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Listening Room
and ran
through a set
of LPs we considered
especially revealing.
The first is one we have used
a lot but never get tired of hearing, William
Walton’s Façade (Reference Recordings
RR-16 or RR-2102). There’s a lot of
subtle musical detail in this remarkable
suite, and we were disappointed to find
that we didn’t seem to be hearing it all.
Were we playing it too softly? Both
Reine and Gerard thought that might
be the case, and so we notched up the
volume and listened again. It was no
better.
What was happening? The instruments
seemed to be lighter, less substantial.
Even the piccolo and the flute
seemed somehow smaller than life. The
recording’s celebrated depth was vague
and uncertain. Albert called it bland,
and Reine said she had lost interest well
before the end.
We continued
with an excerpt from
John Rutter’s Requiem, also
on Reference Recordings ((RR-57).
Well, it was all there, or was it? “It’s all
there but the foundation,” said Albert.
“The bass is too lean, but that’s not all
of it. There’s something else missing.”
The organ was certainly missing — we
could barely make it out. Gerard found
Summing it up…
Brand/model: Copland CVA-535
Price: C$4995/US$3295
Dimensions: 43 x 17 x 42 cm
Claimed power: 125 W/ch., 8 ohms
Most liked: Well, it’s got power, and
lots of it
Least liked: High end price, mass
market sound
Verdict: Everybody gets the right to
stumble now and then
the singer’ voices rather grainy, though
Reine thought the amplifier treated
the chorale better than it treated the
orchestra, This was not turning into a
lot of fun.
Nor did the fun pick up with our harp
recording, Tournier’s Vers la source dans
le bois. None of us wrote much, because
there wasn’t much to say. Once again,
the sound was light, slicing off the harp’s
delightful lower registers. “It’s bland,”
said Albert.
With sinking hearts we slipped on
Lady Be Good from Jazz at the Pawnshop.
Once again we had the impression that
we needed more volume, but turning the
volume knob didn’t help. The saxophone
was gorgeous in soft passages, but was an
assault on the ears when it played louder.
The string bass was all but gone. The
vibraphone was flat, without its customary
resonance. “You might as well buy a
receiver,” said Gerard glumly.
And that’s where it all ended. We had
more recordings, but we didn’t deserve
this. We didn’t even have the heart to
run technical tests.
Our conclusion: Copland probably
designed this amplifier because of pressure
by its dealers, who believe that there
is nothing left but home theatre. Their
heart wasn’t in it. That’s our guess. How
else to explain that one of the world’s
truly great audio manufacturers came
out with this?
CROSSTALK
I won’t say much about this listening test.
I started to wonder why the music sounded
so anemic, so heartless. I then asked myself
why I heard so many details in such shallow
depth.
I thought it was me. Was I getting tired?
Of what? We just started, the music is great.
Well, it was…
And that’s how each piece went. I kept
looking for what I knew was there and I
on them continually through the years.
Such dedication to music reproduction is
rare. Why this?
—Albert Simon
I’ll say this about Copland. It doesn’t
do things by halves. When it gets a product
right, as it has a number of times, it likes to
vault right over the heads of the competition.
It did this with the CTA-305 preamplifier,
time, it does so every bit as spectacularly.
The sound of this amplifier isn’t just wrong,
it’s way wrong. It’s as bad as Copland’s other
products are good. Don’t expect mediocrity
from Copland. It’s all or nothing.
—Gerard Rejskind
The products of this company have
always pleased me enormously, and I must
admit I am saddened at the necessity of trash-
found most of it, all but the heart of the which was so superbly musical and revealing
ing this one. It throws a bit of a shadow on
music. I wanted Twin to keep raising musicians. the volume, that we actually A flute. purchased one. A I can guitar
already
the family, I think.
to find more life, more depth and I did, tell you that the CTA-306 multichannel tube
How to explain this? Oh, it is not without
occasionally, We but think I then you’ll had to like put up the with Labrie a preamplifier, sisters and their which version will be of reviewed light classics. in our Get qualities, at
but I found it increasingly difficult
brashness I didn’t http://www.uhfmag.com/Analekta.html.
need.
next issue, is cut from the same (magic)
to concentrate on the test. My mind was
I know this manufacturer has produced
some real gems and I’ve seen them improve
cloth.
But when it screws up, as it has this
somewhere else, somewhere more pleasant.
—Reine Lessard
54 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine