A terrific tube preamplifier from Korea

Transcription

No. 89 CAN $6.49 / US $7.69
RETURN LABELS ONLY
OF UNDELIVERED COPIES TO:
270 rue Victoria,
Longueuil, QC, Canada J4H 2J6
Printed in Canada
ELECTRONICS: A terrific tube preamplifier
from Korea, and a British phono preamp
MORE REVIEWS: A German speaker with
a Heil tweeter, and a new high-definition
digital-to-analog converter from Simaudio
PLUS: We put an LED-lit LCD set against our
reference plasma HDTV, we investigate 3D
and discover a nest of phony 3D, we explain
the basics of a home music server, and we
bring back the good (and so-so) news from
the Vegas and Montreal shows
ISSN 0847-1851
Canadian Publication Sales
Product Agreement
No. 40065638
Luxury audio electronics of unique value and reference quality at unique prices.
Some of the best-built high-end products ever made
The legendary Van den Hul amplifiers and preamps at less than half the original price
M-1 Monoblocks, US$7350 now C$2995
A-1 Preamplifier, US$3895 now C$1685
See them at:
www.audiophileboutique.com
New, with one-year North American warranty
Billed in Canadian dollars, currently trading around US$0.98
ALSO AT THE AUDIOPHILE BOUTIQUE:
Moon phono preamplifiers and digital-to-analog converters,
Thorens turntables, Goldring phono cartridges with line contact
stylus, and more.
audiophileboutique.com
a division of UHF Magazine
contact@audiophileboutique.com
(450) 651-5720
What do we know about
indoor FM and TV antennas
that they don’t?
A lot, it turns out. With the stampede to satellite and cable
over the past 20 years, the design of dipole antennas has been
left to the makers of junk.
It was years ago that UHF designed a high-quality antenna for
its own use. It was so good we offered it for sale as the Super
Antenna, and saw thousands of them sold. Why? Because it’s better.
In this, the Super Antenna’s third incarnation, we buy one of
those trashy antennas, rip everything out until we are left with
the rods and the case, and we rebuild it. We add our own highquality transformer (can you believe the junk antenna didn’t
even have one?), and a luxurious low-loss quadruple-shielded
cable with a 24K gold-plated F-connector.
The broadband design covers the range from analog channels 2 to 69, including the
entire FM band. And yes, it does a fine job with the full range of digital channels,
including over-the-air HDTV.
SEE THE SUPER ANTENNA MkIII at The Audiophile Store, page 57
Nuts&Bolts
Inside Computer Music
by Paul Bergman
You know the names of the pieces of a music
system. At least until the music is on the cloud.
30
The Listening Room
When 3-D Falls Flat
34
You’ve heard lots about 3D movies. Have you heard
about phony 3D?
Issue No. 89
LED TV vs Plasma
It’s a given that LED backlighting beats a
fluorescent tube. But is it reference quality?
36
The Listening Room
Moon 300D
Simaudio releases the first of a pair of (relatively)
affordable digital-to-analog converters. The first
customer: us!
40
Allnic L-1500 Preamplifier
44
This hand-built tube unit from Korea takes on the
big brands, and leaves an impression.
Leema Elements Phono Preamp
A tiny box, a wall wart, and a possibly ridiculous
price…is it worth your attention? Er…perhaps.
48
ELAC FS 249 Loudspeaker
50
It includes the company’s version of the Heil Air
Motion Transformers, one of our all-time favorites.
The job of the rest of the speaker: keeping up.
Trends Audio Headphone Amp
This Honk Kong company takes small boxes and
stuffs them with goodies.
Cover story: Two of the four drivers of the ELAC
FS 249 loudspeaker, reviewed in this issue. Behind
is the easily-recognizable planet Saturn, and a
starfield with something other than natural colors.
Software
Feature
Vegas 2010
18
by Gerard Rejskind
Can CES survive the global meltdown? This would
be the show that told the tale, and our editor goes
exploring.
Montréal 2010
26
by Gerard Rejskind
The Montreal Festival gets a new name and venue.
Touring the Salon
by Albert Simon
Albert and friends picks out the best of Montréal
2010.
54
27
Rachmaninoff, the Neo-Romantic
by Toby Earp
Is it all right to create 19th Century music in a
century that considered itself too modern? Sergei
Rachmaninoff did, and was adored for it.
63
Software Reviews
by Steve Bourke, Gerard Rejskind and Albert Simon
69
Departments
Editorial
Feedback
Free Advice
Gossip & News
State of the Art
4
7
10
76
82
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine    3    
UHF Magazine No. 89 was published in December, 2010.
All contents are copyright 2010 by Broadcast Canada. They
may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher.
EDITORIAL & SUBSCRIPTION OFFICE:
Broadcast Canada
270 rue Victoria
LONGUEUIL, Québec, Canada J4H 2J6
Tel.: (450) 651-5720 FAX: (450) 651-3383
E-mail: uhfmail@uhfmag.com
World Wide Web: www.uhfmag.com
PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Gerard Rejskind
EDITORIAL: Paul Bergman, Steve Bourke, Toby Earp,
Albert Simon
PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY: Albert Simon
ADVERTISING SALES:
Alberta & BC: Derek Coates (604) 522-6168
Other: Gerard Rejskind (450) 651-5720
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ISSN 0847-1851
Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product No. 0611387
UHF invites contributions. Though all reasonable care will
be taken of materials submitted, we cannot be responsible
for their damage or loss, however caused. Materials will
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4   ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Editorial
My health bulletin
This issue of UHF is wildly behind schedule. It’s my fault…or rather the
fault of an obscure bacterium with the beguiling name of Aerococcus Viridans.
Go ahead and Google it, but you won’t come up with much.
It was the end of winter when it became evident that my health was failing,
and my work was falling ever more behind. This issue was close to completion,
but my work just wasn’t getting done. By early July I was in hospital with a
mysterious disease. Liver? Digestive system? Kidneys? Diabetes? Cancer? A
team of doctors at the Charles-Lemoyne hospital ordered batch after batch
of high-tech tests that, initially, came up with similarly puzzling results: I was
in great shape.
Oh, except that I was sick and getting sicker.
It took several days, but the truth eventually came out. An exotic bacterium
referenced but a dozen times in medical literature had settled on one of my
heart valves and destroyed it. As my systems began to shut down, one by one
(think Jurassic Park), I was transferred to Montreal’s Royal Victoria hospital
for urgent open-heart surgery. The operation was surprisingly routine; I
remember when, if someone in town had that sort of surgery, there would
be daily front-page bulletins in the local newspapers. Within six days I was
home, and gradually (very gradually) I returned to work.
The fact that I was otherwise in good health made a thorough recovery
possible, and I’m feeling stronger than I had been in a long time.
It’s thanks to my colleagues that things more or less held together at the
magazine, but we’re a small team, and we don’t have a lot of redundancy either.
Particularly warm thanks are due to Lise Lalonde, the angel who led me into
a quick recovery.
Now where was I before I was so rudely interrupted?
Music Features
The lead article of our Software section had long been written by Reine
Lessard. She wrote, in fact, 51 of them, in considerably more than half the
issues. Reine had, however, been phasing out her work at the magazine, and
is no longer in a position to do the heavy-duty research necessary to create
the articles she is famous for.
It’s not impossible you’ll still see her byline here and there, but in the meantime the music article for this issue is from Toby Earp. Toby is a long-time
reader and a sophisticated music connoisseur, and last year he also became
one of our equipment reviewers. We welcome him as a contributor on the
all-important subject of music as well.
In his first article he looks at Sergei Rachmaninoff. Born in Russia, dying
(in 1943) in Hollywood, Rachmaninoff was a prodigious pianist. As a composer
he carried the torch of 19th Century Romantic music into the 20th Century. I
think you’ll find the article interesting, and it may steer you in the direction
of seeking out his music.
You could do worse.
I HATE DOG EARS! (SORRY FIDO)
We’re like you. We hate those folded-down corners on magazines we just
paid good money for. Who can blame us? May we suggest a solution?
We’ve noticed something. Strangely enough it’s the expensive copy
that’s likely to be tattered, torn, and… yes, dog-eared. We mean
the newsstand copy.
The reason is obvious. Where do copies sit around unprotected?
At the newsstand. Where do other people leaf through them
before you arrive, with remains of lunch on their fingers? At the
newsstand. Where do they stick on little labels you can’t even peel
off? Beats us why, but they do.
Our subscribers, on the other hand, get pristine copies protected
in plastic, with the address label pasted on the plastic itself, not the cover.
We know what you really want is a perfect copy, and the fact you subscribed and
paid a little less doesn’t mean you’ll settle for less.
As if that weren’t reason enough, there’s the fact that with a subscription you
qualify for a discount on one or all three of our much-praised books on hi-fi (see
the offer on the other side of this page).
One more thing. Some newsstands run out of UHF four days after the copies
arrive. Have you missed copies?
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Much, much more to read…
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It’s a practical manual for the discovery and
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Feedback
270 rue Victoria
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uhfmail@uhfmag.com
I’m looking forward to the Simaudio
review. Simaudio products are mostly
top-tier, and the price point of the 300D
DAC is within reach of most — unlike
much of Simaudio’s product line, alas.
I’ve been searching for a no compromise
DAC, higher end than the DacMagic
reviewed last issue, but not one that’s
stratospherically priced. Impossible?
I’ll be relying heavily on UHF’s review
panel as usual.
If I’m doubtful of most other magazine’s reviews of analog products, my
reservations are multiplied for digital
products. Most seem to think that an
iPod connected via its headphone jack to
a receiver equals perfection. Euuwww!
Jeff Tennant
Burlington, ON
P.S. Please don’t forget to test the
Simaudio’s USB port (ha, ha).
The review is in this issue, Jeff, and no
we didn’t forget the USB. We also bought a
300D for ourselves.
For many years I’ve respected (but
not necessarily agreed with) your views
on matters dealing with music, acoustics, equipment, composers, etc.
I read on the BBC Website that Linn
is ending CD production. It said discerning customers recognize the superior
quality of digital streaming. Linn has
pointed out that sales have come down,
yet it continues to manufacture the LP12
and Majik LP12 turntables.
How do you interpret this news? Is
this the beginning of the end of the CD
player? Do you think that the CD will
continue to survive amongst limited
manufacturers like the turntable?
Larry Byrd
SCARBOROUGH, ON
Linn has been reading the writing on the
wall, Larry, and it is written rather larger
in Europe than ( for the moment) in North
America. Downloads are selling well, as is
the reinvigorated LP, and in between is a
black hole, with the CD — or at least the
CD player— falling into it.
In fact the trend reveals more than that.
Compact Discs are still a major support for
music, but more and more buyers are loading
them onto their hard drives, not their CD
players. We decided some time ago we would
no longer review CD players without digital
inputs, for use with a computer. Though we
expect the CD to be around for a long time,
it will be just one source among several.
Have you considered making UHF
available on Kindle? For those of us far,
far, far away ( I am now in the DRC), the
Kindle is a great way to access newspaper
or magazine. Every day I have in my bag
The New York Times, The Economist, or
Le Monde. I get them in the morning
and keep them with me, whether I have
access to a Web page or not.
A s of now, I don’t even bot her
downloading the versions you have in
your Reading Room. They take 30 to 60
minutes to download. This is too heavy.
Can we expect such a version any time
soon?
Samir Jahjah
Kinshasa
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Kindle is well suited to books and even
to newspaper articles, but it has neither the
resolution nor the tonal nuances to handle
a magazine with graphical content like
UHF. We do expect to be on the iPad (we
are now official developers), but that will
still require a considerable download time.
Most magazines seem to be going in the same
direction.
Let me first of all congratulate you
for your excellent work.
I’m writing because I’m left perplexed by technological changes in the
hi-fi industry. I’ve been reading you for
some 20 years, and I understand the
importance of the source component in
order to extract the maximum amount of
information from the medium, whether
CD or vinyl. So I was astonished, last
week, to find in my record shop the
Beatles record collection on…a USB
key. Can such a key really contain all
the information present on a CD? I
know it may have greater capacity (as
much as 16 GB), but is the quality of the
information adequate to transmit all of
the musical nuances?
More and more music is being stored
on hard drives. Even Linn favors that
approach. But can a hard drive costing
under $200 really give the same sonic
quality as the old disc? Also, if music
is transferred to a computer or from a
computer, that implies the use of a cable,
and therefore a theoretical quality loss.
I could be wrong, but I’m worried
about the future of high fidelity.
Jean Dufresne
SHERBROOKE, QC
It’s a concern we have shared ourselves,
Jean, but we have since observed that with
advancing technology it is now possible to
get surprising quality from a computer, and
even to match the sound of all but the very
best audiophile-grade CD players. Read our
review of the Moon 300D DAC in this issue,
and you’ll have a hint of what’s possible even
today. But we’re with you on the question of
the USB key.
On a cold evening in January I was
flipping though some back issues of UHF
(and listening to Mahler — the two seem
to go together), and I saw an article I
never thought I would see in the audio
press, Is Hi-Fi Too Expensive? (in UHF
No. 84). I’m writing to comment on
the article and the responses that follow
by both you and Costa Koulisakis of
Simaudio.
Not only did Mr. Meyers dare to
address the elephant in the room of
high fidelity — the astronomical costs
of the equipment — he did so in an
extremely effective way, by emphasizing
the opportunity cost of other purchases
or savings that could be made with the
same amount of discretionary income. I don’t believe Mr. Meyers was against
owning expensive stereo equipment, brottmusic.com) it is Canada’s only
Brian, perhaps not everyone has caught on
but rather was critiquing the spiral of transitional orchestra for younger to the fact that home theatre systems have an
consumerism that audiophiles fall into musicians who are apprenticing to turn odd number of full-range channels. Several
by reading stereo reviews after entering professional. They are often joined by companies do make a single wire which they
into the pastime. The main message I members of larger classical orchestras call a subwoofer cable, but that doesn’t really
discerned from his article was to think and the quality of musicianship is very solve the problem.
carefully and critically before spending good. As many are concerned about the
on the next potential stereo upgrade not future of classical music, the best thing
Is HDCD completely dead now or,
just frame the question as what is the best to do is leave your music listening room is there someone still putting out the
to buy next.
once in a while to listen to live music to odd HDCD-encoded disk? I thought
To this point I would like to add my support and encourage younger musi- they were great sounding and as close as
own: there are many musicians strug- cians such as these. you could get to the warmness of vinyl
gling very hard to continue to strive for
Our larger cities have exceptional LPs.
innovation and excellence in their craft. jazz scenes with great festivals such as
Bob Salsbury
While the author soberly makes the the Montreal Jazz Festival. However,
BATH, ON
comparison between the prices of new, supporting local musicians so they can
state-of-the-art, high end equipment advance to these levels is essential; I
We like it too, Bob. Reference Recordings
and paying down one’s mortgage, I’d highly recommend regular visits to The is the main source, and they continue to
like to add the comparison of acquiring Rex Hotel and Gate 403 in Toronto release HDCD titles. There’s also a lot of
new stereo equipment vs. attending live as well as The Orbit Room, The Pilot back catalog in HDCD, mostly from small
music. and The Reservoir Lounge. Musicians labels. Some major labels release HDCD
For every new pair of interconnects thrive not just from financial support titles too, but they may not carry the logo,
one considers buying or for every new but also from your attentive attendance because by the time the CD is mastered the
component one considers purchasing- in at their performances. artwork is already done.
thousands or tens of thousand, is there
I recently heard the reproduction of
a missed benefit of spending some or all a Blues singer on a $100,000 system at a
I am a long-time subscriber to UHF
of that money instead on experiencing local dealer’s store. I was struck by the magazine: I started with Issue No. 9
music live? was
bitter irony that the musician himself whengeits, th
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ingtheir
product reviews. As sublime
lookas
recording are, they will never match the is also a surround system. My preference concluded their experiments. My father,
is to match the left, centre and right Guy Rafuse, also worked at Bell Labs
experience of seeing them live. Here is the best part. While I have channels with the same interconnects in those days and clearly remembered
seen both a few times playing with the and speaker cable. I was wondering the recordings that his brother and
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where why everything must be purchased in Keller did with Stokowski in 1932. He
tickets have been at over $120 each (but pairs. Why can they not be purchased also had clear memories of even earlier
experiments that Keller and his brother
still well worth it), both played the fol- separately?
I realize that this is not something performed in 1928. Dad wrote some
lowing year with the National Academy
Orchestra with ticket prices at $30 that is going to happen right away for me notes of his experience with some of
each! Moreover, James Ehnes played but it would be great if you also consid- these experiments: you may be interested
at Melrose United Church in Hamilton ered this as an important criticism of the in his comments:
I followed Irad into an empty soundproof
where the setting was intimate and the audio industry. Perhaps some industry
minds could be changed.
room, sat on a stool in the middle of it, and
acoustics phenomenal.
Brian Holt put on a pair of headphones. Irad went out
For t hose u nfam iliar w it h t he
PUSLINCH, ON and closed the door. In a few moments he
National Academy Orchestra (www.
Feedback
r active!
e
t
n
i
s
i
e
n
i
l
UHF on
started talking to me and I was startled to
In the opening, a series of white dots character of relief and localization which
realize that I knew where he was as he walked move across the screen, and then open up a single receiver cannot produce… As
invisibly around the room I was in. He would into the shot made through the barrel. soon as the experiment commences the
come up and whisper into my right ear, then The barrel is trained on a seemingly singers place themselves, in the mind of
walk around in front of me, then behind nonchalant James Bond as he walks, the the listener, at a fixed distance, some to
me, talking all the while. It was almost holder of which Bond suddenly turns to the right and others to the left. It is easy
supernatural, particularly when I turned and shoots. Thus, one might consider to follow their movements, and to indimy head and the room he was in rotated that the scene shows not a “victim,” but cate exactly, each time that they change
with me. He stopped talking, came back to rather an assassin foiled by an act of self their position, the imaginary distance at
where I was, and took me into the other room. defense.
which they appear to be. This phenomThere was “Oscar,” a life-sized and lifelike
The white dots are meant to evoke enon is very curious, it approximates to
rubber human head on a pedestal. It had the thought of gunshots, from which the theory of binauriclar auduition [sp?],
a microphone buried in each ear and they it makes sense to ‘pull back’ to the per- and has never been applied, we believe,
were connected, through amplifiers, to my spective of the barrel. In The Incredible before to produce this remarkable illuheadphones. It was a perfect demonstration World of 007: An Authorized Celebration of sion to which may almost be given the
of binaural transmission.
James Bond (Pfeiffer, Lee & Lisa, Philip, name of auditive perspective.”
It was only later that Bell Labs gave 1995, page 200) Binder recalls, “That
The entire article can be viewed
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name. However, these two approaches,
article states, “We’re not certain where
In 1881, Clément Ader used a series of along with an intermediate setup called
the ‘gun barrel’ appellation came from, telephone pickups installed at the Paris a near-coincident pair (ORTF, etc.),
but it is clearly wrong, because no gun Opera to transmit live performances form the three basic techniques most
barrel looks like that. The spiral pattern to the Paris Electrical Exhibition, with often considered by purists for stereo
is that of a human eye, seen from the pickup and one receiver for each ear. recording. As the late Robert Fine, Bert
inside.”
The December 31, 1881 issue of Scientific Whyte, and many others have found out,
Interestingly, the source of the “gun American (pages 422–423) reported, you can make some extremely satisfying
barrel appellation” is Maurice Binder, “One of the most popular attractions stereo with two or three spaced mics.
who created the title sequence for Dr. No. at the Paris Electrical Exhibition is the
Many thanks, by the way, for an
The shot is of stunt man Bob Simmons nightly demonstration of the marvel- excellent magazine.
in silhouette, and was made through an ous powers of the Ader telephone, by
Kevin Hayes
actual .38 caliber barrel by means of a pin its transmission of the singing on the
VAC/Valve Amplification Co., Inc.
hole lens, which was required to achieve stage and the music in the orchestra of
Sarasota, FL
sufficient depth of field to show the the Grand Opera at Paris, to a suite of
Thanks for all this historical information,
groove patterns in the barrel (see James four rooms reserved for the purpose
Bond: The Legacy by Cork, John & Scivally, in one of the galleries of the Palais de Kevin. We know your knowledge of recordBruce, 2002, page 46.). Incidentally, these l’Industrie… Everyone who has been ings doesn’t stop at making equipment to
grooves are known as a ‘rifling pattern’, fortunate enough to hear the telephones reproduce them. Concerning the Bond “gun
the purpose of which is to impart spin at the Palais de l’Industrie has remarked barrel” sequences, we’re willing to believe
to the projectile, thus helping stabilize that, in listening with both ears at the what you say, but if it’s a rifle what’s up
its flight.
two telephones, the sound takes a special with the blood?
Why a free vers
ion?
Feedback
Free Advice
270 rue Victoria
Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4H 2J6
uhfmail@uhfmag.com
I am about to buy a widescreen TV
for my sitting room. The 16:9 ratio never
made sense to me, and I noticed Philips
has just brought out a 21:9. I know at
the moment it’s only in the UK, but for
all those people like me who hate those
black bars top and bottom, this would be
a great idea.
Does this dimension make sense to
you? Is it worth the wait till they arrive
here?
Graham Kelly
EDMONTON, AB
You may be waiting a long time,
Graham, since Philips doesn’t focus its
marketing on North America. It can
certainly be argued that 16:9 isn’t wide
enough, with the result that you still get
black bars above and below the image on
some movies, but actually movies come
in many different aspect ratios, and one
size definitely does not fit all. Imagine
the huge black bars you would then get
on the sides of a 16:9 television image!
Our own view is that if you’ve aligned
your HDTV to give you proper blacks,
and if you view it in a darkened room,
which those who love movies are wont to
do, you won’t even know whether there
are black bars above, below, or alongside
the picture.
I have a Cambridge Audio 550A
amplifier and a pair of Monitor Audio
RS1 speakers. I have my system connected such that the amplifier “Speaker
A” terminals are connected to the speaker
HF (tweeters) terminals, and the amplifier “Speaker B” terminals connected to
the speaker LF (woofers) terminals. The
terminal plates, which normally connect
the HF and LF terminals of the speakers,
have been removed.
My amplifier is rated for 60 watts
into 8 ohms. The speakers have a 6 ohm
impedance. The user’s manual clearly
states that, “When using two pairs of
speakers, use speakers with a nominal
impedance of 8 ohms each.” I am concerned that I may be damaging my speakers with this type of configuration.
I have been in contact with both
Cambridge Audio and Monitor Audio,
and they have provided me with contradictory information. Cambridge has
told me my setup is completely safe and
considers it a bi-wire configuration.
Monitor Audio has stated that it is a
bi-amp configuration and that each HF
and LF loads (i.e. tweeter and woofer)
each act as 6 ohms. I would really appreciate it if someone who has experience in
this subject could shed some light on the
issue.
George Ilich
TORONTO, ON
Cambridge Audio is correct, George,
and the setup you propose is completely
safe. Monitor Audio replied to you, we
think, without really looking over your
Cambridge amplifier. The twin sets of
outputs are simply paralleled, and they
are provided for convenience. What you
are proposing is not biamplification (you
can’t biamplify with just two channels
of amplification, unless you’re restricting yourself to mono). Since most amps
don’t have double output posts, biwiring
is usually done by joining the two cables
at the amplifier end. What you propose
to do is electrically equivalent.
I noticed that the home theatre
speakers in your Kappa system are from
different companies. I have been told
that they need to be from one company
in order to have the same tonal/volume
balance from speaker to speaker.
My system so far consists of McIntosh SL-6 tower speakers, NAD A/V
receiver, and Denon DV D/SACD
player.
Can I buy the centre, subwoofer, and
rear speakers from different companies?
What should I watch out for?
Luther Rasmussen
LOVELAND, CO
This question was controversial when
we first put together our Kappa system,
Luther. We did the mixing and matching
for a particular reason, namely the fact
that we already owned (but were not
using) four speakers of extraordinary
quality.
The Energy Reference Connoisseurs
used for the left and right front channels
were once our main audio reference
speakers, and would be difficult to match
today at anything resembling what we
could then spare in our budget. For the
rear we needed potent but very compact
speakers, and on our shelf was a pair of
Elipson 1400’s that were exactly what
we wanted. Using two pairs of large
and expensive speakers might have
been ideal, but neither the space nor the
budget made that an option.
We did, however, require a new
centre speaker, and our review of several potential models revealed what we
already knew. A centre speaker may have
the same model name as the main speakers, yet sound as though they had come
from different designers. In our review
we found two speakers that were of what
we considered reference performance:
the JMLab (Focal) Electra CC 900 and
the Thiel MCS1. By using white noise
(our preamp/processor supplies it on
demand) we determined that the Thiel
had a personality that was astonishingly
close to that of our Energy speakers, and
it therefore became our choice.
Volume matching is not a problem,
since each speaker has its own amplifier.
Better receivers and preamp-processors
will even match the levels automatically
with the use of a microphone at the
listening position.
I recently bought a Bryston BDA1
DAC and have tried listening comparisons between the CD player DAC and
running the player as a transport for the
DAC. I do not hear much of a difference.
I had been expecting CDs to sound
better, given that the CD player DAC is
seven years old.
I’m using a Cardas Lightning cable,
1 metre in length. I know you guys
have mentioned using a 1.5 m cable, but
really? Are my expectations too high,
maybe? So far I like vinyl for the most
part, unless I listen to a well-recorded
CD…it seems as though the vinyl always
sounds right.
I have a Mac mini and would like to
stream using the Airport Express. How
do I make sure I get the best possible
sound? I encode my CDs using the Apple
Lossless format in iTunes — you guys
recommended this some time ago. What
about 24-bit audio though? I’m thinking
of recording my vinyl to the Mac.
I have a hard time trusting anyone
else with these. I have never been led
astray. Thanks for producing a top notch
audio magazine that we Audionuts can
put faith in.
Jamie Irwin
BRANTFORD, ON
First I want to mention that the latest
Festival son et image held in March
in Montreal has been the very best I
have attended over the last 10 years
or so. A very interesting selection of
products in all price ranges focusing on
high fidelity rather than home theatre
or other flavor of the day. Good marks
to the organizers.
I have been slowly upgrading for
years and I have a system that mostly
pleases me and seems balanced except
for two things: my speakers cables, and
to a lesser extent my speakers. I own a
Linn Ikemi CD player, a YBA Intégré
and a pair of Castle Eden speakers. I have
a good power cable, interconnects and
power filter. The Edens are great, no
doubt about that, but I feel that with
the quality of the upstream gear I could
benefit from more high end speakers. Am I in my right mind? I am looking
for speakers in the range of the Harbeth
HL5 that I really enjoyed through a
short listening. Any experience with the
Spendor A6, theDevor Fidelity speakers
(Gibbons 9) or Sonus Faber and Vienna
Acoustic that you haven’t reviewed?
That brings us to the speaker cables,
I still own the ones I have bought 10
years ago; a relatively basic Prisma cable
that cost about $120 for a 20 feet length.
I consider them very decent but limited.
A ny suggestion in the $500-$1000
range? It is a zoo out there for cables.
One of the options I have are the Van
den Hul Wind Mk2 (hybrid). Have you
any idea about their quality? One interesting thing about them is that they are
sold in bulk, so I could re-use the WBT
nextgen connectors I have and like very
much. My local dealer is proposing not
to put sleeves on the wire if I use the
WBT to avoid an additional contact or
layer. Does it make sense, or would I be
compromising the quality of the sound
and the structural integrity of the cable
itself, made of a copper center with a
silver outside layer I think?
A different dealer told me to wait
after I have bought my new speakers
before I change the speakers cables to
fine-tune the match. Financially, I would
not have to compromise the quality of
one for the other so that does not make
a big difference for me. However, I have
never believed in compensating the deficiencies of one product with the different
deficiencies or strengths of another.
That simply does not work. As they say
in English, two wrongs don’t make a
right.
André Pelletier
MONTRÉAL, QC
Advice
Feedback
Free
Jamie, there can be several reasons
why the highly-rated Bryston DAC
brought no improvement. You don’t
mention the brand and model of your
CD player, but we note that it is old
enough to have needed a laser replacement. There may be limitations in the
older design that determine the ultimate
sound. The replacement laser may not be
of identical design, and indeed models
change so fast that you can pretty much
count on it. Finally, there really are
advantages to a well-designed single-box
player, particularly in limiting jitter.
Yes, we’ve determined (in a blind
test!) that a 1.5 metre digital cable will
give better results than the traditional
1 m cable. Whether changing that cable
will give you all you had been hoping for
is unknown. You are not alone in finding
good analog to “sound right.”
For our latest experience with streaming audio using Airport Express, see our
review of the Moon 300D DAC in this
issue. You’ll see how we went about getting the best possible performance from
music stored on our computer hard drive.
We warmly recommend the Airport
Express, and we use one ourselves, but
its current version won’t handle highresolution music. However your Mac
mini will, if you can run an optical cable
from its digital output to your Bryston
DAC. The current version of Mac OS
X (Snow Leopard) can output signals
of 24 bits and 96 kHz, and some available software packages can add further
options.
Get UHF on your desktop
anywhere in the world!
You may in fact look to a replacement for
it first.
We have reviewed several Van den
Hul cables we have liked, though not
the Wind. We strongly disagree with
the idea of using the WBT nextgen
connectors without sleeves. True, the
gold sleeve will add a third metal to the
already diverse copper-silver mix, but
using the connector screws to clamp bare
strands in place will result in an incomplete and inconsistent termination. It’s
easy to see that some strands will be
clamped, but most will not. Each of the
connections will have different characteristics. We don’t know what the final
result will sound like, but it’s not what
we would look forward to hearing.
Imagine getting an issue of UHF anywhere you live
for C$4.30 including all taxes.
Imagine subscribing for as little as C$21.50.
Anywhere!
I recently purchased a Krell S-300i
integrated amplifier. I should have
listened to it first, but I wanted an affordable Krell because of the name. Well, to
make a long story short, I would like to
know if buying a warmer-sounding CD
would improve the clinical quality the
Krell lends to the music. Even if this does
not improve the overall effect, I need to
upgrade my old Denon.
I am leaning towards two players: the
Arcam FMJ CD37, because it will play
SACD and I would like to hear if there
is really a substantial improvement over
CDs, and the Simaudio Nova. I have
not had an opportunity to hear either,
because I live in New Mexico and the
stores in this area are all mass-market.
I have read conflicting Internet forums
concerning the musical character of
these players.
I will eventually want to upgrade my
speakers also. I currently have B&W
DM600 series and saw some B&W
703’s at a neighbor’s house, and they
sound very good. I would not mind your
opinion concerning the kinds of speakers
as well. I primarily play rock and electronica, but I have a varied taste in music.
I am interested in getting richness and
warmth and nothing overly fatiguing to
listen to.
I am afraid I made the wrong choice
with the Krell, but if there is a way to
compensate for its shortcomings I would
greatly appreciate the advice.
Leslie Ambrose
NEW MEXICO
www.magzee.com
Advice
Feedback
Free
We agree with that completely,
André. Some cable manufacturers, and
therefore their dealers, believe in using
cables as crude (and very expensive) tone
controls. We don’t. More generally,
nor do we believe in using cables or
any other peripheral upgrade as some
sort of miracle pill which will somehow
make the pain go away. A good cable can
enhance the resolution of a good system
and make it even better. If it merely
masks the flaws (and, generally, musical
detail along with it), it isn’t worth the
high cost.
Your system is a nicely-balanced one,
with no obvious weak spots. You could
certainly improve it with speakers such
as the Harbeths or Spendors. The Sonus
Faber and Vienna Acoustics models are
especially attractive choices too, but then
you’re drifting beyond the comfort zone
of your YBA Intégré amplifier. That
amplifier is very good, and was arguably
the first true high end integrated amp on
the North American market, especially
on the strength of its refined preamp
section, but it has limited muscle, even
in its DT (double transformer) version.
Advice
Feedback
Free
Leslie, it’s painful to realize that an
expensive purchase (and even in its basic
models Krell is not in the bargain business) has turned out to be a mistake, but
of course the last thing you want to do is
compound the error by a second wrong
choice. Take a deep breath, and look at
the possibilities.
You have the disadvantage of being
far from real hi-fi stores, but you do have
a neighbor who has a pair of speakers that
pleased you. Would he let you bring your
Krell over and see how it sounds with
his system? You might want to offer to
wash his car or something! Bring along
some of the recordings that disappointed
you at home, and see whether they also
disappoint you at your neighbor’s place,
but especially whether they disappoint
you in the same way. That can tell you a
lot about the possible remedies, though
you need to remember that the source,
cables and acoustics are also different.
You will not be the first to complain
that Krell amplifiers have a clinical
sound, but before we leap to conclusions
remember that older digital players are
often described in the same way, and
the Krell may simply be making your
Denon’s already sterile character all
the more evident. Offer to wax your
neighbor’s kitchen floor, and perhaps
he’ll bring his player over to your place
for a comparison. Just a suggestion.
We really don’t recommend changing
your CD player until you can resolve
your misgivings over the Krell, either
by determining that it is not the primary
cause of your unhappiness, or by cutting
your losses and moving on. That’s for the
same reason that if your roof leaks you
don’t start by changing the windows,
however much they may need it.
In the longer term you may want
to look at a new CD player, of course.
SACD may be a feature to look for if
there is a significant choice in your
favored music (there are only a few
SACD titles in mainstream rock, and
hardly any in electronica). We should
add that we are now being cautious in
recommending one-box players with
no digital inputs. Many of our readers
have moved their digital music onto a
hard drive, and they then discover that
their players have expensive digital-toanalog converters they can’t get at. Not
Exclusive North American Distribution
EUROPRODUCTS
Celebrating 12 years serving Canadian music lovers
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everyone wants to do that, at least not
yet, but it’s a good idea to provide for
the future.
Congratulations on a wonderful
publication! I can now really appreciate
the importance of having a reference
system, as I’m currently searching for a
new CD player.
Of course I am able to listen to the
players I’m interested in, but the three
I’ve short-listed are sold at different
stores in different cities. Not only can
604-522-6168
I not hear them in my own room with
my own system, but I can’t even listen
to them in the same room with the same
associated equipment.
I’m considering the Bryston BCD-1,
the Rega Saturn, and the Simaudio
CD3.3. I’ve read your favourable reviews
of the Bryston and the Simaudio CD-1,
but are you familiar with the CD3.3
or the Saturn? Care to compare the
three?
I know the Simaudio has an optional
digital input, but I already have one (four,
thrown in as stopgap unless and until
you can afford better. A better DAC is
very much an upgrade to think about.
Other manufacturers are planning
similarly-priced DAC’s, and we expect
to review one or more shortly, but the
Cambridge is here now.
Advice
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actually) in my Bryston B100-DA SST.
The speakers are Martin Logan Aerius
electrostatics.
Ken Hicknell
KITCHENER, ON
We did like the Bryston, Ken, and
we think it would edge out the Saturn.
We’re not sure about the Simaudio,
which we haven’t heard under good
conditions.
As you no doubt know we no longer
review CD players that don’t have digital
inputs as well as outputs, because we
don’t think you should be paying for an
expensive digital-to-analog converter
(which may account for more than half
the cost of the player) if it can be used
only with the built-in disc drive. Of
course your Bryston has its own DAC,
and so you’re not really concerned about
that.
Which brings up the idea that perhaps you don’t really need a full player.
A CD transport, plus a good digital
cable, may be a logical choice. The CEC
TL51X transport (which we own, and
sometimes use) would cost less than any
of the players you’re looking at. With the
explosion in the use of the computer as
a music source, standalone DAC’s are
becoming more popular, and you can
expect transports to make a comeback
as well.
I have been a subscriber for a number
of years and enjoy your magazine very
much. I purchased a Squeezebox on
your recommendation and I am very
happy with it. All of my CDs are stored
as FLAC files on a server, and I love the
convenience of choosing music without
having to change discs.
I am wondering if the Cambridge
DAC Magic reviewed in your latest
issue would prov ide a wort hwhile
upgrade. The Squeezebox does support
an external DAC, however, I recall that
the Squeezebox’s DAC was pretty good
too. Would the Cambridge DAC Magic
provide even better sound?
Jeff Roberts
CASTLEGAR, BC
We would say yes, Jeff, because the
DAC in the Squeezebox is a freebie,
UHF on your desktop
M A G Zee
www.uhfmag.com/ElectronicEdition.html
I am looking to upgrade my source.
I currently have the Linn Karik as my
transport and the Linn Numerik as the
DAC (yes I know, rather old, but still
good). This is coupled to a Van den
Hul preamp and two monoblock amps,
exiting through Totem Mani-2 speakers.
The preamp/amp/speakers and cables
(Actinolite) powered through an Audioprism conditioner, were all purchased
new at the same time. I am exceptionally
pleased with the sound of this system
I am looking at spending approximately $5k on an upgrade to my source,
and looking at the Linn Majik CD
player. I would then add a DAC at a later
date…or should I wait to buy both CD
player and DAC, as the Majik will not
be enough of an upgrade to the current
Karik/Numerik combination? Is it possible to use the Numerik DAC with the
Majik? What DAC would you recommend that would suit this system?
Steve Bedarf
BURLINGTON, ON
Steve, we should warn you that Linn
is discontinuing all of its CD players, so
if you’re going to get one you’ll need to
hurry. On the other hand, it has perhaps
done so for understandable reasons. We
ourselves are no longer reviewing CD
players that don’t have digital inputs as
well as outputs.
Beyond that, the Majik may actually be a downgrade. Though the Linn
Karik and Numerik can be considered
thoroughly obsolete, they offered what
was at the time an innovation: a second
cable between transport and converter to
allow them to “talk” together for reduced
jitter. Whatever advantage the Majik
might offer, you’ll lose that advantage.
And in a future upgrade you’ll have to
buy a new converter, even though the
Majik has a perfectly good one already,
albeit one that is inaccessible.
The reason Linn is dropping CD
players is that it recommends streaming
orks
How the electronic version w
Advice
Feedback
Free
nection is better than using the wireless band rather than on the very crowded 2.4
option?). And from the Airport Express GHz band. The audio quality is actually
with an optical cable to the DAC XP. superior.
However, note one limitation of the
Would this setup sound as good as my
Airport Express: it won’t pass high-resoCyrus transport source?
I n a perfect world t he A irport lution music signals (24/96, 24/88.2, etc.)
Express would have a coax digital output, without downsampling, even though
instead of an optical one. Then I could your converter could handle it. You can
re-use my current digital coax cable, and transmit high-res via USB, but you can’t
be sure that the cable is not the weakest run a long length of USB cable.
link.
I came upon UHF when browsing the
Emmanuel Du Four
I was just reading your review of the
GHENT, Belgium Internet as I was conducting research
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Mag
I think the best
solution
an Airport Express by Ethernet cable to ning wirelessly, we recommend using a walls and ceiling of the new room will
the router (I suppose that a cable con- router that can broadcast on the 5 GHz have an air gap so they will not touch the
music from a computer via Ethernet to
one of its DS (Digital Streaming) products, such as the Klimax DS we reviewed
in UHF No. 84. For the moment you may
not choose to put your music on a hard
drive, but you also won’t want to invest
money in any dead ends. We would look
at transport and DAC combinations, or
at a CD player which can also be used
with other digital sources.
Advice
Feedback
Free
guitar through an amp now and then!)
still travel through the original walls of
my bedroom and continue down into the
flat below? What do you think?
Kweku Graves
LONDON, UK
Kweku, first off we should mention that Paul did a newer article on
soundproofing, which can be found in
UHF No. 82. Of course the principles
discussed are the same, and so are the
two basic rules. (1) A vacuum aside, only
high mass can stop sound transmission.
(2) It takes only one simple soundtransmission path to short-circuit the
most elaborate soundproofing measures
and render them useless.
But you know this already, because
it’s clear you have done considerable
research on the subject. Essentially
you’re on the right track, because you
original existing floor, walls or ceiling). should be offset so the stud at the front know about using a suspended floor,
My main concern is to stop sound and of the wall is not inline with the stud at and using high-density caulking. This
vibration transmitting though the floor the rear of the wall, and that they should approach will certainly work if it is
and ceiling to the flat below. There is have their own separate wooden plates. I perfectly executed, but we’re not sure
a window in one of the outside walls was hoping to apply the same technique it will be enough. Drumming produces
also. I am lucky in that my downstairs to the new ceiling too.
sharp transients with a lot of broadband
neighbour is very understanding and
I would then seal all the corners, floor energy. If you’re using an acoustic drum
reasonably tolerant, but all the same I and ceiling abutments using good quality kit, you can attenuate the sound a lot and
want to be able to play my drums when sound caulking material so there are no still try the tolerance of your neighbors,
it suits me!
gaps. I know I do not have the luxury particularly your downstair neighbors.
I have an electronic kit which is actu- of a concrete floor in the basement, but
We would throw in two more words
ally quite noisy even when played through surely making a new suspended floor of caution.
headphones, as there is hard thumping with the necessary dense wadding, etc.
We don’t know what is in your lease
of the pads and the kick drum. I much will be the next best thing. Oh yeah, I besides the requirement for carpeting
prefer to play an acoustic kit, so to have to include a suitable door to the new the floors, but we would guess that doing
this end I need to construct a practice room otherwise I would not be able to major structural renovations would
sue, and itatis least one clause, probably
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will not touch the walls apart from where ing is the best way to go about things, necessary to get a building permit, and
the new joists will hang). From this new apart from trying to play the drums in even so there may be municipal zoning
floor I would then construct new stud a vacuum!!?
problems.
walls about 12” or so from the existing
We would look seriously at alternaWould the low frequencies of the bass
walls. I am aware that the wooden studs drum (and maybe a mate playing a bass tives, such as using rehearsal space at a
Advice!
e
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F
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Participa
school or community centre, perhaps
in conjunction with other musicians
facing the same problems as you. We
can understand the inconvenience of
travelling with musical gear, but that
may be the lesser of evils.
Gord, Lloyd didn’t mention how
he’s recording his LPs, but as for us we
are indeed using an Edirol UA-25 USB
interface box. An external box is less vulnerable to a computer’s vicious internal
noise pollution than a sound card, and its
street price in Canada is about $230. We
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use the free Audacity software. We run
the Edirol from the “tape out” jacks on
our preamplifier. This setup can handle
both 16/44 and 24/96 recording.
For the moment your Squeezebox is
limited to 16/44, which is of course Red
Book CD resolution. The same is true of
the present-day Airport Express. Technology does not stand still, however,
and we have hopes for new chips, and
therefore new gear, possibly over the
next year.
FREE ADVICE ON LINE!
www.uhfmag.com/FreeAdvice.html
Feedback
Advice
Free
I have been following (and very much
enjoying!) your recent pieces on getting
music from computer. Much of my CD
collection now exists as uncompressed
files on a hard drive. I am using iTunes
to handle the files and a Logitech Squeezebox to beam everything over to my
audio equipment. I love the convenience
of quick access to my collection from an
armchair, and I am now exploring ways
of achieving the same access to my vinyl
collection.
Some preliminary research reveals
myriad ways to digitize albums, ranging
from sound cards with analog inputs
(which I expect would give less than
optimal results) to professional-grade
studio equipment that costs several
thousand dollars. I am looking for a
“middle-of-the-road” solution that provides good quality sound for a reasonable
price (under C$500?). I anticipate a
performance hit when converting from
analog to digital and back to analog again
and will employ my turntable for critical
listening sessions, but am hoping there is
a way to enjoy my vinyl collection when
it is not convenient (or when I am feeling
lazy) to get up and change records.
One of your readers, Lloyd, noted
in Free Advice in UHF No. 88 that he is
converting his LP collection to 24/96
audio. Do you know how he does this?
I also noted in UHF No. 87 that you
used an Edirol UA-25 audio interface
box and Audacity software to pull SACD
analog from your Linn Unidisk to your
computer. Would this setup be suitable
for recording analog from a turntable as
well?
Gord Speksnijder
PORT HOPE, ON
A QUIET REVOLUTION
Feature
Vegas 2010
T
he question was on everyone’s
lips: sure, there would be a
Consumer Electronics Show
in 2010, but would anyone
show up? The answer is a qualified yes.
Check the photo above, which is of the
hallway, not the Las Vegas Convention
Center itself. At times it was even difficult to make one’s way through the
hordes of visitors.
But perhaps that’s not really a gauge
of the show’s success. A big part of the
reason for the crowds was that there were
far fewer exhibits, with the result that the
visitors were concentrated over a smaller
area. That was true at the Venetian,
where most of the high end exhibits
were located, and it was true at the “zoo”
(the Convention Centre) as well. As last
year, finding a good restaurant table even
during the show could be done for the
asking. It wasn’t always so.
The organizers figured on filling
space by adding special areas. There
was a section for exhibitors who used
to go to Macworld (long held at the
same time as CES), but who might no
by Gerard Rejskind
longer want to go there because Apple
has abandoned the show. Sponsored by
iLounge, the section did include several
makers of Apple-related accessories,
especially those for the iPhone and iPod,
such as Griffin and the countless makers
of “skins” for the devices. Plenty more
special sections have been announced for
next year.
But if CES was hurting, at least a
little, Las Vegas was hurting a lot more.
The vast Cit yCenter casino/hotel/
condo/shopping/theatre complex (you
can see a small part of it on the next page)
was finally open, though the shopping
area remained a work in progress, and
the Viva Elvis Cirque du Soleil show had
closed down for rejigging right after its
premiere (it has since been relaunched).
But then the complex is a joint project
of troubled MGM and (snicker!) Dubai.
Can you imagine a bank lending these
people money?
And not many others, apparently, had
found such favorable financing. The vast
vacant lot left by the demolition of the
Stardust and the New Frontier didn’t
have much going on.
In other respects Vegas was still
Vegas, a mixture of the sublime (the
Wynn, the Paris casino with its faux
Eiffel Tower) and the tacky. For the
latter, check the second image on the
next page. Barry Manilow (who?) was
returning, moving from the increasingly
shabby Hilton to Planet Hollywood.
Even more incredibly, Wayne Newton,
who was a headliner at Expo 67, was preparing for a show at the Tropicana, the
once luxurious hotel that is all but crumbling today. The all-too-appropriate
title of his show: “Once more before I
go.” Here I thought he’d gone long ago,
but Vegas is like that. The headliner at
my hotel last year was Tony Orlando
(sans Dawn). Touring Vegas shows is
like visiting wax museums…something
Vegas also has.
Prost it ut ion is illegal in Clark
County, where Las Vegas is located,
but that doesn’t stop armies of low-paid
hucksters from offering cards with
phone numbers of “girls that (sic) want
to meet you” on anyone going by, including children. Aiming a camera at them
brings scowls (see the bottom photo on
the next page), because I suspect this
trade is dominated by undocumented
workers.
I spent a lot of time in and around
the Venetian, because most (but not
all) of the real high end hi-fi stuff was
there. I heard plenty of the usual grumbling from exhibitors. Example: check
the notice, above, on the closet where
the TV set and the bedding have been
stuffed. No, the hotel doesn’t want any
of this stuff damaged or disappearing,
I had difficulty finding it,
and hotel employees I
accosted hadn’t heard
of it. I finally found a
small sign, which led me
to it. However I toured
the entire show before
discovering that there was
another floor downstairs
where the registration
table was! I did register,
but by then I was ready to
move on anyway.
Incidentally, CES is
open only to people with
some connection to the
electronics trade, with
credentials to prove it,
but there seemed to be a
lot of “consultants” milling about, not to mention
authors of blogs whose
existence had been heretofore unknown. Perhaps
they were there for the
coffee and bagels. T.H.E.
Show, on the other hand,
is now also open to members of audio societies.
Will it eventually open its
doors to the general public?
That quest ion has been noised
around for a long time, and old CES
hands (like me) may recall that, in its
final year, the Summer CES in Chicago
did have a consumer day. It didn’t draw
big crowds, and it wasn’t popular with
exhibitors, who suspected that the visitors who were asking about dealer prices
weren’t really dealers.
If you look at the photo on the previous page, you’ll figure out that, for all
the talk about the tribulations of high
end audio, the big money at CES came
from the big multinationals, and especially those who were presenting video
products. A high-end audio company
might have a hotel room, or even two
rooms, but at the LVCC some exhibitors
with recognizable logos had exhibits the
size of small towns. More on that in the
pages ahead.
I was there for both, of course. Highend hi-fi is a niche, and always has been,
but in home theatre quality products
are a niche as well. Finding them in the
midst of the noise is my job.
Feature
Feedback
but the tone of the warning seems wrong
when aimed at companies that are spending a lot of money to be there. Before
the show opened, some exhibitors told
me that the same seal would be applied
to the washrooms in the exhibit rooms.
Didn’t happen, happily.
There were protests from journalists
too, whose work was hampered by the
radical cutback in the size and facilities
of the press room at the Venetian. The
pretext was that the conferences had
been moved from the Venetian to the
plentiful empty space at the Convention
Centre, and therefore journalists would
be fewer in number. Perhaps, but the
many events on press day (the day before
the show opened officially) were still at
the Venetian, and the press room was
swamped. Add to that the fact that bloggers, who used to have their own press
room, now had full journalist status,
and the competition for sulfuric coffee,
stone-like bagels and Ethernet connections led to near riots.
As for me, I found an alternative:
a set of quiet tables with Italian coffee
and butter croissants, as well as high
speed Internet from which I could do
daily updates to the UHF site. No, I’m
not revealing where they are, because
it’s nice and quiet and I’m hoping it will
stay that way.
St ill, t he percept ion t hat CEA
doesn’t consider high end hi-fi to be an
important part of its mandate (which any
number of CEA spokespeople will deny)
opens the door for the “alternative” high
end interloper, known as T.H.E. Show,
to gain in popularity. Sure enough, a
number of high-profile exhibitors had
chosen the lower-cost show down the
way.
In 2009 no one was terribly optimistic about the future of T.H.E. Show,
which was still way over at the Alexis
Park, where CES had once been but was
no more. It was lonely there, among the
tumbleweeds blowing down the corridors (figuratively, anyway). This time
the show had gotten into the Flamingo,
an easy walk from the Venetian. No
shuttle buses were needed.
But the Flamingo presented its own
challenges. T.H.E. Show had been a
major event at Alexis Park, but it was lost
in the bustle of the much larger Flamingo.
Feature
Feedback
I keep seeing press articles that mention some company or other
making tube audio gear, and isn’t it some sort of novelty…who’d have
thunk it? Of course, those who follow the high end know better
than to think there’s anything unusual about vacuum tubes.
Of course, if it’s retro you’re looking for, the amplifier
at left is just what you need. Where do you find jewel lights
like the ones on this unit? Or round VU meters? Or toggle
switches like these? What you’re looking at is an MA-1
monoblock from Atma-Sphere. The original MA-1 (this
is the Mk.3.1 version) is from 1987, but the look would
have been just as retro then too. It’s an all-triode class A
amplifier with 140 watt output into an 8 ohm load.
The tube amplifier just below it looks rather
familiar. Yes, it’s a Quad II, the modern version of Peter
Walker’s famous tube amp of yesteryear. But hold on, is
that a volume control at right? Yes, and the smile-shaped slot
at left is an input selector. It’s an integrated version of the well-known amp.
Like the original, this is a class AB amplifier using push-pull 6L6
tubes (the ancestor of the extended “KT” family) to produce
25 watts per channel. The amplifier was driving a pair of
large Quad 2805 electrostatic speakers, descendents of
Quad’s legendary ESL-63’s. The source was analog,
a new $3595 turntable from Merrill-Williams the
R.E.A.L. 101 (the initials stand for “Rubber Elastomer Acoustic Laminate, but you have to admire the
cleverness of the name). That price doesn’t include the
Ortofon tone arm and cartridge.
I should add that a lot of rooms had turntables
as sources, with their number seemingly increasing with every year. Many
other rooms used computer
sources, often inexpensive netbooks. Compact
Disc players weren’t
exactly absent, but
their presence was decidedly discreet.
At right is an Audio Note single-ended tube monoblock — and note the exceedingly tiny little tubes at the front. The amplifiers
were part of a large system, including a turntable and large corner speakers, all from Audio
Note. I should add that they’re from the British Audio Note company. The Japanese
firm of the same name was present as well with its own, quite different, gear, but was
not offering to play music.
At left is the latest version of the
Manley Stingray
integrated amp.
It ’s now got
the model
n a m e
“ i Tu b e ”
for a probably
obvious reason. It delivers 40 watts per channel in
pentode mode, half of that in Ultralinear.
It’s fairly affordable as such amps go, at just $3400. It sounded
very nice, though of course using an iPod as a source is very much
a compromise.
I remember when Israel Blume of Coincident Audio Technology
made only speakers, and with limited high end pretensions. Not
anymore. Not only have the speakers soared in sophistication, but
he offers the possibility of an all-Coincident system.
Check the amplifier at right. But is it an amplifier? In fact it’s
the Statement line stage preamplifier, featuring a pair of unusual
101D direct-heated triodes, transformer-coupled volume controls
and balanced inputs and outputs. The price is $4999. The sound
in the Coincident room? First class.
Not shown here is the much less expensive Antique Sound Lab
AQ 1001 Mk II, with KT-88 output tubes. You possibly know
that ASL is a Chinese company, but its products are made
to the specs of its North American distributor, Divergent
Technology. It seemed absurdly affordable by the
standards of most of what I had heard, at $1950,
and it was producing exceptional sound. True,
it was accompanied by pretty good (and more
expensive) gear: a pair of Reference 3a Episode
speakers (they were on the cover of UHF No. 88),
and an emmLabs SACD player.
But I admit to a passion for dramatically-styled
gear, including tube gear, which is why I enjoyed
t h e Lars Type 1 amplifier (at left)
from Sweden’s Engström & Engström
(Lars Engström is one of the two founders). There’s
something special about its mix of fine wood and glass, which enhances
the warmth of the glowing 300B
and 6V6 tubes. Even the rectifiers are tubes: a pair of
GZ34’s. There’s no attempt to overwhelm you withenhorsepower:
the Type 1 puts out
l happ ?distortion. You might, however,
w ilharmonic
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chassis is being reflected in a very shiny panel, in fact the chassis itself is double, with
a soft suspension between top and bottom.
Why? Well, anything can be microphonic, meaning that vibration can make it either
produce sound or modulate sound. The bottom chassis is the power supply. Kevin Hayes
says that with the Statement
440 (since bumped up to
450), he intended to make the
best possible amplifier regardless
of price. Numbers? Power is 450
watts per channel, with a price of
$72,000. Nice, but you’d expect that.
More affordable is another two-chassis unit, the Rogue Audio
Hera II (at left), which is a preamp, not an amp.
Its price tag of nearly $8000
is way beyond
what Rogue has
accustomed us
to, but it was at
the heart of the
b e s t- s o u n d i n g
Rog ue system I
have yet heard. Lend
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Yes, it’s
Feature
Feedback
Feature
Feedback
Loudspeakers, lots of loudspeakers. Perhaps
it’s because a speaker looks easier to make than
an amplifier, say. But even if you leave out the
junk, good speakers abound.
Above left is the Audio Physic
Cardeas, with designer Manfred Diestertich
next to it. That’s not a backlit panel on its
side, but a transparent panel with foil
behind it (you can decorate it the way
you want). Running from a Naim server
through a Nagra preamplifier and Tenor
amplifiers, this $36,000 speaker sounded
as good as I’d expect, which is to say
very good indeed. Just to its right is
Mike Creek with his new Epos Encore
50 loudspeaker (Creek bought Epos
some years ago). The price is nowhere
near the same, just below $2000. The
speakers were being driven by a Creek
Destiny amplifier, which costs even
less than the speaker. The sound had
plenty of punch, which is not always
an unalloyed virtue, but it scored
strongly on musicality as well. And
on value too, of course.
Has the speaker at left grabbed your
attention? We hope your wallet can
support your ambitions, because this
speaker, the Vivid Audio Giya G-1 will
add $58,000 to your debt load. I love offthe-wall speakers, and this one qualifies,
but the sound (backed
by electronics with
si m i la rly up sc a le
price tags) was no
laughing matter.
Nor was the speaker
at right, from KEF.
A couple of years
ago KEF was using
its hotel showroom
to demo the Muon,
a large aluminum
speaker that looked
l i k e t h e T 10 0 0
from Terminator 2.
This t ime it was
the Blade Concept,
a carbon f ibre
speaker not destined
for product ion,
because…KEF says it
would cost too much?
More than the nearly
$300,000 they want
for the Muon? And
which, apparent ly,
they’ve sold a number of? The Blade
Concept was one of the most pleasing
speakers at the show. The technology
is beginning to seep down into actual
production speakers (see Gossip&News in
this issue).
I was disappointed with the
new version of the Opera speaker from
Germany’s Acapella. It’s large and it
features an essentially massless ionic
tweeter, one of the smoothest transducers I have yet heard.
So how do you make it sound so shrill and unpleasant? I fled
the room, and that hasn’t happened before.
Here’s one more…u nusual loudspea ker, t he
ICE speaker, below right. It’s from
Harman/Kardon (you can see the
logo just below the woofer), and it
looks as though it could take on
the Titanic. But perhaps not,
because it’s smaller than you
would guess. It’s self-powered,
with touch sensitive volume
controls, and it’s intended for
“multimedia” devices, which
might include your computer
and your iPod. People I talked
to were split down the middle
on its appearance. Your call. The
system can be purchased directly
from the Harman/Kardon site
for $999.
I may have mentioned that there is the cheap, before you ask), drivno sign of the death of the turntable, ing Martens speakers. Yes,
not going by their presence at CES and the combination sounded
other shows. Indeed, it is the CD player outstanding.
The turntable below
which seems like an endangered species, squeezed between hard drives and left is a VPI Classic,
which I’ve seen (and
vinyl.
The most unusual table was probably heard) before. The
the EAR Disc Master, at right, from man in the checked
celebrated maverick designer Tim de s h i r t i s K e i t h
Paravicini. You’ve probably noticed it Her ron, desig ner
has two tone arms, which would seem to of the $6550 Herron
make it a cartridge reviewer’s dream, but VTSP-3A preamplifier,
there’s more, much more. Particularly which is on the top shelf.
unusual is the drive system. The subplat- The violin tone on a Paganini
ter is driven by a geared belt, which by its recording was rich but delightfully
very nature cannot slip. The platter and smooth. Say, one could get used to this
Jacques Riendeau). It looks just like the
subplatter are then coupled magnetically, newfangled vinyl thing!
One much anticipated table was the MkV, and that’s a good thing. Its major
without contact.
For years now, we have been publishing, on our Web site, a free PDF
It was playing through a pair of Oracle MkVI, still built in the Eastern innovation is a set of three stabilizers,
version of our magazine.
Tim’s monoblock amplifiers (EAR is Townships of Quebec, in the photo at one of which you can see in closeup at
The reason is simple. We know you’re looking for information, and
not a company that does anything on bottom left (with Stéphane Nadeau and bottom right (it’s just to the left of the
that is almost certainly why you’ve come to visit our site. And that’s why
turntable pillar).
we give away what some competitors consider to be a startlingly large
What does it do? Sonically quite a lot.
amount of information…for free.
Turntable innovations don’t lend them We would give it all away for free, if we could still stay in business.
selves well to comparisons, because it’s
Recent figures indicate that each issue is getting downloaded as many
so difficult to make two turntables sound
as 100,000 times, and that figure keeps growing.
alike anyway, but the MkVI stabilizers
Yes, we know, if we had a nickel for each download…
have a “MkV” setting, so you can dial
Truth is, we’re in the business of helping you enjoy music at home
them out. The difference is pretty much
under the best possible conditions. And movies too. We’ll do what we need
evident. Dial them out and you can hear
to do in order to get the information to you.
a veil of brightness settle over the music.
Of course, we also want you to read our published editions too. We
Surface noise soars. Did the MkV really
hope that, having read this far, you’ll want to read on.
sound like that?
Oracles have never been in lowpriced territory, of course. The table
costs $7700, or $9000 with the (highly
recommended) Turbo power supply. Add
the arm shown, and you’re at $16K.
But if you own a MkV you’ll want to
know whether you can upgrade. Indeed
you can, for $1700 plus a $100 installation fee.
Say, you figure we can get our hands
on one for a review?
Why a free version?
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At every CES, companies try to
convince you that — shall we say — size
matters. They attempt to dazzle us with
ever-larger TV screens.
The one above is a 386 cm (152-inch)
Panasonic Viera. You say you want one?
Are you willing to install it in a vacant
lot and then build your house around it?
Do you have what it takes to smile when
the technician tells you he has “take it in
to the shop”?
There are other ways TV manufacturers work to outdo each other beyond
just size. LG, still the South Korean
runner-up behind Samsung, had new
models with true LED backlighting, as
opposed to LED edge lighting (in which
LED’s around the screen edge illuminate
a rear reflector). Toshiba was showing
its “KIRA2 Super Local Dimming,”
which gets blacker blacks by…well, let’s
be blunt, by cheating. Toshiba was also
showing an odd idea: a TV set that can
tell whether you’re wearing your 3D
glasses, and shows you either a 2D or a
3D image accordingly. Just the thing for
the videophile with no friends.
Perhaps somewhat more promising is
Sharp’s Quad Pixel system, above right.
Instead of using three primary colors —
red, green and blue — it adds a fourth
color, yellow. Of course you can make a
perfectly good yellow from the regular
colors, but traditional (read: cathode
ray tube) sets had difficulty preventing yellows from turning orange. The
Sharp demo would have made Van Gogh
happy, with its
fields of f lowers, especially
sunf lowers.
Performance on
other program
mater ia l was
very good, but
the advantage of
the fourth color
was less t ha n
evident.
I ment ioned
LG, wh ich is
making a major
effort to become
one of the major
TV makers. In
a purpose-built
boot h of f t he
noisy main show floor, LG was showing
a surround-sound system
using its own loudspeakers…speakers it means to
put into production. As
nearly as I could determine
in less than optimum circumstances, these speakers
seem promising.
T he pic t u r e b elow
shows one of the many 3D
displays, most from the
major TV makers (Sony,
Samsung, Panasonic) but
from some other companies
too. The big disappointment was Sensio, a much-respected
Canadian pioneer in 3D-TV, exhibiting
on-site for the first time. Its demos were
third rate, with all of its screens showing
the coarse scan lines we recall from 1990.
A testy Sensio engineer told me that was
normal. I suggested he tour some of the
other booths.
Which had their own problems. A
lot of “3D” material isn’t really 3D. If
anything kills 3D television, that will
be it.
Thiel was back at CES, exhibiting
alongside Bryston. Their main room
(not the one with the wireless system,
whose purpose is different) was making
beautiful music, which was no surprise.
However the Thiel people were smiling wanly, and for good reason. Their
cofounder and designer from the very
beginning, Jim Thiel, had died of cancer
a few months before.
In the photo above is Kathy Gornick,
who many years ago founded the company along with Jim in a garage. A commemorative evening was held in Jim’s
memory. It turned out Jim — one of the
of Best Buy, who paid for the badge
holders and actually had an exhibit at
CES Unveiled. Why? CES is not open
to the public. A Best Buy spokesman
told me the company wants to see what
consumers will be buying. Good reason
to attend, sure, but to exhibit?
A long walk through the endless aisles
of the “zoo” (the Las Vegas Convention
Centre) let me get a look at a number of
obscure Asian manufacturers, trolling
for distributors. Some had worthwhile
products that I’d be pleased to see
in stores, but many of them seemed
destined for failure. An example is the
company above, whose (presumably)
non-English-speaking management
should have Googled “scam” before
naming their company. The name makes
sense if you read it as “Gos Cam.” Yes,
it’s a camera, specifically a surveillance
camera.
Feature
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genuinely
n i c e
people of t he
industry, had a
lot of friends.
Including me.
See the
impressivelooking open-reel
recorder on this page? It used to be
a Technics RS-1500, and its brilliant
design (we actually own four of them)
would have deserved a much
longer life. This one is from
J-Corder, which rebuilds the
innards and uses its experience with fancy automobile
paints to make them look
like this. No two alike,
need we add?
I spent part of the
evening at the Dolby suite,
including a few pleasant
moments in the company’s egg chair
(at left). It is, as you would expect,
fitted for surround sound, with a lot
of 3D “acoustic foam to tame the
inevitable resonance from the walls.
I remember chairs like these being
popular in the late 1960’s, with two
differences: there were no loudspeakers, and there was room for…ahem,
two people. “Surround” had a different meaning then.
But that is not a commercial
product. What Dolby was showing was a sound processing system
that lets you hear surround sound
through standard headphones on an
iPhone. It was surprisingly good, and
I wished I had it on mine for the plane
trip home.
Note, by the way, the big blue
holder with the yellow patch on my
CES badge. The yellow is the logo
Montréal 2010
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N
ew name, new venue. The
“Festival” of lo these many
years became a Salon, and
it moved from the awkward
Centre Hilton to the much more pleasant
Hôtel Bonaventure. Nicer surroundings
(the ducks on the next page are taking
advantage of the greenery high atop the
massive structure). All good.
And there were other good things to
say about the Salon. My own impression
is that the really toxic nests of noise that
caused visitors to flee in recent years were
far fewer in number, and that there were
more attempts to tame the acoustics and
make real music. Of course, some exhibitors succeeded better than others.
One who did particular well was Jeff
Joseph, who has been in this business
for a long time, though it was his first
visit to a Montreal show (he says he’ll be
back). He had set up his superb-sounding
Pulsar loudspeakers (top right on the
next page) at an angle to the room, a
clever way to tame the worst of the
room modes. The Pulsar is not exactly
an economy speaker, with a $7000 price
tag, but the music matches the money.
It was interesting to see what Jeff
was using as sources. He did have a CD
player (a Moon), but he was also using a
MacBook Pro computer and an Airport
Express. Did I mention the sound?
The Salon did include some very
large rooms, and inevitably there were
problems. Cabasse got one of the worst
ones, essentially part of a ballroom
walled off with partitions little better
than cardboard. Christophe Cabasse was
showing his cyclops-like round speaker,
La Sphère (you’ll see it on page 28).
This $205,000 system (Cabasse comes
to your house to set it up) is a four-way
quadramplified system which can really
work only in a large room, though perhaps one made of more solid materials.
The included subwoofer had been placed
flush to a wall so that it wouldn’t “walk”
away because of vibrations. Not ideal,
but La Sphère is notable for coherence
and finesse as well as sheer decibels.
Another large room, but much more
solid, was that of Wilson Audio, which
was showing its replacement for the
iconic Watt/Puppy, dubbed the Sasha.
On page 28 you can see recording engi-
by Gerard Rejskind
neer (and also Wilson sales manager)
Peter McGrath, kneeling next to a
Sasha. As in previous years, Peter had
brought a digital recorder and some of
his master recordings. As you might
imagine, they sounded glorious. Among
the goodies: the young Chinese soprano
Xiang Xu singing Schubert, and excerpts
from Handel’s Messiah, and the operas
I Puritani and The Barber of Seville.
Nobody walked out while any of that
was playing.
Wilson Audio has streamlined its factory, and despite improvements over the
Watt/Puppy, the Sasha is about $3000
cheaper, at $27,000. No, that’s not cheap,
but a number of people told me that was
their favorite room.
Another favorite was the Leema
room, with its tiny speaker making
big music, even making me suspect,
wrongly, that there was a subwoofer
hidden somewhere. It’s not often you see
a $1400 speaker getting raves from visitors, but in this case it was unanimous.
By the way, you can see that the speaker,
shown on the next page, is damaged, and
we resisted the temptation to fix it up
with Photoshop. The “credit” goes to
UPS, and several other exhibitors told
me tales of woe (sometimes of whoa!)
concerning what the men in brown did
to their shipments.
Also small, but twice the price of
the Leema, is the Amphion Aragon 3
from Finland (at bottom on the next
page). Notice the deeply-flared tweeter,
designed to avoid refraction (with resulting roughness and poor imaging). The
Amphions were driven by an inexpensive
($1095) Audio Analogue amplifier, and
were a crowd pleaser.
As at the Vegas show, the CD was
less plentiful than in previous years. A
number of exhibitors brought computers and were playing their digital files
that way. Lots of others had turntables
(records are heavier to carry, but harder
to shoplift). The bright red table on page
29 is a model 309 from Thorens, and it
sounded very good playing the Beatles
remix from the Cirque du Soleil’s Love
album. We now have it in our hot little
hands, and we will begin listening sessions shortly.
The 2011 Salon? Same venue, and it’s
an excellent choice.
Touring the Salon
“A
cal textures, Peter selected his recent
recording of Beethoven’s Op. 18 String
Quartet played by the Artemis Quartet.
While we all enjoyed a clear view of their
performance, Peter explained that this
group had decided to play standing up,
reviving an old tradition. “You hear the
other players before hearing the sound
coming off the floor,” he added.
But the next piece f loored us all,
another of his recordings of a live Christmas concert for brass, bells and choir,
surrounded by an audience that filled
the room with laughter and applause.
Energy, joy and enthusiasm recreated as
if by magic! It was almost a shock to walk
out afterward, finding ourselves in a very
real and ordinary hallway.
When I toured the show with MarieÈve and Matthieu, I discovered how
different people hear sounds differently.
Marie-Ève complained once about too
much bass, saying that some sounds
touched her, physically “I can feel it in
my hands,” she explained. And when she
heard the eFicion F300 speakers playing
Patricia Barber on LP, she really loved the
natural sounding voice and percussion. I
smiled and pointed to the turntable and
then to the AMT tweeter (the Air Motion
Feature
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re there many turntables
here this year?” asked André,
a UHF reader who had just
walked in with his wife. I
was near the entrance, waiting for Marc
to arrive.
“Yes,” I said, “quite a few this year.”
“You know,” he explained, “I have
listened exclusively to LPs in the last two
years. I sold my CD player, and it was
a very good one,” he added, naming a
$4,000 model. “I couldn’t take it anymore,
I went back to LPs.”
Audiophiles, I noted this year, are
more divided than ever on their choice
of sources — more on that later. Marc
and I spent a long time listening to the
new Sasha W/P Wilson Audio speakers.
Driven by a pair of sculptured Pathos
amps, they offered us a musical guided
tour under the passionate guidance of
recording engineer Peter McGrath.
The rendition of Handel’s Messiah was
spectacular, but then again it always is.
But here it was open, airy and transparent. Then, for something different, he
switched to his recording of a Bach
Sarabande for recorder and harpsichord.
Marc remarked how rare it is to hear a
decent reproduction of a recorder, in all
its woody complexity.
And, switching again to other musi-
by Albert Simon
At left: Mari-Ève and Matthieu, the DSpeaker processor, Audio Research Reference 210, and the Lafleur MX-1
At right: Christophe Cabasse with La Sphère, and Peter McGrath with the Wilson Sasha
brass and organ and their latest
work on DXD extreme resolution
24 bits/352 kHz from their new
album From the New World.
Quality you can feel.
We spent a long time listening
to a demonstration of the Micromega Airstream concept using
their proprietary WHIFI system.
We were totally taken with the
sound of Nils Logren singing
Keith Don’t Go. The presence
and overall quality originating
from the computer files — this
unit can read files from 16/44 to
24/192 — was stunning. And the
possibilities offered (in Europe
only) are endless, 300,000 albums
added every month, available in
streaming audio. The music of
the world beckoning. A banquet of
overwhelming proportions.
On our way out, Matthieu, who
listens to his music mostly on iPod,
said only one word: impeccable.
Marie-Eve, who shares the same
listening mode, was hesitant, however, concerned about the effect of
wifi on one’s health.
Marc had a different reaction to
the scope of this technology. He
first admitted that the sound was
terrific, with no loss of quality,
and added that existing sources
bound
disappear.
he It’s a PDF,
We don’t mean this version,were
because
you to
already
know But
howthen
it works.
expressed
and you open it with Adobe reader,
etc. his concern about the trend
towardversion,
music which
available
in streaming
But we also have a paid electronic
is complete,
without banners like
technology. “How do we know on which
this one, or articles in fluent gibberish.
servershas
it istostored
on, in with
whicha country?”
That one, because it is complete,
be ordered
credit card. To open
asked.
is too
precious
to beor Acrobat.
it, you also have to download a he
plugin
for“Music
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download
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much
riskand
of a password
loss of quality
over
the magazine. You’ll need the same
name
the first
time you open
time,”
he added.
the magazine on your computer,
but only
the first time. After that, it works like any
In the speakers-that-everyone-loved
other PDF.
category
were
theTosmall
Leema
pair
Brother,
Can You Spare a Dime. Denis was
For details, visit our Electronic
Edition
page.
buy an
issue or
subscribe,
visit
we listened to, driven by the Tacuma also quite impressed, “What I really like
MagZee.
integrated amp and Antila CD player about them is that they tend to disappear,
of the same British manufacturer. Brian leaving the musicians standing right
Bromberg’s bass was stunning, coming here in the room.”
Transformer invented by Oskar Heil out of such small enclosures.
We were also very surprised at the
— biased, moi?). “I always had trouble
“It’s open, it’s airy,” said Marc. “Hide music coming out of the Finnish made
enjoying the sound of the double bass them behind a curtain,” he added, “and DSpeakers Servo series. This new kind
on sound systems, but not here, why is no one would guess their real size. I’ve of active design adapts itself to its surthat?” she asked.
never heard small speakers of such roundings, eliminating room resonances
They were also very impressed with quality.”
and allowing for a wider sweet spot.
the Fidelio recordings, especially their
Here we were, later on, listening to Denis thought the image was clearly
recent one of Holst’s The Planets with Odetta’s heart moving, bluesy version of defined on Bia’s version of Golden Slum-
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How the electronic version works
Below left: the Vivid B-1, designed in the UK, built in South Africa
Below right: The Thorens TD-309 and the Legacy Whisper HD speaker, with Heil tweeter and super-tweeter
bers, and I thought her 3D presence was Budwig, bass — the cymremarkable. Marie-Ève felt she was right bals sounded so refined,
there among us. In the same size cat- so f resh and right —
egory, Joseph Audio was featuring a pair fol lowed by Doug
of uniquely-talented small speakers, and McLeod’s Come
we were treated to Louis Armstrong’s t o F i n d C D .
unforgettable voice, alternating with We no d d e d
Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition… s i l e n t l y ,
on organ, no less. Well spaced into the l o o k i n g
room, and placed at an angle to the walls, at each
these speakers displayed an authority we o t h e r
didn’t expect.
w i t h
ClearAudio, Luxman and Vivid were r a i s e d
a very comprehensive match. Diana eyebrows.
Krall Live in Paris is an amazing LP,
Gershman Acoustics
vibrating with energy on the ClearAudio were introducing their newest
turntable, lively and yet with a rock solid products, speaker and interconnect
image. Then, with the same Luxman cables (yes, cables), linking their impresL-509u integrated amp and now the sive Black Swan speakers to a Roksan
D-06 SACD/CD player, driving the Caspian integrated amplifier and CD
uniquely shaped Vivid player; Mighty Sam McLain sounded
B-1 Speakers, we just right in the song Somebody Help
listened w it h Me. We also discovered the superbly
amazement to finished Ayon Triton tube integrated
the wonder- amp and Ayon CD-5 tube CD player
ful sound of making music through a no less beautithe Califor- fully crafted pair of Legacy speakers,
nia Guitar the Focal HD model with Heil tweetTrio. No, ers. More appreciative nods with raised
it wasn’t eyebrows.
the same
Later on, at the end of the day, over
a s t h e a cup of coffee, Denis was looking into
LP but it space, “If I only had half an hour at this
No, thiswfree
is not complete,
though “I’d
you spend
could spend
a s version
j u s t show,”
he said dreamily,
it in a couple
of hours reading
it.
Want
the
full
version?
as enjoy- the Leema speakers room.”
You can,
of course,
the print
version, which
wewrong,”
have published
able
a nd order
“When
something
sounds
for a quarter
of
a
century.
You
can
get
it
from
our
back
issues
page.
we had a said Marc as we were leaving, “it is often
But wehard
also have
a
paid
electronic
version,
which
is
just
like
time related to the highs.” I waited. “You this one,
except that
it
doesn’t
bannerswith
like the
thislow
one,range,
and it doesn’t
leaving the have
canannoying
always manage
have articles
tailing
off
into
faux
Latin.
Getting
the
electronic
room.
somehow,” he explained, “but badlyversion is of
course Lafleur
faster, and
it
is
also
cheaper. highs
It costs
justan$4.30
(Canadian)
Audio reproduced
have
aggressive
and anywhere
in thewere
world.
Taxes,
if
they
are
applicable,
are
included.
also using a irritating effect.” I couldn’t agree more,
It’s
available from
ClearAudio
turn-MagZee.com.
I thought.
table to feat ure
And I wanted to verify something
their latest MX-1 else about problems related to reprospeakers, coupled duced music. “I noticed how you reacted
w it h Si m Aud io’s to loud sounds in some rooms,” I said,
Moon CD-3.3 and walking out with Matthieu and Mariepowered by their i3.3 Ève but looking at her. “Yes, it really
integrated amp. We disturbed me,” she said, “physically.”
sat for a wonderful LP
I then asked her a question to which I
recording of legend- knew the answer, “Do you have the same
ary drummer Shelly reaction when you hear loud sounds in
M a n ne a nd other circumstances, say with traffic or
Bill Evans, construction work?” She thought about
piano with it for a second.
M o n t y
“Never,” she replied.
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Nuts&Bolts
Inside Computer Music
M
ost audiophiles, whether
recent converts or longtime hobbyists, are familiar with the elements of
a stereo music system and how they fit
together. The source is connected to the
amplifier, the amplifier is connected to
the speakers, the footbone is connected
to the shinbone, the lipbone is connected
to the trombone.
However, now that digital music is
migrating to computer hard drives, the
flow is less obvious. Even audiophiles
who are geeky enough to know how
to solder may hesitate before tackling
a computer system, and even more
before figuring out a way to
connect one to a high-quality
music system.
But before we get to
the computer itself, let
us have a close look at
the component that has
been the dominant music
source since the mid-eighties,
the Compact Disc player.
Inside the player
A single-box player, the sort most
familiar today, actually contains an
entire chain of components, whose job
it is to reproduce music from a Compact
Disc.
1) The drive mechanism. This is the
device that spins the disc. It includes a
movable laser that swings across the CD
surface, while a matching photosensor
detects changes in brightness, which
correspond to the digital data recorded.
In fact it isn’t quite so simple, for several
reasons. First the data is not in linear
form, as it would be on an LP or a tape.
If it were, even a minor glitch on the disc
could wipe out an important section of
the music and cause catastrophic failure
(as happened regularly on the very first
digital tape recorders). Instead, the data
is scattered across the disc, using the
Reed-Solomon code. Second, the data
by Paul Bergman
is not actually recorded in binary form,
as a series of 1’s and 0’s. The pits on the
surface (actually the ridges, as seen from
the other side) are in much more compact
analog form. For instance, a ridge may
represent, by its length, the number of
0’s that must go by before the next 1.
That is an analog value,
but it is not an analog
of the music, and
can not be
used to
reproduce the
original signal
u nt il it is interpreted, and the digital
data stream reconstituted.
2) The servo system. This is an electronic control circuit that tells the
drive to spin the disc and lets the laser
know where to look for the next piece of
information. It seems almost miraculous
not only that such a system can be built
reliably, but that it can be incorporated
into inexpensive mass-market devices.
3) The digital-to-analog converter.
The DAC is the bridge between the
digital and analog worlds. The recovered (actually reconstituted) digital
signal is used to reconstruct a version
of the original analog signal. It is called
“analog” because there is a perfect analogy between the swing in the voltage and
the air vibrations of the original sound.
In a Red Book CD player, data packets
come 44,100 times per second, and use
16 bits (binary digits) to describe the
music signal. It is, however, common
to “oversample,” to bump the sampling
rate up by four or more times, either by
repeating the data samples or by interpolating them — creating an in-between
data packet. Oversampling avoids the use
of a sharp antialiasing filter to prevent
audio from colliding with the sampling
frequency.
4) Connections. All players in the
past two decades have included digital
outputs, which allow one to extract
the raw digital data and send it
to an external DAC. Only
recently have some players
appeared with digital
inputs, allowing the
use of the built-in
DAC with external
sources, such as computers. Of course that is the
very subject I wish to discuss
in this article.
Storing music on a hard drive
At one time this was difficult to do,
because, as I have explained, the code is
stored on a CD in discontinuous form,
and one could not simply slide a track
from the CD to a hard drive window.
If one did, the result would be merely
a pointer to the original track, which
would work only if the CD were present. Modern operating systems contain
algorithms that permit translation of the
data into the WAV format that is native
to Windows (or AIFF on the Mac),
simply by sliding the file onto the hard
drive window.
There may, however, be better ways
to do this. Such transfers do work quite
well with normal digital files, and for-
tunately so, because computer software
and files are quite intolerant of errors.
Recall, however, that the music on a
CD is neither in WAV or AIFF form. It
may, therefore, be advantageous to use a
method which can check the integrity of
the data as the transfer is being made.
Several programs can do this. Apple’s
iTunes, used by anyone who owns an
iPod, can be set to do it (in the preferences
general pane, choose Import Options, and
check using error correction.
Getting music where it needs to go
Once your music is on a hard drive,
you can play it back on the computer
itself. That’s convenient enough if your
computer is also your music system, but
if you are reading this magazine this is
in all likelihood not your case. You will
want to send the digital signal where it
needs to go. Of course you will need
some sort of DAC in order to turn the
signal back into analog, so that it can be
amplified and reproduced. A number of
transmission methods can be used.
However USB can accept only short
runs of 5 metres, barely longer than
Firewire. Some commonly-used USB
chipsets offer poor performance, and on
many (but not all) systems the bandwidth
is limited to little more than Red Book
CD standard. This limitation is not
inherent in the standard, however, and
some USB devices will pass 24/96. This
is the case of numerous professional
input-output boxes I have worked with.
3) Ethernet. This cabling is commonly
On a Windows PC, MediaMonkey is
used for home and business computer
also used for the same purpose. There
1) Firewire. This Apple-invented networks. It is asynchronous, which
are, however, limits to error correction protocol, also known as IEEE 1394, is means it does not carry clock informabecause of the translation process. If the now an international standard. In real- tion, and is theoretically immune to
drive is consistent in its errors, there is life applications Firewire is much faster system jitter. The cable itself is inexno way to get it right, because there is no than USB 2.0, and it will pass not only pensive, and it can be used for very long
way to determine that an error actually Red Book data (16-bit/44.1 kHz), but up runs, making it suitable for setups in
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2) USB. It is increasingly common for
audiophile DAC’s, amplifiers, preamplifiers and even CD players to have USB
connections. Since modern computer
all have a USB bus, this is an appealing
way of getting from computer to external
device.
4) Wireless. This generally refers to
the use of some sort of Wi-Fi network,
which most people with computers
already have. There are a number of
devices that can connect to your Wi-Fi
network, and can receive streamed music
from your computer. That includes the
already-mentioned Squeezebox and the
Nuts&Bolts
Feedback
Backing It Up
I should hardly need to remind you
that data, if it has any value, needs to be
copied for safekeeping. Even if you keep
all of the original CDs you own, transferring them to hard drive represents a
good deal of work, and you will not wish
to risk having to replicate the tasks. You
will want a second hard drive for a safety
copy, and you may want to ponder where
you will store it. An extra drive inside
or next to the computer may be a good
choice, but a fire or a burglary can lead
to the loss of both the original drive and
its safety copy.
even if your computer is not close to your
music system.
To make the system practical, however, you will want some sort of remote
control. Some specialized devices, like
the Squeezebox, come with their own
remotes, and some sort of readout screen.
There are also remote control applications for such devices as the iPhone,
the iPod touch and the iPad. Apple has
a free Remote application for use with
iTunes. The $4 iAmpRemote application can control the popular WinAmp
(on Windows). There are also a number
of applications that allow you to control
your computer remotely from an iPhone,
Android and other phones and devices.
With one of those, it doesn’t matter what
software is running on your desktop.
Summing up
Although there can be many variations in computer-based systems, the
very popular Airport Express. You can fier or preamplifier may have a built-in basic elements will be the same.
actually use more than one of either DAC (of course, to be suitable for the
The music will be placed on a hard
device, useful if you want music in sev- purpose it will need to have the type of drive attached to your computer, either
eral places, but you don’t want to — or connector you wish to use). Some recent the main drive or (preferably) an ancilCD players have digital inputs, and may lary drive. If you anticipate that your
cannot — install cabling.
Depending on the speed of your be used with an external digital source. music library will be large, begin on
network and the number of other user Failing that, several companies are once the right foot by dedicating a new hard
on the air, you may experience drop- again making standalone converters, drive to it, with a second hard drive for
outs, small interruptions of the audio some of them of extraordinary quality. maintaining a copy of the library.
stream. It’s best to use the much less I should expect more to appear over the
You will want some sort of “jukebox”
crowded 5.8 GHz band rather than the next year or two.
software for playing the music: iTunes,
more common 2.4 GHz band
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want
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in the world. Taxes,
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wareMagZee.com.
for easy play. For those who own at your music system: Airport Express,
It’s available from
the ubiquitous Apple iPod, there is only Squeezebox, etc, and turn it into the sort
one sensible choice, and that is iTunes of digital signal a DAC can recognize.
(part of Mac OS X, and a free downYou will then need to convert the
load for Windows). The Squeezebox, digital signal back into analog, with the
it should be noted, comes with its own best DAC you can afford. The DAC
software but can be set to use the music may be a part of your existing amplifier,
Digital conversion
You will recall t hat one of t he database you specify, including that of preamplifier or even your CD player, but
important elements of a conventional iTunes.
several companies now make excellent
Whatever software you select, the standalone DAC’s.
CD player is a DAC, a digital-to-analog
converter. However you choose to get functions are likely to be similar. You can
Once you’ve recovered the analog
the digital signal from your computer to play music files in sequence, in random signal, you amplify it and reproduce it
your music system, you will need to turn order, or according to a playlist you have as you would the signal from any other
it back into an analog signal. Your ampli- built. Any of these methods will work audio source.
Nuts&Bolts
Feedback
The new ASW Genius 110
One of the innovative loudspeakers
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Cinema
that in Soviet times the politburo had a
practice of removing disgraced officials
from photographs. With a little retouching, no hole was left.
Let’s try it, using an original 2D
image.
When 3D falls Flat
H
ome entertainment pundits
have not run short of reasons why 3D video won’t
be more than a passing fad.
People have only just gotten their flat
screens and Blu-ray players. 3D doesn’t
lend itself to casual watching, which is
how most people (supposedly) watch
movies today. 3D gives people headaches.
3D is just a distracting gimmick. No
one wants to wear glasses just to watch
TV. There isn’t enough 3D content.
And so on.
You may think it’s the glasses, but
actually it’s the content. Hollywood says
all its films will be shot in 3D henceforth
(it made the same declaration in 1963),
but in the meantime studios are resorting to fake 3D. No wonder so many
critics and spectators think it’s just a
distraction. What they’re watching is
not 3D.
The clue is the number of producers
hard at work “converting” 2D movies to
3D. This is a lot like perpetual motion,
which means you can dismiss it as impossible simply because it violates the laws
of physics. Or does it?
Yes and no.
A 3D image is created by shooting a
scene from two different points of view,
separated by about the distance between
our two eyes. One image is meant for
your left eye, the other for your right eye.
There are different ways of delivering
each image to the eye that needs to see
it, but what do you do if there was only
one image to start with? Where do you
get the second image?
There are in fact two ways of doing it,
and only two ways. One results in real 3D,
amazingly enough. The other — more
common — results in fake 3D. Let’s look
at the fake one first.
Fake it till you make it
If you have experience with a modern
version of Photoshop, you’ll know there
are several ways of separating an object
from its background. Indeed, at UHF
we do that all the time, which is why
products we review are shown with only
the white of the paper behind it. Doing
the same thing with a moving image is
more difficult, but professional-grade
computer software helps make it easier.
In our case, of course, we simply discard the background, but moviemakers
are left with a background that has a hole
in it. There are several ways of plugging
the hole, and they have in fact existed
well before computers. You may recall
If the scene was actually produced
with computer software, as often happens, the conversion is even easier,
since no separation is required. The
foreground and background objects were
actually created separately.
Therefore we now have two separate
images, one of the foreground character, the other of the background with
the hole filled. We can put them back
together, making up two images, in
which the foreground actor is slightly
shifted to the side in one of the images.
If we make a stereo pair from those
two images, the actor will seem to be
closer to us than the background. For
an example, see the top picture pair on
the next page. Cross your eyes until the
two images fuse into one. Got it?
Trouble is, that’s not 3D.
Check out the rest of the article in
the print issue, or the electronic version,
available inexpensively.
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tell us they most like about UHF is that it
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Not just hardware…
Feature
Feedback
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Cinema
Feedback
omeday there really may
be LED TV sets, with
images made up of tiny
light-emitting diodes.
We aren’t there yet. For the
moment, an “LED TV” is a conventional liquid crystal display
that is backlit with diodes rather
than those dreadful fluorescent
tubes.
Don’t underestimate how
evil fluorescents really are. If
you’ve worked in an office tower
you know that they are a tool of
the devil. They’re supposedly
preferred because they waste less
electricity…then they’re left to
burn 24/7.
But we’re drifting off-topic.
Fluorescent bulbs are bad for TV
images just as they are for your eyesight
and your growing migraines, and for
many of the same reasons. Foremost is
that their light output spectrum resembles nothing found in nature. Everyone
notices how bluish they are, but filtering
their light doesn’t help, because much
of the red end of the spectrum isn’t just
anemic, it’s missing. Rebalance that if you
can! Worse is that gasses in the tube glow
at their characteristic color. The result
is a color response curve that has a lot of
spikes in it.
LED’s, on the other hand, are solid
state devices (the “D” stands for “diode”),
without those quirky spikes. And you
know what? They’re even more efficient
than fluorescents.
We can probably assume an LEDbacklit TV is going to be better than
one with a fluorescent, but will it be good
enough to take on plasma? Plasma may
not be the ultimate in television displays,
but it’s been the best commercially available for a long time now. LCD has been
inferior for many years. Advances are
“LED TV”
vs Plasma
being made, though. What if the panel
were backlit with a better lamp, like one
made up of LED’s?
Several manufacturers have been
criticized for using “LED TV” for a
product that is actually an LCD panel.
Even so, there are two sorts of “LED
TV.”
The first, in some models from Sony
and LG, use an array of red, green and
blue diodes behind the panel to backlight
it (note that the image is still created by
conventional liquid crystals). The second
uses an array of white LED’s around the
frame edge, lighting a diffuser placed
behind the LCD panel. That’s the
technology used in this Samsung TV
(catchily named 46B6000VF), and most
“LED” TV’s.
The newest HDTV sets
are LCDs, backlit with
light-emitting diodes.
Has plasma finally
been outclassed? We
compared them.
Those elusive blacks
It’s important to realize that sets
like these are still LCDs, because
they share an important weakness of the LCD. No matter
the light source, the liquid crystals either let the backlighting
through, or they turn opaque
and they don’t. But they can
never be completely opaque, and
for that reason “black” is never
really black. The same is true
even of true LED panels, the ones
with arrays of red, green and blue
diodes right behind the screen.
Those sets, however, simulate
black ness by local dimming:
actually turning off the diodes if
the circuit detects blackness. Note the
use of the word simulate. The problem is
that there are fewer diodes than pixels,
and so local dimming is implemented
across individual cells. One result can
be that, for instance, a starry sky will be
rendered as black.
We should add that newer plasma
screens also use local dimming. It can
be turned off, fortunately.
The LCD advantage
W hen we selected our Samsung
plasma HDTV two years ago, plasma
was already declining in total sales
against LCD TV sets. Indeed, some
manufacturers, such as Toshiba, had
dropped plasma entirely, despite a narrowing price spread. Why?
There are certainly advantages to
LCD, especially with superior LED
backlighting. An LCD set can be thin
enough to hang on the wall like a picture. The Samsung we reviewed here is
just 2.5 cm thick — that’s an inch! The
connections are oriented edgewise, so
that cables need not stick out. The sets
are lighter too. They may even be more
durable.
That last point is uncertain. Current
major brand plasma sets have a half-life
rating of 30,000 hours (the time for
brightness to drop by half). That’s three
and a half years of continuous operation,
and it’s obvious that no such test can
possibly have been carried out.
Plasma screens, however, are vulnerable to screen burning, which happens
if you leave it on a bright unchanging
Setting it up
We assumed, not unreasonably, that
using the same settings as we had used
for our Samsung plasma would get us
at least close to optimum performance.
Our review set had come from another
publication, unnamed, and had therefore
been preset for that test. Some settings
looked right, but we looked askance at
the contrast setting, which was way up
at 90%. We took it down to 45%, and we
adjusted the brightness accordingly, to
give a moderately brilliant image with as
wide a tonal range as possible. It looked
right…until we began watching actual
movies.
The problem was in the dark parts of
the image. What should have been inky
black was actually muddy and brownish.
We could darken them again with the
brightness control, but then the highlights would look dead. This LED-LCD
panel has an extra control our plasma
doesn’t have: backlighting. We juggled
the three settings until we came up with
what we could consider acceptable over
a wide range of scenes. Final settings:
contrast at 95%, brightness at 45%,
backlight at 5 (out of 10). That wound
up quite close to the settings on our own
plasma panel.
With that done, we selected three
scenes on particularly good Blu-ray
films, and watched them on our reference HDTV. We then set up a stand in
front of it so we could place the LED
panel in front of it. Since it would then
be blocking our Thiel centre speaker, we
ran the test with our preamp/processor
in “phantom” mode, with the centre
audio re-routed to the left and right front
speakers.
The comparison
The first selection is one we have used
before: the Parkour (chase) scene early in
Casino Royale, the first James Bond film
with Daniel Craig in the 007 role. It has
color and plenty of fast movement, with
a very wide tonal scale. It would give us,
among other things, a look at how well
the LED-LCD’s 120 Hz mode could
handle movement.
Both the print issue and the paid
electronic version at magzee.com have
the complete text of this review. But for
now we revert to filler text, which looks
like Latin but isn’t.
Cinema
Feedback
scene, such as a video game page. This
doesn’t happen much, fort unately,
though plasmas do currently suffer from
image retention, a temporary storing of an
image. After you watch a 4:3 movie, for
instance, the sides of the screen will look
(temporarily) different from the centre.
How long can an LCD set last? The
fluorescent-backlit sets have a limited
life, because few people ever spend the
large amount to change the bulb. These
are essentially throwaway sets. LEDbacklit sets can be expected to last much,
much longer.
The LCD has one final advantage:
brightness. This is more of a sales feature than an actual advantage, because
shoppers in the typical overlit Big Box
store, it is believed, are drawn to bright
screens as moths to a flame. Most sets
are turned up to torch mode, so bright
you could get a tan watching it. It’s disconcerting to think that some purchasers
will actually run them that way at home,
though it might make sense if they watch
with sunlight streaming in through the
panoramic window.
Samsung sets do have a torch mode
(actually called “dynamic”), though
to the company’s credit it doesn’t ship
them that way. Both plasma and LCD
sets arrive set to a global setting called
Warm2, which is the one most likely
to give you maximum detail. What is
confusing is that there is another setting
labelled “Natural,” which you might be
tempted by, but which actually punches
up the image in grotesque fashion. The
Samsung instruction manual does recommend Warm2 for use in a darkened
room. Need we add that such a room is
the only setting for anything but casual
viewing?
Cinema
Feedback
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Back Issues
THE ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION:
Issues No.7-19 (except 11, 15, 17 and 18, out of
print): nine issues available for the price of five
(see below). A piece of audio history. Available
separately at the regular price.
THE ACOUSTIC COLLECTION:
This is the closest we can get to a book on
acoustics by Paul Bergman. Issues No.7784: eight issues available for the price of five
issues. Including Paul Bergman’s complete
series on acoustics for audiophiles (room size
and acoustics, taming reverberation, absorbing
sound, absorbing unwanted low frequencies, diffusing sound, soundproofing, speaker placement
and room acoustics, and signals for acoustic
measurement).
No. 88: High resolution music: We open our
copies of Reference Recordings’ HRx 24/176.4
recordings, and check how good you can make
them sound right now. Reviews: Two upscale
speakers, the Reference 3A Episode and the
Audes Orpheus. An amazing four-box CD player
from Cyrus. Cambridge’s affordable DACMagic.
Blue Circle’s unusual Fon Lo phono preamps,
two new cables from BIS, and new headphones
from AblePlanet. We try to determine whether a
“better” USB cable actually sounds better. Plus:
Paul Bergman on why so many “stereo” recordings are done with a single microphone.
No. 87: Digital: We review the April Music Eximus
CD player, and we plug things into its digital
inputs. We also try to get great sound from the
increasingly popular Apple Airport Express.
Analog: We listen to the Audiomat Phono-1.6,
successor to our reference phono preamp, and
a hand-wound step-up transformer from Allnic.
Plus: A lovely little tube amp from Audio Space,
the Pioneer BDP-11FD Blu-ray player, and a
feature article on good sound in bad times.
No.86: Analog: We review the Scheu Analogue
Premier II turntable and Cantus arm, and we try
two phono preamps: the Allnic H-1200 and the
Moon LP3. Also: We continue our investigation
of speaker connectors by putting WBT nextgens
on our reference cable, we listen to Beats headphones, as well as the Shure SE530 and SE420
phones. We also put the Zoom H2 palm-sized
digital recorder through a tough test. Plus: color
space in home theatre, Paul Bergman on analog
in a digital world.
No.85: Integrated amplifiers: the luxurious
Sugden A21SE and the affordable Vecteur
Ai4. We evaluate Eichmann’s new Quiessence
cables, and chat with Keith Eichmann himself.
We listen to a very good mid-priced speaker
cable with four different connectors, and the
results leave us stunned. Plus: We choose
(and evaluate in depth) a new HDTV reference
monitor, Paul Bergman winds up his series on
acoustics, and we tell you how to transfer music
to hard drive without saying you’re sorry.
No.84: Digital streaming: the awesome Linn
Klimax DS and the Off-Ramp Turbo 2 interface.
Also: the classic Harbeth HL5 speaker, the
affordable Moon CD-1 and i-1 amplifier, and
a great phono stage from Aurum. Plus: UHF
chats with Linn’s Gilad Tiefenbrun and Harbeth’s
Alan Shaw, Paul Bergman discusses signals for
acoustic measurement, and we look at the prospects for 3-D…at home and in the cinema.
No.83: Digital: The Raysonic CD128 and a lowcost player from VisionQuest. Other reviews: The
Moon LP5.3 phono stage, the Castle Richmond
7i speaker, the upscale Mavros cables from
Atlas, and a retest of the Power Foundation III
line filter, with a better power cord this time. Plus:
The acoustics of speaker placement, the two
meanings of video image contrast, and a portrait
of super tenor Placido Domingo.
No.82: Amplifiers: A large sweet tube amplifier
from Audio Space, the Reference 3.1, and the
reincarnation of an old favorite, the Sugden A21.
Digital: Bryston's first CD player, and the Blue
Circle "Thingee," with USB at one end and lots of
outputs at the other end. Plus: the BC Acoustique
A3 speaker, a small subwoofer, two more London
phono cartridges, line filters from AudioPrism
and BIS, a blind test of three interconnects, Paul
Bergman on soundproofing, and a thorough test
of Sony's new-generation Blu-ray player
No.81: Digital: The newest two-box CD player
from Reimyo, and the magical Linn Majik
player. Headphones a new version of our long
time reference headphones, from the Koss pro
division, and the affordable SR-125 headphones
from Grado. Plus: The astonishing Sonogram
loudspeakers from Gershman, a small but lovely
tube integrated amplifier from CEC, and the
London Reference phono cartridge.
No.80: Equipment reviews: From Linn, the
Artikulat 350A active speakers, the updated
LP12 turntable, the Klimax Kontrol preamplifier,
and the Linto phono stage; ASW Genius 300
speakers, ModWright preamp and phono stage.
Also: Bergman on absorbing low frequencies,
emerging technologies for home theatre, and
coverage of the Montreal Festival.
No.79: Digital players: Simaudio’s flagship
DVD (and CD) player, the Calypso, and Creek’s
surprising economy EVO player. Phono stages:
A slick tube unit from Marchand, and the superb
Sonneteer Sedley, with USB input and output.
Plus: the talented JAS Oscar loudspeakers, the
Squeezebox plus our own monster power supply.
Also: Bergman on what absorbs sound and what
doesn’t, what’s next in home theatre, Vegas
2007, and the secrets of the harmonica.
No.78: Integrated amplifiers: the affordable
Creek EVO, and the (also affordable) Audio
Space AS-3i. Loudspeaker cables: six of them
from Atlas and Actinote, in a blind test. Plus:
the astonishing Aurum Acoustics Integris 300B
complete system, and its optional CD player/
preamplifier. Whew! Also: Bergman on taming
reverberation, how to put seven hours of uncompressed music on just one disc, and the one
opera that even non-opera people know.
No.77: Electronics: The Simaudio Moon P-8
preamplifier, the successor to the legendary
Bryston 2B power amp, the Antique Sound Lab
Lux DT phono stage. Plus: the Reimyo DAP-777
converter, an affordable CD player/integrated
amp pair from CEC, and five power cords. Also:
Paul Bergman on room size and acoustics, how
to dezone foreign DVDs, and how to make your
own 24/96 high resolution discs at home.
No.76: Loudspeakers: a new look at the modern
version of the Totem Mani-2, an affordable ELAC
speaker with a Heil tweeter, and the even more
affordable Castle Richmond 3i. Plus headphone
amps from Lehmann, CEC and Benchmark, a
charger that can do all your portables, and the
Squeezebox 3, which gets true hi-fi music from
your computer to your stereo system. Bergman
on speaker impedance and how to measure it.
No.75: Amplifiers: The new Simaudio Moon W-8
flagship, and integrated amps from Copland (the
CTA-405) and CEC. Speakers: the Reference 3a
Veena and the Energy Reference Connoisseur
reborn. Plus the Benchmark DAC converter. And
also: Bergman on the changing concept of hi-fi
and stereo, a chat with FIM’s Winston Ma, and
the rediscovery of a great Baroque composer,
Christoph Graupner.
No.74: Amplifiers: Mimetism 15.2, Qinpu A-8000,
Raysonic SP-100, Cyrus 8vs and Rogue Stereo
90. More reviews: Atlantis Argentera speaker,
Cyrus CD8X player, GutWire MaxCon 2 line
filter, Harmony remote, Music Studio 10 recording software. Cables: Atlas, Stager, BIS and
DNM, including a look at how length affects
digital cables. Plus: the (hi-fi) digital jukebox,
why HDTV doesn’t always mean what you think,
and Reine Lessard on The Man Who Invented
Rock’n’Roll.
No.73: Integrated amplifiers: Audiomat Récital
and Exposure 2010S. Analog: Turntables
from Roksan (Radius 5) and Goldring (the
Rega-designed GR2), plus two cartridges, and
four phono stages from CEC, Marchand and
Goldring. The Harmonix Reimyo CD player,
Audiomat Maestro DAC, ASW Genius 400
speakers, and the Sonneteer BardOne wireless
system. Plus: Paul Bergman on the making of an
LP and why they don’t all sound the same.
No.72: Music from data: We look at ways you
can make your own audiophile CDs with equipment you already have, and we test a DAC that
yields hi-fi from your computer. We review the
new Audio Reference speakers, the updated
Connoisseur single-ended tube amp, upscale
Actinote cables, and Gershman’s Acoustic Art
panels. How to tune up your system for an inexpensive performance boost. And much more.
No.71: Small speaker: Reference 3a Dulcet,
Totem Rainmaker, and a low cost speaker from
France. A blind cable test: five cables from Atlas,
and a Wireworld cable with different connectors
(Eichmann, WBT nextgen, and Wireworld). The
McCormack UDP-1 universal player, muRata
super tweeters, Simaudio I-3 amp and Equinox
CD player. Paul Bergman examines differences
behind two-channel stereo and multichannel.
No.70: How SACD won the war…or how DVD-A
blew it. Reviews: Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal
player and Shanling SCD-T200 player. Speakers:
Reference 3a Royal Virtuoso, Equation 25,
Wilson Benesch Curve. Other reviews: Simaudio
W-5LE amp, the iPod as an audiophile source.
Plus: future video screens, and the eternal music
of George Gershwin
No.69: Tube Electronics: Audiomat Opéra ,
Connoisseur SE-2 and Copland CSA29 integrated amps, and Shanling SP-80 monoblocks.
Audiomat's Phono 1.5, Creek CD50, GutWire's
NotePad and a music-related computer game
that made us laugh out loud. Paul Bergman on
the return of the tube, and how music critics did
their best to kill the world’s greatest music.
No.68: Loudspeakers: Thiel CS2.4, Focus Audio
FS688, Iliad B1. Electronics:Vecteur I-6.2 and
Audiomat Arpège integrated amps, Copland 306
multichannel tube preamp, Rega Fono MC. Also:
Audio Note and Copland CD players, GutWire
MaxCon power filter. And there’s more: all about
power supplies, what’s coming beyond DVD, and
a chat with YBA’s Yves-Bernard André.
No.67: Loudspeakers: An improved Reference
3a MM de Capo, and the Living Voice Avatar
OBX-R. Centre speakers from Castle, JMLab,
ProAc, Thiel, Totem and Vandersteen. One of
them joins our Kappa system. Two multichannel
amps from Copland and Vecteur. Plus: plans for
a DIY platform for placing a centre speaker atop
any TV set, Paul Bergman on the elements of
acoustics, and women in country music.
No.66: Reviews: the Jadis DA-30 amplifier, the
Copland 305 tube preamp and 520 solid state
amp. Plus: the amazing Shanling CD player,
Castle Stirling speakers, and a remote control
that tells you what to watch. Also: Bergman on
biwiring and biamplification, singer Janis Ian’s
alternative take on music downloading, and a
chat with Opus 3’s Jan-Eric Persson.
No.65: Back to Vinyl: setting up an analog
system, reviews of Rega P9 turntable, and
phono preamps from Rega, Musical Fidelity
and Lehmann. The Kappa reference system for
home theatre: choosing our HDTV monitor, plus
a review of the Moon Stellar DVD player. Antivibration: Atacama, Symposium, Golden Sound,
Solid-Tech, Audioprism, Tenderfeet. Plus an
interview with Rega’s turntable designer,.
No.64: Speakers: Totem M1 Signature and
Hawk, Visonik E352. YBA Passion Intégré amp,
Cambridge IsoMagic (followup), better batteries
for audio-to-go. Plus: the truth about upsampling,
an improvement to our LP cleaning machine, an
interview with Ray Kimber.
No.63: Tube amps: ASL Leyla & Passion
A11. Vecteur Espace speakers, 2 interconnects (Harmonic Technology, Eichmann),
5 speaker cables (Pierre Gabriel, vdH ,
Harmonic Technology, Eichmann), 4 power
cords (Wireworld, Harmonic Technology,
Eichmann, ESP). Plus: Paul Bergman on
soundproof ing, c ompar ing c omponents
in the store, big-screen TV’s to stay away
from, a look back at the Beatles revolution.
No.62: Amplifiers: Vecteur I-4, Musical Fidelity
Nu-Vista M3, Antique Sound Lab MG-S11DT.
Passive preamps: Creek and Antique Sound
Lab. Vecteur L-4 CD player. Interconnects: VdH
Integration, Wireworld Soltice. Plus: the right to
copy music, for now. Choosing a DVD player by
features. And all about music for the movies.
No.61: Digital: Audiomat Tempo and Cambridge
Isomagic DACs, Vecteur D-2 transport. Speakers:
Osborn Mini Tower and Mirage OM-9. Soundcare
Superspikes. And: new surround formats, dezoning DVD players.
No.60: Speakers: Monitor Audio Silver 9,
Reference 3a MM De Capo, Klipsch RB-5,
Coincident Triumph Signature. Plus: a Mirage
subwoofer and the Audiomat Solfège amp. Paul
Bergman on reproducing extreme lows.
No.59: CD players: Moon Eclipse, Linn Ikemi and
Genki, Rega Jupiter/Io, Cambridge D500. Plus:
Oskar Kithara speaker, with Heil tweeter. And:
transferring LP to CD, the truth on digital radio,
digital cinema vs MaxiVision 48.
No.58: Amplifiers: ASL AQ1003, Passion I10
& I11, Rogue 88, Jadis Orchestra Reference,
Linar 250. Headphone amps: Creek, Antique
Sound Lab, NVA, Audio Valve. Plus: Foundation
Research LC-2 line filter, Gutwire power cord,
Pierre Gabriel ML-1 2000 cable. And: building
your own machine to clean LP’s.
No.57: Speakers: Dynaudio Contour 1.3,
Gershman X-1/SW-1, Coincident Super Triumph
Signature, Castle Inversion 15, Oskar Aulos.
PLUS: KR 18 tube amp. Music Revolution: the
next 5 years. Give your Hi-Fi a Fall Tune-Up.
No.56: Integrated amps: Simaudio I-5, Roksan
Caspian, Myryad MI120, Vecteur Club 10, NVA
AP10 Also: Cambridge T500 tuner, Totem Forest.
Phono stages: Creek, Lehmann, Audiomat.
Interconnects: Actinote, Van den Hul, Pierre
Gabriel. Plus: Paul Bergman on power and current…why you need both
No.55: CD players: Linn CD12, Copland CDA289, Roksan Caspian, AMC CD8a. Other
reviews: Enigma Oremus speaker, Magenta
ADE-24 black box. Plus: the DSD challenge for
the next audio disc, pirate music on the Net, the
explosion of off-air video choices.
SEE MORE AT:
http://www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html
EACH ISSUE costs $6.49 (in Canada) plus tax (14% in QC, ON, NB, NS and NF, 12% in BC, 5% in other Provinces), US$7.69 in the USA, CAN$10.75 elsewhere (air mail
included). For VISA or MasterCard, include number, expiry date and signature. UHF Magazine, 270 rue Victoria, Longueuil, QC., Canada J4H 2J6.
Tel.: (450) 651-5720 FAX: (450) 651-3383, or www.uhfmag.com. Recent back issues are available electronically at www.magzee.com, for C$4.30 each, taxes included.
Listening Room
Moon 300D DAC
A
re separates better than an
integrated? At one time that
question referred only to
amplifiers: could an integrated amplifier be as good as a separate
preamplifier and power amplifier? For
many years the answer was no, but that
was true only because manufacturers
believed upscale integrateds wouldn’t
sell. Not so true anymore.
But the question is also pertinent
for digital players. The first players
were complete one-box units. Then
habits changed: those looking for the
best would buy a separate transport and
digital-to-analog converter, figuring
they would sound better (and sometimes
they did). Or else they added an outboard
DAC in order to improve a one-box
player.
Then the market changed again.
There were serious advantages to putting
the whole player into a single box, rather
than pushing a potentially fragile digital
signal through a long wire of uncertain
quality. Wonderfully-designed singlebox players pushed the separates into a
corner of audio history.
And now, as Bob Dylan did not say,
the times they are a-changin’ back.
The reason is of course the computer
as a music source. Even our hard-core
audiophile readers are transferring their
digital music to their hard drives. They
wish they could decode their computer
files with the expensive DAC inside their
players, but with most players that’s
impossible — there’s no digital input. To
add to the fun, a player whose transport
fails may become a paperweight.
Hence the galloping return of the
standalone DAC. This one is Simaudio’s
effort at making one that, potentially,
can make you forget your one-box player.
Since we had already experimented with
the use of three DACs with computer
music (Hi-Res Music on DVD-R in UHF
No. 88), we had some experience in the
matter. Though the 300D is not exactly
what you would buy on impulse, it certainly doesn’t set records for price.
On the next page you can see the
300D’s rear panel, with its four digital
inputs: TOSLINK optical, USB, and
two S/PDIF coaxial inputs. The optical
jack has a self-closing shutter, much
preferable to those easy-to-lose dust
plugs usually included. There is no balanced digital input, a surprising omission in a high end piece. You choose the
input with a pushbutton on the right of
the front panel. We would have liked a
remote control for those inputs, but the
300D can be controlled only by adding
an aftermarket infrared receiver to a jack
at the rear (not shown in our photo).
The DAC chips in the 300D (BurrBrown PCM-1793’s) have fully modern
specs. The 300D uses a phase-locked
loop and its own master clock in order
to reduce jitter no matter the digital
source. The 300D is capable of 24-bit
depth with a sampling rate of as much
as 192 kHz. For the moment you won’t
find much that will run at 192 kHz, but
once you do the 300D will handle it.
Of course it does the intermediate sampling rates too: 176.4, 96, 88.2
and 48 kHz, as well as the 44.1 kHz of
Red Book CD. The appropriate LED
lights up on the front panel to confirm
the resolution of the incoming signal.
There’s no indication of bit depth, but
that’s less crucial — if you’ve got more
than a 48 kHz sample rate, pretty much
any digital source will also push through
24 bits.
Note that those specs don’t apply to
the USB input, which is limited to 16 bits
and a maximum sampling rate of 48 kHz
(used in older pro gear). The Cambridge
DACMagic, reviewed in UHF No. 88,
had the same limitation, though that was
pointed out to us by a reader only after
we had gone to press. Indeed, Cambridge
claims on its Web site that this is a limit
of the USB standard, which is not true.
In both cases the USB circuit seems to
be an afterthought, included as a convenience rather than a preferred link.
There are other barriers to the
performance of the 300D in a real-life
system, not because of the 300D itself,
but because of limitations in the source
hardware and software. We expect those
limitations to melt away.
Simaudio told us that the 300D would
need a whopping 300 hours of run-in
time before delivering its full performance! We plugged it in, along with the
equally mint ELAC speakers, and sure
enough they sounded unpleasantly edgy.
Just six hours later they were producing
real music, and over the next while they
kept on getting better and better. By the
time we were ready for serious listening,
we had run the 300D for more than 320
hours.
This is a versatile product, which
meant this would be not just one review
session, but several.
with enormous impact, and effortless
revelation of the deep acoustical space.
The softer passages, those with the
woodwinds in the starring role, were
no less impressive, with an abundance
of subtle detail, and timbres that were
startlingly lifelike. The stereo image was
exemplary, with each instrument placed
where it should be, but still forming an
organic whole. “There might be some
compression of the higher notes,” said
Steve, “but it’s minor even so.”
The final recording was a challenge of
a different sort: Margie Gibson singing
You Keep Coming Back Like a Song from
Say It With Music (Sheffield CD-36).
Like the rest of the album, this song is
an emotional experience. Indeed, Gerard
commented that it was this very song
which, some years back, had persuaded
him that the Linn player was needed in
our reference systems. Of course, the
Linn rendered the song as flawlessly as
ever. Doing a review session with music
like this is no chore.
What was surprising was how close
the 300D came to it.
From the very first notes by the
piano, we could hear how really well the
Sheffield recording had been done. Steve
noted the smooth crystalline quality of
the piano’s higher notes. It was no less
excellent when Margie came in. She
had a superb presence, with details that
highlighted the masterful way in which
she uses her voice. After those initial
notes, both Albert and Gerard stopped
writing, the better to listen. “It may not
really be quite the same,” said Albert,
“but you forget to compare.”
Need we add that, as they say on the
Net, YMMV (your mileage may vary)?
A lot can depend on your transport, and
also on the quality of the cable linking
your transport to the converter. Still,
we remember the days when we would
review standalone DACs, and we would
struggle to determine whether there
really was a difference when we added it
to a (good for the time) CD player. Of
course you wouldn’t add it to a player like
our Linn, but how many people own a
player of that caliber?
A preliminary finding, then, was that
adding this DAC to a reasonably-built
player would yield much better results
than upgrading to all but the very best
super players. What’s more, you then
get a full range of digital inputs for your
other sources.
Which is what we wanted to evaluate
next.
Cutting the wires
With that first comparison out of the
way, we left the CD behind and moved
to the contents of our main computer.
The computer is not in the same room
as the Omega reference system, and so
we connected it to our system over the
air.
The key to this legerdemain is Apple’s
increasingly popular Airport Express
($100), a small but potent mini-router
that can connect to the wireless Wi-Fi
system you may already have.
We should add, however, that our own
Wi-Fi system is built around another
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Adding it to a CD player
There are a lot more standalone
DACs on the market than CD transports. For that reason, if you buy one,
chances are your existing CD player will
become your transport. Does that make
any sense? How good an add-on is this,
anyway?
To find out, we tried adding it to our
Linn Unidisk 1.1 player, discontinued
now but still one of the finest CD players ever built. We selected several CDs
and played them on the Linn. We then
connected the Linn’s digital output to
one of the Moon’s coaxial inputs, using
an Atlas Opus digital cable, and listened
again.
We began with our all-time choral
favorite, Now the Green Blade Riseth
(Proprius PRCD9093), selecting the Red
Book CD, not the SACD version. Even
this version is awesome with the Linn,
projecting a deep, natural sound that
envelops the listener.
We knew no outboard DAC in existence could match that, and of course we
were right, but the result was nonetheless
very good. Gerard praised the timbres of
both the solo flute and the choral voices,
and noted the smoothness. He was also
impressed by the fact that the sound
didn’t harden up on the crescendo, as
too often happens.
All was not perfect, however. “Everything is there,” said Albert, “but it’s not
as limpid and transparent, and there’s
more of an impression of compression
and effort.” Steve found the textures
less “organic,” and therefore less natural, but added that he enjoyed the piece
nonetheless.
That recording is a challenging one,
however — which is of course why we use
it so often (and besides, we don’t get tired
of hearing it). So is the second one, but
this time the 300D got uncannily close
to the performance of the Linn alone.
The piece is Norman Dello Joio’s dramatic wind band composition, Fantasies
on a Theme by Haydn (Klavier K11138),
which is noted for the overwhelming
impact of the percussion, and for subtle
and delightful interplay by woodwinds.
It’s a difficult recording to do justice to,
but it gave the 300D little trouble.
Indeed, the wild bass drum introduction was pretty much identical,
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Apple product, the Airport Extreme
router. What it offers, which most routers do not, is the ability to broadcast
simultaneously on both the conventional
2.4 GHz band and the much less crowded
5 GHz band. Thus, instead of competing
with all the neighborhood routers for
channels 6 or 11, our Airport Express
moved to the vacant channel 149. That
eliminated the occasional dropout we
got with the older band, but — this was
a surprise — we got far better sound at
the other end. Other companies also
make wireless routers capable of using
both bands at the same time, including
D-Link, Cisco and Netgear.
The same three recordings were on
the hard drive of a Macintosh Pro computer, managed by iTunes software. The
Airport Express was plugged in close
to the Omega system, with an optical
cable running to the TOSLINK input
of the 300D. To avoid running to the
distant computer to play the selections
we wanted, we controlled the iTunes
playback with the free Remote application
on an iPod touch.
To our astonishment, what we heard
was at least as good. No wait…might it
actually be better? “It’s hard to accept
how fine it can sound transmitted without wires,” said Steve.
The piece was of course Now the
Green Blade Riseth. “It’s a lot closer to
the reference than it was connected to
the Linn,” said Albert. “There’s a lot
of body, but also a lot of transparency.”
Gerard thought male voices were more
distant, which might be a good thing.
Once Steve had gotten over his astonishment he commented that the piece
didn’t project the same 3D presence as
with the Linn player, though he thought
that could be a good thing too.
The Fantasies wind band piece was
impressive as well, with bass drum
impact as good as we had heard from
the original CD. The depth of image
was also impressive, and the playful
woodwind interplay was a delight. Albert
pronounced it magnificent.
But of course we’re here to criticize.
Still impressed, Steve nonetheless complained about some lag in the rhythm.
He also thought the brass seemed more
distant, and that as a result some aspects
of its timbre was missing.
But there were no complaints from
any of us on Margie Gibson’s song,
only adjectives: amazing, magnificent
(Albert), fantastic, amazing, incredible
(Steve), marvelous, absolutely delicious
(Gerard). A nd remember, we were
making comparisons to some highpowered gear!
Beyond those adjectives it was difficult to know where to start. Margie’s
voice was gorgeously natural, but so too
were the accompanying bass, cello and
piano. Presence was as good as it gets.
The balance was… but why go on? This
is the performance level wireless audio
from your computer can now reach.
We’ve come a long way in a short time,
and we have a feeling the surprises aren’t
over.
Summing it up…
Brand/model: Simaudio Moon 300D
Price: $1600
Size (WDH): 19 x 28 x 8.5 cm
Resolution: 24 bits, 192 kHz
Most liked: In the right setup, this is
high end music from your computer
Least liked: Mediocre USB input
Verdict: One of those products you
don’t want to give back
Connecting with USB
The Airport Express is particularly
practical if your computer and your
music system are not near each other,
but what if they are? If your computer
has a digital TOSLINK output, as
most modern Macs and some Windows
PCs do, you can connect an optical
cable directly from the computer to the
DAC. If it doesn’t you can also link up
to the 300D with the ubiquitous USB
connection.
But would USB sound as good? To
compare, we played Margie Gibson’s
song from a Macbook Pro laptop connected to the 300D via USB. For this
comparison we used the premium USB
cable from BIS Audio, rather than the
inexpensive standard ones commonly
packed with the gear.
Initially we thought it sounded much
the same, but then certain differences
became evident. Gerard thought Margie
sounded more forward, and his disenchantment grew as the song went on.
Albert initially found the two versions
similar, but concluded that the wireless
version left him feeling better. Steve
began by actually preferring the USB
version, though once Margie got into
her deft vocal acrobatics he chose the
wireless version as superior.
Conclusion: the USB connection may
actually not be your best choice, at least
on this DAC, but if it’s all you have it can
deliver what is, by any standard, a high
level of performance.
Beyond Red Book digital
For UHF No. 88 we had listened
to some high-resolution music files,
including some of the HRx files from
Reference Recordings, using three different DACs with prices from $5k down
to just over $500. We wanted to hear two
of the selections again, comparing them
to the Red Book CD versions.
Act ually t he CDs have HDCD
encoding. Though our now ancient
Counterpoint DA-10A has HDCD
decoding, the 300D does not. However
our Linn sounds better than the Counterpoint, and using the DA-10A would
have given the HRx version too easy a
ride.
To play the HRx file, we connected
our optical cable from the TOSLINK
output of our Macbook Pro to the 300D.
We used Apple’s Audio & Midi Configuration Utility to set the resolution to the
best currently available, namely 24 bits
and 96 kHz. Note that this resolution
is not available with the Moon’s USB
connection. Nor can it be used with
the present-day version of the Airport
Express, which is limited to Red Book
standard.
The first piece we heard was the Non
Allegro from Rachmaninoff’s gorgeous
Symphonic Dances (RR-96CD). We agreed
that both versions sounded superb, but
after that we diverged sharply. Gerard
liked the excellent depth and impact, but
preferred the HRx version for its lyrical
rendition of the soft passages. Albert
disagreed, charmed by more of a sense
of mystery in the soft passages with the
CD, and better contrast among sections.
“The story is told better,” he said.
Steve was enthused by the HRx
version, and the way it reproduced the
orchestral instruments at their natural
size. “There were harmonics there I had
never heard from classical saxophone,”
he added.
The final piece was Some of These Days
by the Hot Club of San Francisco (from
Yerba Buena Bounce, RR-109). When
we listened to the CD, both Steve and
Albert disliked it enough that they questioned whether we should be using such
a recording for a review. And then…
And then they totally changed their
minds on hearing the HRx version. “I
was coming down hard on this music
before,” said Steve, “but it didn’t deserve
it. The CD was excessively punchy,
but the HRx file is smoother and more
refined.” Albert was equally surprised,
listing a number of improvements:
better depth, a stable image, better balance, and a more realistic trombone and
voice. “They did it!” he exclaimed. “On
the HRx everyone seems to be playing
better.”
We were aware, of course, that we
were not hearing HRx at its best. Its
native resolution is 24-bit/176.4 kHz.
The 300D can handle it, but our com-
puter can’t, not yet. We’re conf ident
that will change.
And we conclude…
We came out of the review pumped,
frankly, and we had a question for
Simaudio. Our Audiophile Store already
offers the company’s two phono preamps; could we add the 300D to the
listings too? The answer was yes.
And we had our first customer…
namely ourselves. Our old Counterpoint
has served us well, but we reviewed it
back in issue No. 44 (that was in 1995!),
and it’s ready for a pension.
The Moon 300D has joined our
reference systems.
CROSSTALK
If radio waves can travel through the air
and be translated into music, then sending
songs from your computer via airwaves to
your stereo should be very possible, maybe
even overdue.
There is another issue though, and that
is the quality of the sound being sent. No
radio ever produced the stuff coming out of
this DAC.
Amazing, fantastic, astounding sound
that comes close to the reference in every
category. Was it the absence of wires that
impressed me so much that I exaggerated
the experience that day? Not at all, because
hearing the same song through two different
technologies made little change to the overall sound quality. This DAC is versatile and
extremely capable. Wired or not, it produces
high fidelity in spades and diamonds, and
should win your heart.
—Steve Bourke
Is the Moon 300D a reference-quality
converter? I’d be tempted to say it is, though
the new wave of DACs is very new, and the
recent ones we have heard (from Cyrus,
Audiomat, Cambridge and now Simaudio)
are clearly of a new generation, using much
upgraded technology. Is there more yet
coming? Probably, and if this is a sample
of what we can expect, I’m cheerfully
optimistic.
I’ve been putting digital music on a hard
drive for years now, partly to keep my iPod
happy, though initially I had no illusions
about what I would hear. For casual listening
and for background music it was terrific, but
I don’t enjoy background music, and I seldom
listen casually. What I have heard over those
years seemed barely promising.
That has changed.
This new DAC from Simaudio is a key to
using computer music not merely as a casual
source but as a genuine high fidelity source,
intended for serious listening. In the context
of a properly set-up digital playback system,
the 300D can outperform all but the very
best (and least affordable) CD players. The
weak spot now? Your computer, most likely,
and watch for action on that front.
Products like these are game changers,
and I’ve been waiting for this for a long
time.
—Gerard Rejskind
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This is it! There is nothing else to add if
someone asked me what their next upgrade
should be. Even that someone-who-haseverything does not really know how good
everything is until he has tried introducing
the 300D to his system.
And if you have nothing yet and are
planning to join us on the road to Ultra
High Fidelity, well…this is it for you too.
Your first step should be a worthy one. Even
if you build a modest system at first, let it be
right at the source, and improve the rest later.
Chances are it might be…much later.
The 300D is a versatile component too,
in that it offers great sound for anyone,
regardless of where their (digital) music
originates from. Performers live and breathe
around the speakers. They play music too,
the timbres of their different instruments
naturally recreated, and those who have a
voice sing. Really well. Bet you had never
known how well they could sing.
—Albert Simon
Allnic L-1500 Preamplifier
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R
emember when postwar Japanese products went from cheap
postwar junk to cutting-edge
craftsmanship? Unless your
hair is pretty grey, you probably don’t.
Japanese products, especially from
smaller companies, gradually became
known for uncompromising excellence.
Then came the competition from industries in Taiwan, then Hong Kong, which
had their own traditions.
And now South Korea. The Koreans
began with cheap cars that would (mercifully) rust out before their engines could
leave you stranded, but then became serious competitors for even the Japanese,
and now they have the Germans in their
sights. Could it be long before high-end
audio found a place in Korea? It now
appears that some of the uncompromising traditions of discipline and excellence
that permeate Japan have spread beyond
the Land of the Rising Sun.
Though Allnic is not exactly giving
this preamplifier away, it is nonetheless
its “budget” model, a lower-cost version of its L-3000 flagship. It’s a tube
preamp, using a pair of D3a pentodes
(commonly used in radio-frequency
circuits rather than audio gear), plus a
7233 and a 6485 used for voltage regulation. That wouldn’t appear to be a very
high tube count, but no more gain is
needed because the outputs come not
from an active buffer but from a pair of
transformers.
Nowadays, audio transformers are
mostly found in tube power amps,
and that’s because it’s difficult (but
not impossible) to match high impedance output tubes to a low-impedance
loudspeaker. Even so, the transformer
is often the weak spot in a tube power
amp, even an expensive one, because the
high level of craftsmanship required to
make a good transformer is increasingly
rare.
And that’s where Allnic’s experience
comes in. Company founder Kang Su
Park knows how to build transformers,
as he has demonstrated before, and he
winds his own by hand. You may recall
that we reviewed his AUT-2000 phono
step-up transformer in UHF No. 87, and
found it to be the best we had heard in…
well, decades. A transformer buffer can
provide a much more constant impedance curve, at (theoretically) low distortion. There is an added advantage too.
As noted, using transformers means less
gain is needed from the active circuits.
Gain is never free; it is accompanied by
noise and distortion. Less gain means
less crud too.
The L-1500’s front panel has buttons
for selecting the five inputs (labelled
Line 1, Line 2, etc.), as does the remote
control. Look at the rear panel, however,
and you’ll see that only three of them
can be used with unbalanced sources, at
least unless you find an adapter…always
a compromise. Another way to put it is
that only two of the inputs can be used
with balanced sources. The front panel
has buttons for power (which can shut
it down completely) but also for putting
the circuit to sleep, with the tubes kept
warm but not in actual operation. Also
on the front panel is a small round meter
labelled “current.” It has no graduations,
and is merely intended to warn you
when the circuit is outside its operating
parameters, for instance if a tube has
gone out.
There are two sets of outputs, also
confusingly labelled Line 1 and Line 2,
one set balanced and the other unbalanced. The “record out” jacks (there is
no tape loop) are strictly balanced. If
you’ll be using them for recording with
a computer, you’ll probably need an
adapter, because even semi-pro audio
interfaces have unbalanced line inputs.
There is a rear panel switch for absolute phase, and we were both surprised
and pleased to see it. Why does this
matter? Because, on a good recording,
you want the leading edge of a wave to
come forward toward you, not back. But
not all recordings are phase-accurate,
and a phase switch can therefore correct
for errors. We think it should be on the
remote control, not the rear panel. As it
is, you’ll find it useful only if your power
amplifier inverts phase, as some do. It
could do more, though, and we think
Allnic has missed an opportunity.
You can probably guess that Kang Su
Park has not put a carbon potentiometer
into his beautiful unit to serve as a
volume control. The control is actually
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a quality switch with an array of fixed
precision resistors. That is superior on
a number of levels. Not only does it
contribute less noise and distortion, but
it eliminates volume differences between
the channel as you adjust the volume up
or down.
Since the L-1500 is a tube preamplifier, we put it up against our own tube
preamp, the Copland CTA-305 that is in
our Alpha room. The Copland costs half
the price of the Allnic, but we’ve always
considered it a terrific bargain, able
to keep up with much more expensive
preamplifiers. Could it keep up with this
one?
We did the comparison with five
selected recordings, all of them high-resolution, played from our Linn Unidisk
1.1 player. We kept both preamplifiers
warmed up throughout, and we even
avoided switching off our Moon W-5LE
power amplifier, so there would be no
unwelcome variables in our listening
session. This is done by disconnecting
the speakers while interconnects are
being switched around. Of course we
used the same interconnects on both
preamplifiers.
As you will have noticed, a lot of
the articles in this free version of UHF
are complete. This isn’t one of them,
however. Pop over to www.uhfmag.com/
IndividualIssue.html, and get either the
print version or the electronic issue.
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Summing it up…
Brand/model: Allnic L-1500
Price: C$5500
Size (WDH): 43 x 30 x 12 cm
High-level inputs: 5
Most liked: Admirable performance
in every way
Least liked: Absolute phase switch
poorly placed
Verdict: Audio design as an art, in the
service of art
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Room
Listening
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CROSSTALK
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Leema Elements
Phono Preamp
Y
However the company makes a lot
more than loudspeakers now, having
branched out into electronics. Their
facility in Wales turns out amplifiers,
CD players, and two phono preamps.
One of the latter, the Agena, is decidedly
upmarket (read: expensive), but this one,
the Elements, is intended to deliver as
much as possible of the same quality on
a budget.
Make that a large budget, however,
because it is cheap only by comparison.
Still, the Elements can accommodate
either a moving magnet or a lowimpedance moving coil cartridge. The
MM/MC switch is at the rear, accessible
through a small hole with a pen tip.
You’ll see a second switch, which rolls
off the extreme low frequencies below
20 Hz. That’s not to remove the noise
that used to be referred to as “rumble,”
but to prevent warped records from
generating huge infrasonic signals that
can cause Doppler distortion in all but
the largest speakers. Such filters are rare
today, but they’re useful. It would be
even more useful if it were on the front
panel.
You might even wonder why designers don’t engineer the filter right into
the circuit, since there won’t be much
material down below 20 Hz. In fact
Room
Listening
Feedback
es, when we saw this phono
preamp for the first time we
thought the same thing you’re
think ing: where does this
company get off charging over a thousand dollars for a circuit stuffed into an
experimenter’s box and powered by a
wall wart?
A nd then we listened to it. We
encourage you to read on.
“Leema” is a composite of the first
names of its two founders, Lee Taylor
and Mallory Nichols. Both were engineers at the BBC before setting up
their own company in 1998. Actually
Mallory had his own company before
that, making surround sound gear for
recording studios. Lee, in the meantime,
was an award-winning recording and
mixing engineer.
Their initial goal in setting up
Leema was to design groundbreaking
loudspeakers which would be compact
but would perform like much bigger
ones. To do so, they wrote their own
mathematical computer models to aid
in the design process. Check our reports
of the Montréal Salon Son & Image in
this issue, and you’ll see that, in fact, a
very small and surprisingly inexpensive
Leema speaker was one of the Salon’s
major hits.
there is — the biggest organ pipes can
produce a 16 Hz note. What’s more, the
RIAA standard (yes, the same RIAA that
sues teenagers and grandmothers for
downloading music) doesn’t allow for
such a permanent filter in its published
specifications.
For this session, we moved our
Audiomat Phono-1.6 preamp into our
Alpha room and played four selected
recordings from our Audiomeca J-1
turntable. We chose the J-1, and therefore the A lpha system, because we
wanted to hear the Element with its MC
input. The London Reference cartridge
on our Linn LP12 requires only an MM
input.
As we’ve noted before, our Alpha
room is, unfortunately, soundproofed
with lead, which induces noise into many
phono stages, especially ones with a
more sensitive MC input. Our Audiomat
is satisfactorily quiet even in that hostile
environment, and we were pleased to see
that the Leema was too.
The first recording was the longdiscontinued William Walton suite
Façade from Reference Recordings (RR16). Our 45 rpm copy is not dead quiet,
and the Elements emphasized the noise
in some passages. It also didn’t make the
piccolo introduction sound particularly
smooth. Still, it also let through a multitude of details, and the characteristic
timbres of the many instruments of the
suite were very good.
Did the music have less “body” than
with our reference? We thought it did,
although we had not used the infrasonic
filter, and we wondered whether we
could get some of it back by playing
just a little louder. We did, though of
course the piccolo didn’t improve any!
With an extra 5 dB of gain, the music
took on new life, and even the illusion
of depth (exemplary with this recording)
improved. “Everything is a little more
distant,” said Albert, “but that’s all right.
There’s a good balance, with nothing
excessive.”
We had an even greater challenge
waiting, our copy of Sheffield’s original
Track Record (LAB-20). This full-tilt rock
recording was direct-cut, with grooves
the width of a military airport runway.
The soft piano introduction may have
seemed less rich than with our reference,
but when the percussion followed we
were physically pushed back into our
seats. Though the instruments had a
little less weight than with our reference
preamp and its large power supply, there
was no blurring of the transients, nor
did the impressive impact hide any of
the music. Toby liked the chimes less,
thinking they were more like bedsprings
this time around, but he enjoyed the
richness of detail, including the sound
of John Newton Howard’s fingers sliding
on his guitar strings. “As with the previous recording,” said Albert,” everything
is in balance.”
We know that female voices, with
their relatively high registers, can present problems for music systems, from
speakers to digital players, and certainly
including phono preamplifiers. Our next
two recordings both featured female
singers.
The first was Ireland’s Mary Black
and her most famous recording, No
Frontiers. At its best this recording gives
us goose bumps, and we wish it were still
available.
All three of us mentioned right off
that — no surprise — our reference
phono preamp let through more body,
and therefore more presence, but none
of us took many marks off the Leema’s
scorecard. Both Toby and Albert noted
the purity of Black’s voice, and of course
its beauty. If the lower register was a little
leaner, it lost none of its beauty. Rhythm
was solid, and the recording still sounded
right.
Ou r second singer was Barbra
Streisand, on her famous Broadway
Album (Columbia OC40092). We’ve
used this recording in reviews for two
decades, and we wish the CD version
sounded a tenth as good. From that LP
we listened to Send in the Clowns. We
consider Streisand’s interpretation to be
the definitive version.
And it was nearly flawless, with only
a barely noticeable emphasis on the
sibilants. Both Toby and Albert left their
notebooks nearly blank, preoccupied as
Summing it up…
Brand/model: Leema Elements
Price: C$1050
Size (WDH): 10.5 x 8.3 x 4.8 cm
Most liked: Wonderful clarity, rich
detail
Least liked: Some leanness at the
bottom end
Verdict: An apparently simple design
pushed to its logical extreme
they were by the song itself. Comparing
the sound of the two phono preamps
seemed superfluous, because the emotion
of the song came through overwhelmingly. The woodwind introduction was
superb, Streisand’s voice magnificent.
The rest was mere detail, and we were
left in no mood to quibble.
Good as the Elements is, could it be
improved? We took a close look at the
wall wart, wondering whether, like some
wall warts, it provides alternating current, with the rest of the power supply
in the box. No, it supplies 24 volts DC,
though it’s possible that there is more
filtering and voltage regulation inside
the box. The obvious question: could
you retrofit a more elaborate supply, or
perhaps even batteries? A pair of 12 volt
motorcycle batteries connected in series
could make a killer electrical source.
But chances are you won’t spend this
sort of money just so you can secondguess the designers. Right out of the
box, this discreet phono preamplifier
gets the…elements right. Not only will
it make beautiful music, but it will give
you a pretty good idea of what Lee and
Mallory can do.
We c a n ha rd ly wa it to spend
some quality time with a pair of their
loudspeakers.
Room
Listening
Feedback
CROSSTALK
My first impression was one of balance.
Here was music that flowed smoothly without undue excess. The natural warmth one
comes to expect from a real voice was there.
The slightest whispered lyrics were there
too, dropped softly between notes. When the
music became energetic and lively, musicians
seemed to have a ball, exploding out of the
silence, filling the room.
Was it that good? Yes. Was it perfect?
Nahh… Nothing really is, you probably
know that by now.
But it was a delight to listen to music I
knew well and to meet it again, unscathed.
That is saying a lot, considering the quality
of our reference unit.
Come to think of it, there aren’t that
many reasons to live without it.
—Albert Simon
detailed, clean and transparent. I could
hear all the instruments, properly placed,
with realistic timbres. The snare drums in
foreground, middle ground and background
were all clearly snares and had a nice rattle
to them. Oh, compared to the reference, the
timbre of the snare was just a level of detail
less realistic, so go for the reference if you
have three times the money. On the Track
Record the chimes didn’t have quite the same
ring but the impact of the drum didn’t give
up much at all. Mary Black’s voice was just a
tad thinner but there was plenty of flow and
lyricism. Streisand’s sibilants had a slight
emphasis, but her intensity was still there.
This Leema knows music, and I can see
why they call it “Elements,” because it won’t
short-change you on any of the essentials.
—Toby Earp
This Leema was a treat. Façade was
I must say I’m still amazed at how much
musicality has been packed into such an
unprepossessing box. It can’t quite keep up
with the best phono preamps, to be sure. It
doesn’t have the body, nor does it have the
ultimate smoothness of high frequencies.
Yet, despite all, on many — perhaps
most — recordings you won’t hear any
limitations. You will notice the great clarity,
and you may also note that it is not merely
the product of harsh highs. There is no veil
to hide the music.
You may think I’m searching for virtues
I can ascribe to this little box, but in fact I
didn’t have to search at all. The virtues are
the first thing you notice, and they come as
a relief if you have much experience with
mass-market phono preamps. Look further
and you may notice less happy news, but only
if you have a good point of comparison, as
we do.
—Gerard Rejskind
Yo u r
System
Belongs on the Wall
YOU CAN
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The
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Store
Room
Listening
Feedback
includes more models than all but the
bravest (and richest) dealers would consider stocking. What nearly all of them
have in common is the distinctive-looking tweeter you see atop each of these
slim towers. Originally the creation of
physicist Oskar Heil, this “air motion
transformer” became justly famous for
its natural smoothness.
It should be said that the nearly ubiquitous dome tweeters are not known for
smoothness, and they are a not particularly appealing compromise. Like woofers, dome tweeters have high-inductance
voice coils, which act as low-pass filters,
passing lows but blocking highs. A typical dynamic tweeter, therefore, actually
filters out the very high frequency signal
it is attempting to produce. To prevent
this undesirable effect from becoming
evident, the typical tweeter is designed
so that it resonates at high frequency
(metal-dome tweeters are especially
good at this), thus storing extra highfrequency energy that can be released
slightly later to fill in for the missing
signal. Sort of.
ELAC FS 249
T
he German firm that builds
these speakers is not exactly
new to the world of high
fidelity. If you have dabbled
in the hobby for some years you may
recall ELAC turntables — actually
record changers. Even once ELAC
turntables were relegated to secondhand shelves, the company continued to
produce phono pickups. Today, however,
84 years after its birth, it has but one
specialty: loudspeakers.
Its name is always written in upper
case, as though it were an acronym,
though it’s not. It’s a contraction of
Electroacustic, which requires no translation (the full name is ELAC Electroacustic GmbH, which seems a little
redundant).
The ELAC catalog is gigantic, and
In Dr. Heil’s highly innovative
design (the sketch above is from his 1972
patent application), the signal current
flows through metal strips, not coils,
sidestepping the inductance problem.
The diaphragm is not a dome or any
other piston-like device, but a membrane
folded like an accordion bellows, hung in
a powerful magnetic field. It moves not
forward and back, but laterally, with the
folds “squeezing” the air. It takes very
little membrane movement to move a
lot of air. The advantages are obvious.
The ELAC tweeter has its own name:
it’s the JET 3 driver (we suspect another
acronym), though the company, on its
Web site, does acknowledge the work of
Oskar Heil. As you can see, however, the
tweeter is not the only driver that offers
an unusual appearance.
Another unique feature!
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Room
Listening
Feedback
The t wo woofers a nd
the midrange driver look,
at least from a distance, as
though their cones are made
of hammered steel, but that
is of course not the case.
ELAC calls cones “crystal
membranes,” but they’re not
crystalline either, except in
appearance. Touch them,
and you can guess they’re
made of some sort of fibre
material, possibly overlaid
with a metal foil, such as
aluminum. ELAC says they’re
made from a sandwich of two
(unnamed) materials, and
that they have paid attention to “three-dimensional
sound radiation patterns…
to acoustically ‘energize’ the
room in a consistent and harmonised (sic) way.” Perhaps it
reads better in German, but
careful reading indicates that
the voice coil is attached to
the membrane at two points,
including its very centre, and
that the goal is wide dispersion of sound for superior
imaging.
The membranes are certainly eye-catching, and it would seem do stay tight, though, in contrast to some
unfortunate
to how
hide most
themaudio
withmagazines
the knockoffs.
nicely-fashioned
You know
do their The
reviews:
a number of jumpblack
grilles
that
are
included,
though
ers
for
single
wiring
carry
the ELAC
reviewers, some with doubtful “reference” systems, are assigned
reviews
of
audiophiles
with
small
children
may
feel
name.
individual components.
differently.
We did
our listening
in our
UHF, on the other hand, maintains actual
reference
systems,session
on which
There
are
two
bass
ref
lex
vents,
Omega
room,
using
our
long-time
all reviews are done. All our reviewers participate in each review. The
onemain
for each
of the
woofers,
positioned
the Reference
3a
article
is based
on the
concensus,reference
if there is speakers,
one, but sometimes
on
respectively
at
the
rear
and
underneath.
Suprema II’s,
for
comparison.
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plugeach
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thewrite
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speakers arequire
And
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a “Crosstalk,”
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the What
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is really
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ELACs
sounded
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that is what makes UHF unique.
close to a rear wall. We did insert the placed exactly where our Supremas
plugs while we were running the speak- had been. Experiments with placement
ers in, but not in the listening test. variations gave us no improvement,
Nor did we use the supplied dispersion but nor did they result in disastrous
control ring, a doughnut that fits around imbalances.
the tweeter, supposedly helpful in difThis was an all-vinyl test, in which
ficult acoustical circumstances. We we played a half dozen LPs on our Linn
understand the point, though it seems LP12 with Alphason arm and London
to contradict ELAC’s efforts to get as Reference cartridge.
wide dispersion as possible.
See the complete article in our print
The two pairs of binding posts at or paid electronic version at magzee.
the rear look like slightly undersized com. In the meantime, here we go again,
WBT’s, but have no brand name. They with faux Latin.
Room
Listening
Feedback
Speaker Impedance
Is a speaker with a 4 ohm impedance rating better than one with an 8 ohm
rating? Or is it, perhaps, vice versa? What is impedance, anyway?
In electricity, impedance, measured in ohms, is what impedes the flow of electricity. If impedance were zero, an infinite current could flow, which is perhaps how
the Big Bang occurred. Impedance is different from resistance, which also impedes
current flow. A resistor will impede the flow of both direct current, like that from
a battery, and that of alternating current, like that from the power line or an
amplifier. Impedance, which is made up of not only resistance but also inductance
and capacitance, is the correct term to use when we are discussing alternating current.
If you measured the resistance of a woofer voice coil, you would see that it is
very low, possibly less than one ohm. If instead of a direct current source you used
a 1 kHz alternating current, you might get a reading of 8 ohms, and you would
then say that what you have is an 8-ohm speaker.
That is misleading, however, because if you had used an AC signal of a different
frequency you might have gotten a reading of 4 ohms, or even 2 ohms, or perhaps
25 ohms. To make matters more confusing, the speaker may have one impedance
reading when it is mounted in an enclosure and a different one when it is sitting on
your workbench. That is why that “8 ohm” reading is what will be called a nominal
impedance rating. In reality, the impedance may wander about quite a lot.
Now let’s see what happens when we send a music signal into the speaker. The
amplifier applies a certain voltage, and — this seems obvious — the lower the
impedance, the more current will flow. In that case, the lower the better.
But in practice it’s not so. Indeed, a typical solid state amplifier may have an
internal impedance of 0.1 ohm or less. The speaker impedance is so much higher
that the amplifier will not distinguish between 4 ohms and 8 ohms.
And yet, more current can flow through a lower impedance. That’s why a solid
state amp rated at 50 watts into 8 ohms will have a higher power rating, as much
as double, into 4 ohms. On the other hand, our 4 ohm speaker may need the extra
power in order to put out the volume level we want.
A perfect speaker would have the same impedance at all frequencies, but that
isn’t possible. A perfect amplifier would deliver the same power into any impedance.
In fact, at an impedance of 2 ohms it may blow a transistor, or (we hope) a fuse. At
25 ohms, it may put out a tiny fraction of its rated power.
Perfection is not of this world, but you’ve heard that before.
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Summing it up…
Brand/model: ELAC 249
Price: C$6395
Size (HWD): 114 x 20 x 31 cm
Rated sensitivity: 90 dB
Nominal impedance: 4 ohms
Most liked: Smooth highs, clear bass
line, fine articulation
Least liked: Narrow image range
Verdict: The Heil tweeter, once a
promising product, has come of age
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CROSSTALK
I remember the early days of the Heil
tweeter, in speaker systems that were also
called Heil. Beautiful highs, nothing less, but
music is a lot more than high frequencies.
Time has moved on, however, and the
Heil tweeter and its derivatives can be found
in loudspeaker systems from a number of
companies. And that’s all to the good.
This is not an inexpensive speaker by
any standard, though its size and fine finish
might induce you to guess that its price could
tip over into five digits. It doesn’t, and that’s
all to the good as well.
During the listening sessions I complained about some imprecision of the stereo
image, at least compared with that thrown
up by our reference speakers, which are
a model of the genre. In no other respect
can I find cause to complain. The highs
are smooth and natural, as I would expect
from the unique Heil transducer. The rest
of the speaker is designed to keep up with
it. There’s a lot of bottom end, but it too is
natural. There’s plenty of impact, but none
of the artificial “punch” much appreciated
by people unfamiliar with the real sound
of music. Rhythm sounds natural too, and
that’s one of the fundamental building blocks
of music.
At the risk of sounding like an action
film trailer, “in a world where artificiality
is king, and everything you know is wrong,
one tweeter can face down the hypocrisy of
bad sound.”
And this is it.
—Gerard Rejskind
I began to understand the word “audiophile” better while listening to violin music
one night, way back when. I heard a shrillness that bothered me. A few moments later
it happened again, and then again. Those
unpleasant high notes prevented my full
enjoyment of the music. It didn’t matter how
good the rest of the music might have been,
I needed for those highs to be done right.
Dome, ribbon, and horn tweeters became
more familiar terms, as did the tweeter called
the Heil. Today I heard the Heil in a focused
setting, playing its part inside the ELAC. It
delivered the highs via air mail, first class,
and beautifully packaged in a speaker that
looks after all the other notes too, very, very
well. —Steve Bourke
Room
Listening
Feedback
I usually feel good when something we
are testing makes the music sound right. It’s
not just a vague sensation derived from the
music we are listening to, but I actually feel
better during the listening tests, regardless
of what type of music we are using and that
feeling lingers after I fold my notebook.
With these speakers I felt great. After
one or two pieces, I reached a comfort zone
where I expected any music to sound good
and there it was, just right. I must say that
the highs are often a source of unpleasant
surprises for me, just when I think that
things are going well. But not this time.
These speakers are reliably good and, as
you may have found out, reliable is good,
very good. That’s when you know, without
a doubt, that no matter what kind of music
you play, your speakers might even surprise
you by delivering a lot more than you expect.
And that feels good.
—Albert Simon
Trends Phone Amp
Room
Listening
Feedback
T
his Hong Kong company,
Itok Media, specializes in
neat ly-made inexpensive
aud io component s. T he
Trends PA-10 is a headphone amplifier,
with just the basics. It has input jacks at
the rear, a single phone jack at the front,
and of course a volume control. The
power supply is a 24 volt DC wall wart.
Of course you could hardly help
noticing the vacuum tube sticking out
of a hole in the top of the box. Yes, the
PA-10 is a single-ended tube amplifier.
It could almost be called an integrated
amplifier, because it has two inputs,
marked “CD” and “phono,” with a selector switch at the rear. The latter label is
for indicative purposes — there is no
inboard phono preamp.
There are, however, a pair of output
jacks, so that you can actually connect
the PA-10 to a power amplifier, using it as
a two-input preamp. Trends bills it that
way, in fact, right on the front panel.
If you have experience with tubes,
you might look at the blue glow in the
6DJ8 tube and conclude that it’s “gassy,”
that its vacuum bottle has sprung a leak.
In fact the blue comes from a diode
strategically placed under the tube. It’s
common to use a light-emitting diode as
a part of a circuit, but it also functions
as a pilot light.
If you enjoy tweaking audio gear and
not only listening to it, you’ll be pleased
to discover that the PA-10 can accommodate several different tube types. Set
the internal jumpers to suit, and with a
multimeter you can also adjust the bias.
We would warn only that, despite the
24 volt rating of the wall wart, there
are much higher voltages lurking about
inside the box.
We set up the PA-10 alongside our
own Audio Alchemy v1.0 headphone
amplifier, and connected each of them
in turn to the “record out” jacks of our
Moon P-8 preamplifier. We did our
listening with our long-time reference
headphones, the Koss Pro/4AAA — the
originals, not the more recent ones with
nearly the same model name. We then
listened to two SACDs played on our
Linn Unidisk player, one classical, the
other popular.
The classical selection is Benjamin
Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the
Orchestra, a wonderful set of variations
on a theme (RR-120SACD).
It would have been impossible not to
notice that the orchestra sounded different when we changed amplifiers. Our
initial impression was that the PA-10 was
delivering less bottom end, with diminished impact on the tympani, of which
Britten made liberal use. But we listened
again and got a different impression.
There wasn’t less bass, there was more
midrange.
Was that good? Possibly it was. The
woodwinds seemed to move forward,
and we could spot the individual instruments better. The bass (which these
headphones can deliver!) was still very
much present, with solid percussion and
rich cellos and double basses. There was
a good feeling of space, too.
The pop song was a blast from the
past. Thérèse Juel’s Tiden Bara Går was
famous for its presence on the original
Opus 3 sampler (which was of course
an LP), and it’s back in SACD form on
Opus 3’s Test-records 1, 2&3 (CD19520).
Once again we noticed the more
prominent midrange, which lent Thérèse
Juel’s voice extra warmth and intimacy.
Having heard the recording so many
times on some of the world’s best loudspeaker systems, we can guess that this
is the way her voice should sound.
The song is notable for its plentiful
fast transients, from the guitar, the
plucked bass and even the bongos. They
seemed a little smoothed over with
the PA-10, but they were by no means
blunted. The effect is pleasant, and one
could get used to this.
The PA-10 is small enough to be
unobtrusive next to your music system,
and you may even choose to run a long
interconnect so that it can be close to
your favorite chair. You will, however,
want to shut it off when it’s not in use,
because it runs very hot (so does our
Audio Alchemy amp). On the other hand
you’ll want to warm it up thoroughly
before sitting down to serious listening.
Trends suggests five minutes, but we’d
recommend more.
The list price of the PA-10 is $225.
It’s also available with a 12AU7 tube
for slightly more. There are other little
boxes from the company, including a
preamplifier, a phono stage, and even a
digital-to-analog converter.
THE AUDIOPHILE STORE
SPEAKER CABLES
INTERCONNECTS
ATLAS MAVROS CABLES
ATLAS NAVIGATOR
Oxygen-free continuous
cast (OCC) cable: each
strand is a single copper
crystal. Two internal
conductors, plus double
shielding. The double shielding is copper mylar plus close-lapped
99.997% pure OCC copper multi-stranded screen providing 100%
RFI protection. This premium “All-Cu” version (shown here) uses
solid copper connectors that are also continuous cast. The copper
is then silver-plated and double-shielded. We use two in our
reference systems.
ORDER: ANA-1 All-Cu, 1m, $405, ANA-2 All-Cu, 2m, $495
ORDER: ANAB-1 All-Cu balanced, single crystal XLR, 1m, $675
ATLAS QUESTOR
We’ve adopted them for our Alpha system, which sounds better
than ever before. This is a four-wire monocrystal cable with
porous Teflon dielectric. We are not recommending them with
standard bananas or spaces, but we offer them either with ETI
Bayonet Bananas, at no extra cost, or WBT nextgen..
ORDER: AMBCu-3, 3 m pair, Bayonet bananas, $2150
ORDER: AMBCu-5, 5 m pair, Bayonet bananas, $3850
ORDER: AMSCu-3, 3 m pair, WBT nextgen bananas, $2390
ORDER: AMSCu-5, 5 m pair, WBT nextgen bananas, $4090
A big winner in one of UHF’s blind tests of speaker cables is
Hyper 2, an oxygen free stranded wire in Teflon dielectric. Plus
connectors (we recommend Eichmann Bayonet Bananas, $99.95/
set, two sets needed for AH2, three for biwire).
ORDER: AH2, Hyper 2 cable, $29.95/metre
ORDER: AHB, Hyper Biwire cable, $49.95/metre
ATLAS EQUATOR
ATLAS ICHOR SPEAKER CABLE
Perhaps the best $150
interconnect cable you could
buy. Only it costs just $90. And
yes, that’s in Canadian funds.
Other lengths on order.
ORDER: AE-1, 1 m pair Atlas Equator, $90
ORDER: AE-2, 2 m pair Atlas Equator, $125
CONNECTORS
EICHMANN BAYONET BANANAS
The Eichmann Bayonet Banana uses
a minimum of metal, and tellurium
copper at that, but clicks tightly into
any binding post with spring action.
For soldering or crimping, or both.
ORDER: EBB kit 4 bayonet bananas,
$99.95
EICHMANN BULLET PLUGS
ATLAS HYPER SPEAKER CABLES
This could be the world’s lowest-cost
interconnect with single-crystal copper. It has
the same connectors as the Equator (below),
and we thought it sounded like a much more
expensive cable. However it is discontinued,
and we have only the 2 m length left.
ORDER: AQ-2, 2 m pair Atlas Questor, $180
55
The first phono plug to maintain the impedance of
the cable by using metal only as an extension
of the wire. Hollow tube centre
pin, tiny spring for ground. Two
contacts for soldering, two-screw
strain relief. Gold over copper. Got
silver cable? Get the unique Silver Bullets!
ORDER: EBP kit 4 Bullet Plugs, $77.95
ORDER: EBPA kit 4 Silver Bullets, $154.95
EICHMANN CABLE PODS
Minimum metal, gold over tellurium
copper. Unique clamp system: the back
button turns but the clamp doesn’t.
Solder to it, or plug an Eichmann
banana into it, even from inside!
ORDER: ECP, set of four posts, $119.95
CONNECTOR TREATMENT
ATLAS QUADSTAR
Terrific in our blind test.
With Eichmann Bullet plugs,
or balanced with Neutrik
XLR's. Silver solder included with kit.
ORDER: AQS-1 pair Quadstar kit, 1m $124.95
ORDER: AQS-1A pair Quadstar assembled, 1m $199.95
ORDER: AQS-X pair Quadstar balanced kit, 1m $95.95
ORDER: AQS-XA pair Quadstar balanced, assembled, 1m $169.95
PRISMAL DUAL INTERCONNECT
Continuous-cast single-crystal cable, ready for biwiring. It costs
just $235 per meter of double cable (a 2 m pair has 4 meters of
wire). We suggest adding the Eichmann Bayonet bananas, $99.95
per set of 4, or Furutech connectors, $70 a set of 4..
SINGLE CRYSTAL JUMPERS
Not biwiring? Dump the free jumpers
that came with your speakers. Atlas
jumpers are made from single-crystal
copper, gold-plated spades.
ORDER: ACJ, four single crystal
jumpers, $99.95
DIGITAL CABLES
T
SORRY, SOLD OU
This Swiss-made cable has especially solid connectors. Teflon
dielectric, oxygen-free copper. Toss your “free” interconnects!
ORDER: PD-1, 1 metre pair Prisma Dual Interconnect, $34.95
DeOxit (formerly ProGold)
cleans connections and
promotes conductivity. Small
wipes for cleaning accessible
contacts, or a squirt bottle for connections you can’t reach.
ORDER: PGW box 25 DeOxit wipes, $35
ORDER: PGS, can DeOxit fluid, $35
ORDER: PGB, both when ordered at the same time, $56
WBT NEXTGEN CONNECTORS
WBT makes banana plugs and spades for speaker cables, all of
which lock tightly into any post. All use crimping technology.
These nextgen connectors are far superior to previous versions
ATLAS COMPASS DIGITAL
MAVROS INTERCONNECTS
Truly terrific, a pair of these connects our phono preamp to the
preamp of our Omega system
Excellent performance at an affordable price. Single crystal pure
copper. The 1.5m version sounds way better than a 1m.
ORDER: ACD-1.5 digital cable, 1.5m, $160
ATLAS OPUS DIGITAL
ORDER: WBT-0610 Kit 4 angled nextgen bananas, $130
ORDER: WBT-0610Ag Kit 4 nextgen silver bananas, $290
ORDER: WBT-0681 Kit 4 nextgen spades, $130
ORDER: WBT-0681Ag Kit 4 nextgen silver spades, $220
We dumped our reference cable for this one! And to be at its very
best, it has to be this length.
ORDER: AOD-1.5 digital cable, 1.5m, $399
ORDER: AMI-1, 1 m Mavros interconnect pair, $1195
ORDER: AMI-2, 2 m Mavros interconnect pair, $1895
TOSLINK OPTICAL DIGITAL
SEE EVEN MORE PRODUCTS
IN OUR ON-LINE CATALOG
www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html
The best we’ve found yet,
though we’re still looking.
Add the mini-TOSLINK
adapter for Airport Express or computers with hybrid jacks.
ORDER: TD-1 TOSLINK cable, 1m length $22.95
ORDER: TMT mini-TOSLINK adapter, $3.95
The high-tech minimum metal “nextgen” phono plugs. Easy to
solder, with locking collar. Silver version available.
ORDER: WBT-0110, kit 4 nextgen copper plugs, $170
ORDER: WBT-0110Ag, kit 4 nextgen silver plugs, $280
FURUTECH CONNECTORS, next page
56
MOON PHONO PREAMPS
FURUTECH CONNECTORS
Rhodium-plated banana tightens
under pressure. Installs like WBT banana. The spade installs the
same way too..
ORDER: FTB-R, set of four bananas, $70
ORDER: FTS-R, set of four spades, $70
SILVER SOLDER
Special price on interconnect, one per 310LP order.
ORDER: ANA-1 Navigator All-Cu, 1m, $405, for $260
ORDER: ANA-2 Navigator All-Cu, 2m, $495 for $350
ORDER: ANAB-1 Navigator balanced, 1m, $675, for $475
ORDER: AMI-1, 1 meter Mavros, $1195, for $895
ORDER: AMI-2, 2 meter Mavros, $1895, for $1495
This is a lovely solder, from the
company that makes Enacom
line filters (which we also like).
Wakø-Tech solder contains 4%
silver, no lead.
ORDER: SR-4N, 100 g solder
roll, $59.95
Even more
astonishing: the LP3
includes much of the
310LP technology, still
offers MM/MC, but
costs only a fraction.
Lively and musical, it’s
difficult to match.
ORDER: Moon LP3,
$599
Special price on interconnect, one per LP3 order.
ORDER AQS-1, Kit ,1 m Quadstar, $124.95, for $59.95
ORDER AQS-1A, Fully assembled Quadstar, $199.95, for $99.95
ANALOG PRODUCTS
LONDON REFERENCE
Yes we can supply the awesome London
Reference phono cartridge that we have
adopted for ourselves. Other models on
special order. This unique cartridge has
a line contact stylus, and an output of
5 mV, right for an MM preamp.
ORDER: LRC cartridge, $4695
GOLDRING ELITE
If you have limited funds and
want an MC cartridge with
line contact stylus, this is a great
choice. It's a detuned version of the
very expensive (but discontinued)
Excel we still own.
ORDER: GEC cartridge, $745
Simaudio has done it: come up
with a world-class phono
preamp that does
magic. The 310LP
(formerly the LP5.3)
is one of the best
available. Adjustable
MM/MC.
ORDER: Moon 310LP, silver (black available on order), $1599.
NOTE: The Moon preamps are shipped set for moving magnet
setting. We’ll reset it to your specification so you won’t have to.
you
a
TURNTABLE BELT TREATMENT
What this is not
is a sticky goo for
belts on their last
legs. Rubber Renue
removes oxidation
from rubber belts,
giving them a new
lease on life. But what astonished us is what it does to even a brand
new belt. Wipe down your belt every 3 months, and make analog
sound better than ever.
ORDER: RRU-100 drive belt
treatment, $14.95
J. A. MICHELL RECORD CLAMP
LP RECORD CLEANER
THORENS TURNTABLES AVAILABLE ON LINE
www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore
TITAN STYLUS LUBRICANT
Amazing, but true: dabbing
a bit of this stuff on your
stylus every 2 or 3 LPs makes
it glide through the groove
instead of scraping. Fine artist’s brush not included, but readily
available in many stores.
ORDER: TSO-1 Titan stylus oil, $39.95
ZEROSTAT ANTISTATIC PISTOL
A classic adjunct
to a record
brush is the
Zerostat anti-static
gun, especially
in dry weather. Squeeze the trigger
and release: it ionizes the air, which
becomes conductive and drains off
the static charge. By the way, it works
for a lot more than LP’s. No batteries
needed. Good for LPs, jamming printers, and anywhere static is
a problem.
ORDER: Z-1 Zerostat antistatic pistol, $94.95
LP SLEEVES
Keep your records clean and
scratch free. Replace dirty, torn
or missing inner sleeves with
quality Mobile Fidelity sleeves,
at an attractive price.
ORDER: MFS, package of 50
sleeves, $30
VINYL ESSENTIALS TEST LP
Concentrated cleaner for LP vacuum cleaning machines.
Much safer than some formulas we’ve seen! Half litre, mix with
demineralized or distilled water to make 4 litres.
ORDER: LPC, $19.95
EXSTATIC RECORD BRUSH
The Super
Exstatic. Includes
a hard velvet pad
to get into the
grooves, two sets
of carbon fibre
tufts. We use it every time!
ORDER: GSX record brush, $36
MoFi WET/DRY BRUSH
Clamp your LP to the turntable
platter. We use the J. A.
Michell clamp, machined
from nearly weightless
aluminum. Drop it on,
press down, tighten
the knob.
ORDER: MRC Michell
record clamp, $75
ORDER: MRC-R clamp for
Rega and short spindles, $85
MORE ANALOG…
The Super Exstatic (shown
above) is the best dry
brush we know, but if
your LP needs a wash and
you don’t have a vacuum
machine handy, this
is the one to have in
hand. Dampen it with a
good record-cleaning fluid
like our own LPC.
ORDER: MFB record brush, $36
ORDER: MFB plus LPC (4-litres), $46
ORDER: Replacment kit for MFB, $36
This precision-made German test record lets you check out
channel identification, correct phase, crosstalk, the tracking
ability of your cartridge (it’s a tougher test than the old Shure disc
was) and the resonance of your tone arm and cartridge. When we
need to test a turntable, this is the one we reach for.
ORDER: LP 003, Image Hifi Test LP, $48.95
CLEANER POWER
ENACOM LINE FILTER
Economy price, but astonishingly effective, we wouldn’t run our
system with less. It actually shorts out the hash on the power line.
ORDER: EAC Enacom line filter, $105
ATLAS POWER BAR
We were surprised by the massiveness
and the fit and finish on this
power bar. Would
those universal
(European/North
American) plugs
offer a tight fit? Do
they ever! The standard
IEC plug takes any power cord. With breaker and ground lug.
Bundle it with one of our own 14-gauge shielded cords, and save.
ORDER: APB power bar, $299
ORDER: APBU power bar plus UHF14 cord, $349
ORDER: APBF power bar plus UHF14F cord, $399
UHF 14 POWER CORD
UHF14 POWER
BAR
Most power bars knock
voltage down, and
generate more noise
than a kindergarten
class. The UHF14 doesn’t. It
features a 1.5m 14- gauge shielded
cable, Hubbell hospital grade fourplex, and
Furutech gold-on-copper wall plug. ORDER: UHF14-PB, $239
Need it longer? Add $20 per metre extra
MORE POWER TO YOU
Better access to
electrical power.
Change your 77-cent
duplex outlets for
these Hubbell hospital
grade outlets. Insert a
plug and it just snaps
in. A tighter internal
connection as well.
The cheapest improvement you can make to your system.
ORDER: AC-DA Hubbell duplex outlet, $23.95
ORDER: AC-D20 20A duplex, red color, $28.95
INSTANT CIRCUIT CHECKER
20-AMPERE POWER CORD
Plug it into an AC outlet, and the three lights can
indicate a missing ground, incorrect polarity, switched
wires — five problems in all. The first thing we did
after getting ours was phone the electrician.
ORDER: ACA-1, Instant Circuit Checker, $21
This is the one with the big IEC connectors whose contacts are
rotated the other way. It’s for certain large power amps. Marinco 20
amp hospital-grade wall plug, which fits only a 20 amp wall outlet.
Available with a 15 amp Hubbell wall plug instead.
ORDER: UHF14-20-1.5 cable, assembled, $99.95
HOSPITAL GRADE CONNECTION
When we put a quality
AC plug on our kettle,
boiling time dropped by 90
seconds! One of the best AC
plug we have ever seen is
the Hubbell 8215 hospital
grade plug. It connects to wires under high pressure, and it
should last forever.
ORDER: AC-P2, Hubbell 8215 cord plug, $25.95
GUTWIRE G CLEF POWER CABLE
Making your own power cords for your equipment? You’ll need
the hard-to-get IEC 320 connector to fit the gear.
ORDER: AC-P3 10 ampere IEC 320 plug, $9.95
ORDER: AC-P4 15 ampere Schurter IEC 320 plug, $18.95
Why do big name DVD players come with those
tiny two-prong plugs for their
cords? A good shielded power
cable will do wonders!
ORDER: DVD-A, GutWire
adapter, $39
UHF/
FURUTECH
POWER CORD
We were so pleased with
the performance of our
UHF14 cable that we
wanted to hear it with the upscale Furutech connectors. Wow! Pure
copper IEC connector and copper/gold wall plug.
ORDER: UHF14F-1.5K, 14 gauge power cable kit, $149.95
ORDER: UHF14F-1.5 14 cable, assembled, $174.95
Amazingly good at a
much lower price are
these two cord plugs
from Eagle. Male and
female versions.
ORDER: AC-P1 Eagle male cord plug, $5.95
ORDER: AC-PF Eagle female cord plug, $5.95
IEC ON YOUR DVD PLAYER
No budget for a premium cable? Make your own! We use several
ourselves. Foil-shielded, to avoid picking up or transmitting noise.
Assembled or as a kit. With Hubbell 8215 hospital grade plug and
Schurter 15 A IEC 320 connector. For digital players, preamplifiers,
tuners, and even medium-powered amplifiers.
ORDER: UHF14-1.5K, 14 gauge power cable kit, $74.95
ORDER: UHF14-1.5 14 gauge cable, assembled, $99.95
Need it longer? Add $20 per metre extra
Multiple shielding, including external electrostatic shield connected
to a clip. Used by UHF. Length 1.7 m, longer cords on order. G Clef 2
has 195 conductors, 3 shields providing 98% shielding. Available
optionally with 20A IEC plug (for amplifiers requiring special plug)
ORDER: GGC G Clef, Square 1.7m, $385
ORDER: GGC-20 G Clef, Square, 20 amp 1.7m, $385
BETTER DIGITAL
IMPROVED CD WITH FINYL
The maker of Finyl claims it reduces surface
reflections and provides a higher contrast image for
the laser cell of your player. Use it just once. We get a
lot of repeat orders on it. One kit can treat over 200
discs. Or order the refill.
ORDER: F-1 Finyl kit, $40.00
ORDER: F-1R Finyl refill, $35.00
57
MOON 300D DAC
It wowed us so much we got it for our reference system. It
has 24/192 resolution on coax and optical, 16/48 on USB. Its
performance astonished us, and we’re not easily astonished. The
full review is in UHF No. 89.
To sweeten the deal, we’re offering bundles on our two Atlas
digital cables, in the favored 1.5 m length. By getting the bundle,
save $150 on an Atlas Opus (our reference, by the way), or save
$60 on our very good Atlas Compass cable.
ORDER: 300D, $1598
ORDER: 300D + Opus digital cable, $1847
ORDER: 300D + Compass digital cable, $1698
Get another bargain: with the purchase of a 300D, get the
UHF14F shielded power cable with Furutech connectors
(assembled, one per purchase). Instead of $174.95, pay just
$124.95.
ORDER: UHF14F-1.5 (bundled only), $124.95
NEED AN OPTICAL CABLE? See our favorites on the first
page of this catalog insert
A MORE AFFORDABLE DAC
As we go to press we had
not yet evaluated
the new Moon
100D, expected to
sell for $699. As
ever, we’ll carry
only products we’d
recomment to our best
friends. We’re optimistic, because the basic conversion circuit is
identical to that of the superb 300D. If we choose to carry it, we
will of course offer in bundles, to help manage your budget. For
confirmation of availability, check our on-line digital page, or
e-mail us.
ORDER: 100D, exact prices to come
CLEAN YOUR PLAYER
After a few months,
your player may have
more trouble reading
your CD’s. Unlike
some commonlyavailable discs, the
Milty CD lens cleaner
is non-abrasive, so we
use it and rest easy.
Can be used wet or
dry.
ORDER: 2021 Milty CD lens
SUPER ANTENNA
MkIII
cleaner, $35
Ours has no stupid rotary switch to
muck things up, and with a 1.8m lowloss quadruple-shielded 75 ohm cable
and gold-plated F connector, it has low
internal loss. Covers analog and digital TV
bands as well as FM.
ORDER: FM-S Super Antenna, MkIII,
$55
58
SUPPORT SYSTEMS
THE SUPERSPIKE
It’s blue, and it’s a sort of modelling clay
that never dries. Anchor speakers to
stands, cones to speakers, and damp out
vibration. Leaflet with many suggested
uses.
ORDER: AT-2, Audio-Tak pack, $10
TENDERFEET
Machined cones are wonderful
things to put under speakers or
other audio equipment. They anchor
it mechanically and decouple it
acoustically at the same time.
Tenderfeet come in various versions:
tall (as shown) or flattened, in either
anodized silver or black. Tall Tenderfeet have threaded holes for
a machine screw, or for the optional hanger bolt, which lets you
screw it into wood. If you have a fragile hardwood floor, add the
optional Tendercup (shown above) to protect it.
ORDER: TFG, tall silver Tenderfoot, $15
ORDER: TFGN, tall black Tenderfoot, $16.50
ORDER: TFP, flat silver Tenderfoot, $10
ORDER: TCP, silver Tendercup, $10
ORDER: THB, hanger bolt for Tenderfeet, each $0.80
AN ON-THE-WALL IDEA
This is unique: a sealed unit containing a spike and a cup to
receive it. It won’t scratch even hardwood floors. For speakers
or equipment stands, on bare floors only. Four sizes of threaded
shanks are available to fit speakers or stands.
ORDER: SSKQ, 4 Superspikes, 1/4” shank, $75
ORDER: SSKT, 4 Superspikes, 5/16” shank, $75
ORDER: SSKS, 4 Superspikes, 6 mm shank, $75
ORDER: SSKH, 4 Superspikes, 8 mm shank, $75
WHAT SIZE SUPERSPIKE?
Do you prefer spikes for your speakers? Target spikes and sockets
mount in wood. Available with or without tools.
ORDER: S4W kit, 8 spikes, sockets and tools, $39
ORDER: S4WS kit, 8 spikes and sockets, $30
ISOBEARINGS ARE BACK!!!
Long discontinued, this product from Audioprism
is back. Of the many anti-vibration products
we have tried, this is the one that is by far most
effective for both vertical
and lateral vibration
(unfortunately some of
the most famous ones
don’t work at all). Each
Isobearing consists of a
small ball and a cup to receive it.
There are two models, each with a weight rating. The rating
indicates the maximum weight each Isobearing should bear, but
for optimum performance it should bear at least half of its rated
weight. Use three or more Isobearings, placed according to the
weight of the different sections of the amplifier, digital player,
etc. We now use Isobearings on our DVD player, and we’re glad
they’re back.
ORDER: ISO-M, single Isobearing, 2 kg/4.4 lbs $25 each
ORDER: ISO-G, single Isobearing, 7.5 kg/17 lbs $40 each
AUDIO-TAK
A good ruler will let you figure it out. The stated size is the outer
diameter of the threaded shank. Then count the threads:
1/4” shank: 20 threads/inch
5/16” shank: 18 threads/inch
M6 (6mm) shank: 10 threads/cm
M8 (8mm) shank: 8 threads/cm
OTHER
SUPERSPIKES
We have also have a Superspike foot
(at right) that replaces those useless
feet on CD players, amps, etc., using
the same screws to fasten them. And
there’s a stick-on version (not shown) for other components.
Need to fasten a speaker
securely to the wall? Nothing
beats the Smarter Speaker
Support for ease of installation
or for sheer strength. And
it holds the speaker off the
wall, so it can be used even
with rear-ported speakers.
Easily adjustable with two
hands, not three, tested to an
incredible 23 kg! Glass-filled
polycarbonate is unbreakable.
Screws and anchors included,
available in two colors.
ORDER: SSPS, pair of black speaker supports, $29.95
ORDER: SSPS-W, pair of white speaker supports, $29.95
TARGET WALL STANDS
We keep our turntables on these, secure from floor vibrations,
wonderful for CD players, amplifiers, and all components.
ORDER: VW-1 Target single-shelf wall stand, $225
ORDER: SSKF, 4 Superspike replacement feet, $80
ORDER: SSKA, 3 stick-on Superspike feet, $50
SPEAKER STANDS
Your “bookshelf” speaker shouldn’t be on a bookshelf. We have the
four-pillar Target stands, in 24” or 28” height, ready to be filled
with sand.
ORDER: MR-24, one pair 24” Target stands, $325
ORDER: MR-28, one pair 24” Target stands, $349
ORDER: VW-2 Target dual-shelf wall stand, $280
AUDIOPHILE RECORDINGS, RECOMMENDED BY UHF STAFF
REFERENCE RECORDINGS
Tutti (HDCD, SACD)
A terrific symphonic sampler from Reference, with dazzling music
by Bruckner, Stravinsky, etc. Also available as RR’s very first SACD
release. Wow!
30th Anniversary Sampler (HDCD)
A collection of excerpts from recent Reference albums.
Yerba Buena Bounce (HDCD)
The (terrific) Hot Club of San Francisco is back, with great music,
well-played, wonderfully recorded by “Profesor” Johnson!
Crown Imperial (HDCD)
The second chapter of the famous Pomp&Pipes saga, with the Dallas
Wind Symphony, in a set of perfectly recorded pieces in glorious
HDCD.
Organ Odyssey (HDCD)
Mary Preston, the organist of Crown Imperial, in a dazzling program
of Widor, Mendelssohn, Vierne, and others.
Beachcomber (HDCD)
Fennell and the Dallas Wind Ensemble. Includes Tico Tico, A Chorus
line, and a version of 76 Trombones you’ll remember for a long time.
Serenade (HDCD)
A collection of choral pieces, wonderfully sung by the Turtle Creek
Chorale, with perhaps the best sound Keith has given them yet.
Trittico (HDCD)
Large helping of wind band leader Frederick Fennell doing powerhouse music by Grieg, Albeniz, Nelhybel, etc. Complex and energetic.
Nojima Plays Liszt (HDCD)
The famous 1986 recording of Minoru Nojima playing the B Minor
Sonata and other works is back…in HDCD this time!
Fennell Favorites (LP)
The Dallas Wind Symphony: Bach, Brahms, Prokofiev and more.
Fireworks on this rare Reference LP.
Nojima Plays Ravel (HDCD)
Nojima’s other hit disc, now also in glorious HDCD.
Jazz Hat (HDCD)
Pianist Michael Garson, in re-releases of some of his famous recordings
Garden of Dreams (HDCD)
David Maslanka’s evocative music for wind band.
Blazing Redheads (LP)
Not all redheads, this all-female salsa-flavored big band adds a lot of
red pepper to its music.
Felix Hell (HDCD)
The young organ prodigy turns in mature versions of organ music of
Liszt, Vierne, Rheinberger and Guilmant. Huge bottom end!
American Requiem (HDCD)
Richard Danielpour's awesome Requiem mass is all about war, and
about the hope for peace too, with a dedication tied to 9/11.
World Keys (HDCD)
Astonishing young pianist Joel Fan amazes with music from all the
world, including that of Prokofiev and Liszt
Ikon of Eros (HDCD)
Huge suite for orchestra and chorus, by John Tavener. Inspired by
Greek Orthodox tradition. Overwhelming HDCD sound.
Say It With Music (CD)
Margie Gibson sings Irving Berlin in what may be one the greatest
jazz vocal recordings of all time. And she’s right in your living room!
Growing Up in Hollywood Town (XRCD)
The Amanda Albums (CD)
How did they do it? The two complete McBroom recordings, Growing
Up in Hollywood Town and West of Oz, on one terrific CD
I’ve Got the Music in Me (CD)
This was originally Sheffield’s LAB-2 release. If you haven’t heard
Thelma Houston belt out a song, you’re in for a treat.
Kodo (CD)
A Japanese neo-folk group plays astonishing music, including a 400pound drum that can take out a woofer. Or a wall!
Harry James & His Big Band (Gold CD)
Harry said he would have done this recording for free, because he
sounded better than ever.
Tower of Power (CD)
This high-energy big band was originally recorded directly to disc.
The new CD has been mastered from the original LP, not the digital
tape copy.
OPUS 3
Test Records 1, 2 & 3 (SACD)
A blast from the past! Here are 14 cuts from the samplers that
launched Opus 3. They sound better than ever, too.
Swingcerely Yours (SACD)
An SACD re-re-release of tracks from superb vibraphonist Lars
Erstrand, from 1983 to 1995. Long overdue!
Autumn Shuffle (SACD/LP)
Ugglas plays a number of different guitars, and borrows from jazz,
Blues, and (yes!) country. Piano, organ, trombone, bowed saw, etc.
Showcase 2005 (SACD)
The latest Opus 3 sampler, with Eric Bibb, Mattias Wager, the Erik
Westberg Vocal Ensemble and lots more, in glorious SACD.
Just Like Love (SACD/LP)
The newest from Eric Bibb, less oriented to Gospel and more to Blues.
Bibb’s group, Needed Time, is not here, but he’s surrounded by half a
dozen fine musicians. A nice recording.
SHEFFIELD
Drum/Track Record (XRCD2)
Beyond (SACD)
The second recording by the versatile guitarist Peder af Ugglas (who
also did Autumn Shuffle, below), who plays every instrument there is:
jazz, rock, blues, country. From Sweden???
Organ Treasures (SACD)
All those showpieces for big organ you remember hearing through
huge systems…only with all of the power and the clarity of Super
Audio. 4.1 channels, plus 2-channel CD.
PLUS THESE HDCD RECORDINGS:
Pomp&Pipes (HDCD)
From the Age of Swing (HDCD)
Swing is Here (HDCD)
Copland Symphony No. 3 (HDCD)
Medinah Sessions, two CDs for one (HDCD)
Ports of Call (HDCD)
Bruckner Symphony No. 9 (HDCD)
Ein Heldenleben (HDCD)
The King James Version (CD)
Harry James and his big band, live from the chapel!
Unique Classical Guitar Collection (SACD)
An SACD, mastered from analog, of some of Opus 3’s long-discontinued classical guitar LPs. Terrific!
Comes Love (HDCD)
Another disc by the terrific Swedish Jazz Kings, led by saxophonist
Tomas Ornberg, proving again Sweden understands jazz. The sound
is luminous, sometimes dazzling.
It’s Right Here For You (HDCD)
Is there, anywhere, a better swing band than The Swedish Jazz Kings
(formerly Tömas Ormberg’s Blue Five)? Closer to Kansas City than to
Stockholm, they are captivating.
Test CD 4 (SACD)
A sampler of Opus 3 performers, clearer than you’ve ever heard them
before. Hybrid disc.
Test CD 5 (HDCD)
Another of Opus 3’s wonderful samplers, including blues, jazz, and
classical music. A number of fine artists, captured with the usual pure
Blumlein stereo setup. A treat.
Showcase (SACD/LP)
Available as a hybrid SACD/CD disc, or a gorgeously-cut LP, with
selections from Opus 3 releases.
Good Stuff (DOUBLE 45 LP/HDCD/SACD)
As soothing as a summer breeze, this disc features singer Eric Bibb
(son of Leon), singing and playing guitar along with his group. Subtle
weaving of instrumentation, vivid sound.
Spirit and the Blues (DOUBLE 45 LP/CD/SACD)
Like his father, Leon Bibb, Eric Bibb understands the blues. He and
the other musicians, all playing strictly acoustic instruments, have
done a fine recording, and Opus 3 has made it sound exceptional.
Tiny Island (SACD)
If you like Eric Bibb and his group Good Stuff as much as we do, pick
this one up.
20th Anniversary Celebration Disc (HDCD)
A great sampler from Opus 3. Includes some exceptional fine pieces,
jazz, folk and classical. The sound pickup is as good as it gets, and the
HDCD transfer is luminous.
59
Levande (CD) �
The full recording from which “Tiden Bara Går” on Test Record No.1
is taken. Believe it or not, this great song isn’t even the best on the
album! A fine singer, doing folklike material…and who cares about
understanding the words?
Concertos for Double Bass (CD/SACD) �
This album of modern and 19th Century music is a favorite for its
deep, sensuous sound. And the music is worth discovering. It is lyrical,
a delight in every way.
Across the Bridge of Hope (SACD)
An astonishing choral recording by the Erik Westberg Ensemble,
famous for its Musica Sacra choral recording.
Musica Sacra (HDCD/SACD)
Test Record No.4 (LP)
PROPRIUS
Now the Green Blade Riseth (CD/SACD/LP)
Religious music done a new way: organ, chorus and modern instruments. Stunning music, arranged and performed by masters, and the
effect is joyous. The sound is clear, and the sheer depth is unequalled
on CD. The new SACD version is the very best SACD we have yet heard!
Cantate Domino (CD/SACD/LP)
This choral record is a classic of audiophile records. The title selection is stunningly beautiful. The second half is Christmas music, and
includes the most stunning version of O Holy Night we’ve ever heard.
Antiphone Blues (CD)
This famous disc offers an unusual mix: sax and organ! The disc
includes Ellington, Negro spirituals, and some folk music. Electrifying performance, and the recording quality is unequalled.
Antiphone Blues (SACD/HDCD)
This is the Super Audio version, with a Red Book layer that is HDCDencoded. The best of both worlds!
Jazz at the Pawnshop (LP/CD/SACD)
Jazz with legendary, nearly perfect sound, famous in audiophile
circles for years. The LP is double, and includes extra tracks.
Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 (CD/SACD)
From the original master, another disc of jazz from this Swedish pub,
with its lifelike 3-D sound. Now a classic in its own right.
Good Vibes (CD)
The third volume of Jazz at the Pawnshop. And just as good!
Sketches of Standard (CD)
ANALEKTA
Violonchello Español (CD)
I Musici de Montréal comes to Analekta, with a stunning album of
Spanish and Spanish-like pieces for cello and orchestra.
Vivace (CD)
Classical or rock? Claude Lamothe plays two cellos at the same time
in an amazing recording of modern compositions.
Pauline Viardot-Garcia (CD)
Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian steps into the role of 19th Century
singer and composer Pauline Viardot so convincingly that listening
to her is like going back in time. One of the best classical recordings
of all time!
Romantic Pieces (CD)
How does James Ehnes manage to get such a sweet sound from his
60
Stradivarius? Czech pieces from Smetana, Dvorak and Janacek. The
playing is as glorious as the tone, and the sound is sumptuous.
Cantabile (CD)
The Duo Similia is made up of striking blonde twins, who play flute
and guitar. Familiar airs from Mozart, Fauré, Elgar, Ravel, lots more.
Fine listening.
Nota del Sol (CD)
The Labrie twins are back, with a delightful recording of flute and
guitar music by Piazzola, Pujol and Machado. Joyous works, wonderfully played and recorded.
Fantasia (CD)
A third, gorgeous, recording by the twins, on flute and guitar.
Fritz Kreisler (CD)
Possibly the best recording of Kreisler’s delightful violin music: James
Ehnes and his Strad bring a new magic to this fine disc.
French Showpieces (CD)
Awesome violinist James Ehnes, with the Quebec City Symph. takes on
Saint-Saëns, Berlioz, Chausson, Massenet, and more.
Handel (CD)
Superb soprano Karina Gauvin is joined by the Toronto chamber
ensemble Tafelmusik in a series of glowing excerpts from Handel’s
“Alcina” and “Agrippina.” The sound is smooth and lifelike, with an
acute sense of place.
Little Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach (CD)
Over 30 delightful pieces, most by Bach himself. Soprano Karina
Gauvin’s voice is mated to Luc Beauséjour’s harpsichord work. The
sound is deep, detailed and warm, truly of audiophile quality.
Vivaldi: Motets for Soprano (CD)
The wonderful soprano Karina Gauvin tackles the gorgeous but very
difficult vocal music of Vivaldi: two motets and a psalm.
AUDIOQUEST
Mississipi Magic (CD/SACD)
The legendary Blues, Gospel, rock and world beat singer and musician Terry Evans, in an energetic recording we loved.
Styles (CD)
Is this ever a surprising disc! Violinist Marc Bélanger worked up these
string études for his music students, but they actually deserve to be
put out on a gold audiophile disc! The more strings he adds, the better
it gets.
Fable (CD)
Easygoing modern jazz by Rémi Bolduc and his quartet, on this gold
disc. Some exceptional guitar and bass solos.
Illuminations (CD)
Absolutely great chamber musicians take on music by Villa-Lobos,
Malcolm Arnold, and some composers you may not know but you’ll
wish you did. Sublime sound, nothing less.
HI-RES MUSIC (FOR DVD PLAYERS)
Duke Ellington 70th Birthday Concert (LP)
A double 180-gram LP set, recorded live in England Includes Take the
‘A’ Train, Satin Doll, Perdido, many others.
Brazilian Soul (24/96 DVD)
Guitarists Laurindo Almeida and Charlie Byrd, plus percussion and
bass, in an intimate yet explosive recording of samba and bossa nova
music. Great!
Jazz/Concord (24/96 DVD)
It's 1972, and you have tickets to hear Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, Ray Brown
and Jake Hanna at the Concord Jazz Festival. You won’t ever forget it.
You can be there, with this high resolution disc that goes in your DVD.
Rhythm Willie (24/96 DVD)
Guitarists Herb Ellis and Freddie Green, with bassist Ray Brown and
others. This is an uncompressed 24 bit 96 kHz disc that can be played
on any DVD player. Awesome!
Trio (24/96 DVD)
Pianist Monty Alexander with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. “Makes CD
sound seem as if it’s coming through a drinking straw.” Playable on
any DVD player, uncompressed.
Seven Come Eleven (24/96 DVD)
Herb Ellis and Ray Brown again, but this time with guitarist Joe
Pass (he and Ellis alternate playing lead and rhythm), and a third
guitarist, Jake Hanna. This is a live recording from the 1974 Concord
Jazz Festival.
Soular Energy (24-96 DVD/ 24-192 DVD-Audio)
Perhaps the world’s greatest bassist, the late Ray Brown, playing with
pianist Gene Harris, whom Brown called one of the greats. The proof
is right on this 24/96 recording, made from the analog master. Side 2
has a 24/192 DVD-A version.
You Can’t Take My Blues (CD)
Singer/songwriter Doug MacLeod and colleagues present one of the
most satisfying Blues records ever made.
KLAVIER
Evolution (CD)
Lowell Graham and the USAF wind band, with two superb suites by
Holst, plus music by Nelhybel, Hanson, etc. Lively, tactile sound with
impact by Bruce Leek.
Poetics (CD)
A superb wind band recording which includes a breathtaking
concerto for percussion.
Bluesquest sampler (CD)
SILENCE
Hemispheres (CD)
The North Texas Wind Symphony with new music by contemporary
composers who know how to thrill. Some of the best wind band sound
available.
Musique Guy St-Onge (CD)
One-man band St-Onge plays dozens of instruments — scores for
fourteen films which never existed outside of his imagination. Fun
pretext, clever, attractive music that makes you wish you could see
the films!
Come to Find (CD)
The first by Bluesman Doug McLeod, as impressive as the second, and
no Blues fan should resist it.
Unmarked Road (SACD)
The third disc from the great Blues singer and guitarist Doug McLeod
is every bit as good as the first two.
Obseción (CD)
The Trio Amadé plays Piazzola, Berstein, Copland, and Emilion
Cólon…who is the trio cellist. The Colón and Piazzola is definitely
worth the price of admission. Lifelike sound.
Tres Americas (CD)
A gold audiophile disc of lively Latin fusion music. Irka Mateo and
Tadeo de Marco sing and play, drawing their influence from Africa as
well as their native Brazil. Clear, close-in sound.
Sonatas for Flute and Harp
These same great artists with sonatas by Krumpholz and Damase, as
well as Spohr and Glinka. Oh yes, and a spectacular solo harp version
of Ibert’s hilarious Entr’acte .
Djembé Tigui (CD)
This gold disc features the voice and percussion of African artist
Sekou Camara, captured by the famous Soundfield microphone.
Camara died just before the disc was released. A long-time best-seller
worldwide.
Norman Dello Joio (CD)
This contemporary composer delights in the tactile sound of the wind
band, and the Keystone Wind Ensemble does his music justice. So
does the sound, of astonishing quality!
PURE PLEASURE LPs
After Midnight (LP)
A mono double-album of Nat King Cole’s greatest performances, with
his own trio. Includes Sometimes I’m Happy, Caravan, It’s Only a
Paper Moon, Route 66, You Can Depend on Me. A great classic, available on premium vinyl once more.
MOBILE FIDELITY LPs
Santana
This is the one with the lion on the cover, remastered from the
original sereo master, pressed on 180-gram vinyl.
My Aim Is True
Yes, the original Elvis Costello album, back on quality vinyl.
Whites Off Earth Now
The 1986 album by the Cowboy Junkies, recorded on two-track with
the legendary Calrec microphone and its 3D sound.
Don’t Cry Now
Linda Ronstadt’s 2008 LP, with I Can Almost See It, Desperado, etc..
Simple Dreams
Linda Ronstadt from much longer ago, 1977: It’s So Easy, Carmelita, I
Never Will Marry, etc.
Prisoner in Disguise
Linda Ronstadt from 1975: Love is a Rose, Tracks of My Tears, I Will
Always Love You, and more..
Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely
No one ever did the late-night blues better than Old Blue Eyes. Check
out the songs: Willow Weep For Me, Blues in the Night, Ebb Tide…
Sinatra and Strings
With Don Costa’s lush orchestra, Sinatra sings Night and Day, Misty,
Stardust, All Or Nothing At All, and Yesterdays. Oh, and lots more.
Nice and Easy
Sinatra sings love ballads on this famous recording: How Deep is the
Ocean, Fools Rush In, Try a Little Tenderness, and Dream..
FIRST/LAST IMPRESSIONS
La Fille Mal Gardée (XRCD)
A fine ballet with the Royal Ballet Company orchestra, from the
original 1962 Decca recording. Exceptional
Film Spectacular II (XRCD)
The orchestra of Stanley Black plays some of the greatest film music
of bygone years. From the original Decca Phase 4 tape.
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante (XRCD)
Igor and David Oistrakh with the Moscow Philharmonic, in a glorious
1963 recording, from the original master tape.
Artistry of Linda Rosenthal (HDCD)
The great violinist Rosenthal plays favorites: Hora Staccato, Perpetuum Mobile, Debussy’s Beau Soir, etc.
Suite Española (XRCD)
The Albéniz suite, gorgeously orchestrated by Rafael Frühbeck de
Burgos, who conducts the New Philharmonia. Beautifully remastered
from the original 1963 tape.
Audiophile Reference IV (SACD)
A stunning sampler, with recognizable audiophile selections you have
never heard sound this good!
Songs My Dad Taught Me (HDCD)
Jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro and three other musicians, with a retro
collection of unforgettable tunes.
Café Blue (HDCD)
Gold HDCD version of jazz singer Patricia Barber’s 1994 classic, an
audiophile underground favorite.
MISCELLANEOUS
61
John Marks recorded this tour of the organs of the tiny state, with
amazing tones, captured in astonishing sound.
songs include Island in the Sun, Jamaica Farewell, Midnight Special,
Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Brown Skin Girl, etc.
All We Need to Know
Jazz singer Margie Gibson’s first album since Say It With Music, on
Sheffield. No one sings the way she does!
Sources (CD)
A wonderful recording by Bïa (pronounced Bee-yah). She’s Brazilian,
lives in France, recorded this terrific album (in 5 languages!) in
Montreal. Just her warm voice and guitar, plus stunning percussion.
Classica d’Oro (CD)
Some of the classical world’s most important heritage, on 50
audiophile-quality gold CDs, at just over $2 per CD. Fine artists from
Germany, Austria, the UK, Eastern Europe. Listen to excerpts on line.
La mémoire du vent (CD)
The original recording by Bïa, in French, Portuguese and English. If
you love her second one, don’t hesitate.
Carmin (CD)
The third by Bïa. Different this time, with more money for production,
but it has been spent wisely. Superb songs, gloriously sung in Portuguese, French and the ancient Aymara language.
Blues for the Saxophone Club (HDCD)
Swing jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro, with guest artists, including
saxophonist Ernie Watts. The HDCD sound is explosive!
My Foolish Heart (CD)
A collection of live and studio pieces by Monteiro and other musicians,
notably saxophonist Ernie Watts.
Neil Diamond: Serenade (CD)
Just eight songs on this European CBS disc, but what songs! I’ve Been
This Way Before, Lady Magdalene, Reggae Strut, The Gift of Song,
and more. Glowing sound too.
Coeur vagabond (CD)
Bïa sings French songs in Portuguese, Brazilian songs in French. A
delight, as usual from this astonishing singer.
Nocturno (CD)
Some are saying that this is Bïa’s best and most touching album since
Sources. See if you agree. You won’t be disappointed.
Harry Belafonte (CD)
We haven’t heard Belafonte sound like this except on analog. The 16
Pipes Rhode Island
Payment by VISA or MasterCard, cheque or money order (in Canada). All merchandise is guaranteed unless explicitly sold “as
is.” Certain items (the Super Antenna, the EAC line filter, and most standard-length cables) may be returned within 21 days less
shipping cost. Other items may be subject to a restocking charge. Defective recordings will be exchanged for new copies.
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62
VINYL ALBUMS
30th Anniv. Celebration
After Midnight (2 LP)
Autumn Shuffle
Blazing Redheads
Cantate Domino
Ellington 70th B’day (2 LP)
Fennell Favorites
Frank Sinatra: Only the Lonely
Good Stuff (2 LP)
Heart like a Wheel
Jazz at the Pawnshop
Jazz Trio
Just Like Love
Louis Armstrong Plays Handy
My Aim is True
Nice and Easy
Now the Green Blade Riseth
One Flight Up
Painting Signs
Prisoner in Disguise
Rainbow People
Santana
Showcase
Simple Dreams
Sinatra & Strings
Spirit and the Blues (2 LP)
Takin’ Off
Test Record No.4
Trittico
Vinyl Essentials (test)
Whites Off Earth Now
LP22060
W782
LP22042
RR-26
PROP7762
60001
RR-43
1-326
LP19603
CLP-7049
7778-79
LP8401
LP20002
CL591
1-329
1-317
PROP9093
BLP-4176
PPAN004
1-306
LP7723
1-303
LP21000
1-321
1-313
LP19401
CLP-7050
OPLP9200
RR-52
LP003
1-292
35.00
48.00
27.95
25.00
38.95
48.00
25.00
34.75
47.95
26.00
65.00
22.95
27.95
48.00
34.75
34.75
38.95
26.00
48.00
34.75
22.95
34.75
22.95
34.75
34.75
47.95
26.00
27.95
32.00
48.95
1-292
HIGH-RESOLUTION MEDIA (SACD, DVD, ETC.)
Across the Bridge of Hope
CD22012
24.95
Antiphone Blues (SACD)
7744SACD 37.95
Audiophile Reference IV
SACD 029
40.00
Autumn Shuffle (SACD)
CD22042
24.95
Beethoven/Mendelssohn
5186 102
29.95
Beyond (SACD)
CD22072
24.95
Brazilian Soul (DVD)
HRM2009
24.95
Cantate Domino (SACD)
PSACD7762 29.95
Conc. for Double Bass (SACD) CD8522
37.95
Good Stuff (SACD)
CD19623
37.95
Jazz at the Pawnshop (3-SACD)PRSACD7879 90.00
Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 (SACD)PRSACD7079 37.95
Jazz/Concord (DVD)
HRM2006
24.95
Just Like Love (SACD)
CD21002
24.95
Mississipi Magic (SACD)
AQSACD1057 24.95
Musica Sacra (SACD)
CD19516
24.95
Now the Green Blade Riseth PRSACD9093 29.95
Organ Treasures (SACD)
CD22031
24.95
Rhythm Willie (Audio DVD)
HRM2010
24.95
Seven Come Eleven (DVD)
HRM2005
24.95
Showcase (SACD)
CD21000
24.95
Showcase 2005 (SACD)
CD22050
24.95
Soular Energy (DVD/DVD-A) HRM2011
24.95
Spirit & the Blues (SACD)
CD19411
24.95
Swingcerely Yours
CD22081
24.95
Tchaikovsky: Symph. #6 (SACD) 5186 107
29.95
Test CD 4 (SACD)
CD19420
24.95
Test Records 1-2-3
CD19520
24.95
Tiny Island (SACD)
CD19824
24.95
Trio (Audio DVD)
HRM2008
24.95
Tutti (SACD)
RR-906SACD 24.00
Unique Classical Guitar (SACD).CD22062
24.95
Unmarked Road (SACD)
AQ1046SACD 29.95
Whose Truth, Whose Lies?
AQ1054SACD 29.95
RED BOOK COMPACT DISCS
20th Anniversary Celebration
30th Anniversary Sampler
Alleluía
All We Need to Know
An American Requiem
Antiphone Blues
Artistry of Linda Rosenthal
Bach Sonatas, violin & harpsi.
Bach Suites, Airs & Dances
Beachcomber
Best of Chesky & Test, vol.3
Best of the Red Army Chorus
Beethoven Symph. 5 & 6
Blues for the Saxophone Club
Bluesquest
Bossa Nova
Bruckner: Symph. No.9
Café Blue
Café Blue (HDCD gold)
Cantabile
Cantate Domino
Carmin
Classica d’Oro (50 gold CDs)
Come to Find
Come Love
Companion
Coeur vagabond
Concertos for Double Bass
Copland Symphony No.3
Djembé Tigui
Drum/Track Record
Ein Heldenleben
Evolution
Fable
Fantasia
Felix Hell
Film Spectacular II
French Showpieces
Fritz Kreisler
From the Age of Swing
Garden of Dreams
Gitans
Good Stuff
Good Vibes
Growing up in Hollywood Town
Handel
Harry Belafonte
Harry James & His Big Band
Hemispheres
Illuminations
Infernal Violins
It’s Right Here For You
I’ve Got the Music in Me
Jazz at the Pawnshop
Jazz at the Pawnshop 2
Jazz Hat
Jazz/Vol.1
Keep on Movin’
CD19692
19.95
RR-908
16.95
AN 2 8810
21.00
GG-1
21.00
RR-97CD
16.95
7744CD
21.95
FIM022VD
27.95
AN 2 9829
21.00
FL 2 3133
21.00
RR-62CD
16.95
JD111
21.95
AN 2 8800
21.00
AN 2 9891
21.00
26-1084-78-2 21.95
AQCD1052 21.95
JD129
21.95
RR-81CD
16.95
21810
21.95
CD 010
39.95
AN 2 9810
21.00
7762CD
21.95
ADCD10163 21.00
GCM-50
119.95
AQCD1027 21.95
CD19703
19.95
22963
21.00
ADCD10191 21.00
OPCD8502 21.95
RR-93CD
16.95
SLC9605-2 22.00
10081
21.00
RR-83CD
16.95
K11161
21.95
SLC9603-2 22.00
AN 2 9819
23.00
RR-101CD
16.95
XR24 070
35.00
FL 2 3151
21.00
FL 2 3159
21.00
RR-59CD
16.95
RR-108
16.95
Y225035
24.95
CD19603
19.95
PRCD9058 19.95
LIM XR 001 38.95
FL 2 3137
21.00
295-037
19.95
10057-2-G
24.00
K11137
21.00
K11135
21.00
AN 2 8718
21.00
CD19404
19.95
10076
21.00
PRCD-7778 19.95
PRCD9044 19.95
RR-114
16.95
JD37
19.95
AQCD1031 19.95
Kodo
12222-2
La Fille Mal Gardée
XR24 013
La mémoire du vent
ADCD10144
Les matins habitables
GSIC-895
Levande
OPCD7917
Leyrac chante Nelligan
AN 2 8815
Liszt-Laplante
FL 2 3030
Little Notebook of Anna M. BachFL 2 3064
Masters of Flute & Harp
KCD11019
Medinah Sessions
RR-2102
Mendelssohn: 2 Violin Conc. FL 2 3098
Mozart Complete Piano Trios AN 2 9827-8
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante XR24 069
Mozart: Soprano Arias
FL 2 3131
Musica Sacra
CD19506
Musique Guy St-Onge
SLC9700-2
Musiques d’Europe centrale 88001
My Foolish Heart
26-1084-92-2
Neil Diamond: Serenade
465012-2
Nocturno
ADCD10227
Nojima Plays Liszt
RR-25CD
Nojima Plays Ravel
RR-35CD
Non-Stop to Brazil
JD29
Norman Dello Joio
K11138
Nota del Sol
AN 2 9817
Now the Green Blade Riseth PRCD9093
Obseción
K11134
Opera for Two
FL 2 3076
Organ Odyssey
RR-113
Pauline Viardot-Garcia
AN 2 9903
Pipes Rhode Island
CD101
Poetics
K11153
Pomp&Pipes
RR-58CD
Ports of Call
RR-80CD
Rio After Dark
JD28
Romantic Pieces
FL 2 3191
Sans Domicile Fixe
19012-2
Say It With Music
CD-36
Serenade
RR-110
Sketches of Standard
PRCD 9036
Songs My Dad Taught Me
FIM0009
Sources
ADCD10132
Spirit and the Blues
CD19401
Styles
SLC9604-2
Suite Española
XR24 068
Swing is Here
RR-72CD
Swingcerely Yours
CD2208
Telemann Sonatas for 2 Violins FL 2 3085
Test CD 5
CD20000
The King James Version
10068-2-F
Tower of Power
10074
Tres Americas
SLC9602-2
Trittico
RR-52CD
Tutti (HDCD)
RR-906CD
Ultimate Demonstration Disc UD95
Villa-Lobos
FL 2 3051
Violonchelo Español
AN 2 9897
Vivace
AN 2 9808
Vivaldi: Motets for Soprano
FL 2 3099
Vivaldi: Per Archi
FL 2 3128
World Keys
RR-106
Yerba Buena Bounce
RR-109
You Can’t Take My Blues
AQCD1041
21.00
38.95
21.00
21.00
19.95
21.00
21.00
21.00
21.00
16.95
21.00
27.50
38.95
21.00
19.95
22.00
24.95
21.95
16.95
21.00
16.95
16.95
19.95
21.00
21.00
19.95
21.95
21.00
16.95
21.00
15.95
21.00
16.95
16.95
19.95
21.00
24.95
21.00
16.95
19.95
27.95
21.00
19.95
22.00
38.95
16.95
24.95
21.00
21.95
21.00
21.00
22.00
16.95
16.95
20.00
21.00
21.00
21.00
21.00
21.00
16.95
16.95
21.95
Software
Rachmaninoff
the Neo-Romantic
G
entlemen, I, Rachmaninoff,
have just heard myself play! He
might have been a snob, to
judge from that quote.
“I, Rachmaninoff!” Perhaps we don’t
understand the Russian syntax behind
the second language. Ya, Rachmaninoff...
Although he spent the second part of his
life in the West, an American resident
and in his last days a citizen, he surrounded himself with Russian.
Was he a snob? Almost universally
by Toby Earp
recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his age, he became accustomed,
throughout his career, to critical attacks
on his compositions. They never left him
unfazed, the way they seemed to slide off
Igor Stravinsky. When one piece was
well received, in 1943 not long before
his death, he commented that this was
remarkable. “It must be my last flicker.”
Russian humor, perhaps. Many works
were revised several times during his
lifetime. It is almost as though he was
not sure they were actually any good.
Yet Sergei Rachmaninoff was a
perfectionist in recording, refusing
the release of many because he was not
satisfied with his performance. Yes, he
left recordings, and some of them are
excellent. This is where I want to begin
with Rachmaninoff.
The recordings represent perhaps
the most modern part of his legacy,
along with some compositions like the
Fourth Piano Concerto. For with the
great classical composers the question
remains: how would he (or in rare cases,
she) have played that work? We cannot
hear a performance by Bach, Mozart,
Beethoven or Chopin today, and the
earlier the composer, the further we get
from the practice of the time. Perhaps we
can never know if a modern version represents a great understanding, or merely
a great egotism. Rachmaninoff, however,
has left us recordings of his own works
(and others’ as well), with which he was
satisfied. Today, a first hearing of one of
his original performances can have an
uncanny quality, as though the past had
moved in next door.
His first discs — 10”, 78 rpm — were
for the Edison company in 1919. He did
not stay with Edison long, however. It
was common practice at the time to
release alternative takes of a piece, and
Edison did exactly that, much against
Rachmaninoff’s wishes. Thomas Edison
himself, deaf by then, had recorded little
classical repertoire as yet, and perhaps
he did not understand the artist. At any
rate Rachmaninoff left for Victor, which
was happy both to give him the terms he
wanted and to respect them.
Rachmaninoff at Ivanovka, mid-1890’s, at rear second from left
Rachmaninoff was born in 1873,
the same year as his friend the great
basso Fyodor Chaliapin. That made
him 44 years old when he emigrated to
the West just before Christmas 1917,
two months almost to the day after the
Bolshevik Revolution. He had a family
and a household by then but had to leave
Moscow with only a small suitcase, since
he was ostensibly going to perform by
invitation in Stockholm. Nobody asked
the awkward question as to why his
wife and daughters were accompanying
him.
The Rachmaninoffs went by train to
St. Petersburg, thence to Finland and by
open sledge to the Swedish border. With
him were the manuscripts of his works in
progress, including a fresh rewrite of his
First Piano Concerto, composed when he
was a teenager, as well as the manuscript
for an opera, Monna Vanna, which he was
never to finish. He could take nothing
else with him, and little money. It was a
complete and utter break with his home
and his busy and successful life up to that
time. Worst of all, perhaps, was leaving
his beloved estate, Ivanovka and indeed
all Russia, in the hands of the people who
would repress and destroy it over the
next sixty years. In any case, from then
Those first recordings for Edison performance was encoded by cutting on most of his creative energy would
were acoustic, made by capturing sound slots in rolls of paper. Rachmaninoff have to go into performing.
He had been born into a minor
with a large horn whose vibrations at made his first rolls for Ampico in 1923,
the small end controlled the movement and the quotation at the beginning of this aristocratic family. Following Russian
of a stylus. Edison’s recordings were article is his reaction to his first audition tradition, his father Vasily joined the
though he had musical ability.
ofthat
the result.
then companies
such army,
engraved vertically, creating
a hill-and The
eight pages
follow Since
are a catalog
for The Audiophile
Store.
Vasily
married into wealth, and the
Klavier
have
issued
high-quality
CDs
dale groove. Of course The
thatstore
madebelongs
the as
to UHF, and it is stocked with accessories and recordwoman
who was to be Sergei Rachmaniof
these
piano
rolls
being
played
back
by
records highly vulnerable
to
surface
ings that we recommend?
noff’s
mother
a
perfectly-adjusted
reproducing
piano,
noise. Rachmaninoff, whose
ear
we
pre Do we have a conflict of interest? Actually we don’t, because anything brought five estates to her
thus
bringing
thestore.
“high
end”not
of tempted
1923 husband.
sume was a good one, said
Edison’s
wethat
don’t
like doesn’t
make
it to the
We’re
to cheat,Both
be- parents played piano, and
Sergei
showed
within
the
reach
of
almost
anyone.
early records made his piano
sound
just
cause the credibility we’ve built up over the years is worth a lot more than signs of musical aptitude
on. A
teacher was brought from
Unlike
Josef
Hofmann,
another
like…a Russian balalaika!
a few sales. If a competitor
makes
something
better,
so be it,early
and we’ll
even
Moscow.
Three
boys and three girls were
great
pianist
of
the
time
and
a
friend,
What we have of remarkable
quality
say so in a review.
born,
but
Vasily
was unstable and feckRachmaninoff
did
not
feel
that
his
rolls
today by Rachmaninoff is
in
a
quite
dif And the store actually protects us from potential conflicts.
less,
and
also
well
known for misplaced
and
electrically-recorded
discs
were
in
ferent medium. Even in theInearly
days
the past, advertisers have attempted to shake us down, threatening
generosity.
One
by
one the estates were
competition
with
his
live
performances.
of sound recording technology
there
to cancel their ads if we published something negative. It hasn’t happened
sold.
The
last
had
to
be auctioned off in
were degrees of fidelity.for
The
high
end
This
seems
progressive
of
him;
we
can
a while, but then everyone knows it won’t work. The Audiophile Store
1882,
when
Sergei
was
nine. The family
in the early 1920’s was the
reproducing
imagine
that
he
might
have
been
in
puts eight pages of advertising in every issue, and those are pages no one
moved
from
the
country
and a life as
piano, a descendant of the
player
piano
favour
of
downloaded
music
in
our
day.
can cancel.
privileged
landowners
to
a
small flat in
(and a technology which has
continued
In
fact
by
1925
he
felt
that
the
art
of
Check out the store, ot its on-line counterpart. We think there’s great
St. Petersburg.
to mature to this day). The
reproducing
music
could
be
well-served
by
recordstuff there. If we didn’t think so, it wouldn’t be there.
They were now poor. A diphtheria
piano’s pneumatic system made it pos- ing. We will come to his definition of
sible to record dynamics and inflections musical art, but first we should look at its epidemic broke out and three of the
with a fidelity the phonograph could not origins in his training and in his career children caught the disease, including
approach, and its piano tone quality was in Russia, which had come to a drastic Sergei. His elder sister Sofia did not
recover. At the same time there were
of course quite natural-sounding. The end only a few years earlier.
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About the Audiophile Store
harmony class at the Conservatory,
presumably in 1887. Arensky was pleased
with his harmonization; by 1888 Rachmaninoff had moved into the “special
theory” stream at his school, the one
for pupils destined to be composers. At
the end of that year he passed his theory
examinations with the highest possible
mark. One of the examiners was Tchaikovsky, who predicted a great future for
the young man.
Rachmaninoff graduated in May
1892 with the highest possible mark and
in addition, the Moscow Conservatory’s
Great Gold Medal, awarded for only the
third time. His final examination had
been his performance of his own short
opera Aleko, based — like the other
graduates’ works — on a rushed libretto
derived from a Pushkin story. His success brought him a deal with the music
publisher Gutheil.
It also reconciled him with Zveref,
with whom he had broken at age 16,
perhaps because the teacher had refused
to provide him with a piano room for
composing. On this occasion Zveref gave
him a gold watch. At that time Rachmaninoff had found a welcome with his
father’s sister Varvara Satin, whose busy
home and four daughters represented a
sharp contrast to the monastic life with
Zveref. This relationship would provide
him with an invitation to the family
estate, Ivanovka, where he spent most
summers for years to come.
During his time at the Moscow
Conservatory, Rachmaninoff composed
intensely. At least one of the early
works, the Russian Rhapsody, formed the
basis of a revised, possibly improved,
version published much later. He also
started work on the First Piano Concerto,
of which the just-completed rewrite
Software
painful scenes at home, and after a stressful period the family broke up. Vasily left
to live with his mother.
It was a drastic break from the life
Sergei had known, its challenge a precursor of exile later on. The boy drifted,
comforted by a bond with his maternal
grandmother, who apparently spoiled
him. Schooling in preparation for entry
into the St. Petersburg Conservatory
had been arranged, but once there he
began to skip classes, only continuing
to attend musical courses. He doctored
his own report cards. Another beloved
older sister, Yelena, who had a beautiful
contralto voice and was engaged by the
Bolshoi Opera, died of anemia. When
the young Rachmaninoff failed all his
non-musical subjects and risked losing
a scholarship, his mother appealed to
Alexander Siloti, a cousin and former
student of Nikolai Zveref in Moscow.
Sergei’s musical talent was evaluated and
he was sent to Zveref.
Sergei was lucky. Zveref’s home was
an ideal environment for a talented
twelve-year-old in need of structure.
The regime was strict but not draconian:
three hours’ practice daily. Zveref’s
unmarried sister was a female presence.
Zveref had two other resident pupils
who shared the piano room, and nonresident students as well, including the
young Alexander Scriabin. The boys
practised in shifts, taking turns to get
up and start at 6:30 a.m. Sundays were
open house for Moscow’s musical and
intellectual elite, and Rachmaninoff
played for Tchaikovsky, Arensky and
others, including the great pianist and
composer Anton Rubinstein. Though
Rubinstein’s own playing had no effect
on Sergei at the age of 12, the following year was a different story. Zveref’s
students attended multiple recitals and
Rachmaninoff was deeply touched. As
late as the 1930’s he wrote with passion
of Rubinstein’s beauty of tone, his “profound, spiritually refined musicianship,”
and his dictum that the pedal was “the
soul of the piano.”
Rachmaninoff started formal composing at this time, as part of his education at the Moscow Conservatory. His
very earliest pieces have mostly not
survived, but there is a Lento in D minor
written as an exercise for Arensky’s
would accompany him on his flight in multiple hearings. Rachmaninoff was Prelude was performed in a group of five
1917. Notable among many other pieces unlucky in the critics of the first per- pieces around New Year’s of 1893 as
were songs, occasional pieces for the formance, especially César Cui of St. Opus 3, Morceaux de Fantaisie, dedicated
daughters of the Skalon family with Petersburg who decried the “evil impres- to Arensky. Tchaikovsky received a copy
whom he spent summers at Ivanovka, sion” of the work, its “sickly, perverse of the Morceaux in February and greatly
the Trio Élégiaque No. 1, a symphonic harmonization” and “complete absence liked it, especially the C sharp minor. On
poem or suite, Manfred, which is now of simplicity and naturalness, complete the publication of Op. 3 later that year,
lost, another symphonic poem, Prince absence of themes.”
Rachmaninoff was called “a man of great
Rostislav, which was not performed until
Cui’s opinion bore weight, since he promise.”
1945 and a transcription for four hands was one of the “Mighty Handful” of
He eventually got 500 rubles for
No, this free version is not complete, though you could spend a couple
of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, which composers, including Rimsky-Korsakov Aleko, the Opus 2 cello pieces and the
of hours reading it. Want the full version?
the older composer disliked and which and Borodin, dedicated since the 1860’s songs of Opus 4, plus 200 more for the
You can, of course, order the print version, which we have published
had to be reworked by Rachmaninoff’s to creating a Russian nationalist school of five Morceaux Op. 3, which meant the
for a quarter of a century. You can get it from our back issues page.
piano teacher, Siloti.
music. Such opinions may be attributed Prelude went for 50 rubles. Russia had
But we also have a paid electronic version, which is just like this one,
Also during this time he gave his first to tunnel vision and a vituperative pen, not signed the 1886 Berne Convention,
except that it doesn’t have annoying banners like this one, and it doesn’t
public concert and fell ill, after swim- yet perhaps Rachmaninoff should have thus Russian publishers did not have to
have articles tailing off into faux Latin. Getting the electronic version is of
ming in the Matîr river in August 1891, seen it coming. The conductor, Alexan- pay royalties, and Rachmaninoff never
course faster, and it is also cheaper. It costs just $4.30 (Canadian) anywhere
with a malaria-like fever which would der Glazunov, had been indifferent to got another cent for what was to become
in the world. Taxes, if they are applicable, are included.
periodically recur. His growing friend- the music, saying it had “a lot of feeling one of the most popular piano solo pieces
It’s available from MagZee.com.
ship with a Skalon daughter, Natalia, but no sense.” Rehearsals went badly. of the 20th century (although he was paid
inspired a correspondence which lasted A former teacher, Tanaieff, described for his later recordings of it for Edison,
the next twelve years.
the melodies as “flabby, colorless,” and Victor and Ampico).
Because Siloti quit the Conservatory Rimsky-Korsakov did not find it at all
We shall have to go rather quickly
in 1891 after a change of director, Rach- agreeable. But Rachmaninoff had had over the accomplishments of the next
maninoff, now without his teacher, asked few musical failures in the years leading four years, but 1893 was exceptional. He
to take the final piano examination a year up to this, and perhaps he did not wish was housed that summer in a speciallyearly. Though he had but three weeks to to believe the signs. If so, he had reason built three-storey wooden tower in the
prepare, he graduated with honors and to regret it. Cui added to his obtuse garden of the Lysikof estate, the result
then asked Arensky if he could take his comments by comparing the work to of having told his music-loving hosts
composition exams early as well, in the “a symphony on the Seven Plagues of that he liked to work outdoors. There
spring of 1892.
Egypt,” meant for an audience in Hell. he composed the “sacred concerto” O
This was agreed to but on condition
Rachmaninoff took it very hard. He Mother of God Perpetually Praying and
that he do the work, which was, among put the manuscripts of the symphony the two-piano Op. 5 Fantaisie Tableaux,
other things, to compose a symphony. aside, including a transcription for two later known as the Suite No. 1. He
This he did, in two movements of pianos, and left them behind when he described the latter to Natalia Skalon
which one has been lost. The other was fled Moscow in 1917. They were redis- as “a series of musical pictures.” He
published in 1947 as the Youthful Sym- covered in incomplete form and used also produced two Morceaux de Salon
phony, modelled on the first movement to reconstruct the work for its second Op. 6 and the orchestral poem The Rock,
of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. His performance, in Moscow on October 17, which Tchaikovsky greatly approved
of and wished to conduct. However
final piece, the opera Aleko, was received 1945, nearly fifty years later.
with great warmth by Tchaikovsky, was
Howe ver t he p o st-g r adu at ion Tchaikovsky died suddenly in October
accepted and performed to acclaim by summer of 1892 held no sign of later 1893, and The Rock’s first performance,
the Bolshoi Orchestra, and is still per- failure. Rachmaninoff found himself on in 1896, ended up being conducted by
formed occasionally to this day. All told an estate northeast of Moscow, fighting Alexander Glazunov.
With the death of Tchaikovsky,
it was a period of remarkable accomplish- boredom, giving daily piano lessons to
ment, crowned with his diploma and the the son of the estate owner, and correct- Russian music had lost its greatest
right, first instituted by Catherine the ing his first proofs for publication by living composer, and Rachmaninoff a
Great, to call himself “Free Artist.”
Gutheil. He had a short relapse of fever. precious mentor and supporter. In the
At 19, Rachmaninoff could well con- In September he had still not received great Romantic’s memory, he composed
sider that a composing career lay before payment from Gutheil, so he agreed to the Trio Élégiaque No. 2, Op. 9. He was
him.
appear in concert at the Moscow Electri- not perfectly satisfied with this work,
Looking back, we know that the next cal Exhibition. He played shorter pieces, more ambitious than the earlier one,
milestone of his career, in 1897, was to among them the first movement of and revised it in 1906, 1917 and again
be a personal disaster whose repercus- Anton Rubinstein’s Concerto No. 1. There in 1932 (for a performance by Milstein,
sions lasted years. Yet Rachmaninoff’s was also a Prelude in C sharp minor which Piatigorsky and Horowitz). His final
First Symphony is a distinguished work, he had just written and which “aroused production of 1893 was the seven pieces
well-made and exuberant, which repays enthusiasm,” according to a review. This of the Op. 10 Morceaux de salon.
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It is worth noting that although
the first phonographs already existed,
a musical evening during the later 19th
century would more than likely be
spent around a piano. Rachmaninoff’s
collections of shorter pieces of varying
difficulty were most often bought for
such moments; in all, he published seven
groups of them.
In the summer of 1894 he orchestrated a piano duet written two years
earlier, based on Gypsy themes, which
became the Capriccio Bohémien. In 1895
he began work on the First Symphony.
By October Rachmaninoff had not
only completed the composition and
orchestration of the work, but had
also transcribed it for two pianos — a
fortunate accomplishment which turned
out to be essential to our knowledge of
this symphony today.
He was short of money during this
period. He took off on a demanding
Baltic tour with a violin-playing Italian
countess, but cut it short owing to nonpayment of fees and returned to Moscow,
where he had to pawn the watch Zveref
had given him. The year 1896 saw revisions of the First Symphony manuscript
with the advice of Tanaieff, and a date
was fixed for its first performance. He
attempted to compose but did not finish
a string quartet. He also composed the
twelve songs of Opus 14. He was a prolific and indeed masterful composer of
songs; this was his third song collection
of a lifetime total of seven. His much
better-known piano groups number just
seven, as do his orchestral pieces.
We have seen the unfortunate birth of
the First Symphony and its consequences.
In 1898 Rachmaninoff’s former teacher,
Siloti, toured Western Europe and the
US, and one of his program items was the
C sharp minor Prelude, Op. 3 No. 2, written
in the summer of 1892. It was so popular
that London publishers, unbound by
copyright, smelled a profit and brought
out multiple editions with names like
The Burning of Moscow. Thanks to Siloti,
Rachmaninoff at least got an invitation
to perform for the London Philharmonic
Society, which he did in 1899 on his first
trip outside Russia. On this occasion
he conducted The Rock and played the
first two Morceaux de Fantaisie. Reviews,
not generally sympathetic to foreign
music, already described the Prelude as
hackneyed. Rachmaninoff was nonetheless praised for his conducting and
orchestration and invited to come back
the following year.
Ultimately the Prelude in C sharp
minor became so popular that a highbrow
prejudice developed against it. Rachmaninoff apparently came to dread being
expected to play it; when one manager
said that he hoped it would be on the
concert program, Rachmaninoff replied
that he “didn’t need to be reminded to do
his duty.” On another occasion, in 1922,
the Prelude’s fans caused a humiliating
commotion by calling for it repeatedly,
applauding it during its execution, and
in the end refusing to leave, at least until
the hall lights were finally turned out.
Published under many names, including Moscow Waltz, the C sharp minor was
turned into more than one piano rag,
including the Russian Rag, which made
more money for its composer than the
original piece had for Rachmaninoff
himself. Op. 3 No. 2 was adapted for all
sorts of instruments, from trombone
quartet to solo banjo. Countless amateurs murdered it.
And how galling for Rachmaninoff
Painting from a Decca collection of Rachmaninoff concertos (with Ashkenazy and Previn)
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to be trying to practise in a bungalow
at the stylishly named Gardens of Allah
in Hollywood when Harpo Marx, next
door and also there to practise, took
exception to his dogged repetition.
Marx’s revenge was to open his doors and
windows and play the first four bars of
the C sharp minor Prelude fortissimo for
two hours straight. Rachmaninoff had to
ask the manager to move him away from
“that dreadful harpist.”
Today, if you want to hear a comparison of the sonics of the early Edison
and Victor acoustic recordings and the
later Victor electrical recording, you
can find a ten-minute YouTube video
which demonstrates the differences very
clearly. The piece used for the demo is
(naturally)…the C sharp minor Prelude!
(It can be found at: www.youtube.
com/watch?v=6jKg0uGQxrM).
Back in Russia in 1899 after his British visit, Rachmaninoff composed only a
couple of occasional pieces, including one
in praise of champagne entitled Were you “Mr. Rachmaninoff, nobody knows you
hiccuping? dedicated to a young woman yet, but you will be a great man one day.”
friend, Natalia Satin. She was one of It appeared things were looking up. Back
the daughters of the aunt who had taken in Moscow Rachmaninoff completed
him in after he left Zveref in 1889, and the second and third movements of
she was to become his wife in 1902. The the Second Piano Concerto; indeed so
dedication facetiously declared, “No, my many ideas had he that a second, exuMuse has not died,” which makes one berant Suite for two pianos, Op. 17, was
wonder if at this point Rachmaninoff composed.
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2
did not fear the opposite.
Hoping to bring him inspiration, is now so often played that familiarity
a well-connected friend arranged for can get in the way of a real listen. Its
Rachmaninoff to meet the writer Leo themes are well-known in part because
Tolstoy. What actually happened at many have been lifted for pop songs,
that meeting was recounted in at least including Full Moon and Empty Arms,
two different versions by Rachmaninoff This Is My Kind of Love and All By Myself.
himself, but it is certain that Tolstoy At the movies, it formed the soundtrack
was of little comfort. He exhorted the of the 1945 Brief Encounter and parts of
younger man to hard work, after which it turned up in The Seven-Year Itch. First
Rachmaninoff was asked to perform. performed on October 27, 1901 with
Accompanying Chaliapin, he played Rachmaninoff as soloist (his first such
Fate, later included in Op. 21, but perhaps appearance in eight years), it is now one
not his best song. Tolstoy’s reaction was of the great concertos of the Romantic
to consign Rachmaninoff’s music to repertoire.
Rachmaninoff’s critics have argued
the dustbin along with Beethoven’s(!),
and the writings of Pushkin for good that his Romanticism places him notameasure. “Tell me, is such music needed bly behind the times, even though
by anyone?” he asked, looking at the the Romantics are said to begin with
composer directly. Though being put Beethoven, reach an apogee with Schuinto the same basket as Beethoven and bert and Brahms in the mid-19th century
Pushkin might have been flattering, and decline with John Philip Sousa and
Rachmaninoff was much discouraged.
Engelbert Humperdinck in the 20th.
The Satins decided that measures
In any case such a classification may
must be taken. Rachmaninoff’s aunt create expectations in the listener but it
Varvara had recently been treated suc- does not make a lot of difference to the
cessfully by a hypnotist, Dr. Nikolai composer. Rachmaninoff said of himself
Dahl. During the first months of 1900, that he did not really understand modern
Rachmaninoff saw him every day, hear- music and was not able to write it. That
ing over and over, by his own account, did not mean he condemned it, for in fact
For
years now, wesuggestions
have been publishing,
our
Web site,
a free
PDF
such
posthypnotic
as You heon
was
eloquent
in his
praise
of Stravinversion
of
our
magazine.
will begin to write your concerto... you will sky. His own take on the nature of music
The
reason
simple.the
Weconcerto
know you’re
looking
foraround
information,
work
with
great isfacility...
will was
given
1933 toand
a Mr. Walter
that
is
almost
certainly
why
you’ve
come
to
visit
our
site.
And
why
be excellent. Results were not immediate, Koons, who wrote tothat’s
request
it. As he did
we give
away
what some
consider
to beRachmaninoff
a startlingly large
but
a few
months
later competitors
Rachmaninoff
in music,
paints a picture.
amountwork
of information…for
free.
started
on his Second Piano
Concerto, “Music is a calm moonlit night, a rustle
destined
We would
give
it
all
away
for free, if weofcould
still foliage.
stay in business.
to become his best-known
summer
Music is the distant
work.
Recent
figures
indicate
that
each
issue
is
getting
downloaded
as many
He dedicated it to Dahl.
peal of bells at eventide!
Music is born
as 100,000
times,
and
that
figure
keeps
growing.
Following his hypnosis treatment, only in the heart and it appeals only to
Yes, we know,
if we
a nickel
Rachmaninoff
went
onhad
vacation
to for
theeach
thedownload…
heart; it is Love! The sister of Music
Crimea.
TruthIn
is, Yalta
we’re his
in the
business
of
helping
you enjoy
at home
friend Chaliapin is Poesy,
and music
its mother
is Sorrow!’
under
the
best
possible
conditions.
And
movies
too.
We’ll
do
what we need
sang a recital which included songs by
By 1901 Rachmaninoff
had been
to do in order to and
get the
information
to you.
Rachmaninoff,
after
the perforspending all or part of the summer at
Of course,
also
want
you to came
read ourIvanovka
published
editions
too. We
mance
a smallwe
man
with
a beard
where
the Satin
daughters also
hope
that,
having
read
this
far,
you’ll
want
to
read
on.
backstage to congratulate the singer. stayed. During the winters he lodged in
This was the playwright Anton Chek- a good-sized suite in their house. He
hov, and once done with Chaliapin he and the eldest daughter, Natalia Satin,
turned to the composer and told him, also a pianist, had grown close, but their
Why a free version?
perhaps his most modern work. Although
Earl Wild has a fine performance of this
concerto on Chesky, it and most others
are of a drastically-cut later version, so
typical of Rachmaninoff. The first version has been recorded by Ashkenazy on
Ondine and is well worth a comparison.
You may be able to form your own idea
about whether Rachmaninoff was right
to revise it.
According to Rachmaninoff’s biographer Max Harrison (2005), what
especially distinguished Rachmaninoff
was a sense of the form of a composition, which allowed him to find a new
and valid approach to any piece. He
quotes Arthur Rubinstein as saying of
Rachmaninoff’s playing that “there was
always the irresistible sensuous charm,
not unlike (violinist Fritz) Kreisler’s.”
Rachmaninoff was well-known for
the size of his hands, which allowed him
to stretch over a twelfth interval on the
keyboard. Along with these “spider fingers” and his height, other clues suggest
he was affected by Marfan’s Syndrome,
a hereditary disorder of the connective
tissue.
Rachmaninoff was a born survivor,
and if this was a handicap, it never
showed.
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Though we must skip
over some compositions, we
must not forget to mention
Rachmaninoff’s conducting career, begun at the
Bolshoi Opera in 1904,
acclaimed as giving new
life to that orchestra and its
productions, and continuing
in Russia until 1914 with
the Moscow Philharmonic
Society. He also conducted
in the US, starting with his
first tour in 1910.
It was his conducting
that opened the first doors
in America when the Rachmaninoffs, practically penniless, escaped Russia. The
Boston Symphony Orchestra approached him with a
proposal for 110 concerts
in 36 weeks. He turned
down this and other good
offers. It was for the best
of reasons: he did not feel
he was prepared with repertoire for so
many concerts, and he knew neither
the country nor its audiences. Also, he
had not conducted much in the past few
years, and so in the end he came back to
the piano.
Two reasons are often invoked for the
huge decline in Rachmaninoff’s compositional output after his emigration to
the United States. The first is that his
inspiration left him, as it had after the
disaster of the First Symphony. A related
suggestion is that he was tied to Russia
and the old life.
However the simplest explanation is
that he was just too busy. In 1919-20, his
first good season in the West, he played
69 concerts. In subsequent years this
hardly declined even for health reasons;
one year he gave 80 performances, and
of course this was while touring. He
continued this gruelling regime right up
to the month before his death in 1943,
becoming a very prosperous classical
musician, sufficiently well off to help
out other émigrés and send money and
medicine back to Russia.
What he did succeed in composing
included the Third Symphony, the Symphonic Dances and the Piano Concerto No.
4, which, with the Corelli Variations, is
Square Rachmaninoff in Paris
announcement of impending marriage
came as a surprise to all, perhaps most
to his old friend Natalia Skalon. Rachmaninoff’s pencilled note at the end of
a letter to her in April 1902, announcing
the marriage and begging for a large
wedding present, appears to have put an
end to their long correspondence.
The marriage was celebrated, on a
rainy day with few guests, by a military
chaplain at a barracks. This was because
the couple were first cousins and, not
being churchgoers, could not hope for
an easy exemption to the prohibition
against such marriages. As a wedding
present they received the smaller of the
two houses at Ivanovka, but they left
immediately for three months in Vienna,
Venice, Lucerne and Bayreuth, where
they had tickets offered by Siloti. Rachmaninoff wrote steadily. His cantata
Spring, Op. 20, written for Chaliapin, has
a plot which may resonate with Canadians: at the end of a long, hard winter
a peasant broods on his wife’s admitted
unfaithfulness. He plans to kill her, but
the knife falls from his hand with the
coming of Spring.
There is no room here to continue
a detailed account of Rachmaninoff’s
further composing career while in
Russia, though his output was prodigious. Musical landmarks following
the Second Piano Concerto include the G
minor sonata for cello and piano Op. 19, the
Chopin Variations Op. 22, two operas, The
Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini,
and the masterful Second Symphony of
1907, Op. 27. There were the ten Preludes
Op. 23 and the thirteen Preludes Op. 32.
The 1910 Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
for unaccompanied mixed chorus was
followed by the All-Night Vigil (also
known as Vespers) in 1915. This was one
of Rachmaninoff’s two personal favorite
compositions, the other being The Bells,
Op. 35 for soloists, chorus and orchestra.
The gorgeous Third Piano Concerto was
written in 1909 for the composer’s first
visit to America, and its long, sweeping
melodies seem appropriate for “spacious
skies and amber waves of grain.” There
were the six Études-Tableaux Op. 33 and
the nine Études-Tableaux Op. 39. Like
the Preludes, they were demanding of
the pianist and by no means backwardlooking musically.
Software Reviews
by Steve Bourke,
Gerard Rejskind and
Albert Simon
Works for solo guitar from Spain to
Poland
Grzegorz Krawiec, guitar
M•A Recordings M068A
A lber t Simon: There is so much
originality, such talent, such an array of
guitar textures on this album that it is
unlike any other solo guitar recording
I have heard. Discovering Grzegorz
Krawiec (pronounced Kraviets) is finding a musical treasure where one hoped
for merely a good concert. And having
it recorded with M•A Recordings’ now
famous sound quality is a joy.
You can hear the size of the space
where the 24-bit/96 kHz recording
took place, St. Mark Church in Krakow,
Poland. It is ideally suited for the warm
resonance of Krawiec’s instrument, and
you can almost see the hand floating
above the instrument as the sound of the
last string fades into the wide silence.
The choice of compositions takes
us on a journey from the 19th to the 21st
Century. We travel through Europe from
Spain to France, Germany, Hungary and
Poland. Krawiec chose Tarrega for the
first pieces, a set of variations known
as Variations on the Carnival of Venice by
Paganini, based on the Venetian song O
mamma, mamma cara; eight variations
rivaling in originality and freshness and
introducing the extraordinary talent of
this young musician.
France’s Francis Kleynjans is the
next composer featured here with his
À l’aube du dernier jour (At Dawn of the
Last Day), a 1980 composition referring
to the final morning of a prisoner before
he is led to the guillotine. I was amazed
at this intensely descriptive writing
for the guitar. I listened, mesmerized,
to the clock’s ever present tic-toc, the
ominous chime, the guard’s footsteps
approaching, yes approaching, from
piano to forte, the sudden silence,
the key turning twice in the lock, the
heavy cell door actually creaking as it
slowly opens — I’m not making this up,
Krawiec plays it all on his guitar. And
all combined with fabulous musical lines
for this solo instrument, as the prisoner’s
mind wanders desperately from hope and
nostalgia to melancholy to the sudden
hardness of now. It ends abruptly with a
shock.
In contrast, the next pieces are a
lovely set of two 1984 compositions
by Italian guitarist Nuccio D’Angelo,
Due canzoni lidie, for which he won first
prize at the Festival of Contemporary
Music in Tokyo. It yields a fresh insight
into modern European writing for the
guitar (so different, it seems, from contemporary South American composers).
We are then given a fascinating glimpse
of the potential of beauty and variety
of atonality as handled by Germany’s
Werner Henze in his Drei Tentos, three
short pieces written in 1958.
Then it’s east to Hungary, and back in
time to Kaspar Mertz’s romantic Elegie, a
delightful 19th century musical story told
on the guitar with just the right amount
of restrained emotion.
Arrival in Poland. The 2002 composition Reminiscencje was dedicated to
Krawiec by Sylwester Laskowski. It is a
set of six miniatures, “…full of gratitude
for six very important young women in
his (the composer’s) life … the last one
reflects on the most important one, his
wife (whew, I better add that, just in case
she reads UHF). Did I mention how fresh
and lovely they all are? The miniatures,
of course.
The CD ends with the sweet Mozart
aria La ci darem la mano from Don Giovanni, followed by a set of six variations
composed by 19th Century Polish guitarist Bobrowicz, a true delight.
And so is the sound, another recording masterpiece of a solo instrument by
MA Recordings.
Vivaldi: Sonate E Concerti
Loiselle and Boucher
Atma ACD22568
Steve Bourke: Because Vivaldi wrote
often for the cello, rarely for the organ,
but never for the two of them combined, these sonatas and concertos are
transcriptions, music adapted from that
written for other instruments. As such
the novelty of a full scale organ playing
beside a cello is refreshing. It’s a stimulating change from the usual piano or
harpsichord that is so often paired with
the cello. They each play the melody and
accompaniment, weaving them back and
forth, always with the logical drive and
vigor that is Vivaldi’s trademark. Sometimes the organ is subdued and gentle,
blending beautifully, never overwhelming its musical partner. Then it becomes
powerful and proud. Waiting patiently
as the cello recedes, it then steps forward
and dominates for a time. Occasionally
the two seem as one, becoming a third
hybrid instrument with a unique timbre,
especially in the upper octaves.
I found myself anticipating these
highlights in particular, but they came
and went too quickly. I wanted the next
Rameau: Pièces de clavecin en
concerts
Ensemble Baroque Nouveau
Reference Recordings RR-118
Albert Simon: Not intending them for
concert performance, Rameau published
these pieces in 1741 for solo harpsichord
and other instruments, “playing along
concertedly,” hence the mention en
concerts. They were written “…for the
entertainment of a flexible group of
players and perhaps a few privileged
listeners…” Hmm.
Entertainment is the key word here.
I have always had a complex relationship with Baroque music which, for me,
ranges from the mundane to the sublime.
I am moved by the latter, bored by the
former.
Let me try to put it another way. The
year 1741 was significant. Vivaldi died
that year at age 63. Bach, 56, published
his fascinating Goldberg Variations while
Handel, also 56, driven by an inspired
and unstoppable urge, wrote his Messiah
in that same year. And Rameau… Well,
Rameau, 58, best known for his operas,
published some decorative music for the
entertainment of fellow musicians.
And fellow musicians, to this day, are
ga-ga over it. Witness the delight oozing
out of the liner notes and the admiring
comments regarding the impossibly
virtuosic writing for the viola da gamba,
often considered the instrument of fame
in France at that time. “Play or omit,”
instructs Rameau to the gambist faced
with impossible notes in some chords.
Who am I, then, to say anything
about this CD? A listener, that’s who.
A lover of music and, need I add, an
audiophile. For an audiophile, this album
is a piece of heaven, another masterpiece
of richly recorded sound by legendary
engineer Keith O. Johnson. See the
harpsichord back there, mostly towards
the right of the stage? And it sounds just
right, don’t you think? A bouquet of glittering notes played by candlelight, soon
surrounded by the mellow and warm
Baroque flute, the silky human-like voice
of the viola da gamba covering such a
wide range, and the unmistakable sound
of the period violin, at times swift as a
sword or soft as a breeze.
As a lover of music, however, my preferences lie in other realms. To a dancing
city square fountain, accurately lit for a
summer evening, I prefer the sparkling
stream in the forest, cascading in the
soft, mottled light of a misty morning.
La Traviata (Verdi)
Renée Fleming, Rolando Villazon
Decca 074 3327 (Blu-ray)
G era rd Rejsk i nd: W hen a work
becomes popular enough, it risks being
viewed as a cliché. Telling people that
your favorite opera is La Bohème or La
Traviata won’t earn you a reputation as
highbrow. Better to praise Monteverdi,
or, better yet, Francesco Cavalli, his
obscure successor in Venice. La Traviata
is often included in an opera company’s
repertoire to please less experienced
patrons who know only three operas.
But that is hardly fair, because La
Traviata is, for a number of reasons, a
masterpiece, bringing together a story
that is itself considered a masterpiece
(Alexandre Dumas fils’ La dame aux
camélias) with breathtaking arias and a
score that compares with the best Verdi
left us. The three main characters are
dream roles for soprano, tenor and
baritone respectively. The artists on this
new Blu-ray release are wonderfully up
to the challenge.
The story seems quaint, because it is
socially dated, yet curiously modern at
the same time, because it is emotionally
so powerful. Violetta (the “traviata,”
which means the lost one) is a kept
woman in Paris, what Parisians then
called a cocotte). In the lower classes that
would have made her a subject of scorn,
but in the privileged 18th Century leisure
class, being in the keep of a baron (as is
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blending moment to arrive sooner than
it did.
Another highlight is the extensive
variety of mood and tempo. Extended
listening is easy and never dull, putting
into some doubt the scathing remark
made by Stravinsky, that Vivaldi did not
write hundreds of concertos, but that he
wrote one concerto hundreds of times.
I only wish that the extremely talented
Mr. Stravinsky had written a concerto
like Vivaldi’s D minor, RV 541, which
happily is included here. Its melody has
a rhythmic drive that brings some of
Beethoven’s creations to mind. Certainly
J. S. Bach would have disagreed with
Mr. Stravinsky, for he transcribed more
than half of the solo harpsichord pieces
found in BWV 972-987 directly from
Vivaldi’s concertos. In fact it has been
claimed that the profound Italian influence provided by Vivaldi, Marcello, and
Telemann helped elevate Bach’s style to
the supreme status it enjoys today.
As for the sound quality, the interior
space of the church is clear and present,
coupled with a very fine balance of the
two instruments in the sound stage.
What also stands out, as if there
weren’t enough to recommend it already,
is the musicianship of the two artists.
Loiselle sweeps over his cello with confidence and real delicacy. Mr. Boucher
plays the organ with riveting skill and
verve. Each blends so well with the other
that you might well wonder if they had
rehearsed for weeks and weeks.
We can only hope that they record
again in the same setting, the sooner
the better.
Violetta’s case) brings with it prestige Fleming in the title role. Fleming has not see Susan Boyle’s dramatic triumph
and admiration. The young Dumas everything going for her. She sings on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent? Not
met the woman who was his model for divinely, as she always does, but with an likely. How many people have now seen
Violetta, and fell instantly in love with effortless lightness that never gets in the the clip on YouTube? Thirty million?
her. So does Alfredo, a young man who way of the character’s plausibility. She is Fifty million? Everyone was laughing
stalks her for a whole year before finally a wonderful actress as well as a singer. as this dumpy, ordinary 47-year old
wangling an introduction.
Finally, she is breathtakingly beautiful, woman announced that her model was
Violetta is reluctant to accept Alfre- which lends plausibility to the idea that Elaine Page (who created Memories for
do’s feelings as love, used as she is to the men could fall in love with Violetta the stage), and that she would sing the
superficial world of the Paris salon. Yet without knowing her. In that respect I exceedingly difficult I Dreamed a Dream
she finally gives in, and the second act would rank her with such sopranos of from Les Misérables. She got only one line
curtain rises on a country house, where another era as Anna Moffo (who was into the song before the laughter turned
Violetta and Alfredo are enjoying a pas- herself one of the great Traviatas) and to cheers.
sionate love affair.
Of course we live in the Age of
Renata Scotto.
Of course there is a third act to
She is well accompanied too. Tenor Cynicism, and right away there was the
Unlike with a physical magazine, which forces you to turn pages, the
come, and so we know their happiness Rolando Villazon has a slight build suspicion that she was a ringer, that the
on-line version of UHF Magazine helps you along with technology. For
cannot last. In the first few minutes of that makes him different from other judges were not surprised at all. That
instance, click on any title in the table of contents (on the previous page),
the opera we observed that Violetta Alfredos, but his voice is pure gold, and pretty much has to be true. The then
and you’ll be whisked right to the article itself.
suffers from weak spells, which, we in the duets with Fleming (for instance principal judge, Simon Cowell, is one of
Turn to the table of advertisers on page 81 (and that, by the way, is a
guess, point to consumption, or what Un di felice, eterea in the first act) he is the world’s biggest record producers, and
link), and click on the name of a product or company, and an an instant
is today called tuberculosis. There is, exceptional. Baritone Renato Bruson he didn’t know this woman could sing?
you’ll be looking at the ad itself.
however, another fly in the ointment, brings to the role of Giorgio a truly Give me a break!
And then try clicking on an ad…
in the form of Alfredo’s father, Giorgio. hateful quality, which is of course the
But that obvious setup takes noth If you are connected to the Internet, you’ll be taken right to the adverHe comes to see her in Alfredo’s absence, point, with a vocal clarity that is quite ing away from Susan Boyle’s popular
tiser’s Web site in your default Web browser.
and requests an overwhelming sacrifice, extraordinary.
triumph. The judges may have known
Those interactive features were designed for the paid electronic version
one which reveals the division in social
The direction, by Marta Domingo, is what they were in for, but the audience
of UHF, but they work every bit as well on the free PDF version you’re
mores between the privileged class and very good, the decors suitably sumptu- didn’t, and the wider YouTube audience
looking at. We hope you enjoy it.
the merely comfortable. In living out of ous. Of course a production on an opera didn’t. Boyle ultimately didn’t win the
wedlock with a former cocotte, Alfredo, it stage is at a disadvantage compared to prize, losing out to a boys’ choir, possibly
seems, is disgracing his family, and his Franco Zeffirelli’s 1993 film version, because her rendition of Memories on a
sister’s fiancé will refuse to marry her. shot in an actual castle. Zeffirelli had later show was downright shaky. HowVioletta is thus asked to destroy her (and the always-reliable Placido Domingo as ever she was quickly offered a recording
Alfredo’s) hard-won happiness in favor Alfredo, but Teresa Stratas is no match contract, and millions of people, who
of the happiness of a woman she doesn’t for Renée Fleming, and the Zeffirelli found her success story irresistible,
even know. Incredibly, at least for our DVD is dreadful, like a VHS cassette already had their credit cards out.
modern sensibilities, she accepts.
Her first recording finally came out,
that has been left in the sun. This is the
The next scene bring us back where one to get.
and it is a mixed bag. Even a cursory
we started, with Violetta back in her
listen reveals that what we had heard on
cocotte life with her ill-tempered baron,
Britain’s Got Talent had not been a fluke.
and a bitter Alfredo drowning his sorrow
This obscure Scottish church singer has
in alcohol and gambling. The lavish
the pipes, and she knows how to control
party is a pretext for spectacular dancing
them.
and more than one gorgeous aria of a
The problem is a different one. It
type that held no secrets for Verdi.
seems clear that Sony Music saw Susan
In the final act Violetta lies on a bed
Boyle as a flash in the pan, to be taken
in her room, suffering from the tuberadvantage of quickly before the bubble
culosis whose existence we had already
burst. It didn’t even send its B team
guessed. We learn that Giorgio, filled
into the studio with her, more like its
with remorse, has explained everything
V or W team. I was convinced that the
to Alfredo, and both of them arrive
“strings” were actually a button on a
together, to Violetta’s delight. She
Casio synthetizer. In fact they are real
will, of course, die, leaving heartbreak
strings, but the producer has put their
sound through so much processing that
behind, after an ensemble scene that
I Dreamed a Dream
their natural origin is completely hidden.
could be maudlin in the wrong hands.
Amidst this noise are guitar solos which
This production by the Los Angeles Susan Boyle
would be out of place on a demo tape.
Opera was filmed in 2006 and is espe- Sony Music 88697 59829 2
cially notable for the presence of Renée Gerard Rejskind: Did you, somehow, The guitarist makes occasional mistakes
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UHF on line is interactive!
that would have called for a retake. That aged in the way we expect.
some. Will Shakespeare is young and not
never happens. Even the cover art work
Congratulations, Susan. You go, especially known or appreciated in an
should stand as an embarrassment to girl!
era whose stages are dominated by the
Sony.
plays of Christopher Marlowe. Despite
However I suspect that most purchas- THE GREAT MOVIES
his youth he is already burned out, and
ers cared neither about the accompanists
he tells his confessor, a hilarious 16th
nor the recording engineer. They wanted
Century version of a psychotherapist,
to confirm that they hadn’t been fooled,
that “I have lost my gift. It is as if my
that this unlikely singer really could hit
quill is broken.” He has allegedly been
the big time. Hit it she certainly did. In
working on a play with the absurd title
Italy, for instance, I Dreamed a Dream
of Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter,
outsold all sales ever by a singer who was
but has not gone beyond practicing the
not Italian. When she toured Japan, her
autograph no one is yet asking for. The
arrival was preceded by several offers of
owner of The Rose, one of London’s two
marriage, and the riot squad had to be
theatres, is Philip Henslow (Geoffrey
called to Narita airport to keep order.
Rush). He is eagerly awaiting the play
But let’s get a listen to the CD
because he is in hock to a usurious lender
itself.
who is holding his feet to the fire…in the
Of course, I Dreamed a Dream is
most literal sense. However, not only is
included, and it’s a pleasure to hear it
the play unfinished, and indeed unbewithout all that cheering drowning out
gun, but Henslow owes Shakespeare
passages. It’s very good, as I expected
money for his last piece, and it turns out
it to be. She also sings Cry Me a River,
that a verbal agreement isn’t worth the
the Julie London song that was also
paper it’s written on.
one of Barbra Streisand’s very first hits.
Enter Viola de Lesseps, daughter of
Significantly, Boyle had already recorded Shakespeare in Love
a rich family. She is star-struck, having
the song a decade before for a charity Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow
learned some of Shakespeare’s sonnets
project. I heard it on the Internet, and I Alliance 114753 (Blu-ray)
by heart, and dreams of being on the
must say it gave me goose bumps. Here it Gerard Rejskind: Whoever decides stage herself. That was impossible at a
is in much better fidelity…well, somewhat what films will be re-released on Blu-ray time when female roles were played by
better fidelity. She also borrows songs and which will not certainly took their pre-puberty boys, and the Master of the
from the Rolling Stones (Wild Horses) own sweet time getting around to this Revels (the wonderful Simon Callow)
and Madonna (You’ll See). She was a delightful masterpiece. It is a natural, is all too ready to close a theatre for
church singer, and so she includes How however, because not only is it a much- “obscenity.” Disguised as a man, she
Great Thou Art, Amazing Grace and Silent praised film, with Oscars for best film lands the role of Romeo, and that of
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MagZee.
take pride in never having studied their in contrast to Mozart — we know next is dead. Yet in every way the film is such
craft, and — just as important — a sense to nothing about his life. Director John a delight that before long we become
of the meaning of the songs she sings. As Madden and his screenwriters turned willing accomplices of the actors and the
for the myth surrounding her surprise this seeming handicap into an opportu- director.
Of course we would have guessed
success, we don’t really believe that just nity. If we know so little about the life of
anyone can succeed if he/she works hard this great dramatist, are we not free to right away that Will and Viola would
enough, but we do want to believe that invent it? And “inventive” is an adjective fall in love, even if the film title hadn’t
justice is not totally absent in the world, that appropriately describes this remark- given it away. And common sense tells us
that, in the age of arranged marriages,
and that real talent has a chance of being able film.
The tone is tongue in cheek, and then the little rich girl will not marry the poor
recognized even if it doesn’t come pack-
How the electronic version works
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playwright-for-hire. Thus, the phrase “a
river divides our two lovers,” which is
from the prologue of Romeo and Juliet,
has a second meaning. We also guess
that, through a series of events, the
premiere of the play will be performed
by Will and Viola in the respective title
roles, and that their masquerade will be
exposed sooner rather than later.
There are a number or minor players — minor in terms of their screen
t ime, not t heir talent — who add
immeasurably to the delight. There’s
Hugh Fennyman (Tom Wilkinson), the
moneylender and avaricious investor,
who is offered a minor role in the play
and becomes as star-struck as Viola, succumbing to the magic of the stage. There
is the formidable Judi Dench, who plays
Queen Elizabeth, who knows and enjoys
her privileges and powers, and carries
the wisdom of being a woman in a man’s
profession (both she and Paltrow got
Oscars.) There is an uncredited Rupert
Everett in a brief but memorable turn as
Christopher Marlowe. There is Martin
Clunes as Richard Burbage, the famous
actor who owns the competing Curtain
theatre, who delivers a key speech that
might have come from Shakespeare’s
own pen.
Much of the dialogue does come from
Shakespeare’s pen, and the powerful
poetry of Romeo and Juliet poses a challenge for the screenwriters, who must
match the play’s memorable language
seamlessly, yet not make the phrasings
too obscure for a modern audience.
Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard keep
the balance perfect, and they too earned
an Oscar. Stoppard is familiar with the
language of Shakespeare, of course. His
hit play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Are Dead told the story of two minor
characters in Hamlet, and in such plays
as The Real Inspector Hound he showed an
affinity for inherently absurd dialogue
somehow made plausible.
The original DVD of the film was
exceptional, but this new Blu-ray release
is worth the investment. Not only is the
added sharpness welcome, but the greatly
extended tonal range serves the film well.
We see into the shadows of such dark
spaces as a tavern and backstage, and
when we emerge into daylight we blink,
dazzled as we are by the luminosity and
the rich colors. This is, in every way, a
film to buy and treasure.
The Music Man
Robert Preston, Shirley Jones
Warner 3000024778 (Blu-ray)
Rejskind: This 1966 Meredith Wilson
musical comedy remains a delight, and
like most classics it didn’t need a remake.
Fortunately the 2002 TV remake was
quickly forgotten, and it didn’t prevent
the re-release of the original on Blu-ray.
The film was shot in the old non-fading
Technicolor process, and the colors jump
off the screen.
The story is built around fast-talking
con man Robert Preston, who was also in
the hit Broadway production. He used to
raise money for a steam-powered automobile, but — bad luck — “somebody
actually invented one.” Now he arrives in
River City, a small Iowa town, under the
name Harold Hill, hawking his current
product: a boys’ band, complete with
instruments, uniforms, and non-existent
music lessons. As luck would have it,
he runs across Marcellus Washburne
(Buddy Hackett), a one-time accomplice
who has fallen in love with small-town
life and a rotund local woman, and gone
straight.
Hill’s sales method includes stoking
anxiety over some “modern” development, in this case the arrival of a pool
table in a town that knows only billiards.
He launches into an astonishing spiel,
delivered in the rich, sonorous voice that
made him famous, Trouble in River City.
His prescription: a boys’ band of course
(apparently the girls will do fine without
it). The mayor (played by Paul Ford)
is suspicious enough to be constantly
demanding, unsuccessfully, to see Hill’s
credentials. And besides, he owns that
new pool table.
In every town that “Professor Hill”
descends on, he must beware of one
person: the inevitable woman who gives
piano lessons, since she will presumably
see through him. His modus operandi is
to fog up her glasses. In River City the
piano teacher, Marian, is also the librarian. She is young, single and (of course)
gorgeous, played by Shirley Jones, who
also starred in such blockbuster musicals
as Oklahoma! and Carousel. She does
pretty much see through him, being the
smartest woman in town, which isn’t difficult considering that author Meredith
Wilson had pretty much adopted the
sexist conventions that were largely
unquestioned in 1962.
Will Marian reveal the truth about
Harold? You can’t have seen many
romantic comedies if you’re not already
expecting the two to fall in love. Marian
will be willing to forgive a lot, and
Harold will finally conclude that telling
the truth is good policy.
The film includes a number of local
characters, including Marian’s widowed
mother, her damaged nine-year old
brother Winthrop (played by Ronnie
Howard, much later known as director
Ron Howard), the blustering mayor
who is always trying to recite Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address but gets interrupted after the first couple of words,
and the mayor’s wife, who accuses the
librarian of distributing such “smut” as
The Rubáiyát. Then there are the four
members of the local school board who,
when Harold persuades them to start
singing, turn out to be the barbershop
quartet, The Buffalo Bills.
It also includes a lot of great songs
that would become more famous than
the show itself, including 76 Trombones,
Gary, Indiana, My White Knight and Till
There Was You. Who remembers that
this last song became so famous that the
Beatles sang it on their first LP?
Yes, the film is dated. The women
are mostly ignorant and superficial,
and there is a clear assumption that
realistic), and anything from Alfred didate William Jennings Bryan, played
by Frederic March). The Philadelphia
Hitchcock.
And this masterpiece. Inherit the Inquirer pays for a high-profile defence
Wind was released in 1960, but it was attorney, Henry Drummond (based on
conceived in the pretentious cauldron of the legendary Clarence Darrow, and
the 50’s, and it was based on a Broadway played by Spencer Tracy). It also sends in
play of the era. It is, however, one of the its reporter, E. K. Hornbeck (modelled
greatest movies of all time.
on the curmudgeonly H. L. Mencken,
It is based on, or at least inspired by, played by a non-dancing Gene Kelly in
an actual event, the famous — or infa- the film’s only serious miscasting). Cates
mous — 1925 “monkey trial” of teacher is given a fiancée, Rachel, conveniently
John T. Scopes in Dayton, Tennessee made the daughter of the town’s fanatical
for having taught evolution, and thus preacher.
I admit to being a pushover for
implicitly rejected the Biblical tale of
the Creation. It is, however, a roman à courtroom dramas, but I can’t think
clef, with names changed so that the facts of one that is as extended and captivatcan be changed too for dramatic effect ing as this one. The proceedings are a
or other reason. Indeed, the historical three-way duel, with Tracy, March, and
story was heavily tampered with, but the judge (wonderfully played by Harry
the version of the film and the play is Morgan). Tracy would get an Oscar for
better known than the real tale, and both his performance, and it is puzzling that
play and film contributed to this altered March did not rate even a nomination.
I also want to put in a word for Florperception.
The filmed story notwithstanding, ence Eldridge, who plays the wife of
Scopes was not a martyr to an unjust the March character (and was March’s
law, but an active participant in what was real-life wife), who delivers some of the
clearly a publicity stunt. The idea came film’s most memorable lines.
I suppose diehard Creationists, then
from a local mining entrepreneur, who
suggested a way to put Dayton on the or now, wouldn’t be the target audience
map. There was a state law against teach- for this film, which treats Genesis as
ing evolution, but paradoxically enough, nothing more than a nostalgic fable. For
the department of education required anyone else the arguments presented by
use of a textbook which included a sec- defence attorney Drummond are hardly
tion on evolution. Arresting someone controversial. However Brady is neither
Inherit the Wind
for breaking a contradictory law would a straw man nor a two-dimensional
Spencer Tracy, Frederic March
draw the eyes of the world on Dayton character. Despite the heavy-handed
MGM 1002740
Rejskind: There aren’t many great films and would surely be good for business. fundamentalist ideology he adheres to
from the 1950’s, perhaps because that Scopes couldn’t remember whether he in the dramatic courtroom scenes, in
boom decade was marked by an unde- had actually taught his class that sec- which he very much plays to a crowd of
served feeling of superiority. We were tion, but he volunteered to say he had rubes, he is shown as an intelligent and
the greatest generation, and everything and therefore become the designated (with one important exception) sensitive
about us was resolutely modern. Our scapegoat. It is an amusing sidebar that man who has reasons for maintaining
architecture, our whole æsthetic sensi- the textbook in question also included a his manifestly anti-intellectual agenda.
He UHF
and Drummond
bility, were superior to all that had
section onreaders
eugenics,
today
gone
What long-time
tellwhich
us they
mostcould
like about
is that it are not as far apart
a teacher
in far
worldly as they portray themselves publicly, and
before. That included our movies.
does moreget
than
reviewarrested
amplifiers
andmore
speakers.
indeed they were once both friends and
cities
than
Not so much, with hindsight.
The
In every
issue,
we Dayton.
discuss ideas.
other
important
divermodern architecture of the 50’s looks
We try to There
tell youare
what
you need
to know,
besides allies.
what CD player to
Having praised the script, direction,
ludicrous today, right down to thebuy.
absurd gences from the historical record too, but
mostany
of the
cast, I want to mention
to thethat
elements
earn
the and
furniture then much in favor.
The
It’s onelet
ofme
theget
features
makesthat
UHF
Magazine
unlike
other
film the title of masterpiece: the remark- the black and white photography by the
industrial designs of the day are,audio
today,
magazine.
mocked on the Internet. And most of able script, the nearly flawless casting, great Ernest Laszlo. It doesn’t get any
better than this, and the capturing of
the movies of that “modern” decade are and Stanley Kramer’s direction.
John T. Scopes becomes Bert T. Cates. light and shadows gives the characters
nearly unwatchable now, and that goes
double for those that won statuettes. Oh, The eager local prosecutor is backed by a modelling that is just short of 3D. For
there are exceptions. I would include the a firebrand advocate of Creationism, this and so many other reasons, Inherit
great musical comedies of the decade Matthew Harrison Brady (inspired by the Wind is a movie to be cherished and
(but then musicals are inherently anti- three-time Democratic presidential can- seen again and again.
any woman who is not married to some
man — any man — before the age of 30
can’t have much going for her. Indeed
the remake had been an ill-fated attempt
to make the story more politically
correct.
The pristine image is very wide,
2.35:1, and the four-track stereo sound
remains fresh and clear. Recommended
for all who love the golden era of the
movie musical.
Software
Feedback
Not just hardware…
Gossip&News
Goodbye Nizar
For more than 30 years it hasn’t been
possible to go to an audio show anywhere
in North America without running
into Nizar Akhrass, best known by his
distinctive first name. The Syrian-born
accountant began his audio odyssey
with Smythe Sound before setting up
his own firm, May Audio Marketing, in
Longueuil, Quebec, the city where UHF
is located. He became the distributor of
Quad, and then a host of other products, from WBT to Castle, including
hundreds of esoteric record labels from
around the world.
At every show, from Montreal to
Toronto to L.A., he would book one or
more large rooms for his products. He
and his wife Alice, who was very much
a part of May Audio, were familiar to
generations of audiophile show visitors.
Life was not a tranquil stream for
Nizar and Alice, however. In attempting to expand by designing and putting up a building, May Audio went to
court against an entrepreneur who had
skimped on materials and not followed
the plans. The legal imbroglio brought
May Audio to its knees. The bank, which
two years before had named Nizar entrepreneur of the year, came in and changed
the locks.
The Akhrass family launched a new
company, Justice Audio (“If we can’t
get justice in the courts we’ll get it this
way,” said Nizar), based in Toronto, far
away from marauding bailiffs, with son
Nabil as president. In the meantime
Nizar himself expanded his American
corporation, also called May Audio
Marketing. The two elder Akhrasses
ran into serious health problems. It was
leukemia in Nizar’s case, but he was
treated successfully with a new method
of marrow transplant. Alice was not so
lucky. Two years ago she became serious ill with cancer, and chemotherapy
greatly aggravated her diabetes. Nabil
sold Justice Audio so he could devote
himself to her, but the ink was barely
dry on the sale document when she died.
Another
Moon DAC
In this issue of UHF is a review
of Simaudio’s Moon 300D digital-toanalog converter. You’ll see that we loved
it, enough that we bought one to replace
our aged Counterpoint DA-10A, and we
also added it to our Audiophile Store.
But the 300D costs $1600, and there are
lower-priced competitors.
Simaudio has been paying attention,
and by the time you read this it will have
its own “economy” DAC available, the
100D.
Nabil (that’s him in the background of
the photo) started a new venture, Liberty
Trading, and is carrying on.
They were there jointly at the Montreal Salon in late March, where Nizar
and Alice received a lifetime achievement award (that’s Nizar holding it in
the photo). He seemed in glowing health,
enthusiastic as ever. During the show he
dined with UHF’s Gerard Rejskind and
Stereophile’s Art Dudley. He recalled old
times, and spoke about his philosophy:
he would never ask for a product line, and
word of mouth would bring manufacturers to him.
Two weeks after the Salon, he suffered a massive heart attack, and he died
a few hours later in hospital.
We grieve for this long-time client…
supplier…and friend. He leaves a huge
gap.
But Nabil began to work at May
Audio before the age of 16. He too is
best known by his first name, and he
has the same approach to customers as
his father. Word of mouth brings him
product lines. He has been well taught.
Rest in peace, Nizar. We shall always
miss you.
We put “economy” in quotes, because
many people will still find the price
higher than their budget will bear, at
$698. Still, we think the 300D is a bargain considering its performance, which
is stellar. As we write this we have not
yet heard the 100D, but we have hopes.
The 100D uses the same chipset as its
big brother/sister, with the same resolutions: 24 bits (of course), and sampling
rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and
192 kHz. It can even upsample to those
resolutions, and the front-panel LED’s
tell you what it’s doing.
Shortcuts? Well, sure. It has one
coaxial input instead of two, the analog
output is strictly unbalanced, and the
300D’s elaborate power supply has been
replaced by…yes, a wall wart.
As the computer occupies an increasingly important role as a high fidelity
music source, the DAC will be seen
more and more as a mainstream audio
component. How good is the 100D?
We’re eager to find out.
All You Can Watch for $8
It was Netflix that, in the US,
made the drive to the video club
seem so 20th Century. You paid
a monthly rental fee, and you
could order one or more DVDs
(depending on your subscription
level), watch them, then mail them
back and order more. The offer
wasn’t good in Canada, which
got its own Netflix-like service, zip.ca.
In the meantime, a quicker access
arrived: Internet streaming. Netf lix
let subscribers get instant gratification
with films on demand. Apple’s iTunes
store did the same. Now Netflix itself
is in Canada, with a streaming service.
You subscribe, for $7.99 a month,
and that gives you access to any film
Netflix offers, right from the Internet.
For most people that means watching on
a computer, of course. Some computers
can be hooked up to TV sets, mostly
with middling results. Some other
devices can stream Netflix, including
the newest Apple TV, and the iPad.
Some new TV sets and (ironically)
Blu-ray players can stream Netf lix
directly. So can Wii and PS3 boxes.
Before you rush out and grab this
tempting offer, here are some factors to
consider.
First, your high-speed Internet
service may not be unlimited, and
streaming video chews up bandwidth.
Netflix says films go through 1 MB per
hour, twice that for HD. Watch eight
HD films per month, and that’s 16 MB
right there. Check your ISP contract
to see how much that will cost you.
Second, look at those figures,
and you can see that there’s a lot
of compression needed to stream
a film. A two-hour standard definition Netflix stream sends just
2 GB of data your way, whereas a
DVD has a capacity of 4.7 GB, or
8.54 GB for a double-sided disc.
That may include extras, it’s true,
but most of it is for the film. A Blu-ray disc
has a capacity of at least 25 GB. That’s
why HD may not always be truly HD.
Streamed f ilms from iTunes or
anyone else have similar limits. Available bandwidth is currently shrinking,
not growing, as service providers phase
out unlimited data plans, on both
wired and mobile Internet services.
Finally, what Netflix calls “HD” is
720p, not the 1080p you paid to have on
your HDTV. Blu-ray offers it, streaming
services don’t.
Good enough for casual watching. If
you’re serious, look elsewhere.
Denon Turns 100 (say, what?)
the DCD-A100
CD/SACD player, the
DL-A100 phono cartridge, an
AVR-A100 9.2-channel A/V receiver,
the DBP-A100 universal Blu-ray player,
and, finally, the AH-A100 over-the-ear
headphones.
We wish all these anniversary products cost just $100, thus extending the
birthday theme, but we’re dreaming
here. The turntable shown, with arm but
not cartridge, is $2,749 (Canadian). The
amplifier and the two players
are also $2,749, whereas
the phono cartridge
and headphones are
$549 each.
What we don’t know
is where any of this
gear is made. Denon, as
noted, was Japanese, and
Marantz was the creation of
an American, Saul Marantz,
but D&M is…Chinese.
Both Denon and Marantz have
had varying reputations over the
years. Marantz was once a super high
end brand before the super high end was
really known. Denon was considered
a little more luxurious than the other
well-known Japanese brands, such as
Sony and Pioneer, and its record label
was one of the first to use digital recording extensively. Both brands have kept
something of a cachet. Anyway…happy
birthday, Denon!
Gossip&News
Feedback
It’s surprising but it’s true,
and Denon’s first product
back in 1910 was not a
music box (unlike ELAC,
which is even older), but
an actual phonograph — it
was called a gramophone
then. The Japanese company got heavily into turntables too, including big pro
tables for NHK, Japan’s national
broadcaster, and (from 1939) even a disc
recorder — just in time for Tokyo Rose!
But hey, that’s the past, and all is
forgiven. Time passes, and Denon is
now celebrating its centennial. Parent
company D&M Holdings (the “M” is
for its sister brand, Marantz) is launching
an entire series of two-channel audio
components bearing the A100 model
name, including the impressive-looking
direct-drive turntable shown here.
And of course there’s more. There are
also the PMA-A100 integrated amplifier,
iPods and Other Players
Apple’s iPods have long been our
favorite portable music players, and we
have reviewed its incarnations several
times, starting with one that still had a
physical click wheel.
Our current model is the 4th Generation iPod touch, which, more than ever,
can be described as “the iPhone without
the phone.”
can use to more than double the run
time of an iPhone or any iPod with a
dock connector. It consists of a compact
charger and the battery module, which
is magnetic, and glides onto the charger
as by magic.
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On most trips, you can bring just the
fully-charged battery, and you’re good
for dozens of extra hours. It costs $50,
with street price somewhat lower. The
down sides? It doesn’t have the oomph
to run an iPad (which is also an iPod,
though Apple doesn’t stress that), and
on an iPod touch it blocks access to the
headphone jack.
The other killer device from Griffin
is the Navigate, a small control device
you plug between the dock connector
and your headphones.
But how does it sound? It is, after all, a
music player as well as a PDA. Our firstgeneration iPod touch certainly sounded
better than our iPod Photo, which had
an actual hard disc inside. Our finding
is that the new model sounds about the
same with lossless music (our motto: jst
sy no to lssy comprssn). That is to say,
it’s slightly soft compared to the original
CD in a good player and with the same
high-quality headphones, but by any
standard it sounds amazingly good.
We’ve been looking over iPod accessories too, and Griffin (griffintechnologies.com) kindly sent over a couple of
them we want to tell you about.
The first is the PowerBlock Reserve,
a beautifully-designed little battery you
What is it? It’s a headphone amplifier,
which substitutes for the one in the iPod.
It’s a control device, with buttons that
let you skip tracks and change volume.
And it’s even an FM radio. It has a small
luminous screen so you can see what
you’re doing. Unfortunately, the button
legends are black on black, and unless
you’ve memorized their placement you’ll
be — all too literally — in the dark.
It’s expensive for an iPod accessory
too, with a $60 price tag, but it’s so practical that we give it two thumbs up.
Finally, we have sad news about
one other, older, portable player, the
Sony Walkman. Sony will stop making
them.
No, we didn’t realize they were still
making them either, but Sony doesn’t
quit easily. It was relatively recently
that Sony stores stopped stocking Beta
video players, giving new meaning to the
phrase, “Forgotten but not gone.”
In truth we loved the Walkman,
which — until it was commoditized for
the price-driven market — was terrific.
We still have a Walkman Professional,
the WMD6, once the bootleg record
producer’s tool. Who remembers when
the acronym “WMD” meant audio on
the go, and not a pretext for military
invasion?
Incidentally, the name will live
on, because Chinese companies will
continue production, at least for the
domestic market, under license from
Sony. A nd that’s not counting the
“Sonny Workmans” you can buy in
dollar stores. The name also lives on as
the trademark on Sony’s current digital
players, which own a vanishingly small
part of the market. “Walkman” was
once a great brand name, but then so
was “Polaroid.” Both are now symbols of
long-obsolete technologies. Using them
on modern products can only drag them
down.
The Magic
Without 3D
What’s dominating movie screens
this year? It’s 3D, that’s what. Or perhaps
not.
charge extra for 3D, their operators
love films that come with a 3D label,
even when that label is fraudulent. Also
losing money is RealD, the company
whose projection process those cinemas
use (the RealD system is legitimate, but
it can’t add a dimension that doesn’t
exist). Even IMAX may lose something.
Though the new film will be shown in
IMAX cinemas, more people might pay
the extra dough if they thought they
might see 3D.
Of course Warner isn’t going to lose
a dime. Is anyone, anyone, not going to
see the new Harry Potter film because
it’s not in 3D? We didn’t think so. Not
us, anyway. We’ll be there.
Now the bad news. It’s noised about
that the film will eventually be released
in 3D Blu-ray (still bogus, of course),
and that it might first, eventually, be
projected in “3D” at a theatre near
you. Just as bad, Warner does expect to
release the final film, coming next July,
in the glory of full fake 3D.
You’ve been warned!
The UHF Reference Systems
Equipment reviews are done on at least one of
UHF’s reference systems, selected as working
tools. They are changed as infrequently as
possible, because a reference that keeps changing
is no reference.
The Alpha system
Our original reference is in a room with special
acoustics, originally a recording studio, letting
us hear what we can’t hear elsewhere.
The Omega system
It serves for reviews of gear that cannot easily
fit into the Alpha system, with its small room.
Digital players: shared with the Alpha
system
Turntable: Linn LP12/Lingo II
Tone arm: Alphason HR-100S MCS
Pickup: London Reference
Phono preamp: Audiomat Phono 1.6
Preamplifier: Simaudio Moon P-8
The Kappa system
This is our home theatre system. As with the
original Alpha system, we had limited space,
and that pretty much ruled out huge projectors and two-metre screens. We did, however,
finally come up with a system whose performance gladdens both eye and ear, with the
needed resolution for reviews.
HDTV monitor: Samsung PN50A550
plasma screen
DVD player (provisional): Pioneer BDP51FD Blu-Ray player
Preamplifier/processor: Simaudio Moon
Attraction, 5.1 channel version
Power amplifiers: Simaudio Moon W-3
(main speakers), bridged Celeste 4070se
(centre speaker), Robertson 4010 (rear)
Main speakers: Energy Reference Connoisseur (1984)
Centre speaker: Thiel MCS1
Rear speakers: Elipson 1400
Subwoofer: 3a Design Acoustics
Cables: Atlas, Van den Hul, MIT,
GutWire, Wireworld
Line filter: GutWire MaxCon Squared
All three systems have dedicated power lines,
with Hubbell hospital grade outlets. Extensions
and power bars are equipped with hospitalgrade connectors.
Gossip&News
Feedback
What caught our attention was a news
item informing us that the next-to-last
Harry Potter film, The Deathly Hallows,
Part 1, would not, after all, be presented
in 3D. Expecting us to cry? You’ll be
waiting a long time. The reason for this
supposedly disappointing announcement, says Warner, is that it would take
too long to do the conversion.
Wait a minute. Conversion?
Do we need to say it again? A 3D
movie needs to be shot with two lenses
capturing two images. “Converting” to 3D
is like “converting” a mono recording to
stereo. They used to do that too some
years ago, until public protests forced
them to stop. Check the article in this
issue, When 3D Falls Flat, and you’ll see
what we’re on about.
We’re disappointed to note that
all news outlet other than ourselves
seem to have accepted “conversion” as
legitimate.
Of course, releasing such a guaranteed blockbuster in 2D means leaving
money on the table. Because cinemas
Main digital player: Linn Unidisk 1.1
Additional CD player: CEC TL-51X
belt-driven transport, Moon 300D
converter
Digital cable: Atlas Opus 1.5m
Digital portable: Apple iPod Touch
Turntable: Audiomeca J-1
Tone arm: Audiomeca SL-5
Pickup: Goldring Excel
Phono preamp: Audiomat Phono 1.6
Preamplifier: Copland CTA-305
Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon W-5LE
Loudspeakers: Living Voice Avatar
OBX-R
Interconnects: Atlas Navigator All-Cu,
Pierre Gabriel ML-1
Loudspeaker cables: Atlas Mavros with
WBT nextgen banana connectors
Power cords: Gutwire, Wireworld Aurora
AC filters: Foundation Research LC-2
(power amp), Inouye SPLC
Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon W-8
Loudspeakers: Reference 3a Suprema II
Interconnects: Atlas Navigator All-Cu,
Atlas Mavros, Pierre Gabriel ML-1
Loudspeaker cables: Pierre Gabriel ML-1
for most of the range, Wireworld Polaris
for the twin subwoofers
Power cords: BIS Audio Maestro,
GutWire B-12, Wireworld
AC filters: GutWire MaxCon Squared,
Foundation Research LC-1
Acoustics: Gershman Acoustic Art panels
Gossip&News
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The iPad and Us
Looking for buzz?
The iPad had it, and
still does. Newspapers
and tech Web sites, all
summer, ran articles
about t he g row i ng
market for pads…note
the plural. This may have
changed since we went
to press, but the word
“pad” should not have
been pluralized, because
all of them but Apple’s
were vaporware.
Our attention was
grabbed from the first
for a reason that should
be obvious: Apple’s slick
new device promised to
be the savior of embattled print publications.
Reading a newspaper
or magazine on a computer, it turns out, is
awkward. But on a thin
slate you can hold in
your hand…
Not on ly d id we
order one, but we signed
up with Apple as registered iOS developers.
The goal…well, you can
probably figure it out.
We n e e d h a r d l y
explain why there’s been
a delay in our plans:
Gerard’s health problems (now a thing of the past) threw a
spanner into the works. However we did
have time to get a good look at what a
publication looks like on an iPad.
In a word, stunning.
There are several ways to view a
magazine on the iPad, and we’ve tried
them all.
a) In PDF form. We are long-time
subscribers to the excellent Scientific
American, which distributes its electronic
edition in that form. Several iPad apps
allow you to view them, including Apple’s
own iBooks, and (our choice) the free
GoodReader. Being able to manipulate
the pages with your fingers is a lot like
handling the printed issue, except that
you can also use two fingers to zoom in
and out. Do it in public, and prepare to
get lots of attention. The down side, if
it is one, is that these programs will not
allow digital right management, also
known as copy protection.
Yes, we know, we’ve been plenty
critical of the music and film industry
for trying to prevent copying of their
works, even for purposes that fall under
the category of fair dealing/fair use. How
dangerous is it for a publication to take
a chance that 100% (not 99.9%) of its
subscribers will play fair?
b) Through the Zinio magazine service.
Zinio has been around
for some years, a nd
indeed we considered
signing up with them
before finally choosing
MagZee. The delivery
system is slick, though
the software is not bugfree, and is not as polished as GoodReader.
I t ’s c l o s e e n o u g h ,
though.
We looked around
to see who else was on
Zinio, and we noted a
surprising fact: some
publishers are all but
giving away their publications. We signed
up for a dozen copies
of Car&Driver for only
$8, with no surcharge
for international “delivery,” beyond currency
exchange (Zinio is in
the US).
c) Through proprietary software. A number
of publications, from
The New York Times to
Sports Illustrated, offer
free apps for the iPad,
through which you can
buy the actual magazine. Since there’s no
obvious way to export it
and therefore share it, it
has de facto copy protection.
As we write this we’ve made no final
decision, but we’re aware that these
methods of distribution are by no means
mutually exclusive. We could develop
our own app, and be on Zinio, and even
remain on MagZee (for readers without
an iPad). Our free (but incomplete) PDF
edition can already be transferred to an
iPad app such as GoodReader, but we
can make the distribution even more
frictionless with a free app.
Is the iPad the future for the print
media? It well may be. We really enjoy
reading other people’s publications on it.
We would like ours on it too.
Industry
News
Dan d’Agostino is back
Perhaps you recognize the name:
Dan D’Agostino and his then wife
Rondi launched Krell back in 1980.
The philosophy: there’s no such thing
as too much amplifier power. Of course
Krell gear never did come cheap, and
the D’Agostinos sold Krell last year.
Or at least that’s Dan’s spin. In fact
he took on an equity firm, KP Partners,
as a minority investor, and the buzz we
get is that he made a mistake that has
been made by countless other high end
companies before Krell. The new partner had a minority of the company stock,
but a majority of voting stock. A little
before last Christmas the locks were
changed, and the D’Agostinos (including son Bret) were escorted to the door.
They’re suing, but what part of “voting
control” don’t they understand?
KEF uses its demo tech
Go through our report on CES 2010
in Vegas (in this issue), and you’ll see
what can only be called a rave for an
enigmatic loudspeaker called the Blade
Concept. The venerable British speaker
maker has used its suite at the Hilton
for expensive speaker demos before.
The previous year it had shown off the
Muon, an aluminum sculpture that made
people think of the evil T1000 cop from
Terminator 2. And it subsequently sold a
number of them, despite a price deep into
six digits.
Would it do the same with the Blade
Concept, a magnificent carbon fibre
speaker that wowed us (and other reviewers too)? No, the word “concept” indicated that this speaker was not destined
for production, but was a “mule” for new
technology, just like those impractical
concept cars you see at auto shows.
And now the technology has migrated
south…south in price we mean.
ADVERTISERS
Allnic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
ASW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Audiophileboutique.com . . . . Cover 2
Audiophile Store. . . . . . . . . . . 55-62
Audio Zendo. . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3
BIS Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Blue Circle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Charisma Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Cyrus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
ETI (Eichmann). . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Europroducts International . . . . 13, 17
Hammertone Audio. . . . . . . . . . . 14
Liberty Trading. . . . . . . . . Cover 4
Why a free version?
Moon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Mutine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3
Radio St-Hubert. . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Roksan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4
Simaudio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Target. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Tri-Cell Enterprises. . . . . . . . . . . 33
UHF Back Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . 39
UHF Books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Van den Hul. . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2
Well Tempered. . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Feedback
Gossip&News
For years now, we have been publishing, on our Web site, a free PDF
version of our magazine.
The reason is simple. We know you’re looking for information, and
that is almost certainly why you’ve come to visit our site. And that’s why
But Dan isn’t planning to retire any
The Q300 bookshelf speaker, shown
we give away what some competitors consider to be a startlingly large
time soon. He’s set up a new company, here, uses a single coaxial Q driver, much
amount of information…for free.
with the self-effacing name of Dan like those that have been used by KEF
We would give it all away for free, if we could still stay in business.
D’Agostino Inc., and his first product for what seems like centuries, but this
Recent figures indicate that each issue is getting downloaded as many
is the Momentum amplifier you see time using technology developed for the
as 100,000 times, and that figure keeps growing.
here. It’s got high power (300 watts per Blade, which also used Uni-Q drivers.
Yes, we know, if we had a nickel for each download…
channel), but you would expect no less There’s a smaller Q100 too. We have
Truth is, we’re in the business of helping you enjoy music at home
from the founder of Krell. It has 28 no prices on either of them, but the “Q”
under the best possible conditions. And movies too. We’ll do what we need
output transistors, and that’s not paint series was never KEF’s top of the line.
to do in order to get the information to you.
on the side heat sinks. They’re made
Which left us to speculate on what
Of course, we also want you to read our published editions too. We
of copper, for superior heat dispersion. the Blade Concept would cost if it were
hope that, having read this far, you’ll want to read on.
The price is listed as $42,000 a to go into a short production run, say 500
pair. Yes, a pair — the Momentum is a pairs. Would it cost $300,000? Perhaps
monoblock.
as much as a half million?
Just one thing, Dan. People like
There could still be a market for
Mark Levinson, Nelson Pass and Steve them. True, we all tend to have dark
McCormack could tell you how danger- suspicions about people who can afford
ous it is to give a company your own such products. Are they the ones who
name. Now that you’ve done it, don’t go threw families into the street and then
talking to any more equity firms.
got government bailouts? Eek!
MagZee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
T
State of the Art
he most frequently-quoted
“law” in the domain of high
end audio (and home theatre
as well) is the Law of Diminishing Returns. As you spend more and
more, each dollar buys you smaller and
smaller improvements, and so beyond a
certain point you should just let it go.
Corollary to the law: only people with
ultra-sensitive trained ears can hear the
tiny improvements that really expensive
gear can bring.
Let me leave aside, for the purpose
of this column, the question of whether
certain expensive products bring any
improvement at all. Lots of them don’t,
and we know that, but let’s consider
products that do, however slight the
improvements may be.
We know that physical laws are
commonly proved mathematically, and
so the proponents of the Law of Diminishing Returns use numbers to illustrate
their thesis. Example: beyond a certain
amount of money (on which everyone
does not agree, by the by), spending 30%
more will bring you only a 10% or even
a 5% improvement. You’ve heard that,
right?
Where do those figures come from?
Do you figure they get political polling organizations to determine those
numbers? Are their results accurate to
within plus or minus 2.3%, 19 times out
of 20…
The problem is this. It’s easy to do
math on product prices, and therefore
to calculate that one product costs 15%
more than another product, at least if
we ignore street price. So far so good,
but how do you attach figures to the
sound? What does it mean to say that
one product sounds “15% better” than
another? How do you put number on
what is — or should be — an emotional
experience? Can you determine that
your spouse loves you 12.7% more than
your previous paramour?
Better not go there.
You can’t use math on sound quality,
or music, or love, because such things
are qualitative, not quantitative. And
once you understand that difference, you
by Gerard Rejskind
will understand what is wrong with not
only the “Law of Diminishing Returns,”
but also the mindset of those who call
themselves objective reviewers.
We actually have different grammar
to differentiate between the qualitative
and the quantitative. If you haven’t
repressed everything your teachers told
you, you’ll recall that you got rapped
on the knuckles, if only figuratively, for
such phrases as, “There’s less people
downtown this weekend.” You don’t use
“less” for anything that can be counted,
such as people or chocolates.
The next time you’re listening to
music and feeling mellow, think about
the many qualitative values that don’t
lend themselves to mathematical evaluation. There’s the music you’re actually
listening to, obviously, but what else?
I’ve already mentioned love, or even
affection. Do you like friend A more
than friend B? Perhaps, but would you
feel comfortable saying that you like
him/her 32% more? Of course not.
Would you say your daughter is 18.3%
more courteous than your son? Would
you say your best friend is 42.8% more
STATE OF THE ART:
THE BOOK
Get the 258-page book
containing the State of the Art
columns from the first 60 issues
of UHF, with all-new introductions.
See page 6.
understanding than… But that way lies
madness.
Let’s return to music reproduction.
You may judge that an amplifier you’re
thinking of buying sounds better than
your current amplifier, and perhaps
you’re right. What does it mean to say
that it’s better? You might judge that you
enjoy your music more when you listen
with that amplifier, but how much more?
Can you put a figure on it?
In fact that’s not what you need to do
at all. Listen to your amp, and then the
one you’re thinking of buying, and sure
enough the second one sounds better.
After a while come back to your own
amplifier (that’s the sort of thing we
do all the time), and see how much of a
comedown it is. Is it 19% less good? Is
that the same percentage you would have
given when switching the other way?
When you want to improve the quality (I repeat, the quality) of your music,
you evaluate whether the music touches
you more than it did before, or gets you
more involved in its magic. These are
the reasons you might spend money on
a good system, and they are not things
you can put figures on.
Yes, I know, we do try to put figures
on everything today. The earthquake
in Chile, or in Haiti, is the strongest
since… Check Wikipedia, and you’ve
got the answer. Or check Craigslist and
you’ll see that a potential lover’s appeal is
often reduced to measurements of height
and maybe chest size. Is it a coincidence
that digital audio, the major innovation
of our era, is one that transforms music
into a series of numbers? Charles Seife,
in his book Proofiness: The Dark Arts
of Mathematical Deception, writes that
“If you want to get people to believe
something really, really stupid, just stick
a number on it.”
That’s what’s wrong with the Law
of Diminishing Returns, and with the
attempt by some reviewers to give a
product a numerical score. We know
that, at the threshold of the bedroom, it
is time to leave the numbers behind. It’s
the same when you open the door of the
listening room.
Why do
UHF readers
start reading
their magazines
at the back?
Countless readers have confirmed it over the
years: when they get their hands on the
latest issue of UHF, they open it to the last
page.
The reason all of them mention: Gerard
Rejskind’s last-page column, State of the Art. Since
the magazine’s founding, the column has grappled
with the major questions of high end audio. It has been
acclaimed by readers around the world.
Now, the columns from the first 60 issues of UHF are
brought together into one book. Each is exactly as it was originally
published, and each is accompanied by a new introduction.
Order your copy today: $18.95 in Canada or the US, C$32
elsewhere in the world, air mail included.
We are proud to announce that the
ROKSAN K2 integrated ampliﬁer
has won the DIAPASON D’OR AWARD
for best ampliﬁer of 2009!
Atlas Cables
Audes
AudioPrism
Discwasher
Gutwire Cables
Kandy K2
LSA
“A neat balancing act, carried
off here with rare success”
Mastersound
Art Dudley,
May 2010
GET ROKSAN AT:
Altronics Stereo
Toronto, Ont
416-233-8906
The Sound Room
Kingston, Ont
613-549-0445
K1 Audio
Concord, Ont
416-893-3355
Living Sound Stereo
Markham, Ont
905-475-6300
Oz Entreprises
Orleans, Ont
613-222-2685
Image Audio
Guelph, Ont
519-265-3840
Villeneuve Audio Video
Joliette, Qc
450-755-1696
Audio Two
Windsor, Ont
519-979-7101
Locke Street Audio
Hamilton, Ont
905-529-2522
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Oakville, Ont
905-338-6609
DING
Audiophonie
Montreal, Qc
514-544-2788
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Montreal, QC
514-866-1578
Signature Audio
Vancouver, BC
604-873-6682
Loyalty Sound
Calgary, AB
403-244-8843
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Regina, SK
306-536-3884
Brooklyn Audio
Dartmouth, NS
902-463-8773
6 Sons Audio
Winnipeg, MB
204-770-2341
9251-8 Yonge St., Suite 938
RICHMOND HILL, ON L4C 9T3
(905) 532-9004 (647) 997-4607
FAX: (905) 532-9105
www.libertytrading.ca
libertytrading2009@gmail.com
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Revolver
Roksan
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A terrific tube preamplifier from Korea

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