THE RETURN OF ANALOG - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

No. 86 CAN $6.49 / US $7.69 

THE RETURN OF ANALOG: Did it ever really 

go away? We listen to the Scheu turntable 

and arm from Germany, and we try terrific 

phono stages from Korea and Canada 

MORE REVIEWS: We lend our ears to 

three upscale headphones, we pursue 

our exploration of the sound of speaker 

connectors, and we discover a recording 

studio that fits in your palm 

PLUS: The truth about color, and a report 

from Vegas in mid-recession 

ISSN 0847-1851 

Canadian Publication Sales 

Product Agreement 

No. 40065638 

RETURN LABELS ONLY 

OF UNDELIVERED COPIES TO: 

Box 65085, Place Longueuil, 

Longueuil, Qué., Canada J4K 5J4 

Printed in Canada

J U S T I C E 

A U D 

I O 

April Music Eximus 

For the Compact Disc 

For your computer 

For the digital source of tomorrow 

Kandy K2 

Justice Audio 

111 Zenway Blvd., Unit 9 

WOODBRIDGE, ON L4H 3H9 

Tel. : (905) 265-8675 • Fax : (905) 265-8595 

www.justiceaudio.com 

sales@justiceaudio.com 

April Music 

ASW Speakers 

Atlas 

Audioprism 

Sonneteer 

Bard Audio 

QED 

Target 

Vandersteen 

McCormack 

Harmonix 

Operetta 

WBT 

Reimyo 

Apollo 

GutWire 

FIM Accessories 

Goldring 

Milty 

Discwasher 

Perfect Sound 

Nitty Gritty 

LAST record care 

WATTGate 

Audiophile CDs 

Audiophile LPs 

DVD and SACD

Cinema 

Color Space 30 

Why your video display can’t show you everything 

your eye can see 

Issue No. 86 

The Listening Room 

The Scheu Premier II 34 

Massive, transparent and spectacular. Now let’s 

plug this German turntable in and listen. 

Allnic H-1200 Phono Preamp 38 

From South Korea, a tube phono stage with 

unusually smooth sound 

Moon LP3 Phono Preamp 41 

We loved its bigger brother, but you keep badgering 

us to try Simaudio’s smaller preamp 

BIS Power Maestro 44 

It may be billed as a mere power bar, but our ears 

tell us it is much, much more 

Do Connectors Matter? (Part II) 46 

With a gulp, we chop the expensive connectors 

from our reference speaker cables 

Zoom H2 47 

A recording studio in the palm of your hand, 

nothing less 

Cover story: The spectacular Scheu Analog Premier II 

turntable and its transparent Cantus tone arm. The 

Scheu is one of three hot analog components 

reviewed in this issue 

Feature 

Vegas vs the Recession 18 

by Gerard Rejskind 

Our editor tours what has been one of the world’s 

largest tech shows…but is it still? 

Nuts&Bolts 

Analog In a Digital World 28 

by Paul Bergman 

Analog may be coming back, but it’s difficult to 

keep music out of the digital domain 

Upscale Headphones 50 

We slip on a pair of comfy phones that bear the 

name of a famous rapper, and we push a couple of 

expensive in-ear phones into our auricles 

Software 

The Concerto 61 

by Reine Lessard 

One instrument against a full orchestra? How 

composers meet the challenge 

Software Reviews 67 

by Gerard Rejskind and Albert Simon 

Departments 

Editorial 4 

Feedback 7 

Free Advice 9 

Gossip & News 76 

State of the Art 82 

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 3

UHF Magazine No. 86 was published in March, 2009. All 

contents are copyright 2009 by Broadcast Canada. They 

may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any 

means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, 

recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, 

without written permission from the publisher. 

EDITORIAL & SUBSCRIPTION OFFICE: 

Broadcast Canada 

Box 65085, Place Longueuil 

LONGUEUIL, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4 

Tel.: (450) 651-5720 FAX: (450) 651-3383 

E-mail: uhfmail@uhfmag.com 

World Wide Web: www.uhfmag.com 

PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Gerard Rejskind 

EDITORIAL: Paul Bergman, Steve Bourke, Toby Earp, Reine 

Lessard, Albert Simon 

PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY: Albert Simon 

ADVERTISING SALES: 

Alberta & BC: Derek Coates (604) 522-6168 

Other: Gerard Rejskind (450) 651-5720 

NATIONAL NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION: 

TransMedia Group Inc. / Stonehouse Publications 

1915 Clements Rd. Unit 7, Pickering, ON L1W 3V1 

Tel: (905) 428-7541 or (800) 461-1640 

SINGLE COPY PRICE: $6.49 in Canada, $7.69 (US) in the 

United States, $10.75 (CAN) elsewhere, including air mail. 

In Canada sales taxes are extra. Electronic edition: C$4.30, 

all taxes included 

SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 

CANADA: 

$62.50 for 13 issues* 

USA: 

US$75 for 13 issues 

ELSEWHERE (air mail): CAN$118 for 13 issues 

*Applicable taxes extra 

ELECTRONIC EDITION: C$43, 13 issues, taxes incl. 

PRE-PRESS SERVICES: Transcontinental 

PRINTING: Interglobe-Beauce 

ELECTRONIC EDITION: www.magzee.com 

FILED WITH The National Library of Canada and 

La Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec. 

ISSN 0847-1851 

Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product No. 0611387 

UHF invites contributions. Though all reasonable care will 

be taken of materials submitted, we cannot be responsible 

for their damage or loss, however caused. Materials will 

be returned only if a stamped self-addressed envelope is 

provided. It is advisable to query before submitting. 

Ultra High Fidelity Magazine is completely independent of 

all companies in the electronics industry, as are all of its 

contributors, unless explicitly specified otherwise. 

Editorial 

Welcoming two new reviewers 

First the bad news. 

One of our long-time contributors, Reine Lessard, disappears from the 

masthead as associate editor. Reine has gone through growing health problems 

that now make it impossible for her to continue with the rigorous daily schedule 

of activities needed to put out the magazine. However she will continue 

to write for us. In particular, she will maintain her popular series of features 

on music. 

That leaves us a major gap, however. Albert Simon has been filling in, and 

was of great help polishing up our last issue. Of course he continues in his 

(several) indispensable roles at the magazine, with additional responsibilities. 

But we also need to replace Reine in our equipment reviews. For the moment, 

we have invited two guest reviewers, whose writing you will see in the pages 

of this issue. 

One is highly familiar to regular readers, because he is such a prolific letter 

writer, namely Toby Earp. Toby may be passionate about writing to us, but 

he is also passionate about music, and about hearing it well reproduced in his 

home. His point of view is right in line with that of UHF. 

The other guest reviewer is Steve Bourke. Steve’s music system includes 

some of the same components we use in our own reference systems, as well 

as a number of upscale products to which we have given particularly warm 

reviews. 

It seems clear that additional staff will need to be recruited in the next year 

or so, as resources dictate. This is especially true because, contrary to what 

the daily bad economic news seem to dictate, we are growing, not shrinking. 

Together, we will work hard to maintain and indeed strengthen the character 

of UHF that you have told us you most appreciate. 

Wild currencies 

Because we are located in Canada, we need to keep an eye on what our 

country’s dollar is doing relative to the currencies of our customers and our 

suppliers. And it has been a wild ride! 

Not long ago the Canadian dollar was about at parity with the US dollar, 

and even soared briefly to US$1.10. With the meltdown of the stock markets, 

and especially of the commodities Canada produces and exports (lumber, 

aluminum, and especially oil and gas), our dollar has dropped sharply. It was 

at US$0.78 at one point, and is now hanging around US$0.80 (but may have 

dropped or risen while this issue was being printed). 

That makes things difficult for us. You may recall that currency realignment 

caused us to raise the price of the magazine for US readers. It also caused 

us to lower the price of certain products at The Audiophile Store, particularly 

products we pay for in US dollars. Will we now be forced to raise them 

again? 

In some cases we still have stock we purchased when our dollar was stronger, 

but in other cases we have been forced to change some prices. I think (or hope 

anyway) that currencies will settle down after a bit. More price realignments 

may be inevitable nonetheless, and we will deal with problems as they come 

up. 

4 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

“I LIKE DOGS, BUT NOT DOG-EARS” 

We hate those folded-down corners on magazines we 

just bought, and we know you do too. May we suggest 

a solution? 

You see, oddly enough it’s the expensive copy that’s 

likely to be tattered, torn, and… yes, dog-eared. We 

mean the newsstand copy. 

Where do copies sit around unprotected? At the newsstand. 

Where do other people leaf through them before you arrive, with 

remains of lunch on their fingers? At the newsstand. Where do 

they stick on little labels you can’t even peel off? Right! 

Our subscribers, on the other hand, get pristine copies protected in plastic, 

with the label on the plastic itself, not the cover. 

We know what you really want is a perfect copy, and if that means paying a little 

less, then so be it. 

As if that weren’t enough, there’s the fact that with a subscription you qualify 

for a discount on one or all three of our much-praised books on hi-fi (see the offer 

on the other side of this page). 

One more thing. Some newsstands run out of UHF four days after they come in. 

How many issues have you missed? 

So what’s our advice? Well, sure! 

JUST SUBSCRIBE 

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY, Box 65085, Place Longueuil, LONGUEUIL, Qué., Canada J4K 5J4 

Tel.: (450) 651-5720 FAX: (450) 651-3383 VIA THE INTERNET: http://www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html 

FOR 13 ISSUES: $62.50 (Canada), US$75.00 (USA), C$118 (elsewhere, including air mail costs). For six issues, it’s C$31.25 (Canada), US$37.50 

(USA), C$59 (elsewhere). In Canada, add applicable sales tax (13% in QC, NF, NB, NS, 5% in other Provinces). 

You may pay by VISA or MasterCard: include card number, expiry date and signature. You must include your correct postal or zip code. You may 

order on a plain sheet of paper, provided you include all the information. Choose to begin with the current issue or the issue after that. Back issues 

are available separately. Choose your options: 

13 issues 6 issues start with issue 86 (this one), or issue 87 (the next one) 

VISA/MC NO ______________________________________ EXP. DATE__________________ 

SIGNATURE ___________________________________ 

SAVE EVEN MORE WITH THE ELECTRONIC EDITION! 

Read it on your computer. It looks just like the printed 

version. Just C$43/13 issues, tax included, worldwide! 

www.uhfmag.com/ElectronicEdition.html 

NAME__________________________________ADDRESS______________________________________________APT__________ 

CITY_____________________PROV/STATE________COUNTRY__________________POSTAL CODE___________________

Much, much more to read… 

This is our original book, which has been 

read by thousands of audiophiles, both 

beginners and advanced. It’s still relevant to 

much of what you want to accomplish. 

It’s a practical manual for the discovery and 

exploration of high fidelity, which will make 

reading other books easier. Includes in-depth 

coverage of how the hardware works, 

including tubes, “alternative” loudspeakers, 

subwoofers, crossover networks, 

biamplification. It explains why, not just how. 

It has full instructions for aligning a tone arm, 

and a gauge is included. A complete audio 

lexicon makes this book indispensable. And it 

costs as little as $9.95 in the US and Canada 

(see the coupon). 

This long-running best seller includes 

these topics: the basics of amplifiers, 

preamplifiers, CD players, turntables and 

loudspeakers. How they work, how to 

choose, what to expect. The history of hi-fi. 

How to compare equipment that’s not in the 

same store. What accessories work, and 

which ones are scams. How to tell a good 

connector from a rotten one. How to set up 

a home theatre system that will also play 

music (hint: don’t do any of the things the 

other magazines advise). How to plan for 

your dream system even if your accountant 

says you can’t afford it. A precious volume 

with 224 pages of essential information for 

the beginning or advanced audiophile! 

At last, all of Gerard Rejskind’s State of 

the Art columns from the first 60 issues 

of UHF. With a new introduction to each 

column, 258 pages in all. Check below 

to get your copy! 

Five dollars off 

any or each 

of these three 

books if you 

subscribe or 

renew at the 

same time 

The UHF Guide costs $14.95 (in Canada plus 5% GST, or 13% HST in NB, NS, NL), US$19.95 (USA) C$25 (elsewhere). 

The World of High Fidelity costs $21.95 (in Canada plus 5% GST, or 13% HST in NB, NS, NL), US$21.95 (USA) or C$30 

(elsewhere). 

State of the Art costs just $18.95 (in Canada, plus 6% GST or 14% in NB, NS, NL), US$18.95 (USA) C$32 (elsewhere, including 

air mail) 

Just check off the books you want, then fill in the ordering information on the other side of this page. 

You can also order on line at www.uhfmag.com/Books.html 

We will take $5 off any or each of those prices if you subscribe 

or extend a subscription at the same time

Is the “Bong Crosby” referred to 

in the picture accompanying Reine 

Lessard’s article on Cole Porter (UHF 

No. 85) also the artist known as Nat 

King Bowl? Just kidding (isn’t Google 

wonderful?). 

Thanks for a great read. 

Andy Laing 

SCARBOROUGH, ON 

Actually he’s a friend of Michael Phelps. 

Just want to pass along a note of 

appreciation and kudos to your mag. It’s 

a highlight of my reading material. 

I envy your occupation!!! 

Joe Walsh 

MISSISSAUGA, ON 

In issue 82 and 84 you tested two 

devices to get sound out of a PC or Mac 

from the USB port. You said there were 

three ways to get sound out of a Mac. I 

think there is a fourth possibility you 

don’t know about. 

Each and every Mac model from 

the MacBook to the Mac Pro have one 

optical input and one optical output (the 

headphone and microphone jacks are 

hybrid analogical/optical on all models 

but the Mac Pro). For three years now 

I have been using a Mac mini as my 

main audio source. The music is stored 

on an external 1 TB USB hard drive, 

and an optical fibre is linking the mini 

headphone jack to a Benchmark D/A. I 

am enjoying that set up a lot, even more 

so recently thanks to you, now that 

you made me discover that I can buy 

HD music online. I can now enjoy 24 

bits/192KHz music in my living room! 

Could you please test the optical out 

and compare it with the Thingee and 

Off-Ramp devices. I would be curious to 

know which one produces better sound. 

Also I would recommend you test with 

the music coming from an external USB 

drive since a lot of people will have that 

Feedback 


Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4 

uhfmail@uhfmag.com 

kind of set-up and it probably influences 

the “musicality” of the USB port. 

Philippe Grégoire 

MONTRÉAL, QC 

We do know about it, Philippe, and we 

have ordered an appropriate adapter so that 

we can use the optical output of both the Mac- 

Book Pro and the Airport Express. We are 

also shopping around for a superior optical 

cable, which will be glass, not plastic. 

With regards to your comments 

about DVD recorders having an analog 

tuner, this would only be an issue if 

one does not use a digital set-top box, 

right? 

Also, your Super Antenna pulls in all 

stations from channels 2 to 69? So that 

could take the place of a digital set-top 

box for those who do not want HD or 

digital channels as well as a monthly 

cable bill? Will it still work when the US 

goes digital? 

Having said that, I realize this idea 

conflicts with my comments regarding 

the recorders and that your antenna can 

pull in some HD channels. 

As always, thanks and keep up the 

wonderful work you do! 

Chris Carty 

MISSISSAUGA, ON 

If you want to record one channel while 

watching another, you would need two set-top 

boxes, Chris. The Super Antenna also pulls 

in digital stations, in full HD, if you have 

a digital tuner. In Montreal, where we are, 

both CBC stations broadcast in off-air high 

definition, and we expect others to join them 

between now and the 2011 analog switch-off. 

You can get off-air HDTV from the US as 

well, but unless you live very near you may 

need a rooftop antenna. 

I picked up UHF No. 85 at the local 

Barnes and Noble Saturday. Audio has 

been on my mind recently and I’ve 

been looking for input. I grabbed a 

stack of audio magazines. They varied 

from rewritten press releases to piles of 

insufferable pretentious hyperbole. Your 

magazine was so different. So clear, so 

straightforward. I bought it and took it 

home. 

I learned more about audio from this 

one issue than I have in years. Right now 

I’m wrestling with the advantage of getting 

a subscription versus another excuse 

to go to the bookstore. My renewed 

avocation of playing music (mandolin 

and guitar) is driving my renewed interest 

in audio. It’s bad when I feel like I get 

better definition through ear buds on 

my iPod than from my Yamaha 5.1. I’m 

not looking for the ultimate system but 

I think I can do a lot better than what I 

have. Frankly, if I had $10K available it 

would go into a mandolin. 

I was amused about the discussion 

about blind tests (State of the Art, UHF 

No. 85) and what people can hear. As a 

scientist, I like to read about science outside 

of my field. Recently that has crossed 

with my musical avocation and I’ve been 

reading a lot about music. It’s clear from 

this reading that the relation between 

people and music is way too complicated 

for simple analysis. I know this practically 

too. You can do all sorts of blind 

tests on instruments that purportedly say 

a good quality Pac-Rim guitar will sound 

as good as a US or Canadian guitar, but 

it’s just not true. It might sound good but 

it won’t be the same. The relationship is 

so personal that it just can’t be “blinded 

out” and make any sense. 

I’ve already upgraded back to stereo. 

A lot of my dissatisfaction was related to 

surround and ambience modes. Turns 

out I really don’t want to be in the band 

after all. That and the fact that, for all 

the surround prowess, the actual music 

was surprisingly flat. It’s better when I 

go to straight stereo, but I don’t think it’s 

as good for music as my old integrated 

amp was from 25 years ago. 

Anyway, I really appreciate how much 

info I got from one issue. Not meaning 

to stir up any provincial issue, let me say 

thanks for writing about high fidelity in 

plain English. (I assume there is a similar 

French sentiment.) 

George Wilson 

SAN ANTONIO, TX 


Feedback 

I read your review of the Moon LP5.3 

phono preamp in UHF No. 85. Too bad 

you didn’t have a pair of XLR interconnects 

on hand. This is surprising on the 

part of a magazine that has a section selling 

both recordings and audio supplies. 

I have the same phono preamp as 

well as the W-8 amp and the P-8 preamp 

from the same manufacturer. I tried the 

LP5.3 with Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference 

II XLR cables as well as coaxial Van 

den Hul Fusions. After a few recordings, 

it was evident that the XLR connection 

was superior. 

Michel Viau 

VARENNES, QC 

Michel, there’s a good reason we don’t 

use balanced cables on any of our reference 

systems. We need to be able to test all 

equipment without adding any extraneous 

differences. If our cables were balanced, we 

couldn’t review unbalanced gear without 

also changing cables, and introducing an 

uncontrolled variable. 

An audiophile may well choose to employ 

balanced cables, but our systems are working 

tools. 

I noticed in your Still More News section 

of the latest mag that you indicated 

that your Sony Blu-ray player’s days 

are numbered because it cannot decode 

TrueHD and other uncompressed 

audio formats. I have the same BDP- 

S300 player as you, and I just updated 

the firmware which adds (per the Sony 

Web site) Dolby TrueHD Audio and 

Dolby Digital Plus Audio decoding 

functionality. The firmware update is 

available on the Sony site. My update 

took ~15 minutes, not the minimum of 

30 minutes they indicate. 

http://esupport.sony.com/ 

perl/swu-download.pl?upd_ 

id=4320&SMB=YES?template_ 

id=1&region_id=1 

So my question: my HTR does not 

have any HDMI inputs, but can I access 

this uncompressed audio via the Sony’s 

5.1 analog outputs into my NAD’s 5.1 

inputs? Does the firmware update allow 

me access to the HD audio only when 

using an HDMI 1.3a cable to a processor 

capable of decoding it, or will the Sony 

now decode TruHD internally and send 

this high sample rate info via analogue 

connection? 

I am currently using the HDMI out 

of the player directly into my HDTV 

and running an optical cable to my NAD 

for audio. 

Tim Leeney 

GEORGETOWN, ON 

We appreciate the heads up, Tim. However 

we were not able to get a usable upgrade CD 

with either our Dell PC or our MacPro 

running Windows XP. Sony offers a free 

upgrade CD, but only in the US. We will 

be buying a new player, and it won’t be a 

Sony. 

In issue No. 85 of UHF you tested and 

confirmed the “minimalist” approach of 

Keith Eichmann’s connectors. Did you 

ever test the “Anti Cables” from Paul 

Speltz? 

Denis Marchand 

SHERBROOKE, QC 

We haven’t, no, Denis. The Anti Cables 

are minimalist in their approach to the wire 

itself, but not the connectors. We would be 

reluctant to use tinned spades. 


Free Advice 


Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4 

uhfmail@uhfmag.com 

I own a Rega Fono MC preamp 

coupled with Creek Evo electronics, 

Maxcon Squared filter, Totem Arros and 

Clearaudio Champion turntable with 

Goldring Elite cartridge. 

The Fono gives me a great deal of 

hum unless I slide the circuit board out 

of its extruded aluminum case, I have 

placed the whole thing in a cardboard 

shoebox so I can enjoy the music!!! 

Everything seems okay, but nothing 

works out while it’s inside its own case,. 

It may sound fine for a few minutes, but 

then the hum comes back. 

It may be originating from the power 

switch, because the hum changes as I 

jiggle it. Is this possible? I am looking 

forward for a possible upgrade to a silent 

Moon LP3 later on, but I can’t even 

dump the darn thing on eBay without 

risking bad feedback! 

Thank you for this one, and for 

everything else ! 

Iulian Alexandru 

LACHINE, QC 

This sounds like a grounding problem, 

Iulian, and possibly an internal 

grounding problem. The case should be 

properly grounded, acting like a Faraday 

cage to protect the sensitive low-level 

circuits against outside interference. If 

it is floating (i.e. if it is not kept at earth 

potential), then it will do the opposite, 

acting as an antenna, capturing stray 

fields and bathing the circuits in a mist 

of radio-frequency noise. 

You’ve found a rather desperate fix 

by transferring the circuit to a shoebox, 

but we need hardly emphasize that this 

is less than an ideal solution. If you 

know someone else who has an MC cartridge, 

try the Rega with that turntable 

(with its metal case, of course), to see 

whether it produces the same problems 

in that system. If it does, it will require 

service. 

I am thinking of replacing my 

Simaudio I-5 (circa 1998) with a 

new integrated, and was considering 

the Vecteur Ai4 which you reviewed in 

UHF No. 85. I was hoping that since 

you have reviewed both amplifiers you 

might be able to comment on how they 

differ sonically. 

Adam Yalonetsky 

TORONTO, ON 

Don’t do it, Adam. The Vecteur is 

certainly a bargain, offering excellent 

musicality at a lower price than most 

of its competitors, but it is Vecteur’s 

entry-level model, and it is not a match 

for Simaudio’s very good I-5. 

By the way, Simaudio does offer a 

factory upgrade of the I-5 to the current 

model, the I-5.3. Check out the next 

letter. 

Yes, it’s interactive 

My two-channel system is powered 

by a Simaudio I-5 integrated amplifier 

which I purchased second hand. It has a 

pewter-colored faceplate which, according 

to the Simaudio Web site, indicates 

it was made somewhere between 1997 

and 1999. I checked, and it is a candidate 

for the Simaudio factory sonic upgrade 

to “current production standards.” 

What is your experience/opinion of 

such upgrades? Is it worth the $500 plus 

shipping? 

The I-5 is wired to Totem Sttaf 

speakers via Transparent Audio MusicLink 

Plus bi-cable, and my source is a 

Naim CD5i. 

Jon Fawcett 

OAKVILLE, ON 

We are mostly a little cool to factory 

upgrades, Jon, because the gap between 

cost and tangible improvement is almost 

always very broad. In most cases you’ll 

do better by selling the older unit and 

buying new. 

But the cost of the I-5 upgrade (which 

would then become an I-5.3) is more 

than reasonable compared to the cost of 

a new amp. You’ll also get replacements 

for aging parts that might later cause 

trouble. We would go for it. 

We’re told, by the way, that the 

improvements made to the amplifier are 

essentially those originally introduced 

on the limited edition 1-5LE. 

I have a Yamaha HTR5790 with 

Yamaha CDC685 CD driving Energy 

C-1 speakers and in direct mode on 

the HTR5790. We love the ability to 

have five discs playing at random for 

entertaining. 

I run it via analog cables and wonder 

if you can comment if the DAC is superior 

in the CD or receiver. Should I be 

using an optical connection instead? 

Realizing this is low end, I am going 

to move up to a proper two-channel 

system and put the Yamaha/Energy into 

Home Theatre service. With this goal 

in mind and a budget of $1500 at a time, 

would you suggest my first upgrade be 

receiver, Rotel 1062, Arcam, the new 

Moon or speakers? I am thinking Totem 

Arro, Rainmaker or Sttaf. 

In short which will give me that 

quantum leap in soundstage I desire? 

Mark Dixon 

OTTAWA, ON 

Just click on the ad on the previous page, and you know what will happen? 

You’ll go right to the advertiser’s Web site…if there is one, and of 

course if you are connected to the Internet at that moment. 

Try it with any of the other ads in this issue. 

Of course it works with the full (paid) electronic issue as well. 

We can recommend the three loudspeakers 

you mention, Mark, just not 

right away. You’ll get a broader sound 

stage with the Totems, sure, but the 

speakers are the best thing you’ve got for 

the moment. The most urgent upgrade 

would be the CD player. 

Yes, we do understand the appeal of 

music playing when you have company, 

but CD jukeboxes are riddled with 

diesel-grade compromises, and a good 

single-disc player would do better for 

you when you’re actually listening. 

For when company comes ,there are 

two alternatives. The multidisc player 

can remain as a second source, doing 

what it does best. The other possibility 

is to move the appropriate music over 

to your computer, if you’ve got one, and 

connect it by either cable or WiFi to the 

DAC in your receiver. Then, once your 

budget has caught its breath you may 


Feedback 

YOU CAN 

HAVE IT ALL 

IN TORONTO 

Creek 

Cyrus 

Epos 

Sugden 

BUT ONLY AT 

416-346-3738 

www.audioeden.com 

want to upgrade to a new amplifier. We 

think you already know what to go out 

and listen to. 

As I write this I know you are in Las 

Vegas for the yearly CES. I read your 

book about hi-fi and I am impressed with 

the details of your explanation for every 

subject. I am a newbie and just starting 

in the exciting hi-fi world. 

I found a pair of NAD C272 and 

C162 amp and power amp for less than 

$1000. I know these are entry-level 

units. Would you recommend them, 

or am I better off saving my money 

and buying a used Copland, YBA or 

Classé? 

Ron Grey 

TORONTO, ON 

We would suggest going with a Copland 

or the YBA, Ron, but there is no 

way you’re going to get anything usable 

from either company for a three-digit 

price tag. One question, though: do you 

have a reason for looking at a separate 

power amplifier and preamplifier rather 

than an integrated amplifier? 

You might in fact have a good reason. 

Separates give you added flexibility as 

you upgrade. However integrated amps 

mostly take up less space, they can be 

excellent and even superb, and you don’t 

need to add a quality interconnect cable 

to make them sing. We would look at the 

alternatives. 

Thank you for the issue No. 85 

article on ripping one’s existing stock of 

CDs onto a computer disc drive (Music 

From Your Computer). I’ve been thinking 

of giving this a try for some time, 

and pitting my CD player against a 

computer — winner take all. A “Ripping 

for Audiophile Dummies” guide was the 

perfect thing to eliminate many of my 

questions. That, plus the availability of 

the Blue Circle Thingee at the Audiophile 

Store eliminates all obstacles. 

Except one. In the article you mentioned 

the need for error correction 

in the ripping software (I hadn’t even 

thought of that). Could you give some 

names of programs that rip to uncompressed 

formats (PC) using what you 

consider audiophile-quality error checking? 

Googling for “CD ripping software” 

results in a depressingly large number of 

hits, and I’m sure that 98% of the listed 

software considers the MP3 format to 

be “all you’ll ever need.” 

One other consideration with using 

a computer as a source is the fan noise. 

In an office environment that noise is 

barely noticeable, but move it to your 

equipment rack (or worse, a notebook 

next to your listening position) and 

during quiet music passages I think the 

fan would be quite annoying. Sure, the 

computer can be placed a good distance 

away from the listening position, but 

then it’s a short hike to select a different 

“CD,” and anything other than having 

the computer next to you effectively 

eliminates the equivalence of a CD 

player’s remote control. Any ideas for 

that? 

A computer and Thingee sounding 

better than roughly a $2000 CD player? 

Great! The eventual emergence of a 

more sophisticated Thingee-like device? 

Awesome! 

Jeff Tennant 

BURLINGTON, ON 

Jeff, the Apple iTunes program, 

which comes with Mac OS X and can 

be downloaded for Windows, includes 

error-correction, as shown in the article. 

Steve Nugent over at Empirical Audio 

says that it’s a good choice for the Macintosh, 

but that on Windows he prefers the 

free Exact Audio Copy for ripping, and 

either Foobar or JRiver for music library 

management. He also recommends 

avoiding Windows Vista, because with 

16/44 data it lowers volume to 90% of 

normal, thus truncating the bitstream. 

There are lots of other variables too, as 

there always are in high end audio. 

We agree that having a PC with a fan 

near listening position won’t be much 

fun, and we don’t like having one near 

our desks either, but there are affordable 

computers without fans, inexpensive 

enough to be classed as audio accessories. 

The Mac mini is widely used for 

exactly this purpose, and the new crop 

of “Netbooks,” the cheap miniature 

laptops, are mostly quiet and sell for 

under $400. Some audiophiles use the 

tiny Apple Airport Express to get music 

wirelessly from a remote computer. It has 

no fan, and it comes with both a USB 


Free Feedback 

Advice 

connector and an optical digital output. 

Incidentally, Steve Nugent has a modded 

version of the Airport Express. 

Apple also has a nifty solution to 

the problem of controlling music at a 

distance: the iPod Touch (or the nearly 

identical iPhone). A free downloadable 

application lets you see and control 

iTunes over your WiFi network. You 

can even view the cover art on its screen. 

There are also free or inexpensive 

remote applications for other jukeboxes, 

such as Winamp. 

We’ll be writing more about this 

topic shortly. 

Some time ago I bought and read 

two your books, The UHF Guide to High 

Fidelity and The World of High Fidelity. 

I was impressed by the depth of your 

knowledge, together with the easy style 

for this complicated subject (I even didn’t 

think how everything is complicated). 

I love music (any k ind except 

modern — after the 80’s), but have no 

time for searching, so I decided to ask 

your advice. What components in the 2 

to 4 thousands CAD price range (for the 

whole system): 1.CD player (most likely 

new) 2. loudspeakers (could be used) 3. 

anything else? Cables? Accessories? 

I have already a NAD C352 integrated 

amplifier. 

Igor Louckov 

BARRIE, ON 

This is a wide open question, Igor. 

The problem is not that there are no 

answers, but that there are too many 

answers. There are countless ways to put 

together a musical system on a budget, 

and the possibility of looking to used 

(and possibly discontinued) products 

multiplies the possibilities. 

An integrated amplifier is definitely 

the right choice for such a system, and 

you already have one. Though its rated 

power — 80 watts per channel — is quite 

respectable, amplifiers like the NAD 

C352 don’t have huge power supplies, 

and you will want to mate it with speakers 

that are reasonably sensitive, with a 

rating of at least 90 dB. A small speaker 

is not likely to be efficient enough, and 

anyway it will require a stand, which 

will suck badly-needed money from 

your budget. This is where buying used 

will be useful. There is a vast number of 

possible brands. 

But don’t overspend on the speakers, 

because you want money available for 

the best possible source. The quality of 

affordable CD players has improved considerably, 

fortunately. You might look 

at Creek, Moon, Vecteur, Roksan 

and Cambridge, but those are merely 

examples. 

Leave a small amount for proper 

cables, meaning cables that don’t come 

from the hardware store, and didn’t come 

free in the box. But don’t overspend there 

either, otherwise you’ll be forced to make 

painful compromises on the source. 

After reading all the good words 

about the Totem Mani-2 Signature 

speaker, the temptation is great to 

bring one home. Moreover, knowing 

that UHF applies strict and unbiased 

criteria for evaluating hi-fi gears makes 

the temptation even greater. However, 

UHF, as always made clear that this 

speaker requires an appropriate amplifier. 

Mine is the Naim Supernait. If I 


Free Feedback Advice 

Get UHF on your desktop 

anywhere in the world! 

Imagine getting an issue of UHF anywhere you live 

for C$4.30 including all taxes. 

Imagine subscribing for as little as C$21.50. 

Anywhere! 

www.magzee.com 

succumbed to the temptation, would it 

make “Manitou” mad at me, and would 

I suffer great punishment? 

If that were to be the case, what would 

be my best Totem to follow? 

I like to listen to chamber music, 

piano, jazz and World music. My listening 

room is 12’ x 14’ The rest of the 

system is a Rotel RCD975 connected by 

a pair of Audioquest Viper cables. The 

upgrade of the speakers (B&W P6) seems 

more urgent because of some distortion 

in low and medium frequencies (possibly 

because capacitors in the crossover have 

leaked). The P6 has the same distortion 

when paired to my Audio Analog 

Enigma (which, I think, confirms the 

fact that the culprit is the P6 and not the 

amplifier). 

Since we are on the subject of selecting 

the appropriate speaker for a given 

amplifier (or the inverse), other how PDF. can I make 

12 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 

complicated than mere wattage. Output 

current is certainly an important factor 

in the equation. How can I know how 

much current the speakers need for 

playing music? 

Jean-François Mondou 

SAINT-HUBERT, QC 

indeed get angry. Worse, the wrong 

amplifier can actually damage the speakers. 

Talk about wrath! 

When we reviewed the original 

Mani-2’s a decade and a half ago (UHF 

No. 43), no one had told us they were difficult 

to drive, and so we broke them in 

using a Robertson 4010, which boasted 

60 watts per channel. The combination 

sounded glorious. When we reviewed the 

current Signature version (in UHF No. 

76), we listened with a Moon W-5LE, 

which is explicitly not recommended by 

Totem. They sounded even better. We 

have heard them driven by various tube 

amplifiers, not offering huge amounts of 

power. Really fine! 

You will by now have gathered that 

the rumors are true. We do like the 

Mani-2, which we consider to be one 

of the world’s great speakers. A welldesigned 

amplifier capable of operating 

under high-current conditions can drive 

it without much risk. 

For what it’s worth, a mismatch that 

is not downright absurd may show up 

only under gross overload conditions. 

Our advice: on New Year’s Eve, keep the 

drunks away from the volume control. 

I’m a long time reader (since issue 

No. 30 I think), and over the last few 

years I’ve been a little out of touch as 

far as state-of-the-art gear is concerned. 

We’re all getting a little older and perhaps 

a little less ambitious. Don’t get me 

wrong; I’ve been listening, but I haven’t 

been purchasing. Thanks to UHF, I’ve 

Well, Jean-François, they say you 

can never be too thin or too rich, or been very content with my system…until 

How the electronic have too much amplifier version power. But now. works 

times change. “Too rich” runs counter Unfortunately, my Musical Fidelity 

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. 

and you open it with Adobe is no reader, longer etc. politically correct in the I made the purchase three years ago 

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. 

this one, or articles in fluent about gibberish. “too much amplifier power” may I’m more than willing to pay for the 

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 

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. 

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 

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 

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 

a given speaker is not easy to pin down. half that, but I’ve lost a little faith in the 

my own analysis? The For Mani-2’s details, impedance 

is 4 ohms (“mainly MagZee. resistive”) and will generally have very large power a hard lesson to be learned (funny how 

visit our Amplifiers Electronic that Edition can deliver page. To high buy current an issue hobby or subscribe, nonetheless, visit and maybe there’s 

recommended power is in the range of 

40 to 200 Watts. The Supernait has 80 

watts per channel at 8 ohms. 

I suspect that the story is more 

supplies, at least unless they use switching 

power supplies. The Supernait would 

certainly be wrong, but what would be 

right? Choose badly, and Manitou may 

my Adcom HDCD is still giving). When 

I purchase a CD player or anything 

mechanical, I’m thinking hopefully five 

to seven years. Bummer…


I’m not wise on the players they’ve 

offered, not to mention the bigger question: 

does an expensive Red Book CD 

player make sense today? Heck, they’re 

probably offering units with the same 

transport! I knew this day would come… 

just not this early and I’m not ready for 

it. 

I’m not keen on supporting Musical 

Fidelity again, but I may not get a better 

value. And most of us work hard. My 

local dealer stopped carrying Musical 

Fidelity, and I can’t believe I’m about to 

say this, but “I don’t care about bringing 

home a new box…I just want my music 

back!” 

I must be old. Any help would be 

greatly appreciated. 

Oh, and Ivy says, “Hi!” She just about 

killed me when I failed to mention her. 

George Watkinson 

OTTAWA, ON 

Hello to you both, George and Ivy. 

We’ve read the letter you got from Musical 

Fidelity USA, informing you that the 

Philips transports used in your Tri-Vista 

player are failing all over the place, and 

(of course) Philips no longer makes that 

transport. We feel your pain. Our Moon 

Stellar DVD player also used a Philips 

transport, it has also failed, others are 

failing all over the place, and Philips no 

longer makes that model transport. We 

have heard this story more times than 

we care to recall. 

Musical Fidelity is offering you 

“drastically reduced prices” on two other 

models. These are not Tri-Vistas (the 

Tri-Vistas used miniature tubes from 

the 1950’s in their circuits), and they will 

play only Red Book CDs, not SACDs. 

The choice is yours, obviously, but we 

would decline and look elsewhere. We 

also question the wisdom of spending a 

lot on a Red Book CD player when the 

medium is in steep decline. 

Some players, however, now have 

digital inputs or even USB connections, 

allowing their (presumably superior) 

internal converters to be used with a 

computer as a music source. Those 

players are future-proof, and they can be 

used even if the transport melts down… 

by which time you might not care. 

But what about SACD? It has settled 

nicely into its niche, abandoned by Sony, 

Exclusive North American Distribution 

EUROPRODUCTS 

Celebrating 12 years serving Canadian music lovers 

www.europroducts-canada.com 604-522-6168 

which developed it and led it to victory 

over DVD Audio, but supported by a 

number of audiophile labels. If you have 

a substantial number of SACDs, and if 

your taste in music is for material likely 

to be released on SACD, you might 

want to look for another player than can 

handle the format. 

This may not be fair, but before 

choosing we would inquire whether a 

given player contains a Philips transport. 

We are slow to anger, but equally slow 

to forgive. 

I’d like to get your view on the importance 

of loudness (decibels) in stereo 

playback. Is it fair to say that, in order to 

get a realistic and accurate reproduction 

of the music, one has to play at the same 

loudness that was achieved during the 

recording environment (live or studio)? 

How important is sound reproduction 

in terms of loudness, in the 

audiophile sphere? In a studio or any 

household music room, you seldom/ 

never get sound (decibel levels) close to 

what you’d experience in a live concert 


Free Feedback 

Advice 

PROAC • ROGUE • SHANLING • AUDIO SPACE • THORENS • UNISON RESEARCH•TOWNSHEND•MJ 

GRAHAM ENGINEERING•SHUNYATA • AESTHETIX • AUDIO ANALOGUE • AVALON •AYRE • ACOUSTIC ART 

hall. I guess part of the reason is most 

speakers do not reproduce realistic 

loudness, predominantly due to inefficient 

speakers. Not if you really want 

to overheat your amp or destroy your 

speakers! 

To get a realistic loudness experience, 

is your only option horn speakers? Is it 

fair to say that the best speaker in terms 

of realistic loudness come from horns 

(i.e. Avant Garde)? Any horn speaker that 

you would recommend without breaking 


the bank? 

Analog with style for 

your eyes 

and sound for your 

ears 

WE SPECIALIZE IN ANALOGUE PLAYBACK EQUIPMENT, ACCESSORIES & USED VINYL 

WE HAVE MORE THAN 20 TURNTABLES IN STORE DISPLAY AND DEMO 

FROM 

Ayre Acoustic (DPS), Avid, Acoustic Solid, Clearaudio, Dynavector 

J. A. Michell, Graham, Rega, Scheu Analog, Thorens, Tri-planar… 

CALM & FRIENDL Y HIGH END AUDIO ! 

3025 Cambie Street (Cambie & 15th Ave) Vancouver, BC V5Z 4N2 

(604) 873-6682 www.signatureaudio.com 

ACOUSTIC SOLID•HOVLAND • J.A. MICHELL • JEFF ROWLAND • NOTTINGHAM • OPERA • PATHOS•XLO•emmLABS 

Lee Andrews 

OTTAWA, ON 

That’s a really interesting question, 

Lee, and we will answer it by giving you 

two contradictory bits of data. 

Bit number one: stereo systems are 

mostly played too loud, well beyond 

concert levels (though possibly not rock 

concert levels). An editor in another 

magazine — we can’t recall which one 

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO • CLEARAUDIO •EXPOSURE AUDIO • GRADO •ELAC•TRIANGLE•MUSICAL FIDELITY 

it was just now — took his sound level 

meter with him to his expensive seat at 

a symphonic concert. Peak levels registered 

around 97 dB, a lot less than the 

105 dB peaks he was getting when he ran 

his home music system at his preferred 

volume. 

Bit number two: even the most powerful 

home music system cannot match 

the dynamics of a single piano. That 

was a point made by Paul Klipsch in a 

Klipsch ad some years ago. His wife was 

a pianist, and he claimed her grand piano 

produced peak acoustic levels that even 

his Klipschorn couldn’t match. 

How do we reconcile this? 

The two statements are contradictory 

only if we assume that what comes out 

of the speaker is linear, that is, directly 

proportional to the acoustic energy 

of the original performance. In fact 

reproduced music is dynamically distorted. 

In particular, live music contains 

instantaneous peaks that contain more 

energy than any home system could 

possibly reproduce. These brief peaks 

are simply clipped short, and the clipping 

causes a momentary burst of harmonic 

distortion. We cannot build a system 

that can handle such peaks accurately, 

nor can any recording medium, digital 

or analog, capture them. Therein lies the 

difference between high fidelity (even 

ultra high fidelity) and perfect fidelity. 

But just as the best systems cannot 

reproduce such instantaneous peaks, 

so sound level meters cannot measure 

them; meters have internal amplifiers 

too. Horn speakers are highly efficient, 

reproducing perhaps ten times as much 

volume for a given power input than you 

could get from conventional speakers. 

They can, therefore, reproduce concert 

levels even with a modestly-powered 

amplifier, but no speaker can reproduce 

the quick transient peaks Paul Klipsch 

was referring to. And yes, they do break 

the bank, because they are so much more 

complex than tuned reflex speakers, and 

they’re tougher to design, too. 

We should mention one other important 

aspect to choosing a playback 

volume. An audiophile may find that 

there are details, and even actual musical 

instruments, he cannot hear unless he 

turns up the volume. He then notices 

other details he hadn’t heard before,


but which he wishes were clearer, and 

so he turns up the volume some more. 

The high volume results in distortion, 

which makes things fuzzier, and so he 

“upgrades” his amplifier in order to get 

more power. He goes from 100 to 200 

watts, then 500, and there are still details 

he strains to hear. By now he is running 

the system dangerously loud, and neither 

he nor his neighbors are happy. 

His problem, if only he knew it, is 

a lack of clarity, not volume. Perhaps 

he needs a better source, a better amp, 

better speakers, better wiring…whatever. 

It might be that 60 watts, under 

ideal circumstances, would let him hear 

all of the music that has been eluding 

him. 

Your article in issue No. 85, UHF 

Chooses an HDTV, was most helpful, 

as we are presently shopping around 

for such an item. We note that in this 

category there are additional models that 

cost about 10% more than your selected 

model; the Samsung PN50A550. 

The two models are the Samsung 

PN50A650 and the Panasonic 

TH50PZ800U. Are either of these additional 

models worth this extra cost? 

Gordon Krip 

BEACONSFIELD, QC 

Gordon, we’re not sure about the 

Panasonic, whose added attribute is a 

THX-certified mode. The Samsung 650 

has different styling, with a red tint we 

find more distracting than attractive. 

It also has an upgraded anti-glare coating, 

possibly worthwhile if you view in 

brightly-lit rooms. 

The bad news is that its gray-scale 

tracking is less accurate than that of the 

earlier model, though Samsung offers a 

downloadable firmware upgrade to fix 

that. 

I recently completed my system with 

a Puccini player and the recently released 

Puccini U-Clock. When playing CD 

or SACD, the improvement brought by 

the clock is incredible. This is really a 

combination you should try. 

My question is the following: this 

U-Clock has also a USB input plug that 

allows reproducing music from a laptop, 

and the increase in quality is also stunning. 

But I cannot dedicate my laptop to 

this only task. 

Basically, what I would need would be 

some sort of hard drive on which I could 

copy high quality downloaded music 

(from Linn for example), with a USB 

output, but also allows me to visualize 

(on my TV screen?) the list of musical 

pieces. Does this exist ? Or do I need to 

buy a dedicated computer, such as a Mac 

mini, to render it possible ? 

Philippe Martiat 

BRUSSELS, Belgium 

You’ll certainly need a computer you 

can make available for the task, Philippe. 

A Mac mini would certainly be a good 

choice, and of course by high end standards 

it isn’t expensive. If your laptop is 

also a Mac, you can use Back to My Mac 

to control it from your laptop, so that 

you won’t need to give it either a monitor 

or a keyboard. Even cheaper would be 

one of the new inexpensive “netbook” 

laptops, some of which come with Linux 

installed. That however gets you into an 

unfamiliar operating system. 

You could install a large hard disc 

with your music on it next to your 

system, accompanied by a charger for 

your laptop. Connect them together 

when you want to listen. 

Incidentally, if you’re using iTunes 

there is a free application for the iPhone 

or iPod Touch allowing it to act as a visual 

remote control over WiFi. Applications 

are also available to control WinAmp 

and other computer jukeboxes. 

Having a little time off work over the 

holidays allows for more listening time. 

Of course, that gets me thinking of the 

next step in the upgrade process, so it’s 

time for more of your advice, please. 

So far I’ve upgraded to the CEC 

TL51XR belt drive CD player and the 

Sugden A21a integrated amplifier. Still 

remaining from the original system are 

the Wireworld Solstice III interconnects, 

Silver Sonic T-14 speaker cable, 

and B&W DM602 Series 1 speakers. 

I like listening to anything from Pink 

Floyd to Rickie Lee Jones and Miles 

Davis. I have collected hundreds of CDs 

over the years, and of course some sound 

evil, whereas some sound quite nice. 

My goal is to put together a system that 




allows me to experience as much of the 

magic as possible that is hidden in my 

collection, without running out of the 

room with my hands over my ears on 

anything less than a perfect recording. 

Is this a realistic goal and am I headed 

in the right direction so far? 

With this in mind I am trying to put 

together a list of speakers to consider. I 

have set up my room using the Cardas 

formula, and this means I am doing 

nearfield listening (quite entertaining 

but I think I like sitting back a bit more). 

My listening room is about 11’x 17’. Is 

this considered a medium-sized room? 

Will floorstanding speakers be too big 

for the room? Are 8 ohm speakers all that 

I should look at? What are the characteristics 

of an easy-to-drive speaker? I 

want something that will do my source 

and amp justice. To quote Gerard from 

your review of the Sugden amp “…if you 

look for speakers as good as this amplifier, 

they’ll have to be some speakers!” 

Can I find the kind of bang for your 

buck “value” in speakers that I have 

found in my upstream components? I 

am a bass player and do like to hear a 

reasonably realistic bottom end. Would 

the Harbeth HL5’s be an excellent match 

(scary price tag though)? Would the 

Reference 3a MM De Capo i’s be too 

analytical? (Better price, and I could use 

my current stands for now)? What else 

should I consider? A subwoofer? 

Given the current economic times 

I may have to wait a year or so before I 

make such a major luxury purchase, so I 

have time for research. But a Christmas 

bonus may allow the purchase of interconnects 

and/or speaker cables now. 

Thanks again for your help and hope 

to hear from you soon (before my wife 

finds a better use for my bonus). 

Jay McHollister 

STETTLER, AB 

Well, better is as better does, Jay. 

Your preamble suggests that you are now 

tempted to run from the room covering 

your ears. Indeed, the fact that nearfield 

listening is less than comfortable hints 

at the same thing. The top end of your 

system is not pleasing you. 

Like most speakers, the B&W’s 

have a “family sound,” and that sound is 

relatively forward. They can be tamed, 

to be sure. Whatever future changes you 

may consider, including floorstanding 

speakers with extended response down 

to where your favorite instrument plays, 

you may want to focus on the cables 

you’re using. Both the Silver Sonic 

and the Solstice interconnects are best 

described as cost-efficient. We’re not 

against cost efficiency, but you can do a 

lot better, and your system is now good 

enough that you’ll want to. You might 

look at better power cables too. 

You may also want to tweak the 

acoustics of your room. It’s awkward to 

rearrange a room that size, at least if it’s 

also a living room, but sometimes minor 

differences can have a big impact. 

With your next bonus (do they still 

give those after the meltdown?), look at 

speakers. The Harbeths would indeed 

be a good choice, and the Reference 

3a’s would be too once you have the 

troublesome top end under control. The 

impedance is of little importance, but 

the smoothness at higher frequencies is 

definitely what you should shop for. 

Participate in Free Advice! 

The Free Advice section was actually in our very first issue, and it is 

one element that makes UHF different from other magazines. It’s not 

that our ears are any better than yours, but we have, collectively, many 

years of experience. Perhaps we’ve learned something that can help you. 

You can submit your own question on line at uhfmail@uhfmag.com, 

but note a couple of conditions. 

Your question (and of course our answer) may be used in the on-line 

version on our site, and it may also be used in the print version. For those 

reasons, you need to supply your name and your home city. 

(Can you submit a question and specify that it not be used? Yes…but 

that’s a paid consultation service, currently costing $50/hour. Contact us 

for details.) 

I’ve read your magazine for quite 

some time and enjoy it very much. You’ve 

had Linn products for review several 

times but, not the Classik Musik or the 

Classik Movie. Have you had a chance 

to hear them at an audio show or elsewhere? 

I’d like to know what you think 

of them. 

I’m finally in the position to get a 

home music, and possibly home theatre 

system. The Linn Classik products make 

sense for my budget, which is limited to a 

few thousand dollars. Are there alternatives 

to the above products as well? 

Dean Nicholson 

SASKATOON, SK 

Well of course, Dean, because there 

always are, though perhaps not in this 

unique one-box configuration. We have 

heard the Linn Classik Musik, yes, and 

it is certainly superior to the usual allin-one 

receiver. It does have limitations, 

to be sure, but if we were spending time 

in a dorm room or a tiny apartment, we 

would take a serious look at it. 

However we don’t recommend the 

Classik Movie, because it is obsolete. It 

has a SCART video output, common 

in Europe, and S-Video outputs, but no

Free Free Feedback Advice Advice 

HDMI output. HDMI is so superior that 

we would not consider a player without 

it. 

I’m looking for a pair of full-range 

floorstanding speakers. Doing research 

on three-way vs. two-way speakers, I 

noticed that there seem to be two schools 

of thought. 

The three-way school believes 

dedicated drivers will provide the full 

frequency range compared to a two-way, 

since one driver is not trying to do two 

things. The two-way school believes 

that, although a two-way speaker may 

not produce the full frequency range 

(lacking in deep bass), the absence of a 

third driver and crossover will introduce 

less phase error and other abnormalities, 

plus the speaker will use less power. 

What are your thoughts on either 

design? Also, what floorstanding speakers 

would you recommend for about 

$3000 that are easy to drive, provides 

a full frequency range (including some 

deep bass), are easy to place (not too 

picky with room placement) and produce 

a deep and wide soundstage in a 12’x14’ 

living room? 

I listen to all types of music except 

country western. 

Antonio Giaccio, 

MONTREAL, QC 

Oh, we would love to play you a bit of 

Dolly Parton or Crystal Gayle, Antonio, 

but we digress. 

There are indeed two schools of 

thought. With three or more drivers, 

each can be specialized. Though a twoway 

speaker can reproduce deep bass, it 

may do better if it hasn’t been designed 

to cover most of the midrange as well. 

Similarly, if a tweeter needs to move lots 

of air at medium frequencies, it can’t be 

made as light and quick as it would be if 

it took care only of its own little corner 

of the world. 

So why not at least three drivers in 

every speakers? Cost aside, there is a 

sonic penalty to including more crossover 

points. Because handover is not 

instantaneous, there will be a range of 

frequencies that will be reproduced by 

two drivers of radically different characteristics, 

spaced apart by a number of 

centimetres. Phase problems will result, 

A QUIET REVOLUTION 

INTRODUCING THE QUIESSENCE SERIES FROM ETI 

response will be less than smooth around 

that point, and the roughness (concealed 

by smoothing in published curves) will 

be accompanied by intermodulation 

distortion. What’s more, many threeway 

designs have a crossover point right 

around middle C, where the ear is particularly 

sensitive. Electronic crossovers, 

with dedicated amplifiers and filters for 

Australian Innovation 

www.eti-research.com.au 

info@eti-research.com.au 

• The industry 

reference 

BulletPlug® RCA 

connector. 

• Hybrid Technology 

– 

an unparalleled 

combination of pure 

silver and tellurium 

copper conductors 

• Patented design. 

• Passive Ground 

Nulling Circuitry 

(GnC) eliminates 

ground induced 

reactances in the 

signal conductor. 

• Acts like a noise 

filter, reducing the 

effects of external 

interference such as 

EFI, EMF, RFI, and 

static charges. 

• Patent pending 

design. 

Exclusive North American Distributor 

Europroducts Marketing, Ltd. 

www. europroducts-canada.com 

each driver, can get around some of these 

problems, though not the ones caused by 

physical distance between drivers. 

Not too many floorstanding speakers 

will be at home in a small room. The 

Totem Sttaf and Forest come to mind 

as possibilities, as does the Gershman 

Sonogram. Those are just examples, 

though. 

FREE ADVICE ON LINE! 

www.uhfmag.com/FreeAdvice.html 


FEATURE 

Vegas in Bad Times 

At least this is one town where 

there’s still construction, 

right? A year ago, huge swaths 

of the storied Las Vegas Strip 

had been demolished, sweeping away 

such landmarks as the Stardust and the 

Frontier. There were cranes all around, 

putting up a new casino and entertainment 

centre to rival ’em all, and condo 

towers like the ones in the picture 

above, with prices starting at a million 

dollars. 

Anyone notice that a lot of those 

cranes aren’t moving? 

We flash back to January 2007, 

and the Consumer Electronics Show 

is riding a wave. It occupies fully the 

recently enlarged convention centre, 

and it still has overflow pavilions. If you 

haven’t booked your hotel before the 

end of November, you’re going to be 

sleeping out in Henderson, where the 

bright lights of Vegas illuminate only 

the horizon. Want a table in a good 

restaurant? Reserve early, preferably 

before leaving home. 

But that was two years ago, when the 

world’s bankers were blowing their noses 

in thousand dollar bills. By last year Wall 


Street might still have been running fine, 

but the consumer electronics industry 

was furrowing its collective brow. Business 

was down, and there were plants 

closing all over the world. 

As for Vegas, it might once have 

been the kingdom of the $39 room and 

the $1.99 all-you-can-eat buffet, but its 

casinos had consolidated into a very few 

conglomerates, and those conglomerates 

were fat and greedy. Book a set of 

rooms at an upscale hotel (and that’s 

nearly all there is now anywhere near the 

Strip), and not only did you get dinged 

for expensive rooms, but you had to 

guarantee that each person would spend 

a minimum amount in food and shows. 

Also last year, the Las Vegas Sun ran 

a story, probably planted, that said CES 

might leave Vegas in favor of New York, 

or even Singapore. The story quoted 

management at large companies, such as 

Hewlett-Packard, as talking staff reductions 

in Vegas. 

This year…well, you can guess what 

happened. Attendance dropped by as 

much as 35%. Lots of corners of the Las 


Vegas Convention Centre were vacant. 

Even on the eve of CES I was bombarded 

by e-mails offering top hotels at bargain 

prices. I dined in a variety of restaurants 

before, during and after CES, and I 

never waited more than two minutes for 

a table. I wanted to see a second time the 

Cirque du Soleil Beatles-themed show, 

Love. In 2007 getting a ticket meant long 

waits. This year I got a great seat half 

price for the same evening. 

(And, by the way, it was worth it this 

time too.) 

Even so, the worst may be to come. 

The commercial paper hit the fan only 

in September, and by then a lot of companies 

had already committed to being 

at CES. They may have downsized their 

staff, but they came. Will they be there 

in 2010? 

Another question: at a time when 

the Internet connects us all, and we’re 

talking about “reducing our carbon footprints,” 

do big shows like CES still make 

sense? For high end audio the answer 

seems obvious, but high end audio is 

not what makes the wheels of consumer 

electronics turn. And we might be seeing 

a sign of the times at another show in 

another city. 

For many years, the Macworld show 

has been held in San Francisco at the 

same time as CES. That meant Apple, 

a growing force in consumer electronics, 

was not coming to CES, nor were 

many of their partners. Journalists were 

forced to choose which show they would 

cover. Though Macworld is minuscule 

compared to CES, it often got more 

headlines. Year after year Bill Gates 

would give a forgettable keynote, while 

at Macworld Steve Jobs would stroll on 

stage with his trademark jeans and black 

turtleneck, and wow the overflow crowds 

with “insanely great” products. Two 

years ago the iPhone was introduced 

at Macworld, not at CES, and for three 

days it bumped CES right out of the 

news.

Feedback Feature 

But consider what happened 

this year. There was 

an Apple keynote, but Steve 

Jobs wasn’t there (I started 

the rumor that Obama had 

recruited him to run the 

GM-Chrysler company, but 

he turned out to have health 

issues). More important was 

that Apple announced it 

would not be at the next 

Macworld, probably dooming 

the show. Apple says it 

has its stores all over the 

world, and they get more 

visitors in a week than Macworld 

does. 

Quick on the ball, CES 

announced an entire Applethemed 

pavilion for 2010. It 

was quickly sold out, and it 

then quadrupled the space in 

it (they’re likely to have space 

they won’t know what to do 

with). There is, however, a 

difference between Macworld 

and CES. Macworld 

is a consumer show, but CES 

is trade only. And it’s not as 

though Apple can’t get ink 

without ferrying dozens of its 

employees away from their work to meet 

and greet journalists and store owners 

who wish they could sell iPods. 

Yet, as I said, for high end audio it’s 

a different matter. You don’t want your 

products merely seen, you want them 

heard. A good chunk of CES space 

(the Venetian towers, notably, and the 

Hilton) is given over to audio. However 

high end audio is one of the most fragile 

sections of consumer electronics, and it 

is the makers of audio gear who are the 

most susceptible to being unable to buy 

food if business goes south. For many of 

them, going to a show is something that 

can be cut. 

There is, of course, an alternative 

venue, T.H.E. Show, which CES considers 

a disloyal competitor and would 

like to wipe off the face of the earth. 

It is strictly high end audio. So how as 

it doing? Not too well. Last year it had 

expanded to take not only the St. Tropez 

but also the Alexis Park next door (once 

occupied by CES itself). This year it was 

only at Alexis Park, and its 50 exhibits 

didn’t take up much of it. I toured it in 

just four hours, not counting the rooms 

where the exhibitors hadn’t bothered 

showing up. 

Crowds were sparse, too, and that’s 

despite the fact that, this year, the show 

was open not only to CES attendees (who 

are trade, not consumers), but also to 

bona fide members of audio societies. 

I don’t know what the future holds 

for CES, for T.H.E. Show, or for trade 

shows in general. I suspect that Las 

Vegas itself will bounce back, even if 

the casino and hotel operators will have 

to rein in their greed a bit. It’s possible 

that the gigantic Las Vegas Convention 

Center will never be totally filled again, 

but Vegas is not just conventions. It’s Sin 

City, it’s Disneyland for adults, and it 

is — as a cab driver once told me — the 

place people go to do what they wouldn’t 

do at home. 

So bring on the cheap weekday 

flights, and the low-cost room packages, 

and the gift packs of tokens to start 

gambling with, and the 75¢ imported 

beers. At some point, there will be visitors 

who came for fun, but start asking, 

“Wouldn’t this be a great place for our 

next convention? 

* * * 

Enough! Let’s tour the show. 



With every new CES there are new amplifiers, or 

at least new versions of amplifiers we’ve seen 

before. I constantly marvel at the continuing 

presence of vacuum tubes. Check the two 

tube units at the top of this page. 

They’re from a California company called Win Analog (I 

presume, then, that the “Win” doesn’t stand for “Windows”). 

The closeup image at left is that of a preamplifier, the LS845a. 

At right is the WA833a monoblock. The amplifier includes a 

KT66 output tube, but it isn’t used for output. Rather, it’s the 


driver which pumps the 833a output tube (that’s the big one 

in the middle) to 65 watts. At CES they were driving Florence 

Audio Pololena pyramid-shaped speakers, with a Sony 

SACD player as a source. Incidentally, Win Analog lists only 

one dealer, and that one in its home town, so I presume it was 

System 

going fishing for more at the show. 

The preamplifier at left is the Wavemaster WM-1 from 

Audience, and it is not a tube unit. Nor, for that matter, is 

it a solid state preamp, not full-time at least. It is a passive 

preamp, which in ordinary operation has no amplification at 

all. Such preamps usually have perilously-high impedance, but 

the Wavemaster uses a multi-tapped transformer to achieve 

high efficiency and a satisfactorily low impedance. 

There is a solid state amplifier stage which can 

be switched in if the source is just not loud 

enough. Projected price: between $10 and $12 

thousand. 

The power amps Audience was using were 

prototype monoblocks, and the speakers used 16 

proprietary drivers, plus a subwofer that goes to 

work below 40 Hz. It all sounded very good, with 

a particularly smooth violin. 

Simaudio continues to move its well-reviewed 

technology downmarket with the Moon I-.5 (yes, that’s 

point five) and the matching CD-.1 player. They’re the model 

down from the I-1 and CD-1 reviewed in UHF No. 84, and 

the price is of course lower, at an estimated $1200 each. A 

sign of the times? 

Perhaps this is another sign of the times: iPod docks, or 

products that are also iPod docks, are multiplying. The most 

expensive one was from Chord, not known for paying the 

least attention to the budgets of its customers. It’s the Chord 

Indigo, a Wall preamplifier Stands 

that also has the (now obligatory) USB 

input. 

at 

One of the truly impressive rooms was from the Austrian 

Your 

Belongs on the Wall 

Target One and Two-Shelf 

The Audiophile Store 

company Ayon. Its CD player and large tube amplifiers were 

driving Pinyon speakers from Escalante (another company 

worth checking out, come to think of it). The combination had


they are today, and an extra tube would have added distortion 

and noise. I heard it drive a pair of Sonist Concerto speakers, 

making the always sensuous and warm voice of singer Ana 

Caram sound particularly pleasant. 

Above are a couple of prototypes being demonstrated at 

T.H.E. Show by Edge, well-known for its large solid-state 

amplifiers. The really original piece was a battery-powered 

CD player with an unusual feature: pick your transport. 

Sony? Philips? Yes, sure. The system was driving humongous 

PDN Montana speakers, with Tibetan monks chanting and 

Get the complete beating a version 

large drum. 

Below is an astonishing device from SE2 Labs, which 

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 

and of great hours musicality. reading it. Want the full an version? option. This huge box ($30 to $46 thousand, depending 

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 

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 

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 

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 

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! 

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 

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, 

than a little It’s available interesting. from At MagZee.com. 

top left it’s affordable (US$399), and yes, it has a USB input. 

is the Tri Version 7, an updated (and 

expensive, at almost $14,000) version 

of one of its designs. However 

the company has other interesting 

products that certainly look good, 

including a $2799 tube preamp 

with phono stage, a tube CD player 

for $2100 (no digital input, though), 

and a push-pull tube integrated amplifier 

for $2200. 

One of the most interesting amplifiers 

I saw (and heard) was DeHavilland’s KE-50A 

power amplifier (above centre). This $7495 beauty is made 

under license from Kara Chaffee Engineering, and is based 

on a design of the Fifties, from the days when Fisher was a 

company, and not merely a brand name. The amplifier uses 

a pair of KT-88 output tubes, hefty for the time, and phase 

reversal for the push-pull output stage is provided not by the 

usual active inverter, but from an interstage transformer. Why? 

Well, transformers in those days were more affordable than 




Fi r s t 

question: 

is that cont 

rapt ion at 

upper centre a woodburning 

speaker? Not 

exactly. The Raal Requisite 

Eternity is from 

Serbia, and it is a joint 

venture between designer 

Aleksander Radisavljevic (at right 

in the picture above) and the man 

standing next to him, marketer 

Danny “Sage” McKinney. Five 

15” (38 cm) woofers are in the 

solid bronze base. The rest of 

the speaker is omnidirectional 

too, with an array of 18 midrange 

driver and 15 ribbon tweeters. 

I listened to them reproducing 

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Coq d’Or, 

and it was a most pleasant experience. 

Price: $100K. 

At left is DeVore Fidelity’s 

Gibbon 9 speaker. It’s a twoway 

system, but with an extra 

side-mounted woofer. I listened 

to some classic Nat King Cole 

recordings on a Basis turntable 

and Nagra electronics. I would 

have liked more smoothness (I 

don’t know whose fault that was), 

but I enjoyed the 

liveliness. 

At the last Montreal 

salon, a new 

company called 

Lafleur had done 

something clever: 

it s protot y pe X1 

speaker was set up 

in the press room, 

where journalists 

could get a look at 

it. Laf leur was at 

CES, but in a regular 

room. At right is the 

X2 speaker, so named 

because it has two 

woofers instead of 

one. This is a luxury 

speaker ($17K), with the enclosure made 

of lateral laminations. Paired with Moon 

components, it sounded most pleasant. I 

expect Lafleur will be back at the Montreal 

Salon first weekend in April. 

Below right is another Canadian 

speaker, the Herald. This is 

a fully active loudspeaker, made in 

Markham, in suburban Toronto. 

This $12,000 speaker includes four 

amplifiers. In the demo 

it exhibited powerful 

dynamics, with a very 

good sense of space. It’s 

certainly a speaker to 

keep an eye on. 

In a totally different price range, 

Focus Audio, known for speakers 

you’d probably save money for years 

to buy, is adding affordable speakers 

to its line. The new FC 9, with nice 

wood finish and chamfered sides, 

costs $1800. I heard them with 

NAIM gear, and they sounded very 

good, natural, not all all forward. 

There is an even less expensive 

Focus speaker (C$1030 or US$800), 

the FC 6. I haven’t heard it. 

Remember the French speaker 

make, Elipson? We still have a 

pair of Elipson 1400’s, used for the 

rear channels in our home theatre 

system. But then the company tried 

to make its living with “lifestyle” 

speakers, which is a little like an 

upscale restaurant specializing in 

Pablum. It’s back with large, high 

performance speakers, the 42XX

Listening Feedback Room 

(they’re prototypes, 

and the last 

two digits are to be 

named later. I heard 

the 18121 Overture, 

with the speakers 

joined by Accuphase 

gear. Frankly 

the sound was loud 

and hollow, but the 

cannon shots had a 

lifelike impact. 

At extreme left 

is a Cessera horn, 

which was demo 

n s t r at e d w it h 

Zanden electronics. 

What made the 

demo unusual was 

that the Zanden 

preamplifier offers 

a choice of equalization 

curves, as 

was common in 

the early days 

of the LP. It 

has curves 

not only for 

the usual RIAA curve, but also for 

FFRR (the old Decca-London curve) 

but also Teldec 

say so 

and 

in a 

others. 

review. 

The 

company had brought some older 

recordings from Archiv and Decca, 

purporting to show that older curves 

were used long after the supposed victory 

of RIAA. I don’t know whether 

I’m totally convinced, 

can cancel. 

but certainly 

About the Audiophile Store 

It’s always a pleasure to run across a 

speaker from Rethm (the name is not a 

variant on “rhythm,” it’s actually Sanskrit 

for “harmony”). The Saadhana, at right, 

was back, but this time with a bass module 

to add a little extra impact to the bottom 

end. Without the bass module, the Rethm is 

a single-driver horn-loaded speaker. Having 

praised it (because I normally enjoy it so 

much), I have to add that it sounded a little 

harsh this time, and that’s despite the analog 

source. I suspect the turntable, because the 

Saadhana is usually impeccable. 

I spent some time with a most unusual 

speaker, the Nola Baby Grand Reference. 

What is unusual about it is that the top 

of the enclosure looks as though it was 

removed. The four midrange drivers and 

the Raven ribbon tweeter are open-backed. 

The Nolas have an external crossover. Playing 

with an Audio Research CD player and 

electronics, they sounded truly lifelike, and 

I spent some time in the room. 

The eight pages starting on 

At 

page 

lower 

53 are 

right 

a catalog 

is t he 

for The 

St udio 

Audiophile 

Elect ric T3 

Store. The store belongs to 

speaker, 

UHF, 

which 

and it 

was 

is stocked 

driven 

with 

by hybrid 

accessories 

amplifiers 

and 

from the same 

recordings that we recommend? 

company. It sounded very good. I was invited to slip my iPod 

Do we have a conflict of 

into 

interest? 

the accompanying 

Actually we don’t, 

Wadia 

because 

iTransport, 

anything 

and I needed no 

we don’t like doesn’t make 

further 

it to the 

encouragement. 

store. We’re not 

I listened 

tempted 

to 

to 

a 

cheat, 

song from 

because 

the credibility we’ve 

Bïa’s Sources 

album. 

built up 

Far, 

over 

far 

the 

too 

years 

much 

is 

bass, 

worth 

unlike 

a lot 

what 

more 

I 

than 

heard from CDs, 

a few sales. If a competitor 

but 

makes 

the sound 

something 

was otherwise 

better, so 

clean 

be it, 

and 

and 

clear. 

we’ll even 

To its left is a speaker I spent plenty of time with, from 

And the store actually 

Ocean 

protects 

Way 

us from 

Monitor 

potential 

Systems. 

conflicts. 

Much larger than its photo suggests, 

In the past, advertisers have 

it’s 

attempted 

a triamplified 

to shake 

pro 

us 

monitor 

down, 

used 

threatening 

at Allen 

to cancel their ads if we published 

Sides’ Ocean 

something 

Way 

negative. 

Studio in 

It 

Los 

hasn’t 

Angeles. 

happened 

for a while, but then everyone 

What 

knows 

was he 

it 

doing 

won’t 

there? 

work. 

Selling. 

The Audiophile 

He said he 

Store 

puts eight pages of advertising 

got tentative 

in every 

orders 

issue, 

for 

and 

10 

those 

sets of 

are 

the 

pages 

speakers. 

no one 

Kevin Hayes of 

this was one of the 

Check 

truly 

out 

great 

the 

rooms 

store, ot 

VAC 

its on-line 

was there 

counterpart. 

to, 

We think there’s great 

at the show. 

stuff there. If we didn’t think 

and 

so, 

the 

it 

two 

wouldn’t 

discussed 

the sounds 

be there. 

To the right of the Cessera is the 

Scaena Acoustics inline array. This of different generations 

of studio 

beautifully put-together speaker 

includes a dozen little woofer/midrange 

drivers, and nine ribbon tweet- 

have worked with. 

microphones they 

ers. It sells for $54K. It was advantaged Sides played nearmaster 

high-res 

by VTL tube electronics and a dCS 

player. Very nice. 

r e c o r d i n g s of 

At left is a Venture speaker from Peggy Lee and Nat 

Belgium, with a full set of four King Cole. Hayes 

ceramic drivers. It’s new to me, and had one too. And 

the Venture site includes not a word, there were tapes 

so I can’t tell you much about it. It to be played on the 

was in the room with Wavac tube Ampex ATR-100 

monoblocks and the (always welcome) recorder. Result: 

emmLabs player. Another great I stayed much too 

room, with tight and detailed music, long, but I enjoyed 

and generally good sound. 

every second. 




Ah, turntables! I’m thrilled by the way digital 

sound has progressed since its unpromising 

introduction in the 80’s, but it’s always special 

to put on a good LP. It’s also good to see that, 

in this age of the computer as a music source, there are 

also more and more turntables available. 

Here are two turntables of opposite extremes. One is 

bewilderingly complex, the other simplicity itself. 

At left is the Gabriel turntable. It’s Italian, but you 

had probably figured that out. In fact some of its complex 

parts were machined over at the Ferrari plant when it 

wasn’t busy. The suspension is magnetic. By the way, 

have you counted the tone arms? Yes, four, and the 

table costs $64K if you buy it that way. Since 78 rpm is 

one of the available speeds, that could account for 

an arm right there. The cartridge (well, one of the 

four actually) is an EMT, with a body made from 

tungsten. 

The Gabriel was in the room of Gemme Audio, 

whose Katana speaker we will be reviewing shortly. 

At the show, however, was a pair of tiny speakers, 

coupled with a long subwoofer the size of a sideboard. 

My initial impression was that the system had a 

couple of rough edges. However when they put on 

Janos Starker playing one of the Bach cello suites, 

my objections melted away. 

Above is the opposite of the Gabriel, the deceptively 

simple DPS table from Germany (the initials 

stand for “der Plattenspieler.” It was in the Ayres 

room for a good reason: the DPS uses a three-phase 

AC motor, and Ayres designed the power supply. 

The room featured (of course) Ayres electronics and 

Sonus Faber speakers. Need I explain why that room 

was a veritable oasis of music? 

At left is Bill Firebaugh, the man behind Well 

Tempered turntables. He’s still going, too, shown 

here with his Amadeus table. Firebaugh always 

maintained that the designer of a turntable bearing 

should pay attention to the side of the bearing wall 

rather than the bottom, because the belt tends to pull 

the platter sideways. He hasn’t changed his mind, and 

what he has done, in his own words, is put a round 

pole into a square hole…the opposite of the popular 

expression. Then again, Bill, I’ve always thought of 

you as a square peg in a round hole. Nice work. 

The turntable costs $3K, and the arm $5300. The 

Dynavector lacquer-damped cartridge? Another 

$9000. 

Yes, it’s interactive 

Just click on the ad on the next page, and you know what will happen? 

You’ll go right to the advertiser’s Web site…if there is one, and of course 

if you are connected to the Internet at that moment. 

Try it with any of the other ads in this issue. 

Of course it works with the full (paid) electronic issue as well.

Nuts&Bolts 

Feedback 

Is there life beyond CD, and even 

SACD and other current high-resolution 

formats? Keith O. Johnson 

believes there is, ant at CES for 

the first time he set out to demonstrate 

it. Keith is co-inventor of HDCD, and 

the designer of modern Spectral components. 

His is the creative imagination 

behind the small miracles that are Reference 

Recordings. 

Keith today makes his master recordings 

in what he calls the HRx format, 

with 24 bits and a sampling rate of 

176 kHz. Why not 192 kHz? Because at 

least some of the material winds up on 

CD, and 176 kHz is exactly four times the 

CD’ sampling rate. That avoids strange 

rounding errors during the mastering. 

Only how do you play back the original 

without a high-powered computer? 

At a special invitation-only event, he 

and PS Audio’s Paul McGowan (at left in 

this photo) showed off the first-ever HRx 

disc player. It is nowhere near done, and if you let it run long enough the built-in 

buffer will run out of room and the player will let go with a sharp zork. That said, 

the segment I heard, an excerpt of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, was arguably 

the very best thing I heard at CES. 

Less serious, and not just by a small margin, was the NFS room, which is shown 

below left. NFS is a project by a group of Vegas audiophiles, one of them a doctor, 

and the initials stand for “not for sale.” They told me they had done very well at the 

show this year, signing up exactly zero dealers, “the same number signed up by a 

lot of companies here.” The starscape, by the way, is the result of a product called 

Blisslight. 

NFS doesn’t go for the 

latest technology — two 

years ago it brought an 

8-track player picked up on 

eBay. The source this time 

was a little better: a SOTA 

turntable, and large stacks 

of LPs, including Beatles 

originals. Other gear: an 

ancient Yamaha receiver, 

obscure Chario loudspeakers from 1992, and expensive cables. 

Do cables matter even if you don’t have first-rate gear? Well, you 

could argue that, and Clarity Cable purports to demonstrate it. Its 

slogan… well, that’s it above right. 

So what’s the demonstration? Clarity has put together a $1750 

system, using a cheap Blu-ray player, a Panasonic receiver and a pair 

of Infinity speakers (I’d say there’s a difference between cheap and 

ill-chosen, but who would listen to me?). To that has been added a set 

of Clarity cables with a total price tag of $9950. 

So what’s the result? Do the cables make the system sound better 

than you would expect? Definitely. Does it sound the way you would 

expect an $11,700 system to sound? In your dreams! 

I’d suggest revising the slogan. How about, “Garbage in, garbage 

out, stupid.” 


Nuts&Bolts 



It’s obvious to everyone that home 

theatre is not immune to economic 

woes (and whoas!), despite all the 

talk about cocooning. But some 

claim that bad times bring opportunities: 

if your adversaries are hurting, now’s the 

time to go in for the kill. 

That may be the thinking behind 

Samsung’s biggest-ever display, which 

would have filled a medium-sized 

convention centre all by itself. The 

South Korean company has been pouring 

money and energy into its video 

research, and it has made solid inroads. 

Our new reference HDTV, as you no 

doubt know, is a Samsung plasma. 

But perhaps Samsung overdid it. 

There were countless pairs of displays, 

showing how an image looks with and 

without a particular technical feature. 

Normally I eat this up, but my head was 

spinning before I was through. 

Pioneer was showing its excellent 

Kuro panels, but without new features, 

and for good reason: in February the 

company would announce it was quitting 

the TV business (in favor of car electronics 

— they must know something 

I don’t). Panasonic had a huge display 

too, but is hurting. Not long after CES 

it announced massive plant closings and 

layoffs. 

Not that it’s planning to roll over 

and play dead. The next big thing, says 

the company, is 3-D. It’s currently big 

in movie theatres, but there was lot of 

buzz at CES about 3-D in the home. 

Samsung was showing a 3-D display at 

Showstoppers, but the demo was done 

with a video game, and it was beyond 

awful. Panasonic was showing actual 

film clips, and even had a clip of director 

James Cameron, who is busy shooting 

his film, Avatar, in 3-D. 

What Panasonic is proposing is 

nothing less than a new standard for 

Blu-ray movies. Competing 3-D systems 

compromise resolution, cutting it in half 

to make room for the second image. 

Panasonic claims full 1080p resolution 

plus the third dimension. It remains to 

be seen whether the technology is truly 

unique — and whether it will catch 

on — but certainly Panasonic’s standingroom-only 

3-D demo was a dazzler. 

The only other 3-D demo that wasn’t 

disappointing was that of Da-Lite, the

Nuts&Bolts 

Acoustics 

Feedback 

screen people. However the demo was 

meant to show how good the screens are 

(successfully, too), and it used technology 

you’ll never have at home: two large 

video projectors, one for each image, 

through polarizing filters. Of course 

we all wore polarized glasses, as did the 

audience in the Panasonic demo (the 

picture at top shows what may look like 

red-green glasses, but that’s caused by 

reflections). 

This may seem the wrong time to be 

launching new, incompatible formats, 

but I’m a 3-D fan from way back, and 

I wish Panasonic and the other players 

good success. 

Another product announced by 

Panasonic was a portable Blu-ray player, 

which drew snickers from some worldweary 

journalists, who asked why? But 

I think the answer is obvious. If you 

bought Wall-E in Blu-ray, how do you 

explain to your children that they can’t 

watch it in the back seat of the car while 

driving to the lake? No price or launch 

date yet. 

Is GM in Trouble? 

Or it might be better to ask why GM is in 

trouble. The official UHF limo at 

CES is from Hertz, usually a 

Ford or Toyota. This year? 

A Chevrolet HHR, an inept knockoff 

of Chrysler’s PT Cruiser (apparently 

unable even to copy on its own, GM 

hired away the PT Cruiser’s designer). 

Perhaps Hertz gets them for nothing. 

Here’s one detail: how do you open the hatch? Is there a button on the dashboard, 

or on the floor? Nope. Then perhaps in the glove compartment? Can’t find 

one. A button for the hatch on the remote? No there isn’t. I look in the owner’s 

manual index under “H.” No mention. 

If you just read the manual the way you read a novel, eventually you run across 

what you’re looking for. Just push the remote button for unlocking the doors twice 

in five seconds, and you can then pull the hatch open. But four times out of five 

it doesn’t work. Repeated attempts sometimes succeeds, sometimes not. I discover 

accidentally that it works fairly reliably if you leave the rear door ajar. 

The manual says that if the battery on your remote poops out, hey, no problem. 

Crawl into the back with a screwdriver, remove a trim panel, and you can get at 

the latching mechanism. 

Nor was that all. The motor and transmission actually work quite well, and the 

car has a short turning radius I appreciated in parking garages. But the suspension 

is downright bizarre. The controls for the power windows are not on the door but 

on the floor, just near the transmission lever. Windows are small, and the interior 

is arranged so that the passenger headrest exactly eclipses the right rear window. 

The HHR has so many blind spots it should come with a guide dog as standard 

equipment. Merging right is best done slowly, to give other motorists a chance to 

honk. 

I have, in the past, taken high end audio designers to task for poor human interface 

design and useless manuals. The syndrome is not, on the evidence, limited to 

the audio world. 

There were a couple of interesting 

cable innovations, which you can see 

above. 

The snakelike wire is an HDMI 

video cable called the Flexicord. You can 

stretch it right out like any other cable, 

but you can also “sculpt” it to the shape 

you want. As someone who has overlong 

cables sometimes acting as dustcatchers, 

I confess it grabbed my interest. 

As for the HDMI plug just below it, 

it’s from PPC, and it is the first locking 

HDMI plug. I haven’t heard reports of 

ordinary HDMI cables dropping out of 

jacks all by themselves, but if you need 

to move anything it could happen. The 

locking mechanism resembles that of an 

XLR plug, except that it doesn’t require a 

reciprocal mechanism on the jack it goes 

into. I asked whether PPC will be offering 

the plug as an OEM item for other 

manufacturers, or even licensing the 

technology. The answer was no, which 

was a disappointment. However we have 

asked for a review sample, and we’ll let 

you know whether the wire attached to 

this innovative plug is truly top-grade. 

And so ends yet another Consumer 

Electronics Show. Notwithstanding 

the gloomy news about being able to 

get into restaurants easily, the traffic 

in major CES venues was pretty good, 

and exhibitors I talked to were generally 

happy they came. Indeed, at the “zoo” 

(the Convention Center) at noon on Day 

Three, it was crowded enough to make 

getting around a chore. 

Of course that was this year. By CES 

2010 the economic recovery will have 

kicked in. Right? What? 


Though it has come as a surprise 

to many, we are at 

the twilight of the Compact 

Disc, the format 

which brought digital sound to 

all. That is not the same as the 

twilight of digital, however. The 

CD is being replaced rapidly by 

the downloadable music file, 

which is every bit as digital. 

However it is also being crowded 

out on its other flank by a return 

of the vinyl disc. That is, of course, 

an analog medium. 

Is analog actually superior to 

digital as many audiophiles have long 

claimed? In some ways it certainly is, 

though as someone who has done a great 

deal of recording, I must add that for 

some reasons I was glad to see analog 

eclipsed. I realize that this requires some 

explanation. 

First, let me venture into the territory 

of definitions. What is analog… 

concretely? 

Not so long ago the term was not 

used in ordinary conversation, because 

digital media did not exist, and there was 

only analog. As the saying goes, we don’t 

know who discovered water, but we are 

quite sure it was not a fish. 

Consider the fact that a pure acoustic 

tone is commonly represented by a sine 

wave. 

What does this mean? The actual 

acoustic wave consists of vibration of the 

air, with the result that some segments 

of air are compressed while others are 

rarefied. This alternating variation 

in pressure is represented by the sine 


Nuts&Bolts 

wave, which is an analog of (that is, it 

is analogous to) the acoustic wave. The 

upper part of the wave corresponds to 

the points of higher pressure, the lower 

part to points of lower pressure. 

A microphone captures the sound 

wave, which impinges on its diaphragm, 

as an alternating current which is also an 

analog of the sound wave. The positive 

voltage represents the higher pressure 

state, and the negative voltage represents 

the lower pressure. Note that because 

sound is inherently analog, and microphones 

capture analog information, all 

sound recording begins exactly this way. 

They will then diverge. 

In traditional (analog) recording, 

an analog of the original 

sound wave is transferred to tape, 

in the form of a pattern of magnetic 

particles oriented as to 

their polarity. When an LP is 

cut, the groove is also an analog 

of the original sound wave, with 

lateral and vertical deviations 

that correspond to the original 

acoustic wave. The phono cartridge, 

as it follows the meandering 

groove, will generate an alternating 

current that is once again an analog of 

the groove modulation. This signal will 

be amplified, and then the loudspeaker 

will turn it into an acoustic wave that 

is, or so we hope, not totally unlike the 

original acoustic wave. 

The rest of this article can be found in 

the complete print or electronic version 

of UHF No. 84. Order the print issue 

from www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html 

(it’s case sensitive). Or subscribe 

at www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html. 

The electronic issue is available from 

www.magzee.com. 

We now continue in imitation 

Latin. 

Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute 

duis dignisc iliscipissi. 

Analog In a Digital World 

by Paul Bergman 

Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore 

facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese 

facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer 

suscing enismod dolorero odiamco 

rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel 

ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core 

tisi. 

An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud 

dunt utet autem quam, sis augue 

magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed 

te ming esent loborper iure commodio 

commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim 

iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla 

feum do odolore commodolore dolore 

dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem 

ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna 

conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum 

alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan

Nuts&Bolts 

Feedback 

henisl ute core vent volor 

si. 

Sumsandre con hent ilit 

nim nis accum nissequam ero 

eraestrud dolore ese dolore 

dolutat, volobore diat praestismod 

te facilla facil inci blan 

et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am 

quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh 

eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut 

adip euis dolessi. 

Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con 

utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed 

euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse 

quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit 

ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe 

rostrud dipis nonsenisi. 

Iril iure molobor sustismod molore 

mincilit acing er accum vulput in 

utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol 

ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum 

quamconulla commy niation sequatie el 

ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis 

ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad 

eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et 

volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi 

bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis 

modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor 

ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh 

eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna 

feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait 

wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del 

dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex 

eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. 

Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in heniscidunt 

aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit 

lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam 

quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod 

tat. 

Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. 

Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum 

ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit 

lutpat nullam velesto commolortie 

dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh 

er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum 

vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit 

num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet 

praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, 

quis aliquat irilismolore exerat acidunt 

dolesto ex er incilis essim numsandrem 

verosto eummy nim velendre er ing euis 

nonulla faccumm olortionulla feuipsum 

eu facipis cipit, volobore erillaor in 

utpatie vel iustisl dipisim zzrillutetue 

corpera esendit ipisi blandrer susci te 

magna feugait vel ut iniam, velis amcore 

facilisl erit venit augait lute tem ing 

e r c i l i t , 

velisci liquatuer il utatue consequat. 

Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dionsendipit 

nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor 

iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat. 

Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna 

feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu 

facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit illaore 

do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te feugait niamcom 

modolor perilluptat. To commy 

nim iustio duipis num nostrud magna 

facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait 

lor se commodo lobore dolore conse 

conumsandit aliquisci tet lore tio eugait 

ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil 

lutatio consed tatem zzrilit aliquam quat 

utpat wisit praestie feuisim num do od 

exer augait duisse et lumsan etuercilisit 

nonsectet wissi blamcon utpat verostio et 

wisi tetueros nos autat lutat prat, commy 

nullamet adip esto delis dignisl dolorpe 

rcilis eum eu feu feugiam zzrit utat, con 

elenisi. 

Commod dolestrud te te euis alis 

niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili 

quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con 

ut iusto dit nos accum nummodiam, 

quamet, sequiscipit accum adiat volorem 

nos aliquatuerit iusto con velenit ilit 

luptat. 

Od tat lor sim nisci tat at ut iril eum 

vullaor se ex enim dignim digna commodolore 

commy num veniam dolut 

wiscipit exercil ut ilis eum non volessim 

dunt wisl do do commod magniat. Ut 

wisisim zzrit nonsequatie magnit nos 

nonsed delenim dolenis adiatem zzrilisit 

ad doluptat. Quat ip eugait wissenis 

adipissecte do eu feugait praessit ute 

veniamc onulla feugueril et lore min 

essenis nos et amet lore molobor percipit 

in eniam, vulla coreet, venim eugiate 

dolore dionseniam nulla conse dip ex 

exerat, sequat nosto do euisciliqui etum 

delit nos nonse tem iriureet, secte dolor 

sum zzriustrud tat, suscips ustrud tie vel 

dolore modo conse modolortio et 

nos nit utem zzrit irit pratueros 

dolorem diat, quipit nonsequate 

magna facip exer summodion vullaore 

duis euismod ignibh esting 

et, vel estrud estrud dipisit inciduis 

aliquam eum doloborer sed tionsenit 

lum nos dolore eum niam iustrud euis 

am euipsum molobore cor at. Duiscilla 

adigna feugiam vent aliquam alit eu feu 

facip eu feugait ulputat, volortisisi. 

Il dignit erostie facidunt atio dolorem 

iustie magna core duipit wismod modit 

vel inibh et lore commolo rerosto 

delesseniat. Eliquis ex eugiam, suscidu 

ismodoloreet at. 

Molum zzriurem ad tem ipit aliquat. 

Ut nisl erciduis at. Ectem dolobore 

vulpute feu faci endre dipsuscip el etumsan 

diametu mmodoloreet lore volore 

faccummy nulla at velit alit lorperos ad 

dio dolortin euis am il dolenibh eummy 

nonullam il et, quipit in ea faccum nos 

atue dolorerat la feumsandit enisim velis 

aut velit veros adipsusto odiamet augait 

iriliquisim velesse quatet alisi exero 

odolestrud mincipiscing endre doluptat 

prat, sit adignisl utet accum volor at, quis 

adit luptat. Ud dolor incipis modigniat 

acinibh erilla adignim num nim am, 

commod ea aut essequate ming ea facin 

velis dolore magna con ulla feugait 

augiamcore commy nisi. 

Ommy nim in ea augait, quam dolore 

consed tetue eu faccum vel utat. Ut aci 

bla facip et autatis autem dolenim nit, 

velisl ing el er suscill utpatin henibh ese 

duis alit, suscil dolesto coreet et vel et 

nummy nulla adit lorpero odo doluptatie 

verosting et vel utpat volorem quat 

adionsent ad molore deliqui psummy nit 

luptat, venibh erat. 

Duissi exerat, quis nos nulla feugueros 

niat, quisl dunt aute te dolor si. 

Ecte tatisim irit erat er sum iliquat 

am erit adiam, susci bla faci exerilit at 

praestrud magnim volore tis aut nim 

nostio commy nim deliqui sciduis nonsequatue 

euip ea aut ad eugait, conse ex 

essi tat, quis num ipit utem dolor sit aci 

eros dolorperat, volor sum atumsandre 

magna aut nos at praestie velisl et 

augait. 




quissent aliquisi. 


Cinema 

Color Space 

It will almost certainly not come as 

a surprise to you that the range of 

colors visible on even the best video 

display is but a pale shadow of the 

colors that nature can afford us. We have 

spoken of that inevitable discrepancy 

before, in the feature article on Contrast 

(UHF No. 83), in which we discussed the 

fact that all display systems — whether 

it be the paper this magazine is printed 

on or your HDTV — can show only a 

small fraction of the contrast of real life. 

In some cases it can be as little as 1%. 

Yet we are not overly bothered by 

such discrepancies, because both our 

eyes and our ears can compensate for 

inaccuracies that would seem all too 

obvious. We see a flat photograph as 


a plausible representation of a threedimensional 

scene. We can even accept 

a black and white image as reasonably 

like our own colorful world. 

(If is, of course, much the same with 

hearing. The sound of a large orchestra 

emerging from a small radio is instantly 

recognizable, and a good thing too.) 

By the same token, then, we can 

accept as “realistic color” an image 

whose correspondence to real-life color 

is no more than tangential. This is true 

even in the thinning ranks of color film 

aficionados. They can — or could — 

debate whether Fujichrome Velvia had 

more “lifelike” color than Kodachrome 

64, or indeed whether Kodachrome 64 

can hold a candle to the old Kodachrome 

25. Yet none of these (admittedly excellent) 

films ever came close to matching 

the color and brightness range of visible 

light. Need we add that even the best 

video displays are even further from the 

ideal? 

The diagram on this page shows the 

range of colors that the human eye can 

detect. Or at least it attempts to. In fact 

the three primary colors — red, blue and 

green — would require three dimensions 

to map, and they would not be adequate 

even so. This graph, which is often seen 

in reviews of video displays, is known as 

the CIE chromaticity diagram, determined 

by the International Commission 

on Illumination (the abbreviation is that 

of the Commission’s French name). It 

dates from 1931, well before the invention 

of color television, and indeed at 

the dawn of practical color photography 

(Kodachrome was still four years away). 

What it shows is two of the three attributes 

of light: hue (that is, color) and 

saturation. The third dimension would 

correspond to brightness. 

Outside of this stylized rounded 

triangle is nothing because by definition 

it cannot be seen. Or at least it cannot 

be seen by most people. Those who 

have had implants of synthetic corneas 

(as opposed to corneas from human eye 

bank donors) can in fact see into the near 

infrared. 

Of course the colors of the diagram 

are not even close to being accurate, 

because a printed page like this one 

cannot show the entire gamut of visible 

colors. Nor, as we shall see, can a video 

display. 

Those primary colors 

Why are red, green and blue considered 

to be primary colors? Didn’t they 

teach us in school that red, yellow and 

blue were the primary colors? And don’t 

you get green when you mix blue and 

yellow paints? 

Yes, but those are subtractive colors. 

If you’ve ever mixed together red, 

yellow and blue paints, you will have 

gotten something close to black (actually 

something between grey and dirty

Feedback Cinema Cinema 

brown, depending on the proportions). 

On a video or computer screen, the three 

primary colors add up to make white. 

They’re additive colors. 

The initials of these three colors, 

namely RGB, are no doubt familiar, 

because your computer monitor has an 

RGB input. The photos from your digital 

camera are also in RGB, since the camera 

sensor uses elements sensitive to red, 

green and blue light respectively. You 

cannot, however, use just three colors 

to make up all of the colors of the CIE 

chromaticity diagram. For the purpose 

of color reproduction, therefore, there 

is a standard red-green-blue color space, 

abbreviated to sRGB, and developed 

jointly by Hewlett-Packard and IBM. 

Some digital cameras use sRGB for their 

photos, and chances are that your video 

display does too. 

The boundaries of the sRGB color 

space are represented by the green 

triangle on the diagram on this page. It 

need hardly be pointed out that a lot of 

colors get left out. Partly for that reason, 

there are other color space representations, 

and especially one proposed by the 

giant software developer, Adobe. 

Before getting to Adobe RGB, however, 

we need to explain that the additive 

color model is not suited to print media. 

On a magazine page, as in your grade 

school coloring book, the colored inks 

are subtractive. In printing, the inks used 

have tints that we wouldn’t recognize as 

primary colors. 

As you can see, cyan is slightly more 

turquoise than blue and magenta leans in 

the direction of purple. A fourth color, 

black (which is conventionally rendered 

by the letter K for “key”), is included so 

that black text need not be rendered by 

the three other colors piled atop each 

other. 

There is, as you would expect, a 

considerable difference in the way colors 

are rendered in sRGB and CMYK. The 

CIE chromaticity diagram, when it was 

converted from the original RGB to the 

CMYK required by the printing process, 

changed quite radically, losing much of 

its glow. This is due to the difference 

between additive and subtractive colors. 

When we then view the CMYK image 

on our computer monitor (which is still 

RGB, remember), we are shown a rough 

approximation of the way the printed 

page will look. 

Because the approximation is so 

rough, Adobe proposes its own version of 

RGB, represented by the black triangle 

in the diagram above, with an extension 

into the yellow and green spaces, the 

better to suggest printed colors. 

Designers for print media of course 

use Adobe RGB, even though the files 

must be converted to CMYK for press 

purposes. It seems easier to get consistency 

among devices — cameras, scanners, 

monitors, image and page layout 

software — by standardizing on Adobe’s 

version of RGB. Many Web designers 

also prefer Adobe RGB because they 

do their work with Adobe software: 

Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, etc. 

If you own an ink jet printer, by the 

way, you will have noticed that its ink 

colors are cyan, magenta, yellow and 

black, the same colors used by professional 

printing presses. 

The color space of photographic film 

does not span the entire range of the CIE 

chromaticity diagram either, and that is 

a problem when you are trying to reproduce 

a photograph on a CMYK ink jet 

printer. That is why some printers come 

with additional color cartridges, such as 

pastel colors. The additional colors do 

not truly enlarge the area of the color 

space of the print, but they can make 

certain subtle tones more plausible. As 

long as familiar tints, such as (Caucasian) 

flesh tones can be presented acceptably, 

and as long as whites and greys are not 


Feedback Cinema 

too obviously contaminated by color 

casts, we may see colors as very good, 

or even “perfect.” 

However the eye, as already suggested, 

is all too adaptable, which makes 

it a rather poor instrument for evaluating 

color. Put on green-tinted glasses, and 

after a few minutes you won’t see the 

green tint anymore. Indeed, when you 

remove them the world will seem, for a 

brief period, to have a magenta coloring. 

Graphics artists like to work in a room 

with a neutral wall color, to avoid influencing 

their vision, and graphics-grade 

computer monitors have hoods to block 

out incident light from the screen. 

Getting the grey scale right 

Few consumers own a colorimeter 

that can do what the eye cannot do, 

namely determine the correct value of a 

grey color on a video screen. A professional 

will have such a device, of course, 

and will be able to determine the grey 

values across the dynamic range, from 

near-black to near-white. The grey scale 

should “track” correctly, not shifting 

color at different levels from light to 

dark. The image above is that of the 

GretaMacbeth color chart, which can 

be used to check linearity of imaging 

systems (including UHF’s own product 

photographs). The bottom row of 

patches shows a progression from white 

to black. Each square should be neutral, 

containing equal intensities of the three 

primary colors. 

However the grey scale measurement 

ignores gamma, the rate at which the 

brightness increases from dark to light. 

Gamma itself is easy enough to measure, 

fortunately. But how? 

Doing the alignment 

There is a useful test and alignment 

Blu-ray disc from Joe Kane Productions 

titled DVE HD Basics (DVDI6004). 

Kane was the creator of the earlier Video 

Essentials DVD, long discontinued. The 

disc is full of test signals for both audio 

and video, to allow proper setup of a 

home theatre system. Kane uses his 

own color bar system, shown below, in 

preference to the usual SMPTE color 

pattern. Kane assumes you do not have 

access to a color meter in order to make 

the adjustments. Packed in the case is 

a set of three dark color filters through 

which you can see the pattern and set 

the colors. You begin with the blue, and 

if you get it right then the other colors 

should be right too (but red and green 

filters are included so that you can verify 

your settings). 

Kane also assumes you don’t have 

access to the service menus. Access is 

available through an arcane system, 

usually consisting of pressing certain 

buttons simultaneously on the remote. 

A technician may know these codes and 

be able to make adjustments not available 

to you. Some codes can be found on the 

Internet, but beware! You can mess up 

the settings so badly even the factory 

will not be able to get them right. 

Indeed, you may prefer to get a technician 

to do the job. You can find one 

from the ISF site, www.imagingscience. 

com. Those listed have at least taken the 

ISF course, but there is a separate listing 

for those with measuring equipment. Of 

course we suggest selecting from the 

latter list. 

It has perhaps occurred to you that if 

you can mess up a TV with the service 

menus, so can a technician who is unclear 

on the concept. Recommendations can 

be useful in selecting one who really 

takes the time to get everything right… 

and possibly avoiding one who can’t be 

bothered. 

Your HDTV will still reproduce only 

a fraction of the color range your eye can 

see, but you shouldn’t settle for less than 

the technology can deliver. 


Listening Room 

THE ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION: 

Issues No.7-19 (except 11, 15, 17 and 18, out of 

print): nine issues available for the price of five 

(see below). A piece of audio history. Available 

separately at the regular price. 

No.85: Integrated amplifiers: the luxurious 

Sugden A21SE and the affordable Vecteur 

Ai4. We evaluate Eichmann’s new Quiessence 

cables, and chat with Keith Eichmann himself. 

We listen to a very good mid-priced speaker 

cable with four different connectors, and the 

results leave us stunned. Plus: We choose 

(and evaluate in depth) a new HDTV reference 

monitor, Paul Bergman winds up his series on 

acoustics, and we tell you how to transfer music 

to hard drive without saying you’re sorry. 

No.84: Digital streaming: the awesome Linn 

Klimax DS and the Off-Ramp Turbo 2 interface. 

Also: the classic Harbeth HL5 speaker, the 

affordable Moon CD-1 and i-1 amplifier, and 

a great phono stage from Aurum. Plus: UHF 

chats with Linn’s Gilad Tiefenbrun and Harbeth’s 

Alan Shaw, Paul Bergman discusses signals for 

acoustic measurement, and we look at the prospects 

for 3-D…at home and in the cinema. 

No.83: Digital: The dramatically-styled Raysonic 

CD128 and an absurdly low-cost player from 

VisionQuest. Other reviews: The Moon LP5.3 

phono stage, the Castle Richmond 7i speaker, 

the upscale Mavros cables from Atlas, and a 

retest of the Power Foundation III line filter, with 

a better power cord this time. Plus: The acoustics 

of speaker placement, the two meanings of video 

image contrast, and a portrait of super tenor 

Placido Domingo. 

No.82: Amplifiers: A large sweet tube amplifier 

from Audio Space, the Reference 3.1, and the 

reincarnation of an old favorite, the Sugden A21. 

Digital: Bryston's first CD player, and the Blue 

Circle "Thingee," with USB at one end and lots of 

outputs at the other end. Plus: the BC Acoustique 

A3 speaker, a small subwoofer, two more London 

phono cartridges, line filters from AudioPrism 

and BIS, a blind test of three interconnects, Paul 

Bergman on soundproofing, and a thorough test 

of Sony's new-generation Blu-ray player 

No.81: Digital: The newest two-box CD player 

from Reimyo, and the magical Linn Majik 

player. Headphones a new version of our long 

time reference headphones, from the Koss pro 

division, and the affordable SR-125 headphones 

from Grado. Plus: The astonishing Sonogram 

loudspeakers from Gershman, a small but lovely 

tube integrated amplifier from CEC, and the 

London Reference phono cartridge. 

No.80: Equipment reviews: From Linn, the 

Artikulat 350A active speakers, the updated 

LP12 turntable, the Klimax Kontrol preamplifier, 

and the Linto phono stage; ASW Genius 300 

speakers, ModWright preamp and phono stage. 

Also: Bergman on absorbing low frequencies, 

emerging technologies for home theatre, and 

coverage of the Montreal Festival. 

No.79: Digital players: Simaudio’s flagship 

DVD (and CD) player, the Calypso, and Creek’s 

surprising economy EVO player. Phono stages: 

A slick tube unit from Marchand, and the superb 

Sonneteer Sedley, with USB input and output. 

Plus: the talented JAS Oscar loudspeakers, the 

Squeezebox plus our own monster power supply. 

Also: Bergman on what absorbs sound and what 

doesn’t, what’s next in home theatre, Vegas 

2007, and the secrets of the harmonica. 

No.78: Integrated amplifiers: the affordable 

Creek EVO, and the (also affordable) Audio 

Space AS-3i. Loudspeaker cables: six of them 

from Atlas and Actinote, in a blind test. Plus: 

the astonishing Aurum Acoustics Integris 300B 

complete system, and its optional CD player/ 

preamplifier. Whew! Also: Bergman on taming 

reverberation, how to put seven hours of uncompressed 

music on just one disc, and the one 

opera that even non-opera people know. 

No.77: Electronics: The Simaudio Moon P-8 

preamplifier, the successor to the legendary 

Bryston 2B power amp, the Antique Sound Lab 

Lux DT phono stage. Plus: the Reimyo DAP-777 

converter, an affordable CD player/integrated 

amp pair from CEC, and five power cords. Also: 

Paul Bergman on room size and acoustics, how 

to dezone foreign DVDs, and how to make your 

own 24/96 high resolution discs at home. 

No.76: Loudspeakers: a new look at the modern 

version of the Totem Mani-2, an affordable ELAC 

speaker with a Heil tweeter, and the even more 

affordable Castle Richmond 3i. Plus headphone 

amps from Lehmann, CEC and Benchmark, a 

charger that can do all your portables, and the 

Squeezebox 3, which gets true hi-fi music from 

your computer to your stereo system. Bergman 

on speaker impedance and how to measure it. 

No.75: Amplifiers: The new Simaudio Moon W-8 

flagship, and integrated amps from Copland (the 

CTA-405) and CEC. Speakers: the Reference 3a 

Veena and the Energy Reference Connoisseur 

reborn. Plus the Benchmark DAC converter. And 

also: Bergman on the changing concept of hi-fi 

and stereo, a chat with FIM’s Winston Ma, and 

the rediscovery of a great Baroque composer, 

Christoph Graupner. 

No.74: Amplifiers: Mimetism 15.2, Qinpu A-8000, 

Raysonic SP-100, Cyrus 8vs and Rogue Stereo 

90. More reviews: Atlantis Argentera speaker, 

Cyrus CD8X player, GutWire MaxCon 2 line 

filter, Harmony remote, Music Studio 10 recording 

software. Cables: Atlas, Stager, BIS and 

DNM, including a look at how length affects 

digital cables. Plus: the (hi-fi) digital jukebox, 

why HDTV doesn’t always mean what you think, 

and Reine Lessard on The Man Who Invented 

Rock’n’Roll. 

No.73: Integrated amplifiers: Audiomat Récital 

and Exposure 2010S. Analog: Turntables 

from Roksan (Radius 5) and Goldring (the 

Rega-designed GR2), plus two cartridges, and 

four phono stages from CEC, Marchand and 

Goldring. The Harmonix Reimyo CD player, 

Audiomat Maestro DAC, ASW Genius 400 

speakers, and the Sonneteer BardOne wireless 

system. Plus: Paul Bergman on the making of an 

LP and why they don’t all sound the same, and 

compressing video so it looks (almost) like film. 

No.72: Music from data: We look at ways you 

can make your own audiophile CDs with equipment 

you already have, and we test a DAC that 

yields hi-fi from your computer. We review the 

new Audio Reference speakers, the updated 

Connoisseur single-ended tube amp, upscale 

Actinote cables, and Gershman’s Acoustic Art 

panels. How to tune up your system for an inexpensive 

performance boost. And much more. 

No.71: Small speaker: Reference 3a Dulcet, 

Totem Rainmaker, and a low cost speaker from 

France. A blind cable test: five cables from Atlas, 

and a Wireworld cable with different connectors 

(Eichmann, WBT nextgen, and Wireworld). The 

McCormack UDP-1 universal player, muRata 

super tweeters, Simaudio I-3 amp and Equinox 

CD player. Paul Bergman examines differences 

behind two-channel stereo and multichannel. 

No.70: How SACD won the war…or how DVD-A 

blew it. Reviews: Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal 

player and Shanling SCD-T200 player. Speakers: 

Reference 3a Royal Virtuoso, Equation 25, 

Back Issues 

Wilson Benesch Curve. Other reviews: Simaudio 

W-5LE amp, the iPod as an audiophile source. 

Plus: future video screens, and the eternal music 

of George Gershwin 

No.69: Tube Electronics: Audiomat Opéra , 

Connoisseur SE-2 and Copland CSA29 integrated 

amps, and Shanling SP-80 monoblocks. 

Audiomat's Phono-1.5, Creek CD50, a great new 

remote control, GutWire's NotePad antivibration 

device, and a music-related computer game that 

made us laugh out loud. Paul Bergman on the 

return of the tube, and how music critics did their 

best to kill the world’s greatest music. 

No.68: Loudspeakers: Thiel CS2.4, Focus 

Audio FS688, Iliad B1. Electronics:Vecteur 

I-6.2 and Audiomat Arpège integrated amplifiers, 

Copland 306 multichannel tube preamp, 

Rega Fono MC. Also: Audio Note and Copland 

CD players, GutWire MaxCon power filter. And 

there’s more: all about power supplies, what’s 

coming beyond DVD, and a chat with YBA’s 

Yves-Bernard André. 

No.67: Loudspeakers: An improved Reference 

3a MM de Capo, and the Living Voice Avatar 

OBX-R. Centre speakers from Castle, JMLab, 

ProAc, Thiel, Totem and Vandersteen. One of 

them joins our Kappa system. Two multichannel 

amps from Copland and Vecteur. Plus: plans for 

a DIY platform for placing a centre speaker atop 

any TV set, Paul Bergman on the elements of 

acoustics, and women in country music. 

No.66: Reviews: the Jadis DA-30 amplifier, the 

Copland 305 tube preamp and 520 solid state 

amp. Plus: the amazing Shanling CD player, 

Castle Stirling speakers, and a remote control 

that tells you what to watch. Also: Bergman on 

biwiring and biamplification, singer Janis Ian’s 

alternative take on music downloading, and a 

chat with Opus 3’s Jan-Eric Persson. 

No.65: Back to Vinyl: setting up an analog 

system, reviews of Rega P9 turntable, and 

phono preamps from Rega, Musical Fidelity 

and Lehmann. The Kappa reference system for 

home theatre: choosing our HDTV monitor, plus 

a review of the Moon Stellar DVD player. Antivibration: 

Atacama, Symposium, Golden Sound, 

Solid-Tech, Audioprism, Tenderfeet. Plus an 

interview with Rega’s turntable designer,. 

No.64: Speakers: Totem M1 Signature and 

Hawk, Visonik E352. YBA Passion Intégré amp, 

Cambridge IsoMagic (followup), better batteries 

for audio-to-go. Plus: the truth about upsampling, 

an improvement to our LP cleaning machine, an 

interview with Ray Kimber. 

No.63: Tube amps: ASL Leyla & Passion 

A11. Vecteur Espace speakers, 2 interconnects 

(Harmonic Technology Eichmann), 

5 speaker cables (Pierre Gabriel, vdH , 

Harmonic Technology, Eichmann), 4 power 

cords (Wireworld, Harmonic Technology, 

Eichmann, ESP). Plus: Paul Bergman on 

soundproofing, how to compare components 

in the store, big-screen TV’s to stay away 

from, a look back at the Beatles revolution. 

No.62: Amplifiers: Vecteur I-4, Musical Fidelity 

Nu-Vista M3, Antique Sound Lab MG-S11DT. 

Passive preamps: Creek and Antique Sound 

Lab. Vecteur L-4 CD player. Interconnects: VdH 

Integration, Wireworld Soltice. Plus: the right to 

copy music, for now. Choosing a DVD player by 

features. And all about music for the movies. 

No.61: Digital: Audiomat Tempo and Cambridge 

Isomagic DACs, Vecteur D-2 transport. Speakers: 

Osborn Mini Tower and Mirage OM-9. Soundcare 

Superspikes. And: new surround formats, dezoning 

DVD players. 

No.60: Speakers: Monitor Audio Silver 9, 

Reference 3a MM De Capo, Klipsch RB-5, 

Coincident Triumph Signature. Plus: a Mirage 

subwoofer and the Audiomat Solfège amp. Paul 

Bergman on reproducing extreme lows. 

No.59: CD players: Moon Eclipse, Linn Ikemi and 

Genki, Rega Jupiter/Io, Cambridge D500. Plus: 

Oskar Kithara speaker, with Heil tweeter. And: 

transferring LP to CD, the truth on digital radio, 

digital cinema vs MaxiVision 48. 

No.58: Amplifiers: ASL AQ1003, Passion I10 

& I11, Rogue 88, Jadis Orchestra Reference, 

Linar 250. Headphone amps: Creek, Antique 

Sound Lab, NVA, Audio Valve. Plus: Foundation 

Research LC-2 line filter, Gutwire power cord, 

Pierre Gabriel ML-1 2000 cable. And: building 

your own machine to clean LP’s. 

No.57: Speakers: Dynaudio Contour 1.3, 

Gershman X-1/SW-1, Coincident Super Triumph 

Signature, Castle Inversion 15, Oskar Aulos. 

PLUS: KR 18 tube amp. Music Revolution: the 

next 5 years. Give your Hi-Fi a Fall Tune-Up. 

No.56: Integrated amps: Simaudio I-5, Roksan 

Caspian, Myryad MI120, Vecteur Club 10, NVA 

AP10 Also: Cambridge T500 tuner, Totem Forest. 

Phono stages: Creek, Lehmann, Audiomat. 

Interconnects: Actinote, Van den Hul, Pierre 

Gabriel. Plus: Paul Bergman on power and current…why 

you need both 

No.55: CD players: Linn CD12, Copland 

CDA-289, Roksan Caspian, AMC CD8a. Other 

reviews: Enigma Oremus speaker, Magenta 

ADE-24 black box. Plus: the DSD challenge for 

the next audio disc, pirate music on the Net, the 

explosion of off-air video choices. 

No.54: Electronics: Creek A52se, Simaudio W-3 

and W-5 amps. Copland CSA-303, Sima P-400 

and F.T. Audio preamps (two of them passive). 

Musical Fidelity X-DAC revisited, Ergo AMT 

phones, 4 line filters, 2 interconnects.. 

No.53: Loudspeakers:Reference 3a Intégrale, 

Energy Veritas v2.8, Epos ES30, Totem Shaman, 

Mirage 390is, Castle Eden. Bergman on biamping, 

biwiring, balanced lines, and more. 

No.52: CD players: Alchemist Nexus, Cambridge 

CD6, YBA Intégré, Musical Fidelity X-DAC, 

Assemblage DAC-2. Subwoofers: Energy ES-8 

and NHT PS-8. Plus: Paul Bergman on reproducing 

deep bass, and behind digital television. 

No.51: Integrated amps: YBA Intégré DT, 

Alchemist Forseti, Primare A-20, NVA AP50 

Cambridge A1. CD players: Adcom GCD-750, 

Rega Planet. An economy system to recommend 

to friends, ATI 1505 5-channel amp, Bergman on 

impedance, why connectors matter, making your 

own power bars. 

No.50: CD: Cambridge DiscMagic/DACMagic, 

Primare D-20, Dynaco CDV Pro. Analog: Rega 

Planar 9, Linn LP12 after 25 years. Also: Moon 

preamp, Linn Linto phono stage, Ergo and Grado 

headphones. Speaker cables: Linn K- 400, 

Sheffield, MIT 750 Also: 15 years of UHF. 

No.49: Power amps: Simaudio Moon, Bryston 3B 

ST, N.E.W. DCA-33, plus the Alchemist Forseti 

amp and preamp, and McCormack Micro components. 

Our new Reference 3a Suprema II reference 

speakers, and a followup on the Copland 

277 player. Plus: how HDCD really works. 

To see older issues: 

http://www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html 

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). 

THE ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION (issues 7-19 except 11, 15, 17 and 18) includes 9 issues but costs like 5. For VISA or MasterCard, include your number, expiry 

date and signature. UHF Magazine, Box 65085, Place Longueuil, Longueuil, Qué., Canada J4K 5J4. Tel.: (450) 651-5720 FAX: (450) 651-3383. Order on line at www. 

uhfmag.com. Recent back issues are available electronically at www.magzee.com, for C$4.30 each, all taxes included.

Listening Room 

Scheu Premier II 

It had been a while — a long while in 

fact — since we had had a turntable 

on the cover of UHF. Oh, it’s not 

that our faith in the desirability 

of vinyl has ever been shaken, merely a 

recognition that our enthusiasm might 

not be shared by everyone. But we seem 

to be at a crossroad. And as Yogi Berra 

wisely said, when you come to a crossroad, 

take it. 

This German turntable maker (its 

name is pronounced “Shoy”) has models 

that look not unlike other German turntables, 

notably those of Clearaudio. The 

huge acrylic platter, in particular, looks 

oddly familiar. However the price tag, 

while not exactly in entry-level territory, 

is lower than the looks of the table would 

suggest. 

The very thick platter, by the way, is a 

$499 extra-cost option. Our Premier was 

decked out in transparent acrylic, though 

a more opaque livery is available as well. 

The tone arm is one of three Scheu 

offers, and the lowest-priced one. 

The motor is in a separate assembly, 

linked to the platter only by a polyethylene 

thread of the sort used to finish 


pantleg bottoms. A roll of the stuff is 

supplied, and making up a “belt” takes 

good eyes and preferably three hands 

(and we suggest working on a black 

background for reasons that will be 

obvious to you soon enough). Yes, you 

do make a knot in the string, but the 

platter doesn’t seem to mind. The motor 

unit has adjustable speed controls for 

each speed, and each control has a huge 

range. This turned out to be a problem, 

as we shall see. 

Our turntable came with a unipivot 

arm called the Cantus, which is a great 

visual match for the transparent version 

of the table. Like the table itself, the arm 

is relatively affordable. It was also the 

least pleasant aspect of this turntable. 

A unipivot arm, which is essentially 

suspended on the end of a needle, can 

be finicky to handle, because it can 

wobble right and left on either side of 

its point of contact. It is difficult to find 

the track you want to play. It is possible 

to add damping, so that the arm is easier 

to manipulate, but Scheu has not done 

that. To make things more awkward, the 

counterweight is nearly impossible to set 

correctly, because there is no calibration, 

and no way to slightly increase or 

decrease stylus pressure. The adjustment 

of the counterweight also determines 

whether the arm tracks straight or tilts 

to one side. With each adjustment you 

feel as though you are starting again 

from scratch. A precise adjustment is so 

difficult as to be nearly out of reach. 

The Cantus has no anti-skating 

system. We have mixed feelings about 

this, since anti-skating is so difficult to 

set correctly, and most manufacturers 

recommend a setting that is actually 

too high. We always set ours lower than 

recommended, but we’re not thrilled on 

not having one at all. 

We mounted one of our reference 

cartridges, the Goldring Excel, in the 

arm, and set it initially to 1.8 gram pressure, 

the setting that works well in both 

of our own tone arms. Finding the right 

setting, and simultaneously getting the 

left-right balance right so the arm didn’t 

lean to one side, took about 20 minutes, 

and we would later opt for a higher pressure. 

We’ll get to that shortly. 

Leveling the table is as easy as you 

could wish. The base sits on spikes, 

which can be levelled from the top, 

though the motor unit has only rubber 

feet. The power supply is a “wall wart,” 

albeit a big one. There is no suspended 

subchassis. Rather, the hollow acrylic 

base — just visible below the player 

in our photo — is filled with fine lead 

shot. This is in every way a high-mass 

design, particularly if you order the thick 

platter. 

We have already mentioned the presence 

of speed controls on the motor base. 

Such controls are common on deejay 

turntables. You can fine-tune the speed 

to match the pitch of an instrument, 

such as a piano, and some deejays run 

their tables slightly fast, to give a slightly 

“brighter” sound to the music. Even 

radio stations once did this. Need we 

add that none of these is a requirement 

in a high fidelity music system? 

What’s more, Scheu doesn’t supply a 

means of checking the speed. We used 

our own strobe disc for the purpose,


although strobes always read wrong 

(see Why Strobe discs Read Wrong) on 

page 36). We also noted that you need 

to run the table for about five minutes 

before the speed settles down. 

We did the session in our Omega 

system, against our Linn LP12 with 

Alphason tone arm and London Reference 

cartridge. 

We began with a large-scale symphony 

orchestra, the Chicago Symphony 

under Georg Solti, playing the fourth 

movement from Beethoven’s monumental 

Symphony No. 9. This is the Mobile 

Fidelity version from some years ago 

(MFSL2-516). 










Latin. 









tisi. 











alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan 

henisl ute core vent volor si. 

Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis 

accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore 

ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praestismod 

te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis 

ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse 

eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla 

feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. 




























tat. 





dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis 

nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa 

ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim 

ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis 

adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue 

faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore 

exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim 

numsandrem verosto eummy nim 

velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm 

olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, 

volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl 

dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit 

ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait 

vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit 

venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci 

liquatuer il utatue consequat. 














Why Strobe Discs Read Wrong 

How do you set the speed of a variable-speed turntable? The usual way is with 

a stroboscope disc, and some pro tables have them built in. Light the disc with a 

small lamp (neon bulbs are good for this), and adjust the speed until the 

pattern on the disc looks immobile. It must then be on speed. 

In fact that’s wrong. 

Some time ago, there was an Internet rumor which 

said Rega turntables were all slightly fast. If that 

were true it would be a reason to avoid the brand, 

but it isn’t true. What is true is that, if you put a 

strobe disc on a Rega you will see the pattern 

creep ahead slowly. We don’t know why the 

rumormongers picked on Rega, because it’s 

the same story with any turntable that turns 

at the right speed. 

Here’s why. 

In North America alternating current has 

a frequency of 60 Hz, which means a small 

bulb will blink 120 times per second, once 

on the positive voltage, once on the negative. 

What you want is a strobe pattern which will 

advance by one “spoke” every 120 th of a second. 

Only it can’t be done. 

An LP turns at 33 1 / 3 revolutions per minute or 

0.5555 revolutions per second. During that second the 

platter rotates 199.98°. During one revolution at the correct 

speed, there will be 216.02 flashes. 

Thus a properly-designed turntable will appear to run ever so 

slightly fast, not a lot, but enough to worry fussy audiophiles. We have yet to see 

a strobe disc with instructions telling you this. 










elenisi. 







luptat. 















Summing it up… 

Brand/model: Scheu Premiere II 

turntable, Cantus arm 

Price: C$2979 plus $499 for optional 

thicker platter, $1439 for the arm 

Size (WDH): approximately 46 x 30 

x 26 cm 

Most liked: Well-behaved turntable 

at an attractive price 

Least liked: Design problems with 

the arm, unneeded speed controls 

Verdict: Mid-price category, high-end 

looks, performance to match 



sum zzriustrud tat, suscips ustrud tie 

vel dolore modo conse modolortio et 

nos nit utem zzrit irit pratueros dolorem 

diat, quipit nonsequate magna facip 

exer summodion vullaore duis euismod 

ignibh esting et, vel estrud estrud dipisit 

inciduis aliquam eum doloborer sed tionsenit 

lum nos dolore eum niam iustrud 

euis am euipsum molobore cor at. Duiscilla 

adigna feugiam vent aliquam alit eu 

feu facip eu feugait ulputat, volortisisi. 























Ommy nim in ea augait, quam dolore 

consed tetue eu faccum vel utat. Ut aci 

bla facip et autatis autem dolenim nit, 

velisl ing el er suscill utpatin henibh ese 

duis alit, suscil dolesto coreet et vel et 

nummy nulla adit lorpero odo doluptatie 

verosting et vel utpat volorem quat 

adionsent ad molore deliqui psummy nit 

luptat, venibh erat. 

Duissi exerat, quis nos nulla feugueros 

niat, quisl dunt aute te dolor si. 

Ecte tatisim irit erat er sum iliquat 

am erit adiam, susci bla faci exerilit at 

praestrud magnim volore tis aut nim 

nostio commy nim deliqui sciduis nonsequatue 

euip ea aut ad eugait, conse ex 

essi tat, quis num ipit utem dolor sit aci 

eros dolorperat, volor sum atumsandre 

magna aut nos at praestie velisl et 

augait 


duis dignisc iliscipissi.


Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol 

facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum 

facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer quamconulla commy niation sequatie el 

suscing enismod dolorero odiamco ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis 

rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad 

ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et 

tisi. 



dunt utet autem quam, sis augue modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor 


magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh 

Why a free version? 

te ming esent loborper iure commodio eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna 

commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait 

For years now, we have been publishing, on our Web site, a free PDF 

iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del 

version of our magazine. 

feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex 

The reason is simple. We know you’re looking for information, and 


ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henis- 


that is almost certainly why you’ve come to visit our site. And that’s why 

we give away what some competitors consider to be a startlingly large 

conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum cidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit 

amount of information…for free. 

alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam 

We would give it all away for free, if we could still stay in business. 



Recent figures indicate that each issue is getting downloaded as many 

Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis tat. 

as 100,000 times, and that figure keeps growing. 

accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. 

Yes, we know, if we had a nickel for each download… 


te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit 


Truth is, we’re in the business of helping you enjoy music at home 

under the best possible conditions. And movies too. We’ll do what we need 

ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse lutpat nullam velesto commolortie 

to do in order to get the information to you. 

eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis 

Of course, we also want you to read our published editions too. We 

feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa 

hope that, having read this far, you’ll want to read on. 

Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim 

utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis 

euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue 

quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore 

ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim 



Iril iure molobor sustismod molore velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm 

mincilit acing er accum vulput in olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, 

CROSSTALK 











feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui 

eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit 

illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te 

feugait niamcom modolor perilluptat. 

To commy nim iustio. 

Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis 

dignisc iliscipissi. 

Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum 

esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit 

lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod 

dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat 

wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat 

augait am, core tisi. 


dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam 

consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming 

esent loborper iure commodio commodit 

lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum 

vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore 

commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu 

feuipsu scipit ad molorem ex ero odolobore 

dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte 

et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc 

onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. 

Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum 

nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore 

dolutat, volobore diat praestismod te facilla 

facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am 

quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen 

dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis 

dolessi. 




quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis 

accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis 

nonsenisi. 


mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat 

ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna 

autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy 

niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam 

adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam 

iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, 

sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, 

consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu 

feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit 

laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh 


feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi 

ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore 

eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa 

corperostrud tisi. 


aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore 

facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt 

praestie er ametummod tat. 


Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex 

et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat 

nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem 

zzrit, senit nonsequis. 



Allnic H1200 Phono Preamp 

products by hand, and that extends even 

to winding the transformers. 

Though the H1200 is not exactly an 

economy product, Allnic makes two 

other phono preamps, both larger 

than this one, both with outboard 

power supplies. 

There 

s e e m s 

t o b e a n 

explosion in 

the number of high end phono 

preamplifiers arriving on the 

market, and perhaps for good reason. 

Vinyl is making a major comeback, 

at least as a niche product, and at the 

same time it has been a while since any 

amplifier or preamplifier manufacturer 

included a phono input as a matter of 

principle. It’s obvious that the need is 

there. With a steady increase in the 

variety of turntables available, there 

is a corresponding market for phono 

stages. 

The Allnic is from South Korea, the 

work of designer Kang Su Park. The 

brand name is derived from “all nickel,” 

and reflects the fact that Park has long 

championed the use of Permalloy allnickel 

transformer cores. Indeed, Kang 

Su Park believes in the importance of the 

power supply. In the picture on the next 

page you can glimpse the transformer, 

which is relatively large for a low-current 

device. 

Nor is that the only transformer on 

board. The front panel includes a switch 

for selecting an MC (high sensitivity) or 

M M 

input. Most phono preamps add extra 

gain for MC cartridges with an extra 

circuit (usually solid state, even in a 

tube preamp), but the Allnic uses a 

step-up transformer. With a Permalloy 

core, naturally. We have also received 

a standalone step-up transformer from 

Allnic, and we will be reviewing it in our 

next issue. 

We should add that the workmanship 

on this unit is fully in keeping with the 

best standards, as is the choice of materials. 

This should go without saying on a 

product of this price, but we know all 

too well that we don’t dare take that for 

granted. 

Allnic is very much a family enterprise, 

with family members assembling 

It may not be 

obvious from the photo, 

but the H1200 is a tube product, just 

as it says on the front panel, using very 

small 6112 and 6021 twin triodes, two of 

each. 

Our H1200 was brand new, and we 

ran it in nearly 100 hours using the 

Granite Audio burn-in disc. We then 

installed it in our Omega system, comparing 

it to our Audiomat Phono-1.5 

reference. 

We began with our often-used allpurpose 

LP, the Reference Recordings 

version of William Walton’s Façade, 

which includes so many instrumental 

solos that it could serve for equipment 

reviews all by itself. Certainly, there 

are no conceivable equipment flaws that 

won’t show up on this disc. When it’s 

reproduced well, on the other hand… 

And the H1200 did reproduce it well, 



with none of the instruments suffering 

from the strange anomalies we have 

heard all too often. We were impressed, 

and indeed Albert pronounced himself 

pleasantly surprised. The recording’s 

three-dimensional image came through 

very well, and the diverse instruments 

were reproduced with finesse. There 

was no sign of excessive shrillness, not 

even in the often difficult piccolo passage 

in the first part of the suite. The 

background was pleasantly quiet, as it 

should be. 

Were the highs a little too polite, 

too rounded off? Gerard noted that the 

cymbals were a little discreet. “In the 

second section when the reeds come 

in,” said Toby, “there’s a nice mellifluous 

quality, but it has less drive. The attacks 

are less snappy, the clarinet a little more 

hollow.” We agreed that the tilt of the 

Allnic was different from that of our own 

preamp, and it was in the direction of 

smoothness. That is of course a quality, 

but we would see how things would play 

out with the other recordings. 










Latin. 









tisi. 













Sumsandre 

con 

hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero 

eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore 

diat praestismod te facilla facil inci 

blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis 

niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen 

dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis 

dolessi. 




























tat. 






n ibh er s u m 

nim aliquis at accumsa 





































elenisi. 







luptat. 




















Brand/model: Allnic H1200 

Price: US$1600 

Size (WHD): 13 x 10 x 25.5 cm 

Most liked: None, but really none, 

of the usual flaws of too many phono 

preamps, impressive quietness 

Least liked: A bit of exaggeration in 

its politeness 

Verdict: The antidote to overly brash 

analog, to say nothing of digital! 

CROSSTALK 































I don’t know what to say about a unit that 

does some things so well. And I mean so very 

well that you’re left wondering why it is not 

equally superb in other respects. It has a way 

of disappearing from the system, and letting 

the music through in such a transparent 

manner that lyrics write themselves, and 

complex textures separate smoothly into 

different layers of sound. 

But this clarity seems to come at a price. 

I was left wanting more in the mid to lower 

range, and in the solidity and substance of 

which live performers are made. 

However, considering that systems are 

vastly different, you may find those lacks 

quite minor and end up with divergence. the best this 

phono preamp can offer. 

Lucky you. 

—Albert Simon 

I have to give this preamp its due of 

praise. It has tonal complexity, detail and 

transparency. It can handle complex passages challenge for any system component, and 

and keep the musical threads untangled. It’s that goes double if not triple for a phono 

quiet. It can please with all kinds of music. preamp. 

However on the Uccellini recording The Allnic, I’m happy to say, passes 

the musical interest dropped when things that challenge admirably. Its highs are silky 

got softer. The Allnic is a lyrical-sounding smooth, with no trace of the asperity, the 

unit, but the more “singing” sections of the graininess, or even the shrillness of lesser 

Another cheeky unique Walton piece didn’t feature! 

really have the products. 

dynamic flow they needed to contrast well Is the smoothness overdone? Sure, any 

You know how with most the audio jumpy magazines bits. do their reviews: good a number thing of can be overdone, and now and 

reviewers, some with I found doubtful the Allnic’s “reference” performance systems, respectable 

for its price, though, and I wondered instruments, to the voices. Not too much, and 

are assigned then I reviews wanted of a little more edge to the 

individual components. 

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 

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 

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 

reference. 

even so! 

And then each reviewer gets to write a “Crosstalk,” —Toby Earpa personal This comment, 

which may even disagree with the others. not far from a neutral balance, though, and 

well-made tube phono preamp is 

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 

contrast to the brashness of too many 

think. And that is well, what you makes probably UHF know unique. where to look — the 

top end. For reasons that have been explained preamps. 

in our pages before, high frequencies are a 

—Gerard Rejskind 



Moon LP3 Phono Preamp 

Simaudio may not hit a home run 

with every new product it brings 

out, but its record should give it 

a shot at the Hall of Fame. We 

thought it did particularly well with its 

Moon LP5.3 phono preamp (reviewed 

in UHF No. 83). Of course that product 

costs more than a lot of consumers can 

budget for, particularly if they have 

entry-level turntables and nothing to 

plug them into. What could the company 

do for very significantly less money? 

Like any company that’s thinking 

clearly, Simaudio likes to recycle its 

hit technologies in simplified — and 

therefore less expensive — form, hoping 

to bring in a wider audience that less 

experienced companies cannot hope to 

reach. That doesn’t always work, and 

some companies have succeeded in doing 

nothing more than trashing their brand 

names. However that is essentially what 

Simaudio has attempted with the LP3, 

and cleverly too. 

The circuit configuration is in fact 

similar to that of the upscale LP5.3, and it 

still has both MM and MC inputs, a capability 

that it too often sacrificed on the 

altar of 

economy. However the 

parts used in the LP3 are not quite as 

expensive, and it has omitted some features. 

You can’t change the impedance 

and capacitance settings for the MC 

circuit, for instance (not that most people 

do). There are no balanced outputs, as 

there are on the LP5.3. And there isn’t 

a hefty power supply either. The LP3 

gets its electricity from one of those 

ubiquitous wall warts. We’ll get back to 

that a little later. 

Like its big brother, the LP3 doesn’t 

have a convenient switch to select the 

MM and MC inputs. Instead you have 

to pull out a set of Allen keys to remove 

the cover, and then find some tweezers 

in order to move tiny jumpers from one 

position to the other. This isn’t what 

you call user-friendly, but at least the 

LP3 doesn’t have any live high voltages 

lurking about inside. Simaudio says it 

selected this arcane adjust method in 

the interest of keeping the signal path 

as short as possible, 

We gave the LP3 plenty of time 

with our special break-in disc (intended 

specifically for phono preamps), and 

then installed it alongside the reference 

preamp in our Omega system, an 

Audiomat Phono-5.1. Plugged into it was 

our Linn LP12 with Alphason arm and 

London Reference cartridge. 

The first question we had was 

whether the LP3 would be reasonably 

silent, as its big brother was. We 

weren’t sure it would be, because 

it seemed evident that the tiny 

unshielded cord from the wall wart 

would make a lovely conduit for all 

the noise emerging from the power 

line and the rest of the system. We 

need not have worried. If you go 

by our experience, this preamp is 

unlikely to disturb your listening 

with hiss, hum or buzz. 

We began the listening session 

with William Walton’s rollicking 

orchestral suite Façade, with its 

broad variety of instrumental solos. 

With the LP3 there was a little extra 

energy in the higher frequencies, which 

is not really a good thing, but it’s not 

what we focused on initially, because 

there were more important things going 

on. We can sum it up this way: the music 

was fun to listen to. 

Oh, of course you want to know more. 

Toby Earp praised the midrange, the 

heart of the music. “It’s wonderful,” 

he said. “The colors are delicious, and 

the roundness of the clarinet is full.” 

Albert and Gerard were on the same 

wavelength. Both found the varied musical 

passages lyrical, even in the case of 

background melodies, and of course of 

the suite’s complex counterpoints. The 

trumpet was particularly pleasant, and 

it was easy to tell one woodwind from 

another. No homogenization of timbres 

here! 

True, the huge sound stage was 

smaller, and indeed everything was 

smaller, but we didn’t much care. Music 

trumps mere sound anytime. 

Would the LP3 give a little too much 

edge to the top end of a well-recorded 

violin? We put on the Uccelini Sonata e 

Corenti from an Open Window LP we 

have long owned and admired. We say 

it’s “well recorded” because the timbre 

of the instrument is very close to what 

a violinist would hear, but of course 



MM and MC 

First things first. If you are (finally) adding a turntable to your audio system, 

can you just plug it into any input that’s free? No you can’t. An input meant for a 

CD player, a tuner or an iPod expects to “see” a signal of perhaps 2 volts. A phono 

cartridge typically has an output of 0.002 volts, or even 0.0002 volts. What’s more, 

LPs are recorded “on a curve,” with lows de-emphasized and the highs boosted. 

You need a phono preamplifier that can reverse that curve, as well as adding the 

necessary amplification. 

Possibly you know that there are two sorts of 

phono cartridges, MM and MC, and that each 

requires a different treatment. In fact it’s not quite 

that simple. 

Conventional magnetic cartridges have a fixed 

coil and a moving magnet: that is, the magnet is 

on one end of the cantilever, with the stylus on the 

other. The magnet has to be small, so it will be easy 

to move, and so the coil must be large, with a lot 

of turns of wire. That means high inductance, and 

in all but a few expensive models it means compromised 

high frequencies. However the output voltage is relatively high, typically 2 

millivolts, and an MM phono preamp “expects” a signal of that voltage. 

An MC pickup does things the other way around: the magnet is fixed, and the coil 

is wound around the end of the cantilever. But now it is the coil that must be kept 

small, with fewer turns of wire. It will have low inductance, and very extended high 

frequency response, and that is good. You’ll often see it stated that such cartridges 

have low output, and therefore require extra amplification, but that isn’t actually 

true. In fact they have low voltage (but correspondingly higher current). You can 

use a transformer to swap out the current for voltage, but most designers actually 

do provide extra gain, to accommodate the low voltage (0.2 to 0.5 mV). Doing it 

that way adds noise and distortion, but quality phono-grade transformers are rare 

and expensive. 

violinists are very close to their instruments, 

and that gives prominence to the 

higher harmonics. Emphasizing them in 

playback could be a recipe for auditory 

catastrophe. 

The LP3 did give them extra prominence, 

and we judged that the violin 

didn’t have quite the transparency it 

had with our reference preamp, but once 

again that was not what captivated our 

attention. As before, it was the liveliness 

that particularly pleased us. The violin 

had wonderfully clear articulation, and 

the harpsichord was clean and easy to 

follow as well. Rhythm was strong, and 

we had the impression that the playing 

was particularly quick, or at least that 

nothing was slowing it down. Even the 

softer passages, often left behind by 

economy products, survived well. “It’s 

not the reference,” said Albert, “but I’m 

happy.” 


We turned to the title song from 

Mary Black’s (alas!) unavailable LP No 

Frontiers. Black’s voice is notable for its 

effortless power, and that has been well 

captured on this recording (not all of 

her recordings, unfortunately, do her 

justice). With the LP3 her voice had 

all of its power and none of the effort. 


Brand/model: Moon LP3 

Price: C$599/US$499 

Size (WDH): 10.5 x 10.3 x 6 cm 

Most liked: Lively dynamics, surprising 

musicality, lack of noise 

Least liked: Finicky switching from 

MM to MC 

Verdict: Simaudio tries to make the 

phono preamp its competitors have 

worked on for years, nails it 

The higher frequencies were a little 

prominent, but there was no glare, and 

nothing truly objectionable. It is in the 

midrange that this phono preamp shines. 

If her tone was less warm than we like, 

she still sounded captivating. 

So did the accompanying instruments, 

including the accordion and the 

percussion. 

The LP3 did equally well with a male 

voice, that of Bluesman Doug McLeod 

on Master’s Plan from the LP version of 

Come to Find (Audioquest AQ1027). The 

song opens with a beautiful introduction 

on the acoustic guitar. The very 

good clarity let us hear the touch of 

McLeod’s fingers on individual strings. 

“It’s difficult to reproduce a real guitar 

realistically,” said Toby, “so it isn’t as 

natural as with our own preamp, but 

what you do get is the music.” 

As we have already noted, a broad 

dynamic range is one of the touchstones 

of this phono preamplifier, and McLeod’s 

voice, especially in this song, requires 

strong performance at both ends of the 

dynamic spectrum. His final syllables 

are so soft that you can easily lose them 

in the fog, and if you do, then the song 

won’t work for you. When he sings 

(much) louder, on the other hand, that 

can be a problem too. On many systems, 

rising volume gives the impression that 

the artist has taken a couple of menacing 

steps toward you. That’s wrong, and this 

LP is good enough that you should never 

be left with that illusion. The LP3 gets 

this right. 

We ended with I’m Scared, a classic 

rock piece from Burton Cummings, 

recorded (can it be?) over three decades 

ago. It’s a busy piece, with piano, bass 

and strings, as well as Cummings’ own 

powerful voice. 

Toby praised the roundness of the 

bottom end, but there seemed to be a 

little less of it, and that brought our 

focus back to the voice. “You hear he has 

a good voice.” said Toby. “The strength 

of this preamp is in the midrange, and 

it is warm, extending into the mid-bass. 

If you have to sacrifice something, this 

isn’t a bad way.” 

Surprisingly, then, the lyrics were 

actually easier to follow. “The intention 

of the song is well served,” commented 

Gerard.


Albert didn’t write much. Usually 

that’s because he is too captivated by the 

music, so in this case nothing particular 

struck him. 

But we were unanimous about one 

thing: Simaudio has done a fine job 

of shoehorning most of its expensive 

technology into a product for the lower 

economic range that seems so much in 

fashion currently. The LP3 serves the 

cause of music better than we normally 

expect from phono preamps of this price 

category. The flaws — and they aren’t 

many — affect secondary aspects of 

sound. 

But good as it is, could it be better 

yet? 

Toby’s eyes turned to the wall wart 

that supplies the electricity for this 

device, one of the smallest you’re ever 

likely to see, so tiny you need a magnifying 

glass to read the label. “I see it’s 

12 volts,” he said. “Do you suppose it 

would work on 13.8 volts?” We understood 

what he was driving at. That’s the 

voltage of a car battery charger, capable, 

of course, of much more current. 

“Why not a car battery?” suggested 

Gerard. 

“That would be overkill,” said 

Toby, but 

the conversation 

turned to 

interesting possibilities. You can buy 

12 volt batteries to fit motorcycles, 

burglar alarms, or even those (supposedly) 

uninterruptible power supplies for 

computers. They’re cheap, too. Top it up 

with a charger now and then. 

Of course, a number of designers 

have built amplifiers, and especially preamplifiers, 

that were battery-powered. 

The advantages are evident. There’s lots 

of current when needed (try shorting one 

out with a screwdriver and see what happens!). 

It’s 

inherently noisefree. 

And it’s separated 

from ground, which sidesteps a lot of 

potential problems. The LP3 has a 

standard power plug, and upgrades are 

definitely possible. 

To put this into perspective, Simaudio 

makes an expensive outboard supply for 

its LP5.3 phono preamp, and we listened 

to it with the optional cord allowing us 

to run it from the huge power supply in 

our P-8 preamplifier. Yes, a bigger, better 

power supply makes a difference. 

But even without some sort of DIY 

upgrade, he LP3 is a killer product. It can 

be a god match for a turntable costing 

many times more than its own modest 

price. 

CROSSTALK 

Have you fallen in love with a moving 

coil cartridge for the first time? Looking to 

move up from an entry-level phono stage? 

Have a good integrated and now a yen for 

vinyl? 

The LP3 is bound to please. It’s tweakable 

via its power supply, and the warm 

feeling you get as you listen to it play will 

be reinforced by the warm feeling in your 

wallet pocket. 

The reference is still the reference, but 

both phono preamps come from families that 

really get music. The LP3 played the heart of 

every piece we listened to. It swings, it sings, 

it scampers, it rocks. I wouldn’t hesitate if it 

were anywhere within reach of my budget. 

—Toby Earp 

I felt wonderfully comfortable during the 

listening tests. Everything sounded so right, 

so balanced, that I often forgot they were 

tests and ended up flowing freely with the 

music. There were no noticeable excesses, 

no flagrant problem signs. Just good sound 

and lovely music. 

No, it wasn’t perfect (what is?), but what it 

did, it did equally well throughout the whole 

spectrum. Was the energy too obvious on the 

highs, in some recordings? Perhaps. Did it 

bother me? Not in the least. 

Would I consider repeating the tests, just 

in case I was too busy enjoying the music? 

Anytime. 


I know I’ve said this before, but there 

was a time when Simaudio (and Sima Audio 

before it) couldn’t build a good phono section 

to save its life. Its forte — and it was quite a 

forte — was power amplifiers, big iron that 

could handle big signals, and render them 

with a mix of big muscle and gentleness. Even 

its preamplifiers weren’t in the same class. 

Need I add that this was a long time ago? 

Its flagship preamplifier, the Moon P-8 is in 

one of our reference systems, and we didn’t 

get it because it was cheap (it wasn’t). And 

when we listened to the LP5.3, well…you 

know the rest. 

But building a phono stage for $1600 is 

one thing, building one for a thousand bucks 

less is another pair of sleeves, as the French 

say. Mission accomplished! I’ve heard a lot 

of phono stages in this price category, some 

with famous names, but they don’t do what 

this one does. 

What does it do? It gives life to the music. 

That’s despite some obvious flaws, details 

of which you’ll find in our review. What 

I appreciate from vinyl, over and above 

smoothness of highs, body and all that stuff, 

is the feeling that there are people breathing 

behind that invisible wall of sound. 

The LP3 lets that through. There is 

nothing more important. 




PowerBIS Maestro 

What 

is this device 

really? It appears to be 

a power bar, with six 

outlets and the usual IEC 320 jack for 

use with a standard power cord. Or is it 

a power line filter? 

BIS Audio is a small Montreal-area 

company that once did modifications 

to older electronic equipment, such as 

Quad amplifiers. But don’t ask, because 

that was then and this is now. The 

company now makes cables, all kinds 

of them, including power cables. And 

filters. 

We have often warned against trusting 

a design entirely to one’s instruments, 

however sophisticated. Actually 

listening to the product you’ve designed 

(what a concept!) tells you whether 

you’ve measured the right things. BIS 

Audio’s Bernard Brien tunes his products 

by ear. And there’s a lot of tuning to do, 

because he’s not fond of buying cable 

off the shelf. He’ll actually purchase 

individual conductors, dielectrics and 

sleeves, and put together something that 

sounds the way he wants. 

And the most expensive is not always 

the best. Considering the name of this 

product, you would think he would recommend 

the use of his top cable, which 

is also called Maestro. Not so. Brien says 

he has voiced the PowerBIS Maestro to 

go with the AC20WG, which we had 

reviewed earlier in UHF No. 82. 

You can imagine that, with this sort 

of hand manufacturing, these products 

can’t be sold at mass market prices, and 

How to test a product like this? We “hard and artificial.” There was a certain 

have, in some filter tests, run our Alpha cacophony we had not heard with our 

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 

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 

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 

for we a quarter designed of a two-stage century. You test. can get it from touched our back the issues volume. page. 

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 

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 

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 

We began faster, by and listening it also to cheaper. our three It costs test just Portrait). $4.30 (Canadian) anywhere 

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 

pricing shortly. 

substituted It’s available a GutWire from MagZee.com. StingRay power than he had feared (the StingRay really is 

First, let’s see what’s inside. There’s bar, a $385 device that has no pretensions pretty good), but everything was smaller, 

no mystery concerning the duplex outlets, 

since they are clearly labelled. They 

are Wattgate 381’s, whose innards are 

copper with a triple plating of gold. What 

looks like plastic is actually a mix of glass 

and nylon. Like the more familiar (and 

to filtering, but is built from Hubbell 

hospital-grade parts with a shielded 

captive cord. Its well-shielded cord has 

enough capacitance to do some filtering. 

Finally we listened to the Maestro with 

its AC20WG power cord. 

shallower. The emotional tension of this 

song of disappointed love dissipated. “It’s 

squared instead of cubed,” said Toby. 

There seemed to be more energy shifted 

to the upper midrange, but it wasn’t real 

information. 


cheaper) hospital-grade 

outlets, these are 

designed to stay tight and grip 

the plug solidly. 

The IEC jack is from Furutech. 

The inside of the box is damped with 

an asphalt-based material, to prevent 

vibrations that can generate electrical 

noise. Brien says that even in an extreme 

case — if you plug a wall wart with a 

transformer directly into the Maestro — 

its vibration won’t shake up anything 

else. 

You can get a version with the IEC 

jack on the top, if that’s more convenient, 

and there is also a version with eight 

outlets instead of six. “Have it your way,” 

as they say in a restaurant chain that is 

not on our list of favorites. 

Yes, it is a line filter as well as a power 

bar. Included in the housing is a parallel 

filter that shunts high-frequency noise 

to ground. There are no series elements 

that could compromise current 

transmission. 

Get the complete version 

The first recording is a familiar one, 

the SACD version of the choral recording 

Now the Green Blade Riseth (Proprius 

PRSACD9093). With the StingRay it 

sounded way better than it would have 

with an ordinary power bar, but it was a 

come-down from our Inouye filter. The 

flute introduction was thinner, but with 

more of an emphasis on the middle tones. 

Both Albert and Toby found the sound 

initially quite acceptable, but then began 

noticing what was wrong. “There’s 

roughness on the syllables by the male 

singers,” said Toby, “and the sound was 

flatter and somewhat confused, with less 

warmth in the final crescendo.” Said 

Gerard, “it actually sounds louder, but 

not for the right reasons.” 

We continued with the Reference 

Recordings SACD of Bruckner’s Symphony 

No. 9 (from Tutti, RR-906SACD). 

Albert was impressed by how well the 

Scherzo movement’s impact was preserved. 

“It’s better than I had feared,” 

he said. 

But that didn’t mean it was right. 

The spaciousness that is characteristic 

of Keith O. Johnson’s productions was 

shallower, or — more likely — the depth 

was hidden by a lack of clarity. The 

impression left was that the sound field, 

normally very large, was compressed. 

But there was worse. Toby described 

the trumpets as “zippy,” and Gerard as


We disconnected the StingRay, 

substituted the PowerBIS Maestro, and 

listened again. 

We needed only the first recording 

to know that the improvement was truly 

huge. From the first notes there was a 

“rightness” to the flute introduction, 

and to the gorgeous women’s voices. 

The confusion was gone, and the tonal 

spectrum was in better balance. Textures 

of both voices and instruments were rich 

and fine. “Everything is in its place,” said 

Albert, “and there’s nothing to irritate 

you.” 

Rhythm was very good as well, and 

that bode well for the Bruckner. 

That worked too. From the start 

there was an emotional tension as we 

anticipated the orchestral explosion that 

was surely coming. When it came, with 

brass blazing, it was bright but not harsh. 

Odd how such music can be at once 

strongly rhythmic and lyrical, but then 

Bruckner was a pretty good composer! 

“I’m a believer,” said Toby enthusiastically. 

Even so he thought there was a 

little less dynamic range than with the 

Inouye. “It’s doing something artificial,” 

he said, “but it’s not at all unpleasant. 

Quite the contrary, it directs your attention 

to the color and the harmonics.” 

We ended with the Carmen Lundy 

song, and you would have needed to 

be deaf not to hear the improvement. 

“What richness in the oboe, the strings 

and the voice!” exclaimed Albert. “You 

get the whole message, from sadness to 

the glimmer of hope.” 

“Wow!” said Toby. “Some details 

that bothered me were still there, but 

they didn’t disturb me in the same way. 

The sibilance, for instance. So the sound 

supports the music.” 

All right…you probably want to know 

what the damages are going to be. 

Well, it won’t be cheap, as you will 

have guessed by the way it’s built. The 

basic unit we reviewed costs C$990 — 

you can get an eight-outlet version for 

$200 more. And remember that it has no 

power cord. The AC20WG cord that BIS 

recommends (because it’s been “voiced” 

for it) is C$700. A lower-cost version, the 

AC20, is $400. We don’t have the heart 

CROSSTALK 

to add it all up. 

You may be wondering whether the 

idea of “voicing” audio gear is legitimate. 

The term is borrowed from the vocabulary 

of the organ builder. Indeed, there 

are organ tuners, and there are organ 

voicers, those who fine-tune the sound 

of each pipe to give the instrument its 

distinctive character. So why not voice 

audio equipment? 

The obvious difference is that organs 

produce music and hi-fi systems reproduce 

it. Creative input is not what you’re looking 

for. 

But as we hope we’ve made clear, you 

can’t design a system entirely by trusting 

your instruments, because if you do you 

will make horrible mistakes — examples 

of this abound. So you calculate, you 

hypothesize, you measure, and then you 

listen. You listen a lot. 

A good designer will be honest and 

admit that, sometimes, he doesn’t know 

why two elements go together…or fail to. 

The final judge is the ear. That is why 

audio design is science, sure enough, but 

it is also an art. 

It’s the current fashion for a power filter 

to do all sorts of stuff you don’t need done, 

up to and including protecting gear against 

a lightning strike, or perhaps a bombing raid 

on your house. It needs breakers, lights, an 

LCD screen, Ethernet and USB connections. 

Or does it? 

With a product like this I want only two 

things done. 

First, I want whatever electrical current 

the power company deigns to give me to 

get to my system with as little taken away as 

possible, from plug to plug to plug. 

Second, I want to clean out the horrible 

gunk that the utility sends down its wires 

along with its expensive current, and I don’t 

want more gunk either generated or spread 

around. 

That’s it. This product does exactly that, 

and you can hear it. 


You’ll never know how good your system 

really is until you feed it clean power. And 

no tweak or upgrade will ever reveal its 

true value until then. If you can’t wait to UHF’s panel for a session, I am asked for my 

get started on that path but haven’t allowed impressions of…power bars! 

Another 

for it in your immediate 

unique 

budget, you might 

feature! 

Well, it’s not as if they all sounded the 

want to consider the difference the GutWire same. The GutWire provides serious AC 

Stingray 

You know 

provides 

how 

— 

most 

from 

audio 

a wider 

magazines 

sense of 

do 

distribution, 

their reviews: 

but it 

a 

doesn’t 

number 

treat 

of 

the power 

reviewers, 

space to clearer 

some 

lyrics. 

with doubtful “reference” 

much, 

systems, 

and 

are 

the 

assigned 

music loses 

reviews 

appeal compared 

of 

individual 

And when 

components. 

you are ready for it, you’ll to the reference Inouye. There is a harshness 

have 

UHF, 

the joy 

on 

of 

the 

trying 

other 

the 

hand, 

BISAudio 

maintains 

unit. 

actual 

on voices, 

reference 

and detail 

systems, 

sounds 

on 

artificial. 

which 

It’s not 

all 

Music 

reviews 

will never 

are done. 

sound 

All 

the 

our 

same. 

reviewers 

You’ll find 

participate 

the GutWire’s 

in each 

fault, 

review. 

raw AC 

The 

is just bad mojo 

main 

no excesses, 

article is 

no 

based 

sudden 

on 

irritating 

the concensus, 

surges, 

if there and there is one, is still but lots sometimes that is impressive, on but 

divergence. 

everything will be quietly controlled by a I would use this bar to give a conditioning 

healthy 

And 

dose 

then 

of 

each 

pure 

reviewer 

power. 

gets to write a device “Crosstalk,” more power a personal outlets. comment, 

Say 

which 

the composer 

may even 

wanted 

disagree 

his music 

with the 

to 

others. The BIS Maestro…this is really just a 

sound 

There 

ominous 

is no pressure 

at a specific 

to confirm. 

section, 

What 

the power you read bar? is It’s really certainly what nice we to the music. 

think. 

conductor 

And 

then 

that is 

insisted 

what makes 

on the 

UHF 

intensity 

unique. Harshness and artificial detail are gone. 

rising out of the strings, then shifting onto Harmonic relationships and tonal colors, key 

the brass and percussion, and the musicians points for me, are satisfying with the BIS. 

responded and delivered wonderfully. With The choral crescendo at the end of Now the 

this unit you’ll get to hear the result of all Green Blade Riseth got back the heart it lost 

that collaboration and you’ll hear the music when we used the simpler unit. There’s not 

rising relentlessly, filling the space around the air or the neutrality of the Inouye but 

you, shattering the silence. 

the overall effect is remarkably pleasant. 

—Albert Simon I wouldn’t feel I needed another conditioner 

if I had one of these. 

Greatly honored by an invitation to join 

—Toby Earp 



Do Connectors Matter? (Part II) 

The first part of this evaluation, 

in UHF No. 85, caused 

a sensation, and frankly it 

perturbed us too. We took a 

very good economy loudspeaker cable, 

the Atlas Hyper 2, and listened to it 

with four different sets of connectors: 

the original equipment Z Plugs, traditional 

gold-over-brass WBT spades and 

bananas, WBT’s new nextgen bananas, 

and finally the ETI Bayonet Bananas. 

The differences were astounding, far 

greater that we had imagined they could 

be. The winners by far were the two 

newest connectors, the WBT nextgen 

and the ETI. Both use the strict minimum 

of metal, and that metal is copper, 

not the usual brass. 

It wasn’t long after the issue was 

published that we got a worried e-mail 

from a Mavros owner in Europe. Should 

he think about changing the connectors 

on his cables for nextgens? Our reply: we 

didn’t know, but we would find out. 

We admit to having hesitated before 

deciding to do this test. Our Mavros 

cables came with the optional (and 

expensive) spade connectors made from 

single-crystal copper. Like the Z-Plugs 

(which are the standard issue on the 

Mavros) they are “cold welded” under 

pressure, which means we couldn’t take 

them off without destroying them. 

Gulp! 

So what if it should turn out they 

made no difference? Indeed, what if the 

nextgens actually sounded worse? There 

would be no going back. 

However we had another reason to 

want bananas, and we had figured that 

out when we first adopted this cable. 

We plug and unplug things a lot in our 


business. Our reference speakers and 

amplifier have good binding posts, and 

fasten tightly on the spades, but some 

gear we test have those posts that seem 

to loosen if you stare at them. Bananas 

are a better tool for us. 

So we decided to go ahead. We pulled 

out three CDs that sound particularly 

good, and set up our Linn Unidisk 

player in the Alpha room. We prepared 

everything we would need for the surgery: 

the three sets of WBT nextgen 

bananas, a dozen 6 mm gold sleeves, the 

WBT crimping tool, and everything we 

needed to cut and bare the wire ends of 

the Mavros. 

We made sure all the binding posts 

were good and tight, and we proceeded 

to the first listen. How did it sound? 

Fabulous. Steve Bourke was especially 

impressed, because it was the first time 

he had heard the Alpha system, in our 

remarkable acoustics. 

And then to the operation. We 

took a deep breath and reached for the 

cutters. 

The wires were cut back as close as 

possible to the rigid cold-weld spade 

shanks. The decorative mesh Atlas uses 

in its finishing is all too fragile, and we 

made a mental note to replace it with 

shrink tubing later. For the moment, 

however, everyone was waiting. Once 

the ends were bare, we slipped on the 

sleeves, fused them with the wire under 

the pressure of the crimping tool, and 

slipped the finished ends into their 

waiting WBT bananas (shown on the 

next page). Incidentally, the operation 

was carried out by unplugging the cables 

from the amplifier first, so that the amp 

did not need to be turned off. It was nice 

and toasty when we tightened on fresh 

bananas, and got ready to listen again. 

The first selection was a guitar duo, 

De Luna, from Strunz and Farah’s album 

Zona Torrida. We still had misgivings, 

fearing we had sacrificed expensive connectors 

for nothing. We hadn’t. 

We were unanimous that the sound 

of these dazzling guitars had changed, 

entirely in the right way, which is to 

say in the direction of naturalness. 

The sound was more limpid, with more 

body in the bass and lower midrange, 

with more detail but more substance as 

well. The enhanced 3-D effect revealed 

additional layers of sound, right down to 

the subtle little reverberation at the end 

of a chord. Albert noticed a background 

instrument he had never noticed before, 

which turned out to be Carlitos del 

Puerto’s bass. 

Steve was nonplussed. During the 

first listen he had pronounced the system 

the best he had ever heard. This was 

something else again. 

We continued with a rare recording 

by South African jazz trumpetist and 

singer Hugh Masekela. His composition 

Stimela is often heard at international 

shows. Recorded in an overheated 

Washington night club before the fall 

of the apartheid régime, it’s about the 

coal train which once brought migrant 

workers from varied African countries to 

work the mines of South Africa as slaves 

in all but name. Masekela provides the 

monolog, evokes the train with his voice, 

and plays an extended score that is always 

worth listening to. 

A warning: you have to play it loud to 

get the whole effect. 

Good as it was the first time, it had 

an extra dimension the second time 

around, and all three of us had a lot to 

say. “It isn’t just more attractive,” said 

Albert, “it’s also more interesting. Take 

the synths in the opening section. They 

set up the texture of the music, but now 

that texture is gorgeous. The saxophone 

is more realistic, and the cymbals too — 

listen to the way they shimmer.” Gerard 

had noted much the same things. 

Of course Masekela’s voice is the 

key to this piece, and it was noticeably


improved, less thick. At the same time 

the very bottom end was cleaner, though 

no less energetic, and that gave extra 

body to both the electric bass and the 

kick drum. All this from connectors? 

Steve commented on the added 

depth — this is a live recording after all, 

done in a real space. He thought that the 

sound was less harsh, particularly that of 

Masekela’s voice when he imitates the 

whistle of the coal train. 

Of course we wanted another human 

voice in the mix, and preferably a female 

voice. Cable connections, we have 

already mentioned, cause problems 

in the highs. Some years back one of 

our (then) reference speakers had what 

appeared to be a cracked tweeter — you 

could practically hear the dome bend 

with the music. In fact it was a bad connection. 

In that instance, the connection 

was inside the speaker (between the wire 

and the inside of the WBT binding post 

in fact), but of course a “subprime” connection 

between cable and binding post 

will do the same thing. Tightening it had 

fixed the problem. 

But on with the voice, Margie 

Gibson’s The Best Thing For You from 

her album Say It with Music (Sheffield 

CD-36). This time, we had less to say. 

Oh, it wasn’t because we heard no 

difference, because we did. From the first 

notes of Lincoln Mayorga’s piano, the 

resonances were more complex, and the 

sound more revealing. The percussion 

had also become clearer. As for Margie’s 

remarkable voice, she was present as 

never before. 

“The best thing for you,” said 

Steve, echoing the song, “would be the 

nextgens.” 

And so we have the answer for our 

European reader, but the experience may 

leave you with some questions. 

One question we’re anticipating is: 

seeing that the ETI Bayonet Bananas did 

so well in Part I of this test, why didn’t 

we save a few dollars and adopt them 

instead? In fact the ETI products have 

risen in price since then, but it’s true 

that they cost less than the nextgens. 

Remember, however, that we’re a magazine, 

and we are constantly connecting 

and reconnecting products. The WBT 

bananas are built to take a beating, and 

we figure they’re a better choice for us. 

Your needs may be different. 

Finally — we can’t resist this — a 

word for those who think that all this 

stuff about cables and connectors is bosh, 

that it’s all marketing hype. We sincerely 

wish that were true, because if it were, 

our working tools would have cost us a 

lot less. We wish all amplifiers, at least 

above a certain price, sounded exactly 

the same, because we’ve spent a lot of 

money for ours. Without gear of this 

quality, we would not be in a position 

to give you valid advice on how to go 

about doing your own research, in order 

to build a system that will give you years 

of pleasure. 

As always, that is our goal. We suspect 

other people have other goals, but 

the sun shines for everyone. 

CROSSTALK 

I wasn’t prepared for what I heard. 

I thought it was going to be one of those 

vague and undefinable differences, something 

I’d have to think about really hard, 

and decide if it was meaningful or if it was 

just another color added to the music. 

K nowing how good our reference 

system already sounded with the first piece, 

I was relaxed, but — just like a cat — I soon 

found myself sitting up, totally focused on 

the music. Everything had become so much 

more interesting. It had been very good 

before, it actually sounded great with the 

reference, but now it was so much…more. 

Vague? No, but subtle and delicately 

complex in the differences it revealed. 

Undefinable? Not at all, as it added even 

more precision and clarity to what I thought 

was already so clear. And, above all, it added 

beauty. 


Like some other UHF readers, I have 

often wondered about the importance of 

cables and connectors, and their influence 

on hi-fi sound. So after hearing the Alpha 

system’s stupendous performance using the 

reference connectors, I expected no great 

difference from the WBT nextgens. 

Even so, they improved every aspect of 

the sound I heard. What had been already 

super great became greater. Truly threedimensional 

realism seemed to shimmer 

with life. 

Without doubt, a superb connector is 

what WBT has created. 

—Steve Bourke 

Will you forgive me if I seem to go offtopic 

for a bit? 

I had not bought winter tires for years, 

because I’m not obliged to be in difficult 

traffic the morning after a storm. But it’s 

now the law where I live. 

I’m not pleased. Nearly all of my winter 

driving is actually on bare pavement, and 

with these tires the handling of my car has 

gone south. It’s difficult to take a long curve 

without concentrating on it. Same car, different 

tires, much worse experience. 

So what’s my point? Connectors are to 

cables what tires are to a car, the contact 

point. That may explain the surprising 

results we heard. 

Yes, those single-crystal spades already 

seemed outstandingly good. But having 

heard what connectors could do even with a 

low-cost cable, where you would expect the 

cable to be the limiting factor, I was sure we 

were in for a big change in this case. 

And so it came to pass. The Mavros is 

a great cable, but even the best one can be 

improved. This is no minor tweak. 




A Recording Studio in your Pocket 

Tired of paying for recordings 

other people have made? 

Want to make your own? In 

an early issue of this magazine 

we reviewed the Sony Walkman 

Professional, which was of course a 

cassette recorder, complete with manual 

recording levels and Dolby noise reduction, 

and we dubbed it The Bootlegger’s 

Recording Tool. Today, when we look at 

the Zoom H2, that sure seems a long 

time ago! 

The H2 is a complete all-in-one 

recording device. It contains four 

microphones and it has four-track 

recording facilities. The front microphones 

are angled at 90° to each other, 

and the rear at 120° (the so-called 

“ORTF” format, named for the French 

broadcasting system). You can use one 

pair or the other, or all four for surround 

sound. You can record in MP3, 

or in the familiar 16-bit/44.1 kHz CD 

format (actually WAV format), or in 

full 24/96. Put it all onto an SD card, 

and transfer it all to your computer so 

you can have your way with what you’ve 

recorded. 

The H2 run on two AA batteries, 

but it comes with a wall wart 

power supply for fixed use. It also 

comes with that little three-legged stand, 

as shown, which has the same thread as 

a photo tripod. We’ve noticed broadcast 

journalists using these, in some cases 

duct-taped to a handle, for picking 

up news clips. A foam wind screen is 

included. 

But could you actually tell the record 

companies to shove it, because from now 

on you’ll be rolling your own? Naturally 

you’ll have to do your own work getting 

familiar with the ins and outs of 

copyright and contracts, but we’re here 

to help with the techie stuff. 

The H2 is not the only, nor the best, 

such product from Zoom, and we’ll get 

to that in a moment. However it has 

tremendous potential. At least it does if 

it does what you want, with the quality 

you want. 

There’s quite a lot included in the 

package, including a 512 MB secure 

Digital Card. That won’t stretch very far 


at high resolution, 

however, since 

even a Red Book CD 

has a capacity of 700 MB. T h e H 2 

does accept the higher density SDHC 

cards, which are currently available with 

as much as 32 MB capacity. 

However we ran into a problem. 

Though Zoom claims the H2 is Macintosh 

compatible in fact it is not, and 

plugging it into the USB connection 

does not allow it to mount on our Mac’s 

desktop. We were able to transfer data 

only by using a card reader. However 

card readers mostly don’t work with 

SDHC. 

The tiny monochrome LCD screen 

is difficult to read even when it’s lit, and 

the user interface could benefit from a 

complete rewrite. For example, to move 

up or down a selection list you use the 

left and right buttons. It takes a while to 

get used to this, though anyone who has 

ever dealt with MS-DOS will just shrug 

it off. 

How to test the fidelity of this device? 

Though the human voice is often listed 

as a non-critical source (“voice quality” 

is always taken to mean the lowest possible 

quality), in fact it is a challenge. 

Not only does the voice have a wide 

range of frequencies, wider than 

that of most musical instruments in 

fact, its sound is familiar, and we can 

easily spot deviations from accuracy. 

And what voice is more familiar than 

your own? 

Well no, let’s correct that. You 

hear your own voice through flesh 

and bone, which means you hear too 

much bass and not enough top end. 

But a friend’s voice, once recorded, 

should sound perfectly natural. And 

so we decided to use our own voices 

for this comparison. 

The three panelists were Toby Earp, 

Gerard Rejskind and Albert Simon. 

Each was asked to bring a short poem 

that could be used in the recording. Of 

course we would need to have a reference 

of some sort. 

And we knew just what to use. We 

are lucky enough to own a pair of Earthworks 

condenser microphones, similar 

to those that are used by such recording 

labels as Harmonia Mundi and Analekta 

(actually, luck had nothing to do with it). 

We plugged them into an Edirol UA-25 

box, and plugged the Edirol into the 

USB connection on a MacBook Pro. 

The recording software was the open 

source Audacity. We then recorded the 

same poems, at the same microphone 

distance, with the Zoom H2 mounted 

on a camera tripod. The sessions took 

place in our Alpha room, which — you 

may recall — was originally designed to 

be a broadcast production studio. 









We now continue in imitation


Latin. 









tisi. 













Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis 

accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore 


te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis 

ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse 

eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla 

feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. 




























tat. 






nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa 



































elenisi. 







luptat. 




























iustie magna core. 



Three Headphones 

At one time people who bought 

One surprise is that these are active 

headphones but did not have 

phones, with their own amplification 

amateur radio licenses were 

stage, and also a noise-cancellation 

considered suspect. Clearly, 

circuit. There are two AAA alkaline 

they were solitary, if not downright antisocial. 

The Walkman revolution of the 

70’s changed that. Since then, the iPod 

revolution has accelerated the change. 

And because, potentially, a digital player 

can be made to sound so much better 

than a cassette, the demand for upscale 

headphones is growing. 

We reviewed three of them, the 

over-the-ear Beats phones shown here, 

and two way upscale in-ear models from 

Shure. 

We did most of the listening with 

our Omega system, running the very 

good (but long discontinued) headphone 

amplifier from Audio Alchemy. 

We used three recordings. 

The first, Fantasies on a Theme by 

Haydn, from the wind band recording 

Norman Dello Joio (he’s the composer) on 

Klavier K11138. It includes not only an 

attractive mix of woodwinds and brass, 

but also some percussion work that goes 

right for the solar plexus. 

The second is Esther Ofarim’s song 

La Vezina Catina, available in SACD 

form on FIM’s Audiophile Reference IV 

(SACD 029). Her voice is clear and powerful, 

with a not-quite-natural reverberant 

usual in 

ou r he a dphone 

reviews, our reference was our very old, 

but very good, Koss Pro/4AAA phones. 

They are sealed over-the-ear phones 

meant for studio use. 

Beats by Dr. Dre 

“Beats” is the touted brand name 

here, but you’ll also see, more discreetly 

on the inside of the headband, the name 

cells behind the left earpiece, and the 

phones won’t run without power. The 

cable is detachable, and two of them are 

included. One includes a microphone, 

which can be used with an iPhone or 

a Blackberry. Pushing on the back of 

the right earpiece interrupts the music 

so you can hear the flight attendant 

ask you whether you want merlot or 

chardonnay. 

Full list price is US$400 and 

C$450, but we’ve seen it in the US 

for $300. 

There was an immediate consensus 

around the comfort of these phones. 

They are light, rather lighter than they 

look in fact, and the cushions fit well on 

the ears of all three of us. The excellent 

fit made for excellent bass, too. Some 

phones have trouble delivering lower 

frequencies unless you press the earpiece 

against your ear. 

For that reason, the Beats did very 

well with the tympani solo in the Dello 

Joio wind band piece, outpointing our 

reference phones in several respects. 

The tympani seemed to roll on forever, 

with great impact. Both Steve and Albert 

liked the natural way the woodwinds 

setting that is definitely arresting. of marketing organization behind were reproduced. “There was better 

The third is the romantic ballad 

How 

the 

the 

phones, namely 

electronic 

Monster. Yes, the 

version 

unity in the orchestra,” 

works 

said Steve. 

Soft Lights and Sweet Music from Margie cable people, though it no longer calls “The reference phones tend to isolate 

Gibson’s Sheffield album Say It With 

We don’t 

itself Monster 

mean this 

Cable. 

version, because you already 

the 

know 

instruments.” 

how it works. 

The 

It’s 

stereo 

a PDF, 

image was 

Music (CD-36). 

and you open 

“Dr. 

it 

Dre” 

with 

(pronounced 

Adobe reader, 

“doctor 

etc. 

dray,” particularly good, as you expect with 

Of course we also wanted to include 

But we 

the 

also 

professional 

have a paid 

name 

electronic 

of rapper 

version, 

and 

which 

headphones, 

is complete, 

though 

without 

sometimes 

banners like 

subtle 

an actual iPod. We played the Bratsch 

this one, 

producer 

or articles 

Andre 

in fluent 

Young) 

gibberish. 

is the front man clues get obscured. On the other hand 

song Fratelli from the group’s Correspondance 

album, playing in Apple 

That 

for 

one, 

these 

because 

phones, 

it is 

and 

complete, 

was present 

has to 

at 

be 

the 

ordered 

Gerard 

with 

thought 

a credit 

that 

card. 

the 

To 

depth 

open 

seemed 

it, you also 

pre-launch 

have to 

of 

download 

the phones 

a plugin 

at CES 

for 

2008. 

your copy 

shallower. 

of Adobe Reader or Acrobat. 

Lossless form from an iPod touch. 

You’ll 

We 

receive 

He explained 

a user name 

that he 

and 

is 

password 

a perfectionist, 

to allow you 

In 

to download 

listening with 

your 

the 

full 

Beats 

copy of 

we had 

also included a second Margie Gibson 

the magazine. 

getting 

You’ll 

the best 

need 

out 

the 

of 

same 

his artists, 

user name 

such 

and 

to 

password 

turn down 

the 

the 

first 

volume 

time you 

on 

open 

our Audio 

song, A Song For You from her album 

the 

All 

magazine 

as Snoop 

on 

Dogg 

your computer, 

and Eminem, 

but 

and 

only 

he 

the 

was 

first 

Alchemy 

time. After 

amplifier, 

that, it 

because 

works like 

it is 

any 

so sensitive. 

The down side was that we could 

We Need to Know. This solid state iPod 

other 

is 

PDF. 

concerned that you might not be able 

so slim that one wonders whether it can 

For details, 

to hear 

visit 

at home 

our Electronic 

everything 

Edition 

he put into 

page. To 

hear 

buy 

a small 

an issue 

amount 

or subscribe, 

of hiss, 

visit 

and even 

possibly sound any good. It does in 

MagZee. 

fact the music in the studio. Since Dr. Dre a very distant hum when the volume 

sound considerably better than our older 

(and many times thicker and heavier) 

iPod Photo, with its 60 GB hard disc. 

We can’t do a comparative test without 

a reference we can compare to. As 

is into gangsta rap (one of his labels was 

called Death Row Records), that made 

us fear the worst. These would surely be 

zingy, bass heavy, and almost certainly 

unlistenable. Umm…no. 

control neared its minimum. 

These phones really do deliver a lot 

of bass, and lower midrange too, and 

possibly for that reason Esther seemed 

less close to the microphones. The flute 



accompaniment was excellent, and we 

had good comments about the voice as 

well. The sense of space might have been 

reduced, thought Gerard, but that was 

far from the most important aspect. 

We were less enthusiastic about Soft 

Lights and Sweet Music. The apparent 

hump in the lower midrange gave the 

cello and the bass more of a “woody” 

quality, but it altered the sound of 

both the piano and Margie’s voice. Oh, 

it didn’t spoil it, and we thoroughly 

enjoyed the song anyway. 

We then switched to the iPod, where 

the Beats’ built-in amplification gave it 

an obvious advantage. No need to turn 

the volume way up this time. 

On Fratelli, the sound from the Beats 

was nothing less than spectacular. The 

fuller bass sound gave richness and body 

both to the accordion and the close-in 

voices at the opening. The voices in 

harmony at the end of the piece were 

formidable, despite a touch of upper-end 

distortion we hadn’t noticed with the 

reference phones. “Dr. Dre all the way,” 

enthused Steve. 

On A Song For You we admired the 

impressive richness of the bowed double 

bass introduction. “Margie’s voice was 

very good with the reference,” said 

Albert. “With these phones it is also very 

expressive, but it is rounder.” 

Steve wasn’t so sure anymore. “Maybe 

I exaggerated on the previous recording,” 

he said. “I prefer the reference phones for 

soft and delicate music like this.” 

We didn’t take the Beats out in traffic, 

nor on a plane, but the noise cancellation 

can nicely take out household rumble, 

such as those from refrigerators and 

heating. It is surprising to hear noisecancelling 

phones sound this good, 

because most are horrible, and even the 

famous Bose phones are far from top 

grade. You can hear the music better 

with them, but you won’t want to. 

But there’s one down side that some 

may consider a dealbreaker. Our reference 

phones keep the music in so your 

neighbors won’t hear it. The Beats 

don’t. You won’t want to use them in 

bed next to your Significant Other, or 

perhaps even on public transportation. 

That caveat aside, their comfort, their 

versatility and their sonic quality fully 

justify their cost. 

The Shure ES530 

There is an alternative to active sound 

cancellation, and that is using earphones 

that actually block your ear, not letting 

any sound in other than that emerging 

from the phones themselves. There are 

more and more upscale in-ear phones, 

including — from Shure, Etymotic and 

some lesser-known companies — phones 

that are tiny but cost more than the 

product you’re likely to plug them into. 

The Shure ES530’s are the company’s 

flagship, and they contain, incredibly 

enough, three-way transducers. That’s 

right, each one holds, encased in its tiny 

body, a woofer, midrange and tweeter. 

Their list price is C$470. 

The trick to making a phone like this 

work is getting a perfect fit between tip 

and ear. If there’s air leakage, you won’t 

get full bass response. The Shures come 

with a little bag full of interchangeable 

tips, including some stepped wedges 

that look as though they have to be the 

answer. They’re not. All three of us 

preferred the half-globe foam tips, which 

can be crushed to fit the ear. 

We were curious to hear whether 

these tiny three-way headphones could 

reproduce the sound of tympani being 

played as tympani should be. Well, no, 

but we quickly forgot about that, because 

the Shures tok us on a thrill ride! 

“I had a visceral reaction to the 

dynamics,” said Steve. “I was in the 

middle of the orchestra, next to each 

instrument.” Gerard noted with pleasure 

the extremely low level of distorsion, and 

the very extended top end. The smaller 

percussion instruments were downright 

startling in their realism, and took our 

breath away. 

But were the instrumental timbres 

right, and not just flashy? Gerard thought 

they were spot on. So did Albert, though 

he had questions about the orchestral 

textures. And what about the bass? 

“Sometimes you have to make sacrifices,” 

said Gerard. 

With Esther’s song we also noticed 

right off that the bass was less solid than 

with either the Beats or our reference 

phones, and that bothered us for… 

oh, maybe ten seconds. We were there! 

“Her voice is inside me, not outside,” 

said Steve. That was echoed by Albert: 

“We’re in the music, even without turning 

up the volume. Her voice is more 

attractive, the words clearer, and the 

image is better too.” Gerard came out 

of the song shaken. 

We turned to Soft Lights and Sweet 

Music, and we weren’t disappointed. 

“The clarity is exemplary,” said Albert. 

“It doesn’t ‘underline’ the details, but it 

gives a good result. When the piano is 

playing at the beginning, you can already 

hear Margie preparing to deliver her first 

line.” 

“The song is more refined with these 

headphones,” Said Steve. He paused. 

“I know that’s contradictory, it’s the 

opposite of what I said on the last song.” 

For Margie he preferred the Beats, with 

their more solid bottom end. 

We then plugged the little phones 



into the iPod, which is how, we suspect, 

most purchasers will use them. We 

played Fratelli, with its accordion and 

voices in harmony. 

We didn’t quite agree. In the introduction 

to this faux Gypsy song, the 

lower octaves are really important, and 

both Albert and Steve would have liked 

them to be more prominent. Instead, 

Steve found the highs too prominent. 

Albert didn’t go that far. “You can see 

everything,” he said. Gerard shrugged 

off the (relative) lack of bottom end. 

“Less bass?” he asked. “So?” 

Gerard was also thrilled with A Song 

For You. “The piano and the subtle percussion 

are fantastic,” he said, “but the 

song… The song!” Albert largely agreed. 

Though the bowed double bass sounded 

more like a cello, he admired the finesse 

of the reproduction, and he was taken 

with Margie Gibson’s voice. 

Steve found the sound harsher than 

with our reference, but better than with 

the Beats. 

The Shure ES420 

Don’t need three drivers? Will you 

settle for just two? Want to save $110? 

We thought that was a good plan, but we 

quickly changed our minds. 

“It’s not even close. They have shrill 

highs and poor dynamics,” said Steve. 

Albert deplored the lack of impact 

and the loss of detail in the Dello Joio. 

“There’s less space, because everything 

is closer,” he said. Added Gerard, “They 

cost a hundred bucks less, and they’re 

worth five hundred bucks less.” 

The Esther song was little better. 

“It’s not tinny,” said Steve, “it’s more 

aluminum, but not organic.” Margie 

Gibson’s song was better, but not sufficiently. 

“The detail is there in quantity, 

but not in quality,” said Steve. Once 

again the lack of finesse was notable, 

compared to the ES530’s. 

Would these phones sound better 

with the iPod? Both Albert and Steve 

thought they did. “I was reconciled 

with them,” said Albert after listening 

to Fratelli. “There’s a fine clarity from 

the start, the minor reverberation is well 

reproduced, and there’s no confusion 

when they sing in harmony.” He was 

similarly impressed with A Song For You. 

Steve thought he might want to save 

the $110 if he were buying iPod phones. 

“The cheaper ones don’t reveal as clearly 

the weakness of the iPod,” he said. 

Gerard disagreed. Both iPod songs 

had left him cold. 

We know many people will ask why 

anyone would make phones as expensive 

as the ES530’s. Listen to the second-best 

model, and you’ll know. 

CROSSTALK 

I was so enthused with the Beats that I 

was ready to lay out the cash and pick them 

up. Then I imagined using them on the 

plane, and getting punched out by a neighbor 

with musical taste different from mine. 

Besides, I like the Shure SE530’s a lot, 

even if they don’t have that nice comfy 

headband to hold them in. They’re thrilling 

to listen to, nothing less, and I’m seriously 

considering them. 

I expected to like the SE420’s more than I 

did. They’re not really bad, but when they’re 

up against phones that are really good for not 

that much more, the choice is an easy one. 

— Gerard Rejskind 

To be in the ear or on the ear, for now 

that is the question. 

Both the reference and the Dr. Dre 

make long-term listening a comfortable 

experience. The Dre is light, compact and 

good-looking, and it presents a fully-blended 

soundscape with very good tonal realism. 

The Shure SE530 gives a dense authenticity 

to the music, and instrument timbres are 

believable, but I had trouble accepting the 

in-the-ear effect. 

Though none of the contenders held a 

Christmas candle to the reference’s nuance 

and subtlety, if I had to choose one to use 

with both an iPod and a stereo system, it 

would be the Shure ES530. 

—Steve Bourke 

Good speakers have a striking ability to 

become transparent after a while, dissolving 

into the background and leaving the music 

intact. The Beats managed almost that good 

a disappearing act. The comfort factor was 

the first thing I noticed (and the last, as I 

removed them at the end, casually, without 

the slightest sigh of relief). And as soon as the 

music started, I knew there was something 

very true about the sound. It was as deep and 

as naturally rich as I remembered it on our 

reference speakers. 

Some prefer earphones, however, and the 

three-way Shure SE530 were a delight to use. 

They expanded the space wonderfully and lit 

the music brightly (in the best sense of that 

word). 

Yet I couldn’t help wishing for the fullness 

of sound that I knew was there. 



INTERCONNECTS 

ATLAS NAVIGATOR 

Oxygen-free continuous 

cast (OCC) cable: each 

strand is a single copper 

crystal. Two internal 

conductors, plus double 

shielding. The double shielding is copper mylar plus close-lapped 

99.997% pure OCC copper multi-stranded screen providing 100% 

RFI protection. The premium “All-Cu” version (shown here) 

uses solid copper connectors that are also continuous cast. The 

copper is then silver-plated and double-shielded.We use two in our 

reference systems. Special-order lengths from the factory. 

ORDER: AN-1 pair, 1m, $300, AN-2 pair, 2m, $350 

ORDER: ANA-1 All-Cu, 1m, $405, ANA-2 All-Cu, 2m, $495 

ORDER: ANAB-1 All-Cu balanced, single crystal XLR, 1m, $675 

ATLAS VOYAGER 

A cable with superior performance at an 

economical price. Oxygen-free copper, 

continuously cast, double-shielded with conductive 

PVC plus close lapped 99.9997% pure OCC copper 

multi-stranded screen, for 100% coverage against 

RFI. Direct gold-plated, non compressing, doublescreened, 

self cleaning RCA plugs. Also available 

with the All-Cu connectors like those of the 

Navigator (above). 

ORDER: AV-1, Voyager 1m pair, $285, AV-2, 2m pair, $325 

ORDER: AVA-1, All-Cu 1m pair, $375, AVA-2 2m pair, $420 

ATLAS QUESTOR 

This could be the world’s lowest-cost 

interconnect with single-crystal copper. It has 

the same connectors as the Equator (below), 

and we thought it sounded like a much more 

expensive cable. 

ORDER: AQ-1, 1 m pair Atlas Questor, $140 

ORDER: AQ-2, 2 m pair Atlas Questor, $180 

ATLAS EQUATOR 

Perhaps the best $150 

interconnect cable you could 

buy. Only it costs just $90. And 

yes, that’s in Canadian funds. 

Other lengths on order. 

ORDER: AE-1, 1 m pair Atlas Equator, $90 

ORDER: AE-2, 2 m pair Atlas Equator, $125 

PRISMAL DUAL INTERCONNECT 

This Swiss-made cable has especially solid connectors. Teflon 

dielectric. oxygen-free copper Toss your “free” interconnects! 

ORDER: PD-1, 1 meter pair Prisma Dual Interconnect, $34.95 

ATLAS QUADSTAR 

Terrific in our blind test. 

With Eichmann Bullet plugs, 

or balanced with Neutrik 

XLR's. Silver solder included with kit. 

ORDER: AQS-1 pair Quadstar kit, 1m $124.95 

ORDER: AQS-1A pair Quadstar assembled, 1m $199.95 

ORDER: AQS-X pair Quadstar balanced kit, 1m $95.95 

ORDER: AQS-XA pair Quadstar balanced, assembled, 1m $169.95 

ORDER ON LINE 

www.uhfmag.com 

THE AUDIOPHILE STORE 53 

MAVROS INTERCONNECTS 

Truly terrific, a pair of these connects our phono preamp to the 

preamp of our Omega system 

ORDER: AMI-1, 1 m Mavros interconnect pair, $1195 

ORDER: AMI-2, 2 m Mavros interconnect pair, $1895 

TWO CABLES INTO ONE JACK 

Need to feed two preamps into two 

amps? This solid Y-adapter (two 

jacks into one phono plug) is gold 

over brass, with Teflon dielectric. 

ORDER: FYA, one pair Y adapters, $20 

SPEAKER CABLES 

ATLAS MAVROS CABLES 

We’ve adopted them for our Alpha system, which sounds better 

than ever before. This is a four-wire monocrystal cable with 

porous Teflon dielectric. We are not recommending them with 

standard bananas or spaces, but we offer them either with ETI 

Bayonet Bananas, at no extra cost, or WBT nextgen.. 

ORDER: AMBCu-3, 3 m pair, Bayonet bananas, $2150 

ORDER: AMBCu-5, 5 m pair, Bayonet bananas, $3850 

ORDER: AMSCu-3, 3 m pair, WBT nextgen bananas, $2390 

ORDER: AMSCu-5, 5 m pair, WBT nextgen bananas, $4090 

ATLAS HYPER SPEAKER CABLES 

A big winner in one of UHF’s blind tests of speaker cables is 

Hyper 2, an oxygen free stranded wire in Teflon dielectric. 

Inexpensive too. Plus connectors (we recommend Eichmann 

Bayonet Bananas, $99.95/set, two sets needed for AH2, three for 

biwire). 

ORDER: AH2, Hyper 2 cable, $29.95/metre 

ORDER: AHB, Hyper Biwire cable, $49.95/metre 

ATLAS ICHOR SPEAKER CABLE 

Continuous-cast single-crystal cable, ready for biwiring. It costs 

just $235 per meter of double cable (a 2 m pair has 4 meters of 

wire). We suggest adding the Eichmann Bayonet bananas, $99.95 

per set of 4, or Furutech connectors, $70 a set of 4.. 

SINGLE CRYSTAL JUMPERS 

Not biwiring? Dump the free jumpers that 

with your speakers. Atlas jumpers are 

made from single-crystal copper, goldplated 

spades. 

ORDER: ACJ, four single crystal jumpers, 

$99.95 

came 

DIGITAL CABLES 

ATLAS COMPASS DIGITAL 

Excellent performance at an affordable price. Single crystal pure 

copper. The 1.5m version sounds way better than a 1m. 

ORDER: ACD-1.5 digital cable, 1.5m, $160 

ATLAS OPUS DIGITAL 

We dumped our reference cable for this one! And to be at its very 

best, it has to be this length. 

ORDER: AOD-1.5 digital cable, 1.5m, $399 

CONNECTORS 

EICHMANN BAYONET BANANAS 

The Eichmann Bayonet 

Banana uses a minimum of 

metal, and tellurium copper 

at that, but clicks tightly into 

any binding post with spring 

action. For soldering or crimping, or both. 

ORDER: EBB kit 4 bayonet bananas, $99.95 

EICHMANN SPADES 

Ready to solder, in 

gold-plated copper, or 

pure silver. Two sizes, 

plus extra narrow for 

barrier strips (McIntosh, 

Vandersteen, etc.). Price for sets of four. 

A. ORDER: EXB, set of 4, barrier strips, (now discontinued) 

B. ORDER: EXQ, set of 4, 1/4" (6.3 mm), $32 

C. ORDER: EXQA, set of 4, 1/4" (6.3 mm), silver, $55 

D. ORDER: EXF, set of 4, 5/16" (8 mm), $44 

E. ORDER: EXF,A set of 4, 5/16" (8 mm), silver, $67 

EICHMANN BULLET PLUGS 

The first phono plug to maintain 

the impedance of the cable by using 

metal only as an extension of the 

wire. Hollow tube centre pin, tiny 

spring for ground. Two contacts for 

soldering, two-screw strain relief. 

Gold over copper. Got silver cable? Get the unique Silver Bullets! 

ORDER: EBP kit 4 Bullet Plugs, $77.95 

ORDER: EBPA kit 4 Silver Bullets, $154.95 

EICHMANN CABLE PODS 

Minimum metal, gold over tellurium 

copper. Unique clamp system: the back 

button turns but the clamp doesn’t. 

Solder to it, or plug an Eichmann 

banana into it, even from inside! 

ORDER: ECP, set of four posts, $119.95 

CONNECTOR TREATMENT 

DeOxit (formerly ProGold) 

cleans connections and 

promotes conductivity. Small 

wipes for cleaning accessible 

contacts, or a squirt bottle for connections you can’t reach. 

ORDER: PGW box 25 DeOxit wipes, $35 

ORDER: PGS, can DeOxit fluid, $35 

ORDER: PGB, both when ordered at the same time, $56 

www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

54 

THE AUDIOPHILE STORE 

MORE CONNECTORS 

For crimping connections to certain connectors from WBT or 

Furutech, we recommend the gold crimping sleeves from WBT, 

and the special crimping tool. 

Buy the tool at the same time as appropriate WBT or Furutech 

connectors, and we’ll buy it back at the price you paid when 

you’re through. 

ORDER: WBT-0403 crimping tool (refundable), $125. 

The sleeves are shown here, actual size. 

WBT-0431 0.75 mm sleeve $0.50 

WBT-0432 1 mm sleeve $0.50 

WBT-0433 1.5 mm sleeve $0.50 

WBT-0434 2.5 mm sleeve $0.50 



WBT-0437 10 mm sleeve $0.85 

WBT-0438 15 mm sleeve $0.95 

WBT NEXTGEN CONNECTORS 

WBT makes banana plugs and spades for speaker cables, all of 

which lock tightly into any post. All use crimping technology. 

These nextgen connectors are far superior to previous versions 

ORDER: WBT-0610 Kit 4 angled nextgen bananas, $130 

ORDER: WBT-0610Ag Kit 4 nextgen silver bananas, $290 

ORDER: WBT-0681 Kit 4 nextgen spades, $130 

ORDER: WBT-0681Ag Kit 4 nextgen silver spades, $220 

The high-tech minimum metal “nextgen” phono plugs. Easy to 

solder, with locking collar. Silver version available. 

ORDER: WBT-0110, kit 4 nextgen copper plugs, $170 

ORDER: WBT-0110Ag, kit 4 nextgen silver plugs, $280 

FURUTECH CONNECTORS 

Rhodium-plated banana tightens under pressure. Installs like 

WBT-0645 banana. The spade installs the same way too.. 

ORDER: FTB-R, set of four bananas, $70 

ORDER: FTS-R, set of four spades, $70 

ANALOG PRODUCTS 

LONDON REFERENCE 

Yes we can supply the awesome London 

Reference phono cartridge that we have 

adopted for ourselves. Other models on 

special order. this unique cartridge has 

a line contact stylus, and an output of 

5 mV…right for an MM preamp. 

ORDER: LRC cartridge, $4695 

GOLDRING ELITE 

If you have limited funds and 

want an MC cartridge with 

line contact stylus, this is a great 

choice. It's a detuned version of the 

very expensive (but discontinued) 

Excel we still own. 

ORDER: GEC cartridge, $745 

MOON PHONO PREAMPS 

Simaudio has done it: 

come up with a worldclass 

phono preamp that 

does magic. The LP5.3 is 

one of the best available. 

Adjustable MM/MC. 

ORDER: Moon LP5.3, 

silver (black available on 

special order), $1599. 

Special price on interconnect, one with an LP5.3 order. 

ORDER: ANA-1 Navigator All-Cu, 1m, $405, for $260 

ORDER: ANA-2 Navigator All-Cu, 2m, $495 for $350 

ORDER: ANAB-1 Navigator balanced, 1m, $675, for $475 

ORDER: AMI-1, 1 meter Mavros, $1195, for $895 

ORDER: AMI-2, 2 meter Mavros, $1895, for $1495 

Even more 

astonishing: the LP3 

includes much of the 

LP5.3 technology, still 

offers MM/MC, but 

costs only a fraction. 

Lively and musical, it’s 

difficult to match. 

ORDER: Moon LP3, 

$599 

Special price on interconnect, one with an LP3 order. 

ORDER AQS-1, Kit ,1 m Quadstar, $124.95, for $59.95 

ORDER AQS-1A, Fully assembled Quadstar, $199.95, for $99.95 

NOTE: The Moon preamps are shipped set for moving magnet 

setting. We’ll reset it to your specification so you won’t have to. 

LP RECORD CLEANER 

Concentrated cleaner for LP vacuum cleaning machines. 

Much safer than some formulas we’ve seen! Half litre, mix with 

demineralized or distilled water to make 4 litres. 

ORDER: LPC, $19.95 

PRICES CAN CHANGE AFTER WE GO TO PRESS. 

WE WILL ALWAYS GIVE YOU THE BEST PRICE 

www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html 

you 

a 

MORE ANALOG… 

EXSTATIC RECORD BRUSH 

the Goldring 

Super eXstatic. 

Includes a hard 

velvet pad to get 

into the grooves, 

two sets of carbon 

fibre tufts. We use it every time! 

ORDER: GSX record brush, $36 

J. A. MICHELL RECORD CLAMP 

Clamp your LP to the turntable 

platter. We use the J. A. 

Michell clamp, machined 

from nearly weightless 

aluminum. Drop it on, 

press down, tighten 

the knob. 

ORDER: MRC Michell 

record clamp, $75 

ORDER: MRC-R clamp for 

Rega and short spindles, $85 

ATLAS QUADSTAR PHONO BOX 

Got a tone arm with a 5-pin DIN 

plug. Substitute this Quadstar cable 

and box, and add the interconnect 

of your choice. straight DIN (shown) 

needs 7 cm clearance. If you have 

less, get the version with an angled 

DIN plug. 

ORDER: AQPS, Quadstar phono 

box, $248 

ORDER: AQPA, Quadstar phono box, angled DIN, $248 

TITAN STYLUS LUBRICANT 

Amazing, but true: dabbing 

a bit of this stuff on your 

stylus every 2 or 3 LPs makes 

it glide through the groove 

instead of scraping. Fine artist’s brush not included, but readily 

available in many stores. 

ORDER: TSO-1 Titan stylus oil, $39.95 

ZEROSTAT ANTISTATIC PISTOL 

A classic 

adjunct to 

the brush is 

the Zerostat 

anti-static 

gun. Squeeze 

the trigger 

and release: it 

ionizes the air, 

which becomes 

conductive and drains off the static charge. By the way, it works 

for a lot more than LP’s. No batteries needed. 

ORDER: Z-1 Zerostat antistatic pistol, $94..95 

LP SLEEVES 

Keep your records clean and 

scratch free. Replace dirty, 

torn or missing inner sleeves 

with soft-plastic-in-paper Nitty 

Gritty sleeves. 

ORDER: PDI, package of 30 

sleeves, $30 

IF WE DON’T LIKE IT YOU WON’T SEE IT HERE

VINYL ESSENTIALS TEST LP 

This precision-made German test record lets you check out channel 

identification, correct phase, crosstalk, the tracking ability of your 

cartridge (it’s a tougher test than the old Shure disc was, and the 

resonance of your tone arm and cartridge. When we need to test a 

turntable, this is the one we reach for. 

ORDER: LP 003, Image Hifi Test LP, $48.95 

TURNTABLE BELT TREATMENT 

What this is not 

is a sticky goo for 

belts on their last 

legs. Rubber Renue 

removes oxidation 

from rubber belts, 

giving them a new 

lease on life. But what astonished us is what it does to even a brand 

new belt. Wipe down your belt every 3 months, and make analog 

sound better than ever. 

ORDER: RRU-100 drive belt 

treatment, $14.95 

SUPER ANTENNA 

MkIII 

Ours has no stupid rotary switch to muck 

things up, and with a 1.8m low-loss 75 

ohm cable and gold-plated push-on F 

connector, it has low internal loss. Covers 

analog and digital TV bands as well as FM. 

ORDER: FM-S Super Antenna, MkIII, $55 

CLEANER POWER 

AUDIOPRISM POWER FILTER 

The Power 

Foundation III is 

a bargain, and 

does a wonderful 

job of cleaning 

the gunk from 

the power line. 

Requires 20A power cord (it has a different IEC connector. We 

recommend the G Clef. 

ORDER: APF, Audioprism power line filter, $849 

ORDER: GGC-20 G Clef, Square 1.7m, 20A, $385 

ENACOM LINE FILTER 

Economy price, but astonishingly effective, we wouldn’t run our 

system with less. It actually shorts out the hash on the power line. 

ORDER: EAC Enacom line filter, $105 

STINGRAY POWER BAR 

Most power bars knock 

voltage to your equipment 

way down, and generate more 

noise than a kindergarten 

class. The Gutwire Stingray 

Squared doesn’t. 12 gauge 

double-shielded cable, 

Hubbell hospital grade 

connectors at both ends. Indispensable! 

ORDER: GSR-2 Stingray Squared power bar, $285 


EICHMANN POWER STRIP 

We dumped our 

cheap power 

strip, added a 

GutWire 16 power 

cord, and made 

our system sound better, even though no major component was 

plugged into it. ORDER: EPS power strip, $48 

MORE POWER TO YOU 

Better access to 

electrical power. 

Change your 77-cent 

duplex outlets for 

these Hubbell hospital 

grade outlets. Insert a 

plug and it just snaps 

in. A tighter internal 

connection as well. 

The cheapest improvement you can make to your system. 

ORDER: AC-DA Hubbell duplex outlet, $23.95 

ORDER: AC-D20 20A duplex, red color, $28.95 

GUTWIRE G CLEF POWER CABLE 

Multiple shielding, including external electrostatic shield 

connected to a clip. Used by UHF. Now in an upgraded version, 

with performance “squared.” Length 1.7 m, longer cords on order. 

G Clef 2 has 195 conductors, 3 shields providing 98% shielding. 

Available with 20A IEC plug (for amplifiers requiring special plug) 

ORDER: GGC G Clef, Square 1.7m, $385 

GUTWIRE/UHF B12 

Gutwire’s B12 is a fat pipe, well-shielded, to which we’ve added a 

Hubbell 8215 hospital grade wall plug and the Furutech IEC copper 

connector. We use a couple of these ourselves, and we love them! 

Optionally available as an easy-to-assemble kit, with the blue jacket 

pre-stripped and shrink-wrapped at one end. 

ORDER: GWB12, 1.5 m B12 power cord, $285 

ORDER: GWB12K, 1.5 m B12 power cord kit, $240 

Need it longer? Add $95 per metre extra 

UHF 14 POWER CORD 

No budget for a premium cable? Make your own! We use several 

ourselves, and they even 

make our computers 

run better! Shielded, 

to avoid picking up or 

transmitting noise. Our 

own UHF14, assembled 

or as a kit. With the 

Hubbell 8215 hospital 

grade plug and the 

Schurter 15 A IEC 320 

connector. For digital 

players, preamplifiers, 

tuners, and even medium-powered amplifiers. 

ORDER: UHF14-1.5K, 14 gauge power cable kit, $74.95 

ORDER: UHF14-1.5 14 cable, assembled, $110.95 

Need it longer? Add $20 per metre extra 

SEE EVEN MORE PRODUCTS 

IN OUR ON-LINE CATALOG 

www,uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html 


INSTANT CIRCUIT CHECKER 

Plug it into an AC outlet, and the three lights can 

indicate a missing ground, incorrect polarity, 

switched wires — five problems in all. Some of these 

problems can be fatal, but none of them is good for 

feeding your music or home theatre system. The 

first thing we did after getting ours was phone the 

electrician. 

ORDER: ACA-1, Instant Circuit Checker, $21 

IEC ON YOUR DVD PLAYER 

Why do big name DVD players come with those tiny two-prong 

plugs for their cords? A 

good shielded power cable 

will do wonders! Take $18 

off if you order an adapter 

at the same time as a G 

Clef or B12 cable, or $8 

off if you order one with a 

GutWire 16. 

ORDER: DVD-A, GutWire adapter, $39 

HOSPITAL GRADE CONNECTION 

When we put a quality 

AC plug on our kettle, 

boiling time dropped by 

90 seconds! The best AC 

plug we have ever seen is 

the Hubbell 8215 hospital 

grade plug. It connects to wires under high pressure, and it 

should last forever. 

ORDER: AC-P2 Hubbell cord plug, $25.95 

Amazingly good at a much lower price are these two cord plugs 

from Eagle. No hospital rating, but a rather good mechanical 

connection. Male and female versions. 

ORDER: AC-P1 Eagle male cord plug, $5.95 

ORDER: AC-PF Eagle female cord plug, $5.95 

Making your own power cords for your equipment? You’ll need 

the hard-to-get IEC 320 connector to fit the gear. We have two 

sizes. 

ORDER: AC-P3 10 ampere IEC 320 plug, $9.95 

ORDER: AC-P4 15 ampere Schurter IEC 320 plug, $18.95 

SILVER SOLDER 

This is a lovely solder, from the 

company that makes Enacom 

line filters (which we also like). 

Wakø-Tech solder contains 4% 

silver, no lead. 

ORDER: SR-4N, 100 g solder 

roll, $59.95 

SHIPPIN CHARGES? 

THEY CAN BE AS LOW AS 

$0.00 

See the order coupon for details

56 

BETTER DIGITAL 

IMPROVED CD WITH FINYL 

This is the most famous of all the treatments for 

Compact Discs. The maker of Finyl claims it reduces 

surface reflections and provides a higher contrast 

image for the laser cell of your player. Use it just 

once. We get a lot of repeat orders on it. One kit can 

treat over 200 discs. Or order the refill. 

ORDER: F-1 Finyl kit, $40.00 

ORDER: F-1R Finyl refill, $35.00 

CLEAN YOUR PLAYER 

After as little as three 

months, your new 

player will have more 

trouble reading your 

CD’s. Why? Dust on 

the lens. We’re happy 

to have found the 

new Milty CD lens 

cleaner. Unlike some 

commonly-available 

discs, the Milty is nonabrasive, 

so we use it and rest easy. Can be used wet or dry. 

ORDER: 2021 Milty CD lens cleaner, $35 

SUPPORT SYSTEMS 

TENDERFEET 

Machined cones are wonderful 

things to put under speakers or 

other audio equipment. They anchor 

it mechanically and decouple it 

acoustically at the same time. 

Tenderfeet come in various versions: 

tall (as shown) or flattened, in either 

anodized silver or black. Tall Tenderfeet have threaded holes for 

a machine screw, or for the optional hanger bolt, which lets you 

screw it into wood. If you have a fragile hardwood floor, add the 

optional Tendercup (shown above) to protect it. 

ORDER: TFG, tall silver Tenderfoot, $15 

ORDER: TFGN, tall black Tenderfoot, $16.50 

ORDER: TFP, flat silver Tenderfoot, $10 

ORDER: TCP, silver Tendercup, $10 

ORDER: THB, hanger bolt for Tenderfeet, each $0.80 


Do you prefer spikes for your speakers? Target spikes and sockets 

mount in wood. Available with or without tools. 

ORDER: S4W kit, 8 spikes, sockets and tools, $39 

ORDER: S4WS kit, 8 spikes and sockets, $30 

THE SUPERSPIKE 

This is unique: a sealed unit containing a spike and a cup to 

receive it. It won’t scratch even hardwood floors. For speakers 

or equipment stands, on bare floors only. Four sizes of threaded 

shanks are available to fit speakers or stands. 

ORDER: SSKQ, 4 Superspikes, 1/4” shank, $75 

ORDER: SSKT, 4 Superspikes, 5/16” shank, $75 

ORDER: SSKS, 4 Superspikes, 6 mm shank, $75 

ORDER: SSKH, 4 Superspikes, 8 mm shank, $75 

WHAT SIZE SUPERSPIKE? 

A good ruler will let you figure it out. The stated size is the outer 

diameter of the threaded shank. Then count the threads: 

1/4” shank: 20 threads/inch 

5/16” shank: 18 threads/inch 

M6 (6mm) shank: 10 threads/cm 

M8 (8mm) shank: 8 threads/cm 

OTHER 

SUPERSPIKES 

We have also have a Superspike foot 

(at right) that replaces those useless 

feet on CD players, amps, etc., using 

the same screws to fasten them. And 

there’s a stick-on version (not shown) for other components. 

ORDER: SSKF, 4 Superspike replacement feet, $80 

ORDER: SSKA, 3 stick-on Superspike feet, $50 

ISOBEARINGS ARE BACK!!! 

See them on line at The Audiophile Store 

AN ON-THE-WALL IDEA 

Need to fasten a speaker 

securely to the wall? Nothing 

beats the Smarter Speaker 

Support for ease of installation 

or for sheer strength. And 

it holds the speaker off the 

wall, so it can be used even 

with rear-ported speakers. 

Easily adjustable with two 

hands, not three, tested to an 

incredible 23 kg! Glass-filled 

polycarbonate is unbreakable. 

Screws and anchors included, 

available in two colors. 

ORDER: SSPS, pair of black speaker supports, $29.95 

ORDER: SSPS-W, pair of white speaker supports, $29.95 

TARGET WALL STANDS 

We keep our turntables on these, secure from floor vibrations, 

wonderful for CD players, amplifiers, and all components. 

ORDER: VW-1 Target single-shelf wall stand, $199 

ORDER: VW-2 Target dual-shelf wall stand, $259 

AUDIOPHILE RECORDINGS, RECOMMENDED BY UHF STAFF 

REFERENCE RECORDINGS 

Tutti (HDCD, SACD) 

A terrific symphonic sampler from Reference, with dazzling music 

by Bruckner, Stravinsky, etc. Also available as RR’s very first SACD 

release. Wow! 

30th Anniversary Sampler (HDCD) 

A collection of excerpts from recent Reference albums. 

Yerba Buena Bounce (HDCD) 

The (terrific) Hot Club of San Francisco is back, with great music, 

well-played, wonderfully recorded by “Profesor” Johnson! 

Crown Imperial (HDCD) 

The second chapter of the famous Pomp&Pipes saga, with the Dallas 

Wind Symphony, in a set of perfectly recorded pieces in glorious 

HDCD. 

Organ Odyssey (HDCD) 

Mary Preston, the organist of Crown Imperial, in a dazzling program 

of Widor, Mendelssohn, Vierne, and others. 

Serenade (HDCD) 

A collection of choral pieces, wonderfully sung by the Turtle Creek 

Chorale, with perhaps the best sound Keith has given them yet. 

Nojima Plays Liszt (HDCD) 

The famous 1986 recording of Minoru Nojima playing the B Minor 

Sonata and other works is back…in HDCD this time! 

Nojima Plays Ravel (HDCD) 

Nojima’s other hit disc, now also in glorious HDCD. 

Garden of Dreams (HDCD) 

David Maslanka’s evocative music for wind band. 

Beachcomber (HDCD) 

Fennell and the Dallas Wind Ensemble.Includes Tico Tico, A Chorus 


line, and a version of 76 Trombones you’ll remember for a long time. 

Holst (LP) 

From the composer of The Planets, 3 suites for wind band, plus the 

Hammersmith Prelude and Scherzo. 

Trittico (HDCD) 

Large helping of wind band leader Frederick Fennell doing powerhouse 

music by Grieg, Albeniz, Nelhybel, etc. Complex and energetic. 

Fennell Favorites (LP) 

The Dallas Wind Symphony: Bach, Brahms, Prokofiev and more. 

Fireworks on this rare Reference LP. 

Jazz Hat (HDCD) 

Pianist Michael Garson, in re-releases of some of his famous recordings


Blazing Redheads (LP) 

Not all redheads, this all-female salsa-flavored big band adds a lot of 

red pepper to its music. 

Felix Hell (HDCD) 

The young organ prodigy turns in mature versions of organ music of 

Liszt, Vierne, Rheinberger and Guilmant. Huge bottom end! 

American Requiem (HDCD) 

Richard Danielpour's awesome Requiem mass is all about war, and 

about the hope for peace too, with a dedication tied to 9/11. 

World Keys (HDCD) 

Astonishing young pianist Joel Fan amazes with music from all the 

world, including that of Prokofiev and Liszt 

Ikon of Eros (HDCD) 

Huge suite for orchestra and chorus, by John Tavener. Inspired by 

Greek Orthodox tradition. Overwhelming HDCD sound. 

PLUS THESE HDCD RECORDINGS: 

Pomp&Pipes (HDCD) 

Requiem (HDCD) 

From the Age of Swing (HDCD) 

Swing is Here (HDCD) 

Copland Symphony No. 3 (HDCD) 

Medinah Sessions, two CDs for one (HDCD) 

Ports of Call (HDCD) 

Bruckner Symphony No. 9 (HDCD) 

Ein Heldenleben (HDCD) 

SHEFFIELD 

Say It With Music (CD) 

Margie Gibson sings Irving Berlin in what may be one the greatest 

jazz vocal recordings of all time. And she’s right in your living room! 

Growing Up in Hollywood Town (XRCD) 

The Amanda Albums (CD) 

How did they do it? The two complete McBroom recordings, Growing 

Up in Hollywood Town and West of Oz, on one terrific CD 

I’ve Got the Music in Me (CD) 

This was originally Sheffield’s LAB-2 release. If you haven’t heard 

Thelma Houston belt out a song, you’re in for a treat. 

Kodo (CD) 

A Japanese neo-folk group plays astonishing music, including a 400- 

pound drum that can take out a woofer. Or a wall! 

Harry James & His Big Band (Gold CD) 

Harry said he would have done this recording for free, because he 

sounded better than ever. 

The King James Version (CD) 

Harry James and his big band, live from the chapel! 

Drum/Track Record (XRCD2) 

Unique Classical Guitar Collection (SACD) 

An SACD, mastered from analog, of some of Opus 3’s long-discontinued 

classical guitar LPs. Terrific! 

Beyond (SACD) 

The second recording by the versatile guitarist Peder af Ugglas (who 

also did Autumn Shuffle, below), who plays every instrument there is: 

jazz, rock, blues, country. From Sweden??? 

Autumn Shuffle (SACD/LP) 

Ugglas plays a number of different guitars, and borrows from jazz, 

Blues, and (yes!) country. Piano, organ, trombone, bowed saw, etc. 

Showcase 2005 (SACD) 

The latest Opus 3 sampler, with Eric Bibb, Mattias Wager, the Erik 

Westberg Vocal Ensemble and lots more, in glorious SACD. 

Organ Treasures (SACD) 

All those showpieces for big organ you remember hearing through 

huge systems…only with all of the power and the clarity of Super 

Audio. 4.1 channels, plus 2-channel CD. 

Just Like Love (SACD/LP) 

The newest from Eric Bibb, less oriented to Gospel and more to Blues. 

Bibb’s group, Needed Time, is not here, but he’s surrounded by half a 

dozen fine musicians. A nice recording. Hybrid SACD. 

Comes Love (HDCD) 

Another disc by the terrific Swedish Jazz Kings, led by saxophonist 

Tomas Ornberg, proving again Sweden understands jazz. The sound 

is luminous, sometimes dazzling. 

It’s Right Here For You (HDCD) 

Is there, anywhere, a better swing band than The Swedish Jazz Kings 

(formerly Tömas Ormberg’s Blue Five)? Closer to Kansas City than to 

Stockholm, they are captivating. 

Test CD 4 (SACD) 

A sampler of Opus 3 performers, clearer than you’ve ever heard them 

before. Hybrid disc. 

Test CD 5 (HDCD) 

Another of Opus 3’s wonderful samplers, including blues, jazz, and 

classical music. A number of fine artists, captured with the usual pure 

Blumlein stereo setup. A treat. 

Showcase (SACD/LP) 

Available as a hybrid SACD/CD disc, or a gorgeously-cut LP, with 

selections from Opus 3 releases. 

Good Stuff (DOUBLE 45 LP/HDCD/SACD) 

As soothing as a summer breeze, this disc features singer Eric Bibb 

(son of Leon), singing and playing guitar along with his group. Subtle 

weaving of instrumentation, vivid sound. 

Spirit and the Blues (DOUBLE 45 LP/CD/SACD) 

Like his father, Leon Bibb, Eric Bibb understands the blues. He and 

the other musicians, all playing strictly acoustic instruments, have 

done a fine recording, and Opus 3 has made it sound exceptional. 

is taken. Believe it or not, this great song isn’t even the best on the 

album! A fine singer, doing folklike material…and who cares about 

understanding the words? 

Concertos for Double Bass (CD/SACD) 

This album of modern and 19th Century music is a favorite for its 

deep, sensuous sound. And the music is worth discovering. It is sensuous 

and lyrical, a delight in every way. 

Across the Bridge of Hope (SACD) 

An astonishing choral recording by the Erik Westberg Ensemble, 

famous for its Musica Sacra choral recording. 

Musica Sacra (HDCD/SACD) 

Test Record No.4 (LP) 

PROPRIUS 

Antiphone Blues (CD) 

This famous disc offers an unusual mix: sax and organ! The disc 

includes Ellington, Negro spirituals, and some folk music. Electrifying 

performance, and the recording quality is unequalled. 

Antiphone Blues (SACD/HDCD) 

This is the Super Audio version, with a Red Book layer that is HDCDencoded. 

The best of both worlds! 

Now the Green Blade Riseth (CD/SACD) 

Religious music done a new way: organ, chorus and modern orchestra. 

Stunning music, arranged and performed by masters, and the 

effect is joyous. The sound is clear, and the sheer depth is unequalled 

on CD. The new SACD version is the very best SACD we have yet heard! 

Jazz at the Pawnshop Set (SACD) 

The entire set oin glorious SACD, plus a video DVD with interviews 

with the set’s creators. 

Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 (CD/SACD) 

From the original master, another disc of jazz from this Swedish pub, 

with its lifelike 3-D sound. Now a classic in its own right. 

Good Vibes (CD) 

The third volume of Jazz at the Pawnshop. And just as good! 

Cantate Domino (CD/SACD) 

This choral record is a classic of audiophile records. The title selection 

is stunningly beautiful. The second half is Christmas music, and 

includes the most stunning version of O Holy Night we’ve ever heard. 

Sketches of Standard (CD) 

ANALEKTA 

Violonchello Español (CD) 

I Musici de Montréal comes to Analekta, with a stunning album of 

Spanish and Spanish-like pieces for cello and orchestra. 

Vivace (CD) 

Classical or rock? Claude Lamothe plays two cellos at the same time 

in an amazing recording of modern compositions. 

OPUS 3 

Test Records 1, 2 & 3 (SACD) 

A blast from the past! Here are 14 cuts from the samplers that 

launched Opus 3. They sound better than ever, too 

Swingcerely Yours (SACD) 

An SACD re-re-release of tracks from superb vibraphonist Lars 

Erstrand, from 1983 to 1995. Long overdue! 

Tiny Island (SACD) 

If you like Eric Bibb and his group Good Stuff as much as we do, pick 

this one up. 

20th Anniversary Celebration Disc (HDCD) 

A great sampler from Opus 3. Includes some exceptional fine pieces, 

jazz, folk and classical. The sound pickup is as good as it gets, and the 

HDCD transfer is luminous. 

Levande (CD) 

The full recording from which “Tiden Bara Går” on Test Record No.1 


Pauline Viardot-Garcia (CD) 

Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian steps into the role of 19th Century 

singer and composer Pauline Viardot so convincingly that listening 

to her is like going back in time. One of the best classical recordings 

of all time! 

Romantic Pieces (CD) 

How does James Ehnes manage to get such a sweet sound from his 

Stradivarius? Czech pieces from Smetana, Dvorak and Janacek. The 

playing is as glorious as the tone, and the sound is sumptuous.

58 


Cantabile (CD) 

The Duo Similia is made up of striking blonde twins, who play flute 

and guitar. Familiar airs from Mozart, Fauré, Elgar, Ravel, lots more. 

Fine listening. 

Nota del Sol (CD) 

The Labrie twins are back, with a delightful recording of flute and 

guitar music by Piazzola, Pujol and Machado. Joyous works, wonderfully 

played and recorded 

Fantasia (CD) 

A third, gorgeous, recording by the twins, on flute and guitar. 

Fritz Kreisler (CD) 

Possibly the best recording of Kreisler’s delightful violin music: James 

Ehnes and his Strad bring a new magic to this fine disc. 

French Showpieces (CD) 

Awesome violinist James Ehnes, with the Quebec City Symph. takes on 

Saint-Saëns, Berlioz, Chausson, Massenet, and more. 

Handel (CD) 

Superb soprano Karina Gauvin is joined by the Toronto chamber 

ensemble Tafelmusik in a series of glowing excerpts from Handel’s 

“Alcina” and “Agrippina.” The sound is smooth and lifelike, with an 

acute sense of place. 

Little Notebook of Anna Magdalana Bach (CD) 

Over 30 delightful pieces, most by Bach himself. Soprano Karina 

Gauvin’s voice is mated to Luc Beauséjour’s harpsichord work. The 

sound is deep, detailed and warm, truly of audiophile quality. 

Vivaldi: Motets for Soprano (CD) 

The wonderful soprano Karina Gauvin tackles the gorgeous but very 

difficult vocal music of Vivaldi: two motets and a psalm. 

AUDIOQUEST 

Mississipi Magic (CD/SACD) 

The legendary Blues, Gospel, rock and world beat singer and musician 

Terry Evans, in an energetic recording we loved. 

Come to Find (CD) 

The first by Bluesman Doug McLeod, as impressive as the second, and 

no Blues fan should resist it. 

You Can’t Take My Blues (CD) 

Singer/songwriter Doug MacLeod and colleagues present one of the 

most satisfying Blues records ever made. 

Unmarked Road (SACD) 

The third disc from the great blues singer and guitarist Doug McLeod 

is every bit as good as the first two. 

Whose Truth, Whose Lies (SACD) 

The third disc from the great blues singer and guitarist Doug McLeod 

is t as good as the first. These songs have powerful rhythm, and can 

make you smile and cry at the same time. 

Bluesquest sampler (CD) 

SILENCE 

Tres Americas (CD) 

A gold audiophile disc of lively Latin fusion music. Irka Mateo and 

Tadeo de Marco sing and play, drawing their influence from Africa as 

well as their native Brazil. Clear, close-in sound. 

Djembé Tigui (CD) 

This gold disc features the voice and percussion of African artist 

Sekou Camara, captured by the famous Soundfield microphone. 

Camara died just before the disc was released. A long-time best-seller 

worldwide 

Styles (CD) 

Is this ever a surprising disc! Violinist Marc Bélanger worked up these 

string études for his music students, but they actually deserve to be 

put out on a gold audiophile disc! The more strings he adds, the better 

it gets. 

Fable (CD) 

Easygoing modern jazz by Rémi Bolduc and his quartet, on this gold 

disc. Some exceptional guitar and bass solos. 

Musique Guy St-Onge (CD) 

One-man band St-Onge plays dozens of instruments — scores for 

fourteen films which never existed outside of his imagination. Fun 

pretext, clever, attractive music that makes you wish you could see 

the films! 

HI-RES MUSIC (FOR DVD PLAYERS) 

Brazilian Soul (24/96 DVD) 

Guitarists Laurindo Almeida and Charlie Byrd, plus percussion and 

bass, in an intimate yet explosive recording of samba and bossa nova 

music. Great! 

Jazz/Concord (24/96 DVD) 

It's 1972, and you have tickets to hear Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, Ray Brown 

and Jake Hanna at the Concord Jazz Festival. You won’t ever forget it. 

You can be there, with this high resolution disc that goes in your DVD. 

Rhythm Willie (24/96DVD) 

Guitarists Herb Ellis and Freddie Green, With bassist Ray Brown and 

others. This is an uncompressed 24 bit 96 kHz disc that can be played 

on any video DVD player. Awesome! 

Trio (24/96 DVD) 

Pianist Monty Alexander with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. “Makes CD 

sound seem as if it’s coming through a drinking straw.” Playable on 

any DVD player, uncompressed. 

Seven Come Eleven (24/96 DVD) 

Herb Ellis and Ray Brown again, but this time with guitarist Joe 

Pass (he and Ellis alternate playing lead and rhythm), and a third 

guitarist, Jake Hanna. This is a live recording from the 1974 Concord 

Jazz Festival. 

Soular Energy (24-96 DVD/ 24-192 DVD-Audio) 

Perhaps the world’s greatest bassist, the late Ray Brown, playing with 

pianist Gene Harris, whom Brown called one of the greats. The proof 

is right on this 24/96 recording, made from the analog master. Side 2 

has a 24/192 DVD-A version. 

KLAVIER 

Evolution (CD) 

Lowell Graham and the USAF wind band, with two superb suites by 

Holst, plus music by Nelhybel, Hanson, etc. Lively, tactile sound with 

impact by Bruce Leek.. 

Poetics (CD) 

A superb wind band recording which includes a breathtaking 

concerto for percussion. 

Ghosts (CD) 

This haunting(!) wind band recording features a suite of music that 

could be the soundtrack to a film that will keep you awake nights. A 

recording of astonishing dynamics and depth 

Caprice (CD) 

Can harp be spectacular? Believe it! This famous Klavier recording 


features Susann McDonald playing Fauré, Glinka and Liszt, is a 

powerhouse! Engineered by Keith O. Johnson, with a great transfer by 

Bruce Leek. 

Sonatas for Flute and Harp 

These same great artists with sonatas by Krumpholz and Damase, as 

well as Spohr and Glinka. Oh yes, and a spectacular solo harp version 

of Ibert’s hilarious Entr’acte . 

Norman Dello Joio (CD) 

This contemporary composer delights in the tactile sound of the wind 

band, and the Keystone Wind Ensemble does his music justice. So 

does the sound, of astonishing quality! 

Carmina Burana (CD) 

The celebrated Carl Orff oratorio sends chills down your spine, thanks 

to the huge orchestra, gigantic choir, and of course the clarity and 

depth of the Klavier sound. 

Obseción (CD) 

The Trio Amadé plays Piazzola, Berstein, Copland, and Emilion 

Cólon…who is the trio cellist. The Colón and Piazzola is definitely 

worth the price of admission. Lifelike sound. 

Misbehavin’ (CD) 

The superb Denver Brass does Gershwin (Cuban Overture, Porgy and 

Bess), plus On the Town, Sweet Georgia Brown, and of course Ain’t 

Misbehavin’. Great sound. 

Hemispheres (CD) 

The North Texas Wind Symphony with new music by contemporary 

composers who know how to thrill. Some of the best wind band sound 

available. 

Illuminations (CD) 

Absolutely great chamber musicians take on music by Villa-Lobos, 

Malcolm Arnold, and some composers you may not know but you’ll 

wish you did. Sublime sound, nothing less. 

Kickin’ the Clouds Away (CD) 

Gershwin died more than 60 years ago, but you can hear him playing 

piano in glowing stereo. Nineteen of his pieces are on this fine CD, 

including a solo piano version of the Rhapsody in Blue. 

FIRST/LAST IMPRESSIONS 

La Fille Mal Gardée (XRCD) 

A fine ballet with the Royal Ballet Company orchestra, from the 

original 1962 Decca recording. Exceptional 

Film Spectacular II (XRCD) 

The orchestra of Stanley Black plays some of the greatest film music 

of bygone years. From the original Decca Phase 4 tape. 

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante (XRCD) 

Igor and David Oistrakh with the Moscow Philharmonic, in a glorious 

1963 recording, from the original master tape 

Artistry oi Linda Rosenthal (HDCD) 

The great violinist Rosenthal plays favorites: Hora Staccato, Perpetuum 

Mobile, Debussy’s Beau Soir, etc. 

Suite Española (XRCD) 

The Albéniz suite, gorgeously orchestrated by Rafael Frühbeck de 

Burgos, who conducts the New Philharmonia. Beautifully remastered 

from the original 1963 tape. 

Audiophile Reference IV (SACD) 

A stunning sampler, with recognizable audiophile selections you have 

never heard sound this good!


Songs My Dad Taught Me (HDCD) 

Jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro and three other musicians, with a retro 

collection of unforgettable tunes. 

A Time for Us (HDCD) 

Orchestral versions of music from great movies. Easy to love!. 

Café Blue (HDCD/CD) 

Gold HDCD version of jazz singer Patricia Barber’s 1994 classic, an 

audiophile underground favorite. Or get the original CD, at lower cost. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Pipes Rhode Island 

John Marks recorded this tour of the organs of the tiny state, with 

amazing tones, captured in astonishing sound 

All We Need to Know 

Jazz singer Margie Gibson’s first album since Say It With Music, on 

Sheffield. No one sings the way she does! 

Classica d’Oro (CD) 

All of the classical world’s most important heritage, on 50 audiophilequality 

gold CDs, at under $4 per CD. Fine artists from Germany, 

Austria, the UK, Eastern Europe. Listen to excerpts on line. 

Audiophile (XRCD) 

A fine jazz recording, including Secret of the Andes. We never test a 

speaker without it. 

Blues for the Saxophone Club (HDCD) 

Swing jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro, with guest artists, including 

saxophonist Ernie Watts. The HDCD sound is explosive! 

My Foolish Heart (CD) 

A collection of live and atudio pieces by Monteiro and other musicians, 

notably saxophonist Eernie Watts 

Neil Diamond: Serenade (CD) 

Just eight songs on this European CBS disc, but what songs! I’ve Been 

This Way Before, Lady Magdalene, Reggae Strut, The Gift of Song, 

and more. Glowing sound too. 

Harry Belafonte (CD) 

We haven’t heard Belafonte sound like this except on analog. The 16 

songs include Island in the Sun, Jamaica Farewell, Midnight Special, 

Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Brown Skin Girl, etc. 

Sources (CD) 

A wonderful recording by Bïa (pronounced Bee-yah). She’s Brazilian, 

lives in France, recorded this terrific album (in 5 languages!) in 

Montreal. Just her warm voice and guitar, 

La mémoire du vent (CD) 

The original recording by Bïa, in French, Portuguese and English. If 

you love her second one, don’t hesitate. 

Carmin (CD) 

The third by Bïa. Different this time, with more money for production, 

but it has been spent wisely. Superb songs, gloriously sung in Portuguese, 

French and the ancient Aymara language. 

Coeur vagabond (CD) 

Bïa sings French songs in Portuguese, Brazilian songs in French. A 

delight, as usual from this astonishing singer 

Nocturno (CD) 

Some are saying that this is Bïa’s best and most touching album since 

Sources. See if you agree. You won’t be disappointed. 

Nightclub (CD) 

Patricia Barber, doing nightclub standards rather than her own 

songs. But can she do them! 

Modern Cool (CD) 

The previous release from Patricia Barber, including songs she does 

live on the Companion live disc. 

Payment by VISA or MasterCard, cheque or money order (in Canada). All merchandise is guaranteed unless explicitly sold “as 

is.” Certain items (the Super Antenna, the EAC line filter, and most standard-length cables) may be returned within 21 days less 

shipping cost. Other items may be subject to a restocking charge. Defective recordings will be exchanged for new copies. 

HERE’S HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR SHIPPING COST: 

IN CANADA: up to $30, 7%, up to $60, 5%, above $60 not counting taxes, free. In Canada shipping costs are taxable. 

TO THE USA: up to $30, 10%, up to $60 7%, above $60, 5%. 

TO OTHER COUNTRIES: up to $30, 18%. Up to $60, 15%. Above $60, 10%, MINIMUM $6. Magazines, books and taxes are not 

counted toward the total. 

BRAND MODEL DESCRIPTION PRICE EACH QUANTITY TOTAL PRICE 

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE 

Box 65085, Place Longueuil, LONGUEUIL, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4 

Tel.: (450) 651-5720 FAX: (450) 651-3383 

Internet: www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html 

E-mail: uhfmail@uhfmag.com 

TOTAL COST OF ACCESSORIES 

COST OF RECORDS ON OTHER SIDE OF THE PAGE 

SHIPPING COST (SEE ABOVE) 

TOTAL COST BEFORE TAXES 

13% HST (NB, NS, NF) 

5% GST (rest of Canada)____________________SUBTOTAL______________7.5% TVQ (Québec only)____________TOTAL______________ 

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 

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 

the current price always applies. We are not responsible for typographical errors. If a price drops after we go to press (yes, it does happen), you will be credited for any overpayment. 

VISA 

MasterCard Cheque or money order 

CARD NUMBER________________________________EXP. DATE_____________SIGNATURE________________________________________ 

NAME______________________________________ADDRESS_______________________________________________APT._____________ 

CITY_________________________________PROV./STATE___________________COUNTRY__________________POST. CODE_____________ 

= INDICATES RECORDINGS USED IN UHF EQUIPMENT REVIEWS 


60 

VINYL ALBUMS 

Autumn Shuffle LP22042 27.95 

Blazing Redheads RR-26 25.00 

Fennell Favorites RR-43 25.00 

Good Stuff (2 LP) LP19603 47.95 

Jazz at the Pawnshop 7778-79 65.00 

Just like Love LP20002 27.95 

Showcase LP20000 27.95 

Spirit and the Blues (2 LP) LP19401 47.95 

Test Record No.4 OPLP9200 27.95 

Trittico RR-52 32.00 

Vinyl Essentials (test) LP003 48.95 

NEW MEDIA (SACD, DVD, ETC.) 

Across the Bridge of Hope CD22012 24.95 

Antiphone Blues (SACD) 7744SACD 37.95 

Audiophile Reference IV SACD 029 40.00 

Autumn Shuffle (SACD) CD22042 24.95 

Beethoven/Mendelssohn 5186 102 29.95 

Beyond (SACD) CD22072 24.95 

Brazilian Soul (DVD) HRM2009 24.95 

Cantate Domino (SACD) PSACD7762 29.95 

Conc. for Double Bass (SACD) CD8522 37.95 

Good Stuff (SACD) CD19623 37.95 

Jazz at the Pawnshop (3-SACD) PRSACD7879 90.00 

Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 (SACD) PRSACD7079 37.95 

Jazz/Concord (DVD) HRM2006 24.95 

Just Like Love (SACD) CD21002 24.95 

Mississipi Magic (SACD) AQSACD1057 24.95 

Musica Sacra (SACD) CD19516 24.95 

Now the Green Blade Riseth PRSACD9093 29.95 

Organ Treasures (SACD) CD22031 24.95 

Rhythm Willie (Audio DVD) HRM2010 24.95 

Seven Come Eleven (DVD) HRM2005 24.95 

Showcase (SACD) CD21000 24.95 

Showcase 2005 (SACD) CD22050 24.95 

Soular Energy (DVD/DVD-A) HRM2011 24.95 

Spirit & the Blues (SACD) CD19411 24.95 

Swingcerely Yours CD22081 24.95 

Tchaikovsky: Symph. #6 (SACD) 5186 107 29.95 

Test CD 4 (SACD) CD19420 24.95 

Test Records 1-2-3 CD19520 24.95 

Tiny Island (SACD) CD19824 24.95 

Trio (Audio DVD) HRM2008 24.95 

Tutti (SACD) RR-906SACD 24.00 

Unique Classical Guitar (SACD). CD22062 24.95 

Unmarked Road (SACD) AQ1046SACD 29.95 

Whose Truth, Whose Lies? AQ1054SACD 29.95 

RED BOOK COMPACT DISCS 

20th Anniversary Celebration CD19692 19.95 

30th Anniversary Sampler RR-908 16.95 

Alleluía AN 2 8810 21.00 

All We Need to Know GG-1 21.00 

An American Requiem RR-97CD 16.95 

Antiphone Blues 7744CD 21.95 

Artistry of Linda Rosenthal FIM022VD 27.95 

A Time for Us FIM051 27.95 

Audiophile jvcxr-0016-2 29.95 

Bach Sonatas, violin & harpsi. AN 2 9829 21.00 


Bach Suites, Airs & Dances FL 2 3133 21.00 

Beachcomber RR-62CD 16.95 

Best of Chesky & Test, vol.3 JD111 21.95 

Best of the Red Army Chorus AN 2 8800 21.00 

Beethoven Symph. 5 & 6 AN 2 9891 21.00 

Blues for the Saxophone Club 26-1084-78-2 21.95 

Bluesquest AQCD1052 21.95 

Bossa Nova JD129 21.95 

Bruckner: Symph. No.9 RR-81CD 16.95 

Café Blue 21810 21.95 

Café Blue (HDCD gold) CD 010 39.95 

Cantabile AN 2 9810 21.00 

Cantate Domino 7762CD 21.95 

Caprice K11133 21.00 

Carmin ADCD10163 21.00 

Carmina Burana K 11136 21.00 

Classica d’Oro (50 CDs) GCM-50 149.95 

Come to Find AQCD1027 21.95 

Come Love CD19703 19.95 

Companion 22963 21.00 

Coeur vagabond ADCD10191 21.00 

Concertos for Double Bass OPCD8502 21.95 

Copland Symphony No.3 RR-93CD 16.95 

Djembé Tigui SLC9605-2 22.00 

Drum/Track Record 10081 21.00 

Ein Heldenleben RR-83CD 16.95 

Evolution K11161 21.95 

Eybler Quartets AN 2 9914 21.00 

Fable SLC9603-2 22.00 

Fantasia AN 2 9819 23.00 

Felix Hell RR-101CD 16.95 

Flm Spectacular II XR24 070 35.00 

French Showpieces FL 2 3151 21.00 

Fritz Kreisler FL 2 3159 21.00 

From the Age of Swing RR-59CD 16.95 

Garden of Dreams RR-108 16.95 

Ghosts K11150 21.00 

Gitans Y225035 24.95 

Good Stuff CD19603 19.95 

Good Vibes PRCD9058 19.95 

Growing up in Hollywood Town LIM XR 001 38.95 

Handel FL 2 3137 21.00 

Harry Belafonte 295-037 19.95 

Harry James & His Big Band 10057-2-G 24.00 

Hemispheres K11137 21.00 

Illuminations K11135 21.00 

Infernal Violins AN 2 8718 21.00 

It’s Right Here For You CD19404 19.95 

I’ve Got the Music in Me 10076 21.00 

Jazz at the Pawnshop PRCD-7778 19.95 

Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 PRCD9044 19.95 

Jazz Hat RR-114 16.95 

Jazz/Vol.1 JD37 19.95 

Keep on Movin’ AQCD1031 19.95 

Kickin’ the Clouds Away K77031 21.00 

Kodo 12222-2 21.00 

La Fille Mal Gardée XR24 013 38.95 

La mémoire du vent ADCD10144 21.00 

Les matins habitables GSIC-895 21.00 

Levande OPCD7917 19.95 

Leyrac chante Nelligan AN 2 8815 21.00 

Liszt-Laplante FL 2 3030 21.00 

Little Notebook of Anna M. Bach FL 2 3064 21.00 

Masters of Flute & Harp KCD11019 21.00 

Medinah Sessions RR-2102 16.95 

Mendelssohn: 2 Violin Conc. FL 2 3098 21.00 

Misbehavin’ K77034 21.00 

Modern Cool 741-2 21.95 

Mozart Complete Piano Trios AN 2 9827-8 27.50 

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante XR24 069 38.95 

Mozart: Soprano Arias FL 2 3131 21.00 

Musica Sacra CD19506 19.95 

Musique Guy St-Onge SLC9700-2 22.00 

Musiques d’Europe centrale 88001 24.95 

My Foolish Heart 26-1084-92-2 21.95 

Neil Diamond: Serenade 465012-2 16.95 

Nightclub 27290 21.95 

Nocturno ADCD10227 21.00 

Nojima Plays Liszt RR-25CD 16.95 

Nojima Plays Ravel RR-35CD 16.95 

Non-Stop to Brazil JD29 19.95 

Norman Dello Joio K11138 21.00 

Nota del Sol AN 2 9817 21.00 

Now the Green Blade Riseth PRCD9093 19.95 

Obseción K11134 21.95 

Opera for Two FL 2 3076 21.00 

Organ Odyssey RR-113 16.95 

Pauline Viardot-Garcia AN 2 9903 21.00 

Pipes Rhode Island CD101 15.95 

Poetics K11153 21.00 

Pomp&Pipes RR-58CD 16.95 

Ports of Call RR-80CD 16.95 

Requiem RR-57CD 16.95 

Rio After Dark JD28 19.95 

Romantic Pieces FL 2 3191 21.00 

Sans Domicile Fixe 19012-2 24.95 

Say It With Music CD-36 21.00 

Serenade RR-110 16.95 

Sketches of Standard PRCD 9036 19.95 

Songs My Dad Taught Me FIM0009 27.95 

Sources ADCD10132 21.00 

Spirit and the Blues CD19401 19.95 

Styles SLC9604-2 22.00 

Suite Española XR24 068 38.95 

Swing is Here RR-72CD 16.95 

Telemann Sonatas for 2 Violins FL 2 3085 21.00 

Test CD 5 CD20000 21.95 

The King James Version 10068-2-F 21.00 

Tres Americas SLC9602-2 22.00 

Trittico RR-52CD 16.95 

Tutti (HDCD) RR-906CD 16.95 

Ultimate Demonstration Disc UD95 20.00 

Villa-Lobos FL 2 3051 21.00 

Violonchelo Español AN 2 9897 21.00 

Vivace AN 2 9808 21.00 

Vivaldi: Motets for Soprano FL 2 3099 21.00 

Vivaldi: Per Archi FL 2 3128 21.00 

World Keys RR-106 16.95 

Yerba Buena Bounce RR-109 16.95 

You Can’t Take My Blues AQCD1041 21.95 


Software 

of the most appreciated musical forms of 

the Classical and Romantic eras. Over 

several centuries it underwent numerous 

transformations. The concerto has 

been defined as a symphony written for 

a musical instrument, with the backing 

of other instruments whose role it is to 

enhance it. 

In the early Renaissance Giovanni 

Gabrieli, born around 1553, the principal 

organist of St. Mark’s, is believed 

to have originated the concertante form, 

and he was at the root of the transition 

from the Renaissance to the Baroque. 

Faithful to the techniques developed by 

his uncle Andrea, he used voices and instruments 

to set up a sort of dialog. 

A large variety of instruments have 

been employed in concertos: piano, 

harpsichord, organ, violin, viola, cello, 

flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, mandolin, 

French horn, trumpet, tuba, harp, guitar, 

etc. Some even wrote double or triple 

concertos, with more than one solo 

instrument, among them Telemann, 

Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. 

The Concerto 

Firm attacks, lively rhythms, 

by Reine Lessard 

pleasant timbres…the audience is 

dazzled by a scintillating introduction. 

Suddenly, authoritative Libraries worldwide overflow with books 

It is the concerto. 

sounds arise and take command. What is about this musical form. Musicologists, 

happening? The sumptuous sound of the composers, music lovers, students preparing 

piano challenges those other instruments, their theses are countless. It is not these few 

and undertakes a competition, a cordial discussion. 

The concert hall has been projected instead, present to you a few concertos that I 

pages that can settle any arguments. I shall, 

into a musical style that, since its birth in class among my favorites. 

the 17 th Century, has not ceased to inspire Born in Italy, the concerto developed 

composers and virtuosos. 

during the Baroque era, and became one 

The Baroque 

Corelli: Concerto Grosso No. 6 in F Major 

The concerto grosso is marked by 

the presence of numerous movements 

of contrasting tempos, in which a small 

group of instruments alternates with a 

larger group. Arcangelo Corelli (1653- 

1713) was one of its precursors, along 

with Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709), but 

Corelli came first and made the form 

popular. It is he to whom we owe the 

structure of the concerto for solo violin 

and orchestra. Without these two pioneers, 

we might never have had Vivaldi, 

Handel and Bach. The 16t h Century 

saw the development of the church concerto, 

da chiesa, and in the 17 th Century 

the chamber concerto, da camera, meant 

to be performed in private. 

Musicologists tell us Corelli was just 

20 when he began writing concertos. 

It is said that, eternally dissatisfied, he 

would spend years rewriting them again 

and again. That is no doubt the reason 

he left us a relatively small body of work, 

and also the difficulty in determining 


Software 

Feedback 

the dates of his compositions. At his request, 

the concerto I have cited was not 

published in his lifetime. Himself a superb 

violinist, Corelli gave the violin a 

major role, and he was the innovator of 

exemplary violin techniques. Along with 

Locatelli, Geminiani and Tartini, he inspired 

Leopold Mozart — the father of 

Wolfgang — to publish a treatise on the 

violin, which was translated into all the 

languages of Europe. 

In the concerto grosso, the smaller 

and larger instrument groups alternate, 

in a back-and-forth conversation. The 

smaller group is the concertino, typically 

consisting of three instruments — 

Corelli used two violins and a cello. 

The larger group, the ripieno or grosso, 

includes the rest of the orchestra. The 

work I’ve noted version is ideal of for our getting magazine. to 

know Corelli. I once heard a comment 

that musicians who could get to understand 

the soul of Corelli could ascend to 

the status of supermusicians. 

The short but energetic Adagio Overture 

featuring the cello is followed by an 

Allegro, with magnificent contrasts between 

the cello and the orchestra. I very 

much appreciated the sprightly climate 

that requires great virtuosity on the part 

of the string players. The almost religious 

ambience of the Largo leads one to 

los and double basses, with a continuo, 

and sometimes even horns and bagpipes! 

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. 

used in films and even TV commercials. 

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 

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. 

You can find the complete set 

we give away what some competitors sonnets. It is consider nonetheless to be true a startlingly that the large 

amount of information…for first free. edition, published in Amsterdam in on our Web site, at www.uhfmag.com/ 

We would give it all away 1716 for or free, 1717, if we the could sonnets still are stay included 

business. resources/vivaldi. Your pleasure will be 

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 

many redoubled…nay, tripled. 

as 100,000 times, and that 

Yes, we know, if we had they a nickel were for certainly each download… written for his benefit. 

I adopted of helping them you when enjoy I came music across at home from the other. In the concerto grosso 

is evident what distinguishes them one 

Truth is, we’re in the business 

under the best possible conditions. the translation And movies from Italian. too. We’ll do what we two need groups of instruments answer each 

to do in order to get the information Each of to the you. sonnets, then, corresponds 

you to to read a concerto our published whose editions themes de- 

too. We and the orchestra engage in a dialog. 

other. In the solo concerto the soloist(s) 

Of course, we also want 

introspection. The hope cello that, and having the orchestra 

alternate, and at the very end, unextrasts 

and alternations are dazzling. 

read this velop far, you’ll across want three to movements. read on. To dou- 

In the music of Vivaldi both conpectedly, 

the violin enters with a brief 

Certain violin melodies, which demand 

melody, backed in the final measures by 

the most perfect virtuosity, are irresistible. 

We cannot escape noticing how the 

the cello. The Vivace is guaranteed to 

keep you awake. It begins with the violin 

composer places the soloist in a starring 

accompanied by the cello, who then alternate 

in the style favored by this great 

Also characteristic of Vivaldi are his 

role, where he can shine. 

Baroque composer. Notice how the violin 

now becomes the star. The final Al- 

to mimic in sound such natural phe- 

dazzling musical effects and his ability 

legro II closes in magnificent fashion this 

nomena as storms, wind, rain and birds. 

concerto grosso, which gratifies us with 

a range of sounds and colors that allow 

us to appreciate Corelli fully. 


Vivaldi: Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four 

Seasons), a set of four concertos for violin 

While in Rome Alessandro Stradella 

(possibly the inventor of the concerto 

grosso) and Corelli (the first to get a 

concerto grosso published) were working 

on this new genre, two other composers 

were elaborating a form that 

would more precisely spotlight one or 

more soloists: Giuseppe Torelli in Bologna 

and Antonio Vivaldi in Venice. 

The solo concerto includes three 

movements, two of them lively, to show 

off the virtuosity of the musician, and 

between them a slow movement that 

brings out his sensitivity. 

Let me begin with the most popular 

of these Baroque concertos, Vivaldi’s 

Four Seasons. Lost for two and a half 

centuries, they turned up miraculously 

in 1926. Let me underline that Vivaldi 

was first to cater to the solo musician’s 

craving to show off his technique. 

The four concertos — one per season 

— are orchestrated for violino principale, 

first and second violins, violas, cel- 

Why a free version? 

ble your pleasure, read the sonnets while 

listening to the corresponding music, 

for the two are inseparably linked. For 

me, the two are always worth revisiting. 

The Concerto No. 1, Opus 3, titled 

Spring, has lost none of its charm since 

its first publication. The continuity of 

the opening Allegro is a succession of 

quavers with a pair of semiquavers. The 

theme, with the fortes and the pianos 

echoing, add a sort of impulsion typical 

of the Vivaldi style. A solo violin is 

joined by the first and second violins of 

the orchestra produce bird calls with 

short and long trills and repeated quavers. 

Then, delicate waves from the violins 

in rapid semiquavers are followed 

by the double basses, which call up the 

image of windswept streams. Suddenly 

comes the storm. Repeated semidemiquavers 

alternate with rapid ascending 

scales, followed by the solo violin in 

triplets that recall thunder. Finally we 

return to the leitmotiv, and the birds sing 

once again. 

In a lower tone, the Largo is moving, 

evoking a flower-strewn field in which 

a shepherd has fallen asleep next to his 

dog. It ends with an Allegro, a sprightly 

dance of shepherds and nymphs, underlined 

by the bagpipes and, in the foreground, 

a fiery violin. 

Here is the accompanying sonnet. 

Springtime is upon us. 

The birds celebrate her return with festive 

song, 

and murmuring streams are softly caressed by 

the breezes. 

Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, 

casting their dark mantle over heaven, 

Then they die away to silence, and the birds take 

The Classical period 

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C 

Is it even necessary to introduce 

that supernova among the vast galaxy 

of composers of the Classical era, and 

indeed of all eras? 

He was 29 in the Spring of 1785 

when he wrote this concerto. It was a 

bleak period in his life, when he was oscillating 

between a precarious happiness 

and unbearable financial worries. For all 

that, it was also a period of sublime productivity, 

which saw him create some of

Software 

Feedback 

the greatest of his immortal works. 

This concerto became famous not 

only because of its intrinsic beauty, but 

for a reason no one could have anticipated. 

In 1967 Swedish filmmaker Bo 

Widerberg used the concertos’ Andante 

movement in his popular film Elvira 

Madigan. It is an impossible love story 

that, as all such love stories must, ends 

badly for both lover. The characters are 

a young tightrope walker and a an army 

lieutenant who is also a Count. The 

count is much older, married with two 

children, and he is a deserter besides. 

The affair cannot last, and it will not. 

It was because of the film that the 

concerto took on the anachronistic 

name of The Elvira Madigan Concerto. 

Taken by surprise, Deutsche Grammophon, 

whose recording was used in the 

film, quickly replaced its generic record 

sleeve with one showing a scene from 

the film. Elvira Madigan is impossible 

to find today, and it is largely forgotten, 

but the concerto is not, and it continues 

to bear the name of the ill-starred heroine. 

The music suits the story, that of the 

ruined lovers living from picnic to picnic 

in bucolic scenes: fields of grain, under 

changeable skies on the seashore, or 

aboard a rowboat on the mirror surface 

of a still pond. It all works. 

On a tempo that is at once slow and 

joyous, the Allegro Maestoso begins with 

a march introduced by the lower strings, 

with the higher strings, the brass and the 

woodwinds entering into a dialog. After 

some gorgeous trills by the orchestra, 

the violins enter, followed by the other 

instruments. The piano enters next, 

leading into a mini-cadenza ending in 

a trill with the magnificent final tutti 

by the orchestra. The famous Andante 

opens with triplets in the piano’s lower 

register, with the orchestra joining in. It 

is a most romantic melody. But for some 

melancholy passages, the tone is serene 

and radiant. The final Allegro Vivace 

rondo is initiated by the orchestra with 

a lively rhythm, until the limpid arpeggios 

of the piano expose the themes. A 

brief cadenza brings back to the opening 

motif. 

I spent time listening to a (probably 

impossible to find) Angel version with 

Daniel Barenboim conducting from the 

piano. He makes this Mozart jewel a 

pure joy. 

However I cannot help recalling 

the version — overly sentimental in 

the view of some — of Geza Anda. He 

manages to plunge the listener into a remarkably 

involving ambience. Though 

his interpretation is rejected by some 

eminent pianists, his is the one you will 

hear when — and if — you see the Widerberg’s 

film. 

The Romantic Period 

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E Flat, 

Op. 73, “The Emperor” 

It was Beethoven (1770-1827) who 

inaugurated the Romantic concerto 

with his three last piano concertos and 

his monumental concerto for violin. 

This composer — exceptional, impossible 

to categorize, free and independent 

— was born in Bonn and died 

in Vienna. He expressed himself in all 

musical genres: overtures, a Fantasy 

for piano, chorale and orchestra (one 

of whose themes will be reused in the 

Ode to Joy), a bouquet of lyrical Bagatelles, 

fine quartets, music for the stage, 

the Diabelli Variations (which many consider 

to be Beethoven’s true testament 

as a pianist), an opera, a ballet, 32 piano 

sonatas, a few more for violin and piano, 

and five more for cello and piano. 

And then there are his magnificent 

piano concertos. He was the first to 

compose exclusively for the pianoforte, 

and also the first to impose his cadenzas 

on pianists, rather than letting them improvise. 

In short he excelled in all styles, and 

his eclectic nature has never been cast 

into doubt. It is, however, above all his 

symphonic music that gave him his immortality 

and his lasting worldwide celebrity. 

As one can imagine the Emperor 

Concerto (his final one) was written at 

a time greatly perturbed by political 

battles. Need I add that this independent, 

pro-democratic revolutionary was 

most sensible to these struggles (not to 

say much has been accomplished since 

then)? By the time he wrote this concerto 

his deafness had so progressed 

that he asked his pupil, Carl Czerny, 

to play the solo role in his stead. The 

event occurred a few years later, possibly 

in February 1812 in Vienna. The 

delay in premiering the concerto can be 

explained by the monstrous economic 

problems then faced by the musical 

capital and ordinary people (sound familiar?). 

The cool reception accorded it 

in no way presaged the importance the 

concerto would take on in the years to 

come. 

It is the piano that launches the first 

measures of the work with a brief cadenza, 

followed by the orchestra, which 

announces with authority the first 

movement, an Allegro that is energetic, 

almost military. 

From there the soloist and the orchestra 

are equal partners, despite piano 

passages presenting enormous difficulty. 

It should be noted that this manner of 

proceeding indicates clearly Beethoven’s 

refusal to give the virtuoso pianist too 

much importance. There is no pause 

between the very slow Adagio and the 

dance-like Rondo Allegro, though there 

is a transition of abiding melancholy. 

I listened to the version by pianist 

Claudio Arrau, with the Concertgebouw 

Orchestra of Amsterdam under 

Bernard Haitink. 

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor, 

Op. 64 

This famous work by the brilliant 

German composer and conductor Felix 

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 - 1847) 

was his last for large orchestra. The son 

of a moneyed family, he had few material 

concerns and was of great refinement. 

Because his works were so perfect, because 

he was emotionally so balanced, 


Software 

Feedback 


he has been accused of lacking sensitivity. 

As if beauty was not in and of itself a 

vehicle for emotion and sensitivity. 

At the age of 15 Felix conducted 

his first opera, and a year later he had 

already signed works of some importance 

— symphonies for string orchestra, 

a string octet, and concertos for 

piano and for violin. By the time he 

was 17 he had written his unforgettable 

overture to Shakespeare’s Midsummer 

Night’s Dream. 

His very Romantic violin concerto, 

which I adore, had been commissioned 

by his good friend and celebrated violinist 

Ferdinand David. Busy with other 

projects Felix took six years to fulfill his 

commission, to the frustration of David, 

who was pressuring his friend to finish 

it. It was long considered the most 

perfect concerto of the century after 

the Beethoven concerto I have already 

mentioned. David, who was himself an 

excellent composer, doubtless wrote 

certain solo parts of the concerto, notably 

the cadenza. The three movements, 

Allegro molto appassionato, Andante and 

Rondo are played without a pause. 

Mendelssohn often gave the lie 

to claims his music was passionless 

and merely followed convention. Really? 

Did he not challenge the longestablished 

convention that a concerto 

should begin with the orchestra rather 

than the soloist? Yes, and his opening 

for the violin alone caused much gnashing 

of teeth. These are among the most 

beautiful pages of the violin literature, a 

violin that is as ardent as one could wish. 

His friend, the composer Robert Schumann, 

called him the Mozart of the 19 th 

Century. 

This concerto is remarkable for its 

warmth, its lyricism, its elegance, and 

the perfect harmony between the or- 

(Adalberg) Zwyny, who tells his father 

that there is nothing more he can teach 

the young man…at the ripe old age of chestra playing in the lower register. 

No, this free version is not complete, though you could spend a couple 

12! When he is 15 Frédéric performs Across this canvas, the piano scatters 

of hours reading it. Want the full version? 

twice for the Tsar and publishes his first notes that seem to come from a land 

You can, of course, order the print version, which we have published 

composition, a Rondo, followed by a Mazurka, 

a Nocturne, and variations on Mo- 

in a kind of bel canto. Until then the or- 

where dream and nostalgia are wedded 

for a quarter of a century. You can get it from our back issues page. 

But we also have a paid electronic version, which is just like this one, 

zart’s opera Don Giovanni. 

chestra plays in restrained fashion, exploding 

at the same time as the piano. 

except that it doesn’t have annoying banners like this one, and it doesn’t 

He exiles himself to the City of 

have articles tailing off into faux Latin. Getting the electronic version is of 

Light, Paris, a natural choice to seek The piano is front and centre in the 

course faster, and it is also cheaper. It costs just $4.30 (Canadian) anywhere 

fame in musical or literary spheres. He Rondo Vivace, in a lively passage backed 

in the world. Taxes, if they are applicable, are included. 

chestra and solo parts. Speaking of elegance, 

the adjective is perfectly suit- 

Paris musical intelligentsia, he will need builds, with powerful measures, before 

is aware that, to be well received by the by the strings. The orchestra then 

It’s available from MagZee.com. 

able to describe this man, who never 

hesitated to recognize talent in others. 

The first movement is filled, in alternation, 

with fervor and reverie.. The 

second movement is a romance, and the 

final movement is remarkable for its 

lines bordering on the fantastic. 

The version I listened to for you is 

that of the legendary violinist Jascha 

Heifetz, with Charles Munch conduct- 

at least a couple of samples of the musical 

genre then at the zenith of popularity, 

the concerto. Before leaving, then, 

he composes two concertos for piano 

and orchestra, and the press pronounces 

him a genius. He plays his Piano Concerto 

No. 1 at a farewell concert before 

his departure for France, where a great 

destiny awaits him. 

It is, then, with these two concertos 

settling into a passage colored by heartrending 

melancholy. There is a remarkable 

coda, which follows a veritable fireworks 

show by the pianist. 

The version I listened to for you 

featured the formidable pianist Charles 

Rosen, with British maestro John Pritchard 

conducting the New Philharmonia 

Orchestra. 

ing the Boston Symphony. It is available 

on the RCA label. 

Frédéric Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E 

Minor, Opus 11 

Chopin’s name is inseparably linked 

to the piano, to musical poetry, to gentle 

melancholy, to tenderness, to love, to 

the delicate things of the soul. A pianist 

above all else, a composer who went beyond 

the constraints of his era, he never 

composed a page that did not throw 

light on the instrument whose full potential 

he had mastered at a very young 

age. Rare are his works for piano and 

orchestra. He was a miniaturist, and the 

two concertos he left us are mere exceptions 

to that rule. 

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) attends 

high school in Warsaw, all the 

while studying piano with Wojciech 

Get the complete version 

in his pocket that this charmer sweeps 

into the literary salons, where he performs 

his music. They are in demand by 

the bright lights of art, music and literature. 

Among them is Franz Liszt, who 

has known many a genius, and becomes 

an admirer and a friend of Chopin. 

The Concerto No. 1 is a teenage 

work — he was but 19 when he wrote 

it — at a time when he was consumed 

with love for the young soprano Konstancja 

Gladkowska. The Adagio is said 

to be dedicated to her. It seems evident 

that his romantic sentiments are reflected 

in this music, particularly in the slow 

movements, which are full of peaceful 

melancholy, a reverie suited to a moonlit 

Spring night. 

Chopin’s two concertos are often 

said to be modest in their orchestration, 

with the orchestra playing merely a role 

of accompaniment to the piano. Certainly 

the piano is the star, but the other 

musicians are not mere walk-ons. 

The first movement, the Allegro 

Maestoso, opens with a rich string tutti 

of great lyricism. It is when the piano 

enters with its virtuoso trills that the 

music achieves its full momentum. The 

orchestra then rejoins the piano. The 

delicate motif that Chopin embroiders 

returns, here and there in a myriad of 

notes and flourishes. Toward the end of 

the movement, after a delicate rubato, 

there is a powerful apotheosis. 

The Larghetto begins with the or-

Software 

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B 

Flat Major 

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840- 

1893) was one of the greatest Russian 

composers of the second half of the 19 th 

Century, and certainly the most popular. 

This masterwork of 1875 underwent 

two revisions, in 1879 and 1888. 

We should not be surprised by the hesitations 

on the part of a tormented soul 

who sailed constantly between the twin 

ports of exaltation and depression. 

Eclectic, an exceptional orchestrator, 

a magnificent melodist, he excelled 

in his symphonies, suites, concertos, 

and such deathless ballets as The Nutcracker 

and Sleeping Beauty. Carried by 

an orchestration as rich as it is varied, 

his music reveals his hypersensitive and 

tormented nature. 

In the original version of the concerto 

— before its two revisions — it 

included two flutes, two oboes, two 

clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two 

trumpets, three trombones, tympani, 

strings, and of course the piano. 

The masterful introduction of the 

first movement is instantly pleasing, 

with the first measures, superb and authoritative, 

literally pushing you back 

into your seat. I am still seeking to 

understand what makes them so bewitching. 

It seems simple enough — 

an abrupt entrance by the strings followed 

by hammerlike chords from the 

pianist — and yet from that simplicity 

emanates a beauty so intense, so incomparable, 

almost unreal. It is, I think, a 

mystery how sounds can have such an 

effect. 

The second movement establishes a 

simple melody, pizzicato at first, which 

seems to evoke the music of an antique 

merry-go-round. 

In the third movement the orchestral 

tutti is extraordinary, and then the 

strings enter for a brief passage that goes 

straight to the heart — the composer is 

torn, and you can feel it. It is difficult to 

hold back one’s tears. Its finale is awesome. 

I listened for you to the celebrated 

Russian virtuoso Emil Gilels (1916- 

1985), with the New York Philharmonic 

under the baton of Zubin Mehta. A rare 

listening pleasure that lasts 40 minutes, 

and not a second too long. 

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C 

Minor 

This great Russian composer is born 

in 1873 on the sumptuous family property 

of Onega, near Novgorod. As a 

youth he is registered at the Conservatory, 

where he makes his mark mainly 

for his poor attendance record. 

Worried about the young Sergei’s future, 

his cousin, pianist Alexander Siloti, 

suggests he come to study in Moscow. 

There he is taken in hand by Nikolai 

Zverev, one of the best music teachers 

of his time, who teaches him his formidable 

technique. He also learns counterpoint 

from Sergei Taneyev and harmony 

from Anton Arensky, and earns 

the Moscow Conservatory’s medal for 

the 1891 piano competition. 

And that is a mere prelude. For his 

final exam in 1892 he presents a oneact 

opera based on a poem by Pushkin, 

composed in just 17 days, earning him 

the gold medal. Thanks to the support 

of Tchaikovsky this opera, Aleko, 

is produced at the Bolshoi a year later. 

With his career as a pianist, composer 

and conductor firmly launched, he finds 

a post at a private Russian opera company. 

In 1897 his Symphony No. 1 is a failure 

blamed, rightly or wrongly, on a 

lacklustre premiere conducted by Glazunov. 

Rachmaninov falls into a severe 

depression, accompanied by writer’s 

block. He is treated by Dr. Nikolai 

Dahl, who follows him for some time, 

and re-establishes his self-confidence 

with the use of hypnosis. In the Autumn 

of 1900 he is ready to undertake the creation 

of the piano concerto in question. 

He completes it the following April. 

Oddly enough, its famous first movement 

is composed after the other two. 

Rachmaninov himself premieres the second 

and third movements in December 

1900, and it is only in October 1901 that 

he plays the complete concerto, with his 

cousin Alexander Siloti on the podium. 

The Concerto No. 2 re-establishes Rachmaninov’s 

reputation as a composer, and 

takes its place in the repertoire of many 

a virtuoso pianist. 

The Allegro Moderato opens with 

a series of bell-like chords in octaves 

from the piano, like a knell, building 

to a powerful crescendo. (I mention in 

passing that Rachmaninov was fond of 

octave chords, made easy by his large 

hands whose fingers could span two octaves! 

A similar technique is used in the 

Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, better known 

as The Burning of Moscow, commemorating 

the scorched-earth retreat before 

the advancing Grand Army of Napoleon.) 

The orchestra adds an equallyimpressive 

tutti, affronting a formidable 

torrent of piano arpeggios. What a 

wonderful example of a concerto for a 

star soloist! 

Among this hail of notes and orchestral 

effects is a recurring theme of great 

lyricism and sadness. It is a jewel, overwhelming 

by its sheer beauty, which 

touches one’s very soul. 

Then suddenly the main theme returns 

against a soft continuo by the piano, 

to end furiously in an apotheosis of 

notes with a fortissimo. 

The second movement, the Adagio 

Sostenuto, begins with a series of chords 

from the strings. The piano enters with 

a simple motif in arpeggios. A flute introduces 

the main theme. The music accelerates 

and intensifies toward its culmination, 

before dying out in a tender 

passage. 

The final Moderato Allegro or Allegro 

Scherzando begins with a brief orchestral 

conduction followed by a magnificent 

piano solo. A melodious theme is introduced 

by the oboes and violas. 

The concerto marks a turning point 

in the composer’s career, accompanying 

his new found confidence. The warm 

pubic reception afforded it leads to a 

fruitful period for Rachmaninov. 


Software 

Feedback 

The concerto has been used in a 

number of films, and it is perhaps significant 

that Rachmaninov died, in 1943, 

in Hollywood. 

Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in A 

Minor, Op. 54 

This is the only piano concerto 

Schumann ever completed, and even so 

it nearly never existed. We know that 

the radical hand exercises he undertook 

so damaged his articulations that he had 

to abandon his ambitions as a pianist. 

In 1841 he wrote an Allegro Affettuoso 

or Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra, It 

is a sublime piece, premiered in Leipzig 

by his dear wife Clara, with Ferdinand 

David conducting. It is difficult to explain 

why no publisher took any interest 

in it, unless it was because a concerto, 

the “in” genre at the time, would have 

been easier to market than a mere allegro. 

It was, then, for financial reasons 

that, in 1845, Schumann fleshed out the 

Allegro with an Intermezzo and Finale to 

form a complete concerto. 

The concerto was premiered in 

Dresden in 1845 by Clara, by then recognized 

as the greatest virtuoso pianist 

of her time. The orchestra was conducted 

by Ferdinand Hiller, to whom 

the concerto is dedicated. Clara played 

it again in Leipzig the following year, 

this time with the orchestra conducted 

by none other than Felix Mendelssohn. 

It should be said that a decade earlier 

Mendelssohn had premiered Clara’s 

own Concerto in A Minor. It is a magnificent 

gift he has left us, one of the great 

concertos of the Romantic period, 

buy. 

a 


strings bring back the theme against a 

continuo by the piano, which in turn 

takes it up and develops it. 

The Intermezzo: Andantino Grazioso 

opens with recurring staccato chords by 

the piano, which launches an irrepressible 

flow of piano notes with the support 

of a brilliant orchestral score. It is 

in such dazzling passages that the virtuosity 

of the performer is truly revealed. 

The final measures end with a bouncy 

rhythm that however never strays far 

from the tender melancholy that characterizes 

this work. 

Without a pause the concerto moves 

into the Allegro Vivace, an eloquent dialog 

for piano and orchestra, a model of 

the genre. It too contains a deluge of 

notes that stupefies the listener. 

The lyrical qualities of the concerto 

have often been praised, as has its thematic 

richness. 

This remarkable composer, who 

suffered from a thousand troubles, including 

a future father-in-law from hell, 

and humiliations that drove him to an 

asylum, married to the greatest piano 

virtuoso of his age whom he had long 

loved, who so loved desperately the 

piano, one day knew another love: the 

violin family. He offered this new love 

remarkable pieces, including a concerto 

Not just hardware… 

for cello, and another for violin, plus 

two violin sonatas. Still to come also 

were two pieces for piano and orchestra, chanted me in the highest sense of that 

What long-time 

the Introduction 

readers 

and 

tell us 

Allegro 

they most 

Appassionato 

like about 

term. 

UHF 

If 

is 

you 

that 

know 

it 

Ravel’s La Valse, you 

does more than 

in G 

review 

Major 

amplifiers 

and the Introduction 

and speakers. 

and Allegro 

will understand me, for in several regards 

you will find echoes of it in this 

In every issue, 

Concertante 

we discuss 

in 

ideas. 

D Minor. Schumann 

We try to 

also 

tell 

worked 

you what 

on 

you 

solo 

need 

violin 

to 

arrangements 

know, besides what 

concerto. 

CD player to 

of some of the great works of Bach and However Ravel never heard it in its 

masterpiece, a half hour of tenderness 

It’s one of 

Paganini. 

the features that makes UHF Magazine 

final 

unlike 

form. 

any other 

It was premiered in Vienna 

and passion, of absolute pleasure. 

audio 

It 

magazine. 

is 

in 1932 by Wittgenstein, who chose to 

believed that Grieg took inspiration 

from it in the creation of his own concerto. 

The Allegro Affettuoso, opens with a 

single powerful measure by the orchestra. 

The piano enters immediately with 

energetic chords, and the orchestra returns 

to take up the dialog. The strings 

introduce a melody of great beauty 

tinged with melancholy, and the piano 

develops it with the accompaniment of 

the strings and the rest of the orchestra. 

The superb theme is never far away, and 

it returns regularly, amid fiery passages 

that set up captivating tension. The 

From the 19 th to the 20 th Century 

Throughout the 19 th Century, the 

piano and the violin were the favored 

instruments of composers who were 

themselves virtuoso musicians. Think 

of Franz Liszt, of Frédéric Chopin, or 

of the sorcerer of the violin, Niccolò 

Paganini. Their skill expressed itself 

in the cadenza, once an improvised 

segment like those that would later be 

common in jazz, but since Beethoven 

mostly written out explicitly, to avoid 

distasteful flights of fancy. 

The 20 th Century produced remarkable 

composers who left us masterpiec- 

arrange it for twin pianos rather than piano 

and orchestra. “I’m an old pianist,” 

Wittgenstein told the crestfallen Ravel, 

“and this doesn’t work.” Replied Ravel, 

“I’m an old orchestrator, and it does 

work.” Ravel abruptly left Vienna, and 

used his influence to prevent Wittgenstein 

from performing it in France. By 

the time Jacques Février played it in 

Paris with Charles Munch on the podium, 

in 1937, Ravel was dead. 

Much later, Wittgenstein expressed 

regrets. “It always takes me a certain 

time to get into a piece of music,” he 

said. “I suppose Ravel was bitterly dis- 

es. Among them are the Frenchman 

Ravel and one of his greatest admirers, 

the American Gershwin. 

Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in D Major 

for the Left Hand 

Though the celebrated Austrian pianist 

Paul Wittgenstein lost his right arm 

in the Great War, he could not envisage 

abandoning his art, and asked Maurice 

Ravel to write him a concerto for his 

remaining hand. We are in 1929, and 

Ravel (1875-1937) enjoys worldwide 

fame. His Boléro has established him as a 

genius. He rewards Wittgenstein with a 

masterpiece. 

It should be said that Ravel was not 

the only composer Wittgenstein approached. 

He also solicited Benjamin 

Britten, Richard Strauss and Sergei 

Prokofiev. Prokofiev did in fact write 

him a piece for left hand, his Concerto 

No. 4 in B-Flat Major. That concerto, 

running across four movements over 25 

minutes is not uninteresting. However 

Wittgenstein considered it technically 

too difficult, and preferred the Ravel 

work. Prokofiev’s concerto, as a result, 

was never performed in his lifetime. 

It’s not clear why Wittgenstein 

chose the Ravel, because it too presents 

enormous technical difficulties. I have 

selected it because I am more sensitive 

to Ravel’s music, which once again en-

Software 

Feedback 

appointed, and I’m truly sorry. But no 

one ever taught me to hide my feelings. 

It was only later, after studying the concerto 

during long months, that I became 

fascinated with it, and realized what a 

great work it was.” 

Ravel, having been himself a soldier, 

and saddened by what had happened to 

Wittgenstein, expressed through the 

concerto all of the horror that war inspired 

in him. I can add not a word to 

this appreciation by the eminent French 

pianist and teacher Marguerite Long. 

Everything here is grandiose, monumental, 

in keeping with the flamboyant 

horizons, the monstrous holocausts, which 

consume the body and engulfs the spirit, vast 

human herds grimacing with suffering and 

anguish. This colossal fresco, on the scale of 

a burnt-out world, is the five fingers of the 

left hand, queen of ill omens, which sketch 

its tart lines. 

Lasting some 20 minutes, this concerto 

is a veritable challenge for the 

virtuoso. It begins with the orchestra in 

the lower register for the cellos, against 

which the contrabassoon and the horns 

develop the melody. This first theme, 

exalting but tinged with resignation, 

will return frequently. The piano bursts 

forth with violent chords that overwhelm 

the orchestra. Then comes the 

first of two cadenzas, both fraught with 

difficulty. 

A complex accompaniment in the 

middle register lends support to the 

melody, and then the full orchestra returns, 

amplifying the theme exposed by 

the piano. 

One is reduced to silence when, in 

an atmosphere of apocalypse, the piano 

rains notes down on the orchestral instruments. 

One is suffused with a sentiment 

of mystery, unexplainable, as we 

approach an increasingly worrisome 

paroxysm. Suddenly the brass explodes 

into a march tempo as the second part of 

the concerto opens. Against this martial 

rhythm the piano introduces a colorful 

dance clearly inspired by jazz. Ravel, it 

should be said, loved jazz and greatly 

admired George Gershwin, whom he 

considered a genius. The two composers 

in fact had a reciprocal influence. 

The result was that Gershwin gained in 

refinement of his orchestrations thanks 

to Ravel, while Ravel was inspired by 

the Gershwin manner. 

In listening to this concerto, you 

must let yourself be swept up in a 

maelstrom of notes that yields the illusion 

that there are two hands on the 

keyboard. And especially, you must let 

yourself be intoxicated by the perfection 

of the counterpoints that contributed to 

Ravel’s reputation as a master of orchestration. 

This concerto, I believe, illustrates 

perfectly the battle that a solo instrument 

can wage against a large orchestra. 

A suggestion: listen to La Valse just 

before settling into the Concerto for the 

Left Hand. It is today a favorite of piano 

virtuosos. 

George Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F 

What an extraordinary life is that 

of George Gershwin (1898-1937), and 

what a musical heritage he left us: a 

jazz-classical fusion, eternal melodies 

that are part of the American soul, and 

such works as the Rhapsody in Blue and 

the Concerto in F. 

This last work was composed in 

1925 for the New York Symphony Society, 

commissioned by the conductor 

Walter Damrosch. He had been present 

the previous year at New York’s Aeolian 

Hall at the premiere of Rhapsody in Blue, 

with its long, troubling opening clarinet 

glissando, which literally mesmerizes 

the listeners. 

Energetic, audacious, classical but 

with a Blues flavor, the single-movement 

Rhapsody marked the beginning of 

what was to be called sophisticated jazz. 

At the premiere Gershwin himself was 

at the piano, with Paul Whiteman conducting. 

There was wild applause when 

it was over. 

The next day it was Damrosch’s turn 

to be excited and insistent, and he contacted 

Gershwin to ask him for a concerto 

in the classical style for the New 

York Symphony Orchestra. 

Quite aware of his limitations as an 

orchestrator (his Rhapsody had been orchestrated 

by Ferde Grofé), Gershwin 

rushed out to buy all the treatises he 

could on theory, the concerto form, and 

orchestration. Tied by contracts to create 

three Broadway musical comedies, 

Gershwin was not able to begin work 

until his return from London. In July he 

wrote the first movement of what was 

initially dubbed the New York Concerto. 

The second movement came in August, 

the third in September. He completed 

the orchestration by November 10 th . 

For the 1925 premiere Gershwin 

hired 60 musicians. Damrosch was 

there to offer suggestions, leading to 

last-moment revisions. Damrosch of 

course conducted the New York Symphony, 

with the composer at the piano. 

They played to a sold-out house, and 

the public greeted the work with enthusiasm. 

One cannot say the same of 

the professional critics, who couldn’t 

decide whether the concerto was classical 

music or jazz. As for Gershwin’s colleagues, 

Igor Stravinsky found the concerto 

inspired, while Sergei Prokofiev, 

apparently unable to accept that much 

novelty, detested it. 

There are three movements, an Allegro, 

an Adagio/Andante con moto, and 

an Allegro Agitato. There are some 

similarities between the first and third 

movements, but the second is decidedly 

jazzy. 

What about the orchestration? British 

composer William Walton, known 

not only for his talent but also for his 

modernism, said he adored Gerhwin’s 

orchestration, which included two flutes 

and a piccolo, two oboes, a French horn, 

two B-Flat clarinets, a bass clarinet, two 

bassoons, four horns in A, three B-Flat 

trumpets, three trombones, a tuba, tympani, 

three percussionists, strings, and 

of course the piano. 

George Gershwin was a phenomenal 

melodist and a composer of genius, 

arguably one of the greatest of the New 

World. His Concerto in F is one of the 

truly great masterpieces for piano, and 

it has an eternal place in the world repertoire. 


Software 

Feedback 

Handel Arias 

Karina Gauvin/Tempo Rubato 

Atma ACD2 2589 

Simon: Handel must have written his 

arias for Karina Gauvin! I can almost 

see him smiling in the shadows, eyes 

shut, eyebrows raised, as she opens her 

poignant rendition of his sublime Lascia 

ch’io pianga. 

If you know this famous melody 

that Handel originally wrote for his 

opera Rinaldo, you’ll want to hear 

how Gauvin reaches into the depths 

of sorrow, her voice riding a wave of 

melancholy, richer and warmer than I’ve 

ever heard it, easily reaching now into 

the mezzo range. The period strings of 

the Tempo Rubato ensemble seem to 

sigh and weep along, under the skilful 

conducting of Alexander Weimann at 

the harpsichord. 

If you don’t know this aria, what 

can I say? Only that I envy you for the 

revelation that awaits you. 

All through this recording, Karina 

Gauvin’s color has the warmth and depth 

of a finely-polished string instrument, 

and at times the rich glow of a brass 

instrument — as in Ah! think what ills 

from the oratorio Hercules, in which she 

easily rises and shines way above the 

stage. 

Brace yourself for track 16, a 

wonderfully intricate and elaborate 

nightingale aria, introduced by a flute 

and the harpsichord, and soon joined 

by Karina’s controlled fluttering voice. 

(Listen carefully and you’ll almost 


Software Reviews 


and Albert Simon 

hear the flutes of Beethoven’s Pastoral 

Symphony.) After a superb bird duo of 

flute and voice, the piece ends on a 

breathtaking (yes, I know, it’s an easy 

one) solo flute. 

My jaw dropped. 

Bach: Goldberg Variations 

Crow, McNabney, Haimovitz 

Oxingale OX2014 

Rejskind: These famous Bach variations 

weren’t written for a string trio, but Bach 

himself was nothing if not pragmatic 

when it came to instrumentation. Some 

of his best-known large-scale pieces 

were for “klavier,” which then meant 

either the harpsichord or the pipe 

organ, instruments so different that the 

keyboard was all they had in common. 

Even so, Bach would sometimes play 

his keyboard works on the guitar, more 

portable than either of the other two 

instruments. The music is what counts. 

Indeed, the most famous recordings 

of the Goldbergs are those of Glenn 

Gould (his very first recording was 

of the Goldbergs, and so was his last). 

Gould played them on the piano, and 

always argued that if Bach lived today 

he would too. Over the years Bach has 

been rendered by jazz bands, scat singers 

and saxophones. All considered, then, a 

string trio cannot truly be considered 

outrageous. 

The story of the Goldbergs is 

well known, though, like all good 

stories, it could easily be mere legend. 

The variations were commissioned by 

Count Keyserlingk, who suffered from 

insomnia. He would go to sleep to the 

sound of the Variations played by his 

court composer and harpsichordist, 

Johann Goldberg. So it is said. 

Some of the music is not exactly 

soporific (the Variation V is downright 

frenzied), and I’m not sure how effective 

the set would have been as a lullaby. 

The work is, however, a monument — 

one more — in the collection of Bach’s 

music. It begins and ends with the Aria, 

which is of course the melody which 

serves as the basis of the variations. It is a 

beautiful air, which is no surprise, but the 

variations that follow are breathtaking in 

their freshness and inventiveness. Even 

for Bach, they are astonishing. 

This work lends itself well to 

complex instrumentation, because Bach 

relied on canons in its development. A 

canon is a melody in parts (like Frère 

Jacques), and it can be played on the 

keyboard, since the musician has two 

hands, but using a string trio opens 

new possibilities. This arrangement was 

created by the Russian-born violinist 

Dmitri Sitkovetsky, who by the way 

dedicated the arrangement to Glenn 

Gould. 

The trio includes Canadian violinist 

Jonathan Crow, former first violin of the 

Montreal Symphony, and the youngest 

ever to hold that position, violist Douglas 

McNabney and cellist Matt Haimovitz. 

Their playing is clear and coherent, 

as it must be in order for the complex 

musical structure of Bach’s music to 

make sense. Both the arrangement and 

the performance throw new light on this 

beloved Bach work. 

My only reservation, but it’s a 

major one, concerns the recording, 

which sounds like a throwback to the 

early era of digital recording, with an 

overly-crystalline, tipped-up top end. 

Even on our Linn Unidisk player, 

Crow’s violin was disturbingly sharp, 

bordering on shrill. I shudder to think 

how it would sound on a lesser player. 

Too bad, because both the music and 

the musicians deserve better.

Software 

Feedback 

Sullivan/Sibelius: The Tempest 

Stern/Kansas City Symph. 

Reference Recordings RR-115 

Simon: The mysterious opening of 

Sir Arthur Sullivan’s introduction 

has that beckoning way of drawing 

you right into the music and creating 

great expectations for what follows. It 

is also its main problem. I mean about 

expectations. 

K now i ng Su l l iva n’s famou s 

collaboration with librettist William 

Shwenck Gilbert (yes, of Gilbert and 

Sullivan fame) I expected so much 

more, and yet I don’t know in what way. 

The music is superbly played and finely 

recorded (24-bit HDCD), yet it left me 

waiting for something more. This score 

was Sullivan’s first orchestral work. He 

was 19 when he wrote it in 1861 during 

his graduation year. Maybe that explains 

some of it. Not sure. 

Here is an interesting contrast. 

Jean Sibelius wrote his music for The 

Tempest in 1925, when he was 60. And, 

with Tapiola, that was his last orchestral 

composition. (Incidentally, The Tempest 

was also Shakespeare’s last major work.) 

Sibelius was then the absolute master of 

orchestration and, trust me, it shows in 

every section of the two concert suites 

presented here. The Prelude explodes in 

depicting the terrifying violence of the 

storm at sea that Prospero magically 

summons from the shores of the 

enchanted island where he is exiled. The 

charming inventiveness of the music and 

the fascinating orchestration continues 

to delight throughout the scenes. Each 

character is depicted with his own aura of 

grace, mischief or mystery, and I found 

myself happily transported from a song 

to a dance to a lullaby. 

I felt as if Sibelius hadn’t just written 

incidental music for the play, as he was 

commissioned to do, but was inspired by 

the play to write his own music. 

And perhaps that is the difference 

from Sullivan’s approach. Sullivan’s is a 

good accompaniment to the play, while 

Sibelius’ composition (in these two 

concert suites) lives on and transcends 

it. 

By the way, Reference Recordings 

released a CD in 1988 (RR-10), recorded 

in 1981, prior to HDCD, also entitled 

The Tempest. It is the ballet music for the 

same play composed by Paul Shihara, 

also known for his movie scores such as 

Prince of the City and Crossing Delancey. 

Immortal Nystedt 

Ensemble96 & Bærum Vokalensemble 

2L 04 1888 510321 

Rejskind: Why is this vocal group called 

Ensemble96? Its founding members 

were the chamber choir of the Oslo 

Philharmonic Orchestra, which was 

disbanded in the year 1996. Since then 

they have been performing and recording 

as an independent group, under Øystein 

Fevang, who was a soloist with the 

original choir. Ensemble96 is joined 

in this recording by a female choir, the 

Bærum Vocal Ensemble, whose original 

conductor was none other than Fevang 

himself (it is now conducted by Anine 

Kruse). 

Composer Knut Nystedt, born 

in 1916, draws his inspiration from 

philosophy (the opening work on this 

recording is titled Prayers of Kierkegaard, 

after Søren Kierkegaard) but also 

Christian perspectives. In the latter 

Nystedt of course does as Bach did, 

and indeed Nystedt lists Bach among 

his influences. Another influence he 

lists is Palestrina, and the complex 

polyphonic music, with no instrumental 

accompaniment, does recall Palestrina. 

However the often dissonant vocal 

streams are at the same time decidedly 

modern. But then Nystedt also lists 

among his inf luences Stravinsk y, 

Honneger, Messiaen and Ligeti, the 

who’s who of what used to be called 

contemporary music. 

Most of the pieces on this disc are for 

mixed choir. Salve Regina is for the rich 

male voice of Ensemble96. Nytt er livet is 

for female choir, and was commissioned 

by the Bærum Vocal Ensemble when 

Favang was its conductor. Particularly 

notable is the solo soprano, Gea Aartun, 

whose soaring voice is a delight. 

The recording ends with Immortal 

Bach, a Nystedt arrangement of Bach’s 

Komm, süsser Tod (“Come, sweet Death”). 

Here the choirs are divided into five 

groups, with each line of text passed 

among them. The spatial effect in this 

brief piece is surprising. If you can listen 

to this hybrid multichannel SACD, it 

gets even more surprising. 

Unaccompanied choral music may 

not seem to be for everyone, but the 

album did garner Grammy nominations 

for both best choral album and best 

surround sound album. 

Nordheim 

Arne Nordheim 

2L 39 SACD 

Simon: Turning over the SACD booklet 

I noticed a warning on the back: Extreme 

Surround Sound! Wow, said I, maybe 

they’re onto something, could it be a 

sign of things to come? Marketing for 

budding 12-year old audiophiles, taking 

a breather from video games? Hold the 

sarcasm, I decided, as I sat to listen to 

it. 


Software 

Feedback 

And I was floored. This is good 

stuff. 

Where I expected undefinable 

pieces with an emphasis on overdone 

special effects, I found remarkable music 

and an exceptional recording. Norwegian 

composer Arne Nordheim’s music is 

a constantly changing combination 

of textures and atmosphere, perfectly 

suited to organ, synthesizer, electronic 

processes and an infinite array of 

percussion. You might not find tunes 

to whistle along on your way to work, 

but if you allow yourself to be carried 

away by the sound, you might discover, 

in Colorazione, worlds of fantasy rising 

from a slow, mysterious beginning and 

broadening in waves of sound you can 

almost touch. I listened, smiling, as the 

subtle weaving filled the space totally, 

at times, and as a dark silence suddenly 

followed, sprinkled with the tinkling 

of bright, tiny bells suspended in space. 

(The booklet accurately explains the 

electronic process in this piece, whereby 

the music played by the Cikada Duo is 

continuously recorded and played back 

with a 15 seconds delay, but, I prefer 

to leave technical information where it 

belongs and just share my impressions 

in this text.) 

A gong proudly opens the five-part 

composition Fem Kryptofonier, and in 

the ensuing avalanche of percussion 

Elisabeth Holmertz’s soprano voice rises 

from the chaos, surrounded by delicate 

rustles and rich carillon bells. Surprises 

at every turn, intriguing, dripping 

sounds and mysterious groans appearing 

in a huge space all around you, shrouded 

in mystery; a soundscape labyrinth, not 

always pleasant, even irritating at times 

and yet riveting — if you are willing to 

let go of conventions and embrace the 

new. 

And, suddenly, there is Den Første 

Sommerfugl (The First Butterfly) a 

lovely song for soprano, synthesizer and 

percussion, based on a charming poem 

by Henryk Wiergeland. 

The sunshine is but winter smiling. 

And warmth the equinox beguiling. 

Wr apped i n a n encha nt i ng 

melody, it is a surprisingly conventional 

conclusion to this fascinating insight 

into the contemporary world of Arne 

Nordheim. 

The Miraculous Crossing 

La Nef/Les Charonniers de l’Enfer 

Atma ACD2 2588 

Simon: Hey dom, ta ri dom, ta ri le la le 

ri dom, ta ri le la ri dey di… 

Out of the void rises a single man’s 

voice singing a quiet tune, as if to 

himself, on a large stage surrounded 

by darkness. And then slowly, almost 

timidly, the low voices of a cello and a 

double bass join in from the recessed 

right corner, creating that wonderfully 

satisfying support. Soon after, the stage 

lights up as more male voices join in 

with gentle harmonies, and as layers 

and layers of flute, guitar, cittern and 

percussion dance in with smiles and 

joy. 

Les Charbonniers de l’Enfer, 

Quebec’s a capella group of five, have 

been sharing their passion for the oral 

tradition with audiences for the last 

ten years. They are joined here by La 

Nef, a musical group well known for 

its production of early music (it has 

previously recorded with Analekta and 

Dorian). There are plenty of Baroque 

music recordings featuring authentic 

instruments, but to me they often sound 

cold and overly well-behaved, a polished 

memory of times long gone. In this case, 

however, it felt as if I walked through 

a wall and stepped right into a 17th or 

18th Century tavern. The songs took me 

to a world of crowded, dimly lit rooms, 

wooden tables and red wine poured from 

earthenware jugs. It smelled of smoke, 

food and burning oil. Muddy feet tapped 

on the dusty floors and spoons danced 

lightly on the knees. And from time to 

time, mainly late into the night or early 

morning, the silence settled in as tragic 

stories at sea were sung in mournful 

laments. 

Yes, the uniquely evocative character 

of this recording is its main appeal for 

me. No need to close your eyes. It is so 

well recorded that everything is palpable, 

right there in front and around the 

speakers. Bon voyage. 

The Best of Audiophile Classics 

Various artists 

Opus 3 CD22080 

Rejskind: Opus 3 co-founder Jan-Eric 

Persson is still turning out new releases 

more than three decades after the launch 

of his audiophile label, but he has wisely 

been dipping into his rich vaults and 

pulling out treasures of the past. Recent 

releases included selections from the first 

three “test records” (actually samplers), 

and also swing jazz performances from 

vibraphonist Lars Erstrand (Swingcerely 

Yours, CD22081). Now he has a disc full 

of his early classical releases, plus some 

more recent ones. 

Fortunately he was using a brand 

of analog tape not overly prone to rapid 

deterioration — not all audiophile 

record producers were as lucky. I have 

access to a number of the original LPs 

that made Jan-Eric famous, and I can say 

that the transfer to SACD is well done. 

Especially notable is Lars-Erik 

Larsson’s Concertino for Double Bass and 

Strings, which, against all odds, turned 

into onto one of the label’s best-sellers. 

The rich resonance of Thorval Fredin’s 

giant instrument has a visceral effect on 

the listener. There is a part of a Brahms 

clarinet trio, and the Larghetto from 

Beethoven’s pre-Romantic Symphony 


Software 

Feedback 

No. 2. There is an amazing arrangement 

of Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte 

in a surprising but wholly successful 

arrangement for guitar quartet. There 

is a lovely Andante from a Schubert 

Trio, and there is even music by Frank 

Zappa. 

Persson has also thrown in some 

more recent releases. The album opens 

with the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D 

Minor from Organ Treasures (CD22031). 

And there is the all-too-brief Candlelight 

Carol by the Erik Westberg Vocal 

Ensemble. By the way, if you want to 

demonstrate how well your system can 

simulate the illusion of great depth, look 

no further. 

I heartily recommend this album, 

but beware! You’ll be ordering the 

full albums by the time this SACD is 

through. 

A Fragile Balance 

Ray Montford 

Softail AFB07LP 

Rejskind: Ray Montford is a Torontobased 

guitarist one of whose major 

influences is rock music, though it is easy 

to hear that another source is the vast 

catchall called World music. No pure 

acoustic instruments here. Montford 

plays electric guitar and is also credited 

on the jacket with “textures,” which I 

presume refers to the sonic effects that 

make the sound of his instrument float in 

the vast space. He is backed up by other 

musicians, including brilliantfish (Rob 

Greenway, who adds percussion, more 

textures, his voice on Honour This Land, 

and who also designed the jacket), bassist 

John Dymond, cellist George Koller, and 

pianist and B3 organist Steve O’Connor. 

There are plenty of electronic effects, 

from reverberation to vibrato. 

How would one classify Montford’s 

music? Jazz? No doubt, though it’s a long 

way from classic jazz. Blues? Possibly. 

Rock? Not really, notwithstanding the 

obvious influences. New Age? That’s 

become an awfully broad descriptive 

today, but it might fit too. 

The album’s sound doesn’t vary 

enormously, which makes the titles (The 

Healing, Blind to Beauty, I Hear You Now, 

etc.) seem superfluous, but I don’t mean 

to suggest that it is either monotonous or 

repetitive, and the sound of Montford’s 

guitar is not always the same from track 

to track. The space sometimes grows, 

sometimes contracts to become more 

intimate. Each piece seems to hand off 

logically from the preceding one, with 

inventive melodic development that 

opens up new textures. Yes, textures. By 

the time you arrive at the end the term 

makes perfect sense. 

This LP, which is also available on 

CD, includes thanks to Vince Bruzzese 

and Totem Acoustic for encouragement. 

It’s difficult to speak of fidelity in rating 

this album, because it is largely a pure 

sonic creation, and not any sort of 

faithful reproduction, but by the last 

track I was totally won over. A second 

listen left me even more delighted. 

Though mastering of both the LP 

and the CD were done in California, 

the jacket says the record was “made in 

Canada,” which may or may not include 

the pressing. Except for a slight cyclic 

swish that mars the final seconds of the 

last track on side two, it is exemplary. 

Le piano et la voix 

Martin Deschamps 

MDI PMD2-3685 

Rejskind: This new recording by 

Deschamps is something of a change of 

pace. Known as a rocker, he breaks new 

ground in this recording, in which he 

sings his songs, some of them ballads 

some of them not, with a constellation 

of star pianists, including Vic Vogel, 

Lorraine Desmarais, “Mégo” (Céline 

Dion’s pianist), and Guy St-Onge. 

Deschamps says he wanted to do an 

album with only piano accompaniment 

so that he could leave the way clear for 

the more “theatrical” aspects of his 

singing voice. 

This is Deschamps’ sixth album, but 

for those who don’t know him, I shall add 

a detail that is obvious neither from the 

recording nor from the booklet photos. 

He was born grievously handicapped, 

with but one leg, and with a vestigial 

arm whose hand is not fully formed. He 

had an electric bass modified so he could 

play it. “You need two fingers to play the 

bass,” he says, “and that’s just how many 

I have.” He used to wear a prosthetic leg, 

but has abandoned it “because it made 

it impossible for me to dance,” he says. 

He gets about with crutches attached 

to his arms, and commonly finishes a 

number by raising them high in the air. 

Do people stare? “Yes, but it’s better than 

before I was famous, because then they 

wouldn’t dare look at me.” 

But I mention all this only in 

case you don’t know him, because his 

awesome talent has nothing to do with 

any handicap. He has become popular 

because his music is powerful, joyous, 

appealing. 

In the title song that opens this new 

album, he explains why he doesn’t need 

a big orchestra to dazzle you. 

Pas besoin d’un grand orchestre 

Ni de grandes paraboles 

Pour trouver une façon 

De te donner des frissons. 

Those words are from Deschamps 

himself, but he has enrolled other artists 

for other songs. Dans ta peau is from Paul 

Baillargeon, who also supplies the music 

from some of the songs. Pas grand chose 

was composed by famed singer Daniel 

Lavoie, on lyrics by Brice Homs. La voix 

que j’ai (literally “the voice I’ve got”) 

is from the late gravel-voiced Quebec 

rocker Gerry Boulet. 

Entirely from Deschamps’ pen is 


Software 

Feedback 

Ma petite douceur, a love hymn to his 

five-year old daughter. Moving and 

gorgeous! 

Depending on where you live this 

recording may not be available except on 

line. I recommend making the effort. 

The Godfather Trilogy (Blu-ray) 

Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Diane 

Keaton 

Paramount 13864 

Rejskind: In the early days of Blu-ray I 

wondered when — if ever — the great 

movies would come out. So many of the 

first releases seemed to be based on video 

games, perhaps reflecting the fact that 

the Sony PlayStation accounted for the 

majority of Blu-ray players. Though the 

pace of releases remains glacial, some 

favorite titles are beginning to appear. 

By “favorite” I mean not only films of 

value, but movies that are worth visiting 

again and again. 

I rank the Godfather trilogy very 

high on that scale. Though each of the 

films is long (it is difficult to watch 

the second one in the span of a single 

evening), the characters are so engaging 

that I look forward to even the most 

familiar scenes with relish. 

Start with the remarkable opening 

segment in Don Vito’s dark office, with 

Bonasera asking for vengeance for the 

mutilation of his daughter. The sequence 

tells us much of what we need to know 

about the mindset of the Mafia. The 

most valued aspect of life is family: Don 

Vito cannot refuse a favor the day of 

his daughter’s wedding, and he will not 


have the family photo taken if Michael 

is not in it. He tells Johnny Fontaine 

that “a man who doesn’t spend time 

with his family can never be a real man.” 

The second most important is respect, 

and Don Vito explains the concept to 

Bonasera in clear terms. The third is a 

certain code of honor. When Bonasera 

(presumably) whispers to Don Vito that 

he wants those who beat his daughter 

killed, Don Vito replies, “that I cannot 

do.” That is not justice, he says, because 

Bonasera’s daughter still lives. Don Vito 

later says that “we are not murderers.” 

Well, he and his family are in fact 

murderers, but there are nuances that 

the Mafia considers important, even if 

the criminal justice system does not. 

So awesomely plausible is Marlon 

Brando’s depiction of the Mafia chieftain 

that we quickly feel that we are part of 

his family, even if we view with dismay 

the amputation of equine heads. It is, 

however, in the second film that we 

come to understand how Vito Corleone 

became what he became, and why 

his life is the perfect bridge between 

the centuries-old ethos of Sicily and 

southern Italy and the free-market 

capitalism of the New World. Though 

Godfather II was much criticized for its 

flashbacks when it first came out, those 

flashbacks are the key to understanding 

the underworld phenomenon, or at least 

coming to believe that we understand 

it. 

Those first two films are filled with 

memorable scenes. There are the two 

anecdote-filled celebrations that open 

both films. In the first film there is the 

transformation of the cool-eyed war 

hero Michael into the cold-eyed new 

Don. There is Michael’s return from 

exile to draw Kay back into his circle, to 

become the mother of the new criminal 

organization. In the second film there 

Participate in Free Advice! 

is the amazing conference between 

Michael and a corrupt senator. There 

is the extended Cuban sequence, which 

implicitly condemns the US policy on 

Cuba since 1959. There are the delicious 

scenes involving the Jewish mobster 

Hyman Roth (superbly played by Lee 

Strasberg), ending with his shooting 

in a scene that is a perfect duplicate of 

Jack Ruby’s public assassination of Lee 

Oswald. 

There is a fascinating game to be 

played, because so many of the characters 

seem to be based on real persons. Roth 

is clearly based on Meyer Lansky, for 

instance. Singer Johnny Fontaine is 

inspired by Frank Sinatra, who was also 

trapped in a contract with a bandleader 

until somehow he got out of it, and 

who was easily persuaded to become a 

headliner at the casinos of his friends and 

benefactors. The Senate Commission 

into organized crime, which subpoenas 

Michael to appear before it, is of course 

the Kefauver Commission (Kefauver 

himself would use the commission as 

a ramp to an unsuccessful bid for the 

Vice-Presidency). 

For many admirers of The Godfather, 

the third film is an anomaly that should 

not have been made, unfit to be part of 

the trilogy. I firmly disagree with this 

view. Francis Ford Coppola did pack his 

productions with members of his family 

(Talia Shire, who plays Connie, is his 

sister). It can be argued that his daughter 

Sofia was an unfortunate last-moment 

choice as Mary Corleone, and indeed she 

would later make her mark as a director 

rather than as an actress. However the 

rest of the cast is strong, with Andy Garcia 

as Sonny’s illegitimate son Vincent being 

particularly excellent. In one of the film’s 

powerful scenes, Vincent dispatches a 

local Mafia hoodlum in a scene that is 

an eerie echo of the young Vito’s killing 

of Don Fanucci in the second film. 

In any case, it is difficult to think 

of the trilogy as other than a single 

film that was necessarily cut into three 

pieces. Would we discuss whether 

Chapter 17 of War and Peace is “better” 

than Chapter 29? The Godfather is the 

story of a dynasty, and it is pointless to 

consider one part superior or inferior to 

another. 

Besides, if the first two films are 

a roman à clef, inviting us to guess who 

each of the characters is based on, the 

third, set in more recent times, really 

moves into realistic territory. Several of 

the characters are clearly identifiable, 

including Pope John Paul I, whom the 

film clearly shows as the victim of an 

assassination. Did this happen? Many 

people believe it did. Was a Vaticanconnected 

financier, “God’s banker,” 

found hanged from a London bridge? 

The Free Advice section was actually in our very first issue, and it is 

one element that makes UHF different from other magazines. It’s not 

that our ears are any better than yours, but we have, collectively, many 

years of experience. Perhaps we’ve learned something that can help you. 

You can submit your own question on line at uhfmail@uhfmag.com, 

but note a couple of conditions. 

Your question (and of course our answer) may be used in the on-line 

version on our site, and it may also be used in the print version. For those 

reasons, you need to supply your name and your home city. 

(Can you submit a question and specify that it not be used? Yes…but 

that’s a paid consultation service, currently costing $50/hour. Contact us 

for details.)

Software 

Feedback 

Indeed he was, and mere months ago 

this apparent suicide case was reopened, 

because police now believe he did not 

commit suicide after all (perhaps one 

of the detectives saw the movie). Best 

of all, we follow what happens to the 

characters we have grown to care about 

after the end of the second film. We see 

Michael, “respectable” now, striving to 

lead his family toward the light, as he 

once promised Kay he would. We see 

Kay, remarried, still repulsed by the 

ancient murderous traditions of Sicily, 

but haunted by an abiding love for her 

former husband. And we see how it 

all ends. Who could ask for anything 

more? 

This new version of the trilogy, 

released in both conventional DVD 

and Blu-ray, has been cleaned up and 

remastered. The first film, being the 

oldest, required the most work, and 

it shows. The original film was dark, 

often deliberately underexposed, and 

the years have not been kind to it. The 

restoration was done by punching up its 

contrast in order to make the dark scenes 

black rather than brownish-grey. The 

result is, however, that the highlights get 

alarmingly blown out. At the outdoor 

wedding party, anything white, such 

as Connie’s wedding dress, has not a 

shred of detail in it. Perhaps that was 

unavoidable. The second and third films 

have fewer problems, and look and sound 

gorgeous. 

Contrast notwithstanding, Blu-ray 

offers a broader tonal scale than lesser 

video processes, and that lets you see 

and understand some scenes better, 

because you can follow small details 

even when bright lights are not trained 

on them. A scene that stood out for me 

was the one showing Fredo before his 

mother’s casket. The lights are on him, 

but we see Michael shift his eyes almost 

imperceptibly toward Al Nieri, with 

Nieri barely nodding. At that moment 

we understand that something terrible 

will happen to Fredo. 

Indeed, terrible things happen in all 

three of the films. Yet in the end we are 

glad we were there, that we witnessed the 

Casablanca (Blu-ray) 

Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman 

Warner 3000018304 

Rejskind: Is Casablanca the best film ever 

made? In fact its flaws are all too evident. 

Rick his dossier, but purrs reassuringly, 

“Don’t worry, we are not going to 

broadcast it.” But what could be worse 

than the Germans knowing about his 

record? In the Paris flashback, Sam 

remarks that the invading Germans 

will come looking for Rick first thing. 

Right…as they marched into Paris the 

Germans wouldn’t be busy with other 

matters or anything! We see Captain 

Renault ostensibly meeting Ilsa for the 

first time, even though earlier he told 

Rick that “I have seen the lady.” In the 

opening scene we meet what seem to be 

a pair of British tourists. How likely is it 

that, when their country is at war with 

Germany, and while Germany occupies 

France, they would be vacationing in 

French Morocco? And what would 

bankers from Amsterdam and Berlin be 

doing in that city? 

And yet, and yet! 

Casablanca is widely admired as one 

of the most perfect films ever made, and 

How the electronic version works 

Let’s begin with the “McGuffin,” the certainly the one that lends itself best to 

script’s motivational device. Why do repeated viewing. There are numerous 

We don’t the mean letters this of version, transit because exist in you the already first know reasons how for it this, works. I think. It’s a PDF, First there are 

and you open place? it with Why Adobe has the reader, French etc. government the themes — heroism, love, patriotism, 

But we sent also have them a to paid Casablanca, electronic version, where they which forgiveness, is complete, without sacrifice, banners redemption, like the 

this one, or can articles only serve in fluent to smuggle gibberish. aliens out of rediscovery of ideals — that are adroitly 

That one, the because country? it Why is complete, are a pair has of to German be ordered exploited with a credit by the card. script. To open 

it, you also couriers have to carrying download them? a plugin And, for considering your copy of Adobe Then Reader there or is the Acrobat. perfect casting. 

You’ll receive that a Casablanca user name and is a Mediterranean password to allow port you Can to download we imagine your anyone full copy other of than 

the magazine. city, You’ll why were need the the couriers same user crossing name the and password Humphrey the first Bogart time you as Rick open (such as 

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 

other PDF. path from France? 

for the role)? Equally perfect as Ilsa 

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 

story of a family and indeed an important MagZee. too. Major Strasser arrives on what is most beautiful women to be sure, but 

part of North American social history. purported to be the plane from Lisbon, also arguably the greatest actress of her 

When it is over, we are ready to begin 

again. 

rather than one from Germany or one 

of the occupied countries. Strasser shows 

time. Sam seems irreplaceable as well. 

Who but Claude Rains could project the 


Software 

Feedback 

suave cynicism of Renault, along with 

the warmth of his friendship for Rick? 

Even the minor characters — Karl, 

Sacha, Yvonne, Ugarte, Ferrari, and 

the unnamed elderly couple headed for 

America — are memorable, and their 

performances are part of the pleasure 

of seeing the film again and again. 

There is the skilful direction of 

Michael Curtiz, who wove frequent 

reaction shots into the flow of the story. 

The eyes of the actors tell us as much as 

the dialog. 

But oh, the dialog! I cannot think of 

another film that can be so enjoyed for 

what is said as much as what is shown on 

the screen. The documentary which has 

accompanied several versions of the film 

tells the story of the script development, 

but I am not sure it tells the whole tale. It 

is widely known that even once shooting 

had begun there were script problems, 

and the studio brought in a “script 

doctor,” Howard Koch. In his early 

20’s Koch had been writing for Orson 

Welles’ Mercury Theater, and it was he 

who caused a continent-wide panic with 

his all-too-plausible script for The War of 

the Worlds. I suspect it was also he who 

was responsible for some of Casablanca’s 

most memorable lines. 

Consider how much of the dialog 

is universally recognizable even outside 

its context. When we hear someone say 

that “I am shocked, shocked,” we know 

he isn’t shocked at all, and we understand 

why. How many times have you heard 

the line “round up the usual suspects”? 

Or “Here’s looking at you, kid”? You 

can quote whole sections of the text, 

and everyone will know the reference. 

Example: “ Of all the gin joints in all 

the towns in all the world, she walks into 

mine.” Or “You’ll regret it, maybe not 

today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, 

and for the rest of your life.” Or “We’ll 

always have Paris.” Or “I think this is the 

beginning of a beautiful friendship.” 

Beyond all that, there is Casablanca 

as a real place in a real time. Curtiz 

set this up wonderfully. At the very 

start of the film we see the incoming 

plane arriving behind the sign of Rick’s 

Café Américain. In a few lines we are 

introduced to it. “I have already heard 

about this café, and about Monsieur Rick 

himself,” says Major Strasser. Renault 

even utters the line “Everybody comes 

to Rick’s,” which was the title of the 

unproduced play on which the film is 

based. And then watch carefully what 

happens. We see several persons enter 

Rick’s, and we ourselves sweep past the 

doorman into the increasingly familiar 

place. We feel as though we can always 

cross space and time and return to that 

smoky saloon in Morocco as time goes 

by. 

I am still a little disturbed by the 

way Sam is treated. Though he is a 

major character, the actor who plays 

him, Dooley Wilson, is well down in 

the credits. Ilsa refers to him as “the boy 

who’s playing the piano.” And at the end 

Rick is willing to go off with his nemesis 

Renault, but when he sells his café to 

Ferrari he throws Sam in apparently as 

a bonus (so much for his statement that 

“I don’t buy or sell human beings”). 

The re-release of Casablanca in Bluray 

is good news, but does the higher 

definition add anything to the already 

superb DVD? It does. Though many 

older movies look fuzzy despite extensive 

restoration, Casablanca looks as though 

the film stock has just returned from 

the lab, with a rich range of tones. You 

can see how Curtiz has managed to 

keep much of Rick’s in focus despite the 

slower film formulations of the day (and 

even one brief scene in which Ilsa is in 

the foreground but not quite in focus, a 

mistake not detectable in the DVD). 

Most of all, you can look clearly 

into the shadows. When we first see 

Sam at the piano, there is a woman on 

a stool just to the piano’s right (see the 

picture on this page). I had always been 

aware of her, but on the Blu-ray version 

I could see she finds Sam to her taste, 

and she overreacts to every line of his 

song hoping he will notice her. In every 

scene, the huge dynamic range throws 

the spotlight on fleeting moments that 

might otherwise go unnoticed, 

I was amused to see that, in this 

elaborate re-release, the producers 

failed to correct an absurdity in the 

subtitles. Both the English and Spanish 

subtitles tells us that the famous letters 

of transit were signed by General De 

Gaulle. This makes no sense, since De 

Gaulle’s signature would be respected 

neither by the Germans nor by the Vichy 

government, which had condemned him 

to death in absentia. The soundtrack 

and the French subtitles get it right: the 

letters bear the signature of General 

Weygand, then France’s Minister of 

Defense, whatever that means in an 

occupied country. 

Yes, Casablanca is one of the best 

movies ever made. Its appearance in the 

Blu-ray format is yet another reason to 

buy a Blu-ray player. 


CDs 

LPs 

Accessories 

Just for you 

The 

Audiophile Store 

begins on 

page 53 

Get UHF on your desktop 

anywhere in the world! 

M 

A 

G 

Z 

ee 

Imagine getting 

an issue of UHF 

anywhere you live, 

for C$4.30 including 

all taxes. 

Imagine subscribing 

for as little as 

C$21.50. Anywhere! 

www.uhfmag.com/ 

ElectronicEdition.html 

Your System 

Belongs 

on the Wall 

Target One 

and Two-Shelf 

Wall Stands 

at 

The Audiophile 

Store

Gossip&News 

Mastering Studio in the Countryside 


Wh ere is St-Calixte, 

anyway? Better bring 

your GPS, because 

there aren’t any neon 

signs to guide your way. But don’t be 

surprised that musician and producer 

Guy St-Onge didn’t build his Studio 

Référence, or his new mastering lab, in 

Montreal next to the autoroute. Not for 

naught was his own record label called 

Silence. 

That’s St-Onge at right, next to UHF 

editor Gerard Rejskind, behind the 

console of the room that will be used 

for mastering his productions, and of 

course those of his clients. St-Onge is 

the compleat musician if ever there was 

one, a Renaissance man who somehow 

was born in the era of digital multitrack. 

Need someone to compose and conduct 

a score for a stage show or a movie? He’s 

your man. Someone to do an orchestration 

for Céline Dion? No problem. In 

one of his recordings (titled Musique 

Guy St-Onge), he plays every one of the 

instruments of several large orchestras. 

Indeed, for the launch of the new 

digs, called Pure Mastering, he had composed 

a fugue for the occasion, with an 

instrument in each of the four channels. 

That’s it at right, with the waveforms on 

a giant Macintosh ProTools monitor. It 

was the next best thing to inviting Bach 

over to play his latest. 

The mastering room is right next 

to the main studio, with its panoramic 

window overlooking a tranquil lake, in 

what used to be a storage space. It’s no 

closet, however, nor does it feel narrow 

or closed in. Sit in the central stool 

behind the console, surrounded by the 

four giant custom-designed monitors, 

and the walls seem to fall away. There 

is only the music. 

And there was enough space to apply 

heavy-duty techniques for sound control. 

St-Onge brought in Sylvain Barrette and 

François Cardinal of Boréal Acoustics to 

do the design. There are 430 suspended 

panels at the rear, to absorb low frequencies. 

The front shell of the room weighs 

two and a half tonnes, and was created 

specially for Pure Mastering. 

The loudspeakers (one large one in 

each of the four corners of the room, 

plus a smaller centre speaker for video 

projects) were also from Boréal, as are 

their associated electronic crossovers. 

They are driven by Simaudio’s Moon 

amplifiers. The large mixing console is 

an H.M. Weiss 102. Other gear includes 

such brands as emmLabs, Focusrite and 

Manley. Though there are actual digital 

tape recorders available (a pair of Sony 

PCM-7050’s and a PCM-7030), the main 

recorder is a Macintosh G5 equipped 

with ProTools HD software. 

But a studio and a mastering lab are 

more than software. The small gravel 

road leading to the nondescript build-

Gossip&News 

Feedback 

ing (and St-Onge’s house next to it) is 

difficult to negotiate, and even harder 

to find. Artists and producers using the 

facility don’t want crowds or paparazzi, 

so that is a feature, not a bug. So is the 

bucolic milieu. The lake, which you can 

see in the picture above, is gorgeous in 

all seasons, and it is not a source of noise. 

“They don’t allow motorboats on it,” says 

Guy St-Onge. Considering the size of 

the studio window overlooking it, that’s 

a major advantage. 

Blu-ray and 

DVD Make Nice? 

What is slowing the adoption 

of Blu-ray? No, it’s 

not the sickly encroachment 

of high-definition 

downloadable formats. It’s the (still) 

huge price disparity between Blu-ray and 

DVD versions of film releases. 

But wait a minute. The reason there’s 

a price difference is that studios are still 

launching separate versions of their 

films. Keeping double inventory is always 

expensive, and the extra expense is being 

borne by Blu-ray adopters. What if there 

were no more double inventory? 

One of the advantages claimed for the 

defunct HD DVD format was that it was 

possible to make a hybrid disc that could 

be played on conventional players too. 

But that advantage never materialized, 

because, as far as we can determine, only 

four hybrid titles were ever produced. 

But that’s the past. What about the 

possibility of putting a DVD layer on a 

Blu-ray disc? After all, there are Blu-ray 

discs with a large number of layers. Can’t 

one of them be dedicated to a red laser 

instead of a blue-violet one? 

This month such a disc is being 

released in Japan by Pony/Canon 

(Pony???). It looks a lot like a Blu-ray 

Equipment reviews are done on at least one of 

UHF’s reference systems, selected as working 

tools. They are changed as infrequently as 

possible. 

The Alpha system 

Our original reference is in a room with special 

acoustics, originally a recording studio, letting 

us hear what we can’t hear elsewhere. 

Main digital player: Linn Unidisk 1.1 

Additional CD player: CEC TL-51X 

belt-driven transport, Counterpoint 

DA-10A converter with HDCD card. 

Digital cable: Atlas Opus 1.5m 

Digital portable: Apple iPod 60 Gb 

Turntable: Audiomeca J-1 

Tone arm: Audiomeca SL-5 

Pickup: Goldring Excel 

Phono preamp: Audiomat Phono-1.5 

Preamplifier: Copland CTA-305 

Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon W-5LE 

Loudspeakers: Living Voice Avatar 

OBX-R 

Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1, 

Atlas Navigator All-Cu 

Loudspeaker cables: Atlas Mavros with 

WBT nextgen banana connectors 

Power cords: Gutwire, Wireworld Aurora 

AC filters: Foundation Research LC-2 

(power amp), Inouye SPLC. 

The Omega system 

It serves for reviews of gear that cannot 

easily fit into the Alpha system, with its small 

room. 

Digital players: shared with the Alpha 

system 

Turntable: Linn LP12/Lingo II 

Tone arm: Alphason HR-100S MCS 

Pickup: London Reference 

Phono preamp: Audiomat Phono-1.5 

Preamplifier: Simaudio Moon P-8 

and a DVD glued back to back. 

Drawbacks? Hmm, yes. The Blu-ray 

side will need extra compression. And it 

will cost maybe five times the already 

high Blu-ray price. 

Keep working, people! 

The UHF Reference Systems 

Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon W-8 

Loudspeakers: Reference 3a Suprema II 

Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1, 

Atlas Navigator All-Cu 

Loudspeaker cables: Pierre Gabriel ML- 

1 for most of the range, Wireworld Polaris 

for the twin subwoofers. 

Power cords: BIS Audio Maestro, 

GutWire B-12, Wireworld 

AC filters: GutWire MaxCon Squared, 

Foundation Research LC-1 

Acoustics: Gershman Acoustic Art panels 

The Kappa system 

This is our home theatre system. As with the 

original Alpha system, we had limited space, 

and that pretty much ruled out huge projectors 

and two-metre screens. We did, however, 

finally come up with a system whose performance 

gladdens both eye and ear, with the 

needed resolution for reviews. 

HDTV monitor: Samsung PN50A550 

plasma screen 

DVD player (provisional): Sony BDP- 

S300 Blu-Ray player 

Preamplifier/processor: Simaudio Moon 

Attraction, 5.1 channel version 

Power amplifiers: Simaudio Moon W-3 

(main speakers), bridged Celeste 4070se 

(centre speaker), Robertson 4010 (rear) 

Main speakers: Energy Reference 

Connoisseur 

Centre speaker: Thiel MCS1 

Rear speakers: Elipson 1400 

Subwoofer: 3a Design Acoustics 

Cables: Atlas, Van den Hul, MIT, 

GutWire, Wireworld 

Line filter: GutWire MaxCon Squared 

All three systems have dedicated power lines, 

with Hubbell hospital grade outlets. Extensions 

and power bars are equipped with hospitalgrade 

connectors. 


Gossip&News 

Feedback 

Goodbye Kuro 

no doubt right, though we have observed 

that Cheez Whiz sells faster than Camembert. 

And your point is…? 

Oh yes, Vizio is also suing a competitor, 

the Japanese company Funai 

Electric, for “acting alone and in concert 

with others, unlawfully restrained trade 

and monopolized the market for the 

licensing of technology used to interpret 

and retrieve information from a digital 

television broadcast signal, as well as 

the market for digital television sets and 

receivers.” 

This is a complicated matter, and 

that is why God made lawyers, but if we 

understand correctly Funai had filed a 

complaint for patent infringement. That 

relevant patent was ultimately ruled 

invalid, but — Vizio claims — Funai 

then discriminated against Vizio in the 

licensing of its technology. 

Got that? 

It’s well known that Pioneer’s 

Kuro plasma TV’s were among 

the best in the world. True, they 

didn’t benefit from cutting-edge 

research (you can’t get one with a 120 

Hz frame rate, for example), but the 

rich, deep blacks and excellent shadow 

detail made them a favorite with serious 

videophiles. 

Only time and economics were 

catching up to Pioneer. Panasonic’s 

plasma screens also had deep blacks, 

and it looked like a bad sign, last March, 

when Pioneer announced it would close 

its plasma plant, and buy its plasma 

displays from…oh yes, Panasonic. Only 

Pioneer’s TV sets cost double those of 

Panasonic. 

And now it’s all over. Pioneer is 

abandoning TV sets altogether. You still 

have time to get one, because they’ll be 

around through 2010 and service will 

be maintained after that. We’ve already 

seen blowouts on Pioneer plasmas, 

though not on the more desirable Elite 

series. 

What will Pioneer do now? It will 

continue to make audio products and 

even Blu-ray players, but it plans to 

concentrate henceforth on 12V. Yes, that 

stands for 12 volts, meaning car products. 

Hmm, yes, car sales are booming 

now, aren’t they? Does Pioneer know 

something we don’t? 

Vizio says goodbye plasma 

Over the past three years or so LCD 

televisions have been getting better and 

better. True, they had a long way to go. 

The dread “screen door effect” is largely 

gone, blacks are no longer light grey, 

and the color palette is now suitable for 

more than just Sunday morning cartoons. 

They’ll get better yet once LED 

backlighting finally replaces fluorescent 

tubes, as it has on some smaller sets. 

Is that the reason that Vizio has 

announced that it will stop making 

plasmas and will focus on LCD panels? 

Vizio bills itself as “America’s HDTV 

company,” by which it means it is not 

called Sony, Panasonic or Toshiba. It 

likes to put the emphasis on value, which 

in TV sets means low price. It has been 

the go-to company if you wanted a 

plasma TV but you couldn’t afford one 

of the high-profile brands. 

Only now it will stop selling plasmas, 

and offer only LCD sets. 

Why? Vizio says plasma sets are at 

a disadvantage in overlit big-box stores, 

because LCD sets can be cranked up to 

be much, much brighter. The result, it 

says, is that LCD’s sell faster. They are 

Laser TV sets on hold 

Plasma and LCD are all very well, 

but isn’t there some other, even better 

technology coming? 

There is indeed. And Mitsubishi’s 

LaserVue sets seemed to be it. 

The LaserVue set are bright, with 

excellent contrast and a huge luminosity 

range. They are, to sum it up in a single 

word, spectacular. What’s not to like? 

Well, there is the little matter of price, 

some $7000 for the 65-inch (165 mm) set 

shown here. Still, even in a major recession 

some people still have money. 

But for now production of the Laser- 

Vue is on hold, and will remain that way 

for the next few months. We’ll have to 

soldier on with plasma. 

Or LCD. 


Gossip&News 

Feedback 

Anyone remember SED? 

Sure you do. Three years ago, at the 

Consumer Electronics Show, Toshiba 

and Canon announced and showed off 

a radically-different type of HDTV 

panel, the SED (for surface-conduction 

electron-emitter display). Think of a 

cathode ray tube with a separate electron 

gun for every single pixel. 

Now it’s easy to make claims, but 

this was for real. The demo panel had 

only 780-line resolution, but the huge 

range of tones and colors was beyond 

anything that had been shown in video 

before. The prototype was from Canon, 

which invented the system, but the new 

company, SED Inc., was a partnership 

between Canon and Toshiba. Tosh 

promised the first SED sets in 2008, “at 

competitive prices.” 

But then came the lawyers (remember 

them?). For its design, Canon had 

obtained a license to use the technology 

of a company called Applied Nanotech. 

But that company insisted that the 

license was not given to Toshiba. Could 

Tosh then get its own license? Sure, but 

the Applied Nanotech people had seen 

the same demo we had, and…the price 

of a license had gone up. Way up! 

And so Canon was all by itself, but it 

has never been in the TV business. And 

while SED might be competitive buy. against 

the $8000 plasma of the time, it wouldn’t 

of Canon, Tsuneji Uchida, “At times 

like this, new display products are not 

introduced much, because people would 

laugh at them.” 

But who can afford to laugh? 

The great television switchoff 

The present NTSC television system, 

with images transmitted in amplitude 

modulation and sound in frequency 

modulation, was set up in 1941, though 

it didn’t really take off until 1948 (four 

years later in Canada). Now those venerable 

stations are beginning to leave the 

airwaves. 

Why? Because analog TV is being 

replaced by digital TV. Now, you know 

us on the questions of analog versus 

digital, but digital TV is a much more 

efficient way of transmitting, and it is the 

carrier for HDTV. No contest. 

Of course many households get their 

TV programs from cable or satellite, 

converter boxes that would turn digital 

signal into analog ones a conventional 

TV could understand. Only it ran out 

of them. And the makers of the boxes, 

figuring anyone who needed one had 

probably already bought one, shut down 

production. In a panic, the US Congress 

passed an emergency bill pushing off the 

fatal date until June. 

But not for everyone. The bill didn’t 

force stations to stay on the analog airwaves, 

and many of them began switching 

off on the 18 th anyway. A half million 

watt transmitter burns through a lot of 

electricity, and these days everyone is 

looking to save money. 

In Canada, the big switchoff doesn’t 

come until 2011, but many viewers living 

near the US border do watch American 

stations, and the Canadian government 

hasn’t been handing out coupons. To 

make matters worse, electronics companies 

are still dumping onto the Canadian 

market DVD recorders containing only 

analog tuners. 

As for us, we do, of course, have a 

modern HDTV, with digital tuner, in 

our Kappa reference system. But we 

did need a converter for our Sony DVD 

recorder. Where did we get one? At 

Radio Shack…in the United States. 

Selling the spectrum 

Governments could just have let 

stations decide what band to broadcast 

on, but in fact there’s a buck to be made 

in the switchover. Analog TV channels 

eat up lot of bandwidth, and with the 

explosive growth of wireless services 

and they don’t much care what’s being 

Not just broadcast hardware… 

over the air. But there are still 

millions of people across North America bandwidth can be sold. 

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 

does more than For review many of amplifiers them it’s and now speakers. game over. the soon-to-be-liberated bandwidth is 

In every issue, And we having discuss an ideas. HDTV is not a guarantee 

Qualcomm. It paid more than half a bil- 

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 

We try to 

HDTV sets were billed as “digitalready.” 

for 15 mobile video channels. It expected 

the features All you that would makes need UHF to do Magazine order unlike to be able any to other get its hands on what it had 

It’s one of 

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 

or $600 LCD’s. 

The lawyers fought it out anyway, 

and Canon finally got a judgment it 

liked, allowing it to use the license in 

a partnership with another company. 

Applied Nanotech declined to appeal. 

And for good reason. The red hot 

SED had cooled considerably, and a 

license was no longer worth what it had 

been worth before. Says the president 

digital tuner. Except that no one ever 

did manufacture such tuners. Cable or 

satellite? No problem. An antenna? Five 

hundred channels of snow. 

In the US the date for switching off 

analog TV was February 17 th . But a lot 

of people weren’t ready (with only three 

years’ warning, how could they be?), and 

actually neither was the US government. 

It had been handing out $40 coupons for 

it couldn’t. 

We presume that Qualcomm, and 

the other successful bidders for television 

spectrum, have lawyers (remember 

them?). 

Mind you, perhaps no one has 

noticed this. TV waves don’t know about 

national boundaries, and Canada is still 

occupying those frequencies through 

2011. Could get interesting! 


Gossip&News 

Feedback 

Still More News 

Circuit City Says So Long 

It was once one of the largest electronics 

chains in the US, but these are 

not ordinary times. And the Circuit City 

stores have had the smell of death about 

them for a couple of years: poor stock, 

poor store upkeep, clearly demoralized 

staff unable even to find the energy to 

play with the Wii. 

In January the chain closed its doors, 

and liquidation began. Over at Best Buy, 

they weren’t about to rub salt in the 

wound. Much. 

at the show site, www.salonsonimage. 

com. 

At CES we ran across Salon CEO 

Michel Plante, who was promoting his 

show in the company of three delightfully 

blue-haired ladies. 

They certainly got attention, and we 

bet it worked, too. See you there? 

Sad news from another show 

The closest American equivalent 

to the Montreal show was the Rocky 

Mountain Audio Fest, over in Denver. 

It began small, as do we all, but it was 

growing every year. 

ered by many to be one of the best films 

ever made. So we were puzzled to go 

over to Amazon and find that the film’s 

stars are Mischa Auer and Leon Belasco. 

Who? 

No, it’s not a remake of the classic 

film. It seems that Amazon thought it 

was a good idea to list film casts alphabetically, 

and both Auer and Belasco are 

in the alphabet before Ingrid Bergman. 

Belasco, by the way, was the 

croupier at Rick’s. And Auer? 

He got an Oscar nomination 

a half dozen years before for 

his supporting role in My 

Man Godfrey, but here he 

was one of the bartenders 

(no, not Sacha). Even imdb. 

com doesn’t mention him. 

Amazon also lists among the 

“stars” Oliver Blake, briefly 

seen as a waiter at the Blue 

Parrot. 

But notice we’ve been 

using the past tense. Perhaps the Bogart 

succession called them up, because since 

we noticed nearly all of the cast lists 

have been pulled from the Canadian site 

(though the one for Chicago is still up, and 

still wrong). The cast list for Casablanca 

on the US site now lists Humphrey 

Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, 

and Claude Rains. 

Of course Circuit City does have 

a Canadian branch. It owns InterTan, 

which once had hundreds of Radio Shack 

stores which later got rebranded as The 

Source by Circuit City. These stores are 

much smaller, and are in fact the size of 

Radio Shacks. 

And InterTan is for sale. Want to get 

into the electronics retailing business? 

Recession, what recession? 

The next high end show 

Yes, the long-running Montreal 

Salon Son & Image is coming back the 

first weekend in April. To answer what 

we anticipate in the way of questions, 

no we won’t be exhibiting (as we did for 

many years), but yes we will be there. We 

will have a preview of the show online, 

and we will be filing daily reports from 

the three official days of the show, plus 

the trade-only preview day. 

You can check out the exhibitor list 

But fate has a way of taking a hand. 

On January 27th, show founder Al Stiefel 

died suddenly. We send our condolences, 

and we wish all the best in a difficult 

time. 

The show is still expected to continue, 

under the direction of Al’s widow 

Marjorie, with the aid of a board of 

directors and the Colorado Audiophile 

Society. It is scheduled for October 2nd 

through 4th. 

Amazon could have made you a star 

Pretty well everyone knows the 

names of the stars of Casablanca, consid- 

Apple moving to CES? 

Probably not, but consider this. 

For more years than we care to recall, 

Macworld — the Apple-themed show 

organized by the publishers of the 

magazine of the same name — has been 

held in San Francisco at the same time as 

CES in Vegas. It’s a pain for journalists 

who would like to cover both, and it’s a 

pain for CES when it gets upstaged (the 

iPhone was announced at Macworld, not 

at CES). 

Only Apple has made it clear that the 

2009 Macworld was the last one it would 

ever attend, and it is widely believed that 

this announcement is the death knell for 

the show. But might it mean that Apple 

will finally join the rest of the electronics 

industry in Vegas? Might there be a 

keynote by Steve Jobs rather than Steve 

Ballmer or Bill Gates? 

CEA, which organizes CES, is probably 

hoping so. For the 2010 edition of 


Gossip&News 

Feedback 

the show, it is launching iLounge, a 

show-within-a-show, featuring Apple 

products. The sponsor, also called 

iLounge, has a Web site reviewing Apple 

products, with an emphasis on the portable 

ones. CEA says the planned space 

sold out in a week, with such exhibitors 

as Griffin Technology, Mobis Technology, 

Pro Clip USA, Scosche, Incase 

Designs, Incipio Technologies, iSkin 

and GelaSkin. The planned space has 

now been quadrupled, and CEA invites 

other exhibitors to join in. 

No mention of Apple. But then Steve 

Jobs says shows are old-school anyway. 

We shall see. 

As an aside, at CES we ran into Victor 

Tiscareno, co-founder of AudioPrism. 

Only now he works for Apple, and he’s 

the man behind the upgraded iPod ear 

buds (he suggests we try them). Among 

other things, Victor used to market his 

own tube electronics. 

Apple with a hi-fi guy? That can only 

be good news. 

The day the Muzak died 

Oh, everyone else has made that bad 

pun, so why shouldn’t we? 

and 500 million (if it’s not sure, that 

could be its problem right there), with a 

mere $150 thousand in assets. Not a lot 

of wriggle room there. 

Public comments so far have been 

universally scathing, though not scathing 

enough in our view. Muzak likes to 

point to a study showing that, when its 

“music” was piped through a factory, 

productivity went up. That has been a 

case study in first year sociology classes 

for decades. What Muzak doesn’t say is 

that productivity gradually settled back 

down, and when the music was removed 

productivity rose higher than before. 

What has always bothered us about 

Muzak was the implied insult to our 

intelligence, the assumption that we are 

so dim culturally we would be disturbed 

by real music. Not only were the dynamics 

compressed until they squeaked — 

something common on current FM 

radio as well — but we were noticing 

that the range of notes was compressed 

as well: key changes were commonly 

introduced to prevent the highest and 

lowest notes from being too far apart. 

Muzak has been described as “easy 

listening,” but we would characterize it 

more as “easy not listening.” 

And that’s the problem with Muzak, 

the constant presence of low-value 

music, taking away the taste for the 

genuine article. You would lose appetite 

for the finest meal if you were force-fed 

Cracker Jack all day. 

We’re with Lily Tomlin, who once said 

she worried that the inventor of Muzak 

was working on something else. 

ADVERTISERS 

Allnic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 

April Music . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2 

Audiophileboutique.com . . . . Cover 4 

Audio Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 

Audio Eden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 

Audiophile Store . . . . . . . . . . 53-60 

Audio Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 

BIS Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 

Blue Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 

Charisma Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 

Codell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 

Cyrus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 

Diamond Groove. . . . . . . . . . . . 39 

Entre’acte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 

ETI (Eichmann). . . . . . . . . . . . 17 

Europroducts International . . 10, 13, 17 

Hammertone Audio . . . . . . . . . . 16 

Harbeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 

Justice Audio . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2 

Lavardin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 

Leema Acoustics . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 

MagZee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 

Muzak is often used generically to 

mean ersatz music, but in fact it’s a US 

company, responsible for many years of 

annoying imitation “music” in elevators, 

supermarkets and the like. Only now an 

iPod in shuffle mode will do what Muzak 

did, but better, and the company has filed 

for protection from its creditors while it 

reorganizes. 

But how likely is a reorganization? 

Early reports say it owes between 100 

A Steinway, but not a piano 

Remember when Bösendorfer tried 

to market speakers? It didn’t work out. 

Now Steinway thinks it can do better. 

They are the Steinway Model C’s. 

Just $148,000, and they’re yours. 

Marchand Electronics. . . . . . . . . 75 

Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 

Planet of Sound. . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 

Roksan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2 

Salon Son & Image . . . . . . . Cover 3 

Scheu Analog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 

Simaudio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 

Signature Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 

UHF Back Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . 21 

UHF Books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 


State of the Art 

Is it important for audio system 

components to work well together? 

It certainly can be. I’m talking 

about synergy, the phenomenon in 

which the whole is more than merely the 

sum of its parts. And if it is important, 

where do we at UHF get off reviewing 

amplifiers and speakers individually, 

rather than in conjunction with products 

designed to work with them in optimum 

fashion? 

Some of the claims of synergy are 

of course self-serving. A maker of 

interconnect cables warns you that you 

won’t hear them at their best unless you 

also buy his “matching” speaker cables. 

A preamp maker says you must use the 

power amplifier of the same brand. 

In one notorious case, an amplifier 

manufacturer threatened not to honor 

its warranty unless you used approved 

cables. 

Yet synergy can be more than 

an anti-competitive construct. Some 

components really do work with certain 

products better than they do with other 

competing products. These “synergistic” 

combinations may be brand-mates, or 

they may not. Their affinity may be 

due to one of several quite different 

phenomena. 

In some cases you need only read the 

spec sheets to know a couple of products 

are not a match made in Heaven. Got 

speakers with a sensitivity rating of 

86 dB (that’s low, incidentally)? You can 

forget about that 10-watt single-ended 

tube amp. In other cases choosing a 

particular component will seriously 

unbalance your system. If your source 

cost you $300, you’d be foolish to linger 

too long over a pair of $7000 speakers. 

Then there is the possibility of 

choosing components that are seriously 

flawed, but whose flaws are supposed 

to cancel out. If you have speakers that 

give screechiness a bad name, you might 

be delighted to find cables that roll off 

those dreadful highs. I’m always horrified 

to hear manufacturers and salespeople 

actually recommend this approach, 

because experience tells me that flaws 

actually add up, they don’t cancel out. 



Matching a system in this way may 

make it sound bearable, but “bearable” 

is probably not the goal you had in mind 

when you began budgeting for a music 

system, and you will note that the name 

of this magazine is not BHF. 

Yet in other cases the reasons for the 

synergy are mysterious. A particular 

speaker yield magic with one very good 

amplifier, yet sounds less magical with 

some other amplifier. But substitute 

some other speaker, and perhaps the 

second amplifier will be the one that 

shines. What’s going on? Often we don’t 

know, and we can’t count on test instruments 

to tell us. 

And I must acknowledge that this 

makes things difficult for reviewers like 

us. We maintain three reference systems 

(two for audio, one for home theatre), 

and we drop whatever we are testing into 

one or other of these systems. Will the 

product under review sound its very best 

under those conditions? Perhaps not. 

This is, in fact, the very reason we 

have two audio reference systems instead 

of just one. The large speakers in our 

Omega system go down extremely low 

STATE OF THE ART: 

THE BOOK 

Get the 258-page book 

containing the State of the Art 

columns from the first 60 issues 

of UHF, with all-new introductions. 

See page 6. 

with great accuracy, and can handle huge 

power, enabling us to review top tier 

speakers and amplifiers. We need that for 

some tests, but we wouldn’t try driving 

them with a 20 watt integrated amplifier. 

Such an amplifier may however be at 

home in our Alpha system, with its easyto-drive 

speakers and the room’s smaller 

acoustically-controlled environment. 

What’s more, the components in each 

system were selected for their versatility. 

Products reviewed are given the best 

possible chance to shine. 

Yet that still doesn’t mean they will 

be at their very best. 

Some dealers know this, because they 

have built a clientele around their efforts 

to put together systems that sound just 

a little better than you might expect. 

They may not be sure just why particular 

components sound better together, but 

long experience has taught them that 

they do. That same experience may tell 

them that what seems like minor tweaks 

or variations in installation can add a 

touch of magic that can readily be heard. 

True, finding such a dealer is like finding 

a family doctor who has time to listen to 

you, but they exist, even if not everyone 

is fortunate enough to find one. 

Where does that leave us, with our 

reviews of single components? 

We have regularly been encouraged 

— “pressured” would be too strong 

a word — to review a distributor or 

manufacturer’s complete system rather 

than just one or two components of 

that system. We have mainly resisted, 

though I know some other magazines do 

in fact feature such reviews. However I 

have never figured out what use system 

reviews are. Oh, they’re useful for the 

seller, but if you’re a buyer and you don’t 

plan to buy that exact system, what will 

you learn from reading the review? 

The way we choose to review components 

maintains a point of reference, 

which is important in evaluating a component. 

We can generally tell whether a 

component is likely to be satisfying. 

Can a good dealer take things a step 

further? Of course…at least one who 

knows about synergy.

Luxury audio electronics of unique value and reference quality at unique 

prices. 

Some of the best-built high-end products ever made 

The legendary Van den Hul amplifiers and preamps at less than half the original price 

M-1 Monoblocks, US$7350 now $3350* 

S-1 Stereo power amplifier, US$3795 now $1865* 

A-1 Preamplifier, US$3895 now $1750* 

See them at÷ 

www.audiophileboutique.com 

New, with one-year North American warranty 

Shipped from points in either Canada or 

USA. Billed in Canadian dollars, equivalent to stated price in 

US dollars. 

Brand new Rega-designed Goldring turntables 

The GR2 is an exceptional plug and play turntable, with Rega RB200 arm 

and Goldring 1012 cartridge (which has a $300 price tag, 

but it included with the GR2). C$899 now $720.* 

Maximum economy: the GR1.2 turntable 

This amazing entry-level turntable was a bargain at its original $499.95 price, 

but now the price is even lower, just $399. This Rega-designed table includes 

the RB150 tone arm and a Goldring Elektra pickup (which sells for $117 all 

by itself). The GR1.2 comes pre-adjusted, except for stylus pressure. Then 

plug it in, and it will play. C$499.95 now $399.* 

audiophileboutique.com 

a division of Broadcast Canada, publisher of UHF Magazine 

contact@audiophileboutique.com 

(450) 651-5720

THE RETURN OF ANALOG - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?