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MUSIC OGDON AND SORABJI HAGEN QUARTET HPFI KLEIBER IN VIENNA BERNIE TAUPIN NS MORE ROCK REVIEWS RECOR EV IEW STEVEN ISSERLIS INPUT SELECTOR CO direct weft nght MAGAZINE SPECIAL ISSUE HOUSE LINK AIRTIGHT: TUBES IN THE A DJAPANESE TRADITION CHICAGO SHOW REPORT AMPLIFIERS NAIM ARCAM MARANTZ BITSTREAM SONY CD PLAYERS TECHNICS AKAI AIWA ii LOUDSPEAKERS ROGERS ACOUSTIC RESEARCH MONITOR AUDIO 646 o Chandos "AN ENGLISH COLLECTION" CD: CHAN 8629 LP and MC ABRD/TD 1318 CD: CHAN 8610 LP and MC: ABRD/TD 1298 ELGAR ENIGMA VARIATIONS THE SANGUINE FAN Incklental Music & Funeral March from GRANIA & DIARMID Jenny Miller The London Philharmonic BRYDEN THOMSON milt) Chandos DIGITAL Les Illuminations Quatre Chansons Françaises Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings lidSÈ du. eict. 4;1.4;etig4 eery's :.teez.:24 ,et MC c i" cruh.evt - ANTHONY ROLFE JOHNSON leel h. eeer, taws MICHAEL THOMPSON SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA 13 A X BRYDEN THOMSON IA N O- DUOS ta for Tm,o Pianos Red Autumn rcianser The Poisoned Fountain CD: CHAN 8657 The Devil thai Tempted St Anthony LP and MC: ABRDTID 1343 May Mell JEREMY' SETA BROWN TA NYEL CD: CHAN 8591 LP and MC ABRD/TD 128; CD CHAN 8603 LP and MC: ABRD/TD 1295 Chandos Records Ltd. Chandos House, Commence Way, Colchester CO2 8HQ (0206) 577300 HI F1 AUGUST 1989 VOL 34 No 8 RECOR EV IEW COVER EQUIPMENT An exquisite audiophile tube amp, firmly in the tradition of the classic Lux designs, themselves inspired by 'Golden Age' US models ( photo by Tony Petch). Can END AirTight turn back the clock? See page 41 43 VACUUM PACKED: The Heading this month's music section, Air'Fight ATC1 pre- and ATM1 tube cellist Steven Isserlis talks to Sorrel amplifier combination reviewed by Breunig: page 83. ( Photo: Roy Carnegie. I Ken Kessler 47 ORACLE ALEXANDRIA III/SME R EGULARS 309 turntable and arm reviewed by Steve Harris 5 COMMENT by Christopher Breunig 49 DAX VOSISCUM: Ken Kessler 7 VIEWS letters to the Editor on Apogee's extraordinary £4500 Dedicated Active Crossover, known 11 NEWS to Apogee fans as the DAX 83 17 TECHNOLOGY by Barry Fox STEVEN ISSERLIS 50 CONRAD JOHNSON DF1 CD player: atechnical and subjective 21 RADIO by Trevor Butler talks to Sorrel Breunig review by Martin Colloms 23 HEADROOM by Ken Kessler 87 THE HA GEN QUARTET; 52 CARTRIDGES: The top flight. 33 ACCESSORIES CLUB talk to David Nice Summary reviews on 15 quality moving- coil designs 41 BOOKS 89 116 REGIONAL DEALER GUIDE SORABJI SESSIONS 55 MIDDLE-GROUND SPEAKERS: Richard Black reports Acoustic Research AR142, Monitor Audio 109 ADVERTISERS' INDEX R300MD and Rogers IS4a speakers tested 91 and compared by Martin Colloms 120 CLASSIFIED ADS RECORD REVIEW INDEX 61 TWOS TO THE POWER OF THREE: 93 'Mark II' Arcam Alpha, Marantz PM64 and FEATURES RECORD OF THE MONTH Naim NAIT tested by Chris Bryant 93 25 THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS: the CLASSICAL REVIEWS Summer Consumer Electronics Show, The BeecharniTortelier Don Chicago. With news and pictures of ahost Quixote; Kleiber's New year's Day of new products, plus some predictions Concert; Weller's Beethoven for the coming season, K9i Kessler reports from what is the largest and most 105 influential hi-fi trade show in the world: REFLECTIONS New-style Noun NAÎT: page 6! starting with the Quad CD player! classical reissues 67 BATTLE OF THE BITS: Aiwa XC-004, 34 ' AUDIO IN DIGITAL TIMES' was the 107 Alcai CD-62 and Technics SL- P555 CD theme of the Toronto Audio Engineering ROCK/POP/JAZZ REVIEWS players. By Martin Colloms Society convention, with anumber of McCartney Bowie, Lou Rawls researchers presenting new findings on 74 TECHNICS SE-M100 ' digital direct several important aspects of digital audio. 113 drive' power amp tested by Chris Bryant Timothy Palmer- Benson reports CAPSULES 77 SONY TA-F630ESD: aPDM preview. 37 VOICE OF VERSA: John Bicht, former 115 Paul Miller tests the BitStream Sony amp racing driver, designer of the milestone REISSUES Mission 774 tonearnt in the 1970s, and 80 POT POURRI: Castle Warwick the man behind the Versa Dynamics • 122 speaker; Harman/Kardon PM635i amp; turntable, talks to Laura Dearborn about BACKDOOR Audiolab 8000P update; Musical Fidelity his sometimes offbeat approach the work of Bernie Taupin A370; Rolcsan Shiraz lab results Link House Magazines Ltd Link House, Dingwall Avenue, Croydon, Surrey CR9 2TA Tel 01-686 2599 Fax 01-760 0973 III -FI NEWS & RECORD REVIEW AUGUST 1989 3 Everyone but Mrs Rodie is delighted with our latest batch of awards. It's enough to make us blush. Ti) win one What Hi-Fi? Award is avery gratifying achievement ... to win two is positively heartwarming... but to win three (including the universally coveted Grand Prix Award) in one year!. we really don't know what to say. Admittedly the Arcam mantelpiece is by no means astranger to the odd trophy or two, but never before has it groaned under such an embarrassment of riches. First in our 1989 haul is the Best Budget Amplifier Award ... for our Arcam Alpha Plus. Aprevious winner in 1987, the Alpha Plus moved the 1989 What Hi-Fi? judges to declare: " The Alpha Plus rightly deserves the Best Budget Amplifier tag. Though undergoing some improvements, it is now in its third year — and still selling for the original price. It is truly abudget hi-fi amplifier, setting excellent standards for design, input flexibility and, of course, sound quality" Never ones to rest on our laurels, we've already made afew small adjustments and improvements to the Alpha since the Awards; it's now the Alpha 2 ... Best Budget Amp of 1990 peut-être? Our second Award was for the Best Loudspeaker under £300: the Arcam Two Plus. Apparently "there was little disagreement among the judges that the Plus revision has pushed this worthy speaker far ahead of the competition". Cripes! " The overall picture is of agenerous, warm-sounding loudspeaker with an above average bass pesformance ... a delight to live with in the long term ... very communicative ... with quality where it counts': Without wishing to sound immodest, we couldn't agree more. Last, but by no stretch of the imagination least, our Arcam Delta Black Box " won unanimous acclaim" and scooped the 1989 Grand Prix Award ... the highest honour What Hi -Fi? can bestow. Linked to any CD player with adigital output, the Black Box dramatically improves its sound. Or to use What Hi-Fi?'s words: Ms ever, our ultimate accolade goes to aproduct able to bring superior sound quality to awider audience at an affordable price... the first UK designed and built out- board digital to analogue converter ... it is able to inject grace and space into the sound of many an older generation CD player ... offers stunning upgrade potential." Naturally, everyone here at Aram is delighted to have received such awelter of commendations. So when you're listening to your Award- winning Arcam components, spare athought for our cleaning lady. We may have swept the board, but it's Mrs Rodie who dusts the mantelpiece. ARCAM audiophile products from . 4&R Cambridge aiimwer • FOR MORE INFORMATION AND DETAILS OF YOUR NEAREST ARCAM DEALER PLEASE TELEPHONE OR WRITE A&R CAMBRIDGE LIMITED, DENNY INDUSTRIAL CENTRE WATERBEACH, CAMBRIDGE CB5 9PB, ENGLAND, TELEPHONE (0223) 861550 (24 HOURS) IN THELS.4 Aril/DINH" XCORPORATION PO. DO X381. HIGHLAND LWS', NEIF JERSEY 0742243FL TEL 201-764-895A. CANADA 4141.0 , Al:010117X UNIT 17, 97.5 cime:11 HUHLINGION.ONTAIU0 L71. 4X8.711.- AM 333 4413 COM MENT f it were feasible to ' New Noise' a recent historic CD transfer — that is, to Z" • refurbish the sound making it indisting- t e • uishable from a 1989 digital orchestral recording — and to issue it under a + pseudonym, then Isuspect that the per- Editor Steve Harris formance would receive a critical maul- ing, for the arbitrariness and wilfulness of Music Editor Christopher Breunig , expressive effects applied, and inorganic Editorial Assistant Trevor Butler tempo changes made. The CD Ihave in Sub-Editor Karen Douthwaite mind is of Brahms's Fourth Symphony in a pre-war concert performance under Tos- Contributing Editor Ken Kessler canini ( for it is He!). The point here is that Consulting Editors John Crabbe the performance by no means conforms Donald Aldous to the ' image'. And image has become 1Technical Advisers Angus McKenzie MBE paramount in selling records. It also has a Martin Colloms preconditioning effect on the listener. Stanley Kelly In the early days of LP, the sleeves CHRISTOPHER BREUNIG Malcolm Hawksford tended to be rather drab abstracts (eg, Rex Baldock some Decca LXTs from the ' 50s) or, with Brahms Fourth) is amatter for jubilation. Design Consultant Flick Elcins HMV, there was just a ' classical' lettering One of the pleasures of historic record- Design Assistant Sue Daniels design around the dog and trumpet motif. ings on CD is that you don't have to worry Later on, of course, artist portraits became about the nature of the imperfections Editorial Secretary Clare Furey predominant ( some performers insisting heard, le you don't sit anxiously trying to Advertisement Simon Taylor that they figure on sleeves, however decide if the clicks and distortions come, ' Manager ill-advised). Ancillary to that are the not from the original, but from the condi- ' Advertisement Beverley Simpkins promotional brochures, which project tion of either your LP copy or stylus. Sales Executives Sophia Meliniotis and glamorize the image of players, old There's always the possibility that pur- and new. Indeed, Ican think of two new chasers will get side-tracked into a ' histor- Ad Copy Manager Tim Daly young violinists so lacking in — for want of ical cul-de-sac', feeling that artists today Ad Sales Secretary Carol Walker a better word — charisma that one won- cannot possibly match their pre-war Publisher Colin Gamm ders how their careers can prosper at all; equivalents.