussing the ALS-3 in con- strange!” Horatio uttered this line after unless you really need it, and the familiar text with home high-end audio systems. sighting an apparition, but it also encap- “Keep it simple, stupid.” The late, Nobel-win- It’s likely that Saul took his inspiration sulates Jim Austin’s reaction to the Gold- ning physicist P.W. Bridgeman once described from the automotive realm—he did love en Sound Intelligent Chip in the May the razor as satisfying “a deep-seated instinct for his Mercedes. I don’t know if this citation 2005 “As We See It.” I, too, approached intellectual good workmanship,” and I agree. represents earliest use, but I recall thinking the seemingly impracticable device with To ignore it is the intellectual equivalent of at the time that it was unusual. Ed Woodard a healthy amount of skepticism. After building a chair with six or seven legs instead VP, Threshold Audio Inc.

12 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 INDUSTRY UPDATE

UK: LONDON 0.1% “in homogenous parts of a product” Paul Messenger (whatever that means), but I’m sure it The British Federation of Audio means administrative headaches for (BFA) seems to be thriving under the smaller companies [and arguably un- energetic chairmanship of Stephen N. necessary, as a primary source for lead contami- Harris. At the 2005 Annual General nation in landfills, TV tubes and computer Meeting (AGM), held in April, Harris monitors, appears to have been exempted.—Ed.]. reported that attendance at BFA’s reg- Even more worrying is the Waste CALENDAR ular meetings had improved, and that Electrical and Electronic Equipment membership had increased slightly. (WEEE) Directive, which requires all Those promoting audio-related semi- The BFA fulfils several useful func- “producers” to pay upfront for the ulti- nars, shows, and meetings should fax tions, such as coordinating govern- mate disposal and recycling of any (do not call) the when, where, and ment support for attending major equipment they sell. And if that doesn’t who to (212) 886-2809 at least eight overseas shows, representing the seem unreasonable, current producers weeks before the month of the event. interests of small hi-fi companies are being expected to pay for the recy- The deadline for the September 2005 when dealing with government regu- cling of “historic” equipment of all issue is July 1, 2005. Mark the fax latory agencies, and organizing the brands (including those no longer in “Attention Stephen Mejias, Dealer collection, collation, and distribution business) according to current market Bulletin Board.” We will fax back a of sales and market statistics from and share, regardless of how long the com- confirmation. If you do not receive for the membership. pany has been in business. This means confirmation within 24 hours, please The confusion and profusion of hi-fi higher charges in the early years, and is fax us again. shows has been a regular discussion blatantly unfair to the most successful Attention All Audio Societies: We topic, and a recently introduced initiative businesses. For example, Dyson got don’t have room every month to print is to give awards for design and demon- going only 10 years ago, but now has a all of the society listings we receive. If stration to exhibitors at major shows. At 60% share of the vacuum-cleaner mar- you’d like to have your audio-society the 2005 Bristol Show, the accolades ket, and will therefore be heavily information posted on the went to Focal-JMlab and Naim Audio penalized to pay for recycling other Stereophile website, e-mail Chris for design, and to Meridian and Neat brands’ products. Vogel at [email protected] and request Acoustics for demos. On the topic of WEEE was supposed to have been an info-pack. shows, however, Harris pointed out that implemented in Britain beginning in Please note that it is inappropriate the numbers didn’t always add up. For July 2005, but this deadline has already for a retailer to promote a new prod- example, for a show attended by 5000 shifted until January 2006, and a num- uct line in “Calendar” unless this is visitors, at which 50 companies exhibit ber of the practicalities appear to be still associated with a seminar or similar at a total cost of £5000 each, the indus- in chaos. It’s widely estimated that the event. try would be spending £50 ($100) to extra costs incurred will amount to reach each visitor. around 5% of gross revenue, and there’s ARIZONA In an environment characterized by no way the industry can absorb that ❚ Tuesday, July 26, 7–10pm: rapid technical change and increasing without increasing prices. This will be Audionut (7075 W. Bell Road, Glen- government regulation, another key all the more obvious in the UK, because dale) will host a seminar on speaker function of the BFA is to keep member Britain—much to the irritation of the design with a focus on ribbon speak- companies up to date with external consumer-electronics industry—is the er technology, presented by Brian factors that could affect them, and to only EC country whose politicians have Anderson of Q-USA, importers of act as a “talking shop” to discuss the decided against allowing the extra cost ELAC speakers. RSVP: (623) 487- issues involved. If the rapid pace of of this levy to be separately identified on 1116 or e-mail question@audio technical innovation sometimes seems sales invoices as a “visible fee.” nut.com. a bit scary in our brave new digital Numerous questions, problems, and world, the potential impact of some contradictions have still to be resolved. In CALIFORNIA new environmental protection regula- the last few years, as EC economies have ❚ Sunday, July 17, 2–5pm: The Digi- tions about to be implemented here in moved closer together, some companies tal Ear (17602 E. 17th Street, Suite the European Community is positively have begun operating across national 106, Tustin) and the Los Angeles terrifying. I’m all for taking steps to boundaries. For example, some Danish and Orange County Audio Society protect our environment, but I don’t brands have UK representatives but will cohost a presentation of Digital believe that this politically motivated deliver orders direct to dealers from Den- Ear’s “State of the Art Demo System,” legislation is the right approach. mark. Under the new rules, the dealer with guest speaker Jim Wang of Har- The Restrictions on the use of Haz- will be defined as the “producer” and will monic Technology. Lunch will be ardous Substances (RoHS) Directive is have to take on the responsibility and served. For more info, visit www.laoc still a year away from becoming manda- aggravation of collecting the WEEE audiosociety.com, or call Bob Levi at tory, but it places some worrying restric- levies—which, I imagine, many won’t be (714) 281-5850. tions on the use of certain elements. For prepared to do. All forms of parallel example, lead content must be less than importing will be similarly affected. www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 15 INDUSTRY UPDATE

ILLINOIS Increased regulation always has a Zen One (introductory price, ❚ Saturday, July 23: Glenn Poor disproportionately large impact on the $18,000/pair) is a fully powered, two- Chicago (55 E. Grand Avenue) will smallest companies, which lack the cabinet, electrostatic-electrodynamic hold “An Afternoon with Peter resources to deal with excessive hybrid that boasts wide dynamic range; McGrath,” a discussion and demon- bureaucracy, and that fact alone will a cylindrical, forward-only radiation stration of Wilson Audio’s Sophia, damage the specialist hi-fi sector. And pattern; and negligible levels of har- WATT/Puppy 7, and MAXX Series II there’s a real fear that the combination monic and intermodulation distortion. loudspeakers. RSVP: (312) 836-1930 of substantial price increases and the I recently reached him in Columbus, or e-mail [email protected]. uncertainties created by trying to Ohio, and chatted with him about his define a “producer” in a global econo- new speaker. TEXAS my could plunge our already struggling Tell us why you decided to develop the ❚ Monday, July 18, 6:30pm: Whet- industry further into recession. One. stone Audio will host an evening “I’ve been into audio design for a seminar with Paul Webb of Cyrus UK US: COLUMBUS, OH very long time—it’s in the family, in the to demonstrate the full line of Cyrus Wes Phillips blood. As the oldest, my dad took me products. RSVP: (512) 477-8503 or When audiophiles speak of the pio- under his wing from an early age and e-mail [email protected]. neers who laid the foundation for their hauled me into the various places hobby, certain names are spoken with where he was working and showed me THAILAND particular reverence: Kellogg, Rice, everything. I can remember being very ❚ The Bangkok Audio/Video Show Klipsch, Voigt, Walker, and Janszen all impressed at the existence of a 22 2005, hosted by Audiophile and indisputably make the all-star team. mega-ohm resistor when I was about Videophile, takes place at the Arthur A. Janszen, like John Hilliard at nine. Like wow—this will make my relax- Bangkok Emerald Hotel, June 30–July Altec Lansing, worked on US Navy ation oscillator go so slooow! My dad would 3. For more info, visit www.audiophile projects during World War II, but after let me wander around the KLH facto- mag.com or call (662) 720-4750. the war focused on developing an elec- ry floor, and I’d bring a fistful of parts trostatic speaker for use in the cockpits over to the guy in the parts cage and of Naval aircraft. The resulting Office ask if they’d let me have them, and the of Naval Research Technical Memo- answer was always ‘Yes.’ randum was groundbreaking in its “So, not that long ago, I decided it description of construction techniques was really about time to do something and sonic performance, but the Navy with all the audio ideas I had on how to declined to develop the project further improve the old JansZen loudspeakers— and, in fact, phased out the develop- and I’m not just talking about the tech- mental aspect of the department. niques for manufacturing the radiators, Janszen decided to continue his but the morphology of the whole thing, research at home, and in 1954 founded so it wound up overcoming some of the Janszen Laboratory, Inc., in addition to drawbacks I’ve always experienced.” delivering an epochal technical paper, What drawbacks were those? “An Electrostatic Loudspeaker Devel- “I’ve always had a pair of KLH Nines opment,” to the Sixth Annual Conven- or Acoustech Xs around—I currently tion of the Audio Engineering Society have a pair of Xs in the living room. I in New York. There followed a series love ’em, but they sound really good of major audio products: the JansZen 1- only if you’re in the spot where the two 30 tweeter array (best known for its tweeters are both aimed. They have pairing with the Acoustic Research AR- those 4" tweeters, and I don’t know if 1 loudspeaker), the full-range electro- you’re familiar with the equations for it, static KLH Nine, the Acoustech X but at 4", you have beaming all the way (that’s a Roman numeral ten, not an down to 2kHz, so that makes it tough. “X,” a distinction designed to keep it “I’ve changed that so the tweeters are from being confused with the immense in a line array, so they create a cylindri- electrodynamic KLH Ten), and the cal soundfield and the dispersion there- Electrostatic Research Corporation’s fore is very wide. By making the whole ERC-139, a small-scale hybrid speaker thing very tall, you can get all the that was probably a bit ahead of its response just about anywhere you’d time. Janszen also developed the driver, want to be, as long as they’re aimed EQ network, and industrial design for straight forward—and as long as you’re the KLH Model Eight table radio, the less than 7' tall and more than 2' tall. linear ancestor of the Tivoli Henry “I had to design my own electrostatic Kloss Model One so popular today. drivers for these speakers. I have a big Arthur Janszen died in 1991. How- box full o’ prototypes. All of them ever, there is a new JansZen loud- worked, but most of them didn’t work speaker, the JansZen One, developed as completely as I’d hoped. I made a lot by Arthur’s son, David. of 4" by 6" elements employing differ- David Janszen tells us that the Jans- ent stator materials and configurations. I

16 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 INDUSTRY UPDATE finally had enough data to decide what intent on using a 12" woofer, so I could so it, too, can be sealed up in a box. to do, and I built a final—more or less get that U-R-there feeling, the sensa- “The woofer element is in what I final—embodiment and realized that tion of impact against your body. guess could be described as ‘an under- the materials I was using weren’t very Because I’ve gotten the distortion so sized transmission-line termination.’ It flat, so it took me a few tries. Eventual- low on the model Ones, they don’t doesn’t make the cabinet seem like a ly, I wound up with enough successes sound that loud—but they really are completely infinite baffle, but com- to build an entire unit, and boy! it was loud. That translates to sensation. pletely sealing the 1.5-cubic-foot box exciting when I heard that thing. “I’ve gone to class-D for the electrostat pushed the resonant frequency too “The electrostatic elements are amplifier. Class-D does typically have a high, so I vent the lower cabinet into a arrayed in vertical bays—there’s one nar- strange type of distortion that sounds ‘chimney’ in the rear of the upper cabi- row bay that’s a tweeter and two wider unpleasant, but I’ve found a topology net. At the very top is a slot that vents bays that are the midrange/upper- that generates the ramps so that there’s the chimney. I guess you could say this woofer elements. Those are all next to extremely low distortion—below 0.1% all design has elements of three different one another, and there are three of the way up to full amplitude. Class-D enclosures—it’s not a sealed box, it’s not them on top of one another to make up doesn’t generate much heat, so I can seal a complete transmission line, and that the electrostatic part of the speaker. it up in the box without ventilation and vent would certainly be undersize in a “One side of the upper part of the not have to worry about it. regular vented enclosure. I think it cabinet that contains the tweeter- “With class-D, there just aren’t works out pretty well.” midrange arrays is tapered. The ele- good enough FETs available to get a A high-tech loudspeaker that’s reli- ments are rectangular, but the cabinet is lot of power, and electrostats are very able—that is an audiophile dream come asymmetrical to distribute the edge-dif- efficient, so that works well. For a true. The JansZen One loudspeaker fraction peaks. Take the elements right woofer, you need a lot of power, espe- should be available as a finished prod- to the edge and you get one huge dif- cially if you’re using a cabinet that uct this month, and JansZen is offering fraction peak, so I go for a bunch of lit- doesn’t take up the entire room, so I’m the first 25 pairs at an introductory tle peaks that all overlap and you can’t using the kilowatt amplifier, which is price of $18,000/pair. After those are hear or measure ’em.” technically a class-G topology—essen- sold, the price will be $26,000/pair. What about the woofer section? tially a class-A/B, but the power rails Order details are available at JansZen’s “Thilo Stompler at TC Sounds can be stepped depending on the website, www.janszenloudspeaker. makes absolutely fabulous woofers, so I power requirements of the moment. com. Demonstrations will be available sourced the bass driver there. I was Because of that, it is also very efficient, in the central Ohio area.

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UK: CAMBRIDGE Most of the presentations took place including quite a chunk of promotional Keith Howard in small seminar rooms; attendees talk about DTS technologies—some- To mark the occasion of its 20th annual were divided into groups and did the thing that may not have pleased the conference, held in the quiet, contem- rounds in different sequences. First up organizers, who are sensitive to com- plative surroundings of New Hall Col- for my group was Markus Erne, mercial messages being promulgated lege in Cambridge, the UK Section of founder of Scopein Research in under the aegis of the AES, an academ- the Audio Engineering Society this year Switzerland, talking about what to lis- ic organization—there were also some appended a new element to its proceed- ten for when assessing perceptual short film clips and two music tracks ings. On the Saturday following the audio coders (eg, MP3, Dolby Digital). (Simple Minds’ Alive and Kicking and usual two days of paper presentations Markus had already delivered a paper the Blue Man Group’s Sing Along) (this year’s theme: Convergence), an during the conference on the factors demonstrating DTS surround sound. Audio Technical Education Day was that must be included in assessing per- Unfortunately, the picture quality was held and interested members of the pub- ceptual coders, which he backed up poor—it later emerged that a PC was lic invited to attend. The atmosphere here with demonstrations (exaggerated being used as the source—and so was remained quite scholarly, the program for the sake of clarity) of some of the the harsh sound. PMC supplied the comprising a series of six closed-door artifacts they introduce. This was the speaker system, which found itself in a presentations running from 9:50am to most intensely technical of the presen- public-address role rather than its usual 5:30pm, with refreshment breaks and a tations, and when a member of the mastering environment, and in an buffet lunch. But there were enough audience slipped out after 15 minutes, acoustically unhelpful space at that. audio demonstrations within the presen- I thought we’d witnessed our first While I sympathize with the dif- tations to keep those with a less intellec- casualty—but he returned a few min- ficulties inherent in putting on a tual interest in audio engaged, and the utes later clutching a glass of water. demonstration like this in less than topics were broadly relevant to an audio- Although lossy encoding is the antithe- ideal circumstances, I hope lessons will phile audience. Entrance was free but, sis of high-end audio, it was fascinating be learned for next time. This is, after because of the structured program, to watch someone as expert as Erne all, an industry showcase. numbers had to be limited to about 140, dissect its failings. The next presentation was a talk by of which 50 or so had not attended the Next came a DTS presentation, held Bob Walker, ex-BBC, on the subject of conference itself. Although promotion in the lecture theater that in the after- room acoustics for multichannel sound. of the event was low-key, it was noon would host an impressive demon- This topic doesn’t readily lend itself to nonetheless oversubscribed. stration of digital cinema. As well as demonstrations, and there were none.

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Instead, Walker gave a PowerPoint- for us, the recordings then played back question, complaint, or compliment to based description of the Controlled over a pair of Watkinson’s Celtic Leg- get face-to-face with some of the top Image Design approach he developed end 4000 active speakers. movers and shakers from the UK audio while at the BBC, which uses angled I didn’t find the demonstration par- industry and elsewhere. The atmos- surfaces to create a reflection-free time ticularly convincing, and neither did the phere was much more conducive to this window within a given listening area in people I sat beside: the reproduction than it ever is at hi-fi shows. a room. I thought the content and tone was clearly colored, didn’t have the It would be unreasonable, of course, were pitched just right to appeal to both sheer presence of the live performance, to expect everyone to have enjoyed hangers-on from the conference and and entailed the virtual musician leap- every aspect of this event. But the overall audiophiles in from the street. Walker ing backward a couple of meters. (In reaction was so positive—evinced by how had also taken the trouble to write a another run of the demonstration, I many people were still there for the final readable paper on the subject, including understand that Meridian’s Bob Stuart debriefing—that the AES’s UK Section all the slides, which everyone in the suggested holding up a couple of large now has the enviable problem of decid- audience could take away to mull over tablecloths behind the speakers, which ing how to build on its success. Repris- afterward. How many of us are going to ameliorated the image shift.) But this ing the Audio Technical Education Day call in the builders or don our DIY was a brave exercise to attempt, and every year may be asking too much, but clothes to create a multifaceted listening Watkinson’s forthright and unconven- it does look set to become a regular fea- space is another matter. tional views added a welcome frisson to ture of the UK audio calendar. More- Immediately after lunch we were the day’s proceedings. over, it’s a model that other sections back in the lecture theater for a digital My only complaint would be that around the world might emulate, as AES cinema demonstration put on by Bell Watkinson’s ideas are not as new as president Theresa Leonard suggested in Theatre Services. A high level of fan some members of the audience might her closing speech. For those in the noise at the back of the room announced have gone away supposing. For instance, audio industry who find the mainstream the presence of a 2048x1080 pixel, 12- I was writing about the importance of audio press increasingly dumbed-down, bit digital cinema projector, on which spectral similarity in early reflections 20 it represents a rare opportunity to direct- was played a 1980x1020 progressive- years ago, and I claim no originality. ly address the tech-savvy audiophile. scan 10-bit D5 tape. Unfortunately, the Daniel Queen wrote an AES paper on audio quality was again poor, but the the subject, recommending omnidirec- FRANCE: PARIS digital picture was astonishing. Choos- tional horizontal radiation, as long ago Ken Kessler ing the first “reel” of Phantom of the as 1979, and the history of omnidirec- I may be a Francophobe sans pareil, Opera may have offended some musical tional speaker design stretches back a lot but I couldn’t say “non” to my dear sensibilities, but I think everyone in the further than that. But these ideas are still friend Jean-Marie Hubert, erstwhile room was transfixed by the image reso- anything but mainstream; it was pleas- organizer of the Festival du Son. Last lution and its flattering of the film’s ing to hear Watkinson expressing them year, after a brief hiatus, Jean-Marie extravagant set design. with his characteristic enthusiasm. returned with a high-end-only show, My vote for most stimulating presen- Last up was a demonstration by John Salon Hi-Fi Home Cinema, at the Sof- tation goes to John Watkinson’s live vs Dibb, of B&W, of the significance of itel Hotel in the southwestern corner recorded demonstration, into which we loudspeaker positioning, which involved of Paris, and it was successful enough trouped next. Watkinson, best known as playing three music excerpts over com- to inspire a sequel. a guru of digital audio, has strong, con- pact two-way B&W 805s in three differ- Unlike the original Festival du Son, troversial views on the subject of loud- ent locations in the room, beginning in a huge affair held at the Palais de Con- speaker design, which he has incorpo- the corners and moving progressively gres and encompassing multinationals rated into his Celtic Audio range of pro- out. An 825 subwoofer was then added, such as Pioneer, the Salon is essentially fessional and “lifestyle” products. For and finally a three-way 803 substituted high-end. Now it turns out that the example, he rails against sharp-edged for the sub/sat system. The results were 2005 event, held in April, marked a speaker cabinets and the short-delay much as you would expect, although—as distinct change in the attitude of time-domain errors they introduce, and often happens in demonstrations like French consumers. To everyone’s great advocates omnidirectional sound radia- this—I preferred the fleet-of-foot 805 to surprise in this land of Cahiers du Ciné- tion to ensure that early room reflec- the slightly more ponderous 803. In a ma, there has been a backlash against tions have the same spectral content as show of hands I was outvoted, though, home theater, and the show was burst- the direct sound. To make his point, he and Dibb said he’d noted a similar distri- ing with two-channel-only systems, had two musicians on hand and a bution of opinion during earlier runs. turntables, tubes, and vinyl. recording setup comprising a pair of Had I sat elsewhere, my preference Although only recently revived, Røde NT2000 capacitor mikes might have been different. Salon Hi-Fi Home Cinema is already switched to figure-8 directivity and As always at audio-industry gather- prestigious enough to have attracted a aligned as a Blumlein crossed pair ings, some of the most interesting handful of major “scoop” launches wor- (Watkinson is as forthright about mike exchanges took place during the net- thy of any international gathering. Most technique as he is about every other working opportunities over tea, coffee, impressive was the first-ever showing— subject), driving a Tascam US-122 USB and sandwiches. I imagine that these or, as Jean-Marie put it, la premiere mon- audio interface, with a laptop running interludes were a bit intimidating for diale—of the most daring power amplifi- Cubasis VST in the role of hard-disk members of the public having less than er ever produced by Audio Research. recorder. Recording was conducted at extravert personalities, but with every- Philippe Demaret of Europe Audio 16-bit/44.1kHz. The musicians—first a one wearing a name badge it was a Diffusion hosted the launch of the harpist, then a singer-guitarist—played golden opportunity for those with a floorstanding Reference 610T

20 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 INDUSTRY UPDATE

ARC, with extensive film-cap bypass- will set new sonic standards, akin to the ing of all electrolytics. The power- REF3 preamp’s gains over the REF2 supply rectification is solid-state, Mk.II. The first units ship this month.

PHOTOS: KEN KESSLER while a total of six regulators is used Reviewers: the queuing starts now. for tube regulation of the input stage, Another hefty tube design that with five additional solid-state regula- enjoyed its debut at Paris was Cop- tors. Inside the 610T is a massive, cus- land’s CTA405 integrated amplifier. tom-made output transformer, an Although small, circular arrays of but- ultrawideband device designed for a tons or LEDs are nothing new—Linn high damping factor and excellent Classik, Creek, and others use them— current delivery. Signal input is bal- the CTA405’s central configuration anced only, with separate output taps looks a bit iPod-ish—in the current cli- for 4, 8, and 16 ohm speaker loads. mate, no bad thing. Accounting for the new topology, Like every other Copland compo- ARC states that, “With the 610T, we nent I’ve seen, the CTA405 is a joy to decided to rethink the chassis from behold—clean and functional in a very Northern European way. Its power supply’s current capacity and custom- made output transformers are sufficient for 100Wpc output power, but Cop- land—ever conservative—has opted for ARC’s new 600W power amp, the 610T “operation conditions set for minimum Reference monoblock—their first in tower variation of plate and screen current in form—with a display as seen on the the output stage.” Thus the CTA405, Reference 3 preamp. which measures 16.8" W by 7.2" H by 15.2" D, is rated at only 50Wpc. A monoblock, a monster rated at a min- long, tranquil life is anticipated—the imum of 600W into loads of 4, 8, or Copland, after all, draws that power 16 ohms. (The T stands for “Tower.”) from four KT90 tubes. Its six inputs With a push-pull, fully balanced Early shot of Copland’s CTA405 integrated amp, include a phono stage, and the CTA405 vacuum-tube circuit using sixteen to ship with four KT90 tubes. comes with a remote control that will 6550C output tubes, the 610T needs also operate Copland CD players. only two 6L6GC driver tubes, each Also seen in Paris were new products controlling a bank of eight 6550Cs. from Creek, the first public showing of Input gain is provided by a pair of the forthcoming MartinLogan Summit 6N1P dual-triode tubes and a 6H30 speaker, T+A’s D10 tubed CD player follower tube. Although 16 output (to match the G10 turntable and V10 tubes seems a daunting prospect for integrated amplifier), and enough slick, ownership, ARC has designed the polished tube products from China to 610T to be painless to use, and it boasts scare the West. Among the latter were a much simplified tube-biasing system: Cayin’s 860 monoblock (70W from only two adjustments are needed The Mk.2 versions of the Creek CD53 CD player four 6550 tubes), Eastern Electric’s instead of the 16 required in the and 5350 integrated amp. MiniMax tubed power amplifier (8W REF600 series. Moreover, the project- from four ECL82s) and matching pre- ed tube life is approximately 2000 hours. the ground up. Unlike previous Refer- amplifier with EZ90 rectifier and two Standing an imposing 21" H by 14" ence amplifiers, which required abun- ECC82s, the Radford-like Eastern Elec- W by 22" D, the 610T features, on the dant floor space and multiple fans for tric tubed integrated amplifier (24Wpc upper part of its front panel, a multi- cooling, the 610T is a striking vertical pentode or 18Wpc triode), and a mas- function fluorescent display with six design with tubes projecting above an sive 10-model lineup of amplifiers from levels of illumination. This display will anodized top plate. Melody. Most interesting among the be familiar to those who’ve seen ARC’s Inside the tower are three different Melody offerings was the cute SP3, new Reference 3 preamplifier, suggest- levels of circuit function. At the lowest good for 63Wpc from a compact chassis, ing that—for the Reference series at level are the power and output trans- and finished in fetching battleship gray. least—ARC has a new family look. The formers, on the second level are the But if I could have tucked one thing screen data can be accessed via front- power-supply storage and regulation, under my arm and taken it home, it panel knobs or the handheld remote. and on top are the input and output would have been the Leben CS-300X, Among the information displayed are tubes. Amusingly, a ventilated top from Japan. This gold-fascia’d, green- the measurements for each output cover with quiet Pabst fans is optional accented beauty harks back to the days tube, AC line voltage level, total hours for pain-in-the-butt CE compliance. when Luxman made a few affordable of accumulated tube life, and logarith- But ARC feels that “Most owners will tube integrateds. It has five line-level mic, scalable power output (0–10W, want to see the tubes in all their glory, inputs, tape monitor, headphone out- 0–30W, 0–100W, 0–300W, 0–600W). and enjoy the benefits of silent convec- put, and a delivery of 12Wpc from Power-supply energy storage is a tion cooling.” four Sovtek EL34 tubes. Retro it may “whopping 1000 joules,” according to Naturally, ARC believes that the unit be, but, damn! is it pretty. ■■

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 23 SAM’S SPACE Sam Tellig Digital Playback Gear from Whest and Shanling

ames Henriot doesn’t understand will exist along with the original signal is true even with the highest-quality the disease but thinks he’s found on the output stage’s circuit.” domestic CD playback systems. a cure. But hold on a second, James. CD play- “At Whest Audio, we realized that Henriot, a longtime profes- back lops off frequencies above 20kHz. all the CD players we tested suffered sional audio engineer, heads up “Regardless of what the ‘Red Book’ from the same problems I just men- Whest Audio. Mikey fremered says about what happens above 20kHz, tioned, compared to pro-audio analog overJ their PS.20 phono stage in March. this does not apply to the output-stage magnetic tape playback. We looked at The dap.10 is described as an “active electronics. Signals above 20kHz are as what CD playback output looks like, analog signal processor.” One more important as the audible range when it using single tone bursts as well as mul- thing to buy that you didn’t know you comes to playback. tiple-frequency signals. After much needed. The price is $1750, imported “It’s a known fact that many musical analysis, using custom software and from England by Roy Hall, aka Music instruments have signatures above our own measuring techniques, we Hall, distributor of Creek and Epos. 20kHz. With wider-bandwidth elec- found that all the players showed a “It may be voodoo but it’s not bull- tronics and more supertweeters avail- series of small peaks across a 110kHz shit,” Roy assured me when he offered able, we’re finding out that content bandwidth starting above 30kHz.” a review sample. But Roy seemed a lit- above 20kHz is important for accurate So we’re talking from 30kHz up to about tle nervous. Will people understand playback at lower frequencies.” 140kHz? what this thing does? Will Sam? The dap.10 comes in silver or black. It measures 4.2" wide by 2.5" high by 11.5" deep. You take the ana- log output of your player or DAC and run it into the dap.10. Then you connect the dap.10’s output to your preamp or integrated amp. One more set of interconnects to purchase. This thing will be controversial, no doubt. The dap.10 works entirely in the analog domain above 30kHz, far above the range of human hearing. It’s also well above the 20kHz limit at which your DAC’s filters curtail CD sound. Why should this thing make any difference at all? I laugh my evil laugh. According to Mr. Henriot—James, from now on—frequencies you can’t hear affect the ones you do. Other The Whest dap.10 processor. audio designers have told me the same thing. So have musicians, talk- ing about their instruments. Musical James, you’ve said your experience in pro “That’s right. These peaks also pro- Fidelity’s Antony Michaelson is a man- audio engineering leaves you down on the duced a set of time-shifted peaks that ufacturer and a musician (piano and sound of CDs. aren’t music-related but seem to be clarinet); he agrees that things occur- “I’ve recorded in studios and at vari- triggered by a full-bandwidth signal.” ring above the audible range have an ous live venues, so I know what goes You’ve referred to “ghost images.” effect on sound. Tricky to measure, on before a CD is pressed. Anyone “The time shift causes minor ripples though. Of course, there are manufac- who has been in a recording-studio above 30kHz. We think these ripples turers (and editors) who assume that if control room during a session must have a profoundly negative impact on you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist. have noticed differences between what CD reproduction, possibly by beat Not James Henriot: they heard there and what they heard interaction, which dribbles its way “All amplifier circuits produce a set later, at home. down into the audible frequency range. of harmonics related to the incoming “One difference is the reduction in “The dap.10 stops the ripples from signal. The output of a CD player is no image stability, focus, and weight. occurring, which cleans up the audible different. The signal passes from the These qualities are present on the CD domain. We chose a few of the peaks; DAC to a buffer stage or plain output but they are lost in playback, along and, by applying a very small correction, stage, where a set of extra harmonics with resolution and soundstaging. This we realign the time-shifted information. www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 25 SAM’S SPACE

It took many months before we arrived Chief and you get a single-ended Eng- ot needs is a new audiophile ailment. I at the peaks, which, once corrected, lish harrumph! John does like a proper was going to suggest harmonic heebie- made an audible improvement. set of measurements.) jeebies, but how about something “The riddance of ripple results in an The Whest Audio dap.10 is tweaky more serious, like analog-domain jitter, overall improvement in CD playback stuff for Roy Hall, who likes his hi-fi to go with digital-domain jitter? in the areas we were talking about: res- plain and simple, cheerful and cheap. Roy Hall delivered the Whest in olution, soundstaging, apparent band- You know, Roy, some audio critic is going to person, with a bottle of single-malt in width, focus, weight, image, and stabil- come along and say that this whatchamacallit his other hand. Whest and whisky, ity. We don’t yet know what causes the messed up the sound of his system. That hap- that’s the ticket. I took Roy to lunch. problem the dap.10 corrects, but we I showed Roy the trio of Musical are researching it.” Fidelity X products in my listening In Tellig terms, it looks as if the THE WHEST AUDIO dap.10 IS room: the X-RayV3 CD player as trans- dap.10 kicks harmonics back into regis- port, the X-DACV3, and the X-10V3 ter. Intriguing, no? There appear to be TWEAKY STUFF FOR impedance-matching device. I placed things about audio reproduction that the dap.10 between the DACV3 and the we’re only beginning to grasp. Elec- ROY HALL, WHO LIKES HIS X-10V3. I would have used a Creek CD tronic circuits may have a way of player, but Roy retrieves his review knocking harmonics out of sync, HI-FI PLAIN AND SIMPLE, samples so fast. resulting in a less musical, more “elec- The signal from the X-10V3 went tronic” sound. CHEERFUL AND CHEAP. straight into a Lavardin IT integrated Conventional measurements don’t amp, which I’ll save for next time. always tell the story. Giovanni Sac- Ah, Lavardin, I said to Roy. You intro- chetti and Dr. Leopoldo Rossetto, of pens every time there’s an analog add-on to a duced me to this manufacturer and this very Unison Research, have studied circuits digital source. model. I’m going to give it a rave review that measure superbly and seem ele- I wonder what my late friend Lars next month. gant and yet don’t sound especially would have thought about the dap.10. I rubbed my hands together in glee. good. Sacchetti, too, thinks that har- Several years ago, a sample of the monic integrity may come down to Lavardin IT made the rounds among timing. It’s one reason he uses tubes potential US distributors, but Roy didn’t in all his designs and why he pro- take on the line. duces single-ended triode tubed I wasn’t trying to rile Roy. The gear, even though the measurements Lavardin was already in place and might appear ho-hum. proved the ideal amplifier with which to James Henriot said nothing about put the Whest to the test. The IT has no single-ended triode. But ask Art Dud- active line stage; think of it as a power ley. Or Martin Colloms. Bob Deutsch. amp with four inputs and a volume Even our friend Michael Fremer, who knob. More next month. Another splen- swooned over the Wavac SH-333—a did line not imported by Music Hall. mere $350,000/pair. (Mention SET or On to the wild, wild Whest. something like the dap.10 to The The top of the Whest dap.10. I heard an improvement right away—which is to say, within minutes, CONTACTS even before Roy left. Not that I let on If I liked something, he didn’t. Espe- then or the next day, when Roy Music Hall, 108 Station Road, cially if I discovered it first. And vice phoned to see how the Whest and I Great Neck, NY 11023. Tel: (516) versa. As Lars used to say, yudge for were getting on. Let him wonder. 487-3663. Fax: (516) 773-3891. yourself. It’s easy to let a hi-fi scribe I tried whisking the Whest out of the Web: www.musichallaudio.com. talk you into hearing something that signal path—being careful to leave it you actually don’t, and that maybe he powered up. Nope. I wanted the Whest. Shenzhen Shanling Digital or she doesn’t either. I can’t say that improvements were Technology Development Co., James wonders, too, how many dramatic, and you likely need a very Ltd., No.10, Chiwan 1 Road, Shek- people will “get” the product. He good CD player or transport-DAC ou District of Shenzhen City admits he has a tough time explaining combo to hear them. You might be 518068, PRC. Tel: (86) 755- it. And he does seem a little secretive better off upgrading your CD player or 26887637. Fax: (86) 755- about what, exactly, is going on. DAC first—or buying a Musical Fideli- 26887638. E-mail: Here’s a bit of free marketing ty X-10V3, if you can still find one. The [email protected]. advice from a former writer of phar- dap.10 got on splendidly with the X- maceutical ad copy. Describe a dis- 10V3. I placed the X-10V3 after the Whest Audio Ltd., Acton Busi- ease for which you have the cure. dap.10. I know—all those interconnects. ness Centre, Unit U05, School Make people think they have it. Whest Audio has their own intercon- Road, London NW10 6TD, Eng- Hang the explanations. Never mind nects. And yes, they’re included. By the land, UK. Tel: (44) (0) 20-8965- measurements. No one knew they way, the inputs and outputs are single- 4535. Web: www.whestaudio. suffered from “acid reflux disease” ended RCA only. co.uk. until the purple pill promoted it— In my listening-room system, the they just had heartburn. What Henri- dap.10 did what James Henriot www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 27 SAM’S SPACE claimed. Everything—and everyone— already tried it, using my Sony XA-777ES “We have many SACD users,” James sounded more in place. Digital sound, player, a Sutherland Director line stage said, “but, sadly, the format is dead—in compared to analog, tends to put things (from Acoustic Sounds), and my refer- the UK, anyway. The big corporations out of place—performers, imaging, har- ence pair of Parasound JC-1 Halo just aren’t behind SACD or we would monics, dynamics. The dap.10 likes to see all new put stuff back into place. And we’re music releases not talking about rearranging elec- in the format. trons, or whatever, on your CDs. …You know, I heard more air, more ambiance, we’ll probably more precise and stable imaging. I have CD for noted a more convincing, more another five to musical harmonic register with voic- ten years.” es and instruments. I heard richer Exactly what tonal color. The French hi-fi scribes Sam Tellig said refer to la restitution sonore. This is what five years ago. the dap.10 enhances—or, as Henriot As they say in would probably say, restores. Fall River, The soundstage, on good record- Massachusetts, ings, was more clearly delineated—I “Toljus!” could better hear who was here, who (That’s short was there. What I didn’t expect was The Shanling CD-T300. for “I told better bass—more extended, more youse guys.”) controlled, more informative. It’s essential Henriot suggests that the dap.10 can monoblocks. (That’s Halo, not Halcro.) I to audition the dap.10 in your own sys- bring regular CD playback up to the heard an improvement with regular CDs. tem for an extended period of time, level of SACD, DVD-Audio, or even I struggled to hear any improvement with without pressure. Ideally, you should lis- analog LP. It certainly helped to close SACDs. What I did notice is that the ten for several days. It takes at least a day the gap in my listening room. sound of the CD layer came closer to that for the unit to come on song, as the Brits I asked James about using the dap.10 of the SACD layer. Still, SACD was bet- like to say. Leaving the unit powered, try with SACDs. I didn’t tell him I had ter, whith or whithout the Whest. removing it from your hi-fi food chain. SAM’S SPACE

Don’t try to go back and forth. Listen to five to ten years. Looked at in that would buy it. Like my daughter. an entire disc with and without the light, the dap.10 could give you a real I wish I spoke Chinese. I detect a Whest, then try another. upgrade—not an imaginary one—for kindred spirit in Mr. Lin Jinhui, I asked my wife, Marina, to place a pennies per disc. founder and director of Shanling— piece of cardboard in front of the someone who would make something dap.10 so I couldn’t see if it was in the Shanling CD-T300 outrageous just for the fun of it, with- system or not. I correctly identified the “This looks like it flew down from out worrying about how many people presence of the dap.10 each time. Kids Mars,” my daughter, Amy, exclaimed might want it. I can see the headline love this kind of thing. If you have on seeing the Shanling CD-T300 CD for an ad: “They laughed when I lifted teenagers, put them to work. player, which she calls the Chinese fly- the lid of my Shanling CD-T300.” The dap.10 is not cheap at $1750. ing saucer. Roy Hall delivered it the But the player is no joke. And if you (It’s basically bench-built and uses all same day he came by with the dap.10 want one, you’d better hurry up. The discrete circuitry.) Like I said earlier, from whay-out Whest. CD-T300 uses a Philips CD4 transport, other upgrades—like a better player or There is nothing else like this player production of which ceased long ago. DAC—may be more cost-effective. Be on planet Earth. It’s fascinating. It’s Shanling can build only 300 units of the sure you hear a difference before you flabbergasting. Completely over the CD-T300. The price is $6995. Factor in fork over your dough. top. It also shows that a sense of humor the fun and the player is a bargain—even Having said all that, I find the dap.10 is alive and well in China. if I have heard players that sound almost hard to part with. I find my money Have you heard about the Shanghai as good for a fraction of the price. hard to part with, too. Pig Olympics? You can go on Google The Shanling CD-T300 is not an I just bought Richard Goode’s new News if you think I’m inventing this. SACD player. There has been some con- Mozart recital disc (Nonesuch 79831- Highly trained and specially bred acro- fusion on this score—in part, perhaps, 2), this rag’s “Recording of the Month” batic pigs race one another and per- because of the SACD button on the for April. It kills me that I can’t have form various athletic feats. It’s an remote. (Of course, it will play the “Red this splendid recording on SACD. The ongoing attraction. I’m waiting for the Book” CD layer of hybrid SACDs.) dap.10 eased my pain. I guess that’s North American tour. Even the suitcase is fun. That’s right. what it’s supposed to do. Far too many hi-fi manufacturers The CD-T300 is shipped in a hard If the price seems high, remember are stuffed shirts. If the gear didn’t look suitcase—the kind professionals use to that we’re probably going to live with so serious—so downright intimidating, schlep their audio gear. The suitcase is “perfect sound forever” for another sometimes—maybe more customers well padded (like my cell). SAM’S SPACE

Setup is straightforward. You’ll have no drawer mechanism. The CD-T300 to decide where to locate the small is top-loading—you can’t place any- outboard power supply—preferably thing else on top if it. where you can see it, because its meter I found that, unless I placed a disc FREE can show either voltage or current. just so, it would rattle around in the High-End Audio The power supply runs slightly warm— well and refuse to play. I also found, on enough to delight Maksim, our music- a few occasions, that even when I loving cat, on cold spring mornings. placed a disc very carefully, it would He wraps himself around the power play in fits and starts. As I developed supply and goes to sleep. more agility, this happened less. CATALOG The CD-T300 was susceptible to footfalls. It’s true that I produce a very THE SHANLING’S LOW- big footfall. I had the player on a table with an isolation platform—Roy Hall LEVEL RESOLUTION can tell you what it is (I forget)—he sold it to me. Good thing we don’t WAS EXCELLENT. SO WAS hold dance parties in the living room. This player might work best on an iso- THE BASS EXTENSION lation shelf mounted to the wall. The CD-T300 is for sound, not just AND THE SENSE OF PACE for show. With upsampling—the Magic Bullet—and those Russian AND TIMING. tubes, I heard an analog-like sense of ease, with or without the Whest dap.10. (I used the Sutherland Direc- “There are three catalogs The CD-T300 uses an NPC tor preamp, my Parasound JC-1 I look forward to receiving… the SM5847 upsampling and filter chip to monoblocks, and the pair of Spendor Audio Advisor catalog is, of course, offer upsampling to 24-bits/96kHz. S8e speakers I wrote up last month.) a no-brainer for an audiophile.” You can turn the upsampling on and The Whest Audio dap.10 took the – John Atkinson, Chief Editor, off from the remote. Turning it off sound of the Shanling CD-T300 and Stereophile, January 1996 sucks the air out of the room and gave me a little more of it. Whether makes the sound more digital. (If you that little more is worth $1750 is tell another audiophile you like another matter. I could easily listen to upsampling, he or she will come out the Shanling straight. for downsampling. At any rate, you can The Shanling’s low-level resolu- have it your way.) tion was excellent. So was the bass There are eight Burr-Brown PCM extension and the sense of pace and 1704K D/A converter chips—that’s four timing. Most important, this player per channel in parallel for single-ended from the east didn’t need the Our catalog output, or two per channel for balanced Whest to sound harmonically right. is packed with hundreds configuration. Being unbalanced (The Whest made the player sound of high-end hi-fi and home myself, I didn’t have the opportunity to slightly richer and more relaxed.) theater products from the fi nest try balanced operation. The Shanling I was going to review the Lavardin names in audio. Our expert staff has two Russian Electro Harmonix IT this month, but it will have to wait. offers the best advice, great service, 6922 tubes per channel. Russian tubes, I did have time for one more trick. Or and a no-hassle return policy. not Chinese. treek, as Marina says. Knowing how Call 1.800.451.5445 for The entire player is bathed in an much Roy Hall loves the portable Sony your FREE catalog today. aura of blue light—this thing cannot be D-EJ 100 CD player, which Wal-Mart fully appreciated in the daytime. The sells for $48,1 I plugged it into the light streams from the interior well and Whest. To be as fair as possible to the from the three support arms. If you Sony, I used the Musical Fidelity X- think that’s cool, wait: there’s the dock. 10V3 buffer stage and the Sutherland When you place the lid (and puck) on Director line stage. the dock, it, too, turns blue; it’s battery- The Whest did little or nothing for powered. Better watch that puck, the sound of the Sony. though: our cat took a liking to it. What did you expect? For what it is

The CD-T300 is much more fun at and what it does—and how long it runs Audio Advisor, Inc. ® night than it is in the daytime. on a single pair of batteries—the Sony is Established in 1981. Teenagers in particular seem almost to quite nice. ■■ Toll-Free: 800.942.0220 wet their pants in envy. It’s nice to have 4717A Broadmoor SE expensive toys. Kentwood, MI 49512 1 Wal-Mart has been selling the successor D-EJ 120 ® AA, AUDIO ADVISOR To play a disc, you lift the lid and the and design are registered online for $29.36. Not THAT’S a proper price for a trademarks of Audio Advisor, Inc. puck, place a CD in the well, then portable CD player. Perhaps Roy should work on the replace the puck and the lid. There is rollbacks, too. www.audioadvisor.com www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 31 ANALOG CORNER Michael Fremer

On the Highway to High Performance Audio

ar stereo as high-perfor- What’s significant and unusual minum stock in a time-consuming, mance audio goodwill about the Audi-B&O system is that it’s mind-bogglingly complex machining ambassador got another meant to be heard and seen. When you process I got to watch. boost recently, when Audi turn it on, two acoustic lens assemblies, When I questioned Audi’s Peter announced a partnership each containing a 19mm tweeter, dra- Blum about the wisdom of putting with Bang and Olufsen to matically pop up at the ends of the such a visible sound system in a car developC a new, high-performance dashboard to help produce a proper when the trend seems to be in the sound system for Audi’s luxury A8 opposite direction, he said model. The Lexus–Mark Levinson (I paraphrase): “This is an trip I took recently and wrote about optional, extra-cost sys- in the May “Analog Corner” paid tem, and enthusiasts who another kind of dividend: a writeup order it will want to both in Motor Trend that included a sidebar hear it and see it.” Right about the sound, quoting my assess- on! In Germany, I have no ment of the Levinson system and doubts that they’re serious mentioning Stereophile. about audio. In America? Unfortunately, as with home We’ll see. audio, which is becoming more in- Audi’s B&O Advanced wall every day, most car speaker sys- Sound System, the voic- tems are designed to be hidden in the ing and development of doors and package shelf. Not so the which are under the B&O system, which I saw and heard direction of Geoff Martin, (in an unfinished state) during a trip a young, enthusiastic to Denmark last winter. Order the B&O system in your next Audi A8 and this pops up when Canadian Tonmeister you turn the radio on. My impression of B&O was proba- trained at McGill Univer- bly similar to yours: a company more sity, will include 14 active interested in sexy industrial design loudspeakers, the acoustic than in good sound. That made Audi’s lens systems, more than 1000W of choice of B&O curious, given that car “Icepower” (digital class-D) amplifica- stereos are meant to be heard and not tion, and active digital signal processing seen. But walking the aisles of B&O’s (DSP). What I heard in an Audi A8 museum in Struer, Denmark remind- was not quite finished but sounded ed me that the company has a history promising. I’m hoping I’ll get another of producing good-sounding gear that listen when the car is introduced in happens to look very cool—and that America in spring 2007. Meanwhile, includes turntables and phono car- the more attention carmakers pay to tridges. Besides, Audi already had a sound, the better it is for high-perfor- relationship with B&O, which builds mance audio’s prospects in the home. the brake calipers used in the A8 (as well as in Lamborghinis), and its Another computer world-class aluminum fabrication DV Forge’s ProSticks speaker worth mentioning: facility produces parts for BMW and Not even a cover story in the March other car companies. 2001 Stereophile (Vol.24 No.3) was suf- Stereophile hasn’t reviewed it, but ficient for Acoustic Energy’s AEGO2 B&O got back into high-performance soundstage right where it belongs: in PC speaker system to catch fire with audio last year with its BeoLab 5, a front of the listener. In addition, the consumers. Maybe the problem was powered, DSP-driven, three-way gleaming, jewel-like, door-mounted that not enough audiophiles are inter- loudspeaker fitted with a unique driver housings are made of heavy alu- ested in good computer sound, and for acoustic lens system licensed from computer geeks, $599 for a powered

Sausalito Works, an American firm. 1 A writer who really wasn’t qualified (blame the as- satellite-subwoofer system is “expen- The midrange and tweeters (which are signing editor) ineptly wrote up the BeoLab 5 in the sive.” Whatever, the AEGO2 was a conventional Vifa-sourced domes) fire New York Times last year. The headline was “A Loud- great product. I bought one and use it speaker that Adjusts for Furniture That’s in the Way.” upward into the lens, which effectively The speaker uses a microphone to measure and com- every day while working at my Apple disperses focused sound across a pensate for frequencies of 362Hz and below. When I G5 desktop computer. complained about the report’s inaccuracies, the Times wider-than-usual—though not omnidi- defended every last mistake—and some of the errors DV Forge’s ProSticks is another rectional—radiating pattern.1 were more ridiculous than the headline. attempt to rope computer enthusiasts www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 33 ANALOG CORNER into good sound. The company sent the individual left/right and subwoofer tingham’s more expensive, cost-no- me the $369 sat-sub system to play level controls. They help in achieving object Deco ’table, along with the with, and I can tell you that it’s another an ideal sat/sub balance, though get- company’s latest tonearm, the Ace- great little system that I hope becomes ting a good blend takes time, patience, Anna. Including the Deco power sup- popular with audiophiles—and nonau- and lots of experimentation in sub- ply, the package sells for $38,499. I diophiles, who may be tempted to take woofer placement. agreed to review it with the proviso a greater interest in sound after living All in all, the DV Forge ProSticks is that Nottingham also supply a Graham with them for a while. an easy recommendation for computer Engineering armboard so that I could The main attraction is the system’s listening and, I hope, another goodwill hear the ’table with a known tonearm. reasonably deep and superbly tight ambassador for high-performance The Deco’s shipping weight is 140 lbs— and tuneful bass, thanks its 7" sealed- audio. It can be ordered from their web- the tall, stepped platter of a dense, soft box subwoofer. The ProSticks’ bass site, www.dvforge.com/prosticks.shtml, alloy alone weighs well over 30 lbs. performance surpasses the AEGO2’s, and comes with a full, money-back The platter and bearing support is a which was somewhat “thumpy,” but guarantee. (If you’re using the latest iter- platform of two plinths, each fabricated 7 the tradeoff with a sealed box is a loss ation of Apple iTunes, be sure to go to from a ⁄8" multilayered wood laminate. of efficiency. DV Forge doesn’t supply the Preferences menu’s audio window You can choose between suspended specs for amplifier power, but the Pro- and de-select the audio “Enhancement” and mass-loaded modes simply by Sticks doesn’t play as loudly as the default setting. It’s a teeth-rattling rotating a hex-head bolt centered with- AEGO2. However, even when push- brightness boost inserted in the pro- in each of the four suspension pods; ed to the max, it delivers more than gram by a sonic imbecile at Apple.) the actual suspension mechanism is a enough SPLs for undistorted near- cross of thick rubbery material. The field listening. Nottingham Deco turntable & suspension system requires no “tun- The ProSticks’ high-frequency dri- Ace-Anna tonearm: $38,499 ing.” It’s either engaged or it’s not. vers aren’t specified, and it’s difficult to Every manufacturer with a range of The spindle bearing has an un- see behind the speaker’s perforated products has a “sweet spot” at which usually large diameter necessitated metal grille, but its top end is reason- performance and price combine to by the massive platter, and with a ably smooth, airy, extended, and free tapered inner bore. from annoying edge and etch. I pre- The bearing’s inner fer the AEGO2’s expansive sound- sleeve is inscribed stage, but the ProSticks has somewhat with a grooved spiral better focus and transparency. I like that acts as a pump to efficiently distribute the specially formu- IN HEAVY ROTATION lated oil supplied 1) The Kills, No Wow, Rough REMAINING PHOTOS: MICHAEL FREMER with the Deco. All of Trade 120gm LP the considerable 2) Hank Garland, Subtle Swing, bearing surface re- Euphoria 180gm mono LP ceives lubrication at 3) Ray Charles, Genius Loves all times, as the Company, Pure Audiophile groove lifts the oil 160gm LPs (2) from the well at the 4) Jimmy Giuffre 3, 1961, ECM bottom to the top of 180gm LPs (2) the spindle as the 5) Coleman Hawkins, The Massive Nottingham Deco bearing awaits even more massive platter. shaft rotates. Genius of…, Verve/Speakers As in VPI’s TNT Corner 180gm LP and HRX turntables, 6) Various Artists, Blues Jam at offer the biggest bang for the buck. I the Deco’s platter sits atop the bearing Chess, Pure Pleasure 180gm reviewed Nottingham Audio’s inex- structure resting on three set-screws, LPs (2) pensive Analogue Horizon turntable which are used for precise leveling using 7) Hugh Masakela, Almost Like in the February 2003 Stereophile and a supplied dial gauge fitted to one of Being in Jazz, Straight Ahead found it a smooth-sounding, impres- two tonearm mounting platforms. 200gm Quiex SV-P LPs (2) sive performer when fitted with an Once the platter has been leveled, you 8) Ellington/Mingus/Roach, OEM Rega RB-250 tonearm ($1000 place on it a thin pad of a proprietary Money Jungle, United with arm). I had a chance a while back viscoelastic damping material, then a Artists/Classic 200gm Quiex to audition Nottingham’s AnnaLog thick graphite pad, on which the record SV-P LP turntable with AnnaLog arm and sits. Like other Nottingham ’tables, the 9) Respighi, The Birds/Brazilian found the sound soft, diffuse, and unin- platter’s circumference is fitted with soft Impressions, Mercury/Speakers volving. Whether it was the arm or the rubber rings that are said to act as Corner 180gm LP ’table or both that made it sound that dampers. Give the platter a spin before 10) Sufjan Stevens, Seven Swans, way, I didn’t know, but the AnnaLog fitting the drive belt around one of two Burnt Toast Vinyl 120gm LP ’table alone costs around $10,000. grooves that form the first two of the Visit www.musicangle.com for full Following the 2005 Consumer Elec- seven steps and it spins for a very long reviews. tronics Show, Audiophile Systems time—a testament to the system’s high (www.aslgroup.com) offered me Not- mass and low friction.

34 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 ANALOG CORNER

The drive belt is an O-ring of the tingham arms. Two stabi- same thick, spongy rubber used in lizer bars prevent the arms other Nottingham designs. The ultra- from rotating around its low-torque outboard AC synchronous azimuth, giving the arm motor, also used in other Nottingham the feel of a gimbaled ’tables, is designed to have just enough design, but with the single- energy to keep the platter spinning, point, high-pressure char- once you’ve given it a hand-assist. acteristic of a unipivot. A Designer Tom Fletcher feels that if the carbon-fiber tube, its fibers motor has sufficient torque to start the oriented lengthwise, is said platter spinning, it has too much to provide high rigidity and torque. The motor’s electronic drive effective resonance control. system provides for a stable, regenerat- Setup was relatively ed AC waveform. Similar to the Wave straightforward. Once the Mechanic power supply included with Nottingham Audio Space-Anna arm on Deco. Note suspension Deco was all put together, the less expensive Nottingham Dais system and adjustment. I was staring at a formida- ’table ($7499 without arm), the Deco ble record-playing device supply adds a control that allows you to play, but without relying on spring that was both massive and compact. fine-tune the symmetry of the driving mechanisms, whose resonant frequen- My review sample had seen some hard current, this fine-tuning necessitated by cies would vary depending on the traveling before arriving at my door, the fact that the two sides of a motor’s height setting. Instead, high mass and including being the demo unit at CES, armature are rarely wound identically, gravity provide constant tension, and and had suffered some nicks, scrapes, which means that applying identical internal viscous damping prevents and paint chips, but even had it been current to both will not result in identi- residual resonances from affecting pristine, I can’t say I’d have found the cal forces. The extra knob lets you “bal- performance. Large knurled knobs Deco’s looks or its fit’n’finish particu- ance” by ear the forces applied to the near the platform base allow for larly appealing. Compared to the far armature’s sides. smooth, precise VTA adjustment. less expensive Brinkmann Balance (see Finally, the two identical armboard The Ace-Anna tonearm ($3500) is “Analog Corner,” May 2005), for platforms allow for adjustment of the the latest variation of the basic “stabi- instance, which had a jewel-like per- vertical tracking angle (VTA) during lized unipivot” design used in all Not- sona, the Deco looked utilitarian, par-

36 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 ANALOG CORNER ticularly the finish of the think this warmish-soft plinths. I find Nottingham’s sound is the sound of “ana- less expensive ’tables far more log.” I don’t. attractive, but you might react One thing I noticed differently. My ultimate con- immediately was the unique clusion was that the Deco is a sound the stylus made as it product born more of the touched down on the industrial age than of the record: the usual pop was space age. But then, so was replaced with the gentlest the turntable itself. kiss, followed by an instanta- The Ace-Anna arm is neous dissipation of the equally unappealing visually, sound—almost a melting with a sort of homemade- sensation—the like of which looking quality. Nor did I like I hadn’t recalled hearing the way the cartridge pins had before. Despite the Ace- been “blob-soldered” on and Anna’s unimpressive perfor- left bare. I exercised great care Hadcock 242 Integra with MusicMaker cartridge on Deco ‘table. mance, the Deco’s ability to and never had a problem with produce jet-black backdrops the connector pins, but com- was world-class. pared to, say, the fit, finish, and fine The Ace-Anna arm just doesn’t cut it in detail of Graham Engineering’s 2.2 my book—especially not for $3500. It Enter the Hadcock 242 Integra arm, the Ace-Anna looked unfinished. sounded soft, indistinct. Transients tonearm: $1259 The fastest and easiest way to hear were smoothed over, details lost, and One of the classic British tonearms the Ace-Anna and Deco was for me to the entire presentation lacked sonic that’s been around since forever, the switch out the Lyra Titan cartridge involvement. It’s what I’d heard when Hadcock 242 Integra has been seriously from my Immedia RPM-2 tonearm I’d auditioned the Nottingham Anna- upgraded with a stainless-steel armtube and Simon Yorke turntable. That Log ’table fitted with an earlier itera- (in place of aluminum), higher-quality accomplished, I sat down for an tion of this arm. The Ace-Anna had no internal wiring (either Cardas Incogni- extended listen. serious colorations—it didn’t sound to, which is how mine was delivered, or I didn’t recognize the Lyra Titan. lumpy, just kind of lazy. Some listeners van den Hul silver), and better fit’n’fin-

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 37 ANALOG CORNER ish. I’d never touched one before, so I interactivity between some of the damped inside and out. Signal and can’t tell you how the new one com- setup functions. However, the Had- ground paths are carefully insulated, pares to the original. The arm mounts cock is one arm that gives you the abil- and high-tech damping and isolating to the ’table via a threaded shaft; Had- ity to dial in every analog playback materials are used internally in what cock supplies a brass washer and nut. operating parameter, and that makes remains a Grado-type “moving-iron” The 242 Integra is a unipivot design up for its fiddliness. I don’t like the design. The stylus assembly is not user- with a twist: the pivot spike rests in a pressure-based arm lock, which forces removable because the diamond is the ball-race bearing in the arm housing. you to squeeze the armtube into a final component attached to the fully The headshell is fixed via a grubscrew tight-gripping retainer. If you don’t built cartridge, which allows the that locks on to the armtube, which is push it hard enough to enter and grip, builder to perfectly orient the dia- sort of less than ideal in terms of it may fly out and across the record sur- mond. Instead of a retip, a customer absolute rigidity, and the cartridge face, so be careful. gets a new unit, with perhaps some screw holes are threaded, which can be refinements and improvements as the a pain and is unnecessary when your Cartridge Matters design evolves. cartridge comes pretapped and thread- First up was the London Reference Mounted on the Hadcock arm, and ed, as so many do these days. cartridge, which I’d heard mated well after a lengthy break-in, the Music- The Hadcock instructions sucked. I with the Hadcock. Boy, did it ever. The Maker’s dynamic resolve, crystalline follow instructions to the letter, in Hadcock’s midband is sweet and rich, clarity, and silent backgrounds made a order to duplicate what an inexperi- just like the Mørch’s, and that, com- strong case for a high-output design. enced consumer will suffer, and trust bined with the London’s “direct from Even after break-in, however, the car- me, these were bad—outdated, and in tridge led with its some ways not even applicable to the transient perfor- current design. My complaints were mance. Resolution of answered, however, and by deadline low-level detail and time the instructions had been com- ambient cues were pletely rewritten, with new illustra- outstanding—surpris- tions. They’re now up to date and ingly so for a high- quite good. Thank you. output design— Once you’ve established the dis- though at the expense tance from spindle to pivot using the of subtle textural supplied template (not necessary if shadings compared to your mounting hole is predrilled) and far more expensive you’ve installed the cartridge, you set MC designs. overhang by sliding the headshell The MusicMaker fore and aft. is definitely a car- The azimuth is adjusted by rotating tridge meant for a the offset counterweight, which is vacuum-tube phono “decoupled” (not!) via an O-ring, while preamp, which is VTA is another arrangement of grub Looks like a Grado on the outside, but it’s a Cartridge Man MusicMaker what I used. Bass screw and shaft, meaning that VTA on the inside. extension and control can’t be adjusted on the fly. “Not” were impressive, with because a thin O-ring interface is but a a slight midbass spring with a high resonant frequency disc” immediacy and the Deco’s jet- emphasis that gave drums a nice and so cannot possibly “decouple” the black backgrounds, created a stunning sense of weight, and electric bass arm at any meaningful frequency. sound. The London also tracked very authority and solidity. If you like The antiskating force is brought to well in the Hadcock, though its track- your transient attacks right there and bear via a string and weight, the ing is still a record-dependent crap- your top end slightly on the sharp amount of counterforce dependent on shoot. I wish I had more space to go side, but without etch or smear, how far from the pivot the string loop into this further; in short, everything I you’ll probably like the MusicMaker. resides on a thin shaft protruding from wrote last month about the London It had a top- and bottom-end vibran- the main housing. The arm wiring ter- was duplicated here, only better. cy and drama that made it both excit- minates in a connector that mates with Next I installed a Cartridge Man ing and easy to listen to. another fixed on the main housing. As MusicMaker, also imported by Had- The combo of the Hadcock arm with VPI arms, you can change cock importer Audiofeil International ($1259) and MusicMaker cartridge armwands in a snap. Getting the head- (www.audiofeil.com). This $1039 car- ($1039) for a total of $2298 struck me shell to sit parallel to the bearing hous- tridge is loosely based on the old as a reasonably good value, though ing when setting overhang is the Grado Signature series, which hasn’t many cartridges priced between $750 toughest part of setup, but the new been in production for more than a and $1000 offer strong competition, instructions include a trick to make decade. Designer Len Gregory says depending on your musical and sonic that easier. that while the MusicMaker looks like a tastes. They include the awesome Overall, setting up this arm won’t be Signature on the outside, the guts are Sumiko Blackbird, Benz Glider, Orto- difficult for an experienced hand, totally rebuilt using a proprietary grain- fon Kontrapunkt A and B, and the though if you’re new at this, it will cre- oriented, high-contact-area stylus pro- Lyra Dorian and Argo cartridges, ate some frustrations—especially the file and a multipiece cantilever that’s among others.

38 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 Finally, the Deco Finally, I mounted the Graham 2.2 arm on the Deco and, after listening to all three on my reference Simon Yorke, listened to the MusicMaker, the Helikon, and the new Dorian mono cartridges. The Deco’s true talents were better displayed via the Graham than with Nottingham’s own arm, that’s for sure. The Deco’s strongest and most quickly noticeable feature were its jet- black backgrounds. The platter design

Graham 2.2 on Deco ‘table with MusicMaker cartridge. and thick graphite mat drained energy as effectively as any turntable I’ve heard, which is why dropping the sty- lus in the groove resulted in the least obtrusive, most effervescent pop I can recall hearing. The Deco’s overall personality was elegant and deliberate, with an inviting underlying warmth. On the other hand, even when running at the cor- rect speed, the Deco sounded some- what sluggish and overdamped. Bass was well-defined pitch-wise, but slightly slowed-down and thickened. In fact, everything seemed somewhat slowed down and thickened. Familiar music seemed to come out of the grooves with a slight honey coating, whether the ’table was running mass- loaded or suspended. It seems as if the Deco, designer Tom Fletcher’s “statement” turntable, is more of everything he’s poured into his less ambitious designs. Sometimes, however, more can be less. I don’t think the Deco’s performance, build quality, and fit’n’finish justify its asking price, though the bearing-platter assembly is Herculean. I think Not- tingham’s “sweet spot” is probably the elegant-looking Dais. But that’s just one man’s opinion. ■■ www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 39 LISTENING Art Dudley Musical Reproduction and the Cox SM-081 loudspeaker

wish the domestic audio industry IN A FIELD SUCH AS THIS, Go west, young man of 2005 were more like the pop- In hi-fi as in popular music, it takes music industry of 2005, with its WHERE ART AND some digging to find the stuff that’s variety, vitality, and ability to reach both interesting and affordable. For beyond its boundaries to move COMMERCE MINGLE some folks, that’s led to the burgeon- people. And its sense of fun, which ing field of do-it-yourself tube amps hi-fiI often seems to entirely lack. NERVOUSLY, and high-efficiency loudspeakers—and Despite what you might think, this is that’s totally cool. For some folks. a pretty good time for pop music. 21ST-CENTURY But not every tiny company makes We’re unlikely to hear the unself-con- CONSUMERS SIMPLY products for a tiny niche: Some are scious emergence of any genuinely new actually quite mainstream in their styles, as happened a number of times CAN’T DEPEND ON THE ambitions—like Cox Audio Systems of during the previous century. But we suburban White City, Oregon. Loud- can at least buy great new records by BIG NAMES TO TAKE CARE speaker designer Steve Cox has his such original talents as Bonnie “Prince” sights set on nothing more exotic or Billy, Golden Shoulders, Spoon, TV on OF THEM ANYMORE. twiddly than a product based on the the Radio, Will Johnson, Grandaddy, tried and true cones-in-a-box formula, Joanna Newsom, and hundreds of oth- albeit one with higher efficiency than ers I haven’t even heard of. In 2005 it’s average. Not long ago Cox sent me his easy to find musicians and songwriters ten-to-one chance that any new release to care about, because more people on the abovementioned labels is junk, than ever are making music, and mak- because most new mainstream pop ing it available to listeners. recordings are written, arranged, or Of course, some folks think it’s not produced by marketing people instead so easy to find good new music, proba- of artists, and because a disturbing bly because there’s never been a time number of the new performers who are when artistic merit has had less to do being signed are children of privilege— with mass popularity, or with the like- offspring of executives and movie stars lihood of being signed and promoted and other successful recording artists, by a major record company. I’m not whose greatest talent is not for music sneering at people who still care what but for self-promotion.2 the major labels do, because I’m Now transpose all that to hi-fi. among those middle-aged listeners Some people—again, mostly older peo- who can remember when almost all of ple—still expect the big names to deliv- the acts on big labels such as Warner er the goods. They want to go into a Bros. and Atlantic and Columbia really store and ask for a nice-sounding piece were worth listening to.1 I used to be of gear from AR or Marantz or Bose or able to trust them. some other name they remember from The point remains, I can’t do that their sun-dappled youth. Then comes anymore: I can’t just amble into my nostalgia’s slapdown: AR doesn’t exist local record shop and ask the friendly anymore; Marantz, although their guy behind the counter to recommend product line contains a few very nice something from among the best new items, simply isn’t the same company; releases on such-and-such a label. First and Bose…well, let’s not go there of all, that record shop doesn’t exist today. In a field such as this, where art anymore. Second, if it did, the person and commerce mingle nervously, 21st- behind the counter probably wouldn’t century consumers simply can’t be very friendly. And third, there’s a depend on the big names to take care of them anymore. I mean, they do—but 1 Warner Bros. in particular: I’m always amazed when they shouldn’t. I look back at those Warner/Reprise “Loss Leader” samplers of the late 1960s and ’70s: For just $2 you got a double album full of music by Neil Young, Captain 2 I know a lot of people who don’t agree with me on Beefheart, Joni Mitchell, Little Feat, Frank Zappa, the this, but one could make the case that Kurt Cobain Grateful Dead, Arlo Guthrie, Van Morrison, Randy was probably the last pop star with talent, vision, and Newman, and the Faces. Good grief—did those labels a lower-middle-class background—which is to say, he ever sign a bad artist? was the last of rock’s real things. The SM-081 loudspeaker from Cox Audio Systems.

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 41 LISTENING

SM-081 floorstander ($3895/pair), and impressive though the sound might have Most important of all was how I after three weeks of listening, I’m hav- been. That condition changed, literally consistently enjoyed the way the Cox ing trouble imagining the audiophile in mid-record, while I was listening to speakers played solo-piano recordings. who wouldn’t be very impressed with the good On my favorite such LPs and CDs— it in almost every way. Speakers including Jorge Bolet’s early-1980s The midrange driver of this four- Corner LP recording of the Sonata in B Minor and way speaker is a 4" pulp cone, the rear reissue of other Liszt works (CD, London 444 wave of which fires into a smallish Borodin’s 851-2)—I never heard anything that sealed chamber, reflex-loaded with String suggested gross colorations. And two ports. A bow-shaped metal strap Quartet 2 although the SM-081’s upper frequen- straddles that cone, creating a plat- (Decca cies did get a little harsh when pushed form for the coincidentally mounted SXL 6036): to very unrealistic volume levels, they 1" dome tweeter. Below and partly There was remained smooth during normal use. behind the midrange driver’s loading a point in Its bass response was good down to an chamber is another sealed box, for time when honest 40Hz in my room, and while the upper-bass driver, a 5.5" pulp I was lis- that’s less than I can get from my own cone. That one is also reflex-loaded, tening with Quad ESL-989s, I didn’t consider the with a pair of large, angled tubes. my eyes Coxes to be thin or lacking in weight. Finally there’s the 7" side-firing closed, and The very expressive and downright lower-bass driver, mounted near the then all at athletic side of Bolet’s playing came bottom of the cabinet, and reflex- once I across well, and I was impressed to loaded with a single, very large bent The SM-081’s three could hear a speaker that stands only 42" tall tube. The loading chamber for that highest drivers. imagine deliver such a good sense of scale. one also contains the crossover com- being in You’ve surely noticed that it’s easy ponents, hardwired together on a long the presence of the real thing. Musically, to hear the difference between a real rectangular board. I heard a coherent, overarching line and piano and a recording when you walk There wasn’t much to prepare me a fine sense of flow; sonically, I heard a past an open window and hear music for how well the SM-081 performed: convincing spatial illusion, just a few feet coming from inside a house: It has At a glance, it looks like thousands of from where I was sitting, of instruments nothing to do with bass extension—and other slim towers. There’s nothing being bowed with no small effort. even less to do with the kind of spatial extraordinary about the cabinet. The And the sound of those instruments effects that multichannel enthusiasts hookup wire isn’t anything special. I was convincing. It was neither that dote on, but that’s a rant for another might even have wondered if the sterile, lifeless, inefficient, constipated, time—but unless an audio system is crossover network didn’t suffer from tight-as-a-nut high-end sound, nor the very, very good, you can always tell being at the bottom of the cabinet, coarse, colored, sloppy, somewhat that the real instrument sounds bigger almost 3' from the input connectors— drunk sound of the intentionally lively than the hi-fi. I won’t lie and say the and in the one portion of the cabinet and efficient speaker that doesn’t seem SM-081s bridged that gap in one where it’s likeliest to encounter vibra- to care if it gets anything else right. stroke, but when I strolled outside the tional interference. And I haven’t even The Cox SM-081 was also so explic- open window of my listening room to mentioned the prominently mounted, it—I hesitate to say detailed if only hear what I could hear, I was and at least mildly puerile, company because some people can’t help but impressed by how much more con- logo… interpret that as bright, which the SM- vincing they were than a great many Then there are the drivers. The 081 really wasn’t—that I noticed, for other speakers. three cones are all thick pulp, built into the first time, the way Paul McCartney A note about efficiency: The Cox frames that are merely stamped instead plays a simple cadence on the piano, Audio website (www.coxaudiosy of cast, and two of them are from com- deliberately tracking the rising and stems.com) says that the SM-081 has a panies in Asia not associated with falling of his vocal line, during the vers- sensitivity of 94dB/W/m and a nomi- handbuilt, perfectionist audio compo- es of “Hey Jude”—the version on the nal impedance of 8 ohms. Be that as it nents. But, as it turns out, they were all Beatles’ Anthology 3 (CD, Apple CDP 8 may, my Audio Note Kit One SET chosen for their sensitivity and their 34451 2). And, truth be told, I’d forgot- amplifier, which maxes out at 7Wpc, appropriateness to the job—and Steve ten what it was like to have a pair of was barely up to the task of driving the Cox does in fact modify them, to some speakers that were not only very good Coxes in my medium-small listening extent. He also builds the mounting in a snooty audiophile sense, but that room, and sounded a little hard and apparatus that combines the two high- could play very loud without making wiry on uncompressed voices and per- est-frequency drivers into a single, ele- me wince. The handclaps at the end of cussion. On the other hand, the 15Wpc gant point source. Procol Harum’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” Quad II Classic monoblocks (review Why do the finished speakers sound from A Salty Dog (Regal Zonophone next month) had no trouble at all. so good? Damned if I know. But the SLRZ 1009), echoed through the room So again: Here I am looking at these SM-081 consistently satisfied me with the way I suppose they always should unprepossessing speakers, wondering every kind of music I enjoy. It took seven have, and Panjabi MC’s “Mundian To why they perform so much better than or eight hours for its treble to smooth Bach Ke,” from Legalised (CD, Nachur- so many others, low-tech and high- out, before which the speaker called al CDDNR02070), remained hypnoti- tech alike. Why don’t their evidently attention to itself—it was difficult for me cally funky from one end of the house humble drivers hold them back? How to imagine what I was hearing as music, to the other. can a speaker whose cabinet is neither

42 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 LISTENING massive nor cleverly sculpted disappear It recently dawned on me that an the test pressing of Cisco Music’s so convincingly? Could it be those mis- intelligent reader could think I invoked dandy-sounding LP reissue of South- takes aren’t mistakes at all—that there’s “Rocket 88” out of a misguided belief bound, by Doc and Merle Watson more to the crafting of good speakers that it was the first song in its genre to (Vanguard VSD-79213). E-mails only, than all of our pet theories, taken feature a prominent guitar solo. After please, to STletters@Primediamags. together, could ever amount to? It’s all, that’s what I wrote. com, with “Art Dudley/Bluegrass starting to look that way. But that’s not what I meant. What I Guitar Solo” as the subject line. I’ll I was about to say there isn’t any- meant was simply that the importance of even give you a hint: The penultimate thing in Steve Cox’s background to Appalachian Swing! was on a par with that note in each one of those G-runs is a suggest why he’s so good at this sort of of Ike Turner’s brilliant song for a more flatted seventh. thing—but maybe there is after all. In general reason: They’re both pivotal. Speaking of God’s own music, I his 45 years, Cox has been both a close with a reminder: soldier and a missionary, and around July and August are the time he began to devote signifi- prime bluegrass months cant effort to speaker building, he in many parts of the US, also started doing volunteer work and I can think of no for a number of different nonprofit better way to refresh organizations. I’ve always thought your music-loving soul, that charitable acts were the most recharge your audio- effective tweaks, inasmuch as the loving ears, and com- person who does them usually gains mune with nature, your a deeper appreciation for the art of fellow man, and cute music in the bargain. The story of hippy chicks in clingy Steve Cox and his SM-081 may be a batik skirts, than by part of my proof. attending one of the fine I’m not saying you should drop outdoor music festivals everything and buy a pair of Cox taking part in our great Audio speakers right now—although I Peter Rowan performing at Grey Fox (from the film nation over the coming suppose that might not hurt. More to Bluegrass Journey). weeks. If you live near the point, the SM-081 reminds me Atlanta, try the North how much is left to learn about repro- They both altered the course of popular Georgia Bluegrass Festival in Cleve- ducing music, and how much more music by influencing the people who land, Georgia (July 8–10, www.north fun there is to be had getting there. play that music. georgiabluegrass.com). Folks in Lyons, Which is to say, there’s hope. That was bad enough. But later in Colorado might want to take in this the same paragraph, I wrote: “Unless year’s star-studded Rockygrass lineup Rhymes with high class I’m mistaken, there isn’t a single record- (July 29–31, www.bluegrass.com/plan God knows I’ve committed my share ed guitar solo in the entire catalog of et/rockygrass_festival). There’s Sum- of blunders during the two and a half Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys.” mergrass in Vista, California (August years I’ve written this column. But I What a dumb thing to say—not just 26–28, www.summergrass.net), Blue- outdid myself in the May 2005 issue, because I haven’t heard every Bill Mon- grass in the Gardens in Arcola, Illinois where I managed to soil myself not roe recording in existence (has anyone?), (August 20–21, www.bluegrassmid once but twice in a single paragraph. And but because in making such a sweeping west.com), the Northern Kentucky while neither would qualify as my statement, I set myself up to be correct- Bluegrass Festival in Alexandria, Ken- biggest mistake ever (that would have ed, maybe nicely, maybe not so nicely, tucky (July 7–9, www.spankymoore to be my assumption that all of by any one of 80,000 strangers. bluegrassgang.com), Bluegrass in the Stereophile’s readers were smart enough Besides, I was just plain wrong: A Blueridge in Luray, Virginia (August to know that my dismissal of condom mere four weeks after I submitted that 4–6, www.bluegrassintheblueridge. reviewing, in the April issue, was in column, I was given a bootleg record- com), and the Santa Fe Bluegrass and fact a joke), taken together, they’re big ing of a Bill Monroe concert from Old-Time Festival in Santa Fe, New enough that I feel downright sorry. 1963, in which the guitar player takes a Mexico (also August 26–28, www. Mistake No.1: Toward the end of full eight-measure solo on the fiddle southwestpickers.org). Then, of course, my May “Listening” column, in the tune “Panhandle Country.” Granted, there’s my favorite of them all, the part about S&M Records’ reissue of the the solo consists of little more than Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in Kentucky Colonels’ Appalachian Swing! repeating a variation on a standard Ancramdale, New York, this year fea- album, I wrote the following: “The bluegrass G-run, modulated in key to turing David Grisman, Peter Rowan, majority of hardcore bluegrass fans— fit the chord changes. Nonetheless, it’s Tim O’Brien, Laurie Lewis, the Gib- and virtually all bluegrass guitar play- a guitar solo. son Brothers, the always-recommend- ers—know this 1964 recording inside In any event, no matter how you able Dry Branch Fire Squad, and and out. Appalachian Swing! is the slice it, that whole damn paragraph America’s finest touring group, the Del ‘Rocket 88’ of bluegrass guitar, because sucked, and I apologize. Obviously McCoury Band (July 14–17, www. it’s among the first bluegrass recordings some penance is called for, so here’s an greyfoxbluegrass.com). Scoot, skedad- in which a solo guitarist earned equal offer: Be the first person to correctly dle, or high-tail it to the festival nearest prominence with the mandolin and identify the guitar player in question, you, and soak it in while the soaking’s banjo players.” and I’ll send you my personal copy of good. ■■ www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 45 MUSIC IN THE ROUND Kalman Rubinson

Three’s Company?

his title of this month’s col- Eastman Wind Ensemble (Mercury 475 the film-derived tracks. All of this was umn’s refers to the ongoing 6619), provides a better view of the just fine, although I found the program reissues of Mercury Living acoustics of the Eastman Theater than better when sampled à la carte than Presence and RCA Living played through at one sitting. Stereo recordings, which Antal Dorati’s LPs of Franz have been the signal suc- Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies 1–6 Tcesses of the SACD format. Despite and the Enescu Romanian Rhap- having been recorded in only (!) three sody 1 were among the most channels, these releases have given us exciting recordings I knew, back very good justifications for going when I was getting my feet wet beyond two-channel stereo to get as in classical music. Snappy, unrestricted a hearing as possible of dynamic, and with some nice live performances. cimbalom solos, they still sound The first batch of Living Stereos exciting in their SACD reincar- were more of an ear-opener for me nation (Mercury 475 6185), but than were the first Living Presences— lack the more stylistic pacing of with the possible exception of modern renditions such as those Stravinsky’s The Firebird, as performed by Ivan Fischer (Philips 456 by Antal Dorati and the London Sym- 570-2). Still, in the face of such phony Orchestra. There are two rea- brilliant performances and spa- sons for that. First, clarity and detail ciousness of sound, it’s hard not were the hallmarks of most of the ear- to smile. lier Living Presence releases on LP Cellist János Starker’s set of and CD, while the Living Stereos the Bach Solo Cello Suites is one gained a lot more of those qualities of the glories of the Mercury from their SACD remasterings. (The repertoire and of the first batch RCAs’ persistent forte remains the of Living Presence SACDs. His harmonic integrity of the instruments disc of the Dvorák Cello Con- and the spaciousness of the ensemble certo, Bruch’s Kol Nidre, and sound.) Second, the first batch of Liv- Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a ing Presence SACDs suffered from a Rococo Theme is equally excellent, surprising amount of tape hiss. Sure, and with even more impressive I’d rather have the hiss than throw the sound (Mercury 475 6608). The high-frequency baby out with the Dvorák and Bruch are from bathwater. Nonetheless, and consid- 35mm masters, the Tchaikovsky 1 ering the repertoire, the RCAs are from ⁄2" tape. Starker’s cello is as more likely to be on my evening warm, palpable, and centered as playlist than those first Mercurys. on the Bach solo pieces, but here But after two soul-satisfying batch- he is surrounded and supported es of RCAs, the second batch of Mer- by the LSO under, again, Dorati. cury SACDs is a triumph. Although Big, romantic gestures character- there are only five, they cover a wide ize these performances, and big is range of program material in remark- the right word for the sound, able sound. Tape noise is no longer before. I never thought it the most sym- with the instruments spread widely obtrusive; I heard it only when I tried pathetic recording venue, but its dry and well beyond the left and right to. In addition—and this must be due to clarity seems to suit Fennell’s precise, speakers. Full is another appropriate these particular original masters—the snappy approach. The original 35mm adjective for the sound of both soloist transparency of the Mercurys is now magnetic film masters of Screamers were and orchestra. There are too many supported by a wider, deeper sound- transferred on a specially modified film competitive recordings of the Dvorák stage, as well as by instrumental voic- recorder to 24-bit/192kHz PCM before and the Tchaikovsky to declare this ings as convincing as the RCAs. conversion to DSD, while the rest of one better than all, but none sound Beginning with the least impressive the material was transferred directly to much better, and none are accompa- and working up: The disc containing DSD using modified Studer transports nied by such an outstanding perfor- the contents of the original LPs Screamers feeding dCS electronics, as were the mance of the Bruch. and March Time, plus some additional earlier releases in this series. The barely Mercury has given us another tracks, by Frederick Fennell and the noticeable hiss had a softer quality on extended program by combining www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 47 MUSIC IN THE ROUND

Byron Janis and Kyril Kondrashin’s improvement in the country house, and width of the pink noise, it becomes recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Concer- now there are three matching Paradigm apparent that the only discernible dis- to 3 and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Con- Studio/60 v.3 speakers for the left, cen- tinctions are in the sub-200Hz range, certo 1, along with Janis performing a ter, and right channels. I’ve relegated as the left and right Studio/60s are number of solo pieces by Schumann, the Studio/60 v.2s to the rear channels, closer to the side walls and the center Mendelssohn, and Pinto (Mercury 475 where they share duties with the Mag- Studio/60 is slightly closer to the wall 6607). Boy, do I remember the original nepan MGMC1s. Now, one might behind it. But when I listened to a LPs of these concertos! Mercury had female voice, by gum, she trucked their equipment to Moscow sounded the same from to make the first location recordings whichever channel I sent her to. in the USSR by an American compa- The musical result, especially ny. But wait—what’s happened to the with the three-channel RCA “35mm” banner across the top of the Living Stereo and Mercury Liv- booklet? Unfortunately, the 35mm ing Presence SACDs, was an originals could not be located; all the enhanced soundstage of greatly 1 tracks on this disc are from ⁄2" tape increased width and not, as one originals. Not to worry—as on the might assume, greater center fill. Starker-Dorati SACD, the three- None of this is too surpris- channel sound is phenomenal. Janis’s ing, but the experience trig- piano is appropriately percussive and gered further thoughts about pearly in these brilliant perfor- center-channel speakers. If mances. The sound of Moscow’s three identical speakers can Tchaikovsky Hall is of course differ- only approximate an exact ent from the venues Mercury fre- match, what hope is there for a quented in Detroit, Minneapolis, and seamless soundstage with an London (to say nothing of unmatched center speaker, Rochester), with a long decay and especially one with an entirely great warmth in the bass. I grew up different dispersion pattern? In on the Prokofiev, and it’s still as spe- the home theater world, cial as ever. Bravo. around the limits of which I Last and furthest from least is the carefully tiptoe, the market rerelease of Balalaika Favorites, for demands that even well- decades an audiophile bonbon. Well, respected high-end manufac- it’s not just for audiophiles—this turers design center speakers album was the clear favorite among with a horizontal orientation to my nonaudiophile friends from the accommodate the presence of a first pluck on the SACD’s first track large video display directly in (Mercury 475 6610). The program is front of the listener’s sweet primarily traditional, familiar to spot. But there are reasons that many, and yet, no one has heard it in almost all successful stereo as clear and immediate a presentation (and mono) speakers have ver- unless in person. Distinguishing the tical arrays. Any time two domras from the balalaikas from the sound sources—especially when gooslis was no problem for my West- separated by more than one ern ears (the shepherds’ horns are wavelength—send signals into like nothing else), but the burnished the same acoustic space, there ambience of Tchaikovsky Hall is will be interaction between the worthy of equal billing with the per- think that using a Studio/60 v.2 in the sounds and, depending on the dis- formers. This may be the best tool yet center between two Studio/60 v.3s tances from the sources to the room for demonstrating that more informa- would have given a pretty consistent boundaries and listeners, those inter- tion conveyed through more discrete sound across the front (although tests actions will result in nulls and peaks channels simply delivers more music. with pink noise made the differences in local sound pressure that did not Switch to either of the two-channel audible). Even so, I was unprepared for exist in the original signal. tracks (which, on their own, ain’t the improvements in soundstage size This interaction occurs with drivers chopped liver) and see what you lose. and stability wrought by upgrading to in the same box, as most crossovers per- three closely matched speakers. mit a fairly wide overlap between dri- Muddle in the middle again Of course, pink-noise signals can vers in a system. Optimizing dispersion Listening to these wonderful reissues still distinguish differences among the is one of the engineer’s responsibilities over a pretty decent sound system is so three v.3s, but the center is no more and encompasses driver selection, very satisfying that I bit the bullet by different from the left or right than enclosure size and shape, and crossover expanding my main system to multi- they are from each other. After all, they design. But with vertically arrayed dri- channel and by optimizing my original sit in different positions in the room vers, dispersion in the lateral plane is multichannel system. Acoustic treat- and interact with room acoustics some- usually wider and more smooth than in ments have made for substantial what differently. If I restrict the band- the vertical plane. The value of this is www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 49 MUSIC IN THE ROUND that we listen with our ears at roughly across the stage, as in live opera record- wavelength in their range), to the very the same horizontal level when seated ings, will change in character with posi- clever Phase Technology PC-3.1 II, and attentive, even though we may turn tion. For me, this disqualifies almost with its rotatable midrange-tweeter from side to side. Stand up or slouch to every horizontal two-way center-chan- module. Unfortunately, these tend to be the floor and, behold, things sound dif- nel speaker on the market, especially the larger designs in most lines, and ferent. Now, turn that box on its side those ubiquitous midrange-tweeter- probably won’t appeal to those who set and you may stand or sit as you wish, midrange designs (though they work their video priorities ahead of their but any horizontal head movement nicely when stood on end). The solu- audio obsessions. For sound quality, exposes you to significant variations in tion lies in choosing a three-way center- however, it matters, and my seemingly frequency response. (Were you just channel speaker whose midrange and minor change of center-channel speak- scanning the liner notes?) tweeter are stacked vertically. These ers proved it. What does this have to do with mul- range from B&W’s elegant HTM-1D, tichannel sound? Lots. First, if you have in which a full-size Nautilus midrange- Putting my money where my a source with a real center-channel sig- tweeter assembly sits atop a horizontal mouth is nal, listening to it with a “phantom” array of woofers (spaced closer than one In the two years I’ve been writing this center speaker (ie, none at all) means that the left and right speakers share RECORDINGS IN THE ROUND that signal, and that anything that is dif- ferent in the two sides will prevent L’ARPEGGIATA: La Tarantella Bicket, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment those electrically divided signals from Christina Pluhars, L’Arpeggiata Avie 0030 (SACD) Alpha SA 503 I may be the last one to the party in summing acoustically, to the detriment (SACD) recommending this fabulous col- of the fidelity in that center signal. In This collection of lection, sung brilliantly and dramat- fact, it is a theoretical impossibility that vocal and in- ically and accompanied—or, rather, strumental partnered—by musicians with all the two main speakers, despite Her- arrangements appropriate stylishness. Unlike culean efforts in placement, room treat- of Italian Renée Fleming’s overtly operatic ment, and even DSP, can be equally music from as collection (Decca 475 618-6, far back as the SACD), Hunt Lieberson approaches represented in the listener’s two ears. 17th century these great pieces like art songs Wait a minute, you say. How come my stereo was inspired and communicates meanings does such a great job with two speakers? by the be- beyond the words. Big voice, front havior of vic- and center, with comfortable and Well, it can do so only because the tims of spider coherent surround ambience. recording engineers and the mixing and bites (tar- mastering teams have tweaked and bal- antella comes THREE ALONE: Trio and Solo from tar- Bob Ravenscroft, piano; Steve Mill- anced all the sounds to optimize your antola, which house, bass; Rob Schuh, drums chances of getting a solid (stereo) pre- means tarantula). For all that, it comes off not Ravenswave RAVE-9002 (2 SACDs). www. sentation, and because you use matched as scholastic but as delightful. The range and ravenswave.com color of plucked, strummed, and struck instru- This set consists of a multichannel piano-trio disc speakers and good room setup. ments is fascinating, the rhythms varied and and a two-channel solo-piano disc. The two But try this: Find a good monaural exciting. The sound is outstandingly detailed discs have different programs of original mod- recording—a real one, not something and deep, although the use of the 5.1 channels ern jazz by Bob Ravenscroft that looks back is unusual. All the soloists and the ensemble are with appreciation on jazz traditions. It may be mixed down from multimiking or a captured in the main L/R channels (with a easy listening, but it’s not superficial. Of special stereo master. Even a recording from the phantom center fill), the surrounds for rear note for audiophiles is the outstandingly lucid era of acoustic recording (ie, before 1926) ambience, and the center channel only for for- and immediate sound produced by recording ward ambi- direct to DSD, and the indepen- that has been transcribed to LP or CD ence. It works dent mixing and mastering for will do, because it is not overall freq- amazingly well. each of the three audio formats uency range or resolution but imaging on these hybrid discs. CHESKY: Area that is at issue here. Compare how a 31 BARTÓK: The Miraculous Man- mono voice or instrument sounds Violin Concerto, darin, Dance Suite, Hungarian through two speakers with how it sounds Flute Concerto, Pictures The Girl from Marin Alsop, Bournemouth Sym- through one, taking into account with Guatemala phony Orchestra the volume control that it will be 6dB Tom Chiu, violin; Naxos 6.110088 (SACD), louder through two. I’ll bet you a dough- Jeffrey Khaner, 5.110088 (DVD-Audio) flute; Wonjung I found the recent Alsop- nut that the voice sounds more coherent, Kim, soprano; Bournemouth Brahms Symphony more integrated, more human through Anthony Abel. 1 only okay. Here, the team dis- the single speaker. Two speakers will Chesky SACD288 plays a greater affinity for 20th- (SACD) century compositions. The skillful sound louder and more spacious, but not Known in these pacing of the Mandarin suite is as real. So if you’re listening to multi- pages mostly chilling, eerie, delirious, and channel recordings with a center chan- as a record producer, David Chesky is an played to the hilt. As with the accompanying accomplished composer with a definite flair for performances, this may not be as balletic or as nel, you need a center-channel speaker— Latin rhythms, which figure frequently in these echt Hungarian as those of Fischer, Dorati, or once you split the signal electrically, you entertaining and approachable pieces. Each is Solti, but it’s great concert music. Naxos contin- can’t put it together again acoustically. colorful, somewhat jazzy, highly inflected, and ues to record their multichannel at relatively presented in the Chesky label’s usual clarity modest resolutions (typically, 24-bit/48kHz), A corollary is that the center-channel and unambiguous soundstaging. Obviously a but the recording and mastering work of Mike speaker must be identical in timbre and labor of love for the composer-producer, but Clements and Andrew Walton has captured the dispersion to the other two front speak- we get to enjoy it too. richness and warmth that were the hallmarks of the classic EMI LPs from Bournemouth 20 or ers or, again, any common signals will HANDEL: Arias more years ago. be compromised and sounds that move Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano; Harry —Kalman Rubinson

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 51 MUSIC IN THE ROUND column, I’ve reported on my experi- themselves, up to this task. However, a Finally, new electronics. Having ences in the weekend system even as pair of Echo Buster Phase 4 towers made so many changes in my system, my listening habits became increasing- were just the ticket. These 12" by 12" I figured the quickest route to gratifi- ly bipolar: multichannel in the coun- cation would be with the familiar Bel try on weekends, stereo in the city Canto amps and the PRe6 multichan- during the week, as I schlepped a nel preamp (see the December 2003 tote-bag full of SACDs and DVD- “Music in the Round”). I ran the Ulti- Audio discs back and forth. Although ma Studios with an eVo6 by bridging the overall quality, range, and power its six channels to three and boosting of the main stereo system remains its output to +300Wpc. An eVo4 was superior, I missed the frisson I got similarly bridged to run the Paradigm from classic three-channel SACDs Studio/20s, and although such power and other multichannel recordings certainly isn’t needed for these speak- played in two-channel through the ers, all my experience with the eVo big system. No way out: I made the amps says that they sound even better big commitment to go multichannel bridged than separate. Finally, I in Manhattan. installed a PRe6 configured with Because I had no intention of dis- stereo inputs for my essential FM carding my Revel Ultima Studios, tuner and the balanced outputs of the which enjoy a symbiotic relationship Theta Gen.VIII D/A processor, as with my city listening room, and did well as both the stereo and multichan- not want to sacrifice a whit of that nel outputs of the Sony XA-777ES system’s current two-channel perfor- SACD player and Bel Canto’s PL-1A mance, any multichannel system universal disc player (review in the would have to be built around the works). This setup lets me select Echo Buster Phase4 tower absorbs bass from Ultima Studios. I spent a lot of time “hot” corner and also lateral radiation of HF. either of the players via their stereo listening to the Revel Voice, a really (Pay no attention to the B&W N802D outputs, their multichannel outputs, impressive center-channel that not sneaking into the picture). or their digital outputs via the only meets the criteria discussed Gen.VIII. The Bel Canto PRe6 is one above but incorporates adjustments for by 48" columns have four sides—two heck of a capable preamp! boundary proximity. The Voice is a perforated, two solid—and are filled How does the system sound now? In decidedly full-range speaker that I’ve with foam. When I first obtained a word, glorious. Having enjoyed the enjoyed as the centerpiece of my them, I tried them in the room corners Bel Canto amps and preamp in the daughter’s HT system, but it wasn’t for behind the speakers but they soaked more modest weekend system, and hav- me. For one thing, I have no video up too much bass, leaving the sound ing found them more honest and enjoy- monitor above or below which the too lean. This time I placed them on able than any other combination, I was Voice had to fit. For another, the the sidewalls, their perforated sides fac- anxious to see if they could work their Voice’s large horizontal shape, even in ing the main speakers. This tamed the magic in a more challenging application. a matching finish, would be quite dif- bass hot spot without sucking the life They do. They’ve retained their ferent in appearance from the flanking out of the room, and mitigated those strengths and personalities and are Studios. Besides, what could possibly pesky short reflections, which impaired appropriate partners for the best speak- be a better match for the Studios than lateral imaging. It also left enough ers and sources. Their strength is a another Studio? space to center the new Ultima Studio remarkable lack of glare or highlighting Since Revel Ultima Studios are sold precisely between but slightly behind that is consistent regardless of power and shipped only in pairs (how’s that the others, to maintain the three front levels. The eVo power amps hum for pushing the dedicated center prin- speakers’ equidistance from the listen- briefly when powered up but are dead ciple?), it took some time to locate and ing chair. The front of the room was silent within seconds and remain so. buy a single matching unit. Plopping good to go. Also, they remain barely warm to the the newbie down in the room meant The surrounds remain a work in touch, more affected by the sunlight that I had to begin anew the entire progress. Because the room is L-shaped, falling on their black cases than by any process of speaker placement, one I’d the surrounds can go back only as far as extreme power demands. The PRe6 is a thought was long behind me. The left the shorter sidewall, which places them delight to use, even in this complex sys- and right speakers needed greater spac- directly lateral to the main listening posi- tem, and seems entirely devoid of noise ing to open the soundstage, but that tion. I got good results from Meridian or any switching or control artifacts. put the left speaker too close to the DSP5000s in those positions, but that Running the output from the Gen.VIII sidewall, at the end of a large piece of model has all sorts of adjustments for directly to the amps or via the PRe6, the wooden furniture. The result was a amplitude, delay, and boundary com- proverbial bypass test, I could hear no bass hot spot in that corner, and reflec- pensation; all I’ve got now is amplitude differences at all. Compared to the tions of the speaker’s output from the (and, with some sources, delay). For the McCormack MAP-1 preamplifier, the hard surfaces, which put that side of time being, the rear channels are Para- PRe6 is more complex to use but more the room out of balance with the other. digm Studio/20s on stands at ear level, flexible, less bright, and more quiet, I’ve used pairs of Echo Busters for and I do my serious multichannel listen- neutral, and transparent. The PRe6 is as some years to assist with reviewing ing on temporary seating in the middle good a stereo preamp as it is a multi- speakers, but I knew they were not, by of the room. channel control center.

52 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 Did I say the Bel Cantos had a per- sonality? Well, yes, but I think of them as characteristically nonaggres- sive—they might sound less brilliant or even unexciting in a direct A/B com- parison with more flashy-sounding components. But that’s good. In fact, in multichannel, where music and ambience are conveyed from the source to the ears by the system, the self-effacing Bel Canto amps get out of the way and let the program com- municate without imposing anything on it. I compared the bridged eVo6 with the Classé Omicrons that I reviewed in November 2004. The power and richness of the Classé brutes were perfect for two channels but, because I didn’t have five of them on hand, I can’t comment on how they might conspire in multichannel. They seemed a bit too robust to mate with the eVos on the other channels. The bridged eVo6, on the other hand, sounded better and better in stereo the more I ran it, and sounded equally neutral with the Ultima Studios and with the new B&W N802Ds (review underway). Available power might be less than from the Omicron, but it was more than I could reasonably use with either speaker. Most of the above comments about the marvelous spaciousness and imme- diacy of the Mercury Living Presence SACDs is from listening to them through this evolving system. They were great up in the country, but the three Ultima Studios and the Bel Canto electronics revealed how much more is encoded in these tracks. With more modern recordings, such as those reviewed in the accompanying sidebar, “Recordings in the Round,” the con- trast is even more marked. I guess that’s nothing new around here: Better equipment and better acoustics do make a difference, regardless of the number of channels. Now, how to slip another pair of Revel Ultima Studios past my wife…

Next time in the Round The promised report on Rocket’s R- DES parametric equalizer for sub- woofers had to be delayed until next time, so that some objective in-room measurements can accompany the sub- jective descriptions. And since it’s that time of year, I’ll also report on what’s new in multichannel from Home Entertainment 2005, in New York City. See you around. ■■ www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 53 BEN FISHMAN

CONTINGENT KEITH HOWARD OFFERS SOME CONTROVERSIAL FINDINGS ABOUT THE USE OF DITHER IN DIGITAL RECORDING AND MASTERING

DITHERthere is one thing I’ve learned in almost 28 years (published in the February 2005 issue), that it would elicit (ouch) of audio writing, it’s that audience reac- howls of protest. What the article suggested was that (a) it tion is fickle. Sometimes readers will swallow the is often unnecessary to apply dither when requantizing 24- most contentious pronouncements without indi- bit recordings to 16-bit resolution, and (b) if you do add gestion, only to choke on throwaway lines you’ve dither unnecessarily, then it has an adverse effect on sound investedIf with little importance. It just goes to confirm that quality. On the audio-adapted Richter scale, I reckoned human communication involves senders and receivers, and these to rate at around 6 and 8 respectively, and was ready they aren’t always in synchrony. to run to the nearest door frame when the ground began to I was pretty certain, though, when I’d dotted the last i shake. In fact, there had already been one major tremor: in and crossed the last t of a piece for Hi-Fi News last October private e-mail exchanges with respected UK independent

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 55 KEITH HOWARD’S CONTROVERSIAL CONTINGENT DITHER

recording engineer Tony Faulkner, he let me know with check, I took the disc to an evening listening session at the characteristic forthrightness that his experience said I was home of Max Townshend of Townshend Audio, where he wrong, wrong, wrong. and my Hi-Fi News colleague Ivor Humphreys, without any In the event, he was the only one to berate me to my coaching, also expressed a preference for the undithered face. Others may have seethed, but they did so privately. version, and the same surprise at being told which it was. Thus encouraged, and at John Atkinson’s invitation, I am By then I had written a software utility to extract and going to repeat the heresy here, and update you on its latest amplify the quantization error that results from truncating a developments. That I should escape a mauling a second 24-bit file to 16-bit without dither, pointing it first at the time seems unlikely. Faulkner recording and then at a handful of 24/96 tracks I This story began around RECORDING ENGINEER have on my computer’s hard disk, culled from those music the time I last mentioned TONY FAULKNER DVD-Vs and DVD-As in my collection that offer an unsullied Tony Faulkner’s name in 24/96 bitstream via the S/PDIF output of a suitable player (in these pages, in the course LET ME KNOW WITH my case, a Pioneer DV-939A). Listening to the resulting error of preparing “The Law of CHARACTERISTIC files proved mostly an exercise in enduring what sounded like Averages” (Stereophile, random, white-spectrum noise. Only very occasionally could January 2004). He had FORTHRIGHTNESS something untoward be heard, typically either a low-frequency provided me with 24-bit THAT HIS EXPERIENCE wump or a much more obvious graunch, indicating that the WAV files of two of his SAID I WAS WRONG, quantization error was, for those brief periods, correlated with orchestral recordings, cap- the signal. Mostly these episodes occurred either at the begin- tured at 176.4kHz sam- WRONG, WRONG. ning or end of a track, where the gain was being ramped up pling rate, to experiment before the start of the music or down again at its end. for myself with the adjacent sampling averaging technique he This finding suggested that only during these fades was uses for downsampling to 44.1kHz for CD release—a contro- there insufficient inherent noise in these recordings to provide versial topic in its own right. For interest, I converted one of effective dither at the 16-bit level, while for the remainder of these recordings to 16-bit both with and without redithering, the track microphone and other noise was present at sufficient and burned the two files, together with the 24-bit original, to amplitude to obviate the need for redithering during conver- DVD-R for comparison (using Minnetonka Audio’s sion to 16-bit. Spectrum-analyzing the background noise from discWelder Chrome DVD-Audio authoring software). Note one of the tracks (Sara K.’s “Brick House”), which I excised that there was no downsampling applied—the original from the short gap between the gain being fully raised and the 176.4kHz sampling rate was retained in all cases. music starting, confirmed this (fig.1). Comparison with the I anticipated two possible outcomes. Either there would equivalent spectrum for 16-bit triangular probability density be sufficient inherent noise in the recording to render re- function (TPDF) dither at the optimum amplitude of 2LSB dithering unnecessary in the conversion to 16-bit, in which peak–peak shows that the inherent noise in the recording is at case the truncated and dithered versions would sound a significantly higher level, and therefore likely to provide much the same; or there wouldn’t be sufficient noise in the effective dithering. To be certain of this, we have also to ascer- recording, in which case the quantization error resulting tain the noise waveform’s probability density function (PDF), from nondithered truncation would sometimes be objec- although it would have to possess a most unlikely PDF for it tionable, rendering the undithered version sonically unac- not to be an effective dither at this amplitude. In fact, as fig.2 ceptable. I reckoned the latter result the more probable. shows, the noise has what looks to be a normal or Gaussian You can guess what I’m going to say next: It didn’t turn out PDF, as you would expect of what is probably predominantly that way. With the 24-bit original as the reference, I preferred microphone noise. the sound of the undithered 16-bit version. It wasn’t quite as open and airy as the 24-bit source, but it had much the same spatial and dynamic feel overall, while the dithered track sounded less open, less expressive, more CD-like. As a reality

-60

-70

-80 occurrences

-90 dBFS -100

-110

-120

-130

-140 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 50k - 0 + frequency (Hz) amplitude

Fig.1 Noise spectrum from the beginning of Sara K.’s “Brick House” (blue Fig.2 Histogram of sample amplitudes within the “Brick House” noise trace) with that of 16-bit TPDF dither (red) for comparison. (high-pass filtered at 5kHz to remove studio background) shows it (Sampling rate 96kHz and 8192-point FFT in both cases.) to have a Gaussian-like probability density function.

56 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 KEITH HOWARD’S CONTROVERSIAL CONTINGENT DITHER

A back-of-an-envelope calculation shows that this out- this limit, the signal is presumed to have some structure. come is not so surprising as it may first appear, particularly More complex tests (such as the Box-Ljung) are available in the case of purist recordings where microphones are posi- which use a larger number of autocorrelation lags to make tioned some distance from the performers so as to capture the call of “random” or “not-random.” the contribution of the room acoustic. Microphone noise is If the signal appears not to be random, then a good way to conventionally specified as an equivalent sound pressure visualize its underlying structure is to plot a graph of the auto- level (SPL), a figure of 15dBA SPL being typical for high- correlation coefficient vs time lag, as illustrated in fig.3. The first quality capacitor microphones, which is roughly equivalent graph (a) shows the autocorrelation vs lag graph for pseudo- to 17dB SPL without A-weighting. If we add this figure to random noise. As with any signal, the autocorrelation coeffi- the 93.7dB signal/noise ratio of optimally TPDF-dithered cient is 1 at lag zero because the signal is exactly aligned with 16-bit, this suggests that the recording’s peak level must cor- itself. At lags of 1 sample and greater, the coefficient falls to respond to 110dB SPL or more for the mike noise to fall within a narrow band around zero, confirming that the signal is below the required dither level. In other words, roughly this unstructured; ie, random. Compare this with the second graph SPL is required at the microphone for dithering at the 16-bit (b), which shows the result for a sinewave signal. In this case, the level to become necessary. (This is an oversimplification that autocorrelation plot traces out a sine-like wave—actually a sine takes no account of the PDF of the mike noise, but it puts with a triangular envelope. Graph (c) shows what happens us in the right ballpark.) In purist recordings of smaller-scale when the noise and sine signals are mixed: even though the music, this SPL may well not be achieved. RMS amplitude of the sinewave This was about as far as I’d progressed before writing the MY CLAIM THAT is in this case about 9dB less than HFN article. I was and remain convinced that careful listen- that of the noise, the autocorrela- ing to the quantization error is the most sensitive and rele- THE ADDITION tion plot still reveals its presence. vant test of its randomness (or otherwise), and the need (or OF UNNECESSARY On the KISS (Keep It Simple, otherwise) to apply dither. But it was clear that a more for- DITHER CAN HARM Stupid) principle, I decided to mal means of testing for randomness would provide a reas- use the lag 1 test as a measure of suring cross-check and harder evidence of my contention SOUND QUALITY randomness in the quantization that 24-bit recordings can often be converted to 16-bit with- IS SOMETHING error signals extracted from my out the need for additional dither. (My second claim, that 24-bit files. To do this, the quan- the addition of unnecessary dither can harm sound quality, THAT CAN tization error data was sliced up is of course something that can be judged only by listening.) BE JUDGED ONLY into frames 8192 samples in BY LISTENING. length (corresponding to 0.085 Autocorrelation second at 96kHz sampling rate) A standard test of randomness in time-series data—which is and the lag 1 autocorrelation what a digital audio signal comprises—is the autocorrelation coefficient calculated for each frame. If a frame failed this test, function. What this does is compare the signal with a its position was noted and autocorrelation data then calculat- delayed version of itself, the result being a correlation coef- ed for lags of 0 to 4095 samples, to allow an autocorrelation ficient that can range between +1 and –1, these two plot to be generated. I wrote a little software utility to do this, extremes indicating perfect in-phase and perfect anti-phase and pointed it at the left and right channels of the 10 tracks correlation, respectively (ie, the two signals are identical). By listed in Table 1. Except for the last track, all of these are 24/96 contrast, a correlation coefficient close to zero indicates that recordings obtained, as already described, via S/PDIF trans- there is very little similarity. fer. The last and shortest track is an excerpt from one of JA’s A simple “lag 1” autocorrelation test is commonly used recordings, which he sent me as a 24/88.2 AIFF file. With to test for randomness, wherein the signal (or other time one exception (the Ray Brown Trio’s “Easy Does It”), all are series) is compared with itself using a delay of a single sam- digital recordings, so tape noise is not a factor. pling period. If the autocorrelation coefficient for this lag The results of the analysis are shown in Table 2, where the falls within a statistically determined band around zero, track reference numbers correspond with those in Table 1. In then the signal is presumed to be random; if it falls outside all but one case—which I’ll return to—the number of frames

1.0 1.0 1.01.0

0.5 0.5 0.50.5

0 0 0 0

-0.5 -0.5 -0.5-0.5

-1.0 -1.0 -1.0-1.0 04095040950409504095 lag (samples) lag (samples) laglag (samples) (samples)

Fig.3 Autocorrelation plots for (from L to R) (a) random noise, (b) a sinewave, and (c) a combination of the two. www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 59 KEITH HOWARD’S CONTROVERSIAL CONTINGENT DITHER

Table 1: Music Examples Used for Analysis Track ref. Artist(s) Track Album Label & Catalog No. 1 Dave’s True Story “Daddy-O” Sex Without Bodies Chesky CHDVD174 2 Sara K. “Brick House” Hobo Chesky CHDVD177 3 John Basile Quartet “Desmond Blue” The Desmond Project Chesky CHDVD178 4 Latin Jazz Trio “Doña Olga” Latin Jazz Trio AIX Records AIX 80011 5 Zephyr “Now Is the Month of Maying” Voices Unbound AIX Records AIX 80012 6 Peppino D’Agostino “Desert Flower” Acoustic Guitar AIX Records AIX 80013 7 Pro Arte Trio Haydn: Piano Trio 1, Menuetto Haydn Piano Trios AIX Records 1340 AX 8 George Enescu Quintet Scarlatti: Six Sonatas, No.2 Scarlatti/Beethoven AIX Records 1341 AX 9 The Ray Brown Trio “Easy Does It” Soular Energy Hi-Res Music HRM 2011 10 Robert Silverman excerpt Beethoven: Diabelli Variations Stereophile STPH017-2 failing the lag 1 test is a very small fraction of the total num- ber of frames in the track. In two cases (one of them JA’s Table 2: Frame Analysis of Music Examples in Table 1 excerpt) there are no failed frames whatsoever; in the others Track Failed there are rarely more than a handful. Just as significant is how ref. Channel frames these frames are distributed within the track. Let’s take the 1 left 1/2355 right channel of the AIX Haydn piano-trio recording as an right 1/2355 example, which has 11 failed frames. Here the first two failed 2 left 4/4241 frames are contiguous and fall very early in the track, before right 3/4241 the music starts, as the gain is being raised. The next two 3 left 1/2959 occur at about 112 and 190 seconds into the track, respec- right 1/2956 tively, where the signal falls to a low level between sections 4 left 182/5339 of the music. The remaining seven failed frames all occur right 797/5339 close to the track’s end, in two blocks of three and four con- 5 left 5/984 tiguous frames, as the gain is being faded down. right 6/984 If we look at the autocorrelation plot for each of these 11 6 left 9/2762 frames (fig.4), we can form some idea of how audible each right 13/2762 glitch is within the extracted quantization error signal. In the 7 left 15/3383 first two and last seven failed frames the glitches are very audi- right 11/3383 ble, and this is generally reflected in clearly structured autocor- 8 left 0/3637 relation plots. The remaining two frames have autocorrelation right 0/3637 plots that look innocuous, and the corresponding glitches in 9 left 1/2800 the quantization error signal do indeed have to be listened for right 2/2800 quite closely. Note that when I talk here of the glitch being 10 left 0/315 audible, this is within the extracted and amplified quantization right 0/315 error signal. I have also listened for them within the truncated 16-bit file, and there they are very difficult to detect. that it is masked, as effectively as possible, by the signal. The Although these autocorrelation findings broadly confirm brute-force solution, of course, is to apply dither to the entire the results of listening to the quantization error and add some signal regardless, but if the unnecessary addition of dither is rigor to the process, as I’ve already stated, I find the former audible—as I contend—then clearly this is suboptimal. the more sensitive and relevant test. Just occasionally, a glitch The one track that manifestly did not fit the pattern was that was audible in the quantization-error files escaped detec- the Latin Jazz Trio’s “Doña Olga.” Here the number of tion by the autocorrelation test, perhaps because the human failed frames was a significant fraction of the total, and a dis- ear can “hear into” noise more effectively that the autocorre- torted version of the music could be clearly heard within lation test can see into it, although I have also found the lag the quantization error. What makes this recording differ- 1 test to be poor at recognizing the correlated quantization ent? I would guess that it’s a simple matter of the micro- error generated by low-frequency sinewave signals—an effect phones being subjected to higher SPLs (I’m presuming this I’m puzzling over as I write. Whatever, I’m quite sure that an is a “stage” rather than an “audience” mix, in AIX termi- elaborated test, perhaps incorporating spectral analysis, could nology), which results in a lower level of mike noise with- be devised that would ensure that every nonrandom section in the recording. Certainly the inherent noise here is lower of quantization error could be detected automatically. than in the Sara K. track, as shown in fig.5. The difference This begs the question of what to do about failed frames. in noise level appears to be about 10dB, which is sufficient If there are few of them and they mostly fall, as with the to reduce it below the amplitude needed to provide effec- Haydn example, right at the beginning or end of a track, they tive dither at 16-bit resolution. might safely be ignored. Or what I term a “contingent Whatever you may think of my dither contentions, these dither” solution might be applied, where dither is added only results at least suggest that a significant number of 24-bit for those frames where it is required (probably being ramped purist recordings actually don’t better 16-bit performance in up and down on either side rather than switched on and off). respect to signal/noise ratio. There are microphones available In a smart realization of this approach, techniques might be that have significantly lower self-noise than the typical borrowed from perceptual coding to shape the dither such 15dBA SPL I’ve quoted and so might alleviate this problem www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 61 KEITH HOWARD’S CONTROVERSIAL CONTINGENT DITHER

1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

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-0.2 -0.2 -0.2 -0.2 0 4095 0 4095 0 4095 0 4095 lag (samples) lag (samples) lag (samples) lag (samples) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

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Fig.4 Autocorrelation plots for the 11 frames that failed the lag 1 test in the right channel of the Haydn piano-trio recording (Track ref. 7). Some show very obvious structure, others resemble that of random noise.

(the Røde NT1-A, which claims to be the world’s quietest good practice to unnecessarily compromise signal/noise ratio. studio condenser microphone, has a noise specification of just But I suspect most audio professionals would rather play safe 5dBA SPL), but recording engineers find themselves and add dither, in the knowledge that the degradation in noise between two stools. Quieter microphones generally have performance is quite small and in the expectation that it will larger capsules (the NT1-A’s is 1" in diameter) and poor pass unnoticed. But what if the addition of unnecessary dither response extension above 20kHz; smaller-diameter micro- actually compromises sound quality? phones have a more extended HF response but are noisier. This is not so left-field a notion as it may seem. There is no So a compromise has to be struck between exploiting the question that noise at this level is audible, or that it can influence bandwidth and noise potentials of high-resolution recording. sound quality. To appreciate this, you have only to note the In cases where microphones are placed close to instruments development of noise-shaped dither and the strongly held pref- and exposed to high SPLs, the problem of mike self-noise is erences for different noise-shaping algorithms among recording significantly reduced. But in situations where mikes are placed well back from the performers, a reduction of mike self-noise -60 might elicit sound-quality dividends. This isn’t a subject I’ve -70 looked into in any depth, but an array of microphone capsules -80 might, with suitable post-processing of their signals, provide a workable solution, in the same way that paralleled transistors -90 can be used in the input stage of a moving-coil preamp to dBFS -100 reduce its noise level. Ten paralleled devices lower the noise floor by 10dB; a hundred are needed to reduce it by 20dB. -110

-120 The Sound of Dither -130 We’ve seen that most of the 24-bit recordings I’ve analyzed -140 can be truncated to 16-bit sans dither without this introducing 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 50k many—sometimes any—signal-correlated quantization errors frequency (Hz) that are detectable either by listening to the quantization error or by applying the lag 1 autocorrelation test. Choosing not to Fig.5 Noise spectrum from the beginning of the Latin Jazz Quartet’s “Doña Olga” (red trace) compared with that from Sara K.’s “Brick House” dither such recordings when converting them to 16-bit can be (blue). The noise level in the former is about 10dB lower. (Sampling justified on pure engineering grounds because it can never be rate 96kHz and 8192-point FFT in both cases.) www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 63 KEITH HOWARD’S CONTROVERSIAL CONTINGENT DITHER

and mastering engineers. Some even eschew all noise-shaped The first thing you notice when comparing the piano dithers, preferring instead the flat-spectrum alternative. Still, it is tracks with the different noise signatures—again with the a surprise to find that such small changes in noise floor are audi- original as a reference—is that TPDF noise is more irritating ble even when flat-spectrum TPDF dither is added to signals than the more Gaussian-like alternatives. And it has an effect that already have a noise floor of higher amplitude. on the sound of the piano, which is more “clangy” than in the I don’t claim to understand why this should be the case, but original, or in those tracks with a more natural noise PDF. Of my ears tell me it is. I have compared dithered and undithered course, this experiment was conducted with an amplitude of 16-bit versions of all of the tracks listed in Table 1, and in every noise getting on toward 30dB higher than 16-bit TPDF case except track 4, using the 24-bit original as the reference, I dither, but it may be that even at this much lower amplitude, prefer the undithered version. Certainly the dithered and and even when the dither is added to more naturally distrib- undithered versions sound different, despite the apparently uted noise, the ear can still detect it as something unnatural. innocuous nature of the quantization error in the undithered Thinking along these lines, I have also experimented case. When, recently, I tried this out on an audio-industry with how best to “hide” TPDF dither within a typical audio guest, he expressed the same preference. I also exposed him to signal. It is normal practice in two-channel or multichannel another experiment that may offer at least a partial explanation. recordings to use uncorrelated dither in each channel. This What I did for this was to generate five different noise has the advantage that summing two uncorrelated noise sig- signals—all with the same RMS amplitude but different nals increases the noise amplitude by 3dB, whereas sum- PDFs—and add them to a piano recording ripped from the ming two correlated noise signals increases the amplitude European Broadcasting Union’s Sound Quality Assessment by 6dB. So uncorrelated dither promises a superior S/N Material (SQAM) CD. In this track the inherent noise level ratio in normal listening, and if the channels are summed to is about –85dBFS, so the noise was added at an amplitude mono or a multichannel signal is downmixed to stereo. about 20dB greater in order to swamp it. But there are other ways to look at this. Uncorrelated Varying the PDF of the added noise was achieved by sum- dither becomes part of the S (difference) component of a ming together different numbers of random-number genera- stereo signal, which is usually of much lower amplitude tors, from 2 to 5 (all this was done in software, and the than the M (sum) component because the audio signals in processed files burned to CD-R for the listening comparison). each channel are typically quite highly correlated. This rais- As fig.6 shows, adding the output of two random-number es the possibility that dither noise might be easier to hide if generators results in noise with a triangular PDF; increasing it is identical in both channels rather than uncorrelated. It is the number of random-number generators further makes the also feasible that having the dither noise precisely located in noise more Gaussian in nature; ie, it has a PDF shaped more the soundstage makes it easier to “tune out,” whereas the like the bell curve of the normal distribution. Gaussian noise diffuse nature of uncorrelated dither is less easy to ignore. is what we experience of analog processes, and might there- I have tested this idea only briefly, using the same piano fore be more natural to the ear than TPDF noise, whose PDF track and the same high noise level. The experiment would is like nothing we normally encounter in nature. need to be repeated at more representative noise ampli- tudes and with a range of source material to reach any firm 1 conclusions, but what I’ve heard encourages me to believe 1 2 this is an idea worth pursuing. Tony Faulkner put me on to this and suggested that this issue was probably the subject of research by Sony and others in the early years of digital 0.8 3 audio, although I can’t recall ever seeing a reference to it.

4 Thoughts 5 I’ve covered quite a lot of ground quite quickly in this article. 0.6 6 The message I hope you take away from it is that dither—for all its wondrous ability to confer analog-like behavior on dig- itized signals—should be applied with care, particularly at the 0.4 16-bit level. In converting some 24-bit files to 16-bit it may be unnecessary to use dither, and the sound quality may ben- efit from its deletion. Where dither needs to be applied only fitfully, a contingent approach suggests itself. And dither 0.2 noise might also be more effectively hidden where there is strong correlation between channels by using correlated rather than uncorrelated dither. Although it is understandable, given typical levels of micro- 0 -3-2-10123 phone self-noise, it is still disconcerting to find that many sample value (LSB) commercial audiophile 24-bit recordings achieve no better than 16-bit noise performance. The positive spin on this is that Fig.6 How summing the outputs of different numbers of independent we may as yet not have exploited 24-bit to the full, particu- random-number generators can be used to create noise with different probability density functions. A single random-number larly in purist recordings where the SPLs experienced at the generator produces rectangular probability density function (RPDF) microphones are relatively low. We’ve seen multidriver arrays noise (black trace). Combining two random-number generators being applied to loudspeaker design; perhaps multicapsule produces triangular probability density function (TPDF) noise (red). As the number of random-number generators increases, the PDF microphone arrays are what are now needed to make the noise becomes more like that of Gaussian analog noise. most of the dynamic range available via 24-bit recording. ■■ www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 65 MEET JOHN DOE THE FORMER X FRONT MAN RETURNS WITH A TRIO OF NEW RECORDS. JIM HERRINGTON

people as a bit player and character actor in an increasingly BY ROBERT BAIRD long list of films and television guest shots. Since the late 1980s, Doe has appeared in more than 30 films and made more than 30 appearances in TV nyone with a notion to argue which pop- episodes, including return visits to Roswell and Carnivàle. ular art form is more powerful, film or He’s perhaps best known for a pair of 1989 films with music, need look no further than the musical subjects: the well-received Jerry Lee Lewis career of John Doe. Most famous in music circles as the bass biopic, Great Balls of Fire!, in which he plays Lewis’s playerA and one of the singers of the seminal Los Angeles cousin, bass player, and future father-in-law; and Road punk band X, Doe is infinitely more recognizable to most House one of the cheesiest entries in the always enjoyable

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 67 MEET JOHN DOE genre of stoopid rock films, not to mention Patrick Swayze’s distinguished film oeuvre. Sitting on the tailgate of a truck outside a taco stand in Austin, Texas, Doe rolls his eyes and flash- es an uncomfortable grin when his role as Pat McGurn, bad guy Ben Gazzara’s idiot nephew, comes up. He admits that it’s this role that pizza- delivery guys most recognize him for. He’s relieved, and more amenable, when I mention his memorable cameo in “Blaze,” a 2003 Law & Order episode. In that role—“ripped from the headlines,” as he puts it—Doe nails the character of Teddy Connor, an aging, dissolute rock star whose band has been involved in a fire at a rock club, a tragedy deliberately similar to the one that befell Jack Russell and his fad- ing band, Great White, in Rhode Island in 2003. One hundred people died in that event, lawsuits from which remain unsettled. Judging from online reviews of the episode, Doe was a hit as Connor (who was found not guilty—his daughter did it), evincing just the right mix of creepy rock-star ego and unrepentant self-possession. Doe squirms at the defense table, kneads his ring-covered hands, and averts his eyeliner- enhanced ojos—it’s one of his most accomplished act- ing moments. While Jack Russell might say it painted too harsh a portrait, viewers ate it up. Doe nods, politely accepting the compliments. “I’m trying to get back to doing more independent films, and for some reason it’s been difficult. I did a film called Tom 51 [soon to be released], where I play a degenerate radio deejay. I did a little piece in Winona Ryder’s new movie, called Darwin Awards.” While he’s generously allowed me to rhapsodize about Road House and his other acting roles, Doe is here to talk about music, and eventually he gruffly steers the conversation away from the way he looks and acts to the way not phony. I’m not calling up Beyoncé. Beyoncé would say, he sounds. ‘John who?’ Which is good. I’m glad.” The verb sounds can be read here as a plural noun—sud- Decidedly not phony is the first appearance on record of denly there’s a veritable avalanche of Doe product in the Doe’s 16-year-old daughter, Veronica, who sings with her racks. First in Doe’s mind (and, he hoped, in this interview) father on “Mama Don’t.” Daddy Doe, himself no slouch in is his new solo record, Forever Hasn’t Happened Yet (Yep Roc). front of a microphone, admits he was more than a little Doe solo records elicit two distinct schools of thought. On proud of his offspring’s unconscious prowess. one hand are those who think he’s no solo act but a side- “She’s sung in a bunch of talent shows and she has a real- man who was at his best with X; that his solo records lack ly clear, pure, 16-year-old voice. She’s got great pitch. I’m some indefinable quality that would make them a success. not necessarily encouraging her to be a singer.” The other camp thinks the guy’s a genius, a survivor of the Or a musician? punk-rock era who’s gone on to fashion a potent new musi- “Nope. I mean, if they [his three daughters] want to, they will. cal identity as a rootsy, often rockin’ (but not in a punky Go forth and conquer. [Producer] Dave [Way] and I had this way) solo singer, songwriter, and frontman. The new album idea that we wanted to have a double of the melody on the provides ammunition to both sides. chorus of that song, but an octave higher, and we couldn’t Doe’s last album, Dim Stars, Bright Sky (2002), featured think of anybody who had that high of a soprano voice. backing vocals from Aimee Mann, Jakob Dylan, Jane “She did it in two takes. She listened to it a couple times Wiedlin (Go-Gos), and Rhett Miller (Old 97’s). The new at home, because we had already recorded the track. She record features another slate of guest vocalists, including walked in the studio and did it once, and Dave and I looked Neko Case (who duets on “Hwy. 5,” the album’s strongest at each other and went, ‘Shit.’ The second take was as good. track), Kristen Hersh, and Grant-Lee Phillips. Doe rejects I was all choked up. It was beautiful.” the idea that he’s stacking the deck with names to help sell Doe credits his relationship with Way (Sheryl Crow, the record—or that he’s using these known quantities as Macy Gray) as being key to any success the album may have. mere backup singers instead of true collaborators. “I avoid all that nasty frustration of struggling with produc- “It’s a natural duet record. All the people, we’ve known ers. I tune it up as it’s happening and let the songs dictate the each other and I’ve worked with them. It’s something that’s general idea. I read a little of the Bob Dylan book [Chronicles, www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 69 MEET JOHN DOE

Volume One], and he’s talking about his frustrations with Daniel In 1996, Exene Cervenka declared the band officially Lanois and how he couldn’t get it right, and I’m thinking, dead, but just a year later—with the appearance of Beyond and ‘You’re Bob Fucking Dylan, tell Daniel Lanois to go out and Back, a compilation of greatest hits and rarities—it seemed get some sandwiches, for Chrissakes, and make your record.’ I that some of the old rebel fires weren’t quite extinguished. found that so incredible—that Bob Dylan would be going, ‘The One X website illustrates this by quoting Cervenka, from a song is missing its mark and I can’t do anything to change it.’ ” 1997 Billboard article: “I think that the culture sucks again, Although moving from seminal punk to roots rocker just like it did when we started. With the Rolling Stones and sounds like a dramatic change, the truth is that Doe began Fleetwood Mac being the biggest tickets right now as a con- this transition back about the time of X’s third album, Under cert, it’s totally perfect for this record to be released at this the Big Black Sun, which mixed folk, rock, and even blues time. When you listen to KROQ [Los Angeles] or watch influences with the band’s trademark punk thunder. In MTV, you realize that everything is artifice and crap. It’s the hindsight, it’s obvious why X, unlike most of its contempo- same stuff we were fighting before.” raries, changed and, because of that, survives today. The Since then, X has regrouped. In 1998, Zoom returned to band’s guitar player came from rockabilly; and while most playing live and recording, and two years ago the quartet punk bands were content to scream or shriek, Doe and mounted a nationwide tour. According to Doe, X now plays 20 Exene Cervenka actually harmonized on lead vocals. to 25 shows a year, most on the West Coast. Shout! Factory has After meeting at a poetry reading in Venice, California, just released a live CD/DVD combo, Live in Los Angeles, anoth- Cervenka and Doe (born John Duchac in 1954 in Decatur, er reminder of just how potent a creative force X has been for Illinois) formed X in 1977 with guitarist Billy Zoom and almost 30 years now. Exene has just completed a solo record, drummer D.J. Bonebrake. After Doe and Cervenka mar- titled 7, to be released on the Nitro label later this year. ried, the band quickly rose to the top of the burgeoning L.A. “Exene and I taught each other great lessons, and when we music scene, which then included everything from The Go- sing together, it’s ridiculously special. Always will be. And I Gos and Los Lobos to The Blasters and the Minutemen. don’t think either one of us will ever rise above that level of The Germs, Black Flag, X, and others carried the punk ban- intensity,” says Doe. “All of us are incredibly—and not to sound ner—but in L.A., punk had a meaning wholly different from like a Hallmark, but we’re grateful and realize how lucky we what the word meant in London or New York. are, and at the same time know Signed to Slash Records, the legendary, now defunct L.A. that it’s hard work, and that rock label, X’s first full-length album, Los Angeles, was pro- we’ve got to keep being duced by Ray Manzarek. The ex-Doors keyboardist also came “IT’S AN inspired. I listen to a lot of new aboard for their second Slash record, 1981’s Wild Gift, as well INORDINATE music because of that, and then as their 1982 debut on major label Elektra, Under the Big Black NUMBER OF PUNK- I go back to old music, and you Sun, by which time most of the band’s punk sides had been just got to keep thinkin’…and replaced by a varied musical mix. Asked what lasting attributes ROCK PEOPLE WHO wishin’ and hopin’. [laughter]” punk contributed to musical history, Doe is quick to answer. ARE DEAD… As for Doe’s solo career, he “I think that everybody had a part in it, from, say, Elvis feels that three decades of Costello to Black Flag. It was all about freedom and doing I THINK IT SHOULD writing songs have given him it yourself, and really, the Minutemen and the bands that EVEN OUT AND lots of experience but haven’t toured nonstop developed the network of clubs that are still SOME OF THE made the task any easier. thriving. I mean, it comes and goes, but it’s always going to “I’d be a better poet if I be there. When we went to New York the first time, there CLASSIC ROCK wrote about more varied sub- was no place to play in between. We drove from L.A. to GUYS SHOULD, ject matter. William Carlos New York in 1978. We played CBGB’s and Studio 54 and Williams, who I hold so high, Max’s Kansas City, all within a week.” YOU KNOW, GIVE wrote about everything. I Unlike most of its contemporaries, X never officially US A BREAK… write about moments of crisis broke up. Rarer still is the fact that all of the original band JUST GO DIE.” because that’s what inspires members are still with us. me to write. But they’re “It’s an inordinate number of punk-rock people who are moments. That doesn’t mean dead—Jeffrey Lee [Pierce of the Gun Club] and Darby those moments can’t reoccur all the time, and it is difficult to [Crash of The Germs], Joe Strummer, the Ramones, Stiv survive marriage and relationships and life in general, but…” Bators. Not to wish ill on anyone, but I think it should even In addition to Forever Hasn’t Happened Yet, Doe, Cervenka, out and some of the classic rock guys should, you know, Bonebrake, and Dave Alvin have reactivated a beloved side give us a break [laughs], just go die. Their drugs must have project, X’s countrified alter ego, The Knitters. With the addi- been better or something, I don’t know.” tion of bassist Jonny Ray Bartel (Red Devils), in August 2005 X began to come apart in the late 1980s, when the blond- the band will release its second record, The Modern Sounds of pompadoured Billy Zoom departed to run his Orange County The Knitters—20 years after their debut, Poor Little Critter on the amplifier shop and find sobriety and Christianity. He was Road, stunned X fans with its mix of genuine honky-tonk and replaced at first by Dave Alvin—whose “Fourth of July” cowpunk. On Modern Sounds, covers of Steppenwolf’s “Born became, for a while, an item on the X set list—and then by to Be Wild” and the Stanley Brothers’ “Rank Stranger” will sit Tony Gilkyson (Lone Justice). By the late 1980s, X was, for all next to updated versions of X songs, including “Burning intents and purposes, semiretired. Doe and Cervenka divorced House of Love” and “In This House I Call Home,” as well as and both began releasing solo records. Thanks to such songs as an update of a song from Poor Little Critter. A new version of “Matter of Degrees” and “It’s Only Love,” Doe’s first record, “The Call of the Wreckin’ Ball” is titled “The New Call of the 1990’s Meet John Doe, remains his best solo effort, including this Wrecking Ball,” an ironic phrase when considered in the light new project. As for X, several later albums have appeared, of all that John Doe—actor, songwriter, and lead singer—has including Hey Zeus! (1993) and the live Unclogged (1995). built in his 30 years in music. ■■ www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 71 EQUIPMENT REPORT Paradigm Reference Signature S2

John Atkinson LOUDSPEAKER

anadian company Paradigm has made a name for itself over the past 20 years with affordably priced, high-performance loudspeak- ers. Its Reference Series designs have garnered much praise from this magazine—I was well impressed by the floorstanding Series 3 Reference Studio/100 ($2300/pair) last January, my review fol- lowing hard on the heels of Kalman Rubinson’s enthusiastic rec- ommendation of the smaller Studio/60 v.3 ($1600/pair) in DESCRIPTION Two-way, reflex-loaded, December 2004, while the bookshelf Reference Studio/20 ($800/pair) has been magnetically shielded, stand-mounted aC resident of Stereophile’s “Recommended Components” listing ever since Bob loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) Reina’s original review in February 1998. (All three reviews can be found in the G-PAL, gold-anodized aluminum- free online archives at www.stereophile.com.) dome tweeter; 7" (178mm) MLP, Paradigm has invested in research and development over the years, including mica-loaded polymer-cone woofer. the building of their own anechoic chamber, but missing from the Paradigm prod- Crossover frequency: 1.8kHz. uct lineup has been any “statement” product. Then, at the 2004 Consumer Elec- Crossover slopes: third-order, tronics Show in Las Vegas, Paradigm’s Rob Sample and Mark Aling showed me electroacoustic. Frequency response: production prototypes of a small two-way design, the Reference Signature S2, 52Hz–22kHz, ±2dB on-axis; which, with its high-tech drive-units and impeccable finish, was intended to 52Hz–20kHz, ±2dB, 30° off-axis. spearhead the company’s assault on the high end of loudspeaker design. “Sign me Low-frequency extension: 38Hz DIN up for a review pair,” I declared, “pronto!” (–3dB in a typical listening room). Impedance: “compatible with 8 ohms.” Signature Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m, anechoic. It took rather longer for the review speakers to arrive than I had anticipated, and Recommended amplification power: the Reference Signature S2s had to take their place in the queue. However, when 15–225W. Maximum input power: I unpacked the boxes I was impressed with what I found. The contrast between 140W with typical program source, the gray, diecast front plates of the tweeter, woofer, and port, the polished gold- provided the amplifier clips no more colored metal of the tweeter dome and the woofer’s stationary phase plug, and the than 10% of the time. immaculate high-gloss finish of the bird’s-eye maple veneer, was stunning. It’s a DIMENSIONS 15" (381mm) H by shame that all this has to be hidden behind the grille, which consists of dark 8.25" (210mm) W by 14" (316mm) brown cloth stretched over a plastic space frame. But as Paradigm’s literature D. Weight: 56 lbs (25.4kg). Internal makes it clear, the grille fits flush with the drive-units to minimize edge diffrac- 3 3 volume: 13.7 liters (0.48ft ). tion. The enclosure itself is made from ⁄4" MDF and has gently curved sidewalls FINISHES Cherry, Natural Bird’s-eye and top panel, to increase rigidity. With its internal vertical H-brace behind the Maple, Rosewood, Piano Black Gloss; drive-units, it feels solid as a rock. black or brown grille cloth. Paradigm makes its own drivers: the 1" tweeter in the S2 has an aluminum SERIAL NUMBERS OF UNITS dome anodized a gold color, and neodymium magnets. This model has a very REVIEWED 10384, 10385. high dynamic range, and is said to be able to stand a peak transient of 60V! A PRICE $1900–$2200/pair, depending heatsink attached to the rear of the tweeter helps dissipate heat when the speaker on finish. Matching Premier J-29 is driven with sustained high-frequency signals. The woofer uses a 7" cone speaker stand sold separately. formed from mica-loaded polymer; it uses a 1.5" voice-coil and an inverted half- Approximate number of dealers: roll surround, and is mounted to the baffle with a compliant gasket. 350. The woofer is reflex-loaded with a fairly large-diameter port mounted beneath MANUFACTURER Paradigm it on the baffle, this flared at both ends to minimize wind noise at high levels. Inter- Electronics Inc., 205 Annagem Blvd., nal wiring is fairly heavy-gauge multistrand cable, with push-on clips used for the Mississauga, Ontario L5T 2V1, driver connections. Electrical connection is via two pairs of WBT binding posts set Canada. Tel: (905) 632-0180. into the back panel, and the crossover is mounted behind these posts, with separate Fax: (905) 632-0183. boards used for each section. The filters appear to be second-order for the tweeter Web: www.paradigm.com. high-pass, using a single air-cored coil and a plastic-film capacitor; and third-order

72 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 ERIC SWANSON www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 73 for the woofer low-pass, with two lam- which adds some needed boundary Occasionally I thought I noticed a inated iron-cored coils and a nonpolar- reinforcement to the midbass with touch of “gruffness” in the S2’s presen- ized electrolytic capacitor. minimonitors. Even then, the Referen- tation of bass instruments, but provid- ce Signature S2 sounded light in overall ed the playback level was not Sound weight. However, its rich upper-bass extreme—this is a small speaker, after I set up the Paradigms on 24" register meant that only occasionally all—this was never a serious issue in my Celestion stands, the central pillars of did I feel that I was being shortchanged auditioning. But a 32Hz sinewave, which were filled with a mix of sand on low frequencies. The Fender bass even at modest volumes, produced and lead shot, in the positions where on the channel-identification tracks on some audible “doubling” (the addition the Dynaudio Special 25 that I my Editor’s Choice CD (Stereophile of second-harmonic distortion). I never reviewed in June had worked well. STPH016-2) had a reasonably full- heard any wind noise emanating from This is a little closer to the sidewalls bodied tone, but with a slight accentu- the front-mounted port, by the way, than I use for full-range speakers, ation of each note’s leading edge. but what I did hear from both speakers

MEASUREMENTS

y estimate of the Reference Signature S2’s The saddle in the impedance magnitude trace cen- voltage sensitivity agreed with the specifica- tered at 40Hz indicates the tuning frequency of the reflex tion at 88.2dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is 1dB port. The corresponding minimum-motion point at the higher than the average of the speakers I same frequency can be seen in the nearfield woofer haveM measured. Its impedance (fig.1) dips briefly below response in fig.3, with the port’s output peaking in the 4 ohms in the lower midrange, reaching a minimum of same region. The port response rolls off smoothly above 3.6 ohms at 180Hz, but stays above 8 ohms for much of 50Hz, but I was alarmed to see a high-Q resonance the audioband. Even with a combination of 5.2 ohms impedance and –40° capacitive phase angle in the upper 10 bass at 112Hz, the Paradigm will not be too demanding a load for its partnering amplifier to drive. A slight wrinkle 0 at 200Hz in the impedance traces is associated with a resonant mode detectable in the cabinet panels at the same frequency (fig.2), but its effect is low in level. The -10 rigid, well-braced cabinet is otherwise acoustically inert. -20 Amplitude in dB

-30

-40 10 100 1000 10000 Frequency in Hz

Fig.3 Paradigm Reference Signature S2, acoustic crossover on tweeter axis at 50", corrected for microphone response, with the nearfield woofer and port responses plotted below 300Hz and 1kHz, respectively.

10

0 Fig.1 Paradigm Reference Signature S2, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed). (2 ohms/vertical div.) -10

-20 Amplitude in dB

-30

-40 10 100 1000 10000 Frequency in Hz Fig.4 Paradigm Reference Signature S2, anechoic response on tweeter axis Fig.2 Paradigm Reference Signature S2, cumulative spectral-decay plot at 50", averaged across 30° horizontal window and corrected for calculated from the output of an accelerometer fastened to microphone response, with the complex sum of the nearfield woofer the cabinet’s top panel (MLS driving voltage to speaker, 7.55V; and port responses, taking into account acoustic phase and distance measurement bandwidth, 2kHz). from the nominal farfield point, plotted below 300Hz.

74 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 Paradigm Signature S2 when I played the half-step–spaced vidually, because it quickly reveals however, such as the clarinet on my toneburst track on Editor’s Choice was when a speaker’s drive-units have Mosaic CD (Stereophile STPH015-2), some rattling of the grille between problems speaking with a single voice. the instrument occasionally sounded a 90Hz and 160Hz. I fixed this with the As the toneburst went through the little more sour in intonation than I strategic application of some Blu-Tack, upper notes in the 512–1024Hz octave, was anticipating. but given that the grilles are so impor- each toneburst could be heard to Once I had done the measurements, tant to producing the correct treble bal- acquire a very slight “shadow” at a dif- I did wonder if the high-Q resonance ance, I was disappointed by this. ferent pitch. The same thing happened present in the port’s output just above This track also revealed some slight an octave lower, but with the shadow 800Hz was responsible for this behav- problems with midrange clarity. I cre- at the higher-pitched tone. I wasn’t ior. However, I could not hear anything ated this test signal, which steps a sure if I could consistently hear any- untoward coming from the port itself. sinewave burst from 32Hz to 4kHz thing like this effect when listening to Other than that slight bit of “character” and back again for each channel indi- music; with spectrally pure sounds, noticeable on specific recordings, the

present just above 800Hz. This aberration is severe slope and is flat for the first octave and a half in its pass- enough to create a suckout at the same frequency in band, but has a shelved-up response in its top octave, the woofer’s response. broken up by some interference effects. The woofer’s output shows slightly more of a boost in Fig.4 shows how these individual outputs sum on the upper bass in fig.3 than I expected from the nearfield the tweeter axis in the farfield, averaged across a 30° measurement technique, implying a slightly underdamped horizontal angle. Again, the S2’s upper bass is a little bass alignment that, as I heard, will tend to compensate more exaggerated than is warranted for strictly neutral for the small speaker’s lack of low bass. Higher in fre- behavior, but the balance overall is impressively flat. quency, the woofer crosses over to the tweeter at 1.8kHz However, a slight suckout can still be seen at 800Hz—the as specified, but with a shallower rollout for an octave or frequency of the resonant mode in the port’s output—and so above that frequency than expected from the specified the tweeter is slightly too high in level compared with third-order slope. The tweeter comes in with a third-order the speaker’s midrange level. The measurements that contributed to this graph were taken with the grille in place. The grille’s frame helps create an obstruction-free 10 acoustic environment, particularly for the tweeter. Removing the grille increases the HF driver’s mid-treble output, to the detriment of overall high-frequency smoothness (fig.5). The Signature S2’s horizontal radiation pattern is shown in fig.6, with the tweeter-axis response subtracted 0 from all the traces to reveal the speaker’s true behavior. Other than a slight lack of off-axis energy between 1 and Amplitude in dB 2kHz, presumably due to the slightly oversized woofer, the contour lines below 8kHz in this graph are both even and evenly spaced, correlating with the stable,

-10 well-defined stereo imaging I noted in my auditioning. 1000 10000 Above 10kHz, the off-axis ridge is actually due to the Frequency in Hz on-axis suckout centered on 12.8kHz in fig.4 filling in to

Fig.5 Paradigm Reference Signature S2, effect on tweeter-axis response of the speaker’s sides. In the vertical plane (fig.7), a lack of removing the grille (5dB/vertical div.). energy develops in the low treble more than 10° below

Fig.6 Paradigm Reference Signature S2, lateral response family at 50", Fig.7 Paradigm Reference Signature S2, vertical response family at 50", normalized to response on tweeter axis, from back to front: normalized to response on tweeter axis, from back to front: differences in response 90–5° off–axis, reference response, differences in response 45–5° above axis, reference response, differences in response 5–90° off-axis. differences in response 5–45° below axis.

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 75 Paradigm’s midrange was as pure and Corydon Singers and the ECO directed On the other hand, this 43-year-old uncolored as I have heard. The voices by Matthew Best, Hyperion CDA66420) recording is nowhere near as sonically on the new Hyperion CD of Morten were presented slightly in front of the compromised as the CD side of Bruce Lauridsen’s Lux aeterna (CDA67449), speaker plane, and the work’s climaxes Springsteen’s new Devils & Dust Dual- which John Marks has recently sounded edgier than I was anticipating, Disc (Columbia CN 93900), which enthused over, were reproduced with a even given this CD’s fairly early digital sounds overcompressed and plain dis- lack of unnatural color and a delightful provenance (it was recorded in 1990). In torted much of the time. (The DVD delicacy. The individual images of the general, the Signature S2s were better side sounds better in these respects; per- singers were unambiguously positioned suited to good modern classical CDs, haps the mastering engineer—the A-list in the space between and behind the such as Keith Johnson’s recording of Bob Ludwig, according to the booklet— speakers, with almost no tendency for Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade with the was not under as much pressure from objects in the soundstage to “splash London Philharmonic under José Sere- the record-company suits to “make it out” to the positions of the speakers. brier (Reference RR-89CD), than to louder.”) It is fair to point out that the Compared with the Dynaudio Special aged ones suffering from analog tape dis- cuts in which Springsteen accompanies 25, the Signature S2’s treble balance was a tortion and noise modulation, such as the himself on acoustic guitar (eg, the title little on the forward side, though not 1962 performance of Delius’ La Calinda track) are better in this respect than quite to the same degree as the Danish from the Philharmonia under George those with a full rock band—for exam- speaker. The voices on Vaughan Weldon (EMI Studio 7 69534 2)—much ple, “All the Way Home,” with its Williams’ Serenade to Music (with the as I love the latter on musical grounds. peak/mean ratio of just 4–5dB. As

measurements, continued

the tweeter axis, with too much energy in the same vertical window centered on the position of my ears. region apparent at angles more than 5º above that axis, The graph is impressively flat from 80Hz to 20kHz, confirming the need to use stands with this speaker that though with slight excesses of upper-bass and mid- place the listener’s ears in the vicinity of the tweeter. treble energy apparent. The former goes some way Fig.8 shows the response of the Signature S2s in toward compensating for the S2’s lack of mid- and my listening room, averaged for each speaker in a low-bass output, while the latter is not unexpected, given my feelings about the speaker’s slightly forward 10 treble balance. There are no surprises in the Paradigm’s step 0 response on the tweeter axis (fig.9), which reveals that both drive-units are connected with the same, positive, -10 acoustic polarity. The slight discontinuity at the 3.7ms mark suggests that the best frequency-domain integra- tion between the units actually occurs just below the -20

Amplitude in dB tweeter axis, again confirming the need for high stands. The cumulative spectral-decay plot (fig.10) is generally -30 clean in the treble, though with some low-level hash in the top octave, associated with the interference effects -40 noted earlier. There is also a ridge of delayed low-level 10 100 1000 10000 energy apparent at 2.3kHz, correlating with the small Frequency in Hz ripples seen in the step response. This may well be due 1 to a residual mode in the woofer cone. Fig.8 Paradigm Reference Signature S2, ⁄3-octave, spatially averaged response in JA’s listening room. Overall, its measurements suggest that the Reference Signature S2 is another in the series of well-engineered 1.0 loudspeakers emerging from the design studio led by Paradigm’s co-owner Scott Bagby. —John Atkinson

0.5

Data in Volts 0.0

-0.5 345678 Time in ms

Fig.9 Paradigm Reference Signature S2, step response on tweeter axis at Fig.10 Paradigm Reference Signature S2, cumulative spectral-decay plot at 50" (5ms time window, 30kHz bandwidth). 50" (0.15ms risetime).

76 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 Paradigm Signature S2 much as I wanted it to, the Signature S2 Rubinson and I reviewed in the May and did nothing to smooth over the cracks June 2005 issues. And on the superb Ali- in this piece of sonic dreck. son Krauss + Union Station Live DVD- The S2’s top octaves sounded very V (Rounder 11661-0535-9; thanks for delicate, allowing subtle treble detail to the PCM soundtrack, Rounder), the be clearly resolved. At the start of music fit nicely within the Signature’s Duke Ellington’s “The Mooche,” from dynamic limits. the Jerome Harris Quintet’s Rendezvous (Stereophile STPH013-2), drummer Summing up Billy Drummond gently and continu- If you value ultimate loudness and bass ally brushes his cymbals to provide a extension, then you should check out wash of HF that on speakers with poor Paradigm’s similarly priced, more utili- tweeters resembles white noise. Played tarian-styled Reference Studio/100 v.3. back on the Paradigms, the slight But if you’re willing to sacrifice those DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS AT AN ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT DIGITAL SOURCES Mark Levinson EQUALLY ATTRACTIVE No.31.5 CD transport; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Benchmark DAC PRICE, WITH FAULTS 1, Musical Fidelity X-DACV3 D/A processors; Technics DVD-A10 THAT ARE MINOR DVD-Audio player; Ayre C-5xe, AND STRENGTHS THAT Linn Unidisk SC universal players. PREAMPLIFICATION Mark Levin- ARE MAJOR, THE S2 son No.380S, No.326S preamps. POWER AMPLIFIERS Mark COMES HIGHLY Levinson No.33H monoblocks. LOUDSPEAKERS Dynaudio Special RECOMMENDED. 25, MartinLogan Montage. CABLES Interconnect: AudioQuest Cheetah, Madrigal CZ Gel-1 inflections in how Billy brushes the balanced. Speaker: AudioQuest cymbals were clearly evident as Kilimanjaro. Digital: Kimber changes in texture. Similarly, all the Illuminations Orchid, DH Labs sonic subtleties in the two-channel AES/EBU, AudioQuest SVD-4, remixes on Play, Peter Gabriel’s collec- Stereovox hdxv S/PDIF. AC: tion of his sometimes disturbing videos Synergistic Research Designers’ on DVD-V (Warner R2 970396)— Reference2, PS Audio Lab. ranging, for example, from Kate Bush’s ACCESSORIES Target TT-5 equip- delicately reassuring voicings and Tony ment racks; PS Audio Power Plant Levin’s bass chord foundation in 300 at 90Hz (preamps, CD players “Don’t Give Up” to the thunderous only), Audio Power Industries 116 drums in “Biko”—emerged from the Mk.II & PE-1 AC line conditioners Paradigms unscathed. (not power amps); ASC Tube Thunderous? Well, up to a point, Traps, RPG Abffusors. AC power given the Signature S2’s relatively dim- comes from two dedicated 20A inutive size. No one who rates dynamic circuits, each just 6' from the range as a major priority will be looking breaker box. A Mark Levinson for a minimonitor as a first choice. In the No.33H was plugged into each. tradition of the BBC LS3/5a, this Cana- —John Atkinson dian speaker is not about loudness but about the ability to preserve subtleties and to maximize the purity of instru- attributes in favor of nuanced higher-fre- mental colors. Even so, I found a hard- quency purity and the ability to develop ness that developed in the mid-treble to a stable, detailed soundstage, Paradigm’s be the ultimate speed limit on loudness, Reference Signature S2 might well be rather than the fuzz and blurring that for you, particularly if you have a small- resulted from low-frequency overdrive. ish room. Drop-dead gorgeous at an To put this in perspective, the Para- equally attractive price, with faults that digm played about as loud without strain are minor and strengths that are major, as the MartinLogan Montage, which Kal the S2 comes highly recommended. ■■

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 77 EQUIPMENT REPORT Ayre C-5xe

Wes Phillips UNIVERSAL DIGITAL DISC PLAYER

DESCRIPTION Universal digital disc player with remote control and two user-selectable digital filter settings. Analog outputs: 1 pair unbalanced (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR). Digital outputs: 1 AES/EBU (XLR). Maxi- mum output level: 4.1V RMS at 1kHz (balanced), 2.05V RMS (unbalanced), CD/DVD; 2V at 1kHz (balanced), 1V RMS (unbalanced), SACD. Frequency ranges: DC–20kHz The Ayre C-5xe Universal Digital Disc player. at 44.1kHz sample rate, 0–22kHz at 48kHz, DC–40kHz at 88.2kHz, 0–44kHz at 96kHz, 0–80kHz at ou’d think I’d be used to Charlie Hansen by now. After all, I’ve been 176kHz, DC–88kHz at 192kHz, speaking to Ayre Acoustics’ renaissance man for a decade, having DC–100kHz at 2.8224MHz. Power first encountered him when I was trying to arrange the review of consumption: 60W. Ayre’s 100Wpc V-3 power amplifier that was published in the DIMENSIONS 17.25" (440mm) W August 1996 Stereophile (Vol.19 No.8; www.stereophile. by 4.75" (120mm) H by 13.75" com/amplificationreviews/412/). I thought the V-3 was impressive. (350mm) D. Weight: 26 lbs Then I met Hansen. In person, Hansen resembles nothing so (11.5kg). much as Mr. Mxyztplk, the mischievous imp from the fifth dimension in the SERIAL NUMBER OF UNIT Y Superman comics—and, like that little pixie, Hansen tends to chortle maniacally as REVIEWED 13B0002C. he throws out his barbed observations. PRICE $5995. Approximate number The trick to dealing with Charlie Hansen, however, is to never assume that he’s of dealers: 30. Warranty: 5 years, kidding. When he says something that really seems too silly to be true, he’s almost transferable; 2 years, transport certainly not fooling around. mechanism. Like when he told me, the day before the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show, MANUFACTURER Ayre Acoustics, that Ayre’s new C-5xe universal disc player ($5995) was the best thing I’d hear at Inc., 2300-B Central Avenue, Boul- the show. That wasn’t brag, it was true. But the C-5xe was a typical Hansen prod- der, CO 80301. Tel: (303) 442-7300. uct in that it ignored conventional wisdom—in this case, that universal means Fax: (303) 442-7301. Web: multichannel. www.ayre.com. “That’s just marketing BS,” Hansen said. “If you’re a high-end company and

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 79 AYRE C-5xe you make a high-resolution player, it sits to its right—an outer ring accesses chapter numbers, DVD-Audio group has to offer better sound—and that play, skip forward and back, and numbers, or CD, SACD, or DVD-V means better two-channel sound. open/close; the inner button controls track numbers. An indicator labeled Who cares about what’s happening stop and pause. (In DVD mode, the V-Part lights up when you play tracks behind you?” skip forward and back commands with video content. There are also allow you to navigate the menu indicators for Play, Pause, and other The purpose of genius…is to options without resorting to an exter- disc information—and my favorite, ask new questions nal display—sort of.) Display Off. The C-5xe is an impressive hunk of The front-panel display is impres- The rear panel is a much simpler 5 audio jewelry. It sports a ⁄8" aluminum sive and conveys a lot of information, affair, boasting an AES-EBU digital front panel, and the rest of it isn’t such as whether the C-5xe is playing audio out (Ayre can supply an adapter much less substantial. A large, central- a track with 44.1kHz, 48kHz, if you require an S/PDIF connection), ly located display is housed, along with 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 192kHz, single-ended RCA outputs, balanced the disc drawer, in the center of the DSD, DTS, or Dolby Digital data. XLR connectors (pin 2 hot), a control faceplate, while an inset control wheel Additional lights indicate DVD-Video port, and an IEC AC input plug.

MEASUREMENTS

he Ayre C-5xe’s maximum output level at 1kHz was flat up to 10kHz, with then a slight top-octave droop was the same for both CD and DVD-Audio LPCM reaching –0.5dB at 20kHz (fig.1, top pair of traces). Set to data—4.16V from the balanced XLR jacks, 2.103V Listen, however, the output above 15kHz dropped signifi- from the unbalanced RCA jacks—but just under half cantly, to –3dB at 20kHz. This kind of response is not that Tthat figure for SACD playback: 1.95V and 970mV, respec- audible in itself. However, I am becoming convinced that tively, measured using Sony’s “provisional” Test SACD. the better time-domain performance offered by the digital Unless compensated for, this difference in level will filter that produces this response does sound better, par- obscure any differences heard in comparisons of the dif- ticularly regarding accuracy of stereo imaging. The ferent media. Both sets of outputs preserved absolute response in Measure mode with pre-emphasized data polarity—ie, were noninverting—with all three media, and (fig.1, bottom traces) didn’t differ significantly from that the XLRs are wired with pin 2 positive, the AES standard. with regular data. The output impedances were slightly higher than speci- Fig.2 shows the extended high-frequency response deliv- fied, at 93 ohms unbalanced and 187 ohms balanced ered by the C-5xe with SACD and DVD-A. The filter switch (both figures include the series resistance of 2m of inter- has no effect on SACD playback, which smoothly extends connect), but were still low in absolute terms. Error cor- up to 80kHz in this graph, with a –3dB point of 50kHz. rection, assessed using the Pierre Verany test CD and However, while DVD-A playback set to Measure maps the monitoring the error flag in the datastream available from SACD response up to 45kHz, where it drops precipitously the Ayre’s digital output jack with RME’s DigiCheck soft- (fig.2, middle traces), with the filter set to Listen the ultra- ware, was disappointing. The player coped with gaps in sonic output rolls off earlier, reaching –3dB at 38kHz. I feel the CD’s data spiral of only up to 0.5mm without con- it safe to say that this response difference will not be audi- cealed errors or audible glitches. ble in itself. Again, however, the better time-domain perfor- The Ayre’s frequency response for CD playback differed mance of this kind of digital filter might well be audible. according to whether the rear-panel DIP switch was set to Channel separation was superb, any crosstalk being Listen or Measure. In the Measure position, the response buried beneath the C-5xe’s noise floor in the audioband.

Fig.1 Ayre C-5xe, CD frequency response at –12dBFS into 100k ohms, Fig.2 Ayre C-5xe, SACD frequency response at –3dBFS into 100k ohms with de-emphasis (bottom) and without, set to Measure (top at (top at 50kHz) and DVD-A frequency response at –12dBFS into 100k 20kHz) and Listen (bottom at 20kHz). (Right channel dashed, ohms, set to Measure (bottom at 45kHz) and Listen (bottom at 0.5dB/vertical div.) 40kHz). (Right channel dashed, 0.5dB/vertical div.)

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 81 There are, however, two nonstan- the digital output when the analog So I called Hansen for elucidation dard switches on the rear panel. One outs are being used. and a technical description of the C- switches between the IR remote con- The owner’s manual doesn’t list 5xe. He cackled. “Specs? I don’t know trol and command port inputs, such as much in the way of specifications, other what the hell they are…let me look in Creston or AMX systems. Actually, than maximum output levels for bal- the owner’s manual. Oh! I can tell you this also controls the digital filters, anced and single-ended in PCM and what its dimension are, so you can fig- allowing consumers to choose DSD modes (there’s a 6dB difference ure out whether or not it will fit on between two algorithms—one labeled between PCM and DSD), XLR output your shelf. We don’t do much with DF Measure, which Ayre says pro- polarity, output impedance (balanced specs, because specs have very little to duces greater accuracy in the frequen- and SE), power consumption, dimen- do with how the thing sounds.” cy domain, and the other, labeled DF sions, and weight. It does list various Actually, Charlie, I just want the audio Listen, which Ayre says is more accu- “frequency responses” that are tied to porn. Tell me about the C-5xe’s naughty bits. rate in the time domain. (I used both, sampling rates, but these are given That’s when he got down to busi- but settled on DF Listen for my audi- without reference limits. They do all go ness and gave me the facts, Jack—faster tioning.) The other switch turns off down to DC, for what that’s worth. than I could transcribe them. Fortu-

measurements, continued

1 And that noise floor was low. Fig.3 shows ⁄3-octave spec- other than a power-supply–related peak at 60Hz, this high- tral analyses of the Ayre’s output while it decoded data er in the left channel than in the right—merely show the representing a dithered tone at –90dBFS on CD, SACD, effect of the dither noise recorded on the CD. (As the 60Hz and DVD-A. The top pair of traces below 6kHz and above spuriae lie at –120dBFS or lower, they can be ignored.) 100Hz in this graph were taken with 16-bit CD data. The Increasing the word length to the 24 bits possible with traces are free from harmonic-distortion spuriae, and— DVD-A (I burn my own test DVDs using Minnetonka Soft- ware’s Discwelder Bronze program) gave the lowest pair of traces in fig.3. The 60Hz peaks overlay those in the CD traces, but otherwise, the increase in bit depth gives a cor- responding increase in dynamic range of more than 12dB, which is excellent. The spectrum for DSD data (fig.3, mid- dle traces below 6kHz) is compromised a little by the lower playback level for this medium—note the 6dB rise in level of the 60Hz peak. Even so, SACDs played back on the C-5xe still offer greater dynamic range than CDs— except in the top two octaves, where the DSD encoding’s noiseshaping starts to have an effect. Linearity error for CD playback was below the level of the dither noise recorded on the CBS Test CD 1 (fig.4). In fact, the Ayre’s DACs offer excellent performance. The waveform of an undithered tone at exactly –90.31dBFS, which is described by just three voltage levels with 16-bit 1 Fig.3 Ayre C-5xe, ⁄3-octave spectrum of dithered 1kHz tone at –90dBFS, CD data, was essentially perfect (fig.5), while increasing with noise and spuriae, 16-bit CD data (top below 6kHz), 24-bit DVD-A data (bottom), DSD data (top above 6kHz and below 100Hz). the bit depth to 24 gave a good-looking sinewave (fig.6). (Right channel dashed.) Repeating this test with dithered DSD data gave a similar-

Fig.4 Ayre C-5xe, right-channel departure from linearity, 16-bit CD data Fig.5 Ayre C-5xe, waveform of undithered 1kHz sinewave at –90.31dBFS, (2dB/vertical div.). 16-bit CD data.

82 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 AYRE C-5xe nately, my Panasonic microcassette ings feeding eight separate regulators; “Well, the reason for the output dif- recorder was on. the other is for the DAC and audio cir- ference is that the DSD1792 DAC has “We’re using a Pioneer universal cuitry, featuring two separate windings more than one built-in filter. For exam- transport and a Burr-Brown and 14 separate regulators. As usual ple, on DSD, it actually has four differ- DSD1792 DAC chip, which has out- with Ayre, the clock, DAC, and audio- ent filters. We listened to them all, and standing performance specifications, circuitry regulators are all fully discrete, the best-sounding one has a lower out- as well as a current output, which zero-feedback, custom components. put level than PCM. [cackles] We were allows us to use our own discrete cur- “The DSD1792 DAC chip processes torn: Should we use the best-sounding rent-to-voltage converter for better each format in its native state, whether one and have people carp at us about sound quality. The SACD decoder is PCM or DSD. The output of the DAC having lower output level on DSD, or the Sony CXD2753R. chip feeds the same analog circuitry for should we try to keep it all the same?” “We use only linear [nonswitching] all formats. And you may have noticed I bet that was a hard decision. [snort] power supplies. There are two separate that the maximum output level is dif- “Well, you’d be surprised. People transformers: one for the transport and ferent in PCM and DSD.” call us up and complain about the decoder, which has four separate wind- That, at least, is in the owner’s manual. weirdest things.

ly excellent sinewave, though with more high-frequency monic is the highest in level in the right channel, at –76dB noise apparent (not shown). (0.02%); the third harmonic is highest in the left channel, With its use of what I believe is low-feedback circuitry, at –80dB (0.01%). These are still low levels of distortion in the Ayre has a little more harmonic distortion present in absolute terms, however. To my surprise, the balanced its output than is usual. Fig.7, for example, is an FFT- outputs offered slightly higher levels of distortion, the sec- derived spectrum of its output while it drove a maximum- ond harmonic in the left channel lying at –70dB (0.03%), level 1kHz tone from its unbalanced output jacks into a even into 100k ohms (not shown). Reducing the load fairly low 4k ohm load, set to Measure. The second har- impedance to a punishing 600 ohms raised the second and third distortion harmonics to –60dB (0.1%), suggest- ing that the Ayre be used with moderately high-imped- ance loads. Levels of intermodulation distortion were also a little higher from the balanced than the unbalanced outputs, but, perhaps more important, varied with PCM data according to whether the digital filter was set to Mea- sure (fig.8) or Listen (fig.9). The level of the second- order difference component at 1kHz resulting from an equal mix of 19 and 20kHz tones wasn’t affected, and was low at –94dB (0.002%) left and –84dB (0.006%) right. But with the “leakier” low-pass filtering associated with its better time-domain performance, the Listen fil- ter allows a greater amount of aliasing between the sig- nal components and the sample frequency. The jury is Fig.6 Ayre C-5xe, waveform of undithered 1kHz sinewave at –90.31dBFS, out on whether this will have a negative effect on a 24-bit DVD-A data. component’s sound, but it is fair to point out that, with

Fig.7 Ayre C-5xe, Measure, spectrum of 1kHz sinewave, DC–10kHz, at 1V Fig.8 Ayre C-5xe, Measure, HF intermodulation spectrum, DC–24kHz, into 4k ohms (linear frequency scale). 19+20kHz at 1V peak into 4k ohms (linear frequency scale).

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 83 AYRE C-5xe

“Basically, there’s the two operating ’em—we don’t use any canned modules works really well, and it has an accept- modes. There’s the PCM mode and or off-the-shelf solutions, we make our able user interface. Also, Pioneer does there’s SACD. When you play an own from scratch. Then we turn off a great job of supporting its transports SACD, it works in the native DSD, it the unused clock, so you don’t get any with replacement parts. doesn’t convert the signal. There’s interference, modulation, or crosstalk “That is not an insignificant consid- nothing happening there, except your from the clock that’s not being used. eration. If you design a product that is basic purity approach. The only thing We just shut it off completely. built around that part, you might have unusual happening there is the clock, “I suppose, if we’re talking about to mortgage your company to buy because one of the problems with the audio porn, I should explain why we enough of the part to keep making the universal players is that you have two use the Pioneer transport. You don’t product, and to take care of your cus- clocks you have to deal with, one for have a lot of choices when it comes to tomers who trusted you enough to buy the 44.1kHz sample rate and one for universal transports—there are exactly it in the first place. Do you buy 5000 the 48kHz sample rate. four: Pioneer, Denon, Yamaha, and transports and stick ’em in the ware- “We designed our own clocks, Linn. We chose the Pioneer because house so you can keep that product which are as low-jitter as we can make it’s really a native universal transport, it going for five years?”

measurements, continued

the exception of the tone at 24.1kHz, the level of these lowest jitter I have measured with this test set, but is still spuriae in the C-5xe’s output is very low. low in absolute terms. Fig.10 shows a narrowband spec- Finally, the Ayre C-5xe offered low levels of word-clock tral analysis of the C-5xe’s single-ended analog output jitter. Using the Miller Audio Research Jitter Analyzer with while it decoded 24-bit/44.1kHz data representing a high- suitable test signals on CD and DVD-A, I measured 289 level 11.025kHz tone over which has been laid a low-fre- picoseconds peak–peak both for 16-bit CD playback and quency squarewave at the LSB level. Four pairs of side- 24-bit DVD playback. This is a little more than twice the bands—at ±15.6Hz (purple “1” markers), ±889Hz (purple “6”), ±1298Hz (purple “7”), and ±1310Hz (purple “8”)— contribute almost all the measured jitter energy. I have no idea what mechanism causes these sidebands, but changing to a 16-bit representation of the same signal (grayed-out trace in fig.10) didn’t change the picture to any significant extent, other than the expected rise in the data-related sidebands (red circles). Given the disappointing performance of some other universal players I have measured recently—see, for exam- ple, the review of the McCormack UDP-1 in our January 2005 issue—the Ayre C-5xe’s measured performance offers no compromises. I was puzzled by the designer’s decision to reduce the playback level for SACDs compared with CDs and DVD-As, but this will not adversely affect sound quality. A nicely engineered piece of kit! Fig.9 Ayre C-5xe, Listen, HF intermodulation spectrum, DC–24kHz, —John Atkinson 19+20kHz at 1V peak into 4k ohms (linear frequency scale).

Fig.10 Ayre C-5xe, high-resolution jitter spectrum of analog output signal (11.025kHz at –6dBFS sampled at 44.1kHz with LSB toggled at 229Hz, 24-bit DVD-A data). Center frequency of trace, 11.025kHz; frequency range, ±3.5kHz. Grayed-out trace is 16-bit CD data.

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 85 AYRE C-5xe

Is that what you did? the sound of the K-5xe and C-5xe. For example, it revealed all of the “Well, we’re putting that off for as Well, you get the idea: This turned Boston Symphony Hall ambience and long as we conscionably can! But that is into one of those reviews where every- bloom I’ve come to love on Charles what we did with the D-1X—we had to thing made a difference—even hanging Munch and the Boston Symphony’s go to the bank, and what I did was put a 150-year-old Peruvian poncho on the recording of Berlioz’s Symphony Fantas- my house on the line to secure the wall behind the loudspeakers tique, engineered by Mohr and Layton loan. And we’ll do whatever it takes to (although I must confess that I did not (CD, JVC XRCD JMCXR0001), buy as many C-5xe transports as we also try a 200-year-old or a 100-year- without sacrificing any of the drama need to keep the product going, when old poncho, so I cannot guarantee that and impact. Impact? When the the time comes. the poncho’s age is relevant). plucked basses enter during Reveries: “Right now, the C-5xe’s transport is After all the dust settled, my pre- Passions, I nearly jumped out of my still in production, but you just can’t ferred system was the Ayre stack driv- seat. And then I sat up with my ears get a straight answer on how much ing the slightly modified Thiels (on pricked as I heard those notes seek the longer that will be the case. I think it’s which, at Hansen’s urging, I had per- corners of the hall before decaying important to be able to keep a product formed a tweetercoverectomy). What into silence. going, to be able to upgrade it, to be the Thiels lacked in bottom end they And the March to the Scaffold? Pure able to support it. If you don’t want to more than made up for in coherence drama, baby—not to mention a tremen- do all that, make mass-market dispos- and accuracy—properties that comple- dous amount of dynamic shading, sheer able stuff—just don’t charge a lot for it mented the Ayre’s strengths. orchestral impact, and brass blattiness. and pretend it’s high-end, because The C-5xe had me alternately gasping that’s not what the High End is sup- It’s a fine line… at its audiophile precision—soundstage posed to be about.” Most of my fiddling with the bits’n’bobs layering and breadth, spatial delin- of system setup was performed using eation, presentation of dynamic shad- Genius is an infinite capacity for CDs, which, after all, remain the pre- ing, et al—and swooning at its musical taking pains dominant recorded format—and, not so integrity (all of the same qualities, but Usually, when it comes to discussing coincidentally, the one with which I with a different emphasis). system setup, there’s not a lot to say, have the most familiarity. The Ayre C- This repeated itself with minor vari- but with the Ayre C-5xe, little things 5xe is a fabulous CD player that extract- ations as I familiarized myself with the meant a lot. First, Ayre insisted on ed oodles of low-level detail from my new system configuration and old sending an entire Ayre-approved sys- favorite recordings while preserving the favorites during the break-in period: I tem, including an Ayre K-5xe preamp, musical integrity that had drawn me marveled at the dynamic range, power, Ayre V-5xe power amp (which I had toward them in the first place. and pure swing of Basie Big Band (CD, previously reviewed elsewhere), and JVC XRCD VICJ-60257), while sub- Cardas cables and AC cords. I also merging myself in the crystalline clari- had on hand the Conrad-Johnson ty of Ivo Janssen’s emotionally com- ACT2, the Coda S5, and the Shunya- ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT pelling reading of J.S. Bach’s Das ta cables I’ve been using in my refer- DIGITAL SOURCE Linn Unidisk SC Wohltemperierte Klavier (CD, Void 9805 ence system, as well as the Canton universal player. AB). I stayed up late; I got up early. Vento 802DC, Dynaudio Special 25, PREAMPLIFIERS Ayre K-5xe, Con- Didn’t I used to have other hobbies? and Thiel CS1.6—loudspeakers I’ve rad-Johnson ACT2. Oh yeah. It’s a good CD player. used successfully in systems past. POWER AMPLIFIERS Ayre V-5xe, Then I listened to SACD. Late in the review cycle, John Atkin- Coda S5. Last January, David Chesky had son dropped by the Linn Unidisk SC LOUDSPEAKERS Canton Vento 802 given me a copy of his recording of Art Dudley had reviewed in June, so DC, Dynaudio Special 25, Thiel his concertos for flute and violin, I could have another universal player CS1.6. and his setting of The Girl from for comparison. CABLES Interconnect: Cardas Audio Guatemala (Anthony Abel, Area 31 Ayre’s Steve Silberman insisted I Golden Reference, Shunyata Ensemble; Chesky SACD288). I employ some of Ayre’s Myrtle Wood Research Aries. Speaker: Cardas carefully filed it in my “to be played” Blocks as component supports (they Audio Golden Reference, Shunyata pile, where it languished until I went made a surprising difference—to my Research Lyra. AC: Cardas Audio looking for SACDs to audition on chagrin, having decided “intellectual- Golden Reference, Shunyata the Ayre C-5xe. ly” that they couldn’t). He also insist- Research Anaconda. Holy cow! First, this disc is the real ed that I “treat” my system with ACCESSORIES Shunyata Research thing: modern American classical Ayre’s Irrational, But Efficacious! glide- Hydra AC power-distribution system; music that is tuneful, idiomatic, and tone disc—another tweak that I was Solid-Tech Rack of Silence equip- wonderful. It ain’t stuffy and it ain’t convinced would make no difference ment stand, Feet of Silence & Discs crossover—it’s vibrant and fun and whatsoever, but that removed several of Silence equipment supports; Ayre completely compelling. It sounds layers of grunge whether I believed in Myrtle Wood Blocks. Room treat- good, too. it or not. I then discovered that the ments: tribal rug, Peruvian poncho (a The Violin Concerto opens with a MOVs in the Shunyata Hydra Model- real poncho, not a Sears poncho), big Coplandish flourish of bouncy 8 I was using added a layer of “white” plush mice and water-bottle rings strings and timpani, with counterpoint grunge to the V-5xe power amp, kept in random order by the Chaos provided by palmistas clapping rhythms although the Hydra greatly enhanced Kitties. —Wes Phillips that jump out of the speakers while

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 87 AYRE C-5xe defining the acoustic space within of thinking that we’ve pretty much like this, what have I been missing? which the performance takes place. And conquered the sonic vista—how much Some good stuff, obviously, such as how that space informs the recording! more accuracy can we capture? The C- Immersion (DVD-A, Starkland 2010), a Remember I said that the C-5xe’s 5xe proved that there’s a lot more we collection of short avant-garde works response specs go down to DC? I’ll be can get out of recordings, especially that includes compositions by Mered- interested in JA’s measurements, ith Monk and Pauline Oliveros. The because they’ll have a reference range, Monk piece consists of layered voices but the Ayre’s midbass to deep bass that float in their acoustic with star- were revelatory with SACD record- tling clarity and, well, embodiedness, for ings such as this. The first few seconds lack of a better word. of the disc establish the recording On the other hand, I was hard- venue with some of the deepest pressed to find much in the way of “room sound” I’ve ever heard. true hi-rez DVD-A, as opposed to The Flute Concerto’s natural remastered baby-boomer music. Of sound is, if anything, even better. If course, I did have Classic Records’ you love classical music, you have got DAD series—digital audio discs, or to hear Chesky’s new recording—and DVD-V with two-channel 24/96 if you don’t love classical music, that remasters of stone audio classics, such might be because you haven’t ever as Pulse (Classic DAD 1002) and heard anything as fresh and lively as Muddy Waters’ Folk Singer (Classic Chesky’s compositions. They might HDAD 2008). And once again, we make a believer out of you. Especially have a winner! Actually, we have if great sound is a priority, because about 40 of ’em—and I’d almost con- the swirling violins, clanging chimes, sider this series by itself cause for and, yes, handclaps are rendered here owning a player that could do justice with such fidelity and lifelike dynam- to them. ics that you’ll love the sound this I’d heard these recordings before, music makes. The Ayre C-5xe remote. on DVD-V players as well as on at As well-recorded and well-real- least two universal players from ized as the Chesky disc is, as I began mainstream but upscale mass-market to listen to other SACD recordings, I manufacturers. Why was I hearing so began to realize that there is so much with really good DSD recordings, such much more in them now? Charlie more to DSD-sourced SACD than I as these three SACDs: Paavo Järvi and Hansen credits his zero-feedback, no- had previously realized. I knew—had the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s integrated-circuit design philosophy: heard for myself—that SACD sounded scarily good disc of Debussy’s Prélude à “I sound like a broken record, but better than CD, but until I began l’aprés-midi d’un faune, Nocturnes, La mer, 99.9% of the digital products out working my way through the discs I and Berceuse héroïque (Telarc SACD- there have high-feedback op-amps in already owned, I had no idea how 60617); the Anthony Newman/Gra- the analog signal path. High-feed- much better. Not a little bit—a lot. ham Ashton Brass Ensemble’s Music for back, IC op-amps make sense in a I’d previously compared the CD and Organ, Brass, and Timpani (Son Ma $500 product when you’re trying to SACD layers of Antony Michaelson’s SAC-001); and Ray Kimber’s IsoMike get the most bang for the buck, but recording of Mozart’s clarinet concer- Tests 2005 (Tests 2005A). when you’re selling a $5000 product, to, K622 (MFSACD 017), and had pre- All of this abundance of sonic truth- it’s like cheating.” ferred the SACD version when I was fulness made me wonder if it was just Maybe he has a point. All I know is auditioning an SACD player. However, SACD that I’d underestimated, or all that the Ayre C-5xe was teaching this I didn’t feel unduly deprived when I higher-rez formats. I pulled out my old dog some new audio tricks—like had to listen to the CD layer at other guilty-pleasure copy of Steely Dan’s sitting up and begging for more. times—it is a richly atmospheric record- Everything Must Go (DVD-A, Reprise ing, full of life and spirit, whether you 48435) and loaded it into the Ayre. Genius means…perceiving in an listen in hi-rez or reg-rez. Of course, I Because EMG has an animated menu, unhabitual way could be wrong. that’s what loaded initially, but I was Of course, if my previous experience I was wrong. Michaelson’s clarinet able to navigate to the 24-bit/192kHz with universal players was blurred, was woodier through the Ayre C-5xe, program through the Ayre’s control obscured, and diminished by their with a far more penetrating forward- wheel without resorting to an external lack of high-end cred, it behooved me ness to its presentation. The solo instru- video monitor—just as advertised. to compare the Ayre to something ment was definitely in front of and Wow! How had I missed this disc’s with higher aspirations. Fortunately, dominant to the Michaelangelo Cham- meaty sound, rock-solid bass, and loose, John Atkinson had a Linn Unidisk SC ber Orchestra. Bigger than life? Yes, but bluesy textures? I knew I’d given it a on hand. The SC, of course, is Linn’s not annoyingly so, just enough to show chance, but before hearing it through single-box, $4995 universal player, you who got star billing on the disc. the Ayre, it hadn’t knocked my socks preamp, video switcher, and sur- Wowsers. So this is what all the fuss has off. And what a great song “Pixeleen” round-sound processor. This means been about. is—easily equal to the band’s best work that it’s designed with a lot of extras I’m as guilty as the next audio nerd from the 1970s. If all DVD-As sound that will make it very attractive to

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 89 AYRE C-5xe

Critics Say It’s— someone who’s combined his or her There is no genius without some music system with a home theater, touch of madness but that may also be unnecessary dis- It ought to be fairly obvious that I tractions for the sort of two-channel found the Ayre C-5xe more than satis- theBEST music enthusiast the C-5xe is aimed factory. I didn’t expect it to disappoint, at. Still, he must needs go that the but I was unprepared for just how sounding devil drives—and the Unidisk SC was much it delighted me. I’ve heard a lot satellite radioever. what we had. of impressive audio components over To make it a level playing field, I out- the years, but I’ve heard very few that fitted the Linn with Myrtle Wood afforded me greater musical pleasure Blocks and ran the Simple, But Efficacious! or sent me on as many voyages of sweep tone through it before making musical discovery through discs I my level-matched comparisons. thought I knew well. Playing CDs—Basie Big Band, for Is it the best universal player current- (But we already knew that.) instance—the Ayre C-5xe had more ly available? I can’t say. It ranks among If you’re serious about music, bass slam and drive. John Duke’s big the best single-box CD players I’ve bass sound locked into sync with heard, and I have yet to hear an SACD you need to hear the Polk Butch Miles’ drums and Freddie or DVD player that rivals it for pure Audio XRt12 Satellite Radio Green’s guitar to create a rhythm sec- audio, ummm, purity. I’d buy it for its tuner. We built it from the tion that, through the C-5xe, could CD reproduction alone and consider ground up for better XM have marched the Verrazano Narrows the other formats very welcome extras. sound quality and more. Bridge to Queens. The Linn had less Sure, the Ayre C-5xe comes with low-end presence and less midrange caveats. It costs $6000—not a fortune The XRt12: body, as well—with the result that by high-end standards, perhaps, but Wonderfully Easy To Use Green’s guitar sounded “tinkly” rather four-figure prices always give me pause. Built To Polk Audio’s than integral to the band’s motor. The However, it’s fairly obvious that the C- Exacting Standards Ayre also captured more of the 5xe is an expensive player to manufac- Offers Maximum Reliability breathiness of Eric Dixon’s flute, as ture. I’m not talking about its fancy And Value well as tons more dynamic wallop faceplate but about its innards—the cus- Gives You More Than 150 Channels 100% Commercial-Free Music when the massed horns lunge in after tom clocks, bespoke power supplies, the intro. and fully discrete design. I’m also reas- Matters were more equal in the sured by the company’s commitment Hear for yourself why SACD realm, but the Ayre captured to customer service, as illustrated by CNET says the Polk Audio the acoustic weight of the St. Ignatius Charlie Hansen’s remarks about Ayre’s XRt12 sets Loyola Church with greater conviction responsibility toward potential (and “…a new standard for on Music for Organ, Brass, and Timpani— current) owners of the C-5xe. That’s satellite radio sound quality.” again, I was left wondering whether not audio jewelry, but things I am will- there even was a noise floor for the ing to pay for. Try the XRt12 in your music to rise above (of course there Another caution: Unlike any other home audio system, must be, but it made me wonder). universal player I know of, the C-5xe is 100% risk free. I don’t want to imply that the Linn a music-only, two-channel–only disc didn’t sound great, because it did. I player. That could be either a bug or a If you’re not delighted, we’ll thought the organ was convincing and feature, depending on whether or not come pick it up and give you timbrally true, but the Ayre seemed to you need to combine your music and a full refund. place the king of instruments (and all video systems. I keep my HT system far those other instruments) in a space that away from my hi-fi, so I love the idea of Order your XRt12 Satellite was more convincing—and who doesn’t a universal player that lets me separate Radio tuner by calling want “more convincing”? the two—not to mention one that lets 800-861-5753 or… Playing DVDs, the Ayre’s high con- me listen to my DVD-As and DVD-Vs trast between silence and sound, com- (such as The Crossroads Guitar Festival bined with its ability to capture the DVD I received as a Christmas gift) in go to: smallest dynamic shadings, caused me the best-sounding room of my house. to prefer it again—especially with mate- Based on my audition, however, the rial such as Henry Cowell’s Pulse, on best-sounding room in my house is .com the Classic DAD of the same name. I almost certainly going to be the room was particularly struck by how effort- with the C-5xe in it. As usual when lessly the Ayre presented the stunning talking to Charlie Hansen, what I took dynamic swings of Cowell’s four- to be a joke turned out to be truer minute workout—and also by how than most bald-faced statements of much warm tonality it imparted to the fact. Better than anything I heard at woodblocks and tom-toms. Through CES 2005? The Ayre C-5xe has the Linn, these last were dramatic but proved to be the best-sounding prod- given a bit less tonal life. uct I’ve heard all year. ■■

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 91 EQUIPMENT REPORT Arcam Solo

Art Dudley CD RECEIVER

DESCRIPTION Single-box CD player, DAB/FM tuner, line-level preamplifi- er, and amplifier. CD D/A converter: 24-bit delta-digma. FM tuner sensitiv- ity: 2μV. FM S/N ratio: 58dB (no ref- erence given). Preamplifier input impedance: 47k ohms. Preamplifier S/N ratio: 105dB (no reference The Arcam Solo. given). Amplifier output power: 50Wpc into 8 ohms (17dBW), 75Wpc into 4 ohms (15.75dBW), both chan- ere we are, back to the Arcam I know and love: a company that nels driven. THD+noise: 0.013 %. not only invents good products, but good product categories as DIMENSIONS 17" (435mm) W by well. Like the Arcam Black Box of the 1980s, which gave so 3.5" (90mm) H by 14" (360mm) D. many people fits at the time—yet which, once you heard it, Weight: 17 lbs (7.7kg). made good musical sense. It made good marketing sense, too: SERIAL NUMBER OF UNIT With that one stroke, teensy, weird, nestled-away-in-the-Eng- REVIEWED SM001934. lish-countryside Arcam did nothing less than create the domes- PRICE $1599. Approximate number tic market for outboard digital-to-analog converters. of dealers: 200. H Are they poised to do the same thing all over again? I don’t know. But it’s worth MANUFACTURER Arcam, Pembroke noting that Arcam’s new Solo is the rare audiophile product that swims with, Avenue, Waterbeach, Cambridge rather than against, the flow of mainstream consumerism—toward simplicity, con- CB5 9QR, England, UK. Tel: (44) vergence, and relative smallness. Now you can have a mobile phone that doubles (0)1223-203200. Fax: (44) (0)1223- as a camera, a laptop computer that doubles as a movie player—and a perfection- 863384. Web: www.arcam.co.uk. ist-quality integrated amplifier that doubles as a CD player and a tuner. All for Distributor: Audiophile Systems Ltd., $1600, which is not very much money as those things go. 8709 Castle Park Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46256. Tel: (317) 841-4100. Fax: Deadbeat DABs (317) 841-4107. Web: www.asl There’s another story here: The Solo is the rare Arcam product that was designed group.com. more with Europeans in mind than Americans, the most telling sign of which is

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 95 its inclusion of a DAB tuner. As you gether, seems bent on adopting stan- prattling away about at the moment may already know, DAB, or Digital dards that call for technically inferior (seriously), I cannot comment on the Audio Broadcasting, is a new con- in-band digital FM broadcasting. Arcam Solo’s DAB performance in this sumer technology now available in The upshot of all that is a bit of sad review: Whenever I pushed the DAB Europe, Canada, South Africa, South news: While more than 200 million of button on the Solo’s remote handset, Korea, and other outposts of civiliza- our friends in Dublin, Budapest, only silence ensued. tion. In all the places that have it, DAB Johannesburg, and elsewhere are Then I noticed that my sample of is governed by a set of technical and already using their Arcams and other the Solo came packed with a one-sheet political standards known collectively DAB receivers to enjoy fade-free, disclaimer, which boiled down to this: as Eureka 147, arguably the most sig- interference-free, multipath-free If in the course of using your Arcam Solo in nificant of which is the setting aside of broadcasts, usually with enhanced pro- the US you should happen to press the DAB two bands of DAB frequencies, sepa- gramming content and a text feed that button by mistake, you will hear dick-all. rate from those used for present-day tells the listener what in God’s name Thank you. AM and FM broadcasts. But the US, each speaker on their government’s But Americans have not been for- which has rejected Eureka 147 alto- parliamentary channel happens to be gotten altogether. For one thing, I’m

MEASUREMENTS

ooking first at the performance of the Arcam Solo’s gaps in the CD data spiral up to 2mm long without errors, CD section, assessed at the Preamplifier Out jacks, and up to 3mm long without audible glitches. this offered a maximum level of 1.965V with the CD frequency response featured a slight loss of energy volume control set to “72.” Signal polarity was pre- in the top octaves (fig.1, top pair of traces), but there was served;L ie, the output was noninverting. Error correction, no de-emphasis error other than that (fig.1, bottom assessed using the Pierre Verany test CD and both listen- traces). Channel separation, again assessed at the preamp ing to the signal and looking at the error flag in the digital outputs (not shown), was better than 85dB in the output signal, was astonishingly good, the Solo handling midrange, but decreased somewhat at high frequencies due to the usual capacitive coupling between channels. One-third–octave spectral analysis of the CD section’s output while it decoded data representing a dithered tone at –90dBFS (fig.2) showed a clean noise floor unbroken by power-supply or harmonic spuriae. The peak representing the tone peaked at exactly –90dBFS in this graph, suggesting excellent DAC performance, which was confirmed by the plot of the linearity error with decreas- ing signal level (fig.3). In fact, the noise shown in these two graphs is basically that of the dither recorded on the CD, meaning that the noise floor of the Arcam’s replay cir- cuitry is below that of the CD. That this is the case is demonstrated by the Solo’s reproduction of an undithered sinewave at exactly –90.31dBFS (fig.4). The three voltage levels that describe this signal are clearly evident, with good waveform symmetry and low noise. Fig.1 Arcam Solo, CD frequency response at –12dBFS into 100k ohms, with de-emphasis (bottom) and without (top). (Right channel Distortion levels for CD playback were low, with the dashed, 0.5dB/vertical div.) second harmonic the highest in level, at –77dB

1 Fig.2 Arcam Solo, ⁄3-octave spectrum of dithered 1kHz tone at –90dBFS, Fig.3 Arcam Solo, departure from linearity, 16-bit CD data (2dB/vertical with noise and spuriae, 16-bit CD data (right channel dashed). div.).

96 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 ARCAM SOLO told that subsequent production runs ish. My first thought upon opening the down to the Audi-esque curves of the of US-bound Arcam Solos will have an box was: If Apple made amps and CD cast-alloy front panel and the decidedly AM/FM board in place of the noncheap feel of the soft-touch but- DAB/FM board that everyone else is tons. The Arcam Solo was also one of getting.1 For another thing…well, IF APPLE MADE AMPS AND the most ergonomically intuitive prod- what civilized person wouldn’t want a ucts I’ve reviewed: I don’t know why, beautifully styled product that turns CD PLAYERS, THE ARCAM but without having to look at the CDs or radio waves into music for just sparsely labeled controls I simply knew $1600, plus speakers? SOLO IS WHAT THEY’D that the button to the left of the slim And the Solo is nothing if not styl- CD drawer was for eject, the one to LOOK LIKE. the right was for play, and the pair on 1 It would have been feasible, but arguably too the far right were for volume up and expensive, for the Arcam Solo to contain one of the down. (And you thought they were for proprietary chipsets for the two S-band digital broad- cast schemes that Americans do have access to: the players, this is what they’d look like. cutting the capital gains tax!) subscription-only Sirius and XM services. This is what they’d feel like, too, right At a little over 17 lbs, the Arcam

(0.014%). Intermodulation distortion was similarly low, ping to 36k ohms at 20kHz, which is still usefully high. with the 1kHz difference component resulting from an Looking at the Solo as an integrated amplifier, it equal mix of 19 and 20kHz tones, each at –6dBFS, lying offered a maximum voltage gain of 31.2dB into 8 ohms at –84dB (0.005%). and didn’t invert signal polarity. Channel separation at Fig.5 shows a narrowband spectral analysis of the Solo’s 100Hz was 95dB L–R and 85dB R–L, this decreasing with analog preamp output signal while it played CD data rep- increasing frequency to 48dB/58dB at 10kHz, due to resenting a high-level tone at exactly one quarter the sam- capacitive coupling between the channels. The A-weight- ple rate, overlaid with a low-frequency squarewave at the ed signal/noise ratio (ref. 1W into 8 ohms with the vol- LSB level. Sidebands around the spectral peak can be due to a number of mechanisms, the primary of which will be word-clock jitter. The Miller Audio Research Jitter Analyzer finds these sideband pairs and calculates a weighted sum: that for the Solo was 306 picoseconds peak–peak, which is low. One pair of sidebands at –229Hz, marked in red, results from the squarewave (the other sidebands indicat- ed in red are at the residual level in the signal), but the main sources of jitter energy, indicated with purple numer- ic markers, are unknown in origin. The Solo’s preamplifier output featured a fairly low source impedance of 475 ohms and a wide bandwidth; the response for analog input signals with the tone con- trols set to flat featured a –3dB frequency of 190kHz. The volume control operated in 1dB steps; with this set to its Fig.5 Arcam Solo, high-resolution jitter spectrum of analog signal at maximum level of “72,” the preamplifier output was just preamp output (11.025kHz at –6dBFS sampled at 44.1kHz with LSB 0.2dB below unity gain. The input impedance for analog toggled at 229Hz). Center frequency of trace, 11.025kHz; frequency signals was 43k ohms in the bass and midrange, drop- range, ±3.5kHz.

Fig.6 Arcam Solo, volume control at “72,” frequency response at 2.83V into Fig.4 Arcam Solo, waveform of undithered 1kHz sinewave at –90.31dBFS, (from top to bottom at 2kHz): simulated loudspeaker load, 8 ohms, 4 16-bit CD data. ohms, 2 ohms (1dB/vertical div., right channel dashed).

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 97 Solo is a lot heavier than the average own. Build quality and attention to individual components have good budget component—and I discovered detail are all superb—one nice touch pedigrees, including a Sony disc trans- why when I removed its perforated, port and a DAB module by satin-finish cover: Beyond the cast- Radioscape, the tiny English company alloy faceplate, the Solo gets its heft BUILD QUALITY AND that makes the DAB modules for from a pair of toroidal transformers Sony’s new car radios. and a robust amplifier output section, ATTENTION TO DETAIL In an apparent nod to audio new- built around a heatsink that’s well fin- bies—the fine owner’s manual actually ished and downright massive for the ARE ALL SUPERB… includes the words In order to hear any price. The line stage, power amp, and sound from Solo, you must connect speakers to most of the power-supply circuitry all it 2—the Arcam Solo is a breeze to reside on a fairly large L-shaped board, while the CD player, tuner, digital I’d never encountered before is the use 2 Later this year Arcam will launch the Alto, a small control circuitry, and power-supply of tube-style damping rings on all of loudspeaker designed specifically for use with the relays all have separate boards of their the (Rubycon) reservoir caps—and the Solo.

measurements, continued

ume control at “72” and the input shorted) was excellent (fig.6, top, solid trace). This response graph also shows at 90dB, though it did worsen to 71.4dB with a wide- the Solo’s output into resistive loads ranging from 2 to 8 band, unweighted measurement. ohms. A small peak at 82kHz is more fully developed into The power-amplifier section’s output impedance was the higher impedance, which correlates with a small just below 0.14 ohm at mid and low frequencies, rising degree of overshoot and some damped ringing on the slightly to 0.18 ohm at 20kHz. The modification of the receiver’s reproduction of a 10kHz squarewave (fig.7). Solo’s frequency response due to the Ohm’s Law interac- Of more concern in fig.6 is the shelving down of the tion between its output impedance and that of the loud- Solo’s response at low frequencies into 2 ohms. Through- speaker will therefore be modest, at around ±0.15dB out the testing, the Arcam wasn’t happy with load imped- ances below 4 ohms. This is apparent from the plots of its THD+noise percentage against output power (fig.8). Defining clipping as 1% THD+N, the Solo exceeds its specified power at 1kHz, delivering 69Wpc (18.4dBW) into 8 ohms and 81W (16.1dBW) into 4 ohms, both fig- ures measured with both channels driven. However, just 8W were available into 2 ohms (3dBW), even with just one channel driven. And when I plotted its small-signal THD+N percentage against frequency (fig.9), the moder- ately low level of distortion into 8 and 4 ohms increased dramatically at low frequencies into 2 ohms, perhaps due to the Arcam’s protection circuitry. The protection circuitry was on the job when I attempted to precondition the Solo by running it at one- third power into 8 ohms for one hour. While the distor- Fig.7 Arcam Solo, small-signal 10kHz squarewave into 8 ohms. tion didn’t increase significantly, the amplifier turned itself off after 15 minutes, the external heatsink too hot

Fig.8 Arcam Solo, distortion (%) vs 1kHz continuous output power with (from bottom to top): two channels driven into 8 and 4 ohms, one Fig.9 Arcam Solo, THD+N (%) vs frequency at 2.83V into (from bottom to channel driven into 2 ohms. top): 8 ohms, 4 ohms, 2 ohms (right channel dashed).

98 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 ARCAM SOLO install. Rugged speaker connectors Another nice feature, which I imag- tuning and storing FM stations was allow spade terminals, banana plugs, or ine will strike a chord with nonaudio- simplicity itself. There’s an alarm clock bare wire, and there’s an RS-232 input philes, is the inclusion of a pair of Zone function, too, something lacked by my for those who wish to let their comput- 2 preamp-out jacks: These can be used first integrated amplifier. Come to ers boss their audio systems around. to drive a separate power amplifier in think of it, none of my amplifiers has There are gold-plated phono jacks on another room, the volume of which ever had an alarm clock. the back for a tape loop, plus three pairs can be adjusted, or muted altogether, of line-level inputs (labeled AV, TV, and separately from the main pair, using Solo performance Game on the remote handset) and an the remote handset. Neat. So you can imagine how surprised I iPod minijack input on the front In typical contemporary fashion, was that the Solo sounded decent. (labeled Front). There’s also a threaded only the most basic user controls are Very decent, in fact. Even straight out F-style connector on the back, so available on the front panel, while the of the box, before being run in or broadcast enthusiasts can easily connect attractive handset offers the whole warmed up—during which time it a flexible dipole, which is included, or gamut. Volume, balance, and even tre- sounded gray and uncomfortable, the some other outboard antenna. ble and bass (!) were easy to adjust, and sonic equivalent of a new shirt whose

to touch, and even the top panel adjacent to the heatsink high-order spikes at the zero-crossing points became at around 55ºC. No damage was done, however, and I apparent into loads below 8 ohms (fig.11), though the could turn on the amplifier again after a few minutes’ absolute level of the THD remained low. Intermodulation cooldown. But the Solo does run hot, and should be distortion was also relatively low, even close to the ampli- given plenty of space for ventilation. fier’s clipping power (fig.12). Returning to harmonic distortion, this was predomi- Owners should steer clear of speakers with impedances nantly the subjectively benign second harmonic at fairly that dip below 4 ohms, but with that proviso, the Arcam low levels (fig.10), though the third harmonic became Solo delivers excellent measured performance, particularly dominant at levels close to clipping. In addition, some from its CD section. —John Atkinson

Fig.10 Arcam Solo, spectrum of 50Hz sinewave, DC–1kHz, at 16W into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale).

Fig.11 Arcam Solo, 1kHz waveform at 7W into 4 ohms (top), 0.011% THD+N; distortion and noise waveform with fundamental notched Fig.12 Arcam Solo, HF intermodulation spectrum, DC–24kHz, 19+20kHz at out (bottom, not to scale). 24W peak into 8 ohms (linear frequency scale).

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 99 ARCAM SOLO seams are a bit conspicuous—the Solo CK 61513), an album that’s grown on 1960s, Leonard Bernstein. His Brahms was musically capable and expressive. I me since its release in 2002 (although I Third of 1964 (LP, Columbia D3M hooked it up to my big Quad speakers, still think they should have played “The 32097) isn’t the best one out there, but put on the Eroica Quartet’s recording it’s one of only two I of Mendelssohn’s String Quartets 1, have on vinyl, and it’s 2, and Op. Post. (Harmonia Mundi good enough to get the HMU 907245), and thought: This job done in a pinch. would impress almost anyone. The Arcam responded And it got better within minutes. to the challenge by Minutes, I tell you. delivering a pleasantly I moved on to the wistful “One in explicit performance: a Hundred,” a Byrds song in all but The different wood- name that wound up on the Gene winds were distinct Clark solo collection Roadmaster (CD, The Arcam Solo: a different perspective. from one another, and Edsel EDCD198). Notwithstanding bowings in the string the jangly-broad tempo, the song sections were easy to moved along smartly, and all the discern. Of even instruments had the right sparkle and Dangling Conversation” for laughs). greater importance, the Solo was at color. “One in a Hundred” isn’t a terri- Everything in this generally spacious least pacey enough to give Bernstein’s bly good recording, and Roger recording sounded a little more for- quick, snappy way with some lines McGuinn’s electric 12-string guitar ward than usual through the Solo, but their due: Laggy or thick this was not. part in particular can sound glassy not to the point of distraction—and It was also not as rich, solid, or through some gear—but not here. It vocal sibilants and whole-sounding was simply fine, musically and sonical- subtle hall reflec- as with the elec- ly. And on the wonderful Let My Bur- tions alike were EVERYTHING IN THIS tronics I already den Be, by Golden Shoulders (CD, preserved and pre- own and use; but Doppler dr1102, www.goldenshoul sented without GENERALLY SPACIOUS then again, if ders.com), Adam Kline’s nicely record- sounding etched purchased at re- ed voice sounded present and believ- or unreal. RECORDING SOUNDED A tail, my Fi pre- able, while the album’s many catchy With the help amp and EAR arrangemental touches—the percussion of a borrowed LITTLE MORE amp together sounds on “Do You Know Who You Linn Linto phono would push the Are,” the cool, thick slide guitar on preamp, I also FORWARD THAN USUAL price into the “Spirit of ’78,” the piano part on “Over- tried some LPs five-figure range. head Underground”—popped out of with the Arcam THROUGH THE SOLO, BUT Spoiled aesthete the mix and grabbed my attention Solo, and for some that I am, I can’t without being bright about it. reason found NOT TO THE POINT OF help but note the JVC’s pleasant XRCD remastering myself focusing Solo’s relative of Fritz Reiner’s last recording of on Columbia’s DISTRACTION. shortcomings; on Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra (CD, other icon of the the other hand, JMCXR-0011) was nicely served by no one can dis- the Solo in all the essential ways. The pute that the organ pedals and kettledrums in the ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Arcam, which costs less than one-sixth Dawn and Of the great longing sections the price, delivered a great deal more had good clarity and pitch definition, ANALOG SOURCES Linn LP12 turn- than one-sixth the music. And an alarm the Solo showing no sign of difficulty table with Linn Lingo power supply, clock, too. in damping the Quads’ panels. Those Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Akiva & Before wrapping up, I made a point instruments also had decent, if not Miyabi 47 cartridges; Rega Planar 3 of comparing the sound of Arcam’s peerless, weight and scale, and the turntable with Lyra Helikon Mono own CD section to that of Naim piece as a whole flowed from begin- cartridge; Linn Linto phono pream- Audio’s CD5x—which, at $2900, is ning to end: not bad for digital. I plifier. itself regarded as a “budget” product, might have asked for more color and DIGITAL SOURCE Naim CD5x CD albeit in a somewhat different sense— texture in the strings, and with so player. driving the Solo’s AV inputs. The much going on in one product it’s hard PREAMPLIFIER Fi. multibit Naim did sound bolder, more to say what portion or portions of the POWER AMPLIFIER EAR 890. dramatic, and altogether more real. Solo could be made better in that LOUDSPEAKERS Quad ESL-989. But the Solo’s player, which uses a sense—but the sound was by no means CABLES Interconnect: Audio Note Wolfson Microelectronics 24-bit poor, and the musical message wasn’t AN-Vx, Nordost Valhalla, Linn. sigma-delta DAC, was competitive in at all compromised. Speaker: Nordost Valhalla. every way, with unambiguously At the other end of the spectrum, ACCESSORIES Mana Reference refined sonics and a consistently the Arcam Solo sounded good on Table, Reference Wall Shelf (under involving musical performance. For Simon and Garfunkel’s Live from New turntables); Loricraft PRC4 record- whatever reason, dimly or not, I admit York City, 1967 (CD, Columbia/Legacy cleaning machine. –Art Dudley having thought of the Arcam Solo as

100 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 an integrated amp with a CD player thrown in; after that comparison, I tended to think of it as a CD player that also happened to do a good job of driving loudspeakers. A few words about broadcast music: The Arcam Solo’s FM tuner carries a sensitivity spec of 2μV—a good rating, regardless of how it was arrived at (mono, stereo, whatever). But in my rural setting, using the aforemen- tioned dipole antenna, the Solo’s real- world sensitivity appeared to be just average: The Tivoli Model One was cleaner and surer with stations that escaped the Arcam’s grasp. Adding the RadioShack 15-2163 FM antenna to the mix brought the Arcam’s perfor- mance up to par, of course, so if you buy a Solo with the intention of rely- ing on FM broadcasts for a major por- tion of your listening, do please con- sider buying a good, unamplified antenna. By the way, in reminding me that I’d once recommended Syracuse’s fine classical music station WCNY (heard at 89.5 in Utica, which is nearer to where I live), my friend the excel- lent banjoist Doug Yaehrling (former- ly with John Rossbach and Chestnut Grove) pointed out that the station has a Bluegrass Ramble every Sunday night from 9pm until midnight. Fel- low upstaters, take note.

Solo summing up At the end of the day, the most remark- able thing was that the Arcam Solo had me looking back over my shoulder at the past quarter-century of progress in domestic audio. It made me recall how, works of art: when I first got involved in this hobby, I marveled at the enormous difference the Confidence by Dynaudio in performance between affordable, mass-produced gear and the perfec- tionist stuff that captured my attention. I remember predicting, or at least hop- ing, that the often overpriced, unreli- able, poorly packaged, but wonderful- sounding equipment of the early 1980s and beyond would exert enough of a positive influence on the rank and file among subsequent generations of engi- www.dynaudio.com neers that truly good performance would someday be commonplace in products that would also be fairly priced, reliable, and cleverly pack- The Confidence range features advanced drivers, the revolutionary aged—which is to say, products that Esotar2 tweeter and Dynaudio’s innovative DDC technology average people could not only obtain developed for the Evidence series. Each model is built in Denmark but that they might actually want to obtain. The Arcam Solo is among the to meticulous standards combining highly sophisticated computer first significant steps along that road. driven manufacturing with old-world hand-craftsmanship. Strongly recommended. ■■ The Confidence defines the contemporary architecture of sound while delivering state-of-the-art performance, visible beauty and audible perfection. Info: Dynaudio USA (630) 238-4200 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 101 (Confidence C2 pictured) EQUIPMENT REPORT Burmester 011

Brian Damkroger PREAMPLIFIER

DESCRIPTION Single-chassis, remote-controlled, full-function solid-state preamplifier with integral moving-coil phono stage. Inputs: 6 balanced line (XLR), 1 unbalanced line (RCA), 1 balanced phono (XLR). Outputs: 1 balanced (XLR), 1 unbal- 1 anced (RCA), 1 headphone ( ⁄4" phone jack). Tape/processor loop: unbalanced (RCA) inputs and out- puts. Input sensitivity: 250mV for unity gain. Input impedance, line: 10k ohms, all inputs. Input imped- ance, phono: 8 user-selectable lev- els, 10–1k ohms. Output imped- ance: 66 ohms. Frequency response: 0Hz–>200kHz. Line-stage gain: user- selectable, 12dB/14dB. Phono-stage gain: user-selectable, 73dB/75dB. Phono EQ: user-selectable, RIAA/Schellack. Maximum output: user-selectable. Distortion (THD): <0.001%. Signal/noise ratio: Burmester’s compact and capable 011. >107dB @ <2V output. Phase: non- inverting at all outputs (balanced connections: pin 1 = ground, pin 2 ack in 2003, while auditioning the Burmester 001 CD player = negative, pin 3 = positive). ($14,000), I discovered that my system sounded much better if I DIMENSIONS 19" (482mm) W by bypassed my preamplifier and ran the 001 directly into the power 3.375" (95mm) H by 13.5" (342mm) amps (see review in the December 2003 Stereophile, Vol.26 D. Weight: 21 lbs (9.6kg). No.12). I concluded by suggesting that potential customers con- SERIAL NUMBER OF UNIT sider building a system around the 001 itself and forgo a preamp REVIEWED 503039. altogether. The response from Burmester fans was immediate and PRICE $15,999. Approximate num- unambiguous: As good as the 001 was on its own, it sounded even better run ber of dealers: 25. Warranty: 3 years B through its stablemate, Burmester’s 011 preamplifier ($15,999). The pair had, they parts & labor. claimed, a significant synergy that I absolutely had to hear. It’s hard to argue with MANUFACTURER Burmester determined German logic, and I’d begun shopping for a new preamp anyway. So Audiosysteme GmbH, Kolonnen- here we are. strasse 30G, 10829 Berlin, Germany. Tel: (49) 030-787968-0. Fax: (49) Form, function, features: brilliant, brilliant, and brilliant 030-787968-68. US distributor: From a usability standpoint, the Burmester is brilliant. Its extensive array of Immedia, 1101 Eighth Street, Suite input and output connections is intelligently laid out and clearly labeled, and 210, Berkeley, CA 94710. Tel: (510) the connectors themselves are of very high quality. The user interfaces are 559-2050. Fax: (510) 559-1855. equally well designed, and every bit as luxurious as you’d expect for $16k. The Web: www.immediasound.com. front panel’s two large knobs move with positive, silken clicks, and the remote—

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 103 BURMESTER 011 which controls all components in The other front-panel functions— controls the 011 doesn’t have are any for Burmester’s Top Line—is a solid block Stereo/Mono, RIAA/Shellack Phono mute or balance. of brushed stainless steel. Equalization, Source/Monitor, and The 011 is also brilliant in terms of There’s brilliance too, in how well Surround (pass-through) On/Off—are industrial design. It combines extensive the 011 combines a wide range of use- exactly what you’d expect: They’re connectivity, functionality, and multi- ful functions with simple, intuitive accessed with pushbuttons and their ple, densely stuffed circuit boards into operation. Installation boils down to status is indicated with small LEDs. one compact, elegant chassis, which plugging it in and hooking it up. For There are a few quirks, however. The begs the question of its competitors— normal operation, you simply select headphone jack is on the rear panel, for does it really have to be so complicat- an input with one large front-panel example, and a second power switch is ed? In fact, setting the matching 001 knob and set the volume with the buried in the rear panel’s AC cord CD player atop the preamp yields a other. The large display identifies the receptacle. And the phono input uses small, chrome-plated stack that’s actu- source selected, indicates the volume XLR rather than RCA connections, so ally smaller than the power supplies of level, and is easily readable from your cables will likely come from some multichassis preamps and CD across the room. Burmester, or you’ll use adapters. Two players I’ve seen. Like most engineers,

MEASUREMENTS

ooking first at the Burmester 011’s phono input appropriate for use only with MC cartridges offering very (assessed at the tape-monitor outputs, and set to low outputs. RIAA), the input impedance was 886 ohms at 1kHz The line stage offered a moderate input impedance when set to 1k ohm, and it didn’t invert signal of 11.5k ohms (balanced) and 7.7k ohms (unbalanced) polarityL (with pin 2 of the XLR jack driven by the hot at all frequencies. Absolute polarity was preserved for phase). The RIAA equalization was very accurate, with just both balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs (the 0.1dB of positive error apparent in the upper bass and XLR jacks appear to be wired with pin 2 hot), and the 0.15dB of rolloff at 20kHz (fig.1). The ultrasonic band- output impedance was a low 166 ohms (balanced) width was sensibly curtailed, the –3dB point lying at and 85 ohms (unbalanced) across the audioband. 90kHz, though the low frequencies rolled off very slightly, (Both figures include the series resistance of 6' of inter- the output at 20Hz lying at –0.5dB. Channel separation connect cable.) was superb, any crosstalk lying beneath the noise floor With the line stage set to low gain, the maximum volt- (not shown). age gain with the volume control set to “60” was 12.1dB. Even when set to low gain, the Burmester 011’s phono Switching the preamp to its high-gain setting increased stage offered 63.8dB of gain, which is high. The high-gain the maximum gain to 14.6dB. The volume control operat- setting added 6dB to this figure. Despite these high volt- ed in 1dB steps, with the unity-gain setting therefore lying age gains, the Burmester’s phono-stage signal/noise ratios at “48” for the low-gain mode. (low gain, ref. 500μV input at 1kHz) were excellent, at The Burmester’s line stage offered excellent channel 65dB unweighted wideband, 68.8dB unweighted balance, its frequency response was flat within the audioband, and 76dB A-weighted. Distortion levels were audioband and wide in bandwidth (fig.2), and its ultra- also very low, averaging 0.05%. However, while the phono sonic rolloff, –3dB just above 200kHz, was not signifi- stage’s overload margin was very good at low and high cantly affected by load or volume-control setting or by frequencies, averaging 21.5dB ref. 500μV at 1kHz, it was balanced/unbalanced operation. S/N ratios were superb, just 6dB at 20kHz, an input level of 10mV suffering from at 96.2dB A-weighted, balanced with the inputs shorted 1% THD. This figure was taken with the low gain setting, and the volume control at its maximum, ref. 1V output. suggesting that the Burmester’s phono stage will be

Fig.2 Burmester 011, line-stage balanced frequency response at 1V output Fig.1 Burmester 011, phono input, RIAA error at 1mV input (0.5dB/vertical into 100k ohms (top), 600 ohms (bottom). (0.5dB/vertical div., right div., right channel dashed). channel dashed.)

104 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 BURMESTER 011

I mentally redesign just about every- turn-on (for amps) and Burmester’s VTL’s TL-7.5 ($12,500) as my refer- thing I come across. Not this time. Link system can be enabled or dis- ence. (The VTL TL-7.5 was reviewed Below the basic operational level, abled, and the user can choose whether by Paul Bolin in the October 2003 the Burmester has a second, Program- or not plugging in headphones mutes Stereophile, Vol.26 No.10, with a “Fol- ming, level in which things get really the main outputs. low-Up” by Michael Fremer in Janu- interesting. In this mode, the user can ary 2004, Vol.27 No.1; MF reviewed select a volume offset of up to ±6dB Okay, brilliant—how does it the Sutherland PhD in January 2004 for each input, so that the volume lev- sound? and I wrote about it in May 2005.) els of different sources can be matched The Burmester 011 is a traditional full- Regardless of configuration, the for the same master volume level. The function preamp; ie, it combines both Burmester’s sound was big and vibrant, phono-stage input load can be varied line and phono stages. This architec- with an immediacy that re-created the between 10 ohms and 1k ohm, and its ture fits my needs perfectly but it’s get- feel and presence of a live perfor- gain increased by 3dB. Similarly, the ting to be a rarity—the 011 will likely mance. Its tonal colors and textures line-stage gain (and maximum output be competing with separate compo- were rich and dense, its dynamic tran- voltage) can be changed by 2dB, to best nents. To cover all the bases, I listened sients the largest and most dramatic match an amplifier’s input sensitivity. to CDs and LPs through the 011 on its I’ve heard in my system. At one The user can also set whether the unit own, then compared each “half” of the extreme, the bass drum on Jean-Paul turns on at a preset volume (“0,” for 011 to other, standalone units. For the Morel and the Paris Conservatoire’s example) or returns to the level it had phono stage, these were Ensemble’s reading of Albéniz’s Ibéria (LP, RCA when turned off. The display’s mode Fonobrio ($5800, review forthcoming) Living Stereo/Classic LSC-6094) was and brightness can be changed, remote Sutherland’s PhD ($3000), and I used deep and thunderous; I could feel the

measurements, continued

The unweighted, wideband ratio was still excellent, at 88dB (R–L) at 20kHz (not shown). 82dB. Any crosstalk was buried in the noise floor below The Burmester 011 was capable of very high output 8kHz or so, but rose to a still excellent 95dB (L–R) and levels, balanced operation not clipping into 100k ohms until 22.5V RMS (fig.3). Even into 600 ohms, clipping still didn’t occur until 15V, though distortion began to rise from its very low 100k levels above 2V RMS, which is about the maximum the preamp will be asked to deliver under real-world conditions. As expected, exactly half these voltage swings were available from the unbal- anced output jacks. The very low levels of distortion into high imped- ances seen in fig.3 were achieved in the midrange. Though there were rises at low and high frequencies into 100k ohms, these were still to lower levels than seen at half the voltage swing into 600 ohms (fig.4). The distortion spectrum in the midrange showed a lin- ear increase in harmonic energy with increasing order (fig.5), though all the harmonics lie well below –100dB Fig.3 Burmester 011, Low setting, distortion (%) vs 1kHz balanced output (0.001%), and no harmonics above the fourth can be voltage into (from bottom to top at 10V): 100k ohms, 600 ohms. seen. The overall THD level in this graph (true sum of

Fig.4 Burmester 011, THD+N (%) vs frequency at 2V into 100k ohms Fig.5 Burmester 011, spectrum of 1kHz sinewave, DC–10kHz, at 1V into 8k (bottom) and 1V into 600 ohms (top). (Right channel dashed.) ohms (linear frequency scale).

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 107 BURMESTER 011 pressure waves against my chest. And expanding auras at high frequencies, I noted that both of sound around soft, microdynamic shadings and performers or in- sharp, hard transients were repro- struments inter- duced very well. acted more with In between these extremes, the adjacent perform- tonal colorations and dynamics of the ers’, more densely midrange instruments were very well filling the spaces delineated, even in the densest pas- between them. sages. My impression was that the The 011’s Burmester gave my system’s palette images were still more tonal colors and more discrete solid and dimen- loudness levels than ever before. sional; it’s just that Gene Harris’ piano on “Cry Me a their size and River,” from Ray Brown’s Soular Ener- placement wasn’t gy (LP, Concord Jazz/Pure Audio- established by a phile PA-002), was a wonderful The 011 reflects quality and attention to detail, both inside and out. sharp delineation showcase, transitioning from subtle, of their bound- almost brushed notes across the lower aries. Instead, midrange to fast, explosive runs in some cases, that meant putting the they were more defined—and defined which each note would snap to a very front rows of the audience well below quite well—by their dynamics, inner specific volume and hold it for a split- my Thiels—listen to Rickie Lee Jones’ detail, and dense tonal structures. Bev- second before the note decomposed Naked Songs (CD, Reprise 45950-2) to erly Sills’ Violetta, in the La Traviata into a cascading mix of unique compo- hear what I mean—and in others, it conducted by Aldo Ceccato (LP, nents and harmonics. meant locating a concert hall’s ceiling Angel SCLX-3780), was a good exam- Another component of the high above them. ple. Sills was more substantial through Burmester’s sound was its huge sound- Individual performers were also the Burmester than I’ve heard her stage, which stretched to well outside large—arguably, in some instances, too through other preamps, and the ambi- my Thiel CS6 loudspeakers and large—but not distractingly so. The ence cues that described All Saints’ beyond the front wall of my room. Its 011’s slightly soft focus exaggerated Church around her were more vivid height was also large, and varied as the effect. The images were gently and better integrated. necessary to describe the venue. In spread rather than sharply bound, and I used a couple of classic “audiophile fun-house” effects to double-check the 011’s re-creation of images: the foot- measurements, continued falls and breaking bottle on “Private Investigations,” from Dire Straits’ Love the harmonics) was just 0.0007%. with a rated 1kHz output of 0.5mV at Over Gold (CD, Warner Bros. 47772- At low frequencies (not shown), the 5cm/s recorded velocity, is about the 2); and the maracas on Dead Can second harmonic rose slightly. Inter- limit I would recommend—the Dance’s “Yulunga,” from Enter the modulation distortion was also low Burmester 011’s overall measured Labyrinth (LP, 4AD DAD 3013). In (fig.6). performance is superb, with very low both cases there was definitely more Although the limited HF overload levels of distortion and noise and a information defining the images than margin of its phono stage, associated very high dynamic range. ever before, and they were more dis- with its high gain, will preclude its —John Atkinson tinct from their surroundings, which use with high- or even moderate-out- gave them an “in-the-room” presence put MC cartridges—BD’s Lyra Titan, despite the slightly soft focus. The 011’s tonal balance, like that of the 001 CD player, was slightly on the warm side of neutral. There was a bit more energy from the very bottom through at least the lower midrange than I’m used to hearing, and its bass wasn’t quite as tight as it could be. Ray Brown’s powerful, rich bass on “Mis- treated…” was a good example—per- haps just a bit too powerful, and not quite fully under control. Further up, in the lower midrange, bassoons and oboes were warm and woody, with wonder- ful, dense textures, but not quite as clean and airy as when heard live. Fig.6 Burmester 011, HF intermodulation spectrum, DC–24kHz, 19+20kHz The 011’s top end was probably a bit at 1V into 8k ohms (linear frequency scale). sweeter than the absolute truth, with a

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 109 BURMESTER 011 slightly golden glow and a touch of liq- quency spectrum. They were slightly it was with a bit of trepidation. Both uidity—but it was unfailingly gorgeous. accentuated from the lower midrange units had big, vibrant sounds, both On Art Blakey’s Caravan (LP, Riverside on down, further contrasting the 011’s were slightly warm in their tonal bal- 9438/OJC-038), Blakey’s cymbal was warm tonal balance with the VTL’s ance, and both painted a huge, softly gorgeous, with a distinct bell-like ring neutrality. Both were excellent and focused portrait of the soundstage and at its core and expanding waves of performers. In short, both were gor- shimmer that permeated the air and geous—but together, would they be too filled the room. The ring was probably THE PHRASE, ENJOYED much of a good thing? a bit too sweet and the shimmer too THE MUSIC, SUMS UP They weren’t. Combining the two golden, but I confess that it really did- seemed to slightly mitigate rather than n’t matter much—after a few minutes MY OVERALL accentuate their individual characters, of intense, analytical thought, I wrote or better align them with the essence “Great album!” in my notes, sat back, EXPERIENCE WITH of a musical performance. I cued up and enjoyed the music. Rickie Lee Jones’ “Chuck E.’s in That phrase, enjoyed the music, sums THE BURMESTER 011. Love,” from Naked Songs, turned off the up my overall experience with the lights, sat back, and—Wow! I’ve heard Burmester 011. Unless I made a con- this track many, many times, through scious effort to scrutinize and analyze, some of the best equipment available, its engaging sound and simple opera- musically satisfying, but, like the but I still wasn’t prepared for the holo- tion removed the equipment from the phono stages, gave a performance a dif- graphic way the Burmester put Jones picture and connected me directly ferent character and feel, a difference and her guitar in my listening room. with the performance. With the akin to hearing an orchestra in two Descriptions of “edge definition” and Burmester in the system, I listened very different halls. “image focus” just weren’t relevant— more to music and less to equipment she was there. than I have in a long time, and loved But do I need the preamp? I spent several evenings working every minute of it. The first time I sat down to listen to through my most live-sounding discs, CDs through Burmester’s 001 and 011, from a closely miked solo Steve For- How did it stack up? bert in a small hall to a huge As I noted up front, I spent a bit of Shostakovich symphony, double- and time comparing the 011’s line and ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT triple-checking to be sure of what I phono stages to standalone competi- ANALOG SOURCE VPI HR-X turn- was hearing. Although the degree tors. This confirmed, first, that both table & tonearm, Lyra Titan cartridge. seemed to vary slightly, the synergy of were excellent, and second, that the DIGITAL SOURCES Burmester 001, the Burmester 001 and 011 was solidly 011’s character was present in both Ensemble Dirondo CD players. there in every case. The focus tight- stages—though a bit more obvious in PREAMPLIFICATION VTL TL-7.5 ened up, as did the low bass, and the the line stage. The most overt differ- line-stage preamplifier; Sonic inner details were every bit as rich, but ence between the Burmester and Euphoria PLC, Placette Remote Vol- with a little less of the sweet, golden Sutherland’s PhD, on the other hand, ume Control passive line stages; glow that either unit had on its own. was the scale and power of their Ensemble Fonobrio, Sutherland PhD Individually, they’re wonderful com- dynamic transients, the 011’s explosive phono preamplifiers. ponents; together, they’re sensational. impact made even more obvious by POWER AMPLIFIERS VTL S-400, the comparison to the Sutherland’s Simaudio Moon Rock, Mark Levin- Summing up slightly recessed presentation. Another son No.20.6 monoblocks. The Burmester 011 is a wonderful pre- big difference was how they repro- LOUDSPEAKERS Thiel CS6. amp. If you’ve got $15,999 to spend— duced inner detail and tonal textures: CABLES Nirvana S-X Ltd., Audience and particularly if you play CDs and the PhD was pure, clean, and almost Au24, Nordost Valhalla, Silversmith LPs—you need to hear it. Its functional- delicate, the Burmester big and Silver, interconnects & speaker ity, ease of use, and efficient packaging vibrant. Brass instruments were a good cables. AC: Audience PowerChord, are brilliant, and its luxurious user example. Through the 011 they Synergistic Research Designers’ Ref- interfaces and construction quality are exploded with raucous, brassy honks; erence. commensurate with its price. Best of through the Sutherland they were pure ACCESSORIES Finite Elemente Ref- all, its sonic performance is among the and exquisitely detailed, but lacked the erence equipment rack, Ceraball very best I’ve heard. It has a big, blare. The PhD’s images, too, were equipment feet; Nordost ECO3, dynamic sound, and it reproduces inner more sharply bounded and focused Audience Auric Illuminator, Disksolu- details and tonal textures extraordinari- than the Burmester’s. tion CD cleaning/treatment fluids; ly well. Its sonic portraits aren’t as On the line-stage side, the first thing MIT ZCenter power-conditioning & sharply focused as some, but that wasn’t I noticed when I replaced the delivery systems, FIM 880 AC out- a distraction. The Burmester 011 unfail- Burmester with the VTL TL-7.5 was lets; VPI HW-16.5 record-cleaning ingly conveys the essence and emotion the latter’s smaller soundstage and machine & fluid, Disk Doctor LP & of a live performance, and is involving more tightly focused images. The CD cleaning systems; Zerodust in exactly the ways live music is. This Burmester’s dynamic transients were Onzow, Lyra SPT stylus cleaners; preamp was built by music lovers for also larger and more explosive than the Echo Busters room-treatment music lovers. Absolutely, positively, TL-7.5’s, but not as even across the fre- devices. —Brian Damkroger very highly recommended. ■■

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 111 EQUIPMENT REPORT Aesthetix Saturn Calypso

Michael Fremer PREAMPLIFIER

DESCRIPTION Remote-controlled tubed line-level preamplifier. Tube complement: two 12AX7WB, two 6922/6dJ8. Maximum voltage gain: 29dB, balanced input to balanced outputs, 23dB, unbalanced input to unbalanced outputs. Input imped- ance: 80k ohms, balanced, 40k ohms, single-ended. Output imped- The Aesthetix Saturn Calypso preamplifier, with remote. ance: 600 ohms, balanced, 300 ohms, single-ended. Frequency straight wire with gain? That’s what a line stage is supposed to response: 20Hz–20kHz, ±0.25dB. provide, but few in my experience actually accomplish it, and I’m Power consumption: 20W standby, not sure that most audiophiles would really want it that way. 100W active. Some want a bit of tightening and brightening, while some pre- DIMENSIONS 17.875" (454mm) W fer a bit of added warmth and richness. But whatever the prefer- by 4.375" (111mm) H by 18" ence, none of us wants too much of a good thing—the tighter, (457mm) D. Weight: 39 lbs (17.7 kg). brighter line stages better not sound etchy and hard, and the SERIAL NUMBER OF UNIT warmer,A richer ones better not sound thick and plodding. REVIEWED 2969. Over the past few years I’ve heard some great-sounding and versatile line PRICE $4500. Approximate number stages, including VTL’s fabulous TL-7.5, Audio Research’s Reference, Ayre’s K-5x, of dealers: 45. Musical Fidelity’s mammoth kWP (my reference), and Hovland’s HP-100, to MANUFACTURER Aesthetix Audio name but a few. Some, like the VTL, offer convenience and setup options that Corporation, 12547 Sherman Way, would make a Japanese-sourced home-theater receiver blush. Unit E, North Hollywood, CA 91605. Aesthetix’s Saturn Calypso ($4500) was inspired by the company’s more expen- Tel: (818) 759-5556. Fax: (818) 759- sive Jupiter Callisto line stage, a two-box design crammed with enough tubes to 5558. Distributed by Musical Sur- warm a small apartment. In designing the Calypso, Jim White’s challenge was to roundings, 5662 Shattuck Ave Oak- pack as much of the Callisto’s performance into a single chassis as he could while land, CA 94609 Tel: (510) 547-5006. using far fewer tubes, these driven by a solid-state power supply. Fax: 510 547-5009. Web: www.musi I liked the Calypso right out of the box—it looks as if you get something sub- calsurroundings.com. stantial for your $4500. The nicely finished faceplate of brushed, anodized alu-

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 113 minum has five triangular input push- Phono, for the Saturn Janus preamp, and control circuitry—and a noise- buttons and associated blue LEDs, which includes a phono board. reducing high-voltage circuit choke. plus additional buttons for Mute, Tape, Inside is a symmetrical dual-mono But what I noticed immediately Bypass, Phase, Display, and Standby. design, the main circuit boards (also upon removing the top cover to install The volume control is built into the derived from the Jupiter series) packed the four tubes (a 12AX7WB and a large, rectangular, transparent display. with components from RelCap, Roed- 6922 in each channel) was how little Press the left side to lower the volume, erstein, and other suppliers of premium actual wiring the Calypso has. The lay- the right side to raise it. Very neat. The capacitors, resistors, and transformers. out is ultratidy, and signal-path lengths balance can be adjusted only via the Right behind the faceplate, and the kept to a minimum. The most promi- full-function remote control. cause of the unit’s oddly front-heavy nent piece of cabling is one that takes On the rear panel are five sets of balance, is a shielded, stainless-steel the AC from the rear-mounted IEC RCA and balanced XLR inputs, a set of enclosure containing the transformers— jack to the front-mounted transformer. RCA tape output jacks, two sets each of one for the high-current/low-voltage To minimize potential noise, the cable RCA and balanced XLR main outputs, tube-heater circuit, the other for the is routed through a channel that runs and a set of dummy holes, labeled low-current/high-voltage solid-state down the center of the chassis.

MEASUREMENTS

s supplied for review—some internal jumpers are rising slightly to 3150 ohms at 20Hz. In unbalanced mode, present on each channel’s printed circuit board, the Calypso will need to be used with a power amplifier but I have no idea what they change—the Saturn offering an input impedance of at least 30k ohms if the ACalypso offered very high gain with its volume bass is not to sound lean. Fortunately, Michael Fremer’s control set to its maximum (an indicated “88” on the dis- Musical Fidelity kW amplifier has an unbalanced input play): 33.3dB from the balanced jacks, and 6dB less, as impedance of 230k ohms, so he would not have had any expected, from the unbalanced jacks. The unity-gain set- problems in that respect. ting of the volume control in balanced mode was “55.” As a result of the difference between the balanced out- Both balanced and unbalanced operation preserved put’s source impedance at low and high frequencies, the absolute polarity—ie, the preamp was noninverting—with Calypso’s response into 600 ohms will be drastically rolled the front-panel switch set to noninverting; the XLR jacks off below the middle of the midrange (fig.1, bottom trace appear to be wired with pin 2 “hot.” The balanced input below 1kHz). Into the more realistic 100k ohm load, how- impedance was a high 41k ohms across the audioband; ever, the Aesthetix preamp’s output is flat down to below the unbalanced input impedance was half this figure, at the audioband. At the other end of the spectrum, the bal- 20k ohms, which is still usefully high. anced output has a wide bandwidth, the ultrasonic –3dB The Calypso’s output impedance was very different point lying at 150kHz. This figure was taken with the vol- from the balanced and unbalanced outputs, suggesting ume control at its maximum; it decreases slightly at lower that the former have an additional buffer stage (though volume-control settings. It also decreases significantly no suitable solid-state devices can be seen on each chan- from the unbalanced jacks, to 53kHz, which results in an nel’s circuit board). The balanced output impedance was output down by 0.75dB at 20kHz (fig.1, bottom traces 112 ohms at 1kHz and above, this increasing to 3900 above 5kHz). ohms at 20Hz due to the finite physical size of the output With its dual-mono construction, the Calypso’s channel coupling capacitors. The unbalanced output impedance separation was excellent (not shown). Its signal/noise was a high 2400 ohms at midrange and high frequencies, ratio was less good, however, at 50.25dB, unweighted wideband (ref. 1V output with the input shorted and the

Fig.1 Aesthetix Saturn Calypso, balanced frequency response at 1V output into 100k ohms (top) and 600 ohms (bottom below 1kHz), and Fig.2 Aesthetix Saturn Calypso, balanced operation, distortion (%) vs 1kHz unbalanced frequency response at 1V into 100k ohms (bottom output voltage into (from bottom to top at 10V): 100k ohms, 600 above 5kHz). (0.5dB/vertical div., right channel dashed.) ohms.

114 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 AESTHETIX SATURN CALYPSO

When you’ve hooked up the Calypso It’s active only when issued a command. In short, the Saturn Calypso offers an to your system (you can mix and match The Calypso’s dual-differential, attractive combination of couch-potato single-ended and balanced compo- zero-global-feedback circuit automati- convenience without compromising its nents) and the AC, the line stage goes cally converts single-ended inputs to tweaky audiophilic performance poten- into Standby mode: tubes powered off, fully balanced. Volume control is tial. While the plastic remote isn’t luxu- solid-state circuits on, with sufficient accomplished via discrete resistors in rious or even particularly ergonomic, it voltage applied to form the coupling 88 steps of 1dB each. A bypass mode gets the job done. If you need to, you capacitors. Powering up the Calypso for home theater use allows one or can teach any learning remote to con- activates a circuit that wakes the tubes more inputs to be set for unity gain, so trol the Calypso. up gradually, ensuring their long life. that an outboard processor can handle The Calypso’s microprocessor-con- control functions. Finally, the display Can the Calypso cha-cha-cha? trolled operation is said to be accom- brightness can be programmed, or set The Calypso performed flawlessly dur- plished without compromising the to automatically adjust to the ambient ing the two months it directed my sys- sound. When not called on to perform, room lighting. You can also shut it off tem. It awoke from Standby in short the microprocessor circuit is disabled. via a button on the front panel. order without having to rub the sonic

volume control at its maximum). This compromised figure nected the preamp’s chassis ground to the test set’s chas- was due to some RF breakthrough present on the pre- sis ground. Reducing the measurement bandwidth elimi- amp’s output: a discrete tone was present at a frequency nated the effect of this tone on the measurement, howev- of 519kHz, with an absolute level of 5mV. I could not get er, and increased the S/N ratio to 78.8dB. A-weighted, the rid of this tone, no matter how I arranged the grounding ratio was a good 87.3dB. between the Calypso and the Audio Precision test set. It The Calypso was capable of enormous voltage swings. stubbornly refused to disappear even when I directly con- Fig.2 plots the percentage of THD+noise in its balanced output against output voltage into 100k ohms (right) and 600 ohms (left). No fewer than 65V are available at clip- ping (defined as 1% THD+N) into 100k ohms! However, the distortion starts to rise above 2V, which is about the highest the Calypso will be asked to deliver under real- world conditions. Even into the demanding 600 ohm load, the Calypso would swing 10V RMS from its bal- anced output. The unbalanced output delivered up to 30V into 100k ohms (fig.3). However, its output capability fell off rapidly as the load decreased, with 5.3V available into 10k ohms but just 600mV into 1k ohm. With the levels and load impedance the Calypso will be working with, its distortion from either set of out- puts is low. Fig.4, for example, plots the THD+noise percentage against frequency at 2V from the balanced outputs into 100k and 600 ohms. Even into 600 ohms, Fig.3 Aesthetix Saturn Calypso, unbalanced operation, distortion (%) vs the THD+N remains at or below 0.05% from the worst, 1kHz output voltage into (from bottom to top): 100k ohms, 10k ohms, 1k ohm. left, channel, while with the unbalanced output driving 1V into 8k ohms—a load well below what I would rec-

Fig.4 Aesthetix Saturn Calypso, balanced, THD+N (%) vs frequency at 2V into (from bottom to top): 100k ohms, 600 ohms (right channel Fig.5 Aesthetix Saturn Calypso, unbalanced spectrum of 1kHz sinewave, dashed). DC–10kHz, at 1V into 8k ohms (linear frequency scale).

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 115 AESTHETIX SATURN CALYPSO sleep from its eyes before delivering its match the VTL’s luscious yet transpar- With Wilson Audio Specialties’ full musical bounty. It routed sources ent, silky-smooth mids—few preamps MAXX2 loudspeakers—capable of silently and responded to commands I’ve heard can—but it was sufficiently low-end performance down to 20Hz, instantaneously. As a piece of audio review forthcoming in the August hardware, you can’t ask for more for issue—there would have been no hid- $4500—or for twice that, for that matter. THE CALYPSO’S ing any bass inadequacies the Saturn It took just a few hours of concen- Calypso might have had. But the trated listening for me to understand BOTTOM-END Calypso’s bottom-end performance why so many readers have asked me to never left me wanting more extension, review Aesthetix’s Saturn series. Not PERFORMANCE NEVER more control, or more definition—all since the VTL TL-7.5 was in my sys- of which came as a big, pleasant sur- tem have I experienced such mesmer- LEFT ME WANTING MORE prise when I substituted it for the izing midband richness unmarred by kWP (though the MF was still some- thickness and congestion. Equally EXTENSION, MORE what more “punchy”). impressive was the Calypso’s quietness. When asked to deliver the lowest, Tube rush? Never heard any. And CONTROL, OR MORE stomach-rattling organ notes or mas- while I almost pulled the trigger on sive reggae bass attacks, the Calypso buying the hypnotic-sounding VTL DEFINITION. responded with sufficient extension, 7.5, in the end I hesitated because its control, followthrough, and well- bottom-end extension and control, sculpted low-end definition to be while appropriately nuanced and well- juicy to float delicate if somewhat completely credible at all times. It textured for acoustic bass, were not more recessed images, and its bottom- served up electric and acoustic bass, sufficiently taut and punchy to serve all end extension and rhythmic drive kick drums, and timpani with satisfying of my musical needs. delivered rock and pop’s musical textural and tonal authority, maintain- Musical Fidelity’s kWP couldn’t goods unhindered. ing control whether the musical ges- tures were small or massive. When I cranked up the volume the Calypso delivered, never compressing, bottom- measurements, continued ing out, or smearing the bass. The Aesthetix’s midband presenta- ommend—the THD measured ohms, lying at –75dB. tion was everything I expect from an 0.078% (true sum of the harmon- While there were some aspects of all-tube circuit: rich, colorful, harmoni- ics), the second, third, and fourth the Aesthetix Saturn Calypso’s mea- cally involving, fully fleshed out—all harmonics linearly decreasing in sured performance that concerned without sounding waterlogged, slug- level with increasing order (fig.5). me—that RF noise on its output, for gish, or overly “golden” or romanti- The latter is always musically con- example—and others will mandate cized. The midrange picture served all sonant behavior, particularly as that care be taken with component musical genres equally well—a difficult there are no higher-order harmon- matching, overall, this is a well-engi- balancing act. ics evident in this graph. neered preamplifier. Overall, the Calypso’s midrange Both balanced (not shown) and —John Atkinson performance bettered that of my refer- unbalanced outputs (fig.6) featured ence kWP, which sounded somewhat relatively low levels of intermodula- polite and recessed by comparison, tion distortion, the 1kHz difference with a tendency toward “oily,” insuffi- component, resulting from the pre- cient definition of high-frequency amp driving an equal mix of 19kHz transients. The kWP seemed to lead and 20kHz tones at 1V into 8k with the transient attack, the harmon- ics following in tow. The Calypso pro- duced that breath of musical life in which everything hits simultaneously. The top octaves were extended, airy, and natural sounding, cymbals ringing sweetly but decisively, with just the right balance of shimmer and crackle. Hard-edged electric guitar lines had satisfyingly ear-searing bite, never sounding softened or rounded off. The louder I turned up the vol- ume, the better it sounded on top, yet the Calypso delivered the goods at the lowest levels too. That’s how live music sounds. Get Fig.6 Aesthetix Saturn Calypso, unbalanced HF intermodulation spectrum, close to the stage and cymbals contin- DC–24kHz, 19+20kHz at 1V into 8k ohms (linear frequency scale). ue to ring sweetly, but more intensely.

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 117 AESTHETIX SATURN CALYPSO

Even when you get so close your ears tem, driving the Musical Fidelity kW we spent the next few hours wowing begin to throb and ring sympathetical- power amps and the MAXX2s. I’d through some choice tunes. ly, it’s because of the SPLs, not just taken MF’s kW phono preamp Just before finishing this review, I because of harshness. The Calypso’s out and replaced it with the Rhea. returned the kWP preamp to the sys- tonal and transient presentation was That earlier combo had kept me up tem, still using the kW phono preamp. like that. It never sounded hard or until 3am nightly, me telling myself Ugh. That combo wasn’t happening harsh, but neither did it sound soft or that this was, by a wide margin, the either. Even after a 48-hour warmup, muffled or overly round. It was a truly best stereo system I’d ever heard in everything sounded gray and lifeless. amazing balancing act that had me my home, and perhaps (I’m embar- Bass was rubbery, transients slick and cranking up the volume and sticking rassed to write) the best I’d heard any- silvery. The harmonic, textural, and my smiling face right into it, night where—something I had never before tonal colors had been drained from the after night, and never wishing for told myself. music. These $44,900/pair speakers had more or less of anything. But on this night, with this VIP sit- wowed me for weeks. Now they bored The Calypso’s spatial presentation ting in my listening chair, it just wasn’t me. I inserted the Manley Steelhead was equally impressive, placing well- happening. He knew it and I knew it, phono preamp. All better. Life restored. focused, delicately rendered images in though I said nothing. “Let me switch The Aesthetix Rhea phono preamp a vast three-dimensional space without something around,” I said, and substi- is an excellent component—as are the etch or blur. This level of performance tuted the kW phono for the Rhea. Musical Fidelity kWP preamp and kW elicited well-deserved “Wows” from With that, the system sprang to life; phono preamp—but in my system for friends listening to familiar recordings those days, the combinations of the (hearing them through the MAXX2s two MF pieces or the two Aesthetix didn’t hurt, I promise). The sonic pic- pieces didn’t do justice to the music or ture never “stuck” to the speaker baf- ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT to the system or to the individual com- fles—what we heard were three-dimen- ANALOG SOURCES Simon Yorke S7, ponents. When you’re cooking up a sional, fleshed-out images that floated Nottingham Audio Deco turntables; stereo system, it’s not enough to use and “popped” convincingly. Immedia RPM-2, Graham 2.2, Not- the finest ingredients. You have to Dynamics at both ends of the scale tingham Audio Ace-Anna tonearms; make sure the recipe works. were equally well served by the Lyra Titan, Lyra Helikon mono, Lon- Calypso, delivered with a natural don Reference cartridges. Conclusion musical flow that was not hyped. Per- DIGITAL SOURCES Musical Fidelity Was I impressed by Jim White’s Aes- haps some of the LPs and CDs I Tri-Vista SACD/CD player, Alesis Mas- thetix Saturn Calypso? Damn straight I played during the weeks I auditioned terlink CD-R recorder. was. Used with far more expensive the Calypso had greater macrodynam- PREAMPLIFICATION Aesthetix Sat- gear, it held its own and then some, and ic potential, but the preamp’s “slam” urn Rhea, Whest PhonoStage .20, had one of the best-balanced sounds of factor was never in doubt, and if the Musical Fidelity kW, Manley Steel- any audio component I’ve come across tube-driven circuit had a higher noise head phono preamplifiers; Musical at any price. At $4500 it’s no budget floor than a solid-state design would Fidelity kWP preamplifier. product, but it’s a high-performance have had, the noise was neither audi- POWER AMPLIFIER Musical Fidelity component in every sense of the term, ble, nor did it interfere with low-level kW monoblocks. and something you can stick in the face dynamic scaling or the resolution of LOUDSPEAKER Wilson MAXX2. of any cynic who thinks high-end inner detail. CABLES Phono: Cardas Neutral Ref- audio has become a ripoff. Whatever If the Calypso lacked in any depart- erence, Audience Au24, Hovland. the Calypso’s sonic shortcomings ment, it would be that it might have Interconnect: AudioQuest Sky, Trans- might be, they’re so well hidden that missed the last bit of expansive air and parent Audio Reference, Harmonic you’ll discover them only by changing resolution you can find in some pre- Technology Magic Link One, out the Calypso for whatever might amps costing far more—but not in all of CyberLight Wave P2A LAM Photon prove to be better. My biggest com- them. On the other hand, the Calypso Transducer. Speaker: Transparent plaint was the manual’s virtually blank never sounded bright, hard, or artificial Audio Reference. AC: Shunyata specifications page. The purchaser of a unless the recording told it to sound Research, JPS. high-performance audio product de- that way. ACCESSORIES Sounds of Silence serves better documentation. Vibraplane, Gingko Audio isolation The Aesthetix Saturn Calypso was Cooking platforms; Finite Elemente Pagode one of the most enjoyable, musically Audio is like cooking: the combina- equipment stands; Shun Mook satisfying preamplifiers I have had the tion of ingredients is as important as Audio LP Record Clamp, Locus pleasure of reviewing. Your $4500 the quality of each. Recently, an exec- DampClamp, Hagerman Audio UFO buys you a beautifully built, smartly utive from a major record label visited clamp/strobe; Loricraft, VPI HW 17F designed, crisply functioning, versatile, my listening room. He wanted to lis- record-cleaning machines; Audio- and, most important, sonically brilliant ten to the Wilson MAXX2s, and dharma Cable Cooker; Walker Audio preamplifier. I could live with it happi- through them the only format he Precision Isolated Power Motor ly ever after. You could spend a great takes seriously: vinyl. When he Drive; Shunyata Research Hydra 2 & deal more and get more for your arrived, in the middle of this review, I 8 power conditioners; ASC Tube money, but you’re just as likely to get had the Aesthetix Saturn Rhea phono Traps, RPG BAD & Abffusor panels. less—that’s how good the Saturn preamp and Saturn Calypso in the sys- —Michael Fremer Calypso is. ■■

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 119 RECORD REVIEWS

RECORDING OF THE MONTH DAVID CHESKY Area 31

n an impassioned plea—which, if you know the man, is “quasi-tonal,” which seems apt—at any given moment, each very much his way—the indefatigable David Chesky flirts simultaneously with tonality and atonality. Both tried to convince me that with Area 31 he’d created a works are also sprightly, deliberately playful, romping new music, a new fusion of classical music and jazz that about in almost insectile furor. Only in the Violin (roughly paraphrasing) “would take classical music out Concerto’s plaintive Andante misterioso do things slow to a of the concert hall and back to the people. Make it more contemplative tempo. cool.”I He then tried to convince me that classical musicians As for The Girl from Guatemala (surely a jokey reference could drink most rock’n’rollers under the table, but that’s a to Jobim’s classic “The Girl from Ipanema,” though I for- subject best left for another day. got to ask), as bravely as Korean soprano Wonjung Kim This ambitious new disc is the best collection of tries to negotiate the work’s tongue-twisting turns and Chesky’s own music so far, and proof that, no matter how wrestle them into intelligible form, most of the words, variable the output of the record label that bears his name, and thus the meaning of this tale of heartbreak, remain he remains, first and fore- muddled. More often most, a talented composer. than not when this track Has he fulfilled the claim came up, I found myself made above? Possibly. The pressing the skip but- music on Area 31 is still very ton. Here, Chesky’s pal- much rooted in the modern mas add insult rather classical idiom. It does, than the intended however, have lots of rhyth- rhythmic accent. mic touches—his constant Led by conductor use of flamenco-style palmas Anthony Aibel, the Area (handclaps), for example— 31 ensemble is up to the that make it jumpier and task of tackling Chesky’s give it a more urban feel, if I adventurous, assured can apply that word to clas- music. Their playing has sically based music. In the the kind of edge that’s concertos for flute and vio- needed to realize lin, there are moments Chesky’s bold dreams for when another word not this music. Violinist Tom usually applied to classical Chiu’s résumé includes music comes to mind: this more “out” credits than stuff swings. DAVID CHESKY: Area 31 anything else—he’s played The Girl from Guatemala, Flute Concerto, Violin Concerto The strength of Area 31 Wonjung Kim, soprano; Jeffrey Khaner, flute; Tom Chiu, with such unconvention- lies in those concertos, violin; Anthony Aibel, Area 31 al talents as Ornette Chesky SACD288 (SACD/CD). 2004. David Chesky, David which frame a weaker but Eggar, prods.; Barry Wolfson, eng.; Rick Eckerle, second Coleman and John Zorn. mercifully short aria for eng.; Nicholas Prout, mastering, editing. AAD? TT: 56:31 Flutist Jeffrey Khaner’s ★★★★1 soprano and orchestra. Performance ⁄2 career has been more Sonics ★★★★★ Unlike many compositions conventional; he was the for soloist “and orchestra,” Cleveland Orchestra’s each concerto is a showcase Principal Flutist before for its solo instrument. This is particularly true of the Flute occupying that position with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Concerto, easily one of the most rhythmically vital works Equal to this disc’s music is its sound, which is sterling and for that instrument you’ll ever encounter. Instead of without flaw in both the CD and multichannel layers. The orchestral works in which the flute pops in and out to three-dimensional sound portrait on the CD layer is aston- deliver solo set pieces, Jeffrey Khaner’s excited playing ishingly good. Part of David Chesky’s theory of creating new weaves its often frenetic way throughout the entire piece; hybrid music includes lots of low-end bass response—all the by the time the work reaches its crashing crescendo, he lit- better for feeding one of those teeth-rattling car-stereo rigs— erally hoots at full volume. and here he doesn’t disappoint. Turn up this reference-level Both solo parts are written with a jazz sensibility in disc and you can make window glass quiver. mind, the attacks inherent in many of the solo bursts I’m not convinced that David Chesky has created some- strongly reminiscent of the way jazz moves between thing entirely new here. Then again, great changes often ensemble and solo passages. The concertos are also similar arrive in a series of steps. More likely he’s expanded his own in tone, their incessant South American–flavored rhythms canon in a meaningful way with these delightful new and vividly recalling the work of Villa-Lobos and other Latin accessible concertos that are delightfully well-recorded. composers. When we spoke, Chesky called the concertos —Robert Baird www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 123 RECORD REVIEWS classical rock/pop SALONEN NIC ARMSTRONG Foreign Bodies, Wing on Wing, Insomnia The Greatest White Liar

Anu Komsi, Piia Komsi, sopranos; Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish Radio New West NW6072 (CD). 2005. Liam Watson, prod., eng. AAD? TT: 42:57 Symphony Orchestra Performance ★★★★ 1 Deutsche Grammophon 00289 477 5375 (CD). 2005. Sid McLauchlan, prod.; Sonics ★★★ ⁄2 Rainer Maillard, eng. DDD. TT: 66:53 Performance ★★★ ★★★★ Sonics aybe there isn’t anything new under the sun and all the ideas in rock’n’roll have truly been used up. If ollowing the 2001 release of his hugely successful LA that were true, would it be the end of the world? Variations (Sony Classical SK 89158), Finnish compos- M Probably not. For example, America is now er-conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen took a season-long enduring yet another British Invasion, except this time most Fsabbatical from his directorship of the Los Angeles of the bands sound like Coldplay, or stress fashion over music Philharmonic to write some more music. Despite the substi- (or both). Which makes it seem as if this Invasion is aiming tution of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for the awfully low. L.A. Phil, the three world-premiere recordings that comprise But there’s hope in the person of Nic Armstrong, a 25-year- this latest collection of works by Salonen are even more old, Newcastle-born singer and songwriter whose sound isn’t injected with Hollywood sheen than those on the previous particularly original, either. But at least Armstrong has gone to album. Given the pristine uniformity of orchestral strategy the true masters for inspiration: the Beatles, the Rolling and glassy engineering throughout the recording, it is hard to Stones, the Animals, the Kinks. After all, if we’re gonna have doubt that this effect is anything but inten- a British Invasion, let’s really go for it. tional, and it would come as no surprise were On his debut CD, The Greatest White Liar, Salonen to try his hand at film scoring some- Armstrong does that and more. His original where down the road. songs are brief and to the point; only two hover The works recorded here are for large around the four-minute mark. The guitars orchestra and are largely atmospheric, with offer stinging, trebly leads or are fuzzed out, sound exploration and orchestral balance while the bass bounces, the drums clatter, an taking priority over thematic development. occasional harmonica honks, and Armstrong

Salonen’s music is propelled forward MARY SCANLON/NEWWEST RECORDS MARY SCANLON/NEW WEST RECORDS shouts and strains over the whole mess. It’s a lot through a constant building of tension, and of noisy fun. the composer remains ever vigilant to aural- Armstrong’s songs range from the manic “I ly track the driving force of his music for his Can’t Stand It” and “On a Promise” and the listeners under strict adherence to the Law sassy, Stones-like “Broken Mouth Blues,” to of Conservation of Energy, which states that ballads such as “I’ll Come to You” and “Too energy cannot be created or destroyed, only Long for Her.” “Scratch the Surface” and “The changed in form. This commitment to Finishing Touch,” meanwhile, show the sort of transparency on every level is what encour- British music-hall influence that the Kinks used ages the use of such terms as compelling and Flush the fashion! Nic Armstrong to revel in. gripping, so often employed to describe is British and he’s invading. The album also boasts two delightful covers: Salonen’s music. Arthur Butler and Jerry Leiber’s “Down Rhythm, too, remains accessible and trans- Home Girl” (“Every time you kiss me, girl, you parent throughout; even Foreign Bodies, which is given more smell like pork and beans”), which was recorded by everyone movement than the other works in the trio, is equipped from the Coasters and Memphis Minnie to the Stones. with a steady, driving beat. At times, this lack of rhythmic Armstrong gives the song a clever twist by adding the main variation leaves the music feeling a bit foursquare, as the guitar lick from Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman.” He also inevitability squashes any chance of surprise. Foreign Bodies takes on Chuck Berry’s mostly unheralded rocker “I Want remains the most intriguing work on the disc for its breatha- to Be Your Driver.” bility and excitement, two qualities lacking in Wing on Wing, Those tracks offer evidence that Nic Armstrong is a seri- a beautiful soundscape featuring intertwining sister sopra- ous student of the kind of music that he plays—the original nos Anu and Piia Komsi that nevertheless makes for a rather British bands revered Berry and old R&B tunes, of course— static 25 minutes and doubtless functioned better as the live and not merely a tourist, which is heartening. For him, event it was commissioned for: the opening of the Walt there’s a future in the past.` —Daniel Durchholz Disney Concert Hall. The sampled voice of Frank Gehry (the Hall’s architect) begs a live spatial quality not permitted in a listener’s imagined concert hall. The unrelenting DOVES Insomnia enraptures with its fusion of busy string lines dri- Some Cities ven by longer, arcing brass lines on top. On the whole, this album disappoints relative to the Sony Classical release; Capitol 74609 (CD). 2005. Doves, Ben Hillier, prods., mix; Rich Costey, mix. AAD? TT: 46:56 there is nothing here to equal the inventiveness and excite- Performance ★★★★ ★★★1 ment of LA Variations. —Ben Finane Sonics ⁄2 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 125 ritics fumble over which flowery adjectives to deploy love we can’t trust?” His voice is a color, a reverb- and echo- in describing a band like the Doves. The Manchester, laden instrument that adds dimension to the material. A soar- UK, pop-rock trio has, over the course of three full- ing keyboard track gives a majestic lift to “Snowden,” a Moody Clength discs, struck a figurative chord with their Blues-inspired gem whose traditional rock rhythm section sound—a lush, melodic, compelling vibe with enough grit to reminds you that the Doves can still kick up a decent racket. be believable, a cross between Coldplay and OK Computer— The title tune accomplishes the same, disrupting the melodi- era Radiohead. Their previous recording, The Last Broadcast, cism with a jagged, Stonesy guitar and some abrupt chord debuted at #1 in their homeland, as did Some Cities. It seems changes. “The Storm” feels like a blues, but some tinkering this is a rare instance in which art intersects with commerce. with the underlying rhythms keeps it playful and unpre- The Doves—Jimi Goodwin and the Williams twins—write dictable. The production, slightly uneven but perhaps pur- Rubensesque epics, posely so, is not spectacular, just passable. full-bodied songs Those flowery adjectives? Obviously, it’s hard to avoid rich in passion and using at least a few. But for the money, the Doves’ own textured resonance. musical eloquence does all the talking necessary. —Bob Gulla They dabble in elec- tronics—the band- DEIRDRE O’CALLAGHAN members were once NEW ORDER in a hardcore Waiting for the Sirens’ Call Manchester dance act—but, like Warner Bros. 49307-2 (CD). 2005. New Order, Jim Spencer, Stephen Street, Coldplay, they John Leckie, Stuart Price, Mac Quayle, prods.; Cenzo Townshend, Bruno understand how to Ellingham, engs. ADD? TT: 63:24 Performance ★★ transform simple Too much peace? The Doves know lush. Sonics ★★★★★ pop songs into blissed-out epics. As onically speaking, Waiting for the Sirens’ Call is magnifi- a trio, they’ve got cent—as New Order albums generally are. It’s the first plenty of room to explore. Guitarist-singer Goodwin exploits effort from the band since the departure of keyboardist this space with languid, soulful singing. “Someday Soon,” the SGillian Gilbert, although judging by the prevalence of best track on the album, conjures the spirit of Wish You Were New Order-y synthesizers and sequencers, her contributions Here Pink Floyd as Goodwin swoons, “Why is it the ones we won’t be missed. The Mancunian quartet’s signatures, in fact, are

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Performance ★★★1⁄2 all accounted for: reliably four-square Sonics ★★★1⁄2 drumming equally welcome on a band- ECCENTRIC SOUL: The Bandit Label stand or in a disco; earnestly strummed, Numero N003 (CD). 2004. Arrow Brown, Benjamin Wright, prods.; Rob Sevier, reissue spangly guitar riffs and melodic lead bass; compiler. TT: 69:49 gorgeous, billowy clusters of synths; all Performance ★★★ ★★★1 buffed to a dancefloor-friendly chromi- Sonics ⁄2 um sheen. YELLOW PILLS: Prefill So what’s the problem? Well, Waiting Numero N004 (2 CDs). 2005. Various prods., engs.; Jordan Oakes, reissue compiler. TT: should go over like pure aural soma in 94:32 the boutiques and clubs, but at home Performance ★★★★★ ★★★★ or in a car it’s an endurance test, and Sonics for one reason: guitarist Bernard All four: Tom Lunt, Ken Shipley, reissue prods.; Jeff Albrecht’s vocals. Never a particularly Lipton, mastering. AAD? expressive man at the mike, his sim- pering, sing-songy, nursery-rhyme ith so much material lan- style quickly wears thin. Nor has he guishing in record-company ever been noted for his lyric profundi- vaults and so much money ty, and while no one’s expecting him to Wto be made at the advent of memorize the Dylan songbook, his the CD era, it’s hardly a surprise that words on Waiting wouldn’t make it past most labels got reissues all wrong. In a hung-over, ADD-stricken editor for their rush to get the music back into Hallmark. Banalities range from such circulation, such minor inconveniences self-help gobbledigook as “You’ve as, say, sound quality, packaging, and gotta hold your head up high / you’ve liner notes were swept away in the gotta lift that heavy load” and “We all search for a couple quick bucks. Okay, want some kind of love / but some- a couple billion. times it’s not enough” to some truly There have been exceptions. Rhino, remarkable howlers: “give me one in its golden age, continually brought more day / give me another night” and out quality reissues that were great not “real love can’t be sold / it’s another merely for their artistic vision, but color than gold” are only the tip of the because the label’s lawyers worked Albrecht iceberg. through countless thorny licensing Almost without exception, these issues. (Today, Rhino’s Handmade songs start out with tremendous imprint seems to approximate some of promise—the luminous, neo-Latin gui- their old philosophy.) Universal’s tar intro of “Turn,” the nocturnal synth Deluxe Editions of various artists’ land- and shuddery sequencer opening of mark CDs have been carefully planned “Guilt is a Useless Emotion”—only to and put together, and MBL Radialstrahler be deep-sixed the moment Albrecht Columbia/Legacy’s Miles Davis boxed – the 3-dimensional experience – opens his mouth. The album’s partially sets have been well executed. And what redeemed by the final song (not count- looks more handsome on a shelf than a all the beauty ing a bonus remix track), “Working group of Impulse! CDs, with their uni- and magic Overtime,” a somewhat uncharacteris- form black-and-orange spines? There of natural sound tic (for New Order) slice of hard-edged are others worthy of praise as well. garage rock that suggests a hi-tech take But far too often, reissues have been on the Standells or the Remains. But seen as mere cash cows, and at this late that’s too little too late. Would it be date it seems the vaults have been rude to ask that New Order, always a milked bone dry. remixer-friendly outfit, reissue Waiting Well, maybe not quite. There’s still in an all-instrumental edition? room in the music business for bou- —Fred Mills tique reissue labels that bring back into circulation music that has been forgot- ten or unjustifiably ignored. Numero, NUMERO RECORDS a Chicago label run by Ken Shipley From the Crates and Tom Lunt, is one such. The first thing you notice about ECCENTRIC SOUL: The Capsoul Label Numero CDs is their look: arresting Numero N001 (CD). 2004. Bill Moss, the Capsoul black-and-white photos on one side, Guys, prods.; Rob Sevier, reissue compiler. TT: 60:23 the album’s title and catalog number in Performance ★★★★ small characters on a white background MBL of America Sonics ★★★★ on the other, and spines that are uni- Phone: (001) 480 563 4393 ANTENA: Camino del Sol form save for their minimal use of dif- e-Mail: [email protected] Numero N002 (CD). 2004. Antena, John Foxx, prods.; Gilles Martin, Gareth Jones, engs. TT: ferent colors on the top. Inside, the art- www.mbl-hifi.com 47:34 work matches the feel and concept of www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 127 Music Systems & Home Theatre the individual project. The liner notes are extensive, scholarly, and, significant- ly, entertaining. In short, you can sense how much attention has been lavished on these releases; they pretty much win your heart and mind even before you’ve pushed Play. Once you do, though, that closes the deal for sure. Numero’s first release was a collec- New, Meridian G Series in Stock! tion of “eccentric soul” from Capsoul, G68 Processor and New G68J, a Columbus, Ohio, label that, in the G98 DVD Player 1970s, released a dozen singles and G07 & G08 CD Player one album over the course of five Introducing Sony's New years before going belly-up. There’s State of the Art Front nothing particularly eccentric about Projector QUALIA 004 & the music, though, beyond the label’s Rear Projection 006 inability to get much of it played on on display the radio. Rescued here are a host of wonderful soul chestnuts, such as Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr’s “You Can’t Blame Me,” led by Virgil Johnson’s elas- tic falsetto vocal; Bill Moss’s “Sock It To ’Em Soul Brother,” a song about racial pride (with a now-comical shout out to O.J. Simpson); the Four Mints’ smoother-than-smooth “You’re My Desire”; and Elija & the Ebonites’ “Hot McIntosh MC 501 Monoblock Grits!!!,” a pumping instrumental oppor- Power Amplifier in Stock! tunistically named after Al Green’s then- newsworthy scalding incident. The rest of the songs are garden-variety ’70s soul that won’t replace releases from Motown, Philly International, or Stax in your mythology, but they’re all worth repeated listening. Antena’s Camino del Sol is an album of “electro-samba” music made in the CA-M400 Power Amplifier early ’80s by a Parisian trio who New on Display! LINN Products crossed the minimalist synthesized beats of Krautrockers Can and www.jsaudio.com Kraftwerk with the lithe Latin sounds Accuphase • Analysis Plus • Bryston of Jobim and Gilberto. It’s an odd but Billy Baggs • Classé Audio • Cardas • Dali alluring combination—witness their Dynaudio • EAR • Jeff Rowland • Grado Kimber Illuminati • Kimber Select outré version of “The Boy from Mark Levinson • Linn • Meridian Digital Ipanema,” produced by ex-Ultravoxx Meridian Reference • Monster Cable Magnum Dynalab • Niles • Pioneer Elite frontman John Foxx. Pioneer Elite Plasma • REL • SME Other tracks range from the full-on Sony Qualia • Sony XBR • Sony Plasma Stewart Filmscreens • VPI electronic blitz of “Spiral Staircase” and “To Climb a Cliff” to the more sedate One year 100% trade up policy • Select pre- owned products available title track and “Silly Things.” There are Equipment trade-ins accepted occasional guitars and saxophones in the mix, which is perhaps why Antena’s music was overlooked in the first place: It’s neither fish nor fowl, and thus was passed over by the New Wave set and Latin music fans as well. And it predated the lounge-music trend by more than a 4919 Saint Elmo Avenue decade. Still, this is the sort of thing that, Bethesda, Maryland 20814 if Numero hadn’t dug it up first, might 301.656.7020 have been excavated by David Byrne’s fax: 301.656.7741 Luaka Bop label, had they been looking e-mail: [email protected] in the right part of the world. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover Unlike its Eccentric Soul predecessor,

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Numero’s third release, The Bandit More to the point, Prefill, like the Label, has a better story than back cata- Numero releases that came before it, log. Arrow Brown, a scofflaw and may well send you down to the local denizen of Chicago’s south side, ran the flea market to dig through a few crates label out of his house, a “musical com- of old records yourself. If you find mune” populated by some of his artists, something weird and wonderful, let the who also served collectively as his per- label know; they just might reissue it. sonal harem. Imagine Berry Gordy God bless them for that. gone all Iceberg Slim. —Daniel Durchholz Some of Bandit’s output is worth- while, such as the gripping “We Have Love” by the Arrows, as well as vari- ous songs by the more ambitiously jazz named Majestic Arrows, a quartet that didn’t actually play or sing on their JAZZ PIANO one and only album; those details were handled by anonymous but emi- JIM SNIDERO: Close Up nently able studio musicians. Bandit’s Jim Snidero, alto sax; Eric Alexander, tenor sax; David Hazeltine, piano; Paul Gill, bass; Billy biggest star was Brown’s son Altyrone, Drummond, drums who was supposed to be the label’s Milestone MCD-9341 (CD). 2004. Jim Snidero, answer to Michael Jackson. The young prod.; Mike Marciano, eng. DDD. TT: 54:32 Performance ★★★★ singer went on to win a Tony Award Sonics ★★★★ and appear in two movies, but on DAVID HAZELTINE: Close to You record, his talent was, to be charitable, David Hazeltine, piano; Peter Washington, bass; Joe pretty raw. Farnsworth, drums Criss Cross 1247 (CD). 2004. Gerry Teekens, prod.; By the 1980s, Bandit had gone Max Bolleman, eng. DDD. TT: 63:46 under; most of their master recordings Performance ★★★★ disappeared, and their stock of unsold Sonics ★★★★ records was thrown out. The CD lose Up is protean alto saxo- sounds remarkable, considering that phonist and composer Jim the source material consisted mostly of Snidero’s return to a small- decades-old 45s. Only a few songs are C group format after 2003’s marred by pops and clicks. Strings (Milestone 9326), the power- The most recent Numero release, house album for jazz quartet and the power-pop compilation Yellow Pills: string section—and his first for a major Prefill, is a triumph of crate-digger cul- jazz label—that brought him a ture. It’s curated by Jordan Oakes, a deserved wider audience. Here he serious power-pop fan who, in the teams up with four other premier early to mid-1990s, edited a well- New York stalwarts: pianist David regarded fanzine, also titled Yellow Pills, Hazeltine, bassist Paul Gill, drummer and put together a quartet of power- Billy Drummond, and, on several pop compilations for the Big Deal tracks, the formidable tenorman Eric label. Those collections featured some Alexander. They’re all longtime if of the subgenre’s better-known “stars,” intermittent colleagues, and the famil- such as Matthew Sweet, Material Issue, iarity adds cohesion. Dwight Twilley, and Redd Kross. Prefill Snidero, 45, here offers a contempo- is nothing but obscurities from start to rary version of a forward-looking, mid- finish. If you know someone in any of 1960s Blue Note session—well-crafted, these bands, you’re either related to inventive originals and two standards them or, at some point, dated them. played with imagination, verve, and The two CDs of material are almost emotion. Close Up exemplifies one all gathered from the golden age of aspect of mainstream jazz’s cutting power pop, 1978–1982. Among the edge. The profoundly musical leader things shared by all of these bands—the has bebop roots but thinks modern: in Tweeds, the Sponsors, the Trend, the one moment he swings with deep Toms, and many more—besides a pen- melody; in the next, a tart remark gives chant for skinny ties, are a gift for brevi- his work spicy edge. He doesn’t play it ty, melody, great vocal harmonies, and a safe; you keep wondering where he’s complete lack of commercial success. going next, how he’ll surprise. He But once you hear these CDs, just try always does. dislodging short, sharp songs such as “I The tuneful title track skips along at a Need That Record,” “Not My Girl medium bounce and epitomizes Anymore,” and “She’s Hi-Fi” from Snidero’s approach. With his juicy, per- your cerebral cortex. It can’t be done. sonal tone he moves seamlessly from www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 129 song-like statements to bluesy thoughts to abstract-leaning ideas, giving the improv an appealing flow as Hazeltine drops in glimmering single lines and hearty chords. Snidero’s emphatic solo on the creeping slow blues, “Nippon Blue,” also shifts stances. The piano’s absence gives the piece openness. Tenorman Eric Alexander plays with vigor and persuasion, doing his own envelope-stretching at points. The fast “Smash” again finds Snidero offering a range of detailed, colorful ideas—likewise Alexander and Hazeltine. For old-school but not old- fashioned Snidero there’s the timeless ballad “Prisoner of Love,” one warm phrase following another. Here, Hazeltine sings a brief, sweet-noted story; throughout the album, the pianist is a just-so accompanist, perfectly prompting his partners. Gill and Drummond, both dynamic soloists, also shine in support. The solid sound offers a bold picture, though the drums could be more present. David Hazeltine’s own album, Close to You, is in the traditional mainstream mode; the pianist, like one of his favorites, Cedar Walton, puts his own spin on the bop and post-bop approach- es. Bassist Peter Washington and drum- mer Joe Farnsworth are ideal partners. If you dig piano-trio dates that are meaty, musical, and rhythmically in the pocket, this one won’t disappoint. Hazeltine’s rich touch, and his knack for going from a murmur to a shout with just a few notes or scads of lush block chords, distinguish each smartly arranged selection. The evergreen “Willow Weep for Me” is ardently bluesy, swinging from the get-go. The leader’s prancing “Waltzing at Suite One” has moments where his hard- striking left-hand notes, mixed with right-hand thoughts, jump right out. Aces. “I’m Old Fashioned” is another percolator, Hazeltine scoring with ring- ing notes to massive chords. “Blues for P.W.” is only one example of Washington’s fluid, song-like improvi- sational gifts; his sound throughout is big and supple. “I’ll Only Miss Her” is the only track that could be called “pensive”; “You Don’t Know What Love Is” could have been, but is played a bit fast. The clear, precise sound offers a large image, Hazeltine and Washington detailed and impactful; Farnsworth’s ride cymbal, however, is undermiked. —Zan Stewart

130 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 RECORD REVIEWS

WASILEWSKI, KURKIEWICZ, MISKIEWICZ A Real Trio

Marcin Wasilewski, piano; Slawomir Kurkiewicz, Crowd bass; Michal Miskiewicz, drums ECM 1891 (CD). 2005. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Jan Erik Kongshaug, eng. DDD. TT: 63:38 1 Performance ★★★★ ⁄2 1 Sonics ★★★★ ⁄2 Pleaser ith Tomasz Stanko’s first two American tours, in 2002 and 2004, and with the two ECM Walbums that coincided with those tours, Soul of Things and Suspended Night, respectively, the American jazz audience finally began to figure out that Stanko is one of our greatest living trum- pet players. Many also intimated that the young rhythm section he introduced on those tours and albums was crucial to the realization of Stanko’s dark dramaturgy. Pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz, and drummer Michal Miskiewicz have now released a recording of their own, and it is the most important piano-trio debut of the new millennium to date. Trio is an hour of hovering, subtle, suspenseful, distilled, counterintuitive lyricism. For all its soft- ness and seductive play of light, Trio is the opposite of background music. Its irregular patterns and unpredictable movements require full attention. These three musicians, all around 30, have played together since they were teenagers. Wasilewski, with his silken touch and inspired poetic impulses, is the primary voice. But Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz are so sensitive, so instinctively responsive to the evolutions of group form, that, to a rare degree, this ensemble is a single creative entity. Five of the 13 tracks are entirely impro- vised, yet discover organic structure quickly and naturally. Other material is drawn from diverse sources. Björk’s “Hyperballad” reveals that understate- • Improve Acoustics ment is not inconsistent with passion. The trio burns Björk’s melody into your • Control Noise brain through gentle, relentless insisten- Stereophile’s Accessory of the Year Award cies. The luminous, ephemeral “Roxana’s Song” comes from a 1920 Polish opera. “Green Sky,” from Tomasz Stanko’s most mysterious album, Matka Joanna, evokes as many unanswered questions as if Stanko himself had participated. For a young band to create music so fresh and rich and mature suggests a bright future. Not that there is any need to wait. Trio is already fully capable of 1-888-ECHO BUST • 631-253-0001 turning a quiet evening at home into a www.echobusters.com deep night of the soul. —Thomas Conrad www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 131 MANUFACTURERS’COMMENTS

Whest Audio dap.10 & great review. I thought that he was Burmester 011 Shanling CD-T300 more than fair in his comments. As I Editor: Editor: mentioned to Art: We would like to express our gratitude Sam [Tellig] loved the Whest dap.10 but You did pick up on one of the disad- to Stereophile and Brian Damkroger for didn’t quite understand how it worked. vantages of the SM-081 when you men- his thoughtful and descriptive review of For the first time ever I am in total tioned that it took seven or eight hours the Burmester 011 preamp. Indeed, it is a agreement with Sam. I love it, too, and for its treble to smooth out. It has been a special combination of convenience and have absolutely no idea how it works. challenge to find a small tweeter with performance that we are proud to offer. Real voodoo. When James Henriot that kind of sensitivity that has a really Two design features contributing to the approached me last June in the UK with smooth response. We will be working performance of the 011, also included in his little black box, I thought, “Oh, no— on refining that attribute. the phono stage, are fully class-A opera- not another hi-fi nutter! An expensive It sounded like you may prefer to tion and DC coupled circuitry. Regard- box improves CD playback? This I need have slightly more LF output (bass). ing the balanced phono inputs, we feel like a hole in the head!” That has already been incorporated into that since cartridges are a balanced But I have a policy of looking at the design with the introduction of dual source, it would be unfortunate not to everything offered to me, because… you woofers and changing the tuning fre- make this advantage accessible. Of never know. So James takes me to this quency of the woofer section. course, it is possible to use RCA adapter Lebanese hole in the wall in Acton When you said, “There’s nothing plugs if desired. Again, thank you for the (baba ghanoush to die for) and tells me extraordinary about the cabinet,” that is enthusiastic review. Allen Perkins about the dap.10. I don’t understand a partially true, in my opinion. It is prob- Immedia, importer of Burmester word he’s saying. He’s a terrific guy, but ably the only cabinet you have seen his knowledge of electronics is way that has a ported mid, ported midbass, Ayre C-5xe beyond mine. and a ported woofer—the only cabinet Editor: Cut to the chase. (The hummus, too, with five portholes. The reasoning Perhaps it is no surprise that Wes was amazing.) I listen to the dap.10 and behind the installation of most of these Phillips is not yet used to me, even after I am sold. Whatever it does it does very ports is typical. However, not all the 10 years. After all, Superman is not yet well, and I want to import it. Then he ports are installed to add to the drivers’ used to Mr. Mxyztplk, even after sever- tells me about the Whest PS.20, which, LF extension. al decades. as you know, was Fremered (Sam does We were happy that Art did touch on As Wes points out, the Ayre C-5xe is have a good turn of phrase) by Mikey in one of the main advantages of all of our not a traditional “universal” player, as it the March 2005 “Analog Corner.” products when he said, “I was impressed lacks any video capabilities or multi- That’s it—I must have the line. It’s too to hear a speaker that stands only 42" channel audio support. Instead, it is good to miss. tall deliver such a good sense of scale,” designed for those whose focus is on Now, what about the Shanling CD- and “How can a speaker whose cabinet superlative two-channel reproduction of T300 CD player? Again, Sam loved it. is neither massive nor cleverly sculpted music. In fact, it represents a new prod- What can I do with this guy? Here I disappear so convincingly?” This speak- uct category. We of the fifth dimension want to pick on him and he gushes over er is 9.5" wide and 11" deep. Relative to refer to it as a “universal stereo” player my products. the size of the products, they have a (U2 player), where stereo implicitly signi- He says he found the Shanling suscep- high output ability. And because we fies two channels of audio. tible to footfalls. Of course it is, you know that they will be used in such a If video is required, this player is not dummy (or, as we say in Glasgow, you way, we design them to have minimal for you. But for those who need its bampot). It has a three-point suspension chance of any driver failure, even when unique capabilities, there is nothing else like a turntable’s, and you live in this given 180W RMS program material. like it. Not only does it play every 5" lovely antebellum home where the deer CAS is a very small company. Our disc format, including SACD and DVD- and the ants and the ticks roam, that has main advantage is that we look at every- Audio, it also offers outstanding musical old floorboards that Creek (what a nice thing a little differently and don’t auto- performance on standard CDs. This last word) and groan under that heavy load matically assume some of the acoustical point is critical, as CD will continue to we know as Sam Tellig. What a guy. theories that are often taken for granted. be the dominant music format for years Thick as his floorboards. Roy Hall We have come a long way over the last to come. Music Hall three years and look forward to future Like Mr. Mxyztplk, I will be returned developments. to the fifth dimension when I say my P.S. I have attached some photos of Sam I would like to conclude by once name backwards. I’ll be sure to bring dancing in front of the Shanling CD- again offering my gratitude to Art for more tricks when I visit Earth again. T300 at Home Entertainment 2005 in looking at products from a company Thanks for the insightful review. New York City. No problem with foot- that is barely on the map yet. I hope Nesnah Selrahc falls there. that we can continue to improve our Cni Scitsuoca Erya products to the satisfaction of everyone. Cox Audio Systems SM-081 Steve Cox Aesthetix Calypso Editor: Cox Audio Systems Editor: Many thanks to Art Dudley for the [email protected] We would like to thank Michael Fre-

www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 135 MANUFACTURERS’ COMMENTS MANUFACTURERS’ COMMENTS MANUFACTURERS’ COMMENTS mer for his thorough and insightful The classy metalwork was beautifully (she now runs the front office!). My review of the Aesthetix Calypso line designed and cost-effectively realized in greatest appreciation for industry nota- stage. As Michael wrote in the review, collaboration with Alex Rasmussen of bles such as Richard Vandersteen, the design goal was to approximate the Neal Feay; his Aesthetix logo buttons Charlie Hansen of Ayre, Bill Low and performance of our 16-tube Callisto and front touchpanel controls are very Joe Harley of AudioQuest, Mike Mof- Signature line stage ($13,500 including cool. We have had considerable success fat (who is now a significant part of remote), which comprises two chassis with using the Calypso (or Janus full- Aesthetix), and George Cardas, who weighing a total of 90 lbs, in a single- function preamplifier, which combines have all helped me build my brand. chassis design with far fewer tubes and a the Calypso with our Rhea phono stage) Last, I want to thank Garth Leerer, greatly reduced price. This was not an in home theater systems, where users do Jaime Monroy, and Mike Callan of easy task, as the Callisto uses many cus- not want to compromise music perfor- Musical Surroundings, as well as Aes- tom parts unique to Aesthetix and is dif- mance for home-theater functionality. thetix dealers and distributors, who ficult and costly to manufacture. In As John Atkinson found in his mea- have all helped Aesthetix achieve its making a less expensive version, it was surements, the Calypso can swing huge stature in the market and ensure its necessary to marry classic technology output voltages that it would never be future accomplishments and success. with modern: vacuum tubes with a called on to handle in actual use, but this Jim White unique switched-resistor network vol- means that it operates in an extremely Aesthetix ume control, discrete solid-state regula- linear region. It’s important to note that tors (and lots of them), and myriad JA’s excellent distortion measurements other current technologies, such as are of a pure vacuum-tube preamplifier smart microprocessor control and with zero feedback! switching features that know how to get I’d like to thank the Aesthetix own- out of the way of the sound when the ers and Stereophile readers who have music’s playing. yanked on MF’s ear, creating his inter- The Calypso uses a scaled-down ver- est in our products, and look forward to sion of our Callisto power supply fea- more readers and music lovers discover- turing an input choke, one transformer ing Aesthetix products. Thanks to my solely dedicated to the audio signal sup- staff here at Aesthetix for their hard plies, and a second transformer with work and dedication, and to my mom multiple sets of windings for high-cur- rent applications. Whereas the Callisto is a line stage for the cost-, size-, and heat-no-object crowd (the “truly com- mitted” can even add a second power supply, bringing the totals to 24 tubes and 140 lbs), the Calypso brings most of that performance to a much larger audi- ence—a preamp for everyone. That Michael found it to be so flexible and easy to use, with substance (“it looks as if you get something substantial for your $4500”) and sound quality in the highest class of preamps available “at any price,” is extremely rewarding. It should be highlighted that this performance is achieved with only four tubes of ready supply, two 12AX7 and two 6922 (6DJ8), which should not intimidate the solid-state crowd and should also make tube aficionados happy. We achieved our cost objective by designing our Saturn series with a holis- tic approach, sharing the chassis and power supply/regulator stages and vary- ing front-panel microprocessor control, dual-mono signal boards, and back-panel configurations. (As MF points out, the Callisto and Janus are one and the same.) My background working with a leading digital manufacturer for over 10 years allowed me to utilize a vast background of manufacturing know-how to guaran- tee that tube preamps are done right.

136 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005 AURAL ROBERT Robert Baird

Further Reading

here’s a new direction in music from the bookselling community, as in jumped around on our homemade stage, books, one best exemplified by Barnes & Noble and Borders and big scissor kicking and pumping our fists. Ashley Kahn’s recent triumphs people like that,” Barker says. “They’re …The set ran roughly six songs and we Kind of Blue: The Making of The like, ‘Oh well, we’ll stock a few of these, were done, walking off stage, waving at a Miles Davis Masterpiece (Da cheering crowd. Spencer threw his birch Capo, 2000) and A Love tree drum sticks into the audience, only to TSupreme: The Making of John Coltrane’s see one of the neighborhood dogs pick Masterpiece (Viking, 2002). Call it the them up and run off.” anti-excess school. These books’ tight Wired contributor Erik Davis’ long focus on a single album leaves little rumination on Led Zep’s Zoso is per- 1 room for the author to indulge in the haps the most expansive of the 33 ⁄3 print version of the old adage about volumes released so far. Although people who can’t shut up because they long-winded and overwritten, this vol- love hearing themselves talk. ume holds significant interest for the Kahn’s focus on a specific album— audiophile community—Davis opens which then becomes the lens through with a long discussion of MP3s, Apple which a snapshot of the artist’s life is iPods, and whether music matters any- examined—has become the modus more, and closes the section with a operandi of one of the best series of conclusion that will warm the cockles music books that I’ve ever read: Con- of any analog junkie’s needle and 1 tinuum Books’ 33 ⁄3 series. Each of the groove heart. nearly 30 volumes in the series, which “With digital, we move from analogy is edited by David Barker, focuses on a to code: the pits on your CD or the single classic album. The books them- it’s kind of fun,’ but they’re not that excit- charges on your hard drive do not 1 selves are an unusual size, 6 ⁄2" tall by ed by it. Whereas when you talk to little ‘embody’ the music the way a groove 1 4 ⁄2" wide, vary in length from 25,000 independent record stores and people does. …Nonetheless, though digital to 40,000 words (for those who aren’t who don’t stock books at all, they now rules the roost, people continue to publishing geeks, that converts to absolutely love it.” argue for the superiority of analog 150–200 pages), and cost $9.95 each. I found all the volumes I examined audio, especially older gear, in a num- 1 The key to the 33 ⁄3 series is that, filled with useful tidbits. Fanatics may ber of domains—from tube amplifiers to along with the usual smattering of pro- even find something to glean that they electronic synthesis to effects boxes to fessional music writers—three words didn’t know before. The design ele- high-fidelity playback. (Jimmy Page, for that remind me of the terms military ments of each spine and cover are the the record, prefers AAD to DDD.) As intelligence and jumbo shrimp—musicians same so they’ll look good as a chunk on digital continues to improve its simula- have been tapped to write some of a shelf. And one assumes they’ve delib- tion of analog, defenders of the old these compact little tomes. erately left off any mention of the order may come to seem rather quaint, Sent a batch of both new and older name of the artist, listing just album like oldsters who write letters in long- titles in the series, I dipped into ten of title and author, to give them a certain hand. Despite the real and evident dif- them before choosing two for closer High Fidelity-like cache. ferences in sound quality, though, I sus- examination. I’m sure my musical The best of the books that I read was pect there is a non-technical compo- tastes, however semi-unconscious (my by Colin Meloy, of The Decemberists (a nent to the debate, one not merely of natural state), dictated my choices: Led band I quite like), who’s absorbing nar- taste but of soul.” Zeppelin IV (by Erik Davis) and The rative of how the ’Mats’ Let It Be wove in With the next batch of books due this Replacements Let It Be (by Colin Meloy). and out of his childhood years in Mon- fall, the series will move away from Series editor Barker says he started tana is riotously funny. blockbusters and into albums that are out with a list of possible titles that Check this Little Rascals-like scene. harder to make a case for being “essen- leaned toward his own tastes: The After a Grasshopper-racing celebration tial” or “classic.” It will be interesting to Smiths, Love, Velvet Underground, called Hopper Daze, Meloy and his see how volumes on DJ Shadow’s Dusty Springfield. It’s a testament to friend Mark, both 10 years old, decided to Endtroducing and Neutral Milk Hotel’s In what kind of shops are stocking these unveil their air-guitar band: “My mother the Aeroplane Over the Sea both read and titles, and who’s buying them, that The bought me a matching Chinese Dragon sell. Meanwhile, this series deserves a 1 Smiths Meat Is Murder, a volume based muscle shirt, this one in white with red hearty nod if only because it’s title, 33 ⁄3 on a decidedly culty alternative album screen printing, and Mark and I picked and overall focus are fighting the good and written by musician Joe Pernice, is out the best brooms from his Dad’s utility fight against the demise of that beloved the series’ best-selling title. closet. …We performed for roughly two and influential standard of “physical “It’s interesting the reaction we’ve had dozen adults, all standing agog as we media”: the undying album. ■■

138 www.Stereophile.com, July 2005