UHF No 70 (Net).indd - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

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Waitley, “It’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think that you are not.” I was reminded of that statement when I heard Gaetan’s first comments as we started on our tour. “I don’t think my ears are t rained enough for this,” he said, sounding almost apologetic. And yet, Gaetan is, among many other things, a guitarist who remembers carrying his instrument along as reference, when he bought his first pair of speakers (and what did he settle for, you may ask? Magnepans!). “But that was a long time ago,” he adds. Strange, how many people underestimate their ability to simply appreciate music when faced with an array of sophisticated equipment. I don’t know much about this, some would say, dismissing the idea altogether, or I’m not an expert. Yet they go to concerts, they talk about what they heard, and they know what they enjoyed and what they didn’t. Touring With Witnesses This year I toured the Montreal show twice with two very different companions, and I thought I’d share their impressions with you as if you were here with us. I let them guide me Feature In the words of psychologist Dennis Illustrations: Above: the unusual Wilson Benesch Discovery speaker, with its external woofer. Lower right: Musicians from a local high school playing live in the Delta lobby (perhaps to show us all up). On the next page: two turntables. At top, the affordable Pro-Ject RPM9 with carbon fi bre arm and electronic speed control. Below, the eye-catching Clearaudio Master Reference. 28 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine by Albert Simon through the different rooms (well, okay, I also suggested a few I thought should be on our list), and I often asked them to go in fi rst and let me know if I should come in too. Interesting. This won’t be an actual review, just impressions, comments, a lot of nods, raised eyebrows and silent wows. “Look at this, a Thorens turntable, I didn’t know they still made them,” said Gaetan as we listened to a clear rendition of Muddy Waters playing through a Unico integrated amp and Opera speakers, handcrafted in Italy. He didn’t say much else, but I liked the presence and the immediacy of the music. He didn’t say much in the next room either, and yet we were both impressed by the sound of the blue and silver Shanling equipment, glowing quietly. We took the time to listen to Jheena Lodwick singing Getting to Know You through a pair of ALI Acoustics speakers. We had an interesting experience in another room, where a Krell SACD player was hooked to professional-looking Nagra amplifi ers playing through a pair of Parsifal speakers by Verity Audio. A track of Fidelio’s SACD Via Crucis by Liszt was on: beautiful choral voices rose airily, firmly supported by low organ notes. And then the same track was repeated in multichannel, using an additional pair of similar speakers behind us. We looked at each other with raised eyebrows, the music fi lling the air and seeming to transport us. As we left, the same procedure was repeated with Nicolas Major on solo guitar. Gaetan had doubts written on his face. “My ears are not yet accustomed to surround sound,” he explained. He smiled broadly as we entered the next room, staring at the pair of B&W 805 Signature speakers, “I should be able to recognize their sound, I have a small pair of B&W speakers at home.” Their music was fi nely produced by an all-Classé system with the CAP-2100 integrated amp and CDP-100 player. Later, as we listened to the Naim and Spendor combination in another setting, Gaetan pulled out one of his CDs and asked to listen to it. It was a Frank Martin composition played by guitarist Jürgen Ruck. “Remarkable neutrality,” he exclaimed. “There, that’s what a guitar sounds like,” he added, looking at the Naim CD5 player, NAC 112 preamp, NAP 150 power amp and the Spendor Classic SP3/1P speakers. As we were leaving, I glanced at the Nottingham Horizon turntable. “They’re back,” I said. I don’t think he believed me. Gaetan was now leading the way, from one room to the next; his doubts about his discerning ability had diminished, and when we had listened for a bit in some rooms, and he shrugged with an apologetic smile, and I knew it was time to explore some more. Facing the large Martin-Logan Ascent speakers he became very still, totally concentrated, and asked to listen to the same Frank Martin guitar piece. The Wadia (Series 3) 302 player played it through the Blue Circle BC3 Galactica MKII (a dual mono linestage preamp) and the BC28 hybrid power amp. Gaetan didn’t say a word. He slowly sat down and asked to listen to another of his CDs, featuring the Hilliard Ensemble of male voices. “Voices are the ultimate test for me,” he whispered. He left the room reluctantly, lost in his thoughts. (He would often refer to this moving experience after the end of his tour.) Another memorable experience he had was with the Living Voice Avatar
OBX speakers with Conrad-Johnson amplifi cation (ACT2 preamp and Premier 140 power amp), with Chord’s BLU transport and DAC 64 converter. “You can even hear the guitar’s woody resonance,” he exclaimed, “and the low notes are superb.” When the Hilliard Ensemble sang, he noticed the defi nition in the voices and the clear separation, and he smiled broadly. “I never knew the tenor was that good.” Gaetan seemed transformed now, walking confi dently toward each new experience, his remaining doubts dissolving in a newfound assertiveness. “This system is defi nitely one of the top four,” he stated unequivocally in the Linn room. The Unidisk 1.1 was matched to a Klimax Kontrol preamp, a set of three power amps (one Klimax Solo mono amp and two Klimax Twinstereo amps) feeding a pair of Akurate 242 speakers. “The brass sound great,” said Gaetan, after listening to Blood, Sweat and Tears’ Spinning Wheel. Then he became fascinated with the comparison done with a different source, the Kivor server, containing multiple CD selections stored without compression. An interesting comparison Gaetan did did was with the two Pierre Gabriel systems. He asked to listen to Charles Ives’ Piano Sonata No. 2 played by Marc-André Hamelin (a fellow music student of his, By the way… at the U of M), fi rst with the Gryphon Mikado player, Callisto integrated amp and the Master speakers by Pierre Gabriel…and then, in the other room, with a Jadis JD3 player, DA60 integrated amp and the impressive Master Reference speakers. He seemed to like both versions but then added with a puzzled look “They’re completely different.” And we concluded our tour with the Quad ESL speakers, playing the same piano piece with an Arcam CD 33 player and Conrad Johnson’s Premier 17 LS preamp and MV60 power amp. “The sound is crystalline, so clear in the highs,” he noted. “There are more harmonics,” he added, and when he listened to the Hilliard Ensemble he pointed to the stage and said “I can see exactly where the singers are standing”. I smiled because I knew exactly what he meant and I agreed with all that he heard, here and in all the other rooms. I smiled because I also witnessed quite a change in Gaetan’s attitude, from an uncertain and unsure initial approach to the seasoned and confi dent appreciation of music that all audiophiles reach once they stop thinking and talking about specs, and discover beauty. * * * The next day, I welcomed Michael, a young and enthusiastic new audiophile who had thoroughly enjoyed the Montreal Sound Festival last year for the fi rst time. He had already been around this year’s with his friend Jimmy, a more experienced audiophile and reader of UHF Magazine. They were both eager to share the tour with me and, pulling out his notepad, Michael said “Naim”. We went straight to the entrance level all-Naim room — and I mean all Naim. “Why leave it to chance?” said You can read lots more about the Montreal show (and the Vegas show as well) on our Web site: www.uhfmag.com. the representative, a touch of humour in his eyes, pointing to the Naim cables. A CD5 player was linked to the NAIT 5i integrated amp, featuring DIN and RCA connectors (and an optional silvercolored front adapter plate, for those who might tire of an all-black system). The speakers were the two-and-a-half-way Ariva. Michael remarked on the sound of the trumpet, and found great clarity in the percussion. From entry level to dreamland. Michael wanted to hear one of his CDs in the two Pierre Gabriel rooms. It was the final track of the Gladiator score by Hans Zimmer, We Live Forever, sung by Lisa Gerrard. “I heard sounds I hadn’t noticed before,” he said, after we emerged from the Jadis room. Then, emerging from the Gryphon room, he seemed surprised. “I heard other sounds in this room, some instruments appeared more clearly.” (Welcome to the club, I thought to myself.) “This is therapy,” therapy,” Michael said with a longing sigh, and Jimmy nodded. We were listening to Georgia On My Mind by Mari Nakamoto, followed by Sunfl ower on the Three Blind Mice label. The CD was played by Audio Aero, amplifi ed by a Tenor Audio amplifi er and came out of a pair of Lamhorn speakers. In the Linn room, we arrived just in time to hear the spectacular soundtrack of Don Juan de Marco by composer Michael Kamen. “It’s quite something,” said Michael, looking for words. “The soundfi eld is so vast,” he decided. “And it’s so airy,” added Jimmy. As we then listened to Neville Marriner conducting Rossini’s overture to The Barber of Seville, Jimmy noted that we were sitting right in front of the ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 29 Feature
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