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Issue No. 23 Display until arrival of Issue No. 24. Do you need it? No. Do you want it? Yes!! Can Retail price: U.S. $7.50, Can. $8.50 you afford it? Hm... (See the Mcintosh reviews.) In this issue: We present an unusually comprehensive survey of Mcintosh stereo and home-theater components. The long-promised in-depth coverage of FM technology, tuners, and indoor antennas begins, with a classic "tutorial" by Dr. Rich as the main feature. An extended analysis of the different approaches to surround sound is followed by critical evaluations of multichannel audio-visual electronics. We bring you our expected variety of loudspeaker reviews, in the price range from modest to insane. Plus many other test reports, all our regular columns, letters to the Editor, and a full load of CD reviews. pdf 1 Contents 6 Mcintosh Today (What the "High End" Was Originally Meant to Be) By Peter Aczel, Editor and Publisher 7 Stereo Power Amplifier: Mcintosh MC500 9 Multichannel Power Amplifier: Mcintosh MC7106 11 Multichannel A V Control Unit: Mcintosh C39 12 AM/FM Tuner: Mcintosh MR7084 13 Loudspeaker System: Mcintosh XRT24 14 Home Theater Loudspeakers: Mcintosh HT-3 and HT-4 8 Sidebar: Inside the Mcintosh Electronics By David A. Rich, Ph.D., Contributing Technical Editor 15 Loudspeaker Systems, from Good Value to Ultimate (and In Between) By Peter Aczel, Editor and Publisher 15 Atlantic Technology System 250 16 Hsu Research HRSW12V 17 Mcintosh XRT24 (cross-reference to Mcintosh article) 17 Paradigm Eclipse/BP 18 Snell Acoustics Type A 38 Snell Acoustics Type MC LCR 2800 and SUR 2800 21 Catching Up on Analog and Digital Electronics for Stereo By Peter Aczel, Editor and Publisher 21 Outboard D/A Converter with HDCD: EAD DSP-7000 Series III 22 Stereo Power Amplifier: Mcintosh MC500 (cross-reference to Mcintosh article) 22 Mono Power Amplifier: Sentec PA9 23 Line-Level Stereo Preamplifier: Sentec SC9 24 Outboard Phono Preamplifier: Sentec PP9 RIAA 24 Compact Disc Player: Sony CDP-XA7ES 25 Stereo Power Amplier: Sunfire (follow-up) 27 Twice Shy: On Reencountering Multichannel Music Formats By Daniel C. Sweeney, Ph.D., Freelance Contributor to The Audio Critic 39 AV/Ambience/Surround Equipment: Our First Look at Multichannel Processors By Peter Aczel, Editor and Publisher 39 B&K AVP2000 40 Lexicon CP-3PLUS 41 Marantz AV600 42 Mcintosh C39 (cross-reference to Mcintosh article) 42 Multichannel "Receiver:" Onkyo TX-SV909PRO 43 FM Tuners: The Present State of the Art of FM Reception By David A. Rich, Ph.D., Contributing Technical Editor 59 Denon TU-680NAB 60 Harman Kardon TU9600 61 Mcintosh MR7084 (cross-reference to Mcintosh article) 61 Onkyo T-9090II 62 RotelRHT-10 58 Sidebar: How I Evaluate FM Tuners By Richard T. Modafferi, Technical Consultant to The Audio Critic 65 Indoor Antennas and Boosters for FM AudioPrism, Magnum Dynalab, et al. By David A. Rich, Ph.D., Contributing Technical Editor 70 Commodities and Revivals (It Don't Need Revivin' Unless It's Already Dead) By Tom Nousaine 71 Hip Boots Wading through the Mire of Misinformation in the Audio Press Nine commentaries by the Editor 75 Recorded Music 75 Mostly Wagner and Mahler: CD Releases of Importance by David Ranada 78 Capsule CD Reviews by Peter Aczel 3 Box 978: Letters to the Editor ISSUE NO. 23 • WINTER 1995-96 1 pdf 2 Issue No. 23 Winter 1995-96 Editor and Publisher Peter Aczel Contributing Technical Editor David Rich Contributing Editor at Large David Ranada Technical Consultant Steven Norsworthy Technical Consultant (RF) Richard Modafferi Columnist Tom Nousaine Cartoonist and Illustrator Tom Aczel Business Manager Bodil Aczel The Audio Critic® (ISSN 0146-4701) is published quarterly for $24 per year by Critic Publications, Inc., 1380 Masi Road, Quakertown, PA 18951-5221. Second-class postage paid at Quakertown, PA. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Audio Critic, P.O. Box 978, Quakertown, PA 18951-0978. The Audio Critic is an advisory service and technical review for consumers of sophisticated audio equipment. Any conclusion, rating, recommendation, criticism, or caveat published by The Audio Critic represents the personal findings and judgments of the Editor and the Staff, based only on the equipment available to their scrutiny and on their knowledge of the subject, and is therefore not offered to the reader as an infallible truth nor as an irreversible opinion applying to all extant and forthcoming samples of a particular product. Address all editorial correspondence to The Editor, The Audio Critic, P.O. Box 978, Quakertown, PA 18951-0978. Contents of this issue copyright © 1995 by Critic Publications, Inc. All rights reserved under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. Repro­ duction in whole or in part is prohibited without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Paraphrasing of product reviews for advertising or commercial purposes is also prohibited without prior written permission. The Audio Critic will use all available means to prevent or prosecute any such unauthorized use of its material or its name. From the Editor/Publisher: Subscription Information and Rates The elapsed time between this issue and the last one has been the longest in our his­ First of all, you don't absolutely need one of our printed subscrip­ tory. Two relevant facts must be noted. tion blanks. If you wish, simply write your name and address as legibly One is obvious: this is, in effect, a double as possible on any piece of paper. Preferably print or type. Enclose with issue. I could have split it down the middle, payment. That's all. Or, if you prefer, use VISA or MasterCard, either made a few editorial adjustments and addi­ by mail, by telephone or by fax. tions, and published it as two issues, twice Secondly, we have only two subscription rates. If you live in the as fast. You would have been charged U.S., Canada, or Mexico, you pay $24 for four consecutive issues twice. This way you 're getting (almost) two (scheduled to be mailed at approximately quarterly intervals). If you issues for the price of one. The other fact, live in any other country, you pay $38 for a four-issue subscription by which you couldn't have known, is that we airmail. All payments from abroad, including Canada, must be in U.S. were about to be plugged into a large, funds, collectable in the U.S. without a service charge. prosperous, and well-staffed publishing You may start your subscription with any issue, although we feel company, supposedly without losing any of that new subscribers should have a few back issues to gain a better un­ our editorial autonomy but with all their derstanding of what The Audio Critic is all about. We still have Issues forces mobilized to help us to publish on No. 11, 13, 14, and 16 through 22 in stock. Issues earlier than No. 11 schedule. About six months were wasted are now out of print, as are No. 12 and No. 15. Please specify which before I faced the fact that they were just issues you want (at $24 per four). talking the talk but not walking the walk, One more thing. We don't sell single issues by mail. You'll find and I was back to square one. The idea, those at somewhat higher cost at selected newsdealers, bookstores, and however, was basically sound and should audio stores. sooner or later be realizable with other Address all subscriptions to The Audio Critic, P.O. Box 978, partners. As I wrote last time, one way or Quakertown, PA 18951-0978. VISA/MasterCard: (215) 538-9555. the other, we 're here to stay. Fax: (215) 538-5432. 2 THE AUDIO CRITIC pdf 3 Box 978 Letters to the Editor Our letters column is short this time, not because of a change in policy but as a result of preemption by other editorial material. We should be back to our usual six to eight pages next time. Letters printed here may or may not be excerpted at the discretion of the Editor. Ellipsis (...) indicates omission. Address all editorial correspondence to the Editor, The Audio Critic, P.O. Box 978, Quakertown, PA 18951-0978. The Audio Critic: to be constantly striving for perfection. perhaps they know better but realize For some reason I don't understand, Their underlying motivation is not the en­ there's a bundle to be made by telling the when we attack a moral wrong, we usual­ joyment of music; it's playing with hard­ "market" what they want to hear. Paul in ly focus on the supply side of the prob­ ware. his second letter to Timothy said, "For lem. For instance, we fault the prostitute A few years ago when I was an "au- the time will come when men will not put and drug dealer more than the john (or diophile" and subscribed to Stereophile, up with sound doctrine [no pun intended, jane) and drug user. And yet, if the mar­ there was a letter in one issue from an au­ I'm sure]. Instead, to suit their own de­ ket side dries up, the supply side usually dio salon dealer. He had done well in the sires, they will gather around them a follows suit. business and had decided to rebuild his great number of teachers to say what In your ongoing war with Stereo- store, and to include in it a small but their itching ears want to hear. They will phile and TAS and the myths they preach, acoustically correct auditorium in which turn their ears away from the truth and your focus is on the suppliers and supply live performances could be presented for turn aside to myths" (II Tim.

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