MUSIC ABBADO'S ' ITALIAN GIRL' KARAJAN WARTIME FURTWANGLER BACK DOOR: JAll REISSUES OCTOBER 1989 I. 'S $ 4.95 £1.70 RECOR EV IEW '111" Kr- •fflinip - • :4, FREE 73 minute classical CD UK ONLY X àe NAKAMICHI 1000 THE BEST THAT R-DAT CAN DO? CD PLAYERS UK-BUILT RADFORD PHILIPS PDM SONY PIONEER 10 AMPLIFIERS KELVIN CADENCE BEN DUNCAN'S AMP 02 Ill SPEAKERS MISSION SPENDOR CELESTION B&W KEF AR o JE 64 o e REACH FOR THE BEST 20W STEREO RA810A INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER 30W STEREO RA820A INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER 30W AUDIOPHILE STEREO RA820BX3 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER STEREO CONTROL AMPLIFIER AND RC/R6850 50W STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER These tine components are but a small selection from Rotel's award winning range of real Hi•Fi products which offer very high standards of technical performance and musical enjoyment. All are based upon Rotel's UK balanced design concept which ensures that within the resources available, each aspect of the products design has been optimised. To find out why Rotel has received What Hi•Fi?'s prestigious awards for 1988 for Best Turntable, Best Radio Turner, Best Loudspeaker and Best Hi•Fi System ( amplifier - Turner - C.D. Mayer - Loudspeakers) call Rotel for details of your nearest dealer. UK DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT FicrrŒLL,„ 25 HEATHFIELD, STACEY BUSHES, MILTON KEYNES, MK12 6HR TEL. (0908) 317707 FAX: (0908) 322704. HPFI OCTOBER 1989 Vol. 34 No 10 RECOR EV IEW EQUIPMENT With this month's issue ( UK copies) MUSIC 42 NAKAMICHI 1000: established as a comes asuperb exclusive CD. The Best of professional user's reference and as the British — I7 tracks recorded by Chandos best available machine for the lucky few and cos cring the greatest British enthusiasts who can afford it, the composers from Handel on: full track Nakamichi represents the current state of details, page 25. An interview with cellist the R-DAT art, Martin Colloms offers an Yo-Yo Ma ( photographed here by Carol in-depth assessment Friedman) heads the Music Section this month: see page 91. And our hi-fi cover 50 RADFORD WSCD1 CD PLAYER: from story is an in-depth technical and one of the UK's best-known makers of subjective report on the Nalcamichi model valve electronics comes a high-quality 1000 DAT recorder: see page 42. (solid state) compact disc player. Ken Kessler reports REGULAlj 53 STRAIGHT EIGHT: significant British Herbert von Karajan: page 94 5 COMMENT: On CD dumping' speakers, the Acoustic Research 162, B&W Matrix 1 II, Celestion SL6si, KEF 91 7 VIEWS letters to the Editor YO- Y0 MA C95, Mission 765 and Spendor SP2/2, are tested by Martin Colloms, along with the 11 NEWS products, innovations, events talks to Sorrel Breunig imported Opus 3Credo and Spica TC50 II 17 TECHNOLOGY by Barry Fox 94 KARAJAN 21 RADIO by Trevor Butler an appraisal by Christopher Breunig 23 HEADROOM by Ken Kessler 97 29 ACCESSORIES CLUB NOTES music and recording news 132 SPECIALIST DEALER GUIDE 99 135 ADVERTISERS' INDEX RECORD REVIEW INDEX 136 CLASSIFIED ADS 101 RECORD OF THE MONTH FEATURES the Furtu ,ângler wartime recordings Radford's UK-built CD player: page 50 25 THE BEST OF BRITISH: complete track details are given here for the 73- 101 minute Best of British disc which is given CLASSICAL REVIEWS away free with this issue ( UK copies). The Abbado's Italian Girl: Karajan's 71 KELVIN INTEGRATED: a small but disc has been produced exclusively for Bruckner 8; the LCO series; Pesek potent amplifier offering agenuine Class A HEN/RR by Chandos Records, alabel and Dvorak; Messiaen 's St Francis power output of 20W per channel. Paul which has pioneered digital recording and of Assisi Miller tests this promising design has earned an especially high reputation 119 for its catalogue of music by British REFLECTIONS 75 PERFECT CADENCE? Ken Kessler composers. The disc is presented to classical reissues reviews the British-built Cadence tube HEN/RR readers in association with (valve) pre-/power amplifier combination Technics, and Technics' participation in 123 this project represents one of the many ROCKIPOPJAZZ REVIEWS 77 PIONEER PD6300 CD player: Martin ways in which the company has helped to the Vanguard reissues, Peter Colloms tests this middle- range model, promote the appreciation of live and Gabriel, Jethro Tull... which comes unusually well-equipped recorded music. For aCD booklet to complete the package simply cut out as 127 79 SONY CDP228ESD CD player: Martin indicated on pages 25 and 26 CAPSULES Colloms tests the successor to Sony's short rock reviews highly- thought-of ' 227, which did so well 31 A STATE-OF-THE ART PRE- in its price class last season AMPLIFIER: AMP 02 Ben Duncan offers a 129 no-compromise modular pre- amplifier REISSUES 83 PHILIPS BITSTREAM: TAKE 1: Martin design for home constructors, improving Colloms with exclusive technical and and updating the near- legendary Amp 01 138 subjective review coverage of Philips' with greatly simplified assembly and even BACKDOOR demonstration model PDM ' Bit Stream' better sound. This first article in anew jazz the Mosaic way CD player, with direct comparison of series deals with the disc input section 16-bit and I'DM decoders Link House Magazines Lad Link House, Dingwall Avenue, Croydon, Surrey CR9 2TA Tel 01-686 2599 Fax 01-760 0973 HI-FI NEWS & RECORD REVIEW OCTOBER 1989 3 LISTEN TO REFERE LOUDSPEAKERS MA 12 MA 1800, LISTEN TO THE WORLD'S FIRST GOLD NUM_ DOME * 26mm Dome with vented voice coil assembly. * F/Fluid caoled. * Extremely High Power handling. * Supert DiecEst Bass/Mid Driver, using large aluminium v/c assembly. * Vented Pole Mapet. * Unique conesurround materials. Designed --a.Engineered Built . 1. Like no other Loudspeaker in the world. l_ht 34, Clifton Road, CantrkIce C31 47' Tet ( 0223) 242888,24E344 Symbol of Quality MONITOR AUDIO LTD COMMENT e have heard from one or two readers who have had had experiences with firms offering 'upgrades' to existing equipment, particu- larly amplifiers. In one instance, a reader + had his recently-purchased amplifier com- Editor Steve Harris pletely ruined by afirm which had offered Music Editor Christopher Breunig to improve it. Here, the owner of what was originally an excellent amplifier is Editorial Assistant Trevor Butler faced with a repair bill for £ 300 in Sub-Editor Karen Douthwaite addition to the £ 150 he has already wasted with aself-styled ' consultant' who -Contributing Editor Ken Kessler attempted to rebuild it without under- i Consulting Editors John Crabbe standing the circuit or the design. I Donald Aldous Readers should be aware that any modi- Technical Advisers Angus McKenzie MBE fications to proprietary equipment, car- I Martin Colloms ried out without the original manufactur- Stanley Kelly er's knowledge or approval, will invalidate Malcolm Hawlcsford STEVE HARRIS Rex Baldock any warranty or guarantee. Readers hav- ing equipment modified by third parties Design Consultant Flick Ekins do so entirely at their own risk, and while abandoned the solid construction of the Editorial Secretary Clare Furey many companies offering modifications popular CD104, did indeed launch a may well provide an excellent service, series of successively cheaper, flimsier CD Advertisement Simon Taylor neither the original manufacturers nor player models. If the Japanese were forced Manager HFN/RR will accept responsibility for to follow suit, not by cutting their manu- Assistant Beverley Simpkins equipment so modified, should it become facturing costs ( and hence the quality of Ad Manager unserviceable. We should also point out the product), but by sacrificing profits, Advertisement Sophia Melinicrtis that the provisions of the Mail Order should they now be penalized? Is such Sales Executive Protection Scheme only apply to transac- protectionism in the interests of the Ad Copy Manager Tim Daly tions in which the customer has sent consumer? It seldom has the desired money in direct response to an advertise- effect. Some years ago, the Europeans, Ad Sales Secretary Carol Walker ment, and in any case do not cover anxious to protect European video pro- Publisher Colin Gamm classified advertisements. ducton, agreed with the Japanese that all video recorders would be sold at or above Editorial and Advertising offices: 'CD dumping' certain prices, the prices dependent on Link House, Dingwall Avenue, Croydon CR9 2TA. A dispute which goes back almost as far as the features and facilities whose supposed Telephone-. 01-686 2599. Fax: 01-760 0973. the newly- resolved DAT/copyright argu- extra value was determined by a points Telex: 947709. ment is that over the alleged ' dumping' of system. The Japanese makers then quickly Hi -Fi News & Record Review incorporates: Far Eastern CD players on the European changed their models in mid-year so that Stem), Tape & Tape Recorders, Audio News, Record News, Audio Record Review, The Gra- market. In June 1987, the European CD the important price points could still be mophone Record. Member qf the Audit Bureau of producers ( Philips, B&O and Grundig), met, sometimes removing facilities that Circulations complained to the European Commission they otherwise would have offered. So in against the Japanese and Korean manufac- some cases, consumers simply got less Microfilms & Indexing Microfilm and microfiche copies of HFN/RR or turers whose low prices during the pre- facilities for their money. anides therefrom are available commercially ceding 12 months, they said, constituted The new CD levy, though, may really from University Microfilms International. North American applications to: 300 N. Zeeb Street, Ann 'dumping' under EC law: the Commission just maintain the status quo, by compen- Arbor, Michigan 48106, USA; UK and rest of world: finally issued its report this July. The sating for the yearly reduction in import Whine Swan House, 60 High Street, Godstone, Surrey RH9 8LW. Technical articles of full page Commission had to establish whgther tariffs.