9ST09S 3Nf TEOMS200 ESAON Hi3S 13mur S2 NUWS93M 80 TO M 39Nb80 fN ZSOLO Domingo Placido Mintz by KREISLER Delusa L'Infedelte HAYDN: Wozzeck BERG: Symphonies Four BRUCKNER: e;4101 Chloe et Daphnis RAVEL: Crowell Rodney -Heron Scott Gil EMI McCorkle Susannah SONY McBroom Amanda Tyner McCoy Freeman Chico DeVille Mink Verlaine Tom Denver John Brothers Gatlin SPECIALS DISC System Speaker 12B RTA Polk Tuner Two FM Crown Amplifier Power M-500 and System Preamplifier C-1 Carver Speaker SS2300 ADS Cartridge Phono Astrion ADC REPORTS: TEST EQUIPMENT best year's past some the of ROUNDUP: DISC -TECH HI ambiance adding) (or restoring to approach box" "black The PROCESSORS SIGNAL TO GUIDE BUYER'S A `A. "0"iiew $1.25 1982 JANUARY Aft WHOLE NEW OFALLTHESE FEATURES. have won Pioneer acclaim throughout the also eliminates distortion caused by output high fidelity industry. trar sistors switching on and off thousands Pioneer's engineers have designedan of times a second in response to music exclusive ID MOS FET transistor for the signals. This is one of the reasons that the front end of the SX-7's tuner. It allowsyou total harmonic distortion of the SX-7 is to tune in stations with weaker signals with- no more than 0.009% (continuous average out worrying about stronger stations caus- power output of 60 watts per channel mini- ing distortion due to front end overload. mum at 8 ohms, from 20Hz to 20,000Hz). That's what keeps the SX-7 virtually free of And Pioneer's high -gain phono preamp RF intermodulation. section allows the use of either MM or low- But no matter how free a receiver is outpu: MC cartridges selectable by a front from all forms of distortion, it must be able panel switch. There's even a Subsonic filter to keep the station you select perfectly tuned you can use to do away with very low fre- for hours. Pioneer's quartz-PLL digital quer cy interference caused by record warps. synthesized tuning does this by making Now if you think all these features drift virtually impossible. sound great in print, listen to them in person Pioneer's exclusive at your nearby Pioneer dealer. He'll demon- Non-switchineamp strate the SX-7 and an entire new line of Pioneer receivers. And you'll quickly see that we've done everything humanly possi- ble to give you more music for yourmoney. That's what made Pioneer No.1 inre- RECEIVER. ceivers. And that's what's going to keep us there. uuuuuuuuuuuuuu % % % uuuuuuuuuuuu %usIIai.%% 116. PIONEER' We bring it back alive. A CIRCLE NO38 ON READER SERVICE CARD - 11 1M. r-- 1, INAUT ING 5 1morn 010 P.M T it dU 11.1111, AM MCC* 1, 111111111ACWW 111117330. I .(1, I TA 6.1E L4TATrpiyOC &IV MONO IWC t,i0,,0 I MOUT / leer. j MM r cc r n ,A.,1=1../ N 4111.16-6 rr r l981U S Pioneer Electronics Corp . 85 Didord Drive. Moonachie. N 1 07074 AND ONLY PIONEER OFFERS ENGINEERING CONCEPT ON You'd expect a new receiver from the directly accessible via"Station Call" but- leading manufacturer of stereo receivers to tons. And you can even recall them at the be lacked with exciting features. As you preprogrammed volume level because the can see, it is. But Pioneer didn't get to be microcomputer electronically controls vol- Nc I in receivers by doing the expected and ume setting. stopping. What's more, with just the touch of a So we developed the SX-7 using a button you can search out the next station unique engineering concept we call High up (or down) the AM or FM tuning band. Fidelity for Humans. It makes the SX-7 as Stations are brought in perfectly tuned every superb to live with as it is to listen to. time. And you can se ect any station Dy At the heart of the receiver is a micro- tuning it manually or scanning the entire computer that's been programmed to oper- band automatically sampling five seconds ate controls electronically. It affords the of each station. owner of the SX-7 operating convenience But these human engineering features urlike any previously available in ccnven- aren't all that make the SX-7 such an extraor- ticcal receiver designs. dinary receiver. It also offers features that For example, the microcomputer's prodigious memory allows you to preset up to eight FM and eight AM stations and recall them in- stantly. Once set, all sta- INTRODUCING THE PIONEE tions are OO OO O OOOOO 5.5.1%rafIaa.S.0000NOmmOsSOCSOM OOOOOOOOOO OOOO 44SSSISSISIPsNISSDISSIROSaSIaaSISSAIVaSISSSArammessaseassemeaSSeassmSOSOSSaaSSS IAISIP .0 DOS OSSUUMUUS ffee OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ireArirISSOSIOSSISSISSISSCOSSOSsesIFISPOSISSIIIIIIIIIIISOSISISSOSSSOSISSOSSOSSSSOOSSUS SSW SOS OSSO MMUS t STEREO R. - PSO CCM/IF:ft...I TER CON T ROLL EU Irl 1 rl 11 0 PIONEER sTwasoPilaCEIVE 7 VOLUME STOP I IlPPtE EST smitm 92.3 95 5 1001 1311 1019 1027 1035 soot 570 650 710 770 883 933 970 I I I 1 I ,C sass 2 a A 0 7 ° I 110,,,wv, POWER 010/T T IW/10QP 1 1 i L 00 TO 0 JO. 00 C 0To mo ChNIEl. C, Cot I AuUI 4111. s- 11 .11 O NO OTHER RECEIVER OFFERS MLTFIESE FEATURES. Computerized Push Touch Volume: Button Controls: The SX-7 will digitally display and Pioneer recall any of 32 volume levels at the _as pro - touch of a button. :rammeda microcom- puter to Eight AM presets, operate con- eight FM presets: trols electronically for improved The SX-7 accuracy, reliability and will memorize - convenience. eight of your favorite FM I I and eight of 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Quartz PLL Digital your favorite Synthesized Tuning: AM stations and retrieve them instantly. FM "Drift" is eliminated by this incredibly accurate tuner. Non -Switching Amp: Pioneer's patented amp design Station Scan: gets rid of transistor switching TUNING distortion once and fir all. AUTO.. STATION SCAN Touch this control and MANUAL- .M. STATION Se ARCM you'll hear five seconds ofevery station strong High -Gain Phono Preamp: enough to meet the mute threshold. Allows the use of either MM or low -output MC cart-idges. Station Search: Touch this control and move to he next station up, or down, the ID MOS FET Front End: and. This exclusive transistor cir- cuitry tunes in Subsonic Filter: weak stations This control lets you do away as clearly and vith ultra low frequency distortion quickly as aused by record warps and such. strong stations. How to Step Up to Three Heads, Twin Solenoids and Full Logic Without Wrecking Your Budget) SCT-32! Our top of the line gives you easy operation, a sensible price and exciting extras. You'll like the two-color fluorescent meters with switchable peak -hold that "remember" the highest signals for exact record -level setting. And the automatic Record Mute system that lets you edit - silently and electronically - as you record. Even pauses can be professional, because an LED flashes one per second for precise edit timing. Separate ferrite record and play heads and independent Dolby* noise reduction systems let you monitor your tape - in Dolby - as you record. Each head hasthe optimum gap -length to do its job - either recording or playback - so there's no compro- mise in audio quality. A variable bias control permits "fine-tuning" for the best electronic match with any normal, chrome or metal Separate record and play cassette. With metal tape, frequency response is an amazing 30 heads in one housing for per- manent alignment to 21,000 Hz, ± 3 dB. You get gentle and precise tape handling. Go from rewind to play to fast forward-no matter how you key the light -touch elec- tronic controls, you're protected from tape snarls and damage. A built-in microprocessor acknowledges your commands and relays them-with full logic-to powerful solenoids that control all tape movement. Recessed LEDs display status of operation. Direct -acting solenoids for cositive, reliable operation TO / MEMORY RE WINO Want to hear a selection again? Thanks to the microprocessor OP OFF PL AY memory. allit takes is one light touch! You can also select end - of -tape Auto -Rewind to replay the entire side. Or, rewind and stop automatically. And here's something you'll really appreci- ate: You can add a timer for recording off -the -air when you're not at home. With all these features for only $399.95. you should Auto -rewind to the point where play button was last step up to the SCT-32 today. It's completely logical. pressed Radio ihaek A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION Price may vary at individual stores and dealers 'Trademark of Dolby Laboratories, Inc FORMERLY (ISSN 0039-1220) ewe JANUARY 1982 VOLUME 47 NUMBER 1 ?e `Equipment NEW PRODUCTS Roundup of the latest audio equipment and accessories 13 AUDIO QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Golden Ears, Signal Linkage, Amplifier/Speaker Output LARRY KLEIN 18 CAR STEREO Compatibility Problems IVAN BERGER 22 TAPE TALK Dubbing dbx. VU vs. dB, Jammed Cassette CRAIG STARK 24 TECHNICAL TALK Testing Audio Amplifiers JULIAND.HIRSCH 28 EQUIPMENT TEST REPORTS Hirsch -Houck Laboratories test results on the Polk RTA 12B speaker system, ADC Astrion phono cartridge, ADS SS2300 speaker system, Crown FM Two tuner. Carver C-1 preamplifier and M-500 power amplifier JULIAN D. HIRSCH 32 SIGNAL PROCESSORS A buyer's guide to equalizers, imagers, noise reducers, and the like IVAN BERGER 60 Z:ke Music ROUSON'S KEYBOARDS JOHN ROUSON 68 AUDIOPHILE DISCS Some of the past year's best -sounding recordings DAVID RANADA 71 INTEREVIEW: THE GATLIN BROTHERS "Singing together comes before everything else" NOEL COPPAGE 108 BEST RECORDINGS OF THE MONTH 76 Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe 76 Shlomo Mintz Plays Fritz Kreisler 81 Placido Domingo: "Gala Opera Concert" 78 Amanda McBroom: "West of Oz" 81 Placido Domingo: "Domingo!" 78 Chico Freeman: "The Outside Within" 82 Domingo/Denver: "Perhaps Love" 78 Tom Verlaine: "Dreamtime" 83 CLASSICAL MUSIC 84 Haydn: L'Infedelta Delusa 89 Bruckner: Four Symphonies 96 Berg: Wozzeck 92 Schubert: String Quartets Nos.