THE RETURN OF ANALOG - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine
THE RETURN OF ANALOG - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine
THE RETURN OF ANALOG - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine
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No. 86 CAN $6.49 / US $7.69<br />
<strong>THE</strong> <strong>RETURN</strong> <strong>OF</strong> <strong>ANALOG</strong>: Did it ever really<br />
go away? We listen to the Scheu turntable<br />
and arm from Germany, and we try terrific<br />
phono stages from Korea and Canada<br />
MORE REVIEWS: We lend our ears to<br />
three upscale headphones, we pursue<br />
our exploration of the sound of speaker<br />
connectors, and we discover a recording<br />
studio that fits in your palm<br />
PLUS: The truth about color, and a report<br />
from Vegas in mid-recession<br />
ISSN 0847-1851<br />
Canadian Publication Sales<br />
Product Agreement<br />
No. 40065638<br />
<strong>RETURN</strong> LABELS ONLY<br />
<strong>OF</strong> UNDELIVERED COPIES TO:<br />
Box 65085, Place Longueuil,<br />
Longueuil, Qué., Canada J4K 5J4<br />
Printed in Canada
J U S T I C E<br />
A U D<br />
I O<br />
April Music Eximus<br />
For the Compact Disc<br />
For your computer<br />
For the digital source of tomorrow<br />
Kandy K2<br />
Justice Audio<br />
111 Zenway Blvd., Unit 9<br />
WOODBRIDGE, ON L4H 3H9<br />
Tel. : (905) 265-8675 • Fax : (905) 265-8595<br />
www.justiceaudio.com<br />
sales@justiceaudio.com<br />
April Music<br />
ASW Speakers<br />
Atlas<br />
Audioprism<br />
Sonneteer<br />
Bard Audio<br />
QED<br />
Target<br />
Vandersteen<br />
McCormack<br />
Harmonix<br />
Operetta<br />
WBT<br />
Reimyo<br />
Apollo<br />
GutWire<br />
FIM Accessories<br />
Goldring<br />
Milty<br />
Discwasher<br />
Perfect Sound<br />
Nitty Gritty<br />
LAST record care<br />
WATTGate<br />
Audiophile CDs<br />
Audiophile LPs<br />
DVD and SACD
Cinema<br />
Color Space 30<br />
Why your video display can’t show you everything<br />
your eye can see<br />
Issue No. 86<br />
The Listening Room<br />
The Scheu Premier II 34<br />
Massive, transparent and spectacular. Now let’s<br />
plug this German turntable in and listen.<br />
Allnic H-1200 Phono Preamp 38<br />
From South Korea, a tube phono stage with<br />
unusually smooth sound<br />
Moon LP3 Phono Preamp 41<br />
We loved its bigger brother, but you keep badgering<br />
us to try Simaudio’s smaller preamp<br />
BIS Power Maestro 44<br />
It may be billed as a mere power bar, but our ears<br />
tell us it is much, much more<br />
Do Connectors Matter? (Part II) 46<br />
With a gulp, we chop the expensive connectors<br />
from our reference speaker cables<br />
Zoom H2 47<br />
A recording studio in the palm of your hand,<br />
nothing less<br />
Cover story: The spectacular Scheu Analog Premier II<br />
turntable and its transparent Cantus tone arm. The<br />
Scheu is one of three hot analog components<br />
reviewed in this issue<br />
Feature<br />
Vegas vs the Recession 18<br />
by Gerard Rejskind<br />
Our editor tours what has been one of the world’s<br />
largest tech shows…but is it still?<br />
Nuts&Bolts<br />
Analog In a Digital World 28<br />
by Paul Bergman<br />
Analog may be coming back, but it’s difficult to<br />
keep music out of the digital domain<br />
Upscale Headphones 50<br />
We slip on a pair of comfy phones that bear the<br />
name of a famous rapper, and we push a couple of<br />
expensive in-ear phones into our auricles<br />
Software<br />
The Concerto 61<br />
by Reine Lessard<br />
One instrument against a full orchestra? How<br />
composers meet the challenge<br />
Software Reviews 67<br />
by Gerard Rejskind and Albert Simon<br />
Departments<br />
Editorial 4<br />
Feedback 7<br />
Free Advice 9<br />
Gossip & News 76<br />
State of the Art 82<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 3
UHF <strong>Magazine</strong> No. 86 was published in March, 2009. All<br />
contents are copyright 2009 by Broadcast Canada. They<br />
may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any<br />
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,<br />
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,<br />
without written permission from the publisher.<br />
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World Wide Web: www.uhfmag.com<br />
PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Gerard Rejskind<br />
EDITORIAL: Paul Bergman, Steve Bourke, Toby Earp, Reine<br />
Lessard, Albert Simon<br />
PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY: Albert Simon<br />
ADVERTISING SALES:<br />
Alberta & BC: Derek Coates (604) 522-6168<br />
Other: Gerard Rejskind (450) 651-5720<br />
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FILED WITH The National Library of Canada and<br />
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ISSN 0847-1851<br />
Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product No. 0611387<br />
UHF invites contributions. Though all reasonable care will<br />
be taken of materials submitted, we cannot be responsible<br />
for their damage or loss, however caused. Materials will<br />
be returned only if a stamped self-addressed envelope is<br />
provided. It is advisable to query before submitting.<br />
<strong>Ultra</strong> <strong>High</strong> <strong>Fidelity</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> is completely independent of<br />
all companies in the electronics industry, as are all of its<br />
contributors, unless explicitly specified otherwise.<br />
Editorial<br />
Welcoming two new reviewers<br />
First the bad news.<br />
One of our long-time contributors, Reine Lessard, disappears from the<br />
masthead as associate editor. Reine has gone through growing health problems<br />
that now make it impossible for her to continue with the rigorous daily schedule<br />
of activities needed to put out the magazine. However she will continue<br />
to write for us. In particular, she will maintain her popular series of features<br />
on music.<br />
That leaves us a major gap, however. Albert Simon has been filling in, and<br />
was of great help polishing up our last issue. Of course he continues in his<br />
(several) indispensable roles at the magazine, with additional responsibilities.<br />
But we also need to replace Reine in our equipment reviews. For the moment,<br />
we have invited two guest reviewers, whose writing you will see in the pages<br />
of this issue.<br />
One is highly familiar to regular readers, because he is such a prolific letter<br />
writer, namely Toby Earp. Toby may be passionate about writing to us, but<br />
he is also passionate about music, and about hearing it well reproduced in his<br />
home. His point of view is right in line with that of UHF.<br />
The other guest reviewer is Steve Bourke. Steve’s music system includes<br />
some of the same components we use in our own reference systems, as well<br />
as a number of upscale products to which we have given particularly warm<br />
reviews.<br />
It seems clear that additional staff will need to be recruited in the next year<br />
or so, as resources dictate. This is especially true because, contrary to what<br />
the daily bad economic news seem to dictate, we are growing, not shrinking.<br />
Together, we will work hard to maintain and indeed strengthen the character<br />
of UHF that you have told us you most appreciate.<br />
Wild currencies<br />
Because we are located in Canada, we need to keep an eye on what our<br />
country’s dollar is doing relative to the currencies of our customers and our<br />
suppliers. And it has been a wild ride!<br />
Not long ago the Canadian dollar was about at parity with the US dollar,<br />
and even soared briefly to US$1.10. With the meltdown of the stock markets,<br />
and especially of the commodities Canada produces and exports (lumber,<br />
aluminum, and especially oil and gas), our dollar has dropped sharply. It was<br />
at US$0.78 at one point, and is now hanging around US$0.80 (but may have<br />
dropped or risen while this issue was being printed).<br />
That makes things difficult for us. You may recall that currency realignment<br />
caused us to raise the price of the magazine for US readers. It also caused<br />
us to lower the price of certain products at The Audiophile Store, particularly<br />
products we pay for in US dollars. Will we now be forced to raise them<br />
again?<br />
In some cases we still have stock we purchased when our dollar was stronger,<br />
but in other cases we have been forced to change some prices. I think (or hope<br />
anyway) that currencies will settle down after a bit. More price realignments<br />
may be inevitable nonetheless, and we will deal with problems as they come<br />
up.<br />
4 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
“I LIKE DOGS, BUT NOT DOG-EARS”<br />
We hate those folded-down corners on magazines we<br />
just bought, and we know you do too. May we suggest<br />
a solution?<br />
You see, oddly enough it’s the expensive copy that’s<br />
likely to be tattered, torn, and… yes, dog-eared. We<br />
mean the newsstand copy.<br />
Where do copies sit around unprotected? At the newsstand.<br />
Where do other people leaf through them before you arrive, with<br />
remains of lunch on their fingers? At the newsstand. Where do<br />
they stick on little labels you can’t even peel off? Right!<br />
Our subscribers, on the other hand, get pristine copies protected in plastic,<br />
with the label on the plastic itself, not the cover.<br />
We know what you really want is a perfect copy, and if that means paying a little<br />
less, then so be it.<br />
As if that weren’t enough, there’s the fact that with a subscription you qualify<br />
for a discount on one or all three of our much-praised books on hi-fi (see the offer<br />
on the other side of this page).<br />
One more thing. Some newsstands run out of UHF four days after they come in.<br />
How many issues have you missed?<br />
So what’s our advice? Well, sure!<br />
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Much, much more to read…<br />
This is our original book, which has been<br />
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How to compare equipment that’s not in the<br />
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which ones are scams. How to tell a good<br />
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Is the “Bong Crosby” referred to<br />
in the picture accompanying Reine<br />
Lessard’s article on Cole Porter (UHF<br />
No. 85) also the artist known as Nat<br />
King Bowl? Just kidding (isn’t Google<br />
wonderful?).<br />
Thanks for a great read.<br />
Andy Laing<br />
SCARBOROUGH, ON<br />
Actually he’s a friend of Michael Phelps.<br />
Just want to pass along a note of<br />
appreciation and kudos to your mag. It’s<br />
a highlight of my reading material.<br />
I envy your occupation!!!<br />
Joe Walsh<br />
MISSISSAUGA, ON<br />
In issue 82 and 84 you tested two<br />
devices to get sound out of a PC or Mac<br />
from the USB port. You said there were<br />
three ways to get sound out of a Mac. I<br />
think there is a fourth possibility you<br />
don’t know about.<br />
Each and every Mac model from<br />
the MacBook to the Mac Pro have one<br />
optical input and one optical output (the<br />
headphone and microphone jacks are<br />
hybrid analogical/optical on all models<br />
but the Mac Pro). For three years now<br />
I have been using a Mac mini as my<br />
main audio source. The music is stored<br />
on an external 1 TB USB hard drive,<br />
and an optical fibre is linking the mini<br />
headphone jack to a Benchmark D/A. I<br />
am enjoying that set up a lot, even more<br />
so recently thanks to you, now that<br />
you made me discover that I can buy<br />
HD music online. I can now enjoy 24<br />
bits/192KHz music in my living room!<br />
Could you please test the optical out<br />
and compare it with the Thingee and<br />
Off-Ramp devices. I would be curious to<br />
know which one produces better sound.<br />
Also I would recommend you test with<br />
the music coming from an external USB<br />
drive since a lot of people will have that<br />
Feedback<br />
Box 65085, Place Longueuil<br />
Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4<br />
uhfmail@uhfmag.com<br />
kind of set-up and it probably influences<br />
the “musicality” of the USB port.<br />
Philippe Grégoire<br />
MONTRÉAL, QC<br />
We do know about it, Philippe, and we<br />
have ordered an appropriate adapter so that<br />
we can use the optical output of both the Mac-<br />
Book Pro and the Airport Express. We are<br />
also shopping around for a superior optical<br />
cable, which will be glass, not plastic.<br />
With regards to your comments<br />
about DVD recorders having an analog<br />
tuner, this would only be an issue if<br />
one does not use a digital set-top box,<br />
right?<br />
Also, your Super Antenna pulls in all<br />
stations from channels 2 to 69? So that<br />
could take the place of a digital set-top<br />
box for those who do not want HD or<br />
digital channels as well as a monthly<br />
cable bill? Will it still work when the US<br />
goes digital?<br />
Having said that, I realize this idea<br />
conflicts with my comments regarding<br />
the recorders and that your antenna can<br />
pull in some HD channels.<br />
As always, thanks and keep up the<br />
wonderful work you do!<br />
Chris Carty<br />
MISSISSAUGA, ON<br />
If you want to record one channel while<br />
watching another, you would need two set-top<br />
boxes, Chris. The Super Antenna also pulls<br />
in digital stations, in full HD, if you have<br />
a digital tuner. In Montreal, where we are,<br />
both CBC stations broadcast in off-air high<br />
definition, and we expect others to join them<br />
between now and the 2011 analog switch-off.<br />
You can get off-air HDTV from the US as<br />
well, but unless you live very near you may<br />
need a rooftop antenna.<br />
I picked up UHF No. 85 at the local<br />
Barnes and Noble Saturday. Audio has<br />
been on my mind recently and I’ve<br />
been looking for input. I grabbed a<br />
stack of audio magazines. They varied<br />
from rewritten press releases to piles of<br />
insufferable pretentious hyperbole. Your<br />
magazine was so different. So clear, so<br />
straightforward. I bought it and took it<br />
home.<br />
I learned more about audio from this<br />
one issue than I have in years. Right now<br />
I’m wrestling with the advantage of getting<br />
a subscription versus another excuse<br />
to go to the bookstore. My renewed<br />
avocation of playing music (mandolin<br />
and guitar) is driving my renewed interest<br />
in audio. It’s bad when I feel like I get<br />
better definition through ear buds on<br />
my iPod than from my Yamaha 5.1. I’m<br />
not looking for the ultimate system but<br />
I think I can do a lot better than what I<br />
have. Frankly, if I had $10K available it<br />
would go into a mandolin.<br />
I was amused about the discussion<br />
about blind tests (State of the Art, UHF<br />
No. 85) and what people can hear. As a<br />
scientist, I like to read about science outside<br />
of my field. Recently that has crossed<br />
with my musical avocation and I’ve been<br />
reading a lot about music. It’s clear from<br />
this reading that the relation between<br />
people and music is way too complicated<br />
for simple analysis. I know this practically<br />
too. You can do all sorts of blind<br />
tests on instruments that purportedly say<br />
a good quality Pac-Rim guitar will sound<br />
as good as a US or Canadian guitar, but<br />
it’s just not true. It might sound good but<br />
it won’t be the same. The relationship is<br />
so personal that it just can’t be “blinded<br />
out” and make any sense.<br />
I’ve already upgraded back to stereo.<br />
A lot of my dissatisfaction was related to<br />
surround and ambience modes. Turns<br />
out I really don’t want to be in the band<br />
after all. That and the fact that, for all<br />
the surround prowess, the actual music<br />
was surprisingly flat. It’s better when I<br />
go to straight stereo, but I don’t think it’s<br />
as good for music as my old integrated<br />
amp was from 25 years ago.<br />
Anyway, I really appreciate how much<br />
info I got from one issue. Not meaning<br />
to stir up any provincial issue, let me say<br />
thanks for writing about high fidelity in<br />
plain English. (I assume there is a similar<br />
French sentiment.)<br />
George Wilson<br />
SAN ANTONIO, TX<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 7
Feedback<br />
I read your review of the Moon LP5.3<br />
phono preamp in UHF No. 85. Too bad<br />
you didn’t have a pair of XLR interconnects<br />
on hand. This is surprising on the<br />
part of a magazine that has a section selling<br />
both recordings and audio supplies.<br />
I have the same phono preamp as<br />
well as the W-8 amp and the P-8 preamp<br />
from the same manufacturer. I tried the<br />
LP5.3 with Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference<br />
II XLR cables as well as coaxial Van<br />
den Hul Fusions. After a few recordings,<br />
it was evident that the XLR connection<br />
was superior.<br />
Michel Viau<br />
VARENNES, QC<br />
Michel, there’s a good reason we don’t<br />
use balanced cables on any of our reference<br />
systems. We need to be able to test all<br />
equipment without adding any extraneous<br />
differences. If our cables were balanced, we<br />
couldn’t review unbalanced gear without<br />
also changing cables, and introducing an<br />
uncontrolled variable.<br />
An audiophile may well choose to employ<br />
balanced cables, but our systems are working<br />
tools.<br />
I noticed in your Still More News section<br />
of the latest mag that you indicated<br />
that your Sony Blu-ray player’s days<br />
are numbered because it cannot decode<br />
TrueHD and other uncompressed<br />
audio formats. I have the same BDP-<br />
S300 player as you, and I just updated<br />
the firmware which adds (per the Sony<br />
Web site) Dolby TrueHD Audio and<br />
Dolby Digital Plus Audio decoding<br />
functionality. The firmware update is<br />
available on the Sony site. My update<br />
took ~15 minutes, not the minimum of<br />
30 minutes they indicate.<br />
http://esupport.sony.com/<br />
perl/swu-download.pl?upd_<br />
id=4320&SMB=YES?template_<br />
id=1®ion_id=1<br />
So my question: my HTR does not<br />
have any HDMI inputs, but can I access<br />
this uncompressed audio via the Sony’s<br />
5.1 analog outputs into my NAD’s 5.1<br />
inputs? Does the firmware update allow<br />
me access to the HD audio only when<br />
using an HDMI 1.3a cable to a processor<br />
capable of decoding it, or will the Sony<br />
now decode TruHD internally and send<br />
this high sample rate info via analogue<br />
connection?<br />
I am currently using the HDMI out<br />
of the player directly into my HDTV<br />
and running an optical cable to my NAD<br />
for audio.<br />
Tim Leeney<br />
GEORGETOWN, ON<br />
We appreciate the heads up, Tim. However<br />
we were not able to get a usable upgrade CD<br />
with either our Dell PC or our MacPro<br />
running Windows XP. Sony offers a free<br />
upgrade CD, but only in the US. We will<br />
be buying a new player, and it won’t be a<br />
Sony.<br />
In issue No. 85 of UHF you tested and<br />
confirmed the “minimalist” approach of<br />
Keith Eichmann’s connectors. Did you<br />
ever test the “Anti Cables” from Paul<br />
Speltz?<br />
Denis Marchand<br />
SHERBROOKE, QC<br />
We haven’t, no, Denis. The Anti Cables<br />
are minimalist in their approach to the wire<br />
itself, but not the connectors. We would be<br />
reluctant to use tinned spades.<br />
8 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Free Advice<br />
Box 65085, Place Longueuil<br />
Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4<br />
uhfmail@uhfmag.com<br />
I own a Rega Fono MC preamp<br />
coupled with Creek Evo electronics,<br />
Maxcon Squared filter, Totem Arros and<br />
Clearaudio Champion turntable with<br />
Goldring Elite cartridge.<br />
The Fono gives me a great deal of<br />
hum unless I slide the circuit board out<br />
of its extruded aluminum case, I have<br />
placed the whole thing in a cardboard<br />
shoebox so I can enjoy the music!!!<br />
Everything seems okay, but nothing<br />
works out while it’s inside its own case,.<br />
It may sound fine for a few minutes, but<br />
then the hum comes back.<br />
It may be originating from the power<br />
switch, because the hum changes as I<br />
jiggle it. Is this possible? I am looking<br />
forward for a possible upgrade to a silent<br />
Moon LP3 later on, but I can’t even<br />
dump the darn thing on eBay without<br />
risking bad feedback!<br />
Thank you for this one, and for<br />
everything else !<br />
Iulian Alexandru<br />
LACHINE, QC<br />
This sounds like a grounding problem,<br />
Iulian, and possibly an internal<br />
grounding problem. The case should be<br />
properly grounded, acting like a Faraday<br />
cage to protect the sensitive low-level<br />
circuits against outside interference. If<br />
it is floating (i.e. if it is not kept at earth<br />
potential), then it will do the opposite,<br />
acting as an antenna, capturing stray<br />
fields and bathing the circuits in a mist<br />
of radio-frequency noise.<br />
You’ve found a rather desperate fix<br />
by transferring the circuit to a shoebox,<br />
but we need hardly emphasize that this<br />
is less than an ideal solution. If you<br />
know someone else who has an MC cartridge,<br />
try the Rega with that turntable<br />
(with its metal case, of course), to see<br />
whether it produces the same problems<br />
in that system. If it does, it will require<br />
service.<br />
I am thinking of replacing my<br />
Simaudio I-5 (circa 1998) with a<br />
new integrated, and was considering<br />
the Vecteur Ai4 which you reviewed in<br />
UHF No. 85. I was hoping that since<br />
you have reviewed both amplifiers you<br />
might be able to comment on how they<br />
differ sonically.<br />
Adam Yalonetsky<br />
TORONTO, ON<br />
Don’t do it, Adam. The Vecteur is<br />
certainly a bargain, offering excellent<br />
musicality at a lower price than most<br />
of its competitors, but it is Vecteur’s<br />
entry-level model, and it is not a match<br />
for Simaudio’s very good I-5.<br />
By the way, Simaudio does offer a<br />
factory upgrade of the I-5 to the current<br />
model, the I-5.3. Check out the next<br />
letter.<br />
Yes, it’s interactive<br />
My two-channel system is powered<br />
by a Simaudio I-5 integrated amplifier<br />
which I purchased second hand. It has a<br />
pewter-colored faceplate which, according<br />
to the Simaudio Web site, indicates<br />
it was made somewhere between 1997<br />
and 1999. I checked, and it is a candidate<br />
for the Simaudio factory sonic upgrade<br />
to “current production standards.”<br />
What is your experience/opinion of<br />
such upgrades? Is it worth the $500 plus<br />
shipping?<br />
The I-5 is wired to Totem Sttaf<br />
speakers via Transparent Audio MusicLink<br />
Plus bi-cable, and my source is a<br />
Naim CD5i.<br />
Jon Fawcett<br />
OAKVILLE, ON<br />
We are mostly a little cool to factory<br />
upgrades, Jon, because the gap between<br />
cost and tangible improvement is almost<br />
always very broad. In most cases you’ll<br />
do better by selling the older unit and<br />
buying new.<br />
But the cost of the I-5 upgrade (which<br />
would then become an I-5.3) is more<br />
than reasonable compared to the cost of<br />
a new amp. You’ll also get replacements<br />
for aging parts that might later cause<br />
trouble. We would go for it.<br />
We’re told, by the way, that the<br />
improvements made to the amplifier are<br />
essentially those originally introduced<br />
on the limited edition 1-5LE.<br />
I have a Yamaha HTR5790 with<br />
Yamaha CDC685 CD driving Energy<br />
C-1 speakers and in direct mode on<br />
the HTR5790. We love the ability to<br />
have five discs playing at random for<br />
entertaining.<br />
I run it via analog cables and wonder<br />
if you can comment if the DAC is superior<br />
in the CD or receiver. Should I be<br />
using an optical connection instead?<br />
Realizing this is low end, I am going<br />
to move up to a proper two-channel<br />
system and put the Yamaha/Energy into<br />
Home Theatre service. With this goal<br />
in mind and a budget of $1500 at a time,<br />
would you suggest my first upgrade be<br />
receiver, Rotel 1062, Arcam, the new<br />
Moon or speakers? I am thinking Totem<br />
Arro, Rainmaker or Sttaf.<br />
In short which will give me that<br />
quantum leap in soundstage I desire?<br />
Mark Dixon<br />
OTTAWA, ON<br />
Just click on the ad on the previous page, and you know what will happen?<br />
You’ll go right to the advertiser’s Web site…if there is one, and of<br />
course if you are connected to the Internet at that moment.<br />
Try it with any of the other ads in this issue.<br />
Of course it works with the full (paid) electronic issue as well.<br />
We can recommend the three loudspeakers<br />
you mention, Mark, just not<br />
right away. You’ll get a broader sound<br />
stage with the Totems, sure, but the<br />
speakers are the best thing you’ve got for<br />
the moment. The most urgent upgrade<br />
would be the CD player.<br />
Yes, we do understand the appeal of<br />
music playing when you have company,<br />
but CD jukeboxes are riddled with<br />
diesel-grade compromises, and a good<br />
single-disc player would do better for<br />
you when you’re actually listening.<br />
For when company comes ,there are<br />
two alternatives. The multidisc player<br />
can remain as a second source, doing<br />
what it does best. The other possibility<br />
is to move the appropriate music over<br />
to your computer, if you’ve got one, and<br />
connect it by either cable or WiFi to the<br />
DAC in your receiver. Then, once your<br />
budget has caught its breath you may<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 9
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IN TORONTO<br />
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want to upgrade to a new amplifier. We<br />
think you already know what to go out<br />
and listen to.<br />
As I write this I know you are in Las<br />
Vegas for the yearly CES. I read your<br />
book about hi-fi and I am impressed with<br />
the details of your explanation for every<br />
subject. I am a newbie and just starting<br />
in the exciting hi-fi world.<br />
I found a pair of NAD C272 and<br />
C162 amp and power amp for less than<br />
$1000. I know these are entry-level<br />
units. Would you recommend them,<br />
or am I better off saving my money<br />
and buying a used Copland, YBA or<br />
Classé?<br />
Ron Grey<br />
TORONTO, ON<br />
We would suggest going with a Copland<br />
or the YBA, Ron, but there is no<br />
way you’re going to get anything usable<br />
from either company for a three-digit<br />
price tag. One question, though: do you<br />
have a reason for looking at a separate<br />
power amplifier and preamplifier rather<br />
than an integrated amplifier?<br />
You might in fact have a good reason.<br />
Separates give you added flexibility as<br />
you upgrade. However integrated amps<br />
mostly take up less space, they can be<br />
excellent and even superb, and you don’t<br />
need to add a quality interconnect cable<br />
to make them sing. We would look at the<br />
alternatives.<br />
Thank you for the issue No. 85<br />
article on ripping one’s existing stock of<br />
CDs onto a computer disc drive (Music<br />
From Your Computer). I’ve been thinking<br />
of giving this a try for some time,<br />
and pitting my CD player against a<br />
computer — winner take all. A “Ripping<br />
for Audiophile Dummies” guide was the<br />
perfect thing to eliminate many of my<br />
questions. That, plus the availability of<br />
the Blue Circle Thingee at the Audiophile<br />
Store eliminates all obstacles.<br />
Except one. In the article you mentioned<br />
the need for error correction<br />
in the ripping software (I hadn’t even<br />
thought of that). Could you give some<br />
names of programs that rip to uncompressed<br />
formats (PC) using what you<br />
consider audiophile-quality error checking?<br />
Googling for “CD ripping software”<br />
results in a depressingly large number of<br />
hits, and I’m sure that 98% of the listed<br />
software considers the MP3 format to<br />
be “all you’ll ever need.”<br />
One other consideration with using<br />
a computer as a source is the fan noise.<br />
In an office environment that noise is<br />
barely noticeable, but move it to your<br />
equipment rack (or worse, a notebook<br />
next to your listening position) and<br />
during quiet music passages I think the<br />
fan would be quite annoying. Sure, the<br />
computer can be placed a good distance<br />
away from the listening position, but<br />
then it’s a short hike to select a different<br />
“CD,” and anything other than having<br />
the computer next to you effectively<br />
eliminates the equivalence of a CD<br />
player’s remote control. Any ideas for<br />
that?<br />
A computer and Thingee sounding<br />
better than roughly a $2000 CD player?<br />
Great! The eventual emergence of a<br />
more sophisticated Thingee-like device?<br />
Awesome!<br />
Jeff Tennant<br />
BURLINGTON, ON<br />
Jeff, the Apple iTunes program,<br />
which comes with Mac OS X and can<br />
be downloaded for Windows, includes<br />
error-correction, as shown in the article.<br />
Steve Nugent over at Empirical Audio<br />
says that it’s a good choice for the Macintosh,<br />
but that on Windows he prefers the<br />
free Exact Audio Copy for ripping, and<br />
either Foobar or JRiver for music library<br />
management. He also recommends<br />
avoiding Windows Vista, because with<br />
16/44 data it lowers volume to 90% of<br />
normal, thus truncating the bitstream.<br />
There are lots of other variables too, as<br />
there always are in high end audio.<br />
We agree that having a PC with a fan<br />
near listening position won’t be much<br />
fun, and we don’t like having one near<br />
our desks either, but there are affordable<br />
computers without fans, inexpensive<br />
enough to be classed as audio accessories.<br />
The Mac mini is widely used for<br />
exactly this purpose, and the new crop<br />
of “Netbooks,” the cheap miniature<br />
laptops, are mostly quiet and sell for<br />
under $400. Some audiophiles use the<br />
tiny Apple Airport Express to get music<br />
wirelessly from a remote computer. It has<br />
no fan, and it comes with both a USB<br />
10 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
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connector and an optical digital output.<br />
Incidentally, Steve Nugent has a modded<br />
version of the Airport Express.<br />
Apple also has a nifty solution to<br />
the problem of controlling music at a<br />
distance: the iPod Touch (or the nearly<br />
identical iPhone). A free downloadable<br />
application lets you see and control<br />
iTunes over your WiFi network. You<br />
can even view the cover art on its screen.<br />
There are also free or inexpensive<br />
remote applications for other jukeboxes,<br />
such as Winamp.<br />
We’ll be writing more about this<br />
topic shortly.<br />
Some time ago I bought and read<br />
two your books, The UHF Guide to <strong>High</strong><br />
<strong>Fidelity</strong> and The World of <strong>High</strong> <strong>Fidelity</strong>.<br />
I was impressed by the depth of your<br />
knowledge, together with the easy style<br />
for this complicated subject (I even didn’t<br />
think how everything is complicated).<br />
I love music (any k ind except<br />
modern — after the 80’s), but have no<br />
time for searching, so I decided to ask<br />
your advice. What components in the 2<br />
to 4 thousands CAD price range (for the<br />
whole system): 1.CD player (most likely<br />
new) 2. loudspeakers (could be used) 3.<br />
anything else? Cables? Accessories?<br />
I have already a NAD C352 integrated<br />
amplifier.<br />
Igor Louckov<br />
BARRIE, ON<br />
This is a wide open question, Igor.<br />
The problem is not that there are no<br />
answers, but that there are too many<br />
answers. There are countless ways to put<br />
together a musical system on a budget,<br />
and the possibility of looking to used<br />
(and possibly discontinued) products<br />
multiplies the possibilities.<br />
An integrated amplifier is definitely<br />
the right choice for such a system, and<br />
you already have one. Though its rated<br />
power — 80 watts per channel — is quite<br />
respectable, amplifiers like the NAD<br />
C352 don’t have huge power supplies,<br />
and you will want to mate it with speakers<br />
that are reasonably sensitive, with a<br />
rating of at least 90 dB. A small speaker<br />
is not likely to be efficient enough, and<br />
anyway it will require a stand, which<br />
will suck badly-needed money from<br />
your budget. This is where buying used<br />
will be useful. There is a vast number of<br />
possible brands.<br />
But don’t overspend on the speakers,<br />
because you want money available for<br />
the best possible source. The quality of<br />
affordable CD players has improved considerably,<br />
fortunately. You might look<br />
at Creek, Moon, Vecteur, Roksan<br />
and Cambridge, but those are merely<br />
examples.<br />
Leave a small amount for proper<br />
cables, meaning cables that don’t come<br />
from the hardware store, and didn’t come<br />
free in the box. But don’t overspend there<br />
either, otherwise you’ll be forced to make<br />
painful compromises on the source.<br />
After reading all the good words<br />
about the Totem Mani-2 Signature<br />
speaker, the temptation is great to<br />
bring one home. Moreover, knowing<br />
that UHF applies strict and unbiased<br />
criteria for evaluating hi-fi gears makes<br />
the temptation even greater. However,<br />
UHF, as always made clear that this<br />
speaker requires an appropriate amplifier.<br />
Mine is the Naim Supernait. If I<br />
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succumbed to the temptation, would it<br />
make “Manitou” mad at me, and would<br />
I suffer great punishment?<br />
If that were to be the case, what would<br />
be my best Totem to follow?<br />
I like to listen to chamber music,<br />
piano, jazz and World music. My listening<br />
room is 12’ x 14’ The rest of the<br />
system is a Rotel RCD975 connected by<br />
a pair of Audioquest Viper cables. The<br />
upgrade of the speakers (B&W P6) seems<br />
more urgent because of some distortion<br />
in low and medium frequencies (possibly<br />
because capacitors in the crossover have<br />
leaked). The P6 has the same distortion<br />
when paired to my Audio Analog<br />
Enigma (which, I think, confirms the<br />
fact that the culprit is the P6 and not the<br />
amplifier).<br />
Since we are on the subject of selecting<br />
the appropriate speaker for a given<br />
amplifier (or the inverse), other how PDF. can I make<br />
12 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
complicated than mere wattage. Output<br />
current is certainly an important factor<br />
in the equation. How can I know how<br />
much current the speakers need for<br />
playing music?<br />
Jean-François Mondou<br />
SAINT-HUBERT, QC<br />
indeed get angry. Worse, the wrong<br />
amplifier can actually damage the speakers.<br />
Talk about wrath!<br />
When we reviewed the original<br />
Mani-2’s a decade and a half ago (UHF<br />
No. 43), no one had told us they were difficult<br />
to drive, and so we broke them in<br />
using a Robertson 4010, which boasted<br />
60 watts per channel. The combination<br />
sounded glorious. When we reviewed the<br />
current Signature version (in UHF No.<br />
76), we listened with a Moon W-5LE,<br />
which is explicitly not recommended by<br />
Totem. They sounded even better. We<br />
have heard them driven by various tube<br />
amplifiers, not offering huge amounts of<br />
power. Really fine!<br />
You will by now have gathered that<br />
the rumors are true. We do like the<br />
Mani-2, which we consider to be one<br />
of the world’s great speakers. A welldesigned<br />
amplifier capable of operating<br />
under high-current conditions can drive<br />
it without much risk.<br />
For what it’s worth, a mismatch that<br />
is not downright absurd may show up<br />
only under gross overload conditions.<br />
Our advice: on New Year’s Eve, keep the<br />
drunks away from the volume control.<br />
I’m a long time reader (since issue<br />
No. 30 I think), and over the last few<br />
years I’ve been a little out of touch as<br />
far as state-of-the-art gear is concerned.<br />
We’re all getting a little older and perhaps<br />
a little less ambitious. Don’t get me<br />
wrong; I’ve been listening, but I haven’t<br />
been purchasing. Thanks to UHF, I’ve<br />
Well, Jean-François, they say you<br />
can never be too thin or too rich, or been very content with my system…until<br />
How the electronic have too much amplifier version power. But now. works<br />
times change. “Too rich” runs counter Unfortunately, my Musical <strong>Fidelity</strong><br />
We don’t mean this to version, current because economic you times. already “Too know thin” how it Tri-Vista works. It’s CD a PDF, player requires service.<br />
and you open it with Adobe is no reader, longer etc. politically correct in the I made the purchase three years ago<br />
But we also have a paid age of electronic eating disorders. version, which And the is complete, saying (albeit without a demo) banners and like would like it repaired.<br />
this one, or articles in fluent about gibberish. “too much amplifier power” may I’m more than willing to pay for the<br />
That one, because it or is may complete, not be has true…depending to be ordered on with what a credit repair, card. but To here’s open the problem: see the<br />
it, you also have to download you have a plugin to do to for get your all copy that power. of Adobe Reader attachment. or Acrobat.<br />
You’ll receive a user name There and password is indeed to more allow to you matching to download an your So, full what copy to do? of I understand parts<br />
the magazine. You’ll need amplifier the same and user speaker name than and password mere rated the first are discontinued time you open all the time, but three<br />
the magazine on your computer, power, but but an amplifier’s only the first capability time. After with that, years it works at $10,000 like any list? Sure, I only paid<br />
a given speaker is not easy to pin down. half that, but I’ve lost a little faith in the<br />
my own analysis? The For Mani-2’s details, impedance<br />
is 4 ohms (“mainly MagZee. resistive”) and will generally have very large power a hard lesson to be learned (funny how<br />
visit our Amplifiers Electronic that Edition can deliver page. To high buy current an issue hobby or subscribe, nonetheless, visit and maybe there’s<br />
recommended power is in the range of<br />
40 to 200 Watts. The Supernait has 80<br />
watts per channel at 8 ohms.<br />
I suspect that the story is more<br />
supplies, at least unless they use switching<br />
power supplies. The Supernait would<br />
certainly be wrong, but what would be<br />
right? Choose badly, and Manitou may<br />
my Adcom HDCD is still giving). When<br />
I purchase a CD player or anything<br />
mechanical, I’m thinking hopefully five<br />
to seven years. Bummer…
Free Feedback Advice<br />
I’m not wise on the players they’ve<br />
offered, not to mention the bigger question:<br />
does an expensive Red Book CD<br />
player make sense today? Heck, they’re<br />
probably offering units with the same<br />
transport! I knew this day would come…<br />
just not this early and I’m not ready for<br />
it.<br />
I’m not keen on supporting Musical<br />
<strong>Fidelity</strong> again, but I may not get a better<br />
value. And most of us work hard. My<br />
local dealer stopped carrying Musical<br />
<strong>Fidelity</strong>, and I can’t believe I’m about to<br />
say this, but “I don’t care about bringing<br />
home a new box…I just want my music<br />
back!”<br />
I must be old. Any help would be<br />
greatly appreciated.<br />
Oh, and Ivy says, “Hi!” She just about<br />
killed me when I failed to mention her.<br />
George Watkinson<br />
OTTAWA, ON<br />
Hello to you both, George and Ivy.<br />
We’ve read the letter you got from Musical<br />
<strong>Fidelity</strong> USA, informing you that the<br />
Philips transports used in your Tri-Vista<br />
player are failing all over the place, and<br />
(of course) Philips no longer makes that<br />
transport. We feel your pain. Our Moon<br />
Stellar DVD player also used a Philips<br />
transport, it has also failed, others are<br />
failing all over the place, and Philips no<br />
longer makes that model transport. We<br />
have heard this story more times than<br />
we care to recall.<br />
Musical <strong>Fidelity</strong> is offering you<br />
“drastically reduced prices” on two other<br />
models. These are not Tri-Vistas (the<br />
Tri-Vistas used miniature tubes from<br />
the 1950’s in their circuits), and they will<br />
play only Red Book CDs, not SACDs.<br />
The choice is yours, obviously, but we<br />
would decline and look elsewhere. We<br />
also question the wisdom of spending a<br />
lot on a Red Book CD player when the<br />
medium is in steep decline.<br />
Some players, however, now have<br />
digital inputs or even USB connections,<br />
allowing their (presumably superior)<br />
internal converters to be used with a<br />
computer as a music source. Those<br />
players are future-proof, and they can be<br />
used even if the transport melts down…<br />
by which time you might not care.<br />
But what about SACD? It has settled<br />
nicely into its niche, abandoned by Sony,<br />
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which developed it and led it to victory<br />
over DVD Audio, but supported by a<br />
number of audiophile labels. If you have<br />
a substantial number of SACDs, and if<br />
your taste in music is for material likely<br />
to be released on SACD, you might<br />
want to look for another player than can<br />
handle the format.<br />
This may not be fair, but before<br />
choosing we would inquire whether a<br />
given player contains a Philips transport.<br />
We are slow to anger, but equally slow<br />
to forgive.<br />
I’d like to get your view on the importance<br />
of loudness (decibels) in stereo<br />
playback. Is it fair to say that, in order to<br />
get a realistic and accurate reproduction<br />
of the music, one has to play at the same<br />
loudness that was achieved during the<br />
recording environment (live or studio)?<br />
How important is sound reproduction<br />
in terms of loudness, in the<br />
audiophile sphere? In a studio or any<br />
household music room, you seldom/<br />
never get sound (decibel levels) close to<br />
what you’d experience in a live concert<br />
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hall. I guess part of the reason is most<br />
speakers do not reproduce realistic<br />
loudness, predominantly due to inefficient<br />
speakers. Not if you really want<br />
to overheat your amp or destroy your<br />
speakers!<br />
To get a realistic loudness experience,<br />
is your only option horn speakers? Is it<br />
fair to say that the best speaker in terms<br />
of realistic loudness come from horns<br />
(i.e. Avant Garde)? Any horn speaker that<br />
you would recommend without breaking<br />
14 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
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Lee Andrews<br />
OTTAWA, ON<br />
That’s a really interesting question,<br />
Lee, and we will answer it by giving you<br />
two contradictory bits of data.<br />
Bit number one: stereo systems are<br />
mostly played too loud, well beyond<br />
concert levels (though possibly not rock<br />
concert levels). An editor in another<br />
magazine — we can’t recall which one<br />
CAMBRIDGE AUDIO • CLEARAUDIO •EXPOSURE AUDIO • GRADO •ELAC•TRIANGLE•MUSICAL FIDELITY<br />
it was just now — took his sound level<br />
meter with him to his expensive seat at<br />
a symphonic concert. Peak levels registered<br />
around 97 dB, a lot less than the<br />
105 dB peaks he was getting when he ran<br />
his home music system at his preferred<br />
volume.<br />
Bit number two: even the most powerful<br />
home music system cannot match<br />
the dynamics of a single piano. That<br />
was a point made by Paul Klipsch in a<br />
Klipsch ad some years ago. His wife was<br />
a pianist, and he claimed her grand piano<br />
produced peak acoustic levels that even<br />
his Klipschorn couldn’t match.<br />
How do we reconcile this?<br />
The two statements are contradictory<br />
only if we assume that what comes out<br />
of the speaker is linear, that is, directly<br />
proportional to the acoustic energy<br />
of the original performance. In fact<br />
reproduced music is dynamically distorted.<br />
In particular, live music contains<br />
instantaneous peaks that contain more<br />
energy than any home system could<br />
possibly reproduce. These brief peaks<br />
are simply clipped short, and the clipping<br />
causes a momentary burst of harmonic<br />
distortion. We cannot build a system<br />
that can handle such peaks accurately,<br />
nor can any recording medium, digital<br />
or analog, capture them. Therein lies the<br />
difference between high fidelity (even<br />
ultra high fidelity) and perfect fidelity.<br />
But just as the best systems cannot<br />
reproduce such instantaneous peaks,<br />
so sound level meters cannot measure<br />
them; meters have internal amplifiers<br />
too. Horn speakers are highly efficient,<br />
reproducing perhaps ten times as much<br />
volume for a given power input than you<br />
could get from conventional speakers.<br />
They can, therefore, reproduce concert<br />
levels even with a modestly-powered<br />
amplifier, but no speaker can reproduce<br />
the quick transient peaks Paul Klipsch<br />
was referring to. And yes, they do break<br />
the bank, because they are so much more<br />
complex than tuned reflex speakers, and<br />
they’re tougher to design, too.<br />
We should mention one other important<br />
aspect to choosing a playback<br />
volume. An audiophile may find that<br />
there are details, and even actual musical<br />
instruments, he cannot hear unless he<br />
turns up the volume. He then notices<br />
other details he hadn’t heard before,
Free Feedback Advice<br />
but which he wishes were clearer, and<br />
so he turns up the volume some more.<br />
The high volume results in distortion,<br />
which makes things fuzzier, and so he<br />
“upgrades” his amplifier in order to get<br />
more power. He goes from 100 to 200<br />
watts, then 500, and there are still details<br />
he strains to hear. By now he is running<br />
the system dangerously loud, and neither<br />
he nor his neighbors are happy.<br />
His problem, if only he knew it, is<br />
a lack of clarity, not volume. Perhaps<br />
he needs a better source, a better amp,<br />
better speakers, better wiring…whatever.<br />
It might be that 60 watts, under<br />
ideal circumstances, would let him hear<br />
all of the music that has been eluding<br />
him.<br />
Your article in issue No. 85, UHF<br />
Chooses an HDTV, was most helpful,<br />
as we are presently shopping around<br />
for such an item. We note that in this<br />
category there are additional models that<br />
cost about 10% more than your selected<br />
model; the Samsung PN50A550.<br />
The two models are the Samsung<br />
PN50A650 and the Panasonic<br />
TH50PZ800U. Are either of these additional<br />
models worth this extra cost?<br />
Gordon Krip<br />
BEACONSFIELD, QC<br />
Gordon, we’re not sure about the<br />
Panasonic, whose added attribute is a<br />
THX-certified mode. The Samsung 650<br />
has different styling, with a red tint we<br />
find more distracting than attractive.<br />
It also has an upgraded anti-glare coating,<br />
possibly worthwhile if you view in<br />
brightly-lit rooms.<br />
The bad news is that its gray-scale<br />
tracking is less accurate than that of the<br />
earlier model, though Samsung offers a<br />
downloadable firmware upgrade to fix<br />
that.<br />
I recently completed my system with<br />
a Puccini player and the recently released<br />
Puccini U-Clock. When playing CD<br />
or SACD, the improvement brought by<br />
the clock is incredible. This is really a<br />
combination you should try.<br />
My question is the following: this<br />
U-Clock has also a USB input plug that<br />
allows reproducing music from a laptop,<br />
and the increase in quality is also stunning.<br />
But I cannot dedicate my laptop to<br />
this only task.<br />
Basically, what I would need would be<br />
some sort of hard drive on which I could<br />
copy high quality downloaded music<br />
(from Linn for example), with a USB<br />
output, but also allows me to visualize<br />
(on my TV screen?) the list of musical<br />
pieces. Does this exist ? Or do I need to<br />
buy a dedicated computer, such as a Mac<br />
mini, to render it possible ?<br />
Philippe Martiat<br />
BRUSSELS, Belgium<br />
You’ll certainly need a computer you<br />
can make available for the task, Philippe.<br />
A Mac mini would certainly be a good<br />
choice, and of course by high end standards<br />
it isn’t expensive. If your laptop is<br />
also a Mac, you can use Back to My Mac<br />
to control it from your laptop, so that<br />
you won’t need to give it either a monitor<br />
or a keyboard. Even cheaper would be<br />
one of the new inexpensive “netbook”<br />
laptops, some of which come with Linux<br />
installed. That however gets you into an<br />
unfamiliar operating system.<br />
You could install a large hard disc<br />
with your music on it next to your<br />
system, accompanied by a charger for<br />
your laptop. Connect them together<br />
when you want to listen.<br />
Incidentally, if you’re using iTunes<br />
there is a free application for the iPhone<br />
or iPod Touch allowing it to act as a visual<br />
remote control over WiFi. Applications<br />
are also available to control WinAmp<br />
and other computer jukeboxes.<br />
Having a little time off work over the<br />
holidays allows for more listening time.<br />
Of course, that gets me thinking of the<br />
next step in the upgrade process, so it’s<br />
time for more of your advice, please.<br />
So far I’ve upgraded to the CEC<br />
TL51XR belt drive CD player and the<br />
Sugden A21a integrated amplifier. Still<br />
remaining from the original system are<br />
the Wireworld Solstice III interconnects,<br />
Silver Sonic T-14 speaker cable,<br />
and B&W DM602 Series 1 speakers.<br />
I like listening to anything from Pink<br />
Floyd to Rickie Lee Jones and Miles<br />
Davis. I have collected hundreds of CDs<br />
over the years, and of course some sound<br />
evil, whereas some sound quite nice.<br />
My goal is to put together a system that<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 15
Free Feedback Advice<br />
16 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
allows me to experience as much of the<br />
magic as possible that is hidden in my<br />
collection, without running out of the<br />
room with my hands over my ears on<br />
anything less than a perfect recording.<br />
Is this a realistic goal and am I headed<br />
in the right direction so far?<br />
With this in mind I am trying to put<br />
together a list of speakers to consider. I<br />
have set up my room using the Cardas<br />
formula, and this means I am doing<br />
nearfield listening (quite entertaining<br />
but I think I like sitting back a bit more).<br />
My listening room is about 11’x 17’. Is<br />
this considered a medium-sized room?<br />
Will floorstanding speakers be too big<br />
for the room? Are 8 ohm speakers all that<br />
I should look at? What are the characteristics<br />
of an easy-to-drive speaker? I<br />
want something that will do my source<br />
and amp justice. To quote Gerard from<br />
your review of the Sugden amp “…if you<br />
look for speakers as good as this amplifier,<br />
they’ll have to be some speakers!”<br />
Can I find the kind of bang for your<br />
buck “value” in speakers that I have<br />
found in my upstream components? I<br />
am a bass player and do like to hear a<br />
reasonably realistic bottom end. Would<br />
the Harbeth HL5’s be an excellent match<br />
(scary price tag though)? Would the<br />
Reference 3a MM De Capo i’s be too<br />
analytical? (Better price, and I could use<br />
my current stands for now)? What else<br />
should I consider? A subwoofer?<br />
Given the current economic times<br />
I may have to wait a year or so before I<br />
make such a major luxury purchase, so I<br />
have time for research. But a Christmas<br />
bonus may allow the purchase of interconnects<br />
and/or speaker cables now.<br />
Thanks again for your help and hope<br />
to hear from you soon (before my wife<br />
finds a better use for my bonus).<br />
Jay McHollister<br />
STETTLER, AB<br />
Well, better is as better does, Jay.<br />
Your preamble suggests that you are now<br />
tempted to run from the room covering<br />
your ears. Indeed, the fact that nearfield<br />
listening is less than comfortable hints<br />
at the same thing. The top end of your<br />
system is not pleasing you.<br />
Like most speakers, the B&W’s<br />
have a “family sound,” and that sound is<br />
relatively forward. They can be tamed,<br />
to be sure. Whatever future changes you<br />
may consider, including floorstanding<br />
speakers with extended response down<br />
to where your favorite instrument plays,<br />
you may want to focus on the cables<br />
you’re using. Both the Silver Sonic<br />
and the Solstice interconnects are best<br />
described as cost-efficient. We’re not<br />
against cost efficiency, but you can do a<br />
lot better, and your system is now good<br />
enough that you’ll want to. You might<br />
look at better power cables too.<br />
You may also want to tweak the<br />
acoustics of your room. It’s awkward to<br />
rearrange a room that size, at least if it’s<br />
also a living room, but sometimes minor<br />
differences can have a big impact.<br />
With your next bonus (do they still<br />
give those after the meltdown?), look at<br />
speakers. The Harbeths would indeed<br />
be a good choice, and the Reference<br />
3a’s would be too once you have the<br />
troublesome top end under control. The<br />
impedance is of little importance, but<br />
the smoothness at higher frequencies is<br />
definitely what you should shop for.<br />
Participate in Free Advice!<br />
The Free Advice section was actually in our very first issue, and it is<br />
one element that makes UHF different from other magazines. It’s not<br />
that our ears are any better than yours, but we have, collectively, many<br />
years of experience. Perhaps we’ve learned something that can help you.<br />
You can submit your own question on line at uhfmail@uhfmag.com,<br />
but note a couple of conditions.<br />
Your question (and of course our answer) may be used in the on-line<br />
version on our site, and it may also be used in the print version. For those<br />
reasons, you need to supply your name and your home city.<br />
(Can you submit a question and specify that it not be used? Yes…but<br />
that’s a paid consultation service, currently costing $50/hour. Contact us<br />
for details.)<br />
I’ve read your magazine for quite<br />
some time and enjoy it very much. You’ve<br />
had Linn products for review several<br />
times but, not the Classik Musik or the<br />
Classik Movie. Have you had a chance<br />
to hear them at an audio show or elsewhere?<br />
I’d like to know what you think<br />
of them.<br />
I’m finally in the position to get a<br />
home music, and possibly home theatre<br />
system. The Linn Classik products make<br />
sense for my budget, which is limited to a<br />
few thousand dollars. Are there alternatives<br />
to the above products as well?<br />
Dean Nicholson<br />
SASKATOON, SK<br />
Well of course, Dean, because there<br />
always are, though perhaps not in this<br />
unique one-box configuration. We have<br />
heard the Linn Classik Musik, yes, and<br />
it is certainly superior to the usual allin-one<br />
receiver. It does have limitations,<br />
to be sure, but if we were spending time<br />
in a dorm room or a tiny apartment, we<br />
would take a serious look at it.<br />
However we don’t recommend the<br />
Classik Movie, because it is obsolete. It<br />
has a SCART video output, common<br />
in Europe, and S-Video outputs, but no
Free Free Feedback Advice Advice<br />
HDMI output. HDMI is so superior that<br />
we would not consider a player without<br />
it.<br />
I’m looking for a pair of full-range<br />
floorstanding speakers. Doing research<br />
on three-way vs. two-way speakers, I<br />
noticed that there seem to be two schools<br />
of thought.<br />
The three-way school believes<br />
dedicated drivers will provide the full<br />
frequency range compared to a two-way,<br />
since one driver is not trying to do two<br />
things. The two-way school believes<br />
that, although a two-way speaker may<br />
not produce the full frequency range<br />
(lacking in deep bass), the absence of a<br />
third driver and crossover will introduce<br />
less phase error and other abnormalities,<br />
plus the speaker will use less power.<br />
What are your thoughts on either<br />
design? Also, what floorstanding speakers<br />
would you recommend for about<br />
$3000 that are easy to drive, provides<br />
a full frequency range (including some<br />
deep bass), are easy to place (not too<br />
picky with room placement) and produce<br />
a deep and wide soundstage in a 12’x14’<br />
living room?<br />
I listen to all types of music except<br />
country western.<br />
Antonio Giaccio,<br />
MONTREAL, QC<br />
Oh, we would love to play you a bit of<br />
Dolly Parton or Crystal Gayle, Antonio,<br />
but we digress.<br />
There are indeed two schools of<br />
thought. With three or more drivers,<br />
each can be specialized. Though a twoway<br />
speaker can reproduce deep bass, it<br />
may do better if it hasn’t been designed<br />
to cover most of the midrange as well.<br />
Similarly, if a tweeter needs to move lots<br />
of air at medium frequencies, it can’t be<br />
made as light and quick as it would be if<br />
it took care only of its own little corner<br />
of the world.<br />
So why not at least three drivers in<br />
every speakers? Cost aside, there is a<br />
sonic penalty to including more crossover<br />
points. Because handover is not<br />
instantaneous, there will be a range of<br />
frequencies that will be reproduced by<br />
two drivers of radically different characteristics,<br />
spaced apart by a number of<br />
centimetres. Phase problems will result,<br />
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response will be less than smooth around<br />
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designs have a crossover point right<br />
around middle C, where the ear is particularly<br />
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each driver, can get around some of these<br />
problems, though not the ones caused by<br />
physical distance between drivers.<br />
Not too many floorstanding speakers<br />
will be at home in a small room. The<br />
Totem Sttaf and Forest come to mind<br />
as possibilities, as does the Gershman<br />
Sonogram. Those are just examples,<br />
though.<br />
FREE ADVICE ON LINE!<br />
www.uhfmag.com/FreeAdvice.html<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 17
FEATURE<br />
Vegas in Bad Times<br />
At least this is one town where<br />
there’s still construction,<br />
right? A year ago, huge swaths<br />
of the storied Las Vegas Strip<br />
had been demolished, sweeping away<br />
such landmarks as the Stardust and the<br />
Frontier. There were cranes all around,<br />
putting up a new casino and entertainment<br />
centre to rival ’em all, and condo<br />
towers like the ones in the picture<br />
above, with prices starting at a million<br />
dollars.<br />
Anyone notice that a lot of those<br />
cranes aren’t moving?<br />
We flash back to January 2007,<br />
and the Consumer Electronics Show<br />
is riding a wave. It occupies fully the<br />
recently enlarged convention centre,<br />
and it still has overflow pavilions. If you<br />
haven’t booked your hotel before the<br />
end of November, you’re going to be<br />
sleeping out in Henderson, where the<br />
bright lights of Vegas illuminate only<br />
the horizon. Want a table in a good<br />
restaurant? Reserve early, preferably<br />
before leaving home.<br />
But that was two years ago, when the<br />
world’s bankers were blowing their noses<br />
in thousand dollar bills. By last year Wall<br />
18 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Street might still have been running fine,<br />
but the consumer electronics industry<br />
was furrowing its collective brow. Business<br />
was down, and there were plants<br />
closing all over the world.<br />
As for Vegas, it might once have<br />
been the kingdom of the $39 room and<br />
the $1.99 all-you-can-eat buffet, but its<br />
casinos had consolidated into a very few<br />
conglomerates, and those conglomerates<br />
were fat and greedy. Book a set of<br />
rooms at an upscale hotel (and that’s<br />
nearly all there is now anywhere near the<br />
Strip), and not only did you get dinged<br />
for expensive rooms, but you had to<br />
guarantee that each person would spend<br />
a minimum amount in food and shows.<br />
Also last year, the Las Vegas Sun ran<br />
a story, probably planted, that said CES<br />
might leave Vegas in favor of New York,<br />
or even Singapore. The story quoted<br />
management at large companies, such as<br />
Hewlett-Packard, as talking staff reductions<br />
in Vegas.<br />
This year…well, you can guess what<br />
happened. Attendance dropped by as<br />
much as 35%. Lots of corners of the Las<br />
by Gerard Rejskind<br />
Vegas Convention Centre were vacant.<br />
Even on the eve of CES I was bombarded<br />
by e-mails offering top hotels at bargain<br />
prices. I dined in a variety of restaurants<br />
before, during and after CES, and I<br />
never waited more than two minutes for<br />
a table. I wanted to see a second time the<br />
Cirque du Soleil Beatles-themed show,<br />
Love. In 2007 getting a ticket meant long<br />
waits. This year I got a great seat half<br />
price for the same evening.<br />
(And, by the way, it was worth it this<br />
time too.)<br />
Even so, the worst may be to come.<br />
The commercial paper hit the fan only<br />
in September, and by then a lot of companies<br />
had already committed to being<br />
at CES. They may have downsized their<br />
staff, but they came. Will they be there<br />
in 2010?<br />
Another question: at a time when<br />
the Internet connects us all, and we’re<br />
talking about “reducing our carbon footprints,”<br />
do big shows like CES still make<br />
sense? For high end audio the answer<br />
seems obvious, but high end audio is<br />
not what makes the wheels of consumer<br />
electronics turn. And we might be seeing<br />
a sign of the times at another show in<br />
another city.<br />
For many years, the Macworld show<br />
has been held in San Francisco at the<br />
same time as CES. That meant Apple,<br />
a growing force in consumer electronics,<br />
was not coming to CES, nor were<br />
many of their partners. Journalists were<br />
forced to choose which show they would<br />
cover. Though Macworld is minuscule<br />
compared to CES, it often got more<br />
headlines. Year after year Bill Gates<br />
would give a forgettable keynote, while<br />
at Macworld Steve Jobs would stroll on<br />
stage with his trademark jeans and black<br />
turtleneck, and wow the overflow crowds<br />
with “insanely great” products. Two<br />
years ago the iPhone was introduced<br />
at Macworld, not at CES, and for three<br />
days it bumped CES right out of the<br />
news.
Feedback Feature<br />
But consider what happened<br />
this year. There was<br />
an Apple keynote, but Steve<br />
Jobs wasn’t there (I started<br />
the rumor that Obama had<br />
recruited him to run the<br />
GM-Chrysler company, but<br />
he turned out to have health<br />
issues). More important was<br />
that Apple announced it<br />
would not be at the next<br />
Macworld, probably dooming<br />
the show. Apple says it<br />
has its stores all over the<br />
world, and they get more<br />
visitors in a week than Macworld<br />
does.<br />
Quick on the ball, CES<br />
announced an entire Applethemed<br />
pavilion for 2010. It<br />
was quickly sold out, and it<br />
then quadrupled the space in<br />
it (they’re likely to have space<br />
they won’t know what to do<br />
with). There is, however, a<br />
difference between Macworld<br />
and CES. Macworld<br />
is a consumer show, but CES<br />
is trade only. And it’s not as<br />
though Apple can’t get ink<br />
without ferrying dozens of its<br />
employees away from their work to meet<br />
and greet journalists and store owners<br />
who wish they could sell iPods.<br />
Yet, as I said, for high end audio it’s<br />
a different matter. You don’t want your<br />
products merely seen, you want them<br />
heard. A good chunk of CES space<br />
(the Venetian towers, notably, and the<br />
Hilton) is given over to audio. However<br />
high end audio is one of the most fragile<br />
sections of consumer electronics, and it<br />
is the makers of audio gear who are the<br />
most susceptible to being unable to buy<br />
food if business goes south. For many of<br />
them, going to a show is something that<br />
can be cut.<br />
There is, of course, an alternative<br />
venue, T.H.E. Show, which CES considers<br />
a disloyal competitor and would<br />
like to wipe off the face of the earth.<br />
It is strictly high end audio. So how as<br />
it doing? Not too well. Last year it had<br />
expanded to take not only the St. Tropez<br />
but also the Alexis Park next door (once<br />
occupied by CES itself). This year it was<br />
only at Alexis Park, and its 50 exhibits<br />
didn’t take up much of it. I toured it in<br />
just four hours, not counting the rooms<br />
where the exhibitors hadn’t bothered<br />
showing up.<br />
Crowds were sparse, too, and that’s<br />
despite the fact that, this year, the show<br />
was open not only to CES attendees (who<br />
are trade, not consumers), but also to<br />
bona fide members of audio societies.<br />
I don’t know what the future holds<br />
for CES, for T.H.E. Show, or for trade<br />
shows in general. I suspect that Las<br />
Vegas itself will bounce back, even if<br />
the casino and hotel operators will have<br />
to rein in their greed a bit. It’s possible<br />
that the gigantic Las Vegas Convention<br />
Center will never be totally filled again,<br />
but Vegas is not just conventions. It’s Sin<br />
City, it’s Disneyland for adults, and it<br />
is — as a cab driver once told me — the<br />
place people go to do what they wouldn’t<br />
do at home.<br />
So bring on the cheap weekday<br />
flights, and the low-cost room packages,<br />
and the gift packs of tokens to start<br />
gambling with, and the 75¢ imported<br />
beers. At some point, there will be visitors<br />
who came for fun, but start asking,<br />
“Wouldn’t this be a great place for our<br />
next convention?<br />
* * *<br />
Enough! Let’s tour the show.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 19
Feedback Feature<br />
With every new CES there are new amplifiers, or<br />
at least new versions of amplifiers we’ve seen<br />
before. I constantly marvel at the continuing<br />
presence of vacuum tubes. Check the two<br />
tube units at the top of this page.<br />
They’re from a California company called Win Analog (I<br />
presume, then, that the “Win” doesn’t stand for “Windows”).<br />
The closeup image at left is that of a preamplifier, the LS845a.<br />
At right is the WA833a monoblock. The amplifier includes a<br />
KT66 output tube, but it isn’t used for output. Rather, it’s the<br />
20 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
driver which pumps the 833a output tube (that’s the big one<br />
in the middle) to 65 watts. At CES they were driving Florence<br />
Audio Pololena pyramid-shaped speakers, with a Sony<br />
SACD player as a source. Incidentally, Win Analog lists only<br />
one dealer, and that one in its home town, so I presume it was<br />
System<br />
going fishing for more at the show.<br />
The preamplifier at left is the Wavemaster WM-1 from<br />
Audience, and it is not a tube unit. Nor, for that matter, is<br />
it a solid state preamp, not full-time at least. It is a passive<br />
preamp, which in ordinary operation has no amplification at<br />
all. Such preamps usually have perilously-high impedance, but<br />
the Wavemaster uses a multi-tapped transformer to achieve<br />
high efficiency and a satisfactorily low impedance.<br />
There is a solid state amplifier stage which can<br />
be switched in if the source is just not loud<br />
enough. Projected price: between $10 and $12<br />
thousand.<br />
The power amps Audience was using were<br />
prototype monoblocks, and the speakers used 16<br />
proprietary drivers, plus a subwofer that goes to<br />
work below 40 Hz. It all sounded very good, with<br />
a particularly smooth violin.<br />
Simaudio continues to move its well-reviewed<br />
technology downmarket with the Moon I-.5 (yes, that’s<br />
point five) and the matching CD-.1 player. They’re the model<br />
down from the I-1 and CD-1 reviewed in UHF No. 84, and<br />
the price is of course lower, at an estimated $1200 each. A<br />
sign of the times?<br />
Perhaps this is another sign of the times: iPod docks, or<br />
products that are also iPod docks, are multiplying. The most<br />
expensive one was from Chord, not known for paying the<br />
least attention to the budgets of its customers. It’s the Chord<br />
Indigo, a Wall preamplifier Stands<br />
that also has the (now obligatory) USB<br />
input.<br />
at<br />
One of the truly impressive rooms was from the Austrian<br />
Your<br />
Belongs on the Wall<br />
Target One and Two-Shelf<br />
The Audiophile Store<br />
company Ayon. Its CD player and large tube amplifiers were<br />
driving Pinyon speakers from Escalante (another company<br />
worth checking out, come to think of it). The combination had
Feedback Feature<br />
they are today, and an extra tube would have added distortion<br />
and noise. I heard it drive a pair of Sonist Concerto speakers,<br />
making the always sensuous and warm voice of singer Ana<br />
Caram sound particularly pleasant.<br />
Above are a couple of prototypes being demonstrated at<br />
T.H.E. Show by Edge, well-known for its large solid-state<br />
amplifiers. The really original piece was a battery-powered<br />
CD player with an unusual feature: pick your transport.<br />
Sony? Philips? Yes, sure. The system was driving humongous<br />
PDN Montana speakers, with Tibetan monks chanting and<br />
Get the complete beating a version<br />
large drum.<br />
Below is an astonishing device from SE2 Labs, which<br />
No, this amazing free version dynamics is not complete, has everything though you but could the…actually spend a couple the kitchen sink may be<br />
and of great hours musicality. reading it. Want the full an version? option. This huge box ($30 to $46 thousand, depending<br />
You At one can, time of course, it seemed order that the print on configuration) version, which contains we have a published Blu-ray player, an Apple TV, a<br />
the for really a quarter exotic of audio a century. products You can Microsoft get it from Xbox, our a back Nintendo issues Wii, page. a Wadia transport, a Runco<br />
came from But Japan. we also Of have course a paid Japan electronic video version, processor, which a Bryston is just like surround this one, sound processor, and<br />
has largely except been that it overtaken doesn’t have by other annoying ICEPower banners class like D this power one, and amps. it doesn’t It’s modular, in case some of<br />
Asian have countries, articles tailing but the off Triode into faux it Latin. becomes Getting obsolete. the electronic Worth it version for entertainment is of value alone!<br />
Corporation course faster, was and at CES it is also with cheaper. a It At costs lower just left $4.30 is the (Canadian) new Cambridge anywhere DACMagic. Yes, the<br />
variety in the of tube world. gear Taxes, that if was they more are applicable, name has are been included. used before (Albert owns one). It’s compact,<br />
than a little It’s available interesting. from At MagZee.com.<br />
top left it’s affordable (US$399), and yes, it has a USB input.<br />
is the Tri Version 7, an updated (and<br />
expensive, at almost $14,000) version<br />
of one of its designs. However<br />
the company has other interesting<br />
products that certainly look good,<br />
including a $2799 tube preamp<br />
with phono stage, a tube CD player<br />
for $2100 (no digital input, though),<br />
and a push-pull tube integrated amplifier<br />
for $2200.<br />
One of the most interesting amplifiers<br />
I saw (and heard) was DeHavilland’s KE-50A<br />
power amplifier (above centre). This $7495 beauty is made<br />
under license from Kara Chaffee Engineering, and is based<br />
on a design of the Fifties, from the days when Fisher was a<br />
company, and not merely a brand name. The amplifier uses<br />
a pair of KT-88 output tubes, hefty for the time, and phase<br />
reversal for the push-pull output stage is provided not by the<br />
usual active inverter, but from an interstage transformer. Why?<br />
Well, transformers in those days were more affordable than<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 21
Feedback Feature<br />
22 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Fi r s t<br />
question:<br />
is that cont<br />
rapt ion at<br />
upper centre a woodburning<br />
speaker? Not<br />
exactly. The Raal Requisite<br />
Eternity is from<br />
Serbia, and it is a joint<br />
venture between designer<br />
Aleksander Radisavljevic (at right<br />
in the picture above) and the man<br />
standing next to him, marketer<br />
Danny “Sage” McKinney. Five<br />
15” (38 cm) woofers are in the<br />
solid bronze base. The rest of<br />
the speaker is omnidirectional<br />
too, with an array of 18 midrange<br />
driver and 15 ribbon tweeters.<br />
I listened to them reproducing<br />
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Coq d’Or,<br />
and it was a most pleasant experience.<br />
Price: $100K.<br />
At left is DeVore <strong>Fidelity</strong>’s<br />
Gibbon 9 speaker. It’s a twoway<br />
system, but with an extra<br />
side-mounted woofer. I listened<br />
to some classic Nat King Cole<br />
recordings on a Basis turntable<br />
and Nagra electronics. I would<br />
have liked more smoothness (I<br />
don’t know whose fault that was),<br />
but I enjoyed the<br />
liveliness.<br />
At the last Montreal<br />
salon, a new<br />
company called<br />
Lafleur had done<br />
something clever:<br />
it s protot y pe X1<br />
speaker was set up<br />
in the press room,<br />
where journalists<br />
could get a look at<br />
it. Laf leur was at<br />
CES, but in a regular<br />
room. At right is the<br />
X2 speaker, so named<br />
because it has two<br />
woofers instead of<br />
one. This is a luxury<br />
speaker ($17K), with the enclosure made<br />
of lateral laminations. Paired with Moon<br />
components, it sounded most pleasant. I<br />
expect Lafleur will be back at the Montreal<br />
Salon first weekend in April.<br />
Below right is another Canadian<br />
speaker, the Herald. This is<br />
a fully active loudspeaker, made in<br />
Markham, in suburban Toronto.<br />
This $12,000 speaker includes four<br />
amplifiers. In the demo<br />
it exhibited powerful<br />
dynamics, with a very<br />
good sense of space. It’s<br />
certainly a speaker to<br />
keep an eye on.<br />
In a totally different price range,<br />
Focus Audio, known for speakers<br />
you’d probably save money for years<br />
to buy, is adding affordable speakers<br />
to its line. The new FC 9, with nice<br />
wood finish and chamfered sides,<br />
costs $1800. I heard them with<br />
NAIM gear, and they sounded very<br />
good, natural, not all all forward.<br />
There is an even less expensive<br />
Focus speaker (C$1030 or US$800),<br />
the FC 6. I haven’t heard it.<br />
Remember the French speaker<br />
make, Elipson? We still have a<br />
pair of Elipson 1400’s, used for the<br />
rear channels in our home theatre<br />
system. But then the company tried<br />
to make its living with “lifestyle”<br />
speakers, which is a little like an<br />
upscale restaurant specializing in<br />
Pablum. It’s back with large, high<br />
performance speakers, the 42XX
Listening Feedback Room<br />
(they’re prototypes,<br />
and the last<br />
two digits are to be<br />
named later. I heard<br />
the 18121 Overture,<br />
with the speakers<br />
joined by Accuphase<br />
gear. Frankly<br />
the sound was loud<br />
and hollow, but the<br />
cannon shots had a<br />
lifelike impact.<br />
At extreme left<br />
is a Cessera horn,<br />
which was demo<br />
n s t r at e d w it h<br />
Zanden electronics.<br />
What made the<br />
demo unusual was<br />
that the Zanden<br />
preamplifier offers<br />
a choice of equalization<br />
curves, as<br />
was common in<br />
the early days<br />
of the LP. It<br />
has curves<br />
not only for<br />
the usual RIAA curve, but also for<br />
FFRR (the old Decca-London curve)<br />
but also Teldec<br />
say so<br />
and<br />
in a<br />
others.<br />
review.<br />
The<br />
company had brought some older<br />
recordings from Archiv and Decca,<br />
purporting to show that older curves<br />
were used long after the supposed victory<br />
of RIAA. I don’t know whether<br />
I’m totally convinced,<br />
can cancel.<br />
but certainly<br />
About the Audiophile Store<br />
It’s always a pleasure to run across a<br />
speaker from Rethm (the name is not a<br />
variant on “rhythm,” it’s actually Sanskrit<br />
for “harmony”). The Saadhana, at right,<br />
was back, but this time with a bass module<br />
to add a little extra impact to the bottom<br />
end. Without the bass module, the Rethm is<br />
a single-driver horn-loaded speaker. Having<br />
praised it (because I normally enjoy it so<br />
much), I have to add that it sounded a little<br />
harsh this time, and that’s despite the analog<br />
source. I suspect the turntable, because the<br />
Saadhana is usually impeccable.<br />
I spent some time with a most unusual<br />
speaker, the Nola Baby Grand Reference.<br />
What is unusual about it is that the top<br />
of the enclosure looks as though it was<br />
removed. The four midrange drivers and<br />
the Raven ribbon tweeter are open-backed.<br />
The Nolas have an external crossover. Playing<br />
with an Audio Research CD player and<br />
electronics, they sounded truly lifelike, and<br />
I spent some time in the room.<br />
The eight pages starting on<br />
At<br />
page<br />
lower<br />
53 are<br />
right<br />
a catalog<br />
is t he<br />
for The<br />
St udio<br />
Audiophile<br />
Elect ric T3<br />
Store. The store belongs to<br />
speaker,<br />
UHF,<br />
which<br />
and it<br />
was<br />
is stocked<br />
driven<br />
with<br />
by hybrid<br />
accessories<br />
amplifiers<br />
and<br />
from the same<br />
recordings that we recommend?<br />
company. It sounded very good. I was invited to slip my iPod<br />
Do we have a conflict of<br />
into<br />
interest?<br />
the accompanying<br />
Actually we don’t,<br />
Wadia<br />
because<br />
iTransport,<br />
anything<br />
and I needed no<br />
we don’t like doesn’t make<br />
further<br />
it to the<br />
encouragement.<br />
store. We’re not<br />
I listened<br />
tempted<br />
to<br />
to<br />
a<br />
cheat,<br />
song from<br />
because<br />
the credibility we’ve<br />
Bïa’s Sources<br />
album.<br />
built up<br />
Far,<br />
over<br />
far<br />
the<br />
too<br />
years<br />
much<br />
is<br />
bass,<br />
worth<br />
unlike<br />
a lot<br />
what<br />
more<br />
I<br />
than<br />
heard from CDs,<br />
a few sales. If a competitor<br />
but<br />
makes<br />
the sound<br />
something<br />
was otherwise<br />
better, so<br />
clean<br />
be it,<br />
and<br />
and<br />
clear.<br />
we’ll even<br />
To its left is a speaker I spent plenty of time with, from<br />
And the store actually<br />
Ocean<br />
protects<br />
Way<br />
us from<br />
Monitor<br />
potential<br />
Systems.<br />
conflicts.<br />
Much larger than its photo suggests,<br />
In the past, advertisers have<br />
it’s<br />
attempted<br />
a triamplified<br />
to shake<br />
pro<br />
us<br />
monitor<br />
down,<br />
used<br />
threatening<br />
at Allen<br />
to cancel their ads if we published<br />
Sides’ Ocean<br />
something<br />
Way<br />
negative.<br />
Studio in<br />
It<br />
Los<br />
hasn’t<br />
Angeles.<br />
happened<br />
for a while, but then everyone<br />
What<br />
knows<br />
was he<br />
it<br />
doing<br />
won’t<br />
there?<br />
work.<br />
Selling.<br />
The Audiophile<br />
He said he<br />
Store<br />
puts eight pages of advertising<br />
got tentative<br />
in every<br />
orders<br />
issue,<br />
for<br />
and<br />
10<br />
those<br />
sets of<br />
are<br />
the<br />
pages<br />
speakers.<br />
no one<br />
Kevin Hayes of<br />
this was one of the<br />
Check<br />
truly<br />
out<br />
great<br />
the<br />
rooms<br />
store, ot<br />
VAC<br />
its on-line<br />
was there<br />
counterpart.<br />
to,<br />
We think there’s great<br />
at the show.<br />
stuff there. If we didn’t think<br />
and<br />
so,<br />
the<br />
it<br />
two<br />
wouldn’t<br />
discussed<br />
the sounds<br />
be there.<br />
To the right of the Cessera is the<br />
Scaena Acoustics inline array. This of different generations<br />
of studio<br />
beautifully put-together speaker<br />
includes a dozen little woofer/midrange<br />
drivers, and nine ribbon tweet-<br />
have worked with.<br />
microphones they<br />
ers. It sells for $54K. It was advantaged Sides played nearmaster<br />
high-res<br />
by VTL tube electronics and a dCS<br />
player. Very nice.<br />
r e c o r d i n g s of<br />
At left is a Venture speaker from Peggy Lee and Nat<br />
Belgium, with a full set of four King Cole. Hayes<br />
ceramic drivers. It’s new to me, and had one too. And<br />
the Venture site includes not a word, there were tapes<br />
so I can’t tell you much about it. It to be played on the<br />
was in the room with Wavac tube Ampex ATR-100<br />
monoblocks and the (always welcome) recorder. Result:<br />
emmLabs player. Another great I stayed much too<br />
room, with tight and detailed music, long, but I enjoyed<br />
and generally good sound.<br />
every second.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 23
Listening Feedback Room<br />
24 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Ah, turntables! I’m thrilled by the way digital<br />
sound has progressed since its unpromising<br />
introduction in the 80’s, but it’s always special<br />
to put on a good LP. It’s also good to see that,<br />
in this age of the computer as a music source, there are<br />
also more and more turntables available.<br />
Here are two turntables of opposite extremes. One is<br />
bewilderingly complex, the other simplicity itself.<br />
At left is the Gabriel turntable. It’s Italian, but you<br />
had probably figured that out. In fact some of its complex<br />
parts were machined over at the Ferrari plant when it<br />
wasn’t busy. The suspension is magnetic. By the way,<br />
have you counted the tone arms? Yes, four, and the<br />
table costs $64K if you buy it that way. Since 78 rpm is<br />
one of the available speeds, that could account for<br />
an arm right there. The cartridge (well, one of the<br />
four actually) is an EMT, with a body made from<br />
tungsten.<br />
The Gabriel was in the room of Gemme Audio,<br />
whose Katana speaker we will be reviewing shortly.<br />
At the show, however, was a pair of tiny speakers,<br />
coupled with a long subwoofer the size of a sideboard.<br />
My initial impression was that the system had a<br />
couple of rough edges. However when they put on<br />
Janos Starker playing one of the Bach cello suites,<br />
my objections melted away.<br />
Above is the opposite of the Gabriel, the deceptively<br />
simple DPS table from Germany (the initials<br />
stand for “der Plattenspieler.” It was in the Ayres<br />
room for a good reason: the DPS uses a three-phase<br />
AC motor, and Ayres designed the power supply.<br />
The room featured (of course) Ayres electronics and<br />
Sonus Faber speakers. Need I explain why that room<br />
was a veritable oasis of music?<br />
At left is Bill Firebaugh, the man behind Well<br />
Tempered turntables. He’s still going, too, shown<br />
here with his Amadeus table. Firebaugh always<br />
maintained that the designer of a turntable bearing<br />
should pay attention to the side of the bearing wall<br />
rather than the bottom, because the belt tends to pull<br />
the platter sideways. He hasn’t changed his mind, and<br />
what he has done, in his own words, is put a round<br />
pole into a square hole…the opposite of the popular<br />
expression. Then again, Bill, I’ve always thought of<br />
you as a square peg in a round hole. Nice work.<br />
The turntable costs $3K, and the arm $5300. The<br />
Dynavector lacquer-damped cartridge? Another<br />
$9000.<br />
Yes, it’s interactive<br />
Just click on the ad on the next page, and you know what will happen?<br />
You’ll go right to the advertiser’s Web site…if there is one, and of course<br />
if you are connected to the Internet at that moment.<br />
Try it with any of the other ads in this issue.<br />
Of course it works with the full (paid) electronic issue as well.
Nuts&Bolts<br />
Feedback<br />
Is there life beyond CD, and even<br />
SACD and other current high-resolution<br />
formats? Keith O. Johnson<br />
believes there is, ant at CES for<br />
the first time he set out to demonstrate<br />
it. Keith is co-inventor of HDCD, and<br />
the designer of modern Spectral components.<br />
His is the creative imagination<br />
behind the small miracles that are Reference<br />
Recordings.<br />
Keith today makes his master recordings<br />
in what he calls the HRx format,<br />
with 24 bits and a sampling rate of<br />
176 kHz. Why not 192 kHz? Because at<br />
least some of the material winds up on<br />
CD, and 176 kHz is exactly four times the<br />
CD’ sampling rate. That avoids strange<br />
rounding errors during the mastering.<br />
Only how do you play back the original<br />
without a high-powered computer?<br />
At a special invitation-only event, he<br />
and PS Audio’s Paul McGowan (at left in<br />
this photo) showed off the first-ever HRx<br />
disc player. It is nowhere near done, and if you let it run long enough the built-in<br />
buffer will run out of room and the player will let go with a sharp zork. That said,<br />
the segment I heard, an excerpt of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, was arguably<br />
the very best thing I heard at CES.<br />
Less serious, and not just by a small margin, was the NFS room, which is shown<br />
below left. NFS is a project by a group of Vegas audiophiles, one of them a doctor,<br />
and the initials stand for “not for sale.” They told me they had done very well at the<br />
show this year, signing up exactly zero dealers, “the same number signed up by a<br />
lot of companies here.” The starscape, by the way, is the result of a product called<br />
Blisslight.<br />
NFS doesn’t go for the<br />
latest technology — two<br />
years ago it brought an<br />
8-track player picked up on<br />
eBay. The source this time<br />
was a little better: a SOTA<br />
turntable, and large stacks<br />
of LPs, including Beatles<br />
originals. Other gear: an<br />
ancient Yamaha receiver,<br />
obscure Chario loudspeakers from 1992, and expensive cables.<br />
Do cables matter even if you don’t have first-rate gear? Well, you<br />
could argue that, and Clarity Cable purports to demonstrate it. Its<br />
slogan… well, that’s it above right.<br />
So what’s the demonstration? Clarity has put together a $1750<br />
system, using a cheap Blu-ray player, a Panasonic receiver and a pair<br />
of Infinity speakers (I’d say there’s a difference between cheap and<br />
ill-chosen, but who would listen to me?). To that has been added a set<br />
of Clarity cables with a total price tag of $9950.<br />
So what’s the result? Do the cables make the system sound better<br />
than you would expect? Definitely. Does it sound the way you would<br />
expect an $11,700 system to sound? In your dreams!<br />
I’d suggest revising the slogan. How about, “Garbage in, garbage<br />
out, stupid.”<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 25
Nuts&Bolts<br />
Feedback Feature<br />
26 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
It’s obvious to everyone that home<br />
theatre is not immune to economic<br />
woes (and whoas!), despite all the<br />
talk about cocooning. But some<br />
claim that bad times bring opportunities:<br />
if your adversaries are hurting, now’s the<br />
time to go in for the kill.<br />
That may be the thinking behind<br />
Samsung’s biggest-ever display, which<br />
would have filled a medium-sized<br />
convention centre all by itself. The<br />
South Korean company has been pouring<br />
money and energy into its video<br />
research, and it has made solid inroads.<br />
Our new reference HDTV, as you no<br />
doubt know, is a Samsung plasma.<br />
But perhaps Samsung overdid it.<br />
There were countless pairs of displays,<br />
showing how an image looks with and<br />
without a particular technical feature.<br />
Normally I eat this up, but my head was<br />
spinning before I was through.<br />
Pioneer was showing its excellent<br />
Kuro panels, but without new features,<br />
and for good reason: in February the<br />
company would announce it was quitting<br />
the TV business (in favor of car electronics<br />
— they must know something<br />
I don’t). Panasonic had a huge display<br />
too, but is hurting. Not long after CES<br />
it announced massive plant closings and<br />
layoffs.<br />
Not that it’s planning to roll over<br />
and play dead. The next big thing, says<br />
the company, is 3-D. It’s currently big<br />
in movie theatres, but there was lot of<br />
buzz at CES about 3-D in the home.<br />
Samsung was showing a 3-D display at<br />
Showstoppers, but the demo was done<br />
with a video game, and it was beyond<br />
awful. Panasonic was showing actual<br />
film clips, and even had a clip of director<br />
James Cameron, who is busy shooting<br />
his film, Avatar, in 3-D.<br />
What Panasonic is proposing is<br />
nothing less than a new standard for<br />
Blu-ray movies. Competing 3-D systems<br />
compromise resolution, cutting it in half<br />
to make room for the second image.<br />
Panasonic claims full 1080p resolution<br />
plus the third dimension. It remains to<br />
be seen whether the technology is truly<br />
unique — and whether it will catch<br />
on — but certainly Panasonic’s standingroom-only<br />
3-D demo was a dazzler.<br />
The only other 3-D demo that wasn’t<br />
disappointing was that of Da-Lite, the
Nuts&Bolts<br />
Acoustics<br />
Feedback<br />
screen people. However the demo was<br />
meant to show how good the screens are<br />
(successfully, too), and it used technology<br />
you’ll never have at home: two large<br />
video projectors, one for each image,<br />
through polarizing filters. Of course<br />
we all wore polarized glasses, as did the<br />
audience in the Panasonic demo (the<br />
picture at top shows what may look like<br />
red-green glasses, but that’s caused by<br />
reflections).<br />
This may seem the wrong time to be<br />
launching new, incompatible formats,<br />
but I’m a 3-D fan from way back, and<br />
I wish Panasonic and the other players<br />
good success.<br />
Another product announced by<br />
Panasonic was a portable Blu-ray player,<br />
which drew snickers from some worldweary<br />
journalists, who asked why? But<br />
I think the answer is obvious. If you<br />
bought Wall-E in Blu-ray, how do you<br />
explain to your children that they can’t<br />
watch it in the back seat of the car while<br />
driving to the lake? No price or launch<br />
date yet.<br />
Is GM in Trouble?<br />
Or it might be better to ask why GM is in<br />
trouble. The official UHF limo at<br />
CES is from Hertz, usually a<br />
Ford or Toyota. This year?<br />
A Chevrolet HHR, an inept knockoff<br />
of Chrysler’s PT Cruiser (apparently<br />
unable even to copy on its own, GM<br />
hired away the PT Cruiser’s designer).<br />
Perhaps Hertz gets them for nothing.<br />
Here’s one detail: how do you open the hatch? Is there a button on the dashboard,<br />
or on the floor? Nope. Then perhaps in the glove compartment? Can’t find<br />
one. A button for the hatch on the remote? No there isn’t. I look in the owner’s<br />
manual index under “H.” No mention.<br />
If you just read the manual the way you read a novel, eventually you run across<br />
what you’re looking for. Just push the remote button for unlocking the doors twice<br />
in five seconds, and you can then pull the hatch open. But four times out of five<br />
it doesn’t work. Repeated attempts sometimes succeeds, sometimes not. I discover<br />
accidentally that it works fairly reliably if you leave the rear door ajar.<br />
The manual says that if the battery on your remote poops out, hey, no problem.<br />
Crawl into the back with a screwdriver, remove a trim panel, and you can get at<br />
the latching mechanism.<br />
Nor was that all. The motor and transmission actually work quite well, and the<br />
car has a short turning radius I appreciated in parking garages. But the suspension<br />
is downright bizarre. The controls for the power windows are not on the door but<br />
on the floor, just near the transmission lever. Windows are small, and the interior<br />
is arranged so that the passenger headrest exactly eclipses the right rear window.<br />
The HHR has so many blind spots it should come with a guide dog as standard<br />
equipment. Merging right is best done slowly, to give other motorists a chance to<br />
honk.<br />
I have, in the past, taken high end audio designers to task for poor human interface<br />
design and useless manuals. The syndrome is not, on the evidence, limited to<br />
the audio world.<br />
There were a couple of interesting<br />
cable innovations, which you can see<br />
above.<br />
The snakelike wire is an HDMI<br />
video cable called the Flexicord. You can<br />
stretch it right out like any other cable,<br />
but you can also “sculpt” it to the shape<br />
you want. As someone who has overlong<br />
cables sometimes acting as dustcatchers,<br />
I confess it grabbed my interest.<br />
As for the HDMI plug just below it,<br />
it’s from PPC, and it is the first locking<br />
HDMI plug. I haven’t heard reports of<br />
ordinary HDMI cables dropping out of<br />
jacks all by themselves, but if you need<br />
to move anything it could happen. The<br />
locking mechanism resembles that of an<br />
XLR plug, except that it doesn’t require a<br />
reciprocal mechanism on the jack it goes<br />
into. I asked whether PPC will be offering<br />
the plug as an OEM item for other<br />
manufacturers, or even licensing the<br />
technology. The answer was no, which<br />
was a disappointment. However we have<br />
asked for a review sample, and we’ll let<br />
you know whether the wire attached to<br />
this innovative plug is truly top-grade.<br />
And so ends yet another Consumer<br />
Electronics Show. Notwithstanding<br />
the gloomy news about being able to<br />
get into restaurants easily, the traffic<br />
in major CES venues was pretty good,<br />
and exhibitors I talked to were generally<br />
happy they came. Indeed, at the “zoo”<br />
(the Convention Center) at noon on Day<br />
Three, it was crowded enough to make<br />
getting around a chore.<br />
Of course that was this year. By CES<br />
2010 the economic recovery will have<br />
kicked in. Right? What?<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 27
Though it has come as a surprise<br />
to many, we are at<br />
the twilight of the Compact<br />
Disc, the format<br />
which brought digital sound to<br />
all. That is not the same as the<br />
twilight of digital, however. The<br />
CD is being replaced rapidly by<br />
the downloadable music file,<br />
which is every bit as digital.<br />
However it is also being crowded<br />
out on its other flank by a return<br />
of the vinyl disc. That is, of course,<br />
an analog medium.<br />
Is analog actually superior to<br />
digital as many audiophiles have long<br />
claimed? In some ways it certainly is,<br />
though as someone who has done a great<br />
deal of recording, I must add that for<br />
some reasons I was glad to see analog<br />
eclipsed. I realize that this requires some<br />
explanation.<br />
First, let me venture into the territory<br />
of definitions. What is analog…<br />
concretely?<br />
Not so long ago the term was not<br />
used in ordinary conversation, because<br />
digital media did not exist, and there was<br />
only analog. As the saying goes, we don’t<br />
know who discovered water, but we are<br />
quite sure it was not a fish.<br />
Consider the fact that a pure acoustic<br />
tone is commonly represented by a sine<br />
wave.<br />
What does this mean? The actual<br />
acoustic wave consists of vibration of the<br />
air, with the result that some segments<br />
of air are compressed while others are<br />
rarefied. This alternating variation<br />
in pressure is represented by the sine<br />
28 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Nuts&Bolts<br />
wave, which is an analog of (that is, it<br />
is analogous to) the acoustic wave. The<br />
upper part of the wave corresponds to<br />
the points of higher pressure, the lower<br />
part to points of lower pressure.<br />
A microphone captures the sound<br />
wave, which impinges on its diaphragm,<br />
as an alternating current which is also an<br />
analog of the sound wave. The positive<br />
voltage represents the higher pressure<br />
state, and the negative voltage represents<br />
the lower pressure. Note that because<br />
sound is inherently analog, and microphones<br />
capture analog information, all<br />
sound recording begins exactly this way.<br />
They will then diverge.<br />
In traditional (analog) recording,<br />
an analog of the original<br />
sound wave is transferred to tape,<br />
in the form of a pattern of magnetic<br />
particles oriented as to<br />
their polarity. When an LP is<br />
cut, the groove is also an analog<br />
of the original sound wave, with<br />
lateral and vertical deviations<br />
that correspond to the original<br />
acoustic wave. The phono cartridge,<br />
as it follows the meandering<br />
groove, will generate an alternating<br />
current that is once again an analog of<br />
the groove modulation. This signal will<br />
be amplified, and then the loudspeaker<br />
will turn it into an acoustic wave that<br />
is, or so we hope, not totally unlike the<br />
original acoustic wave.<br />
The rest of this article can be found in<br />
the complete print or electronic version<br />
of UHF No. 84. Order the print issue<br />
from www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html<br />
(it’s case sensitive). Or subscribe<br />
at www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html.<br />
The electronic issue is available from<br />
www.magzee.com.<br />
We now continue in imitation<br />
Latin.<br />
Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute<br />
duis dignisc iliscipissi.<br />
Analog In a Digital World<br />
by Paul Bergman<br />
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Nuts&Bolts<br />
Feedback<br />
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si.<br />
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quissent aliquisi.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 29
Cinema<br />
Color Space<br />
It will almost certainly not come as<br />
a surprise to you that the range of<br />
colors visible on even the best video<br />
display is but a pale shadow of the<br />
colors that nature can afford us. We have<br />
spoken of that inevitable discrepancy<br />
before, in the feature article on Contrast<br />
(UHF No. 83), in which we discussed the<br />
fact that all display systems — whether<br />
it be the paper this magazine is printed<br />
on or your HDTV — can show only a<br />
small fraction of the contrast of real life.<br />
In some cases it can be as little as 1%.<br />
Yet we are not overly bothered by<br />
such discrepancies, because both our<br />
eyes and our ears can compensate for<br />
inaccuracies that would seem all too<br />
obvious. We see a flat photograph as<br />
30 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
a plausible representation of a threedimensional<br />
scene. We can even accept<br />
a black and white image as reasonably<br />
like our own colorful world.<br />
(If is, of course, much the same with<br />
hearing. The sound of a large orchestra<br />
emerging from a small radio is instantly<br />
recognizable, and a good thing too.)<br />
By the same token, then, we can<br />
accept as “realistic color” an image<br />
whose correspondence to real-life color<br />
is no more than tangential. This is true<br />
even in the thinning ranks of color film<br />
aficionados. They can — or could —<br />
debate whether Fujichrome Velvia had<br />
more “lifelike” color than Kodachrome<br />
64, or indeed whether Kodachrome 64<br />
can hold a candle to the old Kodachrome<br />
25. Yet none of these (admittedly excellent)<br />
films ever came close to matching<br />
the color and brightness range of visible<br />
light. Need we add that even the best<br />
video displays are even further from the<br />
ideal?<br />
The diagram on this page shows the<br />
range of colors that the human eye can<br />
detect. Or at least it attempts to. In fact<br />
the three primary colors — red, blue and<br />
green — would require three dimensions<br />
to map, and they would not be adequate<br />
even so. This graph, which is often seen<br />
in reviews of video displays, is known as<br />
the CIE chromaticity diagram, determined<br />
by the International Commission<br />
on Illumination (the abbreviation is that<br />
of the Commission’s French name). It<br />
dates from 1931, well before the invention<br />
of color television, and indeed at<br />
the dawn of practical color photography<br />
(Kodachrome was still four years away).<br />
What it shows is two of the three attributes<br />
of light: hue (that is, color) and<br />
saturation. The third dimension would<br />
correspond to brightness.<br />
Outside of this stylized rounded<br />
triangle is nothing because by definition<br />
it cannot be seen. Or at least it cannot<br />
be seen by most people. Those who<br />
have had implants of synthetic corneas<br />
(as opposed to corneas from human eye<br />
bank donors) can in fact see into the near<br />
infrared.<br />
Of course the colors of the diagram<br />
are not even close to being accurate,<br />
because a printed page like this one<br />
cannot show the entire gamut of visible<br />
colors. Nor, as we shall see, can a video<br />
display.<br />
Those primary colors<br />
Why are red, green and blue considered<br />
to be primary colors? Didn’t they<br />
teach us in school that red, yellow and<br />
blue were the primary colors? And don’t<br />
you get green when you mix blue and<br />
yellow paints?<br />
Yes, but those are subtractive colors.<br />
If you’ve ever mixed together red,<br />
yellow and blue paints, you will have<br />
gotten something close to black (actually<br />
something between grey and dirty
Feedback Cinema Cinema<br />
brown, depending on the proportions).<br />
On a video or computer screen, the three<br />
primary colors add up to make white.<br />
They’re additive colors.<br />
The initials of these three colors,<br />
namely RGB, are no doubt familiar,<br />
because your computer monitor has an<br />
RGB input. The photos from your digital<br />
camera are also in RGB, since the camera<br />
sensor uses elements sensitive to red,<br />
green and blue light respectively. You<br />
cannot, however, use just three colors<br />
to make up all of the colors of the CIE<br />
chromaticity diagram. For the purpose<br />
of color reproduction, therefore, there<br />
is a standard red-green-blue color space,<br />
abbreviated to sRGB, and developed<br />
jointly by Hewlett-Packard and IBM.<br />
Some digital cameras use sRGB for their<br />
photos, and chances are that your video<br />
display does too.<br />
The boundaries of the sRGB color<br />
space are represented by the green<br />
triangle on the diagram on this page. It<br />
need hardly be pointed out that a lot of<br />
colors get left out. Partly for that reason,<br />
there are other color space representations,<br />
and especially one proposed by the<br />
giant software developer, Adobe.<br />
Before getting to Adobe RGB, however,<br />
we need to explain that the additive<br />
color model is not suited to print media.<br />
On a magazine page, as in your grade<br />
school coloring book, the colored inks<br />
are subtractive. In printing, the inks used<br />
have tints that we wouldn’t recognize as<br />
primary colors.<br />
As you can see, cyan is slightly more<br />
turquoise than blue and magenta leans in<br />
the direction of purple. A fourth color,<br />
black (which is conventionally rendered<br />
by the letter K for “key”), is included so<br />
that black text need not be rendered by<br />
the three other colors piled atop each<br />
other.<br />
There is, as you would expect, a<br />
considerable difference in the way colors<br />
are rendered in sRGB and CMYK. The<br />
CIE chromaticity diagram, when it was<br />
converted from the original RGB to the<br />
CMYK required by the printing process,<br />
changed quite radically, losing much of<br />
its glow. This is due to the difference<br />
between additive and subtractive colors.<br />
When we then view the CMYK image<br />
on our computer monitor (which is still<br />
RGB, remember), we are shown a rough<br />
approximation of the way the printed<br />
page will look.<br />
Because the approximation is so<br />
rough, Adobe proposes its own version of<br />
RGB, represented by the black triangle<br />
in the diagram above, with an extension<br />
into the yellow and green spaces, the<br />
better to suggest printed colors.<br />
Designers for print media of course<br />
use Adobe RGB, even though the files<br />
must be converted to CMYK for press<br />
purposes. It seems easier to get consistency<br />
among devices — cameras, scanners,<br />
monitors, image and page layout<br />
software — by standardizing on Adobe’s<br />
version of RGB. Many Web designers<br />
also prefer Adobe RGB because they<br />
do their work with Adobe software:<br />
Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, etc.<br />
If you own an ink jet printer, by the<br />
way, you will have noticed that its ink<br />
colors are cyan, magenta, yellow and<br />
black, the same colors used by professional<br />
printing presses.<br />
The color space of photographic film<br />
does not span the entire range of the CIE<br />
chromaticity diagram either, and that is<br />
a problem when you are trying to reproduce<br />
a photograph on a CMYK ink jet<br />
printer. That is why some printers come<br />
with additional color cartridges, such as<br />
pastel colors. The additional colors do<br />
not truly enlarge the area of the color<br />
space of the print, but they can make<br />
certain subtle tones more plausible. As<br />
long as familiar tints, such as (Caucasian)<br />
flesh tones can be presented acceptably,<br />
and as long as whites and greys are not<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 31
Feedback Cinema<br />
too obviously contaminated by color<br />
casts, we may see colors as very good,<br />
or even “perfect.”<br />
However the eye, as already suggested,<br />
is all too adaptable, which makes<br />
it a rather poor instrument for evaluating<br />
color. Put on green-tinted glasses, and<br />
after a few minutes you won’t see the<br />
green tint anymore. Indeed, when you<br />
remove them the world will seem, for a<br />
brief period, to have a magenta coloring.<br />
Graphics artists like to work in a room<br />
with a neutral wall color, to avoid influencing<br />
their vision, and graphics-grade<br />
computer monitors have hoods to block<br />
out incident light from the screen.<br />
Getting the grey scale right<br />
Few consumers own a colorimeter<br />
that can do what the eye cannot do,<br />
namely determine the correct value of a<br />
grey color on a video screen. A professional<br />
will have such a device, of course,<br />
and will be able to determine the grey<br />
values across the dynamic range, from<br />
near-black to near-white. The grey scale<br />
should “track” correctly, not shifting<br />
color at different levels from light to<br />
dark. The image above is that of the<br />
GretaMacbeth color chart, which can<br />
be used to check linearity of imaging<br />
systems (including UHF’s own product<br />
photographs). The bottom row of<br />
patches shows a progression from white<br />
to black. Each square should be neutral,<br />
containing equal intensities of the three<br />
primary colors.<br />
However the grey scale measurement<br />
ignores gamma, the rate at which the<br />
brightness increases from dark to light.<br />
Gamma itself is easy enough to measure,<br />
fortunately. But how?<br />
Doing the alignment<br />
There is a useful test and alignment<br />
Blu-ray disc from Joe Kane Productions<br />
titled DVE HD Basics (DVDI6004).<br />
Kane was the creator of the earlier Video<br />
Essentials DVD, long discontinued. The<br />
disc is full of test signals for both audio<br />
and video, to allow proper setup of a<br />
home theatre system. Kane uses his<br />
own color bar system, shown below, in<br />
preference to the usual SMPTE color<br />
pattern. Kane assumes you do not have<br />
access to a color meter in order to make<br />
the adjustments. Packed in the case is<br />
a set of three dark color filters through<br />
which you can see the pattern and set<br />
the colors. You begin with the blue, and<br />
if you get it right then the other colors<br />
should be right too (but red and green<br />
filters are included so that you can verify<br />
your settings).<br />
Kane also assumes you don’t have<br />
access to the service menus. Access is<br />
available through an arcane system,<br />
usually consisting of pressing certain<br />
buttons simultaneously on the remote.<br />
A technician may know these codes and<br />
be able to make adjustments not available<br />
to you. Some codes can be found on the<br />
Internet, but beware! You can mess up<br />
the settings so badly even the factory<br />
will not be able to get them right.<br />
Indeed, you may prefer to get a technician<br />
to do the job. You can find one<br />
from the ISF site, www.imagingscience.<br />
com. Those listed have at least taken the<br />
ISF course, but there is a separate listing<br />
for those with measuring equipment. Of<br />
course we suggest selecting from the<br />
latter list.<br />
It has perhaps occurred to you that if<br />
you can mess up a TV with the service<br />
menus, so can a technician who is unclear<br />
on the concept. Recommendations can<br />
be useful in selecting one who really<br />
takes the time to get everything right…<br />
and possibly avoiding one who can’t be<br />
bothered.<br />
Your HDTV will still reproduce only<br />
a fraction of the color range your eye can<br />
see, but you shouldn’t settle for less than<br />
the technology can deliver.<br />
32 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Listening Room<br />
<strong>THE</strong> ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION:<br />
Issues No.7-19 (except 11, 15, 17 and 18, out of<br />
print): nine issues available for the price of five<br />
(see below). A piece of audio history. Available<br />
separately at the regular price.<br />
No.85: Integrated amplifiers: the luxurious<br />
Sugden A21SE and the affordable Vecteur<br />
Ai4. We evaluate Eichmann’s new Quiessence<br />
cables, and chat with Keith Eichmann himself.<br />
We listen to a very good mid-priced speaker<br />
cable with four different connectors, and the<br />
results leave us stunned. Plus: We choose<br />
(and evaluate in depth) a new HDTV reference<br />
monitor, Paul Bergman winds up his series on<br />
acoustics, and we tell you how to transfer music<br />
to hard drive without saying you’re sorry.<br />
No.84: Digital streaming: the awesome Linn<br />
Klimax DS and the Off-Ramp Turbo 2 interface.<br />
Also: the classic Harbeth HL5 speaker, the<br />
affordable Moon CD-1 and i-1 amplifier, and<br />
a great phono stage from Aurum. Plus: UHF<br />
chats with Linn’s Gilad Tiefenbrun and Harbeth’s<br />
Alan Shaw, Paul Bergman discusses signals for<br />
acoustic measurement, and we look at the prospects<br />
for 3-D…at home and in the cinema.<br />
No.83: Digital: The dramatically-styled Raysonic<br />
CD128 and an absurdly low-cost player from<br />
VisionQuest. Other reviews: The Moon LP5.3<br />
phono stage, the Castle Richmond 7i speaker,<br />
the upscale Mavros cables from Atlas, and a<br />
retest of the Power Foundation III line filter, with<br />
a better power cord this time. Plus: The acoustics<br />
of speaker placement, the two meanings of video<br />
image contrast, and a portrait of super tenor<br />
Placido Domingo.<br />
No.82: Amplifiers: A large sweet tube amplifier<br />
from Audio Space, the Reference 3.1, and the<br />
reincarnation of an old favorite, the Sugden A21.<br />
Digital: Bryston's first CD player, and the Blue<br />
Circle "Thingee," with USB at one end and lots of<br />
outputs at the other end. Plus: the BC Acoustique<br />
A3 speaker, a small subwoofer, two more London<br />
phono cartridges, line filters from AudioPrism<br />
and BIS, a blind test of three interconnects, Paul<br />
Bergman on soundproofing, and a thorough test<br />
of Sony's new-generation Blu-ray player<br />
No.81: Digital: The newest two-box CD player<br />
from Reimyo, and the magical Linn Majik<br />
player. Headphones a new version of our long<br />
time reference headphones, from the Koss pro<br />
division, and the affordable SR-125 headphones<br />
from Grado. Plus: The astonishing Sonogram<br />
loudspeakers from Gershman, a small but lovely<br />
tube integrated amplifier from CEC, and the<br />
London Reference phono cartridge.<br />
No.80: Equipment reviews: From Linn, the<br />
Artikulat 350A active speakers, the updated<br />
LP12 turntable, the Klimax Kontrol preamplifier,<br />
and the Linto phono stage; ASW Genius 300<br />
speakers, ModWright preamp and phono stage.<br />
Also: Bergman on absorbing low frequencies,<br />
emerging technologies for home theatre, and<br />
coverage of the Montreal Festival.<br />
No.79: Digital players: Simaudio’s flagship<br />
DVD (and CD) player, the Calypso, and Creek’s<br />
surprising economy EVO player. Phono stages:<br />
A slick tube unit from Marchand, and the superb<br />
Sonneteer Sedley, with USB input and output.<br />
Plus: the talented JAS Oscar loudspeakers, the<br />
Squeezebox plus our own monster power supply.<br />
Also: Bergman on what absorbs sound and what<br />
doesn’t, what’s next in home theatre, Vegas<br />
2007, and the secrets of the harmonica.<br />
No.78: Integrated amplifiers: the affordable<br />
Creek EVO, and the (also affordable) Audio<br />
Space AS-3i. Loudspeaker cables: six of them<br />
from Atlas and Actinote, in a blind test. Plus:<br />
the astonishing Aurum Acoustics Integris 300B<br />
complete system, and its optional CD player/<br />
preamplifier. Whew! Also: Bergman on taming<br />
reverberation, how to put seven hours of uncompressed<br />
music on just one disc, and the one<br />
opera that even non-opera people know.<br />
No.77: Electronics: The Simaudio Moon P-8<br />
preamplifier, the successor to the legendary<br />
Bryston 2B power amp, the Antique Sound Lab<br />
Lux DT phono stage. Plus: the Reimyo DAP-777<br />
converter, an affordable CD player/integrated<br />
amp pair from CEC, and five power cords. Also:<br />
Paul Bergman on room size and acoustics, how<br />
to dezone foreign DVDs, and how to make your<br />
own 24/96 high resolution discs at home.<br />
No.76: Loudspeakers: a new look at the modern<br />
version of the Totem Mani-2, an affordable ELAC<br />
speaker with a Heil tweeter, and the even more<br />
affordable Castle Richmond 3i. Plus headphone<br />
amps from Lehmann, CEC and Benchmark, a<br />
charger that can do all your portables, and the<br />
Squeezebox 3, which gets true hi-fi music from<br />
your computer to your stereo system. Bergman<br />
on speaker impedance and how to measure it.<br />
No.75: Amplifiers: The new Simaudio Moon W-8<br />
flagship, and integrated amps from Copland (the<br />
CTA-405) and CEC. Speakers: the Reference 3a<br />
Veena and the Energy Reference Connoisseur<br />
reborn. Plus the Benchmark DAC converter. And<br />
also: Bergman on the changing concept of hi-fi<br />
and stereo, a chat with FIM’s Winston Ma, and<br />
the rediscovery of a great Baroque composer,<br />
Christoph Graupner.<br />
No.74: Amplifiers: Mimetism 15.2, Qinpu A-8000,<br />
Raysonic SP-100, Cyrus 8vs and Rogue Stereo<br />
90. More reviews: Atlantis Argentera speaker,<br />
Cyrus CD8X player, GutWire MaxCon 2 line<br />
filter, Harmony remote, Music Studio 10 recording<br />
software. Cables: Atlas, Stager, BIS and<br />
DNM, including a look at how length affects<br />
digital cables. Plus: the (hi-fi) digital jukebox,<br />
why HDTV doesn’t always mean what you think,<br />
and Reine Lessard on The Man Who Invented<br />
Rock’n’Roll.<br />
No.73: Integrated amplifiers: Audiomat Récital<br />
and Exposure 2010S. Analog: Turntables<br />
from Roksan (Radius 5) and Goldring (the<br />
Rega-designed GR2), plus two cartridges, and<br />
four phono stages from CEC, Marchand and<br />
Goldring. The Harmonix Reimyo CD player,<br />
Audiomat Maestro DAC, ASW Genius 400<br />
speakers, and the Sonneteer BardOne wireless<br />
system. Plus: Paul Bergman on the making of an<br />
LP and why they don’t all sound the same, and<br />
compressing video so it looks (almost) like film.<br />
No.72: Music from data: We look at ways you<br />
can make your own audiophile CDs with equipment<br />
you already have, and we test a DAC that<br />
yields hi-fi from your computer. We review the<br />
new Audio Reference speakers, the updated<br />
Connoisseur single-ended tube amp, upscale<br />
Actinote cables, and Gershman’s Acoustic Art<br />
panels. How to tune up your system for an inexpensive<br />
performance boost. And much more.<br />
No.71: Small speaker: Reference 3a Dulcet,<br />
Totem Rainmaker, and a low cost speaker from<br />
France. A blind cable test: five cables from Atlas,<br />
and a Wireworld cable with different connectors<br />
(Eichmann, WBT nextgen, and Wireworld). The<br />
McCormack UDP-1 universal player, muRata<br />
super tweeters, Simaudio I-3 amp and Equinox<br />
CD player. Paul Bergman examines differences<br />
behind two-channel stereo and multichannel.<br />
No.70: How SACD won the war…or how DVD-A<br />
blew it. Reviews: Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal<br />
player and Shanling SCD-T200 player. Speakers:<br />
Reference 3a Royal Virtuoso, Equation 25,<br />
Back Issues<br />
Wilson Benesch Curve. Other reviews: Simaudio<br />
W-5LE amp, the iPod as an audiophile source.<br />
Plus: future video screens, and the eternal music<br />
of George Gershwin<br />
No.69: Tube Electronics: Audiomat Opéra ,<br />
Connoisseur SE-2 and Copland CSA29 integrated<br />
amps, and Shanling SP-80 monoblocks.<br />
Audiomat's Phono-1.5, Creek CD50, a great new<br />
remote control, GutWire's NotePad antivibration<br />
device, and a music-related computer game that<br />
made us laugh out loud. Paul Bergman on the<br />
return of the tube, and how music critics did their<br />
best to kill the world’s greatest music.<br />
No.68: Loudspeakers: Thiel CS2.4, Focus<br />
Audio FS688, Iliad B1. Electronics:Vecteur<br />
I-6.2 and Audiomat Arpège integrated amplifiers,<br />
Copland 306 multichannel tube preamp,<br />
Rega Fono MC. Also: Audio Note and Copland<br />
CD players, GutWire MaxCon power filter. And<br />
there’s more: all about power supplies, what’s<br />
coming beyond DVD, and a chat with YBA’s<br />
Yves-Bernard André.<br />
No.67: Loudspeakers: An improved Reference<br />
3a MM de Capo, and the Living Voice Avatar<br />
OBX-R. Centre speakers from Castle, JMLab,<br />
ProAc, Thiel, Totem and Vandersteen. One of<br />
them joins our Kappa system. Two multichannel<br />
amps from Copland and Vecteur. Plus: plans for<br />
a DIY platform for placing a centre speaker atop<br />
any TV set, Paul Bergman on the elements of<br />
acoustics, and women in country music.<br />
No.66: Reviews: the Jadis DA-30 amplifier, the<br />
Copland 305 tube preamp and 520 solid state<br />
amp. Plus: the amazing Shanling CD player,<br />
Castle Stirling speakers, and a remote control<br />
that tells you what to watch. Also: Bergman on<br />
biwiring and biamplification, singer Janis Ian’s<br />
alternative take on music downloading, and a<br />
chat with Opus 3’s Jan-Eric Persson.<br />
No.65: Back to Vinyl: setting up an analog<br />
system, reviews of Rega P9 turntable, and<br />
phono preamps from Rega, Musical <strong>Fidelity</strong><br />
and Lehmann. The Kappa reference system for<br />
home theatre: choosing our HDTV monitor, plus<br />
a review of the Moon Stellar DVD player. Antivibration:<br />
Atacama, Symposium, Golden Sound,<br />
Solid-Tech, Audioprism, Tenderfeet. Plus an<br />
interview with Rega’s turntable designer,.<br />
No.64: Speakers: Totem M1 Signature and<br />
Hawk, Visonik E352. YBA Passion Intégré amp,<br />
Cambridge IsoMagic (followup), better batteries<br />
for audio-to-go. Plus: the truth about upsampling,<br />
an improvement to our LP cleaning machine, an<br />
interview with Ray Kimber.<br />
No.63: Tube amps: ASL Leyla & Passion<br />
A11. Vecteur Espace speakers, 2 interconnects<br />
(Harmonic Technology Eichmann),<br />
5 speaker cables (Pierre Gabriel, vdH ,<br />
Harmonic Technology, Eichmann), 4 power<br />
cords (Wireworld, Harmonic Technology,<br />
Eichmann, ESP). Plus: Paul Bergman on<br />
soundproofing, how to compare components<br />
in the store, big-screen TV’s to stay away<br />
from, a look back at the Beatles revolution.<br />
No.62: Amplifiers: Vecteur I-4, Musical <strong>Fidelity</strong><br />
Nu-Vista M3, Antique Sound Lab MG-S11DT.<br />
Passive preamps: Creek and Antique Sound<br />
Lab. Vecteur L-4 CD player. Interconnects: VdH<br />
Integration, Wireworld Soltice. Plus: the right to<br />
copy music, for now. Choosing a DVD player by<br />
features. And all about music for the movies.<br />
No.61: Digital: Audiomat Tempo and Cambridge<br />
Isomagic DACs, Vecteur D-2 transport. Speakers:<br />
Osborn Mini Tower and Mirage OM-9. Soundcare<br />
Superspikes. And: new surround formats, dezoning<br />
DVD players.<br />
No.60: Speakers: Monitor Audio Silver 9,<br />
Reference 3a MM De Capo, Klipsch RB-5,<br />
Coincident Triumph Signature. Plus: a Mirage<br />
subwoofer and the Audiomat Solfège amp. Paul<br />
Bergman on reproducing extreme lows.<br />
No.59: CD players: Moon Eclipse, Linn Ikemi and<br />
Genki, Rega Jupiter/Io, Cambridge D500. Plus:<br />
Oskar Kithara speaker, with Heil tweeter. And:<br />
transferring LP to CD, the truth on digital radio,<br />
digital cinema vs MaxiVision 48.<br />
No.58: Amplifiers: ASL AQ1003, Passion I10<br />
& I11, Rogue 88, Jadis Orchestra Reference,<br />
Linar 250. Headphone amps: Creek, Antique<br />
Sound Lab, NVA, Audio Valve. Plus: Foundation<br />
Research LC-2 line filter, Gutwire power cord,<br />
Pierre Gabriel ML-1 2000 cable. And: building<br />
your own machine to clean LP’s.<br />
No.57: Speakers: Dynaudio Contour 1.3,<br />
Gershman X-1/SW-1, Coincident Super Triumph<br />
Signature, Castle Inversion 15, Oskar Aulos.<br />
PLUS: KR 18 tube amp. Music Revolution: the<br />
next 5 years. Give your Hi-Fi a Fall Tune-Up.<br />
No.56: Integrated amps: Simaudio I-5, Roksan<br />
Caspian, Myryad MI120, Vecteur Club 10, NVA<br />
AP10 Also: Cambridge T500 tuner, Totem Forest.<br />
Phono stages: Creek, Lehmann, Audiomat.<br />
Interconnects: Actinote, Van den Hul, Pierre<br />
Gabriel. Plus: Paul Bergman on power and current…why<br />
you need both<br />
No.55: CD players: Linn CD12, Copland<br />
CDA-289, Roksan Caspian, AMC CD8a. Other<br />
reviews: Enigma Oremus speaker, Magenta<br />
ADE-24 black box. Plus: the DSD challenge for<br />
the next audio disc, pirate music on the Net, the<br />
explosion of off-air video choices.<br />
No.54: Electronics: Creek A52se, Simaudio W-3<br />
and W-5 amps. Copland CSA-303, Sima P-400<br />
and F.T. Audio preamps (two of them passive).<br />
Musical <strong>Fidelity</strong> X-DAC revisited, Ergo AMT<br />
phones, 4 line filters, 2 interconnects..<br />
No.53: Loudspeakers:Reference 3a Intégrale,<br />
Energy Veritas v2.8, Epos ES30, Totem Shaman,<br />
Mirage 390is, Castle Eden. Bergman on biamping,<br />
biwiring, balanced lines, and more.<br />
No.52: CD players: Alchemist Nexus, Cambridge<br />
CD6, YBA Intégré, Musical <strong>Fidelity</strong> X-DAC,<br />
Assemblage DAC-2. Subwoofers: Energy ES-8<br />
and NHT PS-8. Plus: Paul Bergman on reproducing<br />
deep bass, and behind digital television.<br />
No.51: Integrated amps: YBA Intégré DT,<br />
Alchemist Forseti, Primare A-20, NVA AP50<br />
Cambridge A1. CD players: Adcom GCD-750,<br />
Rega Planet. An economy system to recommend<br />
to friends, ATI 1505 5-channel amp, Bergman on<br />
impedance, why connectors matter, making your<br />
own power bars.<br />
No.50: CD: Cambridge DiscMagic/DACMagic,<br />
Primare D-20, Dynaco CDV Pro. Analog: Rega<br />
Planar 9, Linn LP12 after 25 years. Also: Moon<br />
preamp, Linn Linto phono stage, Ergo and Grado<br />
headphones. Speaker cables: Linn K- 400,<br />
Sheffield, MIT 750 Also: 15 years of UHF.<br />
No.49: Power amps: Simaudio Moon, Bryston 3B<br />
ST, N.E.W. DCA-33, plus the Alchemist Forseti<br />
amp and preamp, and McCormack Micro components.<br />
Our new Reference 3a Suprema II reference<br />
speakers, and a followup on the Copland<br />
277 player. Plus: how HDCD really works.<br />
To see older issues:<br />
http://www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html<br />
EACH ISSUE costs $6.49 (in Canada) plus tax (13% in Québec, NB, NS and NF, 5% in other Provinces), US$7.69 in the USA, CAN$10.75 elsewhere (air mail included).<br />
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Listening Room<br />
Scheu Premier II<br />
It had been a while — a long while in<br />
fact — since we had had a turntable<br />
on the cover of UHF. Oh, it’s not<br />
that our faith in the desirability<br />
of vinyl has ever been shaken, merely a<br />
recognition that our enthusiasm might<br />
not be shared by everyone. But we seem<br />
to be at a crossroad. And as Yogi Berra<br />
wisely said, when you come to a crossroad,<br />
take it.<br />
This German turntable maker (its<br />
name is pronounced “Shoy”) has models<br />
that look not unlike other German turntables,<br />
notably those of Clearaudio. The<br />
huge acrylic platter, in particular, looks<br />
oddly familiar. However the price tag,<br />
while not exactly in entry-level territory,<br />
is lower than the looks of the table would<br />
suggest.<br />
The very thick platter, by the way, is a<br />
$499 extra-cost option. Our Premier was<br />
decked out in transparent acrylic, though<br />
a more opaque livery is available as well.<br />
The tone arm is one of three Scheu<br />
offers, and the lowest-priced one.<br />
The motor is in a separate assembly,<br />
linked to the platter only by a polyethylene<br />
thread of the sort used to finish<br />
34 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
pantleg bottoms. A roll of the stuff is<br />
supplied, and making up a “belt” takes<br />
good eyes and preferably three hands<br />
(and we suggest working on a black<br />
background for reasons that will be<br />
obvious to you soon enough). Yes, you<br />
do make a knot in the string, but the<br />
platter doesn’t seem to mind. The motor<br />
unit has adjustable speed controls for<br />
each speed, and each control has a huge<br />
range. This turned out to be a problem,<br />
as we shall see.<br />
Our turntable came with a unipivot<br />
arm called the Cantus, which is a great<br />
visual match for the transparent version<br />
of the table. Like the table itself, the arm<br />
is relatively affordable. It was also the<br />
least pleasant aspect of this turntable.<br />
A unipivot arm, which is essentially<br />
suspended on the end of a needle, can<br />
be finicky to handle, because it can<br />
wobble right and left on either side of<br />
its point of contact. It is difficult to find<br />
the track you want to play. It is possible<br />
to add damping, so that the arm is easier<br />
to manipulate, but Scheu has not done<br />
that. To make things more awkward, the<br />
counterweight is nearly impossible to set<br />
correctly, because there is no calibration,<br />
and no way to slightly increase or<br />
decrease stylus pressure. The adjustment<br />
of the counterweight also determines<br />
whether the arm tracks straight or tilts<br />
to one side. With each adjustment you<br />
feel as though you are starting again<br />
from scratch. A precise adjustment is so<br />
difficult as to be nearly out of reach.<br />
The Cantus has no anti-skating<br />
system. We have mixed feelings about<br />
this, since anti-skating is so difficult to<br />
set correctly, and most manufacturers<br />
recommend a setting that is actually<br />
too high. We always set ours lower than<br />
recommended, but we’re not thrilled on<br />
not having one at all.<br />
We mounted one of our reference<br />
cartridges, the Goldring Excel, in the<br />
arm, and set it initially to 1.8 gram pressure,<br />
the setting that works well in both<br />
of our own tone arms. Finding the right<br />
setting, and simultaneously getting the<br />
left-right balance right so the arm didn’t<br />
lean to one side, took about 20 minutes,<br />
and we would later opt for a higher pressure.<br />
We’ll get to that shortly.<br />
Leveling the table is as easy as you<br />
could wish. The base sits on spikes,<br />
which can be levelled from the top,<br />
though the motor unit has only rubber<br />
feet. The power supply is a “wall wart,”<br />
albeit a big one. There is no suspended<br />
subchassis. Rather, the hollow acrylic<br />
base — just visible below the player<br />
in our photo — is filled with fine lead<br />
shot. This is in every way a high-mass<br />
design, particularly if you order the thick<br />
platter.<br />
We have already mentioned the presence<br />
of speed controls on the motor base.<br />
Such controls are common on deejay<br />
turntables. You can fine-tune the speed<br />
to match the pitch of an instrument,<br />
such as a piano, and some deejays run<br />
their tables slightly fast, to give a slightly<br />
“brighter” sound to the music. Even<br />
radio stations once did this. Need we<br />
add that none of these is a requirement<br />
in a high fidelity music system?<br />
What’s more, Scheu doesn’t supply a<br />
means of checking the speed. We used<br />
our own strobe disc for the purpose,
Listening Feedback Room<br />
although strobes always read wrong<br />
(see Why Strobe discs Read Wrong) on<br />
page 36). We also noted that you need<br />
to run the table for about five minutes<br />
before the speed settles down.<br />
We did the session in our Omega<br />
system, against our Linn LP12 with<br />
Alphason tone arm and London Reference<br />
cartridge.<br />
We began with a large-scale symphony<br />
orchestra, the Chicago Symphony<br />
under Georg Solti, playing the fourth<br />
movement from Beethoven’s monumental<br />
Symphony No. 9. This is the Mobile<br />
<strong>Fidelity</strong> version from some years ago<br />
(MFSL2-516).<br />
The rest of this article can be found in<br />
the complete print or electronic version<br />
of UHF No. 84. Order the print issue<br />
from www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html<br />
(it’s case sensitive). Or subscribe<br />
at www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html.<br />
The electronic issue is available from<br />
www.magzee.com.<br />
We now continue in imitation<br />
Latin.<br />
Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute<br />
duis dignisc iliscipissi.<br />
Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore<br />
facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese<br />
facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer<br />
suscing enismod dolorero odiamco<br />
rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel<br />
ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core<br />
tisi.<br />
An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud<br />
dunt utet autem quam, sis augue<br />
magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed<br />
te ming esent loborper iure commodio<br />
commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim<br />
iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla<br />
feum do odolore commodolore dolore<br />
dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem<br />
ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna<br />
conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum<br />
alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan<br />
henisl ute core vent volor si.<br />
Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis<br />
accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore<br />
ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praestismod<br />
te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis<br />
ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse<br />
eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla<br />
feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi.<br />
Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con<br />
utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed<br />
euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse<br />
quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit<br />
ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe<br />
rostrud dipis nonsenisi.<br />
Iril iure molobor sustismod molore<br />
mincilit acing er accum vulput in<br />
utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol<br />
ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum<br />
quamconulla commy niation sequatie el<br />
ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis<br />
ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad<br />
eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et<br />
volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi<br />
bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis<br />
modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor<br />
ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh<br />
eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna<br />
feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait<br />
wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del<br />
dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex<br />
eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi.<br />
Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in heniscidunt<br />
aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit<br />
lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam<br />
quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod<br />
tat.<br />
Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat.<br />
Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum<br />
ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit<br />
lutpat nullam velesto commolortie<br />
dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis<br />
nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa<br />
ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim<br />
ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis<br />
adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue<br />
faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore<br />
exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim<br />
numsandrem verosto eummy nim<br />
velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm<br />
olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit,<br />
volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl<br />
dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit<br />
ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait<br />
vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit<br />
venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci<br />
liquatuer il utatue consequat.<br />
Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dionsendipit<br />
nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor<br />
iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat.<br />
Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna<br />
feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu<br />
facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit illaore<br />
do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te feugait niamcom<br />
modolor perilluptat. To commy<br />
nim iustio duipis num nostrud magna<br />
facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait<br />
lor se commodo lobore dolore conse<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 35
Listening Feedback Room<br />
Why Strobe Discs Read Wrong<br />
How do you set the speed of a variable-speed turntable? The usual way is with<br />
a stroboscope disc, and some pro tables have them built in. Light the disc with a<br />
small lamp (neon bulbs are good for this), and adjust the speed until the<br />
pattern on the disc looks immobile. It must then be on speed.<br />
In fact that’s wrong.<br />
Some time ago, there was an Internet rumor which<br />
said Rega turntables were all slightly fast. If that<br />
were true it would be a reason to avoid the brand,<br />
but it isn’t true. What is true is that, if you put a<br />
strobe disc on a Rega you will see the pattern<br />
creep ahead slowly. We don’t know why the<br />
rumormongers picked on Rega, because it’s<br />
the same story with any turntable that turns<br />
at the right speed.<br />
Here’s why.<br />
In North America alternating current has<br />
a frequency of 60 Hz, which means a small<br />
bulb will blink 120 times per second, once<br />
on the positive voltage, once on the negative.<br />
What you want is a strobe pattern which will<br />
advance by one “spoke” every 120 th of a second.<br />
Only it can’t be done.<br />
An LP turns at 33 1 / 3 revolutions per minute or<br />
0.5555 revolutions per second. During that second the<br />
platter rotates 199.98°. During one revolution at the correct<br />
speed, there will be 216.02 flashes.<br />
Thus a properly-designed turntable will appear to run ever so<br />
slightly fast, not a lot, but enough to worry fussy audiophiles. We have yet to see<br />
a strobe disc with instructions telling you this.<br />
conumsandit aliquisci tet lore tio eugait<br />
ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil<br />
lutatio consed tatem zzrilit aliquam quat<br />
utpat wisit praestie feuisim num do od<br />
exer augait duisse et lumsan etuercilisit<br />
nonsectet wissi blamcon utpat verostio et<br />
wisi tetueros nos autat lutat prat, commy<br />
nullamet adip esto delis dignisl dolorpe<br />
rcilis eum eu feu feugiam zzrit utat, con<br />
elenisi.<br />
Commod dolestrud te te euis alis<br />
niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili<br />
quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con<br />
ut iusto dit nos accum nummodiam,<br />
quamet, sequiscipit accum adiat volorem<br />
nos aliquatuerit iusto con velenit ilit<br />
luptat.<br />
Od tat lor sim nisci tat at ut iril eum<br />
vullaor se ex enim dignim digna commodolore<br />
commy num veniam dolut<br />
wiscipit exercil ut ilis eum non volessim<br />
dunt wisl do do commod magniat. Ut<br />
wisisim zzrit nonsequatie magnit nos<br />
36 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
nonsed delenim dolenis adiatem zzrilisit<br />
ad doluptat. Quat ip eugait wissenis<br />
adipissecte do eu feugait praessit ute<br />
veniamc onulla feugueril et lore min<br />
essenis nos et amet lore molobor percipit<br />
in eniam, vulla coreet, venim eugiate<br />
dolore dionseniam nulla conse dip ex<br />
Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: Scheu Premiere II<br />
turntable, Cantus arm<br />
Price: C$2979 plus $499 for optional<br />
thicker platter, $1439 for the arm<br />
Size (WDH): approximately 46 x 30<br />
x 26 cm<br />
Most liked: Well-behaved turntable<br />
at an attractive price<br />
Least liked: Design problems with<br />
the arm, unneeded speed controls<br />
Verdict: Mid-price category, high-end<br />
looks, performance to match<br />
exerat, sequat nosto do euisciliqui etum<br />
delit nos nonse tem iriureet, secte dolor<br />
sum zzriustrud tat, suscips ustrud tie<br />
vel dolore modo conse modolortio et<br />
nos nit utem zzrit irit pratueros dolorem<br />
diat, quipit nonsequate magna facip<br />
exer summodion vullaore duis euismod<br />
ignibh esting et, vel estrud estrud dipisit<br />
inciduis aliquam eum doloborer sed tionsenit<br />
lum nos dolore eum niam iustrud<br />
euis am euipsum molobore cor at. Duiscilla<br />
adigna feugiam vent aliquam alit eu<br />
feu facip eu feugait ulputat, volortisisi.<br />
Il dignit erostie facidunt atio dolorem<br />
iustie magna core duipit wismod modit<br />
vel inibh et lore commolo rerosto<br />
delesseniat. Eliquis ex eugiam, suscidu<br />
ismodoloreet at.<br />
Molum zzriurem ad tem ipit aliquat.<br />
Ut nisl erciduis at. Ectem dolobore<br />
vulpute feu faci endre dipsuscip el etumsan<br />
diametu mmodoloreet lore volore<br />
faccummy nulla at velit alit lorperos ad<br />
dio dolortin euis am il dolenibh eummy<br />
nonullam il et, quipit in ea faccum nos<br />
atue dolorerat la feumsandit enisim velis<br />
aut velit veros adipsusto odiamet augait<br />
iriliquisim velesse quatet alisi exero<br />
odolestrud mincipiscing endre doluptat<br />
prat, sit adignisl utet accum volor at, quis<br />
adit luptat. Ud dolor incipis modigniat<br />
acinibh erilla adignim num nim am,<br />
commod ea aut essequate ming ea facin<br />
velis dolore magna con ulla feugait<br />
augiamcore commy nisi.<br />
Ommy nim in ea augait, quam dolore<br />
consed tetue eu faccum vel utat. Ut aci<br />
bla facip et autatis autem dolenim nit,<br />
velisl ing el er suscill utpatin henibh ese<br />
duis alit, suscil dolesto coreet et vel et<br />
nummy nulla adit lorpero odo doluptatie<br />
verosting et vel utpat volorem quat<br />
adionsent ad molore deliqui psummy nit<br />
luptat, venibh erat.<br />
Duissi exerat, quis nos nulla feugueros<br />
niat, quisl dunt aute te dolor si.<br />
Ecte tatisim irit erat er sum iliquat<br />
am erit adiam, susci bla faci exerilit at<br />
praestrud magnim volore tis aut nim<br />
nostio commy nim deliqui sciduis nonsequatue<br />
euip ea aut ad eugait, conse ex<br />
essi tat, quis num ipit utem dolor sit aci<br />
eros dolorperat, volor sum atumsandre<br />
magna aut nos at praestie velisl et<br />
augait<br />
Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute<br />
duis dignisc iliscipissi.
Listening Feedback Room<br />
Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol<br />
facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum<br />
facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer quamconulla commy niation sequatie el<br />
suscing enismod dolorero odiamco ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis<br />
rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad<br />
ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et<br />
tisi.<br />
volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi<br />
An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud<br />
dunt utet autem quam, sis augue modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor<br />
bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis<br />
magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh<br />
Why a free version?<br />
te ming esent loborper iure commodio eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna<br />
commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait<br />
For years now, we have been publishing, on our Web site, a free PDF<br />
iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del<br />
version of our magazine.<br />
feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex<br />
The reason is simple. We know you’re looking for information, and<br />
dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem<br />
ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henis-<br />
eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi.<br />
that is almost certainly why you’ve come to visit our site. And that’s why<br />
we give away what some competitors consider to be a startlingly large<br />
conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum cidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit<br />
amount of information…for free.<br />
alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam<br />
We would give it all away for free, if we could still stay in business.<br />
henisl ute core vent volor si.<br />
quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod<br />
Recent figures indicate that each issue is getting downloaded as many<br />
Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis tat.<br />
as 100,000 times, and that figure keeps growing.<br />
accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat.<br />
Yes, we know, if we had a nickel for each download…<br />
ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praestismod<br />
te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit<br />
Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum<br />
Truth is, we’re in the business of helping you enjoy music at home<br />
under the best possible conditions. And movies too. We’ll do what we need<br />
ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse lutpat nullam velesto commolortie<br />
to do in order to get the information to you.<br />
eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis<br />
Of course, we also want you to read our published editions too. We<br />
feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa<br />
hope that, having read this far, you’ll want to read on.<br />
Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim<br />
utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis<br />
euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue<br />
quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore<br />
ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim<br />
rostrud dipis nonsenisi.<br />
numsandrem verosto eummy nim<br />
Iril iure molobor sustismod molore velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm<br />
mincilit acing er accum vulput in olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit,<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl<br />
dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit<br />
ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait<br />
vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit<br />
venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci<br />
liquatuer il utatue consequat.<br />
Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dionsendipit<br />
nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor<br />
iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat.<br />
Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna<br />
feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui<br />
eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit<br />
illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te<br />
feugait niamcom modolor perilluptat.<br />
To commy nim iustio.<br />
Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis<br />
dignisc iliscipissi.<br />
Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum<br />
esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit<br />
lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod<br />
dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat<br />
wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat<br />
augait am, core tisi.<br />
An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud<br />
dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam<br />
consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming<br />
esent loborper iure commodio commodit<br />
lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum<br />
vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore<br />
commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu<br />
feuipsu scipit ad molorem ex ero odolobore<br />
dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte<br />
et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc<br />
onullan henisl ute core vent volor si.<br />
Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum<br />
nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore<br />
dolutat, volobore diat praestismod te facilla<br />
facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am<br />
quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen<br />
dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis<br />
dolessi.<br />
Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con<br />
utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed<br />
euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse<br />
quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis<br />
accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis<br />
nonsenisi.<br />
Iril iure molobor sustismod molore<br />
mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat<br />
ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna<br />
autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy<br />
niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam<br />
adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam<br />
iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat,<br />
sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init,<br />
consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu<br />
feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit<br />
laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh<br />
eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna<br />
feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi<br />
ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore<br />
eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa<br />
corperostrud tisi.<br />
Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in heniscidunt<br />
aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore<br />
facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt<br />
praestie er ametummod tat.<br />
Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat.<br />
Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex<br />
et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat<br />
nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem<br />
zzrit, senit nonsequis.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 37
Listening Feedback Room<br />
Allnic H1200 Phono Preamp<br />
products by hand, and that extends even<br />
to winding the transformers.<br />
Though the H1200 is not exactly an<br />
economy product, Allnic makes two<br />
other phono preamps, both larger<br />
than this one, both with outboard<br />
power supplies.<br />
There<br />
s e e m s<br />
t o b e a n<br />
explosion in<br />
the number of high end phono<br />
preamplifiers arriving on the<br />
market, and perhaps for good reason.<br />
Vinyl is making a major comeback,<br />
at least as a niche product, and at the<br />
same time it has been a while since any<br />
amplifier or preamplifier manufacturer<br />
included a phono input as a matter of<br />
principle. It’s obvious that the need is<br />
there. With a steady increase in the<br />
variety of turntables available, there<br />
is a corresponding market for phono<br />
stages.<br />
The Allnic is from South Korea, the<br />
work of designer Kang Su Park. The<br />
brand name is derived from “all nickel,”<br />
and reflects the fact that Park has long<br />
championed the use of Permalloy allnickel<br />
transformer cores. Indeed, Kang<br />
Su Park believes in the importance of the<br />
power supply. In the picture on the next<br />
page you can glimpse the transformer,<br />
which is relatively large for a low-current<br />
device.<br />
Nor is that the only transformer on<br />
board. The front panel includes a switch<br />
for selecting an MC (high sensitivity) or<br />
M M<br />
input. Most phono preamps add extra<br />
gain for MC cartridges with an extra<br />
circuit (usually solid state, even in a<br />
tube preamp), but the Allnic uses a<br />
step-up transformer. With a Permalloy<br />
core, naturally. We have also received<br />
a standalone step-up transformer from<br />
Allnic, and we will be reviewing it in our<br />
next issue.<br />
We should add that the workmanship<br />
on this unit is fully in keeping with the<br />
best standards, as is the choice of materials.<br />
This should go without saying on a<br />
product of this price, but we know all<br />
too well that we don’t dare take that for<br />
granted.<br />
Allnic is very much a family enterprise,<br />
with family members assembling<br />
It may not be<br />
obvious from the photo,<br />
but the H1200 is a tube product, just<br />
as it says on the front panel, using very<br />
small 6112 and 6021 twin triodes, two of<br />
each.<br />
Our H1200 was brand new, and we<br />
ran it in nearly 100 hours using the<br />
Granite Audio burn-in disc. We then<br />
installed it in our Omega system, comparing<br />
it to our Audiomat Phono-1.5<br />
reference.<br />
We began with our often-used allpurpose<br />
LP, the Reference Recordings<br />
version of William Walton’s Façade,<br />
which includes so many instrumental<br />
solos that it could serve for equipment<br />
reviews all by itself. Certainly, there<br />
are no conceivable equipment flaws that<br />
won’t show up on this disc. When it’s<br />
reproduced well, on the other hand…<br />
And the H1200 did reproduce it well,<br />
38 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Listening Feedback Room<br />
with none of the instruments suffering<br />
from the strange anomalies we have<br />
heard all too often. We were impressed,<br />
and indeed Albert pronounced himself<br />
pleasantly surprised. The recording’s<br />
three-dimensional image came through<br />
very well, and the diverse instruments<br />
were reproduced with finesse. There<br />
was no sign of excessive shrillness, not<br />
even in the often difficult piccolo passage<br />
in the first part of the suite. The<br />
background was pleasantly quiet, as it<br />
should be.<br />
Were the highs a little too polite,<br />
too rounded off? Gerard noted that the<br />
cymbals were a little discreet. “In the<br />
second section when the reeds come<br />
in,” said Toby, “there’s a nice mellifluous<br />
quality, but it has less drive. The attacks<br />
are less snappy, the clarinet a little more<br />
hollow.” We agreed that the tilt of the<br />
Allnic was different from that of our own<br />
preamp, and it was in the direction of<br />
smoothness. That is of course a quality,<br />
but we would see how things would play<br />
out with the other recordings.<br />
The rest of this article can be found in<br />
the complete print or electronic version<br />
of UHF No. 84. Order the print issue<br />
from www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html<br />
(it’s case sensitive). Or subscribe<br />
at www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html.<br />
The electronic issue is available from<br />
www.magzee.com.<br />
We now continue in imitation<br />
Latin.<br />
Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute<br />
duis dignisc iliscipissi.<br />
Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore<br />
facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese<br />
facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer<br />
suscing enismod dolorero odiamco<br />
rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel<br />
ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core<br />
tisi.<br />
An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud<br />
dunt utet autem quam, sis augue<br />
magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed<br />
te ming esent loborper iure commodio<br />
commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim<br />
iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla<br />
feum do odolore commodolore dolore<br />
dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem<br />
ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna<br />
conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum<br />
alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan<br />
henisl ute core vent volor si.<br />
Sumsandre<br />
con<br />
hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero<br />
eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore<br />
diat praestismod te facilla facil inci<br />
blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis<br />
niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen<br />
dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis<br />
dolessi.<br />
Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con<br />
utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed<br />
euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse<br />
quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit<br />
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Iril iure molobor sustismod molore<br />
mincilit acing er accum vulput in<br />
utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol<br />
ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum<br />
quamconulla commy niation sequatie el<br />
ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis<br />
ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad<br />
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volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi<br />
bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis<br />
modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor<br />
ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh<br />
eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna<br />
feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait<br />
wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del<br />
dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex<br />
eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi.<br />
Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in heniscidunt<br />
aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit<br />
lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam<br />
quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod<br />
tat.<br />
Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat.<br />
Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum<br />
ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit<br />
lutpat nullam velesto commolortie<br />
dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis<br />
n ibh er s u m<br />
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ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim<br />
ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis<br />
adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue<br />
faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore<br />
exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim<br />
numsandrem verosto eummy nim<br />
velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm<br />
olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit,<br />
volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl<br />
dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit<br />
ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait<br />
vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit<br />
venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci<br />
liquatuer il utatue consequat.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 39
Listening Feedback Room<br />
Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dionsendipit<br />
nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor<br />
iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat.<br />
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facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait<br />
lor se commodo lobore dolore conse<br />
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ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil<br />
lutatio consed tatem zzrilit aliquam quat<br />
utpat wisit praestie feuisim num do od<br />
exer augait duisse et lumsan etuercilisit<br />
nonsectet wissi blamcon utpat verostio et<br />
wisi tetueros nos autat lutat prat, commy<br />
nullamet adip esto delis dignisl dolorpe<br />
rcilis eum eu feu feugiam zzrit utat, con<br />
elenisi.<br />
Commod dolestrud te te euis alis<br />
niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili<br />
quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con<br />
ut iusto dit nos accum nummodiam,<br />
quamet, sequiscipit accum adiat volorem<br />
nos aliquatuerit iusto con velenit ilit<br />
luptat.<br />
Od tat lor sim nisci tat at ut iril eum<br />
vullaor se ex enim dignim digna commodolore<br />
commy num veniam dolut<br />
wiscipit exercil ut ilis eum non volessim<br />
dunt wisl do do commod magniat. Ut<br />
wisisim zzrit nonsequatie magnit nos<br />
nonsed delenim dolenis adiatem zzrilisit<br />
ad doluptat. Quat ip eugait wissenis<br />
adipissecte do eu feugait praessit ute<br />
veniamc onulla feugueril et lore min<br />
essenis nos et amet lore molobor percipit<br />
in eniam, vulla coreet, venim eugiate<br />
dolore dionseniam nulla conse dip ex<br />
exerat, sequat nosto do euisciliqui etum<br />
delit nos nonse tem iriureet, secte dolor<br />
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vel dolore modo conse modolortio et<br />
nos nit utem zzrit irit pratueros dolorem<br />
Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: Allnic H1200<br />
Price: US$1600<br />
Size (WHD): 13 x 10 x 25.5 cm<br />
Most liked: None, but really none,<br />
of the usual flaws of too many phono<br />
preamps, impressive quietness<br />
Least liked: A bit of exaggeration in<br />
its politeness<br />
Verdict: The antidote to overly brash<br />
analog, to say nothing of digital!<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
diat, quipit nonsequate magna facip<br />
exer summodion vullaore duis euismod<br />
ignibh esting et, vel estrud estrud dipisit<br />
inciduis aliquam eum doloborer sed tionsenit<br />
lum nos dolore eum niam iustrud<br />
euis am euipsum molobore cor at. Duiscilla<br />
adigna feugiam vent aliquam alit eu<br />
feu facip eu feugait ulputat, volortisisi.<br />
Il dignit erostie facidunt atio dolorem<br />
iustie magna core duipit wismod modit<br />
vel inibh et lore commolo rerosto<br />
delesseniat. Eliquis ex eugiam, suscidu<br />
ismodoloreet at.<br />
Molum zzriurem ad tem ipit aliquat.<br />
Ut nisl erciduis at. Ectem dolobore<br />
vulpute feu faci endre dipsuscip el etumsan<br />
diametu mmodoloreet lore volore<br />
faccummy nulla at velit alit lorperos ad<br />
dio dolortin euis am il dolenibh eummy<br />
nonullam il et, quipit in ea faccum nos<br />
atue dolorerat la feumsandit enisim velis<br />
aut velit veros adipsusto odiamet augait<br />
iriliquisim velesse quatet alisi exero<br />
odolestrud mincipiscing endre doluptat<br />
prat, sit adignisl utet accum volor at, quis<br />
adit luptat. Ud dolor incipis modigniat<br />
acinibh erilla adignim num nim am,<br />
commod ea aut essequate ming ea facin<br />
velis dolore magna con ulla feugait<br />
augiamcore commy nisi.<br />
I don’t know what to say about a unit that<br />
does some things so well. And I mean so very<br />
well that you’re left wondering why it is not<br />
equally superb in other respects. It has a way<br />
of disappearing from the system, and letting<br />
the music through in such a transparent<br />
manner that lyrics write themselves, and<br />
complex textures separate smoothly into<br />
different layers of sound.<br />
But this clarity seems to come at a price.<br />
I was left wanting more in the mid to lower<br />
range, and in the solidity and substance of<br />
which live performers are made.<br />
However, considering that systems are<br />
vastly different, you may find those lacks<br />
quite minor and end up with divergence. the best this<br />
phono preamp can offer.<br />
Lucky you.<br />
—Albert Simon<br />
I have to give this preamp its due of<br />
praise. It has tonal complexity, detail and<br />
transparency. It can handle complex passages challenge for any system component, and<br />
and keep the musical threads untangled. It’s that goes double if not triple for a phono<br />
quiet. It can please with all kinds of music. preamp.<br />
However on the Uccellini recording The Allnic, I’m happy to say, passes<br />
the musical interest dropped when things that challenge admirably. Its highs are silky<br />
got softer. The Allnic is a lyrical-sounding smooth, with no trace of the asperity, the<br />
unit, but the more “singing” sections of the graininess, or even the shrillness of lesser<br />
Another cheeky unique Walton piece didn’t feature!<br />
really have the products.<br />
dynamic flow they needed to contrast well Is the smoothness overdone? Sure, any<br />
You know how with most the audio jumpy magazines bits. do their reviews: good a number thing of can be overdone, and now and<br />
reviewers, some with I found doubtful the Allnic’s “reference” performance systems, respectable<br />
for its price, though, and I wondered instruments, to the voices. Not too much, and<br />
are assigned then I reviews wanted of a little more edge to the<br />
individual components.<br />
UHF, on the if another hand, power maintains cord, a tube actual bias reference check or systems, that’s for on sure. which Our reference preamp nails<br />
all reviews are done. something All our else reviewers would have participate brought it a in little each review. this difficult The balance admirably. The Allnic<br />
main article is based closer on to the concensus, magic of the if there (much is costlier) one, but sometimes is a bit over on one side…the right side, but<br />
reference.<br />
even so!<br />
And then each reviewer gets to write a “Crosstalk,” —Toby Earpa personal This comment,<br />
which may even disagree with the others. not far from a neutral balance, though, and<br />
well-made tube phono preamp is<br />
There is no pressure When to a phono confirm. preamp What is not you performing read is really its what civilized, we sophisticated sound is in pleasant<br />
contrast to the brashness of too many<br />
think. And that is well, what you makes probably UHF know unique. where to look — the<br />
top end. For reasons that have been explained preamps.<br />
in our pages before, high frequencies are a<br />
—Gerard Rejskind<br />
40 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Listening Feedback Room<br />
Moon LP3 Phono Preamp<br />
Simaudio may not hit a home run<br />
with every new product it brings<br />
out, but its record should give it<br />
a shot at the Hall of Fame. We<br />
thought it did particularly well with its<br />
Moon LP5.3 phono preamp (reviewed<br />
in UHF No. 83). Of course that product<br />
costs more than a lot of consumers can<br />
budget for, particularly if they have<br />
entry-level turntables and nothing to<br />
plug them into. What could the company<br />
do for very significantly less money?<br />
Like any company that’s thinking<br />
clearly, Simaudio likes to recycle its<br />
hit technologies in simplified — and<br />
therefore less expensive — form, hoping<br />
to bring in a wider audience that less<br />
experienced companies cannot hope to<br />
reach. That doesn’t always work, and<br />
some companies have succeeded in doing<br />
nothing more than trashing their brand<br />
names. However that is essentially what<br />
Simaudio has attempted with the LP3,<br />
and cleverly too.<br />
The circuit configuration is in fact<br />
similar to that of the upscale LP5.3, and it<br />
still has both MM and MC inputs, a capability<br />
that it too often sacrificed on the<br />
altar of<br />
economy. However the<br />
parts used in the LP3 are not quite as<br />
expensive, and it has omitted some features.<br />
You can’t change the impedance<br />
and capacitance settings for the MC<br />
circuit, for instance (not that most people<br />
do). There are no balanced outputs, as<br />
there are on the LP5.3. And there isn’t<br />
a hefty power supply either. The LP3<br />
gets its electricity from one of those<br />
ubiquitous wall warts. We’ll get back to<br />
that a little later.<br />
Like its big brother, the LP3 doesn’t<br />
have a convenient switch to select the<br />
MM and MC inputs. Instead you have<br />
to pull out a set of Allen keys to remove<br />
the cover, and then find some tweezers<br />
in order to move tiny jumpers from one<br />
position to the other. This isn’t what<br />
you call user-friendly, but at least the<br />
LP3 doesn’t have any live high voltages<br />
lurking about inside. Simaudio says it<br />
selected this arcane adjust method in<br />
the interest of keeping the signal path<br />
as short as possible,<br />
We gave the LP3 plenty of time<br />
with our special break-in disc (intended<br />
specifically for phono preamps), and<br />
then installed it alongside the reference<br />
preamp in our Omega system, an<br />
Audiomat Phono-5.1. Plugged into it was<br />
our Linn LP12 with Alphason arm and<br />
London Reference cartridge.<br />
The first question we had was<br />
whether the LP3 would be reasonably<br />
silent, as its big brother was. We<br />
weren’t sure it would be, because<br />
it seemed evident that the tiny<br />
unshielded cord from the wall wart<br />
would make a lovely conduit for all<br />
the noise emerging from the power<br />
line and the rest of the system. We<br />
need not have worried. If you go<br />
by our experience, this preamp is<br />
unlikely to disturb your listening<br />
with hiss, hum or buzz.<br />
We began the listening session<br />
with William Walton’s rollicking<br />
orchestral suite Façade, with its<br />
broad variety of instrumental solos.<br />
With the LP3 there was a little extra<br />
energy in the higher frequencies, which<br />
is not really a good thing, but it’s not<br />
what we focused on initially, because<br />
there were more important things going<br />
on. We can sum it up this way: the music<br />
was fun to listen to.<br />
Oh, of course you want to know more.<br />
Toby Earp praised the midrange, the<br />
heart of the music. “It’s wonderful,”<br />
he said. “The colors are delicious, and<br />
the roundness of the clarinet is full.”<br />
Albert and Gerard were on the same<br />
wavelength. Both found the varied musical<br />
passages lyrical, even in the case of<br />
background melodies, and of course of<br />
the suite’s complex counterpoints. The<br />
trumpet was particularly pleasant, and<br />
it was easy to tell one woodwind from<br />
another. No homogenization of timbres<br />
here!<br />
True, the huge sound stage was<br />
smaller, and indeed everything was<br />
smaller, but we didn’t much care. Music<br />
trumps mere sound anytime.<br />
Would the LP3 give a little too much<br />
edge to the top end of a well-recorded<br />
violin? We put on the Uccelini Sonata e<br />
Corenti from an Open Window LP we<br />
have long owned and admired. We say<br />
it’s “well recorded” because the timbre<br />
of the instrument is very close to what<br />
a violinist would hear, but of course<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 41
Listening Feedback Room<br />
MM and MC<br />
First things first. If you are (finally) adding a turntable to your audio system,<br />
can you just plug it into any input that’s free? No you can’t. An input meant for a<br />
CD player, a tuner or an iPod expects to “see” a signal of perhaps 2 volts. A phono<br />
cartridge typically has an output of 0.002 volts, or even 0.0002 volts. What’s more,<br />
LPs are recorded “on a curve,” with lows de-emphasized and the highs boosted.<br />
You need a phono preamplifier that can reverse that curve, as well as adding the<br />
necessary amplification.<br />
Possibly you know that there are two sorts of<br />
phono cartridges, MM and MC, and that each<br />
requires a different treatment. In fact it’s not quite<br />
that simple.<br />
Conventional magnetic cartridges have a fixed<br />
coil and a moving magnet: that is, the magnet is<br />
on one end of the cantilever, with the stylus on the<br />
other. The magnet has to be small, so it will be easy<br />
to move, and so the coil must be large, with a lot<br />
of turns of wire. That means high inductance, and<br />
in all but a few expensive models it means compromised<br />
high frequencies. However the output voltage is relatively high, typically 2<br />
millivolts, and an MM phono preamp “expects” a signal of that voltage.<br />
An MC pickup does things the other way around: the magnet is fixed, and the coil<br />
is wound around the end of the cantilever. But now it is the coil that must be kept<br />
small, with fewer turns of wire. It will have low inductance, and very extended high<br />
frequency response, and that is good. You’ll often see it stated that such cartridges<br />
have low output, and therefore require extra amplification, but that isn’t actually<br />
true. In fact they have low voltage (but correspondingly higher current). You can<br />
use a transformer to swap out the current for voltage, but most designers actually<br />
do provide extra gain, to accommodate the low voltage (0.2 to 0.5 mV). Doing it<br />
that way adds noise and distortion, but quality phono-grade transformers are rare<br />
and expensive.<br />
violinists are very close to their instruments,<br />
and that gives prominence to the<br />
higher harmonics. Emphasizing them in<br />
playback could be a recipe for auditory<br />
catastrophe.<br />
The LP3 did give them extra prominence,<br />
and we judged that the violin<br />
didn’t have quite the transparency it<br />
had with our reference preamp, but once<br />
again that was not what captivated our<br />
attention. As before, it was the liveliness<br />
that particularly pleased us. The violin<br />
had wonderfully clear articulation, and<br />
the harpsichord was clean and easy to<br />
follow as well. Rhythm was strong, and<br />
we had the impression that the playing<br />
was particularly quick, or at least that<br />
nothing was slowing it down. Even the<br />
softer passages, often left behind by<br />
economy products, survived well. “It’s<br />
not the reference,” said Albert, “but I’m<br />
happy.”<br />
42 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
We turned to the title song from<br />
Mary Black’s (alas!) unavailable LP No<br />
Frontiers. Black’s voice is notable for its<br />
effortless power, and that has been well<br />
captured on this recording (not all of<br />
her recordings, unfortunately, do her<br />
justice). With the LP3 her voice had<br />
all of its power and none of the effort.<br />
Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: Moon LP3<br />
Price: C$599/US$499<br />
Size (WDH): 10.5 x 10.3 x 6 cm<br />
Most liked: Lively dynamics, surprising<br />
musicality, lack of noise<br />
Least liked: Finicky switching from<br />
MM to MC<br />
Verdict: Simaudio tries to make the<br />
phono preamp its competitors have<br />
worked on for years, nails it<br />
The higher frequencies were a little<br />
prominent, but there was no glare, and<br />
nothing truly objectionable. It is in the<br />
midrange that this phono preamp shines.<br />
If her tone was less warm than we like,<br />
she still sounded captivating.<br />
So did the accompanying instruments,<br />
including the accordion and the<br />
percussion.<br />
The LP3 did equally well with a male<br />
voice, that of Bluesman Doug McLeod<br />
on Master’s Plan from the LP version of<br />
Come to Find (Audioquest AQ1027). The<br />
song opens with a beautiful introduction<br />
on the acoustic guitar. The very<br />
good clarity let us hear the touch of<br />
McLeod’s fingers on individual strings.<br />
“It’s difficult to reproduce a real guitar<br />
realistically,” said Toby, “so it isn’t as<br />
natural as with our own preamp, but<br />
what you do get is the music.”<br />
As we have already noted, a broad<br />
dynamic range is one of the touchstones<br />
of this phono preamplifier, and McLeod’s<br />
voice, especially in this song, requires<br />
strong performance at both ends of the<br />
dynamic spectrum. His final syllables<br />
are so soft that you can easily lose them<br />
in the fog, and if you do, then the song<br />
won’t work for you. When he sings<br />
(much) louder, on the other hand, that<br />
can be a problem too. On many systems,<br />
rising volume gives the impression that<br />
the artist has taken a couple of menacing<br />
steps toward you. That’s wrong, and this<br />
LP is good enough that you should never<br />
be left with that illusion. The LP3 gets<br />
this right.<br />
We ended with I’m Scared, a classic<br />
rock piece from Burton Cummings,<br />
recorded (can it be?) over three decades<br />
ago. It’s a busy piece, with piano, bass<br />
and strings, as well as Cummings’ own<br />
powerful voice.<br />
Toby praised the roundness of the<br />
bottom end, but there seemed to be a<br />
little less of it, and that brought our<br />
focus back to the voice. “You hear he has<br />
a good voice.” said Toby. “The strength<br />
of this preamp is in the midrange, and<br />
it is warm, extending into the mid-bass.<br />
If you have to sacrifice something, this<br />
isn’t a bad way.”<br />
Surprisingly, then, the lyrics were<br />
actually easier to follow. “The intention<br />
of the song is well served,” commented<br />
Gerard.
Listening Feedback Room<br />
Albert didn’t write much. Usually<br />
that’s because he is too captivated by the<br />
music, so in this case nothing particular<br />
struck him.<br />
But we were unanimous about one<br />
thing: Simaudio has done a fine job<br />
of shoehorning most of its expensive<br />
technology into a product for the lower<br />
economic range that seems so much in<br />
fashion currently. The LP3 serves the<br />
cause of music better than we normally<br />
expect from phono preamps of this price<br />
category. The flaws — and they aren’t<br />
many — affect secondary aspects of<br />
sound.<br />
But good as it is, could it be better<br />
yet?<br />
Toby’s eyes turned to the wall wart<br />
that supplies the electricity for this<br />
device, one of the smallest you’re ever<br />
likely to see, so tiny you need a magnifying<br />
glass to read the label. “I see it’s<br />
12 volts,” he said. “Do you suppose it<br />
would work on 13.8 volts?” We understood<br />
what he was driving at. That’s the<br />
voltage of a car battery charger, capable,<br />
of course, of much more current.<br />
“Why not a car battery?” suggested<br />
Gerard.<br />
“That would be overkill,” said<br />
Toby, but<br />
the conversation<br />
turned to<br />
interesting possibilities. You can buy<br />
12 volt batteries to fit motorcycles,<br />
burglar alarms, or even those (supposedly)<br />
uninterruptible power supplies for<br />
computers. They’re cheap, too. Top it up<br />
with a charger now and then.<br />
Of course, a number of designers<br />
have built amplifiers, and especially preamplifiers,<br />
that were battery-powered.<br />
The advantages are evident. There’s lots<br />
of current when needed (try shorting one<br />
out with a screwdriver and see what happens!).<br />
It’s<br />
inherently noisefree.<br />
And it’s separated<br />
from ground, which sidesteps a lot of<br />
potential problems. The LP3 has a<br />
standard power plug, and upgrades are<br />
definitely possible.<br />
To put this into perspective, Simaudio<br />
makes an expensive outboard supply for<br />
its LP5.3 phono preamp, and we listened<br />
to it with the optional cord allowing us<br />
to run it from the huge power supply in<br />
our P-8 preamplifier. Yes, a bigger, better<br />
power supply makes a difference.<br />
But even without some sort of DIY<br />
upgrade, he LP3 is a killer product. It can<br />
be a god match for a turntable costing<br />
many times more than its own modest<br />
price.<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
Have you fallen in love with a moving<br />
coil cartridge for the first time? Looking to<br />
move up from an entry-level phono stage?<br />
Have a good integrated and now a yen for<br />
vinyl?<br />
The LP3 is bound to please. It’s tweakable<br />
via its power supply, and the warm<br />
feeling you get as you listen to it play will<br />
be reinforced by the warm feeling in your<br />
wallet pocket.<br />
The reference is still the reference, but<br />
both phono preamps come from families that<br />
really get music. The LP3 played the heart of<br />
every piece we listened to. It swings, it sings,<br />
it scampers, it rocks. I wouldn’t hesitate if it<br />
were anywhere within reach of my budget.<br />
—Toby Earp<br />
I felt wonderfully comfortable during the<br />
listening tests. Everything sounded so right,<br />
so balanced, that I often forgot they were<br />
tests and ended up flowing freely with the<br />
music. There were no noticeable excesses,<br />
no flagrant problem signs. Just good sound<br />
and lovely music.<br />
No, it wasn’t perfect (what is?), but what it<br />
did, it did equally well throughout the whole<br />
spectrum. Was the energy too obvious on the<br />
highs, in some recordings? Perhaps. Did it<br />
bother me? Not in the least.<br />
Would I consider repeating the tests, just<br />
in case I was too busy enjoying the music?<br />
Anytime.<br />
—Albert Simon<br />
I know I’ve said this before, but there<br />
was a time when Simaudio (and Sima Audio<br />
before it) couldn’t build a good phono section<br />
to save its life. Its forte — and it was quite a<br />
forte — was power amplifiers, big iron that<br />
could handle big signals, and render them<br />
with a mix of big muscle and gentleness. Even<br />
its preamplifiers weren’t in the same class.<br />
Need I add that this was a long time ago?<br />
Its flagship preamplifier, the Moon P-8 is in<br />
one of our reference systems, and we didn’t<br />
get it because it was cheap (it wasn’t). And<br />
when we listened to the LP5.3, well…you<br />
know the rest.<br />
But building a phono stage for $1600 is<br />
one thing, building one for a thousand bucks<br />
less is another pair of sleeves, as the French<br />
say. Mission accomplished! I’ve heard a lot<br />
of phono stages in this price category, some<br />
with famous names, but they don’t do what<br />
this one does.<br />
What does it do? It gives life to the music.<br />
That’s despite some obvious flaws, details<br />
of which you’ll find in our review. What<br />
I appreciate from vinyl, over and above<br />
smoothness of highs, body and all that stuff,<br />
is the feeling that there are people breathing<br />
behind that invisible wall of sound.<br />
The LP3 lets that through. There is<br />
nothing more important.<br />
—Gerard Rejskind<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 43
Listening Feedback Room<br />
PowerBIS Maestro<br />
What<br />
is this device<br />
really? It appears to be<br />
a power bar, with six<br />
outlets and the usual IEC 320 jack for<br />
use with a standard power cord. Or is it<br />
a power line filter?<br />
BIS Audio is a small Montreal-area<br />
company that once did modifications<br />
to older electronic equipment, such as<br />
Quad amplifiers. But don’t ask, because<br />
that was then and this is now. The<br />
company now makes cables, all kinds<br />
of them, including power cables. And<br />
filters.<br />
We have often warned against trusting<br />
a design entirely to one’s instruments,<br />
however sophisticated. Actually<br />
listening to the product you’ve designed<br />
(what a concept!) tells you whether<br />
you’ve measured the right things. BIS<br />
Audio’s Bernard Brien tunes his products<br />
by ear. And there’s a lot of tuning to do,<br />
because he’s not fond of buying cable<br />
off the shelf. He’ll actually purchase<br />
individual conductors, dielectrics and<br />
sleeves, and put together something that<br />
sounds the way he wants.<br />
And the most expensive is not always<br />
the best. Considering the name of this<br />
product, you would think he would recommend<br />
the use of his top cable, which<br />
is also called Maestro. Not so. Brien says<br />
he has voiced the PowerBIS Maestro to<br />
go with the AC20WG, which we had<br />
reviewed earlier in UHF No. 82.<br />
You can imagine that, with this sort<br />
of hand manufacturing, these products<br />
can’t be sold at mass market prices, and<br />
How to test a product like this? We “hard and artificial.” There was a certain<br />
have, in some filter tests, run our Alpha cacophony we had not heard with our<br />
system No, this bareback, free version with is no not filtering complete, at all, though filter you in place, could and spend we got a couple the feeling once<br />
of but hours the reading result is it. not Want too pleasant, the full version? and we more that we were playing the music a<br />
shy You away can, from of course, bad experiences. order the print Instead version, little which too we loud…even have published though we had not<br />
for we a quarter designed of a two-stage century. You test. can get it from touched our back the issues volume. page.<br />
But The we Alpha also have system’s a paid power electronic is filtered version, which We ended is just like with this Thelonius one, Monk’s<br />
except by an that Inouye it doesn’t Synergistic have annoying line filter, banners ’Round like this Midnight, one, and sung it doesn’t by Carmen Lundy<br />
have which articles we tailing have owned off into for faux many Latin. years. Getting (the the song electronic is from version the JVC is album of Selfcourse<br />
We began faster, by and listening it also to cheaper. our three It costs test just Portrait). $4.30 (Canadian) anywhere<br />
that is of course true. We’ll get to the in recordings the world. Taxes, with if that they filter. are applicable, We then are included. Once again Albert found it better<br />
pricing shortly.<br />
substituted It’s available a GutWire from MagZee.com. StingRay power than he had feared (the StingRay really is<br />
First, let’s see what’s inside. There’s bar, a $385 device that has no pretensions pretty good), but everything was smaller,<br />
no mystery concerning the duplex outlets,<br />
since they are clearly labelled. They<br />
are Wattgate 381’s, whose innards are<br />
copper with a triple plating of gold. What<br />
looks like plastic is actually a mix of glass<br />
and nylon. Like the more familiar (and<br />
to filtering, but is built from Hubbell<br />
hospital-grade parts with a shielded<br />
captive cord. Its well-shielded cord has<br />
enough capacitance to do some filtering.<br />
Finally we listened to the Maestro with<br />
its AC20WG power cord.<br />
shallower. The emotional tension of this<br />
song of disappointed love dissipated. “It’s<br />
squared instead of cubed,” said Toby.<br />
There seemed to be more energy shifted<br />
to the upper midrange, but it wasn’t real<br />
information.<br />
44 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
cheaper) hospital-grade<br />
outlets, these are<br />
designed to stay tight and grip<br />
the plug solidly.<br />
The IEC jack is from Furutech.<br />
The inside of the box is damped with<br />
an asphalt-based material, to prevent<br />
vibrations that can generate electrical<br />
noise. Brien says that even in an extreme<br />
case — if you plug a wall wart with a<br />
transformer directly into the Maestro —<br />
its vibration won’t shake up anything<br />
else.<br />
You can get a version with the IEC<br />
jack on the top, if that’s more convenient,<br />
and there is also a version with eight<br />
outlets instead of six. “Have it your way,”<br />
as they say in a restaurant chain that is<br />
not on our list of favorites.<br />
Yes, it is a line filter as well as a power<br />
bar. Included in the housing is a parallel<br />
filter that shunts high-frequency noise<br />
to ground. There are no series elements<br />
that could compromise current<br />
transmission.<br />
Get the complete version<br />
The first recording is a familiar one,<br />
the SACD version of the choral recording<br />
Now the Green Blade Riseth (Proprius<br />
PRSACD9093). With the StingRay it<br />
sounded way better than it would have<br />
with an ordinary power bar, but it was a<br />
come-down from our Inouye filter. The<br />
flute introduction was thinner, but with<br />
more of an emphasis on the middle tones.<br />
Both Albert and Toby found the sound<br />
initially quite acceptable, but then began<br />
noticing what was wrong. “There’s<br />
roughness on the syllables by the male<br />
singers,” said Toby, “and the sound was<br />
flatter and somewhat confused, with less<br />
warmth in the final crescendo.” Said<br />
Gerard, “it actually sounds louder, but<br />
not for the right reasons.”<br />
We continued with the Reference<br />
Recordings SACD of Bruckner’s Symphony<br />
No. 9 (from Tutti, RR-906SACD).<br />
Albert was impressed by how well the<br />
Scherzo movement’s impact was preserved.<br />
“It’s better than I had feared,”<br />
he said.<br />
But that didn’t mean it was right.<br />
The spaciousness that is characteristic<br />
of Keith O. Johnson’s productions was<br />
shallower, or — more likely — the depth<br />
was hidden by a lack of clarity. The<br />
impression left was that the sound field,<br />
normally very large, was compressed.<br />
But there was worse. Toby described<br />
the trumpets as “zippy,” and Gerard as
Listening Feedback Room<br />
We disconnected the StingRay,<br />
substituted the PowerBIS Maestro, and<br />
listened again.<br />
We needed only the first recording<br />
to know that the improvement was truly<br />
huge. From the first notes there was a<br />
“rightness” to the flute introduction,<br />
and to the gorgeous women’s voices.<br />
The confusion was gone, and the tonal<br />
spectrum was in better balance. Textures<br />
of both voices and instruments were rich<br />
and fine. “Everything is in its place,” said<br />
Albert, “and there’s nothing to irritate<br />
you.”<br />
Rhythm was very good as well, and<br />
that bode well for the Bruckner.<br />
That worked too. From the start<br />
there was an emotional tension as we<br />
anticipated the orchestral explosion that<br />
was surely coming. When it came, with<br />
brass blazing, it was bright but not harsh.<br />
Odd how such music can be at once<br />
strongly rhythmic and lyrical, but then<br />
Bruckner was a pretty good composer!<br />
“I’m a believer,” said Toby enthusiastically.<br />
Even so he thought there was a<br />
little less dynamic range than with the<br />
Inouye. “It’s doing something artificial,”<br />
he said, “but it’s not at all unpleasant.<br />
Quite the contrary, it directs your attention<br />
to the color and the harmonics.”<br />
We ended with the Carmen Lundy<br />
song, and you would have needed to<br />
be deaf not to hear the improvement.<br />
“What richness in the oboe, the strings<br />
and the voice!” exclaimed Albert. “You<br />
get the whole message, from sadness to<br />
the glimmer of hope.”<br />
“Wow!” said Toby. “Some details<br />
that bothered me were still there, but<br />
they didn’t disturb me in the same way.<br />
The sibilance, for instance. So the sound<br />
supports the music.”<br />
All right…you probably want to know<br />
what the damages are going to be.<br />
Well, it won’t be cheap, as you will<br />
have guessed by the way it’s built. The<br />
basic unit we reviewed costs C$990 —<br />
you can get an eight-outlet version for<br />
$200 more. And remember that it has no<br />
power cord. The AC20WG cord that BIS<br />
recommends (because it’s been “voiced”<br />
for it) is C$700. A lower-cost version, the<br />
AC20, is $400. We don’t have the heart<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
to add it all up.<br />
You may be wondering whether the<br />
idea of “voicing” audio gear is legitimate.<br />
The term is borrowed from the vocabulary<br />
of the organ builder. Indeed, there<br />
are organ tuners, and there are organ<br />
voicers, those who fine-tune the sound<br />
of each pipe to give the instrument its<br />
distinctive character. So why not voice<br />
audio equipment?<br />
The obvious difference is that organs<br />
produce music and hi-fi systems reproduce<br />
it. Creative input is not what you’re looking<br />
for.<br />
But as we hope we’ve made clear, you<br />
can’t design a system entirely by trusting<br />
your instruments, because if you do you<br />
will make horrible mistakes — examples<br />
of this abound. So you calculate, you<br />
hypothesize, you measure, and then you<br />
listen. You listen a lot.<br />
A good designer will be honest and<br />
admit that, sometimes, he doesn’t know<br />
why two elements go together…or fail to.<br />
The final judge is the ear. That is why<br />
audio design is science, sure enough, but<br />
it is also an art.<br />
It’s the current fashion for a power filter<br />
to do all sorts of stuff you don’t need done,<br />
up to and including protecting gear against<br />
a lightning strike, or perhaps a bombing raid<br />
on your house. It needs breakers, lights, an<br />
LCD screen, Ethernet and USB connections.<br />
Or does it?<br />
With a product like this I want only two<br />
things done.<br />
First, I want whatever electrical current<br />
the power company deigns to give me to<br />
get to my system with as little taken away as<br />
possible, from plug to plug to plug.<br />
Second, I want to clean out the horrible<br />
gunk that the utility sends down its wires<br />
along with its expensive current, and I don’t<br />
want more gunk either generated or spread<br />
around.<br />
That’s it. This product does exactly that,<br />
and you can hear it.<br />
—Gerard Rejskind<br />
You’ll never know how good your system<br />
really is until you feed it clean power. And<br />
no tweak or upgrade will ever reveal its<br />
true value until then. If you can’t wait to UHF’s panel for a session, I am asked for my<br />
get started on that path but haven’t allowed impressions of…power bars!<br />
Another<br />
for it in your immediate<br />
unique<br />
budget, you might<br />
feature!<br />
Well, it’s not as if they all sounded the<br />
want to consider the difference the GutWire same. The GutWire provides serious AC<br />
Stingray<br />
You know<br />
provides<br />
how<br />
—<br />
most<br />
from<br />
audio<br />
a wider<br />
magazines<br />
sense of<br />
do<br />
distribution,<br />
their reviews:<br />
but it<br />
a<br />
doesn’t<br />
number<br />
treat<br />
of<br />
the power<br />
reviewers,<br />
space to clearer<br />
some<br />
lyrics.<br />
with doubtful “reference”<br />
much,<br />
systems,<br />
and<br />
are<br />
the<br />
assigned<br />
music loses<br />
reviews<br />
appeal compared<br />
of<br />
individual<br />
And when<br />
components.<br />
you are ready for it, you’ll to the reference Inouye. There is a harshness<br />
have<br />
UHF,<br />
the joy<br />
on<br />
of<br />
the<br />
trying<br />
other<br />
the<br />
hand,<br />
BISAudio<br />
maintains<br />
unit.<br />
actual<br />
on voices,<br />
reference<br />
and detail<br />
systems,<br />
sounds<br />
on<br />
artificial.<br />
which<br />
It’s not<br />
all<br />
Music<br />
reviews<br />
will never<br />
are done.<br />
sound<br />
All<br />
the<br />
our<br />
same.<br />
reviewers<br />
You’ll find<br />
participate<br />
the GutWire’s<br />
in each<br />
fault,<br />
review.<br />
raw AC<br />
The<br />
is just bad mojo<br />
main<br />
no excesses,<br />
article is<br />
no<br />
based<br />
sudden<br />
on<br />
irritating<br />
the concensus,<br />
surges,<br />
if there and there is one, is still but lots sometimes that is impressive, on but<br />
divergence.<br />
everything will be quietly controlled by a I would use this bar to give a conditioning<br />
healthy<br />
And<br />
dose<br />
then<br />
of<br />
each<br />
pure<br />
reviewer<br />
power.<br />
gets to write a device “Crosstalk,” more power a personal outlets. comment,<br />
Say<br />
which<br />
the composer<br />
may even<br />
wanted<br />
disagree<br />
his music<br />
with the<br />
to<br />
others. The BIS Maestro…this is really just a<br />
sound<br />
There<br />
ominous<br />
is no pressure<br />
at a specific<br />
to confirm.<br />
section,<br />
What<br />
the power you read bar? is It’s really certainly what nice we to the music.<br />
think.<br />
conductor<br />
And<br />
then<br />
that is<br />
insisted<br />
what makes<br />
on the<br />
UHF<br />
intensity<br />
unique. Harshness and artificial detail are gone.<br />
rising out of the strings, then shifting onto Harmonic relationships and tonal colors, key<br />
the brass and percussion, and the musicians points for me, are satisfying with the BIS.<br />
responded and delivered wonderfully. With The choral crescendo at the end of Now the<br />
this unit you’ll get to hear the result of all Green Blade Riseth got back the heart it lost<br />
that collaboration and you’ll hear the music when we used the simpler unit. There’s not<br />
rising relentlessly, filling the space around the air or the neutrality of the Inouye but<br />
you, shattering the silence.<br />
the overall effect is remarkably pleasant.<br />
—Albert Simon I wouldn’t feel I needed another conditioner<br />
if I had one of these.<br />
Greatly honored by an invitation to join<br />
—Toby Earp<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 45
Listening Feedback Room<br />
Do Connectors Matter? (Part II)<br />
The first part of this evaluation,<br />
in UHF No. 85, caused<br />
a sensation, and frankly it<br />
perturbed us too. We took a<br />
very good economy loudspeaker cable,<br />
the Atlas Hyper 2, and listened to it<br />
with four different sets of connectors:<br />
the original equipment Z Plugs, traditional<br />
gold-over-brass WBT spades and<br />
bananas, WBT’s new nextgen bananas,<br />
and finally the ETI Bayonet Bananas.<br />
The differences were astounding, far<br />
greater that we had imagined they could<br />
be. The winners by far were the two<br />
newest connectors, the WBT nextgen<br />
and the ETI. Both use the strict minimum<br />
of metal, and that metal is copper,<br />
not the usual brass.<br />
It wasn’t long after the issue was<br />
published that we got a worried e-mail<br />
from a Mavros owner in Europe. Should<br />
he think about changing the connectors<br />
on his cables for nextgens? Our reply: we<br />
didn’t know, but we would find out.<br />
We admit to having hesitated before<br />
deciding to do this test. Our Mavros<br />
cables came with the optional (and<br />
expensive) spade connectors made from<br />
single-crystal copper. Like the Z-Plugs<br />
(which are the standard issue on the<br />
Mavros) they are “cold welded” under<br />
pressure, which means we couldn’t take<br />
them off without destroying them.<br />
Gulp!<br />
So what if it should turn out they<br />
made no difference? Indeed, what if the<br />
nextgens actually sounded worse? There<br />
would be no going back.<br />
However we had another reason to<br />
want bananas, and we had figured that<br />
out when we first adopted this cable.<br />
We plug and unplug things a lot in our<br />
46 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
business. Our reference speakers and<br />
amplifier have good binding posts, and<br />
fasten tightly on the spades, but some<br />
gear we test have those posts that seem<br />
to loosen if you stare at them. Bananas<br />
are a better tool for us.<br />
So we decided to go ahead. We pulled<br />
out three CDs that sound particularly<br />
good, and set up our Linn Unidisk<br />
player in the Alpha room. We prepared<br />
everything we would need for the surgery:<br />
the three sets of WBT nextgen<br />
bananas, a dozen 6 mm gold sleeves, the<br />
WBT crimping tool, and everything we<br />
needed to cut and bare the wire ends of<br />
the Mavros.<br />
We made sure all the binding posts<br />
were good and tight, and we proceeded<br />
to the first listen. How did it sound?<br />
Fabulous. Steve Bourke was especially<br />
impressed, because it was the first time<br />
he had heard the Alpha system, in our<br />
remarkable acoustics.<br />
And then to the operation. We<br />
took a deep breath and reached for the<br />
cutters.<br />
The wires were cut back as close as<br />
possible to the rigid cold-weld spade<br />
shanks. The decorative mesh Atlas uses<br />
in its finishing is all too fragile, and we<br />
made a mental note to replace it with<br />
shrink tubing later. For the moment,<br />
however, everyone was waiting. Once<br />
the ends were bare, we slipped on the<br />
sleeves, fused them with the wire under<br />
the pressure of the crimping tool, and<br />
slipped the finished ends into their<br />
waiting WBT bananas (shown on the<br />
next page). Incidentally, the operation<br />
was carried out by unplugging the cables<br />
from the amplifier first, so that the amp<br />
did not need to be turned off. It was nice<br />
and toasty when we tightened on fresh<br />
bananas, and got ready to listen again.<br />
The first selection was a guitar duo,<br />
De Luna, from Strunz and Farah’s album<br />
Zona Torrida. We still had misgivings,<br />
fearing we had sacrificed expensive connectors<br />
for nothing. We hadn’t.<br />
We were unanimous that the sound<br />
of these dazzling guitars had changed,<br />
entirely in the right way, which is to<br />
say in the direction of naturalness.<br />
The sound was more limpid, with more<br />
body in the bass and lower midrange,<br />
with more detail but more substance as<br />
well. The enhanced 3-D effect revealed<br />
additional layers of sound, right down to<br />
the subtle little reverberation at the end<br />
of a chord. Albert noticed a background<br />
instrument he had never noticed before,<br />
which turned out to be Carlitos del<br />
Puerto’s bass.<br />
Steve was nonplussed. During the<br />
first listen he had pronounced the system<br />
the best he had ever heard. This was<br />
something else again.<br />
We continued with a rare recording<br />
by South African jazz trumpetist and<br />
singer Hugh Masekela. His composition<br />
Stimela is often heard at international<br />
shows. Recorded in an overheated<br />
Washington night club before the fall<br />
of the apartheid régime, it’s about the<br />
coal train which once brought migrant<br />
workers from varied African countries to<br />
work the mines of South Africa as slaves<br />
in all but name. Masekela provides the<br />
monolog, evokes the train with his voice,<br />
and plays an extended score that is always<br />
worth listening to.<br />
A warning: you have to play it loud to<br />
get the whole effect.<br />
Good as it was the first time, it had<br />
an extra dimension the second time<br />
around, and all three of us had a lot to<br />
say. “It isn’t just more attractive,” said<br />
Albert, “it’s also more interesting. Take<br />
the synths in the opening section. They<br />
set up the texture of the music, but now<br />
that texture is gorgeous. The saxophone<br />
is more realistic, and the cymbals too —<br />
listen to the way they shimmer.” Gerard<br />
had noted much the same things.<br />
Of course Masekela’s voice is the<br />
key to this piece, and it was noticeably
Listening Feedback Room<br />
improved, less thick. At the same time<br />
the very bottom end was cleaner, though<br />
no less energetic, and that gave extra<br />
body to both the electric bass and the<br />
kick drum. All this from connectors?<br />
Steve commented on the added<br />
depth — this is a live recording after all,<br />
done in a real space. He thought that the<br />
sound was less harsh, particularly that of<br />
Masekela’s voice when he imitates the<br />
whistle of the coal train.<br />
Of course we wanted another human<br />
voice in the mix, and preferably a female<br />
voice. Cable connections, we have<br />
already mentioned, cause problems<br />
in the highs. Some years back one of<br />
our (then) reference speakers had what<br />
appeared to be a cracked tweeter — you<br />
could practically hear the dome bend<br />
with the music. In fact it was a bad connection.<br />
In that instance, the connection<br />
was inside the speaker (between the wire<br />
and the inside of the WBT binding post<br />
in fact), but of course a “subprime” connection<br />
between cable and binding post<br />
will do the same thing. Tightening it had<br />
fixed the problem.<br />
But on with the voice, Margie<br />
Gibson’s The Best Thing For You from<br />
her album Say It with Music (Sheffield<br />
CD-36). This time, we had less to say.<br />
Oh, it wasn’t because we heard no<br />
difference, because we did. From the first<br />
notes of Lincoln Mayorga’s piano, the<br />
resonances were more complex, and the<br />
sound more revealing. The percussion<br />
had also become clearer. As for Margie’s<br />
remarkable voice, she was present as<br />
never before.<br />
“The best thing for you,” said<br />
Steve, echoing the song, “would be the<br />
nextgens.”<br />
And so we have the answer for our<br />
European reader, but the experience may<br />
leave you with some questions.<br />
One question we’re anticipating is:<br />
seeing that the ETI Bayonet Bananas did<br />
so well in Part I of this test, why didn’t<br />
we save a few dollars and adopt them<br />
instead? In fact the ETI products have<br />
risen in price since then, but it’s true<br />
that they cost less than the nextgens.<br />
Remember, however, that we’re a magazine,<br />
and we are constantly connecting<br />
and reconnecting products. The WBT<br />
bananas are built to take a beating, and<br />
we figure they’re a better choice for us.<br />
Your needs may be different.<br />
Finally — we can’t resist this — a<br />
word for those who think that all this<br />
stuff about cables and connectors is bosh,<br />
that it’s all marketing hype. We sincerely<br />
wish that were true, because if it were,<br />
our working tools would have cost us a<br />
lot less. We wish all amplifiers, at least<br />
above a certain price, sounded exactly<br />
the same, because we’ve spent a lot of<br />
money for ours. Without gear of this<br />
quality, we would not be in a position<br />
to give you valid advice on how to go<br />
about doing your own research, in order<br />
to build a system that will give you years<br />
of pleasure.<br />
As always, that is our goal. We suspect<br />
other people have other goals, but<br />
the sun shines for everyone.<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
I wasn’t prepared for what I heard.<br />
I thought it was going to be one of those<br />
vague and undefinable differences, something<br />
I’d have to think about really hard,<br />
and decide if it was meaningful or if it was<br />
just another color added to the music.<br />
K nowing how good our reference<br />
system already sounded with the first piece,<br />
I was relaxed, but — just like a cat — I soon<br />
found myself sitting up, totally focused on<br />
the music. Everything had become so much<br />
more interesting. It had been very good<br />
before, it actually sounded great with the<br />
reference, but now it was so much…more.<br />
Vague? No, but subtle and delicately<br />
complex in the differences it revealed.<br />
Undefinable? Not at all, as it added even<br />
more precision and clarity to what I thought<br />
was already so clear. And, above all, it added<br />
beauty.<br />
—Albert Simon<br />
Like some other UHF readers, I have<br />
often wondered about the importance of<br />
cables and connectors, and their influence<br />
on hi-fi sound. So after hearing the Alpha<br />
system’s stupendous performance using the<br />
reference connectors, I expected no great<br />
difference from the WBT nextgens.<br />
Even so, they improved every aspect of<br />
the sound I heard. What had been already<br />
super great became greater. Truly threedimensional<br />
realism seemed to shimmer<br />
with life.<br />
Without doubt, a superb connector is<br />
what WBT has created.<br />
—Steve Bourke<br />
Will you forgive me if I seem to go offtopic<br />
for a bit?<br />
I had not bought winter tires for years,<br />
because I’m not obliged to be in difficult<br />
traffic the morning after a storm. But it’s<br />
now the law where I live.<br />
I’m not pleased. Nearly all of my winter<br />
driving is actually on bare pavement, and<br />
with these tires the handling of my car has<br />
gone south. It’s difficult to take a long curve<br />
without concentrating on it. Same car, different<br />
tires, much worse experience.<br />
So what’s my point? Connectors are to<br />
cables what tires are to a car, the contact<br />
point. That may explain the surprising<br />
results we heard.<br />
Yes, those single-crystal spades already<br />
seemed outstandingly good. But having<br />
heard what connectors could do even with a<br />
low-cost cable, where you would expect the<br />
cable to be the limiting factor, I was sure we<br />
were in for a big change in this case.<br />
And so it came to pass. The Mavros is<br />
a great cable, but even the best one can be<br />
improved. This is no minor tweak.<br />
—Gerard Rejskind<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 47
Listening Feedback Room<br />
A Recording Studio in your Pocket<br />
Tired of paying for recordings<br />
other people have made?<br />
Want to make your own? In<br />
an early issue of this magazine<br />
we reviewed the Sony Walkman<br />
Professional, which was of course a<br />
cassette recorder, complete with manual<br />
recording levels and Dolby noise reduction,<br />
and we dubbed it The Bootlegger’s<br />
Recording Tool. Today, when we look at<br />
the Zoom H2, that sure seems a long<br />
time ago!<br />
The H2 is a complete all-in-one<br />
recording device. It contains four<br />
microphones and it has four-track<br />
recording facilities. The front microphones<br />
are angled at 90° to each other,<br />
and the rear at 120° (the so-called<br />
“ORTF” format, named for the French<br />
broadcasting system). You can use one<br />
pair or the other, or all four for surround<br />
sound. You can record in MP3,<br />
or in the familiar 16-bit/44.1 kHz CD<br />
format (actually WAV format), or in<br />
full 24/96. Put it all onto an SD card,<br />
and transfer it all to your computer so<br />
you can have your way with what you’ve<br />
recorded.<br />
The H2 run on two AA batteries,<br />
but it comes with a wall wart<br />
power supply for fixed use. It also<br />
comes with that little three-legged stand,<br />
as shown, which has the same thread as<br />
a photo tripod. We’ve noticed broadcast<br />
journalists using these, in some cases<br />
duct-taped to a handle, for picking<br />
up news clips. A foam wind screen is<br />
included.<br />
But could you actually tell the record<br />
companies to shove it, because from now<br />
on you’ll be rolling your own? Naturally<br />
you’ll have to do your own work getting<br />
familiar with the ins and outs of<br />
copyright and contracts, but we’re here<br />
to help with the techie stuff.<br />
The H2 is not the only, nor the best,<br />
such product from Zoom, and we’ll get<br />
to that in a moment. However it has<br />
tremendous potential. At least it does if<br />
it does what you want, with the quality<br />
you want.<br />
There’s quite a lot included in the<br />
package, including a 512 MB secure<br />
Digital Card. That won’t stretch very far<br />
48 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
at high resolution,<br />
however, since<br />
even a Red Book CD<br />
has a capacity of 700 MB. T h e H 2<br />
does accept the higher density SDHC<br />
cards, which are currently available with<br />
as much as 32 MB capacity.<br />
However we ran into a problem.<br />
Though Zoom claims the H2 is Macintosh<br />
compatible in fact it is not, and<br />
plugging it into the USB connection<br />
does not allow it to mount on our Mac’s<br />
desktop. We were able to transfer data<br />
only by using a card reader. However<br />
card readers mostly don’t work with<br />
SDHC.<br />
The tiny monochrome LCD screen<br />
is difficult to read even when it’s lit, and<br />
the user interface could benefit from a<br />
complete rewrite. For example, to move<br />
up or down a selection list you use the<br />
left and right buttons. It takes a while to<br />
get used to this, though anyone who has<br />
ever dealt with MS-DOS will just shrug<br />
it off.<br />
How to test the fidelity of this device?<br />
Though the human voice is often listed<br />
as a non-critical source (“voice quality”<br />
is always taken to mean the lowest possible<br />
quality), in fact it is a challenge.<br />
Not only does the voice have a wide<br />
range of frequencies, wider than<br />
that of most musical instruments in<br />
fact, its sound is familiar, and we can<br />
easily spot deviations from accuracy.<br />
And what voice is more familiar than<br />
your own?<br />
Well no, let’s correct that. You<br />
hear your own voice through flesh<br />
and bone, which means you hear too<br />
much bass and not enough top end.<br />
But a friend’s voice, once recorded,<br />
should sound perfectly natural. And<br />
so we decided to use our own voices<br />
for this comparison.<br />
The three panelists were Toby Earp,<br />
Gerard Rejskind and Albert Simon.<br />
Each was asked to bring a short poem<br />
that could be used in the recording. Of<br />
course we would need to have a reference<br />
of some sort.<br />
And we knew just what to use. We<br />
are lucky enough to own a pair of Earthworks<br />
condenser microphones, similar<br />
to those that are used by such recording<br />
labels as Harmonia Mundi and Analekta<br />
(actually, luck had nothing to do with it).<br />
We plugged them into an Edirol UA-25<br />
box, and plugged the Edirol into the<br />
USB connection on a MacBook Pro.<br />
The recording software was the open<br />
source Audacity. We then recorded the<br />
same poems, at the same microphone<br />
distance, with the Zoom H2 mounted<br />
on a camera tripod. The sessions took<br />
place in our Alpha room, which — you<br />
may recall — was originally designed to<br />
be a broadcast production studio.<br />
The rest of this article can be found in<br />
the complete print or electronic version<br />
of UHF No. 84. Order the print issue<br />
from www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html<br />
(it’s case sensitive). Or subscribe<br />
at www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html.<br />
The electronic issue is available from<br />
www.magzee.com.<br />
We now continue in imitation
Listening Feedback Room<br />
Latin.<br />
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te ming esent loborper iure commodio<br />
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feum do odolore commodolore dolore<br />
dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem<br />
ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna<br />
conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum<br />
alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan<br />
henisl ute core vent volor si.<br />
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accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore<br />
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te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis<br />
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feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi.<br />
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euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse<br />
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luptat.<br />
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vullaor se ex enim dignim digna commodolore<br />
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iustie magna core.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 49
Listening Feedback Room<br />
Three Headphones<br />
At one time people who bought<br />
One surprise is that these are active<br />
headphones but did not have<br />
phones, with their own amplification<br />
amateur radio licenses were<br />
stage, and also a noise-cancellation<br />
considered suspect. Clearly,<br />
circuit. There are two AAA alkaline<br />
they were solitary, if not downright antisocial.<br />
The Walkman revolution of the<br />
70’s changed that. Since then, the iPod<br />
revolution has accelerated the change.<br />
And because, potentially, a digital player<br />
can be made to sound so much better<br />
than a cassette, the demand for upscale<br />
headphones is growing.<br />
We reviewed three of them, the<br />
over-the-ear Beats phones shown here,<br />
and two way upscale in-ear models from<br />
Shure.<br />
We did most of the listening with<br />
our Omega system, running the very<br />
good (but long discontinued) headphone<br />
amplifier from Audio Alchemy.<br />
We used three recordings.<br />
The first, Fantasies on a Theme by<br />
Haydn, from the wind band recording<br />
Norman Dello Joio (he’s the composer) on<br />
Klavier K11138. It includes not only an<br />
attractive mix of woodwinds and brass,<br />
but also some percussion work that goes<br />
right for the solar plexus.<br />
The second is Esther Ofarim’s song<br />
La Vezina Catina, available in SACD<br />
form on FIM’s Audiophile Reference IV<br />
(SACD 029). Her voice is clear and powerful,<br />
with a not-quite-natural reverberant<br />
usual in<br />
ou r he a dphone<br />
reviews, our reference was our very old,<br />
but very good, Koss Pro/4AAA phones.<br />
They are sealed over-the-ear phones<br />
meant for studio use.<br />
Beats by Dr. Dre<br />
“Beats” is the touted brand name<br />
here, but you’ll also see, more discreetly<br />
on the inside of the headband, the name<br />
cells behind the left earpiece, and the<br />
phones won’t run without power. The<br />
cable is detachable, and two of them are<br />
included. One includes a microphone,<br />
which can be used with an iPhone or<br />
a Blackberry. Pushing on the back of<br />
the right earpiece interrupts the music<br />
so you can hear the flight attendant<br />
ask you whether you want merlot or<br />
chardonnay.<br />
Full list price is US$400 and<br />
C$450, but we’ve seen it in the US<br />
for $300.<br />
There was an immediate consensus<br />
around the comfort of these phones.<br />
They are light, rather lighter than they<br />
look in fact, and the cushions fit well on<br />
the ears of all three of us. The excellent<br />
fit made for excellent bass, too. Some<br />
phones have trouble delivering lower<br />
frequencies unless you press the earpiece<br />
against your ear.<br />
For that reason, the Beats did very<br />
well with the tympani solo in the Dello<br />
Joio wind band piece, outpointing our<br />
reference phones in several respects.<br />
The tympani seemed to roll on forever,<br />
with great impact. Both Steve and Albert<br />
liked the natural way the woodwinds<br />
setting that is definitely arresting. of marketing organization behind were reproduced. “There was better<br />
The third is the romantic ballad<br />
How<br />
the<br />
the<br />
phones, namely<br />
electronic<br />
Monster. Yes, the<br />
version<br />
unity in the orchestra,”<br />
works<br />
said Steve.<br />
Soft Lights and Sweet Music from Margie cable people, though it no longer calls “The reference phones tend to isolate<br />
Gibson’s Sheffield album Say It With<br />
We don’t<br />
itself Monster<br />
mean this<br />
Cable.<br />
version, because you already<br />
the<br />
know<br />
instruments.”<br />
how it works.<br />
The<br />
It’s<br />
stereo<br />
a PDF,<br />
image was<br />
Music (CD-36).<br />
and you open<br />
“Dr.<br />
it<br />
Dre”<br />
with<br />
(pronounced<br />
Adobe reader,<br />
“doctor<br />
etc.<br />
dray,” particularly good, as you expect with<br />
Of course we also wanted to include<br />
But we<br />
the<br />
also<br />
professional<br />
have a paid<br />
name<br />
electronic<br />
of rapper<br />
version,<br />
and<br />
which<br />
headphones,<br />
is complete,<br />
though<br />
without<br />
sometimes<br />
banners like<br />
subtle<br />
an actual iPod. We played the Bratsch<br />
this one,<br />
producer<br />
or articles<br />
Andre<br />
in fluent<br />
Young)<br />
gibberish.<br />
is the front man clues get obscured. On the other hand<br />
song Fratelli from the group’s Correspondance<br />
album, playing in Apple<br />
That<br />
for<br />
one,<br />
these<br />
because<br />
phones,<br />
it is<br />
and<br />
complete,<br />
was present<br />
has to<br />
at<br />
be<br />
the<br />
ordered<br />
Gerard<br />
with<br />
thought<br />
a credit<br />
that<br />
card.<br />
the<br />
To<br />
depth<br />
open<br />
seemed<br />
it, you also<br />
pre-launch<br />
have to<br />
of<br />
download<br />
the phones<br />
a plugin<br />
at CES<br />
for<br />
2008.<br />
your copy<br />
shallower.<br />
of Adobe Reader or Acrobat.<br />
Lossless form from an iPod touch.<br />
You’ll<br />
We<br />
receive<br />
He explained<br />
a user name<br />
that he<br />
and<br />
is<br />
password<br />
a perfectionist,<br />
to allow you<br />
In<br />
to download<br />
listening with<br />
your<br />
the<br />
full<br />
Beats<br />
copy of<br />
we had<br />
also included a second Margie Gibson<br />
the magazine.<br />
getting<br />
You’ll<br />
the best<br />
need<br />
out<br />
the<br />
of<br />
same<br />
his artists,<br />
user name<br />
such<br />
and<br />
to<br />
password<br />
turn down<br />
the<br />
the<br />
first<br />
volume<br />
time you<br />
on<br />
open<br />
our Audio<br />
song, A Song For You from her album<br />
the<br />
All<br />
magazine<br />
as Snoop<br />
on<br />
Dogg<br />
your computer,<br />
and Eminem,<br />
but<br />
and<br />
only<br />
he<br />
the<br />
was<br />
first<br />
Alchemy<br />
time. After<br />
amplifier,<br />
that, it<br />
because<br />
works like<br />
it is<br />
any<br />
so sensitive.<br />
The down side was that we could<br />
We Need to Know. This solid state iPod<br />
other<br />
is<br />
PDF.<br />
concerned that you might not be able<br />
so slim that one wonders whether it can<br />
For details,<br />
to hear<br />
visit<br />
at home<br />
our Electronic<br />
everything<br />
Edition<br />
he put into<br />
page. To<br />
hear<br />
buy<br />
a small<br />
an issue<br />
amount<br />
or subscribe,<br />
of hiss,<br />
visit<br />
and even<br />
possibly sound any good. It does in<br />
MagZee.<br />
fact the music in the studio. Since Dr. Dre a very distant hum when the volume<br />
sound considerably better than our older<br />
(and many times thicker and heavier)<br />
iPod Photo, with its 60 GB hard disc.<br />
We can’t do a comparative test without<br />
a reference we can compare to. As<br />
is into gangsta rap (one of his labels was<br />
called Death Row Records), that made<br />
us fear the worst. These would surely be<br />
zingy, bass heavy, and almost certainly<br />
unlistenable. Umm…no.<br />
control neared its minimum.<br />
These phones really do deliver a lot<br />
of bass, and lower midrange too, and<br />
possibly for that reason Esther seemed<br />
less close to the microphones. The flute<br />
50 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Listening Feedback Room<br />
accompaniment was excellent, and we<br />
had good comments about the voice as<br />
well. The sense of space might have been<br />
reduced, thought Gerard, but that was<br />
far from the most important aspect.<br />
We were less enthusiastic about Soft<br />
Lights and Sweet Music. The apparent<br />
hump in the lower midrange gave the<br />
cello and the bass more of a “woody”<br />
quality, but it altered the sound of<br />
both the piano and Margie’s voice. Oh,<br />
it didn’t spoil it, and we thoroughly<br />
enjoyed the song anyway.<br />
We then switched to the iPod, where<br />
the Beats’ built-in amplification gave it<br />
an obvious advantage. No need to turn<br />
the volume way up this time.<br />
On Fratelli, the sound from the Beats<br />
was nothing less than spectacular. The<br />
fuller bass sound gave richness and body<br />
both to the accordion and the close-in<br />
voices at the opening. The voices in<br />
harmony at the end of the piece were<br />
formidable, despite a touch of upper-end<br />
distortion we hadn’t noticed with the<br />
reference phones. “Dr. Dre all the way,”<br />
enthused Steve.<br />
On A Song For You we admired the<br />
impressive richness of the bowed double<br />
bass introduction. “Margie’s voice was<br />
very good with the reference,” said<br />
Albert. “With these phones it is also very<br />
expressive, but it is rounder.”<br />
Steve wasn’t so sure anymore. “Maybe<br />
I exaggerated on the previous recording,”<br />
he said. “I prefer the reference phones for<br />
soft and delicate music like this.”<br />
We didn’t take the Beats out in traffic,<br />
nor on a plane, but the noise cancellation<br />
can nicely take out household rumble,<br />
such as those from refrigerators and<br />
heating. It is surprising to hear noisecancelling<br />
phones sound this good,<br />
because most are horrible, and even the<br />
famous Bose phones are far from top<br />
grade. You can hear the music better<br />
with them, but you won’t want to.<br />
But there’s one down side that some<br />
may consider a dealbreaker. Our reference<br />
phones keep the music in so your<br />
neighbors won’t hear it. The Beats<br />
don’t. You won’t want to use them in<br />
bed next to your Significant Other, or<br />
perhaps even on public transportation.<br />
That caveat aside, their comfort, their<br />
versatility and their sonic quality fully<br />
justify their cost.<br />
The Shure ES530<br />
There is an alternative to active sound<br />
cancellation, and that is using earphones<br />
that actually block your ear, not letting<br />
any sound in other than that emerging<br />
from the phones themselves. There are<br />
more and more upscale in-ear phones,<br />
including — from Shure, Etymotic and<br />
some lesser-known companies — phones<br />
that are tiny but cost more than the<br />
product you’re likely to plug them into.<br />
The Shure ES530’s are the company’s<br />
flagship, and they contain, incredibly<br />
enough, three-way transducers. That’s<br />
right, each one holds, encased in its tiny<br />
body, a woofer, midrange and tweeter.<br />
Their list price is C$470.<br />
The trick to making a phone like this<br />
work is getting a perfect fit between tip<br />
and ear. If there’s air leakage, you won’t<br />
get full bass response. The Shures come<br />
with a little bag full of interchangeable<br />
tips, including some stepped wedges<br />
that look as though they have to be the<br />
answer. They’re not. All three of us<br />
preferred the half-globe foam tips, which<br />
can be crushed to fit the ear.<br />
We were curious to hear whether<br />
these tiny three-way headphones could<br />
reproduce the sound of tympani being<br />
played as tympani should be. Well, no,<br />
but we quickly forgot about that, because<br />
the Shures tok us on a thrill ride!<br />
“I had a visceral reaction to the<br />
dynamics,” said Steve. “I was in the<br />
middle of the orchestra, next to each<br />
instrument.” Gerard noted with pleasure<br />
the extremely low level of distorsion, and<br />
the very extended top end. The smaller<br />
percussion instruments were downright<br />
startling in their realism, and took our<br />
breath away.<br />
But were the instrumental timbres<br />
right, and not just flashy? Gerard thought<br />
they were spot on. So did Albert, though<br />
he had questions about the orchestral<br />
textures. And what about the bass?<br />
“Sometimes you have to make sacrifices,”<br />
said Gerard.<br />
With Esther’s song we also noticed<br />
right off that the bass was less solid than<br />
with either the Beats or our reference<br />
phones, and that bothered us for…<br />
oh, maybe ten seconds. We were there!<br />
“Her voice is inside me, not outside,”<br />
said Steve. That was echoed by Albert:<br />
“We’re in the music, even without turning<br />
up the volume. Her voice is more<br />
attractive, the words clearer, and the<br />
image is better too.” Gerard came out<br />
of the song shaken.<br />
We turned to Soft Lights and Sweet<br />
Music, and we weren’t disappointed.<br />
“The clarity is exemplary,” said Albert.<br />
“It doesn’t ‘underline’ the details, but it<br />
gives a good result. When the piano is<br />
playing at the beginning, you can already<br />
hear Margie preparing to deliver her first<br />
line.”<br />
“The song is more refined with these<br />
headphones,” Said Steve. He paused.<br />
“I know that’s contradictory, it’s the<br />
opposite of what I said on the last song.”<br />
For Margie he preferred the Beats, with<br />
their more solid bottom end.<br />
We then plugged the little phones<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 51
Listening Feedback Room<br />
into the iPod, which is how, we suspect,<br />
most purchasers will use them. We<br />
played Fratelli, with its accordion and<br />
voices in harmony.<br />
We didn’t quite agree. In the introduction<br />
to this faux Gypsy song, the<br />
lower octaves are really important, and<br />
both Albert and Steve would have liked<br />
them to be more prominent. Instead,<br />
Steve found the highs too prominent.<br />
Albert didn’t go that far. “You can see<br />
everything,” he said. Gerard shrugged<br />
off the (relative) lack of bottom end.<br />
“Less bass?” he asked. “So?”<br />
Gerard was also thrilled with A Song<br />
For You. “The piano and the subtle percussion<br />
are fantastic,” he said, “but the<br />
song… The song!” Albert largely agreed.<br />
Though the bowed double bass sounded<br />
more like a cello, he admired the finesse<br />
of the reproduction, and he was taken<br />
with Margie Gibson’s voice.<br />
Steve found the sound harsher than<br />
with our reference, but better than with<br />
the Beats.<br />
The Shure ES420<br />
Don’t need three drivers? Will you<br />
settle for just two? Want to save $110?<br />
We thought that was a good plan, but we<br />
quickly changed our minds.<br />
“It’s not even close. They have shrill<br />
highs and poor dynamics,” said Steve.<br />
Albert deplored the lack of impact<br />
and the loss of detail in the Dello Joio.<br />
“There’s less space, because everything<br />
is closer,” he said. Added Gerard, “They<br />
cost a hundred bucks less, and they’re<br />
worth five hundred bucks less.”<br />
The Esther song was little better.<br />
“It’s not tinny,” said Steve, “it’s more<br />
aluminum, but not organic.” Margie<br />
Gibson’s song was better, but not sufficiently.<br />
“The detail is there in quantity,<br />
but not in quality,” said Steve. Once<br />
again the lack of finesse was notable,<br />
compared to the ES530’s.<br />
Would these phones sound better<br />
with the iPod? Both Albert and Steve<br />
thought they did. “I was reconciled<br />
with them,” said Albert after listening<br />
to Fratelli. “There’s a fine clarity from<br />
the start, the minor reverberation is well<br />
reproduced, and there’s no confusion<br />
when they sing in harmony.” He was<br />
similarly impressed with A Song For You.<br />
Steve thought he might want to save<br />
the $110 if he were buying iPod phones.<br />
“The cheaper ones don’t reveal as clearly<br />
the weakness of the iPod,” he said.<br />
Gerard disagreed. Both iPod songs<br />
had left him cold.<br />
We know many people will ask why<br />
anyone would make phones as expensive<br />
as the ES530’s. Listen to the second-best<br />
model, and you’ll know.<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
I was so enthused with the Beats that I<br />
was ready to lay out the cash and pick them<br />
up. Then I imagined using them on the<br />
plane, and getting punched out by a neighbor<br />
with musical taste different from mine.<br />
Besides, I like the Shure SE530’s a lot,<br />
even if they don’t have that nice comfy<br />
headband to hold them in. They’re thrilling<br />
to listen to, nothing less, and I’m seriously<br />
considering them.<br />
I expected to like the SE420’s more than I<br />
did. They’re not really bad, but when they’re<br />
up against phones that are really good for not<br />
that much more, the choice is an easy one.<br />
— Gerard Rejskind<br />
To be in the ear or on the ear, for now<br />
that is the question.<br />
Both the reference and the Dr. Dre<br />
make long-term listening a comfortable<br />
experience. The Dre is light, compact and<br />
good-looking, and it presents a fully-blended<br />
soundscape with very good tonal realism.<br />
The Shure SE530 gives a dense authenticity<br />
to the music, and instrument timbres are<br />
believable, but I had trouble accepting the<br />
in-the-ear effect.<br />
Though none of the contenders held a<br />
Christmas candle to the reference’s nuance<br />
and subtlety, if I had to choose one to use<br />
with both an iPod and a stereo system, it<br />
would be the Shure ES530.<br />
—Steve Bourke<br />
Good speakers have a striking ability to<br />
become transparent after a while, dissolving<br />
into the background and leaving the music<br />
intact. The Beats managed almost that good<br />
a disappearing act. The comfort factor was<br />
the first thing I noticed (and the last, as I<br />
removed them at the end, casually, without<br />
the slightest sigh of relief). And as soon as the<br />
music started, I knew there was something<br />
very true about the sound. It was as deep and<br />
as naturally rich as I remembered it on our<br />
reference speakers.<br />
Some prefer earphones, however, and the<br />
three-way Shure SE530 were a delight to use.<br />
They expanded the space wonderfully and lit<br />
the music brightly (in the best sense of that<br />
word).<br />
Yet I couldn’t help wishing for the fullness<br />
of sound that I knew was there.<br />
—Albert Simon<br />
52 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
INTERCONNECTS<br />
ATLAS NAVIGATOR<br />
Oxygen-free continuous<br />
cast (OCC) cable: each<br />
strand is a single copper<br />
crystal. Two internal<br />
conductors, plus double<br />
shielding. The double shielding is copper mylar plus close-lapped<br />
99.997% pure OCC copper multi-stranded screen providing 100%<br />
RFI protection. The premium “All-Cu” version (shown here)<br />
uses solid copper connectors that are also continuous cast. The<br />
copper is then silver-plated and double-shielded.We use two in our<br />
reference systems. Special-order lengths from the factory.<br />
ORDER: AN-1 pair, 1m, $300, AN-2 pair, 2m, $350<br />
ORDER: ANA-1 All-Cu, 1m, $405, ANA-2 All-Cu, 2m, $495<br />
ORDER: ANAB-1 All-Cu balanced, single crystal XLR, 1m, $675<br />
ATLAS VOYAGER<br />
A cable with superior performance at an<br />
economical price. Oxygen-free copper,<br />
continuously cast, double-shielded with conductive<br />
PVC plus close lapped 99.9997% pure OCC copper<br />
multi-stranded screen, for 100% coverage against<br />
RFI. Direct gold-plated, non compressing, doublescreened,<br />
self cleaning RCA plugs. Also available<br />
with the All-Cu connectors like those of the<br />
Navigator (above).<br />
ORDER: AV-1, Voyager 1m pair, $285, AV-2, 2m pair, $325<br />
ORDER: AVA-1, All-Cu 1m pair, $375, AVA-2 2m pair, $420<br />
ATLAS QUESTOR<br />
This could be the world’s lowest-cost<br />
interconnect with single-crystal copper. It has<br />
the same connectors as the Equator (below),<br />
and we thought it sounded like a much more<br />
expensive cable.<br />
ORDER: AQ-1, 1 m pair Atlas Questor, $140<br />
ORDER: AQ-2, 2 m pair Atlas Questor, $180<br />
ATLAS EQUATOR<br />
Perhaps the best $150<br />
interconnect cable you could<br />
buy. Only it costs just $90. And<br />
yes, that’s in Canadian funds.<br />
Other lengths on order.<br />
ORDER: AE-1, 1 m pair Atlas Equator, $90<br />
ORDER: AE-2, 2 m pair Atlas Equator, $125<br />
PRISMAL DUAL INTERCONNECT<br />
This Swiss-made cable has especially solid connectors. Teflon<br />
dielectric. oxygen-free copper Toss your “free” interconnects!<br />
ORDER: PD-1, 1 meter pair Prisma Dual Interconnect, $34.95<br />
ATLAS QUADSTAR<br />
Terrific in our blind test.<br />
With Eichmann Bullet plugs,<br />
or balanced with Neutrik<br />
XLR's. Silver solder included with kit.<br />
ORDER: AQS-1 pair Quadstar kit, 1m $124.95<br />
ORDER: AQS-1A pair Quadstar assembled, 1m $199.95<br />
ORDER: AQS-X pair Quadstar balanced kit, 1m $95.95<br />
ORDER: AQS-XA pair Quadstar balanced, assembled, 1m $169.95<br />
ORDER ON LINE<br />
www.uhfmag.com<br />
<strong>THE</strong> AUDIOPHILE STORE 53<br />
MAVROS INTERCONNECTS<br />
Truly terrific, a pair of these connects our phono preamp to the<br />
preamp of our Omega system<br />
ORDER: AMI-1, 1 m Mavros interconnect pair, $1195<br />
ORDER: AMI-2, 2 m Mavros interconnect pair, $1895<br />
TWO CABLES INTO ONE JACK<br />
Need to feed two preamps into two<br />
amps? This solid Y-adapter (two<br />
jacks into one phono plug) is gold<br />
over brass, with Teflon dielectric.<br />
ORDER: FYA, one pair Y adapters, $20<br />
SPEAKER CABLES<br />
ATLAS MAVROS CABLES<br />
We’ve adopted them for our Alpha system, which sounds better<br />
than ever before. This is a four-wire monocrystal cable with<br />
porous Teflon dielectric. We are not recommending them with<br />
standard bananas or spaces, but we offer them either with ETI<br />
Bayonet Bananas, at no extra cost, or WBT nextgen..<br />
ORDER: AMBCu-3, 3 m pair, Bayonet bananas, $2150<br />
ORDER: AMBCu-5, 5 m pair, Bayonet bananas, $3850<br />
ORDER: AMSCu-3, 3 m pair, WBT nextgen bananas, $2390<br />
ORDER: AMSCu-5, 5 m pair, WBT nextgen bananas, $4090<br />
ATLAS HYPER SPEAKER CABLES<br />
A big winner in one of UHF’s blind tests of speaker cables is<br />
Hyper 2, an oxygen free stranded wire in Teflon dielectric.<br />
Inexpensive too. Plus connectors (we recommend Eichmann<br />
Bayonet Bananas, $99.95/set, two sets needed for AH2, three for<br />
biwire).<br />
ORDER: AH2, Hyper 2 cable, $29.95/metre<br />
ORDER: AHB, Hyper Biwire cable, $49.95/metre<br />
ATLAS ICHOR SPEAKER CABLE<br />
Continuous-cast single-crystal cable, ready for biwiring. It costs<br />
just $235 per meter of double cable (a 2 m pair has 4 meters of<br />
wire). We suggest adding the Eichmann Bayonet bananas, $99.95<br />
per set of 4, or Furutech connectors, $70 a set of 4..<br />
SINGLE CRYSTAL JUMPERS<br />
Not biwiring? Dump the free jumpers that<br />
with your speakers. Atlas jumpers are<br />
made from single-crystal copper, goldplated<br />
spades.<br />
ORDER: ACJ, four single crystal jumpers,<br />
$99.95<br />
came<br />
DIGITAL CABLES<br />
ATLAS COMPASS DIGITAL<br />
Excellent performance at an affordable price. Single crystal pure<br />
copper. The 1.5m version sounds way better than a 1m.<br />
ORDER: ACD-1.5 digital cable, 1.5m, $160<br />
ATLAS OPUS DIGITAL<br />
We dumped our reference cable for this one! And to be at its very<br />
best, it has to be this length.<br />
ORDER: AOD-1.5 digital cable, 1.5m, $399<br />
CONNECTORS<br />
EICHMANN BAYONET BANANAS<br />
The Eichmann Bayonet<br />
Banana uses a minimum of<br />
metal, and tellurium copper<br />
at that, but clicks tightly into<br />
any binding post with spring<br />
action. For soldering or crimping, or both.<br />
ORDER: EBB kit 4 bayonet bananas, $99.95<br />
EICHMANN SPADES<br />
Ready to solder, in<br />
gold-plated copper, or<br />
pure silver. Two sizes,<br />
plus extra narrow for<br />
barrier strips (McIntosh,<br />
Vandersteen, etc.). Price for sets of four.<br />
A. ORDER: EXB, set of 4, barrier strips, (now discontinued)<br />
B. ORDER: EXQ, set of 4, 1/4" (6.3 mm), $32<br />
C. ORDER: EXQA, set of 4, 1/4" (6.3 mm), silver, $55<br />
D. ORDER: EXF, set of 4, 5/16" (8 mm), $44<br />
E. ORDER: EXF,A set of 4, 5/16" (8 mm), silver, $67<br />
EICHMANN BULLET PLUGS<br />
The first phono plug to maintain<br />
the impedance of the cable by using<br />
metal only as an extension of the<br />
wire. Hollow tube centre pin, tiny<br />
spring for ground. Two contacts for<br />
soldering, two-screw strain relief.<br />
Gold over copper. Got silver cable? Get the unique Silver Bullets!<br />
ORDER: EBP kit 4 Bullet Plugs, $77.95<br />
ORDER: EBPA kit 4 Silver Bullets, $154.95<br />
EICHMANN CABLE PODS<br />
Minimum metal, gold over tellurium<br />
copper. Unique clamp system: the back<br />
button turns but the clamp doesn’t.<br />
Solder to it, or plug an Eichmann<br />
banana into it, even from inside!<br />
ORDER: ECP, set of four posts, $119.95<br />
CONNECTOR TREATMENT<br />
DeOxit (formerly ProGold)<br />
cleans connections and<br />
promotes conductivity. Small<br />
wipes for cleaning accessible<br />
contacts, or a squirt bottle for connections you can’t reach.<br />
ORDER: PGW box 25 DeOxit wipes, $35<br />
ORDER: PGS, can DeOxit fluid, $35<br />
ORDER: PGB, both when ordered at the same time, $56<br />
www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html
54<br />
<strong>THE</strong> AUDIOPHILE STORE<br />
MORE CONNECTORS<br />
For crimping connections to certain connectors from WBT or<br />
Furutech, we recommend the gold crimping sleeves from WBT,<br />
and the special crimping tool.<br />
Buy the tool at the same time as appropriate WBT or Furutech<br />
connectors, and we’ll buy it back at the price you paid when<br />
you’re through.<br />
ORDER: WBT-0403 crimping tool (refundable), $125.<br />
The sleeves are shown here, actual size.<br />
WBT-0431 0.75 mm sleeve $0.50<br />
WBT-0432 1 mm sleeve $0.50<br />
WBT-0433 1.5 mm sleeve $0.50<br />
WBT-0434 2.5 mm sleeve $0.50<br />
WBT-0435 4 mm sleeve $0.60<br />
WBT-0436 6 mm sleeve $0.70<br />
WBT-0437 10 mm sleeve $0.85<br />
WBT-0438 15 mm sleeve $0.95<br />
WBT NEXTGEN CONNECTORS<br />
WBT makes banana plugs and spades for speaker cables, all of<br />
which lock tightly into any post. All use crimping technology.<br />
These nextgen connectors are far superior to previous versions<br />
ORDER: WBT-0610 Kit 4 angled nextgen bananas, $130<br />
ORDER: WBT-0610Ag Kit 4 nextgen silver bananas, $290<br />
ORDER: WBT-0681 Kit 4 nextgen spades, $130<br />
ORDER: WBT-0681Ag Kit 4 nextgen silver spades, $220<br />
The high-tech minimum metal “nextgen” phono plugs. Easy to<br />
solder, with locking collar. Silver version available.<br />
ORDER: WBT-0110, kit 4 nextgen copper plugs, $170<br />
ORDER: WBT-0110Ag, kit 4 nextgen silver plugs, $280<br />
FURUTECH CONNECTORS<br />
Rhodium-plated banana tightens under pressure. Installs like<br />
WBT-0645 banana. The spade installs the same way too..<br />
ORDER: FTB-R, set of four bananas, $70<br />
ORDER: FTS-R, set of four spades, $70<br />
<strong>ANALOG</strong> PRODUCTS<br />
LONDON REFERENCE<br />
Yes we can supply the awesome London<br />
Reference phono cartridge that we have<br />
adopted for ourselves. Other models on<br />
special order. this unique cartridge has<br />
a line contact stylus, and an output of<br />
5 mV…right for an MM preamp.<br />
ORDER: LRC cartridge, $4695<br />
GOLDRING ELITE<br />
If you have limited funds and<br />
want an MC cartridge with<br />
line contact stylus, this is a great<br />
choice. It's a detuned version of the<br />
very expensive (but discontinued)<br />
Excel we still own.<br />
ORDER: GEC cartridge, $745<br />
MOON PHONO PREAMPS<br />
Simaudio has done it:<br />
come up with a worldclass<br />
phono preamp that<br />
does magic. The LP5.3 is<br />
one of the best available.<br />
Adjustable MM/MC.<br />
ORDER: Moon LP5.3,<br />
silver (black available on<br />
special order), $1599.<br />
Special price on interconnect, one with an LP5.3 order.<br />
ORDER: ANA-1 Navigator All-Cu, 1m, $405, for $260<br />
ORDER: ANA-2 Navigator All-Cu, 2m, $495 for $350<br />
ORDER: ANAB-1 Navigator balanced, 1m, $675, for $475<br />
ORDER: AMI-1, 1 meter Mavros, $1195, for $895<br />
ORDER: AMI-2, 2 meter Mavros, $1895, for $1495<br />
Even more<br />
astonishing: the LP3<br />
includes much of the<br />
LP5.3 technology, still<br />
offers MM/MC, but<br />
costs only a fraction.<br />
Lively and musical, it’s<br />
difficult to match.<br />
ORDER: Moon LP3,<br />
$599<br />
Special price on interconnect, one with an LP3 order.<br />
ORDER AQS-1, Kit ,1 m Quadstar, $124.95, for $59.95<br />
ORDER AQS-1A, Fully assembled Quadstar, $199.95, for $99.95<br />
NOTE: The Moon preamps are shipped set for moving magnet<br />
setting. We’ll reset it to your specification so you won’t have to.<br />
LP RECORD CLEANER<br />
Concentrated cleaner for LP vacuum cleaning machines.<br />
Much safer than some formulas we’ve seen! Half litre, mix with<br />
demineralized or distilled water to make 4 litres.<br />
ORDER: LPC, $19.95<br />
PRICES CAN CHANGE AFTER WE GO TO PRESS.<br />
WE WILL ALWAYS GIVE YOU <strong>THE</strong> BEST PRICE<br />
www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html<br />
you<br />
a<br />
MORE <strong>ANALOG</strong>…<br />
EXSTATIC RECORD BRUSH<br />
the Goldring<br />
Super eXstatic.<br />
Includes a hard<br />
velvet pad to get<br />
into the grooves,<br />
two sets of carbon<br />
fibre tufts. We use it every time!<br />
ORDER: GSX record brush, $36<br />
J. A. MICHELL RECORD CLAMP<br />
Clamp your LP to the turntable<br />
platter. We use the J. A.<br />
Michell clamp, machined<br />
from nearly weightless<br />
aluminum. Drop it on,<br />
press down, tighten<br />
the knob.<br />
ORDER: MRC Michell<br />
record clamp, $75<br />
ORDER: MRC-R clamp for<br />
Rega and short spindles, $85<br />
ATLAS QUADSTAR PHONO BOX<br />
Got a tone arm with a 5-pin DIN<br />
plug. Substitute this Quadstar cable<br />
and box, and add the interconnect<br />
of your choice. straight DIN (shown)<br />
needs 7 cm clearance. If you have<br />
less, get the version with an angled<br />
DIN plug.<br />
ORDER: AQPS, Quadstar phono<br />
box, $248<br />
ORDER: AQPA, Quadstar phono box, angled DIN, $248<br />
TITAN STYLUS LUBRICANT<br />
Amazing, but true: dabbing<br />
a bit of this stuff on your<br />
stylus every 2 or 3 LPs makes<br />
it glide through the groove<br />
instead of scraping. Fine artist’s brush not included, but readily<br />
available in many stores.<br />
ORDER: TSO-1 Titan stylus oil, $39.95<br />
ZEROSTAT ANTISTATIC PISTOL<br />
A classic<br />
adjunct to<br />
the brush is<br />
the Zerostat<br />
anti-static<br />
gun. Squeeze<br />
the trigger<br />
and release: it<br />
ionizes the air,<br />
which becomes<br />
conductive and drains off the static charge. By the way, it works<br />
for a lot more than LP’s. No batteries needed.<br />
ORDER: Z-1 Zerostat antistatic pistol, $94..95<br />
LP SLEEVES<br />
Keep your records clean and<br />
scratch free. Replace dirty,<br />
torn or missing inner sleeves<br />
with soft-plastic-in-paper Nitty<br />
Gritty sleeves.<br />
ORDER: PDI, package of 30<br />
sleeves, $30<br />
IF WE DON’T LIKE IT YOU WON’T SEE IT HERE
VINYL ESSENTIALS TEST LP<br />
This precision-made German test record lets you check out channel<br />
identification, correct phase, crosstalk, the tracking ability of your<br />
cartridge (it’s a tougher test than the old Shure disc was, and the<br />
resonance of your tone arm and cartridge. When we need to test a<br />
turntable, this is the one we reach for.<br />
ORDER: LP 003, Image Hifi Test LP, $48.95<br />
TURNTABLE BELT TREATMENT<br />
What this is not<br />
is a sticky goo for<br />
belts on their last<br />
legs. Rubber Renue<br />
removes oxidation<br />
from rubber belts,<br />
giving them a new<br />
lease on life. But what astonished us is what it does to even a brand<br />
new belt. Wipe down your belt every 3 months, and make analog<br />
sound better than ever.<br />
ORDER: RRU-100 drive belt<br />
treatment, $14.95<br />
SUPER ANTENNA<br />
MkIII<br />
Ours has no stupid rotary switch to muck<br />
things up, and with a 1.8m low-loss 75<br />
ohm cable and gold-plated push-on F<br />
connector, it has low internal loss. Covers<br />
analog and digital TV bands as well as FM.<br />
ORDER: FM-S Super Antenna, MkIII, $55<br />
CLEANER POWER<br />
AUDIOPRISM POWER FILTER<br />
The Power<br />
Foundation III is<br />
a bargain, and<br />
does a wonderful<br />
job of cleaning<br />
the gunk from<br />
the power line.<br />
Requires 20A power cord (it has a different IEC connector. We<br />
recommend the G Clef.<br />
ORDER: APF, Audioprism power line filter, $849<br />
ORDER: GGC-20 G Clef, Square 1.7m, 20A, $385<br />
ENACOM LINE FILTER<br />
Economy price, but astonishingly effective, we wouldn’t run our<br />
system with less. It actually shorts out the hash on the power line.<br />
ORDER: EAC Enacom line filter, $105<br />
STINGRAY POWER BAR<br />
Most power bars knock<br />
voltage to your equipment<br />
way down, and generate more<br />
noise than a kindergarten<br />
class. The Gutwire Stingray<br />
Squared doesn’t. 12 gauge<br />
double-shielded cable,<br />
Hubbell hospital grade<br />
connectors at both ends. Indispensable!<br />
ORDER: GSR-2 Stingray Squared power bar, $285<br />
<strong>THE</strong> AUDIOPHILE STORE 55<br />
EICHMANN POWER STRIP<br />
We dumped our<br />
cheap power<br />
strip, added a<br />
GutWire 16 power<br />
cord, and made<br />
our system sound better, even though no major component was<br />
plugged into it. ORDER: EPS power strip, $48<br />
MORE POWER TO YOU<br />
Better access to<br />
electrical power.<br />
Change your 77-cent<br />
duplex outlets for<br />
these Hubbell hospital<br />
grade outlets. Insert a<br />
plug and it just snaps<br />
in. A tighter internal<br />
connection as well.<br />
The cheapest improvement you can make to your system.<br />
ORDER: AC-DA Hubbell duplex outlet, $23.95<br />
ORDER: AC-D20 20A duplex, red color, $28.95<br />
GUTWIRE G CLEF POWER CABLE<br />
Multiple shielding, including external electrostatic shield<br />
connected to a clip. Used by UHF. Now in an upgraded version,<br />
with performance “squared.” Length 1.7 m, longer cords on order.<br />
G Clef 2 has 195 conductors, 3 shields providing 98% shielding.<br />
Available with 20A IEC plug (for amplifiers requiring special plug)<br />
ORDER: GGC G Clef, Square 1.7m, $385<br />
GUTWIRE/UHF B12<br />
Gutwire’s B12 is a fat pipe, well-shielded, to which we’ve added a<br />
Hubbell 8215 hospital grade wall plug and the Furutech IEC copper<br />
connector. We use a couple of these ourselves, and we love them!<br />
Optionally available as an easy-to-assemble kit, with the blue jacket<br />
pre-stripped and shrink-wrapped at one end.<br />
ORDER: GWB12, 1.5 m B12 power cord, $285<br />
ORDER: GWB12K, 1.5 m B12 power cord kit, $240<br />
Need it longer? Add $95 per metre extra<br />
UHF 14 POWER CORD<br />
No budget for a premium cable? Make your own! We use several<br />
ourselves, and they even<br />
make our computers<br />
run better! Shielded,<br />
to avoid picking up or<br />
transmitting noise. Our<br />
own UHF14, assembled<br />
or as a kit. With the<br />
Hubbell 8215 hospital<br />
grade plug and the<br />
Schurter 15 A IEC 320<br />
connector. For digital<br />
players, preamplifiers,<br />
tuners, and even medium-powered amplifiers.<br />
ORDER: UHF14-1.5K, 14 gauge power cable kit, $74.95<br />
ORDER: UHF14-1.5 14 cable, assembled, $110.95<br />
Need it longer? Add $20 per metre extra<br />
SEE EVEN MORE PRODUCTS<br />
IN OUR ON-LINE CATALOG<br />
www,uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html<br />
www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html<br />
INSTANT CIRCUIT CHECKER<br />
Plug it into an AC outlet, and the three lights can<br />
indicate a missing ground, incorrect polarity,<br />
switched wires — five problems in all. Some of these<br />
problems can be fatal, but none of them is good for<br />
feeding your music or home theatre system. The<br />
first thing we did after getting ours was phone the<br />
electrician.<br />
ORDER: ACA-1, Instant Circuit Checker, $21<br />
IEC ON YOUR DVD PLAYER<br />
Why do big name DVD players come with those tiny two-prong<br />
plugs for their cords? A<br />
good shielded power cable<br />
will do wonders! Take $18<br />
off if you order an adapter<br />
at the same time as a G<br />
Clef or B12 cable, or $8<br />
off if you order one with a<br />
GutWire 16.<br />
ORDER: DVD-A, GutWire adapter, $39<br />
HOSPITAL GRADE CONNECTION<br />
When we put a quality<br />
AC plug on our kettle,<br />
boiling time dropped by<br />
90 seconds! The best AC<br />
plug we have ever seen is<br />
the Hubbell 8215 hospital<br />
grade plug. It connects to wires under high pressure, and it<br />
should last forever.<br />
ORDER: AC-P2 Hubbell cord plug, $25.95<br />
Amazingly good at a much lower price are these two cord plugs<br />
from Eagle. No hospital rating, but a rather good mechanical<br />
connection. Male and female versions.<br />
ORDER: AC-P1 Eagle male cord plug, $5.95<br />
ORDER: AC-PF Eagle female cord plug, $5.95<br />
Making your own power cords for your equipment? You’ll need<br />
the hard-to-get IEC 320 connector to fit the gear. We have two<br />
sizes.<br />
ORDER: AC-P3 10 ampere IEC 320 plug, $9.95<br />
ORDER: AC-P4 15 ampere Schurter IEC 320 plug, $18.95<br />
SILVER SOLDER<br />
This is a lovely solder, from the<br />
company that makes Enacom<br />
line filters (which we also like).<br />
Wakø-Tech solder contains 4%<br />
silver, no lead.<br />
ORDER: SR-4N, 100 g solder<br />
roll, $59.95<br />
SHIPPIN CHARGES?<br />
<strong>THE</strong>Y CAN BE AS LOW AS<br />
$0.00<br />
See the order coupon for details
56<br />
BETTER DIGITAL<br />
IMPROVED CD WITH FINYL<br />
This is the most famous of all the treatments for<br />
Compact Discs. The maker of Finyl claims it reduces<br />
surface reflections and provides a higher contrast<br />
image for the laser cell of your player. Use it just<br />
once. We get a lot of repeat orders on it. One kit can<br />
treat over 200 discs. Or order the refill.<br />
ORDER: F-1 Finyl kit, $40.00<br />
ORDER: F-1R Finyl refill, $35.00<br />
CLEAN YOUR PLAYER<br />
After as little as three<br />
months, your new<br />
player will have more<br />
trouble reading your<br />
CD’s. Why? Dust on<br />
the lens. We’re happy<br />
to have found the<br />
new Milty CD lens<br />
cleaner. Unlike some<br />
commonly-available<br />
discs, the Milty is nonabrasive,<br />
so we use it and rest easy. Can be used wet or dry.<br />
ORDER: 2021 Milty CD lens cleaner, $35<br />
SUPPORT SYSTEMS<br />
TENDERFEET<br />
Machined cones are wonderful<br />
things to put under speakers or<br />
other audio equipment. They anchor<br />
it mechanically and decouple it<br />
acoustically at the same time.<br />
Tenderfeet come in various versions:<br />
tall (as shown) or flattened, in either<br />
anodized silver or black. Tall Tenderfeet have threaded holes for<br />
a machine screw, or for the optional hanger bolt, which lets you<br />
screw it into wood. If you have a fragile hardwood floor, add the<br />
optional Tendercup (shown above) to protect it.<br />
ORDER: TFG, tall silver Tenderfoot, $15<br />
ORDER: TFGN, tall black Tenderfoot, $16.50<br />
ORDER: TFP, flat silver Tenderfoot, $10<br />
ORDER: TCP, silver Tendercup, $10<br />
ORDER: THB, hanger bolt for Tenderfeet, each $0.80<br />
<strong>THE</strong> AUDIOPHILE STORE<br />
Do you prefer spikes for your speakers? Target spikes and sockets<br />
mount in wood. Available with or without tools.<br />
ORDER: S4W kit, 8 spikes, sockets and tools, $39<br />
ORDER: S4WS kit, 8 spikes and sockets, $30<br />
<strong>THE</strong> SUPERSPIKE<br />
This is unique: a sealed unit containing a spike and a cup to<br />
receive it. It won’t scratch even hardwood floors. For speakers<br />
or equipment stands, on bare floors only. Four sizes of threaded<br />
shanks are available to fit speakers or stands.<br />
ORDER: SSKQ, 4 Superspikes, 1/4” shank, $75<br />
ORDER: SSKT, 4 Superspikes, 5/16” shank, $75<br />
ORDER: SSKS, 4 Superspikes, 6 mm shank, $75<br />
ORDER: SSKH, 4 Superspikes, 8 mm shank, $75<br />
WHAT SIZE SUPERSPIKE?<br />
A good ruler will let you figure it out. The stated size is the outer<br />
diameter of the threaded shank. Then count the threads:<br />
1/4” shank: 20 threads/inch<br />
5/16” shank: 18 threads/inch<br />
M6 (6mm) shank: 10 threads/cm<br />
M8 (8mm) shank: 8 threads/cm<br />
O<strong>THE</strong>R<br />
SUPERSPIKES<br />
We have also have a Superspike foot<br />
(at right) that replaces those useless<br />
feet on CD players, amps, etc., using<br />
the same screws to fasten them. And<br />
there’s a stick-on version (not shown) for other components.<br />
ORDER: SSKF, 4 Superspike replacement feet, $80<br />
ORDER: SSKA, 3 stick-on Superspike feet, $50<br />
ISOBEARINGS ARE BACK!!!<br />
See them on line at The Audiophile Store<br />
AN ON-<strong>THE</strong>-WALL IDEA<br />
Need to fasten a speaker<br />
securely to the wall? Nothing<br />
beats the Smarter Speaker<br />
Support for ease of installation<br />
or for sheer strength. And<br />
it holds the speaker off the<br />
wall, so it can be used even<br />
with rear-ported speakers.<br />
Easily adjustable with two<br />
hands, not three, tested to an<br />
incredible 23 kg! Glass-filled<br />
polycarbonate is unbreakable.<br />
Screws and anchors included,<br />
available in two colors.<br />
ORDER: SSPS, pair of black speaker supports, $29.95<br />
ORDER: SSPS-W, pair of white speaker supports, $29.95<br />
TARGET WALL STANDS<br />
We keep our turntables on these, secure from floor vibrations,<br />
wonderful for CD players, amplifiers, and all components.<br />
ORDER: VW-1 Target single-shelf wall stand, $199<br />
ORDER: VW-2 Target dual-shelf wall stand, $259<br />
AUDIOPHILE RECORDINGS, RECOMMENDED BY UHF STAFF<br />
REFERENCE RECORDINGS<br />
Tutti (HDCD, SACD)<br />
A terrific symphonic sampler from Reference, with dazzling music<br />
by Bruckner, Stravinsky, etc. Also available as RR’s very first SACD<br />
release. Wow!<br />
30th Anniversary Sampler (HDCD)<br />
A collection of excerpts from recent Reference albums.<br />
Yerba Buena Bounce (HDCD)<br />
The (terrific) Hot Club of San Francisco is back, with great music,<br />
well-played, wonderfully recorded by “Profesor” Johnson!<br />
Crown Imperial (HDCD)<br />
The second chapter of the famous Pomp&Pipes saga, with the Dallas<br />
Wind Symphony, in a set of perfectly recorded pieces in glorious<br />
HDCD.<br />
Organ Odyssey (HDCD)<br />
Mary Preston, the organist of Crown Imperial, in a dazzling program<br />
of Widor, Mendelssohn, Vierne, and others.<br />
Serenade (HDCD)<br />
A collection of choral pieces, wonderfully sung by the Turtle Creek<br />
Chorale, with perhaps the best sound Keith has given them yet.<br />
Nojima Plays Liszt (HDCD)<br />
The famous 1986 recording of Minoru Nojima playing the B Minor<br />
Sonata and other works is back…in HDCD this time!<br />
Nojima Plays Ravel (HDCD)<br />
Nojima’s other hit disc, now also in glorious HDCD.<br />
Garden of Dreams (HDCD)<br />
David Maslanka’s evocative music for wind band.<br />
Beachcomber (HDCD) <br />
Fennell and the Dallas Wind Ensemble.Includes Tico Tico, A Chorus<br />
www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html<br />
line, and a version of 76 Trombones you’ll remember for a long time.<br />
Holst (LP) <br />
From the composer of The Planets, 3 suites for wind band, plus the<br />
Hammersmith Prelude and Scherzo.<br />
Trittico (HDCD) <br />
Large helping of wind band leader Frederick Fennell doing powerhouse<br />
music by Grieg, Albeniz, Nelhybel, etc. Complex and energetic.<br />
Fennell Favorites (LP)<br />
The Dallas Wind Symphony: Bach, Brahms, Prokofiev and more.<br />
Fireworks on this rare Reference LP.<br />
Jazz Hat (HDCD) <br />
Pianist Michael Garson, in re-releases of some of his famous recordings
<strong>THE</strong> AUDIOPHILE STORE 57<br />
Blazing Redheads (LP)<br />
Not all redheads, this all-female salsa-flavored big band adds a lot of<br />
red pepper to its music.<br />
Felix Hell (HDCD)<br />
The young organ prodigy turns in mature versions of organ music of<br />
Liszt, Vierne, Rheinberger and Guilmant. Huge bottom end!<br />
American Requiem (HDCD)<br />
Richard Danielpour's awesome Requiem mass is all about war, and<br />
about the hope for peace too, with a dedication tied to 9/11.<br />
World Keys (HDCD)<br />
Astonishing young pianist Joel Fan amazes with music from all the<br />
world, including that of Prokofiev and Liszt<br />
Ikon of Eros (HDCD)<br />
Huge suite for orchestra and chorus, by John Tavener. Inspired by<br />
Greek Orthodox tradition. Overwhelming HDCD sound.<br />
PLUS <strong>THE</strong>SE HDCD RECORDINGS:<br />
Pomp&Pipes (HDCD) <br />
Requiem (HDCD) <br />
From the Age of Swing (HDCD) <br />
Swing is Here (HDCD) <br />
Copland Symphony No. 3 (HDCD) <br />
Medinah Sessions, two CDs for one (HDCD)<br />
Ports of Call (HDCD)<br />
Bruckner Symphony No. 9 (HDCD) <br />
Ein Heldenleben (HDCD) <br />
SHEFFIELD<br />
Say It With Music (CD) <br />
Margie Gibson sings Irving Berlin in what may be one the greatest<br />
jazz vocal recordings of all time. And she’s right in your living room!<br />
Growing Up in Hollywood Town (XRCD) <br />
The Amanda Albums (CD) <br />
How did they do it? The two complete McBroom recordings, Growing<br />
Up in Hollywood Town and West of Oz, on one terrific CD<br />
I’ve Got the Music in Me (CD) <br />
This was originally Sheffield’s LAB-2 release. If you haven’t heard<br />
Thelma Houston belt out a song, you’re in for a treat.<br />
Kodo (CD)<br />
A Japanese neo-folk group plays astonishing music, including a 400-<br />
pound drum that can take out a woofer. Or a wall!<br />
Harry James & His Big Band (Gold CD)<br />
Harry said he would have done this recording for free, because he<br />
sounded better than ever.<br />
The King James Version (CD)<br />
Harry James and his big band, live from the chapel!<br />
Drum/Track Record (XRCD2) <br />
Unique Classical Guitar Collection (SACD)<br />
An SACD, mastered from analog, of some of Opus 3’s long-discontinued<br />
classical guitar LPs. Terrific!<br />
Beyond (SACD)<br />
The second recording by the versatile guitarist Peder af Ugglas (who<br />
also did Autumn Shuffle, below), who plays every instrument there is:<br />
jazz, rock, blues, country. From Sweden???<br />
Autumn Shuffle (SACD/LP)<br />
Ugglas plays a number of different guitars, and borrows from jazz,<br />
Blues, and (yes!) country. Piano, organ, trombone, bowed saw, etc.<br />
Showcase 2005 (SACD)<br />
The latest Opus 3 sampler, with Eric Bibb, Mattias Wager, the Erik<br />
Westberg Vocal Ensemble and lots more, in glorious SACD.<br />
Organ Treasures (SACD) <br />
All those showpieces for big organ you remember hearing through<br />
huge systems…only with all of the power and the clarity of Super<br />
Audio. 4.1 channels, plus 2-channel CD.<br />
Just Like Love (SACD/LP) <br />
The newest from Eric Bibb, less oriented to Gospel and more to Blues.<br />
Bibb’s group, Needed Time, is not here, but he’s surrounded by half a<br />
dozen fine musicians. A nice recording. Hybrid SACD.<br />
Comes Love (HDCD) <br />
Another disc by the terrific Swedish Jazz Kings, led by saxophonist<br />
Tomas Ornberg, proving again Sweden understands jazz. The sound<br />
is luminous, sometimes dazzling.<br />
It’s Right Here For You (HDCD) <br />
Is there, anywhere, a better swing band than The Swedish Jazz Kings<br />
(formerly Tömas Ormberg’s Blue Five)? Closer to Kansas City than to<br />
Stockholm, they are captivating.<br />
Test CD 4 (SACD)<br />
A sampler of Opus 3 performers, clearer than you’ve ever heard them<br />
before. Hybrid disc.<br />
Test CD 5 (HDCD) <br />
Another of Opus 3’s wonderful samplers, including blues, jazz, and<br />
classical music. A number of fine artists, captured with the usual pure<br />
Blumlein stereo setup. A treat.<br />
Showcase (SACD/LP) <br />
Available as a hybrid SACD/CD disc, or a gorgeously-cut LP, with<br />
selections from Opus 3 releases.<br />
Good Stuff (DOUBLE 45 LP/HDCD/SACD) <br />
As soothing as a summer breeze, this disc features singer Eric Bibb<br />
(son of Leon), singing and playing guitar along with his group. Subtle<br />
weaving of instrumentation, vivid sound.<br />
Spirit and the Blues (DOUBLE 45 LP/CD/SACD) <br />
Like his father, Leon Bibb, Eric Bibb understands the blues. He and<br />
the other musicians, all playing strictly acoustic instruments, have<br />
done a fine recording, and Opus 3 has made it sound exceptional.<br />
is taken. Believe it or not, this great song isn’t even the best on the<br />
album! A fine singer, doing folklike material…and who cares about<br />
understanding the words?<br />
Concertos for Double Bass (CD/SACD) <br />
This album of modern and 19th Century music is a favorite for its<br />
deep, sensuous sound. And the music is worth discovering. It is sensuous<br />
and lyrical, a delight in every way.<br />
Across the Bridge of Hope (SACD)<br />
An astonishing choral recording by the Erik Westberg Ensemble,<br />
famous for its Musica Sacra choral recording.<br />
Musica Sacra (HDCD/SACD) <br />
Test Record No.4 (LP) <br />
PROPRIUS<br />
Antiphone Blues (CD) <br />
This famous disc offers an unusual mix: sax and organ! The disc<br />
includes Ellington, Negro spirituals, and some folk music. Electrifying<br />
performance, and the recording quality is unequalled.<br />
Antiphone Blues (SACD/HDCD) <br />
This is the Super Audio version, with a Red Book layer that is HDCDencoded.<br />
The best of both worlds!<br />
Now the Green Blade Riseth (CD/SACD) <br />
Religious music done a new way: organ, chorus and modern orchestra.<br />
Stunning music, arranged and performed by masters, and the<br />
effect is joyous. The sound is clear, and the sheer depth is unequalled<br />
on CD. The new SACD version is the very best SACD we have yet heard!<br />
Jazz at the Pawnshop Set (SACD) <br />
The entire set oin glorious SACD, plus a video DVD with interviews<br />
with the set’s creators.<br />
Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 (CD/SACD) <br />
From the original master, another disc of jazz from this Swedish pub,<br />
with its lifelike 3-D sound. Now a classic in its own right.<br />
Good Vibes (CD)<br />
The third volume of Jazz at the Pawnshop. And just as good!<br />
Cantate Domino (CD/SACD) <br />
This choral record is a classic of audiophile records. The title selection<br />
is stunningly beautiful. The second half is Christmas music, and<br />
includes the most stunning version of O Holy Night we’ve ever heard.<br />
Sketches of Standard (CD)<br />
ANALEKTA<br />
Violonchello Español (CD) <br />
I Musici de Montréal comes to Analekta, with a stunning album of<br />
Spanish and Spanish-like pieces for cello and orchestra.<br />
Vivace (CD) <br />
Classical or rock? Claude Lamothe plays two cellos at the same time<br />
in an amazing recording of modern compositions.<br />
OPUS 3<br />
Test Records 1, 2 & 3 (SACD)<br />
A blast from the past! Here are 14 cuts from the samplers that<br />
launched Opus 3. They sound better than ever, too<br />
Swingcerely Yours (SACD)<br />
An SACD re-re-release of tracks from superb vibraphonist Lars<br />
Erstrand, from 1983 to 1995. Long overdue!<br />
Tiny Island (SACD)<br />
If you like Eric Bibb and his group Good Stuff as much as we do, pick<br />
this one up.<br />
20th Anniversary Celebration Disc (HDCD) <br />
A great sampler from Opus 3. Includes some exceptional fine pieces,<br />
jazz, folk and classical. The sound pickup is as good as it gets, and the<br />
HDCD transfer is luminous.<br />
Levande (CD) <br />
The full recording from which “Tiden Bara Går” on Test Record No.1<br />
www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html<br />
Pauline Viardot-Garcia (CD) <br />
Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian steps into the role of 19th Century<br />
singer and composer Pauline Viardot so convincingly that listening<br />
to her is like going back in time. One of the best classical recordings<br />
of all time!<br />
Romantic Pieces (CD) <br />
How does James Ehnes manage to get such a sweet sound from his<br />
Stradivarius? Czech pieces from Smetana, Dvorak and Janacek. The<br />
playing is as glorious as the tone, and the sound is sumptuous.
58<br />
<strong>THE</strong> AUDIOPHILE STORE<br />
Cantabile (CD)<br />
The Duo Similia is made up of striking blonde twins, who play flute<br />
and guitar. Familiar airs from Mozart, Fauré, Elgar, Ravel, lots more.<br />
Fine listening.<br />
Nota del Sol (CD) <br />
The Labrie twins are back, with a delightful recording of flute and<br />
guitar music by Piazzola, Pujol and Machado. Joyous works, wonderfully<br />
played and recorded<br />
Fantasia (CD)<br />
A third, gorgeous, recording by the twins, on flute and guitar.<br />
Fritz Kreisler (CD)<br />
Possibly the best recording of Kreisler’s delightful violin music: James<br />
Ehnes and his Strad bring a new magic to this fine disc.<br />
French Showpieces (CD) <br />
Awesome violinist James Ehnes, with the Quebec City Symph. takes on<br />
Saint-Saëns, Berlioz, Chausson, Massenet, and more.<br />
Handel (CD) <br />
Superb soprano Karina Gauvin is joined by the Toronto chamber<br />
ensemble Tafelmusik in a series of glowing excerpts from Handel’s<br />
“Alcina” and “Agrippina.” The sound is smooth and lifelike, with an<br />
acute sense of place.<br />
Little Notebook of Anna Magdalana Bach (CD) <br />
Over 30 delightful pieces, most by Bach himself. Soprano Karina<br />
Gauvin’s voice is mated to Luc Beauséjour’s harpsichord work. The<br />
sound is deep, detailed and warm, truly of audiophile quality.<br />
Vivaldi: Motets for Soprano (CD) <br />
The wonderful soprano Karina Gauvin tackles the gorgeous but very<br />
difficult vocal music of Vivaldi: two motets and a psalm.<br />
AUDIOQUEST<br />
Mississipi Magic (CD/SACD)<br />
The legendary Blues, Gospel, rock and world beat singer and musician<br />
Terry Evans, in an energetic recording we loved.<br />
Come to Find (CD) <br />
The first by Bluesman Doug McLeod, as impressive as the second, and<br />
no Blues fan should resist it.<br />
You Can’t Take My Blues (CD) <br />
Singer/songwriter Doug MacLeod and colleagues present one of the<br />
most satisfying Blues records ever made.<br />
Unmarked Road (SACD)<br />
The third disc from the great blues singer and guitarist Doug McLeod<br />
is every bit as good as the first two.<br />
Whose Truth, Whose Lies (SACD) <br />
The third disc from the great blues singer and guitarist Doug McLeod<br />
is t as good as the first. These songs have powerful rhythm, and can<br />
make you smile and cry at the same time.<br />
Bluesquest sampler (CD)<br />
SILENCE<br />
Tres Americas (CD)<br />
A gold audiophile disc of lively Latin fusion music. Irka Mateo and<br />
Tadeo de Marco sing and play, drawing their influence from Africa as<br />
well as their native Brazil. Clear, close-in sound.<br />
Djembé Tigui (CD)<br />
This gold disc features the voice and percussion of African artist<br />
Sekou Camara, captured by the famous Soundfield microphone.<br />
Camara died just before the disc was released. A long-time best-seller<br />
worldwide<br />
Styles (CD)<br />
Is this ever a surprising disc! Violinist Marc Bélanger worked up these<br />
string études for his music students, but they actually deserve to be<br />
put out on a gold audiophile disc! The more strings he adds, the better<br />
it gets.<br />
Fable (CD)<br />
Easygoing modern jazz by Rémi Bolduc and his quartet, on this gold<br />
disc. Some exceptional guitar and bass solos.<br />
Musique Guy St-Onge (CD)<br />
One-man band St-Onge plays dozens of instruments — scores for<br />
fourteen films which never existed outside of his imagination. Fun<br />
pretext, clever, attractive music that makes you wish you could see<br />
the films!<br />
HI-RES MUSIC (FOR DVD PLAYERS)<br />
Brazilian Soul (24/96 DVD)<br />
Guitarists Laurindo Almeida and Charlie Byrd, plus percussion and<br />
bass, in an intimate yet explosive recording of samba and bossa nova<br />
music. Great!<br />
Jazz/Concord (24/96 DVD)<br />
It's 1972, and you have tickets to hear Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, Ray Brown<br />
and Jake Hanna at the Concord Jazz Festival. You won’t ever forget it.<br />
You can be there, with this high resolution disc that goes in your DVD.<br />
Rhythm Willie (24/96DVD) <br />
Guitarists Herb Ellis and Freddie Green, With bassist Ray Brown and<br />
others. This is an uncompressed 24 bit 96 kHz disc that can be played<br />
on any video DVD player. Awesome!<br />
Trio (24/96 DVD) <br />
Pianist Monty Alexander with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. “Makes CD<br />
sound seem as if it’s coming through a drinking straw.” Playable on<br />
any DVD player, uncompressed.<br />
Seven Come Eleven (24/96 DVD)<br />
Herb Ellis and Ray Brown again, but this time with guitarist Joe<br />
Pass (he and Ellis alternate playing lead and rhythm), and a third<br />
guitarist, Jake Hanna. This is a live recording from the 1974 Concord<br />
Jazz Festival.<br />
Soular Energy (24-96 DVD/ 24-192 DVD-Audio) <br />
Perhaps the world’s greatest bassist, the late Ray Brown, playing with<br />
pianist Gene Harris, whom Brown called one of the greats. The proof<br />
is right on this 24/96 recording, made from the analog master. Side 2<br />
has a 24/192 DVD-A version.<br />
KLAVIER<br />
Evolution (CD)<br />
Lowell Graham and the USAF wind band, with two superb suites by<br />
Holst, plus music by Nelhybel, Hanson, etc. Lively, tactile sound with<br />
impact by Bruce Leek..<br />
Poetics (CD) <br />
A superb wind band recording which includes a breathtaking<br />
concerto for percussion.<br />
Ghosts (CD) <br />
This haunting(!) wind band recording features a suite of music that<br />
could be the soundtrack to a film that will keep you awake nights. A<br />
recording of astonishing dynamics and depth<br />
Caprice (CD) <br />
Can harp be spectacular? Believe it! This famous Klavier recording<br />
www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html<br />
features Susann McDonald playing Fauré, Glinka and Liszt, is a<br />
powerhouse! Engineered by Keith O. Johnson, with a great transfer by<br />
Bruce Leek.<br />
Sonatas for Flute and Harp<br />
These same great artists with sonatas by Krumpholz and Damase, as<br />
well as Spohr and Glinka. Oh yes, and a spectacular solo harp version<br />
of Ibert’s hilarious Entr’acte .<br />
Norman Dello Joio (CD) <br />
This contemporary composer delights in the tactile sound of the wind<br />
band, and the Keystone Wind Ensemble does his music justice. So<br />
does the sound, of astonishing quality!<br />
Carmina Burana (CD)<br />
The celebrated Carl Orff oratorio sends chills down your spine, thanks<br />
to the huge orchestra, gigantic choir, and of course the clarity and<br />
depth of the Klavier sound.<br />
Obseción (CD)<br />
The Trio Amadé plays Piazzola, Berstein, Copland, and Emilion<br />
Cólon…who is the trio cellist. The Colón and Piazzola is definitely<br />
worth the price of admission. Lifelike sound.<br />
Misbehavin’ (CD)<br />
The superb Denver Brass does Gershwin (Cuban Overture, Porgy and<br />
Bess), plus On the Town, Sweet Georgia Brown, and of course Ain’t<br />
Misbehavin’. Great sound.<br />
Hemispheres (CD)<br />
The North Texas Wind Symphony with new music by contemporary<br />
composers who know how to thrill. Some of the best wind band sound<br />
available.<br />
Illuminations (CD)<br />
Absolutely great chamber musicians take on music by Villa-Lobos,<br />
Malcolm Arnold, and some composers you may not know but you’ll<br />
wish you did. Sublime sound, nothing less.<br />
Kickin’ the Clouds Away (CD)<br />
Gershwin died more than 60 years ago, but you can hear him playing<br />
piano in glowing stereo. Nineteen of his pieces are on this fine CD,<br />
including a solo piano version of the Rhapsody in Blue.<br />
FIRST/LAST IMPRESSIONS<br />
La Fille Mal Gardée (XRCD)<br />
A fine ballet with the Royal Ballet Company orchestra, from the<br />
original 1962 Decca recording. Exceptional<br />
Film Spectacular II (XRCD)<br />
The orchestra of Stanley Black plays some of the greatest film music<br />
of bygone years. From the original Decca Phase 4 tape.<br />
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante (XRCD)<br />
Igor and David Oistrakh with the Moscow Philharmonic, in a glorious<br />
1963 recording, from the original master tape<br />
Artistry oi Linda Rosenthal (HDCD) <br />
The great violinist Rosenthal plays favorites: Hora Staccato, Perpetuum<br />
Mobile, Debussy’s Beau Soir, etc.<br />
Suite Española (XRCD) <br />
The Albéniz suite, gorgeously orchestrated by Rafael Frühbeck de<br />
Burgos, who conducts the New Philharmonia. Beautifully remastered<br />
from the original 1963 tape.<br />
Audiophile Reference IV (SACD) <br />
A stunning sampler, with recognizable audiophile selections you have<br />
never heard sound this good!
<strong>THE</strong> AUDIOPHILE STORE 59<br />
Songs My Dad Taught Me (HDCD)<br />
Jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro and three other musicians, with a retro<br />
collection of unforgettable tunes.<br />
A Time for Us (HDCD)<br />
Orchestral versions of music from great movies. Easy to love!.<br />
Café Blue (HDCD/CD) <br />
Gold HDCD version of jazz singer Patricia Barber’s 1994 classic, an<br />
audiophile underground favorite. Or get the original CD, at lower cost.<br />
MISCELLANEOUS<br />
Pipes Rhode Island <br />
John Marks recorded this tour of the organs of the tiny state, with<br />
amazing tones, captured in astonishing sound<br />
All We Need to Know <br />
Jazz singer Margie Gibson’s first album since Say It With Music, on<br />
Sheffield. No one sings the way she does!<br />
Classica d’Oro (CD)<br />
All of the classical world’s most important heritage, on 50 audiophilequality<br />
gold CDs, at under $4 per CD. Fine artists from Germany,<br />
Austria, the UK, Eastern Europe. Listen to excerpts on line.<br />
Audiophile (XRCD) <br />
A fine jazz recording, including Secret of the Andes. We never test a<br />
speaker without it.<br />
Blues for the Saxophone Club (HDCD) <br />
Swing jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro, with guest artists, including<br />
saxophonist Ernie Watts. The HDCD sound is explosive!<br />
My Foolish Heart (CD)<br />
A collection of live and atudio pieces by Monteiro and other musicians,<br />
notably saxophonist Eernie Watts<br />
Neil Diamond: Serenade (CD)<br />
Just eight songs on this European CBS disc, but what songs! I’ve Been<br />
This Way Before, Lady Magdalene, Reggae Strut, The Gift of Song,<br />
and more. Glowing sound too.<br />
Harry Belafonte (CD)<br />
We haven’t heard Belafonte sound like this except on analog. The 16<br />
songs include Island in the Sun, Jamaica Farewell, Midnight Special,<br />
Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Brown Skin Girl, etc.<br />
Sources (CD) <br />
A wonderful recording by Bïa (pronounced Bee-yah). She’s Brazilian,<br />
lives in France, recorded this terrific album (in 5 languages!) in<br />
Montreal. Just her warm voice and guitar,<br />
La mémoire du vent (CD)<br />
The original recording by Bïa, in French, Portuguese and English. If<br />
you love her second one, don’t hesitate.<br />
Carmin (CD) <br />
The third by Bïa. Different this time, with more money for production,<br />
but it has been spent wisely. Superb songs, gloriously sung in Portuguese,<br />
French and the ancient Aymara language.<br />
Coeur vagabond (CD)<br />
Bïa sings French songs in Portuguese, Brazilian songs in French. A<br />
delight, as usual from this astonishing singer<br />
Nocturno (CD)<br />
Some are saying that this is Bïa’s best and most touching album since<br />
Sources. See if you agree. You won’t be disappointed.<br />
Nightclub (CD) <br />
Patricia Barber, doing nightclub standards rather than her own<br />
songs. But can she do them!<br />
Modern Cool (CD)<br />
The previous release from Patricia Barber, including songs she does<br />
live on the Companion live disc.<br />
Payment by VISA or MasterCard, cheque or money order (in Canada). All merchandise is guaranteed unless explicitly sold “as<br />
is.” Certain items (the Super Antenna, the EAC line filter, and most standard-length cables) may be returned within 21 days less<br />
shipping cost. Other items may be subject to a restocking charge. Defective recordings will be exchanged for new copies.<br />
HERE’S HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR SHIPPING COST:<br />
IN CANADA: up to $30, 7%, up to $60, 5%, above $60 not counting taxes, free. In Canada shipping costs are taxable.<br />
TO <strong>THE</strong> USA: up to $30, 10%, up to $60 7%, above $60, 5%.<br />
TO O<strong>THE</strong>R COUNTRIES: up to $30, 18%. Up to $60, 15%. Above $60, 10%, MINIMUM $6. <strong>Magazine</strong>s, books and taxes are not<br />
counted toward the total.<br />
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Internet: www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html<br />
E-mail: uhfmail@uhfmag.com<br />
TOTAL COST <strong>OF</strong> ACCESSORIES<br />
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5% GST (rest of Canada)____________________SUBTOTAL______________7.5% TVQ (Québec only)____________TOTAL______________<br />
On the other side of this page, circle the number of each of the records you need. On the coupon above, add in the list of accessories, calculate the total, and add shipping and all applicable taxes. All prices<br />
are in Canadian dollars. Include a cheque or money order (Canada or US only), or include your credit card number (VISA or MasterCard), expiry date and signature. Note that prices may fluctuate, and<br />
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= INDICATES RECORDINGS USED IN UHF EQUIPMENT REVIEWS<br />
www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html
60<br />
VINYL ALBUMS<br />
Autumn Shuffle LP22042 27.95<br />
Blazing Redheads RR-26 25.00<br />
Fennell Favorites RR-43 25.00<br />
Good Stuff (2 LP) LP19603 47.95<br />
Jazz at the Pawnshop 7778-79 65.00<br />
Just like Love LP20002 27.95<br />
Showcase LP20000 27.95<br />
Spirit and the Blues (2 LP) LP19401 47.95<br />
Test Record No.4 OPLP9200 27.95<br />
Trittico RR-52 32.00<br />
Vinyl Essentials (test) LP003 48.95<br />
NEW MEDIA (SACD, DVD, ETC.)<br />
Across the Bridge of Hope CD22012 24.95<br />
Antiphone Blues (SACD) 7744SACD 37.95<br />
Audiophile Reference IV SACD 029 40.00<br />
Autumn Shuffle (SACD) CD22042 24.95<br />
Beethoven/Mendelssohn 5186 102 29.95<br />
Beyond (SACD) CD22072 24.95<br />
Brazilian Soul (DVD) HRM2009 24.95<br />
Cantate Domino (SACD) PSACD7762 29.95<br />
Conc. for Double Bass (SACD) CD8522 37.95<br />
Good Stuff (SACD) CD19623 37.95<br />
Jazz at the Pawnshop (3-SACD) PRSACD7879 90.00<br />
Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 (SACD) PRSACD7079 37.95<br />
Jazz/Concord (DVD) HRM2006 24.95<br />
Just Like Love (SACD) CD21002 24.95<br />
Mississipi Magic (SACD) AQSACD1057 24.95<br />
Musica Sacra (SACD) CD19516 24.95<br />
Now the Green Blade Riseth PRSACD9093 29.95<br />
Organ Treasures (SACD) CD22031 24.95<br />
Rhythm Willie (Audio DVD) HRM2010 24.95<br />
Seven Come Eleven (DVD) HRM2005 24.95<br />
Showcase (SACD) CD21000 24.95<br />
Showcase 2005 (SACD) CD22050 24.95<br />
Soular Energy (DVD/DVD-A) HRM2011 24.95<br />
Spirit & the Blues (SACD) CD19411 24.95<br />
Swingcerely Yours CD22081 24.95<br />
Tchaikovsky: Symph. #6 (SACD) 5186 107 29.95<br />
Test CD 4 (SACD) CD19420 24.95<br />
Test Records 1-2-3 CD19520 24.95<br />
Tiny Island (SACD) CD19824 24.95<br />
Trio (Audio DVD) HRM2008 24.95<br />
Tutti (SACD) RR-906SACD 24.00<br />
Unique Classical Guitar (SACD). CD22062 24.95<br />
Unmarked Road (SACD) AQ1046SACD 29.95<br />
Whose Truth, Whose Lies? AQ1054SACD 29.95<br />
RED BOOK COMPACT DISCS<br />
20th Anniversary Celebration CD19692 19.95<br />
30th Anniversary Sampler RR-908 16.95<br />
Alleluía AN 2 8810 21.00<br />
All We Need to Know GG-1 21.00<br />
An American Requiem RR-97CD 16.95<br />
Antiphone Blues 7744CD 21.95<br />
Artistry of Linda Rosenthal FIM022VD 27.95<br />
A Time for Us FIM051 27.95<br />
Audiophile jvcxr-0016-2 29.95<br />
Bach Sonatas, violin & harpsi. AN 2 9829 21.00<br />
<strong>THE</strong> AUDIOPHILE STORE<br />
Bach Suites, Airs & Dances FL 2 3133 21.00<br />
Beachcomber RR-62CD 16.95<br />
Best of Chesky & Test, vol.3 JD111 21.95<br />
Best of the Red Army Chorus AN 2 8800 21.00<br />
Beethoven Symph. 5 & 6 AN 2 9891 21.00<br />
Blues for the Saxophone Club 26-1084-78-2 21.95<br />
Bluesquest AQCD1052 21.95<br />
Bossa Nova JD129 21.95<br />
Bruckner: Symph. No.9 RR-81CD 16.95<br />
Café Blue 21810 21.95<br />
Café Blue (HDCD gold) CD 010 39.95<br />
Cantabile AN 2 9810 21.00<br />
Cantate Domino 7762CD 21.95<br />
Caprice K11133 21.00<br />
Carmin ADCD10163 21.00<br />
Carmina Burana K 11136 21.00<br />
Classica d’Oro (50 CDs) GCM-50 149.95<br />
Come to Find AQCD1027 21.95<br />
Come Love CD19703 19.95<br />
Companion 22963 21.00<br />
Coeur vagabond ADCD10191 21.00<br />
Concertos for Double Bass OPCD8502 21.95<br />
Copland Symphony No.3 RR-93CD 16.95<br />
Djembé Tigui SLC9605-2 22.00<br />
Drum/Track Record 10081 21.00<br />
Ein Heldenleben RR-83CD 16.95<br />
Evolution K11161 21.95<br />
Eybler Quartets AN 2 9914 21.00<br />
Fable SLC9603-2 22.00<br />
Fantasia AN 2 9819 23.00<br />
Felix Hell RR-101CD 16.95<br />
Flm Spectacular II XR24 070 35.00<br />
French Showpieces FL 2 3151 21.00<br />
Fritz Kreisler FL 2 3159 21.00<br />
From the Age of Swing RR-59CD 16.95<br />
Garden of Dreams RR-108 16.95<br />
Ghosts K11150 21.00<br />
Gitans Y225035 24.95<br />
Good Stuff CD19603 19.95<br />
Good Vibes PRCD9058 19.95<br />
Growing up in Hollywood Town LIM XR 001 38.95<br />
Handel FL 2 3137 21.00<br />
Harry Belafonte 295-037 19.95<br />
Harry James & His Big Band 10057-2-G 24.00<br />
Hemispheres K11137 21.00<br />
Illuminations K11135 21.00<br />
Infernal Violins AN 2 8718 21.00<br />
It’s Right Here For You CD19404 19.95<br />
I’ve Got the Music in Me 10076 21.00<br />
Jazz at the Pawnshop PRCD-7778 19.95<br />
Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 PRCD9044 19.95<br />
Jazz Hat RR-114 16.95<br />
Jazz/Vol.1 JD37 19.95<br />
Keep on Movin’ AQCD1031 19.95<br />
Kickin’ the Clouds Away K77031 21.00<br />
Kodo 12222-2 21.00<br />
La Fille Mal Gardée XR24 013 38.95<br />
La mémoire du vent ADCD10144 21.00<br />
Les matins habitables GSIC-895 21.00<br />
Levande OPCD7917 19.95<br />
Leyrac chante Nelligan AN 2 8815 21.00<br />
Liszt-Laplante FL 2 3030 21.00<br />
Little Notebook of Anna M. Bach FL 2 3064 21.00<br />
Masters of Flute & Harp KCD11019 21.00<br />
Medinah Sessions RR-2102 16.95<br />
Mendelssohn: 2 Violin Conc. FL 2 3098 21.00<br />
Misbehavin’ K77034 21.00<br />
Modern Cool 741-2 21.95<br />
Mozart Complete Piano Trios AN 2 9827-8 27.50<br />
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante XR24 069 38.95<br />
Mozart: Soprano Arias FL 2 3131 21.00<br />
Musica Sacra CD19506 19.95<br />
Musique Guy St-Onge SLC9700-2 22.00<br />
Musiques d’Europe centrale 88001 24.95<br />
My Foolish Heart 26-1084-92-2 21.95<br />
Neil Diamond: Serenade 465012-2 16.95<br />
Nightclub 27290 21.95<br />
Nocturno ADCD10227 21.00<br />
Nojima Plays Liszt RR-25CD 16.95<br />
Nojima Plays Ravel RR-35CD 16.95<br />
Non-Stop to Brazil JD29 19.95<br />
Norman Dello Joio K11138 21.00<br />
Nota del Sol AN 2 9817 21.00<br />
Now the Green Blade Riseth PRCD9093 19.95<br />
Obseción K11134 21.95<br />
Opera for Two FL 2 3076 21.00<br />
Organ Odyssey RR-113 16.95<br />
Pauline Viardot-Garcia AN 2 9903 21.00<br />
Pipes Rhode Island CD101 15.95<br />
Poetics K11153 21.00<br />
Pomp&Pipes RR-58CD 16.95<br />
Ports of Call RR-80CD 16.95<br />
Requiem RR-57CD 16.95<br />
Rio After Dark JD28 19.95<br />
Romantic Pieces FL 2 3191 21.00<br />
Sans Domicile Fixe 19012-2 24.95<br />
Say It With Music CD-36 21.00<br />
Serenade RR-110 16.95<br />
Sketches of Standard PRCD 9036 19.95<br />
Songs My Dad Taught Me FIM0009 27.95<br />
Sources ADCD10132 21.00<br />
Spirit and the Blues CD19401 19.95<br />
Styles SLC9604-2 22.00<br />
Suite Española XR24 068 38.95<br />
Swing is Here RR-72CD 16.95<br />
Telemann Sonatas for 2 Violins FL 2 3085 21.00<br />
Test CD 5 CD20000 21.95<br />
The King James Version 10068-2-F 21.00<br />
Tres Americas SLC9602-2 22.00<br />
Trittico RR-52CD 16.95<br />
Tutti (HDCD) RR-906CD 16.95<br />
Ultimate Demonstration Disc UD95 20.00<br />
Villa-Lobos FL 2 3051 21.00<br />
Violonchelo Español AN 2 9897 21.00<br />
Vivace AN 2 9808 21.00<br />
Vivaldi: Motets for Soprano FL 2 3099 21.00<br />
Vivaldi: Per Archi FL 2 3128 21.00<br />
World Keys RR-106 16.95<br />
Yerba Buena Bounce RR-109 16.95<br />
You Can’t Take My Blues AQCD1041 21.95<br />
www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html
Software<br />
of the most appreciated musical forms of<br />
the Classical and Romantic eras. Over<br />
several centuries it underwent numerous<br />
transformations. The concerto has<br />
been defined as a symphony written for<br />
a musical instrument, with the backing<br />
of other instruments whose role it is to<br />
enhance it.<br />
In the early Renaissance Giovanni<br />
Gabrieli, born around 1553, the principal<br />
organist of St. Mark’s, is believed<br />
to have originated the concertante form,<br />
and he was at the root of the transition<br />
from the Renaissance to the Baroque.<br />
Faithful to the techniques developed by<br />
his uncle Andrea, he used voices and instruments<br />
to set up a sort of dialog.<br />
A large variety of instruments have<br />
been employed in concertos: piano,<br />
harpsichord, organ, violin, viola, cello,<br />
flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, mandolin,<br />
French horn, trumpet, tuba, harp, guitar,<br />
etc. Some even wrote double or triple<br />
concertos, with more than one solo<br />
instrument, among them Telemann,<br />
Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.<br />
The Concerto<br />
Firm attacks, lively rhythms,<br />
by Reine Lessard<br />
pleasant timbres…the audience is<br />
dazzled by a scintillating introduction.<br />
Suddenly, authoritative Libraries worldwide overflow with books<br />
It is the concerto.<br />
sounds arise and take command. What is about this musical form. Musicologists,<br />
happening? The sumptuous sound of the composers, music lovers, students preparing<br />
piano challenges those other instruments, their theses are countless. It is not these few<br />
and undertakes a competition, a cordial discussion.<br />
The concert hall has been projected instead, present to you a few concertos that I<br />
pages that can settle any arguments. I shall,<br />
into a musical style that, since its birth in class among my favorites.<br />
the 17 th Century, has not ceased to inspire Born in Italy, the concerto developed<br />
composers and virtuosos.<br />
during the Baroque era, and became one<br />
The Baroque<br />
Corelli: Concerto Grosso No. 6 in F Major<br />
The concerto grosso is marked by<br />
the presence of numerous movements<br />
of contrasting tempos, in which a small<br />
group of instruments alternates with a<br />
larger group. Arcangelo Corelli (1653-<br />
1713) was one of its precursors, along<br />
with Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709), but<br />
Corelli came first and made the form<br />
popular. It is he to whom we owe the<br />
structure of the concerto for solo violin<br />
and orchestra. Without these two pioneers,<br />
we might never have had Vivaldi,<br />
Handel and Bach. The 16t h Century<br />
saw the development of the church concerto,<br />
da chiesa, and in the 17 th Century<br />
the chamber concerto, da camera, meant<br />
to be performed in private.<br />
Musicologists tell us Corelli was just<br />
20 when he began writing concertos.<br />
It is said that, eternally dissatisfied, he<br />
would spend years rewriting them again<br />
and again. That is no doubt the reason<br />
he left us a relatively small body of work,<br />
and also the difficulty in determining<br />
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the dates of his compositions. At his request,<br />
the concerto I have cited was not<br />
published in his lifetime. Himself a superb<br />
violinist, Corelli gave the violin a<br />
major role, and he was the innovator of<br />
exemplary violin techniques. Along with<br />
Locatelli, Geminiani and Tartini, he inspired<br />
Leopold Mozart — the father of<br />
Wolfgang — to publish a treatise on the<br />
violin, which was translated into all the<br />
languages of Europe.<br />
In the concerto grosso, the smaller<br />
and larger instrument groups alternate,<br />
in a back-and-forth conversation. The<br />
smaller group is the concertino, typically<br />
consisting of three instruments —<br />
Corelli used two violins and a cello.<br />
The larger group, the ripieno or grosso,<br />
includes the rest of the orchestra. The<br />
work I’ve noted version is ideal of for our getting magazine. to<br />
know Corelli. I once heard a comment<br />
that musicians who could get to understand<br />
the soul of Corelli could ascend to<br />
the status of supermusicians.<br />
The short but energetic Adagio Overture<br />
featuring the cello is followed by an<br />
Allegro, with magnificent contrasts between<br />
the cello and the orchestra. I very<br />
much appreciated the sprightly climate<br />
that requires great virtuosity on the part<br />
of the string players. The almost religious<br />
ambience of the Largo leads one to<br />
los and double basses, with a continuo,<br />
and sometimes even horns and bagpipes!<br />
For years now, we have So been popular publishing, this music on our that Web it has site, been a free PDF up their charming songs once more.<br />
used in films and even TV commercials.<br />
The reason is simple. We It seems know astonishing you’re looking that for Vivaldi information, wrote and I leave it to you to continue the<br />
that is almost certainly why program you’ve music come to suit visit the our text site. of And a set that’s of analysis, why in consultation with the sonnets.<br />
You can find the complete set<br />
we give away what some competitors sonnets. It is consider nonetheless to be true a startlingly that the large<br />
amount of information…for first free. edition, published in Amsterdam in on our Web site, at www.uhfmag.com/<br />
We would give it all away 1716 for or free, 1717, if we the could sonnets still are stay included<br />
business. resources/vivaldi. Your pleasure will be<br />
Recent figures indicate before that each the score issue is for getting each season. downloaded If Viv-aaldi figure did keeps not write growing. the sonnets himself, In comparing Corelli and Vivaldi, it<br />
many redoubled…nay, tripled.<br />
as 100,000 times, and that<br />
Yes, we know, if we had they a nickel were for certainly each download… written for his benefit.<br />
I adopted of helping them you when enjoy I came music across at home from the other. In the concerto grosso<br />
is evident what distinguishes them one<br />
Truth is, we’re in the business<br />
under the best possible conditions. the translation And movies from Italian. too. We’ll do what we two need groups of instruments answer each<br />
to do in order to get the information Each of to the you. sonnets, then, corresponds<br />
you to to read a concerto our published whose editions themes de-<br />
too. We and the orchestra engage in a dialog.<br />
other. In the solo concerto the soloist(s)<br />
Of course, we also want<br />
introspection. The hope cello that, and having the orchestra<br />
alternate, and at the very end, unextrasts<br />
and alternations are dazzling.<br />
read this velop far, you’ll across want three to movements. read on. To dou-<br />
In the music of Vivaldi both conpectedly,<br />
the violin enters with a brief<br />
Certain violin melodies, which demand<br />
melody, backed in the final measures by<br />
the most perfect virtuosity, are irresistible.<br />
We cannot escape noticing how the<br />
the cello. The Vivace is guaranteed to<br />
keep you awake. It begins with the violin<br />
composer places the soloist in a starring<br />
accompanied by the cello, who then alternate<br />
in the style favored by this great<br />
Also characteristic of Vivaldi are his<br />
role, where he can shine.<br />
Baroque composer. Notice how the violin<br />
now becomes the star. The final Al-<br />
to mimic in sound such natural phe-<br />
dazzling musical effects and his ability<br />
legro II closes in magnificent fashion this<br />
nomena as storms, wind, rain and birds.<br />
concerto grosso, which gratifies us with<br />
a range of sounds and colors that allow<br />
us to appreciate Corelli fully.<br />
62 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Vivaldi: Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four<br />
Seasons), a set of four concertos for violin<br />
While in Rome Alessandro Stradella<br />
(possibly the inventor of the concerto<br />
grosso) and Corelli (the first to get a<br />
concerto grosso published) were working<br />
on this new genre, two other composers<br />
were elaborating a form that<br />
would more precisely spotlight one or<br />
more soloists: Giuseppe Torelli in Bologna<br />
and Antonio Vivaldi in Venice.<br />
The solo concerto includes three<br />
movements, two of them lively, to show<br />
off the virtuosity of the musician, and<br />
between them a slow movement that<br />
brings out his sensitivity.<br />
Let me begin with the most popular<br />
of these Baroque concertos, Vivaldi’s<br />
Four Seasons. Lost for two and a half<br />
centuries, they turned up miraculously<br />
in 1926. Let me underline that Vivaldi<br />
was first to cater to the solo musician’s<br />
craving to show off his technique.<br />
The four concertos — one per season<br />
— are orchestrated for violino principale,<br />
first and second violins, violas, cel-<br />
Why a free version?<br />
ble your pleasure, read the sonnets while<br />
listening to the corresponding music,<br />
for the two are inseparably linked. For<br />
me, the two are always worth revisiting.<br />
The Concerto No. 1, Opus 3, titled<br />
Spring, has lost none of its charm since<br />
its first publication. The continuity of<br />
the opening Allegro is a succession of<br />
quavers with a pair of semiquavers. The<br />
theme, with the fortes and the pianos<br />
echoing, add a sort of impulsion typical<br />
of the Vivaldi style. A solo violin is<br />
joined by the first and second violins of<br />
the orchestra produce bird calls with<br />
short and long trills and repeated quavers.<br />
Then, delicate waves from the violins<br />
in rapid semiquavers are followed<br />
by the double basses, which call up the<br />
image of windswept streams. Suddenly<br />
comes the storm. Repeated semidemiquavers<br />
alternate with rapid ascending<br />
scales, followed by the solo violin in<br />
triplets that recall thunder. Finally we<br />
return to the leitmotiv, and the birds sing<br />
once again.<br />
In a lower tone, the Largo is moving,<br />
evoking a flower-strewn field in which<br />
a shepherd has fallen asleep next to his<br />
dog. It ends with an Allegro, a sprightly<br />
dance of shepherds and nymphs, underlined<br />
by the bagpipes and, in the foreground,<br />
a fiery violin.<br />
Here is the accompanying sonnet.<br />
Springtime is upon us.<br />
The birds celebrate her return with festive<br />
song,<br />
and murmuring streams are softly caressed by<br />
the breezes.<br />
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar,<br />
casting their dark mantle over heaven,<br />
Then they die away to silence, and the birds take<br />
The Classical period<br />
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C<br />
Is it even necessary to introduce<br />
that supernova among the vast galaxy<br />
of composers of the Classical era, and<br />
indeed of all eras?<br />
He was 29 in the Spring of 1785<br />
when he wrote this concerto. It was a<br />
bleak period in his life, when he was oscillating<br />
between a precarious happiness<br />
and unbearable financial worries. For all<br />
that, it was also a period of sublime productivity,<br />
which saw him create some of
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the greatest of his immortal works.<br />
This concerto became famous not<br />
only because of its intrinsic beauty, but<br />
for a reason no one could have anticipated.<br />
In 1967 Swedish filmmaker Bo<br />
Widerberg used the concertos’ Andante<br />
movement in his popular film Elvira<br />
Madigan. It is an impossible love story<br />
that, as all such love stories must, ends<br />
badly for both lover. The characters are<br />
a young tightrope walker and a an army<br />
lieutenant who is also a Count. The<br />
count is much older, married with two<br />
children, and he is a deserter besides.<br />
The affair cannot last, and it will not.<br />
It was because of the film that the<br />
concerto took on the anachronistic<br />
name of The Elvira Madigan Concerto.<br />
Taken by surprise, Deutsche Grammophon,<br />
whose recording was used in the<br />
film, quickly replaced its generic record<br />
sleeve with one showing a scene from<br />
the film. Elvira Madigan is impossible<br />
to find today, and it is largely forgotten,<br />
but the concerto is not, and it continues<br />
to bear the name of the ill-starred heroine.<br />
The music suits the story, that of the<br />
ruined lovers living from picnic to picnic<br />
in bucolic scenes: fields of grain, under<br />
changeable skies on the seashore, or<br />
aboard a rowboat on the mirror surface<br />
of a still pond. It all works.<br />
On a tempo that is at once slow and<br />
joyous, the Allegro Maestoso begins with<br />
a march introduced by the lower strings,<br />
with the higher strings, the brass and the<br />
woodwinds entering into a dialog. After<br />
some gorgeous trills by the orchestra,<br />
the violins enter, followed by the other<br />
instruments. The piano enters next,<br />
leading into a mini-cadenza ending in<br />
a trill with the magnificent final tutti<br />
by the orchestra. The famous Andante<br />
opens with triplets in the piano’s lower<br />
register, with the orchestra joining in. It<br />
is a most romantic melody. But for some<br />
melancholy passages, the tone is serene<br />
and radiant. The final Allegro Vivace<br />
rondo is initiated by the orchestra with<br />
a lively rhythm, until the limpid arpeggios<br />
of the piano expose the themes. A<br />
brief cadenza brings back to the opening<br />
motif.<br />
I spent time listening to a (probably<br />
impossible to find) Angel version with<br />
Daniel Barenboim conducting from the<br />
piano. He makes this Mozart jewel a<br />
pure joy.<br />
However I cannot help recalling<br />
the version — overly sentimental in<br />
the view of some — of Geza Anda. He<br />
manages to plunge the listener into a remarkably<br />
involving ambience. Though<br />
his interpretation is rejected by some<br />
eminent pianists, his is the one you will<br />
hear when — and if — you see the Widerberg’s<br />
film.<br />
The Romantic Period<br />
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E Flat,<br />
Op. 73, “The Emperor”<br />
It was Beethoven (1770-1827) who<br />
inaugurated the Romantic concerto<br />
with his three last piano concertos and<br />
his monumental concerto for violin.<br />
This composer — exceptional, impossible<br />
to categorize, free and independent<br />
— was born in Bonn and died<br />
in Vienna. He expressed himself in all<br />
musical genres: overtures, a Fantasy<br />
for piano, chorale and orchestra (one<br />
of whose themes will be reused in the<br />
Ode to Joy), a bouquet of lyrical Bagatelles,<br />
fine quartets, music for the stage,<br />
the Diabelli Variations (which many consider<br />
to be Beethoven’s true testament<br />
as a pianist), an opera, a ballet, 32 piano<br />
sonatas, a few more for violin and piano,<br />
and five more for cello and piano.<br />
And then there are his magnificent<br />
piano concertos. He was the first to<br />
compose exclusively for the pianoforte,<br />
and also the first to impose his cadenzas<br />
on pianists, rather than letting them improvise.<br />
In short he excelled in all styles, and<br />
his eclectic nature has never been cast<br />
into doubt. It is, however, above all his<br />
symphonic music that gave him his immortality<br />
and his lasting worldwide celebrity.<br />
As one can imagine the Emperor<br />
Concerto (his final one) was written at<br />
a time greatly perturbed by political<br />
battles. Need I add that this independent,<br />
pro-democratic revolutionary was<br />
most sensible to these struggles (not to<br />
say much has been accomplished since<br />
then)? By the time he wrote this concerto<br />
his deafness had so progressed<br />
that he asked his pupil, Carl Czerny,<br />
to play the solo role in his stead. The<br />
event occurred a few years later, possibly<br />
in February 1812 in Vienna. The<br />
delay in premiering the concerto can be<br />
explained by the monstrous economic<br />
problems then faced by the musical<br />
capital and ordinary people (sound familiar?).<br />
The cool reception accorded it<br />
in no way presaged the importance the<br />
concerto would take on in the years to<br />
come.<br />
It is the piano that launches the first<br />
measures of the work with a brief cadenza,<br />
followed by the orchestra, which<br />
announces with authority the first<br />
movement, an Allegro that is energetic,<br />
almost military.<br />
From there the soloist and the orchestra<br />
are equal partners, despite piano<br />
passages presenting enormous difficulty.<br />
It should be noted that this manner of<br />
proceeding indicates clearly Beethoven’s<br />
refusal to give the virtuoso pianist too<br />
much importance. There is no pause<br />
between the very slow Adagio and the<br />
dance-like Rondo Allegro, though there<br />
is a transition of abiding melancholy.<br />
I listened to the version by pianist<br />
Claudio Arrau, with the Concertgebouw<br />
Orchestra of Amsterdam under<br />
Bernard Haitink.<br />
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor,<br />
Op. 64<br />
This famous work by the brilliant<br />
German composer and conductor Felix<br />
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 - 1847)<br />
was his last for large orchestra. The son<br />
of a moneyed family, he had few material<br />
concerns and was of great refinement.<br />
Because his works were so perfect, because<br />
he was emotionally so balanced,<br />
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he has been accused of lacking sensitivity.<br />
As if beauty was not in and of itself a<br />
vehicle for emotion and sensitivity.<br />
At the age of 15 Felix conducted<br />
his first opera, and a year later he had<br />
already signed works of some importance<br />
— symphonies for string orchestra,<br />
a string octet, and concertos for<br />
piano and for violin. By the time he<br />
was 17 he had written his unforgettable<br />
overture to Shakespeare’s Midsummer<br />
Night’s Dream.<br />
His very Romantic violin concerto,<br />
which I adore, had been commissioned<br />
by his good friend and celebrated violinist<br />
Ferdinand David. Busy with other<br />
projects Felix took six years to fulfill his<br />
commission, to the frustration of David,<br />
who was pressuring his friend to finish<br />
it. It was long considered the most<br />
perfect concerto of the century after<br />
the Beethoven concerto I have already<br />
mentioned. David, who was himself an<br />
excellent composer, doubtless wrote<br />
certain solo parts of the concerto, notably<br />
the cadenza. The three movements,<br />
Allegro molto appassionato, Andante and<br />
Rondo are played without a pause.<br />
Mendelssohn often gave the lie<br />
to claims his music was passionless<br />
and merely followed convention. Really?<br />
Did he not challenge the longestablished<br />
convention that a concerto<br />
should begin with the orchestra rather<br />
than the soloist? Yes, and his opening<br />
for the violin alone caused much gnashing<br />
of teeth. These are among the most<br />
beautiful pages of the violin literature, a<br />
violin that is as ardent as one could wish.<br />
His friend, the composer Robert Schumann,<br />
called him the Mozart of the 19 th<br />
Century.<br />
This concerto is remarkable for its<br />
warmth, its lyricism, its elegance, and<br />
the perfect harmony between the or-<br />
(Adalberg) Zwyny, who tells his father<br />
that there is nothing more he can teach<br />
the young man…at the ripe old age of chestra playing in the lower register.<br />
No, this free version is not complete, though you could spend a couple<br />
12! When he is 15 Frédéric performs Across this canvas, the piano scatters<br />
of hours reading it. Want the full version?<br />
twice for the Tsar and publishes his first notes that seem to come from a land<br />
You can, of course, order the print version, which we have published<br />
composition, a Rondo, followed by a Mazurka,<br />
a Nocturne, and variations on Mo-<br />
in a kind of bel canto. Until then the or-<br />
where dream and nostalgia are wedded<br />
for a quarter of a century. You can get it from our back issues page.<br />
But we also have a paid electronic version, which is just like this one,<br />
zart’s opera Don Giovanni.<br />
chestra plays in restrained fashion, exploding<br />
at the same time as the piano.<br />
except that it doesn’t have annoying banners like this one, and it doesn’t<br />
He exiles himself to the City of<br />
have articles tailing off into faux Latin. Getting the electronic version is of<br />
Light, Paris, a natural choice to seek The piano is front and centre in the<br />
course faster, and it is also cheaper. It costs just $4.30 (Canadian) anywhere<br />
fame in musical or literary spheres. He Rondo Vivace, in a lively passage backed<br />
in the world. Taxes, if they are applicable, are included.<br />
chestra and solo parts. Speaking of elegance,<br />
the adjective is perfectly suit-<br />
Paris musical intelligentsia, he will need builds, with powerful measures, before<br />
is aware that, to be well received by the by the strings. The orchestra then<br />
It’s available from MagZee.com.<br />
able to describe this man, who never<br />
hesitated to recognize talent in others.<br />
The first movement is filled, in alternation,<br />
with fervor and reverie.. The<br />
second movement is a romance, and the<br />
final movement is remarkable for its<br />
lines bordering on the fantastic.<br />
The version I listened to for you is<br />
that of the legendary violinist Jascha<br />
Heifetz, with Charles Munch conduct-<br />
at least a couple of samples of the musical<br />
genre then at the zenith of popularity,<br />
the concerto. Before leaving, then,<br />
he composes two concertos for piano<br />
and orchestra, and the press pronounces<br />
him a genius. He plays his Piano Concerto<br />
No. 1 at a farewell concert before<br />
his departure for France, where a great<br />
destiny awaits him.<br />
It is, then, with these two concertos<br />
settling into a passage colored by heartrending<br />
melancholy. There is a remarkable<br />
coda, which follows a veritable fireworks<br />
show by the pianist.<br />
The version I listened to for you<br />
featured the formidable pianist Charles<br />
Rosen, with British maestro John Pritchard<br />
conducting the New Philharmonia<br />
Orchestra.<br />
ing the Boston Symphony. It is available<br />
on the RCA label.<br />
Frédéric Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E<br />
Minor, Opus 11<br />
Chopin’s name is inseparably linked<br />
to the piano, to musical poetry, to gentle<br />
melancholy, to tenderness, to love, to<br />
the delicate things of the soul. A pianist<br />
above all else, a composer who went beyond<br />
the constraints of his era, he never<br />
composed a page that did not throw<br />
light on the instrument whose full potential<br />
he had mastered at a very young<br />
age. Rare are his works for piano and<br />
orchestra. He was a miniaturist, and the<br />
two concertos he left us are mere exceptions<br />
to that rule.<br />
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) attends<br />
high school in Warsaw, all the<br />
while studying piano with Wojciech<br />
Get the complete version<br />
in his pocket that this charmer sweeps<br />
into the literary salons, where he performs<br />
his music. They are in demand by<br />
the bright lights of art, music and literature.<br />
Among them is Franz Liszt, who<br />
has known many a genius, and becomes<br />
an admirer and a friend of Chopin.<br />
The Concerto No. 1 is a teenage<br />
work — he was but 19 when he wrote<br />
it — at a time when he was consumed<br />
with love for the young soprano Konstancja<br />
Gladkowska. The Adagio is said<br />
to be dedicated to her. It seems evident<br />
that his romantic sentiments are reflected<br />
in this music, particularly in the slow<br />
movements, which are full of peaceful<br />
melancholy, a reverie suited to a moonlit<br />
Spring night.<br />
Chopin’s two concertos are often<br />
said to be modest in their orchestration,<br />
with the orchestra playing merely a role<br />
of accompaniment to the piano. Certainly<br />
the piano is the star, but the other<br />
musicians are not mere walk-ons.<br />
The first movement, the Allegro<br />
Maestoso, opens with a rich string tutti<br />
of great lyricism. It is when the piano<br />
enters with its virtuoso trills that the<br />
music achieves its full momentum. The<br />
orchestra then rejoins the piano. The<br />
delicate motif that Chopin embroiders<br />
returns, here and there in a myriad of<br />
notes and flourishes. Toward the end of<br />
the movement, after a delicate rubato,<br />
there is a powerful apotheosis.<br />
The Larghetto begins with the or-
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Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B<br />
Flat Major<br />
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-<br />
1893) was one of the greatest Russian<br />
composers of the second half of the 19 th<br />
Century, and certainly the most popular.<br />
This masterwork of 1875 underwent<br />
two revisions, in 1879 and 1888.<br />
We should not be surprised by the hesitations<br />
on the part of a tormented soul<br />
who sailed constantly between the twin<br />
ports of exaltation and depression.<br />
Eclectic, an exceptional orchestrator,<br />
a magnificent melodist, he excelled<br />
in his symphonies, suites, concertos,<br />
and such deathless ballets as The Nutcracker<br />
and Sleeping Beauty. Carried by<br />
an orchestration as rich as it is varied,<br />
his music reveals his hypersensitive and<br />
tormented nature.<br />
In the original version of the concerto<br />
— before its two revisions — it<br />
included two flutes, two oboes, two<br />
clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two<br />
trumpets, three trombones, tympani,<br />
strings, and of course the piano.<br />
The masterful introduction of the<br />
first movement is instantly pleasing,<br />
with the first measures, superb and authoritative,<br />
literally pushing you back<br />
into your seat. I am still seeking to<br />
understand what makes them so bewitching.<br />
It seems simple enough —<br />
an abrupt entrance by the strings followed<br />
by hammerlike chords from the<br />
pianist — and yet from that simplicity<br />
emanates a beauty so intense, so incomparable,<br />
almost unreal. It is, I think, a<br />
mystery how sounds can have such an<br />
effect.<br />
The second movement establishes a<br />
simple melody, pizzicato at first, which<br />
seems to evoke the music of an antique<br />
merry-go-round.<br />
In the third movement the orchestral<br />
tutti is extraordinary, and then the<br />
strings enter for a brief passage that goes<br />
straight to the heart — the composer is<br />
torn, and you can feel it. It is difficult to<br />
hold back one’s tears. Its finale is awesome.<br />
I listened for you to the celebrated<br />
Russian virtuoso Emil Gilels (1916-<br />
1985), with the New York Philharmonic<br />
under the baton of Zubin Mehta. A rare<br />
listening pleasure that lasts 40 minutes,<br />
and not a second too long.<br />
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C<br />
Minor<br />
This great Russian composer is born<br />
in 1873 on the sumptuous family property<br />
of Onega, near Novgorod. As a<br />
youth he is registered at the Conservatory,<br />
where he makes his mark mainly<br />
for his poor attendance record.<br />
Worried about the young Sergei’s future,<br />
his cousin, pianist Alexander Siloti,<br />
suggests he come to study in Moscow.<br />
There he is taken in hand by Nikolai<br />
Zverev, one of the best music teachers<br />
of his time, who teaches him his formidable<br />
technique. He also learns counterpoint<br />
from Sergei Taneyev and harmony<br />
from Anton Arensky, and earns<br />
the Moscow Conservatory’s medal for<br />
the 1891 piano competition.<br />
And that is a mere prelude. For his<br />
final exam in 1892 he presents a oneact<br />
opera based on a poem by Pushkin,<br />
composed in just 17 days, earning him<br />
the gold medal. Thanks to the support<br />
of Tchaikovsky this opera, Aleko,<br />
is produced at the Bolshoi a year later.<br />
With his career as a pianist, composer<br />
and conductor firmly launched, he finds<br />
a post at a private Russian opera company.<br />
In 1897 his Symphony No. 1 is a failure<br />
blamed, rightly or wrongly, on a<br />
lacklustre premiere conducted by Glazunov.<br />
Rachmaninov falls into a severe<br />
depression, accompanied by writer’s<br />
block. He is treated by Dr. Nikolai<br />
Dahl, who follows him for some time,<br />
and re-establishes his self-confidence<br />
with the use of hypnosis. In the Autumn<br />
of 1900 he is ready to undertake the creation<br />
of the piano concerto in question.<br />
He completes it the following April.<br />
Oddly enough, its famous first movement<br />
is composed after the other two.<br />
Rachmaninov himself premieres the second<br />
and third movements in December<br />
1900, and it is only in October 1901 that<br />
he plays the complete concerto, with his<br />
cousin Alexander Siloti on the podium.<br />
The Concerto No. 2 re-establishes Rachmaninov’s<br />
reputation as a composer, and<br />
takes its place in the repertoire of many<br />
a virtuoso pianist.<br />
The Allegro Moderato opens with<br />
a series of bell-like chords in octaves<br />
from the piano, like a knell, building<br />
to a powerful crescendo. (I mention in<br />
passing that Rachmaninov was fond of<br />
octave chords, made easy by his large<br />
hands whose fingers could span two octaves!<br />
A similar technique is used in the<br />
Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, better known<br />
as The Burning of Moscow, commemorating<br />
the scorched-earth retreat before<br />
the advancing Grand Army of Napoleon.)<br />
The orchestra adds an equallyimpressive<br />
tutti, affronting a formidable<br />
torrent of piano arpeggios. What a<br />
wonderful example of a concerto for a<br />
star soloist!<br />
Among this hail of notes and orchestral<br />
effects is a recurring theme of great<br />
lyricism and sadness. It is a jewel, overwhelming<br />
by its sheer beauty, which<br />
touches one’s very soul.<br />
Then suddenly the main theme returns<br />
against a soft continuo by the piano,<br />
to end furiously in an apotheosis of<br />
notes with a fortissimo.<br />
The second movement, the Adagio<br />
Sostenuto, begins with a series of chords<br />
from the strings. The piano enters with<br />
a simple motif in arpeggios. A flute introduces<br />
the main theme. The music accelerates<br />
and intensifies toward its culmination,<br />
before dying out in a tender<br />
passage.<br />
The final Moderato Allegro or Allegro<br />
Scherzando begins with a brief orchestral<br />
conduction followed by a magnificent<br />
piano solo. A melodious theme is introduced<br />
by the oboes and violas.<br />
The concerto marks a turning point<br />
in the composer’s career, accompanying<br />
his new found confidence. The warm<br />
pubic reception afforded it leads to a<br />
fruitful period for Rachmaninov.<br />
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The concerto has been used in a<br />
number of films, and it is perhaps significant<br />
that Rachmaninov died, in 1943,<br />
in Hollywood.<br />
Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in A<br />
Minor, Op. 54<br />
This is the only piano concerto<br />
Schumann ever completed, and even so<br />
it nearly never existed. We know that<br />
the radical hand exercises he undertook<br />
so damaged his articulations that he had<br />
to abandon his ambitions as a pianist.<br />
In 1841 he wrote an Allegro Affettuoso<br />
or Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra, It<br />
is a sublime piece, premiered in Leipzig<br />
by his dear wife Clara, with Ferdinand<br />
David conducting. It is difficult to explain<br />
why no publisher took any interest<br />
in it, unless it was because a concerto,<br />
the “in” genre at the time, would have<br />
been easier to market than a mere allegro.<br />
It was, then, for financial reasons<br />
that, in 1845, Schumann fleshed out the<br />
Allegro with an Intermezzo and Finale to<br />
form a complete concerto.<br />
The concerto was premiered in<br />
Dresden in 1845 by Clara, by then recognized<br />
as the greatest virtuoso pianist<br />
of her time. The orchestra was conducted<br />
by Ferdinand Hiller, to whom<br />
the concerto is dedicated. Clara played<br />
it again in Leipzig the following year,<br />
this time with the orchestra conducted<br />
by none other than Felix Mendelssohn.<br />
It should be said that a decade earlier<br />
Mendelssohn had premiered Clara’s<br />
own Concerto in A Minor. It is a magnificent<br />
gift he has left us, one of the great<br />
concertos of the Romantic period,<br />
buy.<br />
a<br />
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strings bring back the theme against a<br />
continuo by the piano, which in turn<br />
takes it up and develops it.<br />
The Intermezzo: Andantino Grazioso<br />
opens with recurring staccato chords by<br />
the piano, which launches an irrepressible<br />
flow of piano notes with the support<br />
of a brilliant orchestral score. It is<br />
in such dazzling passages that the virtuosity<br />
of the performer is truly revealed.<br />
The final measures end with a bouncy<br />
rhythm that however never strays far<br />
from the tender melancholy that characterizes<br />
this work.<br />
Without a pause the concerto moves<br />
into the Allegro Vivace, an eloquent dialog<br />
for piano and orchestra, a model of<br />
the genre. It too contains a deluge of<br />
notes that stupefies the listener.<br />
The lyrical qualities of the concerto<br />
have often been praised, as has its thematic<br />
richness.<br />
This remarkable composer, who<br />
suffered from a thousand troubles, including<br />
a future father-in-law from hell,<br />
and humiliations that drove him to an<br />
asylum, married to the greatest piano<br />
virtuoso of his age whom he had long<br />
loved, who so loved desperately the<br />
piano, one day knew another love: the<br />
violin family. He offered this new love<br />
remarkable pieces, including a concerto<br />
Not just hardware…<br />
for cello, and another for violin, plus<br />
two violin sonatas. Still to come also<br />
were two pieces for piano and orchestra, chanted me in the highest sense of that<br />
What long-time<br />
the Introduction<br />
readers<br />
and<br />
tell us<br />
Allegro<br />
they most<br />
Appassionato<br />
like about<br />
term.<br />
UHF<br />
If<br />
is<br />
you<br />
that<br />
know<br />
it<br />
Ravel’s La Valse, you<br />
does more than<br />
in G<br />
review<br />
Major<br />
amplifiers<br />
and the Introduction<br />
and speakers.<br />
and Allegro<br />
will understand me, for in several regards<br />
you will find echoes of it in this<br />
In every issue,<br />
Concertante<br />
we discuss<br />
in<br />
ideas.<br />
D Minor. Schumann<br />
We try to<br />
also<br />
tell<br />
worked<br />
you what<br />
on<br />
you<br />
solo<br />
need<br />
violin<br />
to<br />
arrangements<br />
know, besides what<br />
concerto.<br />
CD player to<br />
of some of the great works of Bach and However Ravel never heard it in its<br />
masterpiece, a half hour of tenderness<br />
It’s one of<br />
Paganini.<br />
the features that makes UHF <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
final<br />
unlike<br />
form.<br />
any other<br />
It was premiered in Vienna<br />
and passion, of absolute pleasure.<br />
audio<br />
It<br />
magazine.<br />
is<br />
in 1932 by Wittgenstein, who chose to<br />
believed that Grieg took inspiration<br />
from it in the creation of his own concerto.<br />
The Allegro Affettuoso, opens with a<br />
single powerful measure by the orchestra.<br />
The piano enters immediately with<br />
energetic chords, and the orchestra returns<br />
to take up the dialog. The strings<br />
introduce a melody of great beauty<br />
tinged with melancholy, and the piano<br />
develops it with the accompaniment of<br />
the strings and the rest of the orchestra.<br />
The superb theme is never far away, and<br />
it returns regularly, amid fiery passages<br />
that set up captivating tension. The<br />
From the 19 th to the 20 th Century<br />
Throughout the 19 th Century, the<br />
piano and the violin were the favored<br />
instruments of composers who were<br />
themselves virtuoso musicians. Think<br />
of Franz Liszt, of Frédéric Chopin, or<br />
of the sorcerer of the violin, Niccolò<br />
Paganini. Their skill expressed itself<br />
in the cadenza, once an improvised<br />
segment like those that would later be<br />
common in jazz, but since Beethoven<br />
mostly written out explicitly, to avoid<br />
distasteful flights of fancy.<br />
The 20 th Century produced remarkable<br />
composers who left us masterpiec-<br />
arrange it for twin pianos rather than piano<br />
and orchestra. “I’m an old pianist,”<br />
Wittgenstein told the crestfallen Ravel,<br />
“and this doesn’t work.” Replied Ravel,<br />
“I’m an old orchestrator, and it does<br />
work.” Ravel abruptly left Vienna, and<br />
used his influence to prevent Wittgenstein<br />
from performing it in France. By<br />
the time Jacques Février played it in<br />
Paris with Charles Munch on the podium,<br />
in 1937, Ravel was dead.<br />
Much later, Wittgenstein expressed<br />
regrets. “It always takes me a certain<br />
time to get into a piece of music,” he<br />
said. “I suppose Ravel was bitterly dis-<br />
es. Among them are the Frenchman<br />
Ravel and one of his greatest admirers,<br />
the American Gershwin.<br />
Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in D Major<br />
for the Left Hand<br />
Though the celebrated Austrian pianist<br />
Paul Wittgenstein lost his right arm<br />
in the Great War, he could not envisage<br />
abandoning his art, and asked Maurice<br />
Ravel to write him a concerto for his<br />
remaining hand. We are in 1929, and<br />
Ravel (1875-1937) enjoys worldwide<br />
fame. His Boléro has established him as a<br />
genius. He rewards Wittgenstein with a<br />
masterpiece.<br />
It should be said that Ravel was not<br />
the only composer Wittgenstein approached.<br />
He also solicited Benjamin<br />
Britten, Richard Strauss and Sergei<br />
Prokofiev. Prokofiev did in fact write<br />
him a piece for left hand, his Concerto<br />
No. 4 in B-Flat Major. That concerto,<br />
running across four movements over 25<br />
minutes is not uninteresting. However<br />
Wittgenstein considered it technically<br />
too difficult, and preferred the Ravel<br />
work. Prokofiev’s concerto, as a result,<br />
was never performed in his lifetime.<br />
It’s not clear why Wittgenstein<br />
chose the Ravel, because it too presents<br />
enormous technical difficulties. I have<br />
selected it because I am more sensitive<br />
to Ravel’s music, which once again en-
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appointed, and I’m truly sorry. But no<br />
one ever taught me to hide my feelings.<br />
It was only later, after studying the concerto<br />
during long months, that I became<br />
fascinated with it, and realized what a<br />
great work it was.”<br />
Ravel, having been himself a soldier,<br />
and saddened by what had happened to<br />
Wittgenstein, expressed through the<br />
concerto all of the horror that war inspired<br />
in him. I can add not a word to<br />
this appreciation by the eminent French<br />
pianist and teacher Marguerite Long.<br />
Everything here is grandiose, monumental,<br />
in keeping with the flamboyant<br />
horizons, the monstrous holocausts, which<br />
consume the body and engulfs the spirit, vast<br />
human herds grimacing with suffering and<br />
anguish. This colossal fresco, on the scale of<br />
a burnt-out world, is the five fingers of the<br />
left hand, queen of ill omens, which sketch<br />
its tart lines.<br />
Lasting some 20 minutes, this concerto<br />
is a veritable challenge for the<br />
virtuoso. It begins with the orchestra in<br />
the lower register for the cellos, against<br />
which the contrabassoon and the horns<br />
develop the melody. This first theme,<br />
exalting but tinged with resignation,<br />
will return frequently. The piano bursts<br />
forth with violent chords that overwhelm<br />
the orchestra. Then comes the<br />
first of two cadenzas, both fraught with<br />
difficulty.<br />
A complex accompaniment in the<br />
middle register lends support to the<br />
melody, and then the full orchestra returns,<br />
amplifying the theme exposed by<br />
the piano.<br />
One is reduced to silence when, in<br />
an atmosphere of apocalypse, the piano<br />
rains notes down on the orchestral instruments.<br />
One is suffused with a sentiment<br />
of mystery, unexplainable, as we<br />
approach an increasingly worrisome<br />
paroxysm. Suddenly the brass explodes<br />
into a march tempo as the second part of<br />
the concerto opens. Against this martial<br />
rhythm the piano introduces a colorful<br />
dance clearly inspired by jazz. Ravel, it<br />
should be said, loved jazz and greatly<br />
admired George Gershwin, whom he<br />
considered a genius. The two composers<br />
in fact had a reciprocal influence.<br />
The result was that Gershwin gained in<br />
refinement of his orchestrations thanks<br />
to Ravel, while Ravel was inspired by<br />
the Gershwin manner.<br />
In listening to this concerto, you<br />
must let yourself be swept up in a<br />
maelstrom of notes that yields the illusion<br />
that there are two hands on the<br />
keyboard. And especially, you must let<br />
yourself be intoxicated by the perfection<br />
of the counterpoints that contributed to<br />
Ravel’s reputation as a master of orchestration.<br />
This concerto, I believe, illustrates<br />
perfectly the battle that a solo instrument<br />
can wage against a large orchestra.<br />
A suggestion: listen to La Valse just<br />
before settling into the Concerto for the<br />
Left Hand. It is today a favorite of piano<br />
virtuosos.<br />
George Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F<br />
What an extraordinary life is that<br />
of George Gershwin (1898-1937), and<br />
what a musical heritage he left us: a<br />
jazz-classical fusion, eternal melodies<br />
that are part of the American soul, and<br />
such works as the Rhapsody in Blue and<br />
the Concerto in F.<br />
This last work was composed in<br />
1925 for the New York Symphony Society,<br />
commissioned by the conductor<br />
Walter Damrosch. He had been present<br />
the previous year at New York’s Aeolian<br />
Hall at the premiere of Rhapsody in Blue,<br />
with its long, troubling opening clarinet<br />
glissando, which literally mesmerizes<br />
the listeners.<br />
Energetic, audacious, classical but<br />
with a Blues flavor, the single-movement<br />
Rhapsody marked the beginning of<br />
what was to be called sophisticated jazz.<br />
At the premiere Gershwin himself was<br />
at the piano, with Paul Whiteman conducting.<br />
There was wild applause when<br />
it was over.<br />
The next day it was Damrosch’s turn<br />
to be excited and insistent, and he contacted<br />
Gershwin to ask him for a concerto<br />
in the classical style for the New<br />
York Symphony Orchestra.<br />
Quite aware of his limitations as an<br />
orchestrator (his Rhapsody had been orchestrated<br />
by Ferde Grofé), Gershwin<br />
rushed out to buy all the treatises he<br />
could on theory, the concerto form, and<br />
orchestration. Tied by contracts to create<br />
three Broadway musical comedies,<br />
Gershwin was not able to begin work<br />
until his return from London. In July he<br />
wrote the first movement of what was<br />
initially dubbed the New York Concerto.<br />
The second movement came in August,<br />
the third in September. He completed<br />
the orchestration by November 10 th .<br />
For the 1925 premiere Gershwin<br />
hired 60 musicians. Damrosch was<br />
there to offer suggestions, leading to<br />
last-moment revisions. Damrosch of<br />
course conducted the New York Symphony,<br />
with the composer at the piano.<br />
They played to a sold-out house, and<br />
the public greeted the work with enthusiasm.<br />
One cannot say the same of<br />
the professional critics, who couldn’t<br />
decide whether the concerto was classical<br />
music or jazz. As for Gershwin’s colleagues,<br />
Igor Stravinsky found the concerto<br />
inspired, while Sergei Prokofiev,<br />
apparently unable to accept that much<br />
novelty, detested it.<br />
There are three movements, an Allegro,<br />
an Adagio/Andante con moto, and<br />
an Allegro Agitato. There are some<br />
similarities between the first and third<br />
movements, but the second is decidedly<br />
jazzy.<br />
What about the orchestration? British<br />
composer William Walton, known<br />
not only for his talent but also for his<br />
modernism, said he adored Gerhwin’s<br />
orchestration, which included two flutes<br />
and a piccolo, two oboes, a French horn,<br />
two B-Flat clarinets, a bass clarinet, two<br />
bassoons, four horns in A, three B-Flat<br />
trumpets, three trombones, a tuba, tympani,<br />
three percussionists, strings, and<br />
of course the piano.<br />
George Gershwin was a phenomenal<br />
melodist and a composer of genius,<br />
arguably one of the greatest of the New<br />
World. His Concerto in F is one of the<br />
truly great masterpieces for piano, and<br />
it has an eternal place in the world repertoire.<br />
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Handel Arias<br />
Karina Gauvin/Tempo Rubato<br />
Atma ACD2 2589<br />
Simon: Handel must have written his<br />
arias for Karina Gauvin! I can almost<br />
see him smiling in the shadows, eyes<br />
shut, eyebrows raised, as she opens her<br />
poignant rendition of his sublime Lascia<br />
ch’io pianga.<br />
If you know this famous melody<br />
that Handel originally wrote for his<br />
opera Rinaldo, you’ll want to hear<br />
how Gauvin reaches into the depths<br />
of sorrow, her voice riding a wave of<br />
melancholy, richer and warmer than I’ve<br />
ever heard it, easily reaching now into<br />
the mezzo range. The period strings of<br />
the Tempo Rubato ensemble seem to<br />
sigh and weep along, under the skilful<br />
conducting of Alexander Weimann at<br />
the harpsichord.<br />
If you don’t know this aria, what<br />
can I say? Only that I envy you for the<br />
revelation that awaits you.<br />
All through this recording, Karina<br />
Gauvin’s color has the warmth and depth<br />
of a finely-polished string instrument,<br />
and at times the rich glow of a brass<br />
instrument — as in Ah! think what ills<br />
from the oratorio Hercules, in which she<br />
easily rises and shines way above the<br />
stage.<br />
Brace yourself for track 16, a<br />
wonderfully intricate and elaborate<br />
nightingale aria, introduced by a flute<br />
and the harpsichord, and soon joined<br />
by Karina’s controlled fluttering voice.<br />
(Listen carefully and you’ll almost<br />
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by Gerard Rejskind<br />
and Albert Simon<br />
hear the flutes of Beethoven’s Pastoral<br />
Symphony.) After a superb bird duo of<br />
flute and voice, the piece ends on a<br />
breathtaking (yes, I know, it’s an easy<br />
one) solo flute.<br />
My jaw dropped.<br />
Bach: Goldberg Variations<br />
Crow, McNabney, Haimovitz<br />
Oxingale OX2014<br />
Rejskind: These famous Bach variations<br />
weren’t written for a string trio, but Bach<br />
himself was nothing if not pragmatic<br />
when it came to instrumentation. Some<br />
of his best-known large-scale pieces<br />
were for “klavier,” which then meant<br />
either the harpsichord or the pipe<br />
organ, instruments so different that the<br />
keyboard was all they had in common.<br />
Even so, Bach would sometimes play<br />
his keyboard works on the guitar, more<br />
portable than either of the other two<br />
instruments. The music is what counts.<br />
Indeed, the most famous recordings<br />
of the Goldbergs are those of Glenn<br />
Gould (his very first recording was<br />
of the Goldbergs, and so was his last).<br />
Gould played them on the piano, and<br />
always argued that if Bach lived today<br />
he would too. Over the years Bach has<br />
been rendered by jazz bands, scat singers<br />
and saxophones. All considered, then, a<br />
string trio cannot truly be considered<br />
outrageous.<br />
The story of the Goldbergs is<br />
well known, though, like all good<br />
stories, it could easily be mere legend.<br />
The variations were commissioned by<br />
Count Keyserlingk, who suffered from<br />
insomnia. He would go to sleep to the<br />
sound of the Variations played by his<br />
court composer and harpsichordist,<br />
Johann Goldberg. So it is said.<br />
Some of the music is not exactly<br />
soporific (the Variation V is downright<br />
frenzied), and I’m not sure how effective<br />
the set would have been as a lullaby.<br />
The work is, however, a monument —<br />
one more — in the collection of Bach’s<br />
music. It begins and ends with the Aria,<br />
which is of course the melody which<br />
serves as the basis of the variations. It is a<br />
beautiful air, which is no surprise, but the<br />
variations that follow are breathtaking in<br />
their freshness and inventiveness. Even<br />
for Bach, they are astonishing.<br />
This work lends itself well to<br />
complex instrumentation, because Bach<br />
relied on canons in its development. A<br />
canon is a melody in parts (like Frère<br />
Jacques), and it can be played on the<br />
keyboard, since the musician has two<br />
hands, but using a string trio opens<br />
new possibilities. This arrangement was<br />
created by the Russian-born violinist<br />
Dmitri Sitkovetsky, who by the way<br />
dedicated the arrangement to Glenn<br />
Gould.<br />
The trio includes Canadian violinist<br />
Jonathan Crow, former first violin of the<br />
Montreal Symphony, and the youngest<br />
ever to hold that position, violist Douglas<br />
McNabney and cellist Matt Haimovitz.<br />
Their playing is clear and coherent,<br />
as it must be in order for the complex<br />
musical structure of Bach’s music to<br />
make sense. Both the arrangement and<br />
the performance throw new light on this<br />
beloved Bach work.<br />
My only reservation, but it’s a<br />
major one, concerns the recording,<br />
which sounds like a throwback to the<br />
early era of digital recording, with an<br />
overly-crystalline, tipped-up top end.<br />
Even on our Linn Unidisk player,<br />
Crow’s violin was disturbingly sharp,<br />
bordering on shrill. I shudder to think<br />
how it would sound on a lesser player.<br />
Too bad, because both the music and<br />
the musicians deserve better.
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Sullivan/Sibelius: The Tempest<br />
Stern/Kansas City Symph.<br />
Reference Recordings RR-115<br />
Simon: The mysterious opening of<br />
Sir Arthur Sullivan’s introduction<br />
has that beckoning way of drawing<br />
you right into the music and creating<br />
great expectations for what follows. It<br />
is also its main problem. I mean about<br />
expectations.<br />
K now i ng Su l l iva n’s famou s<br />
collaboration with librettist William<br />
Shwenck Gilbert (yes, of Gilbert and<br />
Sullivan fame) I expected so much<br />
more, and yet I don’t know in what way.<br />
The music is superbly played and finely<br />
recorded (24-bit HDCD), yet it left me<br />
waiting for something more. This score<br />
was Sullivan’s first orchestral work. He<br />
was 19 when he wrote it in 1861 during<br />
his graduation year. Maybe that explains<br />
some of it. Not sure.<br />
Here is an interesting contrast.<br />
Jean Sibelius wrote his music for The<br />
Tempest in 1925, when he was 60. And,<br />
with Tapiola, that was his last orchestral<br />
composition. (Incidentally, The Tempest<br />
was also Shakespeare’s last major work.)<br />
Sibelius was then the absolute master of<br />
orchestration and, trust me, it shows in<br />
every section of the two concert suites<br />
presented here. The Prelude explodes in<br />
depicting the terrifying violence of the<br />
storm at sea that Prospero magically<br />
summons from the shores of the<br />
enchanted island where he is exiled. The<br />
charming inventiveness of the music and<br />
the fascinating orchestration continues<br />
to delight throughout the scenes. Each<br />
character is depicted with his own aura of<br />
grace, mischief or mystery, and I found<br />
myself happily transported from a song<br />
to a dance to a lullaby.<br />
I felt as if Sibelius hadn’t just written<br />
incidental music for the play, as he was<br />
commissioned to do, but was inspired by<br />
the play to write his own music.<br />
And perhaps that is the difference<br />
from Sullivan’s approach. Sullivan’s is a<br />
good accompaniment to the play, while<br />
Sibelius’ composition (in these two<br />
concert suites) lives on and transcends<br />
it.<br />
By the way, Reference Recordings<br />
released a CD in 1988 (RR-10), recorded<br />
in 1981, prior to HDCD, also entitled<br />
The Tempest. It is the ballet music for the<br />
same play composed by Paul Shihara,<br />
also known for his movie scores such as<br />
Prince of the City and Crossing Delancey.<br />
Immortal Nystedt<br />
Ensemble96 & Bærum Vokalensemble<br />
2L 04 1888 510321<br />
Rejskind: Why is this vocal group called<br />
Ensemble96? Its founding members<br />
were the chamber choir of the Oslo<br />
Philharmonic Orchestra, which was<br />
disbanded in the year 1996. Since then<br />
they have been performing and recording<br />
as an independent group, under Øystein<br />
Fevang, who was a soloist with the<br />
original choir. Ensemble96 is joined<br />
in this recording by a female choir, the<br />
Bærum Vocal Ensemble, whose original<br />
conductor was none other than Fevang<br />
himself (it is now conducted by Anine<br />
Kruse).<br />
Composer Knut Nystedt, born<br />
in 1916, draws his inspiration from<br />
philosophy (the opening work on this<br />
recording is titled Prayers of Kierkegaard,<br />
after Søren Kierkegaard) but also<br />
Christian perspectives. In the latter<br />
Nystedt of course does as Bach did,<br />
and indeed Nystedt lists Bach among<br />
his influences. Another influence he<br />
lists is Palestrina, and the complex<br />
polyphonic music, with no instrumental<br />
accompaniment, does recall Palestrina.<br />
However the often dissonant vocal<br />
streams are at the same time decidedly<br />
modern. But then Nystedt also lists<br />
among his inf luences Stravinsk y,<br />
Honneger, Messiaen and Ligeti, the<br />
who’s who of what used to be called<br />
contemporary music.<br />
Most of the pieces on this disc are for<br />
mixed choir. Salve Regina is for the rich<br />
male voice of Ensemble96. Nytt er livet is<br />
for female choir, and was commissioned<br />
by the Bærum Vocal Ensemble when<br />
Favang was its conductor. Particularly<br />
notable is the solo soprano, Gea Aartun,<br />
whose soaring voice is a delight.<br />
The recording ends with Immortal<br />
Bach, a Nystedt arrangement of Bach’s<br />
Komm, süsser Tod (“Come, sweet Death”).<br />
Here the choirs are divided into five<br />
groups, with each line of text passed<br />
among them. The spatial effect in this<br />
brief piece is surprising. If you can listen<br />
to this hybrid multichannel SACD, it<br />
gets even more surprising.<br />
Unaccompanied choral music may<br />
not seem to be for everyone, but the<br />
album did garner Grammy nominations<br />
for both best choral album and best<br />
surround sound album.<br />
Nordheim<br />
Arne Nordheim<br />
2L 39 SACD<br />
Simon: Turning over the SACD booklet<br />
I noticed a warning on the back: Extreme<br />
Surround Sound! Wow, said I, maybe<br />
they’re onto something, could it be a<br />
sign of things to come? Marketing for<br />
budding 12-year old audiophiles, taking<br />
a breather from video games? Hold the<br />
sarcasm, I decided, as I sat to listen to<br />
it.<br />
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And I was floored. This is good<br />
stuff.<br />
Where I expected undefinable<br />
pieces with an emphasis on overdone<br />
special effects, I found remarkable music<br />
and an exceptional recording. Norwegian<br />
composer Arne Nordheim’s music is<br />
a constantly changing combination<br />
of textures and atmosphere, perfectly<br />
suited to organ, synthesizer, electronic<br />
processes and an infinite array of<br />
percussion. You might not find tunes<br />
to whistle along on your way to work,<br />
but if you allow yourself to be carried<br />
away by the sound, you might discover,<br />
in Colorazione, worlds of fantasy rising<br />
from a slow, mysterious beginning and<br />
broadening in waves of sound you can<br />
almost touch. I listened, smiling, as the<br />
subtle weaving filled the space totally,<br />
at times, and as a dark silence suddenly<br />
followed, sprinkled with the tinkling<br />
of bright, tiny bells suspended in space.<br />
(The booklet accurately explains the<br />
electronic process in this piece, whereby<br />
the music played by the Cikada Duo is<br />
continuously recorded and played back<br />
with a 15 seconds delay, but, I prefer<br />
to leave technical information where it<br />
belongs and just share my impressions<br />
in this text.)<br />
A gong proudly opens the five-part<br />
composition Fem Kryptofonier, and in<br />
the ensuing avalanche of percussion<br />
Elisabeth Holmertz’s soprano voice rises<br />
from the chaos, surrounded by delicate<br />
rustles and rich carillon bells. Surprises<br />
at every turn, intriguing, dripping<br />
sounds and mysterious groans appearing<br />
in a huge space all around you, shrouded<br />
in mystery; a soundscape labyrinth, not<br />
always pleasant, even irritating at times<br />
and yet riveting — if you are willing to<br />
let go of conventions and embrace the<br />
new.<br />
And, suddenly, there is Den Første<br />
Sommerfugl (The First Butterfly) a<br />
lovely song for soprano, synthesizer and<br />
percussion, based on a charming poem<br />
by Henryk Wiergeland.<br />
The sunshine is but winter smiling.<br />
And warmth the equinox beguiling.<br />
Wr apped i n a n encha nt i ng<br />
melody, it is a surprisingly conventional<br />
conclusion to this fascinating insight<br />
into the contemporary world of Arne<br />
Nordheim.<br />
The Miraculous Crossing<br />
La Nef/Les Charonniers de l’Enfer<br />
Atma ACD2 2588<br />
Simon: Hey dom, ta ri dom, ta ri le la le<br />
ri dom, ta ri le la ri dey di…<br />
Out of the void rises a single man’s<br />
voice singing a quiet tune, as if to<br />
himself, on a large stage surrounded<br />
by darkness. And then slowly, almost<br />
timidly, the low voices of a cello and a<br />
double bass join in from the recessed<br />
right corner, creating that wonderfully<br />
satisfying support. Soon after, the stage<br />
lights up as more male voices join in<br />
with gentle harmonies, and as layers<br />
and layers of flute, guitar, cittern and<br />
percussion dance in with smiles and<br />
joy.<br />
Les Charbonniers de l’Enfer,<br />
Quebec’s a capella group of five, have<br />
been sharing their passion for the oral<br />
tradition with audiences for the last<br />
ten years. They are joined here by La<br />
Nef, a musical group well known for<br />
its production of early music (it has<br />
previously recorded with Analekta and<br />
Dorian). There are plenty of Baroque<br />
music recordings featuring authentic<br />
instruments, but to me they often sound<br />
cold and overly well-behaved, a polished<br />
memory of times long gone. In this case,<br />
however, it felt as if I walked through<br />
a wall and stepped right into a 17th or<br />
18th Century tavern. The songs took me<br />
to a world of crowded, dimly lit rooms,<br />
wooden tables and red wine poured from<br />
earthenware jugs. It smelled of smoke,<br />
food and burning oil. Muddy feet tapped<br />
on the dusty floors and spoons danced<br />
lightly on the knees. And from time to<br />
time, mainly late into the night or early<br />
morning, the silence settled in as tragic<br />
stories at sea were sung in mournful<br />
laments.<br />
Yes, the uniquely evocative character<br />
of this recording is its main appeal for<br />
me. No need to close your eyes. It is so<br />
well recorded that everything is palpable,<br />
right there in front and around the<br />
speakers. Bon voyage.<br />
The Best of Audiophile Classics<br />
Various artists<br />
Opus 3 CD22080<br />
Rejskind: Opus 3 co-founder Jan-Eric<br />
Persson is still turning out new releases<br />
more than three decades after the launch<br />
of his audiophile label, but he has wisely<br />
been dipping into his rich vaults and<br />
pulling out treasures of the past. Recent<br />
releases included selections from the first<br />
three “test records” (actually samplers),<br />
and also swing jazz performances from<br />
vibraphonist Lars Erstrand (Swingcerely<br />
Yours, CD22081). Now he has a disc full<br />
of his early classical releases, plus some<br />
more recent ones.<br />
Fortunately he was using a brand<br />
of analog tape not overly prone to rapid<br />
deterioration — not all audiophile<br />
record producers were as lucky. I have<br />
access to a number of the original LPs<br />
that made Jan-Eric famous, and I can say<br />
that the transfer to SACD is well done.<br />
Especially notable is Lars-Erik<br />
Larsson’s Concertino for Double Bass and<br />
Strings, which, against all odds, turned<br />
into onto one of the label’s best-sellers.<br />
The rich resonance of Thorval Fredin’s<br />
giant instrument has a visceral effect on<br />
the listener. There is a part of a Brahms<br />
clarinet trio, and the Larghetto from<br />
Beethoven’s pre-Romantic Symphony<br />
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No. 2. There is an amazing arrangement<br />
of Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte<br />
in a surprising but wholly successful<br />
arrangement for guitar quartet. There<br />
is a lovely Andante from a Schubert<br />
Trio, and there is even music by Frank<br />
Zappa.<br />
Persson has also thrown in some<br />
more recent releases. The album opens<br />
with the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D<br />
Minor from Organ Treasures (CD22031).<br />
And there is the all-too-brief Candlelight<br />
Carol by the Erik Westberg Vocal<br />
Ensemble. By the way, if you want to<br />
demonstrate how well your system can<br />
simulate the illusion of great depth, look<br />
no further.<br />
I heartily recommend this album,<br />
but beware! You’ll be ordering the<br />
full albums by the time this SACD is<br />
through.<br />
A Fragile Balance<br />
Ray Montford<br />
Softail AFB07LP<br />
Rejskind: Ray Montford is a Torontobased<br />
guitarist one of whose major<br />
influences is rock music, though it is easy<br />
to hear that another source is the vast<br />
catchall called World music. No pure<br />
acoustic instruments here. Montford<br />
plays electric guitar and is also credited<br />
on the jacket with “textures,” which I<br />
presume refers to the sonic effects that<br />
make the sound of his instrument float in<br />
the vast space. He is backed up by other<br />
musicians, including brilliantfish (Rob<br />
Greenway, who adds percussion, more<br />
textures, his voice on Honour This Land,<br />
and who also designed the jacket), bassist<br />
John Dymond, cellist George Koller, and<br />
pianist and B3 organist Steve O’Connor.<br />
There are plenty of electronic effects,<br />
from reverberation to vibrato.<br />
How would one classify Montford’s<br />
music? Jazz? No doubt, though it’s a long<br />
way from classic jazz. Blues? Possibly.<br />
Rock? Not really, notwithstanding the<br />
obvious influences. New Age? That’s<br />
become an awfully broad descriptive<br />
today, but it might fit too.<br />
The album’s sound doesn’t vary<br />
enormously, which makes the titles (The<br />
Healing, Blind to Beauty, I Hear You Now,<br />
etc.) seem superfluous, but I don’t mean<br />
to suggest that it is either monotonous or<br />
repetitive, and the sound of Montford’s<br />
guitar is not always the same from track<br />
to track. The space sometimes grows,<br />
sometimes contracts to become more<br />
intimate. Each piece seems to hand off<br />
logically from the preceding one, with<br />
inventive melodic development that<br />
opens up new textures. Yes, textures. By<br />
the time you arrive at the end the term<br />
makes perfect sense.<br />
This LP, which is also available on<br />
CD, includes thanks to Vince Bruzzese<br />
and Totem Acoustic for encouragement.<br />
It’s difficult to speak of fidelity in rating<br />
this album, because it is largely a pure<br />
sonic creation, and not any sort of<br />
faithful reproduction, but by the last<br />
track I was totally won over. A second<br />
listen left me even more delighted.<br />
Though mastering of both the LP<br />
and the CD were done in California,<br />
the jacket says the record was “made in<br />
Canada,” which may or may not include<br />
the pressing. Except for a slight cyclic<br />
swish that mars the final seconds of the<br />
last track on side two, it is exemplary.<br />
Le piano et la voix<br />
Martin Deschamps<br />
MDI PMD2-3685<br />
Rejskind: This new recording by<br />
Deschamps is something of a change of<br />
pace. Known as a rocker, he breaks new<br />
ground in this recording, in which he<br />
sings his songs, some of them ballads<br />
some of them not, with a constellation<br />
of star pianists, including Vic Vogel,<br />
Lorraine Desmarais, “Mégo” (Céline<br />
Dion’s pianist), and Guy St-Onge.<br />
Deschamps says he wanted to do an<br />
album with only piano accompaniment<br />
so that he could leave the way clear for<br />
the more “theatrical” aspects of his<br />
singing voice.<br />
This is Deschamps’ sixth album, but<br />
for those who don’t know him, I shall add<br />
a detail that is obvious neither from the<br />
recording nor from the booklet photos.<br />
He was born grievously handicapped,<br />
with but one leg, and with a vestigial<br />
arm whose hand is not fully formed. He<br />
had an electric bass modified so he could<br />
play it. “You need two fingers to play the<br />
bass,” he says, “and that’s just how many<br />
I have.” He used to wear a prosthetic leg,<br />
but has abandoned it “because it made<br />
it impossible for me to dance,” he says.<br />
He gets about with crutches attached<br />
to his arms, and commonly finishes a<br />
number by raising them high in the air.<br />
Do people stare? “Yes, but it’s better than<br />
before I was famous, because then they<br />
wouldn’t dare look at me.”<br />
But I mention all this only in<br />
case you don’t know him, because his<br />
awesome talent has nothing to do with<br />
any handicap. He has become popular<br />
because his music is powerful, joyous,<br />
appealing.<br />
In the title song that opens this new<br />
album, he explains why he doesn’t need<br />
a big orchestra to dazzle you.<br />
Pas besoin d’un grand orchestre<br />
Ni de grandes paraboles<br />
Pour trouver une façon<br />
De te donner des frissons.<br />
Those words are from Deschamps<br />
himself, but he has enrolled other artists<br />
for other songs. Dans ta peau is from Paul<br />
Baillargeon, who also supplies the music<br />
from some of the songs. Pas grand chose<br />
was composed by famed singer Daniel<br />
Lavoie, on lyrics by Brice Homs. La voix<br />
que j’ai (literally “the voice I’ve got”)<br />
is from the late gravel-voiced Quebec<br />
rocker Gerry Boulet.<br />
Entirely from Deschamps’ pen is<br />
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Ma petite douceur, a love hymn to his<br />
five-year old daughter. Moving and<br />
gorgeous!<br />
Depending on where you live this<br />
recording may not be available except on<br />
line. I recommend making the effort.<br />
The Godfather Trilogy (Blu-ray)<br />
Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Diane<br />
Keaton<br />
Paramount 13864<br />
Rejskind: In the early days of Blu-ray I<br />
wondered when — if ever — the great<br />
movies would come out. So many of the<br />
first releases seemed to be based on video<br />
games, perhaps reflecting the fact that<br />
the Sony PlayStation accounted for the<br />
majority of Blu-ray players. Though the<br />
pace of releases remains glacial, some<br />
favorite titles are beginning to appear.<br />
By “favorite” I mean not only films of<br />
value, but movies that are worth visiting<br />
again and again.<br />
I rank the Godfather trilogy very<br />
high on that scale. Though each of the<br />
films is long (it is difficult to watch<br />
the second one in the span of a single<br />
evening), the characters are so engaging<br />
that I look forward to even the most<br />
familiar scenes with relish.<br />
Start with the remarkable opening<br />
segment in Don Vito’s dark office, with<br />
Bonasera asking for vengeance for the<br />
mutilation of his daughter. The sequence<br />
tells us much of what we need to know<br />
about the mindset of the Mafia. The<br />
most valued aspect of life is family: Don<br />
Vito cannot refuse a favor the day of<br />
his daughter’s wedding, and he will not<br />
72 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
have the family photo taken if Michael<br />
is not in it. He tells Johnny Fontaine<br />
that “a man who doesn’t spend time<br />
with his family can never be a real man.”<br />
The second most important is respect,<br />
and Don Vito explains the concept to<br />
Bonasera in clear terms. The third is a<br />
certain code of honor. When Bonasera<br />
(presumably) whispers to Don Vito that<br />
he wants those who beat his daughter<br />
killed, Don Vito replies, “that I cannot<br />
do.” That is not justice, he says, because<br />
Bonasera’s daughter still lives. Don Vito<br />
later says that “we are not murderers.”<br />
Well, he and his family are in fact<br />
murderers, but there are nuances that<br />
the Mafia considers important, even if<br />
the criminal justice system does not.<br />
So awesomely plausible is Marlon<br />
Brando’s depiction of the Mafia chieftain<br />
that we quickly feel that we are part of<br />
his family, even if we view with dismay<br />
the amputation of equine heads. It is,<br />
however, in the second film that we<br />
come to understand how Vito Corleone<br />
became what he became, and why<br />
his life is the perfect bridge between<br />
the centuries-old ethos of Sicily and<br />
southern Italy and the free-market<br />
capitalism of the New World. Though<br />
Godfather II was much criticized for its<br />
flashbacks when it first came out, those<br />
flashbacks are the key to understanding<br />
the underworld phenomenon, or at least<br />
coming to believe that we understand<br />
it.<br />
Those first two films are filled with<br />
memorable scenes. There are the two<br />
anecdote-filled celebrations that open<br />
both films. In the first film there is the<br />
transformation of the cool-eyed war<br />
hero Michael into the cold-eyed new<br />
Don. There is Michael’s return from<br />
exile to draw Kay back into his circle, to<br />
become the mother of the new criminal<br />
organization. In the second film there<br />
Participate in Free Advice!<br />
is the amazing conference between<br />
Michael and a corrupt senator. There<br />
is the extended Cuban sequence, which<br />
implicitly condemns the US policy on<br />
Cuba since 1959. There are the delicious<br />
scenes involving the Jewish mobster<br />
Hyman Roth (superbly played by Lee<br />
Strasberg), ending with his shooting<br />
in a scene that is a perfect duplicate of<br />
Jack Ruby’s public assassination of Lee<br />
Oswald.<br />
There is a fascinating game to be<br />
played, because so many of the characters<br />
seem to be based on real persons. Roth<br />
is clearly based on Meyer Lansky, for<br />
instance. Singer Johnny Fontaine is<br />
inspired by Frank Sinatra, who was also<br />
trapped in a contract with a bandleader<br />
until somehow he got out of it, and<br />
who was easily persuaded to become a<br />
headliner at the casinos of his friends and<br />
benefactors. The Senate Commission<br />
into organized crime, which subpoenas<br />
Michael to appear before it, is of course<br />
the Kefauver Commission (Kefauver<br />
himself would use the commission as<br />
a ramp to an unsuccessful bid for the<br />
Vice-Presidency).<br />
For many admirers of The Godfather,<br />
the third film is an anomaly that should<br />
not have been made, unfit to be part of<br />
the trilogy. I firmly disagree with this<br />
view. Francis Ford Coppola did pack his<br />
productions with members of his family<br />
(Talia Shire, who plays Connie, is his<br />
sister). It can be argued that his daughter<br />
Sofia was an unfortunate last-moment<br />
choice as Mary Corleone, and indeed she<br />
would later make her mark as a director<br />
rather than as an actress. However the<br />
rest of the cast is strong, with Andy Garcia<br />
as Sonny’s illegitimate son Vincent being<br />
particularly excellent. In one of the film’s<br />
powerful scenes, Vincent dispatches a<br />
local Mafia hoodlum in a scene that is<br />
an eerie echo of the young Vito’s killing<br />
of Don Fanucci in the second film.<br />
In any case, it is difficult to think<br />
of the trilogy as other than a single<br />
film that was necessarily cut into three<br />
pieces. Would we discuss whether<br />
Chapter 17 of War and Peace is “better”<br />
than Chapter 29? The Godfather is the<br />
story of a dynasty, and it is pointless to<br />
consider one part superior or inferior to<br />
another.<br />
Besides, if the first two films are<br />
a roman à clef, inviting us to guess who<br />
each of the characters is based on, the<br />
third, set in more recent times, really<br />
moves into realistic territory. Several of<br />
the characters are clearly identifiable,<br />
including Pope John Paul I, whom the<br />
film clearly shows as the victim of an<br />
assassination. Did this happen? Many<br />
people believe it did. Was a Vaticanconnected<br />
financier, “God’s banker,”<br />
found hanged from a London bridge?<br />
The Free Advice section was actually in our very first issue, and it is<br />
one element that makes UHF different from other magazines. It’s not<br />
that our ears are any better than yours, but we have, collectively, many<br />
years of experience. Perhaps we’ve learned something that can help you.<br />
You can submit your own question on line at uhfmail@uhfmag.com,<br />
but note a couple of conditions.<br />
Your question (and of course our answer) may be used in the on-line<br />
version on our site, and it may also be used in the print version. For those<br />
reasons, you need to supply your name and your home city.<br />
(Can you submit a question and specify that it not be used? Yes…but<br />
that’s a paid consultation service, currently costing $50/hour. Contact us<br />
for details.)
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Indeed he was, and mere months ago<br />
this apparent suicide case was reopened,<br />
because police now believe he did not<br />
commit suicide after all (perhaps one<br />
of the detectives saw the movie). Best<br />
of all, we follow what happens to the<br />
characters we have grown to care about<br />
after the end of the second film. We see<br />
Michael, “respectable” now, striving to<br />
lead his family toward the light, as he<br />
once promised Kay he would. We see<br />
Kay, remarried, still repulsed by the<br />
ancient murderous traditions of Sicily,<br />
but haunted by an abiding love for her<br />
former husband. And we see how it<br />
all ends. Who could ask for anything<br />
more?<br />
This new version of the trilogy,<br />
released in both conventional DVD<br />
and Blu-ray, has been cleaned up and<br />
remastered. The first film, being the<br />
oldest, required the most work, and<br />
it shows. The original film was dark,<br />
often deliberately underexposed, and<br />
the years have not been kind to it. The<br />
restoration was done by punching up its<br />
contrast in order to make the dark scenes<br />
black rather than brownish-grey. The<br />
result is, however, that the highlights get<br />
alarmingly blown out. At the outdoor<br />
wedding party, anything white, such<br />
as Connie’s wedding dress, has not a<br />
shred of detail in it. Perhaps that was<br />
unavoidable. The second and third films<br />
have fewer problems, and look and sound<br />
gorgeous.<br />
Contrast notwithstanding, Blu-ray<br />
offers a broader tonal scale than lesser<br />
video processes, and that lets you see<br />
and understand some scenes better,<br />
because you can follow small details<br />
even when bright lights are not trained<br />
on them. A scene that stood out for me<br />
was the one showing Fredo before his<br />
mother’s casket. The lights are on him,<br />
but we see Michael shift his eyes almost<br />
imperceptibly toward Al Nieri, with<br />
Nieri barely nodding. At that moment<br />
we understand that something terrible<br />
will happen to Fredo.<br />
Indeed, terrible things happen in all<br />
three of the films. Yet in the end we are<br />
glad we were there, that we witnessed the<br />
Casablanca (Blu-ray)<br />
Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman<br />
Warner 3000018304<br />
Rejskind: Is Casablanca the best film ever<br />
made? In fact its flaws are all too evident.<br />
Rick his dossier, but purrs reassuringly,<br />
“Don’t worry, we are not going to<br />
broadcast it.” But what could be worse<br />
than the Germans knowing about his<br />
record? In the Paris flashback, Sam<br />
remarks that the invading Germans<br />
will come looking for Rick first thing.<br />
Right…as they marched into Paris the<br />
Germans wouldn’t be busy with other<br />
matters or anything! We see Captain<br />
Renault ostensibly meeting Ilsa for the<br />
first time, even though earlier he told<br />
Rick that “I have seen the lady.” In the<br />
opening scene we meet what seem to be<br />
a pair of British tourists. How likely is it<br />
that, when their country is at war with<br />
Germany, and while Germany occupies<br />
France, they would be vacationing in<br />
French Morocco? And what would<br />
bankers from Amsterdam and Berlin be<br />
doing in that city?<br />
And yet, and yet!<br />
Casablanca is widely admired as one<br />
of the most perfect films ever made, and<br />
How the electronic version works<br />
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script’s motivational device. Why do repeated viewing. There are numerous<br />
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the magazine desert on your by train, computer, hardly but the only most the direct first time. Ronald After Reagan, that, it works who was like any considered<br />
other PDF. path from France?<br />
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For details, There visit our are Electronic other script Edition problems page. To is buy Ingrid an issue Bergman, or subscribe, one of visit the world’s<br />
story of a family and indeed an important MagZee. too. Major Strasser arrives on what is most beautiful women to be sure, but<br />
part of North American social history. purported to be the plane from Lisbon, also arguably the greatest actress of her<br />
When it is over, we are ready to begin<br />
again.<br />
rather than one from Germany or one<br />
of the occupied countries. Strasser shows<br />
time. Sam seems irreplaceable as well.<br />
Who but Claude Rains could project the<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 73
Software<br />
Feedback<br />
suave cynicism of Renault, along with<br />
the warmth of his friendship for Rick?<br />
Even the minor characters — Karl,<br />
Sacha, Yvonne, Ugarte, Ferrari, and<br />
the unnamed elderly couple headed for<br />
America — are memorable, and their<br />
performances are part of the pleasure<br />
of seeing the film again and again.<br />
There is the skilful direction of<br />
Michael Curtiz, who wove frequent<br />
reaction shots into the flow of the story.<br />
The eyes of the actors tell us as much as<br />
the dialog.<br />
But oh, the dialog! I cannot think of<br />
another film that can be so enjoyed for<br />
what is said as much as what is shown on<br />
the screen. The documentary which has<br />
accompanied several versions of the film<br />
tells the story of the script development,<br />
but I am not sure it tells the whole tale. It<br />
is widely known that even once shooting<br />
had begun there were script problems,<br />
and the studio brought in a “script<br />
doctor,” Howard Koch. In his early<br />
20’s Koch had been writing for Orson<br />
Welles’ Mercury Theater, and it was he<br />
who caused a continent-wide panic with<br />
his all-too-plausible script for The War of<br />
the Worlds. I suspect it was also he who<br />
was responsible for some of Casablanca’s<br />
most memorable lines.<br />
Consider how much of the dialog<br />
is universally recognizable even outside<br />
its context. When we hear someone say<br />
that “I am shocked, shocked,” we know<br />
he isn’t shocked at all, and we understand<br />
why. How many times have you heard<br />
the line “round up the usual suspects”?<br />
Or “Here’s looking at you, kid”? You<br />
can quote whole sections of the text,<br />
and everyone will know the reference.<br />
Example: “ Of all the gin joints in all<br />
the towns in all the world, she walks into<br />
mine.” Or “You’ll regret it, maybe not<br />
today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon,<br />
and for the rest of your life.” Or “We’ll<br />
always have Paris.” Or “I think this is the<br />
beginning of a beautiful friendship.”<br />
Beyond all that, there is Casablanca<br />
as a real place in a real time. Curtiz<br />
set this up wonderfully. At the very<br />
start of the film we see the incoming<br />
plane arriving behind the sign of Rick’s<br />
Café Américain. In a few lines we are<br />
introduced to it. “I have already heard<br />
about this café, and about Monsieur Rick<br />
himself,” says Major Strasser. Renault<br />
even utters the line “Everybody comes<br />
to Rick’s,” which was the title of the<br />
unproduced play on which the film is<br />
based. And then watch carefully what<br />
happens. We see several persons enter<br />
Rick’s, and we ourselves sweep past the<br />
doorman into the increasingly familiar<br />
place. We feel as though we can always<br />
cross space and time and return to that<br />
smoky saloon in Morocco as time goes<br />
by.<br />
I am still a little disturbed by the<br />
way Sam is treated. Though he is a<br />
major character, the actor who plays<br />
him, Dooley Wilson, is well down in<br />
the credits. Ilsa refers to him as “the boy<br />
who’s playing the piano.” And at the end<br />
Rick is willing to go off with his nemesis<br />
Renault, but when he sells his café to<br />
Ferrari he throws Sam in apparently as<br />
a bonus (so much for his statement that<br />
“I don’t buy or sell human beings”).<br />
The re-release of Casablanca in Bluray<br />
is good news, but does the higher<br />
definition add anything to the already<br />
superb DVD? It does. Though many<br />
older movies look fuzzy despite extensive<br />
restoration, Casablanca looks as though<br />
the film stock has just returned from<br />
the lab, with a rich range of tones. You<br />
can see how Curtiz has managed to<br />
keep much of Rick’s in focus despite the<br />
slower film formulations of the day (and<br />
even one brief scene in which Ilsa is in<br />
the foreground but not quite in focus, a<br />
mistake not detectable in the DVD).<br />
Most of all, you can look clearly<br />
into the shadows. When we first see<br />
Sam at the piano, there is a woman on<br />
a stool just to the piano’s right (see the<br />
picture on this page). I had always been<br />
aware of her, but on the Blu-ray version<br />
I could see she finds Sam to her taste,<br />
and she overreacts to every line of his<br />
song hoping he will notice her. In every<br />
scene, the huge dynamic range throws<br />
the spotlight on fleeting moments that<br />
might otherwise go unnoticed,<br />
I was amused to see that, in this<br />
elaborate re-release, the producers<br />
failed to correct an absurdity in the<br />
subtitles. Both the English and Spanish<br />
subtitles tells us that the famous letters<br />
of transit were signed by General De<br />
Gaulle. This makes no sense, since De<br />
Gaulle’s signature would be respected<br />
neither by the Germans nor by the Vichy<br />
government, which had condemned him<br />
to death in absentia. The soundtrack<br />
and the French subtitles get it right: the<br />
letters bear the signature of General<br />
Weygand, then France’s Minister of<br />
Defense, whatever that means in an<br />
occupied country.<br />
Yes, Casablanca is one of the best<br />
movies ever made. Its appearance in the<br />
Blu-ray format is yet another reason to<br />
buy a Blu-ray player.<br />
74 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
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Gossip&News<br />
Mastering Studio in the Countryside<br />
76 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Wh ere is St-Calixte,<br />
anyway? Better bring<br />
your GPS, because<br />
there aren’t any neon<br />
signs to guide your way. But don’t be<br />
surprised that musician and producer<br />
Guy St-Onge didn’t build his Studio<br />
Référence, or his new mastering lab, in<br />
Montreal next to the autoroute. Not for<br />
naught was his own record label called<br />
Silence.<br />
That’s St-Onge at right, next to UHF<br />
editor Gerard Rejskind, behind the<br />
console of the room that will be used<br />
for mastering his productions, and of<br />
course those of his clients. St-Onge is<br />
the compleat musician if ever there was<br />
one, a Renaissance man who somehow<br />
was born in the era of digital multitrack.<br />
Need someone to compose and conduct<br />
a score for a stage show or a movie? He’s<br />
your man. Someone to do an orchestration<br />
for Céline Dion? No problem. In<br />
one of his recordings (titled Musique<br />
Guy St-Onge), he plays every one of the<br />
instruments of several large orchestras.<br />
Indeed, for the launch of the new<br />
digs, called Pure Mastering, he had composed<br />
a fugue for the occasion, with an<br />
instrument in each of the four channels.<br />
That’s it at right, with the waveforms on<br />
a giant Macintosh ProTools monitor. It<br />
was the next best thing to inviting Bach<br />
over to play his latest.<br />
The mastering room is right next<br />
to the main studio, with its panoramic<br />
window overlooking a tranquil lake, in<br />
what used to be a storage space. It’s no<br />
closet, however, nor does it feel narrow<br />
or closed in. Sit in the central stool<br />
behind the console, surrounded by the<br />
four giant custom-designed monitors,<br />
and the walls seem to fall away. There<br />
is only the music.<br />
And there was enough space to apply<br />
heavy-duty techniques for sound control.<br />
St-Onge brought in Sylvain Barrette and<br />
François Cardinal of Boréal Acoustics to<br />
do the design. There are 430 suspended<br />
panels at the rear, to absorb low frequencies.<br />
The front shell of the room weighs<br />
two and a half tonnes, and was created<br />
specially for Pure Mastering.<br />
The loudspeakers (one large one in<br />
each of the four corners of the room,<br />
plus a smaller centre speaker for video<br />
projects) were also from Boréal, as are<br />
their associated electronic crossovers.<br />
They are driven by Simaudio’s Moon<br />
amplifiers. The large mixing console is<br />
an H.M. Weiss 102. Other gear includes<br />
such brands as emmLabs, Focusrite and<br />
Manley. Though there are actual digital<br />
tape recorders available (a pair of Sony<br />
PCM-7050’s and a PCM-7030), the main<br />
recorder is a Macintosh G5 equipped<br />
with ProTools HD software.<br />
But a studio and a mastering lab are<br />
more than software. The small gravel<br />
road leading to the nondescript build-
Gossip&News<br />
Feedback<br />
ing (and St-Onge’s house next to it) is<br />
difficult to negotiate, and even harder<br />
to find. Artists and producers using the<br />
facility don’t want crowds or paparazzi,<br />
so that is a feature, not a bug. So is the<br />
bucolic milieu. The lake, which you can<br />
see in the picture above, is gorgeous in<br />
all seasons, and it is not a source of noise.<br />
“They don’t allow motorboats on it,” says<br />
Guy St-Onge. Considering the size of<br />
the studio window overlooking it, that’s<br />
a major advantage.<br />
Blu-ray and<br />
DVD Make Nice?<br />
What is slowing the adoption<br />
of Blu-ray? No, it’s<br />
not the sickly encroachment<br />
of high-definition<br />
downloadable formats. It’s the (still)<br />
huge price disparity between Blu-ray and<br />
DVD versions of film releases.<br />
But wait a minute. The reason there’s<br />
a price difference is that studios are still<br />
launching separate versions of their<br />
films. Keeping double inventory is always<br />
expensive, and the extra expense is being<br />
borne by Blu-ray adopters. What if there<br />
were no more double inventory?<br />
One of the advantages claimed for the<br />
defunct HD DVD format was that it was<br />
possible to make a hybrid disc that could<br />
be played on conventional players too.<br />
But that advantage never materialized,<br />
because, as far as we can determine, only<br />
four hybrid titles were ever produced.<br />
But that’s the past. What about the<br />
possibility of putting a DVD layer on a<br />
Blu-ray disc? After all, there are Blu-ray<br />
discs with a large number of layers. Can’t<br />
one of them be dedicated to a red laser<br />
instead of a blue-violet one?<br />
This month such a disc is being<br />
released in Japan by Pony/Canon<br />
(Pony???). It looks a lot like a Blu-ray<br />
Equipment reviews are done on at least one of<br />
UHF’s reference systems, selected as working<br />
tools. They are changed as infrequently as<br />
possible.<br />
The Alpha system<br />
Our original reference is in a room with special<br />
acoustics, originally a recording studio, letting<br />
us hear what we can’t hear elsewhere.<br />
Main digital player: Linn Unidisk 1.1<br />
Additional CD player: CEC TL-51X<br />
belt-driven transport, Counterpoint<br />
DA-10A converter with HDCD card.<br />
Digital cable: Atlas Opus 1.5m<br />
Digital portable: Apple iPod 60 Gb<br />
Turntable: Audiomeca J-1<br />
Tone arm: Audiomeca SL-5<br />
Pickup: Goldring Excel<br />
Phono preamp: Audiomat Phono-1.5<br />
Preamplifier: Copland CTA-305<br />
Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon W-5LE<br />
Loudspeakers: Living Voice Avatar<br />
OBX-R<br />
Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1,<br />
Atlas Navigator All-Cu<br />
Loudspeaker cables: Atlas Mavros with<br />
WBT nextgen banana connectors<br />
Power cords: Gutwire, Wireworld Aurora<br />
AC filters: Foundation Research LC-2<br />
(power amp), Inouye SPLC.<br />
The Omega system<br />
It serves for reviews of gear that cannot<br />
easily fit into the Alpha system, with its small<br />
room.<br />
Digital players: shared with the Alpha<br />
system<br />
Turntable: Linn LP12/Lingo II<br />
Tone arm: Alphason HR-100S MCS<br />
Pickup: London Reference<br />
Phono preamp: Audiomat Phono-1.5<br />
Preamplifier: Simaudio Moon P-8<br />
and a DVD glued back to back.<br />
Drawbacks? Hmm, yes. The Blu-ray<br />
side will need extra compression. And it<br />
will cost maybe five times the already<br />
high Blu-ray price.<br />
Keep working, people!<br />
The UHF Reference Systems<br />
Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon W-8<br />
Loudspeakers: Reference 3a Suprema II<br />
Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1,<br />
Atlas Navigator All-Cu<br />
Loudspeaker cables: Pierre Gabriel ML-<br />
1 for most of the range, Wireworld Polaris<br />
for the twin subwoofers.<br />
Power cords: BIS Audio Maestro,<br />
GutWire B-12, Wireworld<br />
AC filters: GutWire MaxCon Squared,<br />
Foundation Research LC-1<br />
Acoustics: Gershman Acoustic Art panels<br />
The Kappa system<br />
This is our home theatre system. As with the<br />
original Alpha system, we had limited space,<br />
and that pretty much ruled out huge projectors<br />
and two-metre screens. We did, however,<br />
finally come up with a system whose performance<br />
gladdens both eye and ear, with the<br />
needed resolution for reviews.<br />
HDTV monitor: Samsung PN50A550<br />
plasma screen<br />
DVD player (provisional): Sony BDP-<br />
S300 Blu-Ray player<br />
Preamplifier/processor: Simaudio Moon<br />
Attraction, 5.1 channel version<br />
Power amplifiers: Simaudio Moon W-3<br />
(main speakers), bridged Celeste 4070se<br />
(centre speaker), Robertson 4010 (rear)<br />
Main speakers: Energy Reference<br />
Connoisseur<br />
Centre speaker: Thiel MCS1<br />
Rear speakers: Elipson 1400<br />
Subwoofer: 3a Design Acoustics<br />
Cables: Atlas, Van den Hul, MIT,<br />
GutWire, Wireworld<br />
Line filter: GutWire MaxCon Squared<br />
All three systems have dedicated power lines,<br />
with Hubbell hospital grade outlets. Extensions<br />
and power bars are equipped with hospitalgrade<br />
connectors.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 77
Gossip&News<br />
Feedback<br />
Goodbye Kuro<br />
no doubt right, though we have observed<br />
that Cheez Whiz sells faster than Camembert.<br />
And your point is…?<br />
Oh yes, Vizio is also suing a competitor,<br />
the Japanese company Funai<br />
Electric, for “acting alone and in concert<br />
with others, unlawfully restrained trade<br />
and monopolized the market for the<br />
licensing of technology used to interpret<br />
and retrieve information from a digital<br />
television broadcast signal, as well as<br />
the market for digital television sets and<br />
receivers.”<br />
This is a complicated matter, and<br />
that is why God made lawyers, but if we<br />
understand correctly Funai had filed a<br />
complaint for patent infringement. That<br />
relevant patent was ultimately ruled<br />
invalid, but — Vizio claims — Funai<br />
then discriminated against Vizio in the<br />
licensing of its technology.<br />
Got that?<br />
It’s well known that Pioneer’s<br />
Kuro plasma TV’s were among<br />
the best in the world. True, they<br />
didn’t benefit from cutting-edge<br />
research (you can’t get one with a 120<br />
Hz frame rate, for example), but the<br />
rich, deep blacks and excellent shadow<br />
detail made them a favorite with serious<br />
videophiles.<br />
Only time and economics were<br />
catching up to Pioneer. Panasonic’s<br />
plasma screens also had deep blacks,<br />
and it looked like a bad sign, last March,<br />
when Pioneer announced it would close<br />
its plasma plant, and buy its plasma<br />
displays from…oh yes, Panasonic. Only<br />
Pioneer’s TV sets cost double those of<br />
Panasonic.<br />
And now it’s all over. Pioneer is<br />
abandoning TV sets altogether. You still<br />
have time to get one, because they’ll be<br />
around through 2010 and service will<br />
be maintained after that. We’ve already<br />
seen blowouts on Pioneer plasmas,<br />
though not on the more desirable Elite<br />
series.<br />
What will Pioneer do now? It will<br />
continue to make audio products and<br />
even Blu-ray players, but it plans to<br />
concentrate henceforth on 12V. Yes, that<br />
stands for 12 volts, meaning car products.<br />
Hmm, yes, car sales are booming<br />
now, aren’t they? Does Pioneer know<br />
something we don’t?<br />
Vizio says goodbye plasma<br />
Over the past three years or so LCD<br />
televisions have been getting better and<br />
better. True, they had a long way to go.<br />
The dread “screen door effect” is largely<br />
gone, blacks are no longer light grey,<br />
and the color palette is now suitable for<br />
more than just Sunday morning cartoons.<br />
They’ll get better yet once LED<br />
backlighting finally replaces fluorescent<br />
tubes, as it has on some smaller sets.<br />
Is that the reason that Vizio has<br />
announced that it will stop making<br />
plasmas and will focus on LCD panels?<br />
Vizio bills itself as “America’s HDTV<br />
company,” by which it means it is not<br />
called Sony, Panasonic or Toshiba. It<br />
likes to put the emphasis on value, which<br />
in TV sets means low price. It has been<br />
the go-to company if you wanted a<br />
plasma TV but you couldn’t afford one<br />
of the high-profile brands.<br />
Only now it will stop selling plasmas,<br />
and offer only LCD sets.<br />
Why? Vizio says plasma sets are at<br />
a disadvantage in overlit big-box stores,<br />
because LCD sets can be cranked up to<br />
be much, much brighter. The result, it<br />
says, is that LCD’s sell faster. They are<br />
Laser TV sets on hold<br />
Plasma and LCD are all very well,<br />
but isn’t there some other, even better<br />
technology coming?<br />
There is indeed. And Mitsubishi’s<br />
LaserVue sets seemed to be it.<br />
The LaserVue set are bright, with<br />
excellent contrast and a huge luminosity<br />
range. They are, to sum it up in a single<br />
word, spectacular. What’s not to like?<br />
Well, there is the little matter of price,<br />
some $7000 for the 65-inch (165 mm) set<br />
shown here. Still, even in a major recession<br />
some people still have money.<br />
But for now production of the Laser-<br />
Vue is on hold, and will remain that way<br />
for the next few months. We’ll have to<br />
soldier on with plasma.<br />
Or LCD.<br />
78 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Gossip&News<br />
Feedback<br />
Anyone remember SED?<br />
Sure you do. Three years ago, at the<br />
Consumer Electronics Show, Toshiba<br />
and Canon announced and showed off<br />
a radically-different type of HDTV<br />
panel, the SED (for surface-conduction<br />
electron-emitter display). Think of a<br />
cathode ray tube with a separate electron<br />
gun for every single pixel.<br />
Now it’s easy to make claims, but<br />
this was for real. The demo panel had<br />
only 780-line resolution, but the huge<br />
range of tones and colors was beyond<br />
anything that had been shown in video<br />
before. The prototype was from Canon,<br />
which invented the system, but the new<br />
company, SED Inc., was a partnership<br />
between Canon and Toshiba. Tosh<br />
promised the first SED sets in 2008, “at<br />
competitive prices.”<br />
But then came the lawyers (remember<br />
them?). For its design, Canon had<br />
obtained a license to use the technology<br />
of a company called Applied Nanotech.<br />
But that company insisted that the<br />
license was not given to Toshiba. Could<br />
Tosh then get its own license? Sure, but<br />
the Applied Nanotech people had seen<br />
the same demo we had, and…the price<br />
of a license had gone up. Way up!<br />
And so Canon was all by itself, but it<br />
has never been in the TV business. And<br />
while SED might be competitive buy. against<br />
the $8000 plasma of the time, it wouldn’t<br />
of Canon, Tsuneji Uchida, “At times<br />
like this, new display products are not<br />
introduced much, because people would<br />
laugh at them.”<br />
But who can afford to laugh?<br />
The great television switchoff<br />
The present NTSC television system,<br />
with images transmitted in amplitude<br />
modulation and sound in frequency<br />
modulation, was set up in 1941, though<br />
it didn’t really take off until 1948 (four<br />
years later in Canada). Now those venerable<br />
stations are beginning to leave the<br />
airwaves.<br />
Why? Because analog TV is being<br />
replaced by digital TV. Now, you know<br />
us on the questions of analog versus<br />
digital, but digital TV is a much more<br />
efficient way of transmitting, and it is the<br />
carrier for HDTV. No contest.<br />
Of course many households get their<br />
TV programs from cable or satellite,<br />
converter boxes that would turn digital<br />
signal into analog ones a conventional<br />
TV could understand. Only it ran out<br />
of them. And the makers of the boxes,<br />
figuring anyone who needed one had<br />
probably already bought one, shut down<br />
production. In a panic, the US Congress<br />
passed an emergency bill pushing off the<br />
fatal date until June.<br />
But not for everyone. The bill didn’t<br />
force stations to stay on the analog airwaves,<br />
and many of them began switching<br />
off on the 18 th anyway. A half million<br />
watt transmitter burns through a lot of<br />
electricity, and these days everyone is<br />
looking to save money.<br />
In Canada, the big switchoff doesn’t<br />
come until 2011, but many viewers living<br />
near the US border do watch American<br />
stations, and the Canadian government<br />
hasn’t been handing out coupons. To<br />
make matters worse, electronics companies<br />
are still dumping onto the Canadian<br />
market DVD recorders containing only<br />
analog tuners.<br />
As for us, we do, of course, have a<br />
modern HDTV, with digital tuner, in<br />
our Kappa reference system. But we<br />
did need a converter for our Sony DVD<br />
recorder. Where did we get one? At<br />
Radio Shack…in the United States.<br />
Selling the spectrum<br />
Governments could just have let<br />
stations decide what band to broadcast<br />
on, but in fact there’s a buck to be made<br />
in the switchover. Analog TV channels<br />
eat up lot of bandwidth, and with the<br />
explosive growth of wireless services<br />
and they don’t much care what’s being<br />
Not just broadcast hardware…<br />
over the air. But there are still<br />
millions of people across North America bandwidth can be sold.<br />
What long-time with analog readers TV tell sets us they tied most to antennas. like about UHF Among is that the it companies that bought<br />
does more than For review many of amplifiers them it’s and now speakers. game over. the soon-to-be-liberated bandwidth is<br />
In every issue, And we having discuss an ideas. HDTV is not a guarantee<br />
Qualcomm. It paid more than half a bil-<br />
tell you of anything. what you need For years, to know, expensive besides what lion CD dollars player to to use the channel 55 space<br />
We try to<br />
HDTV sets were billed as “digitalready.”<br />
for 15 mobile video channels. It expected<br />
the features All you that would makes need UHF to do <strong>Magazine</strong> order unlike to be able any to other get its hands on what it had<br />
It’s one of<br />
be as competitive against $1000 audio plasmas, magazine. to get off-air HDTV would be to add a bought on February 18 th , only suddenly<br />
or $600 LCD’s.<br />
The lawyers fought it out anyway,<br />
and Canon finally got a judgment it<br />
liked, allowing it to use the license in<br />
a partnership with another company.<br />
Applied Nanotech declined to appeal.<br />
And for good reason. The red hot<br />
SED had cooled considerably, and a<br />
license was no longer worth what it had<br />
been worth before. Says the president<br />
digital tuner. Except that no one ever<br />
did manufacture such tuners. Cable or<br />
satellite? No problem. An antenna? Five<br />
hundred channels of snow.<br />
In the US the date for switching off<br />
analog TV was February 17 th . But a lot<br />
of people weren’t ready (with only three<br />
years’ warning, how could they be?), and<br />
actually neither was the US government.<br />
It had been handing out $40 coupons for<br />
it couldn’t.<br />
We presume that Qualcomm, and<br />
the other successful bidders for television<br />
spectrum, have lawyers (remember<br />
them?).<br />
Mind you, perhaps no one has<br />
noticed this. TV waves don’t know about<br />
national boundaries, and Canada is still<br />
occupying those frequencies through<br />
2011. Could get interesting!<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 79
Gossip&News<br />
Feedback<br />
Still More News<br />
Circuit City Says So Long<br />
It was once one of the largest electronics<br />
chains in the US, but these are<br />
not ordinary times. And the Circuit City<br />
stores have had the smell of death about<br />
them for a couple of years: poor stock,<br />
poor store upkeep, clearly demoralized<br />
staff unable even to find the energy to<br />
play with the Wii.<br />
In January the chain closed its doors,<br />
and liquidation began. Over at Best Buy,<br />
they weren’t about to rub salt in the<br />
wound. Much.<br />
at the show site, www.salonsonimage.<br />
com.<br />
At CES we ran across Salon CEO<br />
Michel Plante, who was promoting his<br />
show in the company of three delightfully<br />
blue-haired ladies.<br />
They certainly got attention, and we<br />
bet it worked, too. See you there?<br />
Sad news from another show<br />
The closest American equivalent<br />
to the Montreal show was the Rocky<br />
Mountain Audio Fest, over in Denver.<br />
It began small, as do we all, but it was<br />
growing every year.<br />
ered by many to be one of the best films<br />
ever made. So we were puzzled to go<br />
over to Amazon and find that the film’s<br />
stars are Mischa Auer and Leon Belasco.<br />
Who?<br />
No, it’s not a remake of the classic<br />
film. It seems that Amazon thought it<br />
was a good idea to list film casts alphabetically,<br />
and both Auer and Belasco are<br />
in the alphabet before Ingrid Bergman.<br />
Belasco, by the way, was the<br />
croupier at Rick’s. And Auer?<br />
He got an Oscar nomination<br />
a half dozen years before for<br />
his supporting role in My<br />
Man Godfrey, but here he<br />
was one of the bartenders<br />
(no, not Sacha). Even imdb.<br />
com doesn’t mention him.<br />
Amazon also lists among the<br />
“stars” Oliver Blake, briefly<br />
seen as a waiter at the Blue<br />
Parrot.<br />
But notice we’ve been<br />
using the past tense. Perhaps the Bogart<br />
succession called them up, because since<br />
we noticed nearly all of the cast lists<br />
have been pulled from the Canadian site<br />
(though the one for Chicago is still up, and<br />
still wrong). The cast list for Casablanca<br />
on the US site now lists Humphrey<br />
Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid,<br />
and Claude Rains.<br />
Of course Circuit City does have<br />
a Canadian branch. It owns InterTan,<br />
which once had hundreds of Radio Shack<br />
stores which later got rebranded as The<br />
Source by Circuit City. These stores are<br />
much smaller, and are in fact the size of<br />
Radio Shacks.<br />
And InterTan is for sale. Want to get<br />
into the electronics retailing business?<br />
Recession, what recession?<br />
The next high end show<br />
Yes, the long-running Montreal<br />
Salon Son & Image is coming back the<br />
first weekend in April. To answer what<br />
we anticipate in the way of questions,<br />
no we won’t be exhibiting (as we did for<br />
many years), but yes we will be there. We<br />
will have a preview of the show online,<br />
and we will be filing daily reports from<br />
the three official days of the show, plus<br />
the trade-only preview day.<br />
You can check out the exhibitor list<br />
But fate has a way of taking a hand.<br />
On January 27th, show founder Al Stiefel<br />
died suddenly. We send our condolences,<br />
and we wish all the best in a difficult<br />
time.<br />
The show is still expected to continue,<br />
under the direction of Al’s widow<br />
Marjorie, with the aid of a board of<br />
directors and the Colorado Audiophile<br />
Society. It is scheduled for October 2nd<br />
through 4th.<br />
Amazon could have made you a star<br />
Pretty well everyone knows the<br />
names of the stars of Casablanca, consid-<br />
Apple moving to CES?<br />
Probably not, but consider this.<br />
For more years than we care to recall,<br />
Macworld — the Apple-themed show<br />
organized by the publishers of the<br />
magazine of the same name — has been<br />
held in San Francisco at the same time as<br />
CES in Vegas. It’s a pain for journalists<br />
who would like to cover both, and it’s a<br />
pain for CES when it gets upstaged (the<br />
iPhone was announced at Macworld, not<br />
at CES).<br />
Only Apple has made it clear that the<br />
2009 Macworld was the last one it would<br />
ever attend, and it is widely believed that<br />
this announcement is the death knell for<br />
the show. But might it mean that Apple<br />
will finally join the rest of the electronics<br />
industry in Vegas? Might there be a<br />
keynote by Steve Jobs rather than Steve<br />
Ballmer or Bill Gates?<br />
CEA, which organizes CES, is probably<br />
hoping so. For the 2010 edition of<br />
80 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Gossip&News<br />
Feedback<br />
the show, it is launching iLounge, a<br />
show-within-a-show, featuring Apple<br />
products. The sponsor, also called<br />
iLounge, has a Web site reviewing Apple<br />
products, with an emphasis on the portable<br />
ones. CEA says the planned space<br />
sold out in a week, with such exhibitors<br />
as Griffin Technology, Mobis Technology,<br />
Pro Clip USA, Scosche, Incase<br />
Designs, Incipio Technologies, iSkin<br />
and GelaSkin. The planned space has<br />
now been quadrupled, and CEA invites<br />
other exhibitors to join in.<br />
No mention of Apple. But then Steve<br />
Jobs says shows are old-school anyway.<br />
We shall see.<br />
As an aside, at CES we ran into Victor<br />
Tiscareno, co-founder of AudioPrism.<br />
Only now he works for Apple, and he’s<br />
the man behind the upgraded iPod ear<br />
buds (he suggests we try them). Among<br />
other things, Victor used to market his<br />
own tube electronics.<br />
Apple with a hi-fi guy? That can only<br />
be good news.<br />
The day the Muzak died<br />
Oh, everyone else has made that bad<br />
pun, so why shouldn’t we?<br />
and 500 million (if it’s not sure, that<br />
could be its problem right there), with a<br />
mere $150 thousand in assets. Not a lot<br />
of wriggle room there.<br />
Public comments so far have been<br />
universally scathing, though not scathing<br />
enough in our view. Muzak likes to<br />
point to a study showing that, when its<br />
“music” was piped through a factory,<br />
productivity went up. That has been a<br />
case study in first year sociology classes<br />
for decades. What Muzak doesn’t say is<br />
that productivity gradually settled back<br />
down, and when the music was removed<br />
productivity rose higher than before.<br />
What has always bothered us about<br />
Muzak was the implied insult to our<br />
intelligence, the assumption that we are<br />
so dim culturally we would be disturbed<br />
by real music. Not only were the dynamics<br />
compressed until they squeaked —<br />
something common on current FM<br />
radio as well — but we were noticing<br />
that the range of notes was compressed<br />
as well: key changes were commonly<br />
introduced to prevent the highest and<br />
lowest notes from being too far apart.<br />
Muzak has been described as “easy<br />
listening,” but we would characterize it<br />
more as “easy not listening.”<br />
And that’s the problem with Muzak,<br />
the constant presence of low-value<br />
music, taking away the taste for the<br />
genuine article. You would lose appetite<br />
for the finest meal if you were force-fed<br />
Cracker Jack all day.<br />
We’re with Lily Tomlin, who once said<br />
she worried that the inventor of Muzak<br />
was working on something else.<br />
ADVERTISERS<br />
Allnic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16<br />
April Music . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2<br />
Audiophileboutique.com . . . . Cover 4<br />
Audio Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16<br />
Audio Eden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16<br />
Audiophile Store . . . . . . . . . . 53-60<br />
Audio Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75<br />
BIS Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10<br />
Blue Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14<br />
Charisma Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 74<br />
Codell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15<br />
Cyrus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13<br />
Diamond Groove. . . . . . . . . . . . 39<br />
Entre’acte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14<br />
ETI (Eichmann). . . . . . . . . . . . 17<br />
Europroducts International . . 10, 13, 17<br />
Hammertone Audio . . . . . . . . . . 16<br />
Harbeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11<br />
Justice Audio . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2<br />
Lavardin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15<br />
Leema Acoustics . . . . . . . . . . . . 16<br />
MagZee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12<br />
Muzak is often used generically to<br />
mean ersatz music, but in fact it’s a US<br />
company, responsible for many years of<br />
annoying imitation “music” in elevators,<br />
supermarkets and the like. Only now an<br />
iPod in shuffle mode will do what Muzak<br />
did, but better, and the company has filed<br />
for protection from its creditors while it<br />
reorganizes.<br />
But how likely is a reorganization?<br />
Early reports say it owes between 100<br />
A Steinway, but not a piano<br />
Remember when Bösendorfer tried<br />
to market speakers? It didn’t work out.<br />
Now Steinway thinks it can do better.<br />
They are the Steinway Model C’s.<br />
Just $148,000, and they’re yours.<br />
Marchand Electronics. . . . . . . . . 75<br />
Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8<br />
Planet of Sound. . . . . . . . . . . . . 11<br />
Roksan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2<br />
Salon Son & Image . . . . . . . Cover 3<br />
Scheu Analog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14<br />
Simaudio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8<br />
Signature Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 14<br />
UHF Back Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . 21<br />
UHF Books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 81
State of the Art<br />
Is it important for audio system<br />
components to work well together?<br />
It certainly can be. I’m talking<br />
about synergy, the phenomenon in<br />
which the whole is more than merely the<br />
sum of its parts. And if it is important,<br />
where do we at UHF get off reviewing<br />
amplifiers and speakers individually,<br />
rather than in conjunction with products<br />
designed to work with them in optimum<br />
fashion?<br />
Some of the claims of synergy are<br />
of course self-serving. A maker of<br />
interconnect cables warns you that you<br />
won’t hear them at their best unless you<br />
also buy his “matching” speaker cables.<br />
A preamp maker says you must use the<br />
power amplifier of the same brand.<br />
In one notorious case, an amplifier<br />
manufacturer threatened not to honor<br />
its warranty unless you used approved<br />
cables.<br />
Yet synergy can be more than<br />
an anti-competitive construct. Some<br />
components really do work with certain<br />
products better than they do with other<br />
competing products. These “synergistic”<br />
combinations may be brand-mates, or<br />
they may not. Their affinity may be<br />
due to one of several quite different<br />
phenomena.<br />
In some cases you need only read the<br />
spec sheets to know a couple of products<br />
are not a match made in Heaven. Got<br />
speakers with a sensitivity rating of<br />
86 dB (that’s low, incidentally)? You can<br />
forget about that 10-watt single-ended<br />
tube amp. In other cases choosing a<br />
particular component will seriously<br />
unbalance your system. If your source<br />
cost you $300, you’d be foolish to linger<br />
too long over a pair of $7000 speakers.<br />
Then there is the possibility of<br />
choosing components that are seriously<br />
flawed, but whose flaws are supposed<br />
to cancel out. If you have speakers that<br />
give screechiness a bad name, you might<br />
be delighted to find cables that roll off<br />
those dreadful highs. I’m always horrified<br />
to hear manufacturers and salespeople<br />
actually recommend this approach,<br />
because experience tells me that flaws<br />
actually add up, they don’t cancel out.<br />
82 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
by Gerard Rejskind<br />
Matching a system in this way may<br />
make it sound bearable, but “bearable”<br />
is probably not the goal you had in mind<br />
when you began budgeting for a music<br />
system, and you will note that the name<br />
of this magazine is not BHF.<br />
Yet in other cases the reasons for the<br />
synergy are mysterious. A particular<br />
speaker yield magic with one very good<br />
amplifier, yet sounds less magical with<br />
some other amplifier. But substitute<br />
some other speaker, and perhaps the<br />
second amplifier will be the one that<br />
shines. What’s going on? Often we don’t<br />
know, and we can’t count on test instruments<br />
to tell us.<br />
And I must acknowledge that this<br />
makes things difficult for reviewers like<br />
us. We maintain three reference systems<br />
(two for audio, one for home theatre),<br />
and we drop whatever we are testing into<br />
one or other of these systems. Will the<br />
product under review sound its very best<br />
under those conditions? Perhaps not.<br />
This is, in fact, the very reason we<br />
have two audio reference systems instead<br />
of just one. The large speakers in our<br />
Omega system go down extremely low<br />
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with great accuracy, and can handle huge<br />
power, enabling us to review top tier<br />
speakers and amplifiers. We need that for<br />
some tests, but we wouldn’t try driving<br />
them with a 20 watt integrated amplifier.<br />
Such an amplifier may however be at<br />
home in our Alpha system, with its easyto-drive<br />
speakers and the room’s smaller<br />
acoustically-controlled environment.<br />
What’s more, the components in each<br />
system were selected for their versatility.<br />
Products reviewed are given the best<br />
possible chance to shine.<br />
Yet that still doesn’t mean they will<br />
be at their very best.<br />
Some dealers know this, because they<br />
have built a clientele around their efforts<br />
to put together systems that sound just<br />
a little better than you might expect.<br />
They may not be sure just why particular<br />
components sound better together, but<br />
long experience has taught them that<br />
they do. That same experience may tell<br />
them that what seems like minor tweaks<br />
or variations in installation can add a<br />
touch of magic that can readily be heard.<br />
True, finding such a dealer is like finding<br />
a family doctor who has time to listen to<br />
you, but they exist, even if not everyone<br />
is fortunate enough to find one.<br />
Where does that leave us, with our<br />
reviews of single components?<br />
We have regularly been encouraged<br />
— “pressured” would be too strong<br />
a word — to review a distributor or<br />
manufacturer’s complete system rather<br />
than just one or two components of<br />
that system. We have mainly resisted,<br />
though I know some other magazines do<br />
in fact feature such reviews. However I<br />
have never figured out what use system<br />
reviews are. Oh, they’re useful for the<br />
seller, but if you’re a buyer and you don’t<br />
plan to buy that exact system, what will<br />
you learn from reading the review?<br />
The way we choose to review components<br />
maintains a point of reference,<br />
which is important in evaluating a component.<br />
We can generally tell whether a<br />
component is likely to be satisfying.<br />
Can a good dealer take things a step<br />
further? Of course…at least one who<br />
knows about synergy.
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