26,-02t, IJA0 2.60usue ITIFS 58730 d-1 OlAtiO HOneWAU:,4 0d x0a LEOE 3111ASIn01 Fantasies Night Carter's Elliot Prokofiev and Ravel Pocorelich's Seville of Barber The Rossini's Lucia De Meola Di McLaughlin Hardin Gus Zappa Fra,k Clark GLy Parker Graham Specials Disc Stereo Car KE-7200 Pioneer Plus: System Speaker RS6 Infinity Headphones 100 MS Sennheiser Deck Cassette GX-R6 Akai Receiver FM AM 3285 MCS Penney J.C. System Speaker Subwoofer SM-.4 Mi-age Reports Test Equipment Realism Hall Concert of Myth the Exploding Questions Disc Compact to Answers Systems Speaker Exotic to Guide INTRODUCING DIGITAL -READY COMPONENTS. FROM THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU THE DIGITAL DISC, DIGITALPLAYER, DIGITAL PROCESSOR, DIGITALMIXER, DIGITAL REVERBERATORY DIGITALRECORDER, DIGITALEDITOR, DIGITAL TITOri 11/1 A CTITETIDinure' When the history of music is Motion (APM) speaker design hasyour p:esent music collection, ES written, the chapter on digital will been engineered to handle pro- also includes a LaserAmorphous read like a list of accomplishmentsdigious quantities of power without3 -head cassette deck and linear from just one company-Sony. distortion. Even the tuner's Directtracking Biotracer turntable- And now, to meet the stringentComparator has been designed worthy challengers to anything dtmands of their digital creations,to complement the irr proved on the market today. Sony engineers have developed FM broadcast signals -hat result To find out the name of your an entirely new line of high-fidel-from digital source material. nearest ES dealer, call Sony toll - ity components. The ES Series. Furthermore, because no free at 1 -E00 -222 -SONY To handle the phenomenal dy-innovation, no matter how remark- SONY namic range of the new CDP-701ESable, should force you to discard THE LEADER IN 2.IGITAL AUDIO compact disc player and PCM- tt.:. 1993 Ser.-Corp ct America Sony and LaserA mot phous . are trademarks of the Sony Car Jorallon 701ES digital audio processor, ES SONY CIRCLE ND. 22 ON READER SERVICE CARD features what Stereo Review calls a "truly exceptional integrated amp. One that offers "the highest dynamic headroom of any ampli- F.(1.14 V fier we have yet measured." The patented Accurate Pistonic 111-rt .err SN (7.!:*. offENT SWOTS .2=717! I m igium".....1.1.111111111"mailimmum*"_ - ° elbow '* I 41011111- Q:12- 4411000., L immimmommoT, 477 Reasons Why You Need Radio Shack's New Auto -Reverse Cassette Deck . El41.3010.133.10 0131.111411VVI IT Sr If XJM PPIKICVMA MILPV.A1 -n !RC 1. You Can Play Both Sides Uninterrupted 4. You Can Locate Favorite Selections Fast 2. You Can Program the Order of Selections 5. You Can Repeat Any Portion of the Tape 3. You Can Sample Each Selection 6. You Can Do It All at the Touch of a Finger Radio Shack's Realistic° SCT-42 lets you decide how your cassettes are played. One side, both sides, or continuous playback of both sides. Or program the Radio ihaelt deck to play only your favorites. And it's loaded with A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION advanced features. Like solenoid logic controls to give you quiet, reliable and foolproof operation. Auto- matic Metal/Cr02/Normal bias selector. Dolby*B-C Take it from Mike Love of The Beach NR for extended dynamic range. Two-color, 14 -seg- Boys and Dean Torrence of Jan ment fluorescent peak level meter. And record mute and Dean: ..o eliminate unwanted noise when editing. Step up to "Rock'n'Roll from side The new standard in tape control and convenience. one to side Just $299.95, or as low as $27 per month on Radio two with- out miss- Shack/CitiLine credit. Visit Radio Shack today for a ing a hands-on demonstration. beat." Catch Mike & Dean's "Rock'n'Roll City" Cassette Only $4.99 A Radio Shack exclusive! 12 GET YOURFREE 1984 CATALOG Rock'n'Roll recordings on 184 Full -Color PagesShow You What's Really New in Electronics Dolbyized* cassettes with spe- Mail to Radio Shack.300 One Tandy Center. Fort Worth. TX 76102 cial guests: The Beach Boys, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Name and The Association. All -new versions of 60's hits will make Address Apt # you feel 18 again. Produced by Daryl Dragon. City State Ztp 'TM Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp 844-078 Prices apply at participating Radio Shack stores and dealers (ISSN 00391220) VOL 48, NO. 11 \OV1-- VBR 1983 BULLETIN Christie Barter and Gordon Sell 5 SPEAKING MY PIECE William Livingstone 6 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 8 NEW PRODUCTS 11 TAPE TALK Craig Stark 20 AUDIO QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Larry Klein 26 TECHNICAL TALK Julian D. Hirsch 31 EQUIPMENT TEST REPORTS Hirsch -Houck Laboratories 34 CAR STEREO Julian D. Hirsch and Christopher Greenleaf 46 INSTALLATION OF THE MONTH Craig Stark 48 A GUIDE TO EXOTIC LOUDSPEAKERS Ralph Hodges 50 ANSWERS TO YOUR COMPACT DISC QUESTIONS David Ranada 59 THE BASIC, REPERTOIRE Richard Freed 64 BEST RECORDINGS OF THE MONTH ROSSINI: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE George Jellinek 69 GUY CLARK: "BETTER DAYS" Alanna Nash 70 GRAHAM PARKER: "THE REAL MACAW" Steve Simels 73 IVO POGORELICH: RAVEL AND PROKOFIEV Richard Freed 73 CLASSICAL MUSIC 76 ELLIOTT CARTER: NIGHT FANTASIES Richard Freed 78 THE LIGHT BLUES: "TOUR DE FRANCE" Richard Freed 84 CAROLYN WATKINSON: RECITAL George Jellinek 86 POPULAR MUSIC 90 GUS HARDIN Alanna Nash 92 MCLAUGHLIN. DI MEOLA, DE LUCIA Mark Peel 96 FRANK ZAPPA Mark Peel 102 BENNIE WALLACE: "BIG JIM'S TANGO" Chris Albertson 110 DENNY ZEITLIN AND CHARLIE HADEN Chris Albertson 116 ON YOUR TOES Peter Reilly 118 LA CAGE AUX FOLLES Christie Barter 122 122 ADVERTISERS' INDEX See "A Guide to Exotic Loudspeakers.page 50 Cot ER Design by Borys Patchowsky; photo by Geoff Rosengarten. See pages 34 and 40 for test reports on the Mirage Subwoofer and the Akai GX-R6 cassette deck. COPYRIGHT 1983 BY ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. All rights reserved. Stereo Review. November 1983. Volume 48. Number 11. Published monthly by Ziff -Davis Publishing Company. Editorial and Executive Offices at One Park Avenue. New York. New York 10016; Telephone. 212 '25-3500 Richard P. Friese. President: Selwyn Taubman, Treasurer: Bertram A. Abrams. Secretary. Also publishers of Backpacker. Boating. Car and Driver. Computers and Electron Cs. Creative Computing. Cycle. Flying, Microsystems. PC. Popular Photography. Runner. Skiing. Stereo Buyers Guide, Tape Recording & Buying Guide, and Yachting. One-year subsciption rate for the United States and its possessions, $9.98; Canada. $10.98 All other countries. one-year subscription rate $14.98, cash orders only, payable in U.S. currency. Second-class postage pa.d at New York, New York 10016and at additional mailing offices. Authori7ed as second-class mail by the Post Office Department. Ottawa. Canada, and for payment of postage in cash. POSTMASTER: Forms 3579 andaddress changes should be sent to Stereo Review. Circulation Department. P.O. Box 2771. Boulder, Colorado 80102. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE: All subscription correspondence should be addressed to Stereo Review, Circulation Department. P.O. Box 2771, Boulder. Colorado 80302. Please allow at least eight weeks for change of address. Include old addressas well as new --enclosing if possible an address label from a recent issue. PERMISSIONS: Material in this publication may not be reproduced in asy form without permission.Requests for permission should be directed to Eli,abeth Amado. Rights and Permissions. Ziff -Davis Publishing Company. One Park Avenue, New York. New York 10016. To eliminate the major flaws of cone -shaped speakers we created speakers without a cone. Technics Honeycomb Disc Speakers. One of the unfortunate aspects of the conventional audio speaker is the speaker design itself: a cone -shaped diaphragm that performs with un- desirable dips and peaks in frequency response. The result is reproduction that can be less than accuraull.r- Technics has eliminated this problem by eliminating thecorr. Instead Technics uses an ingenious, flat speaker called the Honeycomb Disc. This flat Honeycomb Disc is extremely rigid and lightweight. So it responds quickly and with superb accuracy to the most delicate or the most dynamic musical signal. And can handle a wider range of frequencies than conventional speakers without creating distortion. Another problem of conventional speakers is that each speaker cone is mounted at a slightly different distance from your ears. So you hear each musical frequency at a slightly different time. But the revolulionary design of the Technics flat Honeycomb Disc ensures precise speaker alignment. You hear the musical frequencies the way you're supposed to: all at the same time. In fact, Technics Honeycomb Disc Speakers are so well engineered, they achieve Waveform Fidelity: the speaker output signal is virtually a mirror -image of the input signal. And because of this Honeycomb Disc technology, these speakers are capable of reproducing the exceptional sound of digital recordings. But perhaps best of all, the price of all this technology is remarkably modest. Hear how eliminating the speaker cone can add to your music. Experience the startling fidelity of Honeycomb Disc Speakers from Technics. Technics The science of sound CIRCLE NO ON READER SERVICE CARD Bulletin Edited by Christie Bader and Gordon Sell BIG MOVE AFOOT: Warner Communica- Sumitomo, a Japanese banking and in- tions Inc., whose subsidiaries include dustrial company, are independently the Warner Bros., Elektra/Asylum, and trying to develop magnets made of Atlantic labels, and the European par- neodymium -iron alloy that would be ent companies of the PolyGram group, much more powerful than conventional which includes Polydor, Mercury, Lon- ferric magnets but no more expensive don, Philips, and Deutsche Grammophon, to produce. These are expected to have are discussing a "restructuring of applications for loudspeakers, phono their interests in recorded music." cartridges, and perhaps tape heads...