AN CONTROL CENTERS HOW to BUY the RIGHT A/V RECEIVER ADD-ON SURROUND NEW CD PORTABLES TESTED Mirage Speaker, Nakamichi A/V Receiver, Carver Speaker, More

AN CONTROL CENTERS HOW TO BUY THE RIGHT A/V RECEIVER ADD-ON SURROUND NEW CD PORTABLES TESTED Mirage Speaker, Nakamichi A/V Receiver, Carver Speaker, more

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Where We Were.

06.

Boston Acoustics, Up Close #1. February 1990.

The message here is simple. Thanks for the support you've given the Boston Acoustics Up Close ads we've run for three years. We've had over 100,000 responses, letters, calls. And we appreciate it. Now for the "Where we're going" part: introducing Number, a mini -magazine of music, sonics, and free (almost) recordings on CD. It's the logical evolution of Up Close. When can you get it? This Fall. Where? Through Boston dealers, and in our new ads starting in September. That's where. Traditional Sicilian festival music. One of the many subjects we'll cover in Number. the non-traditional magazine from Boston Acot.stics. Photograph: Mike Malyszko. BY WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE AND BOB ANKOSKO ULLEIIN

FREE TAPE FROM TDK KID STUFF If you've recently purchased a new cassette deck, TDK wants Songwriters and to send you a free SA -X high -bias cassette to try out. Send Artists for the Earth your name and address, the deck's model number, and the (SAFE) have produced original warranty card to: TDK Special Offer, 50 W. 17th St., "Put On Your Green 3rd floor, New York, NY 10011. The warranty card will be Shoes,- an album from returned with the free tape. The offer expires on January 1, Sony Kids' Music (on CD 1994, and is good for one tape per family or address. and cassette) ir.tended to teach children to respect and COLLECTING ALLISON AGAIN nurture the environment. Among the artists on the album are CLASSICAL CD'S Sammi Sound Technology of Cyndi Lauper. indigo Girls, Kenny Loggins, Willie Nelson, Naxos, an international Danville, Kentucky, has budget classical CD label, resumed production of Richie Havens, Olivia Newton -John, and Dr. John. Nine of the was founded in Hong Kong Allison Acoustics' popular AL thirteen songs were written for this project. Profits go to by Klaus Heymann, a former Series speakers. "We're SAFE, Earth Island Institute, and Save the Children. distributor of Bose and Revox using the same components equipment. He launched his and methods as in the past, The VHS tape "Joe Scruggs in Concert- from Shadow Play CD's in the U.S. in 1991, sold with no changes Records & Videj. much praised by parents' and teachers' 700,000 of them here in 1992, anticipated," says Tom magazines, has just been singled out by the American and expects to top 1 million Ressler, vice president of discs priced at $5.99 to $6.99 Allison Acoustics, which has Library Associction as a 1993 Notable Children's Video. Our in 1993. Naxos budget been established as a panel of critics (Lauren and Darren Ankosko, aged three and MiniDiscs (claimed to be the subsidiary of Sammi Sound. five, respectively) concur. The eleven songs in the 51 -minute world's first) should be in Production of the speakers stores now at $6.99 each. ceased last fall when the video include Ceep in the Jungle and Bahamas Pajamas by

With a catalog of three original Allison Acoustics singer songwri-er Scruggs as well as his biggest hit, Goo- hundred titles, Naxos went bankrupt. The reborn Goo. Ga-Ga. To order call 1-800-274-8804. averages twenty new all - company says it will honor digital (DDD) U.S. releases outstanding warranties for by living artists per month. Allison speakers. MOVIES ON CD SAX IN THE Recorded mostly in Eastern Nimbus Technology and WHITE HOUSE Europe, they feature such BIRTHDAYS AND Engineering of England When President Clinton was artists at Stefan Vladar and ANNIVERSARIES recently demonstrated movie elected, Ernest Gilbert, Jeno Jando (pianists), Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer, clips that were recorded on president of Video Artists Giacomo Aragall and 75; Alicia de Larrocha, standard CD's in accordance International (VAI), wrote to Thomas Harper (tenors), and pianist, 70; John Browning, with the MPEG-1 data - him offering to upgrade the Alexander Rahbari and Barrypianist, 60; Harman Kardon, compression standard. Both White House collection of Wordsworth (conductors). equipment maker, 40;STEREO single -density discs (74 CD's and videos with choice For a free pamphlet REVIEW,world's leading minutes) and double -density items from VAI's catalog. entitled "How to Build a audio and AN magazine, 35; discs (128 minutes) were When he got a gracious letter Classical Compact Disc Tokyo String Quartet, 25; shown on a video monitor accepting his offer, President Collection," write or call Delos International, record connected via a D/A Gilbert put together a Naxos of America, 295 W. company, 20 (see page 19); converter with an A/V output selection of opera and ballet Route 70, Cherry Hill, NJ "Bulletin," this news and to an off -the -shelf $220 CD videos and added plenty of 08002; tel. 609-354-8007. notes column, 15. player with a digital output. jazz. Most notable were two Video experts generally tapes of vintage saxophone INTERACTIVE MUSIC agreed that the picture players-"Reed Royalty" and quality was at least as good "Tenor Titans"-hosted by The avant-garde rocker Todd Rundgren's July CD release, as the VHS videotape format, Branford Marsalis. Among -No World Order- on the Forward label, a division of Rhino although concern was the CD's was the new release expressed that some existing Records, will also be available in the CD -I format through "Maxwell's Torment" by a CD players might have group called the Jazz Philips Interactive Media of America. Billed as the first trouble reading double - Mentality, featuring Chris -completely interactive" music -only CD -I, the disc features density discs. Potter, who plays tenor, Nimbus isn't the only thousands of 4- to 8 -second musical segments that can be soprano, and alto company looking into video saxophones. If you want to combined in an -infinite- number of ways. "Users would on CD. Philips plans to offer upgrade the collection at have to play the CD -I disc for twenty-four hours a day, seven a full-motion-v:deo cartridge your house with the same z days a week. well into the next millennium to hear the same for its CD -I players this fall sax recordings that are in the that's expected to sell for lessWhite House, call 1-800-477- version of a song twice,- Rundgren says. than $300. 7146 to order.

2 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 You HAVE YOUR OWN APPROACH TO TRADITION.

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Cover EQUIPMENT A well-chosen A/V receiver, like the Yamaha RX-V 1070 shown here, can serve as the audio Equipment Test Reports centerpiece of a home theater system and Nakamichi AV -I audio/video receiver, page 34 provides benefits for ordinary music listening as Mirage M-790 loudspeaker system, page 42 well. For tips on how to buy the right A/V Carver AL -111 loudspeaker system, page 48 receiver. see page 58. Panasonic LX -900 CD/laserdisc player, page 50 Photograph by Dan Wagner Choosing an A/V Resolver A practical guide by David Ranada BULLETIN 2 Add -On Surround LETTERS 8 How to upgrade without scrapping your prized stereo gear by Daniel Kumin TIME DELAY 10 Portable CD NEW PRODUCTS 13 Don't leave home without it MUSIC MAKERS 20 by Ken C. Pohlmann 35 Years of Portable Audio RODRIGUES CONTEST 25 The revolution continues by Bob Ankosko AUDIO Il&A 26

SIGNALS 30

TECHNICAL TALK 32

POPULAR MUSIC 88 Page 68 CLASSICAL MUSIC 100 THE HIGH END 112 MUSIC COPYRIGHT 0 1993 BY HACHETTE FILIPACCHI MAGAZINES. INC. All rights reserved. Stereo Review. Special CD Offer 19 July 1993. Volume 58. Number 7. Stereo Review (ISSN 0039- 12201 is published monthly by Hachette Filipacchi Maga- 20th Anniversary Celebration Disc zines. Inc. at 1633 Broadway. New York. NY 10019; tele- from Delos phone (212) 767-6000. One-year subscription rate for the United States and its possessions. $15.94; Canada. $23.94 (includes 7% GST. GST registration number 126018209. N adja Canadian Sales Agreement Number 99236); all other coun- tries. $23.94; cash orders only, payable in U.S. currency. Salerno -Sonnenberg 10 Second-class postage paid at New York. NY 10001. and at Tough -talking bad girl of the violin additional mailing offices. Authorized as second-class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa. Canada. and for by K. Robert Schwarz payment of postage in cash. POSTMASTER / SUBSCRIP- TION SERVICE: Please send change -of -address forms and all subscription correspondence to Stereo Review. P.O. Box B ost Recordings 55627. Boulder. CO 80322-5627. Please allow at least eight weeks for the change of address to become effective. Include of the Meath 01 both your old and your new address, enclosing, if possible. The traditional country vocal stylings an address label from a recent issue. If you have a subscription problem. write to the above address or call 1303) 447- of Patty Loveless, African -American 9330. PERMISSIONS: Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Requests for concert classics, Riccardo Muti's permission should be directed to: The Editor. Stereo Re- blazing Prokofiev Third, and view. 1633 Broadway. New York. NY 10019. BACK IS- SUES are available. Write to Stereo Review-Back Issues. Southern -fried surrealism from P.O. Box 7085. Brick. NJ 08723. Enclose a check for the cover price of each issue you want plus $1.75 each for Col. Bruce Hampton and the shipping and handling. For telephone credit-card orders, call Aquarium Rescue Unit 908-367-2900. EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS must be accompanied by return postage and will be handled with reasonable care, but the publisher assumes no responsibility for the return or safety of unsolicited manuscripts, art, or photographs. Page 96

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 5 Stereo Review

Vice President, Editor In Chief LOUISE BOUNDA

Executive Editor MICHAEL RIGGS Art Director SUE LLEWELLYN Director, Hirsch -Houck Laboratories MCM IS NOW JULIAN HIRSCH A RCA/GE Senior Editor PREMIER BOB AN KOSKO DISTRIBUTOR Managing Editor DAVID STEIN Popular Music EditorClassical Music Edhor STEVE SIMELS ROBERT RI PPS MCM ELECTRONICS CAPTURES YOUR Associate Art Director ELECTRONIC PARTS NEEDS FAST! MINDY OSWALD When you want quality parts, there's no need to go hunting. MCM Electronics has put together Associate Editor Assistant Editor the resources to capture your needs - fast. We've corralled over 20,000 top-quality items, MARYANN SALTSER JAE SEC;AR RA including the largest selection of Japanese semiconductors in the country, in our huge Editor at Large distribution center. And we're geared up to get them out to you immediately- in 24 hours. WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE with overnight shipment if necessary. So call our experts toll -free at 1-800-543-4330 to round up the Contributors: Robert Ackert, Chris Albertson, electronic parts you need. And ask for our latest catalog with hundreds Rebecca Day, Richard Freed. Jon Garcia (Buyers' Guides), of new products while you're at it. Phyl Garland, Ron Givens, David Han. Call Toll -Free 1-800-543-4330 Bryan Harrell (Tokyo), Roy Hemming, Ralph Hodges. FAX 1-513-434-6959 George Jellinek, Stoddard Lincoln, Ian Masten, Alanna Nash, Henry Pleannts (London). Ken Pohlmann. Toll -Free Tech Line 1-800-824-TECH(8324) Parke Puterbaugh, David Ranada, Charles Rodngues. ==x - Eric Salzman, Craig Stark. David Patrick Stearns G.,%";;. ...=11 MCM ELECTRONICS _ $650 CONGRESS PARK OR MN" CENTERVILLE. OH 45459-4072 SOURCE NO. Ykit President, Group Publisher CIL, A PREMIER Company SR -04 THOMAS Ph. WITSCH I

Consumer Electronics Group Advertising CIRCLE NO 25 ON READER SERVICE CARD VP/Associate Publisher Tony Catalano Regional VP/Ad Director, East Coast: Now IT TAKES ONLY 12 WEEKS To Charles L. P. Watson, (212) 767-6038 Regional Account Manager. East Coast: Christine B. Forhez. 12121767-6021 Regional VP/Ad Director, Midwest: GET FROM "BEFORE" To "AFTER" Scott Constantine. (212)767-6346 Regional VP/Ad Director. West Cont. Don - Age 27 Robert Meth, (213) 954-4831 Before After* II Western Advertising Manager: Body weight:Body weight: Paula Mayeri. 12131954-4850 194 lbs. 175 lbs. Sales Assistant Nikki Parker BEFORE AFTER National Record Label Sales Representativrs: Body fat: (7, Body fat: The Mitchell Advertising Group (MAG ln..1 Mitch Herskowitz, (212) 490-1715 0 11.5% 6% Steve Gross. (2121490-1895 Assistant to the Publisher: Aline). Pulley Waist: Waist: Operations Manager Sylvia Correa 33 inches 31 inches Advertising Coordinator. Linda Neuwei ler Trade Show Coordinator. Barbara Aiken Arms: Arms: Sales Assistant: Yvonne Telesford 12.5 inches 153 inches Classified Advertising: (800)445-6066 Production Manager Vicki L. Feinatel Chest: Chest: Production Director Patti Burns 40.5 inches 943 inches Business Manager. Christine Malik. General Manager. Greg Roperti YOU GET RESULTS FASTER. Since there are no awkward rubber bands or The patented isokinetic resistance weights, your changeover time between of NordicFlex Gold" is so effective, oehet-tcchi exercises is up to 40% faster than with other Stereo Review is published you can build muscle 70% faster thansystems! by Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, In.. with ordinary strength trainers. Plus, the NordicFlex World Class' Edition offers You can see impressive results like additional features to enhance your workout Chairman: Daniel Filipacchi Don did in only 12 weeks!' including the electronic performance monitor. President, CEO. and COO: David). Pelee: Executive VP and Editorial Director: Jean -Lours Ginibre halYou GET A FASTER WORKOUT. Senior VP, Director of Corporate Marketing: Paul DuChume FREE Video and Brochur Senior VP, Director of Corporate Sales: Nichol,* Mataruzo The patented isokinetic resistance of VP, Director of Strategic Planning, Adverti.ing. NordicFlex Gold automatically Call 1-800-445-2360Ext. 1K1G3 & Circulation: Patrice Listfield VP, Chief Financial Officer: Paul DeBen,dictis adjusts to your strength level for a r or write: Nord icTrack, Dept. 1K 1G3 fast, effective workout. VP. General Counsel: Catherine Flickinger 104 Peavey Road, Chaska, MN 55318-2155 VP, Manufacturing & Distribution: Anthony Romano 30 -day Best of all... it's J Send me a FREE brochure J Also a FREE VHS videotape VP, Circulation: Leon Rosenfield O Name in-b011letrialfrom Nord icTrack! VP. Research & Marketing Services, Susan Snallens k, !HAI rusith. Street me Nurc h'I Lit L. In. ( \11.5..onp.im City State Zip Evan z o):111, rccrsctI Phone( CIRCLE NO 27 ON READER SERVICE CARD 0 1 .1 RULE #89

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data reduction. But because of the way PASC its early years. We would expect record dealers What Is "Good"? and ATRAC allocate bits to samples, the data in to exchange recently purchased discs showing ust a brief note of gratitude for the refresh- the copies is almost certain to be somewhat signs of oxidation. ingly cogent comments of Julian Hirsch on different from that in the originals, and after Has anyone else out there encountered a lot what makes a product "good" (May "Techni- enough passes there might be some audible of this sort of deterioration in a compact disc cal Talk"). His observation that he has "never degradation. collection? heard reproduced orchestral music that comes Copying from DCC to MD will result in some close to duplicating the live sound ..." is a additional data reduction because of MD's delightful contrast to periodicals in which the slightly lower data rate, and even going from Missing Rests most preposterous claims are made for "high MD to DCC will probably create bigger differ- Ialways look forward to STEREO REVIEW'S end" hardware in a tormented prose rife with ences than would result from an MD -to -MD or compilations of best recordings, but I found adjectives normally associated with religion or DCC-to-DCC copy, simply because of differ- your critics' lists of the best of the last thirty- copulation or food. DICK HELM ences in the way PASC and ATRAC analyze the five years in the March issue very dishearten- Duluth, MN data. How significant any audible effects of ing. Why is there no mention of Sinatra and such cross -system copying (or transcoding) Streisand and others who have contributed so might be remains to be seen, but as perceptual much to music in the past thirty-five years? Perceptual Ceding coding becomes more common, this question Are the ten best limited to jazz, classical, and Ken Pohlmann likens critics of perceptual will become increasingly important. rock? NINA GUT coding to critics of digital recording in Richmond Hill, NY general (April "Signals"), but the analogy is flawed. Conventional PCM digital recording Jerky Movies Your "35 Years of Music" feature provided offers overwhelming sonic advantages over first thing 1 turned to in the May issue a fascinating list of listening recommen- analog recording, but what are the advantages Thewas Ralph Hodges's "The High End." Boy, dations that I will enjoy in the months ahead, of perceptual coding? He mentions smaller, did he screw up! Motion -picture film is not but I was severely disappointed to find only lighter, and (eventually) less costly. But a DAT subject to "start -stop jerks" [that could affect one recording representing the Broadway cassette will record 2 hours for about S5 and the sound] during projection! It feeds smoothly stage-arguably equal to jazz as an American isn't exactly bulky-in fact, it's about half the through the projector's sprockets, passing the musical institution during the past thirty-five size of a DCC. And DAT and CD are the only aperture of the lamp/lens system, and so forth. years. SCOTT PARSONS no -compromise formats available. The framing is done by a mechanical system Sidney. OH KENT ASHCRAFT that moves in time with the picture, allowing Bowie, MD light to pass through the film only during each Stay tuned. full frame. The timing is adjusted by the Ken Pohlmann replies: There's certainly noth- operator during setup. Any jerky operation ing wrong with "brute force" linear recording, that can be seen is caused by improper adjust- Digital Copies but new perceptual coders will stimulate further ment, worn sprocket holes in the film, a worn- Ater reading several explanations, I still do development in linear coders (to perfect such out projector drive system, or a combination not understand the Serial Copy Manage- things as psychoacoustically optimized dither), of those factors. When the adjustment is out of ment System (SCMS). Clearly, if I record a CD and they may eventually surpass the fidelity of sync with the film, a bar or only parts of the using a DCC or MD deck, or a "consumer" linear coding as implemented in consumer picture appear on the screen, or the picture DAT deck equipped with SCMS, I cannot products. hops and appears erratic. MEL YOUNG make digital copies from that copy. But if I Riverside, CA copy analog records onto DCC tapes, can I use A the debate over the sins and virtues of a second DCC deck to copy those tapes? the PASC and ATRAC perceptual -cod- Ralph Hodges replies: Well, it seems I stand ROBERT 3. RICHARD ing systems continues to be fueled by theorists smartly corrected. Obviously I cannot be trust- Fairfax, CA and philosophers, many of whom have spent ed around a motion -picture projector. Sorry. very little time actually listening to the devices SCMS will treat any recording made through (let alone participating in truly unbiased dou- the analog inputs of a digital recorder as a ble-blind comparison tests with the CD and Rotten CD's in Paradise digital original from which you can make an DAT formats), it seems wise to reserve judg- D "laser rot" has struck here in Hawaii! I unlimited number of first -generation digital -to - ment until you can "hear the music," not just began to notice corrosion of the silvery digital copies, just as you can from a CD, so you the rhetoric. portion of some of my CD's months back. should not have any problem. I do, however, have a question about what They're getting worse, and the process is happens to previously processed information starting on more recently acquired discs. I am Correction when it is rerecorded from one DCC (or MD) convinced that the high relative humidity of machine to another: Is it further compressed, the Hawaiian islands has something to do with ecause of a mislabeled slide, an incorrect or left basically unchanged? What would hap- my problem. Do record companies replace RI Sony product photo was printed in May's pen to the signal in a transfer from DCC to deteriorated CD's the way they do laserdiscs? "Pumped -Up Preamps" (page 71). Instead of the TA-E2000ESD preamplifier, the photo MD, or vice versa? D. ALLYN GERALD V. DE OREO Waltham, MA Kurtistown, HI shows the company's STR-D790 A/V receiver. We regret this error. Both DCC and MD have constant, though A CD's aluminum reflective layer can oxidize if different, data rates (in other words, 5 minutes the disc is not properly sealed. The most likely We welcome your letters. Please address of any DCC recording contains the same cause would be damage to the coating on the correspondence to Editor, Stereo Review, amount of information as 5 minutes of any label side of the disc. We have heard of isolated 1633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. other, regardless of the source, and likewise for instances of such oxidation of damaged or You should include your address and two MD recordings), so copying from DCC to defective CD's, but not of any widespread prob- telephone number for verification. Letters DCC or MD to MD does not entail any further lem like the "laser rot" that plagued laserdisc in may be edited for clarity and length.

8 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 Death Becomes Her * 1071505 Star Trek: The Motion Picture *0203505 The Last Of The Mohicans (1992) *1071406 Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan *0201301 A League Of Their Own 1078005 Star Trek III: Passenger 57 *1087709 The Search For Spock 0201608 Sneakers * 1071604 Star Trek IV: Top Gun 0426908 The Voyage Home *0430603 Allen 0000208 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier *0448605 Aliens 0360909 Star Trek VI: The Alien 3 *1042506 Undiscovered Country * 1001007 Batman (1989) *0642504 The Abyss *0881102 Batman Returns *1029909 Ghost *0826008 Home Alone * 0104208 It's A Wonderful Life The Last Boy Scout *0779108 (45th Anniversary Ed.) 0392308 Lethal Weapon 0630806 New Jack City 0971507 Lethal Weapon 2 *0642702 The Man Who Would Be King *0085803 Dune 0211102 Chinatown *0202507 The Blues Brothers 0211706 North By Northwest *0844209 Goodfellas *0969808 Beverly Hills Cop 0205302 Hook *0854307 Beverly Hills Cop II 0431908 Back To The Future 0211409 Wayne's World *0853705 Back To The Future Part II *0921304 Conan The Barbarian *0220509 Back To The Future Forbidden Planet *0844407 Part III *0497008 Jaws 0100008 Field Of Dreams 0920306 Kindergarten Cop 0523407 Fried Green Tomatoes 1005404 Henry V (1990) 0040303 The Prince Of Tides * 0847103 SEE DETAILS BEWW. The Commitments 0691303 Patton 0788703 Caddyshack 0602300 The Empire Of The Sun0633206 Black Rain * 0911701 The Addams Family *1000900 The African Queen 0051102 National Lampoon's Hard To Kill 0953505 Animal House 0211508 Hamlet (1990) 0970608 Bugs Bunny Classics 0297705 Memphis Belle *0983502 Fatal Attraction 0439307 Superman: The Movie *0001305 Always *0921502 Beetlejuice 0633008 Buggy *0853408 Laud Wows 3' Under Siege* Dustin ea Wolves' 1051517 1077908 nom Dangerous Liaisons *0638700 The Bible * 0074708 Blue Velvet *0515007 Casablanca 0050708 Road Warrior 0602805 Boomerang *1064005 All Dogs Go To Heaven 0289702 Far & Away *1046507 E t Predator *0364901 Patriot Games *1051309 ' Predator 2 *0104307 The Sound Of Music *0003905 E.T.: The Extra -Terrestrial 0681106 Backdraft *0559005 Scarface (1983) 0216804 The Hunt For The Empire Strikes Be IC Rdlurn of the Jodi* Slar Wars' The Godfather 0000802 Red October *0825000 03547114 0056408 0091009 The Godfather Part III 0842302 The Silence Of The Lambs 0805309 *0367607 2001: A Space Odyssey *0844308 Edward Scissorhands 0104604 Robin Hood: Die Hard Prince Of Thieves *0976803 Die Hard 2 *0041806 American Graffiti 0211300 The Wizard Of Oz 0001404

Here's a great way to build a specified. And you'll always have 14 collection of your favorite movies -on days to decide; if not, you may return R.olumbia House Loserdisc Club laserdiscs! Just write in the numbers the selection at our expense. Dept. M2N P.O. Box 1112, Terre Haute, Indiana 47811-1112 of the 3 laserdiscs you want for Money -Saving Bonus Plan. If you Yes, please enroll me under the terms outlined in this advertisement. As a member, $1.00 each, plus shipping and continue your membership after I need buy only 2 more selections, at iegular Club prices, within the coming year. handling. In exchange, you simply fulfilling your obligation, you'll be Send one these 3 loserdiscs for $1.00 etch plus S1.50406 shipping and handing Itad $7.501 agree to buy two more laserdiscs in eligible for our generous bonds plan. the next year, at regular Club prices It enables you to enjoy great savings (currently as low as $29.95, plus on the movies you want-for as long 20V/20Z shipping and handling) -and you as you decide to remain a member! Please Check How Paying: My check is enclosed may cancel membership at any time 10 -Day Risk -Free Trial. We'll send [1 Charge my introductory loserdiscs and future Club purchases to after doing so. details of the Club's operation with MasterCard LI Diners Club AMEX LJ VISA Discover Free Magazine sent every fouryour introductory package. If not weeks (up to 13 times a year) satisfied, retun everything within 10 Acct. No. Exp reviewing our Director's Selection - days for a full refund and no further Signature plus scores of alternate choices, obligation. Including many lower -priced For fastest service, use a credit card Name laserdiscs. And you may also receive and call us toll free 24 hours a day: Special Selection mailings up to four Address Apt times a year. (That's up to 17 buying Dept. 1-800-538-2233\12N opportunities a year.) City State Buy only what you want! If you Entertaining want the Director's Selection, do America... Zip Phone No. ( nothing -it will be sent automatically. If One Person Nose Columbia House Loserdisc Clue reserves the right to resect or cancel any membership Otter limited e you'd prefer an alternate selection, or commensal U S lencludong Alaska) Applicable spies ton r tried to all order 1400 N Fruotrodge none at all, just mail the response at a Time.' Avenue, Terre Haute, IN 4781 11112 1.01'93 card always provided by the date LAMM:1K CLUB LILLetterbox CD 1993, The Columbia House Company TIME OBI

Staticmasters record cleaner responded to a February Steibb Review article by Herbert Reid by SPECIAL, SISPINIT: DIGITAL DISC PLAYERS pointing out that their product Lab Toots 111 Camped Ohm Plqp.mrs New la &WA Compact Oh. Nam contained radioactive Exploding SI Audio Myth. polonium-not plutonium as _ moon l0000 Ano printed. The editor's response: ox A.. yoldn "This guy Herbert Reid is a Ow. Bem O.. VW, creep-he can't find the right k Yvon lachen particle for his article." Also tested was the Technics kAler.c. OM& SL -1100A direct -drive turntable, about which an Stereo Review unusually ebullient Julian CALENDAR OF CLASSICAL COMPOSERS Hirsch declared, "Except for its rather leisurely arm lift and descent, we found absolutely Cemol,,tl 01. nothing to criticize."

In Best of the Month, Bernard Jacobson endorsed the 35 Years Ago Cleveland Quartet's Brahms 10 Years Ago In his "Sounding Board" cycle on RCA ("Performances Therealbeginnings of the Gulf column in the July 1958 issue, fit to stand with the best you War? A "News Brief" alerted Managing Editor David Hall will ever hear"), George readers that Sultan Qaboos bin noted pianist Van Cliburn's Jellinek cheered Beverly Sills's Said of Oman, moved by highly publicized win at the ABC recording of Donizetti's Tchaikovsky International Anna Bolena ("Amajor Piano Competition in Moscow, triumph"), Chris Albertson and-without hearing raved over jazzman Paul Cliburn's debut RCA recording Jeffrey's "Family" ("Its naked ("anxiously awaited as we go 20 Years Ago beauty is quite breathtaking"), to press")-waxed remarkably Install it and it invades Poland: and the usually sensible Peter prescient about Cliburn's A test report on the Reilly described Donovan's future career. Hall asked: Electrostatic ESS amt 1 "Cosmic Wheels" as "the "Can [Cliburn] circumvent the speaker system featured an in- work of a poet who has broken accolade accorded many a depth analysis of an "air - out of his accustomed pastel musician catapulted to sudden motion transformer" called the wonderland." fame-burnout?" Heil Driver. Elsewhere in the review sections, the legendary rock Just Looking: New products Less threatening -sounding new critic Lester Bangs called the this month included the Fisher products in the same issue Stooges' "Raw Power" album 400 stereo preamplifier, whose included the Sansui model SF - "the apotheosis of every Nancy Reagan's recent ability to function as a I speaker system (with a rated parental nightmare," Eric performance of Saint-Satris's crossover network for a dual - bandwith of 55 Hz to 20 kHz), Salzman preferred Leonard Carnival of the Animals,had channel amplifier -speaker the Sony PS -225I direct -drive Bernstein's Deutsche donated $300,000 to the system was described as manual turntable ($300 with Grammophon recording of National Symphony to endow "rather unusual," the dust cover), and Magitran's Carmen to thesame the Nancy Reagan Chair of Fairchild Model 230 Micro -7 Poly -Planar DS60 sound performers live at the Met Narrative Music. phono cartridge (able to track panels, wall -hanging speakers ("One's own inner "down to 1 gram in superior only 21/4 inches deep that could visualization is not spoiled by Lenny Rules! In "The Basic tonearms"), and the "smartly be driven with as little as 5 (!) the sight of Marilyn Horne Repertoire," critic Richard styled" Wollensak 1515 tape watts of amplifer power. wriggling her ample hips"), Freed evaluated performances recorder, which weighed in at and Peter Reilly (clearly havingof Copland'sAppalachian "only 20 pounds." Elsewhere a bad month) described the Springand concluded that on the technical front, an debut album by the former Leonard Bernstein's article on turntables and Pink Floyd engineer Hurricaneperformance of the famous tonearms, "The Silent Smith as "consistently concert suite was ". . . even Partners," concluded with the bouncy-it bounced as I scaled more appealing than observation that "A quality it into the wastebasket." Copland's own recording." turntable kept in good condition can be an immense PC Alert: Paul Kresh Good news for Michael help in coaxing all the sonic dismissed "Now,"thelatest Bolton: Reviewing a Jimi splendor from your discs." effort fromDowntown Hendrix medley by Soft Cell, chanteuse Petula Clark, as Mark Peel called it "the most No Nukes: In the Letters suitable "for retarded dreadful cover of all time." column, the manufacturers of teenagers." -Steve Simels

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DISCWASHER Discwasher's CDC laser -lens cleaner has a way with words: You insert the disc into any CD player, and a recorded voice coaches you through a two-step procedure to remove debris from the lens. There's also a music voice segment on positioning speakers. Price: 522. Discwasier, KOSS Dept. SR, 46-23 Crane St.. Koss's HD 6 minispeaker is batteries or the supplied AC Long Island City, NY 11101. designed for computers equippec adaptor. Maximum input power is Circle 120 on reader service card with a stereo sound board. It 100 milliwatts. Price: 5100 a features a magnetically shielded pair. Koss, Dept. SR, 4129 N. 4 -inch driver and a 5 -watt amp Port Washington Ave., with signal sensing for automatic Milwaukee. WI 53212. on off. Operation requires four C Circle 121 on reader service card

DESIGN ACOUSTICS Design Acoustics is billing the magnetically shielded. Bandwidth PS -24 as a multipurpose home is given as 50 Hz to 20 kHz. theater speaker that can be used Recommended amplifier power is for front left right, center, and 10 to 75 watts continuous. Price: surround applications. Its dual - S190. Design Acoustics, Dept. ported cabinet, measuring 20 x 5 SR, 1225 Commerce Dr.. Slow. x 10 inches, houses two 4 -inch OH 44224. woofers and a 3'a -inch tweeter, all Circle 122 on reader service card

AROTEL Rotel's RHT-10 FM tuner, part of the company's new high -end Sovereign line, uses a stereo decode! made entirely of discrete comporents that is said to outperform conventional IC (integrated -circuit) designs. Features include sixteen station presets automatic or manual tuning, and buttons for high - blend, wide narrow bandwidth, mono stereo, and mute. Capture ratio is given as 1.0 dB. Price: 51.600. Rotel, Dept. SR. P.O. Box Buffalo, NY 14240. Circle 123 on reader service card

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 13 MAGNEPAN NEW PRODUCTS Magnepan designed the MG -10 for use as a front, side, or rear BROOKLINE speaker in a home theater Brookline Technologies VS301 system. The 101,2 x 65 x 13/4 -inch dipole speaker uses a 340 - Volume Stabilizer is an analog square -inch planar -magnetic compression device for people woofer element that operates who make CD -to -cassette from 80 Hz to 1.5 kHz and a 56 x recordings for playback in settings with high background 11/4 -inch quasi -ribbon tweeter that noise-such as an airplane. It plays between 1.5 and 22 kHz. Recommended power is 50 to 200 evens out soft and loud passages watts. Price: 51,175 a pair. during recording. Available by Magnepan, Dept. SR, 1645 Ninth mail order only for 5133. St., White Bear Lake, MN 55110. Brookline Technologies. Dept. SR, 2035 Carriage Hill Rd., Circle 125 on reader service card Allison Park, PA 15101. Circle 124 on reader service card

STANDESIGN Standesign's 341/2 -inch -tall veneer. Price: $600. Melody Multidesign component rack Audio, Dept. SR, 1940 Blake St., features adjustable 20 x 16 -inch Suite 101, Denver, CO 80202. shelves finished in black -ash Circle 126 on reader service card CERWIN-VEGA Cerwin-Vega's Sensurround home theater speaker package boasts four 113/4 -inch -tall HT -S6 two-way satellites with 61/4 -inch woofers, one 165/8 -inch -wide HT-CTR center -channel speaker with two angled midrange drivers, and a pair of 171/4 x 13 x 241/2 -inch HT - 110 bass modules rated down to 38 Hz. All of the drivers are magnetically shielded, and all the cabinets are finished in woodgrain vinyl. Price: 51,660. Cerwin-Vega, Dept. SR, 555 E. Easy St., Simi Valley, CA 93065. Circle 127 on reader service card a Ionrnliii nrivl NEW PRODUCTS

V PARASOUND Parasound's HCA-220011 power ratio is given as 114 dB and total amplifier is said to operate in harmonic distortion as 0.05 Class A mode until its output percent at full power. The reaches 6 watts, at which point it amplifier's RCA input jacks and switches to the more efficient biwired speaker terminals are Class AB mode. It is rated to gold-plated. Price: 51,695. deliver 220 watts per channel into Parasound, Dept. SR, 950 Battery 8 ohms and can be bridged for St., San Francisco, CA 94111. 750 watts mono. Signal-to-noise Circle 129 on reader service card

fd SOLUS The Solus ir8n -wall speaker uses a 7-irch planar -magnetic ribbon to reproduce frequencies STORADISC above 2,000 Hz and an 8 -inch Davidson -Whitehall's Storadisc 36 (center, S29 to S52(. Prices woofer for tho.T down to 50 Hz. CD racks come in four sizes depend on finish; nine are Power handling is given as 200 (numbers indicate capacity): the available. Davidson -Whitehall, watts. Price: S450 each. Solus, LS -576 (left, 5245 to 5625). LS - Dept. SR, 555 Whitehall St., Dept. S11.118 West Julie Dr.. 360 (right, 5185 to S475(, SS -50 Atlanta. GA 30303. Tempe. AZ 85283.

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4 DCM DCM's SUB -712 powered subwooter has an 8 -inch woofer, a 12 -inch passive radiator. a 75 - Hz crossover, and an 80 -watt B&K amplifier with distortion -limiting circuitry. The low -frequency limit TUFF BOX is given as 28 Hz. Dimensions are Advantage Plus says that its Tuff 141,2 x 16 x 153,8 inches. Price: Box can take far more abuse than S699. DCM, Dept. SR, 670 Airport standard CD jewel cases. Price: Blvd. Ann Arbor, MI 48108. three -pack. S5. Advantage Plus, Circle 132 on reader service card Dept. SR, 7113 Halifax Ct.. Tampa, FL 33615. Circle 131 on reader service card

16 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 Nigel Kennedy in a majestic per- Kronos Quartet. Short Stories, music Kathleen Battle and Wynton Martians' Vladimir Horowitz in previously unreleased formance of Beethoven's Violin by Cowell, GuDaidulina, Zom rrwny Baroque [hie, music by Handel. Scarlatti recordings of Chopin. Liszt. etc Discovered Concerto (EMI Classics).455.147 more (Elektrallonesuch)456473 Bach. etc (Sony Classical). .439.372 Treasures. indeedi (Sony Classical)450.502

Messieen: Quartet Pour Ravel, Prokofiev: Piano La Fin Du Temps. Trio Concertos For Left Hand Fontenay & Ed. Brunner. Performances that play to a higher standard. Leon Fleisher (Sony clarinet (Teldec)457.333 Mahler: Symphony No. 1 Midorl-Encore! Faure, Classical) 453.985 Syzmanowski: String "Titan". more. Kurt Masur Kreisler, Paganini. more Beethoven: Piano

Quartets I. 2, etc. Carmine cond (Teldec) 452.334 (Sony Cassical) 452.466 Sonatas, Op. 109 & 11 1. Quartet (Denon)456.293 The Waverly Consort - Beethoven: Symphonies Vladimir Feftsman 1492 -Music From The Age Nos1 B 7 Giulini cond. (Musicmasters) 453.977 Of . Discovery he incomparable piano of Vladimir Horowitz. (Sony Cassical)452.458 Bart6k: Violin Concertos (EMI Classics) 450.569 The glorious voices of Kathleen Battle and Lesley Dvorak: Violin Concerto; 1 B 2. Midon: Mehta, cond more. M don. Mehta. cond (Sony Classical) 414.748 Beethoven: Violin Conc.: Garrett. The startling interpretations of N.gel Bruch: Concerto No. 1 (CBS Mast.) 386.573 Vivaldi: The Four Sea- Kyung-Wha Chung, violin Kennedy. The whimsy and inventiveness of the Horowitz In Concert sons. Nigel Kennedy, (EMI Classics) 441.980 1987-68 (CBS Mast ) Eng.Chamber Orch. (EMI 414.672 Tchalkovsky, Sibelius: Yo -Yo Ma -Bobby McFerrin partnership. 386.532 Classics) Violin Concertos. Nigel Handel: Messiah (high- Schumann: Symphonies Kennedy. Rattle cond When a work of music becomes a masterpiece. Nos 3 8 4. Norrington. lights) Battle, Quiver. (EMI Classics) 439485 when a conductor becomes a legend, when a Aler, Ramey, et al London Class. Players (EMI Classics) 414.094 Tchalkovsky: Violin Con Dvorak: Symphony No. 9, performer achieves unparalleled excellence, that's (EMI Classics) 381.277 certo, more. Sarah Chang, Slavonic Dances. Masur, Mussorgsky: Pictures Colin Davis, London Phil John Williams -Spanish NY Phil. (Teldec)435.602 when you find them at Columbia House. Guitar Favorites (CBS Stravinsky: Firebird (EMI Classics) 457.341 (Suite). Giulini cond. (Sony Debussy: Nocturnes, La Mast.) 378.646 Mer. M T Thomas, cond. Class.) 413.625 Sarah Chang -Debut Mahler: Symphony 2 (EMI Classics) 448.431 (CBS Master.) 435.149 "Resurrection.' Kaplan. Barber, Shostakovich: Murray Perahia Plays London Sym. (MCA Violin Concertos. Nadia Franck 8 Liszt. (Sony Classier) 378.517/396415 Salemo-Sonnenberg Classical) 431.361 8 CDs for lc The Segovia Collection, (EMI Classics) 443.234 The Symphonic Lloyd Vol. 4 -Baroque Guitar Leonard Bernstein - Webber. Strati& Royal PLUS A CHANCE TO GET (MCA Classics) 375.998 Orchestral Dances And Phil (Teldec) 431.320 Bach: Violin Concertos al Showpiece's (Sony ONE MORE CD -FREE a2 "Double". Stem. Class.) 421410/391415 Rachmaninoff, Proko- fiev: Cello Sonatas. E Ax. details on other side Perlman. Mehta (CBS 1 Eiger: Pomp And Cir- Yo -Yo Ma (Sony Great Perform.) 368.076 cumstance Marches, more. Classical) 431.288 Mozart: Clarinet Concerto Israel Philharmonic... 8 Clarinet Quintet. David Welcomes Berliner Phil. Luciano Pavarotti- Gorecki. Symphony No 3 Menuhin, Royal Phil Mozart: Mass In C Minor. Pavarotti Premieres Dawn Upshaw. soprano: (Virgin Classics) 420.598 extended--ange Mehta cond. Beethoven. Abbado. Berliner Phil clarinet: Schwarz cond. etc (Sony Class ) 430.041 (CBS Master) 349.811 Zinman, cond. (Elektra/ Rossini Overtures. (Sony Classical)429.738 (Delos) 443.143 Andrew Lloyd Webber: Nonesuch) 441.923 Norrington, London Rostropovich-Retum To Live Berlin '90-Wald- Andri Watts -A Chopin Russia. Tcheikovsky. Requiem. Domingo et al Classical Players (EMI Classics) 338.814 (EMI Classics) 420.521 bOhnenkonzert. Baran- Recital. Sonata No. 2: Symphony No 6, more Entertaining boim. Berliner Philharmon- Ballade No1. more. (EMI (Sony Class.) 428.151 America... Mozart: Syms. 39 & 41 iker (Teldec) 428.169 Classics) 439.828 Onderson "Jupiter" Nornngton. 1~ - 1993. The Columbia House Company at a Time.' London Class. Players (EMI Classics) 420.513

Brahma: Symphony No 1 von Dohnanyi. Cleveland Orch (Teldec) 419432 NO POSTAGE Shostakovich: Cello NECESSARY Concerto No1, more. Rostropovich; Ozawa IF MAILED cond (Erato) 419.390 IN THE Vivaldi: 6 Double Con- certos, Stem & Rampal Christopher Parkening- UNITED STATES (Sony Classical)417.535 Rodngo Concierto De The "Amadeus" Mozart Araniuez, Walton 5 Bag- BUSINESS REPLY MAIL (CBS) 416.123 atelles Guitar & Orch. (EMI Classics) 455.170 FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO 660 TERFE HAUTE IN Masterworks Dinner Classics POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE These unique music collections, with renowned artists, weave a spell that can turn even a simple meal into an elegant dining experience Each contains a suggested menu and recipes. Romance. Evocative music A Taste Of Spain. Falls. by Puccini, Bizet, etc played Albeniz. etc., played by by Kostelanetz, etc 433.870 John Williams.413.104 Breakfast In Bed. Gentle Dinner For Two. Roman - "wake up' classics by Grieg, tic music by Tchaikovsky. Ravel, Eiger, etc. 413.120 Chopin, etc. 413.096 1400 NORTH FRUITRIDGE AVENUE A Cocktail Party. Classical La Dolce Vita. Kostela- and jazz gems from Claude netz & Orch. play Verdi, TERRE HAUTE, IN 47812-9202 Bolling's .Suites. 413-088 Rossini. etc. 433.912 Italian Album. Sweeping Sunday Brunch II. More melodies by Verdi, Puccini. Baroque by Bach, Mouret. Mascagni, etc 386.490 Handel, etc 413.112 Sunday Brunch. Baroque A Dinner Party. Quiet favorites. Vivaldi, Pachelbel. music: Bach's Lute Bach. etc. 386.474 Suites, etc 433.896

1111111111111111111111.1.11.1m11111111111_1_1_1_1_1 1 1 1 1 Chooseany8 CDs forwit

Domingo. others Kapp. Ph monis (Sony Classical)457.382 Vin. (ESSAY) 455.857 Placldo Domingo- Vivaldi's Favorites, Nessun Dorma. (Teldec) Vol. 2. Kapp, Philharmonia 436434 Virt. (ESS.A.Y) 456.400 Mleczyslaw Horszow- skch/Schumann/ Beethoven: Violin Daniel Barenboim and Chicago Sym- Yo -Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin in K frt Masur conducts Brahms Haydn Concerto; more. Chase. Chopin. (Elektra/None- phony in Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole, their unique musical collaboration, Hush violin, Goodman, Hanover such) 435.503 Variation; plus music by Roger and Bolero, Pavane, etc (Erato)454.181 (Sony Mastenvorks). .432.930 Iv-as/Schuman (Teldec) 452.342 Band (Cala) 455.410 Kronos Quartet -Pieces LA. Guitar Quartet - Of Africa (Elektra/ Canadian Brase-English Mozart: Violin Con. 2; ShostakovIch: Piano The King's SingersLa Renaissance Music (CBS more. Cho-Liang Un (Sony Dances From The Renais- Nonesuch) 434470 Concertos 152; etc. Per- Dolce Vita WithTragicome- sance To The Nutcracker Master.) 403.402 Class.) 410.373 formed by the compos art Christopher ParkenIng- dia (EMI Classics) 450.510 (Delos) 455.162 Handal: Water Music. (EMI Classics) 457.366 A Tribute To Segovia ltzhak Perlman, Daniel Mozart: Symphony No.39; Bernstein Favorites - (EMI Classics) 433403 Marriner, Academy.... (EMI Barenboim-Brahms: The R. Strauss: An Alpine Sinfonia Concertante. Classics) 401438 3 Violin Sonatas. (Sony Symphony; more. Con Children's Classics (Sony Jean-Pierre Hempel -The GruliniBerlin Philharm. Class.) 427.054 Uszt: Hungarian Rhap- Class.) 409.367 ducted by the composer! (Sony Classical)449.207 Great Flute Concertos (EMI Classics) 457-358 Mozart: Divertimento (Sony Classical) sodies. Mehta, Israel Phil. Tchalkovsky: Piano Mahler: Symphony No 4. (CBS Master.) 386407 Concs.1 8 3. Vladimir Chas-Yun-Vocalise. K.334; etc. Jean-Pierre 432471/392477 Barbara Hendricks, Rampal, et al. (Sony Fettsman (Sony Class.) Violin Showpieces (Delon) soprano: Salonen. cond. Classical) 426.270 409.227 456-392 (Sony Classical)449.116 I Sash itallani- Garigliano: Symphony Haydn: Seven Last Words Leonard Bernstein - No. 1. Barenboim,Chicago LIGHT CLASSICS Of Christ. Julliard String Promenade Concert Ballet Dances And Opera Sym. (Erato) 426.262 "Uncoin" (Ong. Sndtrk.) The Spielberg/Williams Quartet with singers (Sony (Denon) 456.376 For Orch. (Sony Class.) (Angel) 451.104 Collaboration. Boston Classical) 409.219 Brehm*: Piano SonataNo. 446738/398435 Carreras, Domingo and SymphonicTango. Pops Orchestra. (Sony Mozart: Requiem. Giulini, 3; more. Helen Grin- Pavarottl-Favonte Arias. Stains*. El Quinteto Bu- Class.) 431.254 aud(Devon) 456443 Henson: Symphonies (Sony Master.) 425.470 Philharmonia Chorus & Nos. 567: Piano Concerto; enos Aires, Royal Phil- Anna Russell Album. Orth. (Sony Class.)406.575 Schubert: Piano Sone as The Srmiovia Col., Vol. 9 harmonic (Teldec) 450477 more. Rosenberger. piano; (Sony Master) 430.215 0.8455D.850. Richard Schwarz. cond.)Delos) -The Romantic Guitar Schubert: Symphony No. (MCA Classics) 424.010 Thomas Hampson- "Phantom Of The Opera" 9. Norrington, London Goode (Elektra/ 448421 Amencan Dreamer. The Nonesuch) 455.725 Highlights (Ong. London Classical Players Brehm*: Sextets. Op.18 Cho-Liang Lln-Men- Songs Of Stephen Foster Cast) (Polydor) 424.333 (EMI Classics) 406.108 Stephen Hough, plane - delssorm, Bruch: Violin (Angel) 450.163 36; Stem, Lin. Robinson, I Love A Parade. John Liszt: An Italian Recital Concertos. (CBS Mas- Vladimir Horowitz -The Ma. Laredo, Tree (Sony terworks) 423.939 The Ultimate Opera Williams. Boston Pops. Last Recording (Sony (Virgin Classics)455.717 Classical)446559/396.556 Collection. 18 selections (Sony Classical)422.717 Class.) 405.985 Mozart: Violin Concertose. Mozart: Symphonies 40 from the worlds best -loved Portraits Of Freedom - Best Of The Canadian Nos. 385; more. Chase. 41, 'Jupiter Tate cond. operas. (Erato) 449.256 Isaac Stern -Humor- James Earl Jones, speaker: (EMI Classics) 423.327 Brass. (CBS) 401496 esque -Favorite Violin Goodman, Hanover Bald Schwarz (Delos)446.476 Skitch Henderson -New Encores (CBS Master- (Cala) 455402/395.400 Nigel Kennedy -Brahma: York Pops Goes To The Bernstein Songbook. works) Peganini: 24 Caprices. Violin Concerto In D. From 'West Side Story', 405.720 Mendelssohn: Sym Ms Movies (Angel) 446434 1, 2 8 3. Dennis Ft Daves Eliot Fisk, guitar (EMI Classics) 423.004 more (CBS) 371.088 (Musicmasters) 444.307 Bayless Meets Bernstein cond. (Musicmasters) Strauss: Till Eulensple- West Side Story Varia- Walt Disney's "Fantasia" 455.394/395492 Tchalkovsky: Symphony gel...; Ein Heldenleben. (new digital sndtrk)(Buena tions (Angel) 445484 An Enchanted EvenIni No. 1; more. Abbado cond Barenboim, Chicago Sym. Vista 318459/398451 (Sony Classical) John Williams conducts With Jose Carreras 443.341 (Erato) 422.915 The Green Album -On Various Artists --Heavy (Sony Classical)454'85 Wagner: "Rienzi" Over- Nadia Solerno-Sonnen- The Trail; Shenandoah: Classix (Angel) 457.325 Mozart, Mendelssohn, ture; etc. Mehta, NY Phil. berg-it Ain't Necessanly etc. (Sony Class.) 441424 Kid Te Kanawa Sings Beethoven: Violin (Sony Classical)443.226 So. Classics)450528 "Crazy For You" - Kern. (Angel) 457.317 Sonatas. Maxim Vengelov. Orli: Carmina Burana. Lesley Garrett -Diva! violin (Teldec) Original Broadway Cast. The Baltimore Consort 453469 Tilson Thomas cond. A Soprano At The Movies (Broadway/Angel) 440.659 And Merry Companions Mozart: Horn Concerto: (CBS Mast.) 376.913 (Silva America) 448.555 -The Art Of The Bawdy Elvis Costello - K417; Divertimento K3,54. John Barry-Movrola. The Juliet Letters. (Epic Soundtrax) 451491 Song (Donan( 456.087 Aubrey & Dennis Brain (Warner Bros.) 454.298 (EMI Classics) 451.- 12 Just mall the postpaid card and we'll send your 8 CDs, together with a bill for a penny, plus shipping Selections with rwo numbers contain iSpi_grisl_czet as2-so wriirj_koth and handling. You agree to buy lust six more selections in the Send these 8 CDs for ts Write on. number In each box. next three years, at regular Club prices, currently Send No Money -Just Mail Card $12.98 to 516.98 -and you may cancel membership

at any time after doing so. (A shipping and handling To Get Your 8 Classical CDs... charge will be added to each shipment.)

Free Music Magazine sent every four weeks (up COLUMBIA HOUSE, 1400 N. Fruitridge Ave. 2 to 13 times a year), describing the Regular Classical Selection, plus scores of alternates from other fields P.O. Box 1129, Terre Haute, Indiana 47811-1129 3 of music. And Special Selection mailings up to six Please accept my membership application under the terms outlined in this times a year (total of up to 19 buying opportunities). advertisement. Send 8 Compact Discs and bill me only le, plus shipping and 4 Buy only what you want! If you want the Regular handling.I agree to buy six selections, at regular Club prices, in the next three or Special Selection, do nothing -it will be sent years -and may cancel membership anytime after doing so. 5 automatically. If you'd prefer an alternate selection, or none at all, Just mail the response card always Rush my CLASSICAL CDs CI to the following address: 6 provided by the date specified. You always have 10 days to decide: if not, you Mr. 7 may return the Selection at our expense. U Mrs. New "Buy More -Pay Less- Bonus Plan. If you Age 0 Miss Print First Nam* Initial Last Nam* 8 conhnue your membership after fulfilkng your obligation, mill be eligible for our money -saving bonus plan. It lets Address Extra Bonus Offer: you get a single CD for as little as $3.99 (or a single I also send one more CD cassette free) for each CD you buy at regular Club price now, (of which I will be billed 10 -Day Free Trial. We'll send details of the Club's City only $6.95. operation with your introductory package. If not satisfied, return everything within 10 days and you will have no further obligation. State Zip 9 Extra Bonus Offer: you may take one additional Do you have a VCR? (04) U Yee No A teisphons? (01) 0 Yes No ..and I'm entitled to get CD right now at the super -low price of only $6.95 - Have you ever bought anything by mail In the past? (27) 0 Yes 0 No this extra CD FREE! and you are then entitled to take an extra CD as a How have you paid for your mail order purchase? Cheek below all that apply: bonus FREE! And you'll receive your discounted CD Cash (28) 7 Check (30) and your bonus CD with your 8 introductory (:) Credit Card (29)0 Money Order (31) 10 selections -that's a total 0110 CDs In sill Naar w row. th nom to mono any appl.cal.on of cancel any mornbarshdp Thom Geis nat Inaba* In APO. FPO. Alaska Haw... Puerto Rio . wee for &Ara of altanativ of* Canalan noldenla b serrlead horn Toronto KDD-F5-59 If the application Is missing, write to: Columbia 430.3101. saw. ta, added to ail omen569/F93 House, 1400 North Fruitridge Avenue, Terre Haute. Indiana 47811-1129. NEW PRODUCTS ve NAD The Model 502 CD player from include a wireless remote control NAD is a no -frills design featuring with a numeric keypad for direct a 1 -bit MASH D A co iverter with track access and a coaxial digital 18 -bit resolution anc a five -pole output. Price: S299. NAD, Cept. (30 -dB -per -octave) analog output SR, 633 Granite Ct., Picker ng, filter that is said to ramove Ontario L1W 3K1. sampling artifacts. F ighlights Circle 133 on reader service card RECOTON No more ted, ous wire snaking Operating range is said to be with Rnoton's W440 wireless about 150 feet, and bandwidth is HAD 7:0.6 DA' 19 speaker system, which induces a given as 50 Hz to 15 kHz. An AC 900 -MHz RF (radio -frequency) adaptor is supplied for each transmitter with line -level inputs speaker. Price: $250. Recoton, and a .3air ot 6 x 9 x 6 -inch two- Dept. SR, 46-23 Crane St., Long way speakers, each with a built- Island City, NY 11101. in RF receiver and a 10 -watt amp. Circle 134 on reader service card

4 B.I.C. AMERICA The 54 -inch -tall Venturi Realta tower speaker from B.I.C. America (realta means "truth" in Italian) sports a pair 01 10 -inch woofers, two E1/4 -inch midrange drivers, and a 1 -inch titanium - dome tweeter. Its "modified D'Appolito" driver alignment (midrange -tweeter -midrange) is said to improve vertical dispersion and imaging. Bandwidth is given as 28 Hz to 27 kHz and sensitivity as 90 dB. Price: S1,199 a pair. B.I.C. America, Dept. SR, 883-E Hampshire Rc., Stow, OH 44224.

Circle 135 on reader service card SOTA Sota's Comet belt -drive turntable features a "drift -free" twenty- four -pole AC synchronous motor, a high -density -polymer platter, ESOTERIC AUDIO USA and a bearing cup made of a self- The latest interconnects from lubricating material called Esoteric Audio are available in 1 - Turcite. The company's LMT -II meter pairs. Top to bottom, the straight, fixed -head tonearm is Artus ($595), the Graphis ($50), included. Price: $550. Sota, Dept. and the Primus ($395). All have SR, 1318-B Marquette Dr., 24k -gold-plated plugs. Esoteric Romeoville, IL 60441. Audio USA, Dept. SR, RR3 Box Circle 136 on reader service card 262, Winder, GA 30680. Circle 137 on realer service card

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 17 Why won't conventional hi-fi speakers work for Home Theater?

You need three front speakers - left, right and center- to achieve realistic home theater, because a stereo pair would place the dialog in the center (where it belongs) from only one listening position. You can't use conventional hi-fi speakers for the SEE YOUR PARTICIPATING center channel, even shielded models, because their dispersion patterns prohibit KEF DEALER raising them too high or laying them on their sides. FOR A SPECIAL KEF's proprietary Uni-O`driver, which places its tweeter at the center of the INTRODUCTORY UNI-O DRIVER TECHNOLOGY OFFER ON THE LETS EVERYONE BE woofer, allowed KEF's engineers to create the ideal center channel speakers, the IN THE "SWEET SPOT.' Models 100 and 90. Their uniform dispersion patterns let them be placed beautifully REFERENCE FOR HOME THEATER. above or below the screen, creating the impression that the sound is coming directly from the screen. CALL TOLL -FREE Moreover, the Models 100 and 90 are both Reference Series, which not only ensures their quality and FOR THE DEALER consistency; it permits their use as satellites (front or rear/with or without a subwoofer) and their seamless NEAREST YOU. integration with other KEF Reference and 0 -Series loudspeakers. 1-800-859-7232 The Uni-0 driver. One of a series of KEF scientific achievements dedicated to one goal: the most realistic performance in your home.

KEF Electronics of Amenca, Inc . 1701 Touchstone Road. Colonial Heights. VA 23834 The Science of Loudspeakers CIRCLE NO. 23 ON READER SERVICE CARD SPECIAL CD OFFER

Three Cheers for Twenty Years

ELOSInternational is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, and as part of the festivities the company is offering a special CD sampler to readers ofSTEREO REVIEW, whichis celebrating its thirty-fifth anniversary. The 70 -minute sampler demonstrates the wide range of music and artists in the Delos catalog, and it's yours for a mere $4, which covers postage and handling. Send in your check or money order with the coupon below. Founded in 1973 by Amelia S. Haygood, who is still the company's president, Delos was intended from the beginning to provide a platform of high quality for American musicians, both soloists and musical groups. They were not to be limited to playing American music but would be presented in great music from any nation. Delos has, however, been a leader in recording music in increasing playing time with its "Concert Length" by American composers, and with a certain patriotic CD's, many over 70 minutes. Today all technical pride the Great aspects of Delos's projects are under the supervision of American Label. the distinguished author, engineer, and pedagogue John Artists closely associated with Delos include the Eargle. conductors Gerard Schwarz and James DePreist, the As more and more recording activity has left this Seattle Symphony, Chamber Music Northwest, the country for Europe or Japan, the editors ofSTEREO pianist Carol Rosenberger, and the clarinettist David REVIEWhave monitored the progress of Delos with Shifrin. They are all represented on the sampler with interest. We have reviewed their recordings and given the singers Arleen Auger, Vinson Cole, and Alessan- awards to several (such as Mozart's Clarinet Concerto dra Marc; the organists George Baker, David Higgs, and Hanson's Symphonies Nos.1 and 2). We salute and Todd Wilson; the Helsinki Philharmonic; the Mos- Delos on its birthday, and we are proud to offer the 20th cow Radio Symphony under Joel Spiegelman; and the Anniversary Celebration Disc to you, our readers. Glorian Duo. Newer to the Delos roster and also on the 20th Anniversary Celebration Disc are the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and the Ascension Music Chorus. Coin- THE SOUND Of DEEDS NOW AND BEYOND: ciding with the anniversary, Delos announced signing a contract with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln 20TH ANNIVERSARY CEEB lATION DISC Center under David Shifrin, and they perform a Dvotak serenade on the anniversary sampler. Other composers Send coupon and check or money order for S4 made payable to Delos International Inc. to. represented range from Palestrina, Wagner, Tchaikov- DELOS INTERNATIONAL, Attn, 1A20, 1645 N. Vine Street, Suite 340, Hollywood, CA 90028. sky, Shostakovich, and Saint-Saens to the Americans Diamond, Hanson, Fine, Hovhaness, and Piston. NAME 'please print) James Earl Jones narrates a passage from Copland's

Lincoln Portraiton the CD. ADDRESS Technically, Delos has maintained a cutting -edge (street and number) position in recording and manufacturing. A pioneer in digital technology, the company bought the first Sound - (City) (State) ILO stream digital recorder. It was the first independent classical company to market its CD's in the United States, and in 1985 it was the first to abandon LP Your check or money order for S4 coos postage and handlingOutside the United States records in favor of CD's. Delos was an industry leader send USS6 Do not send cash Allow six weeks for deliveryOtter void atter September 30,1993 BY ROBERT RIPPS,

MARYANN SALTSER, MUSIC MAKERS AND STEVE SIMELS

FAR FOUR BRITAIN'S BrodskyQuartet has been visible a lot more than your average string quartet since their recent collaboration with former New Wave enfant terrible Elvis Costello in "The Juliet Letters." They've actually been a group for over twenty years, having started making music together as pre- teens (the oldest is now thirty- UP, UP, AND AWAY! two). And while their Issey WHILE Jack Larson claims that Miyake clothes have led peo- "the nicest thing that ever hap- ple to compare them to a much pened to me was that I played funkier American ensemble, Jimmy Olsen," he's got to be the KronosQuartet, the z proud of having collaborated Brodskys have a style of their with as venerated a member of own-musically as well as sar- American classical music's in- torially speaking. Their latest ner circle as Virgil Thomson. release on Teldec, due out this How did the cub reporter of the month,couples Schubert's Daily Planet on TV's Adven- Death and the Maiden with tures of Superman (which ran George Crumb's Black Angels WHY DON'T THEY JUST LISTEN TO MITALLICA for seven seasons from 1953 to (which the Kronos has also 1959 and has been in syndicat- recorded). AND KILL THEMSELVES LIKE NORMAL IUDS? Lynyrd Skynyrd fans who attended the band's most recent ed reruns ever since) get pro- moted to writing a libretto for concerts and arrived early enough to catch the opening act, RACK IN THE Thomson's opera Lord Byron? COMMONWEALTH OF Lid Willie, may be excused for thinking they were halluci- "Because I was so typed as INDEPENDENT STATES nating. That's because four of the five members of the Jimmy when the series ended, I THE conductor Semyon Bych- Tucson -based blues -rock band are actually aged seven to quit acting," Larson says. kov returned to his native city thirteen. And if that wasn't enough, the quintet (dad Mark Now a successful film pro- to conduct the Leningrad Phil- Babani on rhythm guitar, his sons on everything else) ducer. Larson turned to writ- harmonic back in June 1991, played really, really well, sort of like Stevie Ray Vaughan ing, mostly plays, in the Sixties, and last season he became meets the Allman Brothers. No way, you say? Then look when a commission from Lin- principal guest conductor of coln Center brought Lord By- what is now the St. Petersburg for Litl Willie's debut album on Cry Baby Records (a custom label run by former Bon Jovi manager Doc ron his way. The opera, first The Brodskys: violinists performed in 1972 and tele- McGhee, which you can call toll -free, 1-800-733-5555). vised (on Live from Lincoln Michael Thomas Also look for the group to open one of this summer's big Center) in 1986. has just re- and Ian Belton, tours; we can't mention the name of the headline act, but ceived its world -premiere re- cellist Jacqueline they're from Texas and they're famous for their beards. cording on Koch International. Thomas, and violist z Thoughts ofLois Lane and O Paul Cassidy Clark Kent are obviously far Philharmonic. Bychkov emi- behind Larson, since he's cur- grated to the U.S. in 1975 at rently collaborating with the 2 the age of twenty-two and was composer Charles Fussell on a the music director of orches- new music -theater work titled tras in Grand Rapids and Buf- The Astronaut's Tale. falo before assuming the post of music director of the Or- chestre de Paris in 1989. Phil- ips has recorded him with his Paris orchestra and also with the Berlin Philharmonic. Scheduled fall releases from Paris include music from the French and Russian reper- tories: aPoulenc-Milhaud- Honegger disc and Tchaikov- Semyon sky's opera Eugene Onegin, Bychkov withtheRussianbaritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. r - PP

CHEVY CARil A 1;?( -1 PRESENTS THE CAMARO CONCERT CALENDAR

FROM THE COUNTRY THAT INVENTED

ROCK 'N ROLL

MOODY BLUES 7 23 - Bonner Springs, KS 7 30 - St. Louis, MO JULY 7/2 - Saratoga, NY Sandstone Amph. Riverport Anph. Performing Arts Ctr. 724 - St. Louis, MO 7 31 - Bonnet Springs, KS AEROSMITH - 7/6 - 7 - klenna, VA Riverport Amph. Sandstone Amph. 7/1 - Columbus,OH Wolf Trap Buckeye Lake 7/10 - Birgettstown, PA SPIN DOCTORS TINA TURNER 7/2 - Burgettstown, PA 7 1- Milwaukee, WI 7'4 - Montreal, Canada Starlake Amph. Marcus Amph. Forum Star Lake Amph. 7/12 He mdel, NJ 7/4 - East Tro, WI 7 8 - Stanhope, NJ 7/5 - Ottawa Canada Garden State Arts Ctr. Waterloo Village Civic Center Alpine Valley 7/16 - St:we, VT Perform ig Arts Ctr. 7/9 - Wantagh, NY 7/8 - Burgettstown, PA ALBERT COLLINS & Jones Beach Starlake Amph. THE ICEBREAKERS 7/17 - Wantagh, NY 7/10 - Holmdel, NJ 7/10 - Buffalo, NY 725 - Philadelphia, PA Jones Beach Garden State Arts Ctr. Darien Lake Amph. River Blues 7/18 - Mansfield, MA 7/11 - Philadelphia, PA 7/12 - 14 - New York, NY 7'30 - Snowbird, UT Great Woods Mann Music Center Radio City Music Hall Jazz & Blues Fest 7/21 - Tc. onto, ONT 7/13 - Mansfield, MA 7/16 - 17 - New York, NY 7 31 - Telluride, CO Ontario Place Great Woods Radio City Music Hall Koto Concert Series 7/25 - St Louis, MO 7'14 - New Haven, CT Riverport Amph. Coliseum STEVE MILLER 7/26 - Cincinnati, OH 7 15 - Middletown, NY AUGUST 7/1 - 2 - Wantagh, NY Riverbed Amph. Orange Cty. Fairgrounds Jones Beach ALBERT COLLINS & POISON 7'16 - Hershey, PA THE ICEBREAKERS 7/3 - Saratoga Springs. NY Hershey Pk. Stadium Pert. Arts Center 7/2 - Bakersfield, CA 8/1 - Winter Park, CO Kern Cc unty Fair - 7 18 - Buffalo, NY Winter Park Jazz Fest 7/6 - 7 - Holmdel, NJ Darien Lake Amph. Garden State 7/3 - Laguna Hills, CA 8/6 - Gresham, OR Irvine Meadows Amph. -7/19 - Maple, ONT Mt. Hood Jazz Fest 7/9 - 10 - New York, NY Kingswood Paramount 7/4 - San Bernadino, CA 8/7 - Seattle, WA - Backstage Glen Helen Pay. - 7/20 - Cuyahoca Falls, OH 7/14 - Atlanta GA Blossom Lakewood 7/12 - Portland, OR SPIN DOCTORS Portland Coliseum 7/21 - Clarkston, MI 8'1 - Oklahoma City, OK 7/15 - Nashville, TN Pine Knob Zoo Amph. Starwood An -ph. 7/13 - Seattle, WA Seattle Center Coliseum 7'24 - Noblesv Ile, IN 8/3 - New 0 -leans, LA 7/16 - St. Lou s, MO Municipal Audit. Riverport Amph. 7/15 - Mountain View, CA Deer Creek Shoreline Amph. 7 25 - Tinley Park, IL 8/7 - Dallas. TX 7/17 - Kansas City. MO Starplex Anph. Sandstone Anph. 7'16 - Sacramento, CA World Music Theater Cal. Expo Amph. 7 26 - Minneapolis, MN 8/17 - Vancouver, B.C. 7/20 - 21 - Delver, CO Northrup Audit. Pacific Coliseum Red Rocks 7,18 - Perk City, UT Park West Ampn. 7 27 - Omaha, NE 8/21 - Berkeley, CA 7/23 - Oklahoma City, OK Civic Audit. Greek Theater Zoo Amph. 7'20 - Englewood, CO Fiddlers Green Amph. 7 29 - Cinncinnati, OH 826 - San Diego, CA 7/24 - Dallas, TX Riverbend Amph. Open Air Theater Starplex Amph. 722 - Wichita, KS 7/25 - Woodlands, TX Kansas Coliseum 8 28 - Los Angeles, CA Woodlands Greek Theatre 7/29 - Los Argeles, CA Greek Theatre 41111111141"billililll111111r It Has 275 Horsepower. A Six -Speed Transmission. Dual Air Bags. And A Cup Holder Big Enough To Hold A Slurpee:

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First Rock. Now this. You're Atli 325 lb. -ft of torque. Then integrated rear spoil looking at the complete re- installed it in a monocoque slip differential. A invention of the Chnry Camaro stricture thit'i 23% stiffer than rear stabilizer bars. Then we Z28. We started with the most last year's. We made it the first turned our attention to the technologically advanced small- and only car in its class with interior. And created an ergo- plock V8 in Chevrolet history. standard dual air bags* and nomically correct cockpit that The LT1. With 275 horsepower. anti -lock brak-m.t We gave it an puts virtually every control

Nlwayswear safety hells, even with air hags. tExcludes other GM prolsets.**SeelwLmr dea'et for terms of this limited warranty. Chevrolet and Camaro Z28 arc registered --41111118111111111..me. within easy reach. Not to men- And a paint system so ad- The new Camaro Z28. What tion your Siu:pee?We assem- vanced, engine?.. -s at Mercedes- else would you expect from the bled it with :Ir_ most advanced Barz' Lave paid our factory a country that brought you the quality control, we've eve: used visit to see how we do it. So it's Slam Dunk. The Home Run. to build a car. Like a serks of no wonder the rev Z23 comes And Rock and Roll. laser cameras :hat measu:e the wi=n a 3-year/36.000-mile Bum- exactness of 54 dimensions. per to Bumper Plus Warranty- CHEVY CAMARO

trademarks and Cfcv7ii a trades' irk of ric GM Coip. 01991 Corp All Right. (.served. Ilt.ckle up, America! lit:vow invented disclaimers, too. MUSIC MAKERS ->

A TOUGH CROWD, BUT A FAIR CROWD AUDIENCESat Milan's Teatro alla Scala are often as vocal as the singers onstage. They're a loyal bunch too, and the memory of Maria Callas's legend- THE LIZZIE BORDEN ary mid -1950's performances AWARD GOES TO ... of Verdi'sLa Traviatahad AND speaking of Eric Clapton, made it all but unthinkable to we found it strange that no- remount this popular opera. body at the Grammy ceremo- Well, it took decades before nies seemed to notice that Jim anyone tried a new production Gordon-the guitar great's co - at La Scala, but music director writer for Layla, this year's win- Riccardo Muti scored a tri- ner for Best Rock Song-is fa- umph in 1990 with a youthful mous for a reason unrelated to all -Italian cast headed by the music: To wit, he's a convicted unknown Tiziana Fabbricini axe -murderer. A member of asVioletta.The soprano's Clapton's band Derek and the Dominos in the early Seven- ties, and later one of the most highly paid session drummers 8 in the world, Gordon developed mental problems that by the early Eighties had him "hearing" voices urging him to hack THOSE FABULOUS SIXTIES his mother to bits-which he You may have noticed that bell-bottoms are back, so it is did. Now institutionalizedin perhaps no surprise that yet another Sixties artifact-the California,Gordonnonethe- legendary rock trio Cream-is reliably rumored to be less "watched the [Grammy] show and is pleased to have reuniting for a fall album and tour, their first (of both) since won," according to his busi- 0 1968. The group-Eric "Mr. Grammy" Clapton, drummer ness manager, John Arthur Fabbricini: Ghostbustort Ginger Baker (currently with Cream-wannabes Masters of Thomas (who, incidentally, will Reality), and peripatetic bassist Jack Bruce-apparently keep the actual trophy,be- performance was greeted with got along so well during their January induction into the cause "Jim asked me to hang mixed reviews at the Met last Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that they decided to crank the onto it for him"). Asked if Gor- March, but she is scheduled to amps up to eleven and do it one more time. Hard to say don is the first matricidal Gram- repeat the role at several ma- my winner, the president of the jor European opera houses. whether this is a good idea, but a listen to Bruce's just - released "Something Els" album on CMP, on which he National Academy of Record- Has the ghost of Callas been ing Arts and Sciences, Michael put to rest? You can judge for and Clapton collaborate for the first time since Cream's Greene. would say only, "That yourself: Sony released a CD "Goodbye," should provide some insight. As will, we would be a safe assumption, at version in May, and laserdisc suspect, Bruce's upcoming "New Blues" album, which least for Rock Song of the and videotape versions are will feature (you guessed it) Ginger Baker. Year." due in September.

SOMEONE ALERT BILL COSBY LATESTalternative rock types to sell out (sort of): Green Jellii. Currently ubiquitous on MTV with theirThree Little Pigsclip, the L.A. outfit- marketed as the world's first video -only banduntilthey started to make it, whereupon they changed their sales strat- egy, released a CD, and went on tour-has cravenly changed its name to Green Jelly. Why? Because of a threatened law- suit by General Foods Corp., makers of you know what. We Jim Gordon: ask you-is there nothing left HI, Mond to believe in?

24 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 2 2 I a GET 8 COMPACT DISCS

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5, at 111 Eric Clapton: BUSINESS REPLY MAIL Unplugged FIRST CLASS MAILPERMIT NO 5071 INDIANAPOLIS. IN !Duck)230 POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

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C.Go( verMloorx Stop Making Sense (Atlantic) 00423 (Giant) 01191 (Sire) 24560 Cecilia Barton: Roger Whittaker: Williams: The Very Best If You Love Me All About Love Of The Boston Pops Best Of Robert Palmer) Peter Cetera. London) 00862 (Liberty) 14696 (Philips) 15319 Addictions World Falling Down (Island) 10819 (Warner Bros.) 63423 Beauty and the BoaaVSdtk. Jackson Browne) (Disney) 10780 Sting: The Soul Cages Air Supply: Greatest Hits Running On Empty (ABM) 25218 (Arista) 34424 Nell Diamond: ilBrooks 8 )Elektral 11056 12 Greatest Hits Pretenders: The Singles The Judds: Dunn: Hard Stephanie Mills: (MCA) 84050 (See' 33248 Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 Woridn' Man Zrthcia2R6eal AerosmIth: Pump Natalie Cole: (RCA) 74054 (Arista) 00657 (Geffen) 63678 Unforgettable Billy Idol: Vital Idol Portrait (Capitol) 01190 (Elektra) 83452 Clint Black: The Hard Way (Chrysalis) 54038 Motley Crue) (RCA) 35458 Vanessa Rubin, Pastiche The Rascals' Greatest Hfts Decade Of Decadence Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (Novas) 01267 Time Peace Judy Garland: The Best Michael W Smith: )Elektral 40298 Arrested Development (Warner Bros I24025 Jethro Tull: (Atlantic) 00357 01 The Decca Years, Vol. Change Your World Nirvana. Nevermind MCA) 10497 Unpled Tears For Fears: Original Masters Garth Brooks: (Geffen: Reunion) 20938 (DGC) 15600 (Ctrya) 01417 Tears Roll Down (Chrysalis) 63846 Ropin. The Wind The Go-Gos The Best Of The (The Hits 1982-1992) Eagles: Hotel California (liberty) 25535 Greatest Hits Double Brothers (Fontana) 80162 p.R S ,ABM) 50315 (Warner Bros.) 43738 (Asylum) 30030 Wilson Phillips: HERE'S HOW THE CLUB WORKS: Shadows 8 Light America: History Marcus Roberts: (SBK) 40763 (Greatest Hits) IfI Could Be With You Get 8 for the Price of 11 Start by choosing 4 FREE CDs (Warner Bros ) 23757 (Novas: 00753 from this ad. Then buy just 1selection at regular Club Nelson Rangell: p Truest Heart price (currently $14.98 and up) within a year. As soon as Reba McEntire: (GRP) 01166 we receive your payment, you'll get a certificate good for Ws Your Call your choice of 3 more CDs FREE! Shipping and handling (MCA) 00422 Alan Jackson: A Lot Start with 4 FREE Compact Discs now About Livin' (And A Little charges are added to all shipments. The BMG Compact 'Bout Love) 1at regular Club price Disc Club is unlike other clubs which make you buy 6 (Arista) 74074 CDs at full price to complete your commitment. Buy only within a year Yes: Classic Yes 10 -Day Trial! Along with your 4 introductory selections. Patsy Cline: John Mellencamp: (Atlantic) 50248 more CDs of your 2 Greatest Hits Then get you'll receive a "Welcome Package" with complete details Whenever We Wanted choice. FREE (MCA) 53849 (Mercury) 74582 Joe Henderson: Lush Life 3 on how the Club works. Enjoy your introductory selec- (Verve) 05611 Unda Ronstadt: Kennedy: Vivaldi, The tions for 10 days. If you are not completely satisfied. you Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 Four Seasons Phish: Rift may return them without any further obligation. (Elektral 63905 (EMI Classics) 43419 (Elektra) 01238 Enjoy 8 CDs for the price of l! Club Music Mailings Heart: Michael Crawford: SongsBlues Brothers: in' Rock The House "Live"! From Stags And Screen The Definitive Collection About every three weeks (19 times a year), you'll (Capitol) 05603 (A: antic) 53704 (Atlantic) 43711 Nothing more to buy...EVER! receive our exclusive Club catalog which contains hundreds of selections from which to choose. COMPLETE THIS REPLY CARD TODAY AND SAVE! Each issue highlights a Featured Selection from your preferred music category. If you'd like the Featured Mail to: BMG Compact Disc Club / P.O. Box 91412 / Indianapolis, IN 46291-0021 Selection, do nothing and it will be sent to you automatically. INSTANT 0 Please accept my membership in the BMG Compact Disc Cluband send my 4 FREE selections as I have If you prefer an alternate selection, or none at all, indicated here under the terms of this offer.I need buy just gne more CD at regular Club price during the simply return the Notification Card enclosed with each next year. As soon as you get my payment. Iwill receive a certificate good for my choice of 3 more CDs issue of your magazine by the date specified on the card. FREE! Shipping and hardling charges are added to all shipments That's 8 for theprice of 1. with nothing 50% OFF more to buy...ever! You have at least 10 days to return the Notification BONUS DISCOUNTS Card. If you do not want the Featured Selection, and 49 RUSH ME THESE 4 CDS NOW do not have 10 days. you may return the Featured (Indicate by number) Selection at our expense. The BMG Compact e) I am most interested in the music category checked here, but Iam always free to choose from any Disc Club Difference (check gip on(y): Save with Instant Bonuses. From the moment you join, you are entitled to a 50% -off Bonus with every CD you buy at 1 LIGHT SOUNDS 2 COUNTRY 3 CI HARD ROCK 4 El] POP/SOFT ROCK regular Club price Just buy one and take another at 50% off. Dionne Warwick You earn Reba McEntire Aerosmith Madonna And the sales get even better the longer you're a member. Frank Sinatra INSTANT 50% -OFF Brooks 8 Dunn Bon Jovi Sting Stay a member as long as you like. After joining the BONUS DISCOUNTS 5 El CLASSICAL 11) 6 JAll 7 HEAVY METAL Club. you'll enjoy additional sales and discounts on your when you buy a CD Luciano Pavarotti Pat Metheny Iron Maiden Ithak Perlman favorite music. However, after you pay for your regular - Tellowiackets Megadeth Club -price selection, you may cancel your membership at regular Club price. IMr Just buy one, and take simply by writing to us. f(irirs another at half off. First Name MS India! Last Name (PLEASE PRINT) If the reply earl Is missing, please write to: BMG With other clubs, you Compact Disc Club / P.O. Box 91412 / Indianapolis. IN Address must first buy 6 Apt. 46291-0021 or more at full City State Zip t Parental advisory; explicit lyrics. price and become a

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(1) Members who choose CLASS CAL as their listening interest will be serviced by the BMG Classical MusicService. NM Ca Dog and Horn are trademarks of Photocopies of this reply card are acceptable We reserve the right to request any additional information or reject any application COMPACT General Electric Company, USA. Limited to new members Local taxes. if any, will be added. Otter available in continental USA, Alaska and Hawaii. The BMG Logo is a trademark of Offer not available in Puerto Rico, APO or FPO. MCLUIIM- BMG Music. THE WINNER OF

The 9111 HOOPIONS Cartoon Caution Contest

LET'S hear a round of applause for Brian Hoffman of New York City! Mr. Hoffman is the winner of the Ninth Rodrigues Cartoon Caption Contest, and his winning entry is printed under the drawing. As we did in previous years, in our issue of January 1993 we published a drawing by our regular cartoonist, Charles Rodrigues, and invited readers to submit captions for it. The prize for the one the judges considered to be the funniest is $100 and the original drawing. The editors of STEREO REVIEW congratulateMr.Hoffman and thank the thousands of other readers who also submitted captions. We received entries from across 'And wall -mounting is easy. You don't need brackets; just rub 'em on your head." the United States and Canada and from such faraway places as Brazil, Germany, Poland, School of Medicine in New York, describes himself as the Philippine Islands, and Trinidad and Tobago. an audiophile and says his collection of classical CD's is We also thank the previous winners, who served as expanding more rapidly than the "distinguished" pop judges: Thomas Briggle (Wadsworth, Ohio), Michael group. He has a couple of keyboards at which he Binyon (Weaverville, California), Bruce Barstow (Phil- composes and makes arrangements, and he conducts adelphia, Pennsylvania), Matthew Mirapaul (Evanston, an a cappella group he founded at the medical school. Illinois), Marc Welenteychik (Richmond, Virginia), If you like one of the runners up below better than Douglas Daughhetee (Birmingham, Alabama), Kelly Mr. Hoffman's winning caption, we hope you will Mills (Raleigh, North Carolina), and Diane Sullivan exercise restraint and not tell us about it. We expect to (New Brunswick, Canada). announce next year's contest in the issue of January There were a few entries similar to the winner or 1994. -William Livingstone runners up. but in every case we chose the one we received first. There were a great many entries about RUNNERS UP declawed cats, air -suspension systems, and pumping "That slight hiss? That's what tone controls are for." up the volume, but none of them quite made it. Many -Alvin Stein, Freehold, NJ readers' minds were on safe -sex audio, anatomical "You think that's strange, you should see what's happening correctness, and inflatable dolls. There was even a down at the tire store." -George Emmons, Media, PA disgusting entry about an inflatable sheep! "We sell them mostly to virile males in their late twenties who As usual the most frequently mentioned composition have subwoofer-satellite systems but still need that 'macho big -speaker' look." -Jim Bennett, Medina, OH was Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Madonna was the "Who said vinyl is dead?" -Dwight Smith, Tempe, AZ most frequently named performer, and famous people mentioned for the first time in Rodrigues contests "For the best sound you have to take out all the old analog air and put in fresh new digital air." included Salvador Dali, Christian Slater, Al Gore, Jesse -Steven Mark Popko, San Diego, CA Helms, and Rush Limbaugh. Companies mentioned in "Well, 1 could give you a pretty good deal on a display the entries included Amoco, Bose, Goodyear, JBL, model." -Jeremy Mattson, Modesto, CA Klipsch, Polk, Reebok, and Victoria's Secret. "You like their tires. You like their blimps. You're gonna love Mr. Hoffman, a second -year student at Mt. Sinai their speakers." -Richard Kenyada, Lithonia, GA

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 25 AUDIO EH\ BY IAN 0. MASTERS

Too Much Power? big differences in level. In some decks this / am considering upgrading my almost matching is far from perfect, even though the thirty -year -old system by buying a new recorder is otherwise functioning well, so the receiver. To get the features I want, I will level difference there is "normal." If it both- end up with 100 to 120 watts per channel of ers you, a service shop could adjust the deck's power. I intend to keep my old speakers, which output, but with a two -head deck, you don't still sound great, but they are rated at 70 watts really need to worry about it. each. What's the best way to protect them jfI do If you are monitoring off the tape itself with buy the more powerful receiver? a three -head machine, however, such a differ- JAMES D. FAULKNER ence might signal a mismatch between your St. George, ME recorder and the tape you are using-especially if the effect varies with different brands of AYou probably don't need to do anything. tape-and that could easily affect the quality The audible difference between 70 and of recordings made with Dolby noise reduc- 100 watts is fairly small (about 1.5 dB), tion. The remedy is to find a tape more suit- and unless you like your music extraordinarily able for your deck, which may take a fair bit of STEREO loud, the signal will approach these levels only trial and error unless its manufacturer has for very short periods of time-too short to do some specific recommendations. damage. Most of the time, the amplifier will be CATALOG loafing along at a watt or two. Amplifier Bridging have heard of the practice of "bridging" Sony The catalog you've Car Noise Reduction an amplifier in order to get more power ou Pioneer always wished you / have begun to make Dolby C tapes from of it. How is this done? Is it a good idea? Kenwood could find-over 150 my digital cable radio service. I would like J. M. FERRER Mitsubishi pages of full color photos, 0to play these in my car, but my car stereo Van Nuys. CA complete descriptions, only has Dolby B. Would I achieve better signal- Panasonic exclusive comparison to-noise performance by dubbing the tapes ACertain stereo amplifiers are designed so JVC charts and "no jargon" from C to B, or simply recording them in Dolby that the two channels can be combined to NHT explanations of features B in the first place? DENNIS F TERRIBILE one for mono operation, usually with Norfolk. VA more total power than the sum of the two Bose and functions. individually. The technique is called "bridg- Advent Low discount prices on AIf you listen to the tapes only in the car, ing" or "strapping." and the capability must Infinity the latest in home audio, you might as well record in Dolby B to be designed into the amplifier from the begin- EPI car stereo, video and start with and save yourself an extra tape ning. Most amplifiers can' be bridged (and generation. If you also want to listen to them may be damaged if you try). If the instruction AT&T home theater, telephones and computers. in your home, however, you should probably manual doesn't mention bridging, forget about X-10 stick with Dolby C and continue to make dubs it.Bridging an amplifier will make itless Blaupunkt Full service, no -pressure for the car, although in some cases a C - tolerant of low -impedance loads and unusable Alphasonik buying and technical encoded tape decoded by Dolby B circuitry with any load that creates a common ground help. Everything covered sounds pretty good in the noisy interior of a between channels (rare), but otherwise there Kicker by a 30 -day Total moving vehicle. are no drawbacks to the practice. Pyle Satisfaction Guarantee. Tape -Monitor Level Add -On Confer Call now or send this coupon When! make a tape recording and push the IIMy A/V receiver doesn't provide a center - monitor switch to the tape position, there is channel output, but it does have terminals for your free Crutchfield 0a very noticeable drop in level compared for a second pair of main stereo speakers. I audio/video/computer catalog with the source position. Is that normal? would like to have the improved imaging of a ANTHONY D. ACCURSO center channel. Is there any way to do that West Seneca, NY without buying a new receiver? 800-955-9009 GONZALO GOMEZ U.S. and Canada, 8 am - Midnight, 7 days a week AIt may be normal for your equipment, but Flushing, NY Be sure to mention Stereo Review when calling I would findit very annoying. In the source position, a tape -monitor switch AIn the days of vacuum tubes and output simply feeds the signal from the amplifier's transformers, it was a fairly routine mat- Name input selector to the main output; in the tape ter to derive a center channel from the position, this direct path is interrupted and main stereo pair. With solid-state electronics, you hear the output from the tape recorder however, there's no simple way to do this. Address Apt. # instead.Ideally,therefore, therecorder Even if you could, the left -plus -right signal should be adjusted for "unity gain"-the level that would come from the center speaker should be the same going in and coming out would serve as much to reduce the apparent when the input is set for optimum recording City State Zip width of the soundstage as to improve imag- level-so that switching back and forth being. All -left signals, for instance, would come tween source and monitor should produce no from both the left and center speakers and

CRUTCHFIELD 26 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 Crutchfield Park. Dept SR. Charlottesville. VA 22906 L1 therefore seem to be located between the two used to a decade ago, and that often means rather than at the extreme left. higher power to handle the increased dynamic Dolby Pro Logic and some ambience -en- range. But if you had enough watts to play hancement systems not only mute the center really good analog recordings, and your material to the appropriate speaker but effec- speakers could handle them, the same equip- tively remove it from the main stereo chan- ment should do nicely for CD's. In any event, nels, thus maintaining separation. To get that don't do anything until you have listened R,Acousncs effect, you'll need either an outboard proces- carefully to CD's with the equipment you ROOM sor or a new receiver. have; if it sounds fine, don't feel that you have to replace it. DESIGNED Amplifier Polarity LOUDSPEAKERS My amplifier inverts polarity, although I Pro Audio Gear understand that many others don't. What is I have seen ads for professional audio 0the advantage, if any, to inverting the equipment whose specs seem to be about polarity of an audio signal? the same as for home gear. Are there any GARFIELD FRANCIS advantages or disadvantages to using profes- quality Rego Park, NY sional equipment in a domestic system? RDL loudspeaker systems are RANDALL L. COLLINS AAn audio signal is a form of alternating Omaha, NE priced from $198 to $549 per current (AC), but unlike the stuff the pair, yet even the least expensive electric company delivers to your wall AThe "professional" tag has been used models have Roy Allison's plugs, it's asymmetrical: The positive and since the beginning of home audio to give pulsating -cone tweeter. Maga- negative portions of the waveform have differ- certain equipment the aura of better than ent shapes. It may seem important, therefore, average quality, on the theory that it must be zine reviewers have published to maintain the proper polarity of the signal great if the pros use it. Back then, almost these comments on this revolu- (also called its "absolute phase") throughout nothing that was called professional (or such the chain, from the originating microphone to words as "monitor" or "studio") really had tionary tweeter design: your speakers, so that an air compression in anything to do with professional audio. If a the recording studio would be a compression particular model did have professional roots, "The frequency response meas- in your listening room, and a rarefaction a it probably also embodied a number of com- ured in the reverberant field of rarefaction. There are those who hold this promises in the interests of durability or spe- the room was. ..flat from principle as an article of faith, but in fact it cial functions that would never be needed in doesn't seem to matter a whole lot. For one the home. These compromises would have 2,500 to 20,000 Hz, varying thing, even if you were sure that your own been made at the expense of performance or, only ± 1dB over that range." system had phase integrity throughout-that more often, at considerable extra cost. Either none of your components inverted polarity- way, "professional" gear was almost never "Above all, the uniform disper- you still wouldn't know what had happened appropriate for the average audiophile. sion at all frequencies produces between the performance in the studio and the The gap has narrowed somewhat today, and mastering of the recording. consumers are probably less gullible about a beautifully stable image. In Even in the few instances where a differ- equipment that's "pro" in name only. But it's fact, the [speakers] seem to still true that people who create recordings ence can be heard when polarity is switched disappear in the music..." back and forth, the difference is extremely often have requirements different from yours, subtle, and it's virtually impossible to deter- and the extras still cost money. Buy them if mine which is "better." If it disturbs you that you want, but don't expect much in the way of your amplifier inverts phase, simply reverse improved performance. the wiring to both your speakers to restore the previous polarity. (Switching only one would affect relative polarity and destroy your imag- Microwave Damage ing-but that's another story.) III have a floor -standing storage unit in my breakfast room that houses my CD collection. It is located 2 or 3 feet from a micro- To the best of our knowledge, Upgrading forCD wave oven. Could any damage occur to the When I bought tn) compact disc player, discs because of this proximity? better performance than that several audio salesmen told me I would HAROLD C. MARSHALL can't be bought at any price. 0have to upgrade the rest of my system New Bern, NC because great advances had been made in For your free direct -sale catalog amplifier design and manufacture sinceI AIf your microwave is leaking enough radi- of RDL speakers and systems, bought my present setup. Since I have never ation to zap your CD's, it is also capable had a problem with my components, do I need of cooking certain vital parts of your call 1-800-227-0390 or to replace them? Or are these salesmen simply body, so I wouldn't sweat the discs. I'd be Fax 1-800-227-9047 or trying to sell more equipment? more concerned that airborne cooking grease ON-LINE (BBS)1-800-227-0391 TIMOTHY E. JOHNSON might be deposited on the playing surfaces, Bristow, OK which could befoul your player and eventually disrupt the laser's ability to focus on the data. ATimes are tough, so maybe you shouldn't If you keep the discs in their jewel boxes and blame the audio salesmen for trying to the storage unit has a door, however, you make a bit more commission. There have should not have a problem. Exclusive been subtle design changes over the years, of Designs by course, but unless something is very wrong Roy Allison with your equipment there is no good reason If you have a question about hi -fl, to replace it just because you have added a CD send It to O&A, Stereo Review, player. Certainly digital audio does demand 1633 Broadway, New York, NY 100T9. more from both amplifiers and speakers than Sorry, only questions chosen LACOUSTICS the sort of compressed analog signals we were for publication can be answered. 26 Pearl Street No. 15 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 27 Bellingham, MA 02019 Tel: 508-966-2200 Fax: 508-966-3645 Hologram "snaps" of tweeter showing no modal resonance, moderate amounts, and excessive amounts, each reflecting the use of different materials. The far left is Polk's Trilaminate tweeter. DYNAMIC BALANCE; SEE IT IN PICTURES BEFORE YOU HERR IT IN PERSON. Before we could design and build speakers as sophisticated as the new LS Series, we had to design and build a whole new way to "look" at speakers. At Johns Hopkins' Center for Non -Destructive Evaluation, a joint Polk/Hopkins team created a new Full -Field, Quasi -heterodyne, Laser Interferometry test. Much more useful than ronounceable, it allowed us for the first time to take a full -field hologram "snap shot" of croscopic forms of distortion generated by speaker materials themselves. In the LS Series, the manifestation of Dynamic Balance- is brilliantly executed with dition of aramid fibers to the cone, insuring that music, not unwanted resonance, liter- ps off the cone. Through a new patented process known as vapor deposition, we formed a trilami- weeter dome of aluminum, stainless steel, and polyamide. This turned out to be quite the misical combo, providing all the listening ease of soft domes with the superb liveliness of me,o1 domes. Styling in the LS Series is not only breathtaking, it is highly functional. The slim, tapered cabinet design belies its technological contribution. The angled sides break up stand- w3ves inside the cabinet, so detrimental to midrange performance. At the same time, this design feature also enhances the stereo presentation dramatically. All LS Series speakers are available in a striking, gloss rosewood laminate. The LS50 and L70 are als: offered in oak laminate with the LS90 available in natural Oak. And ecru one of them is Dynamically Balanced. Our pictures prove it. Ard so will your ears at your Polk Dealer. THE NEW LS SERIES FROM THE SPEAKER SPECIALISTS OF

././ 5601 M o Dr i ,Baltimore MD ,1215 USA, (410) 358-360, In Canada call (411E47-88 SIGNALS ' t4 BY KEN C. POHLMANN

prerecorded DCC tapes are currently nent in a system has as profound an made from I6 -bit masters, which lim- effect on sound quality as the loud- Reality Check its the finished tapes to CD quality. speakers. That's because they alter Unless you're yearning to make your the signals fed to them more than any liKAY. Your job, which was look- own recordings, upgrade to CD first. other component. Because speakers ing kind of shaky for a while, is That old receiver of yours has never have different frequency responses, now solid. Your credit-card ven- quite been the same since your neph- radiationpatterns,anddistortion dor has just lowered itsrates ew spilled Tab inside it. Reality Check: characteristics, they all sound differ- from unbelievably excruciating This has realpotential.Receivers ent. But how much should you spend? to moderately excruciating. Yes, have, in general, improved significant- The lion's share of the cost often goes this looks like a good time to upgrade ly in recent years (thanks largely to the to the furniture part of speakers. your stereo system. But before you introduction of CD). A new receiver That's one reason some relatively low - charge forward and start charging, could give you more power and possi- price speakers sound better than more let's take a moment for a reality check. bly some creature comforts you might expensive ones. Where are they? Get Bang for the buck, what really makes not enjoy now, such as remote con- a full tank of gas and travel from store an audio system sound better? trol. But make sure it's got full audio/ to store, and back again, listening Because of the need to invest in video capabilities, such as inputs ga- carefully. You'll find them. your infrastructure (that is, food and lore, a surround -sound processor, and Suppose your speakers are pretty rent), you never really got around to the ability to drive multiple speakers. good. Should you skip this category? buying a CD player. How about join- That way you've got the basis for your Reality Check: Unless your upstream ing the digital era? Reality Check: Yes. future home theater system. Alterna- system has a weak link, I'm always in Absolutely. Run, don't walk, to your tively, you might consider separate favor of speaker upgrades. It's easy to audio dealer, pick out a player that components. They cost more but offer find speakers that sound better, or at sells for $300 or so, and buy it. While greater flexibility, easier upgrading, least different. That's right. I'm advo- you're at it, buy $200 worth of discs. and, usually, better performance. Ei- cating simply changing speakers. A From this evening on, your life will be ther way, get digital inputs and outputs person can get tired of the sound of a different, and better. You can thank so you'll be able to use the growing particular set of speakers. When that me, care of STEREO REVIEW. number of digital source components. happens, it's fun to buy something Suppose you already have a CD Perhaps you are tempted to follow else. The sound will be different, and player. How about a new CD player? the advice of that audiophile friend of you'll hear things you didn't hear be- Reality Check: Unless your CD player yours-the one who raves about how fore.It'slike having new ears inis really old or is malfunctioning, there exotic,high -pricecablesimprove stalled, only you won't have to read- is little point in buying a new player. sound quality. Reality Check: Some just your sunglasses. Speaking of ears, Sound -quality improvement, if any, people hear this improvement, and you might consider a pair of head- will be slight. One exception: If you're some don't. There are people who phones. They can provide incredible looking for convenience, a CD chang- seem to hear a lot of things others fidelity at relatively low cost. er is certainly cooler than a single -disc don't. True, some people have better If your current speakers are pretty model. Another exception:If your preamplifier has digitalinputs and your CD player doesn't have a digital output, a new player, with digital out- Take a moment for a reality check: Bang for the buck, put, might be a sound investment, particularly if you're eyeing those two what really makes an audio system sound better? new digital recording formats. Hey! That's right! How about the MiniDisc and Digital Compact Cas- sette? Reality Check: Yes, they are hearing than others, but do you want to good and you aren't tired of them, is certainly cool, but would they im- spend money on something that might there a way to improve their sound prove your system's sound quality? not make an audible improvement and quality? Reality Check: There sure is. They are designed to replace the ana- thatis debatable from a scientific It's called a subwoofer. Many primary log cassette; if you're still messing standpoint anyway? Sure, if you have speakers provide good fidelity over with cassettes, you should consider an ultra -high -end system and want ex- most of the audio range but lack deep MD and DCC. MD is very convenient pensive cables, go ahead. But for the bass response. A good subwoofer (and and very portable. But MD's first - average guy, I don't think so. the amplifier that drives it) will give generation sound quality isslightly Speakers. Your current pair has a you that bottom octave you've been inferior to that of CD, while its price is dry, hacking cough whenever there's a missing. Go ahead, crank it up! But if much higher. DCC's sound quality drum sound. Reality Check: Get your your landlord gives you the heave-ho, equals or surpasses that of CD, but credit card ready. No other compo- don't come crying to me.

30 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 esign Reference Always at the cutting edge of Once confined exclusively to high Creatively designed for maximum technology and innovative design, end home and studio components, flexibility and versatility, our DR tweet- Coustic's team of audiophiles/engi- DR amplifiers make available an all ers can be surface mounted or flush neers is again setting a milestone with discrete, class "A", Optimized Transient mounted with either a snap -on housing the debut of our new premiere Design Response, nalanced input circuitry for or a special mounting plate. ReferenceTM series, creatively engi- the first time in the automobile. This neered and handcrafted in the U.S.A. circuit is ideal for the noisy environment because of its high noise rejection and low transient distortion characteristics. The high -quality construction of these DR amplifiers allows them to drive systems accurately and with sufficient headroom to meet the critical demands of contemporary recordings. All components used are carefully selected to ensure quality, reliaoility Sophisticated computer modeling and performance. and simulation techniques were DA -55 Digital to Analog Processor employed to develop our innovative Coustic's DA -55, an advanced series of high fidelity speaker systems. Digital to Analog Processor, created Combining the latest technology especially for the car audio environ- and materials available, unique ment to provide the highest quality per- features were created enabling the DR formance in digital sound reproduction. speakers to produce crisp but warm Now, car audio enthusiasts can really high frequency response, sumptuous hear what they've been missing. mid -bass, tight and distortion -free low bass, superb power handling and precise stereo imagirg.

AMP-505DR Dower Amplifier Solid Ccre Acoustic Technology (SCAT) internal wiring reduces the "skin" and "modulation" effects caused by the interactions of multi -stranded wire, thus DM -2 Balanced Line Driver minimizing sonic degradation. SCAT Coustic's exclusive Balanced -Dif- exhibits superior phase coherency and ferential InterfaceTM (BDI) technology, sonic accuracy resulting in superb a balanced/differential signal interface musical clarity with tremendous bass. circuitry, is incorporated in our DM -2 Balanced Line Driver and all Design ReferenceTM electronic products to provide maximum musical fidelity with minimum noise interference.

6.5", 8", 10", 12" and 15- Woofers Coustic's serious dedication to quality and performance assures that Design Reference" components will set new standards for excellence.

DX -28 Electronic Crossover BassPump"' Subwoofer System DX -28 Mobile Electronic Crossover Representing a major breakthrough features a class "A", all discrete, Opti- in advanced subwoofer system design, mized Transient Response (OTR) Coustic's BassPumpTM subwoofer sys- balanced input and true balanced tems are engineered with our exclusive COUStie output circuitry. The very first product Critical Pressure Loading (CPL) tech- 4260 Charter Street Vernon, CA 90058-2596, USA that is capable of driving the DR ampli- nique to produce exceptional bass per- Phone: 213-582-2832 fiers in true balanced mode. formance in a "free air" environment. Fax: 213-582-4328

CIRCLE NO 44 ON READER SERVICE CARD 1- A

TECH TALK r4s"J-4f1 BY JULIAN HIRSCH

further, althoughitbecomes a bit known compass direction to the sta- strained (and even disappears) after a tion from your home, but that is not The Overlooked while. For example, the gain of an always practical (you have to know antenna increases with its size (and the heading to the transmitting anten- number of elements), but at the ex- na, not the studios). The best answer is Component pense of bandwidth (frequency cover- a rotor, and in most cases the same age). A speaker must operate with rotor can serve for FM radio and tele- NE of the principal components relative uniformity over perhaps ten vision reception, although they may of most hi-fi systems is usually octaves of frequency, in contrast to require different settings. taken for granted. It can be small the fraction of one octave required of If this sounds cumbersome, think of enough to hide behind a tuner or an FM antenna. A large radiating sur- the dedicated audiophile who has to receiver or too large to fit com- face is needed for useful output at low redesign rooms and move all the furni- 0fortably into a house. Although it audio frequencies, however. A multi - ture around to optimize the perfor- can have a significant effect on a sys- way speaker (or its equivalent in the mance of a pair of costly, bulky, and tem's sound quality (frequently greater form of an electrostatic or similar pla- heavy speakers. In contrast, even a than that of any other component), it is nar radiator) is the universal answer to very good antenna costs less than often installed haphazardly, with no this problem. $150, and a suitable support and rotor regard for the critical importance of its There is no comparable bandwidth need not add more than a few hundred placement and orientation. requirement for an FM antenna, which dollars to the cost. No, I am not referring to the loud- need only perform with reasonable I am sometimes asked to recom- speaker, but rather to its counterpart uniformity over a half -octave frequen- mend FM antennas for use in demand- at the other end of the playback sys- cy range. Since an AM tuner is a ing locations. Unfortunately, I cannot tem. Although they may appear to be functionally separate component,it do that, since testing antennas is quite completely dissimilar, antennas and has its own antenna. different (although analogous in some loudspeakers share several major similarities and limitations. Consider their installation requirements. Both are significantly affected Although they may appear to be completely by their surroundings, because reflections from nearby boundaries or ob- dissimilar, antennas and loudspeakers share jects can alter their directional characteristics.Bothmustbe oriented several major similarities and limitations. criticallyfor optimum results,the loudspeaker to beam its directional acoustic output toward the listener, Why this concern over antennas'? ways) from testing speakers. If the the antenna for the opposite reason, to Because FM radio is supposed to be a situation appears unsolvable, keep in intercept very low -power radio -fre- high-fidelity medium and can satisfy mind that, all else being equal, the quency (RF) signals from specific di- that requirement only if the signals are larger the antenna and the higher it is rections and conduct their minute sig- received with enough strength to over- placed, the better the results. nal voltages to the input of a tuner. come background noise and without Finally, a comment on indoor anten- In their basic forms (a simple dipole the interfering effects of multiple sig- nas. Most tuners and receivers are and an unbaffled driver), both anten- nals arriving from different directions furnished with wire dipoles that can be nas and speakers are very broadly at different times ("multipath" distor- tacked to a wall or behind a piece of directional, but they are usually de- tion). Anyone who has tried to listen to furniture. In many cases, these will signed to have specific directive prop- FM signals while driving in an urban suffice for reception in a strong -signal erties. In the case of an antenna, nar- area is well aware of such effects. area, although adjusting their orienta- rowing its angle of response (beam The most common solution is to use tion can be awkward (reception is usu- width) effectively increases its gain, a directional antenna aimed to receive ally best along a line at right angles to and there are analogous effects in a only one of the many signals arriving the wire). There are a number of small speaker system. Since amplifier pow- from the desired station (usually, but indoor antennas (sometimes tunable er is inexpensive, there is little need not necessarily, the primary direct, and amplified) that can be rotated or for extremely high speaker sensitivity, unreflected signal). In many locations tuned in frequency to give acceptable but an antenna has to intercept signals each station may require a different results in populated areas. In our sub- on the order of millionths of a volt, and antenna orientation, althoughitis urban New York location, we have alltuners can benefit considerably often possible that a single heading had good results with models from from higher input levels, which make will suffice. Terk and Recoton, but unfortunately possible lower noise and distortion. The correct heading for the antenna there is no way to guarantee their The analogy can be carried even can sometimes be derived from the performance in all installations. 0

32 .STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 This one's something Special

11 mg.tar". 0.8 mg. -ocotine ay. per cigarette by FTC method.

SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy. TEST EMS

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justment for setting up the Dolby Pro Logic decoder. All other operations, Nakamichi AV -1 Audio/Video Receiver including station selection, audio lev- JULIAN HIRSCH HIRSCH-HOUCK LABORATORIES el, tone -control adjustment, and the like, are done with pushbuttons. The AV -1's front -panel display win- THE AV -1is Nakamichi's most channel amplifiers are rated at 30 dow shows its complete operating sta- powerful audio/video receiver. It watts apiece, and the center -channel tus. The tuned frequency, preset chan-

contains an AM/FM digital fre- amplifier is rated at 50 watts, all at 1 nel number, and station call letters quency -synthesis tuner, a pream- kHz into 8 ohms with no more than 0.1 (when programmed by the user) ap- plifier,digital signal processing percent THD. pear in large orange characters against (DSP) circuits for simulating sev- The AV -1's large front -panel vol- a black background. Smaller red or eral acoustic environments, and five ume knob is driven by a motor when orange characters show the signal - power amplifiers. The AV -1 has com- operated from the supplied remote processing mode, tuner status and rel- plete signal -switching facilities for se- control. The receiver's only other con- ative signal strength, and tape (audio lecting and controlling tuner, CD, and trol knob is a small input -balance ad - and video) source and dubbing path phono sources, two audio tape decks, where applicable. two VCR's, and a videodisc player, 11111_ Below the window, a row of large including inputs and outputs for both DIMENSIONS pushbuttonsselectstheprogram composite -video and S -video signals. 17 INCHES WIDE. 5311 INCHES HIGH. source and dubbing configuration. The front (main) power amplifiers 141/4 INCHES DEEP The Source Direct button bypasses all are rated at 100 watts per channel into PRICI surround and response -modifying cir- 8 ohms from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, both SI.200 cuits, routing the selected program channels driven, with less than 0.1 through the volume control and direct- percent MANUFACTURE. totalharmonicdistortion NAKAMICHI AMERICA CORP.. DEPT. SR, ly to the front -channel power -amplifi- (THD). A switch on the rear of the 19701 S. VERMONT AVE... er sections. receiver enables safe full -power oper- ToRRANCE. CA 90502 Below the source selectors, a group0 ation into 4 -ohm loads. The surround - of smaller buttons controls the receiv-

34 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 from as little as 10 watts of power. That's because they take advantage of the same Bose design expertise that developed the world's most highly acclaimed loudspeakers, the 901® Direct/Reflecting® system.

From heat...to cold. From wet...to dry. You can use 151 speakers indoors or out, in places like your deck or boat, basement or bath.

In tests of conditions more extreme than those found in your home - or in nature - the special silicone -protected Kevlar and paper cone held out against the ravages of Use Bose 151 speakers indoorsorout, in heat or cold, whether it's dry or wet. l'ut them on your boat, under the eaves, in the landscaping - or use optional brackets to mount them on a wall. water, ice, and fluctuating tempera- tures. The high -impact enclosure and stainless steel grille withstood bumps and drops that could have Introducing destroyed other speakers. In fact, Bose 151 speakers proved so speaker technology reliable, we confidently back them with our limited five-year warranty.

that takes Give them your own endurance test. yourmusic Listen to Bose 151 speakers and hear the difference Bose technology makes in durability and acoustic excellence. Then, take them home from and see how they take your music from one extreme to the other. one extreme For more information, and the names of nearby Bose dealers, call toanother. toll free 1-800-444-BOSE Drenchingrain, salt water kind of sound quality that has spray, icy cold, withering heat. Can made Bose the most respected name Ext.238 any high fidelity speaker stand up to in audio. Monday- Friday 9 ANN - ') I \ I Mother Nature's worst? A heritage of That's exactly what Bose 151 acoustic excellence. environmental speakers were Compact Bose 151 speakers Better sound through research,. engineered to do. And to deliver the deliver strong, high fidelity sound TEST REPORTS er's four spatial -modification circuits. four different sets of spatial parame- groupofsmallselectorbuttons, These include Dolby Pro Logic for ters for later recall. This is done with marked Center Level, Rear Level, De- compatibly encoded video or audio thepreviouslymentionedspatial - lay, Balance, Treble, Bass, and Super programs and three synthesized envi- modifier buttons, which are also num- Bass. The up/down buttons adjust the ronments identified as Natural, Hall, bered 1 through 4. In addition to its value of a selected function in ten and Stadium. The Hall environment normal function, each button can be steps for each of the tone controls and simulates the effect of a typical con- used to store one set of user -selected nine steps for the full range of the cert hall by adding reverberation to the parameters, retrievable by pressing balance adjustment. The delay can be delayed signals supplied to the sur- the Memory Call button. The adjust- adjusted in 10 -millisecond intervals. roundspeakers.Stadium provides able parameters include the level of Thetrebleand basstone -control longer delays and more reverberation, each channel, delay time (from 10 to as ranges are typical of modern receiv- whereas Natural (for use with pro- much as 150 or 250 milliseconds, ex- ers, but the Super Bass feature is grams containing considerable rever- cept for the Pro Logic mode, which is unusual and convenient, cutting in beration) adds mainly an array of limited by Dolby specification to a about an octave lower than the main discretesignaldelaysrather than range of 15 to 30 milliseconds), and bass control. A small loudness -com- reverberation. tone -control settings. pensation button is located near the Other buttons control the Surround The tone -control, level, and delay volume knob. Memory function, which enables the adjustments are performed with a sin- Other front -panel features include user to program and store as many as gle pair of up/down buttons and a the tuning buttons, small adjacent buttons that select AM or FM and auto- 1 matic stereo switching with intersta- tion muting or mono FM reception MEASUREMENTS without muting for weak signal recep- TUNER SECTION Clipping headroom tion. A grid of small buttons is used for storing as many as thirty AM or FM All figures are for FM only except frequency (relative to rated output) 1.2 dB response. Dynamic power channel presets or for direct numerical tuning to any frequency. These but- Usable sensitivity (mono) 14.2 dBf 8 ohms 162 watts 4 ohms tons can also be used to add your own 50 -dB quieting sensitivity 180 watts five -digit alphanumeric identifier to mono 17 dBf Dynamic headroom (relative to rated output) 2.1 dB each preset memory, which will be stereo 45 dBf displayed when that preset is selected. Signal-to-noise ratio (at 65 dBf) Maximum distortion (THD + N at rated power, 20 Hz to 20 kHz into 8 ohms) At the lower left of the panel are a 1110110 82 dB stereoheadphonejack,separate ,R rru 69 dB main front channels (100 watts) 0.019% center channel (50 watts) speaker -switching buttonsfor two Distortion (THD + N at 65 dBf) 0.05% pairs of front speakers and the sur- mono 0.175% surround channels (30 watts) 0.025% round and center speakers, and the stereo 0.36% Sensitivity (for a 1 -watt output into 8 ohms) CD II mV input -balance knob for the Dolby Pro Capture ratio (at 65 dBt i 1.5 dB Logic decoder. AM rejection phono 0.18 mV 68 dB The AV -1's rear apron contains in- Selectivity A -weighted noise I -v,att output) put and output jacks for all potential alternate -channel 73 dB (referred to a source components and recorders, adjacent -channel 13 dB CD -74.8 dB phono - 70 dB plus composite- and S -video monitor Pilot -carrier leakage outputs. There is also a separate pre- (19 and IN klio - 70 dB Phono-input overload (I -kHz equivalent levels) amplifier output and power -amplifier Hum < - 85 dB input (joined by a removable link) for Channel separation 20 Hz 104 mV I kHz each channel, along with a monopho- 100 Hz 41 dB 114 mV nic preamplifier output that could be I kHz 53 dB 20 kHz 127 mV Phono-input Impedance used to drive a powered subwoofer. 10 kHz 38 dB Insulated binding posts are provid- Frequency response 50.000 ohms in parallel with 160 pF Tone -control range ed for the two sets of main front - FM 30 Hz to 15 kHz +0.1, -0.6dB channel speaker outputs, and spring - AM 48 Hz to 3 kHz +0.9, -6 dB 30 Hz (Supc, it +7.2, -8.5 dB 100 Hz +6.1, -7.5 dB clip connectors (for stripped wire ends) are used for the center and sur- AMPLIFIER SECTION 10,000 Hz +6.5, -6.8 dB RIM phono-equalization error round speakers. Although the main - All figures are for main front channels only channel binding posts superficially re- except as noted. (20 Hz to 20 kHz) +0, -0.4 dB Frequency response (with tone controls semble the five -way connectors used Output at clipping ( I kHz) centered).. 20 Hz to 20 kHz +0, -0.2 dB on many amplifiers, they accept only 8 ohms 132 watts wire ends and cannot be used with 4 ohms 132 watts banana plugs or most types of lugs. 4 ohms (8 -ohm setting) 180 watts Antenna terminals are provided for the included AM loop antenna, along

36 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 Adcomannounces thecurefor the common receiver.

Today, there is no reason to compromise your More Sound-Less Money favorite music by listening to a common Many of Adcom's components have been receiver. Because the Adcom GTP-400 tuner/ favorably compared to other components costing preamplifier with GFA-535 (60 watts per channel)* two and three times more. The GTP-400 with amplifier gives you all the benefits of Adcom's GFA-535 is a combination that promises to keep legendary clear, dynamic sound for a price close faith with this tradition of offering superb to that of an ordinary receiver. performance at a reasonable cost. The price of these Adcom separates is close to Why Separates? that of an ordinary receiver. But no receiver will deliver the wide dynamic range and musical The limited space in receivers prevents the use satisfaction of an Adcom system. of heavy duty, high -current, high -voltage power Ask your Adcom dealer for a demonstration of supplies found in the best separate components. these affordable separates. You'll never listen to a Consequently, the performance of receivers is common receiver again. compromised for their questionable advantage of all -in -one convenience. *Power output, watts/channel, continuous both channels driven into 8 ohms, 20 Hz - 20 kHz <0.09% THD. By dividing the tuner/preamplifier from the power amplifier, Adcom isolates low -current, low -voltage circuits from high -current, high -voltage elements ensuring sonic purity and ADCOM® demonstrably superior performance. details you can hear

11 Elkins Road, East Brunswick, NJ 08816 U.S.A. (908) 390-1130Distributed in Canada by PRO ACOUSTICS INC. Pointe Claire, Quebec H9R 4X5 CIRCLE NO 2 ON READER SERVICE CARD Definitive Technology® Authorized Dealers a-Hoitt's: Fairbanks. Pyramid: Anchorage. AL -In Concert: HLntsville. Likis Audio.Birmingham AB -Leisure Electronics: Little Rock. AZ- Jerry's Audio Video: Phoenix, Tucson. _QA- Audio Conceots: Long Beach. San Gabriel' Creative TEST REPORTS Stereo: Sta. Barbara, Ventura. David Rutledge Audio: Palm Springs Henry Radio: Los Angeles. Pacific Coast AN: Corona cel Mar Persdyme: Sacramento. Perfor- receivers and tuners. Stereo channel mance Audio: Sar Francisco. Sound Co.: Escondido, San Diego. Sound Goods: Campbell. Mtn. View Systems De- separation, very good in the important sign: Redondo Beech. Wilson AN: Woodland Hills. midrange, remained a good 35 dB or Listen Up: Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs. Al Franklin's: Hartford. Cerston's AN: Danbury. better over the rest of the audio range. Robert's Music: Nt..w London. Sound Playground: New- ington, Orange, Norwich. The AM frequency response, like that DC Suburbs- Audio Associates. of most receivers, was mediocre. - Sound Studio: Dover, Newark, Wilmington. _EL- Absolute Sound: Winter Park. Audio Ctr.: Ft. Laud- The amplifier section's audio fre- erdale* Audio Video: Tallahasee. Hoyt Stereo Jack- quency response was excellent. At the sonville. Sound Ideas: Gainesville. Sound Insight: Ft. Pierce. Stereotypes: Daytona. Stereo World. Ft. Myers, preamplifier outputs, the front -chan- Naples. Stuer. AN Stuart. nel response was flat within +0, -0.3 QA -Audio Warehouse: Savannah* Stereo Shop: Martinez. Stereo Video Systems: Marietta (Atlanta). dB from 10 to 25,000 Hz and down 3 HI- Maui Audio Center. Kahului. dB at 90,000 Hz. Although the basic LA- Audio Logic: Des Moines. Custom AN: Cedar Rapids. Hawkey') AN: lows City & Cedar Falls. tone -control curves were convention- IQ- Good Ear Boise. 1- August Systems: Champaign Cars & Stereos: Rock- al, the Super Bass feature added a ford. Jon's Home Center. Quincy. Mills Recording: Chica- worthwhile measure of extra control go. Simply Stereo: Hoffman Estates, Orland Pk,, Villa Pk.. Stereo Studio- Palatine. Select Sound: Naperville. Ster- in the lower bass (from 100 Hz to 20 Hz ling Elect.: Sterling. or below). In particular, the +4 -dB )- Ovation Audio:Clarksville, Indianapolis. Ka- Accent Sound Overland Park. Advance Audio: Wichi- setting might partially compensate for ta. Audio Junction Junction City. the low -bass rolloff of many small NI- Ovation Audio: Lexington, Louisville. LA- Alterman Audio: New Orleans, Metairie. speakers. The loudness -compensation M- O'Coins: oVorcaster. (Boston: see Nashua, NH). contours were typical, with a moder- MQ- Audio Assoc.:Annapolis, Laurel, Rockville. Cumber- land Elec.: Cumberland* Gramophone: Bak., Ellicott Cry* ate low -frequency boost and a smaller Soundscape: Bat! Sou nd Studio: Salisbury.

Cookin' : Portle.nd. high -frequency boost at most usable _kg- Future Sound: Ypsilanti. Listening Room: Midland, volume -control settings. Saginaw. Pecan's: Detroit, Troy. NA- Audio Peefection: Minneapolis. The main power amplifier was con- 1K- IndependenceAudio Video: Independence. Sound servatively rated, with output into 8 Central: St. Louis. aft - Audio Video Systems: Charlotte. Stereo Sound: We used the Nakamichi ohms at 0.1 percent distortion of about Durham, Greertsborm, Raleigh, Winston Salem. Tri City 130 watts per channel from 50 Hz to 20 Electronics: Conover. ND- Pacific Sound: Bismarck. AV -1 receiver in a full kHz and 115 watts at 20 Hz. Perfor- Custom Electronics: Omaha, Lincoln. Iili Cookin': Nashua, Manchester, Newington, Salem, S. mance was essentially identical when Nashua. five -channel Dolby Pro we used 4 -ohm loads with the switch W- Sound Waves: Ncxthlield. Sassafras: Cherry oodbridge Stereo. W. Caldwell, W. Longbranch, Wood- on the rear apron set for 4 -ohm opera- bridge.

Logic configuration, which tion. We also tested the amplifier into West Coast Sound: Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Sta Fe. NX Upper Ear: Las Vegas. 4 -ohm loads with the switch at its 8- by- Audio Breakthroughs: Manhasset. Audio Den: Lake was very easy to set up ohm position (because the impedance Grove. Audio Expressions: Newburgh. Clark Music: Al- bany, Syracuse. Electronic Workshop: Manhattan. Hart of most "8 -ohm" speakers drops to Electronics: Vestal. Innovative Audio: Brcx:ktyn. Listening and balance from the much lower values at some frequen- Room: Scarsdale. Rowe Camera: Rochester. Sound Mill: Mt. Kisco, Yorktown Hts.. Speaker Shop: Amherst, Buffalo. cies) and measured an impressive 180 K Labs Premium Audio: Tulsa. listening position .Q.1:1- Audio Craft: Akron, Cleveland, Findlay, Mayfield Hts., watts per channel from 100 Hz to 3 Westlake, Toledo. Audio Etc.: Fairborn (Dayton). kHz, decreasing only slightly to 173 Q.B- Bradford's HIFI. Eugene. Chelsea Audio Video: Port- thanks to the excellent land, Beaverton. Kelly's Home Cir.: Salem. watts at 20 kHz and 160 watts in the EA- GNT Stereo: Lancaster. Hart Electronics: Blakely, 20- to 30 -Hz range. Kingston. Listening Post: Pittsburgh & suburbs. Sassafras Bryr Mawr, Montgomeryville, Whitehall. Stere- remote control. Thesurround -channelamplifiers oland: Natrona Heights. Studio One: Erie. were rated with similar conservatism. Bl- Eastern Audio: North Providence. Audio Warehouse: Hilton Head. Dashboard: Into 8 ohms, they delivered about 37 Charleston. Stereo Video: Greenville. Upstairs Audio: Co- watts at 0.1 percent distortion into 8 lumbia. IN- Hi Fi Buys: Nashville. Lindsey Ward: Knoxville+ Mod- with a 75 -ohm coaxial jack for an FM ohms from 70 Hz to 20 kHz, with em Music: Menphis. Sound Room: Johnson City. antenna. There are two switched AC IX- Audio Tech: Temple, Waco. Audio Video: College output decreasing to the rated 30 watts Station* Brock AN: Beaumont. Bunkley's Sd. Systems: outlets and a slide switch that selects at 20 Hz. The center -channel power Abilene. Bjorn's: San Antonio. Don's Hi Fi: Amarillo. High for high- or low -impedance speakers. Fidelity: Lubbock* Home Entertainment: Dallas, Houston. output was about 64 watts from 90 Hz AudioWorks: San Lake City. Stokes Bros.: Logan. The AV -1's FM tuner section was to 20 kHz and 52 watts at 20 Hz. The yA- Audio Associates: Arlington, Fairfax, Manassas. Au- diotronics: Roanoke. Digital Sound: Virginia Beach* Ear very good in many respects, but less AV -1 also has an unusually good pho- Food: Winchesters Stereotypes: Charlottesville. so in others. For example, its capture no section for an A/V receiver, as KE- City Stereo: Burlington. WA- Audio Waves: Everett. DESCO Electronics: Olympia. ratio, AM rejection, and selectivity evidenced by itshealthy overload Evergreen Audio: Silverdale. Sound Mart: Spokane. Tin were well above average. On the other Eer: Kennewick. margin and the flatness of its measured W.VA- Sound Post: orinceton hand, image rejection was marginal, frequency response, down only 0.05 WI- Absolute Sound & Vision: Sheboygan. Audio Empo- and though the mono FM performance rium: Milwaukee. dB at 40 Hz and 10 kHz, 0.2 dB at 25 - Precision Audio: Rio Piedras. was quite good, full quieting in stereo Hz and 20 kHz, and 0.4 dB at 20 Hz. n -Advance Electronics: Winnipeg* Audio Ark: Ed- required an unusually high signal level monton. Audio Cir.: Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City. Bay The AV -I's remote control not only Bloor. Toronto. CORA: Quebec City Great West Audio: of 70 or 80 dBf. FM distortion was also duplicates almost allthe receiver's London. Kelly's: Vernon B.C. Peak Audio: Halifax. Sight & Sound: Prince Georges B.C. Smith's TV: Lethbridge Alb. higher than we usually find in top front -panel controls but has sections Sound Advice: Calgary. Sound Hounds: Victoria B.C.e Sound Room Vancouver Sound Station: Courtenay B.C. 38 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 Definitive Technology® "Definitive Technology Has Hit the Bull's Eye:' -Julian Hirsch, Stereo Review Experience the Miracle of Bipolar Technology with Definitive's Revolutionary BP8, 10 & 20!

"Truly Outstanding" superb music and movie re- - Stereo Review production so real that it has been called, "a sonic miracle!" Experts agree that Definitive's revolutionary bipolar BP8, The Ultimate Home Theatre BP10 and BP20 are three of the Combine the BP8s,10s, or 20s world's finest speakers and are with our C/L/R 1000 or Cl cen- sonically superior to speakers ter channel and BP2 bipolar selling for many times their surround speakers for the ulti- remarkably affordable cost. mate in home theatre sound. These advanced technology Visit your nearest Definitive bipolar (front and rear radiat- dealer and experience the dra- ing) systems combine lush matic sonic superiority of spacious soundstaging, life- these truly extraordinary like depth -of -field, razor-sharp ViVA Gold Product -of -the -Year resolution and pinpoint 3-D and CES Design & Engineering imaging with powerful sub - Award winning loudspeakers. woofer -like bass (to below 20 Hz), high efficiency, wide ;aihs, Definitive Technology' BP8 $399 ea. dynamic range and easy -to - 5-'11 ea. - 11105 Valley Heights Drive Baltimore, MD 21117 BP20 - $799 ea. position convenience for 5,-e dealer list on lacing page (410) 363-7148 CIRCLE NO 15 ON READER SERVICE CARD TEST REPORTS dedicated to compatible Nakamichi no substitute for hands-on experience there are three possible solutions: (I) tape decks and CD players as well. It is to achieve the kind of performance Buy season tickets to the live concerts also a "learning" controller, program- you paid for. (a good idea in any case), (2) invest mable to operate similar system com- We used the AV -1 in a full five - many times the price of the AV -1 in a ponents from other manufacturers. channelconfiguration,which was state-of-the-art system including an Although the controller has a total of very easy to set up and balance from advanced DSP processor and corre- sixty-threebuttons,they arewell the listening position thanks to the spondingly advanced speakers (which spaced, logically grouped, and clearly excellent remote control. The three may sound great but still won't be marked to match the receiver's panel basic DSP environments, plus the indistinguishable from the real thing), nomenclature. available modifying adjustments, pro- or (3) take the time to set up the AV -1 Like all A/V receivers, the AV -1 is a vide ample capability for creating al- carefully with five reasonably good fairly complex device, and some prac- most any sound character you wish. If speakers and other appropriate sys- tice is needed to obtain best results. you are disturbed by an inability to tem components, sit back, and enjoy The instruction manual explains the recreate the sound of your favorite the music. I don't think you'll be dis- control functions clearly, but there is seats in your favorite concert hall. appointed!

SECOND OPINION

If A/V receivers could be characterized plugs, only stripped wire. Other modes is very common in A/V by their political orientation, the connections were made easier by the receivers, however-it's not unique to Nakamichi AV -I would definitely fall horizontal arrangement of inputs across the AV -I. into the conservative camp. Nakamichi the back panel. I was pleased to find In fact, Nakamichi's manual for the has traditionally taken a rather that all three video inputs (for two AV -I never claims that any of these restrained approach to component VCR's and a laserdisc player) were processing modes is appropriate for pop design (the company still eschews Dolby supplied with both S -video and music. The Natural mode is described as HX Pro in its cassette decks, for composite -video connectors, as were suitable for program example), and the AV -I shows what this the monitor and VCR outputs. rich reverberation content," Hall is said conservatism means in the AN -receiver Operation was straightforward. The to provide "a feeling similar to being in arena. small number of unusual features made a concert hall" and to be suited "to It means primarily ease of use, the remote control simple to navigate, a program sources which contain a large occasioned by a deliberately restricted task made easier still by the legibility of amount of reverberation" (that sounds number of features and adjustments. the markings in a darkened room. I liked familiar), and Stadium is said to There are only four surround -sound the remote's retention of the tuner - reproduce "the effect of being in a space modes, for example (Dolby Pro Logic preset numerical keypad, but it would larger than that provided by the Hall and three music -enhancement settings), have been nice if a couple of the most mode." As it turns out, these and in each of those you can really important buttons (such as the controls descriptions are rather apt and translate adjust only the time of the first -arriving for volume and for adjusting speaker- very well to classical music, most of delayed signal. There is no set of front - level and tone -control settings) had been whose many genres could benefit from panel A/V connections, and there are larger or placed more prominently. one of these settings (don't be scared off only two switched AC convenience Sonically, the AV -I was also by the Stadium mode's name-it doesn't outlets on the back panel. conservative, in a positive, no -risk - produce the Astrodome -like effects But the AV -I isn't totally bare of taking sense. It was able to reach high typical of such settings on other noteworthy features. Two of the most volumes with very clean sound, receivers). I did appreciate the music interesting involve its ability to especially from the surround channels. I modes' use of the center -channel memorize control settings. Surround observed no anomalous behavior from speaker, when available; most other Memory enables a user to store as many the Dolby Pro Logic decoder, but the receivers use only the main front and as four combinations of adjustments, music -enhancement modes sounded surround speakers for music. including surround mode, center - very similar to each other-perhaps too channel mode (phantom, wide -band, or similar to provide a wide enough Len the nomenclature in the manual normal), surround delay, surround level, variety. Although this makes it difficult is conservative, to the extent of balance, and tone -control settings. And to make the music -processing modes referring to the surround speakers by the Station Call memory system enables sound really awful because of the traditional misnomer "rear." you to assign a five -character misadjustment, something far too easy Surrounds should be at the sides of the alphanumeric name to any of the tuner to do with most other A/V receivers, I listening area-or on the side walls just presets, so that the receiver can display also felt that none of the music modes slightly to the back of the listening a station's call letters, for example, in benefited any music except classical and area-for both music and (especially) addition to its frequency. other acoustically recorded genres. soundtrack listening. Hanging on to old Hookup was easy, although I was Most pop music took on too spacious a ideas can get you into sonic trouble. annoyed to find that what appeared to character, without any added vividness, Still, with surround speakers correctly be multiway binding posts on the main and this was with the delay times all set placed to the sides, the AV -1 is one speaker outputs would in fact take to the minimum of 10 milliseconds. This conservative I'd be happy to have in my neither connecting lugs nor banana limitation of the music -enhancement living room. -David Ranada

40 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 WE JUST PUT OUR NAME ON THE LINE. afforded by audio fans. The technology that the name Altec INTRODUCING "ESSLNTIALS" Lansing has been built on, is also built into .s.! FROM ALTEC LANSING. our new line of Essentials. Features like It takes a lot to wear the name Altec Lansing. It takes dome tweeters for enhanced dispersion, state-of-the-art technology. It takes exacting materials. It 3/4" rigid cabinets for better bass response, takes impeccable design. And, in the case of advanced crossover networks and Advanced crossover network Essentials, it takes one thing more. The ferrofluidic cooling can be found in the manufactured with precision capacitors and resistors. ability to reach an even wider range of entire Essentials line. people with unparalleled Altec Lansing sound So, if you've always wanted to own Altec Lansing reproduction. speakers, but thought you had to settle for models less Midrange advanced, listen to Essentials. With construction with 2' - TECHNOLOGY THAT'S CAPABLE OF voice mil, double damper their addition to our entire line, A LT EC 'Spider' and heavy LANSINGO REACHING AN EVEN WIDER RANGE. strontium magnet for Altec Lansing makes speakers a smooth frequency to fit your home, your car, and LOUDSPEAKERS FOR THE You see, Essentials were designed not response. only to be applauded by audiophiles, but now your wallet. WELL TRAINED EAR. CALL 1-800-ALTEC88 FOR A DEALER NEAR YOU.

CIRCLE NO 8 ON READER SERVICE CARD TEST REPORTS

rear), there is a fundamental difference between the two. The two lobes of a dipole radiator's output are 180 degrees out of phase, with output nulls to the sides. The bipole outputs, on the other hand, are in phase with each other and generate a sound field over a full 360 degrees around the speaker (although it is not actually omnidirec- tional, this pattern does achieve some of the subjective quality of an omnidi- rectional radiator). The M-790, which actually has three drivers, could also be described as a "two -and -a -half -way" loudspeaker. It is a compact floor -standing system with two drivers near the top of its front panel. Uppermost is a1 -inch titanium -dome tweeter whose dia- phragm and voice -coil bobbin are formed from a single piece of metal. The dome radiates through a ring that reduces its effective diameter; Mirage calls this a "time domain equalizer" (TDE) and says that it enables the tweeter to combine the wider dispersion of a 3/4 -inch dome with the extended low -frequency performance of a 1 - inch dome. Immediately below itis an 8 -inch woofer with a polypropylene cone and rubber surround. The woofer, which operates up to 2 kHz, is in a vented enclosure occupying most of the cabinet's internal volume. It has two ducted ports opening to the front and rear of the cabinet. The opening of the front port is sculpted to reduce air turbulence (the rear port is not so treated, possibly because any turbulence -in- duced noise from it would probably be inaudible in the listening area of the Mirage M-790 Loudspeaker System room). The enclosure, made of/, -inch JULIAN HIRSCH HIRSCH-HOUCK LABORATORIES medium -density fiberboard (MDF), is rigidly braced and internally damped. The speakers are supplied with spikes .1. HE M-790 is one of the loudspeak- for optional use on carpeted floors. ers in Mirage's Bipolar series. At the top of its back panel the M- Like the company's top -of -the - DIASINSIONII 790 has a 41/2 -inch polypropylene -cone line M-1, the M-790 was designed 95At INCHES WIDE, 381/2 INCHES HIGH, I I VI INCHES DEEP driver that Mirage calls an MSE (Mi- to produce a spacious, 360 -degree rage Soundstage Enhancement) trans- sound field in the listening room. FINISH BLACK ASH, HERITAGE OAK, OR HIGH.GLOSS ducer. The MSE reproduces frequen- The bipolar effect is achieved by a BLACK LACQUER cies from 450 Hz to 10 kHz, creating combination of front and rear radia- GRILLE: BLACK OR CHARCOAL GRAY the rear half of the bipolar sound field tion to generate similar sound fields in PRICB in that range. front of and behind the loudspeaker BLACK ASH OR OAK. 5900 A PAIR The M -790's rated on -axis frequen- over a major portion of the audible BLACK LACQUER, 51,000 A PAIR cy response is 36 Hz to 22 kHz ± 3 dB. frequency range. Although this pat- MANI/FACTO/RIR At 30 degrees off -axis, the upper limit tern superficially resembles that of a MIRAGE. DEVI . SR, 3641 Mc NICOI.I. AVE., is specified as 18 kHz. Sensitivity is dipole radiator (a figure -eight with SCARBOROUGH, ONTARIO MIX 165 rated as 87 dB, impedance as 6 ohms identical responses to the front and nominal,4 ohms minimum. The

42 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 Every so often, a product is introduced Cinema DSP settings for video alone. Includ- that's so good, it serves as the benchmark for ing four 70mm settings-Adventure, Spectacle, an entire industry. Yamaha's critically acclaimed Musical and General -to give movies DSP-A1000 is such a product. more spatial depth and impact in your And Yamaha's new DSP-A2070 is another. home than you probably ever imagined. Unquestionably, the most advanced digital All made possible by Yamaha's sound field processor/amplifier you'll find on new LSI technology A major accom- the market. Due in no small part to a Yamaha plishment that creates sound fields development that makes going to the movies three times more detailed than even actually pale by comparison. our critically acclaimed DSP-A1000. CINEMAWe call it Cinema DSP. An awe- Other notable features include twit;;;,;,,, DSP inspiring blend of technology that an on -screen display for sound field c,7,/,c,4:7top multiplies the effects of Digital Sound Field adjustment. Seven -channel ampli- `=sEd. Processing and fully -digital Daly Pro Logic.® fication. Pre -amp outputs on all channels to The net result is a home theater com- permit additional amplification. Five audio and ponent that's a generation ahead of anything six video inputs. And split subwoofer outputs else on the market. Giving dialogue more to accommodate two front subwoofers. definition. Music, more dynamic range. And Yamaha's exceptional DSP-A2070. We sound effects, more graphic detail, superior think of it as the most sophisticated audio - placement and far greater realism. video product on he market. Understandably, And there's more. All told, there are 12 our competition tends mA audio settings for your favorite music. Plus 11 to see it a bit differentlyVA What the competition will be using for target practice this year.

Call 1-800-4YAMAHA for the Yamaha dealer nearest you. 01993 Yamaha Electronics Corporation, USA. Dolby Pro Logic is a registered trademark if Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation. Yamaha Electronics Corporation. USA, P.O. Box 6660. Buena Park. CA 90622 1 E ST RE IN S speaker is recommended for use with variation from 400 Hz to13 kHz. sound -pressure level (SPL) at 1 meter amplifiers rated to deliver between 50 There was a slight peak (about 4 dB) at with a 2.83 -volt input, slightly lower and 150 watts. 17 kHz, falling to +2 dB at 20 kHz. than rated. When we drove the M-790 The removable grilles covering the Room -boundary effects were appar- with a 5.3 -volt signal, corresponding upper portions of the front and back ent below 400 Hz, though to a much to a 90-dB-SPL output, the woofer panels are firmly retained by plastic lesser degree than with most speakers. distortion was between 0.5 and 1 per- fittings.Their clothexteriorsare In fact, the overall response from 20 cent from 1 kHz down to 200 Hz, rising mounted to half -inch -thick wooden Hz to 20 kHz (without smoothing or to 3 percent at 100 Hz and 10 percent surfaces cut out to enclose the rims of correction) was flat within ±5 dB, a at 35 Hz. the drivers. Set into the back panel are quite remarkable figure for a "live The M-790 had excellent power - two pairs of multiway binding -post room" measurement. handling ability. The woofer began to connectors joined by jumper straps. The close-miked response from the sound distorted at 100 Hz with a sin- By removing the jumpers, you can woofer and its front port varied only gle -cycle burst input of 900 watts into operate the speaker in a biwired or about 6 dB overall from 36 to 500 Hz, its 5 -ohm impedance at that frequen- biamplified configuration. with maximum output at 70 Hz. It cy. At I kHz it took everything our Mirage says that the M-790 speakers spliced well to the room curve, yield- amplifier could deliver (650 watts into will sound best if placed 2 to 3 feet in ing a ± 5 -dB variation from 20 Hz to 20 10.5 ohms) without significant distor- front of the wall behind them and at kHz, but it must be realized that the tion, and at 10 kHz the tweeter ab- least 2 feet from the side walls. For response below 500 Hz is inevitably sorbed 800 watts at the amplifier's optimum bipolar performance, the affected by the room dimensions and clipping point. wall behind them should be reflective, acoustic treatment and is not exclu- The Mirage M-790 sounded every and the speakers may be toed in slight- sively a property of the speaker. bit as good as it measured. Its spectral ly to focus the center of the stereo Horizontaldispersionwasout- balance was first-rate, with no sugges- image at the listening position. We standing, with output at 45 degrees off - tion of over- or under -emphasis in any tried to meet those conditions as close- axis down less than 2 dB from the on - part of the audio range. Spatially, it ly as possible, although an ideal place- axis output up to 3 kHz and less than 4 had an open, easy quality, with a ment for these speakers was not feasi- dB allthe way to 20 kHz. The seamless and natural full -depth sound - ble in our listening room. smoothed response of the rear driver stage appearing across the end of the Anechoic response measurements was within ±2 dB from 800 Hz to 10 room. Its imaging, playing the Chesky do not give an accurate picture of a kHz, falling to -8 dB at 500 Hz and 13 JD37 test CD, was among the best we speaker such as the M-790, whose kHz. Its maximum output was be- have heard. sound depends heavily on the contri- tween 4 and 6 kHz. But given the manufacturer's sug- bution of signals reflected from nearby Minimum system impedance was gestions on placement and installation walls.Ourloudspeakerroom -re- about 5 ohms at 100 Hz. The curve of the speakers, it is still possible that sponse measurements usually corre- also showed sharp peaks of 15 ohms at we were not obtaining the very best late well with perceived sound quality, 16 Hz and 12.6 ohms at 52 Hz (from the sound the M-790 is capable of. That is however, and that proved to be the reflex loading of the woofer) and a an unavoidable problem with almost case with the M-790. broader one of 11.3 ohms at 1.5 kHz. every speaker we test (or with any you Its room response was among the Overall, the speaker's 6 -ohm rating bring to your home), since it is often flattest we have measured from a seems realistic. impractical to shift the position of a speaker, with less than ± 2 dB overall Sensitivity measured 84.5 dB desk, bench, door, or window to achieve perhaps another small step toward sonic perfection. Indeed, one of the most desirable characteristics for a speaker to have, once a certain level of sound quality has been realized, is the ability to function satisfac- torily, if not optimally, in a reasonable variety of circumstances. The Mirage M-790 meets this standard very handily. Its spatial and sonic qualities were excellent, even under less than ideal conditions. Although it is certainly not invisible, it is attractive and unobtrusive, both visually and sonically. It delivers a caliber of sound that would do justice to a considerably costlier speaker. The M-790 is well worth hearing if you are looking for a "Just because you've gotten older and can't hear high close approach to "high -end" sound notes anymore is no reason to replace your tweeters with load resistors. Larry." without the usual price penalty.

44 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 What's New Af

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of a single panel, the ribbon radiates equally to the front and rear through a slot about 2 inches wide. A thick foam - plastic strip protects the front of the ribbon, and a strip of felt covers the rear. The audio signal passes through the ribbon, which is immersed in a powerful magnetic field from a number of magnets. The resulting movement of the ribbon generates a pressure wave that radiates equally from the front and rear of the speaker in opposite phase (a dipolar pattern). The woofer is more conventional, consisting of a 10 -inch cone driver in a vented hexagonal enclosure, which is responsible for most of the system's weight.Itis attached to the panel carrying the ribbon and serves as a stabilizing base, supported 13/8 inches above a flat wooden floor plate. The woofer faces downward,radiating around the entire periphery of the base. Its vent (about 2 inches in diameter) is located on the front about a foot above the floor, behind the foam strip that protects the ribbon. On the back of the bass enclosure are separate fuses and input connectors (multiway binding posts) for the ribbon and the woofer. The inputs are normally connected by jumpers that can be removed for biwired or biamplified operation of the system. Also on the rear of the woofer enclo- Carver AL -111 Loudspeaker System sure are three level -adjustment knobs, JULIAN HIRSCH HIRSCH-HOUCK LABORATORIES marked High Frequency, Upper Mid - Range, and Woofer. They have a limited range-about 5 dB according to the THE AL -III is the newest member achieve a low -bass extension rarely manufacturer-and the user is encour- of Carver Corporation's "Amaz- found in conventional speakers of any aged to experiment with their settings. ing" loudspeaker family. Like its size. Despite their impressive perfor- Carver says that the level control for predecessors, it uses a low -mass, mance, however, the size and cost of the woofer varies its "Q" (bandwidth) vertically oriented ribbon dipole the Amazing speakers may have dis- and affects only frequencies below 150 3, as the sole radiating element for couraged some potential buyers. Hz. The middle control, which has most of the audio range (above 150 In the AL -III, a 48 -inch ribbon is the settings identified as Room Average Hz). The previous Amazing speakers main sound source. Framed by two Flat and Anechoic Flat, affects fre- used several special cone drivers to wooden "wings" that give the effect quencies from 2,000 to 6,000 Hz, and 2

48 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 TEST REPORTS the top control trims the ribbon's out- that point. Its average level below 800 waveform was exceptionally free of put above 8,000 Hz. Hz was about 3 to 5 dB higher than distortion and ringing compared with To make most effective use of the from 800 Hz to 17 kHz, with a fairly what we have seen from other speak- AL-III's dipolar radiation pattern, the steep drop above 17 kHz. These mea- ers we have tested. speaker should be kept several feet surements were confirmed by quasi- IISTENING is the only meaningful from any walls, although Carver states anechoic (MLS) response measure- way to judge the sound quality of that even when it's placed against a ments,which showed auniform a loudspeaker. From earlier expe- wall, the depth of the woofer section average level within ±4 dB from 1.5 to rienceswithribbonspeakers keeps the ribbon far enough away to 16 kHz and a 10 -dB drop from there to (most of them tweeters), I expect- provide good results. Carver also rec- 20 kHz. ed effortless transparency, and I ommends that for best sound the front Measuring the effect of the level was not disappointed. Whether I was a of the room (behind the speakers) controls on the speaker's frequency foot from the speaker or across the should be as acoustically "dead" as response essentially confirmed the in- room, the highs were always crystal possible,whiletheoppositeend formation provided in the instruction clear and unstrained. There was no should be relatively "live." manual. The woofer adjustment var- sense that the sound originated from The AL-III's specifications include ied the output over a 4 -dB range at 20 these slender towers; instead, the re- an anechoic bandwidth of 34 Hz to 20 Hz but by only 1 or 2 dB between 40 flection from the wall behind them kHz, with a usable lower limit of 24 Hz and 60 Hz (the point of maximum added a dimension of depth that is a in a typical room. Nominal system output shifted between 65 and 75 Hz as hallmark of dipole speakers. But, like impedance is 4 ohms, and sensitivity is the control was adjusted). From 70 to the larger Amazing speakers, the AL - rated as 86 dB sound -pressure level 200 Hz the adjustment range was 2 to 4 III uses almost a full -range ribbon, (SPL) at I meter with a 2.83 -volt input. dB. The upper -midrange level adjust- which extends its spatial effect well The recommended amplifier power is ment had a range of 4 to 6 dB from 2 to beyond that of a mere tweeter. It is a 575 watts per channel maximum (into 4 kHz, reducing to 2 dB from 4 to 6 very addictive quality-difficult to 8 ohms), 65 watts minimum. kHz. The high -frequency adjustment describe, but once experienced, never C\ RVER recommends that the AL - range was 2 dB at 8 kHz and a maxi- forgotten! III be "broken in" for about 20 mum of 2.5 to 3 dB above that frequen- What about the AL-III's woofer, hours at a fairly high volume to cy. As stated in the manual, the audi- then? It worked well and was an audi- relieve manufacturing stresses in ble effects of these controls were very bly "invisible" partner to the ribbon its drivers. We followed this pro- subtle, and I found no significant dif- driver, but it was no match for the cedure as fully as possible, al- ferences in sound quality over their multiple bass drivers of the larger though there was no significant change full range of settings. Amazing speakers (which can shake in the sound as a result. The speakers The AL -Ill's sensitivity was 86 dB, the room walls at 20 Hz without diffi- were installed as recommended, ex- exactly as rated. We measured woofer culty). Subjectively, it did a solid job cept for the "live end, dead end" room distortion at a drive level of 4.5 volts, down to 40 Hz or so, and when lower treatment, which was not practical for corresponding to a 90 -dB SPL at 1 frequencies were present they could us to implement. kHz. It was very low and nearly con- often be heard, but at a rather low The averaged room response of the stant at the bottom of the woofer's level. We also noted that the outside of two speakers was quite uniform from range, running between 1 and 3 per- the bass enclosure vibrated quite pal- about 800 Hz to 20 kHz, with no more cent from 20 to 50 Hz, falling to 0.3 pably when the woofer was reproduc- than a ± 2.5 -dB variation over that percent at 100 Hz, and rising to 0.7 ing the lowest octaves at levels well range. At lower frequencies the usual percent at 150 Hz. within its capabilities. For bass aficio- room interactions caused greater fluc- The speaker's impedance with all nados a good subwoofer can make a tuations, mostly within a ± 5 -dB enve- the controls set to their clockwise lim- genuine improvement in the AL-III's lope and extending down to our 20 -Hz its (as we had them for most of our sound, but most people will be very measurement limit. listening) was quite low, averaging satisfied without taking that step. The close-miked woofer response about 3 ohms from 70 to 300 Hz and The AL -III really shines when it was strongest from 60 to 90 Hz, falling dipping to about 2.6 ohms at 200 Hz. It comes to price and practicality. A pair smoothly by 4 dB from 75 to 200 Hz was also 3 ohms from 8 to 20 kHz. of these attractive and (despite their and at a 12 -dB -per -octave rate above Except for brief rises to 11 or 12 ohms height) unobtrusive speakers can fit that frequency. Below 60 Hz the out- at 40 Hz and 3 kHz, the impedance into almost any room, where they will put dropped off at a constant 12 dB per averaged perhaps 4 ohms across the look good and sound great. Sensitive octave down to 20 Hz. Although the audio range. enough to be driven by almost any hi-fi port output appeared to be quite flat In pulse power tests, the Carver amplifier worthy of the name, they can from 60 to 20 Hz, it did not contribute AL -Ill's woofer cone bottomed at 100 nevertheless handle the output of the significantly to the total bass output. Hz with a single -cycle input of 1,230 most powerful amplifier with ease, The composite response curve we watts into its 3.1 -ohm impedance at and their price is certainly reasonable constructed from the woofer and room that frequency. At 1 and 10 kHz, the by today's standards. Even if the AL - measurements followed the room re- amplifier clipped at power levels of III speakers are not quite as "amaz- sponse down to 200 Hz and the close- about 1,000 and 2,000 watts, respec- ing" as their predecessors, the name miked woofer measurement below tively. The high -frequency tone -burst still fits. 0

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 49 TEST REPORTS

standard CD/laserdisc cueing and re- Panasonic LX -900 peat functions (except that you can't cue by CD index number) and two sets of RCA jack outputs for composite CD/laserdisc Conti -Player video and stereo audio. DAVID RANADA Although the LX -900 has two S- video outputs (fed from a digital color- separation circuit) and one optical digital -audio output, it is supplied without STAN DI NG at the top of Panasonic's control for both CD and laserdisc play- cables for them. Is that any way to line of combi-players, the LX -900 back. Less important features include promotethesebeneficialfeatures? incorporates quite a few features a bizarre Video Select button on the Does it encourage the purchase of designed to enhance both audio remote that enables you to change other components with S -video or op- and video performance. It also from standard operation to the curi- ticaldigital -audio connectors? And has many features designed to ously named Retro mode, which es- where can the average American buy improve operating convenience, the sentially makes the picture black -and- such cables? They practically grow on two most important of which are auto- white, and the Night viewing mode, trees in Japan, but I couldn't find a matic laserdisc side -changing and a which slightly reduces overall picture listing for either variety in a 20 -minute digital frame memory that makes pos- brightness. The LX -900 also has a search of the entire 1993 Radio Shack sible the complete range of viewing complete array of the more -or -less catalog. But enough of that-on to tricks (still -frame, slow motion, and so happier matters. forth) for both types of laserdisc (stan- The LX -900's digital -audio perfor- dard -play CAV and long -play CLV). mance was magnificent. Total harmon- Other important features include DIMENSIONS special 17 INCHES WIDE. S INCHES HIGH, ic distortion plus noise (THD + N), for measures to reduce video 17 INCHES DEEP example, was less than 0.0058 percent noise (a digital time -base corrector PRICE below 4 kHz, rising to a still inaudible and a three -mode digital field noise- E1.100 0.02 percent at 20 kHz. Noise was also reduction system), MASH one -bit dig- extremely low, although we were sur- ital -to -analog (D/A) convertersfor MANUFACTURE! PANASONIC, DEPT. SR. ONE PANASONIC WAY, prised to see that it dropped only 1 dB playback of CD's and digital laserdisc SECAUCUS, N107094 when de -emphasiswasactivated9 soundtracks, and a jog/shuttle search (some CD's are made with a high- 2 50 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 PURE PERFECTION

The unique Celestion 30 Transmission Line balanced 'sigh fidzlity sound, makes flis floor standing loudspeaker with its slim and beautifully finished cabinet, loudspeaker a unicue listening experience. transce ids expectations. The new L'elestion 300 joins the award winning The newly designed Celesion Transmission Line Celestion 100 to create pure perfection n two exceptional system-C.T.L.- produces a deep extended and dynamic loudspeakers. bass response, which, combined with its perfectly Unmistakkly Ce-estion.

1 0 03 0 0

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CIRCLE NO 11 ON READER SERVICE CARD SONY

TEST REPORTS

frequency pre -emphasis that must be reversed in playback to achieve flat frequency response). Noise actually MEASUREMENTS increased by 5 dB when the player was DIGITAL AUDIO put into pause, possibly indicating that All figures are for both and laserdisc DO its D/A converters mute their outputs except as noted. when playing the standard signal-to- noise test tracks, which contain only Maximum output level 2.1 volts YDU HAVE strings of digital zeros. Frequency response (see text) A more realistic noise and distortion de -emphasis oil test, spectrum analysis of a dithered +0.26, -I dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz 1 -kHz tone recorded at-100 dB, de -emphasis on SONY showed-apart from the expected +0, -0.6 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz dither noise at around -128 dB across Channel separation the audio spectrum-only traces of 125 Hz 110dB power -supply hum (at 60 and 120 Hz) 1 kHz 106.5 dB STYLE? 16 kHz 73.3 dB and what might have been leakage of Channel imbalance Introducing Sony Style thevideohorizontal -scanningfre- -10.01 dB magazine, your personal guide quency (around 15.75 kHz). Since Signal-to-noise ratio 11t1 de -emphasis off 114.8dB to Sony consumer electronics. these individual components were all -113 to -114 dB below full output, de -emphasis on 115.8 dB Discover over 300 pages of the they, too, would be inaudible at nor- Dynamic range 94.9dB Distortion ITHD N at 0 d13) fun and excitement Sony brings mal listening levels. 20 Hz to 20 kHz <0.02% D/A linearity, measured with aI - to life. At 54.95, Sony Style helps kHz sine wave that decays slowly Linearity error -60 to -901B you make the best decision from -60 to -120 dB, was also excel- <0.2 dB lent, with deviations of less than 0.2 below -103.2 dB >+0.5 dB when buying Sony. To reserve dB down to -100 dB and greater than Defect tracking (CD only, Pierre Verany #2 your copy call: 0.5 dB only at levels below -103 dB, test disc) 1,000µm where noise started to predominate. Impact resistance I). top and sides) B+ 1 -800 -848 -SONY Only in frequency response did the Cueing accuracy (CD) A Ext. 114 LX -900's measured performance fall Stewing time I('D) 2 seconds Visa and MC accepted or send check short of near -perfection.Response payable to Hann & DePalmer for $4.95 without de -emphasis was very flat (to AFM AUDIO plus $1.50 shipping and handling better than 0.05 dB) from 20 Hz up to 2 All figures are for laserdisc only. per issue to' Sony Style Magazine, Maximum output level P.O. Box 9500, Cranbury, NJ kHz, rose slowly to +0.275 dB at (left/right) 0.48/0.52 volt 08512-9929 around 12 kHz, and then rolled off more swiftly to -1 dB at 20 kHz. Channel imbalance 0.77 dB Deviations of those magnitudes in Signal-to-noise ratio those frequency ranges should not be (A-wtd.. CX on) 75 dB audible with music. With de -emphasis Distortion (THD t Nat I kHz. switched in,however,response 100% modulation) 0.5% shelved down above I kHz, dipping to -0.5 to -0.6 dB between 4 and 7 VIDEO kHz. In absolute terms, this, too, is a small deviation, but it extends over a Horizontal luminance resolution wide enough rangeatfrequencies (wedge pattern) 350 lines where the ear is very sensitive that it Horizontal luminance bandwidth could be audible with some music in ( -3 (110 4.6 MHz direct comparison with a player hav- Luminance nonlinearity maximum). 7.5% ing flatter de-emphasized response. Laserdisc side -change time It's curious that we still see errors of end of A to start of B 12.5 seconds this magnitude in CD and laserdisc start of A to start of B 14.5 seconds players, since de -emphasis can be performed simply and with much higher precision as part of the digital signal processing (DSP) that most one -bit D/A converters have to perform to work at all. On the other hand, few recordings (most of them classical) are Sony Style .5 Sr 95 per issue NJ residents add 6% being made with pre -emphasis, so for sales tax Please allow 3-4 weeks for delivery Otter expires 11/931993 Sony Corporation of America Sony and Sony Style are trademarks of Sony 52 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 Why The Critics Love Ensemble And Ensemble II.

"Ensemble may be the best value mance tweeter and a 4" woofer. Small and audition our speakers the right way-in your unobtrusive, they'll fit into the decor of any own home, with your music, with no hovering in the world:' Audio room. Available in scratch -resistant gunmetal salesman. Ensemble and Ensemble II are subwoofer- grey Nextel, or primed so you can paint them If you're not completely satisfied, return the satellite speaker systems designed by Audio any color you wish. system within 30 days for a full refund. V* even Hall of Fame member Henry Kloss (founder of Ensemble and Ensemble II subwoofers use reimburse the original UPS ground shipping AR, KLH and Advent). Cambridge SoundWorks heavy-duty woofers in true acoustic suspensioncharges (in continental U.S.) makes and sells Ensemble and enclosures. Robust The dual-subwoofer Ensemble system with Ensemble II (and a number construction is used handsome black -laminate subwoofers is $599. of other audio components) throughout, includ- The same system with black vinyl -clad sub - factory -direct, with no ex- ing solid MDF woofers is $499. Ensemble II is priced at $399. pensive middle -men, so cabinets and solid Ensemble 11 you can save hundreds of metal grilles. Individ- Thie acoustic dollars. All purchases are ual crossovers are suspension, qc backed by a 30 -day money - built into each cab- fifersealed cavity back satisfaction guarantee, inet for maximum The extra subwojer in our Ensemble so there's no risk. Vstem wiring flexibility. provides maim= placementJler Cavity acts as acoustic band-pass "Can be compared only with "What's the difference between filter Ensemble and Ensemble ll?" much lar r speakers Call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. at substan y higher prices:' In many rooms, Ensemble II sounds virtu- Mil send you our catalog with stereo and home Stereo Review ally the same as Ensemble, especially when theater components and systems from Ensemble's two subwoofers are placed right Ensemble and Ensemble II are constructed Cambridge SoundWorks, Pioneer, Philips, Sony next to each other. But the Ensemble system's and others. Because we sell factory -direct, with the very best materials and no -compromisetwo ultra -slim subwoofers (4Y2") give you workmanship. Both systems use satellite speak- eliminating expensive middle -men, you can more placement flexibility than any speaker save hundreds of dollars. ers that are virtually identical.* Uri& many system we know of (induding Ensemble II). competing systems, they are true two-way Ensemble is most likely to provide the perfor- speaker systems, each containing a high perfor-mance you want in the real world ofyour Ca111-800-FOR-HIFI listening room. We Know How "You get a month to play with 76 Make Loudspeakers. the speakers before you have to either return them or keep them. CAMBRIDGE But you'll keep them:' SOUNDWORKS Esquire 154 California St., Suite 10211., Newton, MA02158 Choosing a loudspeaker after a brief listen 1-800-367-4434Fax: 617-332-9229 Canada: 1-800-525-4434 Ehsembk wrefite &peak rs cur available primedfor at a dealer's showroom is like deciding on a car Outside U.S. or Canada: 617-332-5936 am matchyour decor ea* ©14E3 Carnhndkr SouniVitirks Ensemble is a registered trademark or Cambridge pakirg so they. after a trip around the block. So we let you SouniVibiks Nees. and iigetlik',11101ti kl Change MIMI nor CIRCLE NO 6 ON READER SERVICE CARD Henry Moss Speakers. Factory

Our Center Channel speaker ($149) and our Center Channel Plus speaker ($219) are perfect for Dolby® Surround Pro Logic® systems. They offer very high performance, and are magnetically shielded. Center Channel Plus can fit under your TV.

Henry Kloss, creator of the dominant speakers of the '50s (Acoustic Research), '60s (KLH) and '70s (Advent), brings you Cambridge SoundWorks, a new kind of audio company with factory -direct savings.

Our surround speakers, The Surround ($399 pr.) and The Surround II ($249 pr.) use dipole radiator technology to reproduce surround effects the way they were meant to be heard. Non -directional ambient sound literally surrounds you.

The Sunound lheSufrowid The Powered Subwoofer ($599) and Slave Subwoofer ($299) by Henry Kloss provide room -shaking NEW! The Cambridge SoundWorks Model Six continues bass (over 100 dB at 30 Hz!). Great for pipe organs and a 40 year tradition of high performance, high value two-way acoustic effects in movie soundtracks. Built-in 200w amplifier. suspension loudspeakers by Henry Kloss. The Model Six with its 8" 15%2 " x 26 Y2 " x 10% " (each model) woofer, delivers very natural, accurate, wide-range sound-for only $119 each, factory -direct. Your choice of three beautiful cabinet finishes.

Ambiance"' In -Wall speakers ($329 pr.) offer an unbeatable combination of performance, value and ease of installation. I I

The dual-subwoofa Ensemble' spe ter system gives you ultinatr room -placement fled) lity for )ea Fel world perforrr axe. .-z_uc& magazine says it ma! be " ..the best vaue in the woid." With bkuk- aminate subwooe-s

($599), Dr black vinyl- Everything you need to change your clad subwook -s great stereo into ($49c:: a great home theater. $867.

With a Cambridge SoundWorks Charge Card, Free Color Catalog! qualified customers can charge purchases b The Ensemble H subwoofer- from our catalog-with no If you have any questions... if you want satellite speaker system by payments and no interest the free catalog including components Henry Kloss is one of the tor three full months. from Cambridge best values in the country. We No annual membership fee. SoundWorks, think it's better than Pioneer, Philips, speakers costing twice Sony and more... as much. Because or if you would we sell it factory -direct, like to order, it's only $399. call us toll -free, Stereo Review says it SAM -Midnight ET. "performs far beyond All products are its price and size." backed by a 30 -day guarantee. Call 1-800-FOR-HIFI We Know How lb Make Loudspeakers. CAMBRIDGE SOUNDWORKS

154 California St., Suite 1021L, Newton, MA 02158 1-800-367-4434Fax: 617-332-9229 Canada 1-800-525-4434 Outside U.S. or Canada: 617-332-5936 IRttt, Cambndge SoundWorks Ensemble is a nutted tradtmaek C tmbndgr SoundWorks Int The Suanund Ambunte tr+demarks of Cambridge Soundlataks Inc AR 6t Advent are trademarks of lensen Intemanonal Doh. Ind Pro Logic are reinsured trademarks of Dolby Laboratenes 1.1,715111 COW =1001E; CIRCLE NO 6 ON READER SERVICE CARD No Other Loudspeaker Company Can Run This Ad. Cambridge SoundWorks is a new kind of audiocompany, with factory -direct savings, and much, muchmore... most discs de -emphasis accuracy is irrelevant. Performance with AFM-encoded laserdisc soundtracks was by comparison pretty awful: A 100 -percent modu-

J .t,ti k lated1 -kHz tone produced distortion of 0.5 percent, and the A -weighted signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) was 75 dB. ir .i But those readings are par for the AFM-soundtrack course and impor- Audio Hall of Fame member lieruy !Doss. %At eliminated the expensive middle -men. tant only when you play old laserdisc Cambridge SounckAbrks products are designed by our By selling factory -direct to the public, we eliminate huge pressings that lack digital soundtracks co-founder, Henry Kloss, who created the dominant distribution expenses. Don't be fooled by our reasonable speakers of the '50s (AR), '60s (KU -I) and '70s (Advent). prices. Our products are vey well designed and made. or those that have alternative AFM soundtracks different from the digital ones. (Inclusion of AFM soundtracks .1 ..a.- on laserdiscs is scheduled to become ,. .... optional sometime next year.)

',...... IIP The LX -900 reproduced thefull range of laserdisc video test patterns extremely well. Off -the -screen horizontal luminance resolution, judged by viewing a wedge test pattern, ex- 30 -Day lbtal Satisfaction Guarantee. Audio experts on call 365 days a year. 'Hy our speakers in your own home, with your music, for Our knowledgeable audio experts (not clerks) are on duty ceeded 350 lines, slightly surpassing 30 days. If you're not satisfied, return them for a refund. for advice, hook-up information, or orders, 8AM-midnight on direct comparison the abilities of We even refund original ground shipping charges. every day, including Sundays and holidays. the LX -900's predecessor, the LX - 1000. This result was confirmed by luminance frequency -response measurements indicating a -3 -dB bandwidth of 4.6 MHz, which calculates out to 368 lines. The player exhibited some lumi- lir nance nonlinearity, which was worst at the lowest picture levels (the maxi- Five year limited parts and labor speaker warranty. The best values in Dolby Surround Sound. mum nonlinearity of +7.5 percent oc- All of our speakers are backed by a five year parts and labor Mk believe The Surround and The Surround II are the curred at the 10- and 20 -percent pic- warranty. In some cases, we'll even send you a replacement country's best values in surround speakers. Complete Dolby ture levels) and declined steadily at speaker before we've received your defective unit. Surround Sound systems start at under $1,000. higher luminance levels. This error may produce a slight loss of detail in dark areas of the picture, although no obvious effects were visible. All laser - disc video measurements should be taken with a grain of salt, however, 41 ... since they vary according to the test disc used. The numbers cited here are the best -case results obtained from Ambiance ultra -compact speaker system. NEW: Model Eleven A transportable component system. four different test laserdiscs. At think Ambiance is the best "mini" speaker available, The same high performance of the original, in a smaller The LX -900 seemed to be better regardless of price. Bass and high -frequency dispersion are package. Canyingracedoubles as system subwoofer. Winks unmatched in its category. $175-$200 each. on 110, 220 & 12 volts. Introductory price $699. than the LX -1000, and many other players, at suppressing the various Call 1 -800 -FOR -11F1 for a free 64 -page catalog with components and systems low-level interference patterns the la- from Cambridge SoundWorks, Pioneer, Philips, Sony Denon and others. serdisc systemisprone to. Video noise on such things as color bars and lit Know How lb Make Loudspeakers. full -field colors was very low, and that was with the Field Noise Reduction control at its standard setting. Higher CAMBRIDGE settings gave a slight further reduction of color noise with only slight picture SOUNDWORKS blurring at the highest setting. I found 154 California St., Suite 10211_ Newton, MA 02158 the B&W (Retro) and reduced -bright- 1-800-367-4434Fax: 617-332-9229 Canada: 1-800-525-4434Outside U.S. or Canada: 617-332-5936 ness (Night) options of the Video Se- S. Po3CambndwtiouaMbrks lect control pretty useless. Lv.101111-; CIRCLE NO 6 ON READER SERVICE CARD In '"1:173. 9.3".tea:

mar...WM ager'Includes 6 Page Guide lower than with the last Panasonic To Surround TheLX -900 has no combi-player we tested (the manual - Sound. turnover LX -101), but the groaning on/off button for the gear -shifting we heard during the laserdisc side -changing process could remote jog/shuttle dials, prove distracting. As usual, it would have been nice to which are always have had further differentiation of the size, shape, and feel of many of the operational-a major handset buttons. For example, the Modebutton-controllingwhether advance in convenience. you are cueing by laserdisc frame or chapter number-could receive far more prominence than it does. And I think that the numerical keypads on the remotes for all CD and laserdisc players should enable direct numerical Audio Catalog entry of track numbers greater than 9 instead of requiring repeated presses Our 64 -page catalogis loaded with components of a +10 button like the LX -900 does. and music systems from Cambridge SoundlAbrks, Many laserdisc programs and classical Pioneer, Philips, Denon, Sony and others. CD's have dozens of tracks, and Because you buy factory -direct, with no expen- they'd be easier to get to with direct sive middle -men, you can saw hundreds of numerical entry. Finally, the remote - dollars. For example, a Dolby Surround system sensor window on the front panel with Ensemble II speakers, rear speakers, Philips should have been located where it Dolby Surround receiver, CD player and system would not be shadowed by an open remote is less than $1,000. Call today and find out disc drawer when the player is placed why Audiomagazine said we "may haw the best below the level at which you hold the value in the world." remote (near the front -panel jog/shuttle control would have been a good Call toll -free for factory -direct savings. place). Saw hundreds on components andsystems The standout among the LX -900's from Cambridge SoundlAbrks, Pioneer, operational improvements is Panason- Denon, Sony and more. ic's elimination of the traditional on/ Audio experts will answer your questions off button for the remote handset's before andafter youbuy. 8AM-midnight, jog/shuttle dials: They are always im- 365 days a year -even holidays. 30 Day lbtal satisfaction Guarantee on all Operational annoyances were few. mediately operational. This may seem Cambridge SoundWorks products. The most significant one I discovered minor if you haven't used such con- was that it is impossible to prevent the trols before, but removal of this point- The Model Eleven A - LX -900 from automatically going to less button is actually a major advance Transportable the second side of a laserdisc after in convenience. Trust me. Component finishing the first: You have to inter- Working hand -in -hand with the jog/ System vene manually to stop playback before shuttle controls is the LX -900's most the changeover starts. While this is the important video convenience feature: raisond'être of theside -changing frame memory. Just as I would never mechanism, the LX -900's uncontrol- buy a home CD or laserdisc player lable enthusiasm in this regard can get without a remote control, I wouldn't irritating, especially with programs buy a laserdisc player without frame occupying an odd number of disc sides memory. It brings slow motion and or when you're trying to cue to a point. freeze frames to CLV discs, and you near the end of a side. can easily save more than the price 1-800-FOR-HIFI Other ergonomic problems were mi- premium of the memory by buying the ii.now How 70 ldakeLoudspeakers. nor and principally concerned the re- considerably less expensive CLV ver- mote control. The useful video noise sions of laserdisc movies. CAMBRIDGE reduction can be activated only from On the whole, the LX -900isa the player's front panel, whereas the smoothly operating combination CD/ SOUNDWORKS particularly uninteresting Video Se- laserdisc player that delivers superb 154 California St., Suite 1021L Newton, MA 02158 lect and some other "trick" features video and digital -audio performance. 1-800-367-4434Fax: 617-332-9229 (Strobe, Still & Sound) get buttons on Now, if 1 could only find an S -video Canada: 1-800 525 4434 (hitside 1).S. or Canada: 617-332-5936

the remote. Mechanical noise was cable . . . .

V/SA 11 SID STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 57 Ciao. AHD I's getting hard these days to find a receiver that doesn't have video as well as audio functions. Some stores now ande/video receivers only. no standard receivers, and -atether iciu need one or not that's all you'll be able to buy. E It evm :f you aren't going to make it the audio centerpiece of a home. theater system, a we:,' -chosen A/V receiver can provide sonic benefits for ordinary music listening. Your listening preferences will make a difference in what you should look for in an A/V receiver: Soundtrack-orierted 4tnen wi I want to look for a different mix of features listeners oriented more toward music. What Is an A/V Receiver? receiver, which in turn feeds the TV receiver with true stereo audio screen. outputs If you don't have any of these The typical A/V receiver has all the Product brochures frequently con- stereo -soundtrack sources and want features of a normal stereo receiver: centrate on surround -sound features to get into home theater, budget in an internal AM/FM tuner; connec- such as the number of music -enhance- their cost when yor get your A/V tions and switching for a CD player, at ment modes. But one of the reasons receiver; a Pro Logic circuit can do least one audio tape deck, and some- for choosing an AN receiver over nothing for a mono soundtrack signal. times an analog turntable; and two separate A/V components is that it will Seeking Features channels of power amplification to relieve you of the intimidating task of drive a pair of stereo speakers. Three trying to figure out multiple intercom- If you're a soundtrack -oriented lis- additional features are required to turn ponent connections and switching for tener who has gone whole hog and such a device into an A/V receiver. both audio and video. So you should installedacenter -channelspeaker The first is a movie -soundtrack sur- pay at least as much attention to the along with a couple of surrounds, the round -sound decoder, usually a Dolby connection and switching capabilities AN receiver you choose should be Pro Logic circuit realized either by of an A/V receiver as you do to its rated to provide equal amounts of analog integrated circuits or by DSP sound -processing abilities. The more power f)r the front left, front right, (digital signal processing). The second i -puts the merrier. and center channels. When you play a feature is additional amplifier circuits Related Componentry movie soundtrack, the center channel and connections for multiple loud- will get the largest share of the receiv- speakers. Usually three additional am- Don't ignore the components to er's output, and its power capabilities plifier circuits are supplied: one for a which an A/V receiver has to be con- should reflect that. If you plan never to center speaker, to be placed as close to nected when making your selection. S have a center speaker you don't need the center of your TV screen as possi- ally for budgetary reasons. To get any to worry about center -channel amplifi- ble, and two for surround speakers. benefit out of an AN receiver s sur- er power; you'll be using the surround Most AN receivers also have a sub - round -sound capabilities, you'll need decoder's "phantom center channel" woofer or mono output suitable for to connect two surround speakers. mode, which creates :he sonic image driving an externa amplifier connect- With just a pair of fairly inexpensive of a center speaker by feeding its sig- ed to a subwoofer. surrounds, you can take advantage of nal to the main front speakers. The third primary feature of an A/V thereceiver'smusic -enhancement As for actual amplif er-section pow- receiver is connections and switching modes for processing signals from au- er ratings, A/V receivers are no differ- for video -oriented signal sources such dio tape, radio, and CD's. For the best ent from standard receivers: Buy as as VCR's and laserdisc players. These performance when playing Dolby Sur- much power as you can afford. Ideal- connections include video inputs and round movie soundtracks, a center ly,an A/Vreceiverwouldhave outputs so that the receiver can switch speaker is also required. equal-and large-amounts of power the picture from the video sources Actually playing a soundtrack with available for all channels (front left along with their sound outputs. In- surround sound requires Dolby Sur- and right, center, and surround). Usu- stead of feeding your video monitor or round -encoded stereo soundtrack sig- ally, however, the surround outputs TV set directly, you hook up the audio nals from a stereo video source: a hi -ti are less powerful, even though music - 2 and video outputs of your VCR to the VCR, a laserdisc player, or a stereo en iancement process ng and soundtracks can sometimes put a lot of ener- measurement,allsurround -process- balance the speaker levels properly. gy into the surround speakers. But the ing effects are best evaluated by ear. This is much easier with visual aids. old rule of thumb still applies: If all Second, the surround -sound decoders Some A/V receivers can also dis- other aspects are truly equal-includ- in most A/V receivers don't do a par- play various operational -status indica- ing price (a rare situation)-choose the ticularly good job of enhancing any tions (including speaker -level settings) receiver whose output power for ei- music other than classical. That's be- on a TV screen. That, too, is a desir- ther the front or surround speakers is cause their primary means of enhance- able feature as long as you aren't total- significantly higher (meaning at least ment is to create multiple delayed ver- ly dependent on the TV to operate the twice as high). Example 1: 100 watts sions of the main signal and play them receiver. Some units have so many front/center and 40 watts surround through the surround speakers, per- possible adjustments that the only beats 50 watts all around. Example 2: haps with some artificial reverberation place a comprehensive, legible display 100 watts front/center and 40 watts thrown in. While this type of process- is possible is a TV screen. But it soon surround also beats 150 watts front/ ing can be effective in creating the gets annoying to have to turn on the center and 20 watts surround. feeling of an enveloping concert hall monitor if all you want to do is change If you're a music -oriented listener with classical music, it also usually an audio setting. who wants an A/V receiver primarily creates a sense of distance and space ANYmodels havepre -out/ to enhance music, pay particular at- that may be inappropriate for pop mu- main -in loop connections for tention to the variety and adjustability sic, however imposing it might sound all five speaker circuits, which of thereceiver'smusic -processing in a short showroom demo. There are enable you to upgrade the modes (the Dolby Pro Logic mode, by a few A/V receivers whose music - power of your A/V system by contrast, is very limited in how much enhancement modes include at least using external power amplifi- you can adjust it). This is one area one that adds vividness without add- ers instead of the receiver's. where brand -to -brand and even mod- ing distance, but they tend to be high- Amplifier power determines a el -to -model variations can be obvious er -price DSP-equipped models. 111considerable portion of the and crucial, where a listening test is Make sure that the receiver you cost of an A/V receiver, so if you're on mandatory, and, unfortunately, where choose has some means of displaying a tight budget you might consider get- showroom evaluations are just about the relative levels of the main front, ting a relatively low -power unit with impossible. center, and surround speakers. This such loop connections and upgrading Making your own surround -sound can take the form of a numerical read- later. Remember, to make a noticeable listening tests (or checking for detailed out, the relative positions of index difference, you'll need to use external comments in a test report) is impera- lights on main and surround volume amplifiers rated for at least twice the tive for two reasons. First, although knobs, or a string of LED's. Getting power of the internal amplifiers. Dolby circuitry can be checked for the best performance out of a sur- Other desirable features include a compliance with Dolby standards by round -sound decoder requires you to phono input if you have (or might add) EASY One of the seemingly most neglected Unfortunately, not only do some of the aspects of A V receiver usability is ease o' best A V receivers have vertically arrayed LIVING hookup. A fully equipped and connected A V connectors, but in a store it's difficult even system might well include a couple of to determine how the connectors are VCR's, a laserdisc player, a CD player, an arrayed. Most A V receivers are more or audio tape deck, a turntable, five home less permanently ensconced in a display iln A V receiver is of necessity an theater loudspeakers, a subwooter, and a wall. and the salespeople probably don't electronically complex device. If the pair of remote loudspeakers, all connectel know about their connectors, nor will the manufacturer is not careful with with a jungle of separate audio and video glossy product brochures mention or show ergonomic design ("human cables to a single A V receiver's very them. You'll discover the truth the hard engineering"), this complexity can crowded back panel. Heaven help you it way: by opening the box at home. easily seep into the receiver's you upgrade any one of those components An almost equally neglected area of A V operation. There's no good reason or have to change any connections. You'll receiver design is the ease of use of remote for this to happen considering the end up with knots that the entire Coast controls. (Don't buy an A V receiver that low cost of labor-saving computer control Guard couldn't untangle. lacks a remote control. I don't actually circuitry. But that circuitry must be I've found that receivers (both the know of any without one, but that is not to programmed for easy and logical standard and A V variety) whose input ant say that some cost-cutting manufacturer operation. and your access to the output connectors are all arrayed wouldn't put one out.) The only reason the programming must also be quick and sure. horizontally tend to be far easier to front panel of every A V receiver doesn't If you can't activate a feature without connect-and, more important, to look like the cockpit of the space shuttle is having to look it up in the manual disconnect and reconnect-than those with that many of the controls have been moved repeatedly, or if you have to slog through a the various connectors arrayed in vertical to the remote. and most of the rest laborious sequence of button pushing. you columns. This is especially true if you have duplicated on it, so that it becomes the might as well not have paid for that feature. to feel your way around the back panel from primary means of man -machine Usability is therefore a valid reason for the front, which happens more often than interaction. It's only prudent, then. to selecting one A V receiver over another. not once the receiver is installed. examine the remote for usability.

60 SI ERE° REVIEW JULY 1993 an analog turntable, S -video connec- acerbated by the cramped circuitry tors for as many video inputs as possi- inside them. ble (especially if you have a Hi8 or S - If you can, you should also carefully VHS VCR or camcorder), a front - examine the front panel and remote panel A/V input for temporary hookup control, paying particular attention to of a camcorder, and independent logical operation and ease of use (see source switching for listening/viewing "Easy Living" below). Many stores and recording. don't even put the remotes for their An A/V receiver is normally larger A/V receivers out for inspection, how- and much heavier than a standard au- ever, since they tend to get "lost" dio receiver with approximately the even more rapidly than they do at same main -channel power rating. If home. You'll usually get to play only you plan to put your A/V receiver on a with the front -panel switches, though shelf, make sure that the shelf is deep in the real world you'll be using the enough and strong enough to support it. remote at least 95 percent of the time. It's possible to evaluate a couple In -Store Evaluations If you can do an in-store listening of things even in the most uncongenial Unfortunately, many other impor- test, also try a quick input -isolation store surroundings: the receiver's dis- tant characteristics of an A/V receiver test. Feed pop music with a heavy beat play and indicator lights. You can easi- cannot be assessed from a spec sheet into the receiver (preferably from a ly check them for brightness, legibility and are just as difficult to gauge in a CD player) and adjust the volume to a from a distance, and, most important, store. You should, for example, listen fairlyloudbut comfortablelevel. usefulness. Do they tell you every- to the surround outputs alone to check Then, while the music is still playing thing you absolutely need to know their noise and distortion levels in both and without changing the volume set- about the receiver's operating status? the soundtrack -decoding and music - ting, switch to another signal source Look especially for the selected input enhancement modes. But many re- that is either not connected or not and surround -sound mode, the overall ceivers in a store's "listening wall" playing. Ideally, you should hear si- volume setting, and the relative settings aren't even hooked up, and it is often lence. In practice, you might hear the of the surround and center speakers. difficult to find one that allows listen- pop music leaking over into the "si- And finally, just in case, make sure ing to the surround or enhanced signal lent" input. Such "crosstalk" indi- you can return a receiver for full credit only without turning off or disconnect- cates insufficient signal isolation and if you take it home and discover that it ing the main speakers. Blessed are can contaminaterecordings made doesn't do what you want it to do. those stores that have good surround - through the receiver. A/V receivers With all of today's options, you can sound listening facilities. vary greatly in crosstalk, which is ex- find a winner.

Start with the standard remote -control controls needed for accurate balancing of off 3 numerical keypad, many remotes have questions, which are as valid for A V the speakers during surround -sound buttons that are user -programmable for the receivers as they are for CD players and playback (separate level adjustments for handsets cDntrolling other components. I've VCR's: front, center, and surround speakers along fond that 'regardless of how many Is the remote comfortable to hold? with a switchable test tone). Having these programmable buttons are provided, you'll Does it absolutely require two-handed controls on the remote will enable you eventually run out of them and end up operation? balance the system for movie soundtracks having at least some other remotes lying Are the buttons well differentiated by from the listening position without around anyway (VCR remotes in particular size, color, shape, texture, or location? assistance. I'd also look for a remote that are hard to get rid of).I don't put much Are the buttons logically arranged, with allows some son: of selective surround - yoke on a 'receiver remote's having related functions close together? (That will sound switching, specifically the ability to programmz ble buttons if including them help you memorize the control positions.) turn off the main sound and hear only the means luring out important receiver - Are any critical buttons too close surround -sound processing. This feature is related controls. together (on off next to volume, for rare but can be extremely useful. Give Just because I've concentrated here on example)? several points to those receivers whose remote controls, don't forget the receiver's Can you read the remote's labels and remotes also permit full adjustment of the front panel. Remotes have the nasty habit markings, or at least feel your way around music -enhancement surround modes from of creeping between sofa cushions or under the buttons, in a darkened room? the listening position. parts of the Sunday paper, or of running out Does it require weird batteries? (I prefer To reduce the number of buttons on the of battery pwer just before the program a remote that uses AA batteries because remote, many A J receivers don't duplicate you want to watch or listen to comes on. they usually cost the same as AAA cells and all their front -panel controls. Omission of Make sure *hat the front panels of the last much longer.) tone controls from the remote is not too receivers you consider have the critical Along with those basic remote -control important, but leaving out numerical controls for getting your system up and issues, there are some specifically related selection of tune' presets can be. running: power, input selection, surround - to A V receivers. Find out, for example, especially if you .Ise many of them. As if to sound mode, overall volume, and front, whether the remote incorporates all the make up for the tuttons saved by leaving surnund balance.

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 61 BB ON St11,110111) How thupgrade without i your prized slereo gear

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.. C°:**..------' Nit Ow-PAPP- _.441111111.P.--.000....111111111-__ - DANIEL KUMIN s t c .° , OMEtheateristhebig round, also known as Dolby Stereo, cessor:, many with power for the cen- noise in home entertain- relatively few music releases are re- :er anc surround channels, can be had ment these days: Audio corded using this technique. Most pro- 'or less than $400. Even basic Pro specialty salons and su- cessors, therefore, offer additional en- Logic processors typically include a perstores alike report the hancement modes for non -surround - couple of additional surround settings biggestrushsincethe encoded (and even mono) music aid There's almost always one labelec CD's dramatic entrance a A/V recordings that work either iy Hall cr Concert for non -Dolby -en- decace ago. On the hi-fi synthesizing ambiencesignalsvia coded CD's, TV programs, and vid- side cf things the attention DSP (digital signal processing) or Dy eos. Most processors also provide a has focused on sarround-sound gear, extracting and redirecting existing am- mode fiat enhances monaural materi- especiallymultichannel audio/video bience cues. In fact, many models use al, which still incluces a good deal of receivers with buit-in Dolby Pro Log- both techniques. television broadcasting, not to men- ic decoders. Anc understandably so In scanning the shelves for a sur- tion hi'toric recordings and the like. since these all -in -one components dis- round processor, then, the most fun- Upmarket processors often incor- pense fullhi-fi and surround -sound zamental questionisthe surround porate DSP-based ambience -synthe- facilities in one fell swoop. methodologies on tap. Dolby Pro Log- sis modes as well, which derive a But many of us already own a per- i:, which includes a dedicated center- surround -channel signal, and in some fectly good "old-fashioned" stereo re- ,.hannel output and "steering logic" to cases also a center -channel signal. ceiver, an integrated amplifier, or a I.eep center, surround, and left/right from de informatior contained in or- suite of separates. Happily,if you signals suitably discrete (improving dinary stereo recorcings. In the con- aspire to surround status, there's no :he intelligibility of dialogue and vo- text of a surround system with four or need to junk perfectly functional, well - cals as well as ambience reproduction). more sneakers, DSF-synthesized am- loved gear and start over. There is a _s fast becoming the de facto standard bience zan fool your ears into thinking plethora of add-on solutions. far movie and video soundtracks en- the listening room has been trans- The key to adding surround capabil- coded in Dolby Surround or a compat- formed into a variety of other acoustic ity to an existing :wo-channel system ible format. Pro Logic is superseding enviror ments-a small jazz club, a lies in an outboard processor or con- 'regular" Dolby Surround decoding, large concert hall, and soon-by mim- troller that unravels Dolby Surround - which does not make use of a discrete irking the way sound is reflected in encoded video and audio tapes and center channel or steering logic.It them. DSP-synthesized ambience is a0 discs into their four -channel (left, cen- makes little sense to scrimp here: P -o stunnirg technological development,0 a ter, right, and surround) sonic splen- Logic's price premium has plummet- which at its best is extremely convinc-0 dor. Although mast of the movies ed, and its enhancements are well ing. It 'remains a matter of taste, how- made in the past ten years have sound- worth the modest surcharge of 10 per- ever. S,'stems vary widely in flexibili-0 tracks that are encoded in Dolby Sur- cent or so. Stand-alone Pro Logic pro- ty and naturalness of sound, and

AudioSource's SS Thneeill ($400) features a s x -mode Dolby Pro Locic processor and two 30 -watt amplifiers to rower the center and suround channels. meticulous tweaking of DSP parameters, channel balances, and surround - speaker placement and orientation is PRESET PRO LO(i often required to arrive at the "opti- 15 THX CINEMA mum" sound. If you choose a DSP- equipped model, be sure to arrange for a home trial, and budget plenty of tinkering time. Some DSP-equipped models per- Lexicon's CP-3 (S2,995) teams digital Dolby Pro Logic decoding and Home THX form Dolby Pro Logic decoding digi- processing with highly sophisticated ambience enhancement for music. tally, which, in theory, should provide an edge in accuracy and overall performance. In practice it ain't always so: New -generation analog Pro Logic circuits are narrowing the gap, and either approach can yield excellent perfor- In DE MO mance. Audition processors in the Pro Logic mode and listen for background noise in the surround channel (just make sure it's not in the recording!). Ideally you shouldn't hear any hiss at the listening position-even during Kenwood's SS -992 (S299) has a four -mode Dolby Pro Logic decoder. very quiet passages with lots of ambi- a 30 -watt center -channel amp, and a 15 -watt surround amp. ence. Similarly, evaluate decoding accuracy by listening to truly monaural dialogue with the center speaker off or disconnected and the processor set to the "Wide" mode. Some dialogue leakage to the left, right, and surround speakers is almost inevitable, but it should be very slight and constant in level. Introducing surround sound to a two -channel system requires more than just the processor: specifically, additional speakers to handle the surround channel and, for Pro Logic, the center channel, and additional amplifi- The Fosgate Audionics Model Three er channels to power them. ($2,499) boasts tour surround Processor Parade modes-including regular Dolby Pro Pioneer's SP -700D (5735) Outboard surround processors Logic, Home THX, and two proprietary features eight modes, including come in three basic flavors, processor - movie modes-five music modes, six Dolby Pro Logic and one for mono preamplifiers, processors only, and A V inputs, and eleven outputs. sources, sixteen sound -field processor -amplifiers. Processor -pre- presets, and sixteen programmable amplifiers, which offer a full complement of audio and video inputs and memories for user settings. outputs and global control suitable for both A/V surround and ordinary stereo listening, are intended more for ground -up component systems than for adding on to an existing rig. Simple surround -sound processors offer Dolby Pro Logic decoding, an additional surround mode or two, and little else; you must supply amplification for the extra channels. The processor is patched into an existing system via a tape -monitor or external - processor input/output loop, and its master volume control handles the overall loudness adjustment for surround listening. r.)neamesn SP -7000 Processor -amplifiers have two or more amplifier channels to drive center and surround speakers. Although these are more expensive than simple

64 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 Amir Am= IRinta Yamaha's D&P-E200 (5499) offers a digital Dolby Pro Locic decoder. a fcur-mode ambience processor. aid three 25 -watt amplifiers to power one center and two surrounc speakers. A full -function wireless rerr ote control is included.

Luxman s tufty digital F-116 (S800) has three opera'ing modes, each with one adjustable parameter: Dolby Pro Logic for Dc by Surround movies, Mole Logic for monaural soundtrack; and Music Logic for ordinary stereo programs.

Thi Carve! DPL-33 ($470) -eatures a Dolby Prn Logic decoder an an-bience setting for non -surround - encoded p-ograms, a 25 -watt center -channel amp, and two 15 - watt surround amps.

Dyiaco's CD -2 ($140) is a simple passive matrix decoder that routes QD-2 FIVE CHANNEL HOME THEATER SYSTEM the stereo difference signa (L - R) from music or a movie soundtrack CC.11,. to a pair o' ambience speacers.

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Onkyo's ES-500PRO ($400) otters two movie modes, including Dolby Pro Logic, two music modes, adjustable surround -channel delay, a 50 -watt center -channel amplifier, and two 20 - watt surround -channel amps. add-on processors, they can make the beasts offer surround processing, five - yond Dolby Pro Logic for movies and ... um, process of upgrading to sur- channel power, and integrated audio/ TV, and whatever additional ambi- round sound both easier and more video inputs, outputs, and switching. ence modes for music your personal economical. Aprocessor -amplifier What's more, adding one to an exist- preferences dictate, certain features patches into a system the same way ing setup leaves you with two "extra" are near necessities. basic processors do. In either case, amp channels, which you can use to Virtually every outboard processor however,hostreceiversor amps drive additional surround speakers, comes with a wireless remote con- equippedwithpreamp-out/power- extension speakers in a remote room, trol-but they are by no means created amp-in jacks offer another hook-up or a subwoofer. Denon's AVC-3030 equal: Make sure the remote includes option. Inserting the processor be- ($1,300) includes all these features and such essentials as master volume, in- tween these jacks gives you somewhat then some: Dolby Pro Logic, five am- dividual center- and surround -channel more flexibility in volume control. bience modes, a plethora of A/V con- volume, surround -mode selection and BY way of comparison, a nections (including S -video jacks), defeat, and audio mute. If the proces- fully powered Pro Logic and 80 watts apiece to the three front sor lacks automatic Dolby Surround A/V receiver includes five speakers plus 35 watts for each of the input -balance, the ability to adjust the amplifier channels, usually surround speakers. balance from your armchair is more three of equal power for the Somewhat paradoxically, nonam- than a luxury if you encounter a seri- front speaker trio and two plified processors can be more elabo- ously out -of -balance videotape or TV of somewhat less power for rate (and costly) than processor -amps broadcast-not so uncommon. the surround speakers, or A/V amps, for they are usually Most surround components include which commonly require oriented toward the high end of the a visual display of some sort. Although less wattage. Processor -amplifiers, as home theater market. For example, seldom critical, a clear readout of ba- their name implies, combinesur- the Lexicon CP-1+ ($1,595) is a so- sic settings-surround mode, master round -decoding circuitry with the nec- phisticated, all-DSP Dolby Pro Logic volume level, and relative levels of the essary extra amplification. But even processor with extensive ambience - center and surround channels-can be within this relatively narrow category, synthesis and ambience -recovery valuable, particularly if it's easily legi- there are plenty of choices. modes. Lexicon, Fosgate Audionics, ble from across the room. A cramped, For example, AudioSource's re- and other companies also offer even hard -to -read display will drive inveter- mote -controlled SS -Four ($330) pro- more costly processors that incorpo- ate window -watchers nuts. vides Pro Logic decoding, simple Hall rate Home THX refinements to Dolby SINCE it's hard to tell what the and Matrix surround modes, and two Pro Logic in order to reproduce movie future holds, pay attention to 24 -watt amplifiers to drive the center soundtracks on video with ultimate expansion options. Line -level speaker and two surround speakers precision. There are also simpler ex- outputs for all channels are (the surround speakers are wired in amples, however. Luxman's F- 116 important in a processor -am- parallel from a single output). Onkyo's ($800) is a high-performance digital plifier (an unpowered proces- ES-600PRO ($400) is a remote -con- Pro Logic processor with a minimum sor must have them). Down trolled Pro Logic processor with sev- of frills. the road, those outputs will eral adjunct modes, a heftier 50 -watt Taking the unpowered route de- enable you to substitute high- center channel, and two separate 20 - mands additional amplification: three er -power amplifiers for some or all of watt surround outputs. speakers' worth for a Pro Logic sys- the onboard channels with ease. Line A rather more elaborate specimen tem; more if you're adding a sub - inputs to a processor -amp's power comes from Yamaha. The DSP-E200 woofer or two as well. And don't section add a further level of adapt- ($499) is a remote -equipped digital Pro underestimate the importance of a ability. And in both powered and un- Logic decoder with three 25 -watt am- subwoofer-much of the excitement powered models, a built-in tape-moni- plifiers and Yamaha's Digital Sound- of today's movie soundtracks hinges tor/external-processor loop to replace field Processing. It offers numerous on good, solid low -bass reproduction. the one it occupies on your receiver or DSP-derived ambience modes. The simplest way to add the neces- main amplifier can be a lifesaver if you Perhaps the most critical matter in sary amplifier channels to a two -chan- have several tape decks or signal pro- selecting a processor-amp-next to nel receiver or amp plus a nonampli- cessors. the integrity of its surround decod- fied surround processor is to buy a In general, for pure, cinema -centric ing-is power. Most experts agree that single stereo power amplifier (or drag home theater, the simplest high -quali- the center -channel ideal is an amplifier a retired receiver or amp down from ty Dolby Pro Logic processor that fits whose rated power equals, or nearly the attic), employing one of its chan- the bill often gets the wallet's vote. equals, that of the main pair. So if nels to drive the center speaker, the But don't rule out music surround you're building on a 40 -watt receiver, other for the two surround speakers modes and DSP-derived ambience: look for a processor with a center amp (wired in parallel). To reach loftier Many a two -channel purist has been rated for at least 25 to 30 watts. The heights of power and flexibility you converted, willy-nilly, by living with a surround channel can usually get can buy two (or more) new power well -designedexampleforafew along with less relative power, de- amps or any of the growing number of weeks. And by all means include basic pending on room size, listening levels, multichannel amps. However you audio quality prominently on your list and the sensitivity of the speakers; a slice it, when the question is power, of "features." Surround processors quarter to a half of the main -channel more is almost always better. are, after all, hi-fi components: Hold power is a useful minimum. them to the same standards of defini- Full -bore A/V amplifiers offer an- Surrounded by Features tion, dynamic range, and musicality other way to keep using your existing Precisely which surround -proces- you would demand of any other mod- receiver.Essentially A/V receivers sor niceties to look for is largely a ern audio component, and you won't without tuner sections, most of these matter of taste and budget. But be- go wrong. 0 66 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 THE STUDIO MONITOR

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DOZEN years ago, when the compact box, a self-contained playback system with disc was still in its infancy, Sony speakers and a carrying handle. Which is i engineers demonstrated a prototype better depends on your listening habits. Hand- . of their first CD player, later named held players are considerably smaller and the CDP-101. Journalists marveled more portable than boomboxes, but they limit that such sophisticated technology you to headphone listening-at least as far as could be consolidated into a chassis on -the -go use is concerned. Boomboxes, at that was about the size of a stan- the expense of greater size and weight, letyou dardaudiocomponent.What take an entire playback system with you- many writers didn't notice-until Sony re- wherever you go-and share the music with vealed it-was the thick cable running from friends. Clearly, if you like to socialize around the bottom of the player, through a hole in the the pool, play volleyball at the beach,or demonstration table, and into a circuit -board tailgate at the stadium, a boombox is best. rack the size of two hefty Samsonite suitcases. Fortunately, by the time the CDP-101 hit Share the Emotion store shelves a year or so later, the engineers While boomboxes have a reputation that is, had managed to squeeze everything into one well, less than sterling, fidelity is improving as relatively small 14 x 4 x 121/2 -inch chassis-a more manufacturers use clean amplifiers and feat made possible by IC (integrated circuit) speakers that are capable of pounding out technology, which enabledentirecircuit much more than incredibly distorted bass. boards to be replaced with tiny silicon chips. Although there's a limit to the sound -pressure IC's also set the stage for the development of levels you can achieve with D cells, a good battery -powered hand-held players a couple boombox should be able to deliver decent of years later and eventually CD -based porta- sound quality at moderate listening levels. In ble systems. Hand-held CD players, which theory, the best -sounding systems should be were pretty petite to begin with (see "35 Years the ones that forgo flashing LED's and exces- of Portable Audio," page 75) have since sive circuitry-like equalizers, bass boosters, shrunk to astonishingly small sizes, play long- and spatial expanders. Such questionable er on batteries, cost less, and sound much amenities rarely improve fidelity (which is better than anyone could have reasonably different from listening fun) and often make imagined twelve years ago. the sound worse. Alas, perhaps reasoning that When it comes to shopping for portable CD, a boombox stripped of these features cannot there are two basic configurations to consider: qualify as a boombox, manufacturers are re- the hand-held player and the so-called boom- luctant to omit such bells and whistles. Fortu- BY7 CZ ER: C. CICALMANN 41441',i, Lit InnI*1 oi a " 44 s, 4114644g tt, id

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STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 69 Denon's DCP-30 CD player (S200) offers sixteen -track programming and an equalizer switch for headphone listening. It measures 55/8 x 15/ii x 61/4 inches and weighs less than a pound.

nately, there are some models that at least pay attention to the basics of CD player, amplifier, and speaker quality. You can spend less than $200 or as much as $500 on a boombox. All have a tuner and many include a dual -well cassette deck for CD -to -tape and tape - to -tape dubbing (or deck -to -deck relay play), while some of the smaller boxes have a single cassette mechanism.Ifyou don't own a high - quality component cassette deck and are interested in making "down - and -dirty"cassettes for casual listening, then tape facilities can be a plus.If, on the other hand, you don't plan to use the boombox for recording or playing The two cassette wells on tapes, go for a CD -only model. Why Panasonic's RX-DT707 CD pay for a tape deck you're not going to use? Besides, CD -only boxes should boombox ($450) are have a better CD section or, at the concealed by a motorized very least, a lower price tag. control panel that rises Whether you're buying a boombox automatically when any button for sound quality or quantity, don't on the main unit is pressed. overlook its size and weight. They can weigh anywhere from several pounds on up to 20 pounds, with many models weighing in at 10 to 12 pounds. Al- though some folks think "the bigger the better" and equate boombox size with status, systems that are big and heavy are ultimately a drag. The really bulky ones tend to be left at home, in which case why buy a portable? (A shelfsystem-or,better,full-size components-would make more sense.) The trick is to find a box that is small, easy to carry, and sounds good. Be sure to inspect the carrying handle Kenwood's DPC-731 before you open your wallet; cheap CD player (S249) has three boomboxes have been known to separate from their handles at the worst DSP modes, including one possible moments-like when you're for sing -along, a snap -on stepping into a rowboat. 9 -hour battery extender, And speaking of separation, some and a digital output.

70 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 Weighing in at just 11.8 ounces, 3nlop's DX -F5 CD player (S290) boasts a sack -lit display, twenty -bur -track programming, and a wireless remote control.

Sanyo's CDP-55 ($190) CD player has a digital antishock circuit and includes DC -power and cassette adaptors for use with a tape -based car stereo system.

Aiwa's CS)-EX03 CD boombox ($150) weighs in at 7.7 pounis, plus the two AAA batteries it requires, and measures only 111/4 x E x 9 inches. -otal power output is 2 watts per channel.

Fisher's PCD-6 CD player ($300) has a four -mode DSP-based equalizer and a buffer memory that stores 4 seconds of music to help prevent gaps in playback if the unit is jarred. A car adaptor kit is included. nothing quite like having a personal sitive to the remarkably robust. Play- CD player, a wallet full of CD's, and a ers that are the most resistant to shock good novel on a long airplane ride. On contain well -engineered laser pickups the other hand, before packing your with a sophisticated suspension mech- player, you may want to check with anism as well as a buffer memory that your airline to make sure it hasn't stores several seconds of music; when placed any restrictions on the use of the player is jolted and the laser pickup electronic devices during flight. loses its place, information continues Hand-held players are marvelous to flow from the buffer while the laser inventions. For as little as $100 (or as reorients itself. The best way to gauge much as $500), you can buy a mini CD a player's immunity to shock (espe- player that provides essential features cially if it's sitting on a store shelf) is to like track skip and scan as well as tap its top and sides. The best players favorites like track/disc repeat and will tolerate several good thwacks. random play. Most players also offer One final note: Even players that have some degree of programmability, and a buffer memory are not really de- boomboxes have detachable speakers many offer a bass -boost switch that, signed for jogging. Leisurely strolls, so that you can move them apart for a depending on the headphones you're yes, but unless you are a very dainty better stereo spread. While useful, using, can provide fuller sound. Hand- runner indeed, they will skip. particularly if you plan to use the box helds typically run on standard AA or LECTRONICS aside, one sure - at home a lot, detachable speakers can rechargeable batteries and include an shot way to improve sound be a burden to those on the move. AC adaptor so that they can be quality isto acquire good Speaker wires tend to tangle, and the plugged into an electrical outlet. Many headphones.While most speakers themselves can fall off if models also have a digital output, a hand-helds come with ear- they're not properly secured. My ad- "hold" switch that prevents acciden- phones, or "earbuds," they vice is, stick with built-in speakers. tal button operation, and an automatic often don't sound allthat Playing time is another very impor- turn-off circuit to conserve battery good-let alone fit comfort- tant consideration. There's nothing power-all worthwhile features. ably in your ears. In addition worse than having your batteries go Some models even include a tiny to increasing comfort, "real" head- belly up halfway through your beach wired or wireless remote control, phones usually sound much better. barbecue. Generally speaking, a well - which might come in handy if you plan "Open -air" -type headphones, which made boombox with a fresh set of to tap into a home or car sound sys- sit on the ear rather than covering it. batteries should be able to provide an tem. Other features you might come make the most sense, especially if you afternoon of playing time. Of course, across include a simple equalizer, a plan to be on the go-it's possible to the louder you play the box and the handful of DSP ambience settings, and become dangerously oblivious to the more you use controlsliketrack some sort of antishock mechanism outside world with "cup" -style head- search and scan, the faster the batter- (more on that later). phones (although they're great for in - ies will run out. Another point worth LTHOUGH the footprints of home listening). Make sure the head- considering is the number and size of many hand-helds are roughly phones you're considering have a the batteries the unit accepts.All the size of a CD jewel box- mini -jack connector or can be easily things being equal, a box that accepts give or take a few eighths of adapted to mini -jack.Finally, with ten D cells should play longer than one an inch-height and weight most phones and players you should that takes six. (By the way, alkaline can vary significantly from not push the volume beyond the "4" batteries cost more, but they last far model to model. The thin- or "5" setting (in a range of 1 to 10): longer than the standard variety.) nest models are an inch or Not only will the sound begin to dis- Finally, you may want to consider a less thick (5/8 inch in the tort, but you may hit sound -pressure boombox with unorthodox features. case of the JVC XL -P90) and weigh a levels that can permanently damage Citizenoffersa karaoke-equipped pound or less with batteries. Playing your hearing over an extended period. model that lets you sing along through time, which can range from 11/2 hours A great side benefit to owning a a supplied microphone-a great way to a whopping 10 hours, is often a hand-held player is that it can be used to amuse friends. Sony has a new function of size and weight. Models in your car-without the headphones, bright -yellow CD model in its Sports with long playing times typically use please! You'll need a power adaptor series that's described as "splash re- larger batteries or accept a "booster" that plugs into the cigarette lighter and sistant"-perfect for beach bums who battery pack. For example, Technics a cassette -shaped adaptor that con- like to park themselves close to the says its SL-XPS900 will play for 10 verts the CD signal into magnetic form water. Sharp recently became the first hours, but only when its rechargeable for playback through the tape player. company to offer a boombox with a Ni-Cd batteries are augmented by a Although a few hand-held players, CD changer. Slated to hit store shelves plug-in battery pack containing two such as Fisher's PCD-3, include these in August, it features an unconven- AA alkaline batteries. Of course, as accessories, they are more often avail- tional seven -disc stocking mechanism with boomboxes, listening habits have able as part of an optional kit or from and a dual -well cassette deck as well a distinct impact on running time: The accessory companies likeRecoton as the obligatory three -band equalizer. more you skip around from track to andScosche.A shock -absorbing track or use EQ or DSP circuits, the mounting plate is another accessory A Private Affair shorter the playing time. that might be worth looking into, de- If yours is a more solitary nature, Hand-held players also varyin pending on the mounting options in then you'll probably find hand-held terms of their sensitivity to shock and your vehicle. In addition to providing CD players more appealing. There's vibration, ranging from the hypersen- a fairly stable mounting platter, some

72 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 iIIlNlfrl ALTHOUGH hand-held CD players are quite and display are built into the MD -D10, petite these days, they're not the only whereas with the smaller MD -S10 they are digital game in portablesville. Even though situated on the remote control. DAT failed to make an impact, many Although the first DCC decks were diehard fans of that format still swear by cesigned for home listening, the second hand-held DAT machines like Sony's WMD- generation provides portability. The DT1, which measures 43/4 x 13/4 x 213/16 Panasoric RD-DP7 (lett, $549) is a hand- inches and weighs a mere 9 ounces. More held plater that offers 2 hours of playing significantly, the quest for portability-and time and a digital output. It measures V/. x a successor to the decades -old analog tape x 4519 inches and weighs 1.1 pounds. format-has led to the introduction of the Because DCC is a tape format, it is Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) and memory chip stores about 9 seconds of inherently resistant to shock and vibration. MiniDisc (MD) formats. Both otter a music, which greatly reduces the likelihood As with its home counterparts, the RD-DP7 recording option and boast good shock of audible paLsing and skipping. As lhe plays prerecorded DCC cassettes, DCC immunity. hardware shrinks. MD could become a cassettes recorded by the user, and analog Sony's MZ-1 player recorder (lower right, favorite of music lovers on the move cassettes. Philips has a similar player, the 5750) and MZ-2P player (S550) were the The Sony MD portables are not alone DCC130 (S549). But if you want to make first portable MD units on the market. In anymore. In recent months they have been :ompilction tapes, you'll have to buy a addition to having a digital input and joined by the Aiwa AMD-100 player home deck, since a portable recorder is not output, both incorporate a smart charging recorder ($803), essentially a clone of the yet available. -K.P. system that discharges the battery before MZ-1, the Sanyo MDG-P1 player ($600), recharging it (if nickel -cadmium batteries which in addition to being smaller than the are not fully discharged before being Sony units boasts a 12 -second butter recharged, they lose storage capacity, memory, and the Sharp MD -S10 player which translates into reduced running ($550) and MO -010 player recorder ,:$600), time). Although the playing time of these which are the smallest and lightest first -generation Sony MD portables is MiniDisc portables available, weighing limited to an hour or so. and they are in at a mere 10.2 and 11.6 ounces, bulkier than hand-held CD players, the respectively. The MD -S10 measures MiniDiscs themselves are only about one- 35/16 x 1 x 45/-5 inches, which except for a fourth the size of standard CD's and are thickness of 1316 inches are the same housed in protective caddies. Sony's butter dimensions as the MD -010. The controls of them include a gooseneck arm for converter and the recorder's A/D (an- puts and outputs. Another key consid- added flexibility. alog -to -digital) converter when you re- eration for home -bound hand-helds is Although hand-helds are designed cord a CD onto DAT, DCC, or MD, the mini wireless remote control- to be moved to and fro, the reality is assuring the cleanest possible copy many models offer this convenience. that they often wind up spending much (and eliminating the need to adjust -s. ROM aprice/performance of their operating lives indoors on a input levels on the recorder). point of view, no audio tech- shelf or table-in some cases, hitched Much ink (and some blood) has been nology comes close to porta- to an external audio system. If you spilled over the alleged differences ble CD. The fact that players suspect that will happen in your case, between optical and electrical (coaxi- operate on a few volts of bat- then there's no need to worry about al) digital connections and cables. For \ tery power and are capable of shock resistance. (It really pays to one reason or another, many audio- delivering good to excellent consider for a few moments how a philesfavorelectricalconnections fidelityis nothing short of hand-held CD player might-or might over the standard fiber-optic variety. astounding. But technology not-fit into your leisure time.) Focus But having tested both types of con- never stands still, and with the advent instead on home -oriented features like nections, and monitored error rates, of new formats such as DCC and MD a digital output, which I believe is I'm convinced that both work equally (see "The New Kids" above), it seems essential for any CD player. A digital well when properly designed and inevitable that the CD will someday output passes musical data directly to used. For reasons having largely to do (perhaps many years in the future) an outboard digital -to -analog (D/A) with space conservation, optical con- seem bulky and clumsy. Until then, converter or to any downstream com- nectors are becoming the norm on pick out a CD portable-with or with- ponent that has a digital input. And if hand-helds. Either way, make sure out a handle-and revel in the fact that you're a recording enthusiast, it lets that any components you plan on it fits inside your Samsonite instead of you bypass both the hand-held's D/A hitching together have compatible in - towering beside it. 0

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 73 Tim REASONS PIO BUY OUR HOME fr It -WATER SYSTEM KEEP STACKING UP.

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rjHoi-91,9FI-P, Call1-800-833-6252for the dealer nearest you. CIRCLE NO. 50 ON READER SERVICE CARD THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF PORTABLE 173,111DIF

Think back for a moment and try to remember the first time you encountered a "portable" audio component. My first was a rather clunky hand-me-down record player that my brother and I used to (unwittingly) deface Beatles 45's. Then my father picked up a pocket AM radio at the local Radio Shack so he'd never have to miss the Yankees again. Personally, I liked the little bugger for music (even though it made the speaker in the dash of our aging Comet sound good). And I'll never forget the newspaper photo of my uncle trudging through a field in Army fatigues carrying one of those AM/FM transistor radios that everybody owned-you know the kind, with the handle and the telescoping antenna. Except for my acquisition of a low-fi portable cassette player, things were pretty quiet during the Seventies, until one day I walked into a hi-fi shop where a college buddy of mine worked as a salesman. He was holding a little box and wearing some funny -looking headphones. Excitedly, he waved me over. "You've got to hear this!" he practically yelled. "It's incredible!"And it was-my first run-in with a Walkman. Next came the tiny CD players and the boomboxes. Portable audio has undergone a revolution in :.c. the past decade-one that continues today with near jewel -box -size CD players and hand-held MD and DCC players. Curious to see just how far we've come, I combed the STEREO REVIEW archives in search of portable audio devices. For a peek at what I found, turn the page.

41*311N ANNIVERSARY BY BOB ANKOSKO 35 YEARS OF

"World's Lowest Priced Tape Recorder!" screamed an ad for the Tel -Tape transistor tape recorder in the June 1958 issue of HiFi & Music Review. Offered by Filnor Products for 529.95, the West German -I import weighed 2 pounds and ran on four C -cell batteries.

The KLH Model Eleven phonograph was "26 pounds light and small enough to fit under a jetliner seat," boasted an ad in Radio Shack's version of the the October 1962 issue of HiFi classic pocket AM radio was a Stereo Review. It featured two forerunner of the Walkman. detachable speakers and a Offered for 59.95 under the 30 -watt transistor amp with Archer label, the battery - bass and treble controls. powered transistor radio had a built-in speaker, measured 25/. x 4 x 11/4 inches, and SJB's ST -120G Portamount offered weighed about 10 ounces. a partial solution to the format wars of the day: The 7 -pound deck played both four- and eight -track tape cartridges and offered a built- in amp and speakers as well as a DC adaptor to run off a car's cigarette lighter-all for S140.

Early boombox: Bell Sound's The cassette was catching on. Model 2418 hi-fi system was Concord advertised the AC or hailed as an innovation by HiFi battery -powered F-400 recorder in Stereo Review editors. The STEREO REVIEW for -less than S180 system packed a 30 -watt S180." It featured "two high - stereo amp and a pair of 8 -inch power stereo amplifiers and speakers (one detachable) acoustically matched speakers," in a luggage -type case. automatic recording -level control, VU meters, and a microphone.

411031310 Of the fifteen portable FM radios evaluated by Julian Hirsch, Tandberg's 5% -pound, 5110 TP-41 was singled out as having "by far

The Royal 2000, Zenith's version the best FM performance, and . . of the classic carry -along AM FM excellent audio quality." It had a transistor radio, sold for S150. It large 5 x 9 -inch speaker and ran weighed 113/4 pounds, measured on six D -cells or a car battery. 115/4 x 103/32 x 47/4 inches, and was powered by eight flashlight

111',.611111111IM batteries. A 5 x 7 -inch speaker, C C headphone jack, and telescoping FM antenna were included.

76 STEREO REVIEW JULY I9' 41111=11.

The era of persoral stereo was born with Sony's revolutionary Walkman. For the first time, remarkable fidel ty was possible from a headphone -equipped The incredib e shrinking CD cassette player teat could fit in a player Hand-held CD players of shirt pocket. The 5200 TPS-L2 the latest generation aren't much Walkman featured a built-in bigger than a jewel box. At about recording mike and headphones s/s inch thick JVC's XL -P90 CD that weighed just 1 ounce. By player is among the smallest. The 1982, sales of personal cassette S450 player ias a digital output players had soared into the and is loadei with features. millions and headphoned joggers had become city fixtures.

The personal stereo revolution continued with Sony's 5300 D-5 Discman, the first hand-held CD player. Bulky by today's standards, the 1'4 -pound player measured 5 x 1, x 514 inches and came with a battery pack that took six C -cells. An awestruck Julian Hirsch wrote: "Here we have a The MiniDisc (MD) format was pocket-size CD player, in most conceived by Sony with on -the -go respects a better performer than users in mind. Sharp's 5549 MD - those early [hone players), at S10 is the smallest MD player to

about a third of their price.' date, measuring 3516 x 1x 45/16 inches and weighing 10 ounces (see "The New Kids," page 73). The Technics SL-XP7 hand-held CD player was z mite smaller than Sony's D-5, making it, for a while, the "world's smallest." The 5300 player brought random- access programming and repeat play to the portables party.

Although a prolonged copyright dispute effectively nipped DAT in Following tie release of Digital the bud as a consumer format, Compact Cassette (DCC) home DAT portables like Denon's 5900 recorders late last year, Philips is DTR-80P recorder remain popular readying the 1 -pound DCC130 among enthusiasts and semi -pros. player for release by fall. It measures 354 x 15/8 x 63/4 The 5549 u lit measures 413/16 x inches and weighs 11/4 pounds. 11/16 x 411/is inches.

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 77 WM SALERNO- SONNENIRIG

by h. Robert Schiiari

ADJA SALERNO-SONNENBERGslouches on the leather couch in the living room of her Manhattan apartment, chain-smoking cigarettes, talking with a husky, street- smart accent that sounds more like a rock -and -roller's than a classical musician's. One whole wall of the room is given over to a 45 -inch stereo TV-ideal, she says mischievously, "for Oscar, Miss America, and Super- bowl parties." Mounted on an opposite wall is a 275- pound, 105 -inch blue shark that she wrestled into sub- mission off the coast of Long Island. Next to the shark, she plans to hang an alligator that Tough-Tallillg she trapped in the Louisiana bayous. Obviously, Salerno-Sonnen- berg, now thirty-two, does not Bad Girl fit the stereotype of the refined, cultivatedclassicalviolinist. Indeed, her detractors would claim that she has parlayed her unconventionality-in dress, of the Violin stage demeanor, and general attitude-into the makings of a major career. Like the English violinist Nigel Kennedy, she's had to face charges that she deliberately crafted a provocative, marketable public image. Yet anyone who has listened to her frighteningly passionate playing would find it difficult to doubt her sincerity. For Salerno -Sonnenberg, volatility-living on the edge, you might call it-is a natural state. And it seems that it always has been. Born in Rome of an Italian-_ American mother and a Russian father, Nadja did not ask for the violin, as many prodigies claim to have done. When she was five years old, her mother handed her a fiddle-and had to force her to ,-A practice. Three years later, the Salerno -Sonnenberg family moved

to the suburbs of Philadelphia, where Nadja attended public .2 school and studied violin at the Curtis Institute of Music. 2 She had a surprisingly normal child- She dealt with the situation in a hood. "My main desire from the mo- characteristically compulsive manner. ment I woke up to the moment I went "I went from one hole to the next. What you're to sleep was to play. Not the violin-to Now I practiced thirteen hours a day. play ball, play games in the street, Mentally, I was a basket case. I was swim in the neighbor's pool." Even trying to save myself, to save my life, then, she was a fighter, and when to make some sort of future. My eating children would taunt her about her habits were so strange. Every day I ate lookilig at aill't Italian accent or her ethnic food, she fried sausages, drank a gallon of Coke, knew exactly what to do. "In elemen- and had peanut butter and chocolate tary school, kids used to make fun of ice cream. And I was very dirty:I me because of the lunches I brought. didn't wash, Ididn't do laundry,I My grandmother, being Sicilian, made didn't see friends." necessarily what me fried -pepper and scrambled -egg Salerno -Sonnenberg had hoped only heroes. And these kids had bologna to make the finals of the Naumburg, in with the crusts cut off the Wonder order to reassure herself that she had bread!" what it took to be a violinist. Instead, Although Salerno -Sonnenberg claims in May 1981, at the age of twenty, she you're looking to have practiced only under duress, won the competition. If she hadn't she certainly made rapid progress. At been prepared to win, she certainly age ten she won a local competition wasn't ready for what followed: a me- and got to play the Bach A Minor dia blitz that, in typically fickle fash- Concerto with the Philadelphia Or- ion, at first celebrated her unconven- at,orwhatyon chestra. And at fourteen she began attending the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, where she studied with the legendary Dorothy DeLay- who taught just about everybody from Pinchas Zukerman and Shlomo Mintz to Nigel Kennedy, Midori, and Cho- Liang Lin. Three yearslater,atseventeen, Salerno -Sonnenberg moved to New York to attend Juilliard full-time, and that's when the trouble began. "Here I was in New York, and I was free. I had a thousand dollars, that was my entire life savings, and that went in a month and a half. I cut classes, fell in love, snuck into Yankee Stadium. It was a year full of wonder. I learned an enormous amount about life, but nothing about playing the violin." In fact, so undisciplined was she that for seven months she stopped playing entirely. "It got to the point where I didn't even bring my fiddle anymore to my lesson. DeLay and I would just talk. She knew I had a lot of teenage angst going on, and she was patient because she knew I was a talent worth nurturing. But her pa- tience ran out as well-and, boy, is she tionality,thenreviledit.Feature patient!" articles on the tough -talking, baseball - DeLay essentially gave Salerno - playing bad girl of the violin led to mayknow Sonnenberg an ultimatum: Either take appearances onthe NBC Nightly the violin seriously, or forget about News, 60 Minutes, and the Tonight being her student. That threat spurred Show. "I wasn't prepared for all this, the young woman into action. Not and I went though a period of several only did she rededicate herself to the years when I was completely unaware aboutmeain't violin, but she decided to enter the of what the hell was going on. So when prestigious Walter W. Naumburg In- the backlash came, I was stunned." ternational Violin Competition. There What was it about Salerno -Sonnen- was only one problem. After not hav- berg that made such waves in the staid ing played for nearly seven months, classical -music world? First of all, necessarilyso. she had less than three months to get there were her clothes-pants or ready to compete. jumpsuits, but no gowns. She claims

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 79 that those clothes were chosen with an Still, Salerno -Sonnenberg is grow- eye toward comfort, not notoriety. "It ing up, and some have observed that never occurred to me that this would her tender, more introspective new cause a stir. Afterwards, I felt, can the CD of the Barber concerto (with the classical -music community be so anal Shostakovich First) indicates a certain as to make a big deal out of this? Who tempering of her interpretive eccen- cares?" tricities. She doesn't agree. "I feel a But critics did seem to care. In some hundred percent more mellow about misplaced fit of sexist pique, reviews the business of music. But Idon't began to focus on her clothes more think my playing has mellowed. If than her playing. And then there was anything, I'm so much more confident her stagemanner.Onstage, she in the stuff I do now that I'm even looked-and still looks-as if she were more impassioned and desperate than wrestling with demons, both internal before-afurioso passage is extremely and external. She writhes and gri- furioso. And I'm not afraid that if I maces, she stomps her feet, she seems overdo it, the critics will kill me. I just alternately enraptured and on the couldn't care less at this point." verge of tears. Perhaps that's why she agreed to the Back in the mid -1980's, she was highly provocative packaging of her accused of deliberately creating this most recent recording, a collection of intensely physical stage presence. She encores entitled "It Ain't Necessarily insists today, as she did then, that it is So." On the cover, wearing a tight, entirely unconscious, an essential and skimpy black dress, she sits in a wood- natural part of her musicmaking. "It's Salerno -Sonnenberg On Disc en chair under a skylight in a mysteri- not anything that I think about. I hard- ous, ruined artist's loft. ly have time to learn the notes; when BARBER: "Because it was an album that had am I going to find time to choreo- the potential to reach a nonclassical Violin Concerto graph? It's the way Iplay when I audience, becauseit SHOSTAKOVICH: had popular practice at home, it's the way I played pieces in it, we agreed that the cover Violin Concerto No. 1 at my lessons. I think I do it instinc- should be unconventional. When you London Symphony, Maxim tively, so that I can remain relaxed. If I think about the title, it could mean that Shostakovich cond. EMI 54314. stand still-and I try often at home what you're looking at ain't necessar- to stand still-the playing suffers." BRAHMS AND BRUCH: ily what you're looking at, or what you INALLY,there was (and is) Violin Concertos may know about me ain't necessarily her playingitself.Highly Minnesota Orchestra, Edo de so. So what we wanted was the juxta- unconventional and deeply Waart cond. EMI 49429. position of a very beautifully dressed personal, itis playing that woman in an atmosphere of decay." BRAHMS: wells up from her soul, play- Some of the encores are played with Violin Sonata No. 2 ing that cares nothing for a searing romanticism, some are given FRANCK: traditional pieties or histori- a gauzy French veil, others are leav- cal niceties, playing of such Violin Sonata ened with Viennese With Cecile Licad (piano). Gemfitlichkeit. emotional intensity as to But none are less than absolutely per- EMI 49410. take your breath away. It's sonal. In fact, so bluntly honest is playing that many purists despise. But MENDELSSOHN: Salerno-Sonnenberg-in conversation it's unlikely that it leaves anyone un- Violin Concerto as in music-that it's hard to see how touched. SAINT -SANS: anyone could call her insincere. DorothyDeLay has described Havanaise; Introduction and How, then, has she been able to Salerno-Sonnenberg's interpretations Rondo Capriccioso endure all the scathing criticism? May- vividly: "Nadja never plays itsafe. New York Chamber Symphony, be it's because she continues to sell She very often puts herself in danger, Gerard Schwarz cond. EMI 49276. out dozens of concerts a year. And her playing as fast as she can move, taking VIVALDI: public, rather than being sleepy and a phrase to a really high point. Or in a blue -haired, is young, raucous, and The Four Seasons slow passage, as she draws the bow devoted. Orchestra of St. Luke's. EMI 49767. across the string, the note gets softer "Why would I put myself through and softer as she sustains the tone IT AIN'T NECESSARILY SO this?" she asks, lighting one last ciga- longer and longer. It's breathtaking- Violin encores. EMI 54576. rette. "Why not play it safe and get the kind of thing you hear opera sing- those nice reviews that don't offend ers do." anybody? You want to know what the Today, if you go back and listen to tone, she gladly sacrifices timbre in payoff is? It's seeing a girl in the third Salerno-Sonnenberg's earlier record- favor of brusque attacks and sharp row who's sixteen years old with pink ings, such as the Mendelssohn concer- accentuations. In this slash -and -burn hair." She smiles with satisfaction. to or the Brahms and Bruch concertos, violinism, it's intuitive, earthy passion "That's really nice." 0 it's easy to hear what caused such a that counts the most. But in our age of criticaluproar. Shesmashesthe carbon -copy conservatory grads, how K. Robed Schwarz is a free-lance music bounds of stylistic propriety, twisting refreshing it is to hear a violinist who journalist who frequently appears in the phrases, pushing and pulling tempos. has such an immediately recognizable New York Times, Stagebill, and other Instead of seeking a lush, polished personality. publications.

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Patty Loveless: A Country Singer Who's Not Afraid to Sound Like a Country Singer HO says time travel is impossible? Someone who hasn't heard "Only What I Feel," the sixth album by Patty Loveless. Lis- tento herhitthe piercing, mournful high notes of Love Builds the Bridges (Pride Builds the Walls), and you're transported to a back- woods porch in the 1930's, when country music was just becoming "country music." Or listen to the electric piano dance along to the fleet, sassy You Will and enjoy the kind'of rockified country that's become the flavor of the decade in Nash- ville. These stylistic touchstones and others from the different eras of country music blendtogetherseamlesslyin "Only What I Feel" because Loveless cares less about sounding fashionable than about making emotional sense. What's more, "Only What IFeel" sounds like a country album made by someone who isn't afraid to sound like a country singer.It doesn't sound, for example, like an album made by someone who's been studying Bonnie Raitt, one of the strongest influences on today's crossover -minded country women. Loveless has shown some of these tendencies before, but she's now become more distinctive. Part of the difference is instrumental-the arrangements aren't saturated with pedal -steel guitar and fiddle, but they haven't been avoid- ed, either, or lostin the mix. Then there's Loveless's more traditional vocal styling, actually just a smidgen more of a sharp, nasal edge on some phrases. This is the way all country women were expected to sound at one time, and Loveless is willing to seem a little corny if it makes the right emotional point. ations are as simple as they are univer- on a first -name basis. In a career that And these songs give her the right sal, and Loveless lets the feelings they has already seen considerable success, emotional points to make. This album is generate come out naturally. "Only What IFeel" is a major step a catalog of lovesick complaints, from The more conservative approach of forward. Ron Givens the deceptively breezy loneliness of Mr. "Only What I Feel" might be tied to two Man in the Moon to the grab -his -lapels - differentdevelopmentsinLoveless's PATTY LOVELESS and -tell -him -off spunk of Blame It on life. She's on a new record label, Epic, Only What I Feel Your Heart. But the topper of this strong and no longer being co -produced by folk- You Will; How About You; Nothin' but the collection is the one song that isn't en- rock guru Tony Brown. And the greater Wheel, Love Builds the Bridges (Pride Builds s tirely about romance. How Can I Help clarity of her singing might be related to the Walls); Mr. Man in the Moon; 3 You Say Goodbye tells the story of three the successful vocal -cord surgery she Blame It on Your Heart; You Don't Know 0. farewells-to a childhood friend, to a underwent last fall. But whatever the How Lucky You Are; All! Need (Is Not to g soon -to -be -ex-husband, and to the dying reason, or reasons, Loveless is now less Need You); What's a Broken Heart; mother who has always been there to likely to be confused with Reba, Wyn- How Can I Help You Say Goodbye I help her daughter say goodbye. The situ- onna, or any of the others we know EPIC 53236 (35 min)

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 81 BESPHFEMONIN

from its origins in the mountains to its end in the sea but also refers to the old preacher's analogy between the course of a river and the course of life itself. Ellington wrote at least ten pieces under the collective title The River, and there are several different realizations of the material. The version here, orchestrated by Ron Collier, is a suite of seven numbers. Ellington'sbig -bandjazz style, already very distinct and "cultivated," dovetails easily with a rich, post -impressionist orchestral sound, and that contrast is fully exploited in this recording. I have mixed feelings about the authenticity of some of the realizations;as presented here,the music sometimes hovers or teeters uncertainly between kitsch and something deep and deeply felt. The swing moments generate a certain excitement but are also a little heavy-handed. Ultimately, though, the deeply felt wins out, and the performance by the Detroit musicians under African -American Concert Classics Neeme Jarvi, their East European conductor-on Chandos, an English label- AI RICAN -AMERICAN musicians have win, let alone Duke Ellington or Jelly has both style and vitality, two qualities beenworkingandtryingto Roll Morton. But it is written with easy that always suit Ellington perfectly. The achieve recognition in the concert skill and, like some of Joplin's music, orchestra is even more at home in the hall for a long time. Scott Joplin evokes an idyllic age that ought to have Still symphony: this is music in a well- wrote two operas and a ballet. been, even if it never really known mode, and they know exactly James Reese Europe formed his intensity and rhythm, the passion for how to deal with it. All in all, a major Clef Club Orchestra-a symphony or- life, that we might associate with Afro- contribution to our understanding of the chestra with banjos!-at least ten years American music is barely hinted at, but width as well as the depth of African - before Paul Whiteman gave his famous the sweetness and melodic drive are American musical culture. Eric Salzman concerts. James P. Johnson wrote a pi- genuine and very fresh. ano concerto, and W. C. Handy orga- The case of Duke Ellington is much WILLIAM GRANT STILL: Symphony No. 1 nized Carnegie Hall concerts. But up- more complex. Though only four years ("Afro-American") town acceptance of black music was younger than Still, he seems to belong to DUKE ELLINGTON: The River very slow in coming. a later generation. He showed an interest Detroit Symphony, Jarvi William Grant Still, born the son of a in expanding his horizons throughout his CHANDOS 9154 Midwestern bandmaster in 1895, was the long career, and his larger pieces, begin- leadingblackAmerican"classical" ning with Black, Brown and Beige (writ- composer of his generation. He studied ten in the 1930's, first performed-at in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the Oberlin Carnegie Hall-in 1943) have always Conservatory, at the New England Con- commanded respect. Toward the end of Blazing Prokofieu servatory, and in New York with Edgard his life he produced a series of important Varese. He worked with (or for) W. C. compositions including religious pieces, Handy, played in the pit band for the the"street opera" Queenie Pie, and from Riccardo Muti musical Shuffle Along, composed and severalorchestralworks.Thebest arranged for two radio networks and for known of these is The River, which was Warner Bros. films, and had his music inspired by the flow of a great stream uRING his tenure as music director performed by the major Eastern sym- of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Ric- phonic organizations, including the New cardo Muti made some significant York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Duke additions to that organization's al- Orchestra. In short, he just about cov- Ellington ready enormous discography, ered the territory. Still became part of (above) 0mostly in the area of Russian music. New York City's bohemian, avant-garde and Now, having become the orchestra's life in the 1920's. Later he consciously William conductor laureate, he has given us what rejected avant-gardism as too elite and Grant Still is perhaps the most striking recorded turned toward a much more accessible document of their collaboration: a pow- romantic style incorporating elements erful, brilliant, altogether irresistible ac- from black musical tradition. His Afro- count of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 3. American Symphony (as No. I was The Third is the symphony Prokofiev called) generated a lot of interest in its built in 1928 on material from his unpro- day-the early 1930's-but later genera- duced 1919 opera The Flaming Angel tions found it tame, and, truth to tell, it is (which was, in fact, not produced until closer to Dvofak in spirit than to Gersh- after his death). He had conceived the

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opera symphonically, and he was en- couraged by his friend and colleague Nikolai Miaskovsky to use its music for Hot Picking and Dixie Weirdness from a full-scale symphony instead of a mere suite. Prokofiev used the opera material freely in creating his Third and declared Col. Bruce Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit that it "should be listened to just like any other symphony without a program." The music itself, however, declares its iET'Sassume you've never heard the descriptive character as clearly as Bee- Hampton Grease Band's "Music to thoven's "Pastoral" Symphony or Ber- Eat," a 1970 double album of South- lioz's Symphonie Fantastique, andit ern -fried surrealism that was the sec- works best when approached unapolo- ond worst -selling album in Columbia getically as a sort of symphonic poem- Records' history. It is similarly un- or symphonic drama-in four move- likely that you've chanced upon "One ments. That is what Muti has done. His Ruined Life (of a Bronze Tourist)" by reading itself is aflame from first note to Col. Hampton B. Coles (Ret.), the next last, driving the music on its frankly installment in the fitful, offbeat career of demonic course in a way that sweeps Bruce Hampton. Finally, you probably away any thought of resistance-and the didn't get up with the Late Bronze Age. a great orchestra's resources of sheer vo- Hampton -fronted ensemble that made a luptuousness are released as they have few records in the Eighties. not been in any of his earlier recordings. All that's okay now, though, because All this gave the Philips production at last the world seems ready to embrace team both a challenge and an opportuni- Bruce Hampton. And why not? The ty to which it responded gloriously. The lyrics in his new album, "Mirrors of CD is filled out with an account of Pro- Embarrassment," fall somewhere be- kofiev's "Classical" Symphony that is tween Webb Wilder and Captain Beef - as apt to that work-fresh, witty, affec- heart, and his new band, the Aquarium tionate, without a hint of condescending Rescue Unit, is among the hottest bunch cuteness-as the big, blazing one of the of pickers on the planet. Just imagine Third is to it. This recording will surely it-a six -string -bass jazz/funk virtuoso, turn up on many lists as one of the a mandolin phenom with avant-garde memorable orchestral issues of the year, leanings, a guitarist who'd have been a sas well as a crowning achievement for Southern -rock hotshot in another con- Muti's years in Philadelphia. text, and a four -armed drummer (or so it Richard Freed seems), all coming together in a sound that combines the brisk tandem runs of a PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 3; bluegrass, the improvisational aspects of Symphony No. 1 ("Classical") jazz, and the dynamics of rock. This aPhiladelphia Orchestra. Mug group isn't so much a melting pot as a 8 6PHILIPS 432 992 (49 min) fusion reactor. "Mirrors of Embarrassment," Hamp- ton and Co.'s second release on Capri- puts a frisky spin on Swing, a number corn, surpasses their first, a live album, salvaged from "One Ruined Life." Most by virtue of a pristine production job. surprising, the final song in "Mirrors of Guest banjo player Bela Fleck adds an- Embarrassment" is a relatively straight other layer to the instrumental mix in jump blues, Payday, to which no irony or Dead Presidents, a bluegrass breakdown oddness is attached. Is the Colonel sell- with a twist of Western Swing, and Too ing out? Nah. At the very end is a comic Many Guitars, a perplexed commentary rap in which he impersonates a sleazy on the grunge scene. "People jumpin' booking agent trying to round up an act around/Smiles looklike frowns/ to play "the Shannon Au Go -Go." It's a Couldn't tell exactly what they're gettin' vintage moment of high comedy from a down," Hampton warbles in Too Many self -commissioned Colonel whose work Guitars, while the band segues into a is always finger -licking good. long, deconstructive coda that would Parke Puterbaui,th have done mid -1970's King Crimson proud. The Greek choruses of No Ego's COL. BRUCE HAMPTON AND THE Under Water, It's Not the Same Old AQUARIUM RESCUE UNIT Thing, and Gone Today, Here Tomorrow Mirrors of Embarrassment add to the fun ("Scarce, scared, scarred, No Ego's Under Water; Lost My Mule in Texas; sacred," they chant in a rush of near - It's Not the Same Old Thing; Too Many anagrams in the last song). Guitars; Gone Today, Here Tomorrow; Elsewhere, Hampton croaks like a Shoeless Joe; Lives of Longevity; Memory is a lounge singer from hell in Trondossa (an Gimmick; Dead Presidents; Trondossa; invented name-such coinages are liber- Swing; Payday ally scattered throughout his work) and CAPRICORN 42016 (49 min) ORIGINPL MRSTER RE1/4C

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BY CHRIS ALBERTSON, FRANCIS DAVIS, PHYL GARLAND, RON GIVENS, ROT HEMMING, ALANNA NASH, PARKE PUTERBALIGH, AND POPULAEMUSIC STEVE SIMELS

AEROSMITH know, in Everybody Lay Love," is more rock and less 'billy. The songs, Get a Grip Down, why everybody all written or co -written by Carter. nearly GEFF I N 24455 162 min) should lay down, or why it burst with energy, thanks to her no -holds - Performance: Forced will do them any good. barred soprano and some of the twangiest Recording: Good But the tune has a terrif- guitar leads around. It doesn't hurt that these The men of Aerosmith didn't become multi - ic hook in the chorus, tunes show a wry sense of romance-"I love platinum legends by thinking too hard. and enough guitar you so much I hate you," Carter mock -com- That's why it was such a suprise when they riffs to keep us dis- plains on Every Little Thing. Even if she gets a scored a big hit with the seriously thoughtful tracted from such petty little sappy when things slow down, as in the Janie's Got a Gun, the centerpiece of the thoughts. That's true for weepy Unbreakable Heart or the we -can -get - band's 1989 "Pump" album. That song made virtually every song back -together World of Miracles, she is never people pay attention to Aerosmith again, for here-Benatar belts the boring. And when she kicks into high gear, the first time after years of unconvincing hard phonemes in her best Carter is the liveliest female country -rocker rock. For those who thought that "Pump" was crystal-clearsoprano, since Wanda Jackson. R.G. the beginning of another golden (if not plati- and the musical hooks num) age for the band, "Get a Grip" will be a just don't quit. Will this DEPECNI MODE disappointment. When they shoot from the album put Benatar back Songs of Faith and Devotion crotch on this album, songs seem to miss their on the charts, where she SI RI kl PRISE 45245 (47 min) libidinous targets. Flesh, while catchy and roosted for much of the Performance: Depressing energetic, lacks the testosteronic force of the Eighties? Only if these Recording: Okay 5 band's mid -career punch -outs. And when hooks sink in. R.G. Talk about your ultimate broodfest. De-1 they try to be significant, the songs seem like peche Mode has grabbed its own pet obses- Boy Scout civics lessons set to a polite rock sion-love-and taken it for a metaphysical soundtrack. Eat the Rich, which tries both to CARLENE CARTER ride. "Songs of Faith and Devotion" goes strut and to commentate, just seems forced. Little Love Letters round and round the great traffic circle of life, Separated from any significant content, Ste- GIANT 24499 (43 min) where romance and spirituality merge until ven Tyler's yowls and Joe Perry's bluesy riffs Performance: Zesty you can't wait for a ten -car pileup to end it all. don'treallyregister.Infact,Aerosmith Recording: Good Oh, sure, this album has its exhilarating mo- doesn't even sound much like itself on "Get a Wes, she has tight -fitting country genes- ments, including the factory -fresh, U2 -like Grip." a title that the band should take more June Carter is mom, Carl Smith is dad, clutter of I Feel You and the organized cacoph- seriously. R.G. and Mother Maybelle Carter was grandma- ony of Get Right with Me. But too much of it but Carlene Carter is true to the ripsnorting has the feeling of a serious statement-a collec- ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT spirit of rockabilly. "Little Love Letters," the tion of leaden insights presented with enough Unplugged follow-up to her 1990 countrified "I Fell in pretension to last several lifetimes. R.G. CHRYSALIS 21994 (68 min) Performance: Okay Recording: Good With this album, Arrested Development Depeche proves that rap can be just as powerful Mode: live as it is on record. But if you've already got not -so -sacred the record-A.D.'s only previous effort, "3 songs Years, 5 Months & 22 Days in the Life of ..." -then you don't really need this. That's especially true if you want to hear Tennessee, the group's breakthrough hit, which isn't included here. What you will find here, though, are instrumental versions of seven A.D. songs. Which really means that "Unplugged" can function as the rap equivalent of Music Minus One, making it the perfect gift for the budding rapper who needs some practice. R.G.

PAT RENATAR Gravity's Rainbow CHRYSALIS 21982 (45 min) Performance: Miraculous Recording: Good al ow does Pat Benatar do it? How does she OM sing the platitudes that overcrowd this album and make them so entertaining? You'd almost believe that she believes she's singing about something significant, but these songs defy encapsulation. For the life of me, 1 don't

88 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 bass and guitar on it. Needless to say, it's being jilted: "I might as well be dead / But I marked by superlative musicianship, class, could kill you instead." In Rub Till It Bleeds. and intellectual irony. "Kamakiriad" is a con- she calls tier lover weak, only to take it back cept album of sorts, with a futuristic premise almost immediately, saying, "I was joking," that actually allows Fagen to rewind and muse and to offer, in acid conciliation, to "rub it / on the social mores of the last half -century or until it / bleeds." We don't really know what so. It might just be the first significant fin de "it" refers to, but we don't really want to siecle album. (On the other hand, its jazzy know. The fact of Pi Harvey's menace is sheen makes for good mood music, so those enough for anyone. who'd prefer not to think too much can simply The soundtrack for all this nastiness is rath- pour another drink and absorb the vibe.) er skeletal. Guitar, bass, and drums come "Kamakiriad" employs trademark Dan together in punchy rhythmic patterns, and touches-cool horns that wash over the songs melodies are spare, offered a little at a time, as in gentle waves, a tight choir of background if Harvey is clenching them in her fist. Only singers who make the choruses surge, lightly blasts of grunge guitar are used to modulate funky grooves that insinuate and tease. The her rage. In "Dry," Harvey used her rhythm lyrics are oblique, intimating a high-tech fu- section of drummer Robert Ellis and bassist ture in which sensory simulation overtakes Steve Vaughan in a rather sinuous way, push- real life while scanning the wreckage of the last few decades, particularly the numbing of the senses through sex and drugs. Only music 8 looms on the landscape as an oasis for the 3 revival of real feelings, and the warm, gregari- ous spirit of "Teahouse on the Tracks," at the close of the album, seems a real triumph. Whether or not this album gains Fagen re - JOE DIFFIE admittance to the charts is almost beside the Honky 'tank Attitude point. The real question is do the charts de- EPIC 53002 (40 nun) serve "Kamakiriad"? P.P. Performance: Good or country Recording: Good BRYAN FERRY g oe Diffie has two personalities: good of Taxi boy and really good ol' boy. When he's REPRISE 45246 (40 min) good, he struts with the best of them, his Performance: Soporific baritone full of macho brass about drinkin' Recording: Fair and foolin' around just a little. And when he's I f this is all Bryan Ferry has to show for a PJ Harvey: love hurts really good, he becomes sensitive, his baritone five-year hiatus, he might as well have laid taking a deep dip into the well of sincerity low and let his legend grow in absentia. This ing them forward in the mix and letting her about how much his woman means/meant to album of cover tunes pales next to his previous own astringent guitar play off them. In "Rid of him. For the first half of "Honky Tonk Atti- attempts at same, which offered startling re- Me." Harvey puts the guitar up front so that tude." Diffie jumps back and forth between the contextualizations of goofy pop and sacred she can wail without obstruction, but in doing two personas-and it works. The tunes are icons, boldly placing Lesley Gore and Bob so she also loses some of the tension between catchy, as well as true to life as Nashville Dylan on approximately equal footing. "Taxi" white hot brutality and dark beauty that made knows it. Things get a little muddy in the is nowhere near as sure -handed or smart, "Dry" so powerful. middle with the goopy Somewhere Under the offering a meager ten songs, heavy on early - To question this musical choice, however, is Rainbow, and both songs and singer seem a bit Sixties girl group and R&B covers, with nary a to assume that Harvey has a choice. She might lost. Of course, the duality that Diffie starts newly refracted insight brought to any of not agree Harvey has the ultimate case of the with is simple, not to mention simplistic, but them. Aside from the funky drum track that modern woman's blues-or perhaps they have it's an entertaining fantasy while it lasts. R.G. enlivens an otherwise tepid reading of Amaz- her-and yowling to a beat may help her to ing Grace, this album is amazingly lifeless. Of eliminate anything that comes between her DONALD FAGEN greater concern is that Ferry, whose well - and the pain. R.G. Kamakiriad cultivated sense of irony and style fueled some REPRISE 45230(51 min) of the canniest rock of the past few decades, Bryan Ferry: exhausted? Performance: Sleek sounds creatively fatigued. P P Recording: Pristine n its heyday, Steely Dan offered something Pi HARVEY for everyone: solid chops and great solos to Rid of Me appease jazz snobs, catchy tunes that sneaked ISLAND 514 596 Ott mini onto the AM side of the dial, guitar solos and Performance: Excoriating static -free grooves that sated FM rockers, Recording: Good ironyaplentyforcritics,and danceable WoU must love, but you hate love. In fact, rhythms to hypnotize the disco crowd. Their you love the hate that love provides. You genius was being able to address all factions are Polly (PJ) Harvey and you use rock-and- simultaneously while still retaining an air of roll to wallow in your passion. For her first inscrutability. Steely Dan's seamless music album, "Dry," Harvey tapped her wellspring both mirrored and mocked the smooth come- of ugly emotions and produced a gusher. With ons of the self-indulgent Seventies. "Rid of Me," she's created another album of The Eighties, by contrast, were a lost de- dangerous, important music. cade for both partners in Steely Dan-Donald It's hard to describe the fury of Harvey's Fagen and Walter Becker-with precious little music without making it sound completely tr, work issuing from either. Now here's Fagen repulsive. That's because repulsion is one of f with his first full-length studio album since the key ingredients in her songs, which start in I982's "The Nightfly." More to the point, her blackened heart and stay there. The push- "Kamakiriad" qualifies as a virtual Steely Dan pull of love takes Harvey to extremes, as in reunion, since Becker produced it and plays Legs, when she considers the possibility of POPULAR MUSIC

recorded by Ketchum), as well as a melodic for many a romance back in the early Seven- and rhythmic lift from mid -tempo boredom. ties. Barry White picked up the torch and Backed by Ketchum, Nanci Griffith, and carried it on into the bedroom with his inviting Kathy Mattea, and produced by Jim Rooney, growls during the mid -Seventies. Well, the the man behind Griffith's best acoustic records pace has picked up in the interim, and a guy and now Ketchum's. Mallett has created a has to get to the point a lot faster these days if memorable album that evokes new rumina- he wants to score. For instance, Alexander tions and feelings every time you play it. It also O'Neal wastes no time in addressing his inten- offers continued hope about the natural meld- tions in this palpably sensual album, where he ing of country and folk in the radio market- stakes a claim to becoming the main man of place. A.N. R&B intimacy for the Nineties. O'Neal has a more highly developed singing ALEXANDER O'NEAL voice than either Hayes or White. Actually, his Love Makes No Sense style is closer to that of the late Marvin Gaye- TABU 9501 (51 min) the entire framework and setting of Aphro- DAVE MALLETT Performance: Sensual RAS disia, for example, is derivative of the overtly This Town Recording: Very good sensual direction Gaye's work took after the VANOLARD 79466 (41 mini Remember Isaac Hayes? His smoldering landmark "What's Going On" album, right Performance: Soothing 20 -minute story -raps were the backdrop down to some of the chord changes and cooed Recording: Very good vocal improvisations. But there's more of a Heavily influenced by Gordon Lightfoot in rough, burly edge here-while Gaye im- both his song structure and his vocal plored, O'Neal commands. timbre, folk poet Dave Mallett continues to The meat of this album is its center, featur- write thoughtful, potent songs about a changing thb Gaye -like Love Makes No Sense, ing America-small-town Main Street, rela- Home Is Where the Heart !s, Change of Heart, tionships disintegrated or strengthened by dis- and Lady. You can forget the obligatory up- tance and fast-moving times, the vast chasm beat openers, but don't overlook O'Neal's between this nation's poverty and wealth. In performance in the superb finale, the Ashford "This Town" as before, however, Mallett and Simpson classic Your Precious Love. It sometimes veers into too -precious territory assures us that this Nineties soul singer has (the deeply sensitive Autumn). Thankfully, he mastered the art of drawing from the past to occasionally writes with Jon Vezner and Hal address the present in a most compelling Ketchum, who add a helpful commercial tinge fashion. to some of his songs (Old Soldiers, previously P.G. P.M. DAWN The Bliss Album ... TALES FROM THE VAULTS GEE STREET 514 517 (60 min) Performance: Lush Recording: Very good homa! became a hit on record as well as in Just before the music starts on "The Bliss the theater, a whole recording genre took Album ... ?" you hear part of an astrolog- off-and survives today. Now spiffily re- ical reading in which Prince Be, the master- mastered for CD, the original, pioneering mind of P.M. Dawn's intoxicating blend of rap 1943-1945 recordings of Oklahoma! (with and soul, is described as "a time traveler. . . Alfred Drake and Celeste Holm) and Car- maybe from another dimension . .. not an ousel (with Jan Clayton and John Raitt) as earthbound creature." This is the guy, you will well as the 1951 The King and I (with remember, who earlier said. "Reality used to Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner) re- be a friend of mine." Well, it seems Mr. Be and main much more than historic keepsakes. Reality still don't talk much. This album is Each one comes across as enduringly fresh plump with loopy metaphysics, in which life is and alive, with wonderful performances a struggle between good and bad, light and Itli`6\A\ii\'6#\ that have never really been topped by any dark, between Prince Be and his spiteful alter of these shows' later versions. The original ego, the Nocturnal. And the "heavier" his sonics have been impressively cleaned up thinking gets, the more perplexing Prince Be .t psc Set colledaa Campz to sound almost as good as some later becomes. recordings, and each show's songs have When Be comes closer to our earthly plain, been rearranged in their correct sequence he can make good, if somewhat metaphorical, THE RODGERS A HAMMERSTEIN (something the LP editions didn't do). sense. On Plastic, he launches a tough hip -hop SOTS ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION There are also bonus tracks offering alter- counterstrike against the rappers who've at- MCA 10766 (four CD's, 234 min) nate takes for three Carousel selections tacked P.M. Dawn for being too passive, and In honoring this year's fiftieth anniversary (including the opening waltz) and Pore Jud on a number of tunes he becomes a direct, if of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, Is Daid from Oklahoma! soft-spoken, New Age romantic-"I tend to there's been a lot of hoopla about that The fourth disc in the set is a real winner: dream you when I'm not sleeping," he croons landmark show revolutionizing Broadway a compilation of eighteen Rodgers & Ham- in I'd Die Without You. In fact, Be is much musicals. Hogwash! Jerome Kern and his merstein songs performed by Bing Crosby, more expressive as a singer, coming close to collaborators (including Hammerstein with Judy Garland, Rosemary Clooney, Dick the throaty ecstasies of Smokey Robinson. His Show Boat) were the real trailblazers, "in- Haymes, Buddy Greco, Carmen McRae, spoken delivery is often too matter of fact, but tegrating" songs with a show's "serious" Jeri Southern, and Al Jolson, among oth- nearly all his raps are punctuated by sung book well before 1943. ers-some from long -unavailable 78 -rpm choruses. And his choruses are the glory of More genuinely revolutionary in their singles. Included are such R&H rarities as P.M. Dawn. The lush combination of impas- time were the recordings of Rodgers & Haven't Got a Worry in the World from the sioned lead vocals, piping background voices, Hammerstein shows-among the first to 1946 Helen Hayes play Happy Birthday, and harmony -rich choral effects-virtually all offer virtually complete Broadway scores and There's Music in You from the 1953 courtesy of Prince Be-are astonishing. You performed by the original casts. After Okla- movie Main Street to Broadway. R.N. may not understand what he's saying, but you can feel his bliss. R.G. 90 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 POPULAR MUSIC

LOU RAWLS Rawls has come full circle, returning to the Portrait of the Blues blues and R&B that were his original inspira- I arc The. Well I oc MANHAITAN 99548151 min) tion. It isa homecoming worthy of celebration, Performance: Rootsy demonstrating that he can still sing with a Recording: Very good soulful insistence and gritty urgency that I n a pop world where the duration of fame make these vintage songs ring true. seems to have been cut back from 15 to 10 For the occasion, he has resurrected a set of minutes, Lou Rawls has maintained his popu- classics from the Forties and Fifties, including larity over more than thirty years. Central to Ivory Joe Hunter's Since I Met You Baby, his longevity have been the undeniable appeal Buddy Johnson's Save Your Love for Me, and of his deep baritone voice and his craftsman- T -Bone Walker's I'm Still in Love with You. ship as a singer. Of course, there have been The authenticity levelis enhanced by the huge variations in the quality of his material. presence of such guest instrumentalists as His early work reflected his Chicago blues Junior Wells, whose plangent harmonica sum- THERANKIN FAMILY roots, laced with rich jazz nuances, but for the mons up shades of the indigo past in Jimmy Fore Thee Well Love next couple of decades he rode a predictable Reed's Baby What You Want Me to Do, and LIBERTY 99996 (36 min) groove, grinding out album after album of Buddy Guy, who lends his guitar to Willie Performance: Traditional purity bland, instantly forgettable pop. In this, his Dixon's My Babe. The venerable vibist Lionel Recording: Good sixtieth album-a remarkable feat in itself- Hampton and the blues belter Joe Williams Ir he Rankin Family, who appear on the join in for Louis Jordan's romping Saturday cover of their first U.S. release with a well - Night Fish Fry. The set a'so benefits from the scrubbed, Von Trapp Family glow, hail from mellow horn arrangements of Hank Crawford Canada, but their gaze is perpetually set on the and Benny Golson. A treat. P.G. Emerald Isle. The five siblings offer crystal- line voices, well-turned songwriting, and au- BARRY AND HOLLY TASHIAN thentically scruffy fiddle playing. Their reper- Ready for Love tory ranges from original, slightly country ROUNDER 0302(35 min) compositions to fresh arrangements of tradi- Performance: Simplistic tradition tional Celtic folk fare, presented in pared - Recording: Good down production with nary a nod to the com- eit n their third album, husband -and -wife mercial U.S. pop charts. There's an innocence team Barry and Holly Tashian-he a about this album, and a kind of touching former rocker and member of Emmylou Har- earnestness and pride, too. Just don't expect ris's Hot Band, and she of bluegrass and Maura O'Connell. A. /V. madrigal singing-offer a mostly original pro-

Capturing a singular artist at the height of his creative powers.

Featuring a duet of GLORIA with John Lee Hooker

0 RolyGram Records. Inc

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 91 I :111 :111,1 II 44 -1 -

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) I D ILLON PENCE Outside In z ---1 MAMMOTH 0049 (45 min) J North Carolina has a long history as a seedbed for power pop and a more recently cultivated reputation for grunge. Those two disparate trends find common ground on Dillon Fence's latest disc. "Outside In" is all sweetness and bite, with the band making significant strides in their pop-grunge dialectic on numbers like Headache and Collapsis. Pure -pop types, meanwhile, will swoon for Safety Net, a hook -filled charge led by Greg Humphreys' exultant vocal and gram of country and bluegrass songs that a surging wall of guitars that don't so much explore the joys and sorrows of the heart. ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST jangle as drill. P.P. Several pay tribute to the performers who APARTHEID have influenced them-This Old Road recalls Sun City GIBSON/MILLER BAND the Louvin Brothers, The Price of Pride Ralph RAZOR & TIE 2007 (55 min) Where There's Smoke ... Stanley. The Tashians, who hail from West- Okay, so the title track is more danceable EPIC 52980(38 min) port. Connecticut, but now live in Nashville, than We Are the World and more politically The Gibson/Miller Band combines the bal- love and understand the rises and harmony correct than the Modern Language Associ- lads of Alabama with the jingoism of Char- structures that make up the best of this kind of ation. And yeah, any disc featuring cameos lie Daniels and the dance jive of Brooks & singing. That goes a long way given Barry's by both Miles Davis and Stiv Bators (talk Dunn. Need I say more? A.N. lack of a distinctive solo presence and Holly's about multicultural) is pretty cool by defi- often off-key harmonies. And while the Ta- nition. Nonetheless, this was a better idea P EOPLE GET READY: A TRIBUTE shians are capable of insightful lyrics, they than an actual record in 1985, and on this TO CURTIS MAYFIELD often fall short of memorable melodies. That's new CD reissue it still is. S.S. SHANACHIE 9004 (43 min) not so bad given the stellar acoustic pickers Mayfield, crippled (apparently for life) in a behind them (Kieran Kane on mandolin, Rich- B LACK ON WHITE: GREAT Rai freak 1990 stage accident, is one of the most ard Bennett on guitar, and Ron Huskey, Jr., on COVERS OP ROCK CLASSICS influentialR&B songwriter/performers bass, plus Emmylou on harmony vocals), but RHINO 71227 (63 min) ever, and he gets his due quite nicely here it'll probably keep them off the list of legend- A concept album with a concept so good from a B -listall-star cast (Don Covay, ary duet acts. A.N. it's hard to believe nobody's ever thought Delbert McClinton, Vernon Reid, and Jer- of it before. The individual tracks are vari- ry Butler, to name a few). Huey Lewis and WORLD PARTY able, of course -1 really, really wish the the News's a cappella take on It's Alright is Bang1 Isley Brothers hadn't felt compelled to a little too slick for its own good, but CHRYSALIS 21991 (52 min) record Summer Breeze. But the good stuff everything else is understated and heart- Performance: Tour de force here (Aretha Franklin's Satisfaction, Al felt-very much in keeping with Mayfield's Recording: Very good Green's How Can You Mend a Broken original performances. S.S. Nis voice is wispy and sometimes thin. He Heart, Run-D.M.C.'s Walk This Way) is plays many instruments but is by no out of this world, and at the very least this is stretch a virtuoso. Yet Karl Wallinger, the one hell of a party record. S.S. driving force behind World Party, possesses vision, the essential ingredient that elevates a musical work to a higher level than the mere T FA' I_ IL t arithmetic sum of a set of performances. On "Bang!" he assays a little light opera, street - savvy hip -hop stylings, and sunny, shimmer- ing pop with the timeless quality of the Beatles and Beach Boys. SID SILVIDOS Thematically, "Bang!" appears to have Twice Told Tales been conceived as a dialogue between man ELEKTRA NONESUCH 61473 (46 min) and God on the subject of planetary health vs. S LIMS TRAVELER Delta blues, hard country, early R&B, and global apocalypse. "How could it come to Savo His Soul rock-and-roll rendered almost as chamber this? / I'm really worried about my creation

A&M 0080 (68 min) music? It shouldn't work, but on this debut . . . / You're really killing me, you know," The band who hit it big in 1970 with Ride album by a semi -legendary Memphis sing- Wallinger sings in the voice of a saddened

Captain Ride return with ... just kidding. er/guitarist it does-and like gangbusters. deity addressing humankind's profligate na- Actually, if these guys remind me of any- Low-key and utterly winning. S.S. ture in Is It Like Today? World Party's contem- body it's the Grateful Dead, fronted by porary leanings are manifested in the swagger- David St. Hubbins of Spinal Tap. S.S. WESLIA WHITFIELD ing beats and jabbing, sampled urban funk of Beautiful Love Rescue Me and What Is Love All About?, B UCK NAKED AND THE BARE CABARET 5007 (50 min) which serve to ballast the lighter, poppier stuff. B OTTOM BOYS Here's the best album yet from San Fran- Wallinger's varied approach also makes for SCAM/HEYDAY 033 (39 min) cisco's brightest gift to the U.S. cabaret a nice balance between realism and idealism. Hilarious and thoroughly obscene nouveau scene. Whitfield sings good standards, and After the hard, face -the -music knocks of Ra- trashcan rockabilly-what the Cramps songs that should be standards, with re- dio Days ('All I see is chaos and misunder- might have sounded likeif they'd read freshingly individual insight and an often standing") and Rescue Me ("Hold me up, Krafft-Ebing and come up in comedy clubs. witty disdain of sentimentality. Highest 'cause I think I'm going under"), the delirious Pick hit: Sit on My Face, which isn't quite marks also go to pianist -arranger Mike rays of hope proffered in Sunshine feel genu- as funny as the Monty Python song of the Greensill for his easy -swinging combo ine. That song is followed by All I Gave, a same name, but what could be? S.S. backings. R.H. tuneful production number with a heavenly ELO-meets-Beach Boys feel and a hymnlike

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TERI( THORENS Cry S, Kinnelon, NJ 07405 Sound City Su SE HABLA Lp MeadtownRt 23, Kinnelon Shopping NJ Center 07405 Dit CI I CO ;4 11111ffr 110777WITICI To Order By FaxPI 800 542 7283 WE ACCEPTMail Order Hours: CUSTOMERFar Customer Service call SERVICECustomer41 Service Hours:800 *233 *4010 WE SHIPESPANOL TO typocwhi3L yin NO rel.rapson v.20 or 3' gere0 Vowels 10 Oay clelez Call 201 838 3444 ex rtme from Cie of rece **cep! so®Or Send pro-nii Check, Trts Cashiers Check or Money Order I Ireturn mafoe rrtatietiti b rims =pug nrouruse& are reeled iu Mle1010=Mon - Fri 9-9 Sat 9-6 10% E31ik. rrial bt rlor,gria constant pxori SrvpMonday - Friday 9-5 CANADA r,7"1. story Aunor la all brats we sell tt! =ors Ole Mon -Fri 9-9 Sat 9-6 1 *201 838 2516 POPULAR MUSIC Stereo Review JAll SUBSCRIBER SERVICE JACK DIJONNITTE Music for the Fifth World MANHATTAN 99089 (61 min) Performance: Tribal trivia Recording: Very good III his is not your usual Jack DeJohnette release. Let's just say that "Music for the Fifth World" takes us where no Delohnette record has taken us before: an hour-long "healing" journey that combines the drum- Place mer's considerable percussive powers with a label concoction of heavy metal, African chants, here and synthesized funk. Weaving spirituality into music is as old as the ages, but I believe it should be conveyed in the music rather than in the liner notes. Mystical claims aside, this trek is not without its pleasant stopovers (guitarist John Scofield and pianist Michael Cain contribute some salient moments), but there are many plodding passages and the proceedings too often degenerate into a commercial pop/ new -age mish-mash. C.A.

ELLA FITZGERALD World Party's Karl Wallinger First Lady of Song VERVE 898 (three CD's. 199 nun) MOVING? Please give us 8 note of resolution and peace about it. But, of Performance: rime Ella weeks advance notice. Attach course, we're still stuck here in the material Recording: Very good Mel with your old address, and (see George Harrison and Madonna) world, so a he turned a nursery rhyme into a hit song write in new address below. Wallinger closes with a reprise of an earlier in the late 1930's and maintained steady song, Give It All Away, that serves as an urgent popularity throughout the next decade, but and timely reminder of what's being lost and not until the 1950's did Ella Fitzgerald assume RENEWING? Check box what's at stake. "Bang!" is a work of con- the high position she will forever hold in below and attach label with cor- science that doesn't so much preach as counsel American music. "Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady rections marked, if any. in the context of some highly entertaining of Song" begins with Perdido and Lullaby of music. Miss it at your own peril. P.P. Birdland, a couple of Jazz at the Philharmonic SUBSCRIBING? Check performances recorded in 1949 and 1954. The box and fill in coupon. For gift sub- WARRIN ZIVON former is a mad, all-star jam, and the latter-a scriptions attach a separate sheet. Learning to Flinch previously unreleased recording with quartet GIANT 24491177 min) accompaniment-gives us the less frantic, Performance: Raw exquisitely swinging Ella, who so eloquently Send Stereo Review for Recording: Good live sound eased beyond the jazz wall for a remarkable 1 yearat $15.94 nlike his California cronies of the Seven- series of composers' song books. Leaving few ties singer/songwriter school, Warren Ze- good songs unsung, she applied her smooth New subscription Renewal von has maintained his artistic viability by style to the works of Cole Porter, the Gersh- Payment enclosed Billme going underground. In that respect, he shares a wins, Rodgers and Hart, Ellington, Harold prickly integrity with Neil Young, who once Arlen, Johnny Mercer, and Jerome Kern. de- Canadian orders add $8 per year. wrote of middle-of-the-road success, "Travel- fining every nuance so perfectly that these Foreign orders add $8 per year. ling there soon became a bore, so I headed for recordings should serve as models for all bal- the ditch. A rougher ride, but I saw more lad singers to come. interesting people there." That could serve as In this three -CD set, Ella enhances material NAME a precis for Warren Zevon's gallery of rogues, by all of the aforementioned composers. She losers, and dangerous characters in "Learning also scats the light fantastic with jazz royalty, to Flinch," a career -summarizing live disc teams up with Louis Armstrong, gets real ADDRESS that walks on the darker side. The unaccompa- mellow under the direction of Nelson Riddle, nied approach, with Zevon taking turns on Billy May, and Frank DeVol, swings with the CITY piano and guitar, serves his songs well by bands of Ellington and Basie, and engages in accenting their starkness. He leans toward lovely balladry accompanied only by guitarist numbers with the most nettles, such as the Herb Ellis. In short, a representative slice of STATE black, brittle wit of Lawyers, Guns and Money, Ella Fitzgerald in her prime. I would be remiss Mr. Bad Example, and Excitable Boy. The fact if I didn't mention the packaging of this album. that Zevon finds the world such an existential Besides the CD's-each in its own pocket- ZIP barrens, yet still struggles to conquer and the accompanying sixty -four -page color book- make sense of it,is ultimately what makes let contains two good essays, thorough discog- "Learning to Flinch" so bracing. Granted, the raphy, diverse illustrations, a Picasso drawing 1(303) 447-9330 Roland Chorale and some of his twelve -string of Ella, and an alphabetized track index. The flourishes are a bit indulgent, but in the main rationale behind this set is Ella's seventy-fifth STEREO REVIEW this is a concise, focused, and unflinching birthday, but no excuse is needed to release P.O. Box 55627 statement of belief. PP artistry of this caliber. C.A. BOULDER, CO 80322 L 96 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 CHARLIE PARKER Indian. and Caribbean sounds, and dashes of THEARMORED BAR' Bird at the High -Hat pop. Somehow it all works. Those who hear Anti -theft Steering Wheel Lock. BLUE NOTE 9787 171 min) little more than reflections of past glories in the The best choice. Performance: Fine Bird works of young jazz players ought to lend Recording: Bearable Courtney Pine an attentive ear. C.A. The best value. When a major jazz artist dies, there is a Protect your car against theft with tendency for record companies to re- STEPHEN SCOTT the Armored Bar. Easy & quick to lease every scrap of performance left behind, Aminha's Dream use-It's simple as 1, 2, 3. Unlock and when that artist is as significant as Charlie VERVE 644(57 min) Bar, extend onto steering wheel Parker, the releases can become downright Performance: Better late than never and push button to lock. ludicrous. Case in point: Mosaic's "Complete Recording: Very good Benedetti Charlie Parker," a set of private eis only twenty-four, but the pianist recordings thatincludes 5- and 8 -second WE Stephen Scott already has an impressive tracks of three or four notes-meaningless list of past associates, ranging from Benny snippets identified by the CD's producer as Golson and Ron Carter to such fellow new- "possibly Stardust," and "could be Lover comers as the Harper Brothers and Roy Har- Man," etc. grove. "Aminha's Dream," Scott's new Verve Fortunately. "Bird at the High -Hat" is not release, is his second album as a leader, the marred by such nonsense. Instead, this is a first being "Something to Consider," which reissue of broadcast recordings-presumably came out in 1991. Remarkable as that set was, made during 1953 and 1954 Parker appear- this one is even more thoroughly pleasing, ances at a popular Boston club-that original- representing a significant step in a promising ly appeared on two obscure Phoenix LP's. career. Although the two albums are separated (The generous, nearly 11/4 -hour-long disc also by only a short interval, it is a more mature, includes a couple of brief conversations be- more sophisticated pianist we hear this time. tween Parker and disc jockey Symphony Sid Accompanied by several horns-including Torin.) Although the engineers did a remark- that of the alto saxophonist Justin Robinson, a HCW THE ARMORED BAR PROTECTS ably poor job of balancing on these broad- childhood friend who originally introduced Disables Steering System- casts, and there are some rough performance him to jazz and also appeared in his previous Lock on steering wheel and it's spots, Parker is generally in fine form here and album-Scott breezes through a wonderfully impossible to turn this is definitely a collection worth preserving. imaginative program of ten originals, a famil- Theft Deterrence Of course, someone should have told the art iar ballad, and Woody Shaw's Moonirane. It's Clearly seen through windows director that the club was the "Hi -Hat," not perfection at any tempo, and the young player Cross -Key Lock -Key is almost the "High -Hat." C.A. is every bit as interesting as his illustrious impossible to duplicate rhythmic supporters, Ron Carter and Elvin Lock tumblers are virtually pick -proof COURTNEY PINE Jones-you have to be very good to hold your No Annoying False Alarms To the Eyes of Creation own in that company, and Scott does. Keep an 4TH & B'WAY 4054 (58 min) ear on this young player, for he has the poten- Performance: Eclectic tial to become a major figure in contemporary Recording: Excellent American music. C.A. have expressed both enthusiasm and disap-

pointment over Courtney Pine in these ROBERT TROWIRS pages, but it looks like smooth sailing from Synopsis now on. In his latest release, "To the Eyes of CONCORD JAZZ 4545 (55 min) Creation." Pine takes us along on a superb Performance: unpretentious journey, during which he looks back at his Recording: Very good experiences and ancestry, and thus gives us a Illrombone players are relatively scarce on wonderful glimpse of what lies ahead. The the jazz scene today. I suppose that makes WHY THE ARMORED BAR IS A STEP view from this young British saxophonist's it easier for a trombonist to be singled out, but ABOVE THE COMPETITION vantage point is clearly a sweeping panorama: Robert Trowers would surely catch your ear II Pushbutton Lock Mechanism- he dishes up a substantial serving richly pep- even if the woods were teeming with them. Easy to use-no need for key-just pered with American jazz, West African, East For the past few years, Trowers has found a push to set place in various big bands-an environment II Cross -Key Lock -Key almost Stephen Scott: In good company that has long been considered ideal for bud- impossible to duplicate. ding stars. His employers have ranged from Heavy-duty Solid Die -Cast Lock Lionel Hampton and Illinois Jacquet to Sam Housing Wooding, the venerable band leader whose III'Anti -Mar" Ball End-For easy inst- extraordinary orchestra made history with a allation & protects vehicle interior series of 1925 Berlin recordings. More recent- TRIDENT END-For a more secure ly, however. Trowers has been heard with the fit, less play when installed on Basic ghost band, and strong evidence of that "thick" or "thin" steering wheels experience can be found in "Synopsis," his new Concord Jazz release. Accompanied by a Aes VISA rhythm section, with occasional input from alto saxophonist Jesse Davis (a fellow sideman Order NOW! in the Illinois Jacquet band), Trowers captures the basic Basic ingredients-namely a mel- 1-800-447-2559 low, bouncy rhythm-in this delightful set. COMPARE AND SAVE! Pianist Carl "Ace" Carter (another alumnus of the Basic orchestra), bassist Marcus McLaur- ONLY$29cH ine, and drummer Lewis Nash all contribute Shipping & Handling: mightily to the success of this album, but it's $9.95 each.Fla. residents add 6.5% sales tax. Trowers's full tone and easy-going style that impress me most. I say, Mr. Trowers, leave the ilLWNP ghost unit behind and go for it! C.A. '993 RALLY ACCESSORIES, INC. 5255 NW 159th Street Miami. FL 33014 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 97 3 Piece Subwoofer Satellite System 2 Satellites 3/4' Dome Tweeter 3 1/2' Midrange Subwoofer has Two 6 1/2' Drivers & One 10' Sub Bass Radiator Handles 125 Watts M.S.R.P $750 BEEMPs ACOUSTIC RESEARCH 622 CALL CELESTION TRINITY Sub/Sat System 349 ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY Model 150 CALL MARANTZ JBL PRO III PLUS 3 Piece Sub/Sat System 399 BOSE AM5 SII Subwooter Satellite System 749 POLK AUDIO RM-2000 Sub/Sat System CALL PRO PDM-430 BOSE AM7 Subwoofer Satellite System 899 YAMAHA NSA325/YSTSW100 Sub/Sat System CALL Portable Stereo Cassette Recorder Dolby'''. B & C dbX Noise Reduction Bias Fine Adjustment DC Servo Motor 3 Way Power Built In Monitor Speaker M.S.R.P. $599 $449 ONKYuTXSV515Pro 5 Disc Carousel CD Changer 255 Watt Dolby'L Pro Logic Receiver 32X Oversampling Random Play 5 Channels AudioNideo Inputs JBLS-3 32 Track Programming Repeat Play S -VHS Input 100 Watt 2 Way Full Function Multi -Function In Wall Speakers Remote Control Remote 5 1/4 -in. Polymer - M S.R.P. $399 $26S M.S.R.P. $49995 Laminate Woofer DENON DCM-440 5 Disc Carousel Changer CALL CARVER HR 895 5 Channel Dolby Pro Logic ...849 1 -in Titanium Dome JVC XLM-409 6 Disc Changer ...... CALL DENON AVR-2000 5 Channel Dolby Pro Logic CALL Tweeter Includes KENWOOD DPR-4450 5 Disc Carousel Changer CALL KENWOOD KRV-6050 kV Receiver Remote CALL Mounting Frame ONKYO DX -0210 5 Disc Carousel Changer CALL MAO 705 100 Watt Receiver Remote ... 349 and Hardware. YAMAHA CDC -635 5 Disc Carousel Changer CALL YAMAHA RXV-870 AN Receiver Remote CALL M.S.R.P $249 LARGE SELECTION OF IN WALL PER SPEAKERS IN STOCK $199PAIR KEF ADS POLK AUDIO MIX

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REVIEWED ST

ROBERT ACKART,

RICHARD FREED, DAVID HALL, GEORGE JELLINEK, ERIC SALZMAN, AND CLASSICAL MUSIC DAVID PATRICK STEARNS

around today. And in this hey. [es:01,1111g of the mo,i other, in recent years. And the filler Beethoven concerto he offers more than just pieces, two movements from Bach's unaccom- BEETHOVEN volatility. Underneath his exterior cool. Ken- panied violin sonatas and partitas, leave me nedy is intimately familiar with the piece and hoping that Kennedy will record those works seems to love it with all his heart. He takes complete very soon. U.P.S. STAATSKAPELLE incredible chances with the slow tempos, but DRESDEN L they are justified by how much he has to say. ORUCKNOR: Symphony No. I ! It'sessentially a lyrical,reflective perfor- COLIN DAVIS Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Solti mance with many moments of exquisite ten- LONDON 430 228 (74 min) deilness-so many that Kennedy and conduc- Performance: Tautly controlled tor Klaus Tennstedt (who is mostly in superb Recording: A mite dry form) are sometimes guilty of neglecting the Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony work's overall sweep. find themselves in an unaccustomed ven- At times. Kennedy seems to be a compul- ue for this 1990 recording of Bruckner's block- sive revisionist, improvising his own mildly buster Eighth Symphony-namely, the great BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica"); eccentric cadenza in the third movement and Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic. Egmont Overture occasionally using turns of phrase that seem to Solti uses the Leopold Nowak edition of Dresden State Orchestra. C. Davis come more out of a need to be different than a 1955 with the cuts in the slow movement and PHILIPS 434 120 (65 min) deeply felt interpretive decision. After reading finale sanctioned by Bruckner, and, given the Performance: Broad -scale his liner notes,I was relieved there wasn't control he brings to bear on the performance Recording: First-rate more idiosyncrasy: He rants none too lucidly as a whole, the entire symphony is accommo- It was the "Pastoral" Symphony that was the against everything from music critics to con- dated on a single CD. most memorable component of Colin Da- servative politics to digital sound. Unfortu- There is no denying that the orchestral vis's mid -Seventies Beethoven cycle on Phil- nately. he has a legitimate gripe with the sound execution here is awesome, butI find the ips with the BBC Symphony: the "Eroica" in of this CD: Though his violin is clear, the overall musical -sonic result somewhat earth- that cycle had its moments but did not make orchestra sounds as if it's under a blanket. But bound. The dryish acoustic of the hall may be the sort of impact this very appealing remake for all its problems, this is an infinitely more partly to blame, at least as recorded here. In does. The approach is very broad -scale. Davis interesting recording of the concerto than this particular music I crave the openness of not only takes all repeats in the symphony and Vienna's Musikverein or the Lubeck Cathe- sets a relaxed pace both there and in the NOW ON CD dral, where the more spacious readings under Egmont Overture. but he also allows himself a Herbert von Karajan and Gunter Wand were bit of gear -shifting leeway at the big climactic digitally recorded. points, as conductors used to feel free to do BACH: Sonatas and Partitas for In general Solti seeks to maintain a steady more regularly. It is old-fashioned Beethoven Violin. Heifetz. EMI 64494. Not up to musical flow in the first movement: the grand in that respect, and old-fashioned as well. current standards of "authenticity" and in pauses are less in evidence than usual. The perhaps, is the reassuring feeling one gets that mono sound. mostly from the mid-I930's. windswept scherzo is swift and brassy, and the these performances were not simply run up in but Heifetz's virtuosity and individuality finale is fierce and intense, mostly to its ad- the studio but represent a distillation of a compensate. Includes his transcription of a vantage. but I don't feel much of Bruckner lifetime of study, commitment, and convic- movement from the English Suite No. 3. reaching for the empyrean in the incompara- tion. Climaxes are masterfully achieved in the BERLIOZ: Symphonie Fantastique; ble slow movement. In short, this fine perfor- symphony's Funeral March and finale, and the Overtures and Marches. mance is just shy of the transcendent quality scherzo is engagingly crisp, with especially the music demands. D.H. happy contributions from the horns in the trio. MERCURY 434 328. Beautifully recorded There will always be more than a single way late -1950's Detroit Symphony sessions in the midprice Living Presence series. KORNIS: Symphony In Waves; String to the heart of such works. Davis's compas- Quartet ("Alaska West's") sionate and stirring readings give grandeur its Includes the Corsair and Roman Carnival overtures and two marches. Lark Quartet: New York due while keeping the momentum flowing, Chamber Symphony. Schwarz avoiding any hint of empty rhetoric or monu- RAC HMAN INOFF: Piano Concerto ARGO 436 287 (71 min) mentalizing, and Philips has come through No. 3. Horossitt, Ormandy. RCA VICTOR Performance: Sympathetic with first-rate sound. R.F. 61564. Recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1978 Recording: Excellent at Horowitz's "Golden Jubilee" concert Aron Jay Kernis, now thirty-three, has BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic led by caused quite a stir in new -music circles

BACH: Sonata and Partita No. 3 for Eugene Ormandy. ". .. the piano playing lately, and this first major recording illustrates

Unaccompanied Violin, excerpts is dazzling . . . one of the great recorded why. He's one of those rare composers these Kermeds N DR Snlphon. Tennstedt ego trips of our time" (July 1978). days who writes in an utterly distinctive style (MI 54574 (59 min) without having to forge his own musical lan- Performance: Interesting guage. The exuberant opening movement of Recording: Mixed bag the Symphony in Waves (1989) seems clearly Whether or not you buy Nigel Kennedy's influenced by theminimalists,while the image-working-classaccent,punk work's five -movement scheme as a whole clothes, and grooming that suggests he lives in seems modeled after Schumann's "Rhenish" the subway of some large industrial city-he is Symphony. Within those bounds, there are easily among the most stimulating violinists passages of rapt, ecstatic lyricism as well as

100 STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 raucous moments suggesting rock-and-roll piano. There are times when the only apparent unifying factor is a certain Ivesian faith that it all makes perfect sense on a higher level, but it all flows, especially given the work's water imagery-in this music water, in some form or another. is never very far away, and it's always ingratiating to hear. The string quartet (1990) is perhaps more inviting, particularly with its extraordinary adagio, which is so spiritually uplifting that it rivals similar passages by Messiaen. The use of more traditional forms only seems to inten- sify Kernis's individuality. Both performances are sympathetic but lack the polish that comes with living with a piece for a while. They're still plenty exciting, making this one of the most notable contemporary -music recordings in some time, not just because of its quality but for what it promises in the future. D.P.S.

MAHLER: Das Lied von der Erde Balt%a, Konig; London Philharmonic. Tcnnstedt EMI 54603 (67 min) Performance: Passionate Recording: Powerful his intense, deeply involved account of TMahler's great vocal symphony, The Song Conductor Gerard Schwarz: makirg a ccse for Kernis of the Earth, offers transparent textures and virtuosic orchestral execution. The orchestral head of Sister Blanche. Only the very final Te model. wrapping the music around the exqui- splendors, however, tend to overshadow the Deum, as the sisters, joined in the end by site declamation of Bernanos's words, but he singing. The tenor, Klaus Konig, must strug- Blanche, go off to their deaths, takes place in combined it with a Stravinskian Neoclassical gle mightily to make himself heard, particular- the public square. Dialogues isnot about aesthetic, taken from works like Oedipus Rex. ly in the opening section, "Das Trinklied vom politics but about what we would call anxiety that gave heroic/tragic stature to a very per- Jammer der Erde" ("The Drinking Song of and neurosis, not from a psychiatric point of sonal saga. the Earth's Sorrow"). He makes expressive view but from a Catholic mystical one. The first performance took place in 1957 at points, but the struggle takes its toll. Who would have guessed that the sophisti- La Scala and, later that year, at the Paris Recorded as far back as 1982 and 1984, the cated composer of so much suave and witty Opera: the EMI recording of that production is contralto Agnes Baltsa was captured in prime music would have identified so completely now on CD. The cast of this new recording vocal estate. Her singing is secure, cleanly with such a subject? In fact, Poulenc turned includes Catherine Dubosc as Blanche (the focused, and tonally beautiful even in the this story into music of tremendous melodic freshness and purity of her singing are outstand- stormy middle section of "Von der Schonheit" and emotional power. The secret of his score ing), Rita Gorr, Rachel Yakar, Martine Dupuy, ("Of Beauty").Inthefinal"Abschied" lies in its simplicity and its clarity of form. Brigitte Fournier. Jose van Dam. and Michel ("Farewell")-unusually expansive in Tenn- Poulenc followed the Mussorgsky-Debussy Senechal. Even more than the original, this stedt's hands-her performance is heartfelt version has a simplicity and an intensity that and eloquent. The text, however, is rarely are very much in keeping with the character of projected with the needed clarity. a remarkable work. For all its attractions, this is not the Lied to What has happened, perhaps unconscious- put its several recorded predecessors in the ly,is that the spirit of contemporary early - shade, least of all EMI's own earlier recording music performing has penetrated the realiza- conducted by the rock -solid Otto Klemperer tion of what is, after all, a Neoclassical work and with the opulent Christa Ludwig and the set in the eighteenth century. Ultimately, the wondrous Fritz Wunderlich. Reissued on CD. clarity and focus of the performance are very it seems to sound better at each new hearing, much to the credit of Kent Nagano. the Japa- anditsvocal -instrumental balances seem nese -American conductor whose excellent ideal. G.J. work at the Lyon Opera has helped turn that provincial French theater into one of the lead- POD LIINCt Dialogues of the Carmelites ing houses in Europe. E.S. Soloists; Chorus and Orchestra of the Lyon Opera, Nagano RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranluez; VIRGIN 59227 (two CD's, 152 min) Fantasia para un Gentilhombre Performance: Pure, moving WALTON: Five Bagatelles for Recording: Focused Guitar and Orchestra Dialogues of the Carmelites, one of the few Parkening: Royal Philharmonic. Litton truly successful opera -house operas of EMI 54665 (59 mini modern times, is a setting of a play by the Performance: Excellent French Catholic mystic Georges Bernanos Recording: Close-up about the martyrdom of a group of Carmelite This is a brilliant and extremely satisfying nuns during the anticlerical fervors of the performance of the contemporary Spanish French Revolution. composer Joaquin Rodrigo's guitar concerto One can hardly imagine a more unlikely by two Americans. Christopher Parkening and subject for an opera. The revolution took place Andrew Litton, with a British orchestra. The out on the street, but the opera mostly unfolds Fantasia for a Gentleman, based on an early in a series of interior tableaux: inside the Spanish guitar instruction book, is a lesser palace and Carmelite convent, and inside the Parkening: frighteningly perfect? achievement only in that it is a slighter work.

STEREO REVIEW JULY 1993 101 the same year as Rodrigo and, thanks to Julian cause that is the music's nature, and Schiff Bream, also created major works for the gui- responds to its heartbeat. The last two of the tar. The Five Bagatelles were originally solo Op. 90 Impromptus, so often weighted with works, later neatly orchestrated; those two grand gestures, flow with a noble simplicity. versions are combined here to make a kind of The dance pieces are hardly less striking for smart concerto/suite. the heady blend of poetry and earthiness This is not a purely instrumental CD. The Schiff finds in them, or the Moments Musicaux strikingly close-up recording catches Parken- for the occasional touches of spice. The Mo- ing's grunting and humming almost the whole zart Saal of Vienna's Konzerthaus was an way along. It adds a dark smudge or two to effectively atmospheric recording site, and the what are almost frighteningly perfect realiza- whole production fairly glows with unfeigned tions. E.S. affection. R. F.

SCHUBERT: Hungarian Melody; SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 8 Impromptus, Op. 90 (D. 899); German Berlin Philharmonic, Bychkov Dances; Moments Musicaux; Grazer Galopp PHILIPS 412 090 (63 min) Andras Schiff (piano) Performance: Powerful LONDON 430 425 (71 min) Recording: Excellent Performance: Glowing Leke Semyon Bychkov's earlier recording of Recording: Atmospheric the Shostakovich Eleventh Symphony. Andras Schiff is so thoroughly inside the also with the Berlin Philharmonic, this other- music here that he never intrudes as an wise splendid new recording of the Eighth may interpretive "middleman" but seems to allow be a bit too smooth. This most urgently and it to shape itself spontaneously, as it must have poignantly personal work-one of the com- done at Schubert's own keyboard. The playing poser's desperate chronicles,if you will- is always direct, unselfconscious, yet filled benefits, like the Eleventh, from a certain edge with subtleties. It is scaled toward intimacy. of rawness and snarling bluntness. This hard- Studer and Pavarotti in Traviata toward the sort of setting in which Schubert to -define quality (which must not be confused would have conceived these works and would with crudeness) is searingly felt-in the vast, Rodrigo was present at the performances and have had opportunities to play them, and in episodic opening movement and the enigmat- recording sessions and gives the release a every one of the eighteen pieces we are re- ic concluding one as well as the motoric sec- hearty endorsement; itis easy to share his minded that he was the supreme composer of ond scherzo-in the live performance under enthusiasm. The pairing with William Walton songs. Every line really sings here, without the late Evgeny Mravinsky (also on Philips) makes a lot of sense: He was born in exactly coaxing, without laying it on, but simply be- and the similarly committed one by Mstislav

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Rost ropovich and our own Shostakovich-sea- buyer's choice. James Levine's conducting ing in the duet "Parigi, o carat' Elsewhere, soned National Symphony on Teldec. and the lack of real weaknesses in his cast tilt except when emotional delivery imperils his Bychkov, to his great credit, brings the the balance in favor of the DG set, but the intonation, he offers an ardent and youthful - super -refinedBerlin orchestra perhaps as margin over the Teldec is not very wide. sounding Alfredo. It is Giorgio Zancanaro, a close to that sort of idiomatic voice as may be On paper, in fact, Levine's cast looks super- heretofore reliable baritone, who ultimately possible for an orchestra that has not lived lative, but only Juan Pons fully lives up to lets the performance down. While he, too, with this material as part of its core repertory, expectations; his strong and sympathetic por- deserves praise for his sensitivity, he has a and in every other respect their performance is trayal of the elder Germont is scarcely dimin- disconcerting tendency to land just below the stunningly competitive. On its own terms, it is ished by a certain effortfulness in the high center of his notes. The conductor, Carlo a heartening assurance that the Eighth need register. Cheryl Studer's Violetta has the beau- Rizzi, who is scheduled to join the Met next not rely solely on executants who were present ty and evenness of her tone going for it. She is season, deserves credit for his disciplined and at the creation to perceive and transmit its at her best in Act II, where she and Pons sensitive overview, but he tends to extremes essence, and justify its survival, and the Phil- benefit from Levine's flexible pacing; in Act I in his choice of tempos-hurried at times, ips production team has shown what a fine there are some intonational lapses and some unduly slow at others. G.J. recording venue Berlin's frequently problem- smudged passage work in "Sempre lihera," atic Philharmonic can he after all. R.F. and "Un di, felice, eterea," her first duet with VILLA -LOBOS: Luciano Pavarotti, could have used more re- Choros No. 2; Duo; Quintet; VERDI* La Traviata hearsal. The great tenor's voice is still gold- Bachlanas Brasileiras No. 6; Studer, Pavarotti. Pons, others; Metropolitan en-if only it were used with more refinement Four Songs from "Forest of the Amazon" Opera Chorus and Orchestra. Levine and less explosiveness and hard breathing! Villa -Lobos Society Chamber Players DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 435 797 Edita Gruberova's Violetta is the principal ETCETERA 1144 (52 min) (two CD's, 122 min) attraction of the Teldec set. After a somewhat Performance: Good Performance: Well paced unsettled opening scene she delivers a finely Recording: Tight, close Recording: Very good nuanced performance of the aria "Ah, force 111% id you know that there is a Villa -Lobos lui" and a brilliant "Sempre libera," she carries Society, headquartered in New York City VERDI: La Traviata her part with dignity and conviction in Act II, and devoted to performing and recording what Gruberova, Shicoti. Zancanaro, others; and she crowns her achievement with an in- must be the largest output in twentieth-centu- Ambrosian Singers; London Symphony. Rizzi ward, moving rendition of "Addio del pas- ry music? The society is busy rediscovering TELDEC 76348 (two CD's, 130 min) sato." Hers is an altogether admirable account. some routine stuff, a lot of worthy music, and, Performance: Excellent Violetta on a par with the best recorded Violettas. in at least one case, buried treasure. Recording: Very good All three Teldec principals follow Verdi's Heitor Villa-Lobos's favorite musical form Whese new recordings of Verdi's La Tea- dynamic markings with unusual exactitude. was the choros, a term that has nothing to do . viara-both praiseworthy, neither ideal- although the tenor, Neil Shicoff, doesn't quite with "chorus" (although the composer must join the many others on CD, complicating the match his Violetta's lovely mezzo voce phras- have relished the pun) but means "sad song"-

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a sort of Brazilian street version of the Portu- guese /ado. Many of his choros are scored for r-) the gifted conductor Myung-Whun Chung, wind instruments, and at their best-the Quintet Neeme Jarvi brings great elegance to the in the Form if a Choros on this CD-they have Fourth Symphony's Poco allegretto sec- an inventiveness and an individuality that are J ond movement and a fine singing quality to engaging. the big lines of the succeeding slow move- The Four Songs here make the deepest ment. More fire is needed, however, in the impression, however. The music, originally opening movement and most certainly in written for the film version of the W.H. Hud- the finale. The savagery and bitterness An son novel Green Mansions, was mangled by insist implicit in the Sixth Symphony also seem to Hollywood arrangers, and the composer made -adymass evade him, and only its infinitely sad slow a song recycle out of it and, later, a symphonic movement comes off as it should. D.H. poem. The version here for winds and piano is by the pianist Alfred Heller, a protege of Villa - cAmf. SIBELIUS: Karelia Suite; En Scga; Lobos as well as founder and president of the Pohjola's Daughter; The Swan of Villa -Lobos Society. It has a tropical languor Tuonela; Finlandia and lushness that the other pieces lack, and its Atlanta Symphony. Levi appeal is undeniable. ANONYMOUS: TELARC 80320(65 min) The performances are capable, but the over- An English Lad/mass Yoel Levi offers a slack reading of the first all effect of the playing and the close, tight Anonymous 4 two sections of Karelia and an overly care- recording is too dry. The CD should have led HARMONIA MUNDI 907080(59 min) ful En Saga, but Pohjola's Daughter is full off with the songs, and the softer style of that Appealing, pure women's voices, devo- of poetry and drama. Patrick McFarland music should have spread out over the other tional texts and music, plus sincerity and plays a lovely English -horn solo in The performances, which could have used more of conviction combine to give this CD a sur- Swan of Tuonela, and the disc conies to a that steamy Brazilian sad -song treatment. E.S. prising spiritual wallop. Anonymous 4 is a resplendent conclusion with a really rous- quartet of female singers. I can't explain ing Finlandia. Fairly close mitring, but the the mystical effect of their performance of overall tonics are up to Telarc's best. D.H. medieval chant and polyphony is honor of Collection the Virgin Mary, but the recording is a FRANCISCO ARAIZA: winner. William Livingstone The Romantic Tenor SHURA CHERKASSKY Munich Radio Orchestra, Weikert 80th Birthday Recital HAYDN: Piano Concertos In F Major, RCA VICTOR 61163 (62 min) from Carnegie Hall, Volume 2 0 Major, and D Major There are seventeen songs on this CD. all L(N DON 433 654 178 min) As.'Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra international favorites with echoes of Caru- Performance: Unforgettable SONY 4383 (59 min) so (Mattinata, 0 Sole Mio), Gigli (Non Ti Recording: Excellent Haydn's piano concertos are somewhat Scordar di Me), Tauber, and Wunderlich Perhaps more than any of his previous neglected-partly because of disputes over (three Lehar songs). And that's where the releases, this live recording from Shura whether he actually wrote all of them, but problem lies. Francisco Araiza is a decent, Cherkassky's eightieth -birthday concert dis- mostly because they seem a bit pale com- musicianly singer but lacks the vocal cha- plays the pianist in all his eccentricity. Next to pared with the melodically profuse Mozart risma to measure up to those ghosts. He Cherkassky, Vladimir Horowitz seems as concertos. But for the Mozart -surfeited, pushes his agreeable but not innately beau- straitlaced as Walter Cronkite. The program Haydn's robust lyricism and absorbing mu- tiful lyric voice to uncomfortable limits, encompasses standard repertoire, Schumann's sical narrative-for which the always ele- and he cannot sustain long notes without an Symphonic Etudes and Chopin's Nocturne in gant pianism of Emanuel Ax seems well intrusive vibrato. The songs, in five lan- F Minor; works that fell out of fashion fifty suited-make a welcome change, particu- guages, range from Chopin to Lennon/ years ago, such as the Bach/Busoni Chaconne, larly in the more substantial G Mqjor and D McCartney. the orchestrations from the Josef Hofmann's Kaleidoscope, and Paul Major concertos. D. PS. appropriate to the unduly inflated.For Pabst's paraphrase on themes from Tchai- Araiza fans only. G.J. kovsky's Eugene Onegin; and one that may be HINDEMITH: KonzertmLslk, Op. 50; in fashion fifty years from now, the modernist Der Schwanendreher; Nobilissime Three -Page Sonata by Charles Ives. And for Vision., Ballet Suite an encore he attacks Morton Gould's loud, San Francisco Symphony. Blomstedt jazzy Boogie Woogie Etude. LONDON 433 809 (67 min) The program's not the only thing that gives All of these pieces are written in the com- this recital a what -will -he -do -next? air of sus- poser's best popular/visionary style of the pense. Though Cherkassky's technique is in 1930's, when he was well out of his earlier good shape, there are always a few hair-raising avant-gardism but not yet mired in the seconds when you wonder if he'll emerge from glibness and academicism of his later work. a heaven -storming climax with all the notes in Some of his strongest creations, they in- place-somehow. he always does. As an inter- clude a concert piece commissioned for the preter, he has great originality. In the opening Boston Symphony's fiftieth anniversary, a MARKUS KLINKO moments of the Schumann. he takes breath- violaconcerto(DerSchwanendreher) French Harp Music takingly long rhetorical pauses, stopping time based on German folk tunes, and music for EMI 54467 (57 min) with an eloquence that few musicians have a ballet about St. Francis of Assisi. Herbert Sometimes described as a classical sex ever possessed. From there on. he seems to Blomstedt obviously believes in them, and symbol. the Swiss harpist Markus Klinko breathe with the music on every possible level. the deeply felt performances and fine re- makes his EMI debut with this recital of giving life and shape to the melodic line as well cordings do a lot for the music. E.S. pieces by Debussy, Satie, Faure. Roussel, as the least audible inner voices. He also gives Saint-Saens, and others. Some were writ- the music a sense of progression, even during NIELSEN: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6 ten for the harp, others were transcribed for repeats, with his subtle variation of nuance Gothenburg Symphony. Jarvi it. The standout is Alphonse Haswlinans's and color. Even when he sticks close to the BIS 600(67 min) La Source. All told, the music is pleasant, letter of the score, he has such a strong sense of Completing the Bis series of Carl Nielsen's soothing, and serene.It should reduce identification with the music that performer orchestral music begun a decade ago under stress and promote bliss. and composer meld seamlessly. Not for everyone. but surely worth hearing. D.P.S.

104 STEREO REVIEW JULY 199i CO STORAGE CONNECTION

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REPAIR FOAM ROT TIPS FOR MAIL ORDER FOR YOURSELF! PURCHASERS RETAIL MART Foam su ound replacements from SAT s. can ruu leedt on el Niue An Lim. including AR. INFINITY. BOSE It is impossible for us to verify all AIL ADVENT $27 95/ pair incl S/H) of the claims of advertisers, in- IN° C 0 D s) Do ot yourself with SAT' cluding product availability and STEPP AUDIO TECNNOLOGIF: 1.800447-34112 VISANIC Mon PO 10X IOU, FLAT NOCK. MC 21731 704-697 9001 existence of warranties. There- fore, the following information is For the Musical Difference provided for your protection. Authorized Dealer For: SUBWOOFER NAD CARVER 1. Confirm price and merchandise GRADO LEXICON OR PANEL ? information with the seller, includ- PROAC ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY ing brand, model, color or finish, ac- APATURE NAKAMICHI I o he . It's Both. PROTON AUDIOCONTROL HIGH -END AT THE EDGE. cessories and rebates included in the cwo CELESTION Starting at 1495 " price. STAX DAHLOUIST 2. 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Advertiser Number 8mm 91 mI5 1.195a T121 lax Pro Grids 5.1954 INFINITY JVC VIDEO ADVENT Imm 121 mln 1.3954 1171 10 Pro witsu 1.1555 INFINITESIMAL4 FACTORY NEW 8 mm 151 min 6.29 55T161ED 3 2944 HRS680011599 lifIVP56U Omm 34 ni15141Grods 3.4964 nu 114 nu 419u INFINITESIMAL 4 VIDEO HRs470o9J.45 HRDX62U FACTORY 2 37 Sinm 64 min NIGrods 4.19,1 1121 LOIS Macs 749., MICRO II SATELLITE HRD910U295 HRD990U U.S. WARRANTY Adcom 8mm N W5116(50. 31951 7.99.1 8 Ake( Lansing 3 1 1121 39113 110Wpt MICRO SYSTEM II HRVP461.1 HRDX42U MINI 1119/PAIR Mr 1115115 litGrolo 5.3154 nu 0.440 VIDEO 1 CENTER CHANNEL American Express 3 8.9554 JXS900 486 JXS300 189 BABY II 12596198ffim - 64 min "" 5...... 791" 1189 9013 9 Nn 12 4955 SM 152 SM 122 .124a. I) 65ton 131 NO J1SV55 419 LEGACY II 259/PAIR Atlantic Technology ' IC SI min 1.1548-C 7 49sa JXS100 89 8mm 88 5115 1418 Frs0919u SM 112 SM102 PRODIGY 199,PAIR A1-84.1. ("1 TC21119111-C 5 79sa JXT311 369 9258.1 145 swim ee161 Evi12.21.4 SM 82 SM 62 7-1 3 25sa Buy A 3v.:: p.Amcomon HERITAGE 409PAIR Audiofile Imm1211555 NM MO 17.21m RS525 Senon 91 mio 3 79so RS625 LAUREATE 3419TAIR T121 HIFI 1.5451 AND OCT 12 FREI TAPES! Bow Sores RS425 RS325 SUBWOOFER II1 PR. rill pr. ma 0.0mm I121 ml" GRS 505U GRS X NU RS125 RS225 T1218 -VHS 7,39., Senni 34 mio 1116r5lo 3 4994 MINIS SPRFIS only 229 RS SUBWOOFER GRSZ1U GRAM -1U RMG (:I) Club ".1a. b L564 ES 2.96. Mum 54 nun NiGralt 3 Nis 25TH ANN1V 3499AIR - GRAX50 GRAX511.1 1314 PRO X sip. 5(nm 91 TM' II16ra4o 4 4955 KAPPA 8.1 CENTER CHNI SPKR 99 - Bose 1 I. :i5 Smm Ill min NiGrUoteSso GRAX 330 GRM 7U 158$ E.D. NM 15.39,, KAPPA 7.1 KAPPA 6.1 GRADUATE 169/PAIR - Bose Express 83 L754 Ell 2.155a sm. 31 mm '4'8 GRAX..2..1.1 "ON KAPPA CENTER CHANNEL GRMSU IN WALL SPOIS129/PAIR Boston Acoustics C2. I 3.5951 tImm 54 min ma 4 . RN - 1.754ES NIGroils SSW10 SUBWOOFER 693031.1 MINI SUBWOOFER 129 L756 PROD 6 99 u Amm 51 min 419 5.29.1 1111^u 4.19. SSW210 SUBWOOFER LANES 29. 0.. in ,,,,, ,0 JVC AUDIO RENAISSANCE 80 S LTD PIONEER CAR D.A.T. 121 7 99 WI RX1050V1N XLZ1050TN EDITION FACTORY NANO NEWT Camaro 21-23 TDK FUJI TDV1050TN AXV1050TN FAcTomy U.S. wnn - 3 min 1121 AN Pro 2.99. RENAISSANCE 90 & LTD 6 CambridgeSoundlNiwks... 53.54-55.56,57 1111 ENG FX1010TN X02101016 112. AN Muter .4:55 Nu EDITION FACTORY COIAN_ETEI Camel 33 1121 400 Noma6 255, 9X905419 RX809VTN - lin S-INIS Pro 8 Nos MODULUS SATELLITES TIN 0-1540 3.39. DEHM 980 410 I1 Celest ion 5 1 11 .99., RX709VIN RX509VIN 1161 NIGrotis 3.61., Me 0-4110 471 ERS 800 ERS600 DFH 880 365 Columbia House CD Club 16a. b 1164 91148 Pro 9 9554 XLM707T4 XLM509TN - le 4955 1164 SARIS ERS500 ERS400 310 Cod bia House Laser Disc club n IC 31 mln. 94911-C 7.891 1161 AN Pro 519., ...... ,,,,...... XLM409T4 XLM307TN OEH 780 - DEN 730 299 TC 34 m1114165511 3.99.1 IC 34 win 0 -ma -c 7.9955 IN P 1191 r ir A.e-min XLZ451TF XLV261TN 44 (kiustic 31 IC PI mla 5-4149-C 8mm Al (515 3391 DEN 520 245 26 599,, AUDIO LINE-UP XLF207T8 XLG512BK - Crutchfield Rom 61 mlo 3 7,3 so Mom re mla 3.991, TDV661TN TDW805 CDXM30 275 ento 00 ml" 4.3955 19515 121 min 4.391 NAKAMICHI TOW805Th TDW707TN CDXFM35 345 4 39 u emm 121 min lianni 171 NIG (oilo 5.39os CDXFM38 399 foom II min HIS 529, lonm 121 MI5 IIM TRW JAM() 155 38. 39 Itanin 121 nun NW 729, *TIMID SYSTIFJ111DEXM400 IS Definitive Technology GEXT70 145 8mm 61 min NN Flue 39, SCOTCH ALTEC LANSING UXA5 0083 Um 111 saa NUM II Nu GEMH2000 175 1121 EG PIN 3.19,1 TECHNICS MX55 M054 KEHM 8500 350 JVC 1121 Nifl 4.294 MXC95 MXC7 Electronic Wholesalers 102 Till Pro Camas WW1 1905 DENON KEHM 8200 305 - Till Kraft PCXT7 PCXT5 1121 SAINS 7.19,, tin 5-1911 7.3944 730011 265 T161 F6 INvi 4 Mu NHTKEHMRCBI PCOT3 JVC 1C31-11-VNIC 7 49u KEHM 7500 259 .13.0 11213.5141.312 Pm NA, IC 21 WI 0.414-C5.49u POLK PCX500J RCX720 KEHM 6500 229 4 XLP90 PCX5003 - Fuji BASF VIDEONICS CARVER KEHM 5500 219 1134 MI 2.995a EDIT MAKER 499 XLP70 XLP20 KEHM4500 199 DAHLOUIST 1164 .515 329, TRU MAIZER 371 JVC CAR KEN 220009 175 1161 HI -Grade 6.29, EOUILIZER ni ACOUSTIC RSRCH XLM G1800 385 FHM 75 705 Illinois Audi() 103 7.7985 - 1391 HI -Grillo SOUND EFFECTS 135 SONY ES XLMG 800RF 339 KEN 9898TR 199 RCA JBL XLMG 700RF 290 E06500 165 NAD XLMK501 235 F04500 115 VR536 VR657 L955 499/PAIR 92-93 XLG3900 279 GMH 200 365 2.1 I&11 Music %Vorld VR667 VR800 LOU 369/PAIR LUXMAN XLG2900 225 GMH 120 255 P40860 PR0807 L7 CALL 15 CALL HARMON KARDON KSRT80 230 GMH 100 180 P40867 PR0871 L3CALL LICALL KSE5100 179 GMH 50 145 CC407 CC507 XPL90 CALL XPL1411 AIWA 23 KEF 18 KSRX835J 459 GMH 44 195 CC445 CC517 XPL16I CALL XPL2011 SHERWOOD KSDP100 339 GMH22 115 CC560 LOR400 1)(6130 LX5O1 AP,D MORE, GM800 or GM900 95 U(3011 J2080 BIC HITACHI 59 C4 J2050 - Marlboro 4252500 4254400 J2061 PIONEER BOSE BP880GM600 129 6 vm0201 PRO3PLUS PR03 vSXDIS II VSX0902 25 MCM Electronics 4955406 UteltY18 Male System TSW201 39ea 85 VMH18 vmE22A PRO PERFORMER PLUS VSX0702 VSXD 602 26 Mobile Fidelity VSX 502 AM Powered Sulam TSW251 49ea VME23A VME25A JBL-CAR CALL VSX512S VSX 452 VSX 402 IJIestre Mulc Cooky TSW161 69/PAIR VMSPIA VM1139 CANON SX 312R SX251R M.17 Seer System TSWX160 135/PAIR YT262 VT361 6 vT462 AM L1 SO 201 VSA 7500 AM5 Series II Sys. TS -T31 139/PAIR 27 Nordic .*rack VT362 F449 TS -C1601 109/PAIR 061 ucn A301 A1A5 Power Sys. VT551 VT751 E.63 SP 7000 GR 777 TS -C1301 105/PAIR UCSI A953 Spkr Sys. GR 555 GR 470 TS-TRX70 MINOLTA E65 E67 M43 PWT. Sm. 209/PAIR VSP 333 POTM3 Onkyo 16-17 0918 TSTRX60 149/PAIR 8-84 E211 E250 PDOM902 PDDM802 Foomate II 8906 0438 TS-TRX50 119/PAIR PD61702 PDM502 Free Style Sm. SONY VIDEO m TSA6908 119/PAIR V228 C518 PD202 PD 102 901 VI C91I SLV700HF SLV750HF TSA6907 85/PAIR C618 CTWM 62R CTWM 8028 5.1 Iv 411 30 Paradigm 67 DEMO.DEPT. SLV900HF SLVR5V CTWM 6024 CTWM 502R 3.3 Hi TSA6905 79/PAIR - Pioneer -Car 7 SLS800 SLHF360 CTW 402R CTW 3029 TSA5705 69/PAIR JVCIRS 6700U 519 1111 AND MORD Polk Audio 28-29 SLHF2000 SLHF2100 CLOD 702 CLOD 502 TSA4105 75/PAIR JVCHRSC1000U 589 PolyGram Records 12.91 MDP455 MDP600 CLOM 401 CLDM 301 SHARP TSA1608 85/PAIR JVCHRS 47000 390 MDP605 MOPK5 CLDS 201 KARAOKE FACTORY NEW TSA1670 69iPAIR JVCHRD9800 CALL ACCESSORIES CCDVX3 CCDTR101 FACTORY WARRANTEE() TSA1660 59/PAIR JVCHAD 970U 369 CCDTR300 CCDTR200 CLOV920 CLOV820 CLDV720 FACTORY COMPLETE TSA1390 49/PAIR 97 JVCHRO 9600 339 LASER Rally Accessories CCDTR61 CCDTR31 081.130 2799 MARINE SPEAKERS JVCHRPIU 569 AUDIO SYSTEMS BM 27 CCDFX710 CCDFX620 X4120 2349 TS-MR163 85/PAIR JVCHAD 850UI PIP/ 399 SPEAKERS CCDFX520 CCDFX420 2525 TS-MR165 110/PAIR JVCMRS 6800U 519 AND MORE,' XV101 CCDFX310 EVS3000 JVC601911 649 CSG403 SV401 V401 XVS250 4499 SONY CAR EVS2000 GVM20 Sights & Sounds 45 JVC401010VIM 539 XVP10 1449 FACTORY US WTI - GVS60 CGV-P700 Mb Amine Electronics 98-99 JVCRX905VIN 499 MITSUBISHI XGH400 CALL FACTORY NEW - 6'9 JVCRX 903VTN 369 RS067 VMT30V NEW HIRES FACTORY COUPLETS - Sony SONY AUDIO HSU12 Sound City 95 JVCRX 805VTN 289 15054 115057 4Colo, T.V.Niewlinder CDX51111 COXV80011 - STRD 2090 STRD 1011 JVCRX 807VTN 309 A/C, D/C 469 CDX50841 COX4041 STRD 911 STRD 711 PANASONIC COX-A5RF JVCTDV541T4 189 VLL 380 W/CASE 619 COX -ASS STRD 611 STRD 511 PVS62 NO JVCTDV 531 145 XTC-1011 995X2001 STRD 311CDPCX 100 PV32 PV22 VLL60 W/CASE 749 Tanquerii (;in 15 JVCXLG 512 199 cmu3a. CIIX.U300RF - CDPC 910 CDPC 735 Pv18 PVS7711 VLL 62 W/CASE 619 cox.u501 xp.5454 JVCXLM 705 240 COPC 435 PV760 PV75I VLL 72 W'CASE 699 045258 JVCGRS 505U 849 CDPC 535 X4-1.13311 CDPC 335 CDPC 235 PV720 PYS372 VLMV6 W CASE 649 04-1.17711 JVCPCXT7 289 XR.0554 Warner Music Enterprises 80a, h 219 CDP KIA COP 411 PV362 PV332 VLMX7 W CASE 729 XE-90MKII 014825111 - JVCPCX500 TCWR 635S A61960 295 JVCRC GX7 DJC-690 AGA* VCH 90 4 HO HI-FI XEC-7011 DEC -1000 329 TCWR 535 TCW 435 SG455 AG464 RANDOM AND CONTINOUS XM-5541F X61-4841 (Karaokei AG -W1 TCK 611S TCRX 311 A04-51 PLAY VCR MUM KM -C6011 Yamaha 13 USED90 DAY WJAVES - MHC 610 MHC 510 WJMX12 CALL IN STOCK AND MORE CALIJ JVCFACTORY MHCC 90 MHCC 70 Attar POO Rebet9 MHCC 50 MDS 101 WARRANTY LBTD 220CD OD 110CD WE'LL TRY TO BEAT YOUR BEST PRICE! .161.1.7 890PAIR 96300 95320 AUDIO VIDEO 1404 north state road 7building m C P . tote 152 Margate. FL 33063 JBL.12600 139PAIRWITH FULL LINE OF C 0 CI MaslerCard. VisaCarcl welcome AV 15 NOT THE FACTORY AUTHORLfED DEALER All USED5 YEAR merchandise carries manufacturers U Swarranty7 day exchange on defective merchandise BOOMBOXES only. if returned in original mini condilior Some merchandise service aver sale onlyInquire, July JBL WTY ora restocking teewillapply,'Spec allactorypurchase Used 90 day warranty Not CALL WALKMAN responsible for typo errorsShipping charges not relundahleInquiries welcome with sell addressed stamped envelope iII rr DISCMAN NIGEI END BY RALPH HODGES

always felt that much of it is my imagi- even paying attention. The loudspeak- nation anyway," he remarks, "but ers had to be listened to before I could Goosebumps I've never taken the time to prove it." ship them on to the next reviewer, but Carver offers an interesting anecdote. no one had said I couldn't reorganize THE Yellow Room, my self-styled In the midst of his career, having de- my file cabinet while getting the listen- listening environment that I have signed many amplifiers and feeling ing chore out of the way. And then I long been determined to bring to that much of the thrill of it was gone, was grabbed, and so were skeptical perfection, is just about complet- he decided to reassemble his old col- colleagues who came by shortly after. ed. It can now produce goose - lege system, the one that aroused the The speakers themselves were by no bumps. passion that got him started. He was When I means exceptional in price or pre- say "environment,"I of actually able to locate every piece of it sumption, and they had a midrange course mean "room," and when I say and buy it back. He even re -rented the irregularity that could readily be heard "room," I mean both the boundaried house from his student days. With and measured. It didn't seem to mat- space and the sound equipment I have everything set up as it was before, the ter. They were simply able to cooper- put in it. But when I say "goosebumps" sonic experience was, "Well, normal. ate with the room and the rest of the I don't know what I mean. It is justan The violins were fine, but there wasn't system to erect an illusion that over- attempt to express a state of mind in much depth, and in general nothing at whelmed one's critical faculties. What which a deliberately constructed illu- all to get excited about." was heard seemed much more real sion can finally overcome a known Singer professes a little more faith. than unreal, and that was the end of it. reality. The sense of the presence ofan "I don't believe people are crazy. In the end, the illusion faltered and orchestra becomes more persuasive When customers return to my store to broke down, and I didn't have contin- than the sense of the presence of paper say they've stumbled into something ued use of the room for long enough to and plastic diaphragms. You tell your- astonishingly wonderful,Ihave no learn whether it could be fixed. (Accu- self that the object before you is mere- difficulty taking them seriously be- mulated evidence suggests that the ly a loudspeaker, but it replies with cause I know them as customers." room, at least as much as anything sounds that attest that itis in fact a And what if they later lose the eupho- else, makes the illusion.) Nor did chorus of horns, a slash of tympani, a I skirl of oboes and clarinets. It can fool you, and keep you fooled, even though you know better. Iget goosebumps when the sense of thepresence Getting a sound system and its listener into this condition is the goal of of an orchestra is more persuasive than thesense high -end audio as I perceive it, and it seems to be a realistic goal, although of the presence of paper and plastic diaphragms. perhaps not for everybody. Andy Singer of Sound by Singer, one of New York's leading high -end retailers, esti- ria, as frequently seems to happen? have time to discover whether the mates that 10 to 20 percent of his "Something has changed, and it's not illusion could persuade everyone. Per- customers are able to find their way necessarily just the customer's psy- haps I and my friends were more be- into this sort of euphoria. Add possi- chological perspective. A power line lieving back then, more willing to bly 15 percent more who might be fluctuates, temperature and humidity accept the impossible. Perhaps our capable of experiencing these trans- vary, or something has been done to susceptibility to being drawn into mu- ports but whose systems or listening the system that the owner wasn't sic was greater. There seems to be no rooms are inadequate, and you still aware would make an audible differ- reliable way to probe the goosebump have less than half of the audiophile ence. Of course, there are a few peo- phenomenon, especially since friends world realizing the full delights of their ple-very few-who seem unable to move away and, in these times, take often considerable investments. The tolerate satisfaction for any length of evening jobs and even die. remainder are far from discontent, time. They need to discover new But the goosebumps are back, this says Singer. Many are happy just mechanisms to torment themselves. time for me alone, unfortunately. My knowing their equipment is the most and the loss of transcendent sound wife and our current friends don't highly acclaimed available, while oth- quality is a good one." seem to get them. They like the sys- ers are satisfied to pursue the technical For my part, I've arrived at the tem, as they have always liked it, but intricacies of audio without worrying euphoria on three different occasions. they detect no transformation. As obsessively about changes in sound. and in three different listening rooms. midnight approaches, my wife often But are they missing something? In all instances it has cropped up unex- asks me to turn it off. Bob Carver of Carver Corporation pectedly and has been largely uncorre- It's amazing how hard that has be- is one who knows the euphoria well, lated with the price or reputation of the come to do. Once you get to the same but he doesn't entirely trust it. "I've equipment. The first timeIwasn't place, you'll see. 0 112 STEREOREVIEW JULY 1997 Have you ever paid a toll without slowing down?

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