The Cutting Edge

Transcription

The Cutting Edge

IN THIS ISSUE
ISSUE 162 n JUNE/JULY 2006
54
COVER STORY
Hovland HP-200 Vacuum Tube Preamplifier
Consistently elegant, detailed, and natural is how Wayne Garcia describes
this vacuum tube beauty, with additional comments on Hovland’s solidstate RADIA amp and cables.
22
Start Me Up: Cambridge Audio Azur 540A v2 Integrated
Amplifier, Azur 540C v2 CD Player, and Era Design 4
Loudspeakers
In a new column dedicated to discovering value-oriented high-end gear,
Robert Harley looks at a complete system for under $1750...
114
Goldmund SR System
…while at the other extreme, Alan Taffel takes a $55,000 peek into the
digital future.
106
TAS Roundtable: Sonic Realism
Triggered by HP’s essay on the ASR Emitter amplifier, the TAS editorial
team, Neil Gader, Wayne Garcia, Robert Harley, Harry Pearson, and
Jonathan Valin, gather to explore the meaning of “realism” in audio.
EQUIPMENT REPORTS
34
Absolute Analog: Lector Phono-Amp System Mk II
Jacob Heilbrunn listens to a two-box, tube-driven, Italian phono preamp.
64
Tyler Acoustics Linbrook System II Loudspeaker
Sallie Reynolds on an imperfect design that nonetheless possesses
magical power.
68
PS Audio GCC-100 Control Amplifier
Jim Hannon reports on a new and different breed of amp.
73
Acoustic Zen Technologies Adagio Loudspeaker
A design that has Sallie Reynolds asking, “What is the sound of
no distortion?”
91
76
Virtual Dynamics Master Series Power Cord
Neil Gader on an expensive but superb power cord.
78
Audience Adept Response AC Power Conditioner
New contributor Max Shepherd used to think a dedicated line was enough.
82
Audio by Van Alstine Ultra Fet Valve 550 Amplifier,
Ultra Hybrid SL Preamplifier, and Ultra DAC
Sue Kraft reports on three affordable items from audio veteran
Frank Van Alstine.
91
Revel Performa F52 Loudspeaker
Neil Gader on getting to the essence of a loudspeaker.
97
Focal Profile 918 Loudspeaker
The real deal when it comes to high fidelity, says Sue Kraft.
136
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THE ABSOLUTE SOUND n JUNE/JULY 2006
104 THE CUTTING EDGE
EXOTICA:
The Case of the Knock at the Door
Jonathan Valin’s think piece on realism introduces this issue’s Roundtable.
VIEWPOINTS
6
Letters
124
Manufacturer Comments
COLUMNS
16
From The Editor
18
Future TAS—New Products on the Horizon
30
MAINSTREAM MULTICHANNEL:
Outlaw Audio Model 990
Controller and Model 7125 Multichannel Amplifier
Neil Gader wonders if inexpensive, multichannel separates can satisfy
all cravings.
TAS Book Review
Paul Seydor reviews Sound Bites: 50 Years of Hi-Fi News.
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BASIC REPERTOIRE
Webern and Varèse—The Class of 1883
Anton Webern and Edgard Varèse helped change the course of music
history. Ted Libbey discusses their careers and must-have recordings.
MUSIC
128
128
Recording of the Issue
Fred Hersch: In Amsterdam, Live at the Bimhui
Jazz
The scoop on the latest from Matthew Shipp, Roy Hargrove,
Bobby Previte, Mario Pavone, CUD, Odyssey the Band, and an SACD
from Jaco Pastorius Big Band.
136
Rock Etc.
Reviews of 16 new CDs and eight audiophile LPs—including the latest
from Eleventh Dream Day, The Streets, Alejandro Escovedo, The Subways,
Black Heart Procession, Prince, Van Morrison, Donald Fagen, Jessi Colter,
Nick Cave, and Glenn Kotche.
159
editor
executive editor
managing and
music editor
acquisitions manager
and associate editor
news editor
equipment setup
editorial advisory board
advisor, cutting edge
Wayne Garcia
Jonathan Valin
Bob Gendron
Neil Gader
Barry Willis
Danny Gonzalez
Sallie Reynolds
Atul Kanagat
senior writers
John W. Cooledge, Anthony H. Cordesman,
Gary Giddins, Robert E. Greene, Fred Kaplan,
Andrew Quint, Paul Seydor, Alan Taffel
reviewers and contributing writers
Soren Baker, Greg Cahill, Dan Davis, Andy Downing,
Jim Hannon, Stephan Harrell, Jacob Heilbrunn,
John Higgins, Sue Kraft, Mark Lehman, Ted Libbey,
David McGee, Derk Richardson, Don Saltzman, Aaron
M. Shatzman, Max Shepherd, Arnie Williams
design/production Design Farm, Inc.
publisher/editor, AVGuide Chris Martens
web producer Ari Koinuma
TAS JOURNAL
40
founder; chairman, editorial advisory board
Harry Pearson
editor-in-chief Robert Harley
Classical
Jonathan Valin critiques five Speakers Corner Mercury Living Presence
LPs. Plus, reviews of SACDs of Sibelius, Bartok, and Beethoven and CDs
by Lang Lang, Dutilleux, and Christopher O’Riley, and Testament’s
newly unburied Wagner treasure.
Absolute Multimedia, Inc.
chairman and ceo Thomas B. Martin, Jr.
vice president/publisher Mark Fisher
advertising reps Cheryl Smith
(512) 891-7775
Marvin Lewis,
MTM Sales
(718) 225-8803
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168
The TAS Back Page
Help On the Way For Hearing Challenged Audiophiles, by Neil Gader
© 2006 Absolute Multimedia, Inc., Issue 162, June/July 2006.
The Absolute Sound (ISSN #0097-1138) is published ten times per year,
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4
L E T T E R S
Introductory Note
Our Roundtable discussion “Growing the High-End Audio Market” in Issue 160, along
with the editorial in that issue on the challenges of making high-performance audio better
known to the general public, struck a nerve with readers. We’ve received dozens of letters,
many of them with interesting insights into the subject, some with great ideas, and all passionate. A selection is printed here, with many more posted in a special Industry section of
our reader forum on our Web site, www.avguide.com. I invite all of you to participate in
the forum, whether to discuss this topic or to talk about gear, music, technical questions, or
TAS.
–ROBERT HARLEY
One Convert at a Time
I can’t think of any better way to introduce people to the high end than to invite
them over to your house and let them listen to a high-end system. The key to this
process is an invitation to listen to music,
not a system. Very few people want to
engage in a listening test. They want to
hear music that you like (preferably, that
you are passionate about) to see if they
will like it, too. They want you to hear a
few CDs that they want you to hear
because of the sheer joy of sharing music
with another enthusiast.
Normally in this process, someone
will say, “Gee, I hear things on my CD
that I’ve never heard before. Why is
that?” And that’s the natural segue to
talking a bit about your gear.
Remember, I said “a bit.” Don’t swamp
their boats with thick gobs of tech
blather. Less is more. The focus should
always be on the music and the joy of
actually hearing all the notes.
I have gone through this process with
many people. No, they don’t all rush out
to buy expensive gear. But at least the
seed is planted. They know that such gear
exists. When they do decide to move the
Bose radio into the bedroom and get a
good system for the living room, they
will know there is a bigger world out
there and they will probably call you.
One elderly couple I had over saw
the light immediately. They did want a
better system and were delighted that I
was willing to help. I took them to a
local used-gear place where they got a
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pair of Martin Logan Aerius speakers, a
Manley Stingray integrated tube amp,
and a Musical Fidelity CD player. The
cost was roughly half the new price and
they were thrilled. Later they added
upgraded cables (and heard the difference without any prompting from me
and in spite of the husband’s tinnitus).
They even heard the difference with a
different tube in the amp. They enjoyed
the process and continue to enjoy the
system every day.
They would never, ever have entered
the world of the high end without a
LASZLO BENCZE
helping hand.
Sheer Weirdness of the High End
One of the main reasons for the reluctance of most music lovers to enter the
world of high-end audio is the sheer
weirdness of it all. Let’s say a neophyte
picks up a copy of The Absolute Sound and
flips through it while waiting for his
flight at O’Hare. What does he
encounter? Lots and lots of ads for wires.
“Huh? Wires? Did I pick up some sort
of wholesale electrical parts catalog by
mistake? Nope, it’s a hi-fi mag. These
people are trying to sell me power cords
for hundreds of dollars and speaker wire
for thousands. They’re nuts!” And the
magazine goes back on the rack.
Yes, wires are a big turn-off for normal people. Ads for wires make them
feel like they are being asked to join
some kind of health cult promoting colloidal silver, noni juice, and tree frog
spit. It’s just too much to swallow that
wires could have any influence on sound
and that anyone is fool enough to dump
big bucks on such flim-flam. Now I
happen to be one of those fools who did.
Upcoming in TAS
MAGICO Mini Loudspeaker
MBL 5011 Linestage Preamp, 1521a and 1511e
Digital Playback System
Shunyata AC Conditioning System
Two-Channel Receivers from Rotel and Outlaw
Olive MUSICA Server
Complete Turntable package from Wilson Benesch
NAD’s Masters Series Electronics
Epos 303 Loudspeaker
L E T T E R S
And the wires do make a difference. But
I have to admit it took me years of exposure to articles before I was willing even
to try a listening test.
Another turn-off are the unfamiliar
and weird names: Valhalla, Moon,
Moscode, Tara, Air Tight, Kharma,
Magnum Dynalab, Dynavector, Koetsu,
Shunyata, Parsifal, Pathos. There’s nothing reassuring about such names. They
don’t even seem to relate to audio like
good old familiar trade names such as
Sony, Toshiba, Pioneer, Technics,
Yamaha, and, yes, Bose do. So again the
neophyte feels disoriented, lost, uncertain—not feelings which encourage further browsing.
And why do I emphasize magazinebrowsing? Simply because it is one of the
most likely gateways to finding and entering a genuine high-end store. Why else
would a person go through that exercise
when huge mass-market audio/video stores
are the easy portal to all things audio?
So should you prohibit ads for cables
and demand that all your advertisers
switch to “regular”-sounding names?
Obviously not. But maybe you could run
a page in every issue that explains highend philosophy and why the weirdness to
be encountered in your magazine might
just be less weird than it seems. Sure, you
lose a page of advertising, but maybe,
over the long run, you pick up some extra
readers—the ones who need a friendly
push to get them over the fence.
LASZLO BENCZE
Super Bowl in 100" HDTV is the
High End’s Savior?
In the March, 2006 issue, Mr. Harley called
$45,000 for a pair of speakers “a relatively
sane price.” In that same issue, the magazine hosted a roundtable discussion on
“Growing the High End Audio Market.”
As long as people in the industry believe as
Mr. Harley does, the “high end” will never
grow because, no matter how much money
one has, $45,000 is an insane amount to
spend on two speakers.
Most folks associate the word “high”
in “high end” with price. Those who buy,
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sell, and talk about high-end products
are assumed to be wealthy, elitist snobs.
When a publication suggests that
$45,000 is a “relatively sane price” for
speakers, you confirm every negative
stereotype about the high end and those
who want to grow it.
Electronics of every kind are getting
less expensive. Computers with unbelievable CPU-power sell for less than the
price of one “sane” pair of interconnects.
Or a single power cord. And you can do
a lot more with a computer than you can
with an esoteric power cord. You can
even listen to CDs on it.
The high end’s only chance to grow
is to link high-end audio with high-end
video. And the price of quality video
continues to drop. Folks would not
believe that they could get a DLP front
projector and 90 or 100 inches of Super
Bowl in HD for under $5000. Then
when they do, they won’t want crappy
sound to go with first-quality video.
Here you can begin to move them into
high-end audio because the same system,
with a few added pieces here and there,
can do both.
Tell someone not in this industry
that a “good” CD player costs $5000 and
watch his face. Tell someone who isn’t an
“audiophile” that $10,000 speaker
cables exist and watch the reaction. Tell
someone who isn’t deeply involved in
the business that to bring your system to
full fruition you must spend over $1000
on a power cord. But be prepared for
them to look at you as though you had
lost your mind.
There aren’t enough high-end dealers around, so the population believes
that what they hear at Best Buy is
high-end audio. Until someone hears
the difference, they don’t have any idea
how much better good equipment
sounds. I know I didn’t, and I groove
on this stuff.
“But do I need all that?” the customer will ask. “I just want to listen to
music and I can do that with my iPod.”
Therein lies the problem. The solution?
I don’t know. If I did, I’d open a highDAVID R. RABALAIS
end store!
WWW.THEABSOLUTESOUND.COM
A New Direction for the High End
I read the recent TAS Roundtable on
expanding the high end with particular
interest. The reason is that I came back
from CES with an analysis of the industry that—not surprisingly, given our
similar backgrounds—was virtually
identical to Atul Kanagat’s: We are far
too fragmented; barriers to entry are
ridiculously low; we are appealing to a
dangerously narrow and declining market; and we are at serious risk of a downward spiral driven by these factors.
While I applaud the article, I believe it
only covers the first half of the situation—the problem statement. And
while you and the roundtable members
have made some constructive suggestions as to how the industry might solve
its dilemma through expansion, those
proposals are virtually all predicated
upon mutual vendor cooperation and
financial investment. This, as you have
acknowledged—and as I can attest from
professional experience—is immensely
difficult and time-consuming to pull off.
In contrast to solutions based on
broad cooperative initiatives, my own
thoughts have turned to the question of
what individual suppliers can do. I start
with the premise, plainly visible at CES,
that many of our industry’s members are
their own worst enemies. They are
devoting significant chunks of limited
R&D budgets to incremental performance improvements that do not meaningfully expand either the market or the
state of the art. They have failed to sufficiently differentiate their product offerings, leading the consumer to a bewildering array of similar choices. They are
keeping prices high in order to maintain
margins—at the risk of even greater customer alienation. And they continue to
tweak old technology, which aural evidence indicates is asymptotically
approaching the best sound such technology is capable of delivering.
This situation is perilous not only for the
industry, as the Roundtable points out,
but for the suppliers themselves.
Ultimately, severe fragmentation means
no one has enough marketshare to
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achieve the economies of scale necessary
for long-term cost reduction. And while
high prices currently protect margins, a
surfeit of competitors inexorably leads to
lower prices. Meanwhile, companies
must invest in product and brand differentiation, driving costs higher still.
These forces are a prescription for dwindling profits and, ultimately, company
failures. In the interim, exorbitant prices
can only shrink our already-modestsized market, thus accelerating the negative trends.
I believe, though, that there are some
things suppliers can do to help themselves—and the industry—avoid this
fate. And the good news is that most of
these actions are unilateral in nature,
which makes them immediately do-able.
First, suppliers should divert some
R&D resources away from incremental
performance gains and toward bringing
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flagship performance down to lowerpriced models. One sure way to attract
more customers is to make this stuff
more affordable. Note that this recommendation is adamantly not a call to
deliver lowest-common-denominator
performance. Rather, it is intended to
make the high-end experience accessible
to more wallets.
A splendid example of this sort of
R&D is Jim Thiel’s new speaker drivers
for the forthcoming CS3.7. Thiel set out
to bring the high rigidity of the best and
costliest drivers to a far more affordable
price point. He achieved that goal—
actually exceeded it in terms of the end
result’s stiffness—by using geometric
techniques rather than the typical highend approach of employing exotic materials like Kevlar or diamonds. Thiel’s
example, which is contrary to the pervading thrust in the high end, demon-
strates how R&D can be applied toward
making high-end performance both
more affordable and more profitable.
My second recommendation pertains to
the remaining R&D dollars, which
should continue to strive to push the
state of the art. The pursuit of the
“absolute sound” is a noble one, and it
drives our industry. However, let us recognize that we have gone about as far as
we can go with traditional approaches.
The evidence is in the consistency of
sound at CES. With precious few exceptions, every system on display, virtually
all CD or LP-driven traditional stereos,
had the same strengths (tonal purity,
precise imaging, exemplary dynamic
and detail resolution) and the same
weaknesses (inability to replicate largescale dynamics or space, inability to convincingly transport the listener to the
recording soundspace, and a lack of the
L E T T E R S
harmonic openness and effortless
rhythms of live music).
So let’s direct our remaining R&D
against the still-major distinctions
between our audio systems and the real
thing. This means investing in new
approaches rather than old ones that
have had decades to solve these problems
and failed. Promising areas of exploration include: higher-resolution digital,
to capture the unbounded nature of real
music; DSP, which holds the potential
to sonically “remove” the listening room
and to correct for other intrinsic nonlinearities; and multichannel audio,
which, when done right, can convey a
scale and sense of immersion unattainable with stereo.
Finally, suppliers can head off outright financial failure by seeking out
strategic partnerships and, even better,
mergers. The alliance between Rotel,
B&W, and Classé under Equity
International is an excellent model.
Rather than each company attempting
to move beyond its core competency,
which, as the Roundtable noted, often
results in “common-denominator” products, these firms stuck to their strengths
but fortified each other through the synergies of a close relationship. A raft of
mergers and alliances would help bring
desperately needed balance between suppliers and customers, to the benefit of
both. And while such combinations can
be painful in the short term, the long
term alternatives are infinitely more so.
By making these changes, which are
completely within the control of the
high end’s individual member companies, the industry can maintain its
healthy profit margins, while making its
offerings more attractive and differentiated through reduced prices and innova-
tion. This is the opposite of the course in
which the industry is currently headed,
but it results in a spiral that heads
upwards rather than down. ALAN TAFFEL
The author is a TAS Senior Writer and
President of Taffel Communications, a
strategic marketing consultancy based in
Washington, D.C.
Turning off High-End Newcomers
I am an audiophile. I sometimes write
for an audio magazine and am a marketing/PR professional with 25 years
experience (not audio-related). Over the
years I have been amazed at the many
things the high-end community does to
turn off prospective and budding audio
fans. Frankly, I have given up trying to
introduce people to the high end.
Most high-end-store personnel are
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L E T T E R S
snobby and condescending beyond belief
when someone comes in looking for a
modestly priced system. Perhaps even
worse, some stores require appointments
and even monetary deposits (!) just to
listen to a system (and I mean listen—
God help you if you try to touch the
stuff). Then, there is always that question about what you are listening to now
and the immediate denigration of that
product. The impression is that newcomers are not wanted and often that
impression is correct at the retail level.
It would be helpful if each store carried and demonstrated a modest system
and did so without the store clerks badmouthing it. The fact is that a modest
system can bring a great deal of pleasure
and music to its owner, and that needs to
be acknowledged. Newcomers will not
spend mountains of money (yet) because
they haven’t become convinced that the
investment is worth it. And while I realize stores make most of their money
on new products, perhaps it could also
be explained that some used audio components are good values.
It would also be nice if magazines
offered to review such modest systems
(perhaps not a full review, but certainly
enough to give people an idea of what
they are getting). The review could be of
a system or of separate components. The
idea is that each issue would feature one
realistically priced audio system.
BERNARD KINGSLEY
See our new column focused on entry-level gear
that kicks off this issue with my review of the
$429 Cambridge Audio Azur 540A integrated amp, $429 540C CD player, and $599per-pair Era Design 4 loudspeakers. –RH
How It’s Supposed to Work
Robert Harley’s review of the MAGICO
horn speaker and Harry Peason’s article
are both right and mirror our experience in listening to recorded music.
Two decades ago I had a pair of
Klipschorn cornerhorn speakers, and
they left a memory of live music I have
never forgotten. Listening to Eric
Clapton play “Layla,” I could hear his
left hand moving on the neck of his guitar. The music was immediate. Even in a
25'x15' room 10 watts of power was
enough to play as loud as I wanted to.
Yet, turn the power down and nothing
in the music went away; it got less
dynamic but didn’t disappear.
When five years ago we chose to
bring music back into our home, we
looked and looked until we found a lucky
thing—a stereo shop which lets you listen to your music and make choices on
what you’ve heard. We heard the differences in CD players, and one was clearly
the best in our price range. Then, a year
later, our shop called us as it had demo
power supplies for our CD player, and we
upgraded. The difference was dramatic—
40% more of the music hidden in the CD
came through our system. Finally, we
upgraded our CD player to the same
brand two levels up; again everything
changed—voices, details, and immediacy,
the “thereness” of the music.
That last had also changed in part
because we had also been searching for
the sound of those Klipschorn speakers.
Three speakers and three integrated
amplifier changes later, a highly-efficient, large-but-much-smaller-thanKlipschorn, full-range speaker came into
our stereo store. “Old School,” but so is
“Have You Ever Loved a Woman?” We
listened, and they came home with us.
The noise floor has dropped and
dropped in the CD players that have
sourced our music, and the music that is
there on decades-old CDs keeps emerging and emerging. The highly-efficient
speaker lets all that music out, right
now. No creeping crescendo—it is now,
live. You are both right, the noise floor
has dropped dramatically and more
music is the result, and efficient speakers are immediate. To borrow from U2,
“We have found what we’ve been listenBERT PAUL
ing for.”
Quad: A Half-Century-Old
Masterpiece
In rereading Paul Seydor’s review of the
Quad 989 speaker (Issue 126), I noticed
a small error. Mr. Seydor wrote, regard-
ing the Quad ESL-63/988/989, that
”Peter Walker’s 20-year old design
remains for me the closest approach to
the original sound.”
The speaker’s name dates its design—
Quad (E)lecro(s)tatic (L)oudspeaker
19(63), the year Peter Walker started
developing what became known as the
ESL-63, to distinguish it from the original Quad speaker (circa 1957). When Mr.
Seydor wrote in the year 2000, the ESL-63
design was nearly 40 years old.
Correcting the time line reinforces
Mr. Seydor’s point—this is a speaker
that stands the test of time. Come 2013,
a mere seven years away, we can confidently predict that Peter Walker’s halfcentury old masterpiece will still stand
head and shoulders above any speaker in
KEITH BAKER
a box.
TAS Not Just Liars, But
Damned Liars
I just read your article reviewing the
Newton T300 [which appeared in Issue
133—Ed.], and there is no doubt in
mind about several things. First, the
T300 is nowhere near as bad a speaker as
you chumps make it out to be. Second,
the reason for why you slammed it is
either because they don’t pay your advertising or because your other affiliated
companies pressured you into giving it a
bad review.
Third, you people are assholes for
assuming that it is your prerogative to
exert influence over the business success
of another company when your motivations are impure and duplicitous. The
reason that I know for certain that your
motivations are impure and duplicitous
is that I have performed tests on one of
their other speakers which uses the identical midrange and tweeter, the MC500.
It is not without faults, but whereas
most other speakers that I have heard
and tested have many individual faults
that can be readily discovered and identified, the MC500 has but one fault of
any note, which is a sharp peak in output from the tweeter of about 5dB at
6.5kHz. But from 100Hz to 5kHz, it
has the most incredibly flat frequency
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L E T T E R S
response that I have ever seen, with it
being impossible to even see where the
crossovers occur, even when measured
vertically off-axis, where you would normally expect to see irregularities when
the difference in distance to the
midrange and tweeter voice coils causes
a phase difference in the outputs from
those two drivers where they cross-over.
The explanation for why there is precious little effect of that sort probably
has more to do with the close proximity
of those two drivers than it does with the
complexity of the crossover, but whatever the explanation, the fact is that other
than that single peak, it is an uncannily
accurate speaker. It is untenable that the
T500 would perform any less accurately.
You people are nothing more than a
bunch of damned liars. THOMAS BARBER
It is ironic that we are being attacked by this
man for not paying attention to frequency
response in one of the few TAS surveys where
we published frequency-response measurements.
I went back and looked at my measurement sidebar to NG’s and PS’s survey. The
T300 looked lumpy to me then. It still does.
Not absurdly so, but bass-heavy, rather midrecessed, and up and down in the lower treble.
NG and PS arrived at the same conclusions
by listening, and my own listening impressions coincided with theirs (and with the
measurements).
It also appears from Mr. Barber’s letter
that he has not actually heard or measured
—ROBERT E. GREENE
the T300.
Grievous Error
Love your magazine but want to point
out a grievous error in David McGee’s
“The Golden Age of Bluegrass.” He
refers to “the wild-eyed visionary country fiddler Charlie Poole.” As far as I
know, Poole never fiddled in his life. He
was a legendary banjo player.
JAMES MONTGOMERY
Not Quite The Absolute Sound?
As we are all aware, and indeed have
never been unaware, the sound of the
black analog record is far superior to any
of the currently available digital software. When a moderately priced
turntable and cartridge are equal to the
best in Compact Disc and the best analog front ends blow away anything that
CD/SACD/etc./etc./etc. can offer, then
it’s pretty clear to all, especially to a
magazine with the resources/availability
of equipment that TAS has at its disposal. May I therefore ask why so many of
your reviewers give us reviews of the CD
format when the same title is available
on record? This was most evident in the
recent issue of music Golden Ear
Awards. The reviewers gave their
reviews and then acknowledged “also
available on vinyl.” Don’t you think that
readers of your magazine would like to
know what the best sound is like?
Taking this thought further, why
bother reviewing CD players as frontend sources other than on a perfunctory
basis (they could be given a couple of
pages in the back along with the classifieds). Your major source reviews should
be turntables/arms/cartridges and analog
accessories. Either that or change the
name of the magazine to Not Quite The
Absolute Sound.
Just some random thoughts from a
MARTIN TAYLOR
vinyl/music fan.
Errata
I
n Issue 160’s review of the
ESS Connoisseur Series AMT
450 loudspeaker, we printed
the speaker’s price as $5495.
This price is incorrect, the result
of a miscommunication between
the German manufacturer and
the speaker’s U.S. importer, Elite
AudioVideo Distribution. The actual price is $8799.
And in last issue’s CES report,
we mistakenly called the Zanden
5000 Signature DAC the “Zanden
5000 MkIV Signature DAC.” The
MkIV is incorrect.
14
g
u
e
s
t
e
d
i
t
o
r
i
a
l
“It’s the Multichannel, Stupid”
Andrew Quint
R
ead a lot of audio magazines or spend
much time in high-end emporia, and
you’ll get the message that the current
high-resolution formats, SACD and
DVD-Audio, are fading fast. The tone
with which this news is delivered
ranges from smug satisfaction from
habitual naysayers to melancholy from
those who appreciated the readily
apparent advantages over Red Book 16-bit/44.1kHz digital. And it’s true. Six years into the high-res era, DVD-A
is basically dead, having morphed into the DualDisc. Even
the more successful Super Audio format hasn’t gained
much traction with the general music-buying public. The
number of releases in pop/rock genres has slowed to a
trickle, and the visibility of these discs at large retail outlets has diminished.
The one anomaly is classical music. As of this writing,
Arkivmusik.com, the most comprehensive online source
for classical recordings, has close to 900 SACDs (and
around 170 DVD-As) available. These discs arrive continuously at my doorstep from dozens of labels, big and small.
I make an effort to listen to everything, and I’m failing
miserably, with over 100 SACDs still in their shrink-wrap.
Why is this? Well, I don’t think it’s the wider and more
nuanced dynamics, the truer instrumental and vocal timbres, and the greater detail that high-resolution brings to
the table. No, to paraphrase political advisors to then-candidate Bill Clinton as they attempted to keep him “on
message” for the 1992 presidential campaign: “It’s the multichannel, stupid.”
A classical music enthusiast with a multichannel system
set up in a small room, sitting just six to eight feet from the
front speakers and even closer to the rear surrounds and listening at modest playback levels, can be consistently
immersed in a startlingly realistic concert hall acoustic. And
not just any generic hall. Well-made surround recordings
will easily distinguish the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam
from the Musikverein in Vienna, Cincinnati’s Music Hall
from San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall. Add to this a
more dimensional representation of the players on stage plus
16
a sense of sound in the air between listener and performers,
and it’s no wonder that multichannel has found a solid niche
with music lovers looking to lose themselves in a concertlike experience.
I emphasize again that this is due less to the better
audio quality of SACD and DVD-A than to the surround
aspect. I have a “blended” system: my setup shares the
same universal disc player, main front speakers, and subwoofer but employs different electronics for stereo and
multichannel. For two-channel, my equipment is an
Audio Research Ref 1 preamp and Pass Aleph 0
monoblocks; for surround, I use a Classé SSP-30 processor
with a Pass X5 multichannel amplifier. If the source is a
multichannel SACD, I’ll go for the surround option
almost every time: multichannel playback trumps the
undeniably superior tonality, microdynamics, and continuousness of my “reference” gear.
So why has multichannel failed to catch hold with those
devoted to other musical styles? I really don’t know. Sample
a few of the non-classical discs on TAS’ Best in New Format
Software list (Roxy Music’s Avalon or Beck’s Sea Change, for
examples) to hear how musically clarifying and fulfilling a
well-made surround pop recording can be. Part of the problem could be that many listeners’ only experience with multichannel music is with concert DVDs, which have audio
quality (DTS or Dolby Digital) far inferior to regular CD
sound, not to mention SACD or DVD-A. Perhaps the coming new video formats, HD DVD and Blu-ray, which will
potentially sport sound that is truly high-res, will open the
ears of non-classical listeners, as their eyes open wide to the
vastly better picture before them.
In the meantime, audiophiles should strongly consider configuring their systems to accommodate multichannel. Even if SACD and DVD-A do disappear, I find it
hard to believe that coming universal machines won’t
still allow us to play these discs. The point is that whatever the new leading-edge audio carrier ends up being—
HD DVD, Blu-ray, or something else—it will hold a
multichannel program. Twenty years from now, SACD
and DVD-A won’t be viewed as “dead ends.” They’ll be
remembered as harbingers of a multichannel future. &
new products on the horizon
barry willis
FULLstage HD Speaker System
Small is beautiful. Even the most fanatic audiophiles know
that there are many situations where loudspeakers are best
heard and not seen. For this “invisible” market, San Francisco’s
Soundmatters International has launched the FULLstage HD
loudspeaker system. Claimed to be ideal for dorm rooms, bedrooms, or any place with space constraints, the system is said to
deliver high-fidelity sound with a minimum of boxes and cables—
actually only two, the MAINstage HD multi-speaker digital console
and the patent-pending SUBstage100 Flatmagic active subwoofer. The sub’s 100-watt
Class D amplifier drives an effective 14” piston, said to reach as low as 35Hz despite its 4” profile and
diminutive volume. Sub modules can be added to increase output capacity by 6dB for each unit added. MAINstage HD
consoles have integrated digital amps capable of 80 watts RMS, and exhibit great dispersion and clarity, according to the
company. Placement is easy, thanks to a low 2.6” height and a weight of under five pounds.
Price: $649 soundmatters.com
HiFi-Tuning Silver/
Gold Audiophile Fuses
The need for protection has taken the spontaneous joy out of many an intimate encounter
with. . .music. This shouldn’t be so, according
to Germany’s HiFi Tuning, which makes a line
of audiophile fuses claimed to overcome the
performance limitations of generic fuses.
Hand-made in Germany, the fuses feature
pure silver wiring,
gold-over-silver
end caps, and
ceramic casings rather than glass, for better
resonance characteristics. The fuses are
available in both fast-blow and slow-blow versions at industry standard ratings from
100mA to 20A, in .75” (5x20mm) and 1.25”
(6.3 x 32mm) sizes.
Price: $25 or $30
ultrasystem.com
Balanced Audio
Technology VK-42SE
preamplifier
The VK-42SE is Balanced
Audio Technology’s new flagship solid-state preamplifier,
incorporating much of the
groundbreaking technology in
BAT’s acclaimed VK-51SE tube preamplifier. There’s plenty new, too, including a “Super-Pak” power supply withproprietary oil capacitors claimed to
improve “transparency and top-to-bottom coherence.” The all-MOSFET circuit
design uses a novel “C-multiplier-based” power supply and Vishay resistors in
critical signal-path locations. Six-Pak capacitor modules in the output stage
are said to give the VK-42SE improved low-end authority over BAT’s wellregarded VK-40 preamplifier. The VK-42SE has a programmable, customizable user interface, and is available in either silver/black or all black.
Price: $5995 (remote or phono option, $500 extra)
balanced.com
Furutech e-TP609 AC Power Distributor
Seemingly minor gremlins in electrical power delivery have a way of propagating themselves in high-performance home-entertainment systems. Many surge protectors, line conditioners, and other such products rely on electronic components—capacitors, coils, diodes, metal-oxide varistors, etc.—to tame these gremlins, but sometimes the cure causes problems of its own.
Furutech takes a unique approach to electrical contamination. The e-TP609 power distributor has a special
grade aluminum chassis to shield against radio frequency radiation (RFI) and an internal chemical coating of
“Formula GC-303” to block electromagnetic radiation (EMI). Its “hyper quality” duplex receptacles are
individually star-wired to the IEC input socket. The receptacles themselves have rhodium-plated nonmagnetic-phosphor bronze conductors providing what Furutech calls “optimized power transfer.” Other
unique features include internal use of resonance control material from 3M, and a patent-pending axial
locking system that prevents oscillation in the receptacles. All metals used in the e-TP609 are
demagnetized by a proprietary process and cryogenically treated to eliminate mechanical stresses.
Price: $980 furutech.com
18
Krell Evolution Series
In late February, Krell Industries began shipping the Evolution 202 preamplifier, Evolution 505 SACD/CD player, and
Evolution 402 and 600 amplifiers. The new amp and preamp are natural developments from their 2005 predecessors, the
Evolution One amplifier and Evolution Two preamplifier. The 600 is a monoblock amp with internal 5000VA power supply, capable of 600 watts of power. The 402 is a 400W stereo amp with 5000VA power supply. Both feature extensive electrical and magnetic shielding, “Active Cascode Topology” (said to eliminate global negative feedback), and Krell’s proprietary CAST (current audio signal transmission) circuitry that keeps signals in the current domain from input to output,
minimizing distortion caused by unnecessary current-to-voltage conversion.
The Evolution 202 stereo preamplifier has a separate chassis for its power supply to keep radiated interference out of
critical circuits. Using an open-loop design with zero negative feedback, the 202 is claimed to have an astounding1.5MHz
bandwidth. Convenience features such an RS232 port and IR and 12V controls make the 202 easy to fit into sophisticated
home-entertainment systems.
The Evolution 505 is Krell’s new SACD/CD player whose chassis-in-a-chassis design is said to yield ultra-stable discdrive operation, while damping induced vibration from the electronics. Circuit refinements include 24-bit/192kHz DACs
on all channels, “current mode” architecture for extended bandwidth, Krell-designed DAC reconstruction filters, and fullybalanced CAST signal paths. The Evolution 505 supports CD, SACD, CD-R/RW, MP3, and WMA formats. An RS232
port provides an interface for elaborate systems. Evolution components are available in silver or black.
Prices: Evolution 402, $15,000; Evolution 600, $30,000/pair;
Evolution 202, $15,000; Evolution 505, $10,000
krellonline.com
Olive Opus
The CD changer is rapidly becoming as antiquated as the quill pen. For those who really like to mix it up, Olive Media
Products Inc. has introduced the Opus, a combination high-end CD player and music server. With an internal 400GB
hard drive, the Opus is said to be capable of storing 1100 CDs in “lossless” quality—or 13,200 songs, assuming an average of 12 songs per CD. The Opus retains all the functionality of other Olive music servers, including wireless connectivity, multi-room audio streaming, playlist assembly, and CD burning, but is built to audiophile standards. Refinements
include an engineered-from-the-ground-up circuit board with four Burr-Brown 24-bit/192kHz DACs with 8X oversampling. A separate temperature-compensated crystal oscillator provides the DACs with what Olive describes as “an ideal
clock reference [that] virtually eliminates jitter.” A “linear power supply” is claimed “to minimize noise level and prevent
corruption of the analog signal.”
Price: $2995
olive.us
21
s t a r t
m e
u p
Cambridge Audio Azur 540A v2 Integrated Amplifier,
Azur 540C CD v2 Player & Era Design 4 Loudspeakers
Robert Harley
In this new column dedicated to discovering value-oriented
high-end gear, we look at a complete system for under $1750
y search for a great
sounding, affordably
priced high-end system brought me to
two very different
companies, Cambridge Audio and Era
Design. The former is a 30-year-old
British firm that has recently transformed itself into a first-rate electronics designer and manufacturer. The latter is an American start-up loudspeaker company looking to make a statement with a $600-per-pair mini-monitor engineered by Aerial Acoustics’
Michael Kelly.
Cambridge Audio’s Azur 540A v2
integrated amplifier caught my eye at
the recent Consumer Electronics Show.
The $439 540A delivers 60Wpc into 8
ohms and features a remote control,
nice metalwork, and what appeared to
be high-end build-quality. The matching 540C v2 CD player is based on a
custom-made transport mechanism
and employs the same high-quality
Wolfson digital-to-analog converter
M
22
chips found in some $3000 machines
(see sidebar for the technical details).
Era Design was founded by Signal
Path, the North American distributor
for Musical Fidelity electronics.
Searching for a small speaker that would
blend into any décor yet deliver true
high-end sound, Signal Path engaged
the design services of Aerial’s Kelly for
driver design. If you’ve ever met
Michael, it becomes apparent within
thirty seconds that this man lives and
breathes loudspeaker design. After
experimenting with many off-the-shelf
woofers for the Era Design 4, Kelly proposed to Signal Path that he design a
driver from scratch just for the model
4—which is exactly what he did. The
ported model 4 is finished in real hardwood veneer and sports a 1" silk-dome
tweeter. Brackets allow the 4 to be wallmounted if you choose not to mount
them on stands or on a bookshelf.
It was apparent that few corners
were cut in the 4: The binding posts are
very high quality; a layer of foam rubber
inside the grille reduces diffraction
(which reportedly obviates the need to
remove the grilles for best sound); and
the company logo is diamond-etched
metal rather than stamped plastic. The
tiny cabinet made of .5"-thick MDF
even has an internal brace. Real hardwood finishes include rosewood,
sycamore, and cherry. Piano black is
available for an additional $60.
I mounted the Era Design 4s on
stands and wired the system up with
Kimber 4TC speaker cable ($146 for a
six-foot pair) and Kimber Hero interconnects ($125 per pair). (Also consider
Kimber 4VS cable at $92 and Kimber
Timbre interconnects at $84.) The total
system price with cables is $1748
($1653 with the less-expensive cables).
Right out of the box, I was
impressed by the system, both musically and sonically. One would expect
a rather bass-shy presentation from
such a small enclosure with a 4"
woofer, but the system had astonishing weight and bottom-end extension.
Inside the 540A v2 and 540C v2
ooking inside the chassis, I saw
at once that the 540A and 540C
were designed for musical performance; both units abound in
high-end parts and design techniques.
The 540A features a large toroidal transformer, generous heatsinking, metal-film
resistors throughout, gold-plated jacks,
and quality binding posts. Parts quality is
generally high, exemplified by the sizeable power transformer (a place where
lesser designs often scrimp) and motorized Alps volume control.
A sophisticated circuit called CAT5
provides protection for both speakers and
the amplifier. CAT5 looks for the presence
of DC as well as the following conditions:
over-temperature; over-voltage/under-current; a short-circuit; and clipping. In each
L
24
case, the 540A takes action to prevent
amplifier or speaker damage. The “intelligent clipping” feature nudges the motorized volume control down if persistent
clipping is detected. You’ll know if the
amplifier is clipping by the front-panel LED
that flashes on peaks when the amplifier
is pushed hard.
The A540 has independent A and B
speaker switches, a headphone jack, ABUS multi-room connectivity, and bass,
treble, and balance controls.
Surprisingly, the 540C CD player’s
transport mechanism and control circuitry were designed and built from scratch
by Cambridge (with a Toshiba laser and
optical pickup). It features a hefty metal
base beneath the disc and a wide bridge
that securely clamps the disc from the
top. The mechanism is damped with a
layer of vibration-absorbing material. This
drive looks significantly beefier than the
ubiquitous Sony or Philips drives, and
would be at home in a $2000 CD player.
The 540C’s power supply features a
large toroidal transformer and multiple
local power-supply regulators on the analog-audio board. The audio signal path,
based on a pair of op-amps, appears
quite minimalist in design. A custom
clock, encased in its own module, provides what is reported to be a low-jitter
reference for the high-quality Wolfson 24bit/96kHz PCM DACs. These are not the
design elements one expects in a $439
CD player, and stand in sharp contrast to
the way mass-market audio products are
designed and built.
The Cambridge products are available in silver or black, and the metalwork is very nicely done. The slim
remote control was a joy to use. A ring
in the center provides the most common functions of track forward/backward, and volume up/down. Inside the
ring is the play button. These fell naturally beneath the thumb, adding to the
remote’s appeal.
Other products in the Azur line
include the 340A integrated amp,
340C CD player, and 340T tuner, each
of which sells for $329. Above the 540
series are the 640 products (amp and
CD player) with an MSRP of $599
each. The top of the line is the new
Azur 840A amp and 840C CD player at
$1495 each.
RH
The Era Design 4 didn’t have the
depth and power of (much) larger
speakers, but I nonetheless found the
bass extremely engaging and musically communicative. The reason the bass
sounded so rewarding was the system’s
absolutely mind-blowing midbass
articulation, dynamics, and resolution.
The fundamentals might not have
been there, but the convincing and
musically right reproduction of the
overtones rendered that point moot. I
spent quite a bit of time with the JVC
XRCD release Audiophile by pianist
Victor Feldman, a compilation of two
stunningly recorded direct-to-disc LPs
released in the early 1980s on the
Nautilus label. Bassist Abraham
Laboriel’s funky, dynamic, and highly
melodic playing on this record was
beautifully
served
by
the
Cambridge/Era Design system. I could
clearly hear every note, inflection, and
playful run. Similarly, the drum kit’s
low-tuned mounted toms had real
weight and punch rather than being
reduced to sounding like pencils on
oatmeal cartons. The Era Design 4 has
to be the winner in the “best bass from
the smallest cabinet” contest.
25
Cambridge Audio: Then and Now
xploring the Cambridge products’ build-quality, and listening to
them in my room, made it apparent that this was a very different Cambridge Audio from the company I visited in 1990. On
that factory visit, I noted that the outfit seemed to have just four
employees whose main job was putting Cambridge Audio logos on fully
finished products outsourced from another firm.
And indeed it is a different company today. Cambridge Audio was
bought by Audio Partnership, a U.K. firm that owns a chain of retail-audio
stores called Richer Sound. Cambridge Audio now has 65 employees,
fourteen of them engineers. When Tag-McLaren ended its short-lived venture into audio design and manufacturing, Cambridge acquired the suddenly available engineering talent. The products are designed in the U.K.
and built in China under the supervision of Cambridge engineers and
technicians who live near the factories. Audio Partnership also owns
loudspeaker manufacturer Mordant-Short, Ariston, Opus, and Incognito
control systems.
Cambridge Audio has created a good model for the consumer: a
quality-conscious, high-end brand with in-house designs applied to largescale, supervised, overseas manufacturing. This model brings high-performance engineering to off-shore economy-of-scale manufacturing. RH
E
26
This impressive articulation extended well up
into the midrange. I heard a sense of transparency,
resolution of fine detail, and timbral purity I associate with electronics and speakers costing far more.
One characteristic of high-quality audio products
that mass-market systems don’t deliver is clarity and
the ability to hear instruments as separate entities in
space rather than as a flat and congealed wall of
sound. The soundstage this system threw was open
and expansive, with good dimensionality. The
Cambridge/Era Design system got this fundamental
prerequisite of musicality right.
There was only one sonic shortcoming, but it was
apparent only occasionally: The upper treble sounded a bit ragged when there was strong high-frequency content at high levels, such as a cymbal crash. This
could be the consequences of driving the low-sensitivity 4s (84dB) with just 60 watts. I must stress that
this characteristic was not a constant, but a periodic
event triggered by just the right combination of signal frequency and level.
To discover what the Cambridge electronics
could do with a full-range, challenging speaker, I
connected them to the Wilson MAXX
2. Although this is a gross mismatch,
I’m glad I tried this, because the highresolution MAXX 2 revealed much
about the 540A and 540C. For starters,
the 540A had absolutely no problem
driving the MAXX 2s to a moderate-tohigh playback level. This amplifier had
plenty of oomph and dynamic headroom. I was surprised by how dynamic
and clean the 540A was at high listening levels. The 540A even reached
down into the lowermost octaves with
authority. The 540A’s large power transformer and generous heatsinks no doubt
allowed the amplifier to sound more
powerful than its 60Wpc rating (it can
deliver 90Wpc into 4 ohms). It got into
trouble just once when I was admittedly pushing its limits; the 540A shut off
and the front-panel LED blinked in a
ERA Design 4 loudspeakers
27
pattern of three pulses, which the
owner’s manual says is indicative of an
under-voltage/over-current condition.
The CAT5 protection circuitry (see
sidebar) worked perfectly.
Musically, the 540A and 540C
had a remarkable tube-like quality.
Mass-market products at this price
usually sound a bit bright and hard in
the treble and thin through the mids,
with little soundstage definition. The
Cambridge’s high-end design and
parts-quality were easily audible; the
presentation was smooth and even a
little soft in the upper-midrange and
treble, a quality that fostered a sense
of ease and musical involvement. The
mids were surprisingly liquid and free
of grain. Completing the tube-like
presentation was a bottom end that
was full and warm rather than lean
and tight. It added up to an engaging
musicality that belied price.
optimism that sound this good can be
&
had for so little money.
S P E C I F I C AT I O N S
Cambridge Azur 540A integrated amplifier
Power output: 60Wpc into 8 ohms; 90W
into 4 ohms
Inputs: Five line-level
Outputs: Two record-out, one preamp-out
Connectivity: A-BUS and Incognito multiroom ready
Dimensions: 16.9" x 3.9" x 12.2"
Weight: 16.3 lbs.
Cambridge Azur 540C CD Player
Transport mechanism: Custom
Digital-to-analog conversion: Wolfson
WM8740 24-bit/96kHz DACs
Outputs: Unbalanced analog on RCA
jacks, SPDIF on coaxial RCA jack, and
TosLink optical
Connectivity: Control bus input and output
Dimensions: 16.9" x 2.75" x 12.2"
Weight: 10.1 lbs.
Conclusion
The Era Design 4 delivers astonishing
performance when operated within its
limits. At moderate levels, you’d think
you were listening to a more expensive
speaker. It won’t fill a large room with
deep bass, but it will convey the essence
of music in a way that no $599, 4" twoway has any right to. The Era Design 4
really is an amazing achievement.
I was similarly impressed by the
Cambridge 540A and 540C. These
products are designed and built with
sound quality as a goal, and the effort
shows in the listening room. Forget your
prejudices about how entry-level electronics sound; the Azur 540 Series delivers the essence of what high-quality
music reproduction is all about.
When assembled as a $1748 system including Kimber cables and
interconnects, this package produced a
musically engaging, enjoyable, and
satisfying presentation. I suspect that
its sound quality is better than anything 98% of the population has ever
heard. That is cause for both consternation and optimism; consternation that
many consumers will spend the same
or more on mass-market dreck, and
28
Era Design 4 loudspeaker
Type: Two-way bookshelf loudspeaker
Loading: Rear-ported
Driver complement: One 4" mid/woofer,
one 1" silk-dome tweeter
Frequency response: 60Hz–20kHz ±3dB
Sensitivity: 84dB
Impedance: 6 ohms
Dimensions: 5.8" x 9.6" x 6.8"
Weight: 10.6 lbs.
M A N U FA C T U R E R I N F O R M AT I O N
ERA SOUND
1824 130th Avenue, Suite 1
Bellevue, Washington 98005
(770) 649-9544
erasound.com
Price: $599 per pair ($659 in piano-black
finish)
D I S T R I B U TO R I N F O R M AT I O N
AUDIO PLUS SERVICES
156 Lawrence Paquette Industrial Drive
Champlain, New York 12919
(800) 663-9352
audioplusservices.com
Price: $439 each
m a i n s t r e a m
m u l t i c h a n n e l
Outlaw Audio Model 990 Controller and
Model 7125 Multichannel Amplifier
Neil Gader
Can a set of inexpensive, multichannel separates satisfy all cravings?
kay, let’s say you’ve finally
got a place of your own.
Those iPod earbuds are
great on long jogs but
murder when you just
want to kick back with the Arctic
Monkeys and a glass of pinot. You were
seduced by the siren song of the high end
a long time ago but a stereo-centric rig—
like the one your father pampers—won’t
work for you because your tastes encompass music, multichannel, and movies.
The question is: Can a set of inexpensive,
multichannel separates satisfy all cravings? Or is this goal too ambitious?
A little Web-based outfit called
Outlaw Audio has been listening. With a
sterling reputation for terrific blue-plate
A/V, Outlaw second foray into the “separates” market with the same intentions it
brought to the audio-video-receiver
world—to provide rock-solid performance
at real world prices. Which brings us to the
Model 990 controller ($1090) and Model
7125 ($990) multichannel amplifier.
O
The 990 is a fully featured 7.1-channel
controller that includes primary stereo preamplifier functions (including a phonostage),
an assortment of Dolby Digital and DTS surround-sound decoding formats, and 24bit/192kHz DACs for all channels. There are
speaker and bass-management functions
(including dual subwoofer outputs),
advanced audio and DVI-video switching,
and second-room audio connectivity. In
essence, everything an enthusiast needs for
up to seven channels of music and the occasional romp in the home theater with King
Kong. And all at the touch of a lighted remote
control—actually two remotes, since a
smaller second-zone wand is included.
As controllers go, the Model 990’s
big-box profile won’t turn any heads—
the look is more Acme than Armani.
But to be fair, it’s oversized for a reason.
A considerable amount of rear-panel
space is dedicated to eight channels of
balanced audio outputs—nice for long,
noise-free runs or driving active loudspeakers. Connectivity is extensive and
will come as a shock to the less-is-more
philosophy that audiophiles subscribe
to. There are DC triggers for poweringon a projector or lowering a screen, IR
inputs for Zone 2 control, and RS232 for
software updates or to connect aftermarket touchscreen remote controls.
The well-appointed bass management features a quartet of selectable
crossovers that operates independently
for the front L/Rs, the center-channel,
and the side and back surrounds. A prosaic auto-set-up program (with microphone) is included. When activated it
will determine speaker configuration
and set delay and balance levels at the
microphone/listening position. Though
it is best run in concert with the 990’s
on-screen display, I got a more accurate
result by grabbing my SPL meter and
setting these parameters myself.
The 7125 is a 125Wpc seven-channel amplifier. The only inputs are unbalanced RCAs, so potential Model 990
owners who want balanced inputs should
look to Outlaw’s Model 7700, a 200Wpc
seven-channel amp.1 Throughout the
period I spent with this amp it never met
a speaker that it couldn’t drive cleanly to
its tonal and dynamic redlines. Even the
Sonus Faber Concerto Domus or the
Revel Performa F52, speakers that
demand quality amplification, were at or
near their best with the Model 7125.
Throughout my evaluations I ran the
Model 990 in audiophile-friendly Bypass
mode, whereby DSP, video circuitry, and
tone controls are circumvented. By a long
shot, this mode was more transparent and
1Price: $1999 or $1499 in a five-channel version.
31
dynamic than the default Stereo setting.2
For SACD multichannel playback (or
DVD-Audio) the rear panel houses a set
of multichannel analog inputs.
loosely strung dulcimer. And Joni’s liquid soprano just doesn’t take wing
effortlessly. Pianist Evgeny Kissen’s
recording of Glinka’s “The Lark,” from
In essence, everything an enthusiast needs for up
to seven channels of music and the occasional
romp in the home theater with King Kong
The 990 and 7125 share a sonic
character that emphasizes midrange balance and a sense of musicality that eases
the soul—rather than makes you feel
you’ve had one too many double espressos. Where some components “flavor”
the sound to appeal to the sensational,
the Outlaw’s personality is benignly
subtractive, with an inclination toward
the darker and warmer range of the sonic
spectrum. Treble frequencies are refined
and grain-free, although not extravagantly extended. The sibilance range is
appropriately assertive, although the
leading and trailing edges of hard consonants are not as tidy as they might be.
The last thing these components project
is any sense of etchiness or leanness. This
balance does especially well with male
voices, imparting full chest resonance
and additional gravity to vocals.
The bass is rich and punchy—traits
shown to good advantage on the soundtrack to Good Night, and Good Luck
[Concord Jazz]. It took only a couple of
bars of the acoustic bass intro to “One
For My Baby” to hear and feel the weight
and bloom. While I’ve heard this riff
reproduced with better control, the
Outlaw’s extension rivaled every amplifier I had on hand at the time.
Depending on your listening bias
and loudspeakers, you’ll either fall in
love with the darker shadings of the
Outlaw tandem or you’ll feel a tinge of
light-deprivation. On a recording like
Joni Mitchell’s luminous Hits [Reprise],
the song “Chelsea Morning” shows a
diminution of transient energy and
bloom from the guitar, with a glint of
sparkle missing from the snap of her
Pictures At An Exhibition [RCA], suggests a golden hue—a mellowness verging on the ethereal. Upper octave keyboard flourishes could be more stirring.
Regretfully, soundstaging and
imaging are unexceptional. The stage
placement of the actor/musicians in the
latest Broadway version of Sweeney Todd
[Nonesuch] seems constricted, almost
pinched between the speakers. On the
SACD multichannel recording of the
Shostakovich Symphony No. 7
[Dmitriev/St. Petersburg, Water Lily],
the impression of string layering from
front to back is reduced. The spread of
images across the stage seems constrained in width, as well—giving the
impression that the ceiling over the
orchestra has descended a few feet.
In multichannel mode these reservations became less significant. This is all
part of the magic and the mischief of
current multichannel technology. When
recordings gain the support of surround
channels, the factors that define great
stereo imaging are less audible. The
added ambience retrieval generates a
fresh soundspace mix and one reality
(stereo) gets exchanged for another
(multichannel). For example, in stereo
the Warren Bernhardt jazz trio’s version
of “I Mean You,” from So Real [DMP],
seemed more subdued when it came to
rim shots and snappy bass lines. The
attack of these transients was dulled. Yet
the envelopment and energy that the
multichannel mix created reduced the
emotional distance that I’d experienced
with the stereo presentation. It led me to
focus on new and different elements of
the performance. This was the format
2There’s also an Upsample mode whereby 24-bit/192kHz DACs upsample stereo PCM from either a CD or stereo DVD
for improved resolution.
32
where the Outlaw combination put it all
together. The shortcomings that were
revealed in a purist two-channel configuration were much less provocative
within the more immersive multichannel experience.
Was our original goal too ambitious? On the one hand the multichannel performance of the Model 990/7125
places it comfortably in the neighborhood of some sophisticated high-performance AVRs but with the flexibility
of separates. On an absolute scale, however, a dedicated two-channel integrated
amplifier (offerings from Musical
Fidelity and Plinius come to mind) will
have the edge, with superior resolution
and transparency. Can you have it all?
Maybe not yet—but thanks to Outlaw
&
Audio the gap is closing fast.
Model 990 controller
Decoding formats: Dolby Digital EX, Pro
Logic IIx, DTS-ES, and Neo:6
Audio Inputs: Nine analog audio, two coax
and five optical digital audio, one USB
Video Inputs: Two DVI, three componentvideo, six S-video, and six composite
Audio Outputs: Three balanced and unbalanced analog, one 7.1 preamp-out, one
coax and one optical digital
Video Outputs: One DVI, one component,
four S-video, and five composite
Dimensions: 17.38" x 7.75" x 17.75"
Weight: 28 lbs.
Model 7125 amplifier
Number of channels: Seven
Power output: 125Wpc into 8 ohms,
20–20kHz all channels driven
Frequency response: 20–20kHz ±0.1dB
at rated output
Dimensions: 17.2" x 5" x 16.2"
Weight: 51 lbs.
OUTLAW AUDIO
P.O. Box 975
Easton, Massachusetts 02334
outlawaudio.com
(866) 688-5297
Prices: Model 990, $1099; Model 7125,
$999
a b s o l u t e
a n a l o g
Lector Phono-Amp System Mk II
Jacob Heilbrunn
A two-box, tube-driven, Italian phono preamp
ome audiophiles are perpetually on the quest for
the “ultimate” piece of
equipment. You know the
type—megabuck preamplifier in today, out a week later. The latest and greatest cable that finally, finally
promises to deliver sound just like you
hear it in the concert hall is extolled by
your chum as offering unearthly performance one day and banished the next.
S
engaging in the reverse snobbery of condemning someone for burning through
equipment. For those with oodles of the
green stuff, it may even be a rite of passage or, for others, simply part and parcel of the addictive pursuit of chasing
the best and the brightest in the audio
firmament. More power to them.
Still, the longer I listen, the more
convinced I’ve become that it can be a
bit delusional to think that there is some
The longer I listen, the more convinced I’ve
become that it can be a bit delusional to think
that there is some Holy Grail that’s going to
deliver, in one fell swoop, audio Nirvana
And so on. The truth is that these equipment-churners move so quickly that
they leave a wake behind that would be
the envy of an Olympic swimmer.
There is, one hastens to add, nothing
felonious about such behavior, despite
whatever tut-tutting you may hear from
more sanctimonious audiophiles, who
want to lord it over everyone else by
34
Holy Grail that’s going to deliver, in one
fell swoop, audio Nirvana. It would be
nice if this were the case. But it’s often
rather tricky to say, with complete certainty, that one top-notch piece of
equipment is, in absolute terms, better
than another, isn’t it? Did that last preamplifier you heard really smoke
yours—or is it just presenting a differ-
ent sonic picture? Sure, every so often an
epochal piece comes along that redefines
the state of the art. But more often than
not, good equipment tends to emphasize
(and illuminate) different aspects of
musical truth.
These thoughts are prompted by the
Lector phonostage. The Lector, which is
imported from Italy, is a deluxe component that comes with cherry boards on
the sides of the main unit and the separate power supply (you can also order it
with cherry boards only on the main
unit or with none at all). In spite of the
bling, it is not an all-out assault on
musical reproduction. It does not have
crushing dynamics, Stygian bass, or
killer resolution. Rather, it excels at
delivering a suave and silky sound that
is well nigh irresistible.
Some of these qualities can likely be
traced to the Lector’s lack of a step-up
transformer that, in many tube phonostages, supplies the necessary gain to
amplify the tiny signal coming from the
cartridge. It’s a bit of a mystery to me
how Lector pulled this off because it’s
very hard to get away from a step-up
transformer—if you rely solely on tubes
for gain you run the risk of excessive
noise. Admirers of the Aesthetix Io,
which uses a boatload of tubes, swear by
its lack of a transformer (though critics
complain about excessive tube rush).
After hearing the Lector, it’s not hard to
see why Aesthetix fans rave. It sounds
grainless and non-fatiguing.
At first this wasn’t the case. Initially,
I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to use the
Lector because it was humming so badly.
But after trouble-shooting with the
importer, the urbane Victor Goldstein, I
reset the tubes and, after that, experienced no problems—though I should
and observes that it takes about 24 hours
before it really warms up properly. Its
solid-state power supply undoubtedly
helps to provide a blacker background
from which notes can emerge. You can
also roll the tubes (three E81CC and two
6922 tubes), almost always a good idea if
you’re up for it, to further improve the
sound, though I did not. Consistent with
its purist approach, the Lector also comes
with loading plugs, rather than a dial in
front, to set the impedance. In fact, apart
from on-off switches, the Lector has no
controls on its front panels, which means
that you need to make sure that your
amplifier is off when powering the
unit up or down, or it can shut down
your amp if it has a protection cirAs far as I’m concerned,
cuit—or worse.
None of this would matter
one of the great pleasures
much if the Lector were a musical
of having an audio system snooze that offered adequate performance. In this case, however, the
is being able to play LPs
purist approach has really paid-off.
It is precisely the nuances that the
note that it’s more of a hassle to open the
phonostage captures that help make it so
unit than it should be because the top
appealing. One of the first things that
plate is rather tenaciously and awkwardly
became apparent was its translucent treclamped around the body of the chassis.
ble; I’ve seldom heard jazz vibraphone,
In any event, it proved to be pleasingly
whether it was Milt Jackson or Lionel
immune to RFI and other nasties; the
Hampton wielding the mallets, emerge
owners’ manual (which is something of a
with such clarity and precision from the
hoot to read as it rather literally translates
Magnepan ribbon tweeter. With the
Italian into English) suggests keeping it
wrong front-end equipment, the ribbon
at some distance from power amplifiers
can be prone to a bit of tizziness. Not
36
here. Sure, the VPI HR-X wasn’t exactly hurting the sound and Harry
Weisfeld’s new and much heavier 30pound platter for the table, which is a
marked improvement over the original
acrylic one, brought the music to an
even higher emotional pitch. But the
Lector proved fully capable of revealing
these changes, whereas a lesser phonostage would have glossed over them.
Another thrilling moment came in
listening to Classic Records 45rpm reissue
of Heiftez playing the Beethoven Violin
Concerto. Early on in the first movement
there is a haunting pianissimo passage in
which the trumpets play a measure of
quarter notes, followed by a whole tone
that foreshadows the strings playing the
same theme fortissimo; the Lector almost
perfectly replicated the space between the
trumpets’ articulation of each softly
sounded quarter note. This wasn’t about
pulling out details for their own sake, but
rendering them as part of a greater whole.
It was the kind of sound that leaves you
slack-jawed even as it pulls you into the
music and makes the emotional connection we all seek when listening to a good
system. Those are the moments that make
it all worthwhile, that any music lover
will cherish, and that the Lector delivers
in spades.
Could the Lector’s restraint and gracefulness prove to be too much of a good
thing? To find out, I schlepped it over to
Phono Inputs: MM and MC
Gain and Distortion: MM, 46dB @ 0.1%;
MC, 66dB @0.15%
Dimensions: Phono preamplifier 12" x
18" x 5"; power supply 12" x 14" x 5"
Weight: Phono preamplifier 19.8 lbs.,
power supply 11 lbs.
A S S O C I AT E D E Q U I P M E N T
Magnepan 20.1 loudspeaker; Messenger
preamplifier and phonostage; Classé
Omega and Omega Omicron monoblock
amplifiers; VPI HR-X turntable and JMW
12.6 tonearm; Meitner DCC2 and Meitner
CDSD; Dynavector XV1-S and Lyra Titan
Mono cartridges; Jena Labs Valkyre and
Hovland Music Groove 2 interconnects;
Jena Labs Fundamental Power One power
cords; Shunyata Hydra-8 line conditioner
38
a friend’s house to listen to it on the new
SoundLab Majestic loudspeaker, which
looms some 9 feet tall. On this Paul
Bunyan of a loudspeaker, which tends to
ever so slightly soften the sound, the
Lector more than held its own. The ease of
presentation was mind-boggling. A lot of
this is attributable to these magnificent
loudspeakers, but the Lector sure wasn’t
hurting. On a Chet Atkins disc, the guitar has never sounded so natural, vivid,
and lifelike. On Louis Armstrong’s “St.
James Infirmary,” the amount of decay on
the shimmering cymbal as it fades out at
the end of the cut was nothing short of
hallucinatory in its sonic realism. And
Satchmo’s gravelly voice, especially when
he chuckles to himself that he’s “braggin’”
was nothing to sneeze at, either. Bass didn’t plunge down too deeply, but it was
taut and forceful. I couldn’t honestly say
that the Lector was excessively romantic
in its presentation; rather, it strikes a nice
balance between warmth and clarity.
As much as the Lector revels in shadings of timbres and nuances, it also offers
a very coherent soundstage. On orchestral works it spaces out the instruments
deftly and there’s no shifting of images.
Everything is securely in place. You
might wish that it would pull string sections apart with more grandeur and
sweep, but the soundstage isn’t shrunken. It’s also noteworthy that the Lector
does not appear to emphasize unduly the
bass or treble at the expense of the
midrange. The overall sound is extremely unified and the all-important
midrange never gets less than its due. It
would be entirely mistaken to deem it
lush or voluptuous. It is nothing of the
kind. Instead, it impresses with its serenity, clarity, and, above all, velvety finish.
There’s no question that more excit-
ing phonostages than the Lector exist.
The Manley Steelhead, for example,
provides the kind of thunder and lightning that’s missing from the Lector. It
also has a tighter grip on the bass,
maybe the tightest I’ve heard. But
while the solid-state Manley power supply may provide more resolution and
bang, I don’t think it sounds as pure as
the Lector, which caresses the music.
This is really saying something, because
the Manley costs over twice as much as
the Lector. The Messenger phonostage
that I now use is the best that I’ve heard
at combining powerful dynamics with a
golden sound, but it’s plugged into a
massive tubed power supply that makes
any comparison with the Lector unfair.
The surprising thing isn’t that the
Lector has shortcomings, but that it
offers as much as it does.
The Lector performs above its price-
point and, as far as I’m concerned, one of
the great pleasures of having an audio
system is being able to play LPs, many
performances on which are not available
on CD. Forget the tiresome debates
about CD versus vinyl. The blunt fact is
that there’s great music out there to be
had in both formats. When you factor in
the cost of a turntable, cartridge, extra
cables, and phonostage, it’s not an inexpensive proposition to enter the world of
analog. The Lector, however, offers a reasonably priced choice. When I think
back to the venerable Dual turntable
that I listened to as a child and how far
vinyl has come, the progress is simply
astonishing. The Lector is another testament to that.
No, it’s not the ultimate phonostage
(wherever that elusive creature may
reside), and it doesn’t aspire to be,
either. Detractors will find it lacking in
body and a little too relaxed, forgiving,
and warm for their tastes. So be it. But
if you’re investigating phonostages,
then don’t be fooled into thinking that
you have to pay a fortune. It just ain’t
so. The Lector is a lovely piece that
effortlessly gets out of the way of the
music. It might even serve you as a kind
of roadblock on the seemingly endless
upgrade path. Give it a listen. It may
not start a revolution among phonostages, but it does represent something
&
of an insurrection.
FANFARE INTERNATIONAL, INC.
500 East 77th Street
New York, New York 10162
(212) 734-1041
fanfareintl.com
Price: $3250
39
T A S
B o o k
R e v i e w
Sound Bites: 50 Years of HiFi News
by Ken Kessler and Steve Harris
IPC Media, London. 2005. U.K. price
£14.95, (U.S. availability: MusicDirect or
Amazon.com)
Paul Seydor
iddle me this: Who are
Paul Voigt, Stanley Kelley,
and Percy Wilson? How
about Edgar Villchur, Peter
Walker, and David Hafler?
Each one of these men made a significant contribution, some of them several,
to the development of high fidelity as a
medium of home entertainment. If you
drew four or more blanks, you’d be well
advised to pick up an entertaining and
informative new anthology called Sound
Bites, edited by Ken Kessler and Steve
Harris. On the face of it, this is a celebration of a half century of the British
audio magazine Hi-Fi News, founded by
Miles Henslow in 1956, a happy coincidence that provides a serviceable convenience: The year, give or take a few,
can be made more or less to coincide
with the beginning of stereophonic
reproduction as a commercial reality.
The longest-running audio magazine in
English, Hi-Fi News distinguished itself
by publishing articles of high theoretical
and technical excellence and test reports
exemplary for their thoroughness while
not neglecting the subjective aspect of
reviewing. In 1970 the magazine folded
Audio Record Review into its embrace,
changing its name to Hi-Fi News &
Record Review (and acquiring in the
process Christopher Breunig, to my
mind the best classical reviewer of any
audio magazine and no mean equipment
reviewer either, though I do wish he’d
realize that turntable design moved
R
40
beyond Linn a long, long time ago).
While Hi-Fi News at fifty is the
occasion for this book, it’s no self-congratulatory piece of puffery (though
Stereophile’s John Atkinson in the chapter
on his four-year editorship certainly
managed to cram in every accomplishment, right down to the number of
words he contributed during his tenyear association with the magazine).
Rather, after a long chapter on “prehistory,” i.e., telescoping audio in the first
half of the last century, it’s structured as
a loose, anecdotal history of audio centering principally on the men who made
the medium from the beginning of
stereo to the present. The material consists in new pieces by several distinguished names (Geoffrey Horn, Ralph
West, John Borwick, John Crabbe, Dave
Wilson, Roy Allison), some reprints
from Hi-Fi News’ archives, including
Kessler’s justly famous interview with
Peter Walker and his whirlwind sweep
through the American high end in 1984
(has anyone captured the excitement of
those particular years better?), Trevor
Butler’s description of the development
of the legendary LS3/5a (I had no idea so
much of this speaker was designed ad
hoc), and Laura Dearborn’s excellent
interview with the great Edgar Villchur.
Indeed, this and Roy Allison’s brief history of Acoustic Research constituted
perhaps the most moving experience I
had with this volume. When you read
how Villchur founded his company, the
excellence of his products, the way he
stood behind them with his (truly)
unconditional guarantees, the way he
treated his employees with good wages,
health-care, and benefits—not because
he was required to, but because these
were just the decent, honest things you
did—you are reminded that there was a
time in American business, before the
dawn of Reagan, when honor mattered
as much as profit.
Criticisms? Well, the book is cheaply made, the cover design appalling: a
closeup of an androgynous face with a
couple of issues of Hi-Fi News poised
before its open, gaping mouth. The
imagery suggests gluttony or regurgitation, neither appealing, and both irrelevant and stupid as regards the subject at
hand. Surely a big opportunity was
missed in not adopting the style of HiFi News’ own classic graphics.
No matter. It’s the content that matters. As Kessler himself laments in his
introduction, ours is a hobby and an
industry that seem to have no respect for
their own history. Kessler and Harris
have here made a worthy first effort.
More please.
&
b a s i c
r e p e r t o i r e
Webern and Varèse
The Class of 1883
Ted Libbey
heir musical styles could hardly be more divergent,
yet Anton Webern and Edgard Varèse together
changed the course of music history. Their works
had a greater impact on the language of the second
half of the 20th century than those of any other composers—Varèse’s sonic blockbusters exploding like the Big Bang
toward infinite horizons, Webern’s lapidary constructions compressing sound and substance into matrices suggesting the crystalline brilliance of diamonds. They were born three weeks
apart, in December of 1883, and grew up in the same Europe.
Both of them were intrigued early on by the music of Arnold
Schoenberg. Other than that, you would swear they came from
different planets.
It was Karlheinz Stockhausen who, in 1967, famously said
of Webern that “he condensed all music into what we call the
needle’s eye.” Seeking to validate his own sprawling idiom
while laying claim to the aesthetic high ground of his era, he
went on: “Now, if you see what I mean, [music] has passed
through the eye and is expanding in terms which are consistent
T
42
with that condensation. Oh yes, all music must start with
Webern; there is no other choice!” Pierre Boulez might well
have said the same thing…only he knew the music of Varèse as
well, and saw that expansion could occur in ways that weren’t
necessarily consistent with Webern’s radical extension of
Schoenberg’s “method of composing with twelve tones,” into
what is commonly referred to as serialism. But many figures
shared Stockhausen’s point of view, and serialism, especially in
Europe (and in the American academe), became the dominant
influence on compositional trends of the 1950s and ’60s.
On his father’s side Webern’s family belonged to the
minor nobility, with title to a 500-acre estate in southern
Austria. His father and grandfather were mining engineers; his
father served in high positions under the Hapsburg government and inherited the family estate in 1889. Webern’s mother was an amateur pianist who gave him his first musical
instruction. The family moved from Vienna to Graz in 1890,
and on to Klagenfurt in 1894. There, Webern studied theory,
piano, and cello, and played in the local orchestra. In the sum-
mer of 1902, after graduating from high school in Klagenfurt,
he attended the Bayreuth Festival and was bowled over by
Parsifal. He entered the University of Vienna in the fall of
1902, studying musicology with Guido Adler; in 1906 he
earned his Ph.D., offering as his thesis an edition of the second
volume of the Choralis constantinus of
Heinrich Isaac (ca. 1450-1517), a collection
of polyphonic settings of the Mass proper,
and one of the summas of Renaissance contrapuntal (specifically canonic) art.
Webern had begun private composition lessons with Arnold Schoenberg in
1904, while a student at the University of
Vienna. He was joined a few weeks later
by the slightly younger Alban Berg. These
three, Schoenberg, Webern and Berg,
would become known as the “Second
Viennese School” (the “first,” though
never referred to as such, having consisted
of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven).
Webern came to idolize Schoenberg, to an
extent that was borderline neurotic; during the four years he spent under
Schoenberg’s tutelage he composed
numerous studies for string quartet, a
couple of finished quartets, a string quintet, a group of five songs to poems of
Richard Dehmel (the same poet whose
Verklärte Nacht had inspired Schoenberg’s
eponymous string sextet), and the first
work of his maturity, the Passacaglia, Op.
1, for orchestra (1908).
In 1908, Webern took a theater conducting post at Bad Ischl. Finding himself
unable to stay in a job anywhere for very
long (in no small part because he felt he had
to be near Schoenberg), he held subsequent
posts in Innsbruck (1909), Bad Teplitz
(1910), Danzig (1910-11), Berlin (191112), and Stettin (1912-13). Along the way
he married his first cousin, Wilhelmine
Mörtl; between 1911 and 1919 they had
three daughters and a son. Following military service in World War I, Webern worked
briefly under Alexander von Zemlinsky at
the German opera in Prague. In 1918 he settled with his wife and children in Mödling,
a suburb of Vienna, where he taught composition and, from 1918 to 1922, headed the
Society for Private Musical Performances,
which had been founded by Schoenberg to promote contemporary music. Following its dissolution Webern served as conductor of the Vienna Workers’ Symphony Concerts (1922-34)
and of the Vienna Workers’ Choral Society (1923-34). He
44
became a regular conductor on the Austrian State Radio from
1929, and fulfilled guest conducting engagements in
Germany, England, and Spain.
By 1926, Webern had mastered Schoenberg’s twelve-tone
technique and was producing his first works in the new manner, the songs of Opp. 17-19 (1924-26)
and the String Trio, Op. 20, completed in
1927. They were followed by one of the
most rigorous and disciplined of all
Webern’s works, the Symphony, Op. 21,
(1927-28), whose rigid application of tonerow patterns (particularly in its palindromic second movement, a set of variations) marked a milestone in the development of serialism. The work received its
world premiere on December 18, 1929 in
New York’s Town Hall, sponsored by the
League of Composers. Even more intense
and reductive treatments of the method lay
ahead, including the Concerto, Op. 24, for
nine instruments (1931-34), whose refinement and symmetry took the system to its
extreme. The sound of these works is that
of tones floating in space, related as points
to other points; the outcome was not only a
new counterpoint, but the complete emancipation of timbre.
Webern’s 50th birthday found him at
the zenith of his career—active as a conductor, productive as a composer, even if recognition of the value of his work remained limited to a small circle. Things went downhill
quickly. In February of 1934, after a failed
uprising, the Social Democratic Party was
declared illegal and all its institutions,
including the workers’ orchestra and chorus,
were shut down, depriving Webern of an
outlet for his conducting. His isolation was
compounded by Schoenberg’s departure for
America (which had occurred in 1933) and
the death of Berg in 1935. For a while,
Webern thought about emigrating, but he
hung on, believing like many friends and
associates that the rising tide of Fascism in
Germany and Austria would subside. When
it became clear following the Anschluss that
things were not going to get better, Webern
retreated into his work.
Soon his situation became dire: his
music, despised by the Nazis along with that
of Schoenberg, Berg, and many others, was branded as “degenerate art,” and performance of it was banned. Webern endured
financial straits and personal hardship through the war years.
As an artist he was essentially eliminated from the scene and
wound up doing hackwork, mainly piano reductions of operas
by lesser composers such as Alfredo Casella and Othmar
Schoeck, handed to him by Universal Edition, his erstwhile
publisher. In April of 1944, at the age of 60, he was drafted
into the air-raid police; he was released from that onerous work
at the end of May. The war was nearing its end, but tragedy
awaited. In February 1945, Webern’s son was killed in a strafing attack on a train. At the end of March, abandoning Vienna
ahead of the advancing Red Army, the composer and his wife
fled to Mittersill in the heart of the Austrian alps, where they
spent the spring and summer months of 1945 with their
daughters and grandchildren. On the night of September 15,
Webern was shot and killed by a jumpy American soldier outside his daughter’s house, after he’d stepped out on the porch to
smoke a cigar. The American was part of a small contingent
that had come to arrest Webern’s son-in-law, who was involved
in black-market activities. Webern’s wife had asked him to
smoke outside the house because the grandchildren were sleeping inside. It was a horrifying end to a life that had produced
some of the most remarkable works in the history of music, and
that might have yielded still more riches.
46
Webern’s early music, the Passacaglia in particular, sounds
like a distillation of Mahler, a paring down of Mahler’s textures to mere points and outlines. From 1909 on, all of his
music is atonal; from 1924, it is rigorously serial. The pieces
from the 1930s, in an idiom at once reductive, aphoristic, and
extremely intimate, achieve an unprecedented abstraction.
Every sound becomes an event, and in essays that last barely a
few minutes, a whole new cosmos of timbral possibilities
comes into view.
Webern’s systematic approach to composition, together
with his searching explorations in the realm of sonority,
exerted an enormous influence on the 20th century.
Following his death he became a cult figure to two postwar
generations of composers—his music was particularly
important to Stockhausen and Boulez, as well as to Luigi
Nono, Milton Babbitt, and Morton Feldman. But it remains
to be seen whether the oeuvre itself—Webern’s entire life
work fits on six CDs—will become a familiar and beloved
part of the repertory, or grow ever more remote, arcane, and
aesthetically isolated with the passage of time. Webern himself had no doubts. “Sometime in the future even the post-
man will whistle my melodies!” he wrote to his student Karl
Amadeus Hartmann. Hartmann’s candid response, conveyed
in a letter to his wife, is equally interesting: “I rather believe
that the postman will whistle at his melodies. But at the
very least, the postman will someday be bringing him mail
from admirers all over the world, whatever he whistles while
he’s doing so.” If musical scores can be considered love
notes, then Hartmann’s prediction proved true, though
Webern wasn’t around to experience the admiration his
music aroused, if not in the public, at least in the hearts and
minds of other composers.
dgard Varèse spent his early childhood in Paris
and Burgundy. His family settled in Turin when
he was nine and he began studying music there
when he was sixteen. At the age of 20 he returned
to Paris and enrolled in the Schola Cantorum,
studying composition with Albert Roussel and conducting
with Vincent d’Indy. The latter’s patronizing attitude rubbed
him the wrong way and in 1905 he transferred to the Paris
E
Conservatoire to study composition with Charles-Marie
Widor. He moved to Berlin in 1907, where with the help of
Richard Strauss his symphonic poem Bourgogne (Burgundy)
received its premiere in 1910 (Varèse destroyed the score in
the 1960s). While in Berlin, Varèse came into the orbit of
Ferruccio Busoni, whose aesthetic views had a profound
impact on his subsequent development. He also encountered
the music of Arnold Schoenberg, which he quickly brought
to the attention of Claude Debussy, a remarkable of case of
musical cross-pollination. Varèse settled in Paris in 1913,
but after failing to secure a permanent position, he left for
the United States.
Varèse arrived in the U.S. at the end of December, 1915 and
immediately got to work on what he saw as his mission: to create an audience for new music in America. He founded the New
Symphony Orchestra in New York in 1919, and conducted its
concerts until it abandoned the policy of playing new works. In
1921, together with the eminent French-born harpist Carlos
Salzedo (1885-1961), he founded the International Composers’
Guild, the first organization in America to give concerts exclusively of contemporary music. During the six seasons it existed
47
it presented works by 56 composers, including the first
American performances of Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire and
Stravinsky’s Les noces, as well as the premieres of Varèse’s
Offrandes (1921) for soprano and chamber orchestra, Hyperprism
(1922-23) for nine wind instruments and percussion, Octandre
(1923) for flute (doubling piccolo), clarinet (doubling E flat
clarinet), oboe, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, and double
bass, and Intégrales (1924-25) for eleven wind instruments and
percussion. During these years Varèse’s music was enthusiastically championed by Leopold Stokowski, who had conducted
the premiere performance of Intégrales; in four
successive seasons (1923-27) with the
Philadelphia Orchestra, Stokowski presented
Hyperprism, Intégrales, and the world premieres of Varèse’s most substantial orchestral
works, Amériques (1918-21), and Arcana
(1925-27).
Varèse returned to Paris in 1928. He
spent five years there, during which he
occupied himself with a number of projected works that failed to materialize. Back in
America, he created one of his shortest but
greatest works, Density 21.5 for solo flute,
written in 1936 (rev. 1946) for the Frenchborn flutist Georges Barrère, to celebrate
the “inauguration” of his platinum flute
(the specific gravity of platinum, thought
to be 21.5 at the time, was later calculated
to be 21.45). Frustrated in his efforts to
create a center for electronic music—he
had returned to the U.S. in the teeth of the
Depression, not a good time to seek funding for such an esoteric project—Varèse
became depressed; after Density 21.5, he
wrote almost nothing for ten years. He conducted early music (a passion since his days
at the Schola Cantorum), gave lectures at
Columbia, and taught at Darmstadt during
the summer of 1950. In 1953, the gift of
an Ampex tape recorder from an anonymous donor enabled him at last to realize
some of the notions of organized sound he
had been developing in his mind for four
decades. The result was Déserts, for 14 wind
instruments, piano, five percussion instruments, and tape,
which Varèse completed in Paris in 1954. He returned to
Europe in 1957 to work at the Philips laboratories in
Eindhoven, where he created the Poème électronique on threetrack tape for the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels
World’s Fair. In his final years Varèse revised the Déserts tape
at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.
By the end of his life Varèse had produced only 12 finished compositions, which fit on just two CDs. Small as it
was, his output was essential to the 20th century—even more
48
so, it can be argued, than that of Webern. His bold experimentation with orchestral and instrumental sound during the
1920s paved the way for composers as disparate as Boulez,
John Cage, and Frank Zappa; he took another influential step
in the 1950s when he assembled some of the first pieces to be
created using the medium of magnetic tape. What was perhaps most revolutionary about Varèse’s thinking was his
imaginative deployment of overlapping sound planes—i.e.,
multiple streams of sound proceeding simultaneously in a single piece. Using this technique in works like Amériques (calling for 27 wind, 29 brass, and a phenomenally large battery of percussion) and
Arcana (for 20 wind, 19 brass, 68 strings,
and six percussion), he expanded the universe of orchestral sound geometrically. The
extraordinarily loud climaxes, timbral juxtapositions, and spatial effects of these
works are still striking 80 years after they
were created. In the scores that don’t
require full orchestra—Hyperprism, Octandre,
Intégrales, Ionisation (1929-31, for a percussion ensemble of 13 players), and Ecuatorial
(1932-34, for voice(s), four trumpets, four
trombones, piano, organ, ondes martinot
and percussion)—Varèse had an even
greater impact. These are among the seminal works of modern music both for their
treatment of sound and texture and for the
way they harness the energy of basic rhythmic cells. If you are a percussionist,
Ionisation is the Holy Grail.
here is no mention of Webern in
Irving Kolodin’s A Guide to
Recorded Music of 1941 (not surprising; a war was on) or in the
“Orchestral Music” volume of
his subsequent The Guide to Long-Playing
Records (1955). But in the earlier book he
draws attention to a Columbia 78 of
Varèse’s Ionisation, with percussion ensemble directed by Nicolas Slonimsky, and
describes it as “a choice item for leasebreaking purposes, if for none other….” In the latter survey,
Kolodin takes note of a recording of Intégrales, Density 21.5,
Ionisation, and Octandre by the New York Wind Ensemble led
by Frederic Waldman, on the EMS label, about which he says,
“The very good engineering work…is the principal distinction of this collection of noises, definite and indefinite. ‘Times
Square on Election Night’ would be a better title than any of
those offered.” Oddly, there is no mention of Varèse in David
Hall’s exquisite Records: 1950 Edition, but there is a capsule
note on two recordings of music by Webern: his Drei kleine
T
Stücke for cello and piano, Op. 11, played by Seymour Barab
and William Masselos on a 10-inch Paradox LP; and the
Symphony, Op. 21, performed under the direction of the
estimable René Leibowitz on a 12-inch Dial LP. Hall’s comments deserve to be quoted in full: “In some ways the most
enigmatic and fascinating of all the immediate Schönberg
[sic] pupils writing in the twelve-tone ultra-chromatic idiom,
the late Anton von Webern has heretofore been represented on
discs only by the baffling String Trio (English Decca K904).
The pieces for cello, expertly played by Barab and Masselos,
are somewhat less abstruse, but the Symphony for Small
Orchestra announced by Dial is an example of Webern’s work
at its most evanescent, terse, and gnomic.” Writing about
records just doesn’t come any finer than what Hall supplied
more than half a century ago.
But it wasn’t until the 1960s that recording technology
existed that could do justice to this music: i.e., that could
amply convey the dynamic range and textural complexity of
Varèse, and the timbral and spatial subtleties of Webern. The
first big demonstration came in 1966 with a sonic blockbuster account of Varèse’s Arcana from Jean Martinon and the
50
Chicago Symphony on RCA (reissued on a “High
Perfomance” CD [09026-63315] in 1999), followed in 1971
by an Arcana and Intégrales from Zubin Mehta and the Los
Angeles Philharmonic on Decca (reissued on a “Classic
Sound” CD [448 580] in 1995). In many ways, the
Martinon/CSO recording of Arcana still sets the sonic and
interpretive standard for this piece; the playing is incandescent, and the brilliantly balanced recording makes the most of
the spacious Orchestra Hall acoustic. The Mehta/LAPO readings are nearly as fine and also hold up very well as feats of
engineering; on the CD, as on the original LP, the offering
includes an absolutely superb account of Ionisation from the
Los Angeles Percussion Ensemble led by William Kraft, for
many years the Philharmonic’s principal timpanist. With
Kraft in the driver’s seat the piece really gets a ride.
It was inevitable that Boulez would take a bite at
Varèse’s apple, since his interest as a conductor has always
been to trace his own lineage as a composer. At IRCAM in
1979 and 1983, Boulez recorded a cluster of the “smaller”
pieces (Ecuatorial, Déserts, Intégrales, Hyperprism, Octandre, and
Offrandes) with his Ensemble InterContemporain for
CBS/Sony, which appeared on a Japanese CD [32DC 347] in
1984. These are high-voltage accounts that do not shy away
from the fierce accretions of sound—or, if you prefer, the
gleeful piling on of dissonance—that made Varèse’s music so
unpalatable to the ears of critics like Kolodin. They show a
Pierre with punch. Things are not particularly helped by the
tight, radio-studio acoustics with their close overhang of
reverb, though the sound is pretty decent for early digital.
The male chorus in Ecuatorial is only middling together, and
Boulez does not offer the electronic interpolations in Déserts.
An account of Density 21.5 by Lawrence Beauregard fills out
the disc. In 1995-96, Boulez took another bite, this time
with the Chicago Symphony in Orchestra Hall, taping
Amériques, Arcana, Ionisation, and Déserts for DG [289 471
137], a recording that was not released until 2001. From a
technical standpoint these are superb registrations, delivering these pieces with the greatest sonic weight they have ever
had on disc. The orchestra is magnificent, but the account of
Arcana is almost two minutes longer than Martinon’s with
the same band, and lacks the paroxysmal brilliance of that
reading. Ionisation is nearly a minute longer than Kraft’s spir-
ited reading, and comes across as a mathematical study rather
than a visceral experience. There is simply no flair here.
Boulez does Déserts again without the interpolations, which
leaves one wondering, why not humor the old man and do
the piece the way he left it?
Which brings us to Riccardo Chailly’s 1998 survey of the
complete works of Varèse with the Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra and the ASKO Ensemble on Decca [289 460 208;
two CDs], recorded 1996-98 with the exception of Arcana,
which dates from 1992. Chailly and his producers went out of
their way to do everything as Varèse left it, getting plenty of
guidance from the composer’s associate Chou Wen-chung (who
also provides informative notes), and going the extra nine yards
to obtain the best sources. The first of the two CDs is devoted
to the big-orchestra pieces and the Poème électronique, beautifully transferred from the original master tape. On the second CD,
in the works that don’t require full orchestra, the ASKO
Ensemble turns in performances every bit as hot as those from
the Concertgebouw players on the first disc. RCO principal
flute Jacques Zoon (who went on to work in Boston) turns in
an impeccably played Density 21.5, and assorted vocalists and
51
choristers handle their assignments with great finesse. In the
big pieces the brass is more restrained than with the American
bands (there is less ripping), and one notes a characteristically
European refinement of timbres overall. Particularly appealing
is the animation the performances convey, the sense of organic
life in the sound. One might have preferred having a bass chorus intone the vocal part in Ecuatorial (as in the Boulez
account), rather than a soloist, but it’s hard to find much else to
complain about. Decca’s engineers use the Concertgebouw
acoustic to stupendous effect, and do very well in the various
venues where the smaller pieces were recorded. Arcana presents
a slightly more distant image than the Chicago and L.A. pickups, but there is still plenty of presence. The last three minutes
of Amériques is overwhelming. One cannot leave Varèse without
remarking on the very fine collection of orchestral and ensemble pieces, including Arcana, from Christopher Lyndon-Gee
and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra on Naxos
[8.554820], released in 2001, and what is perhaps the best of
the one-offs, a sensational, brilliantly played Amériques from
Christoph von Dohnányi and the Cleveland Orchestra, recorded for Decca in 1993 and coupled on CD with Ives’s Fourth
Symphony and The Unanswered Question [443 172].
One of the surprises in the Webern discography is that
Herbert von Karajan, who could record anything he wanted
(and exercised that privilege by re-recording the same works
three and four times), chose to record a significant spread of the
orchestral works in stereo for DG when he and the Berlin
Philharmonic were at the peak. And the next surprise is how
well he and the BPO did them. The concentration on early
works is understandable: Karajan, who saw Webern’s music
coming out of Mahler, Schoenberg and Richard Strauss, selected the Passacaglia, Five Movements, Op. 5 (in the 1929 version
for strings), Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6, and the Symphony.
Taped in 1973-74 and first reissued on CD in 1990 [423 254;
there have been subsequent reissues of some of the material],
the interpretations are revelatory. Karajan, who hated pizzicato,
is still the only conductor on disc who actually makes a melody
out of the opening pizzicato statement of the Passacaglia. The
performance is hyper-Romantic, and seething in its intensity,
making the piece seem bigger than its 12 minutes. Even in the
Symphony, Karajan continues to trope Mahler; it is not the only
approach, but he and the Berliners certainly make it a convincing one. As different as chalk from cheese are the takes from
Dohnányi and the Cleveland Orchestra, recordings made 199193 and originally coupled with Mozart symphonies, which in
that configuration lasted about as long as a mayfly. Reissued
separately in 1995 [289 444 593], on a generous disc that
includes the Passacaglia, the Symphony, Six Pieces, Op. 6, Five
Pieces, Op. 10, the Variations, Op. 30, the luxuriant early
(1904) Im Sommerwind, and Webern’s late and amazing transcription of the six-part ricercare that concludes Bach’s Musical
Offering, they are an impressive document of Dohnányi’s collaboration with that great orchestra. Dohnányi’s approach is much
cooler, as was his wont; whereas Karajan interprets Webern in
52
terms of where he’s come from, Dohnányi sees him in terms of
where he’s going… which results in some of the early pieces
already sounding as though they have been drained of emotion.
He and the Clevelanders are at their best in the Five Pieces, Op.
10. Decca’s digital engineering allows a much greater dynamic
range to be experienced than was possible in the analog era—
the Passacaglia grows from a whisper to outright sound and
fury—and allows the burnished tone of the Cleveland ensemble
to come through no matter how pointillistic the writing.
As it was with Varèse, so with Webern: it was inevitable
that Boulez would have his say about the music. To his credit,
one must suppose, Boulez has set down two cycles of the
orchestral and larger ensemble works during the course of his
career, one for CBS (now Sony), one for DG. Both form the core
of larger “complete” collections. The CBS collection, recorded
1967-72, and reissued by Sony as a three-disc set in 1991
[45845], includes efforts by the Juilliard String Quartet and
pianist Charles Rosen; in the orchestral works, Boulez helms
the London Symphony. Only the pieces to which Webern
assigned an opus number are included, and they are run off in
strictly numerical (more or less chronological) order, from Op.
1 to Op. 31. The sound is a little on the dry side, and Boulez’s
way with the orchestral pieces is typically dry-eyed, yet compelling. There is greater intensity, of a sort, in the accounts
Boulez contributed to the DG set, which at six CDs [457 637]
really is as complete as one can get. Here, Boulez works mainly with the Berlin Philharmonic; the playing he draws from it
is disciplined and accurate, the rhythms clean, the dynamics
precise. Yet all too often the effect is dark and nasty. It seems
almost cliché to say this, but behind Boulez’s ministrations
there is a tone of pitiless perfection, and the pieces seem to be
executed with almost sullen matter-of-factness. The recorded
sound is problematic, especially in the works for larger forces
that were made in Berlin’s Philharmonie. The ambience here is
tight and dry, yet detail is often blurred, a feature typical of
DG’s multi-mike digital technique of a decade ago. The strings
are way underbalanced in the Passacaglia and the image is
amorphous (the setup for Opp. 5, 6, 21 and 31 is better), but
even the best of these recordings still sound clinical.
Nonetheless, for completeness, and for some excellent performances of the smaller works by the likes of soprano Christiane
Oelze, the Emerson String Quartet, and pianists Pierre-Laurent
Aimard and Krystian Zimerman, this is the box one must turn
to. But one hesitates to call it the last word, especially for the
orchestral scores.
Webern’s pieces remain tough nuts for audiences to crack.
On the other hand, Varèse—ritualistic, incantatory, and raucous—has become much more approachable. For now, to paraphrase a line from the title page of Arcana, Varèse’s star is that of
the ascendant. But it may well be that in 50 years’ time Varèse
will be seen as a mere sensationalist, and Webern as one of the
supreme geniuses in the history of music, his works programmed
everywhere and acclaimed by adoring audiences. We’ll check
with the postman and let you know.
&
cover
story
Hovland HP-200 Vacuum
Tube Preamplifier
Consistently elegant, detailed, and natural
Wayne Garcia
n last issue’s CES report, I
described the sound in the
Hovland Company’s room at the
Alexis Park Hotel as “consistently
elegant, detailed, and natural.”
That listening experience dovetailed
almost precisely with the installation in
my system of Hovland’s HP-200 tube
preamp, RADIA solid-state amplifier,
and matching cable set. Having now
lived with the Hovland gear in my system for the past few months, I still
think those three words neatly summarize the Hovland sound. But I would
add another (if overused) word to my
original list: musical. Or to put it more
precisely, the longer I live with this
equipment the more it seems that the
Hovland sound is not simply musical—
as in seductive, flowing, involving—
but at the service of the music. Yes, it is
detailed, but doesn’t wow you in that “I
connected whole. And yes, it is natural,
in that it allows instrumental and vocal
timbres and textures to sound like
themselves, but more importantly (to
me, at least), in a way that brings the
human element out of a recording—how
a singer’s breath phrases a line, a guitarist’s touch adds meaning to a chord
pattern or lead, or a violinist’s technique
conveys the emotion in a score.
To many of us, Hovland is known
primarily as the company that for years
made the outstanding and aptly named
MusiCap,1 and more recently as the
maker of its own line of critically
acclaimed components. But the company’s current team—Michael Garges,
head of production; Jeffrey Tonkin, CEO
and chief industrial and mechanical
designer; and Alex Crespi, head of sales
and marketing—have been friends,
long-time audiophiles, serious music
lovers, and tireless tinkerers
for more than 20 years.
Not only did the Hovland
Over the course of time,
they, along with partner
Company take an unusually
Robert Hovland, who
long time to gestate, but each remains on the board but is
no longer involved in the
component undergoes a
company’s day-to-day opersimilarly lengthy growth period ations, also developed their
own cables, custom speaknever heard it like that before” sort of
ers, and electronics, incorporating as the
way, but rather in a way that reveals the
Hovland Company in 1999.
inner workings of a performance. Yes, it
In a recent interview with the trio, it
is elegant, but not in the way some combecame apparent to me that not only did
ponents are, i.e., overly polite or conthe Hovland Company take an unusually
trolled-sounding. The Hovland sound is
long time to gestate, but that each indielegant in its ability to effortlessly convidual component underwent a similarly
nect musical dots and lines into an interlengthy period from inception to birth.
I
“We’re able to design and release just one
major new component a year,” Crespi
told me. “One of the plusses of having
worked together for so long is that we
hear and almost always agree on each of
the hundreds of little decisions that go
into a final design. We only want to
1A polypropylene film and conductive foil capacitor currently used by a couple hundred high-end manufacturers.
54
cover
release products that provide special performance as well as exceptional value.”
To date, Hovland’s line consists of
just a handful of items. Its first release
was the HP-100 tube preamp, which
remains a strong seller and ranges in
price from $4995 to $6495, depending
on the phono option. Two power amplifiers followed, the $9000 Sapphire, a
tube-hybrid design, and the $9500
solid-state RADIA (see sidebar). A new
statement amplifier was shown at CES,
the staggeringly cool-looking Stratos
monoblock that should be released later
this year (the projected price is also staggering—$34,000 the pair), alongside a
nifty USB DAC, which will be part of a
future CD player that accommodates
USB and Ethernet connection to a
media-storage computer. There are also
story
some very good sounding and sanely
priced interconnects and power cords
(see second sidebar), and the HP-200
preamp, which sells for $7500 as a
linestage and $9500 as reviewed here,
with the optional and excellent P-200
solid-state phonostage.
As you can see from the accompanying photographs, the HP-200 is an
uncommonly beautiful piece of audio
gear (as are all of Hovland’s components). While it echoes certain visual
elements found on the HP-100, such as
the front panel’s three main circular controls (which are rotary knobs on the HP100 but soft-touch buttons here), gentle
Pacific-blue backlighting, and the
repeated triplets of screened holes on the
top plate, it sports additional flair in the
essentially flat polished aluminum facepanel layered on top of beaded acrylic
that it borrowed from the RADIA. (The
HP-200 and RADIA are also available
in the dark nickel finish pictured on this
issue’s cover, for an up-charge of $500
and $650, respectively.) Although I’m
not normally dazzled by sexily-bathedin-light hi-fi gear, I would be lying if I
claimed that I didn’t fall for the HP-200
in all its lit-up glory (though while
actually listening I always shut off the
backlight via the rear-panel switch). It’s
dazzling in a darkened room and different enough to add an unusually cool
design element to one’s space, along
with a pride of ownership that says,
“This stuff is something special.”
I normally avoid functional descriptions in my reviews, but in this case I’m
departing from the norm because
Hovland’s form follows function. I didn’t know it until our interview, but it
didn’t surprise me to learn that design
55
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story
and layout man Jeffrey Tonkin is also an
architect. “When it comes to putting
together a product,” Tonkin said, “each
is a complete whole, built from blocks.
Everything is done in support of the
basic circuitry, from the proximity of all
internal parts to the circuit layout.”
Since one of the few complaints about
the HP-100 was its lack of remote control, from the start Hovland conceived
the HP-200 as remote-controllable. But
that, as the saying goes, was easier said
than done. The absence of a remote control on the HP-100 didn’t reflect some
retro-thinking on the designers’ part,
but rather this group’s dedication to
considering all aspects of a product as
part of its reason for being. Not happy
with the sonic degradation of potentiometers, Hovland developed its own
handmade, silver-contact, 31-step discrete-resistor volume control—a decidedly remote-unfriendly device. For use
in the HP-200, this pricey item morphed into an attenuator circuit of highly
linear metal-film resistors with twin
relays that have been rhodium-plated
and hermetically sealed in glass.
Connect all of this to a tiny, isolated
logic board, et voilà, you get a sonically
uncompromised remote volume control.
A similar remote-relay-process performs input selection and other functions. And because these controls sit
directly next to the rear-panel jacks,
they’re out of the signal path, and of
course circuit paths have been made that
much shorter. Although the HP-100
and HP-200 share the same three-tube
linestage and solid-state power supply,
made. Aside from metal machining and
plating, all work is performed at
Hovland’s L.A. facility, where a staff of
12 hand-assembles each unit.
A pretty definitive example of how
the Hovland gear serves the music
Instrumental timbres are too-die-for-beautiful,
yet never overly thick or romanticized
these improvements are said by those
who know both units—I have not had
the chance to compare them—to bring
greater degrees of detail and transparency to the sound of the HP-200.
By the way, a peek under the hood
reveals a dedication to perfection as high
as any I’ve seen—this unit is beautifully
56
arrived during one of my first listening
sessions with it. The Stern/Bernstein
reading of the Barber Violin Concerto
[Sony CD] is one I know very well, not
only from my own time with this gorgeous piece of music but also because it
is one of the discs my colleague Johannes
der Valin regularly carries to CES. In tan-
dem with Kharma’s outstanding 3.2 and
Mini-Exquisite speakers and MBL’s
equally outstanding 1521a transport and
1511e DAC, the Hovland system
brought this excellent “Golden Age”-era
analog recording to vivid life, projecting
an unusually deep and expansive soundstage, with notable cushions of air
around the players. Instrumental timbres—woodwinds, brass choirs, massed
strings, both bowed and plucked—are
too-die-for-beautiful, yet never overly
thick or romanticized. During lightly
scored passages, one senses, say, a violin
or flute projecting over the orchestra and
co-mingling in space in a way that’s
highly reminiscent of the concert hall.
And Stern’s magnificent Guarnerius del
Gesù, so beautifully captured here, is all
aged-wood and rosin in the middle reg-
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story
isters, sweet yet steely and ultra-extended up top (especially over the Kharma
Mini, with its knock-’em-dead diamond
tweeter). The dynamic range runs
smoothly from whisper-delicate to full
bloom. Through the HP-200 and
RADIA, the disc was easy and natural
sounding if not, ultimately, as explosively dynamic as it is when heard through
something like the MBL 5011 linestage
and Kharma MP-150 monoblock amps,
which came in towards the end of my
sessions with the Hovland. Nor were the
Hovland’s tone colors quite as rich as
they are with this combo, but that lightness of touch is part of the Hovland’s
understated beauty.
Turning to the visceral soul-funk of
Outkast’s
“Love
Hater,”
from
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below [Arista], the
Hovland designs proved fully capable of
moving some serious air. The tune’s
throbbing electric bass reached way down
and could be felt in the gut; horn accents
popped; and a wailing wah-wah-soaked
guitar cut through the mix while retaining exquisite clarity and composure, as
did André 3000’s falsetto vocal. Good as
the bass is, though, it didn’t quite have
the grip or definition the Hovland displays in the rest of the frequency spectrum, and was also just a tad soft and light
when compared to the MBL/Kharma duo.
The RADIA Amplifier
elivering 125Wpc into 8 ohms and 200Wpc
into 4 ohms, the solid-state RADIA is a true
dual-mono design, with each channel sharing
only a common AC cord. Like other Hovland
components, the amp represents the design
team’s 25-year exploration of parts, wire, and circuit topologies. The amplifier uses a complementary symmetrical driver/output transistor designed for low distortion, and highimpedance J-FET input circuitry that does away with the need
for DC offset controls. For rigidity, the chassis is damped
and utilizes monococque construction, and like all Hovland’s
components the RADIA is fitted with the company’s
MusiCaps and is internally wired with Hovland’s Generation
3 interconnect.
D
58
Sonically, the RADIA is much like the HP-200. It reveals
detail in the music without ever sounding analytical. What I
wrote about the preamp applies to the amplifier, too. That
said, I don’t think the RADIA attains quite the same level of
performance as the HP-200. Oh, it’s good, very good. But to
get a better gauge of how the units perform separately,
toward the end of my time with the Hovland gear I replaced
the RADIA with Kharma’s MP-150 mono amps. Some of the
bottom-end reticence vanished, revealing a better sense of
grip and detail in the bass. The RADIA is likewise not as
transparent as the HP-200, nor as airy. These gaps are not
wide, but I do believe it shows that Hovland’s design team is
bringing greater levels of performance to its gear with each
new step.
WG
cover
story
Turning my focus to LP playback,
the P-200 phonostage started off as a
standalone phono preamp that would
offer multiple inputs and options. But as
is located at the rear-left of the chassis,
with its dedicated power supply resting
at the far right in the same bay that houses the linestage’s power supply. The P-
Turning to the visceral soul-funk of Outkast’s
“Love Hater,” the Hovland designs proved fully
capable of moving some serious air
the design developed and manufacturing
costs were weighed, Hovland realized it
was looking at a $5000–$6000 component. While that is hardly ultra-expensive in today’s market, the Hovland team
determined that, along with the inherent
sonic advantages of a single box, its customers would reap a far higher value by
placing the P-200 directly inside the
HP-200. A solid-state design, the P-200
60
200 is compatible with virtually any cartridge whose output is 3mV or less. To
adjust gain and impedance (see spec box
for ranges), simply remove six hex screws
from the left side plate to reveal two
recessed screws. Match the screw slot to
the printed legend, replace the plate, and
you’re done.
Alex Crespi told me that the company wanted the P-200 to stand up
against the best. And though some of
the best I’ve heard are no longer inhouse (specifically the Manley Steelhead
and Sutherland’s Ph.D.), I do have on
hand the excellent Artemis Labs PL-1
that I raved about back in Issue 155.
Though priced at $3150, the Artemis
holds its own against the stellar
Steelhead ($7300), so I know it’s among
the finest out there.
The comparison was highly instructive, and didn’t prove Hovland’s claims
about the P-200 to be at all off the
mark. Not surprisingly, like the HP-200
linestage, the P-200 is an extremely
clean and graceful performer. Listening
to another favorite, Wilco’s Yankee Hotel
Foxtrot [Nonesuch/Sundazed LP], singer
Jeff Tweedy’s voice was easy, uncolored,
and focused. Moreover, it lacked the
“shouty,” slightly hooded quality one
sometimes hears on certain tracks,
specifically “Jesus, Etc.” The Artemis
noticeably softened the presentation,
and sounded slightly less focused.
Though Tweedy’s voice was warmer on
the Artemis (it’s a tube unit), and was
more richly textured with a bit more air
surrounding it, it did exhibit a hint of
that “shout.” On the White Stripes’
Zeppelinesque shake-up of Burt
Bacharach’s “I Just Don’t Know What
To Do With Myself,” the Hovland was
lighter and brighter (but not “bright,”
in the negative sense of the word) with
plenty of air, terrific detail, and powerful
punch on Meg White’s kick drum. The
Artemis was richer, slightly more explosive dynamically, but not as defined.
Finally, on the classic Vienna 1908-1914
[Mercury/Speakers’ Corner LP], the
Artemis had a darker overall presenta-
61
cover
story
tion, with a sweeter string tone, excellent dynamic shading, and a lovely
impression of depth. Though the P200’s soundstage may not have been
quite as deep or tall as that of the
Artemis, it was more extended and airy
up top, not as dark, more tightly
focused, with equally good dynamic
shading, plenty of transient snap, and
transparent in the sense of “seeing into”
HP-200 vacuum tube preamplifier
Tube complement: Two 12AX7, one
12AT7
Inputs: CD plus four line-level stereo
pairs (three if ordered with optional
phonostage), bypass (for theater
Hovland Cables
processor), and tape, all via RCA connectors
Outputs: Balanced via XLR connectors,
unbalanced via RCA connectors
Dimensions: 18.25" x 4.88" x 15.52"
Weight: 27 lbs.
P-200 solid-state phonostage (optional)
Input impedance: Five selectable (100k
ohms maximum, 47k, 390k, 100k, and
24 ohms)
Gain: Selectable in 3dB steps from 57dB
to 69dB
RADIA solid-state power amplifier
Power output: 125Wpc @ 8ohms;
200Wpc @ 4ohms
Dimensions: 18.25" x 7.20" x 16.65"
Weight: 74 lbs.
side from the relatively
well-known Music Groove
2 arm cable (my TriPlanar can’t accommodate it, but I’m hoping to
hear it soon with the Graham
Phantom), Hovland’s cable designs are
one of the company’s better-kept
secrets. And given what premium
cables can run these days, they’re also
almost ridiculously low in cost (see
Manufacturer’s Information box for
details). Hovland’s Generation 3 interconnect is made of fine strands of
high-purity silver-plated copper that
have been configured in a star-quad
arrangement and sheathed in a braided shield. Four bundles of these
strands are found in each channel,
A
individually Teflon-insulated and paired
together into two positive and two negative conductors. The shielding and
jacket reduce RFI and electromagnetic
interference, and both balanced XLR
and single-ended RCA connectors are
available. The Reference speaker
cable employs a similar silver-plated
copper wire treatment, with each channel comprising four thick bundles that
are twisted together and wrapped in
several constraining layers, a braided
shield, and additional layers of jacketing. The Nine-Line speaker cable is
said to offer 90% of the Reference’s
performance for half the cost. Finally,
the Main Line is a polarized, fully
shielded AC cable built from high-purity, silver-plated copper stranding and
formed into a cross-layered configuration. According to Hovland, the Main
Line maintains a circuit’s maximum
electromagnetic energy.
Except for the Nine-Line, I used all
of Hovland’s cables throughout my
audition period and found them to be
fast, rich in tone color, and of fine overall balance and detail. I also tried them
with the MBL and Kharma electronics
with terrific results. Compared directly
with the Nordost Valkyrja cables that
have been my reference, the Hovland is
a little warmer, not quite as detailed,
yet richer and weightier on the bottom
end, and a tad less extended on top. If
you purchase Hovland gear, the cables
are something of a no-brainer, especially considering their value.
WG
Redpoint Model B turntable; Tri-Planar VII
arm; Shelter 90X cartridge; MBL 1521a
transport, 1511e DAC, and 5011 preamp; Artemis Labs LA-1 linestage and PL1 phonostage; Kharma MP-150
monoblock amps; Kharma Ceramique 3.2
and Mini Exquisite speakers; KubalaSosna Emotion interconnects, speaker
cables, power cords, and Expression digital cable; Tara Labs Zero digital cable and
The One power cord; Nordost Thor power
distribution center; Finite Elemente
Spider equipment racks; Hannl Mera
record cleaning machine, L’Art du Son LP
and CD cleaning fluids
62
the recording. Like the best of the highend, both were excellent and presented
their own take on the music.
As a relative newcomer to the
Hovland party—this is my first review
of its gear—I am mighty impressed by
what these guys are doing. They have a
clear vision of how music sounds, are
highly dedicated to offering products
that truly add something to the market,
never tire of rethinking established formulas, and most importantly build
highly musical components of very good
value. And just think, after 20 years
&
they’re just getting started.
HOVLAND COMPANY
1545-A Pontius Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90025
(209) 966-4377
hovlandcompany.com
Prices: HP-200 preamplifier, $7500
(add $2000 for P-200 phonostage);
RADIA amplifier, $9500; Generation 3
interconnects, $380 per 1 meter pair;
Reference speaker cables, $1295 per
8-foot pair; Main Line power cables,
$400 per 6-foot length
equipment report
Tyler Acoustics Linbrook System II Loudspeaker
Imperfect, yet possessed of magical power
Sallie Reynolds
(this wasn’t true even ten years ago), but detail retrieval varies,
often sharply. A few brilliant designs seem to spread their
compromises equally across the parameters of speaker elements, creating an extraordinarily seamless performance that
makes for deep satisfaction. These rare speakers you hang on
to, because they will go on satisfying you for a long time.
The Tyler Linbrook System II comes close to that rare
level of balanced performance. It misses, but it has a jewel in
its forehead that makes the miss almost not matter.
Tyler Acoustics is the brainchild of Tyler Lashbrook, who
lavishes attention on internal parts and external beauties of
gorgeous wood veneers. Most of his speakers are based on
Norwegian SEAS drivers, of which I am quite fond, and he
uses high-end-audio-designed internal parts. He sells his
wares directly, via his Web site, so you should (and do) get
good quality for your money (the speakers list for $4800 the
pair, and sells for $3600 factory-direct). If you want to hear
them before you buy (always a good idea), you may live near
one of Lashbrook’s customers who have agreed to give demos
of their home systems. There is a list of them on his Web site.
Tyler also offers a 20-day home trial, but you must pay shipping and a 10% restock fee.
The Linbrook System II is a three-way design, which,
since the crossover achieves a smooth transition, gives it a bit
of an edge over the two-and-a-half-way designs so popular
today. They are easy to set up—about eight feet apart, twoand-a-half feet away from the walls, toed in slightly, with the
listening seat making a roughly equilateral triangle with the
speaker faces. This is my usual first step in setup, and this
time it was the last.
Even at first listen, I got some of that longed-for “new
information.” But the upper midrange was a bit harsh, and
ach loudspeaker I hear introduces me to a new experience with music I know well, which in turn often
leads me into entirely new music with refreshed, reeducated ears. In today’s high end, you can find
many speakers that are worthy of your attention,
even ones that fit a modest budget, and as you move up in
price, you move into new realms of reproduced sound. This is
because every speaker is different, marked by the tastes, concepts, abilities, and budget of its maker. But even when cost is
no object to the designer, each speaker compromises with perfection. Some designers will express their gifts most eloquently in the bass, some in the midrange; a few will give you highs
to die for. Today, soundstaging seems excellent across the board
E
64
These tiny ripples created a new
presence for this fascinating music
the harshness increased with volume, and highs were a touch
“ringy.” The Linbrooks need, I was told, about 100 hours of
break-in, so I settled in for some out-of-the-corner-of-my-ears
listening. Sure enough, two weeks of playing smoothed away
the harshness and banished the ringing.
Now, the jewel these speakers offer us has to do with
upper-midrange and treble detail. These speakers delineate
equipment report
subtleties in this range with a mesmerizing purity. On Lou Harrison’s Gamelan
Music [MusicMasters Classics], you will
hear the inner voices of the gamelan
orchestra in entirely new ways. Soft
sounds, upper harmonics, fingers touching metal as if, ever so lightly, the surface of still water. There are doublestrikes in swift passages on some of the
softer percussive instruments that I had
never heard before. Now they were clear,
and their origin was unmistakably
The bass reproduction is wonderful,
full and rich, yet controlled and tuneful—with the Linbrooks, low instruments make music as well as drama. I
had a moment of shock and pleasure in
Fauré’s Requiem [COLCD] when a single
organ note accented a musical line—it
came, swelled an instant, and was gone.
Perfect. And I had never noticed it
before. Oh, it has been there. An organ
note isn’t a nuance to get swallowed in
even a loud tutti. But it was not felt.
Incidentally, I discovered in
long listening that the break-in,
What, then, keeps this
which I was listening for in the
upper registers, takes place in the
speaker from quite the
lows as well. The earth drum in
overall level of performance Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum [Ryko]
in power over the two weeks.
the Spendor S8e achieves? grew
I don’t understand this, but I
heard it. At no time did I use a
subwoofer; I didn’t need it. The sound is
metallic, at times, reminiscent of metal
truly full-range, with bass reaching
ribbons blowing in a light wind—tingdown to the low 30Hz region. And the
ting. These tiny ripples created a new
speakers play well at volumes that go far
presence for this fascinating music. The
beyond my tolerance.
gamelan is more beehive than bee—
Moment after moment of music the
there is no one voice. It is a whole palLinbrooks revealed to me in this way,
pably greater than its parts; yet, like the
until one day I smote my forehead and
bee, each part is alive and feeds the hive
rushed for the CD The Singing Life of Birds
of sound. With the Linbrooks, you hear
[Houghton Mifflin], which comes with
the whole and the parts at once.
the book of the same title, by ornitholoTo my surprise, this characteristic
gist Donald Kroodsma. Most bird sounds
held true for orchestral music (the most
fall in the wonder-range of the Linbrooks,
difficult to reproduce satisfyingly with
and I used them to learn to differentiate
anything short of a mega-system). The
individual singers of the same species—
whole meaning of complex music is
not an easy task if you can’t hear small
accentuated by little touches in the upper
treble sounds extremely clearly. Well, of
midrange, high harmonics, and small
course, now I could, and did.
instrumental tones. You hear this in good
So the treble and the upper and midconcert seats, but at home, most of us
dle midrange of the Tyler Linbrook
don’t. In the Dorati/London Symphony
System II are superb. The bass is excelCD of Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin
[Mercury], there are shimmering touches
lent. Transients are glorious. Dynamics
in woodwinds and plucked cellos, tremodynamic. What, then, keeps this $3600
los from muted violins, all reminding you
speaker (bought direct) from quite the
of the East and of the mystery of this disoverall level of performance the Spendor
turbing ballet of eroticism, murder, and
S8e achieves? The answer lies in a slightthe persistence of spirit—and moving a
ly compromised lower middle range and
cold finger slowly down your spine. With
midbass. These, to my ears, do not quite
the Linbrooks, you hear it all: the crude
match that magical resolution of the
murderers, the seductive girl, the
upper mids and treble.
unearthly Mandarin. And all of Bartók’s
Do I care? The Linbrook magic is
power to move us to the rhythms of fear
powerful, so, no I wouldn’t care for perand horror.
haps a long while. The speaker’s glory lies
66
in a plane where there is much in music to
explore. But I would eventually go back,
perhaps with a sigh, to the Spendors,
which do everything extremely well, but
do not have this slice of brilliance.
More to the point: Would you care?
Well, I’ll risk it and bet not, or not for a
long time. Not if you deeply love music
where such high delights reign—
singers, jazz ensembles, complex instrumental interplay. Not if you love rock
and drama, because you’ll get that. And
all music systems, remember, are a dance
with compromise. So—I predict that
you won’t care, but you will know.
Well, maybe this is the very reason
we are for years quite happy and satisfied, until one day the thought pops up
from nowhere: “Upgrade time!”
Be warned, though: It will take money
for the other frequency ranges to take that
tiny step into the Tyler Linbrook high
heaven. We may be talking mega-systems
before you reach it. Something to dream
&
on, perhaps. Meanwhile, just listen.
Type: Three-way floorstanding loudspeaker
Driver complement: 8" SEAS magnesium
woofer; 7" magnesium midrange;
1" Millennium tweeter
Frequency response: 32Hz–25kHz
Sensitivity: 89dB
Nominal impedance: 8 ohms
Recommended amplifier power: 30–250
watts
Dimensions: 10" x 41" x 12"
Weight: 90 lbs.
Musical Fidelity A5 CD player, kW500 and
X-150 integrated amplifiers; Spendor S8e
loudspeakers; Nordost Blue Heaven cables
TYLER ACOUSTICS
1316 Sweeney Street
Owensboro, Kentucky 42303
tyleracoustics.com
(270) 691-9500
Price: $4800; $3600 factory-direct
equipment report
Not exactly an integrated amplifier…a look at one example of a
different breed
Jim Hannon
ariable gain power amplifiers have always made a
lot of sense to me from a
sonic, if not always a practical, standpoint. Including
a gain control to vary the voltage output
of the amplifier approaches the ideal of
a straight wire with gain. Talk about a
simple, direct circuit. What could be
better? No need to worry about “polluting” a delicate preamplifier section
within the amplifier itself, as in the
case of an integrated amplifier, or hav-
V
Enter the control amplifier, essentially a set of input selector switches and
a variable gain power amplifier. It’s easy
to think of it as an integrated amplifier,
because from a user perspective, it operates essentially in the same way.
However, a control amplifier and an
integrated amplifier are somewhat different animals, as control amplifier proponents are quick to point out. Whereas
The performance of the Gain Cell is reported not
to vary with gain, which can be adjusted instantly
and in increments so small as to be undetectable
by the human ear
ing a run of interconnects to a separate
preamplifier, along with the associated
connectors. I suspect variable gain
amplifiers have not really caught on as
much as they deserve for one simple
reason: People typically have more than
one source.
68
the typical integrated amplifier has
multiple gain and buffer stages, the
control amplifier completely eliminates
the linestage and its inherent colorations. With its new GCC-100
($2795), PS Audio goes one step further. It doesn’t have a standard volume
control, like a stepped attenuator or a
volume pot which introduce noise, but
uses a unique approach to controlling
gain that is said to add no audible noise
and little to no distortion. Coupled
with a Class D output stage, it results in
a direct, clear sound that many will find
appealing.
The brainchild of one of PS Audio’s
original founders, Paul McGowan, the
Gain Cell is the culmination of his twenty-five year quest to develop a perfect
gain stage, and the circuit is used
throughout PS Audio’s new line of components. While details on it are a trade
secret, and the unit is fully encased to
keep the prying eyes of competitors
away, PS Audio says that it is fully balanced from input to output, is 100%
analog, has flat bandwidth from 1Hz to
50KHz, and adjustable gain from
-100dB to 30dB. Better still, the per-
equipment report
formance of the Gain Cell is reported not
to vary with gain, which can be
adjusted instantly and in increments so small as to be undetectable by the human ear.
So what does one do to
control volume on the GCC100? Gain is adjusted via a
knob on the front panel or
from the remote control, and the volume
level is displayed on a blue-lit fluorescent panel. I like the ergonomics of the
GCC-100, with its blue lights and gently curved lines, and it looks great in the
same cabinet as my Musical Fidelity TriVista 21 DAC. The soft blue lights emanating from both give me some of the
visual thrill I get from tube amplifiers in
a darkened room. If the GCC-100’s
lights distract from the listening experience, you can either dim them or turn
them off completely. The unit is a dualmono design, with one Gain Cell per
channel. The slim remote offers great
functionality, allowing you to adjust
Power output: 100 watts per channel @
8 ohms
Number and type of inputs/outputs: Five
line inputs (four single-ended, one balanced), one pre-out
Dimensions: 17.25" x 4" x 14"
Weight: 26 lbs.
VPI Aries turntable, Graham 1.5 arm (with
2.2 bearing) and Koetsu Black cartridge;
Basis Signature 2001 turntable, Rega
RB700 arm, and Benz Ruby 3 cartridge;
Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 DAC; MFA
Venusian (Frankland modified) and EAR
834P phonostages; Edge G-4, PrimaLuna
Six, Precision Fidelity M-7A (modified),
and Ayre AX-7 amplifiers; Hyperion HPS938, Quad ESL-57s (PK modified), and
Sonus Faber Cremona loudspeakers;
Virtual Dynamics David and Harmonic
Technology cables, power chords, and
interconnects
70
phase and balance from the listening
position, as well as switch inputs. It also
includes a home-theater bypass that
enables you to control the GCC-100 via
a surround processor.
This control amplifier’s “direct”
approach results in stunning transparency. Borrowing an HP analogy, it’s as if the
window onto the soundstage has been
thoroughly cleaned with Windex. There
is no sonic glaze or dirt between you and
the performers. This results in a very
open, clear sound throughout most of the
sonic spectrum, particularly in the bass
and the midrange. The quietness of this
unit undoubtedly contributes to this.
Another area where the GCC-100
excels is in the bass, which is extended
and dynamic, and has transient quickness and richness without any overripeness. String bass on both jazz and
orchestral recordings had naturalness,
solidity, and outstanding neutrality.
This control amplifier is also said
to work with difficult loads, so I paired
it with my restored Quads. While
transparency was very good with the
dynamic speakers I tried, the Quad/PS
Audio combination was on another
level. The GCC-100 seemed to really
lock in with the Quads—not an easy
task for many amplifiers. What’s more,
it was able to draw more bass out of
them than most amplifiers do, but this
didn’t come at the expense of neutrality nor did it impinge on the purity of
the midrange. With this combination,
when listening to very good live
recordings, like Hugh Masekela’s
Almost Like Being in Jazz [Straight
Ahead/Classic Records], I felt as if I
could reach out and touch the performers. And there was also that outstanding bass performance with great definition, richness, and control. No need for
a subwoofer here.
The GCC-100 is perhaps more like a
chameleon than just about any piece of
gear I’ve heard. You’ll need to be careful
what you feed it, because this is one unit
that doesn’t sugar-coat or caramelize anything. You’ll be rewarded by using better
source material, front-ends, cabling, and
cleaner power. Unfortunately, many new
popular recordings have tilted-up
mixes—a common technique in recording studios these days—and you’ll hear
this as some forwardness in the upper
midrange. On well-recorded material,
the forwardness disappears.
Unfortunately, the highs of the GCC100 do not match the performance of the
amp in the bass and the midrange, sounding somewhat dry and lacking in sparkle
and life. What I missed were the fully
fleshed out overtones that contribute to
the natural timbres of instruments and
female voice. Also, despite its very good
image focus, many of the ambient cues of
the recording space that one hears with
other electronics were missing. It was as
if the music was recorded in an anechoic
equipment report
chamber rather than a hall. Depending on
your listening habits, particularly if you
tend towards popular fare recorded in
sound booths, these sound-cue omissions
may not matter to you.
So how does the GCC-100 compare
with a similarly priced integrated amplifier, like the Ayre AX-7e that impressed
our Editor-in-Chief Robert Harley in
Issue 144? In contrast to the Gain
Cell/Class D approach of the PS Audio,
the Ayre combines a passive linestage
with a class A/B output section and uses
discrete metal-film resistors and FET
switches to control volume. Thanks to
my friendly local audio dealer, I was able
to compare them at some length for an
afternoon using a variety of fine reissues:
Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs From Let No
Man Write My Epitaph [Verve/Classic],
Bach’s Suites for Unaccompanied Cello
[Mercury/Speakers Corner], de Falla’s
Three Cornered Hat [Decca/Speakers
Corner], and Ben Webster’s Soulville
1
[Verve/Speakers Corner].
As one might expect, the PS Audio
control amplifier was somewhat better
in terms of bass control, definition, and
power, although the Ayre was no slouch
in these areas. The GCC-100 had
slightly better transparency, but the
Ayre was able to render a better sense of
the hall and of the back of the soundstage, and had better musical timbre
and more satisfying highs. While the
midrange of the PS Audio was slightly
more open, the Ayre was more relaxed,
with more natural warmth and bloom.
1Thanks to Brian Hartsell at the Analog Room for lending me one of his listening rooms for an afternoon and to Scott
Barnhill for his kind assistance.
72
Both of these fine units lack the ultimate richness and air around the performers of my reference tube electronics, but the Ayre came closer, and I ultimately preferred it.
The GCC-100 is likely to generate
some controversy in audiophile circles.
While its overall performance didn’t
float my boat, I encourage you to listen
for yourself. For many, this control
amplifier’s direct sound, with its startling transparency and bass perform&
ance, will be a revelation.
PS AUDIO
4826 Sterling Drive
Boulder, Colorado 80301
(720) 406-8946
www.psaudio.com
Price: $2795
equipment report
Acoustic Zen Technologies Adagio Loudspeaker
What is the sound of no distortion?
Sallie Reynolds
y soap-box speech begins with
a reminder that all designed (as
opposed to formula) audio
equipment is a dance of compromises, and any unit’s
strengths and weaknesses are the product of the
designer’s sonic priorities and skills. Speakers are
relatively easy to characterize in this arena,
because we can usually identify their traits more
readily than those of other system components. I
enjoy listening and then picking out the areas of
magic and comparing them to places where I
want more. That’s called “easy reviewing.”
Rarely, though, a speaker comes along that
baffles me. What is its nature? Where did the
designer put energy and resources? The performance of such speakers is so balanced and
smooth and seems so accurate across the frequency range, I find myself working to find
faults. And have to stop myself. Reviewers also
need balance, between picking apart a performance and keeping a sense of the whole.
The Acoustic Zen Adagios are such an enigma. At $4300, they should present music satisfyingly. But in fact they do a great deal more.
The quality of this sound bespeaks a much higher price. They are also beautiful—my review pair
is a bright red, burled wood veneer with a piano
finish. But the sound is the number-one surprise.
These speakers are so good they’re difficult to
write about. They make wonderful music. It is
nearly impossible to pick though the parts.
But to try: Their specifics strength is clarity
across the frequency range (spec’d at
30Hz–30kHz, with impedance and phase measuring nearly flat from about 100Hz to 1kHz).
The designs of their drivers are unusual: mid/bass
drivers, housed in transmission-line enclosures,
feature under-hung voice coils (the voice coil is
short and does not leave the magnetic field even
during long excursions), while tweeters sport a
modified circular ribbon that broadens the “sweet
spot.” These may well contribute not only to the
overall clarity, but to seamless crossovers points;
M
tonal and timbral accuracy; sparkle and sweet
detail in the highs; depth and detail in lows; richness and nuance in midrange; and a soundstage
that is satisfyingly wide, deep, and high, and does
not collapse when you move out of the sweet spot.
These virtues are heard throughout The Silk Road
Ensemble’s Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon
[Sony], short pieces written by a variety of Eastern
composers, from the Steppes of Russia to the
Middle East to Asia and India. They have subtlety and drama and a bit of strangeness, which
comes from instruments that are unfamiliar. YoYo Ma plays the Morin Khuur, a Mongolian
“horse” fiddle (a square wooden box with a horse’s
head at the top of the neck), as well as his cello.
You can hear the instrumental timbres clearly in
this recording, and the strange strings, sometimes
played open for eerie effect, are as engrossing as
Scheherazade’s tales.
Throughout, the Adagios played loud passages without distortion and without overloading the room or my ears. Soft passages were
beautifully subtle and clear, no single nuance
buried by the louder sounds. No frequency
range emerged from the smooth musical fabric
to assert dominance, not even with increased
volume. The decay of even the sometimes odd
high notes was clear and lingering, without pro-
These speakers are so
good they’re difficult to
write about
truding into the overall fabric of the music or
disturbing the sense of being curled up at the
story-teller’s feet.
All this illustrates my difficulty: How do you
describe the sound of purity? I put on an eerie
cut, “The Wood Nymph” from Sweet Sunny North
[Shanachie], in which the high plucked notes on
the hardanger fiddle and the high vibrato of the
ghost’s voice (Wood Nymphs in Norse mythology
were not the “nice” sprites of our cleaned-up fairy-
73
equipment report
tales) make a duet that dances with the
hairs on your neck. These speakers were as
adept at presenting the late-night pulses
of the far North as they were with the
mysteries of the Far East.
But finally, in this piece, I got a
break. I heard a soft, far-off wolf howl
(instrumentally produced) that I’d never
picked up before. My joy at listening to
new speakers is, as I’ve often said, that I
hear new things in familiar recordings,
which in itself often helps me zero in on
the details of a speaker’s character.
Here, the wolf gave me a clue to the
Adagios. I listened to the passage over and
over. I listened to the details, shutting my
brain to the overall music; I listened to the
whole, with the new information woven
in. And finally I caught hold of what I
think is happening. The Adagios are so
free of distortion that sounds usually lost
in “noise”—soft sounds that get masked
all too easily—were coming through
across the entire frequency range. In other
74
speakers, there is often an enviable clarity
in a certain range but it’s not matched by
other ranges. A virtue, as it were, is pointing out a failing, or to be more exact, the
point of compromise. But this is not so
with the Adagios. The nuances I heard
were across the whole musical spectrum.
Elsewhere in this Norse recording, there is
also a soft, deep thunder on drums that a
powerful female vocalist usually overwhelms. Not now. And the harmonics of
all the instruments on both these recordings were so clear and so mesmerizing I
had to listen again and again.
I pulled out my hard-test recordings: Gamelan pieces, choral ensembles,
orchestral complexities. And the
Adagios unthreaded them all, with the
kind of purity that makes you gasp. And
without losing the orchestral roar,
through which, in a good hall and on
really, really good speakers, the subtle
accents whisper their soft wonders.
On good studio vocal recordings,
the Adagios put the singer in the room,
breath, spit, and timbre. A doublebass
(emphatically not a cello) in a Schubert
sonata made my body vibrate with its
rich, deep power, and the rasping vocal
quality, like a wonderful singer whose
pure voice has thickened and deepened
with feeling and fatigue, made my own
throat ache with the power of song
[Basso Cantante; Gary Karr and Harmon
Lewis, Lemur Music].
In a nice touch, the Adagios are tolerant if not completely forgiving of badly
recorded music (sopranos too closely
miked still sound metallic); you can listen to your entire collection without
wanting to throw away your 1980s CDs.
And on finely recorded albums, of course,
they are superb. They present all the
goodies with clarity, grace, and excitement. They handle full orchestras better
than any speakers I have had in my house.
They played magnificently with the
Musical Fidelity kW500 integrated
equipment report
amp. I turned them up louder than I
normally do and heard no distortion
from that exercise. They played well
with the MF X-150 integrated, though
like most good speakers, they appreciate
power. And they are reputed to like single-ended triode amps, too.
So my question is: What don’t they
do well?
They don’t do the 16Hz organ pedal
note. Nor are they supposed to. They go
cleanly into the 30Hz region and then taper
off gently as the music descends below that
point. Since this was so smooth, I didn’t feel
the need of a subwoofer, but you may want
one if you listen to opera, full organ recordings, and complex bass-heavy rock.
Acoustic Zen offers a sub, and a center channel, neither of which I’ve heard.
And that, Dear Reader, is all I can
find to carp about after three weeks of
listening. They took 100 hours of breakin, which is a drag, but you forget that
once it’s past (and they are not unpleas-
ant to listen to in the process). They
weigh a ton, and that’s a real drag if
you’re a reviewer. But if you aren’t, you
can just set them up once and forget
about them. The manual, incidentally,
goes into glorious detail on good setup.
The Acoustic Zen Adagios make
extraordinary music. They present such a
smooth and balanced performance you
almost forget to get excited by them. Instead,
&
you get lost in the music you love.
Type: Two-way transmission-line loudspeaker
Driver Complement: Two 6.5" woofers
(with 2.5" under-hung voice coil linear
motor system); one 1.5" circular ribbon
ACOUSTIC ZEN TECHNOLOGIES
16736 W. Bernardo Dr.
San Diego, California 921227
(858) 487-1988
[email protected]
Price: $4300
tweeter
Nominal Impedance: 6 ohms
Sensitivity: 89dB/1W/1m
Frequency response: 30Hz–30kHz
Recommended power: 50–200W
Weight: 78 lbs.
FRANK L. KRAUS
Director of Distribution & Marketing
(856) 374-4757
[email protected]
Musical Fidelity A5 CD player, kW500 and
X-150 integrated amplifiers; Spendor S82
loudspeakers; Nordost Blue Heaven cabling
75
equipment report
Virtual Dynamics Master Series Power Cord
An expensive but unforgettable power cord
Neil Gader
or audio reviewers who labor
each day over razor-honed
amplifier heatsinks, hoist
125-pound speakers into
position, and go cross-eyed
adjusting the azimuth of a “nude” cartridge, moments of audio epiphany are
depressingly rare. But for every component in a system, we’ve all experienced
revelatory moments. In the world of
power cords my “moment” occurred
with TAS colleague Dan Schwartz, when
we experienced Kimber Kable’s
Palladian power cord. No power cord
since has made enough difference to
make me consider retiring the Kimber.
Expensive, yes, and unwieldy in the
extreme, the Virtual Dynamics Master
Series power cord, however, presents a
conundrum. Each of its three, 10-gauge,
Mylar-treated, solid-core copper conductors is thicker than Kate Moss’ wrist.
Just plugging the cords in is a little like
mud-wrestling a python. They feature
six dielectric layers; magnetic flux lines
F
76
are laid over the conductors (said to promote the flow of electricity and reduce
inductance). Finished cords are cryogenically treated, cooked-in, and conditioned prior to shipment.
Comparing the Master Series cords
with the mid-priced cords I had on hand
was a little like running Seabiscuit in a
pony race. Where the other cables were
midrange-oriented and cloudy at the
extremes, with indistinct imaging and
comparatively brittle treble, the Master
Series expanded the dynamic envelope
(prompting me to turn down the volume a notch), extended and tightened
up the bass, and threw the door on the
treble wide open.
The Master Series was articulate, but
even more important it was sparklingly
“clean.” When Dianne Reeves sings
“One For My Baby” from the Good Night
And Good Luck soundtrack [Concord
Jazz], there’s a noticeable lack of extraneous noise between her and the standup bass—the notes of which seemed to
hang in the air just a breath longer than
with most power cords. The microdynamics of these instruments had the air
jumping with energy. Reeves’ voice lost
any peaky artifacts and simply opened
up and bloomed.
This particular horserace tightened
up considerably with the substitution of
the Kimber Palladian. The Master Series
has a character that is tonally more outspoken—bigger bass and a hint more
lower treble—whereas the Kimber had
the fuller mids, airier highs, and more
fully realized dimensionality. Lyle
Lovett’s vocal on Joshua Judges Ruth’s
“South Dakota” [MCA] defined the crucial difference: The Master Series made
his voice sound slightly higher and more
forward in his throat; the Palladian
dropped the timbre down a shade with a
more distant placement. On “Night On
Bald Mountain,” from Reference
Recordings’ Mephisto & Co, the Master
cords enlivened the horns and violin sections in a way that shed more light on
inner details without added edginess.
Likewise the ominous rumble of the bass
drums seemed to emerge from a quieter
space on stage and propel its way
towards the audience.
At the end of the day, the differences
between these two stellar cords don’t rule
out using one or the other. The Master
seems more detailed and extended and
marginally faster and more dynamic; the
Palladian (while certainly no slouch in
the speed and extension sectors) has an
effortless musicality and imparts the
body and soul of complex acoustic environments with almost eerie palpability.
Two grand is serious money for a
power cord—a lot of money, period.
Even in a minimalist system (source and
integrated amp) you’ll still need two of
these stubborn snakes to gain the full
effect. And candidly, if I were assembling a system from scratch, I wouldn’t
compromise loudspeakers or a CD player to squeeze in a great set of cords. That
said, the Master Series power cords from
Virtual Dynamics would still be on my
wish list for one very simple reason—
&
they’re unforgettable.
VIRTUAL DYNAMICS
5104-49a Street
Barrhead, Alberta
Canada, TZN 1A4
(780) 674-8870
virtualdynamics.ca
Price: $2100 (five feet)
equipment report
Audience Adept Response AC Power Conditioner
One reviewer asks the question, “Isn’t a dedicated line enough?”
Max Shepherd
ike most, my system has evolved
over the years—but
in anything but a linear manner. There have
been leaps forward and slips back, discoveries and mistakes. One major leap forward came when I installed a dedicated
20-amp line. I suspected my A/C current
source was pretty ragged based on the age
of my house and the look of the old, preRomex wires, but I honestly did not imagine what a difference a dedicated line
would make. Even my Significant Other,
who had always been supportive yet skep-
L
continued to think this way until fairly
recently when I began reading reviews
and comments about line conditioners.
Then I began to wonder.
After two months of listening to my
system with and without Audience’s
Adept Response, I realized I was in danger of sounding like a person claiming he
The Adept Response revealed the timbre of the
brass in the horn, and let me sense not just its
sound but also its heft and resonance
tical of my quest for the audio Holy
Grail, admitted the difference was not
the sort that you had to strain to hear.
The music just sounded better. Once the
dedicated line was in, I thought my A/C
current problems were pretty much
resolved. I mean what could go wrong?
With nothing else on that circuit there
was no other source of contamination. I
78
had found a sure-fire product to cure
warts, baldness, and the common cold,
because in my system the Adept
Response was that good—across the full
range of music from treble to bass—
regardless of what type of music I listened
to. Essentially, what the Adept Response
did was eliminate something in my A/C
current that prevented my system from
presenting the finer details of the
music, like the timbre of an instrument, the decay of a note, the air
around a performer, or the tautness of
a bass drum. In this regard the Adept
Response functioned like a lens that
sharply focused an image, eliminating
any blur. And by doing so the Adept
Response also revealed how much
more musical my system could be,
since much of the magic of the music
is in these very details.
The first thing I noticed was how
much more definition and information
was available in the treble, without any
increase in brightness. With the Adept
Response, violin notes were transformed
from slightly blurred, or smeared
together, into distinct (if blended)
notes from individual strings. The
Adept Response had the same effect on
snare drum brushes. Instead of sounding
slightly dull, like broom straws, the
snare drum brushes became distinct clusters of steel wires tapping on or grazing
taut drum heads. The same was true of
cymbals, where even the most delicate
shimmer became audible.
I was equally impressed with the
Adept’s way with other instruments. Eric
Marienthal’s alto sax on The Oxnard
Sessions, Volume Two [Reference
Recordings] pulled up and away from a
flat background to became a threedimensional horn playing in space. The
change was that dramatic. Another difference I heard consistently was with the
timbre of instruments. Listening to that
alto sax again, the Adept Response
revealed the color of the brass in the
horn, and let me sense not just its sound
but also its heft and resonance. This was
equally true with other instruments such
as stand-up bass or clarinet. I came to
equipment report
believe that the Adept Response’s ability
to reveal the timbres of instruments
explained, at least in part, the increased
three-dimensionality of the presentation.
As pleased as I had been with my
system’s bass response, with Adept
Response it was simply better. On
Massive Attack’s Mezzanine [Virgin], the
bass beats sounded like clean, tight
thumps—rather than dull thuds. I had
not been aware that I was hearing the
bass beats as thuds until I ran an A/B
comparison with and without the Adept
Response. The improvement in the
sound and feel of the stand-up bass in
Madeleine Peyroux’s Careless Love
[Rounder] is also worth mentioning.
With the Adept Response, the resonance
and physicality of the strings became
much more palatable—thicker without
becoming blurred. What was also more
discernable was the sound of fingers
plucking those thick metal strings.
The ability of the Adept Response to
increase clarity was equally apparent
with female vocalists. Peyroux’s wonderful articulation of the lyrics in “Careless
Love,” her slurs and slides and undula-
tions, subtle as they are, are part of why
she sounds the way she does. I could now
hear how she plays with her pronunciation, and enjoyed her all the more.
Peyroux’s voice also sounded slightly less
nasal with the Adept Response. Norah
Jones’ Come Away With Me [Blue Note]
illustrated how the Adept Response consistently clarified the position of each
performer on the stage and increased the
sense of the air around them.
Finally, an attribute of the Adept
Response that I commented on repeatedly
in my notes was its ability to reveal the
natural decay of instruments. Of course,
this quality had been somewhat audible
before, but what became apparent with the
Adept Response was that the decay had
been truncated, cut off by or lost to a lack
of clarity in my system. The ability of the
Adept Response to reveal the natural decay
of notes, which is admittedly a subtle
attribute of performance, nonetheless contributed enormously to the realism and my
enjoyment of the music.
As one would imagine with players
and instruments cleanly placed in threedimensional space, the depth and width—
but particularly the depth—of the soundstage increased significantly along with
the blackness of the background.
If all of this were not enough, the
Adept Response eliminated a slight,
upper-midrange glare that had been
present in my system and that was particularly apparent with piano music.
The Adept Response made a phenomenal difference in my system.
Fundamentally, it improved the clarity
of recordings by eliminating a previously undetected lack of definition, without
introducing any brightness or most
importantly any coloration. That is
worth repeating. I did not hear any coloration from the Adept Response or any
obscuring of the rhythm of the music.
The Adept Response just made every
recording I listened to more natural and
in turn more musically engaging. Will
the Adept Response make the same difference in other systems? I do not know.
I suspect that, to a certain extent, the
improvements experienced will directly
relate to how corrupted your A/C supply
is. But without question, this line con&
ditioner is worth a listen.
AC outlets: 12
Weight: 16.4 lbs.
Esoteric DV-50s CD player; Aesthetix
Calypso preamp with Mullard Long Plate
12AX7 and Amperex White 6922 NOS
The Details
udience’s Adept Response is available in either a 15A or 20A versions. The faceplate is brushed aluminum with a swirl design reminiscent of Jeff Rowland’s
faceplates, but without the same jewel-like quality that Rowland achieves
through a laser-cutting technique. The faceplate has an on/off switch and a digital LED
display that provides a readout of the incoming voltage. The rear panel has 12 high-conductivity Hubbell power receptacles. The unit also comes with an impressive 6-foot
10AWG Audience power cord with Neutrik 20A PowerCon and Marinco power connectors.
Audience does not discuss—either on its Web site or the sheet that comes with
the unit (there is no owner’s manual)—exactly how the Adept Response does what it
does. What Audience does say is that it designed the Adept Response to “present a
low impedance power path that does not impede dynamics, while providing wide-bandwidth noise reduction and high voltage surge protection.”
MS
A
80
tubes; McIntosh MC 402 power amplifier;
DALI Euphonia MS-5 loudspeakers;
Shunyata Aires interconnects; Shunyata
Gemini bi-wired speaker cables; Shunyata
Diamondback power cables
AUDIENCE
1525 Brian Place
Escondido, California 92025
(760) 743-1997 and (800) 565-4390
audience-av.com
Price: $3800
equipment report
Audio by Van Alstine Ultra Fet Valve 550 Amplifier,
Ultra Hybrid SL Preamplifier, and Ultra DAC
A report on three new and affordable items from audio veteran
Frank Van Alstine
Sue Kraft
othing puts a bigger
smile on my face than
reveling in great-sounding audio gear the average
Joe—or Jolene—can actually afford. Priced at $1299 and $1599,
respectively, the Audio by Van Alstine
(AVA) Ultra SL preamp and Ultra DAC
drive home the point of diminishing
N
prettiest boxes I’ve
ever seen, but even that will
soon be remedied as a revamped faceplate is currently in the works to complement an all-new full-width chassis.
AVA fans can now have their cake and
eat it, too.
The liquidity and ease, combined with particularly
good bass and extension on the top end, make
for a finely tuned balance of the best of tubes
and solid-state
returns in this hobby once again, with
their appealing combination of smoothness, clarity, and wide dynamic range.
Granted, this stuff doesn’t come in the
82
AVA designer and president Frank
Van Alstine has been selling direct from
his home-based factory for over 35 years,
initially modifying Hafler and Dynaco
gear and more recently (within the last
10-15 years) building his own. While
Frank has garnered a reputation among
some as being a bit of a curmudgeon,
I’ve met few who are as down-to-earth
and genuine. On a recent factory tour, I
also had the good fortune to meet Lisa,
one of AVA’s long time technicians and a
perfectionist extraordinaire. Lisa has
been “stuffing circuit boards” for Van
Alstine since the age of seven, when she
would stop by after school to help out
another long-time AVA tech, her mother Patty. After seeing how spotlessly and
methodically Lisa maintains the parts
supply room—heck, the entire factory is
cleaner than my house—I’d definitely
want her to be the one to build my gear.
In addition to the Ultra SL preamp
and Ultra DAC, an Ultra Fet Valve 550
power amp was included in the review
equipment report
package. (Note: the “Ultra” designation replaces the former
“Transcendence Series” moniker for the DAC and preamp and
“EXR” moniker for the power amp.) While the AVA trio was
initially set up as a system, I opted to spend most of my time
evaluating each component individually. All three units utilize
Van Alstine’s patented hybrid vacuum tube circuits, including
high-gain 12AT7A tubes where applicable.
Ultra DAC
Paul Speltz’s Anti-Cable
Speaker Cable
aul Speltz’s “anti-cable” speaker cables are a godsend
to those of us who want good sound but are repulsed
by the astronomically high prices some cable manufacturers are asking for their goods. I know cable manufacturers
need to make a living, and I have no problem with that, but
there’s a limit to what I can conceive of spending on a hunk of
wire. (And yes, I know how essential that hunk of wire can be
to the sonic integrity of one’s system, but when all is said and
done, it’s still a hunk of wire.) Thus the name “anti-cables.”
This stuff goes against everything most high-end speaker
cables are typical known for—like ridiculously high prices,
haute couture designer jackets, and compromised sonics.
At this point, I’ve only had a few weeks to audition them,
so it’s possible that extended listening could reveal a shortcoming or two. But so far, I have to say I’m blown away by the
neutrality and lack of coloration I’m hearing—and by the
absence of any apparent downside. The high frequencies are
open and clear with no tizziness; the midrange has exceptional clarity, transparency, and detail; and the bass is extended,
with remarkable articulation. Miraculously, the cost is only
$80 for an 8-foot pair with spades.
If you visit Paul Speltz’s anti-cable Web site you can read
the story behind these cables along with technical info and
testimonials up the ying-yang. In a nutshell, the anti-cables are
constructed of 12-gauge solid-core copper wire with a very thin
red coating or dielectric. According to Speltz, it’s the minimal
dielectric that accounts for the amazing clarity and virtual lack
of sonic signature. These cables are a bit stiff, but still easy
to work with. They do require shaping to keep off the carpeting and away from other components and cables, but I’d say
the bending and shaping, at most, might take an extra few
minutes per cable.
SK
P
84
Not having played around with an outboard DAC since I moved
last year, I had to spend a few days of search-and-rescue to
unearth my bag of sundry coaxial and other orphaned cables. It
was well worth the effort. While I don’t advocate spending large
green on a digital cable, a little experimenting transformed the
Ultra DAC from simply a nice-sounding component to one I
would consider buying. That’s a huge step. For those who are
curious, I liked the sound best with a Virtual Dynamics David
coax, but there are certainly many other options. The worst performance was with a bottom-of-the-bag generic video cable that
must have come free with a $39 DVD player.
Those who read my budget system review might remember
the Marantz PMD-320 CD player I bought from Parts Express
for $279. I began using it again recently when I finally had the
time to set up a second system in the spare bedroom. Although
the Marantz isn’t a bad player on its own, using it as a transport
in combination with the Ultra DAC was a fairly dramatic as
well as a sonically pleasing upgrade. The vastly improved spaciousness, clarity, and resolution were immediately evident, as
was the greater extension at both ends of the frequency spectrum. While I wouldn’t classify the Ultra DAC as being the last
word in finesse or sophistication, the sound was invitingly pure
and smooth, leaning a bit to the warm side without being overly lush or tubey. But even more essential than the aforementioned attributes, the Ultra DAC has what it takes to make me
want to listen. This “listenability” or “magic” or whatever quality it is that draws us into the music has little to do with a component’s price tag. I’ve heard products selling for substantially
more that didn’t have what it takes to keep me interested. The
Ultra DAC has it, and then some. Just don’t forget the importance of a reliable transport and suitably matched digital cable
in the equation.
Ultra SL preamplifier
The Ultra SL (straight line) preamplifier is similar to the EC
version but with fewer bells and whistles. The SL is available
with a few options such as remote volume control, phono circuit, and buffered tape input/output, but that’s about it. Given
my druthers, I’d do away with the tethered lamp-cord plug in
favor of an IEC jack on the back panel and detachable power
cord. But then again, if it were up to me, and I had the technical wherewithal to know which end of a soldering iron is hot,
I’d probably have an Elrod Statement power cord on all my
kitchen appliances. Truth be told, both the Ultra preamp and
DAC sounded pretty damn good, captive cords and all, and I
equipment report
was ultimately spared the time and
aggravation of having to obsess over
more cable choices.
Combined with the Ultra DAC, the
Ultra SL preamp’s star qualities were
easy to hear when driving the AtmaSphere Novacron OTL amp and
Coincident Super Eclipse speakers. I
absolutely loved this preamp’s wide
dynamic range capabilities. In fact, the
first bass notes I heard listening to Misty
River’s Live at the Backstage Gate [MR]
had me raising my eyebrows almost in
disbelief. As with the Ultra DAC, I was
impressed by the level of smoothness,
detail, and clarity, as well as the transparency and three-dimensionality, of
this wallet-friendly component. The SL’s
liquidity and ease, combined with particularly good bass and extension on the
top end, made for a finely tuned balance
of the best of tubes and solid-state.
AUDIO BY VAN ALSTINE, INC.
2665 Brittany Lane
Woodbury, Minnesota 55125
(651) 330-9871
[email protected]
avahifi.com
Prices: Ulra DAC, $1599; Ultra preamp,
$1299; Ultra power amp, $2199
86
PAUL SPELTZ
2325 Wallingford Lane
Woodbury, Minnesota 55125
(651) 735-0534
[email protected]
anticables.com
Price: $80 (8-foot pair w/spades)
Ultra Fet Valve 550 amplifier
In all honesty, I wasn’t quite as crazy
about the Ultra 550 power amp as I was
about the Ultra DAC and preamp. At
250W per side, the 550 performed reliably enough, but didn’t have the same
engaging nature or level of clarity and
openness I experienced with the two
other components. I was also disappointed with the bass performance. On
the Titanic soundtrack, [Sony 93091]
my vintage 150W Harman Kardon
Citation 16 power amp had notably
more weight and authority as well as
extension in both frequency extremes.
Due to this limited extension on the
bottom end, I’d avoid pairing this amp
with a speaker that might be overly
bright on top, as the skewed balanced
toward the upper registers will wear on
your nerves in short order. Matched
with an efficient and ultra-refined
equipment report
speaker like the Coincident Super
Eclipse, the 550 was smooth enough,
sufficiently detailed and fairly decent
sounding in most other parameters.
In summing up my thoughts on the
Van Alstine gear, I may have been a bit
rough on the Ultra 550 amp—after all,
its faults are mostly of a subtractive, forgiving nature. And for an entry-level
250-watt amplifier, $2199 is a reasonably modest price. Some of the disappointment I felt with the Ultra 550 no
doubt stems from the high bar set by
the Ultra DAC and Ultra SL preamp. In
my view, the smooth, clear, open, and
engaging nature of these two wonderfully affordable front-end pieces could
easily justify a hike in the window
sticker. But don’t take my word for it.
AVA offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on most everything it sells. Have
&
a listen for yourself.
Ultra DAC
Inputs: One RCA coaxial
Outputs: One pair unbalanced RCA
Dimensions: 12" x 11" x 3.75"
Weight: 10 lbs.
Warranty: Three years
Price: $1599
Ultra SL hybrid preamplifier with optional
remote control (adds $299)
Inputs: Four pair unbalanced RCA, two pair
tape
Outputs: Two pair line-out RCA, two pair
tape-out
Weight: 10 lbs.
Price: $1299
Ultra Fet Valve hybrid stereo power amplifier
Power output: 250Wpc
Inputs: One pair unbalanced RCA
Weight: 38 lbs.
Price: $2199
Meridian G08 and Marantz PMD-320 CD
players; Meridian G02 control unit, Sonic
Euphoria passive, and Atma-Sphere MP-1
preamps; Meridian G57 and Atma-Sphere
Novacron OTL amps; Coincident Super
Eclipse, Von Schweikert VR4jr, B&W 800D,
and B&W 704 speakers; Coincident TRS and
Paul Speltz anti-cable speaker cables,
Harmonic Tech Pro Silway 2 and Audio Magic
Trinium interconnects; Cardas RCA to XLR
adapters; Elrod, JPS power cords; Bright Star
Audio and Symposium Svelte shelves; PS
Audio Ultimate outlet; Echo Busters room
treatment
87
equipment report
Revel Performa F52 Loudspeaker
Getting to the essence of a loudspeaker
Neil Gader
ometimes all it takes to identify the essence of a loudspeaker—to
glimpse its soul, if you will—is to hear the way it reproduces the
relative simplicity of a single instrument. If you’re a guitar player, as I am, then Guitar Pleasures by classical guitarist Michael
Newman [Sheffield] is one such recording. Michael Hedges’
Aerial Boundaries [Windom Hill] is another. But the same lesson can also apply
to any solo instrument, from violin to clarinet to piano; when a speaker gets
your instrument right—the timbre and attack, the harmonics and resolution,
you know it. The acoustic guitars of Newman and Hedges were the first
tracks I heard when I fired up the Revel Performa F52, and I immediately
felt the hairs rise on the back of my neck.
While the Revel “house” sound has without exception commanded
my respect, it has at times kept me at arm’s length, not as purely involved
in the music. Revel models skewed toward the clinical, not reproducing
the musical event as much as diagnosing it. The Performa F30 largely
changed my perception, but though it was a standout in its price range
S
You won’t just hear a guitar being
strummed, you’ll be able to hear the
box of the instrument and know
whether it’s a large-bodied dreadnought
or a smaller archtop
it had a couple of colorations (a bit of midbass thickness and treble hardness) that I thought should be corrected.
The F52 has addressed these issues and then some. Of all the Revel
loudspeakers I’ve heard, including the Ultima models, the sound of the F52
turns out to be the most rewarding to listen to and the most elusive to
describe. It may be more cultivated than its predecessor, but don’t for a
minute think that it’s a bashful speaker. It’s a chameleon in its ability to adapt
to the environment and color of a recording. It won’t romanticize a poor
recording, however it will take a naturalistic one (like the Newman) and render
more detail and timbre more clearly than you might have thought possible.
At its core, the F52 is a control speaker. Instrumental images were as delineated as Waterford-cut crystal, and never wavered in their soundstage position.
The F52 articulates and resolves detail equally well at nearly all levels, and nothing sounds generic. For example, you won’t just hear a guitar being strummed,
you’ll be able to hear the box of the instrument and know whether it’s a large-bodied dreadnought or a smaller archtop. Likewise, when you hear Mary ChapinCarpenter sing “This Shirt” from Party Doll [Columbia], you won’t merely follow the
90
equipment report
The sensation of music
arriving naturally at
the ear rather than
being slingshot from a
mechanical apparatus
was superior
beat of a kickdrum behind her vocal;
you’ll hear the combination of the
impact and the quality of padding on
the foot-pedal mallet as it strikes the
drumhead.
Tonally, the Revel is a near-paradigm
of neutrality. Though its presentation is
slightly forward, its middle and upper
middle ranges are open, with none of the
cupped-hands shoutiness that can smear
vocal images. While the F52 shares traits
with earlier Performa models, its performance at the frequency extremes
makes it an entirely different animal. It
outputted solid response well into the
upper 20Hz range, and its low-bass
articulation and extension were the sonic
equivalent of a speaker sporting a set of
six-pack abs. Even on powerhouse symphonies like Vaughn Williams’ Antartica
[Bakels/Bournemouth, Naxos] there was
no sensation of the bass drums, kettledrums, or organ being belched out from
a port. These instruments were reproduced intact—timbral character,
speed, and decay characteristics
unblemished.
I’ve “dinged” many a metaldome tweeter in the past, but the
wave-guided aluminum-dome that
Revel has designed has an airiness, a
lack of constriction or material coloration that seems to allow the
high frequencies to integrate
with the mids with a continuity I’ve not often heard from
multiple-driver systems. The
effect is clear: High frequencies
don’t congregate around the baffle;
instead, they bloom outward. The
openness of the highs, the sensation
of music arriving naturally at
the ear rather than being
slingshot from a mechanical
apparatus, was superior. Male
and female vocals emerged
cleanly from a single point in
the soundspace rather than with
ghostly halo trails at their peripheries. It’s a form of edge detail that
elegantly feathers-in an instrument’s
immediate boundaries without overetching the image. Precision without artifice.
Dynamically the F52’s output across the octaves was noth-
Design and Build
he F52 is the larger of two floorstanders in Revel’s revamped Performa line, a collection that stands midway between its entry level Concerta and premium Ultima
series. The F52 is a three-way, bass-reflex design. It’s outfitted with five drivers
and tips the scales at about ninety pounds. Its narrow front baffle (a full 2.5" thick)
houses an aluminum-dome tweeter recessed in a newly designed Constant Acoustic
Impedance waveguide. The midrange and the trio of in-line woofers are products of
Revel’s Organic Ceramic Composite (OCC) cone technology, a substance that marries
lightness to rigidity—a union known for speed and low distortion. A sub-enclosure
keeps the midrange and tweeter separate from the woofers. Cabinet construction and
finish is of a very high order—the heavy MDF throughout responds to a knuckle rap with
a seriously inert thunk. But Revel doesn’t rely on knuckles as the yardstick. Instead,
this R&D-heavy company (a division of the Harman Specialty Group) employs finite element analysis and laser scanners to double-check enclosure-wall movement. The
speaker employs three individual and isolated steep-slope, high-order crossovers. A
dual pair of inputs at the base of the F52 allows for bi-wire or bi-amp options. There is
a low-frequency compensation switch for Normal, Contour and Boundary, as well as a
tweeter-equalization adjustment over a range of ±1dB in 0.5dB increments.
NG
T
93
equipment report
room, was merely run-of-the-mill.
(Note: Midbass sometimes got a little
heavy in my room, but switching the LF
adjustment from Normal to Contour
dropped the 40–50Hz range down
about 2dB.)
The Performa F52 is a loudspeaker
with the muscle and drive to reproduce
grand music on a vast scale; at the same
time, it has the grace and delicacy of a
solo performer. Its balance is exquisite,
its composure under stress unflappable.
While crowning any component north
of six grand a “bargain” might furrow
the eyebrows of some, a brief audition
should win over even the most hardboiled skeptics. Overall, this is the best
speaker that Revel has ever produced,
and one of the great high-end values. &
Type: Three-way floorstanding loudspeaker
Driver complement: Three 6.5" woofers,
one 5.25" midrange, one 1" tweeter
Frequency Response: 31Hz–20kHz
±0.5dB
Sensitivity: 87.5dB
Nominal impedance: 6.5 ohms
Dimensions: 9.5" x 44" x 17.5"
Weight: 88 lbs.
Sota Cosmos Series III turntable; SME V
pick-up arm; Shure V15VxMR cartridge;
Sony DVP-9000ES and Simaudio Moon
Supernova digital players; Plinius 9200
integrated amplifier: Rel Britannia B3
subwoofer; Nordost Baldur, Crystal Cable,
ing short of Armageddon-like—an
impression gleaned when I began listening to the new Rosanne Cash disc, Black
Cadillac [Capitol]. For example, during
“God Is In The Roses,” the electric bass
puts out so much energy that I could
almost feel the recoil in my gut.
Likewise, Benmont Tench’s piano solo
during “The World Unseen” has a jawdropping moment where he hammers
his piano into a lower-octave nosedive
that could have popped the nails from
the floorboards. The Performa F52 may
be the first speaker I’ve evaluated that
reproduced the full weight and spec-
trum of the grand piano—an instrument
that more than any other separates the
contenders from the pretenders.
Although the F52 already performs
at a very high level, I still don’t believe
its treble is the last word in transparency and speed. It lacks the near-supernatural ease that is commonplace in the ribbon or electrostatic world. The soundstage width was notably wide, and
images often gave the impression of
spreading beyond the outer boundaries
of the speakers themselves. However
front-to-back dimensionality, at least in
the smaller confines of my listening
Kimber Kable BiFocal XL, and Wireworld
Equinox III cables; Wireworld Silver
Electra and Kimber Palladian power
cords; Richard Gray line conditioners;
Sound Fusion Turntable stand
REVEL
Harman Specialty Group
3 Oak Park
Bedford, Massachusetts 01730
(781) 280-0300
revelspeakers.com
Price: $6498
95
equipment report
Focal Profile 918 Loudspeaker
The real deal when it comes to high fidelity
Sue Kraft
he upside of having two listening
rooms at my disposal is, obviously,
being able to audition equipment—
especially loudspeakers—in more
than one acoustic environment.
After all, the room is at least as important as any
other component in the audio chain. The downside to multiple rooms is the chore of actually
having to lug gear back and forth between said
rooms. I’ve “walked” so many speakers up and
down the hallway these past few months, my
dog is starting to get jealous.
Fortunately, the sleek new Profile 918
($4000) from Focal weighs in at only 43
pounds, making it almost light enough to
tuck under my arm and carry. But when it
comes to loudspeakers, putting on a little
extra weight can be a good thing, especially
when you’re trying to keep ’em securely
anchored to the floor. More on that minor
infraction later. For now, I’d rather dive right
into the cream filling and tell you about the
invigorating sparkle and liveliness, all-out
dimensionality, precise imaging, piston-quick
bass response, and ear-pleasing finesse of this
2.5-way floorstander. The 918 is one gorgeous-sounding speaker.
My initial listening session quickly confirmed this might not be the ideal transducer to
pair with a tube amplifier—especially the OTL
variety. No problem there. I’m finding there
aren’t a whole lot of speakers as enamored of
OTL design as the ultra-efficient Coincident
Total and Super Eclipse models are. So I shuffled
a few solid-state amps around and, surprisingly,
settled on the vintage Harman Kardon Citation
16 as the best choice.1 The 150w Citation 16 lit
a fire under the 918, illuminating all manner of
inner detail, extending bandwidth at both frequency extremes, and expanding the soundstage
every which way but forward and fatiguing.
We all have our listening biases; for me, I
want to hear the music breathe with open, clear,
and enthusiastic expression. Given the opportuni-
T
ty, the 918 will pass this test with flying colors—as it did with one of my listening
favorites, Benny Carter’s In the Mood for Swing
[Musical Heritage Society]. Perhaps I’m living
in the past, but I’ll never tire of that disc. Due
to the upbeat tempo and percussive intricacies
of tracks such as “South Side Samba,” a compressed and darkish sounding component just
won’t do this music justice. The 918 will have
you in the mood for swinging from the rafters.
I want to hear the music
breathe with open, clear,
and enthusiastic
expression
Jennifer Warnes’ Famous Blue Raincoat
[Cypress] is another disc I’ll never tire of spinning.
Tracks like “Bird on a Wire” usually invoke flashbacks of my early days as a budding audiophile,
when I first encountered the then-unfamiliar
lingo about soundstage depth and three-dimensionality. The 918 would be a perfect demonstration for the newcomer as to what soundstage
depth and three-dimensionality are all about, as
well as seamless transitions and wholeness of
images. Vocals were naturally smooth and solidly placed, while bass performance was quick and
articulate, never calling attention to itself but
blending succinctly with the pace of the music.
In the numerous listening sessions that
followed, I was never once disappointed with
the performance of the 918, though I did
find the speaker to be more revealing of associated equipment than what I’ve experienced
with other gear in the same price range. In
my book, this can be a very good thing. A
revealing speaker may need a bit more care
1For more on the Citation, see last issue’s TAS Retrospective. —WG
97
equipment report
with system matching, but the extra
effort will be greatly rewarded—much
more so than with a model that has a
for. I’d also like to point out that system
matching has little to do with price. So
don’t make the mistake of simply throw-
The Profile 918 is a speaker you won’t easily tire
of looking at—or listening to
tendency to smooth everything over.
Smoothing over may hide flaws, but in
the process it will mask some of the delicious inner detail and nuance we all live
ing money at your stereo setup without
doing a little research first. The more
expensive component will not always be
the best choice.
One of the better matches I uncovered via some experimentation was outfitting my system with a trio of active
cables from Synergistic Research. (I
made Ted from Synergistic promise that
he wouldn’t “cheat” by sending wires
costing three times more than the speaker itself.) With two pair of Alpha Core
interconnects ($360 each for a one-meter
pair) and a single run of Signature 10
speaker cable ($812.50 for a six-foot
pair) in place, my ears did an auditory
double take at the vast improvement in
transient response as well as top-to-bottom image definition. The Synergistic
cable also helped to tame the high frequencies a notch, which at times—
depending on the recording—could get
to be a little too unforgiving.
The 918 is a very different animal
when compared to a speaker like the
B&W 704. The 704, like every other
B&W I’ve heard to date, has a presentation that is more upfront and personal,
making you feel as if you’re almost a part
of the musical experience. The 918’s
soundstage, on the other hand, begins a
few feet back from the front of the
speaker. This perspective has greater
depth, allowing the listener to hear fur-
Technically Speaking
The Profile 918 is a 2.5-way system housed in a front-ported enclosure. Borrowing
from technologies developed by Focal for the Utopia Beryllium, it utilizes the new 1"
aluminum/magnesium alloy inverted-dome tweeter. Both the 6.5" mid/bass and bass
drivers uses Focal’s latest “W” composite cone technology, which employs two glass
leafs affixed to both sides of a structural foam. Focal believes this patented “sandwich” best addresses the inherent issues of manufacturing a cone that is both light
and stiff, with the least amount of unwanted resonance. For those who want to delve
a little deeper into the technical details, Focal does offer more information online, as
well as a white paper on request.
SK
98
equipment report
ther into the music, but sacrificing the
sense of immediacy of the B&W. Both
presentations can be equally enjoyable,
depending on listening preferences and
associated equipment.
As I said earlier, my only nit-pick
build-wise is that the speaker could use
more heft, like perhaps some lead shot in
the bottom. [Maybe a hunting trip with
Dick Cheney?—JV] Even with the factory-supplied spikes, the 918’s relatively
light weight combined with its small
footprint made for precarious traction on
carpeted flooring. Rather than having to
worry about another speaker being jettisoned into the fireplace by my furry listening companion, I decided to do away
with the spikes altogether and place the
speakers on Symposium Svelte shelves.
This cured the 918 of its wobbly footing.
The Profile 918 is a speaker you
won’t easily tire of looking at—or listening to. It may take a little extra
equipment shuffling to realize its full
potential, but your efforts will not go
unrewarded. If you’re the type who doesn’t want to fuss with system matching,
that’s okay, too. You can still plunk the
918 in your rig, push play, and be perfectly happy. But for those who enjoy the
journey almost as much as the ear-tingling pot of gold at the end, you’ll be
getting your money’s worth and then
some with this sleek French hottie. The
Profile 918 is the real deal when it
&
comes to high fidelity.
AUDIO PLUS SERVICES
P.O. Box 3047
Plattsburgh, New York 12901
(800) 663-9352
www.focal-jmlab.fr
Price: $4000
Type: 2.5-way bass-reflex floorstander
Driver complement: One 1" Al/Mg inverted-dome tweeter; one 6" “W” cone
mid/bass; one 6.5" “W” cone woofer
Frequency response: 40Hz–30.5kHz
Sensitivity: 90dB
Recommended power: 25–175 watts
Impedance: 8 ohms
Weight: 43 lbs.
Meridian G08 and Marantz PMD-320 CD
players; AVA Ultra DAC; Meridian G02
control unit; Sonic Euphoria passive controller; Audio by Van Alstine Ultra preamp;
Meridian G57, Atma-Sphere Novacron
OTL, and HK Citation 16 amps;
Coincident Super Eclipse, Von Schweikert
VR4jr, B&W 800D, and B&W 704 speakers; Coincident TRS, Paul Speltz anticable, and Harmonic Technology speaker
cables; Harmonic Technology and Audio
Magic interconnects; Cardas RCA to XLR
adapters; Elrod, JPS power cords; Bright
Star Audio and Symposium Svelte
shelves; PS Audio Ultimate outlet; Echo
Busters and ASC room treatment
99
E X P L O R I N G
T H E
A R T
A N D
T E C H N O L O G Y
The Cutting Edge
EXOTICA:
The Case of the
Knock at the Door
JONATHAN VALIN
We audio wr iter s
tend to use the word “real” pretty freely, when what we actually mean, as Harry Pearson sagely observed in a recent
Workshop, is “less unreal.” Honest-to-God hi-fi realism is
rare. For example, a few weeks ago I was watching a film on
my home-theater system (which, for the record, currently
consists of MBL omnidirectional loudspeakers—111 E L/Rs
and 121 center and surrounds—Krell and Pass electronics,
and Tara Labs Zero and Omega cabling). Because my dogs—
Cosmo and Gussie—have a habit of coming upstairs and rummaging around the theater room while I’m trying to take in a
flick, I often close the door to keep them out, and had done so
that evening. At some point in the film, someone knocked on
the door of the theater room. I immediately got up, went over,
and opened it, assuming my wife Kathy was outside. Of
course, there was no one outside. The knock had been on the
film’s soundtrack.
If by “realism” we mean this kind of trompe l’oreille (or trick
the ear) effect, then I can probably count the number of “realistic” experiences I’ve had via a stereo system on the fingers of
both hands. But, of course, we don’t mean this. No stereo system I’ve heard can consistently fool you into thinking that
something as dynamically and harmonically complex as, say, a
violin sounds as real as that knock on the door. What a stereo
can do, however, is reproduce aspects of the sound of a violin
more or less realistically.
Over the years we’ve developed an audiophile vocabulary to
describe these sonic aspects. Many of them are also the building blocks of music: pitch, timbre, intensity (dynamics), and
duration. But there are others that have less to do with music
and more to do with its reproduction. For instance, in the case
of the knock that fooled me into opening the door of my theater room, if the noise (and it was a noise not a musical note)
102
had seemed to come from a door pictured in the center of the
video screen, I wouldn’t have moved a muscle (unless, of course,
the noise had been loud and unexpected enough to startle me).
But because the knocking was panned hard right in the soundtrack and because the MBLs are simply superb at soundstaging
beyond their physical locations in the room, the knock was
“imaged” about four feet to the right of the right front speaker
and six feet to the right of my video screen—by sheer chance,
precisely in the plane of the door to my theater room. Even at
that, if the knock had seemed to come from somewhere well in
front of the door or way in back of it, rather than seemingly
from immediately behind it, and had the knocking not been at
the correct height on the door (neither at the top nor the bottom, but approximately in the upper center, where someone
outside would be poised to knock) I might not have been fooled
either (or at least not as instantaneously and completely). Here,
once again, chance and the MBLs’ uncanny ability to image not
just laterally but vertically and in depth—to image in the right
location and with the right physical size—played key parts in
the realism of the sound effect.
Of course, these spatial and scaling issues wouldn’t have
mattered if that knock hadn’t, first and foremost, sounded like
someone knocking on a door rather than, say, a seal barking.
Although a knock on a door is not a musical note (even though
woodblocks and other noisemakers are often used as musical
instruments), it has pitch, intensity, and duration. Here all
three aspects were close enough to an actual knock to fool me
into thinking I’d heard the real deal.
Now, to be fair, our brains and bodies are hard-wired to
react to sudden, loud, unexpected sounds, particularly when
they come from spots that aren’t directly in our field of vision.
The sounds of a violin or a piano, on the other hand, do not
generally trigger a flight-or-fight reaction on our parts. We
don’t get up to answer a Fender Stratocaster—though we often
The Cutting Edge
get up to dance to one. Music shares this with signals and
alarms: Its first effects are on our bodies. We smile or frown or
sway or tap our feet or move our hands and arms and legs and,
tied to these physical reactions, feel emotions of pleasure or sadness or delight. It is these physical effects—and the feelings
they engender—that great stereo systems can transmit more
often and more effectively than lesser ones. Great stereos are literally more thrilling on more music.
Both Robert Harley and Harry Pearson have recently said
in this magazine that, for them, such musical thrills are tied to
the delivery of low-level, performance-related information that
other, lesser gear “scrubs away” or buries beneath its own noise
floor and that tells us, for instance, how a singer is shepherding
her breath when she sustains a note or a violinist is wiggle-waggling a string to add vibrato. I largely agree with this, though
it needs to be said that the addition of performance-related
detail, low-level or high-, results in greater realism to the
extent that it also subtracts from our sense that we’re listening
to an electro-mechanical reproduction.
Over the years those systems I’ve heard that have provided the most thrills—and the MBL 101 E system that I am
listening to now ranks at the top—have had these things in
common in addition to an abundance of low-level, performance-related detail: 1) very large soundfields that extended
well beyond the physical confines of the speakers laterally
and vertically, and well behind them, so the presence of the
speakers themselves was less apparent; 2) large, life-sized
images that, once again, because they were not miniaturized
or pinned to speaker boxes or localized to drivers made the
presence of the speakers less obvious; 3) great action or
bloom that made voices or instruments seem to project out
into the room on fortes and fortissimos and recede back into
the soundfield on pianos and pianissimos, yet again minimizing the presence of the speakers and maximizing the
presence of the vocalist or instrumentalist; and 4) a midrange
transient liveliness or immediacy, akin to the effects of closemiking, that added to the sense that a singer or instrument
was in the room with me.
You’ll have noticed—I certainly did—that most of the
usual audiophile suspects like gorgeous timbre or deep bass or
superior ambience retrieval aren’t on my list. That’s not because
I don’t think they’re important—they are. But, coolly considered, greater “realism” (or less irreality) in a stereo system has
in my experience had more to do with the way a speaker images
(including the way it projects dynamics1) and with its own ability to disappear into the soundfield than with flatness of frequency response or thunderous bass or a sense of hall. Indeed,
most of the speakers that have on occasions fooled me—like
Maggies, Avantgarde Trios, Pipedreams—haven’t been particularly exemplary in these regard or, if they have, it wasn’t these
regards that made them sound realistic. It was first and foremost their magical way of conjuring up the near-physical presence of a singer or instrumentalist. And here a little synesthesia was involved.
In life we see instrumentalists playing their instruments—
it is part and parcel of a musical performance. With a stereo system, we cannot see instrumentalists and, yet, when the stars are
aligned and everything is just right, systems sometimes let us
imagine that we do. It is a fact that every time I’ve been fooled
by a stereo, the feeling that I am, indeed, in the presence of a
real singer or pianist or orchestra has always been accompanied
by a synesthetic sense that I “see” the instrument(s) or performer(s) with greater clarity in greater physicality—that they
are momentarily more there, in the room with me.
It is precisely at this point, I think, that the low-level
details about performance and instrument that Robert and
Harry remarked on make their contributions: They allow us to
more completely visualize what we’re also more completely
hearing—not just what and who are making music but how it
is being made. It is the greater completeness of the stereophonic image, auditory and synesthetic, that sends thrills up our
backs and raises goosebumps on our flesh.
Many stereos are capable of making music sound beautiful, but, to return to that knock in my theater room, beauty
wouldn’t have been enough to get me to my feet to answer
the door. Nope. It was lifelike imaging that did that—imaging that created both an auditory and synesthetic sense of a
fist striking wood and of a human presence behind that knock.
The sound was so real I didn’t even think about its reality. I
just got up and went to the door. The day that a stereo system can create that kind of presence with any and all instruments we’ll have achieved the absolute sound. But I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting. In the meantime we’ll just have
to settle for occasionally losing ourselves in what we know is
a reproduction and thrilling to the expressiveness of what is
being reproduced.
&
1 I think it was Dick Olsher who once pointed out (in Fi) that one of the reasons that big planar speakers, like Maggies, often sound
more realistic on large instruments like grand pianos is that they tend—because of their own physical size, the layout of their drivers,
their linesource delivery, and bipolar soundfield—to project dynamics and harmonics in a way that is closer acoustically to the way that
dynamics and harmonics are actually projected off the large sounding boards of grand pianos. And that despite any anomalies in frequency response or dynamic range, this more lifelike reproduction of the way a piano projects its sound into hall or room goes a very
long way toward creating a more realistic sense of its physical presence. He was right, I think, and not just about pianos. The ability of
a hi-fi system to reproduce the natural size and scale of instruments and the characteristic ways they project sound (and to instantly and
continually register how these things change with changes in pitch, loudness, and performance style) is number one on my list of the
criteria that make for stereophonic “realism.”
104
The Cutting Edge
ROUNDTABLE:
Sonic Realism
NEIL GADER, WAYNE GARCIA, ROBERT HARLEY,
HARRY PEARSON, AND JONATHAN VALIN
Following up on JV’s essay, HP and The Boys have a little
chat about what makes a stereo system sound realistic
ROBERT: Let’s start with Harry. Since you sparked this dis-
cussion with your essay on the ASR Emitter amplifier [Issue
156], maybe you could elaborate a bit on what realism in reproduced music means to you.
HARRY: Well, you know, Jonathan’s essay actually underlined
a point that I kind of tossed off in writing about the ASR Basis,
which rather led me to rethink it. That point was this: Sound
can’t get more real, only less unreal. Meaning that as we proceed into the future—which I think we’re going to do in several ways, by lower noise floors and by multichannel and by
technologies yet to be discovered—we’re going to find that we
keep removing the sense of the mechanical sounds of reproduction, but that that’s not going to necessarily make the reproduction more real. It may, in fact, and this would be my concluding point almost, lead us to an art form which, I’m sad to
say, is not going to be the absolute sound but an absolute sound.
JONATHAN: Here’s something analogous that I’ve noticed in
home theater. As resolution increases in video—actually, you
can already notice this with certain DVDs—you see things that
don’t make actors and actresses seem more real but more artificial. For instance, you see how an actor’s made up for the
camera and lighting. You see the mascara on his eyelids, or
the blush on his cheeks. Things you weren’t intended to
see. My fear is that this is going to get worse with high-definition video, to the point where the artifice becomes clearer, but the illusion of reality—the sense of naturalness, the
sense that you’re watching characters in a drama rather than
actors who’ve been dressed and made up to play characters
in a drama—becomes less convincing. In audio, we tend to
think that higher this or lower that (just pick an item from
the lexicon) will automatically translate into more sonic
realism, but t’aint necessarily so. Some things count more
than others do when it comes to the illusion of lifelike
sound, and they’re not always the most obvious ones.
ROBERT: I think a lack of realism is caused by two
things: a loss of low-level detail, as I talked about in the
MAGICO piece [Issue 160]—subtractive distortions—
A lack of realism is caused by
the loss of low-level de-tail and
colorations added by the rest
of the system —ROBERT HARLEY
106
A stereo can’t get more real, just
less unreal, so we’ll never achieve
the absolute sound, only an
absolute sound —HARRY PEARSON
and additive distortions in terms of colorations caused by everything in the signal path, and the last thing in the signal path
being the room.
NEIL: Maybe it’s because I listen in a small room, but for me
realism is kind of proportional to the scale of the music. I think
I can get a single instrument, maybe two or three, like a small
combo, sounding enormously visceral. However, when it comes
to a large orchestral piece, it doesn’t sound remotely real in my
space, even at the volume I think is absolutely correct.
However, I recall being at Harry’s, and when he would play
large-scale pieces with perhaps 75 instruments, at the correct
volume, his larger space had much more of a sense of realism
than I could hope to attain in a small space.
HARRY: I think this has to do, Neil, with what Jonathan and
I were talking about prior to this discussion, which was that the
vigorous systems move more air, and the first thing you are
aware of in a live experience when you’re hearing an orchestra
is how much air comes rushing at you. Obviously a stereo system that can do this increases the sense of a kind of realism. By
the way, when I say a stereo sounds less unreal, I don’t mean to
say that it doesn’t sound like the real thing at all. I think you
get a lot of the proportions of the real thing. In fact, you can
get a heck of a lot.
WAYNE: For me this whole discussion is tricky because I honestly have to tell you guys that the few times that I’ve actually
felt fooled—you know, momentarily thinking I had a sense of
someone playing a piano or guitar, let alone an orchestra—are
so few and far between that it’s not even something that I really expect from a stereo system.
level performance details that I thought were coming to the fore.
Not necessarily the big, you know, grand gestures of a huge
sound. And I felt that the music for me was getting less unreal
by virtue of just the smallest pianissimos. For example, someone
hitting a snare drum. You can tell the difference between a synthesized snare drum and a real snare drum because the actual
volume of each hit is different each time the guy strikes the
drumkit, and on a great recording or, or as I said, some of the
Super Audio CDs, God rest their souls, you could really hear
those genuine differences, and for me that was thrilling.
ROBERT: I think low-level detail is crucial to this, because it
produces a sense of musical vividness without sonic vividness. It
doesn’t have that in-your-face, up-front detail that calls attention to itself. It’s very subtle, and it gives instrumental timbre
much more texture—a more organic, less synthesized sound.
JONATHAN: It also shows you how a human being—the
touch of a human being or the breath of a human being—has
produced and affected the sound that you’re hearing.
HARRY: I think you’re perfectly right about that. I mean at occa-
ROBERT: That’s absolutely true, and I think it has a multiplying
sional moments something will catch my attention, like Jonathan’s
knock on the door. A certain note will pop out of the texture if I’m
not expecting it, and I think, wow, there’s a recording! But you
don’t get that often, and you’re not going to get that consistently.
effect, because when you get that sense of human touch, you’re
brain interprets that and magnifies it as being a person playing this
instrument and not just a sound appearing from nowhere.
NEIL: You know, it’s interesting—and almost a paradox for
me—that one of the great thrills I got when I listened to a couple good SACD recordings was kind of what you touched on in
your essay, Jonathan, and that was all the very teeny, tiny, low-
HARRY: What I think you should do at this point, Robert, is
summarize some of the points you made in your essay on the
big MAGICO speaker, because you were getting at how it
sounded more lifelike to you, and you brought up some subtle
points that I thought were excellent.
107
The Cutting Edge
The times I’ve been fooled by
stereos are so few that, honestly,
I don’t expect realism from a
system —WAYNE GARCIA
Magnepans. Nobody’d ever seen Magnepans before, so we
didn’t know they were speakers; we thought they were
room dividers. [Laughter] Now, the timbre of that piano—
certainly it sounded like a piano, no question. Whether it
was honest-to-God, on-the-money, the-way-that-pianosounded-in-the-recording-studio, I have no idea. I don’t
think any of us do. That’s what sort of bothers me about
this timbre argument. How do you know what’s right? I
mean, you don’t.
ROBERT: I understand your point now, after you just
explained it.
ROBERT: Well, sitting in front of that system—as soon as I sat
down, the first time I heard it, the first piece of music—I knew
instantly that this was a reproduction unlike I’d ever heard
before in the sense of realistic timbre. It was eerie; it was kind
of spooky; and I had a really strong reaction to it. And it convinced me that it’s low-level detail that does it.
By the way, I was surprised by something Jonathan wrote in
his essay. He said, “You’ll have noticed, I certainly did, that
most of the usual audiophile suspects like great timbre or deep
bass or superior ambience retrieval aren’t on my list.” I was surprised that you would not list timbre as being crucial to realism.
JONATHAN: Well, let me explain what I meant by that.
Maybe I should have explained this in the essay. [Laughs] Timbre
is not a constant; it’s a moving target. The same violin can sound
vastly different in different rooms at different dynamic levels and
different registers, and in different seats in those rooms. Now,
there’s a certain basic quality we could call “violin-ness”—a violin’s always going to sound like a violin; it isn’t going to sound
like a clarinet. But actual tone color is dependent on all sorts of
variables, including how warmed up the instrument is. To go
back to my [chuckles] classic example of being fooled by a stereo,
I went to a hi-fi store in Chicago in 1972, and the store-owner
had these screens set up in front of a grand piano at one end of
the room, so you couldn’t see the whole piano behind the screens.
My wife Kathy and I sat down and somebody started to play the
piano, and Kathy said, “Who’s playing the piano behind those
screens?” Of course the screens were speakers—they were
108
JONATHAN: In retrospect, what fooled me wasn’t the
timbre, although the recorded piano had to sound like a
piano or, of course, I would never have even come close to
being fooled. What fooled me was the lifelike size of the image
and the way those damn screens launched dynamics. They made
dynamics sound like they were coming off a sounding board
and not out of a speaker—not out of a series of cones or, for that
matter, panels. That’s what momentarily tricked me. Of course,
it didn’t hurt that there was an actual piano sitting behind the
screens, either [laughter].
When I thought about it afterwards, I realized the whole
thing had been ersatz; the speakers didn’t have the extension in
the bass or in the treble, little of the thunder or sparkle that a
piano would have. These were Maggie 1-Us, and they really didn’t go up very high or down low. They didn’t have the large-scale
dynamics of a piano, either. I mean, my gosh, a piano is a tremendously dynamic instrument. And they weren’t really neutral,
either. There was a “plastic” sound to the speakers, and you could
hear that after thinking about it for a moment—that’s not the way
a piano sounds. Nonetheless, for a minute, I was genuinely fooled.
HARRY: Well, you know, I think what fooled you, Jonathan,
is the gestalt—what I call the gestalt. That’s what fools us
momentarily.
JONATHAN: Well, it’s presence that fools me. It’s no more
complicated than that.
ROBERT: I think part of it is the steepness of transients is blunted
in recording and reproduction, the way it’s not in real life. And I
think that that’s a large element of why instruments don’t sound real.
HARRY: You know why that is? It’s because nobody can really realistically record high frequencies. All high frequencies are
dynamically reduced so that the encoding system can handle
them. I will never, ever forget sitting in the fourth row at
Philharmonic Hall hearing Leontyne Price singing and how her
voice was so...so overwhelming that I felt the air pressure on my
chest. Now, I say nothing can reproduce that.
WAYNE: I think what Harry was saying about gestalt is really critical, because for me that encompasses a lot of things.
When you mentioned the Magnepans, Jonathan, it’s interesting in that when we were younger, less experienced, less
jaded probably, those early Magnepans for all their faults had
a coherence...well, no, I don’t think that that’s the right
word. They had something about them that for me still
defines some of the most thrilling or “being-fooled” experiences I’ve had over the years.
NEIL: Those speakers are highly flawed in terms of measurement.
JONATHAN: However they measured, they were simply
magical with voices.
HARRY: Did you ever hear anything better in the midbass
than that speaker?
JONATHAN: Nope. It wasn’t that you were transported to
wherever the studio was. On the contrary, they didn’t do ambience all that well. It was that the voice or instrument sounded
there in the room with you. It was present in the room with you.
Those things could do that like nobody’s business. Stacked
Advents could do that sometimes, too.
HARRY: Ho-ho-ho, tell me!
JONATHAN: Magnepans didn’t go very high and they didn’t
JONATHAN: Me, too. Maggie 1-Us.
go very low. Neither did stacked Advents; neither did original
109
The Cutting Edge
Quads. But it’s funny: They could sound realistic more often
than some of the stuff that we listen to now. Not all of the stuff,
but some of the stuff. My point being that if you add good bass,
deep bass, and you add high treble, that doesn’t necessarily add
realism. In fact, sometimes it works against things sounding
realistic. Extending frequency range is a mixed blessing in
some cases, because the sound—
HARRY: It becomes less continuous.
JONATHAN: Exactly, the bass and treble stick out, and you’re
more aware that you’re listening to a reproduction rather than less.
to get rid of those things so we could create a stage of width and
depth, and if that took us away from coherency, it would eventually lead us back.
JONATHAN: Maybe we did have to go through the fire before
we got out of it, but there are speakers now, I’ve heard several,
and Robert just heard one that par excellence can do all of these
things and still retain the midrange presence that’s so crucial to
feeling like you’re in the room with the performer.
WAYNE: Isn’t this why so many guys remain wedded to high-
ly colored horn systems of limited frequency response? Because
they do have that kind of presence.
ROBERT: Did we take a wrong turn?
HARRY: I think we did take a wrong turn in trying to extend
the realism that we had back then over the entire frequency
range and trying to get correct imaging, trying to get a correct
soundfield. Of course, we had to go through the stages that we
went through. We had to get the soundstaging and the imaging field correct, because the reason speakers like the Advents
didn’t work was defractions from the cabinets. We had to learn
110
HARRY: What those horns also have is dynamic nuance.
They’re highly efficient devices, and the more efficient the
device gets, the better the macro dynamics and the micro
dynamics.
ROBERT: That was the lesson from the MAGICO. And when
you get that kind of dynamic nuance, that’s what spooks you,
because that’s what sounds real.
JONATHAN: To me dynamics are the whole ball of wax—or
the way they get projected is the whole ball of wax. It’s a kind
of imaging in a way. Dynamic imaging, if you will. The way
dynamics get projected into the room, what I’ve called action,
is crucial to feeling like something is there. Consider the way air
gets projected from a singer’s mouth—Harry’s Leontyne Price
experience, for example. A voice isn’t imaged flatly in a single
plane, like it is on a stereo system. It is projected out at you, with
power and size and impact.
HARRY: This is where you work dimensionality in, because when
you hear a singer, you also hear the chest and the body sound.
JONATHAN: You get the whole thing. To put this a little
differently, the more a stereo system operates on you viscerally—and I don’t mean inducing vomiting or something
like that [laughter]—the more that it gets your toes tapping, your butt moving, your arm waving as if you’re conducting, your attention riveted, the more engaged you
become with the music! You don’t sit there thinking about
the quality of the soundstage or dynamics or timbres.
You’re too involved with the performance. And that’s the
way music affects you in life!
HARRY: I agree. I think we all agree, but that’s also not necessarily the same thing as having it sound realistic.
JONATHAN: No, it’s not. But it makes the experience of listening to a stereo more like the experience of listening to music
at a concert. Not the sound per se, but the listening. In that
sense it is more real—and certainly more enjoyable.
ROBERT: You know, there’s one aspect of realism we haven’t
talked about that’s hard to identify with any specific sonic
attribute, and that’s a sense of music-making, where you’re listening to the music and you sense people making music and
playing music spontaneously, contemporaneously, as you’re listening to it, where it doesn’t sound...just like sounds. There’s a
human element to it. To me that’s tied to low-level detail about
how the sound is made—little nuances in the sound that identify the mechanism by which the sound was produced.
NEIL: And some products convey that more than others, where
you get a sense of it happening spontaneously.
111
The Cutting Edge
For me realism is proportional
to the scale of the music: I can
get one or two instruments to
sound quite visceral
—NEIL GADER
HARRY: One of the things about this, when
great musicians are at work and even sometimes
not-so-good ones, you get off on their interplay,
and the better the system in terms of reducing the
distractions, like noise, etc., the more the musician stands revealed technically and emotionally.
ROBERT: Especially in jazz, for me.
JONATHAN: Well, for me it’s classical, and it
is true that when you hear something like, oh,
say, Heifitz’s spiccato bowing really well reproduced, you do get a reaction of joy, because it’s
almost superhuman that somebody could play
that well—that he’s that marvelous.
HARRY: That moment, for example, in Scheherazade, when you
hear Adolph Herseth triple-tongue the trumpet in the last
movement. That’s just musically thrilling, and it’s also
thrilling to see somebody with that kind of virtuoso technique.
And it’s one of the small aspects that make up the music experience, the reason we do this.
JONATHAN: I have a final question. How does this, all of
what we’ve been saying, how does this relate to the absolute
sound? We have this model, which I happen to believe is the
correct model, but what we’re saying tacitly is we’re never
gonna get there.
HARRY: Well, I have the answer to this one. This is the one
I’ve been sweating over, and it will be the theme of an essay
to come. What’s going to happen is this, I believe: We’re not
going to achieve the absolute sound. What we are going to
do with multichannel and lowered noise and all the new
strategies at our disposal, however, is we are going to create
an illusion of the absolute that is completely convincing on
its own terms. Remember that we’re not recording reality; it
cannot be recorded naturally. So all recording is basically
artifice, and it is all an illusion. What we’re gonna do is we’re
going to transport ourself into the recording site, but we’re
not going to transport it into us. We’re going to create a separate parallel universe, a parallel reality. I don’t think we’ll
ever do the absolute sound. It’s nice to have it as a standard
so we can judge things like dynamics and micro dynamics,
and we won’t abandon the standard, but that’s not where
we’re going. Where we’re going is toward a totally envelop&
ing albeit artificial experience.
To me dynamics—or the way they
are projected—are the whole ball
of wax —JONATHAN VALIN
112
The Cutting Edge
The Goldmund
SR System
114
A $55,000 PEEK INTO
THE DIGITAL FUTURE
ALAN TAFFEL
he Goldmund SR is far more
than a fine-sounding audio
system, though it certainly is
that. As a particularly comprehensive implementation of a
bold new digital architecture,
it serves as a referendum on
the probable future of home audio itself—
and our progress toward it.
T
That future—already a virtual fait accompli in the video
world—is one in which content is kept within the digital
domain as long as possible. Several factors are driving this
movement. As with video, there are inherent qualitative advantages to minimizing format conversions. Since most music is
now recorded digitally, that means keeping it digital throughout the storage, distribution, and playback chain. Digital also
holds at least theoretical superiority as a transport medium.
Unlike analog signals, which experience degradation with every
copy, conveyance, and control (including volume), digital bits
arrive looking pretty much as they did upon departure. And any
processing along the way—to derive a subwoofer channel, for
example—is far less expensive and invasive when done digitally. Obviously, though, fully leveraging these advantages dictates
extending the digital domain as far as possible, from end to end
being ideal.
Most of the elements of such an end-to-end digital distribution infrastructure are in place; ironically, our own audio systems are the laggards. But there are compelling explanations for
this situation. One is that there exists no speaker analogous to
the DLP, LCD, and plasma displays that now dominate the
video market. Consequently, digital audio signals must
inevitably revert to analog before they can be heard. At the same
time, though storage media have migrated to digital, source signals
remain adamantly analog. LP is, of course, analog by nature.
SACD and DVD-A, though innately digital formats, can only
be accessed in analog form. That leaves only CD as a potentially digital source. In practice, however, the overwhelming popularity of CD players with built-in DACs has rendered the format analog from the system’s perspective.
115
The Cutting Edge
In sum, current audio systems see
only analog inputs, and are obliged to
provide analog outputs. Accordingly, by
the same format-conversion-avoidance
mantra that justifies digital systems,
pure analog systems make the most
sense today. This will change, though,
with the looming arrival of new sources
such as HD discs and high-res downloads that present themselves to the system in a pure digital format. Add to
these the aforementioned inherent
advantages of digital, along with the
trend toward integrating audio into
video systems—which, as previously
noted, are already entirely digital—and
a digital audio future seems assured.
Implementing that simple vision
necessitates a sea change in thinking
about audio-system topology. Instead of
converting digital content to analog at
the front end of the system, as is now the
case, the conversion must occur at the
last possible moment—preferably right
before the speaker. This has ramifications for analog sources, which are wholly incompatible with such a playback
scheme. The only solution is to transpose them to digital as they enter the
system, in stark contrast to the current
practice of zealously preserving analog
in its natural state.
There are partial examples of this
new approach on the market today—
Meridian products come first to mind—
and more are coming from companies
such as Theta. But none is as comprehensive or uncompromising as
Goldmund’s SR system. Within the SR’s
single-minded architecture, analog
inputs are immediately converted to
digital; there is no analog-bypass option.
The “preamp”—in reality a powerful
digital signal processor (DSP)—offers
only digital outputs and includes nary
an analog gain stage. DACs and power
amps reside within the speakers, thereby
shortening the analog signal path to
mere inches.
Though radical by today’s standards,
the SR actually represents the next-generation audio system. What does such a
system look and sound like? How close
are we to achieving an all-digital system
116
that rivals pure analog? And do the benefits of digital transport, when coupled
with their unavoidable format conversions, outweigh the losses endemic to
pure analog? The SR system, with its
purist implementation, provides rare
insight into these fundamental questions.
Three primary components comprise the SR: the SRDVD, a heavily
modified, Pioneer-based, universal player; the SR8 multichannel digital preamplifier; and the Logos speakers. The latter may be ordered in various configurations. In my test system, each channel
consisted of a Mini Logos Active satellite speaker, plus a likewise-active Logos
Sub, which boasts dual, opposed, side-
Instead of converting
digital content to
analog at the front
end of the system,
the conversion must
occur at the last
possible moment—right
before the speaker
firing woofers. The Mini Logos and
Logos Sub are precisely positioned one
atop the other by the Logos Frame.
The best way to understand the SR’s
unorthodox architecture is to follow a
bitstream from entry to exit. The
SRDVD reads bits from any disc and
either converts them to analog (in the
case of SACD and DVD-A) or routes
them to its digital output. The analog
stream then traverses a pair of
Goldmund’s Lineal interconnects, while
the bits follow a Lineal digital cable.
Upon entering the SR8, all inputs are
converted to 94kHz/24-bit digital, since
that is the native rate of the DSP. In the
case of incoming analog signals, the conversion is performed by a Goldmundproprietary A/D processor. The DSP
then sets volume, decodes multichannel
bitstreams into individual channels, and
serves as an active crossover for the biamped downstream speakers. From the
SR8, bits emerge through multiple digital outputs, travel to the speakers, enter
their digital inputs and are finally converted to analog by internal Goldmundbuilt DACs. The now-analog signal is
handed off to an adjacent 200-watt,
ultra-high-bandwidth
Goldmund
amplifier, which drives the speakers to
produce sound.
Notice the unprecedented level of
end-to-end and vertical integration—
unique in the highly-specialized high
end—of this system. Every major and
minor component, down to the cables,
power cords, and speaker frames, is built
by Goldmund. Likewise, at the subcomponent level, the company has
eschewed off-the-shelf chips in favor of
proprietary conversion modules and inhouse software. Further, each of the
three primary components incorporates
Goldmund’s own AC-line-filtering technology and its patented Mechanical
Grounding system to vanquish sonically
deleterious micro-vibrations. Clearly,
the SR is a “system” in a far more profound sense than we typically encounter.
Goldmund systems have historically been characterized not so much by a
particular sound as by a set of sound
qualities. These include: a purity that
allows details to emerge naturally; a
degree of openness that, for example,
enables uncannily realistic overtone
structures and which can only be conferred by essentially unlimited bandwidth; unbounded dynamics along
with lightning-fast dynamic reflexes;
and the ability to trace, say, a brisk
piano run without a hint of the slurring
we have come to deem unavoidable.
These qualities have created a cadre of
devotees who, despite this gear’s atrocious cost, are spoiled for anything else.
I admit to being among them. For over
fifteen years—an unprecedented
span—my reference system has been
Goldmund-based.
The SR system does not sound quite
like its ancestors, though it certainly
exhibits many of their traits. The most
The Cutting Edge
Goldmund-esque of the SR’s attributes
is its clear, detailed sound. In typical
Goldmund fashion, the SR finds and
extricates the buried sonic minutiae—
textures of instruments, a room’s
acteristics, for instance, are exemplary.
The SR’s modest-sized speakers throw a
surprisingly large soundstage. Especially
impressive is their layered depth.
Imaging is perfectly precise yet, again,
Every major and minor component, down to
the cables, power cords, and speaker frames,
is built by Goldmund
acoustics, tiny expressive flourishes—
that add so much to the musical experience. As always, these details are rendered naturally, without edginess or
analysis. Dynamics, too, have a realistic
snap that I hear in very few systems.
Indeed, someone not accustomed to
hearing these qualities would likely find
the SR system revelatory.
The SR also accomplishes a raft of
more commonplace, but nonetheless
important, audiophile feats. Spatial char-
natural. The Logos Subs deliver satisfying extension, grunt, and precision. No
doubt the latter contributes to the overall system’s rhythmic infectiousness.
Compared to my analog reference
system, the SR has a more modest scale,
less powerful bass, and a slightly
reduced dynamic range. These tradeoffs
are doubtless due to the greater size and
sensitivity of my reference speakers,
which also benefit from being supplemented by an outboard 15" subwoofer.
In any case, as I have indicated, the SR is
no slouch in any of these areas. On the
other hand, I can see no obvious reason
why the SR shouldn’t match the reference system’s unlimited sense of space
and airiness. Instead, the SR places a
definite ceiling over the sound. To be
sure, the ceiling is higher than on many
other systems, but it is not up to
Goldmund standards. Through the SR,
for instance, CDs that are particularly
open, such as Teldec’s live recording of
Mahler’s First Symphony or my trusty
Michael Wolff Trio 3am [Cabanna Boy],
sound run of the mill. Their superior
extension is inaudible because they hit
that virtual ceiling.
Does this phenomenon arise due to
speaker limitations or due to the underlying digital technology having an
absolute brickwall bandwidth of 48kHz,
at best? Unfortunately, I could not
determine the answer. The Mini Logos
and Logos Subs do provide line-level
The SR System in Operation
D
espite its internal complexity, the SR system is
a snap to use. The SRDVD, like all universal
players, automatically selects the highestquality format on the inserted disc and simply begins playing. The SR8 has only two front-panel
controls, one for source-switching, the other for volume. Not only are the speakers plug and play, but
they are quite forgiving of location and generate a
nice broad sweet spot. Conversely, despite its outward
simplicity, the SR system cannot be installed by a consumer. The process is a very high-tech affair that
employs a laptop, sophisticated software, and a wireless control pod.
Ironically, despite Goldmund’s fastidious integration within and between the SR’s components, there
are some glaring oversights. For instance, while every
unit is identically enclosed in the company’s elegant
silver anodized-aluminum chassis, the SRDVD’s display
is blue, while the SR8’s is red. When the two are
stacked, they look weird. Similarly, the two components’ remotes could hardly be more dissimilar. The
SRDVD’s is a re-badged plastic Pioneer device, whereas the SR8 remote gets the full Goldmund treatment—
solid as a brick. Nor was there any thought given to
118
integrating the remotes functionally; though both
work perfectly well, you actually need both of them.
The SRDVD offers no means of changing audio formats on the fly when playing hybrid SACDs. Also, the
SR8 lacks an input-level adjustment. Not only can’t it
match input levels, but it could not boost my phonostage’s output sufficiently to achieve anything beyond
modest volumes. If you are considering the SR system
and plan to connect a turntable, first ensure your
phonostage has sufficient gain for the SR8.
At times the SR system exhibited a rather disconcerting inconsistency in its sound. The main review
describes the way it sounded the vast majority of the
time. However, there were occasions when a textural
grain on vocals appeared, and others when there was
a distinct lower-midrange suckout. Digital gremlins at
work? I never could trace the causes.
It is worth noting that the SR8 is as comfortable as
a home-theater controller as it is playing music. It
decodes all major multichannel film formats, such as
Dolby Digital. All that is needed to transform the SR into
a multichannel system is to add two or more Mini
Logos Active speakers, which run $5k apiece including
AT
built-in amplifiers.
The Cutting Edge
analog inputs, which should have
allowed me to test them in an analog
environment. But four speakers with
four analog interconnects and four
power taps is a sure recipe for ground
loops, and I got them in spades. I tried
every ground and outlet configuration
possible in my listening room; none
could banish the plague, which alternately produced a loud hum or simply
shut the speakers down.
While I cannot isolate the source of
the SR’s reduced upper-end extension,
the SR has other limitations that are
almost certainly digital in origin.
Cymbals are a particularly revealing
example. If the aforementioned Mahler
has one cymbal crash in the last three
minutes, it has twenty. Through the
reference system, each crash has a distinctive frequency and dynamic enve-
120
lope, then trails off gradually just like
a real cymbal. Through the SR system,
the crashes all sound much the same—
more like crinkled cellophane than a
true cymbal—and all conclude abruptly. The former error may be bandwidth-related—and therefore possibly,
but not certainly, digital in nature—
but insufficient dynamic resolution to
accurately depict decays is a classic
digital artifact. Likewise, the SR
exhibits less finely graduated dynamics
than the reference—another manifestation of insufficient dynamic resolution
in the digital domain.
I found two areas in which the SR,
despite being significantly less expensive, actually bettered my reference system. I have already mentioned the
deeply layered depth of the SR’s soundstage. In this respect, along with its
near-holographic imaging, the SR
trumps my reference. Whether this is
due to some superiority in its digital
topology or simply because the Logos
are outstanding in this respect, once
again I cannot say. The second realm in
which the SR reigns supreme is that of
background noise. In the SR system,
there is absolutely none. Is the thing
turned on? Impossible to tell. This contrasts with my reference which, though
reasonably quiet, does impose a noticeable and unwanted “ambient” noise on
the atmosphere of the room. Since noiselessness is a primary characteristic of
digital technology, the SR’s still background is almost surely an advantage
conferred by its digital genes.
Compared to analog systems, digital variants impose two additional format conversions on the signal: from
analog to digital at the front end, and
back to analog at the rear. Even within
their own architecture, digital systems
subject analog sources to one more conversion than they do digital sources. In
theory, this puts analog sources at a disadvantage in digital systems, and my
experience with digital controllers confirms it. When controllers convert analog signals to digital, rather than passing them through via a bypass feature,
the results are never pretty.
So I was stunned by the SR8’s ability to transpose analog to digital with
barely any telltale degradation. I can
only surmise that Goldmund’s proprietary A/D converter is leagues ahead of
third-party chipsets. With Nickel
Creek’s latest, very naturally recorded
CD Why Should the Fire Die? [Sugarhill],
undergoing the conversion renders the
sound slightly “softer” in focus and adds
just a barely noticeable grain to textures.
This is far, far less damage than typical
A/D converters inflict. Further, despite
my abhorrence to subjecting higher-resolution analog sources to digital conversion, DVD-As, SACDs, and yes, even
LPs sound superb—and duly superior to
CDs—in the SR system. The significance of this finding cannot be overstated. Benign A/D conversion is a prerequisite for the success of all-digital systems.
The SR, for the first time, demonstrates
that it can be done.
lthough my assignment
was to treat the SR as a
standalone system, I
could
not
resist
exchanging a couple of
elements with competitive offerings. I did so in order to learn
more about the SR’s sound, but I ended up
gaining important and surprising insights
into the state of digital technology.
First, I compared the SRDVD to my
reference Goldmund Mimesis 36 CD
transport within both my reference and
the SR systems. The SRDVD is a formidable universal player, and I have yet to
encounter another that is superior.
(Mind you, I haven’t heard Goldmund’s
$89,000 Eidos Reference, or even the
A
$39,900 Eidos 36.) But when the
SRDVD is used as a transport and compared to the Mimesis 36, the latter is
clearly superior. The 36’s lower noise
floor allows sound to “pop” out of the
background, generating more dimensional instruments and singers. This
phenomenon can be readily heard on the
guitar introduction to Norah Jones’
“What Am I to You” from Feels Like
Home [Blue Note]. Also, like the SR system as a whole, the SRDVD rolls off the
extreme highs compared to the 36’s
unbounded openness. Lastly, the transport’s timing is more locked in than that
of the SRDVD, which can sound rhythmically confused on occasions.
Given the Mimesis 36’s substantially higher cost and devotion to one specific task, these results might well be
expected. On the other hand, aren’t the
SR8 and similar components supposed
to clean up any jitter in incoming signals through buffering, re-clocking, and
the like? In the case of the SR system,
such efforts are only partially effective.
The system’s overall timing, for
instance, is better than that of the
SRDVD itself, indicating an improvement bestowed by the SR8. But clearly
the SR8 cannot turn the SRDVD’s bits
into the 36’s pristine stream.
I also compared the SRDVD with
Ayre’s C-5xe, a highly touted universal
player priced similarly to the SRDVD. I
consider the choice a toss-up. The Ayre’s
sound is better paced and more beautiful, but the SRDVD is singular in its
ability to reveal the textural essence of
instruments, and is purer, lacking the
subtle grain that afflicts the Ayre.
Where the Goldmund’s CD performance
feels limited in terms of high-frequency
extension, the Ayre is similarly limited
in dynamic range. Both units sound
much freer playing DVD-As, better still
with SACDs.
By far the most dramatic sonic
change wrought by my tinkering arose
not from substituting source components, but from swapping out a far more
mundane element: the digital cables.
Specifically, I pulled Goldmund’s Lineals
in favor of my reference cables, the
121
The Cutting Edge
SRDVD
Formats: CD, Video CD, CD-R, CD-RW, SACD,
DVD, DVD-Audio, DVD-R, DVD-RW, MP3
Number of Channels: Six
Type of Outputs: S-video, component video
(3), coax digital, optical digital, stereo analog, multichannel analog
Dimensions: 17.3" x 2.5" x 12"
Weight: 20 lbs.
SR8
Decoding Formats: Dolby Digital, Dolby
Digital EX, DTS, DTS-ES, Dolby Pro Logic II,
DTS Neo:6, LPCM
Inputs: Stereo analog (3), coax digital (4)
Outputs: Coax digital (4)
Dimensions: 17.3" x 2.4" x 20"
Weight: 24 lbs.
Mini Logos Active
Driver complement: One 13cm midrange,
one 1" dome tweeter
Frequency Response: 50Hz–22kHz
122
Sensitivity: 90dB
Impedance: 6 ohms
Internal Amplifier Power: 200 watts
Dimensions: 10.6" x 8.7" x 7.9"
Weight: 33 lbs.
Logos Sub
Driver complement: Two 25cm woofers
Internal Amplifier Power: 200 watts
Dimensions: 12.6" x 12.6" x 12.6"
Weight: 55 lbs.
Goldmund Studietto turntable; Graham 2.2
tonearm; Clearaudio Insider Gold cartridge;
Goldmund Mimesis 36 CD transport &
Mimesis 12++ DAC; Arcam FMJ DV-27A
DVD/DVD-A player; Goldmund Mimesis 22 and
Aesthetix Calypso preamps; Goldmund
Mimesis 29.4 power amplifiers; Metaphor 1 &
2 speakers; Thiel SS2 and B&W ASW850 subwoofers; Empirical Design cables and power
cords; Goldmund cones; ASC Tube Traps
Empirical Design 118s. In doing so, I
reduced the SR system’s cost by a cool
$5000 while markedly improving its
sound. Indeed, I must now confess that all
the SR system attributes described above
were achieved with ED rather than
Goldmund digital cables. Initially, of
course, I used the Lineal. But a grainy
hash infused the sound, especially the
midrange, and the overall dynamic range
seemed constricted. Pace was likewise
lackluster. As a result, the SR system with
Lineal, though not without impressive
qualities, failed to hold my attention for
long. It also sounded oddly “canned.” The
improvement wrought by swapping in
the ED cables was not slight—it was
transformative. The noise floor dropped
like a free-falling elevator. The distasteful
hash evaporated. Bass became tauter, and
rhythms became infectious; my toes, stubbornly motionless beforehand, began tap-
ping to everything. Finally, a wealth of
previously cloaked dynamic and timbral
detail emerged. In short, what was once
very pleasant background music was now
riveting enough to command centerstage.
Again the question arises: Should
this be the case? When simply swapping
digital cables yields such strikingly contrasting results, we clearly have not yet
arrived at the what-goes-in-comes-out
digital utopia.
Many elements of the SR system
augur well for an all-digital future, even
as the system itself demonstrates that we
are not quite there yet. The SR retains the
lion’s share of attributes that differentiate
Goldmund products from most offerings
on the market—a formidable achievement. Furthermore, the SR confirms that
it is possible, given the right technology,
to confidently incorporate analog sources
into systems that are digital by design.
But the SR also evinces artifacts—
discontinuous dynamic shifts, curtailed note decay—that are unquestionably digital in nature. It also does
not make a convincing case that digital
transport is yet the robust panacea its
fans purport it to be. While analog signals are subject to noise, interference,
and degradation, digital signals are
apparently subject to different forms of
the same thing. Moreover, there was
only one area—background noise—in
which the digital nature of this system
gave it a sonic leg up on my analog reference system.
These are still early days for the
technology and topology that underpins
the SR system. Even so, Goldmund has
already demonstrated that such systems
are capable of very good sound, and that
they can incorporate analog sources
with surprising impunity. The video
industry instructs us that, given time
and sufficient technical resources, digital can improve to the point where it
surmounts all but the very best analog.
A similar evolution in music no longer
&
seems far-fetched.
GOLDMUND USA
21250 Califa Street, Suite 111
Woodland Hills, California 91367
(818) 719-6559
goldmundusa.com
[email protected]
Prices: SRDVD, $5950; SR8, $5900;
Mini Logos Active, $9900 (pair); Logos
Subs, $6990 each (system included
two); Lineal Digital, Lineal Interconnect,
Goldmund Power Cords (assorted
lengths), $12,375; Logos ’n’ Sub Frame,
$1690 each (system included two)
123
Manufacturer Comments
Esoteric X-03
We greatly appreciate the X-03 product review and evaluation by The Absolute Sound
(Issue 161). The Esoteric “X3” series represents the first time that our vibration-free
rigid-disc clamping system (VRDS) has been made available to consumers at price
points below $8000. Previously, VRDS was only available at $13,000 and above. We
feel this product review is fair, balanced, and accurate in relation to the performance
characteristics of the Esoteric X-03.
One important point of clarification: The Meitner reference system highlighted for
comparison purposes, in the configuration described, retails for over $19,000. This is
more than two-and-a-half times the cost to the end user of the Esoteric X-03. Keeping
this in mind, we believe Esoteric offers an exceptional value to the consumer at $7500
with the X-03 VRDS.
MARK GURVEY
DIRECTOR, SALES & MARKETING, ESOTERIC DIVISION
Lector Phono Amp System mkII
Thank you for Mr. Heilbrunn’s review of the Lector Phono Amp System mkII. We would
like to add a few technical considerations that may shed further light on this unit.
The unit has a very high signal-to-noise ratio, making it possible to use MC
cartridges with outputs as low as 0.2mV. The frequency response is linear from 20
to 20k cycles thanks to the passive RIAA design. These two features combine to
make an exceptionally quiet phono preamplifier. Additionally, the magnetic noise
floor is lowered remarkably through the utilization of the machine’s separate
power supply, which employs three toroidal power transformers. It must also be
noted that the output impedance of the phono system is 200 ohms, which allows
compatibility with nearly every line preamplifier or integrated amplifier on the
market.
Finally, as with all tube source equipment, the performance and sonic quality of
this unit can vary greatly depending upon which tubes are employed. For that reason,
it should be noted that the unit reviewed employed the stock tubes supplied by the
manufacturer.
As a side comment, while we agree that the phonostage “effortlessly gets out of the way
of the music,” this leaves us to wonder what makes “the ultimate phonostage” more special?
Again, thank you for this detailed and compelling review.
VICTOR GOLDSTEIN, FANFARE INTERNATIONAL
Outlaw Audio Model 990 Controller and Model 7125
Multichannel Amplifier
The Outlaws were audiophiles long before we were “theaterphiles,” and because of that,
each and every component that we deliver is also extensively evaluated in the two-channel domain. While opinions on soundstage and imaging (both of which are heavily influenced by external factors) will vary, we were pleased to see Neil’s comment that the
Model 990/Model 7125 combo had a “sense of musicality that eases the soul”—a fantastic two-channel endorsement for a product that was born with surround sound at heart.
SCOTT JACKSON
SALES MANAGER, OUTLAW AUDIO
Thanks to Jim Hannon for taking the time to listen to the GCC-100. I am delighted
with his comment of “stunning transparency” and “extended and dynamic bass,” and
his great definition of what a Gain Cell is and what our unique Variable Gain amplifier is all about. His comment that the GCC-100 “doesn’t sugar-coat or caramelize
anything” points to my objective in designing an amplifier that does not add or subtract anything from the source.
124
His comment that the amp didn’t have the warmth and
“sparkle” of other integrateds is one we’re familiar with because
it fits in with our design goals of not adding or subtracting
from the sound. But is that bad? So many audiophiles have
come to live with (and in some cases enjoy) system colorations
and biases of associated loudspeakers, cables, and power conditioning products that the once Holy Grail of a “straight wire
with gain” seems to have taken a left turn somewhere around
Barstow. I remember the days when HP, among others on the
TAS masthead, would fall in love with something and work for
months seeing if he could maximize its performance within the
system. Then the review was written with all the background
of what was needed to get the last drop of performance from
some designer’s hard work.
Those that have taken the time to do so with our equipment
have been rewarded in spades with a wonderful audio product—
the seeds of which Jim correctly identifies here in this short review.
PAUL MCGOWAN
CHIEF AUDIO WHACKO , PS AUDIO
Van Alstine Ultra SL preamplifier, Ultra DAC, and
Fet Valve Ultra 550 Amplifier
Thanks very much for the review of our Ultra SL preamplifier,
Ultra DAC, and Fet Valve Ultra 550 amplifier. It feels so good
to realize that our hard work and efforts are appreciated by the
experts in this challenging field of endeavor
Regarding Sue’s thoughtful evaluation, there is little that I
can add or complain about; it’s a fair and useful evaluation. I
would like to note that my recent illness has put us a bit behind
on final development process of the Fet Valve 550 Ultra amplifier. We have significant upgrades to this product that had to
be put on hold and could not be supplied to Sue, and her observations of the power amplifier performance reflect this. We do
have improved tube biasing and a complete regulated output
circuit ready to be tooled as soon as we can get back to normal
here. This will provide a much better amplifier and will be
retrofitable to current customers.
Thanks for your attention.
FRANK VAN ALSTINE
PRESIDENT, AUDIO BY VAN ALSTINE, INC.
Era Design 4 Loudspeaker
Thank you for the wonderful review. Since the design 4's are
only 84dB efficient, we typically recommend a minimum of
100 watts per channel but were glad to hear the Cambridge 60watt integrated sounded good through them most of the time.
At the same time, we feel that if a bit more power were at hand,
no high-frequency overloading would have occurred. I personally use a 250-watt-per-channel integrated to drive the D4s or
D5s, and they remain smooth across the upper register.
According to CEA statistics, women now make up 82.5%
of all consumer-electronics decisions, so the speakers had to be
beautiful. Also, the majority of consumers now buy small
speakers that fit their décor. We wanted to provide an "audiophile" alternative to the under-performing, albeit stylish "mini"
speaker systems that are in no short supply in today's market.
We feel neither style nor size should dictate poor performance,
but nonetheless, it has.
JIM SPAINHOUR AND DAVID SOLOMON
125
m u s i c
JAZZ
Jazz Caps
RECORDING OF THE ISSUE
Fred Hersch: In Amsterdam: Live at the
Bimhui. Hersch and Matt Balitsaris, producers; Jurre Wieman, engineer. Palmetto
2116. Music: HHHH 1/2 Sonics: HHHH
Matthew Shipp: One. Shipp and Peter
Gordon, producers. Thirsty Ear 57166.
Music: HHHH Sonics: HHH
n the upper echelon of jazz pianists,
Fred Hersch and Matthew Shipp may
seem polar opposites: Hersch, lithely
lyrical, is a devotee of Bill Evans; Shipp,
percussive and brash, comes more from a
Cecil Taylor vibe. Yet their two new
albums, both solo ventures, show them
flitting toward a sort of convergence.
Hersch is more dynamic and restless than
usual; Shipp roams for stretches in pastoral loveliness. Their albums even start
out similarly: Hersch tapping a single
note, over and over, till it segues into the
stirring melody of a ballad; Shipp pounding the same sequence of chords, varying
the overtones just slightly, until they
form a cascade of tonal colors. Both
pianists are masters of multiple rhythms.
They shift seamlessly from melody to
harmony and, within that, from dense
clusters to wide-open church-bell chords.
Yet neither is a self-indulgent virtuoso;
they’re both immersed in the music, and
their high-styled excursions only deepen
its mysteries and joys. There are passages
on both recordings that evoke the sonic
waterfalls of Debussy or Ravel. But they
I
Star Ratings Key:
128
H Poor
Fred Hersch
never stumble into brow-furrowed
“chamber jazz”; the blues and a swayful
swing are always present.
Still, you’d never confuse the two in
a blindfold test. Shipp is essentially an
expressionist. He sifts through musical
fragments, turning and twisting their
shapes and structures like prisms.
Hersch is above all a melodist; he
embellishes songs. The highlight of his
album, recorded live in an Amsterdam
jazz club, is a 12-minute take of Jimmy
Rowles’ “The Peacocks,” which Hersch
explores with passionate imagination.
There’s also a rapturously slow “The
HH Fair
HHH Good
Nearness of You,” a knotty reading of
“Don’t Blame Me,” and a few romantic
originals. Yet, to a degree I haven’t
heard before, there’s also a propulsive
thrust in Hersch’s balladry, a relentless
forward drive that matches his lushly
layered harmonies.
Shipp is at once introspective and
expansively eclectic. In earlier albums
(whether solo, as leader of various
ensembles, or sideman to saxophonist
David S. Ware), he’s explored fusions
with hip-hop cadences, be-bop riffs,
African rhythms, film noir, or classically
tinged Third Stream. One is unusually
HHHH Excellent
HHHHH Extraordinary
m u s i c
jazz
straight-ahead by his standards, but
even when bouncing along fairly conventional chord changes, he’ll take a
detour down some dark alley yet keep
walking with such aplomb you think it’s
a natural step on the journey.
In Amsterdam is a splendidly recorded
album. Hersch sometimes likes to trace
intricate melodic lines in the piano’s
uppermost octave while coaxing counterpoint or harmony in the lower registers.
And engineer Jurre Wieman gets the
trinkly overtones of the former and the
plummy rumble of the latter just right.
There’s a nice ambient air all round as
well. One (the engineer is uncredited)
captures Shipp’s dynamic range and the
multitonal colors he tosses up, but the
piano’s upper midrange sounds a little
FRED KAPLAN
bit veiled and steely.
FURTHER LISTENING: Fred Hersch: Let
Yourself Go; Matthew Shipp: Expansion,
Power, Release
Odyssey the Band: Back in Time. Seth
Rosner and Yulun Wang, executive producers; Bob Musso, recording and mixing. Pi
18. Music: HHHH Sonics: HHH 1/2
hree recent
b l u e s
albums, including last year’s
Birthright, have
almost restored
electric guitarist
James Blood Ulmer’s musical profile to
the heights he enjoyed at the dawn of his
solo career in the late 1970s and early
’80s. Now, to stunning effect, Back in
Time reunites the former Ornette
Coleman protégé with earthy violinist
Charles Burnham and powerhouse
drummer Warren Benbow in the idiosyncratic trio that recorded a landmark
eponymous debut for Columbia in 1983
and a less-renowned live Reunion for
Knitting Factory in 1998. To many ears,
the original Odyssey was Ulmer’s masterpiece, but Back in Time magnificently
rises to the sequel-challenge with the
same signature blend of funk, blues,
rock, and jazz, and the surprisingly
T
130
accessible harmolodic approach (entailing simultaneous collective improvisation on melodies and harmonies), which
the 64-year-old Ulmer has employed
ever since playing with Coleman.
Ulmer’s choppy chords and leads and
judiciously overdriven tones (keeping a
muscular grip on the legacies of Eddie
Hazel and Jimi Hendrix) plus Burnham’s
wah-wah-enhanced gypsy and blues violin riffs complement one another perfectly in this twin-lead setting. And while
Ulmer’s vocals are few and far between
(including a reprise of “Little Red House”
from ’83), his gruff mumble is a warm
and charming bonus. Thick, glazed sonics enhance the molten blend of guitar
and violin—everything, including the
somewhat suppressed drums, sounds a bit
muted and backed off in the mix. This
slightly distant quality actually magnifies the sense of impending explosion.
The biggest overall change is context:
Ulmer came to prominence when cutting-edge fusion influenced the emergence of no-wave in topsy-turvy New
York, but that initial sense of urgency has
subsided and these radicals now sound
secure and relaxed (though hardly settled)
DERK RICHARDSON
in what they do.
FURTHER LISTENING: Mahavishnu
Orchestra: Birds of Fire; James Blood
Ulmer: Tales of Captain Black
Roy Hargrove: Nothing Serious. Roy
Hargove and Larry Clothier, producers.
Verve 01481. Music: HHH 1/2
Sonics: HHH 1/2
The RH Factor: Distractions. Hargrove,
producer. Verve 01474. Music: HHH
Sonics: HHH
on’t be fooled by the title track of
Nothing Serious, one of two simultaneously released and wildly different
D
new CDs from trumpeter Roy Hargrove.
The lead-off tune is a Latin-flavored confection from Leo Quintero’s 2004 album
Another Day, but Hargrove eventually
delivers a satisfying set of straight-ahead
jazz that digs progressively deeper. The
album is something of a return to form
for Hargrove, who rose to fame in 1989
as a young jazz lion with a warm tone
reminiscent of Clifford Brown and a
penchant for hard bop.
Nothing Serious is Hargrove’s first
straight-ahead jazz disc in seven years—
since Moment to Moment, the oftenmaligned collection of string-laden ballads—and it comes three years after his
last effort, Hard Groove, by his neosoul/jazz project known as RH Factor.
Hargrove’s diminished output, and the
title of the new RH Factor release, indicate he’s strayed from the hard bop that
put him in the spotlight. The RH
Factor’s hard-bitten funk grooves reveal
an artist who some might argue is playing hard-and-fast with tradition, even as
he continues to artistically stretch out.
That said, the well-rounded Nothing
Serious should quiet detractors and please
fans of Hargrove’s modern bop. Veteran
bebop trombonist Slide Hampton contributes on three tracks, including his
own “A Day in Vienna.” The significance of Hampton’s appearance can’t be
understated; he helped carry the torch
for bop beyond its heyday and helps
reignite Hargrove’s passions. Here, he’s
supported by pianist Ronnie Matthews
and a tight rhythm section that features
bassist Dwayne Burno and drummer
Willie Jones III. Alto saxophonist and
flutist Justin Robinson rounds out the
lineup. Hargrove offers three new originals, including the stand-out ballad
“Trust,” and the outing concludes with a
driving cover of the Bronislaw
Kaper/Paul Francis Webster standard
“Invitation” that, in the context, serves
as a calling card for jazz fans to reconsider Hargrove despite his distractions.
While Nothing Serious does indeed
get serious, Distractions lives up to its
name, often pairing ’60s and ’70s soul
stylings with George Clinton “Atomic
Dog”-era funk grooves to create a big,
m u s i c
jazz
fun party tape. Hargrove dishes up
vocals as well trumpet and flugelhorn,
though you’ll be hard pressed to pick
the horn parts out of the keyboard- and
bass-heavy mix. Seasoned session tenor
and flute player David “Fathead”
Newman and saxophonist Keith
Anderson heap on layer after layer of
tasteful licks. While Hard Groove featured neo-soul singer Erykah Badu, rapper Common, and D’Angelo, only the
latter returns on this outing. But it’s
singer and keyboardist Renee Neufville,
of the defunct Zhane, who has the
biggest impact. She writes or co-writes
four tracks, including the party anthem
“On the One,” P-Funk-inspired “A
Place,” and sultry ballad “Family.”
Distractions might not woo listeners the
way Hard Groove did with lyrical spells,
but it works its own magic. And
Hargrove shows that he’s just as deft at
mining retro-soul and -funk grooves as
he is at spinning modern bop.
Sonically, Nothing Serious is stunning, with a wide-open soundstage and
well-placed instrumentation. Conversely, Distractions suffers from excessive
bass, though Todd Parson’s funky
rhythm-guitar accents skitter above the
mix while high keyboard trills lend to a
sense of atmospherics.
GREG CAHILL
FURTHER LISTENING: RH Factor: Hard
Groove; Slide Hampton: Spirit of the Horn
Bobby Previte: The Coalition of the
Willing. Jamie Saft and Bobby Previte,
producers. Ropeadope. Music: HHH 1/2
Sonics: HHH 1/2
ith one of
the most
electrifying
opening organ
riffs in memory,
Jamie Saft kicks
off this 47minute excursion into sophisticated
instrumental rock with fleeting but
potent echoes of Country Joe and the
Fish’s “Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine”
and The Band’s “Chest Fever.” Then gui-
W
132
Bobby Previte's Coalition of the Willing
tars and drums enter with a crunch worthy of Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the
Water,” and for the next five minutes the
excitement builds through several
plateaus—including a harmonica solo,
courtesy of Stew Cutler, in the blues-rock
vein of Canned Heat’s Alan Wilson—to
a climax that leaves you both breathless
and curious.
Led by drummer Bobby Previte,
who has roots in the new music of John
Cage and Morton Feldman, as well as
New York City’s avant-garde downtown scene, the Coalition of the
Willing is an expandable band with
guitarist Charlie Hunter, trumpeter
Steven Bernstein, and keyboardist Saft
at its core. It’s the latest of Previte’s
crossover collaborations with jazz-rockers of the jam-band circuit.
Bernstein and Skerik join forces here
as a dynamic, James Brown-like horn
section, Galactic drummer Stanton
Moore helps accelerate the rhythmic
drive, and Saft flexes amazing analog
chops on organ, Mellotron, and Moog.
But this is a guitar-centric project.
Cutler adds slide; Saft quintuples on
electric guitars and basses; and Hunter
abandons the polite jazz tones of his custom-built eight-string and gets surprisingly skronky and funky on electric sixstring
and
bass.
Meanwhile,
composer/percussionist Previte ticks,
hammers, and thunders with authority
and precision, sustaining jazz-rooted
polyrhythmic complexity even as the
feel shifts from metal to folk-rock, prog,
reggae, or psychedelic country-blues
lounge.
An almost 3-D soundstage emphasizes the hallucinatory chime and distortion of the guitars and swirl of keyboards. Previte’s drums are back and
centered in the mix, his cymbal splashes, kick thuds, and tom-tom rolls captured with jazz realism as opposed to
pop-rock bluster. But even as you wonder whether he should be more in your
face, your ears lean eagerly into the
music to follow every move of his relentDR
less genius.
FURTHER LISTENING: Garage a Trois:
Outre Mer; Ponga: Ponga
m u s i c
jazz
Mario Pavone Sextet: Deez to Blues.
Pavone, producer; Joe Marciano, engineer.
Playscape Recordings 50505.
Music: HHHH Sonics: HHH 1/2
a r i o
Pavone,
now in his mid
60s, isn’t widely
known beyond
the progressive
jazz scene of
Lower Manhattan, but nobody said the
world’s fair. There’s more than a touch of
Mingus in this bassist-composer—not
just in the way he slaps the strings hard
and lets them vibrate (not sloppily,
always in sync with the harmony), but
also in the turbulence of his music:
dense chords, staggered rhythms, and,
beneath it all, rumbling danceable
blues. In the liner notes, Pavone calls
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134
this “upside down” music, as “on many
tunes the piano and bass play the
melody line movement, while the horns
carry counter motion, a reversal of their
regular place.” I’m not sure how truly
topsy-turvy this concept is (it fits a
number of modern jazz composers), but
the key words here are “motion” and
“movement;” Pavone’s music is in constant flux and flow, flying along the
outer edge of the envelope but never losing its grip on the basics.
His ensemble is a curious mix—
bass, trumpet, piano, and drums, augmented by violin and (depending on the
tune) tuba, baritone sax, or bass clarinet, a zesty twist that thickens the bottom octaves and sharpens the top. The
CD starts strong with “Zines,” a Pavone
original that sounds like a funhousemirrored inversion of “A Night in
Tunisia.” But the highlight may be the
one tune that Pavone didn’t write, “Day
of the Dark Bright Light,” composed by
reedman Marty Ehrlich (who’s played
with Pavone before but not here), an
elegiac ballad with stacked harmonies
reminiscent of Ellington in a melancholic mood. The band (Steven
Bernstein, trumpet; Howard Johnson,
tuba, bari sax, and bass clarinet; Charles
Burnham, violin; Peter Madsen, piano;
and Michael Sarin, drums) is supertight, which it has to be with this music
or else it falls apart.
The mix is superb. The instruments
are clear, tonally distinct, and well-balanced, quite a feat given the variety. The
bass is particularly well-miked to capture
the strings’ percussive pluck and the
wood’s resonant growl. But there’s a
slight deficiency of air between the players (a result of isolation booths?), and the
horns especially are less palpable than
they are on many other albums recorded
by Joe Marciano; you don’t get quite the
m u s i c
jazz
SACD
Jaco Pastorius Big Band: The Word is Out!
Peter Graves and Michael J. Hurzon, producers. Hybrid multichannel. Telarc/Heads
Up 9110. Music: HHH 1/2 Sonics: HHHH
Orchestra albums), but their recording
process—two days of laying down basic
tracks and two days of post-production
overdubbing and mixing—allows them
to play a total of 16 instruments and create elaborate webs of acoustic and electronic sound that give new meaning to
the term “duet.” Indeed, Taylor messes
with the concept himself by simultaneously playing drums and vibes.
This CD’s seven tracks work as an
improvised suite with a palpable spaciousness that allows cornet, drums,
vibes, piano, harpsichord, mbira, celeste,
organ, ring modulator, and more to
relate to each other intimately or from a
distance. Often prismatic and pointillist
on the surface, the music has an undulating flow that embodies the Balinese
concept of “rubber time” and a fundamentally meditative mood that is frequently and deliberately disturbed by all
manner of abrupt and fractured sounds.
The sonics perfectly serve the need
for a deep and panoramic soundstage on
which noises appear and recede.
Electronic textures are alternately thick
and diaphanous, while instruments
made of wood and metal have a palpably
organic resonance. The contrasts of
ghostly vagueness and sharp definition
imbue the musical abstractions with
drama and fulfill the intention of the
DR
album’s apt title.
assist Jaco
Pastorius’
eponymous 1976
Epic debut “was
like a thunderbolt from the
gods,” declares
former DJ Ricky Schultz in the liner
notes of 2003’s Punk Jazz: The Jaco
Pastorius Anthology. The latest
Pastorius tribute from conductor and
bandleader Peter Graves of the Jaco
Pastorius Big Band won’t leave you
feeling as awestruck, but it is a fine
homage to Pastorius’ compositional
and arranging talents.
Eight of these tunes were penned by
Pastorius, plus one each by Joe Zawinul
(who played with him in Weather
Report), Pat Metheny (who started his
career with the bassist in1970s), and
John Lennon and Paul McCartney, whose
“Blackbird” provided a well-known
vehicle for Pastorius’ lyrical style.
Graves’ earlier tribute, 2003’s excellent
Word of Mouth Revisited [Telarc/Heads
Up], featured a Who’s Who of electric
bassists joining former Pastorius bandmates. It also stands as one of the bestsounding jazz SACDs released.
While the charts take centerstage on
The Word is Out!, guest bassists are
superlative, occupying a spot in the center channel. They include Mark Egan,
Victor Wooten, Richard Bona, Will Lee,
Gerald Veasley, and Israel “Cachao”
Lopez, Jr. Pastorius even makes an
appearance through the wonder of
recording tape. There’s impressive separation all around, especially given the
presence of up to 14 players, and once
GC
again, fine surround presentation.
FURTHER LISTENING: Art Ensemble of
Chicago: Urban Bushmen; Sticks and
Stones: Shed Grace
FURTHER LISTENING: Jaco Pastorius: Jaco
Pastorius; Jaco Pastorius Big Band: Word
of Mouth Revisted
B
Chicago Underground Duo
same sense of sound rushing forth from
FK
the brass bells.
FURTHER LISTENING: Mario Pavone:
Mythos; Andrew Hill: Passing Ships
Chicago Underground Duo: In Praise of
Shadows. John McEntire, recording and
engineering. Thrill Jockey 168.
Music: HHHH Sonics: HHHH
ioneered by
the
Art
Ensemble
of
Chicago, the tradition of “little
instrument”
music-making
has found its 21st century home in the
Chicago Underground Duo. On the
macro level, Chad Taylor is a drummer
and Rob Mazurek is a cornet player.
They can be heard in those capacities
with musicians ranging from Sam
Prekop, Sticks and Stones, and
Brokeback to Marc Ribot, William
Parker, Fred Anderson, and the
Exploding Star Orchestra. But it’s the
micro realm—where complex textures
and extended narratives accrue from
infinitesimal details—that seems to fascinate them when they put their heads
and vast arrays of instruments together.
In Praise of Shadows is their fourth
Duo recording since 1998 (although
another five have been released as
Chicago Underground Trio, Quartet, or
P
135
m u s i c
POPULAR
Rock, Etc.
Eleventh Dream Day: Zeroes and Ones.
Barry Phipps, producer. Thrill Jockey 172.
rguments for
grossly neglected bands are
made by critics
as frequently as
contentions by
attorneys
on
behalf of injured parties, the difference
being that many of the journalists’ presentations hold water, particularly when
the artist in question persevered in climates indifferent to creativity.
Underground ’80s acts that paved the
way for today’s thriving indies have in
recent years begun to receive their due
via reissues and contemporary reappraisal. In rare instances, artists have survived and become household names, a la
Sonic Youth and the Flaming Lips. But
the majority gave their all and then gave
out, their output recognized long after
their Econolines became scrap metal.
Not so Eleventh Dream Day, for
whom a titanium-strong case as the
world’s most unappreciated, still-enduring rock band is waiting to fill a book’s
pages. Together since 1983, the group
has never broken up though it has taken
years off between recordings, the members ironically more recognized for their
other projects—guitarist Rick Rizzo for
his work with Red Red Meat and Will
Oldham; bassist Douglas McCombs for
Tortoise and Brokeback; and time-keeper Janet Beveridge Bean for Freakwater.
Signed to Atlantic in 1989, Eleventh
Dream Day recorded two splendid LPs
before being unceremoniously dropped
in 1993, soon after which, seeing the
writing on the wall, the group’s championing A&R representative quit
Atlantic too, and started her own
imprint, Thrill Jockey.
A
136
Eleventh Dream Day
Yes, Eleventh Dream Day was
shucked-out and existed as a supergroup
well before the emergence of that other
much more famous, ludicrously talented, fellow Chicago-based-band Wilco,
whose story, coincidentally, already has
been documented in Greg Kot’s superb
book Learning How to Die. And it’s
almost funny to think that a band whose
biggest-selling works tipped the 30k
mark and which few have ever heard of
is quite probably the greatest long-running guitar-based rock outfit ever spat
out of a basement, a group that sounds
as vital on its tenth album, Zeroes and
Ones, as it did on its first. The band’s
production values are much sharper
now—its soundscapes gilded with fantastic balance, genuine liveliness, harmonic richness, and palpable bass and
drum presence. Not surprisingly, the
majority of this record was cut live, with
minimal overdubs.
Augmented by Mark Greenberg,
who supplies tasteful and timely dollops of piano, Moog, Mellotron, marim-
ba, vibes, and organ, the trio continues
to parlay its wire-frayed rawness into
maturer, deeper, and more multi-textured music—the songs hopped-up on
amplifier-crunching amphetamines,
rope-choking tension, and noise-fed
melodies. Rizzo’s driving distorto-toned
playing pokes, jangles, and squeals, riding out of town on stomping rhythms,
Television-meets-Crazy Horse hooks,
and cracked-pavement riffs. Bean mixes
the batter with hip-swiveling beats and
uptempo fills. McCombs’ hitchhikethumbing bass notes smear his mates’
watercolor paintings with tuneful
undercurrents and extend the canvas
outward, allowing Rizzo to squall outros (“Dissolution”) and drift into psychedelic states (“New Rules”) before
disappearing, kicking and screaming,
into the horizon.
The inseparable chemistry of former
husband-and-wife Bean and Rizzo
remains at the band’s core, her countrytinged backing voice cascading over his
leads, the twosome’s magic seeding dra-
m u s i c
popular
matic moods and tiger-chases-tail
crescendos. Rizzo’s songwriting is strikingly strong, reinforced with time shifts
and tattered bridges that treat every
track as a distinctive whole. Themes of
displacement and disorientation, reality
and dreams run throughout and function as a thread, completing a course
that begins with Rizzo admitting that
he’s “come undone” and ends with bittersweet self-discovery of being lost,
lonely, and left behind. “Looking for the
border/a journey with no maps,” Rizzo
softly sings, the line a wonderfully apropos account of Eleventh Dream Day’s
glorious adventurousness and ongoing
BOB GENDRON
expedition.
FURTHER LISTENING: Eleventh Dream
Day: Prairie School Freak Out; Dream
Syndicate: The Days of Wine and Roses
The Black Heart Procession: The Spell.
The Black Heart Procession, producers.
Touch and Go 271 (CD and two-LP).
Music: HHH 1/2 Sonics: HHH
t’s been almost
four years since
the Black Heart
Procession
released Amore
Del Tropico, its
tropicaliainfused oddity of an album. An elaborate
murder tale fleshed out with South
American percussion, the record was a
radical about-face for a quintet that had
made its name with three dour albums
of doom-and-gloom rock. The Spell
marks a welcome return to the group’s
moody roots.
Opening with the lilting piano
waltz “Tangled,” BHP mines the depths
of despondency, Pall Jenkins singing,
“I’m trapped in your web” like a man
resigned to the end. Spiders, entanglement, and venom are recurring themes,
obvious holdovers from a wilted
romance that sends Spell dovetailing into
depression.
Musically, the album is surprisingly
lush—a moonlit Eden of strings,
Wurlitzer, lap steel, piano, drums, and
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138
organ. With its rich orchestration and
devastated heart, Spell often comes across
like a funeral march penned by Tim
Burton. The emotional weight is often
too much for Jenkins to bear. “I am
frozen in regret,” he sings on “Return To
Burn,” his voice barely rising above the
distant rumble of the bass drum.
On occasion, the album seems
bogged down by its murky tempo. Only
“GPS,” with its slinky bass line and
driving percussion, sees the band shaking off the heartache and managing a
groove that could get even the dourest
goth kid up and dancing. Compared to
the darkened catacombs of “The Waiter
#5,” with its cry of “This is my
home/This is my grave,” “GPS” sounds
downright funky.
Sonics are fair, with a clear separation between the innumerable instruments and a wide soundstage. The low
end, where bass guitar, drums, and
moaning saws hover like midnight fog,
is handled especially well. Vocals, however, remain a bit muddied, though this
often sounds like a conscious decision—
as if Jenkins, so burdened by grief, could
barely muster the energy to pull himself
ANDY DOWNING
up to the microphone.
FURTHER LISTENING: The Gris Gris: The
Gris Gris; Mercury Rev: Deserter’s Songs
The Subways: Young For Eternity. Ian
Broudie, producer. Sire/Reprise 49918.
Music: HHH 1/2 Sonics: HHH 1/2
locking in at
a breathless
37 minutes, The
Subways’ debut
is youthful rock
at its best—fun,
experimental,
unpretentious, outrageously energetic,
contemporary, and yet with deep bloodlines to the past. A British trio, The
Subways are guitarist, singer, and lyricist Billy Lunn (21, and the band’s oldest member), his girlfriend Charlotte
Cooper on bass and vocals, and Lunn’s
brother Josh Morgan on drums. The
band’s close-knit relationships seems to
C
translate well to its music, which is
well-played, in-sync, and intuitive.
Young For Eternity bounces around
between uptempo paced, power-chordsplashed rockers, jangly pop numbers,
and moody acoustic-guitar-based ballads. Lunn handles most of the vocals,
and his voice can either stretch into a
red-throated shriek, as it does against
the syncopated rhythms of “With You,”
or sound rather sweet, as it does on
“Mary,” an unashamedly catchy pop
number with a delightful melody. When
Cooper adds her flat, slightly nasal
vocals to the mix—it generally takes
over where Lunn left off—it brings a
female perspective to songs like the
lead-off “I Want To Hear What You
Have Got To Say.” Her bass playing is
fast, chunky, and effective, while
Morgan’s drumming generally ranges
from manic to furious, as it does to
impressive effect on the under twominute “Holiday.”
This is a terrific-sounding rock
recording—dynamic, lively, ultra-clean
and clear, and yet it never sounds airbrushed smooth or in the least bit sterile. Lunn’s thick sheets of guitar chords
crunch, yet they also exhibit rich harmonics; Morgan’s drums have weight
and punch, yet never overwhelm, while
Cooper’s bass keeps on chugging
beneath it all.
These guys are exciting. If you long
to put on some good ol’ power-trio rock
and crank up the stereo but can’t stomach another Cream title, check out The
WAYNE GARCIA
Subways.
FURTHER LISTENING: Arctic Monkeys:
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I
Am Not; The Who: My Generation
The Streets: The Hardest Way To Make An
Easy Living. Mike Skinner, producer. Vice.
Music: HHHH 1/2 Sonics: HHH 1/2
n The Streets’
breakthrough
sophomore effort,
A Grand Don’t
Come For Free,
Mike
Skinner
O
m u s i c
crafted an Everyman concept album,
songs detailing everything from his failure to promptly return a video rental to
a final, tearful split from a girlfriend
(“Dry Your Eyes”). The Hardest Way To
Make An Easy Living proves another startling departure for the British emcee,
who forgoes the daily grind to embrace
fame and everything that comes with
it—money, groupies, and late nights
included. “Pranging Out” announces
this new direction, Skinner writhing
about in the midst of a drug-and-alcohol
induced breakdown. “This time I’m drying my eyes,” he raps in a sly reference to
Grand’s standout track. “And a [expletive] nosebleed.”
To call Hardest Way a “warts and
all” record doesn’t do it justice. Skinner
is merciless in his self-examination,
chronicling a not-so-secret tryst with a
U.K. pop star (“When You Wasn’t
Famous”), his father’s passing (“Never
Went To Church”), and his conspicuous
drug use (nearly every song) in excruciating detail. It’s a daring move that easily could have backfired, but Skinner’s
sincerity and Python-esque wit prevent
the songs from sounding like the idle
complaints of a well-to-do musician.
This rougher edge is balanced by
Skinner’s continuing knack for the
tearstained ballad, none more stirring
than “Never Went.” Over prodding
hand claps and delicate, Sunday-service
piano, the emcee wavers between confusion and clarity before finally coming
to terms with his father’s death.
The production is uniformly excellent, the beats straying further from the
skeletal framework of The Streets’
debut. “When You Wasn’t Famous” is
exemplary of this approach, the slinky
Tropicalia beat illuminating Brixton’s
slate-grey backdrop with rays of
Brazilian sunshine. The lurching horns
on “Memento Mori” are captured especially well, adding a playful touch to the
tune’s debauched shopping spree.
Skinner’s conversational flow remains
upfront in the mix throughout, a wise
decision that highlights his skill with
the pen and cements his standing as the
young songwriter to watch, a reputation
that’s sure to be heightened with this,
the Streets’ bravest—and best—album
AD
to date.
FURTHER LISTENING: Dizzee Rascal: Boy
In Da Corner; Arctic Monkeys: Whatever
People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins:
Rabbit Fur Coat. Lewis, Mike Mogis, and
Matt Ward, producers. Team Love 08.
Music: HHHH Sonics: HHH
Megan Reilly: Let Your Ghost Go. Sue
Garner, producer. SAKI 038. Music: HHH
Sonics: HHH 1/2
hirty-year-old Jenny Lewis is a singer
and songwriter for L.A. indie-pop
band Rilo Kiley. The group’s 2004 CD,
More Adventurous, was widely praised,
with much attention given to Lewis’
lyrics, which are quirky and whipsmart fun. She’s also got the voice of an
angel, and the looks to match. Rabbit
Fur Coat is Lewis’ first solo project.
Joining her are the Kentucky-born
Watson twins, whose likewise angelic
harmonies buoy the record, Conor
Oberst of Bright Eyes, co-producer M.
Ward, Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben
Gibbard, and Maroon 5’s James
Valentine and Mickey Madden.
Rabbit Fur Coat is riddled with
American-Gothic themes and variations. The opener, “Run Devil Run,” is
a breathy, gospel-tinged number, and
the notions of God or the absence of
God and love or lost love are sprinkled
throughout this collection of intimate
and witty songs. The title track is a
wispy ballad of jealousy and murder,
while in the steel-guitar driven “The
Charging Sky” Lewis sings, “So my
mom she brushes her hair/and my dad
starts growin’ Bob Dylan’s beard/and I
share with my friends a couple of
T
popular
beers.” The disc is beautifully
sequenced between bright, up-tempo
numbers and ballads such as “Happy,” a
clippity-clop cowboy-flavored song,
and the appropriately titled “Melt Your
Heart.” The sole cover is a rollicking
take on the Traveling Wilburys’
“Handle With Care,” in which Lewis
and Co. take their turns with parts
originally sung by George Harrison,
Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne,
and Bob Dylan.
The sound is good and quite lively,
and there’s an infectious spontaneity to
the music making. But it could have
been even better. Over a first-rate system, the disc sounds overly processed.
Lewis’ creamy, sexy soprano is consistently bathed in reverb—at times only a
gentle halo, but at others drenched in
echo—while the Watsons hold forth at
the far left and right sides of what is
quite an expansive soundstage.
While Megan Reilly’s Let You Ghost
Go is not on the consistently high
plane of Lewis’ disc, fans of contemporary American folk-rock-countrywhat-have-you will want to check out
what the singer is up to. Raised in
Memphis, Reilly has been making
waves ever since she moved to
Brooklyn, attracting a band that
includes guitarist Tim Folijahn (Cat
Power), drummer Steve Goulding (the
Mekons), and bassist Tony Maimone
(Per Ubu). Reilly’s songs are moody
and often fragile, like antique lace. Her
light, lost, but street-wise little-girl
soprano is often supported by little
more than a few instruments, maybe a
quiet organ and softly strummed
acoustic guitar, or electric guitar, bass,
and piano. The songs’ character varies
little, but there a few light rockers
thrown into the mix.
Sonically, the disc is quite airy and
tonally natural. Reilly’s vocal, even at its
most hushed, is clear and easy, and the
lovely range of other instruments—mellotron, accordion, violin—are warm and
WG
nicely textured.
FURTHER LISTENING: Laura Nyro and
Labelle: Gonna Take a Miracle; Rilo Kiley:
More Adventurous
141
m u s i c
popular
Alejandro Escovedo’s Bout for His Life
BOB GENDRON
Alejandro Escovedo: The Boxing Mirror. John Cale, producer.
Back Porch 57717. Music: HHHH 1/2 Sonics: HHH 1/2
hree years ago, Alejandro Escovedo
collapsed onstage. Despite having
been diagnosed with Hepatitis C in
1990, the singer ignored the potential
consequences. He toured hard and
lived harder. For Escovedo, that’s the
way it had always been—a lifestyle as
true to the spirit of rock and roll as his music.
A Mexican-American reared in Southern California,
Escovedo was in San Francisco in the mid-’70s when he and
a few other garage-rock-weaned collegians formed the Nuns.
Soon after, Escovedo found himself in New York with two
other Bay Area mates when he started the cowpunk Rank
and File, a band that predated “alt-country” by a good five
years. Still on the move, Escovedo landed in Austin, where
the three-guitar unit True Believers was born. It was two
T
albums and out, but not before the group lodged its place in
history as one of the best acts to ever come out of the selfproclaimed Music Capitol of the World. By 1992, Escovedo
put together enough material (and enough money from his
job at Waterloo Records) for Gravity, the first of six artistically bold albeit unsung solo studio records. While all of his
albums are marked with rough-around-the-edges scars and
insightful prose, it has taken Escovedo’s pairing with Velvet
Underground legend John Cale, a battle for his life, and an
improbable recovery to produce what’s nothing less than a
defining statement.
Its music equally gorgeous, pensive, angry, and scorching, and its songwriting profoundly personal and eloquently
poetic, The Boxing Mirror is a lyrical and sonic sojourn in
which songs make pit stops at the significant stylistic and
thematic signposts of Escovedo’s career. Mortality creeps in
throughout, first on the dreary rubbed-eyes of “Arizona,” a
self-awakening jolt of sobriety on which the vocalist passes
up smoke and drink, and later on the forcefully honest “I
Died A Little Today,” a lessons-learned acknowledgement of
treatment and survival.
Fresh and stirring, the arrangements are an abridgment
of the multi-faceted diversity Escovedo has visited either in
certain periods or on particular albums. There’s the stringladen ballad “Evita’s Lullabye”; the funked-up soul of “Take
Your Place”; the acoustic romance blues of “The Ladder”;
reprisals of the punk muse on the gut-busting “Break This
Time,” energized by swinging rhythms and buzzing drone;
and even a tip of the hat to Escovedo’s short-lived but raucous Buick MacKane quartet on a reworked “Sacramento &
Polk.” Escovedo’s crack band includes violinist Susan Voelz,
two cellists, and old True Believers mate, Jon Dee Graham.
The latter’s tobacco-spitting guitar solos balance Escovedo’s
confront-the-faces-of-death resolve. On the melodically
crackling “Notes On Air,” Graham’s steel-slide pisses lightning on an electric fence.
As producer and sometimes keyboardist, Cale can’t get
enough credit. He swirls ambient backgrounds into
Escovedo’s country, folk, pop, and rock soundscapes, giving
the tunes a full palette, sturdy tones, and sweeping textures.
Cale’s ear remains sharp and disciplined—clanking pianos,
taut bass lines, and swift bowed-cello strikes have noticeable
separation but move as a whole; drum beats on the militarymarch title track echo forever. Escovedo’s singing has never
sounded more passionate, vibrant, or upfront, the struggle,
tension, and relief of his emotions raining like pent-up tears
on the face of humanity.
FURTHER LISTENING: Alejandro Escovedo: A Man Under the
Influence; Various Artists: Por Vida
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m u s i c
popular
Prince: 3121. Prince, producer. Universal
6296. Music: HHH 1/2 Sonics: HHHH
Prince: Ultimate Prince. Various producers. Warner Bros. 73381 (2 CDs).
here’s a surprising moment on
Prince’s 3121, his latest comeback
bid and the follow-up to 2004’s wellreceived Musicology. On “Lolita,” a track
driven by a synth line that purrs like a
little red Corvette, the 47-year-old
singer woos a woman who’s “much too
young” for him. But where once upon a
time this exchange might have been followed by the two exploring “23 positions in a one night stand,” there is now
only a dance—“Dance?,” the song’s
Lolita quizzically responds to the
request. It would seem that the
Jehovah’s Witness convert has finally
learned the meaning of restraint.
3121 is the second album Prince has
released since his return to the spotlight,
a two-year stretch that has seen him perform on the Grammys with Beyonce and
hit the road with a critically lauded arena
tour. The increased attention serves as a
reminder of Prince’s musical legacy, even
if his most recent work doesn’t quite live
up to those lofty standards.
Thankfully, the occasionally brilliant 3121 is far livelier than its overrated predecessor. “Black Sweat” is a
Neptunes-worthy club banger, the
throbbing bass playing burly bodyguard
to Prince’s falsetto coo; the horn-fueled
“Fury” opens like a classic New Power
Generation tune but builds to a ferocious climax with Prince drawing metallic howls from his six-string; “Te Amo
Corazon” is a tender ballad built from
sun-kissed strings, electric piano, and
subtly moving vocals.
The production is slightly lived-in,
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Prince
aiming for the live onstage feel of classic
James Brown and Stevie Wonder. The
vocal treatment is especially sensitive,
Prince’s unmistakable yelps, moans, and
sighs captured in beautiful detail.
However, as with the rest of the album,
the production ventures into syrupy
bedroom R&B a bit too often—a small
complaint on a record that sounds as
vital as anything Prince has released
since 1992.
Those who prefer the more risqué
Prince now have yet another option in
the suddenly crowded greatest hits field.
Ultimate Prince is the best distillation of
the singer’s career to-date (everything
from the early anthem “Controversy” to
the late-career gem “7”); a second disc
collects rare 12” remixes, including a
sultry take on “She’s Always In My
AD
Hair.”
FURTHER LISTENING: James Brown: Live
at the Apollo; N.E.R.D.: In Search Of...
Van Morrison: Pay the Devil. Morrison, producer. Lost Highway 5968.
e is the Belfast
Cowboy, is he
not? Having waited his entire career
to cut a country
record, Van Morrison has made the
most of this moment. Recorded in Ireland
with his regular compadres, Pay the Devil
is an exhilarating exercise in interpretive
artistry.
As vocalist and producer, Morrison
reimagines the early ’60s countrypolitan
sound as sculpted by producers Chet
Atkins and Owen Bradley, who revitalized the country mainstream with strings
and pop-influenced arrangements that
rarely lost their country bearings. Van’s
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approach, on classic fare and three originals, is countrypolitan times two, doubling up in the arrangements with two
electric guitars, electric bass and double
bass, and on several cuts, both a solo fiddle and a string section, yielding a soundscape of Spectorian grandeur. An example
of Morrison’s cool production touch
comes in the midst of a wash of strings
cooing in the background of “Your
Cheatin’ Heart,” when a fiddle pops up in
the mix, distinctly apart from the strings,
and saws a crying call before subsiding.
Throughout, Morrison sounds as if he
had a great time. At the end of a wrenching, blues-drenched take of “What Am I
Living For,” he’s heard taking a breath and
musing, “That was worth it!” The loping,
lascivious “Don’t You Make Me High”
shambles to a close with a gratuitous flurry
of pedal steel moans, causing our man to
erupt in laughter and chortle something
like, “He’s not even trying!” More importantly, the singing is magnificent. He gets
soul deep into the bluesy lament “Big Blue
Diamonds,” wrings out all the hurt and
remorse that “Back Street Affair” could
possibly contain, and gives Rodney
Crowell’s timeless plea “Till I Gain Control
Again” a reading so subtle and nuanced, so
understanding of the internal struggle
Crowell describes, that he uncovers new
seams of meaning in its earnest entreaties.
No character-less Elvis Costellostyle warbling here—Van is fully invested, in all dimensions, in this country he
DAVID MCGEE
calls his own.
FURTHER LISTENING: Raul Malo, Pat
Flynn, et al.: The Nashville Acoustic
Sessions; Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in
Country and Western Music
Jessi Colter: Out of the Ashes. Don Was,
producer. Shout! Factory 97640.
f you’re going
to take 20
years off and
then make a
comeback, then
Jessi Colter is
your role model
I
for doing it the right way. On Out of the
Ashes, she’s guided in the studio by
Don Was, who largely disdains sonic
embroidery in favor of spare economy.
It’s the only sensible way to present
Colter’s now-husky, slightly weathered
voice. A long away from the feathery,
whispered warblings of her mainstream hit-making days, what she’s
about now is the grist and grit of life
experiences, detailed in earthy attitude
and parched timbres.
Out of the Ashes is not simply the
best record Jessi Colter’s ever made;
these transcendent, soul-baring performances blow away her other
recordings to the point where that
artist and this cannot be compared.
Was, on standup bass, surrounds
Colter with a powerhouse band that
includes guitarist Reggie Young,
pedal steel virtuoso Robbie Turner,
saxophonist Jim Horn and—a real
star over the course of these proceedings, especially when he lets the
gospel soul come flowing through his
fingertips—piano master Barry
Robertson, perhaps the least hailed of
the players here, but the one whose
support best helps Colter. Was centers
Colter’s vocals on the tracks and then
lets them float around the soundscape
unadorned as she swaggers her way
through blues (the lusty “You Pick
‘Em”), heart-wrenching honky tonk
(“You Took Me By Surprise”), stomping hard country (“Velvet & Steel”),
gospel (“His Eyes Is On the Sparrow”
and a potent co-write with son Shooter
on “Carry Me Home”), and two dramatic treatises concerning spiritual
and romantic disconnect, both employing dark arrangements keyed by
Robertson’s moody piano and Jenny
Lynn Young’s quietly crying cello, “So
Many Things” and “The Canyon.”
Sure, Colter sings imperfectly on
some of these numbers, struggling at
times to nail le note juste, but that’s the
point of it all: We live; we are scarred;
we press on. Out of the Ashes is a visceral
DM
expression of that experience.
FURTHER LISTENING: June Carter Cash:
Press On; Ruth Brown: Songs of My Life
popular
Glenn Kotche: Mobile. Mikael Jorgensen
and Tim Iseler, recording. Nonesuch 79927.
rummer solo
albums are
about as popular
as ice cream on a
subzero day, fitting given that
even percussionists in famous rock bands don’t get
much respect. Like offensive linemen
who are always obscured by quarterbacks, drummers remain in their own
trenches, behind a kit, surpassed in visibility by vocalists and guitarists even
though live rhythms wouldn’t exist
without them.
As contemporary drummers go,
Glenn Kotche is better-known than
most, primarily because he plays in a
band, Wilco, that takes seriously group
unity and chemistry, and also because
he’s one of the finest timekeepers practicing. It’s largely due to this that
Kotche’s third solo effort, Mobile, has
been released on a prominent label—an
almost unheard-of feat. Musically complex and conceptually challenging, the
record isn’t going to open the floodgates
for drummer projects or attract listeners
who seek catchy rock-based tunes.
Rather, Kotche uses the opportunity to
explore ideas and theories, first outlining his purposes and practices in a set of
detailed liner notes, and then executing
the principles in song.
The eight compositions, all original
save for “Clapping Hands” (from Steve
Reich’s 1972 piece of the same name),
revolve around negative rhythms, a concept Kotche illustrates by spotlighting
rests—the pauses between the passages,
the shadows cast by the tempos, the
spaces that create larger structures.
Accenting that which doesn’t appear to
be present is not all that different from
his approach in Wilco. For Kotche,
color, texture, and light are of equal
importance, sonic kinetics that are
derived and bent via various percussive
instruments—drum kit, metal sheets,
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Glenn Kotche
crotales, vibraphones, electronics,
kalimba, mrimba—and tonal interplay
where grooves yield to friction, and malleable textures undulate as if mimicking
a minor-tremor earthquake. Kotche’s
experimentation peaks on the epic
“Monkey Chant,” a conceptual interpretation of the monkey battle depicted in
the Hindu-based Ramayana tale.
Dividing the story into 18 narrative segments, the classically trained musician
utilizes shakers, grinders, gongs, and a
bevy of exotic devices to elicit the animals’ groans, scratches, and moans, in
the process capturing the jungle vibes,
back-and-forth volley of war, flight, and
struggle that accompanies death.
Primarily recorded at Wilco’s loft,
with additional sessions for two tracks
completed at another Chicago studio,
the sonics are straightforward and simple, the production affording a rich tapestry of timbres, with generous decay
and oft-stunning mid- and high-range
BG
dynamics.
FURTHER LISTENING: Anton Fier:
Dreamspeed/Blind Light (1992-1994);
Captain Beefheart: Clear Spot
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: The
Proposition, Original Soundtrack. Cave
and Ellis, producers. Mute 9305.
Music: HHH 1/2 Sonics: HHHH
omposed by
noir-rockers
Nick Cave and
Warren Ellis, the
soundtrack to the
2005 Australian
The
western
Proposition seeks to capture what Cave,
the screenwriter, has described as the
sadness and longing that come in the
aftermath of brutality. As they have for
years in the Bad Seeds, Cave’s darkly
romantic sensibility and Ellis’ splinterytextured violin melancholy (heard as a
lead voice in the Dirty Three) dovetail
exquisitely toward that end in this collaborative project. But while the film—
directed by John Hillcoat and featuring
actors John Hurt and Emily Watson—is
set in the 1880s in the Queensland outback, the music transcends time and
place. Notwithstanding the facts that
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popular
many of the 16 tracks clock in at times
that make them snippets rather than
songs, and that several themes are revisited in slightly rearranged incarnations,
the soundtrack works splendidly as a
moody, mostly instrumental album for
late-night listening.
Cave fans might wish that their
Melbourne-bred idol’s doleful baritone
graced more than the handful of tracks
where he sings cryptic outlaw ballads or
moans wordlessly, but they can content
themselves with the cheerless, alter-ego
expressiveness of his spare piano meditations. Dirty Three followers, however,
will relish the prominent role of Ellis’
distinctively bittersweet violin (often
overdubbed into multiple parts or
looped into droning background beds).
The only other players are Bad Seeds
bassist Martyn Casey, Dirty Three
drummer Jim White, and, on one track
each, guitarists George Vjestica and
Doug Leitch.
The arrangements vary from sparse
to dense, with the excellent, tight mix,
clear from top to bottom, matching the
emotional tone—the piano hard-edged
but haunting, the violin and trumpet
violin presented in ragged glory, and
Cave singing into a well of regret. DR
FURTHER LISTENING: Richard Thompson:
Grizzly Man; Dirty Three: Horse Stories
Congotronics 2: Buzz ‘N’ Rumble From
the Urb ‘N’ Jungle. Vincent Kenis, producer. Craw 29 (CD and DVD). Music: HHH
1/2 Sonics: HHH
ast year’s outof-the-blue
release from previously unknown
Congo veterans
Konono No. 1
(review,
Issue
159) spurred a commotion that rippled
across the indie-rock, electronica,
world, and pop circuits. Its success has
now spawned a second Congotronics
volume that features an assortment of
like-minded bands that utilize metal
scrap, crude amplification, and do-it-
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yourself techniques to create vibrant,
trance-inducing
dance
music.
Exquisitely packaged, Congotronics 2 also
comes with a DVD that chronicles the
recordings of six of the artists and spotlights the wow-factor surrounding their
basic instruments and infectious vibes.
Once you’ve heard the magnetic spectrum of rattling, humming, plinking,
and plucking, it’s not hard to imagine
electronic and hip-hop artists raiding
the disc in the future for samples of its
reverberant beats.
Avoiding the disappointment that
often accompanies sequels, Buzz ‘N’
Rumble From the Urb ‘N’ Jungle is a
deeper foray into the still-untapped
source that is electro-traditional music.
Most of the groups have less-dense,
slightly softer presentations than
Konono No. 1, but the effect remains
the same: Contagious African rhythms,
tribal chants, steely pulsations, likembe drones, and homemade percussion—ranging from spring-outfitted
sardine cans to hubcap hi-hats to
drain-pipe jugs—coalesce into hypnotic dance beats formed from modern
musical collisions. What’s more, the
characteristics of the artists themselves
are often as fascinating as the sounds
they produce.
Depicted on the album’s cover,
Masanka Sankayi-member Muyamba
Nyuni sits on a box outfitted with an
electric thumb piano, half of which is
placed to his right and half to his left. A
rendition of a 17th-century French
fable, “Le laboureur,” reflects the
group’s rich storytelling tradition. The
likembe played by the reverberant
Sobanza Mimanisa allows for the simultaneous playback of bass and solo parts,
a technique that fits into a minimalist
method that sees the band limiting its
tools to a bell, whistle, spray-canagainst-beer-case percussive setup, and
guitar. Kisanzi Congo’s lineup most
closely parallels that of Konono No.1’s,
though the Bacongo-based act’s
approach is more in line with that of a
jazz improv band.
As he did with the Konono No.1
record, producer Vincent Kenis cap-
tured the tracks live and outdoors with
a Powerbook G4 laptop, Multiface
soundcard, and a handful of preamps.
The sonics are raw and percussive, and
while missing crystalline detail and
high-end range, the results are as they
should be; professionalism would strip
away the soulful spirit and needlessly
polish this amplified urban fare. In that
the majority of the performances lasted
more than 10 minutes, Kenis was forced
to edit them for the disc and has posted
in the liner notes the directions on how
to obtain full-length versions for free. BG
FURTHER LISTENING: Konono No.1:
Congotronics; Orchestra Baobab: Pirate’s
Choice
Run the Road: Volume Two. Various producers. Vice 62731. Music: HH
Sonics: HHH
rom Psycho II
to Michael
Jordan donning
the number 45 in
his return to the
Bulls, sequels are
generally a poor
idea. Run the Road: Volume Two, the followup to last year’s indispensable primer to
U.K. grime—a genre that blends hiphop, garage, and house—is no exception
to this rule. Released only ten months
after Volume One introduced the first wave
of genre stars (The Streets, Dizzee Rascal),
it sheds some light on the second wave of
could-bes. Unfortunately, in replacing the
jarring, Atari-style big-beats of Volume One
with a more polished and, frankly,
American production style, Volume Two
loses the raw energy that made the original such an intriguing listen.
The album does hit several high
notes. Mizz Beats’ dreamy “Saw It
Comin’” finds Wiley and Co. playfully
mixing it up as a looped synth envelops
the dizzying track like the fog around
King Kong’s Skull Island. On “They
Gave Me An Inch,” which sports production from the Streets’ Mike Skinner,
the unfortunately named Trimbal spits
race-baiting verses that are as unsettling
F
popular
as they are shocking.
Unfortunately, few other artists take
similar risks. JME, despite his charismatic flow, pisses and moans like Dear
Abby on “Serious,” chiding other
emcees to “grow up” and stop rhyming
about sex and violence; a noble concept
to be sure, but the execution makes the
track as relevant as one of Pat
Robertson’s rants on the 700 Club.
Dynasty Crew’s “Bare Face Dynasty” is
more typical of the album, the cadre of
emcees demanding respect and spitting
cookie-cutter lines like “top of the game
like Jay-Z.”
As with most compilations, the production varies wildly from track to
track, although most tunes have a polished sound that lives up to these commercial Jay-Z dreams. The low end is
captured particularly well, ragga drums
intensely thumping. While the extra
layer of sonic polish may be a boon to
audiophiles, the frayed intensity of
Volume One is sacrificed in favor of the
AD
bland, radio-friendly beats.
FURTHER LISTENING: Sean Paul: Trinity;
Lady Sovereign: Vertically Challenged
DVD-A
Donald Fagen: Morph the Cat. Fagen, producer. CD/DVD-A. Reprise 49976.
Music: HHH Sonics: HHHH 1/2
ven
those
fiercely devoted to Steely Dan
and to its higherprofile creative
half,
Donald
Fagen, will have
to admit they have a pretty good idea of
what a new release will sound like before
they’ve actually heard it. By 1977’s Aja,
SD’s musical syntax was fully formed.
Fagen’s subsequent solo efforts have
embraced that esthetic. We know that
sound: a foundation of keyboards, bass,
and drums with texture provided by
sparingly utilized guitars and horns;
Fagen’s increasingly decrepit tenor sup-
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ported by euphonious backup vocals; the
smart funk and blues grooves; the big
band harmonies; the best saxophone
solos money can buy. All that’s here on
Morph the Cat.
It’s the narrative content this stylized
musical language serves that has distinguished one record from another over the
past 30 years. Fagen’s The Nightfly was a
nostalgic look back at an early-1960s
coming of age while Kamakiriad was a
journey through the not-too-distant
future. Morph the Cat is set in the hereand-now but, as Fagen has commented,
it’s about “endings” of various kinds.
Not everything works. “H Gang,” the
designated single, tells the not-terriblygripping story of the rise and fall of a
band fronted by one Denise, who ends up
married, heaven forbid, in the Midwest.
Fagen communes with Ray Charles
about the sexual power of the departed
singer’s art in the dangerously-close-tocornball “What I Do.” On “Mary Shut
the Garden Door,” Fagen abandons his
usual stance of ironic detachment to rail
against the 2004 Republican convention.
But the title track, an account of a
narcotizing vapor that permeates NYC,
is comfortably familiar territory, its
lyrics prototypically obscure and literate. “Brite Nitegown” has a pleasantly
obsessive quality reminiscent of “The
Fez” from Royal Scam. And Fagen’s
always at his best when he inhabits a
character in one of his songs—this disc’s
bizarre love interest is a TSA employee
(“Security Joan”) who pulls our hero out
of line at the airport.
The multichannel production is
stunning. In stereo, Fagen’s arrangements can seem almost overloaded with
layered detail; the surround mix presents
them with gratifying intelligibility. It’s
a treat to hear all those carefully constructed and voiced guitar parts so clearly. Bass is articulate and the dynamics
crisply powerful. This one may come off
the shelf quite often, for the sonics if not
quite as much for the music.
HOT WAX
Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child: The Jimi
Hendrix Collection. Janie Hendrix and
John McDermott, compilation producers.
Experience Hendrix/Classic 2016 (four
200-gram LPs). Music: HHHH
Sonics: HHHH
y the time
Jimi Hendrix’s father and
half sister won
rights to his catalogue in mid1995, the ’60s
legend had been reissued and reassembled in more than 20 different variations. Today, typing in the artist’s name
on Amazon.com brings up a total of 285
releases, an insane quantity for someone
who recorded three studio albums.
Everything from the legitimacy of
tracks to analog-tape master sources has
been a point of contention in Hendrix
circles. Yet over the course of the last few
years, these debates have begun to settle
as Experience Hendrix has been overseeing an array of authoritative releases.
Involved on the vinyl side of the efforts,
Classic Records has previously issued a
lavish Live at Woodstock box set (review,
Issue 147), a must-have Band of Gypsys,
B
popular
and a phenomenal mono edition of Axis:
Bold As Love (reviews, Issue 154).
Treading into the overpopulated compilation waters, the audiophile label’s latest Hendrix foray is a handsome four-LP
box of Voodoo Child, which collects
familiar studio tracks, popular rarities,
and various live efforts—some celebrated, some not. Drawn from the original
analog masters, mastered and cut by
Bernie Grundman, and accompanied by
an eye-catching 12" x 12" color booklet,
the package presents Hendrix’s music in
its best sonics yet.
Though there are impenetrable artifacts on the concert material, Classic’s reverential set offers more rhythmic crunch,
studio warmth, dimensional presence, fine
textures, and physical palpability. Small
details such as the decay of drum hits,
shimmer of cymbals, screech-and-burn
wail of Hendrix’s Stratocaster, agile purr
of the bass, and wizard-like current of the
sessions are not only heard but felt.
Overall tonal balances and low-end
weight have never been better. Fetching
nearly $20 a disc, the pressing is not
cheap. But in that it makes clearer and
crisper the electric guitar’s expanded
vocabulary and Hendrix’s inspired psychedelic vision, it’s another step in correcting
the mistakes of the past. BOB GENDRON
FURTHER LISTENING: Prince: One Nite
Alone…Live!; Jeff Beck: Beck-Ola
ANDREW QUINT
FURTHER LISTENING: Steely Dan: Gaucho
(SACD); Marian McPartland: Piano Jazz
with Steely Dan
Jimi Hendrix gets mystical with his Strat
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The Byrds: Mr. Tambourine Man. Terry
Melcher, producer. Sundazed 5197.
Music: HHHH 1/2 Sonics: HHHH
The Byrds: Turn! Turn! Turn! Melcher, producer. Sundazed 5198. Music: HHHH
Sonics: HHH 1/2
The Byrds: Fifth Dimension. Allen Stanton,
producer. Sundazed 5199.
The Byrds: Younger Than Yesterday. Gary
Usher, producer. Sundazed 5200.
The Byrds: The Notorious Byrd Brothers.
Usher, producer. Sundazed 5201.
Music: HHHHH Sonics: HHHH
hen the Byrds emerged with Mr.
Tambourine Man in 1965, the band
was already a fully-formed entity, capable
of melding folk’s poetic imagery with
rock’s experimental nature. Though heavily indebted to Bob Dylan in its earliest
days, the group—Mike Clarke, Dave
Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, and
Roger McGuinn—eventually branched
out, its sound stretching all the way from
the barren Western landscape to the
swirling, psychedelic abyss of space.
Out of print for more than 35 years,
the mono editions of the Byrds’ first five
albums have been restored to their intended state, re-cut from the original
Columbia analog masters and pressed
onto affordable, 180-gram vinyl by
Sundazed, the company responsible for
W
reissuing the stereo versions of these same
LPs in 1999. All five records benefit from
this treatment. The vocal melodies are farmore immediate, leaping to the fore like a
groupie at a Motley Crue concert. It’s
somewhat surprising how the compressed
mono mix brings out further details in the
sound, illuminating the oftentimes darkened corners of the stereo LPs, which now
sound slightly muddy by comparison.
The change is evident from the first
notes of Tambourine Man; the bass is
noticeably more buoyant than on the
stereo mix, underpinning McGuinn’s 12string Rickenbacker fretwork with a
hearty rumble—a dynamic that adds
much-needed dimensionality to the jangly sound. While the album remains the
quintet’s least-inventive effort (in addition
to Dylan, the record also includes covers of
Pete Seeger and
Jackie DeShannon
tracks), it helped to
establish the hypermelodic, folk-rock
blueprint
that
influenced everyone
from R.E.M. to the
Magic Numbers.
Turn! Turn Turn! finds the band still
relying on covers, but the title cut and
several Clark-penned tunes see the
group coming into its own. The dynamics are more restrained than any other
Byrds effort, the focus falling heavily on
McGuinn’s incomparable guitar playing
and the band’s eerily precise vocals.
The streaky Fifth Dimension is the
Antoine Walker of Byrds’ albums, pairing horrid shooting nights (an ill-chosen
cover of “Hey Joe”) with double-double
outbursts (the finger-cramping guitar
rock of “Eight Miles High,” its cracked
solo captured here in all its ragged
glory). Sonics are uniformly solid,
thanks in large part to Allen Stanton’s
no-frills production, which allows
instruments ample room to shine.
Gary Usher’s production on Younger
Than Yesterday is far more varied, the band
employing studio trickery, dusty horns,
and noise-rock feedback in its rapidly
expanding palette. The mono recording
shows off this burgeoning diversity with a
popular
wide soundstage, instruments expertly
gliding to the fore and receding back into
the mix. The music matches the exceptional production, the band blasting through
the tongue-in-cheek “So You Want to Be a
Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” with cheery abandon
and delivering its best Dylan cover with a
thoughtful take on “My Back Pages.”
The recording of the Byrds’ fifth
album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, was
marked by near-constant infighting. The
dissent doesn’t show on the resulting
record, which proves to be among the
most essential of the band’s efforts. While
it lacks the chart-topping hits of earlier
albums, the songwriting is far more varied
and accomplished, from the aptly-titled
“Natural Harmony” to the icy “Draft
Morning,” which hovers like low-lying
fog on a crisp Seattle morning. The sonics
are uniformly excellent, the eerie Moog on
“Space Odyssey” pouring through with a
clarity lacking from the stereo LP.
Overall, it’s no exaggeration to say
that these Sundazed mono pressings are
the standard for all Byrds’ reissues, the
warmer sonics having the same effect as
upgrading to high-definition television
from old-fashioned rabbit ears. The only
caveat: Unlike the consistent stereo
pressings, the mono LPs tend to slightly
harden at louder levels. Here’s hoping
the label lavishes the same attention on
other worthy Byrds records, beginning
with the alt-country torchbearer,
Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
ANDY DOWNING
FURTHER LISTENING: The Jayhawks: Blue
Earth; R.E.M.: Murmur
Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run.
Springsteen, Jon Landau, and Mike Appel,
producers. Columbia/Classic Records
33795 (200-gram LP).
Music: HHHH 1/2 Sonics: HHHH
Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band:
Hammersmith Odeon, London ’75.
Springsteen, Landau, and Barbara Carr,
producers. Columbia 77995 (two CDs).
W
hen Born To Run roared into
America’s consciousness in 1975,
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popular
the country was still reeling from the
Watergate hearings, resignation of a president (amidst allegations of domestic spying and wiretapping), and the hollow
promise of “peace with honor” as we
pulled out from Vietnam. Today, when the
term “mission accomplished” is a laugh
line on The Daily Show, Springsteen’s
moody themes of isolation, idealism, and
redemption have never rung truer.
With almost prescient timing,
Classic Records has “reissued” its reissue
of Born To Run on 200-gram Quiex Super
Vinyl. With mastering engineer Bernie
Grundman manning the cutter head, the
results reconfirm that this guy doesn’t
quit until he squeezes every last drop of
information from the mastertapes. Since
it soundly trounces an original pressing,
it was more constructive comparing it to
the Bob Ludwig CD reissue set, 2003’s
The Essential Bruce Springsteen [Columbia].
In this instance, both formats trumpet
their own virtues. The LP has the more
expansive soundstage with greater
dimensionality from every vantage point.
Images have more elbow room and while
Bruce’s vocals stand back in the mix, they
also have more flesh and air. However, the
CD noses the LP in vocal articulation. On
“Thunder Road,” the LP’s treble transients are not as dynamic, but neither do
they have the CD’s ice. The lows on the
vinyl are warmer with greater extension
but they also lack immediacy. These differences create a sensation whereby the
LPs seems to have slower tempos, though
you could put both formats to a
metronome and find no difference.
Springsteen bootlegs are legendary
but, arguably, the most sought after con-
Bruce Springsteen at the Hammersmith ’75
cert occurred at London’s Hammersmith
Odeon 1975. This must-have two-disc,
17-track collection contains the complete two-hour concert. It was
Springsteen’s first British date and, like
the Beatles conquest of America a decade
earlier, Springsteen and the E Street
Band take no prisoners. Like a cannon
shot, it captures the band at its New
Jersey bar-rocking best—before the stadium venues of Born In The USA or
stripped-down Nebraska. Though compressed, the sound is surprisingly focused
and lively. It’s a more exciting album
than the studio-safe BTR and reinforces
the truism that some artists demand to
NEIL GADER
be experienced live.
FURTHER LISTENING: Bob Dylan: Blood on
the Tracks; Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey
Johnny Shines: Last Night’s Dream.
Malcolm Chisholm, engineer. Pure
Pleasure/Blue Horizon 63212 (180-gram
LP). Music: HHHH Sonics: HHH 1/2
ohnny Shines
didn’t pick
up the guitar
until he was 17,
after which he
soon hooked up
and
played
J
locales with Robert Johnson—yes, the
Robert Johnson. After traveling the
South with the latter, Shines moved
to Chicago in 1941 and cut a few
sides, but fate prevented him from
being noticed.
Fast forward to 1966, eight years
after he quit the biz. He records
tracks
for
the
indispensable
Chicago/The Blues/Today! compilation
and Testament, and in 1968, Last
Night’s Dream finally brings the construction worker long-overdue attention. Delta mud is splattered everywhere, Shine’s country blues, patient
bottleneck guitar style, chitlin’ boogie vibes, and trumpet of a voice elastic albeit grounded updates on
Johnson’s method—vide, “Baby Don’t
You Think” and “From Dark ’Til
Dawn.” There’s a tinge of mic spotlighting, but overall the sonics are
dandy, properly situating Shine’s simpatico and superstar band—bassist
Willie Dixon, harmonica wailer Big
Walter Horton, trap-tapper Clifton
James—in the mix and allowing his
quivering slide to subtly bend, not
BG
blister, notes.
FURTHER LISTENING: Johnny Shines:
Johnny Shines with Big Walter Horton;
Various Artists: Chicago/The Blues/Today!
Volumes I, III, III
MUSIC EDITOR BOB GENDRON’S SYSTEM
BAT VK-300x integrated amplifier; Gallo Nucleus Reference3 loudspeakers; Rotel RSX-1065 receiver; Sony SCD-CE775 SACD player;
Panasonic DVD-RP91 DVD-A player; Clearaudio Champion turntable; Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge; Bright Star Audio IsoRock
GR3 speaker supports; Synergistic Research, MIT, Monster Cable, and Audioquest cables and interconnects; SolidSteel 5.5 rack
157
m u s i c
CLASSICAL
Classical Caps
Dutilleux: Tout un Monde Lointain...,
L’Arbre des Songes, Trois Strophes sur le
Nom de Sacher. Truls Mork, cellist;
Renaud Capuçon, violinist; Orchestre
Philharmonique de Radio France, MyungWhun Chung, conductor. Various producers and engineers. Virgin Classics 45502.
Music: HHHH Sonics: HHHH
ow in his
t e n t h
decade, Henri
Dutilleux
is
among the great
composers of our
time—and one
of the most fastidious. His relatively
small output is exquisitely fashioned,
each note carefully considered and placed.
For all the craft involved, a sense of spontaneity shines through, making the complex clear, the compositional techniques
hidden beneath shimmering, captivating
surfaces. Those observations apply to his
two big concertos, works that break free
of traditional concerto forms.
“Tout un Monde Lointain...” (“A
Whole, Far-off World…”) is a 1970
Cello Concerto whose title derives
from a Baudelaire poem. Here,
Dutilleux favors “mirror images,”
where motifs turn up again sounding
both new and vaguely familiar, suiting
the composer’s depiction of a dream
world. The scoring’s attractive sensuality starts at the beginning, where
lightly struck cymbals and disembodied orchestral figures accompany an
extended cello cadenza. Throughout,
Dutilleux balances an energy and lyricism that are beautifully captured by
Mork, Chung, and the orchestra.
Like the Cello Concerto, the 1985
Violin Concerto is a single-movement
work subdivided into multiple sections.
Both begin with a solo cadenza, have a
sense of mystery, employ mirror images
(including a fascinating violin-oboe
N
d’amore duet in the Violin Concerto),
and explore wide timbral and dynamic
extremes. Its title, “L’Arbre des Songes”
(“The Tree of Dreams”), reflects
Dutilleux’s intention to create a work
that develops like a tree whose branches
constantly renew themselves. It leaves a
tougher impression than its predecessor,
the orchestra more aggressive, the soloist
given more showy moments. Here, the
orchestra makes the most of its dazzling
effects, and violinist Renaud Capuçon
plays with virtuosity.
Separating the concertos is a short
work for solo cello, an epigrammatic tribute to the late conductor and patron, Paul
Sacher. Mork plays its explorations of timbre and dynamics with impressive command. Despite the slightly forward
recording of the cello, both major works
offer exemplary engineering. The high
percussion and bells in the Violin
Concerto will test your transient response;
the soundstage is wide and deep, the
orchestral effects vivid and transparent.
Overall, an exhilarating disc. DAN DAVIS
FURTHER LISTENING: Dutilleux: Cello
Concerto (Rostropovich); Dutilleux: Violin
Concerto (Stern)
Lang Lang: Memory. Works by Mozart,
Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt. Lang, piano.
Christian Leins, producer; Stephan Flock,
engineer. DG 5827-72 (2 CDs). Music:
HHHH Sonics: HHH
hy Memory?
Presumably,
Universal’s marketing department felt that
they needed a
unifying concept
to present this perfectly normal program of
Classical and Romantic period works from
its premiere young pianist. So all the pieces
on the recital, we’re told, have strong connec-
W
tions to Lang Lang’s childhood, including a
Mozart sonata that caused the youngster to
“reconsider his decision to stop learning
piano.” There’s a blurry photo of the artist on
the cover, looking particularly waif-like, eyes
shut, an index finger pressing on his left temple—remembering something, one supposes.
Forget the concept. This is a superb collection that demonstrates the pianist to be
all he’s cracked up to be, possessing an
extraordinary combination of technical
facility and fully developed musical sensibility. Lang Lang begins with that revelatory Mozart sonata, K. 330 in C major.
Perhaps he scales back his playing a little
too much (going for childlike innocence?)
as there’s a bit more darkness to the minorkey episode in the second movement than
Lang Lang chooses to generate. But
throughout, he offers a sense of perfect proportion and lucidity of exposition.
The program moves on to the gentle
lyricism of Chopin’s Sonata No. 3 in B
minor and Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood
before concluding with the full-blooded
Romanticism of Liszt’s Hungarian
Rhapsody No. 2 in C sharp minor, here further virilized in Vladimir Horowitz’s blisteringly difficult arrangement. (DG placed
the nine-minute Rhapsody alone on a second “bonus” disc, evidence that this artist
is afforded the royal treatment by his record
company.) The highlight of the program is
the Chopin. It’s deeply introspective and
considered, exquisite in its beautiful modulation of tone color and—when called
for—effortless virtuosity.
The recording is warmly intimate,
appropriate for the repertoire and Lang
Lang’s approach. By current standards, the
piano sound has average body, weight, and
definition of the lower register. A correct
setting of absolute phase on your CD player/processor or preamp seems especially
important to getting the initial attacks of
ANDREW QUINT
notes to sound right.
Further Listening: Lang Lang: Live at Tanglewood (SACD); Leon Fleisher: Two Hands
159
m u s i c
classical
Christopher O’Riley: Home to Oblivion: An
Elliott Smith Tribute. Da-Hong Seetoo, producer and engineer. World Village
468056. Music: HHHH Sonics: HHHH
ome
fans
may be more
obsessive than
Christopher
O’Riley, but few
have the commitment,
let
alone the chops, to pursue their passion to
the extremes manifested in his solo piano
treatments of pop songs. The multiple
prizewinner in classical compositions and
radio host of NPR’s From the Top got
hooked on Radiohead after hearing OK
Computer; the results included sold-out
concert tours and two acclaimed CDs.
When he shifted his focus to Elliott
Smith, the rocker-turned-Nick Drakelike-singer-songwriter who allegedly died
by his own hand in 2003, O’Riley again
compulsively studied all the available
CDs and downloadable MP3s he could
find until he knew—and could play—a
slew of Smith songs inside-out.
While it has become standard for
jazz musicians, such as pianist Brad
Mehldau and guitarist Bill Frisell, to
interpret indie-folk and alt-rock material by everyone from Drake to Kurt
Cobain, O’Riley’s approach is unique.
Rather than improvise, he writes elaborate transcriptions based on his intense
scrutiny of the tunes that move him
most. In the case of Smith, while
O’Riley was especially touched by the
lyrics and the voice, those two elements
are nigh impossible to evoke on piano,
so he devotes his virtuosity to expounding upon the melody, harmony, rhythm,
and dynamics of the 17 compositions
that make up this 66-minute program.
He finds the Bach in “Let’s Get Lost,”
the Ravel in “I Didn’t Understand,” the
Schubert in “I Better Be Quiet Now,” the
Satie in “Waltz #1.” The classical feel is
enhanced by O’Riley’s subtle touch on
the keys (even more so than on the
Radiohead material, which invites and
S
160
receives more bombast) and generous use
of the sustain pedal, as well as superb sonics that capture the richness of the piano’s
entire range in a deep, concentrated
soundstage. At once bright and warm
and edgy and rich, the sound supports
O’Riley’s effort to bring classical smarts
to pop earthiness, if not his audacious
assertion that Smith was “America’s most
important songwriter since Cole Porter or
DERK RICHARDSON
George Gershwin.”
FURTHER LISTENING: Elliott Smith: Either/
Or, Christopher O’Riley, True Love Waits
Wagner: Siegfried. Soloists, Bayreuth
Festival Orchestra, Joseph Keilberth, conductor. Gordon Parry, stereo producer;
Kenneth Wilkinson and Roy Wallace, engineers. Testament 1392 (four CDs).
Music: HHHHH Sonics: HHH
ecca recorded
this
1955
stereo Siegfried for
a projected complete live Ring
cycle that was
consigned to the
vaults by contract disputes and John
Culshaw’s plans for a studio Ring, the
latter ultimately made under Georg
Solti’s direction in still-stunning stereo.
The entire 1955 cycle was made with
two sets of producers and engineers, one
for mono, and the other for stereo.
Testament deserves praise for having rescuing it, for if the rest of the tetralogy is
anywhere near the level of this Siegfried,
it will rank as one of the best ever.
For starters, the cast is virtually flawless. In Wolfgang Windgassen it has a
Siegfried with the stamina to do the role
onstage, itself something of a feat. His
Siegfried isn’t the proto-Nazi bully-boy
others have portrayed, but a young, virile
hero sung with lyricism and warmth.
The wonderful Astrid Varnay is
Brunnhilde. Often called the best
Wagner soprano between Flagstad and
Nilsson, she sang with more humanity
than either, and her long awakening/love
scene with Siegfried is unforgettable.
D
Hans Hotter was Solti’s Wotan/
Wanderer but here he’s younger, his
voice firmer, singing with textual
nuance and drama. His confrontations
with Siegfried, Mime (wonderfully
sung by Paul Kuen, who never overacts in the manner of so many Mimes),
and the unequaled Alberich, Gustav
Neidlinger, are gripping. Fafner the
Dragon is sung by Joseph Griendl,
whose cavernous bass is unmatched.
The other cast members range from
very good to excellent, not a weak
link among them. The vastly underrated Joseph Keilberth supports his
singers well, leading a subtle performance full of theatrical ebb and
flow, tension and release.
The early stereo sound has good
presence. It favors the voices and captures some of the Festspielhaus’ acoustic
along with stage movements and placement. The orchestra is somewhat
recessed but enough detail emerges
despite Bayreuth’s covered orchestra pit.
There are moments of congestion and
occasional hardness in louder passages,
but the sound is eminently listenable
and conveys the excitement of a great
live performance. Best of all, the rest of
Keilberth’s Ring cycle will be released
DD
later this year.
FURTHER LISTENING: Wagner: Siegfried
(Furtwängler; Krauss; Solti)
SACD
Sibelius: Kullervo. Peter Mattei, baritone;
Monica Groop, soprano; London Symphony
Orchestra and Chorus, Colin Davis, conductor. James Mallinson, producer; Jonathan
Stokes, engineer. Hybrid multichannel. LSO
Live 574. Music: HHHH Sonics: HHH 1/2
he infrequently
heard Kullervo is
a youthful work,
written in 1892
when Jan Sibelius
was 26. Despite its
enthusiastic recep-
T
m u s i c
classical
tion, the piece was withdrawn and wasn’t performed until after the composer’s
death in 1957. The hour-and-a-quarter
score, an early example of Sibelius’
nationalistic sentiments, is a highly
effective mongrel, equal parts symphony, tone poem, and dramatic cantata.
Kullervo was a tragic hero of Finnish
legend. While out in his sled collecting
taxes, he spies a skiing blond beauty that
he ultimately seduces. (It must be said
that his pick-up line is not the slickest.
“Get up, maid, into my sleigh—lie back
on my furs!” Move over, Austin Powers.)
It’s only post-coitally that Kullervo discovers he’s just bedded his long-lost sister.
After distinguishing himself in battle,
Kullervo returns to the scene of his shame
to throw himself on his own sword.
The music displays influences of
older composers, especially Bruckner
and Tchaikovsky but, mostly, it sounds
like Sibelius. Three of the five movements are strictly orchestral, with chorus joining for two and the soprano and
baritone soloists participating only in
the central “Kullervo and his sister,”
which features an extended instrumental passage depicting Kullervo’s sexual
conquest. Colin Davis remains the leading living Sibelius interpreter—though
Osmo Vänskä, conductor of the
Minnesota Orchestra, is clearly nipping
at his heels—and this reading is energized and idiomatic. The LSO has
played a great deal of Sibelius with
Davis, and they shine here, as do the
two singers.
You’d expect LSO Live recordings to
have a family resemblance—same
orchestra, same hall, often the same
engineers—and they do. There’s rich
string sound, solid orchestral weight,
and good dynamic impact. The multichannel program, while possessing good
dimensionality, has a bit less air and
atmosphere than some of the label’s
other SACDs—for example, the
Shostakovich Eighth reviewed in Issue
159. Nonetheless, this is recommended
AQ
on all counts.
FURTHER LISTENING: Sibelius: Complete
Symphonies (Järvi) (SACD); Sibelius: The
Tempest (Vänskä)
162
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra;
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra;
Fanfare for Louisville. Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra, Paavo Järvi, conductor. Robert
Woods, producer; Michael Bishop, engineer.
Hybrid multichannel. Telarc 80618.
Music: HHH Sound: HHH 1/2
n this new
Telarc disc,
Järvi
pairs
Bartók’s 1944
Concerto
for
Orchestra with a
similarly titled
piece written a decade later by Witold
Lutoslawski. With Stalin barely cold in
his grave, the Polish composer’s Concerto
for Orchestra must have seemed wildly
adventurous to public and commissars
alike. Under a steady timpani pulse, the
first movement’s opening theme is deftly
passed from section to section; a violin
solo is echoed by winds, the ghostly
pianissimo ending featuring slowly dying
strings and the quiet tinkle of bells. The
middle movement gives prominence to
perky winds, shining brass, and virtuoso
strings. In the final movement, longer
than the first two combined, the dense
writing gives opportunities for everybody
to strut their stuff. Lutoslawski’s brief
Fanfare, a musical thank-you note to the
Louisville Orchestra, has interesting
aleatory effects but doesn’t last long
enough to make an impression.
As for the Bartók, it’s become a
workout piece for orchestras flexing
their muscles. The orchestra’s up to
snuff but there’s nothing new here. In
his relatively brief time with the
Cincinnatians, Järvi’s built up an
impressive series of recordings. But in
them, there’s a troubling trend. Too
often he exhibits a soft-core interpretive
approach, as if he’s more interested in
sonority than in other basic musical elements. In the Bartók, this is heard in a velvety beautiful orchestral sound without
the bite and rhythmic lift that maintains
musical tension and listener involvement.
Järvi favors slow tempos, the better to
savor the sonorities but sounding even
O
slower due to slack phrasing and rhythm.
That makes the Bartók disappointing, the
surface beauties unable to compensate for
the interpretive shortcomings.
The sound on the CD layer in the
Bartók is up to Telarc’s usual high standard, a bit more vivid in the Lutoslawski,
whose pianissimo plucked basses in the
third movement offer a good test of lowlevel system resolution. The Fanfare also
tests system capacity to absorb fortissimos without strain. Telarc’s multichannel
recordings from Cincinnati’s Music Hall
are always among their very best. This
one’s no exception: it’s naturally spacious
yet detailed, giving a real sense of a speDD
cific venue.
Further Listening: Lutoslawski:
Symphonies (Salonen); Bartók: Concerto
for Orchestra (Reiner)
Beethoven: String Quartet, Op.135.
Walton: Sonata for Strings. Amsterdam
Sinfonietta. Sven Arne Tepl and C. Jared
Sacks, producers; C. Jared Sacks, engineer. Hybrid multichannel. Channel
Classics 23005. Music: HHH
Sonics: HHHH
his
SACD
offers string
orchestra arrangements of two
pieces that started life as string
q u a r t e t s .
Beethoven’s F major quartet, his final
essay in the genre, is less cerebrally
introspective than the composer’s late
chamber works and potentially lends
itself to orchestral expansion. There really wasn’t much “arranging” involved
here—multiple players are simply
assigned to each of the four parts, with
bass generally doubling the cello line.
The slow movement is the most effective, the increase in scale promoting a
feeling of dreamy peacefulness, nearly
the effect of a Mahler adagio. But what’s
inevitably lost is an intimacy inherent to
the quartet form. While interesting and
not unrewarding, it’s way just not the
best way to hear this music.
T
TAS CLASSIFIEDS
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163
m u s i c
classical
William Walton’s Sonata for Strings,
on the other hand, really sounds as if it
was conceived for chamber orchestra.
Walton derived the piece from his own A
minor string quartet (with some help
from composer Malcolm Arnold) at the
behest of Neville Marriner in 1972.
Compared to the original, there are
changes in key and dynamics, and the
first movement is shortened. The music
has the organic coherence of Walton’s
best material, and the arrangement
exploits contrasts between soloists and
the full orchestra, with engaging textural
variations. The rhythmic vigor of the
brilliant finale nicely translates to the
larger ensemble.
The Amsterdam Sinfonietta plays like
a small chamber group, led from the concertmaster’s chair by Candida Thompson.
It musters considerable virtuosity, as in
the Walton’s energetic Presto movement.
Along with PentaTone, Telarc, and
Harmonia Mundi, Channel Classics is a
prolific source of top-quality multichannel DSD recordings. As producer, engi-
HOT WAX
Sessions: The Black Maskers/McPhee: TabuhTabuhan. Howard Hanson, Eastman-Rochester
Orchestra. Wilma Cozart, producer; C.R. Fine, engineer. Mercury SR90103. Music: HHH
(Sessions)/HH (McPhee) Sonics: HHHH
Brahms: Horn Trio, Sonata No. 2. Joseph Szigeti, violin; Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano; John Barrows,
horn. Wilma Cozart, Harold Lawrence, producers;
C.R. Fine, engineer. Mercury SR90210.
Music: HHHH 1/2 Sonics: H 1/2 (Trio)/HHH
(Sonata)
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. Antal Dorati,
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra; Byron Janis,
pianist. Wilma Cozart, Clair Van Ausdall, producers;
C.R. Fine, engineer. Mercury SR90217.
Music: HHH Sonics: HHH (orchestral)/HHH 1/2
(solo piano)
Enesco: Roumanian Rhapsodies 1 & 2/Liszt:
Hungarian Rhapsodies 2 & 3. Antal Dorati, London
Symphony Orchestra. Harold Lawrence, producer;
Wilma Cozart, C.R. Fine, Robert Eberenz, engineers.
Mercury SR90235. Music: HH 1/2 Sonics: HHH
Wagner for Band. Frederick Fennell, Eastman Wind
Ensemble. Wilma Cozart, Harold Lawrence, producers. C.R. Fine, Robert Eberenz, engineers. Mercury
SR90276. Music: No comment Sonics: HHHH
ou have to hand it to the German reissue outfit Speakers Corner. Where I complained last issue about
Cisco not showing much daring in re-releasing yet another
musical chestnut (Grieg’s suites from Peer Gynt on RCA), the
Y
164
neer, and/or editor, C. Jared Sacks has left
his stamp on every Channel release and, as
usual, the sonics are open, spacious,
detailed, and timbrally natural. Also typical is the subtlety with which the rear
channels are employed; you’ll find yourself placing an ear to the back speakers to
be sure they’re active. Moreover, the stereo
DSD program has much of the surround
AQ
sound’s palpability.
FURTHER LISTENING: Schubert/Dvorák:
Quartet arrangements. (Telarc) (SACD);
Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast (Previn) (DVD-A)
boys from Gettorf have taken a couple of commercially risky chances with the Sessions/McPhee
and the Brahms Horn Trio/Violin Sonata LPs.
Granted, the Sessions/McPhee is famously good
sounding (the best of this lot, as a matter of fact),
but the music isn’t well known, while the Brahms
pair are chamber works—never big sellers with
audiophiles, though why I don’t know, as chamber music is often exceptionally well recorded and
can, because of its smaller scale, sound much more
lifelike played back in the home than a piece
meant for a symphony orchestra. Alas, the recording job that the Mercury team did on the Brahms
Trio is not one of its better efforts, as the horn
tends to produce an irritating buzz on fortes that
rides along with the music. The Sonata No. 2 is
another matter.
The Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti (pronounced “Zuh-geh-tee”), about whom I wrote at
length in this magazine some ten years ago, was
one of this century’s great artists. Though never
a technical wizard like Heifetz—but then, who
was?—he had a musical mind second to none.
Without denigrating Jascha, who is my favorite
violinist, I would say that Szigeti sometimes had
the deeper, more penetrating understanding of
that small bit of repertory that both men performed on disc (especially the acid test, the Bach
Sonatas and Partitas). That said, Szigeti’s bow
arm was never a strong point of his technique,
and by the time this Mercury was recorded
(when Szigeti was in his late sixties or early seventies), he sounds frailer and shakier than ever,
though not quite as shaky as he sounds on the
Mercury recording of the Brahms Violin
Concerto with Menges and the LSO [SR90225], where his
intonation is embarrassingly all over the map and where,
nonetheless, his insight into one of the greatest of the great
W h e r e To B u y
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NEW MEXICO
Hudson Audio Center
Albuquerque
Candyman
Santa Fe
NEW YORK
Altair Audio
Albany
Down to Earth Natural FDS
Amsterdam
J S G Audio Video
Binghamton
T.D. Electronics
Cambia
Ultra Hi Fi
Flushing
Longplayer Stereo Center
Goshen
Audio Excellence
Liverpool
American Audiophile
Lynbrook
Stereo Exchange
New York
Aarlington Audio Video
New York
Virgin Megastore
New York
Lyric Hi-Fi
New York
Sound By Singer
New York
New Platz Audio
New Platz
Sound Mill
Mt Kisco
Burello Sound
Peekskill
Rowe Audio
Rochester
The Sound Concept
Rochester
Le Sounde Audio & Video Saratoga Springs
Mom’s Stereo (PRK Inc.)
Schenectady
Audio Classics Ltd.
Vestal
Analog Shop
Victor
For Your Entertainment
Victor
Audio Visions
West Babylon
Toys From The Attic
White Plains
NEVADA
Virgin Megastore
Las Vegas
NORTH CAROLINA
Advanced Audio
Cary
Audio Advice
Raleigh
OHIO
New Image Electronics
Brooklyn
Progressive Audio
Columbus
Play It Again Sam
Lakewood
OREGON
Classical Millenium
Portland
PENNSYLVANIA
Sound and Vision II, Inc
Bethlehem
David Lewis Audio
Philadelphia
Third Street Jazz & Rock
Philadelphia
Audio Gallery
Pittsburgh
Audio Options
Pittsburgh
Stereo Shoppe
Selinsgrove
Audio Images Stereo
Whitehall
Soundex
Willow Grove
TENNESSEE
Underground Sound
Memphis
TEXAS
ABCD S
Austin
Tower Records
Austin
Krystal Clear Audio
Dallas
Virgin Megastore
Grapevine
UTAH
Audio Design
Salt Lake City
VIRGINIA
Alpine Audio
Abingdon
Gifted Listener Audio
Centerville
Sound Images
Falls Church
Hightech Services Exchange
Falls Church
Deja Vu Audio, Ltd
McLean
Planet Music
Virginia Beach
WASHINGTON
Quicksilver Audio
Kennewick
Café Rivista
Silverdale
WEST VIRGINIA
Absolute Sound WV
Charleston
Full Moon Rising
Marlington
WISCONSIN
Hi-Fi Heaven
Green Bay
University Audio Shop
Madison
I N T E R N AT I O N A L L O C AT I O N S
CANADA
Primetime
Toronto
Virgin Megastore
Vancouver
AUSTRALIA
Caxton Audio
Queensland
CROATIA
Media Audio
Split
GERMANY
Audio International
Frankfurt
Eclectic Audio Geisenheim-Stephanhausen
HONG KONG
YK Audio
Hong Kong
Fook Yue Asia
Hong Kong
ISRAEL
AL Audio
Herzliya Pituach
PHILIPPINES
Upscale Audio
Quezon City
PUERTO RICO
Parlatek
Puerto Rico
SPAIN
Audio Crisel
Madrid
SWITZERLAND
Portier Hi-Fi
Geneva
TURKEY
Lotus Electonics
Istanbul
UNITED KINGDOM
Moth Group
Bedford
165
m u s i c
classical
nineteenth-century concertos is still consummately
thoughtful and deeply moving.
Wobbly intonation is simply the price you pay with
Szigeti, early or late. In my opinion, it is a price well worth
paying for the intelligence and expressiveness that you are
always rewarded with, the Brahms Sonata No. 2 being a case
in point. (Unlike the Trio, the Sonata is very well recorded.)
The Black Maskers was American composer Roger
Sessions’ first large-scale orchestral piece (or at least the first
that this notoriously choosy and anything but prolific composer chose to give an opus number to). Written to accompany a performance of Leonid Andreyev’s symbolic drama of
the same name, it is, despite the obvious debt to Sessions’
teacher Ernest Bloch, fresh, well-made, and continuously
exciting sonically. (Wait till you hear the organ and brass at
the end of the Dirge.) Sessions hadn’t fully found his own
voice when he wrote Black Maskers in 1923 (if you want to
hear what mature Sessions sounds like, find copies of his
Violin Concerto or his String Quartet No. 2, masterpieces
both). Nonetheless, he not only successfully conjures up the
dark world of Andreyev’s play (a world not dissimilar to that
of Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, in which deadly maskers, like the
deadly sins of medieval drama or the unconscious impulses
that drive so many twentieth-century characters to ruin,
besiege and destroy the play’s beleaguered protagonist,
Lorenzo); he’s also created a musical suite that is strong and
interesting enough to stand entirely on its own. I think you’ll
love it, and though it is far less interestingly musically you
audiophiles will also love the flip side, Colin McPhee’s TabuhTabuhan, with its primarily percussive gamelan-like orchestration, postcard-from-Bali colorfulness, and superb sonics.
Two of the other discs are Dorati recordings, and while
just the Pictures was made in tricky Northrup Auditorium
in Minneapolis, both suffer slightly from the midbass
boominess that sometimes plagues heavy bass passages on
Mercury LPs. That said, the performances are excellent and
the sound, minus the midbass boom, first-rate. Anyone
who can listen to the Dorati/LSO reading of the Enesco
Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 without breaking into a grin
is no one I’d like to know. Holy Xeria, what a delightful
piece of light classical music—a virtual kazatsky in sound!
The Pictures album also includes a bonus disc—a 45rpm
pressing of Byron Janis’ 1961 solo piano performance of
Pictures at an Exhibition, which, of course, was originally written for solo piano. When I think of Pictures on piano, I think
of Sviatoslav Richter first. But this Janis version makes a
mighty nice second and sounds superb to boot (although,
like the CD and SACD, it does not have the very deepest bass
I’ve heard on piano recordings). Oddly, this is the first time
that the Janis performance has ever made it onto LP! It was
never released by Mercury as a Living Presence album, only
finding its way into the public domain when the Mercury
LPs were reissued on silver disc by Philips. The Janis alone
makes the Mussorgsky album worth buying, as the whirling
dervish Enesco does the Liszt LP.
Nothing, I’m afraid, could make me buy the Wagner for
Band disc. It isn’t the re-orchestration (frankly I think that a
wind band is the proper medium for the great circus
blowhard of the nineteenth century) and it certainly isn’t the
sonics, which, along with the Sessions/McPhee LP, are the
best of this lot. As you may have already gathered, I’m just
not a fan of Wagner’s, save for Die Meistersinger and little-bitty
bits and pieces of the Ring and several of the other operas.
Alas, the bits and pieces I like aren’t here included. Don’t let
that stop you, however. As a stereo showpiece, Wagner for Band
was, is, and remains a keeper.
JONATHAN VALIN
ANDREW QUINT’S MULTICHANNEL SYSTEM: Esoteric DV-50 universal disc player, Audio Research MP1 preamplifier, Pass Aleph 0
monoblock amplifiers (front left and right), Pass X5 multichannel amplifier (center, surrounds), Martin-Logan Descent subwoofer,
Transparent and MIT interconnects and speaker cable
166
Ind e x t o A d v er ti s er s
Pierre Gabriel Acoustic Inc. ............................26
www.pierregabriel.com
Goodwin's High End ....................................131
www.goodwinshighend.com
Pioneer Electronics ......................................30
www.pioneerelectronics.com
Acoustic Science Corporation (ASC) ............152
www.asc-hifi.com
GTT Audio and Video ..................................117
www.gttgroup.com
Portal Audio....................................................9
www.portalaudio.com
Acoustic Sounds ................100, 101, 126, 127
www.acousticsounds.com
Guide to High End Audio..............................123
www.hifibooks.com
Purist Audio Design ......................................87
www.puristaudiodesign.com
Acoustic Zen ................................................50
www.acousticzen.com
Home Theater for Everyone..........................120
www.hifibooks.com
Q-USA ........................................................150
www.q-usa.com
Acoustics First Corp ....................................146
www.acousticsfirst.com
Hovland........................................................41
www.hovlandcompany.com/
Redpoint Audio Design ..................................99
www.redpoint-audio-design.com
Art Audio ......................................................72
www.artaudio.com
HSU Research ..............................................28
www.hsuresearch.com
Reference 3A................................................24
www.reference3A.com
Audio by Van Alstine......................................92
www.avahifi.com
Hyperion Sound Design, Inc. ........................150
www.hyperionsound.com
Reno HiFi ..................................................125
www.renohifi.com
Audio Classics ............................................166
www.audioclassics.com
Kimber Kable................................................61
www.kimber.com
Rhapsody Music & Cinema ..........................133
www.rhapsodynyc.com
Audio Limits ..............................................150
www.audiolimits.com
Krell ............................................................45
www.krellonline.com
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest ..........................109
www.audiofest.net
Audio Plus Services ..............................Cover III
www.audioplusservices.com
Linn Incorporated ..........................................37
www.linninc.com
Rotel ............................................................77
www.rotel.com
Audiophile Systems ......................................71
www.audiophilesystems.com
Lyric Hi Fi ..................................................140
www.lyricusa.com
Shunyata Research ......................................29
www.shunyata.com
AudioQuest ..........................................Cover IV
www.audioquest.com
Magico ........................................................11
www.magico.net
Siltech ........................................................94
www.siltechcables.com
Aydn ............................................................10
www.aydn.com
Manley Laboratories, Inc. ............................148
www.manleylabs.com
Simaudio Ltd ................................................96
www.simaudio.com
B&W Loudspeakers ......................................57
www.bwspeakers.com
Mark Levinson ..............................................53
www.marklevinson.com
Sound Fusion................................................47
www.soundfusion.ca
Boulder Amplifiers ........................................79
www.boulderamp.com
Marsh Sound Design ..................................148
www.marshsounddesign.com
Sound Organization ....................................121
www.soundorg.com
Cable Company ..........................................119
www.fatwyre.com
Martin Logan ................................................43
www.martinlogan.com
Sumiko ....................................................3, 35
www.sumikoaudio.net
Cable Pro ..................................................148
www.thecablepro.com
MBL of America ..............................................8
www.mbl-hifi.com
Synergistic Research ....................................65
www.synergisticresearch.com
Capativa ......................................................75
www.neotechcable.com
Meridian ......................................................49
www.meridian-audio.com
Tara Labs ....................................................23
www.taralabs.com
Classe Audio ................................................67
www.classeaudio.com
Messenger ................................................152
www.acousticimage.com/MessengerPreamp.shtml
Todd the Vinyl Junkie ....................................60
www.toddthevinyljunkie.com
Crystal Cables ..............................................59
www.crystalcable-usa.com
Moscode ......................................................14
www.moscode.com
Totem Acoustic ............................................69
www.totemacoustic.com
Davidson Whitehall......................................152
www.storadisc.com
Murata ........................................................27
www.murata.com/speaker
Upscale Audio ........................88, 89, 139, 144
www.upscaleaudio.com
Definitive Technology ..................Cover II, page 1
www.definitivetech.com
Music Direct ..............................110, 111, 129
www.musicdirect.com
Usher Audio..................................................63
www.usheraudio.com
E.A.R. USA ................................................125
www.ear-usa.com
Music Interface Technologies ........................19
www.mitcables.com
Vibrapod Co. ..............................................146
www.vibrapod.com
Edge Electronics ..........................................51
www.edgeamp.com
Musical Surroundings....................................85
www.musicalsurroundings.com
Virtual Dynamics ..........................................91
www.virtualdynamics.ca
Elite AV Distribution ....................................148
www.eliteavdist.com
Nagra USA....................................................39
www.nagraaudio.com
Von Schweikert Audio ....................................15
www.vonschweikert.com
Elusive Disc................................................142
www.elusivedisc.com
NHT ..............................................................7
www.nhthifi.com
Walker Audio ..............................................105
www.walkeraudio.com
Enjoy the Music ..........................................122
www.enjoythemusic.com
Nordost Corp. ..............................................83
www.nordost.com
WBT ............................................................25
www.wbtusa.com
Ethereal ......................................................81
www.etherealhometheater.com
Nuforce ........................................................46
www.nuforce.com
Weary Boys ................................................163
www.wearyboys.com
Flat Earth Audio ..........................................146
www.flatearthaudio.com
NYSS Home Theater ..................................137
www.nysshometheater.com
Wilson Audio ......................................5, 12, 20
www.wilsonaudio.com
Furutech ......................................................74
www.furutech.com
Overture Audio Video ..................................113
overtureav.com
Wireworld ..................................................150
www.wireworldaudio.com
Gallo Acoustics ............................................33
www.agaspeaker.com
Paradigm ......................................................17
www.paradigm.com
Wright's Reprints ................................124, 152
www.wrightsreprints.com
Gini Systems ................................................86
www.gini.com
Pass Laboratories ........................................38
www.passlabs.com
Zanden Audio Systems................................103
www.zandenaudio.com
167
Help On the Way For HearingChallenged Audiophiles
Neil Gader
February 23, 2019 Burbank, CA—In an effort to restore the
declining fortunes of the high-end audio industry, a new line of
ultra-resolution hearing devices was announced yesterday in
Los Angeles. In a joint press conference, the trade organization
AAHIA (Academy for the Advancement of Hearing Impaired
Audiophiles), its partner the AARP, and a consortium of highend audio companies and scientists unveiled GoldenEAR, a
device that permits the use of a high-end audio system in spite
of the user’s irreversible hearing loss—a deficit considered to be
part of the natural aging process, but for the Baby Boomer generation also ascribed to decades-long exposure to high-decibel
arena rock and the “aggressive” use of home stereo systems.
Long under wraps, GoldenEAR technology will permit fullrange, high-resolution enjoyment of a stereo system even if the
user is “virtually stone deaf,” according to Mike Azimuth, VP
of Marketing. The first recipient of the device, Steve Jones, 76,
proclaimed the innovation “state-of-the-art” and was looking
forward to firing up his old system as soon as he could locate a
fresh set of output tubes for his vintage amplifiers and cone
material for his subwoofers.
Although engineering specifics weren’t addressed, scientists familiar with the technology stated that the GoldenEAR
device amplifies incoming signals “at enormously high levels of
gain.” After a full spectrum analysis of the patients hearing
loss, an inside-the-ear version of advanced acoustic room correction compensates for hearing loss at every octave. The device
168
includes an implanted DSP-based cochlea receptor
and bone resonance pickups that “speak” to each
other wirelessly from the companion headgear.
Custom-fitted designer headgear will be available
later this year at extra cost on the GoldenEAR
Signature model. Another version, the
GoldenEAR Reference is planned but details are
sketchy, with only one developer stating that in
“audiophile circles, if you’re not marketing a
Reference model, nobody is going to take you
seriously.” A surround-sound version is being
beta-tested, but a number of side effects have been
reported, including incidences of vertigo, nausea,
and in at least one instance a paramedic visit to
the home of an eighty-four year old tester suffering chest pains. Mr. Azimuth cautioned, “We’re
considering a warning label that recommends
being comfortably seated at all times during use.”
The only other apparent downside thus far regards the
painful two-step implantation procedure, which requires a hospital stay and subsequent calibration and is not covered by
most health insurance plans. While a successful result is not
guaranteed, most patients obviously will not be any worse off
than they were prior to the procedure. Nonetheless, response
through the audiophile grapevine has been “impressive,” with
hundreds of deaf audiophiles already flocking to the Web site
for information. Pricing is said to be reasonable and according
to a spokesman, “comparable to a good pair of monoblocks.”
Perhaps predictably, a small contingent of audio entrepreneurs is already offering special GoldenEAR “tuner” accessories
that are said to increase resolution and elevate the experience.
One industry analyst noted that the entire stereo industry
has been in doldrums in recent years because of the dedicated
Baby Boomer audiophiles who have had to mothball their systems as time has taken its toll. “Even stone deaf, these aficionados have retained a passion for the hobby as evidenced by
the fact that their exotic systems are still perfectly maintained.
What we’re saying is that even if you couldn’t hear a cannon go
off next to your head, with this technology you’ll soon be able
to hear the rattles of a tambourine in Symphony Hall or the
squeak from Mick Jagger’s recent hip replacement on the
Stones latest Still Live in Miami DVD. It’s like turning back the
clock and getting a fresh set of ears.”
&

The Cutting Edge

Transcription

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