NEW AUDIO TECHNOLOGY AT CES CD Players Cassette Decks Car Stereos Digital -Ready Amplifiers, Receivers, Speakers CHOOSING A PERSONAL PORTABLE NEW SOFTWARE Compact Discs Audiophile Records Video Discs Digital Tapes .0100" Equipment Test Reports Aiwa AD -F660 Cassette Deck Tandberg 3012 Integrated Amplifier Denon DRA-300 AM/FM Receiver Goldring Electro II Phono Cartridge Design Acoustics PS -10 Speaker Disc Specials The PoliceLocal Hero George Jones Wynton Marsalis Mozart's Symphonies Verdi's Nabucco Brahms's Vocal Duets "Flashdance" is available on Stereo Beta Hi Fi Videocassettes horn Paramount Home Video for $39 95 C.,Paramount Pictures Corporation The NEC VC -739E with Beta Hi-Fi sound. A technological breakthrough in video recording andplayback whereby the video heads record both the audio and video information. Compared to conventional VCR's whichuse stationary audio heads, the VC -739E offers 30 times greater dynamic range. In fact, the audio specifications of the VC -739E exceedeven those of a studio open -reel tape recorder! The NEC VC -739E is the industry's most "fully loaded" Beta Hi-Fi model, with four heads forclear special effects; 134 channel cable ready quartz PLL tuner; 8 -event, 14 day programmable timer; audio -only recordingcapability; fluorescent indicator level meters and more... all controllable by a full function remote. You'll see picture quality with very same "High Video Fidelity" in every NEC model, only with differentarrays of features. The NEC VC -738E is an 83 -channel; clear special effects four -head; 8 -event, 14 day programmable;wireless remote control machine. Even NEC's most basic VCR's, the 134 -channel cable ready VC -737E and 83 -channel VC -734E offer picture quality and ease of operation matching any Y2" machine on the market-at any price WEC Think of it this way. All NEC VCR's offer "High Video Fidelity." And now, thenew VC -739E THE ONE TO WATCH. offers "High Audib Fidelity," too. rp NEC IlnmrIprtrnr,,, It 1 S A 1 Mr1401 Fstrs Avontw F lk Grove Village, Illinois 60007, (312) 228-5900 Circle No. 18 on Reader Service Card. BETA141-FIVCR. NECVC-739E THE THAT WITHTHEPICTURE THEVCR AS ITLOOKS. SOUNDSASGOOD NEW LOW PRIC Now Only Radio Shack's Direct -Drive Turntable Now Costs '40 Less 1799 Was $219.95 No extras to buy! Unlike most other brands, A great deal made even better. Step up to our we include the dust cover and a $39.95 ultra - high-performance Realistic® LAB -440 now at a light tracking moving -magnet cartridge-the breakthrough price! An electronic stroboscope Realistic/Shure R1000EDT. with bright neon lamp lets you quickly and pre- Bring in your favorite record and hear the cisely adjust speed. And the brushless DC ser- difference for yourself. At Radio Shack's new vomotor holds the speed exactly as you set it. low price, there's no reason not to upgrade! No skimping on features. The low -mass straight-line arm keeps the stylus at the proper Take it from Mike Love of The Beach Boys angle to the groove to give you accurate tracking and Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean: for lowest distortion. A 11/2 pound die-cast plat- "This turntable really improves the music-Mike just goes around in ter helps eliminate acoustic feedback. Out -front circles." controls are accessible with the cover closed and include an automatic repeat control for con- tinuous record play. A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION Catch Mike & Dean's GET YOUR FREE 1984 CATALOG "Rock'n'Roll City" 184 Full -Color Pages Show You What's Really New in Electronics! Cassette-Only $4.99 Name Apt # Radio Shack exclusive! A dozen Rock'n'Roll Dolbyized* record- Address ings with special guests: The City State Zip Beach Boys, Paul Revere & The Raiders, and The Association. All - Bring this coupon to your nearby Radio Shack Or mail to: new versions of 60's hits will make Radio Shack, 300 One Tandy Center. Fort Worth, TX 76102 84A-076 you feel 18 again. Produced by Daryl Dragon. *TM, Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp. Prices apply at participating Radio Shack stores and dealers. (ISSN 0039-1220) Stereo Review SEPTEMBER 1983 VOLUME 48 NUMBER 9 Equipment NEW PRODUCTS Roundup of the latest audio equipment and accessories 16 TAPE TALK Channel Separation, Recalibrating Dolby?, Head Replacement, High -End Clarity CRAIG STARK 26 CAR STEREO Products and Trends at the Summer CES CHRISTOPHER GREENLEAF 28 AUDIO/VIDEO NEWS Digital -Audio Cassettes DAVID RANADA 30 TECHNICAL TALK Speaker Distortion Measurements JULIAN D. HIRSCH 35 EQUIPMENT TEST REPORTS Hirsch -Houck Laboratories test results on the Aiwa AD -F660 cassette deck, Tandberg Model 3012 integrated amplifier, Denon DRA-300 AM/FM receiver, Goldring Electro II phono cartridge, and Design Acoustics PS -10 speaker system JULIAN D. HIRSCH AND CRAIG STARK 37 NEW AUDIO TECHNOLOGY A report from the Summer Consumer Electronics Show E. BRAD MEYER 58 CHOOSING A PERSONAL PORTABLE When it comes to hi-fi sound, you can take it with you MYRON BERGER 69 Musk THE NEW SOFTWARE Compact Discs CHRISTIE BARTER 74 Digital Cassettes CHRIS ALBERTSON 76 Pioneer LaserDiscs WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE 77 Audiophile Records PAULETTE WEISS 79 BEST RECORDINGS OF THE MONTH 81 Brahms: Vocal Ensembles 81 Susannah McCorkle 84 Mark Knopfler's Local Hero 82 Mozart: The Symphonies 85 CLASSICAL MUSIC 86 Verdi: Nabucco 88 The Etcetera Label 94 POPULAR MUSIC 96 George Jones: "Shine On" 98 Wynton Marsalis from Monk to Mozart 1 10 The Police: "Synchronicity" 102 Ben Bagley: Bernstein and Elmslie 116 Carl Wilson: "Youngblood" 104 Regulars BULLETIN CHRISTIE BARTER AND GORDON SELL 5 SPEAKING MY PIECE WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE 6 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 10 ADVERTISERS' INDEX 116 COVER: Design by Borys Patchowsky; photo by Bruce Pendleton. For more on JVC's CQ-F22K "component" personal portable (top), see article on page 69; for the Hirsch -Houck Laboratories test report on the Aiwa AD -F660 cassette deck, see page 37. COPYRIGHT QT: 1983 BY ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. All additional mailing offices. Authorized as second-class mail by the Post Office rights reserved. Stereo Review. September 1983, Volume 48, Number 9. Pub- Department, Ottawa. Canada, and for payment of postage in cash. POST- lished monthly by Ziff -Davis Publishing Company. Editorial and Executive MASTER: Forms 3579 and address changes should be sent to Stereo Review. Offices at One Park Avenue. New York, New York 10016; Telephone: 212 Circulation Department, P.O. Box 2771, Boulder, Colorado 80302. SUB- 725-3500. Richard P. Frieze, President; Selwyn Taubman. Treasurer; Ber- SCRIPTION SERVICE All subscription correspondence should be addressed tram A. Abrams. Secretary. Also publishers of Backpacker. Boating. Car and to Stereo Review, Circulation Department, P.O. Box 2771. Boulder, Colorado Driver. Computers and Electronics. Creative Computing, Cycle, Flying. Mi- 80302. Please allow at least eight weeks for change of address. Include old crosystems, PC. Popular Photography, Runner. Skiing. Stereo Buyers Guide. address as well as new-enclosing if possible an address label from a recent Tape Recording & Buying Guide, and Yachting. One-year subscription rate issue. PERMISSIONS: Material in this publication may not be reproduced in for the United States and its possessions, $9.98: Canada. 510.98 All other any form without permission. Requests for permission should be directed to countries, one-year subscription rate S14.98. cash orders only, payable in U.S. Elizabeth Amado, Rights and Permissions, Ziff -Davis Publishing Company. currency. Second-class postage paid at New York, New York 10016 and at One Park Avenue, New York, New York 10016. IT GOES FROM CAR STEREO TO PORTABLE IN 4.5 SECONDS. INTRODUCING THE SONY MUSIC SHUTTLE. Now you don't have to leave the extraordinary sound of a Sony car stereo when you leave your car. Instead, you can carry it with you, thanks to the Sony Music Shuttle:" The first car stereo that turns into a portable stereo. At the push of a button, the Music Shuttle's cassette player ejects, and is ready for a bat- tery. pack and headphones. What's left behind in your dashboard is the Music Shuttle's AM/FM radio. A radio that delivers high-fidelity stereo even when the cassette player isn't in your car. Also left behind is a large, conspicuous hole where the cassette player once was. A hole that will do more to discourage a thief than any alarm or lock. All of which makes the Music Shuttle the first car stereo that, literally, S ONIC leaves nothing to be desired. THE ONE AND ONLY c . .radPrs.irk and Music Shuttle is a .rari.--ark ,D; IIP Sony r qp 1 Sis:-. Dr:ve Park Ridge. New jersey 07656 CIRCLE NO17 ON READER SERVICE CARD Bulletin Edited by Christie Barter and Gordon Sell THE SUPREME COURT, unable to reach a Festival when it opens there September decision on the so-called Betamax 6 with Stephen Paulus's The Postman case, has asked representatives of Always Rings Twice. Based on the novel both sides to present more evidence by James M. Cain, the opera had its this fall when the court reconvenes. world premiere in St. Louis in 1982. Revolving around the movie industry's claim that home videotaping enables LATEST CD LABEL ENTRY is A&M Records people to enjoy copyrighted materials with five albums in the new format without compensating the copyright scheduled for late -September release: holder, the Betamax case has parallel Joe Jackson's "Night and Day," Quincy implications for audio recording. Jones's "The Dude," the Police's "Syn- Congressional legislation to legalize chronicity," Bryan Adams's "Cuts Like home taping has been sponsored by both a Knife," and Cat Stevens's "Greatest sides.