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FEATURE EQUIPMENT PROFILES PREAMP BASS VERSUS SPACE NAD S200 AMP AND S100 Daniel Kumin NAD goes `affordable high -end" with David J. Weinberg and Howard W. Ferstler components that look and act the part. 35 A tactical guide to low frequency acoustics 28 MISSION 774 SPEAKER D. B. Keele, Jr. DEPARTMENTS A diminutive floor -standing speaker with clean, accurate sound 40 FAST FORE -WORD Michael Riggs 4 ADA CINEMA REFERENCE LETTERS 6 A/V PREAMP Edward J. Foster Great AUDIOCLINIC Joseph Giovanelli 10 great sound. 45 WHAT'S NEW 14 versatility, COINCIDENT TRIUMPH SIGNATURE SPECTRUM Ivan Berger 19 SPEAKER Edward M. Long Clear, smooth MONDO AUDIO Ken Kessler 23 sound that's punchy but not aggressive 51 RECORDINGS AURICLES 72 CLASSICAL MIRAGE 0M-8 SPEAKER ROCK/POP 74 Edward J. Foster Extraordinarily natural sound & BLUES 76 JAZZ field and imaging, like the sound of a great DVD 78 concert hall 55 PASS LABS X600 MONO AMP PLAYBACK Anthony H. Cordesman So transparent you POLK AUDIO SIGNATURE never hear the amp, just the recording 59 REFERENCE SURROUND WESTLAKE AUDIO SURROUND SPEAKER, B&W WP1 INDOOR/ SPEAKER SYSTEM John Gatski No wonder SPEAKER, AND MSB OUTDOOR the pros are mixing with these speakers 62 TECHNOLOGY DIGITAL DIRECTOR ARCAM ALPHA 9C PREAMP Short and sweet hands-on reviews 88 Ken Kessler Sane and sensible, with a touch of Cover Photographer: Bill Kouirinis Studio; Cover Equipment: tube gentility 64 NAD S200 amp and S100 preamp and Mirage 0M-8 speaker. Audio Publishing, Editorial, and Advertising Offices, HALES TRANSCENDENCE EIGHT 1633 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019. Editorial E-Mail: SPEAKER Anthony H. Cordesman [email protected]. Subscription Inquiries: phone, 303/604-1464; fax, 303/604-7455; e-mail, hachette@ Remarkably revealing of previously unheard neodata.com (must include magazine title, your name, and old and new addresses). musical nuances 68

AmericanRadioHistory.Com FAST FORE -WORD I,U DIO If you're very observant, you may concerns haven't altered, just EDITOR -IN -CHIEF Michael Riggs have noticed something unusual the environment in which they dwell. EDITOR about this iteration of Audio: the Like any other entity, we must adjust Corey Greenberg July/August issue date. Like many and evolve. It won't be the first ART DIRECTOR time, or Cathy Cacchione other magazines these days, we the last. ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Linda Zerella are going to a ten -times -per-year Two years ago, when Audio turned 50, TECHNICAL EDITOR SENIOR EDITOR schedule, with combined February/ we celebrated with a special issue Ivan Berger Alan Lof MANAGING EDITOR March and July/August issues. Do not, commemorating the progress made over Kay Blumenthal however, take this to mean you will be that half century, from the birth of hi-fi MUSIC EDITOR Douglas Hyde getting less from us. Indeed, we expect to the present. In that time, high- ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR you will wind up getting morejust performance audio went from mono to Scott Van Camp distributed differently through the year. multichannel, from analog to digital, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Warren L. Meislin And if you are a subscriber, your and from the obsession of a handful of EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Michael Raz subscription will be fulfilled based hobbyists and tinkerers to a multibillion - SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS on the number of issues dollar industry. Paging through old Edward J. Foster, D. B. Keefe, Jr., Bascom H. King David Lander, Edward M. Long you originally volumes of Audio, I could trace the CONTRIBUTING EDITORS/ARTISTS signed magazine's adjustments to the evolution Rad Bennett, Anthony H. Cordesman, Ted Costa John Diliberto, John Eargle, John Gatski up for. of the world it covered, from the first Joseph Giovanelli, Dawn Joniec, Ken Kessler, Daniel 'Cumin Robert Long, John Sunier, Michael Tearson In other issues of the then Audio Engineering to words, the one you hold in your hand today. V.P./GROUP PUBLISHER if you Tony Catalano 212/767-6061 We've come a long way, yet we're V.P./PUBLISHER currently still, I think, far from the Scott Constantine 212/767-6346 a have journey's end. GENERAL MANAGER Greg Roperti three-year BUSINESS MANAGER Sal Del Giudice I hope you PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Michael Esposito PRODUCTION MANAGER Lynn O. Scaglione subscription, I enjoy this issue. SR. PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Eugenia Slubski you will get 36 hope you enjoy the DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Rob Sabin PROMOTION MANAGER Adele Ferraioli -Kalter issues, even though ones to follow even OFFICE MANAGER Maria Coppola OPERATIONS MGR./AD COORDINATOR Linda Neuweiler that will wind up more. That's what SUBSCRIPTION DIRECTOR John Dagney NEWSSTAND SALES DIRECTOR Megan Jenkins lasting more than we're trying to achieve. DIR. OF CIRCULATION SERVICES Rocco P. Chiappetta three years. More I encourage you, ADVERTISING REGIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGERS of more! however, to let us know Jerry Stoeckigt 312/923-4804 Paul C. Smith 212/767-6077 But there's more to what you think, what you Gabrielle DiFolco 212/767-6063 REGIONAL V.P./AD DIRECTOR, WEST COAST the story than just a like and don't like. After Bob Meth 323/954-4831 change in frequency. NATIONAL RECORD LABEL SALES you've read a few issues, MAG Inc. Mitch Herskowitz 212/490-1715 Come September, you will see drop us a line, whether by CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 800/445-6066 GLOBAL ADVERTISING a change in style as well, both graphic postal mail or e-mail V.P., Aude de Rose 212/767-6369 and editorial. I don't want to spoil ([email protected]). Tell us exactly The the surprise, so Yin not going to go into how well we're succeeding-or how Audit Bu a lot of detail here. Again, however, we're not. After all, we've changed the goal is to provide more-in this case, before; we can do it again. CHAIRMAN Daniel Filipacchi more of what's best about Audio. More SR. EXECUTIVE V.P. AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jean-Louis Ginibre equipment, some new bylines to EXECUTIVE V.P. AND COO John Fennell PRESIDENT, HACHETTE FILIPACCHI NEW MEDIA supplement the old familiars, and James E Docherty a streamlined, up-to-the-minute SR. V.P./DIR., CORP. SALES Nicholas J. Matarazzo SR. V.P./CFO & TREASURER John T. O'Connor approach to the contemporary world of SR. V.P./MFG. & DISTRIBUTION Anthony R. Romano /V7di SR. V.P./GENERAL COUNSEL AND SECRETARY high-performance audio. Catherine Flickinger V.P., CIRCULATION David W. Leckey As significant as the changes will be, V.P., COMMUNICATIONS & SPECIAL PROJECTS Keith Estabrook I think it is just as important that Audio V.P., CORPORATE COMPLIANCE Carlo A Boccia will still be Audio. Our values and V.P., BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Raymond Dreyfus

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com Ye Shall Be Saved LETTERS For some time, I've been reading the on- going debate about what makes a difference in the sound reproduction chain. I had always believed, as do many writers, that the only real discernible difference would come Front and Center corded with a Seck 1882 mixer, but when I from changing loudspeakers-until nine When I listen to classical music, I use bought the second deck I needed some- months ago, that is. single -ended triode tube amplifiers with thing larger so I sold it and bought a Stu- My music system has been pretty stable McIntosh speakers. I have two main chan- diomaster 16 x 8 x 2 Mixdown, which was for the past 12 years: Hafler preamp, amp, nels and four surround speakers for a expanded to 32 channels. For playback, the and tuner; B&O turntable; Sony cassette Yamaha DSP-1 processor. For movies, I monitor output of the board was plugged deck; Nakamichi CD changer (replacing a have a center -channel speaker connected directly into an NEC power amp, which B&O CD player about six years ago); Casio to a solid-state amp, which is fine for hear- drove a pair of Fostex studio monitors. portable DAT; and Allison speakers. I re- ing the discourses of characters but not so All recording (except the drums, which placed the Hafler amp with an Adcom pure music. for were recorded in another studio) was done GFA5400 nine months ago. I didn't think Now it is claimed that a 5.1 -channel au- direct. I used no mikes of any kind. Instead, the lone replacement would make a change dio disc is coming in the form of Super CD I plugged the outputs of the various instru- in what I heard. I was wrong! The floor and/or DVD-Audio. But for classical music ments directly into the board and EQ'd went down at least an octave and is now recordings, engineers may choose to omit each instrument extensively. That's because cleaner, the midrange is more open and the center channel so that each main chan- even though I had 32 tracks (actually 30, af- cleaner, and the high end is more open. nel can use a higher bit rate. ter using one track from each deck for time The difference probably has to do with Will we be using the center channel for code), I still ran short and frequently had the amount of development that has oc- classical music recordings? I Should prepare to go to a third and fourth reel of tape to curred in the last 12 years. I changed only by building an additional tube amplifier, to record all the different parts. Additionally, the amp, but I can hear the difference. I'm a get more musical sound than solid-state throughout much of the recording proc- convert. Mike Richardson amps yield? Barney Vincelette ess it was pretty much a game of finding an Capitola, Cal. Houston, Del. open track and using it regardless of what was on that track earlier. The result is that Tough Customer Editor's Reply: It will depend on the artist the original master tapes are an unmixable Daniel Kumin is lazy. His April "Profile" and producer. Some will use the center jumble, making it necessary to go through of the Audio Refinement Complete amplifi- channel and others won't, though I would an interim step of submixing. For that task I er presented listening impressions formed expect most eventually will.-M.R. used a Tascam DA -88 (with the SY-88 sync while using only one pair of speakers, small card.) I eventually reduced everything to 16 two -ways with a very low efficiency of 84 Firebird Sweet pairs of stereo tracks on four digital tapes. dB. Of course the amp seemed underpow- I'd like to thank John Sunier for his won- These ultimately needed to be played on ered. He should have listened to it with derful review of my Firebird Suite CD four DA -88s synched together by SMPTE more efficient, full -range speakers, at least ("Classical Recordings," November 1998). I rather than absolute code, though that as a reality check of the impressions he must take exception, however, to his calling proved to be no problem. I merely rented reached with his little reference set. me a pedal steel guitar virtuoso. I'm a com- three units with sync cards for the final Contrast this to Anthony Cordesman's petent (by professional standards) player mixes. review of a Proceed AMP 5 five -channel but hardly a great one. So to describe me as The actual mixing was done by comput- amp in the same issue: He tried it with five a virtuoso saddles me with a reputation I er. I used a Macintosh SE -30 and Cubase speaker systems, including some that are can't possibly live up to and neglects the 2.5, along with four Niche Audio Control quite large. real virtuosos of my chosen instrument: modules and an Opcode Studio 3 MIDI in- Is Kumin physically not up to the task of Buddy Emmons, Herby Wallace, Paul terface. It took a while to get this system moving speakers around, or is it just his in- Franklin, Hal Rugg, and the late Harold Lee running smoothly, but once I did, it ran tellect that is lazy? Charles Houston "Curly" Chalker. The strength of the CD perfectly. The Mac SE -30 is, of course, ob- via e-mail does not rest in my playing but in the great solete, but as long as it continues to func- material I chose to record. tion perfectly I see no reason to upgrade. I Author's Reply: Dem's fightin' words: You Except for the drums and percussion, the intend to use it again when I mix my next can call me Johnson, but you d'asn't call me was CD recorded in my home studio on project, which is currently in production. lazy. I'm not-and I take what I do for Au- semi -pro gear. I used two Fostex 16 -track Thank you once again for the review. It's dio quite seriously. decks running at 30 ips; these decks use nice to know my work doesn't go unno- I did, in fact, employ the Audio Refine- 1/2 -inch -wide tape and Dolby C noise re- ticed. Michael Perlowin ment Complete amplifier to power two duction. About half the material was re- Los Angeles, Cal. other pairs of loudspeakers that passed

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 6

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com through my studio during its tenure, but I er, measured via a calibrated microphone did not find the results illuminating in any at a specified distance. Sensitivity is typical-

way beyond what I heard via the Platinum ly taken at 1 meter for an input of 1 watt in- Solos. Of course the more sensitive models to an 8 -ohm load, though variations in played more loudly. I assume-possibly er- methodology and environment routinely ofv roneously-that the Audio reader is capable cause variations of ±1 or ±2 dB, so results of figuring out without my help that if my from different makers (or test facilities) speakers are 3 dB less sensitive than theirs, should Part of the all -new also be thoroughly salted. they can expect 3 dB more ultimate dynam- Remember, Performance Series! it's a bad day when you don't ic range from a given amplifier before en- learn anything!-D.K. countering whatever it was I heard. THINKING ABOUT HOME THEATER? MUSIC? IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO BUY As to favoring the Solos for auditioning Terrible Tubes SEPARATE SPEAKER SYSTEMS FOR EACH, amps, well, what can I say? Guilty! I consid- Tom Ace, for his April letter regarding HERE'S A WORD OF ADVICE: DON'T! er them very well suited to this task for Bascom King's review of the $4,100 Bel three reasons. First, they are quite accurate Canto Design Set 40 tube GOOD SOUND IS GOOD SOUND: amplifier, should WHETHER YOU WANT TO ROCK OUT, (and very familiar to me, which is all-im- be commended for pointing out that it is WALTZ THE NIGHT AWAY OR SWING LIKE portant); second, I have a lot of confidence not fidelity that starry-eyed tube amplifier CRAZY, DADDY -O, THESE NEW PARADIGM in their ability to absorb power up to about lovers are reacting to but, as Ace so appro- SPEAKERS WILL DO IT ALL - AND THEY'LL 225 watts without yielding to overt speaker priately notes, the "signal processor" effects SHAKE YOUR HOME THEATER, TOO! distress, which is all too easy to confuse that appeal to them. with amplifier behavior. Lastly, the Solo's I wonder how many more readers there low sensitivity eases the task of listening to are out there who are sick and tired of see- how an amplifier behaves near and beyond ing outrageously priced tube amps-with the limit of its everyday linear -operating their anemic output power capabilities, range, without suffering unduly from lis- high distortion levels, and narrow band- tening fatigue or risking confusing the non- widths-being described as "high fidelity." linear weirdness that occurs in the ear at Richard Dittmer high SPLs (particularly in reflective spaces) Jackson, N.J. with anything induced by the amplifier or another component. Marantz Memory Serves Him It is, in fact, true that what mostly inter- I read with much mirth Corey Green - ests me about power amps (and in some berg's March "Front Row," in which he dis- cases, line -level circuits) is how they behave cusses the Marantz and Harman/Microsoft with transient waveforms (i.e., music sig- remotes. Unfortunately-and he may be nals) that approach or exceed their steady- very angry to find this out-he is quite state limits-even, in a large majority of wrong about the original Marantz RC2000 $816PARADIGM SYSTEM ONE cases, when the signals are being played lacking nonvolatile memory. Rows. MICRO back at quite moderate acoustical levels. The reason Greenberg thought it didn't CENTE: CC-70 Years of empirical evidence has con- have nonvolatile memory is that when you ©R" vinced me that about 90% of what differs change the batteries it goes back to its de- among amplifiers has to do with their per- fault, all-Marantz mode. Pressing the re- PARADIGM SPEAKERS ARE SONICALLY formance under these conditions, and a cessed "Mode" button twice returns it to ACCURATE, WHICH MEANS NO MATTER system that enables me to hear the differ- the user -configured settings, and nothing is WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR, THEY'LL ences more easily and more clearly is one I lost. SOUND BETTER THAN ANYTHING am bound to favor. I can also testify that the nonvolatile ELSE OUT THERE. Finally, let me point out that Mr. Hous- memory lasts at least 18 hours, as once I GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR LOCAL ton confuses sensitivity and efficiency, had an accident with a large glass of orange AUTHORIZED PARADIGM DEALER though in this he is hardly unique; in my juice that rendered it useless. I disassem- TODAY AND ASK TO HEAR THE experience the majority of audiophiles bled the unit, then washed the plastic parts PARADIGM SYSTEMONE. make the same mistake. Applied to loud- with mild dish soap and the electronics FOR A MERE 5816, IT'S speakers, "efficiency" expresses how much with alcohol and a toothbrush. After letting NOTHING SHORT OF AMAZING! electrical energy is converted to acoustic the pieces dry overnight, I found all my set- energy: In the case of direct radiators it's tings right there, including those Dish Net- usually only 2% to 3%; the rest is lost as work, Yamaha preamp, RCA TV, and Sony omik heat. "Sensitivity" reports what acoustical CD player. Everything. Erik Squires c_rciUij,1II loudness is produced by a given input pow- via e-mail THE ULTIMATE IN HIGH-PEHFOHMANCE SOUND AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 8

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com transformers depends on how much var- AUDIO CLINIC nish was used when the unit was assembled, JOSEPH GIOVANELLI how tight the mounting screws are, and how tight the screws are that secure the transformer assembly. Current draw also affects the amount of hum produced by the trans- Must a System Be Balanced? If you keep your connecting cables away former. How the amplifier is mounted-its QMy preamp has standard, unbalanced from AC lines, you should obtain hum -free position on a shelf or the composition of (RCA) outputs. Is the audio signal de- performance even with moderately long the shelf-also influences the amount of graded less by unbalanced wiring, or would it runs. radiated mechanical hum. be worthwhile to use an adaptor (if one ex- In your case, when you changed the fuse ists) to balance my system? Could such an Amplifier Hum and you may not have repositioned the amplifi- adaptor damage the signal or, worse, the sys- Possible Damage er in the same place that it had occupied be- tem?-Trevor Scharton, via e-mail QI am running two identical power fore; this may have altered the nature of the AI know of no convenient way to ob- amps in a biamped setup. When con- hum. Although increased hum may indi- tain a balanced output circuit where necting my speakers, I inadvertently crossed cate trouble, the real test is whether or not there is none. I suppose you could use a wires while the amps were on. A small 6 - the power transformer in the "problem" transformer to accomplish this, but I see no ampere fuse inside one amplifier blew, and I amplifier gets hotter than the transformer reason for it. replaced it. Now that amplifier's power trans- in your other amplifier. If both of their In most home installations, unbalanced former doesn't hum like the other amp's. If you a operation works just fine. Balanced circuits (This may have been the case prior to the have problem or question about audio, write to Mr. Joseph Giovanelli at AUDIO Maga- are used in equipment and in applications fuse -blowing, but I've just noticed it.) Could zine, 1633 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019, or where hum or other interference is likely. A there be a problem here?-George O'Sulli- via e-mail at [email protected]. All letters are balanced circuit is not used to improve the van, via e-mail answered. In the event that your letter is chosen by Mr. Giovanelli to appear in Audioclinic, sound quality of a system except to remove AI don't know of a power transformer please indicate if your name or address should hum, which can mask the subtleties of the that doesn't hum, unless it's in a be withheld. Please enclose a stamped, self-ad- program being reproduced. switching power supply. Hum in power dressed envelope.

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com adjustment is accessible only by navigating surge protector, which is connected to the wall pany), there will be a voltage difference be- through several layers of on -screen menus.) socket with a three -prong plug. Why do some tween them. Ground loops arise when there Increase surround -channel level and check components-e.g., my CD player, receiver, are multiple pathways to the house ground, it with the internal test -signal generator and tape deck-have two -prong plugs and hence multiple voltage differences, generat- that should be part of the amp's Dolby Sur- others three -prong? If it's a safety issue, then ing hum. The remedy is to remove one of the round circuit. Look for a dedicated "Test" why do coffee makers and blenders have two - ground connections, which you did by using button on the remote control or on the prong plugs? Is it okay to use my system with- two -prong adaptors. amp's front panel. out grounding plugs? Finally, how does po- If, as is likely, your ground loop is caused If you like the amp a lot, perhaps you larity relate to two -prong plugs? Some can be by a cable -TV feed, I would rather have you need to get surround speakers that are plugged in only one way because one pin is isolate the cable -TV ground from your au- acoustically more efficient than your pres- larger than the other.-Ranjith Semanayake, dio system by using an isolating balun. Ask ent systems. Look for speakers whose rated Chula Vista, Cal. your cable -TV provider to install one, or if sensitivity is in the range of 90 to 95 dB (at AIt's fortunate that your system works you're handy with tools, try this inexpensive 1 watt/1 meter). The available power from well even though you've eliminat- fix yourself: Buy two 75 -to -300 -ohm trans- your amp's surround channels should then ed the normal amplifier ground (via the formers, the type used to convert the 75 - drive your surround speakers to adequate ground pins on your AC plugs). Neverthe- ohm cable -TV outlet to dual 300 -ohm pig- levels. less, this is often the way it works out, es- tails for connection to antenna screws on an pecially when there are other grounds older TV; these shouldn't cost more than a AC Plugs, Prongs, and Grounds attached to an audio or audio/video sys- few dollars each. Solder each of the two 300 - QI can't use my amp with its three - tem. Ground -loop problems are frequently ohm leads on one transformer to the two prong plug (the type with the U- caused by cable -TV feeds or satellite -TV 300 -ohm leads on the other, and wrap insu- shaped ground prong) because I hear noise systems where the ground for the dish or lating tape around the connections so they from the AC line. When I complained, the cable system is located at some remove won't short out. Then, using short lengths electric company told me I have a ground from the rest of the audio gear. of cable, hook up one of the 75 -ohm con- loop. (What's that?) I use two -prong adap- Any time there is a separate ground locat- nectors to the cable -TV outlet and the other tors with all my components that have three - ed some distance from the house ground 75 -ohm connector to the 75 -ohm cable -TV prong plugs. The adaptors are plugged into a (the latter is provided by your electric com- input on your TV or VCR. Once connected

INTRODUCING DIGITAL WITH A DIFFERENCE.

AmericanRadioHistory.Com in this way, the two baluns will effectively of the line rather than the hot side, avoiding there is one) will output the 5.1 -channel isolate your A/V gear from the cable -TV the potential shock hazard. AC -3 bit stream. Likewise, if you play an ground, thereby removing the ground loop Three -prong plugs function as a kind of audio CD, the two -channel audio bit and any associated hum. extra insurance. Their U-shaped ground stream will be present at the optical digital full I don't know the precise Underwriters terminals give you additional protection if output. Therefore, you will have digital Laboratories codes related to the use of there's any break in the connection between compatibility for dubbing CDs to MDs two -prong versus three -prong plugs on the neutral side of the house wiring and the with your MiniDisc recorder. preamps and such, but I do know that if the neutral side of the circuit or power cord of housing for an appliance is plastic and no the device you're plugging in. Cleaning Old Switch Contacts metal parts are exposed, then the device can QI've used Radio Shack contact cleaner have a two -prong plug. DVD Digital Compatibility to clean the signal -routing switches on the On the other hand, some appliances, Q1 love my new Sony MZ-R50 MiniDisc my old amp, but within a few days such as lamps, have exposed metal parts; a recorder. However, when I record digi- switches act up again. What would you sug- break in the paper insulation in the socket tally, I use the optical digital output on my gest?-Ray Gilmer, via e-mail can create a situation where the power line roommate's stereo system; eventually, I'll AI have had good results using Shield, contacts a metal part. Touching the lamp have to get my own CD player with a digital from Channel Master, and Cramolin and a grounded object, such as a faucet or a output. But can't I kill two birds with one Spray R, from Caig Laboratories, as contact radiator, could lead to a potentially danger- stone by buying a DVD player, so long as the cleaners. I've also found that Cramolin ous shock. To prevent this, lamp manufac- optical output on the player works for audio Spray B (a lubricant and preserver) will turers use polarized plugs, with one large CDs? Or is the DVD player's optical output keep old potentiometers and switches prong (connected to the neutral side of the just for Dolby Digital movie soundtracks? I'm noise -free for several years; WD -40 has line) and one small prong (which connects hoping it can serve both purposes.-Dean worked for me as well. But if the switch to the "hot" side of the AC line). As you Schreuder, Kalamazoo, Mich. contacts are worn to a point where they do know, this type of plug can be inserted into AMI DVD machines can play standard not have enough pressure to close reliably, the socket in only one way. The lamp is audio CDs. If you load a DVD movie no cleaner will work for you. Nevertheless, wired so that, should the paper insulation that has a Dolby Digital soundtrack, the op- it can't hurt to try one of the aforemen- fail, the exposed metal is on the neutral side tical jack (and the coaxial digital jack, if tioned cleaners. A

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY SURROUND SPEAKER Denon (D(hangr Designed for in-wall or surface Intended for custom with two CD drives. Features mounting, the 370 IN -SR has installation in the home, include a cross -fade function THX Ultra certification as the DCM-5000 can serve as for smooth transition between a dipole surround and is said to a stand-alone 100 -disc changer tracks, HDCD decoding, and produce a broad, diffuse sound or as a master controller for up title/artist storage and display. field. The sealed system has to 600 discs when linked with Among the outputs are two sets an offset internal partition Denon DCM-5001 slave units. of RCA analog jacks and two to overcome dipole bass The changer features 24 -bit coaxial digital connectors. cancellation, by giving one side Alpha processing, which is said Prices: DCM-5000, $1,800; of the speaker smooth bass to reproduce 16 -bit data with DCM-5001, $1,300. (Denon, down to 80 Hz while the other 24 -bit resolution, and comes 973/396-0810) side rolls off below 200 Hz. r Price: $849 per pair. (Atlantic Technology, 781/762-6300)

ONKYO A/V RECEIVER Motorola's latest -generation subwoofer output, a discrete 24 -bit chip powers the TX-DS474's 5.1 -channel input (for an external RICOH Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic, DTS decoder or later system and DSP processing. Discrete expansion), three A/V inputs, CD-R/CD-RW Drive output stages are used in three audio -only line -level inputs, With four -times writing speed for CD -Rs the receiver's five amplifiers, and a phono input. The tuner which are rated at watts each, and CD-RWs, and twenty -times reading 55 section has 30 AM/FM presets continuous, into 8 ohms, from with FM auto -tuning. Price: speed for CD -Rs (eight -times for CD-RWs), 20 Hz to 20 kHz, at 0.08% THD. $399.95. (Onkyo, 201/825- the MediaMaster MP7040A is said to be The TX -D5474 has a line -level 7950) the fastest drive of its type on the market. Its Easy CD Creator software enables you to record original music CDs and other data. The MediaMaster can be used for primary and secondary data storage, and the discs it records can be read by most DVD-ROM drives. Ricoh says an internal ATAPI interface allows for easy PC installation. Price: $399. (Ricoh, 877/742-6479) AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 14

AmericanRadioHistory.Com Anthem Five -Channel Amp Engineered by Sonic Frontiers uses eight bipolar output for multichannel music and transistors. At 150 watts, power home theater applications, bandwidth is specified as the MCA 5 five -channel amp is 20 Hz to 80 kHz, -3 dB, with rated at 150 and 225 watts per A -weighted noise at -99 dBW. channel into 8- and 4 -ohm loads, Price: $1,399. (Anthem, do Sonic respectively, with all channels Frontiers, 905/829-3838) driven simultaneously (1 kHz, 1% THD). Each of the five channels NHT AudioCenter-2 (AC-2) center -channel speaker uses two 6! -inch woofers,

CENTER -CHANNEL one 4% -inch midrange, and the same

SPEAKER 1 -inch aluminum dome tweeter as

Designed to provide a seamless the Models 2.9 and 3.3. Rated timbra) match to NHT's 2.9 and 3.3 frequency response is 48 Hz to 26 kHz, four-way, floor -standing speakers ±3 dB, with sensitivity of 87 dB. in home theater setups, the Price: $850. (NHT, 800/648-9993) Canton Speaker Supplied with its own calibrated measurement mike, the Digital 1.1 incorporates digital room -acoustics correction for the listening position. The DSP circuitry also corrects intrinsic nonlinearities of drivers, crossovers, and cabinets. Canton says this enables the Digital 1.1 to yield a high level of musical realism in different acoustic spaces. The Sony MiniDisc Recorder three-way, bass -reflex 1.1 has dual 10 -inch woofers, Measuring just 3 inches wide, 3 inches high, and a 7 -inch midrange, and % inch thick, the MZ-R55 is said to be the world's smallest MiniDisc recorder. With its rechargeable a 1 -inch aluminum - nickel metal -hydride battery or with AA batteries, manganese dome the MZ-R55 can play more than 16 hours, tweeter. Price: $15,000 according to Sony. A smart remote enables titling per pair, including and moving songs even during recording. And its processor and mike. 40 -second memory buffer reportedly makes the (Canton, 612/706-9250) MZ-R55, which is available in gold or blue, essentially shockproof. Price: $399.95. (Sony, 800/222-7669) EMI AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 15

AmericanRadioHistory.Com H.H. SCOTT HOME THEATER SYSTEM OSC AUDIO AMP Equipped with a proprietary rear -channel speaker, and decoder that is said to be a remote control. The bass compatible with Dolby module has a 6% -inch woofer Surround -encoded soundtracks, driven by an internal amp rated the Cinema Surround SCS-60 at 30 watts into 2 ohms at 80 Hz comprises a powered bass (1% THD); the satellite speakers module, two Micro Satellite receive 15 watts per channel loudspeakers, a magnetically into 4 ohms (1 kHz, 1% THD). shielded center -channel speaker System price: $299. (H.H. Scott, with an infrared sensor, a single 973/428-2023)

By employing MOS-FETs 4 ohms, and 3,000 watts

and a four -tiered DC power per channel into 2 ohms, all

supply, the PowerLight 6.0 from 20 Hz to 20 kHz at 0.1% is said to draw 40% less AC total harmonic distortion.

current yet still be capable of The amp's ratio of power to massive output power. The 6.0 weight (it weighs 59 pounds) is rated at 1.500 watts per is claimed to be exceptionally channel into 8 ohms. high. Price: $5,948. (USC. 2,500 watts per channel into 800/854-4079) LEXICON DIGITAL SURROUND PROCESSOR Meeting the criteria for and ambience modes. Features THX Ultra certification, the include a six -channel digital MC -1 is Lexicon's flagship input array, 24 -bit delta -sigma processor. Besides Dolby A/D and D/A converters, Digital, DTS, and Logic -7 (an 96 -kHz compatibility, RS -232 upgraded version of Lexicon's serial ports, and switching for proprietary 7.1 -channel eight video sources (composite surround processing), the or S -video). Price: $5,995. MC-1 has two dozen surround (Lexicon, 781/280-0300)

the Truesound Dynamic SuundScinte Sound Improvement Processor. The Truesound is available in Dynamic Processor four versions; the portables are smaller than a cassette. Prices: A cleaner midrange, crisp Battery -operated portables, treble, and powerful bass tones, $50 and $70; AC -powered version with no phase alteration, for TVs, $75; AC -powered are among the benefits version for sound systems, $90. SoundScience claims for (SoundScience, 201/767-3297) AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 16

AmericanRadioHistory.Com Built around matched boards and custom -wound 300B tubes, the CA -303 is a output transformers, with push-pull design with a rated 4- and 8 -ohm output taps. Its output of 24 watts, which, rated frequency response is Canary Audio says, is more 10 Hz to 65 kHz, ±1 dB, with than enough power to drive a signal-to-noise of 60 d3 at many speakers. The CA -303 1 watt. Price: $6,125 per pair. features military -spec circuit (Canary Audio, 888/322-6279)

ENERGY POWERED SUBWOOFER At 12 x 12 x 12 inches and weighing 50 pounds, the Microstar 10.1 is compact yet is said to pack a punch. The front -firing, sealed

sub has a rated frequency range of 20 to 150 Hz, and its internal switching amp is claimed to deliver 1,000 watts to the 10 -inch Rated frequency range is 50 Hz driver. The 10.1 features high- and low-level to 20 kHz, with a sensitivity inputs and low-level outputs, with silent, SPEAKRIXKER of 86 dB/1 watt/1 meter. automatic power on/off, continuously vcriable Designed primarily for The magnetically shielded, phase, and an adjustable -slope low-pass filter. the main and surround channels vented speaker, which comes in Price: $1,100. (Energy, 416/321-1800) in Krix's Digital Xperience five - Aussie jarrah wood or black -ash channel system, the KDX-M is veneer, has dual 5 -inch woofers

also sold in pairs. (Its Australian and a 1 -inch soft -dome tweeter. l'Lt11LL ll'tl maker also offers a matching Price: $899 per pair. (Krix, c/o center speaker, designed to match MoonDance Audio, 3031777- A Class -A, monoblock the KDX-M's timbre precisely.) 4449) hybrid with a tube input stage and a solid -stage output stage, the InPower is rated to deliver 80 watts into 8 or 4 ohms, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, at less than 0.4% total harmonic distortion. Patkos says it chose the amp's components based on extensive listening evaluations. Of arresting Italian design, the InPower has balanced inputs only. Price: $5,900 each. (Pathos, c/o Hi -Ft Forum. 800/771- 8279i

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 17

AmericanRadioHistory.Com Whin .)ur DSP-Al debuted last year, it wasn't only it. distinctive amber gold finish that createc an instant classic. Its proprietary Yameh3 technology inspired reviewers to hail it as their personal favorite - the best home theater integrated amplifier they'd ever heard. This tour de force of power, versatility and Digital Sound Field Processing stunned critics and enthusiasts alike. Offering Dolby

(Awxo+rwt Digital and DTS processing, plus seven channels of spectacular sound. The DSP-Al's sonic . . rIN/ lima t 1 MI» impact set a new benchmark for the industry. Now this coveted component has a perfectly matched companion. Introducing the DVD-C900. 2 MoUIE THEÑTEF: A five -disc DVD changer that

+t Ndventur" : 713re plays your DVD, Video CD or music CD titles with the same uncompromising standards, commanded by a multi -function remote and on -screen menus. Sophisticated 10 -bit video D/A conversion delivers pristine S -Video and Component Video output. And 96 kHz/24-bit compatible audio D/A conversion sets the stage for equally incredible sound. Whether it's internally decoded Dolby Digital or externally decoded DTS 5.1 -channel audio. Or any popular two -channel format. See and hear the DVD-C900 at your Yamaha dealer. Once you've experienced it, we think "ou'll agree. 'There's never beet a better time to Also available in back to complement all traditional invest in gold. Yamaha home theater components.

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com sion's Clikman and Sensory Science's Ram- page MP2000 will incorporate phone books DOWNLOADING and schedulers as well as voice recorders; the LG Electronics MP Free can play cassette tapes, and the Empeg car unit, which holds 35 hours' worth of music, has an IS ON AN UPSWING FM tuner. ou need no crystal ball to see that more and more of the music we buy y will be delivered online as digital files rather than picked up as discs or tapes from stores. But if you do consult a crystal ball about the details, you'll find it as murky as a flooding river-and, like that river, full of odd items that surface and quickly sink again. Data -rich files-e.g., CD -quality recordings-take an appallingly long time to download from the Internet via standard phone lines and modems, so substantial data reduction is needed to speed up the process. Although data -reduction algo- rithms abound, one of them, MP3 (MPEG- 1, layer -3), is becoming a household word. It's also shaking up the music industry. The sound quality of MP3 varies a lot; I've heard it sounding like AM radio on a bad reception night and like FM on a fairly decent night. But because it's free, fun, and an easy way to cock a snook at the establish- ket, its maker (Diamond Multimedia Sys- Makers of these machines are attempting involved in ment, its popularity is growing. Finding a tems, www.diamondmm.com) was greet- to work out the copyright issues particular song that you want on the Inter- ed with an almost instantaneous lawsuit. their use. Rio now has a Web portal hobbyists to net isn't always easy, but the more people The lawsuit failed, and other portables are (www.RioPort.com) to steer by use MP3, the greater the odds your song now here or coming soon from Creative sites that carry MP3 files authorized domain. will be there-somewhere. Unfortunately, Labs, LG Electronics, Sensory Science, and copyright holders or in the public incorpo- most of the music you'll currently find on Varo Vision, as is a car player from Empeg Samsung and LG Electronics will (Sam- the Internet infringes on the copyrights of (www.empeg.com), a British firm. Most of rate copyright -protection systems by the its creators, performers, and publishers and these will have greater storage capacity than sung's SecuMax has been approved Labs of the record companies. the Rio, and some will be able to do things Korean music industry). And Creative Nomads compatible At first, the music industry merely beyond playing MP3 files. Creative's No- plans to make future system is settled growled at all this. The Web is hard to po- mad, for example, can also be used as a with whatever protection Digital Music Initiative lice, and MP3 seemed no threat as long as voice recorder that can capture 4 hours' on by the Secure to find a you could listen only if you sat by your worth of speech, and future versions may (SDMI), a music industry effort for down- computer. However, when the first portable be able to play music in other formats, such way of making music available MP3 player, the Rio PMP300, hit the mar- as Liquid Audio and AT&T's a2b. Varo Vi- loading without violating copyright. AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 19

AmericanRadioHistory.Com The existence of SDMI shows the power Meanwhile, a number of major compa- of MP3: The music industry, instead of nies have announced music -download pro- news merely trying to stop downloading, is coun- grams or demonstrations. One of the first tering with constructive steps. Its goal is to was Project Madison, a joint venture of notes establish criteria for digital music -distribu- IBM and five major music companies tion systems that meet everybody's needs- (Sony, EMI, Bertelsmann, Time Warner, those of the recording industry, computer and Universal) that was scheduled for test- and consumer electronics manufacturers, ing in San Diego in June. About 1,000 Internet music purveyors, and us music lis- homes connected to Time Warner's Road teners. So far, SDMI has announced few Runner cable modem service will be able to specifics, but its efforts will probably be de- download a CD -quality album in just a few voted to technical systems for copyright minutes, say early reports; approximately protection (from "watermarks" that reveal 1,000 albums will be available. The heart of a file's origin and ownership to copy -re- the system is IBM's EMMS (Electronic Mu- Car stereos would be more widely striction strategies), industry business prac- sic Management System) software, which used in boats if it weren't for all that tices, and possibly quality standards. In Jan- handles the downloads, credit-card pay- water. Water-resistant versions of a uary, SDMI named Leonardo Chiariglione, ments from customers, and royalty pay- few head units are available but not an Italian scientist who helped found ments to music providers. RealNetworks, enough to ensure that every boat own- MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group), its the company behind the RealAudio file for- er can get exactly the features and per- executive director. He promises to have mat (a competitor of MP3), has licensed formance he wants. So Sony has come standards in place for portable devices EMMS as well. Theoretically, even record out with a waterproof wired remote, soon, so that portables compliant with the stores could use EMMS to download what- the MRC-2 ($99.95), which is compat- standard can be available for the Christmas ever titles they don't have in stock and burn ible with the many Sony head units season. A spec for online downloads should them onto CDs for customers who request made in the past two or three years be released by March 2000. them. that can use its RM-X2S remote. Shure microphone In Japan, Sansui is offering its first tube amp in 30 years, the $6,250 Good IDEA Model B-209. At the other end of the Audio products are usually represented price scale, EK Japan is offering stereo among the winners of the Industrial De- tube amp kits for as little as $175. sign Society of America's annual IDEA awards. This year, IDEA99 awards went Giving in to an itch that pundits in to Samsung's family of digital players for every field of art are scratching this yea downloaded music, Monsoon Multimedia the BBC has compiled a list of the centu MM -1000 computer speakers ("Play - ry's top 100 songs. Titles were selected Back," November 1998), Benwin's Execu- through a a public poll, by consulting a tive computer speakers with panel of songwriters, and through sales NXT satel- figures. The top four were "Yesterday" lites, and Shure Brothers' KSM32 studio (John Lennon and Paul McCartney), cardioid microphone. "Stardust" (Hoagy Carmichael), "Bridge Monsoon Multimedia speakers Ben win speakers over Troubled Water" (Paul Simon), and "White Christmas" (Irving Berlin). Like all such lists, this one caused an immediate outcry from music lovers who would have made different choices. (Me, for in- stance: The only one of the first four I'd rank is that high "Stardust.") 1

By 2008, there will be an estimated billion transistors for every man, woman, and child on Earth, according to a projection from the Semiconductor Industry Association.

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 20

AmericanRadioHistory.Com Although not originally part of EMMS, 1394 port on the MD recorder will connect Sony's MagicGate copyright -protection to a PC but only to send still images and ex- system will be built into it. MagicGate is de- change audio editing commands, not audio news signed to limit the copying of digital infor- itself. The receiver and MD recorder report- mation via MiniDiscs and memory cards. edly will sell for less than $1,000. notes Using a combination of encryption and And then there's Microsoft, which claims I know of any car stereo equip- embedded microchips, it (and OpenMG, a its MS -Audio software compresses files don't but I do similar system for PCs) aims to have you twice as much as MP3, cutting storage re- ment styled by car designers, know some home audio gear that is: move files rather than let you copy them. quirements and transmission time in half. 21 was de- Copying might not be the only thing Mag- Its sound, initially claimed to be better than Kenwood's Series system Giugiaro, of icGate will restrict: It might be used to lim- MP3's, is now billed as "equivalent quality." signed by Giorgetto ItalDesign, whose automotive projects it the number of times you can play a track MS -Audio (part of the latest version of Mi- Esprit, DiTomaso or the time period over which you can play crosoft's Media Player software) also has include the Lotus Mangusta, and a number of Maserati it. On one hand, this would enable you to "rights management" safeguards that MP3 models. Series 21 comprises a DVD download a file for a few free auditions, lacks. Downloaded files can't be used until a five -disc buying only if you want to keep it. On the they're unlocked by a software key, which, player, a MiniDisc recorder, other hand, MagicGate could possibly be The Wall Street Journal's online edition used to make all listening pay -per -hear. says, might be usable for a specified time MagicGate will presumably be in Sony's only. Further, Microsoft has bought into first portable player for digital music files, Reciprocal, a company whose software is being introduced as part of Project Madison. designed to ensure that copyright owners Tentatively dubbed the Netman, it will use get their share of income from downloads. Sony's Memory Stick flash -memory mod- The New York Times says some record com- ules for storage but will not play MP3 files. panies are not overjoyed at Microsoft's en- In addition to its participation in Project try into music delivery, viewing it as an 800 - Madison, Sony is working on music down- pound gorilla they wish would play in a tuner/preamp (with loading via direct broadcast satellites (not someone else's yard. CD changer, a six -channel power the Internet, as previously reported) in Exhausting as this summary may be, it's Dolby Digital), theater speakers. Japan. Downloaded signals will be recorded not exhaustive. There's plenty more to talk amp, and home on MiniDisc at four -times normal speed, about. And by the time we do, there should have announced ad- via an IEEE -1394 connection. A second be even more developments. Two companies vances in CD -R recordable discs. Mem- orex is offering discs that can hold 80 minutes of music, 6 minutes more than Battle of previous blanks. And new Kodak discs that use a mixture of gold and silver in their reflective layers are claimed to Buses hold their reflectivity three times longer the silver. than discs employing only oes Intel hope to extinguish has unveiled a FireWire? The company does not Dolby Laboratories technology, Dolby E, D plan to incorporate FireWire (Ap- new digital audio it may never show up in home ple's name for the IEEE -1394 connection But that niche is pretty wide. According but It's intended for broadcast- bus) in its chip sets but will instead incor- to the 1394 Trade Association, about 7 mil- equipment. ing, to simplify the distribu'ion of multi- porate USB 2.0, a new and faster version of lion digital camcorders with IEEE -1394 digital sound. With a Dolby E the Universal Serial Bus. Most new comput- connections have been sold to date, not to channel encoder and decoder, as many as ers and a growing number of peripherals mention hard -disk drives for A/V record- eight channels can be distributed via have USB connectors, which can carry up ing. These devices will soon be joined by an AES/EBU cable or stored on two to 12 megabits per second (Mbps). Intel computer peripherals and digital TV equip- tracks of a digital videotape recorder. says USB 2.0's data capacity could reach ment (including TVs, set -top boxes that en- You may, however, hear its benefits if it 120 to 240 Mbps; some other sources say it able analog TVs to receive DTV program- encourages digital TV stations to .« could reach 300 Mbps. In Intel's view, ming, and D -VHS digital videocassette broadcast 5.1 -channel surround in- -1394, a more complex system, is a recorders). As to speed, Apple is already ÇIEEE of the stereo mixdowns some "niche" standard because it's currently used shipping Power Macintosh computers with stead stations now use. to interconnect computers and A/V equip- FireWire links that reach 400 Mbps, more DTV ment only. than is projected for USB 2.0. AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 21

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DIGITAL It all adds up to home theater heaven and you can experience it today, sits right here on Earth - at your Marantz audio/video specialist. SURROUND Home Theater Heaven Marantz America, Inc., 440 Medinah Road, Roselle, IL 60172 Telephone: 800-270-4533, Ext. 101 www.MarantzAmerica.com 'DOLBY DIGITAL"is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation. DTS is a registered trademark of DTS Technology. THX Ultra is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd.

AmericanRadioHistory.Com t struck me recently that the retro craze is no longer a mere market- MONDO AUDIO ing ploy. Sure, the amazing re- KEN KESSLER vival of Harley-Davidson had every company more than 10 i years old looking to exploit its past in an attempt (usually success- WITH THE NEW, ful) to savor former glories. With OUT Harley, the timing was right: Retro - IN WITH THE OLD as -a -sales -gimmick was something of a novelty, there were enough Baby Boomers entering prosperous middle age to buy the company's wares, and Easy Rider had been around long enough to earn classic status. But now we've had it up to our eyebrows with retro, and still the revivals keep coming. Only now I know why: This renewed flood of retroism is prepa- ration for post-Y2K nostalgia for the current, outgoing century. We should have seen it coming when, earlier in the 1990s, two firms well down the road to mainstream acceptability reissued at great ex- pense the very models that had made them purists' heroes 30 to 40 years e before. And though collectors were C22 0 amused to find that McIntosh's preamp and MC275 amp and Marantz's Model 7 preamp and its £ Model 8 and Model 9 amps cost more than mint originals, those of us who aren't handy with soldering irons or adept at sourcing tubes wel- comed these limited -edition replicas ä in the same way that Harley -David

KLIPSCH son newbies loved the idea of an an- also returns to form. Coyne, for ex- 8900 Keystone Crossing cient motorcycle no older than the ample, can out -angst the best of 'ern, Suite 1220 last issue of Easyriders. even the pretender to the King of Indianapolis, Ind. 46240 But now it's getting out of hand, Pain throne, the miserable Kurt 800/554-7724 and not just in audio. Since Decem- Cobain, whose suicide should have www.klipsch.com ber, hoary old rockers thought miss- surprised nobody. ing in action-such as Spooky Now the word is out that one of LABORATORY McINTOSH Tooth, Kevin Coyne, Steve Harley, the most despised teeny -bop glam- West Redondo Beach Blvd. 661 and The Pretty Things-have reap- shams of all time, The Bay City Gardena, Cal. 90247 peared with new albums. For those Rollers, have re-formed with four - 310/327-9107 of us who missed 'em, great. Wel- fifths of the lineup from the band's www.mcintoshlabs.com come back. But each release remind- heyday. I realize that in the United oldsters (anyone over 25) of States this group somehow managed MARANTZ ed us just how much water has flowed un- to defy taste and intelligence by se- 440 Medinah Rd. der the bridge. Not surprisingly, all curing a following that believed its Roselle, III. 60172 members to be power -poppers of 630/307-3100 of the above are so experienced-in grade. But back home in www.marantzamerica.com one or two cases, further matured by Raspberries adversity-that their comebacks are the United Kingdom, The Bay City AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 23

AmericanRadioHistory.Com Tractrix horn and a 3 -inch titanium di- ifty years and counting: aphragm compression driver with a 2 -inch Klipsch is introducing throat. The low -frequency horn, addressing the Klipschorn Jubilee, a widespread hunger for deep bass not in a new, two-way, version evidence among most music lovers a half- of its legendary three-way century ago, uses two 12 -inch woofers flagship speaker. working below 800 Hz. Overall frequency response is stated as 38 Hz to 19 kHz, ±4 craziness of Beatlemania. And, dB. Claimed sensitivity is an awesome, sin-

like their fellow resuscitated gle-ended-triode-lovin' 105 dB at 1 watt, artists as well as the new VW and impedance is 8 ohms. Price will be be- Beetle, the new Jaguar S -type, tween $10,000 and $12,000 per pair, de- and a ton of other nods to the pending on finish-a decidedly unretro past, they've been timed just cost. True, the Klipschorn Jubilee really right for Millennium Fever, looks the part, but its real worth is (like the which implies that the McIntosh Harley-Davidson) the genuine credibility of and Marantz replicas came a few a never -broken bloodline. years too early. This is in stark contrast to, say, Siemel, a Don't think for a moment French brand known for its classy solid- that Mac and Marantz were iso- state and tube amps. But Siemel just ain't lated (audio) cases, however. I old enough or famous enough simply to recall replicas of certain Dynaco unearth some long -forgotten, legendary de- Rollers were of interest only to prepubes- models made, I believe, by an American sign, nor does the company even possess a cent girls who, a decade earlier, would have firm called Stereo Cost Cutters. And now cod -vintage logo to suggest antiquity, like worshipped the likes of Bobby Sherman. we find Klipsch launching a new version of Moth. Instead, it came up with a treat that And I'm embarrassed to admit that an old the Klipschorn, which the company can looks like it was designed around the time buddy of mine is responsible for the band's rightly boast is "the only loudspeaker in France was occupied by the Nazis. The revivification. HY20 is a hybrid integrated amp with a Mark St. John, a producer talented pure Class -A triode output stage. The front enough to have been employed by B&W for THE NEW KLIPSCHORN panel, sculpted from some luscious wood, the first recordings issued on its ill-fated SHOULD PASS MUSTER features only three rotary controls for pow- CD label, was the man who salvaged The er, volume, and selection of its five inputs. Pretty WITH ALL BUT Things. Not only did he manage to What marks it for the retro market is a acquire for The Pretties their entire back THE MOST RIGID clever design fillip: a window covered by catalog, he also remastered the lot, oversaw OF "RETROBATES." gilded mesh through which you can see the the release of an anthology, coordinated a tubes. If it smacks a bit too much of those comprehensive reissue program, arranged vintage -look radios that are simply new the first -ever live performance (broadcast the world that has been in continuous pro- transistor models in curvy Bakelite or simultaneously) of their legendary S.F. Sor- duction for over 50 years." row album, and still had the energy to bully Ninety -four -year -old Paul Klipsch even Marantz's reissue of its them into completing a 1999 studio release. turned up in Las Vegas in January for the Model 8 power amp It was while working for The Pretty Things launch of the Klipschorn Jubilee at the helped get the retro movement that Mark honed an amazing talent: He Consumer Electronics Show. And despite started. learned how to threaten record labels and to extensive modernization, prize from them the monies owed to artists it should pass muster with under his wing. Think of him as the anti - all but the most rigid of Morris Levy. "retrobates." It's a two- With The Rollers, Mark's task is Herculean: way, full -range system, in Somehow, an estimated £120,000,000 (call contrast to the familiar it $180,000,000) allegedly went missing. three-way. According to Which shows you that, no matter how Klipsch, "It is thanks to much snobs such as I loathed The Rollers, Tractrix technology and they sold an awful lot of records. In the advanced compression U.K., in the United States (where they had driver design that the Ju- their own TV show), and in Japan they were bilee is now a two-way the closest we have come to a repeat of the [speaker]"; it has a 90° x 60°

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 24

AmericanRadioHistory.Com ND parchase necessary. Sweepstakes open o U.S. and CAN resi jests (except PR and Quebec), 18 or Oder will- aia drir_r's license. Void where rrohbited. Sew_epstckes ends 9/30/99.01999 GM Corr. Suckle uo, Ameriist! eidettreleeieteelete54.

If YOU CAN FIND IT, YOU COULD WIN IT. MERE ARE SOME (LUIS: ,1 Southwest of Gibraltar, under the Grand Atlas Mountains, there's a lush oasis that's 900 years old.

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flame eaters, monkey tamers and magic carpets. WHiRUS THE Luckily, there's the agile and durable all -new Chevy -Tracker: Its rugged ladder-typo frame and available shift-on -the -fly four-wheel drive can take on the Sahara. And its smart size and nimble performance will

help you maneuver through any crowd. After this, traffic jams back home will be a cinch.

Know where it is? If you can name that city, you could win a Tracker. TRAC[OER? for more Tracker information or to enter, visit WWW.(HfVYTRA(K[R.(OM or send entry (specify city aid coùutry) to: Where's the Tracker, P.O. Box 4951, Blair, NE 68009.4951 USA. See next page for rules.

THf ML -NEW CHEVY TRACKER. IT GETS AROUND. i:;;;;

AmericanRadioHistory.Com its type-a fan club, as it *HIRE'S were-has been formed to (nark the achievements of \rthur Radford. If you think this is just a case of British chauvin- TRACKER? ism from the same people who believe SWEEPSTAKES °FERIAL RULES that Logie Baird de- NO PURCHASE NECESSARY serves more credit

HOW THE SWEEPSTAKES WORKS: A Chew Tracker for modern television is shown in a specific location somewhere in the world. During the months of May, June, July, August and September than Vladimir Zworykin, you need 1999, three clues will be given in magazine, newspapt:r mailings,TV and the Chevy Tracker website to know that Arthur played a key role in the (http://'Aww.CHEVYTRACKEe.COM) advertisements as io what development of transmission-line speakers specific city and country the Tracker is located in. From these three clues, you must guess the specific city and and UltraLinear amp circuitry. And he once country where the Tracker is located in order to be eligible for the sweepstakes drawing. If you wish to obtain all three A few years too soon? McIntosh's manufactured test equipment still cher- clues, you may request such by sending a stamped, sef- reissued MC275 addressed envelope (WA and VT residents need not affix power amp (above) ished by audiophiles who like to measure return postage) to: Where's the Tracker Clues, P.O. Box and C22 preamp (below) 4945. Blair, NE 68009-4945 USA. All requests for clues will their systems as well as listen to them. be mailed back on September 1, 1999, and requests received after that date will not be honored. A gentleman named Philip Parkinson HOW TO ENTER: Either access the Where's the wooden boxes (to suggest that they once was granted permission by the estate of Tracker website (http://wwW CHEvvTKeCKER.CoM) and follow on -screen instructions to enter your name, undress received War of the Worlds), at least the Arthur Radford to organize the Arthur (including zip code), work and home telephone numbers HY20's tubes are real. (optional), your e-mail address (optional) and your guess as Radford Appreciation Society. The minute I to die specific city and country where is the Tracker 'stated, Curiously, it was neither the reissues of heard about it, I sent my check for £20 or hand -print the same requested information on a 3"e5"card it and mail via first-class mail (limit, one carry the McIntosh C22/MC275 nor of the ($35) to make sure I didn't miss a single per outer mailing envelope) to: Where's the Tracker Sweepstakes, P.O. Box 4951, Blair, NE 68009-4951 USA. Marantz Models 7, 8, and 9 that started the newsletter. In case you, like me, don't mind For eligibility, entries must be submitted either via a completed Internet transmission, or if mailed, postmarked no craze for purist audio reproductions. The being called a groupie, you may want to get later than September 30, 1999. Mail -in entries must be received by October 7, 1999. honor belongs to Radford, which reissued an application form (send an e-mail to WINNER SELECTION AND PRIZE: One (I) winnirg the still -revered STA -25 tube amp in a lim- Philip at [email protected]). And then entry wif be selected on or about October 15, 1999, under :he supervision of D.L. Blair, Inc., an independent judging ited run in the mid -1980s. I take part of the ask yourself why we don't yet have appreci- organization whose decisions are final, in a random drawing from among all correct entries submitted. In the unlikely event blame for it, because I ation societies for no one entrant correctly guesses the specific city and met the then -retired country location of the Tracker, winner will be determines in a Paul Klipsch, David random drawing from amongst all entries submitted.V'?i'ner Arthur Radford and ASK YOURSELF will receive a brand-new 1999 four -door Chevy Tacker Hafler, Saul Marantz, .approx. prize value: $19,000 US). No cash equivalent or was so worshipful and and other pioneers in substituton of prize will be permitted. W nner will be WHY WE DON'T YET HAVE notified by overnight express service and must sign and enthusiastic that he the audio field. return an Affidavit of Eligibility and Release of Liability within APPRECIATION SOCIETIES 15 days of notification, via the return mailer provides. didn't dismiss out- Before you revel, Noncoms lance within that time period may result in FOR PAUL KLIPSCH awarding of the prize to an alternate winner. right the possibility of AND though, in another ELIGIBILITY: Sweepstakes open only to residents of the resurrecting the de- OTHER decade's worth of United States (except Puerto Rico) and Canada (except AUDIO PIONEERS. Quebec), 18 years of age or older, who possess a valid sign. With his permis- retroism, note that it driver's license. Employees of General Motors, Campbefl- Ewald Advertising, D.L. Blair, Inc. and members of their sion, John Widgery has just experienced immediate families are not eligible. All applicable laws and (who worked regulation apply. Sweepstakes void wherever prohibitee by for Radford and would even- a major setback. The first reviews of law.Taxes, licensing and registration fees where applicable tually form are the sole responsibility of the winner. Odds of winrirg Woodside Electronics) oversaw Jaguar's new S -type, a millennial interpre- are determined by the number of correct and incorrect the manufacture of 100 Radford STA -25s, tation of the revered Mk. II S entries submitted. No responsibility is assumed for incom- and -type of plete, lost, late, damaged, illegible or misdirected e-mail, for finished in black and containing KT77 the '50s and '60s, recently hit the stands. technical hardware or software failures of any kind, low or unavailable network connections, or failed, incomplete, tubes instead of EL34s. Each amp bore a And even the nationalistic British press isn't garbled or delayed computer transmission which may limit user's ability to participate in the sweepstakes, or for ron or gold plaque and came with a signed certifi- too impressed. But then again, Jag is now illegibly postmarked. lost, late, non -delivered or misdirected mail. Prize is guaranteed to be awarded. cate of ownership. What these Radfords owned by Ford, so what did it expect? A By acceptance of prize, winner consents to use of his/her now command on the collector's name, photograph and other likeness for purpose of advertising, trade and promotion on behalf of General market, I shudder to think. Motors without further compensation, unless prohibiter by law. Rules are subject to any requirements/limitations Given the esteem in which imposed by the Federal Communications Commission. Radford products are held in the Fe. the name of winner (available after November 15, 1999), send a separate, stamped, self-addressed envelope to: U.K., Japan, Germany, and else- Where's the Tracker Winner, P.O. Box 4972, Blair, NE 64009-4972 USA. where and given that Radford Sweepstakes sponsor: Chevrolet Motor Division, Genera was, upon reflection, responsible Motors Corporation, 100 Renaissance Center, Renaissance Drive, Detroit, Michigan 48265. for the practice of reissuing classic hi-fi components, it's only fitting that the first organization of

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com Sunfire Theater Grand Processor

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by DAVID J. WEINBERG and HOWARD W. FERSTLER

C.n"1 (awl ------t- C ) /LI\ \/- ) - 1 _l_. ; ___ r)- \ 1

ROOM ACOUSTICS AND GOOD SOUND

VIany people enjoy the body -vibrat- are easier to understand when analyzed ing bass experienced in the finest separately. concert halls (like Boston's Sym- BASICS phony Hall) and in a few movie theaters. physically, sound consists of cyclic air However, this experience has proved excep- movements, which produce pressure tionally difficult to bring home. In fact, the waves and velocity waves that are acoustics of a normal home listening room correlated as shown in Fig. 1. At the point make it nearly impossible to secure flat fre- where the pressure is maximum or mini- quency response in the important range of mum, the velocity is zero (that is, the net 20 to 400 Hz at the listening position. velocity of the air molecules near this point Acoustical factors that influence the in space is zero); where the air molecular amount and perception of bass in a listen- velocity peaks, the pressure differential is ing room include: zero. (By pressure differential, we mean the -three-dimensional standing -wave pat- difference between the pressure at that point terns, and the nominal atmospheric pressure.) room dimension ratios, Complex sounds, such as music or -room volume (how big the room is), speech, can be viewed as ever-changing lin- -rigidity of the room boundaries (floor, ear combinations of individual frequencies walls, and ceiling), of various amplitudes. Therefore, a discus- -boundary augmentation/cancellation sion of single -frequency sine wave patterns effects and speaker placement, and will make the explanation easier and can be 'speaker spacing. extrapolated to cover complex sounds. Although it is impossible to separate A sound's frequency is marked off in cy- these effects in a real room, as all of them cles per second (now called hertz, or Hz, af- act simultaneously on the sound traveling ter the 19th -century German physicist trom the speakers to the listener's ears, they Heinrich Hertz), which is how often the sine

David J. Weinberg, of Tobias Audio in Howard Ferstler has written many ar- Silver Spring, Md., provides audio and home ticles and books on audio, including High theater engineering consultation and profes- Fidelity Audio -Video Systems, High Defini- sional on -location digital recording services tion Compact Disc Recordings, and The to companies, radio stations, and individu- Home Theater Companion. Howard can be als. He can be reached at 301/593-3230 or via contacted at 850/386-6983 or via e-mail at e-mail at [email protected]. [email protected].

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 28

AmericanRadioHistory.Com /\

Photographs: David Hamsley

AmericanRadioHistory.Com wave pattern recurs each second. A tal frequency, with the number of rein- corollary to frequency is wavelength- forcement peaks and cancellation nulls how far a single cycle of the sound trav- proportional to the multiplication fac- e1s.This is a simple function of the fre- tor. This yields a series of maximally af- quency and the speed of sound in air, fected frequencies, with twice as many which is approximately 1,130 feet per a in each octave as in the one below. second. The higher the frequency, the This effect occurs no matter where less time between reversals and thus the the speaker is with Air Molecular respect to the sur- Velocity shorter the wavelength (Fig. 2). faces! In fact, it occurs for each pair of Sound pressure level (SPL, mea- opposite surfaces-wall-to-wall and in sured decibels, or dB) is a time -aver- NOTE: '0' is Net Zero Air Velocity, ceiling -to -floor. Thus, in a convention- which equals Nominal Atmospheric Pressure aged calculation of the "effective" am- al rectangular room there are three se- plitude (see Fig. 3) of the sound pressure ries of axial standing waves-one series for relative to a very low reference level (0.0002 FIG. 1-RELATIONSHIP OF each pair of opposite surfaces-and the fun- microbar) that approximates the mid -fre- AIR PRESSURE AND VELOCITY damental frequency of each series can be quency threshold of human hearing. IN THE PROPAGATION OF calculated by the formula f=565/d, where d A SOUND WAVE. is the distance in feet between the surfaces. STANDING WAVES ound emanating from any source cept at the zero -crossing point, where there (our mouths, speakers, noisy ma- is nothing to reinforce). This is known as a chines, etc.) travels through air, all resonance, or standing wave, and at any fre- the while maintaining its complex shape of quency that creates such a resonance, there S1)C1LCL'S slwuld LC pressure over time and distance. When the will always be maximum pressure differen- sound strikes a surface, it begins traveling tial at the two opposing surfaces. And for unequal distances in a new direction, but the shape of the this fundamental resonance, where the sur- pressure wave continues unchanged, except faces are a half -wavelength apart, the pres- Ili c 1Ioor, each for losses into or through the surface, which sure differential will drop to zero midway from we'll get to later. between them. When a wave traveling in one direction While any waves will interact where they wall, and the ceiling, crosses the path of a wave traveling in an- intersect, only those with a specific rela- other direction, their instantaneous pres- tionship to the surface spacing will rein- and no distance sures (relative to nominal air pressure) re- force all along their path, no matter how inforce or cancel, depending on their many times they bounce back and forth be- should Le a multiple values. For example, if both are positive (or tween the two surfaces. The rest of the in- negative) relative to atmospheric pressure, teractions are random and average out to hey will sum to a larger pressure differen- no net effect. of any other. ial. But if one is positive and the other neg- For a given dimension, resonance also ative, they will sum to a smaller pressure occurs for each multiple of the fundamen- differential (zero if the two happen to have There is more to the story, however. the same amplitude at that time and place). FIG. 2-RELATIONSHIP OF Measurements and analysis have validated To make visualization a little easier, as- WAVELENGTH TO FREQUENCY. the original work of Philip M. Morse and sume that the speaker is at one surface. For Richard H. Bolt (of Bolt, Beranek and a given spacing between two surfaces, Newman), who 45 years ago described there is a frequency for which that dis- three types of standing waves: axial, in- tance is equal to one-half the wave- volving only a single pair of opposite length (see Fig. 4); in other words, surfaces; tangential, which, like a four - with the positive peak pressure point cushion billiard shot, involve the four at the speaker, the next negative peak successively adjacent surfaces of a pressure point in the waveform is at closed rectangle; and oblique, which in- the other wall. The result is that as the volve all six room surfaces. sound continues, and the reflection Morse and Bolt noted that there is a off the far surface returns to the difference in relative energy for each speaker, the next positive peak pres- type of standing wave, such that, for a sure point is back at the speaker. Thus, given pressure amplitude, an axial wave

OIES: Speed fSound-1130Feetpo,Second A(FrequencyfNla(WavelengthAN) the forward and return waves rein- f, is a higher frequency than fZ has twice the energy of a tangential wave force each other all along the path (ex - and four times that of an oblique wave.

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 30

AmericanRadioHistory.Com have The main advantage of a large room E Alton Everest and many others tantaneous Sound Pressure concluded from this that tangential is that it will tend to have a lower Prason land and oblique resonances can be effec- Effective Sound Schroeder frequency than a smaller tively ignored, since their energy is so room, which in turn will tend to make much lower than that of the axial the frequency response smooth over a frequency is waves. However, Morse and Bolt also ominal Atoros hark Pressu wider range. The Schroeder stated the following (emphasis added): the approximate frequency above which "Axial waves are made up of two trav- the room resonances (standing waves) eling waves propagated parallel to one are so closely spaced that they do not axis and striking only two walls. Tan- substantially affect the sound. Thus, it is necessary to pay serious attention only gential waves are built up of four trav- NOTE: For e single hepuanooyy ENectiw SPL 0.T0Ta((Peek lnstantaneeus Sound Pressure -(Nominal Atmospheric P,essure)l eling waves, reflecting from four walls in dB 000002 mioroban to the dimensionally determined reso- and moving parallel to two walls. Oblique nances below the Schroeder frequency, OF waves are built up of eight traveling waves FIG. 3-RELATIONSHIP which is a function of room volume and re- INSTANTANEOUS AND reflecting from all six walls." So the reduc- PEAK verberation time. The larger the room or (OR AVERAGE) tion in energy per wave for the tangential EFFECTIVE the shorter the reverberation time, the low- PRESSURE LEVEL TO and oblique resonances is exactly offset by SOUND er the Schroeder frequency. ATMOSPHERIC the increase in the number of waves, making AMBIENT the total room energy contribution of each PRESSURE. BOUNDARY RIGIDITY type of standing wave the same. This finding he more rigid a room's surfaces, the conflicts with Everest's assumption but meyer, and Tomlinson M. Holman and of better it will maintain low frequen- seems to agree with experimental data col- the ITU -BR (International Telecommuni- T cies. Roy Allison and others have de- lected by a number of well -respected re- cations Union-Radiocommunications scribed how "soft" walls, "soft" ceilings, searchers. Thus, a calculated room reso- Assembly, formerly the CCIR). The ITU - "soft" floors, padded furniture, room di- nance series based only on axial standing BR also concludes that the criteria used to viders, and openings (doors or windows) waves is incomplete and will lead to erro- determine a good listening room for two - affect the severity and "Q" (bandwidth) of neous conclusions. channel stereo are also valid for 5.1 -chan- response peaks and dips in a room. What all of this means is that regardless nel surround. We're all familiar with loud bass coming of where the speakers are located, there is a from a closed -up car idling next to us at a set of standing waves based on the room di- ROOM VOLUME traffic light. We also are aware of the bass mensions that will cause peaks and dips in Over a fairly wide range of room sizes, thumping through the walls from a neigh- the frequency response at every point in the and all else being equal, a larger boring apartment, especially late at night three-dimensional space of the room, and room will yield better bass response when we want to sleep. at different frequencies these peaks and than a smaller one. The exception, dis- Sound is vibrating air molecules. When dips will occur at different locations. cussed later, is a very small volume (such as these molecules strike a surface, they trans- an automobile's interior), which forms a fer energy to it, causing the surface to vi- ROOM DIMENSION RATIOS low -frequency "pressure pot." brate. The surface reflects some of the ener- Now that we know that standing gy back into the room and dissipates some waves affect the frequency response FIG. 4-A. FUNDAMENTAL of it as heat, but the rest is transmitted and that the standing -wave frequen- AXIAL STANDING WAVE through the surface into the adjoining area, cies can be calculated from room dimen- BETWEEN TWO ROOM whether that is a room or the outside air. sions, the question arises whether there is BOUNDARIES. The less rigid the surface, the higher the per- some optimum ratio of room dimen- centage of the energy transmitted to the sions to minimize the sonic impact of other side. Because of the mass and di- - standing waves. In other words, what mensions of typical room surfaces and f Instantaneous lower fre- ratios will yield the most even distrib- Sound Pressure the longer wavelengths of ution of standing -wave frequencies? quencies, bass tends to be transmitted The most widely accepted work on through these surfaces much more easily than high frequencies, attenuating bass this subject is that of M. M. Louden, Nominal Atmospheric room. Also, and for which followed on that of Morse and Pressure inside the listening Bolt. Louden's most highly recom- all the same reasons, doors and windows mended room dimension ratio is cause a greater bass loss from a room 1:1.4:1.9, which for a room with an than the walls. This is why, all other fac- a listening room in a 8 -foot ceiling would be 8 x 11.2 x tors being equal, 15.2 feet. This agrees with the recom- WALL WALL cellar will usually have stronger bass NOTE: 1U. Wavelength of Fundamental Standing Wave Frequency to mendations of Bolt, Ludwig W. Sep- than a room on an upper floor.

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 31

AmericanRadioHistory.Com BOUNDARY EFFECTS AND For a single -surface effect, the boost -to - without compromising the smoothness of SPEAKER PLACEMENT dip ratio is 4 dB; for two surfaces the same the low -frequency response. part trom his work as a speaker de- distance from the speaker, it is 9 dB; for Allison has also pointed out, by the way, signer, Roy Allison is best known for three surfaces, it is an amazing 20 dB from that boundary augmentation/cancellation his investigations into the sonic ef- shelving boost level to the pit of the suck - effects apply to listeners as well as to speak- fects of room dimension ratios and bound- out! This is why it is best to have the front of ers. Therefore, the recommendation for ary augmentation of loudspeaker output. the speaker flush with the wall (or, in the keeping a speaker unevenly from the near- In particular, he quantified what has be- case of bookshelf speakers, buried in a shelf est three surfaces also, ideally, applies to the come known as the Allison effect: a pre- full of books). Given that this is unlikely for listener's ears. dictable dip, or suckout, in the low -fre- many situations and speakers, it is best that quency response that is determined by the the speaker be different distances from the SUBWOOFER PLACEMENT distance from the center of the driver to floor, each wall, and the ceiling and that Asingle, well -designed subwoofer sit- each room boundary. This effect is notice- none of the distances be multiples of any ting in a corner will ensure the most able only for the woofer, since for the dis- other. A simplistic formula that is fairly ef- bass power input to a room, but that tances normally involved, the frequencies fective is: B2 = A x C, where A is the distance is not the only significant factor. The flat- affected are usually around 150 to 200 Hz. to the nearest boundary, B is the distance to ness of the bass response at different points a For given distance from the speaker to the next nearest boundary, and C is the in the room depends on the free -air sub - one surface, there is a 1 -dB dip at the maxi- third distance; only in rare cases do the woofer response and on the evenness of the mally affected frequency. For a speaker that fourth, fifth, and sixth distances have any room modes. For example, there might be a is the same distance from each of two sur- substantive influence. cluster of modes near one frequency within faces, such as the floor and the wall behind The Allison effect is usually exacerbated the subwoofer's passband that could be the speaker, the dip is around 3 dB. If, by by the often -recommended placement of somewhat suppressed by placing the sub some chance, the speaker is the same dis- speakers away from walls and on stands. away from a corner to induce a compen- tance from each of the nearest three sur- This typical speaker siting causes the well - satory suckout. Similarly, if a subwoofer has faces (i.e., in a corner), the suckout is ap- documented suckout of upper-bass fre- more output from, say, 60 to 100 Hz than it proximately 11 dB. quencies, making cellos and basses sound does from 20 to 60 Hz, pulling it out of the Psychoacoustically, a narrow bass notch thin while coincidentally seeming to en- corner a few feet might flatten the hump. (suckout) is less objectionable than a broad- hance clarity. Placing the sub close to the listener (as rec- spectrum boost (ignoring the fact that a lot Suckout is a power -response phenome- ommended by Hsu Research) might also of us are perfectly happy with bass boost, non and will influence the sound no matter have audible benefits in some cases, though even though it moves us away from high fi- where you sit. It is the result of quarter - this can be difficult to establish without so- delity!). But such boost is another product wave cancellation effects, in which sound phisticated test gear or a lot of trial and er- of boundary interaction. As the frequency reflects from large nearby boundaries back ror. Usually, however, the best "safe" bet gets lower and the wavelength becomes to the woofer and nulls its output at certain is corner placement, at least as a starting longer than about ten times the distance frequencies. If the boundaries are far point. Experiment by moving the sub out in from the speaker to the nearest surface, the enough away, the suckout moves downward increments of only a few inches, shifting its room becomes a pressure pot and output is in frequency and begins to affect the lower placement until the deep bass in the listen- entirely displacement -limited. Exact loca- bass range. A large boundary 3 feet away ing position is most satisfying. tion is irrelevant, because at longer wave- from a speaker will cause a power -response Moving a subwoofer out of a corner lengths the woofer is acoustically "close" to (not standing -wave) dip at 113 Hz every- reduces the output at the high end of its op- the room boundary. As the distance to the where in the room. At 4 feet, the suckout erating range more than at the low end nearest surface mxets this criterion, there is will occur at 84.75 Hz; at 5 feet the null because the augmentation is frequency - a shelving bass boost of about 3 dB. As the drops to 67.8 Hz; at 6 feet it is at 56.5 Hz; at related. Again, that may help flatten the next surface conies into play, a total boost 7, 48.4 Hz; at 8, 42.4 Hz; at 9, 37.66 Hz; at response with some subs, even though of around 6 dB occurs. When the speaker is 10, 33.9 Hz; and so forth. you'll need more input power at the high close enough to all three of the nearest sur- The reason commonly given for using end than you did before. It amounts to faces, the bass boost is 9 dB. As Allison speaker stands is to raise the tweeter to the equalization by location, and a little change makes clear, this effect has two causes. It re- same height as the listener's ears. What is can make a lot of difference. duces the angle into which the speaker ra- important, however, is not the tweeter's ele- Assume a sub in a corner has its woofer diates-from a full sphere (suspended in vation relative to the listener's ears but the 12 inches from each boundary. The aug- open air), to, half sphere (on the floor), to quality of the sound at his ears. If a tweeter mentation is about 8 dB at 80 Hz. Moving a quarter spere (also at one wall), and is so beamy that its height is critical, then the box so that the woofer is 48 inches away then to one -eighth sphere (near a corner). the prime listening area must be extremely from the walls, with it still sitting on the And nearby surfaces improve the cone's small, in which case a better solution is to floor, reduces the augmentation at 80 Hz to "bite" on the air, which increases speaker tilt the speaker. Aiming the tweeter up at zero. So it isn't really correct to say that a efficiency. the listener's head will solve the problem sub is acoustically "close" to all six room

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 32

AmericanRadioHistory.Com boundaries, at least not over its full range. A the various speakers, the placement of those would also have, although they would still car (with closed windows) resembles a speakers, and where low frequencies are di- have that cancellation null at one frequency pressure pot over a wide range of low fre- rected by the bass -management system. because of their spacing. For example, two quencies because of its small dimensions Consequently, results can be extremely dif- woofers in corners 20 feet apart would- avíi compared with a living room. But a living ficult to predict. a dip at about 34 Hz. However, other room The other side of the speaker-interaction effects (the cancellation effects caused by coin is what happens at frequencies where boundaries plus, of course, standing waves) the wavelength is smaller than that at which would cause similar aberrations. augmentation by mutual coupling begins. Interestingly, if two main -channel satel- Under most And again, the result is analogous to what lite speakers are placed 6 feet apart, the in- happens in speaker/boundary interactions. terwoofer null will occur at 113 Hz, mean- conditions, When woofers are spaced apart, each one's ing that a single subwoofer in a corner, power response will have a notch whose crossed over at 80 Hz, will not eliminate the the flatiest bass center frequency will depend on the exact suckout. Indeed, with 8 -foot spacing, the distance between the speakers. The suckout resulting 85 -Hz suckout might foul up the is a result of inter -woofer cancellations that 80 -Hz crossover blend between the sub- is radiated into are similar to what would happen if one woofer and the satellites. As noted above, woofer were turned off and a perfectly re- however, this becomes a serious problem the room by placing flective wall were exactly centered between only if the speakers are the same distance them. The reflections from the virtual from a wall as half the distance between the single subwoofer boundary, simulated by the low -bass signals speakers. a from the second woofer, would cause a dip at the same frequency. Stated another STANDING WAVES VS. in a corner. way, with two woofers the null will occur BOUNDARY INTERACTION at the same frequency as a boundary ef- uckouts-the wave -cancellation nulls fect in which the woofer -to -boundary caused by interaction between two a room approaches a pressure pot only below distance is half the woofer -to -woofer dis- speakers or between a speaker and the lowest room -dimension resonances, tance. For example, if two woofers are 12 boundary-are not the same as standing which typically are in the region of 30 to 35 feet apart, or one large boundary is 6 feet waves. Standing waves are determined sole- and Hz, even for a room of modest size. from either of the woofers, a null will occur ly by boundary -to-boundary distances at 56.5 Hz. occur independent of where acoustic power SPEAKER SPACING The dip will not be very significant soni- originates in the room; that is, they are imilar to the boundary augmenta- cally unless it is reinforced by a second, purely acoustical effects, not power -re- tion/cancellation effect, and caused boundary -generated dip at the same fre- sponse effects. Suckouts, whether caused by S by essentially the same interactions, quency (note again that this is not about speaker -to -boundary or speaker-to-spe e are the spaced-speaker effects: shelving bass position -independent standing -wave ef- cancellations, are power-response.n is boost from multispeaker coupling and a fects). If both speaker -spacing and bound- Standing waves control the distribútion cancellation dip created by the spacing be- ary cancellation occur at the same frequen- power, not the amount; they are fixed si3 tween speakers. cy, the dip will be deeper and more audible. tially in the room, the pattern varying wi Allison has pointed out that at frequen- To minimize the adverse effect of using two the frequencies involved. They cause the cies whose wavelengths are more than a woofers in the low -bass range, it is impor- bass balance of a program to change dra- quarter the distance between two speakers, tant to make sure that they do not also in- matically as a listener moves around the and there will be a shelving boost of 3 dB (as- teract with boundaries that are half the dis- room. Suckouts affect power response suming that the two speakers are radiating tance from either woofer as the two woofers cannot be changed by moving the listener, moving will change his the same signal at the same level); for two are from each other. although rrçlp.= ves in ways t iat speakers 8 feet apart, that would be 3 dB be- Two woofers placed in two corners tionship to standing try. ef- low about 140 Hz. If two more speakers are would have only one cancellation dip, ameliorate or exacerb a the subjective added (left and right surround, for exam- which would probably not be deep enough fect of a suckout. move ple), radiating the same signal at the same or broad enough to be audibly significant To change a suc ut frequency, to level, an additional 3 -dB bass boost results. with musical program material. Under the speakers in relation to each other or However, rarely do surround signals in- most conditions, the flattest bass is radiated boundaries. Optimally, moving two woof- clude the same bass, or bass at even nearly into the room by placing a single woofer in ers next to each other and into a corner the same level, as the front channels. The a corner, the biggest advantage of which is eliminates the null completely, if the exact result in a multichannel system will the uniform reinforcement from three adja- crossover point is below the frequency in the cor- depend on the bass content in the various cent surface boundaries-something that where the three close boundaries channels, the low -frequency extension of two subwoofers placed in two corners ner would cause a null in the upper bass. A AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 33

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com rom its inception, NAD has prided itself on low-key styling, aiming to sell EQUIPMENT PROFILE "what the box does rather than the DANIEL KUMIN box itself," as one exec told me. By those standards, the firm's distinctive new Silver Series is almost sinfully stylish. These high-performance, two -chan- NAD S200 AMP nel components were built to commemo- rate NAD's 25th year. The Silver Series S200 AND S100 PREAMP power amplifier and S100 preamplifier are finished in striking, sand -blasted aluminum that looks almost snowy yet reveals fine texture up close-a radical departure from the maker's traditional charcoal gray. This preamp and power amp (and the CD player, FM tuner, and integrated amp that round out the series) are constructed along classic high -end audio lines: They have massive, heavy chassis, aluminum front panels made from solid aluminum billets 9 millimeters thick, and cast, vibration - damping feet. To me, the Silver Series looks great. And that beauty is not just skin deep; the S200/S100 combo is more than just another pair of pretty faceplates. In today's digital, multichannel age, it's refreshing to get back to basics now and again, and the S200 and S100 are about as basic as you could ask for. The preamp's slim -line front panel carries just a single volume knob, seven input selectors, a power button, and a round sensor for the remote

AMPLIFIER Rated Output at 0.03% THD, 20 Hz to 20 kHz, into 8 Ohms: Stereo, 225 impressive. watts/channel (23.5 dBW); bridged control. Around back are six line -level in- The S100 preamp's interior is The power supply has a massive, 35 -volt mono, 780 watts (28.9 dBW). puts (including two complete tape loops) screwed -to - ampere toroidal transformer, 14,000 micro - Dimensions: 173/4 in. W x 71/8 in. H x served by mechanically solid, RCA A seventh input posi- farads of storage capacitance (enough for 153/4 in. D (45cmx 18 cmx40cm). the -panel jacks. amplifiers), numerous regula- Weight: 59.4 lbs. (27 kg). tion, marked "Phono," functions as an ex- some small heat sinks, and an un- Price: $1,799. tra line -level position until an optional tors with individual $299 phono module, usual output stage. PREAMPLIFIER installed by the dealer, This stage, built of is added; NAD says it's discrete devices, is a Dimensions: 173/4 in. W x 25/8 in. H x THIS AMP AND PREAMP mov- power amp in minia- 113/8 in. D (45 cm x 6.7 cm x 29 cm). configurable for ARE TEXTBOOK EXAMPLES ture and is said to Weight: 13.6 lbs. (6.2 kg). ing -magnet or mov- achieve an exception- Price: $1,199, including system remote ing -coil cartridges and OF SOLID-STATE loading ally low output im- deluxe system remote, $199; phono has adjustable CIRCUITRY DONE RIGHT. pedance of 50 ohms. module, $299. to match any cartridge's impedance. There are separate output stages for the Company Address: 633 Granite Court, The S100 has two signal phases, to drive Pickering, Ont. L1W 3K1, Canada; pairs of unbalanced line outputs plus one positive and negative XLR outputs in true balanced mode. 800/263-4641; pair of balanced outputs on gold-plated the bill of materials lists plenty of www.nadelectronics.com. XLRs. The preamp's power cord is the IEC The 5100's removable type. audiophile -approved goodies, including AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 35

AmericanRadioHistory.Com é MAO MOO signal relays within an inch of each +0.4 The S100 AP input jack to handle signal 02 ilII rout- preamp comes LEFT M- ing. The preamplifier's circuitry -_- _ _ - 1..11I -_- .._ -. ---_- with this RM.HT uses only discrete transistors ex- remote, which llllll cept for the driver, a Burr -Brown also controls 100 1k 10k 90k OPA134 op -amp, preceding its other NAD FREQUENCY - N: output stage. NAD characterizes components. Fig. 1-Frequency this op -amp as having ultra -wide A simpler but response, 5100 preamp. bandwidth, low noise, low distor- fancier remote is optional. tion, and low DC offset. I found NAO SIX the S100's innards as w about handsome as its outtards-even the in- z LE fT + u ewe. ternal heatsinks were made --- P tl r------of 001III!1R1GNT sand -blasted aluminum! IO ioo I« lok 50k The S200 follows the same pat- FREOUENCY - Hz tern, of course. Front -panel fea- Fig. 2-THD + N vs. tures comprise a power switch and firmed this with my highly unscientific gui- frequency, 5100 preamp. pilot light plus pinpoint LED indi- tar -pickup -proximity audible test.) Like the cators for the S200's Soft Clipping preamp, the S200 contains a high-grade op - SAD SIX circuit (which is said to "gently amp at a key circuit position. But here 10 that AP limit the output waveform and position is the input, and the op -amp is minimize audible distortion when Analog Devices' OP249, a J-FET design said the amplifier is overdriven"), to have superior slew rate, settling, distor-

I 0.1 bridged mono mode, and protection, and noise as well as extreme stability. tion circuitry. The amp's rear panel Overall, the S200 is a conventional Class - F 0.01 carries balanced and unbalanced AB design, with bipolar output devices inputs, an IEC power socket, and (eight per channel), minimal global feed- 0.001 spiffy, WBT gold-plated speaker back, and (thanks to its very ample heat terminals. Each speaker terminal sinks) an unusually high idle 0.0001 e point that en- 0.1 10 20 has metal connectors encased in ables the amp to stay in Class A at higher INPUT LEVEL -V clear plastic wire guides for easy in- output levels than more typical Class -AB sertion of pins or bare wire. (These amps in its power class. Fig. 3-THD + N vs. input work great, level, 5100 preamp. but-curses!-the Under its handsomely perforated top pairs are not spaced for 3/4 -inch cover, the S200's most prominent feature is dual -banana plugs.) Tiny slide the huge power transformer, which RID SIX sits on 60 switches activate bridging and Soft edge against AP the front panel. The remaining 65 Clipping and select balanced or circuitry is arrayed symmetrically on a con- 70 unbalanced input. nection board to the rear, channel cards Topology -wise, the S200 is de- bolted to each side -wall heat sink, a I 75 and scribed as being derived from power -supply 8 0 board (which holds eight NAD's 218THX amp but with 4,700-microfarad Nichicon storage capaci- many circuit and component up- tors) on the floor. Component quality 90 grades. The S200's performance looked good everywhere, with parts selec- -95 LEFT claims include stability into very tion similar to the S100's. I was very im- RIGHT -100 low impedances (down to 1 ohm), pressed by the amp's construction: sturdy 20 100 Ik tOk 20k storage capacitance built up from steel peripheral rails, heavy panels, and FREQUENCY - Hz banks of many small capacitors dozens of Allen -bolt fasteners. Fig. 4-Crosstalk, rather than a few large ones (to In short, construction of this amp and 5100 preamp. speed rail -voltage recovery by re- preamp is beyond reproach, especially con- ducing equivalent series resistance sidering the Silver Series' affordable -high - red WIMA capacitors (NAD says they're and inductance), and direct -coupled layout end pricing. The fit and finishof these com- "more highly regarded" than the common- throughout (excepting the inputs, which ponents, and their quite elaborate heat er yellow ones-sheesh, it's getting to be like are coupled through WIMA capacitors). sinks and structural elements, are definitely M&Ms), 1% metal -film resistors, film -type The supply transformer, rated at 1,200 volt- worth a second look. filter -bypass capacitators, a double -sided amperes, is a Holmgren toroidal unit said to The system remote provided with the glass -epoxy circuit board, and gold-plated keep stray magnetic fields very low. (I con - S100 commands the preamp's volume and AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 36

AmericanRadioHistory.Com RAC 5100 source selection (what else is there?) and gain, is perhaps 10 dB less than I 90 M has buttons (37 of them) to operate current might have expected in view of the - loo or recent NAD tuners, CD players, and tape S100's otherwise fine performance. -110 decks. The new S70 Silver Series system re- The 6-dB/octave reduction above «FT - 120 mote ($199), which is machined out of sol- the midband suggests capacitive SI ENT IN%1 id aluminum and has a "paged" LCD dis- coupling, probably a result of -140 play to keep its button count to just 14, was board layout. However, because 20 IOU 1k not available for this review. separation remains better than 70 FREQUENCY - Hz dB at any frequency where you're Fig. 5-Spectral analysis a Measurements likely to notice it, this is merely of residual noise, The test results for the NAD S100 pre - paper issue. S100 preamp. amp and S200 amp could easily serve as Noise is not much of an issue textbook examples of end -of-the -century, with this preamp, either. A spectral solid -state -done -right performance. analysis of its residual noise relative Ap The S100's frequency response for a 500 - to 500 millivolts (Fig. 5) indicates millivolt signal at unity gain (Fig. 1) is flat, that the S100 is quiet-real quiet. R GMT o r LEFT and channel balance is within 0.1 dB. (The I am not presenting any plots -0.25 2 -kHz glitch is in my test system.) Over the from the S100's balanced outputs the results were little dif- -0.5 final one -quarter or so of its rotation, from because 10 100 Ik 10k 50k about 2:30 or 3 o'clock, the volume con- ferent from those with the un- FREQUENCY - Hz jacks; what modest dif- trol's channels did not track as well, deviat- balanced Fig. 6-Frequency dB. amp, ferences I did uncover appear in ing by about 0.5 But unless your response at 1 watt, speakers, or both have very low sensitivity, "Measured Data." I should report 5200 amp. you'll rarely set the control this high. (I did that idling noise was a bit higher at virtually all my listening with it set between the balanced outputs (which is pre- NAO 5500 11 and 1 o'clock.) dictable, given the balanced input's 01 AP Figure 2, a plot of the S100's total har- extra circuitry), but channel bal- distortion plus noise (THD + N), ance was actually a touch better. monic - RIGHT reveals that there's effectively zero distor- The S100's output impedances 0.01 tion and very low noise. Taken with an 80 - measured a very low 65 ohms (near O kHz measurement bandwidth, the curves enough to the specified 50 ohms EFT which indicate that the preamplifier is very linear as makes no nevermind), 0.001 at ultrasonic frequencies, suggesting a low - should minimize or eliminate re- 20 100 10k 50k feedback design and implying low tran- sponse changes caused by intercon- FREQUENCY - Hz sient -related distortion and, possibly, good nect cables. All this adds up to stel- Fig. 7-THD + N vs. lar performance. frequency at 1 watt, The S200 power amp delivered S200 amp. SUBJECTIVELY, generous wattage and behaved very THIS IS ONE OF well on the bench. Clipping came within a tick of 250 watts for 8 -ohm loads Into either 4 or 8 ohms, the Soft Clipping THE QUIETEST and 365 watts into 4 -ohm loads, both chan- circuit made no measurable difference. AMPLIFICATION SYSTEMS nels driven. During these tests, my lab's AC Like the S100 preamp, the S200 power I'VE ENCOUNTERED. line sagged to about 115 volts (from 120). amp has very flat frequency response (Fig. Bridged into 8 ohms, the S200 produced 6). At 1 -watt output into 8 ohms, the amp's

about 750 watts at 1 kHz and sucked the THD + N versus frequency is about 0.005% immunity to RF interference. The S100's line down to 112 volts. However, I had little through the midband (Fig. 7); this is pretty THD + N is plotted against input signal doubt that the amplifier would yield at least close to the noise floor-impressive. Results level in Fig. 3. (The performance of only its rated 780 watts bridged, were it connect- for THD + N into 4 ohms at 1 watt in stereo one channel is presented; the other's was ed to a better -regulated AC line. Dynamic mode and into 8 ohms in bridged mode identical.) The NAD cheerfully absorbed headroom into 8 ohms was almost exactly were substantially the same, within a hun- nearly 10 volts from a low source imped- 1 dB (285 dynamic watts), but since clip- dredth of a percent. ance and so should handle just about any ping headroom is already about 0.5 dB, this Figure 8 shows the amplifier's power ver- unbalanced consumer audio source with isn't very significant. Driving 4 ohms, the sus distortion. (Because the two channels aplomb. S200 had roughly the same dynamic head- performed essentially identically, I've in- The preamp's channel separation, seen in room, relative to an arbitrarily selected 350 cluded results for just one of them.) Figure Fig. 4 for a 500 -millivolt signal at unity watts (NAD does not spec 4 -ohm power). 8A shows the amp's output for 4- and 8- AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 37

AmericanRadioHistory.Com NAD SY» 10 might by any stretch be considered Subjectively, the NAD combo is certainly audible. The difference between the one of the quietest amplification systems 1111111111111111111111/11111II11111MMIi/1IIt11IMI®Ill«11111 BlB11111B111IIB111 curves taken with the unbalanced I've ever encountered. During the ear -to - r input could be a factor of board the -tweeter test and with maximum vol- layout or of lead dress (which ume, it was just possible to tell there was + 0.1 BIBIIIIIB1111111B111 might apply only to my review any noise at all. Now, that's quiet! _ ---:..mA>AIEi::::: WZ:::::: 1111111BMffl1/11f 011111111111111110111111/1111 sample or to all S200s). Maybe it was the terrifically low noise 0.01 011911.111111111111111 40HM$ pllIllp Figure 10 shows the NAD amp's floor, but something about this NAD MMiiiñúEáGiiiCiiiü residual noise, graphed spectrally pairing drew me to solo piano and cham- 0.001 111111111111111111311111111111111111IZ111111111111 in dBW (decibels re 1 watt). The ber music. An old favorite recording of 10 loo 800 curves for unbalanced input (Fig. Prokofiev sonatas (Sony Classical SK 52- OUTPUT - WATTS l0A) need little comment: Power - 484) sounded more than terrific. This was A line components are clearly in evi- one of the rare setups over which, at a life-

NAD SEO dence but are all below -100 dBW, like, close -range volume (what I call page - 10 Ap which ought to be plenty good turner's volume), I could actually hear pi- enough for any rational soul; the anissimo -note fade-outs ooze into the CD's ultrasonic peaks are from my test inherent noise floor. (And that floor was SOFT CLIPPING environment, not the amplifier. low, this being a quasi -20 - ON -bit Super Bit 0.1 The noise obtained with balanced Mapped recording!) I could even more eas- input (Fig. 10B) is a little tougher ily hear producer's edits; SOFT they were expertly CLIPPING 001 OFF to interpret. On the left channel it done, with the music cutting seamlessly, but looks about as I would expect, with subtle discontinuities in studio rumble and

0.001 15 dB or so less hum and buzz than room sound gave the game away. SO 100 500 the unbalanced input. The right Musically, the NADs sounded ultra- OUTPUT - WATTS channel, however, looks to be en- clean, neutral, detailed, and defined, with - Fig. 8-THD + N vs. output B joying little (if any) of the benefits of S200 amp at 1 kHz into of common -mode rejection; this 4- and 8 -ohm loads was also reflected in the S/N results without Soft Clipping (A) taken with the balanced input. I and at 16 kHz into experimented a good deal with 4 ohms with and without ground lifting, lead dressing, and Soft Clipping (B). instrument grounds without dis- covering anything conclusive. Ei- NAD SUD ther way, we're still talking about z 40 _.. noise levels below -100 dBW.

60 BALANCED ._ . 17, Use and Listening Tests UNBALANCED Ú o 1Piro I hooked the Silver Series combo 10 100 1 10k 20k into a simple audio system com- THE NADs SOUNDED FREQUENCY - Hz prising a pair of Platinum Solo ULTRA -CLEAN, NEUTRAL, Fig. 9-Crosstalk, two-way speakers and a Sony DVP- DETAILED, AND DEFINED, S200 amp. C600D DVD/CD changer (which happens to make a very good - WITH NO COLDNESS ohm loads with a 1 -kHz signal; Fig. 8B is sounding CD player). I used balanced con- OR STERILITY. for a 16 -kHz signal into 4 ohms, with Soft nections (pro -quality XLR mike cables) Clipping on and off. Clearly, this circuit's between the preamp and the amp and impact on steady-state signals of average Wireworld cabling to the speakers. out that coldness or sterility that some buffs power is not terribly meaningful (in fact, it Both Silver Series components wink term "transistor sheen." From this I infer hastens sine-wave clipping by some fraction awake with sci -fi -blue LEDs-indisputably that the S200 (and S100) did not clip, at of a decibel), but it's designed to make dy- handsome against the S 100's and S200's sil- least audibly, on even the briefest, most namic musical signals sound less harsh very -gray finish. Whether I used the front nearly vertical, piano transients. The amp when clipped rather than to delay clipping. panel or the remote, the preamp's volume had ample wattage to shove the Solos' Although the S200's channel separation control worked well, and pressing input se- diaphragms back and forth despite these doesn't exactly push the envelope, keep in lectors caused no hint of a pop. The amp's speakers' notably low sensitivity (84 dB/1 mind that the curves in Fig. 9 are referenced and preamp's power keys worked just as watt/1 meter on the spec sheet but in real to 1 watt and are thus well below levels that silently. life, I'd wager, a decibel or two lower still). AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 38

AmericanRadioHistory.Com This meant that even in Prokofiev's most about the same point as my ears, so NAD 0200 90 aggressive passages, Yefim Bronfman's su- the actual onset of serious clipping AP fussy piano playing can be something of an open ques- perbly precise, almost -100 sounded almost squeaky clean. And I could tion.) The ability of the NAD pair- hear that loud, near -field upper -bass -string ing to spring from utter silence- -no 11% #21\I thrumming I hear in live piano concerts but and fall seamlessly back into r .E FT only rarely in playback of recordings. it-was commendable, as demon- -120 J' A new Bruckner Ninth from the Min- strated by Lovett's spoken snippets nesota Orchestra (Reference Recordings on "Here I Am." -130 30 100 10k 50k RR-81CD) serves up similar, though much Did engaging NAD's Soft Clip- FREQUENCY - Hz more gradual, dynamic contrasts-but only ping circuit make an audible differ- A if you have the patience to let the stately ence? I can't say with a lot of con- counterpoint work itself out. (I frequently viction. On several piano recordings NAD $200 90 don't. Listening to Bruckner sometimes (including the Prokofiev) I thought Ap makes me feel as if his "circle of fifths" had I heard a very subtle darkening of 24 spokes instead of the more usual 12.) big transients at high listening lev- The NADs preserved this recording's mildly els when I engaged it, but that was distant perspective. The stereo sound field about it. And, being in a purist was very rich, and the brass -choir sounds mood, I left it off for the bulk of my from the Ninth's many broadside Wagner- listening. ian episodes were gutsy and honest. There The NAD 5100 and S200 sound- was never a hint of constricted sound or ed superb from start to finish. The 30 100 Ik 10k 50k stress from the electronics. combo costs just about $3,000-a FREQUENCY - Hz even for an entire sur- For a pop trial I cued up, among others, fortune, Fig. 10-Residual noise for B Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (MCA round system, by some standards S200 amp with unbalanced MCAD-42263). Punchy tracks, such as but also a sum you could easily input (A) and balanced "Cryin' Shame," benefited from the crisp, spend on a preamp or power amp input (B). dynamic, and solid reproduction and its alone (or a set of cables, for that powerful, snappy bass and excellent percus- matter). There very likely are better two - turns, I, for one, would have an awfully sive detail. The S200 provided as much channel pairings available for two or three hard time justifying spending much more power as the Solos could comfortably ab- times this figure (heaven knows there are (of my own money-Audio's is another sorb. (In my current setup, however, the enough priced that high). But because matter) to get so small a potential sonic speakers appear to start overloading at they're subject to the law of diminishing re - gain. Well done, NAD. A

MEASURED DATA

AMPLIFIER Input Impedance: Balanced or unbalanced, 100 kilohms. greater than 56 Output Power at Clipping (1% THD + N at 1 kHz): Stereo, 247 Channel Separation, 20 Hz to 20 kHz: Unbalanced, watts/channel into 8 ohms and 365 watts/channel into 4 ohms; bridged dB; balanced, greater than 45 dB. mono, 750 watts into 8 ohms (limited by line voltage; see text). Dynamic Power: Stereo, 284 watts/channel into 8 ohms and 474 PREAMPLIFIER watts/channel into 4 ohms; bridged mono, more than 900 watts Maximum Output: Unbalanced, 9.7 V; balanced, 19.4 V. into 8 ohms (limited by line voltage; see text). Input Overload: More than 12.5 V. Balanced, less than Dynamic Headroom: 8 -ohm loads, 1 dB; 4 -ohm loads, 1.3 dB (re THD + N, 10 Hz to 40 kHz re 500 mV In/Out: 350 watts). 0.004%; unbalanced, less than 0.003%. dB. THD + N, 20 Hz to 20 kHz, from 1 Watt to Rated Output: Stereo, Frequency Response: 10 Hz to 40 kHz, +0, -0.1 at 6 dB Gain: Unbalanced, 0.2 dB; less than 0.02% at rated output and at 1 watt/channel into 8 ohms Maximum Channel Imbalance and less than 0.02% at 350 watts/channel and at 1 watt/channel balanced, 0.1 dB. dB; into 4 ohms; bridged mono, less than 0.02% at 700 watts and at 1 Gain with Volume at 12 O'Clock: Unbalanced, -4.5 balanced, watt into 8 ohms. 0 dB (unity). mV 100.1 dB; Damping Factor re 8 -Ohm Loads: 177 from 50 Hz to 1 kHz, 157 at A -Weighted S/N re 500 In/Out: Unbalanced, 10 kHz, and 118 at 30 kHz. balanced, 94.4 dB. Output Impedance: 45 milliohms at 1 kHz. Input Impedance: 40 kilohms. Frequency Response: 10 Hz to 20 kHz, +0, -0.1 dB. Line Output Impedance: Unbalanced, 65 ohms. Maximum Channel Imbalance: 0.02 dB. Record Output Level: 509 mV for 500 -mV input. 65 Sensitivity for 1 Watt Out: Unbalanced, 155 mV; balanced, 120 mV. Record Output Impedance: ohms. A -Weighted Noise: Unbalanced, -94 dB; balanced, -84.7 dB. Channel Separation: Greater than 65 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz.

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 39

AmericanRadioHistory.Com ers, Mission says. Wrapped in black vinyl, EQUIPMENT PROFILE the panel has generously rounded edges D. B. KEELE, JR. with a gentle 25° bevel (which is continued by the cabinet's front edge) to reduce edge diffraction and improve stereo imaging.

Otherwise, the cabinet is made from 3/4 - MISSION 774 inch -thick MDF. Strengthening the enclosure is an inter- SPEAKER nal MDF shelf that divides the cabinet into two roughly equal halves; the shelf has a 21 x 6 -inch hole in it. The drivers and port are in the top chamber, the crossover and input connectors in the bottom one. Internal

damping is provided by closed -cell foam, 3/4 inch thick, that covers the back of the top chamber, the top of the shelf, and, surprisingly, the hole in the shelf. All four sides of the 774's cabinet and the front bevel are covered by real wood veneer. The grille has a flexible plastic frame that plugs into grommeted holes in the front panel. The bottom of the grille snugly covers the port tube; this turned out to be quite significant. The 774's woofer diaphragms are made of Aerogel, a mix of Kevlar and carbon fibers in an acrylic polymer, which Mission says combines low mass with high stiffness. In the center of each woofer is a gold-plated, bullet -shaped phase -correction plug. Because the plug is attached to the driver's center pole, it does not move with the cone. According to Mission, the plug improves off -axis performance, smooths frequency response, and eliminates dust -cap resonances. A rubber surround attaches the cone to a molded -plastic frame. The ferrite magnet, about 5/8 inch thick and 23/4 inches in diameter, is not shielded.

Rated Frequency Response: 45 Hz to 20 kHz, ±3 dB.

Rated Sensitivity: 89 dB at 1 meter, 2.83 V rms applied. Rated Impedance: 8 ohms, nominal. ritish manufacturer Mission is really cone woofers, in the well-known D'Appoli- Rated Power Handling: 25 to 150 watts. into the number 7. In past years, I've to configuration. (The woofers and tweeter Dimensions: 363/s in. H x 7 in. W x reviewed its 750LE mini monitor are made for Mission in France by Audax.) 121/2 in. D(92.3cmx17.8cmx311 (August 1998) and 735 (January Rated crossover frequency is 3 kHz. A flared cm). 1996). Now I'm reviewing a model port tube, 21/4 inches in diameter and 11/2 Weight: 26.4 lbs. (12 kg) each. 8 from Mission's 77 series, which inches long, is just below the bottom Price: $1,200 per pair; available in black comprises nine home theater and stereo woofer. ash, rosewood, or cherry veneer. loudspeakers ranging in price from $400 to The Mission's front panel, of medium - Company Address: c/o Denon, 2 $2,000 per pair. density fiberboard (MDF), is impressively New Rd., Parsippany, N.J. 0705 The 774's slender cabinet houses a 1 -inch thick (11/2 inches); it provides a strong and 973/396-0810; www.del.denon.com. fabric -dome tweeter between two 51/4 -inch stable platform for the flush -mounted driv-

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 40

AmericanRadioHistory.Com The 774's tweeter, whose rare-earth mag- that the grille also affects bass re- too net is also unshielded, has a laminated fab- sponse, reducing output by 3 dB at ric dome. The tweeter is isolated from the 52 Hz. As will be discussed later, Ot GRILLE ON front panel by a molded -plastic suspension this is at (or near) the vented enclo- GRILLE ON I 80 that Mission refers to as a Driver Isolation sure's tuning frequency. The snugly a System and describes as a leaf spring. This fitting grille apparently provides 70 springy suspension combines with the high acoustic resistance to airflow tweeter's mass (magnet and all) to form a through the port and thus reduces 60 20 100 1k 10k 20k mechanical low-pass filter that attenuates the output at and near box tuning. FREQUENCY - Hz upper -frequency cabinet vibrations before Covering a port with a grille will they can reach the tweeter. usually reduce its output, but I've Fig. 1-On-axis frequency A wide plastic flange, which Mission calls never before seen it happen to this response. an outrider, can be attached at the cabinet's degree.. (The curves in Fig. 1 com- bottom rear to provide additional stability bine near -field measurements in by broadening the speaker's footprint from the bass range with upper -frequen- 7 to 12 inches. Spikes and rubber feet are cy measurements taken in a large also provided. anechoic chamber. The curve taken Mission says that it designed the 774's without the speaker's grille was crossover to be as simple as possible and to smoothed with a tenth -octave fil- -360 minimize the signal path between amplifier ter; the curve taken with the grille -540 and speaker; this was done to maximize de- wasn't smoothed.) 20 100 1k 10k 20k FREQUENCY - Hz tail and resolution and make the speaker an From 250 Hz to 4 kHz, the 774's easier load for the amplifier. The low-pass sensitivity averaged 88.9 dB, almost Fig. 2-On-axis phase to the woofer is a first -order filter. The exactly as rated by Mission. The response and group delay. tweeter is driven via a second -order LC right and left speakers matched high-pass filter. fairly closely, within ±1 dB above 100 Hz. To check driver phasing, I re- ON JAZZ PIANO, versed connections to the tweeter terminal posts. The ensuing dip, THE 774s DELIVERED O FRONT 11/2 octaves wide and 20 dB down at 45 OFF CRISP, CLEAN HIGHS, 90 BX1E AXIS - 4 kHz, suggested that the woofers' 135 DEGREES DYNAMIC PIANO NOTES, and the tweeter's acoustic outputs 180 REAR 200 2k 20k will be solidly in phase through the AND REALISTIC DRUMS. FREQUENCY -Hz crossover region when none of the Fig. 3-Horizontal off -axis drivers' connections are reversed. frequency responses. The tweeter and woofer terminals can be As a result, there should be only bi -wired. They have heavy-duty, gold-plat- minimal lobing. ed five -way binding posts that can accept Figure 2 shows the 774's phase up to 8 -gauge wire. Each pair of terminals is and group -delay responses, refer- spaced 3/4 inch on center, so standard dou- enced to the tweeter's arrival. No m , 48 ble -banana plugs can be used. surprises here. As with most direct - '; I111 Mission's á l+l - -90 BELOW the I radiator speakers, v` ( 1n 1 _45 OFF Measurements phase decreases as frequency in- O FRONT Axis_ levels off. The .45 DEGREES Plots of the Mission 774's on -axis fre- creases and then 9O ABOVE quency response are presented in Fig. 1. group delay is relatively short, 200 2 20k FREQUENCY - Hz With the grille off, the response fits a fairly about 0.2 millisecond, from 350 Hz tight, 5.4 -dB, window from 55 Hz to 20 to the rated crossover frequency, 3 Fig. 4-Vertical off -axis kHz. Low -frequency extension is fairly kHz, and the woofers' output lags frequency responses. good: At 45 Hz, the Mission's output is only the tweeter's. This is because of the - 3 dB lower than it is at 100 Hz, and at 41 Hz combined effects of the crossover network's off above 14 kHz. The speaker's vertical on it's only 6 dB down from the 100 -Hz level. electrical delay and the drivers' positions. and off -axis responses (Fig. 4) are fairly As with most speakers, the 774's grille af- The 774's on- and off -axis horizontal re- uniform except in the crossover region, be- fects high -frequency response, reducing it sponses (Fig. 3) are extremely uniform in tween 2 and 6 kHz. The responses are quite by about 2 to 3 dB above 4 kHz and signifi- the main, ±15°, listening window. A bit far- symmetrical above and below the axis (not cantly roughening it. What's unusual here is ther off axis, at ±20° to ±25°, response rolls clearly seen), which confirms that there's AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 41

AmericanRadioHistory.Com too 0.054 ohm. For a typical run 100 dB SPL. I TEF of about When tested the speak- about 10 feet, that would corre- er at 41.2 Hz at the same power level (not

1^ 5 OHMS In l OHM, spond to 14 -gauge (or heavier), 2 'OHMS shown), the third harmonic rose to a high low -inductance cable. The io 774's 44% and the second harmonic was 21%; impedance phase (Fig. 5B) reaches remaining harmonics were much lower.

5 ì (1HMs 49 Ohl MS a maximum of +42° (inductive) in When I fed the Mission more than 12.5 the low bass range, at 25 Hz, and a watts at 50 Hz, it sounded strained because

20 100 1k 10k 20k minimum of -39° (capacitive) at of a rapid rise in third -harmonic distortion. FREQUENCY - Hz 90 Hz. Despite these moderate For A2 (110 Hz), the only distortion phase angles, the 774's low imped- products above my display's noise floor A ance means it would be preferable were 3.7% second harmonic and 2.4% .90 to use just one of these speakers per third. At A4 (440 Hz), distortion was even TEF amplifier channel. lower, 1.6% second and 0.4% third. 45 A high-level sine -wave sweep re- Figure 8 presents the 774's IM distortion vealed that the Mission's cabinet is versus power; it was created by 440 -Hz (A4) o fairly rigid; the only significant wall and 41.2 -Hz (E1) tones of equal power, resonance, at 220 Hz, involved the -45 cabinet's sides and top. For both

-eo L woofers, minimum excursion oc - THE MISSION 774 20 100 1k 10k 20k curred at about 48 Hz (yet another FREQUENCY - Hz HAS SMOOTH RESPONSE, sign of the enclosure's approximate EXCELLENT IMAGING, Fig. 5-Impedance B tuning frequency); however, this magnitude (A) and minimum was not particularly AND TOP -RANK LOOKS phase (B). pronounced, a sign of cabinet leak- AND CRAFTSMANSHIP. age. At 48 Hz, the 774 overloaded significantly, sounding strained 90 and distorted, when signals exceed- over the range from 0.1 to 12.5 watts. The

80 ed even the relatively low level of IM distortion rises at a moderate rate below 12 volts rms (18 watts into the rat- 7 watts but then increases more rapidly at m ed 8 ohms). The woofers' maxi- higher power levels and reaches 10% at 12.5 tA mum excursion capability was watts. When I raised the lower test frequen- 60 moderate, about 0.35 inch, peak to cy to 50 Hz, the IM at 12.5 watts reached peak; they didn't bottom when only 5.4%. so 20 100 1k 10k 20k overloaded, however, and I noted The 774's short-term peak power input FREQUENCY - Hz no dynamic offset at any drive level and output are plotted in Fig. 9. The peak Fig. 6-Three-meter room or frequency. input power (power handling) and peak response. For Fig. 6, raw and smoothed 3 - output are very low at bass frequencies. At

meter room responses, I placed the 20 Hz, the speaker can handle just 1 watt little lobing. However, the directional pat- 774 in the right-hand stereo position and and delivers an unusably low 70 dB SPL tern narrows significantly at angles greater aimed it toward a test microphone in the (the threshold of hearing at that frequen- than ±10° from the axis. This narrowing is listening position. The smoothed curve is cy). Output starts to become usable at most pronounced at 4 kHz and extends be- fairly well behaved and fits a 12 -dB window, about 45 Hz and is more satisfactory above low 1 kHz. which is reasonable for this tests's frequen- 90 Hz or so. Not until 110 Hz does the out- The Mission's impedance magnitude cy range. Above 700 Hz the smoothed curve put reach fairly normal levels, with the (Fig. 5A) has the two bass peaks that char- fits a tighter, 6 -dB, window and is fairly flat speaker accepting about 120 watts and de- acterize vented enclosures. The dip between and even. No deep nulls are evident in the livering 110 dB SPL. If you use a 200- these peaks, at 47 Hz, is another clue to the room -boundary region, below 700 Hz. watt/channel amplifier (which can deliver speaker system's approximate tuning fre- When plotting harmonic distortion ver- 400 watts, peak), you can easily get 115 dB quency. (Tuning frequency is always ap- sus level, I always use a test signal at or SPL from this speaker above 250 Hz. At proximate, because it varies with level and above the speaker's tuning frequency (dis- higher frequencies, the Mission's output the level varies with the type of test.) The tortion always rises below that point) and a can reach a very loud 120 to 125 dB SPL- 774's impedance ranges from a low 3.6 power level at which the speaker still but that would take a bigger amp than ohms (at 280 Hz) to 16.1 ohms (at 2.5 sounds relatively clean. For the Mission you'd probably use with this small speaker, kHz); to keep response deviations from ca- 774, that worked out to 50 Hz instead of my one delivering a kilowatt or more. The low - ble -drop effects to less than 0.1 dB, cable se- usual 41.2 Hz (E1) and a level of 12.5 watts frequency peak output of the 774 places it ries resistance should be a maximum of (Fig. 7). At this level, the 774's output was in the lower third of speakers I've tested.

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 42

AmericanRadioHistory.Com Tests The Missions had extended Use and Listening 100 MAXIMUM POWER: 12.5 WATTS The Mission 774s are definitely small and highs and excellent imaging. On ó >0. 12.3% 2,14 5% light, as floor -standing speakers go-the recordings with moderate amounts 10 0 5m,13% pair arrived in a single carton, and until I'd of bass, the 774s proved to be quite unpacked it I thought I'd gotten only one of dynamic performers. But on re- 12 5 ,. T them. After the many large, heavy floor - cordings with high levels of bass, POWER- 0.125 standing systems I've reviewed recently, the the 774s could not be played at the WATTS were a welcome change. loudest levels without suffering 0.0125 Missions 50 100 150 250 The 774 is easy to lift and move, because overload. FREQUENCY -Hz it's light and because, once you remove the On my favorite demo CD of jazz grille, its port tube provides a convenient piano, The Wonderful Sound of Fig. 7-Harmonic distortion finger hold. It also has a rather small foot- Three Blind Mice (Three Blind for 50 Hz. print (7 x 121/2 inches) for its 3 -foot height, Mice GS CD004), the 774s proved which makes it rather tippy if you set it on to be very able performers, deliver- 10 thick carpet without using its spikes and ing crisp, clean highs and very dy- outrider. namic, clean piano notes. The 8 job on the ap- 774's high -frequency response re- Mission did an excellent yl 6 pearance and workmanship of the 774s. produced the drum set's snare and 4 The front panel, drivers, and grille showed brushes with great accuracy, real- first-class industrial design, and the light ism, and clarity. Acoustic bass 2 cherry veneer on my review samples was sounded clean when reproduced at o quite handsome. moderate levels but lightweight 0.1 1 10 100 The owner's manual covers the whole 77 compared to the way the 801s pre- POWER - WATTS Series in 22 pages plus a double -page pull- sented it. Fig. 8-IM distortion for A4 The 774 reproduced female vo- out. The text is shorter than that page count (440 Hz) and E, (41.2 Hz). may suggest, because it is printed in eight cals quite well except when they'd European languages and Japanese. It's still been recorded with microphones 130 packed with useful details, however. having peaky high -frequency re- PEAK ACOUSTIC OUTPUT The music system I used when listening sponse. For example, on the title 120

a KRC track of Amor a La Mexicana (EMI ROOM to the 774s included Krell preamp 110 GAIN WITHOUT and Crown Macro Reference power amp, Latin H2 7243 8 57977), Latin pop ROOM 100 GAIN artist Thalia's vocals sounded quite PEAK INPUT POWER harsh and annoying because the 90 THE BITE AND BLAT Missions' treble response empha- 80 OF BIG -BAND BRASS sized sibilants. With the B&Ws> 70 this recording sounded quite ac- 20 100 1k 10k 20k ACCURATE, FREQUENCY - Hz SOUNDED ceptable, though still not great. ENGAGING, On more cleanly recorded female Fig. 9-Maximum peak AND AGGRESSIVE. vocals, such as Selena's Amor input power and sound Prohibido (EMI Latin H2 7243 8 output. 28803, a longtime favorite of Straight Wire Maestro cabling, and, for mine), the 774s sounded quite clean and noise from one speaker. I traced this to a comparisons, B&W 801 Matrix Series 3 clear. The Missions were noticeably bright- loose piece of damping foam on the internal speakers. er than the B&Ws on all recordings. shelf, which was probably vibrating because I placed the 774s 21 feet from my room's With band -limited third -octave pink of the rush of air through the port at these side walls and about 3 feet from the wall be- noise, the 774 was easy to overload at 63 Hz frequencies. I could stop the noise by stick- hind them and canted them in toward my and below, making the sound strained and ing my fingers through the port and push- listening position. I also tried placing them distorted. The 20-, 25-, 32-, and 40 -Hz ing down on the foam. closer to the wall behind them; this raised bands produced no usable output, only dis- On pink noise, the Missions exhibited the bass level but reduced upper-bass and tortion. At 50 Hz, the effective output was some tonal coloration in the mid and high midrange smoothness. I sat 8 feet from the quite usably loud but was accompanied by ranges. Furthermore, on the pink -noise sit- speakers and did most of my listening with wind noise from the port. The output at 63 down/stand-up test, a significant portion of their grilles off. The Missions were more Hz, which also contained port noise, was the 774s' upper midrange became weaker sensitive than the B&Ws, so I had to attenu- not quite as strong as at 50 Hz. Output at 80 when I stood up. ate their input signal by about 3 to 4 dB to Hz and above was quite usable. On the 50 - I could play the 774s quite loud and make the two sets of speakers equally loud. through 80 -Hz bands, however, I heard a cleanly on pop/rock and jazz recordings as AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 43

AmericanRadioHistory.Com The Mission 774's www .HIFI. .COmSM attractive, sculpted

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lL Cambodge r`` 7,1999 Se.MWaks. Inc. CanMdge Sanden. is a re901,00 trademark and Model BB by Many Alose s a beMea« 01 Cambodge Saxe/lode,, Inc. ACR: 1TIVE COMPANY long as they didn't have a lot of bass. Big- band brass sections sounded quite engaging and appropriately in -your -face, with the horn's bite and blatt conveyed realistically. Tracks with high-level kick drums, however, were less engaging because I had to turn the level down so they wouldn't over- Ì?(1 i=erfofrnar F\LI.àL1 load the speakers. For classical chamber music, I turned to sed To Announce one of Mission's own sampler demo discs, The Sound of Baroque, Volume 1 (produced in conjunction with The 1999 1 te Awards Banquet will be held England's Gramophone magazine). The 774 speakers did superbly. ber 21, 1999 Particularly good was the harpsichord on Tartini's Violin Sonata and the to kick - choral Glo- off po in India is, Indiana ria by Monteverdi. The Mission 774s have plenty of vir- tues: smooth frequency response, excellent Golden Notes are the most ! i glons o/video indust imaging, the ability to play loud and clean on material with reasonable amounts of Nominated by manufacturers and vo eral Members bass, and top -rank looks and craftsman- The Academy Advancing Hi & Video. ship. By themselves, they'd be an excellent choice in situations where strong The awards denote excellence bass output isn't a governing factor. And where it of high performance audio & video prod l I technologie!. is, they would be very capable performers if used with a subwoofer. (Mission's sugges- tion is the 700AS powered sub, which costs $500.) I would, however, play the 774s with

their grilles off. A

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 44

AmericanRadioHistory.Com he ADA (Audio Design Associates) PROFILE Cinema Reference reminded me of EQUIPMENT arguments my wife and I used to EDWARD J. FOSTER have about what car to buy. Back before Volvos and Saabs were status T symbols, she used to say she would ADA not be seen in anything so ugly, with black dashboards that were just too dull to men- CINEMA REFERENCE tion. It did no good to point out that these cars were solid and reliable and their con- A/V PREAMP trols easy to understand. We compromised and did it her way, buying a Renault with a shiny plastic fake -wood dash; it was neither reliable nor solid. So I'm sure my ex-wife wouldn't like the Cinema Reference. It's big and boxy, with knobs that look like they came off old Gen- eral Radio test equipment and a vector - scope array of 10 x 14 LEDs that reveals the amount of bass and surround information in the input signal. And although you can get the Cinema Reference with a brass front panel, my review sample came in black. Just my cup of tea. The knobs' illuminated legends are large enough to read from across the room. Ditto for the two-line display and six backlit symbols that indicate the operating mode. More than one of these symbols (which represent Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic, THX, DTS, digital, and LFE) can be lit at a time. For example, the Cinema Reference enables you to apply THX processing to DTS as well as to Dolby Digital and Pro Logic decoding, and you need multiple symbols to show whether a Pro Logic sig- You turn the Cinema Reference on by signal that will be sent to the main and nal's source is a Dolby Digital two -channel pressing "Volume" and turn it off by press- recording output jacks. (The latter can also mixdown, PCM, or analog. ing "Volume" twice. (The first press mutes be used to send signals to a second zone.) Lots of processors and receivers have illu- the sound.) When the preamp is off, turn- The "Channel" knob selects channels for minated legends; the difference here is that ing or pressing any knob other than "Vol- setup adjustments. you can actually see the ADA's. In its full ume" brings up "Push Volume for Power That leaves one knob, "Mode," which I glory, the Cinema Reference lights up like a On" in the display. To turn off the muting, left for last because you can select a slew Christmas tree, though you can adjust the turn the volume con- of processing modes brightness of its legends and display and trol or turn or press with it. I counted 28 in kill the vectorscope if its dancing lights get any other knob. all, 22 dedicated to THE CINEMA REFERENCE annoying. The ADA's other movie sound and six controls are really WAS A GEM TO TEST to music. There are on Dimensions: 19 in. W x 51/4 in. H x 161/2 neat. Turning any AND EQUALLY DELIGHTFUL seven variations knob except "Vol- Dolby Digital, four on in. D (48.3 cm x 13.3 cm x 41.9 cm). TO LISTEN TO. Weight: 19 lbs. (8.6 kg). ume" changes only DTS, and three on Pro Price: $7,999, remote included; limited the second line of the Logic (not counting edition with brass panel, $8,499. display, which shows four "Phantom" and Company Address: 602-610 Mamaro- what setting corresponds to that knob posi- two "3 -Channel" choices) plus the half- neck Ave., White Plains, N.Y. 10605; tion; your selection doesn't take effect until dozen music modes and enhancements that 800/432-8346; www.ada-usa.com. you press the knob you're diddling with. can be applied to stereo and mono pro- The "Input" and "Record" knobs select the grams. (The Cinema Reference's "Auto - AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 45

AmericanRadioHistory.Com mode" circuit, which is defeatable, and a second zone. Signals from automatically recognizes the input composite -video sources aren't fed signal's format.) You can apply full to the S -video outputs, and vice Home THX enhancement or only versa, so using different output front -channel THX re -equalization types for each video destination is to Dolby Digital, DTS, and Pro Logic not workable. And video signals signals. The "Phantom" and "3 - don't fare well when fed to multiple Channel" modes can be used with or loads in parallel. All RCA jacks are without front -channel re -equaliza- gold-plated except, oddly enough, tion, and "Phantom" also offers the those for color -difference video. options of full THX enhancement The Cinema Reference's rear and a full -range decorrelated signal panel also holds two 12 -volt DC feed to the surround channel. trigger outputs, a four -wire ADA The Cinema Reference's generous Bus connector, and male and female mix of audio and video connections, IEC line -cord connectors. The trig- 15 -position input selector, and extra- ger ports are used for activating ex- ordinary flexibility enable it to ac- ternal devices; by associating them commodate very complex and un- with specific inputs you can, for ex- usual home theater systems. You can link ample, use them to lower a projection screen any audio and any video input to any input and close your home theater's drapes when- label (including the 15 input labels provid- THE CONVERTERS AND ever you select a video source. The ADA Bus ed, such as "DVD" and "Tuner," and any ELECTRONICS IN ADA'S can be used to network ADA components to you enter yourself) and to whatever sur- each other and to infrared sensors and CINEMA REFERENCE round processing and bass level you like. transmitters. Because it uses standard RS- You can cut the number of input choices ARE AMONG THE BEST 232 signals, it can also link the Cinema Ref- shown to match the number of sources in I'VE MEASURED. erence to personal computers (for device your system. And to save you from facing all control and software updates) and to con- these choices at the outset, the Cinema Ref- trollers from Crestron, Phast, AMX, and erence is preprogrammed for up to 10 dif- home theater devices do); this might force others; these, in turn, command other com- ferent components. (These factory settings you to use more than one video input for a ponents and devices. The male IEC power - can all be changed; they're a convenience, program source. I'm not pointing that out cord connector is very common, but having not a restriction.) as a defect of the Cinema Reference (which a female version to feed power to other In practice, it's unlikely you'll be able to is one of the few products that can handle equipment is rare. You'll need a special cable use 15 sources; in the event you do need color -difference video at all) but only to to mate with the latter, but the preamp's that many, you might find you need, say, explain why it's impossible to tell how jack is rated to handle 10 amperes so it can more coaxial digital and fewer analog in- many program sources this preamp/proces- be used with a fairly powerful amplifier. puts than the ADA provides. Not that the sor can accommodate without knowing The ADA Cinema Reference can be pro- Cinema Reference chintzes on inputs: For what they are. grammed to choose a specific input on audio there are eight pairs of analog jacks So much for the input side of the ledger. power -up or to start with the input you plus four coax and three Toslink digital As for outputs, the Cinema Reference has used last. Turn -on volume can be set as you connectors, and for video there are eight three composite -video main outs (one of wish, and you can also associate different composite -video, four S -video, and-won- which carries on -screen displays), one S - modes with different inputs so that, for ex- der of wonders-two sets of color-differ- video output, and one set of color -differ- ample, selecting "DVD Player 3" always en- ence (component -video) jacks. Topping ence outputs. There also are S- and com- gages Dolby Digital with THX re -equaliza- that off, ADA included an RF demodulator posite-video recording outputs. For audio, tion while "DSS Receiver" always defaults and switcher so the Cinema Reference can there's the usual complement of six RCA to Dolby Pro Logic with full Home THX accommodate Dolby Digital signals from jacks for 5.1 -channel sound plus a stereo processing. Of course, you can change two laserdisc players. (Rather than waste an pair for recording or to feed a second zone. modes after a source is selected or program input by reserving it for those rare systems Having only one pair of audio recording the system to adopt the last mode used. In with Dolby Digital laserdisc players, the outputs isn't a problem, since their low out- "Pro Setup" (which ADA's manual warns Cinema Reference feeds the demodulated put impedance enables you to fan the sig- that you enter at your own risk), you can AC -3 bit stream to a coaxial jack that can be nals out with "Y" cables to feed audio and adjust the signal delay to each speaker, re- linked to any of the coaxial digital audio in- video recorders and a second zone simulta- strict the number of input choices as men- puts.) Further, although the Cinema Refer- neously. But having only one S- and one tioned above, and defeat the front -panel in- ence handles all three consumer -video for- composite -video record output can be awk- frared receiver. You can also perform such mats, it doesn't convert between them (few ward if you need to feed two VCRs or a VCR esoterica as resetting the Cinema Refer-

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 46

AmericanRadioHistory.Com ence's ADA Bus address, setting the scale MEASURED DATA factors for Dolby Digital's "Night" compression mode, and readjusting the PCM scale Digital and Pro STEREO MODE Hz and 23.28 kHz); center channel, factors that establish Dolby Logic channel levels (it's not a good idea to Output at Clipping (1% THD at 1 kHz): "Large" speaker setting, 70 Hz to 20 mess with these!). Home THX re -equaliza- 4.95 V at all gain settings. kHz, +0.06, -0.12 dB (-3 dB at 20 Hz tion, timbre matching, and decorrelation Maximum Voltage Gain: 7.5, 10.5, 13.5, and 23.32 kHz); surround channel, be- also can be toggled on or off for each input. or 16.4 dB (selectable). low 10 Hz to 7.02 kHz, +0.04, -3 dB. For the bass, "Pro Setup" has an ad- THD + N at 2 V Output, 20 Hz to 20 A -Weighted Noise: Main channels, -89.2 justable limiter (in case your subwoofer kHz: Less than 0.00035% with 22 -kHz dBV (-95.4 dBFS); center channel, peaks) and extensive bass -man- measurement bandwidth. -89.3 dBV (-95.5 dBFS); surround distorts on agement features. The bass -management Output Impedance: 56 ohms. channel, -90.4 dBV (-96.6 dBFS). settings include 12 routings that should Frequency Response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz, Channel Separation at 1 kHz: 64.3 dB or cover any system configuration. The limiter +0.02, -0.15 dB; -3 dB below 10 Hz greater. and bass management must, however, be and at 23.35 kHz. for each individual input needless Subwoofer Crossover Points: High-pass, DOLBY DIGITAL MODE set -a complication, because these settings are -3 dB at 77.6 Hz and -6 dB at 58.3 Channel Balance: ±0.04 dB re left front system -dependent, not source -dependent. Hz; low-pass, -3 dB at 66.1 Hz and -6 channel. Analog sources get some attention, too. dB at 81.8 Hz. Frequency Response: Main channels, 21 The gain applied to each is switchable in 3 - Nominal Crossover Slopes: High-pass, Hz to 20 kHz, +0.04, -0.11 dB; center dB steps over a 9 -dB range. And, though I approximately 9.2 dB/octave; low-pass, channel, 21 Hz to 20 kHz, +0.09, -0.06 see why you'd want to, you can defeat 24 dB/octave. dB; surround channels, 21 Hz to 20 don't "Auto Balance" (which compensates for Sensitivity for 0.5 V Output: 210, 150, kHz, +0.11, -0.13 dB; LFE (low -fre- discrepancies between an analog source's 105, or 76 mV, depending on the gain quency effects) channel, 20 to 66 Hz, left- and right -channel levels) on an input - setting. +0, -1 dB (-15.3 dB at 120 Hz). basis. Muting. Total. THD + N for 0-dBFS Signal: Main, cen- by -input The ADA's manual is comprehensive and Noise: A -weighted, -89.6 dBV; CCIR- ter, and surround channels, 0.00417% reasonably clear, but it does contain some weighted, -80.5 dBV. at 1 kHz; LFE channel, 0.364% at 30 rather strange examples. Are there, for in- S/N re 0 dBFS: A -weighted, 95.8 dB; Hz. laserdisc players that have AC -3 RF CCIR-weighted, 86.7 dB. THD + N at -10 dBFS, 20 Hz to 20 kHz: stance, but not PCM out? Dynamic Range: Unweighted, 93.1 dB; Main, center, and surround channels, output These complications don't concern me A -weighted, 96 dB; CCIR-weighted, 0.0091%. this kind of coin for 86.7 dB. Channel Separation: 74.4 dB or greater, because, when you pop a processor, you should expect the dealer to Quantization Noise: -91.8 dBFS. 100 Hz to 10 kHz. install it for you. Input Impedance: 47 kilohms. The manual doesn't mention it, but the Input Overload (1% THD at 1 kHz): D/A CONVERTER SECTION Cinema Reference comes with a bidirec- 2.11, 1.49, 1.06, or 0.756 V, depending Frequency Response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz, remote control. This remote, called on gain setting. +0..06, -0.12 dB. tional The Thing, is large and heavy and is happi- Channel Separation: Greater than 71.7 THD + N at O dBFS, 20 Hz to 20 kHz: est sitting on a table. It replicates the Cine- dB, 100 Hz to 10 kHz. Less than 0.0064%. ma Reference's front -panel functions with a Channel Balance: ±0.05 dB. THD + N at 1 kHz: Below -93.9 dBFS knob and five buttons that select Recording Output Level: 495 mV in for from 0 to -90 dBFS and below -95.9 single which of the front -panel knobs it will mim- 0.5 V out. dBFS from -30 to -90 dBFS. ic. A two-line backlit display on The Thing Recording Output Impedance: 58 ohms. Maximum Linearity Error: Undithered If you know how signal, 0.86 dB from 0 to -90 dBFS; parallels the main display. to operate the Cinema Reference from its DOLBY PRO LOGIC MODE dithered signal, 0.1 dB from -70 to front panel, you know almost everything Output at Clipping: 4.95 V or higher for -100 dBFS. about how to operate it from the remote. main, center, and surround channels at S/N re 0 dBFS: A -weighted, 101.9 dB; How simple! 1 kHz. CCIR-weighted, 92.9 dB. To maximize battery life, The Thing THD + N at 2 V Out: Main and center Quantization Noise: -94.9 dBFS. times out when not in use but comes back channels, 0.01% or less from 100 Hz to Dynamic Range: Unweighted, 96.1 dB; to life (in volume -control mode) when you 20 kHz; surround channel, less than A -weighted, 98.5 dB; CCIR-weighted, press any button or turn the knob. Being 0.009% from 100 Hz to 7 kHz. 88.9 dB. The Thing receives informa- Frequency Response: Main channels, 60 Channel Separation: Greater than 73.5 bidirectional, tion from the Cinema Reference as well as Hz to 20 kHz, +0, -0.2 dB (-3 dB at 27 dB, 125 Hz to 16 kHz. sends commands to it. So, for example, if

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 47

AmericanRadioHistory.Com +0.2 you've changed the maximum lI11111111111UIu111 W:,i : 7 W FUMA :111MIII111ttrlffMl111+^ number of inputs the system is set >I o --on1iM11111111rrIMIIIIM up for, The Thing thereafter limits %UUM:! DOLBY $ lhIIMUIIIII1IZI JW -0.2 DIGITAL W > IIUI 1111111111111111111II1111Z its choices to match. It also has a CC J -0.4 DOLBY PRO LOGIC 11111111111111111111111111 11I11M11ii11111um built-in sound -level meter to help

20 100 1 k 10k 20k adjust system balance. The Thing is FREQUENCY - Hz not a learning or universal remote Fig. 1-Frequency response but can operate other components of left front channel for by communicating via the ADA various operating modes. Bus with an auxiliary compo- OO O9O OO OO nent, the IRL -3000 ($1,599). This ©RO OaO O^O OvO device (whose initials stand for b Car 4 infrared learner) can learn other o components' command codes

¡LEFT FRONT from their remotes or by down- 2 loading those codes from a PC.

4 SURROUND THE CINEMA REFERENCE

ROTH MC Measurements CAN ACCOMMODATE 6 RE EOUALIZATqN I 11111 What a gem to test! The ADA VERY COMPLEX 20 100 Ik lOk 20k Cinema Reference's performance AND UNUSUAL FREQUENCY - Hz changed so little from mode to mode and channel to channel that HOME THEATER SYSTEMS. Fig. 2-Effect of THX I've omitted many curves and re -equalization on left front combined others. Example: In Fig. channel and surround - 1 is the left front channel's fre- spects, I find it channel frequency response, strange that it doesn't offer a quency response Dolby Pro Logic mode. for Dolby Pro choice of crossover frequency. That said, the Logic with analog input, Dolby crossover point (Fig. 3) is reasonably well Digital with digital input, and chosen and the slope of the low-pass filter is stereo with both inputs. You can steep enough to keep localizable frequen- 1111111.111IRRIBURIR.1111MIRR.11 hardly tell one curve from the cies out of the subwoofer. The slope of the o 1...11u11.01n1..111`MINI u,Emum..uu1E LOW - 111'111E..11n next-and that's the point. Even high-pass filter is neither fish nor fowl- PASS \I.1 111111111M..1111NIIIIIM 1 .11E11111118111111.1111.1111E11M 4 ../N1EE..1q111111..EuOnnIIIMffl.luu1111111115111111111Onu111111111111 on this very sensitive scale (0.1 dB greater than 6 dB/octave but never quite up 1119.r,u u 1111111181.n u11uwINIM MOURN per division), it's hard to see a dif- to 12. I've listed it in "Measured Data" as 8 E.. 11E..11u.q1111nn1.uu.nw ..u1u'.01u.11 ference except in Pro Logic below approximately 9.2 dB/octave. 1..1U11..1111MININE..01/1111NRIEBRI.'1U111..11111111.1..1111111 12 1.u1M1MBIZI1.OEEI11RMMI.11RRO 1.7u1.E../u11.u1EE.1/11111..11uRIIIIIIIIE..11111111111 100 Hz, and that should be ignored Figure 4 shows stereo THD + N versus since it's not cricket to measure Pro frequency at 0 dBFS, with the volume set to 20 100 1k 10k 20k Logic bass response with sine produce as close to 2 volts out as possible. FREQUENCY - Hz waves. Note the absence of high - The curve taken using the digital input es- Fig. 3-Crossover frequency ripples; this is especially sentially reflects the THD + N of the D/A response. commendable in the curves for converter under standard test conditions analog input, which involve the (including a 22 -kHz analysis filter). The A/D converter as well as the D/A. other three curves were taken using an ana- The response curves for the oth- log input and thus include the A/D convert-

QI er channels were essentially identi- er's THD + N, too. For some unexplained MaM::::ilC'.::::: .::;r cal to those in Fig. 1 except where reason, THD + N above 8 kHz measured 1111/./1111111111113INE.011 ,M/ uu111111MIMM1111 .11%Wíi111111111 they should not have been, as with with a 22 -kHz analysis bandwidth actually ."' ANALOG INPUT surround -channel response in was + 0.01 IIIm!.OIIIo Pro lower through the A/D and D/A con- Logic operation and front -channel verters in tandem than through the D/A UH1111111111' response with THX re -equalization alone; noise in the analog input electronics DIGITAL INPUT 0.001 . (Fig. 2). THX re -equalization is ac- probably explains why the 22 -kHz analog

20 100 1 k 10k 20k curate within a quarter decibel to curve lies above its digital equivalent in the FREQUENCY - Hz 12.5 kHz, and the Pro Logic sur- bass and midrange. What's notable about round channel is right on the mon- Fig. 4-THD + N, stereo both these curves is how minuscule the mode; digital input was ey, down 3 dB at 7.02 kHz. THD + N really is and how free of artifacts measured with 22 -kHz Considering how flexible the the ADA's converters are. A measured THD bandwidth. Cinema Reference is in other re- + N of 0.002% (below 2 kHz) is darned AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 48

AmericanRadioHistory.Com it did in stereo or Pro Logic. But : 0.1 that's because the only suitable 11 I MMIIIII BIO 111111111 113::::: G. C C:.... M.... sweep -frequency test track avail- IIIIIMuuIIBM1l11111111f1MAu111111111.1131111111Om111.11111 1111111111.8111111111111 LEFT SURROUND MIII11111111 able on DVD is at -10 dBFS rather 001 Ilea MINIM than the 0 dBFS used in other tests; iiiiii. this causes THD + N percentage LEFT FRONT iii`aìíîV readings to be 3.16 times higher. If 0.001 you take that into account, this 20 100 Ik 10k 20k suggests performance is as curve FREQUENCY - Hz good in Dolby Digital mode as in any other mode-not just in the Fig. 5-THD + N vs. frequency, Dolby Pro Logic left front channel (shown) but in all mode. channels. What a terrific processor! Figure 7 shows THD + N versus

with a 1 -kHz test good for any D/A; a maximum THD + N of level in stereo 0.03 11111M111Illl1111111111111111111111M1111111111ullltn A/D and tone. The curves made with a digi- less than 0.0035% through both 0.01 11111110111.1111111111111111111. D/A conversion is fantastic! tal input reflect noise and distor- u.ZIt/llIIMIIIIIIMIumlluON.III1111111111111C'.:::;CC'.:::t:'.:::;: The curve in Fig. 4 taken using the analog tion for the D/A converter and out- 0.003 20 100 I k lOk 20k 30 analysis bandwidth has a put electronics only; note how the input and -kHz FREQUENCY - Hz few more spikes than the curve with 22 - two channels' results overlap al- kHz bandwidth, but these artifacts lie most perfectly. The curve for ana- Fig. 6-THD + N vs. Digital somewhere between 22 and 30 kHz and are log input (taken on the left front frequency, Dolby not audible. The difference between the channel) includes the noise and mode. 30- and 80 -kHz curves in the bass and distortion of the input electronics and A/D converter as well as the D/A and output circuit. That all -90 A. THE BIDIRECTIONAL three curves fit between -90 and -92 KNOWS WHEN -100 dBFS is truly amazing. The -94 ANALOG INPUT REMOTE RIGHT ADA's converters and electronics -96 } YOU CHANGE SETTINGS the best I've measured. DIGITAL INPUT - LEFT among I I are I -98 ON THE ADA'S As you can see from Fig. 8, D/A -100 -80 -60 -40 -20 o FRONT PANEL. converter linearity error is nonexis- LEVEL - <8F5 tent with dithered signals, which Fig. 7-THD + N vs. level, covers all digital recordings nowa- stereo mode. midrange is due to ultrasonic noise; the rise days. Even with analog input, lin- in the 80 -kHz curve above a few kilohertz earity error is less than 0.5 dB, suggests increased high -order distortion, worst case-simply great perform- far ultrasonic ance! (I have omitted the fade -to - LEFT 0 whose products lie in the ANALOG INPUT - NIGHT-* (and therefore inaudible) region. I'm really noise linearity -error plot because it + 0.8 UNOITHEREO impressed with the performance of the Cin- would contribute nothing new to +0.4 DIGITAL INPUT ema Reference's A/D and D/A converters. the discussion.) o Fig. 5 for + N versus Figure 9 shows '/s -octave spec- in THD I The results -0.4 I frequency in Dolby Pro Logic mode, taken trum analyses of a 1 -kHz signal at -100 -80 -60 -40 -20 o residual noise in at 0 dBFS with analog input and 22 -kHz -60 dBFS and of LEVEL - dBFS bandwidth, mostly replicate those seen in the absence of signal, each in stereo Fig. 8-D/A converter 4 for the same signal conditions in mode. With the 1 -kHz tone, the Fig. linearity. stereo mode. (There are differences below a curves for analog and digital input few hundred hertz, but as I mentioned overlie each other almost perfectly, ADA's con- above, Pro Logic operation should not suggesting that the A/D converter is near ing, in light of the fact that the zero -signal con- be tested with low -frequency sine waves.) perfect in this regard. The residual -noise verters do not mute under see in "Measured Dáa," From 200 Hz up, THD + N is less than curves differ because of noise in the analog ditions. As you can dynamic range and 0.0038%; clearly, ADA's Dolby Pro Logic input circuitry. Through most of the audio the Cinema Reference's are equally impressive. decoder adds little noise or distortion of its range, the noise is about 6 dB higher via the quantization noise separation was fine with own in the midrange and treble. analog input than the digital (this also Stereo channel Pro Logic channel With Dolby Digital decoding, THD + N shows up in the S/N listed in "Measured analog or digital signals. 1 -kHz versus frequency (Fig. 6) looks higher than Data"). But all of these results are outstand- separation, tested with a steady-state AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 49

AmericanRadioHistory.Com made initial setup almost -60 Byzan- The 140 -LED vectorscope was useful dur- tine. But once past that hurdle I ing my evaluations because it gave an idea 1 -60 dBFS -80 found the ADA processor pretty of what the program material contained, IGITAL easy to use. And you should insist but I found it distracting in normal use and - 100 on dealer assistance anyway, con- gladly turned it off. sidering the Cinema Reference's -120 But enough bitching. The sound of this SILENT :N FU price. processor is as good as it gets. It's always 20 100 Ik l0k IOOk 200k The Thing is a big and klutzy re- difficult to make direct comparisons in a FREQUENCY - Hz mote, but I like the way it tries to home theater, but in an A -then -B shootout Fig. 9-Noise analysis, bring the front panel's controls to between my reference EAD TheaterMaster D/A and A/D sections. your coffee table so that there's not Ovation and the ADA Cinema Reference, much new to learn. I was, however, I'll declare a draw. I couldn't reliably distin- annoyed that its one -page instruc- guish one from the other in any standard -60 tion sheet didn't document the dif- mode: stereo, unenhanced Dolby Digital,

WORST CASE ferences between its controls and Pro Logic, and so on. Whichever processor I - 80 those on the Cinema Reference it- used, images were stable, bass was solid, the self. For example, although you turn highs were brilliant without being edgy, and - loo the preamp off by pressing its vol- noise was conspicuously absent. BE ST C AS E ume control twice, that doesn't -120 work with the remote (nor does any

20 100 1 k 10k 20k other method I tried). And you turn IMAGES WERE STABLE, FREQUENCY - Hz the Cinema Reference on by press- BASS WAS SOLID, Fig. 10-Crosstalk, ing its volume control once, but you HIGHS Dolby Digital mode. have to press The Thing's knob WERE SMOOTHLY twice to do it. Weird. BRILLIANT, AND NOISE signal, ranged from 64.3 to 90.4 dB and was On the other hand, The Thing's built-in WAS NOTABLY ABSENT. generally closer to the top of that range sound level meter was darned helpful, and I than to the bottom. Dolby Digital channel had the system balanced in short order. But separation (Fig. 10) is even better. except for a few setup modes (such as sys- The Cinema Reference does offer a num- All channels were balanced exceptionally tem balancing) during which The Thing ber of modes not available on the EAD well in every mode, which was really nice to stays on, it powers down too quickly for my Ovation. I compared these against each see. Apparently, LFE (low -frequency ef- liking. That's especially annoying because it other as best I could, but the time it took to fects) signals flow through the crossover's always powers up in the volume mode and make changes frustrated my efforts. The re- low-pass filter, as the LFE response curve needs to update itself with the current vol- sults are subjective anyway. Suffice it to say rolled off like the filter's. ume setting before you can do anything that I preferred plain -vanilla ("Standard") There was plenty of output drive and else. It also seems to take forever to make a or "RE-EQ" (THX front -channel re -equal- output impedance was low, so the Cinema change. This got frustrating when I was try- ization) Dolby Digital above the others, al- Reference should work well with any power ing to compare the sound quality of differ- though I would agree with ADA that, if you amp. There are four gain choices for analog ent operational modes, which I was trying want to muck with dialog normalization signals, individually selectable for each to do for this review. In normal use, I might (which adjusts the volume to hold average source, which differed by almost precisely 3 not be so critical. dialog levels constant when you change dB per step. The input overload point shift- The Thing also needs a pretty straight Dolby Digital sources), "AC -3 Ultra" (nor- ed down as gain increased and was only shot at the Cinema Reference's front panel malization done in the analog domain) marginally adequate even when I used the to communicate reliably with it. If it can't, sounds better than "AC -3 Max" (normal- lowest gain setting. That was one of the few it keeps telling you it's trying to update un- ization done in the digital domain). Of technical shortcomings of this extraordi- til it gives up and turns off. All too often, I course, if you really want to muck around, nary processor. Nonetheless, if you pay at- had to pick the remote up and point it you can go into "Pro Setup" and diddle the tention to the signal level coming from your straight at the chassis to get the two talking factors that control the compression in source components and pad it down if need with each other. That's not the way The Dolby Digital's "Night" mode. be, you shouldn't have a problem. Thing is meant to be used, and I think an The ADA Cinema Reference is no plastic - additional infrared sensor will be a virtual dash Renault. It's the real McCoy, an extraor- Use and Listening Tests necessity with it. Since I didn't have an IRL - dinarily flexible workhorse that produces The ADA Cinema Reference was as de- 3000, I can't comment on how well The magnificent sound. It may have its quirks, lightful to listen to as it was to test. Yes, it Thing controls CD players and other source most of which I've documented, and it's big has its peculiarities. Having to set up func- components; its having only five transport (way too deep for my rack), but it sure does tions for each input instead of all at once buttons strikes me as a potential limitation. sound great. A

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 50

AmericanRadioHistory.Com The Triumph Signature is Coincident PROFILE Speaker Technology's only book- EQUIPMENT shelf speaker. The company also EDWARD M. LONG makes six floor -standing speakers (the Conquest series) and a Mini Subwoofer. COINCIDENT A two-way system, the Triumph Signa- ture has a I -inch silk -dome tweeter and a TRIUMPH SIGNATURE 61/2 -inch woofer, both with large magnets (the woofer's is about 31 inches in diame- SPEAKER ter and nearly 3/4 inch thick). The woofer has a polypropylene cone, a rubber surround, and a cast frame. Its effective cone diameter is about 43/4 inches, typical for a driver this size, and its 11/2 -inch voice coil gives it good power handling. Both drivers

FROM THE START,

I WAS IMPRESSED BY THIS SPEAKER'S WIDE -RANGE SOUND.

are flush -mounted, the tweeter with five self -tapping cap screws and the woofer with four cap bolts and Tee nuts. Center to center, the distance between the drivers is 5% inches. The vented enclosure is tuned to about 43 Hz, but the Triumph Signature's bass response actually starts rolling off at about

Rated Frequency Range: 48 Hz to 20 kHz.

Rated Sensitivity: 90 dB SPL at 1 meter, 2.83 volts applied. Rated Impedance: Nominal, 8 ohms; minimum, 6 ohms. Recommended Amplifier Power: 20 to 80 watts. Dimensions: 16 in. H x 9 in. W x 11 in. veneer, which covers all six D (6.3 cm x 3.5 cm x 4.3 cm). 60 Hz. The enclosure's interior volume, The outside was cherry on my sam- Weight: 26 lbs. (11.8 kg) each. which seems to be the optimum size for a sides of the cabinet, a light red. The speakers are Price: $999 per pair in black lacquer, 61/2 -inch woofer, is 931 cubic inches (15.25 ples, stained grilles (none $1,099 per pair in cherry veneer; liters) augmented by a small amount of available with or without I for testing). grilles, $35 per pair if ordered polyester damping fiber that makes it act came with the pair received with Velcro tapes; they separately but no charge if ordered like a slightly larger box. The front baffle's The grilles attach with the speakers and with speaker. edges are bevelled at a 45° angle. The cabi- are free if ordered cost $35 if ordered separately. Company Address: 51 Miriam Cres- net's medium -density fiberboard (MDF) On the rear are gold-plated terminals, cent, Richmond Hill, Ont. L4B 2P8, walls, which are 1 inch thick, are veneered and black bands to indicate po- Canada; 905/886-6728; inside as well as out, an expensive-and with red on a black acrylic plate. http://home.ican.net/-coincid/cstl.htm. welcome-touch that prevents uneven larity, mounted moisture absorption and possible warping. The holes in these terminals are not large AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 51

AmericanRadioHistory.Com 100 nonetheless, III' it could be classified You might wonder why I said that there OVERALL 90 as a first -order network because a was a 256 -microsecond difference m between resistor in series with the shunt ca- the drivers' outputs at 1,950 Hz when the i 80 TWEE TER pacitor negates much of the ca- energy/time curves (ETCs) in Fig. 3 Ñ indi- 70 pacitor's influence. The high-pass cate only 110 microseconds. There is no in- network feeds the tweeter through 60 consistency: The 256 -microsecond result 20 00 Ik lok 20k a capacitor, a resistor dividing derives from the phase angle at a specific FREQUENCY - Hz network to reduce the tweeter's frequency, whereas the ETC reveals the time Fig. 1-Frequency output, and finally a series resistor difference between all the frequencies pro- response. bypassed by a capacitor to boost duced by the tweeter and all those produced extremely high frequencies. The by the woofer. The 110 microseconds repre- woofer and tweeter are connected sents the time difference between the +180 a peak so as to produce an outward di- +100 WOOFER aphragm motion for an initial pos- o itive DC input. THE SPEAKERS' RESPONSES MATCHED 100 Measurements CLOSELY, WHICH SHOULD 200 The Coincident Technology Tri- OVERALL T WEETER umph Signature's rated sensitivity HELP KEEP IMAGES -300 is 90 dB for 1 watt input at 1 meter, -360 VERY STABLE. 20 100 Ik lOk 20k but based on its on -axis frequency FREQUENCY - Hz response (Fig. 1), its sensitivity- Fig. 2-Phase response. except in the low bass and in the of the tweeter's ETC and the peak of the woof- treble-is actually between 84 and er's ETC. 88 dB. This is still very good, how- The Triumph Signature's impedance is 90 AP ever. The woofer's and tweeter's rated at 8 ohms nominal and 6 ohms mini- TWEETER outputs overlap substantially in the mum, but at 20 kHz it drops to about 5.4 80 crossover region. That's to be ex- ohms (Fig. 4). The peaks at 25 and 77 Hz pected of a speaker whose low- and are about 15 and 18 ohms, respectively; 70 high-pass filters are essentially above 200 Hz, the impedance curve is very first -order, and it makes the ex - uniform. The Signature's impedance char- 60 act frequency of the acoustical acteristics should make it a relatively easy crossover very difficult to deter- load for any modern amplifier whose inter- 11- A 50 11 mine. Near 2 kHz, in the crossover nal o 2 3 4 5 6 7 impedance is low, and this speaker region, the Triumph Signature's should sound pretty much same with TIME - MILLISECONDS the overall output is lower than the most such amplifiers. Fig. 3-Energy/time output of either of its drivers Even at the relatively high level of 100 dB response. alone; this indicates that some can- SPL, the Triumph Signature's second- and cellation is occurring. third -harmonic distortion is very low (Fig. The reason for this cancellation 5). The highest relevant distortion products g 32 can ó 18 be gleaned from Fig. 2, the Tri- are only 2% second harmonic and 1.8%

1 W 10 umph Signature's phase response. third harmonic at 60 Hz. This is very good The tweeter 5.5 and woofer outputs performance, as distortion in the bass is are 180° out of phase at 1,950 Hz, 3.2 generally less annoying than midrange dis- 20 100 Ik 10k 20k which is in the crossover range. tortion. (You can safely ignore the distor- FREQUENCY - Hz This corresponds to a difference of tion peaks at 20 Hz. Measurement resolu- Fig. 4-Impedance 256 microseconds, a half wave- tion is poor down there, and the speaker's magnitude. length; it is also equivalent to a dis- rolloff and the scarcity of program material placement between the drivers of near that frequency means you'll rarely hear enough to accept cables thicker than 18 - almost 31/2 inches. Although the woofer and distortion anyway.) Above 60 Hz, distortion gauge. The terminals will accept single -ba- tweeter are connected to produce a positive is mostly less than 1.8%. The Signature's nana plugs but are too far apart for double - acoustical output for a positive electrical in- excellent performance in this regard means bananas. put, Fig. 3 reveals that the first energy from that instrumental timbres will not be ad- The crossover's low-pass network has an the tweeter arrives at the test microphone versely affected by harmonic distortion. air -core inductor in series with the woofer 110 microseconds before the first energy Figure 6 shows the Triumph Signature's and a shunt capacitor across its terminals; from the woofer. on- and off-axis frequency responses. Off-

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 52

AmericanRadioHistory.Com axis response is most uniform when the high -frequency response. The out- 110 ,.r 100-d8 OUTPUT speaker's cabinet is upright (Fig. 6A). The put curve's undershoot indicates 100 ® 45° the speaker is rolling off in the curves are close together, even at off that 90 OUTPUT axis, up to about 5 kHz; from 60 Hz to 18 bass yet is well damped. (For the m 80 08 kHz, the response varies only ±5 dB up to output pulse to be identical to the a would have 70 30° off axis. When the Triumph Signature input pulse, speaker -- en. 2nd HARMONIC S,d HARMONIC must be used on its side, which I don't rec- to have uniform response down to 60 .- ..'1- ATIOOdB' ^ r _ ommend, its sound will vary with the angle DC.) The lack of high -frequency 50 . .rí AT 3-.o d of your listening position. The best com- ringing tells us that the tweeter is I .r. '.,,,,L . 40 j. . promise may be to place these Coincident well damped. 20 100 1k 10k 20k Hz speakers so that their tweeters are to the in- As usual for vented speakers, I FREQUENCY - side and their woofers to the outside (Fig. measured the output of the port Fig. 5-Ground-plane 6B), but you should also try it the other way and the woofer separately. The frequency response (top port's maximum output was con- curves) and second- and third -harmonic distortion. All six sides of stant, within 1 dB, from 40 to 60 the Coincident Hz. The woofer's output began Triumph rolling off at 100 Hz; there was a Signature's dip at 43 Hz, the system's tuning cabinet, 110 frequency. The two Triumph Sig- ON AXIS .r including IS. OFF AXIS responses matched within 30. OFF AXIS natures' 100 45 OFFAXIS its rear panel, co 1 dB across the entire audio spec- 9 are finished. 1 90 trum, which should help keep im- Ná ages very stable. Tests of cabinet 80 vibration turned up nothing that 70 might contaminate the sound, 20 100 Ik lok 20k FREQUENCY Hz thanks to the solid, 1 -inch MDF - enclosure walls. A

Use and Listening Tests 110 -ON AXIS w I 15' OFF AXIS VOCALS WERE CLEAR From the start, was impressed 30. TEE AXIS 100 - - 45 OFFAXIS by the Coincident Triumph Signa- - AND ARTICULATE, ture's relatively high output and 90 DRUMS WERE TIGHT, wide -range sound. Bass reproduc- 80 AND DEPTH tion was very impressive, consider- 70 ing that it came from a single 61/2 - lOk WAS EXCELLENT. 20 100 Ik 20k inch driver. The treble was very FREOUENCY - Hz impressive, too. The midrange was (Fig. 6C). Because these speakers weigh just clear but a little subdued, making 110 26 pounds apiece, this experiment should some recordings with hyped in- ON AXIS a I5" OFF AXIS not be too difficult. struments and vocals much more 30 OFF AXIS 100 45 OFFAXIS The 300 -Hz and 1 -kHz square waves in listenable. 90 Fig. 7 further attest that the Coincident I use a listening panel to evalu- speaker's treble energy arrives ahead of its ate the sound quality of compo- 80 bass energy. (I have found that this tends to nents that I review, because the 70 soften transient attacks somewhat; tran- panelists often hear things from a 20 100 Ik lOk 20k sient sounds seem sharper when the funda- different perspective than I do. The FREQUENCY -Hz mental and harmonics arrive together.) At 3 panel members write down their Fig. 6-Horizontal on- and C is energy coming from the comments, which I review with kHz, there still off -axis frequency response the them after the listening session. woofer but even more coming from for speaker upright (A), for my reference speak- tweeter, confirming what you see in Fig. 1. I've described speaker on its side and Although not perfect, the Signature's er system in previous reports, so I measured from the tweeter square -wave reproduction is reasonable. will just say that it is a compact end (B), and for speaker on In the 20 -kHz cosine pulse test (Fig. 8), speaker whose bass response ex- its side and measured from the base of the acoustical output's peak is tends down to 30 Hz and whose the woofer end (C). just slightly wider than that of the electrical midrange and treble response is input pulse-another sign of excellent time -coherent. AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 53

AmericanRadioHistory.Com The most intimate union of amplifier and loudspeaker. For the listening sessions, I placed the r Triumph Signatures next to and at the same height as the reference speakers and adjust- Monocle ed the references' output level to match the DEFINING AFFORDABLE HIGH END Signatures'. The acoustic environment was LOUDSPEAKER CABLES relatively dead, and all the speakers were about 4 to 5 feet away from the listening position; I have found that this enables people to focus on the sound quality of small loudspeakers without the distracting effects of room reflections and standing waves. Each panel member listened alone to the same four musical selections through both sets of speakers. Fig. 7-Square-wave For vocal material, I selected a fabulous, response. as yet unreleased, CD titled I'll Never Forget You. It features Debra Holly, who sounds a little like June Christy, singing with a band that reminds me of Stan Kenton's. I found the vocal to be clear and articulate on both N PUT the reference and the Coincident speakers. end;:u r nediunm, When listening to "Oh, What a Beautiful (;awq / ómm) Mornin'," the panel's comments about the Triumph Signatures were: "vocal very clear," "vocal a good but little recessed," OUTPUT "brass overtones less bright," "drums tight and punchy," "bass solid but not as deep," and "clarinets and saxes are more mellow." Twenty years of avant-garde For the song "Windswept," performed by manufacturing and engineering enable the Lynne Arriale Trio on With Words Unspo- KIMBER KABLE to offer the most Fig. 8-Response to ken (dmp CD -518, significant "sane" loudspeaker cables an excellent disc engi- a 20 -kHz cosine pulse. in High End audio. neered by Tom Jung), comments were: "piano less forward," "piano less bright," "drums The Monocle, BiFocal (biwire) very tight," "drums very good," "snare drums vinsky's Firebird Suite, with Erich Leins- and TriFocal (triwire) cables have less snap," "cymbals excellent," and allow signal to flow untouched by dorf conducting the Los Angeles Philhar- external vibration and RF influences. "cymbals very smooth and dear." monic (Sheffield Lab 10052-2-G), elicited Each model has been engineered and Comments for "A Celtic Medley," by these comments: "woodwinds brighter," precisely manufactured by KIMBER Bela Fleck and The Flecktones on Three "upper bass stronger," "bass slightly less KABLE to deliver the highest fidelity Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Warner Bros. 9 deep," "celesta subdued," "harp more mel- while maintaining a conservative price. 453282), were: "banjo more mellow," "ban- low," "harp less bright," "excellent sense of jo slightly recessed," "banjo less forward depth," "good instrument placement," and bright," "banjo sounds slightly veiled," "brass less bright," "smoother brass "sax very good," "sax less irritating," "per- sound," and "brass further back." cussion has less snap," "percussion sounds The Triumph Signatures have good off- are very extended," "bass is more mellow," axis treble response. Therefore, they will "bass has less overtones," and "bass not as sound brighter than they did in my setup if deep." (I made a spectral analysis of this they're in a larger room whose acoustics are recording, which showed that it has content more live. Monocle X - $58o eight foot pair* down to 36 Hz and that, from about 150 Hz I enjoyed listening to Coincident's Tri- Monocle XL - 88o eight foot pair* down, the bass is boosted 12 dB above the umph Signatures with a wide variety _ of 3T connect,.,, midrange level! This made it useful in dif- program material over an extended period. Visit our web site or contact us for more ferentiating my reference speakers' extend- information and your nearest dealer. If you like a less aggressive, less in -your -face ed bass from the more limited bass range of sound, you should audition them-even U on I KIM3ER KABLE the Triumph Signatures.) recordings you think are a little too forward The orchestral selections "Dance of the and bright. I think that you will find these í c ustc Firebird" and "Infernal Dance" from Stra- speakers to be excellent. Sinr'e 1979 A 2752 South 1900 West Ogden Utah 84401 AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 801-621-5530 fax 801-627-6980 54 www. kimber. corn

AmericanRadioHistory.Com I've been living with a pair of Mi - rage 0M-8 speakers for quite a AURICLE while-so long, in fact, that I've EDWARD J. FOSTER gotten more than one gentle nudge from the Mirage publicist asking me whether I'm ever going to review them. "Yeah, sure I'm MIRAGE 0M-8 going to," I thought as he nudged me one last time, "but how do I go about SPEAKER reviewing old friends and keep the review honest?" It takes a while to get to know the OM -8s, and to place and adjust them just the way you want, check out "Loud- but once you do, they get real friend- speaker Sound Dis- ly real fast! persion 101.") At $2,200 per pair, the 0M-8 sits Though the 0M-8 on the second rung of Mirage's looks quite similar "Omnipolar" ladder. Like the 0M-6 to a one-piece tow- that perches on top, the 0M-8 is a er (okay, a rather three-way system whose six drivers weird -looking tow- are arranged to encourage uniform er), it's really two radiation at all angles (that's where speakers in one. The the Omnipolar monicker comes top is an Omnipolar from). And, like the 0M-6, the 0M- radiating column, 8 has an internal power amp to drive the bottom a pow- the woofers. Lesser lights in the Om- ered subwoofer with nipolar series don't have the power two 61/2 -inch drivers amp and are rather more conven- (one on each side of tional in appearance. the box) and an Mirage's engineering philosophy internal 100 -watt has embraced nondirectional speak- MOS-FET amplifier er designs for as long as I've known to power them. The the company, and that goes way, way bass base (ugh! a back. I can remember testing the Mi- pun!) is narrower rage M-1 many years ago and being than it is deep (9% x impressed with how it performed. 161 inches) and has Mirage called the M-1 a bipolar removable grilles on ó speaker. It had an essentially identi- the front and sides. 3 cal complement of drivers on the These are wrapped front and back of a fairly tall, rela- in a black fabric that rU tively narrow, fairly shallow cabinet. matches the nonre- on ó These drivers radiated reasonably movable covering ç uniformly in the horizontal plane, the upper column. with some "pull in" at the sides. On the back of the bass module switch nor need of one; the 0M-8 The so-called bipolar concept was are a fuse holder, a socket for an IEC comes to life when it senses a signal soon imitated, but changes were two -wire line cord (supplied), and and goes back to sleep when things afoot at Mirage. The new Omnipolar two sets of heavy-duty gold-plated have quieted down for a while. A red series takes bipolar one step further. multiway binding posts, one for the LED shines through the front grille (If all this tech talk is confusing, subwoofer and one for the drivers in when the system is alive. the upper column. These are nor- The subwoofer stands 23 inches Company Address: c/o Audio mally linked via gold-plated straps tall in front and-except for a 41 - Products Intl., 3641 McNicoll that can be removed to bi -wire the inch horizontal plateau to support Ave., Scarborough, Ont. MIX system. Can't say I see any reason to the upper column-slopes to a 143/4 - 1G5, Canada; 416/321-1800; bi -wire, given that the woofers are inch height in back. A black cloth www.miragespeakers.com. powered by the .internal amp, but grille covers the sloped portion. Re- what the hey! There's no power moving it reveals two controls. One AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 55

AmericanRadioHistory.Com ..

of them adjusts bass "Level" over a nominal Direct -radiating speakers are designed to from the walls on either side. Both speakers range of ±6 dB. The other control, "LF produce a high ratio, of direct -to -reflected were the same distance from the wall be- EQ," adjusts the amount of bass boost be- sound, which, ipso facto, makes the reflect- hind them, but I positioned them asym- fore rolloff, i.e., the system's "Q"; it is cali- ed sound less important in establishing metrically with respect to the walls on ei- brated from +3 to -3 dB. Removing the timbrai character. A high ratio of direct -to - ther side. The sound was well balanced in front grille reveals two ducted ports that, reflected sound also reduces smearing of the midrange and treble, but the bass was together with the equalized amplifier, tune the image caused by reflections from near- too heavy forme with the "Level" and "EQ" the system. by surfaces-another reason why so many controls centered. (Amazing, the amount of The 0M-8 comes with spikes and gold - people favor them. But is this really desir- bass these little drivers pump out!) Crank- finished discs that screw into the front part able? All told, headphones are the ultimate ing "Level" most of the way down and of the base and tilt the entire system back at direct -radiating transducer; they radiate backing off about halfway on "EQ" seemed a graceful angle. With the disc supports in straight into the ear canal, and you can't get to help. place, the 0M-8 stands about 45 inches tall more direct than that. But headphones do With orchestral music, the 0M -8S' image in front. weird things with stereo recordings. The had great depth and was far more precise A high -gloss black plate separates the images may be precise and stable, but they than I had expected. The OM-8s don't pro- lower and upper halves. The tower-the pop up inside your head instead of in front duce the pinpoint images that some direct - mid/upper frequency enclosure-is 9% of you, where you expect them to be. (I'm radiating speakers do, but their sound field inches wide, 4' inches deep, and 20 inches not speaking of binaural recordings, which and imaging are extraordinarily natural- tall. It's wrapped in a black cloth sock and are made for repro- more like the sound of capped by a removable 5/s -inch -thick high - duction over head- a concert hall. When gloss black cap. Installed in the column are phones, but of stereo THE OM -8'S SOUND FIELD you get right down to two 1 -inch PTH (Pure Titanium Hybrid) recordings, which are AND IMAGING it, you can't pinpoint dome tweeters and two 51/2 -inch midrange mixed for reproduc- instruments ARE EXTRAORDINARILY in a con- drivers. One set of drivers is mounted on tion over speakers.) cert hall. You think the front, the other set on the back. The An Omnipolar sys- NATURAL, LIKE THE SOUND you can, but that's be- tweeter sits above the midrange driver on tem is quite different OF A CONCERT HALL. cause of visual clues. the front, which puts it approximately at ear from a direct radiator. Close your eyes and height for a seated listener. On the back, the It delivers a higher ra- see how well you do! orientation is reversed. I presume that Mi- tio of reflected sound at the listening posi- The OM -8s give you more aural clues than rage did this to minimize the depth of the tion, which means that the room enters the you get in a concert hall (they have to, be- cabinet. equation quite strongly. Although radiation cause you don't have visual input), but they Mirage's specifications are rather sketchy. from the front and rear of an Omnipolar don't go overboard. They're really quite Frequency response is listed at 28 Hz to 22 speaker is initially in phase, cancellation of amazing in this regard. kHz (no tolerance given), with sensitivity at the front and rear waves (after the latter re- On many CDs-Mahler's Symphony No.

91 dB 1 (presumably at meter with a 1 -watt flect from the wall behind the speaker) ulti- 5, recorded live at the Meyerson Hall in drive). Impedance is stated as "8 ohms mately occurs and produces a comb -filter Dallas (Dorian DOR-90193); Kodály's Háry compatible" (whatever that means). Mirage effect. The filter's characteristics depend on János Suite, recorded in Orchestra Hall, recommends that the 0M-8 be used with the speaker's placement vis-à-vis the wall, Chicago (Chandos CHAN 8877); Schu- power amps rated at 30 to 200 watts. the wall's reflectivity, and so forth. bert's Symphony No. 9, recorded at the Lu- Bipolar speakers are thought to produce Ultimately, every real speaker in every caskirche by the Staatskapelle Dresden a deeper image than conventional direct - real room produces multiple comb filters. (RCA Victor Red Seal 09026-68547); and radiating speakers and to produce a wider This occurs when sound waves bounce the magnificently engineered recording image over a broader listening area than ei- around and reinforce each other at specific of Nielsen's Symphony No. 3 with the ther direct -radiating or dipole systems. The frequencies and locations while cancelling Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in same should be true in spades for an Om- each other at others. It is a perfectly natural Berwald Hall, Stockholm (Sony Classical nipolar speaker. Indeed, spherical (point - event that occurs with every sound source SK 46500)-I felt I was getting the overall source) and cylindrical (pulsating -column) in every room; our ears are accustomed to experience I would hope to have had in speakers have been the acousticians' Holy dealing with it. It's not "bad" in and of it- those halls. That, and no more than that! Grail for as long as I can remember. This is self, but ideally, one wants to arrange things And I didn't have to lock myself into a not to say that they're an unmitigated bless- so as to maximize the naturalness of the sweet spot to get a decent image. The image ing. The sound of omnidirectional speakers sound and to avoid placements that cause certainly was best midway between the is likely to be more dependent on the nature anomalies. Indeed, that was the story of my speakers, but I could move quite far off cen- of the listening room and their placement life with the Mirage OM -8s. ter and still hear good results. In fact, I in it than that of directional speakers. They After some initial experimentation, I could even move beyond the speakers, and also are not supposed to produce as precise placed the OM -8s about 2 feet away from in most cases the image would stay between an image as direct -radiating speakers do. the wall behind them and much further them. It might be shallower and sort of tilt -

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 56

AmericanRadioHistory.Com LOUDSPEAKER SOUND DISPERSION 101 _J

Speakers can be classified into three broad categories based on the surrounding walls plays a major role in determining the result. the way they disperse sound. There are front- or direct -radiating In theory, electrostatic panels are dipole radiators; in reality, their speakers, dipole radiators, and what I call the bipole/Omnipole radiation pattern varies with frequency and is modified by the where wave- variety. I expect that Mirage prefers to view the latter as separate shape and size of the panel. In the deep bass, sound radiation begin to cancel, so categories, but I think they're similar enough to be considered to- lengths are long, forward and rearward gether. Besides, in the real world, radiation patterns vary with a conventional cone woofer (with a non -dipole pattern) is usually frequency, so real speakers don't fall exactly into one category or used to reinforce the low end. another at all frequencies, despite their designers' intentions. Bipoles are like dipoles in that they disperse sound over a rela- Front radiators are designed to disperse sound over a relatively tively broad horizontal angle to the front and rear. But unlike narrow horizontal angle into the front hemisphere. Tie drivers may dipoles, bipoles produce sound that is in phase fore and aft. There- be arranged to encourage broader radiation in the horizontal plane fore, there's no bass cancellation, and the sound reflected from the than in the vertical, to minimize reflections from the floor and ceil- wall behind them is in phase with that from the front over a reason- ing, but no attempt is made to radiate sound to the sides and rear. able band of frequencies in the bass and lower midrange. Bipoles, Radiation in those directions is deemed unwise by the proponents such as the old Mirage M-1, use similar (usually identical) drivers of these speakers because, to their way of thinking, reflections from on the front and rear baffles. The drivers are wired in phase so that the walls beside and behind the speakers confuse the image and their cones move in and out together and form the equivalent of a bring the characteristics of the room into the picture more than column whose front and back surfaces move together. need be. Indeed, controlled -dispersion speakers lice these are as You can also look at bipolar radiators as a combination of two room -independent as a speaker can be. They can create an extreme- direct -radiating speakers placed back to back and wired in phase. ly well-defined, almost holographic, image in the area between Sound radiates over a reasonably wide horizontal angle in the front them if the listener sits in the sweet spot and the acoustical and elec- and to the rear, with less sound radiated to the sides because of the trical system is well balanced. More speakers fall into this category directivity of the individual drivers. Besides driver directivity, the than into any other. physical displacement of the front and rear drivers affects the radi- Dipole speakers radiate in a figure -eight pattern, which resem- ation pattern. bles the numeral "8" if you were to look down on the speakers from Bipolar speakers are usually relatively narrow and deep. Thus, in a point overhead. Sound is dispersed over a relatively broad angle to the midrange-certainly in the upper midrange-the front and the front and to the rear, but little or no sound is radiated to either rear drivers are quite far from each other in terms of wavelength. side (the null in the 8) or upward or downward. Dipoles theoretical- Because of the difference in path length from the front and rear dri- ly eliminate interference caused by sound bouncing off the floor vers to the listener, the radiation from the front and rear drivers and ceiling, but sound does bounce off the wall behind them. More- may not add up at the ear in phase. differ- over, sound emitted from the rear of a dipole is out of phase with To my way of thinking (perhaps not to Mirage's), the major the sound emanating from its front, which means that the rear -wall ence between its new Omnipolar speakers and its older bipolars is the bounce is out of phase, too. Finally, the acoustical energy is not uni- shortening of the front -to -rear path length. Whereas the cabinet depth form at all front angles. It diminishes as you move off center (ac- of a bipolar speaker is likely to be a foot, give or take a few inches, the cording to the cosine of the angle, if you wish to get technical about portions of the 0M-6 and 0M-8 that house the midrange drivers and it), and at 90° there's no sound at all. tweeters is only 41 inches deep. That means these speakers can func- Dipoles are thought to produce deeper (if less precise) images tion in Omnipolar fashion to frequencies perhaps three octaves high- than direct radiators, but placement relative to the listener and to er than a typical bipole. E.J.F. ed to one side, but it didn't collapse to the as a feather and utterly transparent. All was ballades, made in the Salle de Musique nearer speaker-as it usually does with a di- just as it should be. Transients were decent, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland (Sony Clas- rect radiator. Quite amazing! And quite but the OM -8s did not attack as sharply as sical SK 64399), was woody and had a sort natural. some. I'm not put off by this; they were fast of swallowed -up sound, almost as if you'd tried to capture the I could cite other musical examples- enough for me, and I'd rather do without puffed your mouth and and, of course, you don't get the same edginess, thank you. music inside. On the other hand, the tenor, imaging with every recording. The simpler Everything was ducky until it came to alto, and soprano registers were nothing the recording technique, the more natural solo piano, an instrument of which I'm par- short of terrific, and the image had great the results seemed to be with these Mirage ticularly fond and of whose reproduction depth. (Yes, a solo piano recording can have is action of the speakers. (But since I don't know how every I'm particularly critical. Some piano discs depth, which affected by the recording was made, I'm speculating here.) played through the 0M-8 sounded okay- damper.) The OM -8s were also terrifically The OM -8's timbral balance was excel- e.g., Ivor Pogorelich's rather dry record- clean and detailed; I could even hear the lent. Upper woodwinds were graceful, low- ing of Chopin preludes (Deutsche Gram- dampers rise from the strings when the una er woodwinds rich. Reeds were, well, reedy. mophon 429227), made in the Friedrich corda was on and Perahia slowly released Brass was sharp, and violins were not. On Ebert Halle in Hamburg-but on others, the damper. (A perfectly adjusted instru- Dawn Upshaw: Forgotten Songs (Sony Clas- the bottom was tubby. The bass register ment doesn't do that, but many instru- sical SK 67190), Upshaw's voice was light of Murray Perahia's recording of Chopin ments are not perfectly adjusted!) AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 57

AmericanRadioHistory.Com Thomas Labé playing transcriptions of liked the sound and imaging of these speak- taves of the piano, and although there have Bach suites and partitas on an American ers on orchestral music and even on piano been exceptions, it was rather easy to lump Steinway D (Dorian Discovery DIS -80117) over most of its range. the OM -8s in with other vented speakers is heavy to start with. The Troy Savings I switched to some of my own solo -piano that had proved disappointing. Yet why Bank Music Hall (one of this label's favorite recordings made using a very simple micro- should the ambience in the recording have recording venues) is reverberant, and Dori- phone placement in concert halls that I such an effect if this were simply a matter of an tends to mike fairly far back to take ad- know pretty well. Same sort of thing: The bass resonance? vantage of the natural acoustic. The results better the acoustic (and the better I had Finally the light dawned: This was a mat- can be spectacular; they also can be over- captured it!), the heavier the bottom end ter of room interaction that could not be powering. I diddled and twiddled with the sounded. For a while, I chalked up my dis- corrected with the OM -8's controls. So I knobs, trying to. bring this recording under satisfaction to the fact that the OM -8s are went back into the speaker -moving busi- control, but I was never satisfied. This be- vented. I've usually been unhappy with the ness. After lots of trial and error, I ended up came rather frustrating, because I really way vented speakers handle the bottom oc - with the speakers 45 inches from the wall behind them, about 9 feet apart, and angled in toward me. Voilà! The bass tightened up!

THE MIRAGE OM -8s PRODUCE A SOUND THAT IS TERRIFICALLY CLEAN AND DETAILED.

In fact, the level now seemed a little low, so I centered the "LF EQ" control and raised the "Level" control to about 10:30. Don't take these positions and settings as gospel; they worked in my room but won't neces- sarily work in yours. I relate the story only to suggest that, despite how good the 0M - 8s may sound where you first place them, they'll appreciate tender loving care and lots of experimenting. With the final placement and settings (well, maybe they're the final placement and settings!), the image has even more 100% value depth. I can't go quite so far off axis before damaging that depth as I could before (probably because the speakers are now an- A supremely elegant, neat and complete, CD music system gled in more than they had been), but that seems a small price combining power, performance and style. to pay for tighter bass. And the room still fills with sound in a most natural way. Put it this way: I live with a concert pianist whose Steinway B shares a udssiK by Linn the listening room. She records many of her practice sessions using a pair of omni mikes I leave set up for that purpose. Next to the listening room, there's a family room where I am wont to sit and read the paper at the end of the day. Lately, I've been sticking my head into the listening room to see whether it's Diane playing her Steinway-or the Mi- LINN rage OM -8s playing back Diane's record- the only sound° ing. Now, is that real, or what? A

Simply call 888-671-LINN or visit our website on www.linninc.com for reviews, dealer locations AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 and information on Linn whole home multi -channel total entertainment solutions. 58

AmericanRadioHistory.Com elson Pass has produced some truly great solid-state AURICLE power amplifiers, but the ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN X600 is by far the best thing he has ever done. It handily outclasses Pass Laboratories' mono Aleph 1.2, which is among my PASS LABS references. I have never heard a better amplifier or seen a more attrac- X600 MONO AMP tive one. This amp has no weakness- es, and its nuances took me as far into musical realism as any amplifier I've heard. The X600, a mono power amp rated at 600 watts into 8 ohms and 1,200 watts into 4 ohms, costs $8,000 each, but an audiophile who can afford two ($16,000) will feel they're worth every penny. If you think you need more power, Pass Labs makes the X1000 ($12,000 each), rated at

1 kilowatt into 8 ohms. But 600 watts is more than enough power for all but the most ineffi- cient speakers. And the X600 has several practical advantages over the X1000: Each weighs 150 rather than 250 pounds, a pair works well on an ordinary 20 -ampere AC power line, and you save enough money to get ó yourself a third X600 to power a center channel .r or a subwoofer. The X600's industrial design is a major break- á through. The look of the Pass Aleph series of amps, a black really art. Even the power switch has stages, an input stage that provides cube with heat sinks, reminded me style. And the meter! Why doesn't all of the voltage gain and a high - of the alien monolith in 2001: A every amp have a meter like this? current output stage comprising 48 Space Odyssey. By contrast, the Why can't every amp have the same power MOS-FETs. These are said to X600's front panel made me remem- subtle front -panel lighting? (If you be capable of safely handling more ber that good industrial design is think I'm going overboard on the than 7.2 kilowatts. cosmetics, go down to your dealer The X600 operates in Class A to Company Address: P.O. Box and look as well as listen.) roughly 300 watts (into 8 ohms) and 219, Foresthill, Cal. 95631; The X600's circuit topology has an then goes into Class -AB operation, 530/367-3690; elegant simplicity that you usually which keeps your electric bill and www.passlabs.com. find only in single -ended tube am- room temperature within reasonable plifiers. There are just two gain limits. You can see this happening on AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 59

AmericanRadioHistory.Com the front -panel meter, which reads current components (i.e., distortion) without use of At any frequency above the deep bass, I draw rather than output power. The meter's negative feedback. Moreover, it is substan- simply could not fault this amp. In terms of needle stays more or less mid -scale until the tially easier to tweak the two halves of the transparency, natural timbre, and sheer transition occurs from Class A to Class AB, circuit into symmetry (necessary for gener- musical life (even at listening levels no sane where the output stage begins drawing ation of identical distortion products) than person would endure), the X600 is as good more than the 600 watts it consumes at idle. to eliminate the distortion in each half as it gets. Dynamics are superb, and com- This doesn't happen often, but when it of the circuit. Pass notes that although the plex musical textures are clear. Solo male does, the added punch and excitement and female voice and demanding solo from all this power make you grateful instruments (guitar, violin, cello, pi- for the extra reserve that Class -AB op- ano, harpsichord, clarinet, and flute) eration affords. are as natural as anything I've heard. You needn't worry about the power Midrange performance is remarkably supply: It has a massive toroidal trans- neutral. I kept anticipating midrange former rated at 4 kilovolt/amperes coloration, but it never appeared. In- and a high -current rectifier; storage deed, the X600 is the ideal amp for a capacitance is said to be more than reviewer when evaluating the mid- 150,000 microfarads. The X600 does range of other components. You never not rely on feedback, and Pass Labs hear this Pass Labs amp; you hear claims its performance is consistent from what's on the recording-as well as any col- DC to beyond audibility. The company also orations in your program sources, speakers, says the is THE PASS X600 unconditionally stable into X600'S and cables. (I'm sure someday some new any speaker load. This proved true with all FRONT PANEL amp will materialize that will reveal there is of my speakers: the very low impedance of MAKES coloration in the X600, but it's not here an early full -range YOU REALIZE THAT Apogee Ribbon, the yet.) The top octaves have all the energy, Spendor BC -1, and INDUSTRIAL DESIGN the Quad ESL -63. The life, air, and detail demanded by the most only minor cavils that arose during my au- IS ART. persnickety audiophiles-no edge or harsh- ditioning were that the X600's input and ness, no touch of excess. (In all fairness, I output are direct -coupled and the amplifier must state that the Aleph 1.2 is more forgiv- accepts only a balanced (XLR) input. circuit actually does very little to reduce ing.) The X600's freedom from upper -oc- The key aspect of the X600 is its Super - measured distortion and noise in each cir- tave coloration means there is no warmth, Symmetry circuit, which Nelson Pass de- cuit half on its own, it's been a long time softness, or euphonically forgiving nature. veloped for the X1000. Pass says Super - since high -end solid-state amplifiers had You'll hear everything in the upper octaves, Symmetry, a patented design, exploits the much measured distortion to reduce. including recording faults and front-end or complementary characteristics of preci- I had been using the Pass Aleph 1.2 as a tweeter flaws. What you will not hear are sion -matched balanced circuits to differen- reference because its sound emulates a good problems in the amplifier. tially reject distortion and noise. tube amp's. It is still a great amp and has a The X600 is as revealing of the sound - The company maintains that previous warmth and consistency of timbre charac- stage as any power amp I've ever heard; in- balanced amplifier designs have been some teristic of triode tube amps. But it does have deed, it may be the most revealing in terms variant of a pair of operational amplifiers some imperfections. The deep bass is a bit of low-level detail. This amp is too neutral (op -amps). Super-Symmetry does not use limited, the mid -bass is a bit warm and for any vestigial coloration to be audible; op -amps as building blocks. Instead, the lacks the control that some speakers require your recordings or other components will circuit has two negative inputs, two positive (those that need a lot of help from an am- dictate soundstage width and imaging. Per- outputs, and two matched gain blocks cou- plifier), and its upper octaves are a bit haps some tube amps provide a bit more pled together at a central point, where volt- warm. Also, the Aleph 1.2's dynamics do depth, but whether that's accurate is any- age would be zero in a perfect amplifier. Be- not quite match its sweetness, air, and one's guess. The X600's superior trans- cause the amplifier is not perfect, however, transparency. Though scarcely major sins, parency and resolving power open up and distortion and noise appear at this point. they are colorations nevertheless. define the soundstage as well as the record- These components are coupled to the I out- found the X600's sound really glorious. ing permits. I found it a real joy to use this put of each gain block, where they appear Though some Krell amps are better in the amp with recordings of live performances out of phase with the distortion in low that bass, few amplifiers go as low and do as and recordings where the apparent sound - block and therefore cancel. In other words, well as the X600. It offers a great deal of stage has real musical credibility. the distortion and noise of each half of the control over difficult speaker loads. If you In terms of dynamics, power is telling. circuit appear identically and cancel each hear more than the slightest touch of loose- Give the X600 an exciting and demanding other out. ness in the deep bass with the X600, move orchestral passage, and it rises to the occa- Pass Laboratories claims this design can your speaker. You have a room interaction sion. Push the sound of pipe organs or almost totally eliminate unwanted signal problem, not flawed electronics. Continued on page 67 AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 60

AmericanRadioHistory.Com Come September, AUD O magazine will be INTENSIFIED, ENERGIZED, and REDESIGNED. Why? You asked for it! Our surveys tell us you want a bgger, better AUDIO, with more product reviews, a fresh editorial style, and a bolder package.

INTENSIFIED REPORT Each ssue of AUD!O wil' contain 10 to snot. 12 equipment reviews in a concise new KreKs first format almost twice the coverage Receiver you're getting today. We'll be covering a MC-1Jams wide range of high performance audio LEMONS products plus exciting new tecanologies, Out The such as multichannel digital audio, Internet music delivery, and home studio FLEXES B&W pUTILIIR-, recording and editing. NONN ---- ENERGIZED Gole The best writing staff in the audio biz I.IS is getting better, with the addition of N'llie Gluckstern, DoLC Newcomb, Paul Tatara, and James W Ilcox. Together, they'r be reporting on the latest gear with lively commentary that's opinionated and fun to read, though still grounded in the science that rr-lakes AUDIO "The Equipment Authority."

Each issue of AUDIO will have more pages and an eye-catching design that's easy to rear and pleasing to look at. Deluxe paper used throughout the magazine will bring products and graphics alive.

Finally, along with these exciting changes, AUDIC has also gone to a 10 issue -per -year frequency, with combined double issues in February/March and July/August. ;f you're a current subscriber, that means you won't be receiving a separate August issue. But your subscr,Ftion will be extended automatically, so that you'll receive exactly the number of issues you paid for. Look for the new AUDIO in yo rids beginning September!

To subscribe, call 1-800-274-8808. AmericanRadioHistory.Com enclosure is 18 inches tall, 10 inches AURICLE wide, and 12 inches deep. The cabi- JOHN GATSKI net's two ports are located just below the tweeter. The woofer portion of

the front baffle juts out about 1 inch WESTLAKE in front of the tweeter section (for AUDIO better time coherence, says West- SURROUND lake). On the back panel is a single pair of five -way binding posts. (The SPEAKER SYSTEM Lc8.1s is also available in an unshielded version, the Lc8.1 for $1,999 per pair in satin black or $2,175 per pair in satin walnut veneer.) For center -channel chores, the magnetically shielded Westlake Lc265.1 ($1,799 each, in satin black or $1,875 each for satin walnut veneer) is designed to operate in a horizontal position (it also may be oriented vertically, if desired, to fulfill left- and right-channel duties). The speaker uses dual 61/2 -inch woofers and a 5 -inch midrange, inside of

which is a coaxially mounted, 1 -inch dome tweeter. Four ports are located on the front baffle between the woofers and the midrange. Mini- mum impedance of the Lc265.1 is specified at 3 ohms, with frequency response rated at 48 Hz to 18.5 kHz, ±2 dB. The rear baffle carries two sets of input jacks for bi -wiring (a wire jumper must be used for conventional hookup). Oriented hori- zontally, the Lc265.1 is 81/2 inches tall, 22 inches wide, and 11 inches deep and weighs a hefty 42 pounds. Conceived as a pedestal stand for the Lc8.1s, the dedicated Lc8.1SW subwoofer ($5,695 per pair in satin black and $5,999 per pair in satin walnut veneer) contains two front - mounted 10 -inch woofers with twin ports on the front baffle. The 68 -Hz passive crossover, which includes 17 components and contributes about Several years ago, when I audi- the Lc8.1 in a home theater setup. 20 pounds to the weight of each sub, tioned Westlake's Lc8.1 two- (It's not quite a 5.1 -channel system, is designed to work specifically with way speaker ("Playback," June but more on that later.) the Lc8.1s, with the crossover fre- 1997), I liked it a lot; its sound The Lc8.1s ($2,199 per pair, in quency and slope said to be opti- was detailed and revealing, satin black or $2,339 per pair in sat- with tight, low bass. Since in walnut veneer), a magnetically Company Address: 2696 Lavery then, the company has designed a shielded version of the Lc8.1, has an Court, Unit 18, Newbury Park, dedicated subwoofer (the Lc8.ISW) 8 -inch woofer and a 1 -inch tweeter. Cal. 91320; 805/499-3686; and center -channel speaker (the Constructed of medium -density www.westlakeaudio.com. Lc265.1) intended to be used with fiberboard, the 31 -pound, ported

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 62

AmericanRadioHistory.Com mized for "a seamless transition from the Carver A -760X THX amplifier (rated at 250 And because the speakers are so clean - subwoofer to the main speaker while im- watts per channel) with 12 -gauge MIT sounding, I was able to take advantage of proving system headroom and resolution." speaker cables. Then I connected each sub - the dynamic range of Dolby Digital sound- Frequency response of the Lc8.1SW sub woofer's high-pass outputs to the Lc8.1s tracks and listen at much higher volumes combined with the Lc8.ls main speaker is mains using the supplied jumpers. I wired without fatigue. rated at 36 Hz to 18.5 kHz, ±3 dB. By itself, the Lc265.1 directly to the Carver's center - The Lc8.1SW subs did a very good job the Lc8.ls main speaker's low -frequency channel output, again using MIT cable. I delivering the low end. I couldn't make a extension is rated at 55 Hz. The Lc8.1SW placed it on top of my Toshiba direct -view valid comparison to my normal setup be- subwoofer is 28 inches tall, 14 inches wide, TV monitor with the front of the speaker cause I run my Velodyne sub (which mea- and 15 inches deep. Incidentally, you'll need angled down to compensate for the screen sures flat to 20 Hz) three feet behind the help moving them around-each weighs height. listening position, whereas the Westlakes 100 pounds. I wired the pair of surround -channel were 10 feet in front of me. But I still felt The Lc8.1SW subwoofer has bi -wiring Lc8.1 speakers via MIT cables to a Carver the bass impact of explosions, gunfire, and facilities with five -way binding posts for the A -500X stereo THX amp (also rated at 250 the like. Moreover, the sounds were deep high- and low -frequency inputs. A set watts per channel) and positioned them and quick without the boominess I have of high-pass bind- against the side walls, encountered using many dedicated sub - ing posts sends the approximately five woofers. No wonder the pros are mixing to feet behind the listen- with this speaker. crossed -over signal NO WONDER THE PROS the Lc8.1s. For those ing seat, aimed into The center -channel Lc265.1, with its who do not bi -wire, ARE MIXING the listening area. ability to kick out a good deal of bass on its heavy-duty 12 -gauge WITH THESE Next, I set the Car- own, as well as clean midrange and treble, ver processor's main was as good as I have heard. Voices were jumper cables are WESTLAKE SPEAKERS. provided. A set of speaker selector to full, clear, and natural, without boomi- port plugs and a T - "Large" and turned ness (male) or excessive sibilance (female). handle wrench to in - off the dedicated sub - By the way, the shielding on the center stall them are included with the subs; the woofer channel switch, thereby routing all speaker and the two front Lc8.1s was 100% plugs are meant to be inserted into the the bass from the front left and right and effective. Lc8.ls main speakers' ports to further LFE channels to the Lc8.1SW subs. I also I also listened to music, in stereo, on the "tighten" the bass of the subwoofer/mains configured the surround and center chan- Lc8.1SW sub/Lc8.ls combo, using a Pass combo system. nels to run full -range by selecting "Large." D1 20 -bit DAC/preamp, a Legacy high -cur- Westlake says it designed this system as a The channels were balanced using the rent amp, and Alpha Core flat, single -con- surround setup for both video and music. processor's noise calibration feature and a ductor silver speaker cables. Listening to Already familiar with the Lc8.1s as music SPL meter. Johnny Frigo's Debut of a Legend (Chesky transducers, I wanted to find out how well A downside of operating subwoofers in JD119) and The Guitar Artistry of Charlie the system worked with the pair of dedicat- the same location as the front speakers is Byrd (Riverside OJCCD-945), I felt the ed subs to reproduce the bottom octave. I that many subwoofers are not magnetical- Lc8.1SW/Lc8.ls combo supplied excellent also was curious to test its home theater ca- ly-shielded-and that includes the Westlake detail and low -bass oomph. These subs are pabilities with the addition of a center chan- subs. Consequently, it is almost impossible fast, delivering satisfying low -octave clout nel and two Lc8.1s as surround speakers. to eliminate screen interference when the for classical, jazz, and pop music. Now, because the two subs are designed subwoofer is close to a TV. In my room, my The only negative aspect to the Westlake to work in tandem with the Lc8.ls main Toshiba TV was not happy until the subs system is the difficulty of setup. For home speakers, setting up a 5.1 -channel system were moved seven feet away from the theater use, the subwoofers have to be with a single, dedicated subwoofer was not screen. That is greater physical separation placed with the left and right main speak- in the cards. The tandem operation pro- than usual for my front speakers, but I was ers. Thus, you cannot experiment with duces optimum phase as well as perfor- able to compensate by shifting my listening placement as you can with a dedicated sub. mance, according to the company, so the position. And the subs can be very problematic when mains and the subwoofers should not be I auditioned the Westlake speakers using postioned close to TV sets; video interfer- separated. My Carver Dolby Digital DD 5.1 DVD releases of Lost In Space and The Fifth ence is almost certain within six feet of the preamp/processor has a feature that enables Element and the laserdisc release of Star screen. the low -frequency effects (LFE) channel to Trek Generations, which has a Dolby Digital If you can optimize this system for your be mixed into the the two front channels. soundtrack. The system turned out to be an room, I believe the Lc8.ISW subs/Lc8.1s Therefore, I was able to test the speaker en- excellent home theater performer. For mains, Lc8.1 surrounds, and the Lc265.1 semble as a five -channel Dolby Digital sys- starters, the Lc8.1s mains are so clean and center channel can serve as a high -quality tem with the low bass completely intact. detailed (e.g., the background sounds in surround sound system for movies. And for I single -wired the Lc8.1SW subs to the Lost In Space) that I heard low-level treble monitoring music, the Lc8.1SW subs/ left and right outputs of a three -channel effects more clearly than on other speakers. Lc8.ls mains are just as impressive. A AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 63

AmericanRadioHistory.Com ter mastering it with the hugely suc- AURICLE cessful A&R Cambridge A60 inte- KEN KESSLER grated amp. For some years, Arcam has not seen its United Kingdom -based, au- diophilic colleagues as its competi- ARCAM ALPHA 9C tors but has set its targets on Asian and pan -national brands, such as PREAMP Denon, Marantz, NAD, and Rotel. These are companies whose products have mass-market prices, handsome finishes, and good ergonomics yet good sound quality. It wasn't an unconscious decision on Arcam's part to style its Alpha series like any of a hundred charcoal -gray, 17 - inch -wide McAmps. Given the sheep -like mentality of consumers, it's no wonder that Ar - cam, like any sensible manufacturer, opted for what has become the standard size and color of mid -priced hifi gear. But it has still managed to carve out an identity for the Alpha products. The moderately priced, $799 Alpha 9C preamp, while looking as sinister and stealth -like as many of its rivals, does have quasi - organic touches-like curved edges and a general softening-that distin- guish it from mechanoid alternatives. Its front panel also has some minor sculpting that leaves a special spot for the logo at the extreme left, and it's here that Arcam showed Running one's thumb down to discover that the British still have some real creativity: The logo is also the price column in the anything to offer in this sector. the infrared sensor. "Preamplifier" section of Aah, you're thinking, of Kessler Did I say "infrared sensor"? Yup, Audio's Annual Equipment must have forgotten that the Brit- input selection, muting, and volume Directory exposes a shock- ish-who still can all be con- ing dearth of models costing think in terms trolled via the less than $1,000. Closer study reveals of postwar WITH THE ALPHA 9C, Arcam Alpha that, though there are still stalwart frugality and ARCAM DELIVERS 9C's supplied American firms that manufacture gas -ration cou- remote. As you FINE SOUND preamps selling for less than four fig- pons-have would expect ures (such as Mondial, with its Acu- mastered the AND FLEXIBILITY of a company rus brand), there are a lot of listings art of minimal- AT A SANE PRICE. that makes CD for expensive imports. And given the ism. That mind- players and tun- strength of the pound, I was amazed set is also why ers, this remote one British company, Musical Fideli- also operates Arcam's source cotn- r Company Address: do Audio- ty, produces the X -PRE cylinder and ponents. (Conveniently for me, it ó phile Systems, 8709 Castle another, Creek, serves up a line of also worked with Krell's KAV-300cd Park Dr., Indianapolis, Ind. teensy black boxes that resemble CD player, which I used during the -2 46256; 888/272-2658; moving-coil step-up transformers or listening sessions.) www.aslgroup.com. wall warts. But Arcam long ago Remote control is but one at- ó abandoned the hair -shirt market af- tribute that distances this solid-state á

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 64

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com preamp from its forebears. Going wa-a-ay pha 9C's volume control swerved closer to I used a Krell KAV-300cd and Musical Fi- beyond the on-off/source-select/volume- the 12 o'clock mark with the Grados than it delity's X-RAY as CD -spinning sources and control-only mentality of the purists, the did with Sennheisers or Sonys, but at no connected them to the Alpha 9C with Musi- Alpha 9C accepts four line -level inputs and point did the headphone amp sound like it cal Fidelity cable. I had the Arcam drive the two tape decks through its gold-plated jacks was working hard. Indeed, so good is the assortment of amplifiers through Discovery (the second tape inputs are also marked as a internal headphone amp that it rivaled interconnects and used ART speaker wire to processor loop). Sealed off on the back pan- stand-alone models. Even though home hook up Aliante Pininfarina and Quad 77- el of my line -level -only review sample were headphone usage has never been a hot top- lOL loudspeakers. I selected these speakers apertures for an optional MM/MC phono ic except among those who suffer life in for their relatively sane prices, but I also stage ($100). apartments and condos with thin walls, Ar - auditioned the lot through a Wilson WATT/ In addition to a record -out facility for cam still deserves credit for not treating the Puppy System V.1 and Sonus Faber's new both decks, Arcam's Alpha 9C has two pri- headphone section as an afterthought. Its and spectacular Amati Homage. mary preamp outputs, useful for speaker decidedly full -range sound is clean, clear, Although modern U.K.-manufactured biamping, and two pairs for use as the heart and coherent, and its bass is crisp and solid. solid-state electronics, with a couple of ex- of a limited multiroom installation. Labeled Indeed, the sound is impressive enough to ceptions, have moved away from the stric- "Zone 1" "Zone and 2," these line -level inspire you to rediscover headphones rather tures created by an anti-soundstage, anti- outputs will drive fairly long cable runs. than treat them merely as an answer to fam- stereo, anti -wide -bandwidth cult, there They're activated by small pushbuttons on ily complaints or hostile neighbors. remains a distinct Britishness that owes a the front panel; you change their sources Universality tends lot to the standards with the "Listen" selector for 1 zone and the to be the province of set forth by the BBC. "Send" selector for zone 2. (The "Listen" less -expensive equip- Maybe it's in the wa- and "Send" selectors also enable you to lis- ment (it sometimes ter, or maybe it's one ten to one source while recording another.) seems that blatant- of the few things that You can't change either zone's volume, so ly high -end compo- the culture -and -tra- you'll need integrated amplifiers, such as nents suffer most dition -destroying the Arcam Alpha 7 or 9, rather than basic from mismatching), current government power amps. so it's no surprise the can't erase. Whatever To purists' eyes and ears, Arcam has Arcam proved to be it is, let's be grateful committed the cardinal sin of giving the Al- exceptionally amp - e that, even at the Al- pha 9C balance and tone controls. However, friendly. (The main pha 9C's price, its de- you can bypass them by using the preamp's outputs are specified signers realized the "Direct" selector. If you THE think that tone as having a nominal 9C'S DESIGNERS midband is the most controls will be transparent when they're at level of 800 millivolts REALIZED THAT important sonic ele- mid -rotation, think again. Just press "Di- and a maximum level ment in the mix. You rect," and you'll THE MIDBAND hear, as I did, an immediate of 8 volts, and output can roll off the treble, improvement in low-level IS THE detail and in impedance is said to MOST IMPORTANT cheat a bit on the clarity. be 10 ohms.) Nothing ELEMENT IN THE MIX. bass, but the mid - Arcam avoids any accusations of the Al- I could do made the band is the heart of pha 9C being little more than a stripped - Alpha 9C blow up, the music. And BBC down version of the Alpha 9 integrated am- belch, or scream in pain. I tried this preamp engineers-and, by extension, all British hi- plifier because the 9C uses "a completely in my system with an old push-pull tube fi designers-know this. redesigned and relaid glass -fiber circuit amplifier from Radford, with a new one The Alpha 9C has a clearly definable per- board that minimizes signal paths and from GRAAF, with a pair of single -ended sonality, and it certainly wasn't what I ex- crosstalk." A low -noise toroidal trans- triode monoblocks from Unison Research, pected. Its lush, natural midband caresses former serves the two -stage regulated pow- with an affordable solid-state stereo amp textured voices and seems to favor acoustic er supply. There's a separate regulated sup- from Acurus, and even with some outra- instruments. This was evident on DCC's reply for another non -minimalist frill: a geously expensive solid-state monoblocks cent exercise in vocal bliss, Nat King Cole: high-performance headphone amplifier courtesy of Sutherland. Some quite clearly The Greatest Hits (DCC Compact Classics with a 1/4 -inch jack on the front panel for "worked" better than others, but none suf- GZS-1127). This disc serves up many of the real headphones. fered what I would deem a terminal mis- singer's best-recorded works, his voice sur- And, yes, the headphone amp was robust match. In fact, you could use the Alpha 9C rounded by great choral backing and mag- enough to drive a selection of Grado cans, to add some upper -frequency sparkle and nificent studio orchestras. The Alpha 9C is often regarded as "difficult" or power-hun- zip to soggy-sounding tube amps of a pen- gloriously free of the edginess and artifice gry, despite being specified for headphones sionable age, but I would avoid mating it that could cause one to disbelieve that Nat's with higher impedances than are Grado's with a solid-state amplifier whose top end Hits were once state-of-the-art analog wont. I wasn't surprised to find that the Al- sizzles. recordings on vinyl. There's warmth aplen- AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 66

AmericanRadioHistory.Com ty and a seamlessness that allows the voices PASS LABS, continued from page 60 to mesh as required, but there's also enough bass drums to absurd volume levels, and THE precision to keep them separated-blend- you'll hear your speaker limit the sound ing, not blurring. long before this amp runs out of gas. With WORLD'S And yet the frequency extremes slightly the X600 in my system, the swell of the betray a midsection that made me think most complex, dramatic passages in grand time and again of the BBC LS3/5A mini - opera vividly came to life. Jazz and blues BEST SURGE took on an added touch of realism, and good rock really moved. There was nothing bashful or modest about the dynamics SUPPRESSOR of this amp. Low-level percussion transients leapt out with the speed and definition of the real thing. And complex dynamics of well -recorded solo instruments, such as a close-miked flute, were also re-

markably lifelike. The Brick Wall is the finest surge I should note that nuances of the X600's suppressor/line filter money can buy. dynamics differ from those of the best There is no product on the face of the earth that will protect your as high -power tube amps. There's not quite valuable audio/video equipment better. much warmth, and the Pass amp seems to The problem with other line filtering IMPARTS between soft and THE ARCAM 9C preserve more differences equipment is that their surge suppression is A TOUCH OF TUBE loud sounds. I don't know whether tube severely lacking. Almost every line filtering amps slightly compress dynamics or the device that claims to have surge suppression component called an MOV GENTILITY TO GEAR them, but is using a small solid-state X600 slightly expands (Metal Oxide Varistor). There is one not so KNOWN FOR SOUNDING the details are not quite the same. The slight problem with the MOV. It fails. How's that for protection. TOO SOLID-STATE. X600's dynamics, among other things, make the listening position seem a bit more MOV's also divert surge current forward than it is with tube amps or my to the ground line contributing to line noise. Isn't getting rid of power The Pass power monitor. As demonstrated by Arcam's solid-state Krell reference amp. line noise why you're looking for such a move to 17 -inch -wide components and the has a touch more midrange and upper -oc- device in the first place? In fact, with sort of finish that would match the prod- tave energy than those amps. The Brick Wall does not fail. ucts of Sony or Technics, the company is The Brick Wall also does not divert surge line causing irritating pragmatic. Modern listeners favor crisp tre- current to the ground power line noise. All testing information dry, taut bass over ble over sweet or soft and THE X600 IS BY FAR and methods are available for you anything that Charles Mingus would recog- to review for yourself. THE BEST THING No frustrating proprietary claims here. nize. The Alpha 9C places an almost retro midband between modern frequency ex- THAT NELSON PASS We at Price Wheeler believe everyone have a chance to try out the Brick tremes, and it renders all manner of too- should HAS EVER DONE. Wall. Which is why we offer a 30 -day trial transistory, too -analytical products (in- period. This way you can know for sure that cluding most budget CD players) somewhat our system is for you, your equipment and your listening area. more "analog" -sounding. This near -schizophrenia is actually an as- respect to musical life, it's rather like the Finally there is a product built on principles of sound engineering instead of set rather than a liability, because it imparts Classé Audio CA -400, but the Classé amp over-priced hype and "voodoo electronics". a touch of tube gentility to components of- has a bit less upper -octave information. How Important Is Your System? ten known for sounding too solid-state and It is obvious I have fallen in love with- artificial. At least, that's how I see much of or at least in profound admiration of-the BRICK WALL may, however, wish for what's available in the budget sector. What's Pass X600. You SURGE FILTERS so surprising is that in the Alpha 9C, Arcam something that has a bit more warmth and Starting at the real world price of has delivered fine sound, a surfeit of fea- depth. There are other amps whose nu- tures, practicality, and flexibility for a sane, ances are remarkably realistic. I know from $19900 sensible price. my experience with the Krell that there is 30 -day trial available If, in the post -Diana world, there are still still solid competition, and I haven't heard Available in a variety of forms; Point-of -use as well as rack mount. any Anglophiles among you, the Alpha 9C the latest solid-state amps from several should be a welcome touch of Merry Olde other front -rank amplifier manufacturers. 1-800-528-0313 if superb isn't good enough for you, England, with a decidedly New England But BRICK WALL DIV., A price tag. A what is? PRICE WHEELER CORP. Fax: 1-800-528-6623 AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 E-Mail: [email protected] 67 Web: www.brickwall.com

AmericanRadioHistory.Com AURICLE er, superbly assembled and styled, and there are good reasons for its ANTHONY H CORDESMAN cost. Like most current high -quality dynamic speakers, it has an exceptionally rigid enclosure, with cabinet walls made of medium -density HALES fiberboard of 1- and 2 -inch thick- nesses. Indeed, its front baffle ranges TRANSCENDENCE up to 4 inches thick. The faces of the cabinet are designed to minimize EIGHT SPEAKER resonances and colorations, and the front panel is sculpted to reduce diffraction effects. Each speaker is 48 And they deliver inches tall x 12 inches wide x 21 it with remarkable inches deep and weighs 152 pounds. smoothness, excel- Fortunately, the sloping cabinet lent dispersion, and and narrow front of the Hales Tran- very low audible scendence Eight give it a much lower distortion-even at and more pleasing visual profile than very high listening its size and weight might imply. Be- levels. Further, sev- sides the aforementioned standard eral of these speak- finishes, the Hales is available in a ers are single -enclo- number of optional finishes: natural sure systems that cherry, stained cherry, and pau ferro. require just one am- (I'm not exactly sure what that last plifier. In fact, a few finish is. Is it a wood from an exotic of these one -cabinet tree that grows only in Bali? Is it a speakers provide a new color that's been invented by the better and more in- design world?) The point is that you tegrated musical lis- can get these speakers in a finish that tening experience will blend in with virtually any shade than some far more and style of furniture. expensive compet- The Hales Transcendence Eight ing systems that use contains an advanced crossover net- separate bass enclo- work that routes signals to a pair sures and satellites of 10 -inch, proprietary aluminum- and need more than cone woofers, a 51/4 -inch magne-

one amp. sium -cone midrange, and a 1 -inch, If your curiosity is aluminum -dome tweeter with low roused, I am cur- distortion. rently using two of Hales believes that its aluminum - these speakers, the cone woofers ensure excellent pis - Dunlavy SC -V and tonic performance throughout their the Thiel CS7.2. Had operating range. And the magne- I an infinite amount sium midrange cone was chosen be- or all of the changes occurring of money and space, I'd add Hales cause of its extremely high resonance in digital engineering, sur- Design Group's Transcendence frequency, which enables clean re- round sound, and recording Eight. It represents yet another ad- sponse within its designated band- technology, the most impor- vance in sound quality and one that width. Likewise, the aluminum- tant revolution in audio may deserves serious consideration by well be the one taking place in any audiophile looking for the finest mpany Address: 168 speaker design. During the last year, speakers. othard St., Huntingt I have auditioned a number of extra- Priced at $9,790 per pair in sapele, each, Cal. 92647; 714/84 ordinary speakers capable of very oak, or black, the Transcendence .884; wide frequency response, from the Eight is not inexpensive (no refer- .halesdesigngroup.com. lowest bass to the highest treble. ence -quality speaker is). It is, howev-

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 68

AmericanRadioHistory.Com modern speak- dome tweeter is said to provide very ex- scendence Eight: accurate timbre, precise more noticeable with those tended, detailed treble with little or no au- soundstaging and reproduction of even the ers that are able to deliver massive output levels of the dible grain or ringing. most complex images, natural and unre- and flat response down to the of The passive internal crossover contains stricted dynamics, unaffected and extreme- best subwoofers. While I still got some metalized-film polypropylene capacitors, ly deep bass with excellent transient charac- the best bass I have ever heard with the I hear (and of- air -core inductors wound with oxygen -free teristics, and, finally, fine resolution of Transcendence Eights, could with copper wire, Vishay Dale resistors, and Car- detail free of etched or grainy qualities. ten feel) the impact of standing waves listen- das wire and connectors. The circuit topol- My listening tests demonstrated that each change in speaker location and music had powerful ogy is fourth -order Linkwitz-Riley; its elec- Hales has done an outstanding job meeting ing position when the trical filter characteristics combine with the all of these goals. I spent several months content below 40 Hz. kind inherent rolloffs of the drivers to yield 24- comparing the Transcendence Eight to my As with all speakers possessing this place dB/octave slopes. Dunlavy SC -Vs and Thiel CS7.2s in differ- of bass power, you need to carefully Paul Hales uses essentially the same ent listening rooms, as well as to the B&W the Transcendence Eights to obtain the are capable of crossover in all his designs because he be- 801 Matrix Series 3 and the Quad ESL -63. I smooth, deep, fast bass they some useful ini- lieves that a 24-dB/octave alignment is crit- used an assortment of electronics from producing. Hales provides its Web page, ical in achieving the most neutral timbre Classé Audio, conrad-johnson, Krell, and tial placement suggestions on at and best dynamic performance. Hales feels Pass Labs; a VPI tonearm, TNT turntable, but I would recommend experimenting first -order, 6-dB/octave alignments may and a wide range of cartridges; and a mix of length. of the Tran- provide a theoretical advantage in terms of Mark Levinson and Theta Digital disc The deep bass performance time and phase coherence but that they transports and D/A converters. Cables used scendence Eight is unusually amplifier - ex- have real -world limitations that degrade were by Discovery, Dunlavy, Kimber, and dependent; speakers like this require to de- timbre and dynamics. A 6-dB/octave slope Wireworld. ceptional control from the amplifier necessitates significant sharing of program I found the Hales Transcendence Eight liver top-notch response. The Transcen- is amplifier - material by the various drivers in the sys- to be consistently excellent in virtually dence Eight, however, more tem, which produces different driver dis- every respect. Indeed, I was struck by the sensitive than the speakers mentioned persion patterns and consequent irregu- fact that a review of this speaker needs to above. If the amplifier doesn't have enough control larities in off -axis response. Hales believes power and ability to maintain tight room reflections shape so much of the per- in the deep bass, the Transcendence Eight's from rich to too ceived timbre at the listening position that I GOT SOME overall timbre can shift is an area that calls for ex- the smoother off-axis response of a proper- OF THE BEST BASS warm. This, too, part. ly designed 24-dB/octave crossover yields perimentation on your I HAVE EVER HEARD careful about more genuine sonic benefit as well as better You also need to be a mite power -handling ability. WITH THESE speaker wire. I had no problems with Dis- and Wireworld cables, but The Transcendence Eight's enclosure is a HALES SPEAKERS. covery, Kimber, networks or sealed box, tuned to 31 Hz. Specifications some brands with matching characteristics did af- list a moderate sensitivity of 88 dB, a nomi- unusual impedence some- nal in -room bandwidth of 22 Hz to 26 kHz, concentrate more on how to use it proper- fect amplifier/speaker interaction, tightness and impart- and a frequency response of 32 Hz to 26 ly, system interaction, and how it compares times reducing bass I'd use kHz, ±1 dB. The MLSSA frequency re- to other excellent speakers rather than on ing excessive warmth or overhang. sponse curve supplied by Hales shows a the usual list of inherent design problems cables whose designers favor engineering exotic design concepts. speaker that is virtually flat from 150 Hz to and timbral colorations. basics rather than Eight does, however, beyond 20 kHz, with a gradual downward Let me begin with the bass. The Tran- The Transcendence for this am- slope in the bass extending to 20 Hz. This is scendence Eight may not be the biggest provide some compensations I have never been designed to ensure flat in -room response. speaker around, but it can cleanly repro- plifier/cable sensitivity. audio engineering The manufacturer's cumulative spectral - duce any bass spectacular I know of at levels able to determine from are more decay response curves for the Transcen- high enough to meet any real -world lis- handbooks why some speakers deep bass than dence Eight look excellent and suggest that tening needs. The physical characteristics of placement -sensitive in the Eight the upper octaves are exceptionally clean. my listening rooms did more to shape and others. Thankfully, the Transcendence this respect The system's nominal impedance is 4 color the sound of the deep bass than the is significantly less sensitive in VMPS Super ohms, and the impedance curve is fairly speaker itself. than the Dunlavy SC -V and Edition; indeed, complex. Coupled with its moderate effi- There is nothing new about interactions Tower III Special Ribbon of the ciency, this means that the Hales Transcen- between speakers and rooms. Most audio- it's closer to the Thiel CS7.2-one that I have encoun- dence Eight requires a high -power, high - philes are all too aware that listening rooms easiest speakers to place trade-offs; you win current amplifier. have a major impact on bass response even tered. Life is a mix of the best speak- The Hales design team apparently set five at frequencies well above 100 Hz. Further, I some and lose some with even major sonic goals in developing the Tran- have discovered that room interaction is far er systems. AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 69

AmericanRadioHistory.Com The Transcendence Eight is remarkably ting a hole -in -the -middle effect. Design the effect you get by moving from the clean and transparent. I could hear musical limitations also determined whether speak- front to the back of a concert hall. But all nuances in my recordings and in my com- ers' back panels should be parallel to the things are not equal, especially when we're ponents to a degree I have rarely heard be- wall behind them or angled in toward the talking about recordings. The Transcen- fore. And this was the first time I heard listening position. Most of today's systems dence Eight has a rich, full timbre that them without feeling they were a product of let you fine-tune the soundstage by chang- works well with recordings that have lots colorations rather than of improved resolving the distance between the speakers and of upper-octave energy but may be slightly ing power. This transparency and musical the walls behind and to the sides of them, too warm with other discs. The practical resolution are among the real rewards con- by altering the damping of the walls behind problem is that there is no "right" timbre ferred by recent improvements in speaker the speaker and behind the listener, and for music recordings. I can find plenty of design. And the pleasure is compounded by by adjusting the spacing and angle of the discs in my collection whose inherent tim- the fact that the Transcendence Eights have speakers. bre is a perfect match for one or the other so little apparent variation in vertical and I experimented with a variety of place- of these four speakers. For the same rea- horizontal dispersion in reasonable listen- ments and discovered I could tighten or son, no speaker sounds ideal with all my ing locations. Some of the most transparent stretch the soundstage and get very differ- recordings. speakers of past years have had radiating ent imaging by altering the angle of the This is good news in the sense that with characteristics that severely limited where Transcendent Eight's front panel. As I said today's best speakers, you are afforded the the listener could sit and greatly reduced above, Hales provides useful placement opportunity to choose the timbre you find imaging accuracy. most appropriate without having to sacri- With the Transcendence Eight, I could fice other aspects of performance. There is exploit the resolving power and soundstage WITH THE HALES, no reason one audiophile should choose potential of my recordings and electronics I COULD HEAR the same timbre as another. Anyone who to a level that had previously been possible MUSICAL NUANCES spends time listening to music in different only in parts of the frequency spectrum. halls and in different listening positions The Hales achieved I the amazing synergy of HAD NEVER knows the variety of timbres present in live high -end electronics and program sources PREVIOUSLY HEARD. music and how changes in listening dis- you get from speakers having exotic ribbon tance affect timbre regardless of the speak- or electrostatic drivers. And it did so with- er. The bad news is that no reviewer can out the sudden changes in sound character suggestions on its Web page, but experi- predict which speaker will be right for you. that often occur in speakers that mix such mention is always worthwhile. You may be Nor will a quick and undemanding audi- drivers with dynamic woofers. surprised at how quickly you can achieve tion at a dealer give you an accurate picture This is not say to that the Transcendence your notion of an ideal soundstage. of how the Transcendence Eight or any oth- Eights are perfect or that other speakers do And finally, we get to this speaker's tim- er reference -quality speaker will sound with not compete in transparency and neutrali- bre. The Hales Transcendence Eight is the a wide range of material. ty. Every top-quality speaker offers a slight- fourth speaker I have reviewed in the last I don't mean to exaggerate these issues. I ly different range of musical details. You year-the others being the Thiel CS7.2, the don't see how you can go wrong with a need to listen very carefully to a variety of Dunlavy SC -V, and the VMPS Super Tower speaker as excellent as the Hales Transcen- such speakers to determine exactly which is III Special Ribbon Edition-that actually dence Eight. It is so good that it will likely the most musically convincing. I found that sounded as smooth and extended as the perform well in any decent high -end system the Hales speakers were able to bring out manufacturer's frequency response graphs and especially well in a really good one. Of additional information from recordings- suggested. course, choosing between the Transcen- in subtle ways that blended smoothly with Each of these speaker systems has a dis- dence Eight and other first-rate speakers in the music's structure rather than the more tinctive timbre. The Hales Transcendence the "year of the speaker" will require plenty obvious ways of other speakers. Eight's is warmer than the others'. This did of careful listening with a variety of differ- The Transcendence Eight is similar to not affect the smoothness of its response, ent recordings. other reference -quality speakers in that its its upper -octave clarity, or its musical de- Personal involvement is simply a fact of soundstage is significantly more neutral tail. Its upper octaves were excellent and life if you want to build a great audio sys- than that of earlier speakers. It reveals the filled with musically natural information. tem. The better high -end equipment gets, soundstage present in the recording rather Nevertheless, the Transcendence Eight's the more your personal taste must dictate than imposing one of its own. Conversely, timbrai balance and upper -octave energy which mix of nuances is the most musically the Eight gives you more flexibility in creat- tilted noticeably down relative to those of satisfying. As far as I know, God has never ing the soundstage you like. the VMPS, slightly down relative to the whispered which component is "right" into In the past, most speakers had dispersion Thiel's, and moderately down compared to my ear, the ear of any other reviewer, or the characteristics that significantly restricted the Dunlavy's. ear of any dealer. Even if He or She did, listening distance, listening height, or how All else being equal, the effect of these there would be no reason to expect that far apart you could place them without get- timbrai differences is somewhat similar to message would apply to you. A

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 70

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com slaves," the composer responded, CLASSICAL "Performers are slaves." Ravel's "left- hand concerto" is dramatic and sus- penseful, from its mysterious open- that he composed the ing of basses and contrabassoon to Concerto for Piano and its many passages of skillful interplay Orchestra in G Major and between the piano and orchestra. the Concerto for the Left This disc gives the listener an op- Hand in D Major. These portunity to compare two orches- were to be Ravel's last tras and two different concert halls. important compositions The Concerto for the Left Hand was and what he considered recorded in Watford's Colosseum his finest pieces. with the London Symphony Orches- Ravel toured America tra, whereas the Concerto in G Major in 1928 and was strongly used the Cleveland Orchestra in that influenced by the jazz city's much larger Masonic Auditori- music he heard every- um. The constants are Ravel's music, where. So much of this the excellent pianist Krystian Zimer- can be heard in his G Ma- man, and that great interpreter jor Concerto that many of French music, conductor Pierre have dubbed it an hom- Boulez. age to George Gershwin, The engineers at Deutsche Gram- who borrowed freely mophon skillfully minimized the from jazz for his music. differences between the two concert The first movement, in halls by using a large number of mi- particular, contains many crophones placed close to the instru- jazz elements, while the ments. The sound is remarkably slow movement is more clear, and even the most delicate pi- conservative and stately. ano passages are never drowned out The jazzy rhythms of the by the large orchestras. Although finale again remind us of some listeners might prefer a more Gershwin. (An oft -told natural ambience and fewer micro- story is that Gershwin so phones, many of Ravel's intricacies, admired Ravel that he en- often lost in live performances, are treated the Frenchman to captured here. Patrick Kavanaugh give him lessons. Ravel Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major, asked the American, "How much do LIONHEART Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, you earn a year from your composi- Paris 1200 and Piano Concerto for tions?" When Gershwin answered, NIMBUS NI 5547, DDD, 73:54 the Left Hand in D Major "About $100,000," Ravel's retort was, Sound: A, Performance: A Krystian Zimerman, piano; the "In that case, you give me lessons.") Cleveland Orchestra (G Major and Lionheart, a New York City -based a The Valses) and the London Symphony Concerto for the Left Hand cappella sextet, travels back in time Orchestra (D Major), Pierre Boulez has a more serious genesis. Pianist from its debut album (which was de- DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON Paul Wittgenstein lost his right arm voted to Tudor music) to perform the music of Paris when the 289 449213, DDD, 61:06 in World War I but was determined Cathedral of Notre Dame was being built. The result Sound: A, Performance: A to continue his concert career. He is hypnotic and quite spiritual, the commissioned a number of promi- singing unforced and beautiful, and aurice Ravel's (1875-1937) two nent composers, including Richard the recording appro- major instruments were the Strauss, Sergei Prokofiev, and Ben- priately warm and orchestra and the piano. Al- jamin Britten, to create works for the spacious. The CD's informative program though he composed for voice left hand alone. The greatest out- booklet discusses the and created a few excellent come from his campaign was the forms used: orga- pieces of chamber music, his Ravel concerto. But its premiere was num, motet, and greatest works were either for marred by Wittgenstein's tinkering conductus. Overall, an appealing, solo piano or large orchestra. with the music. When he insisted handsomely performed introduction to an ethereal repertory. Rad Bennett Yet it was not until the 1930s to Ravel, "Performers must not be

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 72

AmericanRadioHistory.Com J. S. Bach: French Suite No. 6 in E ,

E S Italian Concerto in F, HIE AV ENL S P H E R The Well -Tempered Clavier, Book 1, 13 singers from Montreal Heavenly Spheres semble. These and Prelude and Fugue in C; blend that results from Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montreal, display the superb Bach (Arr. Liszt): practice. Their expres- Christopher Jackson long and diligent Prelude and Fugue in A Minor; of Palestrina, Gom- CBC RECORDS MVCD 1121 sive interpretations Bach (Arr. Busoni): Chaconne in D Minor and Lassus are very convincing. DDD, 63:21 bert, Fazil Say, piano obviously perform these works be- Sound: A-, Performance: A They ATLANTIC 26124, DDD, 58:51 :he music is beautiful, not because cause Sound: A, Performance: A+ examples As the Gregorian chant craze the pieces are academic Early Music. The recording continues unabated, a substantial of This may seem like just another Bach may contain too much reverber- market for medieval and Renais- recording for solo piano, but the careful selec- ation for some listeners, but the sance music is blossoming. This tion of pieces reveals the composer's many richness of the choral sound disc, a fine example of the genre, facets. Most of these works were written for makes up for the sporadic lack of captures the skill of Canada's the harpsichord or clavichord, but the famous clarity. Patrick Kavanaugh premier Early Music vocal en - Chaconne was originally a violin solo. Al- though most are directly two are Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, the written notes, with little interpolation by from Bach's pen, re- Three Village Scenes, and Kossuth the orchestral players or the members of the transcriptions of and Slovakian Folk Ensemble Choir; assured, youthful cast. Andrea Rost uses her nowned pianists Franz Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer considerable technique and lovely voice as Bach interpreters, Bu- PHILIPS 456 575, DDD, 66:21 a means to present a three-dimensional Lucia, Liszt and Ferruccio Sound: A-, Performance: A a real character rather soni. The unifying factor than the usual demented in this recording is Fazil Say's outstanding is so natural that he seems The three orchestral works on this record- showoff. Everyone-and touch. His playing himself throughout these de- ing roughly correspond to three distinct peri- everything else-is just to be enjoying works. His interpretations are un- ods of Béla Bartók's writing career. The 1903 as right, with all bases manding he makes sensitive use of a symphonic poem "Kossuth" is a product of covered on stage and in pretentious, but range. Some may desire the composer's youth. Two decades later, a the pit. This makes Lucia very wide dynamic of baroque super -orna- mature Bartók wrote "Three Village Scenes" a much better piece of music while still re- Bach with an arsenal but for those who prefer a graceful for female voices and piano, orchestrating the maining good theater. The sound is on a par mentation, touch to hundreds of grace notes, this record- work a few years later. Finally, the sublime with the performance, exhibiting excellent is superb. Patrick Kavanaugh Concerto for Orchestra is one of his last and clarity, good stage depth, and intelligent dra- ing greatest works. This popular showpiece for the matic movement of characters. I'll still pull Mahler: Symphony No. 2 modern orchestra often is performed with out Sutherland and Moffo for their stunning ("Resurrection") great enthusiasm but little interpretive vocals, but when I want to hear the entire Orchestra and Chorus, thought. However, this performance, by the opera, I'll go straight to this magnificent Dallas Symphony Budapest Festival Or- recording. Rad Bennett Andrew Litton chestra, brings out the DELOS DE 3237, two CDs, DDD, 82:55 A, Performance: A authentic folk nature of Field: Piano Concertos, Nos. 1 and 2 Sound: Bartók's melodies and Benjamin Firth, piano; rhythms. Though he Northern Sinfonia, David Haslam Gustav Mahler's symphonies are exhaust- record. To composed the work for NAXOS 8.553770, DDD, 51:56 ing to perform and enigmatic to his Sec- an American orchestra Sound: A-, Performance: A balance the gargantuan orchestra of ond Symphony-which (the Boston Symphony), this ensemble clearly includes many addition- remembers and celebrates Bartòk's Hungarian Irish-born Romantic composer John Field al woodwinds and per- roots. Patrick Kavanaugh (1782-1837) enjoyed a considerable reputation as both composer and pianist during his cussion plus organ, chorus, two solo singers, Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor lifetime. He wrote seven piano concertos that and offstage brass-is a Andrea Rost, soprano; Bruce Ford, tenor; bubble over with good humor and gentle spir- major challenge for any Alastair Miles, bass; London Voices; it. With this release, Naxos starts a complete To clearly differentiate between all the Hanover Band, Charles Mackerras series of these concertos. Benjamin Firth, an conductor. these forces is also a formidable task for a SONY CLASSICAL S2K 63174, DDD, 2:16:47 ideal choice as soloist, recording engineer. Here, both conductor An- Sound: A, Performance: A provides readings that ,1,11, are gracious and genteel drew Litton and engineer John Eargle produce and are further supported by This recording may completely change the yet never frivolous; the excellent results remarkable acoustics of McDermott Hall way you think of Lucia di Lammermoor, Gae- slow movements are the orchestra (especially the brass) tano Donizetti's most famous work: It breaks quite heartfelt but never in Dallas. The work with gusto, but the greatest through layers of moldy tradition to reveal a banal. Firth is ably sup- plays the the recording occurs when the much better piece than what's usually found. ported by David Haslam and the very good moment of chorus enters. The effect is ethereal, almost It's a real groundbreaker, in the same league as Northern Sinfonia. The recording, from fitting interpretation of Mah- Erich Leinsdorfs Turandot or Georg Solti's something of a mid -hall perspective, is warm otherworldly, a spiritual opus. Patrick Kavanaugh Ring. Original instruments are used to play and transparent. Rad Bennett ler's AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 73

AmericanRadioHistory.Com tarists. Beck's playing on the Celtic - ROCK P flavored "Declan" is wistful, while -P his ferocious fretboard work on the adrenaline -pumped opener "What Mama Said" and on "THX138" stands with the best of younger rock guitar virtuosos Steve Vai, Eric John- son, Joe Satriani, and the like. With the beautiful unaccompa- nied "Another Place," Beck closes out this dynamic collection in a rather subdued but still dramatic fashion. Awesome. Bill Milkowski

T Bu l[RTU IRM 13 Blur VIRGIN 7243 4 99129, 66:50 Sound: A-, Performance: A-

There is no pop band more ambi- tious than Britain's Blur. Consistent- ly challenging itself and changing its approach to its humble craft, Blur has been a trippy Manchester group, a provincial Brit -pop band in the quaint Kinks tradition, a Pavement - inspired guitar ensemble, and now an experimental outfit modeled after '70s German avatar Neu. All filtered through the snot -nosed antics of Who Else! Beck works his signature licks into singer Damon Albarn, who has a Jeff Beck a variety of contexts on this album. keen sense of melody and an even EPIC EK 67987, 53:59 He's clearly been invigorated by the keener sense of mischief. Sound: A, Performance: A+ energy and pulsating rhythms of the Produced by William Orbit, 13 is drum -and -bass techno movement, a schizophrenic album. It begins with the nearly Queen-esque "Tender," tff Beck has been the most con- as heard on raging tracks like "Psy- which is stacked with thick harmony s ently imaginative and exciting cho Sam" and "THX138." On "Blast clusters (provided by the London arist in rock since Jimi Hen- from the East" there's a tinge of the Community Gospel Choir). "Bug - . Beck is a genuine virtuoso, Middle Eastern influence that has man" follows and his playing is always so profi- marked his solos since 1966's "Over changes tack, as the t and adventurous that it truly Under Sideways Down" with The guitars marshal real Its in the "sound of surprise" Yardbirds. He returns to those same force and Albarn's vocals are left in space. t every jazz artist aspires to. The Yardbirds roots with a scorching "Coffee & TV" chugs la that he records and tours so in - "Brush with the Blues," which is full with a Velvet Under- f.'. uently has bravado only added to his of bends, swooping wham- ground rhythm that loosens up to gr ing mystique. my bar inflections and glissandi, and swing once harmonies from the Cros- s Beck's first solo recording pro - biting finger -picked statements as by, Stills, and Nash songbook are j since 1988's Jeff Beck's Guitar idiosyncratic as Hubert Sumlin. added. By what would be in the old days p, Who Else! surfaces as an as - The performer's legato, lyrical ap- the album's second side (for as experimental as they t unding six -string showcase that proach to the ballad "Angel (Foot- are, these guys are traditionalists at heart), Blur goes well beyond chops to a place steps)"-every bit as poignant as his abandons strict song structure and where conviction, vision, and techni- classic reading of "Because We End- goes swimming in a saucy mix of "lo - cal mastery meet. It is every bit as vi- ed As Lovers"-carries a depth of fi" guitar tones and atmospheric jams. tal and refreshing a statement as his emotion and a sense of organic It is with great pleasure that I say, breakthrough solo release, Truth, was phrasing normally associated with Blur, we hardly know you. more than 30 years ago. jazz saxophonists, not rock gui- Rob O'Connor

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 74

AmericanRadioHistory.Com Up Up Up Up Up Up Plans," couples a simple melody with textured FREE DJ Et Ani DiFranco strings and Burt Bacharach-style horns. RIGHTEOUS BABE RECORDS Even the group's usual smart -ass lyrics are as Darren Jesse's down- AUDIO RBR 013, 61:58 muted, on drummer PRO Sound: B+, Performance: A- right romantic "Magic": "You're the magic that holds the sky up from the ground/You're CATALOG: Ani DiFranco, 28 -year -old queen of indie the breath that blows these cool winds folk -punk, is a phenom. Thanks to her tre- 'round." Switching gears midway, "Your Most jam mendous talent and feisty determination, she Valuable Possession" is an electric -piano PRO SN 51 AGIOUND managed to sell more than 2 million CDs set behind an intriguing answering-machine through her own tiny record company, Right- message from Folds's father (which kind of you wonder about Pop). eous Babe Records. Go, grrrrl! makes ' Tgzsßces . Up Up Up Up Up Up marks a departure for Overall, Reinhold Messner is a satisfying es.-,c -eerie DiFranco, as she's finally put together an actu- set that should broaden this talented trio's al working band. Perhaps that gave her the appeal. Scott Van Camp confidence to record live in the studio, with minimal overdubbing, Shades, 1968-1998 -- and still crank out a Deep Purple li jEw SL1200-MK3D! R2 75566, four CDs, 5:02:46 disc full of electrically RHINO .AI Buy _l Sound: B to A-, Performance: B+ DI elk. Microphone charged patterns and New Vest. 579 And Get siev PR0 Fnr sounds. Though her atti- D up In its '70s arena heyday, Deep Purple t n,,,,.,,,,,, tude is usually turned °¡,,,,;,,.osräs to "11," the more annoy- earned the dubious distinction of being cited 1866z47-6308 ing extremes of her hyper edge are gone and as the "World's Loudest Rock Band" by the her goofy side is held in check. She lets her Guinness Book of World Records. 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Outside the U.S.A. 1-714-891-5914 6am - 10pm rangements, lush orchestration, and, general- Unfortunately, Blackmore's mid -'70s replace- Mon.- Fri.- Sat. & Sun. 8am - 5pm (PST) ly, a more-and this is tough to say-"ma- ment, the late and equally virtuosic Tommy ture" feel. Bolin, is heard on only two tracks; unques- Online Catalog - www.pssl.com foot- The opener, "Narcolepsy," starts out in tionably, his talent warrants more than Fax Toll Free 1-888-PSSL-FAX (777-5329) typical Ben Folds fashion, with a classical pi- note -size representation. ano riff that is soon joined by Robert Sledge's Overall, Shades, 1968-1998 and its accom- booming bass. But then the violins kick in, panying book of excellent essays and photos PRO SOUND and it becomes apparent that things are a bit are excellent and enjoyable testimony to Deep AND STAGE LIGHTING" Catalog different. The next track, "Don't Change Your Purple's talents. 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on bass. Recorded in Chicago and produced by Margolin, the record features an array of ragged chestnuts, from Willie Dixon's desperate classic "The Same Thing" and Chester Bur- nett's growling "Baby How Long" to Muddy's own cheeky, Rising Son Big Bill Morganfield finger-poppin' "Champagne & BLIND PIG Reefer" and his gorgeous en- BPCD 5053, 42:48 semble blues "Screamin' & Sound: A-, Performance: A Cryin'." Throughout, Big Bill's vo- Did you follow in your cal delivery is scrappy and daddy's footsteps? genuine, as is his guitar play- Take over the old ing, especially on the scream- man's business? Try ing -slide title ballad that closes your hand in his field? Big Bill the record. Equipped with his Morganfield did. The 43 -year - father's guitars and touring old son of McKinley Morgan - rig, Big Bill embodies the same field, a.k.a. Muddy Waters dusty spirit of his forebears. If (one of postwar blues' most there's any doubt about that, enduring talents), would make check out his own composi- his daddy's heart swell with tion "Left Hand Blues." Here, pride were he alive today. he sings with the same quiver- Why? Because the younger ing depth and bone -chilling Morganfield's debut, Rising bass moan his daddy made fa- Son, is one of the most enjoy- mous on "Mannish Boy" and ably diverse and entertaining "Hoochie Coochie Man" and deep blues records of the year. with the same kind of senti- Oddly enough, it was not ment ("Standin' at the cross- until after his father's death in roads, fell down on my 1983 that Big Bill, a teacher by knees") you'd have heard back trade, even considered music in 1940. Credit also certainly as a line of work. Though he hadn't been is lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, and drums brought up by his daddy, the blues had all rolled into one. His timing is metronomic, smoldered within him, and when he started Unforgettable while his bursts of melody and harmony- PABLO PACD-2310-964, writing his own songs six years later, that 58:12 though spontaneous-are perfectly placed. Sound: A, Performance: A Unforgettable captures Pass's romantic heat poured forth like molten steel. From side with indelible performances of such standard that pool, Big Bill began forging gritty, dig- Nary a guitarist exists who hasn't come ballads as "My Romance" (handled in a beau- nified blues. His songs are, like his father's, close to experiencing nirvana when listening tiful, rubato fashion), "I Can't Believe You're full of the classic Chicago and Delta styles' to Joe Pass's recordings. His voicings in Love with Me" (featuring his sig- spirit, heritage, and depth. and uncanny ability to place melody nature walking bass line), and "Isn't on top of chord on top Df bass line It Romantic" (as a lilting jaunt). Fifteen years after picking up the guitar, put him in a class by himself. He was Collectors will enjoy the quanti- Big Bill has released Rising Son, support- responsible for elevating jazz and ty of unreleased material now avail- ed by The Muddy Waters Band-Pine- pop guitar to a new level. able posthumously through the top Perkins on piano, "Big Eyes" Smith on Pass (1929-1994) recorded with Pablo label. For those unfamiliar small groups and large drums, Bob Margolin on guitar, and Paul orchestras. But it was with Pass's solo recordings, Unforgettable is as as a solo artist that he set the standard. fine a place as any to begin checking Oscher on harmonica-and Chicago blues out this Throughout the 17 tracks on Unforgettable, he bona -fide virtuoso. James Rozzi legend Robert Stroger ("Sunnyland Slim")

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 76

AmericanRadioHistory.Com SHOP SMART! goes to The Muddy Waters Band and produc- tet, which has hung together since 1991. His er Margolin for fleshing out Big Bill's nascent uncluttered arrangements keep the strings out ON -L1 ideas and adorning his material with all the front, where the graceful presences of Regina rickety trappings of an authentic Chicago ses- Carter's violin and Akua www.soundcity.com sion. But ultimately it's Big Bill's innate inspi- Dixon's cello consistent- OR ration, his flawless pedigree, that enables him Iy roll out a swinging set to pull the blues from deep within his soul and of pleasures. Just listen TOLL -F lets us have it good. Bob Gulla to the way the strange beauty of Kirk's "The 1-800-525-3325 Jim Hall & Pat Metheny Inflated Tear" seems to TELARC CD -83442, 74:01 ooze out of your speakers as the strings swoop Turre's Sound: A, Performance: A+ gently around mysterious turns and -)1`T 'bone slithers through the night. The band This intimate conversation between two of keeps things nice and dark through much of One of the most beautiful showrooms in the greatest guitarists of their generations-Jim Lotus Flower, but sparks emerge on the strong Northern NJ is also where you will find the Hall is 69, Pat Metheny 44-is far more reveal- originals "The Chairman of the Board" and finest brands in Receivers, Amps, CD Players, 12 rooms waiting most guitar-hero en- "Blackfoot," when Turre's whimsical growls Speakers and more. We have ing and rewarding than for you to audition your favorite music! counters. The two are on equal footing here and and joyous leaps curl around his ravishing inspire each other to great rhythm section. heights. Their meeting Turre's fluency makes it all seem so easy. V'1[--) 1. their JIM HALL His uncompromisingly charming music will was inevitable and PAT ENY feet. Steve Guttenberg chemistry profound. sweep you off your Competitve! Yes! We are an authorized dealer Both guitarists are for everything we sell. Need a TV, Camcorder, DVD known for their warm Jazz in Film Player or even a VCR? Then, Call us with the brand, model # and we guarantee that We will give you and appealing tone, un- Terence Blanchard THE BEST PRICE THE FIRST TIME! commonly lyrical quality, and willingness to SONY CLASSICAL SK 60671-S2, 68:19 push the envelope into musically adventurous Sound: B, Performance: A territory. Metheny's penchant for penning R AUDIO, poignant, sublimely moving ballads shows up Since hooking up with filmmaker Spike Lee Wow! The best selection you can School Daze (1987), trumpeter Terence here in "Farmer's Trust," "Don't Forget," and on find anywhere. Brands like Soundstream the darkly fragile "Ballad Z." Hall, meanwhile, Blanchard has written the music for a number which you can now, shop on-line at our site, MB Quart, Pioneer, Rockford Fosgate has a particular fondness for elegant, buoyant of films, including highly evocative scores for Sony, are just a sample of what we carry. Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), jazz waltzes, such as "Waiting To Dance" and Lee's Jungle Call Us Now for our MONTHLY SPECIALS! "Lookin' Up." The two swing unabashedly on and Clockers (1995). Now Blanchard has put Steve Swallow's "Falling Grace," a particularly together a tribute to movie music with Jazz in

and extrapola- ' e- good vehicle for Metheny's signature legato Film, a set of new arrangements \,I' ; l': I ';,'\. ~ER e solo style, and they take the greatest of liber- tions of themes from classic American movies. ties with "All the Things You Are," embellish- This project reunites the Blanchard/[Don- Home Theater is supposed to be fun! Need ' ing the familiar theme with endless variations aldJ Harrison band, which emerged in the ear- information to make the right decision without getting frustrated while looking for that killer system that you ly '80s and earned critical acclaim before and some near -telepathic interplay while nev- crave? Well, Sound City designs home theater's from $499 er drifting from the implied swing feel. breaking up by the end of the decade. The and up. Fax us your blue prints to 973-334-6115 or, Call Us There are no real surprises here, save for an band is joined by Joe Henderson on tenor sax, Toll Free for HASSLE -FREE Consultation! original arrangement of "Summertime" driven Steve Turre on trombone, and a full orchestra by Metheny's "Pinball Wizard"-esque power to perform themes from i,iIGHINTRODUCING strumming on acoustic guitar. But from start to A Streetcar Named Desire DEFINITION TV finish, this summit is superb. Bill Milkowski (composed by Alex Anatomy of a Belore You Buy, Get The Facts! There are just North), too many Sales people out there that have Lotus Flower Murder (Duke Elling- no clue as to what High Definition TV truly with Turre ton), Taxi Driver (Ber- is. Need Real Questions answered Steve Free for the The Real Answers? Then call us Toll VERVE 314 559 787, 61:18 nard Herrmann), 4lestSelection, Price and Expert Advice for any Sound: B+, Performance: B+ Pawnbroker (Quincy Jones), The Subter- and all your needs! raneans (André Previn), and The Man with the ,,'' Arm (Elmer Bernstein). Blanchard's lc ii! iii . At the tender age of 18, Steve Turre was al- Golden ) Ivry ready gigging with Rahsaan Roland Kirk; by own dark -hued theme from Clockers fits in the early '70s, while in his 20s, he was lending nicely with this lush material. MAIL ORDER HOURS and Ray The late pianist Kenny Kirkland is promi- Mon day - Friday: Barn -10pm EST his talents to Van Morrison, Santana, Sat 9am - 6pm EST Sun 11am -5pm EST Charles. Over the next decade Turre's trom- nent on the hauntingly beautiful theme from 45 Indian La. East Towaco, NJ 07082 bone would be heard mostly in a pure jazz Chinatown (Jerry Goldsmith), while Hender- Come Visit Our Retail Store and son shines on the album's rarest gem, a bit of Mon day - Frida :10am - 9pm EST context with Art Blakey, Woody Shaw, Sat 9am - bpm ES I- Sun 11am - 5pm EST The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. In the Ellingtonia entitled "Degas' Racing World," 89 Route 46 East Denville, NJ 07834 mid -'80s he began a 14 -year stint with the Sat- written for a documentary on Edgar Degas' Come Visit Our Outlet Center Monday - Pri a :10am-9pmEST urday Night Live band. The man gets around. paintings of a French equestrian track. Sat 9am - 6pm EST Sun 11am - 5pm EST 1224 Route 23 North Butler, NJ 07405 Lotus Flower isn't just another star-studded Dreamy, noirish music with some scintillat- studio date; this time Turre's fronting his sex- ing, emotive solos. Bill Milkowski FOR SERVICINFORMATION 63606OMER RI .r,vvu SERVICE 973-263-6060

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com DVD back to back, I found it fascinating to hear how Mancini was able to use this simple theme over and over yet, by re -orches- D%JD trating and rearranging it ever so slightly, W S have it sound fresh and RE VE vital. Mancini and various lyricists also provided a hit song for each movie, which would usually be worked into THE PINK tANTUEK the soundtrack. Mancini never won an Academy The Pink Panther 1963; no rating. MGM 907041, 115 minutes Picture: A-, Sound: A-, Content: A- A Shot in the Dark 1964; PG rating. MGM 907501, 102 minutes Picture: A, Sound: A-, Content: A The Pink Panther Strikes Again 1976; Pc rating. MGM 907503, 103 minutes Picture: A-, Sound: A-, Content: A Revenge of the Pink Panther 1978; PG rating. MGM 907502, 99 minutes Picture: A, Sound: A-, Content: B All are two-sided (one side approximately 2.35:1 aspect ratio, other side 1.33:1 pan and scan); English and French Dolby Digital two - channel mono; English and French subtitles; includes trailer; $24.98 each.

Jet Pink: The Pink Panther Cartoon Col- lection 1960s -90s; one-sided (1.33:1 aspect ratio); English Dolby Digital two -channel mono; English and French subtitles. MGM 907435, 51 minutes, $24.98. Picture: A, Sound: A-, Content: B

hen director/writer Blake Ed- taken with it and the buzz was so enthusi- Award for this music, but he did get world- wards took on the direction of astic that many came to see the movie sim- wide recognition and acclaim. The Pink Panther, a crime caper ply to laugh hysterically at that opening. It The third consequential choice was the with an international cast in- was decided that each casting of Peter Sellers as the inept French cluding David Niven, Capucine, movie in the series detective Jacques Clouseau. His ensemble Robert Wagner, and Claudia Cardinale, he would open with the role in the first movie as the bungling sleuth made three decisions that were to have same sort of extended was rapidly spun out as a starring one in A long-range consequences. animated credit se- Shot in the Dark, and over time his name One was to hire Looney quence. The Pink Pan- became synonymous with that of the Pink Tunes animators Friz ther character is fea- Panther. People forgot the jewel entirely: A Freleng and David De- tured in all but A Shot Pink Panther movie Patie to create the Pink in the Dark, where he is meant Clouseau, and Panther cartoon charac- temporarily replaced that meant Sellers; the ter who would catsonify by an animated Inspector Clouseau. The complete failure of a the shadowy shape of a Pink Panther went on to star in more than movie with the talent- panther seen in the 175 featurettes of his own, eight of which ed Man Arkin playing prized jewel for which have been rather haphazardly put together the role proved that. the animated feline was in the skimpy, yet entertaining, 51 -minute Viewer acceptance of named. Then Edwards al- Jet Pink collection. Sellers' comic genius in lowed these animation A second important decision was to hire the first two movies geniuses to create an Henry Mancini as composer. He created a was so great that most people were willing opening title sequence jazzy theme, conveyed by a breathy saxo- to forgive the actor's increasingly self-con- that ran 71/2 minutes, the phone solo, that was to become instantly scious mugging and overdone accents that average length of animat- recognizable by what I would guess to be al- marred the later films. ed cartoons of the peri- most 100% of the waking, hearing world. MGM has given us a welcome summer- od. Audiences were so Watching four Pink Panther movies on time Pink Panther/Peter Sellers/Henry Man- AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 78

AmericanRadioHistory.Com late cini festival on DVD by releasing the first, Jerry Lee Lewis: The Story of Rock and Roll ences dressed in the second, fourth, and fifth in the Blake Ed- 1991; no rating; one-sided (1.33:1 aspect ratio); '50s is certainly different 1969 wards series. (To the best of my knowledge, Dolby Digital 5.1. PIONEER ARTISTS 98-590- by the time of the MGM doesn't own the rights to the third D, 60 minutes, $24.98 Toronto Rock and Roll re- movie, The Return of the Pink Panther, which Picture: A-, Sound: B+, Content: A Revival, but everybody music with the in 1975 brought back the David Niven jewel - acts to this thief character, this time played by Christo- Through performance clips, newspaper same unabashed enthusi- pher Plummer.) On DVD, the four movies headlines, radio broadcasts, and interviews, this asm. Good video transfer and are in something close to the original Pana - short film by D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hege- of the period footage Vision aspect ratio and in an obviously dus tells the story of Jerry Lee Lewis and his serviceable location sound further enhance the cropped pan -and -scan version. The prints music. Through all the changes in the decades package. This is one of the most downright en- far. There's a and transfers for A Shot in the Dark and Re- he influenced, the rockabilly music proves joyable artist profiles on DVD so release. R.B. venge of the Pink Panther proved quite good, timeless and indestructible. The way the audi- "Whole Lotta Shakin' " on this but there were some digital artifacts noticeable in The Pink Panther and The Pink Pan- ther Strikes Again seemed not quite as sharp. The mono sound of all four titles is wide - range and does justice to Mancini's music. The PanaVision trailers for the first two movies are the originals; they were separate We've Got It All! productions of their own and contained ani- FAMOUS NAME BRAND mated footage not seen in the feature titles DAT MACHINES themselves. CD PLAYERS Full marks to MGM for not issuing Trail of the Pink Panther or Curse of the Pink Pan- CD RECORDERS ther. Released after Sellers' death, these sad ef- LASER DISC PLAYERS forts combined old outtakes with new footage in a blatant attempt to cash in on the series' popularity. Rad Bennett

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AmericanRadioHistory.Com AUDIO, July/August 1999, Volume 83, Num- AD INDEX ber 7. AUDIO (ISSN 0004-752X, Dewey Decimal Number 621.381 or 778.5) is published 10 times a year (bimonthly in February/March and July/August) by Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hachette Filipacchi USA, Inc., at 1633 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019. Printed in U.S.A. at Dyersburg, Tenn. Distributed by Curtis Cir- culation, Inc. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. 10019 and additional mailing offices. One-year PAGE ADVERTISER WEB SITE/E-MAIL TELEPHONE subscription rate for U.S. and possessions, $26.00; Canada, $34.00 (includes 7% GST tax; Canadian 44 The Academy avacademy.com 770-631-9800 Business Number 126018209 RT, IPN Sales Agree- ment Number 929344); and foreign, $34.00. 12-13 Bose Corporation www.bose.com/Is760 800 -444 -BOSE AUDIO® is a registered trademark of Hachette Fili - Ext. 760 pacchi Magazines, Inc. ©1999, Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, Inc. All rights reserved. The Editor assumes 800-528-0313 67 Brick Wall www.brickwall.com no responsibility for manuscripts, photos, or artwork. The Publisher, at his sole discretion, reserves the right inappropriate. 2 Bryston Ltd. www.bryston.ca 800-632-8217 to reject any ad copy he deems Subscription Service: Postmaster, please send change of address to AUDIO, P.O. Box 52548, Boul- B&W Loudspeakers of America www.bwspeakers.com 978-664-2870 5 der, Colo. 80321-2548. Allow eight weeks for change of address. Include both old and new address and a 44 Cambridge SoundWorks www.hifi.com 800-367-4434 recent address label. If you have a subscription problem, please write to the above address or call 303/604- fax, 303/604-7455. 25, 26 Chevy Tracker www.chevytracker.com 1464; Back Issues: Available for $6.95 each ($8.25 Canada; $13.25 other foreign) in U.S. funds. Please add $1.00 80-86 Classified for the Annual Equipment Directory (October issue). Send a check or money order to ISI/AUDIO Magazine, www.crutchfield.com 800-955-9009 11 Crutchfield 30 Montgomery St., Jersey City, N.J. 07302, or call Ext. AU 201/451-9420. Occasionally we share our information with other rep- 65 Dealer List utable companies whose products and services might prefer not to participate in this op- www.infinitysystems.com 800-553-3332 interest you. If you C4 Infinity portunity, please tell the operator at the following number: 303/604-1464. 71 J&R Music World www.jandr.com 800-221-8180 r 54 Kimber Kable www.kimher.com 801-621-5530

58 Linn www.linninc.com 888-671-LINN

34 Madrigal www.madrigal.com 860-346-0896 /AU Dept. AU SUBSCRIBER SERVICE

22 Marantz America, Inc. www.marantzamerica.com 630-307-3100

8, 9 Paradigm www.paradigm.ca 905-632-0180 PLACE LABEL HERE

32A Parliament

75 Pro Sound Stage and Lighting www.pssl.com 800-672-4268 MOVING? Please give us 8 weeks advance notice. Attach C3 SONY Minidisc www.sony.com/md label with your old address, and write in new address below. 77 Sound City www.soundcity.com 800-525-3325

NAME 27 Sunfire www.surtfire.com 425-335-4748 ADDRESS 10 Tannoy www.tannoy.com 519-745-1158 CITY

79 Uncle's Stereo www.unclestereo.com 800-978-6253 STATE

7 VISA www.visa.com ZIP

18 Yamaha www.yamaha.com 1(303) 604-1464 FAX 1(303) 604-7455 C2, Pl Winston AUDIO P.O. Box 52548, Boulder CO 80322 AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 87 L J

AmericanRadioHistory.Com B&W WP1 Indoor Outdoor Speaker

The B&W WP1 is a nice -sounding, versatile loudspeaker that won't take up much space or, at $550 per pair, a big chunk of your budget. Measuring 11 inches tall x 7 inches wide x 91 inches deep, each WP1 contains a 5 -inch Kevlar woofer and a 1 -inch metal -dome tweeter designed for outdoor or indoor use. The cabinet, available in black or white plastic, has a perforated metal grille. Instead of ports, which could admit water, the WP1 has a pair of rectangular passive radiators, one on each side of the cabinet, behind pro- tective grilles. Removable mounting Polk Audio Signature brackets are included. The 8 -ohm speaker's rated frequency response is Reference Surround Speaker 70 Hz to 20 kHz, ±3 dB, and it's recommended for amplifiers rated at In all the years I've been using Polk's Signature 25 to 100 watts per channel. Reference Theater (SRT) home theater speakers, my Outdoors, in a bathroom, and in only complaint has been that its surround speakers a humid sauna, these B&W speak- did not match its three front speakers' frequency ers worked fine. They sounded range or their ability to re-create sound fields precise- definitely hi-fi in my music sys- ly. With Polk's new Signature Reference Surround tem, despite their rigid grilles. Speakers, however, the SRT system can get the best And the mounting brackets from even the most demanding Dolby Digital and should make it easy to put the DTS soundtracks. WP1s on your room's side walls The Signature Reference Surround Speaker is shal- if you use them in your home low enough for wall mounting, but its rated response is theater as surround speakers. 3 dB down at a solid 65 Hz and extends above 20 kHz. If you want to maintain your Its timbre matches that of the SRT main and center audiophile credentials when speakers because its four 51/4 -inch Dynamic Balance listening to music in the great woofers and outdoors, the B&W WP I definitely merits your consideration. (B&W Loud- two 21/2 -inch speakers: 54 Concord St., North Reading, Mass. 01864; 978/664-2870; Tri -Laminate www.bwspeakers.com.) John Gatski dome tweeters are identical to theirs. MSB TECHNOLOGY DIGITAL DIRECTOR All the drivers are on the front or home theater system have too few digital inputs? MSB panel, but differ- hnology's Dig t . `'rector will alleviate that problem and reduce jitter be - ences in tweeter des, all for a mode ice of $199 in silver or $320 in black. A priority phasing pro- itching system auto atically selects signals based on which inputs are ac - duce a broad, sta- ve. Naturally, you must unplug one of your existing sources to free up a ble sound field; ack for the Digital Direc t to feed into, but its four coaxial and two Toslink this provides the nputs will accommod that source and four others. The MSB also has dispersed ambi- three digital outputs oslink and two coaxials, so you can feed a digital ence you need for recorder as well as y D/A converter or Dolby Digital decoder. most surround ef- By regenerati e digital clock signal, the Digital Director reduces sig- fects and music. Yet nal jitter b o 99.99%, according to MSB. In my system, its sound you are also able to get the directionality needed for movie ac- re favorably with that of most other affordable jitter -reduction tion sequences, thanks to the same Stereo Dimensional Array devices I've auditioned-no sonic magic but cleaner low-level transients, (SDA) technology Polk uses in the SRT's left and right front better harmonics, and sometimes a bit better bass. This was most appar- speakers. By canceling interaural crosstalk, SDA makes imaging ent with laserdisc players, but I could hear at least a slight improvement more precise, expands the apparent soundstage, and minimizes room problems. A control box and remote enable you to vary the SDA effect. Demanding (and very wealthy) audiophiles may be tempt- ed to use the same SRT speakers for surround that they use in D,11sa',oR- their main channels. But the Signature Reference Surround Speakers offer better dispersion and cost considerably less ($1,200 per pair, including SDA controller). It's an excellent choice for anyone seeking the best in surround sound for music or with most older CD players and transports. Nice job! (MSB Technol- home theater. (Polk Audio: 5601 Metro Dr., Baltimore, Md. 21215; ogy: 14251 Pescadero Rd., La Honda, Cal. 94020; 650/747-0400; 800/377-7655; www.polkaudio.com.) Anthony H. Cordesman www.msbtech.com.) Anthony H. Cordesman

AUDIO/JULY/AUGUST 1999 88

AmericanRadioHistory.Com SONY

A recording should be as crisp and clear as the

original. That's not always the case when you

record from CD to cassette. The recordable

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1Y1 1N NO IYI U 51 C IJIJ FI 5+-i 49 fZ E D THE dubs your music so it sounds just like the way iY119+C1N Df= T+-115 f fKDDUCT you first heard it. Plus the MiniDisc has a hard

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you can digitally re-record up to a million times.

Additionally, the MiniDisc Walkman is so small

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Re -recordable. Portable. Digital. MiniDisc.

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www.sonycomlmd ©1999 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without wntten permission is prohibited. 'Sony Sony Portable Music Let Your Mind Play. and Walkman are trademarks of Sony.

AmericanRadioHistory.Com HPS-250 250 watts, 12" octive woofer, 18"h x 15"w x 20"d

HPS-500 500 watts, 15" active woofer, 20"h x 19"w x 22"d

HPS-1000 1,000 watts, 15" active woofer, two 15" passive radiators, 22"h x 20"w x 24"d

INFINITY INVENTS THE SUBWOOFER. AGAIN. If, in 1968, you had the good fortune to be moved by the power of the world's first subwoofer (part of our Servo Statik I system), imagine the performance our subwoofers put forth today. Or better yet, experience it for yourself. Introducing the HPS Series by Infinity. An astounding marriage of design innovation and musical accuracy that sets a new standard to which other subwoofers aspire. The HPS Series delivers 250 to 1,000 watts of power for the deepest, most natural bass to as low as 18Hz. In other words, the HPS Series brings cellos, drums, basses and movie special effects to life with unmatched precision. Adding an entirely new depth to your musical and home theater experience as only Infinity can. Time and time again. For product information call 1-800-553-3332 or visit www.infinitysystems.com.

Audition the HPS Series at any one of these fine Infinity retailers today:

AST Television & Appliance: Morton Grove, IL American TV 6 Appliances: Wisconsin Marquette, MI Rockford, IL Davenport, IR Audio King: Minnesota Sioux Falls, SD Audio Magic: Loganville, GR California Audio -Video: Penngrove,CR Gary -0's: Johnstown, PR Mundy's Audio-Video:Gainesville,GP Palace Electronics: Philadelphia, PR Robson' sAudio-Video: Paramus, NJ 6th Avenue Electronics: New Jersey Stereo Advantage: Williamsville, NY Stereo Exchange: New York, NY SoundTrack: Colorado Ultimate Electronics: Utah Nevada Iowa Rlbuquerque, NM Boise, ID Tulsa, OK

Infinity is one of the great brands of Harman International. Harman International HEAR US EV,;ERYW-HERE.

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