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<strong>Contents</strong><br />
October 2006<br />
112<br />
Cover Story<br />
Simaudio’s Moon<br />
Evolution Series<br />
Electronics<br />
Paul Seydor on three full-out assaults on the state of the art.<br />
25<br />
The Absolute Sound’s<br />
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
35 pages of TAS Recommended Products.<br />
120<br />
HP’s Editor’s Choice List<br />
Harry Pearson picks his best of the best.<br />
101<br />
Equipment Reports<br />
PrimaLuna ProLogue Six Monoblock Amplifier<br />
Jim Hannon on a musical and affordable tube amp.<br />
Rega Apollo CD Player<br />
Breakthrough performance, bargain price, says Chris Martens.<br />
Arcam FMJ CD36 Player and FMJ C31 Preamplifier<br />
Jacob Heilbrunn on two mid-priced overachievers from England.<br />
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADAM VOORHES<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound
<strong>Contents</strong><br />
6 Letters<br />
137 Manufacturer Comments<br />
10 From The Editor<br />
12 Industry News<br />
18 iTAS: NHT Pro M-00<br />
Monitors and April Music<br />
DAC and Headphone<br />
Amp<br />
Barry Willis on how to move from<br />
geekdom to pro audio in one leap.<br />
<br />
founder; chairman,<br />
editorial advisory board<br />
editor-in-chief<br />
editor<br />
executive editor<br />
managing and<br />
music editor<br />
acquisitions manager<br />
and associate editor<br />
equipment setup<br />
Harry Pearson<br />
Robert Harley<br />
Wayne Garcia<br />
Jonathan Valin<br />
Bob Gendron<br />
Neil Gader<br />
Danny Gonzalez<br />
senior writers<br />
John W. Cooledge, Anthony H. Cordesman,<br />
Gary Giddins, Robert E. Greene, Fred Kaplan,<br />
Chris Martens, Andrew Quint, Paul Seydor,<br />
Alan Taffel<br />
141 Music<br />
Recording of the Issue—Pierre Boulez:<br />
Le Domaine musical 1956–1967,<br />
Vols. 1 and 2<br />
141 Classical<br />
Reviews of Haydn’s Orlando Paladino,<br />
Walton’s Symphony No. 1, Joel<br />
Fan’s World Keys, Stravinsky’s Les<br />
Noces on SACD, Mercury Living<br />
Presence Russian Recordings LP<br />
box set, and a classical music<br />
encyclopedia.<br />
148 Rock Etc.<br />
Reviews of more than a dozen<br />
new albums and reissues,<br />
including the latest from Califone,<br />
Ali Farka Toure, Mountain Goats,<br />
Black Keys, M. Ward, Hidden<br />
Cameras, and Psalm One. Also,<br />
vinyl from Golden Smog and Neil<br />
Young, and the lowdown on the<br />
second batch of Cure reissues and<br />
Austin City Limits live discs.<br />
163 Jazz<br />
The skinny on the latest from Jason<br />
Moran, Keith Jarrett, Susanne<br />
Abbuehl, Ornette Coleman, and a pair<br />
from Brad Mehldau. Plus, a box set<br />
from Weather Report and an SACD<br />
from Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet.<br />
16<br />
137<br />
reviewers and<br />
contributing writers<br />
Soren Baker, Greg Cahill, Dan Davis,<br />
Andy Downing, Jim Hannon, Jacob Heilbrunn,<br />
John Higgins, Sue Kraft, Mark Lehman,<br />
Ted Libbey, David McGee, Derk Richardson,<br />
Don Saltzman, Aaron M. Shatzman,<br />
Max Shepherd<br />
art director<br />
managing editor,<br />
avguide.com<br />
web producer<br />
Absolute Multimedia, Inc.<br />
chairman and ceo<br />
vice president/publisher<br />
advertising reps<br />
Torquil Dewar<br />
Monica M. Williams<br />
Ari Koinuma<br />
Thomas B. Martin, Jr.<br />
Mark Fisher<br />
Cheryl Smith<br />
(512) 891-7775<br />
Marvin Lewis<br />
MTM Sales<br />
(718) 225-8803<br />
reprints and e-prints: Jennifer Martin, Wrights Reprints,<br />
Toll Free: (877) 652-5295, Outside the U.S.: (281) 419-5725,<br />
jmartin@wrightsreprints.com<br />
subscriptions, renewals, changes of address:<br />
Phone (888) 732-1625 (US) or (815) 734-5833<br />
(outside US), or write The Absolute Sound,<br />
Subscription Services, PO Box 629, Mt Morris,<br />
IL 61054. Ten issues: in the US, $42; Canada $57 (GST<br />
included); outside North America, $67 (includes air mail).<br />
Payments must be by credit card (VISA, MasterCard,<br />
American Express) or US funds drawn on a US bank, with<br />
checks payable to Absolute Multimedia, Inc.<br />
editorial matters: Address letters to The Editor, The<br />
Absolute Sound, PO Box 1768, Tijeras, New Mexico 87059,<br />
or e-mail rharley@absolutemultimedia.com.<br />
classified advertising: Please use form in back of issue.<br />
168 The TAS Back Page<br />
13 Questions for EveAnna Manley,<br />
newsstand distribution and local dealers: Contact IPD,<br />
27500 Riverview Center Blvd., Suite 400, Bonita Springs,<br />
Florida 34134, (239) 949-4450<br />
by Neil Gader.<br />
publishing matters: Contact Mark Fisher at the address<br />
below or e-mail mfisher@absolutemultimedia.com.<br />
“at work I don’t have<br />
time to clean off<br />
records so I just spin a<br />
CD or play some crap<br />
off my computer”<br />
176<br />
Publications Mail Agreement 40600599<br />
Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to<br />
Station A / P.O. Box 54 / Windsor, ON N9A 6J5<br />
E-mail: info@theabsolutesound.com<br />
Absolute Multimedia, Inc.<br />
4544 S. Lamar, Bldg. G-300<br />
Austin, Texas 78745<br />
phone (512) 892-8682 · fax (512) 891-0375<br />
e-mail tas@absolutemultimedia.com<br />
www.theabsolutesound.com<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound
Letters<br />
More on MAGICO<br />
I’ve read Jonathan’s Magico review a couple of times over. One item of<br />
curiosity for prospective purchasers like myself with small rooms: Can<br />
we get far enough away from the speakers for the drivers to integrate<br />
properly What was/is JV’s listening distance or range of listening distances<br />
of choice<br />
Kevin Kwann<br />
JV replies: In a room that is roughly 17.5' x 16' x 10' I sat anywhere from<br />
8' to 10.5' away from the Minis, which were themselves about 3' 5" from<br />
the backwalls (measuring from the rear of the Minis’ enclosures) and<br />
about 3' 4" away from sidewalls (measuring from the outside middle of<br />
the Minis’ enclosures). The Minis’ drivers blended perfectly at any and all<br />
of my listening positions. (I preferred about 8.5' for the greater sense of<br />
immersiveness.)<br />
Focus on Music<br />
Thanks so much for Derk Richardson’s article on free-jazz guitarists in<br />
last month’s issue. I now have a road map for several months of musical<br />
purchases.<br />
The inclusion of Sonny Sharrock in the article brought a nostalgic smile to<br />
my face. On a late night in 1988 I was lying in the trunk of a Jetta installing a<br />
car stereo when the local community radio station (KBOO) put on Sharrock’s<br />
Guitar and let it play through. At the time I was twenty-something, playing<br />
guitar in a couple of fairly experimental rock bands, and heavily influenced<br />
by guitarists whom I naively thought represented the exploratory edge of the<br />
rock-guitar hinterlands (Hendrix, Garcia, Zappa, etc.). Sharrock opened my<br />
eyes to what might best be described as an alternative universe of possibility<br />
using the guitar as a musical tool—a change in perception akin to the switch<br />
from black-and-white to color in the Wizard of Oz. I spent the next 18 months<br />
searching record store bins looking for Guitar. (No instant gratification of<br />
search and buy on the Internet back then!) I highly recommend this record,<br />
particularly to students of the guitar, as a potentially life-altering bit of art and<br />
tour de force of unique virtuosity.<br />
Bravo for your focus on music. The search for the absolute sound is in part<br />
about the playback equipment. It should also be open to the opportunity<br />
for epiphanies like the one I had in a car trunk all those years ago.<br />
Spot On<br />
Steve Claussen<br />
Aquick note to say that Robert Harley’s review of the Mark Levinson<br />
Nº 326s [Issue 162] was spot on. As a jaded audiophile who reads the<br />
reviews with some reservation I must say that RH called it as I have<br />
experienced it. I purchased a 326s to replace the “awesome” Audio Research<br />
Reference 3 expecting the 326s to be flat (no depth) and boring among other<br />
things. I personally can’t think of one thing about the Ref. 3 that I prefer and I<br />
never thought I’d say that about a piece of solid-state gear. I don’t know what<br />
magic Mark Levinson put in this unit but it is very good. Rumor has it that those<br />
in the know prefer it to the No. 32. Anyway thanks again for a great “tip,” and<br />
keep up the good work!<br />
BTW, I’m using Wilson Sophia 2s and think they, too, are incredible.<br />
Tim Wilson<br />
OF MAGNETS &<br />
TURNTABLES<br />
In your last issue, HP states that the two new turntables from<br />
EAR and Blue Pearl use new technology. The newly implemented<br />
magnetic suspension, and more importantly magnetic drive,<br />
have been used in turntable design and manufacture before!<br />
I only know this as, several months ago, I purchased via eBay a<br />
“Magnafloat” TEAC turntable from the 70s. Right now I am having<br />
it mounted on a custom-designed plinth. It will have the ability to<br />
mount an arm of choice. Anyway, just a little-known fact for you.<br />
Robin Wyatt<br />
Robyatt Audio<br />
HP replies: I didn’t use that exact phrase, nor did I intend to.<br />
There was much more I could have said about the use of magnets<br />
in turntable design, which I didn’t (space and time limitations),<br />
although neither I nor anyone else I know of writing about the high<br />
end ever heard of that specific and long-since-discontinued TEAC<br />
turntable.<br />
“What is ‘new’ is the sudden<br />
mini-boomlet in the use of<br />
magnets in ’table design...”<br />
More seriously, Mr. Wyatt fails to mention just how magnets<br />
were used in the table: Was it in the bearings (as in the French<br />
Verdier and English Blue Pearl), or was it, and much more unlikely,<br />
as a magnetic drive, which was not a first in the case of the EAR<br />
turntable I reviewed. (A small one-man shop in Britain beat EAR to<br />
the punch. Clearaudio, whose table is now available at more than<br />
five times the cost of the EAR, was then being developed.) Frankly,<br />
given the state of magnet technology almost four decades ago, I<br />
would be surprised if the TEAC application was either extensive or<br />
practical. It certainly did not, as far as we know, breed imitators.<br />
What is “new” is the sudden mini-boomlet in the use of magnets<br />
in ’table design and that, a point I was trying to make clear, is<br />
potentially revolutionary.<br />
Upcoming in TAS<br />
• Feature & Roundtable on Class D Amplifiers<br />
• Chapter Précis integrated amp<br />
• Ascendo M loudspeaker<br />
• NAD 720BEE receiver<br />
• Stirling LS3/5a loudspeaker<br />
• Eben X3 loudspeaker<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound
Letters<br />
SACD a Success<br />
I<br />
have recently come to believe that SACD really did<br />
succeed. Why, you say Sony has basically stopped<br />
making SACDs. Its new-generation Blu-ray players<br />
will play just about anything else but not SACDs. The<br />
Rolling Stones SACDs are out of print or going that<br />
way. Some other smaller companies in the market still<br />
produce the format, but the originator seems to have<br />
abandoned it. True, but that is evidence for my point,<br />
not against it.<br />
What was the purpose of SACD I suspect it was to<br />
kill off DVD-A as a high-resolution audio format. Sure,<br />
DSD recording, a Sony development, is a good flexible<br />
process for making high-resolution recordings, but so is<br />
LPCM at 192/24 or 96/24. If DVD-Audio took off, there<br />
would be less of a market for DSD in the future, and<br />
DVD-Audio as a single high-resolution alternative to CD<br />
could have been a serious threat to the future of the<br />
CD format and the royalties Sony gets from it. With the<br />
number of DVD players in consumer hands—starting<br />
years ago, if not for format wars, they could have been<br />
DVD-A-compatible, and Classic Records’ so-called DADs<br />
play high-resolution stereo on essentially any regular<br />
DVD player—the CD could have died off, replaced by<br />
a far superior medium. Instead the format competition<br />
between DVD-A and SACD probably prevented both<br />
formats from reaching critical mass in the market.<br />
Yes, we still can order, mostly by mail or Internet,<br />
SACDs from smaller American companies and imports<br />
from abroad, but for the most part they are not<br />
available in stores. We can enjoy our Mercuries, Telarcs,<br />
Living Stereo SACDs, and scattered others, but they are<br />
a very small portion of the market, they don’t seem to<br />
be increasing, they aren’t generally in stores, and you<br />
basically have to know about them and seek them out.<br />
But I hope they will continue.<br />
Kim Weston<br />
Robert Harley replies: Sony’s CD-related patents<br />
expired several years ago. Its SACD initiative was not,<br />
in my view, designed to “kill DVD-A” as you suggest,<br />
but rather to ensure another 20 years of royalty<br />
revenue from the patents it holds on SACD.<br />
I agree that there are enough good titles in the<br />
format to make SACD an important source. For a<br />
complete list of more than 3300 titles, see www.<br />
sa-cd.net.<br />
Join the discussion of all things<br />
audio with fellow readers and<br />
the TAS editors and writers at<br />
AVGuide.com forum.<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound
Editor<br />
FROM THE<br />
“The next<br />
step is a series<br />
of conference<br />
calls among the<br />
magazine’s senior<br />
editorial staff in<br />
which we discuss,<br />
debate, argue,<br />
cajole, and hash<br />
out whether or<br />
not a product<br />
should be added<br />
to the Editors’<br />
Choice list.”<br />
We’re pleased to unveil in this issue the new graphic direction for The Absolute Sound. We think you’ll<br />
find that our look is fresher and more stimulating—and makes what we have to say more accessible.<br />
The design was created by Art Director, Torquil Dewar, who will be putting together each issue of<br />
the magazine in the future.<br />
We’ve also just given our sister magazine, The Perfect Vision, an editorial and graphic update. Concomitantly,<br />
we’ve increased the publication frequency of TPV to ten times per year (up from six) and are offering the<br />
magazine in electronic form absolutely free at www.avguide.com.<br />
While you’re at avguide.com, be sure to join our reader forum and get in on the discussion with other<br />
readers and TAS editors. Jonathan Valin’s review of the $22,000 MAGICO Mini in the last issue sparked quite<br />
a controversy on the forum over the concept of value in high-end audio. Read Jonathan’s insightful ideas and<br />
contribute your own thoughts on the avguide.com forum.<br />
This issue features our 35-page Editors’ Choice list of every product we recommend. We determine the final list<br />
by taking last year’s recommendations, removing discontinued products, and then considering for inclusion every<br />
component we’ve reviewed in the current year. We poll the writers who wrote the reviews, asking whether they<br />
would buy the products themselves with their own money. The next step is a series of conference calls among the<br />
magazine’s senior editorial staff in which we discuss, debate, argue, cajole, and hash out whether or not a product<br />
should be given an Editors’ Choice Award.<br />
To call these conference calls “lively” would be an understatement. There’s heated—though always congenial—<br />
debate about whether certain products should be included. An important criterion is whether the candidate<br />
product is equal to, or better than, a similarly priced product. If the answer is no, the product doesn’t make the<br />
final cut. In some cases, however, we allow for differences in design, such as stand-mounted vs. floorstanding<br />
loudspeakers, or tubed vs. solid-state amplifiers. Of course, some products are so outstandingly good that we<br />
reach unanimous agreement immediately. We also consider whether an idiosyncratic product that perhaps isn’t<br />
our cup of tea would, nonetheless, perform well in certain systems. We’ll include some such products, but point<br />
out in the write-ups that they fit into very narrow niches.<br />
Our Editors’ Choice list is the single biggest feature we publish all year. It represents the collective wisdom<br />
and experience of our writers and editors. Not every product worthy of recommendation is on the list (we don’t<br />
recommend what we have not heard), but every product on the list is worthy of recommendation.<br />
I was having dinner with Bob Carver in Austin, Texas, the other night when a funny thing happened. As you<br />
probably know, Carver is the founder of Carver, and more recently, of Sunfire. He is one of the few truly<br />
innovative thinkers in audio design. Many designers have created great-sounding circuits, but very few have<br />
invented entirely new circuit topologies (and loudspeaker concepts) from a clean sheet of paper.<br />
Carver’s innovations include the first high-powered solid-state amplifier (the 350Wpc Phase Linear 700 in<br />
1972), the Auto-Correlator circuit, Sonic Holography, the Magnetic-Field Power Amplifier, and the Asymmetric<br />
Charge-Coupled Stereo Detector, a circuit for improving FM reception. Carver’s ingenuity extends to<br />
loudspeakers, as well. His Amazing Loudspeaker, introduced in 1986, employed a 60-inch ribbon with four 12-<br />
inch woofers in a large, open panel. When set up correctly, the Amazing lived up to its name. In addition, before<br />
Carver developed his True Subwoofer in 1994, you simply couldn’t get low bass from a small box, but the True<br />
Subwoofer delivered extremely high levels of very low bass from an enclosure about a foot square. It was nothing<br />
short of revolutionary.<br />
Anyway, back to my dinner story. The young waiter overheard us talking and asked incredulously, “You’re Bob<br />
Carver” Bob modestly replied that he was. After dinner, another waiter, who must have been about 22 years old,<br />
approached the table and told Bob that his father owns the pair of Phase Linear 700s that he bought in 1972, and<br />
is still listening to music on them to this day.<br />
How gratifying it must be to know that something you created 34 years ago is still being enjoyed in the here<br />
and now—and to be recognized by a generation who wasn’t even born when some of your creations were<br />
developed.<br />
It was a wonderful moment.<br />
10 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
Robert Harley<br />
Editor-in-Chief
Industry<br />
NEWS<br />
The Rocky Mountain Audio<br />
Fest Returns to Denver<br />
The third annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest returns to the Marriott at Denver’s Tech Center<br />
this coming October 20-22, 2006. Last year this show, which TAS Editor-in-Chief Robert Harley<br />
called “North America’s premier hi-fi event,” doubled in size from its first year, boasting more<br />
than 125 exhibit rooms that were the best-sounding of any audio show TAS editors and writers<br />
have attended.<br />
The RMAF is a terrific venue for hearing great sound and discovering new gear. The show is<br />
spread out enough for showgoers to spend time in each room’s sweet spot, talk to manufacturers,<br />
and hang out with other enthusiasts. The generally superb sound is attributable to the exhibitors’<br />
passion and set-up skills, the high quality of the equipment, and good-sounding rooms. In addition,<br />
the Marriott has many large rooms ideal for demonstrating large loudspeaker systems.<br />
This year’s RMAF adds a few new twists: Five TAS staffers (RH, WG, JV, NG, and CM) will be joined<br />
by Roy Gregory, editor of our sister magazine Hi-Fi+, in a “Meet the Editors” panel. Bring your<br />
comments, questions, and opinions to this lively discussion about all things audio. Roy will also<br />
put on several of his fascinating hi-fi demonstrations so highly regarded by attendees of European<br />
audio shows. For more information, go to www.audiofest.net.<br />
Chris Martens<br />
JOHN GARLAND<br />
1941–2006<br />
Pioneering Bay Area high-end audio retailer<br />
John Garland died May 3 from congestive<br />
heart failure. Starting in high school, he<br />
taught himself to play several instruments,<br />
and he was especially drawn to jazz and<br />
classical music. After being discharged<br />
from the army in 1965, Garland went to<br />
work as a draftsman for IBM in San Jose,<br />
California. He got hooked on high-end<br />
audio after hearing a friend’s system, and<br />
in 1968 bought a partnership in a TV and<br />
stereo business. He left five years later, and<br />
with $10,000 opened Garland Audio in San<br />
Jose.<br />
I met John Garland shortly thereafter,<br />
when, as a teenage audiophile with a freshly<br />
printed driver’s license and an after-school<br />
job, I first visited his shop. It was located<br />
near a Pacific Stereo store where I’d gone<br />
to hear Bose 901s. But I preferred the<br />
original Advent speaker, and when I left<br />
the store a salesman gave me a brochure<br />
on the Advent, along with the now rather<br />
legendary reprint of TAS founder Harry<br />
Pearson’s review of it. (This review put TAS<br />
on the map, and as it was with many other<br />
readers this reprint was my first exposure to<br />
the magazine.) Garland Audio was unlike<br />
any stereo store I’d ever walked into, and it<br />
literally opened a world unknown to me. It<br />
was the place where I first saw and heard<br />
Magneplanar speakers and Audio Research<br />
and Mark Levinson electronics. The store<br />
was a classic of its day. A place to buy<br />
Fulton Gold speaker cables, Rogers LS3/<br />
5a’s, Nakamichi tape decks, and along with<br />
a host of other gear, direct-to-disc LPs and,<br />
yes, The Absolute Sound. I remember John as<br />
a gregarious man, with a gap-toothed smile,<br />
a deep, New England-accented voice, and<br />
dark, Beach Boys-like hair. He loved to<br />
share his latest audio as well as musical<br />
discoveries and, for better or worse, it was<br />
largely because of Garland that I ended up<br />
in audio retailing and eventually publishing.<br />
But the latter is HP’s doing, and a story for<br />
another day.<br />
Wayne Garcia<br />
12 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
Industry News<br />
Burwen Bobcat:<br />
A Digital Audio Revolution<br />
in the Making<br />
In a recent conversation with The Absolute<br />
Sound, Mark Levinson discussed Burwen<br />
Bobcat software, a digital audio processing<br />
product that, if widely embraced, could lead to<br />
major paradigm shifts in the way we store and<br />
listen to music. “What we’re talking about here<br />
is a revolution,” says Levinson, who believes<br />
Burwen software could entice music lovers<br />
to adopt PC-based digital audio systems as<br />
their new sonic gold standard. According<br />
to Levinson, Burwen-processed PCM files<br />
ripped from CDs offer what he regards as the<br />
finest digital audio sound he has yet heard—<br />
sound he likens to that of analog master<br />
tapes. Moreover, Levinson says that Burwenprocessed<br />
128kbps MP3 files aren’t far behind,<br />
offering sound quality on a par with, if not better than,<br />
that of SACDs. What gives these statements<br />
added force is the fact that Levinson has long<br />
been a devotee of analog audio, and an ardent<br />
supporter of the SACD format.<br />
Burwen Bobcat is the brainchild of Mark<br />
Levinson and Richard Burwen, an engineer<br />
who served as a consultant on several early<br />
Mark Levinson Audio System and Cello, Ltd.<br />
products. Bobcat is a plug-in for Windows<br />
Media Player 10, and it can be used to process<br />
MP3 files, lossless (CD-quality) WMA files,<br />
or uncompressed PCM data direct from Red<br />
Book CDs. Bobcat is a proprietary, patentpending,<br />
computation-intensive process (Intel<br />
Pentium 4 processors, or higher, are required)<br />
that does three things. It applies a new form<br />
of rapid, high-frequency reverberation—<br />
reverberation much too fast to be audible<br />
as “reverb” in the usual sense of the term,<br />
which helps smooth resulting high-frequency<br />
audio waveforms. Bobcat restores the leading<br />
edges of transients to their original steepness.<br />
Bobcat can, via user-selectable processing<br />
settings, apply extremely precise equalization<br />
adjustments optimized for various types of<br />
material. Overall, the idea is to create audio<br />
waveforms that more closely resemble<br />
those that originate from high-quality analog<br />
recorders (but without the associated noise).<br />
See the Burwen Web site for further details:<br />
www.burwenaudio.com.<br />
Bobcat offers a total of 18 processing<br />
settings, one of which, called BASIC 3,<br />
provides purely restorative functions. The<br />
other 17 settings offer subtly different voicing<br />
and spatial presentation-options tailored to<br />
fit various types of musical and cinematic<br />
material. Interestingly, Bobcat’s settings are<br />
carefully crafted presets originally developed<br />
by Burwen using his own computercontrolled<br />
professional mastering system,<br />
called Audio Splendor. At present, the Burwen<br />
package contains no provisions for burning<br />
Bobcat-processed files to CD-Rs, though<br />
this functionality may be added in the future.<br />
However, a companion USB DAC offers a<br />
workaround.<br />
At present, Bobcat processed files must<br />
be decoded through a USB DAC offered<br />
by Daniel Hertz Advanced Audio Designs<br />
(www.danielhertz.com). Analog signals from<br />
the Hertz DAC can feed any high-end audio<br />
system, or drive outboard CD-R recorders<br />
to create Burwen-processed CD-Rs that<br />
can be played on normal CD players. The<br />
Daniel Hertz USB DAC is priced at $1500,<br />
complete with a copy of Burwen Bobcat<br />
software. Alternatively, users can chose the<br />
newly released Daniel Hertz Genius, which is<br />
a combination of the USB DAC plus a very<br />
high-quality 50Wpc integrated amplifier. The<br />
Genius sells for $3000 (or $3200 with Burwen<br />
Bobcat bundled in). Other Bobcat-friendly<br />
Daniel Hertz products include the $3000<br />
Callisto Basic and $5000 Callisto Elite, which<br />
are high-performance, ultra-low-noise PCs<br />
that make ideal platforms for encoding and<br />
storing Bobcat music files. The PCs are styled<br />
to look like audio components and include<br />
very high-performance video boards said to<br />
perform better than most DVD players.<br />
Levinson points out the sheer flexibility<br />
afforded by the Bobcat approach. For<br />
example, older recordings can be digitized<br />
and then processed through Bobcat to yield<br />
files that will sound much better than the<br />
original source materials. Similarly, Bobcat<br />
can improve MP3 files from music download<br />
sites to a point where they become viable<br />
listening materials for audiophiles. But<br />
customer testimonials on the Daniel Hertz<br />
Web site suggest that the Bobcat’s most<br />
important benefit may involve its ability to<br />
reduce listener fatigue and to foster a relaxing,<br />
emotionally engaging experience.<br />
Does Burwen Bobcat work as advertised<br />
We won’t know for sure until we give Bobcat<br />
files and the Daniel Hertz USB DAC a very<br />
careful listen. But if Bobcat performs as<br />
Levinson says it does, it could certainly change<br />
the world of audio.<br />
1/3 vertical<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 15
iTas<br />
Graduate from PC geekdom to<br />
professional audio in one quick leap<br />
Barry Willis<br />
NHT Pro M-00<br />
Powered Monitors,<br />
April Music Stello<br />
DA100 DAC and<br />
HP100 Headphone<br />
Amplifier<br />
Have you grown weary of cheesy little two-watt computer speakers<br />
Would you like to graduate from PC geekdom to professional audio in one<br />
quick leap<br />
The NHT Pro M-00 powered monitor is your ticket straight to the top of the class. Long a favorite among<br />
musicians and studio pros, the “Moo” is a compact powered-monitor that combines superb performance with<br />
great versatility. The little two-way speaker weighs in at a hefty 14 pounds, thanks to an inboard 75-watt amplifier<br />
that fills the back of its rugged metal enclosure. The back panel includes a mains socket for an IEC grounded<br />
power cord, a power switch, balanced (XLR and headphone jack, or TRS) and unbalanced (RCA) inputs, a<br />
sensitivity switch, an auto-on switch, and a switch to select frequency balance for listening in the nearfield (2m).<br />
18 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
NHT Pro M-00 Powered Monitors, April Music Stello DA100 DAC and HP100 Headphone Amplifier<br />
iTas<br />
Stick-on rubber bumpers (supplied) let you<br />
place the Moo on the nicest desktops without<br />
causing scratches. Threaded recesses in the back<br />
panel accept machine screws for wall-mounting.<br />
With a 1" fabric-dome tweeter and 4.5" woofer,<br />
the Moo is rated by NHT at 80Hz–20kHz “in<br />
room,” with the low-frequency cutoff at –6dB.<br />
This may seem like insubstantial bass response,<br />
but when used in the nearfield (as I do, with<br />
them flanking a Dell 17" LCD screen on my<br />
desk), the bass seems subjectively much deeper.<br />
The RCA inputs can be connected directly to<br />
the headphone output on a PC or iPod, or to<br />
a signal-buffering device, such as a USB digitalto-analog<br />
converter. (I have a Stereo-link 1200<br />
between my Sony Vaio notebook and the M-<br />
00s.) The balanced inputs allow feeds from any<br />
balanced source, such as a preamp. NHT makes<br />
a fully balanced outboard passive volume control<br />
(PVC) that can be inserted between source and<br />
speakers.<br />
Two NHT Pro M-00s are far and away the<br />
best desktop audio system you can buy. They<br />
sound fantastically good for the money. How<br />
good Well, they are favorites of Nashville<br />
mastering engineer Chuck Ainlay, renowned for<br />
his exquisite work on many of Mark Knopfler’s<br />
recordings. How good is Ainlay’s hearing Try<br />
this: A few years ago, I was part of a group<br />
of music and audio industry professionals<br />
who volunteered as guinea pigs for the nowabandoned<br />
Secure Digital Music Initiative<br />
(SDMI), an effort by the music industry to insert<br />
audible signals (“watermarks”) in recordings as<br />
a way of inhibiting piracy. SDMI conducted a<br />
series of blind listening tests in London, New<br />
York, Los Angeles, and Nashville, to determine<br />
the audibility of the watermarks. I was among<br />
the group that tested at Denny Purcell’s<br />
Georgetown Masters studio in Nashville, twice<br />
at almost a one-year interval. Chuck Ainlay was<br />
in our group. Most of us scored 50/50, the same<br />
as random chance (meaning we were simply<br />
guessing), but Ainlay scored near perfect the<br />
first time and 100% the second time. The guy’s<br />
hearing is astounding.<br />
“Add the S-00 sub<br />
to the M-00s and<br />
you’re in happy hifi<br />
land for a cool<br />
grand.”<br />
Ainlay’s endorsement of the M-00s is all any<br />
music lover should need to justify buying a pair.<br />
They deliver details and dynamics that would<br />
simply fail to appear with PC audio systems —<br />
and with many entry-level home components.<br />
Residual noise is very low. They can play<br />
surprisingly loud, especially when coupled to the<br />
matching S-00 subwoofer ($500)—loud enough,<br />
in fact, to serve as a primary audio system in<br />
small-to-medium-sized rooms. Prolonged<br />
listening induces none of the fatigue or irritability<br />
engendered by many computer audio products.<br />
Beyond desktop audio: With a 42" plasma<br />
monitor, using the variable audio feed from a<br />
Comcast DVR, the M-00/S-00 combo worked<br />
perfectly in a small home entertainment setup.<br />
Full magnetic shielding means the Moo can be<br />
used near CRTs without distorting the picture.<br />
I have also used the M-00s as surround effects<br />
speakers in a 5.1-channel home-theater system.<br />
The balanced inputs enable long runs of cable<br />
from your preamp/processor with very little<br />
loss—standard microphone cable works fine—<br />
and NHT wisely supplies extra-long power cords<br />
in anticipation of unusual applications. In hometheater<br />
setups, this use frees up two channels of<br />
amplification for bi-amping the front left/right<br />
channels, or for “Zone 2” use.<br />
The auto-on feature puts the speakers into<br />
standby after a few minutes of no signal; they<br />
spring instantly to life when a signal appears.<br />
The Moo’s 75-watt power capacity is more<br />
than adequate for 5.1 surround effects—just<br />
remember to set the surrounds to “small”<br />
in speaker setup. The M-00 is robust, but it<br />
isn’t intended to shake your walls. That’s why<br />
subwoofers were invented.<br />
Previously distributed only through NHT’s<br />
Pro division, the M-00 and companion S-00<br />
are now available to a much wider audience,<br />
according to a July 18 announcement. Even<br />
better, the price has dropped from an original<br />
$350/each to $250/each, according to the NHT<br />
Pro Web site. This translates to $500 for a stereo<br />
pair including high-quality amplification—and<br />
no need for speaker cables. For bigger, more<br />
immersive sound, add the S-00 subwoofer for<br />
an additional $500, and you’re in happy hi-fi<br />
land for a cool grand. There’s no better bargain<br />
in audio.<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 21
iTas<br />
NHT Pro M-00 Powered Monitors, April Music Stello DA100 DAC and HP100 Headphone Amplifier<br />
Imagine my surprise on the last day of the<br />
Consumer Electronics Show, when I walked<br />
into the April Music suite at the Alexis Park and<br />
had my socks knocked off by the very same<br />
NHT M-00s playing music off a notebook<br />
computer. I had the same setup at home, but<br />
the depth and dynamics in the April Music<br />
suite were immensely better. The difference<br />
was the Stello DA100, a USB digital-to-analog<br />
converter inserted between the computer and<br />
the speakers. It was a revelatory moment.<br />
April Music chief and chief engineer Simon<br />
Lee asked if I’d be interested in taking the<br />
DA100 home for an extended test drive, along<br />
with its companion piece, the HP100 headphone<br />
amplifier/preamp, together marketed as the<br />
HiFi500. I jumped at the chance and<br />
haven’t regretted a moment<br />
since. Designed and<br />
built in Seoul, South<br />
Korea, entry-level<br />
Stello gear shares the<br />
audiophile credentials<br />
of the company’s<br />
more upscale products,<br />
such as the Stello<br />
DP200 DAC/preamp<br />
reviewed by Neil<br />
Gader in Issue 159.<br />
The two units are built<br />
using the same half-width<br />
chassis, so that side-by-side<br />
they occupy the space of one<br />
traditional component. They can<br />
be stacked for desktop use. Interior<br />
construction is first-rate, with large<br />
toroidal transformers at the heart of oversized<br />
power supplies, and ultra-high parts-quality<br />
throughout.<br />
The DA100 is a “true 24-bit delta-sigma”<br />
upsampling DAC with phase-locked loop<br />
(PLL) jitter reduction. It’s claimed capable of<br />
taking ordinary “Red Book” CD playback to<br />
the 192kHz/24-bit level of resolution of DVD-<br />
Audio. Inputs include one coaxial, two optical,<br />
and one USB—an interesting array, given<br />
Simon Lee’s belief that “coax sounds better<br />
than optical.” A single pair of heavy-duty goldplated<br />
RCA jacks provides stereo analog output.<br />
A front-panel switch engages the upsampling<br />
function. A few moment’s experimentation<br />
convinced me that it adds tremendously to<br />
the sense of air, space, and dimensionality of<br />
digital recordings, compared to both the unit’s<br />
standard sampling and direct playback from my<br />
Marantz CC-65SE disc changer.<br />
I found the $695 Stello DAC to be a<br />
substantial improvement over the Perpetual<br />
Technologies P-1A/P-3A combo (reclocking<br />
device and upsampling DAC, respectively) that<br />
22 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
has long resided in my system. Instruments and<br />
voices arise with startling clarity and apparent<br />
effortlessness from a dark velvety background.<br />
I also use the DA100 in USB mode to stream<br />
Sirius Satellite Radio via an older Sony Vaio<br />
notebook computer. The DA100’s performance<br />
in this mode is a night-and-day improvement<br />
over running the notebook’s headphone output<br />
directly into my preamp. April Music claims that<br />
the DA100 is capable of processing any digital<br />
audio stream up to 96kHz/24-bit, including the<br />
digital audio output from cable and satellite settop<br />
boxes.<br />
Its most amazing and significant ability is<br />
lifting ordinary CD playback into the true highfidelity<br />
realm. Looping its analog output through<br />
a Margules Audio ADE-24 “Magenta” analog<br />
harmonic sweetener takes the whole affair<br />
up several more notches. The playback<br />
chain of Marantz CD player, Stello<br />
DAC, and Magenta analog<br />
processor yields CD sounds<br />
virtually indistinguishable<br />
from the same recordings<br />
in SACD format<br />
through a much<br />
more expensive<br />
Lexicon RT-20<br />
universal-disc<br />
player. The April<br />
Music Stello<br />
DA100 proves<br />
that you can<br />
get world-class<br />
sound without throwing<br />
money into the wind. It’s highly recommended.<br />
The $595 HP100 headphone amplifier<br />
features two pairs of stereo inputs, filter and<br />
gain switches, a Neutrik output jack that<br />
accommodates both XLR and ¼" phone plugs,<br />
an ALPS “Blue Velvet” volume pot, and a pair<br />
of analog outputs. The defeatable filter blocks<br />
frequencies above 20kHz.<br />
I tried the HP100 with Sennheiser HD 580<br />
headphones, JVC HA-D990 headphones,<br />
Etymotic Research ER-4 earphones, and<br />
assorted earbuds. The headphones themselves<br />
proved the limiting factor, not the headphone<br />
amp. Not in the Stax electrostatic realm of<br />
transparency, the HP100 is still a huge leap<br />
over the throwaway op-amps used to power<br />
headphone outputs on most consumer gear. As<br />
a preamp it’s very basic but more than adequate,<br />
and is perfectly suited as a controller for the<br />
NHT M-00 powered monitors. In fact, the<br />
April Music components and NHT speakers<br />
make an ideal compact, efficient, and greatsounding<br />
desktop or small-room audio system.<br />
Just add notebook computer and/or iPod, and<br />
you’re in the music business.<br />
Specs<br />
& Pricing<br />
MANUFACTURER INFORMATION<br />
NHT LOUDSPEAKERS<br />
6400 Goodyear Road<br />
Benicia, California 94510<br />
nhtpro.com<br />
APRIL MUSIC, INC.<br />
#B1 Alpha Bldg., 894-18 Bangbae-Dong,<br />
Seocho-Gu, Seoul, South Korea<br />
82 2 597 5562<br />
aprilmusic.com<br />
SPECIFICATIONS<br />
NHT Pro M-00<br />
Type: Self-powered 2-way acousticsuspension<br />
near/midfield monitor<br />
Amplifier Power: 75W<br />
Frequency Response: 98Hz–20KHz<br />
Price: $249.95 each<br />
April Music DA100<br />
Digital inputs: One coaxial, two optical,<br />
one USB<br />
Analog outputs: One pair RCA/<br />
unbalanced<br />
Analog output: 1.3V RMS<br />
Frequency response: 10Hz–55kHz<br />
Sampling frequency: Bypass or 192kHz,<br />
selectable<br />
Dimensions: 8.3" x 2.2" x 11.3"<br />
Weight: 8 lbs.<br />
Price: $695<br />
April Music HP100<br />
Analog input: Two pairs RCA/unbalanced<br />
Analog output: One pair RCA/unbalanced<br />
Headphone output: One Neutrik XLR<br />
phone jack<br />
Power output: 300mW/300 ohms<br />
Dimensions: 8.3" x 2.2" x 11.3"<br />
Weight: 8 lbs.<br />
Price: $595<br />
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT<br />
Desktop system: Sony Vaio notebook<br />
computer; Stereo-link 1200 DAC; NHT<br />
PVC; NHT S-00 powered subwoofer; Olive<br />
Musica music server; Sennheiser HD 580<br />
headphones; JVC HA-D990 headphones;<br />
Etymotic Research ER-4 earphones.<br />
Home theater/music system: Marantz CC-<br />
65SE disc changer; Lexicon RT-20 universal<br />
disc player; Perpetual Technologies<br />
P-1A/P-3A and Margules Audio Magenta<br />
ADE-24 signal processors; Parasound<br />
Halo C2 preamp/processor; Parasound<br />
Halo A51 amp; MartinLogan Summit<br />
and Montana EPS2 loudspeakers; James<br />
10 SG subwoofer; Kimber Hero, Nordost<br />
Quattro-fil interconnects; Nordost SPM<br />
speaker cables; Kimber Palladian power<br />
cords (digital gear only); American Power<br />
Conversions S15 power conditioning
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Welcome to the 2006 edition of The Absolute Sound’s Editors’ Choice<br />
Awards, our annual Recommended Products list. On the following<br />
pages we present the gear that our editors and writers have selected<br />
as the “best of the best” in each component category. Each category<br />
is then divided into separate subcategories defined by a price range,<br />
with components listed in order of ascending cost (though a few<br />
items, like cables and accessories, are listed alphabetically for clarity’s sake). Each recommendation<br />
is also accompanied by a capsule review, the original reviewer’s name, and the issue the review<br />
appeared in. Note that in a few cases a product may have been reviewed in one of our sister<br />
publications, The Perfect Vision or AVGuide.com, or the review may be pending publication, or the<br />
product may not have been formally reviewed but earns a recommendation based on one or more<br />
writer’s extensive experience with it. Given that this is the high end, where components generally<br />
have long lifespans, some of our recommendations look back several years. At the same time, in<br />
an effort to be as selective and up to date as possible, we have dropped some components that<br />
appeared on last year’s list, usually because they have been discontinued but sometimes because<br />
fresh competition has caused us to reconsider the choice. As we have in the past few years, we’ve<br />
also included a list of the multichannel sources and electronics that we’ve found most faithful to<br />
the musical experience, rather than those that are designed more specifically for home-theater use<br />
(though naturally, the musical ones will do fine double-duty). Limited space, however, has prevented<br />
us from including multichannel speakers and music servers. To check out those categories please<br />
go to our Web site, AVGuide.com. Note: TAS founder Harry Pearson’s selections can be found in<br />
this issue’s HP’s Workshop.<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 25
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Loudspeakers<br />
Under $500<br />
Paradigm Atom<br />
$199<br />
paradigm.com<br />
A staggering value, Paradigm’s tiny Atom does<br />
an awful lot right. With a smooth frequency<br />
response, an open treble, and a natural midrange,<br />
this little guy only falls short in the bottom two<br />
octaves or when pushed too hard, displaying<br />
coarseness at unreasonably loud levels. Best<br />
used in small rooms at moderate volumes.<br />
Reviewed by Robert Harley, Issue 133<br />
Epos ELS3<br />
$329<br />
musichallaudio.com<br />
The Epos ELS3 strives to give you big sound<br />
from a small box, and does a much better job<br />
than most. With good midrange and treble<br />
clarity, superb three-dimensionality, and just<br />
enough upper midbass weight to keep you from<br />
missing the lower frequencies that aren’t there.<br />
Use good stands, place them at ear level well<br />
away from walls and nearby objects, and feed<br />
them with clear-voiced amplification.<br />
Reviewed by Chris Martens, Issue 145<br />
Usher S520<br />
$375<br />
usheraudio.com<br />
Four things distinguish Usher’s S520 from runof-the-mill,<br />
sub-$400 mini-monitors: a crisp and<br />
revealing treble; an unusually open and dynamic<br />
midrange; taut and surprisingly extended bass<br />
(no midbass hump here); and eye-popping<br />
build-quality. One caveat: They need lots of<br />
break-in, so be patient.<br />
Reviewed by CM in AVgM, Issue 10<br />
Era Design 4<br />
$599<br />
$500–$1000<br />
erasound.com<br />
This diminutive 4.5" two-way from Aerial<br />
Acoustics’ Michael Kelly delivers a huge, open,<br />
three-dimensional soundstage, good tonal<br />
26 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
balance, and midbass articulation and dynamics<br />
that are shocking for a loudspeaker of this<br />
size. Low sensitivity (83dB/1W/1m) suggests<br />
matching the Design 4 with at least 80Wpc.<br />
If you want terrific sound from a pint-sized<br />
package, look no further.<br />
Reviewed by RH in Issue 162<br />
Epos ELS303<br />
$700<br />
musichallaudio.com<br />
Epos’s ELS303 is a relatively compact, 2½way<br />
floorstander that draws much of its design<br />
DNA from the award-winning ELS3 minimonitor.<br />
Like its progenitor, the ELS303 is not a<br />
spectacular performer in any one area of music<br />
reproduction, yet it does a fine job of getting<br />
the overall feel of the music right. Blessed with<br />
a good measure of openness, especially in the<br />
midrange, excellent imaging, and a touch of<br />
natural warmth, this is an affordable speaker<br />
with which to sit back and simply enjoy the<br />
music.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 163<br />
PSB T45/55<br />
$749 and $899<br />
psbspeakers.com<br />
As successors to the popular Image Series, the<br />
T45 and T55 had big shoes to fill. These small<br />
and mid-size floorstanders do not disappoint.<br />
Both products are well-balanced tonally, with<br />
superior driver integration, excellent output<br />
capability, and a fair amount of extension.<br />
Soundstaging is merely adequate, and the treble<br />
is coolish, but macrodynamics are gutsy and<br />
fine details delicately reproduced.<br />
T55 reviewed by Neil Gader, Issue 152; T45<br />
reviewed by Jim Hannon, AVgM, Issue 11<br />
Totem Rainmaker<br />
$950<br />
totemacoustic.com<br />
The diminutive Rainmaker continues Totem’s<br />
tradition of offering amazing sound in small,<br />
affordable packages. Upfront, bold, and warm,<br />
the Rainmaker opens an impressively large<br />
sonic window on the music, with rich, solid<br />
bass to about 45Hz, good detail, and nice<br />
spaciousness. The metal-dome tweeter may or<br />
may not be your cup of brew, as more sensitive<br />
ears have found it a bit edgy and dry. Otherwise,<br />
a remarkable effort.<br />
Reviewed by Wayne Garcia with NG<br />
comment, Issue 151<br />
$1000–$1500<br />
Magnepan MG12/QR<br />
$1099<br />
magnepan.com<br />
This affordable two-way quasi-ribbon brings<br />
you remarkably close to the best performance<br />
such designs are capable of. When properly<br />
placed—around three feet from the back wall and<br />
sidewalls—its clarity is addictive, with a wide and<br />
deep soundstage, and terrific transient speed. The<br />
MG12 performs satisfyingly down to about 40Hz;<br />
below that, some listeners may want a subwoofer.<br />
Reviewed by Sallie Reynolds, AVgM, Issue 2<br />
Spendor S3/5 and S3/5SE<br />
$1099 and $1399<br />
qsandd.com<br />
The S3/5 two-way mini-monitor is Lilliputian in<br />
size, so it has real dynamic and bass limitations,<br />
though lacks neither warmth nor richness.<br />
Blessed with exceptional tonal neutrality,<br />
openness, transparency, and imaging, it is like a<br />
Quad 63/988 in a shoebox-sized enclosure. At<br />
just 84dB sensitivity, it needs at least 25 watts of<br />
quality power, and stand-mounting is preferable.<br />
The SE version trades the neutral midrange<br />
of the standard S3/5 for a slight upper-mid<br />
forwardness and improved transparency,<br />
resolution, and dynamic range.<br />
Reviewed by Paul Seydor, Issues 119 and 143<br />
Revel Concerta F12<br />
$1199<br />
revelspeakers.com<br />
The Concerta F12’s greatest strengths are<br />
extended bass response, a neutral tonal<br />
balance, a good measure of midrange nuance,<br />
and wonderfully consistent voicing from top<br />
to bottom. Though it may not offer the last<br />
word in transparency or the nth degree of<br />
bass articulation, this speaker is easy to drive<br />
with real-world amps, and always produces an<br />
inviting, well-balanced sound.<br />
Reviewed by Arnie Williams, Issue 157
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
$1500–$2000<br />
Dynaudio Audience 52SE<br />
$1500<br />
dynaudio-usa.com<br />
This over-achieving two-way monitor delivers<br />
the traditional Dynaudio virtues. While it leans<br />
ever so slightly to the darker side of neutral, it<br />
offers exceptional balance, an airy treble, full<br />
upper-bass response, and impressive dynamics.<br />
It may not plumb the depths in the low<br />
frequencies, but it excels in clarity and punch.<br />
Build-quality is superior. A mellow, refined little<br />
speaker with a big sonic footprint.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 149<br />
Vandersteen 2CE Signature<br />
$1549<br />
vandersteen.com<br />
This classic three-way floorstander<br />
delivers excellent top-to-bottom<br />
balance and an engaging musicality.<br />
Moreover, Vandersteen’s baffle-less,<br />
time-and-phase-coherent design can<br />
suggest the spatial focus usually heard<br />
with planars. It benefits from bi-wiring<br />
and should be placed away from walls.<br />
Careful attention must also be paid to<br />
adjusting the back-tilt via the optional<br />
stands.<br />
Reviewed by Shane Buettner,<br />
Issue 139<br />
Definitive Technology<br />
BP7004<br />
$1598<br />
definitivetech.com<br />
DefTech’s BP7004 features bipolar driver arrays<br />
(identical sets of forward- and rear-facing<br />
drivers) and a powered subwoofer section<br />
built around a 10" woofer and two 10" passive<br />
radiators. The sound is big and tonally wellbalanced,<br />
with open, warm mids and highs, a<br />
well-defined bass that gives nothing away to<br />
outboard subs, and dynamics to beat the band.<br />
Reviewed by Jerry Sommers, Issue 148<br />
Stirling Broadcast LS3/5a<br />
$1599<br />
acousticsounds.com<br />
Like the original Quad ESL, the BBC LS3/5a is<br />
the speaker that refuses to die. Though the original<br />
KEF drivers are no longer made, that didn’t stop<br />
Doug Stirling from manufacturing it anew, and<br />
its magical midrange, gloriously rich and luscious,<br />
and storied musicality are back. Still no deep bass,<br />
and headbangers and other loudness freaks are<br />
likewise advised to keep moving. But those who<br />
know what instruments and voices really sound<br />
like—or want to learn—will fall in love all over<br />
again or for the first time.<br />
PS (review forthcoming)<br />
28 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
Quad 22L<br />
$1600<br />
quad-hifi.uk.co<br />
According to our reviewer, the<br />
22L “comes closer to my beloved<br />
electrostats than any other full-range<br />
speakers with dynamic drivers I’ve<br />
heard under $2k.” Strengths include<br />
excellent lateral imaging, vivid and<br />
three-dimensional soundstaging,<br />
very low distortion and coloration,<br />
and timbral accuracy that make<br />
for an overall sense of musical<br />
“rightness.” Build-quality is stunning,<br />
too. For even more dynamic oomph<br />
and deep bass extension, add Quad’s<br />
L-series subwoofer.<br />
Reviewed by JH, Issue 156<br />
DALI IKON 6<br />
$1600<br />
dali-usa.com<br />
If power, substance, and clarity are<br />
important qualities to you, the DALI<br />
IKON 6 should be on your very short list.<br />
This speaker is easy to drive, effortlessly<br />
delivers the goods dynamically, and has<br />
a smooth overall balance. The midrange<br />
and treble are a touch forward, so match<br />
electronics with care. The IKON’s<br />
$1600 price may be modest, but it is<br />
a substantial floorstander that never<br />
sounds small in any negative way.<br />
Reviewed by Robert E. Greene, Issue<br />
164<br />
Magnepan MG 1.6<br />
$1775<br />
magenpan.com<br />
Magnepan’s MG 1.6 is simply one of the great<br />
high-end speaker values. Its bass is well defined<br />
and tuneful down to a respectable 40Hz; its<br />
highs are sweet and a bit soft; its<br />
mids are magical. With its overall<br />
coherence, transient speed, and<br />
wide-open soundstage, this<br />
moderately priced Maggie is a<br />
music lover’s delight. It needs<br />
space and power, however, to<br />
sound its best.<br />
Reviewed by Jonathan Valin,<br />
Issue 124<br />
PSB Platinum M2<br />
$1999<br />
psbspeakers.com<br />
The Platinum M2 shines in its<br />
ability to reproduce the weight,<br />
majesty, and complexity of every<br />
kind of music. Tonally, the<br />
speaker is sure-of-foot through<br />
the midrange and well into the<br />
midbass. Highs are extended and<br />
neck-snappingly quick. When<br />
pushed too hard, however,<br />
the M2 betrays a trace of port<br />
overhang and some dryness from<br />
its aluminum tweeter.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 145<br />
$2000–$3000<br />
Usher CP-6311<br />
$2100<br />
usheraudio.com<br />
The Usher 6311 is a two-way,<br />
time-and-phase-aligned bassreflex<br />
tower offering smooth<br />
and extended highs, a clear, open<br />
midrange, and solid bass down to<br />
the upper-30Hz region. It can play<br />
loudly without losing composure,<br />
is dynamically responsive, and<br />
images with a delightful sense of<br />
focus. For best bass clarity, load each speaker’s<br />
damping chamber with lead shot, and position<br />
the 6311s well away from walls.<br />
Reviewed by CM, AVgM, Issue 6<br />
B&W 704<br />
$2200<br />
bwspeakers.com<br />
Clarity and control are chief among this 2½way,<br />
vented floorstander’s sonic virtues, thanks<br />
to refinements derived from B&W’s acclaimed<br />
Nautilus 800 Series. Some may prefer more<br />
weight in the bottom end, but the 704’s limited<br />
LF extension (40Hz) is more than compensated<br />
for by performance that is remarkably quick,<br />
solid, and well-defined. A great match with both<br />
tube and solid-state amplification.<br />
Reviewed by Sue Kraft, Issue 147<br />
Totem Hawk<br />
$2450<br />
totemacoustic.com<br />
An overachiever at this<br />
price that communicates<br />
the soul and spirit of music,<br />
the Hawk has excellent<br />
tonal balance, tremendous<br />
presence, and prodigious<br />
soundstaging. As with<br />
other Totem loudspeakers,<br />
the Hawk trades a bit<br />
of bass extension for<br />
extraordinary midrange<br />
transparency and resolution.<br />
Lowish sensitivity<br />
(86dB) suggests use with<br />
higher-powered amps.<br />
Reviewed by Peter<br />
Braverman, Issue 139
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Von Schweikert VR 2<br />
$2495<br />
vonschweikert.com<br />
A transmission-line tower featuring three<br />
forward-facing drivers plus a rear-firing<br />
“ambience-recovery” driver, the VR-2 offers<br />
deeply extended (mid-20Hz) bass, a midrange<br />
and treble whose clarity scales upward with<br />
that of associated electronics, and lively and<br />
expressive dynamics. When used judiciously,<br />
the ambience-recovery driver helps add depth<br />
to the soundstage. For finest results, install lead<br />
shot in the damping chambers and experiment<br />
with positioning.<br />
Reviewed by CM, AVguide.com<br />
Harbeth HL Compact 7 ES-2<br />
$2695<br />
harbeth.co.uk<br />
This smallish two-way box speaker features<br />
Harbeth’s unique midrange driver (made of<br />
proprietary “RADIAL” material) that reduces<br />
materials-based coloration to exceedingly low<br />
levels. Midrange clarity and neutrality are top<br />
class (vocals are amazing),<br />
and anti-diffraction grilles<br />
bring the sound surprisingly<br />
“out of the box.” Powerful<br />
solid-state amplification will<br />
give more robust dynamics<br />
than you might expect.<br />
Conventional looks, but<br />
magical sound.<br />
Reviewed by REG, Issue 110<br />
Gallo Nucleus<br />
Reference 3.1<br />
$2995 ($3895 with optional<br />
subwoofer amp)<br />
roundsound.com<br />
Now in a slightly improved<br />
.1 configuration, the Nucleus<br />
offers some of the most<br />
focused imaging and threedimensional<br />
soundstaging<br />
around. The transition<br />
from midrange to treble is<br />
smooth, and bass is clear and<br />
articulate, reaching down to<br />
mid-30Hz. Gallo also offers<br />
a 250Wpc supplemental<br />
subwoofer amp that co-drives<br />
the woofer along with your<br />
main amplifier, pushing bass<br />
response to 22Hz. The Nucleus<br />
is at its best with amplifiers<br />
of 100 watts or more,<br />
though lower-powered<br />
amps can also work—<br />
especially if you use the<br />
subwoofer amp.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 150<br />
30 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
Spendor S8e<br />
$2999<br />
qsandd.com<br />
Though neither the largest nor most expensive<br />
model in Spendor’s S Series, the S8e just might<br />
be the range’s best-sounding model. An heir<br />
to some of the great BBC monitor speakers<br />
of the past, the S8e offers glorious midrange<br />
and treble response, wide, deep soundstaging<br />
with excellent image height, plus “clean, clear,<br />
dramatic bass, even low bass.” But the S8e’s<br />
most compelling characteristic is perhaps the<br />
elusive and profoundly satisfying quality of<br />
musical “completeness.”<br />
Reviewed by SR, Issue 155<br />
$3000–$5000<br />
Sonus Faber Concerto Domus<br />
$3495<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
Sonus and “slam” are comfortable bedfellows<br />
in this deceptive two-way floorstander that<br />
integrates old-world quality with modern<br />
dynamics and extension. Despite slight softening<br />
of transient information, the Concerto Domus<br />
scores big in dynamic liveliness and low-end<br />
oomph—necessities for a dual-purpose speaker<br />
that straddles the fence between stereo and<br />
home theater. Incapable of sounding a sterile<br />
note and blessed with a seductive overall warmth<br />
and sweetness, Concerto Domus is one of the<br />
easiest listening speaker experiences around.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 161<br />
Vandersteen 3A Signature<br />
$3495<br />
vandersteen.com<br />
Like all Vandersteens, the 3A Signature is<br />
time-and-phase accurate. Its driver complement<br />
features the patented midrange and tweeter used<br />
in the vaunted Vandersteen 5. The 3A Signature<br />
has a relaxed presentation, is musically<br />
seductive, and will appeal to those who<br />
want to forget about the sound and<br />
enjoy the music, though it does trade<br />
off some dynamic contrast and<br />
midrange resolution for its overall<br />
ability to involve the listener.<br />
Excellent bass extension combined<br />
with a good balance between bass<br />
warmth and articulation round out<br />
this outstanding effort.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 122<br />
Legacy Victoria LE<br />
legacy-audio.com<br />
$3498<br />
The stand-mounted, three-way<br />
Victoria combines the classic<br />
virtues of a mini-monitor<br />
with the bass extension<br />
and weight of many floorstanders. With solid<br />
extension down to about 45Hz, this is an<br />
extremely quick, clean, and articulate speaker.<br />
Its ribbon tweeter has extraordinary spatial<br />
precision and razor-sharp imaging. Tiny nuances<br />
are easily resolved, contributing to a feeling of<br />
focus and clarity.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 152<br />
Coincident Partial Eclipse<br />
$3499<br />
coincidentspeaker.com<br />
A three-way floorstander, the Partial shares<br />
many of the same sonic virtues that earned its<br />
big brother, the Total Eclipse, a 2001 Golden<br />
Ear Award. The midband is slightly warm,<br />
with highs that are gloriously open, tight, and<br />
extended, and bass that is well-controlled.<br />
Mirror-image side-firing 8" woofers can be<br />
positioned facing in or out, necessitating<br />
some experimentation for proper room setup.<br />
An especially synergistic match with higherpowered<br />
OTL tube designs, it mates nicely with<br />
solid-state amplification too.<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 146<br />
Canton Vento 807DC<br />
$3500<br />
cantonusa.com<br />
Our reviewer initially feared the Canton Vento<br />
807 DC might be “another German speaker<br />
that fits the stereotype; a forward-sounding,<br />
metal-dome-based system with highs that can<br />
take your ears off.” But in time the 807 DC won<br />
him over in a big way with its combination of<br />
sonic purity and speed, transparency, pinpoint<br />
imaging, extended highs, coherence, and<br />
neutrality. This speaker will appeal to listeners<br />
who prize sonic accuracy above sweetness.<br />
Reviewed by JH in Issue 156
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Von Schweikert Audio<br />
VR-4 jr<br />
$3995<br />
vonschweikert.com<br />
The VR-4 jr has a number of<br />
endearing sonic attributes, the<br />
most notable being its bass<br />
performance, which is tight, welldefined,<br />
and gutsy. In addition, the<br />
midrange is open, the soundstage<br />
superbly three-dimensional<br />
The rear-firing ambience mid/<br />
tweeter adds considerable spatial<br />
depth, presenting the illusion of<br />
“round” images expanding in all<br />
directions.<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 151<br />
Acoustic Zen<br />
Technologies Adagio<br />
$4300<br />
acousticzen.com<br />
The Adagio’s strength is a rare degree of clarity<br />
that spans its entire range. Elements of its<br />
design—transmission-line mid/bass enclosures,<br />
modified circular ribbon drivers—contribute<br />
not only to the speaker’s overall lucidity, but<br />
to its seamlessness, tonal accuracy, sparkle and<br />
sweet detail in the highs, richness and nuance in<br />
the mids, and depth and detail in the bass. The<br />
soundstage is satisfyingly wide, deep, and high.<br />
Presented with any kind of music, this speaker<br />
is generous with the goosebumps.<br />
Reviewed by SR, Issue 162<br />
DALI Helicon 400<br />
$4300<br />
dali-usa.com<br />
This premium two-way tower is as beautiful<br />
to look at as it is to listen to. Expect a yin-like<br />
warmth, with ultra-clear transients, excellent<br />
low-level resolving power, full-bodied bass,<br />
and, courtesy of DALI’s unique ribbonsupertweeter/soft-dome-tweeter<br />
module, some<br />
of the most open treble in this or nearly any<br />
class. Due in part to its rigidly braced cabinet,<br />
the Helicon is exceptionally uncolored, but a<br />
slight midbass bloom mandates careful setup in<br />
medium-sized rooms.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 155<br />
Thiel CS2.4<br />
$4400<br />
thielaudio.com<br />
This superbly crafted three-way floorstander<br />
features a unique concentric tweeter/midrange<br />
configuration and an oval passive radiator.<br />
The results are pinpoint images, an ultra-wide<br />
soundstage, and nearly realistic orchestral<br />
scaling. Dynamics, both micro and macro, are<br />
invigorating. The CS2.4 is both analytical and<br />
musical, with a sweet yet bright treble balance<br />
32 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
requiring quality amplification and<br />
attention to setup. Because of the<br />
speaker’s first-order crossovers,<br />
Thiel’s minimum recommended<br />
listening distance should be adhered<br />
to for best driver integration.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 144<br />
Magnepan MG 3.6<br />
$4450<br />
magnepan.com<br />
Yet another great deal from<br />
Magnepan, this large ribbon/quasiribbon<br />
dipole gives you much of the<br />
sound of its big brother, the 20.1, for<br />
considerably less moolah. As with<br />
the 20.1, be sure to bring a high-power,<br />
high-quality amp to the party, and make<br />
sure you have sufficient space to let these<br />
things “breathe” or the ribbon tweeter will start<br />
to glare.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 121<br />
Hyperion HPS-938<br />
$4500<br />
hyperionsound.com<br />
A small, three-way bass-reflex model, the<br />
Hyperion’s separate tweeter/midrange and<br />
woofer cabinets house proprietary drivers that<br />
are among the best this reviewer has heard. The<br />
midrange and woofer’s flat-top covers, sound<br />
basins, and sound ring are connected into<br />
what is effectively one body, which vibrates to<br />
emit sound. Skillfully mated with a short horntype<br />
tweeter, the HPS-938 offers outstanding<br />
detail, low distortion, holographic imaging, and<br />
stunning dynamic range. While the Hyperion<br />
ultimately falls short of the best at the frequency<br />
extremes, this speaker system is thrilling, natural<br />
sounding, and easy to drive.<br />
Reviewed by JH, AVgM, Issue 4<br />
Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor<br />
$4845 (includes dedicated stand)<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
A stand-mounted two-way version of Sonus<br />
Faber’s floorstanding Cremona, the Auditor<br />
shares many of that model’s virtues—warmth,<br />
coherence, sweet extended treble, and a<br />
seductive midrange—without the Cremona’s<br />
dynamic range and bass extension. The Auditor<br />
likes to be well into a room and its tilt and toein<br />
are critical. Although small, it can play quite<br />
loudly and handle a fair amount of power, be<br />
it tube or solid-state (we recommend 50W<br />
minimum). And beautiful though they look,<br />
remove the stringed grilles if you want to hear<br />
this elegant Italian speaker at its best.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 146<br />
$5000–$10,000<br />
ATC SCM 20-2<br />
$5000<br />
atc.gb.net<br />
ATC’s latest 20 Series model has been improved<br />
in virtually every way, and is less obviously a<br />
compact speaker than ever before. Thanks to<br />
the robust composite construction and nonparallel<br />
sidewalls, midbass coloration has been<br />
all but vanquished. Derived from the SCM<br />
70 flagship, the soft-dome tweeter raises the<br />
performance bar for transparency and resolving<br />
power, especially at lower levels. With only 83dB<br />
sensitivity, don’t scrimp on power—or robust<br />
stands to support 50+ pounds.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 15<br />
Paradigm Reference<br />
Signature S8<br />
$5400<br />
paradigm.com<br />
The tall, beautifully-made S8 floorstander is a<br />
three-way, six-driver design whose hallmarks<br />
are very high resolution, superb midrange<br />
openness, and first-rate bass that extends down<br />
to the upper 20Hz range. First-time listeners are<br />
often wowed by the S8’s midrange articulacy<br />
and its ability to preserve exquisite bass pitch<br />
definition, even when playing at high volume<br />
levels. Highs are extremely clean, though faint<br />
traces of steeliness occasionally rear their heads.<br />
Imaging and soundstaging are good, but not<br />
great. In most respects, though, the S8s sound<br />
much like top-tier speakers, but at a more<br />
accessible price.<br />
CM (review forthcoming)<br />
Audio Physic Padua RR<br />
$5750<br />
audiophysic.com<br />
The Padua has elegant looks and a refined,<br />
precise, and largely uncolored sound. It exudes<br />
care, refinement, and dedication to good design
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
and quality manufacturing. That<br />
said, it displays a lack of fullness in<br />
the midbass and requires careful<br />
placement, which means how<br />
you react to its overall balance<br />
will depend on how the speaker<br />
interacts with your listening<br />
room.<br />
Reviewed by REG, Issue 156<br />
Revel Performa F52<br />
$6498<br />
revelspeakers.com<br />
A near paradigm of tonal<br />
neutrality with muscular dynamic<br />
capability, unflappable composure<br />
at insane levels, and superior<br />
construction quality and finish.<br />
Capable of playing all musical genres<br />
with class and confidence. Some may<br />
quibble about a minor forward tilt, or a<br />
treble that could use a bit more bloom,<br />
or a shallow soundstage, but you’ll need<br />
to exercise great care if you intend to spend<br />
more dough, because this is one of the great<br />
values to come down the high-end pike.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 162<br />
Quad 988 and 989<br />
$6650 and $8650<br />
iagamerica.com<br />
The 988, latest incarnation of Peter Walker’s<br />
classic electrostatic is, from around 40Hz<br />
out, neutral, coherent, linear, and transparent,<br />
with lower coloration and distortion than its<br />
predecessor. It will not generate the deepest<br />
bass, but in normal-sized or smaller rooms<br />
it will play at natural levels with a purity and<br />
accuracy that spoil you for other designs. The<br />
larger 989 retains most of the same virtues<br />
but will play louder and go deeper in the bass.<br />
The principal sacrifice is a certain projection<br />
in the upper midrange and lower highs that<br />
undermines the peerless neutrality of the<br />
original.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issues 130 and 126<br />
Gradient Revolution Active<br />
$7645<br />
mayaudio.com<br />
With its unusual dipole bass and forward-firing<br />
midrange and tweeter configuration, Gradient’s<br />
latest Revolution—with built-in amplification (a<br />
passive version is also available)—reproduces<br />
the original acoustics of the recording venue<br />
remarkably well. It sounds not like a box or a<br />
panel or anything else except a perfect point<br />
source. Instruments show their own colors<br />
with little enclosure-induced overlay, though a<br />
little more midrange relative to the treble gives it<br />
extra body, making it somewhat forgiving.<br />
Reviewed by REG, Issue 15<br />
34 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
B&W 803D<br />
$8000<br />
Usher Dancer<br />
$7735<br />
usheraudio.com<br />
What happens when you turn<br />
loose a passionate, quality- and<br />
value-conscious Taiwanese<br />
manufacturer and world-class<br />
American speaker designer<br />
(Dr. Joe D’Appolito) to<br />
build a $7000 speaker An<br />
overachieving floorstander<br />
poised to eat any number of<br />
high-end sacred cows for lunch.<br />
The Dancer produces a big,<br />
finely focused, high-resolution<br />
sound that is dynamically alive.<br />
Bass power, extension, and clarity<br />
are very good, too. The overall<br />
sonics are reminiscent of Wilson’s<br />
Sophia or WATT/Puppy speakers,<br />
but at a fraction of the price.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 154<br />
bwspeakers.com<br />
While the midrange of the 803D<br />
retains B&W’s hallmark clarity and<br />
transient speed, the new diamond<br />
tweeter is far smoother and less<br />
sibilant, yet also airier and more<br />
detailed than previous designs.<br />
And while the bass of earlier<br />
Nautilus speakers was generally on<br />
the dry side, and always “enough”<br />
but not copious, the bass of the<br />
803Ds is considerably faster and<br />
more accurate, and the degree<br />
and extension is now “enough<br />
plus some.”<br />
Reviewed by Manoj Motwani,<br />
Issue 156<br />
Sonus Faber<br />
Cremona<br />
$8995<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
This gorgeous looking and<br />
sounding Italian floorstander<br />
is warm, airy, and seductive.<br />
It excels at resolving low-level<br />
information, is dynamically<br />
quite nimble as well as forceful,<br />
and presents a holographic<br />
soundstage. And though the<br />
Cremona is a “musical” as<br />
opposed to entirely “neutral”<br />
design, it is very revealing<br />
of source material and<br />
components.<br />
Reviewed by WG,<br />
Issue 143<br />
Krell Resolution 2<br />
$9500<br />
krellonline.com<br />
A highly revealing speaker, Krell’s well-named<br />
Resolution 2 let our reviewer “hear each note so<br />
crisply—the tone, timing, and slight hesitation<br />
or rush, so distinctly—that I can follow the<br />
thinking that’s gone into the musicians’ choices,<br />
the patterns they’re forming. This isn’t about<br />
counting all the angels on a pin; it’s about sensing<br />
the player blowing the horn, the singer belting<br />
the notes, the human touch on the music.”<br />
Reviewed by Fred Kaplan, Issue 151<br />
$10,000–$20,000<br />
Martin Logan Summit<br />
$10,000<br />
martinlogan.com<br />
This elegant hybrid cone-electrostatic stands<br />
five-feet tall and sports two 10" woofers. Its<br />
sound is almost scarily three-dimensional, with<br />
a lively, life-like top end, a fast, tight, articulate<br />
low end, and the kind of midrange that has<br />
been getting people hooked on electrostats for<br />
the past 50 years. Its one drawback is limited<br />
vertical dispersion. If you stand up<br />
while listening, the speaker<br />
isn’t quite the same animal,<br />
particularly in the upper<br />
frequencies. Otherwise, the<br />
MartinLogan Summit is a<br />
fantastically beautiful and<br />
seductive product.<br />
Reviewed by Barry Willis,<br />
Issue 160<br />
PBN Montana EPS2<br />
$10,000<br />
pbnaudio.com<br />
Though it requires an<br />
almost painfully long break<br />
in period—fresh from the<br />
crates it sounds lean and ultracool—once<br />
it gets cooking<br />
the PBN Montana delivers<br />
a fantastic sense of dynamic<br />
attack, a rich, enveloping<br />
midband, a sweet top register,<br />
a bottom end that moves some<br />
serious air, and a large, floating<br />
soundstage. Patience is more<br />
than its own reward.<br />
Reviewed by BW, Issue 164<br />
Rockport<br />
Technologies Mira<br />
$13,500<br />
rockporttechnologies.com<br />
The Mira is at once seductively<br />
warm and rich, yet it gives<br />
up little in terms of detail
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
and openness. Perhaps the Mira’s most notable<br />
strength, because it usually comes with only the<br />
most costly designs, is a dynamic energy in the<br />
upper bass and lower treble regions that brings<br />
tricky instruments such as drums, bass, brass, and<br />
strings to vivid life. The bottom end has a lot of<br />
power, along with good texture and detail, while<br />
the highs are airy, extended, and well integrated.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 149<br />
Wilson Sophia 2<br />
$13,990<br />
wilsonaudio.com<br />
Although not formally reviewed, we’ll give<br />
the Sophia 2 a provisional recommendation<br />
based on the predecessor’s extraordinary sound<br />
quality and value, along with RH’s audition of<br />
the newer model at a dealer showroom. The<br />
Sophia 2 builds on the original’s strengths—<br />
extraordinary transient fidelity, deep bass<br />
extension, a huge spatial presentation, and<br />
a cabinet that contributes little sound of its<br />
own—with a smoother midrange and treble<br />
and even greater resolution.<br />
RH (review forthcoming)<br />
Vandersteen Model 5A<br />
$14,700<br />
vandersteen.com<br />
A time-and-phase correct speaker, the 5A includes<br />
a built-in powered sub with room correction that<br />
tailors in-room response, a sophisticated “baffleless”<br />
cabinet, Vandersteen’s patented openframe<br />
midrange, and an improved tweeter that<br />
eliminates backwave reflections. The result is an<br />
ultra-high-resolution speaker that’s coherent and<br />
musically engaging from top to bottom, with the<br />
kind of convincing depth of imaging that only<br />
time-and-phase correct designs can provide. The<br />
5A may not play as loudly as some designs, but<br />
offers superior performance in other respects. A<br />
relative bargain among statement loudspeakers.<br />
Reviewed by SB, Issue 139<br />
Legacy Whisper<br />
$14,998<br />
legacy-audio.com<br />
The Legacy Whisper is all about musical<br />
engagement, not the analytical dissection of a<br />
recording. A five-foot-tall, 200-pound hunk of<br />
Wurlitzeresque wood sculpture, the ten-driver<br />
Whisper excels at low-level resolution, transient<br />
delivery, and dynamic contrasts (large and small),<br />
though its frequency extremes are somewhat soft.<br />
Reviewed by Anthony H. Cordesman,<br />
Issue 135<br />
Sound Lab M-1a<br />
$16,800<br />
soundlab-speakers.com<br />
A huge electrostat, artfully subdivided<br />
into angled strips and panels to produce a<br />
36 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
hemispherical wavelaunch and reduce “drumhead”<br />
resonances, the M-1 has the biggest<br />
soundfield, far and away the deepest bass (true<br />
20Hz extension), and most lifelike dynamic<br />
range of any ’stat—in addition to the traditional<br />
virtues of ’stats (gorgeous tone color, lightning<br />
transient response, single-driver coherence, and<br />
phenomenal inner detail). The M-1 can sound<br />
overblown in the bottom octaves if placement<br />
and amplification aren’t carefully minded and,<br />
like all ’stats, it is not the last word in “body.”<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 122<br />
Verity Audio Parsifal Ovation<br />
$19,495<br />
verityaudio.com<br />
They take a long time to set up properly and<br />
an extremely long time to break in (a few<br />
hundred hours before the woofer tightens<br />
up), but these speakers disappear to a degree<br />
that Fred Kaplan thought only mini-monitors<br />
could. Fundamentals and overtones are<br />
pure, uncolored, and detailed; the crossover<br />
is seamless; and dynamics are captured with<br />
effortless agility. Our caveat concerns integrating<br />
the otherwise terrific bass with the rest of the<br />
range—until the speaker fully breaks in there is<br />
some discontinuity between the two.<br />
Reviewed by FK, Issue 160<br />
B&W 800D<br />
$20,000<br />
$20,000 and above<br />
bwspeakers.com<br />
“Wholeness” and “seamlessness” were the<br />
qualities that most struck reviewer Sue Kraft<br />
while auditioning B&W’s diamond-tweeterstudded<br />
800D. “While high frequencies were<br />
the utmost in smooth, effortless, finely detailed,<br />
extended, and exceptionally clear, I was more<br />
taken by how meticulously they were woven<br />
into the fabric of the music.” The 800D’s<br />
other attributes include world-class imaging,<br />
high resolution, a taut, well-defined bass, and<br />
unruffled response with very loud music.<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 156<br />
Focus Audio Hyperion Master 3<br />
$20,870<br />
Hailing from our neighbors to the north, this is<br />
one gorgeous-to-the-extreme loudspeaker with<br />
a beautifully fleshed-out, lush, and life-sized<br />
midrange. Image lines are perhaps a bit diffuse<br />
versus the pinpoint accuracy of a speaker like<br />
the B&W 800D, giving the Master 3 a warmer,<br />
more forgiving sound. Dynamics and detail<br />
are also in abundance, with close to full-range<br />
bass response reaching down to 25Hz. Dual 9"<br />
woofers are flab-free and fleet-footed, while top<br />
to bottom tonal balance is also worthy of note.<br />
If it’s all about the midrange, then it’s all about<br />
the Master 3.<br />
SK (review forthcoming)<br />
Kharma Ceramique Reference<br />
Monitor 3.2<br />
$21,000<br />
gttgroup.com<br />
This diminutive two-way floorstander generates<br />
a huge, utterly transparent soundstage and a<br />
simply ethereal blend of tonal beauty, inner<br />
detail, and dynamic nuance. Surprisingly robust<br />
in the bass (down to a rock-solid 40Hz), the<br />
RM3.2 is a great choice for the audiophile<br />
looking for big-speaker sound in a small, elegant<br />
package (or for a smallish room).<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 140<br />
MAGICO Mini<br />
$22,000 with stands ($16,500 for speakers<br />
alone)<br />
magico.net<br />
JV’s new references, the beautifully made Minis<br />
from perfectionist speaker-builder Alon Wolf<br />
are triumphant examples of two applied arts—<br />
industrial and acoustical design. Though limited<br />
to about 40Hz in the bass, the two-way Minis
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
are everywhere else models of limitlessness—<br />
of what is possible when price is no object—<br />
with standard-setting resolution, neutrality, and<br />
soundstaging. Capable of the most complete<br />
disappearing act JV has yet heard and a dynamic<br />
range and scale that simply belie their size<br />
and driver complement, the Minis redefine<br />
“transparency to the source.”<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 163<br />
Wilson WATT/Puppy<br />
(updated to 8)<br />
$27,900<br />
wilsonaudio.com<br />
Another provisional recommendation based<br />
on the WATT/Puppy 7’s virtues and Wilson’s<br />
long history of incremental improvements (or<br />
revolutionary improvements, in the case of the<br />
WATT/Puppy System 6 to System 7 upgrade).<br />
The best-selling audiophile loudspeaker over<br />
$10k, the WATT/Puppy has achieved iconic<br />
status.<br />
WP 7 reviewed by RH, Issue 143<br />
Sonus-Faber Stradivari<br />
$40,000<br />
38 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
These gorgeous numbers from Sonus-Faber’s<br />
Franco Serblin have some of the most beautiful<br />
string tone JV has heard in a loudspeaker. Sweet<br />
and rich on classical music, voice, and small-scale<br />
jazz and folk, they are almost as lovely on largescale<br />
music thanks to their extraordinarily deep,<br />
full, well-defined bass and authoritative midbass.<br />
Detailed and dynamic from top to bottom, they<br />
are a bit to the warm side of neutral and will<br />
need a large room to fully “disappear,” but are<br />
not picky when it comes to amplification.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 148<br />
DALI Megaline<br />
$42,000<br />
dali-usa.com<br />
This large, elegant speaker offers an all but<br />
unique combination of virtues—power and<br />
scale on one hand and purity and resolution<br />
on the other, with distortion lower than<br />
electrostatics and a dynamic capacity no<br />
electrostatic ever dreamed of. The line-source<br />
radiation pattern eliminates floor bounce and<br />
makes the Megalines disappear from side-toside<br />
and front-to-back. Together with ribbon<br />
tweeters that go on seemingly forever, bass<br />
that extends solidly down to well below the<br />
bottom of the orchestral range, and an even<br />
tonal balance, the Megalines make for the most<br />
convincing reproduction of orchestral music<br />
REG has encountered. They also superbly<br />
reproduce more intimate music.<br />
Reviewed by REG, Issue 146<br />
Kharma Mini Exquisite<br />
$45,000<br />
gttgroup.com<br />
Roughly the same size as Kharma’s 3.2 listed<br />
above, the Mini Exquisite is one of the great<br />
speakers, as well it should be for a 2-way that<br />
commands this kind of dough. Cost aside,<br />
with its complex and costly cabinetry, superior<br />
ceramic mid/bass driver, and glorious syntheticdiamond<br />
tweeter, the Mini will make you swoon.<br />
Assuming, that is, that your priorities include<br />
stunning coherence, transparency and detail, a<br />
notably large and very dimensional soundstage,<br />
ethereal highs, a remarkably natural midrange<br />
and dynamic scale, and a tonal warmth and<br />
beauty to die for. All in a package that is not only<br />
gorgeous but also relatively diminutive.<br />
WG (review forthcoming)<br />
Wilson MAXX 2<br />
$45,000<br />
wilsonaudio.com<br />
A stunning achievement in loudspeaker design,<br />
the MAXX 2 redefines what’s possible in<br />
music reproduction in the areas of bottomend<br />
resolution, nuance, and finesse. This highly<br />
articulate bass presentation is backed up with<br />
the ability to effortlessly deliver massive dynamic<br />
impact and subterranean extension. Every<br />
other aspect of this speaker’s performance is<br />
exemplary, particularly midrange transparency,<br />
soundstaging, and the remarkable ability to<br />
sound small on intimate music and huge on<br />
large-scale works. Robert Harley’s reference.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 155<br />
Ascendo M<br />
$46,000<br />
ascendo.de<br />
The duckbilled platypus of loudspeakers, the<br />
Ascendo M attempts to combine a ribbon<br />
tweeter (housed in a separate box that is<br />
ingeniously time-aligned to your exact listening<br />
position) with an acoustic-suspension mid/<br />
woof and a bandpass subwoofer that goes<br />
down to a legitimate 25Hz. The amazing thing<br />
is how well it succeeds in mating these disparate<br />
technologies. Designer Jürgen Scheuring<br />
modeled his Ms on the sound of the Quads,<br />
and damned if they don’t sound like Quads,<br />
with much better high-end and low, and much<br />
better dynamics.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
MBL 101 E<br />
$46,900<br />
mbl.com<br />
MBL’s stunning-looking,<br />
four-way, omnidirectional<br />
Radialstrahler References<br />
simply do it all: a treble<br />
like Maggie’s ribbons, a<br />
midrange like SoundLab’s<br />
’stats, bass like Nearfield’s<br />
eight 18" subwoofers,<br />
soundstaging and coherence<br />
like Kharma’s<br />
CRM 3.2s, dynamics like<br />
Avantgarde’s Trios, and<br />
a “disappearing act”<br />
second only to the<br />
MAGICO Mini. To<br />
top all this off, the<br />
101 Es have more<br />
lifelike presence<br />
than any speaker<br />
JV has heard in<br />
several decades—actually<br />
sounding “fool-you” real at select moments<br />
on select cuts—and are more convincingly<br />
stereophonic listened to off-axis than anything<br />
else around. JV’s other reference.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 154<br />
Avantgarde TrioCompact with<br />
Basshorn<br />
$71,940<br />
avantgarde-usa.com<br />
For almost a decade now, the Trios have been<br />
the best horn loudspeakers on the market. Now,<br />
in combination with Avantgarde’s phenomenal<br />
new Basshorn subwoofer, the Trio has won over<br />
even hard sells, like TAS EIC Robert Harley.<br />
Incomparably fast, powerful, big, and beautiful,<br />
the Trio/Basshorns take some work to set
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
up—and great electronics to drive them—but<br />
when everything is right they are world-class<br />
reproducers of music. Best in very large rooms,<br />
though, paradoxically, they sometimes fare well<br />
in very small ones. With these speakers, the key<br />
to happiness is a proper blend of the bass.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
Rockport Technologies<br />
Hyperion<br />
$91,500<br />
rockporttechnologies.com<br />
Though they aren’t the world’s best soundstagers<br />
(for which, see the MAGICO Minis above)<br />
and don’t “disappear” like the MBL 101 Es,<br />
the Rockport Hyperions earn laurels for just<br />
about everything else—gorgeous tone color,<br />
tremendous dynamic ease and authority, natural<br />
instrumental size and scale, and superb treble<br />
and bass extension. You need a lot of room<br />
for these babies and a lot of money, but, if<br />
you have the space and the moolah, they will<br />
take you about as close as you can come to the<br />
absolute sound.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 136<br />
Subwoofers<br />
PSB SubSonic 5i<br />
$549<br />
psbspeakers.com<br />
At this point no one should be surprised at what<br />
this Canadian speaker company can do in the<br />
lower-price range. Even so, the performance of<br />
this econo-sub is semi-unbelievable. Extension,<br />
dynamic slam, and good musicality from this<br />
10" bass-reflex design make it the perfect match<br />
for misers with the Midas touch.<br />
Reviewed by NG, TPV, Issue 48, and CM, TPV,<br />
Issue 69<br />
40 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
REL Q-108E<br />
$749<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
The newest and smallest sub from England’s<br />
REL is a champ in its category. Though a<br />
mere 10" cube, the Q-108E is capable of<br />
reproducing information down to 20Hz with<br />
power and definition. A plethora of hook-up<br />
options allows for both line- and high-level (in<br />
series with the amplifier) connections, meaning<br />
you can optimize this little guy for both hometheater<br />
and music use—simultaneously.<br />
Reviewed by WG, TPV Issue 49<br />
Epos ELS Active Subwoofer<br />
$800<br />
epos-acoustic.com<br />
Designed by Mike Creek (of Creek amplifier<br />
renown), the Epos ELS Active Subwoofer goes<br />
lower with better articulation and control than<br />
others in its price range. Unlike many subs,<br />
the Epos is an audiophile-pleaser that puts out<br />
true low bass (without a deceptive, midbass<br />
bump) and sounds “so inherently clear that it<br />
leaves competitors sounding sluggish and<br />
murky by comparison.”<br />
Reviewed by CM, AVgM, Issue 13<br />
Definitive Technology<br />
SuperCube I<br />
$1199<br />
definitivetech.com<br />
Flexibility, extension, and affordability—it<br />
doesn’t get much better than that. With dual 10"<br />
passive radiators, the SuperCube I mixes the<br />
precision of a sealed-box sub with the additional<br />
oomph of a ported enclosure, and reaches<br />
down to the mid-20Hz range at extreme SPLs.<br />
A 1500-watt amplifier guarantees sufficient<br />
power.<br />
Reviewed by NG, TPV Issue 42<br />
James EMB-1000<br />
$1595–$1895<br />
jamesloudspeaker.com<br />
Using a clever dual-woofer technique, the EMB-<br />
1000 delivers a huge amount of extremely clean<br />
bass and maintains its composure even at high<br />
playback levels. Not only is it a great theater sub,<br />
the EMB-1000 is outstanding with music—tight<br />
and articulate, with exceptional clarity and detail.<br />
An amazing product and a great bargain.<br />
Reviewed by RH, TPV Issue 48<br />
REL Britannia B3 sub<br />
$1995<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
The ultimate self-effacing team player that never<br />
imposes colorations on the music, the B3 is<br />
divinely unbox-like. At all reasonable levels port<br />
noise and overhang have been banished. Only<br />
low-pass filtering is on tap, so make sure your<br />
main speakers are up to the task. Set up with<br />
care, the B3 earns the rarest of compliments—<br />
you’ll never even know it’s there.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 163<br />
Thiel SS2 SmartSub and SI 1<br />
Integrator<br />
$4900 and $4400<br />
thielaudio.com<br />
Five years in the making, Thiel’s Integrator/<br />
SmartSub is the first subwoofer that enables<br />
consistent integration by design. As such, it<br />
is a landmark in the history of subwoofer<br />
development. In its present state, the<br />
Integrator in particular lacks a few features and<br />
the last ounce of transparency. Yet no other<br />
subwoofer system brings so much needed<br />
structure to the integration process, while<br />
affording such plentiful and powerful means<br />
of adapting the sub to its surroundings. Rigid<br />
yet liberating, the Thiel system will reward<br />
attentive listeners.<br />
Reviewed by Alan Taffel, Issue 154<br />
Audio Physic Minos<br />
$6995<br />
audiophysic.com<br />
The Audio Physic Minos comes close to being<br />
the perfect subwoofer, albeit at a hefty price.<br />
It has truly deep bass extension, to well below<br />
20Hz, can deliver enormous output levels, and<br />
is exceptionally low in distortion. Its sound is<br />
smooth and non-resonant, with superb pitch<br />
definition and all but flawless transient behavior.<br />
Moreover, its elegant woodwork makes it at<br />
home in any décor.<br />
Reviewed by REG, TPV Issue 42<br />
Krell Master Reference<br />
$40,000<br />
krell.com<br />
Let’s face it—you’d have to be nuts to spend<br />
$40,000 on a subwoofer. (And, BTW, you only<br />
get one of these monsters for your 40Gs.) But,<br />
assuming you are nuts, and assuming you’re<br />
not fazed by the sheer girth of this 2600W,<br />
twin-15", servo-woofered, 450-pound chunk<br />
of near-solid aluminum, then you’re gonna<br />
have a hard time finding more powerful, more<br />
coherent bass for music recordings and hometheater<br />
soundtracks. A sui generis masterpiece<br />
that, because of its outrageous cost and size,<br />
is likely to be heard only by a lucky few—and<br />
owned by an even luckier fewer.<br />
JV
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Power<br />
Amplifiers<br />
NAD C 272<br />
$699<br />
Under $1000<br />
nadelectronics.com<br />
Every few years, we encounter certain NAD<br />
products that seem to have that extra ounce<br />
of sonic magic, and the C 272 is one of them.<br />
At 150Wpc, it offers the current needed to<br />
handle difficult speaker loads, and sounds<br />
more powerful than its specifications would<br />
suggest. The C 272 is well-balanced, with good<br />
resolution, three-dimensionality, and an overall<br />
warmth and robustness on most types of<br />
music.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 148<br />
Parasound Halo A23<br />
$850<br />
parasound.com<br />
Parasound’s A23 isn’t the last word in low-end<br />
authority, and it’s a bit cool in the midrange, but<br />
what it lacks in oomph it makes up for in finesse<br />
and pitch definition. Moreover, this reasonably<br />
priced amp is musically quite involving.<br />
Reviewed by SB, Issue 138<br />
$1000–$2000<br />
PrimaLuna Prologue 5<br />
$1295<br />
upscaleaudio.com<br />
The 36Wpc vacuum tube-powered Prologue<br />
5 sounds more authoritative than its rating<br />
would lead you to expect, and offers a warm,<br />
rich sound, yet really does not sound “tubey”<br />
in any traditional sense. Instead, it produces<br />
“true, clean, deep, tight bass,” offers grand<br />
soundstaging, and delivers “the precision of<br />
the best solid-state units, plus—like vinyl—an<br />
additional musical soupçon.” A synergistic<br />
match with the companion Prologue 3 preamp.<br />
Reviewed by SR, Issue 156<br />
Quad 909<br />
$1499<br />
iag.america.com<br />
Its sound quality sets a benchmark for its<br />
size and price. Its midrange, in particular, is<br />
exceptional. Up and down the scale, this latest<br />
iteration of Peter Walker’s patented “current<br />
42 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
dumping” circuit displays an ease, relaxation,<br />
and naturalness that sweep considerations of<br />
mere hi-fi aside.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 128<br />
Rotel RB 1090<br />
$1999<br />
rotel.com<br />
Voluptuous, yin-like, and ever so slightly laidback<br />
in character, the RB-1090 is capable of extracting<br />
the lowest rumblings. But it also extracts highfrequency<br />
information like a hummingbird sips<br />
nectar. Transparency might be improved, but<br />
for sheer orchestral weight, the 1090 still has the<br />
power to make it one of the best pound-forpound<br />
deals in the high end.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 128<br />
PrimaLuna<br />
Prologue Six<br />
monoblocks<br />
$2000<br />
upscaleaudio.com<br />
These beautifully built,<br />
affordable, and “hasslefree”<br />
70Wpc monoblocks<br />
will alter your preconceptions<br />
about tube gear. With their<br />
autobias and soft-start features,<br />
they are very easy to operate and maintain,<br />
and their reliability approaches that of solidstate.<br />
Indeed, their transient quickness and<br />
ability to drive difficult loads may fool you<br />
into thinking you’re listening to a very good<br />
hybrid. Yet with four very musical EL34s per<br />
chassis, these amps still have that wonderful<br />
tube magic. Veteran tube rollers can tailor the<br />
sound somewhat, yet music lovers are likely to<br />
just get lost in the music.<br />
Reviewed by JH in this issue<br />
$2000–$3000<br />
Channel Islands Audio<br />
D-200 monoblocks<br />
$2299<br />
ciaudio.com<br />
Channel Islands Audio’s well-thought-out and<br />
carefully executed D-200 Class D monoblock<br />
amplifiers put out a healthy 200 watts and<br />
are completely free of the quirks, foibles,<br />
and reliability issues that sometimes plague<br />
other Class D designs. Sonically, the D-200s<br />
offer warm, well-defined midbass, articulate<br />
midrange and highs, and an overarching quality<br />
of smoothness. Though some competing<br />
designs may have somewhat more openness<br />
and transparency, the D-200’s delicate balance<br />
of detail and smoothness will attract those<br />
who like their music straight up, with no undue<br />
rough edges.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 161<br />
Audio Research VS55<br />
$2495<br />
audioresearch.com<br />
ARC’s formula is simple: Put the latest circuit<br />
refinements in a nice-but-not-lavish chassis,<br />
keep the power output moderate, and price<br />
within reach of most music lovers. The result:<br />
the stunning VS55, which delivers ARC’s<br />
classic sound at an affordable price. It may<br />
not have enough power for those with lowsensitivity<br />
loudspeakers (or those wanting<br />
to rock the house), but when used with the<br />
appropriate speakers and at sensible volumes,<br />
it is pure magic.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 141<br />
Cary Audio Cinema 2 and<br />
CAD-808 (Rocket 88)<br />
$2500 and $2750<br />
caryaudio.com<br />
Designer Dennis Had’s<br />
affectionately dubbed “Rocket<br />
88” is unusual in that there<br />
is no driver stage. That<br />
means you’ll need a<br />
high-output preamp to<br />
drive it, but, when it is<br />
so paired, expect a sound<br />
that Dan Davis said propelled him “to the<br />
musical bliss we all want from our systems.”<br />
The Cinema 2 offers outstanding articulation,<br />
immediacy, and dynamic definition, especially<br />
in the midrange, without the darkness and<br />
grain that once seemed to accompany the<br />
majority of transistor amplifiers.<br />
Cinema 2 reviewed by WG, Issue 154; CAD-<br />
808 reviewed by Dan Davis, Issue 139<br />
NuForce Reference 9<br />
monoblocks<br />
$2500<br />
nuforce.com<br />
The diminutive Reference 9 monoblocks<br />
are sophisticated, analog-modulated Class<br />
D amplifiers that sound like sonic giants,<br />
with deeply extended and tightly controlled<br />
bass (with excellent pitch definition), opensounding<br />
mids, almost shockingly detailed<br />
highs, and explosive dynamics. But the biggest<br />
news may be their precise, three-dimensional<br />
soundstaging. Note: These amps are quite<br />
sensitive to associated cabling, so choose<br />
carefully.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 158
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
$3000–$5000<br />
Conrad-Johnson<br />
MV60SE<br />
$3500<br />
conradjohnson.com<br />
Using four 6550C output tubes, this 60Wpc C-J<br />
delivers the emotional impact of the real thing.<br />
Although it lacks the last iota of resolution and<br />
can get a bit gritty in the treble as it reaches<br />
its power limits, it has good transparency and<br />
soundstaging, finely shaded dynamics, thrilling<br />
low-level detail, and a well-defined top end.<br />
Above all, it is immediate and involving.<br />
Reviewed by DD, Issue 145<br />
Edge G4<br />
$3575<br />
edgeamp.com<br />
A downsized version of Edge’s more costly<br />
amplifiers, the 100W G4 offers some of the<br />
same sonic attributes as its more expensive<br />
brethren—the speed, extension, and control<br />
one expects from a high-end transistor amp<br />
without any associated brightness. It has the<br />
natural timbre and sonic realism we typically<br />
associate with tubes, coupled with startling<br />
transparency and holographic imaging. Pace,<br />
rhythm, and timing freaks will love this thing.<br />
Reviewed by JH, AVgM, Issue 5<br />
McIntosh MC275 Series IV<br />
$3700<br />
mcintoshlabs.com<br />
Although the MC275 IV sports a handsome<br />
retro look, it is in no sense a literal replica of the<br />
original. No tube amplifier known to PS from this<br />
period, and few he’s heard since, boast the 275’s<br />
overall neutrality, transparency, and low noise floor<br />
(almost like listening to a solid-state amp).<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 158<br />
Audio Research 300.2<br />
$3995<br />
audioresearch.com<br />
ARC calls this a Class-T design (because it uses<br />
the Tri-Path module), but in a broad sense it is a<br />
44 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
switching amplifier with similarities to Class D<br />
designs. It has a dynamic liveliness that causes<br />
drums and plucked instruments like guitars to<br />
really stand out in the mix, and bass is very well<br />
defined. Detail is quite good, and the overall sound<br />
is a bit forward at first—something that goes<br />
away after a few days of constant play. Imaging is<br />
somewhat diffuse, but with 300Wpc into 8 ohms,<br />
and 500 into 4 ohms, its performance is high and<br />
its price comparatively inexpensive.<br />
Reviewed by Tom Martin, Issue 164<br />
Balanced AudioTechnology<br />
VK-55<br />
$3995<br />
balanced.com<br />
A remarkable amp and terrific value, BAT’s 55-<br />
watt tube model may not be as revealing as some,<br />
but it offers a high degree of harmonic, textural,<br />
rhythmic, and ambient information within the<br />
context of a musical whole. Tonally, the VK-55<br />
is a bit warmer than neutral, with a gorgeous,<br />
well-balanced midrange, an easy, natural top<br />
end, and quite respectable weight in the bass. A<br />
3-D soundstage and tight focus round out the<br />
virtues of this highly musical design.<br />
Reviewed by SK with WG comment, Issue<br />
153<br />
Meridian G57<br />
$3995<br />
meridian-usa.com<br />
Rated at 200Wpc into eight ohms, the G57<br />
is capable of delivering a full kilowatt, when<br />
bridged, into four ohms. As with other G Series<br />
components, the sound is expansive, soothing,<br />
and relaxing, yet with plenty of moxie when<br />
needed. The soundstage is impressively<br />
broad, tall, and deep. And almost as<br />
gorgeous as the sound is the sleek<br />
new full-width look, featuring all-metal<br />
construction along with Meridian’s<br />
traditional black glass accents.<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 152<br />
$5000–$10,000<br />
Classé Delta CA-2200<br />
$5000<br />
classeaudio.com<br />
With 200Wpc into 8 ohms and 400Wpc into<br />
4 ohms, the 2200 delivers effortless, fullybalanced<br />
power of exceptional control<br />
and refinement into even the most<br />
difficult loads. The 2200’s bass, while<br />
not the deepest, has uncanny pitch and<br />
timbre. Images and soundstaging are<br />
well-focused and richly layered; the<br />
back panel is an installer’s paradise of<br />
connectivity. (Also available in a fivechannel<br />
version, the CA-5200.)<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 154<br />
Kharma Matrix MP-150<br />
monoblocks<br />
$6800<br />
kharma.com<br />
Class D circuitry is the latest craze. Virtually<br />
every amplifier manufacturer puts out<br />
a version of it (many based on B&O’s<br />
ICEpower module, although this Kharma<br />
amp has been designed in house). The<br />
amazing thing is that each Class D amp, ICEpowered<br />
or not, sounds different—each has<br />
a sonic signature similar to the conventional<br />
amps in the manufacturer’s line. In Kharma’s<br />
case, there are no other amps in its line; this<br />
is its first. Happily, it is a winner, with a topto-bottom<br />
transparency that allows for a<br />
very detailed, surprisingly lively, and tonally<br />
accurate presentation.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
Air Tight ATM 300<br />
$7000<br />
axiss-usa.com<br />
The Air Tight ATM 300 is one of the<br />
handful of 300B SET amplifiers that lays<br />
claim to magical sound extending beyond<br />
the midrange. This amp’s airy highs, natural<br />
tonality, and low-bass extension defy common<br />
perceptions of 300B SETs.<br />
Reviewed by Scot Markwell, Issue 128<br />
Parasound Halo JC 1<br />
$7000<br />
parasound.com<br />
The latest collaboration between legendary<br />
designer John Curl and Parasound has<br />
resulted in the Halo JC 1: “…silky-smooth,<br />
crystal clear, and abundantly detailed. The<br />
kind you could listen to all day long without<br />
fatigue.”<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 141<br />
Mark Levinson No. 432<br />
$8000<br />
marklevinson.com<br />
The No. 432 stereo power amplifier embodies<br />
the classic Mark Levinson sound, with a slightly<br />
laidback and inviting perspective, tremendous<br />
soundstage depth and dimensionality, and a<br />
rock-solid bottom end.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 161
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Pass Labs X350.5<br />
$8000<br />
passlabs.com<br />
A 350Wpc solid-state stereo amp that has what<br />
Pass amps always seem to have in abundance:<br />
remarkable midrange presence and immediacy.<br />
A little darker-sounding and less bloomy than<br />
something like an Edge 10.1, it is exceptionally<br />
lively from top to bottom, with exceptionally<br />
good deep bass. and fast sweet treble.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
Balanced Audio Technology<br />
VK-75SE<br />
$8500<br />
balanced.com<br />
BAT’s VK-75SE is a tube design that, while<br />
displaying many of the attributes we love about<br />
glowing glass—smoothness, liquidity, depth,<br />
harmonic complexity—does so with, as reviewer<br />
Sue Kraft puts it, a “lack of candy-coating in the<br />
midrange.” In addition, the VK-75SE is virtually<br />
grain-free and excels at dynamics.<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 133<br />
MBL 8011<br />
$9075<br />
mbl-hifi.com<br />
The 8011 delivers a smooth, clear, grain-free<br />
sound that if anything is slightly soft, tonally<br />
speaking. With 1100 watts of peak pulse<br />
power, the MBL never shows signs of strain,<br />
while its low noise and excellent resolution<br />
allow recordings to sound as musical as<br />
they can.<br />
Reviewed by REG, Issue 135<br />
Edge G8+<br />
$9999<br />
edgeamps.com<br />
The Edge designs do not sound much like what<br />
we expect from solid-state electronics, as they<br />
lack the darkness and grain that so frequently<br />
plague even the best examples of the type. That<br />
said, there’s no faux vacuum-tube sound here<br />
either, just a remarkable sense of neutrality,<br />
openness, and detail that doesn’t draw attention<br />
to itself but that instead serves the music. When<br />
compared to the best tube models, the only<br />
things lacking are the last degrees of air, decay,<br />
and harmonic bloom.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 149<br />
46 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
$10,000–$20,000<br />
Simaudio Moon W 8<br />
$10,500<br />
simaudio.com<br />
This 80-pound, dual mono, bridgeable amplifier<br />
is Simaudio’s premier stereo unit, boasting<br />
250Wpc into 8 ohms (an even thousand when<br />
bridged). Like its companion preamplifier the P<br />
8, the W 8 is tonally neutral, has iron control<br />
yet exquisite finesse, and appears to do nothing<br />
but amplify the signal fed to it. At $10,500,<br />
on a watts/dollar basis, the W 8 can hardly be<br />
considered “good value,” but its performance<br />
cannot be faulted in any particular, and it’s hard<br />
to imagine anything ever going wrong with<br />
it, which means it could very likely be the last<br />
amplifier you’ll ever buy.<br />
Reviewed by PS in this issue<br />
Mark Levinson No. 436<br />
monoblocks<br />
$12,500<br />
Smooth, sophisticated and superbly musical,<br />
the Levinson 436 power amp is the definition<br />
of refinement. There’s no lack of detail or<br />
three-dimensionality anywhere in sight with this<br />
350Wpc powerhouse. Images are beautifully<br />
layered and sculpted, with rock-solid control<br />
in the bottom octaves, as well. The overall<br />
presentation is eminently easy on the ears,<br />
relaxing and a bit dark and laidback, ever so<br />
gracefully pulling the listener into the music in<br />
what can only be described as classic Levinson<br />
style. With build-quality beyond reproach, it’s<br />
plain to see why Levinson has survived as a<br />
stalwart of the audio industry for over three<br />
decades.<br />
Sue Kraft (review forthcoming)<br />
Edge NL10.1 and NL12.1<br />
$13,500 and $18,500<br />
edgeamp.com<br />
Except for authority and the last word in<br />
dynamic capability, the 225Wpc NL10.1 stereo<br />
amp is indistinguishable from its monoblock<br />
400Wpc big brother, the Signature NL1.1. Its<br />
sound is so addictively pure you’ll want to keep<br />
turning it up, which is where the 300Wpc NL12.1<br />
(essentially a stereo Signature NL1.1) comes in.<br />
If gorgeous midrange tone<br />
color and superb resolution<br />
of delicate performancerelated<br />
details like a pianist’s<br />
touch or a cellist’s bowing<br />
are your first priorities, you<br />
simply can’t go wrong with<br />
either of these amps.<br />
HP/JV<br />
Pass Labs XA160<br />
$18,000<br />
passlabs.com<br />
“An amplifier with soul,” the XA160 is the most<br />
“tube-like” transistor amp AHC has heard. Its<br />
sound is warmer than most, and the music<br />
emerges from deep black silence. Moreover, its<br />
soundstage depth matches its width, dynamics<br />
are musically natural and slightly “soft,” and the<br />
amp has terrific harmonic integrity.<br />
Reviewed by AHC, Issue 149<br />
$20,000 and above<br />
Audio Research Reference 210<br />
monoblocks<br />
$20,000<br />
audioresearch.com<br />
Audio Research Corporation has been making<br />
Class A/B, 6550-based, pentode-tube power<br />
amplifiers since HP first applied the term<br />
“high end” to audio gear. In better than thirty<br />
exceptional years, the company has not made<br />
better amps than the 220Wpc Reference 210<br />
monoblocks, which are significantly faster, lower<br />
in noise, more extended in bandwidth, and<br />
higher in resolution and dynamic range than any<br />
previous ARC efforts, without a sacrifice of the<br />
bloom, air, size, and space that ARC pentode<br />
amps are famous for. JV’s high-powered tube<br />
references.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 159<br />
Balanced Audio Technology VK-<br />
600SE monoblocks<br />
$23,000<br />
balanced.com<br />
This fully-loaded version of the VK-600<br />
(it’s also available as a stereo amp, and in the<br />
standard, rather than SE, version) possesses a<br />
remarkable transparency and immediacy that<br />
are musically vivid without being sonically<br />
vivid, although soundstage depth is slightly<br />
foreshortened. The top end is extremely<br />
smooth and non-fatiguing, with perhaps a very<br />
slight loss of air in the upper treble. The VK-<br />
600SE’s 300W into eight ohms, and ability to<br />
double its power output as the load impedance<br />
is halved, make it a powerhouse that will drive<br />
virtually any loudspeaker. Needs an unusually<br />
long warm-up to sound its best.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 159
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Lamm ML2.1 monoblocks<br />
$29,990<br />
lammindustries.com<br />
The single-ended-triode ML2.1 sounds nothing<br />
like the typical SET. It does not trade off<br />
accuracy for euphony; it is not bandwidthlimited<br />
(its bass and treble are sensationally<br />
extended); and it is surprisingly powerful<br />
sounding (though not particularly “bloomy”)<br />
within its 17-watt limits. Given a sufficiently<br />
sensitive speaker—such as the Avantgarde Trio,<br />
the Nearfield Acoustics Pipedreams, the Quad<br />
57s (magical!), or virtually any Kharma—the<br />
ML2.1 will produce one of the most detailed,<br />
spacious, dynamic sounds on the market. Like<br />
all Lamm products, the ML2.1s are a bit dark in<br />
balance, very quiet, and very reliable. JV’s lowpower<br />
reference.<br />
JV<br />
MBL 9008 monoblocks<br />
$40,000<br />
mblusa.com<br />
These 440Wpc junior versions of the 9011<br />
monoblocks (see below) sound very much like<br />
their bigger brothers, which is to say they have<br />
sensational (albeit not quite 9011-level) front-toback<br />
transparency; low-level resolution; large- and<br />
small-scale dynamics; low-end extension, detail,<br />
and authority; and treble speed, detail, and punch.<br />
They are also blessed with gorgeous tone color<br />
and a top-to-bottom liquidity that (along with a<br />
slight overall darkness) is an MBL signature.<br />
JV<br />
Krell Evolution One<br />
monoblocks<br />
$50,000<br />
krellonline.com<br />
At this price (for a mono pair), the point of<br />
diminishing returns for dollars-to-soundquality<br />
borders on madness. It is, however, as<br />
AHC points out, a glorious madness. While<br />
the Evolution One is not a radical sonic<br />
breakthrough, the best aspects of the original<br />
Krell sound-character and “voicing” have been<br />
preserved, but the original virtues of deepbass<br />
power and rich natural timbre have been<br />
steadily enhanced, while air, life, microdynamics,<br />
soundstage depth and detail, and the upper<br />
octaves have improved to contenders for the<br />
state-of-the-art. A true sonic benchmark you<br />
really need to listen to.<br />
Reviewed by AHC, Issue 158<br />
48 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
MBL 9011 monoblocks<br />
$74,000<br />
mbl.com<br />
Driven by the MBL 6010 D preamp, the<br />
massive, super-powerful, ultra-expensive MBL<br />
9011 monoblocks are superior by a wide margin<br />
to any other solid-state amps JV has auditioned,<br />
past or present. The first transistor amps JV<br />
has heard that fully combine the signal virtues<br />
of solid-state amps (extension, resolution,<br />
speed, sock) with those of tube amps (liquidity,<br />
rich timbres, and very low-level harmonic and<br />
dynamic detail), giving you nearly the whole<br />
note of any instrument, from starting transient<br />
to (and this is a first with solid-state) lingering<br />
decay.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
Integrated<br />
Amplifiers<br />
Under $1000<br />
NAD C 320BEE<br />
$399<br />
nadelectronics.com<br />
Like one of those amazing ten-dollar wines that<br />
leaves you wondering “Why spend more” the<br />
50Wpc C 320BEE offers such a strong taste<br />
of the high end that you might be tempted to<br />
think it doesn’t get any better than this. It does,<br />
of course, but you’ll have to spend at least a<br />
grand before the difference is worth it. Also<br />
noteworthy is NAD’s C 370 ($699), which,<br />
though not quite as refined as the 320BEE, is a<br />
great choice for those who need more power.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 140<br />
Cambridge Azur 540A v2<br />
$459<br />
cambridgeaudio.com<br />
The Azur 540A is quite an overachiever,<br />
delivering ultra-smooth and almost tube-like<br />
liquidity from a budget solid-state integrated<br />
amplifier. The amplifier sounds more powerful<br />
than its 60Wpc rating, and a host of clever<br />
protection circuitry prevents amplifier or speaker<br />
damage. Nice build-quality, lots of features, and<br />
an outstanding remote control round out this<br />
tremendous bargain.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 162<br />
Rotel RA 1062<br />
$699<br />
rotel.com<br />
Don’t let this amp’s 60-watt rating or modest<br />
price temper your expectations. It’s capable<br />
of towering dynamics, spellbinding nuance,<br />
vivid transient attacks, and robust, tuneful bass,<br />
combined with an uncolored and surprisingly<br />
transparent sound that is thrilling to hear.<br />
Deficiencies include a reduction of dynamic<br />
scale, minor congestion during complex<br />
passages, and a not-unpleasant gloss over<br />
high frequencies. None of this keeps the RA<br />
1062 from delivering an engrossing musical<br />
experience.<br />
Reviewed by AT, Issue 149<br />
Jolida JD-1000A<br />
$900<br />
jolida.com<br />
High-powered vacuum-tube power amps can<br />
get very pricey, which makes this $900 100Wpc<br />
tube-powered integrated amp that much more<br />
of a pleasant surprise. Because of the extra<br />
dynamic headroom it affords, the JD-1000A’s<br />
power comes in handy even if you don’t listen<br />
at loud volume levels. Sonically, the Jolida<br />
combines the signature sounds of two classic<br />
tubes: the EL-34 and the 6550. This amp blends<br />
the characteristic midrange liquidity of great<br />
EL-34 designs, with the punch, impact, and<br />
rock-solid bass performance of the best 6550<br />
designs.<br />
Reviewed by JD, AVgM, Issue 14<br />
$1000–$2000<br />
PrimaLuna ProLogue<br />
One<br />
$1095<br />
upscaleaudio.com<br />
The sweet and affordable ProLogue One<br />
features a 12AX7, 12AU7, and a pair of EL-34s<br />
per channel in a very simple circuit. In classic EL-<br />
34 style, the ProLogue throws a very wide and<br />
deep soundstage, and has a wonderful midrange<br />
without sounding gooey like a Dynaco Stereo<br />
70 or other vintage design. The ProLogue One<br />
is very neutral with little signature of its own.<br />
Reviewed by JD, Issue 151<br />
Naim Nait 5i<br />
$1425<br />
naimusa.com<br />
Naim’s entry-level Nait 5i is a 50Wpc integrated,<br />
apparently straightforward in circuitry. None of<br />
this prepares you for what this amp can do with<br />
music. It gives each instrument a rich harmonic<br />
structure, while preserving the clarity that’s on<br />
the recording. The Nait resolves the traditional<br />
tube versus transistor dilemma, while imposing<br />
relatively modest tradeoffs on the listener.<br />
Given its moderate power output, this is not the<br />
ideal amplifier for big rooms or low-sensitivity<br />
speakers. Otherwise, the Nait is not only a great
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
amplifier for the money, it is an outright great<br />
amplifier.<br />
Reviewed by TM, AVgM, Issue 7<br />
YBA Design YA201<br />
$1649<br />
ybadesign.com<br />
The first product from YBA’s value-oriented<br />
sub-brand, YBA Design, the YA201 is a polished<br />
100Wpc performer. Even before you hear it,<br />
you’ll flip over this amplifier’s exquisite fit and<br />
finish and sleek industrial design, all of which<br />
set new benchmarks in its price class. Sonically,<br />
the YA201 delivers the downright seductive<br />
midrange for which YBA components are<br />
famous, plus a generous helping of transparency<br />
and good response at the frequency extremes.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 164<br />
Cyrus 8vs<br />
$1795<br />
soundorg.com<br />
All-around musicality is one of the Cyrus 8-series’<br />
greatest strengths, with terrific musical timbre<br />
and that sense of rightness and naturalness<br />
that one hears in a live performance. The music<br />
“breathed” and had such a touch of sweetness<br />
and warmth, that reviewer JH thought at times<br />
he was listening to tubes instead of solid-state.<br />
Reviewed by JH, Issue 158<br />
Vincent SV-236<br />
$1795<br />
vincentaudio.com<br />
The well-built Vincent SV-236 integrated<br />
amplifier combines the best of two worlds<br />
by providing a vacuum-tube preamp<br />
driving a 100Wpc solid-state power<br />
amplifier. Listeners will appreciate the<br />
Vincent’s combination of deep, powerful,<br />
authoritative solid-state bass and tubefueled<br />
delicacy, shimmering detail, and almost<br />
surround-like imaging.<br />
Reviewed by BW, Issue 156<br />
Cayin Audio A 88T<br />
$1995<br />
acousticsounds.com<br />
This all-tube integrated is PS’s favorite kind of<br />
audio component: wonderful performance at<br />
a reasonable price. Costing a mere fiver under<br />
two grand, this hand built honey boasts fit and<br />
finish that would do McIntosh proud, while its<br />
designer freely admits it was made to sound like<br />
Mc’s fabled MC275. A no apologies necessary,<br />
50 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
low-price alternative to the latter, it will drive<br />
any version of Quad electrostatics and fine<br />
mini-monitors with a sound that is sweet and<br />
seductive, yet also vibrant and dynamic.<br />
PS (review forthcoming)<br />
$2000–$3000<br />
Pathos Classic One MK III<br />
$2750<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
This is not only a fine amplifier; it is beautiful in<br />
every sense of the word. But if sheer dynamic<br />
scale and loudness are priorities, this 70Wpc<br />
tube model may not be for you. Instead, this is<br />
an amplifier that always gets the tone, timbre,<br />
and balance of music right, but only if played<br />
at natural levels and over reasonably sensitive<br />
speakers. Though dynamic scale is undeniably<br />
reduced, this is a negligible price to pay when<br />
the reward is reproduction of instruments and<br />
voices that sound so recognizably real.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 160<br />
NAD Masters Series M3<br />
$2795<br />
nadelectronics.com<br />
Not since the coolly received Silver Series of a<br />
decade ago has NAD made such a no-holdsbarred<br />
effort. Bristling with oomph, this pure<br />
dual-mono design boasts build-quality that<br />
shames some tonier brands. With 180Wpc on<br />
reserve it conveys an easy-going neutrality and<br />
cushiony refinement. Bass is as controlled and<br />
extended as any integrated NG has encountered.<br />
It may not have quite the air and bloom in the<br />
treble of the premium-spread überamps, but it<br />
comes scary close. Another bargain from the<br />
company that minted the term.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 163<br />
Ayre AX-7e<br />
$2950<br />
ayre.com<br />
The AX-7 has all the hallmarks of the Ayre<br />
sound, but scaled down in output power. This<br />
beautifully made integrated has dimensionality,<br />
openness, image specificity, and transparency<br />
that rival much more expensive separates. Don’t<br />
be put off by the modest 60Wpc output rating;<br />
the AX-7 sounds robust and has bass extension<br />
that belies its modest specification.<br />
AX-7 reviewed by RH, Issue 134<br />
Audio Research VSi55<br />
$2995<br />
audioresearch.com<br />
The VSi55 serves up a rich midrange, combined<br />
with smooth—but never dull—treble, and with<br />
the right speakers (those with smooth lowfrequency<br />
impedance curves), its bass can be<br />
powerful and well-controlled. This amp also<br />
handles dynamics with greater authority than its<br />
power rating would suggest, while conveying a<br />
sense of the musical whole. Avoid using with<br />
ported speakers that have large impedance peaks<br />
in the bass (which can result in a thick, bloated<br />
sound). And be aware that the VSi55 trades<br />
away some of the transparency you would hear<br />
through a good transistor amplifier in order to<br />
give you the natural, relaxed, “holistic” sound<br />
of tubes.<br />
Reviewed by TM, AVgM, Issue 1<br />
Plinius 9200<br />
$3695<br />
$3000 and above<br />
plinius.com<br />
The 9200 is a thorough and timely re-imagining<br />
of the brilliant but aging 8150/8200. Still<br />
compact in size, it pumps out a healthy 200Wpc,<br />
and thanks to its strong Class A bias, the 9200<br />
is sweeter and richer than ever. Even the allnew<br />
phonostage is quieter and more dynamic.<br />
Sonics have developed a beautiful patina. Bass<br />
doesn’t sound as darkly ominous or extended<br />
as in years past, but control and definition are<br />
strikingly improved. A major leap forward for<br />
a reference integrated at its price—and perhaps<br />
any price.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 156<br />
Balanced Audio Techncology<br />
VK-300X<br />
$3995–$5995 (depending on options)<br />
balanced.com<br />
Available in your choice of three different<br />
preamp stages—solid-state, tube, or 6H30<br />
“SuperTube”—BAT’s VK-300X is a great<br />
integrated amplifier. Although refinements<br />
occur with each upgrade, its basic sound is<br />
airy, detailed, harmonically well-structured,<br />
and very immediate. And with 150Wpc output,<br />
it will not only drive pretty much any speaker,<br />
but it will do so with dynamic authority as well as<br />
agility. Music Editor Bob Gendron’s reference.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 138<br />
Thule Audio’s Spirit IA350B<br />
Integrated Amplifier<br />
$3995<br />
thule-audio.com<br />
The Danish Thule (pronounced “toola”)<br />
integrated amplifier offers extended frequency<br />
response, rich bass, a subtle and startlingly
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
transparent midrange, and shimmering beautiful<br />
highs. The Thule makes lyrics come through<br />
with new clarity; violins have rosiny bite; midtones<br />
shimmer and breathe. The soundstage is<br />
wide and deep. If you have good, clean speakers<br />
and you like sound that is clear, yet rich in depth<br />
and dynamics, with great midrange magic, SR<br />
will wager you will love the Thule IA-350B<br />
integrated amp.<br />
Reviewed by SR, Issue 161<br />
Edge G3<br />
$4950<br />
edgeamps.com<br />
Although it lacks some of the technical<br />
refinements that make Edge’s separates special,<br />
it’s remarkable how close this integrated design<br />
comes to the sound of those designs. At 85Wpc,<br />
the G3 doesn’t have the tonal “darkness” and<br />
grain frequently heard from transistor gear. It’s<br />
quite neutral in balance, with a lack of electronic<br />
artifacts—brightness, edginess, hash—that<br />
makes it unusually easy to hear “into” the<br />
music.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 152<br />
Chapter Précis<br />
$6500<br />
chapterelectronics.co.uk<br />
Driven by Chapter’s unique Class D output<br />
stage (derived from Chapter’s Couplet power<br />
amp), the Précis outputs 130Wpc, a figure that<br />
doubles into 4 ohms. Controlled by a single<br />
multi-function knob (from the Preface Plus<br />
preamp) that should be the envy of BMW<br />
owners everywhere, the Précis is breathlessly<br />
quiet, fast off the mark, and notable for its<br />
lack of coloration. Truly an integrated that<br />
is exploring the outer limits of what this<br />
technology can achieve.<br />
NG (review forthcoming)<br />
Stereo Receivers<br />
OutlawAudio RR2150<br />
$599<br />
outlawaudio.com<br />
Despite its retro looks, the Outlaw Audio<br />
RR2150 is a thoroughly modern design. It<br />
has a warm, musical sound, and allows easy<br />
connections to an iPod or other MP3 player via<br />
its 3.5mm front-panel AUX input, or streaming<br />
audio from a computer via a USB connector<br />
on the rear, almost begging you to hook up<br />
your iPod and computer to step up your sound<br />
52 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
quality. It also sports a decent phonostage that<br />
can drive both mm and mc cartridges.<br />
Reviewed by JH, Issue 164<br />
Rotel RX-1052<br />
$899<br />
rotel.com<br />
Following the Rotel tradition, this stereo receiver<br />
employs proven techniques to produce better<br />
sound. Good internal parts, a beefy, custom<br />
toroidal transformer mated with high-quality<br />
storage capacitors and quality binding posts,<br />
among them. Pick this unit up and you’ll realize<br />
you’re not dealing with a lightweight. Appealing<br />
to analog lovers, Rotel even includes a decent<br />
moving-magnet phonostage.<br />
Reviewed by JH, Issue 164<br />
Arcam Solo<br />
$1599<br />
arcam.co.uk<br />
More than a receiver, Arcam’s versatile Solo<br />
combines a sophisticated 50Wpc integrated<br />
amplifier, a sweet-sounding AM/FM/DAB<br />
tuner, and a very good mid-level CD player<br />
in one slim, attractively priced package. It<br />
functions as a more-or-less state-of-the-art<br />
alarm clock, too. The appeal of this product<br />
is that it provides an extremely compact and<br />
convenient platform upon which to base good,<br />
budget high-end systems. Though not the last<br />
word in transparency, detail, or performance<br />
at the frequency extremes, the Solo’s sound is<br />
nevertheless suave, self-assured, and emotionally<br />
expressive.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 156<br />
Preamplifiers<br />
NAD C 162<br />
$599<br />
Under $1000<br />
nadelectronics.com<br />
Following other NAD products, the C 162<br />
delivers plenty of resolution and threedimensionality<br />
while—more importantly—<br />
emphasizing the kind of overall musicality<br />
that draws out the natural warmth and<br />
expressiveness of instruments and voices. To<br />
get the most from it, try matching it with the<br />
companion C 272 amplifier via a set of PNF<br />
Audio Icon interconnects and Symphony<br />
speaker cables. Also features an astonishingly<br />
good phonostage; some listeners may buy it for<br />
that feature alone.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 148<br />
Rogue Audio Metis<br />
$995<br />
rogueaudio.com<br />
Rogue Audio’s award-winning Metis is a<br />
USA-made, vacuum tube-powered (6SN7-<br />
based) preamplifier. The dynamic liveliness<br />
and harmonic richness we expect in any good<br />
tube designs are present here, and at levels that<br />
remind us of the sound of $2500 tube preamps.<br />
But unlike tube designs that sound focused in<br />
the midrange but soft at the frequency extremes,<br />
the Metis’ great strength is sound that remains<br />
evenly balanced and finely resolved from top<br />
to bottom. The icing on the cake is that the<br />
Metis includes a thoroughly competent (if<br />
unspectacular) mm phonostage.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 160<br />
Quad 99 and QC-24<br />
$999 (each)<br />
iagamerica.com<br />
Along with a dandy mm and mc phonostage,<br />
the Quad 99 features a novel “tilt” control for<br />
tone correction that works like a charm when<br />
you need it. A solid middle-level performer, it<br />
lacks the ultimate transparency, liveliness, and<br />
dynamic openness of the very best units. The<br />
all-tube QC-24 linestage is the least expensive to<br />
suggest that elusive quality of “continuousness”<br />
in its presentation. The QC-24 has first-rate<br />
imaging in all dimensions, and a lively, engaging,<br />
remarkably neutral presentation.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issues 128 and 135<br />
$1000–$2000<br />
PrimaLuna ProLogue 3<br />
$1295<br />
upscaleaudio.com<br />
The vacuum-tube-powered ProLogue 3 preamp<br />
makes an ideal companion to PrimaLuna’s<br />
ProLogue 5 tube power amp. Like the power<br />
amp, the preamp combines traditional tube<br />
warmth and richness with a clear, crisp, precise<br />
presentation reminiscent of the best solid-state<br />
designs. Bass, too, is taut and clear.<br />
Reviewed by SR, Issue 156<br />
Sonic Euphoria PLC Passive Line<br />
Controller<br />
$1295, single-ended;$1995, fully balanced<br />
When it comes to lack of glare, grain, coloration,
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
or electronic artifacts, the Sonic Euphoria PLC<br />
can compete with the best. But then you’d<br />
expect no less from the ultra-simplistic design<br />
of a passive. What you don’t expect to hear<br />
is no dynamic compression or loss of bass.<br />
This can be credited to designer Jeff Hagler’s<br />
autoformer-based attenuator, which affords the<br />
SE up to 10dB of gain—sans AC power cord—<br />
and output impedance low enough to drive long<br />
cable lengths without sonic degradation. Source<br />
output remains a minor concern, but after<br />
extended use, Sue Kraft reports few issues in<br />
this regard.<br />
SK (review forthcoming)<br />
Arcam FMJ C31<br />
aslgroup.com<br />
$1999<br />
Smooth and grain-free with terrific detail, the<br />
laid-back-sounding Arcam has the ability to<br />
play complex passages without apparent strain<br />
and without inducing listener fatigue. The<br />
soundstage is slightly recessed, particularly<br />
noticeable on large orchestral works, and it’s<br />
also full and deep. But no matter how smooth<br />
it sounds, the Arcam never sacrifices resolution.<br />
Nor does it have any trepidation about plunging<br />
down into the nether regions on organ music.<br />
Reviewed by Jacob Heilbrunn in this issue<br />
Cary Audio SLP-308<br />
$1999<br />
caryaudio.com<br />
While not the highest-resolution model around,<br />
this linestage bathes instruments in a pleasant<br />
and very musical golden glow. Excellent<br />
textures, too, which bring to all recordings that<br />
hard-to-define sense of life or lifelikeness that<br />
we hope for from our systems. Depth is quite<br />
good, but the third-dimension seems to end<br />
rather abruptly about two-thirds of the way into<br />
the orchestra. Likewise, stage width is slightly<br />
sheared off, as are dynamic extremes.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 154<br />
$2000–$4000<br />
Artemis Labs LA-1<br />
$3000<br />
aydn.com<br />
One of three debut components from this<br />
fledgling company, this 5687-based tube design<br />
digs deep into the heart of the music. Beautiful<br />
without being overtly romantic sounding, the<br />
LA-1 is exceptionally holographic, dynamically<br />
lively, tonally and texturally natural, and,<br />
audiophile-speak aside, simply more musically<br />
54 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
engaging than most of the competition in this<br />
range. Exciting stuff.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 155<br />
Sutherland The Director<br />
$3000<br />
acousticsounds.com<br />
An unusually lovely-sounding solid-stage<br />
linestage, The Director’s character is easygoing,<br />
sweet, and rather romantic. It has the thinnest<br />
layer of solid-state opaqueness, and slightly<br />
pinches low-level dynamic nuances, but the<br />
upper registers are sweet and extended, the<br />
midrange warm, the soundstage big and open<br />
with excellent depth, and the overall musical<br />
presentation quite expressive.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 155<br />
Meridian G02<br />
$3295<br />
meridian-audio.com<br />
The G02 controller replaces its predecessor,<br />
the 502, and features balanced dual-mono<br />
construction as well as a unique dual-differential<br />
volume control. SK called it “effortless, refined,<br />
and absolutely gorgeous” when combined with<br />
Meridian’s other G Series gear, concluding,<br />
“these machines have class written in spades all<br />
over them.”<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 152<br />
Classé Delta CP-500<br />
$3500<br />
classeaudio.com<br />
Electronics have no right looking this sharp<br />
and sexy, but Classé’s Delta Series proves it<br />
can be done. Clean, curvilinear good looks<br />
and a bright, touchscreen TFT display make<br />
the CP-500 one of the most “able”-minded<br />
preamps out there—able as in adjustable,<br />
assignable, and renamable. Sonics feature a<br />
chocolate-like midbass, a midrange with almost<br />
tube-like warmth, and an overall effortless and<br />
relaxed quality. Thanks to a low noise floor,<br />
delicate inner voices unfold with a full range of<br />
expression.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 154<br />
$4000–$5000<br />
Conrad-Johnson<br />
Premier 18LS<br />
$4000<br />
conradjohnson.com<br />
C-J’s Premier 18LS is a remote-controlled<br />
solid-state linestage that handles microdynamic<br />
changes in musical energy with the lifelike<br />
realism and excitement of the best tube models.<br />
Also, like tubes, it never sacrifices soundstage<br />
depth for width and honors the music in a<br />
natural way, without exaggerated detail.<br />
Reviewed by AHC, Issue 151<br />
Edge G2<br />
$4395<br />
edgeamps.com<br />
Like its amps, Edge’s preamps are a different<br />
kind of solid-state—grain-free, open, neutral but<br />
not cold, and not at all dark or grainy. The sound<br />
described is with the G2 powered by its internal<br />
gel batteries. When the G2 is driven by AC, the<br />
sound is noticeably drier, hashier, and less magical.<br />
But given that the batteries only need charging<br />
once a week—and when you’re not listening<br />
critically (or at all), they charge themselves in the<br />
AC mode—this is not a practical concern.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 149<br />
Aesthetix Calypso<br />
$4500<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
The all-tube Calypso delivers most of the<br />
performance of Aesthetix’ two-box $13,000<br />
Callisto linestage for about a third the price. What’s<br />
more, the Calypso benefits from Aesthetix’ secondgeneration<br />
styling, functionality, and industrial<br />
design. Sonically, the Calypso is characterized by<br />
extremely wide dynamics, with an effortlessness in<br />
reproducing dynamic shadings along a continuum.<br />
Although the treble is smooth and somewhat<br />
laid-back, transparency and detail resolution are<br />
first-rate. Noise floor is highly dependent on tube<br />
quality, which has been variable. Competes with<br />
the megabuck preamps. The Calypso is musically<br />
stunning and beautifully built.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 151<br />
McIntosh C46 and C2200<br />
$4600 and $4900<br />
mcintoshlabs.com<br />
Sonically and functionally a great preamplifier,<br />
the solid-state C46 eschews the folly of<br />
minimalism in favor of a truly useful set of<br />
controls and features, including an eight-band<br />
equalizer that is even up to correcting some<br />
room-related problems. It also has an excellent<br />
phonostage. In day-to-day use PS has never<br />
experienced a more pleasurable unit. McIntosh’s<br />
first new all-tube preamp in more than 40 years,<br />
the C2200 is a triumph that sports a gallery of<br />
features (including a good phonostage) and<br />
classic McIntosh sound. The midrange is the<br />
most neutral PS has heard in any tube unit,<br />
the bass response is equally fine, at once firm<br />
yet natural, and the highs are sweet, pure, and<br />
extended. If PS were to go back to tubes, this<br />
would be his reference preamplifier.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 147
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
$5000–$10,000<br />
Balanced Audio Technology VK-<br />
31SE<br />
$5495 (remote option adds $500, phono<br />
option adds $500)<br />
balanced.com<br />
Now equipped with BAT’s SUPER-PAK,<br />
a feature that doubles the power-supply<br />
capability over that of the earlier VK-30SE,<br />
the 31SE lends a slight emphasis to the upper<br />
midrange but is otherwise a highly musical and<br />
dynamically nimble performer. It has musical<br />
detail, with lots of air and harmonic color, good<br />
staging, and the ability to let the music breathe.<br />
Requires a long break-in period.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 156<br />
Pass Labs X1<br />
$5900<br />
passlabs.com<br />
Remarkably similar in sound to the $10,000<br />
XO.2 (the main difference is in the power<br />
supply), Pass Labs’ X1 has the kind of natural air<br />
and harmonic sweetness we normally associate<br />
with tubes, as well as superb deep bass, overall<br />
neutrality, and good dynamic contrasts.<br />
Reviewed by AHC, Issue 128<br />
Hovland HP-100<br />
$6500 (with mc phonostage)<br />
hovlandcompany.com<br />
The Hovland HP-100 captures<br />
the essential “rightness” of music<br />
without sounding nearly as “hi-fi” as<br />
most of its competition. It is not, in<br />
longer-term listening, difficult to hear<br />
its flaws, but the HP-100 reminds us<br />
just how clinical, ultimately, almost all<br />
components sound, and does so by<br />
sounding as “unclinical” as anything<br />
HP has heard.<br />
Reviewed by PB, Issue 131; HP’s<br />
Workshop, Issues 131 and 137<br />
Hovland HP-200<br />
$7500 (add $2000 for P-200 phonostage)<br />
hovlandcompany.com<br />
An uncommonly beautiful piece of audio gear,<br />
Hovland’s HP-200 is an elegant, detailed, and<br />
natural-sounding preamplifier. Its detail doesn’t<br />
wow you in that “I never heard it like that<br />
before” sort of way, but rather in a way that<br />
reveals the inner workings of a performance.<br />
Its elegance is expressed as an ability to<br />
effortlessly connect musical dots and lines.<br />
And it’s natural in that it allows instrumental<br />
and vocal timbres and textures to sound like<br />
themselves, and it also brings the human<br />
element out of a recording that conveys the<br />
emotion in a score.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 162<br />
56 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
MBL 5011<br />
$8382<br />
mbl-germany.de<br />
MBL is making some of the most gorgeoussounding<br />
electronics out there, with a sound<br />
that comes remarkably close to marrying the<br />
best virtues of tube and solid-state designs. And<br />
though this linestage model may not have quite<br />
the richness of tone color, energy, dynamic<br />
swing, detail, and mind-boggling transparency<br />
you’ll hear with its $18,920 big brother 6010<br />
D, it comes mighty close at a price that, if not<br />
inexpensive, makes it a genuine value among<br />
state-of-the-art electronics.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 164<br />
Balanced Audio Technology<br />
VK-51SE<br />
$9000 (with remote option)<br />
balanced.com<br />
BAT’s VK-51SE is as fully featured as linestages<br />
come, and uses the 6H30 “Super Tube” to<br />
deliver super sound. The big BAT has unlimited<br />
dynamic swing at all volume levels, and never<br />
loses its composure no matter how loud you<br />
crank it. In terms of how it compares to the<br />
competition, if ARC is a little on the lively side<br />
of neutral, the BAT is just on the softer side,<br />
with considerable depth and texture, without<br />
actually being dark.<br />
Reviewed by SB, Issue 143<br />
$10,000 and above<br />
ARC Reference 3<br />
$10,000<br />
audioresearch.com<br />
The best tube preamp ARC has made in 30+<br />
years of often-classic efforts, the best tube<br />
preamp money can buy at this writing, and (in<br />
JV’s view) one of the two best preamps. Like<br />
its companion piece, the Reference 210 power<br />
amp, this is the first ARC tube preamp with the<br />
speed, resolution, bandwidth, and low noise<br />
floor of a great solid-state unit. Superior in<br />
tone color, bloom, soundstaging, imaging, and<br />
in-the-room-with-you presence to its only real<br />
competition—the superb MBL 6010 D solidstate<br />
preamp. JV’s tube reference.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 159<br />
Mark Levinson No. 326S<br />
$10,000<br />
marklevinson.com<br />
The No. 326 possesses greater transparency and<br />
fidelity to the source than previous ML preamps,<br />
with less of the characteristic ML house sound.<br />
Astonishingly focused, and detailed, yet smooth,<br />
suave, and sophisticated. Superb features and<br />
ergonomics make the No. 326S a pleasure to<br />
use on a daily basis. RH’s reference preamp.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 161<br />
Edge Signature 1.1<br />
$10,900<br />
edgeamp.com<br />
Unusual because it can be powered by either<br />
batteries or AC, the Edge—when powered by<br />
batteries, please note—has a glorious top end,<br />
a rich middle register, a wonderfully complex<br />
harmonic structure, and delivers plenty of<br />
ambient information. What it lacks is vocal<br />
body, low-frequency punch, and the last word<br />
in dynamic wallop.<br />
JV<br />
Simaudio Moon P 8<br />
$11,000<br />
simaudio.com<br />
If it weren’t for the absence of a mode (i.e.,<br />
stereo/mono) switch, PS would find this<br />
two-channel, dual-chassis, dualmono<br />
preamplifier literally perfect<br />
as regards function and user<br />
friendliness. Features include remote<br />
operation and volume and balance<br />
controls that offer the greatest<br />
resolution in PS’s experience, fully<br />
balanced operation with balanced<br />
and single-ended inputs, buildquality<br />
second to none, and stylish<br />
aesthetics. The sound Like any<br />
superior modern solid-state unit, it’s<br />
tonally neutral and pretty much characterless<br />
(which means it won’t appeal to a certain kind<br />
of audiophile). Additionally, its transparency is<br />
see-through, dynamic response hair-trigger and<br />
very wide, detail amazing, with that paradoxical<br />
combination of iron grip and utter ease.<br />
Drawbacks Well, it does cost $11,000.<br />
Reviewed by PS in this issue<br />
MBL 6010 D<br />
$18,920<br />
mbl.com<br />
In most ways, the MBL 6010 D is not just the<br />
best solid-state preamp, it is the best preamp JV<br />
has auditioned. Its noise floor is so incredibly<br />
low that it consistently resolves fine harmonic
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
and dynamic details that simply aren’t audible<br />
on other great preamps. At the same time<br />
its transient speed and authority are beyond<br />
compare. To ice the cake, it has absolutely<br />
gorgeous tone color, the same liquidity and<br />
transparency that so distinguish MBL’s 9011<br />
amps, excellent imaging and soundstaging,<br />
nonpareil ambience retrieval, and the kind of<br />
resolution that can transport you back in time to<br />
the recording venue. JV’s solid-state reference.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 164<br />
Krell Evolution Two<br />
$40,000<br />
krellonline.com<br />
The Krell Evolution series puts the third<br />
dimension back in music by providing<br />
exceptional depth. It also provides exceptional<br />
reproduction of hall sounds and musical<br />
mechanics—bowing sounds, score rustling,<br />
etc.—when these are on the recording. This<br />
effect is enhanced by the imaging qualities of<br />
the Evolution Two. When the imaging on a<br />
recording is natural and detailed, the Evolution<br />
preserves the size, the place, the stability, and<br />
the layers of imaging. The result is a more open<br />
soundstage, better reproduction of life and<br />
air, and a greater ability to lose yourself in the<br />
music.<br />
Reviewed by AHC, Issue 158<br />
Phonostages<br />
Gram Amp 2 SE<br />
$399<br />
Under $2000<br />
elexatelier.com<br />
This stripped-down little bugger has a sweet,<br />
mellow sound, and very low noise and<br />
perceived distortion. It’s strictly for moving<br />
magnets and high-output moving coils. The<br />
sound is a little veiled (though remarkably<br />
grain-free), and, while not the last word in<br />
wide dynamics, has astonishing composure<br />
and musical integrity.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 134<br />
Grado PH-1<br />
$500<br />
58 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
gradolabs.com<br />
The wood-bodied PH-1 is a versatile unit<br />
that works equally well with high- and lowoutput<br />
cartridges. Though it is susceptible to<br />
environmental noise, the sound is open and easy,<br />
with an expansive soundstage, natural highs,<br />
and bass that has texture, tonal refinement, and<br />
power.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 141<br />
Phonomena<br />
$600<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
An Apollonian grace, poise, low noise, and<br />
neutrality characterize this excellent unit, which<br />
includes options for fine-tuning the loading<br />
and gain of both moving coils and moving<br />
magnets. Add the external power supply for<br />
even lower noise and distortion, and greater<br />
transparency. Some listeners may want more<br />
dynamic “punch” and personality, but this is<br />
hard to beat for low coloration. Add $600 for<br />
BPS power supply.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 133<br />
Benz Lukaschek PP-1<br />
$1350<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
A solid-state, miniaturized hideaway box<br />
powered by a wall transformer. External AC<br />
plus short signal path yields very wide dynamics<br />
and space retrieval with a comforting middleof-the-road<br />
sonic balance and airy bloom much<br />
like that of the Benz Ruby 2 cartridge, if a<br />
little darker. Warmth is enhanced by 22k input<br />
impedance.<br />
Reviewed by Arthur S. Pfeffer, Issue 127<br />
Sutherland PhD<br />
$3000<br />
$3000–$6000<br />
acousticsounds.com<br />
Ron Sutherland’s battery-powered PhD is so<br />
quiet that it takes awhile to get used to its sound.<br />
Once you’ve adjusted, expect to hear “into”<br />
your records in a way unlike before. Beyond<br />
its silence, the PhD has a tube-like liquidity,<br />
terrific detail, wonderful dynamic nuance, and<br />
remarkable transparency.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 144<br />
Artemis Labs PL-1<br />
$3520<br />
aydn.com<br />
Like its companion linestage, the PL-1 is a<br />
tube-driven phonostage delivering exquisitely<br />
musical and lifelike sound. Record after record<br />
left our editor with that “as if hearing it for the<br />
first time” feeling. Beautifully balanced, with<br />
low noise and a great range of tone colors, the<br />
PL-1 is also dynamically explosive and very<br />
transparent. A terrific achievement from a<br />
young company.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 155<br />
Aesthetix Rhea<br />
$4000<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
As with Aesthetix’ matching Calypso linestage,<br />
the Rhea phono preamplifier redefines what’s<br />
possible at this price level not only sonically, but<br />
functionally. With three inputs, variable cartridge<br />
loading—adjustable at the listening chair via<br />
remote control—and front-panel display of gain<br />
and loading, the Rhea is the Swiss Army Knife<br />
of phonostages. Although the Rhea has tons<br />
of gain, the noise level is extremely low, making<br />
it compatible with a wide range of cartridge<br />
outputs. The Rhea’s family resemblance to the<br />
Calypso is unmistakable: transient quickness and<br />
speed without etch, a feeling of effortlessness on<br />
crescendos, and a deep, layered soundstage that<br />
maintains its depth at the left and right edges<br />
rather than sounding triangular.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 151<br />
ARC PH7<br />
$6000<br />
$6000 and above<br />
audioresearch.com<br />
Meet the new boss. If you can imagine a remotecontrollable<br />
phonostage with the air, color, and<br />
bloom of the Aesthetix Io and the dynamics<br />
and soundstaging of the Lamm LP2 Deluxe,<br />
then you’ve got an idea of what ARC’s all-tube<br />
PH7 phonostage sounds like. That said, you<br />
really have to hear this one for yourself to get<br />
a true sense of its transparency and the magical<br />
way it images. ARC hasn’t been on such a roll<br />
since the heady days of the SP10 and D79B.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
Lamm LP 2 Deluxe<br />
$6990<br />
lammindustries.com<br />
With a superb built-in coupling transformer to<br />
handle lower-output moving coils, the all-tube<br />
Lamm LP2 phonostage has the inestimable<br />
advantage of being dead quiet, which makes<br />
it ideal for folks, like JV, who live in RF Valley.<br />
Though not as “alive” or bloomy as the Aesthetix
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Io or ARC PH7 on large-scale dynamics, the<br />
Lamm is rich, beautiful, and extraordinarily<br />
delicate-sounding on all music, with detail and<br />
transient response that are superior to the Io’s.<br />
Be forewarned: This preamp takes a good deal<br />
of break-in before it sounds its considerable<br />
best, but its best is well worth the wait.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 157<br />
Aesthetix Io MKII and MKII<br />
Signature<br />
$6500 without volume control; $9000 with<br />
volume control; $9000 for Signature without<br />
volume control, $11,500 for Signature with<br />
volume control<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
Phono fanatics with both space and cash will<br />
want to audition this 24-tube, two (large) chassis<br />
beauty. Yes, it eats shelf space; yes, it throws a lot<br />
of heat; and yes, it is as good as it gets. Exquisite<br />
dynamic contrasts Check. An easy, relaxed<br />
presentation Check. Headroom to spare<br />
Check. A glorious midrange, excellent bottom<br />
octave, and full rendition of instrumental body<br />
Triple-check. The highs aren’t as airy or extended<br />
as some, but they are natural and non-fatiguing.<br />
Reviewed by Don Saltzman, Issue 121 and by<br />
JV, Issue 143<br />
Manley Steelhead<br />
$7300<br />
manleylabs.com<br />
The Steelhead should be counted as one of<br />
the great phonostages, and its extraordinary set<br />
of features makes it a vinyl-tweaker’s fantasy<br />
rig. Driven by an outboard solid-state power<br />
supply, the main chassis houses six tubes, two<br />
moving-coil and moving-magnet inputs, fixed<br />
and variable inputs, and a bevy of front-panel<br />
controls that include adjustable gain, volume,<br />
selectable impedance for mm and mc, and<br />
selectable capacitance loading from zero to<br />
1100 picofarads in 10 picofarad steps. The<br />
sound is superb—rich but not fat, detailed<br />
yet natural, extended, controlled, and highly<br />
involving. Plus, it has the huevos to drive an<br />
amp directly.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 152<br />
Digital<br />
Processors<br />
TacT Audio RCS 2.2XP<br />
$3990 (plus D-to-A module, $449; optional<br />
ADC module, $549)<br />
tactaudio.com<br />
Recently upgraded to a “P” designation, TacT’s<br />
2.2 lets you do a crossover-plus-time-delay at, say,<br />
200Hz from a corner-placed woofer to a main<br />
speaker out in the room (where midrange and<br />
treble response are smoother and imaging better).<br />
The RCS 2.2XP also does the overall “room<br />
correction” to bring the in-room response to<br />
whatever “target curve” you choose.<br />
Reviewed by REG, Issue 158<br />
Digital Sources<br />
Under $1000<br />
Denon DVD-1920<br />
denon.com<br />
$369<br />
At well under $400, Denon’s DVD-1920 is a<br />
stunning bargain. The machine offers sound<br />
quality commensurate with players costing<br />
much more—including some of Denon’s<br />
own higher-end offerings. Throw in full<br />
SACD and DVD-Audio capability, along<br />
with superb video performance, and you’ve<br />
perhaps the greatest bargain in universal<br />
players today.<br />
Reviewed by BW, TPV Issue 67<br />
60 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Cambridge Azur 540D<br />
$399<br />
audioplusservices.com<br />
The 540D offers equal strengths for both music and<br />
film playback. As a CD player, the Azur’s performance<br />
rivals that of the more expensive NAD C 542, with<br />
a relaxed, assured sound that is surprisingly threedimensional<br />
and reveals the cushion of air around<br />
instruments. But the Azur really comes alive on<br />
DVD-Audio material, offering sound so compelling<br />
that our reviewer wrote, “I could see buying the 540D<br />
for this capability alone.”<br />
Reviewed by JH, Issue 155<br />
Cambridge 540C v2<br />
$459<br />
audioplusservices.com<br />
The 540C CD player sounds far more<br />
sophisticated and refined than any $439 machine<br />
has a right to. The midrange is relatively grainfree,<br />
and the treble lacks the metallic sheen<br />
often heard in entry-level products. The player<br />
is beautifully built and packed with high-end<br />
parts and design techniques, including a beefy<br />
custom-made transport mechanism, generous<br />
power supply, and the same 96kHz/24-bit<br />
Wolfson DACs found in $3000 machines.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 162<br />
NAD C 542<br />
$500<br />
nadelectronics.com<br />
NAD’s C 542 delivers a warm, easy, and open<br />
sound, though it is slightly rough around the<br />
edges and a bit forward in perspective. Given<br />
the NAD’s overall musicality and value, these<br />
flaws are hardly a distraction.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 137<br />
Music Hall CD 25.2<br />
$600<br />
musichallaudio.com<br />
A remarkable-sounding CD player, this<br />
affordable winner from Music Hall offers very<br />
good clarity and resolution in the treble and<br />
middle registers, with a generally rich musical<br />
fabric, albeit with a touch of midbass thinness.<br />
Switching out the power cord to a better<br />
aftermarket unit made this unit bloom, and by<br />
the time you read this the manufacturer should<br />
have a better cord as part of the package.<br />
Reviewed by SR, Issue 163<br />
Rotel RCD-1072<br />
$699<br />
rotel.com<br />
With the CD-only RCD-1072, Rotel couples<br />
landmark performance with remarkable<br />
affordability, while avoiding the mediocrity of<br />
today’s combi-players. The 1072 delivers superb<br />
tonal accuracy, frequency extension, imaging,<br />
and rhythmic swing. Low digital-noise artifacts<br />
allow music to emerge from a silent background.<br />
Compared to the best, it has less resolution and<br />
slightly polite dynamics.<br />
Reviewed by AT, Issue 147<br />
Rega Apollo<br />
$995<br />
rega.co.uk<br />
Rega’s Apollo CD player is the finest sub-<br />
$1000 CD player that CM has heard, offering<br />
substantially more resolution than other players<br />
in its class, plus a richly textured sound that spans<br />
the entire audio spectrum (though faint hints of<br />
treble hardness do occasionally poke through).<br />
Chockfull of high-end parts and technologies,<br />
including a discrete Class A analog output<br />
stage, Wolfson DACs, highly advanced CDoperating-system<br />
software, an all-new transport<br />
mechanism, and a control chipset that features a<br />
whopping 20MB of RAM and a built-in 32-bit<br />
DSP processor.<br />
Reviewed by CM in this issue<br />
$1000–$2000<br />
Sony DVP-NS9100ES<br />
$1299<br />
sony.com<br />
Reviewer Barry Willis said the Sony’s CD and<br />
SACD performance “was wonderful—detailed<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 61
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
and intimate with warm, round tones and<br />
a deep soundstage. Especially notable were<br />
the dark, silent backgrounds and rich, natural<br />
harmonics that the best SACD discs deliver in<br />
the company of the right hardware.” One of<br />
the best SACD/CD players in its price range,<br />
the DVD-NS9100ES delivers refinement and<br />
listening pleasure that BW says “aren’t typically<br />
encountered below about $3500.”<br />
Reviewed by BW, TPV Issue 67<br />
Quad 99-CDP<br />
$1499<br />
iagamerica.com<br />
Free of electronic artifacts—digital ones,<br />
too—the 99-CDP’s presentation is lively and<br />
vital, big and powerful. Grainless, it’s also<br />
capable of warmth, richness, and delicacy.<br />
Unlike the original Series 99 player, the 99-<br />
CDP can be used with components other<br />
than Quad’s 99 stack. One nice feature is the<br />
high-quality built-in volume control, which<br />
means that if CD is your only medium, you<br />
can drive the power amp directly, thus saving<br />
on a preamp.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 143<br />
Sim Audio Moon Equinox<br />
$1995<br />
simaudio.com<br />
The Equinox is a welcome relief from the<br />
clinical sound still heard from many digital<br />
sources. Its warm, natural presentation<br />
restores the feeling of dimensionality and<br />
openness that for many of us went AWOL<br />
when our LP collections were exiled to the<br />
attic. Though it is slightly darker than some<br />
players, its lack of constriction breathes new<br />
life into a format that continues to improve.<br />
Excellent build-quality rounds out the<br />
package.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 149<br />
$2000–$3000<br />
Thule Audio Space DVA-250B<br />
$2195<br />
thule-audio.com<br />
Like the Spirit integrated amp, the DVA-250B<br />
DVD/CD player is simple to use, goodlooking,<br />
and reasonable in price. This unit<br />
is sweet, but that does not mean wimpy or<br />
syrupy; lyrics come through with new clarity;<br />
violins have rosiny bite; mid-tones shimmer<br />
and breathe, and the soundstage is wide and<br />
deep.<br />
Reviewed by SR, Issue 161<br />
62 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
Arcam FMJ CD36<br />
aslgroup.com<br />
$2499<br />
Like its sister preamp, this Arcam CD player<br />
impresses with how far solid-state and digital<br />
electronics have come. Smooth and unruffled,<br />
free of grunge, yet very detailed, this model<br />
provides everything that more sophisticated<br />
digital units do, but with not quite as much flesh<br />
on the notes.<br />
Reviewed by JHeilbrunn in this issue<br />
Musical Fidelity A5<br />
$2500<br />
musicalfidelity.com<br />
Last year, Musical Fidelity’s $6500 Tri-Vista<br />
SACD player impressed us with terrific sound<br />
quality. The new A5 CD player, complete<br />
with vacuum-tube output stage, represents an<br />
attempt to deliver equivalent sound at a much<br />
lower price. It succeeds. The A5’s greatest<br />
strengths “are in the overall ‘balance’ of the<br />
sound in all kinds of music, and an almost<br />
indescribable excitement in transients and in<br />
dynamic details.”<br />
Reviewed by SR, Issue 155<br />
Ayre CX-7e<br />
$2950<br />
ayre.com<br />
The Ayre CX-7 is a minimalist design with<br />
great attention lavished on the power supply<br />
and analog output circuitry. Highly involving, it<br />
brings an unusual sense of rhythmic rightness<br />
to all music, with deep, defined bass, excellent<br />
dynamics, three-dimensionality, and tonal<br />
accuracy. (Recently upgraded to the 7e version.)<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 141<br />
Arcam FMJ DV29<br />
$2999<br />
audiophilesystems.com<br />
Like the earlier FMJ DV27A, this “Full Metal<br />
Jacket” player offers performance that’s nearly<br />
as good as it gets with all formats. The DV29 is<br />
the best-sounding Arcam player yet, with inner<br />
detail and resolution on CD and DVD-A that<br />
even the 27 can’t match.<br />
Reviewed by SB, TPV Issue 60<br />
$3000–$5000<br />
Marantz SA-11s1<br />
$3499<br />
marantz.com<br />
Who says you have to<br />
spend five figures to<br />
get terrific sound from<br />
both CD and SACD<br />
The Marantz SA-11S1<br />
is squarely aimed at the<br />
purist music lover, eschewing<br />
DVD-Video playback, multichannel capability,<br />
and multi-disc universal compatibility in favor<br />
of all-out sonic performance on CD and twochannel<br />
SACD. On CD, the sound quality rivaled<br />
that of megabuck outboard D/A converters,<br />
with an extremely clean and pure midrange<br />
and treble, a deep and layered soundstage, and<br />
good resolution of musical detail. Gorgeous<br />
cosmetics and fabulous build-quality.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 152<br />
Denon DVD-5910<br />
$3500<br />
denon.com<br />
The first DVD player to employ the stunning<br />
Silicon Optix HQV video-processing chip, the<br />
Denon DVD-5910 naturally has terrific video<br />
performance. But the audio is equally good,<br />
whether you’re playing CD, SACD, or DVD-<br />
Audio. The massively overbuilt player delivers<br />
powerful bass and a smooth yet extended treble,<br />
with a musically involving character. A flat-out<br />
bargain for its capabilities with all formats.<br />
Reviewed by BW, TPV Issue 67<br />
Classé Delta CDP-102<br />
$4000<br />
classeaudio.com<br />
Another Classé tour de “source,” the CDP-<br />
100 combines the sensuous design elegance<br />
of the TFT-touchscreen-equipped CP-500<br />
with solid but mellow PCM performance that<br />
never fails to flatter the music. Textures are<br />
velvety smooth, with terrific fluidity across the<br />
tonal spectrum. Although less forward than<br />
some and a little light in the bass, it shares the<br />
high musicality and build-factor of the other<br />
Delta electronics.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 154<br />
Krell SACD Standard<br />
$4000<br />
krellonline.com<br />
From its airy, ethereal highs, to its sweet, warm<br />
midrange, to its staggeringly deep and tuneful<br />
bass, to its wide as well as deep soundstage,<br />
Krell’s SACD Standard has a lot to recommend<br />
it. It isn’t flawless—particularly when it comes<br />
to the slightly noisy and slow drive unit— but its<br />
main sonic shortcoming is a tendency to soften<br />
treble and transient response.<br />
Reviewed by FK, Issue 161
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Krell Showcase<br />
$4000<br />
krellonline.com<br />
Krell’s Showcase is classic Krell—center-ofthe-earth<br />
bottom-end solidity and power,<br />
huge dynamics, and razor-sharp imaging.<br />
The video quality is also superb, although the<br />
remote control leaves something to be desired.<br />
Outstanding build-quality and gorgeous<br />
cosmetics round out this outstanding player.<br />
Reviewed by BW, TPV Issue 67<br />
Meridian G08CD<br />
$4395<br />
meridian-audio.com<br />
The G08 replaces the popular 588 and is built<br />
around a computer-style CD/DVD-ROM<br />
drive capable of spinning the disc much faster<br />
than needed for standard CD operation.<br />
According to Meridian, this allows for multiple<br />
high-speed re-reads, providing ten times the<br />
error-correction rate of a conventional CD<br />
player. Once the data are recovered, DSP chips<br />
upsample the digital signal to 24-bit/176.4kHz.<br />
As with the rest of the G Series, the sound is<br />
effortless, refined, and gorgeous.<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 152<br />
Plinius CD-101<br />
$4495<br />
plinius.com<br />
The CD-101 is a reference-quality product<br />
in minimalist chic clothing—a lavish musical<br />
performer and attention-grabber with drive and<br />
pace to burn. Its hyper-detailing, speed, and low<br />
noise floor suggest a slightly cooler personality,<br />
but the lack of edginess suggests new heights<br />
of resolution and a reduction in distortion.<br />
Without a numeric display, the lethargic track<br />
navigation (via pulsating pin lights) takes a few<br />
spins to get used to. Includes balanced and<br />
single-ended outputs. The massive machined<br />
remote control could easily be a lethal weapon.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 156<br />
Accuphase DP-57<br />
$4900<br />
accuphase.com<br />
A low-level resolution and detail champ,<br />
the DP-57 has one of the sweetest treble<br />
ranges NG has heard in this price range.<br />
Add to that reference-quality soundstaging and<br />
ambience retrieval, and the DP-57 becomes a<br />
superior playback source—with even higher<br />
marks for classical music aficionados. Perhaps<br />
a little relaxed for hard rock while lighter in<br />
the bass and softer on transients than some,<br />
it still remains a class leader in finesse and<br />
refinement. Exceptionally fast transport and<br />
search functions. Balanced and single-ended<br />
outputs.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 156<br />
64 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
Lexicon RT-20<br />
$4995<br />
harmanspecialtygroup.com<br />
The RT-20 is a true universal player that is<br />
equally at home playing CD, SACD, or DVD-<br />
A. This top-of-the-line player has an extremely<br />
low noise floor, lightning-fast dynamics, and a<br />
huge, deep soundstage. In addition to being an<br />
exceptional-sounding audio player, the RT-20<br />
excels at video playback.<br />
Reviewed by BW, TPV Issue 67<br />
Linn Unidisk SC<br />
$4999<br />
linn.co.uk<br />
Another true universal player, the Unidisk SC<br />
plays CD, SACD, DVD-A, and DVD-Video.<br />
According to Barry Willis, who surveyed 16<br />
disc players in The Perfect Vision Issue 67, the<br />
Linn’s sound quality “was in a class by itself—<br />
simultaneously lush and detailed, with a deep,<br />
silent background and reach-out-and-touch-it<br />
soundstaging.” The Unidisk SC is more than<br />
a universal player; it’s also a remote-controlled<br />
preamp, digital-to-analog converter, and the<br />
hub of a Linn-centric, networked, distributedaudio<br />
system. An outstanding machine and a<br />
great value.<br />
Reviewed by BW, TPV Issue 67<br />
$5000–$10,000<br />
Ayre C-5xe Universal player<br />
$5950<br />
ayre.com<br />
Serving music lovers by eschewing video<br />
playback and multichannel audio, Ayre has<br />
established a high-water mark for multi-format<br />
players. The C5 is not only consistent across all<br />
formats—it excels across all (stereo) formats by<br />
performing at or very near the current state-ofthe-art.<br />
Reviewed by SB, Issue 156<br />
Esoteric X-03<br />
$7700<br />
teac.com<br />
The Esoteric X-03 produces one of the most<br />
natural, refined, luminous, and above all,<br />
sophisticated sounds that our reviewer has heard<br />
from a digital player. Glare, grunge, and grit are<br />
utterly foreign to this full and mellow-sounding<br />
model, which is more interested in the big<br />
picture than spotlighting details. The Esoteric<br />
lingers over notes, giving them their full value.<br />
Its sound is not effervescent, but stately with<br />
extremely measured and regular pacing.<br />
Reviewed by JHeilbrunn, Issue 161<br />
MBL 1521 A CD Drive and<br />
1511 E DAC<br />
$9130 and $8910<br />
mbl-germany.de<br />
As with other MBL electronics, these digital<br />
items are helping to redefine what’s possible<br />
in their categories. It’s not that they sound<br />
like analog; they do not. What they do is<br />
provide a richness of tone color, seamless<br />
resolution of musical lines, refinement<br />
of dynamic nuance, dimensionality, and<br />
sense of involvement that goes beyond<br />
anything WG has before experienced with<br />
digital playback. But, beware, because these<br />
products make listening to CDs such a fresh,<br />
lively, and deeply involving experience,<br />
you’re likely to start spending large chunks<br />
of your discretionary income on all kinds of<br />
new music.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 164<br />
$10,000 and above<br />
Theta Generation VIII DAC<br />
$10,000<br />
thetadigital.com<br />
For almost 20 years, Theta’s digital processors<br />
have excelled in three areas: bass depth and<br />
power, soundstaging, and dynamics. The Gen<br />
VIII carries on that tradition, with a center-ofthe-earth<br />
bottom end that establishes a<br />
solid rhythmic and tonal foundation for<br />
the music. Bass-guitar lines simply purr<br />
through the Gen VIII. This new DAC is,<br />
however, somewhat of a departure from<br />
Theta’s “house sound” in that the Gen<br />
VIII has a sweeter treble and an overall<br />
softer presentation that fosters a greater<br />
intimacy with the music.<br />
RH<br />
Meridian 808 Signature<br />
Reference<br />
$12,995<br />
meridian-audio.com<br />
The 808 has a wonderfully detailed and highly<br />
resolved presentation, with the ability to present<br />
fine nuances of instrumental timbre, microdynamic<br />
shadings, and low-level spatial cues
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
that will floor you. No detail, no matter how<br />
small, escapes the 808’s scrutiny. As a result,<br />
instruments sound more lifelike and less like<br />
synthetic recreations.<br />
Reviewed by SK with RH comment, Issue 164<br />
Meridian 800 CD/DVD-A<br />
Player<br />
$19,950–$22,500<br />
meridian-audio.com<br />
This flagship product is the current stateof-the-art<br />
in DVD-Audio playback. If you<br />
want to hear DVD-Audio at its best, look no<br />
further than the 800. In addition, the 800 is<br />
a world-class CD player. Modular card-cage<br />
construction allows custom configuration<br />
and upgrades. A reference-quality product.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 145<br />
MBL 1621 A CD Transport<br />
and 1611 E Digital-to-Analog<br />
Converter<br />
$42,510 ($21,010 and $21,500)<br />
mbl.com<br />
If you’re heavily invested in Red Book CD,<br />
you may not know how good it can get<br />
until you audition this pricey-but-worth-it<br />
transport and DAC from MBL. If there is<br />
better CD playback, JV hasn’t heard it. It isn’t<br />
just the magical level of musical detail—much<br />
of it previously unheard—that this combo is<br />
capable of eliciting from silver disc, nor its<br />
unusually lifelike timbres, nor the unparalleled<br />
extension, definition, and slam of its bass.<br />
It is the MBLs’ overall gestalt—the analoglike<br />
taste of dimensionality and solidity that<br />
they add to virtually every CD—that truly<br />
astonishes.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
Turntables<br />
Under $1000<br />
Music Hall MMF-5<br />
w/Goldring 1012GX<br />
cartridge<br />
$629<br />
musichallaudio.com<br />
Music Hall’s integrated<br />
turntable package provides<br />
the LP lover with a warm,<br />
musically engaging, and<br />
affordable vinyl playback<br />
solution. Its bass isn’t the most<br />
defined, and it’s a bit forward<br />
in the upper midrange, but the<br />
Music Hall is an outstanding<br />
value.<br />
Reviewed by Stephan Harrell,<br />
Issue 135<br />
66 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
Rega P3<br />
$695<br />
soundorg.com<br />
Rega’s newest-edition P3 includes refinements<br />
to the base and motor-mounting assembly<br />
for a sound that has more air and detail, better<br />
imaging, and lower noise than earlier versions.<br />
Comes equipped with the RB300 arm and is<br />
available in a rainbow of colors.<br />
Reviewed by David Morrell, Issue 127<br />
$1000–$2000<br />
Clearaudio Emotion/ Satisfy<br />
$1000<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
Following Clearaudio’s pattern, the Emotion<br />
sports an acrylic plinth, high-quality bearing<br />
assembly, and matte acrylic platter, which is<br />
belt-driven by a decoupled synchronous motor.<br />
The Satisfy arm is a gimbaled-bearing design<br />
whose minimalist, one-bolt cartridge carrier<br />
makes alignment a snap. It offers a dynamically<br />
lively and engaging presentation, conveys bass<br />
with power and speed, and works well with any<br />
number of cartridges.<br />
Reviewed by CM, AVgM, Issue 9<br />
Rega P5<br />
$1295<br />
soundorg.com<br />
When paired with Rega’s Exact phono cartridge,<br />
this ’table produced a highly musical sound that<br />
JH preferred to most digital players, regardless of<br />
price. The P5 is a low-vibration/low-coloration<br />
design that “is as close to a ‘set it and forget it’<br />
analog front-end as you’re likely to find,” and<br />
“the absence of ‘groove noise’ is astonishing.”<br />
Reviewed by JH, AVgM, Issue 15<br />
Pro-Ject RM 9.1<br />
$1499 ($1999 as tested with Sumiko<br />
Blackbird cartridge, which is $799 when sold<br />
separately)<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
With the RM-9.1, Pro-Ject has made an already<br />
good design much better, and without raising the<br />
price. Like some of its competitors, notably the<br />
Rega P5 and VPI Scout, it includes an arm that<br />
is far superior to the stock arms you’ll find on<br />
entry-level turntables, and the Sumiko Blackbird’s<br />
performance comes close to that of some higherpriced<br />
lower-output moving coils. Better still, the<br />
sound of this combo can be taken to new heights<br />
by adding the “Groove-It Deluxe” base and a<br />
good external speed controller.<br />
Reviewed by JH, Issue 164<br />
VPI Aries Scout w/JMW-9<br />
$1600<br />
vpiindustries.com<br />
If you want to experience a huge taste of<br />
analog heaven without the hellish price tag,<br />
the VPI Aries Scout deserves your attention.<br />
This simple, affordable ’table uses an inverted<br />
bearing with a Teflon thrust plate and a scaleddown<br />
version of the JMW unipivot arm to<br />
create an exceptionally quiet background and<br />
high signal-to-noise ratio, so music leaps out of<br />
silence into the room. It’s a snap to set up, but<br />
since the Scout lacks a suspension we strongly<br />
recommend some kind of rack or base that will<br />
isolate it from offending vibration.<br />
Reviewed by SM, AVguide.com, 11/2002<br />
Funk Firm Funk Vector<br />
$1950<br />
acousticsounds.com<br />
From its Ameoba-like plinth, to its one-motor,<br />
three-pulley drive, to its unusual platter, to its<br />
tweaked Rega arm, to its name, the Funk<br />
Vector brings an excellent level of<br />
sound to this range of analog playback.<br />
Though its presentation is a bit light<br />
when compared with upper-end highmass<br />
designs, this ’table’s sound is well<br />
balanced and nicely detailed.<br />
WG (review forthcoming)
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
$2000–$5000<br />
Basis 1400 Signature<br />
$2200<br />
basisaudio.com<br />
Clean, lively, and nimble, the Basis 1400 lacks<br />
the great authority, deep black backgrounds,<br />
and projection of size and scale of the really<br />
great turntables. But this combination proves<br />
eminently satisfying and doesn’t leave you<br />
hankering for something else.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issues 132 and 140<br />
Kuzma Stabi S<br />
$2400<br />
themusic.com<br />
The Stabi S is Kuzma’s least expensive<br />
turntable, but you wouldn’t know it to<br />
listen to the thing. Blessed with deep, warm<br />
background silences reminiscent of the<br />
hush you’d hear in an auditorium before a<br />
concert begins, the Stabi S makes a great<br />
complement to the Stogi S tonearm. Not a<br />
good choice for rooms where footfalls will<br />
be a problem (because it is unsuspended),<br />
it is otherwise a fine mid-priced ’table.<br />
Hint: Kuzma’s deluxe Stabi S/Stogi S<br />
package is specially priced and includes<br />
an outboard power supply box.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 159<br />
Linn Sondek LP12<br />
$2400 (turntable only)<br />
linninc.com<br />
The original high-end turntable, Linn’s LP12<br />
conveys the rhythm and pace that are the very<br />
foundations of music, and it gets better with<br />
age—owners of any vintage LP12 can upgrade<br />
to the current model.<br />
SB, Recommended Systems, Issue 136<br />
Wilson Benesch Full Circle<br />
analog system<br />
$3495<br />
wilson-benesch.com<br />
Wilson Benesch’s Full Circle analog system<br />
bundles the Full Circle turntable, A.C.T. 0.5<br />
tonearm, and Ply moving-coil cartridge in<br />
a specially priced package. The Full Circle<br />
succeeds brilliantly as a high-quality, midpriced<br />
turnkey analog system, and it also<br />
happens to be one of the most visually<br />
appealing audio products. But one of the<br />
most compelling reasons to buy a Full Circle<br />
rig is that it offers a ready-made systemgrowth<br />
path, because both the core table<br />
68 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
and arm are capable of supporting higherperformance<br />
cartridges than the standardissue<br />
Ply.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 163<br />
$5000–$10,000<br />
Clearaudio Master Solution<br />
AMG<br />
$5000<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
The essential sound of this Clearaudio model<br />
is, well, clear, with a fine sense of quickness and<br />
transient speed. This acrylic and stainless-steel<br />
beauty will accept up to three arms, and offers<br />
good detail, high-frequency extension, air, and<br />
rhythmic pulse. It leans a bit toward the lighter<br />
side, though, and benefits from the optional<br />
Outer Limit ($900), a hefty ring that heightens<br />
the platter’s flywheel effect and doubles as a<br />
warp-flattening device.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 156<br />
SOTA Cosmos Series III<br />
$5950<br />
sotaturntables.com<br />
This classic turntable boasts superior tonal<br />
neutrality, soundstaging, background silence,<br />
and isolation. Virtually any tonearm that weighs<br />
less than 2.5 pounds can be accommodated<br />
for optimal performance, while the massive<br />
suspended subassembly renders the Cosmos<br />
essentially immune to any form of structuralborne<br />
feedback. A vacuum hold-down system<br />
eliminates warps while binding the record to<br />
the platter far more intimately than any clamp<br />
or ring.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 145<br />
Well-Tempered Lab Reference II<br />
$6578<br />
welltemperedlab.com<br />
This belt-driven turntable (equipped with<br />
the “trapeze-like” Well-Tempered arm) is as<br />
rich-sounding as the best, and as long-term<br />
listenable. All it lacks is a little dynamic<br />
oomph, a little openness in the top treble,<br />
and a little detail in comparison to the top arms<br />
and ’tables.<br />
Reviewed by REG, Issue 142<br />
SME Model 10A<br />
$7999<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
This magnificent integrated turntable is one<br />
of those rare products with that difficult-todefine<br />
sense of rightness. The arm is SME’s<br />
excellent 309, the platter/mat/clamping system<br />
rivals some vacuum hold-downs, and the sound<br />
has extraordinary stability, control, definition,<br />
dynamics, and detail, sacrificing only that last<br />
degree of blackness of background and size<br />
and scale that larger, heavier turntables seem to<br />
command.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 129<br />
$10,000 and above<br />
Clearaudio Maximum Solution<br />
$11,500<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
Second only to Clearaudio’s Master<br />
Reference turntable, the Maximum<br />
Solution is essentially a fully tricked-out<br />
version of the basic Solution. One can<br />
start with the Solution and upgrade to various<br />
levels culminating in the Maximum<br />
Solution. The Maximum Solution<br />
is startling in its deep black<br />
background, complete lack of lowfrequency<br />
noise, and apparent ability<br />
to reduce LP surface noise. The<br />
result is LP playback in which the music<br />
emerges from a digital-like silence. Dynamics<br />
are stunning, as are clarity and definition<br />
through the midband.<br />
RH<br />
Redpoint Model B<br />
$12,500<br />
redpoint-audio-design.com<br />
This massive three-piece, lead-shot and<br />
silicone-damped ’table (it has separate arm and<br />
motor pods) delivers a very low noise floor, a<br />
spectacular sense of space and dimensionality,<br />
the feeling of near-limitless dynamic power,<br />
remarkable degrees of detail (not for detail’s<br />
sake but simply as a part of the musical fabric<br />
that had previously been obscured), and a<br />
terrific top-to-bottom balance.<br />
Reviewed by WG,<br />
Issue 156
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
SME Model 20/II<br />
$13,999 (with IV.VI arm)<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
SME has deliberately designed the tweaking<br />
out of its turntables, and this middle-of-thetop-range<br />
model is a beautiful example of the<br />
SME approach. Although some have accused<br />
it of being over-built, this ’table and arm are<br />
masterpieces of industrial engineering and<br />
design, with a greater degree of control over the<br />
playing of LPs than any others PS has used.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 140<br />
Basis Debut Signature<br />
$15,900<br />
basisaudio.com<br />
This beautifully made vacuum hold-down<br />
turntable from A.J. Conti gives up little to the<br />
very best. All it lacks in comparison is a touch<br />
of weight and authority in the bottom octaves,<br />
some stage width and depth, and a bit of<br />
overall smoothness and dynamic life. Detailed,<br />
authoritative, and rich in tone color, the Basis<br />
combines extremely well with the Graham<br />
unipivot tonearm and Conti’s own Vector arm.<br />
Debut V Reviewed by JV, Issue 132<br />
Kuzma Stabi XL Reference<br />
turntable and Air Line arm<br />
$27,000<br />
themusic.com<br />
Well, the venerable Walker Proscenium Gold<br />
record player finally has some competition,<br />
and the Kuzma Stabi XL/Air Line is it. This<br />
gorgeous, wonderfully well-engineered and<br />
easy-to-use-and-adjust, twin-motored, beltdriven<br />
’table and outboard air-bearing arm<br />
challenges the Walker in resolution, transparency,<br />
and transient response. A point-by-point<br />
comparison awaits a significant upgrade to the<br />
Walker (see the Walker entry for details), but, in<br />
the nonce, the less-expensive Kuzma combo is<br />
a no-brainer recommendation. Stay tuned for<br />
the Kuzma/Walker shootout in Issue 167.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
SME Model 30/2<br />
$29,999<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
Mounted with the SME Series IV.VI arm,<br />
PS praised the 30/2’s tonal neutrality, pitch<br />
accuracy, resolution, transparency, rhythmic grip,<br />
72 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
ambience, low coloration, and<br />
soundstaging, concluding,<br />
“But what specifically<br />
accounts for the special<br />
effect this turntable seems<br />
to have on even the most<br />
jaded listeners lies in three<br />
related areas of sonic<br />
performance: background<br />
silence, dynamics, and that elusive<br />
impression of liveliness, vitality, and<br />
whatever terms you use to describe that<br />
sense of involvement that persuades you the<br />
music has come alive in your living room.”<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 154<br />
Walker Proscenium Black<br />
Diamond turntable and<br />
tonearm<br />
$40,000<br />
walkeraudio.com<br />
The massive (350-pound) Walker Proscenium<br />
Black Diamond turntable/tonearm transforms<br />
many of the smartest ideas from turntables<br />
and arms past into a contemporary work of<br />
audio art that not only sounds fantastic but<br />
looks fantastic, too. A snap to adjust and use,<br />
the Walker brings out the best from any LP.<br />
And now, with Walker’s new and amazingly<br />
improved tonearm, the best source component<br />
JV has tested thus far has taken a significant leap<br />
forward in overall sound (and it was scarcely<br />
chopped liver to start with). JV’s reference.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
Tonearms<br />
Under $1000<br />
Rega RB300<br />
$395<br />
soundorg.com<br />
Turntable manufacturers who don’t build their<br />
own arms frequently package their models with<br />
Rega’s terrific-sounding and affordable RB300.<br />
Musically compelling, with excellent balance<br />
and good detail, if not the final word in any one<br />
category.<br />
Reviewed by DM, Issue 127<br />
Kuzma Stogi S<br />
$900<br />
kuzma.si<br />
Brilliant in its deceptive simplicity, the Stogi S is<br />
a hydraulically damped unipivot with a simple<br />
string-and-weight anti-skating mechanism, dual<br />
underslung counterweights, and provisions<br />
for making both coarse and fine azimuth<br />
adjustments. In our reviewer’s system, this arm<br />
enabled a Shelter 90X cartridge to produce<br />
almost shockingly three-dimensional sound<br />
with rock-solid bass. This arm is bundled in<br />
Kuzma’s specially priced deluxe Stabi S/Stogi S<br />
package, which we highly recommend.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 159<br />
Wilson Benesch A.C.T. 0.5<br />
$999<br />
wilson-benesch.com<br />
Wilson Benesch’s unusual A.C.T. 0.5 tonearm<br />
features a tapered carbon-fiber arm tube<br />
that offers ten times the torsional stiffness of<br />
titanium, five times the specific stiffness of steel,<br />
and “an order of magnitude better damping<br />
than most engineering metals.” Equipped with<br />
a kinematic bearing that handles much like<br />
a unipivot, the A.C.T. 0.5 is a strong, stylish,<br />
ultra-low-friction device that works beautifully<br />
with affordable cartridges, but can also tap the<br />
potential of higher-priced moving coils. An<br />
arm your system can grow with over time, the<br />
A.C.T. 0.5 is also included in Wilson Benesch’s<br />
Full Circle analog system.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 163<br />
$1000–$2000<br />
VPI JMW-9 Signature<br />
$1400<br />
vpiindustries.com<br />
The JMW-9 Signature is part of what makes<br />
VPI’s Super Scoutmaster Signature so super.<br />
Compared to the standard JMW-9, the<br />
Signature version offers worthwhile upgrades<br />
such as a stainless steel bearing assembly, fine<br />
tracking force adjustment on the counterweight<br />
stem, Nordost Valhalla wiring in the arm and<br />
its junction box, variable fluid damping, a<br />
mechanical anti-skate control, and a higher<br />
effective mass design that makes the Signature<br />
appropriate for use with light, low-compliance<br />
cartridges. HP praised the Super Scoutmaster<br />
Signature package for its “considerable dynamic
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
‘jump’,” “solid if not perfectly articulated<br />
bottom octave,” and “musical authenticity.”<br />
CM (Reviewed by HP, Issue 159)<br />
SME 309<br />
$1899<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
A black tapered titanium beauty, the 309 is a rarity<br />
in today’s high-performance models—an arm<br />
with a removable head shell for easier cartridge<br />
swapping. Also see SME Model 10A, above.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 129<br />
$2000–$3000<br />
VPI JMW-10.5 & JMW-12.5<br />
$2000 and $2400<br />
vpiindustries.com<br />
Available in 10" and 12" versions, this beautifully<br />
made unipivot may be trickier to set up than<br />
some, but its sound rewards the effort. It’s<br />
highly revealing without being cold, with some<br />
of the deepest, most powerful bass to be heard.<br />
VTA adjustment during playback allows for<br />
exceptional fine-tuning.<br />
Reviewed by AHC, Issue 129<br />
Tri-Planar VII<br />
$3900<br />
$3000 and above<br />
triplanar.com<br />
An analog classic, the Tri-Planar VII incorporates<br />
the late Herb Papier’s final thoughts on arm<br />
design. Built by his handpicked successor, Tri<br />
Mai, the Tri-Planar VII is more neutral than<br />
earlier versions, with outstanding solidity and<br />
focus, holographic soundstaging, superb detail,<br />
dynamic range, and nuance. Like the best of<br />
today’s components, the Tri-Planar gives the<br />
impression that there is less electro-mechanical<br />
stuff between you and the music.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 156<br />
SME Series V<br />
$4499<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
Robust and dynamic-sounding, the now and<br />
forever classic SME V is rich with features that<br />
include a cast-magnesium one-piece wand,<br />
ABEC 7 bearings, and fluid-controlled lateral<br />
damping. The V projects a ripe, soothing<br />
character with unsurpassed bass resolution,<br />
excellent inner detail, and great tracking ability.<br />
NG<br />
Kuzma Air Line<br />
$8000<br />
themusic.com<br />
A gorgeous, easily-adjustable, outboard airbearing<br />
tonearm that runs at around 65psi—<br />
higher than most, making for a tight, quick,<br />
74 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
low-noise, very-high-resolution sound. The Air<br />
Line seems to bring out the best in virtually any<br />
cartridge—from tough trackers like the London<br />
Reference to great trackers like the Clearaudio<br />
Titanium and Air Tight PC-1.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
Cartridges<br />
Under $500<br />
Grado Prestige Gold<br />
$180<br />
gradolabs.com<br />
Grado’s Prestige Gold cartridge has its flaws—<br />
a lack of inner detail and audible grain chief<br />
among them—but its strengths are such that you<br />
can easily listen through them. These include a<br />
somewhat too warm yet very pleasant (and yes,<br />
euphonious) balance, a sweet if not hugely airy<br />
treble, and taut if not especially layered bass.<br />
The overall presentation is lively.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 141<br />
Sumiko Blue Point<br />
Special EVOIII<br />
$399<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
Sumiko’s Blue Point Special has a reputation as<br />
one of the best entry-level, high-output movingcoil<br />
cartridges available, and the EVOIII offers<br />
substantial improvements over the original—a<br />
fundamental heartiness, terrific top-to-bottom<br />
consistency, and the ability to gracefully handle<br />
tracking challenges. Its sins are mostly those<br />
of omission, meaning that this is one moving<br />
coil that will not bite you with excess edge<br />
or glare.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 147<br />
$500–$1000<br />
Grado Reference Sonata<br />
$500<br />
gradolabs.com<br />
A wonderful performer, the Sonata may lack the<br />
transparency and resolution of the very best, yet<br />
it delivers a naturally sweet treble, refined tone<br />
colors, and very good detail, particularly in the<br />
midband.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 141<br />
Benz Micro ACE<br />
$550<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
The ACE’s mission is to make many of the<br />
virtues of high-end moving coils available to<br />
audiophiles on a budget, and at this it is a great<br />
success. You’ll enjoy a sound that offers a wideopen<br />
midrange, plenty of definition and air<br />
around instruments and voices, and tight, clean<br />
bass. With the right phonostage, the ACE can<br />
do a great job of walking that fine line between<br />
resolution on the one hand, and smoothness<br />
and warmth on the other.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 147<br />
Lyra Dorian<br />
$750<br />
immediasound.com<br />
Lyra’s entry-level Dorian—also available in a<br />
mono configuration—is a relatively high-output<br />
moving-coil with terrifically good sound that<br />
Lyra fans will recognize. Though not as detailed,<br />
dynamic, and nuanced as the company’s top<br />
models, the Lyra is a very clean, musical design<br />
that offers wonderful value.<br />
WG (review forthcoming)<br />
Sumiko Blackbird<br />
$799<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
This high-output moving-coil is smooth yet<br />
detailed, with a wide soundstage and fine lowend<br />
authority. Massed strings lack the uppermidrange<br />
glare one hears with some moving<br />
coils in this class, and can even sound lush.<br />
Midrange instruments, such as voices and saxes<br />
are particularly seductive; images are stable; and<br />
transparency, transient quickness, and inner<br />
detail are all good.<br />
Reviewed by JH, Issue 164
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Wilson Benesch PLY<br />
$750<br />
wilson-benesch.com<br />
Built by Benz to Wilson Benesch<br />
specifications, the carbon fiber-framed Ply<br />
moving-coil cartridge is offered in low-<br />
(.58mV) and high-output (1.58mV) formats.<br />
At its best, the Ply blends some of the virtues<br />
of two other strong contenders in this class,<br />
namely, the Sumiko Blackbird and the Shelter<br />
501 MkII. The Ply offers a touch of the<br />
dynamic liveliness and transient detail of<br />
the Blackbird, plus a taste of the effortless<br />
three-dimensionality of the 501 MkII. It’s a<br />
pleasing combination.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 163<br />
Dynavector Karat 17D Mk II<br />
$850<br />
dynavector.co.jp<br />
A luscious midrange, superb dynamics, and<br />
overall neutrality from the midbass through<br />
the highs translate into an impression of<br />
both high accuracy and glorious musicality.<br />
Soundstaging is spectacular, imaging spot-on,<br />
tracking superb.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 137<br />
Shelter 501 Mk II<br />
$850<br />
axiss-usa.com<br />
The 501 Mk II is one of those rare products<br />
that does everything well—and some<br />
things spectacularly well. Its superb threedimensionality<br />
brings to life recordings one<br />
thought lacking in spaciousness, while its<br />
neutral tonal balance, audiophile virtues<br />
(resolution, focus, air, transient speed, extension<br />
at both frequency extremes), and overarching<br />
cohesiveness “always seemed cut from whole<br />
cloth.” Add these factors together and you have<br />
a cartridge that takes you about as close as you<br />
can get to top-tier performance at this price<br />
point.<br />
Reviewed by CM, Issue 147<br />
76 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
$1000–$2000<br />
Grado Reference<br />
$1200<br />
gradolabs.com<br />
A beautiful-sounding moving-iron cartridge,<br />
not the last word in detail or transient speed<br />
or top-end air, the Reference is nonetheless<br />
enormously musical.<br />
Reviewed by Adam Walinsky, Issue 112<br />
Sumiko Celebration<br />
$1500<br />
sumikoaudio.net<br />
This low-output moving coil yields a dark, mellow<br />
sound that, while far from accurate, is certainly<br />
high in listenability and musicality. Difficult to<br />
rate, as it has certainly succeeded in achieving<br />
what its designers set out to do, even if that isn’t<br />
quite the absolute sound. Average tracking.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 130<br />
Lyra Helikon<br />
$1995; $2195 for SL and Mono versions<br />
immediasound.com<br />
An excellent soundstager with phenomenally<br />
good bass, the Helikon is a little cool and white<br />
in balance, though not analytical-sounding. The<br />
bargain in high-end moving-coil cartridges.<br />
HP’s Workshop, Issues 132 and 136<br />
$2000 and above<br />
Shelter 90x<br />
$2700<br />
axiss-usa.com<br />
A top contender at a more than a fair<br />
price, the Shelter 90x may not be the very<br />
last word in transparency and dynamic nuance,<br />
but it comes mighty close, with the bonuses of<br />
exceptionally solid bass, a warm lovely midrange,<br />
and a big bloomy soundstage.<br />
JV/Reviewed by WG, Issue 160<br />
Benz Ruby 3<br />
$3000<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
This low-output moving coil’s easy tonal<br />
character highlights no single virtue at the expense<br />
of others. It’s got fine harmonic, ambient, and<br />
spatial resolution, excellent tracking, sweet and<br />
mellow textures, and plays down groove grit<br />
without a hint of concealment.<br />
Reviewed by Art Pfeffer, Issue 129<br />
Koetsu Rosewood<br />
Signature<br />
$3500<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
The great-great-grandson of the cartridge<br />
that started the latter-day moving-coil craze<br />
(the Supex), the Rosewood is relatively<br />
high in Technicoloration, but who cares<br />
When something sounds this beautiful,<br />
exceptions should be made—and regularly<br />
are by audiophiles who are more interested<br />
in hearing timbres sound gorgeous than<br />
hearing them sound “audiophile-neutral.”<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
London Reference<br />
$4500<br />
mayaudio.com<br />
London/Decca’s classic, cantilever-less,<br />
“positive-scanning,” moving-iron cartridge<br />
has just been brought into the 21st century<br />
with a new stylus, chassis, and magnetic<br />
engine. If you think moving coils sound<br />
“fast,” you ain’t heard nothing yet! Transient<br />
response is simply terrific. Paradoxically, the<br />
London doesn’t have quite the very-low-level<br />
resolution of a great mc, but then it doesn’t<br />
have the hi-fi etch, either. The London<br />
also boasts sensationally lifelike bass and a<br />
midrange-to-die-for. An indifferent tracker,<br />
it will require careful tonearm-matching and<br />
setup. JV’s mm (well, mi) refrence.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
Micromagic Diamond<br />
$5000<br />
axiss-usa.com<br />
A truly beautiful-sounding cartridge, the<br />
Diamond allows the most fleeting events—a<br />
barely tapped rim shot or softly swooshed<br />
hi-hat—to come across as closer to the real<br />
things. Bass notes, however, while exquisitely<br />
defined, are not as rich as they are with<br />
some other designs, and on rock and jazz<br />
this model never quite lets loose. That said,<br />
because the Magic is so refined, natural, and<br />
lovely-sounding, classical enthusiasts should<br />
give it a long listen.<br />
Reviewed by WG, Issue 160
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Lyra Titan mono<br />
$5495<br />
immediasound.com<br />
The Titan mono is a stunning achievement.<br />
So large and coherent is the soundstage that<br />
it can sometimes be difficult to tell whether a<br />
recording is in stereo or not. Whether it’s playing<br />
a 1929 Louis Armstrong Hot 7 session or an<br />
old Blue Note, the Titan delivers taut bass and<br />
a wealth of detail. While not as refined as the<br />
stereo Dynavector XV1-S, it packs more punch.<br />
If you have a substantial mono collection, the<br />
Titan will prove more than worthy of its name<br />
and its steep price.<br />
JHeilbrunn (review forthcoming)<br />
Air Tight PC-1<br />
$5500<br />
axiss-usa.com<br />
Here is a genuine surprise—a world-beating mc<br />
from an unlikely source, SET-manufacturer Air<br />
Tight. Although JV just extolled the London for<br />
its transient speed, the PC-1 sounds like a London<br />
on steroids. Whip-fast, high in resolution, low in<br />
coloration, and a great soundstager/imager, the<br />
PC-1 is the state of the art in mc’s. A mustaudition,<br />
if moving coils are your<br />
ticket. JV’s new mc reference.<br />
JV (review forthcoming)<br />
Clearaudio Titanium<br />
$6000<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
Unquestionably the most musical<br />
cartridge Clearaudio has yet<br />
produced. It isn’t as if Clearaudio<br />
has sacrificed detail for this<br />
newfound musicality; on the contrary,<br />
the Titanium is even more detailed than previous<br />
Clearaudios. It is the quality of the detail—the<br />
amount of rich, realistic tone color and dynamic<br />
nuance that has been added—which makes this<br />
thing so good.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 161<br />
Tuners<br />
Magnum Dynalab MD106T<br />
$4000<br />
magnumdynalab.com<br />
A high-end system isn’t fully dressed without a<br />
great FM tuner, and this all-analog triode design<br />
emphatically makes that case. Its quiet, black<br />
backgrounds, and sparkling, airy treble easily<br />
exceed Magnum’s own budget-conscious winner,<br />
the MD-90. Terrific sensitivity and selectivity give<br />
the MD106T exceptional focus and soundstaging.<br />
A tactile pleasure to operate, the green tuning-eye<br />
tube makes fine-tuning almost as much fun as a<br />
vintage Marantz or Sequerra tuner.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 152<br />
78 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
Multichannel<br />
Controllers<br />
$1000–$3000<br />
Outlaw Audio 990<br />
$1099<br />
outlawaudio.com<br />
The Internet-only Outlaws have bushwhacked<br />
the competition yet again. Brimming with hot<br />
features like dual subwoofer outputs, DVI<br />
video-switching, and eight channels of balanced<br />
outputs. More importantly, music is reproduced<br />
with brio in bypass mode. There’s a rock-steady<br />
midrange balance and a sense of musicality that<br />
soothes the soul. Its personality is slightly darker<br />
than neutral and veers to the warmer side of the<br />
sonic spectrum. Transient speed and harmonic<br />
resolution could stir the pot a bit more. And<br />
soundstaging and imaging are mid-pack at best;<br />
still, nabbing one these is like getting away with<br />
a felony.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 162<br />
Rotel RSP-1098<br />
$2999<br />
rotel.com<br />
The Rotel’s large, colorful 3.5"-by-6" TFT display<br />
might garner all the buzz, but it’s the RSP-1098’s<br />
audiophile-grade sonics—vivid extension and<br />
detail—that boost it near the top of its class.<br />
Great functionality and features are mated with<br />
the latest Crystal 24-bit/192kHz DACs and<br />
surround-decoding formats. With a true 7.1-<br />
multichannel analog bypass and sophisticated<br />
bass-management options, this is a controller to<br />
listen to, even if you never see another movie.<br />
Reviewed by NG, TPV Issue 51 and AT in this<br />
issue<br />
Krell Showcase<br />
$4500<br />
$3000–$6000<br />
krellonline.com<br />
This successor to Krell’s Home Theater<br />
Standard 7.1 is the fifth generation of Krell<br />
surround-sound preamp/processors. Although<br />
it does not currently have DVI-D or HDMI<br />
video inputs or outputs, the Showcase offers<br />
proprietary software-based seven-channel<br />
digital room equalization and, of course, Krell’s<br />
superior analog preamplification circuitry, which<br />
is among the best in high-end audio/video. This<br />
controller comes very close to the sound of an<br />
ultra-high-end preamp when playing back CD<br />
or high-res audio.<br />
Reviewed by JV, TPV Issue 55<br />
Anthem Statement D2<br />
$5000<br />
anthemav.com<br />
With every surround-sound mode you could<br />
need, the new Anthem Statement D2 is a<br />
very sophisticated processor with state-of-theart<br />
features and excellent sound quality. The<br />
D2 exhibits such incredible clarity, openness,<br />
and detail that an experienced audio engineer<br />
could probably identify the microphone used<br />
in the recordings. We particularly appreciated<br />
the elaborate set-up and control capabilities,<br />
balanced-line inputs and outputs, and excellent<br />
construction quality.<br />
Reviewed by Gary Altunian, TPV,<br />
Issue 57<br />
Arcam FMJ AV9<br />
$5795<br />
audiophilesystems.com<br />
In philosophy, features, and sonic<br />
priorities, the Arcam AV9 is all<br />
about analog, though its digital<br />
performance is respectable. If most<br />
of your music sources are analog—<br />
including CD and DVD players<br />
with analog outputs—the AV9 would make a<br />
formidable centerpiece for a combined hometheater/music<br />
system. RH’s reference.<br />
Reviewed by AT, Issue 164<br />
Halcro SSP-100<br />
$9990<br />
$6000 and above<br />
halcro.com<br />
Halcro’s SSP100 prioritizes digital sonics<br />
and features, and for appropriate sources<br />
the result is superb. Of course, none of the<br />
SSP100’s digital goodness would be audible<br />
if it didn’t also encompass a truly fine analog<br />
stage. Sadly, there seems to be no satisfactory<br />
way to directly access it. If there were, this<br />
controller’s analog source performance would<br />
presumably equal or better that of its digital<br />
inputs. As it stands, those with primarily<br />
digital sources, and the requisite cash, should<br />
place the SSP100 at the top of their musicminded<br />
controller list.<br />
Reviewed by AT, Issue 164
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Theta Casablanca III<br />
and Six Shooter<br />
Casablanca III, $8000−$20,620 (depending<br />
upon configuration). Typical price, $10,000–<br />
$15,000; Six Shooter, $2000<br />
thetadigital.com<br />
The Theta combination is a testament to what<br />
a manufacturer can achieve with sufficient<br />
thoughtfulness and resources. The Casablanca<br />
III with Six Shooter lacks not a single important<br />
musically-oriented feature. Furthermore, this<br />
combo¹s sound makes neither apologies to nor<br />
compromises with excellent stand-alone analog<br />
components. The Six Shooter inspires only<br />
two wishes: that Theta will bring its benefits<br />
to less expensive controllers, and that other<br />
manufacturers will emulate this demonstrably<br />
superior approach.<br />
Reviewed by AT, Issue 158<br />
Multichannel<br />
Amplifiers<br />
$1000–$3000<br />
Outlaw Audio 7125<br />
$999<br />
outlawaudio.com<br />
It may not turn any heads with its looks, but<br />
with seven smooth channels of 125Wpc<br />
performance and heavyweight power reserves<br />
the 7125 is likely to change some minds. (For<br />
balanced inputs check out Outlaw’s 200Wpc<br />
Model 7700.) Like its sibling, the 990 controller,<br />
it’s a bit darker in character, but possessed of<br />
a rich and punchy low end with good weight.<br />
Although not the final word in resolution and<br />
transparency, it’s probably the final word in<br />
dual-purpose performance for under a grand.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 162<br />
Rotel RMB-1075<br />
$999<br />
rotel.com<br />
Rotel’s THX Ultra RMB-1075 provides a<br />
robust 120 watts into five channels with a<br />
smooth midrange and plenty of weight. Its<br />
sound is slightly rounded off and not quite<br />
as transparent as the best, but it is still a<br />
remarkable value.<br />
Reviewed by NG, TPV Issue 44<br />
80 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
NAD T 973<br />
$1999<br />
nadelectronics.com<br />
Employing modular monoblock architecture,<br />
the seven-channel T 973 outputs a generous,<br />
easygoing 140Wpc. Solid power reserves,<br />
superior bass definition, and a warm upper<br />
treble continue the NAD tradition of audio<br />
excitement tempered with refinement and<br />
understatement. The back panel has convenient<br />
input-level trim controls. There was a hint of<br />
fan noise at loud listening levels. Triggers link<br />
the amp with the T 163 controller for seamless<br />
on/off switching.<br />
Reviewed by NG, TPV Issue 54<br />
Parasound Halo A52<br />
$2000<br />
parasound.com<br />
Designed by the legendary John<br />
Curl (of early Mark Levinson<br />
fame), the robust, 5x125-watt A52<br />
is essentially a multichannel version<br />
of Parasound’s award-winning A23<br />
stereo amplifier. Those who prize<br />
flexibility will appreciate this amp’s<br />
balanced and single-ended inputs and<br />
individual level controls for each channel. With<br />
sound that is warm, natural, and never edgy<br />
(though not the last word in definition).<br />
Reviewed by CM, AVgM, Issue 2<br />
Cary Cinema 5<br />
$4000<br />
$3000–$6000<br />
caryaudio.com<br />
Cary’s Cinema 5 is a superb achievement. At<br />
80 pounds, this medium-sized unit isn’t as<br />
heavy or large (or costly) as many state-of-theart<br />
performers; yet it delivers much the same<br />
sound quality. Excellent definition, fine dynamic<br />
gradation, rich harmonics, and a transparent<br />
window to the source.<br />
Reviewed by WG, TPV Issue 50<br />
Anthem Statement P5<br />
$5000<br />
anthemav.com<br />
The Statement P5 is the “poster amp” for highcurrent<br />
amplifiers, with 14 output transistors<br />
per channel, vastly increasing the available<br />
power for musical crescendos. Actually five<br />
monoblock power amplifiers in one chassis,<br />
each capable of 325 watts, it has no shared<br />
power supplies; each channel has its own<br />
toroidal transformer, meaning there are no<br />
common audio paths between channels. The<br />
P5 sounds very authoritative—always in control<br />
of the speakers—with effortless dynamics and<br />
tight deep bass.<br />
Reviewed by GA, TPV Issue 57<br />
$6000 and above<br />
Theta Digital Dreadnaught II<br />
$7100, five-channel version;<br />
$8100, ten-channel version<br />
thetadigital.com<br />
Like the original Dreadnaught, the Dread II is fully<br />
balanced with zero global feedback. The new model<br />
delivers more power and impact, along with better<br />
low-end authority and control, stunning resolution,<br />
and incredible soundstage depth and focus. It also<br />
has more energy in the upper midrange and treble<br />
than its predecessor, sacrificing just a bit of the<br />
original’s warmth and musicality.<br />
Reviewed by SB, TPV Issue 46<br />
Audio Research 150M<br />
$7495 for five-channel version ($900/<br />
additional power module)<br />
audioresearch.com<br />
A stunning—and stunningly successful—<br />
departure for the high-end Tube Gods of<br />
Audio Research Corporation. This relatively<br />
lightweight, entirely modular (the 150M can<br />
be fitted with up to seven power amplification<br />
modules, each rated at 150W into 8 ohms and<br />
300W into 4 ohms), cool-running, Class T amp<br />
produces a surprisingly ARC-like sound. A little<br />
bright, forward, and weighted toward the treble,<br />
the 150M has much of the natural airiness and<br />
light of ARC tubes, with terrific soundstaging,<br />
dynamics, and clarity for multichannel.<br />
Reviewed by JV, TPV Issue 51<br />
Krell Theater Amplifier<br />
Standard<br />
$8000<br />
krellonline.com<br />
A very Krell-like FPB (Fully Power Balanced)<br />
five-channel amplifier that generates a powerfulsounding<br />
200W into 8 ohms and 400W into 4.<br />
The Krell, like the ARC 150M, shares much of<br />
the build-quality and sound of its celebrated<br />
monoblock siblings: a rich, articulate, slightly<br />
dark, and very hard-hitting presentation that is<br />
voluptuous on music and pin-you-to-your seat<br />
stunning on film soundtracks. You won’t lack<br />
for weight or impact with this baby—and its<br />
soundstage is phenomenal.<br />
Reviewed by JV, TPV Issue 51
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Plinius Odeon<br />
$8595–$11,995, depending on number of<br />
channels<br />
pliniususa.com<br />
With its modular design, user-selectable<br />
number of channels, superior build-quality,<br />
and outstanding sound, the Odeon is a top<br />
contender in multichannel designs. Its sound<br />
is characterized by effortless dynamics, a<br />
rock-solid and rhythmically engaging bottom<br />
end, and midrange and treble purity on a<br />
par with the best solid-state two-channel<br />
amplifiers.<br />
Reviewed by RH, TPV Issue 50<br />
Balanced Audio Technology<br />
VK-6200<br />
$10,995 (fully loaded or $5995 for twochannels;<br />
$1250 each additional channel)<br />
balanced.com<br />
No matter how many channels you order<br />
it with—it accepts as many as six—BAT’s<br />
modular VK-6200 is one of the best-sounding<br />
amplifiers around. The massive but strikinglooking<br />
chassis weighs 200 pounds when fully<br />
loaded; parts and build-quality are top-drawer;<br />
and the sound combines seemingly limitless<br />
reserves of power with amazing delicacy, air,<br />
transparency, and speed.<br />
Reviewed by WG, TPV Issue 38<br />
Music Servers<br />
and Multichannel<br />
Receivers<br />
See our Music Server Buyer’s<br />
Guide in TPV Issue 70<br />
Interconnects,<br />
Speaker Cables,<br />
and Power Cords<br />
Acoustic Zen Technologies<br />
Tsunami II and Gargantua II<br />
Power Cords<br />
$350 and $1488<br />
acousticzen.com<br />
The Gargantua II is well named. At $1488, it<br />
is hardly an accessory, but it surprised SR by<br />
revealing in her reference system a new level<br />
of its native sweet clarity. SR uses the $350<br />
Tsunami II with less-expensive gear and in her<br />
small system, and has found it an important<br />
addition to some designs and a worthy upgrade<br />
with others. Both cords have the nice habit of<br />
clarifying delicate highs, deepening perceived<br />
bass, and opening up and airing out the<br />
soundstage.<br />
SR (review forthcoming)<br />
82 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
AudioQuest Jaguar/DBS<br />
Interconnect<br />
$300/one-meter pair<br />
audioquest.com<br />
The entry-level interconnect for AudioQuest’s<br />
battery-powered DBS (dielectric bias system)<br />
technology. The Jaguar’s highs are well-defined<br />
yet sweet-sounding; its bass is taut yet possesses<br />
plenty of weight and warmth and a heaping<br />
helping of three-dimensionality. DBS technology<br />
gives these cables a stable, perpetually “warmed<br />
up and ready to go” quality. Though not the last<br />
word in transparency, the Jaguars do a great job<br />
of balancing clarity and smoothness.<br />
Reviewed by CM, AVgM, Issue 2<br />
AudioQuest CV-8/DBS Speaker<br />
Cable<br />
$400/eight-foot pair<br />
audioquest.com<br />
The least-expensive speaker cable that has<br />
AudioQuest’s battery-powered DBS technology,<br />
the CV-8 offers well-defined and nicely weighted<br />
bass, a neutral midrange with a hint of warmth,<br />
clear but never edgy highs, and truly excellent<br />
soundstaging. Roundness on transients makes<br />
this cable easy to listen through for hours on<br />
end.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 147, and CM in<br />
AVguide.com, 11/2003<br />
AudioQuest DBS Cheetah<br />
Interconnect and Kilimanjaro<br />
Speaker Cable<br />
Interconnect: $900/one-meter pair; Speaker:<br />
$5200/eight-foot pair<br />
audioquest.com<br />
AudioQuest’s Cheetah and “KJ” use silver<br />
wire with battery packs that bias the cable’s<br />
dielectrics to keep them fully formed at all<br />
times. These cables are the closest thing SB has<br />
yet heard to removing cables from a system<br />
entirely, revealing layer upon layer of depth and<br />
pure transparency. And because the dielectric is<br />
always charged, your system is always ready to<br />
go instead of hours of “warm-up” away, a<br />
bonus with phono playback gear.<br />
SB<br />
Crystal Cable<br />
CrystalConnect<br />
Micro Interconnect<br />
and CrystalSpeak<br />
Micro Speaker Cable<br />
Interconnect:$599/one-meter<br />
pair; Speaker: $2600/threemeter<br />
pair<br />
crystalcable.com<br />
Clean, composed and transparent,<br />
the delicate and jewel-like Crystal<br />
Micro cables offer an open soundstage<br />
where images snap into focus and music<br />
is conveyed with a turbine-like smoothness.<br />
Even some minor deductions at the frequency<br />
extremes, namely some softness in the bass<br />
and a bit of forwardness in the treble, don’t<br />
remotely diminish the achievement of one of<br />
the most transparent cables NG has heard.<br />
Unique splitter rings allows easy change-out of<br />
terminations or bi-wire upgrades.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 164<br />
Harmonic Technology Magic<br />
Link One Interconnect<br />
$800/one-meter pair (RCA or XLR)<br />
harmonictech.com<br />
A longtime favorite of writer Sue Kraft, the<br />
Harmonic Technology Magic Link One IC has<br />
never met a component it didn’t like. Which<br />
means once you invest your hard-earned money<br />
in these cables, you won’t be forced to replace<br />
them and lose $$$ with your next system<br />
upgrade. With improved clarity and articulation<br />
over Harmonic Tech’s more affordable Pro<br />
Silway line, the Magic Link One consistently<br />
yields smooth, extended highs, a delightfully full<br />
and natural midrange, and solid bass. You may<br />
find other pricier interconnects that excel in one<br />
specific area or another, but when it comes to<br />
overall system synergy, this is one cable you’ll be<br />
“wearing” like a favorite pair of shoes.<br />
SK<br />
Harmonic Technology Pro-11 +<br />
Speaker Cable<br />
$475/eight-foot pair<br />
The TechPro-11+ is sensual, romantic, and<br />
highly present with vocals, with full rich body<br />
and a slight forwardness. There’s a distinct<br />
sweetness in the upper octaves that, once<br />
experienced, makes it tough to live without.<br />
Soundstage reproduction is also a strong suit,<br />
as the full weight and breadth of an orchestra<br />
seem to laterally expand with this wire.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 146
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Kimber Kable Hero<br />
Interconnect<br />
$160/one-meter pair<br />
kimberkable.com<br />
Not surprisingly, this is a sonic near-twin to PS’s<br />
longstanding reference, Kimber Select KS-1021,<br />
yielding by direct comparison only a tiny bit in<br />
sheer control, ultimate top-end transparency,<br />
and inner detailing. The Hero’s bass lives up to<br />
its name, prodigious in amplitude and definition<br />
(rather better even than its pricier brother).<br />
This interconnect is either dead neutral or tilts<br />
a notch to the yang, with dynamics at once<br />
powerful yet finely resolved in an essentially<br />
grain-free presentation.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 138<br />
Kimber Kable 8TC Speaker<br />
Cable<br />
$270/eight-foot pair<br />
kimberkable.com<br />
Tilting a tad toward the yin, the 8TC has that<br />
elusive ability to remain musical no matter<br />
what is happening fore or aft. Ensembles both<br />
large and small receive an open projection that<br />
ideally mediates detail, liveliness, tonal neutrality,<br />
and dynamic contrasts, with a very realistic<br />
soundstage that’s holographic in its integrity.<br />
This cable has been around for a commendably<br />
long time; having used it for well over 15 years<br />
through countless changes in equipment and<br />
rooms, PS can personally vouch for its versatility<br />
and behavior: great neutrality, transparency, and<br />
musicality, without ever causing amplifiers any<br />
distress.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 146<br />
Legenburg Hermes S<br />
Interconnect and Speaker Cable<br />
Interconnect: $971/three-foot pair; Speaker:<br />
$2635/eight-foot pair<br />
legenburg.com<br />
Instilled with an unshakable midrange<br />
tonal balance, high-octane dynamics, and<br />
the merest suggestion of treble warmth,<br />
Legenburg’s serpentine cabling nearly<br />
disappears into the music and makes for the<br />
one of the sweetest of listening experiences.<br />
Exquisitely manufactured and sporting<br />
rectangular mono-crystal copper conductors,<br />
Hermes S comes ever closer to becoming the<br />
“uncable.”<br />
NG (review forthcoming)<br />
84 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
MIT AVt 1 Speaker Cable<br />
$549/eight-foot pair<br />
mitcables.com<br />
Perhaps canted ever so slightly toward the yang,<br />
the MIT AVt 1 counts power and definition<br />
among its many virtues. Perhaps there is ever<br />
so slightly less a sense of bloom than with other<br />
cables, but the AVt 1 nevertheless suggests great<br />
openness, with a remarkable ability to project<br />
musical events into the room and an impression<br />
of snap and bite that in the best sense of those<br />
words is irresistible. On difficult orchestral<br />
material, the MIT excavates breathtaking detail<br />
amid a wide, deep soundstage; the precision of<br />
the imaging is especially notable. Absolutely<br />
convincing in its musicality.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 146<br />
MIT Magnum MA Speaker Cable<br />
$7995/eight-foot pair<br />
mitcables.com<br />
Over the past four years, no cable has dethroned<br />
MIT’s Oracle V2 in RH’s system—until MIT’s<br />
new MA (Maximum Articulation) showed up.<br />
Although the same price as the discontinued<br />
Oracle V2, the new MA is vastly improved in<br />
every way, with far greater resolution, greater<br />
separation of individual instrumental lines,<br />
more space and depth, and a shocking increase<br />
in bottom-end depth, power, and articulation.<br />
Even with no break-in, the MA brought out<br />
a whole new level of performance from RH’s<br />
system.<br />
RH<br />
Nordost Blue Heaven<br />
Interconnect and Speaker Cable<br />
Interconnect: $190/one-meter pair; Speaker:<br />
$510/eight-foot pair<br />
nordost.com<br />
Similar in personality, the Blue Heaven<br />
interconnects and cables excel at low-level<br />
detail, upper-octave smoothness, and transient<br />
speed. Also expect to hear exceptional inner<br />
detail and nuance emerge from the velvety<br />
black and silent background. Note that it may<br />
be a bit on the cool clinical side for some<br />
treble-happy systems, but remains ideal for<br />
neutral and darker ones.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 138<br />
Nordost Baldur Interconnect<br />
and Speaker Cable<br />
Interconnect:$499/one meter; Speaker:<br />
$1380/three-meter pair<br />
nordost.com<br />
Baldur, part of Nordost’s midrange Norse line<br />
of ribbon cables, brings much of the balance<br />
and harmonic integrity of state-of-the-art<br />
Valhalla to prices even “normal” audiophiles (as<br />
opposed to normal people) can afford. It has<br />
a buttery way with transients and isolates lowlevel<br />
details with the best of them. Although<br />
never edgy there is a whitish zone in the lower<br />
treble, an additive that will be dependant on your<br />
system. Perhaps not as weighty and focused as<br />
some but with an overall balance and musicality<br />
that are addictive.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 164<br />
Nordost Valhalla Interconnect<br />
and Speaker Cable<br />
Interconnect: $4000/one-meter pair; Speaker:<br />
$5995/1.5-meter pair<br />
nordost.com<br />
In any system into which you insert these topof-the-line<br />
(and hideously expensive) Nordost<br />
statement products, you’ll get the same results,<br />
which one might describe as no results in the<br />
sense that they introduce no audible colorations<br />
that HP can hear, and believe me, he’s tried. If<br />
ever there were an audio product HP would be<br />
tempted to call well nigh perfect, the Valhallas<br />
would be it.<br />
HP’s Workshop, Issue 136<br />
Nordost Brahma Power Cord<br />
$1499/two meters<br />
nordost.com<br />
As with Nordost’s interconnect and speaker<br />
cables, the Brahma cord reduces noise and hash<br />
and improves dynamics, bass pitch, and overall<br />
clarity while always sounding neutral.<br />
WG<br />
PNF Audio Icon Interconnect<br />
and Symphony Speaker Cable<br />
Icon: $190/one-meter pair; Symphony: $400/<br />
ten-foot pair<br />
pnfaudio.com<br />
PNF produces one of the finest sets of<br />
reasonably priced cables we have heard. We say<br />
“sets” here, because the Icon and Symphony<br />
offer complementary strengths and work best<br />
when used together, with a huge amount of<br />
resolution and focus, clear and deeply extended<br />
bass, dynamic expressiveness, and the ability to<br />
enhance both clarity and smoothness. They lean<br />
toward the “clarity” side, so avoid components<br />
with midrange brightness or edge.<br />
Reviewed by CM, AVgM, Issue 4<br />
Purist Audio Design Dominus<br />
Interconnect and Speaker Cable<br />
Interconnect: $5250/one-meter pair; Speaker:<br />
$14,090/1.5-meter pair<br />
puristaudiodesign.com<br />
The all-silver Dominus is very detailed, very<br />
dynamic, very rich. Less open than Nordost<br />
Valhalla and darker in balance than Kharma<br />
Enigma, it is also quieter than both, and because<br />
of its fluid-damped construction, virtually<br />
immune to floorborne and airborne vibration.<br />
JV
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Rega Couple Interconnect<br />
$150/1-meter pair<br />
rega.co.uk<br />
The Couples offer plenty of upper midrange/<br />
treble detail, with fine resolution of textures, yet<br />
without exaggerated transients or edginess. Their<br />
bass is tight and punchy, and they are wonderfully<br />
neutral throughout the midrange. While they<br />
don’t offer the almost “luminous” midrange<br />
quality you’ll hear in some very expensive cables,<br />
their essential neutrality makes a fine substitute<br />
for a “pennies-on-the-dollar” price.<br />
Reviewed by CM, AVguide.com, 10/2003<br />
Richard Gray’s Power Company<br />
High Tension Wire Power Cord<br />
$450 and up<br />
richardgrayspowercompany.com<br />
Exotic power cords are something of a<br />
conundrum—they make an immediate and<br />
obvious change in sound quality, but seldom<br />
are the changes unequivocally for the better.<br />
RGPC’s High Tension Wires are tonally neutral<br />
and, unlike many exotic power cords, they don’t<br />
cause more problems than they solve. The<br />
HTWs do the things you want a power cord to<br />
do—the background is blacker, more real detail<br />
is revealed, and dynamics are extended—without<br />
getting in the way of anything your system does right.<br />
SB<br />
Shunyata Python Power Cord<br />
$995<br />
shunyata.com<br />
As RH put it in his review, “the idea that a power<br />
cord comes at the end of a very long powertransmission<br />
system is purely one of perspective.<br />
From the amplifier’s point of view the power cord<br />
is the first few feet of the power-deliver system.”<br />
With the Python, expect greatly improved<br />
transparency, soundstaging, tighter focus, and<br />
air, “fostering a greater impression of hearing an<br />
actual instrument in an acoustic space.”<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 164<br />
Siltech Paris MXT Interconnect<br />
$199/one-meter pair<br />
siltechcables.com<br />
The only tonal anomaly of this superb<br />
interconnect is a slightly recessed midrange—<br />
very slight—that throws the tonal balance about<br />
three degrees to the yin, albeit in no way that’s<br />
unmusical. Otherwise, it has a smooth, tube-like<br />
sound that’s not the least sibilant, while the lowend<br />
is warm and solid. Like many components<br />
that have a slight midrange trough, the entire<br />
presentation is somewhat set back, with a rather<br />
conspicuous rendering of depth. The Paris<br />
reproduces the gestalt of a musical event with<br />
stunning transparency, detail, and cohesion—<br />
everything in its proper place.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 138<br />
88 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
Siltech New York MXT Speaker<br />
Cable<br />
$491/2.5-meter pair<br />
siltechcables.com<br />
Luxurious as an Italian loafer, the Siltech New<br />
York MXT is sensibly weighted toward the<br />
midrange and basically neutral in balance, with<br />
a slightly rounded treble. Virtually grain-free<br />
and one of the most harmonically palpable and<br />
realistic in its price range, it also offers excellent<br />
low-level resolution. Though soundstage<br />
dimensionality could be improved, no serious<br />
faults trip this up.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 146<br />
Paul Speltz “Anti-Cable”<br />
Speaker Cable<br />
$80 (8-foot pair w/spades)<br />
anticables.com<br />
A godsend to those who want good<br />
sound but don’t want to spend<br />
big bucks. SK was blown away<br />
by their neutrality and lack of<br />
coloration, high frequencies<br />
that are open and clear with<br />
no tizziness, a midrange of exceptional clarity,<br />
transparency and detail, and bass that’s extended,<br />
with remarkable articulation.<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 162<br />
Synergistic Research REL-spec<br />
Subwoofer Cable<br />
$1200<br />
synergisticresearch.com<br />
Pricey but potent, these inspired subwoofers<br />
cables are specifically optimized for REL<br />
subwoofers and include the REL-specified<br />
Neutrik connectors. They improved the inherent<br />
musicality and pitch precision of the Britannia<br />
B3 in every instance—the lowered noise floor<br />
yields more detail, an enhanced sense of space,<br />
and expanded ambience retrieval.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 163<br />
Synergistic Research Alpha<br />
Interconnect<br />
$199/one-meter pair<br />
synergisticresearch.com<br />
Balance and transparency are its strengths, along<br />
with a rich midrange and a sweet, smooth, never<br />
forced or strident treble. The affordable Alpha<br />
challenges some of the finest reference cables<br />
out there.<br />
Reviewed by NG, TPV Issue 38<br />
Synergistic Research Absolute<br />
Reference X2 Interconnect and<br />
Speaker Cable<br />
Interconnect: $3800/ one-meter pair; Speaker:<br />
$6200/eight-foot pair<br />
synergisticresearch.com<br />
Synergistic’s top-of-the-line “active shielded”<br />
cable must be plugged<br />
into a power supply<br />
that, in turn, generates<br />
a very small amount<br />
of current to bias<br />
the dielectric. If this<br />
sounds complicated, it<br />
is a bit, but the results<br />
are impressive: dead<br />
quiet backgrounds and<br />
higher amplitude signals.<br />
The Absolute Reference<br />
X2 sounds a bit like Nordost<br />
Valhalla with denser tone<br />
color, fuller body, and higher<br />
output. A beguiling alternative<br />
for those who like the sound<br />
of Nordost cable but long for<br />
a bit more “there” there.<br />
JV<br />
TARA Labs RSC Air 1 and Air<br />
1 Series 2 Interconnect and<br />
Speaker Cable<br />
Interconnect: $995/one meter; Speaker:<br />
$2350/ ten-foot pair<br />
taralabs.com<br />
Everything about these cables says big—<br />
dynamics, extension, and volume. It’s also one<br />
of the mellower cables I’ve heard with a darker<br />
character, and a deeply polished and resonant<br />
signature that should appeal to many. They<br />
have an expansive soundstage and orchestral<br />
images always seem more rooted and stable.<br />
Ambience retrieval is at a cutting-edge level.<br />
Separate positive and negative speaker runs for<br />
each channel.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 164<br />
TARA Labs Zero Interconnect<br />
and Omega Speaker Cable<br />
Zero interconnect: $12,800/one meter ($1800<br />
per additional meter); Omega speaker cable:<br />
$11,995/10 feet ($1000 per additional foot);<br />
The Zero digital cable: $5995/one meter<br />
($1200 per additional meter)<br />
taralabs.com<br />
In spite of the remarkable level of engineering<br />
that TARA Labs’ flagship cable and interconnect<br />
represent (the Zeros use a vacuum dielectric),<br />
JV is fully aware that recommending any wires<br />
that put you out 40 to 50 grand is borderline<br />
insane. (Well, not even borderline.) Nonetheless,<br />
the Zero’s X-ray ability to clarify very-low-level<br />
tone colors, dynamic nuances, and performance<br />
details way back in the mix; its remarkable<br />
level of ambience retrieval; its electrifying<br />
transient speed and definition; its front-toback<br />
transparency; and its bottom-octave color,<br />
clarity, and authority are unrivaled thus far in his<br />
experience.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 159
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
TARA Labs The One Power Cord<br />
$1295/6 feet<br />
taralabs.com<br />
Although the difference it makes might not be<br />
quite as staggering as the interconnect, speaker,<br />
and digital cables mentioned above, TARA<br />
Labs’ “The One” power cord has much the<br />
same effect as the company’s other remarkable<br />
wires, and it rounds out the top-of-the-line<br />
package with top-of-the-line sound.<br />
WG (review forthcoming)<br />
Van den Hul Integration Hybrid<br />
Interconnect<br />
$250/one-meter pair<br />
vandenhul.com<br />
This superb interconnect is smooth, sweet,<br />
and perhaps a little tubey but very natural and<br />
musically involving. On complex orchestral<br />
material where there’s a lot going on, the Van<br />
den Hul displays exemplary control and projects<br />
a very convincing impression of air, space, and<br />
dimensionality, with instruments focused in<br />
a space of their own. The Integration is aptly<br />
named, rendering any source fed it with a<br />
persuasive sense of coherence.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 138<br />
Virtual Dynamics Master Series<br />
Power Cord<br />
$2100/five foot<br />
virtualdynamics.ca<br />
Detailed and extended, exceedingly quiet, and<br />
so filled with micro-dynamic details that you’ll<br />
be prompted to reconsider volume settings on<br />
even your best-known source material. With<br />
three Mylar-treated 10-gauge solid-core copper<br />
conductors, the Virtual Dynamics are as unwieldy<br />
as mud-wrestling a python, but the rewards are<br />
great if you survive. Ambience retrieval could<br />
stand improvement but little else.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 162<br />
Wireworld Equinox 5<br />
Speaker Cable<br />
$795/2.5-meter pair<br />
wireworld.com<br />
“So listenable” said PS’s notes regarding this<br />
wonderful entry from an ever-dependable<br />
manufacturer. The presentation is always<br />
smooth, transparent, and integrated, with<br />
excellent dynamics, liveliness, and vitality.<br />
Solid bass response allows a lot of the venue’s<br />
acoustics to come through, while soundstaging<br />
is persuasive in both planes. With closely miked<br />
material, the Equinox mediated excessive<br />
brightness and detail without compromising<br />
dynamics. This cable does little wrong and most<br />
things right; need more be said Perhaps this:<br />
The Equinox evinced a tube-like solidity and<br />
roundedness to its every presentation.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 147<br />
90 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
XLO Ultra 12 Speaker Cable<br />
$720/eight-foot pair<br />
xloelectric.com<br />
Although they land on the cool side of the<br />
spectrum, the Ultras possess an exceedingly<br />
low noise floor, a sweet, sweet treble, and<br />
copious amounts of transient energy that allow<br />
instruments to bloom like a spring bouquet.<br />
This cable straddles the line between detail,<br />
extension, warmth, and musicality without<br />
leaning too strongly one way or the other.<br />
Reviewed by NG, Issue 147<br />
Headphones<br />
and Headphone<br />
Amps<br />
AKG K501<br />
$199<br />
akg.com<br />
Because the drivers sit away from the ear, the<br />
presentation is easy and spacious—everything<br />
from the low-mids on up sounds like a highquality<br />
small speaker. While it’s an excellent<br />
and uncolored headphone, there is no serious<br />
bottom end, so it’s not ideal for those who<br />
thrive on large-scale classical, or rock.<br />
Reviewed by Dan Schwartz, Issue 156<br />
Grado SR60<br />
$69<br />
gradolabs.com<br />
The Mighty Mouse of headphones, Grado’s<br />
SR60 offers superb midrange transparency<br />
and natural dynamics. Treble is well-balanced,<br />
though not quite as smooth or refined as in<br />
some higher-priced designs. Bass is well-defined,<br />
but rolls off a bit early (note that many other<br />
headphones whose bass extends deeper than<br />
that of the SR60 can sound bloated or boomy<br />
down low). The SR60 can also be driven directly<br />
from an Apple iPod or other digital player.<br />
While they are comfortable, keep in mind that<br />
as an “open air” design the SR60 is not ideal for<br />
noisy environments.<br />
Reviewed by TM, AVgM, Issue 3<br />
Grado SR325i<br />
$295<br />
gradolabs.com<br />
Though some listeners find Grado ’phones<br />
overly bright, they sound completely different<br />
from everything else, with a unique hearthrough-the-veils<br />
kind of transparency.<br />
Reviewed by DS, Issue 156<br />
Grado RA-1 headphone<br />
amplifier<br />
$350<br />
gradolabs.com<br />
With a tube-like rendering of timbre and a sweet and<br />
relaxed sound, the Grado RA-1 makes extended<br />
headphone listening a joy. Although battery-driven,<br />
the RA-1 is more at home in your equipment rack<br />
or on your desk than out on the road. A beautiful<br />
wooden case finishes off this gem.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 155<br />
HeadRoom BitHead and Total<br />
BitHead Portable Headphone<br />
Amplifiers<br />
$199 and $269<br />
headroomaudio.com<br />
These portable devices work wonders on all<br />
music sources played through headphones—<br />
most especially with MP3 files, boosting sound<br />
levels and improving dynamics. Moreover,<br />
Headroom’s proprietary processing circuit<br />
solves the “in-the-head” imaging of headphone<br />
listening by seemingly projecting the image in<br />
front of the listener as a pair of loudspeakers<br />
would, generating something like a soundstage.<br />
The BitHead doubles as a USB-powered external<br />
sound card, making it ideal for listening to DVDs<br />
played on laptops. Recommended for frequent<br />
travelers, iPod owners, and anyone who listens<br />
to sound on the go. The BitHead’s slightly more<br />
expensive brother utilizes Burr-Brown parts.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 155<br />
Meier-Audio Porta Corda<br />
headphone amplifier<br />
$225 without USB port, $300 with<br />
meieraudio.de<br />
This compact headphone amp is the ideal partner<br />
for portable music players such as the iPod. The<br />
Porta Corda greatly improves dynamics, tightens<br />
and extends the bass, and adds no additional<br />
noise or grunge to the music.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 155<br />
Sennheiser HD650<br />
$495<br />
sennheiserusa.com<br />
A very revealing model, the HD650 has a<br />
smooth upper range and well-balanced middle<br />
and lower registers. While not quite as dynamic<br />
as some, these have a silky-sweet sound.<br />
Reviewed by DS, Issue 156
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Shure E5c<br />
$549<br />
shure.com<br />
In an era when “ear bud” headphones are a<br />
dime-a-dozen, how can Shure possibly sell a<br />
$500 model Because the E5c offers stunning<br />
sonic performance and amazing comfort in a<br />
compact package that elevates the portableaudio<br />
experience to a new level. When combined<br />
with Headroom’s products and a good source<br />
(no MP3s, please), the E5c has electrostaticlike<br />
resolution, surprising bass extension, and<br />
outstanding clarity. This sound quality is no<br />
doubt due to the elaborate two-way design, with<br />
separate bass and treble drivers, along with a<br />
crossover built into the cord. The crème de la<br />
crème in high-end portable audio.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 155<br />
UltraSone PROLine 2500<br />
$399<br />
ultrasoneusa.com<br />
The German-made UltraSone moves the<br />
driver off the center of the earpiece, so that<br />
rather than firing straight into your hearing<br />
canal it fires at the folds making up your<br />
outer ears. The 2500 is an open design with<br />
a titanium-plated driver and has an overall<br />
outstanding balance of virtues, purity, and<br />
extension, though with some recordings it can<br />
sound strident with strings.<br />
Reviewed by DS, Issue 156<br />
Equipment Racks<br />
Billy Bags Equipment<br />
Racks<br />
$300–$1200 (for Standard Series)<br />
billybags.com<br />
These sturdy, sensibly priced equipment racks<br />
lack state-of-the-art features such as those<br />
found in, for example, the Grand Prix products,<br />
but are effective, highly functional, attractive,<br />
and can be ordered in custom configurations.<br />
Optional lead-shot loading and spikes elevate<br />
performance. The Pro-Series prices increase up<br />
to $3000.<br />
RH owns Billy Bags racks<br />
Finite Elemente “Spider”<br />
$450–$2150<br />
immediasound.com<br />
The handsome and flexible “Spider” is made<br />
of extruded aluminum and solid beechwood<br />
struts, and provides a sturdy and unusually open<br />
platform for components. Eighteen different<br />
variations on an X-shaped theme are possible;<br />
the distance between the aluminum pillars can<br />
also be changed, and you can add more levels<br />
at any time.<br />
WG<br />
92 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
Sanus Natural<br />
Furniture Audio Racks<br />
$329 (four-shelf) to $379 (six-shelf)<br />
sanus.com<br />
Available in black, cherry, or maple, Sanus’<br />
Natural Furniture racks are handsome and<br />
affordable. The rigid frame and ¼" glass shelves<br />
let your gear sound quite neutral and alive, while<br />
the open construction allows for good air flow<br />
and makes installation and hook-up a dream.<br />
WG<br />
Walker Audio Equipment Rack<br />
$6000<br />
walkeraudio.com<br />
A large (four-and-a-half-foot long) beautifully<br />
made equipment rack, constructed of three<br />
thick, oiled slabs of rock maple suspended<br />
between shot-filled tubes and balanced on<br />
Walker Audio’s huge Valid Point feet. Like all<br />
of Walker Audio’s tweaks, the Walker rack kills<br />
vibration without killing the life of the music.<br />
JV<br />
Power<br />
Conditioners<br />
Audience Adept Response<br />
$3800<br />
audience-av.com<br />
This expensive but extremely effective 12-outlet<br />
conditioner delivered significant improvements<br />
in bass definition and depth, overall resolution,<br />
and soundstage depth. Build-quality is<br />
exemplary.<br />
Reviewed by Max Shepherd, Issue 162<br />
Monster Cable HTS series<br />
power conditioners<br />
$150–$700<br />
monstercable.com<br />
Although we haven’t auditioned every<br />
conditioner in Monster Cable’s huge line, those<br />
we’ve heard have been extremely effective at<br />
lowering noise, smoothing the tonal balance,<br />
and improving resolution. A huge bang for the<br />
buck.<br />
RH<br />
Richard Gray Power<br />
Company 600S, 1200S,<br />
and Pole Pig<br />
$1395, $2195, and $1595<br />
richardgrayspowercompany.com<br />
What can one say about a good power<br />
conditioner, save that it does its job and does<br />
it well The RGPC 600S, in combination with<br />
the RGPC Pole Pig, works invisibly, lowering<br />
noise and increasing detail without markedly<br />
inhibiting dynamics or adding a noticeable<br />
sonic signature. For those of you living in older<br />
houses, these Richard Gray products are like<br />
adding six-to-twelve dedicated, lab-grade outlets<br />
to the ones you’ve got, without tearing up any<br />
walls or calling the electrician.<br />
The 1200S is RGPC’s biggest and most<br />
capable conditioner, offering two banks of<br />
six Hubbell outlets. Unlike many conditioners,<br />
RGPCs operate in parallel to your AC lines,<br />
so that system components do not, strictly<br />
speaking, have to be plugged into the RGPC<br />
in order to enjoy its sonic benefits. (However,<br />
we suggest plugging components through the<br />
RGPC in order to take advantage of its surgesuppression<br />
capabilities.) Significantly, the<br />
RGPC 1200S can often improve (and never<br />
limits) the sound quality of huge, blockbuster<br />
amplifiers. Not cheap, but these are the real<br />
deal.<br />
JV (1200S reviewed by CM, Issue 144)<br />
Shunyata Hydra-8 and Hydra-2<br />
AC Power Conditioners<br />
$2495 and $395<br />
When used as a complete system with the Hydra-<br />
8 on the front-end components and Hydra-2<br />
on the power amps, along with Shunyata’s AC<br />
cords, the improvement in sound quality was<br />
nothing short of spectacular. The improvement<br />
in low-level resolution alone is worth the (hefty)<br />
price of admission. But the Shunyata system<br />
also rendered a huge increase in soundstage<br />
focus, size, and depth. Throw in a dramatic<br />
increase in midrange and treble liquidity, and<br />
you’ve got the best AC-conditioning system<br />
RH has heard.<br />
Reviewed by RH in Issue 163<br />
Walker Audio Valid<br />
Points and Velocitor<br />
Power Line Enhancers<br />
Valid Point Supertuning kit, $450; Velocitor<br />
with Valid Points, power cord, and dedicated<br />
stand ($4245)<br />
walkeraudio.com<br />
Cryogenically treated, in case you want to bring<br />
it back to life in a decade or so, the Velocitor,<br />
like the Richard Gray Pole Pig, does undeniably<br />
lovely things for the sound of preamps,<br />
turntables, and digital sources that are plugged<br />
into it or into the circuit it is plugged into, and<br />
like the Gray products the Velocitor works its<br />
magic without masking musicality. The Valid
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
Points, Walker’s massive version of tiptoes, are<br />
sensationally effective under most components,<br />
particularly when used with Walker Resonance<br />
Control discs, which, themselves, can have a<br />
salubrious effect on components on which they<br />
are placed.<br />
JV<br />
Accessories<br />
Acoustic Room Systems<br />
$20,000–$50,000<br />
acousticroomsystems.com<br />
Money spent on real acoustic treatments is, in<br />
RH’s experience, the most effective allocation<br />
of your hi-fi budget. RH has lived with different<br />
acoustic products over the years, but none has<br />
been as effective, nor blended into the décor,<br />
as has the Acoustic Room Systems package.<br />
Although the price tag is high, the ARS system<br />
greatly improves bass tautness and definition,<br />
allows the hi-fi system to better resolve spatial<br />
cues, and adds to the music’s sense of palpability<br />
and realism.<br />
Reviewed by RH, Issue 139<br />
ASC Tube Traps<br />
$498–$2638<br />
tubetrap.com<br />
Unless you have a professionally designed<br />
and treated room, Tube Traps from<br />
Acoustic Sciences Corporation are absolutely<br />
indispensable to improving your system’s<br />
sound. They are extremely versatile—able<br />
to solve a wide range of acoustic problems<br />
with strategic placement and orientation.<br />
Boomy bass can be cured with a pair of<br />
16" Full Rounds in the corners behind the<br />
loudspeakers, soaking up excess bass like<br />
a sponge and conferring greater clarity and<br />
transient impact. Placed along the sidewalls<br />
between you and the loudspeakers, Tube Traps<br />
kill unwanted sidewall reflections, prevent<br />
flutter echo, and aid in diffusion. A single<br />
Tube Trap in the center of the wall behind<br />
the loudspeakers can expand soundstage<br />
depth. There are lots of questionable acoustic<br />
products on the market, but Tube Traps are<br />
the real deal. Acoustic Sciences Corporation<br />
also makes a wide variety of other effective<br />
acoustic-treatment products.<br />
RH<br />
Auralex Acoustics Studiofoam<br />
Wedges<br />
Price varies<br />
auralex.com<br />
If you’ve logged much time in home recording<br />
studios, odds are that you’ve already seen and<br />
heard Auralex Studiofoam Wedges in action.<br />
Studiofoam is highly absorptive, and therefore<br />
94 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
can be just the ticket for taming slap echoes or<br />
audible comb-filtering effects that can result<br />
when listeners are seated too close to the back<br />
walls of their listening spaces. Sold through a<br />
variety of outlets, including the now-ubiquitous<br />
Guitar Center stores, Studiofoam Wedges<br />
are offered in a variety of colors and wedge<br />
depths. Good news: Studiofoam is mercifully<br />
inexpensive. Auralex Studiofoam is used in The<br />
Perfect Vision listening lab.<br />
CM<br />
Bright Star Audio<br />
Iso-Rock Speaker S<br />
$499<br />
brightstaraudio.com<br />
This dedicated stand for Gallo’s Nucleus<br />
Reference 3 increases both the height and scale<br />
of images, drastically improves soundstage width,<br />
depth, and realism, and brings a truer, more<br />
lifelike presentation to all recordings. If you own<br />
the Reference 3, the IsoRock is not a tricked-out<br />
accessory but an essential component.<br />
Reviewed by Bob Gendron, Issue 156<br />
Clearaudio Strobo-disc and<br />
Strobe Light<br />
$60 and $150<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
Featuring grooves that create the additional<br />
stylus drag necessary to accurately measure<br />
your turntable’s speed—while at the<br />
same time doubling as a cartridge breakin<br />
device—Clearaudio’s Strobo-disc and<br />
Strobe Light are great tools for the serious<br />
vinyl junkie.<br />
HP’s Workshop, Issue 159<br />
Clearaudio Matrix<br />
Record Cleaner<br />
$3000<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
Clearaudio’s Matrix record cleaner is the ne<br />
plus ultra of record-cleaning machines. Built<br />
to a higher standard than many turntables, the<br />
Matrix provides bi-directional platter rotation,<br />
powerful two-level vacuum, and an adjustable<br />
brush. The Matrix’s sonic effect on LP playback<br />
goes far beyond a quieter background; lowlevel<br />
detail is better resolved as are spatial cues,<br />
contributing to a larger and more dimensional<br />
soundstage. A must-have for the serious LP<br />
collector.<br />
Reviewed by JV, Issue 142<br />
Echo Busters<br />
$166 and up<br />
echobusters.com<br />
The cool thing about Echo Busters, as well<br />
as most other room treatment, is you don’t<br />
have to buy the whole shebang at once. SK<br />
recommends starting off with a couple of<br />
Bass Busters or maybe just a set of Corner<br />
Busters. The effect is dramatic and cumulative,<br />
and you can add on as your budget allows.<br />
Reviewed by SK, Issue 159<br />
Express Machining<br />
Digital Stylus Force<br />
Gauge<br />
$160<br />
musicdirect.com<br />
This excellent gauge is accurate to 1/10th gram,<br />
very easy to use and store, and an affordable<br />
alternative to the Winds.<br />
WG<br />
Gryphon Exorcist and Black<br />
Exorcist Demagnetizers<br />
$230 each<br />
acousticsounds.com<br />
These nifty devices are designed to do the<br />
same thing—one system-wide, the other for<br />
phono—rid audio gear of magnetic buildup.<br />
The size of a remote control, the Exorcist<br />
hooks up to your preamp’s aux or line input,<br />
while you plug your arm leads into the Black<br />
Exorcist. Audible results include less glare and<br />
hash, tighter bass, and greater perceived detail<br />
and musical integration.<br />
WG<br />
Nordost Eco 3 Spray<br />
$44 (eight-ounce bottle)<br />
nordost.com<br />
Designed to eliminate the build-up of static<br />
charges on cables and interconnects, this<br />
stuff works equally well on equipment racks,<br />
CDs, DVDs, and turntable platters. Use when<br />
installing new cables or re-squirt every few<br />
weeks. The sound is noticeably smoother, and<br />
also more present and alive.<br />
WG<br />
Precision Audio Cable<br />
Elevators Plus<br />
$158 (set of eight)<br />
musicdirect.com<br />
Cable Elevators are porcelain cradles de-signed<br />
to lift cables and interconnects<br />
off the floor, shielding them<br />
from vibration. The salubrious<br />
effect they can<br />
have on just<br />
about every<br />
aspect of sound<br />
is hard to believe<br />
(though, like<br />
tiptoes, they can<br />
also thin tone<br />
colors out a bit).<br />
Reviewed by JV,<br />
Issue 142
2006 Editors’ Choice Awards<br />
RPG Diffusor Systems B.A.D. (Binary<br />
Amplitude Diffsorber) panels<br />
Price varies<br />
rpginc.com<br />
RPG’s B.A.D. panels are thin absorptive<br />
diffuser panels that can help tame problem<br />
room acoustics without quashing dynamics or<br />
swallowing midrange and high-frequency details.<br />
The design of B.A.D. panels is deceptively<br />
simple—picture a thin bat of acoustic fiberglass<br />
mounted in an inch-thick frame, and covered by<br />
a partially open/partially reflective “mask”—but<br />
their effects can be remarkable. In rooms treated<br />
with B.A.D. panels, speakers often exhibit lower<br />
coloration, more focused imaging, and deeper<br />
soundstages. RPG B.A.D. panels are used in The<br />
Perfect Vision listening lab.<br />
CM<br />
Sanus SF26 Steel Foundation<br />
speaker stands<br />
$170/pair<br />
sanus.com<br />
Sanus’ thoughtfully designed and beautifully<br />
executed SF series speaker stands do everything<br />
you could want a good set of stands to do, and at a<br />
price that makes sense. Strong, rigid, and resonancefree,<br />
they include provisions for installing sand or<br />
lead-shot damping, and are easy to assemble.<br />
Reviewed by CM, AVgM, Issue 1<br />
Shakti Hallographs<br />
$995/pair<br />
shakti.com<br />
Master of the inexplicable, Shakti’s Ben Piazza<br />
has followed up on his magic “Shakti stones”<br />
with yet another impossible-to-explain-buteffective-as-claimed<br />
item, the Hallographs.<br />
With direct-radiating speakers, these large,<br />
rotatable, free-standing, tuning-fork-shaped<br />
items work some kind of voodoo when placed<br />
in the corners of a room (behind the speakers),<br />
masking chaotic wall reflections and “clarifying”<br />
the soundfield (just as Shakti says they do). Oh,<br />
do not ask how they did it; just make the visit.<br />
JV<br />
Shure Stylus Force Gauge<br />
$20<br />
shure.com<br />
Although ultimately not accurate as the best digital<br />
gauges, the classic “teeter-totter” Shure is simple to<br />
use, cheap, and does the trick very nicely.<br />
WG<br />
Townshend Seismic Sinks<br />
$400–$900 (depending on weight capacity)<br />
townshendaudio.com<br />
Townshend Seismic Sinks are air-bladdersuspended<br />
isolation platforms, available in<br />
several sizes and weights to accommodate a wide<br />
variety of components. Setup is straightforward<br />
96 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
and easy. Because the Sinks act as filters (around<br />
2–4Hz), they isolate far better than cones,<br />
which anchor components solidly but in so<br />
doing allow vibrations to be transmitted directly<br />
to the chassis. It is PS’s view that the so-called<br />
superior definition afforded by cones is often<br />
in fact a subtle edginess wholly absent from<br />
tuned suspensions. The Sinks are exceptionally<br />
effective with non-suspended turntables.<br />
PS<br />
Vibrapods<br />
$25<br />
vibrapod.com<br />
Vibrapods are small, flexible vinyl pucks that can<br />
transform a system. They’re numbered by their<br />
weight-bearing loads: Put them under speakers and<br />
electronics and hear bass extension and smoother<br />
highs. At four for $25, who says great tweaks have<br />
to be expensive Just out, Vibrapod Cones—use<br />
them as standalone footers or combine with<br />
Vibrapods to get even more out of your system.<br />
DD<br />
Winds ALM-1 Arm Load Meter<br />
$399<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
Pricey but worth it, the Winds is the most<br />
dependably accurate digital stylus-force gauge<br />
on the market.<br />
JV<br />
Books<br />
The Complete Guide to High-<br />
End Audio, Third Edition<br />
Robert Harley<br />
Acapella Publishing, 2004, 640 pages, $34.95<br />
(paper), $44.95 (cloth)<br />
The most complete, up-to-date, and useful<br />
guide to the high end you can buy, filled with<br />
information about how audio components<br />
work, how they should be set up, how<br />
they can be optimized after setup that is<br />
indispensable to neophyte and veteran<br />
audiophiles alike.<br />
JV<br />
The Master Handbook of<br />
Acoustics, Fourth Edition<br />
F. Alton Everest<br />
McGraw-Hill/TAB, 2000, 592 pages, $39.95<br />
This classic book, updated over the years, is<br />
a crash course in how sound behaves in a<br />
room and how to treat rooms to improve<br />
sound quality. It’s not audiophile-oriented<br />
(no discussion of loudspeaker placement, for<br />
example), but explains the basic physics that<br />
audiophiles need to know when choosing or<br />
treating listening rooms.<br />
RH
2006 Editors’ Choice<br />
survival sounds, comprehend, for example,<br />
the large-scale structure of a symphony<br />
The book is short on answers, but we are<br />
richer for having explored the questions.<br />
Jourdain has a wonderful gift for making his<br />
subject accessible, and peppers the text with<br />
fascinating musical asides.<br />
RH<br />
Mastering Audio: The Art and<br />
the Science<br />
Bob Katz<br />
Focal Press, 2002, 319 pages, $39.95<br />
Although written for professional mastering<br />
engineers, Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science<br />
contains a wealth of information of interest<br />
to the audiophile. If you want to know<br />
what goes on behind the scenes<br />
in creating the music you enjoy,<br />
and learn more about digital<br />
audio, this comprehensive,<br />
insightful, and accessible book<br />
is without peer.<br />
RH<br />
Music, Sound &<br />
Technology<br />
John Eargle<br />
Springer, 1995, 368 pages,<br />
$114.95<br />
Meant primarily for college<br />
students, Eargle’s book is<br />
what it claims to be—a classic guide to musical<br />
acoustics. If you’re looking for the best resource<br />
on hi-fi systems, buy Robert Harley’s Complete<br />
Guide. If you’re looking for a book on how the<br />
various instruments make the sounds they make<br />
and what those sounds comprise, harmonically,<br />
dynamically, and temporally, Eargle’s is the<br />
standard text.<br />
JV<br />
Music, The Brain, and Ecstasy<br />
Robert Jourdain<br />
Perennial, 1998, 400 pages, $13.95<br />
Combining musicology, psychoacoustics,<br />
and neural science, Robert Jourdain weaves<br />
a fascinating exploration of why human<br />
brains find beauty and meaning in music.<br />
Why do our brains, evolved to detect<br />
The NPR Listener’s Encyclopedia<br />
of Classical Music<br />
Ted Libbey<br />
Workman, 2005, 979 pages, $19.95<br />
TAS contributor Ted Libbey has published<br />
this nifty tome that is a must-buy for the<br />
classical music lover—from the novice to<br />
the knowledgeable. Written in a friendly yet<br />
informed style, this book is not only chock-full<br />
of information it has a very cool interactive<br />
feature (via the Naxos Web site) that allows you<br />
to hear recorded examples while you’re reading.<br />
Reviewed by WG in this issue<br />
Quad—The Closest Approach<br />
Ken Kessler<br />
International Audio Group, 2004, 215 pages, $80<br />
U.K. audio writer Ken Kessler has documented<br />
the history, products, and contributions to audio<br />
of one of the seminal<br />
high-end companies<br />
in Quad—The Closest<br />
Approach. The book<br />
contains interviews<br />
with Quad founder<br />
Peter Walker and his<br />
son Ross, reprints of<br />
old ads, Walker’s original<br />
papers on loudspeaker<br />
and amplifier design,<br />
and other bits of interest<br />
to Quad fans. Although<br />
pricey, this LP-sized<br />
coffee-table book is<br />
gorgeously produced and printed.<br />
RH<br />
Sound Bites: 50 Years of Hi-Fi<br />
News<br />
Ken Kessler and Steve Harris<br />
IPC Media, London, 224 pages, £14.95 (U.S.<br />
availability: MusicDirect or amazon.com)<br />
While Hi-Fi News at fifty is the occasion for<br />
this book, it’s no self-congratulatory piece<br />
of puffery. After a long chapter on “pre<br />
history,” i.e., telescoping audio in the first<br />
half of the last century, it’s structured as a<br />
loose, anecdotal history of audio, centering<br />
principally on the men who made the<br />
medium from the beginning of stereo to the<br />
present.<br />
Reviewed by PS, Issue 162<br />
TAS<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 99
Equipment<br />
Reports<br />
Where does one find a musical,<br />
reliable, and full-range tube<br />
monoblock for around $2k<br />
PrimaLuna ProLogue Six Monoblock Amplifier<br />
“The ProLogue<br />
Sixes are as<br />
at home with<br />
Audioslave as<br />
they are with<br />
Miles and<br />
Mahler.”<br />
Jim Hannon<br />
Where does one find highly musical and reliable, full-range tube monoblock<br />
amplifiers for around $2k per pair that are capable of driving most any<br />
loudspeaker, while also avoiding the syrupy thickness, soggy low end, and<br />
rolled-off highs of many classic tube designs I’ve been searching for amps with these<br />
attributes ever since I loaned a “former” audio buddy my custom MFA-140s, with six EL34s per chassis, and he sold<br />
them! A few new entries in the amplifier sweepstakes from China appeared to fit the bill, but my initial optimism<br />
over them waned after examining the build-quality, or should I say variability, of several. Perhaps I’m overly sensitive<br />
after recently speaking with the head of one audio company whose factory in China began using counterfeit parts,<br />
unbeknownst to him, until there were several failures in the field. Yet, I’m also aware of some companies who “ride<br />
herd” on their Chinese factories and are able to produce products with exceptional build-quality for a modest cost.<br />
PrimaLuna is one prime example. The combination of its new monoblocks driving a pair of Sonus Faber Amati<br />
Anniversario speakers sounded glorious at CES, so I thought they just might be the answer for me—not only to<br />
drive my Quads, but most any other speaker.<br />
The PrimaLuna Prologue Sixes come standard with four EL34s per side. I chose to review the Sixes instead of<br />
the KT88-based Sevens, because I prefer the more liquid midrange of the EL34 tube and am willing to trade-off<br />
a bit of bass punch and extension at the frequency extremes. You may not be. While the Sevens are slightly more<br />
expensive ($2400), they do offer upgraded Solen caps and fast-recovery diodes. Both versions use point-to-point<br />
wiring, which I prefer, not only for its potential sonic advantages, but also for its ease of servicing and modifying. It’s<br />
a big reason why so many of the classic McIntosh and Marantz tube amplifiers are still working rather than being<br />
used as boat anchors. However, just because an amplifier offers point-to-point wiring doesn’t mean it’s always better,<br />
particularly if the solder joints are sloppy. There’s no need to worry here, as the workmanship on the Prologue Sixes<br />
is first-rate and puts the build-quality of several far more costly amplifiers to shame. These amplifiers seem to be<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 101
PrimaLuna ProLogue Six<br />
Monoblock Amplifier<br />
built for those who plan on owning them for<br />
decades instead of a few years.<br />
If you had assumed that all tube amplifiers<br />
were finicky, think again. My Sixes have<br />
operated flawlessly with nary a hiccup. The<br />
PrimaLuna team has seemingly designed out<br />
all the potential problems one might encounter<br />
with a tube amplifier. It starts with the package<br />
design (each amp is triple-boxed) and extends<br />
to several product features that make these tube<br />
amps virtually trouble-free. For example, the<br />
output tubes are gently driven—the Prologue<br />
Six’s soft-start feature extends tube life and<br />
reduces the chance of both tube and internal<br />
part failures, while the amplifier output stage<br />
is protected by a fuse, and the “Adaptive<br />
Autobias” circuit keeps tubes operating at their<br />
peak ranges and reduces distortion significantly.<br />
Better still, there’s no need to monkey around<br />
with bias meters and pots or use matched sets<br />
of tubes. If you know how to change a light<br />
bulb, you’ve got all the skill you need.<br />
OK, so what more could these PrimaLunas<br />
offer beyond the Prologue Fives that Sallie<br />
Reynolds recommended for a previous Editors’<br />
Choice Award The most obvious advantages<br />
are that the Sixes have more power, a separate<br />
chassis for each channel, new wideband<br />
transformers designed to handle difficult speaker<br />
loads (a 2-ohm tap is included), and a unique<br />
front-end topology which reportedly gives you<br />
all the sonic advantages of zero feedback but<br />
with drive capability, extension at the frequency<br />
extremes, and low distortion. Although there<br />
are some mighty good “dual-mono” singlechassis<br />
stereo amps in this price range, I prefer<br />
monoblocks, because they physically isolate<br />
the channels, and one can place the amp right<br />
behind the speaker, connecting to it with a very<br />
short length of cable.<br />
Unlike many larger amplifiers that seem to<br />
lose some of the magic enjoyed by their smaller<br />
counterparts, the good news is that the Prologue<br />
Sixes not only retain the sonic virtues of the<br />
PrimaLuna stereo amplifiers, but extend them.<br />
Their performance with my original Quads was<br />
superlative, with a transient quickness rivaling<br />
a very good solid-state amplifier but with<br />
harmonic richness, natural timbre, and a wide<br />
and focused soundstage. You won’t find any<br />
homogenization of sound with these tube amps<br />
as they revealed even minor system changes, so<br />
you’re out of luck if you expect to use them<br />
as tone controls to tame bright speakers. Even<br />
more surprising, the Sixes drew more bass<br />
and dynamics out of my original Quads, using<br />
KT66 output tubes, than I thought possible and<br />
forced me to turn down the gain because the<br />
music was too loud—imagine that!<br />
“If you know how<br />
to change a light bulb,<br />
you’ve got all the<br />
skill you need”<br />
The Sixes are as equally at home reproducing<br />
the sounds of Audioslave as they are with Miles<br />
or Mahler. I typically wouldn’t recommend most<br />
70-watt tube amps as ideal choices for power<br />
rock and electronica, but these amps have<br />
satisfying deep bass and really swing dynamically<br />
and rhythmically. On classical music, the<br />
transient speed of mallets hitting tympani can<br />
be startling, and violins have both bite and body,<br />
without sounding harsh. These amps reveal a lot<br />
of the natural subtlety in the music, and acoustic<br />
instruments and voices can sound life-like on<br />
good recordings. I sat transfixed listening to the<br />
late Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s<br />
cover of “Over the Rainbow” from Alone in IZ<br />
World [Mountain Apple Company]. There was<br />
a musical rightness from the lightning attack of<br />
the fingers strumming the ukulele, to the natural<br />
timbre of the instrument, to the air behind his<br />
floating, lilting voice.<br />
While they may lack the ultimate sweetness,<br />
palpability, and absence of grain of some far<br />
more costly triode designs, or the absolute<br />
quietness, inner detail, and power reserves<br />
of some expensive transistor amplifiers,<br />
the Prologue Sixes gave a surprisingly good<br />
accounting of themselves. These amplifiers<br />
are obviously designed for those who want to<br />
enjoy the musicality of tubes without having to<br />
be tweaks; yet the PrimaLunas make an ideal<br />
platform for those audiophiles who love to<br />
Specs & Pricing<br />
DISTRIBUTOR INFORMATION<br />
UPSCALE AUDIO<br />
2504 Spring Terrace<br />
Upland, California 91784<br />
(909) 931-9686<br />
upscaleaudio.com<br />
SPECIFICATIONS<br />
Power output: 70 watts per channel<br />
Inputs: One RCA per chassis<br />
Outputs: 2-, 4-, and 8-ohm speaker taps<br />
Tube complement: Two 12AX7s, two 12AU7s,<br />
four EL-34s (per amp)<br />
experiment with “tube-rolling” and customize<br />
the sound (within limits) to their own preferences.<br />
They are optimized for EL-34, 6L6GC, KT66,<br />
and 7581 output tubes, but are also said to work<br />
with KT88s, 6550s, and KT90s. Yes, you can<br />
get different, but not always better, sound with<br />
different types of output tubes. If you want a<br />
bit more clarity and dimensionality, but a more<br />
recessed upper midrange, you might try the<br />
6L6GC. If you want a bit more bass punch and<br />
transient speed, but less liquid mids, try some<br />
KT66s. I can’t really say I preferred one type<br />
overall, as it depended on which speakers I was<br />
using. But remember, you can leave well enough<br />
alone and the sound will be really good.<br />
The PrimaLuna Prologue Sixes represent a<br />
significant breakthrough in high performance<br />
audio. Not only are they the most “hasslefree”<br />
and easy-to-operate tube amplifiers<br />
I’ve ever used, but they sound really good.<br />
The Sixes rival many (but not all) of the best<br />
attributes of transistor amps, but they also<br />
enjoy the compelling sonic virtues of tubes,<br />
while largely minimizing their drawbacks. To<br />
get this combination of natural musicality,<br />
power, reliability, flexibility, and build-quality,<br />
one would expect to spend far more. These<br />
surprisingly good tube monoblocks should<br />
keep many demanding audiophiles satisfied, but<br />
also encourage lots of music enthusiasts to take<br />
the plunge into the tube-side of the pool.<br />
Dimensions: 11" x 7.5" x 15.5"<br />
Weight: 37.5 lbs. (each)<br />
Price: $2295/pair for EL34-based version<br />
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT<br />
MFA Venusian preamp (modified); VPI Aries/<br />
Graham/Koetsu Black, and Clearaudio Ambient/<br />
Satisfy/Concerto analog turntable set ups; Musical<br />
Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 DAC; Eben X-3, Hyperion HPS-<br />
938, and Quad ESL-57 (PK modified) loudspeakers;<br />
Nordost Valhalla and Virtual Dynamics “David”<br />
interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords<br />
102 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
Equipment<br />
Report<br />
Rega Apollo<br />
CD Player<br />
Breakthrough performance, bargain price.<br />
Chris Martens<br />
When the British firm Rega<br />
introduced its original Planet<br />
CD player about a decade ago,<br />
some audiophiles hailed it as a breakthrough,<br />
and with good reason. The Planet’s sound<br />
was competitive in many respects with that of<br />
some of the more costly players of the day, yet<br />
it sold for under $900. Better still, the Planet<br />
was a digital player designed by and for analog<br />
enthusiasts. And even if it did not equal analog<br />
sound quality, it certainly came closer than<br />
any mid-priced player in my experience. Not<br />
surprisingly, Planets sold like hotcakes.<br />
Over time, Rega updated and improved the<br />
Planet, first offering the Planet 2000, and then<br />
a higher-performance player called the Jupiter,<br />
but neither of these critically acclaimed units<br />
managed to equal the Planet’s reputation. I<br />
would speculate that Rega has been looking<br />
to create another affordable breakthrough<br />
player ever since, and now the wait is over.<br />
Just as the first Planet did in the 1990s, Rega’s<br />
$995 Apollo offers “welcome-to-the-nextlevel”<br />
performance for today’s budget-minded<br />
audiophiles.<br />
Resolution, focus, and extended frequency<br />
response are among the performance standards<br />
we use to determine how good high-end CD<br />
players really are, and judged by these criteria<br />
the Rega Apollo is easily the best sub-$1000 CD<br />
player I’ve heard. To understand what the Apollo<br />
104 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
does right, I found it instructive to compare it<br />
both to a good mid-priced competitor and also<br />
to a higher-priced, top-tier reference player.<br />
Here’s what I learned.<br />
Straight out of the box, the Apollo exhibited<br />
more resolving power than any other mid-priced<br />
player I’ve auditioned thus far. For example, in<br />
direct comparison to YBA Designs’ $1499<br />
YC201 CD player—a fine player in its own<br />
right—the Apollo consistently retrieved layers<br />
of delicate textural and transient details that<br />
the French-designed player could not. Larry<br />
Coryell, Badi Assad, and John Abercrombie’s<br />
Three Guitars [Chesky] makes an ideal illustration,<br />
because it relies upon small, inner details to<br />
showcase differences between the playing styles<br />
of the three master guitarists, and to highlight<br />
the subtle timbral differences between the<br />
guitars they play. Through the YBA Designs<br />
player this recording sounded absolutely lovely,<br />
even magical, but the Rega gave me magic<br />
and something more. It made even subliminal<br />
details snap into place, as if removing a lowlevel<br />
veil from the signal path. Plectrum noises,<br />
fingering sounds, variations in attack and<br />
sustain, the resonant instrument overtones,<br />
and even the sound of the air in the room<br />
suddenly became explicit, bringing alive the<br />
three-dimensional, “you are there” qualities for<br />
which Chesky recordings are known. Perhaps<br />
the only downside to all this detail is a very<br />
slight tendency for the Rega to overemphasize<br />
sibilance, or to show minute traces of splashiness<br />
on abrupt high-frequency transients. But unless<br />
you’re using very transparent interconnects and<br />
electronics, I think these minor flaws would<br />
rarely be noticeable.<br />
Apart from capturing details effectively, the<br />
Apollo also sounds sharply focused, so that<br />
fundamentals and harmonics as well as details<br />
large and small are presented in near-perfect<br />
alignment. As a result, instruments and voices<br />
sound whole, coherent, and self-consistent—<br />
never fractionated or disjointed. To appreciate<br />
how much realism this focused quality can add,<br />
try listening to the very beginning of “Take Me<br />
Home” from Holly Cole’s Temptation [Metro<br />
Blue]. Just before the song starts, you’ll hear<br />
Cole at centerstage first mouth, then whisper,<br />
and finally speak aloud the words “Here we go”<br />
(perhaps to cue the other members of the trio<br />
that the recording is about to begin). Though<br />
Cole’s words are at first barely audible, the Rega’s<br />
precise focus and rock-solid imaging make them<br />
sound eerily believable. The Apollo delivers this<br />
sort of focus and coherency most of the time<br />
and across most of the audio spectrum, the only<br />
small exceptions being the infrequent moments<br />
of treble splashiness noted above.<br />
Finally, the Apollo offer beautifully extended<br />
frequency response with tightly controlled,
Rega Apollo CD Player<br />
Inside the<br />
Apollo<br />
The performance of Rega’s Apollo comes<br />
as no accident; rather, it results from<br />
several significant design advancements,<br />
the most important of which are the<br />
Apollo’s new CD transport mechanism,<br />
control chipset, and operating system<br />
software (developed for Rega by a small<br />
British software company).<br />
Unlike Rega’s earlier (Sony-based)<br />
transports, the Apollo transport secures<br />
CDs to its drive spindle via a three-point<br />
ball chuck—a mechanism that Rega says<br />
“presents the disc as flat as possible” and<br />
offers “better acceleration and braking<br />
performance.” Significantly, the new<br />
transport’s advanced servo-controller<br />
also optimizes laser “focus spot size and<br />
tracking position” on a disc-by-disc basis.<br />
For this reason, when discs are first loaded<br />
into the Apollo, the front-panel display<br />
indicates “INITIALISING” (British<br />
spelling) for several seconds, while<br />
laser characteristics are dialed in<br />
for the disc.<br />
Rega argues that “previous<br />
chipsets always made<br />
compromises on error<br />
correction,” but that<br />
its new chipset, which<br />
incorporates<br />
whopping 20MB of<br />
RAM and a built-in 32-<br />
bit DSP engine, allows<br />
a<br />
adequate time and<br />
computation power for<br />
extra error correction.<br />
Interestingly, this means<br />
there is a delay between pressing “Play”<br />
and hearing music, while data gradually<br />
fills the buffer memory. The entire IC, in<br />
turn, is clocked via a “super-stable phaselocked<br />
loop” of Rega’s own design. Rega<br />
paid particular attention to minimizing<br />
address and data bus noise in the IC<br />
to “ensure that the ground and signal<br />
connections to the DAC are as ‘clean’ as<br />
possible.”<br />
Finally, the Apollo uses the Wolfson<br />
WM8740 24-bit DAC with differential<br />
outputs, which feed a discrete “Class A”<br />
output stage whose sonic performance<br />
improves noticeably in the first 15 minutes<br />
after power up.<br />
CM<br />
richly textured, and very potent bass. To see<br />
just how energetic the Rega’s bass can be,<br />
put on the “Power of Denial” from Thomas<br />
Newman’s soundtrack from American Beauty<br />
[Dreamworks] and drink in the plunging,<br />
shuddering, very low frequency synth-bass<br />
figure that opens the track. Heard alongside<br />
the Apollo, many mid-priced players sound<br />
diffuse or rolled off at both frequency<br />
extremes.<br />
Only in the area of soundstage depth can<br />
the strongest mid-priced competitors, such<br />
as the YBA Designs YC201, surpass the<br />
performance of the Apollo. While the YBA’s<br />
reproduction of depth cues is truly first-rate,<br />
the Rega’s stage depth, for whatever reason,<br />
is merely very good.<br />
I learned a lot by comparing the Apollo<br />
to my reference Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista<br />
SACD player (a $6500 unit with vacuumtube<br />
analog outputs). The more costly player<br />
offered greater smoothness, more highfrequency<br />
“air,” even more finely resolved<br />
details, better soundstage width and depth,<br />
Specs & Pricing<br />
DISTRIBUTOR INFORMATION<br />
THE SOUND ORGANISATION<br />
11140 Petal Street, Suite 350<br />
Dallas, Texas 75238<br />
(972) 234-0182<br />
rega.co.uk<br />
SPECIFICATIONS<br />
Supported formats: Red Book, MP3, and WMA<br />
Media CDs<br />
Type of outputs: One stereo analog, coax, and<br />
optical digital<br />
Dimensions: 17.1" x 3.9" x 10.6"<br />
Weight: Not specified<br />
Price: $995<br />
and perhaps a touch better bass. But the<br />
surprising thing was that despite these<br />
performance differences the overall gestalt<br />
of the two players was actually quite similar.<br />
In fact, I found it tempting to picture the<br />
Musical Fidelity as the more mature and<br />
polished embodiment of core sonic virtues<br />
that were already present in nascent form in<br />
the Rega. .<br />
This is precisely why the Apollo deserves<br />
to be considered a breakthrough product.<br />
While other mid-priced CD players have<br />
been edging toward sonic excellence by<br />
making gradual, incremental improvements,<br />
the Rega has moved forward with giant,<br />
confident strides to deliver sound reminiscent<br />
of that of multi-thousand-dollar players.<br />
Though this CD player’s musical reach may<br />
occasionally exceed its grasp, the Apollo<br />
takes listeners closer to the absolute sound<br />
than any other sub-$1000 player I’ve heard.<br />
Once again, Rega has given us a digital player<br />
that offers breakthrough performance at a<br />
bargain price.<br />
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT<br />
Wilson Benesch Full Circle analog system; Musical<br />
Surrounding Phonomena phonostage; Musical<br />
Fidelity Tri-Vista SACD player; YBA Designs YC201<br />
CD player and YA201 integrated amplifier,; Rogue<br />
Audio Metis preamplifier; Audio Research 300.2<br />
power amplifier; NuForce P-8 preamplifier and<br />
Reference 9 Special Edition monoblock amplifiers;<br />
Furutech Alpha Reference III interconnects; Cardas<br />
Neutral Reference speaker cables; RGPC 1200S<br />
power conditioner; Auralex and RPG acoustic<br />
treatments<br />
106 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
Equipment<br />
Report<br />
Arcam FMJ CD36 Player and FMJ C31 Preamplifier<br />
Need one spend a fortune for great sound<br />
Jacob Heilbrunn<br />
Snobbery doesn’t show up occasionally<br />
in the audio world. It plagues it. A few<br />
weeks ago, I visited a local enthusiast<br />
who was demo’ing some extremely expensive<br />
new gear from abroad. No sooner was he<br />
preparing to drop a record clamp onto an LP<br />
than a guest rushed over in a state of high<br />
dudgeon, harrumphing that it was imperative<br />
to use a special Shun Mook clamp for this<br />
particular jazz recording. Wielding it like a lightsaber,<br />
he placed it on the record, while the other<br />
invitees nodded sagely. Soon enough, I was<br />
being grilled on what type of purified water I<br />
use for my record cleaning regime—all while<br />
the music was playing.<br />
Now none of this will come as a surprise<br />
to some audiophiles, but maybe that’s the<br />
problem. I yield to no one in my enthusiasm<br />
for scrubbing LPs clean, but a little of this<br />
huffing and puffing over the equipment and<br />
so forth can quickly go a long way. Indeed,<br />
when music plays second fiddle, as it were, to<br />
the protocols for entering the highest regions<br />
of the audiophile world, something has gone<br />
slightly amiss, hasn’t it<br />
Confronted with this spectacle, the average<br />
person is either going to dismiss the high end<br />
as a bunch of hocus-pocus, which some of it<br />
is, or feel horribly intimidated, which he or she<br />
shouldn’t. If enjoying good sound was supposed<br />
108 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
to be a secret safeguarded by a clerisy charged<br />
with creating initiation rituals to deter all but the<br />
most intrepid, then many high-end aficionados<br />
could hardly be doing a better job.<br />
At a moment when electronics keep getting<br />
better and cheaper, however, such attitudes are<br />
more than a little nutty. The blunt fact is that,<br />
year after year, the barriers to obtaining highend<br />
sound get lowered. There’s no reason<br />
consumers shouldn’t be exposed to the amazing<br />
sound that can almost be had for—dare I say<br />
it—a song.<br />
The new British Arcam CD36 CD player<br />
and C31 preamplifier vividly brought this<br />
home to me. They bring top-notch technology<br />
to the table for sane prices ($2499 for the CD<br />
player, $1999 for the preamp). The CD player<br />
upsamples from 44.1kHz to 192kHz and<br />
deploys 8470 Wolfson DACs, which, Arcam’s<br />
literature says, are at the top of their class. It also<br />
has a specially damped tray, which is said to help<br />
reduce troublesome vibrations when the CD is<br />
being spun. The preamplifier can be outfitted<br />
with an optional phonostage module for<br />
moving-magnet and moving-coil cartridges—a<br />
fillip that is becoming an increasing rarity with<br />
preamps these days. But the technology comes<br />
in a modest package: These units don’t require<br />
isolation pucks or fancy power cords to perform<br />
well. Their build-quality is good, but not lavish.<br />
All they provide is superb sound.<br />
Right out of the box, both the CD player<br />
and the preamplifier surprised me with their<br />
smooth and restrained sound. I didn’t hear<br />
much, if any, break-in take place, and if you<br />
were into ascribing national characteristics to<br />
audio equipment you would say that the Arcam<br />
units are both very stiff upper lip. They succeed,<br />
in other words, with quiet understatement.<br />
They’re as impressive for what they do not do<br />
as for what they do.<br />
For instance, I was bracing myself for<br />
some grain in the treble, but it never showed<br />
up. Instead, there was a kind of continuity<br />
to the sound that could hardly have been<br />
more enticing. Some of this legato effect<br />
comes from the lack of grit, which helps<br />
create a black background from which the<br />
instruments emerge. On the CD Summit<br />
Brass [Summit Records], for example, the<br />
presentation was downright spooky. You hear<br />
each brass instrument come in, one after the<br />
other, in a powerful buildup to the climax of<br />
Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Each<br />
note received its full value, rather than being<br />
chopped off or run into the next note, as some<br />
lesser CD players might do with such complex<br />
passages. The emotional intensity of this piece<br />
becomes overwhelming when it’s played back<br />
with such clarity. You could listen to it again
Arcam FMJ CD36 Player and FMJ<br />
C31 Preamplifier<br />
and again on Arcam’s units, and I did.<br />
Consistent with its cool character, the Arcam<br />
CD player and preamplifier were never ruffled by<br />
anything that I threw at them. No matter how<br />
tricky the passage of music, they unraveled it with<br />
ease. Just as the music emerged from an inky, jetblack<br />
background, so was the soundstage full<br />
and deep. Part of both units’ laidback character<br />
can be ascribed to a soundstage that was slightly<br />
recessed rather than forward. Neither ever struck<br />
me as being overly recessed, but some listeners<br />
will likely prefer a more in-your-face dynamic<br />
presentation. This would be particularly the case<br />
on large-scale orchestral music, where a little<br />
razzle-dazzle can be a guilty pleasure.<br />
Does this amount to a tube-like presentation<br />
on the part of the Arcam units Not a bit of it.<br />
There wasn’t a hint of extra bloom or ripeness<br />
or bloat or mellowness. There’s no reason not<br />
to look for surplus bloom, if that’s your bag. But<br />
what struck me so powerfully about the Arcam<br />
preamplifier and CD player was how far solidstate<br />
has come. Only five years ago, you would<br />
have been right to expect a far more relentless<br />
“transistor” sound. While I don’t think that<br />
tubes and solid-state will ever converge, it’s<br />
pretty hard to argue that solid-state is in some<br />
fundamental way deficient, at least when you<br />
hear this kind of sound at this price.<br />
For the fact is that no matter how smooth it<br />
sounded, the Arcam never sacrificed resolution<br />
or articulation. Snare drums will have you<br />
saluting at attention. Cymbal crashes will have<br />
a nice amount of sizzle and decay without<br />
“Out of the box the<br />
units surprised me<br />
with their smooth<br />
restrained sound.”<br />
frying your ears. Nor will the Arcams have any<br />
trepidation about plunging down into the nether<br />
regions on organ music. They’ll give you the<br />
intake of breath as a singer prepares to launch<br />
into an aria. And brass instruments will have a<br />
nice sonority to them, to the extent that you can<br />
often hear the note emerging from the bore.<br />
So unified did the Arcam units sound that<br />
to distinguish between bass, midrange, and<br />
treble with this preamplifier and CD player is,<br />
in a sense, a waste of time. The units were so<br />
coherent and integrated that I didn’t find myself<br />
trying to pick nits, or even thinking about them.<br />
Rather, I found the overall sound engrossing<br />
and somewhat confounding. At their respective<br />
prices, neither unit has any right to sound as<br />
good as it does.<br />
At this point, I can hear the naysayers asking,<br />
“Well and good, but just how good can this<br />
equipment really be, compared to high-dollar<br />
digital” Pretty darn good, I’m afraid. No, the<br />
Arcam CD player didn’t compete with my<br />
EMM Labs gear when it came to depth, slam,<br />
and power. Nor, I’m sure, would it match up to<br />
a dCS stack. Big deal. It’s not supposed to. I’m<br />
not even sure that it makes much sense to invest<br />
a lot of money in digital, at this point, because<br />
of how quickly the technology is advancing and<br />
the incipient format war once Blu-ray becomes,<br />
if it really does, a force in the marketplace.<br />
Besides, if you already have a megabuck<br />
system, the Arcam gear is not for you, though<br />
it does, I have to say, provide a kind of reality<br />
check. Is it really that far off from running with<br />
110 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
the big dogs The gap is narrower than you might<br />
think—or prefer. The Arcam duo is not entrylevel<br />
at its price. What it does is give you a ton<br />
of performance for spending just a little beyond<br />
a true budget system. I guess if I had to choose<br />
between one of the two units, I’d opt for the CD<br />
player, which offers the most for the least.<br />
But to be honest, I didn’t really find myself<br />
hankering for much more when listening to<br />
the Arcam units. They provided everything<br />
that more sophisticated digital units do, but<br />
with not quite as much flesh on the notes.<br />
There was a little oomph missing that a much<br />
more expensive player will belt out. Still, some<br />
of this may well simply be a design choice, in<br />
which Arcam has chosen to offer a suaver,<br />
more holistic sound rather than to emphasize<br />
any particular frequency range. Such euphonic<br />
colorations can initially grab your attention with<br />
their gee-whiz effect, but eventually become<br />
unrealistic and rather tiresome. It’s awfully hard<br />
not to admire how much Arcam has wrung out<br />
of the latest technology and how deftly it has<br />
deployed it by putting music in the foreground.<br />
To put this another way, with these units the<br />
technology is at the service of the music rather<br />
than the reverse.<br />
Having myself started out in audio with a<br />
fairly modest system several years ago, I fully<br />
appreciate the need for equipment that doesn’t<br />
require a second or, the way prices of audio<br />
Specs & Pricing<br />
DISTRIBUTOR INFORMATION<br />
AUDIOPHILE SYSTEMS, LTD. (USA)<br />
8709 Castle Park Drive<br />
Indianapolis, Indiana 46256<br />
(317) 849-7103<br />
www.aslgroup.com<br />
SPECIFICATIONS<br />
FMJ CD36<br />
Transport outputs: One coaxial, one optical<br />
Analog outputs: Two unbalanced RCA<br />
Dimensions: 17" x 2.7" x 10.9"<br />
Weight: 14.6 lbs.<br />
Price: $2499<br />
FMJ C31<br />
Inputs: CD plus three line-level pairs, bypass for<br />
equipment seem to be going these days, even<br />
third mortgage. Kudos to Arcam for putting<br />
together a sensibly priced and excellentsounding<br />
CD player and preamplifier which<br />
demonstrate that the high end can be about<br />
more than exorbitant prices<br />
theater processor, and tape, all via RCA connectors<br />
Outputs: Balanced via XLR connectors, unbalanced<br />
(buffered and direct) via RCA connectors<br />
Dimensions: 17" x 3.5" x 13"<br />
Weight: 20.5 lbs.<br />
Price: $1999<br />
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT<br />
VPI HR-X turntable and JMW 12.6 tonearm;<br />
Dynavector XV1-S and Lyra Titan mono cartridges;<br />
Messenger preamplifier and phonostage; Classé<br />
Omega and Omicron monoblock amplifiers;<br />
Magnepan 20.1 (with Mye stands) and Sound<br />
Fusion Hyperion SF-81 loudspeakers; Jena<br />
Labs Valkyre and Hovland Music Groove 2<br />
interconnects; Jena Labs Valkyre speaker cable;<br />
Shunyata Hydra-8 line conditioner<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 111
new style<br />
classicism<br />
Full-out assaults on<br />
the state of the art,<br />
and priced accordingly<br />
Paul Seydor<br />
Photography by Adam Voorhes<br />
112 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
TAS COVER STORY<br />
Cruising the halls of Consumer Electronics Shows, I’ve often paused to admire the products of<br />
Simaudio, a Canadian firm with over twenty-five years’ experience manufacturing high-quality<br />
electronics. It has always had a reputation for high performance, while its uniquely styled amps<br />
and preamps impressed me as both eye-catching yet functional. So it was with keen enthusiasm<br />
that I accepted the assignment to review three of Simaudio’s flagship components from its Moon<br />
Evolution line: the P-8 preamplifier and W 8 amplifier, both dual-mono designs, and the Andromeda CD player.<br />
Intended as full-out assaults on the state of the art, and priced accordingly—a formidable $33k for the stack— these<br />
two-channel-only beauties attest to the tenacity of old-fashioned stereophonic reproduction in an increasingly<br />
multichannel world. “Old-fashioned” Perhaps “new style classicism” is more accurate.<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 113
Given how distinctively styled the Evolution components are, I evaluated<br />
them almost exclusively as a stack, as that is how most purchasers will more<br />
than likely use them. Let’s begin with tonal balance. In my opinion, once<br />
you set aside electronics that are deliberately voiced to sound a certain<br />
way (e.g., some of Bob Carver’s amplifiers with their “Gundry dip”) or<br />
the occasional impedance mismatches from weird cables and/or unusual<br />
speaker loads, the vast majority of solid-state components have no sonic<br />
signature in the strictly tonal sense. This is certainly true of the Evolution<br />
gear. Gourmet in, gourmet out, garbage in, garbage out is pretty much the<br />
story here.<br />
But does this mean everything sounds the same Not quite. Recently I<br />
auditioned an expensive integrated amplifier with superb performance. But<br />
the Evolutions soon exposed a slight touch of dryness in that otherwise<br />
impressive unit, unearthing very fine details of ambience that had eluded<br />
it, and suggesting improved resolution—very subtle but noticeable—when<br />
it came to separating lines and textures. For example, on my trusty Glenn<br />
Gould recording of Beethoven’s First Piano Sonata [Sony], though the<br />
recording is dry, high resolution electronics unveil a slight cushion of air<br />
between the instrument and the microphones. Both amplifiers made this<br />
evident—the Evolutions fractionally more so. As for Gould’s notorious<br />
vocalisms, same story: a bit more clearly separated from the sound of the<br />
piano, thus more distinctly localized.<br />
But I get ahead of myself. As soon as I fired up the Evolutions, even<br />
without the obligatory break-in, I noticed an unmistakable increase in<br />
transparency, a “see-through” immediacy that put me in mind of the<br />
Boulder electronics I reviewed a couple of years ago or the McIntosh<br />
C46/MC402 combination that is a current reference. Coupled with<br />
this was a sense of total ease and relaxation in the listening experience.<br />
A few days later I was joined by a close friend, an audiophile of long<br />
experience who is also one of the most widely employed studio violinists<br />
in Los Angeles. Within in a few minutes his first observation was, “Man,<br />
these things are really easy to listen to.” It’s worth noting that this man’s<br />
reference at home is one of the Edge amplifiers so admired by some of<br />
my TAS colleagues.<br />
Yet the Evolutions are not just about, to use Charles Ives’ wonderful phrase,<br />
letting the ears lie back in an easy chair. They also exhibit extraordinary grip,<br />
control, and authority. One afternoon found me comparing performances<br />
of the Mahler Third Symphony, beginning with Esa Pekka Salonen’s<br />
recording of my hometown orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic<br />
[Sony]. The soundstage is Cinerama size, the dynamic range formidable, but<br />
what is truly breathtaking about this recording is its vast spaciousness. There<br />
seems to be no limit to the air above and beyond the orchestra, yet quiet<br />
passages retain their immediacy without seeming to be spotlit. For example,<br />
when the tympani are tapped quietly, you can “hear,” as it were, the texture<br />
of the skin; when the tambourines are shaken, articulation is such that you<br />
can almost count the spaces between the rings. Next up was Benjamin<br />
Zander’s recent Telarc recording. The sound of the hall in this recording is<br />
gorgeous, but while the space is and feels smaller than that of LA’s Dorothy<br />
Chandler Pavilion, the sense of sheer orchestral mass, abetted by Telarc’s<br />
justly famous bass response, is even more powerful. (Perhaps owing to<br />
the W 8’s stratospheric damping factor, bass response seemed to extend<br />
to the center of the earth.) Last up was Bernstein’s DG recording with the<br />
New York Philharmonic. Clearly multimiked, taken from concerts at Avery<br />
Fisher Hall, this is the least impressive sonically of the three: noticeably<br />
dry and lacking in atmosphere, the orchestra cohesive, yet also spotlit with<br />
exaggerated perspectives. Yet the close miking does reveal one thing with<br />
blinding clarity. Instruments actually do appear to occupy a specific space<br />
and stay there. In both the Sony and Telarc recordings, beautiful as they<br />
are, there is a subtle vagary to the imaging that gives the impression that<br />
nothing quite occupies its own place. The effect is rather like a focus that is<br />
constantly searching for ultimate sharpness.<br />
I have heard these effects before with other fine electronics, though<br />
not always to the degree that this Evolution stack resolved them. But<br />
more to the point is how musically involved I was that afternoon. The<br />
Evolutions allowed me to hear how, despite its comparatively inferior<br />
(though still eminently listenable) reproduction, Bernstein’s is so clearly the<br />
best performance, as if he had got his players literally to breathe the Mahlerian<br />
idiom: so nuanced in expressiveness, so epic in scope. As far as I’m<br />
concerned, any audio equipment that makes for this level of engagement<br />
in the musical experience has already discharged its highest function.<br />
Are the Evolution components worth their substantial price Let me<br />
answer that in two parts. First, nobody reading this magazine can be<br />
unaware that even moderately priced electronics have reached such a level of<br />
performance that the decision to purchase extremely expensive alternatives<br />
is as much a lifestyle choice as it is the pursuit of audio excellence per se.<br />
That said, however, there are many consumers, including no few<br />
audiophiles, who like the idea of a unified electronics stack from a single<br />
manufacturer: preamp, amp, and source that are coordinated with respect<br />
to performance, features, and aesthetics. This arrangement virtually by<br />
definition ensures optimal matching, eliminates incompatibility, and,<br />
especially when styled as strikingly as those under review, makes for an<br />
impressive, if imposing display in a domestic setting. So in that context—<br />
and especially when you consider that most packaged (i.e., “lifestyle”) stacks<br />
don’t offer anything like this performance—the Evolution array, though<br />
undeniably expensive, certainly doesn’t strike me as unfairly priced with<br />
respect to its competition or its outstanding combination of design, build,<br />
parts, finish, and truly prodigious performance. It’s an investment that will<br />
make great music for the better part of a lifetime.<br />
114 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
TAS COVER STORY<br />
The P 8 Preamplifier In Detail<br />
The preamplifier not only constitutes the brains of any audio system, it’s also the component that you use every time you operate your sound system. As such, it<br />
should be ergonomically friendly. To me, this means, first, most of its basic functions should be available via remote control. Second, the settings of those functions<br />
should be evident from the listening position. Third, it should perform its functions smoothly, quietly, and straightforwardly.<br />
The P 8 preamplifier is exemplary in all three areas. Despite its extraordinary complexity, flexibility, and sophistication, it is so intelligently thought out and<br />
intuitive that, once all the gear was in place and connected together, I had the system operating literally in about thirty seconds without consulting the manual.<br />
The only knob in sight is the large volume control, silky smooth in rotation, though I hardly ever had the pleasure as the handset is so well thought out. Simaudio<br />
calls the P 8’s volume circuit M Ray; rotating the dial engages an optical encoder that selects among an array of 0.1% tolerance metal-film resistors to provide<br />
a range of 530 individual settings. From 0 to 30dB, the increase is in 1dB steps; from 30 to 80dB, it is in either 1dB or 0.1dB steps depending upon the speed<br />
of rotation. This initially struck me as overkill—who could possibly need that many settings—but in use I found it quite appealing. No volume control I have<br />
ever used exhibited the control, precision, and resolution of this one, its operation flawless throughout the evaluation period. The same applies to the balance<br />
circuit.<br />
Like the Andromeda’s, the P-8’s architecture is dual chassis, the audio circuitry in one, the power supply and controller (including digital circuits, displays, and<br />
software processing) in the other. No global feedback and no capacitors are used anywhere in the signal chain. There are three balanced and four single-ended<br />
sets of inputs, all high-level. The level of each may be adjusted over a ±10dB range, and each may be assigned a custom name. Once set up, this is one preamp<br />
that won’t blast you with differences in loudness as you move from one input to the next. An alphanumeric display (which can be dimmed or turned off) tells you<br />
source, volume, and balance settings in large characters easily readable from across the room.<br />
Of the functional aspects of the P-8, I have just two criticisms: the lack of a stereo/mono switch and the occasional slight transient when switching inputs<br />
(Simaudio tells me mine is the first reported instance of such behavior). Otherwise, this preamplifier is practically a textbook on how to design a control unit<br />
in which every feature serves a real-world function that is truly useful and every function has been implemented in the most ergonomically pleasing way. A<br />
triumph. PS<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 115
TAS COVER STORY<br />
Design Features<br />
There are too many features and functions to detail them all in a report of this relative brevity. I’ll<br />
summarize some of the more salient ones, but a visit to Simaudio’s Web site is recommended if you’re<br />
seriously contemplating a purchase (www.simaudio.com). All three pieces share dual-mono, fully<br />
balanced, differential circuitry, multiple toroidal power supplies, and rugged chassis, optimized for<br />
rigidity and low resonance, supported by polished coned feet. Simaudio rates the W 8 power amplifier<br />
at 250 watts/channel into 8 ohms, and claims 64-amp peak and 26-amp continuous current, a damping<br />
factor over 800, and unconditional stability into any load. It operates in Class A mode for the first five<br />
watts. A novel self-diagnostic system detects the presence of DC and automatically shuts the amplifier<br />
down until the DC is removed.<br />
The Andromeda CD player, a Red Book-only unit, houses the transport, controls, and display in one<br />
chassis, the power supplies in the other (digital and analog, each has its own toroidal transformer).<br />
The transport is a Philips CD Pro 2 M mounted on Simaudio’s own gel-based Delta suspension. In line<br />
with those who believe front-loading trays compromise stability and thus sonics, the Andromeda<br />
loads through a drawer on the top of the chassis, with a clamp for improved stability (a clever touch is<br />
its slightly tacky contact surface, so that when the clamp is lifted, the CD comes with it). Upsampling is<br />
24-bit/705.6kHz using a Burr-Brown DF1704 digital filter with 16x oversampling. Although an integral<br />
player, the transport and the DAC sections can be used separately, should you want to connect, say, a<br />
digital music server or drive an outboard DAC. In addition to the usual controls, the front panel sports<br />
an absolute polarity switch.<br />
The entire Evolution stack can be controlled by a single handset, beautifully machined and<br />
contoured to fit comfortably in your grip. I have just two criticisms of the remote operation, both<br />
relating to the Andromeda: I’d prefer the polarity switch to be accessible from the handset and that<br />
random access was available at all. Since the designers wanted one handset for the whole Evolution<br />
series, they bizarrely left off functions that would pertain exclusively to the CD player. Any player out<br />
there using Philips’s RC-5 protocol that has the appropriate buttons on its handset will provide random<br />
access for the Andromeda, but the consumer will have to search out and purchase said remote. Pretty<br />
cheeky for an $11.5K player! In truth, for most CDs this isn’t much of an inconvenience, but if you’ve<br />
been comparing, as I have, recordings of Beethoven’s Diabelli variations, which can have as many 34<br />
tracks, the lack of random selection is very annoying.<br />
My only other complaint has to do with the manuals: all commendably thorough, well written, and<br />
easy to follow, but cheap in look and feel (e.g., Kinko-grade spiral binding). Why does it seem almost<br />
axiomatic in high-end audio that the more expensive the product, the cheesier the manuals When<br />
consumers lay out this kind of money, they want—and surely deserve—manuals that suggest some<br />
sense of occasion, designed to the same high standards set by the products themselves. PS<br />
Specs & Pricing<br />
MANUFACTURER INFORMATION<br />
SIMAUDIO LTD.<br />
95 Chemin du Tremblay, Unit #3<br />
Boucherville, Quebec<br />
J4B 7K4 CANADA<br />
(877) 980-2400<br />
simaudio.com<br />
Moon Evolution P-8 preamplifier<br />
Dimensions: preamp, 18.75" x 4" x 16.5";<br />
controller, 18.75" x 5.5" x 16.5"<br />
Price: $11,000<br />
Moon Evolution W 8 stereo power<br />
amplifier<br />
Power: 250 watts/channel, 8 ohms; 500<br />
watts/channel, 4 ohms; 1000 watts/channel,<br />
2 ohms; 1000 watts, bridged mono<br />
Dimensions: 18.75" x 7.5" x 16.5"<br />
Price: $10,500<br />
Moon Evolution Andromeda CD player<br />
Format: Red Book only<br />
Dimensions: CD player, 18.75" x 5.5" x<br />
16.5"; power supply, 18.7" x 4" x 16.5"<br />
Price: $11,500<br />
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT<br />
SME Model 30 turntable; Sumiko<br />
Celebration and Dynavector 17D II<br />
cartridges; Phonomena phonostage;<br />
McIntosh MC2200, C46, and Quad QCtwenty-four<br />
preamps; McIntosh MC402 and<br />
Quad 909 amplifiers; Sony XA777ES SACD<br />
player; McIntosh MDA1000 D/A converter,<br />
MCD 1000 transport, and 861 universal<br />
player; Quad 988, ESL-57, Harbeth Compact<br />
7, and Spendor SP3/5 speakers; Audio Physic<br />
Minos subwoofer; Kimber Select and 8VS<br />
interconnects and speaker cable<br />
116 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
HP’s<br />
WORKSHOP<br />
HP’s Editor’s Choice Awards<br />
Speaker Systems<br />
The Nola Grand Reference Mk IV<br />
$140,000 (standard finish)<br />
nolaloudspeakers.com<br />
This “statement” design, by Carl Marchisotto, former protégé of Jon<br />
Dahlquist, had been evolving in ways that are refinements of the original<br />
design, rather than any radical rethinking of the four-tower system. (The<br />
two front towers do most of the work, since they contain the four-per-side<br />
midbass drivers, the six midrange units, and the nine Raven ribbon tweeters.)<br />
The latest change, however, is most striking, since Marchisotto scuttled all<br />
its midrange drivers, replacing them with slightly smaller but smoother and<br />
faster-sounding units. Oddly enough, the first thing we heard were sonic<br />
improvements outside the midrange: The highs from the ribbon tweeters<br />
sounded more open, airier, and a bit “sweeter” in the<br />
same way that the real thing sounds sweeter in the<br />
top octaves. Then we found the lows more focused,<br />
tighter, and much more of a whole cloth with the rest<br />
of the frequency spectrum. The two woofer towers,<br />
operating below 40Hz and consisting of four 12-inch<br />
ported drivers, had up until now been the Achilles heel<br />
of the handsome-to-behold and costly-to-own system.<br />
It occurred to me that maybe it was the upgrading of<br />
the crossover unit, also part of the Mk IV redesign,<br />
that might have made that critical difference at the<br />
frequency extremes, since Marchisotto has radically<br />
improved the capacitors in the external (and now much<br />
larger) crossover chassis and used Nordost wiring (and<br />
banana plugs) throughout. Marchisotto says he is now<br />
using capacitors in the entirely redesigned and enlarged<br />
crossover that are rated at 1200 volts DC (tolerance of<br />
one percent), monsters that are four inches long with<br />
a two-inch diameter. All the internal wiring is Nordost<br />
Valhalla, which is superb in delivering rock-solid lows.<br />
Even so, you’ll not get the best out of the woofs unless<br />
you sock it to them with plenty of power. That has meant, in our case,<br />
using a second ASR Emitter II to provide a well-nigh-perfect match and<br />
big thrills for the kick-ass-bass crowd, among whose number I sometimes<br />
find myself. With this system, as currently constituted, if the information<br />
is on the disc (be it CD or LP), you will hear it, and hear it as an inherent,<br />
continuously flowing part of the original, rather than with the kind of<br />
imposed definition that some call “hi-fi.” There maybe other “statement”<br />
speakers that have the authority of these speakers, but none will surpass<br />
the Nola’s ability to give you an uncanny sense of being in the space with<br />
the performers.<br />
The Magnepan MG 20.1 hybrid ribbon/planar<br />
system<br />
$12,500<br />
magnepan.com<br />
Dollar for dollar, these top-of-the-line Maggies represent the “best buy”<br />
in high-end audio. They have some critical advantages over much of their<br />
competition. The system consists of designer Jim Winey’s fabled true ribbon<br />
tweeter, and lower down, his much improved planar panels for the midrange<br />
and the bass. Because the speaker’s elements are free-standing panels, the<br />
Maggies need no enclosure, so you’ll never hear the sound of a “box,” one<br />
of the most pernicious colorations in audio. Since they also operate in dipolar<br />
fashion (the sound emanating from the panels, front and rear), the 20.ls have<br />
an inherent technical and acoustic advantage: They, like almost all dipolars,<br />
cancel out certain low-frequency resonant nodes. The absence of all these<br />
colorations gives the Maggies a freedom from aural strain that is not only<br />
refreshing, but to these ears, a closer replica of the sound of music itself.<br />
In this regard, they are just about unique in the field of high-end speaker<br />
systems. The drivers are fast—not electrostatically fast in the artificial and<br />
thin sense. So fast, that the initial attack takes precedence over its somewhat<br />
awkward rendering of decay-tails lower down in the spectrum. The biggest<br />
disadvantage here, for lovers of power music, is the<br />
tendency of the bass panels to “flap” when faced with<br />
great big low-frequency pulses at fortissimo levels. You<br />
may also want to watch out for this if you’re considering<br />
using the Maggies in a movie-oriented multichannel<br />
system. It will be inevitable that you’ll blow the fuses<br />
on the tweeters if you try to replicate theater sound<br />
levels (beware the DVD of Master and Commander),<br />
and, if you keep on pushing it, you may even fry the<br />
tweets. (They are easily replaced.) The advantage of the<br />
Maggies in such a system, however, is the extremely<br />
clear articulation it gives to dialogue and vocals. Also<br />
keep in mind that when the .1 channel is handled by<br />
subs (ours are four Thunderbolt IIIs from Nola), the<br />
Maggies won’t be aflappin’.<br />
These speakers are not high in sensitivity, and they<br />
do require a hefty amount of power. Winey designed<br />
them to be particularly forgiving of some of the<br />
transgressions of transistorized equipment (gear that<br />
usually has the power). And there are, if you’re going<br />
for these in a two-channel system, audible, though most<br />
minor, discontinuities in character between the ribbon and both the midbass<br />
and low-bass panel. But the 20.1s sound virtually seamless, so striking is their<br />
overall coherency, when compared with the big building-block speakers<br />
out there these days (you know the ones I mean, with boxes atop boxes).<br />
Remember I said “virtually.” If it’s truth to the music that’s your passion, this<br />
is the speaker you ought to start with.<br />
The Marten Coltrane system<br />
$50,000<br />
martendesign.com<br />
[Review to come.] Talk about a seductive sound system, this Scandinavian<br />
hybrid design is so mightily enchanting that it just about disarms the seriousminded<br />
or perfectionist critic. The stratospheric top octaves are handled by<br />
a “diamond” tweeter that, it is said, extends all the way out past 100kHz.<br />
Sure sounds like it, too. The other two drivers that handle the rest of the<br />
spectrum are ceramics—the first such I’ve heard in a setup of my devising<br />
(translated, that means here in Sea Cliff, carefully positioned in Room 2). The<br />
120 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
HP’s Workshop<br />
tweeter is, for these ears, a fascination, coming as it does hard on the<br />
heels of the updated dual Heil design in the new B100 from Burmester,<br />
and then referenced to the Ravens in the Nola system and Winey’s own<br />
pure ribbon setup. No, they do not all sound alike, but each one of these,<br />
in its own purity and truth, sets a higher standard for reproduction of<br />
the top octaves. I might have almost assumed, given the circumstances<br />
of the diamond tweet’s debut, that it might well be an ear-fryer. But no,<br />
no, no. It is wickedly good, quite, quite low in distortion, and has almost<br />
no signature of its own. The single word that keeps coming to mind<br />
is “purity.” The ceramics lend a kind of allure, one<br />
perhaps akin to Splenda, to the rest of the<br />
spectrum, making for a most distinctive<br />
sound, at least when set against other current<br />
designs. There is a kind of consonance with<br />
music’s euphony that intrigues: Is it right, or<br />
just gloriously, shamelessly alluring (I feel<br />
obliged to note that I haven’t auditioned,<br />
at home, any of the Kharma designs, so<br />
beloved by Drs. Valinosky and Garcia,<br />
and only once, at CES, a diamond tweeter<br />
in another speaker system.) The extreme<br />
bottom (20 to 32Hz) is mostly missing, but<br />
the speaker goes low enough, with quite<br />
good articulation of pedal points and other<br />
rumblings down yonder (say, the middle 30s)<br />
that you aren’t aware that much is missing.<br />
The Coltranes have a distinctive singularity<br />
in sound that is going to be the basis of<br />
audio cults, so individually does it stand out<br />
from the competition, and I mean that as a<br />
compliment. For me, the question, early on,<br />
is where its ultimate place is in the hierarchy<br />
of the absolute.<br />
The Burmester B-100 Hybrid<br />
$69,000<br />
burmester.de<br />
For a more detailed discussion of this<br />
“monitor-quality” new speaker from<br />
Burmester, you should look up my<br />
comments in Issue 163. It is, if anything,<br />
even more neutral—read that as inherently<br />
cooler—than the Magneplanar 20.1s<br />
discussed above, to the point that,<br />
with similar-sounding champagnecolored<br />
electronics (e.g., Edge, Spectral,<br />
Burmester), it might seem a bit chilly and<br />
even over-analytic. I prefer to think of it<br />
as extremely revealing. Reviewer’s choice, if<br />
you want to know what’s going on elsewhere<br />
in your system. But put a big tubed unit, like Jud<br />
Barber’s OTL Destiny, in play and the B-100’s character<br />
becomes romantic in a most unTeutonic way. Those of you<br />
who have followed Burmester’s ascending spiral into excellence over<br />
the years don’t need me to tell you that prior to the B-100, speaker<br />
sound was the company’s bête noire. This was especially noticeable in<br />
the old B-90, which was a fine example of the building-block school<br />
of speaker design, where different and not entirely coherent speakers<br />
are loaded atop one another, in the hope that the combination will play<br />
so loudly in a big enough room that incoherencies will be obliterated.<br />
(Do these words remind you of any current best-selling, high-gloss,<br />
high-end systems Sheer coincidence.) With the B-100, there are no<br />
jarring discrepancies sonically between the drivers of this three-way<br />
system, though if you listen critically, you will hear a continuity gap<br />
between the side-firing woofers and the direct-radiation pattern of the<br />
other drivers. The spectacular Heil tweeters, here doubled, rest at the<br />
top of the sleek, stylish, sexy-looking cabinet, and they have room to<br />
spare when it comes to reproducing high-frequency dynamics—the<br />
principal limitation of nearly every tweeter system in existence, and<br />
one of the impediments to a true recreation of the absolute.<br />
So far I haven’t been able to push them into distortion;<br />
indeed, there is a dynamic quality to their ability to render<br />
contrasts, and seemingly with no end of reserve power,<br />
that is electrifying. I would think that its application in this<br />
system constitutes a harbinger of things to come in how we<br />
perceive high frequencies.<br />
Amplification<br />
The ASR Emitter II Exclusive Blue<br />
$24,900<br />
fanfareintl.com<br />
There are no two ways about it: This is a great two-channel<br />
amplifier. A substantial part of its magic comes from a batterydriven<br />
front end—which could, one supposes, qualify it as an<br />
integrated amp—that accounts for its near-dead silence and<br />
breathtakingly low inherent noise level. In ages past, batterydriven<br />
designs have lacked both response at the frequency<br />
extremes and realistic dynamic contrasts at any frequency.<br />
What the designer, Friedrich Shaeffer, did here was to so<br />
increase the capacitance of the battery’s power supplies that<br />
he got wideband response and dramatic contrast differentials<br />
in dynamics. The ASR, which has gone through a series of<br />
comparatively small upgrades, packs a real punch because of<br />
its immense reserves of output (non-battery-driven) power—<br />
this is one amp that won’t waver into clipping on the Nola<br />
Grand References; its effect in controlling that speaker’s bass<br />
towers have been, putting it subtly, revelatory. The ASR does<br />
not sound like a solid-state amp, nor does it sound like a tubed<br />
unit, which has led me to speculate that it is the way tubes and<br />
transistors, respectively, process noise artifacts that accounts<br />
for much of what we judge as their “character”—with the<br />
extraordinarily (for the here and now) low noise floor, we are<br />
able to look past those colorations we used to use to define<br />
amps by what drives them. (In the case of the ASR, the power<br />
devices are shockingly ordinary.) The Emitter does have a yinlike<br />
darkness to its character and that character becomes more<br />
audible when the amp is asked to shake the house. It can also<br />
be a bit temperamental and isn’t that supposed to part of the<br />
soul of a “diva” Certainly, it qualifies as a characteristic of<br />
high-end gear. One last thought: Because we did not need to<br />
use a linestage with the ASR, we plugged phonostages and CD players<br />
into its assorted inputs (only one of them, unhappily, balanced). This gave<br />
me, at one point, the opportunity to hear what linestages were doing to the<br />
sound when inserted back into the Emitter, and that was, largely, to shrink<br />
the apparent size, dimensionality, and dynamics of individual instruments.<br />
(This derailed our linestage survey for the nonce.) And made clear the<br />
superiority of the Conrad-Johnson ART II linestage, which changed the<br />
soundspace and soundfield the least.<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 123
HP’s Workshop<br />
The Joule Electra Destiny OTL monoblock<br />
$28,000 (the pair); $32,000 with Musicwood base<br />
joule-electra.com<br />
[Review to come.] Believe it or not, a 300-watt monoblock of tubed power,<br />
sans the distortions and sonic signatures introduced by output transformers.<br />
The Destiny is Jud Barber’s design statement. Even the briefest of auditions<br />
will convince you that the outer limits of tube design have hardly been<br />
reached and much remains to be done by innovative thinkers such as Barber.<br />
And its quite special qualities I shall try to delineate in a forthcoming review.<br />
The Burmester 911 Mk III<br />
$45,000 (two mono units, as tested)<br />
$22,500 (stereo version)<br />
burmester.de<br />
[Review to come.] Suddenly we have at hand a rash of fascinating amplifier<br />
designs. The 911 itself is a genuine advance over the sound of past Burmester<br />
electronics. It is of the same school as both the Edge and Spectral gear, which<br />
is to say, the sound is at almost exactly the right balance between the yin<br />
and yang, which holds true in all three companies’ best works, though all in<br />
the past have veered to the intensely yang-ish. The more elderly Burmester<br />
amps tended to be overly “white” (yang with a bang), and exhibited noise<br />
modulation artifacts as a soft, rather fine grain and dryness. But not here.<br />
In long, long listenings, I have become increasingly impressed with the<br />
911’s near sonic invisibility. So far in the evaluations, I’ve not been able to<br />
nail a sonic lie. And the company’s man Udo Besser says the top-of-the-line<br />
“statement” amp, the 909, is even better. I find this hard to believe, but we<br />
shall hear what we shall hear. The 911 presents the reviewer with what is<br />
becoming an ever-more-vexing problem in his work, and that is getting used<br />
to an absence of those easily identifiable traditional colorations that allowed<br />
us to distinguish one product from another. I don’t doubt that the 911, and<br />
its brothers now and in days to come, will have quirks and anomalies that<br />
we shall ferret out, but we are going to have to have more complex source<br />
material and an enhanced sonic vocabulary to do our job the better.<br />
The Conrad-Johnson Premier 350<br />
$9500<br />
conradjohnson.com<br />
[Review to come.] Once it’s broken in, and that takes a nauseatingly long 200<br />
hours or so, the Premier 350 would seem to indicate that the folks at Connie J<br />
have dissolved the barrier between the sound of the tubed Premier products<br />
and their lesser-priced solid-state works. This thing sounds like a Premier<br />
Eight with testicles. Keep in mind, it sounds like a throwback to the horrid<br />
old days of solid-state distortion until the capacitors wear in, like solid-state<br />
effluvia. What a surprise there is to follow.<br />
The Wyetech Sapphire 300B single-ended triode<br />
amplifier<br />
$6800<br />
wyetechlabs.com<br />
To these ears, the best of the single-ended-triode amp designs, which is to<br />
say, with none of the questionable colorations of most SETs, and a pure<br />
transparency that denotes a great amplifier. Good bass, too, another of its<br />
distinctions.<br />
Linestages and Phonostages<br />
The Conrad-Johnson ART II linestage<br />
(discontinued)<br />
$15,995 (last list price)<br />
conradjohnson.com<br />
The ART is still the standard bearer of linestages in our experience. As we<br />
noted above, in our bypass test between a direct feed into the ASR Emitter<br />
and a linestage inserted into its front end, the ART did less damage to the<br />
musical signal than any of the competing models we then had on hand<br />
(this assessment excluded the latest version of Burmester 011, which came<br />
afterward). Used with the best tubes, this thing sounds more the way the<br />
124 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
HP’s Workshop<br />
music sounds than any component has a right to. Even though it is noisier<br />
than it should be, unless retrofitted with a new set of tubes. I have never<br />
cottoned to its replacement, the Act II, which, to these ears, has a slightly<br />
glazed overall sheen without the interspatial purity that is the hallmark of<br />
this design.<br />
The Burmester 011 Mk 3 preamplifier<br />
$22,495<br />
burmester.de<br />
[Review to come.] A few paragraphs back, I talked about the burst of<br />
creative design activity at Burmester of late, and used the term spiraling<br />
ascendancies, or some such. We’ve had the earlier Mk 2 on hand for quite<br />
awhile and found it acceptable, largely because it was originally intended<br />
as a phonostage, but, as actually designed, it is something that has gone<br />
the way of the flying cow, a full-featured preamplifier combining a<br />
linestage and preamplification for moving-coil cartridges. Since the 011<br />
had been sitting quietly for some time, we asked for the latest version,<br />
which turned out to have considerably improved. Burmester’s Besser<br />
tells us these things: The output stages have been completely redesigned<br />
(these are available to Mk 2 owners who wish an upgrade); the input<br />
stages are full-balanced, pure Class A, and DC-coupled; the internal<br />
wiring is now pure silver; and more, the preamp has a new transformer<br />
and shorter wiring runs. And now it is a formidable unit, a worthy match<br />
for the 911 amplifier, and the possible cornerstone of an ultimate system.<br />
I have been using the combo in the testing of the B100 speaker and the<br />
Marten Coltranes. And am hog happy about the results.<br />
The ASR Basis Exclusive Mk II phonostage<br />
$6900<br />
fanfareintl.com<br />
This battery-operated unit, upon which I lavished praise, has undergone<br />
a significant modification, one that taught this reviewer something of<br />
a lesson. One of the HP High End Rules is that you can’t imagine the<br />
bettering of a statement product sometimes until you hear it bettered.<br />
The Basis, as such, was a revelation: It had such a low noise floor it<br />
allowed nuances of harmonics and spatial information to emerge from<br />
a velvety black background. What I didn’t hear, until the new unit came<br />
along, was a kind of hardness in the sound, particularly noticeable on<br />
forte to fortissimo. (And it still is a temperamental beast, with a tendency<br />
to blow its output brains out.) The new Basis does away with that<br />
hardness, leaving a relaxed sweetness at every dynamic level. The effect is<br />
most remarkably audible on the human voice. It is a stunner.<br />
Analog Playback Equipment:<br />
Cartridges, Arms,<br />
Turntables<br />
The Dynavector XV-1S cartridge<br />
$4250<br />
toffco-usa@yahoo.com<br />
This is, for me, the reference moving-coil cartridge. Why Because it<br />
is without serious sonic flaw. Without audible coloration. Devoid of<br />
identifiable “character,” and again, for me, the long sought-after fulfillment<br />
of the potential of moving-coil design. There has been a bit of fur flying<br />
with the U.S. importer, who believed we were tracking too heavily at 2.7<br />
grams; in our extensive comparisons, mistracking occurred below that<br />
pressure. The importer, Mike Pranka, believes it should be used at 2.2,<br />
especially in conjunction with Dynavector’s moving-coil step-up device,<br />
which, shameless me, I did not get around to testing because of the<br />
avalanche of other options I was considering. I hope we will be able to do<br />
that in the next issue or so. In any event, those of you who’ve read me over<br />
the years know how I shudder at the use of the adjective “best” in relation<br />
to any component. Nothing is perfect, especially not the “best.” But the<br />
XV-1S is, as far as I can tell, given my ignorant bliss, now the best. And if<br />
it has serious imperfections, I haven’t heard them. But the day will come.<br />
Remember: There is nothing that cannot be bettered, here or in any other<br />
part of a playback system.<br />
The Tom Evans Groove Plus phonostage<br />
$7000<br />
tomevansaudiodesign-usa.com<br />
The best and most musical-sounding solid-state phonostage. Period.<br />
Ought I to qualify that with the phrase: “non-battery” in operation<br />
The Aesthetix IO phonostage<br />
$9000 (second power supply, $3000 [as tested])<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
Like the modified Basis in sweetness and the kind of seductive pleasures<br />
that real music can afford, with just a bit more grain and texture from its<br />
noise artifacts, except in the two-power-supply version, which brings it<br />
closer to what it should be, with only a bit of audible tube rush. And I<br />
mean “a bit.” I do not consider this a serious failing, just as I do consider<br />
this a formidable performer in musical terms. For many, its sensuous<br />
rendition of the musical experience will make it the first choice.<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 127
HP’s Workshop<br />
The Lab 47/Miyabi moving-coil cartridge<br />
$3899<br />
www.sakurastms@aol.com<br />
The Miyabi cartridges, particularly the Ivory version of many a moon<br />
ago, have always struck me as formidable decoders of the mechanical<br />
signals engraved in the vinyl groove. The Lab 47 version is a bit particular<br />
about the arm with which it must walk, arm in arm, so to say. With the<br />
Tri-Planar, it did have a noticeably larger-than-life bottom end, out<br />
of proportion to its pure rendition of the upper bass to lower highs.<br />
With the Phantom, the bottom end was richer than life (though not as<br />
obviously “up” in level), but its high-frequency peak made it sound a<br />
touch silvery, and sometimes dry, in the 20kHz range. It all depends on<br />
what you use it with. At its finest, in the optimum part of its range, it<br />
equals the Dynavector XV-1S; its colorations at the extremes, though<br />
not of a disqualifying seriousness, keep it just inches away from being<br />
the best.<br />
The Blue Angel Mantis cartridge<br />
$4995<br />
bertrandaudio.com<br />
blueangelaudio.com<br />
This South African hand-built design may turn out to be a serious<br />
rival to the supremacy of the Dynavector cartridge. I haven’t yet<br />
gotten its measure, though I’ve heard enough to know it means<br />
serious business, and it mates with alacrity and abandon to the Tri-<br />
Planar arm.<br />
The Benz LP Ebony cartridge<br />
$4700<br />
musicalsurroundings.com<br />
The best Benz cartridge, period. Thoroughly musical.<br />
The Graham Phantom pickup arm<br />
$4300<br />
www.graham-engineering.com<br />
[Review in the works.] Bob Graham’s work with the unipivot pickup arm has<br />
vouchsafed him many an admirer. I’ve had my reservations, though, about<br />
the chiseled coolness and hyper-“definition” of his earlier designs—qualities<br />
that stood antithetically to a kind of shimmering loss of focus in the depths<br />
of the far-field stage. But in the past several months, and after considerable<br />
jiggling to get its setup and installation exactly so, I’ve come to the conclusion<br />
that Graham has finally done it. His first accomplished work of mature<br />
artistry. The arm is superb.<br />
The Tri-Planar Mk VII pickup arm<br />
$4000<br />
triplanar.com<br />
We dusted off the classic Tri-Planar for the first round of cartridge tests, an<br />
enterprise thwarted by a missing cantilever/stylus assemblage on one of the<br />
two reference Dynavectors, an unhappy moment here since we have no idea<br />
of how this could have happened (indeed, only once before in 30 years of<br />
fooling around with cartridges has this occurred and then I sure-as-shootin’<br />
knew why). Thus we haven’t been able to make a direct A/B between the<br />
Graham Phantom and this classic pickup carrier. I am, momentarily, at<br />
a loss to compare their merits or otherwise. Used by itself, the Tri-Planar<br />
is terrifically musical, though not, as noted above, a perfect match for the<br />
Miyabi, though a much happier one for the hand-assembled and quite sexy<br />
(looking) Blue Mantis. I don’t see how you could go wrong here, though it<br />
would be prudent to check its low-frequency resonance versus that of the<br />
cartridge you’ll use.<br />
The EAR Disc Master Magnetic table<br />
$13,500 (without arm)<br />
ear-usa.com<br />
[See Review, last issue.] This design represents a breakthrough in turntables,<br />
and as such is probably the forerunner of a revolution in LP reproduction,<br />
and at this late date in the life of the vinyl disc. Hard on its heels is the $100k<br />
(plus) Clearaudio super-version of its magnetic drive, which could well be<br />
the EAR’s superior (not that I may ever know, since the Clearaudio folks<br />
were less than thrilled by my dismissal of the so-called Everest ’table, which<br />
struck me as a refinement of the company’s sound without being an advance<br />
upon it). Others will no doubt be in the works. (N.B., This use of magnets<br />
is not to be confused with the magnetic-bearing suspension systems used in<br />
the Verdier and Blue Pearl tables.) Here, the basic drive mechanism is a belt<br />
that spins a circular device that contains a powerful new-age magnet. Once<br />
activated (and there are three useable speeds), another such device, attached<br />
to the platter, begins to spin because of the interaction of the magnets—<br />
there is no physical contact between the two. What this means in terms of<br />
sound is that, for the first time, you don’t hear the LP, an experience akin,<br />
I would suggest, to riding in a car whose wheels don’t touch the road. It’s<br />
spooky, and the sound bears some semblance, in the lower frequencies, to<br />
that of tape or the compact disc, which are untroubled by noise artifacts<br />
originating from the standard and until now ubiquitous turntable-spinning<br />
devices (from direct drives to belts). The gain in continuousness is dramatic<br />
and the increase in playback dynamics may surprise the unwary. I can’t say<br />
the system is without its cranks (what British product is). In this case, the<br />
belt began—unbeknownst to me—to stick, causing the platter to either<br />
stop spinning or, when manually helped along, to reverse directions. My<br />
equipment guy, Danny Gonzalez, fixed it with a bit of lube.<br />
I’m pretty sure there will be an argument over the very bottom octave’s<br />
sound (meaning 20 to 32Hz), which the true believers in massive turntable<br />
platters will find (and in one instance have found) wanting here. And in<br />
comparison with the Blue Pearl $80k import from the British Isles, it is<br />
something we’ll have to consider. So far, I think the overall balance of the<br />
sound from the table is preferable to a fat bottom end (shades of Botticelli!),<br />
but in a more direct comparison with this and the new 30-pound platter<br />
Harry Weisfeld has design for his HRX table, I may be otherwise convinced.<br />
Make no mistake, though, this is the future.<br />
The Blue Pearl JEM turntable<br />
$84,000 (w/single armboard)<br />
acousticdreams.net/adhome.htm<br />
[Review to come.] Just from the point of view of industrial design and<br />
“look,” this British import is a stunner. It is so beautifully machined and<br />
constructed, you can understand its extravagant cost—at that, even after<br />
adding an arm, thousands below the $100k cost of the far less solid-looking<br />
Australian Continuum, which I certainly would like to have heard (but am<br />
not bloody likely to, in the here and now, given the manufacturer’s satisfaction<br />
with the publicity a wildly positive review in $piles has generated.) There is<br />
little I would have liked better than to have had a shoot-out between such<br />
behemoths. (Oh, Fortuna, as the wandering minstrels woefully sang.) One or<br />
two things I’ve already discovered: This table has just maybe the smoothest<br />
sound I’ve heard from any. The word that pops into mind is “solid,” in the<br />
sense of “stereo” as derived from the Greek. Whether its virtues are strong<br />
enough to trump the magnetic drive of the EAR, which does not have the<br />
magnetic-bearing suspension this does, I can’t say. But until the EAR arrived,<br />
this struck me as the best-sounding turntable I had heard—remember there<br />
is no final judgment here—and I was, in advance, ruing the day when it<br />
would have to be returned to the U.S. importer. I mean, what reviewer in this<br />
business can afford a turntable priced in the high-kilobuck region Not this<br />
one. Not by a country mile.<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 129
HP’s Workshop<br />
The VPI SuperScoutmaster<br />
(w/JMW Memorial arm)<br />
$5500<br />
vpiindustries.com<br />
I’ve had plenty to say about the evolution of this Harry Weisfeld design<br />
from its simpler days as a plain ole Scoutmaster to its present excellence<br />
as the “best buy” (sorry, Consumer Guide) of its kind for vinyl playback.<br />
It comes with arm, sans cartridge, and it is a humdinger. Sure, there is<br />
better, but at much greater cost and far less in the way of measurable<br />
sonic gains.<br />
CD Players<br />
The Lab 47/Pi Tracer<br />
$25,000 (with Model 4700 Power Humpty)<br />
sakurastms@aol.com<br />
[See Review, Issue 163.] I don’t want to belabor the point of the Lab 47’s<br />
sonic superiority to the competing units we had under evaluation the last time<br />
out. Suffice it to say, the Pi Tracer is a wickedly good device, although clunky<br />
to use, and sometimes maddeningly high end. It is no simple task, at times, to<br />
get the thing to operate smoothly. And it has no repeat-play function, which<br />
I consider a necessity, especially if you want to leave the device playing so<br />
that other equipment may be broken in. The disc has to be installed bottomside<br />
up, and locked in place with a plastic tittie that is easy to misplace. Then<br />
whether you can get it to play the cut you want seems to be the perfect<br />
illustration of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. But what the hell, it’s worth<br />
it to the man who wants to get the most out of his compact discs. There are<br />
plenty of players that work perfectly and sound digital; this one doesn’t.<br />
The EAR Acute<br />
$5495<br />
ear-usa.com<br />
In reviewing this player from Tim de Paravicini—also the auteur<br />
behind the magnetic-drive turntable—I subtracted a few points<br />
because the Acute did not exhibit the same high-frequency purity<br />
I heard from it in a CES demonstration. What struck me then was<br />
the airy sweetness and extension of its high-frequency performance,<br />
entirely atypical for almost all digital players, and enchanting. The unit<br />
that arrived in Sea Cliff some weeks later simply did not have the same<br />
purity and translucency in the highs, although throughout the rest of<br />
its range, it was in the top rank of CD systems. After the review was<br />
written, we had a visit from Dan Meinwald, the U.S. importer (who<br />
was bringing the Marten speakers and trouble-shooting the difficult<br />
Helius pickup arm that the Baron Tim was recommending for use<br />
with his magnetic-drive table). I mentioned my reservations about<br />
the way the sound of the player had changed from there to here, and<br />
he pulled out a new set of tubes, tubes that do not come with the<br />
player, and, lo: transmogrification. It now is as it was when Meinwald<br />
first exhibited it. (Those two new tubes, by the way, are the Tungsram<br />
6DJ8s.) I would give this my “best buy” vote, except for the fact that it<br />
is somewhat more expensive than the almost-as-good (but occasionally<br />
troublesome) Edge player. Truth is, I like the unstressed quality of the<br />
top octaves here, even though the unit does not have the dynamic fire<br />
or, quite, the attractive fury of the Edge. I would say, without blushing,<br />
that the decision between the two would almost rest with the kind of<br />
unamplified music you like best, power music or dreamily Vaughan<br />
Williams-like. Oh yes, this unit works (worked) flawlessly, unlike the<br />
other and more individualistic players.<br />
130 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
HP’s Workshop<br />
The Edge G<br />
$5000<br />
edgeamp.com<br />
I am far from certain whether the next two players should be included in my<br />
editorial choices. Both are products in transition. Originally, the problem here,<br />
mechanically, lay with the remote unit, which had, despite the manufacturer’s<br />
rep’s assertions to the contrary, no repeat-play function. Indeedy, there<br />
were unmarked buttons for the pushing, which were supposed to enable<br />
repeat-play, but we had no such luck. So back to the factory it has gone,<br />
whence it remains as I write these words. I have left it in because its sonics are<br />
outstanding, and on any given day, I would have ranked it at the top of the<br />
pile. But, then, with other material, on other systems, its electrifying dynamics<br />
have bordered on the extreme. Excitement it has. And this “choice” is actually<br />
conditional. Stay tuned.<br />
The Blue Note Stibbert Mk II<br />
$5950<br />
fanfareintl.com<br />
This unit has undergone three modifications, each to its sonic betterment<br />
(and it wasn’t at all bad to begin with). And is about to receive another update.<br />
So, again, a conditional choice, with the benefit of the doubt to Blue Note.<br />
One thing you must know that I may not have made a point of earlier, and<br />
that is: The rating applies to the player only if it is used in the balanced mode.<br />
(And you’d better have it acoustically isolated on some set of points and<br />
sitting perfectly evenly.) Otherwise, no way will it strut its stuff.<br />
Multichannel Playback Gear<br />
The Conrad-Johnson Met One multichannel<br />
linestage<br />
$7500<br />
conradjohnson.com<br />
This is a remarkable linestage, reminiscent of the old tubed Anniversary<br />
Reference Triode design from Lew Johnson and Co. I haven’t written<br />
much about it yet, but I have lived with it now for a few months and find it<br />
supplements the slightly threadbare sound of many contemporary SACD<br />
issues, such as the Music for Organ, Brass and Tympani, whose sound I knew<br />
well thanks to an invite from the Sony SACD team to attend the sessions.<br />
Without the Met One, all of the outlines of the recording were there. But<br />
when the Met One was inserted into the system, the flesh of the experience<br />
was added to the bones of the recording. Ditto for the Telarc sampler I did to<br />
show off the glories of good multichannel SACD sound. More to come.<br />
The EMM Labs CDSD Signature SACD Deck &<br />
DAC6 e signature SACD decoder<br />
$8400 and $13,500<br />
emmlabs.com<br />
Incomparable. The reference standard in SACD playback.<br />
The Super Maggie multichannel system: The<br />
Magnepan 20.1 (front), the 3.6s (rear), and<br />
doubled CC3 center channels<br />
$18,930<br />
magnepan.com<br />
Nola Thunderbolt powered subwoofers (four for<br />
the .1 channel, one for the center channel).<br />
$8975<br />
nolaspeakers.com<br />
There are more than a few approaches to getting the most out of a<br />
multichannel system. You could, if movie-watching is the main purpose to<br />
which you’ll put your system, go for the big and impressive-sounding speakers,<br />
a healthy dose of which we got from the Coincident Technology array, which<br />
I find to be the only other system (so far) that really made sense for both<br />
music and sound, with playback of unamplified music being of paramount<br />
importance to my way of thinking. As I noted earlier, you can melt your<br />
eardrums at supersonic levels with the Maggies and ultra-DVD sound, but<br />
for most uses, the Maggies are about as good as you’ll get if you want realism<br />
musically and all but the biggest bangs from your video spectaculars.<br />
We will, in the sweet bye and bye, try out other multichannel speaker<br />
systems in the search for other avenues of approach that demonstrate the<br />
potential of the experience.<br />
Vital Accessories<br />
Room-Correction Tools State Technology Room<br />
Collimating pillars<br />
$950 each (three used)<br />
strltd.com<br />
I have delayed writing about these plain black columns for many a moon now<br />
because I have no earthly idea why they do what they do. I think every serious<br />
audio reviewer has come up against a device that makes an easily audible<br />
difference in the sound, but one that doesn’t make any apparent technical<br />
sense. It is said that these pillars contain all sorts of electronic devices that<br />
help control room resonances, but I am not the sort to cut one open to check<br />
this out (and well remember the scandal when one Corey Greenberg did<br />
just that with the so-called “termination” device on a Bruce Brisson cable). I<br />
also well recall that business with the Tice Clock, which our guy then, Frank<br />
Doris, could identify in blind tests 21 times out of 21 times when it was either<br />
“in” or “out” of the system. But why would a digital clock change the entire<br />
gestalt of a soundfield (In our case, the Tice sweetened and made euphonic<br />
that which should have been left alone.) And yet, three of these not-imposinglooking<br />
columns can and do have unmistakable (perceived) effects on the<br />
sound. When we used these with the large Room 3 Nola Grand Reference,<br />
we were able to shape the soundstage/soundfield any way we chose. Even<br />
negatively: once we used the center column and turned it sideways, only to<br />
find the center fill of the system had just disappeared. Used with the narrow<br />
side facing the listener, the column focused the center fill. We used and are<br />
using the outrigger pillars to extend the width of the soundstage. By canting<br />
them slightly, we can even achieve an almost Cineramic shape to the stage.<br />
At one point, we heard from Dick Sequerra (of the legendary Marantz 10B<br />
and Sequerra tuner), whom the manufacturers had commissioned to come<br />
up with an explanation that would convince the skeptics. Our very own<br />
132 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
HP’s Workshop<br />
John Cooledge, upon hearing their effect, supposed they might simply<br />
“reflect” the sonic waves in ways that we could, by careful tuning,<br />
use to our advantage. Nice try, John, methought, but I don’t believe<br />
it (remember the vanishing center channel). The columns just aren’t<br />
that big, just over three feet in height, only about six inches across and<br />
not quite two inches deep. And they are heavy; something’s in there.<br />
You might think of them, as we came to, as room-“tuning” devices<br />
that allow you to shape a soundstage and its accompanying field to<br />
whatever type of space you have in mind, from the warm and intimate<br />
to the concert hall of your dreams. And so the question for me is,<br />
finally: Who cares how they work They are like the stuff of dreams,<br />
but they work in undeniable and concrete ways.<br />
Cable Apparati<br />
Nordost<br />
Valhalla speaker cables ($9130/3m)<br />
Valhalla component interconnects 1.5m ($4550 unbalanced; $4580<br />
balanced)<br />
Valhalla AC cords ($2750/2m)<br />
Thor AC line distribution system ($3,200)<br />
nordost.com<br />
As close to a universal reference as there is in contemporary interconnects.<br />
But you’ll pay dearly for their truth. Think: A country home down South<br />
could be had for less than a full Nordost system. Beware: It is ruthlessly<br />
revealing of inferior components, and it takes hours (50 or more) to break in.<br />
Ah, the joys of the high end.<br />
Kubala-Sosna Emotion Series<br />
Interconnects ($3100/1.5m)<br />
Speaker cables ($4300/3m)<br />
AC cords ($1200/2m)<br />
kubala-sosna.com<br />
[Review to come.] Here is serious competition for the hallowed Nordost<br />
cabling and connectors. And it doesn’t imitate the Nordost sound, but<br />
rather fills in some of Nordost’s crystalline overtones with warmth,<br />
while maintaining their clarity. The bottom octaves sound nothing like<br />
the Nordost’s.<br />
Isolation Devices<br />
The Stillpoint component stands<br />
Three-legged, $799; four legged, $1024; extra leg $224<br />
Risers, threaded, $99 (set of three) $32 (another)<br />
stillpoint.us<br />
[Review to come.] Every once in awhile, a product comes along from which<br />
you expect little, and, bang, to your surprise, the thing radically improves that<br />
which you didn’t think needed radical improvement. In this case, here in Sea<br />
Cliff, Stillpoints underneath the amplifiers proved a revelation in opening the<br />
upper frequencies and letting them breathe the breath of musical life.<br />
The Halcyonic isolation platforms<br />
$7990 (Micro 40); $9600 (Micro 60)<br />
halcyonics.com<br />
[Review to come.] These devices were originally designed to provide foolproof<br />
isolation underneath electron microscopes. And they work especially nicely<br />
under turntables and CD players.<br />
The Arcici Suspense equipment racks<br />
$1195 (each; two tested)<br />
tjbailey.com/arcici/index.htm<br />
Our Sea Cliff reference in suspended equipment racks. These do not<br />
supplant the need for additional isolation devices (wooden or metal<br />
power points, e.g.) because you can never have too much isolation.<br />
For the heavier duty components, of course, you’ll want to use the<br />
superb Stillpoints.<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 135
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Cleaning/Maintenance<br />
Devices<br />
L’Art du Son CD cleaner<br />
$55 (the bottle)<br />
themusic.com<br />
There are, to be sure, several other competing CD cleaners available<br />
and all are less expensive than this platinum-priced fluid. But in<br />
comparison with others, this European import can make the ordinary<br />
compact disc sound much more musical, with better highs and less<br />
“digititis.” That is, its designers theorize, because the chemicals help<br />
focus the laser beam more precisely, without the scattering smear<br />
when the beam hits an ordinary disc. The gain in that right kind of<br />
sweetness is its most impressive attribute. Now, if it’s spectacularity<br />
you’re after, the Optrix CD cleaner will do the job, and it’s about<br />
five times less expensive. You ask: Why do I need this sort of thing<br />
Because a thorough cleaning (three sprays three times on the music<br />
side of the disc, once more on the label side to discharge static<br />
electricity, wipe dry with a soft cloth is the ritual and maddening for<br />
me) improves the sound. Not sure how long an application lasts; with<br />
the Optrix, perhaps a dozen or so plays. But you can wash the stuff<br />
off if you’re in the mood to do some A/B testing of your own with<br />
the various fluids, as we have. Still, this L’Art du Son is the one to have<br />
if you must have (and can afford) the best.<br />
Caig Pro Gold electrical contact cleaner<br />
$26.95<br />
caig.com<br />
As far as I’m concerned, this spray-on contact cleaner is absolutely<br />
essential if you are to keep your system in top shape. Contacts<br />
corrode (especially if you live near water), and all sorts of unpleasant<br />
gunk builds up, interfering with the transmission of an electrical<br />
signal (i.e., the sound). Periodic cleaning will have as much effect on<br />
the sound of your system as the substitution of a new stage would.<br />
Not only is Caig essential, but, over the years, it has proved the best<br />
and most effective product of its kind.<br />
HP would like to encourage you to write to him at<br />
HPsaudiomall@aol.com.<br />
MANUFACTURER COMMENTS: Simaudio MOON Evolution Series<br />
There are two subjects in Paul Seydor’s review that we’d<br />
like to elaborate on. Regarding the remote control’s lack of<br />
buttons to access specific CD tracks: One of the objectives of<br />
the FRM-2 remote control is simplicity, to the point where<br />
someone can operate it in a darkened room. Fewer buttons<br />
results in easier operation. Besides, most people typically need<br />
only the “previous” and “next” track buttons. Concerning the<br />
P-8 preamplifier, the occasional transient Mr. Seydor heard<br />
upon switching inputs was the result of the unit being a very<br />
early production unit. There is a software update available for<br />
this issue. It should be noted that all MOON Evolution series<br />
models are equipped with an RS-232 port for software updates.<br />
This port also provides full unsolicited bidirectional feedback<br />
for integration into a custom install type environment. Other<br />
commonalites to Evolution series models include 12 Volt triggers<br />
and IR inputs. Finally, they all have an identical footprint with the<br />
same width (18.75”) and depth (16.5”).<br />
Lionel Goodfield<br />
VP Marketing, Simaudio Ltd.<br />
A pre-press error in Issue 164 of The Absolute Sound caused most of my comment<br />
to Sue Kraft’s review of the Meridian 808 CD player to be omitted. Here is the<br />
entirety of my comment. —Robert Harley<br />
I’ve had a Meridian 808 in my reference system for about three months and frankly,<br />
can’t imagine my system without it. For starters the 808 has a wonderfully detailed and<br />
highly resolved presentation. I was simply floored by the 808’s ability to present fine<br />
nuances of instrumental timbre, micro-dynamic shadings, and low-level spatial cues.<br />
No detail, no matter how small, escaped the 808’s scrutiny. Instrumental timbre was<br />
presented with such a wealth of inner detail that the instrument sounded more lifelike<br />
and less like a synthetic recreation. In fact, the 808 makes many other digital frontends<br />
sound coarse by comparison.<br />
This extremely high resolution is also responsible, I believe, for the 808’s spectacular<br />
sense of soundstage size, depth, air between images, and its vivid portrayal of the<br />
surrounding acoustic. The impression of clearly delineated instruments bathed in, but<br />
distinct from, hall reverberation was the best I’ve heard from digital. Moreover, depth<br />
was presented along a continuum from the soundstage front to the deepest recesses<br />
of the soundstage rear rather than along a few discrete steps. Quiet instruments at the<br />
back of the stage were audible even in the presence of louder instruments. The 808’s<br />
spatial presentation must be heard to be believed—and this from Red Book CD.<br />
One might infer from this description that the 808 is analytical and cold, sacrificing<br />
musicality for resolution. But in what is surely the 808’s greatest triumph, the player<br />
delivers this vast amount of information to the listener in a totally natural, musical,<br />
graceful, and involving way. In fact, the 808 had a somewhat laid-back perspective,<br />
along with a tremendous sense of ease. There was absolutely no hint of the etch,<br />
forwardness, or hype that one often hears from digital that tries to be “high resolution.”<br />
Real musical information is presented in the gentle way that one hears in live music,<br />
not as hi-fi fireworks. The 808’s combination of ease and resolution is unprecedented<br />
in my experience. The result was an impression of physical relaxation on one hand<br />
and heightened intellectual and emotional stimulation (by the music) on the other.<br />
I must also comment on the 808’s extremely smooth, refined, and liquid midrange<br />
and treble. Timbres were free from grain and glare, and the top end lacked the metallic<br />
quality often heard from CD. Reproduction of upper-register piano notes is often<br />
marred by a glassy sheen on leading-edge transients; the 808 exhibited less of this<br />
phenomenon, allowing higher playback levels and a more involving experience.<br />
Listening to the 808 and thinking about how it differs from other highly regarded<br />
digital front ends I’ve heard reminded me of the difference between hearing a<br />
microphone feed and then the playback of that feed from 1/2" analog tape. I had this<br />
experience often when I was a working recording engineer. The excitement of getting<br />
good sound from the microphones was inevitably tempered by the degradation<br />
imposed by the storage medium, even high-quality analog. The microphone feed had a<br />
certain life, presence, and realism—the result of its high resolution without exaggerated<br />
detail—that was lost after storage on tape. The recording process scrubbed off a bit<br />
of the low-level information and in the process, some of the music’s magic. That’s<br />
how I feel about the 808 in relation to many other digital sources—many of which<br />
cost more than the 808. It says much about the Meridian’s combination of ease and<br />
resolution to invite the prodigious comparison with a microphone feed.<br />
Many British products, including those from Meridian, could be described as polite<br />
and reserved, favoring refinement over big dynamics, deep bass extension, and the<br />
ability to rock. The 808 breaks free from this stereotype with an extremely big, robust,<br />
and viscerally thrilling sound on rock and large-scale orchestral music. The midbass<br />
leans toward articulation rather than warmth, but the extreme bottom-end is solid<br />
and punchy. The 808 also exhibited a remarkable sense of ease during loud, dense<br />
passages; the music remained coherent rather than degenerating into a collection of<br />
sounds.<br />
Finally, the 808 is an outstanding DVD-Audio player. Yes, the 808 plays most<br />
DVD-A discs, although you’d never know that from Meridian’s literature or even<br />
from reading the front-panel logos. I tried more than a dozen DVD-A titles and<br />
every one played. In fact, it was a joy to play DVD-A titles without navigating a menu<br />
system on a video display. It was with DVD-A discs that truly revealed the extent of<br />
the 808’s resolving power and musicality. As great as the 808 is on CD, DVD-A discs<br />
take the machine’s sonic performance to the next level.<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 137
Music<br />
Classical<br />
Extraordinary<br />
Recording<br />
of the Issue<br />
Pierre Boulez: Le Domaine musical 1956-1967,<br />
Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.<br />
Accord 476 9209 (four CDs) and 476 8862 (four CDs).<br />
Excellent<br />
Good<br />
Fair<br />
Poor<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
In the early 1950s, Paris’ modern music scene was moribund. The French musical<br />
establishment, from academics to the powerful broadcast organizations,<br />
was hostile to the avant-garde, even to the well-established masters of the<br />
Second Viennese School, Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern. Enter Pierre Boulez,<br />
still in his late 20s, a young man with strong opinions and boundless energy.<br />
A student of René Leibowitz and Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory,<br />
Boulez had already attracted attention as a composer. He was serving as the<br />
music director of a progressive Parisian theater company that offered him the<br />
space to begin a series of concerts presenting challenging, important music. Le<br />
Domaine musical was born and led by Boulez until 1967, annually presenting<br />
four to six programs of meticulously prepared contemporary music, both new<br />
compositions and twentieth-century classics. Now, more than five decades after<br />
the first event in January 1954, the French company Accord has painstakingly<br />
gathered a satisfying body of Domaine recordings, many of which originally<br />
appeared on the Vega and Ades labels and have been long unavailable.<br />
As a conductor, Boulez didn’t so much interpret music as render it, translating<br />
the complexities of the printed page into a coherent aural experience. His ear<br />
and uncompromising standards for exact technical execution are legendary.<br />
(In the 1970s, members of the New York Philharmonic referred to him, not<br />
affectionately, as “The French Correction.”) The very first selection of the first<br />
CD in the first volume of this two-box collection demonstrates well Boulez’s<br />
extraordinary gifts. The work is Kontra-Punkte by that most “difficult” of<br />
“difficult” composers, Karlheinz Stockhausen. In Boulez’s hands, the piece has<br />
the crystalline purity and logic of a Haydn symphony: every gesture is carefully<br />
considered in terms of the whole. The performance is absorbing, engaging<br />
the mind but also—almost insidiously— establishing an emotional hold on the<br />
listener.<br />
And so it goes for nearly nine hours. The project is superbly organized to<br />
illuminate Boulez’s artistic vision. Volume 1 begins with the Domaine musical’s<br />
Tenth Anniversary Concert, following the Stockhausen work with pieces by<br />
Luciano Berio, Messiaen, and Boulez. Disc 2 is titled “The French References”<br />
and includes forward-looking material by Debussy, Varèse, and more Messiaen.<br />
Disc 3 is devoted completely to Boulez’s own compositions, including the<br />
Second Piano Sonata, an early masterpiece. Disc 4 offers music by some of<br />
Boulez’s like-minded contemporaries (“The Fellow Travelers”)—Maurizio<br />
Kagel, Luigi Nono, Hans Werner Henze, Henri Pousseur, and Stockhausen<br />
again.<br />
Volume 2 is devoted completely to Stravinsky and the three leaders of the<br />
Second Viennese School. Boulez was known for being selective when it came<br />
to which pieces of a given composer he’d champion. He obviously played lots<br />
of Messiaen but wouldn’t touch the hothouse atmospherics of Turangalîla.<br />
Likewise, the Stravinsky played here isn’t the comfortable neoclassicism of<br />
Pulcinella but material that gets a lot less attention, works like Renard and<br />
Agon, as well as a stunningly beautiful reading of Symphonies of wind<br />
instruments. The last three CDs are all Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern—every<br />
selection a performance that you won’t find significantly bettered anywhere.<br />
Remarkably, the level of playing is as high for chamber groups as when Boulez<br />
(always without a baton!) was on the podium. He had communicated his<br />
crusading spirit to the carefully chosen Domaine musicians.<br />
The audio quality ranges from adequate to excellent, mostly quite good.<br />
Solo piano and small ensembles fare best, with an immediacy and clarity that<br />
these performances deserve. Most of the material is stereo; all of it, of course,<br />
is of analog origin. Liner notes are informative, and Volume 1 has a bonus disc<br />
holding both a 49-minute interview with Boulez conducted in 2005 (in French,<br />
but a complete English translation is included in a separate booklet) and the<br />
first recording, from 1956, of Boulez’s Le Marteau sans maître.<br />
Pierre Boulez, of course, would go on to develop an international<br />
conducting career; the catalog now holds his versions of Wagner operas and<br />
Mahler symphonies alongside this tougher repertoire. But Boulez’s advocacy<br />
for the most uncompromising stripe of twentieth-century music is his greatest<br />
legacy. These sets, then, are essential to any collection that purports to be a<br />
broadminded survey of the classical canon.<br />
Andrew Quint<br />
Further Listening: Ravel: The Orchestral Works (Boulez); Zappa: The Perfect Stranger (Boulez)<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 141
Music<br />
Classical<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
Haydn: Orlando<br />
Paladino.<br />
Soloists, Concentus Musicus Wien,<br />
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor.<br />
Friedemann Engelbrecht, producer;<br />
Michael Brammann, engineer.<br />
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 73370.<br />
Haydn labeled Orlando Paladino a “heroic-comic”<br />
opera, but there’s little heroic about the flawed<br />
characters drawn from Ariosto’s classic epic, Orlando<br />
Furioso, similarly mined by many composers before<br />
and after Haydn. As for an outline of the complex<br />
plot It’s about a pair of lovers fleeing the wrath of<br />
a spurned suitor with attendant complications that<br />
include a blustering intruder, a boastful servant,<br />
and a sorceress whose spells and potions bring<br />
all concerned to their senses. With its abundance<br />
of archetypical situations and characters, Orlando<br />
Paladino is a marvelous vehicle for Haydn’s parody<br />
of human folly, complete with the sarcastic moral<br />
of its closing lines—“If you want to be happy,<br />
then love the ones who love you.”<br />
Full of excellences, this recording is as close<br />
to definitive as it gets. Harnoncourt leads a crisp<br />
performance, full of sharp accents that help<br />
highlight the drama and emotions, along with<br />
neat humorous touches like the cymbal crash and<br />
drum thwacks announcing various arrivals of the<br />
sorceress Alcina. The vocals are nothing short of<br />
ideal. Soprano Patricia Petibon is a sterling Angelica,<br />
bringing out the character’s self-deceptions, singing<br />
her poignant moments with beauty, and tackling<br />
the coloratura with fearless virtuosity. Her wimpy<br />
lover, Medoro, is done to a turn by the mellifluous<br />
tenor of Werner Güra, and another major lieder<br />
singer, baritone Christian Gerhaher, is wonderful<br />
as the crazed warrior Rodomonte. Even crazier<br />
is the eponymous Orlando, whose angermanagement<br />
challenges spark the plot. He’s sung<br />
142 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
by Michael Schade, someone I usually avoid but<br />
whose well-rounded tenor and characterization are<br />
virtually flawless here. Supporting roles are done<br />
superbly; Elizabeth von Magnus is a fine Alcina<br />
and tenor Markus Schäfer is terrific in Pasquale’s<br />
show-stopping comic aria.<br />
The engineering contributes to the sense<br />
of occasion, capturing this 2005 concert<br />
performance with a bright liveliness. Balances are<br />
fine; the orchestra full of detailed presence, the big<br />
ensembles captured with accuracy, and dynamics<br />
well-scaled in a solid soundstage. Dan Davis<br />
Further Listening: Haydn: Paris<br />
Symphonies (Harnoncourt); Haydn:<br />
The Creation<br />
Walton: Symphony<br />
No. 1.<br />
London Symphony Orchestra, Sir<br />
Colin Davis, conductor.<br />
James Mallinson, producer; Neil<br />
Hutchinson, engineer. LSO Live 0576.<br />
I’ve been waiting 25 years for this disc to appear,<br />
and am relieved that a compelling interpretation<br />
of a great 20th-century symphony has finally been<br />
enshrined. Here’s the story.<br />
In the summer of 1981, I heard then recently<br />
knighted Sir Colin Davis perform this score with<br />
the Cleveland Orchestra at its summer home, the<br />
Blossom Festival. To put it politely, they blew the<br />
roof off. I was able to sit in on a rehearsal as well as<br />
the performance; I remember the glorious playing<br />
of the brass, and how Sir Colin worked with the<br />
second violins and violas to make sure they nailed<br />
their treacherously exposed entrance in the fourth<br />
movement’s fugue, with the violas entirely in the<br />
treble clef. From start to finish, Davis’ account of the<br />
symphony, serious and purposeful, showed what a<br />
rich, tightly written work it is. After the performance,<br />
as I went backstage to greet the maestro, I heard a<br />
member of the violin section, as he packed his<br />
instrument into its case, exclaim “That’s the guy I<br />
want!,” saying it loudly enough to be heard in the<br />
conductor’s dressing room. The orchestra was<br />
then looking for a music director to succeed Lorin<br />
Maazel, who after ten years was headed to Vienna.<br />
So I asked Davis what he would do if offered the<br />
job. Lowering his voice to a near-whisper, he said,<br />
“I just can’t.” He wanted his kids to grow up in<br />
Europe.<br />
And that was that. Often over the years I’ve wished<br />
I could retrieve that evening, wondering if Davis<br />
would ever get the opportunity, or feel the urge, to<br />
record the work. Apparently, he did, and he did. While<br />
it’s a fine band, the London Symphony of 2005 is not<br />
the Cleveland Orchestra of 1981, and the frisson<br />
of excitement that ran through the Clevelanders<br />
that night is missing from this new account. But the<br />
London players know the work and the style, and<br />
deliver handsomely—conveying the score’s turbulent<br />
heavings and pained dissonances with panache,<br />
getting the haunting mix of desolation, melancholy,<br />
and anxiety just right. It’s not easy to make the<br />
exuberance of the finale come off in performance,<br />
but they do that, too. One of the reliable characteristics<br />
of Sir Colin’s work is his feeling for tempo, and here<br />
he unerringly lands the right ones, giving shape and<br />
purpose to the work’s climactic pages.<br />
The recording, made at the Barbican, is typically<br />
tight and dry. While there is no bloom from the<br />
hall—nothing to support the bass or provide<br />
aural cues for a natural sense of the soundstage—<br />
there is plenty of detail to be savored. We get a<br />
podium view of the proceedings, complete with<br />
exertions and exhortations from the maestro, who<br />
evidently worked himself into a lather during the<br />
performances. He sounds like the same guy who<br />
took our breath away a quarter century ago in<br />
Cleveland. Ted Libbey<br />
Further Listening: Walton: Partita<br />
(Szell/Cleveland); Elgar: Symphonies<br />
(Davis/LSO)<br />
World Keys.<br />
Joel Fan, piano. J.<br />
Tamblyn Henderson, Jr., producer;<br />
Keith O. Johnson, engineer. Reference<br />
Recordings 106.<br />
At first glance, this CD’s program seems<br />
impossibly eclectic: ten works by ten composers<br />
of ten different nationalities. The music ranges<br />
from straight-down-the-middle European<br />
repertoire (Schumann’s Sonata No. 2, Prokofiev’s<br />
Third Sonata, and the Liszt Rigoletto Paraphrase) to<br />
high-profile contemporary composers (Australian<br />
Peter Sculthorpe, American William Bolcolm, and
Music<br />
Classical<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
Latvian Peteris Vasks) to piano pieces from the<br />
Middle and Far East that will surely be unfamiliar to<br />
most. Joel Fan, a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road<br />
Ensemble, plays it all authoritatively with sensitivity<br />
to the unique flavor of each work. He leaves the<br />
listener hankering for more of everything.<br />
It’s those unfamiliar composers that make<br />
this recital especially intriguing. The musically<br />
xenophobic need not panic: These selections<br />
are “Western” in structure and use their ethnospecific<br />
material in a way that’s fully integrated with<br />
the composer’s style—as Bartók and Kodály did<br />
with Hungarian folk materials. A highlight is the<br />
Chinese composer Qigang Chen’s Instants d’un opéra<br />
de Pékin. Chen was Olivier Messiaen’s last student,<br />
and the older composer’s influence is easily heard.<br />
But Chen also evokes the sounds of traditional<br />
Chinese instruments—the sheng, pipa, drums,<br />
and cymbals—as he imaginatively develops two<br />
pentatonic motives. Likewise, La Nuit du Destin by<br />
Syrian Dia Succari utilizes a rich neoimpressionist<br />
harmonic palette and seamlessly integrates sections<br />
of improvisation in the Persian style known as<br />
taksim, where the keyboard suggests the sound<br />
of the ud and santour. Shorter pieces by A. Adnan<br />
Saygun (Turkey) and Halim El-Dabh (Egypt) are<br />
also satisfying discoveries.<br />
The piano sound is superb, very similar to that<br />
rendered by Keith Johnson 19 years ago on an early<br />
digital audiophile classic, Nojima Plays Liszt. There’s<br />
excellent percussive attack without claustrophobia<br />
and a wonderful sense of the body of the<br />
instrument; the warm acoustic of the Bayside<br />
Performing Arts Center in San Mateo supports<br />
the natural resonance of Fan’s Steinway. All of<br />
the pianist’s carefully judged dynamic shadings get<br />
through. If it matters to anyone at this point, the<br />
disc is HDCD encoded. AQ<br />
Further Listening: Nojima Plays Liszt;<br />
Kaleidoscope (Marc-André Hamelin)<br />
SACD<br />
Stravinsky: Les Noces;<br />
Mass; Cantata.<br />
Soloists, RIAS Kammerchor,<br />
musikFabrik, Daniel Reuss,<br />
conductor. Florian B. Schmidt,<br />
producer; Thomas Monnerjahn,<br />
engineer. Hybrid multichannel.<br />
Harmonia Mundi 801913.<br />
Stravinsky’s 1921 Les Noces celebrates the composer’s Russian roots, depicting a peasant wedding<br />
celebration with a visceral drive that makes his Le Sacre du Printemps seem rhythmically timid. Text<br />
and music rush by, but remaining in a listener’s nerve-endings is the foot stomping beat and catchy<br />
fragments of Russian popular melodies. If you’re curious about where Orff’s Carmina Burana comes<br />
from, look no further. Here, this revolutionary work gets a riveting, boldly colored, and dynamic<br />
performance from one of Europe’s best choirs under a conductor who captures its elusive idiom.<br />
The other works are shamefully neglected masterpieces. The Mass’ asceticism doesn’t go out of<br />
its way to please. Written in 1948, it hearkens back to earlier musical traditions including Gregorian<br />
chant. Stravinsky’s sincere religiosity and effective scoring for small wind band shine through. Reuss’<br />
chorus and instrumentalists infuse the work with enough warmth to take some of its chill away, while<br />
adhering to Stravinsky’s intentions.<br />
Although also austere, the relative rarity of the 1952 Cantata is less explicable. After composing The<br />
Rake’s Progress, Stravinsky’s imagination was sparked by anonymous 15th and 16th century English<br />
texts whose imagery and archaic language inspired him. The result is a piece whose severity is reflected<br />
in its Webern-like disciplined concentration and the spare chamber atmosphere of five instruments and<br />
small chorus. That shouldn’t compromise its appeal, for it has memorable if sometimes-quirky melodies.<br />
Sections of the text are so striking in Stravinsky’s musical setting that they leap out at the listener. For<br />
me, no performance can ever approach the composer’s own mono recording with Jennie Tourel and<br />
Hugues Cuenod as soloists, but this is an accomplished reading very much worth knowing.<br />
Les Noces and the Mass are captured with blazing immediacy on both the CD and the stereo SACD<br />
layers, sporting crisply vivid percussion transients in the former work and timbral accuracy and wellscaled<br />
dynamics in both. But in the Cantata, balances favor the winds, often obscuring the chorus and<br />
solo singers and compromising the intelligibility of the text. The multichannel presentation for Les<br />
Noces isn’t objectionable, but it bears no relationship to the session photo in the booklet which shows<br />
soloists in front, pianos and percussion in the middle, and chorus behind. The surround version has<br />
some percussion and piano in the rear speakers. The mix for the Mass immerses the listener in the rich<br />
wind accompaniment. DD<br />
Further Listening: Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress; Stravinsky: Symphony of<br />
Psalms<br />
TAS Bookshelf<br />
The NPR Listener’s Encyclopedia<br />
of Classical Music.<br />
Ted Libbey, author. Workman. 2005.<br />
979 pages.<br />
If you think sackbut is something that happens when you lose your<br />
job, or that Agnus Dei is a clothing designer, TAS contributor Ted<br />
Libbey’s outstanding new Encyclopedia of Classical Music will help set<br />
you straight. Although Libbey (who also penned The NPR Guide to<br />
Building a Classical CD Collection, does musical commentary for NPR,<br />
and who is Director of Media Arts at the NEA) spent a decade on this<br />
nearly thousand-page book, his writing style is anything but labored.<br />
Handsomely illustrated with drawings, photographs, and album covers,<br />
Libbey’s encyclopedia is chock-full of information on more than 1500 composers, performers, instruments, musical terms,<br />
and recommended recordings, covering the early classical period to the present. The book features a unique, fun, and<br />
incredibly useful twist—an interactive online “bonus” (created by Naxos specifically for the book) that allows you to<br />
sample 527 musical selections, from complete works (like Pictures at an Exhibition) to symphonic movements to a short<br />
illustration of a fugue or saxophone solo. Say you’re reading about the recently deceased Hungarian composer György<br />
Ligeti but don’t know his work. Log on to www.naxos.com/workman/, register using a code in the book, and you can<br />
sample bits of Ligeti or whatever else grabs your curiosity via a clean and easy to navigate page. It’s hard to imagine a book on the classical arts being<br />
more fun as well as informative. By the way, a sackbut is a “Renaissance brass instrument, forerunner of the modern trombone,” and Agnus Dei is Latin<br />
for “Lamb of God,” the “Final section of the Ordinary of the Mass.” Wayne Garcia<br />
144 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
Mercury Living Presence: Russian Recordings.<br />
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3; Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto<br />
No. 1; Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2; Byron Janis: Encore;<br />
Shostakovich: String Quartets Nos. 4 and 8; Balalaika Favorites. Byron Janis,<br />
pianist; Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyril Kondrashin, conductor; Moscow<br />
Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, conductor; Borodin<br />
String Quartet; Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra. Wilma Cozart and Harold<br />
Lawrence, producers; Robert Fine and Robert Ebernez, engineers. Mercury/<br />
Speakers Corner AMER 2 (180-gram five-LP boxset).<br />
In June of 1962—less than a year after the Berlin Crisis and a mere fourth months before the Cuban<br />
Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink yet again—the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet<br />
Union thawed just enough to permit Fine Recording Inc. and the Mercury Record Corporation to send<br />
a team of executives, producers, and engineers to Moscow, where they recorded American pianist Byron<br />
Janis, accompanied by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra,<br />
in four showpiece concertos—the Prokofiev Third, the Rachmaninoff First, and the Liszt First and Second.<br />
In addition, the Fine/Mercury team recorded Janis playing various works for piano solo, the Osipov State<br />
Russian Folk Orchestra performing delightful music for balalaika orchestra, and the Borodin Quartet playing<br />
the Shostakovich Fourth and Eighth string quartets (the latter often considered the composer’s best).<br />
Vladimir Horowitz’s brilliant protégé Byron Janis had previously toured the Soviet Union to enormous<br />
acclaim in 1960. (He was, in fact, the first American artist invited to the Soviet Union in what became an<br />
ongoing “cultural exchange” program between the two nations.) He had been invited back in 1962 to<br />
give a solo concert timed to coincide with the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. The Mercury<br />
team, which had been negotiating with Soviet authorities for several years to become the first American<br />
record company to tape in Moscow, used the occasion to seal the deal.<br />
Fine Recording’s mobile recording truck—a maroon van equipped with Westrex RA 1324 mixers and<br />
Ampex 300 tape recorders fitted out to accommodate 35mm magnetic tape—was transported by ship<br />
and rail to Moscow, then driven to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and parked outside. All recordings<br />
were made in the Bolshoi Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, with the mike feeds being transmitted<br />
by cable to the 35mm tape machines in the van.<br />
As usual, recording engineer Robert Fine used only three microphones—Schoeps/Telefunken 201s.<br />
However, he was not permitted to hang them from the ceiling of the hall or from a line running from the<br />
stage to the balcony rail, as he customarily did. (Hanging mikes from the ceiling or on a wire stretched<br />
high above the orchestra, where they could be adjusted up and down and forward and back via ropes<br />
and pulleys, allowed Fine tremendous latitude in selecting just the right positions.) In the Bolshoi Hall<br />
the mikes were set on booms, which may account for the slightly hotter, boomier balances of some of<br />
the Russian discs.<br />
I’m not sure I need to say much about the music and performance on these famous LPs, now gathered<br />
into a five-disc box set by Speakers Corner. Janis’ Prokofiev Third would make virtually everyone’s<br />
top two or three list of great Prokofiev Thirds, and his performances in the Rachmaninoff and Liszt<br />
concertos wouldn’t be far behind. At this point in his career, the thirty-three-year-old was one of the<br />
best pianists in the world, combining Horowitz-like chops with tremendous<br />
native musicality, unflagging energy, and a seemingly limitless repertory.<br />
The colorful and plangent Balalaika Favorites has long been a resident on<br />
HP’s SuperDisc List—often in the Baker’s Dozen. And while the Borodin<br />
Quartet’s fiery Shostakovich Eighth (in fiery Mercury sound) may have<br />
since been more thoughtfully performed, these are still intensely powerful<br />
renditions of truly great chamber works.<br />
The sound that Speakers Corner has wrought here, from forty-fouryear-old<br />
mastertapes, is quite wonderful for the most part—and, allowing<br />
for very slight differences in balance, quite authentically “Mercury.” Janis’<br />
piano is simply brilliant in the concerto recordings, with natural sparkle in<br />
the top octaves and realistic body and weight in the midrange and bass.<br />
The Russian orchestras’ strings are a little brightly tipped but still gorgeous.<br />
Winds and brass are especially lifelike. And the bass…well, it varies from<br />
very good to not-so, just as it did on the original Mercs. Every once and again<br />
(say in the first movement of the Prokofiev), it sounds as if the outside mike<br />
facing the right side of the stage (the cellos and doublebasses) overloaded<br />
on fortissimos; in any event, you hear an occasional bit of midbass tubbiness<br />
and, as noted, a bit of fire on the first violin in the Shostakovich recording.<br />
So what<br />
In my opinion the world would be a poorer place without these historic<br />
LPs. Speakers Corner is to be commended for reissuing them and making<br />
Mercury’s already exalted place in the recording pantheon just that much<br />
more secure. Highly recommended!<br />
Jonathan Valin<br />
Music<br />
Classical<br />
HOT<br />
WAX<br />
From Russia<br />
with Love<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 147
Music<br />
Rock etc.<br />
Califone: Roots<br />
& Crowns.<br />
Brian Deck, producer. Thrill Jockey<br />
163.<br />
No strangers to the concept of change, Califone<br />
specialize in transforming roots-based musical<br />
forms into supernatural experiences. Most<br />
recently, on 2004’s brilliant King Heron Blues, leader<br />
Tim Rutili laid bare his life-long fear of birds,<br />
meeting it head-on within the spooky record’s<br />
canvas, drawing inspiration from nightmares, and<br />
parlaying the terror into haunting soundscapes.<br />
The daring work netted Califone its widest<br />
audience yet, attracting national exposure and<br />
confirming its status as a can’t-miss live act.<br />
After extensive touring, members retired<br />
to their own projects, taking their first break<br />
since the Chicago group emerged from the<br />
ashes of underappreciated Red Red Meat in<br />
the late 90s. Rutili relocated to Los Angeles<br />
and scored films. Multi-instrumentalist Jim<br />
Becker gigged with Australian dynamos Dirty<br />
Three and also dabbled in soundtrack work, a<br />
field that’s a growing part of Califone’s identity.<br />
(Instrumental accompaniments to silent movies,<br />
the band’s self-released Deceleration volumes are<br />
experimental thrills; future installments will<br />
focus on Lon Chaney’s He Who Gets Slapped and<br />
Charlie Chaplin’s A Night Out.) Yet film scoring<br />
isn’t the only significant influence on Roots &<br />
Crowns. The not-so-small matter of the theft<br />
of the group’s irreplaceable collection of oddsand-ends<br />
instruments, many homemade and<br />
specially altered, forced Califone to rethink and<br />
readjust its approach.<br />
The foursome’s fourth studio record<br />
reflects these shifts and experiences, the music<br />
and lyrics reacting to a cycle of darkness<br />
by breaking free and seeing light while<br />
simultaneously refusing to forget where it all<br />
came from. These dual themes of acceptance<br />
and moving on even play out in the album’s<br />
title, inspired by Robertson Davies’ novel The<br />
Rebel Angels, where roots signify the past and<br />
crowns symbolize the present and future.<br />
Accordingly, the band’s latest works suggest a<br />
less-congested atmospheric wherein modern<br />
ambience works jointly with rattling, rustic<br />
textures. Glistening with mellow tint, harmonic<br />
dirt, and spiritual purpose, Roots & Crowns has<br />
the senses-clearing feel of a burning pile of<br />
leaves, the enchanting scope of the Aurora<br />
Borealis sparkling against a night sky. Drawing<br />
on a cavalcade of tools—organ, vibraphone,<br />
xylophone, Cajun accordion, mandolin, bronze<br />
fork, shakers, chimes, banjo, bowed balalaika,<br />
bells, and melodica among a pawn-shop lot—<br />
Califone keeps songs relatively quiet, delicate,<br />
and acoustic, fleshing out inner dimensions<br />
in which loops, samples, and prerecorded<br />
percussion form rhythmically springing beds<br />
against which Rutili’s abstract prose ripples.<br />
Califone remains unique in its filtering of<br />
bluesy languages through art-rock prisms,<br />
stone-rubbed folk foundations, and swampy<br />
tonal pools. The band’s trademark creaks,<br />
crumples, wheezes, whistles, skronks, and<br />
door-raps are all here. But so are rum-soaked<br />
horns on “Spiders House,” a track built off<br />
a “prepared” piano with duct tape and paper<br />
clips clinging to its strings; heartbreaking violin<br />
passages on the in-the-sticks “Burned by the<br />
Christians”; and African motifs on the legkicking<br />
“A Chinese Actor,” which feeds off<br />
a vibrant metal resonator. “Shake the glass<br />
out of your hair,” encourages Rutili on the<br />
freshly awoken “3Legged Animals,” melodies<br />
emerging from a frozen state. And as if ready<br />
to dance, and in line with the majority of Roots<br />
& Crowns, the tune emanates with sounds akin<br />
to that of a rickety skeleton’s bones responding<br />
to a second chance at life.<br />
Via manipulated collages, cut-and-pasted<br />
recordings, and scenic interplay, producer<br />
Brian Deck sculpts a surprisingly deep and<br />
consistent soundstage that, while by no<br />
means natural, is loaded with depth, tone, and<br />
magnetism. There’s less haze than on prior<br />
Califone releases, yet it retains a backwoods<br />
vibe that corresponds to songs that have one<br />
foot in the 19th century and the other in a<br />
netherworld. Bob Gendron<br />
Further Listening: Red Red Meat:<br />
Jimmywine Majestic; Califone:<br />
Roomsound<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
Extraordinary Excellent Good Fair Poor<br />
148 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
Music<br />
Rock etc.<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
Ali Farka Touré:<br />
Savane.<br />
Nick Gold, producer. World Circuit/<br />
Nonesuch 79965.<br />
Ali Farka Touré probably knew the end of his<br />
life was near as he recorded Savane. He had been<br />
battling bone cancer for some time before he<br />
went into the studio for what turned out to be<br />
his swan song. Moreover, despite his Muslim<br />
faith, Touré’s culture recognized the presence<br />
of spirits who communicate with the “children<br />
of the river”—an appellation appropriate to<br />
the world-famous guitarist, who grew up (and<br />
returned to serve as mayor) in Niafunke, a Niger<br />
River town in Mali’s Timbuktu region.<br />
But if the two-time Grammy winner was<br />
aware that his death (on March 7) was imminent,<br />
it didn’t dampen his palpable enthusiasm for<br />
the music-making he chose as a career. One of<br />
three CDs in the Hotel Mandé series, Savane is<br />
one of Touré’s rootsiest and complex recordings.<br />
Backup singers, percussionists (including calabash<br />
and conga players), and virtuosos of the ngoni<br />
(four-string lute) provide basic accompaniment.<br />
And with Touré using the idiosyncratic plucking<br />
style on both acoustic and electric guitars that<br />
he developed to emulate his region’s indigenous<br />
single-string djerkel (which brought frequent<br />
comparisons to John Lee Hooker’s minimalist<br />
boogie), and delivering his vocals in rough-hewn<br />
but eloquent chants, the ensemble raises musical<br />
drones to a level of high art.<br />
Intermittent appearances by soul tenor-sax<br />
veteran Pee Wee Ellis and Greek-born U.K.<br />
harmonica shaman Little George Sueref highlight<br />
fundamental rhythm-and-blues commonalities,<br />
while ngoni wizards Mama Sissoko and<br />
Bassekou Kouyate and njarka (single-string<br />
violin) player Fanga Diawara draw the sound<br />
150 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
back to the stark West African desert. In the<br />
middle of a broad soundscape, Touré’s brittle<br />
picking and wise growl command center stage.<br />
The cinematic mix captures the strings’ bright<br />
edges and muted twangs, the warm richness and<br />
rasp of Touré’s voice, the dry metallic rattle of<br />
calabash resonators, and the low thump of the<br />
hand drums. Fittingly, the occasionally shadowy<br />
but finely detailed sonics reveal this subtly dramatic<br />
music’s nuances—right down to Touré’s<br />
knowing “hmmm” that precedes his closing<br />
guitar riff on the album-closing “N’jarou.”<br />
Derk Richardson<br />
Further Listening: Ali Farka Touré: Ali<br />
Farka Touré; Ali Farka Touré with Ry<br />
Cooder: Talking Timbuktu<br />
The Black Keys:<br />
Magic Potion.<br />
The Black Keys, producers. Nonesuch<br />
79967.<br />
At first glance, the cover—a hand-drawn<br />
reproduction of a Faberge egg—of the<br />
Black Keys’ fourth record seems like an odd<br />
companion to the band’s pachyderm stomp. But<br />
listening to Magic Potion, its meaning becomes<br />
abundantly clear: this fragile effort is the Akron,<br />
Ohio duo’s breakup record. The specter of lost<br />
love hangs over virtually every track, frontman/<br />
guitarist Dan Auerbach singing, “When a heart<br />
gets broke this many times its easy to lose track”;<br />
“I’m the only man who got the will...to give my<br />
heart away”; “Desperation...suffocation.”<br />
It’s a fitting direction for the Keys. The duo<br />
has always sounded old before its time, and<br />
the heartbroken, lived-in feel of these songs<br />
is a natural fit for its swampy, hypnotic blues.<br />
Like his idol Junior Kimbrough, Auerbach<br />
has an unmistakable guitar tone, whether he’s<br />
stretching out on the Delta breeze of “You’re<br />
the One” or unleashing foundation-rattling<br />
blasts of six-string on “Modern Times.” Patrick<br />
Carney, who once played Kanye West-worthy<br />
breakbeats on his minimalist kit, has evolved into<br />
a more nuanced drummer, swinging into “Your<br />
Touch” with the force of John Henry driving<br />
steel and reining it in for album centerpiece<br />
“The Flame.” The song, a cathartic account of<br />
love’s final throes, builds on Auerbach’s lowkey<br />
vocals and moody guitar, notes raining as<br />
steadily as teardrops.<br />
Though the album lacks a tune like the duo’s<br />
own “10 A.M. Automatic” or “Set You Free”—<br />
undeniable tracks that should have launched the<br />
Keys into the mainstream conscious—in many<br />
ways Potion is the band’s most consistent effort.<br />
The record is beautifully sequenced and falls flat<br />
only on “Just Got To Be” which, aside from its<br />
feedback-driven intro, sounds like a holdover<br />
from Thickfreakness.<br />
While the Black Keys will never be audiophile<br />
darlings (on its debut the duo boasted of<br />
recording in medium-fidelity, a method that<br />
employed “equal parts broke-ass shit to equal<br />
parts hot-ass shit”), Potion is the band’s sharpest<br />
sounding album. Auerbach’s guitar wisely<br />
dominates the mix, though there are times<br />
where the drums are lost behind spectral waves<br />
of feedback. Andy Downing<br />
Further Listening: Junior Kimbrough:<br />
All Night Long; The Stooges: The<br />
Stooges<br />
M. Ward: Post-War.<br />
Mike Mogis, producer.<br />
Merge 280.<br />
Matt Ward creates records that draw listeners<br />
into intimate worlds. They often begin with<br />
brief, almost misty instrumentals that consist<br />
of nothing more than Ward finger-picking his<br />
acoustic guitar along with some scratchy, barely<br />
audible noise. He’s hesitant to sing, and seems<br />
to stretch out the inevitable moment when he’ll<br />
have to open his mouth to allow his unique,<br />
honey-coated sandpaper of a voice to be heard.<br />
Even then, his vocalizing is so quiet that it forces<br />
listeners to lean forward, as if pulling them into<br />
the songs.<br />
Post-War signals something of a departure.<br />
Recorded in Ward’s Portland attic, this record,<br />
like its three predecessors, creates its own slightly<br />
off-kilter continuum. But here the reluctant<br />
singer of the past seems to have finally come to<br />
peace with his unusually beautiful instrument.<br />
The first thing we hear is Ward’s voice on<br />
“Poison Cup,” a song of bittersweet love (a
Music<br />
Rock etc.<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
theme of this collection). He’s still tentative,<br />
repeatedly asking “why, why, why” between<br />
strummed chords before the song officially<br />
takes shape as a mellow, rollicking rocker that<br />
gains much of its personality from the pair of<br />
drummers Ward recruited for these sessions.<br />
(Neko Case and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James<br />
are also present.) Much of Post-War is like this,<br />
more rock than folk, with lots of drums. And<br />
the presence of two percussionists adds a loose,<br />
almost disorienting, and totally captivating<br />
feeling that arcs across all 12 tracks.<br />
The sound is kinda funky, and deliberately<br />
so. Rather than go for a natural sound—though<br />
he does just that on the mini-suite that occupies<br />
the disc’s middle section—Ward and producer<br />
Mike Mogis have crafted the sound to suit each<br />
song’s mood. Ward’s voice is often masked in<br />
a fuzzy reverb. Noise and manipulation tweak<br />
the sound of guitars, pianos and strings. And<br />
it works.<br />
Clocking in at a brisk 38 minutes, Post-War is<br />
so packed with musical ideas that it never comes<br />
across as slight or rushed. It just gets richer with<br />
each listen. Wayne Garcia<br />
Further Listening: Various: Anthology<br />
of American Folk Music; M. Ward: End<br />
of Amnesia<br />
The Mountain Goats:<br />
Get Lonely.<br />
Scott Solter, producer. 4AD 2614.<br />
Last year, John Darnielle laid bare the trauma of his<br />
childhood on the Mountain Goats’ biographical<br />
The Sunset Tree. Then he exhaled. Get Lonely is<br />
that breath, a stark-naked album of ironic truths,<br />
resigned perspectives, and fragile reflections.<br />
152 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
While not intended as a concept album or<br />
chronological story, Get Lonely unfolds like a<br />
narrative, particularly since Darnielle’s elegant<br />
songwriting champions expressive metaphor<br />
and photographic detail. Approaching lyrics<br />
with a novelist’s eye for pace, mood, and<br />
structure, the guitarist/vocalist uses creative<br />
language to bestow simple actions with<br />
great power and ingrained meaning. Each<br />
tune witnesses a protagonist consumed<br />
by isolation, his break-off with a partner<br />
symbolically confining him to a house that<br />
serves as a prison. He makes plans to get out<br />
and socialize, but his trapped condition sends<br />
him straight back home. He’s conscious of<br />
his surroundings, nature, cold weather, and<br />
physical landmarks reminding of him of his<br />
former relationship. He’s so broken, he isn’t<br />
even angry—a brilliant stroke that keeps<br />
him away from fury, liquor, and excuses,<br />
never allowing opportunity for escape.<br />
Rather, he spends time in the company of<br />
ghosts and memories, and scared of the<br />
future. It all works because Darnielle avoids<br />
melodramatic fluff, the emotions pure and<br />
paranoia genuine.<br />
Musically, muted percussion, slight<br />
acoustic guitars, prudent piano notes, and<br />
occasional chamber strings connect to<br />
the situations, the subtle arrangements<br />
alternating between a strolling calm and<br />
phantom quiet. Shuddering cello lines and<br />
low bass notes shade and color, and while<br />
such swells normally uplift, here, they<br />
only add to the melancholy. On “Half<br />
Dead,” vibes ring like mental alarm bells,<br />
the cozy track effortlessly drifting by like<br />
overhead clouds. Echoing with midnightjazz<br />
solitude and icicle-shatter vulnerability,<br />
“Song for Lonely Giants” has the singer on<br />
the verge of collapse. Darnielle is similarly<br />
exasperated on the quaint “Woke Up New,”<br />
where the process of making coffee for one<br />
underscores the circumstances of waking up<br />
alone. Speaking of the latter, everything hits<br />
rock bottom on “Moon Over Goldsboro,”<br />
where, muttering under his breath, Darnielle<br />
hears a siren and wishes it was a signal that<br />
someone was taking him away. He doesn’t<br />
say where, but the implication is clear.<br />
Recorded live in the studio, the production<br />
preserves the album’s intimacy and tension.<br />
Darnielle’s tender voice is close-up but<br />
not artificially magnified, while the hushed<br />
instrumentation is frosted with proper decay.<br />
Some audiophiles might prefer a darker<br />
background, but such a step may have compromised<br />
the ambience on an effort that exudes<br />
literary poignancy and genius that place<br />
its author among indie-rock’s songwriting<br />
elite. BG<br />
Further Listening: The Mountain<br />
Goats: The Sunset Tree; Nick Cave: The<br />
Boatman’s Call<br />
The Hidden Cameras:<br />
Awoo.<br />
Joel Gibb, producer. Arts & Crafts 19.<br />
The Hidden Cameras are best-known for<br />
pairing symphonic indie pop with oftentimes<br />
graphic, homoerotic imagery; past songs have<br />
dealt with erections, enemas, and urine. These<br />
Red State-baiting lyrics often overshadowed the<br />
group’s ear for grandiose melody, the collective<br />
of 20-odd musicians creating infectious walls<br />
of sound from the likes of glockenspiel,<br />
vibraphone, violin, and cello.<br />
With its fourth album, singer/songwriter/<br />
guitarist Joel Gibb and company are lyrically<br />
tamer, but maintain the same musical blueprint<br />
of fellow Canadians the Arcade Fire and Broken<br />
Social Scene, all cinematic strings, plucky guitar<br />
rhythms, and parading drums. “She’s Gone,”<br />
however, introduces some new wrinkles, closing<br />
with a flurry of mouth harp and Hitchcockian<br />
strings like a rodeo gone Broadway. The lyrics<br />
aren’t as recognizably provocative, but they’re<br />
still loaded with double entendres and coded<br />
meanings. It doesn’t take a linguist to realize<br />
that when Gibb sings, “Lying naked on the<br />
throne I’ll be working in the bone yard” he’s<br />
trading in sexual innuendo. But this newfound<br />
restraint keeps the focus on the band’s sweeping<br />
harmonies. “Follow These Eyes” sounds like<br />
the musical accompaniment to an elaborate<br />
theater production, guitars stalking the lip of<br />
the stage as a cadre of instruments cameo in<br />
the dense tapestry. “Wandering” floats in like a<br />
cool breeze in the August heat, Gibb delivering<br />
his vocals like a drifter floored by the pangs<br />
of intense loneliness. “Death of a Tune” is as<br />
relentless as a death march, galloping guitars<br />
driving the tune with such verve that it sounds<br />
as if it might spin out of control at any instant.<br />
The production is fairly impressive, though at<br />
times, it’s a bit heavy-handed. This is especially<br />
true on the title track, which, like over-polished<br />
brass, lacks a certain degree of character. The<br />
soundstage is ample, but the low end is underrepresented<br />
as the band sculpts chiming, alto<br />
melodies that flutter about like chipper bluebirds<br />
in a Disney cartoon. AD<br />
Further Listening: Xiu Xiu: Fabulous<br />
Muscles; Arcade Fire: Funeral
Music<br />
Rock etc.<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
Psalm One:<br />
The Death Of<br />
Frequent Flyer.<br />
Overflo, Thaione Davis, et. al,<br />
producers. Rhymesayers 76.<br />
It’s a sad reality that women in hip-hop have<br />
been largely relegated to music-video props and<br />
targets of scorn by out-of-favor lovers, as well<br />
as objects of affection and attention from men<br />
who tend to value providing money-oriented<br />
items more than offering unconditional love.<br />
Within this caustic environment, it should be no<br />
surprise that the biggest female rappers of the<br />
last decade have been fixated on being satisfied<br />
sexually and materialistically. (See the work of<br />
Lil Kim and Foxy Brown, for starters.)<br />
Nonetheless, there is a stable of female<br />
rappers who focus on lyrical agility and crafting<br />
captivating stories. Among this slowly emerging<br />
contingent is Psalm One, a gifted Chicago-based<br />
emcee whose entertaining The Death Of Frequent<br />
Flyer album solidifies her status as one of the<br />
underground’s most talented rappers. A Windy<br />
City veteran who has released two albums, a<br />
handful of EPs, and worked extensively with<br />
the likeminded group Nacrobats, Psalm One<br />
poignantly addresses the place of women in<br />
rap on the biting “Rapper Girls.” Over a slow,<br />
soulful beat accented by a lush bass line and<br />
elegant horns, the Southside rapper bemoans<br />
how women use their bodies to earn leverage<br />
in the music and business sides of the industry.<br />
It’s one of the strongest moments on this evenkeeled<br />
collection, a strong commentary about<br />
hip-hop culture from someone professionally<br />
navigating its dark underbelly.<br />
“The Nine,” her dreary recollection of the<br />
danger of using public transportation, and<br />
“Macaroni and Cheese,” a funky treatise where<br />
154 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
she equates her rap skills to the food, display the<br />
husky-voiced rapper’s ability to craft vivid stories<br />
one on song and highlight her entertaining<br />
wordplay and braggadocio rhymes on the next.<br />
A few elongated skits steal momentum from the<br />
album’s flow, and the mixes on some tracks lend<br />
a muddy, gritty feel that the producers nonetheless<br />
likely intended. Soren Baker<br />
Further Listening: Rah Digga: Dirty<br />
Harriet; Heather B: Eternal Affairs<br />
Rogue’s Gallery.<br />
Hal Willner, producer.<br />
Anti 86817 (two CDs).<br />
While in the midst of preparation for Pirates of<br />
the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, director Gore<br />
Verbinski became infatuated with the lost art of<br />
the sea chantey. He bounced an idea of having<br />
contemporary artists reinterpreting traditional<br />
songs off Anti Records owner Brett Gurewitz<br />
and actor Johnny Depp, both of whom<br />
supported the concept. And what’s not to love<br />
Producer Hal Willner soon came aboard as the<br />
project’s chief mate, trolling antique book stores,<br />
eBay, and record outlets in turning up 600 song<br />
possibilities. Ultimately, more than 60 tracks<br />
were recorded in multiple cities; 43 are compiled<br />
on Rogue’s Gallery, a fantastically diverse set of<br />
ballads, chanteys, jigs, waltzes, and scalawag<br />
songs that’s as entertaining as it is illuminating.<br />
There are highlights aplenty, the album’s<br />
finer qualities relating to how the ocean-faring<br />
melodies and themes influenced—consciously<br />
or not—the work of the modern musicians<br />
who perform them. Take Richard Thompson’s<br />
“Mingulay Boat Song,” its narrative progression<br />
identifiable in much of the English bard’s work.<br />
And Bono’s “Dying Sailor to His Shipmates,”<br />
complete with grand meditative introduction and<br />
the U2 vocalist’s solemnity. There’s no shortage<br />
of such heartfelt takes, though Mary Margaret<br />
O’Hara’s “The Cry of Man” is needlessly drawn<br />
out while Sting’s “Bloody Red Roses” conjures<br />
up images of the minstrel traipsing about his<br />
castle grounds, gardening staff in tow as he picks<br />
flowers for his sweet.<br />
Rogue’s Gallery contains more pirate music<br />
than one needs, yet it’s endless fun, the majority<br />
of participants bringing to surface the moods—<br />
loneliness, madness, booziness, recklessness,<br />
tawdriness, lawlessness, lovesickness, illness—<br />
that afflicted the minds of these primordial<br />
water-roving punks. In other words, this ain’t a<br />
Disney movie. A one-eyed buccaneer if there<br />
e’er was, Nick Cave cusses up a storm on the<br />
hellbent, double-entendre laced “Fire Down<br />
Below”; Three Pruned Men’s “Bully In the<br />
Alley” is merry, belligerent, dirty; Gavin Friday’s<br />
rendition of “Baltimore Whores” is an obscene<br />
roly-poly jamboree; David Thomas’ “Dan<br />
Dan” and “Drunken Sailor” are appropriately<br />
loaded. Jarvis Cocker even shows up, rolling<br />
and swaggering through the mangy “A Drop<br />
of Nelson’s Blood,” while Lou Reed masterfully<br />
pulls a reluctant matey away from a ship on the<br />
doomy “Johnny Leave Her.”<br />
Since it was recorded in various locales and<br />
studios, the sonic dimensions and characteristics<br />
tend to vary. Still, there are no heavily noticeable<br />
flaws or off-putting blemishes. The low-end and<br />
depth won’t impress, but the spirit more than<br />
makes up for any production shortcoming. BG<br />
Further Listening: The Decemberists:<br />
The Tain; Tom Waits: Small Change<br />
Anonymous 4:<br />
Gloryland.<br />
Robina G. Young, producer. Harmonia<br />
Mundi 907400.<br />
In a year that has seen Bruce Springsteen<br />
“recontextualize” songs associated with Pete<br />
Seeger by investing the tunes with rock urgency<br />
and the venerable Ramblin’ Jack Elliott stick to<br />
traditionalist basics on a new album of vintage<br />
country and folk, the seraphic-voiced female<br />
quartet Anonymous 4 offer Gloryland, the<br />
continuation of a folk journey it began in 2004<br />
with stirring meditations comprising American<br />
Angels: Songs of Hope, Redemption & Glory.<br />
On these two albums, A4’s concept of<br />
recontextualization reflects the group’s<br />
approach on its other 15 albums of early (mostly<br />
medieval) music—that is, less to reimagine the<br />
well-researched song choices in contemporary<br />
terms of tempo and semiotics than to inhabit<br />
the spiritual world from whence the songs
Music<br />
Rock etc.<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
sprang and find the place in the human heart<br />
and soul where the texts live. There is much<br />
dread and longing in the Gloryland material<br />
(the bulk of which date from the mid- to late<br />
1800s), as the album is built on the concept<br />
of a girl having risked all for love only to be<br />
forsaken and left to find solace in nature and<br />
God’s hands. It seems a dour journey, and the<br />
A4 is singular in its ability to evoke the chilling<br />
ache of spiritual yearning both vocally (witness<br />
the somber, piercing entreaties of “Pleading<br />
Savior”) and instrumentally (with the beautiful<br />
despair of Darroll Anger’s haunting violin solo<br />
ascending in “Wayfaring Stranger”). But the<br />
collective also celebrates the blissful anticipation<br />
of journey’s end with a sprightly rendering of<br />
“Just Over In Gloryland” and by employing a<br />
lilting tempo to invigorate unison vocalizing on<br />
“Green Pastures.”<br />
Longtime A4 producer Robina G. Young<br />
spots the rich harmonies dead center, giving this<br />
largely a cappella outing an uncommonly lush<br />
soundscape, one richer still for Marshall and<br />
Anger’s contributions, as their various stringed<br />
instruments boast formidable expressive presence,<br />
essentially making them the group’s fifth<br />
and sixth voices. David McGee<br />
Further Listening: Various: Voice of<br />
The Spirit: The Gospel of The South;<br />
Various: The Half Ain’t Never Been<br />
Told, Vol. 1<br />
Los Lonely Boys:<br />
Sacred.<br />
John Porter, Los Lonely Boys, and<br />
Mark Wright, producers. Epic/Or/<br />
Haven 94194.<br />
If proof were ever needed that musical talent<br />
courses through the family blood, Los Lonely<br />
Boys’ sophomore Sacred makes the case. The<br />
follow-up to their self-titled 2004 debut, Sacred<br />
somewhat distances itself from its predecessor’s<br />
roots-based earthiness but is, on its own terms,<br />
a lively if formulaic step closer to the popular<br />
mainstream.<br />
Hailing from San Angelo, Texas and born into<br />
a family of musicians, Los Lonely Boys are the<br />
brothers Garza—Henry, JoJo and Ringo (drums,<br />
natch). Sacred blends their Tex-Mex heritage with<br />
heavenly Everly Brothers vocals, a piquant mix of<br />
uptempo Latin and pop genres. Inspired by the<br />
artistic legacies of Richie Valens, British Invasion<br />
pop, and Los Lobos, the record leans heavily on<br />
classic structure and solid melodic hooks. Generic<br />
musings on life, love, and fame, lyrics are not yet the<br />
trio’s strong suit. But the sturdy production values,<br />
chockfull of session monsters like percussionist<br />
Lennie Castro, Reese Wynans on B3, Mike<br />
Finnegan on keys, and the blazing Texas Horns,<br />
are up to the task. As is oldest brother Henry, a<br />
guitar legend-in-the-making who navigates the<br />
fingerboard with the predatory intensity of Stevie<br />
Ray Vaughan or Freddie King. Stand-out tunes<br />
include the Billboard-ready “Diamonds,” Santana<br />
saturated “Oye Mamacita,” cojunto-accented<br />
156 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
“Texican Style,” and “Outlaws,” a tribute to one of the original Outlaws, Willie<br />
Nelson, the man who gave Los Lonely Boys their first big break and who<br />
stands in for a couple verses as well.<br />
Sonic quality is at best lackluster, with little in the way of dynamic action.<br />
Fortunately, the smooth harmonies and searing guitar embellishments feature<br />
imaging precision and are upfront. Low end—what there is of it—is muddled,<br />
and there are only brief glimmers of dimensionality and acoustic space.<br />
Sacred is a solid second effort from a young band closely hewing to<br />
the paths cut by others but yet to discover its own fully formed voice.<br />
Neil Gader<br />
Further Listening:<br />
Los Lobos: Wolf<br />
Tracks; Stevie Ray<br />
Vaughan: Texas<br />
Flood<br />
Sir Douglas Quintet: Live From Austin<br />
TX. New West 6095.<br />
Kris Kristofferson: Live From Austin TX.<br />
New West 6098.<br />
Merle Haggard: Live From Austin TX.<br />
New West 6090.<br />
Willie Nelson: Live From Austin TX.<br />
New West 6094.<br />
For all: Cameron Strang, Jay Woods, and Gary Briggs,<br />
producers.<br />
Conceived in 1974 with the modest goal of documenting the staggering<br />
variety of music to be found in the lively Austin music scene, Austin City<br />
Limits has always been ahead of the curve, anticipating the entire rootsmusic<br />
explosion of the ensuing decades and documenting transitional<br />
moments in country-music history from the 70s forward.<br />
New West’s latest batch of ACL CDs suggests more the depth than<br />
the breadth of music the show features. In capturing excellent sets from<br />
Merle Haggard in 1985 and Willie Nelson in 1990, the show offered an<br />
overview of how two artists deeply indebted to Bob Wills’ music repaid<br />
their debts. Typically, Nelson ranges across a broad spectrum of styles<br />
in his set (the basic framework of which hasn’t changed much since<br />
the 70s) and drops in a couple of new numbers (including one of his<br />
finest 90s hits, Beth Nielsen Chapman’s “Nothing I Can Do About It<br />
Now,” a song so personal it could have been penned by Nelson on the<br />
night his wife sewed him up in a sheet) that fit right into the traditional<br />
ethos he advances. For his repertoire, Haggard blends Bakersfield and<br />
Texas, along with four Wills/Tommy Duncan classics, but brings along<br />
a horn section to add a Dixieland touch to the show’s opening number,<br />
“Okie From Muskogee’s Comin’ Home,” and tips his hat to one of<br />
mainstream country’s great vocal stylists by way of the Lefty Frizzell<br />
vocal inflections he employs in imbuing with deeply felt soul the tearstained<br />
ballads “Thank You For Keeping My House” and “What Am<br />
I Gonna Do (With The Rest of My Life).” In short, Merle is the more<br />
adventurous, in a Texas sort of way.<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 157
Music<br />
Rock etc.<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
Kristofferson is a strange case. A former<br />
Rhodes scholar who aspired to write the<br />
Great American Novel, he was drawn more<br />
to the literature and populist sympathies<br />
of country music than to specific giants<br />
in its history. His 16-song set is solely<br />
original, including early 70s classics and<br />
three compelling numbers from his now<br />
out-of-print 1981 masterpiece To the Bone,<br />
“Magdalene,” “Star Crossed,” and “You<br />
Show Me Yours.” A notoriously stiff live<br />
performer, Kristofferson delivers a terrific<br />
concert, singing with uncommon focus and<br />
conviction.<br />
In Doug Sahm’s music, rock n’ roll was<br />
infused by both R&B and south of the<br />
border energy and sound signatures. It could<br />
be argued that his eclecticism best reflects<br />
ACL’s original mandate. Sahm made terrific<br />
records throughout his too-brief life and<br />
deserved more attention that he got after<br />
his hit run, but he settled in a good place<br />
and remained inquisitive with regard to the<br />
roots of American music. Augie Meyers’s<br />
cheesy organ sound never got old or any<br />
less joyous over the years, and with Alvin<br />
Crow on guitar and<br />
fiddle and son Shawn<br />
Sahm on guitar, Sir<br />
Doug boasted one<br />
kick-ass live band that<br />
was as versatile as it<br />
was possessed of the<br />
spirit, just as it was<br />
on the exciting night<br />
captured here.<br />
These being live<br />
performances, sound<br />
quality could be an issue,<br />
but isn’t. The production<br />
team has done<br />
a first-rate job giving<br />
proper presence to the various instrumentalists<br />
while keeping the vocals hot. Sir Doug sometimes<br />
sounds so close you might think he’s in the<br />
room; even Kristofferson, the least of the singers<br />
in this batch, has riveting presence. That there’s<br />
so much ACL where this came from is cause for<br />
celebration; this well should never be allowed to<br />
run dry. DM<br />
Further Listening: Steve Earle: Live<br />
From Austin TX; George Jones:<br />
Live Recordings from the Louisiana<br />
Hayride<br />
158 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
The Cure: The Top.<br />
Robert Smith, Chris<br />
Parry, and Dave Allen, original<br />
producers. Rhino.<br />
The Cure: The Head<br />
on the Door.<br />
Smith and Allen, original producers.<br />
Rhino.<br />
The Cure: Kiss Me,<br />
Kiss Me, Kiss Me.<br />
Smith and Allen, original producers.<br />
Rhino.<br />
The Glove: Blue<br />
Sunshine.<br />
Smith and Steve Severin, original<br />
producers. Rhino.<br />
A high-pitched cackle, a death knell of guitar,<br />
and vocalist Robert Smith moaning “Wake<br />
up in the dark/The<br />
aftertaste of anger in<br />
the back of my throat.”<br />
This is how the Cure<br />
kicks off The Top,<br />
its oddest and often<br />
creepiest album—and<br />
a fitting introduction to<br />
Rhino’s latest batch of<br />
Cure reissues. As with<br />
the label’s previous<br />
efforts, each album has<br />
been remastered and<br />
is beautifully packaged<br />
with a second disc of<br />
outtakes and rarities.<br />
The band’s records have never looked or<br />
sounded better, Smith’s writhing inner-turmoil<br />
projected in enough telescopic detail to make<br />
all cringe.<br />
The Top is a dense and often misunderstood<br />
record; in the liner notes, Smith calls it the “solo<br />
album [he] never made.” “Shake Dog Shake” is<br />
a horrifying journey into madness, the frontman<br />
crying “wake up” with obvious desperation as<br />
guitars lurk like shadowy monsters. The band<br />
flirts with Middle Eastern psychedelia on the<br />
“Wailing Wall,” which unravels like a tribal<br />
funeral gone awry. Not everything works.<br />
The industrial romp of “Give Me It” quickly<br />
grows tedious and “The Caterpillar” sounds<br />
like weird for the sake of weird, but there’s<br />
genuine thrill in hearing Smith so obviously<br />
work through his personal demons. Sonically,<br />
the remastered album is much improved,<br />
offering a wider soundstage and richer, deeper<br />
textures. As with most Cure albums, the low<br />
end is handled especially well, adding to the<br />
desired murk. A second disc of outtakes is<br />
largely disposable, save for a sparse demo of<br />
“Piggy in the Mirror” that ups the anguish of<br />
the album version.<br />
After another round of lineup changes,<br />
the band regrouped for The Head on the Door, a<br />
towering album that, alongside Disintegration,<br />
stands as the Cure’s greatest achievement.<br />
Brilliantly sequenced and recorded, Door<br />
enhances the best of the band’s tendencies:<br />
mordor-gloom, industrial pop, and, on the<br />
brilliant “In Between Days,” a full-moon<br />
swing that could make even the dourest goth<br />
kid dance. “Six Different Ways” even lopes<br />
along on a fractured piano line before Smith<br />
calls out, “This is stranger than I thought.”<br />
It’s entirely possible he’s talking about the<br />
stellar album, which finds the group pushing<br />
its sound into new territories (are those peprally<br />
handclaps on “Close To Me”) without<br />
sacrificing the infectious nature of the tunes.<br />
The production is equally impressive, with<br />
the widest soundstage of any Cure album<br />
and a natural balance between the highs and<br />
lows. Smith’s voice is handled with special<br />
care, every whisper, wail, and grunt clearly<br />
standing out. Even the bonus disc seems<br />
essential, offering tracks such as “Exploding<br />
Boy,” which could have seamlessly slid into<br />
the album.<br />
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, though it includes<br />
several of the Cure’s best songs, is just too<br />
much. There are too many tracks (originally<br />
a double album, it was compressed to one<br />
disc for the initial CD release) and the sound<br />
is too arena-friendly. “Why Can’t I Be You”<br />
and “Just Like Heaven” are two standouts,<br />
the former bouncing along on a buoyant<br />
horn section while the latter, among the<br />
band’s prettiest songs, delivers a mascaralined<br />
love song for the predawn crowd. The<br />
album’s sonics are handled carefully, though<br />
the band’s signature low end lacks its usual<br />
punch.<br />
A one-off collaboration between Smith<br />
and Steve Severin of Siouxsie & the Banshees,<br />
The Glove is for completists only, its<br />
experimental nature (cowbell really) tending<br />
towards unlistenable. A better choice<br />
would have been for Rhino to include Disintegration<br />
in this roundup and save impatient<br />
fans the hassle of another wait. AD<br />
Further Listening: The Ponys:<br />
Celebration Castle; Black Rebel<br />
Motorcycle Club: Howl
Music<br />
Rock etc.<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
HOT<br />
WAX<br />
Golden Smog: One Fine Day.<br />
Paco Loco, Ed Ackerson, and Golden Smog, producers. Lost<br />
Highway 6029 (two LPs). Music: HHH ½ Sonics: HHH<br />
Golden Smog began recording in 1992 and remains a fitful collaboration for some of the most<br />
respected names in contemporary pop. Gary Louris and Marc Perlman are former Jayhawks;<br />
Dan Murphy hails from Soul Asylum; Kraig Johnson is from Run Westy Run; Jeff Tweedy<br />
stems from Wilco. Rounding things out is the drumming team of Linda Pitmon from Steve Wynn &<br />
the Miracle 3 and Big Star’s Jody Stephens.<br />
One Fine Day is only this amorphous group’s third full-length effort, and once you hear it you’ll wish<br />
they’d get together a little more frequently. The record bursts forth like fireworks with one terrifically<br />
penned tune after another. Stylistically, songs range from catchy rock and pop numbers to ballads to<br />
the country-tinged to the folksy. “You Make It Easy” is a contagious rocker and a perfect lead-off<br />
tune. Like most of this record, it has a timeless quality that’s at once fresh yet familiar. “5-22-02” is<br />
another bouncy, slightly Beatle-esque number that showcases the group’s beautiful use of harmony<br />
vocals; two lovely Louris-Tweedy ballads (“Long Time Ago” and “Listen Joe”), on which Tweedy<br />
picks a banjo, mix up the generally upbeat pace, as does a gorgeous cover of the Kinks’ “Strangers.”<br />
The album concludes like the group’s title, in a warm and hazy long fade out.<br />
Lost Highway’s double-LP set—pressed on amber-colored vinyl, no less—was mostly recorded<br />
live in the studio in Spain and finished up in Minneapolis. Nonetheless, the sound is notably cohesive<br />
and occasionally excellent. Electric guitars have a convincingly thick crunch when playing rhythm and<br />
nice bite when a lead line rips loose. Basses and drums throb with warmth, texture, and weight, and<br />
vocals are nicely mixed into the overall sound.<br />
Golden Smog may be a side project but its no “supergroup.” These guys and their music are too<br />
good for that tired moniker. WG<br />
Further Listening: Golden Smog: Weird Tales; Loose Fur: Born Again In the USA<br />
Neil Young: Living With War.<br />
L.A. Johnson and Young, producers. Reprise/Classic<br />
(200-gram LP).<br />
It took awhile, but Classic’s 200-gram vinyl pressing of Neil Young’s<br />
guerilla-protest album Living With War, released in May and reviewed<br />
in Issue 162 of this magazine, has finally emerged from pressing-plant<br />
delays. For sonic enthusiasts, the wait is worthwhile.<br />
Improving upon the already good-sounding disc by a significant degree,<br />
the dynamically rich analog format pulls back the curtains even further,<br />
the soundstage’s dimensions larger, wider, and fatter. Young’s guitar naturally<br />
rolls into the acoustic space, the session’s live-in-the-studio technique<br />
visceral and immediate. Drums snap and crack; bass lines flow; Young’s<br />
impassioned lyrics and fiery solos assume life-sized images. Best of all, the<br />
music’s immediacy is not only<br />
heard but felt, the warm tones<br />
of the amplifiers and brassy<br />
timbres of the horns effortlessly<br />
conveyed. Gone, too, is a<br />
slight digital ceiling, beckoning<br />
listeners to turn this up as loud<br />
as they desire without fear of<br />
hitting an imposed limit. Another<br />
champion Young effort<br />
from Classic. BG<br />
Further Listening: Neil<br />
Young: Greendale;<br />
Peaches: Impeach My<br />
Bush<br />
160 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
Jason Moran: Artist<br />
in Residence.<br />
Moran, producer; Joe Marciano,<br />
engineer. Blue Note 62711.<br />
Jason Moran is that rare jazz musician:<br />
eclectic to the bone, virtuosic in every scrap<br />
of it, able to walk all his influences out to<br />
the edge of the plank and back again, yet<br />
scrawling his own distinct signature every<br />
step of the way. His 2002 CD, Modernistic,<br />
remains the most inventive solo piano jazz<br />
album of the decade, an insouciant summary<br />
of practically the entire century’s music,<br />
hair-raisingly assured for a 27-year-old. His<br />
2003 Bandwagon, a trio session recorded live<br />
at the Village Vanguard, made me wonder if<br />
he’d run out of steam; it consisted mainly<br />
of songs from Modernistic, played not as<br />
well. On 2005’s Same Mother, he added a<br />
guitar (played by Martin Sewell) and, with it,<br />
a swaying southern blues. Now, with Artist<br />
in Residence, he takes that mix in still different<br />
directions.<br />
It consists, literally, of pieces Moran wrote<br />
in residence, mainly at art centers, some to<br />
accompany visual artworks. Uh-oh, you may<br />
be thinking, the furrowed brow of “chamber<br />
jazz.” But take a listen; it’s anything but.<br />
There is a painterly feel to the music, but<br />
it’s a high-energy, slashing sort of painting.<br />
Tunes on some earlier albums, Soundtrack to<br />
Human Motion and Black Stars, were inspired<br />
by the frenzied yet controlled collagepaintings<br />
of Basquiat and Rauschenberg (as<br />
well as classic movie music, Tin Pan Alley<br />
standards, Prokofiev symphonies, and hiphop<br />
rhythms), and, if you’re familiar with<br />
those artists, you’ll hear tonal parallels of<br />
their strokes and splashes—and, even more,<br />
of the way they evoke a sense of place and<br />
memory. This time out, Moran pulls off<br />
the feat with greater ease; he’s mastered the<br />
magic and perhaps feels less need to wave<br />
his wand with grand flourish. In general,<br />
at first hearing, he seems less technically<br />
Music<br />
Jazz<br />
agile than usual, but he’s just subtler.<br />
Listen to the elegant splashes on “Milestone,”<br />
or to the way he can make a chestnut<br />
like Lloyd Webber’s “Cradle Song” sound<br />
like a Chopin etude that segues into a<br />
stride, then a folk melody, then a swinging<br />
blues, before he comes full circle. The<br />
album’s last three songs bog down,<br />
especially the repetitive 11-minute sextet<br />
number “RAIN,” but until then it’s<br />
ripping—adventurous but thoroughly<br />
accessible.<br />
The sound quality is very good. All<br />
the instruments are clear, well-balanced,<br />
and they sound like themselves, especially,<br />
on one number, the tinkly kora. But the<br />
highs are rolled off a bit; the piano’s<br />
overtones don’t blossom and then slowly<br />
decay, as they should. Fred Kaplan<br />
Further listening: Andrew Hill:<br />
Hommage; Ralph Alessi: This<br />
Against That<br />
Brad Mehldau Trio:<br />
House on Hill.<br />
Mehldau and Matt Pierson, producers.<br />
Nonesuch 79911.<br />
Brad Mehldau and<br />
Renee Fleming: Love<br />
Sublime.<br />
Steven Epstein, producer. Nonesuch<br />
79952.<br />
Prolific pianist Brad Mehldau tends to go<br />
on and on, in erudite liner notes and articles,<br />
explaining the ideological, historical, and<br />
musical underpinnings of music that, in<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
Extraordinary Excellent Good Fair Poor<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 163
Music<br />
Jazz<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
the end, speaks eloquently on its own. His<br />
remarkably accessible albeit internally complex<br />
performances never repeat themselves,<br />
although the nine theme-and-variation<br />
improvisations that make up House on Hill<br />
leave a final impression of sameness. Still,<br />
what Mehldau, bassist Larry Grenadier, and<br />
drummer Jorge Rossy achieve here, after more<br />
than seven years of playing together, is a fine<br />
equilibrium that shouldn’t be mistaken for<br />
leveling. Mehldau wrote these “songs” between<br />
2000 and 2002, and all but two were recorded<br />
during the same fall 2002 sessions that yielded<br />
the compelling Anything Goes collection of<br />
covers. These tight, largely midtempo studio<br />
jams tumble along with an edgy but cohesive<br />
momentum unique to this trio. (Rossy has<br />
since been replaced by Jeff Ballard.)<br />
Operating from what seems like a<br />
constrained palette of melodies, harmonies,<br />
and dynamics, the players creatively converse<br />
in a knotty dialectical process (which Mehldau<br />
analyzes in his notes) with the kind of<br />
absorbing empathy that lifts them toward the<br />
heights occupied by Bill Evans’ and Keith<br />
Jarrett’s legendary trios. Bright at the top end,<br />
where Rossy’s cymbals and Mehldau’s highest<br />
treble keys sparkle, and fat and warm (but<br />
not always tautly defined) at the bottom for<br />
Grenadier’s roaming bass, the mix makes the<br />
piano bloom in a spacious middle and gives<br />
its midrange the most faithful representation,<br />
which is true to the music’s emphasis.<br />
While Anything Goes would have been<br />
the logical companion release, Love Sublime<br />
provides an even more striking contrast,<br />
as Mehldau expresses his passion for the<br />
through-composed art song. Originating<br />
as a Carnegie Hall commission, the album<br />
164 October 2006 The Absolute Sound<br />
features devotional texts from Rainer Maria<br />
Rilke’s The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God and<br />
poet Louise Bogan’s The Blue Estuaries (plus<br />
title-track lyrics by Dutch singer Fleurine)<br />
performed by Mehldau and operatic soprano<br />
Renee Fleming. Though classically rooted and<br />
formalistic (the duo does not improvise, except<br />
on “Love Sublime”), the music roils with<br />
complex modern harmonies and pop-tinged<br />
melodies thanks to Mehldau’s Whitman-like<br />
tendency to contain multitudes, from Joni<br />
Mitchell to Messiaen. The profound poetic<br />
themes are difficult to decipher from Fleming’s<br />
gorgeously soaring vocals, which impart their<br />
own deep emotional thrills. But pondering the<br />
poetry in the booklet’s printed texts adds to the<br />
near-transcendent musical experience.<br />
Transparent sonics bring the ruminative<br />
dynamics and warm overtones of<br />
Mehldau’s piano and the lucid, substantial<br />
tones of Fleming’s aerial vocal lines to the<br />
front of a surprisingly roomy soundstage.<br />
Derk Richardson<br />
Further Listening: Brad Mehldau Trio:<br />
Anything Goes; Rinde Eckert: Do the<br />
Day Over<br />
Keith Jarrett: The<br />
Carnegie Hall<br />
Concert.<br />
Jarrett and Manfred Eicher, producers;<br />
Martin Pearson, engineer. ECM 7362<br />
(two CDs).<br />
I was at Carnegie Hall on September 26, 2005,<br />
watching Keith Jarrett play piano for nearly two<br />
hours. It was his first New York solo concert<br />
in 20 years, and he was in a good mood. He<br />
didn’t yell at the audience once (a rarity), and he<br />
played better than I’ve ever heard him (which is<br />
saying a lot). This two-CD set, released exactly<br />
one year later, captures the whole concert,<br />
including all five encores, in superb sound:<br />
you hear the percussiveness of his touch,<br />
the bloom of his pedal-sustained overtones,<br />
the rumble of the bass notes, the ivory clang<br />
of the high notes, the dramatic range of his<br />
dynamics (except maybe at the extremes), and<br />
the warm acoustic of Carnegie.<br />
Jarrett can sometimes be self-indulgent—<br />
frills and flourishes for their own sake,<br />
mannered grunts and spasms—but he was<br />
relatively restrained here. His concert pieces, all<br />
pure improvisations, are models of economy,<br />
each under 10 minutes, themes stated,<br />
explored, varied on, departed from, returned<br />
to, done—and gripping from start to finish.<br />
The encores, mainly standards and familiar<br />
Jarrett compositions, were similarly taut—and<br />
lyrical and gorgeous. There is no other jazz<br />
pianist who can wring such deep emotion<br />
from the tritest ballad, or make a simple triplet<br />
sing so nobly, or express rubato with such<br />
spine-tingling delay. FK<br />
Further Listening: Keith Jarrett:<br />
Radiance; Keith Jarrett: The Out-of-<br />
Towners<br />
Susanne Abbuehl:<br />
Compass.<br />
Manfred Eicher, producer. ECM 1906.<br />
The subtleties of Susanne Abbuehl’s voice are<br />
likely to underwhelm a listening public stunned<br />
by the histrionic vocals that characterize<br />
Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals and “American<br />
Idol” competitions. But then, Abbuehl’s choices<br />
of material (including poems by William Carlos<br />
Williams and James Joyce, and music by Chick<br />
Corea and Luciano Berio) and accompaniment<br />
(acoustic piano augmented only by drums,<br />
percussion, and clarinets) are not the stuff of<br />
typical pop or mainstream jazz. Nor are Manfred<br />
Eicher’s pristine and spacious production<br />
values, which allow every sonic element room<br />
to breathe while judiciously balancing the<br />
barely measurable weight of Abbuehl’s hushed<br />
singing and the instruments’ downy beds and<br />
diaphanous obbligatos.<br />
Compass, the 36-year-old Swiss-born<br />
vocalist’s second album for ECM, following<br />
2001’s April, aims not for fans of Sarah<br />
Brightman, of course, but for that patient<br />
minority that relishes such uncommon musical<br />
qualities as languid tempos and exquisite<br />
intimacy. Indeed, this 12-song program,<br />
which opens with the gently rippling original<br />
“Bathyal” and closes with the haunting “In the
Music<br />
Jazz<br />
Music<br />
Sonics<br />
Dark Pine-Wood,” the last of four Joyce texts<br />
set to Abbuehl’s music, proceeds at the kind of<br />
pace rarely attempted by singers other than the<br />
late Shirley Horn. Moreover, its selections—as<br />
varied as the folk song “Black is the Color …,”<br />
the standard “Where Flamingoes Fly,” and<br />
Sun Ra’s “A Call for Demons”—flow in a<br />
peaceful, meandering stream that makes “Old<br />
Man River” seem like a raging flood.<br />
Wolfert Brederode’s piano provides the<br />
quietly insistent harmonic currents, and Lucas<br />
Niggli’s percussion dapples the imperturbable<br />
surface, while dead center, in the anythingbut-dead<br />
calm, Abbuehl’s slightly accented<br />
voice intones intriguing lyrics that probe the<br />
mysteries of existence, occasionally recalling<br />
Laurie Anderson’s philosophical musings.<br />
And the clear, cloudless, wide-open sonics<br />
make those mysteries even more inviting for<br />
listening and contemplation. DR<br />
Further Listening: Robin Holcomb:<br />
Robin Holcomb; Jeanne Lee and Mal<br />
Waldron: After Hours<br />
Ornette Coleman:<br />
Sound Grammar.<br />
James Jordan, producer; Chris<br />
Agovino, engineer. Sound Grammar<br />
11593.<br />
This is Ornette Coleman’s first album in<br />
a decade, and one of his half-dozen best<br />
ever. He was 75 years old when this live date<br />
was recorded a year ago at a concert hall in<br />
Ludwigshafen, Germany, and he still blows<br />
the alto sax with wailing passion and crystal<br />
precision. Coleman is above all a melodist—a<br />
fact often lost on those who are bothered<br />
that he eschews standard chord changes. But<br />
listen to these songs; close attention rarely pays<br />
such rich rewards. Coleman’s current quartet<br />
consists of a drummer and two bassists. He<br />
employed two bassists for a time in the 60s, but<br />
not to such startling effect. Greg Cohen (who’s<br />
played with everyone from Woody Allen to<br />
John Zorn) usually plucks, Tony Falanga (a<br />
veteran classical player) usually bows, and their<br />
interplay—with each other, with Coleman, and<br />
with the drummer (Ornette’s son, Denardo<br />
Coleman, who’s brilliant, by the way, rollicking<br />
and subtle)—takes the music to a new level of<br />
complexity, yet without piling up clutter.<br />
Coleman is often called the father of “free<br />
jazz,” in the sense that all his musicians are<br />
free to improvise simultaneously, but it’s a<br />
misleading moniker in that playing his music<br />
requires intense discipline precisely because<br />
it’s untethered from harmonic structure.<br />
It’s amazing that this music holds together,<br />
a miracle that it often sounds so beautiful.<br />
Coleman plays more ballads than he used to,<br />
and he blows them more poignantly, sometimes<br />
with a gentle whisper at the end of a passage.<br />
He plays only original compositions, but he’s<br />
prone to quote from others—Gershwin, Kern,<br />
and Stravinsky, among many. The references<br />
166 October 2006 The Absolute Sound
are playful, and they fit the music.<br />
Denardo’s drums sound muffled, probably<br />
because (if the Ornette concerts I’ve seen<br />
at Carnegie are typical) they’re behind thick<br />
plexiglass panels. The soundstage is narrow.<br />
Otherwise, the sonics are good. I may be<br />
rating them a half-star higher than they merit,<br />
because Ornette’s alto sounds closer to real life<br />
than on any album he’s ever made and because<br />
I hear what the two bassists are doing more<br />
clearly than I’ve heard at Carnegie. I’m told he<br />
records most of his concerts these days. Bring<br />
on the next one. FK<br />
Further Listening: Ornette Coleman:<br />
Change of the Century; Ornette<br />
Coleman: The Shape of Jazz to Come<br />
Weather Report:<br />
Forecast:<br />
Tomorrow.<br />
Joe Zawunil, Wayne<br />
Shorter, and Bob<br />
Belden, producers.<br />
Columbia/Legacy 93604<br />
(three CDs, one DVD).<br />
It’s fitting that this gusty<br />
four-disc retrospective should open with a soft<br />
breeze, specifically the Joe Zawinul-penned<br />
tune “In a Silent Way.” That meditative<br />
composition, the title track to Miles Davis’<br />
seminal 1969 fusion album, featured both<br />
keyboardist Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne<br />
Shorter, who for 15 years formed the core of<br />
a band that would stretch the boundaries of<br />
the fusion genre. Thirty-five years after the<br />
band’s inception, the exploratory works of the<br />
progressive-jazz group Weather Report still<br />
packs gale force, the virtuosic musicianship<br />
showcasing some of the era’s most creative<br />
and talented players.<br />
This new set is co-produced by Zawinul,<br />
Shorter, and Bob Belden, who won three<br />
Grammys for his work on Columbia/Legacy’s<br />
Miles Davis reissue series. It includes 37<br />
chronologically ordered tracks, culled mostly<br />
from the group’s 14 albums recorded between<br />
1971 and 1985. They include such classic sides<br />
as “Birdland,” “Black Market,” and “The<br />
Pursuit of the Woman with the Feathered<br />
Hat.” There also are two previously unreleased<br />
cuts—a first take of “Directions” (the 1968<br />
tune that led to Davis’ In a Silent Way sessions),<br />
and a live version of “Nubian Sundance.”<br />
The one glaring omission is “Teen Town.”<br />
However, it pops up on the DVD, which<br />
features spectacular live footage shot during<br />
a 1978 concert in Germany and includes<br />
stunning solos and showy stage antics by<br />
bassist Jaco Pastorius, as well as a soundtrack<br />
that rivals Weather Report’s 1979 live album<br />
8:30.<br />
Forecast: Tomorrow traces the evolution of<br />
Zawinul’s musical mystery tour from its initial<br />
improv-based approach to the latter grooveoriented<br />
tracks. Over the years, Zawinul and<br />
Shorter gathered an ever-shifting dream team<br />
that included bassists Pastorius, Miroslav<br />
Vitous, and Victor Bailey; percussionists Dom<br />
Um Ramao, Airto Moreira, Jose Rossy, Mino<br />
Cinula, and Robert Thomas Jr.; and drummers<br />
Alphonze Mouzon, Omar Hakim, and Peter<br />
Erskine. The impeccable jar drumming by<br />
Marungo-Israeli on the 12-minute original<br />
of “125th Street Progress” is alone worth the<br />
price of admission.<br />
Sonically, Forecast: Tomorrow mirrors the<br />
changing recording technology of the 1960s,<br />
70s, and 80s. The annoying tape hiss that<br />
marred earlier versions of “In a Silent Way”<br />
is still here. But for the most part, these<br />
recordings—first reissued in 2002 as digitally<br />
remastered albums—sound great, with an<br />
expansive soundstage to match Zawinul’s<br />
lofty vision and plenty of punch to capture<br />
the lyrical genius of Pastorius’ fretless electric<br />
bass. Greg Cahill<br />
Further Listening: Miles Davis: In<br />
a Silent Way; Jaco Pastorius: Jaco<br />
Pastorius<br />
SACD<br />
Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet:<br />
Way Out East.<br />
Hybrid multichannel. Songlines 1558. Wayne Horvitz and<br />
Tony Reif, producers.<br />
Seattle-based composer, pianist, electronic musician, and bandleader Wayne<br />
Horvitz paints richly textured, impressionistic soundscapes that blend what he<br />
calls “through-composed” chamber music and group improvisation. Here he<br />
enlists three key figures from the avant-jazz scene: cellist Peggy Lee, bassoonist<br />
Sara Schoenbeck, and trumpet player Ron Miles. They are players whose<br />
individual resumes include stints with Bill Frisell, Dave Douglas, Nels Cline, and<br />
Quincy Jones, to name a few.<br />
Way Out East is composed of delicate miniatures that serve as a canvas for the<br />
Horvitz and his compatriots. The arrangements are sparse, the playing fluid, the<br />
mood sometimes playful and often somber, with a sadness that is reflected in the<br />
CD cover art—bare, frost-covered trees craning from a snowy white field on the<br />
outskirts of Prague, the city’s gaunt, gray skyline shrouded in mist. This austere<br />
palette is familiar to Horvitz fans; his recent works include last year’s melancholy Whispers, Hymn and a Murmur for string quartet.<br />
Despite its stark beauty, Way Out East harbors complex musical ideas. The opening track, “L.B.,” an homage to Leonard Bernstein, is built around a harmonic<br />
device from the musical West Side Story. The title track finds the group exploring early jazz melodies mingled with warmly textured modern harmonies. “Berlin<br />
1914,” a holdover from a one-off concert project that first teamed Horvitz a few years ago with Lee and Miles, is crafted around a deceptively simple series of<br />
two-note couplets. On “Between Here and Heaven” the players, especially Lee and Schoenbeck, explore the harmonic boundaries of their acoustic instruments<br />
while Horvitz lays down a light dusting of electronic ambient sound that would make Brian Eno proud. In the liner notes, Horvitz says that the Gravitas Quartet<br />
is a dream project; this music certainly has a dreamlike quality that’s hard to resist.<br />
This hybrid multichannel 5.0 recording has impressive separation all around, in both stereo and surround-sound mode, giving lifelike reproduction to<br />
instruments that seem to ebb and flow from the unconscious. GC<br />
Further Listening: Wayne Horvitz: Whispers, Hymns and a Murmur; Dave Douglas: Mountain Passages<br />
October 2006 The Absolute Sound 167
BACK PAGE<br />
13 Questions for<br />
EveAnna Manley,<br />
President, Manley<br />
Laboratories, Inc.<br />
Neil Gader<br />
How does an industry known for classical and jazz geeks accept your<br />
rock ’n’ roll persona<br />
Maybe they don’t. Maybe the closet snobs out there just turn up their<br />
noses at someone like me. I seem to seek out the rock ’n’ rollers.<br />
What was the system you dreamed about as a teenager<br />
I worked really hard cutting grass and framing pictures saving up<br />
for my first serious mid-fi system, which was a Kenwood receiver,<br />
an Akai tape deck. and a Technics turntable. That’s what I was<br />
dreaming of in high school. I forgot about the Fisher 500C receiver<br />
that I grew up with, because tubes did not rule in the 80s.<br />
How about the music that set you on the high-end path<br />
Maynard Ferguson, MF I and MF II. Bill Chase. More trumpety stuff<br />
like The Ides of March Vehicle album, I remember spinning that one<br />
a lot. And all the Beatles stuff, I was very into that.<br />
You played trumpet<br />
I learned trumpet after I got my braces off in 8th grade. But mainly<br />
I played clarinets and saxes in high school and college.<br />
What side of the argument do you come down on: analog or digital<br />
There’s a time and place for either, realistically. Like here at work I don’t<br />
have time to clean off records, so I just spin a CD or play some crap off<br />
my computer. At home if I want to get really into it, I’ll take the time.<br />
Is there one thing that people don’t get about your product<br />
I don’t think they appreciate how decently priced they are in the<br />
marketplace compared to some other stuff that’s way more expensive.<br />
Watt for watt, it comes out pretty decently priced for USA-built gear.<br />
What’s the biggest mistake buyers make when assembling a system<br />
from the ground up<br />
The wrong order in purchasing. Okay, I’m gong to buy this 50W tube<br />
amp, and now I’m going to buy 84dB-efficient speakers. Wrong!<br />
You got to think of everything together or go in a certain order—like<br />
speakers first and then the right amp to drive them, impedance and<br />
efficiency considered. That’s the worst offense I normally see. People<br />
paint themselves into a corner by not purchasing in the right order.<br />
What is the biggest innovation you’ve seen in your field in the last<br />
10 years<br />
Nothing that we’re doing! Let’s get real—iTunes has probably changed<br />
the industry more than anything, and Napster before that. Honestly it’s<br />
the whole MP3 revolution that’s killing the traditional model.<br />
What will you be listening to your music on in 10 years<br />
Probably the successor to the iPod.<br />
The biggest incidence of quackery<br />
I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that it may incriminate<br />
me...that or I am much too polite to name names or out anyone.<br />
Your company produces gear with names like Prawn, Snapper,<br />
Shrimp, Steelhead. What’s the deal with the fish<br />
I like scuba diving and a lot of those names are double entendres.<br />
We’re just having fun. Because I think fun is lacking in this industry.<br />
Any guidance for young women interested in becoming players in<br />
this industry<br />
Personally I never thought about it as male or female. I just do what<br />
I need to do to excel at what I want to achieve. What it was about<br />
for me was when I got started young and I wasn’t afraid to tackle<br />
anything—building gear, soldering, learning geeky things. For me I<br />
never saw a gender differential.<br />
Best advice from an old pro<br />
I’ll tell you what one of my pet peeves is: When folks call me up with<br />
a whole scenario already worked up in their heads just looking for<br />
self-validation from me. Why bother Why even bother me with this<br />
Do your research and be confident in your audio gear choices. Allow<br />
your dealer to help you. It’s not so important that it should get in the<br />
way of enjoying the tunes and the music, and nothing in hi-fi can’t<br />
be undone or changed, anyway. Hell, I’ve been driving the same car<br />
since 1996.<br />
168 October 2006 The Absolute Sound