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No. 69<br />
$4.99<br />
AMPLIFIERS: Integrated amplifiers from<br />
Audiomat, Connoisseur and Copland, plus<br />
monoblocks from Shanling. Mostly tubes.<br />
PLUS REVIEWS OF: A Creek CD player<br />
that’s half computer, an astonishing new<br />
phono stage, a great remote control, and<br />
a music-oriented computer game that had<br />
us rolling in the aisles<br />
PLUS: Our complete report from Las Vegas,<br />
and Paul Bergman on the return of the<br />
vacuum tube.<br />
ISSN 0847-1851<br />
Canadian Publication Sales<br />
Product Agreement<br />
No. 40065638<br />
RETURN LABELS ONLY<br />
OF UNDELIVERED COPIES TO:<br />
Box 65085, Place Longueuil,<br />
Longueuil, Qué., Canada J4K 5J4<br />
Printed in Canada
Roksan Kandy MkIII<br />
Winner WHAT HI-FI SUPERTEST October 2003<br />
Roksan Radius 5<br />
Justice Audio<br />
9251-8 Yonge St., Suite 218<br />
Richmond Hill, ON L4C 9T3<br />
Tel. : (905) 780-0079 • Fax : (905) 780-0443<br />
www.justiceaudio.com<br />
sales@justiceaudio.com<br />
Castle<br />
QED<br />
Target<br />
Vandersteen<br />
Audioprism<br />
McCormack<br />
Bel Canto<br />
Rega<br />
WBT<br />
Gamut<br />
Apollo<br />
GutWire<br />
ASW Speakers<br />
Goldring<br />
Milty<br />
Perfect Sound<br />
Nitty Gritty<br />
Radiant Speakers<br />
LAST record care<br />
WATTGate<br />
Audiophile CDs<br />
Audiophile LPs<br />
DVD and SACD
The Listening Room<br />
The Audiomat Phono-1.5 32<br />
Okay, let’s get serious about getting everything off<br />
those vinyl discs.<br />
Issue No. 69<br />
The Creek CD 50 34<br />
The formula: underpromise, but overdeliver.<br />
Shanling SP-80 Monoblocks 40<br />
Could they get by on looks alone?<br />
Audiomat Opéra 40<br />
In this case, “class A” refers to more than the<br />
principle of operation.<br />
Connoisseur SE-2 43<br />
Only 9 watts per channel, but what if they’re the right<br />
watts?<br />
Copland CSA-29 Integrated 45<br />
The hybrid successor to a tube amp we loved.<br />
GutWire Notepad 47<br />
The antivibration device that goes over or under.<br />
Cover story: The Audiomat Opéra pure class A tube<br />
amplifier, reviewed in this issue. Behind is the garden<br />
of the St. Tropez, home of one of the two Las Vegas<br />
shows covered here.<br />
Cinema<br />
Down With HTiaB 19<br />
It stands for Home Theatre in a Box. Here’s why if<br />
all six speakers are in the same box you should run<br />
the other way.<br />
Nuts&Bolts<br />
Return of the Vacuum Tube 21<br />
by Paul Bergman<br />
Think only high end nuts love tubes? Here’s why<br />
the people who make your favorite recordings like<br />
them too.<br />
Feature<br />
Listening in Vegas 24<br />
by Gerard Rejskind<br />
What’s new and what’s fun at the Consumer<br />
Electronics Show and at T. H. E. Show.<br />
The Kameleon Remote 48<br />
Most luxury remotes look great…until you use<br />
them. So guess what we’ve found…<br />
Rock Manager 50<br />
A computer game to make you laugh. Or possibly<br />
cry.<br />
Preview 53<br />
An advance look at gear we’ll be reviewing soon.<br />
Software<br />
The Music Critics 55<br />
by Reine Lessard<br />
They culdn’t kill the world’s greatest compositions.<br />
Not that some of them didn’t try…<br />
Record Reviews 62<br />
by Reine Lessard and Gerard Rejskind<br />
Departments<br />
Editorial 2<br />
Feedback 5<br />
Free Advice 7<br />
Classified Ads 66<br />
Gossip & News 69<br />
State of the Art 72<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 1
UHF <strong>Magazine</strong> No. 69 was published in March, 2004. All<br />
contents are copyright 2004 by Broadcast Canada. They<br />
may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any<br />
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,<br />
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,<br />
without written permission from the publisher.<br />
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Broadcast Canada<br />
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Tel.: (450) 651-5720 FAX: (450) 651-3383<br />
E-mail: uhfmail@uhfmag.com<br />
World Wide Web: http://www.uhfmag.com<br />
PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Gerard Rejskind<br />
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Reine Lessard<br />
EDITORIAL: Paul Bergman, Reine Lessard, Albert Simon<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY: Albert Simon<br />
ADVERTISING SALES:<br />
Québec: Reine Lessard (450) 651-5720<br />
Alberta & BC: Derek Coates (604) 522-6168<br />
Other: Gerard Rejskind (450) 651-5720<br />
NATIONAL NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION:<br />
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FILED WITH The National Library of Canada and<br />
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ISSN 0847-1851<br />
Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product No. 0611387<br />
<strong>Ultra</strong> <strong>High</strong> <strong>Fidelity</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> invites contributions. Though<br />
all reasonable care will be taken of materials submitted, we<br />
cannot be responsible for their damage or loss, however<br />
caused. Materials will be returned only if a stamped selfaddressed<br />
envelope is provided. Because our needs are<br />
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Editorial<br />
“The sound of the stereo fades into history”<br />
That headline turned up in the November 18th issue of the Financial Times<br />
under the byline of Simon London. He writes that “2003 will go down as the<br />
year that hi-fi died.” London has consulted people who are perhaps not the last<br />
word in high end audio. One of them is the Best Buy box store chain (“Home<br />
audio as we know it is a declining business”). Another is Marantz (“If you are<br />
not in video today, you are not in business”). And Harvey Electronics (“Audio<br />
equipment now accounts for only 40% of sales”). London adds that Pioneer<br />
now makes neither a stereo amplifier nor a single-disc CD player.<br />
Bad news? Yeah, we’re gonna cry. Or perhaps no news at all.<br />
Consider something else Simon London says: “This partly reflects generational<br />
change. Today’s potential first-time purchasers of audio equipment<br />
— typically in their late teens or 20’s — have grown up with digital<br />
media. The idea of sitting down and listening to 75 minutes of pre-packaged<br />
music is anathema to a generation used to media that is interactive, portable<br />
and customisable.”<br />
I’ve got news for Mr. London.<br />
There is nothing the least bit surprising in what he has discovered. There<br />
are people old enough to be worrying about their pension plans who have<br />
never listened to “75 minutes of pre-packaged music.” When Best Buy talks<br />
about the decline in audio equipment sales, they don’t mean tube amplifiers<br />
and high end speakers, they mean those little three-piece mini-stereos that<br />
have gradually plummeted from $700 to $89. You think people were actually<br />
listening intensely to those? Those harsh-sounding appliances have always<br />
been used “as background to other activities.” (This last, by the way, is a quote<br />
from the Consumer Electronics Association, which Mr. London also used as<br />
a source.)<br />
Music listening as a foreground activity has always been a niche interest, and<br />
the companies that make equipment intended for such listening have always<br />
been much smaller than the conglomerates whose products can be found at<br />
Best Buy. What has changed is that the gadget hounds, who used to drool over<br />
knobs and buttons, now drool over plasma TVs or — more likely — portable<br />
phones that take pictures.<br />
The good news is that, for those who cater to music lovers, the competition<br />
is fading away. The Future Shop “associates" will no longer be telling people<br />
that the speaker is the part of a system that really makes a difference. Creek<br />
and Copland won’t cry too hard when they discover that Pioneer is no longer<br />
going head to head with them. As for us at UHF, it isn’t catastrophic news if<br />
the CEO of Global Megamags Inc. reads the Financial Times article over his<br />
eggs Benedict, and decides that, well you know, it might be time to move the<br />
empire’s audio magazines over to covering karaoke.<br />
I’ll say it again: high fidelity is a niche product. It always has been. And the<br />
people who care enough about music to actually sit down and listen to it are<br />
a minority of the population. What Simon London has written may be true,<br />
but it is what editors call a “dog bites man” story.<br />
If a man bites a dog, let me know.<br />
<strong>Ultra</strong> <strong>High</strong> <strong>Fidelity</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> is completely independent of<br />
all companies in the electronics industry, as are all of its<br />
contributors, unless explcitly specified otherwise.<br />
2 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
DOG-EARED COPIES? OUT, SPOT!<br />
Some long-time UHF readers explain to us why they’ve always<br />
hesitated to subscribe. They want to get their magazines<br />
in perfect condition, not dog-eared and torn.<br />
So wouldn’t it be funny if a dog-eared copy were awaiting<br />
them at the local newsstand?<br />
But it makes sense if you think about it. Where do copies<br />
sit around unprotected? On the newsstand. Where do other<br />
people leaf through them before you arrive? At the newsstand.<br />
Where do they stick on little labels you can’t even peel off?<br />
Surprise!<br />
At a lot of newsstands, they do exactly that!<br />
What you want is a perfect copy. And the perfect copy is the one<br />
in your mailbox. No tears or bends, because each issue is protected by a sealed<br />
plastic envelope. With the address label on the envelope, not on the magazine.<br />
Of course, you’ll have to make a certain sacrifice.<br />
Are you willing to pay, oh, maybe 23% less for the privilege of having a perfect<br />
copy?<br />
And are you willing to qualify for a discount on one or both of our original books<br />
on hi-fi (see the offer on the other side of this page)?<br />
You are? Then perhaps the time has come.<br />
JUST SUBSCRIBE<br />
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The UHF Guide costs $14.95 (Canada) plus 7% GST (15% in NB, NS, NF), US$19.95 (USA) CAN$25 (elsewhere).<br />
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See ordering information on the previous page.<br />
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PLUS:<br />
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Feedback<br />
Why do Naxos CDs sound so bad?<br />
A cry in the wilderness! (Are you going<br />
to do something about it?)<br />
Hubert Pilon<br />
OTTAWA, ON<br />
We don’t have the same impression of<br />
Naxos CDs, Hubert. Of course, most of<br />
the recordings in the large Naxos catalog<br />
have been purchased from various sources,<br />
especially in Eastern Europe, and the sound<br />
quality naturally varies as well. But we've<br />
heard Naxos recordings so good that we could<br />
actually use in equipment tests. Incidentally,<br />
Naxos is the owner of the Proprius label.<br />
I am writing with reference to State<br />
of the Art in UHF No. 68, in which<br />
you discuss the importance of accurate<br />
midrange reproduction, which is missing<br />
from many current loudspeaker reviews<br />
that focus on the frequency extremes.<br />
You use the original Quad ESL-57<br />
to exemplify what accurate midrange<br />
is all about. As the owner of a pair of<br />
“Walker's Wonders," I can only echo<br />
your assertion that this half-century old<br />
design provides “something magical”<br />
that virtually no modern design can do<br />
in the area of low-distortion midrange<br />
performance.<br />
I hope that the German reproductions<br />
you listened to were mounted on<br />
rigid stands at least 14 inches above the<br />
floor, and were driven by moderately<br />
powerful (20-40 watt) tube amplifiers.<br />
If not, there is not enough “magic” to<br />
be heard.<br />
However I would like to correct your<br />
statement that Walker’s speaker “was and<br />
is a single large panel." It is a full-range<br />
electrostatic (with no dynamic drivers),<br />
but it consists of three separate panels:<br />
two outer bass panels and one centrallylocated<br />
midrange/treble panel.<br />
These wonderful loudspeakers are<br />
definitely not for bass freaks or headbangers.<br />
Also, they have a narrow “sweet<br />
Feedback<br />
Box 65085, Place Longueuil<br />
Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4<br />
uhfmail@uhfmag.com<br />
spot,” but when you occupy that spot in<br />
a properly set-up system, you hear the<br />
best midrange available anywhere.<br />
Keith Crookall<br />
SURREY, BC<br />
The recent sessions we have had with<br />
both the original ESL-57 and the Braun<br />
<strong>version</strong> were done with two stacked pairs on<br />
rigid stands.<br />
The text of the Miserere might seem<br />
“contradictory and archaic”, not to say<br />
“outrageous” and “scary” (UHF No. 68,<br />
p. 63), but it’s still Psalm 51 in the usual<br />
numbering, and attributed (rightly or<br />
wrongly) to King David; a lot of people,<br />
myself included, have thought they could<br />
follow its logic, and although it’s been<br />
around for (maybe) three millennia, the<br />
emotions it expresses can still be felt.<br />
On another subject, further to your<br />
very enjoyable Anthem article, don’t you<br />
wish we could occasionally indulge in the<br />
rumbustious second verse of God Save<br />
the Queen: (“Confound their politics /<br />
Frustrate their knavish tricks”), as well<br />
as all those splendid throne-and-altar<br />
sentiments in the fourth verse of O<br />
Canada? Judge Weir should have put that<br />
one first!<br />
Nick Wickenden<br />
Reader Basile Noel sent us on the following<br />
letter from his high end dealer:<br />
We have compared the (Copland) 301<br />
vs. the new 305 many times and in many<br />
client applications. When the 305 came<br />
out we thought great news since the<br />
301 had been around since 1998. It was<br />
anticipated that the 305 would be that<br />
much better. This was not the case.<br />
We installed it in our reference<br />
system and the results tended to be more<br />
of a synthetic presentation. More digital<br />
sounding. Even a stock 301 has a much<br />
more realistic character, much more<br />
organic with plenty of air and decay. The<br />
305 has a colder sound similar to harsh<br />
sounding solid state. At first I thought<br />
that we may have a bad set of valves but<br />
after replacing the stock tubes with our<br />
own matched set of EI’s, the results were<br />
the same. I also concluded that even<br />
using another 305 resulted in the same<br />
conclusions.<br />
It is very evident that, in our opinion,<br />
Copland has directed its resources at the<br />
multi-channel market. Perhaps this is<br />
where the majority of their revenues are<br />
to be had for them.<br />
This is unfortunate because the 301,<br />
in our opinion, was and is one of the best<br />
kept secrets in two channel high end<br />
audio today.<br />
John Costanzo<br />
My Kind of Music<br />
TORONTO, ON<br />
Basile, the 301 is hardly a secret. As for<br />
Copland directing its resources toward multichannel,<br />
perhaps Mr. Costanzo hadn’t had<br />
a chance to read our review of the Copland<br />
multichannel amp in UHF No. 67.<br />
I have recently purchased your<br />
“Internet Special” and I’m deeply<br />
involved in your two books: The UHF<br />
Guide To <strong>Ultra</strong> <strong>High</strong> <strong>Fidelity</strong> and The<br />
World of <strong>High</strong> <strong>Fidelity</strong>. You have opinions<br />
right or wrong (right to my ears) but<br />
you speak with conviction, and that is<br />
something most publications simply<br />
don’t offer. I was very curious though,<br />
how you select your material to review.<br />
Paul Bawcutt<br />
AJAX, ON<br />
A lot of manufacturers would like to know<br />
the same thing, Paul. Sometimes products<br />
are proposed to us, and we either accept or<br />
refuse them (always with thanks). Sometimes<br />
we ask distributors or manufacturers to lend<br />
us products for review, and they either accept<br />
or refuse (not always with thanks). Some<br />
products are not available to us, because the<br />
distributor doesn’t like us, or fears what the<br />
result might be. We try to review products<br />
we find interesting, and which have enough<br />
distribution that readers can possibly get to<br />
hear them. We also try to balance reviews<br />
between luxury products and more affordable<br />
entry-level products. Because of the way<br />
we do our reviews, we can do only a limited<br />
number of them.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 5
Feedback<br />
After reading the last issue (No. 68),<br />
I decided to look back to get a sense of<br />
the direction that UHF is taking. In<br />
equipment tests from No. 60 to 68: 23<br />
amplifier tests, 22 speakers, 5 digital<br />
sources and 1 analog source (re)test.<br />
It appears that 1) you’ve all but abandoned<br />
analog, and 2) with only a total<br />
of 6 source tests out of 51, your credo of<br />
putting the source at the top of equipment<br />
priority is losing credibility. Or is<br />
it a matter of “do as I say not as I do?”<br />
Joe Wdowiak<br />
BOWMANVILLE, ON<br />
The analog component is of course the<br />
Rega P9 turntable, with RB1000 arm and<br />
cartridge, and it is not truly a retest, since the<br />
new P9 is totally different from the original<br />
one (UHF No. 50), and is far superior.<br />
We’ve also reviewed five phono stages during<br />
that period, and we’ve done a major article<br />
(No. 65) on adding vinyl to an all-digital<br />
system. Several of our loudspeaker tests,<br />
what’s more, were done entirely with vinyl.<br />
By the way, issue No. 70 will include at least<br />
one turntable review. Not to fear, Joe, we’re<br />
still big on vinyl.<br />
6 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
I was just reminiscing through<br />
some back issues and came upon an<br />
interesting thought. Think back to issue<br />
No. 29 — Dec. 1990 — an issue devoted<br />
primarily to analog stuff. It has been<br />
almost exactly 13 years and 39 issues and<br />
since then, I could only count 3 reviews<br />
of turntables (2 for the Rega P9 and 1<br />
for the Linn LP12), and no cartridge<br />
reviews whatsoever. What’s up?<br />
James P. Manley<br />
AIRDRIE, AB<br />
We reviewed the Rega Exact in issue<br />
No. 65.<br />
I’m surprised you were so charitable<br />
with Dan Mick in response to his letter<br />
in issue No. 68. Why would he bother<br />
to write anyway? Yours is an audio<br />
magazine that seeks to address basic<br />
video needs, so some home theatre<br />
compromises are inevitable.<br />
His statement that 50% of the value<br />
of the home theatre system should be<br />
allocated to the display device is hard to<br />
figure. Sure, if you have a budget of at<br />
least $10,000, and perhaps even $20,000<br />
or higher it may apply. Again, why is he<br />
writing? Not that your readers don’t have<br />
the money to spend, but the first priority<br />
for most of them is two channel stereo,<br />
and integrated video. Let’s face it, his<br />
store addresses a niche custom installation<br />
market (I’m guessing), and not a<br />
bad niche either, but for Dan to write<br />
and make statements that he would think<br />
apply to the majority of consumers, and<br />
your magazine is…dumb.<br />
Dan, my man, I am sorry to say you<br />
are the problem in this industry today,<br />
audio and video, concentrating only<br />
on the few people who can afford the<br />
ultra expensive, and in the meantime<br />
drying up the mid to lower end through<br />
neglect.<br />
Steve Rasmussen<br />
HAMILTON, ON<br />
Well, Steve, we were polite because Dan<br />
was polite, and besides his comments gave us<br />
an excellent opportunity to add more details<br />
about the reasons for the choices we made in<br />
our Gamma system.<br />
By the way, we hear that the editor of a<br />
competing magazine is telling all who will<br />
listen that we are doomed because we set up<br />
a “luxury” home theatre system rather than<br />
a home-theatre-in-a-box. Go figure.<br />
In UHF No.67 I came across two<br />
issues. I want to share my own.<br />
First, is the surrounding noise you<br />
talk about in State of the Art. My wife and<br />
I went through bathroom and kitchen<br />
renovations two years ago (bad news for<br />
the audiophile budget). I paid attention<br />
to noise generation from the appliances<br />
and fans, especially the refrigerator. Our<br />
house is an open plan type, which means<br />
the kitchen, dining and living room are<br />
together, and the fridge is about 3 m<br />
from my listening position. I trusted<br />
the sales guy and picked a GE Profile<br />
22. I also asked my cabinetmaker to add<br />
18 mm thick Sonopad on each side of the<br />
enclosure. The result is quite amazing.<br />
I did the same with the dishwasher, and<br />
it’s whispering.<br />
The second issue is the use of bituminous<br />
material on the chassis covers in the<br />
Vector AV-6 amp. It’s funny, since I did<br />
a similar trick on all my 10-year+ audio<br />
equipment, using automobile asphalt/<br />
vinyl spray and rubber pads. What an<br />
inexpensive way to improve your system<br />
(remember, the budget cut).<br />
You know what inspired me to do<br />
this? The new stainless steel kitchen sink<br />
came with a rubberlike back to attenuate<br />
noise. It may look stupid at first, but<br />
when you put your fingers on the preamp<br />
cover while music is playing loud, you<br />
feel the vibrations easily.<br />
Jean-Pierre Séguin<br />
SAINT-LOUIS-DE-FRANCE, QC<br />
I am subscriber from Norway. Well,<br />
for the time being I am.<br />
Please answer me why on earth you<br />
are reviewing Copland products in<br />
almost every issue? If your magazine<br />
does not improve and you don’t find<br />
other products to write about, you can<br />
count me out.<br />
Jan Petter Egidius<br />
ASKER, Norway<br />
Copland had a number of new products<br />
recently, Jan, and we preferred to spread<br />
them out over more than one issue. There is<br />
of course a review of a Copland product in<br />
this issue, but no others pencilled in for the<br />
issues to come.
Free Advice<br />
Free Advice<br />
Box 65085, Place Longueuil<br />
Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4<br />
uhfmail@uhfmag.com<br />
I want to say I much I love your magazine.<br />
You truly come through as passionate<br />
about music, not only technology.<br />
My turntable is an Oracle Alexandria,<br />
my disc player a Sugden SDT1 , the amplifier<br />
is the Sugden A28-II, and my speakers<br />
are Elipson Melodines. Not a high end system<br />
, but I think it is well balanced.<br />
My little Sugden has let me down , and<br />
I was offered the Sugden Audition series<br />
amp/preamp from Sugden. I then stopped<br />
by another place to get some speaker stands,<br />
and an amp caught my attention, and I<br />
wanted to try it with my own disc player. It<br />
was a YBA Intégré. On the first notes that<br />
came out of the speakers, I fell in love. So<br />
call me stupid, but I bought it.<br />
So this is my next question: what kind<br />
of interconnect could I look at to upgrade a<br />
bit more? I have Audioquest interconnects.<br />
My speaker cables are Van del Hul with<br />
WBT connectors. Is it worth buying better<br />
interconnect cables? My next upgrade would<br />
be my speakers, next year most likely.<br />
André Avon<br />
SAINT-JEAN SUR RICHELIEU , QC<br />
André, your original Sugden was a<br />
very nice, warm-sounding entry-level<br />
amplifier, and we know a lot of people<br />
who discovered high fidelity with that<br />
amp. Since then Sugden produced some<br />
upscale products, including the preamplifier<br />
that was in our Alpha reference<br />
system for several years. That said, the<br />
YBA Intégré is in a different category,<br />
and it was a good choice. We understand<br />
why you fell in love.<br />
You may want to change cables<br />
eventually, but for the moment we<br />
would look for a successor to the Sugden<br />
Compact Disc player. We were happy<br />
with that player when it first came out<br />
(we reviewed it in UHF No. 36), but<br />
that was a long time ago, and we don’t<br />
think it has its place in a quality system<br />
today. Take it with you when you go<br />
shopping, and ask to hear it alongside<br />
some newer quality players. We think<br />
you’ll be surprised.<br />
I am finally getting close to a complete<br />
musically satisfying system. After hunting<br />
for a power amp and a phono stage for the<br />
bedroom system, I came upon a used excellent<br />
condition Sugden A48b integrated<br />
with a phono board for C$400. I tried it<br />
against some new multi-thousand dollar<br />
integrated amps from MF, ASL, Bryston,<br />
and Arcam. You know, even with price not<br />
being a factor I would have taken this little<br />
amp, and I want to credit your magazine<br />
because I would never have heard of Sugden<br />
if it weren’t for you. It sounds like a valve<br />
amp but with solid state bass slam, and it’s<br />
fantastic on vocals and strings.<br />
The weak link is now my speakers. My<br />
big Wharfedale Vanguards were designed<br />
more for the young party animal I was back<br />
when I bought them. Accurate? Naw. However,<br />
my musical taste has shifted from AC-<br />
DC, to Sarah McLachlan, Vivaldi, etc., so<br />
a new more midrange-oriented, smoother<br />
speaker is in order.<br />
I was recently impressed by Audio Note<br />
AN-K level 3 speakers. The design is nothing<br />
like the current slim line designs with<br />
rounded edges, yet the AN-K stand-mount<br />
sounds bigger than any stand-mount I have<br />
ever heard (including my other favorite in<br />
my price range, the Reference 3a MM De<br />
Capo), with great bass weight, dynamics,<br />
smooth highs and most importantly a very<br />
clear articulate mid-band. It is apparently<br />
based on a 70’s Snell K speaker. What am<br />
I missing? 1970’s design? But they sound<br />
absolutely terrific despite being kinda ugly.<br />
Is this another Sugden A21a which is based<br />
on a 60’s design?<br />
Is Audio Note’s philosophy correct in<br />
that most current speakers are going for<br />
style over realistic musical presentation?<br />
My sources are a Cambridge Audio CD6,<br />
NAD 533 turntable, Sony CDP 355 and<br />
Tara Labs Prism 11 cables./<br />
Richard Austen<br />
NANAIMO, BC<br />
Gee, the second letter in a row<br />
about a Sugden integrated amplifier.<br />
The “tube-like” sound you noted is not<br />
happenstance, since that was Sugden’s<br />
intent in designing the A series. We’re<br />
not certain about the A48, but Sugden<br />
frequently used MOSFETs rather than<br />
bipolar transistors, favoring their tubelike<br />
transconductance curves. Your<br />
A48 is of course not recent, and at some<br />
point it may cry out for some renewal of<br />
its internal organs, but at the price you<br />
paid for it that shouldn’t come as much<br />
of a shock.<br />
We wouldn’t worry much about<br />
the Audio Note’s 1970’s inspiration.<br />
Not many fundamental discoveries<br />
have been made in loudspeakers in the<br />
past 30 years, though the execution of<br />
known principles has become quite a<br />
lot more refined. Though some modern<br />
speakers do sound far better than their<br />
70’s counterparts, it is also true that<br />
some sound less good than speakers<br />
from the same manufacturer 30 years<br />
ago. On the basis of what we have heard<br />
over the past few years that may be particularly<br />
true of Snell. We should add<br />
that we have not heard the Audio Note<br />
speaker, though we did review an Audio<br />
Note CD player with some enthusiasm<br />
in UHF No. 68.<br />
That said, we note that one of your<br />
sources is a Sony player, and we would<br />
look for a replacement for it before<br />
thinking about choosing new loudspeakers.<br />
We’re sure you’re right about<br />
the Wharfedale’s <strong>version</strong> of reality, but<br />
it may be just passing on what the Sony<br />
is giving it. Don’t shoot the messenger!<br />
Please let me know your opinion<br />
about the hi-fi components I am planning<br />
to buy: JMLab Electra 926 speakers, Jadis<br />
Orchestra tube amplifier, and Jadis Symphonia<br />
CD player. Is one of the components<br />
stronger than the others?<br />
I’ve read on the Internet that the tubes<br />
in a tube amplifer must be checked/replaced<br />
every six months. What is the truth,<br />
and how would I have to handle my Jadis<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 7
Free Advice<br />
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Orchestra if I buy it?<br />
Ferenc Schell<br />
SZEGED, Hungary<br />
We think the components you are<br />
considering are mostly a good choice,<br />
Ferenc. We rather prefer the DA-30<br />
amplifier to the Orchestra, but it does<br />
cost more.<br />
Checking tubes now and then is a<br />
good idea, though of course few audiophiles<br />
own tube testers. When transistors<br />
fail they usually go quickly, perhaps<br />
within mere milliseconds. Tube<br />
performance, by contrast, tends to drop<br />
gradually, and you may not notice right<br />
away that there’s a technical reason your<br />
system doesn’t sound as good as it once<br />
did. However a properly-designed amplifier<br />
doesn’t require systematic retubing<br />
every few months. That can be the<br />
case of a poor amplifier, whose designer<br />
didn’t realize that, if a tube is rated to<br />
accept a plate voltage “up to” 650 volts,<br />
you don’t actually run it at 650 volts.<br />
With more conservative ratings some<br />
tubes can last for anything from three<br />
to ten years.<br />
8 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Indeed, that used to be the rule.<br />
Modern tubes cost more than their<br />
ancestors, despite the fact that they’re<br />
more failure-prone than tubes once<br />
were. However we consider tube failure<br />
to be more of a minor nuisance than a<br />
large budget item. At least it’s that way<br />
with equipment designed by competent<br />
engineers.<br />
I am considering the purchase of an<br />
FM tuner, and I am concerned about the<br />
future of the medium.<br />
I am using an old receiver as a tuner,<br />
but the reception is not great and it tends to<br />
overload on local stations due to my multielement<br />
antenna in the attic, which I need<br />
to pick up NPR and other US stations.<br />
I am considering a used or new Magnum<br />
Dynalab, which is somewhat costly<br />
considering the rumors about analog FM<br />
being phased out in the next few years. I<br />
don’t wish to end up with an expensive upgrade<br />
that will not be useful in the future.<br />
What are your thoughts on this?<br />
Paul Hirvinen<br />
THUNDER BAY, ON<br />
Paul, if we tell you that digital radio<br />
is doomed, that its wings were clipping<br />
the trees as soon as it cleared the runway,<br />
and that you should go ahead and<br />
buy a tuner because FM will be around<br />
forever, our lawyers would be all over<br />
us.<br />
But let’s look at some facts. Canada<br />
already has a lot of stations in the digital<br />
band, at least in major cities, though<br />
all but one are simulcasting. The original<br />
plan was to switch everyone over to<br />
digital, and then auction off the empty<br />
AM and FM bandwidth to the highest<br />
bidder. We note that the digitalradio.ca<br />
site no longer claims that (indeed, the<br />
site’s entire FAQ is 96 words long).<br />
The selloff can’t happen. The reason<br />
is that the US is not following the<br />
Canadian lead, if we can call it that. The<br />
American system (we are not talking<br />
about the pay satellite services) involves<br />
piggybacking digital information on a<br />
subcarrier that is attached to the existing<br />
analog signal. This means that the<br />
AM and FM bands in the United States<br />
will never be closed down. Since ada is an immediate neighbor, licens-<br />
Caning<br />
any other service on the old bands<br />
would cause an international incident.<br />
Indeed, digital broadcasting appears<br />
to be a cure for a disease that has<br />
not yet been invented. It does reduce interference<br />
in car radios, but it does so at<br />
the cost of discarding more than 80%<br />
of the audio information. It is widespread<br />
in Europe at this point, but there<br />
is scant evidence that anyone even there<br />
is listening.<br />
I confess I am not an audiophile, although<br />
I know the basis uses of an amplifier,<br />
preamplifier, speakers, etc. I recently bought<br />
unopened Infinity Renaissance 80 speakers.<br />
They were last made in 1995 and the last<br />
piece was ordered by the Kuwait distributor<br />
in 1998. To be frank, I got them cheap, and<br />
I also will be adding an Infinity subwoofer.<br />
1) What amplifier do I need for these<br />
speakers? Is it better to have an integrated<br />
amplifier or do I need to have a preamplifier<br />
along with an amplifier?<br />
2) If I have to add a few speakers to<br />
convert the existing set into a home theatre<br />
system, what would match my present<br />
speakers?<br />
3) What type of A/V receiver do I need<br />
to buy for the above con<strong>version</strong>? Do I also<br />
need a sound processor?<br />
4. Any other advice that would help me<br />
become an audiophile?<br />
Merwyn Machado<br />
SALMIYA, Kuwait<br />
Let’s begin with your last question,<br />
Merwyn. The surest path we know of to<br />
becoming an audiophile — other than<br />
acquiring the desire to become one, and<br />
you’ve got<br />
that — is to start with a sys-<br />
tem at least good enough that the basic<br />
musical values can come through, and<br />
which makes you want to turn it on and<br />
listen. Those basic values are not bass,<br />
treble or “air,” but melody, rhythm and<br />
harmony. In short, music is more important<br />
than sound. The two are tightly<br />
related, however, because musical information<br />
is surprisingly fragile, and it<br />
doesn’t take much to obscure the very<br />
sense of a piece of music.<br />
We would add that this first step<br />
doesn’t depend on budget. We know of<br />
quite affordable systems that can reproduce<br />
music so that it is enjoyable, and<br />
we also know of very expensive systems<br />
that cannot.<br />
Most of this issue can be read online<br />
We’ve never quite understood why some magazines show only their covers and their tables<br />
of contents, evidently figuring people will pay to subscribe to a magazine they’ve never seen.<br />
We’re a little different. If we could give all of our information away and still stay in business,<br />
we would. As it is, we walk perilously close to the line.<br />
The reality is that, unlike a number of other audio magazines, we live mainly from our readers<br />
(that’s why we can afford to write the things we write). So some pages are obscured by different<br />
objects, and some articles start off in English, but tail off into Larin.<br />
Note for Latin scholars: the Latin text doesn’t have much to do with hi-fi.
Free Advice<br />
Which brings us to your speakers.<br />
Your Infinity speakers are of older design,<br />
still using the EMIT tweeter and<br />
the similar EMIM midrange which<br />
have always made us uneasy. Today Infinity<br />
is a division of the Harman International<br />
giant, and its speaker models<br />
have changed quite radically. Still, you<br />
got them cheap, as you point out. And<br />
in fact this may not be a huge problem.<br />
Here’s why. The first step in building<br />
a musically competent system is not<br />
picking the right speakers, but picking<br />
the right source. This basic truth may<br />
not be pointed out by some salespeople,<br />
and indeed there’s a better than even<br />
chance that it will be contradicted.<br />
Claim: the speaker is most important<br />
because it produces the actual sound,<br />
or because other components are so<br />
perfect that only the speaker will make<br />
much different. Fact: The best speaker<br />
can’t remove distortion or restore missing<br />
information.<br />
Having saved considerable money<br />
on the speakers, get the best source you<br />
possibly can (a CD player we assume).<br />
Get one made by an actual audiophileoriented<br />
company, not one of the companies<br />
that advertise on neon billboards.<br />
Then get an integrated amplifier also<br />
made by a non-neon company.<br />
You may ultimately add full surround<br />
sound for movies, but be aware<br />
that a great two-channel system is a lot<br />
more fun to listen to, even for movies,<br />
than a mediocre 5.1 system. Go for two<br />
channels first, perhaps add a subwoofer<br />
for movies at least. And finally, as you<br />
upgrade, make sure that each step<br />
makes music sound better, not worse.<br />
I have seen your Web page saying that<br />
we can dezone any DVD player, but without<br />
telling us if this can be done with any<br />
model. I have a JVC XV-N50BK player<br />
bought in Canada and want to play DVDs<br />
I bought in Europe. Can you provide me<br />
with guidance on finding the right solution<br />
and how much this would cost me?<br />
François Dormoy<br />
BROSSARD, QC<br />
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There is considerable information<br />
on this topic on the Web, François,<br />
nearly all of it from Europe, especially<br />
the UK and France. That’s because region-free<br />
films are big in Europe. Local<br />
stores, such as France’s Fnac, actually<br />
sell Region 1 <strong>version</strong>s of American<br />
blockbuster movies while the movies<br />
are still in first-run. The result is that<br />
in London or Paris you see electronics<br />
stores actually advertising region-free<br />
or dezoned players.<br />
As our article (UHF No. 61) mentioned,<br />
some players are fairly easy to<br />
dezone, using secret codes you enter on<br />
the remote control, whereas others require<br />
modifying the onboard firmware.<br />
However dezoning is not as practical as<br />
it was when the article was published,<br />
because the movie studios have caught<br />
on to the game. A “dezoned” player is<br />
actually set to Region 0. But some Region<br />
1 films now contain code that prevents<br />
them from running on any player<br />
that is not explicitly set to Region 1.<br />
That’s true of Disney films, for instance,<br />
though others may present the<br />
same problem.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 9
Free Advice<br />
There’s an alternative to dezoning,<br />
namely rezoning. If you have a modern<br />
computer, this may be the way to<br />
go. Your computer’s DVD player can<br />
probably be rezoned to any region you<br />
want by a simple maneuver you’ll find<br />
in the instruction manual. It has an onboard<br />
chip that prevents it from being<br />
changed more than five times. You can<br />
get software to defeat that function, but<br />
some of it is programmed by kids who<br />
aren’t going to lie awake nights worrying<br />
about your drive being forever stuck<br />
in Region 6.<br />
Our suggestion: if you do have a<br />
computer, pick up an outboard DVD<br />
drive for it, which will cost you little<br />
more than $100. Set it to Region 2 and<br />
leave it there. Problem solved.<br />
As you’ll see from the next letter,<br />
you’re not alone.<br />
I own a Sony VAIO laptop with a<br />
Zone 1 DVD player. I live in Paris and<br />
would really like to be able to rent DVDs<br />
from local stores. Could you please recommend<br />
a download site or software website<br />
that I could get to change my computer to a<br />
dezoned state?<br />
Jennifer Locke<br />
PARIS, France<br />
Jennifer, Paris appears to be the<br />
world capital of dezoning. We know<br />
of no other city with so many stores<br />
openly offering dezoned DVD players.<br />
And nearly all of the sites dealing<br />
with dezoning are European, usually<br />
French, German or British. DVD<br />
Dezone (http://www.dvddezone.net) is<br />
an example.<br />
But as we explained in our answer<br />
to the previous letter, dezoning may<br />
actually keep you from playing certain<br />
films altogether. Our current advice is<br />
to buy an easy-to-dezone (or rezone)<br />
player, and keep it exclusively for films<br />
coded in the zone you need.<br />
With a computer the situation is a<br />
little different. There is a utility built<br />
right into Windows that lets you set<br />
the zone of the built-in DVD player,<br />
and it’s easy enough to set it to Zone 2<br />
(Europe). The catch is that you can<br />
change the zone only a limited number<br />
of times, usually five. And that’s it.<br />
The dezoning sites include links<br />
to software that can “reset” the DVD<br />
drive so that it thinks it has never had<br />
its zone changed. Another possibility<br />
is to buy an external DVD-ROM drive<br />
for your computer (they’re cheap now).<br />
If you buy it in Paris it may already be<br />
set to Zone 2, and if not you can set it<br />
yourself easily. Then just use the drive<br />
that matches the zone of the film you<br />
want to see.<br />
Just to be sure I had my speakers set up<br />
properly in my new room, I bought a Radio<br />
Shack analog sound level meter. I was<br />
quite disappointed to find that, for some test<br />
tones, readings were impossible to take. For<br />
example, the 31.5 Hz and 100 Hz tones<br />
had the needle swinging. Between 67 Hz<br />
and 74 Hz, the needle would stop momentarily<br />
at 71 Hz and then move again up or<br />
down. It was frustrating.<br />
I was thinking standing waves. Further<br />
up the frequencies, there were fluctuations<br />
as well, but not nearly as drastic as those<br />
in the bass region. How would UHF take<br />
the readings, and what readings should be<br />
recorded?<br />
John Tiong<br />
SIBU, SARAWAK, Malaysia<br />
You’re right to be concerned about<br />
standing waves, John. How long a<br />
standing wave continues to resonate<br />
depends on your acoustics, but what<br />
standing waves actually get set up is a<br />
pure function of the room geometry. A<br />
room with no standing waves is impossible,<br />
unless it is anechoic, with 100%<br />
absorption of all ambient sound. And<br />
trust us, this is not what you want for<br />
music.<br />
10 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Free Advice<br />
The Radio Shack SPL meter is not<br />
exactly a precision instrument, but it<br />
can be useful, and a number of professionals<br />
keep one handy. However it is<br />
of little use with single-frequency signals,<br />
because as you noted the levels go<br />
up and down wildly, especially below<br />
800 Hz or so. You can use warble tones,<br />
which swing back and forth rapidly over<br />
a third of an octave. You then set the<br />
meter to slow response so that it shows<br />
you the average level. Or you can use<br />
our method: a noise signal that covers<br />
one third of an octave. Instruments to<br />
generate such signals are expensive, but<br />
test CDs with third-of-octave signals<br />
are much cheaper.<br />
But be aware that variations caused<br />
by clusters of room modes can’t be<br />
eliminated. On our own test curves, we<br />
mention when an anomaly is actually<br />
caused by room modes.<br />
I am in a doubt; I need a new CD Player,<br />
but I’m not sure which way to choose;<br />
I recently auditioned an Electrocompaniet<br />
ECD-1 upsampling D/A converter<br />
I liked very much (very revealing, soundstage,<br />
tonality, it was significantly better to<br />
my ears than the Meridian G07 and Arcam<br />
33, for example). So, first option would<br />
be to go for it and buy a separate transport.<br />
But which one ? I hav a chance to get a CEC<br />
51 at very good price (also their best A/D 71<br />
which I plan to audition too, since discounted<br />
by 60%), or to use an SCD-XA3000<br />
by Sony as a transport, with SACD replay<br />
as bonus. Or to go with an even cheaper<br />
(Marantz or…) CDP used as a transport.<br />
Or is it more efficient to buy an integrated<br />
CDP. The Vecteur L-4.2 S comes to<br />
mind, as well as the Primare D30.2.<br />
Aleksandar Kovac<br />
ZAGREB, Croatia<br />
We generally don’t recommend using<br />
a DVD-based player as a transport<br />
(and SACD players are DVD players,<br />
even if they don’t play the DVD format).<br />
The XA3000 is certainly a better<br />
than average SACD player (the average<br />
has been sinking, however), but it<br />
won’t give you optimum performance<br />
with the Electrocompaniet DAC. We<br />
very much like CEC transports (our<br />
own Parasound transport was designed<br />
by CEC), and we expect it will give you<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
the best result with CDs.<br />
That said, the Vecteur is excellent,<br />
and is a much lower-cost choice.<br />
Can a record in poor condition (deep<br />
or many scratches) damage a stylus? And<br />
when recording a music CD, does the sound<br />
card matter in the burning process? (Onboard<br />
sound card vs Creative Sound Blaster<br />
Audigy). I realize there is a difference coming<br />
out of the computer speakers, but once<br />
the CD is burned will there be a difference<br />
on an audiophile system?<br />
Gabriel Fillion<br />
MONTRÉAL, QC<br />
Gabriel, the good news is that it’s<br />
unlikely a gouged record will pose a<br />
threat to a stylus, unless the damage<br />
was inflicted with a pneumatic drill.<br />
Most scratches “look” to the stylus like<br />
very quick transient sounds, though of<br />
course your ear won’t perceive them<br />
that way.<br />
The sound card makes no difference<br />
if you are copying material that<br />
is already digitized, from another CD,<br />
Come and<br />
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say. However if you are putting analog<br />
material (an LP, a cassette or an reel tape) onto CD, then your sound<br />
opencard<br />
is your analog-to-digital converter.<br />
You no doubt know how much a quality<br />
digital-to-analog converter costs. It’s<br />
no cheaper going the other way.<br />
We have had acceptable results with<br />
built-in audio on both a Macintosh G4<br />
computer and a Wall Street PowerBook.<br />
Readers have told us of less good results<br />
with Sound Blaster cards…unfortunately<br />
including the Audigy (which we<br />
have not tried ourselves).<br />
How good a card you need depends<br />
on the intended purpose of the CD you<br />
burn. If you’re making a copy of an LP<br />
for the car, say, your computer’s existing<br />
sound card may be adequate. On<br />
the other hand if you’re copying LPs<br />
with the idea of ultimately retiring<br />
your turntable, or if you want to put the<br />
sound of your own band on CD, you’ll<br />
want to shop for an upscale converter.<br />
Better ones are made for industry users.<br />
You’ll find a good choice in stores that<br />
cater to professional musicians.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 11
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Three years ago I did a student job in<br />
the company of a very good friend. Part of<br />
the wages was paid with a little Cambridge<br />
system. My interest in hi-fi grew, and I discovered<br />
this fantastic magazine by looking<br />
for info on the Cambridge Isomagic DAC<br />
on the Internet. Since then, I’ve been addicted.<br />
Now, my system consits of the following:<br />
Cyrus CD8, an old MusicLink SC-<br />
22 Marantz preamplifier, Vincent SP991<br />
mono A-class amplifiers, Cyrus CLS 70<br />
loudspeakers with matching tripods, Transparent<br />
MusicL ink Super, your Equinox III<br />
cable with WBT connectors, Transparent<br />
MusicWave Super.<br />
Since I bought my new CD player the<br />
music has changed a lot, but I still want to<br />
go further. I think that the preamplifier is<br />
the weakest link now. I thought of buying a<br />
new preamplifier, but I heard that Cyrus<br />
will bring out an external DAC which also<br />
works as a digital preamplifier. With the<br />
DAC, I would improve my CD player and<br />
my preamp. What’s your opinion on digital<br />
preamplifiers?<br />
I’ve one last question. I spend several<br />
hours each day in my car, listening to<br />
a stupid Sony radio/CD-player. Are there<br />
12 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
any alternatives? Does something like<br />
“car-hi-fi” exist?<br />
Emmanuel Du Four<br />
GHENT, Belgium<br />
Emmanuel, we have a bizarre little<br />
story about car hi-fi.<br />
Some years ago we produced a<br />
magazine-within-a-magazine on car<br />
audio for our then-sister publication,<br />
Son Hi-Fi. To get pictures, we spent<br />
the morning at an installation workshop,<br />
and we hit the right day, because<br />
a system was being installed in a Bricklin,<br />
the ill-fated Canadian-built gullwinged<br />
sports car (Bricklin went on to<br />
become the US importer of Yugo cars).<br />
That same day, the chief installer gave<br />
us a demo of his own car system. It was<br />
installed in an elderly Firebird worth<br />
much less than its audio system, which<br />
seemed to include two of everything.<br />
He couldn’t decide whether to put Bose<br />
or Infinity speakers in his doors, so he<br />
got both. His trunk was filled with four<br />
200-watt (theoretical) amplifiers and of<br />
course two subwoofers. What came out<br />
of it was truly impressive. We weren’t<br />
sure whether what we heard was grand<br />
Want to read it all?<br />
opera or Grand Ole Opry, but we gather<br />
that such details were not the goal of<br />
the exercise. The installer told us that<br />
at night his headlights blinked in time<br />
with the music, and Lord knows we saw<br />
no reason to doubt his word.<br />
This is not to say that true car hi-fi<br />
is impossible, but in seeking it out you’ll<br />
be running into installers like the owner<br />
of the Firebird from hell. Resist getting<br />
huge amplifiers whose power rating exists<br />
only on paper Resist subwoofers<br />
too. Concentrate on the source, and put<br />
in a system that can reproduce its sound<br />
without caricaturing it too grossly.<br />
Whew! Now to your other question.<br />
There are digital preamplifiers that<br />
are also DACs, and there are DACS that<br />
are also preamplifiers. In both cases, it<br />
is supposed that you have no analog<br />
sources, or that if you do you’re willing<br />
to have their signals turned into digital,<br />
and then back into analog so you can<br />
hear them. The round trip is a long trek<br />
through the desert, and in many cases<br />
the music arrives at the other end with<br />
its tongue hanging out.<br />
The Cyrus may turn out to be very<br />
Did we remember to mention that you can subscribe to UHF on page 3 of this<br />
issue (it's page 5 of the <strong>PDF</strong>, counting the covers). Or you can order this issue<br />
on page 51.
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good. Whether it will sound better than<br />
your CD8 is something that would have<br />
to be determined by comparing them.<br />
And if you have, or think you will get,<br />
one or more analog sources, we wouldn’t<br />
even consider it.<br />
I’ve read the magazine for many years,<br />
but his is my first time writing.<br />
I have a pretty good system at home and<br />
have pretty much followed your philosophy<br />
religiously: Linn front end and preamp,<br />
Classé power amp, B&W 804 speakers.<br />
These days most of my listening is,<br />
unfortunately, on a portable and through<br />
headphones, commuting to work and at<br />
work. My main headphones died recently<br />
and I’ve pretty much narrowed my search<br />
down to a couple of closed ear Sennheisers.<br />
One (the PXC-250) has active noise reduction.<br />
The other I believe just has good muffs<br />
to keep the outside out. I would never put<br />
a circuit (i.e. an equalizer) into my home<br />
system. Is the noise reduction on headphones<br />
such as the Sennheisers, (Bose and Sony<br />
have similar offerings) that are on the market<br />
a big interference with the sound, since<br />
they are using white noise to cancel the noise<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 13
Free Advice<br />
from outside?<br />
The Bose are a bit pricey, since I find<br />
that wear and tear on headphones gives<br />
them a life of around two years. I tried a<br />
pair a couple of years ago when traveling on<br />
business, and my own headphones sounded<br />
better. I know one of the Sennheisers (HD-<br />
280 pro) has replaceable parts, which makes<br />
me lean towards it rather than the noise reduction<br />
one, and the fact that there is not<br />
the outside processing.<br />
Brent Jones<br />
CALGARY, AB<br />
14 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Actually, Brent, noise-cancelling<br />
headphones don’t use white noise to<br />
mask ambient sound. Rather, they use<br />
a microphone to pick up the noise, and<br />
mix it out of phase (if one is optimistic)<br />
so that the two noises cancel out. This<br />
can work only at low frequencies, so it<br />
is particularly effective for listening in<br />
airplanes, where the very low-pitched<br />
roar of the motors is the dominant<br />
sound.<br />
On every noise-cancelling headphone<br />
we have ever tried, the performance<br />
hit was huge. That doesn’t mean<br />
these phones are useless, because mediocre<br />
sound is far better than great sound<br />
you can’t hear. The closed Sennheisers<br />
will give you better quality, but you<br />
need to check whether their ability to<br />
muffle outside noise is adequate. This<br />
is not merely of trivial importance, because<br />
the natural tendency is to raise<br />
the volume until the music is louder<br />
than the ambient noise. That can damage<br />
hearing.<br />
Some commuters swear by those<br />
tiny in-ear phones that block sound and<br />
funnel music right into your middle ear.<br />
Frankly, those make us nervous.<br />
I just purchased a pair of Totem<br />
Mani-2 speakers. However, when I was<br />
told the price of their stands, I started<br />
thinking of alternatives, either purchasing<br />
a lower priced brand or making my own.<br />
Is this a wise path to take? Obviously,<br />
I don’t want to compromise the sound. I<br />
know that in your reviews you always stress<br />
that a proper stand allows a speaker to optimally<br />
perform, but what constitutes a good<br />
stand? Is it enough that it be rock solid, or<br />
does the shape, finish and material play into<br />
it as well? Most good stands seem to made<br />
of metal. Is this because of the way they integrate<br />
sonically with the speakers? Given<br />
this, is metal the material of choice over<br />
wood or fibreboard?<br />
If I were to build the stands they would<br />
be “I” shaped and the center columns would<br />
have their 4 sides lock mitred together.<br />
Target spikes on the bottoms and Blu-Tack<br />
to isolate the speakers. The columns would<br />
be filled to increase the weight. Is this a good<br />
design or should I copy the Totem stand for<br />
these speakers? What would be the best material<br />
for the job? I would really like to use<br />
Two cables into one jack?<br />
Don’t you wish manufacturers would supply enough jacks? You want to biamplify,<br />
or perhaps you want to add a subwoofer, but there’s nowhere to plug<br />
everything in.<br />
Our FYA adapter is just the ticket. It works exactly as it looks. And it’s good<br />
quality stuff too. Available from our Audiophile Store.<br />
solid maple or oak, but I don’t believe their<br />
characteristics are suitable. Some other<br />
considerations are veneer core plywood (for<br />
cabinetry), veneer faced MDF or plain 3/4”<br />
MDF. I believe there is also a high density<br />
fibreboard available, but I’m not sure where<br />
to get it.<br />
As far back as I can read, this topic<br />
hasn’t been covered in any of your issues and<br />
it is an interesting one.<br />
Glen Sykes<br />
WELLAND, ON<br />
The role of the stand is one of the<br />
keys to good sound, Glen. Designing a<br />
stand is not rocket science, but nor is it<br />
as trivial as it looks.<br />
A good stand must be acoustically<br />
neutral. This means it must not resonate<br />
at critical frequencies in the audible<br />
range, and it must be well damped:<br />
when it does resonate, it mustn’t keep<br />
on ringing for very long. At the same<br />
time, it must be uncompromisingly rigid,<br />
to avoid losing energy — especially<br />
low-frequency energy — that should go<br />
into making sound. Last but not least,<br />
it must stay out of the way, not presenting<br />
edges that can cause diffraction<br />
of sound. Wood, MDF and composite<br />
materials are economical, they are<br />
light (important, because when you buy<br />
a stand you are paying for what it cost<br />
to ship it from the factory), and they<br />
are easy to damp down. Metal is much<br />
more rigid, and therefore better suited<br />
to a high-performance speaker like the<br />
Mani-2.<br />
Metal does ring, of course, but<br />
when the pillars are filled with sand or<br />
other suitable material, it offers major<br />
advantages. However, unless welding is<br />
one of your hobby skills, you may find<br />
making a steel stand a hot and heavy<br />
project.<br />
I have a question which I think is a<br />
cable question. I have a modest system here:<br />
Rega Planar 3 with Denon 304 MC cartridge,<br />
Rotel RCD-971 (all hail HDCD!),<br />
Aiwa AD-F810 tape deck, Sony STS211<br />
tuner, Audiolab 8000A, Acoustic Research<br />
Classic 8 loudspeakers (6 ohms, made in<br />
early 90’s; nobody’s ever heard of them, and<br />
I’ve tried to replace them a few times but<br />
could never find anything comparable near<br />
the price — I think they’re wonderful) and
Free Advice<br />
Monster interconnects.<br />
I’ve always biwired the speakers, originally<br />
with Monster XP, but I “splurged”<br />
on Kimber 8PR, cut two lengths of 8 feet,<br />
bi-wired (no plugs or spades this time), and<br />
trembled with anticipation. Well, the stereo<br />
imaging was considerably improved, but the<br />
tonal effect is very strange: there’s an artificial,<br />
distant feeling to everything, and the<br />
frequency spectrum seems dulled, hollow.<br />
Is this really possible? Have I made a costly<br />
blunder, or is it the biwiring — or the total<br />
system?<br />
Tom Annand<br />
OTTAWA, ON<br />
Tom, you know what this sounds<br />
like? It sounds as though the wires are<br />
connected wrong, and are putting the<br />
woofer and tweeter out of phase. That<br />
would cause exactly what you describe.<br />
Interchange the two wires at the<br />
tweeters (only), and listen again. Another<br />
way would be to try putting the<br />
jumpers back on your speakers. If we’re<br />
correct, that will result in a short circuit.<br />
Fortunately, your Audiolab amplifier<br />
has short-circuit protection.<br />
We would recommend installing<br />
good connectors on the cables as soon<br />
as possible, to avoid eventual damage<br />
to the wire ends. This little cable problem<br />
apart, we would say the amplifier<br />
would be the next component ripe for<br />
upgrade.<br />
I have wanted to get back into analog<br />
for a while and Santa brought me a Rega<br />
P3 with Elys cartridge for Christmas, lucky<br />
me!! I had to mount the cartridge myself as<br />
we don’t have a high end shop in Nanaimo.<br />
It’s been many years since I have performed<br />
this feat and think I got it right.<br />
However, on headphones and at loud<br />
listening levels I hear a distinct pre-echo<br />
milliseconds before the music starts. Have I<br />
done something wrong? Is it the anti-skate,<br />
or bias adjustment as Rega calls it?<br />
Also, in the less than stellar instructions,<br />
Rega says a shop should set the cartridge<br />
up due to proper torque. I’m used to<br />
torque on my car, but a cartridge?<br />
Dean Monterey<br />
NANAIMO, BC<br />
Dean, torque means twisting force.<br />
Your car motor needs to twist the<br />
FOR THE SIXTH YEAR<br />
crankshaft and transmission to make<br />
the wheels go. And you need to apply<br />
twisting force to the cartridge screws to<br />
tighten them. Different manufacturers<br />
have different ideas of what constitutes<br />
proper torque, but it doesn’t mean putting<br />
your shoulder into it. Loose screws<br />
compromise rigidity and destroy the<br />
turntable’s ability to resolve fine details.<br />
On the other hand overtightening can<br />
actually distort and perhaps crack the<br />
cartridge shell. Many cartridges come<br />
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with aluminum screws because they’re<br />
non-magnetic, and it’s actually possible<br />
to shear an aluminum screw right off.<br />
How do we know? Don’t ask!<br />
The pre-echo is not an artifact of<br />
your turntable setup, and there’s not<br />
much you can do about it. It’s common<br />
in vinyl discs whose grooves are slightly<br />
too close together. The lateral displacement<br />
of one groove distorts the adjacent<br />
groove, and you can hear what’s coming<br />
about two seconds from now.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 15
Free Advice<br />
A similar phenomenon can originate<br />
right in the master tape. Sound is stored<br />
on tape as a magnetic pattern in a metal<br />
oxide coating. The pattern can “bleed”<br />
through from one tape layer to adjacent<br />
layers, resulting in pre and post-echoes.<br />
Because the “print-through” phenomenon<br />
accentuates with the passage of<br />
years, it is often worse in reissues of<br />
older recordings whose master tapes<br />
have sat in a vault for a few years, not<br />
always under the conditions you would<br />
want for a Bourgogne grand crû.<br />
I have a Rotel RCD-991 player. I would<br />
like to buy a DVD-Audio and SACD player<br />
in one housing. I am looking at the Denon<br />
2900, Pioneer 757Ai, Pioneer 868Ai or<br />
Onkyo DV-SP800. I would like to have in<br />
the SACD much better quality than I can<br />
now hear with my Rotel. Which player you<br />
suggest that will be good enough for me?<br />
I hope you understand me. I do not<br />
want to buy a SACD player and then find<br />
out that I don’t get much better quality with<br />
SACD than I have on my Rotel.<br />
Bruno Bicek<br />
SKOFJA LOKA, Slovenia<br />
16 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Free Advice<br />
We understand you fine, Bruno,<br />
And your concern is perfectly reasonable,<br />
because many an audiophile has<br />
traded a CD player for SACD or DVD-<br />
Audio and discovered that it sounded<br />
worse, not better.<br />
Truth is, many CD players are not<br />
operating at the full resolution of the<br />
medium. A typical CD player, or worse,<br />
a major brand DVD player being used<br />
as a CD player, may actually have a resolution<br />
well below that of the Red Book<br />
Compact Disc. Errors are not apparent,<br />
because the player is designed to conceal<br />
them, but the quality is not what<br />
the designers of the CD had hoped.<br />
Incidentally, the discs themselves<br />
often have less then optimum precision.<br />
Ask any record producer whether<br />
what he hears from a finished CD is exactly<br />
what he heard on the master tape.<br />
Chances are he will laugh. Well, sort of<br />
laugh.<br />
Now imagine what a player from<br />
the same manufacturer will do with a<br />
disc whose information is even more<br />
tightly packed.<br />
We will be reviewing universal<br />
players from high end companies in<br />
the months ahead. However what we<br />
have heard from economy models has<br />
not been heartening. The Denon and<br />
Onkyo models you mention are better<br />
than many, but we would suggest keeping<br />
your Rotel for playing Red Book<br />
CDs. The two Pioneer models are<br />
available in Europe only, and we don’t<br />
know much about them.<br />
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I have another question for the good<br />
folks at UHF. Do you think there is a huge<br />
advantage to buying a preamp and power<br />
amp combo over an integrated amp? It<br />
seems that integrated amps are always considered<br />
to be a good starting-off spot only<br />
to be later sold off for the better two-box<br />
amp. If cost is not an object, are you always<br />
going to get better sound quality with a preamp<br />
and amp? Are there integrated amps<br />
that can be considered comparable to the<br />
best preamps and amps and if so, which ones<br />
do you feel can compete with them?<br />
Jon Nishi<br />
KELOWNA, BC<br />
At one time, Jon, our answer would<br />
have been that you pretty much have to<br />
Ambience ribbons<br />
Moon by Simaudio<br />
Meadowlark Audio<br />
Roksan<br />
JPS Labs<br />
Castle Acoustics<br />
Monarchy Audio<br />
Moray James Cable<br />
Cambridge<br />
Atoll<br />
I.S.D. Speakers<br />
audioroom@telus.net<br />
1347 - 12th Ave. S. W.<br />
CALGARY, ALBERTA T3C 0P6<br />
Shanling<br />
QED<br />
Audible Illusions<br />
Audio Refinement<br />
Black Diamond Racing<br />
Blue Circle<br />
Antique Sound Lab<br />
MSB Technologies<br />
Mordaunt-Short<br />
and much more!<br />
Oskar<br />
Antique Sound Lab<br />
Ruark<br />
Dali<br />
YBA<br />
Chord Cable<br />
Reference 3a<br />
Rega<br />
Monster Cable<br />
Harmonic Cable<br />
XLO Cable<br />
Tel: (403) 228-1103<br />
Fax: (403) 245-8198<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 17
Free Advice<br />
the flexibility of listening to FM in one<br />
room while a CD is playing in another<br />
room, you can run interconnects everywhere<br />
and set up inexpensive amplifiers<br />
in various rooms. If the system in a<br />
particular room will be used for background<br />
music, you can even shop for<br />
powered speakers in a computer store.<br />
That gives you no local control except<br />
for volume, of course.<br />
And some people are now setting<br />
up wireless multiroom systems using<br />
a computer as a centre rather than a<br />
conventional audio system. Add a few<br />
wi-fi links, and you can avoid running<br />
all that wire through your walls.<br />
get a separate amplifier and preamplifier<br />
if you aspired to anything beyond<br />
entry-level sound. It was a self-fulfilling<br />
prophecy: companies didn’t make great<br />
integrateds because they thought you<br />
wouldn’t buy them, and you didn’t buy<br />
them because you figured they couldn’t<br />
be all that great. Then a French company,<br />
YBA, bucked conventional wisdom<br />
with the very capable Intégré amp.<br />
Its competitors watched its success with<br />
amazement, and said, “Hey, we can do<br />
that!”<br />
Check out the integrated amplifier<br />
reviews we’ve done over the past<br />
few years, and you’ll find some astonishingly<br />
good alternatives to separates:<br />
Vecteur I-6.2 and I-4, Audiomat Arpège,<br />
Jadis DA-30, Antique Sound Lab<br />
Leyla, Musical Nu-Vista M3, Simaudio<br />
Moon I-3…and that’s not even a complete<br />
list. Not having to buy an extra interconnect<br />
cable is an extra advantage.<br />
18 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
We’re rebuilding our home, and one<br />
of our requests is built-in audio for several<br />
rooms. Our previous system was (inadequately)<br />
driven by a standard receiver with<br />
all speaker routed to a six-zone junction<br />
box. We soon figured out how to overheat<br />
the receiver and burn out the junction box!<br />
I have been recommended a system by<br />
Niles, which support high-end control from<br />
different rooms. I was surprised (but should<br />
not have been) at the costs as we started<br />
adding things up. I could use help in finding<br />
competitive systems at least for comparison<br />
since this stuff isn’t stocked at Future Shop<br />
and such.<br />
Duncan Lee<br />
KELOWNA, BC<br />
A number of high end audio companies<br />
make multiroom gear, Duncan,<br />
but doing this on the cheap may not<br />
be possible. A big part of the bill for a<br />
complex multiroom system is for labor,<br />
which can’t be discounted, and for a lot<br />
of other parts such as control panels,<br />
amplifiers, and enough wire for a rural<br />
electrification program.<br />
It is possible to save money if you<br />
don’t need all of the features of the full<br />
systems. For instance, if you don’t need<br />
Does copying CDs (burning copies or<br />
copying them on the computer as MP3)<br />
reduce the sound quality even though the<br />
copying process is digital? I had a discussion<br />
about that with my friends the other night,<br />
but we could not quite figure out who was<br />
wrong and who was right.<br />
Sandra Witzel<br />
SYDNEY, Australia<br />
Sandra, if you mean copying an audio<br />
file that is already in MP3 format, it is<br />
unlikely further degradation will take<br />
place. We say “further” because there is<br />
of course massive degradation that takes<br />
place in the con<strong>version</strong> to MP3: typically,<br />
over 90% of the audio information<br />
is simply thrown away. What survives is<br />
suitable for the most casual listening.<br />
But what if you copy a CD in native<br />
format? That depends. We have used<br />
disc-at-once software, such as Roxio<br />
Toast, to make a bit-for-bit copy of<br />
a CD and heard no degradation. We<br />
were even agreeably surprised to find<br />
that HDCD-encoded tracks get copied<br />
with the HDCD information (hidden in<br />
the dithering signal) intact. We should<br />
add that some blank CDs can be harder<br />
to read than others, and that the error<br />
concealment process, if it is necessary,<br />
does cause degradation.<br />
But some software will not deliver a<br />
pristine copy. Some programs allow processing<br />
of the signal, such as uniformizing<br />
levels, equalizing and redithering.<br />
Use of any processing will cause a change<br />
in the signal, and the change is unlikely<br />
to be for the better.
Cinema<br />
Down With HTiaB<br />
It stands for (you’ve already guessed)<br />
“home theatre in a box.” It is the<br />
lowest common denominator of<br />
home entertainment. If you’re<br />
reading UHF you already know that<br />
HTiaB is something to be avoided. You<br />
could, however, wind up buying something<br />
much like it without the name.<br />
Home theatre is complex, and there’s<br />
no getting around that. Even a minimalist<br />
system — a DVD player, a receiver,<br />
six speakers — requires a lot of careful<br />
wiring, followed by even more careful<br />
setup. We are not talking plug-and-play,<br />
to be sure, but what HTiaB seems to<br />
promise is at least buy-and-plug.<br />
The simplest HTiaB systems consist<br />
of five small speakers and a subwoofer,<br />
with possibly enough terrible wire to<br />
hook it all up. A more complex one,<br />
though often still incredibly low-priced,<br />
will also include a receiver and a DVD<br />
player, sometimes on a single chassis.<br />
Open the box, read the instructions, and<br />
10 frustrating days later you’ve got a surround<br />
system that gives you headaches.<br />
You’ve no doubt been aiming higher<br />
than that, but you could easily wind<br />
up with a HTiaB in disguise, a system<br />
that will give you everything you want,<br />
except satisfaction.<br />
The subwoofer<br />
We’re starting with that rather than<br />
the main speakers (or “satellite” speakers<br />
as some companies call them), because its<br />
nature may well dominate the sound of<br />
the system. There are five main speakers<br />
but just one subwoofer because, so<br />
it is believed, low-pitched sounds are<br />
nondirectional. That is to say, you can’t<br />
tell where they’re coming from.<br />
There’s a grain of truth in this, and<br />
a fairly plump grain at that. Very low<br />
frequencies don’t beam forward the way<br />
light does. Rather they radiate outward<br />
in all directions like ripples in a pond. It<br />
is possible to get by with just one sub for<br />
the whole system. But…<br />
But that is true only if it is a true<br />
subwoofer: if its role is to reproduce<br />
frequencies that fall outside the range<br />
of frequencies that normal full-range<br />
loudspeakers can be expected to reproduce.<br />
That may be the case in a high end<br />
system, but not in a HTiaB. Check out<br />
the main speakers themselves, and you’ll<br />
see what’s wrong. Even better, listen to<br />
one all by itself. You may find that it<br />
won’t reproduce much beyond 200 Hz<br />
or so. Below that, the subwoofer is doing<br />
the job. Or trying to.<br />
In fact the situation is worse than<br />
it looks, because the handoff between<br />
the main speakers and the “subwoofer”<br />
cannot be instantaneous. A typical small<br />
subwoofer may be only 6 dB down at<br />
400 Hz and 12 dB down at 800 Hz. At<br />
any of those frequencies, it is highly<br />
audible as a distinct source to anyone<br />
who isn’t well into a six-pack. Such<br />
“subwoofers” are in fact just woofers.<br />
Using a single woofer means pretty much<br />
giving up an ambition to have real stereo,<br />
never mind surround sound.<br />
What’s sad is that this misuse of the<br />
subwoofer is not limited to one-box<br />
systems like the one shown above. Some<br />
surprisingly sophisticated companies<br />
offer such systems because, they say, they<br />
want to give people what they want.<br />
That’s called leadership…but don’t<br />
get us started.<br />
The main speakers<br />
In pretty much all small systems,<br />
the five speakers are essentially identical.<br />
In slightly more expensive systems,<br />
the centre speaker will be wider, and<br />
Are there six<br />
speakers in the same<br />
box? Keep your credit<br />
card in your pocket.<br />
will contain two “woofers” (we use the<br />
quotation marks advisedly) rather than<br />
one. Even on upmarket brands, these<br />
small speakers are often no more than<br />
midrange speakers. Their very smallness,<br />
what’s more, also limits how loud<br />
they can play.<br />
You might think that won’t matter<br />
unless you play explosions and train<br />
wrecks at realistic levels. In actual fact,<br />
most of these tiny speakers cannot even<br />
reproduce the voice of a newscaster so<br />
that it sounds like a human voice.<br />
The receiver<br />
We use the word “receiver” (meaning<br />
a combined amp-preamp plus tuner)<br />
even though the tuner is often left out of<br />
these devices. This is despite the fact that<br />
an FM stereo tuner is today available on<br />
a chip costing well under a dollar. At the<br />
very least, the electronic unit will include<br />
a control section, a Dolby Surround<br />
processor, a 5.1 channel digital processor<br />
(unless it’s very old or very cheap),<br />
and five power amplifiers. On economy<br />
units or very expensive units, the power<br />
amps will have equal power. On many<br />
medium-priced units, however, the<br />
amplifiers for the rear channels will be<br />
smaller, reflecting an opinion that the<br />
rear channels are not as important as the<br />
front. (Bears this in mind.)<br />
A receiver of this type is what you<br />
get in the real HTiaB, but the package<br />
put together for you in a Big Box store<br />
may well be simply a larger and more<br />
expensive <strong>version</strong> of the same thing. You<br />
probably know that a receiver is not what<br />
you should get to make up a good system<br />
for playing music. It may not be an ideal<br />
choice for a movie system either.<br />
The mediocre nature of nearly all<br />
receivers is partly the result of a selffulfilling<br />
prophecy. If critical consumers<br />
assume a receiver can’t be any good, they<br />
won’t buy them. And if only uncritical or<br />
uninformed consumers consider receivers,<br />
there’s no point building a good one.<br />
Integrated amplifiers used to suffer from<br />
the same syndrome, in North America<br />
at least.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 19
Cinema<br />
However receivers suffer from an<br />
additional problem. There is no way to<br />
pack that much stuff onto a reasonablesized<br />
chassis without making horrific<br />
compromises.Circuits will be noisy,<br />
because there’s no way to keep them<br />
away from the magnetic fields in the<br />
power supply. To shoehorn so much<br />
circuitry into the box, the design will be<br />
done with large scale integrated circuits<br />
(their common use is one reason so many<br />
receivers sound nearly alike). The connectors<br />
will be terrible because better<br />
connectors won’t fit (and when there<br />
are so many of them they’re a natural<br />
place to cut costs). On the other hand,<br />
space will have been found for noxious<br />
features that people supposedly want,<br />
such as tone controls.<br />
Are there alternatives? Yes there<br />
are. Can they fit into a tight budget?<br />
Perhaps.<br />
The preamp-processor<br />
It’s a receiver without the tuner and<br />
the power amplifiers. Putting it into a<br />
box is vastly easier. Despite the fact that<br />
the preamp-processor has less in it, it will<br />
probably cost more, because it may (we<br />
hope) have been built to appeal to more<br />
demanding consumers.<br />
Here’s what’s in it:<br />
1) A basic analog preamplifier, with<br />
inputs, an input selector, and a volume<br />
control.<br />
2) An analog/digital converter, to<br />
turn analog signals (from broadcast TV,<br />
a VCR, or a tape deck) into digital data<br />
that can be handled by the next stage.<br />
3) Processors for Dolby Surround<br />
(two inputs, five outputs) and Dolby and<br />
DTS 5.1 channel surround (one digital<br />
signal in, six out). Newer models may<br />
include an option for 6.1 or 7.1 channels.<br />
4) Circuitry to handle the subwoofer.<br />
Digital surround includes a “point one”<br />
channel for the subwoofer, of course,<br />
but some producers don’t bother putting<br />
a signal onto that channel. However if<br />
some of your speakers are not quite full<br />
range, you can choose to roll off the<br />
very bottom frequencies (at 50 to 80 Hz,<br />
not at 200 Hz!) and send them to the<br />
subwoofer instead. That will be part of<br />
a good preamp processor.<br />
If you also have a turntable, you may<br />
20 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
want to select a unit that<br />
also has “straight through”<br />
analog inputs, which won’t <br />
get digitized. And if you’ll be<br />
adding a multichannel music<br />
player (SACD or DVD-Audio) you’ll<br />
need a unit with six analog inputs. It’s<br />
dumb, but there it is.<br />
The economy alternative<br />
Will you be surprised if we tell you<br />
that two good speakers will be more<br />
fun that six poor ones? Probably not,<br />
because it’s so obvious, but it’s important<br />
to remember that when the Big Box store<br />
“associate” is adding up the figures to the<br />
great package deal the store can offer<br />
you. The reality is that in many movie<br />
theatres, the side and rear speakers are<br />
dummies, not hooked up to anything.<br />
Nothing ever comes out of them.<br />
A surprising number of people don’t<br />
realize that a home theatre system can<br />
have only two channels. Add a good<br />
amplifier and two speakers to a DVD<br />
player (with the sound coming directly<br />
from the player, not routed through the<br />
TV set), and you’ll be astonished at what<br />
you hear. Note that if you already own a<br />
pretty good music system, a DVD player<br />
and a large screen TV, your only other<br />
imperative investment is for an interconnect<br />
cable!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Should you consider starting that<br />
way? If funds are limited, it’s the only<br />
way to avoid painting yourself into a<br />
corner. You may want to stay in twochannel<br />
forever. Then again, you may<br />
consider it a stepping stone to better<br />
things. The key is to know where you’re<br />
going.<br />
Planning the system<br />
Take a clean sheet of paper and map<br />
out the system you’d buy if someone else<br />
were paying for it (we bet it won’t include<br />
a receiver). You might wind up with a<br />
diagram like the one at the top of this<br />
page. It’s got all the basics.<br />
What you want to avoid is spending<br />
a lot of money for stuff you’ll later put<br />
into a yard sale. We’ve assumed you<br />
have a separate preamplifier and power<br />
amplifier. So you hook up your system as<br />
shown at the bottom of the page. (The<br />
TV set has been omitted to keep things<br />
simple.) What you’ve got is already<br />
pretty good, and it plays music besides.<br />
When you’re ready to expand, you<br />
add a preamp-processor and an extra<br />
three channels of amplification, plus<br />
three speakers and a subwoofer. You now<br />
have the system originally planned.<br />
Even here you may opt to take things<br />
a step at a time. You may do without<br />
the subwoofer for a while if your existing<br />
speakers already have solid bass<br />
response. You may also do without the<br />
central speaker, temporarily or even<br />
permanently. Quality processors include<br />
a “phantom centre” setting, which routes<br />
central information to the left and right<br />
speakers. This is way, way better than<br />
using a mediocre speaker in the centre.<br />
Sound advice…<br />
You say you already have a pretty<br />
good multichannel home theatre system,<br />
and these warnings don’t apply to you?<br />
They may apply to your friends.<br />
Bring in some friends to see a movie<br />
on your well-chosen system, and they’ll<br />
understand that having a cinema in their<br />
own home would be terrific. And next<br />
time they go by Krazy Karl’s, they’ll see<br />
the huge ad advertising an HTiaB, and<br />
they’ll think…<br />
Lend them this article. And perhaps<br />
they’ll decide to go with quality instead<br />
of quantity.
Nuts&Bolts<br />
I’m always amazed that people<br />
not involved in any aspect of<br />
electronics even remember<br />
tubes. Most do, though they<br />
know they haven’t seen one in years,<br />
and they assume tube products<br />
must be found only in museums<br />
and curio shops.<br />
Not surprisingly they don’t<br />
understand exactly why the vacuum<br />
tube is still with us. Tubes are<br />
bulky, they are hot, and they need<br />
to be changed now and then. It<br />
seems unlikely there can possibly<br />
be reasons to continue using them<br />
in an age when 50 million transistors<br />
can be placed inside a tiny silicon<br />
chip.<br />
What is perhaps even more surprising<br />
is that the taste for this old technology is<br />
not limited to what is often considered<br />
to be the “crazy” high end of audio, the<br />
people who believe that sound can be<br />
changed by the percentage of oxygen in<br />
a copper wire. In professional sound, a<br />
domain with which I am well acquainted,<br />
there is a similar taste for vacuum tubes.<br />
It is common to find tube microphone<br />
preamplifiers, equalizers, and compressors.<br />
Tubes can also be found in<br />
condenser microphones, not only in<br />
vintage microphones (which producers<br />
guard with their lives) but also in new<br />
microphones from designers seeking to<br />
recapture the glory of days gone by.<br />
My favorite tube ad, running in a pro<br />
sound magazine filled with articles on<br />
digital workstation recording and plugin<br />
processors, is from Manley Laboratories.<br />
A hand holds a tube, under the headline:<br />
“This is a plugin.”<br />
What is the attraction of tubes in the<br />
age of microelectronics?<br />
My colleagues in studios are mostly<br />
not quick to intellectualize it. They<br />
work hard each day to obtain a certain<br />
“sound,” and some of them prefer the<br />
sound of tubes. Warmth is frequently<br />
mentioned as a characteristic of tube<br />
gear, and that warmth is expressed as the<br />
opposite of the “clinical” or even “edgy”<br />
sound of solid state. They do not entirely<br />
reject solid state to be sure, for mixing<br />
consoles are virtually all solid state, and<br />
so of course is the digital equipment used<br />
to master recordings if not always to do<br />
the original recording.<br />
The<br />
Return of<br />
the Tube<br />
Read it all<br />
by Paul Bergman<br />
Rock musicians have also embraced<br />
the tube, using classic or neo-classic<br />
tube amplifiers both on stage and in the<br />
recording studio. Much like audiophiles,<br />
they’ll chat happily about the sound of<br />
this or that brand of tube, often obtained<br />
from a secret source.<br />
In the hi-fi world, of course, the tube<br />
has also made a dramatic comeback,<br />
despite their rather evident drawbacks.<br />
Audiophiles often cite “warmth” as an<br />
advantage, just as pros do. They also<br />
cite the fact that tube amplifiers can be<br />
better than solid state at coping with<br />
difficult speaker loads, such as those of<br />
electrostatic speakers. I have also heard<br />
more technically-minded pros talk about<br />
the relative immunity of tubes to digital<br />
noise. Such noise is of course more and<br />
more prevalent everywhere.<br />
It goes largely without saying that<br />
modern tube products would not be<br />
possible were it not for the considerable<br />
industrial infrastructure<br />
servicing their makers. Early in<br />
the tube renaissance, companies<br />
would scrounge for stocks of old<br />
vacuum tubes, and — even more<br />
precious — transformers suitable<br />
for power amplifiers. Though<br />
it was certainly feasible to build<br />
small quantities of products using<br />
scrounged parts, there simply<br />
weren’t enough of them to support<br />
an industry. Any manufacturer<br />
will tell you that the one thing that<br />
will keep him awake nights is doubts<br />
about the stability of parts sources.<br />
For a while finding tubes was<br />
not a problem, because there were<br />
less technologically-advanced countries<br />
in which tubes were still a mainstream<br />
item. Russia and China come to mind.<br />
Indeed, Russia was still using vacuum<br />
tubes in its military equipment. This<br />
was a start, and as the tube electronics<br />
industry achieved a critical mass, new<br />
factories sprang up to meet the growing<br />
demand.<br />
Transformers were less of a problem.<br />
Since transformer manufacturers<br />
continued to exist and prosper, it was<br />
possible to order a few hundred pieces<br />
built to specification. Not so easy were<br />
other key parts, such as tube sockets<br />
and capacitors. By the 90’s there was a<br />
greater understanding of the effect that<br />
such “secondary” parts had on sound,<br />
and that made it impossible to return to<br />
the parts that were used up until the 70’s.<br />
Only the existence of a large number of<br />
tube equipment manufacturers made the<br />
production of superior sockets and other<br />
parts possible.<br />
It was remarkably easy for competent<br />
designers to get into tube design, because<br />
over the years countless circuits had been<br />
published. Some circuits had always been<br />
in the public domain, and the patents had<br />
mostly run out on the rest. One could<br />
lift the basic configuration from a 1965<br />
amplifier, tweak it for best performance,<br />
adapt support functions (the power<br />
supply and the biasing functions notably)<br />
to the age of the integrated circuit, build<br />
Buy the issue (page 51) and read all of this fascinating article by Paul Bergman.<br />
using today’s superior parts, and come<br />
up with something that sounded very<br />
good. This is despite the fact that there<br />
is consensus around the affirmation that<br />
today’s tubes are neither as well-made<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 21
Nuts&Bolts<br />
In the next issue of<br />
Sources: vinyl and Super Audio<br />
Tweeters for beyond audibility<br />
Speakers: Reference 3a, Wilson Benesch, Equation<br />
And that’s only the start!<br />
nor as durable as those of years gone<br />
by.<br />
The question of the tube’s “warmth”<br />
remains controversial.<br />
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iliquat ate consendipit, venim nosto<br />
consequam nulla cortie te diam dolore<br />
molum zzril exeros nullutpatue cortis<br />
augueriurem eraessectet, susto od modolut<br />
velismod molobore enibh ex euguerit<br />
lore tem niscili smodiatum eum vullut<br />
nonsequisl eu feu faccum nim nibh er<br />
sustrud min ut lor sum nim ipit nostie feu<br />
feum nulput ulla at ulput ulla conulput<br />
nibh eniat.<br />
Del iriliquip eniatis el ut landipit, sisis<br />
22 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
amcon ut irit luptatisi te verostio commolo<br />
rtinismodio dunt enim vel dolore<br />
tetuer augait deliquisl utat.<br />
Unt la conulla facipit ipit alis aut<br />
autet il ut dignisi etum vulla augait<br />
ipsuscipit, quat, volum acipisit ut landre<br />
velenis augait luptat lut ing ent alis nis<br />
nonsectem iuscidui tis nim zzrilit nullut<br />
nosto diametum dolorero conum ing<br />
eraestis aliquam, corem dui blaore feugiam,<br />
vendit ipsuscillaor ing endrer sim<br />
zzriustisl eliquat illumsandit aut lummy<br />
num nim ea augue magna ad dipit,<br />
conum zzriliquisl irilit acil dolor sum<br />
dolore digna feu feugiam, sum eugiamet,<br />
quisim zzrillam velisci llummodigna<br />
feu feui tat nim alis augiate core dunt<br />
velismod ea am, sequipis nosto consenit<br />
lor sim diam, quametum zzriliqui blam<br />
dolore do commy nim quiscilisit autet<br />
wisi etummy nim iuscil dipit lobortie<br />
modiam iusciliquat voloborperit lore<br />
consequ issequat, corpera estrud te tie<br />
tinisim vullut nullan vendrem zzrit<br />
vullaore exerius cilluptat prat volum<br />
zzrit lum quissit adipit augait vulla<br />
facipsummy nostrud tem alit ullut veros<br />
autem nos nullaor ip eummod delesectem<br />
et ad dunt luptat. Agnibh ero ero dipisl<br />
ip etumsan henim venim dunt wis nulla<br />
feugue magnisisse conum do ea feugiam,<br />
quatie tis duismol orperosto essi.<br />
Ignisisl ing ex ent volor si.<br />
Ilissi. Putpat, velessim zzriure riureet<br />
ad miniam, vel dolortie te dunt doloreet,<br />
quam quat aliquisse feum zzrilis num<br />
nosto cor si ex erat wisisi blamcon sectem<br />
zzrit adio dunt dolenim digniat ing ea<br />
commodiat pratumm odolobo rpercin<br />
ent la feummy nosto et ercilisi.<br />
Eriliquisit praestio dolobor iustisi.<br />
Ullandrer ipisi. Ommodolore vel<br />
ullandre diam, quip ea faccum iure tat<br />
lummod tie consed tat lorpero od essi.<br />
Irillam consent nulla aut esent niamet<br />
utpat at estrud delestrud magnissenibh<br />
eugue elit, si.<br />
Unt la conulla facipit ipit alis aut<br />
autet il ut dignisi etum vulla augait<br />
ipsuscipit, quat, volum acipisit ut landre<br />
velenis augait luptat lut ing ent alis nis<br />
nonsectem iuscidui tis nim zzrilit nullut<br />
nosto diametum dolorero conum ing<br />
eraestis aliquam, corem dui blaore feugiam,<br />
vendit ipsuscillaor ing endrer sim<br />
zzriustisl eliquat illumsandit aut lummy<br />
num nim ea augue magna ad dipit,<br />
conum zzriliquisl irilit acil dolor sum<br />
dolore digna feu feugiam, sum eugiamet,<br />
quisim zzrillam velisci llummodigna<br />
feu feui tat nim alis augiate core dunt<br />
velismod ea am, sequipis nosto consenit<br />
lor sim diam, quametum zzriliqui blam<br />
dolore do commy nim quiscilisit autet<br />
wisi etummy nim iuscil dipit lobortie<br />
modiam iusciliquat voloborperit lore<br />
consequ issequat, corpera estrud te tie<br />
tinisim vullut nullan vendrem zzrit<br />
vullaore exerius cilluptat prat volum<br />
zzrit lum quissit adipit augait vulla<br />
facipsummy nostrud tem alit ullut veros<br />
autem nos nullaor ip eummod delesectem<br />
et ad dunt luptat. Agnibh ero ero dipisl<br />
ip etumsan henim venim dunt wis nulla<br />
feugue magnisisse conum do ea feugiam,<br />
quatie tis duismol orperosto essi.<br />
Ignisisl ing ex ent volor si.<br />
Ilissi. Putpat, velessim zzriure riureet<br />
ad miniam, vel dolortie te dunt doloreet,<br />
quam quat aliquisse feum zzrilis num<br />
nosto cor si ex erat wisisi blamcon sectem<br />
zzrit adio dunt dolenim digniat ing ea<br />
commodiat pratumm odolobo rpercin<br />
ent la feummy nosto et ercilisi.
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Feature<br />
Listening in Vegas<br />
It’s well known by now that January<br />
in Vegas means not one high end<br />
show, but two. The big one — and<br />
one of the world’s largest trade<br />
exhibitions — is of course the Consumer<br />
Electronics Show. But the thorn in its<br />
side is T.H.E.Show (the acronym stands<br />
for “The Home Entertainment”), which<br />
pulls in exhibitors claiming CES<br />
doesn’t care about them. CES, for its<br />
part, calls the other show a parasite<br />
(“the epitome of sleaze,” said a journalist<br />
from a magazine which shall<br />
remain nameless and which shall<br />
be referred to only as Stereophile).<br />
The Consumer Electronics<br />
Association, which runs CEA, has<br />
been working hard to woo the high<br />
end, and indeed it is chaired by the<br />
president of a high end company. Despite<br />
that, CEA this year did something so<br />
incredibly dumb that it may have handed<br />
the final victory over to the rebels.<br />
You can see the mistake in the<br />
picture above.<br />
Parking has always been tight<br />
around the Alexis Park complex,<br />
where the CES high end exhibits<br />
24 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
by Gerard Rejskind<br />
mostly are. So what did the organizers do<br />
to solve the problem? Why, they abolished<br />
parking altogether for anyone not<br />
sleeping there. Empty trucks were<br />
s t a t i o n e d<br />
should have<br />
where the parking<br />
been, while disgruntled<br />
visitors<br />
and even exhibitors<br />
were invited<br />
to park at the marshalling<br />
yards, where<br />
the trucks should<br />
have been.<br />
I h a d<br />
planned<br />
to spend part of Day Three at Alexis<br />
Park, whose name had of course become<br />
a misnomer. Instead, I spent disproportionate<br />
time at T.H.E. Show, one of<br />
whose two venues, as you can see from<br />
the picture, was not far away.<br />
The dog (below) probably requires<br />
explanation too. In the US, two companies,<br />
Sirius and XM, are competing with<br />
satellite music services. Sirius, which is<br />
very much number two out of two, came<br />
to CES with the two-storey high air dog<br />
and a boast that only it offered commercial-free<br />
channels. XM let the air out of<br />
the boast, if not the dog, by announcing<br />
that more than 120 of its channels would<br />
henceforth be commercial-free (do you<br />
suppose their ads weren’t selling?). By<br />
the way, XM is waiting for regulatory<br />
approval to extend its service to Canada.<br />
Will they get it? I hear the wind-chill in<br />
Hades is fierce this year.<br />
Let me go over some products I saw<br />
and heard, many of them pictured on<br />
these pages. When a paragraph is preceded<br />
by a number, that indicates there<br />
is a corresponding picture.<br />
1) I love unusual-looking loudspeakers,<br />
and you can add the Ayon Dragon to<br />
the list. Unlike a lot of ported speakers<br />
it can go against a wall, because the port<br />
is on the side. The unusual design goes<br />
beyond the curved cabinet. The white<br />
driver is a full-range speaker you find<br />
in some horns. The larger black one is<br />
a subwoofer. Claimed efficiency is high<br />
at 95 dB, and the speakers were being<br />
driven by a Sunrise single-ended amplifier,<br />
which — like the Ayon — is from<br />
Austria. Rather nice, but not cheap, at<br />
US$20K.<br />
Across from the Ayon was the astonishing<br />
Italian VYGER turntable (you’ll<br />
understand the name if you’ve seen the<br />
original Star Trek movie). It uses pumps<br />
for everything: for the air bearing, to<br />
float the straight-line tone arm, and to<br />
press the record to the mat. The sound?<br />
Not up to the $29K price tag, but then<br />
there’s every chance the setup hadn’t<br />
been quite optimized.<br />
2) Have you seen those nice sculptural<br />
Baltic 2 speakers Cabasse has<br />
been making for some years? Want a<br />
little more bass for them? The Saturn 5<br />
subwoofer may be just the ticket if you<br />
have the space. Cabasse makes its own
Feature<br />
3<br />
1 2<br />
drivers, and claims that the cone on this 55 cm giant is<br />
lighter than that of a typical 20 cm woofer. It sounded<br />
excellent, with a fullness you don’t often hear even from<br />
subwoofers, but without the artificial boom I associate<br />
with big subs, and indeed with all oversized speakers. And<br />
this is the biggest sub I’ve seen, other than the D-Box<br />
Mammouth.<br />
3) One of my favorite rooms was that of Denmark’s<br />
Gryphon, known for its attractive (and expensive) electronic<br />
gear. The Cantata loudspeaker completes the line,<br />
with the result that the system was all-Gryphon. The<br />
speaker was not actually designed by the company, but its<br />
engineers did contribute a “black box” that fits between<br />
the preamplifier and power amplifier to optimize speaker<br />
characteristics such as its Q. The “stand” is actually part of<br />
the speaker and contains the crossover.<br />
4) Much larger is the Innersound Eros MkIII electrostatic, shown from the back because it<br />
actually looks more interesting that way. It is of course a hybrid electrostatic, much like some of the<br />
MartinLogan models, but it’s unusual in that it includes its own amplifier (for the dynamic woofer<br />
only) complete with electronic crossover (you supply your own amp for the electrostatic panel). This<br />
warm and open speaker costs $12K.<br />
I hadn’t seen Swan loudspeakers for a while, and my impression is that the company has been drifting.<br />
The latest incarnation is a thin column speaker using 16 tiny (5 cm) drivers that looks like the ones in portable radios.<br />
Claimed response is down to 87 Hz, and so a small subwoofer is included. Total price is just $2500, but the demonstration<br />
left me scratching my head.<br />
Much more promising is the Fab Audio Brat, a mid-sized floorstanding speaker (it appears to be mounted on a stand, but the<br />
“stand” is part of the speaker). Jim Fabian isn’t afraid of using unusual materials: his woofer cone is molded from banana fibres! I<br />
thought it sounded pleasingly natural, and with a projected price of C$2300 (equivalent to US$1725), it’s worth a listen.<br />
5) Why does the Quintessence Stealth SV look so<br />
4<br />
familiar? I stared at it for a while before it hit me: it<br />
looks like one of those huge speakers that Dave Wilson<br />
custom-builds. Its designer used to own Wilsons, no<br />
surprise there. I thought it sounded<br />
rather better than I’ve heard<br />
the big Wilsons sound,<br />
despite the usual sonic fingerprint<br />
of the Atma-Sphere<br />
turntable, a rejigged Empire<br />
of decades ago.<br />
6) Even bigger is this<br />
three-way six-driver tower.<br />
Its maker? Remember the<br />
tiny (but superb) Focus<br />
Audio FS688 speaker that<br />
was on the cover of our last<br />
issue. Can you believe<br />
that the same company<br />
makes this one? It’s the<br />
Master 2, expected to<br />
sell around US$23K. I<br />
thought it sounded<br />
rather impressive,<br />
though frankly it’s<br />
difficult to make<br />
this large a speaker<br />
sound right in a<br />
hotel room.<br />
5<br />
6<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 25
Feature<br />
7) If you’ve ever been to an audio<br />
show, you know how noisy they can<br />
become. And you also know how<br />
careful visitors are not to talk<br />
too loud while you’re listening to<br />
music. Or not!<br />
So I had to admire the sign at left.<br />
Not that everyone was paying attention to<br />
it, but I applaud the effort. I wish I had noted<br />
whose room it was in.<br />
Each year CES gives out awards for design<br />
innovation. Some of the winners, it should be said, are<br />
mere exercises in style, but even they’re fun. Four of the<br />
winners are shown on this page.<br />
8) Can you guess what this is? Maybe an integrated<br />
amplifier? From Italy, right? No. It’s a tube preamplifier-processor<br />
for home theatre. Yes, with tubes. Even more<br />
surprising is the manufacturer, Fosgate Audionics! No, I<br />
don’t think of Fosgate as a high end tube freak either. This<br />
is worth an award if anything is.<br />
I was pleased to see the Thiel CS2.4 speaker with an<br />
award. There’s nothing wild about its styling, which recalls<br />
that of other Thiel models, but as we noted in our review in<br />
UHF No. 68, there’s some interesting technology under that<br />
nice cabinetry.<br />
7<br />
9) Surely deserving an award is the Flying Mole multi-channel amplifier shown<br />
here. It actually has 16 channels, with each module putting out 160 watts per channel!<br />
This is digital amplification, needless to say, claiming 85% electrical efficiency.<br />
It’s well suited to multi-room systems, with its low price ($800 for the<br />
chassis, $600 per stereo module). The modules are hot-swappable:<br />
it was playing when this picture was taken. Over at Alexis Park,<br />
a dozen of them, claiming to put out 30,720 watts, was driving a<br />
pair of B&W speakers. There seemed to be miles of wire.<br />
10) You’ve probably noticed that Monster Cable isn’t selling<br />
just cables anymore. This subwoofer, also an award winner, is one<br />
of Monster’s latest products. It’s shaped to fit a corner for maximum<br />
bass output. The model name: Godfather. How’s that for an offer you<br />
can’t refuse?<br />
11) Speaking of subwoofers, I couldn’t resist this sub from Kicker,<br />
well known for its car speakers…in fact its name pretty much describes<br />
its mission. This car sub is an awesome 50 cm across (that’s 20 inches)!<br />
The spec sheet indicates peak power handling of 10,000 watts! My calculator<br />
indicates that this would require about five times the battery current it takes to start<br />
a V-8 engine. Worth an award? For chutzpah certainly.<br />
There were lots of other winners, of course. I spotted what appeared to be a thinned<br />
down jukebox, complete with the legendary Wurlitzer name (the actual manufacturer is<br />
Gibson, maker of the famous guitars). Of course it “spins” MP3 files rather than 45 rpm<br />
vinyl, but it’s been given the right look. The control centre can be lifted right off the unit<br />
and used as a portable player.<br />
And JVC took home an award for another “first”: the GR-HD1 camcorder. As the<br />
“HD” in the model name implies, it lets you make your own high definition movies.<br />
No price announced yet, but we anticipate that some consumers will be running<br />
down to their dealers credit card in hand. Take that, George Lucas!<br />
12) We often get questions about the legendary laser turntable, which reads the<br />
vinyl groove with a beam of light rather than a physical stylus. Several years ago, we<br />
contacted the then distributor to request a review sample. We were turned down,<br />
being offered instead a “bargain” price of US$15,000 if we wanted to buy our<br />
26 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
8<br />
9<br />
10<br />
11
Feature<br />
12<br />
13<br />
sample, sight unseen.<br />
Yeah, thanks.<br />
So I was surprised to actually see one at the show, with a somewhat<br />
lower price tag (as low as US$10K depending on features),<br />
and actually hooked up for demonstration. I heard an early RCA<br />
Victor LP, Hooked on Classics, and also the Thelma Houston directcut<br />
Sheffield disc. They were better than I feared. The laser had<br />
little trouble with surface dust (machine-cleaning before every<br />
play is mandatory), and the highs — notably the strings and the<br />
brass — were way better than I had dared hope. Not so good was<br />
the bottom end. The bass seemed to have been kneecapped just<br />
below 150 Hz. Puzzling. What is unchanged is that we still can’t<br />
get one for a review.<br />
13) I ran across Marc Chablaix and his wonderful Orpheus<br />
components. I found his tie equally to my taste, and I couldn’t resist<br />
a picture.<br />
14) I also ran several times across Jacques Riendeau, founder of<br />
Oracle. He was showing some of his most familiar components,<br />
including the CD player and the Delphi turntable.<br />
But he was also introducing a new line of gear, featuring,<br />
as usual, highly-styled metal sculpturing. The unit at right<br />
is the P1000 power amplifier, and there is a preamplifier<br />
with a similar look. I didn’t hear the power amp, but the<br />
preamp ain’t too shabby!<br />
By the way, at the last Montreal show Jacques had been<br />
showing a new economy line called Stello. He brought the<br />
line to Vegas as well, but this time clearly bearing the Oracle<br />
name.<br />
15) Until now, the cheapest speaker in the Reference 3a line was<br />
the MM de Capo. I had seen a prototype of a cheaper and smaller<br />
model, the Dulcet, that had frankly left me cold. The final <strong>version</strong> is<br />
both smaller and way better. Its little 14 cm woofer pumps out bass that must be heard to be believed<br />
(and I heard it with organ music!). At its US$1695 price, it may win over a lot of audiophiles.<br />
A new small speaker was playing over at the Totem room. Dubbed the Rainmaker, its sound is much<br />
sunnier than the name suggests. Its price (around US$900) pits it against the Rokk, long my unfavorite<br />
Totem. This one has the characteristic Totem sound, with a natural sweetness that is delightful, and an<br />
image the size of the room plus the parking lot. It’s more likely to make sunshine than rain, I’d guess.<br />
I’ve already requested a review sample.<br />
I was mesmerized by a new speaker in the Von Schweikert room, the VR-4jr (the last two letters,<br />
I am assured, do not stand for “junior”). It’s not shown here, though you can see it on our online CES<br />
report. The speaker consists of a two-way unit with a slanted front, sitting atop a subwoofer with dual drivers.<br />
Sound familiar? It looks like a smaller replica of the Reference 3a Suprema that is in our Omega reference system. I wasn’t<br />
wild about the demo, but it may not have been representative. I’d love to hear it under better conditions.<br />
Remember Almarro, the Japanese company that showed up last year with an incredibly cheap all-tube system? It was<br />
back this year with something different: its large and expensive M50A speakers. This isn’t exactly an economy product, at<br />
US$4900, but the amplification is something else again. The A205A amplifier uses the tiny 6BQ5 output tube often found<br />
in vintage TV sets, putting out all of 5 watts. You wouldn’t believe the dynamics!<br />
14<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 27<br />
15
Feature<br />
17<br />
16<br />
28 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
16 ) M o n i -<br />
tor Audio was<br />
showing though<br />
n o t p l a y i n g<br />
i t s a c c l a i m e d<br />
S i l v e r S e r i e s<br />
speakers. It was especially<br />
eager to show off its diminutive<br />
Radius speakers. Simon<br />
Spears, shown with a Radius<br />
in the picture, had just left<br />
Monitor Audio to join importer<br />
Kevro International. Designer<br />
Dean Hartley said he worked to give<br />
the Radius speakers the same sonic fingerprint<br />
as the company’s big speakers.<br />
By the way, Kevro was also showing<br />
Myryad, a British component line it has taken<br />
away from Artech, the previous distributor.<br />
17) The biggest speakers of the show by far were the Wisdom Adrenaline “Rush”…and what you see in our picture is one<br />
speaker not a pair. I didn’t get to hear them, though I sat through a pretty good demo of Pirates of the Caribbean, with sound<br />
provided by some of Wisdom’s (slightly) smaller speakers.<br />
18) I had has several chances to hear Hovland’s impressive Model 100 preamplifier, and this one seemed to be a Hovland<br />
with the knobs removed. The HP-200 is remote-controlled, unlike the earlier one (which is not discontinued). It will cost<br />
$7500, about $1000 more than the 100. The optional phono stage adds another $2K.<br />
19) If you associate Jeff Rowland with SUV-sized amplifiers, as I do, you may be surprised by the very tiny 501 monoblocks.<br />
They seemed to sound much powerful than they looked, and for what turned out to be a good reason: they’re rated at 500 watts<br />
each! At US$6700 they’re still punching well above their weight.<br />
Among the new SACD players I saw is the Audio Aero Prestige, scheduled for launch in March. The<br />
unusual feature: it converts the DSD (digital stream audio) to CD-like pulse code modulation on the<br />
fly. Company engineers claim that gives it a 9 dB noise advantage. Could be, thought I would never<br />
have identified noise as a major problem of SACD. The price may seem stiff, at US$13,360, but it also<br />
includes a tube preamplifier with three pure analog inputs and another five<br />
digital inputs.<br />
Last year, the Edge power amplifiers were in what was arguably the<br />
best-sounding room at either of the shows. It wasn’t quite that this year,<br />
but it was still worth a little time. The amps this time were driving tall<br />
multi-driver Epiphany speakers. The sound was mellow, the image wide<br />
and stable.<br />
I hadn’t seen much from Adcom for a while, and the truth seems to be<br />
that the company had been flying frighteningly close to the trees. More<br />
than a year ago Adcom was bought by the Klein Technology Group. Klein<br />
also hired away the engineers of the defunct California Audio Labs. The<br />
Adcom room was showing some of that team’s new home theatre-oriented<br />
gear, as well as some more familiar Adcom audio products. Here’s hoping<br />
they stick around.<br />
20) Canadian speaker manufacturer Gershman Acoustics has revamped<br />
the older speakers in its line, namely the Avant Garde and the Gap. I spent<br />
some time listening to both, and it’s clear that the top end in particular<br />
has been smoothed out with the use of Dynaudio silk dome tweeters.<br />
The company’s centre speaker can be seen in the picture. Perhaps some<br />
of the added smoothness came from the amplifier you can also see in<br />
our picture. It’s a Linar amplifier, designed by Victor Sima, founder of<br />
Simaudio (which he left a decade ago). The amp puts out only 50 watts<br />
per channel despite its hefty size, because it runs in pure class A. It<br />
certainly sounded fine.<br />
21) Also sounding superb was the VTL S-400 tube amplifier. As<br />
18<br />
19
Feature<br />
22<br />
its name suggests, it<br />
puts out an untubelike<br />
400 watts per<br />
channel. It does<br />
contain a lot of<br />
tubes, but it also<br />
contains…a computer.<br />
T h e S - 4 0 0<br />
monitors its own<br />
performance and<br />
can keep you up<br />
to speed on what’s<br />
happening inside,<br />
either on the front<br />
panel (which you<br />
can hide if you don’t<br />
want to look at it),<br />
or on your computer screen. The<br />
amp will tell you how long it’s been on,<br />
what its temperature is, and what shape each tube<br />
is in. If a tube goes out, it will not only warn you<br />
but also disable a tube on the other channel to keep<br />
performance in balance. Oh yes…and in between<br />
music tracks, it will rebias its own tubes! All very<br />
Isaac Asimov.<br />
Is 400 watts not enough? The Siegfried<br />
monoblocks look the same but of course deliver<br />
800 watts each. I spent perhaps a good (happy)<br />
hour listening to them, with both CD and glorious<br />
LP.<br />
22) “Got bass?” is the slogan of speaker maker<br />
Gilmore Audio. To answer its own question, it<br />
brought in jazz bassist Abraham Laboriel to play<br />
live through a pair of its Model 2 speakers. This<br />
is a bigger challenge than it looks, because a live<br />
electric bass can and will take out most audiophile speakers before the first number is up. Not the Gilmores.<br />
The real surprise comes when you look at them from the rear. What looks like a cabinet is actually a thick flat plate made<br />
of solid Dupont Corian. Four large woofers are mounted on the plate, but they are open at the rear, with no baffling at all. A<br />
long ribbon handles much of the midrange and of course the highs. You might expect that the open rear would cause massive<br />
cancellation of lower frequencies. Not so. The Gilmore’s bass performance is awesome, as is its dynamic capacity. Gilmore<br />
claims response (at -3 dB) down to 17 Hz.<br />
(Aside to Doug Gilmore: the Corian finish will probably get top marks on the Wife Acceptance Index, but the sexist ads<br />
will score below zero. Welcome to the 21st Century.)<br />
One of the best rooms at either show was, once again, that of Halcro, whose large and powerful dm38 monoblock amplifiers<br />
sound simply divine. I’m not usually fond of large JMLab speakers, because their bass seems to be unrealistically heavy,<br />
but the Halcros made the huge Nova Utopias sound rich and gorgeous. I went to hear them twice. Next door, other Halcro<br />
amplifiers were driving a surround set of Wilson speakers. I finally got to hear the new SACD of Dark Side of the Moon in full<br />
surround. <strong>High</strong>ly recommended.<br />
23) You say there’s no such thing as a free lunch? There is, and T.H.E. Show was once again offering it at the St. Tropez.<br />
In a gorgeous semi-tropical setting, with live music playing, the barbecues were heating up and there was a nice mellow feel<br />
to the place. Check the photo: it was just as the picture looks.<br />
24) Of course CES is full of parties and buffets, at which we can be bought (fairly inexpensively). Marketnews is an excellent<br />
Canadian magazine for those working in the consumer electronics business. At each CES it hosts Canada Night, with<br />
good food and drinks (well, one free drink, and for retailers only). Corporate sponsors pay the damages, and there are great<br />
opportunities to schmooze with potential clients and partners. You do need to talk loud, because the musical entertainment<br />
is not on the subtle side. I never miss it, though.<br />
20<br />
21<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 29
Feature<br />
23 26<br />
24<br />
30 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Among other good parties are ShowStoppers, for<br />
press only, with kiosks by digital product makers, and<br />
the reception for the CES Innovations Awards.<br />
25) Speaking of Innovations, the unique Thiel<br />
SW1 subwoofer actually won that award twice, once<br />
when it was announced, once more when it entered<br />
production, but the part that makes it unique, the<br />
Smart Controller, is still in prototype (we’ve been<br />
waiting for that before asking to review one).<br />
While we’re waiting, the company was showing its<br />
immensely larger SW2, with two massive 38 cm<br />
drivers. For big rooms, need I add. Which is where<br />
Thiel was demonstrating it.<br />
26) The most unusual speakers are surely those<br />
of Madison Fielding, which masquerade as potted<br />
plants (and that’s real greenery, not plastic). One<br />
possible use is adding music to the patio, and I admit<br />
that if my neighbor bought them I would phone my<br />
lawyer. They sounded better<br />
than I would have supposed,<br />
and the company took the<br />
demo seriously: its source component was a Linn Unidisk player!<br />
27) Tenor usually shows up with one of its low-powered but expensive<br />
tube amplifiers. This year it has something new. The Tenor 300HP is a<br />
hybrid amplifier, whose transistor output section pumps out 300 watts<br />
per channel. Paired with Ed Meitner’s EmmLabs player and Kharma<br />
Midi Grand Céramique speakers, it was a delight to listen<br />
to, and the room was one of the<br />
best of the show.<br />
28) I also heard a smaller<br />
pair of K harmas, t he<br />
CRM 3.2E, in another<br />
room, and that was<br />
a good experience<br />
too. The experience<br />
comes at a<br />
price I need hardly<br />
add: US$21K for<br />
the blue one in the<br />
picture, $36.5K for<br />
25<br />
the big ones<br />
in the Tenor<br />
room.<br />
27<br />
28
Feature<br />
29 30<br />
32<br />
33<br />
29) I didn’t need my arm twisted to sit<br />
through the latest demo of Sensio’s 3-D DVD<br />
system. It’s clear that a lot of work has gone into<br />
refining it over the past year.<br />
The display case was showing some of the 3-D films offered, plus something even<br />
more interesting. The object at upper left mounts on your digital camcorder and lets<br />
you make your own 3-D movies. I want one!<br />
30) Granite Audio was back with a number of new products, including its new<br />
Aspen series of amplifiers (the 834 is shown in the picture). Prices are sharply lower<br />
than in most earlier models, though it still has the granite front panel that gives<br />
the company its name. Granite’s demo was done entirely with its own components,<br />
including the cables and the unique Ground Zero device to solve electrical grounding<br />
problems.<br />
31) There should be a special award for this Elements Power Harmony line filter<br />
and voltage regulator, with its retro dials. Demian Martin (the original Spectral<br />
designer) says it’s superior because it works on current rather than voltage. Don’t<br />
expect it to look like this one however: it’s an expensive one-off using power station<br />
gauges.<br />
32) Von Schweikert was doing daily live vs recorded comparisons all week at the San<br />
Remo, using the voices of the Misty River musical group, and the huge VR-11 speakers.<br />
The recording was done by Christopher Huston (at centre in the picture), who has made<br />
albums for everyone from James Brown to Led Zeppelin to The Who. Using a number<br />
of microphones, he held full recording sessions before a large, mesmerized audience. It<br />
was unable to get the balance perfect under those trying conditions, but the result was<br />
a tribute to all who participated. The music was good too.<br />
An unexpected bonus was the presence of another legend of the recording arts, Stan<br />
Ricker. Stan knows more than how to do half-speed LP masters. He also plays a mean<br />
bass. He sat in to improvise with Misty River, proving he hasn’t lost his touch.<br />
33) Among CES exhibitors was Mark Levinson’s company, Red Rose Music. But<br />
Red Rose didn’t show. Coming instead was Victor Tiscareno, whose company,<br />
Audioprism, was swallowed by Red Rose a few years back. With Red Rose now<br />
apparently in limbo, Victor<br />
and his marketing maven,<br />
Byron Collett, were launching<br />
a new unnamed company.<br />
Indeed you could win a pair<br />
of speakers if you came up<br />
with a name. I’m hoping my<br />
suggestion gets picked, because<br />
the new speaker being demonstrated<br />
is very much a winner.<br />
It is a two-way design, using a<br />
transmission line rather than the usual reflex port.<br />
Want more? Try: www.uhfmag.com/CES2004.<br />
31<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 31
Listening Room<br />
Audiomat Phono-1.5<br />
It was back in UHF No. 56 that<br />
we reviewed Audiomat’s original<br />
phono preamp, the Phono-1. We<br />
gave it a glowing report. It was the<br />
first time we had heard the tube phono<br />
preamp from Copland seriously challenged.<br />
Alas, the Phono-1 wasn’t around<br />
for long. It was quickly discontinued in<br />
favor of the Phono-1.5…which however<br />
took years to become a working product.<br />
Prototypes and early production models<br />
worked well in some rooms, but inexplicably<br />
hummed furiously in others.<br />
It looked like vaporware, but the<br />
final <strong>version</strong> is finally here, and it was<br />
worth the wait, because what it does is<br />
sheer…<br />
But hold on, we’re getting way ahead<br />
of ourselves.<br />
Building a phono stage is not trivial,<br />
and indeed it is perhaps the most difficult<br />
of all audio components. A phono circuit<br />
must be able to handle extremely small<br />
voltages. The output of a low impedance<br />
moving coil cartridge is around<br />
0.4 millivolts at full level, and a mere<br />
4 microvolts 40 dB down. The circuit<br />
must bring this tiny voltage lost in the<br />
noise up to a couple of volts. It must leave<br />
the noise behind too.<br />
But that’s not all. LPs are made with<br />
a pre emphasis that boosts highs by more<br />
than 30 dB and de-emphasizes the lows.<br />
The phono preamp must re-equalize the<br />
signal, to make the response come out<br />
all right again. In too many preamps,<br />
the equalization network is so slow that<br />
the leading edges of transients can get<br />
through unequalized, and therefore<br />
much too loud. Passive networks are<br />
better, but they are often noisy. Such is<br />
32 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
the challenge of building one of these<br />
difficult pieces of retro technology.<br />
The Phono-1.5 is much larger than<br />
the earlier one, component-sized and not<br />
just a little black box. The power source<br />
is a “brick” with a captive power cord,<br />
attaching to the main unit via a four-pin<br />
XLR plug. Inside is a transformer rather<br />
than a full power supply. The rectifiers<br />
and filters are on the main chassis, which<br />
is surprisingly empty. Why did they<br />
make it this size, anyway?<br />
More and more high end low-level<br />
circuits are now made with operational<br />
amp chips, a cheap means of getting lots<br />
of amplification. That’s not the case of<br />
the Audiomat, whose circuitry depends<br />
entirely on discrete transistors. All<br />
but two are glued together in pairs, to<br />
keep them at the same temperature and<br />
therefore stable.<br />
At the rear, there are very good jacks<br />
for both MM and MC cartridges, and a<br />
switch to choose the appropriate one.<br />
Surprisingly enough, the MC function<br />
has no adjustments for input impedance<br />
or capacitance. This is a minor failing<br />
frankly, but surprising in a product of<br />
this class.<br />
Check our picture, and you’ll see<br />
light coming through the front panel on<br />
the right edge. That’s right…the panel is<br />
acrylic, not some sort of metal. Audiomat<br />
Okay, let’s get serious<br />
about getting<br />
everything off those<br />
vinyl discs.<br />
has done this before.<br />
Plugging it into a high-level input on<br />
our Copland preamp, we were surprised<br />
by how quiet it is. We could hear a very<br />
slight hum (60 Hz, without harmonics),<br />
but it was noticeable only because there<br />
is a complete absence of perceptible hiss.<br />
Not many phono sections are this quiet,<br />
and the ones that are, ironically enough,<br />
sound horrible in other ways.<br />
Not this one. We began the session<br />
with our all-in-one test, the remarkable<br />
Façade LP. What struck us first was<br />
how refined the Audiomat is. The highly<br />
varied instrumental timbres were reproduced<br />
cleanly, and so were the shifting<br />
moods of this remarkable tone poem.<br />
The higher frequencies certainly weren’t<br />
rolled off, yet the Audiomat made our<br />
usual phono section seem a little too<br />
bright. The natural sound field was vast.<br />
Castanets seemed to emerge from a large<br />
space. All of the instruments sounded<br />
delightful, with the bassoon especially<br />
seductive. Albert, who occasionally plays<br />
cello, thought that the cello sounded<br />
more like itself than it did with our own<br />
phono section “There’s no dust hanging<br />
around,” said Reine, “and no clouds<br />
either.”<br />
We were certain that the Phono-<br />
1.5 would do well on our favorite harp<br />
recording (Tournier’s Vers une source dans<br />
le bois, included on Professor Johnson’s<br />
Amazing Sound Show, RR-7). How can<br />
one go wrong with a recording like this?<br />
Yet we weren’t prepared for what we<br />
heard.<br />
On this remarkable recording,<br />
Susann McDonald alternates between<br />
startling power and evanescent subtlety.<br />
The Phono-1.5 got them both right,<br />
but we realized we could hear details<br />
that had escaped us with every other<br />
phono section we had ever heard. “Just<br />
like the cello on the other recording,”<br />
said Albert, “the harp is more of a harp.<br />
You don’t just hear the strings, you can<br />
distinguish the different ways the strings<br />
are played — plucked, strummed, or<br />
sometimes just touched.” The rhythm<br />
was strong, more so than with our reference.<br />
And the low frequencies, chopped<br />
right off with some systems, had depth<br />
and resonance.<br />
Because some passages of this recording<br />
are so low in volume, we appreciated
Listening Room<br />
the Audiomat’s very low noise level. “But<br />
it’s not just the noise,” said Gerard, “it’s<br />
the low-level detail. There’s black velvet<br />
down on the noise floor, and those<br />
tiny notes just pop out with amazing<br />
clarity.”<br />
Like other components, phono stages<br />
often have difficulty reproducing human<br />
voices, and especially female voices if<br />
they can’t handle high frequencies well.<br />
We figured the Audiomat would do well,<br />
and of course we were right.<br />
We listened to Mary Black’s (alas,<br />
long discontinued) No Frontiers LP. Black<br />
has a clear and powerful voice that cuts<br />
through the air effortlessly, and it can<br />
sound hard on some passages. Not here.<br />
“The hardness has been transformed<br />
into expressiveness,” said Reine, “and<br />
the text really comes out and gets to me.”<br />
Gerard agreed. “I knew this was a good<br />
recording,” he said, “but it turns out to<br />
be way better than I had suspected.”<br />
It wasn’t just Black’s voice that<br />
emerged better than ever. The double<br />
bass was rich and resonant, and the<br />
bongos were palpable. We also noticed<br />
how much clearer the harmony was.<br />
When some of the musicians sing along<br />
with Black, we could make out their<br />
individual voices. “You know what it’s<br />
like when water is so clear you can see<br />
all the way down to the bottom?” said<br />
Albert. “This is what it’s like.”<br />
We put the Phono-1.5 through the<br />
usual tests, though we know there is<br />
no common test that can predict the<br />
performance of a phono stage (that<br />
is, there are tests that can predict bad<br />
Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: Audiomat Phono 1.5<br />
Price: C$2795 (equiv. US$2070)<br />
Dimensions: 43 x 31 x 8 cm<br />
Most liked: Groundbreaking detail<br />
and sophistication<br />
Least liked: Lack of MC adjustments<br />
Verdict: The phono preamp<br />
reinvented<br />
performance, but they can’t discriminate<br />
between good and great). We did note<br />
the very low noise, but our ears had<br />
already told us about that. The curve<br />
is shown above. Most of the noise is<br />
situated around 90 dB below reference<br />
level, an astonishing performance. Even<br />
the noise at lower frequencies, including<br />
the very slight hum, is way better than<br />
one expects.<br />
With the session over, we then<br />
discussed just what we needed to do.<br />
We don’t change reference components<br />
unless it means adding enough resolution<br />
to our system that we can better evaluate<br />
other components. What’s important is<br />
not whether we would have a better standard<br />
for evaluating other phono stages,<br />
but whether we could more easily use<br />
vinyl to test loudspeakers or amplifiers,<br />
say.<br />
Our conclusion is that we could.<br />
There’s not much left in our 2004 budget<br />
for acquisitions, but this one is a must.<br />
The Audiomat Phono-1.5 is a reference<br />
quality component, and from now on<br />
it will be our reference. We do a lot of<br />
speaker and amplifier tests with vinyl, as<br />
you may know. We can hardly wait till<br />
next time!<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
I don’t even know what to say about this<br />
device. I’ve had the chance to hear a lot<br />
of phono stages, including ones far more<br />
expensive than this one. Been there, seen it,<br />
done it.<br />
Not impressed.<br />
Well, I’m impressed this time. The job a<br />
phono preamp must do is a huge challenge,<br />
and on the evidence most of them don’t do it<br />
right. The price of the Phono-1.5 may well be<br />
beyond any budget you’ll ever put together,<br />
but if it’s not you’ll know where to shop.<br />
—Gerard Rejskind<br />
You know, they’re going to say that<br />
there’s a love affair between Audiomat and<br />
me. Guilty, Your Honor !<br />
This phono section which has just joined<br />
the Audiomat family offers an impeccable<br />
spectral balance, with rare richness at the<br />
bottom, a perfectly placed midrange, and the<br />
screech-free highs every audiophile craves. I<br />
was stunned by the impact and energy it radiates.<br />
Its exemplary transparency lets through<br />
gorgeous timbres and the subtlest modulations,<br />
the nearly imperceptible effects that<br />
hide none of the artist’s sensitivity.<br />
The Phono-1.5 will give you years of<br />
listening pleasure, communicating the<br />
appropriate emotions, whether the program<br />
is light or complex, subtle or vigorous, airy<br />
or majestic.<br />
Now I’ve experienced it, I dream of it…<br />
—Reine Lessard<br />
Welcome to the rarefied air of ultra high<br />
fidelity!<br />
As someone said, it’s not crowded at the<br />
top, and if I may add my own two bits, when<br />
you’re as high as the North Pole, every direction,<br />
no matter where you turn, is south.<br />
What am I implying, that there is<br />
nothing better, that you shouldn’t consider<br />
anything else? No, of course not, since I’ve<br />
obviously not heard everything else that<br />
exists. Let’s say that I have yet to hear such<br />
a profound and unique improvement in our<br />
reference system with a substitution at such<br />
an early level in the music signal.<br />
Sounds become more focused, more real<br />
and smoothly-controlled. Transient attacks<br />
don’t pierce the air with force, they just<br />
happen swiftly, and are gone in a fraction<br />
of a blink. Details appear which reveal, for<br />
example, not only a beautiful percussive<br />
sound, but also how things were actually<br />
touched to produce the percussive sound.<br />
In other words, I could see what I was hearing.<br />
And when I heard it, I had no doubt that<br />
this was exactly how it sounded when it was<br />
recorded. Actually, this is quite rare. Most<br />
of the time, after listening tests, I end up<br />
wondering how close we were to the recording<br />
venue. This time, I knew.<br />
—Albert Simon<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 33
Listening Room<br />
Creek CD50 mkII<br />
All right, everybody knows it’s<br />
suicide to make an expensive<br />
audio product whose exterior<br />
doesn’t scream out that it’s<br />
expensive. Which is why many a company<br />
has shifted production to an OEM<br />
plant in a country you can’t visit without<br />
a dozen vaccination shots. Not Creek.<br />
Like many other contemporary<br />
players, the CD50 is built around the<br />
Philips CD12 transport. <strong>High</strong> end<br />
manufacturers whine a lot about this<br />
transport, citing both high cost (but<br />
then they would, wouldn’t they?) and<br />
sub-optimum technology. Still, a lot can<br />
be done with it if you’re clever. And Mike<br />
Creek is clever.<br />
How clever? This will be his last CD<br />
player using conventional technology. In<br />
future <strong>version</strong>s, he will use a low-cost<br />
ATA drive like the one that is probably<br />
in your computer. What you will then<br />
listen to will not be the signal read off<br />
the disc, but the information loaded<br />
into computer memory and then read<br />
off. That means the mechanical side of<br />
the player will be taken right out of the<br />
chain. Whether he can make this new<br />
scheme sound as good as this CD50<br />
remains to be seen.<br />
And this one does sound good…did<br />
we forget to mention it? Not that you’d<br />
guess that right off, because it’s difficult<br />
to guess why a player like this should cost<br />
more than, say, $300. It looks like poor<br />
value. It isn’t.<br />
The box is small and light, though the<br />
thick brushed front panel has received<br />
some care. Though there is a remote<br />
control, every function is also available<br />
on the front panel, through 11 buttons<br />
34 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
that unfortunately look exactly alike.<br />
The rear has the usual (mediocre) analog<br />
jacks plus a digital output. Ho hum. Or<br />
maybe not so ho hum when you hit the<br />
play button.<br />
We opened our session with Dvorak’s<br />
Romantic Pieces, op. 75, the new recording<br />
by superb violinist James Ehnes<br />
(Analekta FL 2 3191). It was immediately<br />
evident we had been wrong in judging<br />
the player by the box it comes in. The<br />
sound of Ehnes’ Stradivarius, which<br />
sounds about as good as you’re likely<br />
to hear a violin on CD, was superb,<br />
both smooth and silky. We could hear<br />
the bow sliding across the strings, but<br />
without harshness of exaggeration. We<br />
had no difficulty following the nuances<br />
of his playing, and there was never any<br />
confusion in the sound of the piano<br />
accompaniment.<br />
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autem nos nullaor ip eummod delesectem<br />
et ad dunt luptat. Agnibh ero ero dipisl<br />
ip etumsan henim venim dunt wis nulla<br />
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| APRIL 2 - 3 - 4, 2004 |
Listening Room<br />
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ent la feummy nosto et ercilisi.<br />
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vel utpatin ver iure modip erate dolor<br />
sit adiam, quis acilit nulputat irit ut<br />
luptat luptat laorercincil iustiss equat.<br />
Ilissectem et nis alisl in ulput lutpate<br />
minisit adit augiam, quat, vullutpat<br />
luptatum zzriurem augiam dolendipit<br />
lorer acilismod tat dolorem numsan<br />
erostion ver sis dolor acillam, ver se tat<br />
wismolo reetum iuscincin ea facin utat<br />
I’m always ready to like Creek components,<br />
because Mike Creek’s philosophy appeals<br />
to me. He doesn’t spend money trying<br />
to impress you with the way a component<br />
looks. That said, I admit my spirits took<br />
a tumble when I got this player out of the<br />
box. A couple of thousand bucks for this?<br />
My spirits bounced right back up when<br />
I got a listen to the CD50. I’m painfully<br />
aware of the flaws that afflict even good<br />
economy players, and this player hasn’t got<br />
any of them. It isn’t shrill. It isn’t veiled. It<br />
isn’t thin. It isn’t confused. It isn’t…<br />
But I’m sorry if I seem to be putting all<br />
this in negative terms, because the Creek<br />
deserves a positive appraisal. The CD50<br />
can get nearly everything off the disc and<br />
present it in a way that makes sense musically<br />
and sonically. If you want a sculpture<br />
that will wow your friends, look elsewhere.<br />
If you want to buy what may be your final<br />
CD player before some other format takes<br />
over, Mike Creek understands exactly<br />
nos dio dolent eu facip eu facincilit lut<br />
augue ea atem quat. Ut vel ut nullametue<br />
dolore tetue conummodo consed tatet at<br />
lorerillan utpat. Accum dit wisi.<br />
Ullandrer ipisi. Ommodolore vel<br />
ullandre diam, quip ea faccum iure tat<br />
Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: Creek CD50<br />
Price: C$1899 (equiv. US$1405)<br />
Dimensions: 43 x 24 x 6.5 cm<br />
Most liked: Excellent performance on<br />
every aspect<br />
Least liked: Mediocre jacks, confusing<br />
front panel<br />
Verdict: Call it a stealth CD player,<br />
but a great one<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
Our unique review system<br />
where you’re coming from.<br />
—Gerard Rejskind<br />
Three of us do reviews, so it’s easy to figure out we could<br />
three times more of them if we all did them separately.<br />
I realized I had hardly taken any notes<br />
during this listening session. No time to<br />
write when you’re absorbed in the music.<br />
This is not just another CD player, you<br />
know, it’s first and foremost a music<br />
player, a<br />
superb component with a classic, unassuming<br />
appearance. It doesn’t grab your sleeve,<br />
to say look at me, it just sits and seems to disappear<br />
in the transparency of the music.<br />
It’s hard to describe what I liked most,<br />
but I felt as though the musicians and singers<br />
were enjoying themselves more often, as<br />
though they smiled frequently and showed<br />
more expression. If you’ve had the opportunity<br />
to watch closely a choir performance<br />
you probably noticed how some singers go<br />
through their score, perfectly undisturbed,<br />
while others seem to take every syllable to<br />
heart, radically changing expression from<br />
But we haven’t done it that way for two decades. The feature<br />
of UHF that gets us the best comments — and has for many<br />
years — is the way we do tests. We have no plans to change.<br />
lummod tie consed tat lorpero od essi.<br />
Irillam consent nulla aut esent niamet<br />
utpat at estrud delestrud magnissenibh<br />
eugue elit, si.<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis<br />
nostio eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing<br />
et ipisi.<br />
Del iriliquip eniatis el ut landipit, sisis<br />
amcon ut irit luptatisi te verostio commolo<br />
rtinismodio dunt enim vel dolore<br />
tetuer augait deliquisl utat.<br />
Unt la conulla facipit ipit alis aut<br />
autet il ut dignisi etum vulla augait<br />
ipsuscipit, quat, volum acipisit ut landre<br />
velenis augait luptat lut ing ent alis nis<br />
nonsectem iuscidui tis nim zzrilit nullut<br />
nosto diametum dolorero.<br />
word to word and tone to tone, telling a story<br />
as they go along.<br />
That’s how it sounded with the Creek<br />
CD50. Now you know.<br />
—Albert Simon<br />
A sublime violin, a vocal performance<br />
that leaves you panting with unequalled<br />
trills and modulations, a mixed choir and<br />
accompaniment that is detailed and superb,<br />
a male voice with a touch of vibrato and a lot<br />
of emotion, a harp that makes you long for<br />
paradise, an orchestra with great presence<br />
whose musicians are placed in space, each<br />
with his or her individual sound…<br />
In short, you’ll be involved in every situation<br />
music can evoke. I can bet you won’t be<br />
able to resist this player, whose visual austerity<br />
hides remarkable auditory treasures. And<br />
at that price, isn’t it tempting ?<br />
—Reine Lessard<br />
36 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Listening Room<br />
Shanling SP-80<br />
Perhaps it’s logical that some of<br />
the prettiest tube gear should<br />
come from China. China, like<br />
Russia, was still making vacuum<br />
tubes when the industrialized countries<br />
had given up on this “obsolete” technology,<br />
and sent the last of the drugstore<br />
tube testers to the scrap heap. When the<br />
market for tubes opened up once again,<br />
the Chinese saw an opportunity.<br />
So that’s not really the surprise.<br />
What’s really surprising is that China<br />
selected the high end as a target as well<br />
as the (possibly) more lucrative mass<br />
market. Of course, the country’s industries<br />
are not exactly absent from the mass<br />
market…<br />
Like other Shanling products,<br />
including the CD-T100 player that<br />
graced the cover of UHF No. 66, these<br />
monoblocks do not ignore the appeal of<br />
good looks. The materials — stainless<br />
steel, copper and brass — are elegant.<br />
The fit and finish are not quite flawless<br />
(as we discovered during the photo sessions),<br />
but in normal lighting they look<br />
as they came from a Bulgari showroom.<br />
The jacks are of a quality that more<br />
upscale brands could stand to imitate.<br />
The circuit is classic: a 6SN7 buffer, a<br />
6SL7 phase inverter, and a pair of EL34<br />
output tubes in push-pull. That circuit<br />
has been around for decades. Still, there<br />
are modern touches. The monoblocks<br />
come with a remote. Why? Because<br />
there is an internal volume control.<br />
Push one of the volume buttons, and the<br />
two amplifiers go up or down together,<br />
with the volume reading (expressed in<br />
decibels below full level) in green digits<br />
in a round dial. You can shift the volume<br />
balance one way or the other by turning<br />
one of the amps up or down separately<br />
(hiding the remote from the other).<br />
Or you can connect the two amplifiers<br />
together with the supplied control cord,<br />
and they’ll move up or down in lockstep<br />
from then on.<br />
The instructions suggest setting the<br />
volume to -20 dB, but the amplifiers have<br />
a lot of gain, and the residual noise from<br />
our Copland preamplifier was all too<br />
noticeable. A setting of -30 dB gave the<br />
Shanlings the same gain as our reference<br />
amplifier, and that was what we settled<br />
on.<br />
We’re often asked why makers of high<br />
end products persist in offering them<br />
Could these gorgeous<br />
monoblocks actually<br />
get by on looks<br />
alone?<br />
with a $3 molded power cord. Shanling<br />
doesn’t. The included upscale power<br />
cords include a 15 ampere Schurter<br />
IEC connector and a Hubbel hospitalgrade<br />
AC plug. It’s a surprising bonus<br />
considering what seems like a bargain<br />
price compared to a lot of other tube<br />
amplifiers.<br />
We were disappointed that the<br />
SP-80’s are not self-biasing, and that<br />
Shanling recommends getting new tubes<br />
rebiased by a service centre.<br />
Though the twin amplifiers look<br />
great alongside each other, as in our<br />
photo, in practice they are impossible to<br />
set up that way. The input jack are placed<br />
not on the rear panel but on the right side<br />
near the front. Enough clearance must<br />
be left for the interconnect cable, and if<br />
your cable is not flexible, as ours are not,<br />
they don’t help the looks any.<br />
All amplifiers are sensitive to vibration,<br />
and tube amplifiers particularly so.<br />
The Shanlings come with shallow cones<br />
to be placed under the brass posts (not<br />
visible in our photos).<br />
We ran up some 60 hours on the<br />
amplifiers, then shifted them into our<br />
Alpha system. We did leave our Copland<br />
CTA-305 preamplifier in the circuit,<br />
though of course that’s optional. That<br />
enabled us to do the evaluation using a<br />
stack of our favorite LPs.<br />
The first one is the long discontinued<br />
Wilson Audio disc, Center Stage. This is<br />
a dazzling recording for wind band, and<br />
the lead selection, John Williams’ fanfare<br />
for the 1984 Olympics, is a veritable<br />
fireworks. It seemed somewhat toned<br />
down with the SP-80’s, with diminished<br />
impact and separation of instruments.<br />
That wasn’t because the amplifiers<br />
were rolling off the highs (as critics of<br />
the tube revival are wont to charge).<br />
On the contrary, the brass was plenty<br />
bright. The very effective tympani was<br />
rather constricted, and we all noticed it.<br />
That might not be apparent with most<br />
loudspeakers, which can’t reproduce<br />
tympani impact correctly anyway, but<br />
our reference speakers can and do.<br />
We also had praise for a lot of what we<br />
heard, particularly the excellent balance,<br />
and the warm sound of the woodwinds.<br />
By curiosity, we tried the selection again<br />
with 6 dB more volume. It sounded much<br />
as before, though of course louder.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 37
Listening Room<br />
Response<br />
D25<br />
New vitality and<br />
potency from an<br />
internationally<br />
acclaimed design<br />
Griffin Audio<br />
Box 733, Montreal, QC H4A 3S2<br />
Tel. (514) 945-8245 FAX: (514) 221-2247<br />
griffinaudio@cs.com proac-loudspeakers.com<br />
We tried the wonderful harp piece<br />
on the Professor Johnson’s Astounding<br />
Sound Show (RR-7), and we were almost<br />
but not quite happy. We admired the<br />
detail, which made even the cascades<br />
of tiny notes clean and unambiguous.<br />
The playing seemed less subtle than<br />
with our reference, however. Once again<br />
there seemed to be a problem at the very<br />
bottom end. Late in the piece, a legato<br />
passage pauses at the very bottom end of<br />
the harp’s range, and the solid resonance<br />
is a reminder of how large the classical<br />
harp is, and how low it can go. The<br />
resonance was all but absent.<br />
We should add that the Shanlings<br />
do not sound thin. On the contrary, we<br />
praised their excellent tonal balance,<br />
as well as their strong reproduction of<br />
rhythm. We couldn’t account for the<br />
performance on that one brief passage.<br />
The Shanlings also exhibited good<br />
balance on one of our favorite recordings,<br />
William Walton’s Façade. There<br />
are so many varied instruments in this<br />
superb tone poem, and so many complex<br />
counterpoints, that many systems<br />
38 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Oakville Audio, Oakville (905) 338-1188<br />
Sensation Musicale, Granby (800) 313-HIFI<br />
Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: Shanling SP-80<br />
Price: C$3249/US$2495 pair<br />
Dimensions: 21 x 47 x 18.5 cm<br />
Claimed output: 50 watts<br />
Most liked: Great value, killer looks<br />
Least liked: Some anomalies in<br />
bottom and upper midrange, awkward<br />
jack placement<br />
Verdict: It won’t knock off the tube<br />
amp makers, but it will make them<br />
think<br />
can’t find their way through without<br />
symptoms of distress. The Shanlings<br />
got pretty well all of the instrumental<br />
timbres right (still with a bit of brightness<br />
on brass, thought Gerard). The<br />
recordings’s legendary sense of space<br />
was well reproduced. Indeed, the difference<br />
between the Shanlings’ <strong>version</strong><br />
and that of our YBA reference amplifier<br />
was subtle.<br />
Still, there was a difference. This<br />
piece is supposed to be vastly entertaining,<br />
at once touching and funny. We<br />
enjoyed it more with our reference. That<br />
said, the SP-80’s performance was so<br />
good that we had difficulty putting our<br />
collective finger on the difference.<br />
How would these amplifiers cope<br />
with a female voice? Very well, it turned<br />
out. We put on Mary Black’s No Frontiers<br />
album.<br />
By now we weren’t surprised to notice<br />
that the double bass had less impact<br />
than with our reference, but everything<br />
else was decidedly right. Black’s effortlessly<br />
powerful voice rang true, the<br />
(non-trivial) text even more in evidence<br />
than with our reference amplifier. But<br />
her voice was not merely clear, it was<br />
attractive, and seemed to flow. We liked<br />
this a lot. Albert wondered whether the<br />
amplifiers might be de-emphasizing<br />
the instruments and favoring the voice,<br />
but he expressed satisfaction at what he<br />
heard.<br />
We spent some time with the celebrated<br />
Jazz at the Pawnshop LP, specifically<br />
How <strong>High</strong> the Moon. The depth and<br />
spaciousness which made this recording<br />
famous were well in evidence. There<br />
was good separation of instruments and<br />
(unfortunately) the sometimes obtrusive<br />
crowd noise. Rhythm was strong, and<br />
the music came through with satisfying<br />
energy. Pretty good.<br />
Still, the double bass had less power,<br />
as on earlier recordings. Arne Domnérus’<br />
tenor sax was warm and sensuous<br />
in its lower register, but hardened up<br />
noticeably when it moved up the scale.<br />
“It’s supposed to be solid state amplifiers<br />
that do this,” commented Gerard.<br />
We ended the session with Take the<br />
A Train from the vinyl re-release of the<br />
Ray Brown Trio’s Soular Energy. We<br />
have copies of this fine recording both<br />
on vinyl and on a Hi-Res 24/96 DVD,<br />
and we’re still trying to decide which we<br />
prefer.<br />
Ray Brown was of course a bassist,<br />
and we wondered whether his instrument<br />
would get shortchanged. Nope.<br />
Or at least not much. Albert actually<br />
preferred the Shanling <strong>version</strong>, finding<br />
the YBA amplifier’s rendition somewhat<br />
overpowering.<br />
This is a great bass recording, and the<br />
engineers at Concord Jazz have done it<br />
justice, as they have for the piano and
Listening Room<br />
drum kit. Wow! The Shanling brought<br />
out plenty of detail, and kept the rhythm<br />
solid too. The only real complaint was<br />
from Reine, who found the piano a little<br />
too forward, especially on the higher<br />
notes.<br />
We hooked up one of the monoblocks<br />
to our usual set of instruments and went<br />
looking for trouble.<br />
We didn’t find it. The Shanling’s<br />
noise floor isn’t as low as that of properly-designed<br />
solid state amplifiers, but it<br />
still allowed us to check its performance<br />
at extremely low levels. No problems<br />
turned up.<br />
The SP-80 mostly met its published<br />
power specifications, putting<br />
out 51.82 watts at 1 kHz, and only one<br />
less watt at 20 Hz, a frequency at which<br />
many tube output transformers saturate<br />
and produce horrendous distortion.<br />
Curiously, it was at 20 kHz that it ran<br />
very slightly short of power, producing<br />
47.4 watts without distortion.<br />
We should add that, in every case,<br />
the limits were indicated by a rapid<br />
increase in distortion, but not by clipping<br />
of the signal, as happens in all solid state<br />
amplifiers, and indeed even in some tube<br />
amplifiers.<br />
These gorgeous Shanling amplifiers<br />
are not quite the ultimate tube amplifiers,<br />
but we have a long list of things<br />
they do exactly as we had hoped. Detail?<br />
Plentiful. Rhythm? Strong. Tonal balance?<br />
Amazingly good. Musicality?<br />
Musicality, the ability to transmit<br />
musical values so they make sense to the<br />
human ear, is the most important of the<br />
criteria in our list. The Shanling twins<br />
win high marks there.<br />
Oh…that and value.<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
These amplifiers, two to a set, have the<br />
power to reproduce music in exemplary fashion.<br />
Though overall sound was somewhat<br />
thinner than with our reference, I appreciated<br />
its great impact, its energy, its broad<br />
emotional range, its detail, and the excellent<br />
modulations in human voices. Timbres are<br />
very pleasingly reproduced, and I heard some<br />
fine counterpoints. Following the syllables of<br />
a singer is one thing, but catching every word<br />
if the language is not your mother tongue is<br />
another, and the Shanlings afforded me that<br />
pleasure. You can hear the sound of the room<br />
just fine.<br />
There were flaws too, including a bit of<br />
timidity at the bottom, and some hardness at<br />
the top. Beyond that — and this is a highly<br />
personal observation — there’s a lack of a<br />
certain je ne sais quoi, which our reference<br />
has. Call it a touch of magic.<br />
—Reine Lessard<br />
The way the bottom end comes out of<br />
these amplifiers is a mystery to me. The very<br />
low frequencies are de-emphasized in some<br />
highly identifiable cases, yet the sound is<br />
never thin, never imbalanced. I’m not certain<br />
what’s going on. On most recordings that<br />
won’t even call attention to itself, of course,<br />
because it turns up only on certain instruments,<br />
such as the double bass…the deep<br />
stuff. The stuff that should have plenty of<br />
weight<br />
More evident, and even more surprising,<br />
is the rather un-tubey sound of the upper<br />
midrange. Yet it’s not always there. You can<br />
hear this somewhat on a saxophone, and you<br />
figure it’s going to do terribly on a female<br />
voice, and it handles it fine.<br />
It wouldn’t take much to tweak these<br />
beauties into something that glows. Indeed,<br />
other Shanling products have turned out to<br />
be hot rodders’ dreams, cheap and gorgeous,<br />
good enough to become great with a little<br />
change of tube, or some other little alterations.<br />
The SP-80 monoblocks are close to<br />
where they should be, and I bet it wouldn’t<br />
be that difficult to make them into clear<br />
winners. New shock and tires?<br />
—Gerard Rejskind<br />
They sound as good as they look, with<br />
that satin look and that warm glow, but they<br />
also have some limitations.<br />
At first I didn’t know what exactly was<br />
missing. Details in the sound of the instruments<br />
abounded, they filled the air and<br />
pushed the space around the speakers. True,<br />
I did notice a lightness in the bass register<br />
but somehow I expected that. And when the<br />
music roared and everybody on stage seemed<br />
to stand up for a loud finish, well…it did its<br />
best.<br />
So what was missing for me? Why was I<br />
not as involved in the music itself? I’m sorry<br />
to say I have no clear answers, but I have<br />
questions I think you ought to know about.<br />
But nothing is definitive, and you may react<br />
in a totally different manner.<br />
Give them a listen and find out how you<br />
respond.<br />
—Albert Simon<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 39
Listening Room<br />
Audiomat Opéra<br />
way<br />
Have you noticed that the only<br />
amplifiers Audiomat makes<br />
are integrated? We noticed<br />
it only after the listening<br />
session, when Albert thought he’d like<br />
to try one of Audiomat’s preamplifiers.<br />
Impossible!<br />
And it’s not for reasons of economy.<br />
This tube amplifier may not be quite as<br />
expensive as some separates we could<br />
name (and lust after), but if Audiomat has<br />
cut any corners we couldn’t prove it.<br />
The Opéra costs more than double<br />
the price of the Arpège, which we<br />
reviewed in our last issue. It uses the<br />
same EL34 output tubes, and it claims<br />
the same 30 watts per channel. The difference:<br />
the 30 watts are in pure class A.<br />
Does that need an explanation? Just in<br />
case it does, here goes.<br />
Most push-pull amplifiers (using<br />
two tubes or transistors for output) run<br />
in what is known as class AB: the two<br />
amplifying devices split up the task of<br />
handling the positive and negative half of<br />
the signal, but they overlap their operation<br />
somewhat, in order to minimize<br />
errors at the zero volt level, when one<br />
device hands off to the other. In class<br />
A operation, both devices run flat out<br />
all the time, to obliterate the potential<br />
anomaly. Extra energy is of course<br />
wasted, and must be dumped as heat.<br />
This is a drain on your air conditioning<br />
system (or an aid to your furnace,<br />
depending on how you choose to look at<br />
it), and when you consider that vacuum<br />
40 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
tubes throw off quantities of waste heat<br />
anyway, you realize that by choosing an<br />
amplifier like this, you’re putting music<br />
over ecology.<br />
To which you may choose to reply:<br />
(1) I want to be a good citizen, so it’s<br />
back to class D, or (2) shut up and leave<br />
me alone while the music’s playing!<br />
As we shall see, there are reasons<br />
you might swap your SUV for a Toyota<br />
Prius, to compensate for what is an exciting<br />
addition to your music system.<br />
The Opéra is large, a huge hunk<br />
of what seems to be aluminum. The<br />
two knobs are respectively for volume<br />
and selection of one of the five inputs<br />
(labelled Line 1, Line 2, etc.). The two<br />
toggle switches are for power and the<br />
tape loop.<br />
At the rear are a set of very good<br />
jacks, and six input binding posts that<br />
look like WBT’s but aren’t, to allow<br />
selecting either the 4 or ohm output.<br />
There are two complete sets, to make<br />
biwiring easy.<br />
Inside, the circuit includes a 12AX7<br />
dual triode as an input amplifier and<br />
buffer, a pair of 12AU7 dual triodes as<br />
phase inverters and drivers, and finally<br />
In this case, “class<br />
A” refers to more<br />
than the principle of<br />
operation.<br />
the EL34 push-pull output tubes.<br />
The amplifier comes<br />
with a remote control, with<br />
buttons for volume and<br />
muting. Being an Audiomat<br />
product, even this is not a<br />
generic remote. There are<br />
buttons for fast volume adjustment,<br />
so you can get where<br />
you’re going in a hurry, and<br />
others for fine adjustments.<br />
Instead of the ubiquitous mute<br />
button, the remote has a “mute<br />
on” button, with a separate “mute off”<br />
button that is red and slightly recessed,<br />
like the record button on a VCR, so that<br />
it won’t be pressed accidentally. And<br />
since the volume knob is motorized,<br />
the Opéra turns its own volume all the<br />
way down while it’s warming up. This<br />
is a bit of a nuisance for reviewers like<br />
us: to be sure to keep the same volume,<br />
any time we turned the amplifier off we<br />
had to hold the volume knob in place<br />
during warmup. The volume knob is<br />
unlabelled, and instead of covering an<br />
arc from 7 o’clock to 5 o’clock, it goes<br />
from 5 to 3. In a number of ways, the<br />
Audiomat is a different world.<br />
Our sample was supplied not with the<br />
usual junk power cord, but an Actinote<br />
CS150 cord (C$490/US$370) with two<br />
conspicuous filter pods on its length.<br />
When we tried substituting our usual<br />
Foundation Research LC-2 filter, which<br />
of course replaces the power cord, the<br />
Opéra buzzed. Even odder is this: when<br />
we tried the Actinote cord on a Shanling<br />
amplifier, the Shanling buzzed! We didn’t<br />
investigate further.<br />
Our Opéra arrived well broken in, but<br />
we made sure it was good and warm —<br />
make that good and hot — before we<br />
connected it to our Alpha system. We<br />
ran our CD player directly into one of<br />
the inputs, bypassing both our own amp<br />
and preamp.<br />
We opened with the newest disc<br />
from the fabulous young violinist James<br />
Ehnes, playing Dvorak’s Romantic Pieces,<br />
op. 75 (Analekta FL 2 3191). We figured<br />
it would sound good…but perhaps not<br />
quite this good.<br />
The violin sound on this recording<br />
is among the best we have heard on CD,<br />
with a natural silkiness that caught our<br />
attention right off. Even Albert, who
Listening Room<br />
finds most violin recordings unnaturally<br />
bright, was impressed by this rendition.<br />
The piano was soft, and yet always clear.<br />
The dynamic palette was broad, the<br />
rhythm light. “Did it run shorter this<br />
time?” asked Gerard. “It just seemed to<br />
be over in a flash.”<br />
Lutat, venis numsan velenit ex eu<br />
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modiam iusciliquat voloborperit lore<br />
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vullaore exerius cilluptat prat volum<br />
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et ad dunt luptat. Agnibh ero ero dipisl<br />
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Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: Audiomat Opéra<br />
Price: C$7490/US$5690<br />
Dimensions: 44.5 x 44 x 19 cm<br />
Claimed power: 30 watts per channel<br />
Most liked: Virtuoso musical<br />
performance<br />
Least liked: Incompatible with the<br />
Kyoto accord<br />
Verdict: Ever wonder why these<br />
people don’t bother making separates?<br />
1558 King St. E.<br />
Hamilton, ON L8K 1T2<br />
Tel. (905) 548-6026<br />
FAX: (905) 549-4636<br />
adist@alliedtvandsound.com<br />
www.radaudio.com<br />
VINTAGE TUBE AMPLIFIERS & PREAMPS<br />
built with the finest parts available today<br />
DEALER INQUIRIES<br />
INVITED<br />
FULL TIME ELECTRICAL<br />
ENGINEER<br />
ON STAFF<br />
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commodiat pratumm odolobo rpercin<br />
ent la feummy nosto et ercilisi.<br />
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minisit adit augiam, quat, vullutpat<br />
luptatum zzriurem augiam dolendipit<br />
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erostion ver sis dolor acillam, ver se tat<br />
wismolo reetum iuscincin ea facin utat<br />
nos dio dolent eu facip eu facincilit lut<br />
augue ea atem quat. Ut vel ut nullametue<br />
dolore tetue conummodo consed tatet at<br />
lorerillan utpat. Accum dit wisi.<br />
Ullandrer ipisi. Ommodolore vel<br />
ullandre diam, quip ea faccum iure tat<br />
lummod tie consed tat lorpero od essi.<br />
Irillam consent nulla aut esent niamet<br />
utpat at estrud delestrud magnissenibh<br />
eugue elit, si.<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis<br />
nostio eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing<br />
et ipisi.<br />
Bor sit accum am, quatio odolorper<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 41
iliquat ate consendipit, venim nosto<br />
consequam nulla cortie te diam dolore<br />
molum zzril exeros nullutpatue cortis<br />
augueriurem eraessectet, susto od modolut<br />
velismod molobore enibh ex euguerit<br />
lore tem niscili smodiatum eum vullut<br />
nonsequisl eu feu faccum nim nibh er<br />
sustrud min ut lor sum nim ipit nostie feu<br />
feum nulput ulla at ulput ulla conulput<br />
nibh eniat.<br />
Del iriliquip eniatis el ut landipit, sisis<br />
amcon ut irit luptatisi te verostio commolo<br />
rtinismodio dunt enim vel dolore<br />
tetuer augait deliquisl utat.<br />
Unt la conulla facipit ipit alis aut<br />
autet il ut dignisi etum vulla augait<br />
ipsuscipit, quat, volum acipisit ut landre<br />
velenis augait luptat lut ing ent alis nis<br />
nonsectem iuscidui tis nim zzrilit nullut<br />
nosto diametum dolorero conum ing<br />
eraestis aliquam, corem dui blaore feugiam,<br />
vendit ipsuscillaor ing endrer sim<br />
zzriustisl eliquat illumsandit aut lummy<br />
num nim ea augue magna ad dipit,<br />
conum zzriliquisl irilit acil dolor sum<br />
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ver iure modip erate dolor sit adiam, quis<br />
acilit nulputat irit ut luptat luptat laorercincil<br />
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nullametue dolore tetue conummodo consed<br />
tatet at lorerillan utpat. Accum dit wisi.<br />
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diam, quip ea faccum iure tat lummod<br />
tie consed tat lorpero od essi.<br />
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at estrud delestrud magnissenibh eugue<br />
elit, si.<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis nostio<br />
eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing et<br />
ipisi.<br />
Bor sit accum am, quatio odolorper<br />
d o l o r e<br />
digna feu<br />
f e u g i a m ,<br />
sum eugiamet,<br />
quisim zzrillam<br />
velisci llummodigna<br />
feu feui<br />
tat nim alis augiate<br />
core dunt velismod ea<br />
am, sequipis nosto consenit lor sim diam,<br />
quametum zzriliqui blam dolore do<br />
commy nim quiscilisit autet wisi etummy<br />
nim iuscil dipit lobortie modiam iusciliquat<br />
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corpera estrud te tie tinisim vullut nullan<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
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nulla cortie te diam dolore molum<br />
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faccum nim nibh er sustrud min ut lor sum<br />
nim ipit nostie feu feum nulput ulla at ulput<br />
ulla conulput nibh eniat.<br />
Del iriliquip eniatis el ut landipit, sisis<br />
amcon ut irit luptatisi te verostio commolo<br />
rtinismodio dunt enim vel dolore tetuer<br />
augait deliquisl utat.<br />
Unt la conulla facipit ipit alis aut autet il<br />
ut dignisi etum vulla augait ipsuscipit, quat,<br />
volum acipisit ut landre velenis augait luptat<br />
lut ing ent alis nis nonsectem iuscidui tis<br />
nim zzrilit nullut nosto diametum dolorero<br />
conum ing eraestis aliquam, corem dui<br />
blaore feugiam, vendit ipsuscillaor ing endrer<br />
sim zzriustisl eliquat illumsandit aut lummy<br />
num nim ea augue magna ad dipit, conum<br />
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feu feugiam, sum eugiamet, quisim zzrillam<br />
velisci llummodigna feu feui tat nim alis<br />
v e n -<br />
drem zzrit vullaore<br />
exerius cilluptat prat<br />
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vulla facipsummy nostrud tem alit ullut<br />
veros autem nos nullaor ip eummod<br />
delesectem et ad dunt luptat. Agnibh ero<br />
ero dipisl ip etumsan henim venim dunt<br />
wis nulla feugue magnisisse conum do<br />
ea feugiam, quatie tis duismol orperosto<br />
essi.<br />
augiate core dunt velismod ea am, sequipis<br />
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autet wisi etummy nim iuscil dipit<br />
lobortie modiam iusciliquat voloborperit<br />
lore consequ issequat, corpera estrud te tie<br />
tinisim vullut nullan vendrem zzrit vullaore<br />
exerius cilluptat prat volum zzrit lum quissit<br />
adipit augait vulla facipsummy nostrud tem<br />
alit ullut veros autem nos nullaor ip eummod<br />
delesectem et ad dunt luptat. Agnibh ero ero<br />
dipisl ip etumsan henim venim dunt wis nulla<br />
feugue magnisisse conum do ea feugiam,<br />
quatie tis duismol orperosto essi.<br />
Ignisisl ing ex ent volor si.<br />
Ilissi. Putpat, velessim zzriure riureet ad<br />
miniam, vel dolortie te dunt doloreet, quam<br />
quat aliquisse feum zzrilis num nosto cor si<br />
ex erat wisisi blamcon sectem zzrit adio dunt<br />
dolenim digniat ing ea commodiat pratumm<br />
odolobo rpercin ent la feummy nosto et<br />
ercilisi.<br />
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Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis nostio<br />
eratismod tem venit .<br />
42 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Listening Room<br />
Connoisseur SE-2<br />
The first question: where is<br />
this new tube amplifier really<br />
made? The ads say “Handcrafted<br />
in Canada,” but the<br />
SE-2 appears to be a dead ringer for the<br />
Opera 3500, which is made in China.<br />
Connoisseur Audio acknowledges that<br />
the chassis and some other exterior<br />
aspects do come from Opera, but that<br />
the innards are quite different.<br />
Specifically, the amplifier is put<br />
together with superior quality parts:<br />
Allen-Bradley resistors, Mallory and<br />
Rubicon capacitors with military specs,<br />
and OFC unshielded internal wiring.<br />
Even the wood sides are different:<br />
they’re solid cherrywood rather than<br />
chipboard.<br />
The “SE” part of the model name<br />
refers to the “single-ended” operation.<br />
Instead of using a pair of tubes in pushpull<br />
configuration to reproduce the<br />
output signal, the SE-2 uses a single<br />
300B tube to do all the work. There are<br />
down sides to this: harmonic distortion,<br />
(especially even harmonics) is higher<br />
than with push-pull, and the power is<br />
low as well: a mere 9 watts per channel.<br />
The up side is that the output wave can<br />
be made perfectly symmetrical, since<br />
only one tube is doing the job. This<br />
advantage is likely to be most noticeable<br />
at low level.<br />
The amplifier is visually attractive.<br />
It is simple in the extreme, with only a<br />
source selector and a volume knob on the<br />
front. The rear jacks and binding posts<br />
are of satisfactory quality. The SE-2<br />
comes with a remote, for volume only.<br />
The jacks can accommodate three inputs<br />
and the binding posts allow a choice of<br />
the 4 or 8 ohm output.<br />
All tube amplifiers radiate heat, of<br />
course, and that can be awkward in<br />
midsummer. The SE-2 runs cooler than<br />
most, since it has two output tubes rather<br />
than four or more. Though it comes with<br />
a metal cage to protect your fingers, it’s<br />
unlikely you’ll be courting severe burns<br />
if you leave it off, as we did.<br />
The available power being what it<br />
is, we hesitated before choosing which<br />
of our two main reference systems we<br />
would try it in. Nine watts is not a lot,<br />
and so the logical speakers to use would<br />
be the Reference 3a Supremas we use in<br />
our Omega system. With the subwoofers<br />
disconnected they are easy to drive, with<br />
an excellent efficiency of 91 dB. Then<br />
again, the Omega system is in a large<br />
room, requiring good volume. The<br />
Alpha system’s speakers are rated at just<br />
Only 9 watts, but<br />
what if they’re the<br />
right watts?<br />
88 dB, but the room is quite a lot smaller.<br />
We finally chose that system. For a guide<br />
to speaker efficiency, see our sidebar,<br />
Efficiency and Power on the next page.<br />
We did of course expect that we<br />
would be able to reach the SE-2’s power<br />
limits with comparative ease. This<br />
amplifier is intended for use with very<br />
efficient speakers. Fortunately, it is not<br />
uncommon to find speakers rated at<br />
94 dB, or even 104 dB!<br />
Since this is an integrated amplifier,<br />
we connected our reference CD player<br />
directly to it, and pulled out a few discs.<br />
We began with a new violin recording<br />
whose sound is unusually natural, featuring<br />
violinist James Ehnes (Analekta<br />
FL 2 3191). The SE-2 seemed to have<br />
little difficulty driving our speakers.<br />
Indeed, Reine commented on how clean<br />
the violin was, not at all what you’d<br />
expect from an amplifier that is about to<br />
go over the top. We could hear the sound<br />
of the bow slipping across the strings,<br />
and Ehnes’ considerable virtuosity was<br />
in good evidence. The piano sounded<br />
natural as well. “I liked it,” said Gerard,<br />
“though I think the sound is a little<br />
glossier than with our own electronics.<br />
Still, it never gets fuzzy.”<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis nostio<br />
eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing et<br />
ipisi.<br />
Lutat, venis numsan velenit ex eu<br />
faccummy num at volorperos amcore<br />
vel utpatin ver iure modip erate dolor<br />
sit adiam, quis acilit nulputat irit ut<br />
luptat luptat laorercincil iustiss equat.<br />
Ilissectem et nis alisl in ulput lutpate<br />
minisit adit augiam, quat, vullutpat<br />
luptatum zzriurem augiam dolendipit<br />
lorer acilismod tat dolorem numsan<br />
erostion ver sis dolor acillam, ver se tat<br />
wismolo reetum iuscincin ea facin utat<br />
nos dio dolent eu facip eu facincilit lut<br />
augue ea atem quat. Ut vel ut nullametue<br />
dolore tetue conummodo consed tatet at<br />
lorerillan utpat. Accum dit wisi.<br />
Ullandrer ipisi. Ommodolore vel<br />
ullandre diam, quip ea faccum iure tat<br />
lummod tie consed tat lorpero od essi.<br />
Irillam consent nulla aut esent niamet<br />
utpat at estrud delestrud magnissenibh<br />
eugue elit, si.<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 43
Listening Room<br />
Efficiency and Power<br />
How much amplifier power you need depends on how efficient your speakers<br />
are. Nearly all speakers have an efficiency rating, expressed in decibels. However<br />
not everyone is clear on what this means.<br />
Suppose a speaker is rated at a 92 dB efficiency (or sensitivity, as it also called).<br />
This means that if you feed one watt of power into it at a frequency of 1 kHz, the<br />
sound pressure level one meter in front of the speaker will be 92 dB. We should<br />
add that some rooms will “help” the speaker along, which means the rating system<br />
is not quite standard.<br />
Now here’s how to compare efficiencies. A change in power of 2-to-1 corresponds<br />
to 3 dB. And so a 92 dB speaker will make four times as much sound for a given<br />
signal as an 86 dB speaker. Another way of expressing it is to say that 15 watts into<br />
the 92 dB speaker is like 60 watts into the 86 dB speaker.<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis<br />
nostio eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing<br />
et ipisi.<br />
Bor sit accum am, quatio odolorper<br />
iliquat ate consendipit, venim nosto<br />
consequam nulla cortie te diam dolore<br />
molum zzril exeros nullutpatue cortis<br />
augueriurem eraessectet, susto od modolut<br />
velismod molobore enibh ex euguerit<br />
lore tem niscili smodiatum eum vullut<br />
nonsequisl eu feu faccum nim nibh er<br />
sustrud min ut lor sum nim ipit nostie feu<br />
feum nulput ulla at ulput ulla conulput<br />
nibh eniat.<br />
Del iriliquip eniatis el ut landipit, sisis<br />
amcon ut irit luptatisi te verostio commolo<br />
rtinismodio dunt enim vel dolore<br />
tetuer augait deliquisl utat.<br />
Unt la conulla facipit ipit alis aut<br />
autet il ut dignisi etum vulla augait<br />
ipsuscipit, quat, volum acipisit ut landre<br />
velenis augait luptat lut ing ent alis nis<br />
nonsectem iuscidui tis nim zzrilit nullut<br />
Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: Connoisseur SE-2<br />
Price: C$3899 (equiv. US$2905)<br />
Dimensions: 45 x 40 x 21 cm<br />
Rated power: 9 watts per channel<br />
Ilissi. Putpat, velessim zzriure riureet ad<br />
miniam, vel dolortie te dunt doloreet,<br />
quam quat aliquisse feum zzrilis num<br />
nosto cor si ex erat wisisi blamcon<br />
sectem zzrit adio dunt dolenim digniat<br />
ing ea commodiat pratumm.<br />
nosto diametum dolorero conum ing<br />
eraestis aliquam, corem dui blaore feugiam,<br />
vendit ipsuscillaor ing endrer sim<br />
zzriustisl eliquat illumsandit aut lummy<br />
num nim ea augue magna ad dipit,<br />
conum zzriliquisl irilit acil dolor sum<br />
dolore digna feu feugiam, sum eugiamet,<br />
quisim zzrillam velisci llummodigna<br />
feu feui tat nim alis augiate core dunt<br />
velismod ea am, sequipis nosto consenit<br />
lor sim diam, quametum zzriliqui blam<br />
dolore do commy nim quiscilisit autet<br />
wisi etummy nim iuscil dipit lobortie<br />
modiam iusciliquat voloborperit lore<br />
consequ issequat, corpera estrud te tie<br />
tinisim vullut nullan vendrem zzrit<br />
vullaore exerius cilluptat prat volum<br />
zzrit lum quissit adipit augait vulla<br />
facipsummy nostrud tem alit ullut veros<br />
autem nos nullaor ip eummod delesectem<br />
et ad dunt luptat. Agnibh ero ero dipisl<br />
ip etumsan henim venim dunt wis nulla<br />
feugue magnisisse conum do ea feugiam,<br />
quatie tis duismol orperosto essi.<br />
Ignisisl ing ex ent volor si.<br />
Ilissi. Putpat, velessim zzriure riureet<br />
ad miniam, vel dolortie te dunt doloreet,<br />
quam quat aliquisse feum zzrilis num<br />
nosto cor si ex erat wisisi blamcon sectem<br />
zzrit adio dunt dolenim digniat ing ea<br />
commodiat pratumm odolobo rpercin<br />
ent la feummy nosto et ercilisi.<br />
Eriliquisit praestio dolobor iustisi.<br />
Del iriliquip eniatis el ut landipit, sisis<br />
amcon ut irit luptatisi.<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
Lutat, venis numsan velenit ex eu faccummy<br />
num at volorperos amcore vel utpatin<br />
ver iure modip erate dolor sit adiam, quis<br />
acilit nulputat irit ut luptat luptat laorercincil<br />
iustiss equat. Ilissectem et nis alisl in ulput<br />
lutpate minisit adit augiam, quat, vullutpat<br />
luptatum zzriurem augiam dolendipit lorer<br />
acilismod tat dolorem numsan erostion ver<br />
sis dolor acillam, ver se tat wismolo reetum<br />
iuscincin ea facin utat nos dio dolent eu facip<br />
eu facincilit lut augue ea atem quat. Ut vel ut<br />
nullametue dolore tetue conummodo consed<br />
tatet at lorerillan utpat. Accum dit wisi.<br />
Ullandrer ipisi. Ommodolore vel ullandre<br />
diam, quip ea faccum iure tat lummod<br />
tie consed tat lorpero od essi.<br />
Irillam consent nulla aut esent niamet utpat<br />
at estrud delestrud magnissenibh eugue<br />
elit, si.<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis nostio<br />
eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing et<br />
ipisi.<br />
Bor sit accum am, quatio odolorper<br />
iliquat ate consendipit, venim nosto consequam<br />
nulla cortie te diam dolore molum<br />
zzril exeros nullutpatue cortis augueriurem<br />
eraessectet, susto od modolut velismod<br />
molobore enibh ex euguerit lore tem niscili<br />
smodiatum eum vullut nonsequisl eu feu<br />
faccum nim nibh er sustrud min ut lor sum<br />
nim ipit nostie feu feum nulput ulla at ulput<br />
ulla conulput nibh eniat.<br />
Del iriliquip eniatis el ut landipit, sisis<br />
amcon ut irit luptatisi te verostio commolo<br />
rtinismodio dunt enim vel dolore tetuer<br />
augait deliquisl utat.<br />
Unt la conulla facipit ipit alis aut autet il<br />
ut dignisi etum vulla augait ipsuscipit, quat,<br />
volum acipisit ut landre velenis augait luptat<br />
lut ing ent alis nis nonsectem iuscidui tis<br />
nim zzrilit nullut nosto diametum dolorero<br />
conum ing eraestis aliquam, corem dui<br />
blaore feugiam, vendit ipsuscillaor ing endrer<br />
sim zzriustisl eliquat illumsandit aut lummy<br />
num nim ea augue magna ad dipit, conum<br />
zzriliquisl irilit acil dolor sum dolore digna<br />
feu feugiam, sum eugiamet.<br />
44 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Copland CSA29<br />
We’ve done a lot of reviews<br />
at UHF over the past<br />
twenty-some years, but<br />
there are some reviews<br />
you just don’t forget.<br />
It was 1996. Copland was then a new<br />
brand, but we already knew it was a good<br />
one. Its CTA-301 preamplifier had been<br />
so exceptional we had bought one (we<br />
own two Copland preamps to this day).<br />
We were spending the day with the<br />
company’s tube integrated amplifier, the<br />
CTA-401. It didn’t really look like a tube<br />
amplifier, with its tubes (including four<br />
EL34 output tubes) well hidden under<br />
its metal cover. Indeed, it looked like a<br />
taller <strong>version</strong> of the preamplifier.<br />
But oh, the sound!<br />
Our conclusion was that the 401<br />
“delivered the promise of tubes on a<br />
(relative) budget.” In that particular session,<br />
we had invited one of our readers to<br />
sit in, something we then did occasionally.<br />
His last words as he walked out: “A<br />
year from now, I’m going to own one of<br />
those.”<br />
Fast forward to the present day.<br />
The CTA-401 is no more. It is replaced<br />
by this one, whose solid state output<br />
section not only runs cooler but also<br />
delivers nearly triple the power of its<br />
predecessor. Tubes are still used in the<br />
preamplifier section, however. Like the<br />
earlier amplifier, the CSA29 looks like<br />
a stretched <strong>version</strong> of the preamplifier,<br />
with identical controls, and with the<br />
same remote. And if you compensate<br />
for eight years of inflation, it is actually<br />
slightly cheaper.<br />
Like other Copland products, it is<br />
austere in appearance, but well finished.<br />
The LED screen is useful if you can see<br />
it, but it is dim in full light (our photographer<br />
used a double exposure to make<br />
the screen visible in our picture). The<br />
jacks are, as usual, not the best, and the<br />
binding posts are just adequate.<br />
Would a hybrid design beat tubes?<br />
Let’s see.<br />
On the violin recording, James Ehnes<br />
playing Dvorak’s Romantic Pieces, op.75,<br />
the violin sounded quite clear, and<br />
reasonably smooth too. Gerard noted<br />
that the “resinous” nature of the strings<br />
could be heard, and yet… As we listened<br />
longer we could hear that the recording’s<br />
astonishing magic was considerably<br />
reduced, as was all sense of 3-D space.<br />
“It’s clear,” said Albert, “but it’s veiled<br />
too.”<br />
Albert was quite pleased with our<br />
vocal recording (soprano Karina Gauvin<br />
singing an aria from Handel’s Alcina),<br />
but he admitted he had been expecting<br />
the worst. Not that what we heard was<br />
very good. The percussive syllables on<br />
Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: Copland CSA29<br />
Price: C$3995/US$2800<br />
Dimensions: 43 x 42 x 11 cm<br />
Claimed power: 85 watts per channel<br />
Inputs: 4 high level plus MM phono<br />
Ilissi. Putpat, velessim zzriure riureet ad<br />
miniam, vel dolortie te dunt doloreet,<br />
quam quat aliquisse feum zzrilis num<br />
nosto cor si ex erat wisisi.<br />
the aria Barbara seemed to be flung<br />
in our faces. Reine disliked the piece<br />
intensely. Gerard was perplexed. “It’s<br />
not bright or shrill,” he said, “but there’s<br />
something wrong with the highs. Only<br />
I’m not sure what.”<br />
Lutat, venis numsan velenit ex eu<br />
faccummy num at volorperos amcore<br />
vel utpatin ver iure modip erate dolor<br />
sit adiam, quis acilit nulputat irit ut<br />
luptat luptat laorercincil iustiss equat.<br />
Ilissectem et nis alisl in ulput lutpate<br />
minisit adit augiam, quat, vullutpat<br />
luptatum zzriurem augiam dolendipit<br />
lorer acilismod tat dolorem numsan<br />
erostion ver sis dolor acillam, ver se tat<br />
wismolo reetum iuscincin ea facin utat<br />
nos dio dolent eu facip eu facincilit lut<br />
augue ea atem quat. Ut vel ut nullametue<br />
dolore tetue conummodo consed tatet at<br />
lorerillan utpat. Accum dit wisi.<br />
Ullandrer ipisi. Ommodolore vel<br />
ullandre diam, quip ea faccum iure tat<br />
lummod tie consed tat lorpero od essi.<br />
Irillam consent nulla aut esent niamet<br />
utpat at estrud delestrud magnissenibh<br />
eugue elit, si.<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis<br />
nostio eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing<br />
et ipisi.<br />
Bor sit accum am, quatio odolorper<br />
iliquat ate consendipit, venim nosto<br />
consequam nulla cortie te diam dolore<br />
molum zzril exeros nullutpatue cortis<br />
augueriurem eraessectet, susto od modolut<br />
velismod molobore enibh ex euguerit<br />
lore tem niscili smodiatum eum vullut<br />
nonsequisl eu feu faccum nim nibh er<br />
sustrud min ut lor sum nim ipit nostie feu<br />
feum nulput ulla at ulput ulla conulput<br />
nibh eniat.<br />
Del iriliquip eniatis el ut landipit, sisis<br />
amcon ut irit luptatisi te verostio commolo<br />
rtinismodio dunt enim vel dolore<br />
tetuer augait deliquisl utat.<br />
Unt la conulla facipit ipit alis aut<br />
autet il ut dignisi etum vulla augait<br />
ipsuscipit, quat, volum acipisit ut landre<br />
velenis augait luptat lut ing ent alis nis<br />
nonsectem iuscidui tis nim zzrilit nullut<br />
nosto diametum dolorero conum ing<br />
eraestis aliquam, corem dui blaore feugiam,<br />
vendit ipsuscillaor ing endrer sim<br />
zzriustisl eliquat illumsandit aut lummy<br />
num nim ea augue magna ad dipit,<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 45
Listening Room<br />
conum zzriliquisl irilit acil dolor sum<br />
dolore digna feu feugiam, sum eugiamet,<br />
quisim zzrillam velisci llummodigna<br />
feu feui tat nim alis augiate core dunt<br />
velismod ea am, sequipis nosto consenit<br />
lor sim diam, quametum zzriliqui blam<br />
dolore do commy nim quiscilisit autet<br />
wisi etummy nim iuscil dipit lobortie<br />
modiam iusciliquat voloborperit lore<br />
consequ issequat, corpera estrud te tie<br />
tinisim vullut nullan vendrem zzrit<br />
vullaore exerius cilluptat prat volum<br />
zzrit lum quissit adipit augait vulla<br />
facipsummy nostrud tem alit ullut veros<br />
CROSSTALK<br />
autem nos nullaor ip eummod delesectem<br />
et ad dunt luptat. Agnibh ero ero dipisl<br />
ip etumsan henim venim dunt wis nulla<br />
feugue magnisisse conum do ea feugiam,<br />
quatie tis duismol orperosto essi.<br />
Ignisisl ing ex ent volor si.<br />
Ilissi. Putpat.<br />
Lutat, venis numsan velenit ex eu faccummy<br />
num at volorperos amcore vel utpatin<br />
ver iure modip erate dolor sit adiam, quis<br />
acilit nulputat irit ut luptat luptat laorercincil<br />
iustiss equat. Ilissectem et nis alisl in ulput<br />
lutpate minisit adit augiam, quat, vullutpat<br />
luptatum zzriurem augiam dolendipit lorer<br />
acilismod tat dolorem numsan erostion ver<br />
sis dolor acillam, ver se tat wismolo reetum<br />
iuscincin ea facin utat nos dio dolent eu facip<br />
eu facincilit lut augue ea atem quat. Ut vel ut<br />
nullametue dolore tetue conummodo consed<br />
tatet at lorerillan utpat. Accum dit wisi.<br />
Ullandrer ipisi. Ommodolore vel ullandre<br />
diam, quip ea faccum iure tat lummod<br />
tie consed tat lorpero od essi.<br />
Irillam consent nulla aut esent niamet utpat<br />
at estrud delestrud magnissenibh eugue<br />
elit, si.<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis nostio<br />
eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing et<br />
ipisi.<br />
Bor sit accum am, quatio odolorper<br />
iliquat ate consendipit, venim nosto consequam<br />
nulla cortie te diam dolore molum<br />
zzril exeros nullutpatue cortis augueriurem<br />
eraessectet, susto od modolut velismod<br />
molobore enibh ex euguerit lore tem niscili<br />
smodiatum eum vullut nonsequisl eu feu<br />
faccum nim nibh er sustrud min ut lor sum<br />
nim ipit nostie feu feum nulput ulla at ulput<br />
ulla conulput nibh eniat.<br />
Del iriliquip eniatis el ut landipit, sisis<br />
amcon ut irit luptatisi te verostio commolo<br />
rtinismodio dunt enim vel dolore tetuer<br />
augait deliquisl utat.<br />
Unt la conulla facipit ipit alis aut autet il<br />
ut dignisi etum vulla augait ipsuscipit, quat,<br />
volum acipisit ut landre velenis augait luptat<br />
lut ing ent alis nis nonsectem iuscidui tis<br />
nim zzrilit nullut nosto diametum dolorero<br />
conum ing eraestis aliquam, corem dui<br />
blaore feugiam, vendit ipsuscillaor ing endrer<br />
sim zzriustisl eliquat illumsandit aut lummy<br />
num nim ea augue magna ad dipit, conum<br />
zzriliquisl irilit acil dolor sum dolore digna<br />
feu feugiam.<br />
The UHF Reference Systems<br />
The Alpha system<br />
Our original reference is installed in a<br />
room with extraordinary acoustics (originally<br />
designed as a recording studio). The acoustics<br />
allow us to hear what we can’t hear elsewhere.<br />
CD Transport: Parasound C/BD2000<br />
(belt-driven transport designed by CEC).<br />
Digital-to-analog converter: Counterpoint<br />
DA-10A, with HDCD card.<br />
Turntable: Audiomeca J-1<br />
Tone arm: Audiomeca SL-5<br />
Step-up transformer: Bryston TF-1<br />
Pickup: Goldring Excel<br />
Preamplifier: Copland CTA-305 tube<br />
preamp<br />
Power amplifier: YBA One HC<br />
Loudspeakers: 3a MS-5<br />
Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1,<br />
Wireworld Equinox/WBT<br />
Loudspeaker cables: Wireworld Eclipse<br />
II with WBT bananas<br />
Power cords: Gutwire, Wireworld Stratus<br />
AC filters: Foundation Research LC-2<br />
(power amp), Inouye SPLC.<br />
46 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
The Omega system<br />
It serves for reviews of gear that cannot<br />
easily fit into the Alpha system, with its small<br />
room.<br />
CD player: shared with the Alpha system<br />
Turntable: Alphason Sonata<br />
Tone arm: Alphason HR-100S MCS<br />
Step-up transformer: Bryston TF-1<br />
Pickup: Goldring Excel<br />
Preamplifier: Copland CTA-305 tube<br />
preamp<br />
Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon W-5<br />
Loudspeakers: Reference 3a Suprema II<br />
Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1.<br />
Wireworld Equinox<br />
Loudspeaker cables: Pierre Gabriel<br />
ML-1 (formerly L3), for most of the<br />
range, Wireworld Polaris for the twin<br />
subwoofers.<br />
Power cords: Wireworld Aurora<br />
AC filters: Foundation Research LC-1<br />
The Kappa system<br />
This is our home theatre system. As with<br />
the Alpha system, we had limited space for the<br />
Kappa system, and that ruled out huge projectors<br />
and two-meter screens. We did, however,<br />
finally come up with a system whose performance<br />
gladdens both eye and ear, and which<br />
has the needed resolution to serve for reviews.<br />
HDTV monitor: Hitachi 43UWX10B<br />
CRT-based rear projector<br />
DVD player: Simaudio Moon Stellar with<br />
Faroudja Stingray video processor<br />
Preamplifier/processor: Simaudio Moon<br />
Attraction, 5.1 channel <strong>version</strong><br />
Power amplifiers: Simaudio Moon W-3<br />
(main speakers), Celeste 4070se (centre<br />
speaker), Robertson 4010 (rear)<br />
Main speakers: Energy Reference Connoisseur<br />
Centre speaker: Thiel MCS1, on UHF’s<br />
own TV-top platform<br />
Rear speakers: Elipson 1400<br />
Subwoofer: 3a Design Acoustics sub<br />
Cables: Wireworld Equinox and Atlantis,<br />
Wireworld Starlight video cables<br />
Power cables and line filters: Wireworld<br />
Aurora cables, Foundation Research LC1<br />
line filters
Listening Room<br />
GutWire NotePad<br />
Does vibration have an impact<br />
on audio equipment? It can<br />
have, and there are two<br />
potential sources of vibration.<br />
One is the outside world, and<br />
especially the sound coming from the<br />
speakers. The other is the equipment<br />
itself. Motors and transformers vibrate,<br />
and the vibrations can shake up the<br />
whole unit.<br />
Of course turntables are the most<br />
vulnerable to vibration, because a turntable<br />
is actually a vibration-detection<br />
device: it turns vibrations into electrical<br />
signals that can be amplified and reproduced<br />
as sound. CD players would seem<br />
to be immune from this problem, since<br />
they recover digital information, not<br />
analog. In fact even they are vulnerable.<br />
On nearly all players, we can measure<br />
the jitter (the time-based error) while we<br />
tap the player or even the table next to<br />
it. The jitter shoots up. As for electronic<br />
gear…well, potentially even a solder joint<br />
can act like a microphone.<br />
In UHF No. 65 we reviewed a<br />
number of items claiming to isolate<br />
equipment from vibration. Now here’s<br />
another: the GutWire NotePad. The<br />
NotePad is a nice little bag filled with a<br />
gel-like material. You can place two or<br />
more of them under a piece of equipment<br />
(each can support up to 10 kg), or you<br />
can place them atop a piece of equipment…useful<br />
if the cover rings like a<br />
bell, as it sometimes does.<br />
In the past we have tested such<br />
devices with CD players, and that’s what<br />
we did this time too. We began with our<br />
Parasound CD transport, placing three<br />
of the NotePads under it, shifting them<br />
so that the transport remained level.<br />
The effect was not detectable. We then<br />
tried placing them atop the transport,<br />
positioning one right atop the plexiglas<br />
cover of the disc well (GutWire’s suggestion).<br />
Once again we couldn’t hear a<br />
difference.<br />
We weren’t too perturbed, because<br />
we know our transport is already welldamped<br />
against vibration: it has a<br />
suspended transport and belt-drive<br />
besides. What’s more, it was sitting on<br />
a Target equipment table. Perhaps we<br />
would do better with the Creek CD 50,<br />
reviewed elsewhere in this issue, since<br />
its structure seems both less rugged and<br />
less elaborate. Rather than place it on<br />
the Target table, we positioned it on an<br />
ordinary table, made of composite board<br />
over a hollow steel frame.<br />
We began with the Dvorak violin<br />
piece used in other tests in this issue.<br />
Even on this rather plain table the<br />
Creek sounded very good, as it had in<br />
our earlier listening session. We placed<br />
two NotePads under the machine (the<br />
Creek is too small for more than two)<br />
and listened again. Was there a difference?<br />
We couldn’t find one. Perhaps we<br />
could try a different recording.<br />
We pulled out one of our longtime<br />
favorites, Now the Green Blade Riseth.<br />
Once again it sounded surprisingly<br />
good even on the thin table. Adding the<br />
NotePads, we thought we could hear a<br />
difference.<br />
We thought we could…but we weren’t<br />
sure. Reine thought the bottom end<br />
had been tightened up, that the double<br />
bass marking the rhythm on this choral<br />
recording was leaner. Gerard, for his<br />
part, thought he detected an improvement<br />
in the naturalness of the sibilance<br />
in the women’s voices. Neither was<br />
certain that these differences were<br />
significant. We went back and forth<br />
numerous times. Was the effect real?<br />
We’ve found in the past that an<br />
improvement is not always evident right<br />
off, but that removing it makes it more<br />
obvious. In this case the improvement<br />
remained maddeningly elusive. It wasn’t<br />
the sort of thing you would have spotted<br />
in a blind test.<br />
So did the NotePads do anything at<br />
all? Yes. We tried another test we’ve used<br />
in the past: slapping the table hard with<br />
an open palm next to the player with a<br />
disc playing. The effect is surprisingly<br />
repeatable, since there’s a limit to how<br />
hard you can slap a table.<br />
Without the NotePads, the slap sent<br />
the laser to other pastures, mostly to<br />
the beginning of Track 1, sometimes<br />
to other parts of the track. With the<br />
NotePads in place, we couldn’t make<br />
the player do more than hiccup: it would<br />
click, and then continue where it had left<br />
off. One time in three, the slap had no<br />
effect at all.<br />
We tried the same test with the Note-<br />
Pads atop the player. No improvement.<br />
The NotePads have the advantage<br />
of versatility. They may well be helpful<br />
with equipment worse than anything we<br />
had on hand.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 47
Listening Room<br />
The Kameleon<br />
Perhaps you still recall the<br />
magic of your very first remote<br />
control. Cradle it in your hand,<br />
push a button, and the TV<br />
would turn on. Or off. Or you’d skip to<br />
the weather channel. Or the commercial<br />
would be replaced by blessed silence.<br />
The second remote — probably for<br />
your VCR — didn’t feel quite so magical,<br />
because now you had to remember which<br />
remote control did what. And do you<br />
remember your seventh remote control?<br />
We are talking nightmare, and an entire<br />
coffee table dedicated to holding them.<br />
To make things worse, they all look the<br />
same, and they all look just like your<br />
wireless phone.<br />
Of course years ago manufacturers<br />
caught on to this dilemma and began<br />
making “universal” remote controls. The<br />
first ones could learn the commands of<br />
your multiplying remotes. Most modern<br />
ones can be set for your components…if<br />
your system is made up of brand names<br />
like Sony, Sanyo, Kenmore and Emerson.<br />
And then there are high end remotes<br />
with touch screens, some of them with<br />
price tags in four digits. Some of them,<br />
unfortunately, are barely usable.<br />
Remote specialist One For All is<br />
mostly known for rather ordinary<br />
remotes, but with this affordable unit it<br />
may have hit the jackpot. It comes closer<br />
than any other remote we’ve seen to<br />
being usable with complex audio/home<br />
theatre systems. And it’s incredibly<br />
cheap, with a Canadian street price of<br />
$120.<br />
The Kameleon doesn’t look the way<br />
our picture shows, because you would<br />
never see all of its buttons lit at once<br />
(except when the batteries are dying — it<br />
lets you know by lighting everything<br />
it’s got). Unlike the usual touch-screen<br />
remotes, the Kameleon has permanently<br />
lithographed buttons, which are backlit<br />
with what looks like Indiglo. Depending<br />
on the device selected, the remote hides<br />
inappropriate buttons. Just below the<br />
48 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Remote<br />
power button is a “scroll” button, which<br />
shows and hides sets of buttons to make<br />
the surface seem less cluttered.<br />
The Kameleon does not actually<br />
use a touch screen, despite appearances.<br />
Beneath each of the glowing “buttons”<br />
is a real short-throw mechanical button.<br />
That means you have to exert actual<br />
pressure on a button and not merely<br />
touch it, but in practice it’s an advantage:<br />
you can keep your finger on a button<br />
ready to fire, something you can’t do<br />
with a touch screen.<br />
Remember when all universal remote<br />
controls were learning remotes? But<br />
remotes that learn are useful only to<br />
consumers who can learn, and marketing<br />
surveys seemed to indicate that setting<br />
the time on a VCR was about the limit of<br />
many people’s abilities to interface with<br />
technology. That’s why most modern<br />
remotes — including One For All’s other<br />
models — have lists of preprogrammed<br />
codes. We hate this. Our favorite components<br />
are almost never on the lists,<br />
and if they are, there are inevitably some<br />
missing commands.<br />
The Kameleon is a revelation. It<br />
includes a search function, allowing<br />
it to look for the codes even for an<br />
unlisted component. We were convinced<br />
it wouldn’t find our Simaudio Moon<br />
Attraction preamp-processor in its<br />
data base. In fact it did…in well under<br />
five minutes. It didn’t include all of the<br />
functions, of course, for the Attraction<br />
is extremely complex, and there were<br />
key functions missing, such as choosing<br />
an audio input. Which brings us to the<br />
next bit of good news.<br />
The Kameleon is also a learning<br />
Read the whole thing<br />
Most luxury remotes<br />
look great…until you<br />
use them. So guess<br />
what we’ve found…<br />
remote. Unlike some other recent<br />
models, which provide only two or three<br />
buttons capable of learning, virtually all<br />
of its buttons can be taught a function.<br />
This adds considerable flexibility. You<br />
can search the codes to get most of the<br />
functions of your device, and you can<br />
then add functions to other buttons.<br />
What you can’t do, of course, is relabel<br />
anything.<br />
The flexibility is fortunate, because<br />
it may happen that some basic functions<br />
get left off your particular device. For<br />
instance, the Kameleon easily found<br />
most of the functions for our Hitachi<br />
HDTV monitor, but it didn’t include<br />
buttons for changing inputs. This is of<br />
course basic, because changing from<br />
broadcast TV to DVD, VCR or other<br />
source does mean changing video inputs.<br />
The simplest solution is to assign a<br />
button you figure you won’t use. The<br />
“fav” (favorite channel) button comes to<br />
mind.<br />
There is, however, another solution,<br />
as we shall see later.<br />
It’s become a cliché to say that home<br />
theatre systems are so complex that you<br />
need a course just to learn to turn one on.<br />
Well, the Kameleon can help with that<br />
function at least. The “power” button,<br />
one of the few that has no learning function,<br />
can be set to turn all of your components<br />
on and off at the same time. This is<br />
a neat feature, though it has a couple of<br />
hidden down sides. First, it won’t work<br />
with older components whose remotes<br />
have separate “on” and “off” buttons.<br />
More importantly, it will work only if<br />
all of the components you want to turn<br />
on can “see” the remote. If one of them<br />
doesn’t respond, what do you do? You<br />
push the power button again, right?<br />
Only now the components that did<br />
turn<br />
on will turn off<br />
again. It’s easy to see how<br />
to recover from this situation, but your<br />
granny probably won’t see it, and she’ll<br />
put in a panicked call to you.<br />
Come to think of it, is this remote<br />
well enough organized that could hand<br />
it to your granny? Perhaps, thanks to its<br />
well thought-out home theatre function.<br />
Let us explain.<br />
Check the top part of the display,<br />
and you’ll see icons for the various<br />
devices the Kameleon can control: TV,<br />
DVD, amplifier/receiver, VCR, hard<br />
If you’re looking for a remote for a complex system, you really can’t afford not<br />
to check out the entire article. Order issue No. 69 on page 51, or subscribe on<br />
page 3.
Listening Room<br />
disc recorder, cable or<br />
satellite box, and CD<br />
player, plus one device<br />
marked au x i l ia r y.<br />
Click an icon, and it<br />
animates. At the same<br />
time, the appropriate<br />
buttons for that device<br />
lights up.<br />
Lutat, venis numsan<br />
velenit ex eu faccummy<br />
nu m at volor peros<br />
amcore vel utpatin ver<br />
iure modip erate dolor sit<br />
adiam, quis acilit nulputat<br />
irit ut luptat luptat<br />
laorercincil iustiss equat.<br />
Ilissectem et nis alisl in<br />
ulput lutpate minisit adit<br />
augiam, quat, vullutpat<br />
luptatum zzriurem augiam<br />
dolendipit lorer acilismod<br />
tat dolorem numsan erostion<br />
ver sis dolor acillam,<br />
ver se tat wismolo reetum<br />
iuscincin ea facin utat<br />
nos dio dolent eu facip<br />
eu facincilit lut augue<br />
ea atem quat. Ut vel ut<br />
nullametue dolore tetue<br />
conu m modo consed<br />
tatet at lorerillan utpat.<br />
Accum dit wisi.<br />
U l l a n d r e r ip i s i .<br />
Ommodolore vel ullandre<br />
diam, quip ea faccum iure<br />
tat lummod tie consed tat<br />
lorpero od essi.<br />
Irillam consent nulla aut<br />
esent niamet utpat at<br />
estrud delestrud magnissenibh<br />
eugue elit, si.<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet,<br />
vel ullaorp ercidunt nos<br />
amet amconsendiam velisit lutat,<br />
corperos aci bla augait veliquis nostio<br />
eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing<br />
et ipisi.<br />
Bor sit accum am, quatio odolorper<br />
iliquat ate consendipit, venim nosto<br />
consequam nulla cortie te diam dolore<br />
molum zzril exeros nullutpatue cortis<br />
augueriurem eraessectet, susto od modolut<br />
velismod molobore enibh ex euguerit<br />
lore tem niscili smodiatum eum vullut<br />
nonsequisl eu feu faccum nim nibh er<br />
sustrud min ut lor sum nim ipit nostie feu<br />
feum nulput ulla at<br />
ulput ulla conulput<br />
nibh eniat.<br />
Del iriliquip<br />
eniatis el ut landipit,<br />
sisis amcon ut irit<br />
luptatisi te verostio<br />
commolo rtinismodio<br />
dunt enim vel<br />
dolore tetuer augait<br />
deliquisl utat.<br />
Unt la conulla<br />
facipit ipit alis aut<br />
autet il ut dignisi<br />
et um v ulla augait<br />
ipsuscipit, quat, volum<br />
acipisit ut landre velenis<br />
augait luptat lut ing<br />
ent alis nis nonsectem<br />
iuscidui tis nim zzrilit<br />
nullut nosto diametum<br />
dolorero conum ing<br />
eraestis aliquam, corem<br />
dui blaore feugiam,<br />
vendit ipsuscillaor ing<br />
endrer sim zzriustisl<br />
eliquat illumsandit aut<br />
lummy num nim ea<br />
augue magna ad dipit,<br />
conu m zzriliqu isl<br />
irilit acil dolor sum<br />
dolore digna feu feugiam,<br />
sum eugiamet,<br />
quisim zzrillam velisci<br />
llummodigna feu feui<br />
tat nim alis augiate<br />
core dunt velismod<br />
ea am, sequipis nosto<br />
consenit lor sim diam,<br />
quametum zzriliqui<br />
blam dolore do commy<br />
nim quiscilisit autet wisi<br />
etummy nim iuscil dipit<br />
lobortie modiam iusciliquat<br />
voloborperit lore consequ<br />
issequat, corpera estrud te tie tinisim<br />
Summing it up…<br />
Brand/model: One for All Kameleon<br />
Price (street): C$120/US$80<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis<br />
nostio eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing<br />
et ipisi.<br />
vullut nullan vendrem zzrit vullaore<br />
exerius cilluptat prat volum zzrit lum<br />
quissit adipit augait vulla facipsummy<br />
nostrud tem alit ullut veros autem nos<br />
nullaor ip eummod delesectem et ad dunt<br />
luptat. Agnibh ero ero dipisl ip etumsan<br />
henim venim dunt wis nulla feugue<br />
magnisisse conum do ea feugiam, quatie<br />
tis duismol orperosto essi.<br />
Ignisisl ing ex ent volor si.<br />
Ilissi. Putpat, velessim zzriure riureet<br />
ad miniam, vel dolortie te dunt doloreet,<br />
quam quat aliquisse feum zzrilis num<br />
nosto cor si ex erat wisisi blamcon sectem<br />
zzrit adio dunt dolenim digniat ing ea<br />
commodiat pratumm odolobo rpercin<br />
ent la feummy nosto et ercilisi.<br />
Eriliquisit praestio dolobor iustisi.<br />
Lutat, venis numsan velenit ex eu<br />
faccummy num at volorperos amcore<br />
vel utpatin ver iure modip erate dolor<br />
sit adiam, quis acilit nulputat irit ut<br />
luptat luptat laorercincil iustiss equat.<br />
Ilissectem et nis alisl in ulput lutpate<br />
minisit adit augiam, quat, vullutpat<br />
luptatum zzriurem augiam dolendipit<br />
lorer acilismod tat dolorem numsan<br />
erostion ver sis dolor acillam, ver se tat<br />
wismolo reetum iuscincin ea facin utat<br />
nos dio dolent eu facip eu facincilit lut<br />
augue ea atem quat. Ut vel ut nullametue<br />
dolore tetue conummodo consed tatet at<br />
lorerillan utpat. Accum dit wisi.<br />
Ullandrer ipisi. Ommodolore vel<br />
ullandre diam, quip ea faccum iure tat<br />
lummod tie consed tat lorpero od essi.<br />
Irillam consent nulla aut esent niamet<br />
utpat at estrud delestrud magnissenibh<br />
eugue elit, si.<br />
Et wisi blandipit utpatet, vel ullaorp<br />
ercidunt nos amet amconsendiam velisit<br />
lutat, corperos aci bla augait veliquis<br />
nostio eratismod tem venit at vel iustiniscing<br />
et ipisi.<br />
Bor sit accum am, quatio odolorper<br />
iliquat ate consendipit, venim nosto<br />
consequam nulla cortie te diam dolore<br />
molum zzril exeros nullutpatue cortis<br />
augueriurem eraessectet, susto od modolut<br />
velismod molobore enibh ex euguerit<br />
lore tem niscili smodiatum eum vullut<br />
nonsequisl eu feu faccum nim nibh er<br />
sustrud min ut lor sum nim ipit nostie feu<br />
feum nulput ulla at ulput ulla conulput<br />
nibh eniat.<br />
Del iriliquip eniatis el ut landipit, sisis<br />
amcon ut irit luptatisi.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 49
Listening Room<br />
Rock Manager<br />
Did you ever think you could<br />
do a rock record wayyyy<br />
better than the people doing<br />
it for the big record companies?<br />
People like the gentleman in the<br />
picture above?<br />
Of course you have. And Rock Manager,<br />
a computer game from Dreamcatcher<br />
Interactive of Toronto (and<br />
developed in Sweden by Monsterland),<br />
50 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
is aimed right at you. What can we say<br />
about a game that made us laugh uproariously<br />
loud not once but twice before we<br />
could even tear off the shrink wrap?<br />
Here’s the pitch. In this game, you<br />
start out with $100,000, which may or<br />
A game to make you<br />
laugh. Or possibly cry.<br />
may not be enough to do what you want.<br />
Your mission, should you choose to<br />
accept it, is to put together a rock band,<br />
buy them some repertoire, get them into<br />
a studio to make what you hope will be a<br />
hit record, book them into local shows,<br />
take them on tour, get them on the radio,<br />
get everyone talking about them, get<br />
their album into the charts, and…<br />
And have it happen before your last<br />
dollar trickles away..<br />
Let’s start at the beginning, by going<br />
on a hiring spree. First you choose<br />
musicians for your band (and we are<br />
using the word “musicians” in the loosest<br />
possible way). You’ve got a number<br />
of possible choices, including potential<br />
stars, such as pretty good bass guitarist<br />
Charlotte Johnson. And then you've got<br />
guaranteed losers, like punk vocalist<br />
Glen Jeffries, whose first words when<br />
you click on his icon, earns the game its<br />
“mature” rating.<br />
Naturally, Charlotte will cost you<br />
more money than Glen will. She may<br />
be worth it, but then again is she? Hire<br />
both of them, and they may get into<br />
creative differences that will bring the<br />
band’s ascension to a screeching halt.<br />
Once you have a band, you need<br />
songs they can sing, and they’ll cost<br />
you as well. You’ll want to suit the song<br />
to the band members, needless to say.<br />
Charlotte may be just right to do the bass<br />
line on Sunshine on Lonely Street, which<br />
incidentally will cost you $12,000 plus<br />
royalties, but she may walk if you elect<br />
to save money by snapping up a punk<br />
anthem such as Kill Your Parents (Glen,<br />
on the other hand, will eat it up).<br />
You'd be wise to put a bit of dough<br />
aside, because you’ll be needing it. This<br />
unruly crew needs to get some music on<br />
tape and eventually disc, so you will of<br />
course need to rent a studio, and also a<br />
venue for a rock concert. The better the<br />
studio and the hall are, the better your<br />
chances of getting onto the charts…but<br />
also the more they’ll cost. Packing the<br />
concert hall is essential, because that’s<br />
the only move that will make money flow<br />
in rather than out. At least until — and<br />
if — the record sells.<br />
As you’ve probably always suspected<br />
money is the key to rock’n’roll success,<br />
and there's a dark side to Rock Manager.<br />
Can’t talk the local newspaper into
THE ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION:<br />
Issues No.7-19 (except 11, 15, 17 and 18, out of<br />
print): nine issues available for the price of five<br />
(see below). A piece of audio history. Available<br />
separately at the regular price.<br />
No.68: Loudspeakers: Thiel CS2.4, Focus<br />
Audio FS688, Iliad B1. Electronics:Vecteur<br />
I-6.2 and Audiomat Arpège integrated amplifiers,<br />
Copland 306 multichannel tube preamp,<br />
Rega Fono MC. Also: Audio Note and Copland<br />
CD players, GutWire MaxCon power filter. And<br />
there’s more: all about power supplies, what’s<br />
coming beyond DVD, and a chat with YBA’s<br />
Yves-Bernard André.<br />
No.67: Loudspeakers: A new, improved<br />
Reference 3a MM de Capo, and the awesome<br />
Living Voice Avatar OBX-R. Centre speakers<br />
for surround from Castle, JMLab, ProAc, Thiel,<br />
Totem and Vandersteen. One of them joins<br />
our Kappa system. Two multichannel amps<br />
from Copland and Vecteur. Plus: plans for a<br />
DIY platform for placing a centre speaker atop<br />
any TV set, Paul Bergman on the elements of<br />
acoustics, and women in country music.<br />
No.66: Reviews: the Jadis DA-30 amplifier, the<br />
Copland 305 tube preamp and 520 solid state<br />
amp. Plus: the amazing Shanling CD player,<br />
Castle Stirling speakers, and a remote control<br />
that tells you what to watch. Also: Bergman on<br />
biwiring and biamplification, singer Janis Ian’s<br />
alternative take on music downloading, and a<br />
chat with Opus 3’s Jan-Eric Persson.<br />
No.65: Back to Vinyl: setting up an analog<br />
system, reviews of Rega P9 turntable, and<br />
phono preamps from Rega, Musical <strong>Fidelity</strong><br />
and Lehmann. The Kappa reference system<br />
for home theatre: how we selected our HDTV<br />
monitor, plus a review of the Moon Stellar DVD<br />
player. Anti-vibration: Atacama, Symposium,<br />
Golden Sound, Solid-Tech, Audioprism,<br />
Tenderfeet. Plus an interview with Rega’s<br />
turntable designer, and a look back at what<br />
UHF was like 20 years ago.<br />
No.64: Speakers: Totem M1 Signature and<br />
Hawk, Visonik E352. YBA Passion Intégré<br />
amp, Cambridge IsoMagic (followup), better<br />
batteries for audio-to-go. Plus: the truth about<br />
upsampling, an improvement to our LP cleaning<br />
machine, an interview with Ray Kimber.<br />
.<br />
No.63: Tube amps: ASL Leyla & Passion<br />
A11. Vecteur Espace speakers, 2 interconnects<br />
(Harmonic Technology Eichmann),<br />
5 speaker cables (Pierre Gabriel, vdH ,<br />
Harmonic Technology, Eichmann), 4 power<br />
cords (Wireworld, Harmonic Technology,<br />
Eichmann, ESP). Plus: Paul Bergman on<br />
soundproofing, how to compare components<br />
in the store, big-screen TV’s to stay away<br />
from, a look back at the Beatles revolution.<br />
No.62: Amplifiers: Vecteur I- 4, Musical<br />
<strong>Fidelity</strong> Nu-Vista M3, Antique Sound Lab<br />
MG-S11DT. Passive preamps from Creek and<br />
Antique Sound Lab. Vecteur L-4 CD player.<br />
Interconnects: VdH Integration and Wireworld<br />
Soltice. Plus: the right to copy music, and how<br />
it may be vanishing. Choosing a DVD player by<br />
features. And all about music for the movies.<br />
No.61: Digital: Audiomat Tempo and Cambridge<br />
Isomagic DACs, Vecteur D-2 transpor t.<br />
Speakers: Osborn Mini Tower and Mirage OM-<br />
9. Soundcare Superspikes. And: new surround<br />
formats, dezoning DVD players.<br />
No.60: Speakers: Monitor Audio Silver 9,<br />
Reference 3a MM De Capo, Klipsch RB-5,<br />
Coincident Triumph Signature. Plus: a Mirage<br />
subwoofer and the Audiomat Solfège amp. Paul<br />
Bergman on reproducing extreme lows.<br />
Back Issues<br />
No.59: CD players: Moon Eclipse, Linn Ikemi<br />
and Genki, Rega Jupiter/Io, Cambridge D500.<br />
Plus: Oskar Kithara speaker, with Heil tweeter.<br />
And: transferring LP to CD, the truth on digital<br />
radio, digital cinema vs MaxiVision 48.<br />
No.58: Amplifiers: ASL AQ1003, Passion I10<br />
& I11, Rogue 88, Jadis Orchestra Reference,<br />
Linar 250. Headphone amps: Creek, Antique<br />
Sound Lab, NVA, Audio Valve. Plus: Foundation<br />
Research LC-2 line filter, Gutwire power cord,<br />
Pierre Gabriel ML-1 2000 cable. And: building<br />
your own machine to clean LP’s.<br />
No.57: Speakers: Dynaudio Contour 1.3,<br />
Gershman X-1/SW-1, Coincident Super<br />
Triumph Signature, Castle In<strong>version</strong> 15,<br />
Oskar Aulos. PLUS: KR 18 tube amp. Music<br />
Revolution: the next 5 years. Give your Hi-Fi<br />
a Fall Tune-Up.<br />
No.56: Integrated amps: Simaudio I-3, Roksan<br />
Caspian, Myryad MI120, Vecteur Club 10, NVA<br />
AP10 Also: Cambridge T500 tuner, Totem<br />
Forest. Phono stages: Creek, Lehmann,<br />
Audiomat. Interconnects: Actinote, Van den<br />
Hul, Pierre Gabriel. Plus: Paul Bergman on<br />
power and current…why you need both<br />
No.55: CD players: Linn CD12, Copland<br />
CDA-289, Roksan Caspian, AMC CD8a. Other<br />
reviews: Enigma Oremus speaker, Magenta<br />
ADE-24 black box. Plus: the DSD challenge for<br />
the next audio disc, pirate music on the Net, the<br />
explosion of off-air video choices.<br />
No.54: Electronics: Creek A52se, Simaudio<br />
W-3 and W-5 amps. Copland CSA-303, Sima<br />
P-400 and F.T. Audio preamps (the latter two<br />
passive). Musical <strong>Fidelity</strong> X-DAC revisited,<br />
Ergo AMT phones, 4 line filters, 2 interconnects.<br />
Plus: Making your own CD’s.<br />
No.53: Loudspeakers:Reference 3a Intégrale,<br />
Energy Veritas v2.8, Epos ES30, Totem<br />
Shaman, Mirage 390is, Castle Eden. Plus: Paul<br />
Bergman on understanding biamping, biwiring,<br />
balanced lines, and more.<br />
No.52: CD player s: A lchemist Nexus,<br />
Cambridge CD6, YBA Intégré, Musical <strong>Fidelity</strong><br />
X-DAC, Assemblage DAC-2. Subwoofers:<br />
Energy ES-8 and NHT PS-8. Plus: Paul<br />
Bergman on reproducing deep bass, Vegas<br />
report, and the story behind digital television.<br />
No.51: Integrated amps: YBA Intégré DT,<br />
Alchemist Forseti, Primare A-20, NVA AP50<br />
Cambridge A1. CD players: Adcom GCD-750,<br />
Rega Planet. An economy system to recommend<br />
to friends, ATI 1505 5-channel amp,<br />
Bergman on impedance, why connectors<br />
matter, making your own power bars.<br />
No.50: CD: Cambridge DiscMagic/DACMagic,<br />
Primare D-20, Dynaco CDV Pro. Analog: Rega<br />
Planar 9 , the Linn LP12 after 25 years. Also:<br />
Moon preamp, Linn Linto phono stage, Ergo<br />
and Grado headphones. Speaker cables: Linn<br />
K-400, Sheffield, MIT 750 Also: a look back at<br />
15 years of UHF.<br />
No.49: Power amps: Simaudio Moon, Bryston<br />
3B ST, N.E.W. DCA-33, plus the Alchemist<br />
Forseti amp and preamp, and the McCormack<br />
Micro components. Also: our new Reference<br />
3a Suprema II reference speakers, and a<br />
followup on the Copland 277 CD player. Plus:<br />
how HDCD really works.<br />
No.48: Loudspeakers: JMLabs Daline 3.1,<br />
Vandersteen 3a, Totem Tabù, Royd Minstrel.<br />
CD: Cambridge CD4, Copland CDA-277. Also:<br />
An interview with the founder of a Canadian<br />
audiophile record label.<br />
No.47: FM tuners: Magnum Dynalab MD-108,<br />
Audiolab 8000T, Fanfare FT-1. Speaker cables:<br />
QED Qudos, Wireworld Equinox and Eclipse,<br />
MIT MH-750. Parasound C/BD-2000 transport<br />
and D/AC-2000 converter. And: Upgrading<br />
your system for next to nothing.<br />
No.46: Electronics: Simaudio 4070SE amp &<br />
P-4002 preamp, Copland CTA-301 & CTA-505,<br />
N.E.W. P-3 preamp. Digital cables: Wireworld,<br />
Audiostream, MIT, XLO, Audioprism, and<br />
Wireworld’s box for comparing interconnects.<br />
Also: YBA CD-1 and Spécial CD players. Yves-<br />
Bernard André talks about about his blue diode<br />
CD improvement.<br />
No.45: Integrated amps: Copland CTA-401,<br />
Simaudio 4070i, Sugden Optima 140. CD:<br />
Adcom GDA-700 HDCD DAC, Sonic Frontiers<br />
SFD-1 MkII. Interconnects: Straight Wire<br />
Maestro, 3 <strong>version</strong>s of Wireworld Equinox.<br />
Plus: Yamamura Q15 CD oil, and “Hi-Fi for the<br />
Financially Challenged”.<br />
No.4 4: CD players: Rotel RCD970 BX,<br />
Counter point DA -10A DAC. Speakers:<br />
Apogee Ribbon Monitor, Totem Mite, more<br />
on the Gershman Avant Garde. Also: Laser-<br />
Link cable, “The Solution” CD treatment,<br />
AudioQuest sorbothane feet, Tenderfeet,<br />
Isobearings. Plus: Inside Subwoofers, and<br />
the castrati, the singers who gave their all<br />
for music.<br />
No.43: The first HDCD converter: the EAD<br />
DSP-1000 MkII. Speakers: Gershman Avant<br />
Garde, Totem Mani-2 and Rokk, Quad ESL-<br />
63 with Gradient subwoofer. Plus: Keith O.<br />
Johnson explains the road to HDCD, and our<br />
editor joins those of other magazines to discuss<br />
what’s hot in audio.<br />
No.42: Electronics: Spectral DMC-12 and<br />
Celeste P-4001 preamplifiers, amps and<br />
preamps from Duson. Also: Sonic Frontiers<br />
SFD-1 converter, power line filters from<br />
Audioprism, Chang, and YBA. Plus: Inside<br />
the preamplifier, and how the tango became<br />
the first “dirty” dance.<br />
No.41: Digital: Roksan DA-2, EAD DSP-7000,<br />
McCormack DAC-1, QED Ref. Digit. Cables:<br />
Straight Wire LSI Encore & Virtuoso, Wireworld<br />
Equinox, van den Hul The 2nd & Revelation,<br />
Cardas Cross & Hexlink Golden, Transparent<br />
Music-Link Super & Music-Wave Super. Plus:<br />
Bergman on recording stereo.<br />
No.40: Integrated amps: YBA Intégré, Rotel<br />
960, Sugden A-25B, Sima PW-3000, Linn<br />
Majik, Naim NAIT 3, AMC CVT3030, Duson<br />
PA-75. Stereo: what it is, how it works, why<br />
it’s disappearing from records.<br />
No. 39: Speakers: KEF Q50, Martin-Logan<br />
Aerius, Castle Howard, NEAR 40M, Klipsch<br />
Kg4.2. Plus: QED passive preamps, followup<br />
on the Linn Mimik CD player.<br />
No. 38: CD players: Roksan Attessa, Naim<br />
CDS, Linn Mimik, Quad 67, Rotel 945,<br />
Micromega Model “T”. Plus: How the record<br />
industry will wipe out hi-fi, and why women<br />
have been erased from music history.<br />
No.37: Electronics: Celeste 4070 and McIntosh<br />
7150 amps, Linn Kairn and Klout. Plus:<br />
RoomTunes acoustic treatment, why all<br />
amps don’t sound alike, and how Pro Logic<br />
really works.<br />
No.36: CD players: YBA CD-2, Linn Karik/<br />
Numerik, Sugden SDT-1, Mission DAD5 and<br />
DAC5, Audiolab 8000DAC, QED Digit, Nitty<br />
Gritty LP cleaner, Plus: an interview with<br />
Linn’s Ivor Tiefenbrun, and part 7 of Bergman<br />
on acoustics: building your own acoustical<br />
panels.<br />
No.35: Speakers: Castle Chester, Mirage M-<br />
7si, Totem Model 1, Tannoy 6.1, NHT 2.3, 3a<br />
Micro Monitor, Rogers LS2a/2. Plus: Tests of<br />
high end video recorders, hi-fi stereo recordings<br />
of piano performances of 75 years ago.<br />
Acoustics part 6: Conceiving the room.<br />
No.34: Cables: MIT ZapChord & PC2, Monster<br />
PowerLine 2+, M1, M2 Sigma, Reference 2,<br />
Interlink 400 & MSK2, Straight Wire Maestro,<br />
Isoda HA- 08 - PSR, Audioquest Ruby &<br />
Emerald, AudioStream Twinax, FMS Gold<br />
& Black, NBS Mini Serpent. Acoustics 5:<br />
Diffusing sound. “The Plot to Kill Hi-Fi,” the<br />
much-reprinted article on audio retailing.<br />
No.33: CD players: Spectral SDR-1000SL,<br />
Esoteric P-2/D-2, Micromega Duo.BS, Proceed<br />
PDT2/PDP2 and PCD2, MSB Silver, Esoteric<br />
CD-Z5000, Carver SD/A-490t. The future of<br />
audio, according to Linn’s Ivor Tiefenbrun.<br />
Acoustics part 4: Absorbing low frequencies.<br />
No.32: The Audio Dream Book: Our 152-page<br />
guide to what’s out there. Acoustics part 3:<br />
Taming reverberation.<br />
No.31: Amplifiers: Counterpoint SA-100 and<br />
SA-1000, Audio Research Classic 30, QED<br />
C300 and P300, Sugden Au-41, Audiolab<br />
8000P, Carver C-19, Arcam Delta 110 and 120.<br />
Why balanced lines? Buying audio by mail.<br />
Acoustics part 2: Predicting standing waves.<br />
No.30: Speakers: Castle Winchester, Energy<br />
22.2, P-E Léon Trilogue,NHT 1.3, Celef CF1,<br />
Polk RM3000, Response II by Clements.<br />
Acoustics part 1: Room size and acoustics.<br />
No.29: Turntables: Linn Basik & LP12 with<br />
Lingo. Oracle Delphi MkIV, Oracle Paris.<br />
Pickups: Goldring Excel, 1022 & 1042,<br />
Revolver Bullet, Talisman Virtuoso DTi, Sumiko<br />
Blue Point, Roksan Shiraz. Test CD’s. Dorian’s<br />
Craig Dory.<br />
No.28: Integrated amps: Linn Intek, Naim<br />
NAIT 2, Arcam Alpha II, Audio Innovations<br />
500 II, Mission Cyrus Two, Creek 4141, Sugden<br />
A-21. Plus: an Aiwa cassette deck, and a guide<br />
to distortion.<br />
No.27: Cables: Prisma SC-9 and Cable 10,<br />
MIT MH-750, MH-750 CVT MI-330SG, and<br />
MI-330SG CVT, Supershield. Cassettes: We<br />
compare Maxell, Fuji, Sony, etc.. The Esoteric<br />
V9000 cassette deck. Choosing a VCR.<br />
No.26: CD players: Spectral SDR-1000,<br />
Kinergetics KCD-40, Micromega CDF 1, Arcam<br />
Delta 70 and Black Box, Mission PCM II, Quad<br />
66. A panel compares CD and LP, and Keith<br />
Johnson talks about rethinking audio.<br />
No.25: Preamps: YBA One, Sima 3001, Dolan<br />
PM1, Sugden C28. Amps: YBA One and<br />
Sugden P28 (guess which we bought!). Paul<br />
Bergman on amplifier design.<br />
No.24: Speakers: 3a MM and MS5, Snell<br />
Type Q, Elipson Colonne Design, Linn Kaber,<br />
Vandersteen 2ci, Camber 3.0 and 5.0, Opus 3<br />
Chaconne and Credo, ProAc Response 2.<br />
To see a list of older issues:<br />
http://www.uhfmag.com/Individualissue.html<br />
EACH ISSUE costs $4.99 (in Canada) plus tax (15.03% in Québec, 15% in NB, NS and NF, 7% in other Provinces), US$4.99 in the USA, CAN$7.50 elsewhere (surface)<br />
or $8.60 (air mail). THE ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION (issues 7-19 except 11, 15, 17 and 18) includes 9 issues but costs like 5. For VISA or MasterCard, include your<br />
number, expiry date and signature. UHF <strong>Magazine</strong>, Box 65085, Place Longueuil, Longueuil, Qué., Canada J4K 5J4. Tel.: (450) 651-5720 FAX: (450) 651-3383. Order on<br />
line at www.uhfmag.com
Listening Room<br />
giving your band some ink? Money<br />
will ease your way. You can either buy<br />
advertising (which is most of the paper’s<br />
revenue) or you can try a direct bribe,<br />
not that bribery will always work. If all<br />
else fails, you can go see the local don<br />
at Sergey Shipping, who “tries to make<br />
every customer happy,” but also retains<br />
“security personnel.” We can tell you<br />
only that security is not their game.<br />
Caution! Sergey has a daughter who is a<br />
wannabe singer.<br />
Rock Manager’s rather slick (and often<br />
hilarious) user interface lets you make<br />
a surprising number of choices. Once<br />
you’re in the studio, for instance, you can<br />
twiddle the knobs and add such effects<br />
as reverberation, delay and flanging…at<br />
least if you’ve laid out cash for one of the<br />
better studios. If you’re not happy with<br />
the band’s sound (and we can see some<br />
pretty good reasons you might not be),<br />
there are ways to make it sound better.<br />
You can sweeten the mix with sessions<br />
musicians (but get out your wallet), and<br />
you can leave a particularly toxic band<br />
member out of the final mix, à la Milli<br />
Vanilli. However you may have problems<br />
52 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
Keep up with happenings at UHF<br />
Perhaps you want to know what we’re listening to now. Perhaps you’d like an<br />
advance impression on what we’re reviewing. Or you want to know how the next<br />
print issue of UHF is coming along.<br />
There’s an easy way to get all that: the UHF Newsletter. It gets updated every<br />
three days or so, sometimes more often. Drop by any time, to:<br />
www.uhfmag.com/Newsletter.html<br />
if he/she finds out. You even get to design<br />
the record booklet, though there again<br />
you’ll need cash out front. Just choosing<br />
a better font for the title will cost you.<br />
You may wind up signing your band to a<br />
record contract, but be sure to read the<br />
fine print!<br />
You won’t be surprised to hear that<br />
reaching the charts takes time, but you<br />
don’t have time, because your purse<br />
didn’t come with an unlimited wad<br />
of cash. Perhaps your band will reach<br />
number one with a bullet. And perhaps<br />
you’ll go broke. Guess which is the more<br />
likely event.<br />
Like the other Dreamcatcher games<br />
Rock Manager<br />
runs strictly on Windows,<br />
so we enlisted the aid of Michael, who<br />
is 17 and goes through games with an<br />
eye to designing them someday. He<br />
installed the game on his computer, and<br />
we watched him fire it up.<br />
The first thing we learned was that<br />
Rock Manager<br />
isn’t all that stable. On<br />
his recent Pentium computer it crashed<br />
several times while he was choosing band<br />
members. Each time it took Windows<br />
down with it. There’s no way to save<br />
a game in progress, either, which pre-<br />
cludes trying out “what if” scenarios.<br />
Fortunately Rock Manager does allow<br />
you to pick up where you left off last<br />
time you played, so you don’t have to<br />
start from scratch after yet another Blue<br />
Screen of Death. When we got into the<br />
studio, stability fled altogether. Turning<br />
any of the volume knobs on the studio<br />
console would crash the game predictably.<br />
Suspecting a bad copy we asked<br />
Dreamcatcher for another copy. It never<br />
did arrive, but Michael subsequently<br />
reported that he managed to get past<br />
the studio — he wasn’t sure how. He got<br />
far enough into the game to go “broke.”<br />
Several times in fact.<br />
He reported to us that there didn’t<br />
seem to be any way to succeed without<br />
resorting to methods that were at best<br />
unethical, at worst criminal. Rock Manager<br />
seems amazingly lifelike. Michael<br />
did eventually get to see his band on the<br />
Top 40, but not by methods he’ll want to<br />
list on his CV.<br />
Rock Manager<br />
costs $19.95, only a<br />
little more than the typical CDs from<br />
the people being lampooned. If you want<br />
to get a glimpse of the way records get<br />
made, and if you’re looking for some<br />
laughs and a few guffaws, it’s money well<br />
spent.<br />
Perhaps some of the executives at the<br />
RIAA should take a few hours off from<br />
suing children and have a go at Rock<br />
Manager. They might well conclude that<br />
file sharing isn’t the record industry’s<br />
only problem.
Listening Room<br />
A<br />
number of products are already<br />
here and will be reviewed<br />
in UHF No.70 and in subsequent<br />
issues. Here’s a first<br />
look at what you’ll be seeing in the issues<br />
ahead.<br />
Equation 25 speakers<br />
We’ve had these large speakers<br />
around for a while, and indeed we had<br />
intended to include the review in this<br />
issue. It hasn’t happened for a special<br />
reason.<br />
Equation is a Belgian speaker company.<br />
The sample speakers we have on<br />
hand is from Belgium, though production<br />
of the marque is expected to start<br />
up in Canada. Though the speakers are<br />
tall, they are of two-way design. Their<br />
notable feature is a ceramic tweeter. This<br />
is surely the heaviest two-way speakers<br />
we’ve run across.<br />
There’s a reason we’ve taken our time<br />
with them. We’ve been searching for a<br />
new reference speaker for our original<br />
Alpha system. Our 3a MS5 speakers<br />
(made by Reference 3a’s predecessor<br />
more than a decade ago) are remarkable<br />
in many ways, but their tweeters<br />
are a weak point. There’s a problem in<br />
the midrange too. We can hear some<br />
other high end speakers dig out layers<br />
of detail ours can barely hint at. But<br />
we aren’t entirely happy with potential<br />
replacements. As you may know if you’re<br />
a regular reader, a leading candidate is<br />
the Living Voice OBX-R.<br />
The Equation is the other. We have<br />
yet to determine whether it is the right<br />
working tool for us, since our needs<br />
are not identical to those of other<br />
audiophiles, but there is no doubt that<br />
this is, by any standard, an outstanding<br />
speaker.<br />
We spent two long (but delightful)<br />
sessions with the Equations, enough<br />
that — were it not for the reference<br />
hunt — would have sufficed to allow us<br />
to publish a review. And we liked what<br />
we heard. For instance, on our frequently-used<br />
recording Façade, we were<br />
unanimous in finding them far superior<br />
to our present speakers. The depth of<br />
this fine recording was about as good as<br />
we’ve heard it. The infamous piccolo in<br />
the introduction had more detail than<br />
with other speakers, and indeed all of<br />
the instruments, from the bassoon to the<br />
snare drum to the cello, were a delight.<br />
Ah yes, the piccolo…<br />
When we held the listening sessions<br />
the speakers had some 200 hours of use,<br />
enough to break in the most difficult<br />
speaker, we thought. The distributor told<br />
us that the Equations need more than<br />
that because of the ceramic tweeter, and<br />
that we needed to run up a whopping 450<br />
hours on them!<br />
A quick listen after we put in those<br />
hours confirmed that the piccolo was<br />
still brighter than we would have liked.<br />
A different placement then? Perhaps.<br />
As we write this, the race for a new<br />
reference remains a two-way competition:<br />
Living Voice versus Equation. We<br />
promise that by the next issue we will<br />
have a winner.<br />
Win or lose, the Equation 25 is an<br />
astonishing speaker.<br />
The Reference 3a Royal Virtuoso<br />
We h a v e a<br />
good reason to be<br />
interested in this<br />
speaker: it looks<br />
like half of the<br />
Suprema speaker<br />
we use in our other<br />
music reference<br />
installation, the<br />
Omega system. The Suprema is no<br />
longer made, we should add. That makes<br />
the new Royal Virtuoso the top of the<br />
Reference 3a line.<br />
The slanted front of course makes<br />
it look familiar, for a number of other<br />
models have looked like that. The woofer<br />
still uses a carbon fibre cone. Look at<br />
it from a distance, and it resembles the<br />
MM de Capo-i we last reviewed in UHF<br />
No. 67. True, the cabinet is made of solid<br />
Corian (Dupont’s brand of marblelike<br />
An advance look at<br />
products we will be<br />
considering in the<br />
next issue of UHF.<br />
reconstituted stone) rather than MDF.<br />
The tweeter is superior to the MM’s.<br />
The internal wiring and connectors<br />
are from Cardas. Vibra-Pucks are used<br />
inside to keep everything silent. But<br />
the price is a lot heftier too, well over<br />
C$5K.<br />
We will be reviewing them next<br />
time, and on the evidence we’re going<br />
to have a good time. We listened to<br />
some recordings once they were broken<br />
in, and we can already tell you that the<br />
resemblance to the MM’s is just that…<br />
a resemblance.<br />
The Simaudio Moon W-5SE<br />
T h e<br />
“SE” stands<br />
predictably<br />
for “special<br />
e d it ion.”<br />
Only 250<br />
of these special luxury amps will be built,<br />
and they will be individually numbered,<br />
like lithographs.<br />
We know the W-5 well, of course,<br />
because it has long powered our Omega<br />
system. We like it a lot.<br />
We are also aware that Simaudio has<br />
not been standing still. When we set up<br />
the Gamma home theatre system, we<br />
adopted the smaller W-3 for the main<br />
channels. We had reviewed the W-3<br />
some years back, but a first listen to the<br />
new one not even broken in quickly told<br />
us that this was better than we had heard<br />
from the company before.<br />
On that basis, we are assuming that<br />
the W-5 has also progressed. Simaudio<br />
says it has used exotic parts in both the<br />
low-level and output sections, and that<br />
output power is now rated at 200 watts<br />
per channel. Even the power cord is<br />
no longer the ratty off-the-shelf model<br />
everyone uses: the LE will come with a<br />
Cardas cord.<br />
We can hardly wait.<br />
The Shanling SCD-T200<br />
It looks much like the CD player that<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 53
Listening Room<br />
Now playing at<br />
Mt. Pleasant Stereo<br />
Avant Garde Loudspeaker from<br />
Gershman Acoustics<br />
The New Blu CD Transport from<br />
Chord Electronics<br />
545 Mt. Pleasant Road<br />
Toronto, Ontario<br />
Telephone: 416.482.2922<br />
looked so great on the cover of UHF<br />
No. 66, but there’s a difference: it is an<br />
SACD player.<br />
It does of course play CDs, as all<br />
SACD players do, but there are a couple<br />
of quirks in this gorgeous-looking<br />
player. First of all, it is not a multichannel<br />
player. Neither of course was Sony’s<br />
original player, despite its $8K price<br />
tag. Is there still a reason for a Super<br />
Audio player to play only two channels?<br />
Certainly a number of music lovers are<br />
playing SACDs in two channels, and<br />
have no plans to do things in any other<br />
way.<br />
The other oddity in this player is<br />
that it does not automatically choose<br />
the SACD layer on a hybrid disc. The<br />
choice has to be done manually, either<br />
from the top panel or from the remote.<br />
That looks like a serious disadvantage,<br />
until it dawns on you that, unlike most<br />
players, this one lets you compare the<br />
Red Book (CD) layer on a disc with the<br />
SACD layer on the same disc.<br />
Yes, we’ve been doing that, and we’ll<br />
be telling you more about it. We can<br />
already say that this is a pretty good<br />
player.<br />
The Linn Unidisk<br />
No, we don’t have it yet, though we<br />
hope to get one soon. It’s been promised<br />
us for many months now. But we haven't<br />
got one because…<br />
Because there aren’t many of them in<br />
the world, for one thing. And because it<br />
54 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
has been going through various incarnations<br />
for another. All of these players<br />
have. Fortunately, a lot of what makes<br />
the Unidisk run is not in hardware but<br />
in software…or more precisely in firmware,<br />
a program burned onto a chip, but<br />
upgradable.<br />
The Linn plays ’em all: SACD,<br />
DVD-Audio and DVD-Video. On the<br />
basis of two very good demonstrations<br />
we have heard, it is a superb player.<br />
By the way, Sony, inventor of SACD,<br />
gave Linn unprecedented access to its<br />
technology in the development of the<br />
Unidisk. Sony’s hope: the resulting technology<br />
can be used by other companies<br />
under license, thus putting an end to the<br />
SACD vs DVD-A war.<br />
The Apple iPod<br />
To tell you the truth, walking about<br />
with headphones on is not the way we<br />
mostly listen to music, despite the fact<br />
we all own Walkmans and Discmans.<br />
The lossy compression of MP3 and AAC<br />
(the <strong>version</strong> favored by Apple) is of little<br />
difference to us.<br />
But we’ve had our eye on the iPod<br />
from the beginning, because unlike<br />
other portable music players it can store<br />
music in uncompressed form! We pointed<br />
this out when the original one appeared,<br />
despite the fact that its 5 Gb (gigabyte)<br />
internal hard disc could hold little more<br />
than seven full uncompressed CDs.<br />
Now, however, the top-of-the-line<br />
model sports a 40 Gb disc, enough for a<br />
good 57 CDs. Interesting?<br />
We will be trying the iPod as a<br />
portable device of course, but we will<br />
also check out how well it can fill the<br />
role of portable high quality source. If<br />
you take it on the road, will it make your<br />
car stereo sound better? Can you hook it<br />
up to your stereo system as a high-tech<br />
jukebox?<br />
You can load CDs from a PC or a Mac<br />
entirely in the digital domain, which may<br />
mean without loss. You will, of course<br />
find yourself listening through the iPod’s<br />
own digital-to-analog converter, and its<br />
final analog stage. Will that trump the<br />
advantage of what may turn out to be<br />
lower jitter?<br />
We’ll try things that have never been<br />
tried before on the iPod.
Software<br />
a decade he will write on music for the<br />
Wiener Salonblatt, and he will use his post<br />
to settle some scores.<br />
Especially with Brahms. Every<br />
chance he gets he will pour scorn on<br />
both the composer and his works. Fortunately,<br />
a composer of genius can’t be<br />
stopped by a critic, for as the saying goes,<br />
The dogs bark, the caravan passes.<br />
The Music Critics<br />
Some will say criticizing is a<br />
natural occupation, that criticism<br />
was born when the first<br />
humans learned to speak. Perhaps,<br />
but my subject is a different one:<br />
the professional critic of our own day,<br />
specifically in the domain of music. I<br />
shall name names and quote quotes, and<br />
I expect to show that certain of the most<br />
eminent critics got it entirely wrong. I<br />
shall speak of great composers who also<br />
worked as critics, both knowledgeably<br />
and conscientiously.<br />
Who is the music critic, and how<br />
do you recognize one? Does it show, in<br />
facial features, dress or bearing, that one<br />
is a member of the group? Might we be<br />
disappointed if we found one?<br />
A cliché says that a music critic is<br />
a frustrated musician who takes his<br />
revenge on his betters. This critic<br />
deserves his own category.<br />
Vengeance<br />
Example: Hugo Wolf (1860-1903),<br />
Born in the north of what is now Slovenia,<br />
he is taught the rudiments of the<br />
by Reine Lessard<br />
piano and violin by his father, before<br />
going to the Conservatory of Vienna at<br />
the age of 15. There he composes several<br />
songs admirable for their matchless<br />
poetic content. He now seeks a master<br />
composer who can help him in his pursuit<br />
of excellence, but he is refused by<br />
all.<br />
From that moment, his admiration<br />
for those composers is transformed<br />
into hostility. I believe I am correct<br />
in saying that Brahms’s refusal to take<br />
him in is the cruelest disappointment.<br />
Disenchanted, even wounded, living in<br />
poverty, he becomes a music critic. For<br />
They couldn’t kill<br />
the world’s greatest<br />
compositions. Not<br />
that some of them<br />
didn’t try.<br />
Incompetence<br />
A backyard neighbor when I lived in a<br />
certain Montreal suburb was a journalist<br />
who had no notion of music, yet had been<br />
named music critic by his newspaper.<br />
Finding the responsibility weighty, he<br />
did his best to meet his editor’s expectations.<br />
His Sunday mornings were given<br />
over to a very special activity. Baton in<br />
hand, he would prepare for the review<br />
of an assigned concert by listening to a<br />
recording of the music, while he marked<br />
the rhythm like a conductor. You can<br />
guess the credibility of the articles he<br />
would sign.<br />
Vanity<br />
Still in Montreal, at any musical premiere<br />
you can see an odd-looking man,<br />
who holds ostentatiously under his arm<br />
the full score of the evening’s concert.<br />
Now it may be that he has studied music<br />
and managed to amass a certain erudition<br />
after so many years. Indeed, there<br />
can be little doubt. But despite a certain<br />
coterie of faithful readers, he is often the<br />
butt of jokes for the way that he exercises<br />
his profession.<br />
All through the concert, he will run<br />
his tiny flashlight over the score, seeking<br />
a wrong note here, a discordant chord<br />
there. For him, the smallest of technical<br />
errors will outshine the entire work and<br />
its interpretation. And he doesn’t seek to<br />
hide his contempt for entire categories<br />
of composers and artists.<br />
The golden age of composition<br />
In our day, we may know both the<br />
lyricist and the singer of a popular song<br />
without having much idea who wrote its<br />
music. The hit parade makes the tune<br />
more famous than its creator, and many<br />
a brilliant new composer struggles to<br />
force the public to recall his name.<br />
It was not always thus.<br />
Once upon a time, music had its<br />
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place in even the most modest household.<br />
In the Europe of the 18 th and 19 th<br />
Centuries, the supply of music was more<br />
than plentiful. In both composition<br />
and interpretation, there were ever new<br />
faces and new styles, as well as innovations<br />
in the creation of modern musical<br />
instruments. Never had there been such<br />
originality, such boldness. In the streets,<br />
in the clubs, in the salons, in the pages<br />
of musical publications, there was a<br />
veritable fever. The public as much as<br />
the musical journalists, showed passion<br />
and even exaltation. Naturally, they took<br />
sides.<br />
During this golden age, many a<br />
composer attained lasting celebrity. Of<br />
course many others knew fleeting fame,<br />
falling into well-deserved obscurity. At<br />
the same time, many a work that would<br />
delight the world and achieve permanent<br />
fame was savaged by the critics at its<br />
premiere.<br />
Perhaps we can examine a few of their<br />
victims, and then take the occasion to<br />
consider the lasting value of the musical<br />
works in question.<br />
A tough profession<br />
To be fair to those who work as<br />
professional critics, let us first admit<br />
that (1) criticizing music is difficult<br />
work, (2) in general, most critics know<br />
what they’re doing, (3) a good number of<br />
them approach music without unfavorable<br />
prejudices, and (4) most will not<br />
try to make themselves look good by<br />
being excessively severe. Despite that,<br />
we have all read reviews that were hostile<br />
or downright caustic, based not on the<br />
value of the music being reviewed but<br />
on the antipathy of the critic toward its<br />
composer.<br />
Hector Berlioz, who was anything<br />
but shy or retiring, never hesitated to<br />
lash back at a critic whose writing he<br />
found unfair. Ironically, he himself<br />
would become a critic, who was very<br />
knowledgeable certainly, but could also<br />
be pitiless.<br />
Closer to our own day, the celebrated<br />
maestro Sir Thomas Beecham said of<br />
his London critics that they were “quite<br />
hopeless — drooling, doleful, depressing,<br />
dropsical droops.”<br />
In my view, there can be no such<br />
thing as “objective” criticism. With rare<br />
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exceptions, a reaction to music depends<br />
on personal emotions, and rightly so.<br />
Were it otherwise, a machine could do<br />
the job.<br />
For my part I don’t believe that mere<br />
knowledge, even backed by prestigious<br />
diplomas, can make the music critic,<br />
especially a critic of musical composition.<br />
You do of course need a solid understanding<br />
of the architecture of a musical<br />
piece. You must be open to what is new,<br />
and not condemn a work that deserves<br />
better simply because it is different. A<br />
single hearing cannot tell you whether<br />
a work is destined for immortality.<br />
I disagree with a contemporary<br />
boutade which says that you don’t have to<br />
be able to lay eggs to tell whether an egg is<br />
fresh. If that means that anyone can sniff<br />
a stale egg and recognize it for what it<br />
is, I have no quarrel with it. But not just<br />
anyone can judge the value of a piece of<br />
music.<br />
Contempt and insolence<br />
At the head of my list of professional<br />
music critics who greatly erred in demolishing<br />
compositions deserving better<br />
are Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904), an<br />
Austrian musician and writer of Czech<br />
origin, and George Bernard Shaw, born<br />
in Ireland in 1856 and died in England<br />
in 1950. They were, I believe, the most<br />
corrosive and unjust critics of their time,<br />
and perhaps of all time.<br />
Let’s begin with Hanslick. Under<br />
several pseudonyms, he uses his recognized<br />
writing talents to fight for the<br />
causes of racial and religious tolerance,<br />
freedom of the press, and the autonomy<br />
of musicians. This makes him a courageous<br />
and even an admirable being. But<br />
let us return to the reason he is in the<br />
dock today: he often writes admiringly of<br />
music by composers he adores, but dips<br />
his pen in poison to describe the works<br />
of composers he does not hold so dear.<br />
For anyone studying musicology<br />
or the history of music, he is of course<br />
unavoidable. Doctor of laws and philosophy,<br />
himself a musician and even a<br />
sometimes composer, he writes reviews<br />
for the Wiener Zeltung, and then Die<br />
Presse and the Neue Freie Presse. He also<br />
holds a chair in music at the University<br />
of Vienna. Vienna! The capital of music!<br />
It is at once a bastion of musical conservatism<br />
and the birthplace of Western<br />
music’s most revolutionary ideas. It will<br />
be Hanslick’s hunting ground, where<br />
he will make the acquaintance of the<br />
world’s composers, of the world’s musicians.<br />
Nothing escapes him, for he is<br />
everywhere. You can find him at every<br />
premiere…scalpel in hand!<br />
In 1846, Hector Berlioz has just<br />
given a series of six concerts of his works<br />
in Prague, then one of Europe’s most<br />
conservative cities. Immediately the<br />
polemic is launched. From the pages<br />
of the newspapers to the tea salons, the<br />
question asked by one and all is whether<br />
Berlioz can even be considered a serious<br />
composer, and his compositions real<br />
music. And who raises his voice louder<br />
than all others?<br />
It is a young man who is scarcely 20.<br />
Today we would say he is barely out of<br />
diapers, certainly not mature enough to<br />
appreciate audacious works that break<br />
with the formalist traditions of the past.<br />
The young man is of course Eduard<br />
Hanslick. Revolutionary in his soul, he is<br />
paradoxically a musical conformist. For<br />
him, music that is emotional or subjective<br />
cannot equal “absolute” or “pure”<br />
music. To be sure, he is not alone, for<br />
there is a powerful current of passion<br />
for musical formalism.<br />
Then it is Richard Wagner’s turn.<br />
Hanslick adores Wagner at first, and<br />
gives his opera Tannhäuser a warm<br />
review, but he quickly realizes that<br />
between Wagner and himself, on the<br />
question of musical æsthetics, there is
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a chasm. They quickly become virtual<br />
enemies.<br />
Of Wagner’s musical dramas,<br />
Hanslick writes, “They are a formlessness<br />
elevated to a principle, a systematized<br />
non-music, a melodic nerve fever<br />
written out on the five lines of the staff.”<br />
Worse, all those who themselves favor<br />
Wagner will be regarded by Hanslick<br />
through this prism. An excellent example<br />
is Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor,<br />
dedicated to Schumann and considered<br />
a musical landmark. Wagner wrote to<br />
Liszt to praise it: Klindworth has just<br />
played me your great sonata! Dearest Franz,<br />
you were in the room with me. The sonata<br />
is beautiful beyond belief: grand, deserving<br />
of love, profound and noble — sublime, as<br />
you are. I am very deeply moved by it. That<br />
was enough to send Hanslick to his pen:<br />
The B minor sonata is an ingenious steam<br />
engine that scarcely ever drives anything.<br />
I have never come across a more refined,<br />
more impudent concatenation of the most<br />
disparate element — or such empty raving,<br />
such a bloody struggle against everything<br />
musical.<br />
As if that were not enough, some time<br />
later he would write that Anyone who<br />
listens to this work and likes it is completely<br />
mad.<br />
He also condemns Liszt’s Piano<br />
Concerto No. 2, on no other pretext than<br />
that the composer used a percussion<br />
instrument, a triangle, in the second<br />
movement. Hanslick’s sarcastic review<br />
prevents the concerto from being<br />
performed in Vienna until 1869, when<br />
however it will receive an ovation. Still<br />
known today by the sobriquet Hanslick<br />
gave it, the triangle concerto, it is considered<br />
a masterpiece, one of Liszt’s most<br />
brilliant compositions.<br />
As for the Austrian composer Anton<br />
Bruckner (1824-1896), Hanslick throws<br />
him to the wolves. Their relations had<br />
begun cordially enough, but as we know<br />
Bruckner venerated Wagner, and marked<br />
his death by dedicating to him his Symphony<br />
No. 3, still known today as “the<br />
Wagner.” Poor Bruckner cannot know<br />
that he has unwittingly chosen sides in<br />
an insane war between the admirers of<br />
Wagner and those of Brahms. Hanslick<br />
takes this “betrayal” badly, and becomes<br />
pitiless. He ridicules Bruckner, treating<br />
him ignominiously and dismissing his<br />
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talent. He thus demonstrates that his<br />
intellectual honesty has its limits. As<br />
for the symphony itself, Hanslick calls it<br />
“a vision of Beethoven’s Ninth becoming<br />
friendly with Wagner’s Valkyries<br />
and finishing up trampled under their<br />
hooves.” The review is disastrous for<br />
poor Bruckner. No doubt wishing to be<br />
as firm as Hanslick, one of the directors<br />
of the Conservatory of Vienna adds that<br />
the symphony “deserves a place in a trash<br />
basket.” The musicians of the Vienna<br />
Philharmonic refuse it, judging it to be<br />
unplayable.<br />
Yet once the venom of the anti-<br />
Wagnerites had ceased to flow, the symphony<br />
was finally played to high praise,<br />
and is today classed as a major work.<br />
Hanslick was later taken aback by<br />
the enthusiastic response to Bruckner’s<br />
Symphony No. 8, and could not do otherwise<br />
than report its success. Even so, he<br />
dipped his pen in acid, calling the symphony<br />
“interesting in detail but strange as a<br />
whole and even repugnant. Everything flows<br />
without clarity and without order, willy-nilly<br />
into dismal longwindness. In each of the four<br />
movements, and most frequently in the first<br />
and third, there are interesting passages and<br />
flashes of genius — if only all the rest were<br />
not there! It is out of the question that the<br />
future belongs to this muddled hangover<br />
style — which is no reason to regard the<br />
future with anticipation.”<br />
There is more. Here is what Hanslick<br />
wrote of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto:<br />
The Russian composer Tchaikovsky is surely<br />
not an ordinary talent, but rather an inflated<br />
one, with a genius-obsession without discrimination<br />
or taste. Such is also his latest,<br />
long and pretentious Violin Concerto. For<br />
a while it moves soberly, musically, and not<br />
without spirit. But soon vulgarity gains the<br />
upper hand, and asserts itself to the end of<br />
the first movement. The violin is no longer<br />
played; it is yanked about, it is torn asunder,<br />
beaten black and blue. The Adagio is again<br />
on its best behavior, to pacify and to win us.<br />
But it soon breaks off to make way for a finale<br />
that transfers us to the brutal and wretched<br />
jollity of a Russian holiday. We see plainly<br />
the savage vulgar faces, we hear curses, we<br />
smell vodka. Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto<br />
brings us for the first time the horrid idea<br />
that there may be music that stinks to the<br />
ear.<br />
Tchaikovsky is cut to the quick reading<br />
these words, which Hanslick will<br />
regret later…too late. When he finally<br />
recognizes the beauty of the Pathétique<br />
Symphony, the composer has already left<br />
this world.<br />
But I must be honest myself. It is<br />
not because a critic does not have my<br />
approval that I can’t praise him when he<br />
deserves it. Among the Hanslick quotes<br />
I ran across is this one: The Czechs can<br />
truly be proud to count, in the triumvirate of<br />
Smeta, Dvorák and Fibich, three composers<br />
who, trained in the classical models, have<br />
been able to express their national character<br />
and preserve their originality, all the while<br />
making their art accessible to a wide public.<br />
Three composers praised by Hanslick in<br />
the same sentence! Of course, he could<br />
be quite pleasant with those who were<br />
in his own clan, one of whose major<br />
figureheads was Brahms.<br />
Hanslick wrote prolifically on music.<br />
Published in Leipzig in 1854, his book<br />
Beauty in Music (Essays on the reform of<br />
musical æsthetics) defends the existence<br />
of formal æsthetics.<br />
Now on to Shaw.<br />
If George Bernard Shaw is universally<br />
famed as a poet, playwright and<br />
essayist, he is less well known as a music<br />
critic. It was not because of his work in<br />
the latter field that he earned a Nobel<br />
prize.<br />
“The greatest of them all,” says the<br />
blurb of a book of his music criticisms.<br />
I would have written, “The most famous<br />
of them all,” for his popularity depended<br />
more on his impertinence than on his<br />
competence. An accomplished writer of<br />
cynical pamphlets, he knows how to raise<br />
passions.
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We find him in London, where he<br />
has gone to live after the separation<br />
of his parents. The British Museum is<br />
the perfect place for him to develop his<br />
culture. He is a freethinker, an idealist<br />
and a humanist who is quickly attracted<br />
to the causes of socialism, feminism and<br />
redistribution of income. Fascinated by<br />
theatre, music and the arts, he writes<br />
numerous articles that will later be<br />
published in anthologies. He is without<br />
a doubt the greatest British playwright<br />
since Shakespeare, and it is his dramatic<br />
work that earns him the Nobel prize for<br />
literature in 1925. His last name will<br />
even become an adjective: a work can be<br />
said to be Shawian, or more commonly<br />
Shavian.<br />
But his success is not instantaneous,<br />
which is why he takes to writing on music<br />
in order to stave off hunger. He does so<br />
under a pseudonym. Starting at the Star<br />
in 1888, he moves to The World two years<br />
later. Do his reviews, signed under the<br />
nom de plume Corni di Bassetto, carry<br />
much weight with the London public? I<br />
doubt it. The World is a low-circulation<br />
weekly, covering mainly social events,<br />
and The Star’s main bailiwick is sports.<br />
It seems likely that the great composers<br />
whose work Shaw denigrates don’t even<br />
read these papers. Still, gossip traveling<br />
as it does, the composers will eventually<br />
get to know what the great man thinks<br />
of them.<br />
Does Shaw truly have a respectable<br />
musical baggage? He seems to believe<br />
he does, if one goes by his preface to<br />
the book The Perfect Wagnerite: the ideas<br />
which are most likely to be lacking in the<br />
conventional Englishman’s equipment…I<br />
came by them myself much as Wagner<br />
did, having learnt more about music than<br />
about anything else in my youth, and sown<br />
my political wild oats subsequently in the<br />
revolutionary school.<br />
Shaw adores Mozart, and he will<br />
draw much inspiration from his operas<br />
in his own plays, particularly Don<br />
Giovanni. He will later say that a certain<br />
familiarity with Mozart is a prerequisite<br />
for understanding his own plays. He<br />
writes to the American actress Molly<br />
Tompkins: I don’t know whether you are<br />
a musician, but if not, then you don’t know<br />
Mozart, and if you don’t know Mozart, you<br />
will never understand my technique.<br />
Much as he loves Mozart, he loathes<br />
Wagner, whom he considers a protofascist.<br />
He likes the music no more than<br />
the man, denigrating it each chance he<br />
gets the occasion…and he is not above<br />
creating occasions. His reviews are bitter.<br />
Insolent and even crude, he doesn’t<br />
hesitate to make his victims the subject<br />
of derision. “A man who has seen Die<br />
Walküre on the stage,” he writes in 1890,<br />
“is a much greater curiosity than one<br />
who has explored the Congo.”<br />
As for Brahms, Shaw detests him<br />
with a passion that seems inexplicable.<br />
He has only the worst to say of every note<br />
Brahms wrote. He cannot hear Brahms’s<br />
name mentioned without flying into a<br />
rage he controls with the greatest difficulty.<br />
I leave you with a few “Shavian”<br />
quotes on Brahms:<br />
The real Brahms is nothing more than<br />
a sentimental voluptuary, rather tiresomely<br />
addicted to dressing himself up as Handel<br />
or Beethoven and making a prolonged and<br />
intolerable noise.<br />
There are some experiences in life which<br />
should not be demanded twice from any man<br />
and one of them is listening to the Brahms<br />
Requiem.<br />
Concerning Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet,<br />
he writes:<br />
The presto of the third movement is<br />
a ridiculously dismal <strong>version</strong> of the lately<br />
popular hornpipe. I fi rst heard it at the<br />
pantomime which was produced at Her<br />
Majesty’s Theatre a few years ago; and I<br />
have always supposed it to be a composition<br />
of Mr. Solomon’s. Anyhow, the street-pianos<br />
went through an epidemic of it; and it certainly<br />
deserved a merrier fate than burying<br />
alive in a Brahms quintet.<br />
I’m tempted to consider Shaw to be a<br />
more addled <strong>version</strong> of Hanslick, for, like<br />
Hanslick, Shaw had a tendency to speak<br />
ill of the music of composers he disliked<br />
personally. His work is an illustration of<br />
my point: whatever their actual musical<br />
knowledge, certain of the most eminent<br />
music critics have not demonstrated<br />
that they cared for integrity above all<br />
other considerations. I would of course<br />
strongly disagree with Shaw’s judgments<br />
of certain composers and their works.<br />
What’s more, his style is so confused and<br />
tortuous that it becomes nearly unreadable.<br />
I suspect he was paid by the word.<br />
We move now to Hans von Bulöw<br />
(1830-1894), German pianist, conductor<br />
and composer. How could he have<br />
misunderstood Mahler’s Symphony No. 2<br />
(the Resurrection) to the point where he<br />
could write: If that is still music, then I do<br />
not understand a single thing about music.<br />
Though the symphony was surprising<br />
for ears of that time because of the dissonance<br />
which Mahler employed abundantly,<br />
this is one of the major works of<br />
the symphonic repertoire.<br />
Writing about the symphonies of<br />
the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner<br />
(1824-1896), Von Bulöw showed what I<br />
can only call contempt: the anti-musical<br />
ravings of a half-wit.<br />
Then there is Cezar Cui (1835-1918).<br />
This Russian composer and critic wrote<br />
of Tchaikovsky: Mr. Tchaikovsky is utterly<br />
weak, and if he had any talent, then somewhere<br />
at least it would have broken the chains<br />
of the conservatory. Of Richard Strauss<br />
he said: this is not music, it is a mockery<br />
of music. It’s true that Strauss was often<br />
pretentious, full of himself, with a style<br />
that can be emphatic and pompous, but<br />
“a mockery of music”?<br />
In another category<br />
Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann<br />
(1776-1882) was as talented in music and<br />
business as he was in literature and the<br />
arts. He painted and wrote admirably,<br />
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and he was a composer to be reckoned<br />
with. He so loved Mozart that he<br />
dropped one of his names, Wilhelm, in<br />
favor of Amadeus. He created for himself<br />
an alter ego he named Johannès Kreisler,<br />
which he used as a pen name. Oddly<br />
enough, the pen name was sometimes<br />
borrowed by others. Brahms sometimes<br />
signed articles “Kreisler Junior”!<br />
One can’t speak of Hoffmann without<br />
mentioning Schumann. You can’t<br />
read biographies of these two men<br />
without being struck by the parallels in<br />
their lives. Both studied law. Both had<br />
multifaceted personalities of equal force.<br />
Both wrote under pen names. Both were<br />
torn between the twin passions of music<br />
and literature. It has been said of Hoffmann<br />
that his struggle between two roles,<br />
as a bureaucrat and as an artist, underlined<br />
many of his works, which attacked the bourgeois<br />
world.<br />
Hoffmann’s influence on Schumann<br />
was enormous, both on his music and<br />
on his music reviews. Indeed, both contributed<br />
to the most prestigious musical<br />
publications of the day.<br />
Hoffmann the man of laws: toward<br />
the end of his life he was a lawyer at the<br />
Prussian supreme court. Hoffmann the<br />
composer: one symphony, nine operas<br />
and two masses, as well as other vocal,<br />
orchestral and piano music. Hoffmann<br />
the musicologist and critic: prolific and<br />
often satirical, he must be forgiven, for<br />
his articles were often enlightened and<br />
generally impartial. Hoffmann the famous<br />
author: the “Tales of Hoffmann,” strange<br />
stories in which his pen gave form to<br />
supernatural creatures, bold writings<br />
that throw light on the darkest corners<br />
of human nature, facets hidden by manners<br />
and conventions that we would<br />
today identify as “politically correct.” So<br />
many personalities in one and the same<br />
person…<br />
Hoffmann was among the first to<br />
recognize the genius of Beethoven:<br />
Beethoven’s music sets in motion the lever<br />
of fear, of awe, of horror, of suffering, and<br />
awakens just that infinite longing which is<br />
the essence of Romanticism.<br />
Let us return to Robert Schumann.<br />
He was neither a child prodigy at the<br />
piano nor a transcendental conductor,<br />
but as a composer he is counted among<br />
the greatest of the new Romantic wave<br />
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launched by that giant, Beethoven. He<br />
wrote more than 300 lieder, as well as<br />
chamber music and abundant literature<br />
for piano.<br />
Schumann signed his first works at<br />
the age of eight: a set of dances. His<br />
passion for music is equaled only by his<br />
passion for literature and poetry. The<br />
latter interests were inherited from<br />
his father, a bookseller, publisher and<br />
newspaperman. No surprise that at the<br />
age of 24 Schumann launches a magazine<br />
dedicated exclusively to music: Neue<br />
Zeitschrift fur Musik. The magazine promotes<br />
progressive ideas in music, and it<br />
becomes one of the most respected such<br />
publications of the century. He remains<br />
at its helm ten years.<br />
His musical judgments are difficult<br />
to argue with. He praises the music of<br />
Mendelssohn, Berlioz and Schubert, and<br />
presents Chopin in the most effusive<br />
terms.<br />
When Brahms arrives on the scene,<br />
Schumann sees in him a first-rate composer,<br />
and the admiration is mutual.<br />
One can hear in Brahms the influence<br />
of Schumann, an influence that can also<br />
be detected in Debussy and Tchaikovsky.<br />
He can take sides, certainly, but he is<br />
considered by experts to be one of the<br />
most brilliant critics of his century.<br />
When he feels compelled to write a<br />
negative review, it is then that he adopts<br />
a pen name: Eusébius the dreamer,<br />
Florestan the impulsive, or Raro the wise.<br />
These fictional characters symbolize the<br />
varied aspects of his enigmatic personality,<br />
originally created for his Carnaval<br />
piano suite.<br />
Let us now return to Louis-Hector<br />
Berlioz (1803-1869), the critic. It is no<br />
secret that this illustrious French composer<br />
of the Romantic period also loved<br />
to write. Indeed, his passion puts bread<br />
on his table while he waits for success<br />
to crown his musical activities. His<br />
work as a music critic in the most read<br />
publications of his time is not entirely<br />
disinterested. He seeks to enlighten his<br />
readers and convert them to the new<br />
music, to make their composers popular,<br />
in the hope that he will eventually swell<br />
their ranks. Indeed, his success is not<br />
instantaneous, for he is ahead of his<br />
time, and shocks the very conservative<br />
establishment.<br />
62 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
(For the record, however misunderstood<br />
Berlioz may have been in his day,<br />
he was an authentic genius. He composed<br />
the first French symphony, the<br />
Symphonie Fantastique, which today exists<br />
in several <strong>version</strong>s, and which unfortunately<br />
we don’t hear often enough. He<br />
was also the inventor of what Wagner<br />
would later call the leitmotiv, which he<br />
would use abundantly in his works.)<br />
He is a mere 20 years old when his<br />
first article is published in the form of a<br />
letter in Le Corsaire. On his return from<br />
Italy in 1832, he becomes a critic at the<br />
Journal des Débats, for which he will<br />
continue to write for the next 30 years.<br />
During that time we can also read him in<br />
La Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris. His<br />
career as a critic will be almost as long<br />
as his career as a composer. His articles<br />
will eventually fill 10 volumes.<br />
In his Mémoires, he writes that he<br />
was often forced to write “nothing about<br />
nothing.” Elsewhere he writes that “the<br />
columnist often has no real opinion on<br />
the things he is obliged to write about;<br />
these things inspire neither his anger<br />
nor his admiration, they are nothing. I<br />
once shut myself in my room three whole<br />
days to write a column on the Opéra-<br />
Comique, and I couldn’t even begin.”<br />
A strange man, Berlioz. He employs<br />
the same language to tear a strip off his<br />
own works as he uses for those of others.<br />
In Le Rénovateur in 1834, he writes that<br />
he prefers to warn the public that his<br />
own music is “a tissue of absurdities<br />
and extravagance such as they’ve never<br />
seen.” He writes of his symphonic poem<br />
Harold in Italy with disarming humor: “I<br />
ask you in good faith what can possibly<br />
be the meaning of a symphony named<br />
Harold.”<br />
The idols of Berlioz are Beethoven,<br />
Haydn and Gluck, whom he calls so alike,<br />
and so different at the same time. He also<br />
has the greatest admiration for Weber.<br />
The only critic of such stature in<br />
France at the time, Berlioz rarely resorts<br />
to insults and insolence, preferring<br />
subtler adjectives, or even an ambiguity<br />
that avoids offending the composer<br />
targeted. Still, when he is really disappointed<br />
he loses it. It is often said that<br />
relations between him and the renown<br />
Italian composer Luigi Cherubini (1760-<br />
1842) were rather cool, which didn’t<br />
stop Berlioz from calling Cherubini “a<br />
model in every way.” However he is so<br />
disenchanted with his last lyric piece<br />
Ali Baba, that he writes: It was the first<br />
performance of Ali Baba, one of the emptiest,<br />
feeblest thing he ever wrote. Near the end of<br />
the first act, tired of hearing nothing of the<br />
slightest interest, I could not help exclaiming<br />
loudly “20 francs for an idea!”<br />
On Wagner’s Tannhauser, he writes:<br />
Wagner is turning singers into goats…he<br />
is decidedly mad; he will die of apoplexy<br />
after all. But this level of language is<br />
the exception with him rather than the<br />
rule.<br />
Though Berlioz’s vocabulary is<br />
recherché and his style remarkable, his<br />
writings are passionate and often leavened<br />
with humor, making them easy to<br />
read.<br />
It is sad to say that Berlioz the composer<br />
remains, but for a few works, underestimated.<br />
In conclusion<br />
It is possible that excessively fulsome<br />
praise from the critics can slow a composer<br />
or musician’s pursuit of excellence.<br />
And it is not merely possible but certain<br />
that a negative critique expressed with<br />
arrogance or irony can inflict lasting<br />
wounds. What to do, then?<br />
Let us contemplate one brief moment<br />
the reaction of the great Ludwig van to<br />
critics “in general.” When he was told<br />
that a critic had found in one of his works<br />
a weakness or a mistake, he would repeat<br />
it, actually increasing the “fault” if he<br />
could. He would thus leave embarrassed<br />
and even frustrated those who had had<br />
the audacity to attack him.<br />
What importance must the music<br />
lover give the professional critic?<br />
I would agree with someone whose<br />
name I can’t just now place, who said<br />
that the writings of music critics are, in<br />
general, of absolutely cosmic unimportance.<br />
Or, as my mother would often say, Don’t<br />
ever pass up a musical event because you’ve<br />
read a negative criticism here or there, for<br />
only you can know what you will like, and<br />
you are perfectly capable of making up your<br />
own mind.<br />
In following that maxim, I have often<br />
been pleasantly surprised, and even<br />
delighted.<br />
Criticism is easy. Art is difficult.
Software<br />
Rossini: Famous Overtures<br />
Marriner & St. Martin in the Fields<br />
Pentatone PTC 5186 106<br />
Rejskind: I don’t have an LP copy of<br />
this 1974 recording by the Academy<br />
of St. Martin in the Fields, but I sure<br />
enough recognize the style, and also<br />
the recorded sound of Philips classical<br />
recordings of that day. Sir Neville<br />
Marriner was already turning in solid,<br />
reliable, coherent <strong>version</strong>s of everything<br />
he touched. And the Philips sound was<br />
easy on the ears: all the sections of the<br />
orchestra were in balance, but nothing<br />
was too close. They were mostly made<br />
with the two-microphone mid-side<br />
system, rather than that favored by some<br />
competitors: stick a microphone up every<br />
instrument.<br />
This recording brings that sound<br />
closer than ever, because it is an SACD.<br />
What’s more, it was made directly from<br />
the original master tape on a carefullyaligned<br />
machine like the one used for the<br />
original recording. Whenever possible,<br />
the advice of the original recording<br />
engineer was sought. I listened to it on<br />
a two-channel system, though in fact it<br />
can be played on a four-channel system<br />
(1974 was the age of quadraphonic, and<br />
recordings were often made in fourchannel<br />
<strong>version</strong>s, just in case).<br />
Some of Rossini’s best-known overtures<br />
can be found here, including The<br />
Barber of Seville, L’Italiana in Algeri, La<br />
Scala di Seta and Il Signor Bruschino. And<br />
then there are overtures from more<br />
obscure operas: Tancredi, Rossini’s first<br />
Record Reviews<br />
opera seria, based on a story by Voltaire,<br />
and written when Rossini was just 21;<br />
and L’inganno Felice, which was entirely<br />
new to me. Not here are certain other<br />
Rossini favorites, such as William Tell<br />
or La Gazza Ladra. No matter. It’s an<br />
opportunity to make some discoveries.<br />
Rossini is always enjoyable, even when he<br />
had simply tossed off a piece as quickly as<br />
he could…which was much of the time.<br />
Perhaps you’re wondering what<br />
SACD adds to these older recordings. A<br />
lot, if I go by the sound on the CD layer<br />
of this hybrid disc. Not that the Red<br />
Book CD sound is bad. But the SACD<br />
later adds spaciousness and spreads the<br />
orchestra out so that you can hear the<br />
instruments at the back. Subtle? Listen<br />
to the SACD and then the CD, and you<br />
won’t think so.<br />
Concertos: Mathieu Addinsell,<br />
Gershwin<br />
Lefèvre/Talmi & OSQ<br />
Analekta AN 2 9814<br />
Lessard: There is a theme running<br />
through the three concertos on this<br />
disc: they are naïve works. The first was<br />
composed by a child without the training<br />
needed to avoid certain stumbles. The<br />
second was composed by a specialist in<br />
movie music. And the third was written<br />
by someone who knew little about concertos,<br />
and had to be a quick study.<br />
by Reine Lessard,<br />
and Gerard Rejskind<br />
The first is the Concerto de Québec<br />
by André Mathieu (1929-1968). Aside<br />
from his undeniable technical abilities,<br />
pianist Alain Lefèvre is a fountain of<br />
musical knowledge, and the many years<br />
he has spent searching out and dissecting<br />
the music of Mathieu indicates that he<br />
suffers from a contagious fascination.<br />
The booklet included with the CD<br />
gave me the urge to read more about<br />
the young adolescent who created this<br />
remarkable concerto. I usually comment<br />
a performance rather than criticize the<br />
music itself, a distinction on which I like<br />
to insist, but this composer is special.<br />
Mathieu was a child piano prodigy<br />
and a precocious composer. He signed<br />
his first composition when he was 4. By<br />
the following year he was winning over<br />
audiences and critics in Paris with his<br />
faultless technique, and his compositions<br />
earned him the sobriquet of the little<br />
Mozart of Canada.<br />
In Europe, in the age of Mozart and<br />
the other prodigious musicians, and even<br />
well beyond, all of life revolved about the<br />
arts, literature and music. Europe was an<br />
immense hothouse where a genius could<br />
develop fully. But in Canada, and indeed<br />
in all North America, things were different.<br />
There were countries to be built and<br />
societies to be organized. Large fortunes<br />
were then rare, and patrons were even<br />
rarer. Musical society was in its infancy.<br />
In short, the great European capitals<br />
were Canada’s only reference in music.<br />
What is more, music, literature and<br />
painting had to share the public stage<br />
with costly and popular sporting events.<br />
Happily, in Europe the presence of so<br />
many musical and literary celebrities led<br />
to an emulation that survived economic<br />
and political revolutions.<br />
That is how Mathieu, on his first<br />
voyage to Paris, had the privilege of<br />
living in this stimulating atmosphere<br />
and meeting masters of both composition<br />
and interpretation. But then came<br />
the war and the return home, where<br />
Mathieu did not find the same fervor<br />
among his peers. At the tender age of 15<br />
he suffers a romantic disappointment,<br />
the result of the narrow-mindedness of<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 63
Software<br />
and rhythmic first notes of the Allegro<br />
con brio, which is quickly transformed<br />
into a sad and nostalgic air, followed<br />
by impressively energetic chords. The<br />
nostalgia then returns. The concerto<br />
ends in masterly fashion. Despite some<br />
minor irregularities in the concerto’s<br />
construction, it is a remarkable work by<br />
a very young composer. André Mathieu<br />
was just 13.<br />
On the same recording, Richard<br />
Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto, commissioned<br />
for the 1941 film Dangerous<br />
Moonlight, will give you goosebumps.<br />
It opens in peremptory fashion with<br />
dramatic chords by the piano and the<br />
orchestra, and develops into a fresco<br />
notable for its nostalgia and emotion.<br />
This Neo-Romantic work also contains<br />
architectural flaws, but its emotional<br />
impact is seductive.<br />
A third concerto closes the album,<br />
and it’s not just any concerto. Gershwin’s<br />
Concerto in F is 34 minutes of jubilation.<br />
This is an impressive <strong>version</strong> by both<br />
pianist and orchestra, but without the<br />
magic of the <strong>version</strong> by André Previn (on<br />
Angel), who plays piano and conducts<br />
the London Symphony Orchestra, in a<br />
<strong>version</strong> that is more joyous and certainly<br />
more jazzy. But both <strong>version</strong>s are pleasing.<br />
Lefèvre is without a doubt a master<br />
of his keyboard, but he has a sometimes<br />
exaggerated vigor that results in fortissimo<br />
passages that are hard on the ear. As<br />
for the OSQ, it is Canada’s oldest symphony<br />
orchestra. In recent years budget<br />
constrains forced it back to Mozartian<br />
size, with other musicians hired on<br />
contract as needed. It is conducted in<br />
excellent fashion by Yoav Talmi, and the<br />
the time. He also suffers from the undue<br />
pressure of parents wanting to continue<br />
in a lifestyle to which they have become<br />
accustomed. Overwork and a growing<br />
alcohol problem lead to a burnout.<br />
At the age of 20 he is prematurely<br />
old, reduced to teaching, an activity he<br />
detests, and playing at pianothons. He is<br />
dead at 39, leaving an immense work: 200<br />
compositions, most of them unknown.<br />
Let us hope Lefèvre will have the<br />
energy to continue his gigantic work of<br />
excavation, to bring into the light other<br />
64 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
worthy pieces from the poorly-known<br />
musician.<br />
Now to the concerto itself. The<br />
Allegro moderato is full of traps, of which<br />
Lefèvre makes light. In full possession of<br />
his technique, he makes passages of great<br />
beauty veritably sing. The long Andante<br />
was used in the 1947 film La forteresse.<br />
The Orchestre Symphonique de Québec<br />
plays it with consummate lyricism, and<br />
the pianist adopts all of its sensitivity,<br />
with a zest of rubato in certain passages.<br />
There is such joie de vivre in the lively
Software<br />
orchestra has a distinctive sound I find<br />
enchanting.<br />
This is an audiophile-quality disc<br />
worth hurrying for. Copies are selling<br />
fast.<br />
Hemispheres<br />
Corporon & North Texas Wind<br />
Symph.<br />
Klavier K11137<br />
Rejskind: This recording is an unexpected<br />
find. I can’t say it looked promising.<br />
The North Texas Wind Symphony<br />
is the band at a Texas music college.<br />
David Dzubay is a faculty member at the<br />
college, and his composition, Ra! which<br />
opens the disc is named for the ancient<br />
Egyptian god of the sun. It’s noisy, and<br />
I’m sure it was a lot of fun for the musicians,<br />
but…<br />
But it rather grew on me after a<br />
couple of hearings. Jarring at first, it has<br />
a sort of exotic feel to it as it goes. I also<br />
couldn’t help noticing that the musicians<br />
of this large wind band are pretty good. I<br />
explored further, and I was glad I had.<br />
Daniel McCarthy’s Chamber Symphony<br />
No. 2 is in six movements, built<br />
heavily around the woodwind section<br />
of the band. In structure it is close to a<br />
concerto, with an ever shifting interplay<br />
between a smaller group of woodwinds<br />
on one side, particularly Kathleen<br />
Reynolds’ bassoon, and a larger group.<br />
It is difficult to decide which is the “solo”<br />
and which is the “orchestra,” because as<br />
you concentrate on the music it seems to<br />
shift under you. Fascinating!<br />
I also liked Scott Lindroth’s all too<br />
brief Spin Cycle, which lasts…oh, about<br />
as long as the spin cycle on the washer.<br />
This is also built around two parts, made<br />
up mainly of woodwinds, one seeming to<br />
chase the other. Lindroth was inspired<br />
by the dance, and the rhythmic patterns<br />
are actually Morse code…spelling out<br />
the names of people dear to him.<br />
Keiko Abe’s Prism Rhapsody II is<br />
rather concerto-like also, with the<br />
marimba as the solo instruments, playing<br />
against the quickly-moving but often<br />
dark and brooding woodwinds, with the<br />
brass providing the foundation and the<br />
atmosphere. It is in long movement that<br />
never seems to drag.<br />
Philip Sparke’s Sunrise at Angel’s Gate<br />
has a strong lyrical structure that grows<br />
out of a gorgeous theme at the start, and<br />
made me think it had to be a piece of film<br />
music. A Western, perhaps? Tombstone,<br />
Arizona? The images danced in my head.<br />
Well, I was in the right part of the continent,<br />
all right. Angel’s Gate is a natural<br />
stone structure in the Grand Canyon,<br />
and Sparke wrote it after a visit at (you<br />
guessed it) sunrise. It was premiered by<br />
the US Army Field Band.<br />
The CD winds up with Joseph<br />
Turrin’s title piece, composed of three<br />
movements: Genesis, Earth Canto, and<br />
Rajas. The first movement is moody<br />
and unsettling, with interplay between<br />
woodwinds and brass, with large percussion<br />
instruments and a piano brought<br />
into the mix. The piano and percussion<br />
play a more prominent role in the<br />
slower, darker second movement. The<br />
final movement is faster, more frantic.<br />
Rajas means “energy,” one of the ages of<br />
the Earth according to Turrin’s notes.<br />
The piece was commissioned by Kurt<br />
Masur for the New York Philharmonic<br />
Orchestra, which premiered it in 2002.<br />
I can’t end this without mentioning<br />
the sound. Like a number of recent<br />
Klavier recordings, this one has a lifelike<br />
transparency that appears at odds with<br />
what one can normally do with the Compact<br />
Disc medium. A large wind band<br />
like this, heard live, is thrilling to listen<br />
to if it is any good. This one is good, and<br />
Bruce Leek’s engineering has brought it<br />
back alive. It’s one more reason to keep<br />
this CD next to your player.<br />
Baroque Transcriptions<br />
Paul Merkelo/Luc Beauséjour<br />
Analekta AN 2 9812<br />
Lessard: Here are two highly experienced<br />
musicians with remarkable<br />
transcriptions for trumpet and organ of<br />
five glorious Baroque pieces. Merkelo’s<br />
use of three different trumpets — in C,<br />
the piccolo trumpet in A, and another<br />
piccolo trumpet in B Flat — adds a fine<br />
variety of effects and sounds.<br />
A good space is given over to Bach,<br />
represented here by a Choral Prelude, several<br />
other Preludes, and a Trio Sonata.<br />
Elsewhere, the trumpetist plays a<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 65
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Software<br />
sonata by Henry Purcell, in which a serious<br />
and intense movement is sandwiched<br />
between movements that are joyous and<br />
full of light. On the organ, Beauséjour<br />
plays the imperishable Largo by Handel<br />
and the Ombra mai fù from Handel’s<br />
1738 opera Serse. There is an aria by<br />
Heinrich Stölzel, long attributed to<br />
Bach, whose matchless beauty is developed<br />
wonderfully by the trumpet, with<br />
a discreet accompaniment by Beauséjour<br />
on the harpsichord.<br />
Handel’s Sonata in G Major for Trumpet<br />
and Continuo, op.1 No.5 opens with<br />
the trumpet playing against a continuo<br />
by the excellent cellist Amanda Keesmaat.<br />
The passages that follow reveal<br />
what a talented melodist Handel was.<br />
They express, successively, amorous<br />
melancholy and exuberant joy. The<br />
second movement shows off Beauséjour’s<br />
virtuosity at the harpsichord, as well as<br />
Merkelo’s incredible ease with which<br />
he uses his piccolo trumpet in soaring<br />
passages of remarkable lightness.<br />
Track 19 lasts little more than a<br />
minute, but it is enough to demonstrate<br />
that, if Luc Beauséjour is a known<br />
quantity at the harpsichord, he is no<br />
less formidable at the organ console.<br />
Superb!<br />
There are other treasures to be<br />
found on this CD, but I want to talk<br />
about the sublime Adagio of Tomaso<br />
Albinoni (1671-1750), renown for his<br />
melodic invention. It is six minutes of<br />
pure beauty. The soloist shows off his<br />
virtuosity and eloquence on his B-flat<br />
trumpet, and his mastery and sensitivity<br />
make this piece (originally composed for<br />
strings, one can suppose, since Albinoni<br />
was a violinist). You’ll want to hear it<br />
again. As for me, my eyes damp and my<br />
throat constricted, as each time I am<br />
really captured by music, I put down<br />
whatever else I was doing and listened.<br />
The Adagio is actually a modern work,<br />
written around a fragment by Albinoni,<br />
but what does it matter?<br />
Surprisingly, the trumpet travels<br />
often through the upper reaches of its<br />
range, but without ever sounding shrill.<br />
This is an audiophile disc that deserves<br />
you, and you deserve it too.<br />
Misbehavin’<br />
The Denver Brass<br />
Klavier K77034<br />
Lessard: How about a tango by Carlos<br />
Gardel? Here’s one, and it’s magnificent!<br />
Forget that Gardel was virtually illiterate.<br />
What is evident from his tangos is<br />
the undeniable fact that he had talent<br />
and genius enough that experienced<br />
musicians took the trouble to decipher<br />
his scribbled texts and notes. And it’s a<br />
good thing for us, since we take such<br />
pleasure in hearing them. Gardel’s Por<br />
una cabezza is on track 2.<br />
But the disc opens with Gershwin,<br />
and his Cuban Overture, written for<br />
Cuban percussion inspired by Cuban<br />
rhythms. It’s a rumba. Gershwin himself<br />
called it “a symphonic overture that<br />
embodies the essence of Cuban dance.”<br />
It’s more music from the great George<br />
Gershwin, who continues to fascinate<br />
us two tracks later with excerpts from<br />
his opera Porgy and Bess, including the<br />
bewitching Summertime. I shall say no<br />
more, except to mention The Jogo Blues<br />
which closes the CD. Its irresistible<br />
rhythm is enough to plunge you into…<br />
well, the Blues, really and truly. Oh, and<br />
don’t overlook Thelonius Monk’s ’Round<br />
Midnight, which never fails to delight.<br />
But what makes this album special,<br />
considering that many of the pieces on<br />
it are so familiar? It features the fabulous<br />
Denver Brass, whose members play with<br />
power and joy. Hurry and make their<br />
acquaintance. The quality of the sound<br />
will please you too.<br />
The Movie Album<br />
Barbra Streisand<br />
Columbia CK 90742<br />
Rejskind: There is scarcely a musical<br />
genre that Streisand has not tackled in<br />
more than 40 years since she turned the<br />
popular singing world on its ear, including<br />
disco and classical. The experiments<br />
have not always been successful, as they<br />
were not in the latter two categories. At<br />
other times, she has performed miracles.<br />
That is especially true of music from the<br />
stage and the movies.<br />
That’s no surprise, really. Over the<br />
same four decades she has shown herself<br />
thoroughly at home both on the stage<br />
and before the camera, to say nothing<br />
of behind the camera. But there is more.<br />
Listen to her original recordings from<br />
the 60’s, and you’ll get a feel for the<br />
way she turns each song into a drama in<br />
its own right, a full-length screenplay<br />
compressed into maybe four minutes.<br />
In show music, she has always found the<br />
raw materials she needs. Hence the success<br />
of The Broadway Album (a triumph,<br />
despite a dull transfer from the original<br />
analog to digital) and Back to Broadway<br />
(a triumph…end of story).<br />
This time she has turned her attention<br />
to movie music.<br />
The very first selection stopped me<br />
in my tracks, because I was brought<br />
back several decades to the very first<br />
time I bought a Streisand album. She<br />
sang in a way I had never heard anyone<br />
sing before, turning familiar songs into<br />
theatrical set pieces. It was immediately<br />
obvious that the stage, and beyond that<br />
the movies, beckoned. But that seems<br />
like such a long time ago. Doesn’t she<br />
ever age? I actually pulled out my copy<br />
of that LP (The Second Barbra Streisand<br />
Album) to compare. Astonishing! She is<br />
now in her sixties, but she is — like the<br />
title of one of her movies — evergreen.<br />
There is no thickening of the vocal<br />
cords, no foreshortening of her range,<br />
and no sign that her lungs are going to<br />
give out any time soon.<br />
But back to that first song, Smile,<br />
from Chaplin’s Modern Times. It’s been<br />
sung by a lot of people, but this may be<br />
the definitive <strong>version</strong>. It balances tantalizingly<br />
between smiles and tears, which<br />
is exactly the spirit of the song. Streisand<br />
has taken a different tack from that of<br />
Back to Broadway, in which she seemed<br />
to want to prove that her famous voice<br />
had lost none of its power. This time she<br />
demonstrates that she can sing softly,<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 67
Software<br />
with lots of expression, and<br />
that she can hold a note as<br />
long as she wants.<br />
She hasn’t selected only<br />
famous blockbuster movies,<br />
clearly preferring to choose<br />
the songs because they<br />
appeal to her. A number of<br />
the songs on the disc are old<br />
enough that not everyone<br />
will recall that they come<br />
from movies: I’m in the<br />
Mood For Love (from Every<br />
Night at Eight), But Beautiful<br />
(from The Road to Rio), and<br />
The Second Time Around<br />
(from <strong>High</strong> Time). She sings<br />
them gorgeously, reinventing<br />
them just a bit. I must<br />
also mention her haunting<br />
<strong>version</strong> of Calling You, the<br />
song from the wonderful film Bagdad<br />
Café. True to character, she does it very<br />
much her way.<br />
Not all Streisand’s albums have been<br />
recorded by competent engineers. This<br />
one is neither flat and lifeless, like <strong>High</strong>er<br />
Ground, nor too close up and breathy like<br />
Back to Broadway. It’s a winner.<br />
One warning, though: some copies<br />
of this CD come with a bonus DVD on<br />
which there are videos of Wild is the Wind<br />
and I’m in the Mood For Love, as well as<br />
an audio commentary by<br />
Streisand herself. Since that<br />
<strong>version</strong> is the same price as<br />
the CD alone, you should<br />
look for it.<br />
Ju s t B e c a u s e I ’m a<br />
Woman<br />
Various artists<br />
Sugar Hill SUG-CD-3980<br />
Lessard: Here are 13 songs,<br />
with music and lyrics by<br />
country star Dolly Parton,<br />
sung by a number of female<br />
artists as a homage to her.<br />
From the first measures<br />
of track 1, you are transported<br />
into the fascinating<br />
world of country. Sung by<br />
Alison Krause, 9 to 5, from<br />
the film of the same name,<br />
speaks bitterly of the experience<br />
of women treated with<br />
cavalier injustice by their<br />
68 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
office bosses, because they’re women.<br />
It’s a characteristic aspect of “feminine”<br />
country music to sing of a woman’s<br />
daily life, holding nothing back, not<br />
the broken dreams, the disillusions, the<br />
regrets, the battles, the powerlessness,<br />
using a frankness that remains surprising.<br />
They denounce!<br />
Workin’ 9 to 5, what a way to make a<br />
livin’<br />
Barely gettin’ by, it’s all takin’ and no<br />
givin’<br />
Obtaining recordings<br />
Now and then, a reader confuses what we write in the Record Reviews section of<br />
the magazine, and the little blurbs in our Audiophile Store.<br />
The difference: we review recordings from various sources, whether they’re<br />
available from us or not. At the store, we offer only recordings we recommend,<br />
whether we have reviewed them in these pages or not.<br />
In the present case, Klavier, Analekta and PentaTone recordings can be bought<br />
at The Audiophile Store. The Streisand and Parton recordings cannot, but will<br />
be readily available from major record stores.<br />
They just use your mind and<br />
they never give you credit,<br />
It’s enough to drive you crazy<br />
if you let it.<br />
On the next track,<br />
Melissa Etheridge’s sensual<br />
and irresistible voice interprets<br />
with great sensitivity I<br />
Will Always Love You, a song<br />
that was a long-time top hit,<br />
and was sung around the<br />
world. The song expresses<br />
the undying tenderness that<br />
survives a separation from<br />
someone one has loved<br />
tenderly.<br />
If I should stay, I will only be<br />
in your way<br />
So I’ll go but I know<br />
That I’ll think of you every<br />
step of the way.<br />
I will always love you.<br />
And so on. The Grass is Blue, Do I Ever<br />
Cross Your Mind, The Seeker, To Daddy…<br />
That last song, sung with evident but<br />
restrained emotion by Emmylou Harris,<br />
is special. Addressing itself to “daddy,” it<br />
is really about “mama.” Not to be missed.<br />
There is also the unavoidable Coat of<br />
Many Colors, sung by Shania Twain and<br />
Alison Kraus. Delicious!<br />
The title song, sung by Dolly herself,<br />
closes the album. We find her unique<br />
voice, with inflections and<br />
modulations like no other.<br />
The song expresses rage<br />
against the cruel contempt<br />
of certain phallocrats for<br />
women who have fallen for<br />
their honeyed words.<br />
There can be no uniformity<br />
in the production,<br />
since the songs were<br />
recorded by dif ferent<br />
engineers. The stars are<br />
among the world’s best.<br />
Aside from those already<br />
mentioned, you’ll find<br />
Norah Jones, Joan Osborne,<br />
Shelby Li n ne, M i ndy<br />
Smich, Kasey Chambers,<br />
Sinéad O’Connor, Allison<br />
Moorer and Me’shell<br />
N’Degéocello.<br />
W a r m l y r e c o m-<br />
mended.
Gossip&News<br />
It’s rush hour in Vanier, a suburb<br />
of Quebec City, on November 13 th . A<br />
winking neon treble clef beckons. The<br />
parking lot is nearly full. The guests have<br />
come to celebrate two businesses marking<br />
their silver anniversary: La Clef de<br />
Sol and l’Atelier Électronique 2000 and<br />
their respective presidents, Bertrand<br />
Bergeron and Nicole Bernard greet the<br />
visitors with characteristic<br />
warmth.<br />
The large store is full,<br />
and there’s a party atmosphere.<br />
It is a fiesta of love,<br />
friendship, shared ideals,<br />
solidarity, courage, a dream<br />
become reality.<br />
Not much recognized in<br />
this group, I wander from<br />
group to group, watching,<br />
observing. Everything has<br />
been well thought out, ripened,<br />
to offer to whom I call<br />
affectionately les fous du son<br />
a wide array of specialized<br />
gear. All about and on the<br />
Gossip&News<br />
How to Launch a New Store<br />
by Reine Lessard<br />
mezzanine, there are closed rooms with<br />
studied acoustics, furnished with attractive<br />
audio and video equipment and<br />
comfy chairs, which invite us to listen<br />
and watch. The whole store is a homage<br />
to the rapid evolution of technology.<br />
I go from surprise to surprise, admiring<br />
the unique décor that says much<br />
about our hosts’ æsthetic preoccupations<br />
and their search for excellence. I’m<br />
intrigued by a long curtain concealing…what<br />
does it in fact conceal? While<br />
I await the answer I shake some hands<br />
and ask questions. Fascinating! There<br />
are Claude Gérard’s Momentum speakers:<br />
Italian styling, French drivers (from<br />
Audax), Belgian design (like Gérard<br />
himself), with acrylic and epoxy finish<br />
and assembly in Hong Kong. You could<br />
lust after them for their looks, but their<br />
audiophile qualities are not be dismissed.<br />
Other products draw my eyes.<br />
In a moment the ribbon will be cut<br />
on the new store. First, Bertrand summarizes<br />
the past quarter century, spent<br />
navigating a hard path alongside his<br />
remarkable wife Nicole, with stumbles<br />
and challenges along the way, but numerous<br />
victories too. He tells of their world<br />
travels, their passion for history and<br />
art, the inspiration they’ve drawn from<br />
vestiges of other periods, to continue on<br />
their path. He expresses his gratitude to<br />
colleagues at every level. He praises the<br />
talent and zeal of the artists and acousticians<br />
who have created the store. I am<br />
conquered by the depth of this couple,<br />
and their human qualities.<br />
The Quebec Justice Minister cuts<br />
the ribbon, and finally the long curtain<br />
is drawn back on a fresco that nearly<br />
encircles the store. It is a<br />
window on evolution, actually<br />
titled Man at the heart of<br />
the universe. There are cries<br />
of admiration. The origin<br />
of life, evolution, the birth<br />
of art, the fashioning of<br />
the first stone implements,<br />
mythology, spirituality…it’s<br />
all here.<br />
Bertrand mentions that<br />
he and Nicole are driven by<br />
more than money, but that<br />
scarcely needs to be underlined.<br />
Sincere congratulations,<br />
and best wishes for<br />
lasting success.<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 69
Gossip&News<br />
“Full Screen” DVD: a Lawyer's Opportunity<br />
A claimed advantage of the DVD<br />
medium is that it allows placement of<br />
both a widescreen and a “full screen”<br />
<strong>version</strong> of a film on the same disc. So<br />
we were told when the DVD was first<br />
launched, and for a long time it was true.<br />
Today it’s less and less true. Check the<br />
latest major releases, such as the Harry<br />
Potter or Lord of the Rings films, and what<br />
do you find? The widescreen and “full<br />
screen” <strong>version</strong>s are sold separately.<br />
Why? We can guess. And we will, in<br />
a moment.<br />
The “full screen” name (which we<br />
refuse to write without quotation marks)<br />
seemed to make sense at first, and still<br />
may to people with old analog TV sets.<br />
Here are the <strong>version</strong>s, side by side:<br />
TV set will have a 16:9 screen. They’ll<br />
happily fire it up, pop in a “full screen”<br />
movie, and guess what they’ll see.<br />
Yep. This is it. Their new (widescreen)<br />
films will fill the screen, and their old<br />
“full screen” films will have the sides<br />
conspicuously cut off, as in the second<br />
picture.<br />
Now here’s where the lawyers get<br />
involved<br />
Does “full screen” mean full screen?<br />
No jury will say so. “Full screen” means<br />
that, for the same price as widescreen,<br />
you’ve got 25% less picture. The word<br />
“fraud” comes to mind. So here’s a consumer<br />
who has purchased what turns out<br />
to be maybe $2000 of DVDs (100 times<br />
$20…do the math) and discovers he/she<br />
has been taken for a ride. What is to be<br />
done?<br />
Right. Class action suit. Treble<br />
damages. Protection from creditors.<br />
The reason we think they’re doing this<br />
is the hope that anyone switching to a<br />
widescreen TV will have to buy their<br />
DVD collection all over again. Check<br />
with your lawyers, people!<br />
If we were running a major studio,<br />
we’d call a meeting with the division that<br />
puts together the DVDs and ask them<br />
what the hell they think they’re doing.<br />
Now which one would you choose if<br />
you didn’t know any better (which you<br />
do)? The answer is obvious. A lot of<br />
people will pick the “full screen” <strong>version</strong><br />
because they’ll say the black bars above<br />
and below the picture drives them crazy.<br />
They’ll make extra sure they don’t pick<br />
up those awful widescreen <strong>version</strong>s.<br />
Sure, the “full screen” <strong>version</strong> has stuff<br />
missing, but a lot of people won’t notice,<br />
and can’t possibly know unless they make<br />
a direct comparison.<br />
But time will pass, and those analog<br />
TV sets will pass too. Though 4:3 sets<br />
are still sold, they won’t be for long.<br />
Very soon, anyone buying a large-screen<br />
The Net on Power Lines<br />
It wasn’t long ago that dialing into<br />
the World Wide Web from your home<br />
seemed like a miracle. But dialup is the<br />
buggy whip of the 21st Century. Most<br />
of what you want to do with the Internet<br />
requires broadband…high speed<br />
access.<br />
But broadband isn’t available to<br />
everyone. You can get DSL from your<br />
phone company if you live really close<br />
to a distribution centre. Or you can get<br />
high speed connection from cable if cable<br />
is installed where you live, and if it’s<br />
digital cable. For a significant percentage<br />
of surfers, those conditions aren’t met.<br />
In some European countries broadband<br />
is also available through the power<br />
lines. It makes sense. The power grid<br />
reaches more homes than even the telephone<br />
system. Electrical wires handle<br />
only low frequencies (50 to 60 Hz), leaving<br />
all that upper bandwidth unused.<br />
North American power companies<br />
are catching on to this, and several are<br />
planning to offer you the Net through<br />
the power grid. This requires spending<br />
on infrastructure, because Net traffic<br />
can’t pass through the big transformers<br />
mounted on power poles. The signals<br />
have to be injected after the transformer.<br />
But this means extra revenue for the<br />
power company, and perhaps broadband<br />
in areas where it wouldn’t otherwise be<br />
available.<br />
This, we now wish to add, has consequences<br />
for audiophiles. As it is, the<br />
power lines are filled with noise, either<br />
injected into the line by motors and<br />
machines, or induced into the system<br />
from mobile phones, Wi-Fi networks,<br />
police and taxi radios, and all of the<br />
other radio-frequency noise sources of<br />
modern times. Adding broadband means<br />
injecting high frequency noise directly<br />
into the lines that feed your system.<br />
We anticipate it will become ever<br />
more important to filter this stuff out.<br />
There are parallel filters, to short the<br />
noise out, series filters to keep it from<br />
getting through, and systems that actually<br />
make new electricity altogether,<br />
with minimum noise.<br />
Our airwaves are more and more<br />
cluttered. Our power lines are too.<br />
70 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong>
Gossip&News<br />
Downloaders?<br />
It began in the US, where the recording<br />
industry lobby group, the RIAA,<br />
has been tracking down people who<br />
have been allegedly downloading music<br />
from the Internet, and suing them. Most<br />
have settled out of court, typically for<br />
amounts of $2000 or so. This week, a<br />
woman who was targeted by RIAA filed<br />
a complaint under anti-racketeering<br />
laws, claiming that by demanding money<br />
under threat, the association was using<br />
Mafia-like extortion.<br />
It keeps on getting more interesting.<br />
In the meantime, in Canada, CRIA<br />
(the counterpart to RIAA) wants to use<br />
the same tactic. It is going to court to<br />
force several Internet service providers<br />
to give them the names of 29 alleged<br />
downloaders it would like to sue. The<br />
ISP’s are resisting.<br />
Canadians have a long history of<br />
copying Americans. (Old joke: how do<br />
you do social research in Canada? You<br />
take the American figures and divide by<br />
ten.) But imitating RIAA tactics may<br />
not yield the results one would expect.<br />
That’s because Canadian law is different<br />
from US law. In Canada, you have the<br />
right to borrow a CD and make a copy<br />
for yourself, though not for others. The<br />
same right has been confirmed by a court<br />
in Europe. This established right would<br />
seem to extend to downloading music<br />
from the Web.<br />
This Italian manufacturer has long<br />
been known for class A tube gear, often<br />
using triodes for purer sound. The<br />
new Inpol2, launched in January,<br />
offers 50 watts<br />
per channel, still<br />
in class A. Unlike<br />
in previous models,<br />
which used gigantic<br />
power transformers<br />
(one per channel in<br />
Sue ’em!<br />
Of course, CRIA would like to have<br />
a law like the US DMCA law, and has<br />
offered to rewrite the current copyright<br />
law for the government (“No, that’s all<br />
right, we’ll be glad to do it at no charge,<br />
really.”) There is, however, another<br />
aspect to the Canadian situation, which<br />
a clever lawyer can turn to immense<br />
advantage.<br />
If we buy a blank CD in Canada,<br />
there is a 21¢ levy (it’s not called a tax)<br />
which is supposed to go to music creators<br />
to compensate them for the copying of<br />
their music. Some of these CD’s are<br />
actually used for original works or for<br />
data backup, and some of them end up<br />
as useless coasters, but no matter. Now<br />
here’s the legal angle. Since the music<br />
creators are being paid, does payment of<br />
the levy constitute a license to copy music?<br />
If a court should rule that it does,<br />
then you have a right to run off 20,000<br />
copies of the newest Céline Dion CD,<br />
providing you can show that you made<br />
the copies on discs on which the levy had<br />
been paid.<br />
By the way, in 1983 Brian Robertson,<br />
the head of CRIA, was quoted in this<br />
magazine as saying that home taping<br />
(remember home taping?) was such a<br />
problem that within two years there<br />
might no longer be a recording industry.<br />
More than two decades later, Robertson<br />
is still at the head of CRIA, and there’s<br />
no indication that he’s learned a thing.<br />
Pathos Inpol2<br />
these dual mono designs), the Inpol2<br />
uses a switching power supply, to keep<br />
bulk down. The profile of this amplifier<br />
is slimmer than that of earlier<br />
models.<br />
C o n s t a n t ,<br />
h o w e v e r , i s<br />
the fact that it<br />
sounds gorgeous,<br />
and it looks great<br />
as well.<br />
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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 71
Why do electronic audio<br />
components sound so<br />
different? Amplifying<br />
a signal with hardly any<br />
distortion or loss shouldn’t be rocket<br />
science, after all. And CD players have<br />
nearly perfect frequency response and<br />
vanishingly low distortion. Heck, you<br />
can measure it.<br />
Some audio critics have long claimed<br />
that these products don’t sound different.<br />
But some are now taking a somewhat<br />
different tack.<br />
The world of audio criticism is very<br />
much split into two camps, one of them<br />
subjective (the human ear is the final<br />
judge), and the other objective (if it<br />
doesn't turn up on instruments, you just<br />
think you’re hearing it). You can pretty<br />
much figure out which camp UHF leans<br />
toward, though in fact we aren't extremists<br />
about anything, and we do perform<br />
instrument tests.<br />
I’ve been noticing a new tendency<br />
among the objective gang…the people<br />
I call “flat-earthers” because they put<br />
theory (including in some cases obsolete<br />
theory) above readily observable facts.<br />
They’ve found a new way to explain<br />
our insistence on hearing differences<br />
among CD players and amplifiers. These<br />
differences are due, they believe, to the<br />
presence of small, readily-reproducible,<br />
technical flaws. What’s more, they can<br />
demonstrate it.<br />
Here's a case in point. Several “objective”<br />
critics explain the preference of<br />
some audiophiles for tube amplifiers by<br />
claiming that, not only are tube amplifiers<br />
actually worse than their solid state<br />
counterparts, but it costs only pennies<br />
to modify a solid state amplifier to give<br />
it a tube sound. Sound interesting?<br />
The big difference, they claim, is that<br />
a tube amplifier does not have as low an<br />
impedance, or as high a damping factor,<br />
as a well-designed solid state amplifier.<br />
That much is true. And so, they conclude,<br />
you can give a solid state amplifier<br />
a tube sound by simply wiring a one ohm<br />
power resistor in series with the speaker<br />
leads. Bingo! Fuzzy, warm, but imprecise<br />
bass, just like a tube amplifier.<br />
72 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
State of the Art<br />
by Gerard Rejskind<br />
Is this true? No it’s not, for several<br />
reasons.<br />
The link between the amplifier<br />
output and the woofer is not zero ohms<br />
in any case. One cause is the presence of<br />
the crossover network. Though a very<br />
few speakers have direct coupling of the<br />
woofer to the amplifier (the Reference 3a<br />
speakers are well-known examples) many<br />
speakers have at least one element, such<br />
as a coil, in series with the woofer. So<br />
much for zero ohms.<br />
The other reason is the impedance<br />
of the speaker cable and its connectors.<br />
I wrote a State of the Art column in<br />
UHF No. 51 detailing how it is possible<br />
for a loudspeaker connector to have a<br />
resistance of several ohms (to jog your<br />
memory, this is the famous “coffee mill”<br />
column). And I mean a single connector.<br />
This is devastating to sound quality<br />
even if we suppose that the cable itself<br />
is perfect. You might well suppose that<br />
connector quality could account for differences<br />
in sound quality among speaker<br />
cables. You'd think that the flat-earthers<br />
would have picked that one up, but most<br />
STATE OF THE ART:<br />
THE BOOK<br />
Get the 258-page book<br />
containing the State of the Art<br />
columns from the fi rst 60 issues<br />
of UHF, with all-new introductions.<br />
See page 4.<br />
of them don’t believe connectors matter.<br />
Don’t ask me why.<br />
These people have other theories of<br />
the same ilk. (Did you ever go hunting<br />
for ilk? They're an endangered species<br />
now.) The qualities we “think” we hear<br />
in amps, preamps and CD players can be<br />
simulated with an equalizer. Add some<br />
lower midbass for “warmth.” Peak up the<br />
2 kHz band for presence. Ramp up the<br />
10 kHz region for sparkle. It’s easy to<br />
simulate the expensive sound you want:<br />
just dial it in.<br />
It would be neat if this really worked,<br />
because it would then be easy to set up<br />
a first rate music system. What does an<br />
equalizer cost, anyway? Or a one ohm<br />
resistor? So what actually happens when<br />
we do this?<br />
Not much that’s desirable, alas. The<br />
one ohm resistor in a good system will<br />
certainly make the bass flaccid, but no<br />
one who has been to a concert of unamplified<br />
music will mistake the result for<br />
a step closer to the real thing.<br />
As for the equalizer, the first thing<br />
you’re likely to notice is that in anything<br />
but the worst system it will<br />
cause a marked performance drop even<br />
when all its controls are in the fl at position.<br />
When you consider what’s in the<br />
things — cheap operational amp chips,<br />
quick and dirty power supplies, bottom<br />
quality wire and jacks — it could hardly<br />
be otherwise. The second thing you’ll<br />
notice is that, sure enough, you can add<br />
warmth, solidity, sparkle and the rest<br />
by adjusting the equalizer controls…but<br />
strangely that doesn’t make the music<br />
sound better, it makes it sound worse.<br />
Notice the word music in that last<br />
sentence. The world of audio criticism<br />
would be healthier if it were used more<br />
often.<br />
The truth is that you can indeed<br />
simulate the sonic aspects of certain<br />
components by doing simple manipulation<br />
of system characteristics, including<br />
frequency response. But you cannot<br />
make the system sound more like music<br />
that way. If you listen to actual music<br />
rather than to mere sonic characteristics,<br />
this becomes clear.
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